Warnings: darkish content, maybe
Part 47
Iruka wasn't sure when Itachi stopped speaking aloud. He supposed it happened around the same time his eyes changed. He hated those eyes. They were
penetrating, intrusive, and like Bunchu Itachi knew exactly how they made people feel. That was the only reason Iruka met them evenly. Because, unlike
Bunchu, Itachi enjoyed the way his invasion disturbed people. He enjoyed it far too much.
"What makes you think the fault lies in Sasuke?" Iruka asked, and he could hear his voice even though he knew his mouth was no longer moving. "Perhaps it's
you."
"Perhaps." But he didn't believe that. He was pandering to him as if he were a small child. Or an inferior being. "Rather than break, he was supposed to
evolve, to shed the chains of human weakness and achieve a higher plain of existence as I did."
"Delusions of grandeur," said Iruka.
"A lack of blindness. I have seen what lies beyond this world. Would you like me to show you?"
"No, thank you. I prefer to live in this world." He much preferred sanity, as narrowly defined and limited as it was.
"You were before my time. Had you been one of mine you would have no choice but to accept what you've seen. Once I've finished with you, you will never see
the world the same way again."
"I don't want you to do anything to me." He should have been frightened. He wanted to be. "I reject your exchange. Sasuke doesn't need to be fixed. All he
needs is to be free of you." That was the wrong thing to say. Now there was fear, clenching tightly around him. He pushed anyway. "If you have shed your
human weakness, why cling to him?"
"Because he's mine. A thorn in my side. A distraction when I have better things to do. A constant reminder of my one mistake."
The anger was oppressive, viciously so, because for all his 'evolution' he did have one human weakness and he carried it around with him everywhere he
went. Iruka couldn't breathe. He didn't need to breathe when he wasn't speaking aloud. "Maybe you're the one who needs to learn when to let go..."
"You will fix him. I don't have time to continue repairing him and I will not allow all of my efforts to have been in vain. You will do your part. In exchange, I will
repair the damage Orochimaru did to you. I can't undo the past, but I can open the future to you. What you want most is to save the world. I will give you what
you want. To save the world, first you must see it."
He felt as helpless as a child being pushed toward an ominous doorway to pitch blackness. He wanted to fight, to struggle and plead just like a child, but all
that came out was a whisper. "I don't want to."
Horrible amusement bubbled over the back of his neck as he was shoved head first into the dark. The voice followed him down, echoing mercilessly. "People
so rarely want what they think they want."
.-.
The moment those eyes locked onto Iruka, Kakashi found himself questioning things he had known for years. His life had value because he enjoyed it. Risking
his life to spare someone else a little pain was at best masochistic, at worst pointless. Wise people knew when to bow out and minimize their losses. And so on
and so forth. All common sense, pessimistic in its realism and callous in its delivery. So he called himself an optimistic fool when his hand rose and prodded
the band off his left eye. The energy enveloping Iruka was dark and tight. Where Iruka's shadow had been a heavy blanket, this was a clamp with the tiniest of
threads connecting his blank eyes to Itachi's. It would be very easy to cut that thread. Tempting, even. If he hadn't been such a cynic he would have done so
without hesitation. Since he valued his life he forced himself to consider the results before leaning forward.
"Be still," Itachi said quietly, without blinking or looking over. "Interfere and I may inadvertently kill him."
Common sense warned that you never bluffed with someone who had a better poker face than your own. But in for a penny in for a pound, as someone
somewhere was supposed to have said. "Maybe I'm willing to risk that."
"I'm not," said Itachi. He slowly lifted his right hand so his loosely splayed fingers pointed at Kakashi. "Would you like me to remove that eye? You will never
have the blood to use it properly. Stronger men than you have died for what you have, and you don't even appreciate it."
"I never asked for it," Kakashi pointed out. Since his full attention was on that casually lifted hand, he couldn't help but notice Itachi's fingernails were the same
dark blue-gray shade as the shark's. That detail did dangerous things to his mind. Had Itachi painted his nails to match? Or had the shark done that for him?
When he found himself wondering if Itachi's toenails bore the same shade he knew he was slipping fast. He covered the sharingan and that hand dropped.
Unfortunately, it remained on the table where the nail polish was clearly visible.
"You should have died for it," Itachi said, seemingly oblivious to Kakashi's preoccupation with his nails. "Had I known you had that eye I might not have let my
little brother go with you."
"And here I thought we had snuck out of Japan right underneath your nose," Kakashi drawled. No matter how insane the man was, it simply wasn't in him to be
afraid of someone who painted his nails to match his shark. "Why did you let him go with me?"
"To see what would happen. An experiment, if you will. He was supposed to kill you."
"Sasuke did try a few times," Kakashi admitted. The brat deserved that much credit. "His heart just wasn't in it." That painted hand snapped into a tight fist and
he saw his upper lip twitch in what would probably have been an actual curl had he been normal. He poked a little harder. "Sasuke tries to hide it, but he's
really a very sweet kid."
"I will rip your tongue out through your nostrils."
Kakashi blinked. Somehow, a threat like that carried more weight when it was given in such a politely inviting tone. He still couldn't picture those prettily
manicured fingers plunging into a man's nasal cavity. Instead, it reminded him of Sasuke's sly invitations of violence. "You sound like you're flirting with me."
"Do you think I can't kill you while my attention is divided?"
"I'm fairly sure you could," Kakashi admitted. "I'm just not convinced you want to. Why are you here? What exactly are you doing to Iruka?"
That hand uncurled and a small smile graced his mouth. "I am giving him what he wants. I always give mine what they want the most. The question is whether
they still want it once they have it. Do you? Do you still long for entertainment? Or has my difficult little brother managed to cure you of your boredom? Your
tendency to wander has diminished notably since I lent him to you. Are you glad? Or do you wish you had never laid eyes on him?"
"I wish I had never laid eyes on you. Sasuke, I don't mind so much." That creepy little smile vanished as if it had never been. It was his use of Sasuke's name
that did it. "Do you ever call Sasuke by his name?"
"Why would I?"
"Why wouldn't you?" To Kakashi it was no different from the way Sai's group refused to refer to him by name. A way to dehumanize him. They both viewed him
as an extension of Itachi, a possession of his, rather than a person in his own right. "You might get along better if you did."
"You think I want that? You are a strange man. It was your reputation that led me to hand you my little brother, yet you never touched him. Not once. Instead
you chose this one. Explain that to me and I may be persuaded not to kill you for being such a disappointment to me."
"You're disappointed that I never touched your 'little' brother?" The idea of that hurt Kakashi's brain so badly it banished any lingering fear he might have had.
It was no use fighting it any more. "You're a certifiable fruitcake. You do know that, don't you?"
"You have spent more time in a padded cell than I have. Did it warp your mind? Or did it open your eyes to your true purpose in life?"
"I was never crazy, just misunderstood," Kakashi scowled. The moment he said it, he realized his mistake. Itachi wasn't normal enough to smirk or raise an
eyebrow, but he didn't need to be. Kakashi knew very well that he had walked into that one. He refused to be compared to this nut. "I don't go around attacking
children. If that's what you heard about me, you were grossly misinformed." Possibly by a jealous ex of his? That was a depressing thought. He liked to think
that he left satiated happiness behind him, not resentment.
"I was informed that you attack anything with two legs. I began to suspect otherwise when you instigated that legal nonsense regarding custody. Rest assured,
I gave that man ample time to regret his lies before he died."
"That's nice of you," Kakashi winced. He wasn't sure how much more of this he could take. While he wasn't afraid of the guy any more, he was worried that his
craziness might be catching. Iruka had said playing into a madman's nuttiness only made it worse. He sent a queasy look at Iruka, who merely appeared as if
he were sleeping with his eyes open. This was beginning to strike him as akin to watching a rape in progress. That Iruka appeared to be unconscious during it
didn't make it any less disturbing. Would stopping it really kill him? If this was a mind-fuck then severing that energy could leave the freak's mental cock firmly
embedded in Iruka's brain. Kakashi thought he was going to be sick. "How much longer is this going to take?"
"I have been told it feels like days. For me, it is done in a matter of seconds. The human mind is such a frail, easily confused, organ. Had you only looked at
me with the sharingan my little brother so foolishly gave you, you might have recovered quickly enough to see me leave. As it is, I advise you to make yourself
comfortable. By the time you wake up my business may very well be done here. Until then, you may ask me whatever you like. As with your sexual proclivities,
your curiosity proceeds you. That, I know, was not a lie."
Dread froze Kakashi's entire body. "Are you saying that this is..."
"All in your mind?" Itachi smiled. "You could say that."
.-.
Sai woke feeling as if he had survived a trip through a wood-chipper. For a long painful while he wished he hadn't. The instant he opened his eyes and
realized that he could not only open them but see through them as well, he was glad to still be alive. He was more glad to find that his teeth were back in place.
He clearly remembered having a few jagged roots scratching loosely over his tongue when the bones in his face had been crushed inward. Swallowing some
of the blood left in his mouth, he cleared his throat and stared at the man leaning over him. "I wonder how the Order would react to you saving me."
Kabuto snorted softly as he repaired the boy's ribs. He couldn't recall the last time he'd had such small fragments to work with. "Since you no longer work for
them, does it matter?"
That was rather presumptuous of him. Sai's lips pulled into a painful smile. "I never actually said I would quit."
"They don't tolerate failure. If you went back to them, they'd kill you."
"I thought they might," Sai sighed. "No one ever talks about the members who fail to return. I suspected they might have been disposed of by the Order itself."
"And immediately destroyed," Kabuto said in disgust. "They don't even use the bodies."
"You could have used mine," Sai pointed out. He supposed the man still could. His hands were swollen skin bags full of jagged bits. If those weren't healed he
wouldn't be drawing anything ever again.
"You're more useful alive."
"To the mutant you work for?" Sai made a face at that prospect. "I'd rather go back to the Order. I prefer being in control of my own body."
"You wouldn't have a body if it weren't for me. You'd still be a puddle of goop on that sidewalk. That's no more than you deserve for standing there like an idiot
before Gaara of the Sand. All you had to do was attack him and he would have held back in order to prolong the fight. You can fight with your talents, can't
you?"
"Only if I prepare in advance," Sai admitted. He had to internalize his sketches for that. Had he done that instead of putting his energy into that seal he could
have replaced his mutilated hands with little more than a mental picture. Instead, he had followed his orders and set out to detain with no plans of fighting
anyone. "I was still approaching this as a recording task."
"Watch and record. Prevent interference without interfering yourself. And all for what?" Kabuto sneered in disdain. "To free Itachi of his only weakness? If they
think they'll benefit from that, they're as insane as he is. We certainly won't do it for them."
"Not on purpose," said Sai. "It is predicted to be an accident. We don't know whether it's one of you or Uchiha himself who accidentally kills him, only that it is
predicted to happen during this encounter. That's the one outcome the Order favors."
"Thus proving their insanity. And you willingly worked for them."
"I wasn't given enough information to truly understand the situation," Sai said in his defense. "I agreed to the task and did my best to fulfill it. That I'm relieved
the wild cards have prevented me from doing so is of no consequence. My part is done."
"For now." Kabuto eyed him closely as he worked. Now that the boy was no longer a member of the Black Order he wouldn't have to defend his actions to
Orochimaru. He wouldn't even have to mention him if he didn't choose to do so. "Since you have tasted the futility of meddling with the future, are you
interested in working with the present and past?"
The man certainly knew how to tempt a person. Sai was careful not to let that show. "It would depend on the work. And the employer."
"You would be working for whoever is willing to give you what you want in exchange for the information you gain. As for the work..." His mouth twisted into a
mocking smile. "We're hunting demons. You have just survived your first encounter with one."
.-.
Gaara was enjoying himself immensely. Kisame didn't require an overt threat to his charge in order to fight him. The moment Gaara had arrived with Naruto,
Kisame had grinned and offered to repay him with 'a little action' while he waited for Itachi to get back. There was no close contact, no real attacks that might
have endangered him and triggered a change. But he was able to use his sand freely without his opponent getting so much as a scratch on him. That was
what he liked best, actually being able to use his talents without it ending the moment it started. Kisame wasn't as fast as Sasuke and didn't have the healing
energy of Naruto. What he had was thick skin and an enormous jagged sword that reduced his attacks to a dusty nuisance. The blade swallowed his energy
ravenously, ripping and tearing through his sand as if it was a feast. Kisame's grin was wide, revealing nearly as many teeth as his unusual blade. Gaara
couldn't remember the last time he had faced someone who enjoyed the clash as much as he did. He threw his energy into bringing forth more sand until the
earth shook under his feet.
A hand fell on his shoulder and Gaara froze. His sand fell heavily around Kisame, who also froze, looking over at him with a grimace. Gaara looked back over
his shoulder, marveling at the man's ability to come so close, to touch him, without his sand automatically acting to shield him. His brother had managed the
same thing with his punch yesterday and Gaara still couldn't figure out how.
"You'll destroy the house," Itachi said in a lightly admonishing tone.
"Sorry," Kisame said quickly. "Got a little carried away."
"Where is my little brother?"
"Livingroom. I was just thanking Gaara. He brought the fox along. I put him with Sasuke."
"You put them together?"
Kisame cringed, his face paling as much as his complexion allowed. "He's sealed. And your brother is still out of it, so..." Itachi stalked past him and he flinched
at the look on his face. "Fuck."
Although Gaara was annoyed to have his fight interrupted, he was curious enough to follow Kisame to the house. "Didn't he want them both?"
"Not together, apparently," Kisame grimaced. "He could have mentioned that."
The house wasn't as dark without the black bags over the windows, Gaara noted. The light shone through thick dust to illuminate the two boys, who were right
where they had left them. Sasuke was slumped forward with his back against the wall and Naruto was curled on his side next to him. Itachi stood over them for
a long moment and then kicked Naruto in the stomach so he landed over by the fireplace. That little slip of paper fluttered to the floor. Gaara's eyes narrowed
at that. He had spent ten minutes trying and failing to remove that seal. It annoyed him that Itachi had done it so easily. The man bent and lifted his brother by
the neck so he was pressed up against the wall at eye level with him. The boy let out some choking sounds, but his eyes remained closed. Gaara frowned
behind his mask. "Why are you strangling him?" He wasn't even awake to feel it.
Kisame winced and grabbed Gaara's arm, paying no attention to the automatic wash of sand that tried to slice up his hand. "Why don't we go back outside and
pick up where we left off?"
"Do that," Itachi said, without looking back at them. "But do it at a safe distance from the house."
"Sure thing," said Kisame.
Gaara let himself be drawn back outside. His interest, however, remained back in that room. He had more than enough sand near the house to form an eye.
He wondered if Itachi would notice if he watched from one of the windows, and if Itachi would care if he did notice. He supposed that depended on what exactly
Itachi was doing in there. "Is he going to kill him?"
"Sasuke?" asked Kisame. "Not a chance. The other one? Who knows."
Since Gaara was mostly interested in fighting Itachi's brother, he was glad to know the strangulation wasn't a prelude to murder. He was still curious why Itachi
had him against the wall. The last time he had seen two people up against a wall like that they had been engaged in what he strongly suspected was sex.
Shikamaru had refused to confirm or deny that, but the two men had certainly been unhappy with the interruption. He sent a look back at the house as he
followed Kisame over the short wall that separated the back yard from the field. "Is he going to have sex with his brother?"
Kisame fell head first. He was just picking himself up off the ground when Gaara glanced back at him. Groaning, he rubbed grass out of his hair as he eyed
the boy. "Don't even go there. I asked him that once and he busted half my teeth. Took weeks for them to grow back. Just assume he's not and hope you're
right. If he's that far gone, we're all doomed."
That was as uninformative as Shikamaru's 'forget you ever saw that' had been. Gaara decided he would definitely set an eye to the window, just in case.
.-.
It was the impact with the floor that woke Kakashi up to reality. Days, Itachi had said. It felt like weeks frozen in that chair being engaged in insane conversation
while the bastard plundered Iruka's mind. Once he understood what was happening, helplessness had rushed in to fill the void left by his lack of fear. Rage
had followed soon after. And still time had dripped by, sluggish and thick. He had tried to attack him, and found himself unable to move. He had refused to
engage him in conversation, and found the sound of Iruka's shallow breathing was worse than anything Itachi had to say. He had tried to anger him, and
learned that Itachi had counted on Sasuke becoming attached to him – all the better for him to learn his lesson when he was betrayed by him. The fact that
Kakashi had never betrayed Sasuke was a surprise, a disappointment, but ultimately inconsequential. The only thing Itachi had shown a true reaction to was
his lack of attraction toward his brother, which he took to represent an equal lack of attraction to himself. It figured he was a narcissist as well as a fruitcake.
"Are you all right, Sir?"
Kakashi sat up on the floor and stared at the blurry figure until he recognized the colors as the shop girl's uniform. "...still here?" He didn't know whether that
slurred question had been for her or himself. Since he had been trapped in that chair it made sense that he was still in the coffee shop. She, on the other
hand, should have been long gone by now. The question must have been meant for her, then.
"You're welcome to stay as long as you like," the woman said quickly, too quickly for Kakashi to follow properly. "I don't mean to rush you. He did pay me to
keep the closed sign up all day. But maybe we should call someone for your friend? Unless he usually looks like that? Oh! Mutants. Of course. I'm sorry.
Forget I said anything, please. I won't bother you again. Unless you need something, of course. He did pay in advance. Very well, too." Her piercing giggle
stabbed into Kakashi's head as she stumbled back a step, turned, and scurried away.
Kakashi stared after her for what might have been an hour. Or it might have been a matter of seconds. His sense of time was still warped. He scrubbed a hand
over his face, dislodging his headband, and suddenly everything snapped into focus. Iruka. He scrambled to his feet only to lurch against the table when his
body failed to match the speed of his mind. The movement caused Iruka to slump further sideways in his chair. His eyes were still open, glazed over and
empty, and his energy was nonexistent. The bastard hadn't just fucked with his head, he had sucked him dry. Kakashi's hand shook as he reached out to
press Iruka's eyes closed. If he hadn't already been unconscious, the lack of energy would have put him into a coma. There was nothing he could do about
that, or about anything for that matter. Anything he did do would only make things worse. He continued reminding himself of that rational fact as he bent to lift
Iruka out of the chair.
"Does this shop have a back room?" he asked the woman. He couldn't carry Iruka into the house like this. The kids would go nuts. Tenka would probably
charge off to get revenge, and it would be Kakashi's fault when he got killed in the attempt.
"We do, but he didn't pay me to-" She gulped, choking a little when Kakashi turned and she saw his red eye. "Oh. Of course, you're free to use it if you want.
Please do! It's right through there!"
"Thank you." He just hoped the room was dark. This was a much longer trip than going from Iruka's bedroom to the bathroom right downstairs.
.-.
Naruto woke to the sound of screams. They were distant enough that he might have been able to ignore them if they hadn't reminded him of Sasuke. That was
stupid. After all, he had never heard Sasuke scream and couldn't imagine him ever screaming like that. He opened his eyes to find himself lying on a full-sized
Kyuubi, his legs bent and sticking ickily in one of the fox's ears. He pulled himself up and slid backwards to land on one of Kyuubi's tails. His fox was lying on
his side, with his back up so tight against the outside of the cage that his fur stuck messily through the bars. Naruto dropped to the ground and stumbled over
to look him in the eye. Kyuubi blinked slowly at him and he wanted to ask why he was so big, why they'd been sleeping like that, maybe apologize for sticking
his feet in his ear. But then he noticed that the screaming had stopped. In the silence he could hear footsteps coming closer until they stopped right next to
him. Kyuubi shot bolt upright and Naruto whirled to rush to the front of his mind.
His stomach hurt, a tight burn that ate all the way to his spine. He was lying on a hard floor with his left arm bent under him so the fingers of that hand felt cold
and numb. How long had he been lying like that? He blinked through dusty air and found himself staring at sandalled feet just a short way from his head. The
sandals reminded him of Sasuke's, but the toes were painted a dark bluish-gray. Sasuke would never do that. He stared at those improbable toes for a long
moment and then looked past them. The heat in his stomach flared painfully. Sasuke was slumped against a moldy-looking wall, his head tilted back and his
black eyes wide open. His bleak expression was so hopeless Naruto felt like he was drowning, but it was the tears streaming down his face that killed him.
He clawed his way off the floor and lunged to him. He got close enough for the fingers of one hand to touch his damp cheek, then someone snagged the back
of his jacket and flung him across the room. Kyuubi was a rage of heat burning his skin. They rebounded off another dirty wall and whipped around to snarl at
the bastard responsible.
Itachi's face was utterly blank, but his eyes were so narrow the pinwheels in their center made them appear more black than red. "Don't ever touch him in front
of me."
"What did you do to him?" Naruto demanded. His voice would have broken if it hadn't been thick with Kyuubi's rage.
"What I always do to him," said Itachi. "Whatever I want. He belongs to me and will until the day he kills me."
Sasuke wouldn't have to wait that long. They were going to kill the bastard and Naruto knew now that he had been wrong. He was going to enjoy it just as
much as Kyuubi without having any regrets. He didn't just want to kill him. He wanted him to suffer. Kyuubi's energy boiled around and even through him until
he could barely see the man through the haze. All of the tactics they had considered, distractions, clones, shielding, attacking with energy tails, all of it fell to
the wayside. Nothing would serve save ripping him apart with their bare hands. And teeth. They launched themselves at him and later, much too late, they
would regret having forgotten one of the few things they knew about Sasuke's brother. He was fast.
Itachi stepped aside. Catching Naruto's right arm, he wrenched it out of the socket and pinned it behind his back. His own right hand closed around Naruto's
neck just beneath the chin and lifted him off the floor. Claws raked bone deep along his right side, but he gave no reaction to it. His eyes bore into Naruto's
and he said, "Back."
To Naruto it felt as if his spine had been hooked to a speeding train. He was yanked backward so hard and fast that he fell on his ass when it let go. He was
sitting inside his own cage, only now there were bloody chains twined through the bars all the way around it. More chains were wrapped around Kyuubi,
holding his enormous body in a painfully tight crouch so he was staring right at the man standing in front of his snout. Revulsion and self-loathing coursed
through Naruto until he wanted to throw up. Itachi was in his head. How could they? Sasuke had warned them. They had looked him right in the eye and now
he was in here with them.
"How does it feel?" Itachi asked Kyuubi. "Contained within such a powerless host. Even now, he has saved himself and left you at my mercy. Does that demand
loyalty? The chains binding you are your own. They bind you to him because you allow them to do so."
Naruto lurched to his feet, futilely trying to envision a door in the floor or roof of the cage. He grabbed the bars and those chains surrounding him flared a
bloody dripping red. He wrenched his hands free to stare in shock at the red welts on his palms. He felt no pain. Kyuubi was growling so hard he should have
felt it beneath his feet. But he didn't. He was trapped, cut off. Kyuubi was right there and he couldn't get to him. And Itachi expected Kyuubi to believe he had
put himself in this cage on purpose? He grabbed the bars again, ignoring the smell of his burning flesh as he screamed through them. "Leave him alone! Get
out of my head, you bastard!"
Kyuubi bared his teeth, straining to lift his head enough to open his jaws. The chains burned through his fur, biting into his flesh, but he didn't care. It would
only take one bite.
"You don't believe me," said Itachi. "But you know you weren't born to this body. You were free once. You must remember how it felt. The raw power, unrivaled
except by others of your own kind. Now look at you. Chained and helpless within a human boy's mind."
"He's a mutant," Kyuubi said viciously.
"A few mutated genes does not a new species make. He is human and you are anything but."
"What do you want with me?"
"I want you to let go. Shed those chains. Leave behind that petty human weakness that keeps you here. What is it to you? Love? Pity? Have you been trapped
here for so long that you entertain such human emotions?"
Kyuubi's rage was so deep he ceased growling. He didn't have emotions like that. He refused to have them. But he wouldn't admit that to this man, wouldn't
say anything this man wanted him to say. Naruto might be trapped in the cage he had made, but he was also protected within it. That was enough. Itachi might
have made it into Naruto's head, but he would never get inside his own. Nothing he said mattered because he didn't matter. "You're a dead man."
"For forcing you to face the truth?" Itachi asked curiously. "For endangering your host?" His eyes narrowed and his voice became deadly. "Or for torturing
your mate?"
Kyuubi fought back a shiver as an icy chill bit into him everywhere except along those burning chains. Had he gotten that from Naruto? He must have. Kyuubi
refused to believe his own thoughts were that easily stolen.
"I knew the moment I saw him," Itachi murmured. "He's filthy with your host's energy. Tainted. If you wanted him that badly you should have shed this weak shell
and taken him yourself. What kind of demon shares his chosen mate with another? You are a disgrace to your kind."
"He's not a demon!" Naruto screamed at him. Kyuubi was his fox. They shared everything because they were together through everything. They were meant to
be that way. Kyuubi knew that. He had to. "Don't listen to anything he says, Kyuubi!"
"As if I would," Kyuubi snapped irritably. He didn't need Naruto to remind him who his enemy was. Sasuke was his mate. Itachi would pay for forcing him to see
his mate so broken. "You will die for what you've done to him."
"What I have done?" Itachi tilted his head, giving a slow look from Kyuubi's teeth to his claws. "You're a demon. We both know what you would like to do to him.
He is too weak for the likes of you. His mind would shatter into a million pieces if you were to even attempt it. I could fix that. Let go. Shed those chains and
come with me, and I will give you what you want. He will never know what you do, and you will never have to face having broken him yourself."
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Naruto cried. "He's your own brother!"
"He is my little brother," Itachi said, his eyes holding Kyuubi's. "My foolish little brother, who has allowed himself to be tainted by a mere boy after I have spent
years protecting him from powerful men. He isn't worthy of you. But I will lend him to you if that's what you want the most. All you have to do is let go of your
weakness. Leave this cage behind and come with me."
Kyuubi was silent for so long that Naruto wondered if he were actually tempted. How could he be? Itachi wasn't offering him Sasuke, he was offering use of his
mindless body. Kyuubi had to be as disgusted by that as he was. The man was offering to pimp out his own brother. And for what? "You sick fuck," Naruto
growled. "What the hell do you want with my fox?"
"Are you his?" Itachi asked Kyuubi. "His fox? His pet? You don't have to be." The chains around Kyuubi tightened until his nose was low enough for Itachi to lay
a hand on it. "Will you come to heel for the rest of his life? Or will you let him go and walk free to live a life of your own?"
Kyuubi's eyes narrowed as he felt his resolve weakening. That wasn't him. The man was doing something to him. He had to be. Kyuubi wanted power and
freedom. He wanted Sasuke. But he also wanted Naruto. If he was a demon, then he was a selfish creature who wanted what he wanted and wouldn't settle for
less than everything he wanted. He tensed, fighting whatever the man's touch was doing to him. Then his ears twitched. There was a sound outside of them,
and then the man and the chains that had been holding him vanished. Kyuubi shook himself and rushed over to tear at the chains that were still binding
Naruto's cage.
"What's going on?" asked Naruto.
"Sasuke," Kyuubi growled. That had definitely been a whistle he had heard. This was the only time he would ever be glad to be trapped in that damned energy
shield of his.
Naruto's eyes burned as he thought of how Sasuke had looked. He wiped them quickly. "Do you really think it's him?"
"It could be Kakashi," Kyuubi allowed. He doubted it, though. Kakashi was too afraid of Itachi to get involved in this. "Either way, we have to get these chains
off. If the person who made the shield goes down that bastard will be right back in here."
"Only if he catches our eyes. Forget the chains. I'm fine in here. Make sure our eyes are closed and do that disembodied looking around thing you do. Only do
it so I can see, too."
Kyuubi gave one last painful yank at the chains with his teeth before giving up. He was very disturbed by the fact that they hadn't vanished along with his own.
But Naruto was right. Naruto was safe in the cage. Whoever had saved them wasn't the least bit safe.
.-.
PART 48
.-.
FEEDBACK
FANFICTION INDEX