AN: Hello everyone. Gee, I feel swell today. I love this chapter, it took me two rewrites to finally get what I want out of this chapter. For a whole week there, I thought I would never get it the way I wanted it to be, but it finally turned out the way, well, the way I wanted it to be.
Thanks for the reviews...and I would like to have noted that one person was very close in describing what Orochimaru wanted in his victims and why. Not mentioning any names but I think you know who you are. Keep guessing and you might figure it out, especially with this chapter, then after another chapter, there will be a big clue (hidden of course) coming up.
Warning: This chapter contains mentionings of violent acts upon a minor (foreshadows what is coming in later chapters) and violence on a minor (small but there). Angst plays a big part in this chapter and soon a much bigger part in later chapters, just wanted to make that known so you guys can be prepared. I may make them really gruesome for later chapters, but I'm not that big on details so you don't have to worry about me being specific.
Hint: Lee is encouraged by IT. Gather all the hints and remember the things that happened so far in the fanfics to try and guess what IT is.
Enjoy.
Chapter 8
I Won't Lose You
They had just received their afternoon meal, when they heard the hallway doors being opened again. Sakura was the first to stand and cross the room to get to Lee. It's been three days since anyone came to take him away; it's been three days since they lost Sasuke and Kiba. Naruto stayed close to Hinata as they heard footsteps echo through their hallway.
"There are more people this time," Naruto whispered. "You think they're coming for all of us?" He looked to Sakura for answers; she just shrugged her shoulders and held onto Lee tightly. He was shaking.
They heard the footsteps stop at their door and the door knob turned. When the door opened, Sasuke and Kiba were pushed in and the door was closed afterwards. They stayed on their hands and knees, tensed and unmoved. Dark bags were under their eyes and they looked tired.
After they heard the hallway door closed some distance away, that's when everyone made their move. Sakura, Lee, Hinata, and Naruto ran to their fallen friends and surrounded them.
"Are you guys okay," Lee asked.
Kiba nodded his head, yes, but seconds later he shook his head, no.
Lee and Sakura shared concerned looks.
"Are you hurt," Sakura asked. She placed her hand on Sasuke's right shoulder and visually saw him tense and shudders away. Kiba started to hyperventilate.
"I need air," he said and he pushed his way through their made circle and ran to his bed. For a minute, everyone just watched him sit there breathing slow and forcefully, willing his breathing to calm down.
"Sasuke are you okay? What happened to you guys? Why did they keep you so long," Naruto asked as he moved a little closer to Sasuke. "I thought I wouldn't see you again, both of you." His eyes were pleading; he was scared that he might have lost someone else.
"We're fine," Sasuke said and he too pushed his way through the circle and sat on his own bed, he closed his eyes, his own way of calming his self down.
The rest just looked at each other and went back to what they were doing earlier; they ate their afternoon meal and worried.
"Here," Naruto walked up to Sasuke some time later. He's been watching Sasuke for awhile and it looked to him that Sasuke needed company.
Sasuke opened his eyes to see a bowl of so-called food in his face. "I thought, since we haven't seen you guys for three days, I figured you must be hungry." Sasuke watched as Naruto gave him a big smile. Looking away for a moment, he saw Hinata giving Kiba her bowl of food as well.
"I hope I saved you enough," Naruto stated as he placed the bowl on Sasuke's lap and sat next to him. Sasuke took the bowl and ate the leftovers Naruto offered him.
"So…" Naruto started. "What did happen to you guys?" He looked up at Sasuke and smiled, a sad one this time. "I saw when those dogs attacked you and then I saw when the people came and carried you away. Did…d-did they hurt you?"
"No," was all Sasuke could say. He was going to tell Naruto to leave him alone, to go bother Kiba or someone else, but his words got caught in his throat and the only word that came out was a plain 'no.' It did make him feel uncomfortable though, the attention he was getting from Naruto made him uncomfortable because the feelings were of someone caring for him. He didn't have that feeling in a long time and he didn't know how to handle it, now, by a stranger no less.
"Well, I'm glad that you are okay," Naruto smiled. He reached up and gave Sasuke a hug.
Why…, Sasuke thought. Why is he hugging me? I got to stop this. Taking his bowl, he pushed it between their bodies and forced it into Naruto's lap.
"Here, I'm done, thanks."
"You're welcome." He took the bowl, swirling it around as he stayed sitting next to Sasuke, concentrating on what to say next. "You know… the time that they took that one kid, I was alone for awhile. I thought I wouldn't see another person in my life. I was glad when more came, but I felt kind of, you know out of place. Kiba wouldn't talk to me at first, Hinata and Sakura were always together, and well they kept taking Lee for me to even get to know him. But after awhile we learned to comfort each other and we became close, you know." He looked up at Sasuke, his own eyes glimmering by the afternoon rays. "It's okay for you to feel out of place cause your recent here, but we're here, you don't have to push us away."
Sasuke who had looked away from Naruto when he was giving him that little speech turned back around to glare at Naruto, who flinched a little from the intensity of it.
"You don't know me, so don't think you know how I feel," Sasuke growled.
The room became quiet, much quieter than what it was earlier when there were only the sounds of plastic spoons hitting plastic bowls. Everyone felt the tension and it didn't ease up as Sakura walked over by Sasuke's bed to asked what was going on.
"Why are you here? Why do you keep bothering me? I don't want your pity, your concern, or your helpful tips on how I feel, just leave me alone," Sasuke continued, completely ignoring Sakura's question and putting all his frustration and hurt onto Naruto.
He was irritated, he wanted his space, and he wanted his time to be alone to think. Memories were so hard to make go away when He was around. The boy was a magnet in making Sasuke remembers his past. It was like he opened up what was deep inside and made Sasuke want to share. He didn't want this… this boy who keep bring up his …, he just didn't want it, Leave me Alone.
Naruto finally looked away, sad and hurt. He watched Sasuke's eyes the whole time and he saw anger, hate, and confusion, which was a little surprising, but the words were strong, and, well, he was only trying to help. He was only trying to be nice and he thought Sasuke would appreciate it.
"Sorry," it came out low and shaky and he tried to hold back the tears. "I just thought…"
"Well, you thought wrong, just go already."
Sakura, being the closest, took Naruto's hand and walked with him to his bed, but not before she gave Sasuke an angry frown, which, Sasuke, in return just sigh and lied down in his bed, his back facing everyone. He heard their gentle words of 'its okays' and 'don't worry' to Naruto before he fell into a forced sleep. I hate you, both of you.
He was awoken by someone grunting and the scraping sound of metal sliding across metal. He chose to ignore it but then he heard something heavy being dropped on the floor and a whispered 'Ouch.' It was now dark outside and the darkness covered the room, but the moon shun through the window, dimly lighting the room in gray and silver.
Sasuke turned and sat up in bed. Everyone was asleep in their own bed, everyone except Naruto. He was over by the now open square that was once padded and it look like he was about to climb through, until Sasuke startled him.
"What are you doing?"
Naruto ceased his climbing and turned to find Sasuke standing in front of him. His arms were crossed over his chest and a glare was pointed towards him. Naruto thought about what Sasuke told him earlier, so crudely, and shook his head. He was just tired, Naruto thought, It was my fault for even bothering him in the first place.
"I'm going to find a way out of here so I can get help. There's got to be another way somewhere," Naruto answered, he hoped Sasuke wouldn't get mad, maybe he would think it was sweet of him.
"WHAT," Sasuke yelled, but calmed himself down by taking a deep breath, before he continued, but whispered this time. "Didn't you see what happened last time? Don't be a fool, you could get caught or worst."
"I thought you didn't care?" Naruto rubbed in. He's still hurt, but knowing Sasuke seemed somewhat concerned helped lift his spirit…just a little.
"I don't."
Silence took over and Naruto was looking hurt again. He was starting to look that way more often, Sasuke noticed. He felt almost guilty that most of the time it was him who caused the boy's sad expressions, but he would remind himself later that he didn't care and why should he.
"Move," Sasuke sighed as he pushed Naruto out of the way to climb into the hole.
"But, I thought…"
"Are you coming," Sasuke interrupted. He figured if he didn't go, Naruto would probably get himself caught or killed, so to make sure he didn't mess up, Sasuke thought he should go with him.
"Yeah. Sure," Naruto answered after a while and climbed into the large shaft after Sasuke.
They were just crawling through the shaft, finding open vents that they would peer through to see rooms for their way of escaping, but they would either find the room occupied or the doors boarded up. They were alternating; Sasuke would look through the vents to their right while Naruto look through the ones to their left. Sasuke was leading the way, but it became harder to do so when the shaft reminded him so much of being in that box. He felt the panic building up, but before he could feel the chills of wanting to curl him self into a ball, Naruto would ask him a question and he would forget his verge of panicking and answer Naruto's never-ending questions. It helped in a way.
"Hey look," Naruto blurted.
Sasuke stopped and turned his head to find Naruto looking through an opened vent on his side of the shaft. "The door isn't boarded up and there isn't anyone occupying the room."
"Try opening the vent," Sasuke commanded.
Naruto pushed on the vent and it fell open. Thanks to the padded floors, no noise was made when the metal fell.
Naruto climbed head first out of the vents, while Sasuke climbed backwards. When he landed, he ran straight towards the door and grabbed the door handle. Only, it wouldn't turn nor would it open, it was boarded from the outside.
"Great," Sasuke sighed, he kicked the door and leaned his head on it. They were going to be here all night.
"Hey look at this," Naruto pointed at some boxes and a TV with a VCR. "There are tapes in these boxes." He picked one up and read the label. "Sanko Muchi…Hey that's the name of that kid that was with me before the rest of you came." He picked up another one and read the label. "Obito Toreniki."
Sasuke walked up to Naruto and took one of the tapes from his hand. He clicked on the TV and turned the volume down. Placing the tape in the VCR, he press play and watch the screen turn frizzy for a second before fussing out into a room, their room, but a boy was in it… Obito.
Obito sat in his large room, he tried many times to get out but he couldn't find an exit. Now, he just sat and waited until the right opportunity came by and he could escape.
"You can't keep me here," Obito yelled at no one in particular, just an empty room. "They will find me…he will find me and you will be in big trouble. You will go to jail for a long time."
He banged his fist into the wall next to him to emphasize his frustration and anger. He then sat in his lonely room, his head resting on his knees as his legs were brought up to his chest for his arms to lean on.
The tape fizzled out again and came back on to an image outside. Sasuke remembered because he was outside four days ago.
Obito was running for his life, a camera following him where ever he turned. He dodged out of trees' limbs and jumped over fallen tree trucks as he scurried for the opened fence.
"HELP," he yelled.
He was about to make it to the fence when something grabbed at his leg, he looked behind him to see a rottweiler pulling on his white pants. The camera focused on Obito for a while then veered up to show the fence closing right there in front of Obito. The camera then turned back on Obito and showed him crying as his escape had failed. Over his crying were laughter, it was deep and creepy.
"SHUT UP," Obito yelled at the camera, the dog long gone off his pants leg. He was just pinned down by a boot on his lower back. He tried swinging his fist at the offending leg but he couldn't reach, so he grabbed some dirt and threw it at the camera instead.
The tape frizzled and reappeared again on a scene.
"You should know by now that it is futile to try to escape. Why do you keep doing it," A voice spoke to a now bruised up Obito who was strapped to a chair.
"Because I know I will escape, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but one day… and I will..." A hand slapped his face stopping his sentence. Obito just laughed and spit into the camera's lens, red from his own blood.
"You will regret that one day," the voice said after wiping the blood from the lens.
"And you will regret ever taking me in the first place. I won't give up, I won't."
The tape flipped to another scene.
It showed a small wooden box, it rocked and shook as there were banging noises coming from the inside. A clock sat on the top of it and a scream was heard afterwards. It was a disturbing sight.
Sasuke looked away, he knew what that felt like, to be trapped in such a small space with hardly any light and the sound of the ticking. It made him sick and cold again. He heard the frizzle of the tape changing scene before he chose to look again.
They watched the tape almost all the way through, knowing the outcome, yet they couldn't look away. The boy…this Obito kid kept deviating the person and every time, he was either beaten or punished in the most cruel way. They both silently rooted for the boy, hoping every one of his escape attempts would set him free or something, but they would fail every time, but the boy never gave up and that in a way gave some hope that he would one day escape.
Is this what Lee goes through, Sasuke thought, is this what he will go through, will all of them go through this kind of torture. Are they going to…
A scream from the TV forced him out of his musing as he caught a glimpse of the boy being torture in a cruel way, again.
Sasuke turned his eyes away from the screen to look at Naruto. He was crying, huge tears ran down his childish cheeks and dropped on his white shirt.
Would he have to go through all that, Sasuke thought. He felt a sharp pain in his heart, it was almost too painful for him to withstand. He had to cover his chest with his hand to ease the pain. It felt like how it did when he was little, when his brother… No…no, he would not loss another…it won't happen to Naruto or the rest of them. They will escape this, they will make it, or someone will find them sooner or later…it won't happen to them.
He then turned to look at the TV and reached to turn the VCR off. The screen frizzled a little and then went black. He took the tape out and placed it back into the box he saw Naruto take it out of earlier.
He didn't turn back around to face Naruto, he couldn't. He had tears at the edge of his own eyes and they were threatening to fall and he knew for a fact that they would fall if he turned to look at Naruto again. To watch him cry and know that he understood what was happening to that boy on the tape and put it all together and understand that, that too can, could, and would happen to them.
Naruto gasped, and Sasuke turned around then.
"You think that happened to Sanko…what they did to that boy," he asked between sobs. His head was down as he tried to cover his tearful face. A moment later he gasped again and looked at Sasuke, who looked away because his tears were falling, they finally broken through his hold on them. "You think they do that to Lee, too? Does he go through that when they take him?" Naruto cried harder. "Did…you…go…through that?"
What am I suppose to do? How do I make him stop crying, how do I make myself stop crying, Sasuke thought. Every time Naruto said something, more tears would fall and he was becoming scared. He didn't know what to do.
Then Sasuke remembered something from his childhood. It was when, after his brother died and some years had passed, he had fallen off his bike and he began to cry because he had scraped his knee. His father had walked up to him and…
Sasuke gave Naruto a hug, a tight one where it meant that no harm would come to you and you weren't going to leave them no matter what happened.
It was the only time his father ever showed him any type of affection since his brother's suicide. His father doesn't give him these types of hugs anymore, but at least Sasuke remembered how they use to make him feel when he received them. And it seemed to help Naruto as well, because Naruto was hugging him back and he had stopped crying.
"It's okay," Sasuke found himself repeating his father's words from that day. "I won't lose you."
Naruto nodded in his shoulder, just like how he did when his father spoke those words.
"Come on, let's go back. We'll try again tomorrow night, okay," Sasuke unhooked their arms and walked back under the vent's opening, wiping his own dried tears from his face. Naruto nodded his head and walked over towards Sasuke. Sasuke bend down and places his hands over one of his bent knees, "I'll lift you up so you can climb back into the vent, okay." Another nodded and Naruto was lifted up to the vent. He turned around and helped Sasuke climb back into the vent.
They silently crawled through the shaft back to their room with the others. Naruto climbed out first, then Sasuke who quickly grabbed the padded wall to place it back over the shaft opening.
"Naruto, give me a hand with this," Sasuke grunted as he tried picking up the heavy wall. Naruto never came to help him. "Naruto, did you hear me? Come over here and help me…"
Their room lights cut on, momentarily blinding Sasuke as he turned around to see that Naruto was being held by a man wearing all black, he was struggling with the man, but the man had a fast grip on him and over his mouth. Sasuke also notice that the others (Sakura, Kiba, Hinata, and Lee) were being held by some other people who wore all black, but one of them stood empty handed, he had white hair and black-rimmed glasses that glimmered by the room's light. He stood in front of Sasuke almost blocking his view from the rest of his captive roommates.
It happened so quickly that Sasuke didn't have time to react. He was punched in the stomach which had him doubling over gasping for air. He was then being grabbed by the back of the hair and yanked upward where his head was slammed against the wall.
"Sasuke," Naruto yelled when his mouth was free for a moment.
Sasuke slide down the wall, dizzy from both blows and gasping for absent of air.
The white hair man, pushed up his glasses and leaned over Sasuke to grab him by the neck and yanked him upright to have Sasuke slam against the wall again, but this time, he didn't have him sliding down the wall, he kept him standing, hand still around his throat and squeezing.
Sasuke realizing his predicament, swung, and clip the man, in front of him, right in the jaw. The man wavered for a moment but his grip didn't let up, he only squeezed harder.
Sasuke started to panic as the need for air became vital. He gripped on the arm before him and tried pulling the man away.
Kabuto laughed as the boy struggled under his hold. He leaned in so that his mouth was over the boy's right ear.
"Yes, do keep struggling, I like it when you struggle," he whispered and pulled away only to see pure terror form in Sasuke's eyes.
"Grrrr," Sasuke tried breathing, but it was useless.
Kabuto laughed again before he spoke, "He wants to meet you," he told Sasuke. He then turned around to face the other captives. They were all scared, faced with seeing someone about to die before their very eyes and scared because they didn't know what to do. "He wants to meet all of you," Kabuto finished and then he took a syringe out of his pocket and stabbed it right into Sasuke's neck, emptying its content before pulling it out and releasing Sasuke. The other men in black took out their own syringes and did the same to their captives.
There were some cries coming from Hinata and Kiba as the needle was being jabbed into their neck, the others either flinched or had a hand over their mouth that their cries were muffled.
Sasuke watched all this as he slid down the wall again, gasping for air…again, and his heart threatening to jump out of his chest. He watched as slowly the drug took affect on his friends and as it did the same to him.
He watched as Naruto slumped down to the floor, trying to fight the drug, trying to stay conscious. As Naruto fell fully onto the floor, his eyes fluttering close, the others doing the same, Sasuke's thoughts, as his own darkness became unbearable, were of what his father had told him those years ago after he had hugged him and told him those kind words, those kind words he just, not so long ago, told Naruto…
"It's okay; I won't lose you, Itachi, my only son."
AN: I hope when you guys read the part where Sasuke mentioned this: I hate you, both of you. He wasn't talking about Sakura, Naruto, or anyone in the room with him, just of old memories and emotional hatred or pain...I'm not telling, but it will be cleared up in later chapters...just so you know.
This chapter was kind of sad once you read the ending thoughts of Sasuke and put it together toward the middle when Sasuke gave Naruto that hug. Because it mentioned how he felt about the hug, his father gave him and how it made him so happy. But then you read the ending sentence and you felt sorry for Sasuke because that hug his father gave him was meant for someone else...Itachi. Man, I'm so mean.
1 hidden clue, it was actually a given but since you don't know what the clue is, it's a hidden one.
Anyway, tell me what you thought about it. Give me reviews so I can get inspired to continue (A bribe, I know, but I had to try, right). Pretty please (I feel better now, begging should make that bribery go away).
Thank you
