2. so lock the kids up safe tonight
Sasuke never said "I'm home" anymore. It didn't matter; however quiet and stealthy Sasuke was, the moment he stepped into the apartment Itachi knew, and always called out, "Welcome home, Sasuke" - at least, if Itachi was there. He was gone on missions a lot. Sasuke didn't care. The tiny apartment wasn't his home; his home was big and perfect and locked away with the rest of the Uchiha compound.
It had been half a year since that night, and everything was different. Almost everyone had believed the Hokage's ridiculous story about the missing-nin and they either pitied Sasuke or avoided him, whispering and pointing; the few people who apparently didn't believe it were more bearable, although they mostly either ignored him or looked at him as if he were some kind of monster. The only people who didn't treat him differently were Iruka-sensei and that obnoxious Naruto - and Itachi, but that was also different.
Even the people who believed the Hokage's story didn't seem to pity Itachi, or talk to him beyond what was absolutely necessary. Sasuke suspected, for no solid reason, that it was because of the man with the bandaged eye; he had been so angry with Itachi, and he knew enough of the truth that even if he couldn't tell people outright, he could still scare them away from Itachi. That was probably a good thing, but it also pissed Sasuke off for some reason.
Sasuke put off going back to the apartment as long as he could every day, and he had found lots of good excuses, but the best one was training. No one could argue with it, and Sasuke could spend hours and hours running or throwing shuriken or practicing seals and not have to think about anything else at all. Today he'd decided to practice the fireball jutsu. He hadn't tried it since the day he'd done it successfully for his father, and he didn't want to forget it; it was an important Uchiha tradition, and he was the only Uchiha left, and it had made his father proud. The river seemed like the best place to practice, so after school and some warm-up exercises, he started off. On the way he passed a group of little kids, all complaining about having to leave so early and shepherded along by their parents.
Sasuke looked after them for a minute; not crying, but feeling older and more tired than he ever had before. It hadn't been that long since he had been as careless and happy as those kids, but now he could barely remember what it had felt like, to be fussed over so much and loved and taken care of without the shadow of death behind every word and movement.
Sasuke went on. As he got close to the river he could see where the kids had come from: a little playground that was now deserted, except for one blonde boy sitting on the swings. He looked up at Sasuke's approach, and Sasuke felt for a moment that he was looking into a mirror, seeing his own worn-out face looking back at him.
He realized a second later that it was Naruto.
Sasuke looked away, embarrassed. So that was why the parents had made their kids leave the playground early; most people had always avoided Naruto the way they avoided Sasuke and Itachi now. Sasuke had never cared why before - he had only ignored Naruto because he was annoying - but he suddenly had a little sympathy for Naruto, who was irritating but not worse than plenty of other kids, and hadn't murdered anyone that Sasuke knew of.
He stopped and looked back, and Naruto grinned a little and waved at him. Sasuke nodded back, and walked on to the river.
Only a faint red glow remained on the horizon when Sasuke decided it was time to go back. He was exhausted from practicing, and if he stayed any later, Itachi would be worried at him, which was unbearable.
But when he returned to the apartment and silently slid open the door, there was no response; Itachi must have gone on a mission. Breathing out in relief, Sasuke went in and found a covered dish full of cold noodles on the table. He investigated further; there were three more bowls of different things in the fridge, a little paper envelope with money in it under the rice cooker, and lots of cup ramen and instant miso and rice in the cupboards. On a hunch, he checked between the miso and the bag of rice, and found a note: Sorry, Sasuke, I'm going to be away for a while on a long assignment. There should be enough food for you until I get back, but in case you need anything, please ask Anko-san and she'll help.
Sasuke made a face at that. Mitarashi Anko lived in the apartment under theirs; she was, if possible, louder and more obnoxious than Naruto, but Itachi seemed to like her for some reason. She even ate with them sometimes, though mostly when she'd run out of money for takeout.
The note had only one more line: Do your homework and be careful. Itachi.
Sasuke crumpled it up, threw it away, and sat down to eat. He doubted that Itachi would really be gone all that long - Itachi always finished his missions quickly - but Sasuke planned to enjoy having the place to himself while it lasted. At least he could relax for a little bit, he thought, and steadfastly ignored the apartment's oppressive silence.
Four days later, Sasuke was - not worried, precisely, but slightly concerned. There was still plenty of food, but it wasn't like Itachi to take so long on a mission, and the apartment's emptiness was starting to feel less like freedom and more like a trap, almost as bad as when Itachi was there.
He went down to the river after school, thinking he might practice the fireball jutsu again, but when he got there he didn't feel like practicing anything; he sat on the bank instead and made grass-whistles. Itachi had played them for him when he was little, but it was Mother who'd shown him how to make them himself...
A pebble hit the ground next to him and bounced into the river, and Sasuke looked around. Naruto was standing on top of the bank with his usual silly grin and another rock in his hand. "Sorry," he said, "I was aiming for your head, yanno."
"Don't apologize for not hitting me, stupid," said Sasuke, getting up. "What do you want?"
"Well, I was kinda thinkin'," Naruto said. "You aren't doing anything right now, right? I thought maybe we could, yanno, train together or something..."
"Why would I want to train with you?" Sasuke said. "You're totally hopeless..." But he was tempted anyway; if nothing else he could put off going back to the apartment for a while longer, and even if Naruto was hopeless, it could be fun, or at least funny to watch him fail at everything.
"I'm not hopeless!" Naruto insisted. "I'm going to be Hokage one day, just watch!"
"Whatever," Sasuke said, turning away and shrugging. "Are you going to come train or not?"
"Hell yeah!" Naruto yelled, and jumped down the bank to follow him.
They ended up at the training grounds on the other side of the river, which were usually empty in the afternoons. Sasuke set up the targets for shuriken practice and went first. As usual, he hit every one dead in the center; unable to resist showing off, he threw the last shuriken from a spinning jump and still got a perfect hit. He pulled the shuriken out and looked to see if Naruto was impressed.
Naruto grinned at him and said, "Whatever, I can totally do that!" He grabbed a handful of shuriken and started hurling them at the targets.
Sasuke ducked behind a tree and waited for him to run out of shuriken.
When he finally stopped throwing, Sasuke risked a look. Shuriken were scattered in the grass, stuck in the trees, almost anywhere but where Naruto had been aiming. One lone straggler had hit a target, but only on the edge.
"So - you want to be Hokage," Sasuke said. "Maybe you should try for something realistic, like ramen cook."
Naruto scowled at him. "I can do this!" he said, picking up one of the closer shuriken and preparing to throw it again.
"Wait," Sasuke said, grabbing his arm to stop him, "wait, seriously - you're never going to hit anything if you hold it like that. Niisan showed me - you have to stand right, like this, and grip it like this - not that tight..."
By the time it got too dark to practice, Naruto could hit the targets more often than not, and even get close to the center. "Haha! I told you I could do it," he bragged while Sasuke was collecting the shuriken. "I'm awesome, yanno!"
"Only because I helped," Sasuke said, but not too harshly; it had been fun to practice with someone for a change, and for being a total loser Naruto had worked pretty hard.
Naruto hopped on a log and watched him. "So, it was your brother who showed you how to throw like that, huh?" he asked.
"Yeah," Sasuke said, wishing he hadn't mentioned that. He put one foot on the tree in front him to brace himself as he tried to pull out one of the shuriken; Naruto's aim was awful, but there was a lot of power behind his throws.
"Your brother must be pretty cool," said Naruto, sounding wistful. "Wish I had a cool brother like that..."
"He's not," Sasuke said, and yanked the shuriken out.
"Huh?"
"He's not cool," Sasuke said. He went to the next target.
"But he taught you stuff, right?" Naruto asked. "Hey, he's that Itachi guy, isn't he? I heard he was really tough and awesome..."
Sasuke whirled around and glared at him. "He's evil, you dumbass," he snapped. "He murdered our whole family and your precious Hokage let him get away with it!"
Naruto stared back, shocked; then he started to grin again, although even in the dim light it looked forced. "Haha, good one," he said, "you had me going there. There's no way the Hokage would do something like -"
Sasuke reached back, pulled a shuriken out of the target, and aimed. It thunked into the log by Naruto's hand and shut him up. "You believed the Hokage's stupid story, didn't you?" he said. "About the missing-nin who came back to kill the Uchiha... It's a lie. There was someone else there, but it was Itachi, he did it. I saw him -" He stopped, turned away - he didn't want to talk about it, not with anyone, definitely not with stupid Naruto who didn't know anything, who couldn't possibly understand.
He heard Naruto slide off the log and take a step toward him. "Hey, that's awful," Naruto said. "Did you tell the Hokage that part? If he knew he'd have to do something!"
Why wouldn't Naruto just shut up and stay shut up? "The Hokage already knows!" Sasuke yelled. "He knows, and he still told everyone that stupid story and I still have to live with my brother like nothing happened and I -" He slammed his fist into the side of the target and then leaned against it, suddenly bone-weary from more than the practice. "I just don't get it," he said. "Why would the Hokage let him stay in Konoha? Are they waiting to see when he'll kill me, too? I don't understand..."
He wished he hadn't said all that. He was just angry and tired and he didn't know what he meant and he hadn't wanted to talk about it with Naruto at all. He wanted to go home and he couldn't and he never could again, and it was the worst.
For a minute they were both quiet. Then Naruto said, "Sasuke - hey, Sasuke, it's okay, all right? I got a plan."
"So," Sasuke said, "your plan is - camping."
"Nah, that's just for tonight," said Naruto, adjusting his backpack. From the look of it, it was full of nothing but cup ramen. "The weather's great, and I know this really nice spot - you gotta sneak out past the wall but I'm super good at that, I do it all the time. It'll be awesome, just wait!"
"And the plan?" Sasuke asked, as Naruto handed him a second, heavier pack.
"Oh yeah - well, that's awesome, too," Naruto said, grinning from ear to ear. "You can just stay with me! I got my own place, there's enough room for both of us, and if anyone tries to fight us about it we'll beat 'em up. Yeah! Just like that!"
Sasuke stared at Naruto as he struck what he apparently thought was a heroic pose, and then he started to laugh. "That - that's the most ridiculous plan ever," he said, trying to hold the laughter back. "Seriously, just ridiculous - no one's going to let two kids live on their own..."
"Hey, don't knock my great plan," Naruto said, and punched him in the arm in a friendly sort of way. "It's the best, just wait and see. C'mon, the sooner we get started the sooner we can make dinner!"
Naruto was right for once; they got past the wall without getting caught, and the secret camping spot was amazing - a quiet pool in the river created by a great jut of rock, which kept off some of the wind without stopping the breeze entirely, and also made a great look-out point. The weather was clear and comfortably cool, showing no signs of changing, and the moon was bright...
Even Naruto's snoring on the other side of the dying campfire couldn't ruin Sasuke's good mood. He'd never hung out with someone like this before, but he thought that he liked it, and Naruto's plan was starting to seem pretty good after all. Well, he might want to kill Naruto a couple of times a day, if they both didn't die of ramen overdose first, but even that sounded sort of like fun.
Something boomed off to the south, startling Sasuke upright. His first thought was thunder, but that didn't make any sense. Naruto rolled over, mumbling something about fishcakes, and Sasuke heard two more booms, sharper and definitely not thunder.
He scrambled up and kicked dirt over the fire's embers, and whispered, "Naruto! Get up!"
"Huhwha?"
"I think someone's attacking Konoha," Sasuke said, keeping his voice down. "Listen..."
" 's just thunder," Naruto said, yawning, and he rubbed at his eyes.
Somewhere closer there was a cracking explosion and a scream, and Naruto jumped up and looked around frantically. "Crap! Someone's attacking!"
Sasuke would've rolled his eyes, but this was too serious; he hissed, "Ssh! Stay quiet - we've got to get back into the village before someone finds us."
But Naruto had already taken off - towards the explosions to the south. Sasuke ran after him and grabbed his arm. "What do you think you're doing?" he said, forgetting about staying quiet. "You'll just get yourself killed if you try to fight!"
Naruto glared at him. "I'm going to protect Konoha, of course," he said stubbornly. "That's what the Hokage does!" And he took off again.
"You're not Hokage yet!" Sasuke yelled, following him. "At least wait up and we can both fight -"
They weren't even halfway to the main gate when two kunai thudded into the ground in front of them. Sasuke saw paper fluttering from their handles, grabbed the back of Naruto's shirt, pulled him back and dragged him down just as the explosive tags went off. "Holy crap!" Naruto said.
"Told you this was a bad idea," said Sasuke, reaching for his kunai pouch and scanning the area. "Stay low..." He didn't see anyone, but that didn't mean anything... There, to his left, where the exploding kunai had come from - a shadow that was just slightly the wrong shape for a tree; Sasuke drew, threw, drew another kunai before Naruto could say more than "Hey -"
The shadow stepped into the moonlight, twirling Sasuke's kunai around one finger. "Just a couple of brats, I see," the shadow said in a deep, unfamiliar voice, and he flipped the kunai back at Sasuke, who barely dodged in time. "How boring..." In the moonlight Sasuke could see his forehead protector, the symbol on it scratched out too deeply to identify.
"We're not brats, you jerk!" Naruto shouted, proving the enemy's point fairly well. "I'll show you -"
He got up, clearly intending to charge right in, and Sasuke held him back. "Don't just run at him, dumbass," he said, "we've got to think this through," though all he could think of right now was to escape.
"Pretty brave, for a brat," said the shadow, taking a step closer, while Sasuke tried to come up with a plan that would keep him and Naruto alive. "It's almost going to be a shame, killing you both and -"
Black fire blossomed from the enemy's head and he screamed, throwing himself to the ground and clawing at the flames. Sasuke and Naruto recoiled as one.
Another shadow dropped to the ground beside them. Sasuke instinctively ducked away from it, too, then froze as it turned to him and he recognized the pinwheel sharingan.
"Sasuke! Are you hurt?" Itachi asked. He put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder and glanced back at the burning man, and the black flames vanished, leaving the enemy in a scorched, groaning heap. He looked back to Sasuke and Sasuke saw the pinwheels shrink into regular tomoe, then fade entirely. "You little - I was worried about you," Itachi said, and poked Sasuke's forehead. "What are you doing out here in the middle of the night? When I got back and you weren't there, I -"
Sasuke stepped back, away from Itachi's hand, and muttered, "'m fine."
"Ah, good," Itachi said.
If he meant to say anything more, he didn't get the chance; Naruto popped up beside Sasuke, saying, "Hey, hey! So you're Sasuke's brother, huh?"
"Yes," said Itachi, giving Naruto an unreadable look. "And you're Uzumaki Naruto-kun, aren't you? What are you doing out here with my little brother?"
"Nothing," Sasuke said, at the same time that Naruto said, "Camping!"
"Mmm," Itachi said. "And whose wonderful idea was this?"
"Mine!" Naruto said, gesturing as he spoke. "Me and Sasuke are friends now, yanno! He's gonna stay with me and we're gonna train together and be the best shinobi ever and it'll be awesome, so there!"
Itachi said, "I see," and Sasuke's half-raised hopes crumbled. "Well, that's a nice idea, but you should go home. I'm sure someone's worried about you by now... Sasuke, I'll take you home, too, it's too dangerous out here."
Sasuke looked over at Naruto, whose whole body was radiating misery at his plan's quick failure, and at once he was more furious than he was scared. He reached over and took Naruto's hand, and said, "No - I'm staying over at Naruto's."
The surprised joy on Naruto's face was totally worth the embarrassment and possible death to come. For an endless moment Itachi said nothing; then, with a hint of exasperation, he said, "All right, just as long as you two get back inside the wall before -"
Just then Anko jumped down from the trees with someone in an ANBU uniform in tow, shouting, "Itachi! There's another squad of them at the main gate with more explosives!"
"Understood," Itachi said. "Gekka, take care of that one," he told the ANBU member, indicating the enemy nin, who was trying to bury his still-smoking head in the grass. "Morino will want to talk to him. Anko-san, would you please take my brother and Naruto-kun back to Konoha?"
"Got it," Anko said cheerfully, and she took hold of both of their shoulders. "C'mon, kids, let's get out of the war zone, yeah?"
Sasuke reluctantly upped his opinion of her when she didn't try to make Sasuke go back to the apartment; she just made sure he and Naruto were safely inside the village, then took off back to the fight. Naruto looked after her longingly, but even he wasn't dumb enough to suggest trying to fight again, especially not when he was yawning already, and they went straight back to Naruto's apartment.
Naruto's place wasn't all that big, but to Sasuke it still seemed pretty spacious for one kid, and there was enough room for a sleeping mat for Sasuke on the floor, which was the important part. He was exhausted, and the thought of getting up for school in the morning was horrifying. Maybe if they were lucky, school would be canceled because of the attack...
Naruto apparently couldn't sleep yet; after two minutes of rolling around on his bed, he said, "Hey, so that was your brother, huh? I can see how he's scary - but still, he was kinda cool out there."
"Shut up," said Sasuke.
"Yeah, yeah, sure," Naruto said, and was quiet for maybe a whole thirty seconds before said, "Hey, Sasuke..."
"What?" Sasuke said, rolling over and trying to glare up at him without actually opening his eyes.
"Thanks," said Naruto, grinning. "For stayin' over and - stuff. It's the first time I've ever had a friend over, yanno? So thanks."
"Just go to sleep already," Sasuke said, rolling back over, but he smiled a little into his pillow.
Someone kept knocking on the door. Why didn't Itachi just answer it already? Sasuke wasn't ready to get up yet, even if it was probably time for school.
"Mmm - fi' more minutes," someone mumbled next to him, and Sasuke's eyes shot open. He wasn't at home, he was at Naruto's, and that meant -
The patient knocking continued. Sasuke heard Naruto get up, still mumbling something, and as strongly as he willed Naruto not to answer it he heard the door open. "Sorry to wake you, Naruto-kun," came Itachi's voice, and Sasuke's hands clenched into fists, "but I came to pick up Sasuke... Isn't it almost time for school to start?"
Sasuke could have cried. Even here he couldn't get away from Itachi. He was never going to get away.
"Huh?" said Naruto sleepily, and then said, "Hey! Hey, wait - no way, I know about you!"
No no no, Sasuke thought, don't say it, Naruto...
"Sasuke told me what happened!" Naruto said, and Sasuke cursed inwardly. "You killed all the other Uchiha, he told me about it - there's no way I'm letting him go with you! I told you yesterday, Sasuke's gonna stay with me, so he'll be safe from you!"
He'll kill us both, thought Sasuke numbly, but he couldn't move. He had to get Naruto out of here, they had to get away, but he couldn't make himself move...
Itachi said, "Ahh. Well, what if I made you a promise?"
"Huh? What kind of promise?" Naruto asked, sounding suspicious.
"Hmm - an older brother's promise," Itachi said. "I promise that I'm not going to hurt Sasuke, all right? I just want to protect him, like you."
Don't trust him, Naruto, Sasuke thought desperately, and Naruto said, "Hmm - hmmmmm..."
"Well, you can make up your mind later - I have to go report to headquarters," Itachi said. "Make sure you both go to school, okay?"
Sasuke heard him step away, Naruto closing the door and walking back through the kitchen, and he was about to breathe a sigh of relief when Naruto said, "Awww crap!"
Finally Sasuke could move, exploding out of bed and reaching for the kunai. "What's wrong?"
"We're gonna be so late!"
They were late, and Iruka-sensei made them both stay after school, which was monstrously unfair; if anyone was at fault, Sasuke tried to point out, it was the enemy nin for attacking the village, though presumably their punishment was being dead or in questioning. Iruka-sensei was immune to this logic, and Sasuke was stuck washing blackboards with Naruto until Iruka finally decided to let them go.
Itachi was waiting for them at the school gates. Sasuke looked down and away from him - of course Itachi would wait for them, especially after the attack last night - but Naruto's jaw dropped. "Ahhh! It's you again! Dude, Sasuke, your brother's a total stalker!"
"I'm just here to pick up my little brother," Itachi said. He almost sounded amused. "Isn't that normal?"
"How would I know, huh?" Naruto said, scowling at him. "Anyway, I haven't made up my mind yet! You're pretty suspicious, yanno?"
"Really?" Itachi asked, and Sasuke shivered.
He couldn't let Naruto do this anymore, it wasn't fair; Naruto shouldn't get hurt because Sasuke was a coward who kept running away. He took a step away from Naruto and towards Itachi and said, "Just drop it, Naruto. It's fine. Go home."
Naruto's face fell. "But - Sasuke, yanno," he said "that's kind of - it doesn't seem right -"
"I said it's fine, stupid," Sasuke said, and reached over to punch Naruto's arm as if that could make it true. "We'll train together tomorrow, all right?"
He waited for Itachi to reject this plan, too, but all Itachi said was, "That sounds like a good idea - and you can come over for dinner afterwards, if you'd like."
"Well - okay, I guess," said Naruto, looking back and forth between them. "Sasuke? You sure?"
"Yeah," Sasuke said, and turned away. "See you tomorrow."
Back at the apartment, Sasuke worked on his homework while Itachi made dinner and read Sasuke's report cards; the same routine as ever for the last six months, when Itachi wasn't away. Sasuke would rather have burned the report cards, but Itachi always got them first.
Usually Itachi would say something about how he was proud of Sasuke's grades and how smart Sasuke was, just as expected of an Uchiha, which made Sasuke want to crawl in a hole and never come out. Tonight he said instead, "So you've made friends with Uzumaki Naruto? I'm glad - he seems like a good kid."
Sasuke stared down at the next problem, but the words didn't make any sense, and some of them were red.
"Top grades in everything again," said Itachi, stirring a pot of boiling noodles. "Very good - you'll graduate in no time if -"
"If you hurt Naruto, I'll kill you," Sasuke said, looking up from his homework and directly at Itachi.
Itachi looked surprised. "Why would I -" He stopped there to take the noodles off the stove, and said, "Don't worry, Sasuke. Even if I wanted to, I don't think I could seriously hurt Naruto-kun..." He came and sat down next to Sasuke, and reached out to mess up his hair. "And," he said, "I certainly don't want to."
Sasuke flinched away from Itachi's hand, and Itachi let it drop. He got up and went back to the stove, saying, "Hmm - maybe we should invite Anko-san for dinner, I think I made too much again..."
If he had to put up with Anko hanging around and making tasteless jokes, Sasuke thought he might actually explode with rage, and then Itachi would kill him. "No."
"All right," Itachi said. "Actually, it's better to have more leftovers, I guess... Sorry, Sasuke, I'm going to be gone for a while again. Since I left the mission early, I have to go back out and finish it."
As fantastic as this news was, Sasuke was confused. "But you always finish your missions," he said.
"I found information about the attack," Itachi said, "so I had to come back and make sure you were safe... Sasuke, I'm glad you have a friend, but at least hang out with him inside Konoha, all right?"
Sasuke didn't answer.
"Sasuke." He could feel Itachi looking at him, waiting for a reply. "Please, promise me you won't go outside the wall again."
Sasuke had started writing the answer to the next homework problem, and now the point of his pencil snapped. He looked at the paper and saw that instead of the answer, he had written stop just stop, because he was a coward and he couldn't say it to Itachi, he couldn't tell him stop pretending that I don't know, stop pretending you care; as bad as things were, they could always get worse.
Itachi sighed. "Just be careful," he said, "especially while I'm gone."
"Mmm," said Sasuke, a sound that could mean anything, and he tasted blood in his mouth.