I know, I officially fail at life. I have no excuse for not writing another chapter. It's just been a mix of business and lack of interest. But because I feel like a total retard-face for going over a month without posting, I am going to be a kind little girl and write a little bit for you anyway!

I do not own Naruto.


Sasuke simply didn't give a damn anymore. At school he acted normal to anyone who confronted him, and paid no mind to those who decided to act like he wasn't there. He acted as if it was just any other normal day. He parked his car in it's normal spot, walked to his locker to drop his belonging off, went to class, took notes, and waited impatiently for the bell to ring, as if nothing had ever happened. Then, to his second class, he walked through the halls, paying no one in particular any mind. A few people, mostly those who are in close relations to Ino, glared at him, but other than that, it was normal.

Lunch, however, was inevitably not normal. Ino and Sasuke had always been in pretty much the same social group most of their lives, so obviously some of the people that he usually sat at the table with would side with her. Possibly, there would be a few people that would end up siding with him, causing a two-sided war, though Sasuke himself would probably have little to do with it. Then there would be those few who were to remain neutral, going back and forth between both sides. It would consist of a lot of drama that he would much rather just ignore. He groaned softly as he walked into the cafeteria.

"Hey Sasuke!" Karin jump up beside him the second he entered the room, Suigetsu right beside her. She had a smile on her face, and neither of the pair showing no anger or harsh feelings, causing him to instantly relax.

"Ah, so it seems the two of you aren't so sympathetic to Ino, huh?" Sasuke asked with a level tone, "I'm surprised. I thought you were getting to be a good friend of hers, Karin."

"Oh, you mean that bitch?" she asked in a sweet voice, "No, no. I was only nice to her because she was my friend's girlfriend...Not to mention her family was willing to pay half the cost for the limo. But no, that slut always irritated the hell out of me. I honestly don't know if you really cheated on her or not, but then I really don't care."

"Same," Suigetsu offered from behind her, "To you, my friend, is where our loyalty will always remain."


Back a few years ago, when Sasuke was a sophomore, and Itachi was studying abroad, Sasuke went through a big rebellious state, totally blowing off all of his friends, especially Naruto. He was always distant from everyone else, but this was different. He was always the epitome of perfection in the eyes of everyone else, but during that time he had become a 'bad kid' committing all sorts of delinquent accounts. It was also during that time when he starting hanging out with Karin, Suigetsu, and Juugo, who were infamous throughout the school as the ones who were always getting into trouble and receiving suspension. They were the type that everyone else ran away from in fear, but Sasuke approached them. They all came to respect him, and at one point Karin developed a very strong, but unrequited, crush on him. Together they formed a strong little group which Sasuke named "Taka".

Then Sasuke grew really bad. Pretty much all of what they did beforehand were just petty offenses, nothing too major. Yes, they did occasionally beat other students up, but never without reason, and never to the point that they'd receive a serious injury, besides maybe a black eye or a couple of bruised arms. Nothing that required any more medical attention, besides being given an icepack. Really, they weren't that bad, just a little harsh. But it wasn't enough for Sasuke. One day after school, he gave Taka a list of names of people he didn't like. He intended to have them killed.

"This is a joke, right Sasuke?" Karin asked skeptically. She let out a little nervous laugh. Sasuke, however, had no humor on his face.

"This is no joke, Karin. I need you to help me kill these people."

"Uh, Sa-Sasuke, I don't think that this is the right thing to do. We can't just going around killing pe-" Juugo started.

"If you aren't with me, you're against me. Those who are against me go on this list," Sasuke cut him off.

Suigetsu coughed, "Er, well, I guess I have say that I'm on your side, then. Hell, it may be kinda fun...in a twisted way."

After that meeting, things went about as if nothing had ever happened. Suigetsu and Juugo continued to socialize with Sasuke as if everything was normal, and as if he was the same person as before. Karin, however, was not able to act that way. Sasuke was different. But she was able to wear a fake smile, and continue on.

Then it happened. Karin was sitting in the park one Saturday afternoon, when she heard her cellphone ring. The caller ID told her that it was Sasuke.

"Sasuke?" she asked in a dazed voice.

"Karin, you know that one alleyway we met up in about a week ago? I need you to come over here right now. It's an emergency. But say nothing to anyone else, including Suigetsu and Juugo."

"On my way now," replied, instantly standing up and heading eastward. But Sasuke had already hung up on her.

It was only about a five minute run towards where he was. She ran down the alleyway, and quickly spotted and caught up to him. The also noticed a student who was wearing the Konoha High uniform, but she didn't know what his name was or anything else about him. He was beaten up, and slumped against the wall. She gasped, "Sasuke, what is this?"

"I'm going to kill him," he replied in a very cold voice.

Karin instantly stood in between the two of them, looking Sasuke directly in the face. "You most certainly are not!"

"Get out of my way, Karin," he ordered.

"Sasuke, you can't be serious! This phase you're having has to end! This isn't you!"

"This is very much me," Sasuke tried to push her aside.

Karin resisted. "Sasuke, don't do this. Please...I-I-I love you, Sasuke. You can't do this to yourself, and I'm not going to let you."

"You are going to stop me?" Sasuke asked. His gaze turned even colder as he looked her directly in the face. "I guess that means you are against me."

With that, he stabbed her. Everything went black.

...

Sasuke ended up killing no one that day. Apparently, that was the day that Itachi was returning, a few weeks earlier than expected. He had been looking all over town for his younger brother, when all of a sudden he head a girl's scream. Being the good Samaritan that he was, he quickly ran to the source. He had expected to find a girl being harassed by some guy. He had not expected to find his precious little brother standing over two people, one heavily bruised, and the other heavily bleeding and unconscious.

"Sa-Sasuke?" Itachi walked over to his brother cautiously, "Is that you?"

"N-Nii-san?" Sasuke asked. His face had blood splattered on it, and he looked very cold and twisted, that it gave him shivers. But when he looked into his face, Sasuke grew a big smile and ran up to hug him, as if nothing had ever happened. Itachi simply grabbed his wrist, snatching the blood-soaked knife, then pushing him away. The bruised boy, who apparently still had some energy left, quickly up and went, running as fast as he could away from them.

"What is this Sasuke?" Itachi asked unemotionally.

"These people disrespected the Uchiha name. For that, they must die." Itachi slapped him. He then reached for the phone and called 911 asking for an ambulance for the stabbed girl. Sasuke didn't know how to react, so he simply stood there awkwardly. After he hung up, Itachi bent down to examine the girl and to check her pulse. She was unconscious and in critical condition, but still alive. As he checked her, his younger brother suddenly turned, as if to escape like the other boy did. He got up and grabbed onto him.

"You aren't going anywhere," he whispered into his ear, his fingers digging into his shoulders.

Sasuke tried to jerk away, to no avail. "You don't understand!" he hissed.

"Oh, I understand. You are being a spoiled brat-No, more than that. You have become a hideous person while I was gone, trying to kill some poor girl. If this is what you want to be, than you are no longer my brother. Make your choice."

That hit Sasuke hard. At that point in his life, Itachi was the only person he still cared about. Even Naruto was among those that he hated the most. At that moment, he felt regret for the first time in months. He gave in.

He'd do anything for his brother.

...

The official news report, according to Karin, stated that she had been going through a lot of stress from school and everything, and wanted to die. She wanted to kill herself in that alleyway, and Sasuke tried to stop her, to convince her that life was worth living, but ended up stabbing herself anyway. As luck had it, his older brother happened to come by with his cellphone and call for an ambulance, making her suicide attempt a failure. She had to stay in the hospital for a few weeks, and then after that she was required to take therapy to help her so she would never become 'suicidal' again. For her, it was worth it. She couldn't send Sasuke to some prison, when he had clearly changed. Though it took her another year for her to forgive him entirely, and she never felt romantic feelings for him again.

There were some good things that came out of this for her, however. Suigetsu, who she had never liked and always argued with, came to visit her hospital room every single day. Sure, their relationship was a very rocky on-again off-again one, but they truly came to love each other, and she knew that they would end up together in the long run.

At school again, Sasuke was hanging out with all of his old friends. Juugo, who was two years older and had graduated already, was off in some collage in Kumo, so Suigetsu and Karin expected it to be just the two of them again. But that wasn't the case. They were accepted with open arms by all of Sasuke's old friends. For the first time, the two had normal social settings with normal friends. Sasuke made it very clear that he'd never abandon anyone ever again.


"And that is exactly why Suigetsu and I have decided to stick to your side!" Karin concluded.

"Yeah, so we pretty much figure that Ino is either a liar or a stuck-up bitch who got what she deserved," Suigetsu stated. "Or, quite possibly...both." The threesome walked with their lunch trays towards the area they usually sat in.

Their group usually took up about two tables. It really didn't matter which one you sat at, they were both essentially the same, and they communicated back and forth. Today, that was obviously not the case.

At one table, there sat Sakura, Ino, Hinata, Kiba, and several others. The other table was currently unoccupied.

"H-hello Sasuke-kun!" Hinata stood up and greeted them cheerfully, "Karin-san, Suigetsu-san."

Ino pulled her back down by her hair and elbowed her as hard as she could in the ribs. "We don't greet traitors."

"I-I just..." she stuttered in shock, eyes getting slight tears forming.

"It's okay," Ino patted her on the shoulder, as if she were a little child who didn't know any better, "Just don't do it again."

Kiba stood up and glared Ino in the face. "NO, it's fucking NOT okay! I don't don't care if you are a girl or a boy, NO ONE gets to do that to her. If you fucking yell at, or even touch Hinata one more time, even though I don't generally like to hit girls, I'LL KICK YOUR ASS!" he yelled. He nudged Hinata to get up. "Come on, I don't care if Sasuke is a total ass, he's better than her."

"K-Kiba-kun," Hinata stuttered, even more in shock.

Sakura stood up quickly in defence, "I don't think that Ino meant-"

"I don't care. She has no right tell anyone what to do. For years we've been living with her manipulative shit, and she especially plays it towards Hinata! Hell yeah, we're going to take this chance to get away from it. Now, come on, Hinata," he pulled her along to the other table, sitting down along with the other three 'traitors'. Ino didn't know what to say, and started to grow red. Karin and Suigetsu burst out laughing in unison. Sasuke cupped his face in his hands.

Shikamaru and Chouji walked over. It was a no-brainer to everyone where they sat. "Sup guys?" Suigetsu signaled to them as they took their seats. Ino just let out an irritated huff. Sasuke sat, saying nothing. To him, it almost seemed like this was a game, and each person sitting at each table counted for one point. It was stupid and childish, and he had no time for such games. But something inside him felt a small sense of joy whenever someone picked his table over her's.

Naruto was a more difficult one. He stood nervously with his tray, looking back and fourth at both tables. He stared at Ino's table for a moment.

"Come sit with us, Naruto!" Sakura said with mock friendliness. It was obviously fake as she wore a death glare of doom.

"Yes, Naruto, sit," Ino smiled sweetly, "Come talk to me! You are the only guy I can really trust right now, you know. I need you right now!"

Naruto actually considered sitting over there. Sure, he actually sided with Sasuke...But he did value his life. It would just be a matter of getting through all of her obsessions with his sexuality. Yes, that would be a pain. She was the type who refused to believe that one could be a homosexual male and not be flamboyant, fusion crazed, effeminate, etc. He asked himself again if he really valued his life. He looked at Sasuke's table with longing. They said nothing. Sasuke rolled his eyes at him. He looked back at the other. Realizing that Sakura would kill him otherwise, and that he did want to continue living, he started to walk over to them. Ino's face lit up, and she grew a sickly sweet smile. But then she made the mistake of encouraging him. "Come on! I need your humble opinions on things. Like, you know, fashion and all. Oh, and I need your help, as I want to redecorate my room and all, and I figured you'd be all over it and all. I mean, you are a gay guy, after all! Oh, and you can talk about your hot boyfriend Gaara! Which reminds me, I've wanted to ask you this for a long time, but are you the woman in the relationship? I mean, he is more masculine and all, so I would assume so, but..."

Naruto froze. He gave Ino a blank stare.

Sasuke let out a low chuckle. She clearly knew absolutely nothing about Naruto. Poor fool.

Naruto, without saying anything or showing any emotion, turned around and sat at Sasuke's table. Sakura could use him as her personal punching bag for all he cared at that point. At least then he would die with his sanity in tact. Sasuke laughed dryly.

"Like, OMG, Naruto! You, like, have to tell me about your shmexy, much-more-masculine-than-you sex-toy!" Suigetsu teased him with his fake Valley Girl voice, "Oh, and then, like, we can totally go for pedicures! I know you have to be into that, because you're, like, gay and all!"

"Shut up," Naruto hissed under his breath. If it weren't for the fact that graduation was only in a couple of days, he would have transferred to Suna in a heartbeat.

Sasuke pondered that for a moment. Joking or not, those were the general stereotypes. Although he didn't know if he was actually gay, bi, or if it was just a special exception with his brother, he never really thought about it. A lot of people seemed to link those stereotypes with Naruto, and even a few to Gaara, (though generally a lot less so, as Gaara had a tendency to beat up whoever spoke of such,) but they weren't true at all. They defiantly weren't true for him.

Would people suddenly get that image of him if he was to suddenly announce that he was in love with a guy?

Probably not. People would probably be more fixated with the fact that the guy was his brother.

Was there even an image for that in the first place?

He sighed. All in all, it didn't really matter. All that really did was the fact that Sasuke was in love, and Itachi returned it. They would be happy together, and that was that. It didn't affect anyone else, nor was it any of their business. It was in anyone's right to judge. They weren't hurting anything or anybody, were they? Love is love. You don't chose who you fall for, right?

Did anything else really matter?


For the record: The boy Sasuke beat up was too scared to report him or press any charges. In fact, he even transferred schools after that. No, he wasn't anyone in particular.

So yeah. I have nothing else to say about that.

Review please? I would be very happy! ^^