The Gathering II: Rising Fear
Kyuubi was sleeping. He'd stayed alert long enough to heal Naruto, lend a dash of his energy so the kid wouldn't be bedridden for a month, and then he'd
curled in his cell for a long nap. His host hadn't taken much physical damage, but the energy he'd expended was more than he liked. Teaching a kid to
summon that big toad was ridiculous. Using his energy to do it and then having the toad transform into his shape was just plain insulting. He planned to give
Naruto an earful the next time the brat had the nerve to ask for some of his chakra. Not that he even bothered to ask anymore. Naruto was starting to take it
for granted. That was another thing Kyuubi planned to correct him on after he rested.
It was a vibration that woke him up. A stone dropping into a still pool and sending tiny ripples over the water. Just a quiet sensation that something had
changed, something wasn't right. He'd felt a similar wave when Shukaku's host had entered Konoha. He hadn't paid any attention to that because as much as
they disliked each other, he knew he'd always win if they were forced into a confrontation. It was common sense. He was the nine tailed. Shukaku was nothing
more than an unsightly annoyance at best. This time the vibration was foreign, unsettling enough to make him raise his groggy head. He hadn't slept nearly
long enough.
His host was sitting on a cool rocky surface and staring blindly at the huge faces carved in the mountain across the way. He'd been sitting there for hours.
Kyuubi was aware of this in a vague way, something he didn't bother to focus on because it had no effect on him. It was no more important than the way his fur
had thickened when the weather grew cold, how it would weight down when it was wetted. He noticed the moment it happened and that was all. It didn't matter,
so he paid no attention. He was always aware, peripherally, of Naruto's actions, his status, his thoughts and emotions. They had a symbiotic relationship, after
all. He kept the boy ravenous to feed his own energy reserves, the only thing that kept him sane in his prison, and he came to attention when the boy was in
danger of breaking, mentally or physically. That was all.
Kyuubi looked through the bars, through the dark, and through Naruto's glazed unfocused eyes. He prodded him the only way he could, with a whisper soft
burst of his energy, which he immediately resented having to use when he was supposed to be conserving and replenishing.
'Something's wrong,' Kyuubi broadcasted.
Wrong. That was the word. Not just different. Something was wrong. The world had changed once. Kyuubi had been young then, young and foolish and
unaware of how final the change would be until it was too late to do anything but accept it. He'd had parents then, kin, and Shukaku had been nothing but an
annoying cub prone to scurrying through their territory just to make them hunt him and chase him out. Then the world had changed and he was the last, the
only one, of his kind. And then it had changed again and he was trapped, sealed, without even a body of his own. The changes had been wrong. Wrong like
this, whatever he was feeling, was wrong.
Naruto blinked, startled, and looked around. He was still dazed from the thoughts he'd been having about that girl and the boy he'd become closest to. Kyuubi
let him wake up slowly for now. He was busy letting his senses spread out around him, feeling the humans, chakra, landscape and wildlife. Searching. And as
his senses spread out and his fur hunched around his shoulders, he felt another ripple, closer than the first. A bigger stone. Not just that, but a familiar one.
'One of your friends is gone,' he stated. 'Completely removed from this world.'
There was no emotion in his tone. There were only two, maybe three humans he would extend himself to protect on Naruto's behalf. The ones whose deaths
might break his fragile host. The others, the 'friends,' the ones Naruto spent time with and cared about but didn't need, were all expendable as far as Kyuubi
was concerned. This one had been cared for but not needed. Kyuubi was more interested in the sensation of that life disappearing than the thought that one
of Naruto's friends was gone. His host had lived most of his short life without friends. One more or less wouldn't make a difference.
It was the feeling that mattered. He'd felt that sensation before. He recognized it now. It was the same thing he'd felt the moment all of his kind, his kin, his
family, had disappeared and left him alone in the world.
'It's happening again.'
.-.
Lee didn't like it when his friends and teammates came to visit him. He hated the way they winced and smiled, trying so hard to cheer him up, to offer sympathy
and support. They came for him and he didn't want to be the one making them feel bad when they went away afterward. It wasn't their fault, he'd known the
risk of fighting all out, even if he hadn't realized exactly how dangerous and ruthless his opponent could be. He didn't like the way they refused to accept that
he hadn't given up and never would. They should have been reassured by his determination, his confidence in himself. Instead, the more he tried to make
them feel better, the worse they looked, the harder it was to smile when they inevitably came back again.
Neji was the worst. It wasn't because Neji cared more. Of all Lee's visitors, Naruto and Tenten had taken his injuries the hardest. And maybe Gai-sensei, but at
least he'd been encouraging when Lee proclaimed his goal of making a full recovery. Neji didn't say anything. He didn't even try to smile or cheer him up. Lee
didn't know how to talk to him anymore. Weeks before he could have challenged him, boasted his plans to defeat his teammate and rival through hard work
alone. And Neji would have sniffed and reminded him of his lack of genius, his place in life and the fact that destiny couldn't be changed through effort alone.
Naruto had broken that part of Neji and Lee didn't know if it had left his teammate better or worse.
The visits made Lee uncomfortable. It was the way Neji looked at him now. He could see in his eyes that looking at him left Neji disturbed, determined like he'd
been before, but with a different sort of weight on his shoulders now. Lee wondered if Neji saw his defeat as confirmation of his old beliefs, or if he looked like
that because he saw himself as responsible for taking up the slack left in the team with Lee out of commission.
Neither of his teammates would tell him what sort of training Gai-sensei was having them do without him. Tenten smiled when he asked and told him to
concentrate on getting better, and then she left as quickly as she could. Neji didn't answer at all, merely asking if it hurt, if he was tired, if he wanted to be
alone, as if a question about their training wasn't worth dignifying with an answer when Lee was confined to a hospital bed. It made him feel guilty and sad, and
he didn't want to feel that way when it took all of his effort to remain determined and hopeful. He was torn between keeping Neji's visits short, so he wouldn't
feel so upset afterward, and wanting to make them longer so he'd get a hint of that old comradery they'd shared just a short time ago.
Neji had visited a few minutes before his sensei's foremost rival appeared in his room. Lee was staring out the window, doing his best to talk himself out of that
confused and dark place Neji left him in when he left. He didn't hear or feel the usual wind that came with teleportation, but he had a sudden prickling on the
back of his neck, like someone had walked in his shadow. He glanced around and then started to look back out the window - the door to the room was still
closed and he would have heard it open - and he spotted something out of the corner of his eye, flinched painfully, and looked back. Sure enough, a familiar
figure was standing near the foot of his bed.
"Yo," Kakashi greeted, one hand lifted and a faint smile curving his visible eye.
Lee straightened up as much as he could. "Kakashi-sensei! I didn't hear you come in!"
"You were distracted," said Kakashi. "And I was quiet."
"Very quiet," Lee said, in an impressed and happy tone. He'd never have expected to get a visit from one of the other team leaders, especially Gai-sensei's
most esteemed rival. It was an honor that made his eyes gleam in a way that was usually reserved for Sakura alone. "Are you here to visit Sasuke-kun?"
"Eventually," Kakashi nodded.
Lee's expression dropped some when Kakashi tilted his head and looked him over. He didn't want to hear any of the usual comments. He was pleased and
excited and he wanted to keep that for as long as he could. He'd gotten a visit from Kakashi! He couldn't wait to tell Gai-sensei about it.
"So you came to see me, while you were here?" asked Lee. "That's very considerate of you, Kakashi-sensei."
"Ah," Kakashi smiled, looking up to meet Lee's eyes. "I'm a much nicer guy than people give me credit for."
"Oh, no," Lee said quickly, "Gai-sensei says you're very nice. He has to work very hard to compete with you when it comes to being a nice guy - and you're
just as modest as he said!"
Kakashi's face twitched a little, something in his bemused expression making Lee wonder if he'd said something wrong. Gai-sensei went on about his rival all
the time, and the things he said were always complimentary, even when he'd been bested in one of their competitions. Lee idolized that sort of relationship. It
was the exact type of rivalry he'd always wanted for himself.
"There's a reason I stopped by," Kakashi said, after a moment. "I wanted to see your condition for myself. Your friend, Neji, said it was inoperable."
Lee's stomach twisted in a hot rise of determination and hurt, his eyes glowing fiercely. Kakashi cut him off before he could say a word.
"I don't think it is," Kakashi smiled. "I know someone who could fix you right up, good as new. Maybe better, if you don't mind being prodded a bit while he tries
things out. It would be a waste to see you not fulfill your potential."
"Really?" gasped Lee, shock making that knot clench tighter and rise into his throat. "You mean it?"
"Absolutely," Kakashi said, his smile fading until it was soft and sympathetic. "I promise a complete recovery. Shake on it?"
"Of course!" Lee reached his uninjured hand out, his heart thumping wildly in his chest. Just the thought that all of his confidence had proven true made him
want to laugh. Kakashi's hand closed around his and he beamed and gave a firm shake.
"You're very trusting," Kakashi murmured in fond approval. "My friend's really going to like you..."
.-.
Naruto was standing a few feet from Ino's parents' flowershop when Kyuubi stirred inside him. He'd rushed to check on Sakura first, because she was always
on the move these days, either on her way to see Sasuke or on her way back, or visiting Ino, or buying flowers for Sasuke and Lee. He knew she wasn't at the
hospital so he'd hurried to catch her en route wherever she was. He didn't know what Kyuubi was talking about, but he believed something was happening.
The fox demon had never made a habit of lying to him, or talking to him at all, for that matter.
'Another one is gone,' Kyuubi told him suddenly, in a tone that wasn't quite as cold and unconcerned as the last two times. He was sounding worried now,
rumbling in a way that almost came off as more frightened than angry. 'Too close this time. He may be next.'
Naruto flinched away from the flowershop, panic edging over his face. He'd spotted Sakura inside, talking angrily with Ino, so he knew it wasn't her. Kyuubi
wouldn't tell him details. He wouldn't say which ones of his friends were disappearing. Dying? That was the only thing Naruto could think of. And Kyuubi's
cryptic demon thoughts were just turning dead into 'removed from this world'. He couldn't concentrate enough to force a straight answer from the fox. He could
barely hold still as it was. That made three of them. Three of his friends were gone and he didn't even know which ones? Who'd done it? Who he had left to try
and protect, whether he'd be able to protect them even if he did know. The last two had come within minutes of each other.
'Who!' Naruto demanded, too frantic and upset to sound as angry as he felt. 'Who's gone? Who's next? Tell me where to go! What do I do? What's happening
- is someone attacking Konoha? Just tell me!'
'Go to the hospital now,' Kyuubi growled, sharper than before, louder somehow. 'As fast as you can. Use this and let it show to anyone who can sense it.
Hesitate and you'll be as alone as I was.'
Naruto shuddered at the sudden rush of chakra Kyuubi shot at him. He didn't stop to question the order. Sasuke was at the hospital. And Lee. If one of them
was killed because he'd been too slow and embarrassed to bolt through Konoha with Kyuubi's orange chakra blazing around him, he'd never be able to live
with himself. Any ninja strong enough to hurt one of his friends would definitely feel the chakra he was emitting. They'd have to. They'd feel him coming and
they'd run away or come fight him, right? He thought that was the point.
He suddenly wished he'd done better in the exam, whatever 'better' would have been considering he'd won all his matches. Better. Enough to have learned to
teleport so he could get there in an instant. Because someone was picking his friends off one by one, with no sign of it in the village, no one panicking, no
warning at all. Someone was doing it so quickly, so easily, that the last two had disappeared one right after the other. They weren't fighting back, weren't
having enough time to fight back. And Kyuubi might not care about the loss of one of Naruto's friends but each one, any one of them, hurt like nothing had in
years. He ran along the rooftops, going as fast as he could. And every second that passed he waited for Kyuubi to tell him another of his precious few friends
had disappeared from this world.
.-.
PART 3
.-.
FEEDBACK
FANFICTION INDEX