The Art of Patience

The Art of Patience Ch. 37
Note: Nothing really graphic in this one. Just more sad Sasuke stud T_T
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Unknown to the tormentors and kidnappers inside Madara Uchiha’s residence, Kakashi was waiting behind one of the many manicured hedges that lined the outside of the house with a member of his team. The man was big and scarred just enough to be considered fierce by civilians who tended to avoid him if they politely could.

Another member of his team and a good friend for many years was checking the house out for other entrances and exits as well as looking for their target. Iruka was good at recon and if there were any secret ways to get in or holes in the security net that would allow them to get in, he'd find it.

The white haired man shuddered slightly and hoped that Sasuke was alright, everyone had heard the boys scream minutes before and it had made them all cringe. It was the scream of someone who was at the end of their resistance. The poor kid was probably going to have some problems once they got him out of there but there was no use thinking about that until the time came. No need to borrow trouble if they didn't need to. "Are we all clear on the plan? get in, get out, grab Sasuke and Madara, and get our asses out of here."

Ibiki nodded, his scarred face grim. “At least the dumbass Madara is too cocky to put any surveillance cameras. Either that or he’s just stupid.” He was about to signal for Kakashi to go in after finding where Iruka was but stopped short as the door suddenly opened and a man came storming angrily out. He looked at Kakashi who looked back and they both nodded before attacking the long haired doctor Orochimaru.

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Madara buried his hands in Sasuke’s sweaty hair and stroked the boys scalp now that he was broken he could be cleaned without risk of injury. In the beginning when he hadn't broken his pets they'd bitten him, he'd made sure since then to see them broken before he handled them. It was amazing how fragile Sasuke was in mentality. He figured at least a stronger fight. But then again, having everything you want handed to you on a silver platter by your older brother, including sex, would soften one’s spirit.

The older Uchiha looked down at his new pet and smiled at the younger raven’s question. Of course in Sasuke’s state, it was only natural for the slave to second guess themselves when their ‘Master’ was angry in general. "No, I'm not mad at you, pet, you've done nothing wrong. This man however carved you up and I did not say he could do so.” Madara turned cold eyes on the doctor and made no effort to hide his distaste for the pale skinned man. He never liked Orochimaru since the moment they'd met. But certain circumstances forced his hand in the matter of using the man to his advantage.

Sasuke leaned further into the man's touch, knowing that whatever happened to him would be far less painful with his Master than with the other one that burnt and cut him... He whimpered slightly as the memory surfaced once more and he scooted behind his uncle this time, needing to feel protected.

Orochimaru scowled and stood his ground against Madara's wrath, there wouldn't be any permanent damage to Sasuke after their session. Not even a telltale scar! "There is no damage! In less than a week he'd be as good as new."

The eldest Uchiha fumed impressively and shifted his weight to keep Sasuke well behind him, so this man thought he knew best for another person’s slaves? well it was time to knock the 'good doctor' down a few pegs! "No damage? how is making my pet bleed not damage? Now I have to look after his injury unit until it scabs over and for the new skin to grow, and pray to all that is holy that he doesn’t get an infection."

Orochimaru sneered at the thankless man before him. "What difference does it make now that he's broken? You should be thanking me!"

Madara floundered for a moment in anger and backhanded the other man so hard that he stumbled backwards a step No one talked to him this way! He knew that getting angry would always work, but softly while visibly upset and ready to strike did the trick as well. "Get out of my house before I have you thrown out." His voice was steady and quiet even though his skin felt like it was on fire and Madara reveled in the flicker of fear in the doctor’s eyes before he looked away. That's right, walk away, get out while you can with your tail between your legs and never come back.

Without another word Orochimaru left the room shaking with anger and dreams of revenge on the man who’d so callously thrown him away.

He walked out the door and slammed it behind him as hard as he could without noticing anything around him until it was far beyond too late. Hands grabbed him and there was a moment f pain before the doctor could piece together what had happened before the world went black.

Ibiki flung the pale doctor over one shoulder and followed Iruka to the car to help tie the man up. He looked back briefly to make sure Kakashi got in to the house safely. Once he saw the silver haired man close the door behind him, the large scarred man smirked. Madara was so dead.

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Kakashi made his way quietly down the hall after going through the foyer. He could hear conversation in a room off to the left and it sounded like Madara. He wasn't quite sure so he looked around; making sure no one was present and slunk to the door and pressed his ear against it.

"Now that we're alone, let me see what that man did to you love. I'll make it better so you won’t hurt anymore." Madara smiled and put his hand in Sasuke's now messy hair, the boy really needed a shower and now that he was broken that would be an easy task to accomplish. "Would you like that, pet?"

Sasuke looked up at the man with wide, fearful eyes but nodded meekly nonetheless. He really wanted the pain to stop and this man said he would do it. "Please Master... Your slave will be good." He huddled against the man's leg again, needing to feel some sort of comfort, anything but pain.

Madara smiled and gently scratched Sasuke's scalp to make the boy feel just a little better just like a good master should. In just a few days he'd have this one properly trained and eating out of his hands without a second thought just like all the others. Now that he had Sasuke, it wasn’t even about Itachi anymore. Sure he’d eventually break his other nephew, but why rush when he had a perfectly gorgeous boy right there? "Now how about we get you cleaned up and something to eat? You must be starving after last night."

Outside the door, Kakashi looked back for a brief second to make sure he had backup before moving to the side of the doorframe where Madara would surely be coming out with Sasuke. His plan was to take down Madara while Iruka grabbed Sasuke and take him out of the house while Kakashi dealt with the evil older Uchiha. The plan should work.

As if on cue, the door swung open and Kakashi didn’t even bother to think as he tackled the robe clad man to the ground, instantly knocking him out with his elbow. He noticed Sasuke scramble back into the room, utter fear in the raven’s eyes and he signaled Iruka to go in the room to calm the scared boy down. The brown haired man would be better at that kind of thing. The silver haired man was surprised at how easily Madara went down. Kakashi guessed he wasn’t prepared at all for retaliation in the form of ex-military; what a dumbass. He handed the unconscious man over to Ibiki who had just entered the house, scaring off some of the more curious slaves unintentionally as he did so. He watched at the large man took no care in taking the unconscious man and heading back out the door once more.

Iruka slowly entered the room and smiled as benignly as he could at Sasuke; the boy was terrified like an animal that had been kept in a cage and only knew pain even though he'd only been there for a day. Sasuke was going to have some serious trauma after this whole thing was over.

He squatted maybe four feet from where the naked man was huddling and couldn’t help feeling sorry for the little man., he'd never asked for any of this. "Hey Sasuke... You don’t need to be afraid anymore, I’m here to take you back to Naruto and your brother. You remember Naruto?"

Sasuke’s shaking didn't cease as the ponytailed man entered. He had never seen him before and he'd already had back experiences with strangers. He didn't answer the question but instead asked a question of his own in a shaky frightened voice. "Where's my master?"

Iruka blinked and thought for a moment of the best answer. If he said something wrong Sasuke might freak out and break down in a fit of despair at best or become violent at a perceived threat. "Do you mean Naruto?"

Sasuke blinked back tears as he huddled further into the corner he was in. “M-Madara…” was all he said in almost a choked whisper. “Please, I need him… He….he promised to make the pain stop.” The little Uchiha’s body still ached and stung from the injuries that had been inflicted on him and he shivered with suppressed agony as his muscles and skin screamed at him. Tears rolled down his cheeks and he needed something, anything to make it stop. He shook his head harshly and covered his face with his hands, not wanting to be seen by anyone; if he couldn’t see them, maybe they couldn’t see him…


Iruka flinched form just imagining what it had taken to make this young man claim that his tormenter was his master. Once he was out of here he'd be going through some serious therapy to get over this incident. "But you had a master before him remember, with Blond hair? He misses you very much and wants to see you happy." Iruka reached forward and gently touched Sasuke's arm, He needed to get him out of this room and to a hospital, and it looked like he'd been burned recently.

Sasuke’s reaction was immediate. He flinched away from the touch and whimpered as if the simple touch scorched his skin. He tried to move away from the stranger but felt himself too frightened to attempt it. “Please… don’t hurt me; I said I’d be good.” The raven’s tears started anew as he huddled further into the corner still keeping his face hidden.

Kakashi came in at that moment, having just handed Madara off to Ibiki. “What’s going on?” he asked the ponytailed man as he knelt down beside him.

Iruka looked at Kakashi and shook his head sadly Sasuke was in worse shape than he'd thought possible in the amount of time he'd been there. "He really believes that Madara is a good man and his master. I don't know if he even remembers Naruto, his brother or anything beyond now. And in the state he’s in I wonder if he'll ever really heal all the way."

Kakashi sighed. He figured something like this might happen and he carefully approached the frightened man but didn't touch him. "Sasuke... I know you're scared, but your brother really misses you. Don't you want to see him?" He figured mention of Naruto at this point wouldn’t really make any leeway so he decided to go with the one person that never let Sasuke down.

Sasuke stopped shaking for a brief moment and looked up cautiously. "Where's Itachi? I want him..." He did crawl out of his corner this time and up to the silver haired man. "I want my brother... I'll be good, please, I want to see Itachi."

Kakashi nodded and gave Iruka a look, signaling the man to get a small bottle that was filled with a liquid sleep aid. "Don't worry Sasuke. You'll see your brother. But we have to take you out of the house. Everything will be ok."

Sasuke eyed the bottle warily and almost went back into the corner but he didn't and instead looked at Iruka skeptically.

"Don't worry; it's just to help you sleep. When you wake up Itachi's going to be right there holding your hand." Iruka smiled gently and poured some of the liquid in a collapsible cup he'd kept in a pocket. It would be easier on everyone if Sasuke was blissfully asleep during the transfer to the car and again to the hospital.

Kakashi took the cup that Iruka handed him and offered it to the broken man in front of him. “It won’t hurt you I promise. We’re going to take good care of you and you won’t feel pain anymore.”

Sasuke didn’t do anything at first, just sitting there staring. After an agonizing minute he finally took the offered cup slowly with a shaky hand. If these men knew his brother and Naruto… His hand paused at thinking of the blonde. He did know who the man was, he was not that far gone to forget Naruto, but he just couldn’t seem to grasp the man’s importance in his life. Could he really trust Naruto? Was he always good to him? He knew he could always trust his brother, but these men were never mentioned before by his older sibling so really… why should he trust them?

Making up his mind, Sasuke whimpered and dropped the cup, spilling its contents before trying to go around the two to get out of the door, hoping to find his Master.

Iruka didn’t think beyond what needed to be done and grabbed Sasuke as he tried to get past the two men by the arm and twisted it up behind the boys back gently to keep him from squirming around to bite him. Last thing he needed was to get a fight bite from someone he was trying to help, such things never healed well and hurt like a bitch from infection. "Hey, take it easy we're not going to hurt you. We just want to help you get back home, to your brother." Iruka grunted as Sasuke picked up a leg and managed to dig his heel in the brown haired mans leg above the knee. Even if Sasuke couldn't effectively fight back he was flexible and strong enough to make it very hard to hang onto.

Kakashi knew the actions Iruka was taking were necessary. They were wasting time and needed to get out before something else happened. The silver haired man pulled out the small bottle with the sleeping agent once more and placed himself behind the struggling Uchiha.

Sasuke did scream this time as he was restrained and feebly tried to break away from the ponytailed man. In his mind, this man was going to hurt him too and fresh tears rolled down his cheeks in utter fear of being hurt again. “No! Please, I said I’ll be good! I want my Master…”

Kakashi took that opportunity to pour a bit of the liquid into Sasuke’s mouth; he knew Sasuke was too far gone to know to spit it out. He kept the small man from struggling too much and tried to speak comfortingly to him. “It’ll all be over soon. You’ll be better once we can get you out of here. I promise your brother will be there when you wake up.” The silver haired man knew that his words probably had no effect, but at least he was trying.

Sasuke’s screams turned into whimpers as the sleep agent started to take effect. He continued to feebly struggle until his eyes closed in sleep, tears still clinging to the dark eyelashes.

Iruka shifted his grip and held Sasuke more or less upright after he'd fallen into a drugged sleep. "Poor kid, he's really messed up if he wants to go back to his uncle. I don't even want to think about how much trauma Sasuke's going to have from this whole thing." The ponytailed man looked around for a clean sheet or a blanket to wrap Sasuke up in to keep him warm while he slept and to hide his indecency when they got him to a hospital where his injuries would be taken care of.

Kakashi just nodded and opened up what looked like a closet and pulled out a blanket. He cringed at some of the other items in the closet but didn’t dwell on them too much as he helped Iruka wrap Sasuke up securely. “I know Naruto and Itachi will take good care of him. Naruto’s such a good person… I just hope he’s not too discouraged by Sasuke’s mentality, I can’t see him getting better anytime soon.”

The silver haired man then picked Sasuke up, blanket and all, and followed Iruka out of the room. To his surprise there was a group of people standing just before the front door and Kakashi looked at them with sad eyes. “I need you all to stay here for now. I’ll be having someone stay with you tonight then tomorrow you’ll be able to go wherever you like. If you have nowhere to go, someone will make sure you get taken care of.” With that he exited the hellish house just as Yamato, the person he appointed to stay with the other ‘slaves’, came in passed him.

Finally outside, Kakashi followed Iruka to the separate car that was to be for Sasuke’s transport and gently lay him in the back seat and got in beside the sleeping man. He watched as Iruka to into the driver’s side and started the car before driving off. It was finally done, retrieving Sasuke, and his other objective; he better get a raise for this.

He knew it wasn’t over by a long shot for Sasuke, Naruto, and Itachi and he knew that the three very nice young men would undoubtedly be going through the roughest time of their lives in the next few months.

As the thought of Naruto and Itachi came into his head he picked up his cell phone and dialed the blonde’s number. After the first few rings he heard the blonde’s voice on the other end, the man sounded horrible. But after the initial questions from Naruto, Kakashi finally said the words his friend wanted to hear most. “We got him.”

TBC

Sasuke’s SAFE!!! In a relative sense of the word T_T But at least he’ll be back with Naruto and Itachi XD. And OMG foreshadowing with Kakashi!!! Next chapter you’ll find out what he’s REALLY doing… and how it all ties in. Well, hope the wait was worth it!

~Sasu

TBC