Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ A Mother's Son ❯ That's Something, Right? ( Chapter 15 )

It was silent. The silence was worrying. Forests are never truly quiet, but as Sasuke sat, half crouched in the underbrush, he could hear nothing. No rustling, no breeze swishing through the trees, just the quiet murmurs coming from the house not twenty meters away. From the windows came the muted light, diffused by the thick curtains. Sasuke watched as the fours shadows crossed the room, talking with each other. He could hear their voices, but couldn't make out any exact words. If the window had been open, he might have heard more, but it stayed firmly shut.

Sasuke had only just figured out which shadow belonged to each of his former teammates. Naruto was the shortest, and he moved around the most. Sakura was the slim figure that was firmly attached to Naruto's side. She had not left him alone all evening. Kakashi was the tall, serene one who spoke most. The neighbor woman was in Daisuke's room, Sasuke knew he wouldn't catch the boy alone anytime soon. He cursed himself for not grabbing his son or Sakura earlier. Now that Naruto was home, Sasuke's carefully laid out and heavily funded transportation plan meant almost nothing. Carting two unconscious people was much harder when being followed by a vengeful boyfriend. This tiny flaw in his plan was what had kept Sasuke from throwing himself though that closed window and taking Sakura by force. Instead, he kept his trained eyes on Daisuke's room, waiting for the moment when he would be left alone.

Unbeknownst to Sasuke, the four adults inside the house had no intention of doing anything of the sort.

“Is he still out there?” Her whisper was anxious, frantic, and her face scrunched with worry when Naruto nodded tersely in reply. Kakashi watched as she tugged at her fingers impatiently. Her eyes kept darting at the closed bedroom door. After a few minutes it became too much and the silver haired man sighed, before speaking.

“Sakura,” he said. “It's fine. He's fine. If Sasuke tries anything, we'll know. Trust me. Sasuke is too smart to try anything now.”

`Do you ever get those moments, those sickening moments, when you know that you've just slapped Fate across the face, and that's She's pissed as all Hell? Well, for me, this was one of those moments.'

The first thing she felt was the deep rumbling that spread from her feet through her whole body. Right away, Sakura knew something was wrong. She looked at Naruto, who was already looking around for the source of the increasing noise and shaking. It was nothing really, if one was used to earthquakes, but Sakura knew that this was no ordinary earthquake. The noise was rising in crescendo and Sakura tried to move toward Daisuke's room. Long seconds passed as she crossed the room. All at once, movements felt like lighting and like moving through molasses. Sakura longed to move faster. As she reached the closed door, if flung open by itself.

Naruto would have been close behind his lover, had he not been caught in the eyes of the Mangekyo Sharingan. He tried to cry out, to call on Kakashi to save him, but aid from his Sensei never came. Naruto felt as if he was falling, and knew he was being put under the spell of the Mangekyo. He tried to struggle, but knew all was lost when he landed with a thud on a dark wooden floor. He looked around, ready to fight, but he was alone, in an unfamiliar place.

“Sakura!” he cried out, knowing that while he was stuck with Itachi, she was facing an unknown danger.

“Do you wish to see?” the voice came from nowhere, and everywhere The deep murmur rumbled through his bones and Naruto had the hardest time convincing himself it was all in his mind. “Do you wish to see what we've done to that whore my brother won't leave alone?”

Naruto snarled, the feral sound surprising himself. The thought of Sakura being hurt by the Uchiha made him want to tear through the dark haired men like paper.

“She screamed…” the voice hissed delightedly. “Begged for mercy…asked for death…” Naruto fought to stand, but an oppressive force kept him down. He looked all around, trying to find the source of the horrible words.

Itachi was nowhere to be found.

`Those moments, when you know exactly what's going to happen next, I hate those as well. When you reach for the doorknob, and already, the door opens, as if it was waiting for you. And what it opens to is the most gruesome scene from your worst nightmare. And you tell yourself: it's all fake, this isn't happening. But it's real. It's so fucking real. As I saw him, crouched over the body of my crying son, it was pretty damn real.

I hate those moments.'

“Shh…” he crooned, looking down at the cringing toddler. The neighbor woman lay dazed on the floor, slumped against the wall, where blood from her lip was splattered. Sasuke looked up as the door swung open, and the pale face of Sakura stared at him. As his hands closed around Daisuke, her face changed from one of terror to one of livid rage. She was ready to kill him right there, Sasuke could tell. Sasuke reached behind his back, pulling a small bag from his pouch. He flung the small bag at the pink haired woman, yelling a command as it soared through the room. He clenched his eyes shut as the blinding flash filled the room, and he heard Sakura hit the floor heavily. He winced at the noise. He knew she was still hurt.

Itachi was taking care of Naruto and Kakashi, so Sasuke moved efficiently, not rushing. He could hear murmured protests from the woman in the corner. He was surprised she was still awake, she looked half dead. Daisuke was unconscious; the flash bomb had done the trick. Sakura was barely conscious; her half opened eyes looked at him hopelessly, as if condemning him.

He pulled her up, over his shoulder. She hung across him easily and Sasuke took Daisuke in his other arm. He didn't bother with the window, he instead walked into the next room where his brother stood, eyes locked with Naruto. Immediately, Sasuke's eyes swept the floor, finding the source of all the blood splashed across the cabinets.

Kakashi lay, kunai in his shoulder, his eyes glassy and unseeing. He still breathed, and Sasuke sighed an unconscious sigh of relief. Among other things, he did not want the weight of his Sensei's death on him. He looked at his brother.

“Brother. We're going.” Sasuke said sharply. He did not envy Naruto right now. Itachi was very fond of the Mangekyo Sharingan, and used it as much as he could.

“No.” Itachi didn't break eye contact with Naruto. “I'll be just a little longer.” His voice was cool, nearly icy, but Sasuke could tell that the older man was pleased. He knew better than to argue, so he said nothing, taking Sasuke and Daisuke out the front door.

He could see it, see it all. How they used her, tore through her body, again, and again, made her beg for a quick death. Tears had longs stopped running down his cheeks; he was out of salt to spill. Naruto lay on the ground, the scene before him crippling his any reaction. His face was twisted in an anguished grimace.

“Sakura, no, please…” he whispered, his voice husky.

“She can't hear you…” the voice said again. Naruto tried to block him out. “It's too late for her. She'll cooperate, or she'll die. She knows that we'll kill the boy too…”

“No!”

His disgust at the idea of Daisuke's death caused Naruto's voice to rise unexpectedly. What was expected to be a croak came out a scream. Naruto tried to stand, tried to move to help the image Sakura, who was struggling against Sasuke.

“It's no use!” Itachi snarled in his mind. “Give up. There's nothing left for you. She's gone. Your son: gone. All that you once loved in them has shriveled and died.”

A stream on determination sped through Naruto's body. He fought against the cruel weight on his shoulders, finally shuddering to a stand. He looked on at the wavering image before him. He could tell Itachi was starting to lose power; the Mangekyo used a lot of chakra. “No.” he said firmly. “No!” he said again, louder. “I won't give up! I won't let them die! This will never happen to them!”

Feeling the heat rush through his veins, Naruto knew that it was only a matter of time before Kyuubi made an appearance. His temper was flaring; soon, he would loose control.

“I will not let you hurt them!” he said again, teeth clenching. The room around him wavered as his chakra began to rise. He could see the walls of his kitchen slightly through the dark images before him. The room around him was fading rapidly, and now, Naruto could see Itachi where Sasuke and Sakura had been.

Itachi looked dazed, and shook his head, effectively breaking the last of the illusion. Naruto growled. “Itachi!” He moved forward one step before the wind was knocked from him. He fell to the ground, exhausted. He could not even stand. He watched Itachi stare at him in amazement. The cloaked man backed out of the house silently, his eyes, now a slate grey, never leaving his. Naruto had the urge to laugh. He felt a vindictive pleasure in knowing that he had worn Itachi out so thoroughly that even the Sharingan was too much for him.

`When I turned fourteen, Naruto and I decided that my birthday present to myself would be a line of pranks on our teammates. To Kakashi, we put green dye in his shampoo, which took forever, because he always seemed to know where we were. And Sasuke, well, we paid Konohamaru to follow him around and annoy him for a week. The poor kid didn't last more than three days before Sasuke knocked him unconscious.

Anyway, my point is that no matter how close me and Sasuke got, no matter how much I loved him, Naruto was my best friend. He was the guy I was myself most around. With him, the voice that lives inside my head was the voice that actually came out. I felt more at home with him just eating junk food in my basement than I ever did when me and Sasuke made love.

So, that's something, right?'