In Sickness and in health

Chapter 7

(small lemonish scene towards the end.)

At the hospital, Itachi watched as Sasuke was rolled over on to his stomach and his shirt cut away. Itachi grimaced at the sight of Sasuke's back. Whatever he had been hit with the person hadn't spared any thought to the pain they were inflicting, but perhaps that was the reason that they had hit him so hard, they wanted him to suffer.

"It should be a crime to hit a child this hard." A nurse commented as she took an alcohol pad and began wiping Sasuke's back down. Blood still oozing from the bloody welts on his back. "This goes way beyond punishment, this is nothing less than torture." The nurse muttered as Sasuke began moaning.

"He's going to need some painkiller before we start to stitch up these wounds." The dark-haired nurse stated. "He's also going to need a bag of blood; the poor child looks like he's lost a couple pints."

"Here's the blood." Another nurse said, handing the blood bag to the main nurse who quickly inserted the needle into Sasuke's arm and then hung the bag up onto the pole.

"Where's the painkiller?" The nurse asked as Sasuke continued to moan in pain even though he was nearly unconscious. The nurse didn't like the idea of the teen suffering even in unconsciousness.

"It's here." The red-haired woman said in a hurried voice as she handed the syringe to the head nurse.

"Just hang on kiddo, it won't be much longer and then the pain will go away." The nurse said gently as she inserted the needle into Sasuke's other arm, and pressed the plunger down, releasing the medicine. Once Sasuke's stiff features relaxed the nurse returned her attention to his back. After carefully stitching the wounds, she made sure that he was resting comfortably before turning to Itachi who had silently watched the whole process.

"Any idea of who done this to him?" She asked him. Itachi shook his head.

"No," Itachi replied. "He was found like that in his room. I just assumed that he got into it with someone at a party."

"And your father didn't notice what happened?" The nurse asked.

"Our father isn't very observant at the best of times. It wouldn't be hard for Sasuke to have gotten past him somehow." Itachi replied.

"Is it possible that your father was the one responsible for doing this to him?" The nurse asked. "With injuries like that, you can tell that it was done to inflict as much pain as possible."

"He's never raised a hand to either of us before," Itachi replied. "I don't know why he would start now."

"Perhaps because it's all over the news that Sasuke was arrested for what happened with Minato's boy." The nurse said. "That's plenty enough reason to try and beat the shit out of his son." Itachi frowned as if the thought hadn't even crossed his mind. He supposed that's what could have happened, Fugaku Uchiha would have been pissed about what happened, and the man had made sure to make a quick getaway when Itachi had mentioned going to talk to Sasuke.

"I guess we should check the security cameras," Itachi said. "That should tell us exactly what happened."

"Why didn't you do that before?" The nurse asked watching as Sasuke's bed was removed from the room.

"I was a little pissed at Sasuke for the whole Naruto situation," Itachi replied. "After what happened between him and Naruto I was angry at him, I didn't really care enough to look at the cameras. All I could think about was what Naruto was suffering through because of my brother."

"You might want to consider the possibility of your father being an abusive asshole." The nurse said. "because I don't think anyone could sneak injuries like that past your father."

"You have a point," Itachi said. "How long is Sasuke going to be here?"

"Due to the nature of his injuries, he's going to be kept sedated for the next few days at least. As for when he gets released that has to do with how well those lashes heal, hopefully, there won't be any complications from that."

"Complications such as?" Itachi asked.

"Well the lashes on his lower back went deep, there is the possibility of Sasuke having a lacerated kidney." The nurse replied. Itachi grimaced if his father had really taken things this far because of what happened it made Itachi wonder how else Sasuke had been punished, what other extremes had his father taken with Sasuke? Just the thought that his father had gone to such extremes to punish Sasuke, some would even say that he had gone too far. Shaking his head, Itachi returned his attention to the nurse.

"I'm sorry to have to say this, but I am afraid I'm going to have to report this to the police." The nurse told him.

"For what?" Itachi asked "Punishing his kid for what he did? Since when was that a crime?"

"This goes beyond punishment." The nurse told Itachi. "He's going to bear scars for the rest of his life. This went beyond punishment, this was to inflict as much pain as possible in as short a time as possible."

"You can't really prove that it's child abuse though," Itachi said, not wanting to sound like he was defending his father, it wasn't possible that his own father was so abusive to his own child.

"I'm sure that once we are done doing the x-rays there's going to be signs of abuse that both Sasuke and your father want to remain hidden." The nurse said. "abusive people don't start out at these extremes, they usually build up over time until they snap and completely lose control." Itachi frowned, he really didn't want to think of his father like this.

"Do what you have to do but I can assure you that my father didn't do this to him," Itachi said.

"I guess the x-rays will speak for themselves." The nurse replied, stiffly. She could understand Itachi not wanting to believe that his father could do something so horrible, but after seeing how messed up Sasuke's back was, the nurse wouldn't be surprised if Sasuke had been hiding the signs of abuse from everyone. He probably thought it would be a weakness if anyone knew what was happening to him at home, the nurse was worried about how deep those secrets went. She hoped that it wasn't too late for Sasuke to recover from the hell that he must have been living with.

"I guess I'm going to go check the cameras," Itachi said. "But I'm telling you that I don't think my father is capable of something like this. He's an asshole, but he wouldn't go that far."

"I guess the x-rays will tell." The nurse replied and Itachi frowned and turned and exited the treatment room. He wondered if Kurama had gone to check on Naruto. He really didn't want to go back to his house and watch those tapes by himself, he would really prefer not knowing if his father was the worst kind of asshole there was.

"How's Sasuke doing?" Kurama asked, suddenly appearing beside Itachi.

"I think he's going to be okay, barring no complications from the lashes," Itachi replied. "He's going to be sedated for a few days to help keep the pain at bay."

"That's good," Kurama said. "Who would have done this to him?"

"The nurse seems to think that it's possible that our father is responsible," Itachi said. "I'm not entirely sure of that, however, our father is an asshole, but he wouldn't risk his own career like that."

"And if it turns out that he did do this to Sasuke, what then?" Kurama asked. "It probably wouldn't be a good idea to send Sasuke back to him."

"I don't know," Itachi replied. "I don't want to think that its possible that he could do something like that."

"Well, I think that there is only one way to find out," Kurama replied. "I'll go with you if you need me too."

"I would appreciate it," Itachi said. "But what about Naruto?"

"He's doing okay right now," Kurama replied. "I went up and checked on him while you were with Sasuke. He's still resting so I don't think I have anything to worry about right now."

"I would be glad to have some company because I don't think I really want to believe that my father is capable of doing that to Sasuke," Itachi said as he glanced back down the hall that Sasuke had been taken down. He wanted his little brother to be alright, but he also wanted Sasuke to have to be responsible for his actions for once in his life. Should he have been belted like he had? Probably not, but Sasuke was going to need to learn that he couldn't get by with doing whatever he wanted.

"Sasuke's in good hands," Kurama said. "The doctors here know what they are doing. They've been nothing but outstanding with Naruto. I'm sure they would let you know if something happened."

"I'm not entirely sure they wouldn't inform our Father first," Itachi said as he started down the hall behind Kurama.

"Don't they suspect him of being the one to do this to Sasuke anyways?" Kurama wondered. "Why would they tell him their suspicions if he's the one that did do it."

"Beats me," Itachi said as they exited the hospital and made their way over to the Itachi's car. "Why would my father go to such lengths to punish Sasuke is beyond me. I would never have thought his cable of such a thing."

"To be honest I wouldn't be surprised," Kurama replied. "Your father is just as much as an asshole as mine is."

"But to go so far as to put his own son in the hospital," Itachi said. "Why go that far when the news of Sasuke getting beaten so badly that he had to be hospitalized gets out, that could just as easily ruin his career."

"Why does anyone do the things they do?" Kurama said, "I don't know. But regardless even if Fugaku did that as a punishment for what happened to Naruto, I think he went way too damn far." Itachi sighed as they climbed into his car, to be honest, Itachi dreaded what he would find on the security tapes, he feared that he would end up losing what little respect he had for his father.

"So, if it turns out your father is on those tapes beating Sasuke what's your plan?" Kurama asked, "I'm sure that the police won't let him go back with Fugaku."

"Obviously he will come live with me," Itachi replied. "Even if I'm at work all day, I'm sure my place would be better than living with an abusive asshole. Which brings to question how long our father has been laying his hands on Sasuke and why hasn't Sasuke said anything?"

"Maybe he felt threatened?" Kurama suggested. "I'm scared of your father, so I don't know why Sasuke wouldn't be."

"Still what would Dad have on Sasuke that would force him to keep quiet?" Itachi said. "This doesn't make any sense to me."

"I have the feeling that something is going on, maybe your father is involved maybe he isn't," Kurama said. Itachi sighed, he didn't want to think about the possibility of anyone hurting his brother, but it bothered him more at the thought that his father was involved in such a thing.

"Well let's get this over with," Itachi said as he pulled into his father's drive. After parking, Itachi climbed out of his car, noticing that his father still hadn't returned home. Without seeing if Kurama was following behind him, Itachi made his way up to the drive and across the porch and into the house. From there Itachi and Kurama made their way down the hall to where Itachi knew his father's security room was. Upon entering the room, Itachi sat down behind a desk that contained several different monitors, Itachi managed to rewind the tapes back to when his brother had just got in from school. Itachi watched as Sasuke and his father argued briefly before Sasuke turned and stormed down the hall to where his room was, where he tossed his bag into in a corner and then flopped down on his bed. Fugaku Uchiha appeared in Sasuke's room a few seconds later, and Itachi and Kurama watched Sasuke and Fugaku argue for a brief moment, Sasuke barely taking the time to raise his head off of his pillow. Itachi swallowed hard a few minutes later when he watched Fugaku pull the belt off of his pants and yanked Sasuke's shirt off and proceeded to lay the belt across Sasuke's back as hard as he could. Itachi felt bile in the back of his throat when he heard Sasuke beg for his father to stop but instead, his father only continued until just after Sasuke was unconscious.

"You want to know what bothers me most about this, and it's not the fact that he could beat his defenseless son into unconsciousness," Kurama said.

"What's that?" A pale face Itachi asked, turning to face Kurama.

"Why is there a security camera in Sasuke's room? Isn't that an invasion of privacy." Kurama said. "Unless Sasuke is doing drugs, what reason could he have for having a security camera there?"

"That is a disturbing thought." Itachi murmured "and I don't think I want to know the answer to it. I will find out why he thought it was necessary to beat Sasuke like that, especially since Sasuke wasn't even trying to get out of getting punished."

"So what are you going to do about it?" Kurama asked. He knew that turning in one's own father wouldn't be very easy on Itachi, but considering the circumstances what else could Itachi do?

"I want to confront him, but I don't think he'll be honest about it," Itachi replied. "So I am going to hand over to the tapes to the authorities and I will let them decide what to do about it."

"It might mean that your father goes to jail," Kurama said. "And it will most definitely put an end to his political career."

"Who cares about a career when one's own family is supposed to come before all of that?" Itachi said, as he pushed himself away from the desk and stood up and went over to another table and ejected the tape and inserting a blank tape. It did make him curious as to why his father had a camera in Sasuke's room, what if Sasuke masturbated or something that means his father would have been watching. The thought grossed Itachi out, and he really didn't want to finish that train of thought.

"I guess I should get these turned over to the police, I'm sure they will be at the hospital by now," Itachi said.

"You know this probably isn't the first time that he's hurt Sasuke before now," Kurama said. "Sasuke's probably been put through more hell than we can imagine."

"I feel kind of bad that I was so harsh with him now," Itachi said as they both exited the security room and headed down the hall. "If I had known what extremes our father would go too, I wouldn't have said anything to him. He probably thinks I hate him at this point."

"Maybe not, I'm sure he understands why you are angry," Kurama said just as his cell phone started ringing.

"Hello," Kurama said and Itachi stopped to watch him.

"You mean there was something found on his brain, something that is behind the seizures and the blindness?" Kurama asked. "Is he cancer?" he asked again after a moment's silence.

"Well do whatever you need to do in order to make sure that he gets well. I don't care how expensive it is. If I have to take my father to court in order to get custody of him, I will do it to make sure he gets treatment." Kurama hung up a few minutes later and turned to Itachi.

"Naruto had another seizure," Kurama said. "They ran another CT scan and found a tumor on his spine and his brain. It looks like it's the tumors that were causing the migraines and the seizures, Sasuke's attacking him had nothing to do with the seizures, which mean he was beaten until he was unconscious for nothing."

"I wouldn't say that," Itachi said. "I think it just might expose just what an asshole our father is like you said if he's beaten Sasuke this badly, he's probably beaten him before. The problem is going to be getting him to talk, something tells me he won't be turning on our father very easily."

"Maybe not," Kurama said. "But I'm sure that you can convince him to do what is right, after all, he adores his older brother."

"That doesn't make me feel better," Itachi said as the two men exited the house and headed towards Itachi's car, security tape in his hand. "I'm practically just as bad as our father is."

"That's not true," Kurama replied, "You haven't physically laid your hands on him. You've been a damn good older brother to him." Kurama said he leaned forward and pressed his mouth to Itachi's. "And if our situations weren't so complicated tonight, I would let you take me home and fuck me into your mattress."

"If things weren't what the were right now, I would be glad to fuck you into another world," Itachi replied, as he reached forward and gripped Kurama through his pants.

"I don't think the world will end if I give you a blow job." Itachi murmured, before dropping to knees and quickly undoing Kurama's belt.

"I guess it's a good thing no one can see us because of your car," Kurama said, struggling to hold in a moan as Itachi took a hold of Kurama's member in his hands, giving the head a light lick before taking Kurama into his mouth.

A few short minutes later Kurama shot his load down Itachi's throat, and as Itachi swallowed, Kurama took a few breaths to calm his nerves. He had never came so fast in his life. Kurama didn't think it was possible to have felt so much pleasure in such a short amount of time, whatever he had with Itachi he really didn't want it to end. Something told Kurama that things were going to get much more difficult and he didn't know if either would be strong enough to deal with it together.

Thanks for reading and reviewing Liz