Here it is everyone! Chapter two to Broken Shards! I'm currently working on number three right now and, if everything goes as planned, it should be up by next weekend. This chapter focuses a lot on the immediate aftermath of Naruto's rape. Things will start to get more interesting in number three. Remember, I'm taking this slowly because I want things to develop naturally.
AspergianStoryteller: Yes, he could have, but for the sake of the story to go on, he didn't. There are also some other reasons for this which you'll find out if you read this chapter.
Just A Keepsake: Thanks for point that out!
Charybde: No, it's not an alternate universe, well not really. I just added that Naruto was traumatized in the past by Kaido and so he froze up in the last chapter and couldn't do very much.
Thank you everyone else for the rest of your comments! Now, on with the story!
It was days like these which Sasuke looked forward to the most. He sipped some of his tea as he gazed out the window. It was autumn and the wind was biting cold. The sun was setting quickly as a result of the shortening daylight. Naruto had decided to come over to help him train tonight. Sasuke smirked inwardly, thinking that maybe the only reason he liked today was because of Naruto's expected arrival.
He looked over at the clock; it was almost seven-thirty. The raven frowned. Naruto was supposed to have come at seven sharp. He shrugged it off however as he remember it was the dobe whom he was expecting; of course he'd be late.
Draining his cup of the tea, Sasuke stood up from his place at the kitchen table and walked over to his training room after putting his cup in the sink. He might as well warm up while he waited.
"Ugh…ha...ha!" he grunted a he practiced his taijutsu on the sand-filled dummy. Adrenaline pumped through his veins. He couldn't wait to train with the blonde; it always got him excited. He wasn't sure how to explain it, but ever since he had returned to Konoha, he had started to view Naruto in a different light. The thought of him always brought a smile to his face and he never wanted to see the dobe's own smile disappear; he wanted to protect him. Sasuke wasn't sure what this new feeling should be called. Perhaps it was just a result of realizing the importance of friendship? But…he never felt this way about Sakura, or any of his other friends; it was just Naruto.
Pausing his actions against the training dummy, he looked again at the clock. He frowned again. It was now eight forty-five. He hadn't realized he'd been training for so long. And Naruto still hadn't arrived yet. Sasuke went over to the window and peeked out from behind the curtains to see the almost black night sky.
Even though Naruto was a dobe, Sasuke knew he'd never be this late or forget their meeting. It was highly unlikely. With his brow furrowed in worry, he quickly washed the sweat from his face, grabbed his coat and stepped outside. He knew he was overreacting; Naruto could take care of himself just fine. But his instincts told him to find the blonde – and fast! And so, he quickly took to the rooftops and made his way to Naruto's house.
He scanned the area underneath him as he took the short-cut route. He didn't really see anything suspicious or any sign that the blonde may have been in the area. Upon reaching the dobe's house, he noticed that the lights were not on.
"Naruto!" Sasuke called out as he knocked on the door. No answer came. He tried a few more times, with the same result. And so, he opened the door and walked in. He always felt bad that Naruto had to live in this dingy area where even the lock for the door wouldn't work.
He had considered, more than once, to ask the blonde to move in with him. After all, he had the whole Uchiha estate to himself. But, he feared things would get awkward if that happened. Plus, he knew Naruto would never agree to it. He was too stubborn to agree to it.
Sasuke searched the whole apartment for any sign of the blonde or where he might have gone, but had no luck. There was no sign of anything out-of-the-ordinary…besides the fact that the dobe had left his coat at him.
The Uchiha took the coat in his arms and left the apartment with an even deeper frown on his face. Where could the dobe be?
He went to search all of the places Naruto frequented; Ichiraku's ramen shop, the training grounds, Konoha Academy, the Hokage's place, even Iruka's house. Still, there was no sign of him. He refused to ask anyone in case they'd seen him and he didn't think the villagers would even care.
This made his blood boil. He hated it when the villagers picked on the blonde for having to be the Kyuubi's vessel. It wasn't his fault. No one deserved to be picked on because of that, especially Naruto. Sasuke knew the blonde always did his best to prove to the world that he wasn't what they made him out of be. He as always kind and helpful, always making people smile. He didn't have any family, but he was still so strong, always so strong.
Sasuke decided to follow the route Naruto always took to get to the Uchiha estate. It was getting very dark now and he knew that he'd have to head home soon since he wouldn't be able to see much once all the lights had gone out. He looked at his watch and noticed, to his dismay, that it was nearing ten.
Many of the lights were going out already and the moonlight started to dominate the village. As Sasuke passed by an alleyway, something caught his attention, glinting in the moonlight. He drew closer and discovered it was a knife. Picking it up, he noticed that it was covered in blood. He touched it, it was cold. Immediately, his shinobi instincts took over and he found himself following the trail of blood leading towards the back of the alley. He shuddered as a cold breeze swept by him. He turned the corner and stopped – frozen – at the sight before him.
"No…" he breathed.
He couldn't believe it. He refused to believe it. But that didn't erase the image in front of him that would forever be imprinted in his mind.
Lying there before him, broken and bloody was Naruto. He was curled up into a ball in one of the corners of the alley's dead end. There were droplets of blood surrounding him and he was very badly bruised. Even the very little amount of clothing he was wearing was torn and bloody. By the intense moonlight shining down on the blonde, illuminating him like a broken angel, the Uchiha could see the shivers that took over his unconscious form.
Sasuke walked over robotically and knelt down beside him. He reached over and tenderly brushed the blonde locks of hair out of the dobe's face. He couldn't help but gasp. There was a very dark bruise that was developing near the edges of Naruto jaws. Also, there was a long gash across the boy's cheek. He could faintly make out the dried up tears that had now mingled with the blood on the boy's face.
Remembering that he had brought Naruto's coat along, he covered up the shivering blonde, trying to be as gentle as possible. Satisfied, he gingerly took the blonde into his arm, holding him close. He checked the boy's pulse, and his heart sank. It was very weak and the boy was also clearly shivering from the cold.
"Naruto…oh, Naruto…" he murmured gently to the boy in his arms. He turned him over and let another gasp escape his lips. Along the front of the blonde's chest, where his shirt was ripped apart, Sasuke could clearly see the wounds that marred his body. It was as though someone had tried to cut him up into ribbons.
It was clear that the blonde had been attacked; the alley was covered in blood and the Uchiha could only hope that not all of it belonged to the blonde. He clutched Naruto closer to him and held his cheek gently. He was surprised to find fresh tears scattered across the boy's cheek. He realized they were his own.
"Oh, God, Naruto." What happened to you? Who did this to you? Why you?
Tear continued to stream down his cheeks as he lifted Naruto into his arms and carried him to the Uchiha estate. Once he reached the mansion, he laid the blonde down on his bed. When he looked down at his hands, they were red from the dobe's blood. This only increased the despair that started to creep through him.
Robotically, he retrieved a wash cloth and some bandages. Slowly he peeled off Naruto's thin and blood stained shirt, revealing the bloody scars that were hidden underneath. He ignored them as best as he could and set to work on cleaning the wounds. When he finished, the cloth in his hands was red from wiping away all the dried up blood. The Uchiha glared at it in anger, wishing it would go away. He sighed when it was still there and started to work on bandaging up the dobe. Although he knew that the lower half of the boy was also bloody and bruised, Sasuke didn't think Naruto would appreciate him removing his pants. And so, the raven had to resort to tending to the wounds that were visible through the rips in the boy's torn garments.
When he was finally finished, he put all the supplies away and made sure that the blonde's breathing was stable before tucking him in and leaving the room. He sat down on the couch and ran a hand through his hair.
This was all wrong. This wasn't supposed to have happened! At this time, he and Naruto should have just finished training and started to head back inside. He shouldn't be sitting alone in quiet anticipation and having his heart full of worry and concern.
What frustrated him most was the fact that the worse always seemed to happen to Naruto. Always. And he didn't deserve any of it! He had too kind a heart for him to be going through all of his. This made Sasuke's blood boil with anger once again.
The raven grunted in frustration and made his way to send word to Sakura about the blonde's condition. He knew she would be insanely worried and would jump at the first chance to be able to help her injured friend. He considered letting her know in the morning but he knew it wouldn't be fair to her. Besides, Naruto's condition was more important then having to deal with his over protective teammate.
Once he had someone send the letter to her (in which he explicitly wrote for her to come in the morning, not immediately show up screaming in his face) he went back to his room. He found the blonde sleeping in the same position he had left him in.
Taking a seat on the edge of the bed beside Naruto, the raven reached out and stroked the boy's cheek. Although it was hard to tell by the raven's expressionless face, the sight of the injured boy before him had him feeling heartbroken.
He knew how strong the boy was, having been rivals and teammates with the dobe for so long. Even when the two had first been picked to be part of Kakashi's team, Sasuke had always known there was something special about the blonde.
As he brushed some hair away from the dobe's eyes, Sasuke noticed the slightest hint of a smile appear on his innocent face. He felt some comfort in knowing that he was able to support the blonde while he was in this condition.
A frantic knock on the door snapped the Uchiha out if his reverie. Cursing under his breath, he made his way to the front while wondering who it could possible be at this time. The knock came again and so he quickened his pace.
He opened the door and was immediately pulled into a hug.
"Sasuke!" said the girl. "Oh, at least you're okay! I got your letter and came over with all my supplies as fast as I could. Where is he? Is he okay? It know you said to come in the morning, but I couldn't--"
She was cut off by Sasuke who had finally pushed her off, "Sakura! It's okay, calm down!"
Sakura looked down at her feet sheepishly as Sasuke led her inside towards the bedroom where Naruto was.
"I'm sorry. It's just that you're letter really freaked me out when you said that he was hurt, so I assumed the worse," she let out a gasp as she saw the injured blonde laying on the bed. She let her bag drop to the floor and ran over to his side. "W-what happened? How could Naruto end up like this?"
"I don't know," Sasuke replied and he felt the guilt run its course through him again. "I found him like that."
"Found him like that?" Sakura echoed, hoarsely.
The shock and concern in her voice stopped the raven from voicing his initial thought about her annoying voice. Although at first he had thought she was overreacting, he felt she was right to feel that way. And so, he brought the supple bag over to her as she kneeled beside their unconscious teammate.
"I cleaned and bandaged most of his wounds. I didn't do much to his legs though," he said as he stood beside her, looking over at the blonde.
"I-it's okay. I'll fix all that," she sighed and started taking out various medical instruments from her bag, "I'm glad you informed me about all this."
"Hn," he didn't trust himself to say anything more. He watched in continued silence as Sakura used her chakra to heal all of the blonde's most obvious wounds.
Finally, just when Sasuke was wondering how much longer it would take, Sakura removed her hands and sat down on her knees. She wiped the sweat off her brow and gave Sasuke a small smile of reassurance. "H-he should be okay, but it'll probably be a day or more before he wakes up; the wounds were quite extensive."
Sasuke gave a curt nod and returned his gaze to the boy sleeping on his bed. His expression was peaceful now and the raven hoped it would stay that way. He especially couldn't wait until the boy told him who had done this to him so that he could beat the life out of them and then send them to a world of eternal pain and misery. They deserved it for what they did to the dobe.
Sakura stood up, gathered all her belongings and headed out the room. The Uchiha reluctantly let his gaze fall from the blonde and followed Sakura out as well.
She put on her shoes and turned to face Sasuke, her eyes looking down at her feet.
"I can't stay any longer tonight," she spoke, "I've done all I can for the moment. Watch over him as much as you can. I think someone should be taking care of him constantly until he wakes up; there's a chance his condition could possibly get worse."
"Okay," Sasuke nodded his head in understanding. "And what about tom--"
"I'll take care of it. I won't tell Kakashi exactly what happened, but I'll let Tsunade-sama know first thing in the morning to make sure everything's alright."
The Uchiha nodded his head slowly in comprehension, his mind full of thoughts of the blonde.
Sakura turned to go but paused and turned around again, adding, "Oh, and Sasuke…"
"What?"
"Keep calm," she left before the Uchiha could let out a reply, closing the door behind her.
Sasuke was left staring at the door. His eyes were glazed over and he felt empty inside. He felt as though he had lost a part of his soul. The image of Naruto lying bloody and broken found a way into his head and he scrunched his eyes shut, wishing it would go away.
Sakura had told him to stay calm. How could he stay calm? How could he ignore the way his blood boiled or the way his heart tore inside him at the sight of Naruto lying there on the bed, unconscious? Half of him wanted to run out into the night and try to hunt down the one who had caused this. The other half of him wanted to take the injured blonde into his arms and hold him like that for eternity.
He shook his head. He couldn't go off looking for the culprit; he didn't know where to start looking. Until Naruto woke up and told him, he couldn't wring anyone's neck.
And as for holding and comforting the blonde, well, he just couldn't. Naruto was in a delicate condition and he didn't want to accidentally hurt him. And he had to control his desires. It wouldn't do to have the dobe wake up to find the world's gone crazy because his rival was holding him. If that did happen, Sasuke was positive he could be pushed away and he couldn't bear the feeling of such a painful rejection.
Straightening up, Sasuke walked over to the kitchen and made himself some tea. Tea always calmed him and he really needed to calm down, as Sakura has suggested. His heart was in turmoil. He had never felt so confused and useless. Throughout his entire life, he had always known what he was good for and how to use his extraordinary skills to achieve his goals; things had always been so clear. Not anymore. Not now.
Now, he didn't know what to do. Sure, Naruto had been injured plenty of times before, but this time something was different. He was sure of it. Although he had experienced near-death situations before and watched Naruto do the same, the condition and circumstances in which this latest incident had occurred was different.
Sasuke could sense, even though the blonde was still unconscious, that this time something had happened to tear at the blonde's spirit. That was something that had never happened before. To all the Konoha shinobi it was a part of life to have Naruto be there beside them, joking and spreading his happiness to those around him. It was one of the things Sasuke loved most about him.
The Uchiha smiled sadly, remembering all the times he had spent the blonde; Konoha academy, missions with team seven, the Chuunin exams…and everything that had happened since.
Emerging out of memory lane, he took his now empty cup of tea and washed it. When he was done, he went back to the bedroom. It was as though time had stopped, watching the blonde breathing softly, still unconscious.
Sasuke sat down at the edge of the bed and held Naruto's hand. It was still cold, but much better than it had been before. Gently stroking the boy's hand, Sasuke watched the blonde intently, looking for any sign of discomfort. He wanted to make sure the blonde recovered as fast as possible so that things could get back to normal. And so I can pulverize whoever did this to him, Sasuke thought.
He wished this had never happened to him but since it already had, there wasn't anything he could do except wait for the dobe to wake up. The Uchiha desperately wanted to know who it was that had the nerve to even lay a hand on the precious blonde. He wanted to find that person and beat them to an inch from death. He wanted them to pay for what they had done, for stealing the blonde's spirit.
Although Sasuke really hoped the blonde's condition wasn't that bad, he didn't know what he would be capable of doing if it turned out that Naruto was hurt more than he appeared to me.
Looking at the time, he realized it had been nearly hours since he had found the blonde…lying there in the alley…broken…bleeding. Sasuke shuddered, trying to ignore the horrid images that popped up in his head.
Four hours…Sasuke hoped the fox demon had started healing the dobe now. He couldn't see any difference in his condition because Sakura had healed the most visible wounds. Nonetheless, the Uchiha desperately wished Naruto would soon open his beautiful eyes and wake up and say that he was okay with a big grin on his face.
Sasuke rested his head in the palm of his hand and brushed his bangs out of his face. He sighed. Why couldn't he do anything right? Why was he never able to make the right decisions and protect those he loved? He hadn't been able to save his parents, he had betrayed the village and joined Orochimaru, and when he had finally been given a chance to redeem himself, he had let Naruto get hurt. Why? How?
Maybe he was cursed. He was doomed to forever screw things up and spend his life wallowing in the guilty of it all. He gulped and glanced back at the blonde.
No. He was strong. Just like Naruto. It wasn't his fault his parents had died; he had been too young to do anything about it. And he had only gone with that snake bastard to gain more power so he could protect those he loved and avenge the family he had lost. And this time, he would make sure he made whoever did this pay for their insolence.
He gripped Naruto's hand firmly and made a silent vow to personally take care of whoever did this to him.
"Naruto," he spoke softly, "I'm right beside and I always will be. I promise to get back at that bastard. So, it's okay to wake up now. You're strong Naruto and I know you'll be fine in the end."
Naruto found himself lying on the floor of a dark room. It wasn't cold, but it wasn't warm either. He did feel something, though, but he couldn't tell what it was. It was as though, everything was just there.
He moaned and slowly sat up. He looked around him. There were no walls, only the floor upon which he sat. It also wasn't very dark. There was a faint glow of orange light, but it didn't have a direct source determining where it was emanating from. The light was all around him, surrounding him.
Noticing he was wearing clothes, he looked down at himself. It was odd...he didn't remember changing into his pajamas. In fact…he couldn't remember anything that had happened recently.
He concentrated and thought hard, trying to remember what happened last.
Oh yeah! He and Sasuke had decided to get together for some extra training later in the evening! Then what was he doing here, wherever "here" was?
Standing up, he felt a sharp and unimaginable pain strike his body. It was everywhere! And it burned like no tomorrow! Shutting his eyes and grunting from the pain, Naruto struggled to stay standing.
When it got too much to handle, he slumped back down on his knees, breathing hard as the pain finally started to subside. He was on all fours now and he could feel the sweat that dripped from his face.
"Ugh," he panted. "What was that?"
The words echoed all around him, seeming to go on forever. He sat back on his knees and looked at his hands, trying to determine what may have triggered that awful bout of pain.
He shuddered. There was something about all this that just didn't seem right; why couldn't he remember anything? Had he fallen asleep? Was this all a dream? Why couldn't he wake up? He wanted to go see Sasuke!
Growling in frustration, he tried to stand up again.
"Arg!" he failed miserably as pain struck his body again. It felt like he was being sliced up into ribbons!
Dropping back to his knees, he panted, trying to regain his energy. What was wrong with him?
"This had seriously better not be a dream!" he cursed to himself.
"This is not a dream."
Naruto's head snapped up in surprise at the sound of the voice. He looked around trying to locate the source of the words. There was no one in sight. Had he imagined it? He couldn't have; that voice sounded familiar.
"Who said that?" he called out. He was definitely getting a funny feeling about this.
There was a loud snort of annoyance and then the voice spoke again.
"Of courses; it's just like you to forget the other half of yourself."
Other half? What was this guy talking about? He was about to voice his thoughts when it came to him: it was Kyuubi. Kyuubi was the other half of him, inside his head.
"Kyuubi?"
"Some respect would be nice."
He had been right, it was the fox demon.
"What's going on? Am I in your head again? Why does it look so different? How come--"
Kyuubi cut him short, clearly irritated. "I brought you here. You're not in my mind. This is another place where I can get your chakra level back to normal."
"What?! What's wrong with my chakra? What happened? I don't remember anything!"
"Calm down! It's already taking a lot for me to talk right now and fix what you did."
"What--"
"Just shut up and wait."
Naruto sat down properly – which took a lot of effort surprisingly – and crossed his arms and pouted. Kyuubi was not in a good mood today and neither was he.
When the demon finally spoke, his voice was a deep rumble that filled the air around him. And for some odd reason, it felt very comforting to the blonde.
"There was an idiotically annoying incident while you were on your way to that Uchiha's house."
"What happened?" the blonde asked calmly. Inside, his mind was starting to panic. He had gone to Sasuke's? What had happened? Why couldn't he remember?
"Nothing overly important. The problem is that you're weak right now. That's the reason it hurts when you stand; I only have enough power over you right now to relieve you of the pain while you're down and staying put."
Naruto clearly noticed the way the fox demon had avoided telling him what happened. Why would he do that? His confusion increased and he let out a growl of frustration once again.
"What do you mean it's not important?! If it wasn't important, then I wouldn't be in the condition I'm in right now," he exclaimed. "Tell me what happened!"
"I can't. I don't share your memories and I don't pay attention to the life of a petty human brat. I don't know."
Naruto knew that was a blatant lie, he wasn't stupid. Closing his eyes he took in some deep breaths and concentrated on trying to remember what happened after he and Sasuke talked.
Kakashi had called them for a brief meeting the morning, Naruto remembered him being late as usual. After that, they had spent time training and sparring in pairs. It wasn't for very long, only an hour or so. Then Sasuke has asked him if he wanted to continue in the evening and he had agreed. He recalled telling the teme he would have dinner with him and then he had walked home. Naruto could remember making some ramen and then cleaning up his room. And then…what happened next?
His eyebrows furrowed as he started to think harder, but he just couldn't recall anything after cleaning his room. Naruto opened his eyes and looked straight ahead of him at the seemingly endless 'room' he was in.
"Kyuubi," he said. "How long until I 'wake up'?"
He thought he'd try a different method at getting the demon to spill the beans.
It was a while before the demon responded, "Three hours."
"What?! And what am I supposed to do for three hours? I can't even stand up!" Naruto roared.
"That's not my problem."
Naruto cursed under his breath and crossed his arms. The damn fox demon was really starting to get on his nerves; he wasn't getting any answers and now he was stuck here for a whole three hours. He sat in silence, quietly cursing to himself, until the Kyuubi decided to interrupt his colourful display of curse words.
"Can't you keep quiet for even five seconds?" Clearly, the demon was angry.
"Well at least I'm not all quiet and stuck-up like you!" Naruto stuck out his tongue.
Suddenly, a feeling of immense pain took over his body and he convulsed violently. He felt like he was on fire and he couldn't stop the scream that escaped his lips. He didn't know what was wrong but all he wanted was for it to be over, so that he could at least breathe without having to yell out in pain.
It was several minutes before he finally felt his body sink down to the floor. He curled up, clutching his sides where he could still feel the pain dissipating. He could faintly hear the echoes of his screams disappear into his surroundings.
"Next time," he heard the Kyuubi rage, "don't try my patience."
Naruto gulped ad wiped the sweat off his forehead. He sat up cautiously and flinched in hear of being struck with pain again.
He brought his knees to his chest and huddled up into a ball. Resting his forehead against his knees, he closed his eyes and once again resorted to trying to remember what happened.
It was nearly a half hour later when he reopened his eyes and looked up. He still hadn't been able to recall anything of importance, and now the worry and fear was slowly spreading through to the rest of his mind and body.
"Kyuubi," he called, breaking the silence that had now engulfed them.
A growl came forth from the demon, relaying to the blonde that his voice had been acknowledged.
"Kyuubi, I need to know what happened. I know it's something important," his voice was calm, yet demanding at the same time. He could tell deep down that whatever had happened was something big and he had to find out what it was. How could he let a part of his life be left forgotten? However small that fraction of his life was, it was crucial that he know.
It was quiet for a long time as the Kyuubi took in Naruto's words. Just as the blonde felt ready to start arguing, the demon spoke.
"It's no something you are going to like…or enjoy experiencing," the voice rumbled across the area.
"I don't care; I want to know!"
"It will also be painful."
"That doesn't--"
"And," the demon cut in, "I won't be able to take it back. It will forever be in your memories."
"What does that mean?"
"Right now, I've extracted your memories from the…incident. Once you have them back, they stay that way. Don't come crying to me if you don't like it."
"Don't worry, I won't," Naruto said firmly.
The demon was quiet for several minutes and Naruto wondered if he decided not to return his memories. Naruto would be more than ticked off if that was the case. He deserved to know what had happened. It was frustrating having the demon keep secrets from him. For a big chunk of his life, Naruto had been deprived of the secret of the nine tails; he didn't want to spend the rest of his life wondering what happened…right? He was about to call out to the demon when he heard a low growl surrounding him.
"You're making a mistake. You'll regret it afterwards."
"Just show me! I don't want to argue about it; my mind is made up," the blonde replied firmly.
"Fine, don't say I didn't warn you!" the demon grumbled.
Slowly, Naruto noticed the warm glow around him starting to dim. Everything was turning dark and soon enough he couldn't even see his own limbs. He could feel, in the back of his mind, a voice screaming at him to stop. He gulped. Maybe…maybe Kyuubi had been right? He knew the demon would never have kept the memory from him unless it was really bad. But, he couldn't do anything now. He closed his eyes shut and let the demon unfold his memories for him. There was a flash of blinding white light and Naruto found himself on the familiar path to Sasuke's house. He tried to bring his hand out of his pocket to check the time, but found he was unable to do so.
That's weird, Naruto thought. He tried to look around him and turn his neck, but once again failed to do even that. It then came to him that he was reliving his memory in his body without the control of his limbs. This way, he realized, he wouldn't be able to change anything that went on. I can only experience this, not change it.
Naruto soon stopped trying to move on his own accord and let himself be carried away, literally, by the memory. Soon enough, his body twisted back to look over his shoulder at the group of boys who were around his age that were following him. Fear struck the pit of his stomach as he realized who they were. Oh no!
Fifteen minutes later, he found himself trapped at the back of a deserted alley with no to escape as the group of boys surrounded him.
"Hey, fox-face!" Kaido smirked. "We weren't sure if was really you…"
No! Naruto's mind screamed. He heard himself talk back to the boys and instantly knew this was going to get messy. Was he really so stupid as to provoke Kaido?! He felt pain sear through him as the boy s kicked, punched and sliced him up. This was nothing compared to the pain he had endured inside his head with Kyuubi. He had to get out of here! He had to save himself! Why couldn't he move? Why couldn't he scream? Wasn't anyone there?
Then again…why was he so scared? It was only Kaido, a villager. Naruto was a shinobi, and a great one at that. He could handle this, couldn't he? Even if Kaido had some friends with him, Naruto could pummel their arses to hell and back. Though Kaido had once beaten him up real bad in the past, and the fear had stayed with him since, things were different now. The only problem now was that the part of him that was controlling his body didn't seem to think so. He was paralyzed with fear as the trauma and fear came to life in front of his very eyes.
With the pain of the final hit, Naruto felt himself curl up in the corner. He was about to get up again when he felt hands on him. What now? Aren't they done yet? I don't think I can take much more of this…
"The fun's only beginning; you don't need to leave just yet," said a voice in his ear. He felt hands crawl down his stomach and start to undue the buckle of his pants and Naruto's mind screamed, begged, and raged for it to stop. Now was the time to start panicking. He had to get away, he had to fight back. He needed help. He couldn't handle this on his own anymore, it was too much. No! No, please, you can't! Help! Someone help! I don't want this. NO!
The screams in his mind were relentless even as his body was used and ravaged and filled with so much pain. And for the rest of the night, Naruto once again felt the unbearable pain of having his body vandalized in such a violent manner fill him and heighten the despair inside him.
Yes, it's much longer than the prologue, and I hope you guys liked it. I think the next chapter might be slightly longer. As I said before, things will get more interesting in the next chapter, so just be patient. :) In case anyone was wondering, there's a smidgen of fluff in the next chapter, but only if you squint...really hard! Chapter three will also have more of Sasuke's perspectives on things and we'll see what happens to Naruto.
Also, in case you people may not have noticed, I'm also currently writing another story...about Christmas. It's also SasuNaru with some ShikaGaa. I thought I'd try it out. It's more of a humor and romance, so check it out if you're in the mood.
Again, if you happen to spot and mistakes and typos, please let me know and I'll fix them as soon as I can.
Keep reviewing people!
UPDATE: I must confess that I have not been able to update this fic due to the fact that I have been caught in a handul of academic projects. I do assure you, however, that I will update in the next several days, once everything is put into order so please just be patient a little longer.