Chapter Summary: Sasuke lifts his arm and pulls Naruto closer to him. They both lay on Sasuke's bed, in his empty house, in the deserted Uchiha compound.
Those nights are hard for both of them.
Story warning apply.
Chapter 4: to discover intent
Sasuke is constantly feeling an ache. The ache is faint, more a dull throb than a stabbing pain, but it's always there. The farther Itachi moves from Konoha, the harder it is to ignore it. Sasuke's heart always skips a beat when the throb lessens, even just the slightest, because that meant that Itachi had taken just a few more steps toward Sasuke.
Naruto is always there for him. When he aches and cries, Naruto is there to hold him and tell him that it might ache now, but it won't always.
"I feel lonely, but I don't have the ache," Naruto whispers to him one night.
"That means you're soulmates near," Sasuke replies, his eyes shut.
Naruto stays silent for a while, and Sasuke is almost convinced he fell asleep, but then Narutop shifts and Sasuke can feel his gaze on his face. He opens his eyes.
"I've never seen anyone in Konoha with my markings," Naruto says, his shakey voice betraying his otherwise calm demeanor.
Sasuke looks into Naruto's eyes and sees the pain. Naruto isn't aching from distance, but knowledge. His soulmate has to be in Konoha. Everyone knows Naruto's mark. The only explanation is that Naruto's soulmate has purposefully gone out of their way to avoid him.
Sasuke lifts his arm and pulls Naruto closer to him. They both lay on Sasuke's bed, in his empty house, in the deserted Uchiha compound.
Those nights are hard for both of them.
During the summer, when their classes at the academy are no longer in session, they run around the village, practicing what they can. Sasuke convinces Naruto to sit still long enough to watch the people around them. Civilians and ninjas alike move around the village and Sasuke feels as if he can almost call this village his home.
(And then a civilian will notice Naruto beside him and, suddenly, he knows why it still isn't.)
During one of their summer adventures, Naruto convinces Sasuke to sneak into the Hokage tower with him.
"It's not hard," Naruto reassures Sasuke after he voiced his doubts. "I go in their and explore all the time when I'm not hanging out with you."
Naruto is so excited to show Sasuke another part of his life, so Sasuke agrees.
He doesn't know if he regrets it or not.
The man is old and unfriendly looking. He is conversing with what Sasuke thinks is a ninja from ANBU, but he can't be certain. The bandages covering his face and arm are more than a little discerning. Sasuke doesn't know how he and Naruto haven't been spotted yet, can't comprehend how they managed to get lost in the Hokage tower and end up here, but he knows that luck had to be on their side for them to find this.
"Hiashi still refuses, Danzo-sama," the ninja replies in a monotone voice.
The man, Danzo, huffs from his seat and stands. "You'd think the clans would be more hesitant in their power grabbing."
The ninja opposite Danzo doesn't reply, just shifting out of the way as Danzo starts walking toward the enterance.
Sasuke and Naruto look at each other with wide eyes before they scramble around a corner, their hearts beating quickly. Sasuke is the closest to the other hallway and if Danzo happens to turn his head, he'll be the first one spotted. He holds his breath and closes his eyes, praying that the old man will continue on right pass their hiding spot.
"We wouldn't want another incident like the Uchiha clan, now would we?" are Danzo's parting words. The two walk pass the alcove they're hiding in and around the corner.
Naruto let's out a relieved breath, slumping next to Sasuke. Sasuke hasn't yet started breathing.
Danzo called the Uchiha massacre and 'incident'. Sasuke breathes out, but his body trembles, his fists curled tight in repressed rage. The massacre wasn't an 'incident'. It was a tragedy. It was his brother, his soulmate, trying to cut ties with his former life.
An entire clan was murdered that night.
Danzo didn't sound very sorry.
"Sasuke?" Naruto whispers from beside him, his hand clenching tightly around Sasuke's sleeve.
"He called it an 'incident'," Sasuke hisses, his teeth clenched. He walks forward, sticking his head out to see if anyone was coming. He turns to Naruto and whispers, "Can you hear anything?"
Naruto's hearing has saved them from getting caught more than once, so Sasuke waits for Naruto to respond, keeping as quiet as he can. Naruto's eyebrows are scrunched together as he does his best to focus. When he shakes his head after a moment, Sasuke pulls him out of the alcove and into Danzo's office.
"Sasuke? What are you doing?" Naruto whispers harshly, glancing around nervously.
They've gone places where they shouldn't have before, but they both know this is different.
They had been messing around in an abandoned corridor in the Hokage tower when Naruto had tripped over himself and gone face first into the wall. His impact had caused the wall to shift and reveal a tunnel. There hadn't even been a discussion before the two of them had wondered into the tunnel. It had been lit well enough that they could walk around without bumping into any of the walls. They didn't go down any of the other halls, the risk of getting lost too high, but rather stayed in the main hall. They had reached the hend of the corridor and only had the choice to turn left and that was when they had discovered the entrance to Danzo's office. They had just opened the door when Naruto had gripped Sasuke's arm and tugged him back a few steps to the shadowed alcove a couple feet away. They had stayed silent the entire time Danzo and the ANBU agent had talked.
They both knew they weren't supposed to be there. They both knew what they were doing was dangerous.
Sasuke didn't care.
"Look for anything that mentions the Uchiha clan," Sasuke whispers to Naruto, turning to go through the filing cabinet next to him.
"What? Why?" Naruto asks even as he turns to do what Sasuke asked.
"Didn't you hear me before? He called the massacre an incident. Said it like one of the other clans could expect something similar to happen," Sasuke says while closing the top drawer and opening the middle.
Naruto says nothing, shfiting through scrolls across the room, humming in response.
"If he knows something," Sasuek continues, his voice cracking, "I want to know what it is."
Naruto stops searchign for a moment, glancing at his shaking figure. Sasuke meets his eyes and he knows that Naruto sees the desperation in them.
Sasuke knows something was wrong that night. He remembers that desolate feeling, the confusion and heartbreak of that night not letting his forget what Itachi felt while he tore Sasuke apart. He's kept his mouth shut, hid away any hope of ever understanding what was really going on, until this moment. Danzo's words had sparked a desperate feeling in Sasuke. He needed to know if there were others who felt like something was off that night.
Sasuke had gone through all the cabinets on his side, searching the scroll titles for anything that clicked, and was feeling more and more depressed as nothing matched. He'd almost given up when he heard Naruto let out a sharp breath.
"What?" Sasuke asks sharply, rushing to Naruto's side.
Naruto keeps staring down at the open scroll in his hands. Sasuke looks over Naruto's shoulder and let's out a choked gasp.
On the scroll in front of them was a painting of the mark that covered Sasuke's back.
Naruto slowly unfurled the scroll in front of them and Sasuke let his eyes roam the script in desperation.
It didn't say much. The words were bigger than Sasuke was used to and they seemed to circle around themselves without actually admitting to what they were describing. One sentence, however, burned itself into his memory.
"Mission objective completed."
Sasuke didn't move even as Naruto suddenly jerked, his eyes wide. He started scrambling around Sasuke whispering curses as he cleaned up around them. Sasuke almost didn't budge when Naruto started trying to push him out the door.
"Sasuke, you stupid bastard, move!" Naruto hissed, shoving him back toward the alcove.
Sasuke complied stiffly, numbly allowed himself to be pushed toward their hiding spot. He enetered first and stared at the wall in front of him. He vaguely heard to voice drifting by them, talking softly about something, before he heard the voice cut off by a door closing.
Sasuke let Naruto drag him out of the alcove and then out of the underground tunnels. He let Naruto check to see if the coast was clear before they stumbled back into the Hokage toward, both of them trailing dirt behind them.
Mission, Sasuke thought absently. The wording on the scroll, right next to the shared soulmark, was mission.
Sasuke stared at the ceiling that night, his mind racing, as dredges of hope he had long thought he'd thrown away started to surface.
A/N: Surprise! Not the chapter originally meant to be written, but an update nonetheless. Next chapter will probably approach Naruto's thoughts a bit more about soulmates and, drumroll, the introduction of Kurama!