Title: Daybreak
Chapter Title:
Disintegration
Summary:
Red clouds, take warning... bloodshed by morning. Akatsuki cloaks foretell nothing but disaster and misery, but even captured and severely injured, Naruto realizes there is no choice but to face them when he sees just who has joined their ranks.
Disclaimer:
I do not own Naruto or any of the characters within, to my regret. Many thanks to the creator of the series, Masashi Kishimoto.

Author's Note: This fic is over a year old at this point o.O. Wow. Thanks to everyone who's read, alerted, and reviewed! I'm a slow updater but I can promise that this will be finished before its two year anniversary. I'm actually really excited – the next chapter is halfway done, which is unheard of for me, and then it's onto the parts of the story that I've been waiting literally fourteen months to write.

On a side note: it's really annoying when you have something planned for a character, and then the manga comes out with something that completely and utterly contradicts it. But oh well - that's what fic is for, right?

Thanks again to Strangeblossom, Mistress Sundrop, droptheice, Panther Fire, Trueheartsglow, Extreme Kiwi, Darkmoon Fleur, Piper Julian, and elveljung!


Daybreak

Chapter 9: Disintegration

The first thing about Madara that struck Naruto was that standing before him was quite possibly the most powerful being he had ever seen. Power suited a lot of people that Naruto knew – the dark, sweet pulse of Sakura's bloody chakra had sent him reeling backwards sometimes when they sparred; Sai's fluid movements often left imprints on his closed eyelids; the ripple of Juugo's muscles tore apart entire landscapes. This was on a whole different level – when the door was shut behind them and he found himself under the gaze of the cloaked figure, the very marrow of his bones tingled under the gaze of that serious, terrible eye. Even though everyone was in the room, the cold examination of the Sharingan made him feel more isolated than ever before.

"Naruto." Madara's voice was pleasant and spoke nothing of their history. They had met before, of course, but as Tobi and a Naruto not quite so bitterly acquainted with failure. The following months had made them leaner, more driven, and much more dangerous. "I'm glad you could join us."

His breath sounded artificial as it escaped his mask, the whistling of the wind through barren rocks. No one else moved, even Konan, and it took Naruto a moment to place the hot nausea in his stomach as fear. All traces of the man he had met before – bumbling, scatterbrained – were gone, replaced by a intelligence that gleamed maliciously in his gaze.

"Playing the gracious host doesn't suit you, Madara," he felt himself say. He twisted his bound hands together behind his back in an attempt to remain still.

"No? Well, I play many roles. One will undoubtedly suit both our tastes," his opponent replied in a bored tone before looking at Sasuke. "Morose as always, Sasuke. But I must congratulate you on bringing him here."

Sasuke nodded, eyes cast on the far wall, and Madara strode forward, hand outstretched. Naruto flinched away, but found his chin captured in an iron grip. Like Konan had, Madara tilted Naruto's head back, checking each side of his face. The rasp of his fingers over his face, tight enough to caress his bones, made Naruto's skin crawl. Up close, he could smell the man – a heavy septic scent, and beneath it, a cloying sweetness, like an apple on the verge of decay. In the pit of his mind, the Kyuubi quivered.

"You've been rough on him," the Uchiha noted. "Unnecessary, but good."

Naruto, unable to stand the wrongness of his grasp, tried to twist his face out of his hand. Madara's fingers tightened, and Naruto snarled at him.

"Still, he's got some fire left." He sounded amused. "You've done well, Sasuke, above and beyond the call of duty, even if he is from Konoha. There's not really a need to keep him conscious, though." As Madara spoke, his voice oddly probing, Konan shifted her weight, staring at the floor, and Sasuke said nothing.

"He's better sport awake," Suigetsu said after a moment with a feral grin, but his hands were clasped bloodless behind his back and Naruto doubted that Madara believed him. He felt lightheaded, everything tinted a dark pink as the Kyuubi's panic rose within him, and he pushed himself off the ground.

(He wants to see both of you, suigetsu had said, but his grin had disappeared in the moment of silence after, when sasuke had been too off-guard to hide the panic in his eyes, and all of the light that naruto had felt spread through his limbs during their kiss was extinguished.

I know. sasuke walked past suigetsu with stiff movements, leaving the other shinobi to shrug and beckon to naruto awkwardly. naruto had walked side by side with him numbly, a series of emotions blindsiding him in flashes until he was too raw to feel anything at all.

it had been suigetsu who had patted his shoulder before they bound his hands and entered the room.

sasuke had not looked at him once.)

"Really." Madara stared down as Naruto struggled back onto his feet. "Well, as long as he's awake, I'll check that the beast is in order."

There was a familiar blur, a slight shift of chakra as Madara's visible eye spun into the Sharingan, and then blinding agony burnt the pink tint to red as a chakra alien and bitter against his own stabbed against his mind, over and over, carving out a pathway down to the deepest dungeon of his consciousness.

It's been a while, Kyuubi. It was like someone was spinning him – he caught only flashes of frantic images. Flash - Madara's lithe form sinister against the hostile glow of the fox. Flash – a coil of dark chakra winding out and striking a massive claw away.

Madara. Flash - the Kyuubi lunging against its cage, the screech of the bar's protest. The world could disintegrate from age and it would still not be long enough. Get out of here, abomination!

Touchy. Madara sounded amused, and Naruto opened his mouth to speak, only to be assaulted again by a crushing wall of agony. Dimly he could feel his knees collapsing, but it seemed far away, on the surface of another planet. There was only here, and now, and the silky texture of Madara's voice echoing off the corridors of his mind.

I won't take up too much of your time. There's merely something I wish to do.

Through eyes swimming with pain, Naruto saw Madara's hands move (flash) in a sealing pattern. He reached through the bars of the cage, brushing the Kyuubi's face as it snapped at him, eyes bloodshot and enraged.

You loathsome Uchiha, the Kyuubi roared as a black lines erupted across its jaw, meeting in the precise pattern of a seal. Its teeth latched onto Madara's arm, only to pass through it like smoke. I curse your bloodline from here to the afterlife.

Too late. I already sent most of them there myself, Madara noted. Pleasant to see you again, as always.

The vice-grip around his chakra vanished. Naruto blinked to find himself half-supported by Juugo, knees brushing the ground. The Kyuubi had been contained – all his chakra had sunk deep beneath the surface of his mind. Madara was laughing.

"Of all the tailed beasts, that one is the easiest to control. His temper makes him all the more vulnerable to the Sharingan. The things I could have done, had the Fourth not sealed him." He sounded regretful for a moment, then shook his head, and Juugo's fingers clenched painfully into Naruto's shoulder. "No matter. We'll have the weapon soon enough."

Sasuke looked rigid. "Is that all you wanted?"

"We need to discuss the assault on Konoha. They seem to have upgraded their security level. Some wisp of our plan must have made it over there."

Naruto grinned savagely. (finally, something went right)

"We're not weak enough to be destroyed by your lies and insanity."

A chuckle. "You think I'm lying?" The mask hid Madara's expression, but the corner of his visible eye curved upwards in an obvious grin. "My, my, we are naïve, aren't we?"

(less than you think. i'm pretty sure you're not lying, but that doesn't make you less insane)

Naruto glared up at him. "Your plan won't work, Madara, whatever it really is. You're nothing but a bitter old man who can't see past himself anymore, and everyone will see straight through it."

Madara was still for a moment. Then his eye curved up again in a smile, bearing an eerie resemblance to Kakashi. "You know, you look just like your father," he said, and Naruto's limbs were sluggish in shock, too weak to break past Juugo's restraint. "That will make sealing you twice as entertaining."

Naruto spat at him. Summer days spent competing with Kiba over the title of Saliva Champion had honed his aim, and he got the man right in the eye, even with the sharp fog of anger blurring his vision.

He heard a quiet curse from Juugo behind him as Madara's hand came up in surprise, powerful eye closing for just a second. Then he launched himself forward, pulling free of Juugo's fingers, fists bound but leg arcing up in a kick that should have shattered that fucking mask into nothing. Instead, Madara flickered with the torchlight, and Naruto found himself stumbling through his outline, own momentum conspiring with gravity to tumble him to the floor.

The retaliation kick came as a surprise, catching him at the top of his spine and bringing tears of pain to his eyes as his back curved at an unnatural angle. Naruto tugged at his bindings, scrabbling for the Kyuubi and finding the chakra slipping away under her fingertips.

"Actually, you sound like him too." Madara sounded thoughtful, and while Naruto managed to avoid getting his head kicked, he was pretty sure he could feel cracks spiderweb across his collarbone as Madara's boot thudded into his chest. "Now, I freely admit I'm not perfect, but the self-righteous idealism that both of you have is a quality I despise. There is nothing quite as irritating as being preached to."

The next kick caught him in the ribs, and hurt all the more because nothing at all had changed in Madara's voice – they might as well be discussing the weather. His body was rebelling, lungs refusing to take in air, voice withered to nothing as he choked.

"Take my plan. Yes, people will die. Yes, I will likely be hated for decades. Yes, Konoha will be a smoking crater in the ground. I have no illusions about that. And everyone who takes part of my plan have none either. I laid out the bare facts, and they chose to participate."

Naruto rolled out of the way of the next kick, head snapping up to snarl at Madara. For the briefest moment, he caught Sasuke's eye. His friend was rooted to the spot, pupils dilated in the low light.

(why aren't you doing anything?)

Goddamn it if he was going to curl up into a ball like a scared child. As Madara's foot swung back again, Naruto drew up one of his legs and lashed at his kneecap, hoping to topple him. Graceful as a dancer, Madara pirouetted out of the way. The hair on his arms rose as he felt a surge of chakra in the man, and he instinctively knew that the next blow would be the knockout one. He braced himself as well as he could against the ground, preparing to rock back and lessen the impact. But nothing came, and after a tense moment he looked up.

Madara's Sharingan had spun into a warped version of the Mangekyou, and before he could curse himself for being so careless he was drawn into their magnetic gaze, struggling against the pull that he knew would subject him to days of torture in just a few moments...

"That's enough." Sasuke's voice echoed, and he stepped swiftly between them. Naruto coughed blood onto the ground, catching glimpses of Sasuke's sandals and Madara's eye between spasms. There was a tense moment of silence as the two Uchihas stared each other down. Sasuke remained in front of Naruto, stance wide.

"I can explain," Sasuke added quietly after Madara's gaze did not waver.

"I think that would be wise," Madara said, turning his head to regard them both, and Naruto shivered. The man's voice was like a blade – sheathed with a gauze of amusement and irony, but ready to cut through at any time. "But not here. We have many things to discuss, Sasuke. Come with me."

Tension rippled through Sasuke's shoulders, but he nodded stiffly. "Karin, let's go."

She followed him without a word, and with a final glance at the group, Konan swept out after them. Suigetsu speared one of her spies that rustled in the following silence.

"They shouldn't use her for that sort of thing," he said, ripping the paper bird with far more force than necessary.

"Karin? Why do they need her?" Naruto wiped his mouth, staring through the empty doorway. His heart pounded wildly against his chest, a staccato beat that synchronized with the stabs of pain prickling up and down his torso.

Juugo crossed the room in two strides, first helping him to his feet, then turning his attention to the huge bulk of the Hachibi's vessel, unconscious and battered on the floor. "Madara's injured. I don't know if you could tell, but he was nowhere near healthy."

"Coulda fooled me." Naruto rubbed his chest, fingers cataloging the stress of each bone.

"It must have been one hell of a fight. He'll want her healing capabilities." Juugo checked the Jincuuriki's pulse, fingers looking small against the massive expanse of the man's throat.

"He didn't teleport in, either, like he normally does," Suigetsu said from the corner. "Must be low on his chakra, which is some nasty shit, by the way, and why Karin shouldn't heal him. She'll come out feeling sick." His sharpened teeth gleamed as he flashed an ugly smile at Naruto. "I hope the Hachibi got a few good shots in at him."

"Either way, it's good for us," Juugo said. "He'll need a while to replenish, and Pain is still on his way, so they won't be doing the ritual today."

"Or for the next few, actually. I'd guess there's a week if we're really lucky."

Juugo nodded and looked like he wanted to say something, but flicked his eyes to Suigetsu and then walked to the door. "I'll go make sure Konan's not interfering."

"What about him?" Naruto knelt next to the Hachibi and touched his temple. The man was awe-inspiringly huge, with arms nearly as thick around as Naruto himself, a shock of shining gray hair that spoke of vitality even into his middle age, and dark skin that fairly glowed in the light. Trickles of blood carved tracks through the grime on his face, and Naruto set about cleaning it with his sleeve, revealing a noble visage well worn with laugh lines.

(it will be okay, brother. i'll make it okay)

"Is Karin going to heal him as well?" he asked.

Juugo and Suigetsu shared a look, Juugo's fingers drumming against the door frame. The white-haired shinobi sighed and shook his head. "No."

"Why not?" Naruto demanded

"There's no need. He won't be waking up again," Juugo said shortly, and closed the door behind him.

aaa

Naruto set about cleaning up the Hachibi as best he could – it burned that he did not even know the man's name – and battled a slow, bubbling anger with every injury he tried to clean out. There weren't even that many, adding to his suspicion that some sort of genjutsu had been used, but there was an odd stiffness to his body, and in one place his arm had been laid open to the bone, although it looked like Madara had cauterized it brutally, causing patches of welts all the way up to his shoulder. Rage at the injuries, combined with a light-headed nausea at the knowledge that this could have been him, made his hands shake.

Suigetsu said nothing throughout the procedure and did not offer to help, which only pissed Naruto off even more. The shinobi had silently turned his eyes onto him after Juugo left, and he ignored the accusing stare as long as he could.

"What?"

"I totally called it." Suigetsu's canines glinted.

It took a second for Naruto to realize what he was talking about – was it really only a few hours ago he had wound his arms around Sasuke's neck under the stars? – and frown. "Shut up."

"You're so predictable," his friend drawled, completely ignoring him. "I wish I'd taken bets with someone. I could have made a fortune off Karin."

Naruto was not in the mood. "It's not funny, Su."

Suigetsu's eyes were clear and cold. "You're right. It's not. A week ago I might have found the whole thing hilarious, but not today. What are you playing at?"

"What am I playing at?" Naruto turned to him in disbelief. "What's going on with you, spying for Konan?"

Two splotches of pink flared high on Suigetsu's cheekbones. "I haven't said anything to her," he hissed. "All I've been doing since I got here has been covering for you, although the gods know why, since all you seem to be interested in is getting some tail from Sasuke-"

Naruto's fist connected directly with his face, sinking in with a slight sucking sound as water splashed to the floor and Suigetsu stepped back, features reforming. He looked surprised, but the expression quickly gave way to a taunting grin. "Oh, did that hit a nerve?"

Naruto took another swing at him, and Suigetsu dodged it, smile melting away again. "Naruto, there's no way you're going to be able to damage me. Your body is barely holding itself together, and you're not the one I'm looking to fight."

But Suigetsu's tone had only reminded him of Madara, and Naruto could barely keep the two of them apart in his mind as he lashed out the way he could not when the Uchiha had attacked him, when Sasuke had stood for minutes before interfering, when Juugo brought him down again and again, arms swinging out over and over as Suigetsu dodged.

"You..." Suigetsu leaned backwards, Naruto's fist splitting the air above him. "...asshole!"

"Naruto..." The warning could not have been more clear, but Naruto ignored it, a blind fury raging through his limbs.

"You sit there with a stupid smile on your face while you plan on betraying the rest of us-"

Suigetsu's face darkened, and Naruto only had time to blink before he was crashing into the wall, warm liquid trickling down from his nose where the other shinobi had hit him.

"That's enough. Who exactly are you angry with, Naruto?" Suigetsu spread his hands, blood dripping from his knuckles. "Because I'm pretty sure it's not really me."

Chill seeped into his legs from the floor, and Naruto held his sleeve up to his nose, closing his eyes. He let his head throb for a minute, losing himself in the white pulse of pain.

"Everyone," he said eventually, tasting blood. It was a familiar tang by now. "Everyone."

Suigetsu hesitated for a moment, and nodded. "Alright."

"I feel..." Naruto clenched his fists, felt a fresh surge of blood trickle out from his nose. "Powerless. I can't fucking stand it."

Suigetsu looked uncomfortable, and pulled out a bandage, handing it over wordlessly.

Naruto held it to his face, and asked quietly, "What are you going to tell Konan about me and Sasuke?"

Suigetsu tiled his face to the ceiling, mouth twisted. "All gloating aside, probably nothing. I thought you thought better of me, actually. I'm not used to all your touchy-feely bullshit, but I kind of thought we were friends. It would take a lot to make me betray the team. And you."

(i'm too tired for this)

"All you've been doing is sending mixed signals for the past week. I'd like to think you're on my side, but I really don't know, Su. It seems like you're never on anybody's side. Except Karin's."

"Well, you're not completely locked up, are you? Kind of thought that might have tipped you off." Suigetsu shifted his weight and looked down. After a moment he had composed himself and raised his eyes, face stretched into a thin smile. "Well, believe what you want."

"No, it's okay." Naruto balled the bandage up in his fist. "I believe you."

Suigetsu's facade of a smile melted into something that seemed genuine. A moment of silence passed. "I think I'm going to miss you, actually," he offered.

"Miss me?"

"You know, when they..." Suigetsu made a slicing motion across his throat. Naruto glared at him.

"Sasuke won't let it happen."

Suigetsu's eyes softened into an expression normally alien to his face, and with a sickened jolt, Naruto realized that he was being pitied.

"Look," Suigetsu sighed. "Did you think that just because he kissed you he was going to change his mind?"

Naruto looked away, and Suigetsu sighed. "It doesn't work like that. If he'd wanted to help you escape, he would have gathered us all together and left as soon as he heard Madara came back. Instead, he took you right you to him. I don't want to be the messenger, but the chances of you getting out now are really slim, Naruto. Either Sasuke's got the worst case of can't-make-his-fucking-mind-up that I've ever seen – which is possible, I guess, he has been weirder than normal lately – or he's gonna go through with the Akatsuki deal."

Suigetsu glanced at the door as if to reassure himself it was still shut. "And even if he's undecided... he's been talking to Madara for a while now. I wouldn't be hopeful. I don't really know what his feelings are for you, although I've gotta say I wasn't surprised to walk in on you two licking each other, but Madara's got the trump card. You know how Sasuke is about his family."

Naruto nodded slowly, digesting the words between waves of pain. "I do know."

Suigetsu stood, and held out his hand. "I just don't want to give you false hope."

"It's not false." Naruto waved the hand away, exhaustion sucking at his limbs. "I'm going to stay here for a while."

"Okay." Suigetsu's arm wavered, and he jammed his hand back into his pocket. "I'll, uh, get Karin to come see if she can patch you up. Believe me when I say you shouldn't get into any more fights. You look like a sadomasochist's wet dream."

aaa

Karin did not come to see him. Nobody did.

Naruto spent the day alternatively staring at his feet and gradually tearing up his shirt to make new bandages for himself and the Hachibi as they soaked through with blood over a period of hours. At one point he stumbled down to his room to grab his blanket, which was too small to cover the other man's chest, let alone his entire body, but it was better than nothing. He didn't dare leave the Hachibi alone otherwise in case someone took him away, and was too weak to move him to a more comfortable room. He was tired, furious, and relatively sure that one of his ribs was broken.

His lips were still tender as well, and every once in a while he would catch his fingers running along them, trying to recapture the feel of Sasuke. Heat would spread through him, and he would yank his hand away, ashamed to find his mind returning over and over again to that moment while another person lay dying across from him. Occasionally the Hachibi would make a soft sound, and Naruto would kneel beside him and talk quietly, but the man showed no signs of regaining consciousness, and his wound began to take on a dry, crusty appearance that reminded Naruto of the cracks in the ground during a drought.

The strange sense of purgatory was broken when Konan appeared in the doorway. She drew in a sharp breath when she saw him.

"Yet another place you're not meant to be."

Naruto shrugged. "I wanted to make sure he was okay."

Her body was completely rigid, like she was afraid to relax even for an instant. "I see. Well, it's my responsibility now. Stand back."

"No." With a grunt of pain, Naruto heaved himself up on his feet, placing himself in front of the unconscious man.

She sighed. "There's only one way this will end. I will hurt you if you don't move, Naruto."

"Will you really, Konan?"

Konan's eyes flashed displeasure, and she raised her hand. A thick rope of paper spun out of her sleeves, picking up Naruto as if he were a doll and slamming him into the wall. "My allegiance is still to Pein. This is his property now."

"He's human, too," Naruto growled at her, bones protesting as he pushed himself off the wall. There was no way he could physically resist her in this state, but still... "Don't forget that."

She frowned, but flicked her hand, and the paper that had been cocooning the Hachibi in a paper prison flattened out, forming a sort of hammock instead. It rose, floating in the air beside her.

"If Madara asks, tell him that neglecting his prisoners means that they're taken off his hands."

Naruto grinned. "Sure." He rubbed the back of his head. "Look, I'm... sorry if I made you uncomfortable yesterday, Konan."

Her shoulders tightened, and her voice was brittle when she spoke. "Don't push it." She stalked out of the door without a glance, but Naruto noticed that she wiped away a fleck of blood from the Hachibi's face as he was lifted into the hallway.

aaa

It was past midnight when he heard a muffled choking sound outside his bedroom, followed by ragged breathing and rapid footsteps. The sounds weaved in and around his half-doze, overlaying Madara's foot slamming into his ribs again, Sasuke's fingers sliding down his hips...

"Hey, what's – fuck. What the fuck happened?" Suigetsu's alarm cut through his mind, and Naruto sat up, automatically beginning the painful process of getting out of bed.

Another retching sound. "Madara." Karin's voice was hoarse.

"It looks like you got mauled by a fucking dog or something. You can't heal him ever again, not if this is the result. Fuck."

He reached the open doorway just as Suigetsu knelt down and reached out to hold her hair back as she threw up. Naruto felt his own bile rise as he saw the ragged pulp of her forearm, ripped and oozing spurts of dark blood that tapped dissonantly against the rock floor while she shook and rocked on all fours.

Suigetsu's eyes burned, fingers trembling where they touched her. "You need to get patched up. I'll go get the others. There's no way he can get away with this."

Naruto was about to step out and agree, his own rage readily bubbling up from the never-ending well of anger he seemed to carry these days, when Karin clutched at Suigetsu with her good hand, shaking her head.

"No, don't. Juugo might lose control, and I don't want Naruto to know. He'll do something stupid, as usual. If I have to stand by and watch up him beaten half to death again, I think I'll kill someone."

The words froze Naruto to the spot, clenching the doorway hard enough to cramp his fingers.

Suigetsu slammed a fist into the ground and closed his eyes for a moment. "He's a monster." His voice was a deadly calm. "And as soon as this is all over with I'm going to kill him."

"Oh please," Karin said, breathing heavily. She wiped her mouth and spat. "I hate him too, but let's not fool ourselves. We're just as bad as he is."

"Karin, it looks like he tried to rip half the flesh off your arm!"

She tucked her limb close into her body and sat back, knees folded underneath her. "Yeah, didn't appreciate that."

"This is insane." Suigetsu's hand lingered on her hair for a few moments before dropping reluctantly. It swung down in a curtain around her face. "You're just going to let it go? He could have killed you! And where the hell was Sasuke during all of this?"

"He and Madara argued, and he left before I started healing him... he would have stepped in if he'd known..." Karin gingerly touched her ruined flesh. A wavering green chakra covered it, slowly clotting the blood.

"Yeah, like he stepped in to help Naruto so fast?" Suigetsu asked bitterly.

Karin looked away. "The important thing was that he did it in the end."

"Bullshit. We could have done something faster than he did." Suigetsu looked disgusted, and at a wince from her dug around in his pocket, unearthing a few strangely colored pain pills and holding them out to her

"But we didn't," she said harshly, taking one and swallowing it dry. A shudder ran through her body. "We didn't, Su."

He jammed the other ones back in pocket. "I know that."

"It seems so stupid now." Karin ran a rough hand through her hair, seeming to forget that it was sticky with blood.

"We were scared," he said simply. "Of lots of things, I think. If he would punish us. What would happen to us if we showed how we felt. Of how Sasuke would react."

She nodded, and they were silent for a moment. Naruto felt something clutch at his heart.

Karin shook her head violently, and slid her glasses on. "Regret is an odd thing."

Suigetsu let out a short bark of laughter. "You have no idea. Do you need your arm bandaged?"

"It's fine. If I put them on now, they'll stick and just rip the scab off when I change them. And I can't waste any more chakra... Naruto needs healing." She made a weak attempt to stand, putting a hand on his shoulder to steady herself. "I should go do him now."

Suigetsu hesitated. "The Kyuubi's unrestrained at the moment. Naruto's hurting, but he'll be able to move around by tomorrow. You need rest. Don't worry about it right now." He stood and looped an arm around Karin's waist as she nodded and began to walk shakily down the hall. Their voices slowly faded out.

Naruto stood looking out over the empty hall for a moment. Now that Suigetsu had mentioned it, he did feel better than he had a few hours previously, and his senses were sharper. Perhaps tomorrow he would access some more chakra to speed up the process.

Karin's blood had painted the hallway, reinforcing the bitter taste of hatred in his mouth. Even if he succeeded in nothing else here, he would make sure that Madara would never leave this compound again. It was one thing that he and the Kyuubi would be able to agree on.

Naruto thought only of violence as he limped back to bed.

aaa

The Kyuubi boiled over into his dreams that night – (wind whipping screams and the acrid smell of destruction to him across a barren red landscape. naruto sits, limbs dead and refusing to move, as the fox fights two men in the distance – one blond, one dark. this is not his mind, he realizes with a shiver. he should not be here, does not want to be here. the landscape is curved downwards like a bowl, and in the sky hangs the faded symbol of the seal, barely visible against the harsh red light.

the blond man is snapped up in the fox's jaws, and even from a distance naruto can hear the crunch of his bones. the dark man doubles back in surprise, then shouts something that naruto does not understand, and he is falling up, up, away from the fight even as the fox thrashes against the muzzle that has locked across its mouth. there is only the faintest tingle of static as he rockets through the seal and falls away into the oblivion of the sky...)

aaa

(are you going to let me die here?)

Naruto had never had any problem questioning anything and everything before. Why does the sky change color, Iruka? Why don't the villagers like me, Kakashi? What does Sasuke have that I don't, Sakura? When will you teach me something useful, Jiraiya? Hey, old hag, how come Shikamaru got the A mission instead of me?

(are you going to let me die here, sasuke?)

Something made the words die on his tongue, coating the inside of his mouth with the sour taste of fear.

Their gazes kept straying to each other and flicking away quickly when they met, but otherwise Sasuke had said and done nothing to suggest that the day before he had shoved Naruto against the wall and kissed him as if his life had depended on it. Instead, he had barged into Naruto's room the next afternoon, kicked him out of bed, and proceeded to try and beat the shit out of him in a sparring match. Naruto later gathered that he had spent most of the day with Madara and was consequently in a hideously bad mood, but at the time had resorted to dirty fighting to avoid breaking a few more ribs. He had not dared try to unearth any of the Kyuubi's power – while his body was slightly stronger, having such an alien mind such his own in the dead of night had unsettled him badly. He didn't even want to think about the flimsy state of the seal, and how high the price of his cure might have been.

Now he was lying flat on his back on the cold stones, watching the rise and fall of Sasuke's chest as he sat against the wall next to him.

He opened his mouth to ask it – (do i mean anything to you? will you let them kill me?) - and instead found his lips forming something else. "What do you think he meant about my father, yesterday?"

(coward coward coward.

...but that blond man in the dream last night was not me, i could feel it)

Sasuke looked sideways at him, a light brush of the eyes that made him feel like he was facing a test. "What do you think?"

The problem was that Naruto didn't really know, and it wasn't a question that had ever particularly bothered him before. His parents were both dead, he had been told matter-of-factly when he was four and had been curious, and that was that. Except...

(Hey, look, it's Tsunade and Jiraiya's team photo! sakura grinned, waving the piece of paper above her head in triumph. naruto practically tore it out of her hands in attempt to alleviate the boredom of having to sort tsunade's paperwork – punishment for both of them for accessing old records on sai's background and root without permission. their teammate had told them by all means to go ahead, but he was a shinobi, and therefore did not have the authority to grant access to his own information. naruto had argued loudly against this and also received guard duty.

No way, he crowed as he examined it closer, sakura's chin resting on his shoulder as she tugged at it. Tsunade was flat as hell when she was younger. You'd never know it now. Guess there's hope for you too, eh, Sakura? Ow!

he rubbed his head where she'd hit him. she flashed her teeth in a teasing smile and jabbed her finger at the photo. And Jiraiya's looking right down her top, guess he never grew out of being a pervert. Looks like there's no hope for you.

naruto laughed. That's just unfair. And Orochimaru's still a creep, look at that stupid smile. he sobered slightly. Hopefully that didn't rub off on Sasuke.

there was a slightly awkward silence, one that inevitably ruled when sasuke was brought up. sakura clasped his hand in hers, twining their fingers. I'm sure it didn't, she finally said with a reassuring squeeze, and examined the photo again, exclaiming in surprise when another picture fell out from behind it. Hey, it's the Fourth...

sunshine hair with eyes of sky. like a mirror of what he would be in a few years time.

Wow. sakura whistled. When you're Hokage, you won't be able to tell your faces apart on the mountain. That's kind of creepy.

her glance flickered sideways at him, as if trying to gauge his reaction. it was something that had definitely occurred to naruto before.

I dunno... I think I'm hotter, he said with an uneasy smile, silently begging her to drop the issue.

Naruto, you don't think... I mean, nobody's ever said anything, but... you do look a lot like each other. A lot. You're the right age and everything... she trailed off hopefully, and with a sudden wave of nausea and undirected anger naruto realized that she had been considering this for a long time, when all his life he had done his very best not to think about the fourth.

because if it was true, then his father would have sealed a monster into his own son, and what kind of parent would ever subject their child to such a life of misery? gaara was always a brutal reminder of what naruto could have become, and the idea that his parents had willingly done it was something he didn't want to touch with a ten foot pole. so, even with the face of what might have been his twin staring with a smile up at them both, naruto shoved it back into the file they were handling.

Let's get back to work. he crossed the room and buried himself in paperwork, feeling sakura's eyes on his back.

Okay, she said after a long moment, and they didn't speak until tsunade kicked them out three hours later.)

Naruto shrugged, and stared at the wall from his sprawled position on the ground. "I think he meant the Fourth." He waited for Sasuke to laugh derisively and dismiss the thing out of hand.

"Hn." Sasuke exhaled and stretched, drawing Naruto's eyes to the sculpture of his stomach through his shirt. "Probably."

Naruto blinked. "Really?"

"Ever since we were assigned to the same team." Sasuke shrugged. "But nobody ever brought it up. Not that it does you any good now. He hates the Fourth. And he'll probably take it out on you."

Naruto considered this. "What does he want to do with me?"

Sasuke watched him idly through half-closed eyes. "Kill you, obviously. And he wants you to be restrained until the ritual."

Something about the ease Sasuke was displaying in his presence made Naruto nervous. "Is that what you're here for?"

The look that was sent his way was enough to sear a boar. "Of course not, idiot. I told him to stop interfering."

"Oh."

"I'm not his puppet."

"I dunno, it sure seemed like it when you did everything he told you to." Naruto frowned at him.

"Don't exaggerate." Sasuke drew one of his legs up, scowling. "Akatsuki works in ways that you don't understand."

"I understand that everyone treats each other like dirt. I'm pretty sure Konan showed up to get the Hachibi yesterday just to spite Madara."

"Did she?" Sasuke's mouth twitched up in amusement. "Hn."

Naruto stared at the ceiling, remembering the gaunt shadows on the Hachibi's face. "Do you think she's treating him alright?"

"I don't think he'll be in additional pain, if that's what you mean. But there's nothing I could do for him, even if he was." Sasuke shrugged.

Naruto said nothing, and Sasuke looked away. "There was something I could have done for you. I should have stepped between you and Madara sooner." He reached out, finger lightly touching a bruise at Naruto's temple. The blond looked up at him, surprised.

"Well, it was worth it just to see the surprise on his face when I spat at him." It was not forgiveness, but Naruto figured that was okay, since it wasn't really an apology in the first place. Sasuke inclined his head, as if he recognized that.

"I won't let it happen again."

Naruto smiled, and reached up to touch his wrist.

The air sighed as Sasuke leaned over him. "Besides, I keep telling them. You're my prisoner, and I can do what I like with you."

The words were almost playful for him, but his eyes were intent and piercing, and Naruto's throat suddenly became dry at his proximity, remembering the silken texture of his lips. "Like hell you can," he said, raising his eyebrow.

"We'll see." And apparently Sasuke had been thinking something along the same lines, because he bent over at the same time Naruto leaned up, meeting halfway in a firm kiss.

They tangled together – Sasuke's hands at the nape of his neck, running down the line of his jaw, exploring his ribs, fitting around his hips – and Naruto hazily wondered if it got better each time you kissed someone, if there was anything better in the world than being wanted...

Sasuke's lips moved down to his neck, and the world blurred as Naruto fists clenched in the back of his shirt, letting out a sharp gasp. The warm weight of Sasuke ran electricity down his limbs.

"You know, I don't think this is what Madara meant by restraining me," he said with a grin, tracing patterns up Sasuke's back.

He felt Sasuke's lips curve against his jaw, and a quiet gust of air past his ear made him shiver. "I can interpret it however I like."

Naruto laughed, and was just slipping his hands under the hem of Sasuke's shirt when something made them both freeze. The sound of footsteps in the hall clanged like warning bells, and Sasuke, who had just caught Naruto's earlobe between his teeth, pulled back onto his elbow with a surprised hiss. Naruto lay on his back, breathing heavily as the steps passed the room and continued down the corridor. He wanted to reach out, drag Sasuke back to him, but it was obvious that it was already too late – Sasuke's face had closed, and his eyes were narrowed as they lingered on the door.

"Sasuke?"

He didn't reply, didn't look at Naruto. The blond sighed, missing the phantom feel of his friend's body as its warmth leeched away. "Is this how it's going to be now?"

"I should go," Sasuke said, looking away. "Madara's expecting me soon."

"Sasuke." Naruto reached up and brushed away a lock of hair from his eyes. Sasuke flinched. "It's just me. You can relax."

"I can never relax around you," Sasuke muttered, and began to stand. Anger pulsed hot through Naruto's veins, and his hand shot out, grabbing his shirt and pulling him, off-balance, back to the floor. Sasuke made a surprised sound and tried to throw him off, but Naruto pinned the tail of his shirt with one knee and swung the other across his lap, straddling him.

"Hey, I'm right fucking here, okay? Look at me."

Sasuke's lip curled, and he raised his eyes defiantly. Their cool gaze sent a spark through him. "What point are you trying to make?"

Naruto's hands curled into Sasuke's shirt. Then he leaned forward and kissed him roughly, letting his tongue run across the seam of Sasuke's lips, making a softly startled noise as Sasuke's mouth opened under his, hands coming up to grip his hips, their breath intermingling in short, ragged gasps -

He pulled back, settling onto Sasuke's knees and staring him straight in the eyes. "You can't just blow me off every time you think you've said or done your piece. You can't just kiss me and expect to walk away like nothing happened. That's not how this works."

Sasuke's hand rose to his lips, eyes darkened, and stared back at him for a moment. "Tch." He pulled his legs out from under Naruto, who fell backwards in surprise. "Get off me."

But he didn't make any movement to leave, and Naruto smiled at the small victory. "Is your life going to revolve around Madara now that he's here? You two don't even seem like you like each other at all."

"He's a pathetic excuse for an Uchiha and a human being," Sasuke spat out, and Naruto could have sworn the temperature in the room dropped a few degrees. He also had a sneaking suspicion that Sasuke had been waiting to say that to someone for a very long time.

He rubbed his chest, where the bruises from his beating were a deep purple. "Wow, you're right about something for once."

His comment went ignored. "I don't fool myself about our relationship. Madara doesn't like me and I certainly don't like him. He thinks I'm weak, and I know that he betrayed our clan. But we each help each other to our goals." Sasuke's face darkened. "Still, I won't forgive him for what he's done. Every time I see the Sharingan on him I want to rip his eyes out."

Naruto, startled, sat up fully. "I thought you wanted your bloodline restored."

Sasuke was silent for some time, finger tapping the stones beneath them. "No," he said. "Not after I've seen what it means to be a true Uchiha. I wouldn't wish this on any child."

"I wish I had the Sharingan," Naruto said wistfully. "You should have seen the way he got inside my mind. I was so jealous of you, when you first got it."

"Don't say that." Sasuke 's voice was sharp and reprimanding. "You have no idea, what it does."

"Well, how would I? You never told me." Naruto was more surprised than bitter. "It would be cool to be born with that sort of power."

Sasuke rolled onto his back, not seeming to mind the cold stones of the floor. "Sometimes I wonder if this is why the clan didn't try to gain power for decades. Madness. There's always been insanity in my family. It was hidden away from sight, in the back alleys. There was a special house, for the people who'd cracked under the curse of the Sharingan. My grandmother was in there." He glared at the ceiling. "It didn't stop the elders from ordering her to be killed along with the rest, though."

Naruto spread his hand across Sasuke's stomach, marveling. He could almost span the space between the frail hipbones, his palm dark and rough across the smooth, pale skin. "What kind of madness?"

Sasuke shuddered beneath him, burning eyes flicking from the cracks in the stone to Naruto's face for a moment before glancing away. He didn't push the hand away.

"Delusions," he said hoarsely. "Insomnia. Irrationality. Probably the blindness has something to do with it."

(of course. who knows what's waiting for you in the dark?)

Naruto nodded.

"It's not bad," Sasuke said, and Naruto saw the lie in the tense of his jaw. "But it's not good. Visions, mostly. Things that dissolve if I look directly at him."

"You mean Itachi."

Sasuke scowled at him and said nothing.

"You're too strong to ever go mad, Sasuke. Besides, I won't allow it. If you did, then all this would be for nothing and I'd be really pissed off." He let the pads of his fingers wander across Sasuke's stomach, grinning when the muscles quivered under his touch.

Sasuke's mouth twitched up into a half-smile before it was whisked away by another frown. "I don't know. I think... I think Itachi was halfway there, by the end. He was definitely going blind." He turned his face away, the raven silk of his hair whispering across the floor. "I don't know. Maybe I was imagining it. It's hard to know what's real, sometimes."

"Well, I'm here," Naruto said, tracing the line of Sasuke's hip to the center of his stomach. "I'm real." There was a small rustle of fabric as his fingers played with the waistband of Sasuke's pants, slipping under.

"I know that... a-aah!" Sasuke's back arched off the floor, eyes fluttering shut as Naruto's hand slid lower.

aaa

Naruto's newly recovered good mood was promptly deflated when he found Juugo in his room after returning from a quick visit to check on Karin. She had slept for the entire day, and was still snoring when he left. The sickly circles under her eyes had betrayed her condition, and Suigetsu had hovered in the corner, alternatively biting the skin of his knuckles and swearing.

"Hey," he said, smiling and shutting the door behind him. "What's up?"

Juugo was biting his lip. "You didn't tell me that Madara could control the Kyuubi," he said.

A wisp of Naruto's dream rose to the back of his mind – (a ghostly chain leading from the hands of the dark man to the muzzle on the fox...) – and his stomach plummeted.

"I had no idea. Not fully, anyways. Trust me, I wasn't exactly happy to find that out." Naruto shrugged. "But it doesn't really matter, does it? The plan can stay the same."

Juugo chewed on his lip. "It matters if he's able to gain control of it before it destroys the statue."

"It's a risk we'll have to take," Naruto said. "Knock him out or something if you have to."

"If I was capable of that, I would have killed Madara long ago. And Suigetsu would have killed him already, in payment for Karin." Juugo's eyes were dark. "I don't like this, Naruto. The more I hear, the more dangerous he seems, and the more I don't think it's going to work. I'm not willing to accept that."

"Well, what do you want me to do, Juugo?" Naruto fought to keep the frustration out of his voice, and lost. "It's not like we have a lot of choices. Besides, you keep forgetting this is Plan B. Sasuke will change his mind. I know it."

Juugo smiled at him, and Naruto felt his skin erupt in shivers as he saw the depth of sadness there. He looked tired – tired beyond exhaustion, beyond chakra burnout, beyond death.

"You think I'm wrong," he said. "That he won't change."

Juugo passed a hand over his eyes. "Yes."

Naruto took a deep breath and counted to ten. "Okay. That's okay." He smiled weakly. "You'll owe me one when it turns out I'm right."

Juugo didn't smile back. "You need to prepare for the worst, Naruto."

"I have," Naruto said, waving him away. "The Kyuubi and I have a deal. It will be fine. You'll see."

There was a moment of silence as Juugo looked at him sadly. Then he reached out a large hand and squeezed Naruto's shoulder, before quietly leaving the room. Naruto stood still for a second, blinking and trying to convince himself that everything was going to be alright.

aaa

"Let's play cards," Karin suggested that night. It was a transparent attempt to ease the tension – Naruto didn't know what word could be used to describe the collective mood of Team Hawk, but it was like the air had thickened, heavy against their skin and lungs, making the inside of their mouths itch, heat blossoming over their bodies in sudden fits of frustration. It had been a mistake for them to follow their ritual of eating together, Naruto could already see, but Karin had finally woken and it seemed natural. No one had said a word for over an hour, and it was not the comfortable silence that usually pervaded over their meals. Instead, it was a brittle construction, one that groaned under the weight of all the unsaid words they had all cultivated within their hearts.

Karin's sleeve pulled up as she dealt the Hanafuda cards, showing a tightly wound bandage hiding the tattered mess of her forearm. Suigetsu's eyes sharpened at the sight, and he gripped his cards so roughly they threatened to tear. Juugo's hands were limp around his own cards, and he stared at the table, while Sasuke projected an air of absolute apathy. Naruto frowned at his own hand, having never had the patience to sit and learn strategies for the strategic games that Team Hawk preferred. The crimson flowers that dominated his cards seemed to mock him. Red. He was fucking tired of red.

"Up to fifty points?" Karin asked quietly, tapping the deck against the table to get Juugo's attention. She was doing her best to keep things together, Naruto thought, even in her condition. He nodded, forced a smile.

"Sure."

It was a quick game. No one was really concentrating, and when Sasuke dropped his last card on the pile, face impassive, he felt only relief.

"Fifty."

"Sasuke wins," Karin announced.

"Of course he does," Suigetsu said disgustedly, drawing a venomous look from her and a bland gaze from Sasuke.

"Drop it." It was obvious that they had argued about something in the day, and Naruto was not surprised that Suigetsu was stubbornly holding onto the issue.

Suigetsu gave a humorless grin. "Why? Sasuke can obviously do no wrong. I was just pointing out another of his momentous achievements."

"If there's a problem, spit it out." Sasuke's gaze hardened, and Suigetsu scowled under his intense scrutiny. There was a moment of silence, and something like contempt flickered in Sasuke's eyes. He stood. "If not, keep your mouth shut."

He began to walk towards the door, and Suigetsu flushed in anger. "Actually, I wasn't done," he said loudly, despite a pointed look from Karin. "I want to know what we're doing with Naruto."

Sasuke stopped midstep, and Naruto's stomach dropped through the floor. Suigetsu plunged on, eyes glittering. "You say we're still going to sacrifice him, but why is he in here with us?"

"I'm right here, you know," Naruto said irritably, and was ignored by everyone.

"Why the order to Konan to leave him alone? Why stop Madara beating him? I'd kind of like to know what the hell we're doing."

Sasuke turned around, and the hairs on the back of Naruto's neck stood up. Challenging Sasuke in front of everyone was a not a thing to be done lightly, and Suigetsu knew it. Karin's glasses hid her eyes as she methodically shuffled the cards and watched the two of them. Juugo looked off into the corner, arms crossed and fingers digging into his arms.

"Are you sure you want to have this conversation?"

"Don't change the fucking subject. I asked you a question, and I want an answer. What are you going to do with Naruto?"

"I don't know," Sasuke snapped back at him, clearly frustrated. "But do know that it's not any of your concern."

"If you say that one more time I'm going to shove my fist down your throat," Suigetsu said, marching around the side of the table. "We're your goddamn team, and we deserve to know."

Sasuke's lip curled. "If you think I'm going to give you information that you could give to Konan, you're insane."

"Don't you fucking smirk at me-"

It was probably Suigetsu who attacked first, but Naruto couldn't be sure – there was a slight shift in the air, and then the two of them were caught in a whirlwind of movement, almost too fast for the eye to follow. Naruto stood, toppling his chair as he strode forward, but Juugo caught his sleeve, pulling him backwards. Suigetsu landed a solid kick to Sasuke's chest, nimbly flipping over his shoulder when the Uchiha caught his leg and tugging him back wards by his hair. Sasuke hissed and grabbed at his hands, lashing out behind him with a reverse kick and using the shift in balance to pull him forwards and slam him into the floor.

"No. You'll get hurt," murmured Juugo, keeping a firm grip on his bicep.

It was true. Naruto realized that Suigetsu had merely been toying with him in their sparring sessions – the shinobi now moved with a deadly, feline grace, body melting and reforming within a second as he absorbed a hit from Sasuke and slithered in liquid form over his mouth and chest. Sasuke's eyes narrowed, and the chirping of birds exploded over the room as a burst of electricity spiked out from his body, visibly cracking through Suigetsu as he pulled his body back into shape, shuddering in pain.

The move had tired both of them, and there was a second of respite, punctuated by the brilliance of Sasuke's sharingan and Suigetsu's pointed teeth in the light as they drew back and circled each other like fighting dogs.

"Stop!" Karin's eyes were sharp and unforgiving as she propelled herself out of her seat and between them, arms outstretched. There was a knee-jerk backwards in both the men as they stopped themselves from leaping forward again. "Both of you are being idiots! We're a team, or have you forgotten that?"

"This hasn't been a team for a while," Suigetsu spat, pacing up and down behind her like a caged animal. "Get out of the way and I'll show him-"

"Show me what?" Sasuke was still, Karin's palm pressed flat against his chest as he stared over her head. "There's nothing you could possibly teach me. Being a team member means respecting your companion's boundaries, knowing the chain of command, and you violate those rules every chance you're possibly given."

Suigetsu looked like he had been slapped, and looked to his teammates for support. Karin said nothing, face hard, and while Juugo smiled, it was hollow reassurance. Suigetsu blinked, then turned to Sasuke with poison in his gaze.

"And what about you, Uchiha?" He hissed. "You constantly put your own needs above ours, keep us in the dark, push us away. You're our leader, for fuck's sake. You're supposed to look out for us. Karin's paid for your mistakes twice. Have you even seen her arm?"

Suigetsu lunged forward and grabbed her arm, roughly yanking the sleeve up to show the bloodstained bandage. Karin snarled in pain and tried to pull away, but his hand tightened, and he pushed her towards Sasuke. Beside him, Naruto felt Juugo's muscles tighten.

"How the hell could you let this happen? You know what Madara's capable of, and you let him loose on us... like we're your goddamn pets or something! And what about Naruto, huh? You just stood by when he was tortured."

This was the first thing to evoke a response in Sasuke – his own hand shot out to grip Suigetsu's wrist, squeezing so tightly he was forced to let go. Karin snatched the limb back to her body, skin pale. Juugo crossed his arms protectively in front of himself, rocking back and forth on his heels.

"You've always been emotional, Suigetsu, but to suggest that I deliberately let Madara do this to her or Naruto makes you a sheer idiot. Don't let your problems with me cloud your judgment-"

"Cloud my judgment?" Suigetsu stepped towards him, fists rising, only to be shoved back by Karin. "I shouldn't have to make a fucking judgment about you! We're supposed to be able to trust you, you're supposed to have our backs-"

"Guys..." Naruto said, alarm electrifying his body as a high pitched whine escaped Juugo's clenched teeth.

Sasuke's fists clenched, and the air crackled with chakra. "Hypocritical, don't you think, considering all those meetings with Konan you've been discrete enough not to tell any of us about-"

Naruto barely ducked in time before Juugo's arm whistled over his head, splintering the table. "Sasuke!" He shouted, leaping back and cursing Suigetsu for confiscating his weapons.

There was a blur of the others turning with wide eyes to him, and then Juugo's open hand hit him across the face, spinning him halfway across the room before he landed on his back. Galaxies exploded across his vision, and he struggled up onto his knees, gasping for air.

"I want to join in the fighting too," Not-Juugo said, a gleeful smile plastered across his feet. He started to lumber towards where Naruto had fallen. "My turn."

"Oh, no it isn't." Karin planted herself in front of Naruto, stance firm and fingertips shining with chakra. "Sasuke, now!"

"Juugo, control yourself," Sasuke barked, eyes vibrant with the power of the Sharingan. A thick trickle of blood wove down his face like a teardrop, and with a faint trill of horror Naruto felt all the things he had been told about the Uchiha bloodline slap him across the face as it began to splatter against the ground.

The effect was almost instant. Juugo collapsed to the ground like a marionette with its strings severed. A long moment of tense silence passed, broken only by the dripping of Sasuke's blood against the floor, and then he stirred, sitting up with a low groan. He blinked at them, then averted his eyes and studied his hands.

"I'm sorry. It was too much." It was soft, directed at no one in particular.

Knees shaking, Naruto stood and walked over to him, kneeling to place a hand on his shoulder. "No damage done. Don't worry."

Sasuke touched his cheek, face registering surprise when his fingers came away glistening. The blood had dripped onto his shirt, blossoming like flowers. Naruto's stomach twisted.

"That's new," Karin said, reaching up to touch his face, gaze a razor. "Let me take a look."

He knocked her hand away, body tense. "It's fine."

Juugo gave an odd smile, twisted and broken, and leaned in to Naruto's ear. "Who knows what I would become without the Sharingan to control me," he said softly, and his cold breath sent a shiver down Naruto's spine.

"She's only trying to help," Suigetsu snapped.

"And you're trying to start another fight," Sasuke told him, lips twisting into a sneer of contempt. "It's pathetic to try and accuse me of not caring about our teammates when you're perfectly willing to create an atmosphere that you know could set off Juugo."

"Fuck you." Suigetsu spat at his feet and walked in tight strides over the door. "This whole team is a joke. I'm outta here." He slammed the door behind him.

Karin shook her head in disgust. "You know, I don't think he was out of line. You handled that entire thing really badly," she told Sasuke. "Come on, Juugo." She swept the cards into a neat pile and leaving, hair tossed over her shoulder. Naruto turned his head to see Juugo's eyes flick away from him before he stood and left without a word.

Sasuke did not move from his clenched position.

Naruto cleared in his throat in the following silence. Sasuke stood with his head bowed. "Rough patch, I guess," he offered lightly, though he knew it was anything but.

"No," Sasuke said, voice flat. "It's more than that."

"Sasuke..."

The Uchiha crossed over to the door in two strides. As the door creaked open, something drove Naruto to speak.

"Wait."

Sasuke paused.

"I'm tired of dancing around this. I think I deserve to know." His throat was dry. "What you're going to do."

He heard Sasuke breathe in several times, and out again a few moments later when no answer came.

"A lot of people deserve to know," he finally said, and left. Naruto stood frozen, counting his own heartbeats – (one, two, threefuckit what's the point) – swore and flung his fist at the wall carelessly, relying on the pain to slice through the fog of his mind.

If he had known that that had been the last time Team Hawk would be truly together, he might have run into the hallway, tried to call them back, stop them repelling like magnets released from their bonds. The words clamoring inside him would have tried to make them understand how useless it was to fight now, how everything could still be salvaged, how it wasn't too late. He might have even succeeded, and events might have followed a very different course.

As it was, he just cradled his pulsing hand to his chest, watched the blood-red glow of the lamps mock him from across the room, and tried to dispel the empty feeling that they had all missed something very important.


Hope everything's good on your end! Happy Halloween in advance :)