More Than Just a Kiss (edited)

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the Naruto characters, I just like to imagine them in my own little world (which is totally of my making). No profits are made from this story, just gratuitous pleasure.

Summary: It was more than just a kiss. One minute he had been glaring into the eyes of his nemesis, Uchiha Sasuke, the next minute his lips were pressed firmly against those of that emotionless boy.

Rating: NC-17

Warning Codes: Angst,Lang,M/M,WAFF,WIP,Yaoi (other warnings as the story continues)

Pairings: SausxNar


Feedback is appreciated. I enjoy hearing from all of my readers. That you take the time to read is great, that you take the time to write is awesome. You are what makes writing worth while. I hope that you enjoy reading it and I look forward to your comments.

My sincere thanks to the following:

Trigger Happy Bitch: I hope that you enjoy this chapter as well, I think that their feeling are really starting to come out now. Thanks for reading and commenting.

Noir: They will be getting to it, not this chapter, but perhaps in the next one. They have to build up to the moment, and it’s taking a bit of time. Thanks reading and for the review.

Kirai : I fear that Naruto only has eyes for Sasuke, but thanks for some interesting ideas for this chapter.

Saiou-chan: That remains to be seen. As I haven’t gotten to that point yet, I can’t say for sure. I guess you’ll just have to stick with me to see. Thanks for your support.


Once more, thank you all so much.. Please keep reading, and please review. That’s the only way that I know you like it.

~*~

More Than Just a Kiss…

Part Seven

Itachi!

Naruto stood and stared at the other stupidly, hardly believing his eyes. Sasuke looked so like him, it was uncanny. Was this an indication of what the Uchiha was going to grow up into? This breathtaking individual? Not that he wasn’t already breathtaking, but this man had such an air about him, was so confident, so sure of himself.

“Naruto,” said Itachi, a satisfied sound in his voice. “We’ve been looking for you.”

Still Naruto found himself speechless.

“You’re staring,” commented Itachi. “Like what you see? Come with me and maybe I’ll show you a little more.”

Naruto stepped out into the hallway, as if he couldn’t help himself.

“That’s right,” Itachi coaxed smoothly. “Just come along. I have a little something nice in store for you. I’m sure you’ll enjoy getting it as much as I enjoy giving it to you.”

“Damn it, Itachi, stop with all of the sweet talk,” snarled Kisame, as Naruto hesitated, distrust showing in his eyes. “Just grab him and let’s get out of here. If he struggles, we can just chop off a leg so he can’t run away.”

“Patience, Kisame,” replied Itachi. “It’s better if he’s willing. Less trouble that way.”

“…” Kisame looked disgustedly at his companion. “It’s not like you’re trying to seduce him, you know. I still say just grab him. If it was me, that’s what I’d do.”

“But you’re not me,” said Itachi, and he reached out a hand towards the blonde. “And I want him willing and compliant, not screaming and fighting.”

Just as Itachi took a step nearer to Naruto, a voice in the hall behind him stopped him.

“Itachi!” Sasuke growled. “Don’t touch him.”

“Huh. Another sharingan user,” said Kisame, looking into the Uchiha’s eyes. “Who is this, Itachi?”

“My dear little brother,” replied Itachi, a note of contempt in his voice, still gazing at Naruto. “What, little brother? Is this someone special to you? Someone you care about? You shouldn’t be wasting that precious energy on an emotion like that.”

“He’s none of your concern,” declared Sasuke. “I’m the one you should be looking at. I’ve been waiting for this moment. Now you’re going to die.”

Sasuke gathered his chakra, pouring all of his hatred and emotions into his Chidori. With a tremendous yell, he attacked, sure that with this powerful jutsu he could finally take the life of his hated brother and avenge his slain clan.

Itachi only laughed as the boy neared, his deadly lightening crackling menacingly around his outstretched hand. And as Sasuke reached him, Itachi casually reached out and batted the boy aside, as if the deadly Chidori was a mere irritant. Sasuke lay on the floor, stunned, looking up into the contempt filled eyes of Uchiha Itachi.

“Still weak,” Itachi taunted the panting Sasuke as the boy lay crumbled and broken at his feet. “You’ll never be strong enough. You don’t have enough hate in you.”

“Sasuke,” Naruto yelled, and he began to gather the chakra of the Kyuubi, only to have it drained by the huge sword that Kisame wielded.

“Now, shall I take an arm or a leg,” asked Kisame blandly, “because it looks like the sweet talk won’t do any good any more.”

“Neither. You won’t touch the boy,” stated Jiraiya as he suddenly appeared in the hallway in front of Naruto, accompanied by a very large toad. “You can’t distract me with a pretty girl in hopes of taking this boy away from me. You and your friend are going to die here today, Itachi.”

“No!” exclaimed Sasuke, dragging himself to his feet. “He’s mine. I will claim his life in atonement for the deeds he did. I am the avenger of my clan.”

The Uchiha attacked again, but Itachi countered his attack easily, hitting him hard in the midsection, knocking the boy to the ground again. He reached for Sasuke and dragged him to his feet, pinning him to the wall, a strong hand around the slender white throat of the only survivor of the Uchiha clan.

“You think you can kill me?” asked Itachi, pleasantly. “I told you, you have to live your life consumed by your hatred for me. That’s the only way that you can be strong enough to face me. Now, look into my eyes, little brother. See what hate can do for a person.”

Itachi’s eyes bore into Sasuke’s and it seemed only seconds before the boy began to scream agonizingly.

Though the screaming only lasted a minute at the most, to Sasuke the vision of his parents death, his brother’s abominable act and his clan’s slaughter seemed to play over and over in his young child’s mind once more. ‘You’re weak; you’re not even worth killing; hate me, live miserably, wallowing in your hate; come to me when you’re strong enough and filled with enough hate to face me.’ The litany kept running through the bloody, gruesome images, accompanied by the mocking laugh of Uchiha Itachi. And the young boy screamed, feeling fear permeating his entire being.

Then, as suddenly as it began, the dreadful images stopped and he was once more looking into Itachi’s cold eyes.

“You’re still weak,” Itachi whispered, leaning close to Sasuke’s ear. “You can’t beat me, and you can’t protect your pretty friend. Shall I tell you what I’m going to do to him? First, I’m going to take him, then I’m going to kill him. Just like I killed everyone else that you loved.”

Sasuke struggled weakly, trying to escape from the strangling grip around his throat, but to no avail. Then Itachi started to speak softly to him again, and what he said made the boy pale in fear.

As Naruto watched what transpired between the two brothers, he felt his rage coming to a boil. He had had enough and was going to do something about it. He wasn’t sure just what Itachi was doing to Sasuke, but he knew it was very bad, and he just couldn’t stand idly by, doing nothing while Sasuke writhed in pain under Itachi’s hand. He had to protect Sasuke. He’d promised and even if it killed him, he was going to keep his promise. He had to show the Uchiha that his love made him stronger. He’d said it, and he believed it, now he had to prove it to Sasuke.

Seeing the other boy readying his attack, Itachi dropped Sasuke in contempt, turning his back on his younger brother once again.
But before Naruto could begin his attack however, Jiraiya stepped in and used his Ninpon Gamagachi Shibari to bring the whole group into the stomach of a giant toad.

Realizing that they were outclassed by the sennin, Jiraiya, Itachi and Kisame fled, using a black fire to escape the jutsu. Naruto ran to Sasuke, pulling the other boy into his arms and looked wildly at the older shinobi.

“He’s going to be alright, isn’t he?” Naruto asked, anguish in his eyes. “We need to go after them. We can’t let them get away. I’ll go myself, if I have to, but somebody needs to…”

“No,” said Jiraiya firmly. “Nobody is going after anybody right now. This is not the time to be worrying about the likes of them.”

“But…” Naruto started to protest, only to be cut off by Jiraiya.

“I said no. Just tend to Sasuke for now. He is what is important at this moment,” said Jiraiya adamantly. He sealed the black fire, then dispelled his jutsu and turned to investigate a noise he heard coming from the other end of the hallway.

Naruto cradled the fallen boy to his chest, mindful of the pained moan he got from Sasuke when he shifted him. Just what had that bastard Itachi done to his Sasuke? Naruto seethed at the thought of anyone else laying a hand on what he considered rightfully his.

I’ll kill Itachi for daring to even touch Sasuke, he thought. Itachi deserves to die for all of the pain he has caused Sasuke. Then his thoughts were shifted as the boy he thought about struggled weakly in his arms and moaned softly again.

“Sasuke,” Naruto whispered softly, brushing back the hair from his eyes so that he could look into them.

“… hurts,” whispered Sasuke back. “What happened?”

“Itachi did something to you inside when he hit you, I think,” replied Naruto. “We’ll have to get you looked at soon.”

“No,” said Sasuke. “I’m alright. Just need to rest for a few minutes. Need to go after Itachi as soon as I can.”

“No, you’re hurt,” Naruto told him. “You can’t do anything right now. I’ll do it for you. I won’t let him get away, I promise.”

“NO! No, he’s mine to kill, I vowed that on the graves of my dead clan,” growled Sasuke, trying to ignore the pain in his chest.

“But Sasuke…” tried Naruto, wanting to talk some sense into the hurt Uchiha, but knowing that nothing he could say would probably make a difference to the other boy.

“I’ll wait, then, but I will kill him, one day,” vowed Sasuke. “I just need to do what he says. I need to live with my hate for him. I need to hate him enough to be stronger than he is. That’s the only way. I can’t let any other emotion sway me from this.”

“No, Sasuke, you can’t mean that,” protested Naruto. “You can’t let hate rule your life. That’s no life.”

“That’s the only life I need right now,” said Sasuke, a defiant look in his pained eyes.

“But what about us? What about me?” asked Naruto, softly, dreading the answer.

“There can be no ‘us’. There can only be my hate for Itachi,” declared the Uchiha. “I can’t let anything deter me from what I have to do. I can’t think about you right now. You distract me and I can’t concentrate. I don’t have time for love right now.”

“But love makes us stronger that hate ever can,” said Naruto softly. “And despite everything, I love you. And I think that you love me, too, in spite of everything you just said. You just need to let yourself feel my love and that will help you be stronger than you could ever imagine.”

“You say that, but I can’t believe it,” Sasuke told him. “I have only known my hate for so long, I really can’t imagine love. I’m sorry. I never wanted to hurt you. But I don’t think I can love you, not the way you want me to.”

“That’s alright. I understand. But I will never stop loving you,” Naruto declared. “No matter what happens, I will always love you and I will always be here when you need me. One day, you’ll understand this.”

The sound of voices approaching let the two know that the time for talk was over. Jiraiya was walking towards them in the company of Gai-sensei. Both men looked concerned and a bit troubled.

“Gai, this boy needs to be taken home and to the hospital immediately. He has broken ribs and has suffered considerable mental damage from whatever Itachi did to him. We can’t help him here,” said Jiraiya. “And I need to increase my efforts to find Tsunade. It is imperative that we get her back to the village as soon as possible. Too many things are going on for us to be without a Hokage at this time. I will be leaving with Naruto now. Please, see to getting Sasuke back quickly.”

“I will do as you ask, Jiraiya-sama,” replied Gai. “It was my task to find Uchiha Sasuke and to bring him safely back to the village. I will leave immediately with him. Do not worry for him. I will take the best care of him until I can deliver him into the professional hands of the hospital.”

“Please do so, then, and thank you,” replied Jiraiya, and he turned to Naruto. “We must go now. Our mission has become twice as important now. We don’t have time to wasted anymore.”

“But, Sasuke…” started Naruto, an anguished look on his face at the thought of leaving his best friend behind.

“He’ll be fine. You can see him when we return. We have to leave now,” said Jiraiya and he started to walk down the hall without waiting for acknowledgment from the blonde, but knowing that the boy would follow him.

“Sasuke,” Naruto whispered, touching his cheek gently as Gai cradled him in his arms. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. I have to go.”

Sasuke only turned his head away, not wanting the other to see the pain in his eyes at their parting, not after the words he’d said to the blonde. The Uchiha didn’t want to admit it, even to himself, but he needed the unconditional love that Naruto offered him and he was afraid to accept it. He constantly fought against the unequivocal love of the blonde for him, but deep down he knew it was a loosing battle, and that one day soon, he was going to have to give up his hate and accept the love that was being offered to him.

But not right now, Sasuke thought. Not yet. Itachi… You have sullied everything in the world that I held precious. I won’t let you dirty him. I swear that.

~*~

TBC

Thanks for reading, hope your visit has been a good one. Please review and share your thoughts with me. I enjoy hearing from you and your reviews make me want to write more and update sooner.