Possession

Disclaimer: I own none of Naruto characters. They rightly belong to Masashi Kishimoto-sensei. But I do own some of the characters that I made up to be members of Akatsuki.

Warning: Shounen-ai/Yaoi. Incest. If you find any of the said materials disturbing, I suggest you leave this page immediately. You've been warned, so don't flame me about that.

Pairing: Eventually Itachi/Sasuke and Neji/Naruto.

Note: Finally, we have come to the final chapter. Sorry for taking it too long to update. I hope this last chapter meet your expectation more or less. And thank you everyone who read and support this story. I love you all!

Chapter XV: One Single Promise

Night wind whistled softly as it went past him, ruffling the tall green grasses in tows of rustles, whipping gently against his pale cheeks and lips, sending his bangs flying. How long had the time passed since he came here? Long, fine lashes lowered as tantalized black orbs continued to gaze at the cold full moon that was slowly disappeared behind the veil of floating dark cloud.

In the end, time didn't matter, he decided. It didn't matter anymore. Because…everything was meaningless. Everything was worthless. All his ambitions…they were so dead like those lying in their graves he had failed to avenge. Avenge? A bitter smirked grazed his lips as one thought occurred to him.

Who was it that he tried to avenge for?

"Foolish little brother, if you want to live, hate me, detest me and survive in the most unsightly way. Become stronger and come kill me if you can."

Because everything was just a lie.

"I hate you."

It was all a lie.

"That's because I told you to do so."

If Itachi didn't tell him so, would he still hate him the way he did? Would he still want to avenge his clan by shedding the very last breath and blood of his brother? His brother…whom he had made himself believe that he hated him more than anything, whom he had betrayed his close friends and village for just to have the power to fight him…to make him notice him.

"You didn't want to be pitied but it's you that make yourself pitiful, Sasuke".

Maybe you're right, Naruto. The Uchiha heir shut his eyes, watching the picture of the half-covered moon disappear from his eyesight gradually. In the end, it's no one but me that make myself pitiful.

In the end, all he wanted, all he needed, all he asked for was…no one but the one he wanted to kill the most.

"So…you're here." Sasuke opened his eyes at the familiar voice yet said nothing in reply as the newcomer took a seat next to him. Silence prevailed between them for a while as another wisp of wind caressed the tips of those grasses, playing with their locks before Neji, quietly, spoke up. "Naruto is very worried about you." His silvery eyes locked with the other's pair of black.

Flashback—

"Here you are." The booth owner sighed as he handed Neji the first prize stuff frog. "Man, you must be a shinobi. To have such accuracy. If all the shinobi all decide to enjoy my game, I'm sure I will have to stop this kind of job soon."

Neji gave the prize to Naruto and smirked, tilting his chin toward the blond boy. "He's also a shinobi."

The owner raised his eyebrows, eyeing the blond in question with curiosity. "He is?"

"Hey, hey, hey, I know what you're thinking, old man. But I, Uzumaki Naruto, here am a shinobi, best of ANBU squad who soon gonna be the Hokage of this village!" Naruto quickly said in defense of himself, not forgetting to add his infamous speech.

The old man laughed heartily, picked a random plushie from the shelf and gave it to Naruto. "It's nice to dream, boy. I use to have such impossible aim like that once, too but I end up here. You'll know that everything isn't that easy like saying when you're older."

Naruto pouted, "It won't be just a dream, old man. I can prove that to you…one day," however; received the plushie. He looked at it and grinned. "But thanks for this one, I guess." It was a palm-size cute little stuffed fox whose mouth's corners seemed to twitch up into a very-foxy grin.

"Mind if I share my opinion?" Neji asked but didn't wait for his friend to reply. "I think it looks an awful lot like you."

"What? This fox? No way!" Naruto protested, feigning to be quite hurt. "I'm cuter!"

Neji lifted one elegant eyebrow. "You are?"

The booth owner laughed.

Naruto pouted even more. "Fine! Be that way. As if those freaky eyes of yours could tell the difference between an animal and a real human." He then looked at the fox in his grip again, staring oh-so-intensely as if waiting for the grinning fox to become shy and lose its knowing grin. It didn't. "…Hmm…" Naruto stared, stared and stared and no matter how much he stared he couldn't bring himself to believe that the thing looked anything like him despite it being a fox. He soon gave up staring.

"Hey, Sasuke, do you think it really looks like me?" He turned to ask the last person that he thought would give him a satisfying answer. He had to ask anyway, though. Yet…

"Sasuke?" Blue eyes widened as he finally noticed that the said raven-haired boy wasn't there. "Neji, where's Sasuke?"

It was the booth owner that answered that question. "If you mean the black-haired boy who came with you, I saw him leave a while ago when you two were busy with the game."

"W-what?" Naruto's eyes widened even more at the news. Damn. How could he be so careless when he should have known if he didn't pay attention the bastard would certainly leave like that? "Which way did he go?" He hurriedly asked.

The old man thought for a moment before pointing to the direction, which leaded to the junction where he last saw the raven-haired teen: "That way, I think but I'm not sure where he would go after that…"

"Damn. That bastard." Naruto said. "Where the hell did he go?" Though looking annoyed like that, Neji could tell Naruto was really dead worried. The older shinobi placed a hand on the younger one's shoulder and said calmly. "Let's split up. I'll go look this way. You go check that way."

Even as he said that, with his Byakkugan, the Hyuuga boy knew where the Uchiha had gone. He even knew when exactly he had left. It might be a little unfair for the blond Hokage wannabe but…he had something to talk to the Uchiha.

End Flashback--

"…He should worry about himself." Sasuke said, shifting his gaze away as he leant back against the tree, pretending to be preoccupied with staring at the wavering field of grasses.

"…" Neji watched him in silence for a while. The other boy might look as if he was too absorbed into his doing that he would likely not going to hear what he was going to say but Neji knew better since the other's stance was for from relaxing. The Hyuura genius shifted his gaze toward the field also as he let the words that had been bothering him for long slipped from his lips. "He loves you, you know." They rang softly but clearly that not even one single word was amiss.

Silence.

At the other teen's indifference of response, a frown started to form on Neji's calm feature. The Uchiha didn't make it any easier with him staying so expressionless and staring ahead like a lifeless doll. As time wore on, the Hyuuga genius decided he should say something. "Sasuke…" He began. Yet…

"I know." It was as if the spell was broken, the younger boy turned to face him in the eyes. And one wouldn't believe how those two words could sound so heartbreaking and thick with emotions even if the speaker's face was so perfect a statue as ever. And Neji didn't miss how those pliant lips parted slightly as if they were about to say something but the words just didn't come out.

"You love him." Eventually it was the Hyuuga the broke the silence again.

Obsidian orbs widened at his companion's emphasis on the word 'him'. The 'him' definitely didn't mean Naruto. Definitely. Sasuke quickly looked away. Feeling for the first time, the nervousness of being read through by those pure white eyes. Those eyes…as if they were peeking into his soul and caught some secrets even he himself didn't want to believe yet. Those words, startling him, rang over and over again in his ears like he was standing between two cliffs.

And the Uchiha had to bite his lips in bitterness as the truth came crashing down on him.

He loved Itachi. Loved him as a brother and…

He shivered at the memory of those soft lips on his. How his brother's warm tongue would slip inside his mouth, tracing along his teeth and even further more. How their tongues danced together in a heated flame of desire as he finally gave in. How those thin hands of his brother would touch him…and…how he craved for those forbidden touches even though his hateful parts still resented them.

Sasuke bit his lips again.

…More than brotherly this love was.

"Thinking of your sweetheart?"

"Naruto and I are friends."

I could have loved him but…

"Remember, Sasuke, you belong to me and no one else."

The raven haired-boy suddenly found it difficult to maintain his emotionless mask. It was the same mask that had crumbled to pieces before the eyes of the one he didn't want to show his weakness in front of. The mask that, pieces by pieces, he had to put the shattered fragments together and wore it to pretend that he still had his dignity remained. That he wasn't broken like he really was. The mask that one day…he hoped he would never have to wear anymore.

No more lie. He was so tired of lying and being lied to. Yet…before they parted, the brother he saw…was he really there or was it just another ill illusion Itachi created to fool him again? For his brother had never promised him the truth. He had neverkept one single promise. Never.

As he still felt the presence of Neji's white eyes on him, for once, Sasuke wonder if those eyes that could see through anything could really tell what was real and what was fake.

"Neji, how can you tell between lie and truth?" Sasuke asked, quite bluntly.

Yet Neji knew exactly what the other had in mind. "He left you his cloak. Isn't that enough truth?" The Hyuuga uttered softly.

"…"

At the other's silence, Neji sighed and added: "Believe what you need to believe, Sasuke. I do not mean that you believe everything but if you do not trust anything, if you have nothing to hold on to, then you're totally broken."

"You didn't answer my question."

"…I leave Naruto for too long. I'm going back now." With that, the Hyuuga stood up and was about to walk away when…

"Neji, you love Naruto, right?" The words cut through the air and stopped the Hyuuga dead in his track. Neji closed his eyes and turned back to give the Uchiha one last look as he reopened his eyes, everything unspoken pouring out like thousands of words ringing just next to the listener's ears before he turned his back on him again.

"…" Sasuke watched as Neji walked further and further away from him and finally, he called, "Neji," loudly enough.

"Yes?"

"Take care of that dobe for me."

There was no reply, no confirmation, no assuring from the departing teen as the raven haired-watched him disappear from his sight yet… Sasuke was sure. Neji would without his asking.

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Two cloak figures stood in the shadow as laughter rang from the festival part of the town. Kisame grinned. "Seems like we're here at a right time." He shifted slightly as he eyed his smaller, quieter partner. "Festival. No wonder why it's so easy to get in here."

"…" Blood-red Sharingan eyes peeked through under the kasa as they stared into the light ahead.

"Ah, but of course, time of peace, if it's too peaceful, where's the fun? I hope Konoha shinobi like my game of 'Chasing Shark-man'."

Itachi gave him a look that clearly said 'What a stupid name'. "Don't be so careless, Kisame." He warned in his usual monotonous deep voice.

Ignoring the insulting look his partner gave him, Kisame laughed and patted Itachi on the shoulder like a close pal. "I'm off now." And with that, the large shark-like man walked off into another direction to seek 'the fun' he had claimed but not without saying his last words: "By the way, Itachi-san, it's nice to have you as a partner." That, and he was completely gone from the sight.

Yes, Itachi knew his partner had the strangest sense of humor. But they were partners all the same.

The Uchiha prodigy rearranged his kasa as he entered the festival part, not bothering to change his clothing or use genjutsu to hide his appearance as he could see some children wearing just the same thing running down the street. Who knew why their trademark Akatsuki cloak had become so popular in fashion lately.

Girls giggled as he passed them, paying them no heed. Some boys even gave him disturbing looks but he didn't care as his feet was taking him to a certain place. He didn't really know where he was going but maybe…it was a brother's instinct that his feet knew where to take him. He strode and strode, not really caring about those things around him until…

"Nii-san! Look!"

Itachi stopped. His eyes landed on a boy with a stuffed dragon in one hand, running eagerly past him toward the nearby pet shop. The boy pointed the leftmost cage, in which a blackest black bird was seen perching proudly on the wooden perch. Its monstrous red eyes stared back at the boy with intensity.

An older boy then walked up to him. They looked quite alike. No doubt they were brothers.

"Hmm? You want this one? Isn't it a little too…well, I mean why don't you pick a cuter-looking bird?"

The younger boy quickly latched onto his brother's sleeve and tugged. "But nii-san…you promise!"

The older boy scratched the back of his head. "I promise you too many things." He muttered before pulling out his wallet. "How much is this one?" He asked the owner.

The younger boy jumped and squealed. "Yay, nii-san, I love you!"

…Somehow the interaction between those two brothers made his something inside stomach twinge.

"Nii-san, you always lie."

"I do?"

" ...You said you'll teach me new shuriken techniques but you never did. You always say 'next time' but you never keep your promise."

The S-rank criminal closed his eyes.

Sasuke…

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The sound of grasses rustling. The sign of another presence approaching. Sasuke turned his gaze toward the source and met squarely with a pair of Sharingan eyes—the kasa was left, forgotten. He stared, as if in trance, at those eyes for a long while before looking away. He didn't know what to do.

"Sasuke." His name slipped from those enticing lips so softly and fluidly like a caress of flowing water, that deep voice sending shiver down his spine.

Itachi had never failed to catch his attention.

Sasuke, finding himself unable to resist, turned his gaze back on his brother. "…Why're you here?"

"…" The older Uchiha said nothing at first as he crouched down in front of his brother, one hand reaching out to cup his chin—thumb resting on Sasuke's lower lips. Sharingan eyes locked with obsidian one as they stared at each other in sheer silence that was too heavy for one to bear. "To claim what's rightly mine." Itachi said eventually.

You belong to me even before you know it.

"If you mean your cloak, it's not here now." The younger one answered casually even though he knew what his brother really meant.

/I know what you mean that I belong to you./

Itachi's thumb gently kneaded the boy's bottom lip. "You know what I mean, little brother." Sharingan eyes gazed deep into obsidian ones and before he knew it, the younger Uchiha had flung himself at him—the loose black yukata slid off his shoulder, leaving the snow-white flesh bare--and sealed their lips together in a hungry kiss. Those pliant lips moved against his and that small tongue licked and sucked seductively on his bottom lip… Those slender arms quickly wiggled around his neck. ..

The older Uchiha put an arm around his brother's thin waist, pulling him on top of him as he let himself fall onto the grass-covered ground, his other hand fondling with the smaller boy's now-shorter ebony locks. "…You cut your hair." He pointed out when his lips were free. Sasuke paused to look at him for a brief moment--an unreadable expression on his face--before bending down to capture his lips again as if desperate to savor in the other's presence.

Itachi didn't object as he let the boy had a taste in his mouth but instead, slipped a knee in between the younger boy's thighs. Sasuke gasped sharply against his lips and Itachi didn't waste that opportunity to slide his tongue into the other's mouth, altering control of the kiss. Sasuke moaned and thrust his hips against him. The older Uchiha, aroused, then flipped Sasuke over, regaining the dominance and grinded their hips together, emitting a sweet moan from the younger one.

Sasuke's breath became heavier and heavier as he panted, the sensation soared high and higher that it came closer and closer to the peak. But then suddenly Itachi stopped. It was as if someone had taken him all the way up the mountain and suddenly, out of the blue, dropped him down. Sasuke looked up at his brother with glazed eyes, his breathing still hard.

"Are you doing this in spite of yourself, Sasuke?" Itachi voiced, supporting himself with one of his strong arms so that he could get a good look at his brother's face.

And Sasuke was startled at how concerned that voice sounded. Do you care, brother? Do you really care?

Abruptly, his eyes turned blood-red as he glared at the man atop him. "And what do you think, nii-san?" He asked spitefully, venom and bitterness lacing his voice. "I never know that you care." You never care of my feeling. I'm so tired of your lies, for I fear that this time, if I fall, I could never put the pieces together again.

"…" Itachi closed his eyes. And when he opened it again, the red shade faded from those orbs remaining only their original shade of black. If Sasuke was to attack him with the Sharingan's doujutsu, he was now completely vulnerable.

"Sometimes a lie not only can mess with the others but it can mess with the liar himself."

"Do you still want to kill me?"

I lied to you. I had been lying to you for all these time. Lying just to make you, my little fragile doll, stronger. I broke my favorite doll again and again just to let it mend because I know that it will mend. But now that the doll breaks too far that with only one more touch it's beyond repairing, I stop, for I admit…I can't bear seeing you shatter.

Those words rang clearly, cutting through the night air that had suddenly become so still it was frightening as they reached the younger Uchiha's ears. "Yes." Sasuke replied but his voice lacked determination. It was so blank like a paper.

If you didn't tell me to hate you that night, would I still love you like I use to do?

"…You're never good at lying."

I lied to you. All those years of being close as real brothers ended just that you would chase me. To be like me. To make you completely mine.

Sasuke's eyes hardened—red orbs gleaming threateningly in the darkness of the night. "Because I am not you."

I can never be like you. No matter how hard I strive, you're still out of reach.

"…Always lying. Always…breaking our promises." The harsh tone of the younger boy's voice soon became quieter as the words hitched in the boy's throat. Yet the older one could hear them just fine.

I was told that I'm perfect at everything. Those people around me admired my skill and the so-called talented. But it wasn't real. There was nothing real, for I knew of what they said behind my back. But I always know your smile for me was true. Little brother, you belong to me and me alone.

Thin hand brushed the strayed black locks out of the boy's pale face as the older Uchiha bent down—his long bangs tickling his little brother's skin—until their forehead touched—their lips just an inch apart like a prelude to a final kiss. So close that they could feel each other's warm breath tickle against their porcelain skins.

No more game. No more lie. I'm so tired of pretending. So tired of hating.

"I hate you." The younger boy voiced another blank speech when he knew it oh-so-clear to himself that it was not the truth.

I lied so much to achieve my goal. The lie…so perfect that it fooled even me…carried me away into the world of my own lie…deceived me from seeing the unseen truth.

"But I love you."

Sharingan eyes widened at those unexpected words that had just left his brother's lips. Sasuke froze in place as he stared at Itachi, completely loss for word. He had never thought he would hear that from him. Ever.

"You love him, don't you?"

Those words stirred something inside the younger one's stomach, getting him right through the faster-beating heart.

"You know what, Itachi-san, if you need an answer, we could always travel back to Konoha."

So painfully slowly, Sasuke felt his mouth move as redness gradually faded from his eyes and he looked up at his older brother with deep obsidian orbs not different from the Itachi's.

"Foolish little brother, if you want to live, hate me, detest me and survive in the most unsightly way. Become stronger and come kill me if you can."

"Nii-san?"

In the end, it's no one but me that's the fool.

"I love you." The older Uchiha repeated before he captured Sasuke's lips in a tender kiss. It was him that had started the game and so was it him that stopped it. The game started from the so-called possessiveness.

A love that had become so twisted but after everything it was love all the same.

Yet…

Sasuke leaned into the kiss as their lips-lock grew passionate. His hands wandered across the other's well-built chest as the lack of oxygen finally separated them. "Then, can you keep me one single promise?" He asked, his voice a little bit raspy. Strange. It held the same innocence the little boy used to use with his older brother.

"Believe what you need to believe, Sasuke. I do not mean that you believe everything but if you do not trust anything, if you have nothing to hold on to, then you're totally broken."

If I have to believe him one last time…

The older one kissed his brother's forehead lightly. "What is it?"

Sasuke pulled Itachi closer and whispered in his ears. "Be mine. And forever solely mine."

(The lemon part is cut off due to its mature content being against this site's policy. If you still wanna read that part, it could be found on The link is shown in my profile. I'm sorry for your inconvenience.)

And as the game had ended, no one could tell who really the winner was.

You own me or is it I that own you? We cannot tell who really belong to whom. It's the spell that we are both under...and can never escape for the rest of our short lives--the lives that can be easily ripped away like plugging leaves. That...is the spell of Possession.

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"Neji, what was on your mind when you tell that boy to buy another bird…?" Naruto asked as he watched a little boy skipped his happy way down the street, away from them, his older brother in tow.

Neji smiled a little. "If the bird has to be in the cage, isn't it better that there're two of them instead of one?"

The little boy ran merrily. In his arm, there was a cage. A cage with two black birds with monstrous red eyes perching proudly together on the wooden perch.

Naruto gave him a weird look and then a wide grin spread across his feature as he looked at the stuffed fox and frog in his arms. "That means we need more of these stuffed toys."

"Naruto…" The Hyuuga boy began wearily but before he could start really protesting, Naruto had already dragged him to the nearest game booth. It was going to be a long, long night.

Possession

Fin

It was the longest chapter I've ever made. And I never thought this day would come. It has been so long from that day I've started this fic. Thank you again for every support. And for one last time…

Please, please, please review!

By the way, I see the possibility to make a sequel to this fic, so…if you want the sequel please tell me. If there're enough sounds then I'll write. :smiles: