Naruto is tied up, gagged, and blindfolded.

He's scared, mind racing as the car hums underneath his body. He doesn't know where they're taking him.

He wants Sasuke.

Juugo, with what feels like bruised ribs, hips, and jaw, rushes back to Sasuke's office as fast as his old body would let him.

"Bocchan!" he half-shrieks in relief and hysterics when he sees Sasuke enter the room he'd been made to wait in.

"I thought you were on your way home?" Sasuke says as he walks in.

Juugo rushes to his charge's side immediately, "Naruto-sama's been taken!"

Dread washes over Sasuke like a waterfall, filling every crevice of him.

He guides his panicking, terrified, elderly nanny back onto the sofa. "Before she was taken, did you talk to anybody? Meet anybody? From the Haruno or the Inuzuka?" he doesn't mean to be leading or pointed with the question, but they're the only ones who had it out for them.

"Nobody—we were headed straight home,"

"I thought he had the charm with him?"

"We thought he did!" says Juugo, hands shaking. "He noticed it he didn't have it just after we parted ways—oh, Bocchan, I tried to fight back, I really did,"

That charm Sasuke gave Naruto is actually an amulet, something Sasuke made to hide Naruto from other people's gifts. Sasuke's jaw tenses with a furious bite. The only person he can think of who could've done this is Inuzuka Tsume, who had the gift of seeing and hearing through her origami. He can't go after Inuzuka if he didn't have proof it was her.

"If only I'd check our belongings before leaving!" Juugo remembers, they might have left it in Naruto's room while he helped him pick out a purse that would match his kimono.

There's knocking on the door.

"Commander," it's Sarutobi. "You have another visitor,"

"Who?" Sasuke doesn't mean to sound impatient or angry. But Naruto's been abducted, and they don't have any leads at all.

Sarutobi, who's used to Sasuke's fiery attitude, lets the tone slide, and shows the visitor inside. "Here,"

The visitor isn't someone Sasuke expects in a hundred years.

Inuzuka Kiba enters the room.

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke demands of him.

"I'm in no place to ask you," Kiba starts, hand clenching into a fist. Never would Kiba have thought he'd seek Naruto's fiancé out. He thought he hated Uchiha because he has Naruto, but he knows, this man is the only one who can help Naruto. "But I can't save Naruto by myself,"

Sasuke leaves Juugo in Sarutobi's care and asks him to take the shaken elderly omega home, and Sarutobi agrees immediately, even though they're both up to their necks in work.

He doesn't have to say anything for Kiba to follow him to the carpark and Sasuke's never driven so fast in his life.

"We're almost there," says Sasuke when he notices Kiba's hands trembling on his lap.

"You seem awfully calm," Kiba points out, almost jealous that Sasuke can keep himself together in a situation such as this. Maybe that's why Sasuke ranks so high in the imperial army. He then doubts if Sasuke is really worried about his fiancé.

Sasuke is a man Kiba is envious of. He can barely find fault in the officer, and he'd never be able to measure up to him, no matter how hard he tries. Is it okay to leave Naruto with him? Is he aware of the loneliness and pain, and scars and wounds, so deep in Naruto's heart and soul?

Sasuke stops the car on the opposite side of the road facing the gates of the Haruno house. Kiba steps out, and Sasuke is already in front of the gates.

"What now?" Kiba asks, "They won't open the door for us if we ask,"

"That's not going to be a problem," Sasuke lifts his left hand up, and snaps his gloved fingers.

Thunder cracks loud enough to split the sky and shake the ground, and lightning is summoned from the sky. Kiba has to close his eyes and shield his face with his arms from the explosion. When the dust settles, Kiba opens his eyes, and sees the Haruno gates crumbled to the ground, thick and dry wood burning from the lightning strike.

"Let's go," says Sasuke, stepping over the mess that had become of the once pristine gates of the Haruno estate.

Kiba sees the lightning crackle at his fingertips. "Y-yes,"

Is this what Uchiha Sasuke's anger looks like?

When Naruto comes to, he can't see anything, but he doesn't have the blindfold and the gag on anymore. He tries to move, but his hands are still tied behind his back. Feeling the tightness on his wrists that restrict his movement, he remembers he was taken, in broad daylight. They were in the middle of the field, with nobody was around except Juugo.

Juugo! He hopes Juugo-san is alright! He saw him fall before being blindfolded. He heard him struggle and call his name, too.

He looks up, seeing a small window near the trusses of the roof, where some light is poking through.

"I'm… in the storehouse…" he realizes.

A crippling fear seizes him. If Oku-sama and Sakura were to find him here… he's afraid to see them. He was able to endure everything they did to him in the past, but he's not sure if he can do it again. He'd been too complacent at the Uchiha home. Naruto liked to think he is strong, detaching from the pain and building walls to prevent himself from being hurt by words or actions. But Uchiha-dono and Juugo-san spoiled him with warmth and love.

Naruto gasps when something starts banging against the door. His heart is beating against his ribcage in terror as the door creaks open.

"Onii-sama!" Sakura comes through the large doors, looking as beautiful as always. "You're finally awake!" she giggles. "You took so long to wake up! I thought you'd already died!"

Naruto's breath is caught in his throat. "Why are you…"

"You know," Sakura tuts, pouting at him. "You don't deserve a beautiful kimono like that. But now that it's all dirty and torn, it suits you much better!"

Naruto lowers his head. It's one of the kimonos Sasuke gifted him, the one like his mother's, the white one with the red spider lilies. He doesn't think he deserves this kimono either.

Sakura steps aside and her mother steps through the threshold and into the storehouse.

"It's all your fault!" Mebuki yells, slapping Naruto hard enough on his cheek that he falls to the floor, head easily bouncing off the hardened wood. "Because of you, our lives are a mess!"

Mebuki kicks Naruto's open torso and hips repeatedly, forcing the breath out of Naruto's chest. With his arms tied behind him, he can't protect himself. Sakura just stands there, watching her mother beat him.

"Don't forget your place!" she kicks him in the groin. "You're a servant and that's all you'll ever be!" another kick to his shoulder. "Living with the Uchiha family made you shameless!"

Naruto takes it. Because he must. It's just like before. He just has to keep quiet and take it, stay still, stay quiet, numb himself, build taller, thicker walls. Maybe Oku-sama will tire herself out, maybe when she's gotten all her anger out, she'll stop.

She yanks Naruto's hair up to make him face her. "Break off your engagement to Uchiha-sama right now!"

"Yes!" cheers Sakura, as if she didn't just watch her mother half-beat Naruto to death. "You're not good enough for Uchiha-sama! Switch with me!"

Mebuki pulls on Naruto's hair harder, undoing the braids Juugo had done that morning. "You should've just died! I should've kicked harder! Should've just let your mother bleed you out!"

Naruto realizes Oku-sama was the reason why his mother prayed to the fox. She kicked his belly and made him bleed. Oku-sama wanted his mother to miscarry Naruto. But the fox saved him.

"Someone should've just found your dead body in a ditch and fed it to the dogs!" she forces Naruto up to sit. "I'm going to refuse Uchiha-sama's proposal for you. You even have the gall to extort expensive clothes from him! You dare wear the Uchiha crest!"

"Don't worry, Onii-sama!" Sakura smiles at him. "Since I'll be engaged to Uchiha-sama after you, you can have Kiba-san! Don't you love him as much as he loves you? You belong together!"

If he does what they say, they'll stop. That's how it's always been. If he doesn't complain, doesn't react, and just apologize, they'll stop hurting him. So if he just gives up Sasuke, they'll let him go.

But he thinks of Sasuke's gentle touch, welcoming embrace, warmth, and smile, and Juugo's kindness.

"…desu,"

"What's that?" Mebuki grins, finally getting what she and Sakura want.

"Iya desu." I don't want to.

Never. He'll never give up Sasuke. He wants to be the one to stand by him. It has to be him. Nobody else.

"I will not break my engagement." He meets the enraged eyes of Sakura's mother.

"How dare you talk back to me!" Mebuki hits him again, but this time, Naruto doesn't fall to the floor, despite the force behind it.

Blood bursts out of Naruto's lips and drips to the floor. His cheek and jaw start to swell, his head is pounding, and his entire body hurts.

"Why not?" Sakura tries to reason, pouting. "What's the matter? The Haruno house will be yours, and Kiba-san, too! You'll be the Haruno mistress. I thought you always wanted those things?"

"I…" Naruto pants, then looks up at his abusers, with the courage and tenacity he thought he's never had before. "I am Danna-sama, Uchiha Sasuke's fiancé, and I am never giving him up!"

Haruno rushes out the front doors. "What was that?" he demands the servants.

"Sir! Lighting struck the gates!"

He sees Kiba and Sasuke approach, walking through the burning gates. "Uchiha-dono! What is the meaning of this?"

"Haruno-dono, where is Naruto-san?" Sasuke will try to be patient and control the urge to burn the estate down.

Haruno immediately thinks of Inuzuka. It can't be. Did she get involved with this? Is she the reason why Uchiha is looking for Naruto?

Sasuke huffs. It looks like he won't be getting an answer. "I'd like to ask you something. I thought you wanted to protect Naruto, that's why you sent him off to marry me. Tell me, do you even feel any affection for Naruto at all?"

Haruno scoffs. "Affection? No way I'd have affection for something so useless. I did keep him around but left him alone in case I can use him for something. Now that I think of it, I should have gotten rid of him sooner!"

"What!" Kiba tries to charge at Haruno, but Sasuke stops him.

"I see. So that's the truth,"

Kiba gasps. Uchiha-dono's eyes… they're… red.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Uchiha-dono,"

"Mother!"

"You abducted Naruto, didn't you, Inuzuka? Where is Naruto?" Sasuke demands, patience wearing thin.

Inuzuka Tsume sneers at him. "What will you do when you find out that Naruto doesn't want to see you anymore?"

"I will ask him myself. I want to hear it from him. If you don't tell me where he is, get out of my way."

"No. If you force your way in, I will report you to the authorities for trespassing!"

Trespassing? Sasuke almost wants to laugh. Why is Inuzuka so invested in the Haruno's estate like it's hers? Is it because her son is about to marry Haruno's daughter? What a delusional, misguided fool. "Do what you want, but I won't hesitate to use force,"

Both Haruno and Inuzuka use seals to put up a barrier around the estate, but Sasuke shatters it as he walks right through them.

Haruno hurries to put up another barrier, while Inuzuka tries to charge at Sasuke. Inuzuka instantly regrets trying to attack Sasuke with a punch, because in a blink Sasuke as her wrist in his gloved hand, effectively stopping her. Sasuke backhands her in the face and throws her down.

Female alpha or not, Sasuke will not tolerate anybody hurting the people he loves.

Haruno falls to the ground and shuffles back from Sasuke, terrified of the display of power and the red eyes glaring at him.

This isn't even a fight, Kiba thinks as Sasuke shatters barriers just by walking through them. It's like Sasuke isn't even human, and those eyes. This power and those red eyes, they make Uchiha look like a demon in the flesh, walking the earth, and there's something about him that's… terrifying.

Kiba follows Sasuke further into the property.

"Inuzuka Kiba," says Sasuke, "Do you have any idea where Naruto might be?"

"The storehouse!" he blurts out. "In the garden in the back!" because if they had something or somewhere big enough to lock people up, it'd be there.

"Get back!" Sasuke grabs Kiba's haori and pulls him back behind him.

Kiba gasps. "Mother! What are you doing! Stop it!"

It's his mother. Controlling burning origami, all around them. But it's not touching him or Sasuke, even though his mother look like she's straining at the use of her gift. Kiba looks around them and the house, the garden is burning. Everything has caught fire. The shouji doors catch fire first since they're made of thin wood and paper, and the ember from the burning origami sets the roof and the garden alight.

"Naruto is mine!" Inuzuka yells at them. "He's mine!"

"Fire?" Sasuke taunts her.

Sasuke raises a hand and the fire seems to obey him. Inuzuka almost freezes in her spot. How could she and Haruno have forgotten? It was right in front of them—Uchiha is an imperial officer. While he and Haruno have used their own gifts to further their ambitions, for their own gain, to protect themselves or to ensnare others… Uchiha uses his to fight for the Chrysanthemum Throne. And this is a fight she knows she can't win. (1)

"You come at me with fire?" Sasuke gathers the fire into a raging fireball, eyes a glowing, furious red, and throws burning origami back at her. "I am fire,"

Inuzuka tries to hold her ground, not let herself be scared into submission by those red eyes, that murderous intent, despite knowing she'll taste her own defeat soon. But she is prideful and will not go down without retaliating.

She attempts to shield herself from the fire directed at her, which hits her, causing her clothes catch fire. Sasuke bolts toward her as the fire dissipates and punches her with a hook to the jaw strong enough to knock her unconscious. She falls to the soft soil of the garden, and Sasuke gets rid of the fire on her clothes but lets the house burn.

Sasuke doesn't bother apologizing to Kiba about hurting his mother, and Kiba doesn't seem to mind either. His mother doesn't seem like she cared if Kiba died in this burning house. All she wanted is to get Naruto. He didn't think he was serious about replacing him and Hana… with children she intended to rape into Naruto. He pushes the thoughts aside.

"Let's go!" Kiba calls for Sasuke, who's still standing over his mother, the burning house behind them. "Hurry, the storehouse is this way!"

Mebuki backhands Naruto on the other cheek. "Insolent whore! Don't ever talk back to me!"

Naruto doesn't let the strike knock him down. "Never…" he pants. "I don't want to…"

A loud crash and bang come from outside. Like thunder shaking the ground. Mebuki and Sakura look out the storehouse door.

"What was that?" says Sakura with a gasp. "What's happening?"

"You!" Mebuki barks at the servant waiting on them. "Go see what's going on!"

"H-hai," the shaken servant says before leaving to check on the commotion.

Naruto falls to the floor with a soft thud. Everything hurts and he's tired. His jaw feels like it's been displaced on his face, his head throbbing on the side that bounced off the wood like a soft ball, and his belly. Oku-sama had been kicking his belly. What if he can't give Sasuke a child because of what they've done to him?

"It's you, isn't it?" Mebuki seethes at him. "All that ruckus outside is because of you. Say it. Say, 'I break off my engagement with the Uchiha family.' SAY IT!"

"I don't want to…" Naruto rasps, chest burning as he struggles to breathe.

"Stop this arrogance this instant!"

Naruto feels the heat of her anger with every blow she gives him. He can't give up. Never. Never again.

"Know your damn place!" Mebuki wraps her hands around Naruto's neck and starts to strangle him. "An ugly, scarred, cursed, illiterate omega like you? You don't deserve Uchiha-sama!"

He's going to die. He's always on the verge of death, just waiting for it to claim him. Naruto lived only because he had no choice. He'd already asked the fox to take him, to where his mother is. So that he can finally rest, be at peace, be loved. Yet every day he finds himself waking, living in a what seems to be a never ending nightmare.

He sees Sakura's spiteful face looking down on him, as if relieved to finally see the light in his eyes whither. He sees Oku-sama's face contort in sheer rage.

But Naruto doesn't want to die. Not anymore. He's already found a place where he's loved and happy. And that place is by Sasuke's side. He wants to live and see Sasuke.

"I… will never… say… it…" Naruto gasps as Mebuki tightens his hands around his neck.

His vision is darkening around the edges. Accepting his fate, but determined not to give up Sasuke, he closes his eyes, and imagines his alpha's smiling face and his embrace, and his voice calling his name, so that in death, Sasuke is who he sees last. How lucky is Naruto, to be loved like how Sasuke has loved him.

"Naruto-san!"

Is that Sasuke?

Mebuki turns around to see Sasuke in his imperial uniform, that younger Inuzuka boy, right behind him, at the threshold of the storehouse's entrance.

She gasps, terrified at having caught, and drops Naruto like hot coal. "Uchiha-sama!" his eyes are red. Why are they red?

Naruto's head hits the floor first as he coughs chest-wracking coughs. It hurts to breathe, but he must.

"Naruto-san!" Sasuke rushes to him and pulls the ropes off his burnt wrists.

It is Sasuke. He wants to say, he's been waiting for him, wanting to hear his voice and feel his warmth. He's always trusted that Sasuke would come for him.

Sasuke gathers a coughing Naruto to his lap. Naruto's never been particularly heavy, but there's a dead weight to him at the moment, like he can't lift up his own neck and upper body.

"Danna…sama…" Naruto croaks out in relief when the darkness in his vision clears, and he sees Sasuke's worried face looking at him. What beautiful red eyes.

He can still taste the blood in his mouth and his ragged breathing makes the bones in his chest rattle and creak. He must look poorly, dirty, bloodied, and beat up like this. If Sasuke looks so troubled, then he must really look terrible.

"It's alright," says Sasuke, "I'm here,"

But Naruto thinks, these are the wounds that show he stood his ground. That he defied their wishes and held onto his own. His injuries are proof of his disobedience. And he's proud of them.

Naruto wants to stay awake, but the harsh throbbing in his head is making his eyes droop. Maybe if he could just rest a while.

When Naruto loses consciousness, Sasuke grits his teeth in anger at the Haruno family, but he leans in and presses his lips to Naruto's hair. He breathes in his mate's morning floral scent, calming himself with it; his mate needs him. The alpha picks him up easily since Naruto is a small thing, arm under the omega's knees and the other his back. He makes sure to lean Naruto's head on his chest, so he doesn't roll back over.

Sasuke glares at the omega mother and daughter pair with glowing red eyes. He revels in their fear. "What did you do for him to end up like this? What were you trying to do, hurting someone who can't fight back?"

Mebuki flinches and turns away from him.

"I did nothing wrong!" exclaims Sakura. He's surprised she can move with his red eyes glaring at her. "I was trying to correct the mistake my father made!"

"A mistake?" says Sasuke, expecting a full explanation because nothing makes sense. It will make him even angrier if he finds out that they wanted to hurt Naruto for nothing.

"Yes! Naruto-onii-sama was accepted into the Uchiha family as a bride! That's the mistake!" she huffs. "He can't do anything! He has no gifts, no education, nor is he pretty. I'm more accomplished! I can't accept that someone like Onii-sama is rising to a rank higher than mine! So it must be a mistake! It's only right that I marry into the Uchiha family! That's what Tsume-oba-san thinks, too!"

What a foolish girl, Sasuke thinks. She isn't used to seeing Naruto get anything, to have an advantage over her, rise over her, be given more than her. This girl has gotten so full of herself that she believes the world owes her everything because she is her father's daughter, because she belongs to a prominent family, that everything she wants she should get because she deserves it. Her pampered and coddled upbringing has turned her into a spoiled brat.

"I'll be more useful to you than Onii-sama because I'm better than him at everything!"

Sasuke glares at her, red eyes glowing in the dark like a cat's. "Damare." Shut up. (2)

Sakura gasps and flinches back.

"You're a waste of my time," Sasuke steps forward to leave, but Sakura, shaken out from his intimidating eyes, blocks the way.

"But it's true! Why don't you understand!" she annoyingly insists.

"Oku-sama!" the servant from before comes running to them. "There's a fire! It's spread and it's almost to the storehouse!"

Sakura and Mebuki gasp. The lady of the house rushes out and sees their house is set ablaze. "NO!"

"Sakura-san!" says Kiba, "We have to go! It's dangerous and we have to get out of here!"

Sasuke takes the opportunity to leave while the Inuzuka boy has Sakura distracted. But it seems he can't escape Sakura's persistence.

"Uchiha-sama!" Sakura goes after Sasuke instead of going with Kiba. "Wait, listen to me!"

"I've heard enough, and have had enough of you," again Sasuke glares at her with red eyes. "Gifts, accomplishments, or appearances, I don't care about any of that. Get out of my sight."

Sakura watches him leave. Why? Why wouldn't he listen to her?

"Sakura-san, we have to go!" Kiba tells her again. He reaches for her, but Sakura slaps his hand away. "Mebuki-san, we have to go, too!"

"No!" she screams at him. "Everything I said was true! Why won't he listen to me!"

"It's all his fault!" Mebuki growls hysterically, watching in horror and anger as their home burns down. "This is all that cursed bastard's fault! This is all his doing, that cursed little demon!"

Kiba grabs Sakura's hand and starts to pull her away from the storehouse, trying to get her to safety.

"Let me go!" Sakura pulls back, still bratty and snobbish, as if she doesn't care that her home is burning, that they're in danger, that the fire will consume them, too. "Stop that! I said let me go!"

"Urusai!" Shut up! Kiba yells at her and that one yell takes all the air from his lungs.

Sakura gasps and stares at him. "…what?" she frowns. "Say that again?" she huffs. "Don't you like Onii-sama? So don't bother with me anymore, just go!"

Kiba glares at her. "Yes! You're right! Naruto-san is my most precious person. I love him! I've loved him all my life!" his voice is rising, and he knows it's because he's had enough of this bratty girl and her ambitious mother who didn't know when to stop. "But Naruto-san will be devastated if someone like you, who's done nothing but hurt him all his life, dies! Your death will add to the scars and wounds that your family has inflicted on him, and you will never, ever stop hurting him. I don't ever want to see him hurt or cry again because the likes of you and your family, Sakura-san,"

Sakura doesn't know why it stings hearing it like that from Kiba.

"Now stop being a brat and let's go," Kiba grabs her wrist and drags her out of the burning estate.

How beautiful, Naruto thinks, this tree of orange sweet olives.

"Naruto-san,"

Naruto turns around. He gasps. "Okaa-sama!" he calls, seeing him in the distance under an equally majestic blooming sweet olive tree, and under it, the fox's shrine.

He's wearing his favorite white kimono with the red spider lilies. His long, bright blond hair, just like his own, billowing in the wind. He's so beautiful. If only Naruto could be like him.

Naruto runs over to him. He misses his mother so much. "Okaa-sama!" he calls after him again, wanting to wrap his arms around him and let himself melt into that gentle embrace of love and comfort.

"Naruto," comes a voice from behind him.

He stops in his steps and looks over his shoulder and sees a white and purple string, flown by the wind in the other direction. He understands.

"Okaa-sama," he says with a smile, "I miss you so very much. I can't go with you just yet. Let's meet again someday,"

Stronger wind blows, and petals and leaves are blown away with the it.

Chapter End Notes

(1) When referring to the institution of the Japanese monarchy, the term used is the Chrysanthemum Throne, much like how the British refer to their monarchy as 'The Crown.' The Japanese emperor does not have a crown; they do, however, have imperial regalia: the sword, the mirror, and the jewel, which are presented to them upon enthronement.

(2) Damare （黙れ・だまれ） means shut up as an order, but I think you'll find in Japanese media that they also use urusai（うるさい） which can also mean shut up, but it's more of like 'you're noisy!' or describing something that's in the state of being noisy. Kudou/Sasuke is here telling Kaya/Sakura to literally shut her fucking mouth.

we're almost there! hope you liked it.