Now now, this won't hurt a bit…

Sasuke's eyes ripped open and he shot out of the bed, adrenaline coursing through his body. His wild eyes circled the room, looking for the owner of the voice. He gripped his knife in nervous, shaking hands and tried to calm his shaky breathing while his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room. He scanned the room slowly, looking for any abnormalities. The room was strangely silent and he felt the creeping feeling of dread creeping up his spine.

SNORT

Sasuke's eyes bugged out of his head and he snapped around to the source of the noise.

His eyes fell upon the sleeping form of an out-stretched, snoring Naruto. His expression fell from his face.

Seriously…?

He almost hit himself when he realized that the only 'intruders' in the room were a snoring Naruto and a sleeping Sakura. He let out a quiet, nervous laugh at his stupidity.

Only a dream

A cold shiver ran up his spine as the adrenaline that was coursing through his veins began to seep out of him. Sheathing his knife with twitching hands, he sat down on the bed that he had been sharing with the others. He took in another deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. He tried to recall what had gotten him so panicked but the memory of the dream began to subside until it became a muddled blur. He glanced up at his packed bags, then to his sleeping teammates and sighed.

Last night, they had decided to return to Elysium with the news of Itachi's capture and the destruction of Bunker 7, only that wasn't what Sasuke had decided to do. He knew if he returned, he may never find Itachi, and that wasn't a risk he was willing to take. He had kept quiet about his decision and agreed to return, knowing that he could easily evade Naruto, if he decided to come after him. Sasuke had no doubt Naruto would be pissed beyond all reason and would likely come after him and drag Sakura along with him. He would have to make sure he couldn't be followed and delay any possibilities of tracking.

He stood and got ready to leave. As he was about to walk out of the room, he took one final look at his sleeping friends and guilt began to seep into his mind. Naruto had his mouth wide open, snoring loud enough to alert any Oni in the surrounding area, and his blanket had been thrown off in a fit of restless sleep. His ridiculous sleeping hat that he insisted on bringing each mission was covering his face and was acting as an incredibly bad muffler to his snoring.

Then there was Sakura.

She looked beautiful. Her face was unmarred by stress and held a sort of serene peacefulness that was rarely seen during the waking hours. Her pale skin softly reflected the hint of light in the room and her cerise hair was splayed above her head, not unlike a halo. Despite his outward show of coldness towards the petite girl, he had grown a sort of attachment to her in the short time he had known her, and if he could dare label it, fondness. He knew he hadn't been the perfect gentleman, but she still smiled (most of the time) in his presence and seemed to extend the branch of friendship and peace out of pure, innocent motives, and not shadowy intentions.

He knew that if he didn't leave now, he probably never would.

He shouldered his bag onto his back and walked out without looking back.

Sick as he knew it was, the Outskirts held a sort of twisted beauty when the moon shone down on them. The cracked and splintered streets reflected the moonbeams with a soft glow that made the sinister landscape appear peaceful during the calm of night. Sasuke knew he only had a short amount of time before the sun would rise and the Oni would be on alert, so he quickened his pace towards the last known location of his brother. Knowing that he was walking through dangerous territory he readied his Sharingan to activate at any given moment.

Ask anyone, and they would have said he was insane to continue with this endeavour. But then again, Sasuke never was just anyone. He knew he was one of the exceptions to this world; he was a recombinant after-all. It wasn't just his cold-calculating manner that made him unusual amongst humans; it was also his highly abnormal 'talents' that made him stick out from the rest of humanity. There were few others that were recombinants like him; he knew that from experience, and that to have any exceptional gift in these times spelt trouble for the individual. From jealous complainers to superstitious conspirators, they all distrusted his kind, believing they were some-how a by-product of the Oni, or those recombinants fraternized with the enemy. He found it a little more than ironic that most of the recombinants he knew were high-ranking officers and captains in Elysium's military structure.

They were excellent actors after all.

His thoughts drew to a close as he came upon the street in which his brother was taken. He flicked his eyes from one corner to another, trying to sense if there were any remnants from Kabuto's "taskforce". Sasuke stretched his senses out as far as he could and encountered no presence of human activity. Or Oni, much to his relief. He quickly padded down the pavement, stopping in front of the scorched (courtesy of Sakura) building he last saw his brother getting dragged into.

Better to start here than anywhere else…

He quietly stole into the structure and was greeted by a wall of darkness. He glanced back to the entranceway, seeing the moonlight shine weakly through the hole. He let out a soft sigh; it was too chancy to turn on the compact flashlight on the end of his rifle, so he decided to use the next best thing. His eyes. Crimson seeped over his onyx eyes and the dark room began to sharpen in clarity and he could make out the details of the down-trodden alcove. The crimson-eyed boy began to take slow, sure steps farther into the building, feeling a slight inkling of doubt and worry creep up his spine as he progressed. Millions of thought flitted through his head, thoughts of who, what, when, where, how. He exhaled deeply to calm his nerves and arrived at the beginning of a long hallway. He stared down the length of it and felt a shiver of apprehension run through his body.

When he was younger, one of the tech experts back at Elysium had found a file dating back to before the war, apparently it had been called a 'movie', or something close to that, and he had decided to show a few of his friends, Itachi being among them. Itachi, not one to leave Sasuke to his own devices, had brought him along to enjoy the show. Unfortunately for Sasuke, the 'movie' was a bit more vivid than his imagination could ever dream up. In one scene, it showed a female making her way through a building, only to come across a group of mal-formed, disfigured creatures in white outfits waiting at the end of a hallway. The way the creatures had moved, the snapping of ligaments and creaking limbs, had scared Sasuke so much, he began to cry and forced Itachi to stay awake at night, out of fear that the freaky female creatures would get him while he slept.

This hallway seemed to be right out of the 'movie'.

What incredibly shitty luck

Sasuke gathered his nerves and pressed onward, secretly praying that nothing sudden would happen, or he might just die from fright. Of course he would never admit that. He approached a room and gingerly stepped through the threshold, eyes taking in all his surroundings at once. There was nothing there. He didn't know whether to be upset or relieved. He pivoted on his foot and made his way to the next alcove further down the hallway of doom. He stepped into it, and again, there was nothing. He scouted around the room and found a small pool of blood. His eyes widened.

Itachi…

He bent down and examined it with analytical eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. What he thought was a pool, was actually just a smear, meaning that it was probably just transfer from a small wound. He knew that Itachi was long gone from here, but at least this meant there was a small chance he was still alive. Plus the fact that Itachi's captors would probably want to keep him alive as long as possible, whatever their motive was. He stood from his crouching position and turned to exit the room.

Unfortunately, he didn't see the box behind him.

His foot hit the box with a solid 'thud', sending a surprised, shocked, freaked-the-fuck-out Sasuke hurtling to the ground, connecting with a small thump. He could hear his heart beating in his ears as the adrenaline started to rush through his veins, images of the freaky things flashing across his mind. He drew his ever present blade from its pouch, turning to face the unknown enemy. His ego shrivelled, sizing up the cube proportions of his 'deadly' enemy. It was at that moment the raven-haired boy was glad he was doing this alone, imagining Naruto's loud, obnoxious laughter and Sakura's soft giggles. He felt a slight tinge of guilt, but quickly suppressed it as he stood to break the accursed box into a million pieces. He was in the process of lifting his booted foot to curb stomp the wooden cube, when he noticed something he had missed before. He lowered his hovering foot and crouched down yet again to examine the floor. A small, crudely drawn music note had been scrawled over the concrete in what it seemed like, blood. When the box had jumped in front of his foot (how else would he have tripped over it), he must have moved the box enough to show the hidden symbol. He let a small smile cross his face.

Trust Itachi to leave me a cryptic clue…

His whole life, Itachi had rarely ever given a straight answer to Sasuke, always answering obscurely, forcing Sasuke to work out the puzzle until he had his answer. Even in his hazy half-consciousness, Itachi was still an evasive ass. He examined the symbol closer, noting that there was also a small 'N' beside it with an arrow pointing towards one of the walls.

Sasuke sighed.

Here we go…

A/N: hope you guys are still enjoying the story, and sorry for the long update time! I could give you a plethora of reasons, but I don't think that is really necessary. I'll try to get the next chapter up in the next couple of weeks, nut no guarantees, more like an estimated time-line.

Thank you so much for all you guys that have reviewed, it is greatly appreciated!!

And for those who haven't, in the wise (not) words of Gwen Stefani:

What cha' waiting for?!