There are no good excuses to keep you guys waiting for so long. I feel dreadful about it. I started college a month ago and it's kicking my butt.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto...Sasuke does

Warnings: Threat of castration, talk of abuse

The next couple of days were miserable for all three of them. Gaara moped around the house, sometimes refusing to do anything Sasuke asked of him; leading to harsher rules; such as no library or drawing room, or he received spankings. He would carry Shukaku with him everywhere and wouldn't touch the raven. He woke Sasuke regularly by nightmares every night, no matter what the raven did.

Naruto was constantly in pain. Spankings, whippings, floggings, and canings made his muscles sore. But the aftercare was killing him. He didn't deserve it but he received it.

The raven couldn't get Gaara to listen to him and Naruto was too submissive. He didn't have his balance as usual. That was going to change. The redhead wasn't going to sulk any longer and the blonde was going to have a little more freedom.

Sasuke walked into his bedroom to find Gaara sitting on the bed, clutching Shukaku to his chest. The boy was lonely and depressed without the blonde, the raven knew. But he couldn't let them be around each other just yet.

"Come, Pet. We have things to do today," Sasuke said as he headed into his large closet.

"No," the redhead said calmly, body still curled and didn't bother to even look in his master's direction.

He stopped dead in his tracks. Did he just refuse him? "Excuse me? Repeat that again," he ordered vehemently.

"I said 'no'. I don't want to do anything today. I want to stay here." He pulled the freshly made up bedspread up around him. The boy knew it was wrong to defy his master, but Gaara was depressed, so he wasn't thinking very clearly.

The man stalked over to the child and leaned over him. Bringing his hand back, he slapped Gaara with a resounding smack. "Don't ever disobey me." Sasuke grabbed the stunned boy's face up to his. "You belong to me; mind and body," the raven ground out, successfully knocking the child out of his defiant stupor.

Instead of cringing away, Gaara looked down guiltily and his ears folded back. "I have been moping, Master. And I have not been pleasing you lately." He leaned forward, his cheek against the firm chest.

Sasuke pet the boy's hair. He knew that it was only a little phase that made Gaara act like that. Naruto had been his best friend and had made him feel safe and Sasuke had taken that away. Gaara was feeling very insecure and threatened. But that did not give him the right to refuse Sasuke's orders for three days. "You have been a very naughty boy. I'll allow you redemption from several harsh spankings and whippings."

The redhead nodded quickly. He felt awful about how ungrateful he was towards Sasuke when he had done so much for him.

"You will ask to do anything and everything. To sit, stand, to leave a room or enter. Is that understood?" The raven smiled when the boy nodded quickly.

=^.^=

Two weeks later, Sasuke made the lunch date with his brother at a quaint café on a busy street.

Two weeks of Gaara asking to do every little thing. It was to teach him that he had no rights and everything was a privilege.

Two weeks of Naruto being punished in the morning, walks in the afternoon, and sex after dinner. He knew Sasuke couldn't be celibate for more than a couple days. The sex was rough and usually came after a rigorous trial of submissiveness and obedience. Most of the time he was never prepared and his muscles were sore afterwards, but the aftercare made everything okay. Naruto also knew that the raven wouldn't take his sexual frustration out on Gaara since he was still a child.

"Pet, I'm going out to lunch with my Nii-san. I need you on your best behavior, since his pet will be watching you." Itachi couldn't find someone to watch his pet and Sasuke said it was fine if he came over. "Naruto isn't feeling well, so I need you to be quiet and leave him alone. If you behave today, I won't separate you and Naruto any longer."

Gaara nodded, eyes full of hope. He might be able to be with Naruto again. "What do I have to do, Master Sasuke?"

"Just behave. Nii-san said Sai was a bit of an odd ball. He says weird things." The raven shrugged. "You can read but I do not want you in the library or in your drawing room. Sai is our guest and I expect you to treat him as one." Sasuke turned to walk out of the room before remembering something very important.

"If Sai does anything weird that concerns you or he scares you, I want you to call me. I'll come straight home. Also, keep him away from Naruto, he needs his rest."

"What exactly is wrong with Naruto-nii?" Gaara hadn't seen him in what felt like months.

"He's got a fever. I gave him some medicine for it and he's sleeping right now." Sasuke finally made it to the doorway. "That's all, Little one. Go find a book to read from your shelf. I think there a couple new ones." The raven winked at the child before going to answer the door, to let his brother in.

=^.^=

Itachi drove with Sai in the front seat to his brother's house. "I need you to make one of his pets misbehave. Try Naruto first. Being betrayed again by his favorite pet will surely make him sell the damn vermin."

"Yes, Itachi-sama." The teen continued to stare out the window, already working on a plan.

=^.^=

Watching his master check over the raven slave made Gaara extremely jealous. Even though he knew that he had nothing to worry about, he curled his tail around Sasuke's thigh possessively.

Sasuke was surprised by the teen's likeness to himself, but he wrote it off as a coincidence. The man ignored his pet's unneeded attentions. "Pet, this is Nii-san's pet, Sai. Say hello."

Gaara fixed the boy with an ominous glare as he did as he was told. "Should I go get Naruto-nii?" he asked Sasuke.

"No, leave him be. I told him to rest." Sasuke pet the boy's hair before looking up at his brother.

"I have a couple rules for your pet, Nii-san." He turned his attention to the teen leering at Gaara. "You are to leave my other pet alone. He does not feel well. Do not go into any bedrooms. Gaara is quite able to take care of himself. You are not to touch him in any fashion. He knows his restrictions and understands the punishments if he disobeys. If you do not heed these warnings, Gaara has a cell phone and he will call me. And I will take his word over yours."

Itachi nodded in agreement. "You are to listen to the rules. This house is not mine, so you will obey. I expect you to behave as if I was watching you."

The teen nodded. He understood what that meant: don't screw up, even though it's harder now. No matter what, he would make his master proud.

=^.^=

Naruto felt miserable. His body was feverish and his stomach would lurch whenever he went to get up. The inside of his mouth tasted like bile, making him gag. And his cough hadn't gotten any better in the past three days.

He uncoordinatedly flopped his hand onto the nightstand, where Sasuke had placed two sleeping pills. Naruto hadn't been sleeping well at all from the coughing fits. He clumsily stuffed them into his mouth and swallowed them dry.

Several minutes later, Naruto felt the pills kick in and happily gave into the numbness of sleep.

=^.^=

Gaara was extremely wary of the other boy. He continually looked him over and while he was in the library, Sai grabbed his ass. The redhead growled and told him not to do it again or he was going to call his master.

Finally, they were situated on the living room couch. Gaara was curled in the farthest corner from Sai.

The raven was sitting with Gaara's sketch pad on his lap, dutifully drawing away. The small boy was smart to try and distract him, he rather not corrupt such a young child.

Sai waited until the redhead was entranced in his book. The raven set the pad on the coffee table and slyly got up. He needed to start on his plan.

It was eerily silent for a couple minutes. Gaara thought that may be Sai was thinking about what to draw next or how to complete his current drawing. But when he looked over the top of his book, the couch was empty. "Sai—?" he was cut off by something solid smacking into the back of his head. His eyes drooped and he face-planted the couch.

The teen dropped the ornate lion statuette onto the floor. He didn't want to permanently damage the boy, just knock him out. Little eyes could not be witness to what was going to happen next.

=^.^=

Sasuke hadn't touched him since he mentioned he felt sick. He missed his master's cool hands on his skin and his hot breath on his neck and chest. A groan escaped him as he fantasized about Sasuke pleasuring him.

In his drug induced haze, Naruto felt the sheets shift and a warm body press against him. The blonde dare not move, Sasuke would tell him what to do.

Lips were pressing against his shoulder and neck. Even in his dazed sleep, he noticed the lips were too small to be Sasuke's and too thin to be Gaara's. This information jolted him out of his stupor, making him look over his shoulder.

"I was wondering when you were going to wake up. I thought I was going to have to fuck you awake," a boy, Naruto didn't know, said. He looked strikingly like his master but his voice wasn't as deep.

"What are you doing in my bed? Who the fuck are you?" Naruto shoved the teen away futilely, his sickness made him weak. "Get out. You're not allowed in here."

"Your master let me in. I'm Itachi-sama's pet." Sai sat up and placed his hand on the man's stomach.

"Get your hands off me." Naruto then went into a coughing fit, hacking up phlegm. He spit into the trash can. "I don't care what Master told you, he didn't mention it to me. Get out," he growled menacingly.

"Sorry, but my master will castrate me if I don't do as I'm told. Now all you have to do is lay back and enjoy." Sai had begun to guide Naruto to lay on his back but the blonde took his wrist and wrenched it from his chest.

"Do not touch me. I am not a free toy to be fucked by just anyone. I have some self-worth. I belong to one man and one man only. Only he can tell me what to do." Naruto shoved him roughly, but was pinned down by his shoulders.

"I like my penis, I really do. I don't want to lose it because I couldn't get you to cum once on these pretty little sheets. Now you can either help me keep my cock or you can lose yours." Sai peeled the lone sheet away from the tanned flesh, exposing Naruto's naked body.

The threat didn't scare the blonde enough for him not to call his bluff. Sasuke would kill this boy if he did anything to him. Naruto even lifted his lower half to the boy. "Cut it off, I don't care. You won't get what you want."

He wasn't sure how the man had seen through his threat but it didn't matter. He had another one up his sleeve. "But what about the little redhead? Do you care if I cut off his cock? I bet he would be real upset with you if he found out that he lost his cock because you wouldn't cum for someone who wasn't your master."

Naruto stiffened, immediately giving himself away. "Don't you touch him. I will do what you want but don't touch him."

A cynical smile took over the teen's face, scaring Naruto even more. "Now we're getting somewhere."

=^.^=

Gaara groaned as he sat up, then promptly fell to the floor as he lost his balance. His mind felt thick and slow. Slowly, the redhead crawled to the bathroom. But on the way there, he heard rustling from Naruto's room. The boy stopped and pushed the door open enough to look inside.

What he saw infuriated him to no end. The raven was pawing Naruto and the blonde was pushing him away but Sai didn't budge.

Instead of barging in and possibly making the situation worse, Gaara pulled out his cell phone and called Sasuke.

=^.^=

Pleasantries were lasting a lot longer than he thought they would. Sasuke sipped from his warm tea cup as Itachi gave him his opinion on his next business adventure.

"How do you think you will fund this?" Itachi asked, only being partially interested in what his brother was talking about.

"I will be funding part of it. I am looking for investors to help with expanding the customer list." He had already went through this but his brother wasn't paying attention. "I want you to come to the first show. It's next week."

"I will see what I can do. Are Naruto and Gaara going to be present?" Hopefully after today they will be the merchandise.

"Yes. Speaking of which, Nii-san, I don't like to leave my pet's alone for so long. Especially since Naruto is sick. So I need to get home soon."

"I understand. If you must go then so be it." Itachi hadn't brought up Sasuke's pets because he thought it may be a good thing to butter him up first. But now his brother was telling him to get to the point. "I did not mean to upset you the last time we were together."

"My pets are not slaves. They have feelings and passions. I refuse to take complete control of their lives. While I am not home, they can do as they please but if they disobey an order, they are punished. That is how I deal with my pets. I do not have to threaten or maim them to get them to listen. That takes skill, Nii-san."

"But your pets were disloyal to the highest degree. They disobeyed a direct order and tried to cover it up. How do you trust them so easily again?"

"Gaara has behaved for two weeks straight. Naruto has not complained of his punishment and understands why I treat him the way I do. They know I only punish because they deserve it and because I love them enough to do it.

"And I know that they need each other. I can't separate them for too long, Naruto has gotten sick from worry. He asks me everyday how Gaara is and if he's eating right."

Itachi snorted. "That's a bunch of bullshit, Otouto. If they were my pets, they would be whipped and starved. They would not be allowed to lift a finger unless I—!"

"If they were your pets. They are mine and I will treat them how I see fit. You take pleasure from their wounds and cries. I cause the pain but I also take it away."

"You are too soft. They have agreed to be punished, have they not? Then use it to the fullest extent. Spank, whip, rape, starve, and abuse them. Show them who is in charge or they will—!"

Sasuke's phone began to ring. The younger raven opened it as if his brother hadn't been speaking. The way Itachi was speaking frightened Sasuke. He did not want to leave Gaara and Naruto alone with him for an hour. "Sasuke Uchiha."

Gaara's shy voice washed over his ear. "Master, something is wrong. Sai is in Naruto-nii's room. They're fighting."

The raven cursed softly. "Get Sai out of there. I told him not to disturb Naruto." Sasuke glared at his brother as he covered the mouth piece. "Your pet is fighting with Naruto."

"Naruto-nii stopped fighting. He's just staring at Sai. H-he's touching him! Master please come home. Naruto-nii looks like he's in pain." Gaara's voice never went above a whisper.

"Gaara, I want you to go in there and stop them. Protect Naruto for me. I will be home in five minutes." He shut the phone and glared at his brother. "Your pet disobeyed your order along with mine. What punishment will he receive?"

Disappointment didn't even begin to describe how he felt at the moment. He was angry that Sai couldn't do it. Looking straight at Sasuke, Itachi said, "Castration," and left to the car, leaving Sasuke glaring at him.

=^.^=

He didn't know how he should approach protecting Naruto. Should he sneak in or charge in. Could he take Sai in a fist fight?

Deciding that it didn't matter, Gaara burst into the room and slammed his entire body into Sai's, toppling them onto the mattress. "What are you doing? Get out of here!" The redhead pushed the teen away and received a punch to the jaw. He was now sprawled over Naruto's stomach.

"Do not meddle in someone else's business, bitch." Sai went to rip Gaara away, but a hand curled around his throat.

Naruto glared harshly at the teen. Having Gaara hurt energized him. "I told you not to touch him," the blonde growled; it scared the redhead enough to scamper to the foot of the bed. "And no one calls him a bitch." The man was now looming over Sai.

"Naruto drop him," Sasuke ordered, "Now!" he added when he saw the pure hate in the blue eyes.

"He's a piece of shit. Get him out of this house!" The blonde threw the teen toward Itachi. Then he turned his attention to Gaara. "Come, let me see it."

The redhead dropped his hands from his cheek. "It's not that bad because he hits like girl!" he spat in Sai's direction.

Sai walked solemnly to his master, his fingers gently touching his neck. "Itachi-sama—!" a sound slap shut him up and he followed Itachi out of the house.

In the car, Itachi refused to look at the teen next to him. "I cannot believe that you couldn't do this. All you had to do is ejaculate on some bed sheets; it didn't have to be his actual sperm."

The smaller raven looked down at his lamp. What he had seen in the bedroom between Naruto and Gaara struck something deep within him. He wanted that friendship and love. He didn't have that relationship with anyone. "Itachi-sama, I am sorry that—!"

"Do not speak. I don't want to hear a sound from you until after your punishment. And that will not be gentle."

=^.^=

Gaara sat on the couch, sandwiched between Sasuke and Naruto. They were watching a movie. He had an ice pack on his cheek to help with the swelling. This was the first time in two weeks that he felt at home.

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