The Art of Patience

The Art of Patience Ch. 15 – Healing

A/N: Like with the other fic. I’m sorry about the delay. Comic-con took up all our time. And now we have yaoi-con to prepare for so the submissions are going to be a bit slow for a bit…sorry guys.

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Naruto fumed in near silence over the potential almost kidnapping of Itachi and potentially Sasuke. As their Dom, he should have been more careful with their leashes and wellbeing than he had been even though the appearance of his old Master had unnerved him. "That is the last time I take any either of you to that house, ever! Between that stupid old man and your uncle, I almost lost you both! Never again, no more parties until I own both of you for good!" The blond continued his possessive rant all the way to his apartment and parked in an end spot somewhat close to Kiba's before killing the engine.

Sasuke lifted his head up as he heard his Master say he wanted to own them both. That meant he had at least a chance and that his Master was thinking about keeping him too. He relaxed a bit at the blonde's words, vowing that when they got to Naruto's apartment he was going to show the man how much he was loved.

Itachi shifted a bit in his seat. He felt extremely dirty from being touched like he had and he just wanted to get out of his damn clothes and take a shower before getting into a bed where he could sleep. He vaguely felt the handle of the scalpel in his hand that he managed to hide from his Master, which wasn't that hard. He was a bit nervous about what he was planning and how his Master would react. Hopefully it would be a good reaction.

"Alright, let’s go in before anyone sees us." The blond Dom took a deep breath and opened his door. The night was calm and relatively cool, with next to no clouds to hide the stars in the velvety black sky. If only his thoughts were like that. After what had happened, Naruto would be lucky to get any sleep with how wound up he was. Going to Madara's party had been the biggest mistake of his life. If Kiba wasn't able to work his special brand of magic then the cops would be here before breakfast tomorrow with warrants for his arrest. What a night.

Sasuke and Itachi followed their Master up the stairs and into the blonde's apartment. A small ball of fluff bounded its way toward the three and wagged his tail happily as he jumped up on Naruto, wanting to be greeted.

No one noticed Sasuke's hesitation at the dog's presence and he opted to stay behind his brother since Akamaru seemed like he was too focused on Naruto to pay attention to anyone else.

Naruto smiled broadly and squatted to scratch Akimaru into doing that leg thing all dogs did. The little ball of fur shook his leg so fiercely at being scratched on the neck behind his ears that he had to lean against the tanned man’s hands to not fall over on his side. The pup almost purred and grunted at the same time in appreciation of the attention before turning to see who the new scents belonged to behind his best scratching friend. "Hey there you little nut." Naruto talked affectionately to the dog before turning to look at his two subs. They'd never really seen his place before and it wasn't nearly as nice as their condo "Don’t mind Akamaru, he's harmless. The bathroom’s down that hall, first door on the right and straight down is my room. Don’t mind the mess; it's a work in progress."

Itachi turned to Sasuke and leaned in toward his brother. "You go take a shower first. I need to be alone with him for a minute."

Sasuke gave Itachi a confused look before shrugging and looking toward Naruto. "Master, is it alright if I take a shower?" He asked quietly, still a bit apprehensive from the abuse he suffered earlier in the evening.

"Yeah go ahead. I think I left that luffa sponge thing there if you want to use it. It looks like bread to me though. Princess you can do whatever until the bathroom's open." The blond ignored the faint scratching on his leg from Akamaru begging for more scratches and walked down the hall toward his room while taking his sweaty silk shirt off. Well that shirt would have to be washed before it was worn again.

Itachi looked around Naruto's messy room and cringed internally; it was quite a mess. He cast his eyes from the cluttered closet left half open to the bed. It was big enough for two people, maybe three, with mussed up sheets and two pillows covered with some brightly colored fabric. "Master, M…May I ask you something?"

Naruto was in the process of shimmying out of his leather pants when he heard Itachi's question. He turned around, pants around his thighs with nothing underneath. He blinked a few times as he didn't expect the older man to say anything. "Sure...what's going on?"

Itachi looked at his masters newly revealed loins and did his best not to stare adoringly at them. Naruto had nearly killed tonight, he could feel that much, and whatever it was that let him do that needed to be healed somehow. Itachi shifted his weight from foot to foot as he held the stolen tool against his gloved arm; his Master might not like what was coming. "Master, what made you want to attack Madara so fiercely? I know he had me by the ass but you or Kiba could have simply knocked him out."

The blond looked up sharply, not expecting that question at all. He sat down on his bed and peeled the pants the rest of the way off harshly. "Sit." was all he said, knowing that Itachi would know what to do.

Itachi quickly walked over to the bed and sat in front of his Dom like any obedient sub would; feet under his ass, knees slightly apart, eyes downcast with his hands in his lap; waiting for his Master’s next order. In the beginning, this position had been hard on the older man’s knees but now it came easily without any kind of hesitation from discomfort.

Naruto looked down at his obedient sub and the anger lessened a bit. How could he be mad at his beautiful Princess? He ran his fingers through Itachi's hair gently and leaned down to kiss the top of his head. "You know why... I don't like anyone touching what's mine." The last part came out fierce and he lifted Itachi's head by his hair to deliver an overpowering possessive kiss. Pulling back after only a few seconds, the blond panted as he smoothed his hand down Itachi's cheek. "I thought you would have known that by now Princess." His tone was almost sad as he said the last statement.

Itachi reeled from the power of his Master’s kisses and it was only his flawlessly good posture that he kept from falling over in his kneeled position, no one could kiss like Naruto could. "It’s because of him. He made you this way, your former master. He looked so cruel at the end. I can see why you're still hurting." Itachi leaned over just enough to get the sharp silver blade form under his shin and offer it to his brooding Master like a token of his love. "Maybe it's time to make the pain go away, even if it's just a little."

Naruto looked down, seeing a glint of silver. His eyes opened impossibly wide as he carefully reached out for the object of his torment. Holding it in front of his face, he felt a twinge of fear at holding it and seeing it again. "Where did you get this?" he asked almost mystically as he continued to stare at it.

"I've been holding onto it since your friend hit your old master. Since then I’ve been holding it for you as a way to maybe help you. After seeing you nearly lose control I thought it would make you feel better to destroy something that hurt you so much in the past." Itachi kept his head bowed and tried to figure out what his Master was thinking simply form his body language, which was hard because all he could see was Naruto’s smooth legs and bare feet.

Naruto continued to stare at the shiny scalpel. Obviously it had been taken care of very well and meticulously. He felt his eyes start to itch and his chest get really tight. He didn't want to cry, especially in front of Itachi, he had to be strong. But no matter how much he thought that, the tears still started to slide down his scarred cheeks. "Come up here Itachi." he said softly, using the older man's name to show how much he was being affected by this.

Itachi felt a shiver go down his spine at the mention of his mane and the scarlet clad sup gratefully sat on the bed next to Naruto and tried to ooze comfort and understanding from his every pore. The man could tell that his young Master was trying to stay strong despite everything, but sometimes it was just better to let all those 'weak' emotions out and to cleanse one’s soul from time to time. Naruto probably hadn't allowed himself to do that in a long time, if ever.

Naruto immediately wrapped his arms around the long haired sub, burying his face into the other's shoulder. "Thank you. This means so much to me you have no idea." he said even though Naruto thought it probably sounded muffled to Itachi. "You are just amazing..." he trailed off there, his younger sub coming to mind. He pulled back and looked at Itachi, eyes still brimming with tears. "I love you so much. There's something that I want to give you tomorrow. But I've hurt Sasuke tonight, more than once and I think it's only fair that I have some time with him alone." He was planning on doing that anyway, but telling Itachi that made him feel horrible for some reason. But he knew that Itachi would gladly step aside for Sasuke.

"I understand. He would certainly appreciate the attention from you." Itachi pressed his lips against Naruto's forehead and let the blond man sit up to wipe the tears from his eyes before leaving to take care of Sasuke's injuries. Naruto was everything Itachi could have hoped for in a master; kind, loving and devoted to those under his care. It was more than cruel that he'd been forced into servitude with that snake of a human being from the party. He quickly changed into one of Naruto’s tee-shirts, figuring his Master wouldn’t mind, and headed for the living room to keep the cute little white fluff ball company until his Master came to get him.

TBC

Sorry for the short chapter. I wanted to cut this and Sasuke’s tie alone with Naruto in half. It was going to be one long chapter, but I figured that separating each instance with each sub would be better. So next chapter will be up shortly. I’ll be editing it right after I post this.