1923: ACT 11: A HUNDRED HITS AND A HUNDRED APOLOGIES
Disclaimer: Er yea, Kishimoto locked up all his characters. I can't get to them T-T
Warnings: Hmm, nothing much. Oh, except maybe for the little fact that a murderer is on the loose!
A/N: FINALLY! Stupid FFnet decides to let me upload documents again! For those of you who didn't know, FFnet hasn't been letting me upload for the past 4 days now. So it was NOT my fault this is late! I posted a note on my profile about this along with a link to deviantart where my Ch11 was temporarily posted. Don't know how many of you saw that...
But anyways, it's here now!
For the quiz: my own result was Seme-in-Training, though most people say I look very uke-ish. So I have a dominating nature! XD Eat that, tall people! -gets ignored-
But yeah, for all you girls who got seme, don't worry. You can still be seme even if you're a girl. Literally, seme means 'the attacker', so I like to think of it as the person who gives affection. So that means you're the one in control. As for uke, that means 'the receiver', so it is the person who receives affection. Hehe, you can still top in the bedroom if you're a girl –winks
Thank you all for the reviews! They make me happy to be a writer, it is the only reward that we fanfiction authors get! So thank you all again!
I'm so glad to hear from a couple of people that have been reading from mediaminer and tonfa (I stopped posting up there). Glad you're still keeping up with this story!
Oh, and I'm really sorry about the 'cannot reply to the same chapter' problem. I didn't know about that rule, sorry! It touched to see some of you send me PMs and finding other ways to leave a review. Thank you, I love you guys!
There was only one review that slightly bothered me, but the person didn't leave an email, so I'll post the reply here:
John: I'm not exactly a fan of this type of story, so I won't say bad things about it. However, I have a question: how can that story be considered a naruto fiction, since it has only the names of the original, and not any other elements?
Reply: Eto…well, I don't know what your definition of fanfiction is, but I think there is a reason why they are called fanfiction in the first place. It's not meant to be true or to have anything to do with the original plot. I wrote this because I thought it would be interesting to put the characters in this setting. As for no other elements? Well, I'd say I try to keep the characters close to their originals, but they've been changed to fit the story. And if you are not a fan of this type of story, it'll probably benefit both of us if you read something more suitable for your tastes, ne:)
Eh-he, my A/N's are getting ridiculously long aren't they?
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(Recap) "I would have loved to watch him burn…and hear his screams of pain."
"But sadly I couldn't be near the scene of crime, could I?" Orochimaru laughed.
Sasuke's eyes blazed; his pupils contradicted. With an angry scream that shook the barn, he lunged forward at the man, fist raised.
Orochimaru easily sidestepped out of the way and then brought his elbow down on Sasuke's back. He crashed down onto the hay covered floor. With a cough, he got up again, glaring intensely at the murderer of his family. "You! It was you! You're the one who set the bombs, you're the one who caused the fire, you're the one who burned up my whole clan! Why! WHY?!"
"Well, my dear Sasuke." Orochimaru's voice was light and teasing, as if he was explaining a funny memory. "I had a bit of a grudge on your father you see. I worked 10 long years for him and was suppose to be promoted to the Chief Manager, but that despicable man gave the job to one of the Uchihas and then fired me! I soon became penniless and lost everything, my whole life was ruined. Doesn't that sound just dreadful? So naturally, I had to take revenge…"
Sasuke whole body shook, and when he spoke, his voice was low and deadly. "You goddamn asshole…I wish I could kill you 100 times over, because once won't be enough." He lunged at him again, this time he faked a move to the left and punched Orochimaru on the cheek with all his strength. The man flew backwards, hitting the ground with a thud. He sat up slowly with a surprised expression and a hand over his cheek. "How dare you mar my beautiful face!" He motioned towards the men near the wall.
In an instant, they all came upon Sasuke and grabbed his arms. He struggled against the brutes, but there were at least 8 of them and they held onto him tightly.
"What's wrong? Don't think you can handle me? You have to let your little underlings do the job for you?" The Uchiha mocked him.
Orochimaru got up and wiped the little trickle of blood on the side of his mouth, then resumed his smirk. Though it was less subdued than before. "Oh no Sasuke, you just caught me off guard. The fun is just beginning." He walked to side where a long pole was leaning against a corner. "See this? This a special type of stick that was used in ancient China to punish very naughty people. It was especially delightful when they tested how long the person could last under the hits, a lovely item, don't you think?"
He picked up pole and walked towards blond struggling against the beam.
"What the hell are you doing? Get away from Naruto!" Sasuke roared out, struggling harder against the men.
Orochimaru laughed maniacally. "That's it! Get mad, show me that face!"
He turned towards the blond who cowered against the beam, the gag prevented him from talking but his blue eyes were wide and frightened.
"I wonder how long this little fella will last under the pole." His grin stretched across his face and he raised up the wooden stick, then forcefully brought it down.
Naruto shut his eyes and awaited the painful blow.
SMACK
He heard the hit, but strangely, he felt no pain. He tentatively opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was black locks of hair. Then the pair of arms placed on either side of him, and then the pained expression on the normally handsome face.
Naruto's eyes went wide and his heart thudded.
In the moment that just occurred, right before the stick came down, Sasuke broke free from the men and ran forward and positioned himself in front of Naruto.
"Oh? What's this? You want to take the blows for him?" Orochimaru asked in amusement.
"Naruto doesn't deserve this, he isn't involved in anything. I, alone, have already hurt him enough already. I don't want him to experience anymore pain. If you want to hit someone, hit me. I deserve it." Sasuke looked straight at Naruto and smiled gently.
"Bah! You're giving me a toothache. Alright, I'll be nice today and grant your wish." Orochimaru's golden eyes glinted evilly.
Sasuke kept his eyes trained on the blue ones. "I'm sorry Naruto."
SMACK
Sasuke winced, but never broke the gaze. "I'm sorry about last night."
SMACK
"I'm sorry I didn't trust you."
SMACK
"I'm sorry I said all those ugly words."
SMACK
"I'm sorry I made you cry."
SMACK
Naruto shook his head, begging him to stop. His tears overflowed, leaving trails on his face. Still Sasuke went on, never breaking the gaze; before each blow, he would apologize for a wrong-doing. Then wait for the pole to hit his back and then start the process over again. He didn't cry out, but the pain was excruciating. With each hit, he felt his arms give out a little and his voice become weaker.
SMACK
"I'm sorry I didn't chase…after you."
SMACK
"I'm…sorry I couldn't find…you sooner."
SMACK
"I'm…sorry you…had to be…tied up…like this." His breathing was ragged and his voice was hoarse, his arms shook from supporting his weight.
Naruto screamed against the rag and shook his head. 'No more! No more Sasuke! That's enough. That's enough.' He shouted desperately, hoping Sasuke could hear them.
SMACK
"I'm sorry I…didn't say this…sooner." Sasuke's voice was barely a whisper, he coughed and droplets of blood hit the floor beside them. His lids started to fall over his eyes and he leaned forward so that his cheek was against Naruto's.
"I love you…"
SMACK
With a grunt of pain, Sasuke fell upon Naruto, unmoving. The blond's heart stopped and he did not even bother to breath, all he could do was stare at Sasuke's motionless body.
"What? He's done already?" Orochimaru stopped his hitting. "What a bore, he didn't last very long." The white robed man dropped the stick and began to work out the kinks in his shoulders.
"Ah, do get him out of here; he's becoming such a sore sight for the eyes." He said, as he gestured to the men beside him and started walking away and. They nodded and walked forward to pick Sasuke up.
Naruto was dead silent, his head slightly bowed down and completely still, but it was deceiving, like that of a seemingly harmless mountain…until it starts to rumble. His arms shifted slightly, as if straining against something. Suddenly there was loud snap and Naruto brought his hands forward, the remnants of the rope dropping to the ground.
The men jumped back and gave barks of surprise.
Orochimaru stopped in his tracks, and turned around to see what was going on. Naruto, having freed his feet as well, pulled the gag out of his mouth and slowly got up.
The golden-eyed man gaped in bewilderment. "H-How…"
Naruto lifted his head up and his eyes latched straight onto Orochimaru's face. His eyes were no longer the cheery colour of the skies, but like of the piercing chill of an iceberg and the intense heat of blue flames, when he spoke, his voice was far from his usual tone, it was thick as syrup and deadly as venom.
"You made me mad." He took a step towards the man.
"Really mad."
The volcano erupted.
TenTen kept true to her promise and did not tell anyone about the note, despite constant pestering from Kiba. She knew that if she went against her orders, she'd definitely get fired. So the ever obedient maid merely told everyone, who asked, that he was out on an errand.
However, Kakashi could not be deceived. He knew that Sasuke would not even be in the mood to eat, much less go out to run some errand at the bank. So the butler, thinking that something must not be right, cornered TenTen in the hallway and questioned her.
"Miss TenTen, I am aware that you have your duties to master Sasuke, but there might be more in jeopardy than your job. Now, tell me where Sasuke really is. I know there's no way he'd be at the bank for 6 hours."
TenTen bit her lip, and looked at the ground. Finally she let out a sigh and caved in. "Okay, okay. I'll tell you. Right now, I'm probably more worried about him than any one of you." She told Kakashi about how she sneaked a peek at the contents of the note before handing it over to Sasuke, and then she told him about the exchange that was supposed to occur.
"Naruto was kidnapped?" Kakashi asked in bewilderment.
"Yes it looks like it, but I have no idea who the sender is, it was just left out on the doorstep." She turned to look at the old grandfather clock. "It's now 7 pm. But knowing master Sasuke, he'd probably have gotten there as early as possible."
"TenTen…" The sliver haired was slowly seized with fear. "Why didn't you say something earlier?"
"I'm sorry, I probably should have. But I trusted in master Sasuke's judgement to keep others out of it."
Kakashi swore under his breath, "The hell he could have made a proper judgment then. His whole mind was on Naruto, even a goddamn pen remind him of that kid. This is not good."
"Sir. What should we do?"
"We have no choice but to notify the police, it might be dangerous to barge in there. But it's a chance we'll have to take."
The four police cars sped along the gravel road and screeched to a halt in front of the abandoned farmhouse. Kakashi and the men got out and glanced around, the butler recognized Sasuke's car parked near the barn and motioned the men forward. They crept up to the door and the policemen arranged themselves on both sides, guns posed and ready. There a few groaning sounds could be heard through the rickety door. Giving the signal, one of the policemen kicked the door open. Instantly, all the men pointed their guns inside and shouted, "FREEZE!"
There was no sound or movement.
It was now dusk and sunlight no longer filtered through the roof, they could barely make out the shapes of bodies on the grounds. Confused, they slowly made their way inside, still keeping their guns raised. As Kakashi and the men got closer, they saw about 8 to 10 men laying on the ground, some out cold and some groaning softly. The policemen quickly rolled them facedown and handcuffed them.
"These bimbos(1) sure got knocked up real good." One of the police said.
"Jesus Christ! I think this here is Orochimaru, that fella who escaped a while back. Can you believe it?"
Kakashi was more worried than surprised. If a murderer was here…then what happened to Naruto and Sasuke? He looked frantically around the barn, suddenly, he heard soft sounds of crying in one of the corners. As he got closer, he could make out the shape of Naruto's hunched back. Kakashi quickly rushed forward. "Naruto! Are you okay? Are you hurt? What happened?"
The blond stopped his sniffles and turned around. "K-Kakashi?"
That's when the butler noticed that Naruto was holding Sasuke in his arms, his head placed on the blond's lap. He didn't appear to be moving.
"K-Kakashi, what do I do? Sasuke…Sasuke, he…" Naruto broke off crying.
Kakashi walked in front of them and kneeled down. With his heart twisting painfully in his chest and dread building in the pit pf his stomach, he reached out a shaking hand to feel for Sasuke's pulse.
He hoped, he waited.
With a great sigh of relief and thanking the lords and gods, he dropped his hand. The pulse was still there, though faint.
"He's ok, Naruto. His heart is still beating."
With a fresh burst of tears, Naruto clutched Sasuke to his chest, this time with a smile.
"It's alright now." Kakashi patted Naruto on the back reassuringly. "Everything is going to be ok."
-End Act 11-
(1) Bimbo – tough guy
Note: The pole beating punishment is true (I saw it in Chinese movies!). Back then, when someone broke the law or offended the emperor/ high officials, they would strap them onto this wooden bench thing and then give them 100 whacks with the pole. It was very painful, and often people died from it. I suppose it's better than having your head chopped off though :P (which is what they do when you commit a major, major offence).
Note about swear words: I wanted to let Sasuke say 'fuck', but I was worried whether it'll be historically correct so I did some research. Supposedly 'fuck' wasn't a swear word back then; it referred to the sexual act. So I had to replace 'fuck' with 'goddamn' and 'hell'. Eh-he.
A/N: This is the last chapter before the epilogue. Zomg, can you believe it? This story is almost done!
Yeah, so the next chapter is the last one, I'll be wrapping everything up. If there was anything that wasn't clear enough, or needs wrapping up, please tell me, I'll include it in the epilogue. I'm pretty sure I have things all thought through, but sometimes I miss some details.
Ciao for now, until next time!
Revision: Next Update: Sat. April 21 (Ahaha, I wrote April 28 by accident, sorry guys, I meant April 21. At least, I'll try to aim for that. But it might take slighty longer as it's probably gonna be longer.)
