A/N: holy effin crow this is late... you'd think after the reviews I got last month I'd manage to update a little faster... I'm sooo sorry readers. You definitely deserved an update. I wanted to. But for some reason writing this chapter was like pulling teeth.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Warnings: Offensive language (cussing)

Chapter 14 Orochimaru Pov

There is a silence that stills movement, displacing the familiar comfort my pristine lab would usually bring.

The chair under me is hard and uncooperative. My spine presses against the unrelenting plastic. I could do worse than to sit straight to relieve the ache. It would logically bring about few advantages, better blood flow, for one, perhaps it would clear my mind and I'd better be able to cope with the present situation. It would also help with the head ache building behind my eyes.

I lean back against the chair instead of slouching over my knees. It does not help with my back or my head ache, but my neck pains me less.

The phone still hangs from it's cradle. Kisame's still on the other end, waiting for further commands.

I'm at something of a loss for words here. Strands of black fall around my face, I close my eyes and clench my teeth.

Fury, indignation. These emotions are disruptive and in the way. I have to clear my mind of these emotions and think clearly.

Uzumaki is missing.

I rub my eyes and frown at the ceiling.

Kisame just briefed me, a joint report from the members of his task force sent to relocate Kushina's brat.

The men on the roof report the younger Uchiha had been brought from the hospital incapacitated. Supposedly shot through the shoulder. Upon investigating the scene, the conclusion was drawn that Naruto Uzumaki was abducted by an unknown party.

Someone with the ability to remain undetected from my own team. This also brings to mind the fact that this happened right under their noses.

There is no real doubting their abilities, the large number of successes they've had in previous field missions nulls such questions of inability...

There are larger concerns to ponder at the moment. Was it Tsunade? Where did she get the resources to pull a stunt like this off? Is there a mole in my team?

And, of course... I'm contemplating the real suspicion. Danzo.

...What the hell are you planning?

He had no knowledge of what this boy would mean to us. The goals I'd reach with samples from that brat... the tests I itched to conduct on him... How would the kyuubi organism react if I were to infect it's host?

There is no use musing over this, I had the answers in my grasp and an astounding lack of competence shattered this chance. But all is not lost.

Perhaps, if it is Danzo who stole the boy from me, I can make a trade. Something Danzo wants, for what I want. But first, I have to make absolute certain it is Danzo.

But who else would it be? There aren't any other organized facilities in existence. We're all that's left.

I hunch over my knees again and reach for the phone, intent on berating Kisame for his unprecedented lack of vigilance.

Sasuke stares at the water stained ceiling. His shoulder hurts like a fucking hot iron is being shoved through it.

Likewise his anger burns, fierce, molten in his stomach. He can't sleep. He can't move his body at the moment. His thoughts burn fiery trails through his mind, fueling the fury tightening his jaw.

Naruto.

The name makes up every other word of every other thought. He exhales shakily at the scalding burning in his eyes. Almost spilling over again.

He comprehends now in this moment of after, how much he truly wants Naruto back.

The blindingly oblivious adorable lighthearted existence.

It's frightening, the pain his heart thumps through him alongside the ache in his shoulder. This complete surrender of control, he hadn't even realized how much he'd relaxed around Naruto til he thought back on the time they spent together.

He tries to think rationally about this, why he's in so much emotional pain because Naruto was taken. And he finds his mind utterly blank of a credible excuse. There isn't a reason in the world he should be suffering so much for the lovely boy/man he'd only know for a little under a month.

He doesn't understand.

So he won't dwell on the why.

"Sasuke." Itachi's voice is sudden in the dark, Sasuke blinks as his mind settles on the room around him. He turns bloodshot eyes to his brothers pale face.

Itachi stands in the dim glow from the doorway and grey eyes are unfamiliar with a terrible softness. Itachi moves slowly across the room, his hands rest at his sides as he stares down at his little brother. Sasuke can see what no one else would in his older brother, the hesitant heartrending sadness.

He absently realizes Itachi hadn't reacted this way when their father had died. He rolls his head to face his brother.

"Did you ever love father 'tachi?" Sasuke murmurs.

Itachi jerks to a stop beside Sasuke's bed. His eyebrows furrow as he halfheartedly glares down at the thin covers over his brothers body.

"There are, limits... to what father allowed me to feel for him. And words to describe the peaks of those limits exactly." Itachi blinked and narrowed his eyes, searching for appropriate words.

"Love... was too frivolous a term, too broad and certainly not concise enough a feeling to assign to what I felt for him." Itachi sits down on Sasuke's bed and rests a warm hand on his brothers torso.

"No, little brother. I cannot remember ever loving father the way I love you or the way I loved our mother."

The answer placates Sasuke's wandering curiosity. He turns his face away and breathes out lowly.

"I think I loved Naruto. I don't know how, I think I fucking loved him. Honest to god. How?"

He blinks at the ceiling and ponders. Itachi digests the slurred words, the inflection soft and scared. Itachi raises one hand to his forehead and pressures his brow.

Sasuke deduces steadily that he is drugged stupid as the silence drags on. Itachi will laugh at him for saying these things. Then he'll condescendingly respond that Sasuke lacks the proper capabilities to love another human being.

Sasuke frowns, finding himself furious with his brother before Itachi has even spoken a word.

"I know... little brother."

And just like that, the anger is snuffed so quickly Sasuke's mind frantically backtracks to keep up.

He can only stare curiously at his older brother as Itachi leans back on the bed beside him.

"I saw. Your face. The easy way you regarded him, talked to him. Your heart is set on that boy, within minutes of meeting him I think you wanted to love him. I've been beside you your entire life and I've never witnessed the emotional leakage you display around him."

Sasuke's throat is stiff with Itachi's calm affirmation. He fights to calm the emotions brewing up through his eyes.

"Emotional... Leakage... if I was hungry, I think that would make me lose my appetite. Where the hell do you come up with this shit?"

Itachi laughs. Sasuke's too out of it to really notice his brother's absent reservation.

"The same place that Naruto finds his dialogue." Itachi mutters, his eyes light and his throat tight.

Sasuke sighs and closes his eyes.

"I'm getting him back, I don't know who the fuck took him. But I'm getting him back Itachi."

Sasuke fell asleep murmuring those words. Itachi stared at the wall over Sasuke's head, his eyes curiously blank.

"I know little brother."

Naruto POV

I try to shift hands bound tightly behind my back, grunting slightly with the effort. My torso is pressed against cold metal. I'm lying on my face in the back of a vehicle. There's a boot resting heavily on my back. Weighing me down. It's COLD! Dammit! Cold air, and this stupid fucking cloth bag over my face.

I've thought about why they haven't drugged me or whatever...don't kidnappers usually drug their victims into compliance or something... do I really wanna be awake for what ever will happen when we get to where we're going?

I suppress a shiver. It really is cold.

My eyes close underneath the bag. It's dark.

Sasuke had gone down hard. I watched him fall in that dark hospital hallway.

It started so suddenly, the only warning we had was the clump of foot steps behind us. I could barely make out a mass of huddled armored forms heading straight for us. For a moment I'd thought they were SWAT team zombies for their black body armor and the single minded way they moved.

I'd raised my rifle and waited to see their sallow yellow eyes, hear the eager howls the dead intent on our flesh should make.

I watched them get closer, other than the trump of their boot steps they didn't make a sound. Their faces were black, their eyes plastic black goggles glinting in the dim light.

I called out to them uncertainly. In the few seconds when the noise was vibrating in my throat a flash lit the darkness, a shot tore away my words from coherency.

I blinked rapidly, stumbling back the rifle slipped out of my fingers. It banged and clattered against the linoleum. My mind registered the gunshot. My body didn't.

Because, I wasn't shot. My brows furrowed in confusion. My fingers curled slightly against my stomach. Dread stiffened my limbs, I turned and watched Sasuke fall. Horror choked my breathe into stillness. And deep inside everything went cold and still and silent. Waiting for Sasuke to stand back up. Waiting for him to look up at me and raise an eyebrow. Waited for the flash of annoyance to fly across his face.

None of these things happened. His face was pale against the strands of black hair that fell over his lips. I felt my face scrunch up in horrified confusion.

Large hands grabbed my upper arms and pressed my torso over my knees so quickly I almost fell over. Then they were dragging me away from Sasuke. They kept getting in the way, I couldn't see him as I was dragged back down the hallway.

I started yelling til my throat hurt and my voice was hoarse. They kept kicking my feet from underneath me. I remember struggling even harder to see if Sasuke had gotten back up until eventually someone slammed my back into the wall and a fist slammed into the side of my head. I saw stars for a moment then all was black.

Fuckers had slammed the bag down around my neck.

It was around then that I started wondering if anyone outside had heard me before. And I also realized then without a doubt that zombies were the least of my worries.

I'm fidgeting around again. The boot digs into my back until I growl at the boot's owner. I get a laugh.

This is really pissing me off. They won't answer any of my questions, the only sounds I've heard from them is a few grunts and the occasional laugh at my struggling.

What's the deal with that?

Just because they're kidnapping me doesn't mean they have to be intentionally cruel and annoying.

And what the fuck do they want me for? Ransom? What?

That is... blindingly stupid.

Ah, what was that? Just now?

It sounds suspiciously like a helicopter... and now it sounds like we're in a tunnel listening to a helicopter. Ouch. My thigh stings.

Oh... the 'drug me please' thought... huh. Kidnappers complying with the kidnap-ee's subliminal wishes, this is probably... a... first.

Naruto awoke. His eyes slit revealing a tentative blue gaze.

The world was made up of nonsense today.

A sky, Ridiculously blue above him. Naruto stares up. It's a wrong blue. The clouds drifting lazily by are chipped in some places. Cracks splinter across the maddeningly nonsensical sky.

No, there aren't cracks in the sky. Naruto knows that isn't right. So what exactly is he looking at?

And what the fuck is with those chubby babies with white feathery wings staring down at him from a fluffy white cloud?

"Young man."

Naruto's breath catches in his rapidly constricting throat.

"You and your family have caused quite a bit of trouble for all of us here at Konohagakure."

A mans eyes gleam softly in the shadow of the voluminous room. He watches the small male securely strapped to the examination table take shuddering breaths.

"Who the hell are you? Why can't I move?" Naruto shrieks. He finds the babies completely unnerving.

And also he can't move. He swallows and squishes his chin to his chest examining the thick nylon straps crossing over his chest and thighs.

"SHIT!" he yells. His eye twitches as he stares aghast at his barely clothed body.

"I've been kidnapped by perverts? WHY?"

"Perverts?" the unknown man asks, walking casually over to a shelf. He slides his fingers over gleaming medical tools.

"I'm shirtless, in nothing but boxers tied down to a bed! And these boxers aren't ever mine!" Naruto tilts his head back to watch the man nervously. The room he is in is very large, an auditorium of sorts. The floor is glossy wood, making Naruto think of a ballroom. The windows are foggy at first glance, upon closer examination, he can see the walls around the windows and the glass itself is draped in plastic. Naruto frowns worried eyes at the realization.

A clank of metal and a crinkle of plastic draws Naruto's wide eyes to the man who's back is to him. The shelving the man stands near is the only other furniture besides the bed Naruto's seen in the large room.

"This room is sterile. We couldn't allow you entrance without the proper cleaning procedures. Even I have to suffer through some minor indignities to enter this room. Don't alarm yourself overmuch Naruto." The mans glasses reflect the light in a flash as he turns his head to appraise the boy.

"I'd think you'd appreciate being clean. You were quite filthy on arrival."

Naruto gapes at the man, speechless. He tries to ponder why exactly this man would think he'd appreciate anything they'd do to him. Who the hell are they and what they wanted from him?

The glasses man's eyes linger on Naruto's for a few minutes. The silence stretches til Naruto glances down at the metal items on the shelf and bites his lip.

The man has gray hair, no wrinkles and a youthful face. His glasses gleam occasionally when they catch the light. He moves confidently around the room and Naruto gets the feeling that his arrival here was expected for a while.

"You awoke far sooner than you should have. I was expecting to deal with an unconscious patient."

Naruto's heart jumps behind his chest.

"Patient?" he queries softly.

"Did you honestly expect to hear something weird, like, experiment or prisoner, Naruto?" The man chuckles, Naruto clenches his teeth and glares.

"Well, what am I then? Your guest?" he spat.

"Hm, that is a good question. Well, your life is not in any danger, for the moment. And depending on your level of cooperation, you can dwell quite comfortably in this room for the remainder of your stay in this facility. Or, so I'm told."

The man pulls a drawer open and casually fingers an empty syringe.

"My name is Kabuto Yakushi, and I'll be your examiner today." He turns with a simple stretch of his mouth that Naruto's brain only registers as a smile after Kabuto starts walking towards him.

Naruto's body tenses to the point he can hardly breathe. Kabuto calmly walks closer and Naruto's voice snaps.

"Stay the fuck away from me!" The shriek spurs Naruto to jerk around in his bonds frantically. Kabuto's mouth twitches at the side.

"Calm down Naruto, I was just teasing you. My name really is Kabuto. And while you're here I really will be in charge of your health." Kabuto places the empty syringe on a medical table next to Naruto.

Naruto blinks back the black dots that form in his sight as he frantically tries to keep an eye on Kabuto.

His mind is blank, his limbs tremble against the table.

"Wow. Are you sure this is a man? He's shaking like a girl."

Naruto's blonde hair bristles much like a hedgehog at the odd sounding voice. His neck snaps back and a glare narrows his eyes at the newly discovered presence in the large room.

The male is paler than Sasuke. Naruto blinks bewildered eyes at the comparison. He bites his lower lip gently and studies the other male.

"Sai, bring the Vacutainers over here and draw Naruto's blood please. When you're finished you may release Naruto. Introduce him to his living quarters and keep him company while I bring them to the lab. He'll no doubt be a little dizzy from the amount of blood we need from him, so please make sure he doesn't fall and hurt himself." Kabuto murmurs, his eyes skim over papers he pulled from a shelf.

Sai doesn't even blink at Kabuto, his blank black eyes stray to Naruto's lips.

"Definitely not a complete male, are you Naruto? You certainly don't convey masculinity when you bite your pink little lips like that." Sai's pwn pale mouth curves up.

Naruto immediately releases his lower lip from his teeth and renews his fierce glare at Sai.

"Look you ghosty motherfucker, I'm not in the mood for your obvious jealousy over my amazingly male figure. If it bothers you that much go find some steroids or something." Naruto growls at the odd male.

"Sai." Kabuto mutters from his position over some paperwork, the pen pauses for a moment and faintly annoyed black eyes glance up at Sai.

"Of course, I apologize Sir." Sai says innocently and proceeds to pull on white plastic gloves.

He pulls a tourniquet from a drawer and casually ties it above Naruto's elbow. Naruto flinches at the direct contact and his lips thin as he watches Sai pick up a hypodermic needle. He places a few long clear test tube things on the medical table with the syringe and then smiles down at Naruto's wide eyes.

"Please be very still Naruto. This won't hurt a bit."

I'm ending it here. Again, I'm sooo sorry! I wanted to update in December but it just didn't happen. T_T I do have more written, but that will be for the next update. Things will finally start moving along towards the end of this fic in the next chapter I think. A few more updates should do it depending on how large they are.