Trapped

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters mentioned in this fic. I make no money with this.

A/N: Hiya!!Been a while huh? I won’t try to justify it, I’m a bad author! *bows low* my will to write had left me for a while and tonight was the first time in a while I’d had the urge to write (let’s just hope it doesn’t leave me again!), but I won’t bore you with details, enjoy!!!
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The atmosphere in the room suddenly felt so heavy for Naruto, he thought he would choke. He refused to turn around. He simply closed his eyes and mentally cursed as he realized the scenario had Shikamaru written all over it.

“I feel like going to the movies” he’d said. Yeah right! Like the guy ever wanted to do something other than lie down and play dead. Tch, it was his fault really, he should have seen it coming.

He couldn’t believe this was happening so soon. A part of him knew this was best and actually understood why Shika had decided to orchestrate this little encounter,

‘but give a guy some time to absorb the shock at least!’ he thought.

Well, then again maybe his friend believed two weeks were enough to decide with a course of action. I mean, to any outsider, the choice seem so clear: to snitch or not to snitch, but to Naruto everything was so much more complicated.

He finally opened his eyes (and was kind of surprised that Itachi hadn’t said anything yet), put down his now soggy ramen cup, and turned around to confront his tormentor.
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Sasuke was getting ready to leave his office as he noticed the light he was used to see coming from Itachi’s office was surprisingly absent tonight.

He raised a brow as he walked toward the office and tested the doorknob. It was open! Now that was surprising. Itachi always locked his office before leaving and Sasuke wondered what was so important that he’d forgotten tonight.

He was in a good position to know his brother was not the forgetful type. How many times did he have to be subjected to the eyebrow-raise-of-doom when he had to ask about a stupid detail concerning a stupid story that his stupid brother always seemed to remember? So what if Sasuke liked to filter out crap from his mind?

He mentally winced at how childish that sounded and decided that since his brother had been kind enough to provide him with an opportunity to snoop; he was going to gracefully take advantage of it!

He looked around one more time, already knowing the floor was deserted as he had told Neji to leave early today, and entered the office. Not that he would admit it to anyone, but he felt so giddy at the prospect of what he could find tonight, that he actually had to fight a smile off his face.

He closed the door behind him and locked it (just in case) before advancing on the unsuspecting (and potentially interesting) folders resting on the oversized desk (really who needs that much space to work?).

He looked over the file’s names, hoping to discover something he could put away for future use against his all-knowing brother but froze as his lithe fingers brushed against a black folder(his brother really needed a change in colors) labeled ‘blood tests’.

He frowned. ‘Blood tests?’ he thought ‘why would he need another one?’

The Uchihas had regular physicals all made by the same doctors, at the same time (several times) every year. He blamed that on his father’s anal nature. So why would Itachi need another one two months after their clean bill of health was delivered by their regular doctors? And why didn’t he use the same doctor if he wanted to run complementary tests?

He sat down at his brother’s desk before opening and scanning the content of the pages. The first pages states that a rather potent dose of tranquilizing medicine was found in his brother’s blood and that it was the cause for his sudden sluggishness.

‘When did Itachi look ‘sluggish’?’ thought Sasuke as he raked his hand through his bangs. He couldn’t recall a time when Itachi had looked out of it…ever. He checked the date of the tests and realized his brother had had these tests done a few months ago.

Sasuke frowned for the tenth time since he entered the office. He couldn’t imagine why his brother would have taken this folder out again, months after they were received. Usually, it would be filed with all the other reports and forgotten. So what made this one special for Itachi? Was it the drug? He didn’t recognize the name but he was sure he’d heard it before.

But where? He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on the name, repeating it several times silently to himself. And it hit him!


Flashback

He was driving the blonde back to his apartment while Itachi was abroad for work when Naruto asked him to pull over in front of a pharmacy.

“What do you need, dobe, are you getting sick” he asked

“No stupid teme” answered the smaller man “My aunt asked me to pick up her medicine for her, and we have to stop by her house to deliver it”

End Flashback


Sasuke opened his eyes as he suddenly remembered that day. They had then driven up to Tsunade’s house where he proceeded to meet the she-dragon his friend affectionately called his aunt. He could still clearly see her in his mind’s eye, pulling out the little plastic bottle out of the bag and throw it at his head when he suggested ingesting the whole thing would probably make her more agreeable.

That’s when he’d read the name.

He sat back in the chair and sighed. What could it mean for Itachi? He still remembered the hated folder from hell; he remembered seeing it when he’d come to ask his brother about Naruto.

It seemed logical to conclude that Itachi had been mad about the folder, judging by the date it’d probably arrived during that week, probably even that day (yes Itachi was still that mad) but did it have something to do with the way he’d talked about Naruto?
Sasuke knew his brother cared deeply about the blond (to put it lightly) so it had surprised him to hear Itachi deny it so coldly.

Could this be the cause? Could Itachi believe that Naruto had tried to poison or possibly kill him?

It wouldn’t be farfetched; after all, he did blackmail the blonde into sleeping with him, but knowing Naruto (and Sasuke could read the man like an open book(no really, almost any idiot could)) Sasuke was sure the younger man would never be able to.

It’d be like saying Sakura would stop flooding his voicemail with messages (and just for a second he wished both could actually happen) or that he would tell her that he’d kept paying for his old cell phone line just so that she wouldn’t suspect he’d changed numbers months ago (just to give into his sadistic tendencies and see her reaction).

Not possible.

He started as he heard the elevator ‘ding’ sound announce it stopped on his floor and quickly turned off the lamp. He slowly stood up and hid behind the door as he heard the knob jiggle. A few seconds later, he realized whoever was on the other side was trying to pick the lock, so he grabbed one of the decorative katanas Itachi had hanged on the wall.

He felt himself blush at his kind of ridiculous weapon and waited patiently for the intruder to enter the office.

As soon as the door opened, and he had the thief in sight, Sasuke thrust the weapon toward what seemed to be a smallish men and felt his eyes widen as the man managed to evade the blow. He started preparing for a second attack when he heard his name being called.

He froze as light flooded the room and he raised a brow “Shikamaru? What are you doing here?”

That guy was probably the last person on earth he expected to see tonight. He knew his old college classmate was a PI these days but why was he attempting to snoop in his brother’s office? It suddenly hit him and he muttered “Naruto”

Shikamaru smirked and answered “Yes, Naruto”. He shook his head, silently admiring one of the most intelligent mind he’d ever met and winced as he was grabbed by the collar and thrust against the wall ‘Oh yeah, most volatile temper too’ he thought.

“Where is he?” demanded Sasuke. His eyes resembled blazing charcoals and shikamaru vaguely wondered if he’d get burned if he decided to poke his eye and check the heat. ‘I’d probably die before felling the burn though’

So he sighed “I assume your brother didn’t tell you anything” he stated as he shook his head. So he retold the whole story, purposefully emphasizing the parts Sasuke played in almost destroying his friend (and he sadistically rejoiced every time Sasuke couldn’t hide the wince)

“Ok. So what are you doing here?” asked Sasuke. He was ready to fly over to the PI’s house and try to regain his friend, if that was even possible, but he just knew he couldn’t leave without asking (and ultimately throwing the man out of Itachi’s office)

Shikamaru‘s bored composure suddenly left him and he tore himself out of sasuke’s clutches “I wanted to make sure I’d made the right choice” when Sasuke only frowned he explained “Obviously something set your brother off. Not that I know the man, but from what I’d gathered and from Naruto’s side of the story, your brother cares for him to say the least, so I assumed something set him off and had him say those words Naruto heard before leaving. I wanted to know what it was” he concluded.

Sasuke only debated in his mind for a few minutes before showing him the folder and explaining his theory. He felt Shikamaru stiffen next to him before he asked “Ne, Sasuke?” he waited for the raven to look at him before carrying on “What would your brother do to Naruto if he thought he’d tried to kill him?”

Sasuke’s eyes widened as he remembered how Itachi had dealt with the last man who’d tried.

Both man turned around and ran out of the door, hoping it wasn’t too late.

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Aaaand cut!!

I suppose this was not what you were all waiting for and you’re probably cursing me and my cliffys but!!!I may have the time to update this week end so the cliffy should be a short one! Lol

Anyway hope you liked, so let me know!!

Hugs!!