A/N: I love this chapter. I really, really do. It makes me giggle with glee. Enjoy all!

The Sound of Pain: Chapter 3

When Sasuke wakes the second time around, he doesn't attempt to get up. Firstly, his wrists are tied to the bed and secondly, his mind swims in a happily drugged hallucination. So he's quite content to stare at the ceiling and drift off. He's not hungry, not tired, not in pain and not thinking. Could life get any better?

Kakashi comes in a few hours later and somehow manages to feed him some soup. Sasuke feels none of the humiliation he should at being fed. He's a little too numb to protest. But for the first time he wants to speak. He doesn't even know why, it's a sudden urge out of the numbness and Sasuke has no option but to listen. His inhibitions are all but gone. So when Kakashi makes to leave, he drowsily asks, "How'd you fin'me?"

Pausing in the doorway, Kakashi smiles under his mask at the adorably sleepy tone of his former-student. He turns around and goes back to sit by Sasuke. "I didn't. Kiba found you. Don't you remember?"

There's an almost childlike denial that comes from Sasuke, his head shaking stubbornly from side to side. It serves to put his thoughts into some sort of order and his words are less slurred when he next speaks. "No... I mean back then."

"Ah." Kakashi contentedly smiles, "Call it intuition."

Sasuke lets out a derisive snort, knowing he won't get more than that. His vision is swimming and the barest hint of pain is coming back through the haze. Nothing that's happened in the last three years and a half seemed to matter for the last few hours, but now his mind is starting to push forth notions Sasuke just doesn't want to deal with. It's telling him about his escape from Sound and it's telling him things about the curse seal. It's reminding him of Nagraji and Ren and Tayuya.

Jerking up in his bonds, Sasuke's reddish hair again falls in his eyes and it's like someone's taken away the one pillar that was holding back the barrage of memories. His eyes fall stubbornly shut against it and he starts to struggle. His wrists twist and tug uneffectively against the cuffs tying him to the bed and all Sasuke can think of is getting this red hair away because it's not right. It shouldn't be.

"Get it off me!" Mindlessly, Sasuke pulls at the bonds, struggling even against the hands that suddenly reach to hold him down. He's shaking with the strain but the pain in his body barely registers with his mind. The skin of his wrists tears against the bonds and he just wants to scream.

Kakashi holds the trashing Sasuke as best he can for a while before he realises that it's useless. The boy will keep hurting himself to get free. So Kakashi focuses some chakra into his palm and strikes the side of Sasuke's head, sending him to oblivion in a split second.

When the boy's body relaxes into unconsciousness, Kakashi gives a sad, tired sigh. His fingers pet long red hair affectionately for a few seconds. The Hokage sure has bad taste when it comes to henge. One curl wrapped around his index finger, Kakashi comes to a decision. He releases the hair and forms a few familiar seals. Just a second later, the henge is dispelled, revealing Sasuke's troubled face, his black hair and dark lashes.

"What sort of trouble did you get yourself into, hmm?" Kakashi redresses the wound carefully and tiredly wonders if fatherhood feels anything like this.

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Hyuuga Neji prides himself on both his immense depth of perception and his uncanny objectivity. He finds it's generally enough to keep his dignity, mind and body intact. Hyuuga Neji is desperately trying to remember that anger serves no true purpose and it only makes simple things look complicated.

Hyuuga Neji is not someone whose dignity will be tainted by lewd women.

Hyuuga Neji is certainly not being dragged in a brothel by an overenthusiastic, fox-like blond. He isn't having his shirt subtly pulled at by some pouty-lipped, large-breasted, dark-haired beauty. He isn't blushing either. That's too below him to even consid...

"Aw, Neji's all shy!" That low-toned whisper makes up Neji's mind on the spot. He may be rational and objective but Naruto will die. Painfully. Hopefully tonight.

"I will kill you." His tone is colder than ice and Naruto giggles nervously, smile just a little on the hesitant side.

"B... But Neji! Look at all those gorgeous girls around you! Bet you wouldn't even need to pay them, heh?"

The brown-haired girl clinging to Neji's side purrs at that, "Mmm... definitely no charge..."

Neji gulps. It figures Naruto would know his way around this kind of... environment. The building is by all appearances a tea-shop, but this has nothing to do with the distinguished, tasteful hypocrisy of tea-shops run by geishas. The women don't possess the class of a geisha, neither do they have the same skills. They're here for one purpose and one purpose only. It makes Neji feel very bare, coming here. Because once you step inside this world, there is no hiding sexuality, no pretending you have class about it. No more acting as though you can fuck with dignity. It strips Neji of all his fine manners, making them look superfluous.

Especially since there's no way you can attempt looking dignified when you're desperately trying to keep a woman's hands out of your pants. "Naruto, why are we here again?"

"You needed to loosen up some. Get that gigantic stick out of your ass, y'know, that sorta thing." Naruto looks perfectly at ease sitting on the large purple cushions, sake in his hands. Neji really very badly wants to hurt him.

"Really now? How did I come to agree to this?"

"Oh you wanted to do me a favor in exchange for my being such an exceptionally good friend as to not mention to Gai that you lik..." Neji looks sharply at Naruto, his white eyes murderous and it stops Naruto from speaking the last of his sentence.

This boy in front of him has too many facets to pin down, even with the byakugan. A perfect idiot one second, a calculative opponent the next. Neji is firmly convinced that Naruto's mask of stupidity has been part of him for so long he doesn't really know how to rid himself of it, but sometimes... sometimes Naruto grows from a clumsy, dense boy to a mature, smart and strong man. That's why Neji's was tricked into coming here. Tricked. Yes, you heard right. The mighty Hyuuga genius was blackmailed, coerced, forced into coming to a bordello.

A sharp yelp almost escapes him when he feels cool fingers cup his crotch. He turns to stare wide-eyed at the guilty party only to find a smirking pair of lips and dark, dark eyes. She purrs, "Looks like I'm not going to have it easy tonight..."

Neji's mouth drops at the nerve of this girl. He wants to tell her to back off and recover his unapprochable persona, but then what she said actually registers. Neji's cheeks turn an interesting shade of red and he just stares at her; her hand down his pants and her lustful eyes on him. Warm laughter snaps him out of it and the girl retreats, "He's really too cute, orange-boy. Too bad he's taken for the night..."

At that, Neji recovers some of his composure and turns accusingly towards his smirking blond-haired companion. "Taken?" The tone is something between indignation, fear and deadly threat, something only a Hyuuga could manage really.

Naruto laughs a little self-consciously, not liking the threat part of that last, but he continues on in apparent oblivion. "I took some arrangements for you, Neji! I knew you'd be feeling a little odd so I bought you a girl for the night! She's a real cutie you'll see!"

Only Naruto would think of making him feel better by buying him a girl for a night. Neji takes a deep breath to calm himself. It would be impolite to refuse, and even worse to stomp his foot and leave in a huff. Hyuugas do not leave in huffs. Ever. No matter how badly they want to.

So Neji does the only thing he can think of. He aims a kick at Naruto's shin and once he sees the surprise, shock and, thankfully enough, pain on Naruto's face, he gives a curt nod. "Very well. Where is this girl?"

Naruto holds his leg very carefully and glares daggers at Neji. He opens his mouth to demand that Neji explain his sudden violence but upon seeing the coldly angry look on his face, snaps it shut with just a low comment. "You're a sadistic bastard."

"You haven't seen the half of it, Uzumaki. If I survive the night, I'll make sure you don't survive the week." It's punctuated with a polite nod and Neji taking a sip from Naruto's cup of sake. He's regained the upper hand and it shows.

Naruto watches on, thinking the Hyuuga looks like a peacock putting his feathers back into their proper order. His smile isn't forced one bit as he takes the lead and stands, showing Neji to the back. "She's a fun little thing, don't you worry." It has been hell on Naruto to prepare this night. All the blackmailing and the energy that went into making this one single moment perfect. It'll all be worth it. Even if he'll have a bruise on his leg for weeks.

Hyuugas are uptight, closet sadists. Except for Hinata, of course.

Naruto looks around for the girl who's going to be looking after Neji for tonight. He smirks when he spots 'her'.

To be quite honest, it's been a hassle to even convince him to do this, and also... you would not believe how much sheer work went into making Lee look this attractive. Time after time, Naruto tried to henge him into something... well... a little more... luscious. But each attempt ended in failure until Naruto found the exact right combination.

The result is sitting in a dark green kimono, long legs gently curled as fingers slowly play with too-long sleeves. The face was the biggest challenge. There needed to be nothing to remind Neji of Lee. So the lips are wider, pouty and full, traced with dark red lipstick, the eyes are smaller, more inquisitive and a brown/green tint. The eyebrows, (god, the eyebrows) were thinned out as much as possible and hidden under long black hair that shines even in the dim light. Lee doesn't look luscious as a girl, he's cute. He looks adorable, not sexy. (It's the best one could hope to do after all...) Overall, Naruto is very proud of himself. So he sits Neji in front of the girl and winks at a suddenly wide-eyed, scared Lee.

Naruto holds his breath as Neji takes in the girl, hoping against hope that he won't sense something wrong and activate that damn byakugan of his. Or worse, that he doesn't recognise Lee under there.

Neji, for his part, is finding the girl quite suiting enough. She's not strikingly gorgeous, but neither is she horrifyingly ugly. She's a mix of gentle and nervous and Neji can't help but see his cousin's nervous motions when he looks at the twirling hands. He sighs, telling himself the best way to make Naruto pay right now is to enjoy himself. And so Neji reaches out to stop the girl from twisting her sleeves into an unrecognisable shape. "Don't worry. I don't bite. What's your name?"

From the shock, Lee wrenches his hands away from Neji's touch. "Ah, gomen... my name is..." Er... What is his name?

"Le... Leyla! That's Leyla, Neji." Naruto's almost twitching as he berates himself. Can't believe I didn't think of a name. Stupid, stupid.

"I believe the girl can speak for herself, Naruto. Won't you give us a bit of privacy?"

"Ah... sure, sure... I'll be in the back if... you need any help..." Winking at Lee, Naruto walks back to his booth and breathes out sharply in relief. He mumbles to himself, "Come on, guys, don't blow it." While ordering another cup of sake, Naruto keeps his eyes on the couple. They seem to be nervously starting to talk, Lee being the one to initiate most of it while Neji politely nods. Sometimes Neji reminds him of Sasuke in the most painful way. But it's only ever just a second.

Truth be told, when Naruto thinks of Neji and Sasuke, it's more often than not in contrast to each other. The people who associate them together are blind to who they really are. They're both from prestigious families and they both have a troubled past and they both behave in vaguely the same removed fashion. But that's where similarities stop. Neji is cold anger whereas Sasuke's is burning hot. Neji's too polite to be rude and Sasuke couldn't give less of a shit. Sasuke's notion of honor is his dignity, Neji's dignity is what mostly dictates his honor. Sasuke is passion where Neji is reluctance. Neji is perceptive where Sasuke is blind.

Sighing under his breath, Naruto tries to drag his thoughts away from the dark-haired nin. It's been three years and a half since he last saw Sasuke and nothing about the intensity of what he feels has diminished. He's not as angry as he'd have others believe. Naruto has grown in maturity, despite what people may think. He's disappointed, he's hurt and he's worried sick. He's disappointed in himself most of all though. This one fight... that one meant something more than any other. That one was crucial and it was Naruto showing Sasuke that despite everything, despite hate and despite love, despite even Sasuke's trying to kill him, Naruto will still want him back.

And he fucking lost.

Of course he's hurt too. He's hurt that Sasuke meant to kill him. How could he not be? But somehow Naruto's good nature grants understanding where Sasuke couldn't have. He can see how badly Sasuke was hurt himself, he can see how much of that fight was him trying to prove to Naruto that no, you can't love me. You can't love me because you can't deal with everything I have. You can't go all the way for me and I'll make you give up on me.

It's so sad to Naruto that the person he always thought the world of thinks so little of themselves. It's that fundamental belief that you're unworthy of love. It still gives Naruto's heart a wrench when he thinks back to the fury with which Sasuke fought against him.

Naruto still thinks that there's something odd about his connection to Sasuke. Because you shouldn't feel so deeply when you're twelve. You shouldn't feel as though the other person is half of you.

Heaving a sigh, Naruto forcefully drags his attention away from the heartache and back to Neji and Lee.

It's quite enough to distract him when he notices Lee's determination flash in his eyes, the same look he always has when he challenges himself to do something. This is so not going to end well...

Naruto watches wide-eyed as Lee grabs a hold of Neji's shirt and forcefully tugs him into a kiss.

Holy. Fuck.

Neji justfreezes up and Naruto can see his pupiless eyes widden to an impossible size. Far be it from him to be impolite to a lady, however. So when he recovers, he hesitantly wraps a hand around the back of Leyla's head and makes a feeble attempt at returning the kiss.

Then the most unexpected thing happens. Lee wrenches himself away and kicks Neji halfway across the room.

Naruto's jaw drops.

Neji's byuakugan instinctively activates and Naruto can see the veins starting to come up on the side of his eyes. Shit!

Naruto moves quick as lightning and grabs Lee's hand. He yells at Neji, hoping against hope that he'll be forgiven for this one day, "What did you do to the girl, Neji?"

Neji, in utter surprise, releases the byakugan before it fully activates. He's about to utter a protest, especially seeing as every patron in the bar is looking his way with suspicion in their eyes, but he's interrupted by said girl.

"Naruto-kun, I hated that! You were right! It was horrible!"

At this point, Neji is completely lost. First the girl forces him into a kiss, then when he starts to respond, kicks him across the room, making him look like the bad guy, and now she says she hated it?

Well enough.

Neji Hyuuga has limits to his patience and one of them has just been reached and torn to pieces. Big time.

Naruto could swear he sees the air around Neji grow colder as the man rises to his feet, looking so dignified it hurts. His voice is icy as he speaks, "Please forgive my impertinence, milady." It almost sounds like an insult, the way it's spoken as though impertinence would never even rub against the Hyuuga. He's pissed. "It will not happen again." And with that, Neji turns on his heel and exits.

Lee's mortified face has Naruto sighing and he brings his friend out through the back door. It's only after Naruto's dismissed the henge and Lee's back to his thick-browed self that he starts to see the humor. Unable to help himself, Naruto starts to laugh.

"You... you have the worst timing... ever... thick-brows." Naruto is sitting on the floor, trying to regain control over himself and only half succeeding. "Remind me to never let you kiss me. Ever."

"Naruto-kun... Neji was very upset. I do not believe that is a laughing matter."

That's sobering enough and Naruto looks at Lee a little more seriously, "Well then, maybe you should talk it out with him. Now that you know you don't like him like that." He works very hard not to giggle.

Swallowing with some difficulty, Lee nods. "It would appear that is the best solution indeed."

tbc...

Some replies:

XxHunter The One and OnlyxX: God forbid I ever make you use your smiting powers! Hope you liked that one. Always cracks me up.

Jenanien: I love Lee. (points up) I love Naruto too (giggle). And we haven't seen the last of Kiba yet. That poor darling... He'll take on a more important role in the next couple of chapters. About the OC, I'm not quite sure yet. Sasuke isn't being very forthcoming with the information so we'll just have to see! (I dislike OCs, so I wouldn't worry about the story revolving around them.) I try to update once every two or three days seeing as I'm always publishing at least three chapters in advance. I'm glad that you enjoy yourself reading, hun!

Shadowbright: (zips lips) Not telling. Just dropping hints. (giggle). As to the pairings... well there'll be no Lee/Neji... (snicker, points up). Maybe some Lee/Sakura, but that's doubtful for the moment. I might imply many other pairngs but those we'll see are probably just SasuNaru, ShikaIno and... (waves hands magically) mystery pairing! hehehe. Typo corrected, thanks! And I do think the style is a little different. It's mostly due to the fact that it's lighter, not as much shadows and angst as previously. I like to think that the writing style in TSoF reflects Sasuke's mindset in Sound, specifically. In this story, there's too many mindsets to be kept in the dark all the time as Sasuke was in Sound. Does that make sense?