A/N - OMG I'M SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SORRY!!!! *self-punishment no jutsu* seriously I really cannot tell you how terrible I feel for making you wait so long for this chapter, which isn't even any good to be honest. I've had personal problems the past few weeks and whatnot but really, I don't have a good enough excuse. :( So the long-awaited chapter 6 is up. This was originally going to be the longest chapter I would write yet ... but after my emoing weeks I didn't have the motivation and decided to split it in half. I'll get working on the next one as soon as I can I promise!

DISCLAIMER:- If I owned Naruto ... Pein would have got his ass thoroughly kicked about 13 chapters ago ___ WHY HINATA, WHY!?!?! *weeps*

The approach of the long awaited evening began to make itself known over the village. The sun lowering to the horizon, slowly, dragging it's light and warmth with it. In it's place, the shadows grew stronger, invading the space in between small houses and shops. To fight them, people had lit their lanterns and placed them outside, the luminous glows bringing a better comfort to the village and it's inhabitants. The once gentle wind gradually increased, bringing an ever so slight chill with it. Spring was better than Winter, but not much warmer or lighter unfortunately. Over at the ramen stand, the lights had also been put on, welcoming customers who fancied something to eat in or take out instead of having to slave over the cooker at home. It was here where Sakura and Naruto congregated routinely after school. This time they were accompanied by Hinata and Neji. Neji because he was ridiculously over protective of his little cousin. Naruto would usually have protested strongly against his presence.

Usually…

Sakura couldn't help but glance worryingly at the depressed blonde as she slurped up her noodles. The poor guy had been down ever since Sasuke had gotten angry with him at lunch. A normal content Naruto would be sitting there, beaming as he ravenously consumed the godly food as he called it, demolishing it within seconds before yelling for another bowl. But this stranger at her side just sat in silence, prodding his favourite miso ramen, eating it slowly. Hinata was on his other side, her own bowl long forgotten. She had her small hand positioned gently on his upper arm in comfort, genuinely worried about him. After all, a lethargic looking Naruto was definitely not normal!

Honest to god, Sakura thought he was over reacting. So what if Sasuke didn't like them. In this situation, she herself would've given up, she had tried, but the guy didn't appreciate her attempts to be friendly so there was obviously no point continuing. Eventually her burdening thoughts would've faded. Right?

She couldn't promise herself that. Because for some unknown reason she desperately wanted to know why. Why does he avoid everyone? Why is he so quiet? Why does he push all potential new friends away? Why did he refuse Naruto's invitation to come sit with them and join them for ramen after school? ….. Why does she even CARE!?

She knew how Naruto was with other people. The hyperactive knucklehead was incredibly annoying even if he wasn't doing it purposely, and even his current companions sometimes groaned when they saw him coming. But underneath their irritation, they all loved him. He always managed to lighten the mood, no matter how dark it was … and they could always count on him to help out with any problem. He didn't have a lot of respect from others … but it didn't stop him trying to prove everyone wrong. Naruto would never accept failure on his part. She had never met another person who was more determined than her best friend. She guessed that because the new kid was his neighbour, Naruto was eager to make friends with him, obviously things hadn't gone as planned with Sasuke though.

Neji was the first to break the uncomfortable silence.

"Okay, this is stupid, cheer up! It's not the end of the world just because you failed to get some jackass to like you. Then again I don't particularly blame him for his outburst." he said sharply. At this Hinata shot a dark look at her cousin. Sakura was surprised, Hinata wasn't one to be so intimidating due to her extreme shy nature and size, but Jesus! If looks could kill.

"Stop putting him down Neji-kun! At least he tried to be friendly." she said angrily without stuttering. That seemed to shut Neji up. But he was right, Naruto didn't need to get so worked up over such a thing.

"Just forget about it Naruto," she said, any attempt at getting the old Naruto back, but she couldn't seem to find any words that would help, for she herself wanted to get to know the raven-haired boy. Who could resist a mysterious guy after all? "If he wants to be an introvert, let him. No need to act like this-"

"But he needs a friend …"

Sakura's eyes widened at the quiet words he spoke. Naruto finally showed signs of life, by turning to face her.

"Don't ask me how I know, but something tells me all that 'I hate human interaction' stuff is a just a wall he's put up around himself. Some friend I'd make though … all I did was piss him off all day." Naruto's head fell onto the counter with a soft thud. Hinata gave him a pitying look, glancing at Sakura as if asking for help as she rubbed his back in comfort. The pinkette had no idea what to say … It was true she supposed, that Naruto had definitely not been Sasuke's favourite person all day, viewing him to be some idiotic loser who had a knack for irritating him. What advice could she give? If Sakura knew more about him, she could probably give the blonde an idea on how to make it up to Sasuke, but alas, to her exasperation, Sasuke didn't want anyone to know the inner workings of his mind.

"Maybe you should just apologise to him tomorrow?" came her feeble response. She couldn't help at how her voice faltered and the end, as she came to the realisation this probably wouldn't work. At least she was making an effort wasn't she?

"In case you hadn't noticed Sakura-Chan, Sasuke tries to keep himself away from me by any means possible." Naruto's replied, speech muffled slightly by his position. Sakura sighed deeply and was about to agree with him … when they were interrupted.

"Hey, Hey Kids! How was your day?"

Sakura swivelled on her stool to beam at the white maned man. Jiraiya grinned back, eyes wrinkling as it widened, red tattoos underneath his eyes clashing with his skin noticeably. Like Naruto, his uncle's smile was pretty much as contagious as Malaria. Sakura spotted the large bottle cradled in the old man's hands and had to sigh at the predictability of it all.

"It was okay I guess." She really tried to sound convincing, really, really tried. But her voice seemed to rebel against any control today and her tone still held some of her dissatisfied mood. That, and the fact that some dismal corpse had replaced her friend for the evening. Jiraiya, not accustomed to his nephew being so dejected, studied him silently for a moment. After making sense of the bad atmosphere hovering over the four of them, Jiraiya approached Naruto.

Sakura winced as the old man bough his fist down sharply on the blonde's head.

"OWWWWWWW, FUCK OLD MAN THAT HURT!" Naruto howled, hands cradling his throbbing head as he gave a deadly look to his uncle. Jiraiya glared back, face drawing close to his nephew's.

"You gonna tell me what the hell's got you acting like a moody teenager?"

"I AM a teenager, why'd you have to hit me!?"

"You didn't answer my question!"

Sakura rolled her emerald eyes at the two idiots who had now dived deep into a glaring contest. Sending an apologetic shrug to a dumbfounded Hinata and Neji. She let her mind wander again, and to no surprise Sasuke immediately came up in her thoughts, just like he had done all day. He was looking at her, onyx eyes dead and mysterious yet breath -taking at the same time. There was no smile, just a thin line. The mask was so evident it was ridiculous, and she understood now what Naruto had meant. She wanted to tear it off and stamp on it till it was beyond repair. But her sudden hostile thoughts evaporated as one corner of the thin line curved up ever so slightly, transforming into a cocky smirk. It was only a mental image, and yet she found her breath knocked out of her in a similar way to how that one expression had done so earlier in their English lesson.

You like him …

Could that possibly be true? She didn't deny he was extremely attractive. But she knew nothing of him. Not personally anyway. Sakura wasn't one to go chasing after a guy for such a shallow reason. But the mystery of his actions intrigued her beyond words. She had known people who were uncomfortable around people, but they had never been so upfront about it like Sasuke. And there was this air about him, one that urged Sakura to embrace the raven-haired boy and comfort him for reasons unknown.

He needs a friend …

She felt certain of that now that she thought about it, and the desire to understand him more secured itself inside her brain.

She would get to know him more, and she would help Sasuke… whatever it was he needed help with.

"I'm home …"

Urgh … home. It felt weird giving such a cosy description to this foreign place. But he had to hand it to his brother, the place seemed pretty damn awesome. It outsized their last home, and was much more grand within too. It was one the major complexes in this little village after all, and it appeared Itachi had enlisted the help of a couple of his pals to arrange all their belongings (no doubt Deidara and Sasori, given away by the artistic way things were placed). There were only the odd few miserable looking boxes dotted about the hall still left to unpack, and Sasuke noted a large one by the winding stairs as his own due to the fact his lazily scrawled name was on the side of it.

"Hey there lil' brother," Sasuke didn't bother to turn around as he settled his school bag down by the door, knowing full well his brother would be positioned in the living room entry way, one arm supporting him against the door post in a laid back pose that made him look like some supermodel, "Like the house so far?"

"It's fine …" he didn't bother to elaborate as he gathered up the amazingly light box of posessions. He just wanted to get to his room.

"Had Deidara and Sasori over to help, only took us a couple of hours or so, maybe a little bit longer though as they started arguing about where the TV should be placed." Itachi chuckled at the memory while Sasuke said nothing. He could tell Itachi was trying to make conversation with him as usual. It was a daily routine for Itachi, mission 'get a full sentence out of Sasuke' as he always labelled it, but his supposed conversations were always one-sided. Sasuke did talk more around him, after all, Itachi was the person closest to him, being his big brother and it being written down in the job description to be there for the younger sibling. But Sasuke didn't make exceptions if he could help it.

"Hn."

"So … how was school?"

Sasuke paused halfway up the stairs. Damn he'd been hoping to avoid that question.

"You mean the torture house?" he mumbled. Itachi heard him though. You had to have good ears when your little brother muttered inaudibly all the time.

"That bad huh?" Sasuke could hear the disappointment in the raven-haired man's tone. Well what did he expect? Should he have come bouncing through the door like a ditzy schoolgirl and begin a long-winded account about how utterly fantastic it was? 'Oh hey nii-san! my day was so friggen great, everone was so friendly, I couldn't have asked for a better school to tranfer into!'

Note the sarcasm there.

Sasuke knew he could probably be viewed as a inclusive ass who didn't even try to make an effort to be happy for his brother, who only wished he would go back to his old ways. The happy, enthusiastic Sasuke who never ceased to try and better himself. The Sasuke before …

Well … before it had happened. But he was long gone … and Itachi was wasting his time. Why couldn't his stupid brother see that?

In a mild effort to avoid answering the main question, Sasuke called upon something he'd been puzzling over, something Naruto had let slip earlier in the day. He turned to glower at Itachi who blinked in surprise, then realising his accusing expression, abruptly changed it to one of pure innocence. Pfft! … nice try Itachi.

"Did you hire some lunatic to baby-sit me today?"

"Baby-sit?"

"That's what I said … you becoming deaf with old age or something?"

"being in your twenties hardly counts as old, dearest sibling…"

"I'm not hearing a no?"

They each began to stare the other down (frowning if you were Sasuke) and the eldest of the two took the opportunity to read his smaller sibling. Itachi noted the mask that still held fast upon his brother, a desperate attempt to cut himself off from the rest of them. Though despite it's strength … Sasuke could never hide anything from his eyes, the loneliness was still there, mixed with current frustration and anger towards him. Itachi finally shrugged, the corner of his mouth lifting into a small smirk.

"I wouldn't say baby-sit exactly Sasuke, our neighbour kindly welcomed us this morning and I simply asked a small favour that he try and make your first day a little more tolerable," Itachi smirk slipped off his face as he sighed defeated, "seems my attempts at giving you a friend didn't work out as planned."

"I don't need a friend Itachi …" Sasuke growled before retreating up to the higher floor, irritation clear in his rough steps.

"As you keep reminding me." Itachi said quietly after the dark-haired teen before returning to the exceptionally interesting show appearing on the TV screen.