TITLE: "The Past Mistake"

SUMMARY: Sasuke did a mistake in the past and he regretted it. When suicide wasn't even an option, what could he possibly do?

PAIR: Sasuke X Naruto (slight Sai X Naruto). IT'S WORTH IT.

WARNING: Homosexuality. You have been warned. Stop here if you are against it.

DISCLAIMER: Characters don't belong to me but the story is.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Before you read this, please note that English is not the Author's mother language. If you notice any error, please let me know. Happy reading!

PS. In this story, Coffee Shop is not the main theme, that's why the title said so. The coffee shop is just the background place. I was about to put Ramen Shop as the background but decided not to and chose Coffee Shop instead because some aspects are referring to coffee accurately.

PSs. I portrayed Sasuke here as suicidal when he was a teenager, and might as well in adulthood. Sasuke is very sensitive with his heart and he at times would take drastic measures with his actions, that's why the genre said it's Angst and Drama. Some people might think that "it's not love!" and might also disagree, it's okay. Not everyone loves coffee, right? Just like Sasuke ;)

~o0o~

It was a calming Monday evening in a seaside town, a routine for Sasuke Uchiha to drive off from his office in central Tokyo to the coffee shop located in the outskirt of the city, Yokohama. It took him two-hour drive to reach his destination. Every day, he would be in the Konoha, the name of the coffee shop, at the exact time at five, sitting on his favorite spot. As usual, he would order a cup of black coffee, bitter and crude, just like his life.

Sasuke hated coffee. Some people wouldn't even think of driving two-hour drive to be somewhere doing something they hated when they could be in at home, resting. But not for Sasuke and his odd ritual. Even if he had to drink coffee, there were nearer coffee shops from where he lived, but he chose the one in Yokohama.

He remembered the first time he came to this place. It was maybe around twelve years ago if he were to remember. At that time, he was fifteen. It was a few months after he graduated from junior high school and it was a day before exam entrance in Tokyo senior high school where he applied to. He went to the coffee shop with his brother, Itachi.

~o0o~ FLASHBACK ~o0o~

"I'm done," Sasuke said as he finished his dinner.

Fugaku, Mikoto, and Itachi looked up from their plate when Sasuke stood up and ready to leave the dining table. Fugaku waited for Sasuke to disappear before he eyed his eldest son.

"I noticed the dark circles around his eyes. Is he forcing himself too much?" Fugaku asked in concern after he was sure that Sasuke was out of hearing range. Mikoto nodded and looked at Itachi, waiting for an answer.

Itachi agreed by nodding. "It's Saturday. The test is on Monday."

Fugaku nodded.

The next morning came and the Uchiha family was missing a person for breakfast.

"You are alone?" Fugaku asked as he folded back the newspaper he was reading when he heard footsteps and noticed Itachi was coming without Sasuke. Because usually Sasuke and Itachi would come to the dining table together.

Itachi sighed as he took a seat across Fugaku. "I woke up a few hours ago around four to drink when I saw a light emitting from Sasuke's room," Itachi informed his father. His room located in front of Sasuke's so Itachi could check out what his little brother was up to. He continued, "When I entered his room, he was still studying. He hadn't gone to sleep when I did until I woke up again."

"This is your fault, Fugaku." Mikoto chirped in with her knitted eyebrows as she put a bowl of rice for which Itachi guessed as the last one when she took a seat next to Fugaku.

Fugaku sighed. "I never knew he would take this matter too seriously."

"You are being too hard on him, father."

"You are in this too, Itachi," Mikoto added in.

"No, mother. I'm not." He remembered crystal clear the time when Fugaku told Sasuke that the exam entrance was going to be hard because the Nara & the Hyuuga were in. "Father dragged my name about me being genius and almost fail although, in reality, I did smoothly and ranked first without even trying." He remembered that he didn't even study, let alone touching the book.

Fugaku glared at his eldest son. "And you never argued back."

Itachi was speechless, opened and closed his mouth few times like a fish on the land needed for oxygen.

Mikoto sighed. "So, what happened after you saw him studying a few hours ago, Itachi?" She asked with concern. There was no use to blame whose fault was this or that at the moment.

"I couldn't stand looking at him. So I ordered him to sleep." He remembered when he ordered Sasuke to go to sleep and surprisingly, his stubborn little brother easily compiled and just like a zombie, he stood up from his study and climbed to his bed and fell asleep immediately. "I don't want to wake him up."

"The two of you are going to be responsible for this situation. I don't want any of my sons to get harmed by anybody." Mikoto warned the two men. "Even by my husband or by my eldest son."

"Itachi, take him somewhere after he woke up," Fugaku ordered, gulping.

"I will," Itachi answered, not arguing on that matter.

After they ate their breakfast, Itachi left to Sasuke's room with a tray of foods, intending to feed his one and only little brother, just to find him still sleeping. Itachi sighed and decided to sleep next to him after he put the tray of foods in a drawer, so the time Sasuke woke up, he would know. Sasuke needed refreshing. He had been burying his head in books for the past few weeks and those bags under his eyes made things worse.

Itachi woke up a few hours later to stare at a pair of black orbs.

"Why are you sleeping here?" Sasuke asked expressionless, still lying next to Itachi.

"I was waiting for you to wake up," Itachi replied mirroring Sasuke's expressionless face.

"Rather than waking me up."

"You are too cute when you are sleeping."

"Suck my dick."

"Language, Sasuke."

"Why are you here then?"

Itachi stood up and took the tray of foods he brought before. "Here." He said as he placed them on the bed. "Eat them and I will come back here in half an hour. The time I came back, I expect you to finish everything."

Sasuke stood up as well and raised his eyebrow. "Why should I?"

Itachi smirked. "You'll be damned if you won't."

"Hn." Sasuke scoffed but prepared nonetheless. He ate his food, took a bath, and change himself to a decent clothes. It was exactly half an hour when Itachi appeared again and the two drove off to somewhere, Sasuke had no clue.

That was the first time Sasuke visited the Konoha Coffee Shop.

"Of all places in Tokyo..." Itachi chose Yokohama, the outskirt city of Tokyo. Sasuke almost hit Itachi on the head. Itachi was being the usual Itachi around him.

Itachi smirked as he took a seat on one of the shop's tables. "A friend of mine recommends me this place. It's worth a try. Says this is a great place of a seaside town."

Itachi was right. Sasuke looked around and it was totally different from Tokyo. Tokyo was a metropolitan city and it was too busy, totally different from here in Yokohama. Sasuke agreed and followed Itachi to sit down.

"Do you want to order something?"

"Itachi... I have never drink coffee in my life."

"Then you should drink now, shouldn't you?" Itachi raised his eyebrow to Sasuke in a challenging manner as the waiter approached them.

The two continued to chat after they ordered their coffees.

"I heard that coffee tasted bitter and crude."

"You can't seriously trust anybody even yourself."

Now it was time for Sasuke to raise his eyebrow when the earlier waiter served their coffees. Surprisingly, these two men ordered black coffee.

The time they sipped the black liquid, Itachi watched and almost laugh when he witnessed Sasuke's expression. Itachi was surprised Sasuke didn't throw up right away.

"What the hell, Itachi?" Sasuke commented, still gracefully and collected after tasting the bitter liquid.

"It should be better on the second sip."

Sasuke did as he was told. That was where he believed what Itachi had said earlier, "don't trust anybody even yourself."

He didn't like coffee.

~o0o~ END OF FLASHBACK ~o0o~

Ever since that time, Sasuke kept coming back to the coffee shop for about three years. He stopped when he entered college because he was too busy.

Things happened a few years later and he felt like he wanted to just die already because he thought that there was no advantage of living, but other things also happened. Apparently, suicide wasn't an option. He had to start something to keep living so he came up with a ritual in mind, and an odd one at that. The ritual was visiting the coffee shop and drank the coffee you didn't like. Hoping he could pay off his sins he did in the past.

The distance between his workplace to the coffee shop was a two-hour drive. There was a time when he decided to go to the nearby coffee shop so he didn't have to spend hours to get his coffee. But something also happened. He felt something was missing. Something wasn't right. That piqued his interest. So he tried another coffee at the coffee shop nearby. Again and again. He ordered black coffee but all felt the same. He felt something was still missing. He didn't realize with that, he had already traveled the whole country to find any coffee shop to try, and the results were all the same.

It wasn't even enough. He even took a course to become a Barista so he could make himself black coffee at home but still. He felt something was still missing after a cup.

So he came back to the one in Yokohama and although he didn't like coffee, he was content that the one that was missing in any coffee shops in Japan was there in Konoha Coffee Shop.

It was a tiring day so he decided to go home.

TBC

Edited: Tuesday, October 31st, 2017 5.40 PM (JST)