Disclaimers: Naruto is not mine, sadly. This is purely a fanfic using someone else's characters.
Warnings: This story includes strong language, violence, sexual assault, torture, sexual content (yaoi), & angst.
It's All In Your Head
Chapter 76: Blame
--
"No.." Naruto breathed.
Panic bloomed in his chest as the horror of his situation dropped down on top of him. The chakra collar, the fist wrenching his head back, the beady golden eyes gleaming down at him, the barrier keeping Sasuke from helping him.
He could still remember being tortured in Kabuto's lab- being bound to that chair, the feel of the spikes shooting up into his hands and feet, his skin being shredded to pulp. Electricity slamming into his skull as Kabuto forced the lever higher. That hideous smile as Naruto shrieked in pain. As he cried out- pleading for mercy, for death.
For Sasuke.
I can't let this happen. Not again.
Overcome by fear Naruto screamed, clawing at the hand buried in his hair. "St-stop! Let go!"
He threw his fist out fast, desperate to break free, but Kabuto caught it before it could land. Naruto tried to jerk free of his hold and with a vicious snarl Kabuto wrenched his arm behind his back. He shoved it up at an impossible angle, forcing the blonde close to his chest as a pained shriek tore from his throat.
"Naruto!!"
The bespectacled snake glanced over at the Uchiha frantically trying to break through the barrier- the barrier that was now slowly sliding back into place.
"Looks like you missed your chance, Sasuke" he said around a predatory grin.
Sasuke screamed in his fury as he pummeled the space between them. He tried to use his Mangekyou, but it wasn't able to reach beyond the loathsome barrier.
"Dammit.. dammit!!"
He locked his red stare on the self-satisfied snake, all of his hatred bleeding from his eyes. "Keep your fucking hands off of him" he growled.
Sasuke knew it didn't matter, and Kabuto knew it too. The barrier kept Sasuke from retaliating, and the chakra collar kept Naruto helpless in his scaly grasp.
Kabuto looked down and met those wide panicky blues, eyes that shared that same understanding, and his grin widened. "I have something special planned for you, Naruto."
Another scream ripped through the Uchiha, cutting into his threats. "No! Kabuto, take me instead!"
The snake slid his impatient golden gaze back to the raven batting uselessly against his cage. "You?" he sneered. "What possible use could I have of you?"
"You hate me" Sasuke tried. "You have always hated me. The way I treated you, the way Orochimaru disregarded you because of me- don't you want revenge? Just release him and I will go with you. I'll do whatever you want!"
Sasuke could see that he wasn't getting through to the snake and it terrified him. He could feel his desperation clawing his insides to ribbons with the realization, his thoughts jumbled and frantic as he fought to find the right words to change the bastard's mind. "Kabuto, just think about this!" he shouted. "You could do whatever you want to me. This is your chance to make me suffer!"
Kabuto's eyes darkened. "And you will" he looked back at the blonde, "after you see what I've done to him."
Naruto's stare filled with fresh horror. What is he talking about..
Sasuke's panic-stricken voice cut through his thoughts. Naruto! Try to find Kurama!
Naruto called for him, repeatedly. He even went so far as to sink deep in his consciousness to find him, but his enclosure was filled with an impenetrable darkness and his fox was left utterly out of reach. He threw himself back into his own head and slid sad eyes over to his raven.
Sasuke met his broken stare with one of his own. He shook his head, fighting back the tears creeping up the back of his throat. "Please, Kabuto" he choked, his eyes still locked on his blonde. "Please don't do this".
Kabuto tilted his head, considering the pitiful raven so unlike the Uchiha he had been forced to welcome into Orochimaru's hideout. The one he had despised, resented, and somehow escaped from with his life intact. "Like I told your little boyfriend last time-"
Those crimson eyes finally shot up, narrowing on the snake he should have killed a long time ago.
"-your begging won't work." Kabuto's grin twisted into something dark, his cruelty unmasked. "But I do enjoy the sound of it."
The barrier weakened without warning and Sasuke pitched forward. He screamed for Naruto as Kakashi and Obito rushed to his side, but by then it was too late. Kabuto's Body Flicker Technique consumed his form, and his prisoner's along with it.
Huge blue eyes dropped to his fiery lower half, shock flooding through him as he watched his body fade from sight. He tore his gaze away from the disturbing display and back up to his person. To his last hope.
"Sasuke.."
Sasuke recognized the technique. It was one he had used many times when he was Orochimaru's pupil- a way to make his body quickly disappear and for his escape to be untraceable. Ironically enough it was a jutsu that he had learned so that he could avoid shinobi from the Leaf. A way to disappear from Naruto. And now..
I can't let this happen.
Sasuke fought to close the distance between them, breaking through what was left of Kakashi's barrier, but he knew it was useless. Naruto's body was already flickering out of sight, a candle burning to nothingness before his very eyes.
"No! NO!! Naruto!"
Sasuke lunged, and his hands fell through the emptiness. He dropped to his knees in the spot his blonde had been just moments ago. Where Naruto had cried out to him, his eyes pleading for his person to save him.
Where he had disappeared.
Again.
--
Kabuto threw Naruto to the ground, smiling as his head slammed into the concrete with a sickening crack.
"Nnhnn!" Naruto groaned as he slowly pushed himself up. He pressed the heel of his hand against his temple, feeling the warmth and stickiness of fresh blood. He swiped it back into his hair, ignoring the pain as he jerked his head up. He found the snake gleaming down at him, and quickly looked past him to scan the dark cellar around them, searching for an exit.
"Don't bother" Kabuto said, easily guessing his thoughts. "I have no intention of letting you escape."
Naruto shuffled back, hoping to keep as much space between them as possible. "You make it sound like it will be easy to keep me here" he sneered, hoping he sounded stronger than he felt.
Kabuto's grin stretched, but it didn't meet his eyes. Those golden orbs stayed sharp, almost hollow as they narrowed on the blonde at his feet. "I think you'd be surprised" he said, a hint of amusement in the malice. "Besides.. you haven't even seen the best part yet."
Naruto raised a brow and went back to searching the dimly lit room around them. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"
Kabuto took a step closer, enjoying the fear that his approach sparked in his prey.
"It means that we're not alone" he purred. "I brought a friend with me- someone I have a feeling you will be quite surprised to see."
Naruto stared, confused and gradually becoming more terrified. He didn't trust that look, and the cryptic shit was really wearing on his nerves. "I.. I don't understand."
"Why explain when you can just see for yourself." Kabuto turned and smiled at a dark corner of the room. "You can come in now!" he called out.
The rock wall shifted revealing a small dark tunnel. Someone emerged from the shadows, sealed the exit behind them, and slowly stepped closer.
Naruto could taste ash as his mouth went bone dry. His heart clenched tight, painfully so, and his stomach twisted into tight coils- ready to spring from his chest at a moment's notice. Terror did not even begin to describe what he felt, along with a million other feelings that he couldn't handle looking at. In fact, every thought fled from his mind, leaving him utterly alone to face his past. A past he had never expected to see again.
He shook his head, willing this impossibility to disappear. But it didn't. The man just kept moving closer, his eyes locked on Naruto's wide fearful blues. And Naruto couldn't seem to look away from his gaze either- deep crimson eyes that seemed to see right through him.
He stopped before the distraught blonde, studying him thoroughly. And Naruto continued to stare back, still trying to process how this was even possible.
"It's been a while, Naruto."
Naruto's throat clicked. "Itachi.. h-how..?"
Blood-red eyes flashed with new life, though the rest of him remained utterly impassive. Cold, but not entirely.
Just like he used to be.
"Feels good to hear you say my name again."
Naruto paled.
And a sudden sharp understanding dawned on him. He had anticipated Kabuto's torment to be painful and horrific, inhumane even, but he hadn't expected this.
Nothing could have prepared him for this.
--
Sasuke stared into his empty hands. A storm welled in his eyes, replacing the sharingan that had proven to be entirely useless. He swallowed back the tears rising in the back of his throat and blinked furiously at the ones threatening to escape their obsidian prison. He couldn't afford to seem any weaker than he already was. And he knew that if he allowed himself to succumb to his sorrow, he'd never be able to get it to stop. He closed his eyes and clenched his fists tight, digging his nails into the palms of his hands- letting the sting of it ground him. In a way it did, but he found himself craving more. He wanted to hurt.
Or to hurt someone else.
"This is your fault.." he murmured.
Kakashi took a step towards him, a hand outstretched, prepared to comfort the dejected raven. Or at least, attempt to. "Sasuke-"
Sasuke suddenly lurched to his feet and shifted out of view. He reappeared in front of the ex-jonin and roughly grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, jerking him close, bringing their faces mere inches apart. Kakashi didn't fight him on it, and that only pissed him off more.
"This is your fault!!" he screamed, eyes blazing. "I could have stopped him if you didn't have that fucking barrier up! Because of you Naruto is gone!! Kabuto is going to torture him-"
His voice snagged in his throat, but he pushed past it. Kakashi gave him a sorrowful look, but he ignored it and jerked him closer.
"You bastard! He is going to torture my Naruto and it is your fucking fault!!"
Obito suddenly appeared by his side and grabbed his wrist with an iron grip. He tightened his hold on him, silent but insistent, until Sasuke was forced to relinquish his own.
"Of course you would side with him." Sasuke wrenched his arm free and glared at the two. "If anything happens to Naruto, I will end you. Both of you."
He stepped away from them, dark eyes consumed with resentment and pain. Kakashi tried to speak, to reason with him, but it fell on deaf ears. And he couldn't exactly blame him for that. Because, truth be told, he didn't think he was wrong.
Without a second glance Sasuke leapt into the trees towering over them, disappearing into the impenetrable foliage. He channeled as much chakra as he could spare to his legs and rushed off into the dense forest. He had no clear destination in mind, but he couldn't just sit there. He had to find Naruto- before it was too late. So he ran, leaping from branch to branch as he mentally cried out for his lost love. He screamed for him, over and over, not stopping for even a moment, but there was nothing. Just.. silence.
Devastating, merciless silence.
"Why" he choked, "why is it always like this? Why does this keep happening..?"
He didn't have an answer for that, but he knew that he couldn't let the pains of the past repeat themselves. Naruto has already suffered so much. He wasn't sure he could come back from anything else. And Kabuto.. what he did to him before..
Now that Orochimaru was gone there was nothing stopping him. No one to restrict his repugnant experimentations. No one to hold the vile snake back when he dared to take things too far.
He could do anything to Naruto.
Anything.
Author Note:
You knew I was going to make things worse right? You had to at least expect more angst. I mean.. 74 chapters of anguish and torment is just not nearly enough.
Wouldn't you agree? ;)