Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Lesson Two
The Five Senses
x
When his anger had finally abandoned him, all he had left was nothing. The ashes that were swept up by an errant wind strayed across his scorched taste buds. The decomposing fumes of a nearby corpse could not penetrate the congestion of his indifference. Numbness clogged the shocked receptors of his skin. His strained breaths were drowned in silence.
"What happened here?"
"Don't care. Look for anything of worth. I'm tired of eating fucking rats."
"Take a look at this guy, got some damn fine metal on him." Kurosawa, the sword still stained with Mifune's blood, was unbuckled from Sasuke's belt. "How much do you think this samurai armor will go for?"
The samurai armor, piece by piece, began to be flayed from Sasuke's person.
"This isn't going to last. Stealing isn't going to feed us forever. I say we go back. I hear the Mizukage is invading Konoha."
"Go back to serving that psychopath of a Kage? And I had thought Yagura was bad. No, I like being a free agent."
"A starving free agent reduced to stealing from the dead."
"I did worst things in ANBU."
Left lying naked in the middle of the clearing, Sasuke's breath filled his lungs like a hollow attempt to light an empty forge.
Never did Sasuke imagine that death could be a hell of darkness, a never-ending torturous hell of darkness.
X
Sound
X
Wheels rattled down the road. Wood grazed plotholes and splintered over rocks, then stopped.
The snow was brushed away like digging up dirt from a grave. A pad of rough fingers pushed against a throat, searching for a heartbeat, and found one.
It beat a struggling rhythm.
Sasuke was dug from the ground. A sharp clash of metal snapped around his wrists. He was lifted and tossed against a thud of wooden boards. Sasuke jolted forward at the sudden motion that moved through his chest. The sound of rattling wheels continued, plowing soft at first through the snow and then rattling on dry ground. The jostling created a constant clash of metal against metal. Heavy breathing labored the air.
"Old man." A distinct high-pitched voice, a child, fought with the sound of metal chains. "You're naked."
The cold couldn't penetrate the blanket of Sasuke's numbness.
"Does it matter?" Another voice, full of a fury and hate Sasuke knew too well. "It's not as if we're any better off."
"Would you two shut up?" Another voice grumbled.
"Are you a ninja?" The child continued to question. The words brought a tension that squeezed the spaces of silence. The child received no answer but continued anyways, "My dad was a ninja… but he died. Only a ninja has scars like you do."
The wooden wheels gave a loud creak from the weight they bore.
"Do you think… you can… rescue us?"
The child's high-pitched scream cut sharp, then died abruptly and left behind nothing but the constant groans of persistent wood. Sasuke released the child's strangled neck that had been twisted in the chains locked around Sasuke's wrists. The corpse thudded over, punctuated by gasps and an uneasy melancholy.
And all was silent again.
When Sasuke struck the kunai against the table, he could hear the durable bonds of metal. Then he grounded the rough metal edge and scratched against the bluntness until it squeaked sharp. He tested the edge across his palm and reveled in the familiarity of a kunai across his skin.
Only then did he hear the sound of a beep.
"Hurry up before the masters come," urged the woman that worked beside him on the station. Every few minutes, she was always shifting her weight, and Sasuke found himself annoyed by the constant motion.
Finished sharpening the kunai that he held, he placed it back on the conveyor belt and picked up the next one. He went through the same motions as before: chink, grind, squeak. The rhythm settled into his bones and sharpened into an obsessive focus on the sounds, anything to distract him from the darkness he was trapped in.
The woman beside him shifted, unevenly punctuating the rhythm in which he worked.
The background was a constant war of cranking machines. It reminded Sasuke of the monstrous hum associated with the metal factories in Iron Country except now, in the middle of it, the hum was a never-ending roar. A blast of steam, which happened every twenty two seconds, screeched heat into his face. Then Sasuke coughed and wheezed on the difficult heavy air.
Sasuke frowned at the sudden sound of stuttering metal. The hilt of the kunai rattled loosely. Sasuke placed this kunai into the defective pile. Sasuke continued the task for eighteen hours every day every week without rest. It was a mindless repetitive task, a crutch that kept his body moving as mechanical as a machine.
Suddenly a burst of color and light sparked before his eyes. Sasuke used to swat these memories away with ease, shoving them back down into his psyche to never experience again, but this time, he lingered in the brief respite from the darkness.
The sharp ebony cut across his hand, and in the next second he found that same kunai tensed at his throat. The match was at an end.
Instinctively, Sasuke looked over at his father who sat crossed-legged on the porch observing the match. The white fragility of cherry blossoms floated on the wind and swept past the disapproving expression.
"You did well, Sasuke," Itachi said encouragingly. "Next time you should set your feet like-"
Itachi's advice was interrupted as Sasuke shoved away Itachi's helpful hand, then stomped off, shaking with an anger that perhaps he had all of his life. As Sasuke walked away, he could hear his father and Itachi begin to talk.
"Not good enough. You need to be more ruthless," Fugaku berated his oldest son.
Then the bright green of the training field and the dancing cherry blossoms of Konoha began to darken and eventually fade. Slipping away, Sasuke grasped at the details: the hard lines in his Father's face, the embittered coal of Itachi's eyes, the sturdy wood of a cherry blossom tree he had burned down a long time ago, the ashes of which, he could taste on his tongue.
And Sasuke remembered his father's words, even though they caused a confused line of emotion to cross his brow. Sasuke's Itachi was perfect, disgustingly perfect. But the Itachi of Sasuke's memories were less so. There were mistakes, if Sasuke cared to pay attention to the details. There was a bitterness between Itachi and Fugaku that revealed far more complicated motivations beyond just a brother's love.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
The tyrannical screech that signaled a stall in the line pierced through Sasuke's consciousness. The woman beside him on the backed-up station was sending him panicked whispers to get his attention.
"This is the fourth time you have held up the line this week!"
Sasuke heard the heavy footsteps of the line driver charging towards him. He heard the snap of the whip when it touched the air. He felt when the whip dig deep into his back.
"Stop it!" The woman who annoyed him was the only person to defend him, even when he wouldn't. "Can't you see he's blind? Give him a break."
Sasuke collapsed to his knees. Sasuke's been in a number of battles in his lifetime but without the adrenaline to numb the pain, he felt every strike of the whip as it snapped across his back. He didn't bother to do anything to stop it. What did it matter anymore?
Only the whistle that indicated the shift's end had saved him from dying on the polluted factory floor.
Arms reached under him and a few of his coworkers helped him from the ground. He didn't move and didn't bother trying to make their task any easier. He could recognized their voices but he never once acknowledged them when they spoke to him. He was carried into the cell that imprisoned them at night and the iron bars screeched close.
Cloth ripped in his ear and was soon applied to the wounds slashed across his back. Coughs racked his chest, stinging the cuts. Piss dribbled down his pants, dripped onto the stone floor, and added to the overwhelming pungent smell of piss and shit in the cell.
The women finished fussing over him when it seemed there was nothing more they could do to help. Sasuke knocked his head on the soft earthen wall behind him. If he really wanted to, he could have easily twisted the wall with a jutsu, if only he cared enough.
At shift's end, he slept in a small cell with the others that worked his line. Unable to not overhear the constant gossip and conversation, he knew that all of his cellmates were either handicapped or women. The hardier men were designated to more labor intensive tasks in other parts of the factory.
All of the women were pregnant.
Sasuke closed his eyes to the sound of screams that at first he thought were those of torture, but they were nothing more than the manic screams of a woman about to give life.
The screams lasted for hours, until finally, the cry of a newborn swallowed the cell. Then the cell door creaked open and a mournful silence strained the air. The wailing newborn always faded into the distant unknown.
They'll be back for the mother. They always came back to drag the woman to the next cell over. The walls were thin and it was easy to hear the screams and the pounding of flesh. Some women didn't scream, resigned to their fate as Sasuke was to his. And how easy that resignation was - life was no longer fighting an uphill battle. Sasuke was content staying in the mud.
A soft crumble of dirt gave way. Sudden gasps and shrieks erupted throughout the cell and interrupted the mechanical routine Sasuke's life had become. He heard the distinct metal of a pouch filled with a tumble of kunai. Cloth dragged. It sounded the sort of clothes hardy enough to tunnel underground.
Iwa ninja.
A heavy metal – that of the cell door- groaned and twisted, then finally snapped apart. It dropped a heavy thud into the dirt.
"Are you here to save us?" The woman that worked at Sasuke's side of the conveyor belt was the only one brave enough to ask. The rest had lost hope a long time ago.
The Iwa ninja had anger in his voice. "I am here to defeat Mountain."
Two weeks after Iwa invaded Mountain, the slaves were finally marched out of their cells. Sasuke joined the rasping coughs of hundreds of other pungent bodies whom he guessed had been collected from the other cells throughout the factory. It was odd not to hear the roar of cranking machinery. He didn't miss it, but it was just, odd.
Sasuke didn't put up any resistance when Iwa ninja began shoving everyone into lines. In comparison to a shinobi, a civilian's footsteps were akin to the sound of oxen stomping the ground. Therefore Sasuke could always tell when a ninja drew near him.
Then he heard a voice, one that Sasuke recognized from the Fourth Shinobi war. The voice was gruff, as if it had been swallowing gravel his entire life, and belonged to Oonoki's son, Kitsuchi, probably the Tsuchikage by now. "What is this place?"
"Tsuchikage-sama," Sasuke assumptions were confirmed, "these are the factories that Mountain used to create their stock of weapons. It's a sophisticated weapon's assembly line similar to the technology in Iron Country."
"How did Mountain get a hold of Iron Country's technology?"
"That has yet to be determined. Judging from interviewing a few of the factory workers, it seems that some were kidnapped from their homes during the chaos of the war but most are Mountain's own people…" A gulp and the advisor quickly changed his sentence, "our own people. Additionally, the women workers were also a sub-division of their resurrected breeding program."
"We could use this to our advantage and bolster the numbers we have lost in the war. Detain all the pregnant women until they give birth and confiscate any child born with chakra. What to do with the rest of the captives can be decided at your discretion but keep a fraction of the workers here to continue manufacturing more weapons. Maybe the next war will be years from now, but Iwa will be ready. At this point, Konoha has undeniably emerged from this war as the world's hegemon but it's a tentative position at best." The Tsuchikage's voice faded down the hallway.
Iwa hadn't come to liberate anyone. They came with a vengeance. But for the lives of most of these civilians, much hadn't changed.
The next person was shouted for in line. Sasuke dragged his feet forward and ran into something heavy and metal. The flutter of paper scattered into the air.
"What are we going to do with some blind guy?" A kunoichi asked. There was always something in a voice that distinguished a ninja from civilian – a metal edge.
"I don't see how he can be of any use to us. We should just let him go," another ninja replied, bored.
"Wait. You know, without all the dirt, this one is pretty. Very pretty. We can sell him for a bit of money in Kumo. At this point, Iwa can use whatever money we can get."
"We were on the winning side of this war but why does it feel as if we still lost?"
"Could be worse. Could be Kiri."
The two ninja laughed, that uncomfortable laugh during an awkward situation when an appropriate response was hard to find, just the laughter, seemingly out of place and yet just right.
"Could be Kiri."
X
Smell
X
It was a known fact that Kumogakure had the largest red lights district in the world, so large that it metaphorically and literally floated above all others and was an important center of tourism and income for the ninja village. Because of its cultural and economic importance the government largely left it to its own devices to expand and encompass all manner of immorality as it saw fit.
"50,000 ryo." The Iwa kunoichi pressed.
Sasuke didn't look up as yet another bidding war erupted over his person. He was among a few others that Iwa had deemed valuable enough to sell, but evidently the hardest buy as he was the last left standing.
The owner of this brothel talked as if she always had tobacco stuck in her throat. Sasuke didn't flinch when the end of the kiseru pipe stabbed him in the eye. But the tobacco was sweet and reminded him of the grass that grew along the rivers of Fire Country.
"This one is useless. He has no charisma, no spark of life - nothing to charm customers." It was the same sentiment that all the other brothel owners had expressed.
"What does a whore need with fucking charisma?!" The Iwa-nin asked exasperatedly. Her clipped words betrayed her impatience.
"A whore needs more than an asshole to retain a customer." The Madam released another outtake of smoke, hitting Sasuke directly in the face. "Don't tell me how to run my business, Iwa-nin. Besides, none of the brothels are ever going to buy him for that price. We already have to deal with a raise in taxes from that damn war."
The Iwa-nin grated her teeth in frustration, like the sound of grinding a kunai to its fine edge. "Imagine the possibilities," The kunoichi attempted to wheedle, "His midnight blue hair and brooding expression… like that of an Uchiha!" The kunoichi said with a sudden epiphany. "Put in some red contacts and you've got yourself a profit."
The Madam spat tobacco. "What's the point of having an Uchiha when they have an Uzumaki look-a-like across the street ruining my business? Come back when you've found me a blonde hair blue-eyed whore. That is what is in demand nowadays."
"There is?" The Iwa-nin asked with a little too much interest. The door creaked. "Wait! 25,000 ryo!"
"Sold," the Madam said immediately. Coins chimed, then Sasuke was being pulled through the brothel.
"Let's first get you cleaned and washed. We fuck like animals but we don't have to smell like one," the Madam said with a much softer voice, completely different from the one she used when bartering. "Then we'll talk."
Several servants, the various children of the occupying prostitutes, helped to give him a wash. The soap smelled of peppermint and the shampoo smelled of cherry blossoms. It took a lot of scrubbing to scrape away the rancid smell of factory work. Suddenly, it occurred to Sasuke that he kind of did care. He preferred the refreshing and enticing smells of the brothel versus the muck and smoke of the factory.
Finally, he could breathe.
The snips of scissors cut by his ear. He couldn't see what they did to his hair but there was a noticeable weight lifted. He knew from his days running from hunter-nin that if allowed to grow feral, his hair could get long and unruly, a genetic trait he had evidently inherited from Madara. His hair was framed about his face and the rest was pulled back into a long ponytail, but even after being attacked with copious amounts of conditioner, there was still that part in the back that stuck up.
The distinct smell of shaving cream was spread across his jaw. A razor slid across the thin and fine beard that had laid claim to Sasuke's jaw.
The softness of silk shocked his hard-scrubbed skin. The silk robe smelled as if it had been soaked in a tub of light perfume. While Sasuke breathed in the comfort of soft fragrances, he didn't even mind when his hand was lifted and placed on the shoulder of one of the servants to be guided out the bath.
Once again he stepped into the overwhelming smell of sweet tobacco and knew he had entered the Madam's room. Spring, it smelled like spring in Konoha, and a pang of nostalgia hit his chest, surprising Sasuke that he missed something so simple.
"Don't I know how to make a deal," the Madam greeted smugly. "You are a pretty one. I bet the girls fawned over you when you were younger." After a pause, "Are you mute as well as blind? Guess it doesn't matter. Here, sit."
Sasuke sat down in an encirclement of soft pillows and for the very first time since Sasuke lost his sight, he opened his mouth to speak. "May I have a smoke?"
Oddly enough, his own voice sounded odd to his ear as if it belonged to a stranger.
Sasuke felt soft wrinkled hands around his own, and would have hated the touch, but tolerated it out of necessity. The kiseru pipe was placed in his hand. Inhaled, he took a deep relaxing exhale and focused on the colors that danced behind his eyelids.
"Lucky for you, this is more of a high-end brothel. Even that Iwa idiot knew you were worth more than a lower-end establishment. This brothel serves both a male and female clientele. I have decided you will primarily be serving my shinobi clients. Your blindness certainly helps with the discretion they typically require and they tend to gravitate toward their own ilk." The Madam said meaningfully, having already guessed that Sasuke was once a ninja. "Typically, the only ninja with a high enough pay grade to afford my services are Jounin-level and above."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed at the thought. The only ninja paid higher than Jounin was ANBU, a Clan Head, or a Kage. The Madam certainly could have paid the initial requested price if she had wanted to.
"Do you understand? Sometimes ninja of that caliber can get a bit rough and there's not much anyone here can do to stop them once angered."
"I fear no one," Sasuke said with an offended sneer. It seemed while the dirt had been scrubbed off, so had some of the numbness and shock of the past year.
Sasuke could have walked out with ease, but what was the point? He had nowhere to go. Without his eyes he couldn't continue gathering and mastering jutsu. All Sasuke really wanted to do right now was finish smoking this tobacco.
Then in a very stern tone, the madam demanded, "Do not kill any of my clients. Understand that and we will have no problems. Now, we need to figure out a way to advertise you."
The smell of hot cider grew stronger as the presence of the Madam neared. "I do like the idea of the Uchiha. You do fit the look. The Uchiha are a dead clan so the rarity will bring in a demand. What was that Uchiha that made such a big fuss during the Fourth Shinobi War?" She made testing sounds before the name Madara finally came to her lips. "Yes, Madara Uchiha – the great enemy of the Fourth Shinobi War."
"That is not my name," Sasuke said annoyed, irked even.
"Flesh is not the only thing I sell here. No one, not a civilian, or a merchant, or a ninja wants to live in this fucked up world. Anyone will do anything for a little bit of an escape. I'm in the business of selling fantasies."
Sasuke tensed at the sudden pop of the button on his pants. He seethed at the sudden warmth that caved around his dick. He bucked his hips, rolling a growing erection into the moistness of the Madam's skilled mouth.
There was a starved moan, and slowly Sasuke realized he had made that desperate strangled sound.
Sasuke drowned in the smell of upturned grass while training in the hot Konoha sun, the cinnamon cider perfume was reminiscent of the apple trees in fall, the lingering cherry blossoms in his hair swept of early spring, and the fresh shaving cream smelled of his father in the early mornings. These scents gave life to long buried memories, and for a few brief moments, Sasuke could see.
X
Taste
X
It's been a week since Sasuke their last training session and still Orochimaru refuses to train him. Sasuke knew what the Sannin wanted, it was made quite clear when Orochimaru had grabbed for Sasuke's crotch and the cool level-headed Sasuke had panicked.
Sasuke had known Orochimaru wanted to eventually take his body as his own, he had noticed that Orochimaru was fucking strange, but it had come as a surprise to Sasuke when Orochimaru overtly expressed his want for Sasuke's body in other ways.
Sasuke decided that if he wasn't going to learn any new jutsu, he might as well return to Konoha but his pride made that an impossible option. He had come this far. He couldn't turn back now. Finally after days of reasoning and attempting to mentally come to terms with what he had to do, Sasuke sat up in bed. He left his room and walked down the hallway, deeper into Orochimaru's lair.
Not to break his determination, Sasuke didn't stop to knock but shoved open Orochimaru's door and froze.
"Orochimaru-sama!" Kabuto mewled. "I want to be one with you…"
"In due time," Orochimaru whispered, almost wistfully as his hips thrust forward and slammed into Kabuto's ass. Then, Orochimaru looked up at the sound of the door swinging wide and his smirk stretched into a wide grin. "Sasuke-kun."
Then Orochimaru roughly caught Kabuto by the back of the neck and shoved him forward. Kabuto fell over and crashed onto the bedroom floor. Disgruntled and tossed to the wayside, Kabuto gathered his clothes, bowed, and stomped out the room shoving past Sasuke hard against the shoulder.
Sasuke was definitely having second thoughts now. Porn had never been a priority for Sasuke. He knew how it worked between a man and a woman from biology books but until now he had no idea a cock could fit into someone's butthole. He knew men could be lovers, but never really comprehended how it worked. This was more than just the stroking Sasuke had thought it was going to be.
"Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru drawled as if to a frightened child. And that tone pissed Sasuke off. Defiantly, he took a step forward.
"How far are you willing to go for power?"
As of late, Sasuke has been asking that same question of himself often.
"Whatever it takes," Sasuke whispered. Even if that meant becoming a missing-nin and abandoning Konoha. Even if that meant losing his virginity to Orochimaru. Because at some point, you cross a line and can never turn back. The only thing left to do was continue down a path that even Sasuke could tell was burning up behind him.
Sasuke stepped forward. Then he reached for the hem of his shirt, took it off, folded it, and placed it on the dresser. He did the same for his pants. Before he could reached for his boxers, Orochimaru snatched at his hair and force Sasuke to his knees. Sasuke stared as another's man's cock stood upright before him. By the back of Sasuke's head, Orochimaru pushed him forward and it wasn't until Sasuke's lips touched the crown of Orochimaru's cock did Sasuke understand what his mentor wanted.
Whatever it takes.
Sasuke closed his eyes and slid the hot organ into his mouth. Sasuke almost threw-up at the taste, but he swallowed the bile and enveloped the taste of cock that had been inside Kabuto only a few moments ago.
"Suck, Sasuke-kun." Orochimaru coached his young ward, shuddering at the image of Sasuke's budding lips around him.
Sasuke focused on Orochimaru's commands. If he could compartmentalize each task, focus on the mechanical completion of it, it was easier that way. Sasuke hadn't been warned before he suddenly found himself with a mouth full of semen that he coughed out and wasted down his chin.
Sasuke would never forget the taste of Orochimaru's cock.
"Damn, for a blind guy, you're fucking good at this."
Sasuke snapped open his eyes at the sound of a stranger's voice and found himself trapped in a darkness as deep as the lairs of Orochimaru. It wasn't until the smell of tobacco and perfume wafted pass his nose did his shoulders ease and he recognized where he was. And the taste in his mouth.
But if you compartmentalized each task, and focus on the mechanical completion of it, it was easier that way. Sasuke returned to sucking off his client and anchored his senses on the distinct taste of another man's cock. Suddenly, his mouth was overwhelmed by his client's orgasm. The thickness slid down his tongue, going down salty before he swallowed. It was only recently that Sasuke realized everyone had their own taste, and thus far, no one's cum had tasted as disgusting as Orochimaru's had.
Sasuke listened to the heavy breathing of his client and turned toward the strong scent of tobacco. His hand carefully searched for the ashtray and lifted the kiseru pipe still warm with heat. Sasuke fitted the fine shreds of tobacco, heated the base and allowed the sweet taste to overwhelm his mouth.
Sasuke flinched at the sudden hand on his arm, and it took several seconds for him to put down the kiseru aimed like a kunai. Sasuke gave in to his client's wants and descended on a mouth that tasted of cigarette and a hint of fish and rice.
Sasuke often found his male clients easier. At least it was familiar territory. He was still rather intimately uncomfortable around women, a fact the Madam had caught onto, and normally paired Sasuke with men unless the money was really good.
The client released him roughly, but Sasuke was used to that. The heat of his client's breath spat, "I killed my wife."
Sasuke wasn't sure if the man was angry about it or regretful.
"Came back from the war and found her fucking the neighbor… then I killed her."
There were times when the clients weren't interest in sex but instead would pay thousands of ryo just to lighten the demons from their chest. After all, what secrets could a blind prostitute possibly betray?
That was a part of the fantasy Sasuke realized ninja craved the most - not comfort, not sex, but someone to trust. Once upon a time, Sasuke would have regarded the craving as a weakness – something that eerily resembled bonds – but now, he just felt empty.
X
Touch
X
It seemed as if every blind person in the Four Shinobi Nations could play the biwa, except Sasuke. He didn't know whether or not it was a matter of applying the right force to the strings but his songs were always discordant and ended when an unexpected snap under his hand.
It frustrated Sasuke that he sucked at it, which is why he obsessively set himself to mastering the skill during his free time. If only Sasuke could see someone play.
Warmth began to flush against Sasuke's cheeks and he knew the sun was rising. Sasuke had always enjoyed silence but he has come to appreciate the bird songs of the early morning.
There was a knock at his door. It was a quick and assured rasp, not at all hesitant. Sasuke did not bother getting up to greet the Madam when the door slid open. "Madara, I would like you to meet our newest addition."
It was customary for the Madam to introduce the newest "recruit" to everyone. Sasuke did not feel like going through the trouble of getting up just to meet a stranger. Sasuke stayed seated in front of the open window with an estranged "Hn."
"Madara caters to most of our male ninja clientele and has made quite a name for himself in the past few months. Madara, I would like you to meet our Naruto Uzumaki."
Sasuke frowned. He finally turned his head and focused on the second set of breathing, but that only gave him an approximate direction, and could never focus his eyes exactly on his target.
"He looks rather convincing if not a tad too old for my tastes but draw some lines on his face and it will work. Everyone is to call him Naruto for authenticity. Hopefully we can…"
Sasuke tightened his hand around the silver edged tip of his cane, always slightly cold to the touch. At first, Sasuke hated the damn cane but it was better than having to rely on the servants to always get around. Sasuke brought it underneath him and picked himself up, navigating around the items that sometimes the servants and clients moved around in the room. Sasuke ignored the Madam and walked straight toward this "Uzumaki". At once, Sasuke thrust out his hand and literally slapped his palm into the stranger's face.
"Does he do this all the time?" came an awkward chuckle that vibrated against Sasuke's hand.
"No actually," The Madam said quite surprised.
Sasuke touched the man's face and studied the features, wondering, perhaps too paranoid, if this was the real Naruto. It was highly improbable as he had lost the hunter-nin years ago and from what he understood, Naruto was currently Hokage… but there was always the possibility. Were these the features that the Naruto Sasuke remembered would eventually mature into? Will that high-pitched voice of Naruto's childhood one day evolve into the deep baritone that had just rumbled through Sasuke's palm?
For several long minutes, Sasuke stood there and wondered.
Sasuke suddenly lost his balance when the person whose face he was currently groping took a step backwards. Sasuke couldn't do much but flail his arms helplessly before he was caught in sturdy arms.
"I'm sorry…" The stranger who had caught him began.
Sasuke instantly recognized the ninja reflexes and slapped his hands together in a series of seals. Lightning bolted from Sasuke's palms and the flash of light vengefully blinded everyone else in the room. Sasuke knew his jutsu had landed when he heard the heavy weight of a body tear through an entire wall.
"What is wrong with you?!" The Madam gasped. Rushed and worried feet could be heard approaching from down the hall.
"I could have burned it down," Sasuke sneered, but he had intentionally refrained from using a fire jutsu as the brothel was primarily made of wood. Sasuke demanded, "Is he healing?"
"What?" The Madam breathed breathlessly. "You almost burned off his entire shoulder!"
Sasuke frowned. The stranger wasn't healing, which meant he wasn't Naruto Uzumaki but was skilled enough to avoid the jutsu that had targeted the sound of his heartbeat. Or Sasuke was rusty. "I was attempting to determine whether or not he really is Naruto Uzumaki."
The Madam laughed. "You think the Hokage has time to go undercover in a Kumo brothel? You're paying for this shit. One more mess-up and I'll sell you lower-end. Paranoid fucking ninja," the Madam ranted as she stomped away from Sasuke.
There were a lot of people in the room, but Sasuke didn't care as he literally shoved them away with his cane, and then crouched down before the wounded "Naruto".
"You're a ninja," Sasuke determined.
"Ex-ninja," Naruto seethed through gritted teeth. "I used to be a Kumo-nin from Snow Country until a fucking Hyuuga irreparably damaged my chakra networks during the war. Look, I don't know your deal but I need this money."
Sasuke still didn't trust him.
Sasuke couldn't get to sleep. The niggling doubt in Sasuke's head was slowly turning into an obsession. And Sasuke encouraged it because he needed something to obsess over to stay sane. He knew that he had only a few more hours before the brothel opened for the night and probably should get some rest, but couldn't. Finally, Sasuke reached for his cane and navigated the brothel hallways until he stopped in front of Naruto's room.
Sasuke didn't hesitate to slam open the door. Immediately, he noticed the strong scent of maple trees, the kind whose leaves turned deep red and lit Fire Country in flames during autumn.
"What do you want?" There was annoyance in the voice and a sluggishness as if Sasuke had interrupted his sleep.
Sasuke stomped forward, toward the voice, then completely fell and slipped backward on a silk robe. His head rebounded off the hard wooden floor. Sasuke blinked once he realized what had happened and felt strong arms helping him to sit up. "Hey, are you okay? You know, maybe once in a while you should use the cane you are holding." The ex-Kumo nin suggested.
Then Sasuke punched him in the face, annoyed, frustrated, but ultimately embarrassed.
"What the fuck was that-" Then Sasuke reached and tightened his fist through locks of hair and shoved the stranger's mouth onto his. He's kissed Naruto before in the academy but even after going so far as to shove his throat down this person's mouth, Sasuke still wasn't entirely sure of anything.
When their lips parted, simply because they needed to breathe eventually, Sasuke could feel the hesitancy, and nervousness, and awkwardness in his sudden partner.
"You've signed yourself away to a unisex brothel and have never done it with a man?" Sasuke asked suspiciously.
"I had the right look and I heard it could be big money. I figured I'll learn as I go," the man admitted, and Sasuke detected honesty in his words.
It also didn't help that they were still molded against each other from the kiss and Sasuke's semi-erection was forming against Naruto's stomach. Sasuke said with an evil smirk as he leaned forward. "Naruto, I'm going to fuck you in the ass."
Sasuke was expecting protests or outright disgust. He was surprised when he was pushed back and hands began to slide down his chest. "Guess I've got to start somewhere."
Sasuke frowned. That wasn't the response he expected from Naruto, if he was authentic, to have. Getting angrier that he couldn't figure out this mystery, one so simple and easy if he could only fucking see, Sasuke grabbed his partner's hair and slammed him down, right where the tea table was set, and scraped Naruto's eye against the wooden table.
Sasuke felt around until he found the elastic waistband of the boxers and thrust them down. He felt Naruto trying to resist but only twisted further into his hair and without warning prodded two fingers into the tight hole. It was painfully obvious that at least anally, this man was a virgin. Sasuke dug in three fingers testing the man, attempting to get a rise, and challenging his story to see whether or not he was really chakra challenged. But Naruto only squirmed underneath him and weathered the ministrations.
Without much in the way of lube but his own precum, Sasuke thrust forward and gasped when the tight heat clamped around his dick. He could feel Naruto's pain shaking underneath him, tense, and resisting the intrusion. Sasuke didn't care. He was rough and forceful with every thrust, knowing for a fact that the real Naruto would have blasted him with a rasengan by now.
After implementing every form of humiliation and pain Sasuke could think of, he released "Naruto" and turned angrily toward his thoughts. There was a slight disappointment in Sasuke, knowing that the real Naruto would have resisted and fought him to the very end. Sasuke was no longer very interested in this Naruto now that he's figured out the truth.
Sasuke got to his feet, stepped over the curled and heaving imposter and left out the door. Now he could get some sleep.
It was the smell of maple leaves. It wasn't just a perfumed sprayed about the room, it was a scent that had been on Naruto's skin. Sasuke woke abruptly from his sleep the next day with the realization that maple trees didn't grown in Snow Country. Sasuke sat for hours, still, lost in thought.
In conclusion, he was fairly certain this guy was not Naruto but something didn't add up and he could still be a spy nevertheless. It was around noon, judging by the angle of the warmth filtering in through Sasuke's window, when Sasuke finally got out of bed. He grabbed his usual items and went down to the bath to soak and further work on the conundrum in his head.
When he entered the bath, he heard a sudden whoosh of water and then silence. Sasuke smirked, then carefully felt his feet around the edge of the bath and sat in the steaming water. "How was your first night of work?"
Naruto's voice came surprisingly smug. "I had a female client."
Sasuke didn't like that smugness. It grated on his nerves. Familiar with the layout of the bath, Sasuke easily drew towards the voice and it was silenced immediately. Sasuke stole that smugness and felt the hesitant breaths on his chest.
"Then I guess you've recovered enough to go again?" Sasuke suggested.
"Look," Naruto said nervously. "I'm not being paid to fuck you."
Sasuke reached out his hand, grabbed Naruto's shoulder and shoved him against the bath wall. Naruto seethed when Sasuke's hand clawed into the wounded shoulder. Once again, the man failed to fight back against the rough treatment, but succumbed, defeated before even trying. Sasuke licked his lips anxiously at the sound of Naruto's weak cry when Sasuke summoned lightning to his palm and Naruto shivered helplessly against the tile wall. Sasuke could have laughed. He finally found a ninja that was more helpless than he was. After all, what was an Uchiha without his eyes? What was a ninja without his chakra?
"For the love of Kami," Naruto gasped, begging, "Use some damn lube this time."
There was some bath oil, and shampoo, and conditioner an arm's reach away. But Sasuke ignore the request and shoved in anyways.
"Fuck," Naruto snapped, a lot more vocal than the first time. Sasuke had to admit, he enjoyed not being the helpless one for once. Naruto's hipbones were audibly slammed against the bath tiles as Sasuke fought both the resistance of water and the tense muscles. Sasuke held it for as long as he could, prolonging the pain in his unfortunate victim, before pumping him full of cum.
Sasuke melted in exhaustion against Naruto's sweat-soaked back. Naruto wheezed, cringing as Sasuke dug his nails further and further into skin, and asked, "Why?"
Sasuke wondered the same question. Finally, he decided on an answer, "Because I can."
Sasuke frowned frustrated as another string of the biwa snapped.
"Why don't you just give up?" Naruto grumbled frustrated from the pillow. Sasuke turned around and glared at the unwanted commentary. "Your glares aren't as effective as you think they are."
Sasuke reached behind him, roughly slid his hand up a bruise along Naruto's thigh and painfully clenched Naruto's butt. Naruto huffed, slapped Sasuke's hand away, and rolled to a safe distance before retorting, "Haven't you ever considered that maybe you're wasting your time and that you should try something else?"
"I'm good at everything," Sasuke said arrogantly.
"Except sex," Naruto replied, "and the biwa apparently. You do realize it's okay to suck at something?"
Sasuke glowered, then suddenly snapped as quick as a taunt shamisen string. Naruto grunted as his head was slammed against the wooden floor boards. Sasuke could feel Naruto's wince when Sasuke's hand brushed past the swollen eye Naruto had received the night before. Then Sasuke declared with arrogant pride, "I'm great at sex."
Sasuke hadn't expected the bitter ironic laughter that erupted underneath him. "You're fucked up, you know that?"
Sasuke scoffed and challenged, "You enjoy it." Sasuke said meaningfully as he thumbed a bruise along Naruto's shoulder, "You could have left for another brothel a long time ago."
An uncomfortable silence dwelled in the air and Sasuke grew more smug with its increasing length. Until Naruto grumbled out, "I guess we're both fucked up. When you're a ninja that can't mold chakra what does it matter anymore?"
A fire sparked in Sasuke's chest. "That's just a fucking lie we tell ourselves to keep going. But deep down, it does fucking matter."
When the heat and the frustration stilled in Sasuke's chest, did Sasuke finally hear his own words. Everything mattered. He was hurting, as if someone had physically ripped his eyes from his sockets. He cared.
"Have you ever considered," Naruto began tentatively, "earning enough money to pay for an eye transplant?"
Splinters of wood shattered when Naruto crashed back into the table, then the bone of Sasuke's knuckles shattered across Naruto's face. The anger exploded from Sasuke's chest at the offense of those words. It was more than just his sight taken away from him. It was his sharingan, the very thing that made him an Uchiha, the very core of who he was. An eye transplant will never give that back to him.
The warmth of blood ran sticky down his knuckles. His raised his fist one more time over Naruto's expectant breath who withstood the abuse without resistance. One more well-placed strike could have ended Naruto's life for good but Sasuke's fist wavered in the air. Then his arm dropped and his shoulders slumped and he listened to Naruto's strained breathing.
Sasuke reached forward and Naruto's bloody cheek winced under the touch. With a deepening calm, Sasuke stroked his fingers down the crooked jaw.
Then Sasuke whispered, "It does matter."
With his cane to guide him, Sasuke walked down the stairs to meet his first client of the night.
"You went too far last time," the Madam said disapprovingly. She had always known what's been going on and establishing a hierarchy of power in a place that had no real power was common practice but beating one of her most productive whores to the point he couldn't perform the next night was a line crossed.
"Hn," Sasuke didn't care about her opinions. He ignored her and continued walking down the stairs.
At the sound of the Madam's exasperated breath, not wanting to continue this discussion in front of the clients she let the issue go, for now. Sasuke stopped at the bottom and could feel a stranger's eyes studying him. It was a new client.
"I thank you for your patronage," the Madam's tone had adjusted, as if she hadn't just been reprimanding Sasuke but instead, had been brushing her teeth with honey. "Madara Uchiha can certainly meet the level of discretion you require."
"He is very beautiful." Sasuke trained his ears on the feminine voice of his client and assumed her to be a woman, although he's been wrong before. There was nothing remarkable with what his client had said as many clients often remarked on his beauty, but the woman's voice was submerged in several layers he could not yet interpret.
"And worth every bit you paid for," the Madam assured her. As customary, Sasuke gave a bow. Then the client's hands were placed in his. Her hands were small, but sharp, and could easily be mistaken for fragile but there was a strength to them. As Sasuke led the client up the stairs and to his room, he listened for her footsteps, and heard none. He listened for the sound of her clothes moving against her skin, and heard none. The only thing he felt was the small pulse through her hand. This woman was a ghost, a skill above even his normal clients. If Sasuke had to guess… he was dealing with an ANBU Captain.
Once, Sasuke would have scoffed at that realization but handicapped as he was, there was an intriguing tingle of fear up his spine. His thoughts instantly became obsessed with this sudden enigma.
"Would you like some tea?" Sasuke asked. Some clients wanted to get straight to fucking and get the most out of their money. Others preferred a little more fantasy.
"I would love some."
Sasuke helped her sit before the tea table and went through the motions of the tea ceremony. Typically he would spike his own tea to make the night a little easier. The minutes began to wane as she lingered on her tea and didn't seem at all inclined to rush the evening.
"You are very skilled. The tea is exquisite." Sasuke listened for the moment when she finished and placed the cup back down onto the table but he never heard a sound. The woman didn't even have a scent on her, no perfume or spices. If he wanted to get her natural scent he had to get much closer than he was now.
"I am done."
Sasuke stood up, so familiar with the motions and the placement of items in his room that he easily cleaned the table away and moved it to a corner. Then Sasuke bowed to his knees before her and said, "I am yours for the evening."
He reached forward, slow because ninja were paranoid fucks, toward her voice and landed his finger on her lips. They were full and somewhat amused underneath his touch. He traced his finger down the jaw, the neck, and finally reached her clothes and began to fumble them off. He felt her fingers undo his belt and widen his robe. He parted her clothes, and after asking permission with a few slight touches, then he caressed his hands down her body.
Sasuke preferred men. It was always easier to get himself aroused around his male clients. Women were just too soft. He enjoyed the hard lines. But as he explored this woman's body, her ample breasts and curves, he realized that she was really attractive. Even he could appreciate what a woman had to offer every now and then.
He bent down and tasted the woman's heat on his tongue. He put more effort into it than normal, curious to see if he could make this woman make any sort of sound. She was wet by the time he was done but he couldn't force a sound, an orgasm, or so much as a wiggle.
Her thighs that have probably crushed men between them wrapped around his narrow waist. Suddenly Sasuke felt very uncomfortable in this position and couldn't place why. Then Sasuke felt rubber pressed into his hand. Admittedly, sometimes he forgot to put one on. Sasuke slid the condom over his dick and then thrust into her- fuck- it wasn't as tight as Sasuke preferred but it was moist and hot around his cock.
Finally, he heard sound as his hips thudded against her thighs. He heard his own moans as he pounded into this hot flesh. His hands dragged down her back, where scars were stretched like that of an empty cherry blossom tree. He tightened his hands around her hips and focused on the squeak every time he plunged into her depths.
Her leg lifted around his head and shifted angles, allowing Sasuke in deeper. Then the heel of her foot dug against his hip, allowing him even deeper. Sasuke clawed his hands around her butt, thrusting her forward to meet him, revealing an endless amount of flexibility Sasuke had never seen in his clients before.
Ero-ninja.
Sasuke came a second after that realization and was trapped in the uncontrollable release of his body. The leg around his head squeezed tighter around his neck, then slammed him into the ground. When the fog over his brain had diminished he found his body twisted in the trap she had set for him a long time ago.
"Who sent you?" Sasuke gasped. But his attacker didn't bother to answer. Sasuke heard the sudden crackle of lightning, and knew in the next second he was about to die.
The door slammed open. "Sasuke!"
Naruto's voice was a welcome relief.
Sasuke was flipped over at the sudden sound of struggle, but most importantly, the assassin's grip had been loosened and he escaped her grasp.
"Run!" Naruto yelled.
That word melted like acid on Sasuke's ears. He was so fucking tired of that word. Sasuke slammed his foot on the windowsill to balance his weight. Then his hands came together in a series of hand seals he could never forget, but the chakra coursing through his body sputtered with the years of little use. In the end it didn't matter. He didn't need to control this jutsu.
Ash congested in his throat. Smoke wafted across his tongue. The heat of fire lit Sasuke's face and rampaged from between his lips.
"Great Fireball Jutsu."
Smoke began to water Sasuke's eyes. He began to smell the burning of wood. He heard the familiar crackle of fire and the brothel was beginning to collapse. Deeper, there were screams. Closer, there was a heaving cough.
Sasuke reached out, grabbed Naruto's hand, and pulled him through the window. Naruto's footsteps stumbled awkwardly behind him. Sasuke was running blindly, nor did he care when he bumped into and trampled someone in the street.
"Where?!" Sasuke demanded angrily.
Finally Naruto coughed out, "Left."
Sasuke turned hard on his heel, felt his arm tighten with resistance, and dragged Naruto to follow.
The brothel burned down behind them, alighting Cloud's red light's district in fire.
X
Sight
X
Sasuke stood on the edge of a river that sang lullabies. The water nibbled at his toes and the wind brushed through his hair. Sasuke didn't know how he knew but he was instinctively aware of a full moon tonight. Then Sasuke pulled up his shirt and threw away the scents of the distant brothel. He dropped his pants and peeled away other people's wants and fantasies from him skin.
Sasuke stepped a foot into the sharp cold of the river. He waded forward and could feel the vibrations of fish wafting around his legs. Then he submerged his entire being and allowed the current to float him toward the surface.
The brothel had been nothing more than an illusion of freedom.
Water and conviction dripped down Sasuke's skin when he emerged from the river. Sasuke walked forward and outright sat on Naruto's lap, invoking a startled gasp at the sudden closeness of Sasuke's wet nakedness.
Sasuke acknowledged that he was weak. And the weak, Sasuke gritted his teeth to admit, needed bonds to survive.
"When I no longer need you I am going to kill you," Sasuke told Naruto, reasoning that a strong bond was built on a foundation of truth. Then Sasuke leaned forward until he could feel Naruto's nervous breath on his lips. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha."
Sasuke felt the awkward chuckle that rumbled through Naruto's belly, but it soon died under the weight of Sasuke's smoldering stare. Finally, Naruto whispered, "You aren't kidding are you?"
"If you run, I will kill you," Sasuke threatened, punctuating his point by shoving Naruto back into the grass and reveled in the taste of power he could easily wield over the other man. Then, much to Naruto's relief, Sasuke lifted himself up, faced toward the direction the river flowed, and stilled in thought.
"Do you know of a good swordsmith?" Sasuke asked.
After a thoughtful silence, Naruto finally answered, "I know of one in Rain Country but… its Rain Country. Kind of dangerous for a ninja without chakra and a ninja who can't…" Naruto's final words were murdered by Sasuke's hard expression.
Sasuke shrugged his shoulders, put on his clothes, and started forward.
"Wrong way," Naruto spoke up timidly.
Sasuke grumbled, annoyed, and turned around. This time, Sasuke roamed his hand across the ground until he found a sturdy stick. He tapped is experimentally on the road, struck rock, and then struck ground. He placed one confident foot forward.
"What the fuck is your real name?" Sasuke said while motioning for his unlucky companion to follow. Sasuke always thought calling this man Naruto had been unseemly. This weak broken man was a pale comparison to the boy Sasuke had once known.
Sasuke listened to a tired and defeated sigh.
"My name is Iraiya."
x
It does matter.
AN:
-Soundtrack: Hozier - Arsonist's Lullabye
-Updated 12/30/2015
