Chapter 28: Leverage
Pairings: Naru/Sasu...duh.
Rating: M- NC-17
Disclaimer: I do not own the sheer genius of "Naruto", Shippuden or other. The honours go to Masashi Kishimoto and his genius (but complete stupid a**) brain that created this masterpiece.
Summary: Remember that summer camp you went to; that quaint place out in the woods, by a lake, sitting around a campfire telling ghost stories and eating s'mores? Well this summer school sure as hell isn't that. Three months, Sasuke, teenage delinquents, illegal alcohol, prescription drugs, annoying shrinks, escape plans, a shitzu from hell, and new relationships; welcome to camp.
A/N: All medical procedures in here are bogus.
A/N: I know you people are waiting on porn... just trust me, there will be porn... to me porn-without-plot is simmering crap. It'll get there; be patient.
(*)(*)(*)
"Sasuke..." Kakashi said not spearing Naruto a glance, "This may come as a shock... please don't freak out... but there is a high possibility you do have some living family...specifically a grand-uncle."
(*)(*)(*)
"What?" Sasuke asked his voice absurdly calm. "What the hell have you been smoking, Kakashi? I'd think I'd know if any of my 'relatives' are alive."
"Uchiha," the shrink snapped, "I'm serious as a heart attack. You think you know everything about your family history but I'm telling you; there is a distinct chance someone survived the massacre."
Noting Kakashi's tense and severe tone Sasuke eyes narrowed and he straightened up. "Supposing you are right, who could've?"
A short breath escaped from the man; "Uchiha Madara."
Black brow quirked as the obsidian eyes shifted quickly to the right, "...But..." Sasuke said haltingly, "... the records said he died after the stab Satsuna gave him."
"That's the problem..." Kakashi said trailing off while handing the raven the papers he had in his hand and pointed to a large section highlighted in yellow, "...there was no official burial for him, all the others had theirs, Baru and Obito... not Madara."
Sasuke skimmed down to read the burial notices of the deceased Uchiha patriarchs and raised a disbelieving eyebrow; apparently the deaths had been so significant that the records had been inscribed and documented in the Emperor's official archives. Upon receiving notice of the deaths the emperor himself had giving the clan a whole month's leeway for the official mourning period and had even given a subsidiary of royal funds towards the burial ceremony. The notice clearly stated that each one was afforded an ostentatious funeral, embalming and an honoured position in the royal burial ground, all of them but Madara.
"Christ." Sasuke whispered eyes wide.
"See what I'm talking about, Sasuke?" Kakashi prodded sitting opposite the silent raven. "There is a possibility your grand-uncle is alive."
Another thought slammed into the raven's head and it made him decidedly sick, "...the photo..."
"...Yes Sasuke..." Kakashi grimaced, picturing all the horrible thoughts bombarding the young ravens' head, "...the photo...you should also know... the man, Deva Yahiko, who delivered the photo to you, is dead."
(*)(*)(*)
*** previously***
"Yes ma'am." She said turning the book towards the head doctor. "He was given a case that involved an esoteric poison that was bio-degenerative. The man who had contracted the virus was an experimental botanist working at an herb farm that supplied medical plants to the pharmaceutical companies."
Tsunade sat up to listen, "...Apparently, the pollen of a certain plant named 'Foxglove,'; 'digitalis purpurea' they were experimenting with to develop an anti-toxin, got into his lungs causing protein deficiency, pulmonary infection, pneumonia, inflammation and hives."
The blond doctor went still; the dots connecting slowly at first then rapidly. She whispered, eyes wide; "...it's a degenerative phytotoxin."
(*)(*)(*)
"...and the motion wasn't passed into law unti-"
Sasuke didn't hear a damn word Genma was lecturing about; his mind was on another platform entirely.
The remote possibly that he had an uncle alive was still trying to settle in his brain; it had started to sink in but then came the crippling paranoia. What if everything he had believed growing up to be true was, in fact, a lie? What if fire that changed his entire life wasn't an accident as reported, what if it had been orchestrated? What if the horrifying blaze was all just carefully planned revenge on Satsuna's descendants? What if all those 'presents' he was getting came straight from Madara? What if-
"Uchiha!"
Sasuke's dark head snapped up so fast he was surprised a vertebra hadn't snapped. The room was quiet and Shizune was at the doorway staring at him, "...Are you listening to me...you need to get to the infirmary right now."
A microsecond passed then he realized; they had finally found it and that meant he wouldn't have to reveal anything to them like he was dreading to. Calmly packing up his materials he slung the knapsack over his shoulder and followed Shinuze out of the building.
"You've found it," he clarified solemnly, "... haven't you?"
"Yes, Uchiha." The medic said tightly, pushing the infirmary's door open, "And we are still wondering how you are not dead."
He snorted, 'Based on that virus, I've been wondering the same thing.'
Tsunade looked up while jabbing her pen to a medical examination table, "Sit down, shut up and listen." She ordered, "You have an acute infection with all the symptoms of phytotoxin poisoning; low protein levels, inflammation, deteriorating blood cells, muscle weakness, decreased appetite, migraines, insomnia-"
'Oh no... the insomnia is a whole another matter.' Sasuke thought idly while vaguely impressed at how much they had found out.
"...I'm not going to pretty this up... this is going to intense," she intoned, "...first you are going on a series of saline drips; they should react to the poison and induce you own catabolic system(1) to flush out your system. After that you're going on an aggressive anti-toxin reversion treatment..."
Sasuke went motionless; hoping the next words coming out of her mouth weren't what he was dreading, "...and for the next week you will be in complete isolation."
Fuck.
The timeline cut through his head like a screaming banshee; the camp was ending in fifteen days; they had thirteen days to completely finalize every step of getting Pein out and this was taking a whole week, if not more, out of it. So not good.
Double Fuck.
(*)(*)(*)
*** Day 2***
Fever.
Fever like a blazing inferno has been forced into his gut. Sasuke was clutching at the bed rails, sweat pouring down his body like a salty river; hair soaked, clothes drenched and bed sheets damp. He swallowed wincing at the scalding sensations that erupted in his throat.
Tsunade had said the first step was to incite fever aiming to reduce the levels of toxin in his body. The saline drips had triggered a reaction that sparked the fever; she had said it would take no more than three hours but something in Sasuke's body had decided different; it rebelled and now, five hours later, he was roasting. It was a miracle he wasn't hallucinating.
Not yet anyways.
A part of him realized that this, even painful, inversely was the best thing that could happen for flushing his system. The toxin could be flushed out even faster and then the disease would then hopefully fall into remission; allowing him enough time to follow through with the plan; but the last part was a long shot.
Gripping at the bed he grit his teeth so hard he groaned, pale bitten lips parting to suck in lungful's of air. He had been through worse, this was going to pass and damn it, he could deal with it.
Bracing his back on the bed's head he closed his eyes and tried to think of something else, anything else. His mind feverishly skipped from Itachi, to Gaara to Op Exodus, to Kakashi, it lingered on Madara and finally skipped and settled on Naruto.
The dobe.
Sasuke knew he was playing a dangerous game with himself; even though he had specified no serious entanglement with the blond; he knew he was on the verge of deep solid entrapment. Naruto puzzled him, Naruto stirred something in his core that he was damn sure had died, Naruto had earned his trust, his loyalty and his attention; Naruto.
Not even Neji had come close to this.
He instinctually knew he had stepped away, broken away actually, from his safety net; lovers just like him; people he could understand, control and manipulate; book smart people, beautiful, pale, blooded but was now slowly and surely falling for the rough, street smart, and impulsive blond.
Sasuke knew there was an extensive way to go with the blond; Naruto had some real dark secrets, Sasuke had even more. A, he swallowed hard, a relationship with the blond was going to test the deepest mettle of him, (them both actually) like digging raw iron ore out from bare rock and then smelting it to steel.
The problem was that the Uchiha had an ingrained repulsion against any and every kind of emotional attachment and everyone knew it. He called it 'perfectly justified emotional issues stemming from a fucked-up'd childhood' but Itachi called it 'Emo-ness.'
Naruto clearly had even more 'childhood issues' than he had and putting them together was going to be either an epic mistake of disastrous proportions or...maybe... maybe it could form a bond stronger that anything he could have imagined. Maybe, it could even heal some scars.
He didn't trust, much; Sasuke knew that, he didn't get involved with other people's problems and he sure as hell didn't fall into the socially brain-washing trap called 'falling-in-love'. He had never thought it possible but somehow, every time he thought of the blond, something shot through his chest.
And it was disturbing.
(*)(*)(*)
****Day 3****
"Okay," Tsunade said tapping the hypodermic needle once. "Phase two, just relax...this is going to make you drowsy for some time; it's an derivative of an intravenous opioid analgesic with a stimulant so you might feel some cramping in your muscles, don't worry, that's normal, the toxin is being ejected. Hopefully you won't get serum sickness (2)."
"So it's a painkiller, a steroid and a diuretic." He inferred.
"Very good Uchiha." she praised, "Phytotoxins are tricky, this is just a starter dose, as soon as we can measure the results the dosage will be increased until the poison is gone, flushed out."
Sasuke wordlessly offered his arm, the needle sunk in like a hot knife through butter. Sasuke couldn't bear to watch the needle sticking out of his arm or the liquid entering his body but he felt it. He could just picture the serum binding with the toxins in his bloodstream and neutralizing them.
"You can open your eyes now."
Blinking his eyes open he coped with the sudden drowsiness that flushed his entire being. He was pushed back on the bed with an order.
"Rest...we'll see you tomorrow." Tsunade said, "Hopefully the results will show some retrograde."
Sasuke drifted off in a haze of grey.
***Day 5***
Sasuke was permanently tied to the toilet; it was a hideous cycle of projective vomiting. He had never felt this sick in his life.
"Serum sickness." He mumbled clammy face resting on the icy cold tile beside the commode and blankly staring into space.
***Day 7***
Miraculously on day seven he felt fine; bed ridded sore and still having twinges in his gut he felt better than ever. He could breathe without the cramp in his lungs and his muscles, even though tender weren't screaming with pain at every move.
"It's a temp period Uchiha." Tsunade said eyes narrowed, "The results came back, there is minimal presence of the toxin in your blood stream, you are free to go back to the outside world but if even one symptom resurfaces you, will, come, back, here, immediately."
He nodded; dying to get out of the hospital.
"Now you will feel some muscle weakness, pain of stiffness for some time, it will go away eventually." She handed him a bottle of small white pills, "These are relaxant; no more than two a day; they are very strong and I mean PCP strong."
The Uchiha shuddered.
"You may go." after a second she shouted after him, "and stop by the kitchen for some protein bars; you're going to need it."
Outside it occurred to Sasuke of how much he missed sunlight and fresh air. Breathing deeply he filled his pain-free lungs of cool air and let it out with a relieved sigh. The pain had gone but Sasuke knew better than that; Orochimaru would have factored in that finding of the disease and would have engineered the toxins to resurge at some time later; it was a good bet that the real cure was stashed up somewhere in the man's lair to be used as a bargaining chip in the future.
"Dude," The raven turned to see Kiba sauntering up to him, "We all thought you were dead."
"Where's Naruto?" he re-joined completely ignoring the Inuzuka's inane statement.
"Visiting that hell-hound of his." Kiba said, eyes shifting slightly and then with a hushed tone; "Hey...about that Pei-"
Sasuke slapped a hand over the teen's mouth and hissed, "Are you completely fucking crazy or what? You will not even mention that name if you want to keep your balls intact."
Kiba nodded, hazel eyed wide. Breathing to calm himself Sasuke made his way to the Kit's small kennel; half way there he was intercepted by:
"Well, well..."
Sasuke went still.
"Look who we have here brother..." a head of silver haired materialized behind the gardening shed, "...the Uchiha fag."
Sakon and Ukon; the sociopathic twins.
Shifting on the balls of the feet Sasuke faced the duo with a completely void expression while mentally preparing for a fight.
"And Sakon and Ukon; the pathetic excuses for serial muggers." He countered blankly. "What can I do for you gentlemen?"
"Well..." the first one said circling around the Uchiha, head tilting to the side, "you could first tell us why they let a faggot like you in here with us normal people."
"And then you could tell us what you're getting fucking the silver haired freak of a doctor." the second one said leering.
"But..." the first retorted, "I don't think you can ya'know...while you're in a coma." And lunged.
Sasuke deflected the first punch without even thinking of it; it was more of a reaction than anything else. Pivoting on his feet he left heel met Sakon's face, snapping it around with a horrible crack. He staggered back hand on his abused cheek while Sasuke was focusing on avoiding Ukon's wild punches and clumsy blows.
Ducking under a high kick, Sasuke swept kicked Ukon's grounded foot right under him; the teen's back met the ground with a hard thud. Sasuke stepped back breathing hard; damn it, his lungs hadn't fully recovered from the invasive treatment and he was getting winded very easily. His eyes closed for a second.
"Motherfu-" Sasuke swore, hands shooting up to the arm tight around his windpipe.
Fumbling to elbow Ukon in the ribs he was surprised when the pressure on his throat was abruptly released and he heard the hard thump of a body meeting the ground. Gasping in air Sasuke wasn't surprised when a hard familiar back met his.
Naruto.
"Looks like you could need some help, teme." The blonde said over his shoulder while slipping into a fighting stance. "Why didn't you call?"
"I couldn't find your bat signal." Sasuke returned sarcastically, head tilting against a solid shoulder.
"Oh how precious..." Sakon sneered, "Big bad blond here to rescue his bottom-boy."
"Shut up bitch." Naruto ordered flexing his shoulders, artic blue eyes piercing the nearest twin, "Isn't about time you and Frankenstein here run along?"
"Or what?" Ukon snarled bristling like a wet cat at 'Frankenstein.'
"Well it's your funeral." The army brat shrugged.
Soundlessly, without any kind of warning, primed and ready like opposite sides of a coin, the two leapt into action; Sasuke aiming for the weaker half Ukon and Naruto for Sakon.
The Uchiha worked methodically aiming for the unguarded spots he could easily dismantle. He was irritated and his strength was fading; there was no room for a thorough trouncing; just in and out; clocking the pressure points to cause temporary paralysis.
Ukon fell like an overripe fruit or a limp branch.
Dimly he heard the dull thuds of Naruto's fists meeting sallow flesh and sighed, weakly kicking Ukon's immobile body. A second later another thud; Sakon was down.
"Weak ass punks." The blond sighed flexing his fist.
A dark shiver ran through Sasuke and he blindly grabbed at the blond behind him; the dizzy spell washing over him made his vision go grey.
"Sasuke..." the blonde said quietly beside him, hand on his arm, "...your nose is bleeding."
With a grimace Sasuke reached up and wiped the thin trial of blood off his upper lip. "It's nothing... just a-"
"UCHIHA AND UZUMAKI!"
Shit.
Morino was stalking up to them like a heard of ravenous wolves. "My office; NOW!"
Double shit.
(*)(*)(*)
"For the last time." Sasuke repeated ad infinitum, "It was self-defence."
"Self-defence doesn't put people almost into rigor mortis." Morino snarled back, "Ukon is in intensive care; they had to call an acupuncturist to release his muscles and Sakon has a broken rib; it almost punctured his right lung."
"Then they shouldn't have started the fight." Naruto grumbled.
"And you," Ibiki said glaring at the blonde, "Shouldn't have joined in..." a small grin crossed the man's face, "...but to my pleasure you've both earned an Order Mark."
Sasuke reacted, "That's bu-" he paused mentally slapping himself; there was no leeway with this man so why did he even bother. "What do they get?"
"Same but doubled," Ibiki said severely, "and after being released they get ancillary, yard and kitchen duty; and you two are ordered to go back to your cabin until I call for you," he growled, "You are both under house arrest."
(*)(*)(*)
"We need to talk," Naruto said safely in the confines of their dorm room, "about you-know-who."
Pale lips twitched at the oblique reference to an evil wizard, "I was thinking the same thing...and that you might want to meet him."
Blond brow skyrocketed, "When...now?"
Sasuke glanced out the window to the ink black sky, "Why not?" he said snatching an object off the nearest table "...just follow me and don't try to get caught."
(*)(*)(*)
The basement was as odious as usual but the one thing that got Sasuke's attention was the gaping hole in the wall directly where Pein's cell was. The gap, clearly showing signs of being worked at from both ends, seemed wide enough to allow the man to pass through but it still needed some work to fully clear the passage.
"Leverage." Naruto said, eyes scanning the wall. Placing a hand on certain point on the wall he knocked twice and a hollow sound reverberated. "This is a weak spot. The wall is breaking down but for it to fully go we need to apply some force right here."
Sasuke looked up and spotted a slightly corroded iron bar tube running the length of the narrow ceiling. "I need a boost." he ordered.
Kneeling down and framing Sasuke's left foot Naruto hoisted the Uchiha in two feet into the air. Diversifying the combined weight Naruto held the raven up until he had gotten hold of the pipe. Sasuke tugged but the thing wouldn't budge.
"Damn." He swore, "...let me go. My weight should break this off."
After a hesitating second Naruto let go; a deep metal groaning filled the air with the bending of the pipe. A little more...a little more..
The thing snapped and in a frantic second Sasuke braced himself for a harsh fall but was securely grabbed by strong arms and braced tightly on a broad chest. Naruto gave a slight grin.
"You really need to avoid concussions."
After a tense, breathless, infinity of a second suspended in the air Sasuke, still braced on a hard chest, slipped to the ground and gasped in a hasty breath, "Leverage, right?"
The blonde nodded palming the pipe and after feeling around for a usable indent he stuck the pipe into the small hole at an oblique angle.
"Pein." Sasuke called, "Stand back."
Naruto pushed down, a block of stone grated out of its place. Reeling back Naruto flexed his shoulders and with a locked jaw grabbed the rod again and pushed. The muscle groups in the blonds back, shoulders and arms stood out starkly.
A piece of rock splintered and then, with a sharp crack, the whole remaining segment crashed to the ground leaving a gaping hole of four feet. Dank, musty air spewed from the darkness beyond as a hollow cough echoed from inside.
Second later a hand emerged from the darkness then an unshod foot emerged; both appendages pale like snow materialized from the hole; and then finally the whole body was revealed. Sasuke silently took in the visage of the man.
Pein was approximately five foot six, his extremely slim body, the mark of ill nutrition, clad in khaki pants and grey faded shirt, orange-ish hair that clashed horribly with the sickly skin and, Christ, hauntingly familiar ice-blue eyes.
Fanning dust out of his eyes Pein, Nagato, turned to them and smiled slightly. His accented voice greeted them. "Nice to finally meet you... Chidori."
"Uchiha..." he trailed off for a second silently handing out a protein bar to the man, "My name is Uchiha Sasuke."
Blue eyes glimmered turning to the blond standing beside the raven, "And you must be Naruto."
"Yes," the blond replied, sticking a hand out to the shorter man. "And we are getting you out of here."
(*)(*)(*)
***** The President's Suite, The White Lotus Hotel****
Madara sifted through the box of paraphernalia on Sasuke he had collected over the years. Something undefined had drawn the older Uchiha to Sasuke; he distantly admired and identified with the fortified metal in the young raven's makeup; even though it was clearly cracking at the edges. And if there was anything Madara knew, it was about slowly losing your mind.
The seventy-odd year old knew that the previous 'gifts' he had given the raven were being interpreted as offensive but he hadn't thought of any kind of offering that would make him seem less threatening...until now.
"Sasuke...nephew..." he said placing the object in the box, "I mean you no harm...In fact; I just want to help you...when I'm done you will know the real Uchiha's"
(*)(*)(*)
TBC...
Madara, you crazy ass bastard.
Okay...want to have some fun...guess what Madara is giving Sasuke. I can promise that none of you will really get it, but the closest gets a chapter dedicated to them.
... -_-
Well get going ...don't you want to be famous?
XD
(*)(*)(*)
VOCAB:
(1) 'catabolic system': is the part of your metabolic system that breaks down substances in your system.
(2) 'serum sickness': is the reactions caused by the immune system in response to the injected vaccine of antitoxin.
Peace ya'll.
B.P