Sasuke only takes his eyes off of his opponent for a second – just a second to check Karin's status. It's a second too long.
It's not his attacker who does him in. The ninja he's fighting is nothing special. Sasuke had sensed them tailing Hawk nearly an hour before their team attacked. Most likely bounty hunters, smart enough to recognize the dark Akatsuki robes, but not smart enough to run.
No. He'd been able to fight the ninja without even using his Sharingan, half his mind focused on watching his team. The attack that does him in comes from somewhere else. He hears the whistling of the kunai before he sees it, hurtling toward him from the upper right. Only it doesn't hit him. It hits his opponent directly between the eyes, spraying blood over both of them. Sasuke whips around, Sharingan instantly at the ready, but it's too late. A flash of orange and a sharp prick to the back of his neck coincide with the ground exploding under him. He springs away, eyes probing for his teammates, but thick clouds of dust are rising from the broken ground, curling around the toppled trees and the boulders rolling like marbles. He can't see two feet in front of him.
And whatever drug they shot him with is beginning to take effect. Everything darkens as the corners of his vision go blurry. He stumbles, but he doesn't fall. The collar of his robe twists against the back of his neck, and he's hauled up like a rag doll. Far away, he can hear Karin calling his name.
"I got him," a familiar voice shouts, triumphant.
Damn it, Naruto… he thinks weakly, and then everything goes black.
*
Sasuke dreams. Voices drift in and out of his conscious mind, conjuring up images from the past. He dreams that he's back in Konoha, and Itachi is alive. He's on his big brother's shoulders, and he gazes up at the tree branches moving sedately past them. He can see the village in the distance, the four great heads carved into the mountain, watching. Protecting.
The rock that Itachi sets him down on is large enough for them to talk face to face, despite the height difference. There's a small smile on Itachi's lips, but his eyes are grave. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Sasuke knows that this is wrong. He's seen this expression on his brother's face before, and it wasn't here in the forest. There's something all too familiar about this. Familiar and horrifying.
As a hurdle you must overcome, I'll always be there for you. Even if you hate me.
Sasuke hears the words as clear as day, even though Itachi's mouth doesn't move. His big brother just looks at him with that gentle smile. Sasuke searches his brother's expression until his eyes begin to water, making the familiar face shimmer and blur in front of him.
That's what being a brother is.
Sasuke jerks as blood starts to leak from Itachi's eyes and mouth. He tries to scramble back, but he's paralyzed by the gruesome contrast of Itachi's kind expression and the blood rushing down his cheeks. He can only stare in horror as Itachi's face transforms slowly into Naruto's, red eyes swirling into blue, black hair turning to blood-matted blonde.
Suddenly, everything is on fire. Flames lick up every tree trunk, bathing the forest floor in an eerie red glow. Naruto is on the ground, his body and Itachi's laying side by side with dead, staring eyes. More bodies litter the landscape, some on fire, some missing limbs, all dead. Everything is burning in an endless circle around him, and his sword is dripping with blood. He's covered in it. The world is on fire, and somehow Sasuke knows it's his doing.
He tries to remember why he's here, but all he can recall is fire and pain. Aside from that, his memory is blank. The flames are closing in, eating away at the ground, tugging at his clothes. There's no escape, and he'll burn like everything else.
He falls to his knees and screams.
*
The first thing Sasuke sees when he opens his eyes is soft pink hair drifting against pale skin. Sakura's blurry figure looms over him, two fingers against his carotid artery.
"You're awake," she comments with a quick smile. "I'm glad." She doesn't halt whatever she's doing, presumably checking his pulse. His head is still fuzzy, but it only takes him a moment to realize his arms and legs are firmly bound. He feels unaccountably weak.
"The drug is suppressing your chakra." Sakura answers his unspoken question without looking in his direction. "It's Tsunade-sama's special concoction. We figured the ropes alone wouldn't be enough."
She's frustratingly close; it would be easy break free and knock her out if he didn't feel so damn woozy. As it is, he has to content himself by leveling a stare at her. His Sharingan doesn't take much chakra at all anymore. A few seconds of eye contact and it will all be over.
Except she doesn't look him in the eye. Interesting. She's learned something in the last three years, then.
"Whatever you're doing," he says, "It's pointless. I'm not going back to the village. Naruto is stupider than I thought if he hasn't gotten that through his head by now."
She sits back. "Why was your team headed in that direction, then?"
He doesn't answer. As much as he wants to spill his hatred of Konoha out on Sakura, it would be pointless. Unlike his former teammates, he's learned to keep his mouth shut.
Sakura smiles again. She's grown, he notes dispassionately. Back at Orochimaru's compound he was so focused on Naruto that he'd barely noticed. She'll never be a beauty, but she's not the gawky girl he left behind. Her eyes are still warm, but there's a tempered wariness to them that she never showed around him before.
"We've been following you for days," she tells him. "Naruto wanted to try and take you right away, but Kakashi made us shield ourselves behind those bounty hunters. It was a good plan."
Kakashi. Sasuke wonders if he'll get to see his old sensei before he escapes. Maybe even fight him. And Naruto. Naruto should be right next to Sakura in this dim little room, yelling at Sasuke about friendship and bonds and Home Sweet Konoha. But as far as Sasuke can see, the idiot is nowhere to be found.
Sakura rises gracefully to her feet, leaving Sasuke staring at her knees. Her shins are covered with cuts and bruises of every shape and size.
"Is that it?" he can't help but taunt. "No other words for your first love?" Her composure is throwing him out of balance. He's frustrated that he was caught, frustrated by his helplessness, and, most of all, frustrated that he's sitting here, having a conversation with one of the very people he should be killing.
Her hair hides her eyes as she tips her head forward, but he sees the blush rise in her cheeks. "You've gotten so strong, Sasuke-kun," she says softly. "We never would have captured you if you weren't already distracted. We all know that. Even Naruto."
Sasuke eyes her warily as she lays a hand on his cheek. "Even though you don't want to be here," she whispers, "I'm glad to see you." Her fingers slide down his face to find the pressure point on his neck. "Now sleep a little longer."
She presses lightly, and he loses consciousness again.
*
The next time Sasuke comes to, he's alone. Or at least, that's what he thinks. He shifts his shoulders a bit, trying to find the faulty points in his bindings. Predictably, there are none. He's still weak, but his head's a little clearer. If he concentrates hard enough, he should be able to –
"Please don't."
Another, more recently familiar, voice comes at him from the far corner of the room. Coal black eyes stare at him out of a blank, pale face. The new one. Sai. His replacement. So they're taking turns guarding him, then.
He merely looks at Sai from across the room, not bothering to hide his disdain. If Konoha thought this newest member of Kakashi's squad would be strong enough to stop him, they were sorely mistaken. He ignores Sai's unblinking stare, blocking out his surroundings. Just enough chakra for a few moments of Chidori. Once the ropes were burned off, he could escape using speed alone. He bows his head, concentrating.
"Please," Sai says again, polite and impersonal. "You're still very weak, but if you try to escape I might have to hurt you. I'd rather Naruto-kun not become angry with me."
"Scared of Naruto," Sasuke sneers. "Pathetic."
Sai smiles the way he smiled when Sasuke first laid eyes on him, mouth tipping up in an expression as sweet as it is empty.
"I owe a lot to Naruto-kun," Sai says. "He is…my friend. But he's your friend as well, and I think if I hurt you, Naruto wouldn't like it." He pauses for a moment, tipping his head to the side. "Although, it would be smarter to kill you. Naruto-kun and Sakura-san trust you too much."
Sasuke feels his own beast rise up in him eagerly. He smiles, feral. "Go ahead."
Sai seems to be seriously considering it. He stands, drawing his sword. Sasuke wills him to come closer, to actually make an attempt. If he can engage him in battle, if he can just get his hands on that weapon…
"Sai!" Naruto barks from the doorway. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Sasuke looks up, meeting Naruto's eyes for a brief, charged moment. Naruto looks away first.
Sai stops, mid-step, and turns to Naruto. The two of them stare at each other from across the room, communication passing silently between them. It was odd how Naruto was always able to manage that. Of course, the real problem with Naruto wasn't getting him to communicate – it was getting him to shut the hell up.
The two teammates seem to come to a consensus, and Sai relaxes, sliding back down the wall to resume his position in the corner. Naruto stands over him impatiently.
"It's my turn," he says. "I'll take over."
"No," Sai answers calmly.
Naruto frowns. "What?"
"No," Sai repeats. "Kakashi-sensei told me not to leave you alone with Sasuke-kun. I'll stay."
"What?" Naruto says, outraged. "He doesn't trust me?"
"Your teammate tried to kill you last time you met," Sai says, unmoved in the face of Naruto's indignation. "It's for your safety."
"I don't need your protection," Naruto yells, incensed.
"Naruto." Sakura's silhouette appears in the doorway. "I hate to agree with Sai, but I think Kakashi is right," she says worriedly. "You - "
Now. Sasuke's Chidori flares to life, incinerating his bindings before anyone can blink. The ropes crumble to dust around him as he leaps to his feet. He sees Naruto's eyes widen an instant before Sasuke kicks him into the wall. Naruto slides down, unconscious.
Sai rushes him. Sasuke turns the Sharingan on him, catching his attack and flinging him back. He manages to get a hand on Sai's sword in the process. Sai lands firmly on his feet, but Sasuke throws the sword after him, spearing him through the shoulder with his own weapon. Sasuke sees Sai sink to his knees before he turns to the exit.
What the fuck did they inject him with? Sasuke can almost feel his energy ebbing. Five seconds of fighting and he's without chakra, without speed, and without weapon. He stumbles toward Sakura's frozen figure, trying to shake the cobwebs from his vision.
There's a look of set determination on her face. "I'm sorry," he hears her say in a low voice, just before a hurricane crashes into the side of his face. The blow lifts him off his feet and slams him against the far wall. He feels the concrete crack against his spine, tastes the skin split inside his mouth. He crumples face first to the hard-packed floor, coughing blood.
"Sasuke!"
Gentle hands roll him onto his back, and then Sakura is looming over him anxiously. He tries to focus his eyes on her, gasping through his crushed ribs.
"I'm sorry," she repeats, and he hazily notes that there are tears in her eyes. "Stupid," she says angrily. "Why did you do that?"
"Fuck," he hears Naruto moan from off to the side, and then he blacks out again.
*
The third time Sasuke wakes, he's staring directly into bright blue eyes.
Naruto's face is inches from his own, and his eyebrows are scrunched into a glare. Without preface, he reaches up and flicks Sasuke in the forehead. Hard.
"You knocked out two of my teeth, asshole," Naruto growls.
"You should know better than to let your guard down like that," Sasuke says coolly. "Did they forget to teach you even that in Konoha?" Naruto's scrowl deepens.
He's tied up again, tight enough to cut off his circulation. He doesn't make the mistake of trying the Chidori a second time. Whatever they're keeping him doped up with, it's potent enough to sap nearly all his strength. He'll simply have to find another way to escape.
He figures he's been a prisoner for at least twelve hours. Enough time for Hawk to track him and formulate a plan. That was, if Suigetsu and Karin hadn't killed each other by now. Or if Suigetsu hadn't decamped altogether.
Kakashi is lounging in the far corner of the room, conspicuously ignoring them. He has a typically florid novel in his hand, seemingly engrossed. For a split second, Sasuke feels like he's twelve again. Like maybe if he keeps arguing long enough with Naruto, Kakashi might come over and separate them, or give them some lame mission as punishment.
He shakes off the déjà vu. His days with Team 7 are so far away that they might as well have never happened at all. In any case, it has no impact on the person he is now.
When he chances another glance, Naruto's eyes have taken on a sly cast. The blonde looms even closer, putting his face right next to Sasuke's. "You're not in such great shape either, baka."
He pokes a finger in the vicinity of Sasuke's jaw, and Sasuke winces. For the first time, he realizes he's aching all over. He can feel the medical tape circling his ribs underneath the ropes, and the entire right side of his face is throbbing lightly.
Naruto regards him smugly. "Sakura-chan took care of you in one punch. Pretty cool, huh?"
Sasuke keeps his expression carefully blank, but his brain stutters. Sakura did this to him? He recalls the incredible force behind her blow, mind whirling. So she's not just a medic, then. He'd have to be more cautious.
"Anyway," Naruto says, settling back with a contented sigh. "We got you. You won't get away again."
Sasuke watches Naruto through narrowed eyes for a few moments. He looks far too pleased with himself. "Now what?" he says eventually. "You bring me back to Konoha and turn me over to the Hokage?"
Naruto shrugs. "That's the idea. They'll probably want to put you in ANBU custody, but I can convince Granny Tsunade to go easy on you. It's not like you're Konoha's enemy or anything."
Sasuke grits his teeth and says nothing.
"Besides," Naruto is staring at him quizzically now. "There's no more reason for you to stay away." He smiles a little wistfully. "I heard that Itachi is dead. That means you're free, right?"
Free, Sasuke thinks emptily. He wouldn't be free until every ninja in Konoha suffered they way Itachi had. His eyes fall shut for a moment, replaying the ghostly pressure of Itachi's fingers against his forehead. Sorry Sasuke, this is the last time. He can almost feel Itachi's blood slipping across his skin.
His throat feels as dry as dust. "I won't stay," he says. "I cut my ties with Konoha a long time ago."
Naruto's face has always been pitiably transparent. Sasuke can see his frustration now, turning the ninja's eyes stormy. "Where else are you going to go, huh? What are you going to do – keep running missions for those Akatsuki pieces of shit? They're murderers and traitors and I don't believe you've turned into one!"
"You never had a clue about me," Sasuke says icily. "Don't pretend to know me now. Whatever path I choose is none of your business."
"Fuck you," Naruto says, low and murderous. "I knew you better than Orochimaru ever did. That's why I won't give up. I know the old Sasuke is still in there."
Stupid, stubborn Naruto. It would almost be amusing if it wasn't so annoying. "You still don't get it, do you?" Sasuke says sharply. "There's nothing here to salvage. We're not friends, and we never were. Not the way you seem to think."
Naruto's on his feet now, fists clenched. "That's not true," he yells. "You may have cut your ties, but I never stopped thinking of you as a friend."
"Useless," Sasuke mutters, turning his face away.
"Hey!" Naruto gives his foot an angry kick. "Don't you dare dismiss me when I'm talking to you. I'm not finished. Ow!"
He grabs his head, then glares up Kakashi. Sasuke had forgotten how quickly his old sensei could move. Kakashi knocks Naruto across the back of the head again, then gives him a perfunctory shove toward the door.
"Enough," he says.
"But – "
"No more for tonight." Kakashi's voice is firm. "Go help Sakura with the med kit."
Naruto's mouth tightens in displeasure, but he does as he's told.
Sasuke watches him go. He realizes he's clenching his jaw and slowly, deliberately, relaxes it. He wills his composure back into place, feeling Kakashi's eyes on him. Naruto was a child – that was all. Stupid, reckless, naïve. He could argue until he was blue in the face and he'd never change Sasuke's mind.
Sometimes it was hard to remember, though, when Naruto was being so…Naruto. So loud and orange and there. He'd done a good job of blocking out the memories over the last three years, but every once in a while, they snuck through. Now he realizes that the memories couldn't quite compare to the sheer energy of Naruto in the flesh. Five minutes of arguing, and Sasuke already feels worn out.
"We'll rest here for a few more days," Kakashi says, and Sasuke jerks out of his reverie. His old sensei is still looking at the door where Naruto exited, but there's no doubt who he's addressing. Sasuke wonders what it is about Kakashi that reduces him to a schoolboy. He feels like that now, scowling at the ground like he's a student in detention instead of a hostage in a life-or-death situation.
"Naruto and Sakura have been chasing you for a long time," Kakashi continues. "They need to recuperate before they head back."
He finally turns to Sasuke and looks down at him out of one dark eye, inscrutable as ever. "They think, because they captured you, that the hard part is over. I'd like to let them celebrate a bit before – well."
Something flares in Sasuke. Kakashi knows, then, what Naruto can't see; he understands that Sasuke's made his decision. He'll never come back. Not the way Naruto wants. Sasuke should feel relieved, but he feels oddly uneasy instead.
"Sakura and Naruto would never be able to take your life." Kakashi's voice is casual, friendly. "Their devotion is absolute."
"But yours isn't?" Sasuke guesses coolly.
"For their sake," Kakashi says, "I hope it doesn't come to that."
Sasuke smiles grimly. "I think you'll find I'm much harder to kill than before, Kakashi-sensei."
Kakashi's expression doesn't change, but the tension in the room slowly sharpens to a razor's point. In spite of himself, Sasuke feels the hairs rise on the back of his neck. As often as he's observed Kakashi in battle, he's never had that steely expression turned on him before.
Then, without warning, Kakashi's visible eye crinkles into a smile. "True enough," he chuckles. "You're not exactly the rookie I trained three years ago, are you?"
Sasuke watches through narrowed eyes as Kakashi returns to his corner and picks up his book.
This is nothing, Sasuke tells himself. This is just one more obstacle along the path to revenge. He overcame Orochimaru, he can overcome this as well. Kakashi's team is an enemy like anyone else.
But for some reason Sasuke can't stop remembering Naruto at the Valley of the End
"What the hell are you?" he'd asked, watching the chakra swirl up menacingly.
"A friend!" Naruto's voice had been choked with tears. His shirt had still been ripped from where Sasuke put a fist through his chest."That's why I won't give you up to Orochimaru."
Sasuke closes his eyes. Naruto had failed then, and he'd fail this time, too. And Sasuke can't figure out why that doesn't make him feel any better.
We've got to stop meeting like this," Itachi says, rolling his head to the side to look at Sasuke.
"Go away," Sasuke tells him. "You're dead."
"I remember," Itachi says wryly. "And whose fault is that, anyway?"
The hill they're sprawled out on is endlessly soft and green. Every once in a while, the same breeze pushing the clouds across the sky sweeps over the grass down below, cooling them both.
Sasuke feels a spurt of the same helpless anger he lived with all those years in Konoha. Powerlessness. Even now, it haunts him. "You wanted me to kill you," he says. "Madara told me everything."
"Madara," Itachi sniffs. "Don't believe everything you hear."
"Then what?" Sasuke asks, frustrated. "You made me think that the massacre – everything – was your fault."
"And you fell right for it," Itachi says pointedly. "What kind of shinobi are you?"
Fuck. Sasuke realizes there are tears stinging his eyes. "If you didn't want to die, then why didn't you just kill me?"
"I made you strong, didn't I?"
Sasuke's fists curl into the grass. "You made me hate you."
Itachi's not looking at him anymore. He's staring straight up at the sky. "You never hated me. You loved me, just like I loved you, little brother."
Sasuke curls on his side, turning away from Itachi. "Go away," he says again.
It's no use. Itachi's face appears in front of him again, smiling lightly. "Hey, it's your subconscious," he says. "I'm dead, remember?"
Sasuke closes his eyes and buries his face against his arm, tuning out the vision.
"About Naruto," Itachi's voice comes from the darkness.
"Naruto nothing," Sasuke mumbles. "Shut up."
"He's still in danger, you know."
Sasuke's eyes open at that. "What does that mean?"
Itachi's ghost is indolently chewing on a piece of grass, and Sasuke's relieved his subconscious got at least a few details wrong. Itachi would never do something as frivolous and undignified as chew grass.
As though reading his mind, Itachi spits out the grass and grimaces apologetically. "What kind of trouble do you think he'll be in if Madara gets his hands on him?"
Itachi definitely has his attention now. "Why would Madara care about Naruto? He wants the fox. That's all."
"And what do you think happens to the host? You didn't think Madara was planning to keep Naruto alive, did you?"
His sudden comprehension is reflected in his older brother's eyes. Sasuke's teeth click together. "I don't care," he lies.
"Really?" Itachi says, surprised. "With the fox under your control, you could flatten Konoha easily. That's what you want, right?"
"What I want, right now, is for you to go away," Sasuke says coldly.
Itachi shrugs. "Well, you know what you have to do." He presses a kunai into Sasuke's hand, and Sasuke stares down at it. Where had that come from?
Itachi spreads his arms, gently, openly. "C'mon Sasuke."
The knife glints dully in his palm. Sasuke looks up at Itachi's waiting figure. He takes a deep breath, then jams the weapon into his brother's chest. The world disintegrates around him, and he's falling.
*
Sasuke jerks awake. He fights back the disorientation of the nightmare, trying to get a grip on his surroundings. The light never changes in this monotonous little room, but his instincts and his stomach tell him it's evening.
Sakura is in the corner, sharpening a kunai by hand. The metallic scrape is a constant echo in the small space, like acid on his eardrums. It's been three days since he was captured, and no sign of his team. He wonders briefly if they're dead. The lethargy hasn't receded from his body, and Sasuke figures Sakura's keeping him drugged via his food and water. There's not much he can do if he doesn't want to starve to death.
At least he's been re-tied every time he wakes up. The constant change in his positioning keeps the circulation moving through his body. Sasuke wonders if Sakura's doing it because of her medic training, or simply out of some misplaced sense of compassion. Then he realizes that he shouldn't care either way, and he ruthlessly flattens the curiosity. The longer he's around Naruto and Sakura, the harder it is to keep thinking of them as enemies.
It's not that he's begun to think of them as friends, exactly. It's just a little hard to hate a group of people so utterly clueless. They chatter and bicker like they're students on an academy field trip instead of active shinobi warriors. Especially Naruto. After the last three days, Sasuke's convinced he thinks of nothing but girls, ramen, and beating Sasuke in battle.
Not much has changed in three years.
Naruto is standing over Sakura now, hands on his hips. "Please," he says.
"No."
"Please."
"No."
"Sakura-chan," he whines.
Sakura stops sharpening her knife long enough to glare at Naruto. "Quit being annoying. Kakashi-sensei said no."
"Just five minutes," Naruto cajoles.
Sakura swipes her kunai at Naruto's legs, and Naruto barely manages to evade it. "Jeez," he mutters.
Sai pushes the door to Sasuke's prison open, bearing two brown paper boxes. He frowns when he sees Naruto in the room in addition to Sakura and Sasuke.
"Naruto-kun," he says in disapproval. "If you keep pestering Sakura-san she'll have no choice but to beat you senseless again." Naruto scowls in response.
Sai's arm is still in a sling from the wound Sasuke inflicted on him. The painter glances uneasily in Sasuke's direction, and Sasuke lets his Sharingan fall into a lazy, warning spin. Sai's mouth turns down, and he looks away.
Sakura looks from the packaged meals, to Sasuke, to Naruto, and then back to Sai. Her mouth curls in a slow smile that has Sasuke remembering his own split lip and broken ribs.
"You know what?" she says. "I changed my mind."
Naruto blinks at her. "Really?"
"Sure. In fact, you can take over right now," Sakura says in a sweet tone that Sasuke doesn't trust one bit. Naruto whoops. He does a garish little victory dance that looks like nothing so much as a frightened chicken, and Sasuke feels a headache start to form right between his eyes.
"Sakura-chan, you're the best! I owe you two – no, three bowls of ramen. When we get back, I'll - " Then he stops short as Sakura's full intent sinks in.
"No," he says flatly.
Sakura shrugs nonchalantly. "Suit yourself. Of course, if you manage this without screwing up, Kakashi might actually let you take your own shift instead of standing here and bugging me all the time…"
Naruto looks like he swallowed something particularly sour. He glances briefly at Sasuke's face, and Sasuke returns his gaze impassively.
He sighs, shoulders drooping. "Fine. Give it to me." He holds out his hand with dubious enthusiasm.
"This is not a good – " Sai begins, troubled.
Naruto cuts him off by snatching the field meal from him. "I said I'd do it," he snaps.
Sakura smiles again – a real one this time. "Good," she says, satisfied. Naruto's staring morosely down at the meal in his hands. Sakura heads for the exit, but she stops briefly by the door before leaving the room. Her back is to Naruto, and Sasuke can see the edge of apprehension in her face. Her voice, however, is bright when she speaks. "We'll be right outside. If anything happens, you know we'll be here in a second."
"I don't need a babysitter," Naruto retorts.
Sai still hasn't moved. "I disagree with this plan," he tries again. "It's not – "
"Come on." Sakura forcibly yanks the painter's reluctant figure through the door. "He needs this," Sasuke hears her say quietly, before the door closes firmly behind them.
Naruto approaches him like he would a coiled rattlesnake, and Sasuke watches the blonde ninja just as warily. He seats himself a few feet from Sasuke and opens the box.
"Don't even think about it," Sasuke says, before he can stop himself.
Naruto's cheeks are pink. "I have to," he grates. He holds out a rice ball to Sasuke without looking. "Just…take it okay?"
Sasuke keeps his mouth firmly shut. Letting Sakura feed him was one thing. She'd managed to be fast and impersonal about it, and if she blushed a few times, well...she got over it quickly enough to avoid any discomfort.
But Naruto's a different matter altogether. Sasuke's pretty sure he'd rather let Kakashi give him a sponge bath than let Naruto feed him like a baby chick.
"I'll make you," Naruto threatens.
"Dobe, if you value your fingers, you'll keep them away from my face," Sasuke says darkly.
"Damn it," Naruto seethes. "Why are you so difficult? Just eat."
"No."
"Do it!"
"No."
They both stiffen as a snort of laughter drifts through the closed door.
Naruto's face gets even redder, but his mouth sets in a determined line that Sasuke knows all too well. "Come on, idiot," he growls. "If I don't get you to eat this, they'll never leave me alone in here again."
He's right. Sasuke does a quick mental calculation. He doesn't want to be alone with Naruto any more than necessary. The ninja has an inexplicable ability to get under his skin. On the other hand, Naruto is undoubtedly the weak link in this current operation. Naruto's sheer emotionality is more likely to present a chance to escape than any of his other captors.
Moreover, the thought of escaping from Naruto is somehow even more attractive than the thought of escape in general. He hasn't lost a fight to Naruto yet – he won't let himself be outmatched this time either.
Distastefully, Sasuke opens his mouth the tiniest crack.
"Good boy," Naruto says, before shoving the whole rice ball down his throat without warning. Sasuke immediately coughs up half the grainy stuff, glaring at Naruto's self-satisfied smirk.
"Are you trying to kill me?" he sputters. "No wonder they don't let you do anything around here."
Naruto's eyes narrow at that, and he sticks a finger right in Sasuke's face. "How would you know what I can and can't do?" he says accusingly. "You haven't been around for the last three years."
"It only took a second to see how pathetically little you've improved," Sasuke says coolly, and Naruto's eyebrows pull together thunderously.
"Asshole," he says. "Just wait until we get back to Konoha. As soon as you're untied I'll show you what I've learned since you left. You'll be begging me for mercy."
"Unlikely," Sasuke says succinctly. "Your whole team was useless last time we met. You alone I could probably take here and now."
Naruto makes a sound like a snarl in his throat, inching forward, and Sasuke realizes this is going to be even easier than he thought. If Naruto just comes within Sasuke's range of motion, it will all be over quickly. Just a little closer….
It doesn't quite happen, though. Naruto takes a breath and relaxes, then lets his mouth fall into a rueful smile. "You're a bastard, you know?" he says.
"And you're a moron," Sasuke snaps back. He doesn't even realize his Sharingan has kicked up again until Naruto claps a hand over his eyes.
"Forget it," he hears Naruto say through the darkness. "Don't pull that freaky eye stuff on me if you don't want to get blindfolded for real."
Sasuke bites back his own snarl and forcibly relaxes his shoulders. Very slowly, Naruto removes his hand. Sasuke glares into suspiciously good-humored blue eyes.
"You know, this actually isn't bad," Naruto says thoughtfully, feeding him a bit of protein bar. "I'm a little jealous. You get fed by Sakura-chan every day."
"Feel free to take my place," Sasuke offers mildly.
"Figures you wouldn't appreciate it," Naruto says, sounding discouraged. "Sakura's never fed me before."
"Yes, she has," Sasuke replies without thinking. He groans inwardly as Naruto's eyes snap to his.
Sasuke knows what he's remembering: the first day Team 7 was together, the three of them sitting exhausted on the training ground. Sakura had reluctantly, distastefully, offered up some of her lunch to her starving teammate.
"That's right," Naruto says softly.
Sasuke doesn't remember much about that day. His main recollections center around an acute frustration at Kakashi's superior level of skill and a profound irritation at the weakness of his teammates. But for some reason he can clearly see Sakura holding out her food to Naruto, and Naruto gleefully, dopily accepting it.
Unexpectedly, Sasuke feels something in his stomach clench. Naruto's face is expressionless, but there's no hiding the sadness in his transparent eyes. Sasuke looks away.
"I'm done," he mutters.
Sasuke expects an argument, but he doesn't get one. Instead of fighting, Naruto merely closes up the box and stands. "Okay," he says absently.
The door opens almost instantly, and Sasuke sourly hopes Sakura at least enjoyed the show. She doesn't look much better than Naruto, though.
Naruto hands the box off to her with a slight smile and a "thanks," and then he's gone.
Sasuke watches him, barely paying attention as Sakura takes Naruto's place on the floor in front of him.
"He did it for me, you know," she says, and Sasuke jerks his head back toward her.
"The first time he went after you," she continues in a soft voice, "I asked him to do it. I made him promise. I was so in love with you, but I knew I couldn't make you listen to me." She looks down at her own hands, twisting the cloth of her shirt into wrinkles. "I think, when I couldn't stop you that night – that's when I figured it out. You and he had a bond that was beyond what I shared with either of you. I couldn't touch it. I knew Naruto was the only one who could convince you to come back."
Sasuke wishes she'd stop talking. He's not sure whether the churning in his gut is anger or sadness, but the important thing is that it's not hate. It's something else entirely, something that he thought he'd left back in Konoha.
She doesn't stop. "Then when he came back," she says, her voice growing slightly stronger, "that's when I realized he'd almost died. And it would have been my fault. I promised that next time I'd go with him, and I'd help."
Sasuke desperately searches for something cutting or discouraging to say, just to make her stop already, but he can't come up with anything. He doesn't know this Sakura. Her face and her voice are the same, and she still looks at him out of the widest green eyes he's ever seen, but everything else is different.
"So I'm here," she says, low and resolute. "But this time I'm doing it for him. And I don't care what you try. I won't let you get away, and I won't let you hurt Naruto again."
She looks him directly in the eye for the first time. "Since you left, all he's wanted is to bring you back. There's nothing I won't do to make that happen for him."
Sasuke feels like he's fallen into some sort of fucked-up dream world, where everything is backwards and upside down and nothing does what it's supposed to do. Maybe he's still asleep, and any second now Itachi will pop up with more cryptic messages and useless confessions.
"Sakura – " he starts. I don't know what to tell you. I don't have anything you want to hear.
"That's all," she cuts him off, rising. "I just wanted to say that."
Sasuke's left staring wordlessly after her.
*
After that, they leave Naruto on guard duty by himself a few times a day. Sasuke watches and waits for a chance to escape, but he finds himself getting distracted.
Naruto talks, no – Naruto babbles. It's not nervous babbling. Sasuke doubts Naruto's ever had a bout of nerves in his life. It's just a sheer love of hearing his own voice. He hums, he sings, he mumbles, he imparts what Sasuke can only assume isevery single detail of the last three years in the leaf village. Sasuke feigns disinterest, but there's something about Naruto's steady stream of chatter that's soothing. He's missed it, he realizes in dismay. It always annoyed him when he lived in Konoha, but after three years of Orochimaru's sinuous murmur and Kabuto's silent smirk, it's somehow reassuring.
Naruto also fidgets. Ninja are supposed to understand stillness; when Kakashi, Sai, or Sakura guard him, they all pick a spot in the corner, find something productive to do for a few hours, and then stay there. Naruto can't stop moving. He's up, he's down, he's hurling mini-Rasengan spirals at the walls, arbitrarily creating clones to spar with, hanging from the ceiling, or hovering over Sasuke, depending on his mood.
One time he spends his entire shift hurling grains of rice at Sasuke's forehead, measuring how accurate he can be. Sasuke temporarily switches his master plan from a simple escape to torturing Naruto for a few hours in slow and creative ways.
Despite Naruto's idiocy, it's another two full days before the opportunity for escape presents itself. Sasuke wakes from dozing to hear Sai and Naruto exchanging guard duty. He's pretty sure it's still the middle of the night, but he lifts his head anyway as Naruto plops in front of him.
"Rise and shine," Naruto announces. "I have a present for you."
He pulls a thermos from his pack, and despite his best efforts, Sasuke feels a flicker of interest. Now what?
"A trick the pervy sage taught me," he continues with a wide smile. "Best thing to relax in the field."
"You idiot. Ninja aren't supposed to relax in the field," he says, exasperated.
Naruto makes a face "That sounds like an uptight Sound rule," he says matter-of-factly. "Well, that's not Naruto's Way of Ninja."
Sasuke raises his eyebrows. "What's your newest brilliant rule?"
Naruto twists open the top of the thermos, and the fumes of alcohol fill the room. Black whiskers curve into a grin. "Sake."
And Sakura-chan's stomach," Naruto says dreamily. "And her legs, when she's training with the old lady… Everything bunches up, and you can almost see right up to that little curve where - "
"If she catches you talking about her like this, she'll put you in the hospital," Sasuke remarks blandly.
Naruto grins loosely. "Nah. She has it bad for me. She tries to pretend, but I can tell."
"You're a moron," Sasuke tells him, for probably the thirtieth time in the last hour.
Just like the previous twenty-nine times, Naruto only sighs happily. He holds out the thermos for Sasuke's consumption and, very slowly and carefully, Sasuke drinks. He's not sure why he's indulging this latest bonding attempt on Naruto's part. He tells himself it's in the name of escape, but the truth is that the wine is making him feel warm and relaxed in way that's far too dangerous to his own resolve. Maybe all the orange has hypnotized him, he muses.
Naruto's had about four times the amount of alcohol Sasuke's consumed, and it's beginning to show. He figures it'll be another thirty minutes, tops, before he'll be able to catch the blonde off guard. In the meantime, Sasuke merely has to wait and watch Naruto weave his own downfall.
His captor takes the thermos back, black whiskers turning down without warning. In his current state, it only makes him look vaguely befuddled. "That damn Sai," he mutters. "Always trying to show me up in front of Sakura. Ass." He swallows again, frowning.
As far as Sasuke can tell, Sai has no interest in anything outside of mission parameters and a strange fixation with Sasuke's and Naruto's bonds, but trying to convince Naruto of that in his current condition would be like trying to shove a square peg through a circular hole. He merely says, "I don't think you have to worry about the painter."
As quickly as they appeared, the clouds flee from Naruto's face. "Heh. That's right. You showed him, didn't you?"
"How would you know?" Sasuke replies. "You were already unconscious."
Naruto gives him a sloppy-drunk grin and clumsily pokes him in the chest. It's so reminiscent of Itachi that Sasuke feels the bile rise in his throat.
"I forgive you," Naruto says, obnoxiously cheerful.
"I didn't ask for forgiveness," Sasuke reminds him too quickly, and Naruto's grin takes on a feral edge.
"I. Don't. Care," he says emphatically. "I forgive you anyway. That's what friends do."
"We – "
""We're not friends'," Naruto cuts him off, mimicking Sasuke's deep tones. "I know." He waves his hand dismissively. "You're like a broken record."
"If you'd get it through your thick head, I wouldn't have to say it all the time," Sasuke shoots back.
Naruto smirks. "I get it. I just think you're full of shit. There's a reason you didn't kill me three years ago, and it wasn't on a goddamn whim."
"The reason doesn't matter," Sasuke says tiredly. "Any friendship that might have existed between us was purely by accident." Naruto's mouth tightens in an angry line, but Sasuke keeps going. He has a driving desire to make Naruto see, to make him finally understand what Sasuke's been telling him all these years. "My emotional ties to Konoha ended the night Itachi left. Nothing after that day had any meaning to me, except to prepare me to fight my brother."
Naruto takes another long pull of sake, glowering around the rim of the thermos the whole time. "You're more annoying than I remember," Naruto says after he swallows.
Unbelievably, inappropriately, Sasuke has to squash down a small smile. He can't suppress the faint curl of nostalgia that drifts through him, though. Three years hasn't crushed Naruto's single-minded determination and, in spite of Sasuke's frustration, he can't help but be glad of that fact. Sasuke spent his time with Orochimaru carefully carving out the few emotions that Itachi's slaughter left intact. But Naruto's emotions are as close to the surface as ever. Sasuke wants to be disdainful, but he can't deny a deep, underlying relief.
Sometimes Sasuke wonders what would happen if he met Naruto years down the road, only to find the ninja hardened and hollowed out. He thinks that maybe that Naruto would be someone to fear, and it's been years since he was afraid of anyone. Sasuke never, ever wants to look into Naruto's face and see himself staring back.
He reins in his wandering thoughts with effort. Maybe he's a little drunk after all, he thinks wryly.
Naruto is silent for a few minutes before his face pulls into a semblance of seriousness. His forehead scrunches in concentration as he tries to give his slurring words some gravity. "I never told you," he says, carefully dropping each syllable like a stone. "I never told you about Itachi."
Sasuke's heart rate trips over itself, then doubles its previous pace. "What about him?"
"Jerk," Naruto says darkly. "That jerk tried to tell me you'd attack Konoha. He used his stupid eyes on me, and his stupid birds…" Naruto trails off, glaring violently at his own reflection in the aluminum thermos. Sasuke leans forward, waiting for him to finish, but Naruto just tips his head back and drinks again, mouth pulled down into a frown.
He raps his heel against the ground to get Naruto's attention. "Naruto, focus," he says harshly. "When did you see my brother?"
Naruto scratches his head. "Uh….a while ago, I guess."
"A while ago, when?"
Naruto looks annoyed. "Before you killed him, obviously." His mouth puckers into a frown. "That two-faced freak said you might have died, too. We were worried, you know." His voice is accusing. "You couldn't have sent a memo, or a snake, or even one of those weird teammates of yours to let us know?"
Sasuke's pretty sure that, if his hands weren't tied, he'd be throttling Naruto. He takes a deep breath. "He didn't try and take you, then?"
"Who, Itachi? Like he could," Naruto says loftily.
Sasuke fights the urge to roll his eyes. Naruto is looking down again, and the wheels in his brain are almost visibly turning. Painfully, creakily, but turning nonetheless.
"Itachi, he…" Naruto stops, and Sasuke sees his fingers curl.
"What?" he asks in dread.
But Naruto only looks puzzled when he raises his head. "He…did something to me," he says slowly. "He was talking about you, and Konoha, and choices, and then…" Naruto shudders.
The back of Sasuke's neck begins to prick with unease.
"He says…he says he gave me power. And that he hoped I wouldn't have to use it." Naruto looks him in the eye. "What's with your family and power, anyway? You're all obsessed."
Sasuke's mind is racing. Itachi never did anything without a reason. Had Itachi been trying to warn Naruto, just in case Madara got his way? Was his devotion to Konoha still that strong? Sasuke can't help it; he feels the resentment gathering in him. Damn Itachi anyway. Sasuke's not sure he'll ever be done sorting out his brother's secrets.
"Anyway, he's gone now," Naruto says, yawning. "I always knew you could take him. And you didn't need Orochimaru, either. Me and Sakura-chan would have been enough."
Sasuke's stomach drops. Even with Orochimaru's training, he would have been no match for Itachi if Itachi had truly wanted to kill him. The thought of Naruto and Sakura facing his brother's spinning eyes makes Sasuke's blood run cold.
Sorry Sasuke, this is the last time.
"Now that he's dead, everything can be like it used to be," Naruto continues. His eyes are starting to droop.
"No," Sasuke says. "It can't."
Either Naruto doesn't hear Sasuke's words, or he chooses to ignore them. He settles comfortably against the wall, closing his eyes. "You'll see," he says, faintly slurred. "When we're back in Konoha, everything…will be fine." A peaceful smile crosses his lips. "When you're back home…everything…will be great."
His head sinks slowly to his chest, and he lets out a little snore.
Trust Naruto to pass out on the job, Sasuke thinks in exasperation. Naruto's slumped gracelessly against the wall, totally unconscious. Knowing Naruto, it would take an earthquake to wake him at this point. All Sasuke would need to do was get one hand free…just one hand and he could lift Naruto's kunai, slit his throat, and escape before anyone was the wiser.
He's pretty sure Naruto would haunt him until the end of time, though, if he killed his old friend while he was unconscious. He already has one ghost following him; he doesn't need another. He can almost imagine the taunts. Too much of a coward to fight me while I'm awake, eh? Nevermind that Sasuke had won nearly every one of their confrontations to date. Naruto lived in his own reality. Always had and always would.
But the leaf ninja looks awfully vulnerable at the moment, silent for once. His chest is rising and falling evenly in a sign of deep, undisturbed sleep. Sasuke doesn't think he's ever slept so easily. Not since the night his childhood was ripped to shreds, and maybe not even before that.
Sasuke gently nudges Naruto's leg with his own. "Naruto," he says softly.
Nothing.
He nudges a little harder. "Hey moron, wake up."
It's no use. Naruto's dead to the world. There's no excuse, then. It may be his only chance to escape. He has to take it. He didn't come this far just to be defeated by a sleeping Naruto.
Sasuke shifts surreptitiously until his bound arms are brushing Naruto's warm shoulder. He fumbles for the kunai attached to Naruto's hip, cringing as the circulation returns to his limbs. He painfully walks his back up the wall until he's upright and the knife is level with Naruto's throat. The skin there seems paper thin and very pale in comparison to the rest of Naruto's tan. Naruto swallows, and his adam's apple bumps against the knife. Sasuke takes a deep breath, noting with a detached sort of wonder that his hands are shaking. After all these years, he's about to kill Naruto.
He has a sudden vision of the eight-tailed ox rising up before him, preparing to crush him and his whole team to death. In that moment, it should have been Itachi's face that rose up in his mind, but it wasn't. It was Naruto, accompanied by Sakura and Kakashi. He'd almost been able to feel the three of them standing solidly at his back. Even now, he can't manage to hate them. Not with the same clean, pure malice he's able to direct toward everyone else.
You have no choice, he tells himself. He forces the vision of Itachi's dead body to the front of his mind, makes himself picture the elders of Konoha, sitting on their thrones above the slain bodies of the Uchiha clan. No. There's no choice at all. He hardens his jaw and begins to press.
Naruto makes a little sound in his sleep, and Sasuke freezes.
"Pork miso…please," Naruto mumbles again.
Sasuke stares at him. Naruto's brow is crinkled in sleep, but other than that, there's no sign of distress, no sign of fear. He's dreaming all right, but it's not the same brand of tortured nightmare that attacks Sasuke on a nightly basis.
Why? Naruto may not have a murdered brother to haunt him, but his life has been far from peaceful. Naruto's seen people die; he's seen people leave him. He's been shunned and ridiculed and defeated and lied to. He's walked around in the same body as a demon for his whole life, and still he sleeps soundly. How?
"Sasuke," Naruto breathes, soft and plaintive in sleep, and Sasuke jerks away. The knife goes clattering to the ground.
Shit. It hits him in a rush, and he thumps back against the wall, sweating. He can't do it.
It's just like it was back in Orochimaru's lair. Sasuke knew, he knew from the moment Sai said Naruto's name that he'd have a chance to rectify the mistake he made at the Valley of the End three years ago. He'd have a chance to kill Naruto, to get rid of the final tie standing between him and vengeance.
And then he'd seen Naruto and realized he still wasn't strong enough. Instead of just driving a sword through Naruto's heart, he'd baited him; instead of simply wiping all of them out in one blow, he'd stepped inside Naruto's mind and seen the thing that Naruto had lived with, day in and day out. He'd felt nothing but relief when Orochimaru put a stop to the confrontation.
All this time, all this distance, for all his vows and all his sacrifices, he still can't kill Naruto. Shit, shit, shit.
God, he's fucked up, he thinks emptily. This is his chance. He needs to escape. He needs to get back to his team, to continue on to Konoha, and maybe then he'll be able to find a little peace. He'll never avenge Itachi by cowering helplessly in this prison. He needs to get out.
Naruto slumbers on, oblivious.
He can't do it. He inches away from Naruto, staring at the blonde ninja. His hands are shaking too badly to even think about picking up the kunai anymore. Weak, his brain taunts him. Sentimental. Frail. Not worthy of the Uchiha name. It's all true, he thinks numbly. And it doesn't matter.
He watches Naruto sleeping until he hears Sakura's light footsteps coming down the hallway. He closes his eyes, feigning unconsciousness until they come to bring him his morning meal.
*
In the end, the solution comes to him born of desperation and a fear that, if he stays for much longer, he might not want to leave.
Sakura is the first one he targets. She's the one who brings his meals, and Sasuke has noticed her shoulders slowly beginning to relax around him over the last few days.
Her mistake.
Using the Mangekyo is still very, very tricky. His control isn't even close to what Itachi's was, and it's exhausting even when he isn't drugged and tied. But it's the only option he has.
He waits until she sinks down in front of him. He keeps his eyes closed until he senses her at face level, and then he springs the Mangekyo on her. She goes stock still when she catches sight of his eyes, and for a despairing moment, Sasuke thinks he must have failed. But then her own eyes turn heavy-lidded, and he knows he's got her.
She remains in front of him for a swaying moment, and Sasuke wills her to see what he wants – to see him obediently eating the drugged food. Sasuke watches as she eats the food herself instead, ingesting whatever was meant for him. She'll figure it out soon enough – she's a medic after all – but Sasuke figures he has at least a few hours before anyone notices.
When all the food is gone, he closes his eyes and breaks the illusion. He's sweating with effort, but he can feel the triumph racing through him. It will only be a matter of time before he has the same power Itachi had.
Sakura blinks at him for a second, then looks down at the empty lunchbox in confusion. He watches her shake her head before she rises. She turns to go, then hesitates.
"Are you all right, Sasuke-kun?" she asks, brow furrowed. "You look pale."
"Fine," he says smoothly.
Sai is slightly more difficult. He sits in the corner with his sketchbook, painting with precise, deliberate strokes. They guard him in predictable four hour shifts, and Sasuke's found that, without fail, Sai always follows Sakura and precedes Naruto. Throughout the endless afternoon, Sasuke feels his strength coming back in slow waves as the drug finally wears off. He's gotten used to the sluggish feeling in his brain and body, and the sudden return to normal makes his head whirl.
He gathers up his growing power like grain in a barrel, hoarding it until he needs it. It's a relief to feel his chakra coming back, to feel his control returning. It must have been the drug, he tells himself. It was the drug that made him lose his chance to escape the other night, the drug that called up all those old sentimental feelings. If he'd been thinking clearly, he never would have hesitated.
It's difficult to keep the triumph off his face during Sai's shift, but he manages it. He needs to time it just right. If he moves too soon, his energy will desert him and it will all be for nothing. If he waits too long, Naruto will arrive prematurely, and he'll have lost another chance.
He bows his head and pretends to sleep. He's developed a preternatural ability to track the passage of time over the last few years. He can tell, almost down to the second, how much time has gone by in any given situation. He waits until the last two minutes of Sai's shift, until the painter is starting to squirm restlessly and Sasuke expects to hear Naruto's sauntering footsteps coming down the hallway any second.
Like Sakura, Sai goes still when he catches site of the spiraling black pupils. It takes a little more effort to make the illusion work this time, and his vision blurs with blood as he concentrates. Two minutes, he tells himself, clenching his jaw. Sakura took at least five. This should be nothing.
It's not nothing. It's exhausting, but when Sai succumbs, Sasuke feels the same triumph sweeping over him. He holds the painter's attention with the Mangekyo and, using the tiny bit of energy he has to spare, shreds his bindings with Chidori.
It almost works. The bindings don't disintegrate like they did the first time, but they weaken. Panting, he focuses all his physical energy in one place, and pulls with all his might.
The fibers of the rope circling his upper arm give way with a soft ripping sound. The ropes loosen around him enough for him to get a hand out. It's just in time, too. Sai snaps out of it in the same instant that Naruto steps through the door. Naruto frowns at Sai's dazed expression.
"You look all…weird," he says. "What's up with you?"
Sai's eyes narrow, sweeping the room, but no light bulb goes off in his expression. "I – Nothing," he says. He gets shakily to his feet, still frowning, and Sasuke watches him exit the room with a conspicuous lack of grace. He glances once back over his shoulder, but then shakes his head and keeps walking.
Sai won't stay fooled for long, Sasuke realizes. He'll figure out what happened sooner rather than later. Sasuke'll have to act quickly.
One more time, Sasuke thinks wearily. Surely he can do it one more time.
Luckily, Naruto is the easiest of all of them. Sasuke doesn't have much energy left, but then – it doesn't take much. He waits only until Sai's footsteps have receded, and then he simultaneously calls up the Mangekyo as he lets the ropes drop.
Naruto's sharp intake of breath is audible clear across the room. "S-Sasuke?" he stammers. His expression slowly trades surprise for shock and horror.
Sasuke knows what he's seeing – Sasuke bleeding, dying, Sai's sword through his chest.
"Shit." Naruto's by his side in a flash, shaking his shoulders, fumbling for his pulse . He's so far gone in the illusion that he doesn't even notice as Sasuke delicately lifts his kunai from its holster. He keeps checking Sasuke for signs of life, blue eyes churning with panic.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Naruto's saying. "Fuck." He slams an enraged fist into the wall behind Sasuke's head, sending out a spiderweb of cracks. His teeth are bared in anguish. "Fucking Sai. That asshole, that fucking traitor, I'll kill him, I swear, I'll – "
He turns his back, ready to launch himself up, presumably to get the others. He comes to a dead halt as Sasuke slips an arm around his neck from behind and brings the tip of the knife to his jugular.