Finally, I got this story up (sorry to any of my readers that don't like NaruSasu, but I felt like writing it!). It took me forever to get the initial storyline down. That's the main reason it took so long. Also, one of my friends wanted me to write something for her and she gave me a deadline of a week. And there's that horrible thing called school. Oh, well, you don't want to hear about my personal life.

Summary: Getting involved with the unlucky Uchiha isn't the first thing Uzumaki Naruto needs. Too bad it's the first thing he wants.

Warnings: Yaoi, NaruSasu.

I do not consider Itachi OOC here because I based his character more on his kinder, 13 year old self.

Note: Konoha here is an independent country in our world... A small island near Japan.

Enjoy!

Chapter One. Cracked Eggs.

While on the ferry boat from Yokohama to the small island of Konoha, everyone is asleep. That is, everyone except for one teenager. The adolescent pulls a chocolate muffin out of his bag and places a candle on it. He steals his brother's lighter and attempts to light the candle, making a silent fuss over it. When he finally succeeds in lighting the candle, he nudges his brother awake and smiles. "Happy Birthday, Itachi," Sasuke whispers softly, shoving the candle-lit muffin in his brother's face. "Make a wish."

"And I thought you were too old to believe in wishes on your birthday," Itachi says back, but he grins anyway. He flips open his cell phone to check the time. Sure enough, it's exactly 12:00 a.m. on June ninth. Leave it to his younger brother to be extra punctual. He blows out the single candle and takes the muffin from Sasuke's hand, carefully taking a bite into it while eying the sign that specifically says, 'No Food Allowed.'

Sasuke scowls. "What did you wish for?"

"Nothing." Itachi will never dare tell his younger brother what he wished for. He is about to finish the muffin until someone shines a flashlight on him, temporary blinding him due to the sudden light. "What?" the birthday boy demands as quietly as his anger allows him.

"No food allowed, sir," the man says promptly.

But by the time the man says the word 'no,' Itachi has already popped the last piece of chocolate muffin into his mouth. "What food?" The man frowns at him, and Itachi stretches his legs and then pretends to go back to sleep. Sasuke rolls his eyes and plays with the waxy candle in his hand. Itachi doesn't usually break the rules, even if it's something as pathetic as 'No Food Allowed.' And just leave it to their bad luck to get caught – the crew doesn't usually go back here.

The man grumbles about bothersome people taking their ferryboat and leaves them, finally turning off his flashlight when he accidentally wakes up a few more light-sensitive people. Sasuke lets himself smile inwardly as he glances out the window, seeing an undersized, foreign island with a few city lights in the horizon. "Is that Konoha?" he asks his brother.

Itachi opens one eye and looks out the window over his younger brother's shoulder. "Yeah, that's Konoha," he replies, relaxing back in his seat after he got a look at the island. "It never seems to change, that place," he adds, shutting both eyes. Sasuke does not know why Itachi had said that sentence a little bitterly.

The two brothers had just decided to leave Tokyo a week ago. Well, Itachi decided. He told Sasuke that he wanted to see if their hometown ever changed, and the teenager didn't mind, really. Even if Tokyo is one of the biggest and most populated cities in the world – he still felt quite lonely (at least he has his brother).Besides, Sasuke doesn't mind a change of scenery. But he won't admit to his brother that he is as excited as a little kid going to the zoo for the first time.

Konoha. It has an odd ring to it, Sasuke thinks. He opens his mouth to say something else to Itachi, but his brother seems to be asleep (you can never really tell, though). When Sasuke glances out the window again, the island is more visible now. He spies a lot of greenery and only a few skyscrapers that don't even seem to scrape the sky. So much for a city, he thinks, a little disillusioned.

But he did think that a change of scenery might not be so bad. Sasuke takes a quarter out of his pocket and flips it, a daily good-luck, bad-luck test that Itachi got him to do everyday – and for a good reason. He catches the quarter and slaps it onto the back of his hand, groaning in his head for the millionth time.

Heads down.

Well, since this is the millionth time, Sasuke's pretty used to the bad luck.

Uzumaki Naruto is bored. Extremely bored. With one of his close friends – Haku – gone, he has absolutely nothing to do this summer vacation. Heck, he even did his summer homework just to entertain his wandering mind and body for a while (and he usually does summer homework on the last day of vacation). He reaches for another cup ramen pack, but then stops himself. Pigging out won't do him that much good, especially since he's planning to actually get a relationship this year. He's already going into senior year in high school, and not once has he gotten into a serious relationship.

Well, to be more precise, not once has anybody asked Naruto out (and Naruto does have the guts to ask someone out, it's just that they say 'No' all the time). After a while, the Uzumaki begins to wonder if there's something especially wrong with him. He doesn't think he's particularly gross and disgusting. He doesn't get excellent grades but he's pretty good at athletics – girls like athletic guys, right? And once he showed a picture of his father to his friends, and all the girls said his father was hot.

That has to mean something. Naruto, who has never met or seen his mother, is now seriously beginning to wonder if his mother was extremely ugly (If she was, how could my father have fallen for her…?).

A loud crash outside of Naruto's door wakes him up from his daze. "Goddamn noisy neighbors," Naruto mutters, not thinking that the noise is odd at all (but in reality, his neighbors yell at him for being noisy). "Would you be quiet out there?" he demands, opening the door and poking his head out into the hallway. He's brow furrows at the sight – a pale, raven haired boy, lying face down with his hands on the floor to break his fall. A plastic bag that is from Shop Rite is sprawled on the floor next to him with egg yolk soaking on the wooden floor.

"Ouch," the boy mumbles, rubbing his forehead. He jerks up suddenly, brushing his hands on his white shorts as if he doesn't want to be seen in such a pathetic situation. "Great," he mutters, looking down on the spill on the floor. He picks up the plastic bag that is full of cracked eggs tentatively and sighs, murmuring curses under his breath.

Naruto smiles smugly at the fact that he hasn't been noticed yet. His first thought at the scene was that he found a new, stuck-up kid in a bad situation that he can possibly use for blackmail in the future. But on second glance, he was able to get a good view of the teenage boy. This 'tripper' has raven hair in an odd style that spikes up in the back. His eyes are dark and his skin is pale - and Naruto rapidly realizes that if you weren't paying attention anyone could have mistaken that body for a girl's. The blonde is vaguely reminded of Snow White.

"What are you just standing there for?" Naruto jumps at the slightly deep voice. The boy didn't seem to move, so the he begins to think that someone else said that. The raven haired teen turns around, still holding the dripping yellow mess in his right hand. "So this place is still filled with complete dunces," the boy says as he begins to walk to the apartment next to Naruto's, the apartment where Haku used to live. "No different than Tokyo."

Naruto points to the egg yolk. "Aren't you supposed to clean that up? I'm not doing it for you." He'd like to see that boy on his hands and knees, cleaning it all up (for two reasons – blackmail, and a sudden urge that he cannot explain himself).

The boy scowls. "If I leave this thing dripping it will cause more of a mess," he replies briskly and irritably. The teenager disappears into his apartment for a moment and then comes back out with a rag to clean it up. Naruto stands at his doorway, watching him for no particular reason. He's not from around here, Naruto thinks. Konoha doesn't get that many people moving in. The majority of the people that live in Konoha have families that have been there since it became an independent country. The rest are those who moved in, but barely anyone moves into this island and actually stays for a reasonable amount of time.

"It's just your bad luck that you had to trip while carrying eggs," Naruto says, leaning against the door. "My name's Uzumaki Naruto, by the way! You better remember it – I'm your new neighbor!" Naruto points to himself with his thumb.

The other boy stops scrubbing for one second, and then continues. "Yeah. My bad luck," he mumbles so softly that Naruto has to strain his ears to hear him. Then he says louder, "Uchiha Sasuke." He stands up when the ground looks as if the eggs never cracked in the first place. "And I don't really care if you remember it."

Sasuke walks back out of the hallway and back outside, where he must be unloading some other stuff for his new apartment. Naruto follows him with his eyes. Uchiha Sasuke. Where has he heard the last name Uchiha before? The blonde shrugs it off and then returns to his apartment, plopping by the window. Unlike many people, Naruto does not bother with things such as politely greeting new neighbors with a good welcome gift. He typically could care less – and the people moving in could care less, too.

Besides, people moving into Konoha are a rarity.

Naruto looks out the window, where he spies Sasuke pulling groceries out of the back of a car. There is a taller man with him – probably in college or recently finished college – and he looks vaguely familiar, too. The older man goes ahead of Sasuke and into the building. And Sasuke picks up two more plastic bags and then shuts the door. Naruto watches in amusement when the boy freezes when a neighbor's black cat runs across the sidewalks, crossing his path.

Well, you don't meet many superstitious people, either.

"I don't like it here," Sasuke says ever so bluntly, sitting on the couch and playing with the remote. Itachi simply raises an eyebrow. If he replies, then he'll get a long list of good reasons why he does not like it here – and the last thing Uchiha Itachi wants to do is listen to his little brother's teenage ramblings of angst. "I don't like it here," Sasuke repeats, louder this time.

"Yes, yes, I heard you the first time," Itachi replies rolling his eyes. "You're not a cute baby anymore, so whining won't help you at all." He stuffs milk into the refrigerator and then picks up the plastic bag that looks just a little more yellow than the others. Itachi pulls out the empty egg carton. Sasuke watches him, his eyebrows pushing together. "Do you mind telling me why this egg carton is empty?" the older brother says, waving it in the air so that the teenager can see.

Sasuke blinks and replies matter-of-factly, "It was squashed under the gallon of water."

Itachi shrugs and throws the carton away, feeling Sasuke's eyes directed at the back of his head. He holds the panel of the garbage can open, staring down at it. "Then do you mind telling me why there are broken egg shells in the new garbage can?" he questions, making it sound casual. He lets go of the panel and looks at his brother over his shoulder.

"Because," his younger brother says.

To be honest, Uchiha Itachi does not like this generation and how they can get away with a question just by saying 'because.' He sits down next to his younger brother on the couch and does not say a word. He hears Sasuke release a held breath, and that's when he asks his next question. "Since you didn't mind answering my previous two questions, would you mind answering a third?" Itachi asks.

"Yes."

Itachi disregards this. "Why were you talking to that blonde next door?" he says, jerking his head to the side as if that Naruto kid is standing right next to them. Well, he might as well be – the walls here are rather thin. Itachi smiles a little when his younger brother does not give him an answer. But really, Itachi does not mind Sasuke finally being able to go out and have friends…but of course, he doesn't say that. Sasuke opens his mouth. "Don't answer with only 'because,'" Itachi interrupts.

Sasuke seems to deflate at this. Is he really that predictable? "Because he started talking to me. I told him my name and stopped the conversation there," he explains hesitantly. "That blonde is an idiot. I know that much already." Sasuke leans against the couch, now a little more relaxed. When Itachi opens his mouth, it's his turn to interrupt. "You aren't going to lecture me again, are you?" he asks, eyes narrowed just a bit.

"No," he says. The conversation seems to end then and there, but Itachi is not through yet. Sasuke is about to get up to go to his room and unpack. That is when the older Uchiha tells him, "You'll learn to love it here. Trust me."

Sitting at the park and scaring innocent little kids with his (once cute puppy) vicious, yet trained dog is one of Inuzuka Kiba's favorite hobbies. Watching Kiba sit at the park and scare innocent little kids with Akamaru is not one of Uzumaki Naruto's favorite hobbies. It gets extremely boring once Kiba keeps accidentally freaking out the same kids over and over again…and their parents chew him out and then yell at Naruto for not stopping them…and then the kids are on to you and they'll never be scared by Akamaru again.

Naruto follows his friend, Kiba, as they stroll through the park, letting Akamaru have his ten millionth walk of the day. Whenever Naruto asks how many times the dog-lover has walked his dog, Kiba would forget the number. Either it's because he really does take him out for numerous walks, or it's because he hasn't learned to count. Or that he never counts in the first place, but Naruto never figures that out.

"Something's on your mind, Naruto," Kiba says in a joking tone. "Akamaru can sense it. See? He feels bad for you." Akamaru stops and licks Uzumaki's hand affectionately. "Stop it, Akamaru. Or else everyone will figure out that you're actually a nice dog." Apparently, Kiba likes the feeling of 'supposedly owning a badass dog. Akamaru complies, as usual and continues to walk along the sidewalk.

"Well, someone moved into Konoha today."

Kiba stops – Akamaru does not notice this and is jerked backwards when he keeps moving forward. "Well, well, that's rare. Who is it? A sexy chick? Please tell me it's a hot girl with a bitchin'…bitch for Akamaru here to mate with." Naruto shakes his head with his signature toothy grin. The Uchihas definitely are not the sexy girls Kiba wants. The dog-lover frowns. "If not, then at least someone worth my interest. Or don't tell me – it's some stuck up bastard, like Hyuuga Neji. Or some…freak like Aburame."

"No, its two guys with the last name Uchiha," Naruto says. He pauses, and then speaks again. "Have you heard of the last name Uchiha before? Or is it just me?"

Kiba rolls his eyes when Akamaru stops to take a piss. Once his dog is finished with his business, Kiba replies, "You said Uchiha, right?" Naruto nods. "I think I heard of it before, but I can't really say when or where." Akamaru begins to walk again, jerking Kiba forward this time when he forgets to move. "Whoa, there, Akamaru…But what does it matter? Lots of people in Konoha move out and back in, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Naruto responds, dismissing the conversation as easily as it came (mostly because there's nothing else he can say about it). Still, the last name 'Uchiha' keeps eating at the back of his head.

When Naruto sits down for a short break, Kiba wanders off with Akamaru…going to talk to some girl he says he's been watching for a while now at the park. The blonde can't say that he's not jealous of his friend's natural (uncanny, to Naruto) ability to come home with a few phone numbers in his pocket. And then Kiba will proceed to mock Naruto and his bad luck with the ladies. The blonde is beginning to believe he is cursed – good luck in everything else except for a love life.

Either that, or females just plain out hate him.

Since his older brother had just left to go and find a part-time job that won't get him too much attention, Sasuke has the entire apartment to himself for now. He does not consider even leaving the apartment, because that idiot blonde might be outside – and the last thing Uchiha Sasuke wants is to talk with another idiot that reminds him of Tokyo. But, come to think of it, he realizes that Tokyo might be better than this place. When he first thought of going to his 'hometown,' he imagined some great place…Well, Sasuke's used to disappointments.

And Sasuke's not stupid. Itachi randomly decided to move back to Konoha for a good reason…a reason that Uchiha Sasuke is determined to figure out.

They had just gone out for groceries, Sasuke thinks, poking his head up to look out the window. Nothing bad could've happened.Something must've come up – the line was too long; there was a lot of traffic. But Itachi had gone soon after they left without saying anything…Something must be up. Sasuke hates it when people tell him he's too young to know things. He's only seven and he knows every country's name. And he can pronounce them correctly!

Itachi's a liar. Sasuke knows that much. Even if he lies for good reasons, a liar's a liar – its one thing about his older brother that he hates. Then again, there are many things that he hates. Like being ignorant and left alone, for instance. Even though he also hates to admit this, Sasuke is still a child. He is prone to impatience, and wanting things his way. And what he wants is for his parents and his brother to finally come home.

Sasuke looks at his digital watch. An hour and fifty minutes since his parents left. An hour and thirty minutes since his brother left. When will they come home? He pushes the curtains aside and peeks out the window, watching for a familiar car to zoom by and pull up at their driveway. But Tokyo is a large city, and the car that the Uchihas own aren't very unique. Many cars that look similar bring the young Uchiha's hopes up.

It's another thing Sasuke's smart enough to know. He knows when God or the forces above or etc. are just playing around with him.

He takes another glimpse out the window – and he bubbles up with semi-joy. It's not the car, but Itachi who comes back on his bike. Sasuke opens the door and yells, "Itachi! What took you so long!?" His older brother doesn't say anything. He opens the garage door, puts his bike inside and then closes the door. "Itachi?" Sasuke says, looking at him with wide yet glowering eyes. It's on Itachi's face. Bad news. Sasuke hates bad news.

"Mother and Father," Itachi murmurs. The younger brother crosses his arms. Sasuke knows when people are hiding things from him. It's the same thing as lying. Did Sasuke ever mention that Itachi's a liar? "They died in a car accident," Itachi finishes.

Sasuke's eyes widen yet again and his arms fall limp to his sides. Sure, he's heard the word 'death' before (he's heard it a lot when they still lived in Konoha. People died a lot in Konoha), and he took the word too lightly. His parents are…dead? "Dead? They died?" Sasuke asks loudly, hoping that he just misunderstood Itachi, or Itachi had just decided to pull a practical joke (Itachi's a liar, after all).

It is understandable that Itachi can only manage a nod. Tears sting at Sasuke's eyes, but no he will not cry in front of his brother. Itachi isn't crying, so he shouldn't be. Right? They do not say a word for a long time – they just sit there in silence. It takes Sasuke a long time to finally muster up his courage and ask, "What will happen to us? Father said…" the seven year old gulps down a few tears. It is painful to even say the word 'father.' "Father said that if kids lose their parents they'll need new ones or…or we'll go to that bad orphanage where Mrs. Mann makes kids work and make us only eat porridge and stuff…"

Itachi raises an eyebrow although the slightly amused look on his face disappears rapidly. "Yeah. What Father said was true, but…it'll be alright, Sasuke. It will."

But Sasuke knows (and you should know by now, too) Itachi is a liar.

Sakura places eleven smoothies of different flavors and styles on the table, scowling all the while. "I'm so screwed if my parents find out that I'm giving out smoothies on the house," she says as she sits down next to Ino and Naruto. "You're lucky that my parents like you guys. Or else you'd be screwed, too."

Shikamaru doesn't touch the lemon lime smoothie he has. "It is on the house, right?" he questions the pink haired girl. It'd be too troublesome to pay for such a thing. Even more troublesome since he's just as flat broke as Kiba and Naruto is (This isn't really flat broke…More like, enough money to get by but not enough money for leisure). When Sakura rolls her green eyes and nods, Shikamaru promptly sticks the straw in his mouth.

"Thank you, Sakura!" Naruto exclaims, hoping that it'd give him a few more points with the cherry blossom girl. "Did I ever tell you you're the best?"

"Yes, and didn't I tell you to give up?"

"No, I don't recall that," Naruto shoots Sakura his signature grin, one that highly resembles his father's. Hinata blushes furiously and hides unsuccessfully behind her filled glass.

"And Kiba, didn't I tell you that dogs aren't allowed here?" Sakura points to Akamaru, who is lying lazily underneath the table, occasionally brushing against their ankles and whacking their toes with his overactive tail. "If my parents find out about this, I'm gonna-"

Kiba groans, hearing this talk before. "Be screwed? Punch us all in the face? Kick us all in the dicks? Yeah, I think we've heard it all. Give it a rest, Sakura, it's not like they really care. 'Sides, Akamaru's not just any dog. He's my dog. Doesn't that make any difference?" He nudges his dog a little, a sign to make a cute, puppy-dog face at the pink haired girl. Akamaru jerks up and does what Kiba says. All the girls make an 'Aww!' sound, and Kiba chuckles. Girls always love cute things.

When Akamaru retreats back to the shade of the table, Sakura clears her throat. "Fine, fine, Akamaru can stay. But don't tell my parents that I said he could! As far as they know, I am completely against it!"

"Anyway," Naruto pipes in, deciding that they need to talk about something else other than his friend's unenthusiastic hospitality.

The dog-lover took this as a sign – a sign that Naruto did not signal for. "You know, Naruto says there's two new guys that just moved into Konoha." The Inuzuka smirks. He knows he got the girls interested on 'guys.'

"Well?" Ino asks, glancing at Uzumaki Naruto. "Are they hot?"

"How am I supposed to know?! I'm not gay!"

Tch, yeah right, Kiba thinks. He knows Naruto more than Naruto thinks. The reason he has no luck with the ladies is because he's already been walking in a straight line for a while now. The blonde is just too stupid to realize that he's strayed from the path. "Hey, but here's the interesting part," Kiba says. He did not really relish the idea of all the girls fawning over some new guys, either. "Their last name was Uchiha."

Sakura nearly spits out her smoothie all over silent Shino's face. Shino inches away from spraying rang, just in case she does it again. "Uchiha?" she exclaims at full volume. Ino covers hear ears – Shikamaru sticks is pinky into his ears. "You said Uchiha, right?" she repeats, calming down a bit. Inuzuka and Uzumaki nod their heads, shocked by their friend's reaction. "Oh my God," Sakura says, plopping back down into her seat.

Naruto demands, "What's the big deal?"

"The big deal?" Sakura yells. She sees her parents giving her 'the look' from a few tables away, so she lowers her voice just a tad. "The Uchiha are known for being cursed. They used to be a huge family, but around nine or ten years ago, all of their family members started to disappear, one by one, without any explanation. They also seemed to have extremely bad luck. But with the bad luck, they are tremendously gorgeous."

She pauses, the girls whisper to each other. The females quiet when Sakura continues to speak. "But that bad luck – it's contagious. Whoever got into an intimate relationship with the Uchiha disappeared, too. So those good looks are a curse, too. They left Konoha some time ago. It's no surprise that they're back…and that there are only two of them left."

Everyone has already finished their smoothies. Another waitress helps Sakura as she rounds up all the empty glasses and leaves. Everyone says their good-byes and go their separate ways. But Sakura's little story sticks in the back of Uzumaki Naruto's mind. And his friend's information isn't the only thing that makes Naruto actually use his brain. The last name Uchiha…He heard it somewhere, and he finally remembers when.

He heard it from his father's mouth, the night before he died.

Chapter One End

I finally finished! Thanks for reading again. Please review! I'll update again as fast as I can.