There's a Reason He Doesn't Sleep

Cabin in the woods

Trees.

Many of them, all a dark, towering silhouette against the early morning palette of warm toned colors painted upon an endless canvas.

Tears.

Fresh tears running atop a dried trail left behind by an early struggle. Tears upon realizing this wasn't some fucked up nightmare. It was real, had to be. This was too vivid to be a dream.

He couldn't see anything ahead but the back of the driver's seat. He smelled the minty car fragrance and instantly recognized it as he remembered the many times he had sat in the back of Itachi's car with Sasuke, singing along to the radio.

The car radio.

Taking a moment to listen, he could hear a very faint song playing through the speakers. It was a slow song, one he recognized as Itachi's favorite.

Itachi.

Naruto could hear him as the Uchiha drove in the early morning and hummed along to the song. Often times Naruto had admired the Uchiha's ability to harmonize with music, but now, now what?

"Awake?" The car came to a slow stop, the ticking of the blinking lights seemed to be amplified in contrast to the music. Naruto could hear a couple cars passing by before Itachi made a turn. "We're almost there, love." Naruto hated how that sounded. Itachi looked in the rearview mirror, carefully keeping an eye on the calm body of the boy in the backseat. His phone rang, taking the Uchiha's attention away from him.

Picking up, Itachi frowned and answered, set on ignoring the call. But then again, he wondered how fun it would be to put the call on speaker... "Sasuke, what's up?"

'Sasuke?' Naruto opened his eyes widely, suddenly thinking of a way to make noise.

"I've been calling you since last night, have you seen Naruto?" Sasuke's voice reached Naruto's ears, but the poor boy couldn't seem to make enough noise.

"Nope, haven't seen him." Itachi smirked, winking as Naruto's muffled shouts for help went unheard by his brother. Taking the call off speaker, he brought the phone up to his ear. "Yeah, he did. Naruto and I kind of fought last night." A nervous chuckle escaped the Uchiha's lips. "Chill little bro. I didn't hurt him that bad. Plus, he got the cops on me so I'd say he's the one who kicked my ass. Why, what's up?"

The car ride suddenly turned bumpy as Itachi drove off the smooth concrete to a gravel road.

"What?!" Itachi shouted into the phone, though his face remained stone serious. "Say that again, Sasuke. You better not be bitching around!" Naruto could hear Sasuke's voice on the phone, making him desperately try to yell but once again, only muffled sounds emitted from him. Itachi kept driving, holding the phone between a shoulder and his ear as he reached out to turn the volume a little bit up. "Sasuke, fucking hell. I'm hours away!" He made himself sound like he was shocked by whatever the news were. "No-wai- Sasuke, hear me out. Keep me updated. I can't cancel these meetings, okay? As soon as I finish up here, I'll head over there as fast as I can." Itachi rolled his eyes as Sasuke agreed. "Take care of him, Sasuke, or I'll rip you apart." He ended the call and threw the phone over to the passenger seat. He began humming again to a different song.

It was terrifying how he could suddenly be like that.

He was the one that caused this, did he really not care about what happens to Kyu?

"Good news." He raised his voice after lowering the volume to barely an audible sound. "Your shit brother is still alive." The way he talked...nothing but a cold shiver sped down Naruto's spine. "That sucks. That only means I wrecked my fucking car for nothing." He said as the car came to a stop. "Hey, you'll wait here, right?" He asked as he got out. A scoff escaped his lips. "Right, you'll stay here." He laughed, closing the door and leaving towards somewhere.

Quickly, Naruto tried to sit up, hoping they'd be in some type of parking lot that way if anyone were around, they would easily see him and help. However, it was useless as Naruto peeked over the window to find they were parked on gravel and surrounded by nothing but tall, dark trees. They were parked before a log cabin. Restless, he scooted over towards the door, dreading how he was still bound, his hands behind his back so there was no way to open the car door.

"Woah, hey. Where do you think you're going?" Itachi suddenly appeared, opening the back door and sitting beside the blond. He sat him upright so Naruto could see the view from the windshield. "This was the surprise I was talking about." He spoke, wrapping an arm around the blond despite said blond's struggle to lean away. "I rented it just two days ago, isn't it nice? There's no one to disturb us. The nearest cabin is miles away."

He brought a hand up to caress Naruto's cheek; the boy was almost in tears again as Itachi leaned in to kiss along his jaw. "We'll be alone, just the two of us." He purred, a sinister grin plastered on his face. "Now come one, I believe you need a little punishment for what you did yesterday."

Muffled screams came from Naruto as he opened the door and easily carried him out. He was fast, closing the car door with his leg and then hurrying to carry Naruto inside the open cabin door, using his leg once again to close the door behind them. "Nice, right?" He asked, taking a deep breath as he took in the scent of wood and smiled, continuing his walk to the only bedroom at the end of a hallway to his right. "This is us." He said with a toothy grin. "Don't you like it? I made sure to only get one room for ourselves." He placed the blond down on the bed and walked over to the closet. Opening it, he grabbed a robe and turned around to see Naruto roll out of bed, desperately trying to drag himself over to the door while tears clouded his vision. Itachi watched for a while, enjoying the struggle the blond was going through to escape. Having enough, he walked over to the bed an placed the robes down, beginning his tour of the room despite the blond inching ever so slowly towards the door.

"You're going to love it. Look, I even got you fresh clothes." He said, walking back towards the closet where only a pair or two of clothes were placed among one of the shelves. Making sure not to trip over Naruto, he stepped over the blond and walked over to a different door. "Over here, we have a private bathroom. It's spacious in there and I don't know about you, but I'm sure you'll come to like it in there."

He sat down on the bed, taking his jacket off and throwing it over the blond's head, the piece of clothing blocking Naruto's vision. Naruto could hear him laugh, footsteps telling him Itachi was walking closer to him. "Where are you going, Naruto?" Naruto could practically see the grin on his face. "Do you know where you're going?" He asked, this time laughing as he squatted down and removed the jacket from Naruto's head. Gripping tightly along the roots of Naruto's hair, Itachi brought the blond's attention to him. "You don't know how bad I'm trying to keep myself from touching you right now. God knows what that little mouth of yours can do." He chuckled, pulling roughly on Naruto's hair to have the boy sit on the floor, his back against the door. Kneeling next to him, Itachi leaned in to kiss over the tape, chuckling at the audible sobs.

Thankfully, before his hands could resume wandering down Naruto's abdomen, his phone rang, prompting the Uchiha to frown as he answered. "Deidara, what's up?" He stood up, leaving Naruto resting against the door, the blond doing everything he could to come to a stand, that way his hands could at least touch the doorknob. "I'm tired, Dei. I can't leave soon enough. Tell Sasuke to keep him company. Call me when he wakes up and don't you dare be a moment late." Itachi ordered, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it, blowing a cloud of smoke. He kept the cigarette between his lips, his free hand running easily through his silky black hair. "Call me if you guys find Naruto. I'll try to call him." Looking back over his shoulder, Itachi smirked as Naruto was finally on his feet, though he struggled hard to open the door. Smirking, Itachi turned his body around to face him, slowly walking towards him as he listened to Deidara on the phone. "Is that Sasuke? Tell him no to get his panties in a twist, he worries too much." Ending the call, Itachi extended his arm just above Naruto's head, smoke blowing into the blond's face.

"A week, Naruto. Try to enjoy it, will you?"

Naruto closed his eyes as the Uchiha's face came closer to his.