The Art of Patience

The Art of Patience Ch. 32
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Kisame didn’t say anything more about his argument with Orochimaru as he watched Sasuke and Itachi walk into the tall high-rise. "Well now that we know where they'll be coming out of, all we have to do is wait."

The doctor snorted at the obvious statement and took notes on what each man did on their way to the office and how long they went about it though such details couldn't possibly be important. "This had better pay off. I'm not interested in chasing these two like a trained animal just to get denied the real prize."

Kisame just sighed, tired of this speech from the creepy doctor and proceeded to stuff his face once more with donuts.

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Sasuke stepped into the elevator with his brother and didn't say a word until the doors closed. Once they did, he rounded angry eyes onto the older man. "Why can't you just stick up for me for once? You know how important work is to me and you just sat there and agreed with Naruto about me staying home like it was 'the best thing for me'."

Itachi felt his checks heat up a little and wished that the elevator would move faster than it always did so he could escape his brother’s rightful ire at the situation. "We both can’t help feeling that something isn’t right and as my little brother I only want you to be safe."

"Who said it was going to happen to me?" Sasuke said as he exited the elevator. "Why am I always the one you two are worried about all the time? I'm not going to break; I'm not made of fucking glass." The short haired Uchiha stormed into his shared office with Itachi and plopped himself down at his desk, not even bothering to greet his secretary or get any of his messages.

Itachi sighed with resignation and waved at the secretary on his way to the office. He knew Sasuke could take care of himself but he was worried all the same, he was still young enough to take a hard fall the wrong way and he didn’t want to have to see Sasuke going to a therapist every week because of something that could be avoided. And he was going to do his best to keep his brother safe even if that meant taking a hit for him. "Just be careful Sasuke."

Sasuke sighed but nodded all the same. It was better to agree and keep his brother happy than to argue all day. Plus, he had a few clients to see and he didn't want to be worked up when they arrived.

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Naruto found he was unable to focus on his work and caught himself making mistakes at the register like an amateur and smiled pleasantly at the costumer as he corrected his mistake before bagging their purchases and sending them off with the usual jargon about hoping to see them again.

Eperson, one of Naruto's coworkers in menswear had noticed the lack of concentration the blonde usually had when working. After Naruto had finished with the current customer, the dark skinned man approached. "What’s going on with you today? You usually don't make these kinds of mistakes."

The blond guiltily look at the man and put on his best smile which felt a little strained. "Yeah I know; I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

Eperson placed an understanding hand on the blonde's shoulder. "Just don't let the manager see it.... But you know I got your back."

"Yeah, I know... Is she supposed to be checking on us or something? ‘Cause I kind of thought Tammy hated having to be on the floor. Kind of means she has to take that pole outta her ass if you know what I mean." With that the blond smiled and pulled himself together just in case his dreaded manager should pop up like the demon she was rumored to be and nudged Eperson over the common joke in their department.

The black man just chuckled and shook his head. "We may actually see smoke come out of her ears this time..." The man continued to chuckle as he took his leave, waving to the blond as he went.

Naruto smiled gamely and felt his spirits rising after that exchange, nothing like a crude joke to make a man crawl out of whatever hole he was in and get back out there for more abuse. Idly the blond started organizing behind the counter and let himself a moment to wonder how his boys were doing. He really didn’t want to find out that one or both of them was in trouble.

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Kisame bent over the steering wheel in pain. God why did he always eat more than he could handle... Stupid donuts being so delicious!

"I told you those things would kill you." Orochimaru smiled snidely at his companion and kept his eyes glued to the front door of the building as if his life depended on it. Sitting and hearing the black man eat had been a trial in self control and patience and having to see him now pay for his gluttony was a mixed pleasure since he was both justified in his dislike for the fat pills and disgusted at being exposed to the display.

"Shut up Mr. 'I know everything 'cause I have a fucking degree'." He would have said more, but his cell phone chose that moment to ring. He noted the number belonged to his boss and picked up. "Yeah?"

"Is everything going as planned?"

Kisame huffed and almost pouted but remembered himself and straightened up. "Yeah, we're here... waiting... and watching. Do we really have to just sit here all day? I mean, no bathroom breaks or anything?"

"I don’t want there to be any gaps in their daily routine but if you MUST see to your own comfort then do so individually so at least ONE of you can get the job done." Madara scowled darkly at the phone and felt the rising urge to impale something for the PI's insolence.

Kisame sighed in relief. He DID have five cups of coffee after all. "Thank god... will do boss." He hung up after that and pointedly looked at Orochimaru. "I'm gonna take a piss, you stay." and with that, the black man got out of the car and casually walked into the grocery store across from the Uchiha Inc. building.

The black haired man passively watched as Madara's little favorite ran off to take care of business and frowned impressively. Trust those of poor breeding to demand that others pay attention to them and their needs but it couldn't be helped. After all this particular grunt was being paid more than he was worth to carry out Madara's whims so it wasn’t as though the slime would just slink away the first chance it got. "You just take as long as you like, Kisame. Then I'll be the one to get Madara’s favor and soon after you'll be back in the hole you crawled out of."

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Sasuke gave a sigh of exhaustion as he slumped in his comfy leather chair. His last client just left and thank god for that. The man was the biggest moron and had no idea what he was talking about or really what their company did. He looked over toward the clock and realized it was almost time to call Naruto. With the new 'pre-training' Sasuke had to learn to get used to doing these seemingly simple things.

Deciding that it was a perfect opportunity, seeing as how his brother was in a meeting, Sasuke picked up his cell phone and pressed number three which was his master's speed dial, and waited for the blond to pick up.

Meanwhile, Naruto nearly jumped out of his pants as his phone vibrated and shot a glance at his watch. He'd practically forgotten that he'd made Sasuke call him at work and now he was in a bit of a tight spot with his break an hour away. The blond cast a pleading glance at Eperson and pantomimed making a call before pointing outside. With luck he'd be able to slip away for a few minutes with no one the wiser with the help of his work buddy.

Eperson nodded, knowing that Naruto only got very important calls that had to be taken. He really wasn't sure what it was all about, but he was willing to help out nonetheless.

The blond smiled and slipped past his coworker on his way to a good spot to take his call. "Thanks man I really owe you one." With that he quickly made tracks to get outdoors and answered his phone the moment the heavy glass doors swung shut behind him. "Yo Sasuke! How’s it going?"

Sasuke held the phone away and stared dumbstruck at it... "Uh... hi" That was a bit strange...

"Hey, you sound tired; did you have to run a marathon or something?”

"I just got finished talking to some stupid client who didn’t even know about our company beforehand. Oh I was meaning to ask you. I need to stay late to finish up some really important paperwork... is that ok?"

Naruto felt something fuzzy and warm wrap around his heart hearing Sasuke ask him for permission to stay late and didn’t mind the smile that took up residence on his face. "How long do you think it will take you to finish this important thing?

"I probably won't be home until around seven..." Sasuke had to admit that it was a bit nerve wracking to ask his master's permission to stay at work late. What if he said no? Sasuke really didn't want to disappoint Naruto and argue with him, but he hoped the blonde knew how important his work was....

"Seven; must be really important or tedious. What is it exactly?" The blond checked his watch and frowned. He'd have to finish this call quickly just in case someone came asking for him but he wasn’t about to just say no and be done with the call either.

Sasuke frowned. "It’s kind of complicated. It's basically paperwork I have to look over and sign. There's a stack of at least two hundred papers here... I can't take them home either because if these get stolen or lost, it would be really bad for us."

Naruto nodded and mentally rearranged what he was going to be doing that night with his youngest out late and how long it would take for him to get back to the condo. "Alright then but I want you to call me as soon as you're done with the paper pushing, alright? I love you Sasuke and I can’t wait to see you later."

Sasuke's insides had a strange tingle to them at Naruto’s words. God how could he have gone for even a day without this man? "I love you too. I'll try to finish as early as I can." He hung up after that and stared up at the ceiling for a bit. He really did love Naruto with everything he had even if it was hard to show it sometimes. Sitting back up, Sasuke pulled the large stack of papers toward him and got started on the tedious task.


Itachi packed the last of his things away in his briefcase and scanned the office to make sure that everything would be ready for him tomorrow when he returned. The building was essentially empty except for himself, Sasuke and a few other night owls trying to cram some extra work into their schedules before turning in for the day.

The CEO stopped at Sasuke’s desk on his way to the door and stopped to see how Sasuke was doing. The papers were strewn all around the boy’s desk and Itachi felt a twinge of guilt for having his brother do this. Now that he thought about it, he could have had someone else do. "Death by paperwork? You must be exhausted by now. Let’s go home so you can have a fresh start tomorrow. You know I don’t mind if you wait to finish these."

Sasuke never stopped his rhythm of signing as he spoke. "You know I have to get these done, you're the one who assigned the task to me. And now that I've started, I'm not stopping."

"I know but I wouldn’t hold it against you if you needed a break and finish the task tomorrow." Itachi smiled winningly and mentally congratulated Sasuke for his exceptional work ethic.

Sasuke just shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I can probably finish in the next hour. Naruto already knows I'm staying late, but he expects you home...." Sasuke secretly smiled to himself; that should get Itachi to shut up and go away. God it was like his brother and master didn’t trust him.

Itachi chuckled and lifted his hands in a gesture of surrender with a smile. His brother did have him there. If he was late getting back home he'd be in for a night of torture without release. "All right but you better not be asleep by the time you get home."

Sasuke watched his brother leave and was glad, it got him off track. It's not like he hadn't stayed at work late before. As a matter of fact, he always did. He supposed it had something to do with Naruto; his mater had these bouts of worry over him sometimes that Sasuke really never could understand.

Itachi thumbed the button to call the elevator and couldn’t shake the feeling of unease he'd had all day. Whatever was causing this was really starting to give him a headache but then again it could be nothing at all except for some kind of stress related to having his uncle in his house. Whatever the reason, Itachi scanned the area once he stepped out of his company's building as he made his way to his car which was parked next to Sasuke’s. If something were going to happen, it would happen at this point.

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Kisame straightened in his seat as he saw someone emerge from the building. He knew that it wasn't Sasuke because the useful wire taps he had planted in the Uchiha’s office told him as much. It sucked not knowing how long the little brat would be staying so it was a bit hard to judge when the kid was going to come out. His brother on the other hand, looked as wound up as a freaking virgin... He probably suspected something was up but how could he know?

Orochimaru kept his eyes locked on Itachi and watched as the high strung man quickened his pace the closer he got to his car. How lovely it would be to make that immaculately kept man writhe with worry over what was going to happen to his brother before letting him go somewhere naked and alone for his troubles. "He looks like he suspects something. Why don’t we quiet him down and hide his car until we have our target safely in hand? Being brothers and all he might just sit around until Sasuke comes out."

Kisame glanced toward Itachi then shook his head. "He's leaving. Didn't you say your previous sub is now his master? He looks like the type to follow rules.... Plus, Madara would kill me if I ever touched his 'precious nephew'." he said mockingly as he placed invisible quotes around his last two words.

The pale man scowled and glowered into the deepening darkness as Itachi's car purred to life and backed out of the parking spot and rolled away leaving just a handful of cars behind in the lot.

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A few hours passed and it was rounding on 6:30. Sasuke signed his last document and stretched his back out until he heard the vertebrae pop. He was totally going to ask Naruto if the man would give him a back massage, he really needed one.

After tidying up his office, the short haired Uchiha grabbed his coat and headed out the door. He had to admit that his brother had a point; something did feel a bit weird tonight. With that in mind, Sasuke took out his small bottle of pepper spray that his brother had gotten him years ago when he was younger. Might as well be prepared.

Kisame noticed the light turn off in the youngest Uchiha's office and unlocked the doors. "Ready?" he asked the pale doctor sitting next to him. "Don't forget the plan, I grab and hold him while you stick him."

With a truly evil grin, Orochimaru put one hand on the door handle and palmed the syringe in the other. If all went well the boy would go down without even a whimper. "You better hold him securely because I've only got enough for one maybe two jabs if he puts up a struggle."

Kisame nodded. He still wasn't sure about this. Even though Sasuke wasn't a minor... it still felt, overly wrong, more than usual, to take someone like Sasuke; he couldn’t explain it. But he had no time to dwell on that, the kid was coming out the door. Good thing they moved the car closer during Sasuke and Itachi's lunch break, or else it would have been impossible to get him from across the street.

Kisame silently opened his door and quietly got out. He slowly walked around Sasuke's car and just as the boy was inserting the key to unlock the door, he jumped.

Sasuke hit the floor hard and thought for a second that he had tripped over something. What the hell could he have...? Then it hit him, there was a man holding him down. His first instinct was to struggle but then he remembered the pepper spray, but with his positioning, he completely missed the black man's face and instead hit his chest. Fuck!

Kisame cursed loudly and was very tempted to punch the fucking brat. But his paycheck was at stake and Sasuke was not to be hurt. Damn but that pepper spray burned even if it wasn’t even on him! The smell was just too much.

With considerably more dignity, the Doctor got around Sasuke’s car and down on the struggling man’s level to snatch at an arm before ramming the syringe home to dose the young Uchiha.

The pale man squatted down next to Sasuke with a truly unpleasant smile and pulled Sasuke’s hair until the man’s head was at an awkward and painful angle. All the better to see the target's heartbeat racing in his neck. "Ah you poor little Kitten. You've really gone and made things so easy for us to catch you. Now we get to make your master squirm and your uncle quite pleased since you've so kindly made yourself available.

Sasuke tried his best to get away, even in his rapidly weakening state. Of course this is what it was all about. His uncle wanted to get to Itachi.... what better way than to use Sasuke as bait? He knew that if Itachi found out there'd be no way in hell to stop his brother from falling for it. But he also knew that his brother was smarter than that and would come up with a plan to save him. If he ever found out that is. "You can tell my fuck of an uncle that my brother would never want him. Itachi can do so much better than that masochistic pile of shit." Sasuke was able to get one last shot at Naruto's former master by spitting in his face before he was forced to succumb to the drug that was now flowing through his blood.

Kisame finally relaxed and stood up once he made sure the kid was out and looked over at the enraged doctor. The man did deserve it after all. Kisame would have done more than just spit at Orochimaru if he was with him for much longer.

Orochimaru scowled darkly at Sasuke’s inert form and used a tissue to wipe the blood and spit from his face with a snarl. He hadn’t expected the brat to be aware enough to spit so he hadn't thought about keeping Sasuke’s face pointed at something else; like his partner perhaps. "Let’s get him wrapped up and in the back before I cut ribbons in him for his insolence.

Kisame didn't say anything, not really wanting to talk to the doctor anymore. Actually seeing how forcefully the man had pierced the boy's flesh with the needle was a bit unsettling. The black man grabbed some rope from the trunk and tied the Uchiha securely before laying him in said trunk, don’t want to risk getting pulled over for speeding and the cops discovering... Sasuke. "Come on let's go; I'm sick of looking at you."

"Likewise.” The doctor stood up and quickly climbed into the car as if he had all the business in the world to be there with an unconscious man in the trunk. Trust Kisame to be so blunt and offensive.

It didn't take long for Kisame to reach his destination. It was a different house than he was used to, but the directions weren't that difficult. Guess Madara had a house for everything, even for his... less than merritable deeds. He parked and quietly got out of the car and unlocked the trunk. He gently lifted Sasuke out, grateful that the boy was till knocked out. "How much did you give him anyway?" he asked with a glare to the doctor who was also making his way out of the car.

"Oh more than enough for the task at hand but he should be lucid in thirty minutes." Orochimaru got out of the car and carefully stretched out his legs before falling in step with Kisame on their way to the door.

Kisame had untied Sasuke before he had lifted him out of the trunk so it wouldn’t look too odd to possible passersby that he had a passed out kid in his arms. He let Orochimaru knock and waited patiently for his boss to open the door.

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Madara put his book down and rearranged his robe as he went to answer the door. Like most wealthy people he had clothes for every occasion including for lounging around his house; though the pants he was wearing ruined the overall look but at least he was comfortable.

Madara opened the door and blinked at the figures standing on his door step. Apparently the hunt had been successful. "Well don’t stand there, bring him in!"

Kisame nodded and strode inside, handing the comatose boy over to his uncle who looked way too happy for comfort. "Wasn't that hard, he's not that strong so he didn’t put up too much of a fight. Got my shirt with pepper spray though, fuck that shit burned my fucking nose off."

Orochimaru let himself in and smirked. He had been smart enough not to just attack first and think later. "You would have at least expected him to do something with his master being Naruto."

Madara nudged the door closed with a foot and curtly motioned for his two minions to follow him to a room off to the side. "Stop bickering like children and make yourselves useful! Kisame I need you to watch him after I get him settled, I want to be there when he wakes up.” Madara didn’t give Orochimaru so much as a glance as he went past and down a dimly lit hall to the room he kept for special slaves. He fondly called it ‘The Break Room’ for obvious reasons.

Kisame waited until the two men left and looked down at the unconscious Uchiha. What the fuck was he doing? He knew Sasuke was 18 but it still felt really wrong to just undress someone that young. Granted Kisame was 27 but still! Nevertheless, he still wanted to get paid so he did what was asked of him, quickly and proficiently and as professional and unattached as possible. He then found a chair and sat down, not looking at Sasuke; it wasn’t like he could get away with the handcuffs attached to the kid’s feet and wrists which were attached to the bed. "Sorry kid, but money's money."

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Madara left Kisame in The Break Room with his nephew and carefully arranged his robes before addressing his unwanted associate. The man looked fit to tear a person apart with his bare hands. "I trust things went smoothly on your end?"

Orochimaru laughed derisively. "Hardly. That man has no tact whatsoever, not to mention he's a slob. And it wasn't like your nephew was much better. I got a mouthful of saliva and blood on my face for my trouble."

Madara's back went rigid hearing Sasuke so rudely disgraced by a sleazy doctor and mentally patted himself on the back for controlling his anger enough to fix the Orochimaru with a hard stare. It was time to teach this man a lesson "I see. And how, may I ask, is your failure to keep him from spitting make him a brat? Surely anyone who's been caught in a trap would react similarly." It was true he tended to favor Itachi, but Sasuke was still family, and fair game for his love and attention.

The pale man shut up. He knew he shouldn’t piss off this man. "I do apologize. Is there anything else you need of me before I take my leave?"

"I can think of a great many things that I need done, but not from you. You apparently can’t complete even the simplest task without making yourself look like a freak, or without applying the worst possible terms to people." Madara narrowed his eyes and looked down his nose at the distasteful man in front of him. He never really liked this particular man and only suffered his presence under extreme circumstances. "I want you to leave my house, now, before I think twice about having paid you."

Orochimaru bowed with a sickly smile and made his way to the front door. "Don't forget about the other part of the deal. I bring you the brat, you give me my pet." With that, the man slammed the door shut firmly and headed home.

Just at that moment, Kisame stepped out and cleared his throat to get his bosses attention.

Madara turned around and composed himself into neutrality since Kisame at least didn’t complain about the work he was assigned. "Is he awake yet?"

Kisame nodded. "He's just starting to move a little."

"Good. Thank you for telling me." With that, the evil man with ill intent marring his features, headed to the door and to his prize.

TBC

Well finally the kidnap… Now the remaining chapters are going to be very dark and explicit… so I hope you guys can handle it XD Its really weird to write crap like this… I almost feel like a horrible person… hahaha… well, hope you enjoyed!

~Sasu