Two months later
"Hey," Naruto says quietly. He meekly sits on the bench beside Sasuke. They're in a small park that overlooks the river. It's overcast, the sky grey but bright. It smells like wet sand and water.
Sasuke grunts his greeting.
"Still a little salty, huh?" Naruto chuckles at Sasuke glare. "It's fine, it's fine. I understand." He pulls a folder from his jacket and hands it over to Sasuke. "They found her body in the river. I'm sorry Sasuke."
Sasuke looks at the picture disinterestedly before sliding them back into the folder. He shrugs. "It's fine."
Naruto looks at him surprised. Sasuke shrugs again. "I knew she was dead. And if you don't know who did it you're a bigger idiot than I thought."
Naruto shifts on the bench uncomfortably. He is after all an officer of the law.
Sasuke tilts his head back and gazes up at a circle of gliding seagulls. "I didn't realize what he was giving me. This is the first time I've been truly free. I don't have Father's expectations hanging over me and I don't have nightmares about Mother's lessons anymore."
Naruto's eyes widen in shock. Sasuke flaps a hand at him. "I didn't think you'd be able to stomach hearing about them. There's a reason Itachi took off. I hated him for so long because of it." His fingers clench into a tight fist. "And now I'm hating him all over again."
"You've heard about it then, huh?"
"…yeah."
"Do you know where…?"
"Not yet," Sasuke says darkly. Naruto smiles.
"You wouldn't believe the number of people we've heard complain about it. As high a price it came at, they still want his help. Can you believe people miss that bastard?" Naruto asks.
A question to which Sasuke grunts sourly. Naruto's smile turns to an all-out grin at Sasuke's moody refusal to acknowledge his feelings.
"Hey, Sasuke. When you find him, ask Itachi about the Cabaret."
Sasuke stares out at the river a long time. "I'll do that."
The city's whispers rise above the rush of the river. The people whisper of his disappearance. They wonder where he has gone to. The sky is weeping. The river ripples with the warm, wet breeze as spheres of water drop to its surface. The chatter is picking up. Did someone finally kill him? The wind rushes over the bridge. Sheets of rain splatter on to the road. It's getting louder. Was he arrested? He ought to be arrested.
Droplets of rain bead on the glass globe. Sasuke stares up at it. The rain is soaking his hair, his clothes. He blinks water out of his eyes. The devil's out there somewhere. Stalking the darkness. But where? Where is he? The globe in front of Sasuke is dark. The lamp doesn't burn red anymore. It doesn't burn at all anymore. It is dark and dead.
He should go home. To his manor, his childhood home that Itachi gifted him. He should shed the clothes that cling to his skin and crawl under the covers and not think about the brother who betrayed him. But he can't. He stares at the apartment building and knows he'll enter it soon. It's always empty now. It's gathering dust. But Sasuke is compelled by some force, some longing to enter it.
When the front door shuts it dims the sound of the pouring rain. Raindrops still hit the windows, clinking against the glass. But it is quiet in the lobby. He leaves wet footsteps in the red carpet and small puddles on the marble. He goes to the abandoned piano, the one by the bar. The sheet that once half covered the instrument lies crumpled on the floor.
His fingers stroke the keys. He plays Satie's Gymnopedie No. 1. Slowly and softly it fills the still room. It's a song suited to the rain that pitter-patters in the background. Sasuke thinks that perhaps it is best suited for an afternoon shower, the type that comes in spring and drenches the budding flowers and drips down the petals to the green below. But right now, in the warm rainy evening, in the city and in the dark, he finds it perfect.
"For three years I waited for you to come to me." The voice is lightly amused, masking anything deeper. It comes from the shadows. "I should have known all it would take was leaving for you to come searching. You're always so contrary."
Sasuke stares down at his hands, still on the ivory keys. His heart is wringing. He plunks out a fragment of melody. It winds through the hollow air. "That certainly would have been easier," Sasuke says at last. "You always make things complicated."
"You mean I fuck things up."
"Definitely," Sasuke agrees. He refuses to turn from the piano. His hands need the stability, the patterns of the black and white keys.
"Diedara says you've been visiting this place."
"Only when I get lonely."
"He says you've come here every night since I've been gone."
"He says a lot for a butler."
For long moments there is only the sound of the rain and the piano. Sasuke moves on to the second movement.
"I lied," Itachi says in the dark. "When I said all I wanted was for you to be happy. That was my last-ditched attempt at being a good older brother. For as long as I can remember I've wanted you. When we last spoke I realized that I had gone about getting what I wanted- getting you- badly. Even that's an understatement." He chuckles humorlessly. "I'm a selfish person S'ke. If I could I would tuck you away from the world. I would try to erase your life and our parents, everything but me, from your memory. I want to restart the reel to the days where we played in Mother's gardens. When you would fall asleep in the sun and I'd carry you, but only as far as the shade. And I would watch you sleep there because I didn't want anyone else to see how beautiful you are. I need you. I need your love and your lust. Anything you'll give me."
Sasuke's hands still. All that is left is the sound of the rain. "You abandoned me," he says. He twists around on the piano bench. For the first time his eyes seek out his brother, standing in the shadows. The eyes that fall on Itachi burn with an old hurt. "You left me alone."
"I know."
"I'm not talking about just now. Three years ago when you-."
"I know."
"I really hated you."
"…I know."
"You never apologized."
"…"
"Fuck you," Sasuke says quietly.
Itachi emerges from the dark. He cradles Sasuke's head and presses his lips to his forehead before kneeling in front of Sasuke. His head comes up to his chest. Itachi wraps his arms around his brother's waist. His head buries into his stomach. "I'm sorry," comes the muffled apology.
Sasuke bends over his head, petting down his head to clasp his neck. "I am too," Sasuke says.
"Hey," Itachi's head shoots up. "Don't cry."
"I'm not crying," Sasuke growls.
Itachi kisses his glistening cheek. "Of course you're not." He smiles. It's small, apologetic, and full of love. Adoring and adorable.
Itachi lips land a kiss on Sasuke. "I love you," he whispers. His breath tickles Sasuke's lips. Purely in the interest of preventing the tickle Sasuke presses his lips forward and kisses him back. As their lips twist and mesh and meld Itachi straddles Sasuke, rubbing down into his lap.
"Mmm." Sasuke is in Itachi's mouth swirling their tongues together. He can feel a moan in Itachi's chest and in his pants he can feel…a promise.
Their bodies, ridiculously compatible, writhe and pulse against one another. Their lips don't part as they surge together. Sasuke's moans are unbearably sexy, terribly loud, but all the more delicious for it. Also terribly loud is the piano when the keys are banged into mercilessly.
"Shit," Sasuke pants as the discordant clamor fades into the marble.
"Can't tell which was louder." Itachi pecks him, lips curling into a smile. "You or the piano."
"Shuddup," Sasuke says smiling just as much. His thumb massages into the softness beneath Itachi's hipbone. "Loud is fun and you've already proved you can match me." The thumb trails lower, dipping under Itachi's waistband.
They soon find out that firstly, Itachi can indeed match his brother in loudness and secondly, Itachi's employees aren't nearly as deaf or discreet as they'd like them to be.
"Jesus fuck!" Naruto screams and scrambles to balance in his chair and manages to keep it upright. His hand automatically seeks out his gun but in the office he doesn't carry it. "What are you doing here?!" he demands.
"Hey Goldie Locks, talk to Gaara lately?" Diedara asks, wide-eyed and innocent as he perches on Naruto's desk.
"Uh, no." Naruto's blue eyes slide to his bottom desk drawer. If he can only reach it…no, not the Uchiha files. The other needful he stores in there. It's not the whiskey either. "What the fuck are you here for?"
"That's a shame. We are here to inform you that the glorious prince of darkness has returned," Diedara says dreamily.
Naruto considers the distance. There's only two feet between his hand and the drawer.
"Actually," the hulking man named Kisame says, "He ordered us to tell you that while he appreciates your enthusiasm in protecting the city from criminals such as ourselves it would be completely illegal for you to shoot us as you have no evidence against us."
"He…made you come…to tell me not to shoot you," Naruto says in disbelief.
"Yes," Kisame says pleased that the blonde caught on so quickly.
"Rii-iight."
"It's true," Diedara confirms. He flicks his long hair over his shoulder. "Really though, it was a matter of getting rid of us. In the pouring rain too!"
Naruto squints suspiciously. "You're not wet."
Diedara lays a finger across his lip. "Secret of the trade."
"Why'd he need to get rid of you?" Naruto asks almost curious.
"Well!" Diedara starts. "Sasuke kid has been pining after him you see. And Itachi hasn't been acting much better. Those Uchiha genes are so stubborn! Anyways, they finally got their fated little reunion, which is all well and fine, but not while it's raining and not while we're there. That younger one is really loud, if you get my meaning." Naruto almost cringes at the wink Diedara sends him.
"So basically he sent you here to bother me so he can fuck Sasuke into oblivion?"
Kisame very innocently nods.
Dieadara's current actions on the other hand are ever so slightly more ominous. He slides a pair of white gloves onto his hands and wiggles his clothed fingers.
"Uh," Naruto says.
"Don't worry Goldie," Diedara purrs as he leans over the desk and grabs Naruto's tie. "If you feel left out we can have our own reunion."
"Fuck!" Naruto shrieks as his chair topples over on account of him leaning as far away from the blonde butler as possible.
Diedara cackles and stretches leisurely before sidling off Naruto's desk. Kisame passes him a handkerchief, stained and limp with some sort of liquid. "Yes, fucking is in the air."
Itachi backs Sasuke slowly into the elevator and tucks him into the corner. Their lips are locked, their tongues dancing, tastes mingling, breaths shared. Itachi breaks the contact to push the button for the sixth floor. It takes all of two seconds for him to twist and jab it but when he turns back Sasuke's eyes are off of him, mesmerized and locked on the mirror that lines the moving box.
Sasuke is staring at the reflection of the two of them. His cheeks are flushed, his lips pulsing with blood. His eyes are wide, dilated, and lusty. They travel over the reflection of his brother. His perfect Itachi. His long hair is gleaming under the bright lights, his skin pale and smooth like marble. But Sasuke's are drawn back to his own reflection. His eyes can't decide. Himself or his Itachi. His retina is capturing a perfect image in that moment of transfer between them. When his eyes are seeing Itachi but his occipital lobe is still written with the image of himself. They overlap and blur, the resemblance between them growing more and more on his consciousness. They are beautiful.
Itachi sees his brother staring into the mirror. He is flushed, his expression frozen and almost scared. His breath flutters on his lips. Itachi sees the two of them, their similarities, their differences, their perfection. His lips creep towards Sasuke, his immobile Sasuke who is caught in the moment and unwilling to break the illusion. Itachi's lips part. They caress Sasuke's neck, tightening around the smooth skin, squeezing and sliding over it.
Sasuke exhales slowly.
Itachi tucks his head on Sasuke's shoulder. Slowly he inhales. His lungs fill with Sasuke's scent and grow tight with the feeling of being, just being here, breathing and holding onto this person. It is that plethora of aching feeling; the one of wanting and having that can only be translated into love. Itachi holds his brother in an embrace that grows tighter and tighter as the elevator nears the sixth floor. But never so tight that Sasuke complains.
Naruto wakes in complete darkness. The rattle of handcuffs locked on a metal bar is loud in his ear. He gives his hand an experimental tug- it remains strung up over his head. He is lying on a bed. It's soft, but he's not concerned with that right now. He was at the office wasn't he? And then...Itachi's men. The scary big man and the scarier smiling butler. There's a whisper of movement to his right and the fact that he is naked, very, very naked, springs to the forefront of Naruto's mind.
"Hello?" Naruto asks in a small voice. It barely pierces the pressing black, so suffocating it's nearly tangible.
"Itachi sends his thanks," a dry whisper emerges from the dark.
Nartuo tenses at the voice but remains unnaturally still.
"He says it's a gold star to your career to be the one to put Uchiha Fugaku behind bars forever," the soft voice recites. "But, he says, you shouldn't have made things difficult for yourself. He says you'd know what he was speaking of. That he recognizes a fellow prankster, but doesn't really appreciate when the joke is on him. So this is his little revenge."
"Hey!"
Cold hands touch down at the base of Naruto's neck. They trail down his naked chest and over his abdomen. Naruto jumps when they continue even lower, over his hipbones and curving inward on his thigh. Extra weight pushes the mattress down and then someone straddles Naruto's legs. The cold fingers are running through his curls, creating itches in their path. And then the hands are lazily pumping and fondling him.
"Stop." Naruto squirms and twists his hips but movement is limited with his legs caught beneath someone. "Let go," he pants still struggling. The handcuffs chink.
The hand around him tightens and pulls harder. If it's a threat the only thing the extra pressure is doing is making Naruto grow.
"You can't do this," he protests. His hips buck up trying to throw the weight. The hands pause and move away, leaving Naruto fully erect. The hands press down on the tops of his thighs as something hot, wet, and unseen descends down his erection.
Naruto gasps at the heat and his hips buck again. This time it only sends him further into a hot mouth. A skilled tongue is creating a wonderful friction against him.
"Stop," Naruto groans. "Don't." The handcuffs are tight on his straining arms.
The mouth pulls on his cock. It's slick and Naruto can hear the sounds of light licks and slurps over the pounding of blood in his ears.
"Ahhh, no, stop," Naruto moans.
The mouth doesn't stop. Naruto makes a sound of protest in his throat, or is that a moan? He's getting lost in this feel, lost in his mind, lost in that mouth. And then the mouth pauses and pulls off. Naruto's hips try to follow but are pressed down into the bed.
"I forgot something," the whispery voice informs him.
Naruto whines, desperate for more.
"He also says, don't bother looking for Uchiha Mikoto's killer. It was suicide."
It's torture. Pure torture. Naruto is panting. Each breath that falls from his lips is a plea for more. At least, that's how it seems.
The tongue returns, laving the liquid that drips down Naruto's cock. Cheeks return to suction it. The throat returns to engulf it deeply. Naruto's body is primed.
"Ahhhh, no, no, no, stop, please sto- ahh!"
Naruto comes, his body arcing from the bed but anchored by his wrists. He moans sweetly.
There is rustling. Naruto can feel a body close to his, over his. Rough, dry lips press to his own. "You can stop bitching now." The air of his words tickles Naruto's ear. "I know this is one of your secret fantasies."
"Who the fuck told you that?!" Naruto screeches in a voice slightly roughed up.
"Uchiha Itachi."
"Jesus Gaara! Do you seriously believe everything that man says?"
"Hardly," Gaara replies dryly. He reaches up and unlocks the handcuffs. Naruto sits up, feeling in the pitch black for the redhead but his wild gestures miss their mark.
Gaara's fingertips touch his shoulder gently. He turns the blonde's upper body towards him and kisses him, strangely hesitant now.
"I do hope one thing he told me was true though," Gaara confesses softly.
Naruto sighs, worn out. He laces his fingers through Gaara's and tugs him down next to him as he falls into the soft mattress. He hugs Gaara into his chest, running his fingers down the redhead's side and across his stomach. "What did the devil tell you?" Naruto asks into his ear. He kisses Gaara's pulse.
Gaara shivers and snuggles closer into Naruto's warmth.
The memories of the Garden have faded from the shared consciousness of the human race. But those lucky enough to have visited the Uchiha manor on the outskirts of the city have compared it to Eden. There are many contributing factors to this comparison. Great oak trees of strong wood shade the airy house. Small pools of clear water and white and orange and spotted black fish nestle into corners. Flowers of every imaginable color dance in the light breeze. Butterflies flutter over them and bees hum from one to another. A greenhouse of frosty glass and peeling white paint, filled to the brim with beautiful roses, eternally in bloom, sparkles under the sun. But everyone fortunate enough to have laid eyes on this paradise agrees that what really warrants the comparison to that mythical garden of old is the sound of children's laughter and the two raven haired cherubs that run and totter and wrestle through the field of flowers. But of course, like anything, that image of perfection would disappear all too quickly. The eldest would grow up. His eyes would peer curiously beyond the tiny garden and into a world of deception and heartbreak.
When Adam and Eve left the garden, they abandoned a simple, unassuming, and pure love. But every now and then it appears again. Like a recessive gene popping up unexpectedly when just the right chromosomes come together to reveal a secret lying dormant beneath the dominant allele for generations. If only you can get the right bloodlines together.
Perhaps this story is neither Dantean nor Faustian. There is a fall to Hell and the Devil was sought out. And yet… perhaps there is more. Perhaps it is a fairytale of old, in which the witch is disemboweled and burnt alive and fed to the crows. But the hero gets a happily ever after with his true love. It may seem too simple to some. But not to anyone who has been in love, besotted, enamored. To us, love is a riddle- delightful, charming, and impossible. Not unlike this tale. The end is nigh and our princeling awaits true love's vow. I bet you forgot the British accent.
Itachi dances Sasuke into his bedroom and Sasuke sheds their clothes along the way. They are locked at the mouth and locked onto one another's eyes. Their gazes are challenging, but loving as well- if either were to look away or break their kiss the other would be quick to grab him back.
Their mouths slide and mash when they tumble onto the bed. Itachi is on top but he pulls back and tucks a strand of Sasuke's hair behind his ear, absently wiping the moisture from his lips. Sasuke makes a bite at his thumb.
"S'ke wait. I have to tell you something."
Sasuke grabs the back of his head and kisses him, shoving his tongue into Itachi's mouth. "Now?" he breathes desperately.
"We have time," Itachi says soothingly.
"Priorities first." This statement is punctuated with a hip thrust upwards at Itachi. Itachi chuckles when Sasuke grabs his hand and brings it to Sasuke's own crotch. Itachi rubs at the bulge obediently. Sasuke's bodies arcs beneath him and he nibbles at Itachi's neck.
"Other priorities Sasuke."
Sasuke moans. His fingers travel under Itachi's shirt and pinch at his nipple.
Itachi breathes heavily. "God, you're sexy."
"I never said it did I?" Sasuke asks panting.
"Said what?" Itachi questions. His hand doesn't pause in its administrations.
"That I-nh! Ah…that I love you."
His eyes are so earnest and needy that Itachi has to smother a laugh.
"Don't laugh." Sasuke pounds a fist to his muscled chest.
"I'm sorry." Itachi kisses his wrinkled forehead. "I know you love me. I've known since you were ten and blushed and got flustered whenever I held you. I wouldn't have requested that night of you if I hadn't known that all you needed was a push in that direction. I've known since you killed a man over my reputation."
Sasuke's blush is immediate. "You knew?"
"I knew," Itachi confirms. "In fact I-." He rolls off of Sasuke. His hair shields his face. "Sasuke I'm so sorry. I know you must have been scared and I know you felt betrayed by Naruto when he wouldn't drop the investigation but that was my fault. I even-I set you up."
Sasuke bumps his forehead to Itachi's. "Naruto hinted as much. He said I should ask you about the Cabaret. If you set the whole thing up."
"What if I say yes?" Itachi whispers pained.
"Did you know what I would do? That I would defend you? That I would kill a man for you?"
"I hoped."
"Okay."
"Okay?" Itachi asks. "Wait, S'ke please don't be upset. That man was a monster with a death wish and-."
"I'm not mad," Sasuke tells him lightly. "I was but now…" He strokes Itachi's head. "You freed me. I know what it cost you and I'm very grateful. But now," Sasuke speaks softly. His fingers twist Itachi's hair. "I just want you back."
Itachi smiles suddenly. His eyes dance with joy. "You'd forgive me for setting you up? Accept that I set up a scenario where a man would insult me within earing range of you in order to test your loyalty to me by either starting a fight or shooting a man down in the middle of the morning in front of a room full of witnesses and upon passing the test allow me to save you from a lifetime of imprisonment? Sasuke, that's preposterous."
Sasuke fixes him a long, odd look that's no less amused or loving than the one Itachi is giving him. "Absurd," Sasuke corrects. "It's absurd. And you know, not too long ago I decided absurdity's not so bad a thing." He smiles and the beauty of it dazzles Itachi. "But," his smile fades into an intensely serious stare. "You should have trusted me. You should have told me everything."
Itachi nods, chastened by his brother's words.
"You won't do something like that ever again," Sasuke orders. "Will you?" He slides his thumb down the column of Itachi's neck.
"No. Of course not."
And the smile returns. Itachi kisses it. "God, I love you S'ke," he breathes.
"I know now. And I love you back." He brings his mouth to Itachi's and caresses their lips together. "Now, back to those priorities?" he asks breathlessly and hopefully.
Itachi smirks. "That sounds perfect."
Fin.
