How to counter-attack a crappy day: make it Fic Day.
Title: I Just Wanted You to Know
Rating: T
Genre: Good question. Fluff, School, Friendship and something more. NaruSasu
Wordcount: 10 000 or so (So LONG. Sorry v_v)
Summary: During schools' sports gathering, there are the ones who take part and win (Sasuke), the ones who take part and loose (the others), the ones who cheer on the sidelines (the classmates) and the ones who disappear with no one to notice it or even care about it (Naruto). No one?
Warnings: Boys kissing, lame attempts at humor, too many stereotypes to count and Itachi as a... 'normal' brother.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. At all.
I just wanted you to know
Sasuke took the last bend and left it behind him. He now only had to stay ahead in home straight.
He could do it. And easily, at that.
He knew his classmates were probably standing on the sidelines, encouraging him, but he didn't hear, didn't see. There was only him, his feet hitting the ground, his breathing, wisps of thoughts disappearing before they were really formed, and the other runners he watched out of the corner of his eye to make sure they were not about to overtake him.
It was a very limited world and an incredibly free feeling.
Suddenly, a voice pierced the small bubble effort and concentration had blown around him: "Hey, bastard! Is that all you can do? I knew all this talk was a whole load of shit!"
It was not difficult to catch a glimpse of the person that had just shouted - a bright orange figure standing on a platform between the highest ranks of the bleachers - without shifting his gaze from the track.
Trust the blond boy to (loudly) criticise while he himself didn't know how to run in a straight line.
I'll show you, moron, Sasuke thought with a smirk. He lengthened his stride, slightly modifying the rhythm of his breathing for the last 25 metres, focused.
He won.
In half a second, it seemed, all his classmates were on him, not even caring that he hadn't had the time to catch his breath or didn't want to acknowledge them. They cheered and congratulated him until Neji's sense woke up a bit and he forced the others to step back and let him breathe. Sasuke nodded in his direction to thank him.
That was more than he would do for anyone else.
When he straightened up, he raised his head toward the bleachers, distractedly looking for the one who had inadvertently helped him turning a simple victory into a crushing one, but when he spotted the platform on which he had glimpsed him, the blond boy had disappeared.
It was as if he had never stood there.
Naruto Uzumaki was a strange character.
He was an orphan - that much everyone knew - and had apparently decided that all the attention he hadn't gotten at 'home' because of it he would force out of everybody else, whether they liked it or not.
And most of the time, it was the not part that applied.
Naruto was loud, his language coarse - no one had ever taught him to be polite, apparently - his gestures exuberant. He was bright in everything that was not school - bright clothes, bright smile, bright hair, bright eyes, bright personality, bright ideas for a good prank. He was disturbingly honest - or stupid - and would claim something before he'd even think of hiding it - like his eternal love for Sakura even if it made him the butt of countless mockeries and jokes, or his eternal hate for Sasuke even if it put him on the teacher's hit list for not respecting their much beloved top-grade student. He apparently didn't know anything apart from excess.
So it would be expected that Sasuke - calm, reserved, measured and brilliant - would not only be the favourite target for all his insults and anger, but would also be allowed to look down on him with so-called justified impunity.
That's what everyone believed. That's what Sasuke himself had believed at first - he had, after all, learned early on how to react to low-range criticism arising from frustration and jealousy and was not about to make an exception for a stupid boy who wasn't even able to insult him in a correct sentence. Though he had to admit that letting said boy bait him into physical fights right from the beginning of primary school was not the best way to show him his utter indifference and crush him with cold contempt.
His father had scolded him and had demanded he be more measured and responsible. His mother had scolded him and had patted his hair with a smile and a remark on how passionate he was. Itachi had said nothing, but had gazed at him with these calculating eyes of his - like he understood somehow that Sasuke couldn't help it - and refused to comment on it.
So yeah. Hate and blows and snarls. It had seemed that it was all there had been to it.
And then there had been the accident.
Naruto's whole attention was directed to the race taking place, to a specific runner. He was leaning heavily on the railing, not caring it was entirely rusty and could break at a moment's notice under his hands. Not that he weighted that much to begin with.
"Yes, yes, yes," he whispered without even noticing it, barely restraining himself from jumping up and down, but unable to repress his smile.
There was something about Sasuke when he was running, when his whole world was reduced to the track and his movements, when he was briefly freed from any expectation other than his own - no teachers, no family, no classmates. Focused and trying, putting in a last effort and accelerating to leave all the other behind, he was beautiful.
He looked like he was taking flight.
Then a heavy hand landed on the blond boy's shoulder, abruptly bringing him back to reality.
"Well, well, look at what we have here," a voice said.
A voice he knew. He couldn't help but freeze.
Other voices added:
"How nice of you to finally pay us a little visit after all this time."
"Encouraging your boyfriend, are you?"
"Who knew you would be such a little fag on top of everything else?"
Naruto swallowed, refused to turn even when the hand pulled on his shoulder. He managed to reply: "Leave me alone."
His voice was almost trembling. Damn it. The grip on his shoulder only tightened.
"No, I don't think we will," the voice spoke again.
"See, the cops have been a real pain in the ass lately. Knowing all kind of things they shouldn't."
"You wouldn't happen to know anything about it, would you?"
Naruto didn't bother to answer - like they would listen to what he had to say. His eyes searched for something, someone, anyone... But no one was looking at him. Not even Sasuke who was now bending over, his hands on his knees, catching his breath.
Naruto hadn't even seen him cross the line.
"We have the right to find a way to let off a little bit of steam, don't you think?"
The hand suddenly tugged, making him stumble backwards with an involuntary yelp. He fell off the platform, caught a glimpse of smirking faces, black clothes-
Felt so small and frail in comparison.
Not again.
The accident.
Sasuke had been eight years old.
He still remembered everything: the apprehension in his guts, the feel of his clothes against his skin and his clammy hands he had tried not to let twitch while the other candidates before him had been fighting one another. He remembered barely listening to his trainer's last advice and orders, he most of all remembered waiting, waiting for his turn to come, waiting for his family to arrive because this competition had been the main event of the year and they had promised they would come this time.
They had promised.
But they had been late and the competition had already started and his turn had been about to come and-
And then he had been the one in the middle of the dojo, facing a boy he didn't know but had to fight anyway. He had spent the whole fight - the whole competition - torn between glancing repeatedly towards the entrance and the public to see if his family had arrived and the fear he would disappoint and anger his father if he made an error just because he had been distracted by thinking of them. Each and every time doubt had crept over him, he had let the Uchiha's stubborn, idiotic pride take over - he had stupidly thought it was strength - and focused once more on the fight, delivering a decisive blow or dodging one everyone thought he wouldn't be able to avoid.
After a while, his trainer, Orochimaru, had appeared among the public with a small smile firmly stuck on his face. Sasuke had thought he had noticed his family's absence too and had somehow been trying to be there in their stead. The boy had ignored him because he certainly hadn't been who he had wanted - needed.
He had ignored everything. He had fought.
He had won.
Only it hadn't meant a thing to him. Because he had only been a little boy who had wanted to make his father proud, and his father hadn't come. Nor his mother, nor his brother.
He had never found it so hard not to cry.
Orochimaru, on the other hand, had been glowing with pride, congratulating him and singing his praises, dragging him this way and that to take a picture, talk to a couple of parents, accept compliments and answer questions.
It was only after all had been said and done, after Sasuke had received the medal he hadn't wanted and forced a fake smile on his face for the people who wouldn't have understood nor admitted his disappointment, that Orochimaru had turned to him and mentioned his parents.
No, they hadn't come. No, they hadn't forgotten.
They had actually been in an accident on their way to the dojo.
Orochimaru had gotten the news in the first third of the competition and had decided that not telling him anything and letting him fight was for the best. He had even convinced the staff responsible for the event not to interrupt anything.
Sasuke had been stunned.
Then he had been in the hospital, his brother in a coma from which no one had known if he would wake up and his parents forced into a medically induced coma because they wouldn't have been able to bear the pain otherwise. Then his whole world had crumbled.
At 8 p.m. on the dot, his phone rang.
"Tell me the truth, dear little brother, did you get your ass kicked?" Itachi asked before there was even the time to utter a greeting.
Sasuke smirked. Even if he tried to cover it up with jabs, Itachi was such a mother hen. It was for instance very telling that he was the one calling, and not their parents, while Sasuke was only away for two days and a half.
All these thoughts passed in the silence that followed Itachi's question. Sasuke knew he didn't need to speak aloud, which was confirmed by the knowing chuckle he heard.
Their parents often wondered if they had bred some sort of mutants with telepathic abilities. If they had, the evolution was not over and left much to be desired - after all, the Uchiha brothers could not hold a whole conversation without any contribution through voice or glances. The former ones were very important but sadly lacking in a phone conversation. Sasuke knew he had to talk for it to progress.
He didn't.
Silence.
"So..." Itachi prompted after a while, trying to let his voice express a mocking condescension - I know what you're trying to do, foolish little brother - but failing at pretending he wasn't losing.
"So," Sasuke retorted, revelling in this too rare and therefore all the most precious instant of superiority.
He wasn't the one paying, after all.
He glanced up when a teacher entered the room. The fact that he didn't even bother to try and make the boys calm down before talking was even more typical of him than his too long, too wild black hair. So was the reaction of the teenagers who all stopped what noise they were doing in order to listen.
Kotetsu Hagane had something of a cool vibe inspiring respect.
"Okay boys, you know the drill. I say you name. You answer, that's cool. You're not here to answer, sucks to be you," he said before launching into the list.
"So what delicious activities did you have today? Finger painting?" Itachi asked, momentarily giving up the pretense. "I hope you made the Uchiha name proud."
"High-jumping, long-jumping, 5000-metres relay race, 1500-metres, 400-metres and 100-meter races, marathon, football," Sasuke monotonously listed, then added: "I won the medal at the 400-meters race." He hoped his inner preening couldn't be heard over the line.
"I conclude you ran against girls in high heels and obese boys," his brother deadpanned. "I am appalled."
"Well, Lee was running on the marathon," Sasuke conceded. Everyone knew that there was no way he would have won if the boy and his bushy eyebrows had been there. He wasn't ashamed to admit it.
"And with which youthful activities will you have the pleasure to confront each other in a debauch of manly friendship, flowing sweat, green spandex and shining smiles tomorrow?"
Sasuke flinched in spite of himself. Itachi gleefully sniggered. Only he would be able to survive Mr. Gai's teaching and turn the traumatising experience into a weapon. To be used against his own brother. Monstrous asshole.
"I'm not sure," he mumbled once he was sure the worse was behind him and his dear brother wouldn't unexpectedly but expertly strike again. "Mostly team-sports, I think, and something with martial arts... Here," he added for Mr. Hagane who had just called his name, barely raising a hand.
He would have gone back to the conversation with his brother if the following name to be called hadn't been met by silence - all the more deafening that everyone had expected a very loud outburst.
"Uzumaki Naruto?" Mr. Hagane repeated, without better results. Sasuke's inspection of the room informed him that indeed the blond boy wasn't here with them. "Huh," the teacher went on after noticing the same thing. "Did anyone see him?"
Sasuke actually hadn't since the race.
The other boys shrugged, shook their head, or didn't even react, but Kotetsu only glanced at Sasuke, saw his surprised - not worried, absolutely not - frown and nodded. He finished the list and left the room, probably to go looking for the wayward boy.
"Sasuke?"
The teenager blinked and realised he was still on the phone with his brother, who had probably asked a question only to be met by a silence that was neither intended nor sarcastic.
"Everything alright?"
Great, now Itachi was worried about him. Sasuke was going to kill Naruto.
"Sorry, I was distracted. Nothing to care about, it's only..."
"Ah, Only," Itachi interrupted, like it explained everything. He seemed strangely elated. "So you're probably busy. Very well, I'll go now."
"What? No, wait-"
He realised too late that such a reaction was the worst he could have had.
"Oh, don't cry, baby brother," Itachi grinned. "I know you miss me. I'll call back tomorrow morning to wish you good luck, I promise." He paused for a second to make sure Sasuke felt his satisfaction. "After all, I have to know to make sure you'll do well with showing your youthful spirit in team-sport. How lucky are we that it'll soon be online for all the world to see."
Trust Itachi to remind him that someone - someone' - would probably record his 'performance' on film and post it on YouTube, gushing about his so-called awesomeness and strength - and most of all not realising that Sasuke, like every Uchiha, more or less sucked at any form of teamwork.
Sasuke hoped his silence conveyed everything simple words could not correctly express - you fucker I hate you die-
He heard Itachi's second chuckle before the line went dead.
He didn't quite know what had followed after the hospital. He had been brought home - that huge, cold, empty house - that much he knew. Orochimaru had apparently had no qualms about leaving an eight years old alone to his own device after such an event. He had survived on automatic mode for one day - get up, eat, go to school, notice the idiot was missing once more, go home, do your homework, eat, go to bed, repeat.
On the second day, Kakashi Hatake had appeared on his doorstep.
Sasuke had only ever heard of him at these large family gatherings only the Uchiha could put up with, and what had been said had always been bad things. Sasuke had never even met the man.
But apparently, Kakashi had been the only one with more than half a brain in front of this situation. He had let drop everything as soon as he had gotten the news and jumped onto the first train available, intent on not leaving Sasuke alone longer than necessary.
In his haste, he had forgotten to bring socks and looked more like he had gotten lost than anything else.
Sasuke hadn't reacted, had only stepped to the side to let him enter and take over the guest room. He had remained quiet. Kakashi had looked at him like he understood, hadn't pressed the matter and had begun raiding the fridge and trying to cook - loudly.
So things had still been - shakily - standing.
By then the news had reached his classmates. They had been worried, of course, but most of all they had been impressed. Amazed. They would all crowd his desk and gush about his exploits, never noticing how he had gritted his teeth and hadn't answered any of their questions.
All except Naruto.
"Oh, what the hell," the blond boy had suddenly spat after half a day of excruciating one-sided conversation. He had reappeared the day before, his left wrist and fingers covered with bandages and a faded bruise circling his right eye in faint green and yellow. "Leave him the fuck alone for a bit. So what, he won even if his whole family was on the brink of dying. Boo-hoo. You act like it's something to be proud of. Don't you think he'd rather have left and gone to them instead? Fuck the stupid competition, that's not wor-"
"Oh, shut up, Naruto," Kiba had retorted along with a scathing glare.
"Yeah," Ino had added, rolling her eyes. "You're just jealous for not getting the attention. But it's not like you've done anything to deserve it."
"Loser," someone had added.
Naruto had blinked. "Jealous?" he had choked, but not out of anger or vexation.
Sasuke had blinked too, equally dumbfounded, and-
Their eyes had met, briefly, improbably, and for the first time - no, not for the first time but... - there had been this... this understanding, this complicity between them and they had been the only two able to grasp it. He hadn't even heard what or from whom the following jab had been, but Naruto had. He had frowned and the expression in his eyes had closed off when he had let Sasuke's go to look at the others.
"Okay," he had told them, voice low. "Drop it."
He had stuck his hands in his pocket and turned away. No one had stopped him. Some mockeries had followed him while the others had picked up the conversation where they had left it. Sasuke had found himself unable to tear his gaze away from the door through which the blond boy had disappeared - he had wanted to snap and tell the others to shut up and make them understand that no. No, it wasn't jealousy, it probably never had been.
He was the only one to understand.
He hadn't been able to - perhaps because he had known that it would be in vain, they wouldn't have believed it. The professor had arrived then and more than one had been only too happy to tell him that, yes, Naruto was here, but he had left the room.
The blond boy had gotten a detention even if he had come back only two minutes after the beginning of class.
Sasuke couldn't sleep.
Not that it was an uncommon occurrence. The Uchiha household might have been the one most active place in the darkest hours of the night and in the wee hours of the morning. Not infrequently, the teenager, fed up with his bed refusing to be comfortable and his eyes refusing to remain closed, went down the stairs only to find his brother drawing on the living-room couch or his father reading the journal in the kitchen like it was already morning (at 2 a.m it was only mathematically true).
He would sit by either one it was that was up this time and read or listen to music. They never stroke up a conversation - not because they had nothing to say or because their nightly encounters were some kind of shameful secret, but because the Uchiha men didn't want to bother the only person happily dreaming the hours away in the whole house.
Their mother, apparently, had never had any difficulties to fall and most of all remain asleep from ten p.m. to seven a.m. each night. Since he had to bear other people marvelling at how much he resembled her - is that not incredible, Mrs. Uchiha? Yes, yes it is indeed - Sasuke found it particularly unfair that he hadn't inherited her ability to sleep well along with her looks.
Life was cruel.
But well. Usually, after a day of practice and physical efforts, Sasuke's body never fussed over the idea of resting and his mind found quite easily the way to the lands of dreams.
No such luck this time. Especially not now that his roommates were in deep sleep and some of them were not the most quiet about it. Actually, they were even louder than Naruto awake, even though some of them were quite discreet during the day. Sasuke had to wonder if it was possible for the blond boy to be louder than he usually was when asleep or if he was entirely silent.
Only there was no way to know since the boy in question still hadn't returned.
Finally, with a discontented growl, Sasuke threw back his sheets and blanket and got up. He didn't care he was on a short school trip and special rules applied: if he could wander aimlessly at night in his own home, he could very well do it in this hotel too. He wouldn't be stupid enough to leave the place and the teachers were probably sleeping too anyway.
He carefully avoided his sleeping classmates - if he tripped on Lee's legs it was purely by accident and absolutely not an attempt at making him stop his snoring (It didn't work. Damn it.) - until he reached the door.
"... new ?" he heard when he opened it.
So much for the teachers being asleep. He glanced up to see Izumo slowly shaking his head, his brow furrowed in a concerned frown. "It can't be one of his pranks, usually..." he stopped when he noticed Sasuke's presence. The teenager couldn't help but feel irritated at being excluded - he was not an idiot and knew who they were talking about. And he had a right to know - even if he spent most of his time apparently trying to break the other boy's face, to find the best way to insult him and to-
Okay. As far as the teachers were concerned, he had no right at all.
"I would like to go to the bathroom," he said.
Both teachers stared at him for a second, then Kotetsu nodded and turned to lead the way.
"I'll go back to looking," Izumo muttered before leaving in the other direction.
The way to the bathroom was silent, but Mr. Hagane kept throwing small glances at him, like he wanted to say something or expected Sasuke to do so. Irritating.
It was only after he'd gotten back to the room and his sleeping classmates that it occurred to Sasuke that he might have gotten an answer about Naruto's whereabouts if he had bothered to ask.
A week and a half after Kakashi's arrival, Itachi had woken up. Kakashi had come to pick Sasuke up right in the middle of class, not even bothering to ask for the teacher's permission before he was entering the room and telling Sasuke to pack up his things. He had driven him to the hospital, led him to his brother's room and then made himself scarce.
Sasuke had all but broken down.
He had clung to Itachi and told him everything without being able to stop, without caring about what the older, stronger boy he admired - and loved - so much would think by seeing such weakness. Sasuke had always tried not to be a crybaby when facing his brother. But this time - this time had been too much. He hadn't told a word to anyone else about it after all - solitude and fear and feeling so lost and helpless and he hadn't known if they would ever wake up and the others - and he hadn't been able to keep it inside anymore.
"They, they all said..." He hadn't been able to finish. But then he had added, more calmly, with a thoughtful frown: "There was only..."
There had only been Naruto to understand.
"You know what, little brother?" Itachi had asked in a voice full of forced calm and coolness - Sasuke had felt the tension and unexpected tenderness underneath for the first time in years. He had looked up and met his brother's slightly sad gaze. Itachi had smiled. "This Only character seems good for you. I would advise you to keep them around."
He had poked Sasuke on the forehead and hadn't pressed the matter further - he had said all he had wanted to say, after all.
By 6 a.m., Sasuke was sick and tired of turning in his bed while hearing just how well his roommates could sleep and snore, and got up once more. He probably had slumbered two or three hours if he added it all up and that was more than enough for him to survive another day.
And then people thought he was lucky to be an Uchiha. Fucking genetics.
He went to take a shower. At least the stalls were all free. Sasuke had a hard time considering it as an advantage. He combed his hair, ignored his usual paleness and went down to the dining-room. It was 6:30 by then and the breakfast tables had already been set up. On the one closest to the window, both teachers responsible for their group were seated, looking worse for wear. It took them almost two minutes to notice his presence and he wasn't trying to be discreet.
"Sasuke? What are you doing up?" Izumo asked, eyebrows raised. "The wake up call isn't before half past seven."
"Crazy kids," Kotetsu mumbled. He was massaging his nape and, like his colleague, didn't appear to have properly slept.
"'Couldn't sleep," Sasuke muttered before snatching some slices of bread, a bit of butter and a cup of tea.
Kotetsu looked at him, gripping his own coffee like he couldn't believe Sasuke hadn't chosen this beverage to wake himself up. The teenager almost snorted - the man probably didn't know tea had more or less the same effect, without the taste-buds-killing bitterness. Then the black-haired teacher almost let drop his own holy nectar when he noticed someone behind him.
Sasuke glanced over his shoulder and saw a tall man with long shaggy grey hair and an obnoxiously coloured jacket.
"Good morning," he said too seriously to be natural - was he trying to look decent?
"You're the author of the Icha-Icha series," Kotetsu whispered, blinking like he couldn't believe his eyes.
The man closed his eyelids with a smug smile. "I am," he answered. "And I am always happy to meet one of my esteemed readers." He stroke a pose for a second before completely dropping it and the subject by taking a more stern expression. "But," he added, "I'm here for a reason that has nothing to do with my fabulous work."
All three people sitting at the table gave him their attention.
"Do you happen to be missing one of your kids?"
Out of the corner of his eyes, Sasuke saw Izumo sit up straighter. Kotetsu's hand fidgeted on the table. He himself felt his shoulders tense.
"Yes, we do," Mr. Kamizuki said with hesitation.
"Skinny boy with blond hair and blue eyes? Orange pants?"
"And jacket. Where did you see him?" Kotetsu asked in a no-nonsense tone.
The man frowned. "Huh. He didn't have any jacket when I found him. He was in a pretty bad shape so I brought him to the hospital."
Izumo's chair scraped against the floor when he got up, his eyes wide.
"He didn't have any papers on him but I noticed the logo for the schools' annual sports gathering on his shirt so I've been asking around," the man went on. "Couldn't come earlier." It was almost a kind of apology.
"Where?" Kotetsu asked.
"Iron's hospital, Fifth's street," the man said, turning on his heels to leave.
Both teachers made to follow then remembered they still had a whole group of teenage boys to supervise. They briefly spoke to each other in low tones before Izumo nodded his head and Kotetsu turned to leave with the old man.
No one asked anything when Sasuke followed him.
After Itachi's awakening, it had been another week before his parents were taken out of their artificial coma and almost two months before they had come back home and things had begun to go back to normal. Only they hadn't, not completely, often for the better.
Itachi had stopped avoiding Sasuke and had begun taking time once more to simply be with him instead of finding excuses in the hope the little boy would find independence and strength on his own (what a stupid thought that had been), deciding he would harden him up by kicking his ass at video games and cackling evilly every time it happened.
Their parents hadn't seemed any different - but they too had more time, were a bit less strict, a bit more present. A lot less hesitant in showing their affection or pride - or in inviting Kakashi over after they had learned to snigger at the choking it provoked in other Uchiha households.
Sasuke had cut every ties he'd had with his former trainer - Orochimaru - and chosen another one. Kakashi, coincidentally a quite well known teacher, might look like he didn't know how to teach anyone anything, what a clock was, or that porn was not the kind of 'literature' you read in public, but he would never let Sasuke fight in a competition while his family was wheeled into the emergency room and that was the most important.
And there had been Naruto. They still bickered and fought and would never have gotten caught admitting the other was anything more than a rival, an enemy and never, ever a friend. But this understanding born in a brief second - when Sasuke had seen his eyes and had known, it's been like that for him everyday of his life, only he has no hope that his parents will ever wake up and come back - this understanding had remained even if it was left unsaid. The fights were not less long or violent but they were less ferocious and had this hint of playful competition no one else wanted to see. It was a way for Naruto to expel a bit of the pent-up frustration his failures - his whole life - filled him with, a way for Sasuke to express what he never could inside his family circle, and at the end of the day, there was no real hard feeling.
(Except for this time the other day when Naruto had gotten him with a stupid trick Sasuke hadn't been able to parry and had made him ridiculously fall down. For that one, the blond teenager was going to pay.)
For the first time, Sasuke found himself having fun outside his family.
He had taken Itachi's advice to heart.
The corridors of the hospital were still dark, it seemed - but the room in which Naruto was lying was darker still. Standing outside, Sasuke had his eyes glued to the window looking into it and felt unable to even think of turning away.
Naruto looked too small in this bed, too skinny and pale and empty. Trust him to be unnaturally calm, unnervingly so when you would want him - need him - to be his usual loud self and make you believe things were okay. Trust him to look like nothing Sasuke had ever known or associated with him before.
But the bandages, around his head and on his nose and around his wrists and further down without a doubt, even if Sasuke couldn't see it, they were familiar. They reminded Sasuke of mornings in primary school, when Naruto would come back after days of absence, and the black-haired teenager couldn't help but wonder if it had always been like this for him in the meanwhile, with no one to come and visit him while he was recovering.
What had happened? he couldn't help but wonder, just like he always had when younger without ever daring to ask. And why?
He was broken out of his thoughts, noticing how tightly he was gritting his teeth, when Kotetsu came back, taking long steps down the corridor.
"I called Mr. Umino," he signaled. "He should be here soon."
That caught the attention of the man who had brought them here and was uncomfortably sitting in a chair that looked far too small for him, arms crossed. "Umino?" he asked. "Didn't you say the kid's name was Uzumaki?"
"It is," the teacher replied distractedly, already looking through the window and worrying his lip with his teeth. "Mr. Umino is one of the workers at Konoha's orphanage."
The doctors hadn't been able to tell them much, only that Naruto's life wasn't in danger, that he would wake up soon, but that several frailties in his bone system proved that it certainly wasn't the first time he had ended up like this and that he hadn't always been treated to correctly heal. For a teacher like Mr. Hagane, seeing one of his students straying so far without him having really noticed a thing was a hard blow, even if said student was someone as troublesome as Naruto.
Sasuke couldn't blame him. After all, Naruto's disappearance acts had all but stopped with the beginning of high school, so it wasn't like he could've known. But why now...?
The grey-haired man blinked and turned his eyes back to the boy lying in the hospital bed. "An orphan," he murmured to himself, his face taking on a sadder, thoughtful expression.
Sasuke barely watched him for a second, wondering, before his gaze was drawn back to the room where his classmate was sleeping, making him feel so powerless. Idiot, he thought. Why did it always have to be like this, with Sasuke just standing outside a room and unable to do anything?
Unexpectedly, he felt a warm, heavy hand land on his shoulder, meant to comfort him. It only made him notice how tense he was and he had a hard time not to bristle away.
"He'll be okay," Kotetsu murmured, and Sasuke realised he had been standing there for whole minutes, just watching his classmate - rival, enemy, friend...? - on this white hospital bed and trying not to remember another time with other people and not to notice that the churning feeling in his guts was almost the same.
High school hadn't brought many differences, apart from the fact that they were a little bit taller, a little bit stronger, and knew how to stay out of the teachers' radar when they simply wanted to go at each other's throat. They still fought, they still insulted each other, they still went all out to avoid each other or stand as far apart as possible when there was people around and they knew fighting wasn't an option - because they were in class, because they were at school and there was always a teacher lurking nearby, waiting for them to slip.
But there were also these times, after a long fight, when their frustration had finally left them and they were lying on the ground or sitting against a fence, panting. These times when they would stay like this and talk, somehow. It never was about anything important, most of the time it was so disjointed it couldn't even be considered a conversation, and more often than not it was simply some sort of competition to see who would find the most creative names to call the other, without either one of them meaning it. But still. Sasuke found himself appreciating these moments, when Naruto would softly laugh at one of his particularly well-thought insults or when they would simply lapse into silence. It was... nice.
And then there were those times.
There were those times when he caught Naruto just... staring at him. Calm and unnoticed because a calm Naruto was a Naruto everyone seemed all too happy to ignore, calm and... staring. Staring with some sort of lost, slightly forlorn expression on his face, like he couldn't really help it, like he was afraid, like he just wanted...
Then he would notice that Sasuke's attention was on him, he would frown and throw out an insult. Most of the time, it would escalate into bickering then be interrupted by the teacher coming back at the end of the pause.
And each and every time, Naruto wouldn't accept to shut up before he'd recalled the entire world of his infinite devotion to Sakura - what it had to do with what had happened seconds before, Sasuke always wondered.
But he certainly didn't wonder why it irritated him that much. He wasn't jealous over Sakura, certainly not - the girl was... a girl, not even a woman like his mother or teachers. Nothing interesting.
Still. Did the idiot had to be so loud, so artificial, so cliché about it? It was like he was forcing it or something.
Moron.
Sasuke got to visit the idiot one more time before he took the bus back to the town's centre with everyone else. This time, Naruto was awake, alive and smiling in spite of his wounds, all too ready to explain what had allegedly happened.
Sasuke only noticed how much he glossed over most of it - not to brag, but out of some stupid pride or fear that prevented him from showing any weakness, any serious problem. But the fact that a group of thugs or whatever they were had chosen him as their target without apparent reason certainly was a serious problem.
"I gave them hell, this time," Naruto proudly said, and Sasuke felt himself frown when he heard this. This time. Not the first one, probably not the last one either. What did you do to end up with such a crowd, idiot? "No way I was going to let them push me around and not strike back," Naruto went on, not really noticing his classmate's grim expression. "And it's not like I hadn't learned anything from our fights, you know."
Sasuke remembered his first fights with Naruto - almost all of them, actually - remembered his own surprise at the disorganised but therefore unpredictable brawling style Naruto had used. He had fought with all he had, like it was a fight for survival - Sasuke hadn't understood back then, couldn't have known how much his experience had to do with this, just survive - but like he didn't know the first thing about fighting either. He had gone with his instincts and guts and rage, and Sasuke, with his well-honed capacities and well-trained, elaborated techniques had been... yes, surprised.
And what had surprised him the most was this: one would have thought, when seeing what they had to back up their fight, that it would be a walk in the park for Sasuke to take Naruto down, to find one of his innumerable weak points and exploit it.
Only it had never been.
More than anything, Naruto had had awareness, always noticing a move just a second before it came and dodging it impossibly. He couldn't land a correct punch - or only out of sheer luck - but Sasuke couldn't either. No wonder their fights had always been so long, or had went on for days, picking up right where they had been left off when teachers or the end of class had interrupted them.
"I got two of them down," Naruto informed him with a smile that shouldn't have been so large. He had broken ribs and a sprained wrist, damn it. "I think it might have made them a little bit angry."
"Good for you, moron," Sasuke couldn't help but snap, because how stupid could the boy be before he realised this wasn't a game? He was in the hospital and acting like it wasn't even a big deal.
Of course, his harsh tone made Naruto frown and pout like a kid and retort, hurt and vexed that Sasuke wouldn't acknowledge how well he had done this time - wouldn't acknowledge that it wasn't a big deal, that things were all right and had already returned to normal, that he could forget it like he had apparently tried to forget and ignore so much already. But Sasuke wouldn't let him do this to himself.
All too soon, a nurse came by and politely but firmly asked him to leave since their attitude was disturbing other patients and Naruto's rest. Frowning, Sasuke stood up and left the room without glancing back.
In the corridor, hands in his pockets and shoulders stubbornly hunched, he came across Mr. Umino and the man that had found Naruto the day before - Mr. Sannin, if he remembered well - talking in hushed tones.
"... think it would be possible?" the white-haired man was asking.
"You know I'll support such a decision from your part. But you have to ask him, not me," the orphanage worker answered, his face drawn by fatigue and worry, but he was smiling.
Sasuke nodded distractedly at them when he walked past, feeling his anger diminish now that Naruto wasn't here anymore to trigger it, now that the sight of the man reminded him of the night before, when Naruto hadn't been conscious, when he had looked so frail in his bed.
Idiot.
When he joined Mr. Hagane at the hospital's door - the man had accompanied him and apparently decided he wanted to be left alone to visit his classmate - his frown had turned unsettled and he couldn't help but wonder, thinking of the last thing Naruto had said before they had started fighting.
I taught you how to fight better, I was the one against whom you learned never to give up, I helped you 'bringing two of them down' and make them more angry than they already were. Does that mean I am guilty for this too?
No, no, he wasn't.
But he sure felt like it.
Itachi was sitting on the sofa when he came home, pretending to read the newspaper whereas they both knew he was waiting for him. Because he had missed his little brother so much, Sasuke knew. Because he had found new ways of tormenting him and couldn't wait to test them, Itachi would haughtily reply.
Anyway, he put his paper down as soon as Sasuke walked through the living-room door after having taken off his shoes and put his bag down in the foyer. The younger teen didn't say a thing and let himself fall on the plush sofa beside his brother - but at a safe distance anyway - frown still firmly in place.
"So..." Itachi drawled after a while, when he realised his little brother would keep on glaring in front of him for the whole evening if he let him. "What news?"
Of course, Sasuke had told Itachi about what had happened to Naruto - only talking about 'an idiot classmate' like he always did when evoking the blond boy, which Itachi had expertly translated into 'another Only-issue' - as a way to let out his frustration and the worry he would never admit he was feeling.
"Apart from the fact that there were at least five against one and that he finds it normal?" he growled, his voice heavy with sarcasm. "No."
"That doesn't sound like a very fair game," Itachi cautiously remarked, his eyes never leaving his brother. He had a way to just stare at you without even blinking that was somehow very unnerving. Even Sasuke hadn't managed to become immune to it yet. But one day... One day he would. And then...
"They didn't play by the rules," he mumbled, trying not to obviously shy away from his brother's gaze but avoiding to meet it.
It didn't prevent him from knowing it was glinting with amusement when Itachi shrugged and replied: "Eh, not everyone knows that violence is only admitted as foreplay when both partners are consenting."
"Itachi!" Sasuke couldn't help but snap, pretending the blush he felt rising to his cheeks was out of anger at seeing his older brother make fun of the situation and not embarrassment at... at such unrealistic, stupid ideas.
Said Itachi raised his eyebrows. Like he was surprised. "What?"
"I'm fifteen," Sasuke bit out, glaring at him and hoping he would combust on the spot.
"And?" his brother replied like he didn't see what the matter was. But then his expression cleared and Sasuke felt dread in the pit of his stomach - not that it showed on his face. "Oh," Itachi spoke again. "Oh yeah. I forgot. Sorry, little brother, I know it might shock you but..." He cleared his throat and went on in a patronising voice: "Sasuke, you're now coming to an age where you will begin to notice other people and feel the need to..."
Sasuke felt he was going to break something - preferably his brother's skull - and stood up, pretending to be calm and cool and condescending. Like Itachi would be fooled. "I'm not listening to this."
"Oh, poor little Susu is traumatised," Itachi cooed with mirth. "Very well, I will shut up for now. We have to preserve your innocence."
Said 'Susu' threw an incredulous glare in his direction. "What innocence?"
Itachi's only answer was to sigh - innocently. Sasuke found it better to let the matter drop and came back to his first topic.
"But I swear, if I knew who did that to him..." he grumbled.
"You mean that Pain guy and his lackeys?" Itachi interrupted his half-formed, vain, ridicule raging. "Don't worry, dear little brother, I don't think they'll ever be tempted to deal with another lone defenceless boy anytime soon."
Sasuke looked at him.
"Why are you looking at me like that, I wonder?" Itachi steepled his fingers on his lap like a good student would. But with his legs crossed, his smirk and his black clothes, he looked more like the devil sitting on his throne than a top-grade student. "I didn't do anything. I swear. Kisame, on the other hand..." He shrugged. "What can I say? He was a little bit bored. Deidara too. You know how it is."
There was some sort of gleeful, sadistic tremor in his voice now, like he was slowly losing it and revealing to the whole world just how crazy he really was.
"Itachi..." Sasuke began.
"Yes, dearest little brother?"
"You are a sadistic fucker," he accused, but he was smirking, almost smiling.
Itachi's expression reflected his. "Thank you. I love you too."
Naruto never went back to class.
Sasuke wasn't surprised - the last time he had come to visit his blond classmate, Naruto had been distracted, gazing out the window with a thoughtful frown on his face that had made Sasuke feel like he didn't know him at all.
He offered to adopt me, Naruto had said after a while. He had paused before softly adding: And I think I'll accept.
Sasuke hadn't known what to say. Shortly after, Naruto had been released from the hospital and he hadn't seen him since then. (After all, even if they hadn't questioned the fact that he ever came to visit him in his white room, like it was normal or something, Sasuke didn't feel like going so far as to drop by the orphanage. It wasn't like he wanted to see how the idiot was doing, anyway.)
It took a while, nonetheless, before one day their teacher informed them: "I have to tell you that your classmate, Naruto Uzumaki, won't come to this school anymore. Changes of personal nature have him moved to another city."
"Hear that, Sakura?" Ino exclaimed before Mr. Kamizuki was quite finished. "You'll finally be rid of the annoying idiot."
The other girl didn't know what to answer in front of the whole class and chose to shut up - which didn't mean she didn't share her friend's point of view. Over the heads of his classmates commenting on this new development with more or less discretion, Sasuke met the gaze of their teacher.
It expressed a strange kind of sadness.
Sasuke frowned, pressed his lips together and lowered his eyes. He then kept them riveted to the surface of his desk until the end of class.
Iruka Umino was standing in front of the school gates at the end of the day, obviously waiting for him.
"Sasuke," he said with this soft smile of his when the teenager raised an eyebrow in his direction. "How are you?"
"Fine," he answered, his frown firmly in place. After all the times he had brought a limping Naruto back to the orphanage and gotten this hard, stern look thrown in his direction along with several well chosen words, he knew the man was not as soft as it seemed and suspected he wasn't here by mere coincidence, nor to talk about the weather.
Iruka chuckled like he could read his thoughts. "I just wanted to tell you Naruto leaves today with his guardian on the evening train - at 6:34 p.m," he said. "I can't go and see him off since I won't trust Mizuki alone with the kids even for half an hour but I thought..." He tilted his head to the side: "I thought you might want to know."
He then promptly said his goodbyes and left, already hurrying back to the orphanage.
Sasuke watched as his figure grew smaller and then disappeared behind a building when he turned into another street. The man hadn't asked him to go see Naruto off, not really. He probably knew the teenager would've scoffed and dismissively turned away if he had.
But he hadn't. And it made all the difference.
The teenager smirked. Mr. Umino surely was more intelligent and subtle than he tried to make it look like.
He stuck his hands in his pockets and looked up at the sky. He had practice this evening.
So. 6:34.
"Yep."
Trust Kakashi not to say he was the one picking up and not to ask who was calling.
"Kakashi? It's Sasuke."
Silence.
"Hello?" the teenager asked, wondering if the communication had been cut without him noticing it.
"You're calling me," Kakashi whispered. "Must be the end of the world." Pause. "Wait, are you trying to get me to let you skip practise? Not in your dreams," he drawled.
Sasuke sighed, aggravated. "Someone I know is leaving today. They're moving."
"How sad. Don't try and change the subject."
"I'm not changing the subject," Sasuke patiently replied. "The train leaves at 6:34."
"Not my fault he decided to leave. You could say goodbye and cry earlier."
"I didn't know," Sasuke hissed. "And it's not his fault either. He got a new guardian. Not my fault this Jiraiya guy has to live in the middle of nowhere."
There was another pause and Sasuke frowned. Fuck his trainer, he couldn't do anything if Sasuke simply didn't show up. Did he?
"Jiraiya. Sannin?" Kakashi asked slowly.
Sasuke was so surprised - it was not the reaction he had been expecting - that he doggedly answered: "Huh. Yeah, I think. Why?"
"I think I've just found a solution that will please everybody," Kakashi said so brightly it made Sasuke wary. "Stay where you are. I'll be at your house in ten."
Then the line went dead before he had the time to protest.
The train station was crowded and noisy and Sasuke didn't even know what he was doing here. It wasn't like he had arranged to meet Naruto and his new guardian. For all he knew, they probably were already on the train, or would turn up late with no time for goodbyes. He stuck his hands in his pockets and frowned at the particularly shrill voice of a small girl running by. God, he hated this. And it was stupid anyway, he'd better simply turn around and leave, really, instead of searching for something he wouldn't find.
Only it was quite difficult to pretend he didn't notice nor recognise the shaggy grey mane of that tall figure or the mop of too bright blond hair on the small one standing beside it.
Feeling he had no more excuses and despising the way his heart was nervously beating in his chest, Sasuke made to join them, slowly, secretly hoping they would pick up their bags and climb in whichever train it was they were taking before he had the chance to reach them. But they didn't, and before long the man raised his head - he'd been laughing and ruffling Naruto's hair with such affection in his eyes - and spotted him. His smile grew larger, not revealing an ounce of surprise, and Sasuke felt his steps falter when the man said something and Naruto turned.
Sasuke stopped three feet away from him, unable to go any further or to say anything.
Naruto had his eyebrows raised and was blinking at him like his presence was the last thing he expected. Sasuke noticed how he swallowed and tightened his grip on the bag slung over his shoulders.
He also noticed that all his belongings apparently held in one bag only.
The man chuckled like the situation was amusing instead of plainly awkward. Sasuke glared at him and held out the bag full of books he'd brought with him, pretending he didn't know what was inside and didn't feel like everyone knew it too and looked down on him, thinking he should be ashamed.
Damn you, Kakashi.
The man took the bag with an interrogative gaze.
"For dedication," Sasuke growled in answer to his silent question, disgusted at the mere taste of this word on his tongue. "Not for me," he hurriedly added when the man raised a sarcastic eyebrow. "My teacher. He left instruction in the... 'books'."
The man smiled. "Aw, you certainly are a good kid, doing this for..." He then caught Sasuke's poisonous glare and got the message. He closed his mouth and turned away. "Five minutes," he threw over his shoulders before absorbing himself in his task and leaving the two boys alone.
As alone as you can be in a crowded, noisy train station, anyway.
Sasuke was now glaring at the ground, trying not to fidget. What do you say in such situations, anyway? It wasn't like his archenemy turned rival not turned friend - certainly not - left the city everyday of his life.
Unsurprisingly, it was Naruto who found the first words. He always did.
"So," he quietly sighed, his voice laden with a strange emotion. "That's it."
"Yeah," Sasuke eloquently replied, glancing up. He'd thought he would drop his eyes back to the ground a second later but found himself unable to when he met Naruto's soft gaze, his sincere, faint smile that had nothing to do with the too large, almost forced rictus he'd always worn in front of their classmates and their jabs. It was strange, seeing him like this, and Sasuke felt like he was clearly seeing him for the first time, and not as a simple glimpse of something real caught in the middle of a fight or right before Naruto turned away and hid his vulnerability and hurt behind another taunt or obnoxious remark.
No one had ever really understood him, had they? Not even Sasuke, who had believed what he saw on this open face was almost all there was to him.
"I'll..." he began before realising he didn't even know what he was going to say - only that he wanted, needed to say something to make Naruto understand that he got it, somehow. His eyes fell to the ground, to his shoes and he distractedly noticed one of his laces was coming undone. He swallowed and forced himself to just end his sentence, at the very least. "I'll... you know... miss our fights."
His words were met by silence and it took a while for Sasuke to gather enough courage and raise his head back up. He felt stupid for being so nervous. It wasn't like he had said anything compromising or even life-altering here.
Naruto had this strange look in his eyes once more, only this time he didn't hide it behind a frown and hurtful words. No, instead he took a breath when their eyes met, took a step forward, raised his hands not to strike but to softly cup Sasuke's cheeks. The teenager blinked at the determined expression that took over the blond boy's features, wondered what-
Then Naruto kissed him.
It was a chaste kiss, a simple and light pressure of lips on lips - Naruto's lips on his lips. Sasuke didn't react, didn't move, only blinked once more when the blond teenager stepped back and smiled awkwardly.
"Don't worry, it's not like..." He scratched the back of his head, his cheeks lightly tinted pink. "I just wanted you to know." Now that he felt like he could say it without hiding, without worrying about anyone judging yet another difference, without fearing that it would only make things worse. Now that he was leaving. He looked down and kicked the ground before glancing back up at his now former classmate, blond bangs falling in front of his eyes. "So then..." He cleared his throat, tilted his head to the side. "Bye."
He half-heartedly waved at Sasuke and took a few steps back, smiled once more and turned on his heels. Sasuke didn't find his voice before Mr. Sannin had given him back his bag and they had both almost reached the door to their carriage.
"Naruto," he called. The boy paused, glanced back. Sasuke felt his cheeks burn him slightly and wanted to growl for feeling so awkward and vulnerable. He covered it by digging his hands more deeply into his pockets. "You know," he muttered, frowning, hoping that Naruto would understand and not ask for him to speak louder. "Good luck."
God he was so lame.
But Naruto blinked and smiled a real smile.
"Thanks," he exclaimed - and Sasuke knew it was not only for what he had just said.
Then Naruto followed his guardian, climbed into the carriage and disappeared from view. Shortly after the train left. Sasuke stayed on the platform until it turned around a bend and got hidden by a building.
It wasn't quite goodbye.
End
- But just for the fun of it: Omake -
On the way back, Sasuke still had his hands in his pockets and his thoughts in a jumble.
Naruto had kissed him.
He turned into a smaller street that was a short cut in direction of the Uchiha district - named like that because almost the whole neighbourhood was inhabited by close or distant or aspiring members of the family.
Naruto had kissed him.
Which meant - or seemed to mean - that Naruto liked him. Liked liked.
But didn't he like Sakura?
Idiot, a little voice inside of head replied, rolling its eyes. He never liked Sakura.
Kind of like a cover up.
If anyone had been there in the alley Sasuke had taken, they would have seen him ball his fist and take a small leap in the air as a sign of victory, an attitude that really failed at Uchiha-ness. But since there was no one to witness it, there is no proof such a thing ever happened.
Therefore it never happened, right?
And since the story is already finished, dear reader, you didn't see anything either.
Did you?
Thanks for reading :) Reviews are loved.