Disclaimer: Naruto and other characters belong to Kishimoto Masashi,
and there's some iffy things to watch out for, like violence and torture and rape (and if you weren't expecting it… well… come on, it's a fan fic by me!). Except for once, it's not crude language! Consider this fair warning, please?
"Daaaaaaa! Why do I have to do this stupid training? Can't we do something more exciting? My powerful skills are being wasted!" Naruto yelled as he stopped walking forward and whined loudly when he should have had the sense to stay silent. Sasuke didn't want to have to deal with such an utter idiot. Going through one of the Forbidden Areas was not 'stupid training.' They couldn't have been in the dark, overgrown forest for over five minutes since Kakashi had opened the large lock on the heavily sealed gate. Kakashi announced they had two days to get to the only other gate on the other side of the high-fenced ninja death trap, and Naruto was already bored.
Sasuke didn't pay attention to Naruto or even acknowledge the fact the pathetic showoff was even alive. He had better things to look out for, like the explosive and usually fatal traps Forbidden Areas were known for. Here, the trees were easily three times what normal ones should look like, with huge bushes and other dense growth that made simple travel a pain. Sasuke didn't even want to think about the animals that Naruto was attracting with all of his yelling. Fresh meat made a lot of noise, and Sasuke found himself not caring if Naruto was eaten or not…. Except Kakashi might fail him on this mission if only two came back alive.
"Naruto! Shut up! Are you trying to get every animal in the whole place's attention?" Sakura yelled, even louder than the idiot she was berating with one pointed finger. Sakura was always the first to get upset at Naruto, but it was more because she knew Sasuke didn't like the ramen-crazed and seemingly deaf third member of their team than anything personal. Naruto froze in the middle of his new complaint with his mouth open in a little 'o' before his face fell in open hurt with a red blush over his cheeks. The idiot should feel embarrassed for acting like some second-rate Genin from the Cloud Village. Sasuke had better things to do with his time than spend two full days and nights with people who couldn't even keep their tempers.
"Be quiet. We should start moving quickly as possible to get to the other side. We should be able to make it before nightfall," Sasuke assessed, calculating how big Kakashi said the Area was, how fast Sakura would travel since she was the slowest, and the time of day it was when they had first entered the giant forest since the bizarrely huge trees and foliage blocked out the sun. If he was careful enough and they avoided most of the booby traps and predators in the Forbidden area, Sasuke could be home and back to his usual training by the end of the day. That was, if he didn't have Sakura and Naruto to look out for. They were bound to fall into every trap in the whole forest and Sasuke was no doubt going to have to rescue both of them more than once. Kakashi had made a point that they were supposed to accomplish this mission together, since the older ninja teacher knew Sasuke would leave Sakura and Naruto behind without a second thought.
"C'heh." Naruto spat, his eyes narrowing as the idiot crossed his arms and spread his feet apart, looking confident for no reason. "Of course a genius like you would come up with a plan," Naruto sneered in an insulting tone for whatever reason. It would be easier to knock the stupid kid out and carry him the whole way than deal with Naruto's questioning, whining, complaining, all around uselessness, and attitude that was based on nothing. At least Sakura always agreed with him.
"Na. Ru. To." Sakura growled out dangerously, one fist shaking with rage. Sasuke sighed as the pink-haired temperamental girl punched Naruto hard on the top of his wild, ugly blonde head. Sasuke rarely had to say anything to the idiot because Sakura would already be dealing out punishment. She could be really frightening at times, and Sasuke couldn't figure out why she was still so persistently in love with him. He thought he had been clear enough by turning Sakura down every time she got the courage to finally try asking him out. Sasuke didn't need anyone's love, especially not some idiot girl that didn't know the first thing about him.
"Ow, Sakura, that hurts!" Naruto whined, crouched down on the soft, wet green forest floor as he clutched at the smoldering lump forming on his head. Sasuke sighed in frustration, wanting very badly to put his throwing stars to use and practice on a moving target like Naruto. Sakura just stomped on Naruto's head for good measure, yelling about how Sasuke had been the top of the class, how he was the highest skilled Genin in years, and that Naruto was a loser who didn't even graduate his first time.
"Then learn from it and stop saying such stupid things!" Sakura snapped, in a rare temper today. She was probably angry that they would be stuck outside with no clean clothes or baths. Sasuke hated girls and their need to be fresh and preened everyday. He didn't understand their infatuation with him. He had thought it was plain as day that he wanted to be alone. Sasuke only had one goal in life, and he didn't need some childhood romance to hinder him.
Something. Sasuke felt the presence behind him before he even knew why the hairs on the back of his neck stood up straight. He launched forward with a small bit of chakra focused out of his feet to help avoid whatever it was. Sakura and Naruto didn't even notice with the girl concentrating on slapping the top of Naruto's head a blistering red. Sasuke twisted and stopped so hard his sandals dug into the wet mulch growing in the small clearing with a kunai delicately hanging from his fingertips.
A spider landed where Sasuke had been standing only a seconds ago, which wouldn't have been too bad if the thing wasn't as big as a large dog. Dozens of horrid red, fractured insect's eyes dominated the creature's head with two large incisors for a mouth. The eight legs were sharp and pointed with the color of steel. One large whorl of a red seal covered the black bulbous body and Sasuke knew in an instant that it was one of the specially mutated animals made just for this Forbidden Area alone.
Sakura stopped beating on Naruto to point at the monster spider and scream in the loudest voice Sasuke had ever heard her use before. The high pitch made the spider shudder and rotate on the thin legs that resembled knives till it faced her, forgetting Sasuke and turning on this new prey. The two only stared back blankly at the spider, as if it was nothing more than a house cat.
Idiots, the both of them! Sasuke cursed as the spider scuttled forward much faster than he would have expected for something that big. It moved faster than an eight-legged animal should, sweeping forward before Sasuke even had a chance to yell out a warning to Sakura. Sasuke ran for Sakura as she only screamed, even more terrified now that the giant spider was coming at her. He had forgotten that Sakura hated insects and a huge spider was more than a girl could handle. Sasuke hated women. It was too much work to have to keep these two idiots alive.
"Sakura!" Naruto yelled before shoving her roughly in the shoulder as the spider rushed for her. Sakura fell heavily to the side as Naruto reached behind his back to draw his weapon. Sasuke blinked, more than a little bit surprised that the coward had actually done the smart thing and gotten her out of the way. Naruto had his shuriken out as the spider leapt up to attack a new juicy little target. The shuriken went flying and the monster suddenly shot out a long, thin white strand from its rear. The thread caught easily in the lush forest and avoided the attack entirely.
Sasuke was not so lucky with over half of Naruto's shuriken flying at his face. The idiot hadn't even noticed him behind the spider as he jumped with another burst of chakra to avoid the stars that thudded into the ground underneath him. On second thought, Naruto probably had noticed Sasuke and thrown anyways. There was no love lost between them. Sasuke was disappointed in this spider for not snapping Naruto's head off. If only Kakashi hadn't demanded the team stays alive.
Well, he wasn't about to let this spider escape into the heavy vines and brush growing on the huge branches of the trees so easily. Sasuke didn't let anything get away once it dared to attack his team, even if they were worthless. It was only a sense of pride at being the best that made Sasuke reach beneath his shirt for the hidden pack of needles strapped around his waist. He had learned to bring every single weapon to his name to the daily check-ins with Kakashi because the teacher seemed to love assigning them hard survival training missions with only five minutes notice. Sasuke's arsenal had more than enough weapons for three more ninjas, but the basic equipment would be good enough for this thing.
The senbon went flying like silver rain, all ten fine needles stabbing into the large seal on the back of the spider before it could climb the rope it had made and escape into safety. Sasuke landed easily on both feet while the creature fell on its back with a sickening wet crunch. He could tell it was dead from this distance, feeling the sense of threat disappear like smoke. Naruto was frozen with his mouth open and his kunai lying carelessly on the ground. The blonde had probably dropped it when he realized there was going to be no chance to show off. Sakura laughed weakly in relief and stood up from where Naruto had pushed her with her knees visibly shaking even now.
Idiots.
"The blood's going to attract other animals. We shouldn't rest until we get to the other gate," Sasuke ordered, guessing that the threat of more handcrafted ninja monsters would get the two to start moving. Sakura nodded, still too shaken up to speak yet. Sasuke didn't know why she continued to be a ninja if she was going to be so shocked over little things like this.
"Sasuke! What are you doing, getting in the way like that? That stupid spider was mine," Naruto yelled angrily as he stomped one foot on the ground, throwing a fit like the child he was. Sasuke rolled his eyes, not about to dignify that with a response when Naruto had let the spider escape into the trees. He had brought it down, and there was no way to argue that. Besides, turning his back to Naruto and walking away had more of an effect than any words could.
"You pushed me, Naruto!" Sakura yelled, easily diverting the stupid kid from trying to say more to Sasuke's back. He didn't even bother to listen to whatever else Sakura started to yell at Naruto, knowing it would be nothing more than the nonsense that those two idiots usually talked about. He lazily walked over to the dead spider with its legs curled up on its stomach like a ridiculous crab. This close, it looked even worse with old crusted blood from other unfortunate prey on the legs and pincher mouth. Well, at least Sasuke's guess that the spider was carnivorous was correct.
Sasuke kicked it with the bottom of his sandal to roll it so that the back was up. Looking down at the hairy body, he saw that senbon had become even further imbedded even more deeply from the fall. He tisked but pulled out the first needle with his fingers, a slick resistance making the grip hard. Sasuke managed to pull it out and wipe the needle off on the moss-covered ground, the blood a thick brown jelly. The tip of his fingers started to tingle as the small smear of spider blood made the grass turn brown.
Of course its blood would be poisonous. Sasuke dropped the needle in disgust and started to wipe his hand off on the moss to make sure he didn't leave enough poison on his skin to be affected. Ten senbon wasted. Great, absolutely great. If Sasuke didn't like this mission before, he despised it now. The things were starting to get expensive these days with that shitty old man who ran the weapon store by Sasuke's house driving up the prices. He was going to have to start walking to the other end of town to get them.
"Sasuke? Are you all right?" Sakura's voice inquired deceptively softly from behind when she had been beating the crap out of Naruto only seconds ago. And earlier then that she had been frozen stiff because of something as simple as a giant spider. It only made Sasuke all the more eager to become a Jounin and get the hell out of this joke of a ninja team. At least he might finally be able to work with some competent people then.
"I'm fine," Sasuke returned coldly, not wanting to invite any further conversation. He had to be more careful now about what weapons he could choose to use now that he knew the creature's blood would corrode any metal. Sasuke pressed the pad of his thumb against the tip of one of the spider's wicked looking legs experimentally. Sure enough, the metallic looking legs were as sharp as a razor blade, far sharper than Sasuke had expected. Sasuke put his mouth over the sharp, clean red cut that was starting to bleed furiously with a frown. Taijutsu was out of the question when Sasuke thought about the speed of the creature coupled with eight knives for its limbs. He'd have to figure out some way to kill these things without wasting any more of his weapons, though Sasuke was confident he had more than enough to kill at least half of the creatures the Forbidden Area had to offer.
"Hey, Sasuke, aren't we supposed to be going to the gate?" Naruto growled with his eyes squinted so far that they were near closed as he stepped forward. It was one foot too far into his personal space, even if Naruto was more than a stone's throw away. He looked away from the idiot in disgust and back to the dead spider with a belly full of his precious needles. Sasuke supposed killing Naruto now wouldn't be a waste. He'd even be able to reuse the blade once he cleaned off the blood.
"I was waiting for you two to gain back some wits," Sasuke snapped back. "Did you want to get me killed?" Naruto choked on whatever line he had been about to say, an easily recognizably guilty expression spreading across the scarred face. He had been trying to kill Sasuke along with the spider. He had underestimated how clever Naruto could be sometimes, easily forgetting when the younger boy was a complete mess-up the rest of the time.
"I'm okay, now. I was just surprised," Sakura laughed easily, but Sasuke could tell underneath the seemingly polite exterior was a rage brewing. As well it should since she hadn't been able to handle herself, yet again. Sakura calmly smoothed her long hair back into some semblance of style with a sniff. The furrow forming between her two eyebrows showed the frustration that she felt for failing yet again. He knew Sakura wanted to take care of herself, but she just simply didn't have the skills. It was more reason for her to quit being a ninja before someone was really hurt. He wasn't going to save her every single time. Today it was only because Kakashi had made it a requirement.
"All right! Then, let's go," Naruto bellowed out, all of the anger gone in a moment at the thought of something else to do. Naruto was always easily distracted like that, already trotting on ahead through the small navigable path through the roots of the huge trees. Sasuke looked down at the spider one last time, still upset over the waste and unable to figure out a better way. There was no use in studying the dead body for a weak spot when Naruto was wandering ahead. He was more than likely to run headfirst into something worse than a spider.
Sasuke felt a set of eyes upon him and glanced up from trying to tell which of the nine senbon in the spider had been the most successful with his usual hard glare. Sakura blushed and looked away before thinking twice and running after Naruto at full speed instead. Sasuke resisted the urge to leave them then and there and tell Kakashi the two had run out on him. It would only be a little flexing of the truth, and that was another skill a ninja needed to survive.
"Sasuke!" Naruto's roar cut through the forest although he was out of sight. With a silent curse, he stood up from the dead spider and started to walk slowly down the same path Sakura had taken earlier. Sasuke would admit to not paying attention to where Naruto had walked off to. He wasn't as far behind as he wished though, because within moments Sasuke was back in sight of their backs, tall vegetation lacing them in as Sakura and Naruto strolled in front of him like they were off to a picnic.
They were both utterly hopeless. Sakura was pretending like nothing had happened as she talked with Naruto about something that Ino girl had done lately. Naruto nodded, completely absorbed with Sakura as Sasuke dragged his feet even more, not wanting to get within earshot of such a stupid conversation. They weren't paying the slightest amount of attention to their surroundings or the sounds of the forest. Neither of them was even considering how they might defend better if more spiders came. Shinobi were to be prepared for anything, and it was absolutely out of the question to be taken by the same trick twice.
Sasuke jammed his hands in the pockets of his shorts, preferring to think back on that monster corpse he'd left behind than listen to Sakura gossip. Sasuke didn't want to waste any of his Exploding Notes in case a bigger and specially enhanced creature came along. The eyes would likely be a good place to aim, enough to maim the spider significantly. It still wasn't a fatal hit, though the stomach had been soft and wide open, just like the spider's whole main body, but Sasuke wasn't exactly sure where the main organs were inside.
Sakura paused in the middle of whatever nonsense she had been babbling about and glanced back at Sasuke out of the corner of her eye. Did she really think that he didn't notice all the times she tried to sneak a look at him? Sasuke was always being looked at, so he was quite competent at catching people in the act. Though it was faint, a blush spread on Sakura's cheeks before she faced forward again. Naruto looked back at him over his shoulder with suspicious and jealous eyes, as though Sasuke actually wanted the attention.
"Really, why does Kakashi-sensei make us do all these training mission?" Sakura moaned, an even better whiner than Naruto when it came down to it. Long pink hair swayed between her shoulders with each step Sakura took, soft and just as shiny looking as his mother's had been. The memory always made his throat clench for a moment and Sasuke tisked, looking up to study the canopy of the forest. He needed to scout the general layout of the Forbidden Area in case there was an unexpected attack. He blocked out Sakura's irritatingly simple complaints and Naruto's love-stricken agreement to whatever she said.
Any special technique that he could use to kill the spiders would more than likely end up being a complete waste of chakra. Perhaps he could cut some branches and make a weapon that way. It was crude, but it wouldn't cost Sasuke a single penny. He absently kicked at a rock that was in the path, wondering what else could work as Naruto and Sakura chattered away. They didn't care that there was no path or visible trail, continuing down the way as though it was a nature hike in a northern direction, though Sasuke doubted they meant to head toward the gate. He wouldn't give them so much credit for knowing where the second gate was.
"Iruka's gonna treat me to ramen when I get back. You should come, Sakura," Naruto's voice begged, managing to punch through Sasuke's concentration as though it was wet paper. Naruto had a special way to get under Sasuke's skin quicker than anyone had ever done before. It was like finding the most irritating little brother that he had never known about, nor wanted. If Naruto had a small, meager amount of skill Sasuke would have been able to stand the hyper-active blonde
"Never," Sakura answered back flippantly before Naruto could even pretend the slightest second of silence meant agreement. Naruto stopped in the middle of the path as Sakura continued on with a flip of her long hair over her shoulder. Sasuke drew up along side of Naruto and studied his crushed expression, finding a bit of satisfaction now that the idiot had been denied yet again. Sakura had done exactly the same thing that Sasuke had done it earlier when she had asked him about eating alone. As much as Sasuke hated to admit it, the three of them only did things as a complete group or not at all. Unless Kakashi had ordered it.
"Why?" Naruto whispered, his eyes hidden under the shadow of the forehead protector as he leaned forward. Sasuke glanced down, noticing the two tight fists Naruto was uselessly making at his sides. The idiot took things too seriously, especially when he should have known better than to expect anything more. Naruto acted surprised every time Sakura turned him down, like he had forgotten how things went the last time before.
"Idiot," Sasuke grumbled as he started to walk past Naruto, figuring that it would serve as an answer. He hadn't meant it as an insult, but an assessment of the situation. Sakura had finally noticed that the two of them were still not walking and stopped several paces ahead, turning around with one loose fist on her hip in impatience. Sasuke tried not to yell at her for looking frustrated with them, because Sakura and Naruto had almost been spider food if not for him.
"Sasuke! I'll show you," Naruto promised, though it didn't come across as the great insult Naruto meant it to be. Sasuke didn't even glance back as he started walking forward to meet Sakura. He didn't have time to listen to a dog bark. They had two days to complete this mission, and the most dangerous part of it was that Sasuke might kill Naruto before the first night. He heard Naruto stomp behind him, and than a deceptively quiet cracking noise.
"Naruto, don't move," Sasuke ordered coldly, looking down at his sandals. Sure enough, he could see the excellently hidden edge of this trap, a large circle that went across the small space between the giant trees they had been moving through. Sasuke noticed now that underneath the covering of dried leaves and green moss, hundreds of makibishi were glinting dully on the ground. There were so many tossed about it was amazing their feet weren't torn to shreds. Thankfully, the growing forest had helped covered the ground and the sharp tips of the makibishi.
Sakura blinked at them innocently from safely on top of a large tree root in the way. He could see a small break in the spikes covering the ground as Naruto sniffed, pausing for a moment as he actually listened. Sasuke could now see where posts had been nailed around the side of the path and a delicate lattice work of ropes lay across the ground. Sasuke stared down at the mess before him, not sure if he should try to walk through it like Sakura had already done or try jumping for it.
"Sasuke, what's going on?" Naruto demanded, stomping forward as Sasuke was trying to remain still and focus on not setting off this trap. The ropes snapped and the overgrown forest covering the hole creaked before falling apart. It had actually been a net and the makibishi only served to cut through the rope as the moss and dirt dropped to a dark abyss that Sasuke couldn't even see the bottom to. Naruto's face twisted and they were both falling with Sakura's scream chasing after them.
The wind whistled in Sasuke's ears, almost blocking out Naruto's screaming as they plummeted. Dried vines and underground roots ripped at them as they rocketed down, tearing at Sasuke's legs and his arms as he cross them to protect his face, but doing little to slow the descent. Naruto crashed down beside Sasuke, screaming so loudly that it drove Sasuke to distraction. At this rate, they were going to hit the ground before Sasuke could try to save himself, much less Naruto. No trap could possibly be this deep.
Sasuke shifted his hand and a small metal hook dropped into his hand with a thin but sturdy wire attached to the end. Sasuke swung it out and the wire squealed as it slid out from his arm concealers, the end was attached to a hidden leather band at the base of his elbow. Sasuke felt the line go taunt as the hook caught on something in the pitch darkness of the tunnel, but Sasuke had more sense than to wait for the wire to run out when they had already fallen so far. He stopped it by looping his hand through the wire deftly so it wouldn't cut through his palms.
He reached out just in time to grab Naruto by the back of his jumpsuit before the idiot fell any further. They dangled, dirt and broken roots tumbling past and hitting Sasuke on the top of his head. It was too dark to see how far away to the bottom they were. Sasuke let out a sigh of a relief, and that slight movement was enough for the hook to come loose from whatever hold it had found. Naruto started to scream again, not even taking the time to thank Sasuke for trying to save their lives before they hit the floor…
This was covered in spikes as Sasuke found out unpleasantly, falling the short distance from their stop and landing awkwardly with a long, thin metal pike in his side. Sasuke's feet hit the ground, held up at an old angle by the spike punching through his right side, below his ribcage and out his back. Sasuke choked, one hand wrapping around the trap he had fallen on. It was just too cruel, to survive that long fall only to get skewered at the end. Sasuke bit his lip, determined not to scream as the spike pulsed like hell in his side and through mutilated organs. It hurt very, very badly.
"Whoo hoo! That was close! That could have been bad," Naruto laughed, his disembodied voice frightening in the darkness. Sasuke put his weight on his toes… took a deep breath… and stood up all the way. He grunted at the pain, unable to stop that noise as he staggered back and clamped one hand against the bleeding hole in his shirt. He went to one knee, than fell onto his face. Mud squished underneath the side of Sasuke's cheek, but it didn't help him at all as his vision swam even in this complete darkness.
"Sasuke?" Naruto's voice asked curiously in the darkness as Sasuke twisted on the floor of the trap, pain overwhelming him. This was a bad wound, very bad indeed. It had to be fatal, because it wouldn't hurt so much otherwise. Sasuke was going to fail at this stupid mission because of his own carelessness. Absolutely splendid. What a pathetic way to go, like meat on a stick, ready for the fire. Sasuke's vision was wavering and Naruto's second call was already fading in his ears.
Naruto probably wouldn't even take the time to carry his corpse out of this miserable hole.
* * *
"Sasuke!" Sakura yelled down the hole as loud as she could, hoping that her voice might actually reach them. She couldn't see anything but the frayed ropes and blackness down the hole Naruto and Sasuke had fallen into. She didn't dare throw a rock in so she could listen to hear how deep it was, figuring she'd likely hit Sasuke on the top of the head with her luck. Really, did these Forbidden Areas have to be so dangerous? Those two could be really hurt down at the bottom from such a fall. There was no answer back, even if those two were still alive-
"Don't think like that!" Sakura told herself sternly. There was no way Sasuke would die from falling into that trap, and hadn't Kakashi-sensei said that one requirement was they all came through alive. Sasuke wouldn't let Naruto die either, even if he didn't give a rat's ass for him. She believed in Sasuke and was determined not to get in his way.
Besides, if I'm really helpful, maybe Sasuke will realize how good we could be together, Sakura thought with a grin. She had been very lucky to get in the same team with Sasuke, putting her closer to him than any other girl in Hidden Leaf Village. She couldn't waste this opportunity to prove herself to Sasuke. If she didn't even talk to Sasuke once during this whole mission, than how was she supposed to get him to love her? Sakura was rather sick of this being a once-sided relationship. Sasuke had to warm up to her sooner or later, and when Kakashi-sensei had announced that they had two nights, she'd been delighted. She had figured it was a chance to get Sasuke alone during the nighttime, once she had managed to think of a way to get rid of Naruto.
Sasuke and Naruto weren't supposed to be alone right now! She doubted that little more would come of it than some bruises and wounded pride, but she was still jealous that Naruto got to have Sasuke all to himself right now. And the damn idiot didn't even know how lucky he was! Naruto and Sasuke hated each other, but they had a perfect chance to bond down in the bottom of that hole while Sakura sat up on the tree root.
"What should I do?" Sakura moaned out loud, wishing that Sasuke was with her right now. He would have some plan. Sasuke would probably figure a way out of that tap Naruto and he had fallen in and go for the gate. He wasn't the type to look for team members that fell behind, as demonstrated over and over with Naruto. Sasuke finished the mission first, and then they could have civil conversation. Now that they were separated, Sasuke would fend for himself without a single thought.
Besides, the hole looked waaaaay too deep to jump down after those two. She'd have a better chance of seeing Sasuke again if she headed for gate and met up with him there. With any luck, Kakashi-sensei wouldn't come to open the gate until the full mission time was up, and she'd have another chance to get alone with Sasuke!
"Love, just you wait!" Sakura yelled out, feeling a challenge coming on. If she beat Sasuke and Naruto to the gate, then he'd have to admit that Sakura was just as skilled of a Genin as him… Or, at least, better than Naruto? Sakura sighed, knowing that it didn't mean much to be better than the number one loser in the entire town. Well, she could settle on recognition as being a worthy teammate.
Sakura didn't spend a single second longer looking down that miserable dark pit Sasuke and Naruto had fallen into. She turned around on her heel and without a single doubt started down the trail they had been following before, heading south until she hit the barrier fence. She wasn't going to fall behind them any longer, especially not Naruto. If Ino ever heard that Sakura had done worse on the past several missions than Naruto, she'd never hear the end of it.
Still, the overgrown Forbidden Area was just too creepy, now that she knew there were giant spiders waiting to eat her in the trees. Sakura wasn't about to be taken by surprise again, now that she knew what to expect. It didn't stop the chill from running up her spine at the thought of such a disgusting creature. Just what kind of sick Shinobi makes that kind of monster to train Genin and Chuunin? Sakura would skin him alive if she ever met their creator.
Giant spiders. Honestly.
Sakura made sure to check the strap on her kunai anyway, wanting to be able to draw it as quickly as possible. She would kill that big hairy thing before it could even get close enough for her to have to look at it too closely. Sakura still wished for Sasuke or Naruto, because they were always ready to fight with the worst, most disgusting wild animals and criminals. Sakura still held back, a little grossed out by the thought of other giant insects in the forest, like beetles and worms… Oh, please, let there not be giant snakes in this area.
She should have brought more gear, feeling unprepared to take this on all by herself with only a few extra kunai, shuriken, and a water bottle. She could at least try to drown anything that attacked her if the usual sharp pointy things didn't work. Yeah, right. She might as well pop an apple in her mouth and serve herself up fresh to the next unnecessarily large and scary thing that came along. Sakura didn't see the point in Kakashi-sensei's 'training,' unless he was really trying to get them killed.
Perhaps Kakashi-sensei was hoping that Naruto might get himself eaten alive in this Forbidden Area, but then why would he said that all teammates had to survive? It was frustrating to try and figure out that man's thoughts whenever he made them do these ridiculous training sessions. From what Sakura's other friends had told her, their Genin teams were never sent into Forbidden Areas regularly, or had to repaint houses around town. She had to go through the strangest mix of extremely hard and dangerous missions to humiliating simple ones. It was probably due to the difference in Sasuke and Naruto's skills. Why couldn't their team have been a little more balanced?
Maybe she did miss Sasuke and Naruto. It was just so awful to have to walk through this place alone. At least there was a clear trail in front of her, most likely some animal's forgotten path. She couldn't tell if there had been any animals on it recently and really hoped that there wouldn't be any more coming. She wouldn't be thinking about all this if she had someone to talk to. At least Naruto filled the silence with his own mindless chatter, even if no one was listening to him.
Sakura absently started to whistle a tune her mother had hummed to her when she was younger. It was better to have some kind of noise than the eerie silence of this Forbidden Area. Of course there wouldn't be any bird to make everything sound nice and peaceful. Someone had put a lot of thought into the mood of this place, but Sakura wouldn't give in, even if she was alone. Screw Kakashi-sensei and his missions. She'd ace this one without a single hitch, and Sasuke would finally recognize her for it.
As long as she kept marching ahead, there was nothing to stop Sasuke and her from falling in love. How would he be able to resist her once she proved what an excellent Genin she was? Sakura would be worthy of Sasuke! She couldn't wait to see the other girls' faces when she told them her and Sasuke had come to an understanding, especially that pig girl Ino. With any luck, Naruto would finally give up on her as well. It was so irritating to be chased by some lovesick idiot when she didn't have the slightest shred of affection for Naruto.
Sakura tried to put a little more effort into her whistling, thinking of how she could get Sasuke alone when they reunited.
* * *
He was whistling.
Sasuke hadn't whistled in years. Looking down, he noticed the small, pudgy fingers at the end of his soft hands. No thick padded calluses from all of the training Sasuke had put himself through. In fact, his body was much smaller than he remembered. He wasn't even wearing his clothes but the hand-downs from his brother, one too-big black shirt and shorts that couldn't be worn without a belt.
Sasuke realized everything was wrong because he was younger right now, slowly walking down the dirt path that led to their home slightly outside of town. He was tossing a shuriken from hand to hand with less skill than Sasuke recalled when he first starting learning how to throw them. The pointed ends of the stars had left small nicks all over the palms of his hands. He hadn't learned yet that there was always a rhythm to the shuriken that was crucial to a successful catch or toss.
What he was whistling wasn't recognizable as any real song, merely making noise while he walked back home. Sasuke pursed his lips, shutting off the whistling ruthlessly. If he had time to whistle like some carefree idiot, than he had the time to think about some of the techniques he had seen Father use before. He would become the best Shinobi ever one day, and then Mother and Father would recognize him as the better son. Itachi was just a little bit ahead of him right now.
He put the small shuriken away in on of the back pockets of his shorts, not wanting Itachi to see him struggling. His brother would tease him mercilessly if he saw Sasuke couldn't do one of the basics necessary for becoming a Genin. Mother would likely yell when she saw his bloody hands, but Father would only smile. Father knew that Sasuke was trying very hard to catch up to Itachi and wasn't about to stop his sons from having the usual sibling rivalry. Itachi was already the youngest Anbu captain ever in Hidden Leaf Village's history. Sasuke had a lot to do if he was going to surpass his older brother.
The familiar tall fence made out of elegantly carved and polished fitted pieces of dark wood faced Sasuke when he took the last turn. The gate was simple and wasn't locked yet even though it was well into dusk. Only a small golden outline on the tops of the mountains in the distance told where the sun was. Sasuke knew he was late from Shuriken practice, but he had been rather determined to get it right. Even geniuses from the legendary clan of Uchiha had to work at it sometimes.
The house was quiet, the large roof over their house impeccably thatched and the whitewash on the walls clean as ever. Their home was more of a manor from earlier days before Sasuke had even been born, when the clan had been larger. A lacquered hardwood porch wrapped around the entire building. Many wide windows showed the many empty rooms of their house, finding it hard to fill the place with only four people. The rooms would hold more people again soon enough when Itachi found a woman to marry and make a family. Sasuke was expected to do the same as well, even though he wasn't the first-born son. Their line had to be preserved, and that meant as many grandchildren as possible for Father.
He'd have to wash and bandage his hands before Mother saw the damage. He'd be better off sneaking into the house and going to the bathroom first. Sasuke opened up the gate with only a small push and slipped in through the smallest of cracks. Being young had the advantages of a smaller size to maneuver around. He didn't take the path that led up through Mother's garden to their house, preferring to slouch as low as possible behind the willow tree and detouring around to the side of the house that his and his brother's rooms were on.
The window to his own room was slightly open, just as he always left it in case he had to sneak back in like he was doing now. Sasuke pulled the window open and stepped inside with as little trouble as walking through the front door, except his room was empty. Sasuke closed and latched the window after himself before toeing his sandals off. He picked up his shoes and placed them at the foot of his bed like usual, wincing only a bit at the stinging pain of the cuts on his hands.
Sasuke unstrapped the side pack attached to his belt that held all of the shuriken Mother would allow a young boy to have, even if he was training to be a Shinobi, an Anbu Captain like his brother. And one day a Sage. Even Itachi had yet to aspire that far. He placed the pack on his desk that had his kunai and sharpening kit, as well as the makimono scrolls that Itachi had thrown away on a whim. Sasuke had already learned to horde his equipment, because even if their family was well off, things still cost money.
He took off his shirt that was smudged with dust from the practice field and damp with sweat and tossed it into the laundry basket against the wall. He knew better than to appear in front of his Father in such a mess. Composure was strictly enforced along with every other old-fashioned rigid rule Father had made. Sasuke had learned to be obedient and found that underneath the coldness was a caring and gentle man that loved his sons. Itachi had only gotten irritated and rebelled, furious that he had to follow someone else's rules.
Sasuke took a clean blue shirt from his closet and put his head and arms through the holes. He smoothed it out and dusted off some of the spots from his shorts. They were still reasonably clean, so there was no reason to change now. He was already bordering on late to dinner and there wasn't enough time to take a bath. Sasuke would just have to chance it as he moved to his door and opened it to the hallway without a sound. It was silent and empty as usual, since Itachi was either in his room with the door locked, or more likely, not even coming home tonight again.
Sasuke's bare feet didn't so much as squeak against the floor and Sasuke knew what places would creak when someone walked over the weak spots by heart. He made it to the bathroom without a hitch and closed the door as well. He shared the bathroom with only Itachi, so there wasn't anything beyond the necessities, not even a single decoration on the wall. Neither of them had any desire to hang up silly material possessions, so the bathroom was bare beyond a large supply of toilet paper in the cupboard placed by Mother.
He went to the sink and turned on the warm water, washing his hands with the bar of soap on the counter. He rubbed his soapy hands over his face and rinsed with several handfuls of water that he caught under the sink. He took the towel folded on top of the counter and dried off his face and hands before hanging it to dry on a hook by the shower. Feeling better and a little more awake, Sasuke reached under the sink to draw out the small medical kit he had stored in here for occasions just like this.
There were plenty of band-aids to wrap around the cuts at the base of his fingers from fumbling the catch several times. It was nothing too serious now that Sasuke had washed off the blood and dirt, but he looked as though he had been mauled by a cat. Sasuke pulled out the small roll of a thin, long bandage fabric. He held down the end of the strip with his thumb and begun to wrap his left palm carefully, making sure not to be too tight nor loose so the bandage would stay in place. He tied off the strip by looping it around a previous wrap and knotting it, before repeating the same with another roll.
Sasuke closed the kit and replaced it in the lower cabinet then gathered up the wrappers from the band aids and threw them away in the trash can by the toilet. He examined his hands once, making sure that all the cuts were safely hidden. He could lie and say it was weights for Taijutsu training. Father would approve of that excuse, even if Sasuke hadn't put any iron balls in the wrappings. He didn't bother to be careful about opening the door or hiding the sound of his footsteps. They were expecting him to come down for dinner soon anyway.
He walked down the hallway to the corner that turned into the open living room. The large, simple redwood table was set for four with all the bowls still face down on the table and the napkins untouched. The sitting pads around the table didn't show any sign of someone sitting in them. It was strange not to see food waiting to be served by now and to have Mother and Father waiting for their errant sons to come to the dining room. Sasuke was sure he was running late. It had to be sunset by now! Something just didn't feel right about the table being ready for dinner and no one there, how the house was so eerily silent. Even for his family, it was too quiet.
"Mother?" Sasuke called out, a little curious now to where the family could be. Perhaps she had been late in cooking dinner and was still in the kitchen. There was no answer, nothing but the distant caw of a crow in the front yard. The house was much too quiet if Mother was in the kitchen. Sasuke stepped back into the dark hallway, noticing now that not even the main hall had the lights on. There weren't even candles if it was a black out. The floorboards creaked now under his weight as Sasuke moved down the hallway to the kitchen.
There was a soft noise that made Sasuke hesitate at the sliding door to the kitchen. He saw the light underneath the edge of the door, where Mother must be inside cooking. She must have just started dinner late, no matter how rare it was. But, still, Father should be around here somewhere, waiting to tear into Sasuke for being late again. He had to avoid that until he could be safe from outright yelling by manner required for the dining table.
"Mom," Sasuke greeted, sliding open the door with a soft whisper of wood. There was a pot starting to smoke on the stove that had been left on. What was Mother thinking? She had never been late to cook dinner before, and now she was burning things? That wasn't like her! There was a wet ripping noise and Sasuke looked to the corner where the sink was.
The back of a man in a Hidden Leaf Village uniform was straddling mother who was already dead, her throat a gaping red mouth that was still bleeding into her beautiful, long black hair. Mother's eyes were open, staring at Sasuke in forever frozen terror, because he had been too late. Because he had been standing outside the door only seconds ago, and didn't know that she had been murdered on the other side.
Sasuke fell to the floor, trying to scream but unable to make the slightest sound beyond a weak, dry squeak. Mother's favorite soft red kimono was ripped open, her pale white chest and breasts exposed as the stranger was using a kunai to cut a straight line from her collar bone to belly button. Mother's body still bled, even though the blank, lifeless eyes were boring into Sasuke's. Her neck twisted at a strange and impossible way as the man dropped the blade to the floor, blood splattering on the kitchen floor. She looked like a piece of meat from the neck down, muscles glistening wetly.
"Sasuke?" Whispered a familiar voice, an almost polite greeting as Itachi turned around to look at his little brother. Sasuke started to shake all over, his body not listening to his commands to get up and move, regardless of if it was to run away or attack. Just, move… He was frozen with terror under the set of red Sharigan that turned on him. He screamed and fell to the floor, unable to run away. His knees shook, his heart was going to jump out of his throat. The muscles in his legs wouldn't respond, his arms were dead. All Sasuke could do was stare at his brother who was still waiting for a welcome in horrified disbelief.
"Itachi," Sasuke moaned in misery, not sure what else he could do. He felt frozen, numb. Sasuke saw no reason for his brother to be using the technique now. How could Mother have even presented the slightest threat to his brother? She was gentle, kind; she didn't have the slightest clue about techniques to kill. She was dead! What use was there in seeing a corpse's flow of chakra? There wasn't a life force anymore!
Mother…
"I want to see what was inside this bitch, since she was always going on about what was inside and that shit. Don't you want to know what the whore was thinking?" Itachi asked Sasuke, licking his lips and wiggling his fingers in a suggestive way toward his face. Sasuke whimpered and shook his head, unable to move away as his brother teased him like usual. Except this time, Itachi had killed their parents instead of just threatening to do it behind their backs.
Sasuke found the strength to scream as his brother put two hands on either side of the large, blood line he had made down Mother's stomach and pulled the skin apart. Itachi laughed as flesh ripped and organs were revealed, Mother's body only moving because his brother was yanking her apart. Sasuke screamed again, over and over, his sight graying as Itachi laughed and experimentally poked a finger into Mother's exposed lungs. Blood splattered as he accidentally ripped through the tender organ and Sasuke sobbed, unable to prevent it.
A fist slammed into the side of his face so hard that Sasuke was so dazed he couldn't even recall being struck for a moment. His face was wet and Sasuke realized in a distant horror that it was because of Mother's blood on Itachi's knuckles. His brother was grinning close to Sasuke's face, a killer's fever pouring off of him so strongly that even Sasuke could feel it, as untrained as he was. His brother had done this. He had killed Mother.
Sasuke fell to the floor, crumpling like a doll at his brother's feet. Itachi only grinned larger, looking so proud of himself. Sasuke wasn't sure why anymore. Everything felt so… strange. Sasuke wanted this to be a dream. He'd wake up and none of this would have ever happened. Mother wasn't dead. Mother couldn't be dead. Itachi wasn't that crazy.
"What have you done?" came Father's horrified roar as he stepped one powerful stride into the kitchen far too late. Sasuke couldn't turn to see his Father, disgusted. Hadn't Mother screamed out? Shouldn't Father have heard the cries? Why hadn't he come to the kitchen earlier? Even though Sasuke couldn't remember hearing any noise in the halls when he had snuck in, wasn't Father supposed to be the head of the Uchiha Clan? He should have known something was wrong.
"Dad. Look at what I did. She liked me best after all," Itachi sneered, grabbing the rumpled front of his pants suggestively. Sasuke didn't know what Itachi was talking about, but Father looked absolutely livid in his dark house robes. Even Father, usually so calm and composed, turned a dark red in his face, a sure sign that Itachi wasn't likely to live for very much longer. He deserved it, for killing Mother. Secretly, silently, Sasuke hoped Father would kill Itachi, because there was no way Sasuke would be able to at his skill; and he wanted nothing more than his brother's death right now.
Itachi laughed insolently and kicked Sasuke hard in the side, sending him sliding across the floor toward Father. No one stopped it, because Sasuke felt his Father simply jump over his own battered son and launch himself at Itachi barehanded. Sasuke heard the blows before he actually managed to orientate himself enough to figure out Father and Itachi were fighting.
The stove was starting to smoke fiercely, the smell of burnt vegetables and meat hitting Sasuke's nose. Hadn't Father always thought that Itachi was strange, even for being his own son? Look what had happened now. Sasuke shook his head, clearing the fog from his eyes to see Father move forward at an incredible, unimaginable speed, fists out to strike at Itachi…
And finding nothing as his brother merely dodged like Father was a large drunken fool and stabbing a new kunai into his right back before yanking it out again. Father didn't even grunt, just turned to land a fist against Itachi's fist- that was blocked by a hand that Sasuke hadn't even seen move. Itachi swiped the kunai down across the black silk of Father's robe and the inside of his elbow, effectively laming that hand.
They were fighting in the cramped space of the kitchen that was already made smaller by Mother's corpse still bleeding in the center like there were miles on either side. There was no way Sasuke would ever be able to move like this. He was so young, so weak. He didn't have the strength to break in and stop this. Sasuke could only watch in shock.
"Father!" Sasuke screamed. What was going on? Wasn't Father the strongest in the village? Wasn't he a Sage? Why was Itachi able to simply spin out of the way when Father tried to punch him with his other good hand? Itachi stabbed the kunai into the back of Father's shoulder, laughing as if it were only a game as more of Father's blood drenched the dark, expensive fabric.
"Itachi!" Father yelled, as if it only occurred to him now to try talking to his son. Father was panting. Sasuke had never seen his Father tire before, not once. Father had always been able to defeat any Chounin or even full Anbu teams at once easily. Itachi didn't even blink at his name, darting forward and slitting his throat as he had done Mother.
Father didn't say any last words as he gasped and gurgled for air, blood splattering out for his mouth and soaking down his arms as Father tried to hold his neck together. Sasuke screamed in agony, knowing there was nothing he could do, powerless to stop this. This was a nightmare, right? He wanted to wake up. Father couldn't be dead. He was too strong to be defeated by Itachi, even if his older brother was a genius.
Father's arms went limp first, dropping down loosely to his sides before falling face-first to the floor, slumped across Mother's own corpse to cover the horrible wound Itachi had made in her chest. The last thing Sasuke had said to his father was a grunt when he had been greeted with 'good morning' before leaving for school. He had been in a rush to get to the practice field after sleeping in this morning, and had made up for it by staying out at the practice field late without sending word to his parents. He had been disrespectful to his Father, and now he was dead.
Sasuke's world narrowed down, his vision tunneling as he tried to look away from his father's glassy eyes that stared down at the floor without seeing anything at all. Tears blinded his own vision, spilling down from his eyes because Sasuke was alive. Father wasn't. He wouldn't get a chance to yell at Sasuke after all. Ever again. They were still bleeding on the hardwood floor, even though there was no heartbeat to pump blood through their bodies.
His knees were jerking spasmodically as the puddle of blood grew larger, coming closer to him. Sasuke couldn't breathe anymore, scrabbling back on his elbows since his legs were dead things, until his head hit a wall hard enough for Sasuke to see stars. The shock was enough to keep Sasuke from blubbering on the floor, unable to do anything. Sasuke didn't think he would stand a single chance against someone that his Father hadn't been able to defeat. He still had to try. He had to stop Itachi's madness. Father and Mother were dead, the dwindling Uchiha clan down to two. Why would Itachi want to kill them, when there were already so few with the family name? Why did Itachi smile as he killed his own parents? Didn't they mean anything?
"Why?" Sasuke screamed, lunging up from the floor so fast that the muscles in his legs spasmed so hard that it hurt. Mother. He could remember her smile, how she would turn around in surprise if she was concentrating on cooking. Sasuke loved her, would give his life just as readily as Father had. He had to try, flying forward to get close enough to Itachi as he stared down at the two corpses to lash out with a fist. Sasuke didn't even know that he had the courage to actually get this far, but one small set of bandaged knuckles went for Itachi's face. Sasuke would have to make things right by himself. Father was dead.
He hadn't really expected to land a hit, but it was still a shock when Itachi locked it with his much larger hand. His brother smiled predatorily as his fingers tightened around Sasuke's right fist, digging into the skins and tendons underneath. He didn't stop then, pushing in further as Sasuke started to scream in physical pain, no longer because his family was dead.
Except for Itachi.
His own brother was killing off their clan. Mother was never going to gently wake Sasuke up in the morning or pick flowers in the garden ever again. Father was never going to yell at him, never give Sasuke a small piece of congratulations when he actually did something right. Sasuke's hand didn't hurt as much as his heart when there was a sickening crack of bones breaking before the pain actually hit.
"You always whine, whine, whine," Itachi tisked as Sasuke screamed, sagging down to the floor until his nose hit the wood, his palm still captured even though his brother had probably mangled it beyond any use. It had been his dominant hand too. He was going to die here; with Itachi smirking as he dropped Sasuke's broken hand. The pain of the limb hitting the floor made tears sting in Sasuke's eyes anew. Sasuke wasn't going to be able to avenge his parents' death.
"Why?" Sasuke managed to sob out, knowing that Itachi was going to kill him next and that he wasn't strong enough to stop it. His brother smiled, his eyes glistening with humor even though the side of Itachi's face was splattered with blood. It must be Father's. Or, some of it might be Mother's. Sasuke couldn't be sure anymore.
"Why not?" Itachi returned, leaning forward and running his tongue along the side of Sasuke's face, over the tears and smear of Mother's blood. There was no reason for this either, just like his parents. Itachi did whatever he pleased, even if it was to pant very close to Sasuke's face with desire that was evident no matter how young and unknowledgeable he was. Sasuke closed his eyes, wanting to wake up. This was too awful to be real. Mother's eyes watched without emotion as the saliva cooled on Sasuke's face and Itachi laughed again, absolutely overjoyed at killing their parents.
"Sasuke. Little brother. Do you want to kill me yet?" Itachi questioned in a cool voice, completely serious as he placed his eyes so close to Sasuke that their noses almost touched. Sasuke's mouth trembled, his tongue thick in his mouth as he looked at the inner circle and design of the sharigan, spinning, sucking him in. Itachi smiled as he made one motion with his hands. Sasuke gasped in true helplessness then, every muscle in his body going hard and tense beyond his control. Sasuke fell back to the floor, his vision going red as even the hair on his head hurt.
Itachi smiled so large that his canines were visible, glistening. Sasuke wanted to close his eyes, wanted to cry or scream, but only wheezed as his lungs and heart were squeezed by the flexing muscles. Sasuke didn't know what technique Itachi was using, but it hurt, it hurt so much. He was starting to black out, blood squeezing out his nose, mouth, and the corners of his eyes. Death was lingering in the back of his mind, an easy white light in the darkness that was filling his vision.
"You're so weak," Itachi huffed in a disappointed manner. Sasuke's muscles stopped clenching beyond his control as his brother released whatever technique he had used. Everything hurt too much to even move, laying on the floor in a small ball of pain and hoping that his brother would just forget he was even there. He was weak, because everything was turning pink and grey as he coughed up the blood clinging to the inside of his throat.
Sasuke stared up at the rafters of the roof, never noticing the careful fitting of the arches before. Perhaps he was trying to memorize everything before he died. Sasuke didn't care anymore. Mother was dead with Father crumpled on top in mockery of how much they had loved each other in life. Sasuke wished he was dead now instead of this weak, battered, and aching body. He wished Itachi would hurry it up so he could join Mother in Heaven. That was where he would go, right? It wasn't like Sasuke even had the time to do anything really bad with his short, young life. He smelled something burning and wondered if he might be going to Hell after all.
"Aren't you ashamed, little brother? Mother wanted a girl, and you became her little bitch without even thinking," Itachi questioned as he grabbed the front of Sasuke's shirt and hefted him up from the floor. Sasuke's feet dangled above the floor and he didn't even try to move, every muscle turned to mush after being under his brother's gaze. He only hung limply, the cloth of his shirt digging into his armpits as Itachi's two inhuman red eyes bore into his own. Sasuke wasn't even sure what he was talking about, too hurt to think or figure it out.
"What do you think? Should I cut you open and see what's inside you too? You want to be just like her, right?" Itachi demanded as he shook Sasuke like an animal to be punished. Sasuke had enough sense to moan a 'no.' He didn't want to be cut into small pieces. He just wanted it to end, as quickly as possible. Sasuke didn't really care how it happened; he just vainly hoped that it wouldn't be too painful. His eyes ached, the veins pounding with blood that had been forced around in his body. It was impossible to concentrate on his brother's face that moved with echoed movements flashing in his vision.
"Or do you want to die like a hero? You wanna be like Daddy?" Itachi sneered, shaking Sasuke again. When he didn't answer, Itachi sniffed again and twisted his fist even further in his shirt that just wasn't meant to take it. The front ripped and Sasuke fell on his side, hitting the floor bonelessly and laying there with the desperate hope that if he didn't move, maybe Itachi wouldn't notice him. His brother only nudged Sasuke curiously in the side with the open toe of his sandals, forcing him onto his back.
"Look at you," Itachi murmured in such a way that Sasuke wasn't sure if he was disappointed or impressed. A foot slammed down on his chest, pinning him to the floor hard enough to knock the wind out of Sasuke's already struggling lungs. Why wasn't Father coming now? How could he not hear the pitiful noises coming out of Sasuke's mouth, squirming in pain?
Oh. Sasuke belatedly remembered Father was dead. His eyes lolled up his head, Sasuke unable to focus on anything at all at Mother's bleeding neck flashed in front of his eyes, Father's fingers spread out on the floor lifelessly. Itachi had done this. Sasuke's one good hand twitched, his fingers curling up spasmodically when Sasuke tried to make them relax. Itachi grinned further, leaning his full weight on Sasuke's chest. He felt like his ribs were going to split apart and shatter into his lungs. He coughed, gagging on stomach fluid that was forced up and out of his body.
Wheezing, with stars floating across his vision, Sasuke tried to move his body. He would die if he didn't move. He didn't want to die! Painfully, with more effort than Sasuke ever remembered needing before, he clamped one small, shaking hand around Itachi's ankle. He didn't have the strength to move his brother's foot, but he had to try. He had to avenge Mother and Father. He had to kill his brother. Sasuke wouldn't be able to live with the shame if he didn't try now, no matter how hopeless it was.
"I already killed everyone else. You're the last one left, little brother," Itachi informed him with a sadistic grin as he reached down to grab Sasuke's wrist. He tore Sasuke's fingers away from his leg without even the slightest break of his smile. Itachi couldn't mean everyone. Grandma lived in a separate wing of the house, as respect demanded for a wise and older ninja. She had two nieces studying with them now, neither of which Sasuke had even bothered to learn the names of even though the sisters swooned over him. Just like that slightly older maid who lived with her father in a separate house on the Uchiha grounds. And the other servants. They couldn't all be dead.
Itachi drew out another kunai from the pack secured to his upper thigh and Sasuke's eyes went wide. He didn't even have time to think, the flashing length of the blade catching his blurred attention for one horrified moment before Itachi slammed Sasuke's wrist down on the floor. He had enough time for a mangled gasp before his brother stabbed the kunai through his open palm.
He screamed, trying to arch his back with the pain, his bare heels scrabbling on the floor. It hurt worse than Sasuke could have ever imagined, burning through his hand and all the way up to his elbow. Sasuke screamed again, hindered by the tears that he couldn't stop. It hurt so bad. Itachi pulled off him, removing his foot to let Sasuke moan in pain and curl up in a ball around his nailed hand. Every muscle went rigid again as Sasuke kept screaming like the child he was, this time in real pain instead of his brother's technique. He didn't even have the sense to pull the kunai out, not when it was causing such agony.
"Shut up," Itachi ordered with a sharp kick to the bottom of Sasuke's jaw. He saw stars as blood filled his mouth again from where his teeth had torn open the inside of his cheek. It dribbled out the side of his mouth as Itachi knelt down on the floor by Sasuke's legs, pinning one ankle down with his hand. Sasuke tried once to kick at Itachi's head even though his face was wet with tears and blood. He screamed as the kunai tore further into his palm with the movement…
Mother.
Father.
Grandma.
Everyone…
Sasuke must have only been out for a few seconds, but when he became of his reeling head and the burning white pain in his captured hand that was spreading across the rest of his body. His shirt was gone… and then Sasuke dully recalled that Itachi had ripped it off of him earlier. Sasuke realized that more than just his back was cold against the floor and noticed now that his shorts were gone now as well. His eyes scanned the room that was doubling and tripling in his vision before he spotted them, thrown over Mother's face in a cruel mockery of a death veil, her chest one horrible gaping wound.
Itachi hefted up Sasuke's right leg and rested his calf against the shoulder pad. Sasuke lifted up his head just barely enough so he could see his brother sheath the bloody kunai that Itachi had dropped earlier without even bothering to clean it. Sasuke choked as Itachi blinked up and noticed that his little brother had come around again. His face was blank, the pair of sharigan expressionless, before Itachi's face morphed into the sick smile he had been wearing when he ripped Mother open.
"I'll torture you just like a bug," Itachi sneered as he dug his fingers into one of Sasuke's butt cheeks. He gasped, terror overwhelming him when he didn't even know why as he started to squirm and pull his legs closed from how his brother had scissored them apart. He had been naked in front of his brother before, but it had never been so frighteningly obvious before. Everything just felt wrong, even worse than when Itachi had ripped open Mother. Sasuke didn't know why there was a ball of ice building up in the middle of his stomach that was even worse than the pain in his hand. Itachi was able to sense his fear, grinning widely as if it was the best joke in the world as he grasped the kunai by the sheath and shoved the single grip hilt with a small circle of metal at the end up Sasuke's rear.
It was like a second spine was trying to force its way in. Skin tore, Sasuke screamed at the suddenness, the way his world ripped in two starting at his anus. He bucked wildly, his pinned hand sliding up and down on the kunai as he tried to get away, twisting uselessly. Itachi straightened his shoulders, hooking Sasuke's knee all the way over his back and pressing his other leg against the floor, the bones screaming in protest. Sasuke felt the blood finally well out from his rear and trace down one of his legs as Itachi ruthlessly held the kunai in place by the sheath.
Sasuke's toes curled and he broke fingernails on the polished hardwood floor, screaming so much that his throat tore and his battered jaw ached. Itachi only laughed at Sasuke's pain, jerking the kunai in further than Sasuke thought it was possible. Organs inside bruised and shifted, Sasuke's world reduced to the pain Itachi was inflicting on him. His body was too small to accept the large hilt, but Itachi didn't seem to mind, wiggling it in further like Sasuke's body was a puzzle that needed a little persuasion.
"You're still a virgin," Itachi suddenly stated out loud, as though it surprised him. Tears spilled out, Sasuke wavering between screaming his heart out and whimpering in pain as Itachi demanded that his body to adjust to what was being forced in. The metal was dry and cold inside of Sasuke, even though it caused a pain hotter than the sun.
"I though Daddy would have fucked you by now. He was already working on me when I was your age, darling little brother," Itachi whispered in a chillingly quiet voice, dropping Sasuke's leg off of his shoulder and the sheath of the kunai to lean closer with every word. He ended a hair's breath away from Sasuke's trembling face, blonde bangs dropping down to brush Sasuke's sweaty and bloody forehead. The three swirls inside the red sharigan pupils twisted around once as though Itachi was thinking about using a technique, then decided against it as the eyes stopped moving.
Sasuke's first kiss was his brother pinching his cheeks hard enough to spread his jaw and force a tongue so far in that it tickled the back of Sasuke's throat. He felt like gagging, bile burning up his throat from the embarrassment of the slick feeling of the blood coming out of his rear from the kunai. He couldn't breathe, using his free arm to swing the limb at the elbow like a club since his hand was useless. Itachi bit Sasuke's lower lip hard enough to stop the attack before it could even hit.
"You want me to do that hand too?" Itachi snapped in deadly seriousness, pulling back to run a hand down Sasuke's bloody and bruised cheek. Sasuke shook his head weakly, his left hand resting against the floor with the kunai in the middle. His hand looked like a pinned insect covered in blood, disgusting to his own eyes. Itachi nodded at his weak, shaking surrender and settled between Sasuke's legs with his knees forced to rest on Itachi's hips as he knelt down to remove the kunai. Maybe this was just another one of his pranks, maybe he was done now. In one horrible, weak moment, Sasuke didn't want to die, no matter how much Itachi's hand hurt.
It was harder than Sasuke had imagined it would be to get the kunai out of his body. Itachi had buried it further than he had meant to, because it took some painful prodding with his brother's gloved fingers to push around in the bleeding wound of his opening before he found a grip. The kunai slid out with one pain, slick pop that made Sasuke scream, no matter how weak it was because of his ruined throat, and tears flowed all over again. Itachi threw it to the side and was still for a moment, as if trying to think of what to do next.
"No," Sasuke finally whispered something coherent, not sure what thought was forming in Itachi's sick mind. Itachi only chuckled once at his small spark of resistance and patted the top of Sasuke's leg like he was animal performing a trick. More tears spilled out, and Sasuke wasn't sure why. He couldn't stop crying, so scared and hurt and alone. There would be no comfort from Mother tending to him in bed and Father grudgingly admitting to missing their daily sparring.
"You already know. Maybe Daddy did teach you a little," Itachi spat, reaching down and opening up the zipper of his pants. Sasuke shook his head, not sure what there was to be afraid of but instinctively knowing nonetheless. Itachi's penis fell out, but this time it was stiff and red. Sasuke vaguely realized it must be an erection, but he couldn't understand why Itachi would be turned on at Mother's dead corpse.
Unless…
"Let's see how you fit me," Itachi wondered with breathless anticipation as Sasuke started to scream 'no' again and again, realizing what Itachi meant. He knew about sex, just a little bit from what Father had told him when Sasuke asked children's questions about where babies came from He hadn't been able to understand it all, except that it was supposed to be a boy and There was a small pearl of white liquid at the top of the head, oozing out dangerously as Sasuke wished again for death instead of the pain of surviving. He didn't want this. Itachi had killed Mother and Father, and now, and now he was going to…
Itachi wasn't his brother.
Sasuke had to kill him.
Even the resolve didn't help Sasuke prepare for the pain of being entered a second time. It didn't hurt nearly as much as the kunai, Itachi's flesh much more forgiving then metal, but the pain of it being his own brother made up for it. Sasuke saw stars as he was slowly split in two, Itachi using the blood to slide in with agonizing precision. He had to be trying to make it hurt, because Sasuke saw the most fantastic stars as his palm turned into a distant, stabbing pain. The feeling of Itachi forcing in an erection that was big enough to punch Sasuke's bladder from behind took over everything. Flesh split in different places now, the blood adding more leverage for Itachi to pull out and slam back in again.
Sasuke came teasingly close to blacking out between the wavelike intensity of his body, going back and forth between his ruined, bloody hand and Itachi's stiff gloves digging into his sides. Itachi lifted Sasuke's hips up off the floor to gain a better angle. He started to ram into Sasuke with more intensity, finding pleasure when Sasuke only felt a horrible, rending pain. Itachi's breathing was heavier, grunting as he started to become more energetic. Sasuke could only feel sick as ruined fingers dug into the floor and twitched around the kunai stabbed through his nerves, trying to move away from the hurt. It was like Itachi had shoved a metal rod up his entire body, through his lungs and heart. Sasuke couldn't think about anything else but when it would be over.
"You like it? Huh? Does it feel good? Mother liked it," Itachi panted out, proud and bragging while Sasuke thought he was going to die. Sasuke was bleeding in a place he had never even thought about much and Itachi was enjoying it. Sasuke didn't know how Itachi could feel any pleasure in the act when he in such agony. He had never known this kind of ripping, tearing violence before, never even thought he could live through such torture as his shoulders burned from being pushed across the floor by Itachi's thrusts.
Itachi seemed to have endless endurance for this, the killer's smile plastered all over his face as he reached up to pinch one of Sasuke's small nipples. Sasuke wasn't sure why he did it, but Itachi twisted his fingers cruelly and tugged so hard that Sasuke thought his brother was trying to tear it off. Sasuke grunted, in too much pain already to scream at it as Itachi continued to pound into him, rocking Sasuke's body along the floor. The hand pinned with the kunai started to ache and hurt as Sasuke cried out.
Any noise only made Itachi pound harder and faster, hitting organs inside of Sasuke that only sent electric shocks up and down his back. Itachi was grunting now, the first show of a lack of control Sasuke had seen yet. Itachi's eyes closed and his mouth opened wordlessly in pleasure, letting go of Sasuke's nipple to shove a gloved thumb in Sasuke's mouth. Sasuke tasted the coppery sting of blood, likely his own.
"You scream… more than… she did," Itachi complained in concentrated efforts between moving in and out of Sasuke's bloody rear. Mother… Sasuke just wanted it to be over, trying to clench his muscles against Itachi without avail. It only hurt worse. He gurgled, choking on his own salvia and Itachi's thumb before finally closing his aching, teary eyes and biting down hard.
Itachi cursed loudly before reaching between Sasuke's legs and grabbing his small, wrinkled genitals in one hand with all the force of a vice. Sasuke's jaw unlatched to scream out with the pain, wondering how it could have possible hurt worse, but Itachi had known how to make it so. Itachi jerked his thumb out from Sasuke's mouth and started to slap him with an open palm, and then the back of his hand when he swung back to strike Sasuke's face over and over.
Sasuke's head rolled on the floor and his eyes ached as they started to roll up into his head. Sasuke didn't think he'd be able to stay awake for this any longer, wanting unconsciousness so he could run away from this. Itachi wasn't about to let him, slapping Sasuke lightly this time as if he was trying to wake him up for school. Sasuke offered no more resistance then, too numb and cold to do any more than limply take the last of Itachi's assault that ended in a shuddering stop that made Sasuke want to die. Itachi grunted, pushing in for good measure as he came to some sort of climax.
There was another liquid inside of him now, not blood, but Itachi's leave takings as he stayed in for a moment, breathing as heavily as if he was at the end of a hard marathon. Tears poured down the side of Sasuke's face and onto the floor; just as weak as Itachi accused him of being. He just wanted it all to end. Everything was too much to take. He couldn't understand it, why this had to have happened, why it hurt, why it felt so wrong. He wanted Mother to hold him, kiss him on the head, and say it was all better, except she was dead now.
Itachi pulled out slowly, languid and pleased with himself as he left Sasuke to stay on the floor. He couldn't move, blinking as he realized the stove was still on and the fire was starting to spread to the counter. The house was starting to burn down, along with Mother and Father's bodies. Sasuke didn't have the strength to move, not after his hips hit the floor as Itachi stepped up from him like a toy that had been used too much. Itachi had finally grown tired of Sasuke, but it wasn't soon enough to stop the hurt. Sasuke wanted to draw his knees up and hide, but his thighs screamed in agony at the thought.
"Well, shit," Itachi cursed as if he had discovered his sandal was undone as the fire from the stove started to break out across the kitchen, finding plenty of polished wood to burn on. Red and orange flickered across Itachi's face, making the sharigan flash as he moved over to Mother and Father to pick up Sasuke's shorts. Sasuke cried even harder as Mother's face was exposed again to stare at him in accusation while Itachi cleaned himself off with Sasuke's shorts and a bored sniff.
As silly as it was, Sasuke couldn't let his brother get away with acting so careless. Everyone was dead, not just Mother and Father. Itachi didn't even care about the bodies sprawled over each other as he pulled up the black fabric that covered the bottom half of his face. He tucked himself back into his underwear and zipped up his pants as if nothing had even happened before glancing over his shoulder. Sasuke couldn't help but cringe in fear and duck his head to hide the pure hatred in his eyes.
"Foolish brother," Itachi hissed in a deceptively gentle voice over the cracking of wood as the flames grew strong enough for Sasuke to feel the heat. He couldn't even turn his head away when Itachi turned and walked closer to him, each step dangerous and final as it echoed in his ears. Sasuke couldn't nod his head, but Itachi already had to know the answer. How could he not want to tear Itachi limb from limb, and hating himself for proving his brother right? Father was dead, Mother was dead, and Itachi had done even worse than killed him. It was the lack of power, the kunai in his palm that kept from launching at Itachi. Or at least, that was what Sasuke told himself as Itachi leaned down to touch the side of his swelling face.
"If you wish to kill me, then hate, spite, and survive pathetically," Itachi whispered with deadly seriousness. This wasn't his brother, but an insane killer giving advice to a dying man. Sasuke couldn't even respond as he clenched his eyes closed, not wanting to listen to these words. He wouldn't follow the directions of the man who had wiped out the entire Uchiha clan. Itachi shook Sasuke when he gave no response, forcing him to look at his brother through one eye.
"Run and run, and cling desperately to life," Itachi finished as he pulled his hand back. There was a poetic bit of sanity before his sharigan eyes flashed again, sparkling in Sasuke's eyes before he was aware his 'brother' had left. Sasuke held his breath for a moment before screaming with the pain all over again, arching up on the floor helplessly and drumming his feet against the floor. Everything hurt. Why hadn't Itachi killed him? Sasuke had wanted, been prepared for it. Why did he have to be alive? If only he hadn't been so weak.
It was all because he had lacked the strength to fight Itachi. He had been powerless, unable to even bruise his older brother before Sasuke had found himself in this burning hell. Itachi told him that he was the only one who had survived. All because he didn't have enough strength, the clan had been wiped out. If he didn't have power, he couldn't do anything. He hadn't been able to even protect himself. Sasuke choked on bitter tears, realizing how wretched and useless he was just like Itachi said.
Alone with the pain, Mother's dead eyes locked on his own teary ones. Father's body was bleeding onto Mother's own, still trying to protect her with his corpse, even if there was no life left in either of them. The fire cast enough light for Sasuke to see the red smear of blood and semen on the shorts Itachi had dropped to the floor. He couldn't think of them as his own, because it would hurt too much. Sasuke screamed without abandon now that Itachi was gone, hurting, alone. The fire was his only answer, easily igniting across the polished counters and wood walls as it sparkled in the splatters of blood. Mother stared at him, and Father couldn't even look up from the floor. Dead.
Sasuke clenched his eyes closed, wanting the flames to burn the house, the bodies, and him, because to let anyone know what he lived through would be too shameful. Sasuke whimpered on the floor, loosing the strength to even scream, blood crusting around his nostrils and face. Why hadn't Itachi killed him? Why did Itachi want him to live? Why did he hurt so much?!
He had to kill Itachi. It was the only answer. He had to avenge his father, his mother, his family, his clan, his honor. Everything had been destroyed by Itachi. Sasuke had to survive because someone had to kill this madman. He had to protect the name of the Uchiha. Wouldn't that be what Father would have done? Sasuke couldn't die here, not in the flames of the kitchen with the corpse of his Mother and Father. If his love for his family had meant anything, Sasuke would have to kill his brother.
In a screaming effort, Sasuke forced his palm up against the blade of the kunai until wood creaked and finally it gave. The kunai popped out of the floor and his hand was free, melting off at the wrist and burning and most spectacular colors exploded behind Sasuke's eyelids. He panted weakly, curling his whole body around the hand and clutched it close to his chest. Pain was his life now, the strength he needed to focus his tunneling vision. He couldn't let Mother and Father die like this in their very kitchen without avenging it.
He had to live. He had to kill Itachi. Sasuke's memories of his Mother demanded that he find Itachi again and pay him back. Father's death demanded retribution. Sasuke's own pain and misery had to be accounted for as well. He had to get out of the house before he burned to death. The Uchiha clan had to be avenged, and Sasuke was now the last real descendent. Itachi didn't have a right to the name any longer.
When he finally tried to move, Sasuke thought he would die, the pain from the base of his spine and legs nearly undoing him. The fire was blistering hot now as the roof started to spark and small bits of the rafters floated down, glowing orange. Sasuke used his elbows to drag his hurting body toward the back door of the kitchen. He had to stop and sob every time the kunai still skewered in his hand hit the floor, biting his lip in a vain attempt to keep from screaming until his mouth was just ruined and bleeding as the rest of him.
His head hit the sliding door and Sasuke sobbed openly as he tried to open the light, sliding door. It stuck in the runners and Sasuke had to hit his head against the floor, too exhausted to try again. The fire was starting to roar now as it consumed the rest of the house, growling hot against his back. Sasuke took a deep breath and tried the door again. Miraculously, it slid open and Sasuke used his elbows to drag his battered body out the doorway and onto the front porch.
Sasuke gazed dumbly at the koi pond Mother had cultivated in their backyard, knowing that she would never wake up in the morning and feed the fishes and tend to her garden. His back burned from the heat of the fire, before Sasuke realized it wasn't from the house but small ambers that had fallen onto his back. Sasuke sobbed, squirming and rolling despite the horrible pain from his rear until he fell all the way off the porch and to the soft moss of the garden.
Sasuke couldn't move anymore. Itachi had raped him. He found the word for it, hearing it before when Father explained what they did to Shinobi stupid enough to get caught. He'd been tortured by his own brother. It hurt, bleeding on the cool ground as the house behind him started to roar with the flames licking up the sides and through the roof. At least no one would be able to see that Itachi had ripped Mother open if her corpse burned.
It was a full moon tonight, Sasuke dully noted as he stared up at the night sky, stars splattered across the heavens. Mother was up there now, wasn't she? Or did it take a long time to get to Heaven? Smoke from the house obscured his sight every now and then, drifting up lazily to the sky as it was stained soft pink and yellow by Sasuke's home as the fire from the kitchen spread to the rest of the house.
There was a rustle of wind, or Sasuke's imagination as he grew colder. Had Itachi come back? He couldn't die now, not after crawling all the way out back. Sasuke lay still, hoping that his naked body would be able to camouflage into the darkness despite the white skin he had inherited from Mother. There were distant cries of voices that Sasuke had never heard before, couldn't recognize.
"Fire!" a distant voice called out, probably someone who was walking past late at night. The stars were out and the moon was full, except the smoke from the house was covering the view as Sasuke lay on his back. The ground was wet and cool against his battered body, easily soaking up the blood from his hand and what was still coming from between his legs. His body was starting to absorb the cold of the earth, the brief heat of the fire fleeing his fingers and toes as his lips ached.
Why did Itachi have to do this? Had Sasuke made him angry? Why did Itachi leave Sasuke alive? The questions spun around in his head, but Sasuke thought he might throw up before he could even start to think of the answers. Sasuke didn't even move, just kept staring up at the sky even as he heard leaves rustle in the garden. Itachi was probably coming back to finish the job, and Sasuke wanted it now that his body and his heart were bleeding out his life.
"Here!" A male voice yelled out dangerously close to his body. Silver hair, one eye hidden by a Hidden Leaf Village forehead protector slanting across the man's face. Sasuke's eyes rolled up into his head, more tears coming now, except this time they were made of blood. It was probably because of Itachi's technique, the blood in his body still flowing sporadically. Sasuke couldn't resist, couldn't think of anything beyond the distant embarrassment of being naked in front of another person even though the world was turning grey at the edges.
"Uchiha... Sasuke?" the man asked as a hand slid underneath Sasuke's neck, supporting him as he was nothing more than a baby. Sasuke might have offered all the resistance of one as the stranger put another arm under his knees. Sasuke wept openly than, the slightest motion making everything spin and hurt and it hurt!
"Sasuke," the man said his name again, in a rougher manner this time. Sasuke couldn't place it, not quite sure what happened next. He hazily remembered a bit of the ninja team that had come to investigate the fire before he lost consciousness. He… He had already been through this before, hadn't he? This was a dream…
A dream.
"Sasuke."
It was someone else's voice. Sasuke awoke in a panic, looking around everywhere in absolute darkness as he launched up from the ground…
Before he winced at the pain in his side and fell back heavily on his elbow. The ache blossomed in side from a bearable throb to stabbing, electric shocks that made Sasuke's eyes water of their own accord. He sniffed and held the tears back, shifting in the pile of dry leaves underneath his body. His shirt and arm warmers were gone along with all of the weapons and scrolls hidden underneath. His forehead protector was still on, strangely enough. There was a loose bandage around his side, as if a child had been playing doctor, except the blood soaking the strips of linen was real. At least it seemed to have stopped bleeding.
"Sasuke," Naruto demanded insistently, leaning over much closer to Sasuke's side than he expected him to be. Sasuke's hands clenched, wanting a weapon very badly now to kill Naruto with. How dare he just strip Sasuke down and take away all of his equipment without even thinking of asking? Sasuke opened his mouth to yell at Naruto, but found his breath to be his undoing as pain exploded in his side, his lungs pressing up on a wound that already hurt enough on its own.
The dream fled his mind now, ignored and forgotten as Sasuke gritted his teeth and tried to pant through his grimace. Sasuke had had the same nightmare often enough to shake it off easily enough now, when at first it had been very hard to even go outside the next morning after having the dream. Itachi still haunted him even though the scars were almost completely gone now unless Sasuke looked very closely. He had to kill that man to get some closure to his miserable childhood.
"Are you okay?" Naruto asked when Sasuke was biting his lip, trying hard not to cry out loud. He wouldn't scream his head off like a girl over a little scratch, no matter how much it had felt like he was going to die. He had a little more pride than that as the last surviving member of their clan than to fall so low. Still, it was a wonder that Naruto didn't notice how much pain Sasuke obviously was in, even if he was trying to hide it.
"No," Sasuke hissed out the apparent answer. "Where?" Sasuke asked immediately, figuring to get the speaking done as quickly and with as few words as possible. Anything more and Sasuke felt like he might rupture something inside his body further. It hurt enough already. Stupid of him to fall that short distance onto the sharp pointy thing that he should have expected at the bottom.
"Dunno. I found the exit and decided to stay here until you woke up," Naruto explained honestly as he settled back on his heels and draped an arm over each knee. Sasuke blinked around, realizing that they were inside the mouth of a small cave with the large forest covered by night outside. A dark tunnel probably leading back to that pit went the other way. Naruto had already made a camp out of it with a first aid kit that still hadn't been picked up and Sasuke's sizeable collection of weapons, scrolls, and other necessary tools strewn across the soft dirt. There was even a small fire going with some dry branches gathered up next to it for fuel. It was amazing Naruto had been able to do all this without someone telling him to.
No matter how messy it was, the effort was far more than Sasuke would have ever expected of Naruto. He had carried Sasuke the entire way, however far it was back to that pit Sasuke had fumbled in. Naruto had even made a small mattress of leaves and moss he must have gathered from outside when Sasuke was bleeding like a stuck pig. It was even close to the wall of the cave to keep the slight evening wind from chilling him. Naruto had actually put some thought into it so Sasuke would be comfortable.
To be saved by the worst Genin in Hidden Leaf Village history when he had been the one keeping them from falling to an early death was the worst humiliation Sasuke had ever suffered. It was very, very frustrating. Sasuke decide to slowly lay back down with ever so much care not to jostle the wound and further, not in the mood to do anything else but curl up and wait for it to stop hurting. His head hit something soft and Sasuke realized Naruto must have put his shirt under his head as a pillow. More things that were starting to put Sasuke deeper and deeper into debt with the idiot. Perhaps Sasuke could count all the times he had saved Naruto before and call it even…
He sighed, his sense of pride already raging against the thought. There was no way around it. He owed Naruto this time, even if it set Sasuke's teeth on edge to admit it. He almost regretted not dying on the metal pike, because now he was shirtless and thankless, and most certainly didn't want to do a damn thing about it. Silence would always work best and Sasuke could easily pay Naruto back without the idiot ever realizing Sasuke felt like he was obliged to.
Besides, if he told Naruto that he had actually done something right for a change, Sasuke would never hear the end of it. He knew Naruto wouldn't forget about it for a long time, and would probably yell out that Uchiha Sasuke had said 'thank you' to anyone with a free ear. If word got around that he had actually made some kind of peace with Naruto, Sasuke would be the laughingstock of the entire village… Not that he even talked to other people much.
"Uh… Sasuke?" Naruto asked hesitantly, his voice echoing the silence of the night as the fire cracked and sizzled. Sasuke opened up one eye to glare at Naruto sideways, wondering what the idiot could possibly want now. Didn't he know that speaking hurt right now? Anything beyond laying here and trying to figure out how to keep this a secret from anyone else was going to be too much effort for a while.
"I wonder if Sakura's all right," Naruto moaned as he stood up from hunching over Sasuke's side to pace closer to the fire. Sasuke wondered if Naruto even aware that he had spoken as the smaller boy bent down and threw another branch on the fire. Sap hissed and popped as it started to melt inside the wood. Sasuke had given Naruto too much credit. The idiot couldn't even find wood fit to burn.
Well, if he could have spared the effort to speak, Sasuke would have told Naruto that there was probably nothing to worry about, except if Sakura ran into more of those spiders. She was smart enough to be able to take care of herself. He could trust her not to sit helpless in the forest waiting for them to come back. She had enough wits to head to the gate on her own and meet them there. Following them would only result in Sakura getting stuck on those metal pikes…
Perhaps he should tell Naruto to go back and check for her body after all. Sakura was just that big an idiot. Who the hell had put together the Genin teams this year must have been drunk at the time. How was he supposed to be able to do anything with an idiot like Naruto and Sakura who only followed him around with the same eyes of every other girl Sasuke had come across?
"You know, I could have saved myself. I just wanted to make sure you weren't getting rusty," Naruto lied so badly that it was a wonder his tongue didn't fall out. 'Rusty?!' Just when had Sasuke ever had the chance to get rusty? They had missions just about every day of the week, except for the few times Kakashi-sensei didn't even show up to their daily meetings. Of course, Sasuke couldn't yell all of this at Naruto, only lie there and gently breathe with much frustration. At least Sakura would have hit Naruto by now if she had been there with them. The one time he could have really used the girl and she was missing.
"I'm so hungry. I can't wait to get back. Iruka's gonna treat me to ramen," Naruto bragged for what must have been the hundredth time. Sasuke didn't even like ramen; much less any company Naruto would chose to dine with. Sasuke didn't know why their teacher would show any interest in Naruto. The Chuunin teacher had taken Naruto under his wing nonetheless, showing Iruka must really be crazy underneath that cheerful and polite mask.
"What type of ramen do you like? Me, I like…"
"Shut. Up," Sasuke managed to rasp out between gritted teeth, not caring if he did owe his life to Naruto right now. That didn't mean he had to listen to the idiot go on and on. Didn't he ever just sit still and stay quiet for more than a minute? Naruto made a face at Sasuke before turning back to his fire moodily and poking a stick into the flame sourly. Sasuke sighed, finally getting a chance to close his eyes and try to stop the pounding in his head.
The fact that the cave was as cold as death didn't help matters. Even though Naruto had actually managed to build a proper fire, Sasuke felt like it was miles away. Was dying without pain just so much to ask? He felt like he was freezing to death, and Naruto stripping him down to the waist didn't help matters in the slightest. There was no way Sasuke would be able to manage reaching under his head and taking his shirt out.
I think I'm going into shock, Sasuke assessed, his head pounding with a headache that Sasuke hadn't even felt coming on. Either that, or Naruto was being particularly irritating tonight. Sasuke really wished he hadn't gotten that pike up the side. Kakashi was probably going to laugh when he saw what had happened. Sasuke wasn't even sure if he'd be able to walk tomorrow.
"Sasuke? What were you dreaming about?" Naruto asked, each word making every last bit of warmth leave Sasuke's body. He shivered, helpless with one hand clenched to his side. Naruto didn't know, he couldn't know. Did I really cry out? Oh, if it had been a little humiliating before, now Sasuke couldn't even look over at Naruto. He gnawed at his lip, trying to think about what normal kids had nightmares about.
"My Mother," he answered simply in one rushed breath to avoid aggravating the injury, hoping that it might be enough to get Naruto off his back. The idiot only blinked at him curiously, his mouth open and ready to ask more. Sasuke shut his eyes, hoping that he might pretend to be asleep for the next few minutes. He did not want to have this conversation. Naruto didn't have a single clue to the pain Sasuke had been through. This recent wound might hurt now, but it was nothing compared to being confined to a bed for over a month after Itachi had left him for dead.
Naruto didn't inquire any further, which was more worrisome than Sasuke would have thought. He peered over at Naruto under the curve of his lashes to see just exactly what the idiot was up to now. Naruto seemed to be mulling Sasuke's answer, his eyes pinched shut as he scratched the front of his chin, deep in thought in front of the fire. Sasuke frowned at this, wondering exactly why Naruto was thinking so hard. Naruto never thought.
"But you were screaming… Didn't you like your mother?" Naruto asked out loud after a while, looking over at Sasuke in confusion. It was like a small child asking for an explanation of the most obvious of things. Why did he have to be so weak and start screaming in the first place? If he wasn't so scared of nightmares, mere fragments of his imagination, he wouldn't have the idiot worrying over him now and asking questions that were more painful than Naruto would ever know.
"I mean, I don't have one! It's just that everyone else seems to like their parents!" Naruto explained in a rush, shaking his hands in front of him in fear of the look Sasuke didn't even know he was giving Naruto. Even then, Sasuke only tried to glare harder. Just what right did he have to ask about his personal life?
"Except Sakura," Naruto drawled off in an after thought, scratching his head as Sasuke only stared at him. Naruto didn't know the pain of losing one's mother, because he didn't have parents. Sasuke was guiltily reminded of the many times when he was younger when he would hear other kids and the adults talk about Naruto and glare at him whenever the strange, lonely kid walked by. Naruto had never had anyone love him before, nor had he lost the people who loved him.
Sasuke almost envied him. Naruto wasn't burdened down by a family name that had to be continued with pride, no matter what the cost. Sasuke had to kill that man, and then the tarnish upon his clan's name would be erased. He was responsible for it. He had to be. Sasuke was the only one left to do it. Naruto was free from the responsibility of a family.
"Did you hate her?" Naruto asked cluelessly again, surprisingly using the right tense. He couldn't believe that Naruto even knew that his mother was dead. Sakura must have told the idiot. Oh, Naruto didn't know how close he was to death right now. He just had to ask one more question, and Sasuke would kill him no matter what the cost. If only one single weapon was within easy reach of Sasuke's fingertips…
Sasuke shook his head negatively, not wanting to spare words on Naruto right now, but knowing if he didn't answer eventually Naruto would ask it again. He wouldn't be able to stand it, not with her memory so fresh in his mind. Not when Sasuke could still recall how her long hair had glimmered in the firelight, how scared she had looked. Sasuke had to make Itachi pay for her death.
He felt Naruto staring at him before Sasuke looked over sharply at the idiot. Naruto didn't say anything even though Sasuke was trying to glare at him now, blinking like a big, stupid bird as he tilted his head. Sasuke wasn't something to be studied, not by this loser.
"Sasuke, your lips are turning blue," Naruto exclaimed, pointing a finger at Sasuke's mouth. He didn't know what to say, dazed and cold on his bed of leaves. It wasn't like Naruto had done a top-notch job of bandaging Sasuke up either. Naruto had given a good go at it, but like everything else the kid did, it ended in failure. Sasuke probably was going to die, without killing that man, without making him sorry for killing Mother and desecrating her corpse.
"Geez, why do I always get stuck with the weak guy?" Naruto moaned, scratching the back of his head as he sighed again. Just as though he thought Sasuke was a burden! Sasuke had saved Naruto from splattering his brains on the bottom of that pit back there and had even gotten a hole punched through him for the ungrateful jerk. Sasuke considered grabbing a handful of the dirt that covered the ground and throwing it at Naruto, but the wound in his side twinged in warning.
"I build a fire and everything. Of course that bastard would start freezing. Stupid Sasuke, I sho…hit him...jer…ss…" Naruto grumbled off into meaningless complaint as he stood up from the fire. The smaller blonde wrenched down the zipper in the front of his jumpsuit and shrugged out of the shoulders. His arms came free and Naruto hesitated for a moment in his white undershirt, and thoughtfully removed the hidden shuriken holster from around his waist. It was still one more than Sasuke would have ever thought Naruto to carry on any given day.
Naruto put his hands down to the waist of his orange jumpsuit and for one horrifying moment; Sasuke thought Naruto might actually be getting naked right now for whatever reason. The blonde idiot had a tendency to not care about little things like common decency. But, instead of going for his fly, Naruto undid a hidden zipper around the waist, detaching the jacket with a triumphant grin. Sasuke wasn't sure if Naruto was expecting a compliment on being able to undress himself or not.
"Here," Naruto offered his orange jacket to Sasuke. He only looked at it in disdain, not about to move for Naruto's used clothing even if he was starting to break out in goose bumps. His fingernails might be turning blue, but Sasuke didn't think he could manage sitting up to take the jacket from Naruto right now. Weak, weak, weak. How was he supposed to kill anyone when he was shivering like this?
"Oh, yeah. Heh, sorry," Naruto reminded himself of something that Sasuke couldn't even guess at as the idiot rapped his own temple with his knuckles. At least he took care of hitting himself for Sasuke. He sighed, rather fed up with his 'nurse' when he had only been conscious for a few minutes. Naruto had a way to frustrate Sasuke more than any wound could.
"Okay, then," Naruto announced, snapping out his jacket like it was laundry and with surprising gentleness draped it over Sasuke's chest. He blinked up at Naruto as the idiot grinned like he had done something really meaningful. It was just the stupid orange jumpsuit that Naruto wore everyday. It even smelled like him, no doubt because Naruto rarely did his laundry. Sasuke didn't want the dirty thing on him, the lining inside cold on his skin.
"Don't bleed all over it, okay?" Naruto demanded so flippantly that Sasuke took back ever thinking he owed Naruto a single thing! Sasuke make Naruto sorry that he ever saved him just this once when he recovered. He couldn't believe that he was stuck with such a selfish incompetent he was stuck with for a teammate. Sasuke closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on his blood flowing out and getting all over Naruto's jacket.
"Uhhhnn… This sucks. I'm going to sleep," Naruto declared, throwing his arms up and flopping onto his back next to Sasuke in the leaves. So, Naruto hadn't brought it in just for Sasuke but had been planning to sleep on the makeshift padding as well. It was uncomfortable to have someone so close to him, even if Naruto had his eyes closed and his mouth open. Sasuke wanted to move away from the idiot, but he would only end up against the cold stone wall of the cave and further away from the fire.
At least Naruto's jacket seemed to be holding in some of Sasuke's warmth, heating up slowly to his feverish skin. Sasuke decided to calm his own pathetic discomfort he felt at another person being so close and just try to sleep like Naruto was. There was nothing he could do now but try to heal enough to walk tomorrow morning. When Naruto woke up, Sasuke had better be ready to get out of this stupid Forbidden Area and to a hospital under his own power. He wasn't about to hold Naruto back from completing a mission. This was just training, nothing more.
Even though Sasuke tried to keep those proud thoughts in mind, the training still hurt. He just wanted to get back to his own tiny apartment and crawl into bed. After a shower as well. Sasuke sighed, trying to relax his shoulders. This was time to rest, not time to worry about matters he couldn't do anything about right now. Shouldn't he be ready to pass out after such an awful day?
There was a rustle in the bed leaves and Sasuke opened up his eyes to see Naruto roll onto his side, presenting his back. Sasuke couldn't believe his luck. The idiot was moving away of his own accord! Naruto let out a large breath, shifting around before flipping over the opposite way, almost hitting Sasuke in the face with his stupid snub nose.
"'scuse… me," Naruto murmured, already sleepy as he rubbed at his eyes like a child up past his bedtime. Sasuke envied the way Naruto could fall asleep so quickly as the blonde fell back onto the leaves and started snoring heavy, completely out now. Sasuke shook his head at Naruto; even he was just staring up at the ceiling of the cave. Sakura will kill to be in Naruto's place, and the idiot didn't even know it.
He did have a fleeting hope that Sakura was all right. She was all alone out there, probably scared out of her mind from that giant spider earlier this morning. He didn't want to fail this mission. It would be the first one, and Sasuke wasn't about to have that on his record. He didn't graduate top of the class without good reason. Sasuke would have to figure out a way to salvage this miserable failure of a mission…
Tomorrow.
* * *
Sakura considered calling out for Sasuke as she walked along, wondering if they might lucky enough to actually cross paths. Naruto and Sasuke must be heading the same way as she: toward the gate. She wanted to get out of this damn Forbidden Area as soon as possible. It was a complete hell hole and had only gotten worse with night, but Sakura knew she couldn't afford to rest right now. She wouldn't want to chance getting attacked in her sleep or hesitating long enough to become an easy target.
"Ah, this sucks!" Sakura called out, throwing her hands down in disgust. She'd slipped in some mud early and now her entire right side, arm, and leg were covered in slime. She had leaves and small brambles everywhere, poking her skin inside her sandals, leggings, and hair. It was absolutely miserable and she just wanted to take a bath. Kakashi's training missions were just an excuse to see how hard he could push them before they gave out.
Well, she wasn't about to give up. She was going to show Kakashi and Sasuke just how tough she was. She may be completely dirty and ready to collapse into her soft bed, she couldn't give up now. Even if her feet were starting to feel like two big blisters, she had to keep on walking. Staying still would mean her death here. This was no place to whine like a child. She was a Genin, for crying out loud!
That still didn't help Sakura from holding in a yelp as she heard the bushes off the left rustle. Her kunai was out but her hand was badly shaking as she held it up to the darkness around her. Why did she have to get separated from Sasuke? Couldn't Naruto have been the one to be all alone in this scary forest? There were giant spiders out there and most likely even worse, things that Sakura didn't even want to think about.
"I'm ready for you!" Sakura roared out into the trees, hoping that it might scare away any animals and that Sasuke or Naruto might hear her. She didn't know what was waiting to eat her, tear her up and swallow her insides like so many of the other creatures she had seen other Shinobi use. Kakashi's dogs were not the type she'd like to pet or play with on any day.
The hiss to her left was all the warning Sakura got. Thankfully, all her training kicked in and the kunai slashed through the air before she even thought about it. Her other hand reached down and behind the small pouch on her lower back. Her fingers fished out the senbon and threw them with a scream before falling back to the right. There was a thump to her left of a body hitting the ground, but she was too frightened to even look at first.
Just what the hell was that?! Sakura's hands were shaking so badly that she dropped the kunai. She wished it wasn't so dark in this Forbidden Area. She wished Sasuke was here, because he would have sensed the attack long before she ever could have and would do something about it. She just reacted instead of actually thinking about what was happening. It had just been so scary! Wasn't this supposed to be a group activity?
Sakura slowly let her eyes travel over the ground and to the dark body with several senbon buried inside. She screamed again in disgust when she recognized a large lizard about the size of a cat as her kill. It had two huge black eyes that were frozen open that were just creepy. Sakura was glad she had killed the thing before it had gotten the chance to touch her, or she might have died at the touch.
Giant lizards were by far worse than giant spiders. Just what sort of sick freak had been behind this Forbidden Area? She had no doubt that it had to have been a man, because no girl would have thought up this sort of mess. She didn't want to be attacked by the next giant monster to come along. Just as long as it wasn't going to be a snake or frog, she would be all right.
At least, Sakura would think so, but it was very likely that even something worse was waiting for her. She shook her hands out and picked up the kunai again. She had killed the thing, so threat was over now. No reason to get so worked up. Sakura wiped the blade off on the soft grass underneath her and tucked it back into the sheath. She may have been able to kill the thing, but it was still frightening to look at on the ground. It was just covered in dirty-looking scales and its mouth was wide open to reveal a set of sharp teeth.
The tail twitched in a final death throw, but Sakura screamed and jumped back as far as possible. Who the fuck had thought up man-eating lizards and damn ugly attack spiders?! Why couldn't any of the ninja in the Hidden Leaf Village just be normal? Even though the brains behind this Forbidden Area obviously had to be a deranged fool, Kakashi-sensei was still the worst of them all. He was just plain crazy. Why did she have to get stuck with such a weird teacher?
Well, she had been lucky enough to be one of Sasuke's teammates. All she had to do now was make her intentions clear and prove herself to Sasuke. Then, he'd totally have fall in lover with her. How couldn't he, especially if she passed this exam all by herself. If she got through this extremely dark and scary forest with hundreds of unknown monsters and traps waiting for her, he'd have to recognize her strength.
Except something hissed up ahead. Sakura spun around with the kunai out once again as her eyes narrowed to peer around the darkness. She wished she had Sasuke's sharingan, because at least then she'd be able to see the chakra of the enhanced creatures. She just had to really on her instincts, which were just as good as any other Genin's. Well, perhaps not Naruto, but that was because he was practically an animal anyway.
Several leaves fluttered to the ground in front of her, making the 'hiss' noise as they hit the dirt. She couldn't help a small giggle of relief as she sheathed the knife again and got her legs moving again. She had been so scared only moments ago, and it had only been the leaves falling. She could be such a girl sometimes, but it wasn't a bad idea to be on high alert in this Forbidden Area.
"Ouch!" Sakura cried out as something stung a burning line across her arm. She looked down in surprise to find a small red cut. Blinking around at the bushes and trees, Sakura couldn't figure out just what had hit her. The leaves hit again and the sharp edge of one large oval leaf grazed her side and ripped her dress. Sakura stared up at the trees in shock, realize these leaves were sharp enough and strong enough cut her into a hundred little pieces.
"Shit!" Sakura screamed as she started running forward to dodge the gently falling leaves.
* * *
"Sasuke," whispered a voice that was loud enough to drive a hundred needles into his brain. It was probably Naruto, because only he could be that annoying with a single word. Sasuke didn't even try to respond. His whole body felt like it had shrunk several sizes since when he must have… passed out. Humiliation came in a distant rush since Sasuke was too nauseous to even open his eyes.
A hand on his forehead. It was cool and soft, but the touch wasn't gentle like Sasuke could remember the nurse's hand being when he had woken up in the hospital after Itachi had left. Sasuke's head hurt, wavering between knowing that those things were long in the past and being unable to figure out who was looming over him now. His side pulsed with his heartbeat, aching and still bleeding.
"You're burning up." The voice sounded like it was reaching his ears from a million miles away, garbled and distant. Someone pressed their fingers against Sasuke's side and he couldn't stop the small moan that got past his lips. There had probably been poison on those metal spikes. Just his miserable luck.
Naruto's face swam in Sasuke's vision for a moment, focused as he intently changed the red, soaked bandage for another clean one. Sasuke panted, a little irritated that Naruto was stating the obvious and too sick to do a thing about it. His breath was hard to come by in this terrible dry heat. When had they gone into the desert? Sasuke felt like he was going to throw up. He was grateful when Naruto took his jacket back and pulled it on again, leaving Sasuke to shiver in the cold of the cave to wash away his fever.
"Wake up right now," Naruto hissed again, with a little more urgency this time. Sasuke would have told the idiot to 'fuck off' if his mouth wasn't so dry. His lips were stuck together, frozen and numb most likely from the poison on that spike. Just why did Kakashi send them out on some stupid, mundane training when it involved risking their lives? Weren't they supposed to be precious Genin in a warrior village that had far too few children?
Well, they weren't all supposed to be complete failures who fumbled on a simple landing. Sasuke would have liked to blame Naruto for throwing off his weight, but that thought drifted out of his reach as his whole body suddenly went icy cold. It might have been because Naruto had ripped his jacket off of Sasuke, or because he was getting the chills from his fever? It was impossible to be this cold even during the night when it was only late summer, so…
"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled as he reached out and grabbed Sasuke by the arm, abruptly in his normal jumpsuit. Sasuke blinked up stupidly as a kunai was shoved into his hand, belatedly realizing he must have passed out. His mind couldn't catch up to what was happening around him, sick and dizzy. His knees were shaking and he couldn't stop it. For one terrifying moment, Sasuke wondering if the poison might be a paralysis, and even worse… If it permanently damaged him. He had seen retired ninjas around the village with limp, useless arms and legs that had been forever destroyed by such poison. He didn't want to be a cripple.
"You just stay here. Weak guys shouldn't fight, but don't let them eat you just in case, okay?" Naruto advised Sasuke like he didn't even have the clue on how to fight. The stupid idiot was going to get the crap beaten out of him the next time Kakashi let them practice spar. Wait a moment... 'They?' Just what did Naruto mean by that? It was enough for Sasuke to twist his head toward the opening of the cave despite the pain in his neck that went the way down to the tight lance of agony in his side. He couldn't see anything at first but the black-green darkness of the Forbidden Area in the middle of the night. If there was a full moon, it didn't reach down here below the towering trees. The only light Sasuke had to see by was the dying fire Naruto had made as it cast flickering orange shadows on the edge of their hiding spot.
Except it wasn't the dancing flames that were coming in from the entrance to the cave, but something bigger and more alive. Large and menacing ants with red tinted transparent bodies about the size of Kakashi's smaller ninja dogs. Sasuke couldn't count how many it was with his swimming vision, but the clicking noises of their pincher mouths opening and closing felt like nails being driven into his head. He couldn't escape from the noise of those fine hairy legs scuttling over rocks and leaves and closer to them. Huge black multifaceted eyes stared at the two of them without blinking, trying to consider if they were food or not.
"Just watch this, Sasuke," Naruto laughed over his shoulder before Sasuke could try to choke out a warning. These ants had found them to be a source of a food, and he knew that ants didn't usually eat meat nor grow this big. These were more ninja-manufactured monsters and not to be taken lightly by any means. Naruto had a tendency to see the obvious facts shoved under his nose. There was nothing Sasuke could do to stop Naruto as the idiot turned away from him to face the ants starting to swarm into the small hideaway the blonde found.
"Kage Bushin no Jitsu!" Naruto called out as he made the hand seals for his usual move. The popping noise the shadow clones made as they burst out of thin air was enough to make half the ants freeze up. The roar of several dozen Narutos as they all reached for their kunai was something else entirely. Sasuke wasn't sure if he could just be seeing things now, but he believed the ants were already trying to run away as the Narutos went in with brute force alone. Everything the idiot did was rough and brash. He didn't even take the time to think of a simple technique that could have just of easily defeated these ants all at once instead of time consuming Taijutsu. Well, it wasn't like Naruto was even using any Taijutsu technique other than his own hand and animalistic instincts to fight with.
The shadow clones ran at the ants and Sasuke couldn't tell which one was the real Naruto any more. There were just too many as the same exact blonde idiot tore into the swarming insects without a heed for injury. There wasn't a need to for the clones, but Sasuke knew that there was a real Naruto in there that was far too susceptible to getting hurt in a fight. They couldn't deal with two wounded, hell, Sasuke couldn't even sit up on his own. He was glad that the crowd of idiots seemed to be having no trouble in stabbing vital points on the ants, because Sasuke wouldn't be able to even defend himself now.
The insects' bodies started to fall and lie still on the ground as the fight was pushed out of the cave. The same blue sandaled feet jumped over the corpses and added more to it though Sasuke heard the telltale pop of a shadow clone. The fake idiot had probably tripped, though it didn't say much for the single real Naruto in the middle of that mess. Naruto's yells only intensified, as though insects would really respond to be insulted. Sasuke closed his eyes, unable to watch the blurry shadows as they jumped around the edge of the fire without feeling nauseous.
He must have passed out again, because the world came back to him in varying degrees of grayness. Sasuke didn't open his eyes, trying to hide the fact he was awake from anyone who might be watching him while he slept just in case. He tried his hands first and found empty palms on his chest, realizing with a sick sensation he must have dropped the kunai Naruto had left behind. Naruto… Naruto was still fighting as he had fainted like any pathetic fool would! He could have been killed by some mindless ant while he slept so carelessly.
"Hey, Sasuke, you were supposed to watch me," Naruto snapped in a disapproving voice from above. Sasuke opened up his eyes to see Naruto's upside-down face staring at him as the idiot stood over his head. He was covered in yellow splatters that must be the ants' blood across his arms and chest. The usually energetic face was covered in sweat and smeared with dirt, but Naruto still his usual huge, stupid smile. Even a herd of bloodthirsty ants hadn't been enough to make Uzumaki Naruto tired.
He didn't have the usual insult, mainly because his lips were numb from the poison. Naruto just shrugged and bent down to take the makeshift pillow out from under his head. The movement made Sasuke's head spin, aching as though his brain was turning into jelly. If he opened his mouth right now, he'd likely make a fool of himself and vomit. Sasuke couldn't allow that, so he bit into his lower lip and tried to bear it as Naruto pulled Sasuke up into a sitting position with his shirt in one hand.
"Sasuke, are you okay?" Naruto asked, waving a hand in front of Sasuke's face as he stared forward, panting and hurting. Of course he wasn't focusing on anything right now. It hurt to have a bleeding hole in his side. He didn't want to cry out like some weakling in front of Naruto, but it was getting damn hard. Sasuke clenched his teeth and most certainly did not whimper when Naruto none too gently shouldered him up onto his back.
"What are you doing?" Sasuke moaned through the pure agony, wondering if it was possible that Naruto was trying to make it worse with this rough handling. Sasuke tried to hold himself up on Naruto's smaller shoulders, not wanting to hang there like an invalid with a leg on each side of Naruto's waist. Naruto used Sasuke's own rope to loop around them both, securing him to the idiot's back. The rope was wrapped low around his waist; Naruto at least trying to be mindful of Sasuke's wound.
"Oh, I suppose you wanna dance around right now?" Naruto snapped back as he looped his elbows under Sasuke's knees with, his pockets sagging with all of Sasuke's weapons. Naruto hefted Sasuke up on his back, making a more comfortable burden out of him. Was Naruto planning on carrying him and both of their equipment out of this miserable Forbidden Area all by himself?
Sasuke didn't really have an answer for Naruto. The effort of talking would take a little more concentration than Sasuke had to spare. He just closed his eyes and miserably buried his face in the back of Naruto's soft, thick hair, almost exactly like dog's fur. It was a strange comfort in the middle of Sasuke's sick, muffled senses. For a moment, he even forgot that it was Naruto, starting to drift off into grayness again, soft…
"Here we go," Naruto yelled before launching forward faster than Sasuke would have thought the idiot would been possibly able to, carrying all their gear and himself. It jostled the wound, but Sasuke ignored it. He found a grip on the front of Naruto's shirt and held on, determined not to need the rope lashed around him. It only got harder when Naruto launched off the ground and went into the trees, landing on one of the ridiculously large branches with uncanny skill for it being pitch back underneath the canopy of the trees. Even if there had been a full moon tonight, none of its light would be able to reach down here. Sasuke didn't want to die in a dark place like this.
Are you really thinking like this? Sasuke yelled at himself, realizing how pathetic and cowardly his thoughts were becoming. It must be the poison, or the fever… Whatever he was sick with right now. Sasuke couldn't tell anymore, too overwhelmed by the way the world was spinning. He glanced around at the bark rushing underneath them as Naruto bolted forward among the branches, the wind whistling in Sasuke's ears. He must be using the trees to avoid similar traps on the ground.
It was a sensible plan, but did Naruto think the trees would be free of other dangers, like things worse than those spiders? They were going too fast. Each step sent a stinging, electric jolt of pain through Sasuke's entire right side, from his heel to his fingertips, starting from his side. How could Naruto even be moving this fast? They had two more nights before Kakashi might even show up to let them out of the Forbidden Area. It was useless to rush like this right now, unless Naruto was trying to run himself into exhaustion.
"Naruto," Sasuke started before Naruto jumped off the branch, launching off into midair for one sickening moment of freefall. Sasuke nearly bit his tongue off when they landed, his eyes rolling in his head at the impact. Maybe it had been a good idea to tie a rope around them, because Sasuke's arms had turned into water, shaking as Naruto didn't even slow down and continued to run down this new long, wide branch.
"Shut up, Sasuke," Naruto ordered without any appreciation for just how hard it was talk right now for him. He was being treated like nothing more than luggage that was supposed to stay quiet in back. Or on the back… He really was going crazy with this fever. Sasuke hated being sick. He just wanted to lie down and pray that his skin would stop shrinking painfully tight around his whole body. Naruto wasn't helping by taking the jerkiest, roughest steps Sasuke had ever known a determined Genin to have. He was pathetic.
Or, Sasuke was the pathetic one. He was lashed to Naruto's back, not the other way around. Sasuke had been the one stupid enough to land on poisoned traps. He was paying for it now with the way his stomach was rolling. Naruto didn't even care, jumping around like a monkey with a skill he hadn't ever shown before. How could he even be moving this fast? Naruto probably was so stupid that he forgot he was carrying Sasuke.
"Walk, damn it," Sasuke growled, not about to be a silent passenger. The thick blonde hair must have muffled his voice, because there was no answer as Naruto shot off the branch again to slam both feet against the trunk of a huge tree the size of the Genin Academy building. Sasuke lost his breath and his grip on Naruto's jacket, staying on the idiot only by the grace of the rope as Naruto pushed off their near-vertical landing to cross to another large branch he could run across.
Naruto's stupid rushing was only making Sasuke's side ache worse. Sasuke could feel it bleeding even more than it had before from the jostling of Naruto's dash. If he jumped one more time, Sasuke was probably going to bleed to death. It was amazing that anyone could simply ignore how badly wounded their teammate was, but then again, Naruto had never been known for his sensitivity.
So, Sasuke had no choice but to pull his arms over Naruto's bunching shoulders and hope that he didn't pass out from the pain at his side. He wasn't so weak for that, even if he was starting to feel chilled from the wind, too sick to even shiver. He had to hang on, at least for a while longer.
Naruto didn't say anything, concentrating on getting to the edge of the Forbidden Area. At least when they got out of the woods, Naruto might slow down to a walk again. Sasuke had to keep from throwing up like a fool until than, even if Naruto's gait made him ill. How did Naruto get around the place when he ran so awkwardly? Sasuke could only hope that the idiot was going fast enough to avoid any creatures waiting for human-sized prey in the trees.
* * *
"I made it!" Sakura roared out, tromping forward to the exit gate triumphantly. She was covered in dirt, blood that was for the most part not hers, leaves, cobwebs, cinnamon-scented purple goo that Sakura had accidentally slipped in, and she still had thorns in her hair from the ridiculous giant blueberry bush she had to crawl through. It was almost morning, the sky just starting to turn a faint grey and pink with the premonition of the sun.
"Yo, Sakura," rolled Kakashi's lazy voice, waving to her through the tall barbed wire fence covered with paper seals. He was sitting lazily on a larger rock like it was a couch, thumbing through the newest edition of his favorite book. Sakura frowned at the cover: 'Love Love Paradise' indeed. Just what kind of trash did he drool at when they were fucking risking their lives for his stupid, pointless training?!
"Good morning, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura greeted politely, smiling demurely to hide her irritation. She wanted a bath, now. Her hair was a complete mess! How was she going to present herself to Sasuke covered with filth from head to toe? She had thought that killing all of those nasty little creatures back there had been more than her quota to relieve stress… But, Kakashi made her furious all over again for ignoring how terrible she looked. Wasn't he going to ask if she was all right? The asshole!
"Well, Sakura, you're the first here," Kakashi informed her dully, not even glancing up from his reading, his left eye still hidden by his head guard no matter how intently he was looking at the book. She grinned, being sure not to look too thrilled at the praise. Damn right she was the first here! She couldn't wait to see Sasuke's face when he saw her standing proud before even a genius Genin.
"But, aren't there supposed to be three?" Kakashi asked curiously, glancing up once as her face dropped in disgust. What the hell was he talking about? She deserved to be let out now and get cleaned up. She could come back then to wait for those damned idiots to show up. She wasn't the one to fall through that stupid trap!
"I got separated from Naruto and Sasuke when they fell through a trap," Sakura explained in a worried voice, making sure to look extremely pitiful. He had to feel sorry for her now! She was the sweet, nice one of his dear Genin team. She had been clever enough to walk ahead of those two when they started arguing. Kakashi wasn't even looking at her, all that effort for nothing as the bastard continued to read his stupid book.
"Please, Kakashi-sensei. I want to take a bath," Sakura begged, not caring if she debased herself. 'By any means necessary' was a favorite saying of hers, especially for times like this.
"I'm sure Sasuke and Naruto will want to when they get here," Kakashi assured her.
He wasn't letting her out.
…
Sakura tried very hard not to scream, tried very, very hard as it felt like her delicate forehead was going to explode from frustration. She clenched her hands into fists so tightly that her nails dug into her palms. She had gone through a small version of hell, and Kakashi didn't give a shit. Wasn't this his idea of training? Couldn't he congratulate her or something?! The bastard!
"Oh! Sakura, you're here," Naruto greeted happily from behind her. She turned around, hoping that Sasuke would still be with him. There was Naruto, coming out from the trees covered in sweat and had branches poking out in every direction from his hair. There was a heavy pack on his back-
"Sasuke! What's wrong with him?" Sakura cried out, realizing that Sasuke was slung on Naruto's shoulders with the idiot's arms hooked under his legs. Why was he unconscious? She ran closer to Naruto as he came forward, noticing that there was even a rope around their bodies to keep Sasuke from falling off. Blood was soaking the left side of Sasuke's shirt and his face was flushed red.
"This stupid guy fell on these spikes at the bottom of that hole," Naruto informed her with a shrug that jostled Sasuke's unconscious form cruelly. Had he been this rough with poor Sasuke this whole time? No wonder he was bleeding so badly. Naruto was such an idiot.
"Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke's hurt!" Sakura called out, walking nervously alongside Naruto with his sleeping burden. Was Sasuke all right? His lips were a dead, pale blue and his eyes were bruised a dark purple. She wasn't sure what she could do to help Sasuke while Naruto was still carrying him, but she couldn't stop from worrying. What was wrong with Sasuke?
"Oh? Well, then, we better get back to the village," Kakashi shrugged, not at all as concerned as he should be as he marked his page carefully with an unused seal and tucked it into the front of his vest. That silver-haired freak better open up the gate now, or Sakura was going to beat him to death. If Sasuke died because Kakashi was taking his sweet damn time opening the stupid gate on the bastard's stupid assignments, she'd never forgive Kakashi! Or Naruto either, since he should have been there to stop this from happening to poor Sasuke!
"Sakura, you look awful, but you smell good! Are you okay?" Naruto's words hit every sore spot she had right now. If he wasn't carrying Sasuke, she'd have pounded him into the ground. Didn't he have any sense at all? She couldn't believe that such an idiot had the piece of mind to chase after her when Naruto was so clearly below her standards. Sasuke was the one Sakura wanted, and she'd strangle Naruto if he had killed her love.
"Here we go," Kakashi announced, unsealing the large wooden gates. The twin doors opened far too slowly. Sakura was ready to kick them open, dancing nervously from one foot to the other. Naruto didn't look nearly as eager, panting hard now that she was actually looking at him instead of Sasuke. Had Naruto carried Sasuke the whole way from that pit? That had been barely even to halfway through that stupid Forbidden Area.
"Do you still have him, Naruto?" Kakashi asked as the two of them staggered through the gates. Naruto nodded, not wasting any time as he set out into a slow jog back toward the village. Sakura took one step, hesitantly wanting to run after Naruto, but also wanting to wait respectfully for Kakashi-sensei as he resealed the gate.
"Kakashi-sensei, is Sasuke going to be all right?" Sakura asked nervously when Kakashi resealed the gates smoothly, activating the multiple curses on the door with ease. It was no wonder they had assigned such a powerful Jounin to teach Sasuke. She did wonder why such a weird, lazy, insane man was her teacher though.
"Are you worried about him? Sasuke's not going to die from something like this," Kakashi laughed, as if the bleeding wound had been nothing more than a splinter. Sakura should have slapped him for having such an uncaring attitude toward his precious students, but also knew that Kakashi was right in a way. Of course Sasuke wouldn't die from a mere training session! He was a genius from the Uchiha clan, after all!
"It's going to take a lot more than that," Kakashi murmured in a soft, serious voice so quietly that Sakura almost didn't catch it, but the words were more chilling than she would have liked. Sasuke was strong. He would live to be an old man, right? Sakura had rarely seen any old Shinobi, beyond the Hokage. But, Sasuke wasn't like regular Shinobi. He'd never be defeated in battle, much less a two-day mission that had taken only a night.
"Let's go to the hospital," Sakura laughed, hoping to hide her nervousness as she started forward to follow Naruto's path. Kakashi didn't seem to have any expression on his masked face, only one bored eye despite his harsh words. Kakashi followed her slowly; taking his own bored pace as Sakura changed her mind and went to catch up with Naruto. She really couldn't trust the smaller blonde to take Sasuke to the hospital safely.
"A lot worse."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: And I realize I just wrote incest… ewwwww… In reality, I'm waiting to finally meet my friend's brother so I can kick his ass for being a sick pervert (in the bad way. I'd like to think I'm a 'good' sick pervert. At least I'm creative in the disease. Actual physical perversion: no!). I personally hate it when people use a lot of Japanese in the writing, but I wanted something that sounded cooler than throwing doohickeys and needle thingies. I researched my ass off for this one, so don't berate or hate me for it. Please. On another note, don't we love artistic license? There's my own embellishing touch on Sasuke's story, but that's what fanfics are for! I just read some William S. Burroughs, so I'm thinking of doing episodic installment things, minus the heroin. Read Port of Saints- it's an hour and a half of adjectives, nouns, bad grammar and rampant gay sex. There's hope yet to get published!