-1Konohamaru
charges.
He is
outmatched, of course. Uchiha Sasuke is not called a genius for
nothing. But he has taken hold, and no matter how many times he is
stabbed, he will not let go.
"You
can't beat me," the other man says. "Don't waste your last
moments on a battle you can't win."
Konohamaru shakes his head. "Don't make the mistake of underestimating me," he whispers. His vision blurs, and he charges in for one last attack--
Sasuke
grabs him and presses both hands to his throat.
---
"Sasuke-sama's orders," the guard says, as he leads Konohamaru through the village. "You're to come to his quarters."
As he enters the room, Konohamaru can not help but notice the kunai lying on the table--exactly within reaching distance, while still almost managing to look as though it had not been placed there deliberately... His eye flickers between it and the man on the bed in front of him, who is lying in the same carelessly precise manner. Uchiha Sasuke looks at him and smiles, a silent challenge.
It sends shivers down his spine. But only for an instant.
I'll
make you pay for your arrogance,
he vows, and charges.
---
Sasuke grabs Konohamaru's wrist and pulls him up beside him on the bed. "Failures," he says, snatching the kunai (dropped in their encounter) up in a single swift motion, "can not hope to defeat me."
"Don't automatically assume you are better than me."
Sasuke's eyebrows come together sharply for a moment, but then it passes. "Tell me, Konohamaru," he says softly, "did you think I would kill you?" He rests the point against Konohamaru's throat. "Do you think I will kill you?"
Konohamaru stares back at him defiantly, but his heart is beating furiously.
Sasuke moves the blade away. "Not today," he says smoothly. "Perhaps another day."
---
"Did I tell you how I killed him?" he asks, running one finger down Konohamaru's chest.
Konohamaru just scowls. Don't rise to it, don't rise to it, don't rise, don't rise... He still remembers the day Naruto left the village, never to return.
"Even demons bleed," Sasuke says carelessly, "and he no longer was. It was a slow, painful death."
Don't
rise, don't rise...
"I've gotten better at killing since then," he continues, pulling Konohamaru against his chest. "Yours will be better."
Don't
rise, don't rise, but his breath
catches in his throat.
---
The scene is quickly becoming familiar to him: Sasuke lounging on the bed, the kunai resting on the table like he couldn't be bothered to take it off. Konohamaru charges, as usual, but his hands are shaking so badly he almost drops it. Sasuke counters easily, and letting the kunai fall to the floor, he pins Konohamaru down--
--Konohamaru reaches for it, swings once, desperately--
Sasuke grabs his wrist easily, without even having to look at him. "You've gotten worse over the past few weeks," he comments.
"I hate you."
For some reason, this seems to please him more than anything. "I know."
---
This time, he really does drop the kunai. Sasuke reaches out automatically to pull him onto the bed, before realizing what Konohamaru's done.
He smiles, a long, lazy smile. "I know people like you," he says. "You fight desperately, rushing headlong into battles you cannot win. Always...you insist on deluding youself into believing you are better than your opponent. But is that what you truly think? Tell me, Konohamaru-kun. Which one of us is the stronger?"
Konohamaru says nothing, but when Sasuke draws a finger down his back, he bites into the pillow, knowing it's all the answer Sasuke needs.
---
This time, Sasuke visits him in his cell.
He feels nothing when Sasuke strides across and presses the kunai to his throat. He should start, should register some sort of danger, but he can only wonder, idly, if this is the same kunai Konohamaru tried to kill him with. It probably is.
"I know fools like you," Sasuke repeats. "You fight bitterly--and for what? For this?" He smiles languidly. "You would have done better to keep your grandfather's name. You never did half as well with just yourself."
Slowly, he begins to draw the blade across Konohamaru's throat--
--and Konohamaru reaches up and wrests it away. The two are left blinking, confused, in the battle's wake.
Sasuke's hands twitch angrily as he shoves Konohamaru to the wall. "For what...for what? Fighting hopeless battles...always fighting. And for what?"
"I couldn't let you think you'd won," he replies shakily.
Dark eyes flare. Konohamaru gasps as Sasuke seizes him by the throat. "You forget," he snarls. "I have already won. I can kill you. I have killed you!" Two deep breaths, and he loosens his hold slightly. "But not today. I'll show you...Naruto, this is how I should have killed you! This time, you won't be able to die with a smile on your face."
"My name," Konohamaru replies, meeting Sasuke's eyes with a challenge, "isn't Naruto. But I--I will kill you for him."
He can play this game as well.