Notes: It's been a long while, sorry about that. It wasn't just real life this time, my muses were seriously not helping me out at all. Should note that this chapter is pretty gruesome, so please read carefully. Also, there's more yuri in this one, and a bit more SasuNaru. There is a side chapter I'm posting elsewhere (check out the links in my profile on where to find it) that features Itachi, Gaara, and Naruto.
Hope you all enjoy this next part!
Sasuke ran down the hallway as fast as he could, the pounding of his heart bouncing off the walls around him. He had just come in from his lunch break, a pair of headphones covering his ears but the song he had been listening to had been interrupted. No matter how loud he had the sound he still heard it, everyone in the entire building had to had heard it.
The sound of his brother's screams.
In all his years of knowing Itachi, Sasuke had never, ever, heard him scream for any reason. Even now Sasuke held onto the childish belief of his brother not being scared of anything.
As Sasuke got closer to Itachi's door he felt that childish belief dissolve from a sudden wave that hit him.
A strong odor. Blood.
Sasuke stumbled away from the door and covered his mouth with his hand, trying desperately to keep the contents of his lunch inside of his stomach. Blood was no foreign smell to anyone. Small cuts, scrapping of knees, falling off bikes, it was easy to know the smell of blood when it hit you. But this, this blood was so thick that Sasuke could taste it, as if drinking it from a wine glass and licking his lips afterwards.
"Onii... san...?" He didn't expect a response. His heart had already showed him the worse images of Itachi being dead in his office. The taste in Sasuke's mouth was the taste of his own blood, Uchiha blood. Tears stung Sasuke's eyes and he wanted nothing more than to pass out and not think about this anymore.
But... there was something else.
As Sasuke stood there he heard a soft sound. Delicate. Sinister. A laugh, someone was laughing. Someone was laughing! Sasuke's eyes narrowed and he rushed through the door, ignoring the smell, the mix of vomit and blood that was caught in his throat.
Then Sasuke froze, completely froze, at what he saw.
What he was hoping to see was something along the lines of his brother lying in a pool of blood with a bullet pierced through his chest, eyes wide in shock from being shot, body unmoving from having his life ripped from him in a matter of seconds. That he could deal with. He could deal with some greedy asshole lounging in his brother's chair, holding a gun, smoking a cigar, happy in his victory of killing Uchiha and taking over his company.
That, on the other hand, was not what Sasuke saw.
What he did see was his brother not lying on the ground, or on the desk, or even slumped against the wall. Sasuke could even deal with Itachi being slumped against the wall with a bullet piercing his skull. But no, Itachi was all over the office, the walls decorated in his blood. His body was lying on the ground but there was some kind of animal--a wolf, a rather large wolf, on top of him, gnawing at what looked like bloody strings of Itachi that were meant to stay inside of his body and not out. There were more animals, growling hungrily, a pack of creatures that were only possible in storybooks, white tiger looking creatures with blood colored strips and wings, actual wings, laying against their skin. They were sitting in the corner, growling over who got to eat Itachi's leg, Itachi's hand. The hand is too small, the leg has more meat on it. But the fingers are quite the delicacy, the fingers of the man who dared betray our true master.
Sasuke dropped to his knees and shivered, hot tears falling down his face as he finally lost it, threw up from the smell and the sight, coughed and gagged until his stomach hurt from it.
The wolf finally pulled away from Itachi and glanced over at the desk.
"I want his head." Sasuke looked up when he heard that voice. It couldn't be...
... but it was. There, sitting at the desk, was Haku. The pet shop owner! Was he the one... but... how? Why? And who was that sitting in his lap? A young man was curled up against him dressed in fishnet, eyes too bright to be a human colored green, skin the color of sand... sand? Was that even possible? But there he was, curled up against Haku as the pet shop owner ran his fingers through messy strands of red, petting the young man's hair.
"St-stop this..." Sasuke tried to get his voice to stop shaking but he couldn't. What had this man done to his brother! Sasuke was angry, more than angry, but there was a sense of fear that was choking him. Not from the animals in the office who were eating away at his brother, but from Haku. There was something in those eyes, something cold, something that told Sasuke that if he angered this man he would be next with no questions asked.
"Stop?" Haku chuckled. "He brought this on himself, Sasuke. He broke my contract, my most important contract." There was a sickening crack and Sasuke looked just in time to see the large wolf bite into Itachi's neck, hard, his teeth grinding through flesh and bone and slowly, painfully, tearing the head off.
"No! Haven't you done enough!" Sasuke screamed.
"Sasuke." Sasuke whirled around to see Naruto standing behind him, looking as beautiful as he had been that night when they shared that kiss. Naruto's eyes were sad, full of tears for the pain Sasuke felt, full of tears for how foolish Itachi had been. "Sasuke, I'm sorry."
"Sorry? Sorry! H-he killed my brother, he killed him and he doesn't even care!"
"Itachi-sama... he broke the contract..." It's all Naruto could say. Itachi broke the contract, broke the most sacred contract of all. Haku would've probably let the auctions slide, maybe would've done something smaller. Ruin the Uchiha name? Maybe give Itachi the death Sasuke would've been ready for, a simple bullet to the brain, to the heart? But this...
... this was for Gaara.
"Contract? Contract! This is all over some stupid fucking contract!" Sasuke's voice was bordering on hysterical.
"He knew the rules." Haku held no sympathy at all and he just sat there, continuing to pet Gaara. Sasuke turned to look at Haku, his eyes narrowing dangerously but before he could do anything Naruto was hugging him from behind, burying his head against his back.
"Don't. Don't, Sasuke." Naruto whispered. "There's nothing you can do."
"Nothing? You expect me to do nothing when this, this monster killed my brother!"
"Your brother killed himself." Haku said. "He set loose the most dangerous animal of them all."
"And just who exactly is that?"
Haku opened his eyes and shot up in his bed, a light sheen of sweat covering his body. Rubbing his eyes a bit to try and wake up more Haku yawned, laying back in the bed with a small smirk on his face.
And who was the most dangerous animal? Haku smirked more, chuckling a bit. "I am." Then he frowned, remembering the dream he just had. "But... I can do much better than that."
Then he closed his eyes and waited for Gaara to return like he did every night.
Pet
Runaway
By: Chibi
"Oh my, she's beautiful!"
Sakura stood beside her master, wearing a backless, spaghetti strapped dress made up of black silk, the pink feathers on the small of her back decorating the back of the dress and giving it a more exotic appearance. Sakura took a step back when one of the women reached a hand out to try and touch the pink feathered tattoos that were visible, the heels to her shoes clicking against the floor.
"She's a shy one, isn't she?" The woman chuckled around the drink she was sipping on. Sakura watched her master give the woman a weak smile, silently searching for a way out of the conversation. The two of them were stuck at yet another business party, this one outside near the large swimming pool of someone's house, Sakura couldn't remember the name of the guy and didn't really care. Tables were set all around the pool and the party was in full swing with plenty of drinks and hors d'oeuvres that Sakura swore looked like simple slices of cheese with toothpicks.
The women took her leave when she found someone who was obviously more important and Sakura saw her master sigh in relief. She couldn't help but smile just a little bit. Despite what had happened with her master's father before her master was one of those people who did little things that made you think about forgiving and possibly forgetting.
"We won't stay long." Her master told her once the women was out of sight. He tugged at the black tuxedo was wearing, clearly suffocating in the thing. Sakura nodded and snatched up one of the hors d'oeuvres off of a waiter's tray when he walked past. She made a face when she stuck it in her mouth.
"It is just cheese." She muttered.
"Of course it is." Her master smirked. "This is one of Robertson's parties, he's cheap. I bet the wine is grape juice."
Sakura couldn't help but chuckle softly at that. "That wine stuff you humans drink is bitter to me anyway. And I don't think you like it very much either, right?" Sakura waited for her master to respond but instead she was met with silence. "Right?" Still no response. "Why aren't you saying anythi-"
"Come on, I say we get out of here now." He took Sakura's hand and began to walk away.
"Now?" Sakura looked surprised. "Wait, what's the... rush..." Her voice trailed off when she heard someone speaking behind them. She froze. She recognized that voice, that voice that was chatting and laughing with a group of business men and women.
Her master's father.
"Come on, Sakura." Her master said, pulling her forward. "Let's go." Sakura nodded and quickly walked away with her master, pushing past the people who were in the way of their hasty exit.
It wasn't fast enough. "Ah, there's my son. Son! Come here!" Parents always had keen eyes in spotting their children. Sakura winced and her master cursed softly to himself, the both of them stopping. The door to the house wasn't very far, just a couple more steps. "Come here, son. I have some people who want to meet you." Sakura looked up at her master, her eyes pleading with him to just pretend he didn't hear his father so they could walk through the door, go through the house, grab their coats and just take off.
But she knew that the father was the weakness.
She really wished that she wasn't obligated to listen to this man sometimes. Just when his father was around, that's all. She could listen any other time really, just... not then.
"Good evening, father." Sakura couldn't help but notice how absolutely submissive her master's voice became when he was around his father.
"And where were you two rushing off to?" The older man glanced over at Sakura and smirked. "You weren't going to leave without at least saying hello, were you?"
"Of course not, father. I simply did not notice you."
"Well, let me introduce you to some people. They work at some of the other companies." As they made their way over to the group Sakura suddenly stopped and sniffed the air. She blinked a bit, a strangely curious look on her face as she sniffed the air a bit more. That smell... she knew that smell... "Everyone, I'd like you to meet my son and his lovely date." ... it was familiar, that smell, and it was coming from... one of the couples in the group. A man and a woman, a husband who wore a suit covered in a film of cigar smoke and a wife who wore a dress that showed skin that should've been hidden instead of revealed.
"My, she is lovely." The woman in the tight dress spoke and Sakura just continued to look at her, smelling, searching for something... what was that scent on her, on him? "Kind of like the one we have at home."
Sakura's eyes widened. That's where the smell came from! It was... "Yes, she's quite lovely indeed." The man reached over and brushed his hand against Sakura's arm, over the tattoos.
Sakura's eyes narrowed and recognition overcame her. This was the man from... "No! INO!" ... the auction... "I'll find you again, I promise. I promise Ino, I'll find you again." And his hand... his hand had Ino all over it, she could feel her all over that disgusting hand.
"I see." Her master's father spoke again. "You two also have..."
"... yes." The woman said, running her fingers through Sakura's hair. "We also have discovered Itachi's pets. They are quite beautiful." The woman's fingers ran over the side of Sakura's face, a small smirk on her face. "In fact, I think we have one just like this-OW!" The woman drew her hand back when Sakura bit her finger sharply, a hard glare on her face. "The little bitch bit me!"
"Are you o.k.?" Her husband was right at her side, looking over her fingers. He frowned. How sharp was that girl's teeth to cause his wife's fingers to bleed from such a quick bite?
"Son please, control your pet."
"Yes father. Sakura, please calm..." His voice trailed off when he saw the look on Sakura's face. Rage. Absolute, bloodthirsty rage. Then his eyes widened in realization. The woman, she was saying that she had a pet just like Sakura. She had told him once... that she was part of a matching set... that somewhere out there she had a mate waiting for her.
These two had that mate. Oh... shit...
"She's a bit fiesty, that's all." The woman smirked a bit. "I like that." And the woman was foolish enough to try and touch Sakura again. Before anyone could blink Sakura was on top of the woman, biting fiercely into her wrist. The woman started screaming, blood slipping down her wrist as if she had slit it open with a razor. "Get this thing off of me!" Her husband tried first and found it incredibly hard to pull the enraged loverbird away.
"Son! Son, don't just stand there!" But for the first time he didn't listen. He couldn't move even if he wanted to, frozen from the sight of Sakura ripping into the woman's wrist. So his father moved and helped pull Sakura away with much effort. Everyone else at the party stopped what they were doing and watched, some of the women screaming when they saw the blood dripping from the wife's wrist. Both husband and father had to hold Sakura back, the pink haired creature actually growling and screaming.
"Where is Ino? Where is Ino!" Sakura kept screaming. The woman backed away from Sakura as one of the men came over to look over her wound and call some others over to treat it and wrap it so no more blood could be lost. Someone mentioned a hospital but the woman's husband shook his head. No hospital would believe it.
"I'll just take her home." The husband said. "Can you hold the wild bird?"
"Yes, I can." The father had a strong grip on Sakura as he drug her over to the house, Sakura fighting wildly in his arms.
"Where is Ino! WHERE IS SHE! YOU BITCH! I will find you and kill you, I'll KILL YOU! YOU TOUCHED HER, YOU BOTH DID! I'LL KILL YOU BOTH!" The woman shrunk away and hid herself against her husband, not wanting to see Sakura, the look of absolute hatred in her eyes, the blood on her lips from when she bit her...
... for some reason the wife's life flashed before her eyes.
"Honey, please, calm down."
"Calm down. CALM DOWN! Look at my wrist!" She held up her now bandaged wrist for her husband to see. "She could've killed me!"
"You're overreacting." Was the response as the two of them walked into their house. "She's just a pissed off pet, nothing more."
"Pissed off or not, she almost tore my hand off!"
"Again, overreacting." He walked up the spiral staircase that lead to the second floor and to their bedroom. As he walked he began to loosen his tie and slip it off. "She's a bird, honey. Birds cannot rip off people's hands." As he stepped into the bedroom he noticed Ino sitting in the window, an unreadable expression on her face. "Ah, good evening Ino."
"Don't ignore me!" His wife screamed. "That 'little bird' almost killed me! You saw it!"
Ino turned to watch the both of them, her eyes widening.
"Please try and calm down. They will take care of her." He slipped his jacket off and tossed it onto the bed. "Ino, why don't you join..." His voice trailed off when he saw Ino... sniffing the air.
"What is she doing?" His wife asked. "Oh god, what is she doing?" Ino kept sniffing, smelling a familiar scent, a scent she hadn't smelled ever since... "SAKURA!" ... ever since...
"Relax!" ... ever since...
"Relax? Would you be able to relax if you got your wrist bitten like that! And you saw her, you saw how she looked. We have what she wants! We do! And she said that she's going to kill us!" ... ever since... the... "SAKURA!" ... auction...
Ino's eyes narrowed and locked onto the couple, specifically on the woman with the wounded wrist. "Sakura..." The woman looked at Ino and shivered, a soft sound of fear leaving her lips.
She knew that look. She had seen that look tonight.
"Oh gods..."
"You. You were with Sakura tonight." Ino moved, slowly, stalking over towards the woman who by now was whimpering, tears in her eyes. "You know where she is." Ino's voice was dangerously low. The tattoos on her body were moving and actually shifting to a blood red color, piercing into the woman's very soul. "Where. Is. She?"
"I... I don't know..." The wife turned to the husband. "Make her stop, please? Please! You are her master, right? Make her stop!"
"Fine, if it would get you to finally relax." He looked at Ino and gave her a firm look. "Stop this at once."
"Fuck you." Ino hissed out.
"What?" His eyes narrowed. "I said stop. Did you not hear me?"
"I heard you."
"You are supposed to listen to me!" He was looking a bit nervous now.
"Not when Sakura is involved." Ino smirked. "You should read the contract."
"Contract?" He frowned. "What contract? I simply bought you from Itachi. He mentioned no contract."
"Then you are a fool." With those words the tattoos on Ino moved quickly to her back, spreading all over it like a blood red virus. She closed her eyes and the feather tattoos exploded off of her back, forming into large wings that actually dripped in blood, each drop hitting the floor.
"Bl-blood? Her own blood?" The wife asked.
"No." Ino gave her a dark smile. "The blood of the ones who dared to separate us." Her wings moved, lifting her up into the air. Each flap brought about a dangerous wind that hit both husband and wife, the wind harsh enough to knock the wife down to the ground and send the husband flying back against the wall. The husband looked up in time to see Ino fly over and pin his wife down to the ground with an angry growl, his wife screaming in pure terror. Ino's fingers were now claws, sharp claws with a grip strong enough for the husband to hear bones cracking in his wife's arms.
"Help me!" She screamed to him, her voice choked full of pain. "Help me, please! Get her off of me!" He tried to move towards her but stopped dead in his tracks when Ino swooped down and bit into his wife's neck, hard. He watched with wide, scared eyes, a chunk of flesh being torn from his wife's neck and spit back out like a piece of unwanted meat. With hungry sounding growls Ino began to lick at the blood, the feathers of her wings dripping with even more blood from her latest kill.
The husband got up and took off running.
"Let GO of me!" Sakura struggled against her master's father. "I said let go, damnit!" Finally, finally she found Ino. Finally! After all this time she knew where to look and this old bastard was holding her back!
"It would be wise for you to calm down." He said, a frown on his face from her constant struggling. They were both standing in one of the guest room's of the house, the room that was acting as a coat room to all of the guest. Fur coats, leather jackets, trench coats, all being piled up on the bed like a self made cover.
"I will not calm down, I will not. I will not!" Sakura pulled harder but found herself being flung back by the force of the man's hand slapping her across the face, sending her down onto the mountain of coats.
"I told you to calm down." He said, a smug look on his face from finally getting Sakura to stop trying to rush to the door. He looked over her, his eyes roaming over her body with a playful smirk. Her dress had torn just a bit from her struggles, enough to show one tattoo leg up to its thigh and the father found himself wanting to touch that skin one more time. "I suppose I should teach you some manners since my son failed to do the same."
Sakura didn't move.
The father walked over to her, undoing the belt to his pants with one of those horny chuckles men had sometimes. "I shall enjoy this, little bird." As soon as he got close Sakura moved her foot, kicking the man hard between his legs, hard enough to send him crashing down to his knees with a cry of pain. "Yo-you little..." But he couldn't say anything more because Sakura was up with her hand, or rather, he claws wrapped tightly around his neck. They were too sharp and too long to be nails, and they were tearing into his neck, rivers of blood slipping down to the front of his shirt. He looked up at her then for the first time with fear and obedience in his eyes and Sakura knew this was the first time a man like this was ever willing to beg. "Pl-please... please spare me..."
Sakura watched him quietly for a moment. Her master's father. He had dared to touch her when Ino was the only person who was allowed to touch her. And he was bold enough to try and touch her again tonight after stopping her from getting to Ino.
Sakura smirked.
"No." But she didn't snap his neck like he thought she would, like he hoped she would after he found out what she was going to do. She moved her hand and clamped it over his mouth and he watched the feather tattoos on her arm moved down to her hand and off of her fingers. They all spread over his own skin like a plague, some even moving into his mouth and down his throat to the inside of his body. His eyes were wide and scared, muffled sounds of protest brushing against Sakura's hand but she ignored them and found herself enjoying his pain.
Death to the one who aided in keeping Ino away from her.
"You should really read those contracts." Sakura whispered. The father gave her a bewildered look. Contracts? And it was the last look on his face before all of the feathers stuck in place, inside and out, and slowly began to stab him and transform into real pink feathers. His eyes widened even more and he tried to pull the feathers from his skin, but the ones on the inside were growing too, growing too much, clogging up his insides and making it impossible to breathe. The tattoos reappeared on Sakura's skin as if nothing happened, and she simply watched him drop to the ground, dead.
A few minutes later the door was thrown open, a young man stepping inside with wide, tearful eyes. "Father." He whispered, not quite believing what he was seeing. His father's dead body lay on the ground in a bed of feathers, a couple of feathers leaking from the man's mouth. And sitting on top of his father was a little pink bird who watched the young man.
The young man just stared at the bird in silence for a moment before he took a deep breath and walked over to the window. The bird watched, surprised, as the window was opened for her to fly outside. He said nothing to her, what could possibly be said? So she flew out the window just in time for the typical tragedy crowd to flock around the door and look at the dead body with shocked whispers and screaming women.
"Who did this?" One man whispered in horror.
For the second time the son didn't listen. Instead he closed his eyes and whispered. "I don't know."
Naruto blinked his eyes open at the sound of the office phone ringing. Curled up with the long, black trench coat Itachi had left resting against the chair Naruto treated it as his own personal blanket. The phone kept ringing but Naruto didn't touch it, knowing that he was not supposed to. Itachi had stepped out for a moment with that folder, the folder that held the names of all the animals and all the ones who hoped to buy them in the auction. Last minute negotiations Itachi had said before he left. Naruto curled up in his trench coat blanket more. That meant that he was meeting some poor man who had heard about the auction through some other greedy bastard, and the poor man wasn't sure if this was exactly the right thing for him to do.
It was Itachi's job to meet with men like these and convince them to come along and at least take a look. Because Itachi knew that with animals like these once you looked you had to touch, and once you touched you had to keep.
The answering machine clicked on with a bored sounding leave a message from Itachi. Interesting, whoever was calling had Itachi's direct number and not the one through the secretary.
"Itachi my friend." Naruto's eyes widened and he curled up tighter in the coat. Orochimaru. "I'm looking forward to another one of your auctions. Just calling to confirm my seat. I need the best view to be able to gaze upon my fox." Naruto buried his head inside the coat as if that would protect him from the horrible creature's voice. "See you tonight then." The phone clicked off.
"Persistent as always." Naruto looked over to see Itachi walking into the door, a satisfied smirk on his face. The poor fool had given in. "Come out of there, Naruto. You don't have to be afraid of him."
"I don't like him." Which, by now, was common knowledge to anyone who had ever been to one of the auctions. "I don't want to be near him." Itachi walked over to Naruto, lightly petting the top of his hair and letting his fingers scratch behind one of his ears. Naruto closed his eyes, his tails wagging behind him.
"I will never give him to you, Naruto. You belong to me."
"Because you are my master, right?" There was an odd sense of security in that notion, at least in the case of being protected from snakes like Orochimaru.
"Right." Itachi leaned in to claim Naruto's lips but paused when the phone rang, again. Itachi brushed the sound off and kissed Naruto anyway. Naruto closed his eyes and returned Itachi's kiss, his mind slowly forgetting that voice that had come over the answering machine.
But even with Itachi's hot kisses Naruto could not forget the next voice he heard when the answering machine clicked on. "Uchiha!" The kiss was broken quickly and Itachi glared at the phone. "Uchiha, yo-you asshole! Pick up the phone, pick up the fucking phone!" The voice was frantic and the scared heartbeat could practically be heard through the machine. "Your animals are fucked up!"
Itachi rolled his eyes and picked up the phone, frowning. "May I help you?"
"Your animal is attacking me!" Naruto's eyes widened. He could hear the man screaming through the phone. Animal attacking?
"I believe you mean to say that the animal you purchased from me is attacking. The animal is no longer mine once you buy it." Itachi was calm even if the man was obviously fearing for his life.
"Bullshit, Uchiha!" The man screamed. "You sold me this psycho bird knowing that she would do this!" Naruto gasped softly. Bird? Ino? Sakura? "These two are loverbirds. Naruto swallowed nervously. "They are to stay together at all times and to never be separated." Oh gods...
"You didn't seem to think she was 'psycho' when you bought her. You were only interested in her for your own well being, for your own greedy desires." "For if you break the rules... those two will stop at nothing to find each other again." "That is the problem with humans." Itachi smirked a sadistic looking smirk. "Loverbirds can't live without each other so can never be separated. So please be careful." Perhaps he should've told the poor man about Haku's warnings? Now, where was the fun in that?
"But you sold her to me!"
"And you failed to ask me about her. You assumed that she was nothing more than a creature to keep you entertained."
The man screamed again and both Itachi and Naruto could hear the sound of a door being kicked open. Naruto shivered, his fox ears pressed against the top of his head in an attempt to not hear anymore. "Yo-you gotta help me, Uchiha. You gotta help me!"
"I don't have to do shit." Itachi whispered harshly.
"What! You... you won't get away with this!"
Itachi yawned. "Do all you old businessmen say that same line when something goes out of control?" Naruto's eyes widened in horror. No... this... did this happen before? He knew Itachi had auctions but... had one of the pets gone out of control like this before?
The man over the phone seemed to think the same way as Naruto. "You've done this before, haven't you? Haven't you, you little bastard!"
"It's just business." He listened to the man scream louder, heard him drop the phone and start pleading for his life. A predatory grin spread across Itachi's face as he listened to the last screams of another satisfied customer.
And Naruto just sat, curled up in the chair, his entire body shaking.
He couldn't do this anymore.
No more.
The last thing Sasuke ever expected to see was... "Naruto?"
He sat by his car in the parking lot to his brother's company. "Sasuke." Naruto looked up at him, his eyes pleading, begging. "Don't make me stay here."
"What?"
"Take me home with you. Don't make me stay here late with him."
"With... who?"
"Itachi."
"My brother?" Sasuke looked confused. "Why?"
And Naruto whispered the word that he had grown to hate ever since he was introduced to Uchiha Itachi. "Auction."
It was a split second kind of chance. The poor fool Itachi had convinced to come to the auction had come early to present Itachi with his second thoughts about the entire situation. Itachi met him downstairs to give him more deceiving reassurances, fed him some 'it'll be just fine' and gave him a pat on the back as he walked with him to the basement. He promised him a sneak preview just to get the poor fool to stop being so nervous.
As soon as he left the office Naruto moved. Closing the coat around his body Naruto rushed over to the door and listened, made sure the hallway was empty, listened for what felt like forever to make sure that Itachi wasn't coming back. He couldn't stay there, not after that phone call, not after hearing that man scream so much. Not after hearing Orochimaru's message.
He had to get away, had to run. At least for a moment. At least... for one auction, just one. He didn't want to see that poor fool fall into his master's game and take another unwilling pet home. He didn't want to hear that poor fool call Itachi later, screaming, calling his master all sorts of bastards for his deception.
Not tonight.
So Naruto ran.
The parking lot wasn't new to him, he'd go every night with Itachi so they could go home together after the auction. He didn't know why he came to the parking lot, but parking lot meant cars, and cars meant away from this building. He had only been to and from the building by car so he'd get lost if he went away any other way. But what did he do now that he was out in the parking lot, especially since it was the first time he had been there with cars packing it. Every time him and Itachi left it was practically deserted, but now there were too many cars, too many sounds, too many colors, and it was making him even more nervous.
But then he saw it.
His master's car, but there was another car parked next to it, almost identical in looks. And he had seen that car before, in the driveway back at his master's home, the home his master shared with...
"... Sasuke, please?" Naruto whispered. "I can explain in the car, really I can. Just... just believe me and get me out of here, at least for tonight."
"Naruto..." They were interrupted by a loud beep behind them. Sasuke turned and almost cringed. Orochimaru gave him a disgusting smile and a wave for a greeting. Orochimaru, one of the business partners that came by much too often. Out of sheer business politeness Sasuke nodded his head back in greeting.
"Ah, young Uchiha." Orochimaru said. Naruto closed his eyes and prayed that Orochimaru didn't see him. "I was just coming by to see your brother. He is inside, is he not?"
"Yes, working late as always." As always. Sasuke suddenly remembered what Naruto mentioned. Auction. Always working late, and Orochimaru always came by when Itachi was working late. Could he be part of this... auction?
Somehow, Sasuke wouldn't be surprised.
"Good, I was hoping to catch him. Thank you, Sasuke." His voice was purring and it made Sasuke sick to his stomach, but he managed to pull a fake smile out of his ass before Orochimaru drove off to find a parking space. As soon as he left Sasuke turned to look at Naruto, his eyes widening when he found the creature trembling in his brother's trench coat.
"Naruto!"
"He's the worst one..." Naruto whispered. "... the worst, here every night, always here..."
"For... the auction?" Sasuke frowned sadly when Naruto nodded his head. What was this auction? And what did his brother have to do with it? But as Sasuke watched Naruto he decided that none of that mattered, not at the moment.
Instead he walked over to the passenger side door of his car and unlocked it. "Get in."
"What?" Naruto looked up at Sasuke in a mix of surprise and confusion.
"I said get in, Naruto." Sasuke held the door open for Naruto. "You're coming home with me tonight."
End Runaway
Next chapter: Rage
"Ah. Yes. So this is the power. The power of the nine tailed fox." Orochimaru smirked for just a moment before he started chuckling, laughing, before the flames of deep, red eyes consumed him.