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(naruto) Possession, prologue + chapter 1
Prologue is a repost, and i've completed chapter one and rewritten stuff.
Title: Possession
Author: Asuka Kureru (from a plot created in collaboration with Kineko)
Fandom: Naruto
Lead character(s): Naruto, Sasuke... Itachi?
Pairing(s): ?
Genre: angst, action
Warnings: dark, ANGST, violence, torture, insanity, gore...
Notes: Shoulda been writing that in collaboration with Kin, but she didn't have any free time. ::sigh::
Sasuke was brash and borderline suicidal, but he was also far from stupid. When he heard Orochimaru-sama and Kabuto laughing about Konoha managing to "lose the Kyuubi-possessed brat to Akatsuki", it didn't take him more than a few seconds to link the survival of the demon fox and his ex-teammate's extraordinary endurance and unending power. And his red, cat-slit eyes. Sasuke wasn't about to forget these eyes, no more than he would forget any second from their last confrontation.
Somehow, knowing that his rival took the power to challenge him from a demon and not from himself didn't make Sasuke feel any superior, any better about himself and the way he'd almost lost to him, even though... That was cheating, really. Naruto had only caught up so fast because he'd been cheating.
Meaning that Sasuke -- Uchiha Sasuke and his "genius" title and his bloodline ability that should have assured his irrevocable superiority -- hadn't been as weak and slow to progress as he'd believed, meaning that he'd been provoked into deserting for -- no, not for nothing. Focusing on that "cheating" was too close to whining and regretting his decision, and he didn't. Because Orochimaru had given him power, a power that he would have needed years to obtain under Kakashi's command. And he didn't have years to spare. It would be foolish to assume that while he trained and progressed, Itachi sat on his ass to wait for him, not bothering to practice. If Sasuke didn't hurry, if he didn't take all the available shortcuts, he would never catch up.
He wouldn't go far either if he let himself get distracted by thoughts about his former teammates. So Naruto was the Kyuubi. That explained why Itachi had barely given him a glance to go after that idiot instead. Sasuke doubted Naruto would ever join Akatsuki though. He was way too loyal -- a little like a dog. So fucking clingy and stubborn.
But from the way Orochimaru and Kabuto were talking, getting Naruto to join wasn't exactly what Akatsuki had in mind. Akatsuki was about to employ a shortcut of its own by tearing the demon fox out of his former teammate.
Of course, preventing Itachi from using all that raw power was just as important as training himself; he already had a long way to go, even with the harsh training and all the forbidden jutsu he'd been taught, there was no way he'd let that psychopathic bastard of a brother make it even longer.
About fifteen minutes after he'd heard that conversation, he was on his way out, barely bothering to grab his old backpack. There was no way for him to really slip his leash, not while still wearing the curse seal, but he would resist the pull as long as he needed to, to distract Akatsuki, to make sure that the idiot escaped without giving his brother what he wanted.
Maybe, if he plotted things right, he wouldn't even have to face him.
He refused to wonder if the him referred to his brother or his former best friend.
+
It was dark, and it hurt.
"Are ... ankles secured yet?"
His hearing was all ... wobbly... and it hurt. Everything hurt.
"Now they are."
Grim satisfaction in that low voice. A voice he didn't know.
"... 's coming around..."
Or did he? He -- that voice. That scent. Wet things, bloody things -- fish? It reminded him...
Danger! It reminded him of danger -- it hurt!! It hurt, he had to leave, he had to run -- the scary voice -- scaredhurtscared-- run, run, gottarun...
"Hold him down."
No!! Fight, run!! It hurt, ohgod, it hurt -- makeitstop!
"... got him--"
He had to fight, but -- he couldn't move, couldn't ... think...
Dark.
+
Even in the middle of all these canyons and mountains, the little fort where Akatsuki held Naruto wasn't hard to pinpoint. Because every square meter on the building and in a wide radius all around it was covered with wards and traps, to confuse, distract and kill in a dozen different, usually messy ways. And these wards, which should have been hidden, were currently burning with a red-gold chakra fire that Sasuke vividly remembered. It was the exact color of Naruto's fox armor the last time they fought.
Not seeing any sentinels, even with the sharingan, he rappelled down a cliff wall, trying not to choke. The whole place stank. Not for real, but it was the best way to explain how utterly repulsive the orange chakra was, how it made his stomach churn and his throat tighten with the need to throw up. It was... hateful, and bitter, and dangerous. Sasuke shook from the powerful desire to just turn around and go home -- and go running all the way to there. But Uchiha Sasuke didn't run, and so he stood his ground. Gradually, he got used to the horrible need to either flee or curl up in a corner. He reminded himself, many times, until it was like a mantra, that it was just a genjutsu, boosted to incredible strength by the power fueling it. He stepped slower, slowly, and almost started to sob. It was repugnant. It reminded him of all things creepy -- Orochimaru's hand on his shoulder and his breath in his ear, or venomous snakes crawling all over his body, waiting for his littlest twitch to bite, or the memories of Itachi's gentle smiles mixed with the time he'd pressed him against a wall and broke his wrist.
He swallowed his bile and stepped closer. One step. Two steps. He wanted to run, just so it would be finished faster, but that was the best way to fall into another trap and he had just enough presence of mind left to control himself. It was just a genjutsu. It would be finished soon... he hoped.
Blood-red chakra surged through the patterns, blinding him. A few of the wards burned out of existence. Suddenly he could breathe. He kept picking his way through the maze of traps. At least now he knew for sure that no one was watching -- he'd stood there in the open for about ten minutes and he wasn't full of kunai yet.
The chakra was nauseating enough, even without the genjutsu, that he had to concentrate on his path not to trigger anything. Step after step after step -- it was a surprise when he finally reached the wall.
The door should have been hidden, but like the rest of the traps, the glow of the sigils betrayed its location. That didn't mean he could go through it, though -- the trap was boosted enough to take out the whole garden. Scowling, he tried to think of a way past it.
+
Pain... pain and darkness. Lines of fire on his body, delicate sigils of blood melting into stabbing agony. Circles upon circles around his navel, like a brand in his flesh...
He didn't know if his eyes were open or closed. It didn't matter. The world was blindingly dark, and the smell of incense and warm blood barely registering over the overwhelming awareness of his body. There were voices, sometimes -- not often. They didn't matter either. Nothing mattered but trying to find a way out of the pain, away from the graceful, agonizing loops of the -- knife? Kunai? Sword? -- away from the fear of suddenly feeling his guts bared to the cold air congealing his blood in little puddles along his sides.
He needed to get away. He needed to run. He ran, down long, twisting corridors, trying to stop listening to the sound of thick drops falling in puddles at his feet. He ran and ran, searching for a refuge, anything to shield him, but the pain herded him through the damp corridors, through the scent of mould and old stones, forced him across deeper and deeper blood rivulets -- streams? rivers? -- and it flowed between the walls and he struggled to wade through, and higher and higher the level rose and he flailed and splashed forward and he was going to drown, drown in these green corridors through which red watery blood ran, and he couldn't find a safe place anywhere, anywhere where the pain wouldn't follow...
There was one such place, where even he didn't like to go. But it was the only choice -- the only thing he could think of. Fear came from that place, but hope also -- he remembered strength gained there -- a deal with the evil beast...
The pain followed. The pain followed -- and, as he fell, almost drowned in his blood -- and sailed over him, past him, through him -- and the monster screamed. He floated there, and watched -- he couldn't do anything else, because, finally, numbness, blessed numbness was seeping through him, and the fight -- the darkness of a hundred black blades against the monster of fire and hate -- the gate rattling, the bars -- the bars coming loose, ohgod, it meant something awful, he knew, but -- but...
But he couldn't care much, even as his lacerated body floated closer to the gate -- even as a bar -- thousands pounds of steel, sharp as a razor -- fell -- ceiling rattling, stones and mortar coming loose -- shockwave, blood-water tumbling him around, under -- hitting something heavy, something sharp --
Even as a cage of curved blades closed around his body, and lifted him -- and he coughed and shivered and breathed, and clung to the talons cradling him, because letting go of them meant risking the other pain, the worse pain, the one he'd fled by coming there, and he clung with all he had left of might and waited for the black blades of pain to leave as the monster raged and howled and shrieked...
... and finally, they left... and he didn't care about whatever it was that they had ripped loose on their way out. He didn't. No price was too much.
Even as he finally lost consciousness, he didn't let go of the claws holding him through the hole in the cage.
+
The boy had stopped screaming. Kisame watched. He was just here to watch, now; his role was finished.
There wasn't much to see, really -- just his partner leaning over the boy's body, forehead to forehead, black locks framing scarred cheeks. The blade in his hand was still red-hot; blood sizzled feebly on contact, but even that was fading fast. A few Ofudas fluttered feebly, half-unstuck from the iron bars that formed two concentric circles around the center of the room, and the heavy, entwined ropes circling the table were still fuming. Apart from that, nothing was really going on any longer.
The room seemed so silent now, that he entertained the thought of actually saying something. But if he shattered Itachi's concentration, even now that the boy's will had finally broken, he would pay it dearly. His partner was... a little intense about things like that.
Instead, he checked the sigils mirrored on the floor and ceiling again. The first and second layers had been breached in several places, even despite the runes of containment that should have used the power leeched off the Kyuubi to reinforce themselves, and the third was still sparkling off at odd intervals; but the glow of siphoned chakra was so weak Kisame had to squint to see it. Nothing to do with the blinding light of before. The fourth layer, that he had deemed superfluous and unlikely to really be used, appeared whole, though weakened. There was a fifth layer behind the walls, all around the room, and he knew without needing to check that the wards of the whole building were now glowing with red energy. Not very inconspicuous, but more than enough to fry any fool to a crisp.
Though -- it was possible that some of them had burned out under the onslaught of energy. He eyed his partner thoughtfully. Itachi didn't really need him to help subdue the boy any longer, and Kisame wasn't equipped for mind-to-mind fights, though he was resilient to most genjutsu. That was Itachi's area of expertise. His was more physical. And he wanted to check on the security. It would be a weird, unexpected coincidence, that someone would just happen to be there to slip past their defense the second they were down, but Kisame had learned long ago that at a certain level of power, the unexpected became commonplace.
He checked on Itachi again. The other man was still leaning over the boy, his feet firmly planted in the large puddle of blood -- enough blood to belong to at least two boys his size -- and looked as calm and concentrated as a few seconds earlier.
"Itachi-san?" he called softly, soft enough that the Uchiha could ignore him if he so wished.
There was no response. Itachi's hand was now on the boy's stomach -- kind of on his guts, really, where the Fourth's seal had been. It wasn't healing anymore. Itachi was about to drag the weakened fox out of its container and transfer it to another one; a non-living one this time. It wouldn't last as long by far, but they were planning to start using it quickly anyway. Kisame shrugged; he couldn't help there either. He trusted Itachi would handle it on his own.
He turned away.
The glow of the sigils went from red-gold to cold blue.
+
The color of the wards shifted so suddenly from blaze-red to pale blue that Sasuke needed a few seconds to blink the afterimage away. Eyes narrowed in concentration, he watched the ebb and flow of the new energy, learning the pattern, the rhythm. And then -- there!! He struck, quickly -- burned his hand, but it didn't matter -- and the ward deactivated. He didn't wait more than three seconds before slipping inside and running soundlessly down the dark staircase.
+
The boy's body was arching mindlessly, his eyes empty and his face slack. Itachi was pulling... something...
"That's not a paw," Kisame whispered, even as he grabbed his Samehada and raised it to thrust it right through the boy's body.
It was ... blue. Glowing, see-through. Dangerous.
It was a hand. A human hand. A wrist. An arm. And Itachi didn't stop pulling, even as Kisame grabbed his shoulder to drag him back, away from the table, and Itachi didn't make a sound either as the blue, ghostly hand broke free of his hold to reverse it, grabbing his wrist, and as another hand appeared, and formed a few quick seals, and thrust through Itachi's chest like a sword made of mist.
Kisame threw his partner back through the net of blessed ropes -- the demon couldn't cross these -- brandished his sword -- he had to cut the connection, he had to kill the boy before -- and then there was more blood splattering the table, and there was a hand with painted nails blooming in the middle of his chest.
+
Sasuke barged in on a nightmare.
There was blood all over, blood and sigils that couldn't decide between ice and fire. There was a body -- that couldn't be Naruto, because Naruto was blond and tanned and smiling and always jumping, not pale and unmoving, not wide open. There was his brother, down on one knee, hand clenched on his elbow, forearm disappearing into his blue-skinned teammate. There was his brother, trembling, and Naruto with his intestines bared to the cold air of the underground room and so much blood, just so much blood.
There were two urgencies -- make sure that Naruto was still breathing, and make sure that his brother would never breathe again. He didn't know which was more urgent. He hesitated. One second only; it was enough for the blue-skinned man to lift his behemoth of a sword over the blond's body. To swing it down. He would never have enough strength to deflect that kind of momentum.
He was a bare millisecond away from plunging in the man's legs, from tackling him -- when the sword reached Naruto's body.
And splintered.
Sasuke rolled on the floor with the tall man -- curled up, arms over his head to guard from the shrapnel raining down on him, skidding to a halt in the puddle of blood -- jumped back into a defensive crouch...
His brother had been knocked down with the blue man. The big guy was sitting dumbly on the stone floor, his hand still closed on the hilt of his sword.
There was almost nothing left from the blade. It had exploded on impact. Naruto was sitting up, a hand closed around the cutting edge, flames of chakra licking up his arm and seeping into the weird tooth-covered metal. Sasuke swallowed bile, and watched his ex-teammate's intestines slide with a wet, revolting noise.
Itachi twitched a few feet away, and Sasuke started -- he'd forgotten he was there, how could he have forgotten? -- but his big brother stayed where he'd fallen, still shaking, and clenching and unclenching his hands with weird, jerky movements.
The shark man -- he had a hole through his back, Sasuke could see orange chakra flickering through it -- straightened up, lifted the sword's handle to attack again...
Naruto put a casual hand on his guts to hold them in place, and his other hand -- too fast for the sharingan to follow -- closed on his vest, reeled him in -- and then. Cartilage crunched between his jaws and dark blood gushed out -- the shark guy jerked, and struggled, and the fire chakra engulfed them both and there was a roar...
It was weird how such a huge body would crumple with so little noise. The puddle of blood made the stones slick, letting the corpse spread out slowly. His weird fish eyes were already glassy. Sasuke frowned and made himself look away. Itachi -- still unmoving, save from the trembling racking his lean frame.
He'd never associated Itachi with the word frail before, but right now, it was what he looked like, and that was deeply disturbing. Itachi had always seemed larger than life to him. Slowly, watching him closely, he stepped toward Naruto. The blond boy was curled up on the marble slab, teeth bared in a silent scream of pain. Smoke rose from the vicinity of his stomach, and Sasuke could only hope that once again, his miraculous healing ability was operating -- because there was no way he could do anything. He only knew the most basic field-healing methods; he was certainly unable to deal with evisceration.
"... idiot?" he glanced at the blond quickly, not wanting to look away from Itachi too long. Naruto was still panting shallowly. That was good -- unless it meant he was going into shock. But at least he was alive, and Naruto was rather like a cockroach anyway.
Sasuke didn't reach out to touch the blond. They hadn't parted on the best of terms and Naruto had just bitten out the shark guy's throat.
Slowly rolling on his side, Itachi shook his head and shuddered, his half-undone ponytail spilling over his shoulder to land in the congealing puddle of blood. Sasuke clenched his fists, eyeing him worriedly. He was between them and the exit, and Sasuke wasn't sure Naruto would let him touch him yet. What the hell had they done to him anyway?
"Hey, moron... Uzumaki, it's me," he warned softly, reaching out. He wasn't sure if Naruto heard him, even less understood him -- Sasuke didn't want to think about the amount of pain he had to be in right now -- but there wasn't much choice. They had to leave, fast.
Naruto looked up at him, and Sasuke forgot to check back on Itachi's progress. Naruto's irises were dark red, his cat-slit pupils dilated. There was no recognition in his eyes, nothing but hate and a feral determination to go down fighting.
"Fuck," he groaned, just before the beast tackled him.
They rolled, the floor slippery under them. Sasuke instinctively punched where the blond was vulnerable -- his guts -- and heard him snarl in outrage and pain as Sasuke's fist crushed through the thin layer of healing muscles. He gnashed his teeth together when he felt the wet, soft intestines roll under his hand, and attempted to kick Uzumaki off him, not wanting to damage him further -- but the other teenager was just as heavy as he was, maybe more, and the weakness of his muscles was easily compensated by the rage with which he clawed at Sasuke's arms. Sasuke yowled in outrage as sharp teeth clamped down on his shoulder -- and cried out again when they were ripped free.
Panting, he straightened up, and froze. Itachi's arms were wound around Naruto's chest, blocking his arms along his body, and he was attempting to keep him unmoving. Orange chakra sparkled and sizzled as Naruto struggled, howling like a madman -- like a crazy fox, but Itachi held on, eyes narrowed in grim determination.
Sasuke's hand clenched, a tendril of white-blue chakra winding around his fist. If he used the Chidori now, he could get rid of two threats in one strike.
"LEGGO!!! LEMME GO -- stop, stop hurting me, lemme go -- god please..."
Sasuke's hand stilled, and the Chidori dissipated. He couldn't -- not when Naruto's eyes were blue again, not when all his rage was replaced by weariness and suffering -- not even when it would have meant getting rid of Itachi. He glared hatefully over Naruto's shoulder, seeking his brother's eyes. He didn't know why the other man insisted on bringing Naruto's struggles under control while hurting him as little as possible, when a few minutes ago he'd been torturing him, and he didn't know why he had bothered pulling the crazed blond off Sasuke -- maybe some sort of twisted 'I alone am allowed to murder my foolish little brother' thing.
"Leggo... stop...! don't... please..."
Itachi was ignoring him. It made the hateful glow inside him burn hotter, made white sparks shoot around his clenched fist again, and for a few seconds he totally forgot that his ex-teammate was in the way -- or more accurately totally stopped caring.
And then his world flipped over on its head.
"Shush... just breathe, boy... just breathe..." Itachi's hold, while still firm, had gentled a little. He was leaning back, so that Naruto's still healing flesh wouldn't be constricted. His hands -- still shaking -- were patting Naruto's arms awkwardly. Sasuke could only stare, absently wondering when exactly that twisted genjutsu had taken hold of him.
"... it's -- going to be all right..." Itachi's voice, usually so smooth, so quiet, so coldly precise, now sounded ragged. Unsure almost, and exhausted.
Naruto kept sobbing quietly, eyes tightly closed. "Hurts, hurts, let go..."
"Just breathe -- just breathe. Here -- good. Another one. That's it. See? Getting better already."
Sasuke could only stare. His brother -- Itachi -- the prodigy, the cold-blooded murderer -- cradling on his lap the demon fox's vessel... it was crazy. It was one of the most fucked up dreams he'd ever had.
"Wh--" Sasuke tried to talk, but his throat wasn't letting words past. He licked his lips, swallowed, tried again. "What are you -- what are you pretending for?"
His throat burned suddenly. His chest felt weird.
He'd never ever held Sasuke like that, not even when he'd still been -- still been pretending to be the dutiful son and the loving, protective brother.
Blinking absently, as if just now remembering his insignificant existence, Itachi looked up. There was a lock of hair that was glued to his cheek with blood. It made the perfect genius of the Uchiha look startlingly human.
That wasn't what made Sasuke blink.
Itachi's eyes were black.
Yes, it is actually meant to be confusing. You're free to guess. I'm not saying anything, though. XD
Hmm, i think i need to add some sasuke wondering if this is really naruto , BEFORE he gets tackled. but i'm too lazy to edit that now. Any other comments ?
Title: Possession
Author: Asuka Kureru (from a plot created in collaboration with Kineko)
Fandom: Naruto
Lead character(s): Naruto, Sasuke... Itachi?
Pairing(s): ?
Genre: angst, action
Warnings: dark, ANGST, violence, torture, insanity, gore...
Notes: Shoulda been writing that in collaboration with Kin, but she didn't have any free time. ::sigh::
Sasuke was brash and borderline suicidal, but he was also far from stupid. When he heard Orochimaru-sama and Kabuto laughing about Konoha managing to "lose the Kyuubi-possessed brat to Akatsuki", it didn't take him more than a few seconds to link the survival of the demon fox and his ex-teammate's extraordinary endurance and unending power. And his red, cat-slit eyes. Sasuke wasn't about to forget these eyes, no more than he would forget any second from their last confrontation.
Somehow, knowing that his rival took the power to challenge him from a demon and not from himself didn't make Sasuke feel any superior, any better about himself and the way he'd almost lost to him, even though... That was cheating, really. Naruto had only caught up so fast because he'd been cheating.
Meaning that Sasuke -- Uchiha Sasuke and his "genius" title and his bloodline ability that should have assured his irrevocable superiority -- hadn't been as weak and slow to progress as he'd believed, meaning that he'd been provoked into deserting for -- no, not for nothing. Focusing on that "cheating" was too close to whining and regretting his decision, and he didn't. Because Orochimaru had given him power, a power that he would have needed years to obtain under Kakashi's command. And he didn't have years to spare. It would be foolish to assume that while he trained and progressed, Itachi sat on his ass to wait for him, not bothering to practice. If Sasuke didn't hurry, if he didn't take all the available shortcuts, he would never catch up.
He wouldn't go far either if he let himself get distracted by thoughts about his former teammates. So Naruto was the Kyuubi. That explained why Itachi had barely given him a glance to go after that idiot instead. Sasuke doubted Naruto would ever join Akatsuki though. He was way too loyal -- a little like a dog. So fucking clingy and stubborn.
But from the way Orochimaru and Kabuto were talking, getting Naruto to join wasn't exactly what Akatsuki had in mind. Akatsuki was about to employ a shortcut of its own by tearing the demon fox out of his former teammate.
Of course, preventing Itachi from using all that raw power was just as important as training himself; he already had a long way to go, even with the harsh training and all the forbidden jutsu he'd been taught, there was no way he'd let that psychopathic bastard of a brother make it even longer.
About fifteen minutes after he'd heard that conversation, he was on his way out, barely bothering to grab his old backpack. There was no way for him to really slip his leash, not while still wearing the curse seal, but he would resist the pull as long as he needed to, to distract Akatsuki, to make sure that the idiot escaped without giving his brother what he wanted.
Maybe, if he plotted things right, he wouldn't even have to face him.
He refused to wonder if the him referred to his brother or his former best friend.
+
It was dark, and it hurt.
"Are ... ankles secured yet?"
His hearing was all ... wobbly... and it hurt. Everything hurt.
"Now they are."
Grim satisfaction in that low voice. A voice he didn't know.
"... 's coming around..."
Or did he? He -- that voice. That scent. Wet things, bloody things -- fish? It reminded him...
Danger! It reminded him of danger -- it hurt!! It hurt, he had to leave, he had to run -- the scary voice -- scaredhurtscared-- run, run, gottarun...
"Hold him down."
No!! Fight, run!! It hurt, ohgod, it hurt -- makeitstop!
"... got him--"
He had to fight, but -- he couldn't move, couldn't ... think...
Dark.
+
Even in the middle of all these canyons and mountains, the little fort where Akatsuki held Naruto wasn't hard to pinpoint. Because every square meter on the building and in a wide radius all around it was covered with wards and traps, to confuse, distract and kill in a dozen different, usually messy ways. And these wards, which should have been hidden, were currently burning with a red-gold chakra fire that Sasuke vividly remembered. It was the exact color of Naruto's fox armor the last time they fought.
Not seeing any sentinels, even with the sharingan, he rappelled down a cliff wall, trying not to choke. The whole place stank. Not for real, but it was the best way to explain how utterly repulsive the orange chakra was, how it made his stomach churn and his throat tighten with the need to throw up. It was... hateful, and bitter, and dangerous. Sasuke shook from the powerful desire to just turn around and go home -- and go running all the way to there. But Uchiha Sasuke didn't run, and so he stood his ground. Gradually, he got used to the horrible need to either flee or curl up in a corner. He reminded himself, many times, until it was like a mantra, that it was just a genjutsu, boosted to incredible strength by the power fueling it. He stepped slower, slowly, and almost started to sob. It was repugnant. It reminded him of all things creepy -- Orochimaru's hand on his shoulder and his breath in his ear, or venomous snakes crawling all over his body, waiting for his littlest twitch to bite, or the memories of Itachi's gentle smiles mixed with the time he'd pressed him against a wall and broke his wrist.
He swallowed his bile and stepped closer. One step. Two steps. He wanted to run, just so it would be finished faster, but that was the best way to fall into another trap and he had just enough presence of mind left to control himself. It was just a genjutsu. It would be finished soon... he hoped.
Blood-red chakra surged through the patterns, blinding him. A few of the wards burned out of existence. Suddenly he could breathe. He kept picking his way through the maze of traps. At least now he knew for sure that no one was watching -- he'd stood there in the open for about ten minutes and he wasn't full of kunai yet.
The chakra was nauseating enough, even without the genjutsu, that he had to concentrate on his path not to trigger anything. Step after step after step -- it was a surprise when he finally reached the wall.
The door should have been hidden, but like the rest of the traps, the glow of the sigils betrayed its location. That didn't mean he could go through it, though -- the trap was boosted enough to take out the whole garden. Scowling, he tried to think of a way past it.
+
Pain... pain and darkness. Lines of fire on his body, delicate sigils of blood melting into stabbing agony. Circles upon circles around his navel, like a brand in his flesh...
He didn't know if his eyes were open or closed. It didn't matter. The world was blindingly dark, and the smell of incense and warm blood barely registering over the overwhelming awareness of his body. There were voices, sometimes -- not often. They didn't matter either. Nothing mattered but trying to find a way out of the pain, away from the graceful, agonizing loops of the -- knife? Kunai? Sword? -- away from the fear of suddenly feeling his guts bared to the cold air congealing his blood in little puddles along his sides.
He needed to get away. He needed to run. He ran, down long, twisting corridors, trying to stop listening to the sound of thick drops falling in puddles at his feet. He ran and ran, searching for a refuge, anything to shield him, but the pain herded him through the damp corridors, through the scent of mould and old stones, forced him across deeper and deeper blood rivulets -- streams? rivers? -- and it flowed between the walls and he struggled to wade through, and higher and higher the level rose and he flailed and splashed forward and he was going to drown, drown in these green corridors through which red watery blood ran, and he couldn't find a safe place anywhere, anywhere where the pain wouldn't follow...
There was one such place, where even he didn't like to go. But it was the only choice -- the only thing he could think of. Fear came from that place, but hope also -- he remembered strength gained there -- a deal with the evil beast...
The pain followed. The pain followed -- and, as he fell, almost drowned in his blood -- and sailed over him, past him, through him -- and the monster screamed. He floated there, and watched -- he couldn't do anything else, because, finally, numbness, blessed numbness was seeping through him, and the fight -- the darkness of a hundred black blades against the monster of fire and hate -- the gate rattling, the bars -- the bars coming loose, ohgod, it meant something awful, he knew, but -- but...
But he couldn't care much, even as his lacerated body floated closer to the gate -- even as a bar -- thousands pounds of steel, sharp as a razor -- fell -- ceiling rattling, stones and mortar coming loose -- shockwave, blood-water tumbling him around, under -- hitting something heavy, something sharp --
Even as a cage of curved blades closed around his body, and lifted him -- and he coughed and shivered and breathed, and clung to the talons cradling him, because letting go of them meant risking the other pain, the worse pain, the one he'd fled by coming there, and he clung with all he had left of might and waited for the black blades of pain to leave as the monster raged and howled and shrieked...
... and finally, they left... and he didn't care about whatever it was that they had ripped loose on their way out. He didn't. No price was too much.
Even as he finally lost consciousness, he didn't let go of the claws holding him through the hole in the cage.
+
The boy had stopped screaming. Kisame watched. He was just here to watch, now; his role was finished.
There wasn't much to see, really -- just his partner leaning over the boy's body, forehead to forehead, black locks framing scarred cheeks. The blade in his hand was still red-hot; blood sizzled feebly on contact, but even that was fading fast. A few Ofudas fluttered feebly, half-unstuck from the iron bars that formed two concentric circles around the center of the room, and the heavy, entwined ropes circling the table were still fuming. Apart from that, nothing was really going on any longer.
The room seemed so silent now, that he entertained the thought of actually saying something. But if he shattered Itachi's concentration, even now that the boy's will had finally broken, he would pay it dearly. His partner was... a little intense about things like that.
Instead, he checked the sigils mirrored on the floor and ceiling again. The first and second layers had been breached in several places, even despite the runes of containment that should have used the power leeched off the Kyuubi to reinforce themselves, and the third was still sparkling off at odd intervals; but the glow of siphoned chakra was so weak Kisame had to squint to see it. Nothing to do with the blinding light of before. The fourth layer, that he had deemed superfluous and unlikely to really be used, appeared whole, though weakened. There was a fifth layer behind the walls, all around the room, and he knew without needing to check that the wards of the whole building were now glowing with red energy. Not very inconspicuous, but more than enough to fry any fool to a crisp.
Though -- it was possible that some of them had burned out under the onslaught of energy. He eyed his partner thoughtfully. Itachi didn't really need him to help subdue the boy any longer, and Kisame wasn't equipped for mind-to-mind fights, though he was resilient to most genjutsu. That was Itachi's area of expertise. His was more physical. And he wanted to check on the security. It would be a weird, unexpected coincidence, that someone would just happen to be there to slip past their defense the second they were down, but Kisame had learned long ago that at a certain level of power, the unexpected became commonplace.
He checked on Itachi again. The other man was still leaning over the boy, his feet firmly planted in the large puddle of blood -- enough blood to belong to at least two boys his size -- and looked as calm and concentrated as a few seconds earlier.
"Itachi-san?" he called softly, soft enough that the Uchiha could ignore him if he so wished.
There was no response. Itachi's hand was now on the boy's stomach -- kind of on his guts, really, where the Fourth's seal had been. It wasn't healing anymore. Itachi was about to drag the weakened fox out of its container and transfer it to another one; a non-living one this time. It wouldn't last as long by far, but they were planning to start using it quickly anyway. Kisame shrugged; he couldn't help there either. He trusted Itachi would handle it on his own.
He turned away.
The glow of the sigils went from red-gold to cold blue.
+
The color of the wards shifted so suddenly from blaze-red to pale blue that Sasuke needed a few seconds to blink the afterimage away. Eyes narrowed in concentration, he watched the ebb and flow of the new energy, learning the pattern, the rhythm. And then -- there!! He struck, quickly -- burned his hand, but it didn't matter -- and the ward deactivated. He didn't wait more than three seconds before slipping inside and running soundlessly down the dark staircase.
+
The boy's body was arching mindlessly, his eyes empty and his face slack. Itachi was pulling... something...
"That's not a paw," Kisame whispered, even as he grabbed his Samehada and raised it to thrust it right through the boy's body.
It was ... blue. Glowing, see-through. Dangerous.
It was a hand. A human hand. A wrist. An arm. And Itachi didn't stop pulling, even as Kisame grabbed his shoulder to drag him back, away from the table, and Itachi didn't make a sound either as the blue, ghostly hand broke free of his hold to reverse it, grabbing his wrist, and as another hand appeared, and formed a few quick seals, and thrust through Itachi's chest like a sword made of mist.
Kisame threw his partner back through the net of blessed ropes -- the demon couldn't cross these -- brandished his sword -- he had to cut the connection, he had to kill the boy before -- and then there was more blood splattering the table, and there was a hand with painted nails blooming in the middle of his chest.
+
Sasuke barged in on a nightmare.
There was blood all over, blood and sigils that couldn't decide between ice and fire. There was a body -- that couldn't be Naruto, because Naruto was blond and tanned and smiling and always jumping, not pale and unmoving, not wide open. There was his brother, down on one knee, hand clenched on his elbow, forearm disappearing into his blue-skinned teammate. There was his brother, trembling, and Naruto with his intestines bared to the cold air of the underground room and so much blood, just so much blood.
There were two urgencies -- make sure that Naruto was still breathing, and make sure that his brother would never breathe again. He didn't know which was more urgent. He hesitated. One second only; it was enough for the blue-skinned man to lift his behemoth of a sword over the blond's body. To swing it down. He would never have enough strength to deflect that kind of momentum.
He was a bare millisecond away from plunging in the man's legs, from tackling him -- when the sword reached Naruto's body.
And splintered.
Sasuke rolled on the floor with the tall man -- curled up, arms over his head to guard from the shrapnel raining down on him, skidding to a halt in the puddle of blood -- jumped back into a defensive crouch...
His brother had been knocked down with the blue man. The big guy was sitting dumbly on the stone floor, his hand still closed on the hilt of his sword.
There was almost nothing left from the blade. It had exploded on impact. Naruto was sitting up, a hand closed around the cutting edge, flames of chakra licking up his arm and seeping into the weird tooth-covered metal. Sasuke swallowed bile, and watched his ex-teammate's intestines slide with a wet, revolting noise.
Itachi twitched a few feet away, and Sasuke started -- he'd forgotten he was there, how could he have forgotten? -- but his big brother stayed where he'd fallen, still shaking, and clenching and unclenching his hands with weird, jerky movements.
The shark man -- he had a hole through his back, Sasuke could see orange chakra flickering through it -- straightened up, lifted the sword's handle to attack again...
Naruto put a casual hand on his guts to hold them in place, and his other hand -- too fast for the sharingan to follow -- closed on his vest, reeled him in -- and then. Cartilage crunched between his jaws and dark blood gushed out -- the shark guy jerked, and struggled, and the fire chakra engulfed them both and there was a roar...
It was weird how such a huge body would crumple with so little noise. The puddle of blood made the stones slick, letting the corpse spread out slowly. His weird fish eyes were already glassy. Sasuke frowned and made himself look away. Itachi -- still unmoving, save from the trembling racking his lean frame.
He'd never associated Itachi with the word frail before, but right now, it was what he looked like, and that was deeply disturbing. Itachi had always seemed larger than life to him. Slowly, watching him closely, he stepped toward Naruto. The blond boy was curled up on the marble slab, teeth bared in a silent scream of pain. Smoke rose from the vicinity of his stomach, and Sasuke could only hope that once again, his miraculous healing ability was operating -- because there was no way he could do anything. He only knew the most basic field-healing methods; he was certainly unable to deal with evisceration.
"... idiot?" he glanced at the blond quickly, not wanting to look away from Itachi too long. Naruto was still panting shallowly. That was good -- unless it meant he was going into shock. But at least he was alive, and Naruto was rather like a cockroach anyway.
Sasuke didn't reach out to touch the blond. They hadn't parted on the best of terms and Naruto had just bitten out the shark guy's throat.
Slowly rolling on his side, Itachi shook his head and shuddered, his half-undone ponytail spilling over his shoulder to land in the congealing puddle of blood. Sasuke clenched his fists, eyeing him worriedly. He was between them and the exit, and Sasuke wasn't sure Naruto would let him touch him yet. What the hell had they done to him anyway?
"Hey, moron... Uzumaki, it's me," he warned softly, reaching out. He wasn't sure if Naruto heard him, even less understood him -- Sasuke didn't want to think about the amount of pain he had to be in right now -- but there wasn't much choice. They had to leave, fast.
Naruto looked up at him, and Sasuke forgot to check back on Itachi's progress. Naruto's irises were dark red, his cat-slit pupils dilated. There was no recognition in his eyes, nothing but hate and a feral determination to go down fighting.
"Fuck," he groaned, just before the beast tackled him.
They rolled, the floor slippery under them. Sasuke instinctively punched where the blond was vulnerable -- his guts -- and heard him snarl in outrage and pain as Sasuke's fist crushed through the thin layer of healing muscles. He gnashed his teeth together when he felt the wet, soft intestines roll under his hand, and attempted to kick Uzumaki off him, not wanting to damage him further -- but the other teenager was just as heavy as he was, maybe more, and the weakness of his muscles was easily compensated by the rage with which he clawed at Sasuke's arms. Sasuke yowled in outrage as sharp teeth clamped down on his shoulder -- and cried out again when they were ripped free.
Panting, he straightened up, and froze. Itachi's arms were wound around Naruto's chest, blocking his arms along his body, and he was attempting to keep him unmoving. Orange chakra sparkled and sizzled as Naruto struggled, howling like a madman -- like a crazy fox, but Itachi held on, eyes narrowed in grim determination.
Sasuke's hand clenched, a tendril of white-blue chakra winding around his fist. If he used the Chidori now, he could get rid of two threats in one strike.
"LEGGO!!! LEMME GO -- stop, stop hurting me, lemme go -- god please..."
Sasuke's hand stilled, and the Chidori dissipated. He couldn't -- not when Naruto's eyes were blue again, not when all his rage was replaced by weariness and suffering -- not even when it would have meant getting rid of Itachi. He glared hatefully over Naruto's shoulder, seeking his brother's eyes. He didn't know why the other man insisted on bringing Naruto's struggles under control while hurting him as little as possible, when a few minutes ago he'd been torturing him, and he didn't know why he had bothered pulling the crazed blond off Sasuke -- maybe some sort of twisted 'I alone am allowed to murder my foolish little brother' thing.
"Leggo... stop...! don't... please..."
Itachi was ignoring him. It made the hateful glow inside him burn hotter, made white sparks shoot around his clenched fist again, and for a few seconds he totally forgot that his ex-teammate was in the way -- or more accurately totally stopped caring.
And then his world flipped over on its head.
"Shush... just breathe, boy... just breathe..." Itachi's hold, while still firm, had gentled a little. He was leaning back, so that Naruto's still healing flesh wouldn't be constricted. His hands -- still shaking -- were patting Naruto's arms awkwardly. Sasuke could only stare, absently wondering when exactly that twisted genjutsu had taken hold of him.
"... it's -- going to be all right..." Itachi's voice, usually so smooth, so quiet, so coldly precise, now sounded ragged. Unsure almost, and exhausted.
Naruto kept sobbing quietly, eyes tightly closed. "Hurts, hurts, let go..."
"Just breathe -- just breathe. Here -- good. Another one. That's it. See? Getting better already."
Sasuke could only stare. His brother -- Itachi -- the prodigy, the cold-blooded murderer -- cradling on his lap the demon fox's vessel... it was crazy. It was one of the most fucked up dreams he'd ever had.
"Wh--" Sasuke tried to talk, but his throat wasn't letting words past. He licked his lips, swallowed, tried again. "What are you -- what are you pretending for?"
His throat burned suddenly. His chest felt weird.
He'd never ever held Sasuke like that, not even when he'd still been -- still been pretending to be the dutiful son and the loving, protective brother.
Blinking absently, as if just now remembering his insignificant existence, Itachi looked up. There was a lock of hair that was glued to his cheek with blood. It made the perfect genius of the Uchiha look startlingly human.
That wasn't what made Sasuke blink.
Itachi's eyes were black.
Yes, it is actually meant to be confusing. You're free to guess. I'm not saying anything, though. XD
Hmm, i think i need to add some sasuke wondering if this is really naruto , BEFORE he gets tackled. but i'm too lazy to edit that now. Any other comments ?
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Very interesting! Looking forward to seeing you write more although with your sporadic patterns, haha, who knows =P It's all good!!
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And yeah, this fic is probably going to be written in quick bursts followed by months of nothing. it's more about the mood than the scenario for me, so it's subjected to wether i feel like working on it or not ^^;;
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"Woah."
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I did keep thinking of open Mike night at the Biker Bar. I think I'd rather like attending one of those, as I have yet to meet a Mike I like. And, really, if I could supply the Mike I'd pay for the clean up, too.
Itachi? *purr* I'm so amused. I like the entertaining wonderings wandering through my brain. Poor Kisame, though. I rather like the shark-dude. Can we roast him and have a feast? Spread the love?
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but, I killed Kisame in one of my last fics too, so I can't really yell at you. XP
absently wondering when exactly that twisted genjutsu had taken hold of him.
I like that sentence. Also like the note that Itachi had never even held Sasuke like that, back when he was pretending. In all, I like that scene. And the entire fic.
~Sam
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...do I ever say anything else about your stories? *sweatdrops*
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Or not. This is GOOD, and I have some wild ideas as to what's going on with Itachi, and I wanna know NOW, and this is GOOD. REALLY, REALLY GOOD. I loved the prologue when you first posted it, but with this kind of ending for the first chapter... I am dying to read chapter two. You're evil for taunting your readers with such awesome fic.
...or maybe an angel, I'm not entirely sure. *considers*
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Other than that, very interesting. As always, I like your Sasuke POV. And I am left wondering if Yondaime got trapped inside Naruto and did a soul-restoring seal on Itachi or something like that. Because clearly some jutsu or seal happened, and Itachi is now behaving quite uncharacteristically...
Oh well. I assume it will come clear in future chapters!
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I really do hate you, because you like to hurt me.
<3
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I do think it needs something-- either Sasuke being more shocked by how certain he is that is Naruto, or more uncertain over whether it is.
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yeah, because otherwise it's just stupid that he'd come so close when he knows about kyuubi. *siiigh*
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Only... I think there's a typo here: "he would pay it dearly" should be pay for it? (but you can ignore the fussing if you like). Also, does anyone call Naruto "Uzumaki"? Because Sasuke says that here and it kinda threw me...no one really uses last names in the Naruto universe. Everything else was great though.
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I just *loved* that line...especially since that sentiment seems to be a theme in most of the Itachi fic that I've read.
And with the way Itachi was acting at the end...so caring of Naruto...my guess is that the demon fox is perhaps inside of Itachi now...which would be rather cool (I've never read any fic like that before).
I can't wait to see what happens next.
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*does yay!friended dance* *cuddlepets you* <3
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I have a theory about what happened, let's see if I'm right :P
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**grin** I REALLY can't wait for more of this. **does a little exctied dance** Please?
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