A/N:: Wow, it's been quite a long time since I've written, and although I apologize for those anxiously waiting for this chapter, I don't really feel too bad because lately I've been busy with my own stuff, like I've got to study for the SAT coming up and take care of my IB English and TOK essays, and I've just gotten done with some of the busiest days of my life. But now that most of the work is out of the way, hopefully I can begin writing more frequently again, so I hope you'll stay loyal and enjoy.
Disclaimer: All rights to Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto including characters places etc.
Chapter Eleven:: Double-Edged
Mayumi knelt sobbing with her arms folded across Taro's chest as she pressed her face onto his chest which was slowly growing cold. Itachi had carried the body back to the room at her request and had placed it on the bed that Mayumi would be sleeping in, where the girl had been ever since.
"Oh Taro, you stupid fool. You got caught up trying to protect me back then and died trying to save me again now. I loved you so much you selfish punk, but it's too late, I'm beyond saving. There's nothing that can be done for me," Mayumi cried, gently stroking his hair. She brushed it tenderly out of his face before getting up and lightly kissing the forever cold lips with passion she would've given him if he had still been alive. Realizing how foolish and futile she'd been in searching for any kind of response however, Mayumi went back to quietly weeping until finally it ceased, and she was asleep. Itachi sat in at the table, reading with just a table light on as the door creaked open and in walked an exceptionally pale Sasuke who had claimed he needed some fresh air as he was feeling a bit lightheaded. If that was indeed the case then the walk had done absolutely nothing for the young man who looked even worse, as he rested his katana against the wall.
Itachi looked up at the boy concerned. "Sasuke, are you alright?"
"Yeah, just a little tired I guess from all this training lately but I'll be fine tomorrow. I think I'll take a quick shower," Sasuke replied, waving his brother off as he closed the door behind him into the bathroom and turned the knobs to begin the water flowing. He stripped out of all of his clothes and stepped in, letting his shivering body relax under the warm stream of water running down him. He began to feel even more lightheaded but ignored it, feeling he was nothing but weak for not being able to take this minor stress. He ran his hands through his hair, making sure it was completely wet when he felt himself falling and suddenly a sharp pain announced itself on the back of his head causing him to moan before falling unconscious.
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Itachi went back to reading after Sasuke went to take a shower, although the sick worn out look in the boy's face made concentration impossible. There was clearly something more than fatigue troubling the boy who always worked himself until he couldn't move and then was ready to attempt something else the next minute. Fatigue never would've been Itachi's first guess if he saw his younger brother looking like he did, and besides that, something just seemed wrong about him. He set his book down, resting his chin in his palm, thinking of the raven haired youth whom he loved so much, those mocking eyes constantly scrutinizing and laughing in arrogance while they hid a deep inner pain of a dark past as well, that messy black hair, so soft as he pulled it through his fingers, and that slim white body which made his skin grow hot just from the slightest graze. The thoughts aroused Itachi, who immediately repressed his urges realizing what he was doing was enough of a taboo and that in the end he would only drive his brother away, or force him into doing something he would regret doing.
He was suddenly alerted from his mindless pondering when he heard a loud thud from the bathroom causing him to stand up and walk over, rapping with his knuckles on the door, though all he heard was the steady running of the showerhead.
"Sasuke-kun?" He knocked once more with still no answer. If this was one of his brother's tantrums in anger at being disturbed after claiming to be fine, it was taking things too far. "Sasuke, I'm coming in whether or not you're ready so I suggest you say something now." Sasuke still made no attempts to at least scold Itachi for daring to trespass into the bathroom while he was taking a shower, causing Itachi's worry to overtake him as he burst into the room. Lying on his side, with his hands and legs curled, Sasuke laid, unconscious. In his wild panic Itachi wasn't even the slightest bit aroused at the sight of his brother's naked form, but rushed over to him, turning off the tap. He was still breathing, although it seemed more strained than usual and there were immense shadows underneath the boy's eyes he hadn't noticed before. Itachi picked up the boy's light frame, first slipping a robe over him, and then carried him out laying him on the other bed in the room. Mayumi was still soundly asleep, now snoring lightly, so Itachi took the opportunity to slip boxers onto his younger brother as well as a black t-shirt. He grabbed a towel, gently ringing his brother's hair dry while his mind tried to piece together what could possibly be wrong with the teen. He was always clueless when it came to the works of medics other than the obvious. It was like when they were younger and Sasuke would catch cold and he would feel so helpless, realizing how insignificant a cold was, but at the same time feeling so incompetent when it came to trying to make his brother feel better. Itachi sighed, giving up, realizing there was nothing he could do but wait.
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Itachi could feel eyes staring at him long before he opened his eyes. He had dozed off without even realizing it and his eyes felt as though they were stuck together with glue. Finally he opened them, gazing at the source of the boring stare. Mayumi had woken up sometime while he was asleep and was now staring intently at him and soon he realized why when he saw the position he was in, hand tangled in Sasuke's hair, with the other arm draped across his torso protectively. In the time he had been asleep his younger brother did not appear to have gotten any better, but rather worse, now panting heavily with beads of sweat forming on his forehead. Itachi quickly unwrapped himself from the sleeping boy without waking him.
"Is something wrong?" Mayumi asked, sitting cross legged, still boring into him, trying to figure out what was going on.
"It's nothing, it's just that my brother's very ill and I'm not quite sure what to do. Caretaking has never really been my strong suit," Itachi laughed slightly, getting off of the bed, and walking into the bathroom and taking a cloth and running it underneath a cold tap. He wrung it until it was no longer dripping and walked back into the room, placing it gently on Sasuke's forehead to attempt to reduce his fever. By that point his younger brother had begun to sweat profusely and his breathing was labored and harsh. By the minute everything appeared to be getting worse and it was at that moment that Itachi realized medical ninjas were more useful than they appeared to be.
"What's wrong with him?" Mayumi asked, watching his every action with the same intensity.
"If I knew that I clearly wouldn't be so worried," Itachi coldly replied, heading for the door. "I'll be back, watch over him please." He slammed the door behind him, walking down the hallway with an uneasy feeling. Mayumi had watched his every move, never saying anything except occasional questions, but her gaze unnerved him. Who was this so called princess? Something just seemed to ring false about her despite the fact that she did seem to need help. There was no time to ponder the matter however; it wasn't this girl who was slowly deteriorating before his eyes. It took quite a while for Itachi to chance upon a store that sold medicine and as he browsed the bottles he had no clue what it was he was looking for. Finally he decided upon a bottle claiming to work as a fever reducer and purchased it heading back, hoping that his thoughts were nothing more than that.
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Sasuke blinked his eyes a few times; feeling overwhelmed by nausea, and found that he was alone in the hotel room. Mayumi's disappearance didn't bother him, but he wondered why Itachi had left and where to. Perhaps he was becoming a burden with his weakness. It didn't matter however, as slowly something acidic begun to creep up the teen's esophagus and the nausea became unbearable. Sasuke ran to the bathroom just in time to begin retching as bile begun to be expelled from his mouth, nearly suffocating him as it continued to pour out. He leaned back into a sitting position panting as he wiped his mouth, grimacing at the terrible acidic taste that was left in his mouth. He was trembling, sitting in sheer misery when arms wrapped around him, lifting him up and taking him out of the bathroom.
"Poor little brother, so sick," Itachi sighed, setting him down on the bed and then laying down next to him. Sasuke moved close, resting his head against Itachi's chest, who gently began to stroke his hair gently. Sasuke closed his eyes, feeling exhausted and continuing to shake as the nausea still lurked inside of him, waiting to strike. Sasuke looked up at his brother, seeing how worn out his brother looked himself and wondered if he had even gotten any sleep the whole time Sasuke had been sick. He brushed his hand slightly against his brother's jaw line, feeling how smooth the bone was and how chilly his skin was to the touch. Sasuke began to sit up, moving on top of Itachi so that he was straddling him. He fell onto the young man, passionately kissing him with a fervor and hunger that he had kept repressed for far too long. Initially Itachi resisted, trying to push the boy off of him, though eventually gave up, falling into it as well. If his brother was well enough to attempt to make moves onto him he was clearly not as sick as he seemed. Finally, Sasuke broke away panting slightly to catch his breath.
"I want you," was all he said and Itachi simply gave him a sad smile and shake of the head before pushing the boy off of him before he had time to realize what was going on.
"Please, you've gotta come help me!" Mayumi shrieked, running into the room, clutching the side of her upper arm where a small crimson trail ran down from a kunai wound.
"Oh shit what did you do this time?" Sasuke growled, moving to grab his sword which began to clink as it badly shook in his hand. He braced himself against the wall to help keep himself steady and to keep Itachi from noticing how hard it was simply to stand straight.
"Sasuke, you'll stay here while I got see what's going on, and you make sure he doesn't leave this room," Itachi instructed, readying a kunai knife in each hand and ran out of the room. In the hallway sure enough he was greeted by two men dressed in the typical grass ninja uniform, smirking at the sight of him.
"Listen pal, we aren't interested in you, it's only the kid that we want," one of them said.
"Yeah, a couple of friends have informed us that he messed up our dear friend Sadao quite badly and we wanted to return the favor to him," the other one grinned, pulling out multiple shuriken.
"Well if you want to have to do anything to my little brother you better be prepared to fight me as well," Itachi smirked, behind one of the men with the kunai to his throat. "Now one move and you'll be done for."
"You had better consider your words carefully, while you were launching your sneak attack on me my associate went to deal with your precious little brother," the shinobi spat and with such a quick movement it was nearly unseen, Itachi slit the shinobi's throat open sending blood shooting across the walls, staining them in crimson gore as the shinobi choked on his own blood. Without a glance back, Itachi ran into the room to see Sasuke and the other shinobi engaged in combat.
"Itachi-san!" Mayumi cried, sitting dazed on the bed.
"What's going on? You two should've gotten out of here," Itachi snapped.
"That was my plan but Sasuke-kun wouldn't leave and I didn't know what to do!" Mayumi wept. Itachi rushed over to Sasuke, prepared to help when his brother fell to his knees, gripping his shoulder and pulling out a single senbon needle.
"My shoulder, it's on fire," Sasuke gasped, nearly blinded from the white hot pain shooting from the area and spreading through his body, setting it ablaze in a torrent of pain. Behind them a window broke and both young men turned to see Kabuto standing in the room, a triumphant grin on his disfigured face.
"How does it feel to be on such a precarious balance between life and death Sasuke-kun?" he laughed. "I must say your marksmanship has greatly improved since we first met Mayumi." Both brothers looked astonished as Mayumi walked over to Kabuto, grabbing onto his shoulder.
"Well, I guess my fun is over," she smirked, looking at both boys. "Oh come on, it's not like it's such a surprise. Secret infiltrations are just a part of being a ninja."
"Bitch," Sasuke spat.
"You were the most fun of all to play with however Sasuke-kun," she smirked, walking over to him and stroking him gently, each touch repulsing the teen who tried to pull away. "What you dirty little faggot, you'll let your brother rub all over you, but you don't want a woman to show you want it means to live? I could do things that could make you scream. You were still so fun to play with though, so innocent, the sweeter of the two although you hide it. You felt pity and related to me. Then I took that pity you had and twisted it. Wonder why you're so ill? I poisoned your tea. But only yours, it's much more fun to watch your brother in panic as he sees you suffer. It's a great friend of mine that I call the Red Rose, not necessarily lethal, but enough to incapacitate even the strongest ninja. And that poison flowing through your veins now is an even deadlier friend of mine, the White Calla. If we had spent more time together I could've shown you all sorts of my friends, Golden Belladonna, Burning Lily, even my favorite the Death Lotus, but this is where we part ways."
"So your village was never even attacked?" Sasuke asked.
"Oh, it was attacked, and that was when Orochimaru found me and gave me a way for vengeance. Then you killed him before I could execute my attack on that goddamn village, so I was a natural candidate to join Kabuto in taking care of you," Mayumi smirked, she softened up, "the only thing I'm sorry about however is Taro's death, but it was inevitable that sacrifices would be needed." She bent down, securing Sasuke's head in her hands and forced her lips on his, forcing entry into his mouth, and violating everything and he futilely struggled, each second becoming weaker and powerless to resist. "Goodbye Sasuke Uchiha." Mayumi gave one last smirk before she and Kabuto exited. As he watched her jump out the window he collapsed, at that point feeling like his chest was going to explode.
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The only good thing about the current situation is that no one in this region of the lands had any clue who Itachi was, or if they did, they didn't really care. To say that that was even a good thing though was just him attempting to lighten his own mood as he carried the light body in his arms. It was a rush against time if that bitch Mayumi had spoken any kind of truth about her poisons, which considering she had no reason to lie was almost certain. Bad enough that a deadly poison was circulating through his brother's system, but two poisons mixed? But it wouldn't be the end he assured himself, and if his brother recovered he promised he'd never call medical ninjas useless again.
He ran into the plain rectangular building labeled 'Hospital' and ran to the emergency desk.
"You have to help my brother fast, I think he's dying," Itachi frantically explained at the receptionist looking puzzled at the two intruders. Just then Sasuke began to convulse and the receptionist pressed a button behind her desk.
"I need a stretcher out here stat," she reported. Moments later two medical ninja came out with a stretcher and took the shaking boy, setting him down.
"Patient seems to be going into cardiac arrest, immediate attention is required. This is going to be a critical case," one of the ninja informed the other who nodded in comprehension. Itachi began to follow suit, when the receptionist called to him.
"Sir, no visitors beyond this room or the patient ward."
"Then I suppose it's a good thing I'm not a visitor," Itachi simply stated, ignoring her warning and following them. She made no attempt to stop him, nor did the doctors who began trying to ask him about the situation.
"Can you explain to us what occurred before the current situation?" one of the two asked, not looking at the young man following him. All three were briskly moving through the hallways, turning into a room, where they stopped, and one of the medical ninjas attached a multiparameter monitor to Sasuke, which the machine immediately began the flat tone of a lack of heartbeat..
"Isn't that your job to find out?" Itachi coldly replied.
"I mean it's up to you, but whatever you can tell us can only help," the ninja replied in just as she moved over Sasuke, "preparing to inject an electric shock into the patient." The other ninja nodded moving closer for observation. The ninja put her hands over Sasuke, a green light emitting from her fingers. After seconds of performing the procedure, the multiparameter monitor started to beep again, although in a fast, irregular pattern.
"We now have a pulse and time to commence treatment," the leader of the two addressed, as her assistant grabbed a needle to inject a sample of the blood, and then left the room with the syringe. "We're going to have to run some tests on the blood content which will take a few minutes. In the mean time could you give an idea of the situation we're looking at?"
Itachi sighed, realizing the situation was direr than he had thought, "we were engaged with a couple of ninja and one was a poison user. She injected two different poisons into him, although one was before the other and the second one she added seemed to take immediate effect. I don't know any idea of what they contained and I think they were her own creations. That's all I know of the situation."
"Very well," the ninja sighed, she had a lean, angular face with messy long brown hair and slight wrinkles on her face, although her eyes showed a kind compassion that Itachi would never quite understand, "I'll do everything in my power to save this boy for you." Her assistant came back in holding a clipboard with multiple papers attached, and handed it to the main medic. She began to browse over it, "wow, this is worse than I expected, moderate levels of cyanide, arsenic, and heavy metals. Much longer and if he was still alive there would be nothing that could be done. Please prepare an IV drip for me," she instructed her assistant who nodded. She then began to dig in a cabinet along one of the walls of the room, pulling out multiple vials of various substances. She pulled out 4 syringes, sticking each into one of the vials in turn and filling them up with the chemicals. She walked over to Sasuke, locating a vein in his arm and injecting each syringe in turn into his veins.
"Give it a few minutes and those should counteract all of the poison. Now, all that's left is to hook up the drip to replenish the vast amount of fluid he's lost and he should be perfectly healthy again, although still a bit weak until he fully recovers," the medic smiled, "you should probably think about getting some rest to, you're rather pale and you getting sick as well does nothing, now does it?"
"I'll be fine," Itachi responded.
"If you insist," the ninja sighed, "we're going to have to move him to the patient ward however, so if you'd follow me." They walked in silence into a plain hospital room, reeking of antiseptics and bleach. "A nurse will probably be in here eventually, but I hope your friend makes a fast recovery." The ninja nodded and Itachi handed her some money.
"Thank you for your hard effort, you don't understand what you've done for me," the medic looked at him oddly, examining the money in her hand like she was about to give it back, looked at his face, waved her hand and walked out.
"You might want these, I don't know if you'll need them, but they could help," the ninja threw a bottle of pills at Itachi which rattled in the air, and which he caught, pocketing.
"Thanks," and although it was clear she knew what Itachi planned to do, she just left. Once the medic left, Itachi pulled the various needles from Sasuke's body, wrapping his arms crudely with bandages, and picked him up, opened the window in the room, and jumped out. Playing the rogue ninja was always exhausting work, but if someone happened to learn Itachi's identity and decided to fatten their wallet up it was just dangerous to let them know exactly where to find him. He grabbed their things from the hotel, which was still a mess and downstairs he could hear the manager talking frantically to someone, and he again fled the scene. Always fleeing capture, adding yet another black mark to his name, although this time it actually hadn't been him starting the trouble. Itachi couldn't help but wonder if he'd ever be remembered as anything but a criminal.
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Sasuke blinked his eyes a few times, feeling sore all over, but the burning sensation from earlier was gone and it finally felt as though it wasn't a struggle to breathe. He got up, unsure of where he was, but saw Itachi dozing lightly in a chair nearby which put his eyes at ease. He got up, feeling a little lightheaded and dizzy, but there was no pain or nausea, just the feeling of weakness that comes after illness. He walked over to the kitchen, grabbing a cup from a cabinet, at this point guessing Itachi had found another abandoned, at least for the moment, house to stay in, and poured himself a glass of water from the tap, feeling immense relief as the water cooled his dry throat. He stared over at Itachi, watching the slow rise and fall of his chest and noticed the bags under his eyes, more pronounced than he remembered.
He walked slowly over to Itachi, gently stroking his facial features, tracing his lips, the shadows of his eyes, his nose, the contours of his cheeks, his breathing growing a bit more rapid with every second. Itachi stirred and he jerked his hand back, not wanting to wake him up. He stretched and then settled back into the chair, his breathing falling back into the even rhythm of sleep. What had happened after that bitch Mayumi had betrayed them? He still felt sick at the thought of her lips on his, causing him to almost gag, and then remembered her statement. There had to be something wrong with him, he knew that much, to love not only a guy, but his brother. Nothing was right about him though, so why start now?
Itachi stirred, opening his eyes, and gazing at Sasuke, who was standing and awake. He got up, walking over to him and embraced him gently, stroking his hands through his hair.
"How are you feeling?" he finally asked, "perhaps you should get more rest, if you need I have some kind of medicine or something," he reached in his pocket, feeling the bottle.
"No I'm fine, there's no time to rest while our goals get farther and farther away. I want to kill Kabuto once and for all, it was a mistake to let him live back when I dealt with Orochimaru and now I'm paying for it. But you look spent; perhaps you should consider resting a bit longer before we leave."
"I'll be fine, I've lived life on less sleep than this, you just worry about your own health." Sasuke was about to protest, but waved his hand, knowing it was useless.
"Well, if you're fine then I guess we better go," Sasuke turned, heading to the door. Itachi grabbed his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks, and he prepared to here another argument of how he needed his rest and worried himself to death, while it was clear his own wellbeing slipped away. Instead though he shoved him roughly onto the bed, crawling over him so that his face was directly over the surprised raven head. He began to kiss him up and down his neck, causing a shudder to run through the boy of pleasure. He began to harshly kiss his lips with such a passion and lust that he'd never shown before, usually keeping restrained. After being allowed entry into his brother's mouth, he began to explore every inch of his mouth, their tongues mingling, but the whole time behind everything, Sasuke could sense some urgent desperation as the natural taste of his brother was mixed with something metallic in his mouth. Itachi pulled away, running to the bathroom. Sasuke sat up, his hair ruffled and sticking at odd angles, puzzled, realizing how unlike his brother this was. First, when he had tried to do farther his brother had pushed him off, and now he had practically begged the black haired teen to do all those things he'd not yet explored with him. He had sudden departure though stung, it almost seemed as though the thought of kissing Sasuke had made him feel sick, and he could hear the tap running. Whatever, Sasuke thought, not like I really care.
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Itachi panted in the bathroom, looking as his hand which had a splatter of crimson blemishing it. He continued to cough, feeling more foreign matter spraying his hand. He splashed cold water on his face, seeing how deathly pale he looked, and began having another coughing fit, bracing himself with the sink from the sudden dizziness from lack of air. He heard a clatter as something fell to the ground, and saw the pill bottle had fallen out of his pocket, littering the floor with small white tablets. He sighed, pushing them into the bottle and recapping it, nearly pocketing it again, but instead took a look at what it said. It gave directions for taking the pills and in the corner listed the name, though it was clear that these pills wouldn't do anything for Sasuke, who seemed perfectly healthy. It was clear the pills were intended for him.
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Itachi came out of the bathroom, wiping the corners of his mouth with a different sort of look on his face. It was one of longing and lust, although desperation and fear were also clear. He began to walk over to Sasuke, lifting his shirt over his head to reveal his well toned stomach.
"Let's see if I can make you scream."
A/N:: Three nights and it's done, finally. I hope it was well worth the wait, I tried to make it interesting and more romantically involved, but for all I know I failed miserably. I'm a bit steamed since I Am Ghost is playing in Newport, but I can't drive so I can't see them when they're so close. Should've taken the damn permit test right after my birthday, but whatever. Well I hope you enjoyed anyways, and until next time!
