It's Always Been Us All

I’ll Love You More Than Anything—


Sasuke was brought out of the sleeping world with the feel of cold water splashing his face, “What the hell…?” He growled as he glared up at the white haired sannin who was currently smirking triumphantly.

“I tried shaking you… I tried kicking you… Hell I even tried yelling. Did you know you’re as still as a rock when asleep? You’re a pain in the ass too; you almost stabbed me with that damned kunai of yours without even knowing it!” Jiraiya shook his hands about, making a show for the young and angry Uchiha.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’d succeed if I tried to do it now though,” Sasuke muttered annoyingly.

“I’m going to go ahead; follow me in two hours time.”

“Two hours?” Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

“Two hours. I’ll send you a frog if something is off,” Jiraiya whistled happily and then took off.

Sasuke sighed; he was calmer than what he would have expected considering the love of his life was in danger of dying at the hands of the man who had ruined his entire life…

Love of my life?

Since when did he think of Naruto as the love of his life? And where did this put Sakura…? I have to be losing my mind. But then again, that would explain everything. It would explain the tight feeling in his chest that he got at the thought of losing his dobe, and it would definitely explain why he hated Ako so damned much.

I’m jealous… jealous of a woman.

Sasuke shook his head slightly, trying to organize his thoughts in a way that didn’t seem completely unreasonable or absurd. When had he fallen for the dobe anyway? It was more than sexual attraction. Naruto was handsome, he had beautiful eyes, he had soft skin, and he had a nice body… but it was still more than that. Naruto had actually won over his heart. He supposed he had loved the blonde for a while now, but it was just now that he fully acknowledged the idea of actually being with him.

The more he thought of it, the more he realized how scared he actually was. How could it be that he was only now realizing exactly how much Naruto meant to him? He’d been such a jackass.

He had to tell Naruto, that much he knew for certain. But what would Sakura think or say? Why did everything have to be so fucking twisted for him? He couldn’t just dump Sakura for the blonde; he’d be making the exact same mistake. He loved Sakura just as much; so that made him bisexual? Pffh, this is all Itachi’s fault!

It always came down to his brother; the bastard. He knew it was only an excuse to take the blame off himself, but he didn’t know what else to do. After all, it really was Itachi’s fault that he grew up being so twisted and fucked in the head.

Honestly, what kind of man can’t decide who he wants to be with?

I want them both…

And yet the realization did nothing to calm the ache in his heart. He knew they would never agree to this twisted form of a relationship he was already creating in his mind. Naruto would probably be disgusted at the mere thought of sharing a bed with him, and Sakura would probably freak.

“Hello Sasuke.”

The chilling voice broke through his thoughts, and his entire body went tense immediately… how could he have not sensed him?!

“Your power seems to decrease each time I see you, outoto”

“Itachi,” Sasuke hissed the name, turning his body slightly to the pale face that had haunted his dreams so many nights before, “Why are you here?” He fought back the urge to simply attack Itachi; he knew it’d be useless… it was always useless.

Itachi stared silently at him and it seemed as if the world Sasuke knew was crumbling before his very eyes; memories of that one night many years ago flashed through his mind; almost suffocating him… “What do you want?!” He yelled desperately, he didn’t want to be near the man that had taken away his childhood and now wanted to take away his Naruto.

“You’re distracted…” Itachi’s eyes narrowed as he took a few steps towards Sasuke.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the statement; Itachi always did hate it when his full attention wasn’t on him, though he could never come up with a good explanation as to why. Itachi was the type of person that didn’t like to be noticed… ever, “Fuck you.”

“Could it be a certain blonde that has you so distracted, outoto?” Itachi’s smug look was enough to trigger that last point in Sasuke that had him on his feet in less than 5 seconds, running towards his anaki with nothing but the intent to kill.

“You bastard! I swear I’ll kill you if you hurt him!” Sasuke aimed for his brother’s abdomen; Itachi blocked the attack with ease; taking a hold of Sasuke’s arm and twisting it harshly. Sasuke screamed and tried to kick out, but Itachi seemed to have twisted his entire body in a way to where he couldn’t reach his anaki with any real attacks.

“Sasuke… why are you always such a disappointment?”

No matter how many times Itachi told him the same thing over and over again; those words always seemed to hurt Sasuke like a thousand knives embedded in his chest, and each time it was worse.

Itachi landed a blow on his stomach and sent Sasuke flying a few feet away from him; Sasuke bounced off a tree and landed on his back. “What do you want?” Sasuke asked, glaring up at the man he hated most in the world… he would give anything for the chance to kill him. And it was times like these where he wished he was stronger.

Itachi said nothing as he stared down in poorly disguised disgust at Sasuke, and the younger Uchiha knew that his anaki wasn’t about to give him an answer. He stood from the floor and quickly noted what condition his body was in; Itachi hadn’t hit hard enough so he couldn’t fight anymore; but he probably wouldn’t be so merciful if he tried to attack again. He idly considered the thought of actually running away, but quickly dismissed that idea. He was an Uchiha; he didn’t fear anything; he was no coward; and he didn’t run from his problems even if he was. “I’m going to kill you, you know.”

Itachi got this look of amusement in his eyes that made Sasuke want to snort. His brother never took anything he said seriously… “Give Naruto back to me.” The look of amusement Itachi was wearing seemed to intensify ten-fold.

“The kyuubi will die, little brother,” Itachi watched him intensely, a smirk beginning to form on the corners of his lips.

“Bastard, I won’t let you hurt him!” Sasuke ran towards his brother once again, a kunai in both hands, Sharingan calculating every move Itachi would make. The problem was that Itachi wasn’t moving, he was just standing there… looking bored. Sasuke zig-zagged his way towards his brother, he felt the beat of his heart heighten up, almost as if though it wanted to pop out… and then Itachi was gone.

Sasuke came to a halt and looked at his surroundings, trying to decipher where his brother had hidden himself… he had no time to do it though because just as suddenly as Itachi had disappeared, he reappeared before him and sliced his cheek with a sharp kunai… “Ahhhhh!” Sasuke yelled. His hands immediately went to cradle the almost deadly cut; Itachi could have killed him! He didn’t really get all the time he would have liked to cradle his wound though, because Itachi took that opportunity of weakness to push him up against a tree.

“Now little brother… What would father think if he knew his precious son was in love with the demon that almost destroyed his village?” Itachi whispered into his ear, his hand holding the blood stained kunai against his neck, “Is that it outoto, are you in love?”

The dark voice made Sasuke shiver as his brother’s tongue snaked out to lick his ear… “What the hell are you talking about, anaki?” Sasuke couldn’t even begin to imagine what would happen if his brother found out of his feelings towards Naruto. He was pretty darn sure he wouldn’t maintain all his body parts if he his little secret got out though, “Of course I don’t like Naruto like that… The dobe is a useful adversary to keep around…” Sasuke closed his eyes tightly and tried to keep still as the kunai dug into his neck painfully, his brother’s hand snaking down to painfully grip at his hip.

“Do not lie to me,” Itachi hissed out, and it sounded almost as if though he growled, but Sasuke dismissed the thought immediately. “It doesn’t matter though… and I guess I should probably let you know that Naruto-kun is a great partner in bed.”

Sasuke tensed at those words; the kunai drove into his neck deeper; his breath stopped, and he opened his eyes to stare at his brother’s flaring Sharingan. Itachi’s eyes were cold; Sasuke could recognized the anger in them, “Let-m-ee—go,” he cracked— it was damned painful talking with a kunai halfway through your neck!

Itachi studied him a few more moment; then he frowned, “I think I’ll like you better asleep, Outoto.” He took the kunai out of his neck, and smirking, he knocked Sasuke into a world of darkness. He took off into the forest with the limp body of his brother lying unconsciously against his back; his perfect body swaying easily with the wind.

-----------------------

Sasuke awoke to the sound of dripping…

Drip…drip…drip…drip…drip…

Fluttering open his black eyes, he moaned slightly as his body was surprisingly tense. His mind went into haze as he realized that he was no longer in the forest; Jiraiya wasn’t around, and he was in a cell.

Itachi…

He groaned as he tried to move his head; his hand shot up at the pain that ran from his neck down to his chest… Damned bastard. How was it that he always managed to put himself in such dilemmas anyway? Naruto was going to kill him.

He wondered how his blonde was doing; he wondered what condition the Akatsuki had him in. Jiraiya had said he was still alive, and Sasuke had been hanging onto those words as if though they were a life-stream; because Naruto had to be alive. Itachi had said his blonde would die, but he wasn’t dead yet, and that’s all he needed. Next time he saw his bastard brother he would break free from this cell and rescue his blonde and take him to freedom. So in the end he figured that it was all for good that Itachi had captured him. His brother had gotten him into the Akatsuki’s hideout without him having to break a sweat… well, okay so maybe he got a kunai in his neck because of it, but that was beside the point. The only problem was that now he needed a plan… He needed a way to get out.

Taking a few deep breaths, Sasuke summoned chakra to his left hand; he smirked when he realized that his anaki hadn’t used a chakra suppressor. He looked up at the bars and wondered if they had a jutsu, they certainly looked normal enough. But then the last time he had thought that same thing he had gotten shocked from head to toe and hadn’t woken up for a whole day. He looked around the cell once more, but there was nothing small enough that he could try to throw threw the bars. The room was plain; hard bed; a sink and a rag. For what purpose the rag was there, he had no clue…

So he needed to weigh his options. Was it worth it to get fried if it turned out that his brother had used some sort of jutsu? Or should he just sit around and wait for someone to come. He stared silently for a few minutes; when his eyes caught sight of the rag once more, he suddenly had an idea. He snorted to himself because as un-genius as it was, it would definitely work. He grabbed the rag and tore it in half, crumpled it until it was a ball, and used a bit of chakra to burn it so that it would stay in place. He looked up at the bars and smirked, threw the rag ball, and watched as it easily went threw the slick bars.

Okay so that was odd, his anaki had been stupid enough to not put any seals up to prevent his escape… that meant that he could easily knock down the bars? He walked up to the metal bars and slowly raised a hand to touch, cautious that his brother might be playing a trick on him, like always. Surprised that his hand didn’t get electrocuted, he weighed his options again, because he knew something was up… This was way to easy. Sasuke realized that even though his brother might be trying to trap him, this was also the only chance he might get to escape…

So it was decided; the young Uchiha concentrated on summoning a mild chidori, and with a sense-of-humor he pretended the bars were his brother and shocked the damned metal things to the floor. The explosion wasn’t even that loud… because the bars were made of dirt. What the fuck? He didn’t have much time to contemplate on the bars because he could faintly hear voices, and he really didn’t want to find out who they belonged to.

He walked aimlessly through the stone halls. Since he’d escaped his cell, he hadn’t heard or seen a single sign of life, and he was starting to wonder if maybe he had made a mistake in escaping at all. After all he could have just forced his brother to make him give Naruto back, right? He saw some pretty weird things though, although he hadn’t seen signs of living beings, he’d seen snakes and he’d seen spiders the size of eddo… made him wonder if perhaps Orochimaru was still around.

Twenty minutes of more wandering and Sasuke found a large door covered in layers of dirt with a large metal handle; and everything turned darker. The atmosphere around him suddenly changed and he knew that beyond the door he would find death. He swallowed meekly and grabbed the large handle and pulled back. The door opened easily than he had expected it to, but the dirt fell all over him and he couldn’t help but cough. Oh kami… Sasuke fought the urge to cover his nose as an awful smell invaded his nostrils.

He walked forward slowly and his eyes widened at what he saw. Cells and cells filled with halfway dead prisoners, animals, and demons. He swallowed as a feeling of despair suddenly welled deep in his stomach… Could it be that Naruto was in there too? He walked faster and faster, giving each prisoner a few seconds before moving on, desperately searching for blonde hair and blue eyes, but all he found was skeletons.

“…Sasuke?”

Sasuke spun around faster than lightning, meeting with pale non-existent eyes… “Neji?” Realizing that it was the Hyuuga, Sasuke ran up to the boys cell and noticed a big lump in the corner…was that… “Lee?”

Neji looked at him for a few minutes before nodding in confirmation; Sasuke’s gaze lingered a few moments on Lee before returning back to Neji, “Is Naruto here?” God he hoped not.

“Naruto?” Neji’s surprise lasted no longer than a second, “No.”

Sasuke nodded and summoned his chidori once again, but this time the bars were not made of dirt, and he found himself having to use more force. Once the bars were down, he went over to Lee’s unmoving figure. “What happened to him?”

“A crazy blonde decided he didn’t like him… little freak had mouths in his hands,” Neji walked over to Lee and picked him up easily, “and I don’t either.”

“Listen, you have to get out of here, can you deal with Lee on your own?” Sasuke looked back at the door he had left wide open; it wouldn’t be long before someone caught them and he knew that with three of them, and one not being able to walk, it’d definitely be harder to get out unnoticed… and he still had to find his dobe, “I need to find Naruto.”

“I don’t know my way around, and I have chakra suppressors,” Neji looked down at his feet and Sasuke’s eyes followed, “They’re dug in.”

They were made of metal and Sasuke noticed the dried blood around Neji’s ankles. “I can pull them out, but then you won’t be able to walk…” Sasuke said slowly. So they had a problem, Neji was weak, and if he pulled out the metal ankle cuffs, he would more likely be limping— it’d slow him down immensely. “I have to find Naruto,” He repeated again.

“We can leave Lee here and I’ll go with you; we’ll split up and cover more ground; If I get caught at least Lee wont be a burden on me; if we haven’t found him in an hour, we meet back here, pick up Lee, and leave… we’ll have to wait for reinforcements.”

“Reinforcements won’t come for another three days, Jiraiya should be here then, but I can’t leave Naruto in here for that long, not with my bastard brother.” He couldn’t meet Neji’s eyes; he didn’t care that he was being selfish… but he couldn’t leave his blonde here.

“Okay then, we’ll find him,” Neji slowly walked over to the far wall of the cell and gently put Lee down, “let’s go.”


---------End Chapter----------


AN: Hey guys! Merry Christmas! Okay so the majority of reviews I got last chapter wanted a bit of Itachi/Naruto smut… but I couldn’t do it in this chapter because I wasn’t ready. I might do it in next chapter though, since you guys are so wonderful… I just hope I don’t ruin it. Anyways… so did you guys like the chapter? I know I’ve taken forever to update… But I’m on break from school, so I had time to write! Review!