Disclaimer: Don't own!

Author's Note: Sorry I couldn't get this up sooner. My computer was attacked by a virus and it screwed the entire thing over. Luckily, I got to keep most of my files.

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To the outside world we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters. We know each other as we always were. We know each other's hearts. We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. We live outside the touch of time. ~Clara Ortega

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The rain-slick streets were empty, everyone holed up at home beneath warm blankets with the heater buzzing. Well, not quite everyone. Uzumaki Naruto was one of the few who braved the soaked streets as twilight fell over the city. He had his hands shoved in his pockets, shoulders hunched against the wind.

The blonde looked up as he neared a very familiar place on the corner. The not familiar thing about it was the figure standing beneath the awning. As Naruto neared, he could make out the person's features. Wet, dark hair was pulled back into a low ponytail and the pale skin looked paler with the dreary weather. Naruto wasn't a tall man and the person was perhaps a little more than half a head taller.

When Naruto was almost right next to him, he asked, "Can I help you with anything?"

The taller man turned and Naruto found a pair of onyx eyes looking straight at him. "Are you the café owner?"

"Yeah, that's me. I'm Uzumaki Naruto."

"Uchiha Itachi." The person replied, studying him intently.

"Nice to meetcha." Naruto turned away from Itachi to unlock the café. "If you don't wanna catch pneumonia, you're welcome to come inside."

"Thank you." Itachi followed Naruto inside, blinking at the semi-brightness of the café after the blonde flicked the light switch on.

"Out of curiosity, why're you here?" Naruto called over the counter, searching in the cupboards for the coffee beans. None who worked in the café liked any coffee other than freshly ground ones.

"No real reason. I was wandering the streets and found myself stranded in the rain."

Naruto shrugged. If Itachi wanted to lie to him, it was the Uchiha's business. "You're Sasuke's brother, right? The artist?"

"How do you know about me?"

"I hear a lot of gossip during the day. And you look like him. But I guess it's like that between siblings." Naruto handed Itachi a hand towel.

"Not all the time." Itachi said, taking the proffered towel and squeezing his wet hair dry as well as drying his face. "You don't seem to have any siblings."

"Nope. None. Sometimes I wish I had some, but then I hear people talking about their siblings and then I'm not so sure." Naruto smiled at the taller man. "You're very easy to talk to, Itachi."

"That's the first time I've heard that said to me."

"Seriously? People mustn't give you many chances, do they?"

"I suppose not." Itachi leaned back in the chair. He hadn't been lying entirely. He had gone for a walk and ended up here, but it had been no accident. In the week since Sasuke had come home after meeting the baker, the younger Uchiha had changed in small ways. He had begun eating slightly sweeter things. Not overly so, but Itachi had still spotted him with a single dango the other day. And Sasuke had stolen some of his books. Most wouldn't think Itachi would notice, with his multitude of books, but they were his books and he always knew where each one of them was.

Naruto slid a mug of coffee to him as he sat down. Itachi raised the mug to his lips, but before he did, he quirked an eyebrow at the mug. There was a grinning reindeer on it, toasting with champagne and, in cursive green letters, the mug read, 'Bingle Jells.'

The blonde laughed at Itachi's expression. "Dollar store mugs are amazing, aren't they?"

"You surprise me." Itachi said, taking a sip. His parents didn't like coffee. They were tea people.

"I tend to have that effect on people." Naruto looked at the older man over the rim of his mug. "How'd you know I was the owner of the café?"

"A guess."

"Quite the guess. I could've been a homicidal werefox for all you know."

"Werefox?"

Naruto shrugged. "Werewolves are overused."

Itachi shook his head. "You are something else, Naruto." The Uchiha glanced out the window. "It seems the rain has let up. I'd best be getting home. Thank your for everything."

* * * *

"Mom saved you some dinner." Sasuke remarked as Itachi stepped through the door.

Itachi nodded in acknowledgement of Sasuke's words, more interested in the book that Sasuke thought he was hiding rather well beneath his pillow. "What're you reading?"

"I don't like to read, Itachi, you know that."

"Sure sure." Itachi shed his coat, placing it on the back of a chair. "I met that baker in the café you mentioned."

Sasuke arched an eyebrow. "Oh, really?"

"Mmhmm. I ran into him while I was taking cover from the rain."

"Yeah, sure. Just happening to run into him a week after I mentioned him to you. Awful large coincidence."

"No, the coincidence is you remembering when, exactly, you met him."

"I have a good memory."

"Play the innocent card if you like, Sasuke. I'm your brother. I know you."

Sasuke glared at Itachi's back as the elder cautiously uncovered the leftovers. Their mother wasn't a bad cook, but she did like to experiment on occasion, so both of the brothers had learned to tread with caution around their mother's cooking. It looked innocent enough today. A miniature meat pie.

"I don't think she experimented today, Itachi." Sasuke told him before he climbed the stairs to his room.

Itachi trusted his brother's judgment on that. They argued and fought a lot, but it had been a mutual agreement not to lie on the subject of their mother's cooking. Placing the plate into their microwave, he waited until he heard the sound of Sasuke's door closing before he slipped the book out from underneath the pillow on their sofa. Itachi smirked at the title. The book wasn't his, but one that his friend Konan had insisted he read. Itachi hadn't gotten a chance to start it, but Sasuke was nearly halfway into it. Oh, he was getting blackmail from this.

* * * *

Sakura spotted a familiar figure in the school courtyard. "Naruto!"

The blonde turned at his name, smiling when he saw Sakura. "Hey, Sakura. You out of classes already?"

"It's almost four in the afternoon, Naruto. Why aren't you at the café?"

Naruto shrugged. "I just couldn't get myself to work today. I figured I'd take the day off and chill. I wanted to see the campus, so I've mostly been walking around here all morning, sitting in on a class or two if they let me. How do you not get lost in this place?"

"I mostly just have my classes in the medical building." She answered, taking a seat beside him, smoothing her skirt underneath her thighs before she did. The skirt was perfect for her job interview at the local hospital. She'd told Naruto about it a few weeks ago, a little afraid of how he might react, but he'd just smiled and wished her good luck. The skirt was pale blue denim, falling past her knees halfway down her calves. "I have an anatomy class in the science building, but that's pretty much it. What classes did you sit in on?"

"There was an architecture and a classic lit class that let me stay. I found Shika outside his astronomy class. And the last one was a….classical civilizations, I think. I met someone there that you've heard of."

"Really?"
"Mmhmm. Uchiha Itachi. He was sitting a little more than halfway up in like the middle of the row. He explained some of the stuff to me. It was kinda interesting. They learned mythology, older architecture."

Sakura tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She knew Naruto would find a lot of those classes interesting. He had almost a photographic memory and loved to learn, although he couldn't ever afford college. Sakura had asked him why he didn't try and get a scholarship in high school, but he just shrugged and told her that it had seemed impossible back then. His only talent was a small one and it was at piano. He hadn't gotten good grades, had barely graduated and had watched as some of their friends graduated with honors.

"Ne, but how'd the interview go?"

Sakura hid a smile. Naruto always remembered things that were important to other people, but nothing about him personally. He'd forgotten his birthday almost five years in a row. "Fine, I guess. They said that they'd consider me for it. Although they said that a requirement was to dye my hair back to its original color."

Naruto snorted a laugh. "Why is it that they never believe that your hair is completely natural, odd as it is?"

"Because they're close-minded people that're gonne be signing my paychecks."

"They can't say no to you, Sakura. You're the best in your class and are gonna graduate, what is it, Magna Carta?"

"Yeah..."

Naruto looked at her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing!"

Naruto gave her a disbelieving look.

"Fine. I'm meeting Neji's uncle today. And his cousins."

"Already or were you dating without my knowledge? I haven't even been able to give him the big brother talk."

"Dating for like a year." She rounded on him. "And don't you dare track him down today. He's got enough on his mind. And in case you haven't noticed, he's a pretty decent guy."

"He's a jerk." Naruto muttered.

"Just because you don't like him…"

"I'll behave around 'im. If he hurts you though, I'm gonna kick his ass across the country and back."

Sakura knew Naruto could back up the threat. Despite not liking to fight, Naruto was an excellent street brawler. The lean muscles of his arms and shoulders were a testament to that, as well as the scars on his face, though he'd never told her exactly how he'd gotten them. She remembered the day he came home with them, however.

They'd been maybe ten, twelve and Naruto had stayed out at the beach after school. He usually liked to pass by there, but that day, he'd stayed later than usual. Naruto had come to Sakura's house, her parents having been surgeons, and they'd patched him up. He hadn't said what had happened other than the fact that he got into a fight. Sakura would always remember the three gashes on each side of his face dripping crimson blood like tainted tears.

Naruto had never been homeless, living with his godfather. He'd been raised right, despite skeptics that said otherwise. Jiraiya had taught him how to be a gentleman; to open car doors, to never hit a female out of anger, how to treat women right. Jiraiya had been a pervert, no one, not even Jiraiya himself, had ever denied it, but that had never ever meant that he treated women, or people in general, badly. Jiraiya had been the one that taught them both how to read and write, had taught them how to swim and play slapjack. He'd been there when Sakura's parents had died in a car accident, had taken Naruto in when his father had gone overboard on a fishing job and when Kushina had gotten washed away in a flood during the last typhoon.

Minato, Naruto's father and practical double, had worked the docks. He had loved the sea. Minato had always said that the sea was like his wife, Kushina; a siren call that he couldn't escape. Kushina would roll her eyes in a manner that Sakura was very familiar with because her son rolled his eyes in the exact same way, and tell Minato that he was a loveable fool. It had been an odd relationship, even Sakura had been able to see that, but there was not denying the fact that the two did love each other.

"Ne, Sakura, I'm gonna head out now. Good luck at Neji's, 'kay?"

"Thought you didn't like him?"

"I don't. But you do." Naruto flashed her a grin, though something about it was a little shaky in Sakura's opinion. "See ya."

"Come back safe, alright?" Sakura knew that Naruto would, he promised and he always kept his promises, but ever since that day almost eleven years ago when bloody tears stained his cheeks, she worried. And it felt like good luck to her ever since she began saying it.

Naruto raised a hand in acknowledgement as he walked away. He hadn't been exaggerating when he'd said the campus was enormous and he got several odd looks as he walked across it. Maybe it was obvious he didn't belong there. The students there were all dressed in clean jeans and nice shirts with no holes. Naruto was dressed in cut off jean shorts with rips and paint splatters from when they'd repainted the café. His T-shirt was an old Angels and Airwaves one, white with black designs and a few small holes in it. What could he say; it was a favorite shirt of his. On his feet were flip flops that he'd bought a few years ago at the dollar store with Hawaiian flowers on the orange foam.

His feet led him to a familiar spot, the pier where his father used to work. Not many boats docked there anymore, but it was still Naruto's favorite place to just sit and relax. The only problem now was that there was someone sitting on the pier. It usually wouldn't bother Naruto; there was plenty of pier for everyone after all. The thing that made Naruto walk over to the person was the fact that he'd met this person before.

"Hey, Uchiha." Naruto greeted, taking a seat beside Sasuke.

"Uzumaki."

"You sound pissed off."

Sasuke glanced sharply at him. Sasuke prided himself on being able to keep both face and voice neutral in any given situation, how was it that the baker had already picked up on it?

Naruto tried again. "What happened? You look like you came from something important."

The blonde was right again. Sasuke was dressed in black slacks that still had their crease, a white dress shirt that had been tucked in before the Uchiha got to the pier and the suit jacket was lying on the other side of him. His tie was at half mast and his shoes had been kicked off.

"I came from a Harvard interview."

"And that makes you angry…because why?"

"It wasn't the interview. I didn't go. My father's the one that's making me pissed off."

"Why didn't you go to Harvard? That's an amazing opportunity right there!"

"Maybe for you. For me, it's another way to get trapped in my dad's business game."

Naruto snarled at him. "I'd be grateful to go to any college period! You get this huge chance to learn and you don't take it! I wish I was that lucky!"

"You have the bakery, don't you?"

"Don't get me wrong, I love the café and I love baking, but I wanna get out of this city. I've never left it. I wanna see the other places in the world."

"The world isn't that great." Sasuke murmured, his gaze going to the horizon.

"Maybe not the places you've had to go to, since you always have to see the business part of every place you go to." A smile brightened his scarred face. "I know! Tomorrow, I'll take you around town. No one knows it better than I do!"

"Why would I go with you, dobe?"
"Because, teme, I wanan give you memories of this town that aren't bad."

"Why though?"

"You can't go through life with only bad memories. That's just plain depressing."

"Sure sure."

Naruto stood, stretching. It was nearing sunset. He always forgot how long the walk to the beach was. "Ne, teme, meet me in front of the café tomorrow."

"What time?"

"Sometime after ten. I'll probably be up by then."

"You can tell you're not in school."

Naruto laughed. "Yeah, I guess so. See you, teme."

* * * *

Itachi tapped his friend on the shoulder. She turned and looked at him, her indigo bangs partially obscuring her face. A pale, slender hand brushed the bangs away, revealing her nearly black eyes. She was bent over a botany book again, probably cramming for a test tomorrow that she'd procrastinated for.

"You're thinking something evil, Itachi. I know that look." She told him.

"You're right. I am thinking something evil and it has something to do with that book of yours."

Konan held up the textbook. "Botany?"
Itachi rolled his eyes. "Not that book. The one you lent me."

"Oh." She set the textbook down. "What about it? Have you read it?"

"Not yet. But Sasuke has."

Her eyes widened and she bit down a laugh. "Sasuke? Your little brother? The emo one? He's reading that?"

"Mmhmm."

Konan burst out laughing. "You must be joking."

"Nope. But he and you have made me curious. What exactly is that book about?"

"It's a romance novel."

"You lent me a romance novel?"

"This one has a storyline! And there's a lot of politics and fighting involved."

Itachi quirked an eyebrow.

"I'm serious, Itachi. Give Kiss of Shadows a chance."

"Seeing the effect it seems to be having on Sasuke, I'll pass."

"You're going to blackmail him?"

"Eventually. But I haven't told you the most interesting part of all of this." Itachi leaned back into the hard-backed chair, hands folded across his stomach. "And I'm going to need a woman's help for this."

"I'd call it sexist, but you probably do. Start talking."

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A/N: That book, Kiss of Shadows, is actually really good. I've just finished reading it. It's great after state mandated tests. : ) The book's by Laurell K. Hamilton.