Yare, yare... Took sooooo long~~~~~ Sorry if it's bad ^_^;
*sleeps*
Snuggles to everyone who reviews *loooove*
Stop.
Stop.
Please.
Just stop.
Not now.
Please, not with Naruto here.
Stop.
Sasuke stood trying hard not to let his anger, his shock, the unbearable tightness in his chest explode onto his face. He tried to be a ninja but his teeth were clenched and his body tense like he was ready to spring but he couldn't move at all. He was still as he drank in the man's form standing across the clearing.
He was tall, his slim body and then limbs hidden within the folds of a black cloak that swallowed him all the way from his ankles up to his eyes. His eyes. That was the worst part. Black and cold, a beautiful curving shape framed by long dark bangs so similar to the younger of the two's. The lines under his stare stood out against his waxy pale skin. He looked sick and dangerous.
Uchiha Itachi.
He'd snuck up so quickly and Sasuke cursed himself for being so relaxed as to not notice his approach.
Shit! This wasn't how they were supposed to meet again! He wasn't ready! Sasuke drew one ragged breath and held it. It was quiet and Naruto was holding the back of his shirt with the side of his face pressed into Sasuke's shoulder blades. Sasuke could feel his jaw clenched against his back. His body shook.
Terrified...
Fear and anger shook Sasuke's frame.
Shit! Shit! Shit!
Itachi spoke.
"Things progressed quicker than expected and now I'm ready but who would have thought that I wouldn't even have to come inside the village..."
Sasuke felt his stomach jump at his brother's voice. He had understood nothing of what the man had said but just his flat tone turned the blood in his face ice cold. He was sweating. Itachi was dangerous, that much had always been clear, and he was strong. Sasuke knew this and he had already decided to take him on long ago knowing this but not like this. Not like this. Naruto.
"Uzumaki Naruto," said Itachi. Sasuke snarled quietly. How dare he address Naruto so deathly quiet when Sasuke was here, when Sasuke stood before him, when Sasuke was the one he should look at it. And how dare he address Naruto when the boy was too scared to do anything more than cling to Sasuke.
"You will come with me." Itachi took one step forward and Sasuke took one step back, pushing Naruto back too.
"He's not going anywhere," replied Sasuke shocking himself that he could speak at all. Itachi blinked and lifted his eyebrows the tiniest bit but he didn't seem to be responding to Sasuke's words. It was like he was staring through the raven boy to the blonde. Unnerving.
"If I remember correctly Sasuke, isn't Uzumaki Naruto the annoying child who you constantly complained about? Why is he so silent?" The questions came easily making Sasuke deepen his shaky frown as Itachi asked the slowly and composed. Sasuke didn't give him an answer.
Damnit!
Naruto seemed to be the one he wanted. But if he found out that Naruto couldn't fight he would take him from Sasuke without thinking at all. But right now he thought both Sasuke and Naruto were Konoha ninja. Itachi was smart, incredibly smart, so he had probably considered the possibility that Sasuke and Naruto had some tricks up their sleeves... How long would that illusion last? Not long if Naruto stayed the way he was and there were no escape routes; none that would work against someone like Itachi. Sasuke knew. They were trapped.
"Sasuke move aside, he's coming with me. If you let him go quietly I won't kill you Little Brother," called Itachi as he moved silently through the grass towards them.
There was no point in moving back as the older Uchiha approached. He was faster, stronger and smarter and they were merely a pair of Genin. No, one Genin and a civilian. Sasuke's seated heart pounded against his ribs.
What do I do!
What do I do!
They had left the village without anyone important knowing. There was no hope of rescue. Inside Sasuke was screaming. Naruto whimpered behind him, scared out of his wits just by Itachi's aura that felt exactly like death.
Sasuke's mouth was dry. What could he do? Something that felt like tears stung his eyes. He blinked at it went away.
Itachi was nearing, closing in. Sasuke's breath hissed between his teeth. He didn't dare open his mouth in fear that he would scream or sob.
SHIT!
SHIT!
"Move. Sasuke." Ordered Itachi.
There was no other option. Sasuke reached shakily for his holster. Itachi stopped and gazed at him calmly.
"You think that will work? When I watched you learn them right before my very eyes." Shaking pale fingers closed around the rings of the kunai knives.
"Worth a TRY!" yelled Sasuke and let a handful of kunai fly. As soon as they left his hands he grabbed Naruto and made a break for it, heading straight for the direction of the village through the trees.
Useless. And he knew it.
In an instant Itachi was in front of him and Sasuke didn't even have time to gasp as some offensive part of the Itachi's body slammed against his chest and sent him flying, Naruto's body ripped from his arms.
"NO!'
The tree that came in contact with his back dazed him, pain shooting up from his tail bone to his neck, his shoulder made a crack! but Sasuke was right back on his feet, scrambling forward, not trying to keep the desperate terror or the way his heart had hurled into his mouth and pounded explosively in his temples off his face anymore. His air dragged brutally across his tongue, the ground wouldn't pass under his feet quickly enough. Itachi had Naruto on his knees and was standing over him, an expression of docile surprise and realization, blurred by Sasuke's movement settled on his face.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Itachi turned to him as the boy came in fast. On Sasuke's last stride, in one swift movement the bigger male had his fingers clasped around Sasuke's arm had slammed him against another tree, frontwards this time. Naruto screamed, his voice painfully pitchy with horror.
"SASUKE SAN!"
Itachi grated Sasuke's wrists against the harsh bark, one hand holding his hands together above his head, stretching his arms up until his shoulders burned and the other fanned against Sasuke's lower back to hold him in place. A knee ground into the back of Sasuke's thigh. Time slowed to an agonizing crawl. Sasuke's heart struggled to come out of fast forward and continues to ram against his rib cage making it painful to breath.
"He's not wearing a forehead protector, he's screaming and crying for you, he's completely unable to keep himself together. He's not himself is he Sasuke?" muttered Itachi into Sasuke's neck. Sasuke growled.
"He's memoryless. I know that jutsu... Was it Kakashi?"
"You can't have him," gasped Sasuke. Itachi leaned into him and crushed him against the tree. Naruto was crying somewhere in the background. Screaming Sasuke's name.
"Is that so? What are you going to do about it Little Brother? You're just as foolish as you were back then. You can't protect him and do you want to know why?" The larger of the two Uchiha flipped the younger and closed his big hand around Sasuke's throat, lifting him off his feet to meet the level of his eyes revealing a strange light that had leapt to them. The look on Itachi's face was subtle but Sasuke knew this face once. This expression was livid and anger riddled, lacking nothing but an audible snarl that came later as Itachi leant in and whispered to him furiously quiet...
"You're still too weak... Because you don't have enough hate. Don't you remember what I did? What I told you? I killed them all Sasuke, in cold blood. Every last one of them... Have you forgotten that? You live because of me and for me. You live to hate. Has that slipped your mind? You started to let it go didn't you..?"
Sasuke closed his eyes and dropped his head. Shame engulfed him. As much as he hated this man, as much as he wanted to kill him, to watch him bleed... he was right...
Have I lost who I am? I live only to avenge my clan...
Itachi tightened his grip and lifted him higher.
"You're worthless and weak. Still too weak." Sasuke bit back a whimper.
What have I been doing all this time...? Still... nothing has changed...
What am I here for if not to kill this man... but after all these years... I'm still...
Weak.
Itachi drew him away from the tree and held him still by his throat.
It was all useless. Time had never been on his side... He never had enough time with his mother, he never had enough time to grow, never had enough time to become strong...
His hands were shaking cold.
He was as good as dead. There's nothing left here to burn.
Naruto sobbed, drawing Itachi's attention.
"That's right," he said and Sasuke felt his fingers loosen. "You're not the one who interests me, Sasuke." With that he dropped Sasuke's limp body and turned away. Just like that. Because the younger was worthless to the older.
Sasuke lay on the ground. All the panic had seeped out of him and all of a sudden he had no idea what he should do. All he knew was that he was weak and it was a punch in the stomach strong enough to sap his drive, his fear. They were going to die. Or Itachi was going to take Naruto and Sasuke would lie here and drown in his lost identity.
Hope was a terrible thing to lose so abruptly. All he could do was watch...
Itachi approached Naruto who sat trembling in a patch of weak sunlight. His hair was water gold. He would be gone soon. Sasuke considered turning his face away. He didn't want to see himself fail as Itachi took Naruto away. He couldn't do anything about it, why try? Naruto wasn't screaming anymore. He was watching his predator come for him. Sasuke's shoulders ached dully.
What do I live for...?
Itachi's hand emerged from his cloak and reached out to offer itself to Naruto who shrank away from it. A command to come and a threat that if he didn't...
Would Naruto take or leave it. For a moment he did nothing. And then, Itachi seized Naruto by his upper arm and heaved him to his feet. Naruto's body didn't have the courage to struggle so he dangled awkwardly with his head down, his knees sagged and limb. Itachi's shoulders sighed.
In the next moment something happened.
Naruto looked at him. And in that moment Sasuke found something in the perfectly terrified, excruciatingly blue colour of his eyes.
Something that shook him.
Something to feel for.
Something to protect.
Something to live for.
His reason to live was Naruto.
Itachi shook Naruto once and Sasuke's stomach roared to life and burned high, engulfing him. It wasn't hope, not even love. Just an overwhelming need to separate. He lifted himself on to his knees, his eyes never leaving Naruto's who even as he was shook, even as tear after tear rolled over his cheeks, continued to beg Sasuke to do something, anything. He said nothing but Sasuke knew and now he was burning hot. Itachi was touching Naruto and that wasn't right. Itachi was once again coming after the thing he loved the most. Itachi was stripping him to nothing without even trying.
This time. Sasuke wouldn't sit back and watch. He got to his feet and surged.
"ITACHI!"
There was still enough energy to run. Still enough energy to try. As he came in Itachi turned to him just as he had before but this time Sasuke was ready for him. Again, Itachi struck out and Sasuke's sharingan activated in time for him to dodge.
Yes!
Yes!
One second untouched.
Two seconds untouched.
Yes!
Yes!
No. It fell apart, this chance that Sasuke thought he might have with that first dodge.
Itachi, with what seemed like no effort got Sasuke in the face, his shoulder, his chest. Pain shot through him as there was a sickening crack and something gave way inside him. A knee came up and caught Sasuke in the stomach, doubling him over in a gasp that brought up blood. While Sasuke was catching his break Itachi grabbed his wrists and wrenched them behind him, forcing his younger brother to his knees with a knee of his own to his back. Sasuke dropped and found himself face to face with Naruto's blue eyes. Shaking irises, so very blue.
"S-s-s-s-s-s..." The blonde boy couldn't get anything out. He was crying uncontrollably.
"Sasuke," called Itachi. Sasuke dropped his eyes away from Naruto who was still opening and closing his mouth as he tried to speak. At this proximity, they served as nothing but a reminder that Sasuke too was on his knees at the mercy of Uchiha Itachi.
"Sasuke, you're in the way and if you continue to keep this up I will have to hurt you," said Itachi shortly, twisting Sasuke's arm for good effect. "One more chance. Don't come again." The words were a warning that Sasuke didn't understand until Itachi, again, threw him ruthlessly, dragging him across his tall cloaked body by the arm and releasing him into the air, giving his body a spin to it so that he couldn't control his flailing limbs as he tore through the air and skidding across the ground and coming to a sudden stop when two close trees slammed against his spine and skull.
The adrenaline rush had been beaten from his bloodied body. His tongue was thick and his arms were heavy. One might be broken, a few of his ribs definitely were. His back was in pretty bad shape too. He ached. It hurt to be. But he couldn't give up. Itachi was waiting for him, watching to see what he would do. The fast paced time of battle had momentarily disappeared and Sasuke tried not to let fear climb its way back up his throat as the man stood before him, unscathed when Sasuke was bloody, dirty, broken and bruised. His insides swooned as he got to his feet; unsteady.
Come on. Sasuke. You can do this. Do this or he'll take Naruto. Defend him. Defend him. Don't let anyone be taken from you ever again. Come on. Come on...
Sasuke rushed in again but he was slow and sluggish. Itachi caught him again and pushed him to the ground, stepping on his head just hard enough to keep Sasuke scared enough not to move.
"Watch Sasuke. After this you won't come again will you?" Sasuke watched in horror as Itachi went down on one knee in front of Naruto, still keeping Sasuke under his shoe and took the boy's chin between his thumb and finger. There was a definite shift in the air. Naruto's eyes went grey and began to move side to side so quickly it looked unnatural. Itachi pulled back and "hn"ed in approval. Naruto's eyes came to a slow stop and started in a fresh batch of tears. Sasuke struggled.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM YOU BASTARD! WHAT DID YOU DO! ANSWER ME ITACHI!" His voice was hoarse in seconds.
"I unlocked that stupid door Kakashi had set up in his mind but it seems he couldn't handle it. Who knows what's wrong with him now. I would say he's lost Sasuke. You don't need him now," replied Itachi and Sasuke grit his teeth and tried desperately to get up but Itachi leant to him and he stopped. Ninja still with itachi's breath on his neck.
"Do you love him more than you hate me?" The line shocked Sasuke giving Itachi enough time to toss him aside once more.
"It is not you I want Sasuke. If you have any sense Little Brother, you will stay right where you lie."
Sasuke shook with rage, enough rage to overcome whatever pain he was in. The sight of Naruto's empty eyes. Emptied of any recognition or sane thought, full of everything that he was, poured into him in one go. Too much, just like Kakashi had predicted.
"Y-you..." The raven haired boy's head snapped up and once more Sasuke got to his feet. Hot and angry. Heartbroken. Itachi merely blinked at him. The bitter taste of loss coated Sasuke's mouth
"Have it your way." Sasuke surged knowing it was useless. Knowing Naruto was already gone... He was so angry but so weak against Itachi, not only as a ninja but as a person but the only thing he could do was charge. The only thing he could think of was inflicting some sort of pain on the man that had the ability to strip away everything he was.
Stomach.
Head.
Side.
His eyes filmed with blood.
Chest.
Stomach again.
Blood on his chin.
Pain, so much pain.
Inky black before his eyes.
Another tree.
Approaching footsteps.
Itachi's hand on his leg and then...
A small chuckle and a horrendous crack as he put pressure on the bone in Sasuke's leg and snapped it. Sasuke felt the warm seep of blood over his skin and saw the bone jut straight out through his flesh before he felt the pain, before his shoulders raised in horror and his eyes widened as his red-black blood stained the grass around him, before he screamed out as the intense pain overwhelmed him. He fell to his side.
"Stay there Sasuke."
Naruto was gone.
Itachi was gone.
There was nothing but Sasuke, the hot wave of the most pain he had felt in his entire life... The black hand that covered his eyes and took him to sleep.
.
Sasuke woke up dream heavy and painless. It took him a moment to register the now cold blood all around him and realize he was bleeding out. His vision was blue and blurry but he could make out Naruto and Itachi across the clearing. They hadn't left so he couldn't have been out for more than a minute. Man, blood flowed way too fast, he noted groggily as he tried to muster the strength to squint and clear his vision a bit. Itachi looked like he was thinking. Sasuke could hear Naruto crying quietly but he wasn't sure if it was his senses failing him or that Naruto had run out of energy that was making the cries watery and soft. His half opened eyes rose and fell in a slow and heavy blink. In his mind he could hear waves crashing. Was this what it was like to die? Somehow he had expected it to hurt more but the blue fog in his head has pushed away all pain apart from the tightness in his chest as a burst of grief rose into his dry mouth.
He had wasted so much of his life being cold and now he was alone when he died his shameful and unnoticed death.
So many things he should have done but he was too focused on something else.
He should have done so much more right from the very start.
He should have hugged his mother more. She deserved the beautiful, affectionate baby boy that she never really got.
He should have spent less time being top of the class and made some more friends. Kiba, Shikamaru. Naruto and the others... Skipped school with them and everything.
He should have been realized his feelings for Naruto earlier and started being happy a little bit earlier and stayed happy a little bit longer.
He should have told the idiot how he felt from Memoryless Day One and made something of the situation. Manipulated that stupid Dobe. Taken advantage of him with all his might.
He should have taken an interest in Sakura when he started to think of her as a friend, asked her what she was reading yesterday, asked her how her day was, how Lee was, they were sort of dating or something right?
He should have kissed Naruto the night before like there was no tomorrow because now there really wasn't...
Why was Itachi thinking? He hadn't hurt Naruto yet, maybe he needed Naruto alive...
Waves crashed and Sasuke was sure he could hear his mother singing, feel her warm hands on his feet and then at his forehead...
He was shattered. And this was it. How pitiful, just like in the Land of Wave he couldn't protect his teammate, his friend. The only difference was that this time Naruto wouldn't hold him as he died.
Sasuke squinted to take one last look at Naruto. He wanted to laugh. Or cry. Make a sound.
He was dimly aware of the cold enveloping his body, dimly aware of a painless throbbing in his leg, dimly aware of the slow and weak beat of his heart, and as he looked at Naruto... dimly aware of a flickering in the distance that was switching unstably between slate grey, brilliant blue and demonic red...
A certain something came loose within the body that lay cold in the grass, in a pool of it's own blood.
Waves crashed.
Sasuke began to fall away and every sense was useless. He didn't hear the monstrous roar a moment later, he didn't see the blue, grey, red settle into a deep set crimson, he didn't taste or smell the rotting meat stench, he didn't feel the air familiarly thick. Every sense was fooled by the sheet that was being pulled over him, white and clean, different from the black hand of sleep.
I should have done more...