It was a couple of days after Naruto called Sasuke a faggot. Sasuke lounged on the couch, his "mother"-just back from a mission-was fixing herself a sandwich.

"Mom," Sasuke vaguely wondered if, somewhere, his real mother was hurting because of that simple word he uttered. "Why was the jutsu that was placed on me so weak? If it came undone just by me saying I was Sasuke-"

"It's a bit more complicated than that. You have to have someone who used to know you-someone you were extremely close to-to unlock those memories, and ultimately your identity. You need to be around that person all the time. But see, why I thought you'd never 'come back' is because we only use those kinds of jutsus on people who have been traumatised and everyone close to them were murdered. Kakashi and I never knew you were friends with that Uzumaki kid. If we had, we would have never taken the nine out of ten risk of damage to your brain from the trauma. There would have been no need if you had someone who cared about you close by."

Sasuke sat up. "Mom, Naruto and I aren't friends anymore. He took one look at me and ran for it. He thought that I hid the truth from him and he hates me now."

Anko stepped into the room to put an arm around her dau-son-and swallowed half of the bite in her mouth before answering. "Sweetheart, maybe he's just embarassed and frightened. Maybe you should just show him what he's missing out on." Sasuke prentended not to know what she meant by the wink she sent him.

"Or maybe I should just stay away from him. I mean, why would he want to be friends with a faggot?"

The attractive green-eyed woman was taken aback. "Did he call you that?" At her baby's nod, she sighed. "Well, that just means we have to beat him up." Sasuke let out a short, shocked laugh.

"Even if I wanted you to, you know you can't do that! There are severe consequences to hurting a child!"

"I didn't say I'd make a show of it. No one has to know...." She laughed at her son's face. "I'm only kidding! Jeez, do I honestly look like that kind of person?"

She ignored the muttered, "Yes," and told him to put some tea on, please and thank you.

~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~

His forced smile immediately dropped.

"Why hello, foolish little brother."

"I-Itachi?" He had instantly reconised the cold black eyes staring back at him. So different, yet so much like his own....When the older of two turned on the Sharingan and reached for the younger, Sasuke jumped back, knocking into the small coffee table. He twisted so that he fell on the couch.

"N-no," he whispered as his brother lifted him up. There was no one to cry out to as Itachi's hand collided with the back of his neck, sending him into darkness.

~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~

"Now why do you look at me that way? Do you honestly hate me that much? Up until a few days ago, you had forgotten I even existed." At Sasuke's startled look, Itachi smirked. "I've been watching you, Sasuke. I wouldn't call it stalking, but I haven't exactly been leaving you alone. And I must say that you were getting too close to that blond dobe for comfort."

Sasuke's quizzical expression turned back into a murderous one. If tape was not covering his mouth right now....

As if reading his mind, Itachi answered Sasuke's subconscious question: "I brought you here to listen to what I have to say."

The tension in the room could be cut with a kunai. "I know you think I'm evil and that I have no heart, but you have to believe me when I say that I didn't want to it. I never wanted to kill our family...never wanted to hurt you. I'd tell you the whole story, but that would only shift your anger to another person and that isn't very efficient." Sasuke snorted in disbelief.

"Sasuke, it's true. I love you." Both brothers flushed at the words. Itachi regarded the tape on Sasuke's mouth as if just seeing it for the first time.

He looked up and for a moment, crimson eyes met black ones. "If I remove that, you're not going to scream, are you? We're not anywhere close to where someone could hear you, but I don't want to have a headache from all the noise."

His younger brother nodded wearily and Itachi removed the tape.

Sasuke sighed. "I'm trusting you Itachi, so don't screw it up." Itachi made a noise that implied he was not going to screw it up, and Sasuke could tell the older of the two was happy Sasuke decided to believe him now.

~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~

Itachi was relaxing on the couch in the house he had Sasuke shared, waiting for his brother to come home.

When Sasuke finally came through the front door, Itachi smiled softly as he flipped to the next page in his book. His younger sibling had taken to staying away for long periods of time and Itachi was afraid that this time Sasuke would disappear all together.

Luckily, his brother did not feel like abandoning him today.

"I'm going to Konoha." Sasuke stated decisively. Itachi jumped up, all of his earlier confidence gone.

"What do you mean, 'You're going to Konoha?' "

"I mean I'm going back. It's our home Itachi. I can't just stay away for the rest of my life."

"We do just fine without that stupid place. Why the sudden change?"

His older brother sounded so much like a little child (he even had a tiny pout!) that Sasuke had to pause to hold in a grin. However, once he calmed down, he was all business again. "Itachi, this isn't sudden. Taking a break from Naruto's obvious attempts at avoiding me were nice for a few years, but now I think it's time to go back."

Itachi frowned. He remembered Sasuke would tell him about this "Naruto"-the blond he saw trying to cuddle up to female Sasuke-and quite frankly did not like him anymore than he had. In fact, the older Uchiha hated the boy even more. "I don't understand Sasuke. If that boy," he made sure the simple word sounded like an insult, "is still in the village, doesn't that make it even more unappealing? It does to me."

Sasuke huffed. "It's where we were born, Itachi. Leaving it forever is like leaving behind a piece of who you are." Words he stole from his "mother", but true nonetheless.

His brother remained unconvinced. "They wouldn't let us in anyway because, in case you've forgotten, I'm an S-ranked criminal."

The smaller raven frowned in a way that was not unlike his brother. "I haven't forgotten. I'm going to talk to the Hokage to see if I can explain it to her and get your charges dropped."

"She wouldn't believe a word you say about me."

"We'll see," Sasuke said as he walked back through the door, toward the place where he grew up. Soon enough he was out of sight, leaving the brother with more ninja experience to wonder just how well this plan would work.

~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~

Sasuke stood on the opposite side of the door that led to the Hokage's office. In a moment he would be pleading his brother's case and praying to whoever was up there that Tsunade would listen to what he had to say.

Taking a deep breath, knowing his brother and his own happiness was on the line, Sasuke knocked on the door.

"Come on in...."

He was hesitant at how the voice sounded a little masculine, but he chalked it up to the wood garbling the sound. Breathing in once more, he silenly let it out before turning the knob and slowly opening the door.

He could not believe who was sitting at the Hokage's desk, hairline-deep in paperwork.

"Lee, I thought I told-" the other male stopped when he looked up and Sasuke was glad he had chosen to wear a long cloak with a hood that covered his face. Uzumaki Naruto, the one person Sasuke hoped not to run into, drew himself up and puffed out his chest.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Take off the hood and state your name and business!" Sasuke wanted to rant and rave at the man before him, but he found that he was so angry, he could not do a thing.

Naruto bristled. "I gave you an order. Now speak!"

An order? Sasuke felt his rage rising against his better judgement. This man thought he could order him around? His entire body shook as he yanked off the hood to show his outraged expression.

"Naruto?"

The other at least had the decency to look surprised. "Sasuke?"

Sasuke couldn't help himself. He ran.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

A/N: Hooray for actually finishing this! I thank jesi ki kage, SailorDemyx49, Ibbited, and spiralgirl for reviewing. You all helped so much in breaking my major writer's block! XD I know I already answered your reviews, but since there were only four of you and you were my first reviewers, I thought I could treat you guys to a public recognition and answer.

jesi ki kage: I really appreciate the nice review and as for your question, you'll just have to stay tuned for the drama that ensues! :D

SailorDemyx49: Thank you! And I can honestly say that NaruSasu will happen, it will just take some time...a lot of time....^_^"

Ibbited: That was amazing! You helped A LOT with the writer's block disppearing because that rant really motivated me! XD And the reason I only had two chapters up is because I wrote those before the writer's block came into play and I figured the readers would help me get the rest done! Thanks for not proving me wrong!

spiralgal: As soon as I saw your username, I thought: No way! She's back! XD I'm glad to see you gave the sequel a chance even though I made Naruto such a jerk in the first story. The good news is that the Uchiha brothers take that role, so they should be a bit more in character.... : )

Naruto's past is next and I hope you all stay tuned. Can't wait to hear from you all! I'm shooting for fifteen reviews for these two chapters.

A bien tot!

~theflawintheplan