Harder to Breathe
Is there anyone out there
'cause its getting harder and harder to breathe.
Sasuke felt the cold tiled floor against his warmed head. He could feel blood trickle down his face from the gaping cut on his forehead. His arm lay limp as it aimed to press against the open wound on his chest, and his legs all useless in temporary paralysis.
Is there anyone out there?
Thumping. Footsteps. The strong smell of over-fragrant cologne.
He cringed as a foot dug itself into his already wounded gut. Koushaku stared at him degradingly, and he couldn't help but let his eyes close just a little bit more. The pain in his chest intensified ten-fold as a rough and well-trained kick was aimed at the bloodied vitals. He had already expected this. Anyone who strayed too near Koushaku's 'precious heaven', Tenten, was someday bound to end up gagged, murdered in the most classy ways possible, and thrown down a river tied with chakra-eating wires. Sasuke rolled over in pain as another kick was aimed towards his gut.
"You know the rules, Uchiha." Koushaku began scathingly, materializing a heavy metal pipe from out of nowhere. The man Sasuke deemed an unstable and crazed psycho. He let thoughts pass his mind. What had made this man so attached-may he say obsessed- with Tenten, anyway? Sure, she was an attractive, that much he could say. She was much more than that. The whirring of the blood-rusted weapon paused right above his heavily injured head. He was too weak to activate Sharingan, anyway, so he waited. And the pain never came. Maybe it had already been numbed out?...
"Hello? Oh, hello, Heaven-hime?"
'Cause it's getting harder and harder to breathe.
Sasuke sighed when he spotted Koushaku forget his previous intentions, dropping the metal pipe on the floor, namely Sasuke's leg, and exit through the sliding door. He urged himself to stand, blood spattering from his mouth and his wounds as he did.
He had to warn Neji and Tenten.
--
Tsunade turned around to face the trio that had walked into her office urgently. An unmistakable glum surrounded her office.
"Those deranged accusations were just the sayings of a mentally disabled man in the mist." Sakura reported. " We also delivered the scrolls you needed us to transport to the chief of one of the smaller villages." Tsunade smiled warmly, until she noticed the missing detail.
"Where's Sasuke Uchiha?" Sakura looked scared, Neji looked tense, and Tenten was in a cold and unblinking stupor. The mercenary fished into her pocket, then aimlessly threw a picture of the bloodied tree onto the Hokage's desk, and the katana that once belonged to the aforementioned Uchiha was draped in blood and shattered in half.
"I see." The Hokage began. Just at that moment, a hyped up Naruto walked into the office. He looked ready to greet and take on anything in the world, until he saw what was left of the sword.
"…Obaa-chan, what the hell happened to Sasuke?"
--
Tenten was confused. How could the Uchiha disappear just like that? It wasn't an illusion, but it didn't seem possible. As she exited the confusion in the Hokage's office, she tore her phone from her pocket and pressed speed dial one.
"Hello? Koushaku-sama?" Tenten initiated her conversation with the director.
"Oh, hello, Heaven-hime." Koushaku answered amusedly, with a maniacal tinge in his facade.
"Have you heard any news about Sasuke?" Koushaku scowled in disdain on the other end of the weakened phone line. He sorted the words-lies-he could say.
"Oh, the new recruit? No, why do you ask?" He lied. Koushaku leaned against the wall of his office, occasionally glancing at the framed photograph on the copper wall with a smirk.
"Oh nothing, just asking. Sorry for the bother. Bye."
"No problem, goodbye." Koushaku bid his farewell sweetly, then clasped his phone shut. Glaring at the wall, he plopped onto the large office chair, casting angry glances at the loads of paperwork. He didn't feel like beating the Uchiha to a bloody pulp anymore. That fool would already be bleeding to death, anyway.
--
Preview: Sasuke neared the wide open gates of Konoha, clasping his hand to the excruciating pain in his chest. He could barely move, and now that the wound beneath his ribcage had re-opened, he was better off dead. Sasuke spotted a shock of sunny yellow spiked hair as he passed through the gate. The guards looked panicked; hi didn't care.
"Shit." He pressed against his bleeding chest even harder, hissing at the 'tinge' that came with it. Sad, wasn't it, he thought. Maybe this was his divine punishment for killing all those innocent humans and raising a hand against his own comrades.
He chuckled bitterly at that, then he collapsed into unconsciousness.