The Art of Patience

Chapter 21
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Sasuke felt a lump starting to grow in the back of his throat and his fingers flexed around a pen that had somehow been unfortunate to be within reach. It wasn’t until the little Uchiha tasted bile that he realized how much his master’s absence, not to mention the love of yet another person, how much he resented Sai for having Naruto by a leash made of something much deeper than love. It hurt; it hurt really badly. "Fine, you go to that skinny slut and see what happens! I hope you get hit by a semi you blond freak!" He knew the blond couldn’t hear him and he didn’t mean any of it, but the emotions were still there.

Sasuke felt a kind of strength come over him and it made him want to break something or someone. Black eyes filled with anger fell on an innocent coffee mug with a caricature of a cat napping across the side with little writing underneath it, a present from the cause of his pain a year ago. It was more than the incensed teenager could take.

A pale hand seized the hapless ceramic cup and hurled it across the room like a hand grenade with the sleeping cat occasionally flipping into view until the doomed mug hit a wall and shattered. Shards of cream colored porcelain fell to the floor in various sizes with a sad tinkle that brought its owner back to his senses with the violent murder of his favorite cup.

The little Uchiha stared at the broken pieces of the cup and felt hot tears start to force their way onto his cheeks and the inhuman strength and power that had possessed him to destroy something he'd loved faded away like melting ice. That sudden strength had been scary; scary because he felt he could have actually hurt someone if he put his mind to it.

Sasuke began to tremble a bit at that thought. If Naruto had been here the blond might have been hit by the cup because of that red haze, or Itachi for that matter.

Scared about what had and could have happened Sasuke ran to his older brother for comfort just like he had when he was younger whenever he started crying.

It was the whole mess really. The pain of Naruto leaving on his brother’s day, the thought that Naruto loved Sai more than his own two subs… It just made Sasuke snap. And Sasuke snapping was never a good thing.

Itachi sat up a bit as he heard something break in the living room; no doubt Sasuke was upset by Naruto's swift departure. He was surprised however to find a bundle of trembling Sasuke curled up next to him. He could tell that his younger brother was crying but he usually didn't point it out to the younger one. He wrapped his arms around Sasuke and just held him, not really having anything to say at this point. He hated seeing Sasuke cry, it made him feel a bit like doing the same.

"Itachi, why can’t Naruto just love us and no one else? Didn't he say that we were the best subs he'd ever had?" Sasuke still felt angry that this Sai had such power over his master but at least now it wasn’t that overpowering rage from before. Now it only had him shaking and digging his nails into his brother’s soft flesh like it was his last line to life.

Itachi couldn't help but feel for Sasuke. The kid had never really had anyone who loved him, with himself as an exception. Naruto was the first person other than Itachi who had loved Sasuke unconditionally and for that love to possibly be jeopardized was probably killing Sasuke. "I know it hurts right now, but he's going to come back Sasuke. It's not like he's going to leave us forever. Plus, it might be really important." He really needed to calm Sasuke down, otherwise…

Sasuke dug his fingers harshly into his brother’s side and gritted his teeth to resist the urge to bite his brother. How dare he say that anything was more important than he and his brother were! It wasn’t as though the tattooed blonde could shit gold or anything like that! It just wasn’t fair! "What's more important than us or your day? You gave him Mother’s necklace and he thanks you by abandoning you for some has been called Sai?! Don't you see that he doesn’t care for you enough to stay here for the night? He just had to go to his precious...!”

Sasuke stopped talking because the red haze had returned in full force and the little Uchiha felt something in the back of his mind blabber about not hurting Itachi. Sasuke shuddered and tightened every muscle as hard as he could to keep his brother safe from harm. He didn’t want to break his brother like that cup.

Itachi winced as the harsh grip loosened. Damn, his brother was strong. He sat up a bit more and looked down at Sasuke. "Naruto does love us more than anything, I know he does; he wouldn't lie to us..."

"He'd lie the moment we became a burden! You trust him too much you damn lapdog! And you keep coming back for more! Can’t you see he's taken your balls and put them in his pocket? You use to make decisions for yourself about things like this before, or have you forgotten?"

Itachi looked at Sasuke like he had just gotten struck by the boy. He didn't know what to say to that. He knew Sasuke didn't mean it and that it wasn't true... well maybe it was but he needed that to feel like he wasn't just going through the motions... "You don't understand what being with someone like this means to me Sasuke. I know you want to be with Naruto like I am, but I don't really think it's for the same reasons..."

He couldn't really explain it to his brother. He needed someone to take the driver's seat when he wasn't at work. He had so many important decisions to make that could either help or ruin people's lives... that was a huge burden for him every single day. He needed someone who could take that responsibility and put it on their shoulders for a while, at least with his personal life. That's why he sought out the D/s lifestyle...

"What reason is there? He comes over gives you some great sex and stays the night! If you meant shit to him he'd still be here!” Sasuke pulled himself away from his brother and sat on his haunches to look down on the older man. Why didn't Itachi get it that he was just a pawn in Naruto's game?

Itachi had had enough. "So you’re accusing Naruto of not loving me because he cares about his former subs? Last I heard caring for people wasn't a crime." He was this close to smacking the little brat. "If you don't have any confidence in Naruto then how can you even say you love him?"

Sasuke reeled as if he'd been smacked and the disorientation made him utter the worst words in his life. "I loved him before I saw that skank in the collar. You and I will never matter until that brat's dead and beyond Naruto's reach or until we make him forget that slut."

Sasuke was shaking like he'd been put in a blender and was gazing off into space, lost in his own world. It would be hard but he could make Naruto love him the way the blond had made Itachi love Naruto. It would take time and effort but it was possible.

Itachi realized what was happening, it had happened a few times before with his brother. He could see the signs... shaking, shallow breathing, staring off into nothing; Sasuke was having an anxiety attack. Itachi acted quickly and wrapped his arms around Sasuke and sat him in his lap, gently rocking the boy back and forth as he whispered comforting words to him. "There's nothing to be worried about Sasuke. Naruto loves you and he loves me too, he just wants to make everyone happy and he feels really awful for leaving but he's not going to be gone the whole night."

He couldn’t believe he hadn't noticed sooner. His brother had been off of meds for a while now but all the stress from his training and then the party... it probably just got too much for Sasuke to handle.

He could feel the shaking increase just a bit and the breathing quicken and he tried his hardest to get the boy to calm down... he really hoped Naruto would get back soon...

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Naruto unlocked his apartment door and rushed inside, he was lucky there were no police around while he was driving; it would have been a bitch to get pulled over for speeding. His eyes rested on Sai who was sitting on the couch, wearing Kiba's clothes and had a sleeping Akamaru resting in his lap.

He sat down next to the man and gently wrapped his arms around Sai. "Are you ok? What happened?"

"I'm fine. Your friend was very good to me. It's you I’m worried about."

Naruto blinked curiously. "Why are you worried about me? What's going on?" He knew Sai was extremely loyal to whoever the boy was with, and it would have to be pretty damn important to get the dark haired sub to run away... even if his Master was a total abusive fag.

"I heard Madara in one of his private rooms today. He hired a private investigator to find out anything that could be used against you. I wasn’t too worried until your old master showed up and said he'd help. I never saw the man’s face but the voice made me want to hide somewhere. This person wants you as his own and my old Master wants Sasuke and Itachi again."

Sai took a deep, calming breath before going on with his story. Reality had just caught up with him. If Madara thought Naruto having his nephews was bad, than the cruel old man might go into orbit when he realizes that Sai had run away to his first master. "They were planning to ruin you."

Naruto took a deep breath as well. "Fuck" was all he could manage. He looked at his old sub once more. "Thank you so much for coming all the way here to tell me. You will always have a place in my heart Sai; I don't want you to ever forget that. But, I have to get back to Itachi and Sasuke... they're probably furious with me right now. Why don't you stay here tonight in my room ok? I'll be back tomorrow and we'll see what we can do for you. And don’t worry; I’ll stay on alert for Madara and anyone else." He knew Madara had something up his sleeve but he figured the old man would try kidnapping or something of the like. He never expected the man to recruit a P.I. to find out dirt on him so he wouldn’t be able to open a business; something he’s always wanted to do. Plus with the knowledge that he was planning on taking Itachi and Sasuke away from him… there would be none of that. As for Orochimaru, Naruto would have to figure that out later. His subs were his first priority and he needed to hurry and get back to them.

"Of course." Sai stared at the puppy and felt nothing but gratitude for being given a real place to sleep for the night. He couldn’t blame Naruto for moving on and getting new subs. It was only the natural progression of a good master.

Naruto smiled and stood up. "Kiba will take good care of you. He's a very nice person and Dom." the blond said with a wink as he left the apartment.

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Back at the condo, Itachi was still trying his hardest to calm his brother down, it was working a little but the boy was now incoherent and he was still shaking. He heard the front door open and thanked god that his Master was finally back... he hoped that Naruto could help, even though the blond had never seen Sasuke have a panic attack before.

The blond made his way to the bedroom and stepped on something that crunched under his shoe, he lifted his foot up and saw shards of ceramic all over the floor; looks like he pissed off his youngest... he'd have to buy a new cat mug for Sasuke tomorrow.

Continuing on his way to the bedroom he could hear what sounded like crying and it made him walk a bit faster. What he saw in the bedroom made his temperature drop at least ten degrees.

Sasuke was curled up with Itachi on the bed with his eyes squeezed closed and his mouth open wide to get as much air as possible. Sounds that couldn't be called words occasionally broke the erratic breathing and made the poor boy shudder all over. It looked like he was having some kind of seizure or a heart attack. Sasuke cracked an eye open and stared straight ahead without seeing a thing.

Naruto rushed over to the bed and ran a hand through Sasuke's hair. "What's wrong with him Itachi?" He was too scared to even remember to use Itachi's nick name, he had never seen someone do anything like that before.

"He's having an anxiety attack. It’s not the worst he's had but it's pretty bad." Itachi held his brother close and tried to calm the boy down enough to talk coherently or to at least see someone in the room.

Naruto looked at Itachi and then down to Sasuke. "Fuck, I didn't know me leaving would cause this. I didn't even know he had anxiety attacks." The blond felt horrible for causing a reaction like this one. It was tearing him up to see his beloved Kitty suffering because of him.

He gently reached out and took the boy from Itachi’s arms and held the smaller raven to his chest, letting the other hear his heartbeat to hopefully sooth him. "It's ok Sasuke, its Naruto. I'm right here with you; I'm not going anywhere..." He continued to whisper comforting words in hopes that it would help. He had no idea what he was doing and just prayed that it worked.

He pulled Itachi over by the wrist and wrapped an arm around the older man's shoulders. "You can keep comforting him too; I think he needs both of us."

Sasuke felt terrible. It was like being sick only worse because the room kept going in and out of focus like he was going to keel over on the floor and hit his head on the way down; almost like he'd stood up too fast. “Oh God… Am I going to pass out?” he asked in between hitching breaths as he looked up at Naruto, seeing him for the first time.

Naruto held the shaking boy closer to him. "You're not going to pass out Sasuke; you're going to be fine, just try and take deep breaths and try to relax. Itachi and I are both here and neither of us will let anything happen to you."

Sasuke buried his face in Naruto's chest like a lost puppy that had just been brought back to his mother. After another minute the trembling had decreased to tiny shivers and Sasuke's breathing had returned to semi-normal with the help of the men he loved.

Naruto noticed the shaking start to get less violent and the boy started to breath relatively normal again. He kept Sasuke close to him and just stroked his hair. "Do you feel better at all?"

Sasuke scrunched his eyes up and tried to keep the light from stabbing him in the gut through his eyes, he'd forgotten how bad these attacks were, it had been so long since he'd had one. "I'm fine, just tired and a little shaky that's all." Sasuke curled up in a miserable ball and wrapped his arms around his stomach as if that would make the throbbing pain in his head go away, which it didn't. The only thing moving gave the little Uchiha, was more throbbing in the general area of his temples and a budding desire to throw up somewhere.

Itachi looked down at his brother with a concerned expression and tried his best not to let his fears get the better of him. Sasuke was a big boy now and wouldn't accept pity just because of one measly anxiety attack.

"I'll get you some water." the blond said before he got up and quickly made his way into the kitchen.

Itachi held his brother once more and couldn't help but notice the pained expression on the younger man's face. "What happened Sasuke? I thought you were alright now... that's what your doctor said..."

"I thought I was too… Everything was fine until Sai showed up." Sasuke didn't have the strength to scowl at the memory of seeing the skinny slut at that damnable party where Itachi had gotten stolen from them. His stomach churned up a little bile if the raven should need it. "Maybe I wasn't better at all.”

Naruto came back in at that moment with a glass of cool water for Sasuke to drink. He wasn't sure if the boy even wanted it, but he had to do something... "What happened Sasuke? You never told me you had anxiety... If I would have known..."

Sasuke sat up slowly and accepted the glass even though he wasn't in the mood for a drink.

The little raven sulked for a moment over what had just happened and couldn't help but feel a little betrayed. The attacks were suppose to have been fixed by the medication. If he was cured than what just happened? "I used to have them kind of often for a while before I met you. When Itachi took me to see a doctor he told me about what I was suffering from and gave me meds to make everything better and it worked like it was supposed to, for a while at least."

Sasuke stopped talking and took the smallest of sips before continuing his story of woe. "Then I started having the attacks again because the medication was causing them and I had to quit taking them all together. That was about a month before you met my brother."

Naruto was a bit pissed at Sasuke's doctor for putting him on meds right away. It was stupid how much doctors just wanted to make money. If it were him, he'd want Sasuke to see a therapist first to try and figure out what was causing the attacks rather than just making them go away without an explanation or answer for Sasuke. "Did you ever see a therapist? Or talk to anyone to figure out why and what you were having anxiety over?" He looked at Itachi after he asked, just in case Sasuke wasn't feeling up to talking anymore.

Itachi looked down at his baby brother and bit his lip. It wasn’t that he had wanted to send his brother to the hospital for a prescription, he'd tried therapy to help his brother and it seemed to work before Sasuke started to say that he was feeling pain during those attacks. Of course Itachi didn’t know at the time that the pain was all in Sasuke’s head. The older raven had been in denial of the pain for a while before he'd witnessed it for himself and he'd dragged his brother to see a doctor after that. Somewhere along the line, Sasuke's therapy had been swept under the metaphorical rug. "I tried therapy but things got to the point that I had to take Sasuke to the hospital. I never wanted to see another attack like that, they're awful to watch and worse to have to comfort after because Sasuke complained that his chest was hurting his breathing sounding so strained. It was like having an old man in my arms instead of my brother. You have to believe that I never wanted him to suffer like that ever again."

Itachi stopped talking and ran a hand gently through his brother’s short and naturally spiky hair that was so much like a little hedgehog. "I'm sorry Sasuke. I should have kept sending you to a therapist after the meds ran out.”

Sasuke shivered at his brother’s touch and leaned into those skilled fingers that were making his scalp tingle so pleasantly while the little slave closed his eyes. He knew his brother was probably beating himself up inside over this incident. "It's alright. This one wasn't so bad."

Naruto frowned down at his youngest sub. "Will you be ok for the night? We both understand if you need us to be with you tonight..." He knew Sasuke's well being was much more important than consummating his ownership over Itachi... so he figured he could wait a night if Sasuke needed them.

That question sorely tempted the little sub after his fit and rage over being tossed aside, or seemingly so, for some random person form the past. Sasuke looked at Itachi and blinked at the new dressing on his brother’s brand new tattoo. It wouldn’t be right to take this from Itachi even if there was a good reason for it. "No, you should be with Itachi tonight. I’ll be fine if I just lay down and don’t think too much about things; nothing to worry about."

The freshly tattooed slave stared at his little brother with his mouth hanging open. The Sasuke he knew would have leapt on the idea of being with Naruto no matter what kind of day it was and would have milked the anxiety attack for all it was worth since Naruto hadn't known what was going on.

Naruto hesitated before nodding. "Where do you want to lay down? I’ll lie with you for a little bit."

Sasuke drank half the water in his glass and stared at the clear fluid before answering. "The couch will be fine. I just need a blanket and a pillow."

Naruto nodded and grabbed a pillow from the bed and a small blanket. He turned to Itachi and held the other man's hand. "Come on, Sasuke and I both want you with us." He really didn't feel like leaving Itachi all alone in the bedroom, it just wasn't right; especially after what he just did...

Itachi sedately followed his master’s lead and walked into the living room where Sasuke was getting the couch the way he liked it before he accepted the pillow and blanket from Naruto. It was really strange seeing Sasuke be selfless this way.

Naruto sat down and pulled Sasuke down on one side and Itachi on his other side. He let Itachi cuddle next to him while he felt Sasuke lay his head in Naruto's lap. The blond reached down to stroke Sasuke's hair to help him fall asleep as he leaned down to kiss the top of the younger boy's head. "We'll talk more about this tomorrow, just relax for now."

Sasuke snuggled under his blanket and mumbled something that sounded like an apology for letting himself get out of control on his brother’s special day.

Itachi watched his brother until his breathing slowed to the rhythms of sleep and smiled faintly as a warm feeling spread throughout his body. Seeing Sasuke asleep made him feel happily protective. For some reason seeing Sasuke asleep like this made him happy that they lived together. "I'm sorry you had to see Sasuke like this Master."

Naruto turned and wrapped his arms around his new slave. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure it would have happened eventually. I'm just glad he doesn't hate me. I'm so sorry for leaving, it was stupid and I over-reacted.... It wasn't right to leave you, especially today of all days. I think Sasuke was more pissed that I was leaving you rather than focusing on himself..."

He thought about that and realized how far Sasuke had come maturity wise since he first found the Uchiha's. He prided himself in the fact that he was able to help Sasuke become a better person in life...

"Maybe but I should have noticed the signs that lead to the anxiety attack. If I had been as good of a brother as I think I am I could have kept this from happening." The slave rested his chin against his collarbone in shame. He still felt bad about not telling his master about the attacks beforehand but the tall Uchiha had honestly thought that they'd been stopped.

Naruto rested his head against Itachi's. "It's not your fault Princess; don't blame yourself for what happened. You didn't know that Sasuke was going to react like that. If it's anyone's fault, it's mine..." He didn't want to repeat why it was hit fault, but he felt so guilty now. He should have just asked to speak to Sai on the phone... that would have saved them all of this...

He looked down at Sasuke once more and then back up to stare at nothing. "Let's let him sleep for now." he said as he gently got up and laid Sasuke's head down on a pillow. He helped his new slave up as they made their way into the bedroom once more.

Itachi stood near the bed and waited for Naruto to tell him what to do. The black haired man wouldn’t blame his blond master for not being in the mood for sex tonight but a part of the tall man’s heart really wanted to make love to his gentle master in celebration of their union.

Naruto gestured for Itachi to get on the bed as he started to remove his clothing once more. Itachi was still completely nude and Naruto was glad about that. He didn't feel like undressing the man for a second time that night. "Lay down and I'll be right back."

He made his way over to the closet and pulled out his trunk where he kept all his toys under lock and key... time to make things a bit interesting for his Princess.

TBC
Poor Sasuke!!! But we (my co-author and I) tend to torture the one’s we love most!! Our muses are so cruel sometimes XD

Hope you enjoyed it! And the next chapter will be all about Naruto and Itachi and the fun that they’ll have!!!
‘Till then!