Captive

By: Silverwolf

There was an uprise in the Uchiha household as Fugaku sits reading a letter from his oldest son. Word of Itachi quitting college and disappearing had spread. Fugaku looks at Mikoto, "if I find that boy I swear I'll skin him alive." Sasuke looks towards his father. Fugaku looks at his youngest son. "You had better be studying. You have to restore the honor to your family. Your brother won't; he can't even be found."

That had been the only statement Sasuke heard from his father before his life became an everlasting point of control. He didn't care for the studying his father required him to put into his classes or the responsibility now placed upon his shoulders. Though he could state that his father still had not located Itachi.

Sasuke sits daydreaming about the possibly of disappearing just as Itachi had. Thus far it hadn't happened even though Sasuke had received several letters from Itachi without a return address. From the letters Sasuke could determine Itachi was well... that was if he believed them.

Sasuke had gone through the letter several times. The younger Uchiha had noticed small differences in the writing. This left Sasuke to believe that Itachi hadn't actually wrote the letters. Though the teen didn't know exactly who had visited the places the letters were mailed from. The teen had determined it had to be someone close to the family because of the fond memories found in the pages. Sasuke didn't have the answers as to why he didn't believe the letters other than the tiny differences in the handwriting along the paper. Both of his parents had simply told their son that the letters had to be from Itachi. He opinion of the sight differences in th handwriting had been that no one ever forms each letter they write exactly the same every time they write it.

The raven teen sits with his textbook. His homework was long completed, but if he kept a textbook open his father wouldn't ask him any questions about what he was actually doing. Sasuke closes the book and returns to his room. Fugaku notices the paper sitting along the table. He stares at it in silence. Was Sasuke becoming suspicious of past events? It was entirly possible.

If Sasuke discovered someone else wrote the letter instead of Itachi the teen would certainly raise hell. Not even Mikoto had been able to tell the difference between the handwriting across the pages and her oldest son Itachi's handwriting. Maybe she didn't wish to believe that Itachi was missing.

Sasuke was always the one that was hard to convince. The raven teen never believed anything he couldn't prove himself. Now the teen had spent hours staring at the letters along with a binder Fugaku hadn't been able to locate in Sasuke's room when it wasn't in the teen's possession. When asked about it Sasuke would always tell his father it was school work.

Also Sasuke had gone through Itachi's college textbooks and schoolwork trying to locate a reason for Itachi to just disappear. It wasn't as if Sasuke could take the concerns he held to someone in law efforcement... his father was the chief. Instead the raven teen would have to figure out the truth by himself.

His mother grew silent everytime Sasuke asked if she'd heard anything from Itachi. It was as if something had happened that was quite the secret. Though Sasuke also knew the control his father placed upon his mother. And according to everything he'd read the longer someone is kept under control the more they protected the person contoling them.

Sasuke hears his father yell for him. The teen steps back into the room only to notice his father with the sheet of paper in his hand. "What is this?" Sasuke blinks and then crosses his arms. Refusal to answer would gain him a punishment, but it would also maintain the younger Uchiha's pride. He listens to Fugaku once again. "Sasuke, what is this...it looks like notes, but the subject is not usually the study of a high school student. Are you taking a college class?" Sasuke snatches the paper. Fugaku narrows his eyes, "you want to act that way you can stay in your room for the night." Sasuke disappears from sight without a word.

~[X}~

There's a draft felt as wind picks up. The narrow storage closet wasn't ever warm. The tattered blankets weren't much help. Sitting along a cot shoved against the back corner of the closet was indeed the missing Uchiha. Itachi's eyes fall closed as his head lowers against tattered clothing.

There wasn't a point in calling for help any longer. Though the experiment proved he could be heard none had found his location. From what Itachi could remember the door to the narrow space had been hidden within a clothing closet anyway.