Rating: T

Pairings: Mentions of Itachi/Sasuke and one-sided Sasuke/Naruto.

Warnings: Mentions of Uchihacest, which is INCEST, mentions of Sasu/Naru, which is SHONEN-AI and just a bit of language. So if you don't like something there then go away 'cause I don't wanna hear you whine.

Disclaimer: I will never own Naruto.

The Aftermath

Chapter one

"I want you to go back to Konoha; tell everyone you killed me and Orochimaru... Live your life out there, Sasuke."

"...Itachi... I-I... I don't want to leave you here... I don't want to go back...I left—I left for a reason..."

"You can't get revenge now, we both know that...unless you'd like to kill me right here."

"No! I could...never do that to you, Itachi!"

"Heh, then just go back, Sasuke; go live back home."

"...D-don't you... Don't you even care? Don't you even want me here?"

"Shh, of course I do, Sasuke. I love you; I would love for you to stay with me forever...but you need to go back home."

"I don't want to! I want to stay with you! I killed Orochimaru... I found you...because I love you, Itachi... And now, after all this time—after everything... You're just sending me away... What? Was I just some plaything to you, Itachi?"

"Sasuke, don't you ever dare think that. I love you and you know that. And I know that you going back would be best for you right now."

"Itachi...please... Don't do this... Don't force me to go back there when all I want is to stay with you..."

"I'm sorry, Sasuke. Perhaps one day we'll see each other again."

XxXxXxXxX

He looked around at the drab white settings of the hospital room in disgust. This is where he'd been brought after... No, he didn't want to think about it; it was too painful for him to think about, and he hoped that no one brought up the person that had brought him back here. He really couldn't believe that he was back...after all that running he just ends up right back at the beginning—right back in the place he hates. And why? Just because his brother told him to come back and he had refused and so was promptly dropped off.

And the first thing he opens his eyes to after everything is just a bunch of white. Just white when he's so used to seeing the face of his brother. Why did this have to happen? Why did Itachi claim that coming back here would be best for him? It didn't make any sense to him, all he knew was that he wanted to be back with his brother...and very, very far away from this village.

His brother. One of the only people that he had spent the last year with had just...left him. Left him in the damn village; left him alone, telling him to live his life in this stupid village. Didn't Itachi understand that he was his life? He didn't want to live if they weren't together; it just wasn't worth it, didn't Itachi understand that much at least? But if he did...then why the hell had he done this to him?—why had his brother broken his heart? He might've been able to understand if Itachi had at least given him an actual reason other than it was best, because that was not a reason in his eyes, at all. It was more an excuse. An excuse to get rid of him... Had Itachi finally gotten tired of him? Was a year all it took for Itachi to tire of someone who he claimed to love?

Sasuke grabbed the side of his head and sat up in the hospital bed slowly. He didn't want to think about this—this was exactly what he had wanted to avoid thinking about, so why couldn't he just drop it? Why couldn't he just accept that maybe his brother really was through with him? Why did he even have to love that damn man so much in the first place? He sighed and looked down at his lap, letting his hand fall from his head. Why did this have to happen?

He looked up a moment later when the door opened, letting Naruto and Tsunade walk in. Naruto smiled at him slightly and walked over to his bedside, asking him questions that he couldn't hear; he wasn't paying attention to anything accept the fact that his brother had left him...again. How could he keep allowing this to happen to himself? How could he have actually allowed himself to love that man in the first place?

Only when Tsunade spoke did he finally pay attention, "Uchiha Sasuke, you were found at the village gates, unconscious, late last night. Do you have any explanation for this?" He didn't want to answer; he didn't want to be here in this room—in this village. There was no choice anymore...he would have to lie about a good deal of things, and just to make his brother happy. "No..." his throat was dry and his voice was hoarse, but those things didn't matter to him. "Why have you returned?"

For a moment Sasuke looked down. My brother...he forced me to come back...because he... finishing the simple thought was just too painful for him at the moment. He didn't want to think that his brother may have forced him to come back just because Itachi didn't feel the same for him any longer and couldn't bear to have him around. It just hurt too much. Finally, he looked up at Tsunade and simply said, "I don't know..." he watched her glance over at Naruto and the younger blonde looked at him confused.

Tsunade nodded at Sasuke. "I'll return later on," he didn't care; he zoned out again and heard his brother's words ring clear in his mind for just a second. Slowly his eyes closed as he shook his head, "wait..." he called out quietly.

Tsunade stopped right before she was going to open the door and looked back at him. "What is it?" he opened his eyes and looked down. Could he really do this—tell this lie? If someone found out that Itachi was still alive...he didn't know what would happen to him. But...Itachi had told him to... "I...I killed them..." Tsunade looked confused and took a step back toward his bed. "What do you mean? Who did you kill?" Sasuke looked to the window as he took a deep breath. I don't want to take credit for this...not anymore...

"Itachi...and Orochimaru, I killed them..." there was silence as he looked over at the Hokage. Tsunade stood there staring at Sasuke in a complete state of disbelief, which she quickly covered up before nodding and turning back towards the door, leaving quietly after a second. All Sasuke could do was sigh as he lay back down, only then realizing that Naruto was still in the room. "...Did you really kill them both, Sasuke?" the blonde asked him, his face right above Sasuke's all of the sudden. "...Yeah," he answered softly and saw Naruto smile.

"That's great, Sasuke. It's really good to have you back home too," the blonde's smile got even brighter but he said nothing. He just didn't want to be here. He wanted to be with Itachi; he wanted to be out of this hospital bed and away from the boy that was telling him that it was great that he had "killed" his brother. If his brother was actually dead then he didn't know what he would do. "Well... I'm sure you want some rest. I'll come back by tomorrow to see you, all right?" he nodded and the blonde smiled once again before moving away from him, leaving the room a moment later.

Maybe Naruto was right about one thing, maybe he did need some rest... Seconds later he was asleep.

XxXxXxXxX

"We're going to be there soon, Sasuke... You know that I'm sorry about this, but it's for the best."

"No! It's not, Itachi! ...But just tell me, did you ever really love me or...was this all just one big fucking game to you?"

"Sasuke. Don't you dare. Of course I love you, Sasuke; I've loved you for a very long time...and I think it was that love that blinded me in the first place. So now I'm doing what is right..."

"I don't give a damn about what's right, Itachi! ...And for the past year I thought that you didn't care either...obviously I was mistaken..."

"Think what you want, Sasuke. It seems that whatever I say I will not be able to change your opinion on this. It doesn't matter if I care about what's right and wrong, I care about you. So I am doing what is right for you, Sasuke."

"Like hell you are. You won't even give me a real reason to why you're doing this..."

"..."

"Itachi...please...just...give me a real reason..."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Sasuke. I'm sorry."

"Why? Why the hell can't you?"

"You wouldn't want to accept the real reason if I told you, so this is best, as I've said. I don't want to do this; I don't want to give you up, but I must, and I'm sorry."

"Itachi... Why are you doing this to me...to us...?"

"I'm sorry, Sasuke... Maybe one day I'll be able to explain everything, but we've only got another little while until we're there... Good-bye, Sasuke..."

"I-Ita...chi..."

XxXxXxXxX

His eyes shot open just so that he could stare at the darkness that lay around him. It took him a moment to remember that he was in Konoha Hospital, but once he did he placed a hand over his eyes, making the darkness even darker. That dream, or whatever it had been, had been the very last conversation he'd had with his brother before Itachi had knocked him out. It was his last memory of the man.

Slowly Sasuke took his hand off his eyes and looked around the room once, almost jumping when he heard a snore suddenly break out from the side of his bed. He looked over and saw Naruto sleeping in a chair. But hadn't Naruto told him he'd come back tomorrow...? Just how long had he been asleep? "...Naruto," he whispered, his throat still dry. The blonde's head shot up like a rocket as he looked around quickly, his blue eyes landing on Sasuke after just a moment. Naruto smiled sleepily. "Hey Sasuke, it's good to see you up again."

"How long was I asleep?" when Naruto heard his friend's voice the blonde quickly grabbed the glass of water that was on the table next to the bed and handed it to him before turning the light over the bed on. Sasuke got a long drink of water, feeling how his throat couldn't seem to get enough of the clear liquid before he handed it back to Naruto. "Oh, uh...not that long...about a day, I suppose." He nodded to Naruto and closed his eyes, thinking that it really hadn't seemed that long to him at all.

"...Sasuke?"

"Hn?"

"I really am glad that you're back..." Well he already knew that. The blonde had been trying to get him back for years, so Naruto should be ecstatic that he was back, although it was very much against his will. Again, Sasuke just nodded, feeling lips against his own half a moment later. His eyes shot open and he sat up as he pushed Naruto away from him. He stared at the blonde who was sitting in the chair, still. "What the hell!" Naruto looked down as if he were hurt by his lover or something of the sort. "I'm sorry, Sasuke..."

Sasuke shook his head, trying to forget what just happened, but it was stuck in his mind, making him feel horrible. Only Itachi could kiss him; only Itachi could touch him. He had betrayed his brother... "No, explain yourself. Why did you do that?" it was the most he had said at one time since he had woken up in the hospital bed the day before. Naruto just stayed silent for a few moments. "I'm...sorry, Sasuke... I just... I thought that you'd remember... But I guess... I guess Tsunade-baa-chan was right..."

He was so confused. Naruto kissed him because the blonde thought that he'd remember something... What in the world was Naruto on? "I have no idea what you're going on about, Naruto." Naruto looked up at him and smiled slightly and he could tell immediately that it was fake. It was so sickly sweet that there was no way that it could have been real. Naruto was upset because he didn't know what he was talking about and so the blonde must have thought it best to just cover up his disappointment with a smile.

"That's okay, Sasuke. It doesn't matter anyways... I'm just gonna go now, all right?" Naruto didn't even wait for an answer before he got up and left the room quickly. Sasuke couldn't pretend that he was sorry about something that he knew nothing about so he just lay back down after switching off the light so that he could stare up at the ceiling once again. He was curious about what Naruto had been talking about though. Perhaps later he'd talk to Tsunade about it and maybe she could provide some answers for him.

He never even realized that he had closed his eyes until he was almost asleep, but then it was too late and he drifted off once again.

XxXxXxXxX

"Sasuke, you can't leave! You can't go to Orochimaru for power!" He looked around him. He couldn't see anything but black, but then slowly a picture came into focus around him. It was Naruto and himself...in Final Valley... This had to be a dream then, or a memory. Something explainable like that, because there was no way that he could be watching himself when he was standing no more than a hundred feet away.

"I have my own path, Naruto. Revenge; I have to get my revenge for what he did..." He didn't even understand why he was seeing this. Yes, he and Naruto had fought in Final Valley, but it was nothing that he thought that he really needed to remember—it had happened years ago. He watched as the fight ensued and the entire time he wondered just why he was seeing all this.

"I'm not going to let you go to him!"

"Why... Why do you fight so hard to keep me here when you know it's no use?" Sasuke was transfixed for a moment by the nonexistent screens around him as he looked over at Naruto, who whispered something. What was that? He couldn't hear it... Now he was bothered by the fact that he didn't know what Naruto had said!

"Because Sasuke, we have a bond, you and I, and I'll risk my life to keep it safe..." Yes, he knew that; he'd been there when Naruto had said that! He just wanted to know what Naruto had whispered! He...he had to know, but he couldn't understand why. But this was his dream, wasn't it? There had to be some way that he could hear it, right? He just...maybe if he concentrated on what he wanted to hear... Maybe then... So he concentrated and he saw the memory back up a bit.

"Why... Why do you fight so hard to keep me here when you know it's no use?" This time everything focused on Naruto, zooming in on his face. There was suddenly no sound, which shocked him for a moment as he hadn't realized that there could be such silence in the world, but as he stood there he read the blonde's lips. Then seconds later everything was back to normal as if none of it had ever happened.

"Because Sasuke, we have a bond, you and I, and I'll risk my life to keep it safe..."

"Then you'll die here trying to protect it!" Everything started to blur and then the entire area was black, just as it had been when all of it began, but he could still hear the sounds of the fight going on.

"SASUKEEEEE!"

"NARUTOOOOO!" He remembered that. That was when they had charged at each other, and a few moments later he heard the sound of falling water.

"Naruto... I..." For some reason...he couldn't remember what he was going to say to Naruto back then, though he doubted that it was anything that important. Slowly, all the sounds faded out around him and he looked down to find that he was fading as well.

XxXxXxXxX

Sasuke opened his eyes slowly, trying to get them to adjust to the harsh light in the room. When his eyes did adjust after a few seconds he looked around slowly, noticing that Naruto wasn't there. Only then did he remember what had happened hours before. But wait, it had been hours, right? He hadn't been out another day without noticing it, had he? Before he could even really begin thinking about it Tsunade walked in the door quietly and, when she saw that Sasuke was awake, nodded in greeting, which he didn't return.

She came over and checked him out to make sure he was okay, which he was quite sure that he was, and a few minutes later she was on her way back to the door again, but he stopped her. "Hokage-sama, wait..." she stopped and looked back at him. Sasuke motioned for her to come back and she did, standing next to his bed as he sat up and looked at her. "Naruto was in my room last night..." she nodded. "He told me about it."

"What is it that I was supposed to remember?" Tsunade shook her head and started towards the door again. "It doesn't matter; it's not important anymore so don't worry about it." And with that she was gone and he was even more curious than he had been before, especially after what he had seen in that dream...or memory...

"Why... Why do you fight so hard to keep me here when you know it's no use?"

"Because Sasuke, we have a bond, you and I, and I'll risk my life to keep it safe..."

It had been what he had seen whispered in between that just made him wonder all the more about everything that had been going on since he had woken up in the damned hospital.

"Because... I love you, Sasuke..."

TBC...

A/N: Here is the edited chapter one. I hope that you enjoyed it and will perhaps review. Thank you.

SandXDemonX13

TTYFTDS