He Walked Away

{Ahem...I do not own Naruto. Warning this chapter discusses violance against a child and rape of a child.}



He Walked Away...



{Normal POV}



Sasuke ran for hours, the burden on his back was a light one, 'like feathers on a bird, or the sun in the sky.' Naruto had been his burden to bear, he and Sakura, burdens. He didn't know how much it would hurt to lose those burdens that had annoyed him to no end. Sakura had been an huge annoyance, but now he only had the memory of her admiration, her worship. Naruto always pushing him, always whining.



He was the only person who saw Sasuke as anything other then the last Uchiha (excluding Ithchi). Naruto didn't fawn over him and the fox child expected him to work hard. He saw so much with those blue eyes. He also hid a lot with those same eyes.



Sasuke never thought he would miss hearing the word Teme so much. He missed the little fox. His fox like whiskers his toothy grin that was so carefree yet so full of hurt, yeah it sounded ridiculous, but that was the only way The raven could describe it. Naruto was precious because of his pain and the fact the he worked to so hard to hide it. He fooled them even their sensei. Kakashi, Sasuke noted, never seemed to take him seriously. The dobe got over looked. Sasuke knew he was partly to blame for that, but the man looked through Naruto sometimes. The kid was so loud but still managed to blend into the background. Like a song you had heard so many times you dismissed it and it was like it wasn't even there anymore.



For someone so loud and flashy. Naruto, the real one--not the sideshow he presented, was very quiet and thoughtful. Sasuke remembered a time before Itachi changed, or before he allowed Sasuke to start seeing the real Itachi (Sasuke wasn't sure which was the truth.) Sasuke remembered his brother pointing out the demon container.



..."Sasuke, promise that you will never go near the thing. It's dangerous," Itachi pointed out a dirty scruffy little blond boy.



"Itachi-nii, he's just a boy, he looks kind a puny. I don't see how he could be dangerous," Sasuke looked at his genus older brother like he may not be such a genus after all.



"Don't be fooled Sasuke-nii. He is a monster. Watch..." Sasuke watched as a group of men he had not noticed before approached the little boy. The boy was so small and frail looking. He just started walking faster not looking up not saying anything. When the first rock was thrown the men started to shout the little boy broke into a desperate run only to trip and fall hard on the pavement. He cried out in pain. Little Sasuke wanted desperately to help.



"Make-em stop, Itachi! Make-em stop!" The first punch landed The blond screamed. Itachi smiled and ignored his brother's protests rather he held Sasuke's shoulders.



"You need to see this and remember. That demon trash killed lots of people. Father told me all about it," Sasuke looked at the satisfied smile and cringed.



"S'not right," he sniffed. The men were happily kicking him. One picked up a rather large rock and lifted it over his head he brought it down into the fray. The boy looked to be limp. Sasuke could hardly see through the crowd, but he saw the rock come up above the man's head again. It was red with blood. Sasuke screamed. The some of the men looked up. They began to walk away patting each other on the shoulders and laughing appreciatively.



"That'll show that demon," One of the men said.



"Too bad those Uchiha brats had to show up and ruin our fun," Another looked right into Sasuke's eyes as he gave one last kick to the bloody shell of a broken child, the boy marked the man's face. He saw him around—following Naruto on other occasions—until one night he disappeared. Sasuke had seen to that. That night many years later that same man did something to Naruto that Sasuke did not quite understand. Somehow he knew it was bad. On it's own level of evil. The man hurt Naruto on the inside. He put his thing in Naruto and Naruto screamed for him to stop.



"Get it out! Get it out! Please mister!" He begged. Sobs racked his body as the man defiled him.



"Awe, but you're so tight you piece of demon..." The man said nothing ever again as he died in the alley way of a broken spine. The little fox fell into unconsciousness. Sasuke took him to the hospital and left him there. He never mentioned it to Naruto somehow knowing that was a forbidden topic for the boy. But that was the last time anybody hurt him like that that Sasuke knew of. Sasuke didn't know why but he had kept a closer eye on the dobe after that. The fox certainly could not watch after himself.



Later Sasuke learned what word to apply to how his dobe had been hurt. A vile four letter word, rape. They were forced to learn about that at the academy. Sasuke watched Naruto."Iruka-sensei?" Kiba raised his hand, "Why do we need to learn this stuff too. Isn't this topic for girls only?"



"No, Kiba. Both men and women can be victims of rape. Unfortunately in the world you are about to enter it is very common for enemies to use sex as a weapon to hurt their opponents. It is the cruelest form of torture." Naruto flinched at the words rape, sex and torture all things he had experienced first hand. Naruto was unusually quiet. He didn't look out the window, there were no loud outbursts, no rude comments, he just sat rigid, until one of the evil buzz words passed someone's lips then he would jump. The color bled out of his normally tanned face. The boy squirmed and cringed the whole class. Sasuke noticed, none of the other students bothered to notice. Iruka noticed though and kept the boy after. Sasuke hung back and listened to their conversation.



"Are you feeling ill Naruto?"



"No sensei," Naruto averted his eyes and responded quietly.



"You sure?"



"Y-yes," he was twiddling his thumbs.



"You wanna get some ramen," Iruka smiled hoping the promise of his favorite food might elicit an answer.



"Thank-you Iruka-sensei, but I'm not hungry," Naruto tried to leave.



Iruka grabbed his shoulder, "You must be sick to turn down free ramen." The man leveled with the boy, "Tell me...today's lesson really bothered you. We can talk about it and it doesn't have to leave this room I promise. And maybe if you feel better after getting things off your chest we could still go have ramen?"



Naruto looked into Iruka's eyes solemnly, he shook his head no, "I can't."



"Naruto," Iruka gripped the boy harder, "Tell me has anything that we talked about today? Has that been done to you?" The man's face was white. Naruto clamped his mouth shut, but nodded. Iruka knelt down and embraced Naruto.



"S-sensei, can a grown-up rape a kid?" Naruto asked seriously.



"Y-yes, have you been raped? When?" Iruka looked green as he hugged the trembling Naruto.



"I can remember the first time. I-I think when I was six." he choked out,



"Sensei is it rape if they do that in your mouth to?" Iruka nodded as he hugged the boy.



"Have you told anybody?" Naruto shook his head.



"Doesn't matter I'm just a monster," He said in a cold harsh voice.



"No! You are not a monster! Who, who?" Naruto only shook his head.



"It's alright sensei, please just don't hate me now. You are the only one besides the Hokage who-who doesn't hate me," his voice broke into a harsh whisper.



"I could never hate you!" Iruka pushed the boy away so he could look him in the eyes, "I could never hate you. Can-can we at least tell the Hokage?" Naruto shook his head.



"Probably knows, I been to the hospital when it was real bad, that time I wouldn't stop bleeding... Sometimes I heal real quick but for some reason that always takes longer to..." Iruka when whiter now his countenance turned from sadness to outrage. He hugged the boy.



"Please, don't make me tell anyone else..." Naruto buried his face into his teacher's green flack vest.



"Damn-it dobe!" Sasuke growled and left the two to do whatever. He didn't know why he was so angry. He was angry with Naruto for just accepting it. Later he was angry with the perverted men of the village for doing that to him. He was angry that he had never been able to help that little boy. That little boy was being held by their teacher. That little boy was crying. That little boy was pretending to be a big goof ball idiot to protect...To protect who, him and his classmates, the stupid villagers, the damned Hokage? Sasuke sulked over the whole situation. That boy! That stupid boy! Sasuke wiped tears away from his eyes...



Sasuke broke from his reverie he had made it to Konoha and it was time to leave the still unconscious boy. He was wrapped in a thin blanket. Just meters from the gates. Sasuke made no effort to hide his presence.



"Take care of my dobe!" He shouted at the guards that were already on their way to capture him. He took off back to where he had come from. He knew he was probably in for some torture, but Orochimaru would not permanently harm his future vessel. It was better this way. He thought he believed that.