A/N: Ok, now I just wanna say that for all you sadistic people out there (myself included) who secretly--or not so secretly--love watching Sasuke getting pummeled, or as one person put it, being turned into "a sniveling pile of poo," (I kid you not, I got a review that said that)...you'll get the ultimate dose of it in this chapter. However, that being said, I'll also let you know that from this point on, we're going to see some more OOC. Just a warning.
A little piece of news: my life has now been threatened because of a story I wrote. I'm not really that scared, since it was a 14-year-old boy, but if you want to know, go and look at the reviews for my Shinobi Drinking Games! story. rolls eyes...Oh for people with common sense.
Legal Stuffiness: Come on, guys. I don't own Naruto. If I did, why would I drive a Honda?
Last time…
He looked surprised. "I suppose, truthfully, since I saw your eyes when you stood on the bridge. But the feeling was only slight, at first. It's been growing for the past couple of days." He looked at her, his red eyes keen. "Last night, when you fell asleep in my arms, I felt something I had never felt before." He stepped toward her, and lay his palm on her cheek. "I felt peace."
Chapter 6: Not the Way a Shinobi Should Die…
He could not believe he had just told her everything that had been on his mind for the past three days. Ino was standing there, looking up at him, a strange look in her eyes. She seemed to be thinking about something. Itachi had been surprised when she returned his kiss, even pulling him to her. She was so beautiful, and kind, and he knew that he needed her. It hurt him just to look at her, because he knew that any peace he might feel would only last as long as his brother could hold out. Now, he was sure that she felt something for him as well. While part of him rejoiced, another mourned. He felt her loss already.
Itachi's breath became labored, and his body started to shake. His vision blurred, and then he saw Ino again. There was something warm and wet running down his face. He cried, closing his eyes, and felt utterly helpless. It was not long before his knees gave out. His brother would not hold out for much longer. He knew that as soon as he was completely broken, Tsunade would have him executed, and then he, Itachi, would have to leave Konoha. He fell to the floor, shaking. Ino's arms were suddenly around him, and he pressed his face into her shoulder.
"What's wrong?" she said in a pleading voice. "Please, Itachi, you're scaring me."
He opened his eyes, and lifted his head to look at her. "When he breaks, I'll have to leave. I won't ever see you again, will I?" At these words, her eyes blazed in anger. He blinked. How had he made her angry?
"Don't you ever talk like that." Ino's eyes took on a feverish look. "Don't ever…" I guess she hadn't thought of it before now. Then, the feverish look was gone, and it was replaced by something very different. "You wouldn't be allowed to come back? Never?" He shook his head. Her face softened, and in a tone that made his pulse quicken, she said, "Then let's make the most of the time we have." She kissed him then, revealing all of her feelings in an instant. Words were not needed for either of them.
He held her close, the feeling of peace washing over him again, and he found himself wanting it to last, needing it to last. Keeping his arms around her, he began to stand, and lifted her off her feet. Itachi started to walk to the back of the apartment. He looked into her eyes, and she smiled up at him. They entered Ino's bedroom, and he gently lay her on the bed.
Sasuke's mind was trying to go in every direction at once. He thought of how badly he wanted to kill his brother, but then his thoughts would suddenly turn to the way Sakura had looked as the life drained from her eyes. It always seemed to come back to that. Naruto's words haunted him. "She loved you!" He had killed her. Killed Sakura. She loved him. He had killed her. These words echoed through his head, just as his screams echoed through the empty cells that surrounded him. He wanted to escape, to leave this place. But he could not. He could not even touch the chakra beads around his neck.
He thought of how he had nearly raped Hinata, and how he had looked on the woman the other day in the same way. It had been long since he had wanted a woman. He had been satisfied with other things, but he had wanted Hinata. He had wanted the woman who found he and Naruto in her apartment. Why had he wanted her? He did not understand. Recalling her face, he realized that she looked…like Sakura. Sakura…beautiful, kind Sakura. Dead Sakura. He screamed again, so long that his throat became raw with the duration and force of it.
Breathing raggedly, he crawled out of the corner, and motioned for the guard to come closer. The man took only one step nearer. "Please," he rasped, "I need to talk to Uzumaki Naruto. Please…" The man looked at him like he was a cockroach, drawing away in disgust. Then the guard calmed himself and nodded. He left, and returned a few moments later.
"The request has been made, Uchiha. With any luck, Naruto can see you before your brother comes back." The man leaned against the opposite wall, and looked away from him. Sasuke collapsed again, unable to remain sitting up. He knew that he was close to breaking completely. When that happened, he would die. Tsunade would see to that. She would see to it personally, if necessary.
"Huh?" Naruto heard a knock at the door, and lifted his head. He was still very groggy. The knock came again, and he sat up, disentangling himself from Risa. Looking down on her sleeping form, he smiled. Then he pulled on a pair of pants and a shirt, and padded to the door. He opened it, and saw Kotetsu. "What's up, Kotetsu?" The other man stood there with his usual arrogant smirk, and sighed.
"Uchiha Sasuke has requested to see you."
Naruto's eyebrow quirked upward. "Why?"
"Don't know, Naruto. He just said he needed to talk to you. From what Raido said, the guy's out of his gourd. Just keeps screaming every few minutes. He was surprised that he could even talk." Kotetsu scratched his head. "You're supposed to come immediately."
"Hai. I'll be there soon." He closed the door on Kotetsu and ran to his bedroom. What could Sasuke need to talk to him about? Could he want to ask for his help? Even if he was insane, he wouldn't ask for it. He entered the bedroom, and grabbed his vest, shoes, and forehead protector. Then, he bent to kiss Risa, and left a note telling her that he would be back in a few hours at most.
He pulled on his shoes and vest on the way out of the door and tied on his forehead protector. Once into the street, he spared no speed. In ten minutes, he had made the trip out to Konoha Prison, and was on his way to Sasuke's cell. When he got there, he did not recognize his former friend.
The person who sat huddled in the corner of the cell as he handed off his weapons, vest and forehead protector to Raido was not the Uchiha Sasuke that he had captured. It was far, even, from the Sasuke he had met in the Academy. This creature was frail, shaking, and paler than could be imagined even for Sasuke. He smiled weakly up at Naruto.
Sasuke's heart leapt at the sight of Naruto. He tried to stand, but could not. Naruto instead knelt in front of him. He bowed his head in shame. "Gomen, Naruto." He heard only silence. "Only now do I understand. I understand. I have become the monster I sought to destroy. And in doing so, I killed the one person I know I could have loved. I know that it took being brought to the edge of insanity to make me realize it, and that only makes it worse." He looked up at Naruto, tears falling from his eyes. Naruto's face was a mask of shock.
"I loved her, Naruto. Deep inside. I just wouldn't let myself see it." His eyes became frantic, and he scooted a couple of inches closer to his former friend. "I have one favor to ask of you."
"What?"
Sasuke lowered his voice, out of fear that Raido would hear him. "Kill me."
Naruto was having flashbacks to what happened on the bridge in the Wave Country with Haku. The young man had asked that Naruto kill him, because he could not be of any more use. This was different, though. Sasuke was delusional, insane. He had been made so by hour upon hour of torture under the Mangekyo Sharingan. He finally realized how he felt about Sakura, but it was too late.
"Why should I?" Naruto looked at Sasuke's frantic eyes, and saw the fear in them. "Are you afraid of your brother? Of Tsunade-sama?"
"No. I have undergone so much of Itachi's torture that I think I'm getting used to it. I know that the Hokage wants me dead, and she'll kill me soon anyway. But, if you kill me, maybe there will be meaning in my death. I don't want my death to be as meaningless as my life." Again, Naruto was shocked by this man's words. Was this really Sasuke? This couldn't be the same fierce shinobi he had grown up with.
"Sasuke?" He was having such a hard time reconciling the image of this person before him to that of the boy he knew, that he was having doubts as to the identity of this person.
Sasuke launched himself at Naruto, latching onto the front of his shirt. "Please, Naruto! I've never begged anyone for anything, except my brother, when I asked him not to kill me. I think now that it would have been better if he had. Please, kill me." Naruto felt pity for him. How had the proud Uchiha been reduced to such a state?
"I can't."
Sasuke broke down, sobbing like a child, and shaking uncontrollably. Naruto looked to Raido. The man only shrugged. He scooped Sasuke up from the floor, marveling at how light he was. He placed him on the cot in the cell, and looked down on him. His mouth became a grim line. "This is not the way a shinobi should die." He looked at Raido. "This is not what Sakura would have wanted. Where's Tsunade?"
"Probably in her office. Shizune has her doing paperwork."
"Good. Give me my things. I'm going to talk to her." He took one last look at Sasuke, and that knife of pity twisted in his guts again. As he left the empty cells, he said to himself, "I have to stop this. It's wrong. Everything about this is wrong." That was true. There was no reason why Sasuke should be treated any differently from the other few murderers they had in the prison. They were imprisoned until they were seen fit to re-enter society, unless their crimes were of a certain degree, then they were executed, but not like this. Tsunade was being too cruel.
Sakura would not have wanted to see Sasuke like this. She loved him, more than her own life. She gave her life to stop him from doing what he had set out to, but not to save Tsunade. His friend had only wanted to ensure that Sasuke wouldn't have killed the Hokage. She knew he would be put to death because of that. But now, her final wish was not to be granted. Naruto's hands balled in to fists, his nails digging into the flesh of his palms. Blood began to drip from between his fingers as he ran through Konoha.
He reached the Hokage's tower, and ran up the steps three at a time. "Tsunade! Where are you!" He yelled. Flinging open the doors of her office, he found her frowning over papers. He flung an accusatory finger at her, spraying her with blood. "Tsunade, this is wrong! I have just been to see Sasuke. What have we done to him? Have you seen him?"
She calmly wiped the blood from her face, and glared at him. "I know exactly what I'm doing. I'm avenging Sakura, and the twelve ANBU who died with her."
His voice was a low, rumbling growl now, his rage barely repressed. "That is not what Sakura would have wanted."
Tsunade's eyes grew wide, straying to a photograph on her desk. Naruto knew what it was. It was a photo of Sakura.
"Sakura tried to stop him, so that this wouldn't happen! She loved Sasuke, even though he had been corrupted by Orochimaru and his stupid revenge. Please. Let him die in a way that is fitting for a shinobi. When I went to see him just now, he begged me to kill him. Sasuke does not beg anyone."
The Hokage's eyes fell. She knew that he was right, it seemed, and was now grudgingly ashamed of her behavior. "What do you suppose we should do, Naruto?" He was surprised by this question. She had not really ever asked his opinion before.
"He is repentant. I don't think he would try to escape, so I think we should remove the chakra beads." Naruto then asked Tsunade a question that had just occurred to him. "Have you been feeding him at all?" He wasn't surprised when the woman shook her head. The beads sapped both chakra and physical strength, and if the person wearing them didn't eat, they fed on the body. "Then give him food, and water. And a fair trial. And stop Itachi from torturing him. Honestly, I can't believe that you would treat a human being this way, Tsunade."
With that, he stormed out of the office, slamming the door shut. He couldn't believe it! The way they'd been treating him... He would see Sasuke restored to health. He would see him executed in an honorable way, if the trial found that it was necessary. For such a thing to occur, a jury would have to be drawn from not only Konoha, but from the Sand as well. It would be the only way that Sasuke would have a fighting chance. He had already been punished nearly beyond the bounds of his sanity. How much more punishment could he take?
If the Hokage followed his "suggestions," then Sasuke could perhaps live, as Sakura had wanted him to. Naruto couldn't go home like this. I have to talk to someone. Ino. Yes, I could talk to Ino. He ran all the way to Ino's apartment.
When he knocked on the door, it took nearly five minutes before Ino opened the door. She was wearing a bathrobe, and her hair was a mess. "Naruto?" Her perplexed expression only deepened when she saw the look on his face. "What happened? Oh, hell, get in here." She grabbed the front of his vest, and yanked him inside. "Sit down. I'll be back."
Ino left the room and went into her bedroom. Naruto heard muffled voices, and much shuffling around. When she came back in, she was fully dressed, and her hair was somewhat neater. Behind her appeared Itachi. His eyes nearly popped out of his head, and Ino shot him a dangerous look. He knew that look. It said, "Shut up, or die." He took the first option.
The elder Uchiha hoisted himself up onto the kitchen counter and sat, feet dangling in the air, silent. His face seemed different, though Naruto couldn't place what had changed. Ino snapped her fingers in front of his eyes. "Hey. What the hell is going on?"
He told her everything, then turned to Itachi. "Tsunade says that they haven't been feeding him, either. Is that true?"
Only a nod from Itachi.
"His torture is going to be cut off, Itachi. Your services are no longer needed. I'm going to oversee his recovery, if I have anything to say about it. I've been wanting my chakra beads back, too." Ino looked at him as if she did not know him. "What?"
"So, you just walked into the Hokage's office, and started shouting at her? And she didn't kill you?"
"That's a stupid question, Ino. As soon as I told her that this wasn't what Sakura would have wanted, she realized how much of a fool she had been. That's all." He looked at Itachi. "Do you have any objections?"
"I don't enjoy torturing my brother, if that's what you're thinking. I live to correct my mistakes." Naruto did not understand this cryptic remark, but he understood the look in Ino's eyes when she turned her gaze toward the Uchiha. He understood it, he just couldn't believe it. Far be it from me to question who she falls in love with. He stood to leave.
"Sorry for, uh…interrupting, Ino." His grin appeared out of nowhere, and Ino tried to hit him, but missed. "Oh, you can't do any better than that?" She swung again, missing again. "Ha! I can't play now, Ino. I have to go and see Risa. You two have fun." Ino blushed, and Itachi merely waved goodbye.
Kakashi sat in a chair across from Naruto. He regarded his former student, wondering what had caused such a drastic change in him. He was not the silly young man that he had seen just days before. The Naruto before him was decisive, and serious. But he had to wonder at the young man's reasons. According to the Hokage, he had barged into her office, demanding better treatment for Sasuke, and the Hokage had complied, and even felt ashamed for the way that she had treated him. It's Naruto. Of course. He has a power to persuade people.
"Why do I need to be there, Naruto?"
The young man leveled his gaze at his former teacher, and Kakashi was struck by how much he reminded him of the Yondaime Hokage. Blinking, he cleared the image from his head. Naruto spoke. "Because. I don't know what's going to happen when I remove the chakra beads. They've never been on anyone longer than a day, and he's had them on for a week. There's usually a dissipation of chakra, and it makes me a little dizzy for a minute. But I'm afraid it might knock me out, even with the kyuubi."
"Why not ask Iruka, or Ino?"
Naruto's eyes narrowed, and his anger flared again. "Because I want you to be there. Sasuke knows you better. I want him to feel safe. You haven't seen him, Kakashi. He's…fragile right now. I want him well for the trial. No excuses, you're coming. If you refuse further, I'll just talk to Kurenai." Kakashi's eyes widened. It was no secret, but to threaten him with talking to her…
"That's below the belt, Naruto."
The young man smiled, looking, for all the world just like the Yondaime. "I know. It's just that you're being such an ass! You have to come. I'm in charge of Sasuke's recovery, after Shizune. Tsunade-baba said so." He did have a point, and it seemed that there was no getting out of it.
"Fine. I'll go, but don't expect me to like it."
"I would never expect anyone to like seeing another human being like that." Naruto rose, frowning, and left Kakashi's apartment.
The silver-haired man blinked. What is going on? Is Naruto finally realizing his potential? How did he grow so much in such a short time? Kakashi laughed. He had captured Sasuke, even though he had never been able to beat him before at anything, and he had made the Godaime agree to his terms. "Kid's full of surprises."
A/N: Hehe. See? Didn't I tell you that you'd get the ultimate Sasuke bashing moment? Ah, that was fun to write. Some of the other things in this chapter bugged me, but I can't really put my finger on what went wrong. Oh, well. All in all, I think it turned out well.