Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Neither do I think I would enjoy doing so...


Naruto stumbles warily through the dim corridors of the mansion, his throat dry and his eyes trembling. Swallowing slowly, his grip tightens on the rotting umbrella in his hands. His gaze follows the shadows of the antique-looking hallways, tracing every fault in the walls and each slick cobweb that happens to glint in the lamps' light. If Sasuke thought he would keep living like this, Naruto decides, he had another thing coming.

Thinking he hears something, Naruto pounces in the air, drawing forth the soggy umbrella like a weapon. But it's nothing.

Probably a damn spider, he thinks to himself.

Naruto continues on his way, alone, through the hall that seems to be growing. Maybe he was shrinking. Refusing to cower, he lumbers forward, the sound of his steps exploding in his ears. He winces.

Naruto had grabbed the dank umbrella from the corner of his small guest room. He'd heard a scream, a sound that reminded him firmly of a sexually tense banshee--

He snickers to himself. God, I'm funny.

Anyhow, Naruto had grabbed the first lethal-looking weapon he could get his hands on and left his oh-so-warm-and-comfy room to investigate. He barely knew where he was going, but he figured he would run into kind Hinata or at least Sasuke.

Naruto snorts. For all I know this is probably one of that bastard's sleeping rituals.

Even so, with every skittish turn in the halls, Naruto wrings his hands, practically praying to see his rude-looking friend.

These people weren't people to laugh about, Naruto had decided thus far. Something about them being radio-active creeps who couldn't die. The blonde had illustrated many versions of the story in his mind, and he harbors a guilty excitement of hearing the actual account.

But another part of him--a rather boring part--was terrified to hear it, to even talk to this so-called Uchiha Itachi.

Before he'd heard the shriek, Naruto had been living that horrible day in the woods again, in a dream. Though this time, no one was on his side. There was a circle of people--strangers, friends--surrounding him, trapping him. He found himself cold, terrified and was soon screaming--for no apparent reason--for his friend, Sasuke.

And the boy had appeared from the thick crowd around him, had stepped before him with a grin worthy of a Cheshire. His coal eyes had been red-rimmed, and his feral teeth had wept blood. Naruto can see again his friend's milky white hands stained red, their nails shooting malevolent inches from what they should be. Sasuke had lifted a sharp finger and slashed.

Thankfully, Naruto had woken to the shriek.

Here comes another corner. Hairs prick at the back of the blonde's neck, and he raises his dank weapon out of caution. There is someone coming towards him.

Naruto's chest pulses as the shadow draws nearer. Their steps are inaudible, but he can see the shadow widening under the hallway's meek lights. He hastens forward and in the pool of their shadow, he can see their feet, an adult's feet. Not Hinata, not Sasuke.

Gulping, Naruto looks up to meet their face.


"He's in no danger," Itachi says blandly, straightening beside his comatose brother. The older Uchiha looks down at Sasuke with eyes unreadable. His gaze is drawn in flitting shadows strung to the flickering light of the dying lamp. "For the moment."

As soon as Itachi and his bride had arrived at the bloody scene, the whole mansion seemed to awaken. Servants had appeared at his back, their backs bent and their eyes filled with shallow fear. Sasori, Kisame, Temari, and Hinata had come after them, the last shivering in palpable horror.

Ino frowns from her cross-legged seat before Sasuke and exchanges a glance with Kabuto. "But he's--"

"He's rigid, with the look of death," Neji coughs beside her. He runs a blanche hand over the firm bandage stuck fast to his damp wounds. "A child could diagnose that."

"Yeah," Temari says, thin-lipped, "how isn't he in danger?"

Most raise their gazes to Itachi, expectance in some eyes and hidden traces of doubt in others. Hinata looks down at her shaking hands, her cheeks flushed. Sakari focuses on the half-conscious Kabuto lying at her knees, who--with eyes still on his master--chokes down a bitter-smelling antidote in Sakari's hands.

Sasori watches Itachi with undisguised scrutiny and care, fervent to catch every word of so-proclaimed reason.

"The plain-sighted reason is that his pallor has stayed constant for nearly five minutes now, and his condition has ceased to change," Itachi's voice is soft and yet strong, a subtle reminder of his power. "Either he remains dormant and his soul will be obliterated at a sudden hour, or he will stay this way until changed by outside forces."

"'Outside f-forces', my master?" Kabuto croaks, liquid dribbling from his white lips.

"Yes."

Sasori clears his throat. "Who isn't to say he's died?" he asks testily. Kisame raises a brow at the direct questioning but smiles to himself instead of commenting.

"His heart beats at the pace expected of our kind," Sakari says quietly, without looking.

"Our kind," Sasori murmurs, more to himself than otherwise.

"The second reason," Itachi's voice overrules Sasori's, "is that Orochimaru left my brother nearly unscathed with the exception of the needle's poison. As Yamanaka-san intimates, the needle was a last resort." He pauses.

"And so?" Temari questions hastily.

"Orochimaru never intended to hurt Sasuke," Itachi continues. "From what I know of him already, he acts more smartly than attacking just to damage. He had a purpose in trying to drive out Sasuke, in distracting me with a rogue. He focused first on eliminating those around him, and fought the young prince with care. As he outright announced, he planned to kidnap my brother, unharmed being a guideline."

"My lord is talking in circles," Neji says, lowering his face.

"And what relevance does this have to the fact that the young prince 'isn't in danger'--" Sasori asks but then realizes, understanding changing his eyes like shapes in a kaleidoscope.

"You understand." Itachi strides towards the flickering light bulb and rights it with a deft turn of his hand. "Why should he change his colors for a wounded eye? Sasuke's fighting back would force Orochimaru to fight my brother seriously, and for that reason, he retreated, rendering Sasuke comatose--healthily comatose--with the flick of a hidden needle, kept safe if failure were to come."

"So we've won against him!" Ino's eyes brighten.

"Hardly," the older prince replies simply. "Undoubtedly, he and his given associates have an antidote to my brother's current state. Undoubtedly, they will offer it to us but at a price. The most obvious one would be to ask for hi--"

"Yo!"

Temari, Hinata, and Ino look up at the sudden newcomer. Neji glances at them and nods absently, but Itachi doesn't have to turn around. "Kakashi, what a pleasure it is to see you've arrived," Itachi says mildly.

"Came as soon as I was summoned," Kakashi smiles shame-facedly in the doorframe, rubbing the back of his head. He bows his head side-ways, seeing as only half of him is visible through the doorway, "My--er--King."

"Such formalities are unnecessary," Itachi cuts in, regarding him with a spark of amusement.

Kakashi nods thankfully. "Well, the complication was bringing Iruka. He seemed to have dozed off, and I suppose he was dreaming. So he wouldn't wake up and I--"

"Hey--mrph!" a scratchy voice seems to squirm.

Sasori quirks a brow as Kakashi steps fully into the room, holding a struggling blonde figure in a tight arm-lock. "Oh, and I found a naughty little refugee from his jail," Kakashi says in his odd tone.

"Him," Ino murmurs lowly.

Sasori utters, "The human."

"For Lady Moon's sake!" Iruka floats impatiently behind Kakashi. "Let him go, Kakashi, before he suffocates!"

"Sorry." Kakashi lets a blue-faced Naruto loose, and Naruto steps dizzily out of his makeshift jail.

When he steadies himself, Naruto studies the contents of the room and starts to exclaim when he sees Hinata but cuts himself off. He sees Sasuke's other friends, huddled together in dirty bandages and--he gasps--blood. Color draining from his face, Naruto hesitates backward but stops midstep when he sees the pale corpse at the center of the room.

"S-Sasuke," Naruto whispers, his eyes wide. "What h-happ--"

"Uzumaki Naruto," a new voice interrupts behind him.

Naruto starts, the voice like an enchantment. He turns, unable to protest against his own movement; his neck is like a rusty hinge. But his eyes widen at the sight before him that had at first, mingled in the shadows, escaped his eyes, and he lets out a soft breath that echoes, unheard, through his ears. "Wh-Who--" he tries to speak, but something lumps in his throat, possibly his heart.

And then he knows. After all, Sasuke had pointed him out once before, that night.

"I am Uchiha Itachi," they say in that same, arousing tone. "Sasuke's brother."

Shivering, Naruto can practically hear the words wisp off the speaker's tongue. What slick precision. Naruto's face colors at the thought.

"I-I--er--H-Hey--" Naruto has to force himself to duck away from those beautiful eyes. How couldn't he have seen this man clearly hours before? He is the epitome of masculinity, with a muscular build that shows past the fabric of his black shirt. His jaw line is so well pronounced, even as shadows dance on his face. Though unexpectly pale, he is so, so beautiful.

Naruto gulps. What am I thinking? But the thought shoves itself away in moments, and he finds his mouth go dry, his jaw dropping.

He hears someone snort derisively in the background and drop a caustic comment, and only that can draw the blonde from his daze. Some things never change.

"Hey! Who just said that?" Naruto intends to howl, but his voice goes meek and tumbles helplessly. His face, now, is nothing but a splotch of red.

Itachi, however, takes no notice of this, or, at least if he does, he does nothing to show it. He watches Naruto directly with those smoldering eyes. "I made a promise to my brother that I'd explain many things to you, Naruto. Did you know?"

Unable to trust his own voice, the blonde nods quietly, mesmerized at the face before him.

But Itachi's gaze snatches away for a half moment, catching that of, Naruto realizes idly, someone behind. However, Naruto can't find it in himself to see who. His eyes are glued to the man before him. "I suppose," Itachi says lowly, "that I've delayed long enough." The Uchiha motions to a servant from the side, but this time his gaze doesn't move from Naruto's. At this, the blonde's face becomes as hot as the eyes watching him. "Escort him to the room next door," Itachi commands. "Naruto, if you'd follow my servant."

Unaware of his being manipulated, Naruto nods, a dumb smile playing on his face. With one face turned backwards, Naruto stumbles out of the room.

"Hinata-san," Itachi addresses the girl suddenly.

Hinata flinches, lowering her face in a fluster. She fiddles with her fingers. "Yes, my King?"

"Seeing as your cousin is, at the moment, unable, would you leave the town quickly and check for Orochimaru's aura?" Itachi asks, his voice lighter as to not alarm the girl. "That is," he adds, "if your masters permitted it."

"Of course," Kisame snorts without a regard to Sasori.

Hinata nods her head feverishly. "I-I will go."

"I thank you," Itachi nods. "Sasori and Kisame, I trust you can plan something. But excuse me, for I'll be back shortly." He pauses, catching the gaze of one another in the room. Though his expression doesn't change, his eyes smile.

The notion, however, disappears as he leaves through the door.

Kisame grins, speaking loudly enough for his ally, his friend to hear, "Pretty and smart!"


Announcements: Hm, did that seem shorter than usual? It really feels like it. Well, I'm planning to update later this week--what a miracle--because I'll be leaving for a three-week, no internet sleepaway camp this Friday night. x3

My gosh, do I feel like I'm shipping Itachi-chan into a sex room. (One thing I'll give away is that THAT will not happen.) Anywho, sexy boy can take care of himself.

Lots of love,

etherealxx