IMPORTANT: Okay, so I went back to the first chapter and edited it again, to remove the part where Itachi died. Cuz I wanted him to live really bad. So that's why he's alive in this chapter.
Another thing, Yes I do know that Lee can't use those chakra technique thingies, but for the sake of this story, let's say he can.Cuz I really want him to be preggers.
Mad World
Chapter 9 - The Day My Childhood Died
Tension. Naruto gulped. Sasuke had always been good at silent arguing. He could project waves of unpleasant feelings across great distances so that everyone he wanted to include with his suffering was not let off easy. Somewhere in the village paint was peeling off of a building. Naruto himself felt like he'd smelled something extremely foul. Sasuke had gone off to the kitchen, and now sounds of clattering dishware could be heard. He hadn't expected for Sasuke to blow up like that. He was sure that Sasuke would have lasted weeks before he finally said something. But no, not this time. Naruto had managed to burn down Sasuke's usually very long fuse until he exploded loudly and colorfully. His words were intriguing as well. Naruto's younger self had been afraid of Sasuke? Well, Naruto wasn't so much afraid of Sasuke now as he was afraid that he would leave again. He had put all of himself into finding Sasuke, into trying to bring him home. Ultimately he had failed, and it had been Sakura who had retrieved him. But, the fact that Sasuke was home was a fragile one. Naruto was sure that at any moment, any wrong decision he made, Sasuke would leave him again. He couldn't let that happen.
Naruto had to find a way to make Sasuke happy again. Well, not happy, Sasuke Uchiha was never truly happy. But, at least reduce his feelings of rage and violence to their usual low. Naruto cautiously shuffled out of the bedroom and across the hall. He stood timidly in the doorway watching as Sasuke wandered around, pulling things out of cupboards, putting some things away. It looked like he was making pancakes. Though it didn't look like he intended on making it, there was a packet of ramen out, like an afterthought. Sasuke was diligently ignoring him again. Naruto took one step towards him and felt the tension thicken. With one glance thrown over his shoulder, Sasuke had Naruto taking two steps back.
"You called me a cuddle monster." Sasuke growled.
"Sasukeeee, what can I do to make it up to you?" Naruto confidently closed the distance between them and stood directly to his side.
"Shut up dobe."
"Do you want me to wear the footy pajamas I made you go back for? I could wear 'em all day! Just pick out which ones!"
Sasuke smirked at the suggestion but did not make any sounds of approval. Naruto groaned. Sasuke was going to make him truly regret the teasing. He was going to make Naruto do all manners of pointless, humiliating things, Naruto knew it. He waited. Sasuke hadn't made any sort of answer. The silence didn't change, there were no glares or looks, no smirks. Naruto huffed and stomped back into the bedroom where he promptly rifled through his suitcase for the footy pajamas. The smirk had been a disclosed sign of amusement. Naruto was going to pick out the most embarrassing set of pajamas he could and wear them ALL day. He made a grab for the frog ones and changed into them rapidly. He even went as far as to pull the hood up over his head. Then, Naruto returned to the kitchen. Sasuke turned his head to look at Naruto's changed appearance and the corners of his lips twitched. That was a Sasuke laugh. Naruto inwardly congratulated himself and thought of what else he could do. Oh…no. Anything but that.
A memory was drifting back to Naruto, it was a hazy blurry one, but if it was real it might make Sasuke forgive him. Naruto felt himself blush as he weighed his options. He could continue the day with Sasuke hating him from afar, and him potentially saying the wrong things. Or, he could just fess up to something extremely humiliating to even the playing field. While Naruto wasn't exactly the most polite guy out there, he wasn't nearly as bad as Sai. Hey Sakura, you sure don't sweat much for a fat chick. Naruto was sure that if Sakura wasn't in so much shock from that statement that she would have killed Sai then and there. Those were the sorts of things that Naruto imagined himself saying on accident. But if he just came clean now…no, Sasuke would never let him forget it. EVER. He couldn't, he wouldn't.
Naruto collapsed into one of the chairs at the kitchen table. A plate clattered onto the table in front of him. There were no pancakes. Instead there was an uncooked block of dehydrated noodles with the seasoning sprinkled on top. Sasuke sat down opposite him and dug into some very delicious looking pancakes. Naruto's stomach grumbled, and rumbled, and growled as if it were imitating Sasuke's anger. That…that decided it.
"Um…Sasuke, about um, last night I…uh…" Naruto started. Sasuke deigned to spare him a look.
"Yes, dobe?"
"Well, I was really sleepy. And I was so sure you were gonna, you know…like, fondle me an' shit in the night an' I didn't want that to happen so I was tryin' to stay awake an' stuff. But then I fell asleep an'"
"Dobe." Sasuke scowled. Get to your point. That scowl said.
"An' well, when I fell asleep, I woke myself up cuz I didn't wanna sleep, and in my sleep I had moved closer to you. So I thought that like, younger me was trying to work it out so we were all friendly an' shit behind my back!" Naruto could see that Sasuke's dispassion was reaching rather impressive heights, so he decided to hurry up with his story.
"So, I had two options, I could go to sleep and hope that I didn't end up all over you in the morning and then not be able to explain anything. OR…" Here, Naruto paused and blushed, "…I guess I could have initiated it on my own, proving I control who I am cuddling with whenever I so choose, not er…younger me."
Sasuke's eyebrows lifted ever so slightly and then he smirked knowingly. Naruto blushed in frustration. He waited for it to sink in. Maybe Sasuke was just a bit slow today. No, that wasn't possible. Sasuke was never slow like that. He wanted to hear Naruto actually say the words. He wanted to make it as terribly ironic and embarrassing as possible. Naruto pleaded with his eyes like a dog begging for scraps. Sasuke ignored him.
"So, I er…cuddled." Naruto slouched in his chair. He added feebly, "With, um, you."
"So you just made snide comments at me this morning for nothing?"
"Well…" Naruto fidgeted, "I didn't remember until just now…and you were already up and moving around so I'd forgotten about the whole thing…"
"Yeah right." Sasuke snorted.
"Hey! I admitted to it, didn't I? Don't I get some pancakes now?! Pleeease."
"No, eat your block of ramen."
Naruto sighed in discontent, staring forlornly down at his ramen block. He did not want to eat it. If Sasuke was just going to be a prissy bitch about the thing, then Naruto wasn't gonna sit around all day hearing about it. He stood and left the room. He thought briefly about playing video games but he was bored of them already. Granted, Sasuke had ensured that he had every latest console under the sun and all the hottest titles to go with them. But…there was only so long Naruto could play video games before he wanted to do something else. Naruto remembered how much of a shock it had been when he'd come home from his two and a half years training with Jiraiya and seen everyone all grown up. It'd been an extra two years now; he wondered how they were all doing. Well, Naruto had seen Kiba and Hinata the other day.
Hinata's hair had grown even longer, but she now kept it up in a casual knot. Though Naruto suspected there was little else she could do with it at its current length. Kiba had kept his hair short and over all looked much the same as he had two years ago. But, something about how he carried himself was different. He seemed….more mature, he just gave off the impression he was older, despite not having changed much at all in appearance. The most shocking development of all was Hinata's sudden ability to speak clearly. She had spoken with Naruto happily, without a stutter, blush, or a quiet voice. She'd even hugged him in greeting without passing out.
Naruto wanted to see how everyone else was doing. If Sasuke was going to stay at home and be a right bastard, than Naruto wasn't gonna stick around and endure it. He shuffled right on out the door in his pajamas and started making his way to town. As soon as he got to the edge of the estate the dull throb of his younger self vying for control came back. Naruto growled and stepped a bit closer towards the house, the pain went away. Sasuke had him on a leash. Without meaning to, or knowing that he had, Sasuke had managed to keep a hold on him. Naruto felt like throwing a tantrum. What on earth was so great about Sasuke that his younger self would try and take him back to him whenever he got too far away?
He had to be able to be away from Sasuke eventually. Or else, Naruto would never be able to lead a normal life ever again. He would be permanently stuck with Sasuke for the rest of his life. Naruto shuddered at the thought. He forced himself to step forward past the gate and into the village. The pain grew at frightening speeds, nearly becoming unbearable. But Naruto forced himself to keep walking. Younger him would NOT gain control of him now. He needed to get over to Kakashi's place so he could talk to him…and Iruka. Naruto received another sharp stab of pain, this time directly in the forehead and he stumbled to his knees. Holding his head in his hands he growled at the pain, but as it continually increased his growl rose from a mere rumble to a howling crescendo. Nothing had hurt as bad as this. Nothing. Not that Naruto could remember anyways. Finally, he couldn't take it, he wasn't strong enough and he fell onto his side. His eyelids began to droop, and he fell asleep.
"Who are you?! What are you doing to me?!"
Naruto blinked. He rubbed at his eyes and looked around. He was standing in front of the gate holding in the Kyuubi. Granted he'd been there many times, especially as a little kid when he'd had no one else but the Kyuubi to talk to. He would often come here, to the gates within his own mind and ask to sleep next to the Kyuubi, just so he wouldn't be alone. But now, he wasn't the only one standing there. A younger version of himself stood before him, his back to the gate. He was crying hysterically and screaming at him. He was wearing a straight jacket similar to the one that Naruto had been in, in the high security ward. He supposed that was the last place that his younger self had been conscious and functioning.
"I'm Naruto."
"No, I'm-"
"You were just a way for me to deal with failing to get Sasuke back and you got out of hand."
"NO! I'm me, I'm…I, where's Sasuke?! I was just there with him and then I fell asleep and I came here! I can't wake up!" His younger self stomped his feet in the ankle deep water and screamed at a childishly high pitch.
"Stop it! I don't need you anymore, I'm strong enough!"
Younger him stopped in his tantrum to stare at Naruto through his tear glazed eyes. He whimpered, "Yes you do! You DO need me, what's gonna happen when you say something to make him go away again, huh? What are you gonna do then?"
"Sasuke won't leave. He's…he's home for good this time!" Naruto's answer was shaky. He had thought, himself, about Sasuke deciding to leave again. He had been so worried that he'd put on the stupid pajamas (though they were very comfy), and told him about the other night and everything.
"How do you know? You didn't think he'd leave the first time, and he did. You can't keep him here, but I can. Let me!"
"No!" Naruto tangled his fists in his hair, screaming, "No! I don't need you! I can do it myself, leave me alone!"
"Aaahhh!"
Naruto glanced up from where he'd been frantically staring at his feet. Kyuubi had his younger self in his paw and was lifting him up for inspection. He sniffed him and eyed him, before looking past him to Naruto who was standing shakily a bit farther away from the gate. Younger him wriggled in Kyuubi's grasp and demanded to be let go. The demon fox smirked and brought his other paw to the one with his younger self and smashed him into thousands of tiny bits that decorated the walls and the water in which Naruto stood. Though the water soon dissolved the bits, the ones on the walls were starting to move. Kyuubi stood up and then let himself fall into the water, splashing it up and all over the walls, taking Naruto with it. He flew around in the water like a pebble in a stream, completely in the water's control. While under the water, neither the kyuubi or his host saw the one bit inch away around the corner and out of sight. When the water finally stopped Naruto landed at the very front of the gates, directly in Kyuubi's paw. He chuckled at him, and Naruto panted after having been thrown around under water not being able to breathe.
"I'm so glad to finally be rid of that little infection."
"Infection?" Naruto spluttered.
"Yes, usually I can handle any virus that invades your system and get rid of them. But this one has been hiding from me for two years. But now that you lured it into the open, I could kill it."
"Kyuubi, you're saying that younger me was just a virus all this time?" Naruto curled up wearily on the back of Kyuubi's paw, fisting his hands into the fur there.
"Well, I suppose you humans wouldn't call a split personality a virus, but it was still very much the same. It was just a virus in your mind and those are always more clever than regular infections."
"So he's gone for good, now?"
"Yes, kit. But you need to wake up; I think you've caused quite a stir."
"Oh, alright."
Naruto opened his eyes, groaning at the soreness in his head leftover from his younger self's attacks. Before he could properly look around to see where he was, Sasuke was next to him badgering him about if he was okay, what had he thought he was doing, where was he going that was so important and many other ones that Naruto missed. He curled up on his side and weakly pushed Sasuke away from him. He was in their bed, back at the house. Naruto squinted at Sasuke who still knelt behind him on the bed and decided to tell him the good news.
"Younger me is dead." Naruto mumbled. "Kyuubi killed 'im."
"What?"
Naruto whined pitifully at Sasuke needing further explanation. His head hurt. But still, muttering sleepily he explained the situation to his confounded friend, but he left out such intimate parts as to why his younger self kept fighting him for control. He wasn't sure he wanted Sasuke to know that yet.
"Sasuke, I'm really tired an' shit, so couldja just, ya know lay down and sleep?"
Sasuke nodded to him and crawled under the covers with him. Naruto, frustrated at not being able to remain with Kyuubi for comfort, took Sasuke as a substitute. He wrestled Sasuke into a position that Naruto was happy with, though it took a lot of grunting, prodding, and bitching. Naruto nuzzled his face into Sasuke's belly and wrapped his arms around his waist as he lay comfortably between Sasuke's legs. He was sure the Uchiha found this to be extremely undignified, but Naruto didn't care. In his sleep he'd kick and scream until Sasuke settled again if he tried to escape. Tentatively, Sasuke worked his hands into Naruto's hair where he massaged his scalp absentmindedly. Naruto hummed his appreciation, soon falling back asleep.
With younger him gone for good, Naruto could leave the estate on his own and go do stuff. This was very nice because after a full week of Sasuke bitchily fussing for him to stay inside, Naruto needed to get out. Granted, Sasuke fussed in a man way, which meant punching, kicking, and insults that were below the belt 99 percent of the time. Naruto needed to get out of there. Now, he was off to the village where he was making rather startling discoveries everywhere he went. Chouji and Ino were engaged; apparently they'd been dating for a while. Hinata and Kiba were dating, though Naruto had seen that coming when Sasuke had told him that Hinata had answered the phone the first time he'd called Kiba.
Everyone was generally very happy, and even more so when he told them that he was back for good. But, in all of this meeting up with friends, Naruto was having a hard time finding Sakura. No one really knew where she was, though they all guessed she was probably on a mission they didn't know where to. Naruto ventured through town in search of Granny Tsunade who would probably know. But, when he found her in her office she refused to tell him anything.
"Tsunade! Tell meeeeee, please?"
"No, Naruto. This is a very important mission that requires a delicacy you don't have."
"But, I don't wanna join her mission, I can't until my year of recovery is up, I just wanna know when she'll be back."
"Well, I can't really tell you that either. Not because you don't get to know, but because I don't know. This mission doesn't have a set conclusion date."
"Aaaah, Granny Tsunade you're killing me!" Naruto whined. Though the woman responded with her usual frustration at the nickname, he could see her fighting off a smile.
After Naruto had made her promise to tell him as soon as Sakura came home, he went to go find Kakashi. He always had a hard time remembering where his teacher's apartment was. Naruto wandered through town in his chosen pajamas for the day. After spending a full day in those froggy footy pajamas, Naruto had become addicted to them. They were absurdly comfortable, more so than any clothing should probably be. Today he was wearing the monkey one. Naruto liked it because it had a long tail that was so long he could hold it in his hand and swing it around as he walked. He had the hood up, on top of which were round monkey ears. Naruto, however determined to not get sidetracked on his way to see his teacher, could not simply pass by Lee without saying hi. He'd heard from the people he had visited that Lee was away in the Sand village with his husband Gaara. When Naruto had heard the words, Lee, husband, and Gaara in the same sentence he had laughed out loud. Surely…they were joking…right? No, no they weren't.
As Naruto sat down with Lee at a café, the fuzzy eyebrows told him all about what it was like to be the Kazekage's spouse. He was treated like royalty and might as well have had the same powers as the Kazekage himself. Though they were having a problem because it had been a year already since they were first married, and the first and foremost reason of the Kazekage having a spouse was to produce children. But, as Lee was very much male, he couldn't very well carry any children. Gaara was having a hard time keeping his advisors at bay as they were hounding him daily to find a way around this problem. But, Lee had an idea, one that Naruto probably wouldn't have thought of on his own. In fact, while Naruto was at first slightly repulsed and affronted by the concept was delighted at now having something to do.
"So, how about I meet you at your house later, Naruto-kun?" Lee asked.
"Sure, fuzzy eyebrows. I still have some more people to see, but I'll meet you at the house no later than five, alright?"
"Alright! I have people to visit as well; I must tell Gai-sensei this wonderful news!"
Naruto paid the waitress for their teas they'd ordered, and hurried on his way again. The springtime air was cool but not freezing. It was like the breeze was teasing him with a hint of warmth only to make him shiver a second later at its chill. People in town greeted him warmly or shot him the standard glares as he passed them by. Naruto was used to the sharp difference in the village, and so didn't pay it any mind. As he moved farther and farther in and around town he continually was stopped by his old friends. Their new (or old he had been out for two years) significant others were of course with them, or off doing something that was then related to Naruto. It seemed that while Naruto had been under the control of his younger self everyone had been pairing off into these happy little 'couples'. Some of the pairs he encountered were not the ones he expected at all, while others were glaringly obvious. But though Naruto was happy for all of them, he couldn't help but feel left out.
It seemed that he and Sasuke were the only bums who hadn't gone out and gotten girls. Sure, they'd both been preoccupied during the 'mating years' as Naruto was beginning to call them, but it still didn't make Naruto feel any better about being blindingly single. In the end, Naruto did find Kakashi in his apartment which was on the opposite side of town from the Uchiha estate. He eagerly threw himself into the man's arms.
"Kakashi-sensei! I'm back, ol' Naruto, the real Naruto, for good!"
"I can see that." Kakashi welcomed him in and they sat down at the table in his small kitchen.
Naruto gazed at the size of the kitchen and felt much more at home than in the kitchen in Sasuke's house. It was so huge that Naruto wondered what they could possibly need that much space for. Nothing you could possibly try and cook required that much room. It wasn't like they were going to entertain guests in there; they had the dining hall for that. (Naruto had once inspected the dining hall during his initial exploration of the furnished part of the estate and found the room bewildering in its size). But Kakashi's kitchen was much like the one in Naruto's apartment. Small, with a tiny square table shoved into one corner with only two chairs. Naruto now sat in one of those chairs and talked with Kakashi about all that'd he'd missed. His sensei had even revealed to him that Naruto's younger self had drawn a picture of Kakashi when trying to explain his dad to Sasuke in the sanatorium. Sasuke had accidentally almost called him 'dad' too, and Kakashi desperately wanted to make sure that Naruto wasn't a part of this traumatizing conspiracy.
"Um, Kakashi-sensei…" Naruto wasn't sure how to break it to the man gently.
Of course, Naruto hadn't really called Kakashi 'dad' in his mind or out loud. But, suddenly Naruto felt that with Kakashi providing the word, he'd found the perfect way to describe his relation to the man. Before, Naruto had tried to describe the relationship in his head. Kakashi was his teacher. But, generally no student formed a bond with their teacher that strong. Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura had looked up to him, cared about him, and felt safe when with him. Often times, when they weren't on missions, before Sasuke had run away to Orochimaru, Naruto would feel as though he truly had a family. For once in his life, he had a relatively stable family unit. But now that the word 'dad' and 'father' was supplied to him, Naruto couldn't really argue with the label.
"It really isn't a bad thing!" Naruto tried to comfort him, but Kakashi groaned when Naruto didn't deny the idea.
"What is it about me that's so fatherly?!" Kakashi demanded in profound frustration.
"Just, Kakashi…I don't know how to say it! I'm not the one that's good with the putting the words together and them coming out, thing! That's Sakura!"
"Try."
"When we're with you…it's like we're this small crazy family. We feel safe with you, and..and we admire you an' shit, an' even when we were all off with our other masters we came home to you." Naruto fumbled, and felt like he wasn't making any sense. Finally, a blurry memory of talking to Sakura when they were younger came into view.
"I can't wait to get married, Naruto-kun!" Sakura squealed, twirling her long pink hair around her finger.
"Why?"
"Why?! You idiot, it's romantic!"
"Yeah yeah, you go find your prince charming, he proposes, your 'daddy' walks you down the aisle and you kiss the groom. Hurrah, the end." Naruto grumbled, not really paying attention to Sakura at all.
"Well, yeah!" Sakura retorted, "When we're all grown up, you'll come to Sasuke's and my wedding right? Ooooh and Kakashi could walk me down the aisle! It would be perfect!"
Naruto squinted at her in confusion, "You want Kakashi-sensei to walk you down the aisle? What for? Isn't your dad supposed to do that?"
Sakura blushed and looked away from him for a moment. She then confidently told him, "Exactly! Kakashi's the closest thing I've got, and he's going to walk me down the aisle whether he likes it or not!"
Naruto smiled at the memory and shared it with Kakashi who sighed in defeat. They spent another hour or two catching up, and finally when Naruto glanced at the clock he leapt out of his chair in a hurry.
"Damnit, I'm late! I'll talk to you later Kakashi-sensei!"
"Late for what?" Kakashi had called after him, but Naruto ignored him and ran all the way back to the estate.
He had promised to meet the fuzzy eyebrows there to help him out with his, er, problem. When he finally arrived, Lee was waiting for him, and he leapt to his feet at Naruto's appearance. Immediately they got to work. Of course, when Sasuke came outside and saw one of Lee's first attempts he looked like he might have a heart attack. Though Lee was a skilled ninja, Naruto's sexy-no-jutsu technique was very hard to grasp for most. The early results were always potentially scarring for their viewers. But Naruto kept faith, continuing to work on it with Lee well into the evening. When it was too dark outside to really practice anymore, Lee returned to Gai-sensei's apartment where he was staying while in Konoha.
Naruto, in turn, went inside the house and sat down at the kitchen table with Sasuke.
"Um, may I ask exactly why you're teaching that ridiculous technique to Lee?" Sasuke asked him.
"He needs to find a way to have kids so that Gaara's advisors will stop bugging him about his lack of loin-fruit."
Sasuke rolled his eyes at that and Naruto told him all that he'd discovered during the day. Hinata and Kiba were dating, Chouji and Ino were engaged, Gaara and Lee were married, and Sakura was on some top secret mission with no definite return date. Neji and Ten-Ten were married; Sai and Shino might possibly be dating, though Naruto was sure it was some weird rumor someone had started. Shikamaru was now officially Temari's bitch, whereas he had unofficially been before. Sasuke and him had a great deal of laughs together on the whole matter of the pairing off that had been going on while they were both 'away'.
"Seriously, I feel like we're the only ones that are single anymore. It's so stupid."
"Well, there's Sakura. She isn't with anyone, so she can suffer with us." Sasuke pointed out.
"Yeah, I guess."
Over the next few weeks, Naruto spent his days visiting with his friends in town, fighting with Sasuke over stupid stuff, and helping Lee perfect his Sexy-no-jutsu. Lee was also wondering about how to possibly control his chakra reserves while pregnant, and so Naruto was then forced to try and outline a way to avoid accidentally terminating the pregnancy. When Sasuke wasn't bickering with him, Naruto tried to consult the idea with him. Eventually they worked out a way to keep the internal organs female, by using a low amount of chakra, so that Lee could safely go all nine months without having to worry. But, it would still be a good idea for Lee to practice controlling his chakra, and keeping it focused in the background while doing other things. So that was their next goal.
Still, it took a few days over a month for Lee to be ready to return to the Sand village and get knocked up. Yet, Sakura still wasn't home yet. Naruto was beginning to worry. He talked to Sasuke about it, who told him to calm down; Sakura could probably handle herself, whatever it was that she was doing. But Naruto was not assuaged. He made his way to Tsunade's office to confront her about where exactly Sakura was. She'd been gone for over a month now on some super secret mission, and Naruto wanted answers. He marched into Tsunade's office prepared to yell and scream and kick like a baby until the woman told him where his friend was. But that plan flew out of his mind upon barging into Tsunade's office.
"Sakura-chan?!" Naruto cried, "What is he doing here?!"
Standing next to Sakura, as though he wandered into his home village all the time, was Itachi Uchiha. His long billowing cloak with its red clouds reminded Naruto all too well of all that he'd done. All the people he'd killed, and tortured. Naruto nearly attacked him, but Sakura came to stand in his way. He paused, staring at Sakura in confusion.
"Sakura-chan! Get out of my way, he's-"
"Not the same guy you knew, Naruto." Sakura told him firmly.
"Good, Naruto, I'm actually glad you're here, for once. Sit down; I'm going to need your help." Tsunade told him.
Naruto remained standing. He was not going to calmly sit down. He patiently listened as the situation was explained to him. He didn't believe a word of it, though he was very tempted to. Sakura had been, a month ago, sent to infiltrate Akatsuki and gain their trust. Eventually she would send information back to Konoha and enforcement would be sent in. But while Sakura was there, she discovered several things that had changed their plans a little. Itachi had not joined Akatsuki willingly. The leader Pain had demanded he join. When Itachi did not follow Orochimaru in joining their ranks, Pain had sent his top members of the group to kill off the Uchiha clan. In the end, Itachi agreed to join them, on the condition that they spare Sasuke. He used a genjutsu to make Sasuke think that he had killed their clan, and to fill him with the hatred to make him strong enough to kill the other members of Akatsuki. When Sakura had joined the group, she'd drifted close to Itachi. She promised him she could bring him home, and that together they could take down the other members, and be rid of the evil organization forever.
According to the rings that sat on Tsunade's desk, and the scroll detailing plans to take out the Uchiha clan confirming the story, Naruto felt like he'd just been hit with far too much information at once. He did, ultimately sit down, but only to keep him from falling on the ground in a dead feint. Like Sasuke killing Orochimaru had kept him from being sentenced to death, so Itachi's record was expunged for his taking down the Akatsuki. But, unlike Sasuke, he would not be allowed to regain his status as ninja, or attempt to qualify again. Still, Naruto had no idea how they were going to tell Sasuke this. After all this time, striving to kill his brother only to find out that the reason behind this urge wasn't true. Naruto feared what Sasuke might do upon discovering this.
"I think that…we should wait awhile." Naruto started hoarsely. He hadn't spoken at all during the several hours it had taken to explain what had happened. "And when we do tell Sasuke that we should make sure we're in the middle of bumfuck nowhere and somewhere really well secured. Lots of people to help restrain him and…and such…"
"It's alright Naruto, I don't expect him to accept me, and all I want is for him to know I'm here." Itachi told him, "I just want him to know what really happened. What he decides after that is up to him."
Naruto nodded numbly. He hugged Sakura, and told the three ninja in the room that he was going home. He shuffled through town wearily. Naruto felt like he'd just been hit over the head with a sledgehammer. When he did return to the house, Sasuke wasn't home. There was a note on the fridge telling him that he'd gone to the market to get some more groceries because they were running out of food. He'd be back later. Naruto settled himself down in the living room for a long wait. Sasuke always took a long time at the market. It seemed to be his worst vice, shopping at the grocery store. Naruto turned on a few movies, only getting halfway through them before becoming bored and popping in a different one. Eventually he had gone to sleep while watching old black and white TV shows.
When he awoke, he could hear the sounds of Sasuke moving around in the kitchen putting away groceries. Naruto got up to help him. Today he had worn his lion footies, and so his long lion tail railed behind him on the floor. He shuffled blearily into the kitchen and started taking things out of bags and putting them away in their proper place. Sasuke glanced over his shoulder and greeted him casually, asking him if he'd gotten any information out of Tsunade. Naruto forced himself to tell Sasuke he'd found out nothing, that as usual Tsunade had remained her tight lipped self and not let out anything. She'd merely told him to go home and be patient. Sasuke nodded at that, it made sense. After both folding the paper bags and tossing them into the recycling they collapsed into chairs at the kitchen table.
"Sasuke…"
"Hmm."
"You know what the worst thing about us being the only two single guys in town is?"
"What, dobe?"
"None of the other guys will hang out with us cuz they have girlfriends. So we only have each other to hang out with." Naruto mumbled in frustration.
"I'm really that bad, huh?" Sasuke retorted.
"Yes, you argue too much. You're no fun."
"Oh really? I'm no fun; we'll see how fun I am when I run away again." Sasuke smirked.
Naruto sat up in his chair instantly and told Sasuke firmly, "Don't joke about that."
Sasuke arched an eyebrow at his friend. He'd just been joking, but Naruto had reacted so seriously. What was up? He watched as Naruto nervously got up and started poking around in the fridge, deciding what they would have for dinner. Naruto would ask where something is, and Sasuke would absently answer him, more intent on how strangely Naruto was asking. His joke about running away shouldn't have set the dobe off like that. Sasuke stood up and told Naruto to sit down and let him cook. After all, Naruto didn't know how to cook anything that didn't go in the microwave.
"You know I was only joking, right, dobe?" Sasuke asked eventually, after deciding on making spaghetti for dinner.
"I know you were. You don't really care that much cuz you don't know what you leaving did to us." Naruto said camly.
Sasuke didn't reply to that. He went about boiling the water and taking out the things he'd need to start making the garlic bread. He knew that his running away had affected the village, had affected Naruto and Sakura and Kakashi. He knew that it had affected them a lot. But Sasuke also knew that he would never truly understand the pain he had put them through, he could only know that they felt it. So really there was nothing he could say to Naruto.
"You know, a month ago, when younger me died?" Naruto asked.
"Hm." Sasuke nodded.
"The reason he kept trying to stay in control, was to make me stay with you, to make sure you didn't leave again." Naruto admitted, "Because by myself I always felt weak for not stopping you, not bringing you home. Younger me told me that I wasn't strong enough, that he was and I should just let him have control."
Sasuke added the spaghetti to the now boiling water and turned down the heat on the stove. He set the timer and returned to kneading the dough for the garlic bread. Naruto tip toed around the island counter and stood next to him. Sasuke sighed and looked up from what he was doing to acknowledge his friend. Naruto wrapped his arms around Sasuke and rested his forehead wearily on Sasuke's shoulder. If he didn't know for sure that Naruto's younger self was dead, he would have sworn he had returned.
"I'm not leaving, Naruto."
"Promise me you won't run away again. I'm not strong enough to stop you…I can't… I can't…"
"I promise." Sasuke told him firmly, "Now let go of me dobe, I need to cook dinner."
Naruto nodded and returned to the table, though Sasuke felt as though he hadn't reassured him enough. Sasuke sighed inwardly; he would have to find a way.
TBC…
