I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

This is my first Sasuke centric story. The summary had been in the back of my mind for a long time, begging to be made into a story. I'm not a big fan of Sasuke - he's a deep character, hard to write - but he was best suited for this concept. So here it is.

This is an AU that takes place in our imaginations, beyond canon borders, after Naruto somehow manages to bring Sasuke back. They're about 18 or 19 years old.

Into The Night

It was handsome.

Not him. The cell. Average sized, a single bed – mattress, covers and pillows, not concrete benches – a table by the corner accompanied by a small stool. Not like the crammed, filthy cubicles the Interrogation Unit used – oh, he'd been there of course, knew that chains there were as uniform as the grey garments they had made him wear.

But he wasn't at Interrogation anymore, was he?

No, Sasuke decided as he glared at the blocked space that was 'home' until the village council decided otherwise, this wasn't some torture cell to get him to spill his guts – and in the genjutsus he had been, that had been all too realistic. Just a plain cell to accommodate one renegade shinobi. He wouldn't be dragged out to be questioned and suspected and accused.

He only had to stay put while a bunch of old fools sitting around a table decided his fate.

Usually, if he had the time to be sitting around, Sasuke would be working on his jutsu, correcting them, refining them, making them stronger, flawless… but he couldn't do that now, could he? Not with the seal they had branded on his chest. Sasuke's chakra coils were just about as useful as Rock Lee's – weaker, even – unless someone had the liberality to remove the complicated chakra-stopper.

So Sasuke sat. Sasuke didn't give the ANBU guards he just knew were outside somewhere reason to venture into his temporary abode. Sasuke listened.

It wasn't like he could actually hear the council discussion all the way from the ANBU's basement, of course. He thought about it, though, about what they would do to him. About what they thought they could do to him. Somehow, even after his fall, his defeat, Sasuke still harvested the belief in the back of his mind; that they couldn't hurt him, couldn't do anything remotely harmful and permanent. Somehow, even though he was effectively held prisoner and had no forms of escape, he thought that he would be able to leave unscathed. He was Sasuke Uchiha, after all.

He leaned against the cold wall and crossed his arms over his chest. They couldn't do anything to him, those old council members that hadn't picked up a kunai for years. He closed his eyes, allowing the solitary silence to waver in his subconsciousness. Sasuke knew he couldn't sleep – he hadn't for a long time – but he had to rest. Rest was closing his eyes and opening his mind. He rested.

And was woken promptly. It felt like he had only rested for a minute – sleep felt like that, yet there was no way that he had slept; the thought of sleep was foreign to Sasuke now – but already something had changed. There was a disturbance outside the walls of his prison. He could hear them, could feel the tension.

It excited him.

Clattering, scrambling, crumbling. But no yells, no cries of pain or surprise. The silent assault. Sasuke was all too accustomed to it. The way of the silent.

Footsteps, the sliver of light that crept in under the door flickering under the darker influence of a shadow. He watched it with a flat gaze. Voices outside, murmuring. He wished he could activate his Sharingan. Being left without answers irritated Sasuke. It was like being blind, left to feel his way around the-

"Rasengan!"

And Sasuke only just in time threw his arms up to shield his face, backed up against the wall, as the opposite one exploded in a ferocious flurry of brick and dust. Debris clung to his hair like a fine mask. Sasuke narrowed his eyes. At the opening, their faces shadowed by the glaring light behind them – the light that he hadn't seen since last week – two people.

He knew them, of course. Just didn't know why they were here.

She was tugging his arms away from his face, her hands glowing a healthy green as she ran them over the minor cuts that had chipped into his skin. "Sasuke. Sasuke, we need to leave. You need to leave. The council-" Her voice broke off there in a choke, but he knew.

They had decided.

"Get away from me," he muttered. Pushed her away like she was still the fangirl that had chased after him during their childhood. Not anymore.

Rough hands grabbed his shoulders. "No, Sasuke! Listen to us! The council, Granny Tsunade tried, she appealed, but they don't want it. No loose ends. They're going to eliminate you. Soon."

Sasuke almost laughed. Eliminate. Kill. Him? "They can't, Naruto. I'm a Uchiha. They love me." He sneered at the boy – man? – and shoved him away. "They loved me, not you."

"That… you aren't a Uchiha anymore, Sasuke. They stripped you of your clan's name. From now on, there will be no Uchiha. It won't exist. Nor will you, Sasuke, if you don't get out of here."

No Uchiha? They were erasing his clan, his history. Everything Sasuke had based his life on. Gone. Soon he would follow. "Let them come," he declared. "Let them come. Let them try. I'll kill them all."

"You can't, Sasuke," she said. "Your chakra passageways are sealed. You can't beat them with taijutsu alone. You have to leave. We'll take you away from here."

"Sakura's right. Come. Now."

"I don't need your help," he snarled at them.

"That's not a choice for you. I promised Sakura I would bring you back. I did. I beat you up. I brought you back, brought you home. I promised myself I wouldn't let you die. I won't. You're my brother, Sasuke. Now, let's go!"

And he was being dragged, his bare feet getting cut and healed as they carried him through the rubble. Sasuke's thoughts were wild. They would get in trouble, of course. They would be punished. But Tsunade would protect them. They were Konoha's shinobi. They wouldn't get killed.

He would.

Why was he running with them? It wasn't a very Uchiha thing to do. But Uchiha was no more, was it? It wasn't a very Sasuke thing to do… but he didn't know if he was Sasuke. Sasuke had goals. He had a brother to surpass and kill, a clan to rebuild. The brother was dead. The clan didn't exist. And what about Sasuke? Did he exist, now that he had no reason to?

Naruto seemed to know where he was going – there was no reason why he wouldn't; they were in ANBU quarters and he was ANBU. Sasuke smirked to himself. The dobe had made it to the Black Ops. Sasuke was still, officially, a genin. Unofficially, he had the capabilities to be where Naruto was; the elite. But he had given up that right, hadn't he? He had given up his team, the village's hope, his friends, to complete his goals. To be Sasuke.

"Naruto," Sakura breathed. She was keeping up with the two of her former teammates where she had once fallen behind. Not again. She could stand on her own.

They were in the open, outside. Shadows flitted against the moonlight.

"I know," Naruto growled. His grip on Sasuke's arm didn't loosen as he brought up his other hand. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" One handed seals. Improvement. Too bad the time for spars were over and Sasuke would never get to see how much the dead-last had enhanced.

They fled into the night, away from the village's settlements. Toward the forests, the gates. The clones covered their backs and held their pursuers at bay.

There was no one guarding the gates. Naruto smirked. "Looks like old lady's on our side after all. After that big speech, too."

"Erm, look again, Naruto," Sakura was nervous.

Tsunade. Standing in the middle of the road beyond the gates. Arms crossed. They stopped. She raised her head.

"Granny?" Naruto asked uncertainly.

"Quit calling me that, kid."

He relaxed. "What are you doing here?" He tensed. "Are you…"

"No. I won't stop Sasuke from leaving. I would have found a way for him to get away without having to get you and Sakura into trouble if you had waited."

"There was no time, shishou," Sakura said. "They were going to kill him."

The Hokage looked weary as she turned to Sasuke. "I couldn't stop the council from deciding that way. You betrayed Konoha and almost destroyed it. I should destroy you for that… but your friends want you alive. Do not disappoint them." She looked at Naruto and Sakura. "It's too late to patch up you two's involvement in this, but if it looks like I at least tried to do my job, I'll be able to do something for you. I'm not much use if they think I had a hand in this."

Naruto hesitated, and then nodded. "Fine. Just… give us a few minutes."

Tsunade faded into the shadows.

And Sakura's arms were around him. "Sasuke," she whispered. "Take care of yourself."

She hugged him just like she used to. Her voice sounded like that time she had tried to stop him from leaving. But there were differences this time. They weren't stopping him. And he couldn't knock her out even if he wanted to.

She pulled away, and then it was Naruto's hand on his shoulder and Naruto facing him. He looked solemn. "It didn't have to be this way…" He shook his head. "Go to Wave after this. Tazuna's still a friend of mine. He'll take care of you. We'll make sure they don't look for you there." He smiled. "You remember the way."

Of course he did. The first time, their first C-rank. The first time he had actually acknowledged their existence. "Why are you doing this?"

"What, you thought we'd let you die? No, Sasuke. You're our teammate. My brother. Our brother."

Sakura had her back turned, her shoulders were shaking. "We love you." Her voice was choked. Again.

Love. What was love? Sasuke looked into Naruto's eyes. They ran deep, deep into what he contained. The Akatsuki hadn't gotten him. Was love what had compelled him to betray and kill Pain when Naruto had been captured by the cloaked nin? Was this a favour, repaid?

"They're coming. Hurry up." Tsunade's voice came from nowhere, whispering softly in their ears, apologetically warning them, breaking them apart.

Sasuke turned to Sakura and tugged the bottom of his shirt up. The chakra seal gleamed against his pale skin. "Release it."

She shook her head without turning around. "I can't, Sasuke."

"You've killed Itachi and Orochimaru," Naruto said quietly. "You don't need to fight anymore. Don't. We'll make sure ANBU don't follow you. Run. Leave." He paused, his hand squeezing Sasuke's shoulder. "Live a normal life, Sasuke."

Normal life? He threw his head back and laughed. "You really think so, Naruto? You think I can just-"

"Yes. You can. You will."

Sasuke let his shirt fall from his grasp. His chakra would probably leak out in small amounts to keep him sustained, to allow him to use it to boost his speed. But no jutsu. No Sharingan. He wouldn't need it anymore, would he? Sharingan was the Uchiha bloodline. Uchiha didn't exist.

From this day on, nor would Sasuke.

"Sasuke…" Naruto let his hand drop. "You should go."

Sakura turned now, and her tears glistened on her face. Her mouth was a grim line of determination. Finality. "Don't forget us," she whispered.

He drew his eyes away from their faces, turning away. "You're annoying," he muttered.

She smiled. Then she had a straight face once more and was tugging on Naruto's arm, pulling him to face the silhouette of Tsunade who was suddenly perched on the walls bordering the village. "Naruto, come on. Let's not fail our last mission."

Sasuke turned away from them. He fled from the sounds of battle behind him, escaped into the trees, gathered the small trickles of chakra still in his system. Left Konoha. Left his friends. Left Sasuke Uchiha behind.

The night swallowed him.

It was over.