Abused, But Never Used

Ch 18: finding solace

"And that's all of it" Sasuke said with a tired sigh. Itachi and pain both wore masks of indifference but inside they were raging. The mixture of grief, worry, anger and horror swirling inside both males was indescribable. An immense ache filled both men's chests making each of them feel the urge to just drop to the ground and wait for death to take them. What these boys endured....it was unfathomable. Neither of them could even begin to imagine what those poor boys were feeling having to relive the experience.

"Every shitty thing that we endured....Every person we lost" Naruto added on in sadness. Both boys felt raw and used. Too emotionally exhausted to even move.

"Before anything else happens can we just rest for a bit?" Sasuke asked his brother softly wanting an excuse to be alone. He could already feel his emotional turmoil raging. All of his personalities arguing inside his head. He felt guilty. While he had shown his brother a great deal there were things that he skipped over. Things that he never wanted Itachi to know about. Things that only Naruto was allowed to know purely because he was there with him and saw. There were certain things that Sasuke as strong as he was just couldn't handle reliving.

Itachi hesistated for a moment. He wasn't sure he wanted to leave his little brother alone at a time like this. He wasn't sure he ever wanted to let Sasuke out of his sight again. Itachi knew it was ridiculous but he couldn't help it. His elder brother instincts were going off like crazy and he had no way to shut those emotions down. Itachi took a second to think about his little brothers request and mull it over. If Sasuke's suicidal personality took over Itachi would never forgive himself for leaving him alone. So with that in mind Itachi was about to firmly tell Sasuke that he wasn't going anywhere and assure him that he was safe as long as he was with him.

Fate however had a different plan. As Itachi looked into his brother's charcoal eyes he saw nothing but pure exhaustion both emotionally and physically. He appeared paler than usual and it pained Itachi to see him looking so fragile. It was as if he was a ghost. So Itachi took pity on his little brother.

"Yeah sure, I'll come back to check on you later" Itachi assured kissing his little brother's forehead exiting the room before he could change his mind and lock himself in the room with Sasuke. From the looks of it his brother needed rest and if he had stayed Itachi knew Sasuke would have tried to keep himself up to seem stronger than he momentarily was. Itachi had almost forgotten that his brother had been hurt before they started watching their memories.

"I could set you up another room if you like little blonde" Pain offered Naruto. His hand placed gently on the kids left shoulder. Naruto resisted the urge to flinch and inched just the slightest bit closer to the Uchiha still beyond shaken by the memories he had forced himself to relive. He knew Pain would do him no harm but that didn't mean he wasn't jumpy from the experience.

Naruto gave Sasuke a pleading look. He wasn't to keen on being locked inside a sound proofed room alone. Or more accurately he didn't want leave Sasuke's side with both of them feeling so vulnerable. The Uchiha huffed in a mixture of annoyance and exhaustion to weary to even argue about what the blonde was silently requesting. Not that he would turn the blonde down. He was having similar sentiments. They were safer together than apart.

"No. He stays with me" Sasuke said firmly making it a point to put his other arm around Naruto the blonde grinning immensely at the action and shimmying closer.

Pain nodded then left the room abruptly knowing that the two boys were safe in each other's company. That was about the only good thing Pain had witnessed within that poor boy's mind. Pain couldn't believe that such a level of hatred existed in this world to be that cruel to two children. That's what they were really. Children forged into weapons of mass destruction. Pain couldn't feel more guilty about his master Jiraiya. He had not realized what an effect their "deaths" would have had on the old man. Now Naruto didn't know that his master Jiraiya and Pervy sage were the same person yet but the boy was quite more perceptive than he first seemed.