AN: lo all. First I will warn anyone that doesn't like Sasuke or Hinata… even more so to those who don't like them together… cause they will be to be wary of reading this. despite how this may appear from the beginning it is NOT YAOI. I don't write yaoi or shounen ai and am unlikely to be persuaded into writing any… ever. A friend just happened to point out the fact that if you don't already know that this is going to be a sasuhina then it does kinda seem like there is something between Sasuke and Naruto. There isn't. Brotherly friendship… nothing more.

Naruto, Sasuke, kiba, shika and Ino are eighteen in this fic… Hinata and Sakura (along with shino, gaara and chouji) are seventeen… as it is early December. Hinata's birthday is coming up. (don't ask me why I worked it out I just did… I'm picky that way)

The title kesenai tsumi means inerasable sin. It does have significant relevance to the plot line… which I will explain in more detail when the event relating to it appears in the fic… till then please read review and I hope you enjoy (oh yeah the name comes from the title of the 1st ending song from full metal alchemist… so addictive.)

Summary: It seemed that Sasuke would go to any lengths to defeat his brother. And trying to achieve the mangekyou Sharingan without fulfilling the requirements is bound to have various side effects. Sasuke learns that the hard way…

Hinata will appear in the next chapter.

Onward march!

O o o o O

Kesenai Tsumi

He thought that the closer he got, the easier it would become to walk to the village. But each time he dragged his feet forward the weight on them seemed to increase with each step. Stopping briefly he bent over to hold his stomach, hoping that it would ease the painful stitch in his side. He had stamina, but going without substantial food for over two weeks was not a smart move. Wasn't he supposed to have gotten stronger and wiser? This was plain stupidity. Swallowing the saliva that gathered in his mouth thickly, Sasuke straightened up and continued to trudge up the path. He guessed it'd have been a lot quicker to tree hop, but he didn't have the chakra to propel himself off the braches anymore. He needed a bath, food and a good weeks worth of sleep.

Sasuke gazed up the road wearily and felt his heart beat heavily in his chest. To the average person the sight on the horizon would have been endless fields and thick forests. But Sasuke was well trained to notice the slight waves rising from the ground, like heat waves. Genjutsu. A powerful type too, one that clocked the entire village of hidden leaf, Konohagakure no satou. He expected that there would be various guards posted about the village entrances, Chuunin, Jounin and possibly even ANBU. Summoning what little chakra he had left, Sasuke called on his Sharingan to enable him to see through the multi layered Genjutsu protection of Konoha. In the future he would realise what a stupid and foolish mistake that was.

It took another hour or so to wind through the maze that was the gateway to Konoha. When Sasuke finally stepped out of the forest he was greeted by a dense fog, another measure to keep Konoha hidden from unfriendly eyes. The outer gates were closer now; Sasuke could almost see the detail of the wooden walls. There were definitely ANBU on guard tonight; they'd been tracking him for a good half hour now. It didn't matter; he'd gone too long without good care of his health to fight a rabbit right now. He wouldn't resist apprehension as long as he could make it to the gate. As he approached the gates, various ANBU that had been tailing him dropped down from nearby trees, the Jounin gatekeepers stood in front of him blocking his path to the village.

"Uchiha… Sasuke."

Sasuke looked up from under his messy bangs at the guard that had spoken his name. He knew he looked a wreck; his dark hair was ruffled, his clothes torn and caked with dirt and blood, as was his skin. But he was also aware that even in this dirtied and ragged state he struck some amount of anxiety and fear in these elite ANBU. Their movements about him were hesitant and weary. He was sure that his blood red Sharingan eyes contributed to that effect. He allowed a small smirk to stretch across his lips before turning around to face the one ANBU member behind him that had not shied away, the one that had not been disheartened by the terrifying Sharingan. The fox mask the ANBU member had on should have been a means to hide his true identity, but the older generation of Konoha knew that he was the only one that would dare wear a fox mask. He was the only one who would dare and the only one who could get away with it.

"It's been a while, dobe." He smiled and let his eyelids descend over his eyes, letting the floor rush up to meet him.

The others didn't try to stop Naruto when he picked up the unconscious Uchiha and carried him into the village silently. For they knew that when Uzumaki Naruto was silent, in any situation, he wasn't going to be argued with, be you his elder or not.

O o o o O

"I swear it kid you better have a good reason for waking me up at this time of night, do you even know what ti-"

Tsunade stopped mid rant as Naruto entered her study, carrying a roughed up looking boy. There was no doubt in her mind that the blood covering the boy's body was his own and though she barely knew him, she recognised him immediately as one Uchiha Sasuke. Naruto put him down on her couch and stood straight to face her. Though he still had his mask on Tsunade knew that his expression would be a reflection of the hurt she'd seen on his face five years ago…

Five years had passed since Sasuke had abandoned Konoha and the feelings were still bitter. Naruto looked at the face of his best friend and felt tears sting his eyes. It hurt more that he looked as innocent as he did, laying there sleeping. He was far from that. He supposed he should call Sakura; she'd be on his case in the morning if this news got to her last.

"When did you find him?" Tsunade asked her tone deepening immediately.

"He's been in the Konoha territory for about two hours. He collapsed when we approached him at the gates. I'm going to get Sakura." Naruto turned to leave.

"No."

"You know it'll make her easier to handle in the morning."

"I said no, Sakura is a grown woman she'll just have to deal with it. You on the other hand, are to stay with him; you're off patrol for the week."

"…"

She expected him to argue with that, but he just sat down and pulled his mask off wearily. Uzumaki Naruto's hate for Sasuke was equal to his fondness of him. It wasn't everyday you found your best friend again. He wouldn't trust him to any one other than himself, Sakura or Kakashi sensei. Tsunade stood over Sasuke examining his injuries. He looked bad, beaten even worse than the last time she had healed him. She wondered if it had been his brother that had caused these injuries. Was he still not strong enough to defeat him? Or were his injuries a result of something else? He was two years late for Orochimaru's use so then who, what and how? He must have escaped Orochimaru's grasp before his body could have been utilised. But still Tsunade wasn't entirely sure; granted, Sasuke wasn't evil in his heart, he wasn't like Orochimaru, but in so many ways he was just like him. He would do anything to achieve his goals, anything. Is that what he had done? Anything? Including drive his body beyond its limits?

It was obvious by looking at him that he had not been eating properly, not sleeping…

…or not allowed to sleep

A normal person would have perished already… Tsunade sighed and touched the back of her hand to his forehead tentatively. He had a burning fever… a thin layer of sweat was already forming on his pale skin giving him a waxy sick aura.

It would be a long night.

O o o o O

Naruto was sat with his feet up on a chair opposite him. Sasuke had been moved to a hospital room a few hours ago and Naruto had been ordered to keep watch. That was fine, he was going to stay whether he was asked to or not. He watched him silently and allowed his features to soften slightly. Sasuke, he looked different but painfully similar to his younger self. He wondered what his return meant. What happened with Orochimaru? What about Itachi, was he dead? Or was he the reason for Sasuke's current condition? Was this Orochimaru in Sasuke's body? Was this a ploy to get back at Konoha?

Too many possibilities.

Naruto didn't believe that it was Orochimaru under the Uchiha's skin. The expression on Sasuke's face when he'd faced him hours earlier was purely Sasuke, not something Orochimaru would know how to replicate. Besides no one knew Sasuke as well as Naruto, he wasn't going to allow his body to be taken by some snake when he had a goal to achieve, one he would achieve with his own hand…

Ideally, Naruto wanted to take a bath, change into something comfortable, but there was the chance that Sasuke would wake up while he was gone. He wanted to be the first person to talk to him. If Orochimaru had taken Sasuke's body, Naruto would know.

The time passed swiftly and Naruto didn't know how long he'd been there. The sun had risen some time ago and he expected Sakura to make an appearance soon. That was positively a reason to be weary of Sasuke's return.

Over the five years without him Naruto and Sakura had gotten closer. It was better because she wasn't dating him through pity or out of convenience. She'd told Naruto that spending time with him alone had made an impact. She'd liked Sasuke, but for no reason. Sasuke didn't make her laugh, he didn't comfort her when she was sad. Naruto didn't leave her behind when he was troubled. Naruto had his princess, but despite his relief of seeing Sasuke, he hoped that she wouldn't turn back to him. No one could blame Naruto's anxiety… it was just the way he was. Naruto, on his part, had matured over the years. Mellowed out so to speak, he liked to think that if the sandaime were still with them he'd have been proud of the man he'd become.

Such thoughts were so depressing…

Sakura did turn up, she was angry but she didn't shout or scream the way he'd expected.

"I'm sorry, Tsunade-ba-ba had me stay with him the whole time. She wouldn't even let me out to call you." The slight frown on her face eased as she looked over at him and smiled softly.

"I'm not angry at you. I'm proud."

"Proud?"

"Proud that you haven't mauled his face yet…"

"Sakura! Would I?" he asked with feigned innocence. He immediately felt himself relax. Sakura had an aura about her that could make him feel at ease, in almost any situation.

"No, you're somewhat considerate. I'm going to murder him slowly and painfully when he wakes up." She said with a perfectly serious expression on her face. Naruto laughed oddly and offered her the spare seat. She muttered her thanks and looked over Sasuke in a motherly manner, checking that the assistant medics had bandaged him well. Naruto felt his heart lurch and he looked out the window uneasily. Sakura threw a bundle of rolled up bandages at Naruto's head in annoyance. "Stop being a paranoid woman." She chided and continued to check Sasuke over.

Naruto thanked what god there was for blessing him with so much luck.

But for how long that luck would last, no one knew.

O o o o O

Sasuke's face contorted slightly as if he were in pain and slowly but surely his eyelids fluttered open. He blinked a couple of times to allow his eyes to adjust to the new light. Strange. Double vision. He blinked a couple of times to straighten out his sight but only succeeded in blurring things further. He focused on the window frame across the room trying to figure out why the clouds were moving so fast and why the sky was red...

He blinked again and the sky was its light blue again. Sasuke shook his head, blaming his paranoia on the hallucination. When he was satisfied he glanced about the room to survey his surroundings. His eyes fell upon the fair-haired ANBU sat on a chair gazing out of the window. Propping himself up with his hands Sasuke, sat up and watched the other shinobi quietly. Idiot, he hadn't even noticed he was awake yet.

"Not very attentive are you?" Sasuke asked with an underlying tone of annoyance in his voice. Naruto didn't turn around but Sasuke could have sworn the slight noise he heard from him was a snort.

"Or maybe it's just that I don't want to look at your sick face."

"Whatever…" Naruto's voice was different, no longer the slightly high pitched whine, but a rich deep tremble. Things really had changed. Sasuke couldn't help but smile. "How have things been here?" Sasuke asked offhandedly. Naruto turned around and looked Sasuke in the eye before giving him a menacing grin worthy of the kyuubi that lay in his belly.

"Peaceful. Ruin it and I'll kill you myself." Naruto retorted.

"It's nice to see you too Naruto." Sasuke said with a short laugh. There was nothing malicious in that laugh and it pissed Naruto off for some reason. He just stared at Sasuke and summoned the self restraint he had learnt to control and utilised it to stop himself from decking his friend in the face.

It probably wasn't worth the effort anyway. Knowing Sasuke, the one thing that wouldn't change about him would be the annoying way in which he could always push the right buttons to aggravate Naruto. Sighing softly Naruto relaxed and looked Sasuke in the face. There was no Orochimaru behind that look, just a boy who looked tired and weary with his life.

"So what have you been up to in the past five years? Working on making your glare as cold as possible? Can you make pigeons drop in mid flight by looking at them yet?" Sasuke didn't look amused. What he didn't realise was that Naruto was talking about the still activated Sharingan that Sasuke had. "Put those eyes away Sasuke, you're not going to intimidate anyone here." Naruto scoffed, Sasuke knew that his Sharingan rarely had any effect on Naruto…

"What are you talking about you loser?" Sasuke muttered and leaned back into the mass of pillows.

"Your Sharingan, it's not really working." Sasuke frowned bringing a hand up to touch his eyelids slightly. "Don't remember activating it… maybe that's why the room is spinning." He said, more to himself than anything else. He blinked, willing his chakra away from his eyes. The sky drowned in red again, a red that Sasuke knew all too well.

That day was coloured in the red of the sky, the red of his eyes… the red of the blood in his veins.

What's going on?

"Sorry Naruto, but I think I need a little more rest." He muttered and closed his eyes to rid himself of the familiar claustrophobic feeling. Hoping that all would be better when he woke up, hoping the visions would stop.

He didn't expect his dreams to be cursed.