DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. (Though the OCs are mine!)
Webs of Deception
Chapter Fifteen
Can't You See That I'm Choking
It was early in the morning, the sun not yet even risen as Naruto made his way through the Uchiha compound and in the direction of Sasuke's house. His gaze unfocused as he stared in front of himself and down the road. His legs feeling like lead with each step he took to the place that was tearing him in two.
Ever since he left the house the day before, he's been wandering around Konoha. Aimlessly going to one place or another where he used to visit when he was younger. While his thoughts ran all over the place but no matter how hard he tried to think of what was going on in front of him, he could only think of Sasuke and what 'Tachi said before he left.
.....But I'm not the one that's killing him. You are......
That one accusation kept ringing in his head over and over, keeping him from falling into an uncomfortable slumber on a random tree branch. It was driving him up the wall......and......slowly dissolving his firm resolve. Because no matter what people might think, even he wasn't blind. He knew to a certain degree of what he was doing to the raven. And if it was anywhere near to what he, himself, was feeling, then it was far worse than what he's imagining.
He just couldn't figure out if it was the right thing to do, either way. In one direction, he could keep his distance and possibly destroy Sasuke. Which in turn, would kill him sooner than the estimated time that's been set for himself. Or in the other direction, he could tell Sasuke the truth about everything and possibly live the rest of his life that's left in happiness with fewer regrets than going down the other road.
Now that he really looks at both directions more closely, he's realized that no matter which direction he chooses, both directions are selfish of him. Because both of them basically wind down to the same thing. To avoid feeling the extreme guilt from doing either. And the one thing that he was positive in, was that he didn't want to lose Sasuke. Not because of an emotion that he was going to feel either way.
Argg....how he hated these kind of decisions. He only had to make this kind of choice once and look how that went. It just circled around evilly and basically landed him back in the same situation but with more complications that's been added to the mix. It was times like these when he hated his life to the fullest.
Though, deep down he already knew which road he would travel down. He knew it before he even walked through the gates of Konoha. Now it just came down to actually taking that first step before something either blocks his path or that road simply disappears, making it unable to travel down anymore.
He absentmindedly kicked a medium sized rock with his foot a few feet down the road as he let out a deep breath. 'Why does my life have to be so complicated?'
'You're life wouldn't be complicated if you actually listened to that Uchiha brat's older brother. But noooo, you have to be so.....how do they put it? Ah, selfless. I personally call it being a complete fucking MORON! But who am I for my own Kit to listen to. Especially when I was--'
'Kyuu...' Naruto tried futilely.
'--the only one that was there for you when you were younger. Not to mention I stupidly agreed with the concept that leaving the Uchiha in the first place was the right thing to do. But NOW with THIS--'
'Kyuu....' he tried again as he stepped onto the path to the front door to the Uchiha resistance. A small breeze billowed his cloak, making him stop in his tracks when a very faint scent of blood reached is nose.
'--You're going too far this time! And here I thought that I raised you at least half way descent--'
'KYUU!!' he screamed in his mind, hopefully to shut the fox up and listen. It obviously worked, because Kyuubi snapped at the blond with, 'What!'
'Just wait.' he told the fox as he waited for another breeze to pass him. The scent in the last one was barely there, making him uncertain that if it was even present to begin with. He could of just imagined it. Or it could have been his subconscious telling that he wanted something exciting to do or that he needed to kill something. Either way, it was proving that he was losing more of his mind that was left.
He shook his head when no wind blew again and said to Kyuu, 'Never mind, Kyuu. I'm just going crazy.'
'And here I thought you were already there.'
Naruto ignored the comment, silently thankful for that breeze because it gave him an opportunity to stop Kyuubi's rambling. He took another step down the path, only for his foot to freeze in midair when--just then--a strong breeze past him, bringing with it a stronger scent of blood. Familiar blood that made his heart increase in rhythm.
'Kit....that blood is......'
'SASUKE'S!!'
He sped in nothing but a blur in the direction where the breeze came from. Which had him running around the house and into the forest located behind. His speed making his cloak billow around him wildly as his mind only focused on getting to Sasuke. Part of him hoped that the blood came from wounds that occurred during training. But that hope was diminished the deeper he went into the woods. The blood in the air becoming thicker the closer he got to the source. Too much blood for it to be just from training wounds. Way too much blood.....
He ran for another six seconds before a figure slumped against a tree came into his line of vision. 'Sasuke....' he thought as his heart momentarily dropped to the pit of his stomach when he noticed that no movement came from the raven. He pushed his legs even harder and once he was close enough, he clumsily collapsed to his knees by Sasuke's side.
His breath hitched as he glanced over Sasuke's condition. His left arm was covered in dried blood with the ground by and underneath him was saturated in blood. His naturally pale skin was now a sickly pale from the obvious blood loss. He looked him over closely to see if there were any other injuries and when his vision caught sight of the blood stained kunai lying in his right hand, his heart stopped for a second. Everything in his mind clicking together as his vision began to blur with unshed tears. "What have you've done Sasuke....." he said softly to the unconscious Sasuke.
.....But I'm not the one that's killing him. You are......
"What have I've done....." he corrected himself, knowing full well that this was his fault. If only he listened to his heart and not his damn mind, then this would of never happened. 'Tachi was right all along, he an idiot and he was the one that was killing him.....killed him.....
He tried to collect himself as best he could and attempted to use his enhanced hearing to find out if he could hear a heartbeat but the only thing his ears were hearing was the pounding of his own heart. 'Damn it!' He screamed to himself before he lifted his trembling hand. He forced his hand to still as he pressed his first two fingers to the pulse point on his neck, praying that he was still alive. 'Please be alive...' he inwardly begged as tears fell down his covered face.
But after a second of his fingers touching Sasuke's pale skin, said raven tightened his hold on his kunai and in a flash, the metal of the blade was pressed against Naruto's jugular. The latter startled at the sudden movement of someone who was suppose to be unconscious.
Sasuke forced his lead-weighted eyelids open partly, his vision--to say the least--was extremely blurry and he could swear that the world was spinning slightly on its hinges. His left lower arm felt like it was searing and his right was shaking uncontrollably against whoever he had his kunai against.
He forced his vision to focus on whoever the hell dared to try anything to him while he was unconscious. His brows furrowed and eyes squinted to see if he was seeing right. Because what he saw was someone wearing a fox mask and even through his clouded and light headed mind he knew who it was. Which made him wonder if he was delirious. "Naruto...." he whispered breathlessly, making the blond shuddered at the sound of it.
Being as untrustworthy of anyone in this village as Sasuke was, he stoned his voice and ordered as he pressed the shaking kunai closer to the tan neck. "Take that fucking mask off."
Naruto didn't even wince when the blade dug deeper into his skin. He was too relieved that Sasuke was still alive to worry about it. And besides, Sasuke was so out of it, he could of disarmed him already, that is if he wanted to. Instead, he obeyed the raven by taking off his mask and pushing his hood back to reveal his features to the other.
If it was anyone else that ordered him so blatantly, he probably would of ignored them or killed them--it really depended on who the person was. But Sasuke was someone, actually the only one, that he would ever submit to completely.
Upon seeing the blond's face with tear stains showing on his whiskered cheeks, his delirious theory went up a few notches. 'Why is he here?' he mentally questioned himself as his hand subconsciously went lax and fell limp to the forest floor. His cloudy onyx stared lazily into distressed sapphire. Until the owner of the breathtaking sapphires moved forward and grabbed his uninjured arm. "Come on, we have get you back to Ruri-chan, so she can heal you."
Sasuke glared the best he could at the blond and used the arm that the other was trying to lift him up with to push him away. "Fuck you." he sneered at him.
"Damn it Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed desperately, new tears forming at the corner of his eyes. "You need to get healed!"
But Sasuke ignored mostly of what he said except for the one thing that made his cold heart singe with warm. "Say it again....." he said almost inaudibly.
"Huh?" came the unintelligent reply from the blond. He heard what the raven said, he just didn't know what he wanted him to say again.
He gave a weak smirk at the other, "My name, idiot. You haven't said it once since I've been around you. So, say it again." his low voice holding that commanding tone as it did before when speaking the last sentence.
Naruto hesitated a moment, his voice caught in his throat. He knew this wasn't just a simple request, it was a request of reassurance. Reassurance that'd tell him if there was still something there. And if he did this, if he gave into his heart, if he gave into Sasuke's, then there was no way he could ever turn away from the stoic raven again.
His unshed tears flowed over and cascaded down his cheeks as his mouthed open slowly. His head lowering so his bangs could cover his eyes, his voice saying the one reassurance the raven wanted to hear. "Sasuke..." Because he couldn't give him up, he thought he could. He thought with all the obstacles that'll be permanently in there way that it would be in Sasuke's best interest to stay away from him. But it was that distance that was hurting the raven the most right now. He needs to stop worrying about what the future might bring to them and worry about what was happening in the present.
He felt a touch of fingers caressing the side of his face and he unconsciously leaned into the touch as his eyes remained on Sasuke's cloudy ones. Which seemed to snapped him out of his daze, 'Need to get Sasuke to Ruri-chan.' "Sasuke, I need to get you--" but he was stopped when Sasuke's hand gripped the front of his cloak and yanked him forward, crashing his lips onto the blond's.
Electricity coursed through both of their bodies at the intimate contact. Sasuke's lips sensually massaged against the others, his gripped around the cloak tightening and a growl rumbled low in his throat when the blond didn't respond. Naruto was just a little shocked at the sudden action. His mind not yet up to speed of what Sasuke was doing, not until the raven became impatient and moved his hand down low to where his dizzy mind thought was Naruto's crotch.
And he must of got the right place because when he grabbed this particular area covered in the cloak, Naruto gasped loudly, giving Sasuke the opportunity to plunge his tongue into his hot cavern. Naruto moaned at the intruding organ as he began to finally respond to the other's ministrations. The logical part of his brain temporary shutting down.
Sasuke's tongue traced over his gums, cheeks, the roof of his mouth and finally his tongue. Not getting enough of the sweet and addicting taste that was Naruto's mouth. The latter captured the raven's tongue with his teeth and suckled on the firm muscle with his own tongue. The kiss deepening and growing with long neglected passion.
Without actually thinking, he used his still searing arm to push Naruto closer to him, suppressing the painful groan when his muscles moved and flexed. Two of the deep cuts on his arm reopened with the movement, causing new blood to seep out and slide down his arm.
Upon smelling the fresh blood, Naruto snapped back to his senses and reluctantly pulled out of the passionate kiss. A trail of saliva connecting their mouths until Naruto disconnected the line with another chaste kiss. He wiped the excess saliva from his mouth before he said firmly, "I'm taking you to Ruri-chan." Then he swung Sasuke's uninjured arm over his shoulder.
"I'm fine." Sasuke tried to protest but the slurring in his voice kind of gave his condition away. Naruto hoisted him up on his feet and scoffed, "You don't look fine bastard."
And he knew he wasn't fine. The corner of his vision was darkening and before he knew it, he felt his legs give way as he descended into that blackness once again.
"Sasuke! Sasuke!" yelled Naruto when he felt the raven collapse against him. The panic within him rose to heightened levels as fresh tears accumulated in his eyes. He crouched down, bringing Sasuke with him and leaned the older male a crossed his bent legs. He took a few calming breaths before he brought his trembling hand up and pressed two fingers on his pulse point.
When he felt a pulse, he could of jumped for joy if it wasn't so weak. He hastily grabbed his mask and collected the unconscious raven in his arms. Then rushed back to the Uchiha resistance at full speed, bursting through the back door with brutal force. "RURI-CHAN!!" he yelled loudly for Akuma's medic nin to hear. Just as he entered the dining room, Itachi was about to exit the same way he was coming in.
Itachi was sitting at the table alone, continuing with the reading of Kyosuke's file from the other day, when suddenly Naruto's voice was resounding throughout the whole house. And strange enough he was desperately calling for Ruri. Since his mind automatically thought of the worst, he shot up from his seat and rushed toward the back door--where Naruto's voice came from.
But before he could exit the dining room, his path was blocked with a distressed Naruto carrying an......unconscious and bloodied Sasuke? "What the hell happened?" he asked as he moved out the blond's way, so Naruto could walk by and head to the stairs. Not once suspecting that Naruto did this to Sasuke. He may be a idiot but he couldn't do something like this to the person he loved. Now other people are a different story.
"I f-found him this way. He d-did it to h-himself." he stuttered out. This didn't seem to surprise Itachi one bit. He suspected that his foolish little brother would do something like this eventually, but it still didn't make him feel any better. It was his job to protect the two of them and now there's a possibility of failure in his duty of doing just that. And he didn't like failure.
The duo made it to the side of the stair railing as Ruri came rushing down them in her sleep clothes. At first, she thought there was something wrong with Naruto but when her eyes landed on the bloodied raven, she gasped. Not expecting the youngest Uchiha to be in such a condition. She stopped in descending the steps and swirled around, yelling over her shoulder as she ascended back up them, "Quickly, bring him to his room!" Already knowing what happened when she saw the cuts on his arms.
Naruto immediately climbed the steps two at a time, wanting to make sure he didn't waist any time that could result in Sasuke not making it. Itachi took each step but in a hasty manner as he followed the frantic blond toward Sasuke's bedroom.
As they neared Sasuke's bedroom, a door down the hall opened and a disheveled looking Miki emerged. "What the hell is all the ruckus about?! Can't a man have a quiet hangover around here?!" he yelled indignantly through his throbbing headache. He opened his sore and tired eyes and watched as everyone ignored him and rushed into Sasuke's room.....'Is that Uchiha unconscious? What the fuck.....' he thought in disbelief as he followed, pushing his headache aside so he could figure out what was going on.
Naruto laid Sasuke on the black covered bed and reluctantly stepped back, so Ruri could have enough room to work on the raven. The hand that held his fox mask unconsciously loosened and fell to the wooden floor with a clank.
Miki asked, after seeing the deep cut marks on his arm, "Did he actually try and commit suicide?!" His tactfulness needing some serious improvement.
And thanks to his not so tact approach, Naruto was now pacing back and forth while relentlessly biting his thumb nail and kept asking Ruri, who was addressing Sasuke's wounds, every few seconds if he was going to be alright. Which he didn't get any reply, she was too busy cleaning and healing the cuts on his arms to respond.
"No. I don't believe he did." said Itachi, "Unless he's extremely bad at getting the job done." And when he got a weird look from the white haired male, he explained, "Of what I can see, there's four different cuts on his arm. So I believe that it was self mutilation."
A look of understanding crossed Miki's features, "He's a cutter." he said lowly, then he scoffed and gave Itachi a sad smirk. "And here I thought what you were saying last night was bunch of bullshit. I didn't actually think that he would do something like this....." And he didn't. He didn't really know the raven but with the short time he was around him, made him think that the Uchiha had too much pride to do something that seemed so weak. 'Boy, how wrong I was....'
Truth be told, he liked the Uchiha.--As a friend only. He was straighter than the straightest pole.--And no, it's obvious that he didn't like what he did to Naruto. He definitely didn't like that......but.....he might of judged without taking in all the considerations of the entire situation. Okay, he begrudgingly admits that he did, without any doubts. He's the type of man who will hit you first and THEN think it over to why he's hitting you. But even knowing this, he didn't think that it would go this far.....He glanced over to the emotionally wrecked blond, silently telling the younger male to fix this before there was absolutely no turning back for either of them.
Ruri finished cleaning, healing the wounds and for safe measure, she dressed the area with sterilized wraps before she stood straight again and turned to the others, who--besides her Captain that was still pacing--were waiting patiently for what she had to say. "Uchiha-san should be fine." This made Naruto stop in his steps and released a sigh of great relief. "But he did lose a lot of blood. And I already tried to get him to swallow a blood pill but he won't even open his mouth for me to even put one in."
"And you expected him to?" Itachi asked and then went on. It wasn't a question that needed to be answered. "He's a trained Anbu Captain. Even with being unconscious, the Anbu train you never to take anything that you're not aware of. It could be the difference in living or dieing."
"It's not harmful to him!" she snapped at the older male. Her irritation level going up with the resistance of the younger Uchiha. Couldn't Sasuke subconsciously tell that she was trying to help him.
Itachi remained calm at her tone and simply replied evenly, "He doesn't know that, now does he?"
All the while, Naruto stared at the still form of his lover, or should he say ex-lover.....? Argg, it doesn't matter. So anyway, he continued to stare at the sickly complexion, knowing that he needed that pill. But just how were they going to get it past that clamped jaw of his?
An idea popped into his head, but he didn't know if he could do it with the other three within the room. And he couldn't just ask them to leave either, it would be too suspicious and Itachi would probably not leave anyway. So, that would be just a waste of energy and be even more weird about doing this in front of them.
He walked around the bed with purpose in his steps, but while doing this, several needle like pains shot through his chest. His brows furrowed and swallowed hard, ignoring what he had a feeling was coming and held his hand out to Ruri. "Give the pill to me. I'll get him to take it." Obediently, Ruri gave him the pill as Miki asked, "How the hell are you going to get him take it when Ruri couldn't. She's been doing this kind of shit for years when....." he stopped himself when he saw Naruto put the pill in his own mouth. 'Okay.....I could of sworn he was going to give that to Uchiha.'
Naruto positioned his knee on the bed and his right arm on the other side of Sasuke to keep him balanced. He lowered himself slowly until his lips were an inch above the other's. A moment passed with him staring at the pale and dry lips before he descended the short distance and gently pressed his lips against the raven's, feeling the chapped surface. His tongue slipped out and swiped across the them, moistening them with his saliva.
Ruri's face burned heatedly and she looked somewhere else, feeling like she was imposing on the situation. While Itachi smirked at the gesture, his mind already scheming to use this in future persuasion. 'I love when Naruto willingly gives me things to work with.' he thought devilishly.
Miki's mouth was hanging open shamelessly, trying to access what he was seeing was real. It couldn't be, because he's never seen with his own two eyes Naruto doing anything remotely intimate with anyone. Much to his many attempts to get the blond with either sex. Yeah, he knew about him and Uchiha but he didn't know the details. Hell, he didn't want to know the details. That would be waaay too much information about his friend.
He just wasn't used to seeing Naruto so......loving. In all his five years of being around the blond, he's only seen the kind, humor and ruthless sides of him. Never this.....it was actually kind of creepy.
After Naruto massaged his lips against the other's to possibly render some kind of response from the unconscious raven, he pushed his tongue past those delectable lips. He knew that Sasuke's teeth were still firmly set, so he tried the same thing that he did with his chapped lips but those teeth were not moving. 'Damn you Sasuke.' he mentally cursed the Uchiha, the pain in his chest increasing. He needed to get Sasuke to take this before whatever will happen, happened.
Kyuubi growled at him in his head. 'God, do I have to think for you Kit?! Do what he did to you in the woods!' He would of said more, but he disconnected the connection because he knew that his stronger presence would only make the pain within his hoist more severe.
Naruto felt like a real ditsy blond at the moment for not thinking of that sooner. As he lowered his hand to Sasuke's nether regions, he repositioned the pill that was--up until now--stored in the side of his cheek and maneuvered it on his tongue, making sure he was ready. He just hoped that Sasuke doesn't bite his tongue clean off. That would suck.
His hand hovered over the large bulge in Sasuke's pants, inwardly enjoying the fact that the raven's body still recognized him. A couple more seconds later, Naruto tentatively touched the sensitive area. Touching Sasuke so intimately was awkward to say the least, especially after what he put the raven through, and he had a feeling that if and when Sasuke finds out about this, that he was going to die painfully. Other than those, he couldn't deny that he liked touching him.
He felt Sasuke get harder at his ministrations, the front of his pants moistening from precum, but his soft touches weren't enough to make the stoic Uchiha gasp out. So what do you do when this problem arises, grip him hard of course. And that's what he did, which in turn caused Sasuke to gasp just enough for Naruto to slip his tongue into the other's mouth with the pill. He let the pill slide off his tongue, using said tongue to coax it deeper into the raven's mouth as he also thoroughly took pleasure in tasting Sasuke again.
But his enjoyment was short-lived when a stronger pain shot through not only his chest but his entire body too. His grip on Sasuke's clothed erection tightened, causing the unconscious raven to let out a groan and buck his hips into the new hold. The pill in his mouth sliding down low in his throat, allowing his swallowing reflex to take place.
When Naruto knew that Sasuke swallowed the pill, he pulled back and removed his hand from the other's crotch. He grinded his teeth from the pain coursing through him as he turned to look at the blushing Ruri. "He swallowed it." Was the only thing he said as he rose from the side of bed, trying his best to convey nothing was wrong with him. Ruri still needed to watch Sasuke's vitals, so she didn't need to worry about him. Because he knew that she would put him before Sasuke and he wouldn't allow that.
He didn't look at the other two conscious males within the room, giving the impression that he was embarrassed of what he just did, as he left the room quickly. And don't get him wrong, he was embarrassed but not that embarrassed. He kept his facade up, just in case in ran into Kyoko or Gaara--wherever the hell they might be, until he enter his room and closed the door behind him. Then it fell, resulting in him groaning and hunching over in pain. His breath coming out in heavy pants while his body broke out into a cold sweat.
'Fuck....' he mentally cursed and bit his lip until it bled as another wave of pain went through him. It felt like someone was ripping his insides apart. His vision began to darken, causing his body to sway. His hand shot out and gripped the dresser that was positioned near the door to steady himself, gripping the edge of the wood until his knuckles turned white. Naruto's other hand was tightly on his thigh, his nails digging roughly through the cloth of his cloak and jeans.
The grips of both hands loosened as Naruto's body unceremoniously crumbled to the hard floor. The pain rendering him unconscious......
Miki's head turned toward the bedroom's open door when he heard a thump coming from outside the room's walls. He gave an annoyed look to Itachi, "I wonder what Naruto's doing now?" he inquired without expecting to get an answer. So, without waiting for one, he exited the bedroom and went to Naruto's closed door. He lifted his hand, knocking a couple of times but didn't get any response.
Thinking that the blond was in the bathroom or just plain ass ignoring him, he said loudly, "Hey Naruto, I'm coming in! You better not be doing something that I don't want to see!" Then proceeded in inviting himself in.
He didn't even take two steps within the room before his voice laced with desperation yelled, "RURI!!!"
