Cut Your Eyes

Thank you to: Mija, Sailor Kismet, lo, Yuri, Sango Star, Anon, MindReader, LindyStar, Kaggy4ever, macy, zanax, Jelp, Kimra, Mina,The Simi, Prism0467, Sneaky Fox, and Skittles are my drug of choice!
Zanax: Yes, but I'm not telling!
MindReader: It's prison slang, I explained it in my first intro.

You Guys Rock! When I say comments fuel my interest I really do mean it, so....Chapter two inspired by comments,Relient K 'hope for every fallen man'...it's not quite as nice as it sounds...and Billy Talent 'Burn the Evidence'


PLEASE READ THIS!!!!HERE IS WHERE I EXPLAIN SOME THINGS!!!
First off- this sasuke and this Itachi are not the highly disturbed couple from the manga. Itachi has not killed everyone Sasuke has loved and Sasuke isn't mindlessly power driven. They live in a world with medication and psychiatrists!I depict their relationship as it would have been without the massacre.

Secondly-There will be flashbacks in this story but they are few and far between and only meant to drag the reader towards a more emotional ending. It works, I swear, and it's not incredibly cheesy!I Make sure to give you a time span, and all of it is based around the day Naruto goes free.
*So, six moths earlier means six months before naruto was realease and three years later means three years after Naruto's release date*. Just trying to make this clear because otherwise flashback stories are annoying as hell.

Six Months Earlier


Sasuke was happily puttering through his house when the doorbell rang so he did not immediately register the incongruity of what he was seeing until his guest smiled.
That was when the panic kicked in.

He grabbed Naruto by the shoulder and dragged him in as soon as possible, pushing him into the wall as he checked the street outside. None of the neighbors where out, it was far too late for that, but every so often someone would walk their dog through the neighborhood or drive slowly by as they gazed at the architectural beauty of the lane. Sasuke had never lived in the poor part of town so he didn’t begrudge the daydreamers in their beat-up economy cars…but on this night that would spell nothing but disaster.

“Calm down, I checked. No on saw me.” Naruto’s voice was surprisingly loud, even over the soft swell of music in the background.

Sasuke slammed the door shut and locked it with a hard twist before dashing into the front room to pull the curtains over every window. He went to the kitchen locked the back door and shoved a chair under the handle, adrenalin making his movements rough as Naruto leaned casually in the doorway, watching with fascination.

“I don’t know how you got here,” Sasuke hissed in a whisper, “but you’re going back this second before someone misses you, you stupid, stupid idiot.”

Naruto rolled his eyes, “After you did such a good job of locking me in?” He grinned and stepped closer, “That would be a waste. Anyways, I’m covered at least till morning, but that’s not a problem.”

Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut and tried to stop hyperventilating. “Why is that not a problem?”

“Well,” Naruto’s hands settled on Sasuke’s shoulders and began to rub, “Because we’re going to run away together. Now that I’m out I’m not going back in, you can believe that for sure.”

Sasuke groaned and wrenched himself away to stand in the middle of the front room where he could pace and think and try not to scream at the moron he just happened to love.

“No, no.” He snapped, grabbing the bridge of his nose. “We’re going back now. You’re going back to your cell. Goddamnit, Naruto, if you get caught-”

“But I’m not going to get caught,” Naruto grabbed him by the shoulders and held him in place, staring down with intent, and utterly serious blue eyes. “I’ve got it all planned out with Haku. He can get us out, anywhere we want to go. We can disappear and-”

Sasuke pulled his fist back and punched the blonde in the jaw hard enough that he collapsed into the couch. The look on Naruto’s face was horrible, and even through his confusion, his growing anger, Sasuke was consumed with regret.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” He whispered, “but damn it, Naruto. Fuck. FUCK. Just sit there-”

He managed a quick retreat to the kitchen where he pulled out a bag of frozen peas and ran back to the front room. Naruto was glaring but he let Sasuke hold the bag up to his face, let Sasuke’s other hand slip over the curve of his cheek, let it thread through his messy hair as Sasuke pushed their foreheads together.

“You have officially scared the shit out of me.” Sasuke whispered, slipping his hand down to Naruto’s neck, “You have to go back. Your appeal hearing is in two weeks and if they add attempt to escape to your sentence…”

Sasuke really didn’t have to say anything else.

“They’re not going to release me.” Naruto said, and his voice was more even, confident than Sasuke had ever heard. His eyes were hard, his resolve sharp. “And I’m not going to spend another day in that shithole when I could be with you. I took my chance, my only chance, and now we’re going to leave before anyone figures it out.”

“And when Haku gets found out?” Naruto might be resolved but Sasuke would not be moved, not in this, “Being an accomplice is no little thing, he’d do jail time for sure. Ten, fifteen years…and you know what happens to pretty boys who don’t have backup, don’t you?”

Naruto paled and that sharp resolve dulled under Sasuke’s gaze. He opened his mouth but Sasuke cut him off.

“And if we just happen to get caught?” Sasuke gave a gentle tug to Naruto’s hair. “I’m sure we’d end up in different prisons, sending letters back and forth…wouldn’t that be great? And I’m sure the other inmates would just love the fact that I’m one of the people who kept them locked up.”

Naruto’s eyes hardened and he pulled away from Sasuke’s touch.

“So that’s it, you’re just scared for yourself.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Sasuke flushed, because, yes, that was partly true. “That’s just part of the reason-”

“If you care about me at all,” Naruto’s eyes were wet, “we’ll walk right out that door in ten minutes and never look back.”

Sasuke ground his teeth, remembering suddenly why he and his father hated each other with a passion. Sasuke had never learned to bow to emotional blackmail, and he certainly wasn’t about to start now. Not when there was a life at stake.

“And for how long?” Sasuke whispered back, letting his tone reveal the fine, warm rage, “A year, five years, a month, a day? What is the measure of your capacity to love? I want forever. You want whatever you can snatch the quickest…like some petty dollar-store thief.”

Naruto’s face whitened and his mouth opened, but Sasuke pressed on. Despite his hatred of being manipulated Sasuke certainly wasn’t above using words to get his own way, especially when he knew he was right. Naruto’s harebrained scheme could only spell disaster for them both.

“Am I not worth a little labor? A little faith, Naruto?”

“Aren’t *I* ?” Naruto shot back, tears filling and then spilling from his eyes. “I thought you *loved* me, Sasuke.”

“Naruto-”

“But you don’t, do you?” Naruto stood and pushed him away, “You’re just another big talker, looking for a piece-”

“Naruto-” Sasuke grabbed onto his shoulder and held tight, “Don’t, it’s not-”

“-of prison *meat*,” Naruto was looking at him, angry, brilliant, “I should have listened to Kankuro, I should have-”

“Don’t.” Sasuke shifted his hands from his shoulders to his head, threading his fingers through wild blonde hair, “Don’t say-”

“-fuck you, Sasuke,” Naruto’s hands fisted in Sasuke’s shirt and pulled. “You can go-”

“Don’t,” Sasuke kissed him, stole the anger away in a breath, “I do. I -”

“You-” Naruto’s hands, were rough, hurt, but his expression turned soft and he shuddered and exhaled tremulously, his cheeks flushing. Sasuke kissed him again and despite himself, his fears, it turned dangerous as Naruto pulled his shirt out of his waistband.

The banked fire, so carefully tended, twisted into a blaze as anger and fear turned into what Sasuke had been trying so hard to keep at bay. He pushed Naruto down into the couch without a single thought about what was wrong and right or what danger it might bring to them both, and Naruto immediately made room, wrapping his legs around Sasuke’s hips.

Like that, wrapped around each other, Sasuke had to wonder why he ever thought Naruto was soft. His body was muscled and hard, his hands were grasping, leaving bruises on Sasuke’s back, and his teeth were sharp when Sasuke kissed his mouth and thrust helplessly as Naruto threw his head back and groaned.

The only thing that made Naruto soft was the look in his eyes as he begged, please, please, please.

Sasuke paused for a moment as Naruto’s voice brought him back to himself just enough to realize what they were doing , that he was human, that there was a reason he was out of control and desperate.

Sasuke stilled and pressed his lips against the slope of Naruto’s cheekbone, drawing dry, closed-mouth kisses against Naruto’s scars, to his lips, to where he could mouth the fleshy part of Naruto’s ear, suck and nip until Naruto shuddered and calmed, his hands flattening from fists to palms Sasuke’s nape.

“I love you,” Sasuke whispered softly enough that he could barely hear the confession for himself. “I do.”

He said it so quietly it was almost still a secret, but Naruto choked out a breath and started crying and Sasuke closed his eyes, pulled him closer, and knew it was true.

Sasuke kissed Naruto again, deep and searching, sending shivers down his back.

Sasuke kissed Naruto, told him he still had to go back to the prison, and then pulled Naruto’s sweater over his shoulders.


**** THREE YEARS LATER


“Oh, good god.” Kisame took one look inside the room and turned around again, “Take me back before I have to *kill* myself.”

Sasuke smiled and waved the guard away, saying, “Now, now. It’s not so bad as that.”

“I want my *lawyer*.” Kisame sat and the table shook hard enough that Sasuke had to rescue his cup of coffee which, if he could tell from the look on Kisame’s face, was pretty much the point.

“Itachi’s having an early luncheon with my father.” Sasuke took a sip and set the cup back down, “And he always turns his cell off when he goes. He has a crush on the hostess.”

“Bullshit.” Kisame scowled, “And isn’t this some kind of…fucking…damn-”

“Conflict of Interest?” Sasuke opened the file in front of him, “Not really. We’ve always been very competitive. That’s why I decided not to join the company. Itachi is the best at what he does.”

Sasuke slid the first page forward and Kisame paled.

“Now, what *I* do…,” Sasuke put a pen down next to Kisame’s hand, “I suppose you have to decide who’s better, don’t you?”

Kisame sighed and leaned back, staring at the cold concrete of the ceiling.

“Look…I didn’t know he had a heart condition or I never would have-”

“I know that.” Sasuke interrupted quietly, “but you *did* and now you have to step up and take responsibility, Kisame.”

Kisame raised an eyebrow, “First name basis, eh? You’re not getting frisky with me, are you warden?”

Sasuke clenched his jaw and did not lose his temper.

“This offer ends in ten…nine…eight-”

Kisame picked up and signed the paper in a raucous scrawl that took up half of the page.

“Asshole.” He muttered, bouncing the bic off of the far wall. “Fucking jerk.”

“Don’t hold back,” Sasuke smirked, “Tell me how you really feel.”

“You can go *straight* to hell.” Kisame stood up and pounded on the locked door, “*God* *damn* *Uchihas*.”

“You can send the thank you note to my office.” Sasuke filed away the paper, doing his best not to take the cursing personally. It wasn’t murder but manslaughter wasn’t anything to laugh at.

Still, a regular con like Kisame knew when to cut and run, fancy lawyer at his side or no, but he was right…

Itachi was going to be furious.

***


“Warden.” Gaara walked into the room like he owned it, as if the cuffs on his wrists were his preferred jewelry and his scrubs his preferred garb. When he took the seat it was with that same odd grace that had spelled the end for nearly three people, the fourth just barely holding on in the prison hospital.

“Gaara. It’s ADA Uchiha, now.” Sasuke nodded and put the pen in his hand out of grabbing distance. “Your lawyer said you’d like to talk.”

The lawyer in question was still outside, hovering in the doorway like a frightened rabbit.

“I want a deal.” Gaara said after a long, silent moment. Sasuke bit the inside of his cheek.

“Gaara, we have you on tape. The camera in the hallway wasn’t working but the one in the infirmary caught the whole thing on the reflection in the glass.” Sasuke almost shrugged, “I’m not authorized to make a deal when it’s and open-closed case.”
Gaara blinked.

“Naruto writes me weekly.” Gaara blinked again, “On Sundays.”

The room seemed to get colder, and Sasuke had to look away for a moment to push the sudden despair out of his mind long enough to do his job. When he looked back up Gaara was still staring, waiting. He leaned backwards in his chair and his eyes dipped into a lazy stare.

“I gave you an order.” Gaara’s voice was quiet, but not a whisper. Sasuke’s eyes fluttered back down to the scarred table, the dips and curves, the jagged, deep lines smoothed by time.

It wouldn’t be the first time this room heard a confession, but it might be the last time for Sasuke, and oddly enough his mind rebelled at the idea. It had taken three long years but…free life agreed with Sasuke.

“Yes,” Sasuke smirked down at his own warped reflection before lifting his face again, unrepentant. “What about it?”

Gaara frowned and his hands curled into fists for a moment, the chain from his cuffs rattling gently, metal against metal. It was a frightening thing, that little twitch of anger, but Sasuke had learned to enjoy the edge of fear, the thrill of living just as he liked, saying what he wanted, acting how he wanted.

Loving when he wanted to love, without shame.

“And yet you are alone and content.” Gaara’s hands went slack again, flat on the tabletop. “And he is alone and troubled.”

“You never said anything about what you wanted me to do once I had left the prison.” Sasuke said, “Naruto is out and I’m out. Just like you wanted.”

This time Gaara’s frown was slick with intent, and his eyes full of fire even as he sat so carefully still.

Sasuke waited.

“…but he is not free.” Gaara murmured, his chin dipping down as he leaned forward. “I want to kill you. I ache to kill you.”

“And yet I live while Naruto writes you every Sunday.” Sasuke leaned back, slouching in his chair as he folded his arms. “Does the needle frighten you, Gaara?”

Gaara slammed his hands down into the table, standing, and the fury in his eyes turned into cool, sharp rage with that gunshot burst. He seemed to be fighting himself, Sasuke realized, standing and backing up as quickly as he could, his chair tipping over behind him.

“You don’t have much time left.” Sasuke whispered, suddenly terrified as Gaara growled one echoing cry of rage, of desperation. “Does he know? Does Naruto know?”

Gaara screwed his eyes shut and two wet lines trailed down his starved, hollowed cheeks.

“You were supposed to save him!” Gaara pounding his fists into the table, his green eyes opened with an animal, terrible rage as his hands shot out. Sasuke stepped out of reach while a pair of guards spilled into the room with batons and fear in their eyes as Gaara screamed, his hands twisting into claws as Sasuke hit the wall.

The guards weren’t going to make it in time. Gaara’s hands closed around Sasuke’s neck, “I’ll kill you! I’ll fucking kill-”

Sasuke made one horrible choking noise and tried to push him away, grabbing Gaara’s wrists and pulling with the strength that terror provided as Gaara’s face dipped close, and his mouth opened, sharp teeth bared in an animal scream.

Sasuke closed his eyes before the world could go dark, and he saw the glimmer of death, the will to live being snapped but something he couldn’t control and for one desperate moment…he remembered why he had never gone to see Naruto again.

“Do it. Love him.” Gaara hissed, “One of has to and it can’t be-”

Sasuke gasped a harsh breath as Gaara went slack, his back arching in a scream as one of the officers finally did his job. The terrified man reached out with his taser again, but Sasuke yelled, hoarse, “No! He’s down!”

Gaara’s eyes slipped closed and Sasuke finally let himself collapse onto the cement floor, coughing and gasping for air.

Alive.

They dragged Gaara out but Sasuke stayed, kneeling down as gasps turned into helpless sobs. As his dam broke, and what came out, thunderous and pouring…Sasuke closed his eyes.


***


“The state accepts the guilty plea.” Sasuke said, his hands flat against his desk as he stared up at the judge. “The District Attorney doesn’t see any need for Gaara to disclose.”

Old man Sarutobi looked at him with a frown and furrowed brows, before saying, “I think otherwise Mr. Uchiha, and this is my court. I’ll ask you to leave any decision making to me.”

Sasuke tried not to wince as he said, “Yes, your Honor. My apologies.” and took a seat.

Gaara stood smoothly, his face blank as he began to speak. He was only reiterating what
Sasuke had put to the jury but in his toneless, cold murmur…Sasuke shivered and just barely stopped himself from touching his own neck. The bruises were nearly gone, but if anyone looked closely at the shadow of Sasuke’s jaw the splotchy fingerprints would be revealed. Only ADA Haruno had noticed so far, but she trembled every time Gaara looked her in the face.

It only took Gaara a few minutes to recount three deaths, one for every week Sasuke had toiled over the case, Sasuke imagined. He’d pleaded Gaara’s case to the DA, life with no parole in a mental hospital, but was shot down and chastised. In a few minutes, a handful of words, Gaara had sentenced himself to death.

The mother of one of the victims burst into wracking sobs, clinging to a sober young man who stared, grim-faced at the redhead. Behind him, a young woman with short blond hair had a hand on her mouth as tears trailed down her cheeks. She stared at her brother with sorrow bare on her face. She glanced over and Sasuke had to look away, not ashamed, but disappointed.

It wasn’t for Gaara’s sake that Sasuke had begged, but he had no way of telling his superiors otherwise.

“Inmate 10473, you have pled guilty and are sentenced to death by lethal injection. May god have mercy on your soul. Case dismissed.” Sarutobi rose and Sasuke stood again along with the rest of the court as the man left, shaking his head as he began to pull off his long, dark robes.

Gaara looked to the guards and they came, warily, holding him at an arm’s length as they led him back to a new cell. For a moment Gaara looked backwards, staring impassively at the young blonde woman, but neither said a word and soon he was gone. Sasuke grabbed his briefcase and headed out the door, ignoring Sakura’s long drawn-out sigh of relief as she collapsed back into her chair.

Sasuke opened the door and gratefully stepped out of the womb of silence the courtroom had become, closing the door gently behind himself as he stared down at the marble floor. He didn’t want to walk out the courthouse doors, but he didn’t want to stay. Sasuke wanted to go home and sleep and not remember.

Outside the air was crisp, the underlying chill of autumn making him pull his coat a little closer. The grasp of the crowd did nothing to warm him.

“Mr. Uchiha! Mr. Uchiha!” Someone shoved a microphone in his face and Sasuke scowled, pushing it away. The others were already staying carefully away, and the young man looked a little embarrassed as the others raised an eyebrow. Sasuke would comment, he always did, and the regulars knew that it wasn’t worth it to waste the energy yelling.

One of the more senior anchors, rolled her eyes before saying, “Do you have a comment about Gaara’s sudden guilty plea?”

Sasuke raised his chin and looked into the spotlights around him.

“Gaara’s guilty plea was a choice of conscience. The state offered no new deals or concessions and he asked for none.”

“Did he say why viciously killed his fellow inmates?”

“Gaara disclosed his reasons in court, but those records have been closed.” Sasuke blinked once, slowly, and added, “All I can say is that Gaara has had a long history of violence, and he has never given his motivations for any of his convictions, murder or otherwise.”

“Is it true that you two had a friendship while you worked at the prison? We have sources who say you and the defendant had many personal conversations.”

“Yes, I knew Gaara when I acted as Warden, and I did speak to him as part of my job, but our conversations were for professional purposes only. The Sand gang has always been a strong presence in the penitentiary.”

“Is it true that he tried to have you killed?” This time it was the fresh-faced newbie who spoke up, his voice admirably even for all the nervousness that could be seen in his face. Like Itachi, Sasuke worked diligently to present a certain persona to the outside world, and the man Sasuke was with his briefcase didn’t mind making examples to keep the herd in line.

“No, it is not true that Gaara tried to have me killed,” Sasuke sneered, “He tried to kill me, there’s a vast difference between the two. Maybe you should interview your sources a little more carefully.”

The kid winced but continued on, “Why did Gaara try to kill you?”

“Like I said,” Sasuke glanced at his watch, “Gaara keeps his reasons to himself. Are we done or should I repeat myself a little more?”

The rest of them laughed a little and started to disperse but the kid continued on, his cheeks bright red as he yelled-

“What connection do you and Gaara have to Naruto Uzumaki?”

Sasuke’s head shot up and he froze, holding his breath as the reporters surged forward again, looking surprised but expectant as Sasuke fumbled a question for the first time in his short career. His slight pause was easily read as panic to people who made a living ferreting out sordid truths. The kid continued on, grinning.

“My sources say that both murder attempts involved conversations about Naruto Uzumaki and there have been rumors regarding your relationship with Uzumaki while you were still in charge of running the penitentiary. Care to comment?”

But Sasuke didn’t pause for long, and when he smiled back the boy’s confidence waned.

“Inmates have little to do but gossip.” Sasuke tilted his head, “I was involved with Mr.
Uzumaki’s appeal process, which was successful, I might add. I believe he and Gaara had a friendship while Uzumaki was still confined. I would account Gaara’s guilty plea to that friendship. If anyone could teach a serial killer the difference between right and wrong it would be him.”

“And the rumors that you had a romantic relationship with Uzumaki?”

Sasuke sighed, looking at his watch again, even while his heart tried to pound straight of his chest.

“Look,” Sasuke said shortly, “I’m going to say this again, slowly. Inmates will say anything to get attention. They especially love to get their teeth into young, impressionable reporters who don’t the difference between rumor and fact.” He narrowed his eyes and did his best impression of Itachi, “Which is, incidentally, the difference between a successful story and slander.”

This time the young reporter’s hesitancy turned into full, blown-out panic. Sasuke had seen the expression on many before him, just after he presented a piece of evidence to the jury, or simply when he pointed out that behind the ear was not a very good place for hiding cigarettes.

Gotcha, Sasuke thought, doing his best not to smile as the other reporters began to walk away.

“Nice try.” Sasuke told the kid when the microphone was down and the cameras were pointed away, “but an accusation like that needs a more substantial basis than rumor.”

The kid looked back and just shrugged. Sasuke rolled his eyes and started walking down the steps nearly tripping when he heard the kid yell, “You should look after friend, Uchiha. His lips loosen after a couple of beers.”

Sasuke looked back in amazement, turning so violently that his briefcase opened and his papers scattered into the wind. He dropped it and ran back up the stairs but the kid was already gone. Sasuke looked back to his files and cursed, they weren’t blowing around anymore; the reporters had gone mad and picked up each one with smiles of glee.

“Goddamnit,” He yelled running back down the stairs. “You use one line of that evidence and I’ll-

The day pretty much degenerated after that.


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