The Price We Pay

The Price We Pay

The children whimpered in fear as the door was unlocked and thrown open. They were all huddled together in a dark corner of a thick walled room from deep inside an old factory. At first glance they appeared as normal children, from five to seventeen, the two eldest male and female one a spiky blond boy and the other with long almost pink hair. On second glance they were thin, bones showing, eyes sunken and gray with sickness and malnutrition. Not only that, but they wore metal collars around their necks, chained to the thick metal wall.

But most shocking of all was the huge white feathered wings attached to their backs as if they had grown there.

The older girl shrank away from the man, holding the two youngest to her protectively, eyeing her beaten and unconscious foster brother in concern. She wanted to help him but knew she couldn't, he had made her swear that no matter what was done to him, she would not interfere and protect the children.

The boy lay in front of her, beaten and as sickly as the others, a thick metal collar bolted around his neck with various gadgets attached to it, which the man used to force the boy to do his bidding, the girl shuddering in horror as the echo of her brothers earlier cries of agony rang in her ears.

The man kicked the boy repeatedly until he started to come too, growling in an slippery, slimy drawl "get up, boy, I have another job for you." The boy moaned but didn't awaken quickly enough for the mans liking so he hauled him to his feet and slapped him repeatedly until eyes opened and he cringed, whimpering.

The adult activated the built-in digital camera and spoke again "you've got another job, boy, I've ran out of money."

The boy shook his head desperately, so the figure touched a button and an built-in unit sent shock-waves of current through his weak winged body, the boy crying out in agony. When he thought it was enough he stopped it and looked at the boy with an oily smile "had enough or do you want to have some 'special time'?"

The girl cringed at the mention of his 'special time'. It was even worse on her brother than everything else, the experiments, the beating, the torture. Their 'special time' could be heard in their nearly completely sound-proof room. His screams, his begs his crying, but nothing stopped him and when he was eventually dumped back in the room with them he would be emotionally empty, laying in a pool of blood and other, more disgusting fluids. She would do all she could to help but being unable to get close enough to touch him and soothe him made it more difficult, painfully aware that he was getting further and further away from her and the real world into his mind.

She watched him bite his lip to keep the whimper of terror inside and nod obediently.

"Going to obey now?"
Again he nodded.

~***************************************~

Sasuke Uchiha didn't know what to think or how to react, the normally highly intelligent boy stunned to silence and frozen to his spot. One minute he and his brother Itachi were in line at the teller furthermost from the doors, Sasuke bored and so watching the people coming and going, the next he spotted an figure in an trench coat and wide hat with an turned up collar entering slowly.

Normally he wouldn't have cared who came and left but there was something about it, an definitely familiar shape and gaunt.

He strained to see below the hat, finding an mass of cuts and bruises, skin pale white and dry, face and eyes sunken, an metal collar bolted around the neck, the coat sticking out at the back, as if something was under it, the right hand curled by his side like an arthritic paw.

But the sunken eyes were a piercing dark blue and the dirty but blond spiky hair spurred his memory.

Naruto, Naruto Unimo.

But Naruto and his foster sister Sakura disappeared a year and a half ago, why was he here now and in an bank and in such a state of all places?

The beaten boys face showed terror as he pushed his way to a teller, ignoring the protests and angry comments as he jumped onto the counter, grabbing the woman behind and pointing a gun at her temple. Some women screamed as they saw it, a voice coming from the collar "DOWN! EVERYBODY DOWN! ON THE FLOOR, NOW!"

Everybody obeyed, even Sasuke and Itachi.

Naruto turned slightly and threw another teller an large heshin bag, "fill this with only fives, tens, twenties, NOW!" The woman hurriedly obeying and Naruto pulled the woman onto the counter with him.

Sasuke drew a deep breathe as he reached an decision, he couldn't let his brother do this, he was making the biggest mistake of his life because yes, he was his brother as well as Itachi, just as Sakura was his sister, they always had been.

They had become so when Itachi had been 6 and Sasuke was 4, after their parents had been murdered in their home. Itachi had been in primary school and Sasuke home with his parents. He had witnessed the entire thing, the cops found him sitting in a pool of his parents blood, silent and vacant.

Not able to find any other relation they were put in foster care, but the family was unable to handle the two children, only Itachi could get any simple reaction from an traumatized boy, and whenever Itachi went out of eyesight of his brother he would go into an hysterical fit, so they couldn't separate them. The shrinks said it was because of his parents murder. When he lost sight of his brother he panicked with the fear of his brother being murdered as well.

Then another family, willing to take both in who had experience with bringing out withdrawn children opened their arms to them both. The 'parents' were two men, an handsome tanned brunette with an scar from one cheek to the other across his nose with an sweet patient temperament and an silver-haired male with a large slash-scar over one eye who's humor and patience off-set the other mans.

They called themselves Iruka and Kakashi and they weren't alone as an family, when the two of them turned up they currently had three others around Sasuke's age, a bossy girl called Sakura, who, Sasuke soon discovered, was a mother-figure in the house, firm and strict, but ferociously protective and loved the boys easily. Sasuke discovered this two months later when she beat up some other boys protecting him from them.

The second boy was another brunette with pale eyes called Neji, who was adopted into a loving family two weeks later.

Last was Sasuke's ray of light, an blue eyed blond named Naruto who Sasuke could remember as constantly smiling and laughing, despite the fact that he had been the only witness to HIS parents murder, despite the fact that the murderer had slashed each of his cheeks, 'to remember me by' he had said, when Sasuke had remained unharmed.

From the moment they arrived Naruto had taken Sasuke under his care, forcing him out of his shell and open with his constant hyperactivity and bubbly personality, sometimes making him laugh until he felt like he'd explode, sometimes annoying him until he chased him around the house (Naruto peeling with laughter as he did) and sometimes both.

And for his friendship and opening up to him, Naruto rewarded him, not just by becoming close, an new brother, but telling him his greatest secret, his guarding spirit Kyuubi. Apparently their 'parents' thought it was just an imaginary friend, but Naruto had shown him proof. Kyuubi could do things, move furniture too heavy for them when they were across the room, even one day, when bullies were attacking him, Sasuke had screamed for the guardian and the next thing they knew the boys were being thrown across the school hall, knocked down again and again every time they moved at them again.

They took the hint and ran away.

When Sasuke was 8 and Itachi was 10, a relative appeared, an step-brother to their father called Madara, someone more than willing, with his 'boyfriend' Gaara, to take the two boys and make them permanently an family. This immediately sent Sasuke into a deep depression, one only Itachi would guess the reason for and, as an concerned big-brother, spoke to their 'uncle' and boyfriend and between the three of them they organized a plan.

Their uncle, it turned out, was rich and willingly bought the vacant house next door. After fixing it up and expanding it they told Sasuke their good news, he would be leaving the house BUT NOT his friend. They would be next door and could see his brother and sister any time they liked. With Naruto's help they convinced him to try it.

Sasuke remembered the day the two went missing. Knowing Naruto was notoriously hard to get up in the mornings for school, Sasuke would leave the house two hours before school and sneak up the tree by his window, climbing inside and to his bed. That morning he frowned when he found the window shut, Naruto always opened the window before bed so he could get inside.

However having lived there for a few years, Sasuke knew how to open it, did so and sneaked inside. Prepared to startle his friend awake, Sasuke was shocked to find the bed empty. Thinking his friend rose early to scare him back he crept around the room, searching every nock-and-cranky for his blond friend.

Nothing.

Concerned he crept out of the room and went to find Sakura to find it empty as well, his concern increasing when he found her window, usually closed tight, wide open. Terrified he ran around the second floor, searching everywhere and when he found nothing he ran downstairs, doing the same. Still nothing.

Iruka and Kakashi were downstairs in the kitchen, drinking coffee and talking while Kakashi read the morning paper. He interrupted them, blurting out what happened and at first the two tried to calm him down but when they discovered what he was saying they called the cops, who said they couldn't do anything for 24 hours, then after that they essentially said "well, we can't do anything about runaways, sorry."

Sasuke went straight to Gaara, who was an police Detective, but when nothing came from it, disillusioned, for a while he hated the man for it, but in the end he realized it wasn't his fault, he had only been using him to turn his anger on. "Eighteen months, eighteen long months, no clue, no sign, and he's here now" He thought as he started to slowly rise to his feet "and I'm not letting you get away from me."

"Naruto! Naruto Umino!" he called, getting his feet under him and starting forward, only to be stopped by Itachi's hand grasping his wrist as he hissed "what are you doing Sasuke! Get down!"

"No" Sasuke whispered to him.
"You don't know him, Sas."
"Yes I do, that's Naruto."

When Itachi gasp in horror and realization and asked softly "what are you gonna do?" he answered with steely determination "stop him." Itachi released him he rose his voice again "Naruto! Naruto it's me, Sasuke!"

At the mention of his name the boy spun slightly, hat back to reveal his face and terror to all. His one good eye, the unswollen one, widened and sparked in recognition, his gun-hand shaking slightly.

Slowly Sasuke approached him, hands out to show he was unarmed as he spoke softly and as gently as he could as he could "why Naruto, what happened to you? You used to be so wild and uncontrollable-but so moralled, you used to tell me you were going to be mayor of this town! What happened to you, tell me!"

The boys mouth opened and he croaked "Sas" and even though it sounded like the dry rasp of an dying man, to Sasuke it was music to his ears "yes, Naruto it's me, Sasuke. Why are you doing this?"

His mouth opened again to speak, but a light started to flash on the collar and the effects on the boy was instant. He gave an chocked cry, dropping the gun and grasping the collar, tugging on it as he collapsed to his knees. But before Sasuke could try to help him, the light stopped and the voice in the collar spoke again "do as you're told, boy."

Naruto nodded, sweat on his face and fear in his eyes. He grabbed the gun and bag of money and rose, eyes sorrowful as he aimed the gun at Sasuke and headed for the door, slowly backing up. Sasuke lunged to stop his childhood best friend, his only thought to stop him, knowing somehow that if he let him leave, he would never see him again, crying out his name as he did so.

Naruto gave an choked cry and his finger constricted, Sasuke halting, shocked. The shot went wild, over his left shoulder, but what shocked him was the fact that he had shot AT him, Naruto had tried to kill him. He locked eyes with his foster brother and was further shocked, then understood. Frustration and fear, plus grief shone in the teary eyes, grief for his dreams and his old life and Sasuke's friendship and acceptance he must leave behind.

Whoever owned the voice from the collar had forcefully broken the boys fiery spirit and made him no more than a slave, a slave terrified of disobeying and looking his best friend over, his heart in his throat, Sasuke couldn't blame him. Still he had to try one more time, softly pleading "please Naruto, let me help you."

His face breaking, eyes running with tears, Naruto rasped one familiar word before turning and running from him and the bank "Sakura."

"Oh Naruto" Sasuke moaned with pity as he watched his best friend and brother flee down the street towards an alley, realizing with horror WHY he was afraid of help.

He feared for his foster sister's life.

~**********************************************************~