AAH! I'm already on my third attempt at fanfiction? Am I getting old??? It's not even my first anniversary yet! I'm old at a young age!!!

It's the moment you've all been waiting for…a sequel to FA! I'm glad that you all loved it, and I enjoyed writing it, so…It's time for me to crank up Muse and start typing frantically again – for Sasuke's rambling personality is back!!!

Sorry that it took me so long to post this up. My first idea for the story was completely crappy, so I spent an entire weekend thinking another one up, one that seems more realistic. So…Here it is!

Summary: Sequel to From Anonymous. Itachi and Sasuke's relationship breaks suddenly, down to the point when they refuse to speak to each other. Now the only thing that consoles Sasuke is the letters he keeps finding around the house, written by the Smart Ass.

Chapter One: Here We Are Again

Sometimes I think up a self-evaluation test, when I'm bored or when I feel depressed or down. The questions differ, depending on my mood. They range from, 'Do I have confidence?' to 'Am I stupid?' There are questions a therapist might ask, and there are always questions a teenager might ask.

But there's always a question that isn't directed towards me. It's more or less directed to no one – a question that causes me to lose my sleep and forces me to stay up all night, thinking about it. Then, eventually, I find the answer to 'Am I stupid?' and lay down on the bed, knowing the answer it is yes.

Even though I know that I'm stupid, it doesn't change the worries that I hold everyday. You can call it a feeling, or just some part of a dream that I had when I was tired and fell asleep in the bathtub again.

But lately I've been worrying that…Itachi might not love me anymore.

"Sasuke, you're so irritating sometimes," Itachi said to me in that playful yet serious tone. My eyes slowly brought themselves to accept the fact that the weekend is over and school and work is back in session – and, of course, that everyone else in the town is probably thinking the same thing: I don't want to go to work/school! "Get up, Sasuke."

I frowned at him (and myself) as I propped myself up against my elbow, trying to keep my eyes wide open so that they can adjust to the light that was spilling in from the window. Itachi was sitting on the chair, legs crossed, chin rested on hand, watching me while raising his eyebrow in that mysterious amusement.

"You know, you've been getting into the habit of sleeping in my bed lately," Itachi pointed out. I threw him my signature morning scowl, and then I slipped out of bed.

If you're wondering, I have been staying in my brother's bed a lot lately…for reasons I refuse to elaborate at the moment.

"I'm the one who usually yells at you to wake up," I said as I exit the room. I'm still not a morning person, nor do I plan to ever be. Itachi wasn't so much of a morning person – usually. Like my ability to think about the unnecessary, he has an ability to change his definition of usual and normal.

An ability I sometimes envy and hate.

"Get ready for school or I'm not stopping at the bakery again," Itachi said as he followed me out of the room just to settle himself back down on the couch. I gave him a 'Hn' as a reply as I stomped into my room and turned the music up loud so that I couldn't hear him complaining about how I'm going to make him late to work.

We were basically in the middle of the beginning and the middle of the school year – senior year. Do you have any idea how much that fact scares me? It's been almost two years since the craziness of the letters and Naruto's death, but for some reason those events feel like they happened just yesterday, or sometimes, just the second before. I stripped out of my messy pajamas and into a button down, short sleeved white shirt and jeans.

"Sasuke! I'm really going to leave with out you!"

Might I add that Itachi has developed no patience whatsoever? I picked up my fat school bag and let out a groan. Anyone who actually wants to get good grades and actually brings some school things home when they have to would know that when we grow older we'll all have hunchbacks. I struggled through my messed up room and slammed the door open, finding Itachi standing there, arms crossed and head cocked to the side with a weird 'older brother is annoyed' look.

"What?" I demanded, but at the same time making the mistake to let a smile crack out through my usual morning scowl.

"Ah, nothing," Itachi let out a smirk to match the smile that was rebelling against my mood. He made his way towards the door and left the house, and I heard the car revving up as I rounded up some of my notebooks that were on the dining table.

An impatient honk filled the room.

"I'm coming, you bastard!" I yelled, dashing out of the house and locking the door behind me. Itachi rolled his eyes and waits for me to get in, before he begun to drive to the school that really started it all.

You know what I find weird? If you know me, you'd know I think everything is odd, mainly because they're there, in front of us. But there's one thing that's been bothering me a lot lately.

When I look at myself sometimes, not only through a mirror but through those self-evaluation tests I give myself when I'm unsure or just plain out bored, my mind starts to wonder what everyone around me thinks of me. Do they see me as good looking or ugly, smart or stupid? Do I stick out in the crowd like a sore thumb or do I blend in, not important enough to be noticed? What are strangers' thoughts about me if they see me, but don't know me?

If you don't get my drift, I understand because I'm being really indirect right now.

Just think about it. You see things, you think about things, your IQ is unique, your personality is unique, and your perspective of everything around you is distinctive only to you.

If you think about people like this, animals, even, doesn't it make you feel just…I don't know – weird, I guess – that everyone else has their own perspective of life, totally different from your own?

I'm confusing myself. If you get me, good for you. If you don't, just think about it.

I sighed, putting the pencil down and staring at the paper I randomly wrote for no apparent reason. It's no good to try to silence my wandering mind anymore – either I yell it out and commit social suicide, or I write all my thoughts down on a piece of paper and throw it out while hoping no one would smooth out the crumpled, flimsy product of the once mighty trees and laugh at me for my stupidity and my own weird human philosophy.

I crumpled up the paper and toss it into the garbage can, and then I sighed again. I had already finished lunch (more of dunked it out into the garbage because I wasn't so hungry) but I didn't feel like going to the roof. So, there I was, wandering in the middle of empty hallways.

Usually at this time, Naruto would run up to me and ask what's wrong. I'd say go away, dumb ass, though maybe I would appreciate his attempt to cheer me up when I wasn't really down anyway.

I leaned against the wall and stare at the ground. A clique of freshman girls passed by, giving me a sideward glance before scurrying off into the cafeteria. I smirk, remembering the old days when we were like that, when we were ignorant of the kind of torture high school gives you, especially when you have to worry about college, an obsessive older brother who doesn't love you as an older brother, a death of a best friend that you will never get over, an annoying blonde who wants to be a fashion designer but would do a better job at being part of the nosy paparazzi, and a mind that won't stop talking to itself.

The hallways are silent again. I closed my eyes and I thought without thinking.

On days like this, I really wish Naruto was here.

I walked home. Itachi wasn't out of work yet and he doesn't bother to buy me a car, even though I think he's going to get me one for no damn reason if I treat him in the right way – and I don't mean that sexually, I mean if I ignore him for long enough that he'll buy me a car so that the silence that I would place between us would break immediately because I would be so filled with gratitude and appreciation.

The problem with that is that Itachi's sensitive at times (Itachi...? Sensitive?), especially when it comes to our relationship. Once, when I got angry at him (for a cause that I do not remember at all), he left the house again, causing me to think that he left for good this time. I found him at our parents' graves. There was something about him at the time that seemed different than usual – I think there was a lot more grief on his face. I couldn't tell if he was crying, though, because it was raining when I spotted him.

Itachi just lucks out like that. I still have the luck of the unlucky gods.

It's a mile from school to my house, and I don't mind walking it out, anyway. Sometimes I run, if I'm not wearing anything special, if I'm in the mood, or if the weather decides to hate me. The good thing about the mile walk is that Gai-sensei marks me down for 'Very Excellent' whenever he forces us to run a mile or two.

I saw the house from the bakery – it's just behind the house that is behind the bakery. If I feel mischievous or tired, I would make my way behind the bakery, cut through the neighbor's backyard (hopefully I won't get caught), and enter my house as a short cut. If not, I'll take the sidewalk around…the long way, completing the mile.

But, no, today isn't the day for mischief.

I walked the long way around, watching the cars pass by. My thoughts on 'different perspectives' come back again, mainly because I can't shut up. I looked at the cars while they're waiting for the red light to turn green – you won't believe what kind of things people do in their cars when they don't think anyone's looking. I saw a couple getting it on, a bunch of people singing to music with someone in the backseat with an iPod, turning the volume on the little machine up to maximum, a young girl crying her eyes out all the way in the backseat with her father up front looking angry, and also I see a girl who looks like she just got up in the morning, changing while driving in the car.

Shrugging, I turn and walk down an empty street, then turn again, my house in view.

Itachi wasn't home yet – he usually never is. Sometimes when I see his car in the driveway, I'd open the door quickly, curious to see why he's home early. You know his excuse? "I missed you."

I find that sweet and very odd at the same time.

I grabbed my keys and fumbled for the house key, the one with a weird, random number on it that I don't think has to do anything with the house at all. I opened the door and closed it behind me, letting out a sigh to show the whole world that, finally, I'm alone.

Getting time alone was getting harder to do everyday – it was either Itachi stalking me because he was worried or he missed me, Ino stalking me because she wants to get the scoop on my daily life, Minato stalking me because he's still suspicious of Itachi, or a weird jet black car sometimes following me on my way back home. Alone time is as precious as water in the desert of my life, and getting some Sasuke time is what I need twelve hours each day.

Sasuke time is rare in real time, if you didn't know.

But right now, my bed never looked more heavenly than it does now.

"Move or..."

"Leave…alone!"

A laugh.

"I placed…"

"Don't…anything…him…"

"Itachi, are you…"

"Just…alone…any…"

"…your…know."

"Have…choice."

Silence. A sigh. Another laugh. Footsteps.

"It's a deal, then."

Slam of a door. Thud.

"Damn it."

Blackout.

When I woke up, I had that clammy feeling. You know, the feeling you get when you fall asleep in the middle of the day with the clothes you've been wearing for the entire day, when you have a dreamless slumber. It was dark – I figured that it was nighttime already, and then it hit me that I forgot to do my homework.

I groaned and thought up a stupid excuse, not for the teachers, but for myself. Sleeping comes first. If you don't sleep, you have no thought energy whatsoever – the only thing that's on your mind when you're deprived of sleep is sleep, so you'll fall asleep when you're doing anything other than sleeping because you're sleepy.

"Ah, whatever," I mumbled, getting up quickly but sitting back down because of the drowsiness and dizziness that invaded my mind. Not the kind of drowsiness you get when you've been up late at night and couldn't even get a gist of sleep, the kind that you feel when you've just taken some strong medicine. I felt a sharp pain on my left forearm, and I noticed tissues that someone attempted to tie around my arm. I pulled them off and saw a small hole in my skin, and it was bleeding slightly. The small hole immediately made me think of getting a shot.

Who would want to give me a shot while I'm asleep? I shrugged the suspicious thoughts away and pushed the drowsy feeling away, too. The last thing I needed was to begin failing because of a mysterious person giving me a shot in the middle of my nap – a shot with unknown effects and whatnot…

I kicked the wall, bringing my mind's attention to the pain that now arose from my toe instead of the mysterious person.

I left my dark bedroom, and my night-adjusted eyes reluctantly embraced the light that emitted from the living room. Itachi was sitting on the couch, looking tired as well. He had a book in his hand, and his eyes seemed to be staring at one particular word instead of reading.

"Hey," I grinned, thankful, as usual, that he still remained in this house. Itachi didn't look up, smile, or say anything. In fact, he didn't move at all. I froze, then inched closer, and finally let out a sigh of relief, spotting his chest heave up and down. Yes, I thought he was dead – have a problem with that? "What's up?"

As you can see, I have a short-attention span when it comes to my brother. Homework is out of the question.

Itachi flinched and looked up, like he hadn't heard me when I first said 'Hey'. There was that depressed look in his eyes that caused my skin to freeze up and my round world to be picked up by some careless kids, to be thrown around the room and to see how long they could keep the ball up – and eventually my world would hit a sharp edge and start to propel itself through the room, screaming for help, but knowing help will not come because everyone in the room is staring at my world with wonder and laughter, like my pain means nothing but their relief – my world will then fall to the ground, flattened, crumpled, and back to the form it once took, except different – dead.

"You okay?" I asked, sitting down next to him, hoping that a conversation could be fired up so I could lead it to the point that I can ask him about the person who mysteriously gave me a shot.

"Hn."

It was my turn to flinch. I hate it when he starts saying 'Hn.' He hates it when I start saying 'Hn.' There was a point in time when we promised never to speak those two letters again, because it always made us think that something wrong is going on, when usually everything in reality is going all right.

But something is wrong. I could tell.

"Hey, talk to me," I insisted, getting that feeling that my chest would burst and I would become that lonely person I used to be – the person I was without his warm presence. I seized his hand and winced at the touch of his freezing fingers. Itachi didn't look up at me again, though. He was intent on reading the book. His eyes were moving again, left to right, and then shifting back and a little lower again, continuing the process until the page rustled and turned, when his eyes shifted its focal point back to the first word on the new and unfamiliar page.

I bit my lip and squeezed his hand gently as I fought back the sudden urge to rip him a part so that he would at least stand to look at me. Instead of resorting to violence, I pulled the book away from him. Itachi glared at me and reached for the book that was in my hand. "No way I'm giving this to you," I said, bringing the book out of his reach. Itachi reached again, and somehow I found ways to avoid his attempts to get it back. There was a smile on his face now, and the worries that I had changed into a joke, the actions that I made weren't as serious anymore.

He eventually gave up on getting the book from me by going for it directly – Itachi knew my weaknesses perfectly. Itachi took my chin and pulled it up so that his lips were less than a centimeter apart. I shut my eyes, smiling slightly, because if he did kiss me, all of my worries about the 'Hn' problem would be gone overwith.

And I swear, he was about to kiss me.

He didn't stop, but a pain shot itself up my left arm, the feeling like millions of needles puncturing my left arm. I let out a surprised cry, pulling away from Itachi and clutching my arm.

Itachi's eyes widened and he looked like he was about to yell out to help me, like he was about to pull me close like he always did and tell me that it's alright, but something stopped him. Itachi closed his eyes and turned away, picking up the book that I dropped and left the room without looking back.

Once he left, the pain was gone.

Hey, Naruto…

It's been a long while since I wrote to you, and I couldn't help but write to you right now. Something's wrong with my big brother, the one that you didn't like because he 'stole me from you'. You might not like him that much, but…it's not like you to hate someone for a reason like that.

I don't know…There's just something wrong.

If you could write back, I know you could.

It's not only about him, either. I really miss you.

From, Sasuke.

I stared at the letter as it burned in the candlelight. Every single letter I write is beginning to sound less and less like me every day. I closed my eyes and rubbed a hand apprehensively against my left forearm, praying that the pain would never come back, praying that Naruto would come back, and praying that the Itachi that I knew would come back, too.

I woke up the next morning, but my eyes were still shut tight. First thought of the day: last night never happened, right? Second thought of the day: Damn, my arm hurts. Third thought of the day: Please don't tell me there's school today…?

I forced my eyes open and groaned. The morning air was crisp and new, the morning sun was shimmering in through the window, and the morning feel of crappiness was back. Today was Tuesday. So there is school. Damn.

My left arm seared with pain for less than five seconds before the pain disappearing again. I shut my eyes and squeezed the arm for a second, feeling just a trickle of wet liquid on my fingers. I really need to put a band-aid on this.

And if my left forearm is burning like this, that means that last night did happen.

Damn.

I got changed and left the room, finding a note on the refrigerator.

Gone to work already.

Itachi

Now there was something wrong. I frowned, because I knew for a fact that whenever Itachi left notes for me, they were all signed by the Smart-ass, From Anonymous. Itachi signed Itachi. I groaned again, when I thought of the mile walk to school. The mile walk is definitely not okay when it comes to the morning. Afternoon is fine. Morning. Not.

I glanced at the clock and then let out another groan to see that I woke up fifteen minutes late, meaning I don't have time to walk to school, nor do I have time to stop at the bakery for a muffin.

But what I do have time to do is to run to school as fast as I can and hope that I make it in time and that I won't die during school because of all of these thoughts that keep invading my mind because of the stupid incident called 'Last Night'…

I swiftly pulled open a drawer, seeing the First Aid stuff in there. I opened the white box, and the first thing I saw was something that I believe had nothing to do with health. A letter sat in the box, on top of the pack of band aids. I shook my head, deciding not to spend the time to read it at all as I seized the band aids and slapped one messily on my bleeding forearm. I stuffed the letter into one of the pockets in my fat backpack, picked up the said backpack and dashed out the door, sighing in exasperation when I locked the door behind me.

School, here I come. School…

Half way to the school, I stopped running and sat down on a bench, panting. A thought slapped me in the face when I realized that I really shouldn't go to school at all.

I stayed on the bench and opened my backpack, feeling for the letter. The paper was slightly wrinkled, but it was legible. The handwriting was in that familiar mix of print and cursive, making a new entire font that I remembered I used to call…Itachi.

To Sasuke

Am I welcome to say long time no see? Or long time no write or something stupid like that?

I'll give you a moment to breathe and to recover from the small shock this must have given you. But trust me; I never planned to write to you again like this. I never even really wanted to, but something just came up, something that I can't explain to you right now. I'm sure that this'll work itself out soon.

So, here we are again. I have no idea what else to say.

Maybe I should just apologize for the past again, and apologize for everything and anything that comes up in the future. Making mistakes is a human trait – making the same mistakes over and over is a trait that perhaps only I made a habit out of.

From Anonymous

P.S. – Don't talk to me about this. Don't tell anyone about this. Keep this to yourself.

I closed my eyes and gently placed the letter back into its creamy white envelope, letting out a long sigh in the process. Yeah, I never expected to get another letter from the Smart-ass, especially during the period of time that Itachi seemed to be avoiding me.

Pushing myself off of the wooden bench, I heaved my fat and overweight backpack on my shoulder and turned the opposite direction in which I came – the direction that pointed towards home. Staying in public was a dangerous thing to do, despite the fact that I'm basically eighteen and can take care of myself.

The only place that I figured could be safe enough to think hard about this was the shelter, the place of refuge that I call home.

I thought about the P.S. note when I stood by the phone, debating whether or not to call Itachi and demand what the hell was going on. I picked up the phone, shaking my head and deciding to figure things out before anything bad happens. I dialed the number slowly, not wanting to get it wrong the first time.

The phone rang over and over again in my ear, and before the voicemail could say anything I put the phone down and shut my eyes again, holding my breath, as if I was wishing that the phone would ring and I'd pick up the phone and hear his voice, asking what's wrong like nothing happened between us at all.

Suddenly, the pen was in my hand and a blank piece of college-ruled paper was in front of me, cleanly ripped from a notebook. My mind immediately started to race as words were furiously written on the paper, all out of anger, sadness, and regular mind-ranting.

To Unknown

I have no idea what the hell you're doing by writing me again, you Smart-ass, but if this is a practical joke you'd better stop now. I'm not even going to call you a Smart-ass anymore, mainly because I don't know if you're really that person who wrote to me way back when. You're unknown from now on, even if you're my brother. You're unknown from now on because I don't know who you are anymore, even after one day of being ignored and avoided, and being in pain and mysteriously given a shot by some person.

This better not be a practical joke. I'll seriously kill you.

And trust me; never have I expected to find a letter from you. The last thing I wanted was to go back to the chaos that was my life about two years ago, when I didn't know what I wanted and I didn't know what the people around me wanted.

Now, I have no idea what you want or need from me. You're bringing me back to that time, and I have no intention of going back. If you're upset, you have absolutely no idea how angry I am at you right now – how confused I am.

Then again, I'm just stupid like that, right? I'm your pathetic little brother, right?

I'm tired of this, Itachi. Just tell me what's going on.

I don't even know why I'm still using this title.

From Anonymous

It was more like a letter of venting out anger than a letter to someone. I walked into his room and placed under his lamp, that lamp that he always turns on when he can't go to sleep and decides to read at night. I left the room and hoped that he would find it.

I kicked table as I passed by and I plopped myself down on the bed, wondering what was wrong with this world.

Gahhhhh…..

Was that really bad or really good or just normal??? It took me so long and I'm so sorry, but I think I'm back into the From Anonymous mood again. Sayonara, writer's block!!!

Please review and tell me how you feel!!!!!! It makes me write SO much better, please? Don't just favorite it or alert it, REVIEW.

Koneko