Naruto shifted slightly, picking at the bandages wrapped around his ribs as he sat next to his friend's bed. The chair he was occupying was cold and metal and uncomfortable, but he didn't really mind. Across the bed from him, Sakura had her head down on the edge, arms folded beneath it; she'd fallen asleep a while ago, and he hadn't seen any need to wake her. They were all exhausted, after all.

Sasuke was unconscious as well, though he'd been told that he'd been awake at some point when the doctors had taken care of his wounds. He was in a hospital bed apparently because they wanted to keep an eye on his head, and on the wound in his arm, and to prevent him from cracking his ribs any further. Naruto had looked slightly guilty at that; he and Itachi had basically landed on Sasuke when he'd shoved them all off the train, which was why he was in such bad shape.

At least we managed to accomplish the goal.

Itachi was locked up somewhere, presumably being interrogated by the marshals. He knew Sasuke would probably not be happy at not knowing exactly where and why and when and all the other details, but there wasn't much he could do about that. They would have to wait for Jiraiya or Kakashi (assuming he'd managed to escape the confines of the hospital with his newly-stitched-up wounds) to tell them more.

The door at the end of the ward they were in opened to admit a nurse with a covered tray of food; slightly to Naruto's surprise, Jiraiya was striding along at her side, flirting up a storm if the woman's expression was anything to go by. As they reached Sasuke's bed, Jiraiya glanced around the empty ward (it was a short term room with only four or five beds) and then tugged the privacy curtains into place.

The sound of the metal rings of the curtains dragging over the bars woke Sakura, and Sasuke shifted slightly, his eyelids fluttering as he neared wakefulness.

"How're you kids doing, huh?" Jiraiya asked, scrubbing a hand through Naruto's hair.

The blonde huffed and ducked out from under his hand.

"Just peachy. What're you doing here?" Naruto questioned, glancing over at Sakura; she was staring at the nurse, her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"My friend here has a few things to take care of with Sasuke, if his highness would like to wake up any day soon," Jiraiya replied, glancing at the young man on the bed.

Naruto frowned and looked at Sasuke as well; he prodded at his shoulder a bit and Sasuke growled at him, face scrunched in his usual 'I'm a grumpy asshole and if you wake me up it's only gonna get worse' expression.

"Wake up, bastard," Naruto chuckled; the response was typically Sasuke, and it made him feel a little better, a little more sure that his friend was really all right.

Meanwhile, the nurse moved to set the tray on the bedside table.

Sakura scowled and kicked at 'her' booted feet as they passed.

"What the hell is going on here?" she demanded, her hand reaching for the pistol at her side; her eyes flashed at Jiraiya and then back to the 'nurse'. "Naruto's a big enough idiot to fall for this, but I'm not."

"C'mon...wakey, wak-what? I'm not an idiot," Naruto argued, looking over at Sakura from tickling Sasuke's nose with a feather from his pillow.

"You really are observant. You get that from your grandmother," Jiraiya remarked, nodding slightly to his companion.

Itachi tugged the hat and mask off, shrugging slightly.

"It wasn't a very good disguise, anyway," he said mildly, and Sakura almost could have sworn he looked a bit irked at the older man...and were those spots of color high on his sharp cheekbones?

"But it was funny as hell. And you've caused me enough trouble lately that you owed me a good laugh," the man chuckled.

"What is going on here?" Sakura repeated, leveling her gun at the man currently unbuttoning the nurse uniform.

"I need to speak to my brother," Itachi replied smoothly. "And then I need to move out again."

"Wait just a minute!" Naruto growled, getting to his feet. "We just caught this guy. What're you doing letting him out?!" He glared at Jiraiya accusingly.

"If you'll let him explain, you'll understand," he replied. "So shut up and sit down, Naruto. And put that away, Sakura. You won't be needing it. I'll vouch for him."

"He shot Sasuke not twenty-four hours ago and you expect me to just-

"I'm very sorry about that...I did tell him to back down, though," Itachi cut in. "It won't be happening again anytime soon, I can assure you," he promised.

Sakura stared at him, apparently speechless.

Naruto crossed his arms and surveyed the situation, eyes squinted and face wrinkled in thought.

"I don't like it, but if the old pervert says we can trust him...we should at least hear him out, Sakura," he decided finally, glancing over at her.

"Naruto, how can you-

"Miss Haruno," Itachi began, pulling her attention back to him. He drew his gun (the remains of the 'disguise' were folded neatly on the table) and flipped it deftly in his hand, offering her the grip. "Here. If it makes you feel better, you can disarm me. The only other weapon I possess is a small knife in my boot, as you disposed of my secondary pistol on the train. If you want it, I'll give it to you as well."

Sakura stared at him, her eyes hard, and then, slowly, her hand rose to take the gun from him.

"Why do you want to talk to Sasuke so badly?" she questioned.

Itachi's eyes drifted to his brother's fitfully sleeping form (he was clearly on the very edge of consciousness), and a weird sort of sorrow softened his usually hard eyes.

"I have to tell him some things...things I should have trusted him with a long time ago."

She still looked suspicious, but she did put her gun away, tucking his into the empty holster at her left side.

It got quiet for about a minute, and then Sasuke jolted awake, his eyes opening wide; it took him several seconds to calm himself, and then his eyes settled on the figure standing at the foot of his bed.

"Itachi," he snarled, and Naruto hastily caught him by his shoulders and pushed him back down as he lunged at the man.

"Easy there, Sasuke," he muttered.

"Naruto? Sakura? What is going on?" he demanded harshly, glaring death at his brother.

The two exchanged a look and it only pissed him off further.

"Why is he here? What is going on?" he growled, gripping Naruto's collar.

"Peace, little brother...I just want to talk," Itachi interjected. "Don't be angry at them...it is by no design of theirs that I am here."

"I don't have anything to say to you," Sasuke snapped, his tone cold and harsh.

"I know that..." Itachi replied quietly. "But I have a few things I need to say to you. And I don't have a whole lot of time. So please, try to hear me out."

"You-

"Shut up and let him speak, brat," Jiraiya ordered, stepping forward. "I'm risking more than you can fathom by letting him be here. So you just sit tight and listen, or I will give you the attitude adjustment of a lifetime."

Sasuke glared at everyone present for a good solid minute each, and then he crossed his arms, his knuckles white as his fists clenched.

"What do you want?" he questioned, his demeanor surly and angry.

Itachi sighed slightly, putting his hands in his pockets.

"I want to tell you a story, Sasuke..."

He cleared his throat once and then started speaking. He started with the story of their ancestors, and why they were persecuted, and then worked his way through a tale of politics and power plays and betrayal, his rich voice painting pictures in their minds.

"When I found Shisui, he was dying. He told me what had happened and I rode to the house, foolishly hoping I might be able to do something. By the time I got there, I was too late to save our parents...Danzo was still there. He'd been searching for us, I think. We spoke, and I made a blood oath with him. If I shouldered the blame for the murders and kept quiet about it, he would allow you to live and stay away from you. You showed up just as I was about to leave...I said what I did because I was afraid you wouldn't believe the lie. I didn't want you to follow me. I thought it would be safer for you to stay in Konoha...And I thought that if nothing else, the pursuit of revenge would give you a reason to keep going."

"So, Sasuke...Now you know," he finished, meeting the young man's intense gaze. "I am sorry I didn't trust you with this from the beginning, but it just didn't seem like the best course of action."

Sasuke stared at him, and stared at him, and stared at him, and just as Itachi was about to break the silence, he spoke.

"That can't be true."

"It is," Jiraiya rumbled. "I ran into Danzo and Hiruzen arguing over the matter on accident on my way back from dealing with the murders."

Sasuke's gaze snapped to him for a second and then back to Itachi.

"...how...why didn't you tell me?" he questioned.

"As I said...it didn't seem like the best option. I wanted you to have a chance at a semi-normal life...clearly it was a foolish notion. I'm sorry."

"A normal life? You wanted-" Sasuke made a choking noise of disbelief.

"I know...somehow, I hoped you might find your own path...that you would give up on the idea of revenge as you grew older...again, I was foolishly mistaken." He met his gaze steadily. "You have too much of our family's pride in you for that."

Sasuke's fists clenched harder still, a bit of blood leaking from under his nails; he shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut, looking away.

"...what about the blood oath? Didn't you swear you'd never tell anyone about this?" Sakura cut in in the silence.

"Ah. That." Itachi shrugged slightly. "It was never me who made that oath. Shisui's blood was used. Danzo foolishly assumed I had hurt myself somehow, that the blood on my hands was my own. Consequently, he made a pact with a dead man."

Sasuke shook his head again.

"...if you think this means you're forgiven, you're dead wrong," he hissed.

"I am not that naive, Sasuke," Itachi responded. "I do not ask for your forgiveness. I only offer you my regret and apologies, and selfishly so, because the only person it makes feel better is myself."

"Just...get out." He still refused to look at him, his fists shaking slighly against his arms.

The elder Uchiha nodded slowly.

"...Just so you know...I love you, little brother. That's never going to change, no matter how foolishly either of us may blunder." That said, he turned to Sakura, holding out his hand. "My gun, please."

Slowly, she handed it over.

"...this was your cousin's?" she questioned quietly.

"Yes." He slipped it back into its worn holster and inclined his head to her. "Ma'am. Naruto...Sasuke." He slipped out of the curtains.

Jiraiya glanced around at all of them.

"I'm trusting you three not to do something stupid," he directed at the teens before ducking out after Itachi; their footsteps disappeared steadily, the door to the ward opening and closing.

Sasuke glared at his hands, silent.

"...Sasuke?" Sakura questioned tentatively, starting to reach for him but then catching herself.

"Just...leave me alone," he muttered, watching the red crescents on his palms weep sluggishly.

She bit her lip and glanced away.

"...right."

Naruto frowned.

"You don't have to-

"Shut up, Naruto," Sasuke growled, bristling like an angry dog. "Just...just shut up..."

"...fine. But." He wrapped one of his hands around Sasuke's nearer one; on the other side of the bed, Sakura took the cue and captured his free hand between both of hers. "Just so you don't forget we're here," Naruto said, glancing away and scratching the back of his head in a poor attempt at nonchalance; his ears were red.

"Right," Sakura nodded.

Sasuke glanced from her to Naruto, the storm of feelings in him dying down just a little, and he grunted.

"Whatever."

Wisely, neither of them said a word when his fingers wrapped around theirs and tightened.

~A~A~A~

"Kisame."

The big man looked up from the bench he'd been sprawled out on, smirking slightly.

"About time you got here. You're getting slow," he said, crossing the cell to join Itachi. "Let's get out of here."

Itachi nodded slightly, handing him the belt that held his gun and his prescious blade.

"What's the plan?" he asked as he belted it on.

"We're going to have to find out what the others are doing. We should probably return to the camp," Itachi replied, leading the way out of the prison; the guards didn't react as they walked by.

Kisame glanced at him sidelong.

"...you sure you want to go back?" he asked as they 'borrowed' a couple of conveniently placed horses near the entrance to the prison block.

Itachi looked over at him.

"How much longer do you really expect this little act of yours to last?" he pressed as they galloped out of the city. "Tobi clearly knows something."

"Pein trusts me. And someone has to keep tabs on them," Itachi said firmly. "You don't have to follow me back. I'll tell them you deserted if you'd like."

"Yeah right." Kisame rolled his eyes. "I just hope you know what you're doing." "Hn."

So do I.

~A~A~A~A~

A/N: Here it is.

-Tell me what you think of 'the talk'. Im not sure on it myself. I rewrote it once already…meh. I just want it to be good, you know?

-I wanted to put in some lil sasu memories somewhere, but they didn't quite fit the frame of this chapter. Hence why it doesn't seem as long as I expected. The next chapter will largely revolve around Sasuke and him coming to terms with 'the truth', I think, and a bit around the goings on in the world outside the 'team seven bubble' (because there's actually quite a bit going on that just hasn't quite fit in yet).

-Meh. This chapter was exhausting (but still a fun challenge).

-More on Kisame and Itachi's partnership later on.

-Mostly listened to: Story of a Legend – Natanel Arnson and (somewhat appropriately) Truth – Audiomachine.

Thanks for reading and please let me know what you think. I hope you enjoyed.