Insanity's Slip

Chapter Twenty Eight

By Boejangles

-/-

Naruto attempted to put on a brave face, however that all vanished when he realized where his brother was leading him. In an act of self preservation, he dropped his body to the ground and started flailing around. "No, no, no, no, please, please, not that"!

Growling when his arm was suddenly jerked downwards, Sasuke attempted to force the smaller boy to his feet. However, with the blond squirming around as he was, the task was difficult. In front of the boy was an ordinary looking brown down, which seemed no more ominous than any other door in the house. "I told you if you keep behaving it won't be so bad, are you planning on disobeying me now"?

Moving to his hands and knees, the blond begged, "Please, please, not that. I'll play hide and seek or the running game or anything else, but please not this." Naruto had never been sick in his life, never so much as a cold. Yet, the academy had ten separate accounts on the record of the young blond missing up to a week of school from being out sick; almost all having taken place in the first few years the kid attended the school.

"No," the answer was solid and absolute. "We are not here to play a game. We are here, because you have become increasingly disobedient and need to relearn just who is in charge here. I fear that any other method would be ineffective." The dark haired boy explained as he reached down and grabbed both of the boy's arms and began to drag him the rest of the way to the door.

Kicking his feet wildly, the youngest Uchiha attempted to dig the toes of his shoes into the ground to prevent his body from being moved. It seemed that the older boy's upper body strength over powered the other's lower body strength and the boy continued to be dragged.

Releasing one wrist of the struggling boy, Sasuke opened the door that seemed to shoot fear through his younger brother. The opening revealed only darkness until a hand flicked directly inside the doorway to operate a light switch and revealed a long stairway.

"I suggest you stand up and walk or I will throw you down the stairs," the threat was accompanied with a painful squeeze to the wrist that was still in custody.

Naruto stood up shakily as if to obediently follow his brother down the stairs. However, after taking the first step the blond used his free arm to grab onto the doorway as well as bring the leg on the same side his body tightly against the wall, so that Sasuke could only pull half of the boy.

Jerking the arm that was still in his grip quite painfully, the older Uchiha glared hard. "You are not making this any easier on yourself little brother." Walking back up the few steps that he had managed to get down, the dark haired boy gripped the other's upper arm and squeezed tightly while slowly pulling the arm from its death grip on the post.

The blonde was fighting so hard not to move that he nearly took the paint off of the wall with his fingernails. Tears made their way down his face as he turned to look at his brother. "Please, Aniki, please, if any part of you still loves me, don't do this."

Sasuke took in a breath and shook his head before he finally managed to dislodge the disobedient arm and grab the wrist in a tight hold so that he now had both arms prisoner. "You don't understand little one, I'm doing this because I love you."

Naruto moved so that both feet were in front of him and he was pulling his wait against his brother in an attempt to not be dragged any further down the stairs. His movements only caused him to stumble each time he was pulled off of a step. In a final attempt to escape his fate, the blond allowed his entire body to become dead wait.

The older boy huffed as his arms were suddenly jerked down again. "You are much too old to be throwing these kinds of temper tantrums," Sasuke vented as he managed to pull the boy down the final steps and into the small dark room. The room was simple and bare seeing as its intending use was just to house a furnace, water heater, and circuit breaker. However, this room housed more than that, for instance, a glittering chain that hung down from the ceiling and broke into two cuffs.

The blond stared completely unmoving at the hanging metal. Then, his entire body began to tremble and he attempted to dart back up the stairs. The grip on his wrists prevented him from escape and pulled him closer to the last place on earth he wanted to be.

Releasing one arm to slide the first wrist into the hanging cuff, the dark haired boy was prepared for the strike that hit his stomach. Instead of reacting, he simply secured the lock. The boy would receive all the punishment he deserved shortly. Sasuke grabbed the swinging fist with both hands and brought it up alongside the first one and repeated the same process of locking it in place. Once he had assured they were both secure, he took a step away from the swinging feet.

"Well it seems you have grown since we were last down here, little brother." Surprisingly the voice wasn't mocking, it was simply pointing out a fact. Moving around the still thrashing boy, the older Uchiha grabbed hold of a chain that was latched to a hook. He unlatched it and slowly pulled on the chain, which worked through a hook on the ceiling and pulled the blond up higher. Pulling until the blond was perched on his tippy toes; the taller boy reattached the chain in place.

"There so much better, now you won't have that silly impulse to kick," Sasuke slightly admonished while he crossed his arms to look at the crying boy. "We haven't even started yet and you are already crying; that is quite disappointing."

Naruto attempted to choke back the next bit of tears, but it was no use. He had never wanted to return to this room and he had made quite a run at it until now. Attempting to find his best point of balance, the blond moved his feet slightly. His toes were flat against the ground, but the rest of his foot was vertically in the air. Caught up in his own sense of despair, the younger boy didn't hear what had caught the other one's attention.

Sasuke pressed his finger against his brother's mouth and made a shushing motion. He then turned and made his way up the stairs. The smaller boy could see his brother even at the top of the stairs and definitely didn't miss the smirk that was sent to him before the lights were turned off and the door was shut. It took all of a second for Naruto to realize he was in complete darkness, and then, he screamed.

-/-

Sasuke glided across the floor until the front door rested in front of him. Opening the large wooden mass he found a woman and the runt that had been with his little brother earlier. "Hello, how may I help you at this late hour"?

The small brunette growled before taking a step towards the taller boy. "Where is my Naruto? What have you done to him? If you've hurten him anymore I'll kill ya I swear!" the boy all but screamed.

"Konohamaru!" the woman admonished. "We do not make threats, especially ones of such evil intent. Now, you be quiet and let me speak." Setting a hand on the boys head as if to physically keep his temper down, the woman looked to the male in front of her. "Hello there Uchiha, I apologize for my son. He was worried that something might have happened between you and your brother. Would you mind telling me what happened?" the woman's voice was calm and gentle.

The dark haired male nodded in understanding and ignored the boy's earlier outburst- he knew when it was in his best interest to control himself. "Well, only today did I return to the village from a training trip. When I came home expecting to find my brother in bed, I found him not in the house at all. Worried that something had happened I went out looking for him. Much to my surprise I found my brother in the company of your son. I rebuked my brother for being out past curfew. And I realize now that I may have crossed a line and for that I apologize, but I also told your son that he was a bad influence. Your son proceeded to call me a meany head and then I told them both that Naruto was no longer allowed to play with your son. To which your son decided I was an evil buttmunch. I told your son to go home and then brought my brother home." He paused in his speech and a thoughtful look crossed his face. "I really should have simply walked your boy home instead of sending him alone; then none of this would have happened. I am sorry for not doing just that."

"You're a liar!" Konohamaru blurted out pointing an accusing finger at the older boy. "That's not how it happen mom, he is lying"!

The woman looked down at her son and then at the older boy. Clearly upset about the way her son had acted early and then with the outburst, she brushed it off to address the Uchiha again. "Konohamaru told me that he saw you hit Naruto, is that true?" the question was asked so gently as if it wasn't questioning about a possible abuse at all.

"Mam, I would never hit my brother and I definitely did not hit him tonight. I understand that I upset the little one and he must be angry that I no longer approve of my brother having a friendship with him, but I think this is taking it a bit far," Sasuke answered in a smooth voice while looking disappointed at the younger male.

"Mom he is lying, you have to believe me!" the brunette cried out pulling on the woman's arm.

The woman seemed to be debating something before talking in a breath. "Do you think that perhaps we could come in and see Naruto to clear this whole thing up? Perhaps if Konohamaru can see the boy he will be relieved."

The raven haired male nodded before opening the door all the way to let them in. "He is up sleeping in his room, I will show you the way. Just try and be quiet to not wake him."

Konohamaru crossed his arms tightly in front of his chest upset at the whole event. Once they got upstairs he would make Naruto tell the truth to his mom.

Sasuke simply smirked from where he was heading the line. Thankful for his foresight and creativity, he opened the bedroom door to a peacefully sleeping blonde.

Quickly running to the side of the bed, the brunette shook the sleeping boy. "Naruto, Naruto, tell my mom about what happened, about Sasuke hitting you"!

"Boss?" the blond asked groggily as he slowly looked around the room.

"Yeah it's me buddy, you have to tell my mom about Sasuke hitting you," the smallest boy in the room demanded.

The newly woken boy looked confused. "But boss, Sasuke never hit me."

Konohamaru took a step back flabbergasted. "What are you talking about? I was there in the street when Sasuke hit you so hard that you went sprawling onto the ground."

Shaking his head, the blond apologized, "I'm sorry for getting you in trouble, but my brother never hit me."

The boy was about to protest again when his hand was grabbed by his mother. "That is enough Konohamaru. I am very sorry for disturbing you Naruto, you get back to sleep and have sweet dreams." The young Uchiha nodded in response before offering a wave bye to his friend.

Not at all happy about being pulled out of the room, the brunette started accusing the older male. "Something is going on here, something isn't right. Mom I was telling the truth."

"I said that is enough Konohamaru." Her words were final and had the silencing effect on her son. She turned and offered an apologetic smile to the raven haired male. "I am deeply sorry for intruding on your night."

Sasuke shook his head and motioned his hand as if it was no big deal. After walking them to the front door, he offered them a safe travel home before closing the large wooden mass. Turning away from the front door and back towards the back of the house, he smirked and dismissed his henged clone. Yes, he definitely loved his foresight.

A few seconds later put him opening a door and being assaulted with screams for help. He put a hand to his head as if to ward off a headache, before descending the stairs after closing the door behind him. "Come now little brother, you know that no sound leaves this room. You are simply wasting your breath and more than likely hurting your throat. However, you are giving me a headache, so," the boy drifted off and walked over to a shelf next to the circuit breaker and picked up a leather gag.

The blond snapped his mouth shut and locked his jaw not wanting that thing anywhere near his mouth. Yet, when pale finger jabbed into the joint near the ears, his mouth was forced open and the contraption secured in.

"There, much better," the older boy observed now that only muffled sounds were coming from the other boy. "Now, now, you have caused so much trouble. That little friend of yours came by attempting to make a problem of himself, but I took care of it. Don't worry you will still have that added to your punishment though." A dark chuckle left the other boy before he went back to the shelf and grabbed two more items.

The first was a blindfold that completely blacked out the blonde's vision. The second was a device that slipped over the boys head and onto his ears which rendered the boy as good as deaf. The boy trembled slightly hating the feeling of complete helplessness- he couldn't move, or talk, or see, or hear. With so many senses hindered the remaining ones were heightened. The taste of leather was prominent in his mouth, but he could almost taste his blood imbedded in it from years ago. For some reason all he could smell was his own fear, though sometimes he forgot how fear had smelt.

He could feel the metal around his wrists digging into the flesh. He could already feel the strain in his feet from holding his body weight up. He could feel all the devices on his face which felt suffocating. He definitely felt when his brother finally decided to strike and he swung back off of his feet and all of his weight slammed onto his wrists. It took swinging back and forth a couple times before he had managed to steady himself back on his toes.

Naruto had become the literal human punching bag. With each hit his body was swung around not only causing pain from the hit, but pain from the chains gripping tightly to his wrists, as well as his feet fighting the ground for a grip. He had screamed his throat raw even though he couldn't hear a single utterance.

Feeling his brother's hand glide down his cheek mockingly, he flinched away- which earned him a punch to his left cheekbone. After regaining his center, his tongue prodded for the source of the metallic taste in his mouth and located a loose tooth. Well that was just great, he would have to do his best not to aggravate it and lose the thing.

Idly wondering if he had any broken bones or if he was simply severely bruised, he wasn't prepared for the sudden cold when the back of his shirt was cut open. His body began to shake again dreading what he feared was happening.

Pain erupted in his back as a blade dug into the flesh. Sasuke was carving something in the young boys back. The blond attempted to pull away, but to do so only aggravate his current injuries. It also earned him the blunt end of a kunai to the back of his head in a not so friendly manner followed by a slightly deeper cut into his back. He realized quickly the lesson was stay still.

After his entire back was screaming in pain and wet with blood, the blade was finally removed. The coppery smell of blood was so strong in his nose that he couldn't smell anything else. Perhaps if the stench of his life substance hadn't been so potent he would have noticed something was off and would have had some warning.

However, he had no warning and about jumped out of his skin when an iron prodding stick straight out of the furnace dug into his open wound. A soundless scream shot through the abused throat as the boy franticly attempted to leave the source of burning. It seemed to work for a second, before the metal was brought back to a different section of the wound feeling even hotter this time.

The metallic smell was replace with that of burning flesh and was horrified to know that it was his flesh that was burning. For once he was glad he couldn't hear; he would hate to hear the sound his skin made as it charred. He knew his brother had to be hearing and smelling it to, but that didn't seem to stop the boy from continuing to fry the boy's back.

As Naruto attempted to find a place inside him to escape the pain, a part of him wondered what the older male wished to scar into his very being so badly. The boy had almost managed to find a place of unconsciousness, when a hand slapped his cheek. He felt the chakra pass through Sasuke's hand and into his face sending pure adrenaline to his brain and at once lighting every single nerve on high alert. Every pain receptor in his body screamed as a unit before shooting the message back to his brain.

The signals light up in his head allowing him to register for the first time just how much pain his body was in. The strangled cry that managed a trip up his throat and partially through the gag reflected that of a dying animal. Then as soon as it came, the pain stopped and sparkling blue eyes rolled into the back of the boy's head. Body becoming completely limp, the blond dangled from his wrists as his feet dragged on the ground. Naruto let out a ragged breath before struggling to take in another one.

With his arms held tight above his head and body hanging down, it was hard to expand his chest to take a breath. It was even harder now that he wasn't consciously working on breathing or holding himself up a bit to make it easier.

Light seemed to take over his vision and nearly blinded him. It didn't make sense, he hadn't felt the blindfold taken off, but he could most definitely tell there was a strong light on the other side of his closed eyes. Blinking said eyes open, Naruto was stunned that he could look into such bright light without his eyes burning. Then something very odd happened, a hand reached through the light that was also made of light. Tilting his head to the side he was at a complete loss as to what was happening.

Then without knowing how, he could feel his arm reaching out to touch the hand of light. That couldn't be right though, because his hand was still chained above his head. Yet his hand met the hand of light, then his hand became light and the light crawled up his arm and consumed him until he was light just like the arm that reached out to him. It was such a strange sensation, that all he could do was stare. Then, breaking his daze- the light spoke.

-/-

Sasuke watched the hanging boy carefully as if examining for something. It had been several seconds since the blond last took in a breath. He watched and waited as three more seconds passed by and no breath was taken. Walking to the wall slowly, he wondered if the smaller male was holding his breath in an attempt to escape. However, he did not want to kill the boy, so he unlatched the chain and lowered the boy to the ground. He reattached the chain just in case the boy was pulling a trick.

Nudging the boy with his foot, he noted that the boy did not move. He watched the blonde's chest as if mentally demanding it rise. The boy's lungs had no plan on obeying the older male's wishes. Crouching down, he moved to remove the gag from the boy's mouth thinking that might promote the boy to breath. However, even with the leather contraption out of the way, the boy still refused to breath.

He was about to shake the boy, when suddenly the blond took in a gasping breath. The older Uchiha nearly jumped since he had been staring so intently at the boy's chest. Then something very peculiar happened; red seemed to explode from the boy.

Naruto's body swirled with red chakra as the boy slowly moved to his feet. The movement was accompanied with sickening cracks and pops of the bones and muscles reforming themselves. Once the blond was upright, a red like fire erupted on the boy's back and there was a sizzling of flesh growing over the torn up mess of cuts and burns.

The chains around the boy's wrists seemed to burn white hot before they were snapped apart like a child's toy and the younger boy's hands were free. One hand gripped the blindfold while the other pulled the contraption off of his head.

Glaring at the raven haired boy were furious crimson red eyes. A growl tore through the boy's mouth before he leapt onto the larger boy.

"Don't," rose out of the blonde's mouth with evident hatred. Claw like hands gripped into Sasuke's shoulders hard enough to draw blood. "Ever." The older Uchiha was lifted off of the ground before being slammed back down. "Lay." The boy was smacked against the ground again. "Your." A hand was removed from a shoulder the plow into the other's face. "Filthy." The same hand grabbed raven locks before slamming the head into the ground. "Hands." Four bloody lines appeared on the boy's cheek and blood dripped off of Naruto's elongated nails. "On me." The bloody hand closed into a fist before punching the older boy in the abused face. "Again!" With a feral growl, Sasuke was lifted a thrown across the small room. His body smacked into the wall before sliding to the ground in an unmoving heap.

Blood like eyes continued to glare furiously at what they had deemed trash before finally flicking away and retreating up the stairs. With one last look at the battered Uchiha, he turned off the lights and closed the door.

-/-

Blue eyes blinked groggily and attempted to figure out just where they were. The last thing he could remember was that wonderful warm feeling light. He had felt so safe, so loved when the light wrapped around him. Had he died? Was he now in heaven? Perhaps that was the explanation for the light.

However, when his eyes adjusted to seeing again, he realized that he was in his room. He wasn't quite sure if he was relieved or disappointed that he was sitting peacefully on his bed. Honestly, he was still confused. He had no idea how he had gotten here. As far as he could remember he had still been in that dreadful room before saw the light.

Slipping out of bed, he quietly made his way across the floor and out of the room. Tiptoeing to his older brother's room, he poked his head inside and was shocked to find it empty. Something in his stomach didn't feel right. He moved around the house slowly in precaution to not alert the older boy if he was lurking around somewhere. He had almost made it to the kitchen when he spotted little droplets of blood on the floor.

Following them, he was led to the dreaded door. Pushing it open carefully, he quickly looked behind him to assure this wasn't some twisted trap his brother cooked up. Not feeling any movement anywhere around him, he slipped his hand in and flicked the light on. He was forced to take a step back when he saw a crumpled figure at the bottom of the steps.

Rushing down the steps, he knelt next to his brother. The boy looked bad. He had dried blood in his hair, on his face and over his shoulders. It didn't make since. How in the world had Sasuke gotten injured?

Scooping up the boy, he began to climb the steps. As he reached the top of the stairs, his heart froze. Had he done this to his brother? He remembered Sakura saying something about him tearing three people apart and he had no recollection of that either. His insides were quivering. No, he could never hurt his big brother so badly.

He shook his head and convinced himself that it didn't matter at this point. What mattered was making sure that Sasuke was okay. He laid the boy on the living room couch before running to grab the first aid and a bowl of water.

Rinsing off the blood, he was relieved to find that none of the wounds would do permanent damage. He proceeded to wrap the wounds after putting ointment on them. Later, when the sun was higher in the sky, he would take his brother to the hospital and have the wounds treated properly.

For now, he was almost too exhausted to move anymore. He had been so riddled with curiosity and then panic he hadn't notices just how tired and sore his body felt. Slumping against the couch where his brother was out cold, he felt into a fitful sleep with dreams that only further unsettled him. He hadn't really been the one to hurt his Aniki, was he?

A/N: Well there you go another chapter! Yay! See I was able to do it again. Hehe. So, what do you think? As always likes, dislikes, questions, complaints, comments, critique, requests, undying affection and the likes are all greatly appreciated and motivate me to write more and faster. The next chapter is going to be a doozey; that is if I don't get carried away on random descriptive detail/battle scenes/character interactions and not reach the crazy epic part in the next chapter. I tend to keep doing that though. I thought I would be able to fit so much more in the last two chapters, but hey a quality story comes before revealing all the plot twists. Guess you guys just have to keep your socks on for a bit longer.

Anyways, review and I shall be happy little writer with the mission to satisfy your reading needs sooner.