A/N: There's probably nothing I could do to make all of you guys forgive me for such a long wait. But I ask for no forgiveness, I know it's been a while. I apologize for any mistakes in this chapter and for the length. It's another bridge chapter, I'm so sorry. On to the story though!

Disclaimer: Don't own.

Chapter 12

Until Then

…

"Naruto, you'll never learn how to fight if you can't properly use a weapon." Kankuro jaded the blonde as he tried his hand at a sword. The other man huffed angrily and threw the weapon away to grab at the smaller objects. Even though Suna offered the most advance weaponry out of all the divisions, Naruto still couldn't adjust to any of them.

"I've never seen Gaara with a weapon before, why can't I use the sand like him?" Naruto muttered out to his teacher for the moment, dropping to the floor in exhaustion. He wanted to get stronger so others wouldn't have to protect him all the time. But at this rate, Naruto wasn't getting anywhere and they'd been going at it all day.

"That's because he's an incubus, different demons have certain powers that are drawn to them. For Gaara, it's the sand." Kankuro explained, plopping down next to the blonde. "Say blondie, I haven't asked til now but, what's your story anyway?"

Naruto turned to Kankuro, silently debating if he should tell him the truth. The guy had been nothing but helpful throughout the week, he deserved some honesty for being so patient.

"Well, to tell you the truth, I'm not actually from this…world." Naruto began, a bit hesitant on the reaction he was going to get. "I live in the human world but was taken here unwillingly."

Kankuro shrugged a bit, not at all affected by the comment. "Dude, happens all the time here. That's why there's so many cambions runnin around."

Naruto's mouth hung agape at the reaction, not expecting it at all. So kidnapping here was okay, that was the oddest thing ever.

"Hey," Kankuro joked, laughing lightly at the stunned expression the blonde was sporting. "Don't stress man, some incubuses need a lot of energy to sustain their life force and unfortunately, demons in this world can't provide it. It's just a matter of survival ya know?"

The blonde nodded absently at the comment and stared up into the open space. The scenery was so breathtakingly beautiful, he wondered if it was sane to feel so serene in such a new environment.

"You ready to continue then?" Kankuro asked standing up and stretching out his muscles.

"Yeah," Naruto replied back, none too enthusiastically. He grabbed at the brunette's offered hand and stood up slowly. A small frown was still marred across his features until Kankuro slapped his back playfully.

"Cheer up; it's not that bad here. I've been to the human world plenty of times to know that yal need some help with it." The brunette tried, added in a funny grin. Naruto chuckled at the comment, knowing too well how true it was.

…

"With all due respect Lord Namikaze, what are we doing?" Kakashi questioned the wandering blonde. They both had been walking around the forest for hours now and with no luck in getting closer to the castle either.

"Do you think Fugaku put some sort of barrier around his home? That would be the only explanation as to why we can't find it?" the Namikaze explained more to himself than his pupil. Kakashi just sighed irritably and followed after the man. It was no use, talking to the older blonde. Knowing that all his questions would be ignored, Kakashi simply kept quiet. Even though Minato was busy musing to himself about the dark lord's tricks, the silver haired man didn't say a word.

Much to the student's luck, he caught sight of a majestic animal circling above their location. It looked fairly familiar but he couldn't put a finger on where he'd seen it before.

"Minato, look to the sky." Kakashi blurted out abruptly. Lord or not, the blonde was seriously beginning to get on his nerves with the constant mutterings.

"Is that Ijen?" Minato asked, finally snapping out of thought as his blue eyes trailed the blue sky. As the blonde expected, the white phoenix easily swooped down gracefully towards the pair. Minato held out his arm expectantly for the mystical bird to land on. He almost flinched when those strong wings flapped wildly before steadying. Luckily for the Namikaze, Ijen was quite fond of his presence.

"Why is Gaara's messenger here?" Kakashi said, walking towards the magnificent creature. He was only blessed to see her once when they were traveling through Suna for negotiations. Once though, was enough to capture anyone's admiration for the gallant animal. The only problem was it only took a liking to certain people. Get too close to her and she could effortlessly snap your fingers off. Finally reaching the pair, Kakashi watched in fascination as Minato stroked her feathers gently.

"Hey Ijen, what have you got for me?" the lord asked softly. Ijen took great pleasure in the touch but lifted her leg to show to message she was sent to deliver. Without hesitation, the blonde calmly opened the cylinder and watched the small parchment of paper roll out. His heart began to race faster, hoping the Western Lord didn't have any catastrophic news to share. Minato almost didn't even notice Ijen taking flight, using his arms a lever to propel forward into the sky. The blonde's eyes stayed glued to the paper as he slowly opened it to view the small scribbling it had.

Kakashi's eyes stayed glued to the bird, watching her disappear before gazing back to the lord. He saw Minato's face scrunch tightly trying to read the small print before his eyes widen drastically.

"What happened?" the silver haired pupil inquired, concern lacing with his question. He stepped closer to the blonde and grabbed at the paper. Eyes scanning over it quickly, he knew the reason for the astonished look. His focus returned back to the blonde lord and waited for the other to say something.

"Minato…"Kakashi began, watching the usually talkative man fall quiet.

"I guess he doesn't want to see me…" the Namikaze slurred out sadly. "After all this time…I just wanted to protect him."

"You're wrong, Lord Kazekage didn't state that Naruto didn't want to see you," Kakashi reassured, trying to help the situation. "I know Naruto cares about you or else he wouldn't even bother to ask about you. Just give him time to adjust."

The other was silent for the longest time before gaining a bit of confidence back in his gaze. "You're right Kakashi," Minato answered back. "...but I can read between the lines. I know I did wrong by not being there but maybe time will heal his wounds."

Kakashi only nodded absently to agree with the other. "So what do we do now?" He questioned.

"We return home, and we wait."

…

"How did training go with Kankuro today?" the lord Kazekage stated to the blonde. It was just half past midday and the sun was getting ready to dip back into the horizon. Both red head and blonde were walking through the corridors to the dining room for supper.

"It was okay…except I don't think I'm good at using weapons." Naruto replied back sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head out of habit.

"It takes a bit to get used to." Gaara tried to console the other, "but maybe some more practice can help you in the future."

Naruto nodded, heeding in the lord's advice but thought steadily on what Kankuro had said before. If it was true that all incubuses had a sort of power, then he should have some too right? Considering he was half incubus, maybe instead of learning to fight, he could utilize that specialty.

"Hey Gaara, Kankuro told me that incubus has certain energies or forces that are drawn to them …" the younger boy started. "So does that mean I have it too?"

"It depends," the Kazekage replied honestly. "It's true that incubus has different powers drawn to them but, that isn't always the case."

"What do you mean?"

Gaara stopped in mid step and looked to Naruto for a brief second before continuing. "I am correct to say that you're a cambion right?"

The blonde nodded his head to confirm the lord's accusation. He wondered idly if Gaara disliked cambions too. The way Kankuro had mentioned it earlier; he felt a bit of aversion that came with it.

"Don't worry, I'm also a cambion." Gaara hesitantly let out, more for the blonde's reassurance. "My father was the late Kazekage. He fell in love with a human woman and I was the offspring of that affair. Because of the tragedy that follows a human lover with an incubus, my mother died shortly after because her body was far too weak."

Naruto listened intently on edge with every word the young lord spoke out. He couldn't believe Gaara entrusted him enough to speak about such an intimate topic.

"During that time, cambions were looked down upon and shunned because of their differences. No demon dared to mate with one for the shame it would bring to their reputation. All that fuss started to change though, when news got out that cambions didn't have to leech off of others for strength. To top it off, it was actually better to mate with a cambion because their life force seemed to be stronger than humans."

"So that's it, everything just worked out in the end?" Naruto probed.

"No, there's still a very strong resentment but fortunately, it is getting better rather than worst." Gaara answered back. He averted his gaze and quickly caught the blonde's azure eyes. "But I'm glad Naruto that you weren't here to experience that time of darkness. It may not appear so harsh me explaining it to you now but, many were prosecuted, tortured, and killed for the sole reason of being a cambion."

Naruto could only stare back in shock at the coldness in those aquamarine eyes. It was seeping through his skin and into his soul, trying to convey those desperate feelings of rejection. The blonde didn't know what to do nor did he know what to say. Quickly, he shook his head to the side, snapping away to look at something else. Anything else would be better than Gaara's lonely, bottomless stare.

"Let's keep going," the Kazekage stated, trying to ease the tension away. Maybe it was a bit too much to say all of those things to the blonde just now. "I took into consideration, your thoughts concerning the Lord Namikaze and I figured it'd be best to keep your whereabouts unknown."

"You think so?" Naruto answered back, grateful for the change of subject. "I totally forgot about that."

"It doesn't matter. When you're ready to face him, I'll send word that you are here." Gaara complied, not exactly revealing the whole truth.

"Honestly though, me being ready is going to take some time…" Naruto responded. "Maybe even years…before I'm ready."

"That's fine as well. You don't realize it now Naruto, but time in the Underworld goes by very fast."

….

Sasuke's eyes peered out into the endless mirage of greenery. If it were any other time, he would be marveling at the site of nature and awing at the raw beauty of it all. But this was not just another regular day. His eyes scanned the surrounding, searching for any signs of movement and any color of blonde. It wasn't fair. How was it possible that after finally capturing Naruto, he would lose him again? The demon wanted to howl, wanted to scream, wanted to tear something apart but it was pointless. He knew that it was his fault.

"I was careless and because of that I lost you, Naruto." Sasuke whispered into the wind. Standing on the tallest tree that overlooked almost the whole Kingdom, the raven slumped against the trunk. Both feet steadily anchored his position on the thick branch as Sasuke looked once more to the setting sun. Eyes glazed over with pain, he had to turn away from the sun's familiar warmth. A warmth that reminded him so much of another person.

How long will it be til I can touch you again...Naruto.

…

A/N: Yea I know, its super short but hopefully the next chapter will be more exciting and longer. I don't wanto to make any promises but I'll try my best! Please review and don't stop reading! I'll finish this story for sure!