Disclaimer: Naruto and Sasuke don't belong to me, plain and simple.

This is an idea that's been brewing for some time now... I'm certainly glad I waited to write it when I at least had some talent.

Please, if you're going to read this, I ask that you tell me what you think and that you read the chapters to come. This is well on its way to becoming one of my favorites. Thank you.

The first glimpse Sasuke had had of the boy called Naruto was when their eyes had briefly met, as the boy was being led down the hall by his older brother.

The boy was to be a slave of sorts to Itachi, and Sasuke couldn't help but to try and see him. And so he had been caught peering around the wall, caught by the one person he was secretly trying to see: the slave boy himself.

Eyes blue as the deepest sky locked with his own, and he flushed with embarrassment. The glance was gone as quick as it had come, soft locks of rumpled blonde hair that shielded it disappearing around a corner.

SLAVE TO HIS LOVE

Sasuke didn't know much, except that because his parents loved his brother Itachi far more than him, and because they had the money, Itachi had gotten a slave. He didn't like that they were the kind of family to enslave someone, but he had to admit that they certainly were. The boy was young, around his age, sixteen or seventeen if he could venture a guess. What he was to be used for, Sasuke didn't have the slightest clue.

In all honesty, they were exactly the kind of family capable of such malice. The Uchihas were an eccentric family, living quietly in their estate on their own land. Sasuke was an exception to his family's inhuman ways; even though he had always suspected that his mother had once had a kind heart and demeanor, she had been turned cold by his father. Itachi was no different. The brother he had once loved playing with now kept to himself and rarely spoke to him.

But now, this innocent boy who was being led like a lamb to slaughter into their unforgiving house, well... he intrigued Sasuke.

And so Sasuke was determined to learn more about this boy, talk to him if he could. He took a deep breath as he opened his brother's door, to find Itachi reading a book on his bed.

"Yes, Sasuke?" When Itachi did speak to him, it was always with a tone that feigned politeness.

"Um..." Sasuke faltered. "That boy... where is he?"

"Why?" Itachi's lips turned up into a cruel smile.

"I don't know... I just wanted... to talk to him or something."

Itachi smiled condescendingly.

"I don't see how he's any of your business." His smile turned mocking. "But the boy is in there."

He jerked his head toward a room across the hall from his own. Sasuke glanced over his shoulder at the door, and Itachi gave him a light shove.

"Now go on," he said, his eyes assessing Sasuke once more before they slid back down to the book. "Get out."

Sasuke frowned at him, and retreated back to the door.

"And Sasuke..." Sasuke turned; Itachi's smile was still in place. "Don't get attached to him."

Sasuke sneered and left the room, slamming the door for good measure as he went. His brother could be a real asshole at times. He already felt sorry for the blonde boy. Don't get attached to him. That meant the boy was disposable, meant that he wouldn't be around for long.

Apprehensively, he lifted a hand to knock on the boy's door, but then stopped. Why did he have to knock? This was his own house, and this boy was nothing but a servant to his brother. He shook his head for thinking such a rude thing, but all the same, he wasn't going to knock.

He tried the door, and to his immense surprise, it wasn't locked.

He stepped inside confidently, but quailed as those blue eyes pierced him again. He looked away from them as he cloed the door, and they darted about the room. Simple, and yet Sasuke felt that Itachi, being Itachi after all, had somewhat outdone himself. A bed, a soft chair, a lamp, and carpet on the floor. That was a lot more than he had expected Itachi would allow the boy to have.

Now that he had the chance (and the excuse), he took in the boy's appearance. Still dressed in clothes that looked to be very much his own, another thing that surprised Sasuke, he looked like nothing more than a modern-day ninja. His clothing was designed in exactly the way the book on "ancient shinobi" described ninja attire, even if the boy's happened to be a lurid orange color. He probably had to be, Sasuke thought absentmindedly, the only person who could pull an outfit like that off.

His hair was, as Sasuke vividly remembered it, pale blonde and precariously ruffled. It fell almost past his eyes, but instead achieved a rather cherubic look as it framed his face.

"Yes?"

Sasuke turned toward the bed at the abrupt voice, back to those blue eyes. The boy had spoken; his voice was light and gentle, but held an unmistakable trace of spite. And those eyes...

It was something Sasuke had learned long ago; you'd be surprised at what you could learn from a person's eyes alone. These held a certain defensiveness; and that defensiveness was a key to unlocking another door: fear. These eyes were afraid. But he could see longing haunting every bottomless depth of them.

What the boy wanted, Sasuke could not tell, but it was with an urgency that those eyes bore into his. As he realized that they were indeed gazing at each other in such a manner, he dropped his eyes.

"I'm sorry... this seems so impolite..." Sasuke slowly made his way to the bed, and sat down on the end of it, his eyes still averted. "My name's Sasuke."

"Naruto." Sasuke looked once again at the boy, who had sat up, his body now irresistably inclined toward him. Sasuke could see a faint smile lingering on his lips as his head dipped in a silent bow, and Sasuke did the same. The instant their heads were lifted, and their eyes met again, Sasuke felt like he was suddenly seeing him for the first time.

"Naruto." Sasuke repeated, extending his hand awkwardly. "It's nice to meet you."

The instant their hands clasped, a sudden warmth spread throughout Sasuke's fingers to the rest of his body. But Naruto's eyes took on a distant manner and he dropped Sasuke's hand, leaning back on his bedframe with a sigh.

"Can I ask you something... Sasuke?"

Sasuke's lips pursed in confusion. "Sure."

"Why am I here?" And there it was: Naruto was terrified. Sasuke could hear it in his voice; he obviously wasn't used to being used, wasn't used to being made to be subservient. Sasuke's heart sympathized for him.

"I... don't know."

Naruto's eyes once again sought his, but he dropped them almost as quickly.

"You're telling the truth."

"Why wouldn't I be?" Sasuke asked, and was immediately met with Naruto's apologetic expression.

"I'm sorry... Sasuke," he said, his fingers clenched around the black fabric of his jacket, his face pained with guilt. "I know it's not you I'm here to serve. It's your..."

"Brother." Naruto looked up at him and nodded.

"He was just... so cruel to me when he was bringing me here... I just don't know what I'm to expect."

"I won't lie to you," Sasuke whispered softly, inching closer to Naruto until they were side-by-side. "He's not a nice person."

"Will he... abuse me?"

"I don't know."

"Please!" Naruto said, gripping the front of Sasuke's shirt. "Can't you do anything?"

And looking into those helpless eyes, hearing this impossible plea, Sasuke knew his brother was wrong.

Don't get attached to him.

Too late. Sasuke already felt like Naruto was someone he'd known for a long time, someone he shared a bond with, a bond that he could form with no one else. Naruto was someone he had to protect.

"I'll try," he promised Naruto with a smile, and with that, he made a silent vow to himself.

He would not break that promise.

T.B.C...