CHAPTER 34: A Brave Decision ⚠️

A/N: Hello people! A lot has happened to me during the past few days, and I'm sorry for the delay. This chapter was a little difficult to end, but I managed to do it somehow.(*'ﾉ∀'*)Also, there won't be a warning sign in between because the sensitive things come in bits in the chapter.🤧⚠️So... just enjoy the show~ 😌

"Stand up."

Fugaku's devilish voice seeped into Naruto's ears through the phone as he kept listening without cutting the call. The blond's heart dropped into his stomach, and he froze the moment he heard the elder Uchiha's voice. He had already sensed that something was terribly wrong long ago, but this feeling was getting worse by the second.

"Oi, teme...? Are you ok? What the hell is going on?"

Naruto questioned in his soft, trembling voice, which, to his fear, was not reaching Sasuke's ears. The Uchiha had already left the phone on his bed with the screen facing downwards and was now standing before his father with his head hung low, silently obeying his elder's order, as always.

The blond was growing increasingly nervous listening to all the muffled shuffling sounds coming from the other end as he clenched the phone in his hands and kept it tightly pressed against his ear.

"Sasuke?"

Naruto called out to the raven again but was met with dead silence in return, causing his heart to beat at a menacing speed the longer the silence stretched. He feared that it was the calm before a storm.

'Please prove me wrong, dattebayo...'

He prayed desperately, but he soon realized that his instinct was anything but wrong when the sound of objects falling on the floor and a loud thud escaped the speaker of his smartphone.

On the other side of the call, Fugaku, without really caring about checking Sasuke's phone, held his youngling by the throat and pinned him against the wall. Sasuke's panicked movements to stop his father from clenching his throat had caused the things kept on his side table to fall.

"Gah-"

Sasuke's back hit the wall with so much force that all the air left his lungs in a jiffy, and he couldn't compensate for it due to his father's hand that was crushing his windpipe.

Naruto was frantically yelling Sasuke's name, seeking a response from the other side while the raven squirmed under Fugaku's grip, scratching his father's hand in an attempt to make him let go, but in vain.

"You think I'll let go of you because of your pathetic struggle?"

Fugaku's cold voice echoed in the room as his grip around Sasuke's throat tightened. The young raven's face was growing redder the more his breath was constricted.

He was barely able to breathe, and he kept tapping his father's arm weakly as choked voices escaped him and successfully reached Naruto, breaking his heart bit by bit.

"Sasuke!!"

The blond yelled again, not knowing what else to do in this situation. He had never felt this helpless before. He could hear the pained voice of the man he had come to love, yet his hands were tied at the moment.

Just when Naruto thought that it couldn't get worse, he was, once again, proven wrong the very next second.

Fugaku pulled Sasuke away from the wall and threw him across the room, causing an agonized cry to escape his lips. The raven violently hit the floor, and a wave of excruciating pain ran through his entire being.

The sound that raged due to the impact caused Naruto's eyes to widen in horror as he was finally able to put the puzzle pieces together.

'Sasuke... is in danger. I gotta do something, dattebayo!'

His brain screamed at him as he calmed himself and began thinking of ways to help the only man he loved, who was currently whimpering as his body trembled on the floor. He had shriveled into a fetal position and covered his head in a defensive manner with his arms.

"Look at yourself, Sasuke. How can you call yourself an Uchiha?"

Fugaku slowly treaded towards his son's shaking form, his words leveling up the fear in his son. However, before the elder Uchiha could reach Sasuke, a terrifyingly loud, desperate voice screamed Sasuke's name through the phone.

"SASUKE!"

Naruto's voice was loud enough to escape the speakers of the phone and reach the ears of the father and son duo, causing Fugaku to stop in his tracks.

"Oh, so you've got yourself a fan already. But... does he know how pathetic you are?"

The evil smile on his face made Sasuke's blood run cold as his words pierced him like a dagger. He watched as his father walked back to the bed and picked up Sasuke's phone, through which Naruto's panicked cries were escaping.

'No... he... he heard all of it. Why didn't you cut the call, dobe? What will he think of me now...?'

Sasuke's eyes were now clouded with warm tears as he could only see a distorted outline of his father, inching closer to him with the phone in his hand.

"Don't you dare touch him, bastard!"

Fugaku, ignoring Naruto's frantic threats over the call, bent down, clenched Sasuke's hair roughly in his free hand, and pulled his face away from his defensive cocoon, forcing him into a sitting position.

"Ack -"

Sasuke exclaimed at the sudden pain in his scalp as he sat upright on the floor, kneeling before his father and not daring to look up at him. He was using all the power he had to not let the tears fall because that was a clear invitation for the devil in his father to take over.

Fugaku wanted to destroy Sasuke's self-esteem by exposing his darkest and weakest side to Naruto, who, as Fugaku knew him, was the person Sasuke loved.

Sasuke, who was aware of his father's plans, was, for the first time, not afraid of his father in his presence. Rather, the young Uchiha was afraid of how Naruto would think of him moving forward.

'It's all over...'

Sasuke let his insecurities cloud his thoughts. As a result, he was almost sure that Naruto would not care about him after listening to the events unfold. He was convinced that Naruto would give up on him after finding out how messed up and pathetic he was.

Sasuke let out a shaky breath as he braced himself when Fugaku put the call on speaker to let both of them listen to Naruto's words that followed.

"SASUKE! ARE YOU OK?!"

The raspy voice yelled through the phone, causing Sasuke's eyes to widen as he immediately snapped his head up in the direction of his phone. A shiver ran down his spine as he processed Naruto's voice, which was laced with worry and fear.

"N-Naruto..."

Sasuke's voice trembled as those words left his lips involuntarily. The raven was never so glad to be proven wrong. His heart was beating faster at the thought of the blond still caring about him to this extent.

'That dobe... he didn't give up on me...'

His eyes hesitantly alternated between Fugaku and his phone. The icy smirk plastered on the elder's face was not helping with Sasuke's inner panic. Yet, the young raven's voice carried a glimmer of hope in it.

"Sasuke! Don't worry! I'll come save you, dattebayo! Just hold out for me till then!"

Naruto's words were like permission given to Sasuke's tears to flow down his pale cheeks. The promise in the blond's voice was resurrecting the long-dead seed of hope that was sowed in the raven's heart.

"Dobe..."

Sasuke spoke with a small smile as his gaze was now fixed on the phone, completely leaving Fugaku out of the picture, but not for long.

"Run, Sasuke!"

As Naruto screamed for Sasuke to escape, Fugaku stared at his son's little smile in anger. This was not what he wanted. The elder Uchiha's plan to annihilate Sasuke's intact self-image was failing terribly, much to his disliking.

"How pathetic."

Fugaku mumbled in his low voice, which was loud enough for both the others to hear, causing Naruto to snap at him.

"You're dead when I get th-"

Before the blond on the phone could complete his sentence, Fugaku threw Sasuke's phone on the floor and stomped on it with force, smashing it under his boot, sounding the blond out.

"No more of this disgusting bullshit."

Fugaku sighed in relief while Sasuke looked at the shattered screen of his phone in horror. His eyes panned back to his father's figure, who was looking down on him with a dangerous smile tugging on his lips.

However, the worst of it all was Fugaku's silence as he stared at his son. His silence was his most dangerous declaration of his anger fading into sadism. It was almost as if he was performing a demonic ritual before the ultimate sacrifice.

And it terrified Sasuke to his core.

'Shit... I've got to go...'

His psyche yelled at him as he observed the change in his father's demeanor. The young boy was on his own, and he had to act before it got too late. The raven's breathing slowed and deepened as he looked up at his father in the eye.

'Just another few seconds...'

Sasuke calmed himself down, planning his escape route in his mind as the duo stared at each other's souls. Sasuke was feeling increasingly uncomfortable, but he maintained eye contact with his father. Now was not the time to back out. It was a do or die situation for him.

The only sound in the room was Fugaku's heavy breaths that carried the weight of his sadistic intentions. He suddenly held Sasuke by the collar and roughly made the young raven stand on his two wobbly feet. Fugaku looked Sasuke in the eye as his grip around Sasuke's collar tightened.

"I'll rip you apart."

'NOW!'

Sasuke's mind signaled simultaneously as his father spoke in his low treble. The young raven summoned every ounce of courage he could and kneed his father in the groin with enough force that made the elder groan in pain.

"Ugh!"

Fugaku backed away instinctively as his hand let go of Sasuke's collar to immediately go to his pained area, giving Sasuke an opening to escape. Without thinking much, Sasuke made a run for it.

"GET BACK HERE, YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

His father yelled, the pain clearly audible in his voice. However, his words only worked as a catalyst for Sasuke's adrenaline, which was increasing in his blood with every second.

He rushed down the stairs and towards the entrance of his residence at lightning speed. He twisted the handle and tried to pull the door open, only to realize that it was locked.

"DAMN IT!"

Sasuke screamed in frustration as he looked at the door defeatedly. He was aware that this was definitely his father's doing, who most likely had the key to the old-fashioned lock on him.

"FUCK!"

Sasuke let out an exasperated cry as he kicked the door in anger. His frustration was slowly turning into fear as more curses were being hurled his way by his father from upstairs.

'Calm down, Sasuke. Think... think! You can't give up now!'

Sasuke's breath was becoming ragged as his brain was muddled with fear and anxiety. He shut his eyes tightly and covered his ears to tune out his father's screaming as he thought of what to do next.

'The kitchen? Or the living room? No... Father's room is out of the question... Mom always locks her room before she goes...'

Sasuke was running out of time, but he didn't stop thinking of a solution when he was finally hit with an enlightenment.

'That's right! Itachi's room!'

The raven rushed to the safest place he could think of for now. He was just glad that Itachi's room did not require Sasuke to walk past his own.

He dashed upstairs with trembling legs and into his big brother's room, which was just a few steps ahead of the staircase's end, with his own room being another short distance away from Itachi's.

As soon as he stepped inside, he quickly shut the door and locked the room from inside. He did not care to even peek into the aisle one last time to check if his father was out of his room.

He sighed in relief, and soon after, all the adrenaline receded from his body, rendering him weak. His shaky limbs were unable to hold him up, and he fell on the floor on his knees.

"G-Good... good job, Sasuke..."

He finally got some rest, and he tried to calm himself, all while convincing his fears that his decision to go against his father was right.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

The sudden loud banging on the door snapped Sasuke out of his thoughts. He flinched at the sound and looked at the door in front of him that was shaking violently.

"OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR, YOU FAG! I'LL KILL YOU THE MOMENT I SEE YOU!"

Fugaku screamed continuously from the other side of the door while alternating between banging the door and trying to twist the knob forcefully. The young raven gulped and quickly stood up from the floor as he speed-walked to the washroom in Itachi's room.

He locked the door of the washroom, adding another layer of protection for himself. He quickly grabbed the hand shower, opened it, and spilled water on the floor, taking advantage of the fact that the floor was tiled and would become slippery due to water.

He closed the shower and left it there as he climbed into the bathtub that was at the end of the bathroom. He sat inside with his knees folded to his chest and his hands covering his ears to muffle the banging and rattling sounds.

He managed to calm himself and buy some time for himself. Now, he just had to stay away from Fugaku's grasp until Naruto arrived to save him.

'But... that dobe doesn't even know where I live...'

The realization hit Sasuke as if a boulder had fallen on him from the top of a cliff. However, before he could feel devastated and hopeless, Naruto's words rang in his head.

"I'll come save you, dattebayo!"

'Yes... if he said he will, then he will.'

It's true that Sasuke and Naruto had their ups and downs; however, deep down, both the boys somehow had unwavering trust in each other. And so, trusting Naruto and his promise, Sasuke sat, waiting for Naruto to finally show him the light.

'I just need to hold on till then... you better come and save me, Naruto.'

A/N: And I'll stop here for now. I want y'all to stay in suspense of what happens next for a long long time! (Sorry not sorry) 🙇🏻‍♀️🤎💙And... thank you so much for being so patient with my, pardon my French, fucked up schedule of posting. ﾟ+.ﾟ(*'∀')bﾟ+.ﾟAnyway, see you all in the next chapter!Author sound out~ ✌🏻