Chapter 8: Kill Your Conscience
Important Trigger Warning: Violence, assault, mental abuse, threats of sexual assault & minor character death. If you don't want to read this chapter feel free to message me on Twitter, Wattpad or FanFiction and I will explain what happens. If you don't want to read the violence, then you can start reading after the 'NS'
It was midmorning by the time Sasuke was able to talk to Itachi. "You guys stay out here," he instructed Soma and Jona. It wasn't unusual, but Soma had a bad feeling about what they would be discussing. Usually the brothers would have scheduled something and their assistants would be present if it were business related.
"I'm going to the bathroom," Soma told Jona once Sasuke had walked into the office. He walked into the bathroom, looking around to make sure no one else was present as he pulled out his phone and an ear piece. It had been difficult to bug Itachi's office, but he had managed to hide one when Sasuke had been in a meeting and Itachi had gone to lunch with Kurama. He quickly turned it on, needing to know what they were talking about.
"I think we may need to get rid of Soma," he heard Sasuke say. "I no longer trust him."
Soma clenched his fists, trying to think of what he could have done that had given it away. "I'm glad you finally see it," Itachi responded. "You know how I feel about him."
"I know, no one else ever trusted him. I should have listened," Sasuke sighed. "I just don't know how to do it."
"Wait until tomorrow and we'll do it together," Itachi told him. "Just try not to be alone with him before then."
Soma huffed, shutting off the earpiece. He needed to talk to Orochimaru immediately. He was surprised Itachi was willing to wait until tomorrow, but didn't have time to hear his reasoning. He quickly pulled out his second phone, a burner phone just for this specific purpose. He called on of the only two numbers programmed in the phone.
"I told you never to call me," Orochimaru answered.
Soma was nervous to tell him that they needed to move up their timeline. "We need to do this tonight," he told him. "I listened in on his and Itachi's conversation. He's suspicious of me and saying he's going to fire me tomorrow," he explained.
"Fine, we'll do it tonight," Orochimaru grumbled, clearly unhappy with the situation. "I would have preferred an other practice run, but I suppose we don't have a choice. You know the plan, don't fuck it up," the line went dead and he knew there was no point in calling him back. Orochimaru probably destroyed the phone. He opened the phone, pulling out the SIM card to destroy it before throwing the phone on the ground and stomping on it for good measure. He quickly picked it up, wrapping it in a paper towel and tossing it in the garbage before hurrying back to his post.
"Took you long enough," Jona said when the man returned.
"Nature calls," Soma replied.
That day went by slow as Soma tried to find a way to get Jona alone. He found his opportunity at the end of the day when Sasuke had to take a call, shutting them out in the process. It was fairly late and most people had already gone home. "Did you hear that?" he asked, feigning concern.
"Hear what?" Jona looked around, seeing nothing suspicious.
"I think it came from the bathroom," he told him, pointing to the bathroom just across the hall. "You go check it out, I'll stay here with Sasuke," he suggested.
"What, too scared to check it out yourself?" Jona teased as he rolled his eyes. "Fine."
Jona walked to the bathroom, opening the door and looking around. He shook his head when he didn't see anything. His eyes widened when he felt a hand over this mouth and arm around his neck. "So gullible," Soma said in his ear just before breaking his neck.
The man smirked as Jona went limp in his arms. "Idiot," he mumbled as he pulled the man into one of the stalls, shutting it enough to buy him some time so no one would find him. "It's time."
He walked back to his position in front of Sasuke's door, waiting for the man to be ready to leave. It wasn't long before the door opened. "Where's Jona?" Sasuke asked, confused as to why his other bodyguard had suddenly left.
"He was feeling ill and had to leave. I told him I could handle it," Soma responded.
Sasuke thought about calling Itachi to walk him out to his car, but decided against it. There were security guards around the building and cameras, so he didn't think much could happen between his office and his car. "Okay, well, I'm ready to leave," he told him as he started walking towards the elevators.
It was uncomfortable silence the entire way to the car. Sasuke tried to be on high alert, already not trusting Soma. He started to feel as if he should have just fired him that morning, even if Itachi weren't available at that time to be there with him. Everything had seemed normal and he thought he was safe once he opened his car door, "You can go now."
"I don't think so," Soma told him.
"What?" Sasuke felt something injected into his skin. It didn't take long for his vision to blur. He tried getting away, but didn't have the strength to. The last thing he remembered before passing out was hearing a car pull up.
When Sasuke opened his eyes, he felt a sharp headache as the harsh lights shined down on him. He tried to move to find his ankle was chained to the wall. His arms were bound behind his back. "What the fuck," he mumbled as he looked around. The room was fairly empty, just a chair and a box filled with who knows what against the opposite wall.
The door opened and Orochimaru walked into the room, "So nice of you to finally join us."
Sasuke tried not to panic, but it was his worst nightmare coming true. "What do you want from me?" he asked, still exhausted from whatever Soma had injected into him.
"You know what I want," Orochimaru moved closer. He grinned at the way Sasuke tried to move away only to be kept in place by the chains. "You can't run from this. No one can save you now," he told him, squatting in front of the other man. "Then again, are you really worth saving? You're more of a burden to everyone around you. A liability who will just get them all hurt in the end," he taunted.
Sasuke looked down, trying to remind himself what Dr. Tanaka had said about his self worth. Trying to remind himself he isn't just a burden and people love him. "You're wrong," he said weakly.
"Am I?" he asked as he cupped the other man's face. "I will say, you are pretty. Maybe that's why they keep you around," he caressed Sasuke's face. Sasuke moved his head away, only for Orochimaru to grip it tightly, "We never did get to have our fun. But don't worry, we'll rectify that soon enough."
"You're sick," Sasuke jerked his head out of the other man's grip.
"I'll break you of this attitude," Orochimaru grabbed him by the neck, pinning him against the wall he had been sitting against. "You'll have no fight left in you when I'm done."
Sasuke tried to grasp for air, kicking his legs the best he could to try to get to the other man. Orochimaru just chuckled at his attempt before throwing him down so he was lying on the ground. He stood up and stepped on Sasuke's face, his boot digging into the younger man's cheek. "You're weak," he said, making sure to leave an imprint before pulling away. "You always have been."
Sasuke tried to sit back up, only to be kicked in the stomach. He tried to hold in his cry of pain, but that only seemed to please the other man. Sasuke watched as the other man walked over to the box across the room. "We'll start off with a small toy first," the older man pulled out a whip. There was a metal piece on the end, meant to cause more damage.
"I think we have different definitions of a toy," Sasuke grunted, trying not to show how scared he truly was.
"It'll be so much fun to break you," Orochimaru told him as he walked back, pulling Sasuke up so that he was kneeling. He gripped his hair, forcing the man to look at him, "Just accept your fate."
"They'll find you," Sasuke told him defiantly.
Orochimaru didn't respond, he just pushed him so he was face down. He bound Sasuke's legs together, despite the younger man trying to fight it, his weak state from the drugs made it useless. He was at Orochimaru's mercy. "It'll feel so much better on your bare skin," he told him as he pushed Sasuke's shirt up to expose his back. "I could take you now, just like this if I wanted to," he ran the end of the whip along Sasuke's clothed ass. "But, I'll keep that for later. When you least expect it."
The whip came down hard on his back, causing Sasuke to cry out in pain as the metal end hit his shoulder blade. He continued the action until Sasuke was crying and the welts on his back started to bleed. He was taken by surprise when the whip was suddenly around his neck. The material didn't allow it to bend in a way that would wrap around his neck, but was enough to make him feel breathless. When Orochimaru released the pressure from his throat, he started breathing hard, choking a little in the process. "I'll have you begging for mercy by the end. You'll wish you were dead."
"Fuck you," Sasuke managed to get out, his voice hoarse. He wasn't going to break that easily. He may not be able to hold back the tears or cries of pain, but he wouldn't beg. He wouldn't give up the fight.
"This was just the warm up," he warned as he put the whip away. "Get the doctor to fix him up. We aren't done with the fun yet," he called out as he opened the door.
It wasn't long before a doctor walked into the room. It was obvious that he wasn't there on his own free will. Sasuke had been moved to sit in the chair so the doctor could examine him. He had tried to fight as Orochimaru's men unbound his hands, just to bind them to the chair. "You can end this," Sasuke told him as the doctor bandaged up his back so it wouldn't get infected. He checked his stomach for any signs of internal bleeding. "Do you have no conscience?"
"I'm sorry, I can't. It's not that I don't have a conscience, I feel horrible doing this, but I have a family and he's threatening them. I can't risk their lives for yours," the doctor told him. He was going against everything he believed, but he'd do anything to save his family.
"You have to know that you and your family are dead once he's done with me. He'll have no use for you and you'll be a liability he can't afford," Sasuke told him, wincing a little when he touched a particularly sensitive spot.
"He promised they'd be safe," the doctor responded, though he sounded as if he didn't believe it either.
"He promises anything to get what he wants," Sasuke argued. He knew exactly what would happen the minute Orochimaru finally snapped and killed him. The doctor and his family's fate were already determined. "I know you're not stupid."
"I have to at least try, if I don't do what he says then it's certain death," the doctor retorted, ready to do anything to keep his family safe.
Sasuke looked at him, pleading with his eyes, "Do you really want my blood on your hands?"
"I'm sorry," the doctor apologized once again. "You'll have some cuts and bruises, but no serious damage," he told him as he stood up straight.
Sasuke didn't say anything, he just waited for them to move him back to his original position once the doctor left. He tried to be defiant against the larger men, but it was no use. They bound his arms and chained him back to the wall, limiting his movement. All he could do was wait and try to stay alive, knowing Naruto would do anything in his power to find him. He just hoped no one he loved got killed in the process.
NS
Naruto nervously paced the living room. Sasuke had never stayed this later at work, but he also hadn't text or called him saying that he was leaving. Sometimes he forgot, but Naruto had asked him to tell him when he was leaving. He'd tried calling and texting, but Sasuke hadn't answered. He tried to tell himself that he was just busy, but something told him that wasn't true. He finally decided to call Itachi.
"Hi Naruto, what's going on?" Itachi answered.
"Is Sasuke still at the office?" he asked, borderline panicking.
"He left an hour ago," Itachi told him, confused as to how the man wouldn't be home yet. "Have you tried calling him?"
"He's not answering me," Naruto replied. "I'm coming there, please go see if you can find him." He hung up without a response, grabbing his keys as he ran out of the door.
When he pulled into the parking lot he immediately ran to where he saw Sasuke's car. "Don't touch anything," he heard Itachi call out to him as the blond had started to reach for Sasuke's things. "I've already called the police," he told him.
"You trust those fuckers to figure this out?" Naruto snapped. "They're the ones that helped Orochimaru block off streets before," he argued. He restrained himself from searching Sasuke's car for any clues.
"Which is why I've already taken pictures of everything, but we can't give them a reason to fuck up an investigation by saying we contaminated the evidence," he reminded the other man, trying to calm him down.
"This was Orochimaru," Naruto was ready to cry as he paced in front of the building. "He has Sasuke and is doing who knows what. We can't just stand around!"
"Do you think I don't know that?" Itachi yelled back. "Trust me, I know. I've looked at the security footage and you can clearly see Soma with Sasuke alone. Some car pulled up without a license plate and took him. Just trust me that I know what I'm doing," the older man demanded.
Naruto nodded, feeling helpless about the whole situation. "I'm scared," he admitted. "I can't lose him."
"Me too," Itachi frowned. Before the conversation could continue, the police pulled up.
The main detective walked over to him, "I'm Detective Botan Sato. I'll be handling this case with my partner, Detective Doi Watanabe. Can you tell me what happened here?"
"My fiancé is missing, isn't that obvious?" Naruto huffed, frustrated.
"Naruto, he's just trying to do his job," Itachi placed a hand on his shoulder. "Sorry, this is a very emotional time for us."
The detective nodded, "Of course. Do you have any idea who could have done this?"
Naruto scoffed, "Do you live under a rock? Orochimaru's break out was everywhere. It's no secret why he was in jail so who do you think took him?"
"Naruto, enough," Itachi said sternly. "Be nice or let me handle this by myself."
"Sorry," Naruto mumbled.
"I have security footage, I can give you a copy," Itachi told him. "I've asked my security team but there seems to be no eye witnesses to it. He was being escorted out of the office by a bodyguard, Soma. I'll give you his contact information," Itachi surely wasn't going to give the police his only copy of the footage. He was well aware of the amount of officers on Orochimaru's payroll. He couldn't trust anyone.
"Thank you, that will be very helpful," the detective nodded.
"This is a missing person under some very serious circumstances, you could at least show a little bit of urgency," Naruto huffed.
"Naruto," Itachi warned.
"It's okay," the detective told Itachi. "Sir, we understand you're frustrated. We have our people processing the scene, but we need to start with interviewing anyone that may have knowledge of this case."
"Find Kabuto or Soma and you'll find him. One of them will slip up, I'm guessing it's Soma," Naruto told him. "I don't trust him, but I know people like him. He'll save his own skin if you offer him a deal."
"We'll do our best," the detective promised. "Now, can you get me those tapes."
"Of course," Itachi nodded before texting his head of security to bring copies of the tapes, making it very clear that they must be copies and the originals are not to be erased or handed over anyone other than him. He wasn't particularly thrilled with how nonchalantly the man was already handling the case, but he had his own plans. If the police didn't find anything, he sure as hell would.