The Fall

Sasuke's room is bare: a flat stone bed, several chairs, a nightstand, and a cabinet in the far corner. There's another room off to the right that's probably a bathroom. Three ceiling lights barely illuminate the musty grayness. There's a folding chair in the center of the bare room.

Sakura-chan.

Her hair is pink... but it's frayed, stringy, and tossed to one side. Perhaps that's the best way to describe the whole of her.

(Under other circumstances, he'd still be tempted to say that she looked beautiful.)

She's dressed just as he remembers last seeing her, that strange red top with the zipper, an off-color skirt, those tight black shorts underneath, and small pink socks – hidden by shoes that she was complaining about -- her toes reaching the end of them, or maybe they were too narrow for her feet?

Her expression, that's the worst of anything. He doesn't even want to look at her. Tear-stained cheeks, fear wracking her entire body, her thin trembling lips the most wrenching of all.

Her hands are tied behind a steel folding chair, her ankles also bound. A strange glowing wire wrapped around them, likely restricting chakra. She's bleeding where the wire cuts into her bruised skin. She's covered in red, black, blue, yellow and green marks.

She's making noises, her expression changing rapidly as she recognizes him. Probably telling him to leave, or to release her. Or that Sasuke's behind him.

"I wouldn't move, if I were you," Sasuke chuckles, "Sakura-chan might get hurt... if I miss,"

A kunai presses into a kidney, not that it would kill him even if Sasuke did stab him there. It would take multiple fatal-blows all at once to have any chance at overwhelming his healing factor, which has only grown stronger since his captivity.

"What do you want, you fucking bastard?"

Sasuke clicks his tongue, "Tsk tsk. And it's our first reunion in such a long time... Naruto-kun. Come, come, why don't you sit down, no no, right across from Sakura-chan. Yes, that's a good place."

He sounds different. Less composed, more manic. Has he forgotten to take his pills this morning?

Naruto calmly sits in the chair, muscles so taught it's difficult to breathe. He should have killed him, a long long time ago.

"Very good Naruto-kun," Sasuke moves from behind him to Sakura, Naruto instantly regrets complying with the traitor. Now he can't do anything with Sasuke that distance away.

Standing at her right, he bows slightly, gesturing to Sakura, "As you can see here, Naruto-kun, Sakura is good and well. She has been taken good care of, being your teammate, and the apprentice of the Godaime, she's a lovely hostage which will come in handy when we finally begin negotiating Konoha's surrender. She's had her own room, you know? It's quite lovely."

"If you harm her in any way Sasuke, I don't care what happens to anyone, I swear I'll never let you leave this place alive."

Sasuke grins.

"Don't be so hasty, Naruto. I could kill Sakura far faster than you could cross the distance between us in your current condition."

He bares his teeth, "What the fuck do you want from me?! What has Sakura ever done to you!"

Sasuke ignores him, "What I want, is for you to sit down, relax, and let me finish. Keep acting like you are, and I won't hesitate to make Sakura die, painfully."

Naruto forces himself to sit down, but it's difficult. Chakra is beginning to well in his stomach. It's rapidly deteriorating the effects of the chakra-restraints and Kabuto's drugs, though admittedly it's leaving him a little light headed. Usually by now, someone is rushing to restrain him, a needle sliding down their sleeve. But no one is coming. Can't they feel him?

A long silence develops between them. Naruto's eyes dart from Sakura to Sasuke, watching them. Hoping that Sasuke won't hurt her...

Sasuke grins, "There it is, there's that look."

Naruto's eyes snap to Sasuke.

"It's perfect. Your eyes. They're just like hers were when I was telling her about you. You're scared for her, you're hardly even considering what I will do to you,"

Naruto is quiet.

"That weakness... that's what Konoha teaches, isn't it? It always was so hard-- hard to understand. Why a ninja nation would teach trust and sacrifice for anything but the village."

"You don't even know what true weakness is, Sasuke," Naruto growls.

"Hah! I know more than you do. Seems you don't even understand how free you are right now... do you not notice how I have not tied you to the chair? How I don't even have a kunai at Sakura's throat... you could stand a chance at rescuing her, Naruto-kun."

No I don't, Naruto thinks, Not in this state, not when your specialty is speed. You said it yourself, you could easily kill her where things stand.

He shakes his head, "I only want to point out now, that you have a choice to make Naruto-kun. You can choose right now to fight me, or you can choose to bet... your companionship."

Naruto's gaze shifts back to Sakura. A mirrored look of confusion on her face.

"Perhaps I should explain?" he crouches down between Sakura's shoulders, his fingers running along her pale neck, causing Naruto to growl softly, "See... your first option, since you're currently free to move from your seat right now, is to fly right at me... to attempt to kill me, or perhaps it's to throw yourself at Sakura and see if you can... well, I suppose you could try to escape with her, though I don't think she'll be parted from that chair any time soon, anyway. However you plan it, that's your first option."

"A chance of success? I can't even fathom it... less than a percent, probably. You're in no condition to run or to fight, let alone protect another while you do it."

"But don't worry," Sasuke laughs in Sakura's ear, "I have a second option... one that's guaranteed to free both you and Sakura-chan. Do you want to hear it? I'm sure you'll love the idea."

Naruto glares intensely into Sasuke as he nods firmly.

"Good. I was hoping you'd ask..." Sasuke mumbles to himself, "It's quite simple really. You said it yourself yesterday, Naruto. Sakura loves you. Isn't that so? Probably with all of her soul, or some nonsense like that. And you, you've always had a crush on her? Whether that's love or not, I don't know, but you would die for her, and that's enough."

"I love Sakura."

Sakura looks at him with hopeful glow in her bloodshot eyes.

"Of course you do," Sasuke waves him off, "But how much? How do we quantify that? Love isn't like power. Itachi is dead, it proves I am powerful. But how can love be proved?"

"Certainly, I could torture you until I found your breaking point... to where you would say you didn't love her anymore, just to stop the pain. But knowing you, that would probably never happen. No, as long as Sakura still loves you, you will continue to. Your love for her is strong, but love is a bond, it isn't the feelings of one person."

"What do you know about love?" Naruto hisses, but Sasuke ignores him.

He licks Sakura's neck this time, tiny fangs where his teeth should be, "So I propose this: If Sakura can survive three days of any torture of my choosing, without losing her 'eternal' love and devotion towards you, I will release the both of you, at my own expense."

Naruto watches him, trying to see if that's really Sasuke there, or if there had been some switch somewhere, maybe Orochimaru was already inhabiting Sasuke's body? He's never heard Sasuke talk like this before.

"This is insane, Sasuke."

Sasuke's whole body is a twisted mass of muscle and bone. His skin is so pale, it's hard to imagine how white his bones must be. Forbidden techniques and chemical-abuse have warped his body, and obviously, his mind. Or has Sasuke always been this unstable, and he just hadn't even realized it?

Wearing no shirt, just the standard Oto-nin uniform from the waist down, he walks around the room, his head fixed towards the ceiling. His boots making clacking noises on the stone floor. Smiling, totally ignoring Naruto's declaration.

"You can't expect me to make a choice like this alone," Naruto begins to say, trying to stall for time, "You have to take the tape off Sakura's mouth, I need to hear what she has to say. I can't make this decision alone... I can't ask Sakura to be tortured for me."

"If she loves you just as you love her, then obviously, you should trust each other to make the right decisions for each other. That's what any leaf-nin would say, right?"

Naruto doesn't know, doesn't care, about Konoha. All he wants to do is leave, to save Sakura any suffering. She can leave on his behalf.

"Perhaps love is simply selfishness? You can't have your cake and eat it too, Naruto."

But things never worked out like that, he knew. People were destined to suffer. To be weak and strong at times... and now there was little choice. No matter what Sasuke said, attacking him was a death sentence.

"And who says you'll honor your word? You'll just torture Sakura-chan until she dies, and then you'll just laugh, telling me I sentenced her to die."

Sasuke laughs, "That's quite a terrible outcome, what an imagination you have."

He touches Naruto on the shoulder, smiling friendly, "I would never go back on my word, not when I'm so confident I'll win."

Naruto narrows his eyes, "Sakura is strong."

"Oh? Is that a challenge I'm hearing?"

Naruto shrinks back, trying to do anything but accept his offer.

"Let's face it," Sasuke smiles, "I'm doing the both of you a favor... whether Oto wins or loses this war, you'll be dead. I'm giving you two a way out... I'm doing you a favor."

Sakura is enraged by him, Naruto notices, the light in her eyes seeming to blaze.

Naruto wishes he could ask Sakura, Would it be OK with her? But with Sasuke around, there was no way to ask without him noticing, even a subtle gesture would not go unnoticed.

It's up to him.

[Edited. Yes, I'm evil. Sorry if Sasuke is acting like a cliched villain, but his previous dickheadedness just wasn't enough for this kind of stuff.]