AN: Alright, first order of business! Thanks for all the review luvin' I got from the first chapter. X3 It's encouraging. hands out hugs and kisses and nekkid Sasuke and Naruto Plushies

The crystal ball has yet to come into play. It will soon, though... and sorry for the UST and yet ANOTHER cliffie. I'm a real bitch for those, aren't I? .

Enjoy.

Don't kill me. But review, I like those a lot.

Chapter Two
The Dye is Cast.

He shouldn't have been there. It was silly of him to come but when he had seen the blond downtown, still dirty and weary from his travelling, Sasuke knew he wouldn't have been able to leave him alone. Then, his mind had been at a loss of what to do when he met up with him, and even know he was still trying to figure out what to do.

"So what now, Sasuke?" Naruto yawned, flopping back on the bed and feigning sleepiness. The katana was still tied to his back and Sasuke guessed it could hardly be comfortable to have it digging into his shoulder blade. Strangely, he realized that the weapon was still reachable, even his hand was lying beside the bared hilt although the fingers were curled over his palm like a closing lotus.

"I incapacitate you and take you back to Orochimaru where he will reward me for handing in the pupil of his most hated enemy." It was meant as a joke but Sasuke had said it a little too serious. Then it donned on him that he had never joked with Naruto and so, he wasn't very surprised when the blond lunged into action and tore the sword from its casing. Sasuke sat with an eyebrow arched, looking up past the yard or so of steel and into blue eyes glinting a deadly promised that chilled him to the bone.

"How about this; I incapacitate you and take you back to Konoha where you belong."

"I don't belong in Konoha, Naruto. I never belonged there from the moment my family was killed." Sasuke said simply, the slow burn of regret apparent in his words.

"You do belong there!" He said with the same passion that existed when they were both twelve and he was too stupid to know better. Sasuke felt relieved that the old Naruto wasn't entirely dead.

"I'm not having this argument with you, dobe." He grumbled, "Besides even if I did want to go back to Konoha, I can't. I'm on a metaphysical leash. Orochimaru has my every movement tracked."

"Where is he?" Naruto hissed as his and the kyuubi's chakra exploded from his skin.

"What would you do if you knew?"

"I'd kill him and then I could take you where I wanted."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "You and what army?"

"I can take him." He said, his confidence failing somewhat. As an afterthought, Naruto sheathed the sword in a movement he had to have practiced in the mirror for the past six years.

Lifting an eyebrow in an unconvincing look, Sasuke asked, "Oh, yeah? Well, in case you haven't noticed, Orochimaru is way out of your league."

"How do you know what league I'm in?"

"Because, stupid, I've been watching you for the past six years. I know you are strong. I know that you are in the ANBU and one of the rising stars in their ranks—you'll probably reach Hokage status with more training in the next few years. But you aren't even on the same planet as Orochimaru."

He sat on the bed, defeated, "So close and yet, so far away."

Was the old Naruto a façade? A guise for the newer, darker version of a monster that lurked within? Sasuke wondered and then he found himself doubting the intelligence pertaining to the blond shinobi. Maybe he was capable of taking on Orochimaru? He shook his head of such thoughts and reminded himself that soon it wouldn't matter. He could feel, even now, the tight grip that the sannin had on his throat.

"I feel like I'm going to lose you soon, Sasuke." Naruto blurted.

Spooked that the blond was having the exact same thoughts as he, Sasuke smirked, "You never had me." Again, meant as a joke but the tone in which he used made that statement sound regretful and sad.

A hand on his chest pushed him down onto the mattress. He found himself being straddled by Naruto, who had deftly pinned his hands above his head in a one-handed grasp. He didn't bother to struggle, sensing that the blond would never hurt him. Instead, his skin seemed to want to crawl off of his body and wrap itself around the warmth the other man was emitting. "I guess your right, but let's rectify that." He said simply as his head dipped down and claimed Sasuke's shocked mouth in a fiery kiss.

He didn't have time to recover as he was bombarded by Naruto's persistent mouth. His tongue slid past Sasuke's lips, brushing along his own before retreating to lick along his bottom lip. A shudder of delight welled in the pit of his stomach and it blossomed as sharp teeth nipped at that same lip, transforming the initial response to Naruto's kiss into a breathy moan.

It was when the cold air displaced the warmth of skin to skin contact that he realized Naruto was no longer on top of him. His eyes flew open and he sat up, immediately catching the spark of blade-on-blade contact as the whisper of unsheathed steel filled the dark room. A step, a graceful bend of the body and the intruder found himself impaled on brilliant edge of Naruto's weapon. Naruto ruthlessly twisted the blade, showering the carpets, bedding, himself and Sasuke in blood after he withdrew. The ninja clutched at the hideously gaping wound before dropping down to lie still on the carpet.

"Sound." Naruto muttered after moving the dead man's head to the side to catch a glimpse of the crest on his hitai-ate. "Guess you are being beckoned." He lifted himself up but still didn't face Sasuke.

Sasuke, feeling far more tired than his eighteen years should have permitted, sighed and rubbed at the blood that oozed down his right cheek. There had always been something dangerous lurking beneath the goofy mask that Naruto always wore. Sasuke figured, after seeing the Kyuubi for the first time that it was clear whose shadow he had seen in those brilliant sapphire eyes. Now, he wasn't so sure anymore. He realized that perhaps beneath the cage of a capering idiot Naruto had made himself out to be, lurked something that wasn't the Kyuubi, but a darker part of Naruto's psyche.

Then he turned and his theories were contradicted. The light that filtered in through the only window in the hotel room, splashed across his face and painted a picture that was painfully beautiful, tragic and terrifying all at once. Brilliant crimson eyes glared out through the calm of Naruto's blood smeared face. Despite the ethereal, almost impossible colour they had turned in the blink of an eye, Sasuke recognized that haunted, pained expression as something that was all too human.

The katana slid from his bloodied fingers as he reached up to touch Sasuke's face. He wanted to make sure the ghost like figure sitting on his bed wasn't a ghost that he had imagined a million times before. The congenial, happy-go-lucky kid he had adopted as his persona shattered into a million pieces as his fingertips touched real skin. Real warm skin.

Their lips crashed together and fuelled by the adrenaline of Naruto's kill and the danger of being interrupted again. Sasuke pinned him to the bed and straddled his waist. "I'll get the next one." He whispered against the naked flesh he had bared after brutally tearing his shirt apart.

Naruto squirmed, helpless and mewling softly as every inch of him was touched, kissed, licked, bit and pinched. His skin tasted like the blood of the person they just killed and his stomach churned slightly with that thought. It was soon forgotten as the blond inadvertently ground his hips against Sasuke's. His head fell back, exposing his throat as the breath exited through his mouth in a loud, hoarse noise.

There was no telling who had gotten naked first, but it was apparent that neither cared. A shiver ran up and down his spine as he gleefully realized how responsive Naruto really was. Despite the callous, indelicate way he had about himself, there was something about the way he reacted to the kisses and touches Sasuke gave him that made Sasuke's mouth water.

It donned on him that despite what he instinctively knew had to be done, Sasuke didn't really have an idea of what was supposed to happen when the act was initiated. He had only had sex with one girl once before and that could hardly count. A worried look came over his face, he obviously must have frozen during the time the thought had occurred to him because a strange look came over the blond's face. "Sasuke, why did you stop?"

Insecurity, something that was foreign and weird to the Uchiha, suddenly plagued his mind and the arousal that flushed his body was half forgotten. Naruto sensed the further slip and reached out, catching his face to keep him from turning away. "What's going on in that head, Sasuke?'

"I…" Naruto rocked his hips, the ripple of sensation teased against his spine and made him arch against his broad chest. Sasuke reached out, planting his palm on his shoulder to balance himself as he responded to the second movement of their hips grinding together.

He found himself pushed onto his back with Naruto over him. Naruto travelled down the pale length of his body, resting himself between Sasuke's legs. His teeth gnashed his bottom lip, suppressing the sudden urge to yell as the Konoha-nin's mouth slid over his throbbing shaft. His fingers nestled in Naruto's wild blond hair as his tongue swirled across the head of his cock. Since when had Naruto ever bested him at anything? Sasuke asked himself blearily but his pricked pride was soon forgotten as the he brushed the back of Naruto's throat.

With his endurance flagging already, Sasuke grit his teeth to keep himself under control as Naruto hummed and sucked over his velvety length. His fingernails dug painfully into his scalp and he rolled his hips upwards to meet the blond's eager, hot mouth. "I'm going to…"

A hand reached between his legs, his fingers gently kneaded the delicate sacs as they tightened with the strain of an oncoming orgasm. "Come." Naruto growled as his mouth slid twitching member once more. The muscles in his thighs and stomach tensed up simultaneously, his body being pushed over the edge and he tumbled over it with a hissing gasp. His cum spilled into Naruto's awaiting mouth and he yanked on those flaxen tresses again as his hips jerked for the last time.

The silence followed, not even Sasuke's breathing could break it as he lay there, staring up at the ceiling. He closed his eyes and felt Naruto settle himself on his side, against sasuke's body with his head resting against his hip. ""Sasuke, you've never had sex with a man before, have you?" He said suddenly, lifting his head up and frowning at the sullen shinobi.

"Shut up, dobe." Sasuke rasped, trying to push the blond off. He opened his eyes and watched Naruto climb over him in lazy, long movements that reminded him of a hunting cat. The muscles ripped in his torso, across his back, highlighted by the pale light of the moon. His breath hitched in his throat and immediately, his eyes flew to the blond's face. The blond was looking at him through eyes that were brilliant crimson. His slit pupils were dilated like a cat in the dark and ever once and a while, he caught the flash of moonlight in their sanguine depths.

Sasuke was the first to sense the stranger that invaded the room. He was flanked by three others, which lead him to assume that the dead man on the floor was probably their fourth team mate. His fingers brushed against the kunai beneath the pillow his head rested on and from his supine position, he managed to through the weapon. With a lethal efficiency, it honed in on the closest man's throat and lodged itself just beneath his Adam's apple. Naruto was out of the bed, snaking to the side with his katana in hand while Sasuke listed to the right, his shoulder sliding against the wall. The chidori screamed through his skin, he slammed it into one of the surviving ninja's chest, watching it explode and splatter across his face and naked body as Naruto finished off the last unfortunate shinobi. He wiped the blade through the air, the blood splattering against the wall as it was flung from the shiny metal. "Come with me, Sasuke."

Regret flared anew, making the dark haired man shake his head, "Go before Kabuto comes. I'll hold them off."

"The hell you will." Naruto snapped as he fumbled to do up his fly.

He reared on him, his hands slapping against the other man's naked torso and slamming him up against the wall. "Listen, I made a deal. My life is no longer my own… I don't have the option of some place to turn, anyways. I'm a deserter outside of Sound country. This is the only place I'm safe from the hunter-nin."

Naruto shook his head, "I can't leave without you."

Shoving him with more force, Sasuke growled, "You will leave because I don't want you here, cluttering up the place. Orochimaru will have my body. I'm finished with it and I don't have any other use for it."

"So you'd be a madman's pawn?"

"I made that decision the moment I accepted the power he offered to kill Ita--- that man."

The fox holder looked hurt, "So I'd never be enough to keep you from going?"

Wanting to hurt the man in order to ensure his departure, Sasuke sneered, "You never did before." He found his mouth hovering mere inches away from the other's. His mouth watered with anticipation and he eradicated the distance before placing a chaste kiss against them. His hand clutched the nape of his neck, keeping him from moving as the kiss deepened. When finally he broke away, he had found himself drowning in the desire to harm him and carress him at the same time. He clenched his teeth and pressed his forehead against Naruto's before whispering, "Don't give me hope, Naruto. Just let me go in peace."

"I can't do that, Sasuke."

He pushed himself away, craving distance all of a sudden. Grabbing his clothes, he threw them on carelessly before throwing open the small window. It was big enough for him to slip out of. He threw one last look over his shoulder at his former rival and team mate and for once in a very long while, he felt like he wanted to live. Squashing that feeling immediately, he threw himself out the window and caught the window sill below to break his fall. He let go of the ledge and dropped to the ground like a cat.

Kabuto stood on the corner of the street, patiently waiting for his ward. He stuffed his hands in his pocket, and looked relaxed but he radiated an energy that told the young Uchiha he was anything but. The tightness in the corners of his eyes, barely hidden behind his glasses, betrayed an anger that fascinated and amused the younger shinobi.

His mirth was soon shattered by a hand on his throat, driving him backwards. He hit the wall, his breath driving from his lung with the force of it. The fingers tightened minutely before loosening just enough to allow the Uchiha a decent breath of air. "Did you have fun killing those men and fucking like the whore I know you are, Sasuke-sama?" Kabuto asked, his voice deadly soft.

"Fuck you." Sasuke bit out, driving a hand into the silver haired shinobi's throat.

The attack was anticipated and the hand was caught, pinned above his head. "Just because you are an expendable asset, does not mean I cannot punish you. There are many ways I can inflict pain without damaging your precious person." He hissed, a maniacal glint in his dark eyes.

Sasuke didn't doubt for a second what the medic-nin was capable of. In fact, he had witnessed the man's tainted taste in such things. He had seen the way men and women walked into his room, expecting a normal sexual encounter with the revered right hand man of a godlike ninja. Only to come out haunted and bereft of some part of their soul that Kabuto had found delectable. No, it wasn't whips and chains that his tastes ran to but something far too horrifying for anyone to recount. His partners--- victims--- had taken months to heal, both mentally and physically.

His fear was a palpable thing and it seemed to glue his tongue to the roof of his mouth as his mind tried to ingest what exactly Kabuto was threatening him with. "Don't touch me." Sasuke snarled, clawing savagely at the hand. His fingernails bit into flesh, creating bloody wheals that made the silver haired shinobi recoil out of pain and disgust.

Kabuto watched him with a feral look in his eye as his hand came up, tongue darting out to lap at the bleeding cuts. The last Uchiha shuddered, feeling that tongue along his own flesh and hating it. "You've made a fool of me, Sasuke-sama. Now, I must report how you managed to kill an entire cell while maintaining your tryst. Who was it that you were with?"

His heart lodged in his throat, Sasuke said a little too quickly, "No one."

Eyebrows raised over eyes that bored into his eyes, "Really? Shall I go look and see what you so desperately want to protect?"

"Just a whore I bought for the night—you know; the willing kind." He couldn't help but add that stab at Kabuto but it went unrewarded. He merely tilted his head and waited for Sasuke to keep going, "I left her crying on the bed in a room full of corpses."

After a moment, his eyebrows settled down over his eyes. The unconvincing glint in his dark eyes was replaced by a flat, humoured look, "And you call me perverted."

"I've had enough of this place. I'm leaving." Sasuke snapped.

Back in the lair, Sasuke didn't bother stopping by to inform Orochimaru of his arrival. Instead, he went straight to the baths where he regretfully scrubbed away the traces of Naruto's touches. He sat for a long time on a bench, in the steamy room with a towel wrapped around his slender waist, lost in thought.

He couldn't remember the last time he had teamed up with Naruto but just those two kills alone were enough to make him recall how great it had felt. Sighing softly, Sasuke tried to keep from listening to the echoes of his hateful words, the bitterness creeping up his oesophagus and coating his tongue in a foul taste.

It was strange how much Naruto had changed in the past three years. He had grown up so much. Even then, it had been odd to see that there was nothing left to the short, slight youth who didn't hold even a promise of fleshing out some, much less growing upwards. He barely knew the man who wore the mask called Naruto but still, he found himself able to relate to him due to the trials and hardships they had faced during their partnership that had ended so abruptly. Whose fault had that been? The voice asked solemnly and Sasuke felt a wave of grief wash over him. He had lost a childhood in the face of his brother's actions but when he had the chance to salvage what little was left, he had abandoned it and dwelled in the dark need for revenge.

His parents would be turning in their grave right now, to know that the last of the Uchihas had resulted in such disgrace. A dead son, slain by the hand of their other and the both of them betraying the country that countless generations of Uchihas had died to protect. How many shinobi and kunoichi had perished during the Kyuubi war? How many had been killed in the many battles held between rock country and grass country? The culmination of that now sat in a bathroom, dreading an indignant death that he had openly embraced in order to kill said brother. Had it all been worth it? At one point, he would said most certainly but now, seeing that end nearing, he realized that he hadn't much to show for 18 years of existence.

You are my son. His father's words rang in his head as he recalled the first time hearing them. They had been directed at the oldest and the one who had shown so much promise. Itachi had rightfully earned that praise with his genius, his incredible talent. He, at one point, had been a good ninja before turning. Konoha could remember the good things about Itachi but they chose to recall the bad. Unlike Sasuke, who had nothing to show for he had never surpassed the rank of genin before defecting. They would remember the bad because that's all he had ever done.

He dropped his head into his hands to fight back the tears that threatened to fall from his obsidian gaze. A shuddered breath lunged from his mouth and he placed fingers over them to stifle anymore that threatened to surge from the tight knot in his throat. When he died, he hoped that he got a chance to explain to his parents why things had ended so tragically for such a noble and powerful line as the Uchihas.

But I don't want to die! A voice shrieked in his head so loudly that it caused another sob to well in his mouth and slip passed both clenched lips and his hand. I don't want to die! Not like this! Panic settled deep in his bones before being usurped by a weary despair. The dye was cast, the voice of defeat whispered like a growing gale of wind.

He fell into bed and lay there, dressed only in a towel. His eyelids slid shut as he tried to piece together his shattered thoughts. This was the reason why he hated being idle, he thought as he fought against the urge to pick up his sword and smash something. When he was training, he didn't think about anything except the intricacy of his jutsus. His body turned into a mindless machine, only pumping out the best and most efficient way to kill, maim and destroy all to the approving eye of his teacher.

His mind flitted like a flock of sparrows, from one direction to the next until he found himself thinking about Naruto, yet again. Comforted by these thoughts, he allowed a small smile to curl his handsome lips as he recalled all the goofy things Naruto had ever done. He rolled over, allowing the towel to come loose and slide away from his hip as he settled himself on his side. Recalling the events that had caused him to do some pretty dumb stuff to spite Naruto, Sasuke's smile turned into a chuckle.

The door swung open suddenly, light pooled in from the lanterns that lit up the hallway outside. Sasuke grabbed his towel and jerked up to make himself decent as his eyes fell on the dark figure. The words lodged themselves in his throat as he tried to tell him to get out as he made out the look of deadly intent on Kabuto's face.

Finally when he had found the courage to speak, Sasuke said in a small voice, "What are you doing here, Kabuto?"

"I've come to repay you for the punishment you've earned me." He hissed as he kicked the door closed and cut off the light.

In the darkness the only thing the ex-Konoha ninja could hear was his own harsh breathing echoed by the thud of his heart. He crab walked backwards until his head hit the wall, his back pressing against the headboard. He could sense where Kabuto was and his eyes followed him blindly throughout the pitch black room. A hand touched the inside of his foot, travelling up his ankle to rest at his knee. Fingers gripped his leg, tenderness forgotten as Kabuto's grip tightened and jerked him down the mattress. Sasuke let out a soft cry, kicking out blindly. His foot was caught and pinned to the bed so that his legs were splayed indignantly.

Then his mind went blurry and dark enough to match the room in which he dwelt. Only the searing pain reminded him that he was still alive. Only the dual forces of despair and fear reminded him that once upon a time, he could have made choices that would have let him avoid such terrible realities.

TBC

Yeah, yeah... I know... bad Shuri for victimizing Sasuke and making Kabuto into a bad guy. But people, there's a method to my madness... I swear.