Flipped

by Moose Voose

In which Sasuke manages to royally piss off Namikaze Naruto the first day of school, spends months paying for it in humiliation, comes to rely on Haruno Sakura, and finds himself lying to the only family member still alive to love him. Because Naruto isn't the same powerless, talentless dobe anymore, and sometimes, even if Sasuke is Sasuke, he's not on top. Sometimes, it's flipped.

A/N: So, this is a step outside of my comfort zone, but after writing Naruto fanfiction in secret for months, I figured it was time to come out and admit it. It's a problem. I am in love with Naruto.

Side note: I will admit to being vaguely inspired by a random summary for a story where Naruto was the king of the school and hates Sasuke or something. And I would gladly give credit except that I ever actually read the thing and never took the time to remember the name; I was too busy churning out this monster of a one shot.

Thank you in advance~

Flipped

The family mansion hadn't changed much in Sasuke's six year absence.

How depressing.

Sasuke propped his chin on his hand and scowled at the familiar clock, just barely suppressing a sigh. Making faces was tolerated, but making sound would only earn Itachi's wrath. And while Itachi was hardly the sort of older brother/father figure to strike Sasuke when he got mad (unlike their biological father), his anger was downright terrifying in its own right.

Paper rustled as Itachi finally turned the page of his newspaper, and Sasuke's eyes darted towards his older brother curiously and found his brother cradling his head with one hand as he held the paper with the other, even wincing slightly as he read. Migraine, Sasuke guessed.

He smirked. Serves that bastard right.

Inevitably, watching his brother silently weather a killer migraine (those seemed to be the only types of migraines, or even headaches, that Uchiha men ever got) became more depressing than anything, and Sasuke looked back at the clock and sighed. Just five more minutes.

Surprisingly, Itachi broke the heavy silence. "I've packed a lunch for you, Sasuke. I put it by your backpack."

Sasuke scoffed, his brows rising. "You packed me a bento? Itachi, I'm seventeen years old."

Itachi didn't look up, instead choosing to turn the page. "Just tell them that a girlfriend made it for you. That should make them sufficiently jealous and discourage some of the less determined fan girls."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Who would get jealous over a bento you made me?"

Sasuke thought he saw a smirk tugging at Itachi's lips, but Itachi adjusted the newspaper to cover his face. Sasuke inwardly rolled his eyes. Heaven forbid he show expression unless he's pissed… "If you want to thank me later tonight, you can do the dishes after dinner."

A noise of protest in the base of his throat escaped him. "But we pay people to do that for us! Why do I have to—"

"Kiri-san would greatly appreciate your help," Itachi interrupted calmly. Abruptly he lowered the newspaper, and Sasuke's blood ran cold when he saw his brother's expression. Itachi's normally stoic face was practically radiant with a small smile, his eyes doing most of the work to convey his 'happiness'. It was an expression reserved for traitors, scum, and fan girls who went too far. And if Sasuke almost pissed his pants at the sight, well, there was a freaking good reason for that. "Need I remind you, Sasuke-kun, that not every family employs servants to do their cleaning. And no self respecting woman will tolerate a spoiled brat who cannot even wash a few dishes satisfactorily."

Itachi's eyes twinkled rather ominously, and Sasuke swallowed. Hard.

His pride completely forgotten, Sasuke bowed his head. "I'll do the dishes tonight for Kiri," Sasuke said quickly. When he peaked at Itachi and found that Itachi's smile had brightened, he stiffened visibly.

Holy crap I'm not going to make it out of this alive—

Itachi reached over a dreaded finger and, before Sasuke could even think to run or duck or slap the hand away—

Poke.

An explosion of pain, and Sasuke fell back hard on his butt and clutched hard at his head. His eyes began to sting, and when coherent thought became possible, he thought vengefully, one day I'm going to find out how the heck he makes a poke hurt that bad. Holy freaking crap that hurt!

Itachi was sparkling as he tilted his head playfully to the side, finger still raised menacingly. "Kiri what?"

Sasuke inwardly rolled his eyes and, still clutching his head, bit out through teeth gritted with pain, "Kiri-sama." It was a bit overkill, but Itachi knew Sasuke would never use it to Kiri's face and embarrass her.

The smile faded, and his brother returned to his former state, namely ill and exhausted. "Ah," Itachi said with a nod, eyes returning to his newspaper.

A glance at the clock revealed that he still had two minutes left, but Itachi had already freaking poked him, so Sasuke figured that Itachi could just go screw himself. He'd suffered enough of 'family time'. So, still nursing his forehead (it was probably going to bruise), Sasuke got to his feet. "Thanks for breakfast," he muttered.

Itachi grunted softly in acknowledgement and turned another page without glancing at the clock. So it looked like Sasuke was safe.

He was almost out of the dining room when Itachi spoke. "Sasuke?"

Sasuke twisted in the doorway, glaring at his brother. "Yeah?"

Itachi's lips twitched, but this smile wasn't frightening like the other. "Have a good day."

In spite of his irritation, something suspiciously like warmth spread in his chest. "…You too," he said.

Itachi looked back down at his paper, and Sasuke turned and left the room.

---

Sasuke scowled at the worn brick building before him. Konoha High looked just as dingy and rundown as he remembered. Even now, the very notion that some of the wealthiest and most intelligent children in the nation attended this dump baffled him.

Had anything changed since he left here when he was eleven years old?

Resignation washed over him, and Sasuke sighed softly, shifted the straps of his backpack, and made his way into his prison for the next nine months.

---

Sasuke only got six words into his halfhearted introduction before the teacher interrupted brightly, "Ah, Itachi-kun's brother?"

Someone snorted loudly, and, surprisingly, it wasn't Sasuke. Sasuke was caught off guard, but he couldn't blame the guy who had done it (was it someone behind him?). As children of the elite, teacher's sucking up to them wasn't uncommon, but it was still dang irritating.

"No," Sasuke lied, knowing it wouldn't make a difference.

"Nonsense!" The teacher chirped. "You look just like him! Tell me, how is Itachi-kun doing now?"

Sasuke gritted his teeth. Just as much of a bastard as ever. "I don't know. He doesn't talk much to me." It was a blatant lie.

"But what's he doing now?" The teacher pressed, smiling that asinine smile. Was Sasuke actually supposed to learn something from this airhead?

Before Sasuke could say that Itachi was attempting to enslave the world (probably one of the only honest things he'd said all day), a loud, rude voice interrupted, "Oy, Hirai-sensei! Shouldn't Sasuke-teme be introducing himself?"

Sasuke felt his left eye twitch.

Teme?!

Sasuke twisted from where he stood to deliver a proper glare at the freak, but nobody immediately stood out. They all looked like idiots to him.

But, no, they were all looking at someone. And there was only one person lounging in his seat like he didn't have a care in the world, one person with an obnoxious, punch worthy cocky grin on his face, one person who didn't flinch from Sasuke's scowl.

He also happened to look vaguely familiar. But then, so did most people at this stupid high school.

Sasuke turned back around, already dismissing the blonde freak. After all, the teacher could take care of the blatant act of disrespect. Sasuke just didn't have the time to hate every person who acted like a moron.

"Ah…" Hirai looked a bit embarrassed, cheeks pinking rather unprofessionally. Sasuke frowned at the sight. Someone that cocky and self assured wasn't going to get taken down a peg or two by someone so obviously lacking in confidence. "Y-you're right, Naruto-sama."

What. The. Heck.

Naruto-sama?!

The name was vaguely familiar but still totally irrelevant.

Why had a teacher who hero worshipped Itachi just let this blonde freak get away with calling Sasuke teme? And called a random student sama?

"Please continue, Sasuke-san," the teacher said, bowing.

Sasuke waited for a few more seconds for the teacher to do something that made sense, like, oh, Sasuke didn't know, telling this Naruto that his behavior had been unacceptable, but the teacher just stared at Sasuke expectantly.

Sasuke sighed, the tension going out of his shoulders. Not worth it.

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke," he said flatly. "I am not new to this area and do not need help. I have no interest in friends, dating, or 'fun'. Thank you." He sat down and folded his arms across his chest.

If Itachi heard that Sasuke had defaulted to that introduction, he'd be pissed. But Itachi probably wouldn't ever hear, so Sasuke didn't really care.

A few people began to whisper, and Sasuke thought he could understand. Uchiha was a big name in Konoha, and Itachi was practically a legend at Konoha High as one of the original founders of the prestigious Akatsuki club. Several people in the class had probably even met Itachi at various functions, and Itachi had no doubt been flawlessly social and charismatic (it came in handy to reflexively smile when pissed) to their eyes.

Sasuke bit back a wry smile; he must be such a disappointment in comparison.

I've always been bad at that, he reflected. Being Itachi.

So why the heck should he even bother to try?

Besides. He was pretty sure Itachi understood. Sometimes.

"…Ah," Hirai said, a bit awkwardly. He too had been shocked by Sasuke's stunningly antisocial introduction. "That's, um, nice. Who's next?"

He heard a chair scrape behind him, and then a clear, feminine voice said, "My name is Haruno Sakura. I am no one of consequence, but I hope to be a world renowned surgeon and make many precious memories with my classmates this year. I believe that if we all work hard together, we can accomplish great things this year at Konoha High."

It took everything in him not to laugh. It would have been an appropriately bitter laugh, but just like he wasn't interested in friends or dating, he wasn't interested in pissing off (delusional) classmates and making enemies either.

Just because he didn't laugh didn't mean other equally jaded classmates didn't, though.

She sat back down, and Sasuke sighed softly as he heard someone snicker. Idiot, he thought. These kids are the elite of the nation. They're not going to be impressed easily by a nobody's quixotic fantasies.

"Nice to meet you, Sakura-chan!" Hirai said brightly. Why was I Sasuke-san?"Next?"

Another chair scraped back. "The name's Namikaze Naruto! I'm the Yondaime Hokage's son, and I'm going to be his successor, so all you bastards better suck up to me now or I'll make you suffer later!"

It took everything in Sasuke not to turn around and gape stupidly at the moron who was now cackling loudly. He'd sort of dubbed the idiot directly behind him as the most delusional person, but that freak took the cake.

Was that freak even human? Could there possibly exist someone so insane, so totally lacking in subtlety and common intelligence?

Let it go, Sasuke. Let it go, he told himself, a bit frantically. He was in serious danger of completely writing off this classmate completely, and Sasuke wasn't so arrogant as to think that he would never regret that. He really doubted that Naruto would ever 'make Sasuke pay', but Itachi would if he ever found out.

For some reason, it meant a lot to Itachi that his younger brother 'be a human being' (whatever that meant). And even though Itachi allowed Sasuke to be indifferent to classmates, he never let him be cruel or haughty.

Every person has something to offer, and everyone at least deserves a chance to earn your respect. He'd heard it a thousand times, usually after one of those migraine inducing pokes.

And, okay, he wasn't the best at following that advice. And he really had no excuse because as brilliant as he'd always been compared to classmates, Itachi had been even more ridiculously talented than Sasuke, and Itachi was practically a saint when it came to respecting others.

But Naruto was making it blasted near impossible for Sasuke to even try to follow Itachi's advice.

Hirai laughed, a high, nervous sound. "Ah ha, ha…You seem very…spirited, Naruto-sama! Very good! Um, next?"

Introductions blurred together, and Sasuke thought to himself that it was very probably that this next year was going to suck.

---

"Oy, Sasuke-teme!"

Sasuke looked up from his lunch, not even bothering to hide a glare. "What?"

Sure enough, it was the Naruto freak, hands clasped behind his ears as if he didn't have a care in the world. It did not escape Sasuke's notice that he was flanked by two incredibly shady guys, at least one of which was an Inuzuka who were notorious for their familial tradition of pursuing martial arts.

That was certainly something to keep in mind.

Naruto's grin was cocky like before, but there was something strangely smug about his eyes. Like Naruto knew something that Sasuke didn't.

The very thought set his teeth on edge.

"…You don't remember me, do you?" Naruto said, smirking. "I thought that if I called you by how I did before, you'd remember. Teme."

Sasuke didn't even try to hide his annoyance as he stiffened. "Don't take it personally," he said flatly before looking back down at his lunch. It looked, unfortunately, delicious. Guess I'm definitely doing the dishes tonight. "I only take the time to remember people who matter."

Naruto slammed his fist on Sasuke's desk, and instantly, all of Sasuke's indifference exploded into aggression instantly. This wasn't the first time that people had tried to physically intimidate Sasuke; it happened more or less often when you were ridiculously good looking and acted 'conceited'. And, even if he really would have liked to brush off the offense, every muscle was tensed and braced now for attack.

Naruto must have seen that in Sasuke's new glare because he actually smiled. "You're obviously out of touch with Konoha politics, so I'll refresh your memory," Naruto said, almost amiably. Something about that smile chilled Sasuke's blood. "You knew me by a different name, of course, so I suppose I can't be too hard on you for not connecting the dots. You never would have connected the me of back then with the Yondaime's son."

Sasuke gritted his teeth, bristling at the idiot's overly condescending tone. "What are you talking about?" He asked through obviously clenched teeth.

"Back then, you knew me as Uzumaki," Naruto said, his smile freezing as Sasuke had somehow instinctively known it would. "But you always called me dobe. Ring any bells?"

Sasuke somehow knew that saying 'no' was the wrong answer, but he couldn't honestly give any other answer. So he just stared up at him.

Naruto straightened with a cold laugh, finally retracting the invasive hand as he did so. Sasuke tried not to visibly relax. "Typical. Bullies never remember as much about their victims as the victims do about their tormentors."

Sasuke snorted. "I've never bullied anyone."

Naruto's brows rose, and he looked at the Inuzuka and the weird guy wearing dark tinted glasses at his side, as if to say, "Can you believe this guy?"

"Oh, so calling me dead last and taunting me for my grades was just my imagination?" Naruto said, the smile growing more cruel with every word. "Telling me I would never amount to anything, ignoring me when I challenged you, acting like I was worthless trash, was just your way of being friendly? I'm not sure that would surprise me, actually."

Sasuke felt an angry flush creep up his neck. "I have no idea what you're talking about," Sasuke said, hating how weak of a response that sounded.

Naruto's smile widened. "And when all the girls in the class would chase me at recess and call me ugly and stupid and to leave you alone, you don't remember that either? When I called you a bastard and a jerk, I found trash every day in my locker for three weeks. When my new shoes got ruined and I cried, they laughed. And you…you don't remember any of that, huh?"

Naruto was abruptly back in his space, his head inches from Sasuke's, and his smile was practically feral now. "And I suppose you don't remember calling me a bastard and telling me in front of everyone that children without fathers should try harder to learn to behave because I was obviously at such a disadvantage with just a whore of a mother for a parent?"

Sasuke clenched his hands so hard that he feared he'd draw blood. "Get out of my face, Uzumaki, or I swear to Kami that I will—"

Naruto rocketed back from the desk, crowing loudly. "Hear that, Kiba? The bastard returns to us!" Naruto elbowed his other mute counterpart, but his frigid gaze never left Sasuke's. "He finally said my name."

Uzumaki.

Unbidden, memories long forgotten rose to the surface.

A small boy, the shortest in the class, smudged with dirt and hair a tangled mess after recess. Unseemly. Without dignity.

Blue eyes wide with indignation, and a chubby finger pointed right at Sasuke. "My eternal rival!"

Small, narrow shoulders trembling with rage and shame as his seat partner loudly announced his score to the entire class. Sasuke had only "Hn"ed. It had been the lowest in the class. Sasuke's had been the highest.

A boy who came into class soaking wet. It hadn't rained that day.

Trash spilling from a locker onto the floor.

A boy curled up in fetal position while people kicked and laughed.

Blue eyes wild with hatred.

"Namikaze," Sasuke said finally, coldly. "I didn't have anything to do with your being bullied."

Naruto only shook his head, smiling that same conceited smile. Like he was miles above Sasuke and long past the point of caring what Sasuke would say. "Say or think what you like, teme. I knew then and I know it now: you're a worthless, heartless bastard. You didn't care then what you did to me, and you don't care now. You'll never change." Naruto leaned down, putting his hands on either side of the desk. "I just wanted to let you know that I have. And you better watch your back and keep from getting my bad side or I'll give you a taste of what I went through."

He wanted to punch him. Badly.

Sasuke shot to his feet, shoving the chair back violently as he did so, and made his way for the classroom door, grabbing his bento on the way. He didn't look back at Naruto, but he had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach that he'd be smiling that same cruel smile.

---

He was about five minutes into his lunch at his new spot when Haruno Sakura found him on the roof.

It hadn't taken long to put a face to the name of the ridiculous girl from earlier because she'd volunteered with absolutely no hesitation to be the class representative. And while she'd gone to the front of the class to take roll, he'd gotten a chance to take a good, long look at the girl.

It wasn't just the girl's delusions that were absurd, he'd quickly realized. Her entire appearance was as well.

Because even if she was moderately pretty, she was weird. Unlike ninety nine percent of girls at Konoha High, she was clean faced, wearing no makeup. Her skirt was actually to her knees instead of shortened to mid thigh, and she kept her shoulders back in a proud, confident stance.

And despite all of these positive signs, she had to ruin everything by having freaking pink hair.

"Hello, Sasuke-san," she said, and her voice was irritatingly clear and composed. It made her sound so mature and above cretins like Naruto and his lackeys, but then she had to go and say crap like she couldn't wait to make precious memories with her classmates and that they'd all have a great year if they worked hard.

What a load of crap.

Sasuke only just stopped himself from rolling his eyes at her and decided to instead returned to his food.

She continued to walk forward, and he was about to demand to know what the heck she thought she was doing getting so close to him. But she changed direction and stopped in front of the railing beside him, resting her elbows on it and peering out at the city skyline.

Content that she wasn't watching him eat or invading his space, Sasuke relaxed slightly against the railing that he was leaning against and took another bite of his lunch. Yup. Definitely doing the dishes tonight.

"Students aren't technically allowed up here, you know," she said softly.

Sasuke glanced at her, a bit surprised that she was going to talk to him after all, and then he sighed. "Are you here to drag me back to the classroom, then, class representative?"

He would have to twist rather obviously to see her face better, but from the corner of his eye he thought she was smiling. "No. It's a good spot to get away from everyone." She turned to look down at him, and he realized he'd been right about the smile. "Just as a warning, though, you might end up sharing it with Nara Shikamaru or Akimichi Chouji. They like to look at the clouds sometimes."

The names were vaguely familiar to Sasuke, and he grunted in acknowledgement before returning back to his food.

A few moments passed in this surprisingly peaceful manner before she broke the silence.

"Did you really do what Naruto-san says you did?"

Abruptly tension returned to him, and the carrot halfway to Sasuke's mouth snapped in his suddenly clenched hand. "No," he said firmly, forcefully.

She turned to regard him, and he could see that the smile was gone. Her green eyes were oddly…piercing. "So he did imagine it?"

Clenching his jaw, Sasuke looked out over the rest of the roof. He wanted to snap at her that, yes, that moron had imagined his involvement.

But now that he'd finally remembered Naruto, he'd be lying.

As much as Sasuke hated to admit it, the things Naruto had described hadn't sounded exactly out of character for his younger self; he hadn't always been as good about following Itachi's rules as he was now. And while he'd never had a hand in the harassment of the blonde misfit, he could remember doing things that in hindsight were arrogant, callous…cruel.

In his defense, though, Sasuke had been going through a pretty rough time at home. As hard as Sasuke had been on the idiot who had declared him his "eternal rival", Sasuke had been a thousand times harder on himself. As difficult as it had been for Naruto to measure up to Sasuke, it was infinitely more impossible for Sasuke to measure to Itachi. And Uchiha Fugaku had made that abundantly clear at home at nearly every opportunity.

Sasuke had only treated Naruto like he himself had always been treated. And any other residual cruelty was just conditioning from being raised a rich snob. Itachi had since undermined his father's influence on that aspect of Sasuke's personality, but his parents had been at the time very much alive and very effective at brainwashing Sasuke.

Somehow, though, Sasuke didn't think that Naruto would be very interested in Sasuke's 'defense'.

"…No," he finally admitted grudgingly.

He regretted the admission almost immediately. Who the heck did this Haruno girl think she was, confronting him over that freak's claims, and why the heck had he been honest with her?

But she only appraised him with those piercing green eyes and then slowly nodded and turned back to lookout out over the school grounds.

Sasuke leaned his head back against the bars and glared up at the sky. This first day was turning out to be a tad bit ridiculous, so why the heck was it so sunny and blue today? Sickening—

"What?" He finally demanded, twisting to glare at her.

She slowly dragged her eyes from whatever she was looking at, her brows rising slightly. "What?"

He gritted his teeth. "What do you want from me?"

She held his eyes for a disconcerting amount of time before looking back out. "It's not any of my business," she said softly.

It was a surprisingly intelligent thing of her to say. Finally she'd said the right thing. In fact—

"But if it was me," she said, her quiet voice nearly stolen by the wind, "if I had hurt someone that badly that it's still haunting them years later…even if it wasn't all my fault, I'd want to apologize to them."

Still haunting them years later. Sasuke's mouth went dry. "Are you crazy?" He asked flatly.

When she glanced at him now, her eyes were strangely mischievous. "What? Do Uchiha not teach their children how to apologize?"

It took everything in Sasuke to keep his jaw from dropping. "A freak like him wouldn't know what to do with a proper, Uchiha apology!" He protested. It was practically a whine, and he felt a flush creep up his neck.

She laughed, and the simple beauty of it stunned him. "Maybe not. But, if it were me," he rolled his eyes at the line that was growing more and more familiar, "knowing Naruto-san like I do, I might think that he's too troublesome of an enemy to have. I'd want to end my feud with him as quickly as possible."

Sasuke snorted softly. "I'm not afraid of his father." His father might rule the nation, but Sasuke's older brother ruled a significant portion of the world through commerce.

"It's not Minato that can make your life a living Hades," she said softly. "And…I think, after all that Naruto has suffered in his childhood, if I'd had a hand…if there was a chance that my apology could free him of some of that pain, some of that hatred…then I'd do it."

Sasuke looked at her. Maybe it was the fact that he sort of believed her, and maybe it was the fact that she somehow didn't sound like she was talking down to him even as she did. But his answer was surprisingly unguarded with irritation or anger. "Even if you had to bow before someone that hated you? Someone that probably wouldn't accept?"

A wind whipped her long pink hair, and she smiled into it, eyes on the clouds above. "Even then." She looked at him again. "Because you owe him that much, don't you?"

Sasuke looked back down at his lunch. Because you owe him that much, don't you?

Blue eyes wild with rage…

"You're insane," he said flatly.

She laughed again, and it was almost as unaffected as before. "Yeah. I know." She edged away from the rail. "We have study hall next, so you can stay up here for a bit longer after lunch. But you should come down soon to get started on your homework."

He stared at the spot where she'd stood for a long time after she was gone.

---

When he re-entered the classroom, everyone momentarily froze to look at him. He didn't know what his expression was, but everyone immediately began to whisper to each other. And judging by the little snippets that he heard as he made his way back to his seat, they were not very kind in their assessment.

Word must have spread of Naruto's 'conversation' with him, then.

So on top of painting myself as an antisocial weirdo, I'm now branded as a bully and massive jerk, Sasuke thought.

It didn't particularly bother him; Sasuke had never been very popular except with crazy girls. But it would make what he was about to do even harder.

He set his emptied bento box on his desk but continued forward, passing Sakura and refusing to let her catch his eyes. Instead he set his jaw determinedly and came to a stop in front of Naruto's desk.

He was sitting on top of it and had gathered quite the little entourage about him. Unlike Sasuke, Naruto did seem popular (although somehow Sasuke really doubted he'd managed it all with his sparkling personality). He was in the middle of a loud retelling of some idiot escapade, but he paused when he saw Sasuke. "Need something, bastard?" Naruto greeted with that same freezing smile. Dang he was similar to Itachi. "Get tired of licking your wounds on the roof?"

Sasuke held Naruto's eyes for a few seconds, bracing himself. Just as Naruto began to look curious, Sasuke sucked in a deep breath, and fell down into a low bow at the waist.

If the room had been quiet before as they all watched Sasuke approach Naruto's group, it became absolutely silent now.

Every person has something to offer, and everyone at least deserves a chance to earn your respect.

"I'm sorry for my behavior when I was younger," Sasuke said, willing himself to pretend that he was not in this classroom with these annoying, irrelevant people. He was at home with Itachi, and he'd said something stupid, and now he had to make as sincere an apology as possible to avoid the dreaded poke.

He was not publically humiliating himself. Nope. Just him and Itachi.

"I was cruel and insensitive," Sasuke continued, keeping his jaw relaxed and his voice free from resentment or insincerity. It was imperative that if he humiliate himself like this, he at least get this apology right. "And I'm sorry for the pain I caused you."

You could have heard a pin drop.

"…Thanks, Sasuke," Naruto said finally. And for half a second, Sasuke dared to hope that this gamble had paid off. But then he glanced up, and he saw something that froze the blood in his veins.

Naruto was smiling.

And then Naruto lifted a hand, a hand with a full cup of water, and, grinning right down at Sasuke, proceeded to dump it over Sasuke's head.

"But if apologies, even pretty, well rehearsed ones, could solve everything, there would be no need for hell," Naruto said with the cruelest, most inhumane smirk that Sasuke had ever seen.

Everyone at least deserves a chance to earn your respect.

Sasuke righted himself slowly, the icy water dripping down his back, his drenched hair sticking to his face. He didn't reach up a hand to brush any of it away although it was annoying.

A chance.

The humiliation he felt was staggering, nearly knocked the air out of him. And the thought that he had actually opened himself up to it, had done it to himself, only made him feel like even more of an idiot.

That was your one chance, Namikaze, he thought. I hope you enjoyed it, really took it in, because I'll die before giving you another one.

Sasuke wasn't like Itachi. He didn't know how to smile at someone who made you so mad that you wanted to rip their head from their shoulders. And just then, he desperately wanted to because it felt like the only way to win just then, to wipe that smug smirk off of that freak's face.

But he just didn't know how, so instead he settled with the coldest stare he knew how to give before twisting, stiffly, and making his way out of the room with his head held high with all the over the top arrogant Uchiha grace he could muster.

Almost the second he left the classroom he could hear it erupt into whispers and conversations, and he knew instinctively that while his display would probably impress sentimental morons like freaking Sakura, the rest of the sane population would think he was weak and pathetic for letting himself get publically shamed like that.

And they'd be right to.

Holy freaking crap, why the heck did I take that delusional lunatic's advice?

Normally he'd have termed her a freak, not lunatic, as was befitting her bizarre sentiments and attitudes. But he had a feeling that 'freak' was a word specially reserved for a certain blonde psychopath.

Before he got ten paces from the classroom, though, he heard the sound of hurried footsteps, like someone was running, and suddenly he found his hand in someone else's.

Sasuke came to a stop and slowly turned to see Sakura there. And unlike the times when she'd stood in front of the class as class rep and when she'd lectured him on the room, she didn't look composed. Her green eyes were a bit too wide, and the hand holding his squeezed tightly.

And then, wordlessly, she slipped something into his free hand. And when he looked down, he almost laughed.

A handkerchief. She was offering him a bloody handkerchief, as if his dripping wet hair was the greatest of his problems.

But the raw, cutting pain in his chest lost its edge, and he sucked in a shuddering breath as his hand tightened over the utterly useless handkerchief.

He should have threatened to get her expelled for putting such a stupid idea in his head. At the very least, he should have at least treated her like the bug she was and tossed the handkerchief on the ground, ground it into the tile with his feet, and stalked away.

But instead he gently pulled his hand from between hers, nodding once at her, acknowledged her, and continued on his way towards the bathroom.

And he never looked back to check, but he had the funniest impression that she was smiling.

---

Sasuke was just setting the last dish in the drying wrack and reaching for a towel to dry his hands when he finally noticed Itachi. He was leaning against the door with his arms folded, and one glance into Itachi's searching eyes was all Sasuke needed to know that he was busted.

Itachi knew something was up.

"You've been very helpful tonight," Itachi noted softly when he realized that he had Sasuke's attention.

Sasuke shrugged as he set the dish towel down, avoiding Itachi's eyes. "Lunch was good. Thanks."

Itachi righted himself but kept his arms folded. "…Was everything fine at school today?"

Part of him thought that Itachi wouldn't look down on Sasuke for his moment of weakness that day, that Itachi would probably be proud of Sasuke for making himself vulnerable enough to apologize to his peer, that Itachi wasn't Fugaku and wouldn't act like everyone else at school and think he was a complete moron and worthless as an Uchiha…

But the rest of Sasuke found the thought of confessing the incident to Itachi so abhorrent, so painful, that he never really considered being honest. Because as much as Itachi had always loved Sasuke (absolutely, totally, unconditionally), part of Sasuke wondered if maybe that was less a product of Itachi managing to see what no one else saw in Sasuke but rather managing not to see in him what was so clear to everyone else.

Because there was a voice in the back of Sasuke's head that wondered if Itachi knew what Sasuke had done to Naruto, if Itachi knew what Naruto had done with Sasuke's apology (treated it like trash), then maybe Itachi would start to wonder, maybe just a little bit, if maybe there was something to what Naruto had done. Maybe Naruto had been just a little bit justified. Maybe Sasuke had deserved the humiliation, deserved much worse.

It wasn't really rational. But the sick shame that was burning into him like hot tar on his skin choked the words regardless, so he kept his eyes on the counter and said, "Great. It's just as much of a dump as when you went there, and I can't believe that you convinced me to go here."

It hurt to come so close to saying the truth to Itachi and know that those words, as honest as they were, would convey nothing of today's pain to Itachi. But he'd take that pain, easily, if he didn't have to talk about what had happened with Naruto.

Itachi was quiet for a moment, but Sasuke couldn't bear to look at him. Kami I feel like a little kid like this, he thought with the beginnings of a bitter smile tugging at his lips. Caught red handed and lying through my teeth and just praying that he decides to drop this.

Itachi came further into the kitchen, and Sasuke thought for one horrible moment that Itachi was going to try to press this. But then Itachi reached up and ruffled Sasuke's hair like he was a little kid and said with a smile, a real smile, "You don't have any homework tonight, do you?"

Sasuke slowly lifted his eyes from the counter, daring to hope. "Of course not."

Itachi's eyes were twinkling, and for once not with barely contained rage. "Why don't we spar? It's been awhile since I've beaten up my younger brother."

Sasuke cracked his knuckles rather pointedly. "And I haven't made you eat your words in a while," he said with a smirk.

Itachi blinked at him. "If you mean by 'a while' you mean never, then, yes, I would agree."

Knowing that Itachi had handed him an excuse to tackle him on a silver platter, Sasuke all too happily cast aside the shame of the day and lunged.

---

Sasuke had gotten very good at pretending to be deaf over the years. It was a necessary skill when pretty much every person but his brother irritated him.

But he was starting to think that he should have honed the skill a bit better because Haruno Sakura had the uncanny ability to tell when he was lying.

"Sasuke-kun," she said, poking him pointedly. "Don't ignore me. I just want to see what you got."

Giving in with gritted teeth, Sasuke twisted to glare at her. "Maybe I don't want you to see what I got. Maybe I did badly." He made eye contact with Naruto who quickly looked away.

Awkward.

Dang it. He'd forgotten Naruto was there and practically within earshot. And if there was anyone he did not want to think that he did badly on a quiz, it was freaking Namikaze Naruto.

"Nonsense," Sakura said dismissively. "Look. I got a hundred."

Sasuke gave her the flattest look he could. "Hn. Congratulations."

Rolling her eyes, she reached forward and snatched his paper from him. "As I thought: you got a perfect score as well." She nodded again and handed it back to him. "Congratulations." It sounded much more sincere when she said it.

He felt his left eye twitch, but he otherwise kept his expression impassive. "Satisfied?"

Suddenly a smile broke across her face, and the sight did strange things to his stomach. "Yes; thank you." She returned to looking at her test, and Sasuke, taking that as his cue to turn back around, did so.

Sakura had been pulling crap like that all week, finding the stupidest reasons to strike up a conversation with him. What made it even more irritating was that while she was pushy, she always seemed to know when to back off and leave him alone again.

Maddening, that girl was.

"Wow, Naruto!" Some vapid voice exclaimed loudly. "You got a perfect score plus bonus points?"

Sasuke stiffened.

"It'll only be entered as a one hundred," Naruto dismissed airily. "I got pretty much the same score as anyone else who got a hundred."

"But that's still crazy awesome!"

"Dang, Naruto! Still on top, eh?"

"Tutor me, please!"

Sasuke felt his hands, hidden under the desk, clench.

---

"Oy, Sasuke-teme!"

Sasuke set his jaw and slowly looked up from his lunch. "What?" He asked flatly.

Naruto had come back from the cafeteria and was, as always, flanked by four or five of his goons. And, as always, there was that cold smirk on his face as he met Sasuke's eyes. "What'cha got there? A home packed bento?"

"Awww," Kiba sneered, throwing an arm over Naruto's shoulder as he jeered at Sasuke. "Does mommy still pack your lunches? How cute."

Sasuke kept his expression carefully flat and blank as he stared up at them, daring them to try and wring a reaction out of him. But something had tightened and stiffened in him at those words, a wound that had not quite healed yet twinging painfully.

"Aw, is little Sasu-chan embarrassed?" Naruto mocked, and Sasuke realized that an angry flush that had crept up his neck had betrayed him.

Where the heck had they heard that nickname?

"I wouldn't jump to conclusions, Naruto-sama," one of Naruto's more stoic goons, Shino, said. "Knowing a family as wealthy as his, I doubt his mother would stoop to preparing a bento for him herself. I'm sure such an unimportant duty was delegated to a member of the help."

Sasuke's hands clenched underneath the desk, nails biting into the flesh.

Naruto laughed at that, and Sasuke hated him for how delighted and sincere it felt despite its cruelty. "Ah, you're right, Shino-kun! Tell me, Sasu-chan," Naruto leaned over the desk, eyes suddenly burning into Sasuke's, "high and mighty Sasu-chan, when was the last time your mother looked you in the eyes and acted like you meant something?"

Later Sasuke would reflect that it was stupid to let Naruto know that he'd hit a nerve. Naruto didn't know what Sasuke's home life had been life, was like. To react only let Naruto exactly what hurt and what to do again.

In a heartbeat Sasuke was on his feet, his chair toppling towards the floor with the force of the movement as he leaned forward and fisted his hands in Naruto's shirt and shook him. "Shut the fu—"

Behind Naruto, Sasuke's eyes suddenly found a familiar form just entering the classroom, returning from buying her lunch in the cafeteria. And the instant his eyes met hers, he came to his senses.

He released Naruto immediately and fell back a step. The room had gotten very quiet again, and Sasuke swallowed.

Not waiting for Naruto to react, he reached down and righted his chair, snatched up his bento, and wordlessly brushed past them to stalk out the classroom.

When he heard Sakura's familiar steps behind him on the stairs leading up to the roof, he didn't slow or say anything to her. But he did leave the door open behind him.

---

Sasuke's hands clenched into fists. "What do you mean," he articulated slowly through clenched teeth, "that I can't try out for the team?"

Hatake Kakashi shrugged; at least the bastard had the decency to look a bit weary, like this whole process sickened him like it did him. "All the spots have already been filled."

Sasuke didn't even try to stop himself from glaring at the man. "I'm certain that I could outperform any one of those 'taken spots'," he said flatly. "Let me try out."

Kakashi sighed and stuck his hands into his pockets. "My hands are tied," he said simply. "I'm sorry. Even if you are as good as rumor says, I can't let you onto the team."

"Ah, Kakashi-sensei!"

Just the sound of that freak's voice, and every muscle in his body tensed.

Kakashi sighed and leaned back in his chair. Sasuke had confronted the coach in his office, and he almost seemed relieved to have an interruption. "What is it, Naruto?"

At least there's one teacher who doesn't tack on a –sama.

"I got all the consent forms from everyone on the team!" Naruto said cheerfully before playfully narrowing his eyes at Kakashi. "Since you forgot." He'd yet to acknowledge Sasuke, opting instead to pretend that he was invisible.

"Ah, well," Kakashi said carelessly with a shrug, "things came up. I'm pretty busy at the beginning of the year, actually." He could not have sounded more unprofessional and insincere if he'd tried.

"You're the laziest bastard of a coach I've ever had," Naruto complained as he slapped the forms down. "Whatever. I'm going home."

"Sure," Kakashi agreed as he grabbed the forms and filed them away.

Naruto glanced at Sasuke then, and Sasuke expected Naruto to send another insult his way, use this opportunity as he had every other time to get under his skin.

He didn't. Instead, all he did was send him a single smirk. And then he was gone.

Sasuke's nails bit into the skin of his palms as he clenched his hands. "It's because of him, isn't it?" Sasuke demanded when Naruto was gone. "He pulled some strings, and now you can't let me on the team?"

"No, that's not it," Kakashi said, leaning back further in his chair to regard Sasuke.

Sasuke's eyes flared. "Then why the heck not?"

"That," Kakashi said simply, his voice suddenly growing cutting. "I've coached and worked with Naruto since he was fourteen years old. He's a pain in the neck, but he's become one of my precious students. And I would do anything to ensure that he succeeds his senior year. And nothing can mess with his focus."

Kakashi's eyes grew colder. "You, Uchiha, would ruin his focus."

The words hung in the air between them, and Sasuke abruptly felt very, very foolish.

Kakashi hadn't looked weary because he was disgusted with how corrupt this blasted school was. He'd looked like that because he just didn't want to deal with Sasuke, a student that he had apparently already made up his mind to hate, who was making a big fuss over something that wouldn't change.

I could tell Itachi about this, Sasuke thought. I could tell him, and he could put the pressure on them, make them consider me for the team.

But even as he thought it, he knew that he wouldn't. Because, even more than not wanting to stoop to Naruto's level, he didn't want to force himself onto this man's team. Since he was six years old, Uchiha Sasuke had always been sought after to join the most prestigious teams in the nation. He'd always been valued for his skill, his work ethic, and respect for teammates and superiors.

And the fact that this man did not want Sasuke, and the fact that that possibility had not even occurred to Sasuke, stung.

His nails bit deeper into the flesh of his hands, and Sasuke swallowed hard.

Blast it. Blast it all.

Sasuke bowed. Not as low as he'd bowed for Naruto (he didn't think he'd ever be able to bow that low for anyone ever again), but still undeniably deeper than would be expected from a proud Uchiha.

"I am sorry for troubling you then." And then he righted himself, neck burning with the humiliation, and left the office with what dignity he could muster.

---

Trash, Sasuke thought, disbelief playing clearly across his face.

There was actual trash in his locker.

Of course, he'd had plenty of things in his shoe locker that eventually ended up in the trash, like confessions and Valentine's Day chocolate. But never before had anyone put actual refuse in it.

As he stood there staring stupidly, someone shoved him as they passed. He only stumbled a bit before he caught himself, but it was still embarrassing. He spun and searched for the offender, but all their faces blurred together, at once familiar and strange.

Who was he kidding? It didn't matter who shoved him. They all hated him.

Gritting his teeth, Sasuke reached into his locker and fisted as much of the trash as he could with his bare hands and stalked towards the nearest trashcan. After inspecting his shoes which had been packed full of old food, he tossed those in the trash as well.

He walked home barefoot that day.

---

His phone vibrated for perhaps the thousandth time, and Sasuke growled, reached for it, and flipped it on silent. When he looked up, he found Itachi smiling at him in amusement.

"The fan girls have found your number, then?" Itachi said with an understanding look.

Sasuke didn't know how to respond to that, so he grunted and looked back at his food.

He was grateful for Itachi's words, though. On top of giving Sasuke an excuse to be uncommunicative and pissed, it was a good reminder of what life had been life before. He'd almost forgotten that he used to be so desirable that girls would stoop to harassment and stalking in an attempt to get his attention.

Used to be.

He hadn't really changed enough to warrant such violent dislike, had he?

Had he?

---

"Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke started, nearly dropping the candle that he'd been inspecting (he would die before admitting that he'd been sniffing it), and looked up.

Sakura.

"Hang on. Sorry, I'll call you back later," Sakura said, and Sasuke realized that she was on the phone. Hoping to take advantage of her distraction, he quickly replaced the candle back on the shelf and cast his eyes about desperately for an excuse for being in this part of the store.

With some chagrin, he realized he had none.

"I didn't expect to run into you here, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, blinking slowly at him as she always did when he did something unexpectedly stupid and she was seeing straight through him. "What candle were you holding?"

The tips of Sasuke's ears warmed, and he was grateful, not for the first time, that Itachi was okay with long hair and hadn't forced him to cut it to a more respectable, ear revealing length. "Nothing. It wasn't what I was looking for anyway."

Her bright green eyes were curious, but he only looked stubbornly away and refused to elaborate. Finally, he saw her smile out of the corner of her eye. "I've never seen you outside of your uniform before, Sasuke-kun."

And that was another reason not to look at Sakura because she was wearing a dress. And though he'd seen her in a skirt nearly every day for two months, suddenly the fact that she was showing off her long legs on purpose made the sight entirely too distracting.

It was probably pathetic that a girl who basically rolled out of bed ready for the day was the only girl who had ever been worth avoiding eye contact with. But then, what wasn't pathetic about Sasuke lately?

"Hn," he said. A safe default.

She laughed. "Alright, alright. Sorry to interrupt your shopping. See you at school, Sasuke-kun."

Abruptly he felt like he was losing something, losing something precious, and so before he was even really aware he was moving, he'd lunged forward and wrapped his fingers around her wrist, stopping her.

She twisted to look at him, and he could see the surprise in her eyes.

"Sakura," he said. It was all he could think to say.

"I…" Sakura regarded him with wide eyes before she tilted her head to the side. "Do you…want to hang out, Sasuke-kun?"

The way she said it, she clearly expected him to say no.

And really, he should have. The fact that he had stopped her at all, that he wanted to say yes, should be a red flag that something dangerous was happening to his psyche. All the crap at school must have been getting to him because this girl, this annoying weirdo, should be the last person he wanted to see on a Saturday afternoon.

But…Sakura was kind. She always shares her lunch when somebody forgets to bring money. She was responsible and intelligent. Always does the homework, always gets a perfect score. She was nonjudgmental. She's never made you feel like an idiot, no matter how much of one you act like. She never acts like she just wants you to disappear like everybody else at school.

She was weird. She was annoying. But she was…she was…

"Last week," Sasuke said, forcing the words out through numb lips. "You gave me your extra tomatoes."

Amusement danced in her eyes, and her brows rose. "Yeah?"

She sees straight through me, he thought. He didn't care. "I owe you. Let me buy you lunch."

Whatever she'd been expecting, it hadn't been that. Her eyes widened and her pink lips parted in surprise. "You…you want to buy me lunch?"

He realized that he was still holding her wrist, so he released it. "Pick any place," he said, trying to ignore the sudden nerves tying his stomach in knots. For all the times that he'd been asked out, he'd never actually asked out a girl himself. And he was certain that he was doing a fantastic job of it, but it was too late to take the words back now.

"Any place?" She repeated, surprised.

"I really like tomatoes," he said, knowing he sounded like an idiot but saying it anyway. "I owe you. So, yeah. Any place."

Sakura bit her lip, and Sasuke finally realized that she was going to say no. Sakura was nice, and she'd always been very polite and regular in her attempts to engage him in conversation. But why would she want to get further involved with the school pariah? No, more than that, why would she want to get involved with Sasuke?

Practically every conversation he'd proven what a jerk he was. What kind of masochist would actually eat lunch with him—

"I don't think I'm creative enough to find a good place," she admitted, before smiling shyly at him. "I don't get to eat out a lot. So, would you mind paying for me and picking the place?"

A beat of silence passed, and Sakura giggled. Actually freaking giggled. "Sasuke-kun, you're staring," she said with some amusement.

Sasuke blinked and forced his face to move. "You're saying yes." It came out like a statement, but it was really more of a question.

Sakura's eyes twinkled mischievously. "And you're asking me to lunch. I thought that I was annoying."

"You are." It came out before he could stop it, as if the admission had been waiting on the tip of his tongue. When her brows only rose, he hastily backpedaled. "But that's not bad. I mean…I think my older brother is the absolute worst, and he's my best friend. You're annoying, but that's not…bad."

Her brows rose again, but her smile was still in place as she shrugged. "If you say so, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke stared at her, incredulous. "I just called you annoying, and you're still saying yes?"

Sakura smiled brightly at him. "I don't look a gift horse, or a free meal, in the mouth, Sasuke-kun." She looked down at the basket on her arm, and Sasuke abruptly remembered that she'd been in the middle of shopping too before he'd randomly invited her out to lunch with him. "I just have to pay for these first before we leave, though. Is that alright?"

Sasuke nodded, not trusting his voice. His hands felt stupid just hanging at his sides, so he jammed them in his pockets.

Sakura had that look in her eye again like she was about to mess with him again, and she suddenly joined him in facing the isle. "What scent were you looking for, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke had the impulse to bang his head against the wall. Hard. "Nothing in particular."

She eyed him shrewdly. "But you said that they didn't have what you were looking for."

Sasuke sighed and rolled his eyes heavenward. "Just go pay for your things already, Sakura."

She giggled and stepped away, and he caught a whiff of a scent both floral and sweet. "For future reference, Sasuke-kun, I like more floral scents," she said, tossing her hair over her shoulder and flashing him a coy smile.

It took everything in him to keep his jaw from dropping. "Who said the candle was for you?"

She only laughed again and kept walking. Sasuke stared after her for a moment before finally shaking his head and follow. How did she know?

---

There was one incident that stuck out in Sasuke's memory. All of the bullying incidents eventually began to blur together, every day simply a continuation of hell. But there were some milestones and landmarks, events when the way everything was snowballing so far out of his control became more obvious than at other times.

The bullying itself wasn't particularly unique. True, it was the first time that Uchiha Sasuke had ever been pelted by raw eggs, and it was a pain trying to explain that one to Kiri so that she wouldn't tattle to Itachi.

And it had been a bit horrifying to be crossing the school courtyard and hurrying to class when it happened. For a few wild seconds before he'd gotten himself under control, he'd felt like he was being hunted by his classmates.

And as he'd stood there, frozen, and let them have their fun (running only postponed the torture; there was no real way to avoid them forever), listening to their jeers and trying not to flinch, trying not to feel like trash and trying to stifle the murderous rage building up inside of him…it was then, right at that moment, when he met Naruto's eyes.

He wasn't one of his tormentors this time. Naruto was game during class, but he usually didn't bother with harassing Sasuke otherwise. He was content to let the rest of the student population take care of him then.

In fact, Naruto seemed to have stumbled upon the scene by accident. He didn't have a backpack, so he had probably been running an errand for Hirai. He'd just been going about his business and come upon Sasuke being mercilessly bullied.

And when Sasuke met Naruto's eyes across the courtyard, he knew that his composure had slipped, that the rage and shame was on full display for Naruto to peruse at his pleasure.

But just as Sasuke couldn't have hid his turmoil if he tried, Naruto didn't hide his emotions either.

And the emotion that Sasuke could read so clearly in the blonde's expressive face, even at this distance?

Satisfaction.

Pleasure.

Naruto's words from months ago came to him then. When I called you a bastard and a jerk, I found trash every day in my locker for three weeks. When my new shoes got ruined and I cried, they laughed. And you…you don't remember any of that, huh?

Sasuke could remember telling Naruto that he hadn't had anything to do with the way Naruto had been bullied. He'd thought, naively, that everyone makes their own choices, and if everyone suddenly saw a target on Naruto's back, well, Sasuke hadn't put it there for all of them, had he?

You're a worthless, heartless bastard. You didn't care then what you did to me, and you don't care now. You'll never change.

But when a wave of hatred nearly choked him, he realized something.

By his own logic, Naruto could wash his hands free of this incident. He was only doing about as much as Sasuke himself had ever done. He couldn't blame Naruto for a bunch of jerks buying a carton of eggs at the store and chucking them at him entirely of their own volition with no prompting from Naruto.

By Sasuke's logic, Sasuke couldn't blame Naruto.

But the thing was…

He did.

He blamed him enough to want to break Naruto, to take the freak and make him pay in blood for all the humiliation that was suffocating him—Sasuke, at that moment, blamed Naruto enough to want to murder him.

Blue eyes wild with hatred…

It would not be the last time that Sasuke was pelted with eggs at Konoha High. And it wasn't the last time that Naruto stumbled upon the handiwork of his lackeys.

But it was the first time that Sasuke understood.

And for that reason, and that reason alone, he remembered that day for a long time afterwards.

---

The first time he found trash in Sakura's locker was also the last time.

Sakura had put a hesitant hand on his shoulder, and it had felt so small, so delicate and fragile through the cotton of his shirt, that Sasuke lost it. Attacking Sasuke was one thing. Pretty much everyone could agree that Sasuke had had this crap coming for him for a long time. He was the biggest jerk that he knew. And in a way he'd been bred for it, had been taught from a young age how to look down his nose just so at even his superiors, had been nursed on assurances of his supremacy over the rest of the human race.

But Sakura hadn't. She was just a normal girl from a normal family with enough guts and brains to try and make it in his world of snobs and elitists. And even though Sakura could smile in the face of a sneer, and even though Sakura wasn't afraid to say what she thought regardless of how rich or well bred her audience, she was still only seventeen freaking years old.

He'd stalked back to the classroom where Naruto had lingered with his usual entourage. And, for once, it was Sasuke that got to slam his fist on Naruto's desk, and it was Sasuke that got to lean in close and relish the instant that Naruto braced himself.

"I let you pull your crap because in a way I think I deserve it," he said softly, relying on his rage to emphasize his words instead of volume. "I let you look the other way when people harass me because it was all I ever did for you. But Sakura," he leaned closer, "is off limits. She's not like you, and she's not like me. She has nothing to do with this. And if she gets drawn into the crossfire again, I will end this little game of yours. Understood?"

Naruto glared up at him, but he didn't immediately mouth off at him. Which was a good sign. It meant that maybe, just maybe, Naruto was actually thinking about what he'd said. Finally, Naruto demanded, "…Why? You've never cared before. What makes her so special?"

"Freak if I know," Sasuke snapped as he leaned back. "Just pass the word, Namikaze, and pass it fast." And with that he twisted and made his way towards the door. He found Sakura standing there waiting for him, eyes wider than he'd ever seen them before. He kept doing that, surprising her.

"What?" He asked curtly.

She only shook her head and followed him.

When they got back to the locker, he asked, "Are they ruined?"

Still playing the mute, Sakura shook her head slowly.

Scoffing derisively, he reached into her locker and pulled out her shoes, heedless of the trash that fell to the ground. They'd been doused with ketchup and were damp with some mystery liquid, possibly coffee judging by the color and scent.

"You're not wearing these," he said flatly, walking over to the trash and tossing them inside.

For that, she found her voice. "…Sasuke, I can't just—"

"I'll buy you a new pair. It's my fault they're ruined anyway," Sasuke interrupted.

Her eyes softened although she was still frowning. "But Sasuke, I at least—" She cut off abruptly and froze when he grabbed her hand. She'd been reaching into the locker to grab some of the trash, and he'd reacted instinctively to stop her.

"Don't," he said shortly. "I'll take care of this."

She sighed softly, exasperated now. "Touching some trash isn't going to kill me, Sasuke."

"It won't," Sasuke agreed tersely as he gathered up the trash himself. She didn't speak as she watched, but he could feel her disapproving stare while he worked.

When he returned to her side, he eyed her bare feet for a few seconds before he kicked off his shoes.

Sakura's eyes were wide again. "Sasuke, you can't—"

"This isn't the first time I've had to," he interrupted. "Just put them on. They're obviously too big, but it's better than going barefoot."

Sakura frowned at him unhappily. "Sasuke…I can't make you walk barefoot."

"It's my fault," he said. "I'm the one who threw out your shoes. It's only fair that you get to wear my shoes until I buy you a new pair."

Sakura sighed, a frustrated sound. "Sasuke, you go through enough. I can't make you—"

"This is different," he interrupted, and he felt that telltale flush creep up his neck. "This is…there is nothing embarrassing or demeaning about this."

Sakura blinked at him. "But…but if you just walk around in socks…"

Sasuke shook his head. "I'm pissed, Sakura. And I feel like a piece of crap that this happened to you. But this isn't humiliating or embarrassing for me. I…" He shook his head, frustrated that he couldn't get the words out like he wanted to. "Never mind. I'm crap at explaining myself. Just trust me that it's fine and put on the stupid shoes."

When he found the courage to meet her eyes, his heart palpitated painfully at the sight of the soft smile on her face and the…the tenderness in her eyes. The way she was looking at him, he suddenly got the impression that not only had his crappy, stilted explanation gotten through to her, but she'd somehow managed to see more, definitely much more than he'd meant to tell her. And it made him feel vulnerable and more than a little pathetic, but she was still smiling at him.

And that had to mean something, didn't it?

"Do I have a choice?" She asked, a touch of amusement in her voice.

Recovering, Sasuke snorted. "Absolutely none."

Shaking her head, she slipped into his shoes. They looked ridiculously large on her, and she nearly tripped twice on the way out of the school building. After steadying her the second time, he'd just taken her hand in his with an exasperated sigh. And though he could feel her eyes on him for a minute or two afterwards, she didn't take her hand out from his.

---

"That looks painful."

Sasuke twisted, dragging his eyes from the view of the school courtyard, and found another vaguely familiar face before him on the school roof. Before his muscles could tense up, though, he placed it.

Nara Shikamaru.

Sakura's words from several months ago came back to him. Just as a warning, though, you might end up sharing it with Nara Shikamaru or Akimichi Chouji.

What had she said? They liked to…look at the clouds?

The way she'd made it sound, he should have run into Shikamaru months ago, not almost three quarters through the first semester.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted, adjusted the ice pack on his face and turning back to stare out over the courtyard. He wasn't in the mood to talk, and he trusted the Nara, genius that he purportedly was, to pick up on that and leave him alone.

To his irritation, Shikamaru only made his way to join Sasuke on the rails in looking out over the courtyard. His face was encouragingly apathetic, so perhaps he might not speak to him after all. But something about this positively reeked of his first conversation with Sakura.

He could feel Shikamaru's eyes on his face, but Sasuke refused to give in and meet his eyes. Finally, Shikamaru said, "How does the other guy look?"

Sasuke sighed, the irritation building. "He's fine," Sasuke said flatly. Which is why my brother hasn't been called to the school and I'm not expelled yet.

Shikamaru nodded once and continued to look out like Sasuke. But Sasuke thought that he could see a smirk on the Nara's lips, as if somehow Sasuke's words had pleased him.

Finally, after an inordinate amount of time passed in complete silence, Shikamaru pushed away from the bars. "Ah, just as I thought. I'm bored," he sighed.

Sasuke scoffed softly but otherwise didn't acknowledge the comment.

He could feel Shikamaru's eyes on him again. "Strange. It seems that I absently brought a shogi board with me to the rooftop," Shikamaru deadpanned. "Sounds like a great way to kill time. But I can't play it by myself."

It took everything in Sasuke not to turn and stare stupidly at the Nara. Was this guy for real?

Sasuke was probably the most unpopular person at Konoha High. And he may have been able to save Sakura, but one didn't have to be a genius to know that life would only get harder with a friend like Sasuke.

Sasuke was used to people trying to befriend him. But nobody had tried that (outside of Sakura) in a long time.

"You don't look like you're doing anything," Shikamaru pressed, sounding as bored as ever.

Actually, Sasuke thought with a burst of irritation, I was busy thinking about how I'm going to explain this massive bruise on my cheek to my older brother.

A long silence ensued, and Sasuke wondered if Shikamaru was going to drop it. But then he said, as if he hadn't waited nearly three minutes to continue from his last statement, "Why don't you join me?"

Sasuke exhaled sharply, an exasperated sigh, as he turned to regard Shikamaru coldly. "If I do, will you leave me alone and tell Sakura to stop worrying about me?"

Shikamaru tilted his head back to regard him, and there it was again, that smirk. "If you beat me, I'll never bother you again," he promised.

Sasuke had a nasty feeling that this wasn't a deal he should make. He'd heard of the Nara family, had even managed to hear hints and whispers of Shikamaru. He was probably the most brilliant genius to grace the halls of Konoha High in decades.

To play to win against him in a game of shogi wasn't just stupid. It was pointless.

Sasuke's cheek throbbed painfully, and Sasuke smoothed his face of all expression.

"Fine."

Shikamaru smirked again, but he turned and lead the way to where he'd already set up a board several feet away (how had he not heard that?) and sat down.

They played long past the lunch bell and through most of study hall before Shikamaru finally beat Sasuke. If Shikamaru resented the missed studying time, he didn't say anything. And if he noticed how relieved Sasuke was when Shikamaru suggested a rematch, a rematch that lasted well past the end of study period and effectively cut out two hours of possible time with Naruto, he didn't say anything about that either.

---

"Sasuke, this is Chouji," Shikamaru said, gesturing to his stocky friend. "Chouji, this is Sasuke."

Chouji regarded him for a moment as he snacked on a bag of chips, and Sasuke felt inordinately nervous. Chouji, unlike Sakura and Shikamaru, had not approached Sasuke of his own free will. There was no guarantee that Chouji would not leave him standing there like an idiot and choose the smart thing unlike his genius friend and just skip all the drama that came along with being Sasuke's friend. More than that, there was no guarantee that Chouji would even like Sasuke if he did stay, no guarantee that he wouldn't look at Sasuke with eyes like Naruto's, like Kiba's and Shino's and Kakashi's.

But then Chouji's solemn face softened with a friendly smile. "Hello," Chouji greeted.

Something loosened in Sasuke. "Hn."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "That's his way of showing that he's happy and that he's glad to meet you," Shikamaru told Chouji.

Sasuke glared at Shikamaru, but Chouji only laughed. "Uchiha are so stoic; I honestly couldn't tell."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes again. "Tch. Once you get the hang of reading Sasuke, I swear there's no one more transparent."

Sasuke's glare deepened into a scowl, but that warm spot in his chest only expanded at Shikamaru's words.

He'd said in his introduction at the beginning of the year that he wasn't interested in having friends, but if Sasuke was being perfectly honest with himself, he'd only said it that way because he'd given up on ever finding some.

He'd befriend elitist snobs, and he could work well with people if he put some effort into it. But it had seemed his entire life like there was a glass wall separating him from the other children. First it had been the impossible standards of his father, and then it had been the loss of that father along with his mother altogether.

He'd felt like a freak, an alien, among other children. They had parents that loved them, that knew how to pull them close and how to say "I love you" without slipping in ten insults simultaneously. They'd never studied for hours and hours before tests and gotten the highest score and still ended up feeling like a failure by the end of the night. They'd never wanted their father's approval so badly that they thought that they'd go insane with the desperate desire, had never trained themselves until they passed out to become the star of the team, had never sacrificed all their free time, every day, to study material well above their years in school.

They'd never had to be perfect. And they'd never failed as miserably as he had.

And they never had those precious parents violently ripped from their lives. They never became orphans, like Sasuke, and they never lived with the regret of never having been good enough, of having their father die disappointed in them.

At least, if they had, they did a good job of pretending otherwise.

And to be accepted now so easily, to have people who seemed to genuinely want to be his friend and not because he was an Uchiha or a prodigy or the best student in the grade, felt like something close to a miracle.

---

A warm breeze swept his hair in his eye, and Sasuke brushed the lock away before returning his arm back to its previous condition in supporting his head on the sun warmed pavement of the school roof. As he relaxed back into his position, he felt all of the tension of the day seep out of him.

I swore that I'd never do this, he thought, a smile tugging at his lips. Just stare up at the clouds like a child with nothing better to do.

That Nara's insanity is rubbing off on me.

Part of him had thought that Sakura was joking when she said that one time that Shikamaru came out here to watch the clouds. After they became friends, they'd only played shogi or eaten lunch here.

Eventually, though, he'd been forced into it. And, he had to admit, it was indeed a relaxing way to spend a study period.

If father could see me now, Sasuke thought wryly, he'd probably come at me with a cane. After all, it was study hall, and Sasuke was definitely not studying.

But if he were downstairs with his books and Naruto, he knew that he wouldn't study anyway.

It was much better to be up here, away from all the crap, and just…relax.

"Do you know why I approached you here the first time?"

Sasuke blinked at the sound of Shikamaru's voice. While they would speak in the beginning of these cloud watching sessions, usually to debate some stupid political issue or talk about school, eventually they'd lapse into silence and just watch the clouds pass overhead until study hall ended.

Sasuke shrugged. "Sakura spoke to you, I'm assuming." He smiled at the thought of his enigmatic friend. He'd written her off the first day as a lunatic, an idealistic idiot, but she'd become his most steadfast and loyal friends.

"Guilty," Shikamaru said, and Sasuke smirked. He expected it to end there. But after a moment of silence, Shikamaru spoke again. Sasuke had noticed that this was how Shikamaru did things. If he had to, he would make his point clearly and quickly. But, if the one he was speaking to was patient and perceptive, he would take his time, letting the silences speak as much as the words. "But that wasn't the first time she approached me to become friends with you."

Sasuke frowned up at the sky. "It…wasn't?" Then why did you finally say yes and try to be my friend?

Shikamaru sighed. "No. And I thought you were decent enough, but ultimately I thought you'd be too troublesome. Naruto would target me if I became friends with you, and I didn't even want to start caring about somebody so obviously being bullied. It's painful enough to watch even if you don't care about the person."

"Hn." Sasuke found himself glaring up at the sky. "I always knew it was stupid of you to become friends with me."

Shikamaru scoffed. "You're going to comment on my intelligence when you haven't beaten me once at shogi?"

Sasuke scowled up at the sky. "Shut up."

Shikamaru actually did for a time, but Sasuke didn't really think that he was done. He was proven right when Shikamaru said, "It changed when I saw Kiba punch you."

Sasuke felt his eyes shut. Finally, softly, he said, "Looked that pathetic, huh?"

"It did," Shikamaru said pleasantly, and Sasuke's eyes snapped open if only to glare irately up at the sky. "And that's what made me realize that I was wrong about you."

Sasuke turned his head to look at Shikamaru, frowning. "But you weren't wrong."

Shikamaru didn't disagree with him, just waited a long moment. Finally, he said, "I could tell you were proud, Sasuke. It's in every inch of you, the Uchiha pride. And I just kept thinking that I didn't want to get drawn into the crossfire when Yondaime's son and the heir to Uchiha Inc got into a war.

"But I watched you take that punch. And you looked pissed. You looked like you wanted to kill someone, Uchiha." Shikamaru chuckled at the memory, but Sasuke didn't quite see what was so funny. "But you just glared at the ground, let them have their laugh, and then you walked away."

Shikamaru went quiet again, but before Sasuke could speak, he said, "And that's when I thought to myself that I had to become friends with that kid."

Sasuke snorted. "Because if somebody doesn't do something nice to that kid soon, he's going to snap and turn into a serial killer?"

Shikamaru snorted out a laugh. "That, and the fact that there's something about you, Sasuke. Your bowing to Naruto that first day wasn't an anomaly. You've been letting Naruto walk all over you all along."

Sasuke glared flatly at the sky. "That makes no sense when you put it like that."

"You're better than they are," Shikamaru said softly. "You're still full of crap and moody as a teenaged girl," Sasuke snorted at that, "but in the end…you're a good guy, Sasuke."

The bell rang, and Shikamaru rolled into a sitting position. "Doesn't hurt that you're almost a challenge as shogi."

Sasuke scowled at him. "Almost a challenge?"

Shikamaru smirked at him. "An actual challenge has a shot of beating me." He got to his feet and sighed heavily. "Ah…I just remembered that we have an essay to do in Japanese today. How troublesome..."

Sasuke shook his head, wondering how a simple essay could be 'troublesome' for a genius. But then, that was just one of the many quirks of Shikamaru.

A friend that just associating with placed a target on your back was somehow not a stupid move, and an essay that would be a breeze to construct was somehow troublesome.

He didn't understand it. But he found himself fervently grateful that that was the case.

---

When they discovered Sasuke's fear of fire, things began to escalate.

It started with Kiba lighting a cigarette in the middle of one of their drawn out confrontations, and Sasuke had flinched. Seeing as the entire point of these meetings was to torment Sasuke, that flinch hadn't really escaped anyone. And it wasn't long before Kiba was always pulling out his lighter and lighting something.

In hindsight, Sasuke could kind of understand it. It was no fun kicking a dog that just laid down and took it. Sure, it would still make satisfying, pained whimpers, and it would flinch before you hit. But there was no fun or excitement in tormenting someone who always just took it.

But if they got fire…well, suddenly, Sasuke was all kinds of fun.

He still didn't fight back. But suddenly, Sasuke thought it worthwhile to run. And while Sasuke was clearly athletic and could run quite fast for a very long time…well, so could Naruto and his goons.

---

The first time he kissed Sakura, she was crying.

"You can't keep doing this, Sasuke," she'd said, growing a bit hysterical as her tiny hands fisted the material of his T-shirt. She'd called him out there late Saturday night allegedly just to see him, but seeing as her eyes had been glassy since the moment he pulled into her driveway, there had been a bit more to it than that. "You need to tell someone because I'm getting scared, really scared for you—"

He'd silenced her with his lips on hers. And in hindsight, he hated the way her lips tasted (like salt), hated that she was crying. And he knew that of all the different times he could have given into the urge that had been driving him crazy for weeks, just then had been probably the worst time. And of all the different things to mark a first kiss, he really didn't want her to remember the fear and anxiety of this moment.

Knowing that he'd botched up (again), he pulled her into his arms and crushed her face to his chest. "Sakura…" He'd meant to apologize, to explain, to placate. Instead, all that came out was a ragged, "…Thank you."

At those words, her limp arms found their strength and wound around him, pulling him impossibly closer. "Please tell someone…"

"I'm not going anywhere," he'd whispered. "Don't worry."

And she'd only buried his head in his chest and refused to answer. Probably because the obvious answer was that she was going to worry. And who was he to object? The one time they turned on her, he'd flown off the handle.

He'd sighed and buried his head in her hair, breathing in that sweet, floral scent. And though he didn't speak the promise, he thought it: I'll tell someone. I'll end this. Soon.

Not that night. Maybe not for several more nights; it would take more courage than he currently had to confess everything to Itachi.

But he couldn't keep making Sakura suffer silently at his side. He'd never have let her do the same to him if the tables had been turned.

So, for Sakura, he would find the words to say.

Soon.

---

It was so stupid in hindsight.

It was just a piece of burning paper. Admittedly, there were quite a few burning papers (a freaking torch), and they were being shoved at him like a cattle prod.

And sure, they'd had him surrounded, cornered like an animal beside the window. And maybe he'd felt a little bit out of his mind, and more than a little desperate and irrational.

But it shouldn't have ended like it had. It shouldn't have escalated, shouldn't have gotten so completely out of control.

Somehow, even though there had been an almost complete absence of rational thought, he could still remember with perfect clarity the moment when everything fell apart.

He could remember Sakura's panicked cries and protests, the way she was pounding on Kiba's back to let her through, was demanding that they leave him alone.

He could remember the smell of smoke, pungent and choking in his nostrils.

And he could remember Naruto's eyes. So cold with hatred, with sadistic pleasure, with a mad desperation to see Sasuke finally give in, finally crack and fight back and prove himself just as sick and broken as Naruto.

And then everything blurred. He should have found a wall, solid and hard and real, behind him when he'd struggled away.

Instead, he'd found an opened window.

Instead, he'd found open air.

And then everything went black.

---

Everything hurt.

Sasuke groaned and tried to brute force his eyelids open. Not only was it almost impossible, but even that slight movement left him with an incredible wave of nausea.

He didn't know if he vomited because everything went black again before he could find out.

---

The first thing he was conscious of was a relentless, endless beeping sound.

Part of him desperately wanted to ignore the irritating, grating sound and return to the painless blackness of sleep. But the sound, heedless of his reluctance, dragged him to the surface of consciousness.

And, much as before, everything hurt.

The typical Uchiha jackhammer migraine had nothing on this one.

A groan escaped him, and Sasuke forced his heavy eyelids open and found a white tiled ceiling.

Hospital, he realized stupidly. I'm…in the hospital, aren't I?

"Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke groaned again and tried to lift his head to put a face to the voice. "Sakura…" Was that his voice?

"Don't move!" Her hands, small but warm and strong, pressed his shoulders back down. "You have a severe concussion. Please, just stay still."

Tiredly, he nodded and relaxed back. It was a bit to awkward to look at her from this angle, but he could manage if he tried.

She was biting her lip, and Sasuke noticed that she looked very, very tired. "Sakura…"

She brightened and leaned forward. "Yes, Sasuke-kun? Do you need something? More pain medicine? Food? I—"

"Go home," he croaked. He realized almost the instant the words left his lips that those had been the wrong words to say because the hurt was all too obvious on her expressive features. "You look…tired," he added in nearly a whisper. "Get…some sleep." It took a ridiculous amount of effort not to slur the words. Why was talking so freaking hard?

Thankfully, the hurt softened into a tender smile. "…Maybe in a little while, Sasuke-kun." He realized that her hand was on his when she squeezed it gently. "I should tell Itachi-kun that you've woken. Please just wait one moment."

He nodded tiredly and watched her get to her feet and walk away, probably to fetch her phone from her bag. But he was already asleep by the time she returned.

---

When Sasuke woke next, it was Itachi and not Sakura at his side.

The room was dark with night, but there was enough light from the machinery hooked up to Sasuke for him to make out his brother seated beside his bed. His brother's proud, strong shoulders were now bent and rigid, his head cradled in his hands.

Idiot, Sasuke thought. If he's trying to sleep like that, he's bound to mess up his back.

His mouth felt incredibly dry, and a cursory inspection of his bedside revealed a convenient glass of water. With some effort, he sat up a bit and reached for it. It tasted stale but was about as close to heaven as Sasuke had ever tasted, even if he did feel faintly nauseous.

It wasn't until he'd set the glass back on the bedside that Itachi finally started awake.

And for a solid moment, they just stared at each other.

If Sakura had looked tired, Itachi looked dead.

Sasuke swallowed.

Well. I sure screwed up.

"…Hey," Sasuke said quietly. He sounded significantly more human this time.

Itachi didn't say anything, just stared.

His head throbbed, and Sasuke winced. "How…long have I been out?"

When Itachi spoke, his voice was clipped. "You've been coming in and out of consciousness for two weeks."

Two weeks.

Sasuke sucked in a deep, steadying breath. "I guess…Sakura told you everything?"

And it was strange. Even though Itachi wasn't smiling, Sasuke would have bet his life on the fact that Itachi had never been angrier.

"She did not," Itachi said simply, succinctly.

And even though Itachi didn't elaborate or explain, Sasuke knew it was true.

Sakura couldn't explain to Itachi why Sasuke had lied to Itachi for months. She couldn't have told him why Sasuke had suffered it all, taken every hit, when all he'd had to do was talk to Itachi, and all the pain would have ended.

She couldn't have told him why it looked a lot like Sasuke didn't trust Itachi, the only person in probably the entire world who had always, always loved him.

Sasuke fisted his hands in the thin blanket draped over him up to the waist, and he couldn't, just couldn't, hold Itachi's gaze.

"I'm sorry," Sasuke said. And it didn't sound at all composed or smooth like Fugaku had trained him to apologize, but it was the best that he could manage with the lump forming in his throat and that suffocating guilt. "It was stupid."

He knew he was supposed to say, but all he could think of was Itachi's face beside him when he'd asked him if Sakura had told him everything. And he couldn't help but think that if there was ever a time for Itachi to just give up on Sasuke and consign him to the fate of a heartless, totally unlovable bastard like the rest of the world, it would be now.

"Why, Sasuke?" Itachi said softly, and it was the closest to tortured that Sasuke had ever heard him. "Why?"

He still wants to know.

It didn't mean that Itachi would ever forgive him; he'd already learned a thing or two about how useless apologies could be (if apologies, even pretty, well rehearsed ones, could solve everything, there would be no need for hell).

But it was better than nothing.

"It's like…" Sasuke swallowed, wishing he had another glass of water. Focus, Sasuke. "It's like you've invested a lot of money into something, right? A new product for Uchiha Inc to sell. And you are so sure that it's going to be a hit, that it's worth all the crap involved in developing it."

Sasuke clenched his hands tighter and forced himself to keep talking. "But every time you left the room, people would whisper behind your back that it was a pretty dumb move on your part. That no matter how much money you invested into that product, it was going to be a complete flop because nobody actually wants this product. This product is…is trash."

The silence in the hospital room was oppressive. "And I guess at first I didn't want to say anything because it was too painful, too…too shameful to admit to what I did to Naruto, that in a way I actually deserved the way Naruto treated me. But then it just got to the point where…I was desperate for there to be one person in this world who didn't see what everyone else saw the second I walked out the door in the morning. I didn't want you to know that outside of you, there's probably only two or three people in this entire planet who actually like me.

"I guess…I just wanted to spare you that," Sasuke finished softly. "Sorry that I hurt you. And I realize that by handling this the way I did, I pretty much guaranteed that you'd hate me. And that's…fine, I guess." The words burned, but he had to say them. "I mean, I chose this. I shouldn't have lied to you. So…I guess," that lump was nearly impossible to speak around, "if you'd rather act a bit more like Dad now, I'd get it."

Itachi reached over, and for one horrible instant Sasuke thought his brother was going to poke him. But he wasn't really going anywhere near Sasuke's forehead anyway, so that was stupid.

In the split second when he understood that, he should have felt relieved. Instead, all he felt was a crushing disappointment.

He's not going to forgive me, he realized. He's always been delusional about me and managed to love me, but he's finally seen it, what everyone else sees. And he's done now. Done.

And then Itachi placed his hand over one of Sasuke's and squeezed.

"I'm not going to act like Dad," he said softly, firmly. "And I could never hate you."

Slowly, Sasuke looked up from the blanket and dared to meet Itachi's eyes.

And though this entire time he'd pictured Itachi's face being cold with fury as it had been just a few minutes ago, it didn't look anything like that now. There was a small smile on Itachi's lips, but it wasn't angry. It was loving and...and tender.

"And I'll have you remember that your elder brother is the CEO of Uchiha Inc and a genius in business. And your brother," Itachi smiled, "does not make mistakes when he chooses what to invest in."

Sasuke stared at Itachi. Not only had Itachi picked up on Sasuke's stupid analogy, but he'd used it to…to…

"He'd never invest in a flop," Itachi continued softly. "And even if he was the only one in the entire world who loved his foolish brother, he'd still be the one who was right."

Itachi squeezed his hand once more before getting to his feet. "I'll ring for the nurse. You should get some more sleep."

Sasuke wanted to protest that he'd slept plenty, but unfortunately his head was already feeling heavy again. "You're really not mad anymore?"

After pressing some button on a panel by his bed, Itachi sat back down. "Not at you, no," Itachi said, an amused smile. "I can't hate a stupid child for not knowing how to read or a kitten for not having the reflexes of a cat."

Sasuke scowled. "I'm an illiterate kitten?"

Itachi chuckled. "I'm not sure you're in a position to protest, Sasuke," Itachi said with some amusement. "For whatever reason you seemed to feel like you deserved the way you were treated. You were wrong, of course, but I can't be angry at you for sincerely believing it." Itachi regarded Sasuke thoughtfully before continuing with, "Your apology is sincere, and I believe that, no matter what your actions hinted at, you do love me and value our relationship. And as long as those things hold true, Sasuke, there is nothing that I will not forgive."

The nurse had just entered the room, but Sasuke didn't care. "Thank you," he said, eyes beginning to sting again.

His vision had blurred so he didn't know for sure if Itachi was smiling, but Itachi reached over and squeezed Sasuke's hand again. "Get some sleep, Sasuke," he said softly. "Sakura and I will be here when you wake up."

And with the weight of his brother's hand on his, Sasuke allowed the meds to drag him back into unconsciousness.

---

Sasuke was eventually allowed to return home later that week to finish recuperation. Though severely concussed, he'd effectively slept through the worst of it. And while he wouldn't be sparring with anyone for several more weeks, he was pretty much functional.

Of course, 'pretty much functional' wasn't really good enough for Itachi.

So, basically, Sasuke was under house arrest.

"Do you need something?" Sakura asked with a worried frown, momentarily forgetting the homework that she'd been chipping away at for the better part of an hour. She'd taken to coming visit him every day after school until the doctors or Itachi kicked her out. Now that he was at home and there were no visiting hours, though, she stayed much longer.

"No," Sasuke grumbled, glaring at the ceiling. He was lying on the couch in his room (he couldn't stand to be in his bed, even if he was tired) and trying not to die of boredom while she worked. "I can walk perfectly well, you know."

She laughed at that, a bit sheepishly. "Ah. I know. I guess I'm feeling just a bit overprotective."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "A bit?"

Sakura was saved from having to answer by the door bell ringing.

"I'll—"

Sasuke sat up and glared at her. "No. I can answer my own door, Sakura." He swung his legs over the side of the couch and got to his feet and stretched.

Sakura frowned unhappily. "I wasn't insinuating that you couldn't," she grumbled as she set aside her homework and got up to follow. "Is it so wrong for me to want to do nice things for you?"

Sasuke's glare deepened. "Yes."

Sakura rolled her eyes, but her lips were already twitching with a smile. Sakura had the maddening tendency never to take him seriously, he'd noticed.

The doorbell rang again when they just entered the foyer, and Sasuke could hear a muffled voice calling through the door.

"Oy! Sakura-chan! I know you're in there, and I know he's in there! You can't keep me away forever, you know?"

Sasuke froze. "Naruto?"

Sakura had slipped her hand in his some time during the walk here, and it tightened angrily over his own. "That baka," Sakura said, somewhat exasperatedly. "How did he get past the gates?"

Sasuke looked at her, stunned. "He's…been trying to see me?"

Sakura frowned unhappily at him. "…Yes," she finally admitted. "Itachi and I decided it was best if we…didn't facilitate that."

Part of him, a big part of him, wanted to turn on his heel and let Namikaze ring his doorbell and bang on his door for hours.

And part of him went back to the times when everything had come into focus, the rare moments when the freak Naruto became someone that Sasuke could understand and, even a little bit, relate to.

He made me into someone I don't even recognize, Sasuke thought as he stared at the door. The doorbell rang again. Before him, nobody except my own father ever treated me like trash. Before him, I never knew what it was like to be at the very bottom, despised. Before him, I never hated someone so much I actually, legitimately wanted to murder someone.

Before him, I never knew.

And with that, hardly understanding why, he took the last few steps towards the door and opened it.

Naruto's hand froze mid bang, and for several very, very painful seconds, Naruto just stared at Sasuke.

"Sasuke," Naruto finally said, slowly.

"Namikaze," Sasuke greeted in turn, coldly.

For a few more seconds, Naruto stared at him, looking a bit lost and a bit uncomfortable and more than a little like he wanted to turn around and leave.

But then the blonde set is jaw, blue eyes flashing with determination. And suddenly, before Sasuke could even blink, Naruto fell to his knees and bowed.

"I'm very sorry."

Sasuke had to steady himself against the door to keep from falling over.

"I never intended to let things escalate like they did," Naruto continued, voice loud and determined but his eyes glued to the floor. "You didn't deserve any of it. I should have accepted your apology that first day."

Sasuke stared down at the boy who had made his life hell for the last four months, kneeling before him in one of the most demeaning bows Sasuke had ever seen.

And he realized something: despite Naruto's apology and the way he was kneeling, there was nothing really vulnerable about him.

Because Naruto had already decided that Sasuke wouldn't accept.

And he had knelt anyway.

"Get up, Namikaze," Sasuke said tiredly, rubbing a hand over his face.

Slowly, Naruto looked up, a bit warily. And Sasuke saw that he was right; Naruto didn't for a second believe that this apology would be enough.

When Naruto finally got to his feet, Sasuke finally spoke.

"You fought dirty," Sasuke said flatly, and Naruto visibly flinched at the words. "I said before that you were only doing as much as I ever did, but that wasn't true. I was callous, but I didn't seek you out to mess with your head. That's why things escalated. You hate me much more than I ever hated you."

Before Naruto could respond, Sasuke continued. "Before you, I never knew what it was like to be hated. At least, not on such a large scale. And I let it happen because I thought I deserved it." At this, Sasuke scowled. "But all I really did was make the people who actually did love me suffer while I acted like an idiot."

Sasuke sighed. "So I guess what I'm saying is that in a way this is my fault too. Not every victim has the ability to stop their tormentors, but I did. And I just let it happen. So don't waste too much time being hard on yourself. I brought it on myself. And if nothing else, it was an…educational experience."

Naruto abruptly pointed at him, eyes wide with anger and indignation. "No! See, that is exactly why this escalated so much! You're too friggin' mature!" Naruto shook his head emphatically. "It wasn't educational, and it sure as heck wasn't your fault that I acted like a psychopath. I should have just accepted your apology and gotten over my baggage. All I did was screw myself up and…frick, I don't even want to think about all the psychological damage I did to you."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "It'll take a lot more than a couple hundred spoiled brats on my back to mess up an Uchiha heir. Trust me, Namikaze. I was bred to be hated and come out on top."

Naruto made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat and shook his head. "You're so full of crap, Uchiha."

Sasuke actually smiled at that, faint as it was. "Yeah," he admitted quietly.

There was a short silence, and then Naruto rubbed the back of his head as he was wont to do when uncomfortable. "Uh, the rest of the guys would be here too. They feel pretty awful as well," Naruto said, a bit sheepishly. "But they were pretty sure that you'd pull a gun on them next time you saw them. So they're being cowards and hiding at home."

Sasuke felt his brows rise. "And you didn't?"

Naruto scoffed. "I'd deserve it, wouldn't I? We almost killed you, Uchiha."

Sasuke held Naruto's eyes for a long moment, and he surprised himself by realizing something.

He didn't hate Naruto.

He really, really should have. And even if the apology was pretty decent, and it was impressive that Naruto had been willing to offer one despite the obstacles named Itachi and Sakura, both of which being forces to be reckoned with, an apology was still just words. And Naruto had done too much that words couldn't fix.

But, when he looked back…even in those moments when he thought he could have shoved Naruto off a cliff and not thought spared it a second thought, when he'd understood best the enmity that Naruto had carried towards Sasuke for years…he'd never really hated Naruto.

Because in the end, those emotions had been fleeting. And really, all Sasuke had come to hate was the part of himself that understood Naruto's motives all too well, that could see in Naruto only a reflection of himself.

Because Sasuke didn't just understand Naruto the victim. He understood Naruto the monster too.

"Truce," Sasuke said finally, flatly, as he extended a hand.

Naruto looked like he thought Sasuke was crazy. And he'd probably be right. "A truce implies both of us just stopping. And you never did anything. And I'm not just stopping. I'm getting on my knees and begging."

"I don't want you on your knees," Sasuke said evenly. "Just shake the stupid hand, Namikaze. Because I just got the stupid thought that you'd actually make a good friend, and I'm going to be pissed if you ruin that by refusing to accept that I've accepted your apology."

Naruto gaped at him rather stupidly. "You want to be friends?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I think the problem is that we already practically are friends, and it's just going to be weird if we don't make things more official." Because I know you, know a side of you maybe no one else will ever see. I know Naruto the failure just like I know Naruto the success. And now you know those sides of me too.

And we're probably never going to stop this, this competition and these clashes and conversations just like this.

Because you said it years ago: you're my eternal rival.

And the least I can do for someone who's made me who I am today is be his friend.

"You're insane," Naruto said, as if just realizing it.

Sasuke smirked, remembering a time when he'd said something very similar to Sakura. "I know."

Epilogue:

It's getting pretty late, Naruto thought as he came to a stop and peered up at the quickly darkening sky. Sasuke-teme's going to kill me.

He probably should have stopped calling Sasuke 'teme', but after it slipped out on accident about a hundred times Sasuke finally rolled his eyes and told him to just call him whatever he wanted. And Naruto had held out a bit longer on retraining his tongue, but ultimately 'bastard' and 'teme' just slipped out so much easier than plain ol' Sasuke.

I really should have tried harder, he thought with something like a smile. Cause he hasn't called me Uzumaki or dobe in years.

Sasuke would never know it, but that very fact had made it almost impossible to hold onto his hatred to Sasuke back when, well, he'd hated Sasuke. Because here was this bastard who was looking at you like you were about two inches tall and just a waste of his precious, Uchiha time, and then all of sudden he calls you Namikaze.

He doesn't call you by your bastard name, and he never calls you a 'dead last' again. Even if he's acting like he's a thousand times better than you, he's still acknowledging that you're the Yondaime Hokage's son.

And it had kind of made Naruto ridiculously happy that somebody both acknowledged him and acted like he still had something to prove.

His phone vibrated rather emphatically in his back pocket, and he knew that Sasuke had probably just texted him again. He didn't bother to look at it, but he did keep walking.

Naruto wasn't the same unlovable menace of his childhood. He'd grown up, gotten a lot better looking, and, y'know, figured out that his father was actually the Hokage. And with that revelation, Naruto had gotten a lot of things he'd never had before.

A father (and that was definitely the best part). Money. Tutors that didn't make him want to stab his eyes out with a pencil.

And strangely, friends.

It had never felt very real to him, the way that people who hadn't even tolerated him a few years back suddenly acted like they thought he was the best thing since sliced bread. But he'd just swallowed the revulsion because fake friends were still the closest thing to friends he'd ever had.

And then Sasuke came back.

Naruto consciously decided not to reminisce on that part of his life because holy crap it sucked to remember.

It had been thrilling to realize that he'd changed enough to be able match Sasuke in things like grades and sports (although he hadn't been able to test the latter until they'd officially become friends). The unobtainable goal of matching Sasuke had somehow been reached.

And he probably should have been disappointed that he'd nearly reached his goal, and by all means he should have moved onto some bigger and better challenge.

Except Sasuke had offered Naruto something precious and irreplaceable, something that no other rival ever could give Naruto and no other fake friend ever even seemed to want to.

He'd offered friendship.

Naruto tucked his hands behind his head and grinned rather stupidly at the few stars in the sky that he could make out. He'd never pegged himself as a sentimental sap exactly, but since Sasuke had become his friend he'd come to admit it was a viable aspect of his personality.

Sasuke just brought that out in him.

His phone was vibrating rather insistently and, with that same stupid smile on his face, Naruto slipped it from his back pocket and finally answered. "Hm?"

"Get your late butt over here," Sasuke snarled. "Sakura is driving me crazy, and I swear I'm not going to last three more seconds in this stupid party if you don't show up now."

Naruto laughed freely. "Hai, hai. Just walking up the driveway now."

The front door opened, and the drive was illuminated in yellow. And there stood the man of the hour himself.

And he looked pissed.

"Where the heck have you been?" Sasuke demanded as he stomped towards him. "It started over an hour ago!"

Naruto shrugged. "I guess I got lost on the road of life," Naruto said carelessly.

Sasuke's face registered disgust. "Right. Remind me to murder Kakashi next time I see him." And with that Sasuke latched onto the back of Naruto's neck and proceeded to drag him like a mother might control a toddler. Naruto had thought it a bit odd the first time or two Sasuke had done it to him, but then he'd seen Itachi do it Sasuke. And now it just made Naruto smile.

Speaking of Itachi, he was waiting for them in the foyer.

And he was smiling.

"Holy—"

But before Naruto could even began to panic, Itachi had nailed him with a poke.

Naruto stumbled back and clutched at his head as agony reverberated through his skull. "Holy crap!" Naruto finished in a rasp.

"Naruto-kun," Itachi greeted with a sparkling smile. "You have been greatly missed."

"Apologize you idiot or you'll get nailed a second time!" Sasuke hissed.

Naruto, still gritting his teeth in pain, bowed quickly. "I'm very sorry for my tardiness, Itachi-sama."

Itachi looked suspiciously close to laughing, but it was of a non-threatening variety. "Ah," Itachi said. "Well, this is Sasuke's party. There's no need to apologize to me." And with that Itachi glided off to terrorize someone else with an unforgivably absent look on his face, as if he hadn't just freaking concussed Naruto.

"He's terrifying," Naruto whispered, still nursing his forehead.

Sasuke scowled after his brother. "I know."

"Naruto-kun!"

Naruto looked up, a smile already on his face. "Sakura-chan!" He was almost glad that he reflexively smiled when he saw her because he knew otherwise he'd just have gaped stupidly at her.

In the years since they'd graduated high school and gone on to college together, Sakura had come a long way from the plain faced class representative who relied solely on her smile to dazzle others. And judging by the way Sasuke had stiffened visibly at the sight of his fiancé, Sasuke was far from immune.

So this is what Sasuke meant by Sakura driving him crazy, Naruto thought with some amusement.

"Dang, Sakura-chan!" Naruto greeted brightly. "You look hot."

Sasuke's scowl was murderous, but Sakura's soft laugh made the gamble worth it. "Thank you, Naruto-kun." Her eyes flashed. "It was very kind of you to eventually show up."

Naruto winced. "I've already been poked by Itachi. Can't we all just pretend that I showed up right on the dot?"

Sakura laughed again. "I suppose if Sasuke has forgiven you, I have nothing against you either." And thank heavens for that. "He's the one who's been pacing around this party like a caged animal and checking his phone every five minutes."

Naruto cast Sasuke an appraising look, but Sasuke only scowled flatly at him. "Don't look at me like that," Sasuke snapped. "This party is Hades."

Before Naruto could deliver his inevitably inflammatory response, Sakura cut in. "Why don't I get you some food, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto grinned at her. "Thanks, Sakura-chan. That would be great!" And with that, Sakura walked, well, more of sashayed away, and Sasuke finally relaxed at his side.

"So she's driving you crazy, huh?" Naruto repeated with a mischievous grin.

Sasuke scowled at him. "You know what? I can't wait until you get a girlfriend."

In his mind, Naruto saw pale lavender eyes and long black hair, and smiled. That might be sooner rather than later. If he ever managed to find a way to talk to her without her fainting or trying to run away. "Hai, hai," Naruto said, almost absently as he scanned the crowd. Abruptly he brightened. "Is that Shikamaru?"

Sasuke followed his eyes and then nodded. "But we're not supposed to bother him. Apparently he's strictly here on Nara business," Sasuke said a bit sourly.

Naruto snorted. "Meaning he's trying to get Temari-chan to agree to go out with him?" Temari was a representative of a corporate rival to Uchiha, and Shikamaru had been thrown into her company so many times that a week or two he'd finally told Naruto and Sasuke with a heavy sigh, "It's troublesome, but it looks like I don't have a choice anymore."

Judging by the way Temari was acting and the troubled frown on the Nara's lips, she seemed to think he very much did have a choice and wasn't about to cave until he made it.

Or at least made it with a bit more…enthusiasm.

"Ten bucks she holds out till the end of the night," Naruto said, nudging Sasuke.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "He'll be lucky if she says yes by the end of the week after how he's acted."

Naruto laughed and slung an arm over his friend's shoulder. "So, how does it feel taking on the family business? Eh? Eh? Is it every bit as soul sucking so far as you thought?"

Sasuke shoved his arm off his shoulder. "Baka. I love my job. I practically made my job." His face dropped into a scowl. "It's this blasted party that's sucking my soul."

Naruto grinned and nudged him again. "Well, have no fear, Sasuke-teme! Your extraordinarily good looking, charismatic, fun loving best friend is here to entertain you from the rest of the party!"

It looked like Sasuke was trying to glare at him but was failing miserably. "Well, that was the whole point of inviting you," Sasuke pointed out.

Sakura had come back then, and after Naruto had appropriately sang Chouji praises for offering to cater this party, she turned her sharp gaze on her fiancé. "Aren't you supposed to be mingling?"

Naruto bit back a laugh at the look of dread on Sasuke's face. "Everyone at the company already knows me." It wasn't really an excuse, and Sasuke seemed to know it.

"Itachi said—"

"Itachi can go screw himself!" Naruto interrupted carelessly, relishing Sasuke's look of horror. "Come on, teme! Let's go spike the punch and go swimming drunk!" He grabbed Sasuke's arm then and began to run. And, after hesitating a bit, Sasuke followed, leaving a bewildered but somewhat resigned Sakura.

As he slammed Sasuke into at least ten people very prominent in the company and giving him no time to apologize, Naruto smiled to himself and thought, I could live like this for a long, long time.

End

A/N: Please feel free to leave a comment! ^-^ I'd love to know if anybody actually managed to brave 19,000 words of this crap. Because let's be honest, it was a bit of a hot mess, eh?