my brother's best friend
the faerie

prologue
second semester blues


Sakura never really minded the cold; it gave her an excuse to sit around at home, swimming in a thick sweater, cuddle under her blanket, and relax in the den. Her parents worked all day, and her older brother had classes until late in the afternoon, so from two o'clock to six o'clock, she had the house all to herself—and she wasn't complaining, taking into accordance her heavy workload and her mountain of extracurricular activities.

Every Tuesday, when she was clear after school, she would skip out on her ninth-period study-hall, get home around two, set up the den with pillows and blankets, and allow herself some leisure time. It was surely the highlight of her week for the first semester of her junior year of high school, but nothing good ever really lasts, so it goes without saying, Sakura was stripped of this taste before she could even swallow it.

She settled into her warm blankets, hair up in a high ponytail and face naked of any makeup she had worn that day. She had a book nestled in her lap as her eyes rested behind closed lids, her feet peeking out from under the covers only to be nipped by the cool air. She smiled, comfortable in the worn leather couch that sat smack in the middle of her desert-colored family room, and reached for the book in her lap, only to be interrupted—

"Sakura?" a familiar voice broke her peace. "What are you doing here?"

She looked up to see her brother, scars and all knitted into a familiar smile. His cerulean eyes were bright like the snow, a reflection of the sun, while his dirty-blonde mop was a mess on his head. She groaned. "Naruto? What are you doing here?"

He chuckled deeply, his smile never faulting. "I don't have class at this time anymore, it's a new semester, Sak. Is that what you've been doing all year? Cutting ninth and coming home to scrub in the den?"

She clucked her tongue and made a sound of disgust. "What? No, why on earth would I do that? I'm just not feeling well—-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he cut her off. She frowned. "Don't worry, I won't tell."

"I don't care if you tell, Mom and Dad wouldn't believe you, anyway." She imagined her brother trying to tell them about something bad she had been doing, only to trap himself in another admittance of his own faults. They'd easily forget anything bad she did when one of his stupid pranks came out of the woodwork. She smiled.

"Ew, you look like mom when you smile like that," he said in disgust. "Stop being so fucking conniving."

"Ew, you look like dad when you complain about mom," she retorted. "Stop being so fucking stupid."

He shrugged and sat down on one of the couch seats. He rested his arm on the pillow, turning on the television. "By the way, Sak, this is Sasuke, you might remember him."

She didn't realize there was another presence in the room before her brother had said anything. She looked over the back of her couch to see another boy—around her brother's age, if not a little older—standing tall and lanky, with wet brown eyes and messy black hair that could put her brother's to shame. His face barely held any expression, but his hands were knitted tensely at his abdomen. She had no idea who he was. "Hi, Sasuke," she said with a small smile. He nodded his head in response.

"Bro, why don't you come sit down?" Naruto yelled, comfortable in his spot on the couch. He pointed to the leather chair next to him, the ottoman just as worn as the couch at its feet. "Pop a squat!"

Sasuke walked slowly toward the chair, Sakura thought, almost carefully. He crossed his legs, his jeans pulling up to show his ankles. 'He's tall,' she though, 'really tall…' She felt her cheeks go red when he noticed that she was staring. She quickly looked away, grabbing the remote from Naruto and changing the channel. "What the hell is this bullshit?" she asked. "At least put on something good if you're going to interrupt my reading."

"Sport's center is good," he claimed with triumph, pumping his fist into the air. Sasuke laughed. "What the hell are you laughing at, you bastard?"

"Just how stupid you are, idiot." He waved his hand at Naruto, which drove him even crazier. "Why don't you let the adults chose something to watch?"

Sakura laughed and smiled at his defense. "Yeah, Naruto. Maybe if you're good, we'll put on cartoons!"

"And if you're quiet the whole time, you can have dessert after dinner," Sasuke finished for her, a smirk just as triumphant as Naruto's voice playing at his lips. "Seriously, shut the fuck up."

Naruto made a "hmph!" sound and crossed his arms before sinking into the couch. "Fuckers plotting against me—you'll see, when I become President, I'll control the remote then, you'll all see…" he mumbled under his breath.

"Well, you're not President now," Sasuke concluded. "So, no Sports Center."

"Oh, oh my god!" Sakura exclaimed. "'10 Things I Hate About You' is on! Oh, can we watch this? Please? Do you guys care?!"

"Ye—"

Sasuke cut Naruto off. "No, we don't, go ahead." He turned towards Naruto and rolled his eyes at the man's pouting, his childlike ways looking almost uncomfortable on his adult body. "You should be nicer to your sister."

Sakura giggled. "Yeah, Naruto, you should be nicer to me."

"Stop defending her, Sasuke," he cried. "She's evil, I tell you! She's evil and manipulative!"

"Yeah, and you're the President," Sakura slyly came back. Sasuke chuckled under his breath, a smirk once again stationed on his lips. "Just shut the fuck up and watch the movie, it's not my fault you decided to sit down here."

He flew up from the couch. "Fine, I'll just take the Xbox and leave!" he moseyed over to the TV and began removing the wires that were connected to the gaming console. When he was finished, he clutched it tightly to his chest and pouted. "Come on, bastard, we're leaving!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes—something he found common when with Naruto—and stood. "Alright, moron, let's go." He turned towards Sakura and offered her a small smile. "It was nice meeting you."

She felt her cheeks turn warm, but offered him a smile in return. "Yeah, it was nice meeting you too." They both held each other's stares for a moment.

"Oh, cut the crap!" Naruto's raspy voice interrupted them. If looks could kill, Sakura's current one would. "Come on, Sasuke. Don't worry, Sak, you'll see him again at dinner. Don't miss him too much!"

She scoffed. "Shut the fuck up, you piece of shit," she threw her book at Naruto as he began running away.

"Hey, that hurt, you fucker!" he claimed, rubbing his back. "I could have died!"

"If only," Sasuke muttered.

"You guys are so mean!" he yelled, running up the stairs before anybody else could yell at him or throw something. Sasuke laughed and followed right after him.

Sakura laid back comfortably in her couch, Heath Ledger's loud cover of, "You're Just Too Good To Be True," ringing in her hears from the television. And then she sighed. "God fucking damn it, why did I throw the book?"


"Hey, man, are you staying for dinner?" Naruto asked, shoveling a handful of potato chips into his large mouth. He was careful to wipe his hands on his jeans as to not get grease all over the controller.

"Huh, what?" Sasuke asked, hesitant to rip his eyes from the television screen. He knew that if he looked away, Naruto had every chance of stealing first—not that he'd ever tell him that. "Dinner? Yeah, what? Sure."

"Cool." Naruto leaned closer into the television screen, eyes glued to his bright orange car. He skidded on one of the turns, coming close to the back of Sasuke's vehicle, before Sasuke struggled to make first. At a close second, Naruto slammed his controller onto the floor. "Oh, fuck this! You cheap piece of shit, you cheated!"

"How the hell did I cheat, moron?" he asked, lifting an eyebrow. "It's a fucking car game, I'm just better than you."

"There's no way you're better than me, bastard!" he screamed, pumping his fist into the air. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki! Future President! King of video games!"

"Obviously not, seeing as you couldn't beat me," he retorted. He dropped his controller and laid down on the rug. "It's so weird being back here."

"Tell me about it," Naruto agreed. He laid down next to him. "But hey, man, it's good to have you back."

"It's like nothing has changed…" he trailed off, looking around his friend's room. "It's still that obnoxious fucking orange—"

"Hey, orange is a great color!"

"—and you still have all those stupid posters of Blink 182 hanging around," he concluded with a smirk. "I forgot you were still thirteen-years-old."

"Fuck you, you sack of shit." He pouted. "Don't get me started on your fucking chicken-ass hair and skinny jeans, you twat."

Sasuke smirked. "Yeah, I guess at least you did ditch the orange track-suit."

Naruto jumped to his feet, hands in front of his face in defense mode. "It was one year, Sasuke! One year!" He growled and stalked off toward his desk, plopped onto the chair and flipped open his laptop. "Stupid jumpsuit, it was one year!" he muttered more to himself, "god damn it, stupid Mom, with her terrible taste…"

Sasuke chuckled under his breath, things really hadn't changed one bit. "Hey, how is your mom?" he asked, "And your dad, and stuff?"

"They're good, I guess." He shrugged. "Still always working, you know, with Mom in the hospital all day, and Dad working on his next book…"

"Still writing those bullshit pornos?" He smirked.

Naruto rolled his eyes and shivered. "Don't even get me started. It makes you wonder what the hell they're doing when they don't leave their room all night."

Sasuke felt a shiver go down his own back. "Ew, I don't even want to think about it. Thank God my parents hate each other."

"Yeah…" He frowned, suddenly feeling slightly awkward. "Sorry about the divorce, man."

He went rigid. "It's no big deal."

"Yeah, but it doesn't make it any less suck-y," he concluded. Naruto always had a certain way of making Sasuke feel comfortable about anything, even if he was annoying as hell. He was the person to say, 'hey, it's not okay, but it's okay that it's not okay, okay?' "Have you seen your Dad or brother in a while?"

"I used to see Itachi on campus sometimes over at Sound U, but I guess not anymore." He plopped down on Naruto's bed. "My dad calls me every once in a while, but I'm not really interested in hearing from him."

"But like, with you being back in Konoha and all, do you think you'll go see him?" he asked. "Or no…?"

"I'd rather not," he responded curtly. "My mother wouldn't be too ecstatic if she found out I was hanging out with my father and his new wife."

"Yeah, probably not," Naruto agreed, a sheepish grin on his face. "How's your Mom doing?"

"My mom's great," he responded, the mood becoming a bit lighter. "She's still teaching, just going with the flow… She took it really hard when I decided to transfer, though."

"You gotta do what you gotta do, man." They both laughed. "I'm sure she'll be fine, and it's not that long of a drive from Sound, anyway!"

He shrugged. "Yeah, I guess, but she really doesn't want to come back to here…" he trailed off. They sat in silence for a moment. "How's your mom's practice going?"

Naruto grinned wildly at his friend's attempt to continue the conversation; notably, he had grown a lot, other than his looks. He remembers awkward conversations about Sasuke's father's infidelity, his inability to contact him in his time of need, and his avoidance of their friendship right before he moved two-hours-away. "Really well! Though she's almost never home, but I guess that's a good thing…?"

Sasuke smirked. "I mean, when you're a doctor, it is."

"Is that still what you're studying? Medicine?" Naruto asked, his voice on the tip of his tongue like a child reaching hopefully for desert.

"No, actually," he began explaining. Naruto grinned. "I think I'm going to major in education, like my mother." He sighed. "That's why I transferred, the education program is much better here, and the student teaching situation is a lot more convenient."

"That's really great, bastard," Naruto congratulated. He stood and cuffed his friend on the shoulder. "I'm sure you'll be great with little brats, we all know you're a pussy at heart."

"Fuck you." He pushed Naruto's hand off of him. "You won't be calling me a pussy when I kick your ass again in that game."

Naruto scoffed. "You wish, you twat. Get your ass over here." He sat cross-legged in front of the TV, offering a controller to a smirking Sasuke. "Come on, show me what you got!"

"No problem, dumbass." He sat next to his friend and violently snatched the controller from his hands with a smirk. "Hey, how's Pein doing?"

Naruto mumbled something under his breath that Sasuke couldn't quite decipher.

"Wait, what?" He raised a fine, black eyebrow.

"Oh, sorry, he's fine," he responded. "He just got married to some girl named Konan; she's sweet, mom loves her."

"Damn, married?" he asked, surprised. "How old is he again?"

"Uh, twenty-seven?" he pondered aloud. "Or twenty-eight?"

"Shit." Sasuke flickered through the players on the screen, debating choosing Naruto's favorite before moving on and avoiding the argument. "How old is Sakura, then?"

"She just turned seventeen, can you believe that?" he said, pouting, before he began feigning wiping tears from his eyes. "They grow up so fast! I feel like I was just teaching her to ride a bike, and now she likes boys!"

Sasuke chuckled. "That's what people usually do, y'know, grow up."

"But she's my baby sister!" he argued. "I was just protecting her from monsters, and now I'm protecting her from hormonal, pubescent males that are even worse!"

He shrugged. "You would know."

Naruto threw his controller up, eyes wild. "Exactly! She doesn't even know what's coming! Those fuckers are vultures! I told her, wait a few years, don't date until college, but she's already talking about some guy in her class and—"

"I get it, you're overprotective." Naruto continued fuming. "But, you're right, if any of the guys are like you, she better watch out."

He frowned. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Sasuke smirked. "It's supposed to mean that you're a disgusting womanizer."

"Hey, watch it, bastard!" he yelled, and threw himself at Sasuke. They both started wrestling on the floor, Naruto shouting something about, "when he's future president!" and "Sasuke, you bastard-piece-of-shit-cock-sucking-dick-breath-smelling-asshole!" They continued rolling around before being interrupted by a giggle.

"Wow, Naruto, I though Sasuke was just your friend, not your boyfriend," Sakura intervened, giggling uncontrollably.

Sasuke threw Naruto off of him, frowning. "You're a fucking idiot."

Naruto frowned in return. "No, you're a fucking idiot. Sakura, Sasuke said I was disgusting womanizer!"

"And?" she deadpanned.

His frown deepened. "You guys are so mean! Why don't you just start an 'I-Hate-Naruto-Fanclub'!?"

"Too many people would want to join, it would just get too out of hand," Sakura jibed, winking. Sasuke chuckled and nodded in agreement. "Come on, get up, Dad's home and he wants to order pizza."

"Pizza! Fuck yeah!" Naruto cheered, immediately jumping off the ground and forgetting his emotional turmoil. "Come on, bastard, food!"

"It's not here yet, stupid," she reminded him. He frowned again. "Dad just wants us at the table. Sasuke, are you eating with us?"

It took him a second to realize she was talking to him before nodding. "Uh, yeah, if that's okay."

"Yeah, of course it is, it's just my night to set the table so I needed to know if I should set a place for you."

"Oh, yeah, thanks." He nodded towards her and offered a small smile of gratitude.

"It's no problem!" She smiled in return, her cherry-blossom-pink lips curling around her teeth. Everything about her was pink, to her rosy cheeks, her berry hair, and even her eyebrows. Sasuke remembered being told multiple times by her mother how lucky Sakura was to get the strange trait of pink hair that her mother had, and how it always skips a generation. It certainly made the girl stand out. "So come on, idiots, before Dad gets annoyed."

"Hey, who are you calling an idiot!?" Naruto screamed, rushing past her toward the hallway and down the stairs.

Sakura sighed. "Certainly not you, of course," she whispered under her breath, following suit down the hallway in a much more civil manor.

Sasuke caught up to her and offered her a smirk. "He really hasn't changed at all, it's pretty insane."

She shrugged. "Naruto never changes, I guess. He's been four-years-old his whole life." Her eyes flickered toward the tall, lanky boy next to hair. His hair was a dark mess on his head, his eyelashes just as thick to match. He simply seemed like he didn't care, with a dark t-shirt and dark jeans, and socks that were different colors. He had bags under his eyes as dark as violet, unforgiving against his marble skin. He was long and thin in every sense of the word, with an aristocratic nose, nimble fingers, bony arms and legs, and a neck like a giraffe. He was beautiful, but he was unfamiliar to her. "Have we met before?" she suddenly asked, interrupting the silence as they reached the bottom of the staircase; she wondered if he noticed her staring, sizing him up and drinking him like water.

He nodded. "Yeah, when you were younger. I think you were ten or eleven when I moved away, so I wouldn't be surprised if you don't really remember me, but I was here a lot," he concluded, his voice taking on a tone of wistfulness that seemed awkward on his low tenor, "it was like a second home."

She smiled softly. "I'm sorry I can't remember you," she offered earnestly.

He shrugged, finding himself back in reality. "It's not a big deal. At that age, I wasn't really interested in being your friend, anyway."

She laughed. "I'm sure the feeling was mutual."

He nodded. "Oh, it was." He recalled instances of cooties, thrown-deserts, and ripped dresses that he wouldn't dare bring up. Before he could even continue the conversation, though, he was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Well, if that isn't Sasuke Uchiha!" Jiraiya bellowed loudly, a large grin on his face. He sat comfortable at the head of the table, still dressed in a suit from a day's work. His face was still marred with the familiar tattoos of the Yakuza that he had always sworn he would get removed, his silver hair left unkempt, not unlike his son. "My boy! What the hell are you doing here?!"

Sasuke smirked. "It's great to see you, Jiraiya."

"Come, sit down, you little shit!" he yelled, yanking out the chair next to him. Jiraiya was a big, burly man; his appendages dangled like chunks, his muscles overflowing the chair he was sitting in; he easily reached half-way down the table, with large hands. He was surely a man that filled his past titles, as far as Sasuke was concerned, but one of the sweetest fathers, and nicest men he had ever met. "But don't break anything!"

He rolled his eyes, taking a seat in the chair he had offered; he hadn't changed on bit at all, but then again, at his age, you often don't change. "I can't promise anything with your son around, but I'll try not to."

Naruto glared. "Shut the fuck up, you bastard—"

"Quit interrupting, you idiot," Jiraiya quieted his son, frowning. Naruto leaned back into his chair, obviously annoyed, but complacent nonetheless. He turned back to Sasuke and his face immediately light back up. "What brings you back to this neck of the woods, son?"

Sasuke's heart skipped a beat at the familiar affection. "I transferred schools, actually."

"Really? To Konoha?" he asked, surprised. "But what about the medical program?"

He shrugged. "What about it?"

The grin that filled Jiraiya's face was sparkling, wide, and reached his eyes. "That-a-boy!" A resounding pat shook Sasuke's entire body; the man was always unfamiliar with his own strength. "So you've decided to mosey down a new path of life! That's wonderful!"

"Yeah, I guess," Sasuke agreed. "Education. I really want to teach kids."

"Just like your mother!" he exclaimed, followed by a deep, round laugh. "I actually saw Fugaku the other day! He didn't say anything about you coming back, though!"

Sasuke went visibly rigid, but Jiraiya didn't seem to take notice. Naruto interjected. "So, Dad, about that pizza…"

He sighed. "Yeah, yeah, go ahead and order." Naruto walked off towards the landline phone in the kitchen, pumped his fist into the air, and dialed the number he knew all too well. When he was finished, his father decided to add, "But you're picking it up!"

His face fell. "But Dad—!"

Sasuke raised his head a little. "I mean, since you're offering to buy the pizza, the least I can do is go pick it up…"

He grinned. "Thank you, Sasuke!" Jiraiya turned and frowned at his son, eyes blazing in annoyance. "See, Naruto, that's what a real man does. Now, go with him. You too, Sakura! Get out of the house!"

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, how about no. I'm gonna go upstairs, call me when the pizza gets here—"

"Sakura," he cut her off, a certain edge to his tone.

"Fine, fine!" She waved him off with a hand. "But when I get in trouble for not finishing my homework because I had to go pick up a pizza, and then fail out of high school, and then live in your basement forever—"

"You're preaching to the choir, sweetheart," he chirped. "There's no way you can turn out to be as bad a disappointment as Naruto no matter what you do."

"What the fuck is today? 'Pick on Naruto Day!?'" he shouted, before grabbing his rust-colored peacoat and storming out of the house towards Sasuke's car.

Sakura laughed. "Oh, that piece of shit doesn't realize every day is 'Pick on Naruto Day!'"

Sasuke smirked. "And it's not like he's giving us any reason not to."

"Alright, you too," Jiraiya interrupted them, "get out of here and go get dinner! Unless you want that pizza to be cold before you pick it up."

"Yes, sir," Sasuke agreed with a respectful smile. "We'll be back soon. Come on, Sakura."

"Sure thing." She grabbed her heavy coat off the handle, and walked out alongside Sasuke. He really was tall, she thought, standing about a head above her, and looked like a string-bean; she couldn't tell if he was fit, or simply skinny. "You're very tall," she commented more aloud than she had intended to, which caused bright pink blush to flood her cheeks.

He chuckled softly. His voice was very raspy, almost as if he hadn't spoken in a very long time, or hadn't had water in a week. "Yeah, I guess so." He brought his hand to the back of his head awkwardly and combed through his hair, a common nervous habit he hadn't been able to kick for years. "My parents are pretty tall."

"Yeah, but like, you're really tall!" she argued with a small smile on her face. "I mean, I'm pretty tall for a girl, and you're like, way taller than me."

He shrugged. "My brother is even taller."

"No way!" she yelled, throwing her hands up in surprise. "How tall are you, even?"

"Six-foot-three, I think." His eyes wandered up to the sky, and he began biting on his lip; his friends always tormented him for his 'thinking face.' "I mean, I was that tall the last time I got checked."

"Wow, that's crazy!" she concluded, sizing him up. Her green eyes sparkled as she scrutinized him; he could help but blush under her intense gaze, even if her intentions were innocent. "At least you've stopped growing."

"Yeah, I mean, I couldn't imagine getting any taller," he agreed with a smirk. When they finally reached his car, Naruto was already huffing and puffing in the back seat, still complaining about his father under his breath; Sasuke always though that Naruto should probably get checked for schizophrenia, he was always talking to himself.

Sakura approached the front-passenger-seat, seeing as Naruto had made a home for himself in the back-seat, but before she could even open the door, Sasuke had reached above her and gotten it for her. "Here."

"Uh, thanks," she said awkwardly, sitting down. "But I could've done that myself."

He shrugged. "It gets stuck a lot, Naruto always has a problem with it, so he always sits in the back. I just figured I'd help you out."

"Thanks, I guess." She put her seatbelt on and leaned into the warn-leather seat; the car was obviously used, black inside and out, with warn seats, scratched plastic and spotless glass windows. He obviously took great care of what he had, but the car itself wasn't by any means new or beautiful. She thought it reflected him very well, as a car should.

"I don't think you're incapable or anything," he reminded her with a smirk. "I promise, I was just helping you—"

"Don't worry, it's fine, it's not a big deal."

"I'm glad." He turned on the ignition, and the car roared to life at an exceptionally high volume, which was just another hint at its age. "Naruto, can you please stop pouting and tell me where the hell we're going?"

"I'm not pouting," he immediately responded, suddenly out of his inner daze. "I'm thinking."

"Okay, we both know that's definitely not the case," Sakura retorted with a grin.

"Fuck you."

"No, fuck you."

"Oh yeah? Wanna go? I'll fight you. I don't care if you're a girl."

"Me being a girl has nothing to do with you fighting me, you chauvinistic piece of shit."

"You're right, you being a weak person does, though."

Sasuke interrupted them with a sigh. "Alright, guys, can we cut it out for five-seconds so one of you can give me directions?"

"Yeah, whatever," Naruto responded, crossing his arms, but still failing to give him directions.

He rolled his eyes. "Sakura, do you know how to get there?"

"Yeah." She nodded her head. "Just hook a left out of the driveway and go straight, it's pretty close."

Sasuke nodded and pulled out of the driveway. They sat in silence, but a comfortable one, with Naruto making the occasional comment about his superiority, or ultimate ownership of the country as President.

His eyes couldn't help but be glued to the neighborhood around him, all foreign, but familiar nonetheless. Many of the houses were newly painted, some not even shackled with wood anymore, but with plastic or bricks. Some still lived in their old shells, probably families that were ;eft from when he lived, some with the same lawn ornaments, or fountains. It was the middle-class suburban wasteland he had grown up in.

Maybe everything wasn't the same, he thought. He passed by houses that once were occupied by friends that were seemingly new, and some that looked just as he remembered them. He felt his heart swell, but with happiness or sadness, he wasn't sure.

Then he passed his own house.

It was blue, just as his mother had chosen when he was six, and all wood, with delicate white trim, and bright glass windows and doors. There was a deck on the front, in soft, beige wood, with the same swing he remembered fondly; when he was young, his mother would hold him in her lap and rock him until he would fall asleep. Her rose bushes were gone.

"You okay, Sasuke?" Naruto asked him, breaking him from his thoughts.

Sasuke nodded his head. "Yeah, I'm fine."


Please review and let me know if you think this is going anywhere. Let me know what you think of the story, how it's written, your opinions, etc. Don't be hesitant to tell me something you don't like, something you do like, if you think Sasuke is too OOC, etc. Thank you so much!

Peace.