Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto or any of the charecters involved.
Warnings: This chapter contains launguage (a lot of the f-bomb), it also contains references to rape, sexual content, incest, yaoi, OOC, and still the canon isn't exactly a main factor to the story. This is also longer than the first two chapters, so please try to bear with me on this. There are also a lot of errors in this chapter that I probably didn't pick up... but you know the drill by now.
Pairings: ItaSasu, some SasuSaku (beware Sakura haters), Some SasuNaru, and Traces of KakaIta (Kakashi/Itachi)
"Whatever you do, fool, remember the pain that I have given you and then see if your dream is worth it." The words still went through his body, every word accenting with a pain in his chest. How did he get there that night? What caused him to even think about going alone? And now as his punishment he was laying in a hospital bed hooked up to tubes and an EKG.
It's been a week, he thought as he moved his leg. But it still hurts, like it was yesterday. Have I really been here for that long? I must have been sleeping the whole time. The door opened as he looked over taking deep breaths from his oxygen mask. It was Sakura, she was back.
Sakura had been there everyday since he woke up, even when he was too tired to speak to her. She would just smile and hope that he felt better. Her eyes never looked at him in a condescending way; it was like what happened to him didn't matter to her at all. He was the same to her. I wish that I could be the same person that I was before. I just don't see that happening anymore. He's too strong for me.
"I see that you're awake," she smiled noticing the oxygen mask. "They said I could come in here. You don't have to say anything, breathing is more important." She sat next to him watching his eyes wander toward her. "You look really good today, Sasuke."
He took a deep breath closing his eyes for a second, he wanted to talk to her, he enjoyed talking to her. Even though for the past few days he was on oxygen and couldn't say anything. He wanted to respond, thank her for paying attention, but the machine was helping his regulate his breathing which without it was difficult to get enough clean air.
Green eyes looked around the room and then at him seeing that he had a few blankets on. "You must be cold."
He moved deeper into the bed as he fought the urge to talk to her. He needed human contact; he wasn't supposed to live like this. His team was concerned and although only one member showed up, he knew that they were suffering a great loss.
The door opened his eyes moving to see who it was, it was a doctor. Was it about the mask? Was it time to finally take it off and see if he could breathe on his own? They walked closer moving to take hold of the oxygen mask and then gently pull it off of him. He was free, finally able to breathe the real air instead of pure oxygen, and more importantly he could talk to her.
"There you go," the doctor smiled. "Can you take a deep breath for me?" she asked, the cold metal of a stethoscope pressed up against his chest as he took a deep breath. "You sound like your breathing it getting back to normal." The cool tang was gone. "How are you feeling today, Sasuke?"
"B-better," he answered weakly as the doctor's eyes moved to the IV.
"That's good to hear," the doctor looked into directly at him, her smile getting wider. Her hands moved to the needle which led to the IV full of blood pulling it out. "Your blood count is back to normal. Looks like you won't need this anymore," she looked into his eyes. "You'll be out of here in no time, Sasuke."
He looked at the EKG letting out a sigh as her hands moved to the bandages on his neck. "How's your neck?"
"A little sore," he answered as he looked at Sakura.
Sakura smiled back at him as the bandages were removed, her smile dying as she heard the wince of pain. On his neck a few inches away from the jugular vein was the worst scar that she had ever seen. It was the bite, the mark faded a little, but she could still see how it looked on the first day that she saw him dying near the river. The marks around it had not faded either, showing the intimacy that the rapist tried to have with him.
"That looks like it hurts," Sakura breathed.
Sasuke felt the doctor wrap new bandages around his neck looking over at her. "It's n-not too bad, it's gotten better." He held out his hand to take hers. "Thank you, Sakura for staying here with me."
"What are friends for?" she asked taking his hand as she watched the bandage finished being wrapped. "You seem happier, Sasuke."
He smiled at her. "It's been a week."
"Still…" she started. "If it was me, I would be crying. You were raped, Sasuke, don't tell me that you aren't still feeling the pain," she held his hand tighter. "But you seem to be doing alright, like the doctor said, you'll be out of here in no time."
He closed his eyes remembering something that he hadn't realized in days. There was something missing with this picture. Although Sakura was there he knew that someone else should have been there that he hadn't seen since before the incident. Where was the one that he once called his best friend, the one who he thought would stand behind him the most?
"Where's Naruto?" he asked as he watched the doctor adjust his pillows. "I haven't seen him this whole time."
She closed her eyes. "I heard him screaming last night; I didn't know it was him so I kept on going. I could have stopped it from happening, but it was so dark, so cold. I wasn't able to see what was going on. If I had known… I… I would have been there for him. He wouldn't be in this much pain." He told her that he wasn't going to face him, not after what happened by the river. Sasuke was raped and then left to die, and Naruto heard every one of his screams but he didn't do anything. He stood there, walking hurriedly home thanking heaven that it wasn't him down there. But now the victim was right in this bed, it was Sasuke.
"He's been busy lately," she answered as the doctor left the room. "He also doesn't want to jeopardize you getting better. He wants to see you out of here and get back to normal. We've been going through a hectic time."
Sasuke sighed. "Just like him to wait for me to get better and not even care what I think of our friendship." A tear formed in his eye. "Tell me the truth… is it because… because of what happened? What did I do wrong? Wasn't I always there for you two?"
She looked away. "Sasuke…"
"Where is he?" Sasuke asked as he remembered with red eyes that were forever haunting his dreams, seeing them whenever he opened his eyes. "Sakura, where's Naruto." He shook his head. Naruto, where the hell are you?
Sakura held his hand tighter as she looked into the blank stare that made up his eyes. "Who did this to you?"
"It's a secret," he answered, his voice quiet.
"You told me you didn't remember," she gasped. "You can tell me, I won't understand the justification of how he did this to you, but please, tell me who did this to you."
He looked at the door and then back at her. "Can you keep a secret and promise not to tell anyone at anytime." His eyes were filled with pain. "I never want anyone to know that he's back in the village, I don't want them to know that he was after me."
"Who?" Sakura asked.
Four words left Sasuke's lips. "Itachi Uchiha, my b-brother."
Her eyes field with shock as she tried to absorb the information, his brother? What caused this rivalry between them that caused the elder of the two to be involved with this? Sasuke wanted to kill Itachi, everyone knew that, but he was back now for only God knows what reason. So far the only event that took place was the raping of his little brother.
"Itachi?" she asked. "As in…"
"The murderer of my clan, the man who became an ANBU squad leader when he was thirteen," Sasuke looked over at her. "He's back and I don't know his purpose. But I can almost taste the blood. I'm going to kill him, Sakura; this is why I survived that night, so I can pay it all back to him."
"No," she answered shaking her head. "You aren't going to go after him."
"Who are you to tell me what to do?" he growled condescendingly.
"Your arm is in a sling, Sasuke!" her eyes were watering as she let his hand go. "He raped you and you still want a confrontation. You can barely breathe! Damn it…" her voice turned into a sob. "Are you trying to get yourself killed or did you lose so much blood that it doesn't matter anymore. He tried to kill you and he almost won."
He looked into her eyes. "S-Sakura… I have no choice, for years I've wanted to kill him. This is my chance for my revenge. He's testing me, seeing if I am stronger than I say, and I'm going to show him what I can do."
She looked at the EKG. "Why are you doing this?"
"Because it's all that I know how to do," he breathed as he looked at his left arm. "Don't tell anyone that I told you that it was Itachi. If the word even got out that he was in Konoha everyone would lose their minds. He's an S-class criminal and only seventeen."
Sakura held his hand again. "You know what, Sasuke. I think that you don't want to kill him, you just want his attention."
"What?" his voice was as sharp as a searing blade.
"You want him to notice you instead of paying attention to everything else," her voice was getting into a low whisper. "All of the times you wanted to get into his bed at night when you were scared, all of the goodnight kisses that you wanted, you want him to compensate for what he refused to do."
"You're wrong, I always got the goodnight kisses that I wanted, and during the dark stormy nights when I didn't want to wake up mother and father he used to let me into his bed, and he would hold me all night saying that the storm was going to pass. As long as he was there he said, nothing could touch me," he closed his eyes as he coughed. "I used to go in there just for the warmth that no one else gave me. I idolized him; I even loved him back then. If he left me…"
"Yeah?" Sakura asked, wanting him to continue.
"I would have hurt myself," he answered. "He always seemed so in control, until he joined ANBU, then the brother that I knew changed into that monster that he is today. That bastard that killed our parents…"
"Sasuke…" she soothed.
He shook his head. "H-he… I used to share a bed with that bastard, I used to hug him, kiss him, idolize him, but it was all a lie, he never loved me. He was just like everyone else, he just thought me to be weak," a cough passed his lips. "And now… he's taken it away from me… that bastard has managed to do this."
The two of them looked into each other's eyes. The thought of Itachi being in the village was making both of them uneasy. S-class criminals don't come back just to rape their younger brother; they usually have a bigger purpose. What was his purpose? And why was he with Sasuke a week ago? Was he part of the plan?
"Did he tell you what he wanted?" Sakura asked.
"He said he came to talk, but then when I started to fight back he pushed me to the ground and started to..." he shook his head at the memory of that night. "And then he started to push into me, and he moved so skillfully. In a way I think that I enjoyed it and that's why I let it happen."
"You liked being raped?" Sakura asked raising an eyebrow.
"I liked the attention, Sakura; I told you that when we were young he barely paid any attention to me. To have him on top of me, kissing me firmly, part of me couldn't say no," he smiled at her. "But the other part was screaming telling him to get off of me."
She shook her head not wanting to hear all that he was saying. He never told her this much about him, never wanting to give her a reason to allow her to get close. Now on the hospital bed he was pouring everything out to her, like he could trust her? Was it because Naruto wasn't there, or did he really want to talk to her. Why her? Was it because she would never be able to think any differently of him?
"Why are telling me all of this?" she asked.
"I don't know, because I need to tell someone," he answered coughing lightly.
He held her hand as the beeping ran through her ears, his heart going at a steady pace. She watched as he licked his dry lips, his glossy onyx eyes looking back at her as he held her hand tighter. She couldn't take her eyes off of him as she looked deeper into his eyes. There she saw it, all of the pain that was in his soul from the past week, he was dying right before her eyes. If only she had the courage before he was broken to tell him that she was in love with him.
"Sasuke," she breathed as she rested her head on his chest listening to the beat of his heart the beeps matching every pulsation. "I'm sorry about what happened."
"It wasn't your fault, Sakura," he answered running a hand through her pink hair. "You know that there was nothing that you could have done."
"I could have tried," she answered as he buried her face in his chest. "Sasuke," she whimpered. "I didn't want to lose you like that, I was so scared."
"I'm here," he breathed. "I'm alive."
She looked up at him quizzically asking a single question. "Why are you being so nice to me? Aren't I annoying?"
"You're the only one who came to see me," he shrugged. "I guess now that this happened everyone is going to treat me differently. But you won't, you still think I'm the same Sasuke that you joined Team 7 with."
"You are," she answered snuggling against his chest lightly. "Even if Itachi is trying to make you lose everything that you worked so hard to obtain. Though you can't go after him, let him do what he wants and then let him go on his merry way so that he can't hurt us."
"I'll try not to, but I won't make any promises," he looked into her eyes. "I just need to get out of here as soon as I can," he took a breath. "Oh and when you see Naruto, tell him that I want to see him. I haven't seen him in a while and there's so much that I want to tell him."
"Even after the rape?"
"I don't think he's that affected by it," Sasuke answered. "Do you have all of Konoha discussing it or something?"
-----
"That will jeopardize the Hokage, are you out of your mind," Asuma explained as the four jounin sat around a table. "We don't even know who did it."
"They sent in semen for testing," Gai argued. "There's no doubt that they found some sort of result through it. The semen was fresh when they took it off of Sasuke's body, and the blood on his lips, they said a substantial amount wasn't even his."
"The tests were inconclusive," Asuma continued. "So instead of making a public affair out of this, we should do it civilly. You know that by pissing these people off you could jeopardize the whole cause. Besides for a week now Sasuke Uchiha's been in stable condition."
There was a long silence between the two arguing jounin, they had been going at it for an hour trying to knock some sense into one another while Kurenai and Kakashi stayed quiet, not voicing their own opinions.
"Until we know, Gai," Asuma continued. "We can't jump to conclusions."
"Have you ever wondered what it's like to lose a student?" Gai asked. "What if this was Shikamaru, what would you do to save the boy's life? Would you do what you're doing now or would you issue an order?"
"He's not in any real danger, and we don't know who it is," Asuma took a drag of his cigarette. "There is reasonable doubt that says that whoever this person is will try to do this again. It might have been a one time thing to prove that he was able to do it."
"The sai marks make it obvious that it was a skilled ninja," Gai rebutted. "Only the best of the best now how to pin someone down without hurting someone, they are a difficult weapon, so who do you think would do this?"
"You don't think…" Kurenai started as she looked at Asuma.
"You think that Itachi Uchiha is back in Konoha going on a raping spree?" Asuma asked as he stood up. "He had only interest in one person and that was Sasuke Uchiha. And now he's out of commission. He won't be able to do anything for a while, he can hardly walk."
"He doesn't want his legs," Gai answered.
"You're being paranoid, I thought a ninja like you would accept the fact that maybe he got what he wanted and left all of our teams alone," Asuma explained. "You don't even know if it is Itachi."
"What would he be doing here?" Kurenai asked. "He destroyed all emotional attachment to this village leaving only Sasuke alive."
"That's why he's here," Gai continued. "To get Sasuke to go over to his side."
"That's absurd," Asuma scoffed.
Gai looked at him. "What do you think the Hokage would say if he saw this?"
"I'm saving his life," Asuma answered as he looked over at Kakashi. "And if there's something so wrong with Sasuke have Kakashi fix it. Sasuke is on his team and he needs to talk to him to know that the team is going to be alright."
Kakashi looked up. "Don't even joke saying that Itachi is here, Gai. You know what will happen if word gets out."
"Who else would do this to him?" Gai asked.
"Itachi is his brother, why would his own brother do that to him?" Asuma asked as he took the cigarette out of his mouth. "And besides, like we said earlier, what would his business be here?"
Kakashi sighed. "The nine-tails…"
The room was silent for a second, was it true, did the Uchiha prodigy really return for Naruto?
"That doesn't make any sense," Asuma continued. "Why would that involve, Sasuke? If he wanted the nine-tails he would have gone looking for Naruto. This is a crime done by someone who is already is in the village, a man from the inside. All of the people at the borders don't remember seeing him come in."
Kakashi looked at the window closing his eyes. "According to Sakura Haruno, Sasuke doesn't remember who his rapist was. And all of the memory tests confirm that he is blocking it out somehow." He stood up. "If there was a way that we could get it out of him."
"He's traumatized," Kurenai argued. "You aren't going to go in there and ask him to live the most painful day of his life, are you Kakashi? That's inhuman."
"No," Kakashi answered walking through the door. "Compared to what he's seen in his life, this pain is nothing. I'm not going to ask him to describe it in full, but hopefully it will uncover the face in his mind. And when we find out then we will decide the course of action. And if it is Itachi…"
The room was silent.
"I pray it's not," Kakashi continued as he walked out the door.
The face of his rapist was buried underneath all of the pain of the night, the unbearable physical pain, the blood, the muscle damage, the invasion of his own body. Was he really blocking the face out? Or was he trying to be brave and close the case making the pain easier to erase.
The screams in the middle of the night, everyone heard them, but no one heard them well enough to care or make out any name that he was screaming. All of the clues were useless, semen samples were indecisive, the blood on Sasuke's body wasn't evidence either. All that they had was Sasuke's word.
Just tell us, Sasuke, Kaskahi thought as he continued to walk down the hallway. The truth would come out of his soon.
-----
The rain hit nicely against the window, the sky crying out for the dilemmas that were at hand. Rain, the memories of the water made Sasuke's heart almost stop. He remembered when it rained when he was young. The warmth, the small kisses on his forehead. And the sweet whispers. I won't let anything happen to you.
He let out a sigh as he snuggled deeper into the pillow remembering the breath of his forehead seeping out of his eleven-year-old brother's lips, the whispers getting louder in his ears. I won't let anything happen to you, Sasuke. The warmth emitting from his brother's chest as he held him closer, the rumble of the thunder outside chilling the young boy only making him go nearer to that warmth, kissing his forehead lightly. He didn't know any better back then; he thought that his brother was just being friendly.
A week ago he didn't feel the happiness that he felt in his brother's bed all of those years ago. The movements, the ferocity, it wasn't what he thought that it was all about when he was young. It was touching back then. Does he really want me that badly that he had to take it?
His eyes went to the glass of the window the sound of the rain bringing small tears to his eyes. What was happening between them last night? He swore that through the pain he could feel the same warmth that he used to love about his brother, right before he got off of him, the last kiss that they had. He always had dreams about kissing those lips when he was younger, kissing them passionately. There was a time where his admiration could have been mistaken for… no!
His eyes opened as he looked around the room trying to find what was going on. It still wasn't a dream; he was still in the hospital after that night. He felt the heat roil in his abdomen as he thought about those bloody lips closed around his… no. He had to stop thinking about all of this. Sakura could come back any minute.
His blood ran cold as he looked at the EKG, his heart racing in his chest. The memories of the night were flooding back, but they weren't the negatives, they were the erotic ones. The pulsing flesh made sweat run down his skin, his sore legs tighten in erotic pain.
"Itachi…" he moaned quietly closing his eyes. No! He felt the lips hit his forehead again. The feeling of his warmth, the silken touch of his pale flesh, it was all running through his head making his body writhe, his inner heat roiling forward. Am I surrendering to him? Why am I doing this? Itachi!
He let out a moan as it all stopped, the horrible pain that was going through his body was now gone. Sasuke. He closed his eyes tighter as he thought of where the voice might be coming from. Sasuke. He swallowed hard as he heard footsteps going coming down the hall. Did you think I was done with you?
Obsidian eyes closed as he tried to block out all of the voices. I won't let anything happen to you, Sasuke. They kept coming. Run away, run away and cling to life. They did not cease. Forgive me, Sasuke. His voice was right in his ear. "Give up on your dream, you felt the consequences." He felt his heart speed up dangerously as the handle to the door moved. Sasuke!
"No!" he screamed out as he turned away from the door, tears running down his face, the door swung open. "No! Keep away from me! Get you hands off of me! Don't touch me you bastard!"
"Sasuke!" the voice cried out in a soothing tone.
He let out a raspy scream his cries still not strong enough. "Get away from me! Get away!"
"Sasuke, look at me!" hands grabbed his face to bring him to see Kakashi right in front of him, his body was shaking. "You were having a nightmare."
"I-I'm awake," he breathed, the EKG still speeding up. "I-I was never asleep." He looked at the door. "Where is he?"
"Who?" Kakashi asked. "Do you remember what happened?"
He shook his head. "All I could hear was his voice, I-I couldn't see his face."
"Sasuke…" the jounin started. "If you're trying to protect him, it's not going to work. We have other ways to find out other than you. If you tell us you're going to start to feel better about yourself." He looked into Sasuke's eyes. "You're trembling."
"You startled me," Sasuke breathed as he moved closer to his sensei. "I didn't expect you to sneak in here." He shook his head. "And what you said about me feeling better, I'm fine."
"Sasuke, you were sobbing," Kakashi answered. "He's broken your spirit; you can't even hear footsteps without almost having a heart attack. I can help you through this. I can help you get all of the pain out of your soul."
The young boy's eyes looked up at the jounin, the black irises filled with an anger that he had never seen before. "Then get me out of here!" his body was shaking. "I'm sick of being in here while he's out there running free. He's winning, Kakashi…"
"And you got out with your life," the older ninja argued. "There are people your age that go through the same that you do and they aren't lucky enough to come out alive. They die right there and it's Hell. And not only are you alive, but no one has turned their back on you."
Sasuke laughed as he looked up at Kakashi. "No one has turned they're back, you say?" he laughed louder as he looked into his sensei's eyes. "Then tell me… where's Naruto, Kakashi?"
"He hasn't been here?" Kakashi asked.
Sasuke shook his head. "I haven't seen him since before the incident. Tell me again Kakashi how lucky I was to have my best friend right here with me. Tell me how lucky I am to have him sitting next to me saying that he's always going to be with me the whole time. Tell me how lucky I am to know that he still thinks of me as a person even after I've been tortured!"
Kakashi looked into Sasuke's eyes. "He's probably scared."
"Scared?" Sasuke laughed. "He really is weak if he thinks that's going to pass. If this were him I would be the first one there." A tear fell down his cheek. "Because when I gave up my life for that of a ninja, I relinquished all ability to show fear. I chose this life, I could have chosen a different one, but I'm stuck now." Onyx eyes narrowed. "This is how it ends…"
Kakashi's eyes widened. I know those words; I know who would say those. Not Sasuke but… he looked away. Was everything that Gai said true, was he the only one who knew what was going on?
"That's why he's here, to get Sasuke to go over to his side."
Kakashi closed his eyes. God Itachi… he's your little brother!
Sasuke took a deep breath as his stare continued to pierce daggers through the jounin. Those eyes weren't his; they were different, broken, sadistic. They were looking for the weak point in Kakashi so he could attack it and take him out. They were like his; they were like Itachi's.
"Who did this to you?" Kakashi asked.
Sasuke closed his eyes. "I told you… I don't remember."
Kakashi laughed. "Why? Why are you hiding him?" he grabbed Sasuke's shoulders and pulled him to look into his eyes. "Why are you hiding your brother from us? Why don't you just come out and say it? Say that Itachi raped you!"
Sasuke's eyes widened at the remark. "Who do you think you are?"
"So he did?" Kakashi asked. "Itachi Uchiha has come back to Konoha and he decided to pay you a visit, a pleasant family reunion by the river."
"You don't know what it's like to be fucked by your brother! To be fucked by the only person that you ever respected the first person that you wanted to be," tears ran down his face with no mercy. "And then to be there and be completely helpless as he kisses you and touches you, and makes you want to die right there in front of him." He started to sob, his breathing jagged. "He… he fucked me!"
Kakashi helped Sasuke lie down as he panted, trying to catch his breath, his heart beating rapidly as he closed his eyes, sweat rolling down his face as his body shook more. There was more emotional damage then the doctors were let onto. He was dying on the inside as he thought about what happened and it was his own will trying to make him block out his pain, the greatest pain of all.
"He's coming back for me," Sasuke breathed as his heart raced. "He wanted something that I wasn't going to let him have. I punched him in the chest, breaking a few of his ribs. H-he has interest in me."
"Sasuke, stop it," Kakashi argued.
"I hit him, I can beat him," Sasuke answered. "But staying here in this hospital..."
"Your arm is in a sling and your leg muscles are bruised. Until you get better you are to stay in here," Kakashi answered. "And then whether or not you go after him is all up to you. I'm not going to stand in your way."
"But you're supposed to…" he looked at his sensei in shock.
"I would do the same if I was in your shoes, vengeance is a very powerful thing," the jounin answered. "But it only makes you feel empty inside. There's no way that you ever get to him, he is too skilled for that, Sasuke."
Sasuke looked at the ceiling. "I don't care, if I could just make that heart that I fell asleep listening to all of those years stop I would be set for life. He killed everything that mattered to me."
"Will killing him bring your clan back?" Kakashi asked.
"You want me to give up too," he shook his head. "You're just like Itachi; you just want to bring me down like everyone else. He won't break me." He sat up looking out the window. "Itachi left me alive for a reason, he could have killed me, but… he…" he closed his eyes. "He wanted me alive. I'm an avenger."
Kakashi sighed. "Just sleep on it, Sasuke, we'll talk about this more later. In the meantime I'll send for some ANBU squads to guard you, they won't be much help, but they might wear down some of his chakra."
Sasuke smiled. "I know how to handle him."
Kakashi smiled as he stood up and walked toward the door leaving the young boy behind. Sasuke's mind was starting to go back to his youth when he was in his brother's bed, feeling his embrace wrap around him. The warmth of his breath on his neck as the thunder crashed. "Itachi…" he closed his eyes starting to fall into a state of slumber. "Why did it have to turn out like this?" I won't let anything happen to you, Sasuke. "Why did it have to end like this?
He looked out the window taking a deep breath through his mouth as he did so. It was going to be a hard task, killing the only person that he ever idolized, but it was a risk that had to be made for the greater good of the village. He was a criminal and he was going to be the one to kill him. He touched him, he was close. So close that he could taste the blood.
-----
Rain fell to the ground as he walked down the street. It was true, Itachi Uchiha was back in the village, the purpose was unknown. It had to do with Sasuke. Whatever Sasuke meant to his plan was still a mystery, but it had a huge part or he would have killed him that night.
Kakashi kept on walking as he heard footsteps behind him. The air around him filled with the smell that was only distinctive to one person. The smell that he caught a few breaths of while he was crossed with an ANBU squad; it was the same smell that was on Sasuke when they found him.
"What are you doing out in the open?" Kakashi asked as he turned around to see a set of red eyes. "Itachi Uchiha?"
The scarlet irises looked straight at him as he walked forward. "Kakashi Hatake, I didn't know you would be in the hospital to see my Sasuke."
"I didn't think you would want to show your face to him, after what you pulled," Kakashi started as he looked into Itachi's eyes grabbing his shoulders. "You raped him, took his virginity and earned him more than enough time in the hospital. I should kill you right now."
There was a small silence as the rain fell onto their heads, falling down their faces, lose strands of hair coating their skin. Itachi looked into Kakashi's eye and smiled a small smile.
"You're staring at me," he laughed. "Is that your plan to kill me?"
"You raped him," Kakashi answered. "For the love of God, Itachi, he's your little brother. Don't you have any respect for him?"
"Respect?" Itachi asked. "Why do you think he's still alive? There's something that I need him to do, something that I will never be able to obtain by myself. What happened that night was nothing more but a test." He moved close to Kakashi. "But why are you acting so protective over my brother? Is he really your favorite student? Or is it because of the loss of Obito that made you act this way?"
Kakashi grabbed him tighter. "You little brat, what is your purpose? Who do you work for?"
Itachi laughed. "I work alone now, and as for my purpose in the village, that's none of your business now is it?"
The hold on him got tighter as he looked into the scarlet eyes trying to find some reasoning, there was none. He was completely blank and all he could get off of him was the smell of jasmine, that Goddamn feminine smell. He pulled him closer touching his ribcage hearing a small gasp of pain.
"Careful," Itachi breathed. "A jounin should be merciful to their enemy when not being attacked." He coughed a small amount of blood falling onto Kakashi's shoulder. "The kid's good, he's getting stronger with everyday that passes." He backed away.
"He broke your ribs," the older ninja breathed. "And you still want to come near him. He wants to kill you."
"Without the mangekyou sharingan he won't even get close to me," he smiled as he back away pushing the wet strands of hair out of his face coughing again. "You're just bitter because you read the bingo book, sore because I killed all of the Uchiha Clan; you're so cold toward me because you don't think I'm human." He moved to Kakashi's ear. "I'll tell you one thing," he whispered. "Sasuke is going to give me what I want, and I want you to stay out of this, otherwise you're going to get yourself hurt."
They looked at each other as Kakashi came up with a response. "I'm not going to watch you try to get into Sasuke's pants again."
"Why?" Itachi asked. "Do you really think that if you try to touch me right now I'm going to let you walk away? You'll be another useless casualty in my journey for power. And then there's Sasuke, he's the last piece, the one that I need more than anything. He belongs to me."
Kakashi watched the teenager start to walk away black hairs stuck to his porcelain skin as he moved further into the fog of the rain. There was a pain in his chest as he watched that bastard walk away. He took everything away from Sasuke that ever mattered, all to test what he could do. And he was coming back.
"Oh and tell Sasuke one thing, Kakashi," he took a deep breath as coughed again. "Tell him that he got lucky a week ago, and that I'm coming back to him."
"You'll never get at him," Kakashi answered. "We'll have ANBU squads there in no time. Try getting past all of that."
There was a silence as the rain fell harder onto them. "Kakashi… you underestimate me. I'm not the same kid that you might have seen all of those years ago. I've grown into a ninja comparable to the Hokage, to the legendary sannin, which makes me more powerful than you." he walked disappearing into the mist. "Don't try to hide Sasuke, I'll find him no matter where you put him."
Kakashi looked around, the whole area silent except for the falling rain. What's his plan?
-----
Sakura walked into the waiting room, the rain still falling on the window. It's been raining for days; it's depressing to be here during this. She walked to the chairs to sit down when she saw a familiar face, it was Naruto. "You decided to show up."
He looked up at her with a pained look in his eyes. "I'm not here to go in there, this is just the only place where I know that I can find out if anything has happened to him while I was gone." he took a breath. "What did happen?"
She sat down and sighed. "They took him off of the oxygen mask after two days of having it on, they removed the IV that was administering blood, and his temperature is still low, but it climbed to a healthy heat."
"Has he gotten any worse?" Naruto asked.
"They're concerned about the anal bleeding, he's torn up in there and they don't know how to fix it. Whenever they get close, he almost goes into respiratory arrest with the pain," she explained. "I'm never in there when they do it, but judging by the way he looked the morning after they tried, I know that he was in agony."
Naruto looked at the doors. "But did they find out who did it to him?"
She closed her eyes trying not to break right in front of him. Don't tell anyone that I told you that it was Itachi. If the word even got out that he was in Konoha everyone would lose their minds. She knew that he would tell Naruto if he wanted him to know and hearing it from her might not be the best course of action.
"No, the tests were all inconclusive," she answered lying to him.
"All of the tests?" he asked. "Even the test on the semen?"
She nodded. "I'm sorry, Naruto, but all of the doctors say that he's blocking it out because he can't deal with the pain. Maybe if you tried to talk to him about it…"
"I'm not going in there!" he answered. "I saw him almost die more than you ever will. In the Land of Waves, his body died right in my arms. I felt his heart stop right as I held him, his body going limp. I don't want to see him in that much pain, Sakura." He closed his eyes. "And I heard him scream."
"That was a week ago," she soothed.
"A ninja should be therefore his comrades. Isn't that what Kakashi was trying to teach us with the bell test? He was telling us that we have to work together and put our own physical well being behind us," there was a small pause. "I was so thankful that it wasn't me. But when you brought me there and I saw him lying on the riverbank bleeding I knew that I made the wrong choice."
"He'll forgive you," she continued. "You were scared."
He stood up and looked at the door. "I can't live like this anymore; I'm not going to allow myself to stay out here when my best friend needs me the most. He's in the time of his life where he needs someone to help him through it, and this whole time I'm been avoiding him like I don't care." He glanced at Sakura. "Virgin or not, I'm not going to let this come between us."
He stood up and walked toward the doors going through them into a long hall moving to the elevator. He could feel the feeling of death clinging onto him as he tried to make it to Sasuke's room. The smell of blood led him there to outside the door. On the other side he's there dying a little physically and emotionally. He opened the door and heard the sound of a beeping EKG and an oxygen mask running, if only the sight was better than the sound.
His skin was still pale, hi eyes still half opened, sweat coating his skin. His arm was in a sling, bandages wrapped around his neck to stop the bleeding. I have to get out of here. A small voiced filled the room as the mask was removed, a cough following.
"Naruto?" it was Sasuke. "You came… I know you would."
He took a step forward looking at what had become of Sasuke. "I can see you're awake."
"I'll have plenty of time to sleep later," Sasuke breathed as he looked into his friend's eyes. "But you're here now; I knew you hadn't given up on me."
"Does it hurt to speak when you sound like that?" Naruto asked sitting on the side of the bed. "It sounds like you're throat's coming apart."
Sasuke nodded. "A little… but they said it should be better soon. I'm making great progress. Not like you'd care though, you never had anytime to show up. Were you finally going to celebrate for seeing me failing at something?"
Naruto heard the screams run through his head. "What could you have done differently?"
"I held my own, Naruto, I'm alive," Sasuke answered.
"But you don't know who did this to you…" Naruto demanded. "I'll kill him for even laying a hand on you."
"Why does it matter to you so much?" Sasuke asked. "It's not like you could have done anything." He looked up into broken blue eyes that were looking at the floor. "Naruto, you… y-you heard?"
"Every sound that you made," Naruto answered as he looked away from Sasuke's eyes. "I was waking home that night from Sakura's hoping that along the way I would meet you to make sure you were alright. Then I heard bloodcurdling screams, so I ran hoping that I was going to get away from it. But…" warm tears streaked his face. "The screaming… every scream was yours Sasuke and I'm so sorry that I wasn't there for you. I haven't slept since I found you on the riverbank. I wasn't able to face you thinking that you'd hate me."
Sasuke looked at the EKG. "I screamed the whole time he was there hoping someone would hear me. I screamed until I could taste my blood in my mouth, until I could no longer speak, and no matter who they were everyone ran into their houses," he sighed. "Why did I even bother screaming, it wouldn't have stopped him."
"Who?" Naruto asked. "Do you remember who did this to you?"
"I always remembered, Naruto," he answered. "I just don't want to tell anyone."
"Who?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke scoffed. "I'm not telling you."
"Who?" the blond asked again, his voice fierce
The rain started to fall harder. "It's not an answer that you're going to like to hear, Naruto. It's an answer that pains me to say it," he looked into his best friend's blue eyes. "Have a little sympathy; you know what happened to me."
"I'm going to kill him," the blond answered as he stroked Sasuke's face.
There was a little laugh coming from the hospital bed. "You aren't going to kill him, Naruto, because I'm going to be the one to finish do it. We've been rivals since I can remember and his blood will be spilt on my hands."
"Who?" Naruto asked again.
"I'm not going to say the name, it hurts me too much." Sasuke breathed as he looked at the window. "If you need to think about that for a little while, then go right ahead." He readjusted himself on the bed. "Kakashi's bringing in ANBU, to keep me safe from him. I know that there's no use, but he said it will deplete some chakra and give him enough time to come in and save me, but it all has to be done so fast."
Naruto looked at the EKG. "ANBU's going to be here?"
"They're the only line of defense we know," Sasuke answered as Naruto stroked his face. "What are you doing you moron? Don't you have anything better to do than bother me?"
"I needed to see you," Naruto answered. "And I had to tell you that I could have done something before the guilt eats me anymore. I don't want to be the reason you died, that's why I brought you here so quickly."
Sasuke held his hand. "I forgive you," He rolled his obsidian eyes. "But if you're still thinking about who did this to me, he's still on the loose. He's an infamous S-class criminal in the bingo book and he's only seventeen," blue eyes narrowed in hate. "I think you understand it now. I can see it in your eyes."
Naruto took a breath. "Itachi Uchiha, your older brother that you hate."
Sasuke felt Naruto move closer to his body looking into his eyes. "He's my battle, Naruto, I've been waiting years to finally put him in his place," he closed his eyes. "There was a time when I felt that after I was touched I would never be able to go up against him, but if I can't take this minimal amount of pain, then how do I ever expect to go into a full scale battle with him?"
The blond looked out the window. "You still want to kill him? Usually I'd stop you, but after what he did to you… that bastard… deserves to die. And I'm not going to stop you, when you get strong enough, even if you have to train night and day, you'll beat him. Just promise me one thing."
"Yeah Naruto…" Sasuke answered as he looked into blue eyes.
"Don't die…" the blond begged. "Promise me that you're going to come out of this all alive. If you think about dying before I do… if you even think about it, I'll… I'll hate you more than I already do you bastard."
"Is that possible?" Sasuke laughed. "And I don't think you hate me that much. You're just jealous."
"Jealous of a boy in a hospital bed?" the blond asked.
"You leave this alone, it's a very minor setback," Sasuke answered holding Naruto's hand. "I'm going to get out of here and live my dream. Besides, if he destroys the whole village he's going to kill your dream too. So are you with me?"
"Y-you want my help?" the blond asked. "Sasuke…"
"I want you to support me and tell Kakashi that I need to do this with as little help from all of you as possible," he looked out the window. "He took everything from me, now I'm going to take everything for him."
Naruto watched as listened to the tone of Sasuke's voice, he was so passionate about this even after the man touched him. He was determined; nothing was going to get in the way of his goal. Even in the face of death he was never going to give up on his dream, Itachi was as good as dead.
"Thank you, Naruto," Sasuke answered with a small smile. "I'll live up to your promise as long as you allow me to do this."
The rain fell harder. "I want you to know that on the day when I saw you on the ground bleeding I swore that nothing like that would ever happen to you again," he held Sasuke's hand tightly. "I'm not going to sit back and watch you go through that much pain, never again."
Onyx met sapphire as their hands clutched each other tightly. Sasuke was going to be okay, there was no way that they would break their promise. The hits of the raindrops on the window were mixed with the beeps of the EKG as Naruto moved down to embrace Sasuke.
"I swear that I won't let anyone hurt you."
With one arm, Sasuke shakily returned the hug closing his eyes, someone still cared. "There are people your age that go through the same that you do and they aren't lucky enough to come out alive. They die right there and it's Hell. And not only are you alive, but no one has turned their back on you."
Luck, he did get out with his life, which was the fair price for what he was going to do as soon as he got out. He had it all; no one turned his back on him, only his anger to keep him warm. He was going to kill Itachi. He was an avenger.
Author's Note: Itachi is going to make a big appereance again in the next chapter, and he will bring ItaSasu with him. The next chapter also includes a major injury to a charecter. Thnak you for putting up with how long it was, you guys have dedication. So tell me what you think. Was it good? Was it bad? Tell me in your reviews.