The Lost Neko

Chapter 10

Naruto regained consciousness a couple hours later, his movement, limited before now he couldn't move at all without any kind of pain, as he raised his hand to his eye, Naruto knew he would be lucky if he wasn't permanently blind, that was of course if he even survived. The fact that Menma was so willing to use the faces of those Naruto loved told him the extent the man would go to to hurt him.

Naruto raised his head and looked over at the bowl that Menma had put in front of him, he was hungry but he wouldn't put it past Menma to put something in it that cause Naruto more pain. The asshole seemed to get a thrill out of hurting Naruto. He didn't remember Menma being this bad when

Naruto had lived with him before, something had certainly changed, and not for the better. Menma clearly thrived on causing pain, and Naruto couldn't help but wish the man would kill him already. He was tired and he was certain that the amount of blood that he was losing was going to catch up to him sooner or later.

Closing his eyes, Naruto tried to focus on the Sasuke that had went out of his way to fight with him, when he was with Iruka. Naruto had been able to tell from looking in Sasuke's eyes that he was damaged and badly so. Naruto had wanted nothing more than to be able to help him experience joy once again. No one deserved to go through life and not enjoy it, even Naruto lay there he was starting to wonder if he would be able to look at life the same way again. He knew that not everyone was out to cause pain, but Naruto's experience hadn't done anything to prove that.

Naruto drew in a breath, yowling softly at the pain it caused, he couldn't help but wonder if anyone would find him before it was too late? Would anyone care? Remembering Sasuke's harsh words Naruto doubted that he would care that he was gone. Sasuke hadn't liked him anywhere in his space even if he did eventually get used to Naruto being there.

Hearing a noise, Naruto's ears twitched and he found himself blinking out of his good eye, straining to see in the darkness. He could hear what sounded like explosions and the closer they got to Naruto, the louder they got. Naruto moaned and moved slowly and painfully, he didn't know what was coming his way, but he had the feeling he just might end up dead at the end of it. Suddenly all the noise ended leaving Naruto's world in silence, and making him wonder about what had happened, suddenly the door to his cell was thrown open and Sasuke was standing in the door.

Naruto couldn't stop the hiss from escaping his mouth as his ears fell to his head, leaving him looking rather angry despite the pain that was currently running through him.

"Stay away from" Naruto hissed as he unsheathed his claws, swiping at Sasuke as he drew near. Sasuke didn't say anything but he smirked even as Naruto claws caught him on his leg.

"You are going to pay for that" Sasuke said and Naruto glared, he didn't have much energy to fight, but fight he would.

"What do you think, Kakashi?" Sasuke asked turning to look at the silver haired man "Think we should declaw this little cunt?"

"Hell yes, and I think we should make it as painful as possible." he replied as he approached from Sasuke's other side. Reaching out, Sasuke grabbed Naruto by his throat and slammed him against the wall.

"I'll hold him and you can remove the claws" Sasuke said smirking as he squeezed Naruto's throat tight enough so that the neko could barely breathe.

Naruto hissed at Sasuke again as Kakashi reached for Naruto's left hand.

"I thought about cutting them out." Kakashi told Sasuke "But I don't think that's good enough." that being said, Kakashi proceeded to rip Naruto's claws out leaving both his hands a bloody mess.

When Kakashi was finished, Sasuke dropped the mewling neko onto the ground, before kicking him in the stomach.

"I have you know" Kakashi told the neko "I lost my job at the vet's so now your pain will be my pay." Naruto hissed again even as he struggled to take in air. He wished they would stop using the faces of the ones he loved, it was getting harder to remember who was good and who was bad. Naruto closed his eyes, struggling to breath through the pain. How did they end up being this cruel? What had Naruto done to deserve this?

"Think we should let his lover know where to find him?" he heard Kakashi ask, "I think he will be pleased that we were able to beat the gay right out of him."

Sasuke snorted as he stared down at Naruto, the blonde neko had stopped eating days ago, the neko barely had the energy to even lift his head, but Sasuke could still hear the blonde hiss anytime he stepped close.

"Brave little kitty, thinking you can bite the hand that feeds you." Sasuke shook his head. He couldn't help but wonder how much the neko would be able to hold out. Sasuke smirked as Naruto slowly and painfully moved his hands to where they were laying underneath of him and out of Sasuke's reach. Sasuke shook his head and slammed his foot into the side of Naruto's head.

"I think we should return him to where he was found." Sasuke told the fake Kakashi. "I imagine they will be grateful that we returned him at all. Kakashi nodded and bent down and grabbed Naruto and threw him roughly over his shoulder. Naruto was too weak from having his claws ripped out to even be able to fight.

"Just know little kitty, I'm not done with you yet." Menma said as Naruto was tossed into the van.

Sasuke continued staring out the window, until Kakashi sighed and walked off. He should have known better than to try to talk to me Sasuke thought scowling. He felt the urge to start pacing but he didn't know that it would actually do anything to ease the confusion he was currently feeling.

Groaning Sasuke turned his back to the window, it had been days since Naruto had been taken, he should know by now that Naruto wasn't going to just magically reappear at their door. Sasuke could still see the hurt in Naruto's eyes as he had spewed those hurtful words to him. Sasuke didn't really know why he'd said what he had. He certainly didn't think there was anything wrong with being gay, and he didn't have anything against anyone who was. So why had he lashed out at Naruto like that? Was it perhaps because Sasuke could feel his defenses starting to come down around the blonde? Sasuke was used to constantly keeping his guard up around people that he didn't know, because he wasn't going to take the chance of someone hurting him again. Of course, the longer that Naruto was around Sasuke had gotten used to him and no longer felt the need to remain so guarded around him. However, when Itachi and the others teased him, he couldn't handle it. He couldn't handle being made fun of for finally showing feelings for someone other than his brother.

Shaking his head, Sasuke wondered what was happening with Naruto at that moment? Was he even still alive? Sasuke could only hope so, he could only hope that Naruto wasn't so damaged that he could never come back from it. Sasuke didn't want Naruto to turn out anything like him. Cold, and guarded and not caring about anyone but himself.

"Still awake?" Itachi asked as he exited the stairs where he had been watching his brother from the shadows. Sasuke shook his head.

"Nightmares." Sasuke replied "where Naruto is being tortured by people looking like us."

"That's not possible" Itachi said "They might hurt him but they can't do it by looking like us." Sasuke growled under his breath, he was tired of waiting for something to happen. The police should have had some kind of lead on Menma's whereabouts by now, but as far as Sasuke knew, no one knew anything. He couldn't help but think that Naruto was running out of time, if they didn't do something soon to find him. Naruto would only a mission to recover a body.

"The police are doing everything they can." Itachi told him after a moment's silence. "They don't have much to work on, and our being able to smell him in the apartment is not enough evidence to charge him with kidnapping." Sasuke scowled as he thought back to the conversation with the police right after Naruto had disappeared.

"How do you know this Menma was in the apartment?" the officer had asked Sasuke as they sat at the table.

"I told you" Sasuke snarled "I could smell him all over the living room, where Naruto had spent the night sleeping!"

"Is there any physical proof that he was here?" The police officer asked. Sasuke scowled.

"It was a clean entry, no finger prints, nothing left behind that would even indicate that Menma was the owner." Sasuke said scowling. He knew the situation didn't look good, not for Naruto.

"How do you know that the kid didn't just break the window because he was upset about the fight the two of you had gotten into?" the officer asked and Sasuke had to bite back a scream. The questions were reasonable enough but Sasuke couldn't help but feel like they were wasting their time. Naruto needed them to find him and put a stop to whatever Menma was planning for him.

"I know because Naruto isn't that destructive!" Sasuke snapped. "I would be the one to break the window not him. he's just likely to run and hide so he can cry."

Sasuke shook his head, he still didn't like that particular police officer, after that conversation the officer had gone out of his way to suggest that Sasuke had broken the window and had done something to Naruto. Sasuke didn't think it was possible to be so angry in his life. If it hadn't been for Itachi, Sasuke wasn't sure he would still here. Itachi had interfered when it had looked like Sasuke was going to lose his temper.

"Those idiots are probably questioning a lamp post about what kind of vehicle that Menma was driving, meanwhile Menma is strolling right past them waving a sign stating the fact that he had kidnapped Naruto." Sasuke muttered. Itachi shook his head.

"I don't know where you come up with that kind of stuff but keep it up, it keeps things less boring." Itachi said as he reached out and plucked at one of Sasuke's ears.

Sasuke scowled pulling his ear away from his brother before muttering.

"It's nice to know I'm good for entertaining purposes." Itachi chuckled and Sasuke turned to him glaring.

"Just what the hell is so damn funny?" he snapped.

"Could you not use more bad language in a sentence?" Itachi wondered and Sasuke hissed at him before walking off to stand in front of the window again.

"He's still there?" Iruka asked meaning that Sasuke had been staring out the window since Naruto had been taken.

"If Naruto isn't found soon, I'm afraid of what it will do to Sasuke mentally" Itachi told Iruka. "He hasn't been in a good place since this whole mess started."

"I can fucking here you" Sasuke snarled as he turned his dark eyes in their direction. Itachi stared at his little brother unafraid to look him in the eyes.

"You should really do something about your temper before it gets you into trouble." Itachi suggested and Sasuke scowled again, before his ears twitched and leaned forward and Sasuke turned his attention away from them and towards the door that led to the garage.

A few seconds later a loud thump and a cry of pain was heard. Itachi didn't think he had ever seen Sasuke move across a room so fast, before Itachi knew it, Sasuke was throwing open the door, to find a severely beaten Naruto lying in front of it.

Sasuke's jaw dropped at the sight before him, Naruto's back had been ripped to shreds and was still bleeding, he had clearly lost the weight he had gained while living with Iruka and Kakashi, Naruto's tail was missing clumps of fur and was badly matted with what Sasuke didn't think he wanted to know. Sasuke could see that Naruto's thighs were covered in blood, leaving no doubt what Menma had been up to while Naruto had been in his presence. Sasuke scowled, and that was when he noticed Naruto's hands, his fingers were bloody, and Sasuke could see large gouges were Naruto's claws should have been. Anger filled Sasuke's veins as he realized the torture that Naruto had gone through had been worse than even what he could imagine.

As if hearing Sasuke's gasp, Naruto raised his head weakly and hissed when Sasuke knelt down beside him. Naruto tried scooting back but he ran into the wall causing him to hit his still painful back. Crying out in pain, Naruto glared at Sasuke through his good eye. He hissed at Sasuke once more as Sasuke approached him again, this time he took a swipe at Sasuke despite not having his claws anymore.

"Sasuke, I don't think you should get any closer." Itachi said softly knowing how much this had to be hurting his little brother. He could only watch as Naruto took another swipe at Sasuke this time however Naruto's hand didn't even come close to hitting Sasuke. Itachi frowned and looking at Naruto's face, a bloody line went straight through Naruto's right eye , which happened to be the side closest to Sasuke.

"Naruto" Itachi spoke softly to the traumatized boy, hearing his name, Naruto turned his head towards Itachi, hissing as Itachi drew close. He couldn't imagine what Naruto had endured to become like this. The kid had been full of life once before seemed completely different now, there was no doubt that Naruto was scared for his life. Itachi doubted he was going to allow anyone to get close to him, not while he was still so badly injured.

Suddenly Sasuke gasped as shoved past Itachi, ignoring Naruto's hiss and the swipe of his hand again. Sasuke knelt and gently grabbed Naruto's paw, it clearly been broken again, but it was also clearly badly infected, Sasuke didn't think there would be anyway to save it this time. Suddenly he felt another fist against the side of his head, and Sasuke felt himself land backwards. Pushing himself up, he found Naruto staring at him with his fangs bared.

Kakashi reached out and grabbed Sasuke as Naruto pushed himself forward snapping his jaws at Sasuke. Scowling, Sasuke felt his heart break in his chest. Naruto was damaged worse than he had ever imagined possible.

"I think we have only one choice here." Kakashi said grimly as he stared at the growling Naruto "I think we are going to have have him put down."

AN: Will Naruto be put down? Find out next chapter. Thanks for reading and reviewing Liz