Chapter 10
In a dark cell, in a basement, two sounds were to be heard. A dripping sound and also someone panting. Blood was dripping down over the almost naked body of the prisoner, trickling down onto the ground. The prisoner was panting slightly, being too proud to admit he was wounded badly. His arms were being held up by shackles tied around his wrists, and his legs were being held on the ground by shackles on the ground that were put around his ankles. In the past two weeks, he had endured all kind of forms of torture, which should have leaded to him spilling information about his family and its techniques. He hadn't told them a word. As proud as any Hyuuga, Hyuuga Neji refused to tell them anything. He didn't make a sound as they ripped his body open. He wouldn't show fear, he wouldn't give in. But he wouldn't deny that he longed to escape this hell now. He also wouldn't deny the dreadful feeling in his chest when he heard footsteps coming closer to the cell.
It took just a few seconds before the door was opened and a tiny bit of light entered the room. Three men walked inside and closed the door behind them, one of them was pushing a bed before him. All three had smirks plastered on their faces and they walked towards Neji.
"Are you gonna give us some information today or not, little Hyuuga?" One of them said, grabbing Neji by the face so he would look at them.
Neji kept having his gaze fixed onto the ground, not bothering to even look at the three. He did wonder though, why on earth they had brought a bed here. It was unlikely that they had decided to give him a good nights' rest.
"Stubborn as always." The one who was pushing the bed inside said, laughing a little, as he put the bed at the end of the cell, and grabbed a bag. He then started taking its contains out.
"Well then we will just have to find out the secrets of your eyes by ourselves." The one having a grip on Neji said and then pushed Neji's head away. "It is going to be fun to cut those big eyes out of his skull."
Neji couldn't help but widen his eyes at hearing this. What? They were going to remove his eyes? He felt panic rising up in him. Shit no.. this couldn't be happening. He started to think rapidly for a way out. But as he had concluded in the past weeks, there was no possibility with those shackles in the way.
"It will be a pity though." The one close to the bed said. "He'll lose all of his glory with it."
"Yeah, but we will gain it, once we are able to implant them into our own head." The third said. He then suddenly grabbed Neji's hands and started fidgeting with the shackles around it.
"Wait." The one at the bed said as he turned around. "Won't it be nicer to play around a little with him first?" Neji started thinking again. So they were going to lose his shackles? That made it a whole different story. He looked at the door, and saw it was closed, but not locked. That was too easy. The moment his arms would be released, he would be able to attack them. The only thing that might become a problem, were the shackles on his ankles. But on the other side.. they probably had the keys of those as well. Neji looked at the guys briefly. They all looked stupid. Stupid enough to fall for his tricks. If he would just play weak and give them the illusion it was safe to guide him over to the table, unbound, he could escape.
The guy holding Neji's hands, stopped. He looked at the other and smirked.
"Well what did you have in mind hm?" He asked.
"Well you know, the boss is not here at the moment, so now he can't stop us from.. you know." The guy said. "Hasn't he been just a toy to the others too?" He looked at the guy who had been the first to talk to Neji now. Neji was actually glad with this conversation. He was making up a few scenarios, and was going through all the possibilities. With most cases, escaping had a fat chance.
"What, you wanna rape the guy?" The one who had first spoken asked. He didn't seem to find it a bad idea at all.
"It's officially a way of torture." The other said, shrugging. "I doubt they tried to get information that way, hm." Neji, who was mostly not affected by this kind of things, felt very naked all of a sudden. He actually was only dressed in his underwear right now.
"Well go ahead." The man said smirking as he walked to Neji and pulled his underpants down, exposing Neji's butt.
Neji swallowed, while the other was regarding him, almost drooling. Perhaps he should just lie to those guys right now.
"Alright, what do you want to know?" He then snapped.
"Well everything of course. Everything about your byakugan." The one having pulled down Neji's underwear said as he pulled it back up. All three seemed to believe these threats had made the Hyuuga so scared, he would tell them everything.
"I asked you, 'what' do you want to know?" Neji then asked. The one who had suggested playing around, grunted a little.
"We're being distracted." He then said. "We came here to get his eyes, remember?"
"Let's just get him on the table and get it over with. Enough toying with him." Another said and finally undid Neji of his shackles.
Right then, Neji activated his Byakugan and hit the person who undid him from his shackles onto his pressure points. With a swift move, he grabbed the keys from the other's pants and released his feet. When the other two chased towards him, he spun around, releasing a Kaiten. After grabbing a cloak in the room, a selection of weapons and a pair of boots, he ran. He didn't need to kill them, he just had to escape. Which was easy enough, the criminals were weaker than him. Far more weak. They only had had the luck to attack him in his weak spot and hit his head. When he had woken up, he had already been tied up in shackles, the only thing that made a lot of ninja's helpless. Within not more than ten minutes, he was going straight to the Uchiha estate. He didn't know what had come from the mission, but he hoped Sasuke would be home. He really wouldn't be able to hold on for a lot longer, so he went home as fast as he could.
Sasuke was home indeed. He was sitting on the couch, his head buried in his hand. He was crying. Sasuke had not come over the loss of Neji, he hadn't been on missions. All he had done was train and cry. He was holding a picture of Neji as he felt his chest tighten. His heart really did ache every time he thought back at the mission. Every time he thought of Neji. It hurt almost just as bad as the massacre of his clan had felt.
At that moment, Neji managed to open the front door of his and Sasuke's house.
"S-Sasuke.." He weakly called out. Now he was home, he could finally admit he couldn't take another step.
Sasuke frowned as he heard the voice and wiped some of his tears. He put down the picture and got up when he heard slow footsteps. He wondered if it was Itachi. But when Sasuke entered the hallway, he stared right at... Neji? Sasuke drew his sword immediately and held it against his throat.
"What kind of sick joke is this? Who are you!" He yelled.
"S-Sasuke please.." Neji softly said, as he tried to hold himself onto the wall but collapsed onto his knees. "It's me, N-Neji.. hn.."
Sasuke wanted to kill the guy off, but then felt his chakra. He dropped his sword and stared at Neji.
"...You're dead." He said. Should he believe this? It was exactly like Neji's chakra. It had to be Neji. But how?
"..T-they caught me off guard during the f-fight.. b-brought me to their.. hn.. base.." Neji said, and coughed once. He then reached for the wall with a shaking, in blood covered hand, and pushed himself up again, trying to ignore his shaking legs.
Sasuke stared at Neji for a little while longer, then rushed towards him and hugged him, holding Neji up at the same time.
"I thought you were gone." He said.
Neji leaned onto Sasuke while hugging him back too.
"..W-what did they tell y-you?" He asked, as he hissed a little in pain.
Sasuke pulled Neji in his arms and walked to the bedroom. He laid Neji down there, on the bed.
"They told me they had killed you." Sasuke said. "God I missed you so much."
"..I'm so sorry S-Sasuke.." Neji said. "..You must have had hn.. an a-awful time.." He could only imagine how he would feel if he had been told Sasuke had been killed.
"I'm just glad you're here. What did they do to you?" Sasuke asked, as he checked if Neji had any really serious injuries.
"..T-they were after the secrets of t-the Byakugan." Neji said. "..They t-tortured me in any.. hn.. possible way.. I escaped w-when they released my hands, t-they wanted to take my eyes out."
"Well you're safe now." Sasuke said. He quickly wrote a scroll and then called up a small snake, sending it to Sakura. Neji needed some healing.
"...I'm really sorry." He then told Neji.
Neji coughed once, and then looked Sasuke in the eyes.
"For w-what?" He asked, as he rubbed over a wound directly under his eye. They had opened his eye with force so often and even used materials to keep it open, that there were deep wounds under his eyes, and they stung horribly due to lack of hygiene.
Sasuke grabbed Neji's hand and pulled them away from the wound.
"Don't touch it, Sakura will be here soon." Sasuke said. "And I'm sorry, because it is my fault this happened. I must be the worst leader ever."
"People get w-wounded a lot on missions." Neji said. "You did y-your best." He felt the cloak he was wearing pricking into his skin, so he took it off and let it drop onto the ground.
"..C-can you get my shoes off?"
"Sure." Sasuke said and gently pulled off Neji's shoes. "I could have gotten you killed, it was my fault. I made us split up."
"Don't take it so heavy, S-Sasuke.." Neji said, as he kept looking at his lover. Then, someone knocked on the door.
Sasuke quickly got up and opened the door. He knew it had to be Sakura and she could heal Neji.
"Took you long enough." He said.
"I had to gather some things first." Sakura said as she entered the room, and then hurried herself to Neji, carrying a bag full of medical stuff with her.
Sasuke quickly followed, looking worried (for as far as it was shown on his face though).
"He's been hurt a lot, so please hurry." Sasuke said.
"What happened? I thought you were dead." Sakura asked as she started healing the wounds that were most obviously in need of care. She ignored Sasuke.
"He will be dead if you don't start treating him." Sasuke snapped.
"I w-was captured by a criminal gang, they were a-after the secrets of the Byakugan." Neji said, not liking it to admit it to someone his age and other then Sasuke. But he knew of the need. "..O-on my right arm is a wound w-with poison in it.. it's why I'm .. not on full condition right n-now."
Sakura nodded and she looked at Neji's arm. There were no big wounds, so she felt where the poison was. Once she had found out, she started taking the poison out.
"Hurry it up already." Sasuke snapped, crossing his arms.
"..S-Sasuke just let her heal." Neji groaned. Damn Sasuke for being so impatient. "..I also think my r-right ankle is broken." He was lucky it had only been his ankle though. They had threatened him to break a lot more, but the chief had stopped them right in time.
Sakura nodded once again as she continued healing. It took a long time and a lot of 'shut up's' directed to Sasuke before Sakura was done and sighed, wiping away some sweat.
"They got you good Neji." She said.
"I know." Neji said, as he nodded towards Sakura. "Thank you for healing me." He was still amazed by the power of the medic nins. They could take away pain so quickly.
"You're welcome." Sakura said and gave Neji a smile. "I'm glad I could help you."
"It's your duty to help." Sasuke said, looking at Neji and Sakura.
"Sasuke shut your mouth." Neji said, before looking at Sakura again. "I'll be fine now, right?"
"Perfectly fine. Take some rest today and tomorrow you'll be just as good as you were before." Sakura said nodding and then got up. "I'll be going now. And you're welcome Sasuke." Sasuke just huffed.
"Thanks again Sakura, see you." Neji said, nodding to Sakura. While she left, he looked at Sasuke. "And you get me under the shower, will you?"
Sasuke looked at Neji and then pulled him up.
"You know you can walk again." He said, but nonetheless brought Neji to the bathroom.
"I know, I just like ordering you around." Neji teased Sasuke. When they got to the shower, he pulled down his underwear.
"Shut up idiot." Sasuke said as he turned on the shower. He then looked at Neji, or rather, stared at him.
Neji snorted and then looked at Sasuke, pulling up an eyebrow.
"What?" He asked.
"... I just can't believe you're here.." Sasuke softly said. ".. I'm so, 'so' sorry." It really took a lot out of Sasuke to show Neji how he truly felt. He'd rather hide it.
Neji got a soft look on his face and then hugged Sasuke.
"It's fine, I'm not angry with you." He then said. "Please don't feel guilty."
Sasuke wrapped his arms around Neji and closed his eyes.
"I 'do' feel guilty. I ruined the entire mission..." Sasuke said. "I lost 'you'."
"..But you got me back." Neji said. "I'm sure you took out the strongest ones for me.. they told me that most of them had been slaughtered."
"I killed every single one that was out there when I heard it. But that doesn't take away that I was too late." Sasuke said, as he pulled Neji into a tighter hug.
"Luckily you weren't too late after all.." Neji said, trying to comfort Sasuke.
"But I was Neji!" Sasuke suddenly snapped. "I was too late and you were gone and if they had done what they had said, you wouldn't be here right now and it was my fault! You would have been dead!" He then turned his head away, trying to cover up some tears that ran down his face.
"Sasuke I know that, but it didn't happen." Neji said, frowning. "No one could've seen this coming. I'm a jounin, if they wouldn't have caught me off guard, it would never have happened. It was pure luck on their side. You were right to send me there, I was fully able to take them on."
"But you weren't!" Sasuke yelled, almost desperate. "Do you have any idea how much I missed you?" He turned away now and then left the bathroom, trying his best to look angry, even though it was hard with the tears that were coming down his face.
Neji sighed and then walked after Sasuke, grabbing his hand.
"I do have an idea of how you must have felt." He then said. "I can imagine by how it would feel to loose 'you'."
Sasuke was silent for a while and then slowly turned around. He pulled Neji close and wrapped his arms around his waist.
"..Thank you.." He softly said.
Neji put his arms around Sasuke too now.
"If you want, you can rest a little, you need it too." He then said. "Or you could join me in the shower."
"I'll join you." Sasuke said. He didn't wanna be far away from Neji. At least not today.
Neji gave sasuke a smile, before taking his hand in his and taking him with him to the shower again. He gently pulled off Sasuke's shirt, before giving him a soft kiss.
Sasuke smiled a little and made quick work of getting rid of the rest of his clothes. The shower was still running and he pulled Neji with him, getting under it.
"I really did miss you." He said and felt a wave of relief wash over him. Neji was still there, with him. It couldn't get any better today.
"I missed you too." Neji said, as he started washing Sasuke. He gave Sasuke another kiss on the lips.
Sasuke grabbed Neji's head and gave him a kiss back. He then started washing Neji as well. He needed a good wash, being covered in blood and dirt.
Neji enjoyed Sasuke's hands on his body, making him more and more clean. While Sasuke was taking care of his body, Neji started washing his hair. It was so dirty it wasn't even funny anymore.
Sasuke washed Neji thoroughly, not missing any spots. He wanted Neji to feel good again and he knew how it sucked to be covered in blood for such a long time.
"Isn't this a nice excuse to touch my body like this?" Neji suddenly joked.
Sasuke looked at Neji and then laughed a little.
"Idiot." He said. "Although I did miss it, I just want you to feel good and clean right now."
"Thank you." Neji said as he gave Sasuke a smile, and then closed his eyes to rinse the shampoo out of his hair.
Sasuke cleaned Neji up completely now and then waited till the shampoo was rinsed out. He then grabbed Neji and kissed him. It had been too long since they had shared a proper kiss.
Neji stopped himself from smiling just in time, and then kissed Sasuke back deeply. He had longed to kiss Sasuke as well.
Sasuke gently pushed his tongue into Neji's mouth and let his hands massage Neji's back. He could just stay like this forever.
Neji sighed into the kiss as he felt himself sink away in his love for Sasuke. Like always, he wondered if this could get any better.
A few days later, Sasuke was looking for Itachi in the city. He had looked everywhere in the Uchiha compound and when he wasn't here and nobody had seen him, Sasuke had become worried. Where the hell was that guy? Sasuke really wanted to show him something and now he was stuck with looking for Itachi first. Who knew where the guy was? Sasuke passed a small tea shop and then saw something black out of the corner of his eye. He walked back and saw Itachi sitting there, silently sipping some tea. Sasuke sweatdropped and then walked to Itachi.
"What are you sitting here, drinking tea for?" He asked.
Itachi looked up to Sasuke.
"I'm enjoying the nature." He then said. There was a beautiful garden laying next to the tea shop. "Why don't you join me?"
Sasuke sighed and sat down next to Itachi.
"I would love to." He said. That was a lie of course. "But I wanted you to see something."
"What do you want to show me?" Itachi asked, before taking another sip. Some other people that were sitting in the tea shop, were eying Itachi warily. They knew, even now Itachi looked so calm and peaceful, that there was a mass murderer beneath that calm face. It would take some time before they trusted him again.
"That I mastered Amaterasu." Sasuke said and told the waitress he didn't want any tea. He eyed the people looking at Itachi, forcing them to look away.
Itachi looked at Sasuke now.
"You did?" He asked, actually a little surprised. He didn't expect Sasuke to master the technique this fast.
"No I'm joking." Sasuke said. "Of course I did. I wanted to show you."
"Good." Itachi said, nodding. "You're learning fast."
"I am?" Sasuke asked. "Well anyway, I can't give it any directions yet. All I can do is make them come out."
"That's what Amaterasu is." Itachi said. "It burns everything in your vision, but it's not possible to direct it somewhere. At least, that's my experience with it. And I was the first who used the attack."
"... Well then how do you use it, it could burn you too." Sasuke said, frowning a little.
"I'm not looking at myself." Itachi said. "When I look at a forest and use Amaterasu, it will be set on fire."
"Yeah but you can't control it, so what if the flames get out of control?" Sasuke asked.
"I am able to stop the flames again." Itachi said, nodding.
"Well me too, but still. Whatever, can I show you?" Sasuke asked.
"You can, after I finished my tea." Itachi said.
Sasuke sighed annoyed.
"Then hurry it up." He said.
Itachi smiled as he poked Sasuke's forehead.
"Patience is a strong skill as well." He then said, before continuing with drinking his tea.
Sasuke rubbed his forehead and rolled his eyes.
"That's a skill I can do without." He said.
Itachi just laughed softly. After a few more minutes, he was done with his tea. He left the money on the table and stood.
"Well let's go to the training grounds." He then said.
Sasuke nodded and the two of them walked to the training grounds. Before Itachi could say anything, Sasuke activated his mangekyou sharingan and then used Amaterasu on a tree.
Itachi watched Sasuke's moves closely, feeling proud of his younger brother once more.
"Very good." He said, nodding.
Sasuke though, felt that he wasn't done yet. He could do more with those flames. So he did. He made them bigger now, then smaller again, changing their direction to another tree.
Itachi was now frowning. How on earth was Sasuke doing that? He thought Amaterasu was uncontrollable, burning everything in its reach. Not able to be tamed.
Sasuke put out the flames and looked at Itachi.
"I thought it wasn't possible to control those flames." He said.
"That's exactly what I thought." Itachi said, frowning. "...You're really processing."
"I guess I am. It's thanks to you though." Sasuke said. "You showed me how to use it in the first place."
Itachi nodded.
"It seems you're better in proceeding further with a technique." He said.
"..I don't think that's true. I got lucky." Sasuke said shrugging. He did rub his left eye though, with which he used amaterasu.
"Don't touch your eye, you should be extremely careful with that." Itachi said. "I nearly got blind."
"Would it matter if I touched it or not? It's about using Amaterasu right? Using the mangekyou sharingan and all." Sasuke said.
"You can damage your eye too with touching it." Itachi said. "Our eyes are extremely sensitive, especially when using the Mangekyou Sharingan. We are using every muscle, every single bit of the eye is being used. Even the slightest touch can damage the eye."
"But it annoys me, it is irritated." Sasuke said, but stopped rubbing his eyes and deactivated his mangekyou sharingan. "It's not bleeding like it does with you right?"
"It is bleeding." Itachi said, a little worried now. "Are you ok?"
Sasuke rubbed the blood away now.
"I'm fine, you shouldn't be so worried." He said. He had to admit though, his vision blurred a little from time to time.
"You shouldn't use it too much." Itachi said.
"I need to use it if I wanna train it." Sasuke said stubborn. "You can use it now, maybe I should get the same operation you did."
"Tsunade operated me because of my illness." Itachi said, as he shook his head.
"But your vision would become better, so she obviously did something to help you with that." Sasuke said.
"She did, but my disease also influenced my eyes." Itachi said. "I'm still half blind."
Sasuke groaned.
"Well there must be a way to stop the progress, without stealing each other's eyes." He said.
"If there was, why would so many Uchiha's keep on stealing each other's eyes?" Itachi asked.
"I don't know, but there has to be a way." Sasuke said.
"You can ask Tsunade or Sakura if you like." Itachi said, nodding.
"They don't know, if they did they would have said so." Sasuke said annoyed.
"Perhaps, you could always try it, that's what I'm saying." Itachi said, as he let out a sigh. "Well, I'm going to take a walk, what are you going to do?"
"Taking a walk. With you." Sasuke said. "If you don't mind that is."
"I don't mind." Itachi said, nodding. He started walking, but not too fast. Since he was still recovering, he had to walk with a walking stick. He didn't like to admit it, but he really needed that thing.
Sasuke walked next to Itachi now and looked at him.
"Don't worry, you'll be fine soon. You're a lot stronger than anyone so you can get over it." Sasuke said, seeing the look on Itachi's face.
"I know, I don't mind." Itachi said, nodding. "It gives me time to think."
"Good. And to drink tea obviously." Sasuke said and smirked a little. "What 'do' you think about when you're alone?" He then asked.
"Hmm.. a lot." Itachi said. "Everything you can think of."
"Well that is a lot." Sasuke said and smiled slightly. He was really glad his brother was back. It was nice to spend some time with him like they used to.
Itachi smiled as well.
"Don't you think of a lot?" He then asked.
"... I don't know." Sasuke said. That sounded stupid. "I guess I'm not a thinker."
"But you're not a talker either." Itachi commented.
"I never said I was." Sasuke said. "I'm a do-er."
Itachi snorted.
"I know." He then said.
"What was that with the snort?" Sasuke asked offended.
"It's just funny that you feel attacked by every sentence anyone says." Itachi said. "You should trust people a little more, they don't always mean everything they say in a bad way."
"I don't feel attacked by every sentence people say." Sasuke said, crossing his arms.
"See what I mean?" Itachi said with a wink, as they walked into a path though the forest.
"... I do trust people and I know they don't always mean something bad." Sasuke said. "I trust Neji and I trust you."
"You do?" Itachi asked. "You are very suspicious."
"Well I trust you and Neji." Sasuke said. "Why wouldn't I?"
"I don't know, perhaps because of what I did to you." Itachi said. "...Even someone close to you can do something horrific."
"We went over that already." Sasuke said. "I trust you. Just like I did before you went away."
"It might have caused you a trauma." Itachi said.
"Well you came back and took it away." Sasuke said shrugging.
"Did I?" Itachi asked.
".. I guess." Sasuke said, turning his head away. He really didn't need to discuss this.
Itachi saw that Sasuke wasn't comfortable with the subject, so he waved it away. They continued their walk in silence, enjoying the nature.
"..That blonde guy... He was really upset when he left. I'm still wondering what he wanted from you." Sasuke after a while of silence.
Itachi sighed as he kept on walking.
"...He's in love with me." He said after he had been silent for at least five minutes.
Sasuke frowned now, almost tripping over a rock when he looked at Itachi.
"...What?" He asked.
"He hoped that I would be able to return his feelings, but I don't." Itachi said, sighing again. "I don't get why he would fall in love with me."
"You were probably nice to him." Sasuke said. "Didn't he know you weren't gay?" He remembered Itachi having said he had had a girlfriend.
"I tried to be gentle to all the Akatsuki members." Itachi said. "And yes, he didn't know. But it's really not about that. I'm not yet able to start a relationship."
"But you are straight right? Why are you not able to start a relationship? You're back in Konoha. Not that I want you to start one with... well that blonde idiot." Sasuke said.
"I still didn't forgive myself for my actions." Itachi said. "I won't allow myself to feel good until I paid for what I did."
Sasuke now suddenly hit Itachi, not too hard, but hard enough.
"Would you stop saying that? You paid enough, you did enough suffering already." He snapped.
Itachi sighed.
"Perhaps you think so, but I don't." He then said. "I'm sorry Sasuke, but it will take a while."
"Well how can I be happy if I know you're not? Huh?" Sasuke asked angry.
"I'd like you to grant me this." Itachi said.
"Grant you this! I'm not granting you to feel miserable!" Sasuke yelled angry.
"I'll never be able to forgive myself when I tell myself it's ok." Itachi said. "I won't ever be happy when I do that. That's why I want you to grant me to pay for my mistakes. I won't rest if I don't."
"Then what are you planning? There's nothing you can do about it now." Sasuke snapped, crossing his arms.
"I'm waiting for myself to be healed, and then I'll go to the persons who lost people close to them because of me." Itachi said.
"And then what, you'll let them beat you up? You're not doing anyone a favor with that." Sasuke snapped.
"They'll have their revenge." Itachi said. "I'll let them decide what they want to do."
"Fine you go and do that then." Sasuke snapped.
Itachi sighed, as he shook his head. Of course Sasuke didn't understand.
"You should just be grateful you're back here, but all you can do is hate yourself right now. I'm not liking you more this way you know." Sasuke mumbled.
"...This might be the only thing I want for myself Sasuke." Itachi said, as he continued walking.
"Fine, I already said you should go and do it. As long as you stop your stupid self-hate after that, because I'm getting sick of it." Sasuke said.
Itachi was silent at this, not liking Sasuke's outburst. For the first time he was back, he didn't feel like talking to Sasuke anymore. The fact that Sasuke didn't like the only thing Itachi wanted to do for himself, made him a little pissed.
"I'm going home." Sasuke said. "I'll see you later." He took a turn to the right and walked away.