A/N: I'm uploading early only because I have work later. I'm afraid chapter 18 is going to be another hairy monster like chap 10 was. I'm 12 pages into it and still have lots more to go. I guess we can expect the 10 page rule to be thrown out the window from here on out. Too much to say.

Shoutout to Ruka-x3 for seeing that Naruto and Sasuke aren't good for each other at all, but are too screwed up to be parted. Sometimes the ones we love are unhealthy for us.

And Itachi :D I know many of you have been waiting for him. Funny, how no one was able to guess where he was or what he was doing. Ah, shit, this chap was so much fun to write!

17. Brotherhood

The night was well-spent in each other's company. They loved long and hard, wildly and gently, slowly and fast. And when at last Sasuke collapsed in a state that was one part faint, three parts much-needed sleep, he was content and at peace. Utterly free of worry on any front. There would be no training come morning. He could be reasonably certain that more yummy sex would pepper the following days. And he could feel Naruto wrapping his large warm body around him even as he burrowed his face deeper into the pillow. His spirit hadn't felt so unencumbered in many days, and he slept very well indeed.

Perhaps it was all the recent talk of Itachi in the past 24 hours, or the thoughts he'd had about his brother yesterday when comparing him to Naruto. Or maybe it was the fact that Sasuke's bond with his brother was every bit as deep as the one he had with Naruto. It could even be that voicing how much Itachi meant to him was what brought it on, but whatever the reason was, Sasuke dreamed of him.

-oOo-

It's one of those bright, sunny stretches of time when Itachi is off from work for at least a week. Rare occurrences, and all the more cherished because of that. Itachi would spend every waking minute with him. They'd sleep side-by-side, wake up, find breakfast, shoulder their bags, then set out for the big wide world with a spring in their steps. They had no home, but Itachi always said, "I'm your home, bro. 'S'long as I'm around, you got a place to lay your messy black head."

Sasuke never wanted for anything. Itachi always had money, thanks to his busy nights. If Sasuke wanted ice-cream, Itachi bought him ice-cream. If Sasuke saw a hoodie he wanted, it was his before the hour was done. He would look over, see his brother walking tall at his side, and think, You're my life, big brother.

Itachi usually used these work-free periods as opportunities to train him. "Wanna duke it out today, or draw?" he'd ask Sasuke.

Sparring was tough with Itachi. And sometimes he didn't feel like drawing. His favorite method of training was Itachi's form of hide-and-seek. "Can we play hide-and-seek?" he'd always ask.

"Ah, fuck, Sasuke, you know I need time to set that up."

"Please?"

Whereupon Itachi would look down at him and then roll his eyes. "Fine."

They'd travel around from city to city, talking and laughing, or sometimes just having a staring contest. They'd stare with Sharingan, trying to anticipate who would blink first, and end up with tears streaming down their faces from holding their eyes open for so long. Then they'd collapse, laughing fit to burst. But then the next day, they'd get up and get going as usual, and Itachi would start talking. He'd talk non-stop because that was an essential part of hide-and-seek, Itachi style.

At the end of the day, Itachi would say, "Okay, kid. I hid something in one of the places we visited today. Something I said between this morning and now is the clue you need to find that thing. Got it?"

Sasuke, eyes wide and practically bouncing in excitement, would nod eagerly. "Got it, nii-san! Trust me, I'll find it!"

And Itachi would always say, "I am trusting you, bro."

The quicker he found the object, the bigger his reward, and Itachi never doubted him. No matter how hard the clue was, or how obscure, he always had faith in Sasuke's powers of deductive reasoning. They played that game often all through the years, but not so much since coming to Konoha.

"Trust me, Itachi!"

"I am trusting you, bro."

In fact, the last time Sasuke had heard those words was when-

"I just wish you'd trust me for once."

"I am trusting you, bro. Go. Your pimp is waiting."

Sasuke sat bolt upright on a gasp. His eyes were wide and staring, and his breathing loud and heavy.

Naruto woke and was sitting up at his side instantly. He took a moment to lift his face to the air, scenting and sensing if there was trouble in the area. Assured that his mountain was deserted, he turned toward Sasuke. "What is it?"

"Itachi."

Naruto looked at where Sasuke was staring. He saw nothing but the far wall and the rest of his room. Empty. "I…don't think he's here," he said cautiously. "Did you have a nightmare about him?" He used the hand he had on Sasuke's shoulder to make soothing rubbing motions.

Sasuke threw the quilt off and swung his legs out of bed. He appeared to be looking for his clothes. "Not a nightmare, really," he said distractedly. "More like…" He made a twirling motion in the air with one hand as he searched for the right word. "Memories."

"I don't understand." Naruto's eyes followed him around as Sasuke located the clothing he'd come to the mountain with one item at a time. "You had a dream about memories of your brother?"

"I guess. Yeah." Sasuke sat on the floor to put his boots on, now completely dressed.

"So?"

"So I need to see him," Sasuke grunted. He continued to tug on his boot.

Alarmed, Naruto slowly got out of bed now, too. "You're leaving the mountain?"

"…Yeah. For a little while." The boot finally slipped onto his foot and he reached for the other one.

"Why? Has something happened to him?"

Sasuke grit his teeth and growled until his second boot was on. He'd forgotten how much trouble the things were. He got to his feet and faced Naruto's bewildered expression. "No. It's just…I need to see him."

"But why the rush?" Naruto looked toward the bed. "You just shot up and declared you needed to see him, as if something happened. The bed's still warm, for God's sake."

Sasuke used his fingers to comb his hair into its usual style while he tried to think. He was filled with a sense of unease. Dread and urgency mixed with the uneasy until he was nauseous with it, and all of it stemmed from those memories he'd experienced. "I don't know," he said at length. "I can't really explain it, but…I just feel like I need to see him. I mean, I've been gone for a long time. How long have I been here?"

Naruto did a quick calculation. "About 10 days."

"What? Wha-…man. I've never been away from Itachi for so long. I've never been away from him period." Sasuke looked off to the distance, apparently thinking.

"I still don't understand why the sudden urgency. You and I have a lot to talk about, Sasuke. Things are far from settled between us."

Sasuke blinked back to the present. He pulled on his jacket as he faced Naruto. "I know. But I need to make things right with my brother, too. In fact, it's probably the first step toward making things right with you and me."

"But-"

"Naruto, please." Sasuke made a gesture with one hand that had Naruto closing his mouth. "I need to see him, okay? I miss him, and…I just have to do this."

"Last night you didn't want to leave here," Naruto couldn't resist pointing out. He ignored the twist of pain in his gut at hearing that Sasuke missed his brother. "You begged to be allowed to stay. What's changed? What was in your dream?"

"Nothing specific. I don't know," Sasuke sighed. "And nothing's changed. I'm coming back. I just need to see him and I'll come right back, I promise."

"Don't you think that if he wanted to see you he'd have come up here by now? His face is probably still programmed into the barricade. He knows where you are, Sasuke. He hasn't come because he doesn't want to. He sent you away. And you're with me now." Naruto said all this as reasonably as he could, but he rather thought that it was expecting too much of him to be able to handle this separation so soon after their reconciliation.

Sasuke spoke carefully as well, very aware of Naruto's peculiar way of thinking. "I know he sent me away, Naruto. But that doesn't mean he never wants to see me again, even if that's exactly what he said. It was like…like the way I said I hated you when I really didn't. I was pissed. Itachi was pissed. He said what he said, but even if he meant it I'm not giving him up."

Naruto just stood there, looking at the firm expression on what he could see of Sasuke's face. The hair was back over his eyes, longer than before. After a minute, he nodded, then looked down at his hands. "When will you be back?"

"I need a couple of days at least."

"Two days!" Naruto was horrified. "Jesus, Sasuke! Why so long?"

"Because. I don't know how long it will take for me and Itachi to be good again. For sure he's going to want to spend time with me after I've been gone for so long. Plus I need to pack, bring some stuff back with me and all that."

"I have to put my foot down, I'm sorry. I can't handle two days without you, Sasuke. I need you. Especially now, when we were just so close to splitting apart. I think this visit to your brother could be put off a little longer. Frankly, I don't see how you're able to even entertain the idea of two days off this mountain after the display you put on last night when I told you to leave."

Neither did Sasuke, if he was honest with himself. And under normal circumstances he didn't think he could be pried out of Naruto's bed with a crowbar. But…that feeling in his gut was insistent. That roiling sensation of disquiet, the way the last thing Itachi had said to him kept replaying itself in his mind…he felt like time was slipping away abnormally fast, and that it was imperative he see his brother at once. It positively overrode anything else in his head, including his bond with Naruto. He suddenly felt like ten days was a long time…like he'd been sleeping the whole time, and had completely forgotten that anything else even existed outside this house.

But he was in a relationship with Naruto now, as the man had pointed out, and he supposed that entailed all sorts of responsibilities. "You could always come with me," he offered now. "Actually, I think that's a great idea. Me, you, and Itachi should all have a sit down and talk this whole thing out. Afterwards, we could go and get lunch-"

Naruto recoiled immediately.

"Or not," Sasuke said quickly. He'd momentarily forgotten Naruto's aversion to even going to the city, much less hanging with people. He ran a hand over his hair nervously, itching to go, but unable to just leave Naruto like this. "You can come with me," he said again.

Quite apart from Naruto's hatred of social interaction, he was still a bit jealous of Itachi's role in Sasuke's life. There was some anger on his part that the mere memory of the man could pull Sasuke away from him. Which only served to underline how this separation was probably a good thing for both of them. Even so, it was hard to let go. Too hard. "I don't want you to go."

Sasuke came to him and touched his arm where it was crossed with the other over his bare chest. "I know. And I don't want to leave-"

"Then don't."

"-but I have to. Please. Two days, man."

They looked at each other, both knowing that Sasuke would go regardless. Naruto bowed his head, conflicted. He wanted to forbid Sasuke going, but didn't want to risk angering him as he had before. He now knew that the subject of Itachi was a touchy subject indeed. Besides that, he knew it was unreasonable to feel the way he did about the man.

Sasuke touched Naruto's stubble-roughened cheeks softly when a single tear rolled slowly from one blue eye. He leaned up on tiptoe to kiss the tear away, then kissed Naruto's mouth. Naruto crushed him in a sudden embrace, deepening the kiss. He let Sasuke go only reluctantly. They rested their foreheads together.

"You can still come with me," Sasuke said breathlessly.

Naruto sniffed wetly, blinking hard. His voice was scratchy. "No. No, you go. You're right, things need to be settled with him before they can be settled between us. Two days?"

"Two days, I promise. If Itachi won't let me come back, then I'll tie him up and bring him with me."

Naruto didn't smile at the attempt at humor. He lifted his head from Sasuke's and pushed him gently away. "Okay."

"You sure?"

Naruto wasn't, but he nodded. "Not like I don't have a ton of repairs and other things to keep me occupied while you're gone."

Sasuke hesitated, chewing his lip. "Naruto…"

"Go. Deal with your brother. You know where to find me when you're done."

Sasuke backed away until he reached the doorway. He stood looking at Naruto's glassy eyes a minute more. "I love you," he said.

Naruto swallowed. Tried to smile. "I know."

Sasuke left quickly after that, unable to bear the look on Naruto's face. It was somehow both exhilarating yet extremely frightening to be needed so much by someone. And to need that person so much in return.

Once he'd traveled the long road that led from the city to the barricade and cleared the fence, Sasuke stood listening to the distant sounds of traffic and other signs of people and civilization. It hit him then how long he'd been away, and a sudden smile broke across his face.

He arrived in the town proper to see busy streets and rushing pedestrians. Shops were open and doing business. In fact, going by the color of the sky, he and Naruto had slept for most of the day. It looked close to 4 pm, which meant sunset was little more than ninety minutes away.

This was all information he took in and filed away as he walked the streets. He felt his chest tighten and swell at being among people and liveliness once again and realized just how isolated he'd been of late. He'd missed this. Giving a quick whoop and a skip, he realized he'd missed the city a lot. He'd gone from walking its streets everyday all day, to more or less living in one room with a guy. He didn't regret a single moment with Naruto, but right then his young blood virtually sang in joy at the freedom of being among people and activity again. A lady pushing a stroller toward him saw him grinning at apparently nothing and swerved to avoid him. Sasuke laughed outright.

-oOo-

He passed a newspaper vendor and realized he didn't even know what day it was. He snagged a discarded copy of The Leaflet that he found in a trashcan, but that didn't really help him since The Leaflet was a weekly paper. Hungry, wishing he'd eaten something before he'd left Naruto's, Sasuke pointed himself toward home. He didn't dally, but he didn't run either. He needed to work out what he was going to say to his brother.

Last he new, Itachi was working the morning shift, which meant he'd be home from work now. Sasuke was privately glad that there would be no wait before Itachi came home. If he had to wait, he might get too nervous to speak persuasively. With any luck, things wouldn't be too atrocious between them. Maybe they could make up, eat, then spend the night talking and catching up.

Sasuke looked down at himself. He was still wearing the same clothes he'd left home in. Itachi would probably have a field day with that, but it was unavoidable.

At his building, he put his hand in his pocket to fish out his keys. They were the only thing he'd brought back with him from the mountain. He'd purposely left his bag with Naruto to demonstrate to Itachi that he was going back. The walk up the four flights of stairs to his floor left him with a funny feeling in his stomach. He'd been away so long…What if Itachi had really meant those things after all? Sasuke couldn't imagine it, but what if Itachi took one look at him and threw him out again?

He stood in front his apartment door a moment, suddenly nervous. Maybe Itachi wasn't home. He considered accessing his chakra to verify this possibility, but then Itachi would sense him and Itachi didn't like it when Sasuke displayed chakra for anything but an emergency.

He dreaded the words that would be said between them. So much had changed since the last time he'd seen his brother. Odd, but the thing topmost in Sasuke's thoughts right then was the fact that he'd had sex. Lots of it, and it would probably be visible on his face some kind of way; he wasn't a boy anymore. This thought reminded him that things had changed. Squaring his shoulders, he shoved his key into his door. "Itachi? It's me, I'm home," he called.

He got no answer. A musty smell hit his nose as he shut the door behind himself. He locked it from force of habit. Frowning, he sniffed again. It smelled as if the apartment hadn't been aired out or cleaned-

There, on the kitchen table, sat the two red paper containers of instant ramen he and Itachi had eaten on their last night together.

Sasuke stood looking at this. Itachi wouldn't have left those there, not all this time. They both pitched in to clean up and keep the place tidy. There was a certain amount of pride they each had in their first home. Things like food containers were never left out. "Itachi!" he called again.

He walked quickly down the hall to his brother's room and flicked on the lights. The room was spotless. No one in there. He'd entertained a weak hope that his brother was sleeping, but that was dashed. The bed was made. Swallowing hard, Sasuke went to his brother's closet and saw that there were clothes missing. That was a punch in the gut. He didn't leave me. He didn't! Itachi!

Almost running, Sasuke went back down the hall to his own room, pausing to peek into the bathroom along the way, and threw open his door.

An explosion of understanding went off in his mind as he saw what had been done to his room. He whirled to flee, to go, to get out while he still could, and literally collided with what felt like a brick wall.

But it wasn't a brick wall. Brick walls didn't have hands that closed so tightly in your hair that you wanted to scream. They didn't have teeth filed to points, or weird eyes, or blue-tinted skin.

And they didn't wear cloaks that your brother had spent 17 years warning you about.

Like a certain young kinsman, Madara had also surfaced from isolation for the first time in over a week only today. He woke early that morning. Instead of heading directly to the tiled room that had occupied every moment of his waking hours for the past ten days, he opted to go topside and greet the day properly.

His headquarters was underground. It was expansive, state of the art, and opulent, but sometimes it was good to breathe air that wasn't filtered, and feel wind that wasn't artificially generated. He stood on the sandy knoll that hid the elevator shaft he'd risen in and sipped a cup of strong black coffee. His long hair blew about his head in a stiff breeze that smelled of the desert surrounding him. Nights in the desert were cold, but come the sun's rise, it would be hotter than hell, even with the rest of the countries firmly entrenched in the middle of autumn. Right now, the breeze was cool and pleasant. He lifted his face to savor it.

He ended up going for a long walk. The desert was a beautiful place at dawn. Pure. Unblemished. Absent of any visible biota, which only emphasized the image of purity. He returned to his starting point a couple of hours later. He would go back under only when the sun was unbearable.

-oOo-

He was still there, coffee long done, when the shaft hummed behind him. He felt someone exit and step up to his elbow, and looked over to see Nagato's smile. Madara's heart lurched in disbelief and sudden hope. "No. I can't believe it, not now… Success?"

"Over an hour ago."

Madara's head went back on a sigh of sweet triumph. His eyes were closed as the victory swept through him fast and hard. "At last. At long, long last. He was far stronger than I'd anticipated, but in the end, I won."

"No one foresaw his resilience."

"I should have, all things considered. Kisame is still in position, I assume? Send him in to-"

"Already done, Boss. Sent the message forty minutes ago."

"ETA?"

"Since he was already stationed in Fire Country awaiting the signal, shouldn't take him more that two hours, possibly three. He has to be careful he isn't detected."

"Excellent. And…how is he?"

Nagato turned to squint at the sun-washed desert along with Madara. "Alive. Still. No one's ever resisted my technique, let alone for this long. And with the added torture measures we've been using…" Nagato shook his aged head in wonder. "Should I terminate him now?"

Madara was silent a while, deciding that the heat was too much now. He would go inside soon. "No," he said at last. "Let's wait until we hear how the retrieval goes. Any news from Kabuto?"

"He says things are still under control on his end."

"Good. Nothing to do but wait, it seems. Let's go inside. I want us to give the news of Kisame's success to our guest as soon as it arrives."

Itachi would have been proud. Sasuke panicked, but because of how often his brother had drilled into him the need for cool reasoning in the face of adversity, he was still able to function. And too, Itachi would have been proud because Sasuke put to use lessons he'd learned less than a week ago.

The guy had his arms pinned to his sides in a grip hard enough to crack his ribs. The only part of him free to do anything was his head, and he swung it forward in a hard, fast head-butt that made an audible crack against those sharp teeth. The hold around his arms loosened the faintest bit in surprise, enough for him to twist, fall to the floor, and shove the heel of his foot into the fork of the man's thighs with enough force to lift him off his feet. The guy went flying. Sasuke sprang up and just had time to register that his front door was still locked before he crashed right through it. The guy had been in his place when he'd come in, then. Whatever. Sasuke was pelting down the stairs to the ground floor just as hard as he could.

Lesson eight in sparring with Naruto: Get yourself out of a hold administered by an opponent several times your size and weight.

He'd remained in Naruto's holds for upwards of an hour, wanting to melt in those arms and be cuddled. Naruto had yelled at him until he'd finally decided to get serious, and now he was thankful for the lesson. It had probably saved his life.

The moment he was out on the street (when did it get dark out?), he turned, and the guy was right there, ten feet away and closing in. Sasuke let loose the chakra he'd molded while flying down the stairs. "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!"

The fireball swallowed the guy and a fair amount of the apartment building as well. Sasuke gave a tight smirk. Even better, three Jounin appeared in the growing crowd of spectators, alerted by the use of an upper level jutsu and the chakra disturbance. He turned to them with a grateful smile on his face… that changed when a massive wave of water doused the flames, and the guy leaped free with an enormous weapon drawn.

There was a moment of silence: The sensational sight of a man being swallowed by flames, only to leap out again unharmed (the cloak wasn't even singed) from an equally spectacular display of water was not a sight people saw everyday. No doubt many of the gathering crowd thought this was a show being put on. The weapon was unwrapped with a tug on the white bandage-like coverings, and this was thought of as a fantastically realistic prop. One little boy in the audience even clapped. Only Sasuke and the Jounin sensed the staggering levels of chakra and the fact that they were laced with a wealth of killing intent. They moved forward, ordering the crowd to disperse at once, but it was too late.

It all happened so fast.

Sasuke turned to greet the Jounin and shout for help; the guy leaped from the flames; the crowd ahh'ed in wonder; the weapon was revealed; the boy clapped, and the Jounin stepped forward. All so fast. A moment, no more, and then the wonder changed to screams, as the weapon was used as both a club and a sword.

Sasuke didn't exactly see what happened. He was still blinking water out of his eyes, but what really rooted him in place was the top half of one of the Jounin flying through the air to land at his feet; The guy had swung his sword and sheared the Jounin right in half. Sasuke looked down at the arms that still twitched, and the look of surprise on the young face. A kid. His age or younger.

Someone bumped him, and Sasuke lifted his head as if he was in a daze. Screams. Blood. The sword swinging, and the clapping boy's head being smashed like a ripe melon. Bone and brains flew as the sword was lifted high to swing down again. The crowd was running, scattering, but colliding with each other in their mad fright. Some were as dazed as Sasuke and these were the ones cut down the quickest.

In looking up, Sasuke found that the guy hadn't stopped advancing on him. He'd just cut down everyone in his path on the way. The grin on the guy's face reminded him of a shark.

A splatter of blood hit Sasuke's face, snapping him out of his stupor. He turned and ran.

Naruto set to work the moment Sasuke was gone. The busier he was, the less time he would have to think about how empty his house felt, and the quicker time would seem to pass. He had two days to kill.

Two days to keep from going crazy.

He went out to his garage for wood, but found that he had no more. Other than odds and ends, there was nothing he could use to repair either his front door or his bedroom door. Not to mention he needed his window fixed. Moegi wasn't around for him to contact for supplies either. It looked like he'd need to make a trip into the forest and chop what he needed.

Not a bad idea, really. He needed to stock up on wood for the winter if Sasuke would be living with him. He hadn't missed that comment about the boy packing things to bring back with him. Thinking of this, Naruto felt the deep ache in his chest lessen somewhat. He thought of making room in his closet for Sasuke's belongings, possibly building a new chest of drawers, and a small smile settled around his mouth. From there fantastical thoughts of expanding the whole bungalow in order that Sasuke could be comfortable occupied his thoughts. His smile grew. Sasuke loved him. He was coming back.

It would be hard, but he could get through two days. Sasuke my love, hurry back.

Madara checked the wall clock, before marching into the tiled room recently dubbed The Chamber. "Why has there been no word?" he demanded. "It has been hours, where is the man?"

Nagato spoke from where he was working on The Chamber's only other occupant. Orochimaru and Deidara had been with him, helping him, but now it was just him. He carefully tucked the last coil of intestine back into the abdomen, and finally began the lengthy process of sewing up the long incisions. He answered absently, eyes on his work. "Kisame sent a message that the boy wasn't at the address we retrieved from this one's mind. He said he'd wait a day or two."

"A day or two?" Madara said quietly, dangerously. "That is out of the question. Could the information you retrieved have been wrong?"

Nagato's lips thinned the faintest bit in insult. "I'll admit that this dog-" he pulled a stitch extra tight, and was rewarded with a grunt of pain, "-was able to put up a wall around his thoughts for the longest. We took care of that by stepping up the torture. Once that wall was breached, though, the information behind it was genuine. Even if it was possible to hide the truth in one's own mind, he was hardly able to do so while in as much pain as Orochimaru and I administered."

Madara watched as the incisions were slowly closed. "Perhaps you're right. Don't close him all the way, though. We may need additional information…"

"Boss, he'll need another transfusion soon at this rate."

"Don't give him one. Once we have the boy, we'll kill them both. Really, Kisame better not be toying with the brat." Madara was pensive a moment. "We're sure the boy will be no match?"

"According to what I got from this one's mind. Kid's smart, but weak."

"Then there should be no trouble." Madara's brow cleared. "After all, we know for a fact that the Hokage won't be interfering. And no one else in that city has the power to go up against Kisame. Come. Leave him for now and let us prepare for the boy's arrival."

He heard the whoosh and clang of the metal door sliding open and shut, and Itachi relaxed a bit. His jaw unclenched against the screams he'd held back while Nagato had had his hands in him.

His vision was fading, but he could still see the meat hooks dangling above the surgical table he was lying on. They were no more than two or three feet above him; his intestines had been looped on those hooks while still being attached to his body. Before that, he himself had been hung from those hooks while the skin had been peeled from his hide one long, thin strip at a time. And all the while, Nagato's voice had droned on and on. "We know about the baby. We know Mikoto's fetus was taken from her body. Where is it? Was it a girl or a boy? Where is that child? Tell us, and all the pain will go away, I promise. Tell us!"

Nagato. Fucking freak with freaky mind powers and shit. Itachi blinked blearily at the fuzzy image of the blood-splattered ceiling. He supposed he was dying. He'd held on just as hard as he could, for as long as he could, but things were starting to hurt less, now.

He'd almost given Sasuke up. Almost. Took everything he'd had to surround all thoughts of Sasuke with a huge, impenetrable inferno in his mind. He'd kept that wall of flames up, shoving anything inside him with Sasuke's name on it into those flames. He'd never focused so hard on anything in his life. A few times he'd been delirious from the pain and torture, he knew; it had seemed like Sasuke was right there with him in those flames, calling to him. And this last bout of torture…well, he'd caved. Some time early this morning his weakened body had given out and the flames had vanished…but that was okay. He'd lasted ten days, long enough to call up a host of false information for his brother. Not an easy thing to do in the best of circumstances, much less while your guts were hanging above your face. Lies were impossible to tell to someone who was inside your mind. They could see the truth. The only way to do it was to essentially let go of reality and convince yourself of the lie first. And all the while he'd been shielding Sasuke's whereabouts from Nagato's probing, he'd been letting go, making himself believe with every particle of himself that Sasuke was home waiting for him. Sasuke was home waiting for him. Sasuke was home. And when the wall had gone, this was the thought Nagato had seen. After, when Nagato had left to report the breakthrough in his excitement, Itachi had sunken into a deep sleep littered with dreams and memories of Sasuke.

"Trust me, nii-san!"

"I am trusting you, bro."

Boy, was he ever. He was trusting the kid with his life. If Itachi had overheard the conversation just now correctly, someone had been sent to retrieve his brother. Some monster that no one but the Hokage could stand against. That was fine, really. In fact, Itachi was counting on Sasuke being found, just not being killed, hence the effort he'd spent on misdirection.

Seventeen years, man. Running all that time, never forgetting what he was running from, never letting Sasuke forget, and it came down to this. This room, this minute, this very second. He had no intention of dying. He'd continue to fight, but ten days…he hadn't thought he'd be here this long. He was fading…and he needed a miracle. "Come on, bro," Itachi whispered. His lips were cracked and caked with dried blood. "Just need you to do what I trained you to do. Just once…for once I need you to step up and be my hero." He coughed, and the pain had him edging toward a faint. "Counting on you, kid."

A fact Sasuke was well aware of. Having seen his room, he understood very well.

But that guy was gaining on him, and every Jounin or Chuunin that had landed in his path on their mad chase through Konoha had been summarily cut down. It had happened half a dozen times, with alarms going off in the city by now to alert everyone of an invasion. On Sasuke ran, and the guy kept chasing him, and whenever someone caught up and tried to stop either of them, the guy would cut them down, and Sasuke would keep running.

At full speed, without chakra, he could make it to Naruto's in an hour. With chakra, he should make it in fifteen minutes. If he didn't have to dodge and swerve, or hide from time to time, he would be there by now.

Itachi. Oh God!

No, he had to stay focused. But God, he was so scared, more scared than he'd ever been in his life. His brother was gone, maybe dead, and he'd be dead soon too if didn't pull it together and keep ahead of that guy behind him. He could feel him, feel the awful weight of his chakra, and Sasuke was so terrified that it was all he could do not to trip over his own feet.

He cleared the fence, and was on the deserted road leading to the barricade-

Fuck, the barricade!

I'm screwed, Sasuke thought in a panic. During the five or so seconds he'd need to be still for the camera to scan his face, he would be cut down, he was sure of it. And yet there was no way through that barricade except by that camera, and he needed to get through the barricade if he was to get to Naruto. Naruto was his only hope out of this.

Naruto had been right all along. How Sasuke wished he hadn't bitched about the training.

But he had trained. Not a lot, but some. And the first thing Naruto had taught him with lightning chakra was something he said his old sensei Kakashi had taught him. Performing the hand seals now, Sasuke called up Chidori on the fly, pumped every last bit of chakra he owned into it, stopped, turned, and slammed his hand toward the juggernaut coming at him. He let out a war cry of fright, pain, and pumped up nerves as he did.

For a wonder, he caught the guy by surprise. His move skated along the left side of that weird face before his hand was grabbed and his arm broken with a sharp crack of snapping bone. Reflexively, his whole body sent off a shockwave of fire and lightning, one that blasted the guy high into the air. Sasuke staggered back, nearly falling, as he cradled his useless arm against his chest. He saw the guy stirring weakly some dozen yards away. Drained, Sasuke broke into a weak, shambling jog toward the barricade.

He didn't know what had happened just now, but whatever it was it hadn't been enough to have the guy out for long. Even as Sasuke reached the camera, the guy was picking up his sword, and standing up with a shake of his head.

Sasuke had to stand absolutely still for the camera to scan him. The guy was coming at him now, picking up speed, and everything in Sasuke told him to run. He couldn't turn to look at the guy either, or the process would take longer. Five seconds was an eternity, though, and just as he heard the barricade finally unlock and begin to roll open, the guy closed in, lunged, and brought that sword down. Sasuke squeezed through the slowly widening gap of the barricade at the same moment, but not before the spiky surface of that sword sheared a path down his left arm and side. Pain and blood fountained equally so that Sasuke's scream echoed along the tunnel. His raw arm was grabbed with one steely hand, and the guy began dragging him back, already lifting that sword to bring down again on his head. In desperation and an ecstasy of thoughtless agony, Sasuke turned and let loose a thin bolt of lightning directly into the guy's eye. It was all Sasuke had left. The pain of using his broken arm had him seeing double.

The guy screamed and released him. They both fell to the ground. By chance, the sword fell in such a way that it stopped the closing barricade from shutting completely.

-oOo-

Some time went by wherein Sasuke faded briefly in and out of consciousness. He was in so much pain that he couldn't even think, but after a few minutes he tried to move.

He was still in the tunnel, he saw. He could see the dim light of night at the other end, and began a hitching, agonizing crawl in that direction. His broken arm set off a bright starburst of pain each time he moved it. The irony of moving towards a light at the end of a tunnel was completely lost on him in his condition. Naruto. He had to get to Naruto. The man had lectured him about needing to defend himself, and he had. He'd tried. But Naruto had also said that he'd protect Sasuke, and that was the only thing giving Sasuke the strength to crawl. He was bleeding his life onto the asphalt of the tunnel road, quickly being drained of energy and strength, but he forced his hands and knees to move. His brother was counting on him, he could feel it. He'd felt it this morning when he'd woken up, but had been unable to identify it.

Funny, how now that he was aware of it, whatever danger Itachi was in was practically screaming in his head. If he hadn't been so absorbed with Naruto, he'd have known the instant his brother was in danger, the same as Itachi usually knew when Sasuke had been hurt. He didn't know if it was Itachi's preternaturally refined senses or if it was something deeper, some bond he and Itachi shared as brothers, but whenever things had gotten really hairy –and they had on an occasion or two, just not this hairy- it was as if he and his brother operated with the same mind. They'd flee whatever town or village they were in only moments ahead of Madara's men. And that was aside from the times Sasuke would hurt himself while Itachi was at work, only to have his brother come home in the morning with Band-Aids and antibiotic creams. Sometimes he'd get a feeling while Itachi was gone, and he'd pack their things without being told. Itachi would rush home bloody after having killed a 'client' and say they needed to dip. He'd look at the packed bags around Sasuke, and say nothing else. They never spoke about their bond, or how they knew things about each other. The ability never really showed itself unless one of them was hurt or in danger, and that happened so seldom that it was easy to forget about.

But it was there, and it was telling Sasuke that his brother was alive and needed him, and he just could not faint here.

It was with grim, lock-jawed determination that he dragged himself toward the end of that tunnel. He could hear the guy behind him cursing, screaming, enraged with pain…and following. He wasn't following quickly; Sasuke knew that last attack had to have fucked with his brain. But he was following, and wounded as the guy was, he was still a hell of a lot stronger than Sasuke was.

Sasuke pulled himself along, pulled and pulled. All he needed to do was make it a few feet past the tunnel's exit, and then the motion detectors and other sensors connected to the barricade would pick up on the guy's unauthorized face on the premises. Naruto would be alerted and would hopefully come running. Just a little farther. His body quaked in horrific pain, but he could make it. He had to make it.

He found a tiny burst of energy as he passed out of the tunnel, but it left soon after it came. His limbs were rubbery and numb from blood loss, and he was starting to feel cold. Still, he made it fifty yards past the tunnel's exit, well past the place he knew the motion sensors began. He risked a glance behind him and found the guy lurching doggedly after him, one hand over his dripping eye socket. Sasuke glanced around feebly, hoping to see dark blond hair or flashing blue eyes. There was nothing. No one. And the guy was no more than twenty feet away now.

Naruto, where are you?

The computer in the hidden room at Naruto's bungalow sent off siren-like peals of sound that could be heard anywhere in the house. In fact, this sound could be heard clear across the lake. The house was empty.

-oOo-

Naruto looked around his small camp and sighed. He wasn't content, but he had some small measure of peace. While chopping wood he'd decided to stay outdoors, away from his house, for the two days Sasuke would be away. It would cut down on the memories of the boy his room called up, and lessen the obsessive thoughts that revolved around him. Naruto was far enough away from his home that it would take awhile to return. He'd used Sage mode to put himself more than fifty miles from the mountain, and here was where he'd remain for the time being. The quiet of the forest would be ideal for reflection and meditation.

Right now, he settled himself comfortably beside his small fire and pulled out a blanket from the satchel he'd gone back home and packed. He spread this out and lay back, staring up at the stars.

Sasuke screamed as another kick to his side had him dry heaving. That foot landed on his back, between his shoulder blades, and on his head before it struck his injured side again. Black spots danced before his eyes and his mouth was full of blood.

He was kicked onto his back. The sound of metal made him slit his eyes open. A kunai. Sasuke supposed he should be thankful that the sword was still holding the barricade open, but what was the point? He was still going to die here.

He was going to die.

The thought went against every fiber of his being. He'd never been anything but safe. He had a brother who'd done everything to ensure that, and a lover who was practically invincible, so how was this happening? Where had he gone wrong? For sure, this was his fault. Sasuke watched the kunai twirl in nimble fingers, and knew this was his fault. If he'd been more vigilant, or trained harder with Naruto, or-

But he hadn't. He'd kept right on believing that nothing bad would happen. They had his brother. They had him. And Naruto wasn't coming. He didn't know where Naruto was, but Sasuke was now sure that he wasn't coming to save him.

He was able to get a good look at the guy now. He saw tattoos of gills on the man's cheeks, and the way the bluish face paint was starting to run with bloody streaks. The one remaining pale eye was squinted in anger and pain. The entire left side of the guy's head was a bloody mess from the Chidori, and the left eye was gone. Sasuke wanted to plead for his life, but at the same time refused to beg. He'd never be able to look his brother in the eyes again if he shamed himself like that. But you're not going to see your brother again anyway.

-oOo-

Kisame managed a grin. "I'm under orders to bring you in alive," he rasped. "Boss plans to end you in front of your brother." He licked the blade of his kunai, liking the way the red eyes on the boy sharpened the faintest bit at mention of his brother. Kid was nearly dead though. "However, I don't think the boss would begrudge me a little vengeance here. Not like you'd live long enough to make it back to base, anyway. Not in your condition. But don't worry," he soothed when the kid began hyperventilating in fear. "I'll leave your pretty face intact for your brother to recognize."

So saying, he set about having a little fun. He opened a gash on the boy's leg with a neat swipe of the kunai. Kid screamed bloody murder. He gashed him again and again, along the other leg, his chest, over his cheekbone. But the screams were winding down, and Kisame was getting bored. He had injuries that needed attention too, and it was high time this business was over with. Deciding to bring the kid in as he was after all, he stooped and slung his slight weight over one shoulder when the boy passed out. Kisame straightened with his burden, turned-

And was suddenly facing some guy who was tall and wide-shouldered. He didn't have time to see more than a navy blue T-shirt stretched tight over biceps and brown cargo pants before the man spoke in a low voice that was hoarse with rage.

"And just where do you think you're going with what's mine?"

Before an answer could be given, or a reaction could be made, Naruto rammed his entire hand into the man's midsection. He located and grabbed hold of the knobby length of his spine, and viciously ripped it right the fuck out of the man's body with a wet, meaty squelch.