The lost Neko

chapter 9

Once back at the apartment, Sasuke entered the building ignoring the looks his owners gave him, and made his way over to the couch. Laying down, Sasuke closed his eyes, he could still smell Naruto here, the scent brought him a little more comfort than Itachi had been able to provide. As he lay there with his back to everyone Sasuke tried to keep back the tears that were threatening to fall. How could he have been so stupid to drive away someone like Naruto? Someone who was sweet, and full of life and energy. Closing his eyes, Sasuke tried fighting against the guilt that filled his heart. If he had only controlled his temper more, than they wouldn't even be in this situation.

"Sasuke I know you are blaming yourself." Sasuke heard Itachi say over his shoulder, "I already told you, it's not your fault. I believe Menma has been planning something like this for a while now." Itachi rubbed circles in his little brother's back, knowing that his brother was likely hating himself for how he had treated the blonde neko.

"It is my fault." Sasuke mumbled not looking at Itachi. "we both knew he had an abusive past, but we both chose not to believe it because Naruto was all smiles and a bundle of engery. After all who in their right mind doesn't get changed by the abuse they suffered. Naruto showed no signs of his abuse having changed him, although his behavior could have been a mask for all we know. We never even took the time to get to know him, me especially. I did enjoy fighting with him, enjoyed riling him up."

"All that means is that Naruto is a better actor than we gave him credit for." Itachi said "maybe he acted that way because he figured wearing a smile would be easier than crying all the time. I don't know, but I do know from watching him that Naruto was starting to come out of his shell around you. That I don't believe for a minute was faked, if given a little more time I believe that he would he have fully come out of it with the rest of us."

"Maybe, and all I done was drive him back into the arms of the one that's hurt him all his life." Sasuke said "I don't know if he will ever be able to come back from that."

"I think Naruto is stronger than you think" Itachi replied "I don't think you are giving him enough credit. It might take him a little while but he will come back to us."

"We have to get him back before he can do that." Sasuke turned red rimmed eyes towards his brother. "We don't even know where he is, and we don't have any leads as to if Menma actually took him."

"Are you calling your nose a liar?" Itachi asked "Because we both smelled him all over this room. There is no doubt that that man has Naruto. And as far as finding him goes, that might take time but don't doubt me we will find him."

"Yeah, before or after he's killed?" Sasuke asked bitterly turning away from his brother once again.

"Sasuke." Itachi said not knowing what else to say to his brother. It hurt him to see Sasuke like this. Sure, Sasuke had messed up, shoving Naruto and yelling at him like he had. But that didn't make Sasuke's actions unforgivable.

Sighing, Itachi pushed himself to his feet, he didn't want to leave his hurting brother alone right now, but Itachi knew the other neko needed a little alone time for a little while.

"How is he?" Iruka asked softly, remembering how Sasuke had been when they had first found Itachi and Sasuke. The younger neko had been terrified and distrustful of them. It had taken them a long time to teach Sasuke that they weren't there to hurt him. The neko of course, still needed time to get over the tragedy of his past, and Iruka believed that with time it could happen. He believed that Naruto and Sasuke could help each other if given enough time.

"Not good, he's blaming himself." Itachi said quietly though he knew his brother could hear him. "And I think a lot of Sasuke's past is starting to rear its ugly head and he isn't sure how to deal with it." Iruka looked over at the other neko, tears in his eyes. He hadn't exactly been gentle with Sasuke that morning, he might as well have accused Sasuke of making Naruto disappear.

"Don't blame yourself." Itachi said noticing the guilt in Iruka's eyes. "It's time for Sasuke to deal with that part of his past, he'll keep destroying any relationship he has if he doesn't deal with it."

"I accused him of not caring about Naruto." Iruka said not taking his eyes off of Sasuke. "I can see now, that he cares even more than he lets show. No one hurts that badly without caring a lot about someone."

"You are right of course" Itachi agreed "But until Sasuke deals with his past, he will only continue to hurt Naruto." Iruka sighed, wondering how they had ended up in this mess. He wondered if Naruto was suffering at that moment or if he had been killed already. Iruka didn't want Naruto to suffer but he didn't want him to die either, he wanted him back with him and Kakashi where he belonged.

"Why now?" Iruka wondered "why did this happen now?"

"Possibly because Tsunade fired him from his job." Kakashi told them as he hung up the phone. "She found out that Naruto isn't the only neko he hurt on the job, so she fired him."

"Great" Iruka muttered "Now we have no idea of where to find him." he couldn't stop thinking about the way the bright blue eyes lit up whenever Sasuke was in the room, Naruto was typically quiet unless Sasuke was around to annoy.

Iruka looked over at Sasuke who only curled up in a tighter ball at the sound of their conversation. It seemed to him like his dream was quickly becoming a reality. He only hoped that Naruto didn't have to suffer too much, before the end came, if it did.

Sasuke stared at the couch, silently listening to the conversation taking place behind him. His heart hurt more than he even thought possible. Sasuke didn't love Naruto, at least he was certain he didn't yet. So why did he hurt so much if he only cared for Naruto as a friend? Could it have become more if Sasuke had given Naruto half a chance? Could Sasuke even overcome his past to even fall in love with anyone?

Even as he lay there, he could still almost feel the snake like man on top of him, taking his own pleasure and not caring that he was hurting Sasuke in order to do so. Sasuke could remember how it felt lying beneath him, begging for the man to stop, that he couldn't take anymore. The man had only continued to hurt him, and soon enough he had invited someone else to join in. who was it? What had the name been that the snake dude had called out? It had started with an M that much Sasuke could recall. That person had been just as cruel as the other man, hurting Sasuke until Sasuke thought that he couldn't be hurt anymore. Sasuke never wanted to go through a pain like that again.

Closing his eyes, Sasuke tried to shut out the conversation behind him, he didn't want to know the odds of finding Naruto were slim, the odds of finding him alive were even slimmer. He also didn't want to think about the possibility of Naruto suffering at that moment, just that thought alone was going to drive him insane. If Sasuke had any hints of where the blonde neko would be, he would have been looking already.

Groaning, Sasuke felt like sticking his fingers in his ears, he was tired and he needed rest, however with the way his thoughts were racing through his mind, he could almost guarantee that he wouldn't get any sleep that night. Sighing, Sasuke shoved himself off of the couch and wondered over to the broken window. Staring out he wondered if things could have been different with Naruto and him if Sasuke hadn't gone through what he had in the past.

"You need to get some rest, Sasuke" he heard his owner state from behind him.

"Can't" Sasuke said "more like I don't want to." he was afraid of what his dreams would show him. He didn't think he could handle seeing Naruto suffer like he had in the first dream.

"You're not going to do Naruto any good if you don't get some sleep." Kakashi said as he walked over to stand beside Sasuke.

"My dreams are of Naruto being tortured and then brutally murdered." Sasuke said softly "for the sake of my sanity I don't think I can handle seeing him like that anymore."

"He might not be going through that." Kakashi pointed out "after all its just a dream, your mind probably thinks that Naruto is being hurt so its conjuring up images that you don't want to see." Sasuke shrugged. He didn't know what it was but he would like to believe that it was some kind of connection with Naruto. Not that it was doing him any good he couldn't see where Naruto was other than a dark cell. Frowning, Sasuke wondered if there any kind of abandoned buildings around that rooms like what Naruto was being kept in.

"Sure" Sasuke said dryly "I'm sure Menma wants Naruto around just for his company. You and I both know he wants to pay Naruto back for whatever Naruto supposedly done."
"Maybe" Kakashi said "we don't know that he wants to hurt Naruto, it could be that he just wants Naruto back in his home again."

"I know your not that stupid" Sasuke said turning his attention to stare at his owner. "who was the one that accidentally on purpose cut Naruto's foot when removing the cast. You can't tell me that he doesn't want to cause Naruto harm, I don't care about what you say. Besides I've never really gotten a good vibe from him." Kakashi sighed, nothing he said was going to change Sasuke's mind. He had it in his mind that Menma was the one responsible for Naruto's disappearance, of course, his scent being around the apartment was suspicious, but that didn't mean he had taken Naruto. Of course, Kakashi didn't really believe that Menma hadn't been the one responsible, he trusted his nekos senses. He just wanted to give Sasuke some kind of hope that Naruto was out there somewhere of his own accord. He didn't want Sasuke to continually be thinking of Naruto hurting. In the end that would only make Sasuke suffer and neither Kakashi nor Iruka wanted that to happen.

Naruto~

Naruto lay on the floor, shivering and trying to avoid moving too much. His back was still in agony from being beaten so badly. He wanted to cry but he knew the tears would do no good. They wouldn't get him out of there any faster, they wouldn't stop the abuse he would no doubt go through before the end.

He hissed in pain as he tried moving his foot, he knew he had to get it out of the trap and get the wound looked at, otherwise he risked infection and he could end up losing his foot. Who would want him then? No one wanted a disabled neko, they would only end up putting him down. Naruto heaved a sigh, struggling against the pain, to make himself comfortable, he had the feeling he would in here for sometime.

A few minutes later he heard the unmistakable sound of the door opening, cringing Naruto could only slowly drag himself back into the corner as far as he could go. He knew that the corner offered no protection to him, but Naruto wanted to keep as far a distance between Menma and that other guy as possible.

"Looks like someone doesn't want to play" a painfully familiar voice said and Naruto couldn't help but stare in shock as Sasuke appeared before him.

"Sasuke" Naruto mouthed watching as the dark haired Neko approached him. Naruto closed his eyes before opening them again, and still Sasuke was standing before him. "What are you doing here?"

"Putting you out of your misery of course" Sasuke smirked as he stopped in front of Naruto. Naruto frowned, something about him didn't seem right.

"I want to make you feel better." Sasuke continued but not before roughly shoving Naruto to the ground. "I know how you feel about me, so how about I make you forget about how your feeling right now."

"No" Naruto said attempting to shove Sasuke off of him, he didn't know what was going on but the Sasuke he knew wouldn't be acting like this. Naruto groaned in pain as Sasuke took his claws and scraped down his back, opening the barely closed wounds once more. Naruto cried out and Sasuke laughed cruelly. He dragged his claws down Naruto's back again, enjoying the sound of Naruto's cries.

"How about making me feel good?" Sasuke whispered in Naruto ear, before standing up briefly to allow his shorts to fall to the ground.

"No" Naruto cried trying to shrink away from the one who looked like his love.

"Too bad" Sasuke said, grinning at him before plunging himself into Naruto, causing the blonde to scream. Thirty minutes later, Sasuke climbed off of him, he grinned sadistically at the blonde neko, before taking his foot and stepping on Naruto's badly injured paw. Naruto screamed again and backed away from Sasuke. Closing his eyes, Naruto tried to tell himself that this wasn't actually Sasuke, Sasuke wouldn't actually hurt him like this.

""You want to know what's wrong with me?" Sasuke asked "You are what's wrong with me. If you hadn't ever come here, I wouldn't have to put up with my own brother laughing at me all the time. If you weren't here I could actually live in peace without being bothered constantly." Sasuke hissed at Naruto "Don't you remember me telling you how disgusting it was for you to crush on me?" Naruto blinked only the real Sasuke would remember the exact words that would hurt Naruto the most. How long had Sasuke been working with Menma? The entire time that Naruto had been living with him?

Naruto could only stare fearfully at Sasuke, still not certain as to what he should have been feeling at that moment. Terror filled his heart as he stared at the cruelty in Sasuke's eyes. He had never thought the other neko could be so completely evil but apparently he was wrong.

Sasuke smirked at Naruto before leaning down, and sticking a claw in an open wound on Naruto's back.

"I must admit I like the sound of your screams." Sasuke said "I didn't think I would but I do." Naruto moaned and pulled away, his entire body aching more than it had the entire time he had been here. Sasuke had been rough, too rough with him.

"Here's a treat for being such a good ride." Sasuke said giving him another cruel grin as he placed a food bowl in front of Naruto. Naruto scowled and pushed it away, curling into a ball, even though it sent waves of agony crashing through him.

"No one loves you." Sasuke said staring down at him "No one could love some so used like you. You better get used to being here, because you won't leave this place alive."

"You are not the real Sasuke" Naruto said softly, as he managed to bring his eyes up to Sasuke's.

"And how do you know that?" Sasuke asked.

"Two things." Naruto said "first you don't have the ears and tail like a neko would, and two the real Sasuke isn't as cruel as you are."

"Be that the case" the fake Sasuke said "He'll never love you the way you want, he is far too damaged."

"I would take him wounds and all." Naruto muttered wincing as an angry fake Sasuke glared at him and send his claws scraping down his back again, digging in deeper. When that failed to get a response from Naruto, Sasuke pulled the belt off his waist, sent the belt buckle flying into Naruto's face, the buckle ripping into Naruto's eye causing blood to begin pouring from his eye. Naruto screamed unable to keep the sound back. The fake Sasuke proceeded to kick and hit Naruto with the belt until the blonde neko was unconscious.

"I think you took it a little too far Orochimaru" Menma said from the doorway. "The point was to make sure he knew that no one would be coming to save him from his life of suffering. You might as well have beaten him to death."

"I don't think he would be of any use alive." Orochimaru said glaring at the blonde.

"I think we are close to breaking his spirit." Menma commented "he can't keep fighting us if we use the faces of the ones he loves to hurt him."

"If he even survives this latest beating, you can probably consider him broken." Orochimaru commented as he turned his back on Naruto and walked out of the cell, leaving the bloodied blonde in an extreme amount of pain.

"I can imagine Madara won't do anything to heal him either" Menma said "I think this time the plan is just to let him die thinking he is unloved and unwanted."

An: obviously that wasn't the real Sasuke hurting Naruto. I think this will probably be the last graphic scenes for this story, from here on out, it will be about healing. Thanks for reading and reviewing Liz.