"Itachi! Do you know where Sasuke is?" a grown up woman who wore a knee-length purple gown asked with panic laced on her face to a man in blue shirt who was just walking through the kitchen's door.
"Hm? Sasuke makes his escape again?" said Itachi calmly, as if his words had been a mere statement than a serious question.
"Yes, Sasuke is nowhere to be seen after I left him alone in his room. I thought he might need some time for himself. But after I got back to check on him, he's gone. I was looking for him everywhere, but it's like he went invisible in this house," the woman explained while trying to supress her surfacing anger.
"Please calm down, Okaa-san. I'm sure he's still here, in this house. I will find him for you. You can go to Sakura instead, I think she's pretty nervous. Don't worry about Sasuke, okay?" Itachi said while smiling.
The woman named Mikoto was starting to ease her mind due to her son's reassurance. She sighed a tired breath and spoke, "Fine,"I'll leave Sasuke to you, Itachi. Remember, the engagement will start in 30 minutes, and he can't be late."
"Yes, yes. Okaa-san shouldn't be worried about it. Sasuke won't be late. I promise," Itachi said.
Naruto who was sitting on a chair right by the kitchen's door while sipping on his orange juice clearly heard the two people's conversation. And Naruto knew for one thing that Itachi was highly unlikely to find Sasuke on any corner of the Uchiha's mansion.
Considering that fact led Naruto to stand up from his seat, put the expensive empty glass onto the nearest table, walk out of the palace and take a stroll in the sidewalk. After a while, he entered a park area, which on one of its side was bordering with a conserved small area of woods. With a clear destination on his mind, Naruto stepped into the foliage, walking confidently towards a big wood with a small and simple-looking tree-house perched on it. He climbed up with the help of a series of short timbers nailed horizontally, making a way for him until he fully entered the tree-house.
Someone was sitting quietly on a simple wooden chair while he was gazing outside through an open window. His left foot was bent close to his cold body, and his arm was left hanging freely while resting on his risen knee. The plain wooden wall was directly to his right side. His slightly hunched frame was covered by a set of outfit in the form of magenta-colored shirt, with a loose black tie by his collar, while his black suit was left to rest by the edge of the window. He might or might not realize the new presence that just came out of the square cut on the floor, namely Naruto.
"Hehh, here you are. You never change, teme," Naruto spoke after he regained his tall composure inside the tree-house. His voice made the said person—Sasuke—turn around to his direction, apparently wasn't expecting someone to find him in that place. But after he realized whose voice it belonged to, he let out a sigh. Whether due to a wash of relieved of finding that 'someone' to be his only bestfriend, or because his exhausted heart, a space in which he kept inside the stack of untold feelings to the man who just found him there.
"Hm?" Naruto furrowed an eyebrow, purely perplexed. Sasuke definitely looked different than his usual self. Heck, not only looked different, but the man before him might simply be an imposter of some kind.
The male before him, instead of throwing back a remark, was back to his blank staring towards the dark sky outside. His gaze was deeply solemn, as if his entire life had been brought away by the breeze of an early rain.
Naruto slowly but sure took a step forward towards the Uchiha.
"Hey, Sasuke," he spoke while calmly walking ahead.
No reply whatsoever. Even his entire body remained still, that figure with dark orbs.
In that very moment, Naruto understood. He stopped walking. He was now aware of the young man in front of him, that he was indeed the Uchiha Sasuke. He got it just now.
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