Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me. Plot borrowed from the movie "Il Mare". Beautiful story line, wonderful characters, all I can do is try to mesh both words together.

Author's Note: New Project of mine, the rest of my other stories are currently under hiatus. I know where I want to go with the other stories but I just need to refocus my thoughts on this one first. This one will probably be less than 10 chapters, not too sure for now but please note that Sasuke will be a bit out of character. This is what I THINK Sasuke would have been like if he still had his family with him. I will try to not make them too OOC and I don't want to be too fluffy with the plot but it might cause a bit of cavity, so be warned. Please review constructively, appreciate it!


Chapter One: First Day of the End

"…If I lose any more than this, will my heart be forgiven?

How much pain before I can see you again

One more time, please don't change the season

One more time to the time when we fool around…"

One more time, one more chance – Masayoshi Yamazaki (Soundtrack from 5cm per second)


Sasuke heaved a huge sign of relief, letting the box fall onto the table with a noisy clatter. He winced, hoping that there was nothing fragile in there but dismissed the thought immediately, favouring to instead focus on how his arms were finally able to rest for a while. Stretching his arms above his head, he exhaled noisily in great relief, letting his eyes sweep across the cluttered room.

Boxes of various sizes lay across the bare floor. He wrinkled his nose in distaste. He didn't realize he had owned a lot of things. Hoping that all of those were his and not something that his over protective mother thought he needed rather.

He turned when he heard the door being slammed open again, scowling in irritation. Hips cocked, arms folded across his chest, he glared at his close friend, Sakura Haruno, who carelessly threw the box labelled as "fragile" onto another box.

"Ugh, this is such hard work. How come you've got so many things anyway? Packed your whole house away, did you?" she complained, choosing to ignore Sasuke's dark mutterings.

Pushing back her sweaty pink bangs while grimacing, she looked around and almost knocked Sasuke down in her haste to gape at the magnificent view from the main room they were standing in. The glass door squeaked harshly, Sasuke absentmindedly noted to get some oil for the door, and then Sakura was standing on the wooden decking of the platform, eyes greedily swallowing in the magnificent view of the sparkling lake.

Sasuke stepped forward, leaning against the frame of the sliding door, his eyes fixed on the beautiful scenery.

"It's awesome here," Sakura intoned softly and Sasuke gave his customary "hn" in reply, letting the tension accumulated from the stress of the move leak away from his body.

This was what had first drawn him into viewing the house. He had been looking for a place to stay and had been just casually looking through the various brochures offering the latest houses for rent, staunchly ignoring the overly friendly real estate agent. Honestly, these women simply fell over him if he even happened to glance their way (Sakura had nearly brained him when he had remarked casually that they make good stepping stones over puddles to prevent his expensive shoes from getting wet, after all, she had been one of those idiotic women before).

He had been at the edge of desperation as the infuriatingly brainless woman had inched closer, her perfume nearly causing him to gag, ready to throw the brochures at her and simply flee, as undignified as it seemed (Uchiha pride, godamnit!) when his fingers slipped and the brochures fluttered onto the floor.

Immediately, the woman nearly doubled over the floor, ready to help, long nails looking more like claws as she managed to flutter her eyelashes (dirt in your eyes, ma'am?) and reveal copious amount of unwanted cleavage much to Sasuke's disgust.

Having had had enough, he stood up, ready to walk out when he realized he had stepped onto a stray brochure. Picking it up, his frown of displeasure abating slightly, he had turned and curtly asked, "Why was I not shown this particular brochure?"

The vapid woman managed to gape silently for a while and Sasuke had to bite his inner cheeks to prevent the scathing words from boiling over.

"Ah, that one! It was not suitable for you, which was why it was not placed together with the others! It's too far out into the middle of nowhere!" she giggled as she tried to preen and act cute. Sasuke's frown darkened again. That was exactly why he had mentioned these specifically when he entered this stupid place! Pinching the bridge of his nose, he took a slow deep breath, eyes closed. He must not, he must not, he must NOT lose his temper.

"Miss, I would like to view this place now."

The woman gaped and tried to vainly dissuade him but he fixed his Uchiha Glare at her (eep, the woman gurgled out) and flatly intoned, "House. View. Now."

Ignoring the childish taunting of his imaginary Uncle Obito's voice (made her cry, made her cry, lady killeeeerrrr~), he practically stormed over to the car, hoping this trip would be worth her company.

It had been more than worth it.

Half an hour's drive out onto the outskirts of the Village, Sasuke had been driven into a worn driveway of flattened grass. The grass was almost shin height but Sasuke disregarded that as he stood there, taking in the sight of the house. Late afternoon lights painted the house warmly. Sasuke felt was something strange about the house and it was not till they had walked closer that he realised what it was. The house was at the edge of a lake! Wooden walk boards connected the house to the edge of the land. From afar, it looked like the house was on firm ground but once closer, one could obviously see that it was not. Curiosity aflame, he edged a bit closer towards the edge and saw that the house was raised onto firm stilts, a winding staircase connecting the wet muddy surface of the bottom of the lake to the back of the house. Sasuke could see that unless one jumped down those steep, rock-jagged slope, the only way into the house was from the front door.

He almost jumped when he heard the real estate agent's voice professionally (as professionally as she could get with her unwanted cleavage and constant eyelash seizures, his mind roared) break down the history of the house.

"This house was designed and commissioned by an anonymous owner whom owned the land and land surrounding the lake. The company that built it were made to sign confidential contracts that prohibited them from revealing the owner of the lands and the house. The owner had specifically wanted this unique design to go in companionship with the lake rather than be a typical house on the lake thus the addition of stilts onto the lake itself and the staircase from the back of the house leading right onto the lake. The house took almost ten years to build and the view is simply magnificent from inside as well. Ah, it's a good thing that we came at this time. Evening is nearly falling and the best part is yet to come."

Sasuke was led towards an old gnarled tree at the corner further from the house. He could see the curve of the wooden walk way from here. Peering closer, he realised that there was something sprayed at the side of the wall of the house.

"Il…mare?" he asked curiously, looking down at the real estate agent whom had been fumbling in the hollow of the gnarled old tree, ignoring Sasuke's wondering look and she cooed in delight as she seemed to find whatever she was looking for.

Sasuke started when he realised that the tree they were standing under started to glow softly. Not the whole tree, he realised, strangely pleased. There were sparsely spread out coloured LEDs whose wires were entwined on the gnarled branches, lighting it up dimly but in the fading sunlight and encroaching darkness, it was beautiful.

"The previous tenant had installed this after the house was finished and left unoccupied for over 15 years. No one was allowed to occupy this house before the previous tenant and it was he whom painted those words at the side of the house. Il Mare means The Sea."

"Strange name for a house at the edge of a lake," Sasuke murmured, busy drinking in the sight of the house, watching as the waters of the lake slowly but surely started rising to cover the foot of the winding staircase at the bottom of the edge of the lake.

"I was told he was a strange man," the woman replied, shrugging nonchalantly and then started back onto spouting facts about the house, hoping to impress the Uchiha under this romantic atmosphere.

But alas, to her eternal woe, all she had managed to do was make Sasuke fall in love with the house and he signed the lease for the house the next day and was moved within the week, leaving the broken hearted real estate agent to mourn the end of her fairytale dream.

Sasuke was snapped out of his flashback when Sakura started to squeal loudly about the fishes swimming in the lake, which could be seen due to the clarity of the water.

Grunting in acquiesce, he glanced back to the huge pile of boxes, grimacing. He was NOT looking forward to the unpacking.


Exhaustion left him barely able to crawl into bed that night after his shower, the sheets mussed comfortably for him. The soft lapping of the water soothed his mind and he could feel the peace simply settle into him. For once, he was able to simply let go and drift.

The next morning (his first morning in Il Mare, like with a new lover) saw Sasuke leisurely sip his coffee as he watched the morning arrive softly over the lake, leaning on the frame of the deck.

He headed back to the shower when he saw that he had lingered on a little too much. Roughly towelling his wet hair, he made a note to order more furniture for his new home. He slipped into his uniform and grabbed his side bag, his keys, wallet and phone, hurrying as he put his shoes on. As he backed away from the house, he felt the warmth of happiness, knowing that this place, this moment in time belonged to him solely.

By midday, he was ready to throttle somebody. His colleagues steered clear of him as the dark cloud hovered over him. Hunched over his desk, dark curses could be heard.

Sasuke angrily smashed his fingers onto the poor keyboard of his computer, nearly breaking it.

"Sa~Su~Ke~tan!"

A piece of his keyboard snapped and went flying. Less than a minute after this declaration, he was pitched forward from the power of the glomp, nearly smashing his face onto the monitor.

"Damnit, Uncle Obito!" he roared, shrugging off the lump of a man, who stood grinning cheerfully. This was the man whom had been tormenting him since this morning! Eyebrows twitching, fists clenching, teeth being ground into fine dust. How was this man his uncle and a bloody Uchiha?

Loud orange (orange for Christ's sake! ORANGE!) goggles placed atop his head, keeping his bangs off his face, various trinkets decorating his wrists and his Uchiha badge of authority hanging off his loose pants like a fashion accessory, orange tee shirt peeking cheekily from underneath his dark blue uniform. Grin bright enough to put the sun to shame, his Uncle stood there, whimpering slightly when he realised that Sasuke's rage was growing murderously.

"Uncle. What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" he ground out; afraid his words would leap out and start choking the infuriating man. For God's sake, he was supposed to be his elder!

"But Sasuke-tan~ I came to meet my beloved nephew! To have lunch together since it has been ages since I last saw you and since you were so adamant about moving out! I missed you!" Obito whined, lower lips wobbling for effect.

Sasuke closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose, hoping to keep the oncoming headache at bay.

"Uncle, I just saw you yesterday at home before the move and besides, you just can't come over! You are posted over at the east end of the Village while I was working in the west end of the Village. You are a senior member of the Force and you should act like it!" Sasuke practically steamed out the facts, ignoring his Uncle's whimpers. Slamming his chair out again, he took a seat and fixed his burning stare onto the monitor.

Silence.

"I bought lunch," came the quiet admission and Sasuke face palmed as his stomach betrayed him by choosing to roar loudly in hunger.

…..

"Do you like the new place?" his Uncle inquired, head cocked as he crunched on his apple.

Sasuke, savouring the rice balls he knew his mother had prepared, nodded.

"Good. You must be very happy about finally being able to move out. But don't forget that you can come over anytime, we're family," Obito murmured almost sullenly. Sasuke looked at his Uncle from the corner of his eyes, taking in his almost wilting frame.

Obito Uchiha was his Uncle, his Father's younger brother. Father had been the oldest in the family with 3 younger sisters and Obito had been a surprise pregnancy late in Sasuke's grandmother's life. She had been almost 45 years of age when she had given birth to Obito. Sasuke's father, Fugaku Uchiha had already been married by then and had had Itachi, whom had been 4 years of age. Sasuke had heard from his mother that because his mother had been of an older age when she had given birth, she had almost died of complications during the birth and Obito had been quite small. But his mother had considered him a miracle and he had been spoiled quite thoroughly to Fugaku's consternation. By the time Sasuke had been born, Obito was a toddler of 4 years old. And thus with the age between them only a mere 4 years, Sasuke had found his best friend in his Uncle who was as different as day was to night when comparing him to a typical Uchiha.

Obito was loud, loved being boisterous and swayed easily by this emotions. Despite this, he was one of the best police officers around. Sasuke knew his father was proud of his youngest sibling but sometimes his cold demeanour was hard to take and being frequently on the receiving end of his aloofness, he and Obito got along swimmingly.

Sasuke knew it must be just as terrible for Obito to remain in the Main House where he was always being criticized for being un-Uchiha like but unlike Obito, he had managed to escape.

"You can stay over if you miss me," Sasuke quietly offered, adverting his eyes, a light flush colouring his cheeks.

Obito perked up visibly at that and threw his arms around Sasuke, yelling loudly in happiness, ignoring Sasuke's hisses of death threats. Sasuke, for all his protests, did not try too hard to remove himself from Obito's hugs.

…..

Sasuke threw his keys onto the table, wincing as he stretched, his muscles all tensed up. He had spent almost all of today behind his desk doing paperwork for his first day back after a week of taking leave. Tomorrow, he would be back to taking assignments.

Opening the door to his fridge, which had been delivered yesterday, he made a mental note to buy some more food. All he had was a bottle of half finished milk, bottle of water and a couple of cans of energy drinks. Looking into the crisper, he saw some cherry tomatoes in a packet. Quickly scanning through his cupboard and freezer, he managed to scour some bulbs of garlic, frozen coriander leaves, prawns and some penne pasta.

Quickly and efficiently, he started preparing his dinner, chopping, cutting and boiling. Soon, the kitchen was filled with the delicious smell of pasta with prawns and cherry tomatoes. Digging out a plate from a labelled box, he washed and dried the plate, scooping out a generous portion of pasta, cracking some pepper and salt over it. He grunted lightly as he moved another box out of the way to open up a small padded box. He pulled out a random bottle of wine and hooked a washed wine glass on the same hand while his other hand grabbed his dinner. Sliding open the glass pane, he placed his plate on the seat of his comfy chair, poured some wine before situating himself cosily, slouching into the chair, wine class beside his feet.

The air was slightly chilly, autumn hung in the air but the air was still sweet enough to be sitting out here, staring at the lake and having his warm dinner; good food, wine and beautiful atmosphere making him almost melt into his chair.

Sasuke ran faster, refusing to lose sight of the man. Swerving expertly, he missed crashing into the lamppost, legs working furiously as he nearly caught up to the man. He swore as the man made a last minute dodge through an alleyway, Sasuke following closely. Sasuke dodged the incoming rubbish bin flung at him, snarling as the man persisted on testing his patience by refusing to be apprehended. With a dash of speed that the evader could barely follow with his eyes, Sasuke punched the man and kicked him hard on his knees. The man went down like a bull, crying out piteously in pain, blood gushing from his broken nose.

"Come on," Sasuke snarled, clapping on the handcuffs on him and deposited the man by the mouth of the alleyway, narrow eyes searching as he waited, ignoring the looks of admiration thrown his way. A squad car came into view from the corner and Sasuke waved to them, grunting when the officers (more of his cousins, ugh) greeted him almost coldly. Sasuke could care less, he simply waited for them to load the thief back into the car and once he was finished with that, he simply turned back and walked back to where his bike had been parked, not bothering to socialize at all.

…..

Sasuke bent down to peer down into the depths of the short darkness enveloping his mailbox. There had been no mail for him for the past week he had been here and that was a bit strange considering that he had made changes appropriately. But then, he didn't have much reason to have mail sent unless it was by a credit card company or fan mails. He was happy that he had not been sent spam mails in any case.

The edge of a white envelope peeked out from the darkness. Sasuke reached in and pulled out an envelope. Eyebrow crinkled in a frown as he read the addressee.

"Umino Naruto?"

...

Author's Note: So what did you think? Next update in a couple of days, please r/v!