Same Soul • Sasunaru

20. Bloody Orchestra.

Naruto's POV
December 26th
The evening of the Winter Concert
Osaka, Japan.

°•°•°•°

"Y-You did really well tonight N-Naruto-Kun," Hinata stutters as her face falls red and she fiddles with her fingers. We walk together behind the stage's curtain to get the cases for our instruments so the other high school can start their orchestral performance. "Oh, and I meant to ask you...after you ran off at my aunt's Christmas Eve party--are you okay?"

I huff and hang the strap of my cello case around my shoulder. "I don't really know how to explain what happened between me and Sasuke Christmas Eve. But just know that I'm okay, ya know?" I give her a small plastic smile to reassure her that I'm fine: but really I'm not. I never got Sasuke's damn number or anything yesterday! Now I'm scared that I'm never going to talk to him again. We go to two totally different academies in a city with millions of people: it's unlikely that I'll ever see him ever again unless it's in my very dreams. I walk down the staircase beside the stage to become a part of the audience rather than a performer. I expect to see both of my parents in the front row of auditorium seats, but I only see my mom smiling warmly to me in greeting. I feel abandoned over the fact that my father hasn't seen my performance with the orchestra, and I wonder where he is. "Mom, where is da-"

"Attention, beautiful citizens of Osaka," a familiar masculine voice booms across the room from the microphone. I turn around quickly in response to see my father standing on the stage; his golden hair reflecting the spotlight and contrasting against his navy blue suit. "I'm Minato Namikaze, have an announcement to make to you all."

I see movement within the side isles of the auditorium in my peripheral view, and it causes me to jump in fear. My eyes follow it to see people in black and grey uniform with swords close to their backs in long leather cases. They have a peculiar red marking on the side of their left arms, and wear black and red mask in the shape of various animals. One of the men stands right across from me; and unlike the others, his mask is resting on his forehead to reveal his face. Yet, the lower half of his face is covered with another mask that conceals his mouth. His eyes lay on me sternly with some sort of intent; and my heart begins to race out of my chest in fear. Half of the man is shadowed by the darkness of the audience, and the other is lit up to reveal silky grey hair and a scar that stretches over one of his eyes.

Fear consumes me so much that I can't seem to form the words to tell my mother; I can only choke on my own air as I feel like a frightened prey. Before I find the courage, the man knods directly towards me, and continues to concel his face with the cat mask. My father's voice babbles in the back of my mind and my vision begins to blur and I lose my balance. Who are these strange people? Are they here to hurt my dad?

"As you may be aware, I served a term as mayor of Osaka over sixteen years ago. I was the youngest mayor this city has even seen, and one of the most beloved. After taking a decade and a half to raise my only son, I've come to a decision," my father states, his smooth tone ringing in my ears. "I am going to run for my second term as mayor this upcoming election, and I hope for you to follow me on my journey through this campaign."

I gasp loudly at his words, and my breath stand still in shock. I murmur softly to myself as I begin to lose my conciousness. "My dad...as mayor? A-Again?" My sight swirls and flickers as
I fall dizzy, and can't control my legs anymore. I've given up trying to control myself, so I let myself fall as my mother's voice echoes to me from several feet away in her seat.

I reach her hands out to her, yet, another set of hands reaches out for me and grasps my shoulders with a familiar touch. I spin my head around to face the person behind me, but I can't quite make out the face. His porcelin skin, near-black eyes and soft raven hair makes me blush, but things still aren't clarible. "S-Sasuke?" I whisper under my breath, my eyelids closing involuntarily and I lean more of my weight onto the person holding me close.

He male chuckles with a hint of offense, "Not exactly, Naruto." His right hand slithers down my arm and tugs my hand, motioning me to go. Without any control over myself phsically, I let him manipulate me as we begin to run down the isle in the middle of the auditorium. My eyesight sharpens at the sound of his voice,
and I gain full conciousness and control. "S-Sai-kun? What are you doing? W-Where are the going?" I let go of his hand to release myself from the briskness of his skin.

"Naruto, please! We need to go immediately, we don't have time!" he commands of me out of aggression. I've never seen so much emotion come out of his voice and his eyes; it shocks me. He shoves my shoulders towards the large set of metal double doors that is the exit. He slams the side of his body into the door to open it, and we end up in the lobby of the building. Before the door could close, I look back to see my father's face from the stage; his lips parted and snowflake eyes widened at the sight of me being pulled away from him.

My skater sneakers squeak against the marble floor of the lobby as I rip my hands out of Sai's and take a step back. "Listen Sai, I'm really sorry about saturday night at the party. I didn't mean to ditch you, it's really complicated and everything and-"

"That isn't important, Naruto," he interrupts as he folds his arms and adjusts his posture. "I need to talk to you about Sasuke. You really shouldn't be around him anymore, okay? He's a dark person surrounded by dangerous and very powerful people."

I growl and suck air through my teeth.  "Baka! If you're jealous Sai then just tell me, ya know?! You don't gotta put Sasuke down for it! I already apologized to you, damnit!" I stomp my foot on the floor infront of him and pout in attempt to look angry and bold. But really I'm thinking about why I stood up for Sasuke like that. Why I bother to help someone I don't know; even though a close friend of mine is trying to warn me about him.

Sai furrows his eyebrows and points towards the entrance of the auditorium to make a point. "You saw all those people lined up in their right, Naruto? Those are federal agents known as the Anbu there to protect your father from being assassinated by a group called the Akatsuki. And you know who runs the Akatsuki? Sasuke's damned brother, Itatchi!"

My eyes narrow in disbelief as my feet step back. "No, no that can't be true...Sai, how do you know all this stuff anyways? How can I trust you?" I wipe my eyes with the sleeve of my sweatshirt before staring at his pale face in need of a reasonable response.

He looks down towards the floor in hurt at the fact I can't trust him, but soon brushes it off and lays his hand on my shoulder with care. "I'm part of a youth division of the Anbu called The Foundation. But that doesn't matter right now. I just need you to leave as soon as possible with your mother before the Akatsuki and Sasuke take-"

Suddenly, a pair of arms wraps around my body and pulls me away. I find my head laying against a warm, muscular chest as I'm unable to move my arms from this person's impenetrable embrace on me. Sai puts on a face of disgust in response to his actions. I can hear the man's heart pounding rapidly, and his breathing becoming heavy. "Never put your damn hands on him ever again, you bastard!"

He cups the sides of my face and lifts my head up to face him. Here I am, glancing into the eyes of the boy I never though I'd see again. But his face isn't happy as you'd expect. Rather it's full of evil and devious intents. "You're coming with me, Uzumaki. Whether you like it or not." A malicious grin crawls up his face as he holds me under my knees and lifts me into his arms.

My emotions feel discombobulated; as are tears are dripping off my jawline, my face is also bright red with blush. I don't know who to trust, and everything feels all new and unknown to me in this moment. It makes me unsure and indecisive about what to do next. In consequence, I let Sasuke keep me in the comfort of his arms as he knocks Sai out cold and kidnaps me; rushing me outside of the building and into the frigid night.

And I don't know why.