A/N: Evil cliffhanger XD

Torment of the Past

As he passed by the communications terminal, the blinking blue light drew his eye. It indicated he had unheard messages, and he frowned. A blue light meant it had come from outside The Academy.

Pretty much everyone he knew was already here. Well, he amended, reaching for the terminal, there was still one person. Kakashi's partner, Iruka, wasn't. He felt a sudden pulse of hope, wondering if the man was coming to visit. He genuinely liked his guardian's gentle, kind lover. He palmed the control, and the blank screen flickered to life.

"Hello, little brother."

Every muscle in Sasuke's body went rigid, all the blood draining away from his face, breath seizing in his lungs. Red, red eyes stared back at him with empty hunger, the pupils divided by Sharingan, pale skin drawn taut over bones, black hair long and lank.

"I've been watching you ever since you enrolled in The Academy," Itachi Uchiha's voice said, slow and languid and soft. "You will be every bit the incredible Coordinator I knew you'd be. Still not perfect, but growing closer every day. You're a masterpiece in the process of being painted, little brother. I simply cannot wait to see the finished colors on the canvas. It's been too long since we saw each other, but don't worry. I'll be coming for you soon. Then nothing will ever come between us again. Not our family. Not Kakashi. Wait for me, little brother. It won't be long now."

The screen froze. Sasuke barely saw. Each breath began to come in short, ragged gasps, tortured and labored, making his chest ache and his lungs burn. Coherent thoughts wouldn't quite form in his frozen mind, nothing could quite get through the red haze. Red. The color of his brother's eyes. The color of blood.

"Nothing will ever come between us again."

Black and red. Red and black. Shadow and blood. Blood and shadow.

"Wait for me."

His heart began to race, so hard he choked on it.

"It won't be long now."

Numb horror boiled into mindless rage in the blink of an eye. I hate him.

"Wait for me."

Pain burned along his nerves, but he couldn't understand it. I HATE HIM.

"It won't be long now."

With a snarl of poisonous hatred, fueled by murderous rage, Sasuke snapped his fist back and slammed it as hard as he could against that cruelly smirking face. Hideous pain lanced up his arm, more sensation he couldn't understand. The smirk remained affixed. It only made the fury burn hotter. This time, Sasuke slammed both fists down with every iota of strength in his body. That desperately hated face seemed to crumple, but suddenly red splashed everywhere.

Red. Red. Red. The color of blood. The color of his eyes.

"I hate you!" Sasuke snarled, driving his fists down again and again. "I hate you! I hate you! DIE!"

Something shattered. He heard it. The red washed everything away.

~o0o~

At eight-fifteen, Kakashi looked up from his computer with a frown. He would've expected Sasuke to be here by now. The kid was more responsible than someone twice his age, and even if he feared what Kakashi might want to talk to him about, he was always on time. Fifteen minutes wasn't too late for some, but for Sasuke it might as well have been ninety.

Drumming his fingers, he opened The Academy's student tracking program. It was designed mostly to make sure students spent their time wisely, and the only thing it could really tell an instructor was what door panel a student had last activated. However, Sasuke was wearing the chakra restrictor, and those things had inbuilt sensors for constant monitoring. Kakashi pulled it up on his screen.

And frowned. He's in his dorm room. Well, there was no reason the conversation couldn't happen there. Kakashi stood, stretching muscles not really used to sitting or standing still for long periods. He and his Coordinator were probably the most active pair in the Imperial Army. Powering down the various devices in his office, he padded out and locked the door.

Outside, the sky had clouded with the threat of rain. There was quite a chill in the air, and Kakashi broke into an easy jog just to get his blood pumping warmly. When he reached the student dorms, he slowed his pace and made his way up to the third floor where Sasuke shared a room with Gaara.

Initially, Kakashi had resisted giving Sasuke a room with his long-time best friend. After all, he was one of the three with whom Sasuke had delved into the world of drug use and addiction. A world, Kakashi thought with a grimace, he wasn't assured Sasuke had fully left behind.

However, when Sasuke had insisted, the hint of betrayal in those ebony eyes if Kakashi refused made the man melt. Sasuke had been through so much he just didn't have the heart to say no.

Kakashi smiled behind his mask. He'd known Sasuke since the day of his birth. He was the kid's godfather, and he'd been a large part of Sasuke's childhood. He still dreamed about that smiling little boy, sometimes. Sasuke had been such a happy child, eager to please and quick to laughter. Kakashi, good friends with Mikoto, had often watched the kid when his parents or older brother were needed elsewhere.

Those were times Kakashi had always greatly enjoyed, for nowhere was there a better-behaved child than Sasuke Uchiha. He never cried, never threw tantrums, never disobeyed, never fussed. He paid attention to what he was told, obeyed his elders, and never lied.

Then came that night. The night that changed everything. The night the child broke, leaving behind the angry, driven, hateful teen Sasuke had become.

Heaving a sigh, Kakashi tapped the panel. It chimed softly, announcing a visitor and asking admittance. He waited patiently for several long moments for a response. Something. Anything.

Five seconds ticked to twenty. Frowning, Kakashi pressed the panel again. Another chime. Another twenty seconds of nothing. He waited ten more before fishing his communications bud out of his pocket. These things were only useable on The Academy's network, and they functioned similarly to a cell phone. He hooked it on his ear and tapped it on.

"Dial room 413, building 3," Kakashi said, "student Sasuke Uchiha."

The comm bud chirped a few times, then the call connected. Kakashi patched it through to the room's comm panel. "Sasuke?" he said. "It's me. I'm getting a little tired of waiting out here. We need to talk."

Nothing. No response. Annoyance changed to concern in a heartbeat. Sasuke never ignored him. He palmed the lock, and a little number pad popped up. Kakashi quickly typed in his instructor's override to the security lock, and it clicked. Pushing the door open, he rushed inside.

The first thing he noticed was the smell of blood. Overwhelmingly strong. The second thing he noticed was the blood itself, splashed all over the wall, comm panel, and floor. Kakashi's heart leaped into his throat. His eyes snapped down, and there was Sasuke.

Lying prone on the floor, his kid looked pale as death, surrounded by blood and shards of plexiglass. He peripherally noticed the shattered screen on the comm panel as he tapped his comm bud again.

"Shizune," he snapped, sprinting to the bathroom and snatching up all the towels he could find. The bud chirped, then a familiar voice answered. "I need a medical team to dorm building 3, room 413," Kakashi cut her off, flying back to Sasuke's side. "NOW."

She didn't waste time with questions. "We'll be there right away," and the comm went dead.

As carefully as he could, Kakashi gripped Sasuke's thin shoulders and eased him onto his back. To his surprise, the boy wasn't unconscious. His black eyes were open, but his whole body shook and his breaths came in tiny panting gasps. Clearly in shock.

"Hey kiddo," Kakashi said gently, eyes raking over his skinny body. The only injuries he could see were Sasuke's hands, which were still bleeding. Innumerable shards of the comm screen were embedded into them, so he couldn't really bandage them. Instead, he tied towels around his lower arms in a makeshift tourniquet to help slow the flow of blood and pulled the kid against his chest to share body heat.

"Ka . . . Kaka . . . shi," Sasuke slurred, still trembling.

"I'm here," Kakashi murmured, rocking him as when he was just a little boy. "Don't try to talk."

The boy obeyed, and gradually his shaking eased, but his eyes remained dull and unfocused. Kakashi controlled his anxiety, watching Sasuke and continuing to rock him while his mind analyzed what he knew. All the blood was centered around the communications panel, specifically the screen. It was broken, which meant Sasuke had seen something that set him off.

Or someone.

Kakashi's jaw clenched. There really was only one person who could incite such a reaction in the kid. Unless Sasuke deleted it, the network will have record of the message, he thought. Unless it was an incoming call . . . He gently squeezed the kid in his arms, shifting him enough to brush damp hair off Sasuke's face. There were even splatters of blood on his cheeks, lips, and chin.

It had to have been Itachi. God damn it.

Finally, the damn medical team showed up. Kakashi's internal clock told him it hadn't even been a full two minutes, but he still glared up at them for taking so long. Shizune, director of the medical program, was leading them, and Kakashi felt a bolt of gratitude. Only one person in The Academy was a better healer than she.

"Tsunade will meet us in the infirmary in a few minutes," Shizune said softly, dropping down beside Kakashi to give Sasuke a quick visual exam. "She was in a call and couldn't get away. How is he?"

"Not good," Kakashi replied. "Conscious but unresponsive. He's lost a lot of blood, but the only injuries are his hands. I can't tell if there are broken bones - too many shards of plexiglass." He nodded to the comm screen.

Shizune spared it the briefest glance. "Let's get him on the stretcher," she said, glancing at her two-nin med team. "We need to get him stabilized. Contact the infirmary, have them prep the surgery room."

In less than thirty seconds, they had Sasuke secured to the stretcher, sedated, with an oxygen mask strapped over his nose and mouth. Kakashi felt himself breathe a little easier when the kid's own breathing slowed to something more normal. Shizune hurried behind them alongside Kakashi, heading to the infirmary. She pulled a little data pad out of her pocket.

"From what I remember reading in Sasuke's file," she said, "he's a hemophiliac. Is he up to date on plasma treatments?"

"Yes," Kakashi replied. "We go through it once a year."

"Good," she said, nodding. "We'll get him started on fluids and a transfusion, then we'll get him right into surgery to remove the shards in his hands. Do you have any idea what happened to cause this?"

"A pretty good one," Kakashi replied. "I'll go confirm it. After I'm sure he's okay."

Shizune gave him a soft smile. "Of course."

Given the nature of this school, The Academy had an extensive infirmary with the best medical equipment. Kakashi stayed right beside Sasuke's stretcher until they took him into a surgery room. Shizune stopped him with a gentle hand.

"His injuries are not life-threatening as long as we can get the bleeding stopped," she said, "if you want to take care of other things. Tsunade will be here in just a few minutes, so feel free to use my office." She nodded toward it.

Grateful, Kakashi headed into the tidy office and closed the door. He sat at the comm panel, using his guardian's privileges to pull up Sasuke's messages. There was only one, time-stamped for 7:30 this evening. Taking a slow, deep breath, Kakashi told it to play.

Itachi Uchiha's cold, empty-eyed face appeared on the screen and delivered his hateful words. Kakashi felt every muscle in his body tighten further and further. He knew Sasuke wanted to kill his older brother, and his hatred was matched only by Kakashi's own.

He'd been one of the first people on the scene that night. That terrible, cold night. Authorities had set out on a manhunt, but it wasn't so much what Itachi had done that stuck in Kakashi's memory. Sasuke's reaction was.

Kakashi had come to that house without a clear reason, just overwhelmed by the feeling something was wrong. The smell of blood, gore, and bile had greeted him so powerfully he almost lost his supper. The sight was even worse than the smell. Itachi had torn his family to shreds. Human bits were smeared and flung all over the floor, walls, and even ceiling.

And sitting motionless in the middle of the parlor floor was Sasuke. Twelve years old, and his eyes were dead, empty black. Blood and gore were splattered all over him. His small body trembled like a leaf, but he didn't blink or make a sound. He responded to nothing at all. In fact, he responded to nothing for the next five months. When he finally came out of the catatonia, he fell apart.

The boy's emotions ranged all over the place. Black depression. Destructive rage. Vicious, spiteful anger. He lashed out at everyone and everything, most especially the authorities when they tried to question him about that night. Kakashi was the only person around whom he was sort of calm, but more than half the time he cried and wept and cried until he wore himself out and collapsed into a fitful sleep in Kakashi's arms.

Only to have Itachi follow him into sleep. Nightmares tortured him relentlessly. The kid stopped eating, barely slept, and never spoke a word to anyone except Kakashi, and they were usually cold. He wasted away to a mere shadow of a human being, and he was hospitalized again until he gained some weight.

Then of course came the drugs. Kakashi not only understood Sasuke's addiction, he could almost condone it. He knew very well the kid had started using because the high would chase away all images and memories.

Maybe if there was such a thing as a drug that didn't cause more harm than good . . .

The rehab damaged his relationship with Sasuke. The boy hardly spoke to him during the entire time, and when he was released he was quiet and bitter. It gradually got better, though. Kakashi strongly suspected Sasuke was using again, but he so wanted to trust the kid.

The worst part was, Itachi had disappeared after that night. Authorities could never find him. No one, least of all Sasuke, could come up with any reason for the young man's actions. Sasuke had told authorities Itachi didn't really say anything during the terrible act itself, and he certainly said nothing that illuminated his motive.

"Kakashi?"

Feeling sick at heart, Kakashi looked up at Tsunade. The woman had the face of someone half her age, but he knew she was well over fifty. She'd retired from the Imperial Army only to become the Head Director of The Academy and train the next generations of Shinobi, and she was doing a remarkable job, in his estimation.

She'd also been head of the team trying to hunt Itachi down four years ago.

He closed his only visible eye. "If I had managed to talk to Sasuke before he saw this message," he said quietly, "he would have been prepared for it."

Because only hours earlier this day, sightings of the man had been reported. Kakashi had lived in fear for four years that one day the man would come back and finish slaughtering his family.

I failed the rest of them. Every single one of them except Sasuke. I'll be damned if I let that bastard kill him, too.

Tsunade reached over and squeezed his shoulder. "This isn't your fault, Kakashi. None of it. Sasuke is in the safest place he can possibly be."

"How did he even get Sasuke's room number to call and leave him a message?" Kakashi demanded, standing up and pacing in the small space, angry and scared. "Only people with access to The Academy's student network can find that information, and the student network can only be accessed from on campus. He would have had to have been here. Or someone here is working with him."

"Let's not jump to conclusions," Tsunade said softly. "I think Itachi has already proven to be incredibly talented at surprising people. We've been searching for four years with no luck."

"He's had help," Kakashi said. It was the only possible explanation.

Tsunade nodded, folding her arms under her ample bosom. "You've heard the rumors about Akatsuki?"

"Of course," Kakashi said. It was a group of the worst criminals society had ever spawned.

All rogue Shinobi from the various countries.

"We haven't really seen proof of this," Tsunade said, "but we're relatively confident Itachi joined their ranks."

Kakashi grimaced. "That thought crossed my mind, too."

Tsunade perched on the edge of the desk. "I've been watching a few students closely this year, we have some incredible potential. Sasuke included. So I was aware you utilized the chakra restrictor on Sasuke and Naruto. For the time being, I'd like you to leave it on them. Right now those two aren't good for each other in combat, but there's something about Naruto . . . I just have this feeling he will be good for Sasuke. A grounding influence. Sometimes, opposite personalities in circumstances like these are a good thing."

Snorting, Kakashi scratched at his hair. "Yeah, I thought so too. He protests, but I can tell Sasuke likes Naruto."

It was Tsunade's turn to snort. "He's a likeable kid. Reminds me of my Controller."

A knock on the office door preceded it opening to reveal a young man with silvery hair and dark-rimmed glasses. Kakashi recognized Kabuto Yakushi, a talented med-nin as skilled as Shizune. At least. He smiled at Kakashi.

"Sorry to interrupt. Shizune-san just wanted me to tell you Sasuke-kun is stable and we've already gotten most of the shards removed. We're going to start the transfusion and plasma treatment as soon as we're done and the bleeding has completely stopped."

"Has it slowed, at least?" Kakashi asked. Sasuke's hemophilia may be manageable, but it was still a severe case and would probably never not cause Kakashi at least small worry.

Kabuto nodded. "Yes."

Kakashi felt his breathing come a little easier. Tsunade stood up.

"I'll put Academy security on alert," she said. "Kabuto, for the time being, no visitors for Sasuke when he's in recovery except for myself and Kakashi."

The young man nodded. "I'll inform Shizune-san." He trotted back the way he'd come.

"Would you mind sending someone to Sasuke's room?" Kakashi asked, looking up at Tsunade, belatedly remembering Gaara. He really shouldn't walk in to that grisly scene.

Tsunade smiled at him. "Already done. Now I think you should call Iruka, then go be with your kid."

Kakashi waved a hand. "Yeah, yeah."

She chuckled as she left the office. Kakashi rubbed a hand over his face and put his comm bud back on his ear.

~o0o~

When he left Sasuke, Naruto jogged back to his and Kiba's room. Part of him worried over Sasuke while another part hoped Kakashi was about to confront him about the drug use. A little intervention might be exactly what he needed.

Ugh, no matter how I look at it there's no easy answer. It really sucks.

Kiba was already there, working on something at the desk. He flicked Naruto a glance. "You're back early."

"Sasuke had to go talk to Kakashi," Naruto explained, dropping clothes on the way to the bathroom. "Why are you back so early?"

"Eh, decided to get caught up on a little homework. Wanna make sure to keep all my grades up."

Naruto found himself nodding. Since academics weren't his strong point, maybe he could convince Sasuke to help him with that. Grabbing some clean boxers and pants, he headed to the shower. He was still pretty hot, so he turned the warm water way down and enjoyed the wash of borderline too-cold water. Grabbing the soap, he started washing away the day's sweat.

The band around his wrist had made him weirdly aware of Sasuke. He couldn't hear the other teen's thoughts or anything, but he could get a general sense of what he was feeling at any given time. His sense of Sasuke got really vague when the other teen was high, and that was a bizarre sensation.

So he wasn't caught off guard when he got a new emotion from Sasuke. No, that wasn't what caught him off guard at all.

PAIN HATE RAGE PAINHATERAGERAGERAGE

It exploded inside him, burning along his chakra channels as if Sasuke had suddenly gone completely crazy. It was so painful he dropped to his knees with a choked groan, clutching his head. Red, red, red washed everything away, it was all he could see. It paralyzed his entire body, he could barely breathe.

His mind frantically railed at him from some distance away, commanding him to get up, to move, to go find out what the fuck had happened. His body would not obey. A peculiar sense of disassociation crept over him, as if he was watching someone else crouch in the bottom of the shower trembling like a newborn fawn.

Then, as sudden as it came, it passed. The aftershocks jolted through him for long moments, then he leaped to his feet. His vision greyed out alarmingly, but after a few seconds he found his balance and his head cleared. Turning off the water, he flew out of the shower and grabbed a towel. He spared almost no time to dry himself off, jamming his legs into boxers and pants and throwing on one of his many orange-and-black hooded sweatshirts.

"Geez," Kiba muttered when Naruto burst out of the bathroom, "thought you might be drowning in there. It's been twenty minutes."

Naruto barely heard, but he dimly registered the shock of that statement. Twenty minutes? He said nothing, just bolted out of their room. He thought Kiba called after him, but he didn't really notice. He sprinted full-speed two floors up to Sasuke's room. He palmed the announcer chime twice before abandoning it. Sasuke wasn't here. He somehow knew it. Whirling, he blindly ran toward the main building.

Kakashi-sensei will know. If something's wrong, he'll know. Hafta find Sasuke. Gotta get to him. He needs me. Needs me.

His racing feet, covered neither by sock nor shoe, carried him to the infirmary. Made sense, what was left of his rational mind approved. He almost couldn't slow his momentum enough for the doors to slide out of his way and smacked into them. He made it four steps when Kakashi emerged from a side office.

This time, Naruto couldn't slow himself in time and ran right into the man.

"Whoa!" Kakashi said, catching him around the collar and righting him. "What's got you in such a panic?"

"Sasuke!" Naruto blurted. "Need to find him. He's hurt -"

"Slow down," Kakashi said, and abruptly Naruto found himself sitting in a chair. "I should have thought about band, I apologize. That had to have freaked you out a little, huh?"

"I don't care about that," Naruto snapped, leaping back to his feet. "Where's Sasuke? What happened to him?"

"He's still in surgery, but he'll be all right," Kakashi said.

"Surgery?"

"Yeah, picked a fight with a comm screen," Kakashi chuckled.

Naruto's fist was about ready to start a fight with Kakashi's face if the man didn't start taking this a little more seriously. "I want to see him."

Kakashi's large hand pushed him back down onto the chair. "As soon as he's out of surgery. They're just removing the last shards from his hands now, be patient a little, hm?"

Patience so was not Naruto's strongest virtue. He tried to distract himself with questions. Clearly Sasuke had thrown his fists into the comm screen, but such an outburst seemed very unlike him. "Why'd he do it?" he demanded. Or, more appropriately, "What'd he see that made him do that?"

Kakashi patted his shoulder. "Just wait here. I'll come get you when he's in recovery." He turned to go.

"It was Itachi, wasn't it?" Naruto asked quietly.

Kakashi didn't stop walking. "I'll be back soon." And he disappeared out of the foyer.

Clenching his fists, Naruto got back up and started pacing. He only knew what had been published about that incident four years ago, but he did know Itachi had never been caught. He'd never even been found. Is he after Sasuke? Even the possibility of Sasuke being in danger made Naruto's heart pound a sickly staccato in his chest.

Ten minutes later he'd about paced a hole in the floor, and he was ready to go barging into every room in the infirmary until he found Sasuke. Finally Kakashi reappeared. His only visible eye squinted in his unseen smile.

"He's in recovery. Come on." He beckoned.

Naruto charged after him, shoving past him into the recovery room only to stop short just on the threshold. Sasuke looked pale as death, multiple wires attached here and there. There were three IV bags, two clear, one red. There was no nasal cannula, and that made Naruto feel a little better.

At least he's breathing easy.

He carefully gripped one skinny arm, chafing gently to warm it. "You awake, bastard?" he murmured.

Kakashi snorted softly. "He's just sleeping off the sedative. He'll wake soon. Do you mind staying with him? I have a few things I need to see to right away. I'll be back in an hour or so."

"I'll stay with him," Naruto replied, not taking his eyes off Sasuke's face.

When Kakashi left, Naruto paced around the bed a few times. The only injuries seemed to be his hands, currently wrapped in clean white bandages. There were a few tiny little cuts on his face and neck, almost unnoticeable. Satisfied, Naruto sat on the edge of the bed.

"Was it that asshole, Sasuke?" he whispered. "Is he the reason you did this to yourself?"

Sasuke's lips moved, but no sound came out. A second later his eyelashes fluttered. Slowly, ebon eyes opened, and Naruto almost grinned at how dazed and unfocused they were. Clearly still under the influence of the sedative. He couldn't help himself, reaching down to brush hair off Sasuke's forehead.

"Hey, cutie. You're pretty out of it, hm?"

Sasuke stared at him blankly for several long moments before slowly blinking. His lips parted, but no sound issued forth. He licked them, swallowed, and opened his mouth again. "Na . . . Narrr . . . ?"

Chuckling, Naruto rubbed a thumb across Sasuke's cheek. "Close enough."

Blinking again, Sasuke slowly turned his head, eyes moving all around the room. "Wha . . . um, where . . . ?"

He couldn't seem to focus long enough to ask a full sentence. Or even complete a word. Naruto gently gripped his chin, turning his face so he could look him in the eye. "You're in the infirmary. Pretty doped up on painkillers. You beat the shit out of some offensive comm screen. Remember?"

Sasuke closed his eyes and swallowed thickly. "Oh. Yeah."

He sounded so lost, so small, so wounded. It was absolutely a call Naruto could not ignore. He clambered onto the bed, jostling the smaller teen quite a bit as he got into just the perfect position to hold Sasuke against his chest. "Hey. Don't start feeling sorry for yourself. Where's that bitchy, condescending jerk I've come to loathe so well?"

"Hn. Idiot." The word reverberated softly against the skin of his neck.

Chuckling, Naruto pressed his cheek to Sasuke's ebony hair. "There he is. Go back to sleep, bastard. You'll feel better in the morning. Then this cute, compliant you will turn back into whiny, arrogant you."

A faint sound that might have been a snort of amusement. Followed by an even fainter, "Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

Nothing for a long, long while. Then, just as Naruto was sure Sasuke had fallen back to sleep,

"Stay . . ."

He shifted Sasuke a little so he could press his lips to a dry, hot forehead. "Don't worry, bastard. I'm not going anywhere."

This time when Sasuke drifted off, there was the very tiniest hint of a smile on his lips.