This is Not a Game [Complete]

The wait as  been long and hard (hehe) but I sincerly hope it was worth it. I struggled with this chapter. I'm not sure why, and I'm still not happy with it, so honest feedback will be much appreciated.

Unbeta'd You have been warned.

---

Inner Demons

 

Itachi impatiently paced the small concrete cell, the very same Kyuubi had been confined to days earlier, or so he strongly believed. For all he knew, LEAF Headquarters could hold hundreds of cells each an exact replica. But he doubted it.

Time had slowed to a crawl since he'd woken alone on a thin cot with a light sheet thrown over him for warmth and confined in a windowless concrete box. The reality was, only been twenty five minutes had passed.

Twenty five minutes of pure hell.

Ten of his waking minutes, Itachi had been found regaining his bearings and gathering his wits about him, his mind fuzzy and sluggish. To him, the idea of Kyuubi, his lover and protector, had knocked him out cold almost seemed ludicrous. But in the end, when the facts were laid out for him, it was the harsh reality he was forced to swallow.

The news had only just arrived of Naruto's tracking signal re-appearing on Shikamaru's system. Their brothers were still missing, but they had surfaced. There was new hope.

Sitting idly by was not a feat easily undertaken by Itachi Uchiha or even fully understood, not when the safety of his baby brother was in the balance. He was a man of action.

There was no way of telling how long he'd been unconscious for. Itachi didn't have the faintest idea of how long he'd been under lockdown or even how long Kyuubi had been chasing the signal in hopes of recovering their brothers. His mind was supplying him with images of his boyfriend laying on the cold ground bleeding out while Naruto and Sasuke slipped through their fingers.

A heaviness settled in the pit of his stomach. He was doomed to live alone in the world, the last of his family gone forever.

A lesser man would have lost his mind with the endless questions to his fate. But he was Itachi Uchiha. Taking a seat on the narrow cot provided for him, he tucked his legs up to sit cross legged and began to meditate, an activity he had taken up during junior year but hadn't indulged in for a number of years.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

But his desperate attempt did little to quell the fear in his mind.

The intense onyx eyes popped open with a frustrated sigh. "Just come home to me, Kyuu," he murmured wearily to the empty cell. He could hear his voice echoing back to him. "Just come home."

---

Amidst the flurry of activity around him, Kyuubi burst through the emergency room doors at a run. His team struggled to keep pace with him until he was forced to slow momentum as bodies in white lab coats and bright scrubs pressed in around him.

A small unconscious body clutched tenderly to his chest, the agent pushed through the sea of doctors and nurses that hovered around him attempting to persuade and relieve him of the unconscious teen. But the agent refused to forfeit the boy into the care of just anyone. The dulled blue eyes darted around the emergency ward seeking out the one person he would entrust his precious bundle to. Sasuke was the last link to his brother, a life line, and one he couldn't bring himself to part with.

In a few short months, the small boy in his arms had become a second little brother to protect. But how could he protect Sasuke when he couldn't even save Naruto.

Kyuubi watched Tsunade came barrelling into the ER, blond pigtails flying and cloak unfurling around her as she knocked staff out of her path to him. "Put him down and let me see," she ordered.

But Kyuubi didn't budge at his Hokage's command. Instead, the dull azure eyes stared blankly back at her.

Scowling, Tsunade reached out to take the teen from the agent, but the expressionless Uzumaki took a step back, arms tightening around the slim body cradled delicately to his chest.

"Kyuubi," the Hokage growled. "You need to release him for examination." But her requests and demands bore no fruit. She could see a brief flicker of hesitancy in Kyuubi's eyes. Sasuke was the only connection he had to Naruto.

"Agent Phoenix, surrender the subject immediately. That's an order!"

The emotionless face twisted into a snarl as what could only be defined as a growl erupted from the agent carrying the blood splattered teen.

The Hokage answered with her own hiss of pure frustration. The shockingly young face of the physician twisted in fury before it melted into grief and guilt. The young man she considered a son would not be suffering if she had taken other actions. There had been many different courses of action LEAF could have taken in the protection of the Uchiha family, but placing the Uzumaki's in the Uchiha's lives had seemed the least obtrusive.

With a heavy sigh, Tsunade hid her face with one hand and brushed away a stray tear. She couldn't appear weak in front of her subordinates. She was a beacon of strength.

"I understand your pain, Kyuubi. But I must examine him. He's covered in blood. He could be injured.

"It's not his."

"What?" Tsunade glanced up from pure shock at the dead tone.

"It's not his," Kyuubi repeated in the same strange monotone.

"How do you know for sure? Who's is it?" the Hokage demanded pointing an accusing finger at the agent.

"The man who appeared to have retrieved him used Sasuke as a human shield."

Tsunade shuddered. All too well she knew Kyuubi's policy on the use of an innocent to save your own skin. If he had the shot, he took it. No negotiation.

"Kyuubi, he's no longer in any danger. Your duty is done. I swear on my title as Hokage of this agency, no harm will come to this boy while he is in my care. I'll inform you personally when he wakes."

Eyes narrowed, Kyuubi took a few tentative steps forward, and lowered Sasuke onto the crisp white sheets of the waiting gurney. His hands trembled as he finally relinquished his hold taking the Hokage's word.

Letting out the breath she had been unconsciously holding, Tsunade nodded and laid a hand on Kyuubi's forearm. "Itachi needs to know," she murmured. But when the lifeless teen was laid out, she jumped into action, meticulously checking him over while simultaneously shouting orders.

The staff scrambled to keep up with her as Sasuke was whisked down the long corridor and through the swinging doors.

Kyuubi stared listlessly after the Hokage as she disappeared down the hall with the last clue to the whereabouts of his missing brother. Sasuke looked so small and fragile against the sterile white sheets of the gurney. The sight made his chest constrict painfully.

Kyuubi felt numb.

Naruto hadn't been in the same convoy as Sasuke. The sneaky LEAF agent had planted his tracker on the youngest Uchiha, a gamble that had paid off, and Kyuubi couldn't even be angry with his brother. Shortly after he had begun dating Itachi, he had done the very same. The pewter Uzumaki swirl necklace worn around Itachi's neck was his own. At least he could take comfort in knowing he had returned his lover's precious brother to him as Naruto would have wished. But he didn't. It did nothing to quell the emptiness he felt.

---

Silence continued to reign over the small concrete room. Itachi sat on the edge of the thin cot, back rigid, while his foot tapped out a staccato beat. Being locked away like a common criminal left Itachi feeling inadequate, a feeling he was not familiar with, and one he found he did not enjoy.

The clank of the lock being released echoed through the cell and Itachi jumped to his feet hurrying across the floor to the door with the expectation to find Kyuubi sheepishly standing on the other side ready to apologize. But that wasn't who he found.

It couldn't have been possible for Shikamaru to look any more apathetic than he did at present. But on closer inspection, his dark eyes seemed unfocused as though he was deep in thought but still somehow functioning on the surface. Yawning, his hand barely covering his mouth, the lazy agent waved the Uchiha out of the cell and into the hall.

"The team's back," Shikamaru muttered jerking his head in the direction of the exit out of the basement where the holding cells were located.

Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he slouched off towards the stairs seemingly lost in thought. He didn't even bother checking if Itachi was following him. His mind was elsewhere.

A few seconds later, soft footsteps fell in behind Shikamaru.

Livid, the Uchiha followed the young agent up the stairs ready to give Kyuubi a piece of his mind. His boyfriend hadn't even had the courtesy to retrieve him himself after locking him up like a helpless child. Lost in anger and confusion clouding his mind, he nearly ran into Shikamaru's back when the other man came to a sudden halt at the top of the stairs.

Hand resting lightly on the door handle, Shikamaru paused, his expression thoughtful. "You shouldn't be angry with him... It was done for his protection just as much as yours."

Shikamaru's soft voice snapped Itachi out of his thoughts of strangling his lover. "Excuse me?" he hissed.

"How would you have acted in the situation Kyuubi found himself in?" Shikamaru asked quietly forcing Itachi to calm his mind to think. Eyes still trained on the closed door, he could feel some of the tension drain from the body practically vibrating behind him.

"I would have acted in a way befitting of the situation." The response was curt.

"Would you believe me if I told you he would have likely gotten himself killed protecting you?"

Swallowing the large lump forming in his throat, Itachi nodded despite the fact the agent couldn't see him.

Shikamaru let out a heavy sigh and assumed Itachi had nodded instead of verbally responding to his question. "Even years of training cannot stamp out the desire to protect the ones you love regardless of the danger that may be presented to you. It's human nature and encoded in our DNA."

The door creaked open. But before Shikamaru stepped through, he whispered "don't be too hard on him... we only recovered Sasuke."

Stunned, Itachi stood frozen for several seconds as the door swung wide open before he all but shoved the lazy agent aside in his haste to reach his lover and brother. "Kyuu..."

Sprinting down the hall guided through the twists and turns of the base purely by the power of his own memory from the time of Kyuubi's incarceration, he felt as though he were racing time itself.

By the time he reached the hospital wing of LEAF headquarters, three levels up, the dark eyes were wild. He frantically scoured the bustling crowd of doctors, nurses, and patients for a familiar face. Anyone would do, even Kiba or Lee. But luck was not on his side.

Trembling, Itachi collapsed against the closest wall. He was on the verge of hyperventilation in a state of emotional turmoil that didn't seem to rise to the surface. His expression was still solemn and hard to read as always.

Sasuke had been found with no hint of Naruto and liable to be a mess. God only knew what the impressionable teen had been forced to witness at the hands of his captors. Both his little brother and lover needed him at their sides to be a pillar of strength and comfort, but he was barely grasping at his own sanity.

Vaguely, Itachi could hear a soft unfamiliar voice calling his name, and then the world went black.

Eyes flickering open, Itachi blearily stared up at the sterile white ceiling in an unfamiliar room. Mild panic set in, his heart pounding wildly in his chest, until a large warm hand squeezed his gently and the familiar comforting rumble over Kyuubi's voice infiltrated his senses.

"You gave us quite the scare, 'tachi," Kyuubi said trying to sound light hearted, but his voice sounded hollow.

"How is he?" Itachi rasped. His voice cracked from a dry throat. He followed Kyuubi's gaze as the older man jerked his head towards the second bed in the room refusing to release Itachi's hand tightly clasped in his.

Across the room, Sasuke lay motionless, blissfully still unconscious from the ordeal earlier. His mind was trying to protect him from the pain after suffering through days of torment and witnessing his own flesh and blood killed after using him to selfishly barter for freedom.

"Tsunade should be back soon," Kyuubi offered. He looked tired.

The normally bright eyes were sunken and heavily shadowed, and the tan skin looked sallow. It was amazing what only a few hours of stress could do to the body.

Shifting in the hard uncomfortable plastic chair, Kyuubi slid closer to the bed. "She'll have more details, but I'm not family. By law, Tsunade was obligated to keep his condition from me. All I could weasel out of a few of the younger nurses was he hasn't sustained any lasting physical injury, but there are a few minor cuts and bruises from rough treatment."

The knowledge Naruto would have suffered a great deal more than Sasuke weighed heavily on him. But at least he had been able to return his boyfriend's precious baby brother to him.

Nodding stiffly, Itachi sighed and accepted the disposable plastic cup of water Kyuubi handed him. "So he'll be fine?" he asked tentatively. The cool water soothed his parched throat.

The door slid open noiselessly. "Unfortunately, until he regains consciousness, we won't know the extent of the mental and emotional trauma," Tsunade said entering the room. Blindly, she navigated around the bed to stand opposite Kyuubi while consulting her clipboard. "At this time, it is uncertain what Sasuke was forced to witness. It is only speculation at this point, but we have had contact with Orochimaru in the past. The man's mind is twisted. We're preparing for the worst."

Itachi's hand clenched around the stiff starchy sheets of the hospital bed. Thankfully he wasn't attached to any machinery like a heart monitor to give away his current state of distress, but he didn't doubt Kyuubi knew. His lover always knew. It was only a matter of Kyuubi breaking him down just as he had the day his parents had been murdered.

Across the room, the eldest Uchiha could hear the slow rhythmic beep of Sasuke's heartbeat. It was comforting. His youngest brother was alive. Turning his face away from Tsunade as the doctor fussed over him taking his blood pressure and temperature, he felt his lip tremble. He was breaking. But he couldn't afford to, not now. How easily his cold exterior had melted. Kyuubi needed him, and yet here he was relying on the older man yet again. He wanted to be stronger, but he wasn't trained for this, and the mask he usually wore now placed on Kyuubi's face was disconcerting. All was not well.

"Well, no harm done," the Hokage announced after a moment or two more of poking and prodding. "You're healthy. Just a fainting spell."

"I didn't faint," Itachi grit out indignantly. With a reason to act cold and aloof, he quashed his fears and pulled the unreadable expression back into place. Vaguely, he registered Kyuubi's chuckle to his side.

Seeing Itachi stabilizing his emotions eased Kyuubi's burden, if only a little. "Of course you didn't," he readily agreed to pacify the younger man and delicately patted the back of his hand.

Feeling patronized, Itachi scowled first at his lover and then the doctor still hovering. "Can I get up now?"

"May I," Tsunade corrected without looking up from her clipboard. "And I suppose so. You're fine."

Eyes still glued to the paperwork she was scribbling on furiously, she wandered around the foot of Itachi's bed and over to the younger Uchiha. She could feel Itachi's gaze burning into her back as the Uchiha glared at her from the bed.

Reading the various instruments and machines the small boy was wired into, she took notes, tapped monitors with the end of her pen, and hummed over the results. "I'll be back in an hour. He's stable, but he was suffering from severe exhaustion." With a nod, she closed the door behind her leaving the two men alone with their younger brother.

Not wanting to waste anymore time, Itachi shed the thin blanket and itchy sheets. Swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, he hopped down onto the cool tile floor grateful to find himself still fully clothed. Only his shoes were missing.

At a distance, Kyuubi followed Itachi across the room and took a seat at Itachi's side when the other sank into a chair at Sasuke's bedside. "He'll be fine," the agent assured massaging Itachi's knee. "Tsunade is the best in her field."

"You knocked me out," the young heir murmured. His eyes never left the still form breathing shallowly as he slept.

The tan hand resting on the Uchiha's knee fell away, but Kyuubi felt no remorse for his actions. "Yup." The 'P' sound popped on his lips. But when the dark narrowed eyes fell on him, he swallowed nervously and instinctively covered his family jewels.

The room was quiet for a moment, only Sasuke's heart beat punctuating the silence while the two men stared each other down.

"While I understand your reasoning and logic, I can't help but be furious with you," Itachi finally said. The cold expression didn't leave his face. "I am fully capable of looking out for myself, and making my own decisions."

Kyuubi shifted awkwardly under Itachi's hard glare. He wasn't used to fighting with the Uchiha. Itachi would be a formidable opponent.

"I would expect nothing less from you as an Uchiha and my lover," Kyuubi admitted softly. For the first time, he was seeing misconduct on his side, but he still felt no remorse. "However, regardless of your strengths, it is my duty to protect you by any means necessary. I cannot have you running into a volatile situation putting your life in danger."

"And by extension, yours," Itachi said finishing what had been left unsaid by the agent.

"I..."Kyuubi looked genuinely shocked at Itachi's forethought before conceding to the younger man's logic and nodding mutely.

Itachi made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat. "Kyuubi, listen to me carefully." His voiced dropped to an ominous rumble only heard by those Itachi believed to have earned his wrath. It sent shivers through Kyuubi's spine. "You are never to take a bullet, a punch, or anything of that sort meant for me or anything equally as inane."

"But..."

"I am more than duty."

The azure eyes widened in sudden understanding. Itachi was afraid he meant little more than a paycheck and a job well done. Reaching out, he snagged a slender hand and squeezed gently.

"You are... so much more."

Some of the tension drained from Itachi. "Then promise me."

Swallowing the lump forming in his throat, Kyuubi shook his head regretfully. "I can't," he whispered hoarsely.

"Then I can't either." The deep onyx eye burned with confidence and determination. He was finding his strength. He would protect his family.

When the grip on his hand tightened exponentially, Kyuubi's blue eyes went wide as his gaze shot up to find the fire in his lover's eyes. "Itachi..."

---

"Silence. I own you!" A cold hand backhanded the beaten agent.

Twenty minutes after Sasuke's retrieval, Orochimaru had ordered the base cleaned out. They were moving on.

Arms and legs shackled, Naruto rolled around in the back of the van he had been unceremoniously thrown into. Orochimaru had joined him for amusement, only Naruto had more fighting spirit left than the man calculated for. The young agent was suppose to be more broken by now, close to snapping after being tortured, humiliated, and now, separated from his charge and lover. But he wasn't. Naruto's eyes still burned brightly with hope and determination.

The hard heel of a grimey boot dug into Naruto's cheek as his head was ground into the metal floor of the transport vehicle. "Every inch of you is mine, and only mine. I own your very soul. Soon you will be my puppet. Your heart will beat only for me as my devoted subordinate catering to my every need."

"You don't own me," Naruto growled spitting out blood. His teeth were stained red. "You could never own me! I will never be one of your brainwashed drones." He groaned when a well place kick had him doubled over in pain as it drove into his broken ribs. He choked on blood and bile as it rose up in his throat burning the soft muscle.

"My heart... and... and soul are not even my own," he gasped out. Blood and saliva dribbled from his lips to pool on the floor. "They belong to Sasuke and my family. They always will. I gave my life to protect him, and I have no expectation whether I will survive. My job is done."

The heavy military boot came down on the blood matted blond head. Naruto's vision swam as the world slowly went black. The last image he saw was Orochimaru with a cruel sneer and a terrifying gleam in his eyes.

"We'll see..."

---

Well, that's it for now. I have already started on the next chapter, but I'm working full time, attending school nearly full time, and struggling to find time to complete my schoolwork let alone write. Do be patient with me.

For those who may have a Y!Gal account, I'm thinking of doing a Kurama/Itachi swap for a club I have there. Let me know if you're interested.

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