Chapter 31: Happy Birthday
Sasuke heard a small chuckle and stared at the girl in front of him, wondering whether it had been only his imagination or she had just let out a sound. Her pink little lips were curved in something slightly similar to a smile, but again, he could have imagined it. He had 72 hours to play with her and he made a promise to himself that he would make her speak using any means necessary.
"I wouldn't like to have to torture you for you to open your mouth and speak." he said, looking in her empty eyes. Unfortunately, he couldn't blindfold her there. "But I might if I lose my patience with you."
"Oh, wouldn't that be a catastrophe?" he heard his own thought questioning ironically, although he had no idea what had made him think those words.
"I guess we should start with your name. Don't pretend you didn't hear me." Sasuke continued threateningly, playing with a kunai.
"That sounds lame. I've never used the tsukuyomi before. I've never tortured anyone for pleasure, like my older brother. I'll never be like him."
"Very well." he muttered, pointing the kunai at her arm.
"We'd better hurry up back to the headquarters before Pein does something to Gaara again."
The weapon left a deep, red line behind it, starting from the shoulder and ending at the wrist, bypassing one or two veins. The blood didn't hesitate one moment, but she seemed immune to pain.
"I could never stand torture like this. The last time Itachi tortured me I screamed like a little baby."
Sasuke flinched, the last thought annoying him pretty badly. He used a quick move and stabbed her palm, which made her close her eyes and squeeze them for less than enough to satisfy him. Trying to make it more painful, he moved the kunai in her wound, looking in her eyes all the time, trying to catch at least a glimpse of suffering.
"It's no use; she won't tell me her name. I'm not doing a very good job with this. I bet Itachi did better when he tortured her. I'll never be as good as him."
Sasuke pulled out the kunai and took her hand, looking at it closely, then moving his gaze upon her face again.
"Can you even feel pain?" he asked her, leaning in closer to her face. "How old are you?"
"Can't you see it's useless? My brother must have given up faster, but I just don't know when to admit defeat, do I? Give up and head back for the headquarters. I don't like the idea of leaving Gaara alone there, with Pein around."
The boy sighed in irritation, but tried to remain calm. Losing his temper with such a child would be a mistake and a demonstration of weakness. She certainly looked younger than fourteen and older than ten or eleven, so she was still a kid.
"What if she's sixteen?"
Sasuke frowned at the stupid question in his head and moved her hand to make it hurt. Those stupid thoughts kept popping in his head like that and he had the unpleasant sensation that something was in his head, giving him the shivers. Perhaps that was how Gaara had felt with the beast inside him. He thought about the idea for a moment and suddenly glared at the girl.
"I'm looking at her as if I wanted to rape her or something."
He let go of her hand and deepened the glare.
"Children like you shouldn't even know the meaning of the word 'rape'." he said in a cold voice.
The same odd sound that resembled a chuckle so much echoed in the space around them. Her eyes opened completely, staring at him in a way hard to define: evilness and superiority were the first words that came in his mind. She certainly liked that superiority the five-tailed beast gave to her. Sasuke tried to figure out how did his brother manage to make her let out even one scream when he couldn't make her do more than squeeze her eyes shut for a second, but the answer to his question was nowhere to be found. Besides that, she was playing with his mind.
"Stop it. I know what you're trying to do."
"Good boy."
It seemed to be the only way he could talk to her. Through his mind. Although it was somewhat painful and uncomfortable to feel her stream of thoughts trespassing in his mind, there was no other option.
"Fuck you, Kakashi. Didn't you say there were always other options?! Were are those fuckin' options now?"
The girl's lips parted slightly and her look changed a little, from mischievous to... almost hurt. Sasuke glared at her, wondering if his swearing had offended her, but before he could even realize what was wrong, a sharp pain shot through his head, making him lose his balance and almost fall. The jinchuriki's expression was threatening and when he looked into her eyes again, the same horrible pain caused by thousands of dark thoughts and images sent into his mind made him lose control of the doujutsu. He breathed in sharply and fell on his back on the hard cave floor, as Itachi quickly blindfolded the girl again.
"What the hell?!" the younger boy hissed.
Itachi let out a small chuckle and sat back in his place, next to the fire burning vividly away from the cold rain outside. Sasuke caught his breath and knelt in front of his brother, trying to figure out what had just happened. His older brother tossed a stick in the fire after playing with it for a while, waiting for Sasuke to speak his mind. He knew his doujutsu had been broken.
"Had a rough time with her?" he asked ironically, a bit taken aback to see his little brother nod calmly.
"I don't get it." the boy said, glimpsing at the silent lump in the darkest corner of the small cave. "How did she...? The mangekyo... I thought..."
"Thought what, foolish little brother? That it was invincible? Not in your sweetest dreams, or at least not until you learn to use it properly. She's not as weak as she seems, after all, she is a jinchuriki. Considering that she also uses people's minds to 'share' her thoughts and your mind is no place where I'd like to waste my time in, I guess it was expectable for you to fail."
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
Itachi sighed.
"Foolish little brother... and to think that I was proud of you for a moment..."
Sasuke rolled his eyes in irritation.
"Fine. Got the point." he growled.
--
He could hear the earth-shaking voice growling deeply, obviously displeased with something, but he had no idea what it was. He tried to ask and no sound escaped his lips, not even the faintest, as Shukaku's voice continued to fill his head. Gaara couldn't understand why it wasn't working. Something felt wrong, in spite of the welcoming sensation of physical relief, but perhaps that was exactly what made the bijuu so unhappy.
"Wake up, shrimp." Shukaku's voice howled, followed by a thundering laughter that made Gaara jolt in his bed and wake up with a scream of terror, the terror that he had fallen asleep and Shukaku had taken control. Only to realize that the bijuu was no longer inside him.
He kicked the blanket covering him away with his feet and threw the damp shirt clinging to his torso on the floor, breathing heavily and shaking. The clock on the bedside table proved to him that it was no use trying to sleep like a normal person: he had only been asleep for one hour. Gaara's breath became normal and he sighed, thinking that he was probably going to die because of exhaustion. He couldn't sleep because Shukaku was still haunting him, the fear that he would lose control for good if he were to fall asleep even for one minute turning into a nightmare every time he tried to become normal. Maybe he was not meant to be normal.
Suddenly, he realized that he was being watched and turned his head to meet the crimson sharingan that had been analysing his every move unnoticed. Normally, he would have felt a seed of happiness turning into flower somewhere in his heart at least, but considering his nightmare and the fact that he hadn't even felt his partner's chakra in the room, so close to him, made him angry. Sand slithered along the floor and pinned the Uchiha down as Gaara rose from his bed and knelt beside him, looking in those burning eyes. Sasuke didn't do anything against his partner's deadly weapon and neither did he say anything. They watched each other for a few moments in complete silence, until Sasuke decided to speak.
"You can let me go now. As you can see, I wasn't trying to kill you."
"How long have you been here?" a dark question came from his partner instead.
"Half an hour."
The sand slowly went back into the red head's gourd, as if still not sure about Sasuke's intentions, but Gaara wasn't going to just let him go. He moved, so that he was now on top of his partner, with his hands on both sides of the Uchiha's head and one knee between his legs to make sure he wouldn't try anything stupid. Sasuke didn't mind. He could see the tiredness in the sand dweller's eyes, caused by the lack of sleep. His nights must have been nightmares, both when he was asleep and awake.
He knew how unstable Gaara was before, and could imagine the extent of that instability now. The Gaara he knew had changed, even if just a little bit. The only thing he could do was try to regain his trust and stay by his side... perhaps more than before. Sasuke used slow moves, ready to stop at any sign of uncertainty his partner might show. His arm rose gracefully under the sand-nin's eyes, his slender fingers brushing against the soft skin of his cheek in a gentle caress. Even so, he could feel Gaara stiffen at the contact and relax forcefully a few moments later.
"It's okay, I won't bite." Sasuke whispered, trying to pull him closer. "I promise."
But Gaara didn't seem so understanding, so he made the first move, careful to be just as gentle. The red head soon gave in to the kiss, having to admit that he had missed it a lot and Sasuke managed to make him lower his body over his, deepening their kiss. It felt strange after such a long time, almost unfamiliar to both of them and especially to Gaara, but the warm feeling growing in their bodies was like a welcome back.
"Happy birthday." the raven-haired boy whispered when they partned for air, his lips still brushing against his lover's.
Gaara released him with a sigh and sat on the bed, looking at him with the same tired eyes. Sasuke smirked confidently as he sat up from the floor and pushed the other on the bed, able to convince the red head to let him take control. The sand-nin recognized the spicy scent of snow in Sasuke's soft hair, startled by the fingers he had entangled in it as the boy kissed the pale skin on his neck. But there was also something else.
"What kind of mission was this?" he asked, a soft moan escaping his lips along with the other words when Sasuke's tongue danced a little tango on his collarbone.
"Fucked up." the reply came hastily, since he was currently busy.
"You don't look hurt, but your hands smell like blood."
"I was only wounded in my pride." Sasuke said, going back to capture Gaara's lips under his own. "Itachi was the one who had a little trouble, though."
The leaf-nin stopped for a few moments, rising to look into those bewildering aquamarine eyes until a white, slender hand rose in the darkness and pulled him back down gently, something Gaara had never done before. When he wanted it, he got it in a matter of seconds and he never wasted time being gentle. Sasuke would have liked to tease him a bit more, but Gaara's patience had a limit and it was better not to cross it.
"You look tired as hell. Maybe you should get some sleep."
"Do I look like I wouldn't sleep if I could?" the red head asked with a small sigh.
"Maybe if you stay in my arms you'll be able to get some sleep."
"What makes you think that?"
"Unless you want me to fuck you until you fall asleep unwillingly from after-sex exhaustion." he added with a seductive smirk.
"Hm, maybe tomorrow night. I'll try something less tiring tonight." Gaara replied, pushing Sasuke next to him to rest his head on his chest as the other wrapped his arms around him. "I promise." he muttered before the leaf-nin could even voice his thoughts. He smiled and rested one hand in his partner's red hair and the other on his waist, watching him for the rest of the night to make sure he didn't have anymore nightmares.
--
Itachi leaned on the door for a moment before turning around to lock it (you never knew when Tobi had an insomnia from eating too much sugar at once). Despite the late hour, Kay wasn't in her bed, but he knew she was some sort of a 'human owl', spending most of her nights awake, looking at the stars, wandering on the hallways like a ghost or training outside. He released a tired sigh and dropped his cloak on the floor, not bothering to put it somewhere else because his muscles were sore and he didn't want to make more moves than neccesary to get to the bed. However before he could throw himself into the bed for a good, long sleep, the bathroom door opened and Kay stared at him through tears, her cheeks flushed and wet. She let out a frustrated sob and ran towards him (by the looks on her face probably to slap him or something), but she tripped over Itachi's discarded cloak and had to cling to him so that she wouldn't fall. The ninja looked at her as she regained her balance and buried her face in his shirt, refusing to let go even if he could have broken both her wrists by the way his hands had gripped them. He hoped she would not stay like that for long, or at least say something, but that didn't happen and he decided to take action in order to go to sleep as soon as possible.
"Cut that out, woman." he hissed. "You're an S-class ninja, for kami's sake!"
"Who gives a f-fuck on kami's sake?!" she sobbed, sounding almost as if she made great efforts to speak.
"Tell me what the hell is wrong so I can get some sleep."
She looked at him with red, puffy eyes and finally released his shirt from the deadly grip she had on it.
"Nothing's wrong!" she faked a smile, but it faded into an expression of contempt as she spoke. "Everything's never been better! Fuck you. You're just an insensitive weasel. Why would you care? Go get your sleep. You sure look like you need it."
Itachi snatched her wrist and pulled her in front of him with one move. How easy would have been to break those bones in her wrist one by one with only one finger. After all, he was a master of torture and that was, perhaps, because he loved torturing people and never did it just because he had to. He loved to see pain and would have loved even more to see her kneel on the floor in front of him, a simple wish easy to accomplish, considering that she showed no resistance either. But he was tired, she was a masochist and the effort of making her suffer would have been almost inane. He could see it in her eyes: she wanted it.
