Chapter 7- "Pain"

Sasuke had bad intentions to fight again, Itachi began making things too hard for him. His chains had been put up another lock just so escape was out of the question for him. There was nothing much he could do and Itachi wasn't as crazy as he was but he was watching Naruto closer and he felt like that the hyperactive ninja needed to be dealt with. Sasuke wanted to make sure that didn't happen.

The stairway creaked as he heard Itachi's footsteps brush past, he had just come back from a mission and Sasuke sat away from his bed viewing the moon. The door slowly opened as Sasuke got up and looked at Itachi who never switched emotions and stayed the same, there was anger in his eyes and Sasuke prepared for the worst as his brother came near to him.

Sasuke looked up at him as he faced the other way. "You must have had a bad day...You don't normally express yourself that way..." Sasuke tried to hold back laughter.

"Shut-up, Sasuke! I did and that Naruto of yours sure unleashed that demon and gave me all these..." Sasuke stared at the slashes and the cuts on Itachi's arms. "He's hard to handle..."

Sasuke snickered and looked out the window as Itachi still stood in front of him. "I haven't been hit in awhile, I guess I've been doing things right..." Itachi knew that wasn't the reason why.

Itachi got behind Sasuke as he tried to move away, Sasuke knew something was wrong and he tried to get up as Itachi forced him down. "Where's your revenge, little brother? I haven't seen it..."

Sasuke struggled as he began hitting Itachi. "Well, you haven't made an attempt to kill me yet and there is also another reason why I haven't prepared it...I won't tell you..."

Itachi's anger boiled as he got ready to hit Sasuke but he stopped and waited for the reason for why Sasuke hadn't done it yet. Itachi looked at him. "It would be in your best interest to tell me or force it out by doing it..." Itachi took out his kunai and put it near his neck. "My way..."

Sasuke looked at his brother with a courageous look. "This is pathetic, Itachi. You do this to me all the time but have you cut me? I haven't felt the edge of the thing and you still threaten me with it..."

Itachi stopped short and removed the kunai, and got up as Sasuke looked away. Itachi took out some papers as Sasuke gasped and saw that it was the letters he sent Naruto when Itachi was on missions and now Sasuke knew things were going to get worse if he tried to lie his way out of this one. Itachi crumpled them and looked angerily at Sasuke, a rule had been broken.

Sasuke climbed back into his bed as Itachi ripped off the covers and saw that Sasuke activated his sharigan and was ready to fight at any time. Itachi didn't like this new attitude he was getting and it seemed Sasuke was hungry for fights all the time as saw Itachi. It was too late to degrade him, he felt like he could take him on as Itachi stood back, Sasuke smiled evilly as he got his kunai out.

"We might be able to finish what we started..." Sasuke response took Itachi by surprise as he still stood back. "That is if you've turned into a loser and are afraid of me..." Itachi glared.

"So, you've been sending these out when I've been gone?" Itachi began to rip up half of them as Sasuke shook his head and grinned. "You will get it, I had told you to not use outside contact or try to communicate without permission but you think this is a game then we'll play it this way..."

Sasuke began running in as Itachi was hit and he began to watch him closely, Sasuke knew there was still a risk for Itachi to operate his sharigan but before he could Sasuke had something else in mind. His speed increased as he tore a small piece of skin out of Itachi, a kick landed straight in his face as Sasuke fought on. Itachi knew he was getting stronger as his guard continued to be off guard with more snaps of punches and kicks. Itachi was waiting for the right time to strike.

Sasuke was about to unleash his chidori attack when he felt the sharigan come on him. He was praying for it to not involve knives or anything sharp, he was wrong. Itachi chose to torture him mentally with samurai swords and made sure he was cut eight at a time, Sasuke began screaming out as his tears hit the floor. He was beginning to think that the revenge plan wasn't going to be carried out and wanted to stop because Itachi was too powerful.

Itachi watched as Sasuke still continued to scream. "Our fights always end this way...It seems my sharigan is too much for you, little brother." Sasuke sharply gasped as he eyed his brother.

"I...would hate to believe that!..." Sasuke tried to crawl as he saw that he was in a transparent world with the swords still cutting him as they lined up in a circle. "When will...this end?" Itachi heard him and watched him suffer slowly as Sasuke became worn out. Itachi hit him repeatedly until blood rushed out of him and he fell to the ground. Sasuke could barely move as his eys focused on Itachi.

He wondered if he was close to death or not.

X X X

It began to rain again as Sasuke woke up in his bedroom, he barely could move as he looked in the mirror. He saw new bruises that were on his arms and back and he also saw a different on his leg. He was still bleeding, from his mouth and the side of his head as he painfully walked to the door.

He wasn't chained this time but he began to walk down to the door and leave the house for awhile. He didn't know how much more of it he could take. He was thinking that he reached his limit and that he needed a new ambition but the other side of himself kept telling him how good it would feel if Itachi was slained and the clan could be revived. He didn't know what to think.

'I should go to Naruto...I know Itachi is going to notice but who would want to stay there after another brutal beating like this?' thought Sasuke. 'I just can't take it anymore...'

Sasuke walked painfully as he tried to walk as fast as he could, he was now where the gate was and he just needed to get a few more blocks in to get to Naruto. As he walked by, he watched the window of a family of an older brother and a younger brother as they sat down together and ate. It brought Sasuke back, he would always know that Itachi only did it to test him and that's what hurt him the most. He was never going to forgive him.

He reached the familar yard of Naruto as he saw that the light was still on and he began to struggle to the door. He put his body against it as he clawed it, he knew he couldn't bring himself to knock on it to get Naruto's attention but he managed to knock it hard enough that Naruto came running.

Sasuke fell in the doorway as the thunder cracked across the sky and Naruto gasped, he quickly pulled him in and got him sheets knowing he was cold. Naruto couldn't believe it and took off his shirt to reveal all the bruises and the cuts, he touched Sasuke's back and realized that cuts were still bleeding. Naruto knew that Sasuke couldn't go back to Itachi, it was now unsafe for him.

Naruto's glowed brightly as he saw Sasuke. "Sasuke...I'm not lettin' you go back and I don't care how bad it gets. You aren't going back...This is the worse thing he's done to you..."

"Naruto..." Sasuke replied. "He'll kill you and me, I wasn't suppose to leave...Now, I'm going to suffer...I had no choice, I felt like I could come to you..."

"I don't care..." Sasuke sat up suddenly, he wanted Naruto to rearrange his words. "Look, friends look out for friends...I'm not going to sit by and let this happen..."

Sasuke hair draped over his eyes as he shivered, Naruto made sure the fire was warm enough as he put a bowl of ramen near him. Naruto could see that Sasuke was not looking good either and knew he was sick, it bothered him as he began dressing his wounds with bandages. Everytime he saw Sasuke he always imangined things were getting worse for him as he sat down.

The ramen was set down as Sasuke ate it fast, Naruto could tell he hadn't had a decent meal in awhile. "Man, he hasn't been feedin' you has he? He's wicked, I'll give him that..."

Sasuke looked up. "He skips days sometimes, I guess it's just to test how strong I could last...When I'm in that house, everything is a test no matter what I do."

"I only told Kakashi-Sensei a little of what I know, it's just so hard to tell him how everything went..." Naruto stopped suddenly to hear a loud crash outside. "...This could be bad..."

Naruto went to the front door and got up on the table to look outside, he didn't see anything and thought his imangination was playing tricks on him. He got back down and locked every door in the house as he watched Sasuke carefully, they both were thinking the same thing and knew that Itachi could be there watching their every move. Naruto only saw the laturn moving as it crashed to the ground.

'Oh, he's out there. I can bet you he is...I'm not lettin' Sasuke get hurt..." Naruto stood close to Sasuke as he watched everything carefully, the noise stopped and Naruto moved away.

"Naruto..." Sasuke replied with fear. "I can't stay here...I'm drawing his attention to you, he probably was there and you can't handle him yourself..."

"Sasuke! I'm not lettin' you out of my sight!" Naruto yelled, he wasn't going to give up now. "You're stayin' right here! If you go back, you could die..."

Sasuke wanted to say something else but stopped. Naruto was right, if he did go back then he probably couldn't survive or last because of how badly he was weakened. He would just have to reside here and wait until he was strong enough to go back to Itachi, the revenge started to set back in and he just wanted to kill Itachi and get things over with but he began to doubt the plan and started thinking again that it wouldn't carry out.

Sasuke looked out the window as he saw the thunder crash across the sky and the wind blow the trees. He knew the nightmare wasn't going to end and he would just have to accept that Naruto was the best person to stay with, he didn't want to but he knew what would happen if he returned.

Sasuke fell to the floor as Naruto ran to his side and helped him up, he put him in a bed as Sasuke rested. Sasuke watched Naruto's eyes, he knew that if he was going to be in anymore trouble that Naruto would come racing to his side to fix it. He only had fear of Itachi coming here and hurting Naruto again or hurting anyone else.

A crash was heard outside again, Naruto eyes's were fixed on the window as he saw shadow slowly move. Someone was there. Naruto went to the window as he saw a pair of red sharigan eyes looking straight at him, Naruto ran back to Sasuke and his mind began to race. Itachi was there as another loud crash was heard, Naruto turned out the lights and moved Sasuke upstairs.

Sasuke locked the closet as the two stayed inside. "How could things get any worse? I thought he wouldn't come here, he said his mission was A-rank and that he needed the whole day..."

Naruto looked at him. "Do you believe everything he says, Sasuke?!?! Half of the time he probably lies and is untrustworthy..." Itachi had entered and things began to move. "He'll never find us, this is a secret basement...There are two traps before it and another door..."

Sasuke sighed and sat back against the wall and closed his eyes. "Naruto, he's going to figure it out. You can't outsmart him so easily, he tries to work backwards sometimes to figure stuff out..."

Another crash was heard as Naruto looked at the door, Itachi had scanned everywhere but he couldn't find anyone and decided to leave but not without saying something before he left.

"Go ahead and run little brother." He began, Sasuke noticed a change in his voice. "I'll find you and when I do, you will carry out that revenge plan and me and you will fight to death once and for all!"

The door slammed, Sasuke knew his safety was in danger now and now if he was caught then the war would start between him and Itachi.

Sasuke looked at door, he knew he wasn't ready to fight a war. He grinned a little bit, he now let Itachi know that he wanted to fight him to the death and make the plan work but he frowned. He needed to train and get ready for any moment that it would happen.

Naruto looked at him as his eyes glowed. He knew that Sasuke wasn't to sit back on this one, this was it. He was going to fight Itachi for real and he wasn't going to get beaten again.