[A/N] [Complete Version - Edited 07/2015] Here's the complete version 10K as always. Make sure you read before reading Chapter 11 when it's posted. I'm trying to start back up and keep momentum.

Subduing a Fox

Chapter 10

"You are not in love, Otouto." Itachi insisted once he'd gotten his strangely absent little brother out of the scalding shower and sitting on his bed. The music had been killed, brutally. Itachi himself wasn't too sure where Sasuke stood with his feelings, but he was certain it wasn't love. It was just too soon to be love. "You are…" Itachi waved his hand, eyes heaven-ward as he searched for the correct term. "…infatuated." Yes, that was it. "You're smitten with him, and honestly," The elder sighed and sat next to the younger. "I'm not surprised. He is…effervescent, let's say. That's not something you are in contact with often as we are both pragmatic and somewhat malefic." Sasuke's eyes widened at his aniki's frankness. Itachi shrugged, he'd made peace with his own nature ages ago. "It comes with the namesake. The point is: we are susceptible to naturally kind-hearted people. We subconsciously seek them to….balance us. However, it does not mean you are in love with that person. You may just realize you actually want him as a friend. Someone permanent whom you can be yourself with. Neither you nor I have many, if any, of those."

Everything seemed completely logical coming from Itachi's naturally soft spoken bass. Sasuke could feel his heart rate slowing. He felt just a little more secure in his skin, like his world was no longer rocking on its axis at the thought of actually being in love. Still…."I don't know aniki. I—my body," Sasuke blushed and fumbled, but pushed through his embarrassment. "I can't get—It's only Naruto now aniki. Do you understand?" When Itachi's slightly tilted head and blank face remained so, Sasuke sighed. "Well, I can understand if you don't, being abstinent and all, but I don't think it's normal for one person to all of a sudden stop being aroused by usual things and focus solely on one other person. That—that has to be some type of indication of something. Right?"

Itachi kept very still and regulated his breathing. He always hated lying to his otouto, and it never got any easier. "Right, well, I suppose I might not understand. But Sasuke, that still may simply be an indication of infatuation. Once you have him, you probably won't feel so strongly anymore." He could see he wasn't really convincing his younger brother which was actually worrying him. Sasuke wasn't one to go pronouncing lasting feelings for anything more than his car and Itachi himself. "Just give yourself some time before you start rushing to put a name on things, claiming they are love. Besides what would you do with it? Love is somewhat useless; in my opinion it's better to discard it all together."

This, Sasuke decided, was certainly true.

Deidara walked into the condo and shivered as the heat began to flood into his bones. Casing the derelict looking house in the West side fringes was hard work. He never approached from the same angle wearing the same clothing. He'd had to pay a few drug lords to rent out their property for a few weeks to set up a camp, and dealing with them was usually headache inducing. Especially since he couldn't just kill them. He always had to cover his hair and winter was more than a little annoying when stake outs required you to be still for long periods of time. But he was happy; three weeks since he was given his assignment and he was making great progress. He had a basic outline and timeline for the big boom and had already begun engineering the bombs themselves. He sighed in contentment. It was going to be a fantastic display.

He hung his coat up and took off his boots before walking into the tastefully colorful living room. His charge looked like he was doing homework, being hunched over a book and muttering as he was, so Deidara declined greeting him and flopped himself on the couch. The great thing about Naruto was he was totally fine with Deidara blasting an action movie while he was trying to do homework. How he was able to focus, the elder blonde didn't know but he damn sure didn't complain.

Fifteen minutes in and it looked like there wasn't anything actually worth watching. It was getting late so he was actually tempted to just go shower and call it a night. Doubtlessly Naruto would want to work out in the mornings and his extra commission was wearing on him a bit so he could do with some rest. He was just deciding to forfeit any entertainment with one last push on the channel button, when Pandora's Box opened.

An smartly dressed anchor woman's voiced blared: "For those of you who missed it; earlier this evening Head Chairman Shimura Danzo gave a provocative media conference sentencing former Assistant Chief of Medicinal and Health Regulations, Haruno Sakura, who died just over a month and a half ago, to post-mortem banishment after releasing incriminatory evidence of Haruno engaging in fraudulency, insider trading, blackmail, fixing, bribery and worst of all, the selling of sensitive state information to the highest bidder. Many people are speculating if the ferocity of her corruption is the reason behind her death. A death Chairman Shimura is claiming was far more gruesome than publicly declared. An interesting point brought to our attention is that at the time of death, Haruno Sakura was worth over nine point twenty one million, all of which she left to her childhood friend, Intended Hokage Uzumaki Naruto. Chi, knowing where all that money has come from, how do you think this will affect the polls for Uzumaki-san?" The anchor woman turned to her co-host but Deidara was lost on the rest of the conversation.

He hadn't heard him move, but as Deidara slowly turned his head, there standing behind the couch he was sitting on, was Naruto, staring at the screen. Besides wide, bluer than blue eyes with a shaking blown pupil, Naruto was completely still. As Deidara watched, he became utterly sure that the other wasn't even breathing. The assassin swallowed and took a shallow breath before calling softly. "Naruto." The blown pupils fixed on him and for the first time since knowing him, Deidara was actually afraid of the younger male. He pushed on, "Naruto, you have to calm down before you—"Whatever else he was meant to say was aborted as nano-seconds after those pupils shrank to thin slits, instincts called his arms up to protect him from a backlash of chakra.

Deidara felt himself soar weightlessly for just a moment before he was crashing into something hard; the television, or a wall, or something. A pain raced up his back and hips and he realized there must be glass stuck there. He barely had time to orient himself and roll out of the way as the large wooden book shelf crashed next to him. He pushed himself up to an empty apartment with a huge hole where his favorite living room window used to be. Naruto was a blur of red moving way too quickly from the apartment. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit." Deidara was so confused he literally turned in a circle before spotting a sleek black device. Naruto's cellphone. He was grabbing it before he really knew why, and leapt out of the new apartment entrance in pursuit.

A few hand signs and he reached under his hair to his covered eye, peeled it open with two fingers and commanded chakra fused clay to evacuate and transform into a large bird that was way faster than he could go on foot. It flapped away, attempting to reach Naruto before Naruto reached whoever he was after while Deidara worked the other blonde's phone. His consciousness caught up with his subconscious as soon as he eyed Kakashi's name in the contacts. They had a brief, mostly one sided and panicked conversation, of which Deidara had no clue what was said, before he was forced to hang up; Naruto had reached his destination.

Deidara wasn't sure what to do. He stood on his clay bird feeling more than helpless and torn as he watched Naruto clear through ANBUROOT agents like they were butter. If he had to guess, they were at Shimura Danzo's house, but the man hadn't made an appearance yet and the agents were doing all they could to keep Naruto from storming the large official looking manor. Finally when there were about a couple dozen black-clad bodies on the ground, Danzo himself hobbled out, wide-eyed and enraged. Deidara wasn't sure if the agents were dead or not; as while Naruto hadn't looked like he was trying to kill them, he was certain the kid hadn't been pulling his…chakra.

"Danzo!" Naruto screamed in a duel voice that really didn't sound all that human. Deidara decided then to swoop down and assess his charge. He hazarded placing his hand on one slender shaking shoulder to help him calm enough where he could speak. Naruto took deeper breaths and struggled to maintain some semblance of control. In just those few moments, more agents arrived to stand behind Danzo in a protective formation. "You said I had time!" Time? Deidara wondered as he applied a slight bit of pressure to let Naruto know he was there and keep him in control of his faculties. " Why would you do this before making your bargain!? Or getting my answer!? You said I had time! How could you do that to her? HOW?!"

Danzo sneered. "She was a traitorous whore you sniveling little shit. What do you mean how; it was easy."

Deidara had to hop back as Naruto's chakra burst as he dropped his jaw and roared.

So this is the feeling of annoyance. Sai wondered as yet again another one of his ink clones dissolved after being touched by Fu. The man was hoping to get close enough to mindprint on Sai and Sai was quite adamant that he not. He wasn't too sure where Torune was, having lost track of him, but he wasn't that concerned. The man didn't know that Sai had been vaccinated for every type of known poison in the world. Sai was waiting to fall into his trap so he could effectively kill him in one blow. Torune was a mid-range fighter so he was sure he wouldn't have a problem.

No, the only problem would be if they had a water based ROOT agent around somewhere that Sai didn't know about, since his ink was naturally weak against water types. He paused long enough to make five more ink clones, sent them out at the Fu clones and then continued to run through the woods of East Konoha.

An explosive tag whizzed by his face and he shortly leapt to the left to avoid the explosion and landed right into the arms of another Fu clone. He really hadn't been expecting that. The tanto in his hand sliced upward, disconnecting him just before the link settled and way before he hit the ground. Sai could hear a kunai coming in his direction but had nothing to push off of and only gravity acting on him; he was a sitting duck. So when the kunai landed deep in his right thigh and he saw the tag he braced himself for the pain and used his tanto to catch the outer ring and flick the kunai out his flesh. It helped; the explosion happened in front of him, instead of on his leg and he was able to create three more clones and escape again.

Sai realized that Torune must have a way of seeing which of him were clones and dealing with them, while Fu kept track of the real him. That was the only way to explain why making clones wasn't slowing them down at all. He really needed to kill Torune. Like now.

Abruptly Sai changed directions and whipped out a small scroll. He bit his thumb and summoned a large ink hawk. Fu's hair was a bright orange, so it was easy to spot him. It was Torune who's dark hair would blend in well and make it difficult to pick him out of the trees. He summoned three different ink tigers and let them loose. They're only function was to avoid traps and find Torune. It took a few more minutes of evasive maneuvers and more ink beasts before he felt a ping in his brain and had the precise location of Torune. The two agents had decided they were better together now that Torune's location had been found and were running toward each other.

Sai leapt off the hawk, saw Fu see him and make an effort to speed up but he wasn't going to make it. Torune was literally a few yards away from Fu when Sai landed, his tanto streaking from Torune's shoulder to his opposite hip, bisecting the other ROOT agent. Sai stood over the two pieces, favoring his right leg and facing Fu who, despite all his ROOT training, was finding it hard to dismiss the fact that his partner of over twenty years lay in pieces before him.

Sai watched Fu's lips tick. He saw the amber eyes tear up even though the face remained seemingly ambivalent. So that is grief. Or as close as a veteran ROOT agent was going to get. "I'm going to disobey Danzo-sama's orders." Fu said quietly.

Sai's head tilted slightly to the left. "And what were those?"

"I'm going to kill you."

Sai sincerely doubted it.

Even a few weeks after the 'incident', as Sasuke cringingly referred to it, the brunet was still a bit embarrassed and anxious. Nothing had changed. He'd attempted to fuck a few different types of people, men, women, preppy do-gooders, even the skanky worldly kind. He'd even gone out of his way to seduce a mousy-seeming guy volunteering at one of those stupid save-the-children fundraisers, wondering if it was that naive look at the world that got him going. Hours of seduction, just to not even be able to get it up. He was thoroughly disgusted with himself as well as just about reaching his breaking point. Either he was going to find someone who was a suitable replacement for the fucking fox, or he was going to show up at Naruto's condo and actually fuck the fox. Again.

"Aniki." Sasuke greeted as he entered the dining room. Itachi was eating dinner, primly as usual, a maid standing attentively a few paces behind him. He nodded at another wait staff and sat adjacent to his elder brother as the help brought out crockery for him and his entrée.

"Otouto, I was assuming you would be out tonight." Itachi politely inquired.

Sasuke grimaced. "No, it's pointless. Nothing's working, no one's working." He ran a hand over his face. "But enough of that, what's the status on the merger contract with that Otogakuran components manufacturer?"

It was Itachi's turn to give a faint grimace. "It is as disgusting to deal with them as ever."

Sasuke began eating but took a moment to raise a brow at his brother. "I don't know why you don't just let me handle them if they creep you out so much. Even being under 'house arrest' I could still handle them well enough so you wouldn't have to. I'll just make sure they're the first one's I visit when the ban is lifted."

That, was the main reason Itachi never let Sasuke deal with any Oto contracts. His otouto was strictly forbidden from even entering that country unless ordered to. After all, it was the main breeding ground for those snakes. "They require a delicate touch Sasuke." The elder took a sip of wine and looked to his otouto with a small smile to soften the perceived slight. "There is a lot of history between our corporations and they are not motivated by the normal means. As unpleasant as it is, it is my duty to wade through the mire that is dealing with Otogakuran businessmen."

Sasuke snorted but shrugged it off. "As you say, aniki. I just don't know why—" He paused. Both of them did, and looked to each other.

Itachi set his glass down as they both stood. "If I am not mistaken, that is Naruto's chakra signature but…"

Sasuke nodded in agreement and turned toward the direction it was coming from. It was fairly close by. He moved to the window and lifted the pane before stepping out onto ground level. By the time he registered that his brother was with him, Sasuke was traveling top speed towards the angry sporadic bursts of chakra.

The Uchiha skidded just before entering the clearing of Shimura Danzo's property where they could see a glowing red ball and hear a deafening roar of "LIAR!"

They watched as Deidara went flying into the air, a large white bird swooping to catch him and circling back into place. Itachi had never seen this particular expression on the bodyguard's face. The elder blonde was panting, a bit bloody with two jagged, clear things sticking out of his back.

"Naruto!" He called bringing the bird a little lower to the ground. It was still impossible to see the shrieking figure beyond the bright orange, undulating flames of chakra. "Naruto you have to calm down!" He yelled before muttering a defeated "Fuck." After a moment he spotted two glowing pairs of Sharingan to his left, hidden in the tree-line, opened his mouth to call to them but another roar sounded.

"YOU TAKE IT BACK!" The duel voice was back and Deidara decided to just fuck it and leapt off the bird towards his charge.

He landed and wrapped his arms around the super-hot skin and chakra of the younger blonde. Amazingly, he wasn't attacked. "You have to calm down." He whispered in one of the pointed ears. He was oh, so grateful when it worked, even just a little.

"I will take back nothing, Uzumaki." Danzo gloated, seeming completely nonplussed by Naruto's display of power. "You gave me your response to my offer. Showed me how you repaid my kindness. This is your doing, not mine!"

The chakra simmered down just a little more. "I did not!" The voice was no longer duel but it was rife with such blatant anguish that it made Deidara grind his teeth. "I didn't respond at all! I thought-I thought you would contact me! I waited for you to contact me!"

"Don't play stupid Uzumaki, blonde as you are, it doesn't suit you. This bit with the International Conference is not a coincidence. You know it, and I know it." Danzo sneered at the deflating expression before him.

Naruto's insides quailed. He had forgotten about that completely. "I had nothing to do with that! I didn't-I didn't do that for—I was ready to accept!" He screamed. "I still accept! Whatever you want, I'll agree to it!" He was crying now, and the shame of it was still not enough to keep him from begging Danzo to just reconsider. He stepped forward out of Deidara's protective hold. "My body, right?" He took another step, his chakra was completely gone, his eyes were their usual blue, blue selves. "You can have it." He croaked. "I'll give it to you, whenever, whatever, I don't care just, take it back. You have to go out there and take it back. Say it was a mistake, it was someone else, I don't care just…."

But Danzo was shaking his head. True, if the little blonde idiot was to be believed, it was a shame he had missed on the opportunity to sample such a delectable body, but this….This broken expression, the hoarse crying quality of his voice. This was nearly enough on its own. He tilted his chin up and smirked cruelly at the blonde. "What is done, is done Naruto. You should have thought of that when this little plot to usurp me came together. Now you will have to live with the fact that Haruno Sakura is, and forever will be a traitor of the state, a faceless whore erased from history. And it is all your fault." Ah there, that expression of defeat, the acknowledgement that he had lost. Danzo wondered if he could get any harder from just the expression on poor Naruto's face. He decided to go for gold. "Just look at what you've done." He gestured a hand around to the many incapacitated men. Naruto looked around, as if just realizing that they were there at all. Some even looked dead. "Look at what your Jinchuuriki has done, dear Naruto. And you think you will be able to wiggle out of INDO?" Danzo laughed and nearly came when then the shuddering blonde's head fell and he wrapped his arms around himself, backing up into the arms of his bodyguard like that would make him safe. Danzo didn't know whether to laugh or just pull his dick out right there.

"Don't even fuckin' think of tryin' to use this shit against him!" Deidara's accent degenerated in his turmoil. "Not when you were black mailing him for sex you fuckin' corrupted freak. You bring this up I bring that up."

Danzo scowled at the bodyguard. "And just who is going to believe some foreigner that no one's ever heard of before? Against me? Do you even know who I am, Iwa barbarian?"

Deidara shook his head. "It's not just me here, asshole."

Danzo was about to reply when the meaning of that struck him. He looked about and almost missed them: twin blazing Sharingans peering out from the darkness of the trees. They didn't say anything, but they didn't have to. Danzo sucked his teeth and gave an imperious wave. "Get him off my property, foreigner." But his hand fell when he took one last look at the beautiful and broken blonde boy.

Naruto's eyes were like slit, canine rubies sitting in a ferocious and silently snarling face. And yet there was no malevolent storm of chakra. Deidara attempted to pull at him but gave up immediately; clearly the blonde didn't want to move and trying to force him was like pulling at stone. He whispered and plied and begged and finally was able to walk Naruto back enough towards his waiting clay bird. But the Intended never let his eyes leave Danzo's. It wasn't until Deidara lifted him on the bird that he spoke.

"I will never forgive you for this Danzo. Not ever."

Naruto's face in that moment was enough to give Deidara nightmares.

The silent ride back to the condo helped to calm Deidara for two major reasons. One being Kakashi, who had spotted them in the air and changed his trajectory to meet at Naruto's apartment. The second reason was a small sand golem in the form of a cute looking raccoon that had attached itself to Naruto's shoulder, alerting them that Gaara would most likely be at the condo as well. There were also two reasons for his being a bit on edge during the silent ride home and he could feel their fluorescent red eyes drilling a hole in his back, even from way down there. He decided to not worry about them, no doubt it was the youngest once again forcing the eldest to either join or leave the youngest unattended. The choice had clearly been made.

What he wasn't prepared to feel was light headed. When he tried to voice this to Naruto he realized he had waited far too long and now the tunnel vision wasn't allowing him to move his muscles how he liked, that included speech. He was torn between figuring out why he was fainting and making sure his clay bird knew to take Naruto home whether he was conscious or not. And then he was slipping left before feeling, once again, the weightless feeling of free fall. The stars in Konoha were really pretty.

Oh, Deidara knew the reason now. There was blood trailing him in the sky as he fell downward. Some glass must have nicked an artery somewhere and he hadn't realized it. Damn, adrenaline could be both a lifesaver and a curse.

"DEI!"

Oh, that was Naruto. Deidara wondered when he had closed his eyes. He was expecting to hit the ground; he wondered if it would make a boom sound at all. Maybe a little one? He wasn't expecting for something warm to catch him. But he recognized that scent; liked it a lot….loved it even.

Itachi kept pace with his brother; the surprisingly heavy bodyguard now slung on his back. "The bird hasn't slowed so it must be able to act independently." Sasuke noted. He was looking at the relieved face of Naruto. The poor blonde looked like he wouldn't be able to handle another thing life threw at him.

"It's not a summoned creature, but I'm guessing the wielder doesn't need to be conscious for it to fulfill its mission." Itachi supplied. He was very curious about Deidara's arsenal of ninjustsu as he had yet to see the blonde in combat.

"Definitely an earth technique." Sasuke looked over to his brother as they took to the tops of homes and apartment buildings. "Do you want me to carry him? He looks heavy." Indeed, although the blonde and Itachi were nearly the same height, Deidara was more muscled and certainly had more mass.

"He weighs as much as a boulder." Itachi admitted, but he didn't pass him off to his otouto. "He must be carrying something. No human his size should weight this much."

Sasuke took that for what it was and they continued the run before leaping and running up the high-rise to the conveniently placed hole in the wall of Naruto's apartment. The clay bird had shrunk to a size familiar to Itachi and was sitting on the counter. Naruto was on the floor, facing the hole, with the Kazekage pressing the weary blonde head to his chest.

Kakashi was quick to take Deidara from Itachi and begin administering first aid to the wounds. A little electricity to cauterize and he would be able to forgo the emergency room and wait until the bodyguard woke up to examine him.

Naruto sat there, against his best friend, and surveyed the damage he'd done to his apartment. His couch was flipped over, the bookcase and all the books broken and scattered. The TV lay fallen and the glass entertainment system was broken and bloody. Naruto felt his stomach flip at the sight. He looked to Gaara, "Is my TV working?" He croaked out. Suddenly he needed to see it again, hear them again and know just what Sakura was condemned to. He wouldn't run away. He wasn't a coward.

"I don't know, but you should get some rest Naruto, not worry about that crap again." Gaara sounded strict but Naruto would do it himself if he needed to.

So he looked at Sasuke. "Can you see if my TV is working?" The Uchiha only hesitated a moment before going and tipping it up to assess the damage. He found the cord, plugged it back in and pressed the power button on the side. Suddenly Naruto wasn't so sure if it was a good idea. The same news channel was on, the same anchor woman; it hadn't even been long enough for there to be a new segment? Or was this just the only thing they were going to run all night?

The Anchor Woman said: "I just think that knowing what type of person she was, shouldn't we be a little more skeptical about the company she kept? If said company happened to be the Intended Hokage, we shouldn't shy away from true investigative journalism." She smiled at her co-host.

The co-host smiled back: "Laila, you can't be seriously trying to implicate Uzumaki Naruto! He's the most loved Intended since—"

Anchor Woman Laila: "Nine point twenty one million is a lot of money; wouldn't you say, Chi?" She said with a quirk.

The Co-host Chi gasped exaggeratedly: "Laila no! You have to remember that Uzumaki-san is wealthy enough in his own right, thanks to his deceased parents the Yondaime and his brilliant scientist wife. Besides the man is known for throwing away his money to so many charitable foundations it's hard to keep track of. It would be absolutely ridiculous to assume he would have had some part in Haruno Sakura's murder over money."

Anchor Woman Laila wagged her finger: "Being beneficiary means he wouldn't have to do the dirty work and he could keep his hands clean and keep his façade of charity work, while Haruno made the real money. Then, all of a sudden our ACMHR is dead, we don't even really know how, and our Intended Hokage is nearly nine and a half million richer. That doesn't scream conspiracy to you?"

Naruto had thought he had no energy left, nothing to give. But he found enough to boost himself up and run to the bathroom before he hurled all over his living room floor. "Turn that shit off." He could hear Gaara snarl, before the redhead was in the bathroom trying to calm him down. Naruto had thought he was just expelling waste, but no, he was also sobbing into his toilet bowl. Was that really what people thought? That he had killed Sakura. Over money? He simply could not stomach the thought and was vomiting all over again. Gaara made some comforting noises while warm sand wrapped around his body and then he was once again weeping into the Kazekage's chest. He didn't know for how long, but soon he was coached to rinse out his mouth and start to his bedroom. In the hallway he looked to his left to see three people standing there awkwardly and Deidara's bandaged body on the floor. He couldn't just leave when things were bad; that wasn't what a leader did. Briefly, he had an errant thought of what his father would have advised him to do? Was he making his dead parents proud…wallowing in the mire as he was?

Turning he addressed Kakashi first. "Thank you for your help, Kakashi-sensei. I'll see you tomorrow when I report to Baachan. I want you to tell her to give it all away before noon tomorrow, have Neji figure out who gets what." Kakashi wanted to protest but decided against it, nodded and then took his leave through the wall-cum-door. Gazing at the remaining occupants, Naruto felt his objectives switch; It was okay to want something for himself, right? Something to make the pain go away. He turned to hug the smaller redhead to him. "Thank you Gaara, I'll see you tomorrow too. Okay?" He spoke softly to the ear pressed against him. He felt a nod before the Kazekage stepped back and favored him with one last assessing glance. Then he was a river of sand flowing outside. He turned to the two Uchiha and the let his gaze rest on the elder. "I'd like to be alone with your brother." Not really a request, no apologies and no excuses.

Itachi's gaze rested on Sasuke, who was looking at Naruto, and then back to Naruto as well before finally resting on Deidara. Seeing the larger blonde unconscious was a first, and oddly uncomfortable. "Take him." he heard. Itachi looked at Naruto and was surprised at the knowing in those blue orbs. He knew. He knew that Deidara and Itachi were intimate. In a way that was both stressful and relieving.

He averted his gaze and answered, careful to not seem too acquiescent to his brother. "As you wish." He replied before he made the long, drawn out hand signs, touched Deidara and performed a teleportation jutsu back to the manor.

Naruto stared at the brunet, who looked back a little skittishly.

Sasuke was left to deal with yet another side of Naruto he hadn't seen before. The blonde looked like shit. His eyes were puffy, his face miserable and he was leaning against the wall as if he didn't have enough energy to stand on his own. But those eyes were still that intense, endless pool of blue, blue.

Naruto turned and began to shuffle back down the hall towards his bedroom. "Come." Was his invitation as he entered and held the door open. Sasuke warily followed and Naruto waited patiently before closing the door behind him. Then he turned and shuffled to his bathroom, taking off his shirt along the way. He flicked on the lights and went to start the shower, conscious of those dark eyes watching him. The steam rose immediately from his three shower heads and he calmly slipped both his pants and boxers down his legs, before entering. His feet were filthy and, at one point, bloody from his run to Danzo's manor. But they had long healed and he relished the head of the water soothing them. He turned to face the open shower door and his guest. He tilted his head slightly and spoke, his voice hoarse from his misery, "Aren't you coming?"

Kakashi was back in City Hall on the phone with one pissed Shikamaru. "This is going to be impossible to clean up. At least the way Naruto would have us do it."

Kakashi agreed. "Just do what you can, Shika-kun."

"I've already done what I can!" The man gave a ragged sigh. " Doesn't Naruto know that running through the city in a blazing ball of chakra is going to get noticed. He wasn't even the least bit subtle."

"They aren't taking any propositions from the Hokage office?"

"Not unless we throw in an interview. I just know that's not going to happen, and I wouldn't want to be the one asking Naruto." Shikamaru complained.

This was true. "Fine, just issue a gag order. It is business of the state."

"Naruto's not going to like that. He says free speech is free speech whether we like it or not."

"Yeah, well we can't give Danzo anymore ammunition, so gag them." Kakashi ordered. "Tell them to run the fact that one news channel disgusted Naruto so much he doesn't want anything to do with them ever again and he is giving away every cent from Sakura's fortune."

"He is? Disgusted with a news station, I mean."

Kakashi was silent for a moment, if only to contain his own temper. "You didn't see some of the shit they said Shika. You run the idea of Naruto silently black listing a station, and they'll spend the rest of the month trying to figure out who it is. Hopefully they'll spend a whole year pointing fingers."

"Got it." There was a pause. "I'll put Ino on the charities, she'll probably talk to the Hyuugas. Maybe she'll make a function out of it; I think he needs some good press. Especially with the Conference coming in about a month."

"Yeah, yeah, you work your magic. I'm going in to see the old woman now." They hung up and Kakashi prepared himself to tell Tsunade that her god-child had run amok in the city, probably threatened Danzo while Kakashi himself was too slow to get there on time, before becoming so miserable at the conspiracy stories being pushed that he vomited, and is most likely crying himself to sleep. He was glad he was still in uniform, because with Tsunade, the messenger was always open season.

Sasuke was unsure of what to do, and that alone was a somewhat new and foreign feeling. Here he was, standing in the shower with the object of his obsessive lust, and sex was not the first thing in his mind…..it was something like the third. In this moment was another facet of Naruto that Sasuke was experiencing for the first time. The blonde was quiet, slow, and seemed overall despondent. At one point, with the blonde's back to him, Sasuke wasn't sure but he thought he had heard a hitched sob over the sound of falling water. But this didn't stop the sheer sensuality that exuded from that expansive stretch of naked, slick, tanned skin.

Sasuke fought to keep his eyes above the tanned man's lower back line, as he just wasn't sure what the point of his being here was, he didn't think he could stand to get himself excited and be denied relief. However, at one point Naruto had lathered his shoulder and the suds had run over his shoulder blade, down, down, falling into the shallow gutter of his spine, down, further down, before disappearing into the crevice between those beautiful golden, rounded globes of Naruto's fantastically shaped ass. After that it was impossible to take his eyes from it; the way the muscles moved and flexed when the morose blonde would shift his weight. Sasuke had been hopelessly and horrifyingly hard ever since. It had only been a few minutes ago, but this was proving to be one of the worst erections he had ever had in his life. It was near painful already.

Slowly, the blonde head turned to face him and Sasuke forced himself to look up. Those wretched blue eyes held his as Naruto turned his entire body to face him. They were little more than a foot apart in the Intended's spacious shower, but to Sasuke it felt like there was no air. He watched himself being perused by the other. Felt the gaze fall to his neck down to his collar bone, and then his chest. He could feel his pectorals tense and flex subconsciously, as if doing their best to woo the man in front of him independently from Sasuke. He felt his biceps tense when the gaze fell to them; his diaphragm contracted and he could feel his own skin stretch over his ribs with every breath. He shuddered out a gasp, wondering in bewilderment just really what the fuck was wrong with him? This was ludicrous. Madness. His lower stomach tightened and he physically had to stop his hips from jerking as those blue eyes fell to them. Sasuke closed his eyes in sheer embarrassment when felt himself throb against his lower belly from the heat of Naruto's gaze. Finally he forced himself to open his own eyes and confront the situation. Neither of them were going anywhere anytime soon.

Naruto was still just standing there, looking at his cock. Golden wet hair plastered against his face; his shoulders were down, arms limply hanging at his sides. Sasuke's eyes skipped down and peered at low cut, blonde pubes and a completely flaccid cock. Sasuke was sure he'd feel insulted if the blonde didn't indeed look quite so miserable. Which once again led to the question; just why he had been invited into the shower with the Intended Hokage in the first place?

Finally, finally the shorter male walked forward until warm, golden skin pressed hotly against his paler body. Twin hands landed softly on the jumping muscles of his pecs and slid against his skin slowly until they locked behind his neck. The downturned face tilted upwards until Sasuke was staring down into despondent blue eyes that were continuously getting closer as the blonde leaned up. Obscenely soft lips fluttered from his chin, to his jaw and further up while Naruto tensed his arms and dragged his body against Sasuke's. The lips seemed to reach their destination as Sasuke stared forward into nothingness and felt the ragged sigh that came before he heard a quiet voice whisper. "Fuck me, Uchiha."

Sasuke wasn't even aware of himself. He was belatedly aware that he had shoved the smaller blonde against the shower tile so hard he'd knocked the breath out of them both. He was aware that he had lost complete control. He was aware that those blue eyes were defeated pools seeking punishment. And he was aware that he was being used.

Kami, was he being used.

He was insulted, he told himself as his mouth attached to that lithe, tanned neck. Naruto complacently allowed Sasuke to grope his body, to growl into his skin, to clench his fists around his skin so hard that they left purpling bruises before they moved to a new spot. Not that they could stay in any one place for long. It became extremely unfortunate how Sasuke didn't see anything he could use as lubricant; he was fervently reluctant to move anywhere than where he had the blonde pinned. Naruto seemed to read his mind. He placed his hands on Sasuke's chest once again and pushed just the slightest, allowing room to face the wall. He looked back over his shoulder; a lone blue eye that spoke more than he could probably make his voice fulfill. Sasuke moved close again, hesitantly now, running his hands reverently up the back presented to him. "Naruto, I need-" He gasped, his words chocked in his inhale as Naruto pushed back against him.

"Just fuck me." Was softly spoken into the tile as Naruto turned away once again. Sasuke almost missed when he murmured, "Make me forget."

Sasuke would have liked to say that he hesitated: that he wasn't so depraved that a clearly addled invitation was not enough to sway him: that he had at least some semblance of morals but…He found himself exhaling in a mix of pleasured pain as he pushed into Naruto with only the moisture of the running water to help ease his entry. And ease, it did little of. He could see Naruto's fingers curl into the tile from the corner of his eye, he could dimly register a strangled sounding sob as the body pushed back against him aggressively. "Naru-" He tried to warn him, slow him but it too was strangled from him in a pleasured gasp.

In one moment, he let it all go.

He accepted how depravedly obsessed he was that he could and would fuck a destructively depressed Naruto. He allowed himself to fully enjoy the tight, absolutely burning feeling of his insides. He fucked Naruto with long strokes and longer, decadent groans. He clutched tanned arms for leverage; he groaned into soaked blonde hair and reveled in the pleasure of a conscious conquest. His! Naruto was finally his, he repeated in one exuberant loop inside his mind. It was the thought he came to, shoving as far in as he could go and bruising Naruto's hips with the sheer strength of his grip.

The rest was a daze. How he bathed in a languid silence. How he came to be sitting on the bed next to a prone blonde, eyeing his naked body hungrily. He had already come to terms with his own depravity. He had no other qualms taking what was offered. Still, as he lay behind the other and raised a golden hued leg over his own, he gave Naruto time to protest before he slid back in the still slightly slicked passage. Besides, he figured if he was being used, he might as well use in return. So he did. Sasuke attempted to divest himself of all his harbored sexual frustration, infatuation, obsession by taking the passive blonde as many times as his body would allow. He spent hours that way. Certainly all the rest of the night. And when Naruto's sadness would overflow his inner capacity and escape in heaving sobs, Sasuke would shush and hold him even as he stroked him slowly from the inside. Sometimes Naruto came in low surprised gurgles and other times he was flaccid from complete disinterest.

Regardless, one sleeping Sasuke and wide awake Naruto, wrangled together in a sweat and sex filled room was exactly how Itachi and Deidara found them.

It was the first time ever, Itachi could remember being ashamed of his brother.

Itachi brought the car to a stop at a red traffic light closer to their estate; they were alone on the road. He was having trouble processing…everything. Sasuke sat beside him in the passenger's seat. Itachi stared forward at nothing in particular. "You fucked him." He found himself voicing in the silence. Sasuke was looking out of his window, bottom lip bitten while he played with the raised skin it caused. He didn't answer. Itachi didn't understand. They had all seen the state the future Hokage had been in the night before and he had seen what state he was in this morning; where had there been room to have mutually consenting sex? And he refused to believe his little brother would…would…rape anyone. Ever.

They were both surprised when Itachi's palm slammed against the steering wheel. Sasuke jumped and shot a look toward him, as he could not yet bring himself to look at his brother. Certainly not with that unwavering black stare fixed on him. The traffic light turned green, yellow and then red again. "Yes." Sasuke finally was able to rasp. He wasn't sure where all his hard won, guilt-free bravado had flown to.

Itachi's gaze narrowed. "Wh-"

"I had to." Sasuke shot back before he could even finish asking. There was a pause.

"You had to?"

"I had to."

When there was more, longer silence, Sasuke continued. "I couldn't refuse him."

Itachi brought the heels of both his hands and pressed them into his eyes before dragging them towards his temples and them into his hair. His otouto would be, hands down, the death of him. "You couldn't refuse him." He found himself parroting once again. He just didn't understand what the fuck was going on.

"I can't refuse him." Sasuke found himself correcting. "He asked me to and I…" The younger could not continue. Couldn't give voice to the fact that he was so disturbingly aroused by the sheer vulnerability offered to him but just a few hours ago. How he would have kept Naruto just like that, in that state, for all eternity just to feel that defeated, compliant, passive obedience. Sasuke slapped a hand over his own mouth and pressed his face into his window as if to exorcise the images away.

Itachi stared at him. Stared and didn't understand, but he was beginning to believe. "You really are in love with him."

Now, Sasuke had read his fair share of books and seen movies and watched shows and it begged the question: "Aniki, is this really love?" It just seemed too…twisted.

The elder faced forward once more and pressed on the gas, regardless of the color of the fucking traffic light. It didn't help that Sasuke wasn't exactly….normal. He had done what he could to seal the bad parts away but…Itachi found himself worrying his own lip as he sped them home.

Finally he answered, "As far as Uchiha go…?"

The rest was implied.

It was Deidara that helped Naruto back into the shower, leaving just long enough to call Gaara and rip the sheets off the bed. The calm capable air Gaara exuded was steadying in the murky territory Deidara was wading. Together they got Naruto dressed and was able to coax a light breakfast down his throat. For the rest of the day, the blonde oscillated between a resigned lucidity where he planned his next steps, to a near unresponsive stupor to tortured, body wracking sobbing that caused him to vomit, or dry heave if he had nothing left. One particular spell was caused by Deidara and Gaara's miscalculation of changing the bodyguard's mostly healed bandages in the living room where Naruto could see the raised, jagged pink scars. Even with Deidara trying to assure him that another low level ninjutsu would heal him, he spent nearly three hours sobbing apologies.

Finally, Gaara called Kakashi. Who went to Jiraiya and brought back some high-level sedatives. Gaara was absolutely unhesitant in plunging the compacted needle under Naruto's jaw into his carotid artery. He then began to pack the blonde up and make arrangement for the Intended Hokage moving temporarily into his estate. Kakashi contacted the building management, requested repairs and forced signings of non-disclosure agreements. Gaara gave Deidara the week off and ordered him to oversee the repairs on the apartment. He assured the elder blonde that Naruto would not be leaving his sights and would be better the next time he saw him. The Kazekage then discreetly bundled Naruto up and swept him away.

It was just as Kakashi was returning to headquarters when Sai came limping in. His state was a true testament to the saying that a Konoha ANBU agent didn't die before at least reporting to his superior. Sai's entire left arm seemed to only be remaining attached by a strip of tendon and a prayer. It helped that Sai was actively holding to his shoulder. The amount of blood leaking from that wound alone was enough to spur Kakashi into action. He pulled out gauze specifically painted with special kanji, wrapped the wounded shoulder and spent the next two minutes doing just over three hundred hand signs. Finally he pressed his palms against either side of the injury and completed a rather high level healing ninjutsu.

Ten minutes after arriving in a near-death state, Sai left to report to the current Hokage completely healed. Kakashi stressed and rather worn out, seeing as how he was NOT a medic nin, decided to take a page out of Shikamaru's book and settled for a nap. He would need the energy before he reported to Tsunade about Naruto. Again.

Gaara's brand of detox was effective. Roiling, but effective. Especially since Gaara was half right in his assumption that he was going to have to force some of it out. So Naruto would find himself sleeping great quantities in comforting sand, being awoken to food and not-so-gentle interrogation until he was spewing his guts, sometimes metaphorically, sometimes not. He would cry, ask Gaara why he wasn't being understanding, why he wasn't just letting him be. Gaara would hold him and tell him that there would be no peace until he spoke of what was in his chest and on his heart. Naruto would resist while Gaara pulled it out of him like unruly teeth. And after each one he would let the other rest before the process would begin again.

Itachi has been restless the last couple of days. A peculiar kind of restless. Sasuke had degraded into an odd kind of introspection where he stayed in his room, playing different kinds of music at ungodly volumes. If he lapsed into silence too long, Itachi would go and check usually to find him attempting to sleep or staring at his phone. Itachi let him be. He had forbidden him from leaving the manor if it was not an outright emergency.

Now as he paced his bedroom, he decided he would go and do what he had been skittishly thinking of doing.

Daidara had just finished cooking himself dinner when he felt his phone vibrate with a text from Itachi. 'Where are you?'

Debating how to reply he text back, 'Alone in the apartment. If you're coming over, use one of the windows.'

It took barely ten minutes before he could feel the generally compressed and heated presence of Itachi's chakra. He looked up to see the slender man dressed in a black casual long-sleeved shirt, and black slim jeans. His hair was free from any tie. Deidara gestured toward his noodle stir fry. "Hungry?"

It seemed rude not to accept so Itachi nodded even though it was a lie. "Thank you." He supplied and sat across from Deidara's seat. He eyed the taller blonde as he moved around the kitchen and deliberately allowed his hand to touch the other's when a plate was handed to him. He thanked him again and demurely began eating. It was appetizing.

Deidara waited a few minutes before casually asking. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

Itachi let his stare connect with the glass blue eye across from him. "I'm guessing your mission has been on hold…?"

The other nodded, rotating his left shoulder. "I need to be one hundred percent for the next phase. Another day or so and I can continue. It helps that Naruto isn't due to be back for a few more days as well. The time table is a bit messed up but I'll do what I can to keep as close to it as I can, yeah?"

Itachi found himself nodding as he swallowed his food. He tapped his fork against his plate softly as he struggled to voice what he wanted to say. "Sasuke…" he began and didn't miss how the other's body tensed. Deidara had woken at the Uchiha manor only to barely acknowledge Itachi's healing jutsu and demand to be taken back to Naruto. It made sense that the blonde had made some threatening movement toward his prone otouto when they had arrived to the unsettling scene of a sweat and semen covered, teary eyed Naruto. Itachi had shoved Deidara back and then gone to drag his otouto out of bed and order him to get dressed. While Sasuke had scurried into the bathroom, he had pulled the sheet over the younger blonde and received a vacant murmur of acknowledgement. The whole thing still set his teeth on edge. Currently he attempted to at least acknowledge it. "I'm apologize, he's not….he thinks-" but it wasn't his place to spill his brother's business, only to take responsibility for his actions. He took another breath. "I apologize if he has exacerbated Naruto's condition." He lowered his gaze out of sincerity.

Deidara stared at him while chewing before he gave a great sigh. "Yeah, well, you might be hearing from the Sabaku. He's the one fixing up blondie."

Itachi looked up and had to touch his fist to his lips to keep from laughing at the pot calling the kettle blonde. "Of course. If need be, I will apologize to Sabaku-san as well."

The other quirked a brow. "You gonna just keep apologizing for your brother?"

Itachi gave one solemn nod. "It is my duty." And not one that was all that grudging. Sasuke making mistakes in his youth was a living Sasuke. Deidara nodded good naturedly though he didn't have clan and didn't really understand.

They continued eating in companionable silence. The heat from Itachi's stare steadily increased until Deidara finally asked, "So what else did you need?" Clearly the man had more to say.

Itachi looked around for a moment more before gently setting his fork down. "Do you have your own room?"

The blonde paused. "Yes."

Itachi could feel his insides churn with those….butterflies. He swallowed. "Take me there." He lilted like a request.

Deidara stared at the impassively faced brunet a moment more before slowly standing and collecting their plates. When he left the kitchen, Itachi followed until they reached a non-descript door. Deidara let Itachi in first.

The Uchiha was surprised at the homey, lived-in feel of the room. The room was decently spaced with a full sized unmade bed against the far wall and under a large window. As interesting as it would be pick out the details of Deidara's room, Itachi was determined not to be cowardly in his pursuits. He turned abruptly to face Deidara, displacing his loose hair in an unconsciously alluring manner. He took a few slow steps until he was three feet away.

Deidara watched as a pretty blush stole over his pale features. "I…" The spine straightened and the tall slender man raised his chin in defiance, blushing and all, before saying. "I've noticed I've become quite restless and…frustrated. I'm propositioning you." Those dark eyes kept his gaze and the chin lowered slightly. "If you're interested, of course." Was nearly whispered. The outright formality was enough to nearly put the Iwagakuran in stitches but he held it together and reached out to finger a lock of long, finely stranded dark hair.

"I always am." Deidara's mouth blurted out before his brain could interfere. He kept his face straight.

Itachi blinked, unsure if he should take that literally. Deidara was leaned against a desk and for once they seemed to be on the same page as the blonde softly pulled on the hair he held while Itachi braced his hands on either side of the other, leaning his face up for their mouths to meet. Itachi forced himself to let go. He wouldn't get what he came for if he was struggling with himself the entire time; so he took down his own walls before Deidara could rip them down. He sighed deeply against the tongue invading his mouth and pressed his body against the broader one. He moaned appreciatively when large, tanned hands spread across his ass and squeezed. He slipped his leg between strong thighs and rolled his hips against the hardness he found there.

While Itachi certainly wanted what was coming, he didn't want to leave Sasuke alone too long so he wasn't interested in wasting much time. He reached down and dragged one of those large hands to his zipper while he began pushing Deidara's shirt up and unbuttoning his jeans simultaneously. It wasn't long before Itachi's bottom half was bare; a knee resting next to Dei's hips on the desk to ease along the blonde's wet prepping fingers. Itachi had worked the other's jeans down to his thighs and had one hand tentatively fisting the lubed cock while the other was reengraving scratches along the tanned, broad back.

It felt like forever to Itachi before Deidara sat back on his desk and dragged Itachi into his lap. He guided Itachi onto his dick with hands gripping the very tops of his thighs and thumbs pressed into that place where his groin met his legs. A place Itachi was beginning to believe the blonde favored. He hissed out his initial discomfort into a broad shoulder. Itachi gave into it, that pushing, pulling feeling of being incomplete and then obscenely full in turns. He allowed himself to groan when it hurt and moan when it felt good and nearly keen when it felt electrifying. He raked his nails over darker skin just because he could. He grasped at thick, coarse blonde hair in unconscious fits of possession. And when the blonde gave him his first orgasm he pushed his hands against the other's pectorals while squeezing his thighs around trim hips in an effort to both flee and stay.

He felt boneless, and of course this is when the other chose to needle him. Whispering in his ear "Clench your ass around my cock." Itachi's dark hair was fisted and pulled until he could no longer hide his debauched expression and pretty crimson blush while he complied. He squeezed himself, rhythmically, around the turgid cock inside him and watched through lidded obsidian colored eyes as Deidara got off on watching him. The extra burn in his scalp and ass helped him over his second orgasm and he enjoyed watching himself empty on the chest he was dragging his nails down. He could feel and hear when Deidara lost it inside him. Belatedly he mused that Deidara was quite infecting him with his perversion. He wasn't sure who started it, but after a moment to simply calm his heart, he found his mouth occupied in a slow, deep, meltingly hot kiss.

It was his absolute iron-clad will and internal directive to get back to Sasuke that allowed him to slowly disengage himself. He was surprised how at peace he was cleaning himself and redressing in Deidara's presence. And before he left he didn't allow himself to think it over before pulling some of that yellow hair to him and kissing the other just as deeply as before. Their gaze met for a moment before Itachi allowed his to fall, a faint heat still infusing his cheeks as he murmured "Thank you." through his husky, used throat. In an elegant whirl of black he escaped before he could undo all of his good work with virginal blustering.

Deidara watched him leave with bruised lips.

[A/N] Alright Duckies, I know it's been a good long while but I'm going to try and stick it through to the end. I predict another eight or so chapters (about 80K left sounds right). I would recommend that everyone reread edited chapters as I'm revamping my story line to make sure everything is air tight. I have a lot of intrigue and conflicts so I want it all to fit like a glove.

Of course, reviews fuel my inspiration.

Ciao,