Disclaimer: The story of “Naruto” (just like its characters) is not mine.

Main parings: Sasuke x Neji, Itachi x Neji.

Rate: R to NC-17

Summary: (Sequel to “Because of you”) AU. Sasuke has an obsession with Neji, but if he has to fight against the past and his own ghosts to get closer to him, maybe then he would understand how much he’s hurting them both.

Notes: Just let met remain you all that English is not my mother language, I’m sorry about the mistakes.

Warnings: Angst, some blood.

“A Distant Cry”

By Yersi Fanel

Chapter 8: Corruption

Tick…tack…tick…tack…tick…tack…

Sasuke’s eyes were close. The weak sound of the clock was the only disturbance in the room, the wind moved the curtains every once in a while, and even the streets were drowned in a death silence. The birds were gone today; their sing was missing in the empty silence.

Tick…tack…tick…tack…tick…tack…

The white sheets were the same as the last time he was in that hospital room, everything in that place stayed as if was yesterday when he was admitted there, but this time his pain was stronger. It was not the pain of the burses and cuts that he got inflicted by his older brother in battle days before, but his words mixed with the results of that night.

You can’t win, foolish little brother. You know it, you are not strong enough

His hand twitched for a moment and then he moved very slowly, opening his eyes to see that the day was dark, there was no sun shining in Konoha today. The grey clouds were moving around as the wind guided them. Sasuke moved his head to see at the window and almost in slow motion he took a sitting position.

The door was opened and Sakura entered the room, the pink haired girl looked over his shoulder before get near Sasuke, in the hallway were Naruto and Hinata. Their lavender-eyed friend was not talking while Naruto was doing almost desperate efforts to get her in a less grim mood with little success.

Shikamaru had informed Tsunade about the failure of the mission, and the Godaime Hokage then made some announcements; she declared that Shikamaru’s inform had bring her enough information to make some decision and therefore Neji was declared a missing-nin, she said that the reasons were private. Only Hyuuga Hiashi was informed about them.

Hinata had been with them since they got back, Hiashi had allow this because he didn’t wanted her daughter to enter in a state of depression and if Naruto could prevent this even a little, then the Hyuuga Leader was not going to stop him.

Tsunade had informed Hiashi about what Shikamaru could read in Neji’s last words before gone, the Hyuuga Leader stayed in silence for a long time and at the end just nodded, whispering that he wished for his nephew’s safety, wherever he was.

Shikamaru had not informed the Goidame about Sasuke’s actions of the past days towards Neji, and the others had agreed in not said a word too. Kiba because he didn’t want Hinata to suffer more, Lee because he wanted to protect his best friend’s honor, Naruto because he was still trying to process and maybe understand at least a little why Sasuke had done something like that. All those reason and because Sasuke’s emotional pain filled scream before he passed out after Neji’s departure had almost broken part of them too.

Sasuke’s eyes were hallow at the moment, he was sitting on the bed while Sakura was besides him on a chair unpacking a basket of fruit, the door was still open and Naruto along with Hinata entered into the room.

“Apple, Sasuke-kun?” offered the pink haired kounochi, Sasuke moved to slap the basket aside and stood up in rage looking at Naruto. Hinata was helping Sakura while Naruto was shouting at him for being rude; Sasuke was not listening at them.

You cannot defeat me and you cannot have Neji for the same reason…

“Fight me!” screamed Sasuke; his blonde friend looked at him in confusion “Fight me, Naruto. Fight me right now!”

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The shadows of the place were around him like if they had life of it’s on. Silver-white eyes looked at the man sitting in the large rock in front of him. For the shape of the situation, it was probably that man the one controlling the shadows; at least that is how the atmosphere looked like.

“So, his name is Neji?” asked the man. The boy was kneeled in front of him while Itachi was at the man’s side.

“Yes” answered Itachi. Neji lifted his head a little; he couldn’t see the man very well, only his piercing crimson eyes.

“Very well, I’ll perform the ritual tonight. He will remain under your command within the organization until future notice” declared the man while standing up “Agree?”

“Yes, Leader-san” responded Itachi while nodding and then looked over Neji, silently giving him and indication to stand up, the boy did it.

Sir Leader was walking away from them but stopped for a moment, looking over his shoulder at Neji again. The boy was still wearing his vest with the Hyuuga emblem in it, the Leader pointed at the boy, getting Itachi’s attention.

“And make sure to change his wardrobe for something more suitable” and then he was gone.

Itachi walked near Neji. Silver-white eyes looked at the Uchiha with a blank expression that Itachi ignored. Taking the boy’s hand, he guided him around the Akatsuki underground lair.

“YO! Itachi-san” greeted a voice, Neji saw a tall man with blonde hair fixed in a ponytail almost running towards them and behind him another man; this one was shorter than the blonde and had short red hair. Both of them were wearing the Akatsuki cloaks.

“Deidara, Sasori” said Itachi with his usual plain voice while letting go of Neji’s hand. Deidara’s attention was caught by Neji’s presence.

“Who’s the kid, yeah?” Sasori reached them and looked at Neji too. Itachi saw the boy over his shoulder; the brunette’s eyes were looking at the opposite wall of the hall, not paying attention to the three Akatsuki members.

“Introduce yourself” Itachi said, Neji returned to the reality and nodded.

“I am Hyu—” the stopped biting his lip and stared again “My name is Neji”

“He is my subordinate” explained Itachi. Sasori just blinked and then nodded while Deidara was walking around Neji as if the boy was something shiny to look at.

“Leader-san approve?” asked Deidara raising a hand almost wanting to poke Neji, the boy stepped backwards.

“Of course” Itachi rolled his eyes while responding.

“No fair, Itachi and Zetsu can have subordinates and I can’t!” complained Deidara, referring to Tobi’s current state as Zetsu’s subordinate. Sasori sighed, ignoring his team mate and his eyes traveled from Deidara to Neji, specifically to the boy’s forehead.

“He is sealed…” he said while returning his gaze to Itachi for an explanation, Neji closed his eyes uncomfortably. Deidara took the opportunity and finally poked the boy.

“That is not a problem, Leader-san will take care of that tonight” the Uchiha said, Sasori and Deidara smirked. Itachi started to walk again, Neji fallowed closely after.

Neji fallowed Itachi into a large corridor; the Uchiha entered into one of the rooms there and waited for Neji to do the same, after that, he closed the door. The room was big but simple; there was a large bed in the corner, it was almost at the floor level as if it was just the mattress, night stand, closet, a couch, a large chest filled with scrolls and weapons… nothing really fancy.

Itachi took off his cloak and put it over the couch walking to the closet. Neji reached the couch and sat there in silence, while Itachi was looking for something in the closet.

The Hyuuga resisted the urge to sigh and curled up there. All of the consequences that he was starting to face for taking the decision he took were heavy, but he wanted, he needed, to be strong and face them; this was, after all, the pat he choose.

A cold hand touched his neck, sending a chill down the boy’s spine. Itachi’s hand curled on Neji’s vest material and pulled it, taking it off its owner. Neji saw the older man over hi shoulder and just blinked. Itachi unceremoniously threw the vest to the floor and tossed him a black shirt and pants.

“This will do for now” he explained and walked away.

Neji stood up and walked into the bathroom, there he took off his cloths and put on the ones Itachi gave him. He folded the pants to not step on them, the shirt was too big for him but nothing could be done at the moment, this was just a temporally outfit after all, just to get ride of his Hyuuga Cloths as the Leader said.

The boy stepped out of the bathroom and walked to the side of the room were Itachi was. The Akatsuki member was sitting on the bed reading a scroll; he lifted his eyes to see Neji and smirked.

The boy’s eyes stand out much more now that he was wearing black cloths; he was clutching the shirt and avoiding Itachi’s eyes, the older shinobi moved quickly and placed his hands on Neji’s hips, taking the boy onto his lap. Itachi could feel Neji’s warm breath against his nose as he nuzzled the boy.

“After we get that seal removed, you will be asleep for a long period of time, since the method will take almost all your strange and chakra” he explained, Neji just nodded “And it will hurt”

Itachi moved him to lay down on the bed, the boy just stayed there, staring at the ceiling while Itachi keep reading his scroll.

It was something Neji expected, it had been painful when he got the seal, and it was going to be painful to get it removed too. He wondered why he did not feel happy right now, he was getting what he wanted and yet something inside him was still screaming. He shook his head to get ride of the though. This was his decision; he was not going back now. Even if he knew it was wrong.

‘Where are you going to be tonight, Sasuke?’

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He had just been lectured by Kakashi of how his Chidori was not be used against his team mates, deep down he already knew this, deep down he knew that fighting against Naruto will not solve anything.

When the Sound Four attacked him, he wanted to prove himself that he was strong, that he could fight against them and keep going. However, he was prove wrong. The Sound four made him an offer: to go with them and align himself with Orochimaru, who in return will grant him the power he desperately wants to win against Itachi, to kill him and reach Neji.

Sakura had tried to stop him, Hinata was with her.

“Please don’t do this Sasuke-kun, please don’t go” begged Sakura in tears, his team mate looked at her and then at Hinata.

“Do you know that is my fault that Neji left, that it was me who hurt him and that it was because of me that he had been acting different?” asked Sasuke to the Hyuuga heiress, the girl lifted his eyes and looked directly at him and did something he never expected:

She nodded.

“What is he talking about, Hinata-chan?” asked Sakura, not understanding a bit of what was going on, Hinata folded her hand against her lap and closed her eyes.

“Neji-niisan never talks when he is hurting, he just fight it or let it happen” Hinata’s expression was sad “I had learned to see beyond with the years, I knew very well that something was off” she explained, the girl opened her eyes a little but did not look at Sasuke “When I saw you at the door days ago I waited in the distance… using my Byakugan I saw that Neji went with you, the puzzle was almost easy to get together after that…”

Hinata walked to get near Sasuke and unceremoniously slapped him; the Uchiha just moved his head a little after that, watching the Hyuuga.

“Sorry about that” she said after a moment and folded her hands again “But I just can’t forgive you just yet, Sasuke-kun. I just want to tell you that Neji-niisan did not leave because you hurt him beyond he could take but because he wanted to protect you”

Sasuke regains his senses and glared at the Hyuuga as if she was telling a bad taste joke. Sakura was watching this and did not know what to say, for the sake of the situation he chooses to remain silent.

“What?” he asked in aggravation.

“Shikamaru-kun told me what he could read in Neji-niisan’s lips after he left, he said “I am sorry, Sasuke, but I do not want you to die” while letting go of his hitai-ate, I do not know what happened between Neji-niisan and your brother, but this is the result” Hinata closed his eyes “I know he does not hate you, because he would had never done something like that for someone he does not care”

The heiress could not take more; she walked away from Sasuke then. Hinata had always respected his cousin’s decisions, but she cared a lot for him and right now she could not understand why Sasuke was important to him, she knew he was, it was obvious to her eyes, she needed time to understand, meanwhile, she would say no more.

Sasuke cursed himself even more after hearing Hinata’s words. Now more than ever cursed his weakness, he was, indeed, not strong enough, not even to protect someone else to be trapped in the results of his mistakes.

The Uchiha turned around, leaving Sakura alone and walking into the offer made by Orochimaru.

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When Shikamaru asked her to join the squat to retrieve Sasuke, Hinata did not even though of saying no, she immediately accepted, not because he cared about Sasuke, but because Neji cared about him and Hinata did not wanted to face her dear older brother in the future –because they will meet again, for sure— and toll him that she did not move a finger for him.

She was trying so hard to understand… if only Neji was here to tell her the whole story…

She shook her head and kept running, the time was going against them, the Sound four were standing in their way; they needed to reach Sasuke before he could cross out of the Fire Country.

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Hinata saw his friends jump off of the tree, leaving her there as she asked to. Kidoumaru send his web again, the heiress used her chakra to prevent to be tangle in it again, she stepped in front of the enemy, and she was not letting him pass her.

Naruto did not wanted to leave her, but he knew that the time was crucial; Hinata smiled at him when they got away, the group kept their race against time while Hinata stood out to fight.

‘Neji-niisan…what would you do?’

Kidomaru was strong, way stronger than her. But Hinata was not giving up; she dodged the kunais, fought the chakra infused web, ran to the Sound Ninja and took a Jyuuken Stand.

‘I want to be strong for you, Niisan, for all you have taught me…’

“Jyuukenshou: Hakke Rokujuu Yonshou” she said and too late Kidomaru realized that he was inside the girl’s divination field “Two strikes…Four strikes….Eight strikes….Sixteen strikes…Thirty-two strikes…Sixty-four strikes!”

The enemy fell, but got up again, Hinata was panting, she regain her breath, watching how her attack had been avoided by Kidomarou, she blinked in confusion, he had used some kind of armor to protect himself.

While Kidomaru explained how he had done it, Hinata was just trying to think of something to do, she could not bee defeated there, she couldn’t.

‘This is more hard than I trough…Niisan, please help me’

Kidomaru summoned a great spider, it let thousand of its offerings fell, Hinata watched his wide eyed, her hands were shaking, until Neji’s image crossed her mind.

‘I’m not running away, not ever again’

Hinata changed her stance, she had never used this attack before, Neji had practiced with her a just couple of times, but it was not time to heisted, she couldn’t perform the kaiten due the web that was trying to restrain her, then she would attack back.

“…Shuggohakke Rokujon yonshou!” Hinata’s absolute defense attack. Her whole body hurt a lot because the speed she was using to perform the attack, she was not trained enough to use it just yet.

When the attack stopped, she fell on her knees, panting in hard pace and then, it hurt more than ever before when the sharp kunais dug into her back, she fell on her stomach, trembling miserably.

‘I have to be strong…I have to be strong…I am too afraid to get up…but I have to…I need to…I must’

And she did it, Kidomaru was about to go when she did it, the sound nin then decided to end the battle, taking the demon form of his second stage coursed seal and making a golden bow to use as a weapon with his arrows.

Hinata knew pain, and she knew that a shinobi should not let the enemy know when the pain was being inflicted, but when the sharp arrow priced her shoulder she couldn’t help but scream.

‘No, no. I can’t let it end now, they need more time’

It was between the scream and the regain of her senses that she started to run, the enemy was too strong, she had to run to dodge the next attack.

The arrow passed from the tree, the sharp edge of the weapon made a cut on her cheek. As the blood fell, she saw it, the string controlling the arrow.

‘I’m sure you had been proud of fighting this enemy Niisan…he is very strong…and he had discover the byakuga’s weakness, right... that is what I can tell…I’m sorry I couldn’t protect the secret more properly…’

Hinata moved slowly and watched the sky, the wind moved her hair and she saw the bird flying by, she remembered how Neji liked to count the birds, always trying to make his byakugan sharper and stronger.

‘I can not dodge the next attack…please give me strength, Niisan, for what I am about to do…’

She ran directly to the arrow and received it, the weapon pierced her side, she moaned in pain and the force of the impact threw her against a tree. With shaking hands, she took the web string and plugged her chakra into it, sending the destructive strength of the Jyuuken to Kidomaru.

‘Where are you, Niisan?’

One final attack and Kidomaru was down, for good. Hinata fell onto the floor near him, the sound nin was mocking her about her useless actions and how now Sasuke belonged to Orochimaru.

‘I have my reasons…my very own reason that only I can understand…’

“I don’t care about Sasuke-kun” she said, clutching her side, not looking at the sound nin as she sat on the floor very slowly.

“Then what was the reason of your foolish sacrifice?” he asked, enforcing a smirk.

“I did this for my Niisan and …because he cares for him…” Kidomaru looked at her in disbelieve, Hinata coughed some blood and looked at the sky “Neji-niisan took the path he took for a reason, I’m trying to protect that reason, even if I don’t fully understand it…” Kidomaru then reached his end and Hinata slowly closed her eyes, falling onto the ground.

‘Please be safe Niisan…thanks for make me stronger…Naruto-kun, please take Sasuke-kun back, not let Neji-niisan’s sacrifice be in vain…be safe, Niisan, Naruto-kun, be safe’

Eight birds fly across the sky, one charring Hinata’s message.

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Neji stepped into the dark room, and looked over his shoulder; he could swear that he heard a bird cry. The boy shook his head and kept walking into the large room.

The Akatsuki Leader was waiting for him; he could see in the shadows that some of the members of the organization were there as well. Itachi was near the Leader.

“Lay down” said the Leader, indicating a stone table in the middle of the room. Neji could see the faint red symbols all over the stone and floor; the boy closed his eyes as he reached the stone table and sat on it, to short after lay down.

Sir Leader lifted his cloak sleeve a little and made a cut on his forearm, he took some blood of the cut and draw a matching patter of the symbols around Neji’s cursed seal. The Hyuuga opened his eyes when felt his arms being restrained; Itachi was the one tied his wrist with a rope fixed to the floor at the sides of the stone, Neji’s wrist were at his side, he couldn’t get up now.

He wanted to ask the reason but the dark glare of the Leader made him stay in silence. Sir Leader took a kunai from his cloak and made a cut on Neji’s forearm to take the blood to finish the patter around the stone, once he was done; he stepped in front of the rock by Neji’s head.

“Itachi, do something so he doesn’t bite his tongue” asked the Leader before star. Itachi walked over Neji and showed him a piece of cloth; the boy opened his mouth and let Itachi shove the cloth inside his mouth.

After that, Sir Leader started a complicated and rapid series of hand seals, the blood seals started to glow and extended to the whole patter on the floor and the rock, when the glow reached Neji’s body, he felt himself on fire.

He closed his eyes and shifted while the glow was increasing, he opened his eyes a little to see the Leader over him whispering something in a forage tongue while doing another series of hand seals, he moved his head to his side to see that the whole room was covered with the seal patter, he fallowed it with his eyes until his gaze reached the center of it on the ceiling.

His eyes got wide and bitted the gag to prevent himself from screaming. There was something coming out of the large glowing circle on the ceiling, it was like an immense statue and it was eating the glowing patter that was coming to it, his hands were cuffed and it had a blindfold with several holes in it, it was a monster, but Neji could tell that it was not completely real, it was a statue, but it was alive and his hands, even thinking they were cuffed, were trying to reach him.

Neji moved his feet almost in animal instinct when the statue placed its hands at the sides of the stone table; the enormous head was above him. It opened his mouth even more, and the thing covering its mouth fell to hang from its neck, he moved its lips sending some kind of roar into the air. The seal patter finally mixed with Neji’s caged bird seal and it glowed red, Neji screamed behind the gag and clenched up, deep in an immense pain, he could feel the involuntary tears in the corner of hi closed eyes, at the back of the noise he heard the Leader’s voice and then he couldn’t move at all; strong hands was restraining his arms and legs, he didn’t opened his eyes to see but could tell that were the other Akatsuki members.

Itachi placed his hands at the sides of Neji’s head and then restrained it secure so the now glowing red cursed seal was accessible to the demon statue. Kisame had his hands on Neji’s ankles while Deidara was restating the boy’s right arm and Sasori the left arm, making sure that Neji did not get free.

Neji opened his eyes, the silver orbs were gone, just leaving the plain iris wide open, the seal emitted a blinding glow, covering all of Neji’s body, the glowing light raised from his body directly to the statue’s mouth, taking away from him all his strength and great part of his chakra.

He had never felt such amount of pain before, he wanted to get his hands free and clutch his head but the strong hands of Deidara and Sasori kept him in place. He bit the gag so hard that hi was hurting his jaw, the bitter taste of the cloth was a pointless detail at the moment, but it was doing its assignment as planned and prevented him from biting his tongue in aggravation.

He could remember when he got the cursed seal, it ha been painful but this was much worse. It felt like if he was being stabbed, burned from the inside out and his organs were taken away with him still alive, all at the same time. The tears escaped from his eyes falling down his face and into the stone table.

The Leader was still whispering words in an incompressible language and now the others were doing chorus of the same ritual, when they started to said the same phrase over and over again was when he felt like if his head was being torn open and then, even with the gag on his mouth, a sharp scream escaped his throat and could be heard by the ones near him.

The statue took all of the glowing force covering him and then closed its mouth, moving backwards to get into the black whole on the ceiling, once the statue was fully gone, the black hole banished and the red patter faded away.

Silver-white orbs returned against white iris and the eyes closed. Neji got limp; his breath became slow and erratic, the Akatsuki members let go of him, Itachi’s eyes were fixed on the boy’s forehead. The caged bird seal was gone.

“That seal was unique, it kept all of his strength and chakra to reach the limits” said the Leader, looking at the ceiling “Such power was consumed by my demon statue, making it stronger for our future plans” the Leader showed a cruel smile and his subordinates looked pleased “Perfect”

Sir Leader walked away while Itachi took Neji on his arms; he took the gag out of his mouth and moved from the stone table. Deidara and Sasori were besides him heading to the door and out of the large room while Kisame was behind them.

“Right now, he looks like that you could break him…” pointed Deidara “…Like a glass figure” the blonde smirked “He looks pretty, yeah”

Deidara’s hand touched Neji’s forehead and moved some strings of dark brown hair of his face, Sasori was watching the boy too, showing a small smile and then chuckle under his breath, Itachi observed this without change in his expression. When Neji shifted weakly in his arms he resumed his steps towards the room, leaving the others behind.

The bird was in a cage no more, but when it flew outside it was surrender by the deep darkness that took it with the intention of consume its soul…

What kind of freedom was this?... It taints everything that touches it… Slowly consuming the light and leaving in place the eternal darkness within…

He was drawing…fading… hurting…completely lost in the darkness he walked into.

In a place where light was a myth and darkness the path, only silence remains and then is when it gains a voice, the silence guide him into a fake peace and he took its hand, walking by its side by choice.

Fragile, like a glass figure.

To be continue…

Hello Angst. How are you today? –grins like a maniac–

Okay, this chapter has some Hinata coolness in it because I couldn’t help it! –waves her “Hinata is awesome” flag– Anyway, this chapter was so fun to write, as you can see the points of departure had been set and Sasuke is off to gain power of defeat Itachi and get Neji back while White-eyes got deep in the Akatsuki –Dun, Duuun, Duuuuunnn– So…

Thanks for take some of your time in reading my story, I hope you are enjoying it. Hugs and kisses to my wonderful Beta, thanks sweetie! Your help makes this crazy story more understandable to others than you and me! –LOL–

Comments and questions, here I am. See you next time!