Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

It's a Hard Knock Life	By : Tatemshope Category: Naruto AU/AR > General Views: 2830 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
- 9
I do not own any of these characters or any products mentioned.
AN: I had planned on this chapter going all the way up through the the gathering at the YMCA but it just got way too long! Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up sooner than this one, but remember, reviews are the ultimate motivation! ;)

~~~~
Naruto sat up and pulled his knees tighter to his chest.
"I don't know his name," the blond started, hugging himself more tightly as he continued. "I've always called him Aniki for as long as I can remember. He was one of the first people to ever buy me for an entire night."
"How old were you?" Sasuke asked quietly, propping himself up on his elbow.
"Nine," Naruto answered. "After that, he bought be about twice a month. It wasn't bad at first. When I stayed with him, I always had my own room and my own bed. I'd never had a bed before that, so even though I didn't like what he did to me when he came in during the night, it was still better than sleeping on the floor or out on the street."
The blond got a pained expression on his face and winced as a tear streaked down his tanned cheek. He wiped his eyes with the sheet and then continued.
"Up until last year it stayed mostly the same, he would ignore me until I went to bed, and then I'd wake up in the middle of the night and he would be touching me. At first I would lie still, but after about a year he started telling me he wanted me to struggle and put up a fight. I would, but then he would get mad and punish me. He would start saying weird things and tell me if I told anyone he'd kill my parents. I'm not sure why he would say it, he knows my family is dead; I've told him tons of times. Anyway, after he started threatening my family, he would get out a lighter or a cigarette and burn me. Usually it was just on my arms, but sometimes he would burn my face, or� other places... until last year when..." Naruto stopped talking and
"It got worse last year?"
"Much worse," Naruto explained miserably. "One day he bought me and everything seemed normal as we walked to his apartment. Then, when we got inside, he snapped. He hit me and knocked me out, and when I woke up I was tied down and�" the younger boy shuddered and looked at Sasuke sadly. "Can I tell you the rest some other time? I don't want to talk about this anymore. It hurts."
The dark-haired boy wanted to press the issue, but reconsidered. He remembered the abused kids he'd met at camp and how hard it had been for them to tell their stories. He also remembered that he had yet to ever tell anyone his own story. He'd only told his parents the bare basics before Itachi killed them. After that, he could never get himself to say the words out loud again. He met the bright blue eyes of the younger boy.
"We can continue later. I know this is hard to talk about."
"How could you possibly know?" Naruto asked, wondering why Sasuke would assume he knew how much this hurt. The older boy sighed. He didn't feel like answering that question, but honesty had never failed him.
"I� If I� I�" Sasuke suddenly realized he had no words even if he did want to tell the younger boy the truth. He couldn't force himself to say what he wanted to say, no matter how hard he tried.
"It's ok, we can talk about it later," the blond boy soothed, reaching across Sasuke to turn off the lamp. "If I freak out in the morning, just leave me alone for a few minutes. I'll figure it out, I always do."
"It's happened before?"
Naruto nodded in the moonlight. "Yeah, sometimes; although it's never been as bad as it was this morning. My master just pours water over my head when it happens and that seems to help."
"I'm not going to pour water over your head," Sasuke sighed. "I'll leave you alone like you suggested. When you come back to reality, come join me for breakfast."
"OK, g'night."
"Goodnight."
Silence descended on the room but it was broken a few moments later when Naruto rolled over suddenly to face Sasuke.
"Sasuke? Are you still awake?"
"Yeah..." the older boy mumbled. This had been a long day and he was definitely ready to get some sleep.
"If today was just an act, and you're going to start hurting me tomorrow, I want to say thanks for today. I don't think I've ever been as happy as I was at dinner tonight. It was nice to have friends, even if it was pretend."
Sasuke moved forward across the bed until he was inches from Naruto. He placed his arm over the smaller boy's waist and pulled him closer.
"Trust me," he whispered.
"I'm trying."
Both boys fell asleep quickly after that.
The first streaks of sunlight were streaming through the room when Sasuke woke up, completely wrapped around the blond. It took some skillful maneuvering but he managed to extract himself and inch out of the room without waking Naruto. He had just finished making a pot of coffee when Hinata emerged from the bathroom looking ready for her new job.
"Sasuke! I feel like we haven't talked in days!" she whispered as she made her way over to the table and sat down next to her friend. "I didn't get to tell you about my internship."
"You can tell me now. How did it go?" the dark haired boy asked as he got up to grab the coffee pot and two cups.
"It was amazing! I'm not really getting to do any of the nursing stuff yet, so mostly I'm visiting with the kids. Plus, I met this g� ummm� I met someone� who w-was really amazing with the kids. I think I could l-learn a lot from him." Hinata flushed bright red as she finished.
"What's his name?" he prodded gently.
"I don't know�" she lied, looking down at the coffee in her cup.
"Deception doesn't suit you," he smirked. "I'm not going to scare him off if you tell me his name," he insisted.
"What about Shino? After you and Neji "talked" to him before Homecoming he wouldn't even look in my direction!"
"You're being over-dramatic," Sasuke dismissed.
"He got his parents to let him switch schools half way through our senior year!" Hinata answered sharply, fixing Sasuke with a glare right out of his own handbook.
Sasuke had to cover his mouth to keep from showing Hinata that he was smiling. Maybe he should invite her to anger management as well. Apparently one of the hazards of being his friend was that it made you aggressive.
"Fine, tell me his name and I'll leave it at that."
"You have to promise first that you won't tell Neji."
"I promise I won't tell Neji. If you want to have this boy around though, you're going to have to tell your cousin. You realize that don't you? He's not going to stay out of your affairs."
"I'll tell him later. For now I just want you to know. His name is Inuzuka Kiba and he is going to school to be a Child Psychologist. He has an amazing therapy dog named Akamaru and the two of them are so popular with the kids that even the children with the worst injuries try to get out of bed to go see them." Hinata realized she'd gotten louder in her excitement and lowered her voice back to a whisper. "I really like him Sasuke. He asked Sakura if I had a boyfriend! Do you think that might mean he would want to take me out on a date?"
Sasuke pondered this for a moment before replying.
"It sounds like he's interested, and I can't imagine any reason why he wouldn't be. I have to tell you though that if he does want to take you out, he's got to meet me first."
"No."
"Hinata, this isn't open for discussion."
"No. You aren't my f-father. You aren't even my cousin."
"You'd prefer Neji meet him then?"
"Don't do this to me," Hinata fumed, her white eyes filling with tears. Sasuke put down his coffee cup and placed his hand over hers.
"What we did to Shino was immature and it won't happen again," Sasuke reassured as he squeezed her hand tightly. "You are the best thing in my life. Can you blame me for wanting to at least meet the person who will be taking you on dates? It's not like I'm demanding to chaperone, and I'll play nice, ok?"
"This is all pointless anyway. Every nurse in the ward is after him and I can't see any reason why he would want to ask me out. I'm too shy and the only boy who was ever interested in me was Shino and I admit he was sort of strange. I shouldn't have even mentioned it to you," she replied dejectedly.
"If I confess something, do you promise not to be too upset?" Sasuke asked, wincing slightly with the realization he may be getting himself into big trouble momentarily.
"What?" Hinata demanded, narrowing her eyes slightly.
"There were a few more boys than just Shino interested in you in High School."
Hinata let out a slight gasp. "You didn't!"
"It wasn't just me," Sasuke hurried. "It was Neji's idea. If a boy even showed the slighted interest in you we would� squelch it."
"Squelch it how?" Hinata demanded. The fierce look in her eyes could have melted ice, and there was no sign of stuttering now.
"Well, we would corner them and tell them that if they asked you out we would hold them to very high standards of conduct. We never directly threatened anyone but I think the threat was pretty well implied."
"How could you do that to me? Do you have any idea how rejected I felt all through High School?" Hinata asked softly, giving Sasuke a look of such betrayal that he had to look away.
"I'm sorry. I truly am sorry. I can't take it back but I can make it up to you. Let me meet this boy, and I swear to you, I will take care of Neji. Do you forgive me?" Sasuke asked, giving her his most innocent look. It was the look he usually reserved for women that he needed to fawn over him so he could get his way.
"Of course I forgive you, there's no reason to waste 'the seductive look' on me," she giggled. "I'm sure you were only trying to look out for me, in your own misguided way. If you ruin this for me, though, I will smack you so hard it will be you with the stutter. Are we clear?" She moved her hand away from Sasuke's and sipped at her coffee, as he gave her an affirming nod and an amused smile.
"Now, on to more pleasant subjects; what was with you and Naruto last night when you came in? I haven't seen you look that happy in about ten years."
Sasuke gazed into his cup as if the answer to her question was written on the bottom. "I'm not sure what was up with us."
"You like him a lot, don't you?" she asked, tilting her head to get a better look at Sasuke's face.
"Yeah, I think I do. It's strange though. I've known him for less than two days, we have nothing in common, he keeps trying to molest me because he thinks that's the only way I'll keep him around, and� and now I've managed to convince myself Itachi is alive, and he's the person Naruto was so frightened of yesterday morning," Sasuke mumbled, keeping his eyes trained on the table. If Hinata thought he was crazy, there was no chance anyone else would believe him.
"Oh sweetie, that sucks," Hinata soothed.
"Yeah, it sucks." He looked into her eyes and he couldn't help it. He broke out into a small smile at the concern on her face. She really, truly loved him and believed him.
"What makes you think it's your brother?" she asked.
Sasuke explained to her all that Naruto had told him. Although the dark-haired boy had never spoken with Hinata concerning the details of his own abuse, he was sure from all the things he had shouted out in nightmares she must have a good picture of what had happened.
"It does sound like him. What are you going to do? Even if Naruto told you where he was living, it wouldn't be safe for you to confront him. Would you go to the police? To father?"
At that moment they both heard crying coming from the bedroom and Hinata jumped up only to be restrained by Sasuke.
"No. He told me to leave him alone if it happened this morning. He said he'd snap himself out of it on his own and then he'd be fine."
They sat in silence at the table listening to the sobbing coming from the bedroom. After a few minutes it quieted down and Naruto emerged looking shaken but sane.
"Good morning," he said shyly, avoiding looking at either Hinata or Sasuke.
"Good morning, Naruto-kun," the dark-haired girl said as she hopped up and placed her cup in the sink, giving him a friendly smile as she passed.
"Did you sleep well?" Sasuke asked when Naruto had sat down next to him.
"Better than I usually do. You still like me?" he asked quietly.
"Yes, I still like you," Sasuke affirmed, thoroughly enjoying the sight of a just woken up Naruto. "I have some errands I need to run this afternoon and I think it might be best if you stay here in the penthouse."
"Alone?" Naruto asked, looking nervously around the apartment.
"If you want some company, I bet Neji and Gaara would come up," Hinata offered as she walked to the door to put on her shoes.
Sasuke gave her a look of mild irritation. "I'm not sure that's such a good idea."
"Why can't I go with you?" Naruto interrupted, sulking slightly.
"Because I need to stop by my office and pick up some papers I need to sign and I'm not currently in the mood to explain your presence to my overly curious secretary."
"You have an office? Does that mean you have a job?" Naruto asked, perking up slightly.
"Do you think this penthouse pays for itself?" Sasuke questioned with a smirk. Seeing Naruto look slightly hurt at his sarcasm he explained. "Yes, I have a job, but I don't go often because I'm my own boss. My parent's were very wealthy and when I became eighteen I inherited my father's title and his business."
"Wow. You're so lucky. I don't even know what my dad did for a living� my mom either," Naruto added sadly. Hinata gave him a comforting hug before heading to the door.
"I'm leaving. You boys be good. Sasuke, call Neji and Gaara and get them to come up and keep Naruto company." Sasuke made a face at her and she made a face back at him. "That's not a request, mister, it's a demand. Will you be home for dinner?"
"No, we have the all group gathering tonight at the Y."
"Oh, that's right. Hopefully I'll see you before you leave," she called over her shoulder as she headed off to her internship. Sasuke noticed she definitely had a skip to her step. He was glad Hinata was happy, even if he was a little concerned about how Neji would handle his little cousin having a love interest. He stood up and crossed the room to pick up the phone and dial the Hyuuga boy's cell phone number. Neji answered on the first ring.
"It's me. Are you in the building?"
"Yes, why?"
"I need to run some errands this morning, do you think you and Gaara could come up and hang out with Naruto while I'm gone?"
"Sure. I know last night he mentioned that Hinata was going to teach him to count money. Perhaps we could work on a lesson today."
"Thanks. When can you be up here?" Sasuke asked.
"Five minutes."
"See you then."
"Sasuke?"
"Yeah?"
"I missed this... us being friends..." Neji said softly.
Sasuke tilted his head, not quite trusting his ears. When he had run the conversation through his head again and was quite sure he'd heard correctly he replied quietly into the phone.
"I missed this too."
He clicked his phone shut, pointed out to Naruto where they kept the cereal, and then headed for the bathroom to take a shower. He got ready quickly and came back out to be greeted by the sight of Neji and Gaara furiously chopping up vegetables in the kitchen. Naruto was sitting on the counter looking impressed.
"They're making me an omelet," the blond boy explained.
"It's an absolute crime that he's never had one," Gaara said as he finished chopping up an onion. Sasuke did a double take as the red-head turned around. The boy's outfit today was just as outrageous as anything he'd ever seen him wear, but matched up with the muted colors of the kitchen, he looked even more out of place. His green
John Deere tank top matched his eyes perfectly, and he was wearing tight corduroy pants that looked like they'd come from the Junior Girl's rack at Macy's. Somehow the smaller boy managed to pull it off. Realizing just how alluring Gaara might look to some people he took that opportunity to have a private word with the blond's "baby-sitters".
"Naruto, can you go into my room and see if I left my wallet in there?" Sasuke asked politely. "I think it might be on the dresser."
Naruto hopped off the counter and raced to the older boy's room. Sasuke allowed himself a small smile at the boy's enthusiasm before fixing Gaara with his iciest glare.
"If you touch him, or try anything with him, I will kill you. Understood?"
Gaara and Neji exchanged an amused look before the red-head spoke.
"No one's going to touch your boyfriend, Uchiha, so you can put away those daggers you call eyes."
Naruto came bouncing back into the room just then and Sasuke looked at him apologetically.
"As soon as you left I realized it was in my pocket. Sorry 'bout that," he mumbled lamely, feeling slightly bad about lying.
"No problem. The sooner you get going, the sooner you'll be back," Naruto said with a smile. Sasuke pulled the younger boy toward him and planted a soft kiss on his forehead. "Besides," the younger boy continued, pulling away slightly, "they promised to teach me how to play Poker so I can practice with money."
Sasuke turned and looked questioningly to Neji and Gaara.
"It's how my father taught me to count," Gaara explained. "Don't worry; we're going to use Monopoly money until he gets good."
"Don't corrupt him," Sasuke warned as he pulled on his boots. He gave Gaara one last warning glare as he walked out the door.
Five hours had passed when he returned home to sounds of groans and laughter that could be heard all the way down the hall. When he entered he was surprised to find Naruto surrounded by piles of Monopoly money and what appeared to be stacks of yellow squares. He walked over to sit next to the blond and flipped through the stack of post-it notes that said things like "take Naruto to the zoo" "buy Naruto cotton candy" "find and purchase Naruto a stuffed fox" "cook omelet for Naruto on any requested morning" all written in Neji's neat handwriting. He looked inquisitively at the Hyuuga boy.
"Naruto is a natural. I ran out of monopoly money an hour ago so they're letting me stay in the game for favors," Neji explained, looking slightly embarrassed.
"I'm glad you're having fun," Sasuke said, brushing his hand against the back of Naruto's. "Would you mind staying up here for a bit longer while Gaara and I run down to his apartment and talk about some business stuff?"
"But you just got back," Naruto complained, "and I'm really good! I want to beat you!" he added emphatically.
"I promise I'll play when we come back upstairs. This should only take a few minutes," Sasuke explained, standing up and motioning for the absurdly dressed boy to follow him.
Neji looked from Gaara to Sasuke and followed them silently as they stepped out of the penthouse.
"Why do I feel like this isn't about some business venture and you actually have something else up your sleeve?" Neji questioned suspiciously.
"Hello, sleeveless!" Gaara protested, pointing at his bare arm.
Sasuke rolled his eyes and met Neji's gaze. "It's about Naruto getting raped on a video I saw. I got a copy of the tape while I was out and Gaara's going to help me use the recognition software his father's company has been developing to figure out who hurt him. We're going to cross check the images with the entire Uchiha Corporation database," Sasuke finished.
"The Uchiha's have security cameras in all the major transportation hubs around the city. If the sickos who hurt Naruto have bought plane, train or bus tickets in the last two years, we should be able to figure out who they are." Gaara explained.
"And then what?" Neji asked curiously.
"We teach them a lesson," Sasuke whispered menacingly, pulling the tape out of his coat pocket and handing it to Gaara.
"I want in," the Hyuuga boy declared. "If you're this upset, it must be bad, and I really like Naruto. He's a lot of fun."
"I am?" Naruto asked, having crept up to the doorway undetected. Sasuke spun around and studied the boy's face carefully.
"How much of that did you hear?" he asked.
"Just that I'm fun, but if I'm so much fun I don't understand why you're all standing out in the hallway avoiding me. Do you want me to be fun in a different way?" Naruto asked softly, stepping toward Sasuke and hooking his thumbs through his belt loops provocatively so it would pull his jeans down slightly. Neji and Gaara both looked horrified but before they could assure Naruto they had no such intentions with him, Sasuke grabbed him by the arm and drug him toward the door.
"Stop it," Sasuke warned the blond and then turned back to the others. "How about we discuss our new business venture after we get back from the meeting tonight? I'm exhausted and I think Naruto and I need to have a talk."
"Sounds good. Is it all right if Neji and I go ahead and look over the video material you gave me?" Gaara asked.
Sasuke paled a bit thinking about what they were about to see. "That's fine. Just don't do anything about it until we talk later," he finished as he shut the door and pointed to the sofa. "You, sit."
Naruto complied and the Uchiha boy took a seat across from him on a nearby chair. While he'd been out that afternoon he'd talked to several people and found out things he felt like he had no right knowing. He wanted to tell Naruto what he had discovered but decided it might be best to run it past Hinata first. She always seemed to know exactly what to do with bad news.
Instead of continuing with his previous course of action he pulled a small notebook out of his jacket pocket and handed it to the blond. Naruto stared down at the paper slightly puzzled. He could read well enough to understand what was written, but he was surprised Sasuke hadn't been joking when he said he was going to make a list.
1. Find mystery man who Naruto calls Aniki and find out if he's
  actually Itachi.
2. Teach Naruto to count money.
3. Buy Naruto from his master, permanently.
4. Deal with the "business thing". (Gaara has agreed to help.)
5. Find out more about Naruto's parents.
6. Prove that Naruto did not rape girl at party.
7. Find a place for Naruto to get his GED. (Spoke with Kakashi
  about this and he suggested a skills assessment at the Y.)
Sasuke took the list back from him, scribbled through number 3 so that it was illegable and then added one more entry. He handed it back to Naruto and the blond read over it again.
1. Find mystery man who Naruto calls Aniki and find out if he's
  actually Itachi.
2. Teach Naruto to count money.
3. ~~XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.~~
4. Deal with the "business thing". (Gaara has agreed to help.)
5. Find out more about Naruto's parents.
6. Prove that Naruto did not rape girl at party.
7. Find a place for Naruto to get his GED. (Spoke with Kakashi
  about this and he suggested a skills assessment at the Y.)
8. Explain to Naruto the inappropriateness of assuming everyone
  is out to harm or molest him.
"Do you understand what that says?" Sasuke asked, confused by Naruto's crestfallen expression.
"That you had thought about buying me permanently but just now decided against it," Naruto answered softly, folding his hands on his lap. "What did I do? I would do anything if you would keep me. Anything."
"See, that falls under number eight. Stop assuming I want to molest you; and I didn't cross of number three because I've decided against it� I crossed it off because it's already done," Sasuke explained.
"But that means�" Naruto trailed off, looking up at the older boy with a nervous expression.
"It means I bought you this afternoon. Bought you completely. If you run off again, it's practically like you're stealing yourself."
"I don't ever have to go back?" Naruto asked, his voice full of both hope and suspicion.
"Never. You belong to me now."
"How much did you pay for me?" the blond asked hesitantly. Sasuke sighed. He knew the question would come up but he didn't want to answer it. Naruto wasn't going to be happy.
"It doesn't matter. You don't have to pay me back."
"I do! I do have to pay you back. Why do you think I stayed with him? I had to pay back what my parents owed him, and now I have to pay you back what I owe you. 'The Lord loves fair scales': It's in the Bible and I have to make things even. Tell me how much you paid," Naruto insisted.
"That's not fair to you, Naruto. You didn't even know I was going to buy you, and if you had, I'm sure you would have told me that some amount would be too much. If I had told you I was going to buy you for 50,000 dollars, you may have said no because you didn't want to have to pay me back that much. Since I gave you no say in the matter, you should only have to pay me back as much as you owed him. How much did you owe him?"
"I don't know," Naruto mumbled looking down at the floor. He knew Sasuke wasn't going to like that answer and he was right.
"What do you mean you didn't know? Were you just going to whore yourself out until he told you that you could leave?" Sasuke spat out before realizing exactly how cruel his words were. All of the color drained out of Naruto's face and his expression became as blank as stone. He looked at Sasuke like he might look at a tree or a cereal box.
"How much did you pay for me?" he asked, keeping his tone quiet and even.
"I'm not going to tell you," Sasuke answered defiantly, lifting an eyebrow as a silent challenge. Naruto sprung across the distance between them and grabbed a fistful of the Uchiha boy's hair tilting his face up to look at him. Sasuke was shocked, but didn't struggle. Considering what he'd just said, he deserved anything Naruto decided to deal out.
"Tell me," Naruto demanded, using his weight to pin the older boy to the chair as he tightened his grip on Sasuke's hair.
"What the fuck, Naruto? That hurts!"
"Then hurt me back. I'm yours, right?" Naruto hissed as he let go of the dark hair and flopped back down on the couch. "Tell me, Sasuke, if I'm worth twenty dollars a fuck than how many times am I going to have to fuck you until I can leave?"
Those words cut Sasuke to the core and he felt like absolute shit. What had he expected of Naruto? The boy couldn't tell a 5 dollar bill from a 20 dollar bill until this morning and yet he had expected that the blond would be deducting every blow job from some imaginary sum he owed his master. It was ridiculous.
"At this rate, exactly none." Sasuke mused mostly to himself. Naruto heard though and his face went blank again.
"Are you going to sell me then? I don't want to be with strangers anymore," he mumbled, looking much more unsettled. The Uchiha boy felt like he was going to be sick.
"No. I'm not going to sell you." He took a slight pause before continuing; apologies were not his strong point considering his apology to Neji the night before had been almost unprecedented. "I'm sorry. I was being a complete ass. I paid two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to ensure that you would never have to look at that man again. One of the conditions of his taking the money was that he had to move out of the country. I own property all over the word, and now he should be very comfortable in some God-awful part of Mexico. If he ever tries to enter the country again I'll see to it he doesn't live long enough to try to contact you."
Naruto looked at him as if he'd lost his mind, but Sasuke wasn't finished yet, and so he continued.
"I wouldn't sell you to anyone for any amount of money. I stopped by the hospital this afternoon to speak with Hinata and she very much wants you to live here with us. We'll get you enrolled in school and then you can decide wh�" Sasuke had planned on detailing the rest of his plan to Naruto but that was proving to be difficult with the boy's tongue stuck in his mouth. The blond was kissing him urgently and as Sasuke tried to pull away, Naruto only pushed back harder.
"Naruto, I don't want you to do this because I bought you," Sasuke managed to gasp out between kisses.
"I'm doing this for me," was Naruto's reply as he pulled himself off of the older boy and headed for the bedroom. Sasuke waited a few seconds before following him. If this was what Naruto wanted, who was he to say no?
~~~~
Review! Review! Review!
"Hello, Sleeveless!" is a quote I borrowed from Charmed
FREAKING MOTHER F-ING HTML! I hate it! I just spent 45 minutes trying to get the stupid strikethru to work in my list and so I finally ended up just using X's. If anyone can tell me why the strikethru command isn't working for me, please do!
- 7
- 8
- 9
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

It's a Hard Knock Life