"Itachi!" Sasuke beamed, trotting over to his brother as he spotted him in the school yard.
He smiled, catching his little brother's hand in his own.
"How was your first day, Sasuke?"
"It was great! Well, except for the girls. They won't stop staring at me. Even Sakura! It's so weird..."
Itachi chuckled.
"They do that. You get used to it."
"Hmph. Well, I don't like it..." he huffed, clinging onto Itachi's hand happily. "Naruto's in my class. He's as dumb as ever."
"Now, now, Sasuke..."
"Oh, come on! He tried to prank the teacher on the first day!"
"Really?" Itachi asked, sounding mildly amused instead of outraged.
"Yeah! It was really stupid."
"Hn. Well, would you like to stop for a soda on the way home to celebrate? Shisui gave me some money."
"Really?" Sasuke stared up at him, excited and awed. "C'mon! Let's go!" He tugged at his brother's hand eagerly, leading the way to the general store.
~A~A~A~
"Hey, Itachi. Whatcha doin' with those?" Sasuke asked, catching sight of his brother on his way out of the yard and making a beeline for him.
"Hn?" Itachi glanced over at him and then down at the bag of marbles swinging from a cord around his wrist. "Oh. I was going to do some target practice," he replied, bringing Sasuke to a halt with a two-fingered jab to the forehead.
"Ow!" Sasuke rubbed his forehead, squinting up at his brother as he continued on his way; he trotted along at his side. "Target practice? With marbles?"
"Yup. Don't you have homework you should be doing?"
"I finished it all," he beamed, puffing out his chest. "Naruto skipped today, so there was no one to distract me."
"That's good, Sasuke," Itachi smiled slightly. "You should really be nicer to him, though."
"No way! He's way too annoying!" He shook his head and crossed his arms mulishly.
"Maybe he just wants some attention," Itachi suggested lightly. "How was the rest of your day?"
Sasuke beamed, thoughts of his annoying classmate forgotten at Itachi's show of interest; he proceeded to babble on and on about his day happily until Itachi stopped at a section of pasture near an old shed (meant for holding supplies for cattlemen).
"What are we doing here, Itachi?" Sasuke asked, looking around curiously; it looked like any other grassy field.
"Target practice, remember?" Itachi replied, swinging the bag of marbles into his hand with a flick of his wrist.
"I still don't get what you're gonna do with those things, Itachi. You don't even have a gun," Sasuke frowned, puzzled.
Itachi made his way to the shed, unlocking it with a key from his pocket; when he stepped out again, there was a gun belt with an old pistol in his hand.
"Shisui lets me practice with his spare," he explained.
"Whoa..." Sasuke stared, eyes wide.
"I need you to stay right here by the shed, all right? I don't want you to get hurt," Itachi instructed, strapping on the belt.
"Okay," Sasuke agreed, rolling his eyes; his brother would never hurt him, after all.
Itachi took four marbles from the pouch and then tossed it to Sasuke.
"What are you gonna-Wow, Itachi!"
His brother had tossed the little glass orbs skyward, and there were three sharp cracks and then a rain of fine, sparkly powder had drifted down in front of him, the gun in his hand and still smoking.
"How did you do that?! That was amazing!" Sasuke exclaimed, darting over to his brother's side; excitedly, he took out four more marbles. "Do it again, Itachi!"
Itachi was frowning slightly himself, leaning down to pick up the fourth marble.
"Too slow..." he muttered, and then he glanced over at Sasuke, smiling slightly. "Practice, little brother. That's all there is to it."
"Yeah, yeah. You have to teach me," he decided, eyes sparkling.
"We'll see, Sasuke," Itachi chuckled, reloading the revolver and accepting three of the marbles Sasuke was holding out to him.
This time, all four of them met their ends when Itachi tossed them.
"Can I try? Please?" Sasuke pleaded a few rounds later, when the grass around his brother was literally sparkling with the amount of glass dust sprinkled over it.
"Well...I don't know," Itachi mused, hand resting on the holstered gun thoughtfully.
"Oh come on, Itachi! Pleeease?"
Itachi rolled his eyes slightly, a faint, amused smile on his lips.
"All right. Come here."
"Yes!" Sasuke scurried over to him, reverently accepting the weapon he passed over.
"Now look. Use both hands to steady it...there you go. Can you pull the hammer back? Good. The barrel is still hot, so be-hey! Don't point that over here!"
"Right! I'm ready," Sasuke said finally, hands wrapped around the handle firmly and legs planted.
"Okay...just try one for now," Itachi responded, pulling out a brightly colored sphere. "Here it comes." He sent the marble arcing out over the field.
Sasuke took the shot, but predictably, he missed horribly. He also managed to smack himself in the face with the recoil, landing him with a split lip.
"Ow!"
Itachi concealed a small chuckle, shaking his head.
"I did warn you about the recoil," he said, not quite able to keep all of the amusement out of his voice. He leaned down to his brother, taking the gun back in one hand and checking his injury with the other. "Mother will kill me," he mused.
Sasuke's watery eyes widened.
"Oh no. We have to think of something to tell her," he said, comically fearful.
Itachi really did chuckle this time, putting the equipment away and locking up again before going to crouch down in front of his brother.
"C'mon. She'll probably just assume you and Naruto had another fight," he said, Sasuke scrambling onto his back with a huff.
"Hmph...I guess so."
Itachi glanced over his shoulder at the boy as he started for home.
"You'll get better at it, Sasuke."
He nodded sharply.
"Of course I will!" He caught sight of the sun and frowned slightly, tugging on his brother's ponytail. "Hurry up, Itachi! We can't be late for dinner again."
"Neigh," Itachi chuckled, picking up his pace a bit as Sasuke giggled and shook his 'reigns'.
~A~A~A~
"Big brother?"
"Yes, Sasuke?"
They were sitting on the edge of their front porch, Sasuke's legs dangling. It was the holiday season, the weather chilly and the house full of relatives who'd been over for a celebratory meal and then lingered after to share stories over warm cups of cider. The two of them had escaped the stuffily crowded house several minutes ago.
"...why doesn't anyone care about what I'm doing? They always ask about you," Sasuke questioned, trying not to look like he was pouting (and failing utterly).
Itachi looked over at him, his expression just a little sad.
"They do care, Sasuke...they're just..." He paused, searching for the right words.
"Too busy being interested in you," Sasuke finished, kicking his legs a bit.
His brother sighed, looking away.
"You probably hate me, huh?"
Sasuke frowned a little deeper, glancing at Itachi and opening his mouth to speak, though for once, nothing came out.
"It's all right if you do," Itachi promised gently, meeting his gaze. "I'll always be there for you, one way or another, no matter what you feel about me. That's what big brothers are for, after all," he smiled warmly.
Sasuke bit his lip and smiled just a little in return.
"Yeah...I guess...Thanks, Itachi."
~A~A~A~
"Sasuke? Sasuke? Hey. You in there?"
Two knuckles tapped the center of his forehead and he nearly flinched; his eyes cracked open as he was drawn from his thoughts, and he glared at Naruto openly.
"The doctors wanna do stuff," the blonde informed him, stepping away; behind him stood the doctor and nurse who'd attended to him when he'd first arrived in the hospital.
He drew in a slow breath to quiet the storm inside him and nodded slightly, sitting up to let them work. He followed orders mechanically, letting himself be handled like some sort of doll; he remained lost in thought.
It didn't take much to remember his childhood with his brother, to remember the way he'd been so sure that Itachi could do no wrong, that he was indisputably the coolest, kindest, best big brother in the whole world. And until that day, Itachi had never done anything to disprove his young mind's assumption.
And that day was engraved into the walls of his mind. He could still see the look in Itachi's eyes as he'd turned to Sasuke all those years ago, his gun dangling from his hand. There had been the beginnings of madness in those eyes, the look of a man on the very edge and about to lose his grip.
In the context of the story his brother had spun, he could see, in his mind's eye, the way the tear troughs under his eyes had glistened, the touch of pain that had blended with what could only have been helpless rage (and, dare he say it, fear?) and leant the madness credit, stoking the flames within him.
Still, he found it hard to believe this new spin on things. He'd been angry for so long...and Itachi had lied to him and hurt him repeatedly in the years since. The pain and rage were so deep-seated that he wasn't sure they would ever go away, whether he accepted Itachi again or not.
And yet...somewhere in his chest, buried in the deepest depths of his heart, remained the fact that Itachi was his big brother. The one he'd adored and idolized and begged to come out and play just for a little while before dinner. The one who'd always had faith in him, who'd patiently dealt with all his little schemes and reassured him of his dreams. The one remaining member of his family. And he couldn't deny the immense, joyful relief that tiny part of him was feeling right now; small though it was, the feelings were powerful, a bright spark in the darkness that inhabited his angry avenger's heart.
"Mr. Uchiha? You're free to go," the doctor informed him as he finally manage to draw his attention. "But you are to take it easy, young man. Those wounds will become serious quickly if you push yourself too hard."
Sasuke nodded slightly and swung his legs over the edge of the bed as the doctor and nurse left; this landed him nearly face to face with Sakura, who flushed slightly and held out his clothes, washed and folded neatly. He stood carefully, testing his legs, and then nodded to himself and accepted the clothes, brushing past her (perhaps just a little closer and slower than absolutely necessary) and heading toward the bathroom at the end of the ward.
Once he'd changed, he scrubbed his face thoroughly with water from the sink, leaning over the basin as he let the excess drip off. When he glanced at himself in the mirror, he barely recognized the man looking back at him.
His usually messy hair was tangled and almost matted in the back from being prone so long, deep, dark shadows under his eyes. Stubble darkened his jaw and itched uncomfortably. He looked a mess, which was really just about right. His reason for living, his self-appointed purpose for the last eleven years was a lie. He felt like a ship cut away from anchor and left to drift.
Absently, he tried to scrub a bit of water through his hair, hoping to lessen the greasy sheen, but without proper soap, a comb, and a razor, he wasn't going to be getting much better than he already was. Sighing heavily, he dried his hands and strode back out to meet the other two.
Naruto was sitting on the edge of his bed in front of Sakura, talking to her in what he obviously thought was a quiet tone but which carried across the still-empty room anyway; he looked up as Sasuke approached, falling quiet.
"I don't suppose anyone has my gun," Sasuke remarked a bit dully, his thumbs tucked into his belt.
Sakura leaned down to the cabinet under the bedside table, tugging it open and removing a canvas bag.
"Apparently one of the marshals who went to check the train when it reached the station found them," she said as she passed both Sasuke and Naruto their revolvers. "I think my other one fell off. Mr. Asuma dropped these off; Kakashi told him they were yours."
"Hn." He slipped the gun into his holster, feeling just a little bit better with the familiar weight at his hip.
"Um...so, what do we do now?" Naruto asked, scratching the back of his head nervously.
"Well, we can't stay here," Sakura stated, glancing at Sasuke.
"Right..." Naruto frowned slightly, thinking. "The train doesn't make a return trip until tomorrow...so we're stuck here at least tonight."
Sakura sighed.
"And if we're going to make it back by train, we're going to need all the money we've got left and maybe then some...so that's no hotel for the night."
Naruto brightened suddenly.
"Oh! We should try and find Gaara," he said, grinning. "I bet he'll let us stay with him for the night."
"That might work...if you think you can convince him...and if it's not too much trouble," Sakura nodded; she felt a little bad at the idea of showing up on the quiet ginger's doorstep unannounced, but desert nights were cold and they hadn't brought any real supplies with them. "...is that all right with you, Sasuke?"
He looked up from his musings and shrugged. He didn't particularly like Gaara or his two siblings (they'd had an...encounter in the past), but he and Naruto got along well, and he couldn't actually think of a better option
"It's fine."
"All right. Let's move out," Naruto decided with a grin.
He and Sakura took positions on either side of Sasuke as they headed down the ward and then out of the hospital, close enough to let their elbows brush his. Normally, he would have complained, but he was still rather out of it and didn't so much as comment.
Sasuke wandered along between them, seemingly in a daze, as they asked a receptionist for directions and then set off into the city, stopping at a post office for more information and then moving on, intent on finding the redhead's residence. He couldn't really have cared less where they were going at the moment.
If he accepted Itachi's words as the truth, it made him hurt in a hundred new ways as well as all the old. His brother hadn't wanted to take him with him. His brother had left him alone, to fend for himself, to try to reconcile the agonizing loneliness that the murder had left him with the pain of losing his family and the anger that bordered on madness he directed at his brother. His brother had ultimately taken it upon himself to decide his future for him the instant he spoke to him that day and filled his heart with helpless rage. Somewhere in a disgustingly petty part of his soul, he was even mad that Itachi had gone after their apparently lost-cause parents instead of coming to get him and escaping first.
Dimly, he was aware that they'd found Gaara and were currently on his front doorstep and being invited inside. He closed his eyes for a moment as he stepped into the slightly cooler interior of the house after his friends; the heat was nearly intolerable during the day in the desert city, and the sweat building under the bandage on his arm was starting to sting.
It was probably for the best that he was inside. The heat had made his temper start to rise in his chest like acid.
"Sasuke?"
He turned his head towards Sakura, her voice drawing him from his musings again.
"You should really drink something," she said, pushing a glass of water at him.
He took it wordlessly, noting that they were sitting at a table in a dining room now, and he sipped a little of the cool liquid to appease her; the first mouthful reminded him how thirsty he really was, and he downed the whole glass in about a minute. She looked faintly amused, sliding a second glass (her own, he supposed) toward him.
"There's more, Sasuke," she chuckled when he hesitated to accept the drink, getting to her feet and heading for another room (the kitchen, probably), the empty glass in her hand.
Heaving a sigh, he sipped at the water and listened to the sound of voices as Naruto and Gaara and his siblings and Sakura chatted in the kitchen, providing a surprisingly soothing background track to his thoughts.
The closer he came to accepting his brother's words as the truth, the more lost he felt. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. Was he really supposed to just go on as though nothing had changed? Was he meant to return to the outpost and simply continue living as he had, taking care of the petty problems of the town and pretending that he still had a higher purpose?
His thoughts took an abrupt turn, recalling Itachi's revelation of his parents' true murderer. Danzo Shimura. An infamous captain of the marshals and the subject of many dark stories that no one seemed able to either prove or disprove. His blood boiled at the thought of him. Was that what he was supposed to do? Simply switch targets?
Somehow, he was certain that Itachi would be upset with him if he did go after the man. And more than that, Danzo was a much more difficult target to pursue. He would lose his career without proof of the man's crimes, and even if he had proof, he'd likely be convicted for the murder. Not to mention the fact that Sakura and Naruto would probably follow him into it.
Still...plotting the man's demise made it easier to think of Itachi as his brother again, instead of as the enemy. And that made him wonder just when he'd switched sides, which in turn led him to the angry pain directed at Itachi.
His thoughts remained circular all through the dinner that Sakura and Gaara's sister prepared, steadily driving him crazier and crazier until he stood up from the table as they sat talking after the meal.
"I'm going for a walk," he said, unable to sit still with his inner turmoil any longer; he headed for the front door swiftly.
"Oh. Well...don't be gone too long," Sakura called after him, sounding concerned.
He grunted faintly to indicate he'd heard her without slowing down.
The sun was setting when he stepped out, the ambient temperature much more bearable and cooling quickly. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and strode off, ambling directionlessly, buffeted this way and that by his thoughts.
~A~A~A~
"Is he all right?" Gaara asked as he and Naruto settled in his living room with mugs of coffee.
"He will be...I think," Naruto replied, frowning slightly. "I think he just needs to be alone..."
"You said he ran into his brother," the ginger confirmed. "Is it wise to let him wander on his own?"
"Huh? Oh, he won't hurt anyone...I think he's overwhelmed or something," Naruto muttered, though it had been a couple of hours now since Sasuke had disappeared. "He's not really the huggy type, ya know?"
"Hm." Gaara sipped his coffee. "He expresses himself through actions instead of words."
"Yeah. Like you," Naruto chuckled, shaking his head.
Gaara glanced up at him.
"Perhaps you should go and find him, in that case."
The blonde frowned, considering that; it was true that Sasuke had a history of dealing with his feelings in rather explosive manners...Gulping, he realized he probably should have followed him from the beginning, if only to keep him from picking a fight with someone and getting himself arrested.
"Uh...yeah, actually I probably should...hehe...be back soon," he said, getting to his feet and setting his mug on the coffee table and trotting out the door.
Behind his friend's back, Gaara rolled his eyes. For all his ability to make friends in the most unlikely of places, Naruto was incredibly oblivious at times.
~A~A~A~
It took seemingly forever to find Sasuke. Suna was about the same size as Konoha, and it wasn't like he had any idea where Sasuke would have ended up wandering off to.
When he did find him, it was with some relief (that he wasn't in a bar picking fights) and some irritation (because his friend had chosen, of all places, the roof of one of the largest of Suna's weird domed buildings). Naruto came to a halt at the base of the building, looking up at Sasuke.
"What the hell are you doin' up there?" he called.
Sasuke glanced down at him from where he was sitting on the edge of the low wall that surrounded the top of the roof but didn't respond.
"...How the hell did you even get up there?" Naruto tried again, squinting around for a ladder.
"Stairs."
Naruto huffed, starting to walk the perimeter of the building in search of the stairs; he found them on the other side, cut into the side of the dome in a zig-zagging pattern, and started up.
"So...gonna tell me why you're up here now?" Naruto questioned when he'd made it to the top and strode over to settle beside his friend.
Sasuke shrugged.
"I didn't think you'd find me here."
Naruto gave him an irritated look and then shook his head slightly; it was a classic Sasuke answer. Perhaps the Uchiha was feeling better.
"Haha. Very funny. I was starting to think I'd better check the prison," he replied.
Sasuke's only reaction was a faint sigh through his nose.
Naruto frowned.
"...are you okay? And don't gimme your usual bull about not understanding and being a loner and blah blah blah. We're seriously worried about you," he asserted.
"I'm...better," Sasuke replied, the words coming slowly.
"Better is good," Naruto nodded thoughtfully.
"...yeah."
"...so we're gonna head back tomorrow, right?" Naruto asked after a while.
Sasuke took another twenty years to reply.
"Yes."
The blonde eyed him.
"...you're not gonna go after this Danzo guy, are you?" As oblivious as Naruto could be, the person he understood the best in the world was Sasuke (most of the time), and he knew the other young man would never be able to let something like this go.
Sasuke sighed for real this time, the breath that left him long and very slightly shaky as his hands clenched into fists at his sides.
"...no."
Naruto breathed a sigh of relief.
"Good, cause-
"Not yet."
Damn it.
"What d'you mean, not yet?" he asked warily.
"Danzo isn't the type of opponent to be taken on the way we hunted Itachi," he muttered, looking out across Suna.
"...yeah. So what're you planning?"
"It doesn't matter right now," Sasuke said, and Naruto blinked, surprised.
"Really?" Sasuke had always seemed almost suicidally impatient for his vengeance in the past. This was a new game.
"...I want to find Itachi. I have to talk to him. And I need to talk to Hiruzen."
Naruto blinked again, head tilting.
"...why?" After all, Naruto had had to physically restrain him the last time he'd seen Itachi.
"I have questions," he replied simply.
"..." Naruto heaved a sigh. "Well, all right then. We're goin' back to Konoha tomorrow, so we can hunt down Hiruzen while we're there...it might take a little longer to find your brother again."
Sasuke glanced over at him directly for the first time.
"...why do you always do this?" he asked, and his tone was surprisingly not-hostile (though also not warm and friendly (which would actually have worried the blonde)).
"Do what?" Naruto questioned, head tilting curiously.
"Follow me," Sasuke explained. "I know why Sakura does it...but you..."
Naruto looked away first, his eyes drawn to his hands as he mulled over the question for a few seconds. The answer sprang to his lips swiftly.
"Why should it be any different than Sakura's reason?" He scrubbed a hand through his hair. "I care about you, Sasuke."
"I've hurt you thousands of times since we've known each other, physically and emotionally. I don't understand why..."
"Because," the blonde smiled slightly, glancing over at him. "You were my first friend. You are my best friend, Sasuke. And that's the way love is. It hurts a lot sometimes, but the rest of the time makes it worth the pain."
"...you love me?" Sasuke's tone was completely smooth, inflectionless, his face giving away nothing of his thoughts.
Naruto shrugged slightly, letting his blue eyes meet the black pair staring at him intently.
"Yeah. I guess I do."
They stared at each other for a long time, the moon steadily rising from the horizon and into the sky.
"...we should get back. It's cold out here," Naruto said finally, breaking the stare to look up at the moon as he got to his feet a bit stiffly, brushing sand from his pants.
"...hn." Sasuke followed his lead, rising and brushing off before heading across the roof. "...Naruto?"
"Yeah, Sasuke?" the blonde asked, glancing back at him from the top of the steps.
"...thanks."
And then he brushed past him to head down the stairs ahead of him.
~A~A~A~A~A~
Sakura shifted slightly uncomfortably on the couch cushions, readjusting her grip on the mug of coffee in her hands for the tenth time in a minute.
Where are they...?
Just as she'd decided that she couldn't wait any longer, the door opened and admitted a familiar pair of figures, one blonde and one dark.
Getting to her feet automatically, she strode over to them, her coffee abandoned on the table and her arms wrapping around the both of them. She released them quickly, cheeks heating slightly as she stepped back.
"I was starting to worry you'd run off and done something stupid without me," she scowled, doing her best to make her tone sharp. "I thought I was going to have to take a search party out. Do you have any idea what time it is?"
Naruto grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.
"It's not my fault...the bastard hides too good," he defended, though he was too pleased with the hug to look properly scolded.
Sasuke brushed a hand over her shoulder as he stepped past her, directing his attention to the ginger on the couch (he'd been keeping Sakura company).
"Where are we sleeping?"
Gaara took a sip of his tea before answering.
"There are two beds in the third room on the right of the upstairs hall."
Nodding curtly, the Uchiha snagged his friends, Sakura by the hand and Naruto by the shirt sleeve, and tugged them after him up the stairs. Naruto huffed a little, calling his good nights to Gaara, but he didn't complain overmuch.
Once they were settled on the edge of a bed in the room, Sasuke kicked off his boots and unbuckled his belt and then flopped back on the bed in a very Naruto-esque manner. He looked exhausted, and his eyes closed as he fell back.
Flushing and glancing at Naruto questioningly, Sakura eased the gun belt out from under him, coiling it neatly around the holster to set on the nightstand. Naruto shrugged and followed Sasuke's lead, flopping back on his other side comfortably once he'd set aside his weapon and boots.
"Sasuke...? I'm sorry, but if you're still awake, you should let me change your bandages before you sleep," Sakura said after an oddly disconcerting moment of the two lying there without trying to hit each other for taking too much space or breathing the other's air, falling back on what she knew (namely, taking care of her two idiots).
The Uchiha grunted slightly, his right hand reaching to unbutton the cuff of his left sleeve and then shoving the fabric up his arm messily. Sakura sighed and brushed his hand away to fold the sleeve back neatly until it revealed the bandages wrapped around his bicep.
She got to her feet. "I'm going to grab my bag...back in a minute."
Sasuke grunted again and settled to wait, letting his eyes close again tiredly; he could feel the exhaustion pressing down on him, like some sort of heavy blanket trying to smother his thoughts. Sakura returned a moment or two later with her bag, pulling out a first-aid kit.
Hesitating slightly, she pulled out a small pair of scissors to cut away the soiled bandages, her free hand going to steady his arm gently but firmly when he twitched at the coolness of the metal. Discarding the old wrappings, she took a bit of alcohol-dipped cotton and started cleaning the area around the wound carefully. Once she was satisfied, she started wrapping it once more in clean bandages from her kit.
"You're so good at this stuff, Sakura," Naruto sighed, watching her work lazily; his hand had somehow ended up covering Sasuke's on the bed between them.
"You two don't give me much choice otherwise," she replied, tying off the strips of cloth neatly. "There...You should get some sleep now."
"Hn." The raven haired man shifted, kicking his legs up onto the bed and making Naruto protest as his calves were draped over his chest; his good hand caught Sakura's tugging her down insistently beside him.
Flushing faintly, she squeezed his hand once and then set the remainder of the medical supplies aside and settled next to him, kicking off her boots as she did so.
Naruto, meanwhile, sat up and sighed slightly, watching her settle her cheek on his chest comfortably. He started to push himself to his feet, and Sakura caught a glimpse of his expression and opened her mouth to call him back, but before she could, Sasuke had grabbed the blonde by his belt loop and tugged him back onto the bed.
"Stop looking pathetic," he grunted, catching his sleeve and pulling until Naruto laid back beside him.
"I can't help it; I guess you're rubbing off on me," Naruto snarked back, and Sasuke elbowed him surprisingly lightly for it, looking less annoyed and closer to content.
Sakura was rather impressed (and pleased). She wondered what they'd said to each other to bring about this sudden almost pleasantness toward each other, but then decided just as quickly that she didn't want to know. She was just glad they seemed to be getting along, and that Sasuke seemed to have finally reached some form of calm.
Reaching across Sasuke's chest, she twined a hand with Naruto and smiled slightly, letting her eyes close. This at least felt right again, Sasuke's warm chest rising and falling beneath her cheek and Naruto's calloused hand wrapping around her own; this felt like they'd found some form of balance, and it made her marginally more hopeful for the future, because it meant that they'd be meeting it together.
~A~A~A~A~A~A~A~A~A~
A/N: Hi all. I'm back somewhat.
-I don't know how I feel about this chapter. It feels…sloppy somehow, but I don't know. It's been a while since I wrote the beginning, and it ended up rambling on a bit I think. Meh.
-I'm sorry about this taking so long, especially after I said it wouldn't, but I needed time to deal with the emotional wreck that my last semester left me in. My state of mind then is probably part of why this chapter came out the way it did, with Sasuke's rambling, circular thoughts and all… I'm all right now, though, so it's all good.
-This chapter was obviously rather Sasuke-centric. It sorta needed to be, I felt, after Itachi's bombshell last chapter.
-I'm tired, but this is fun. A good break time.
-Working on the next chapter but no promises as to when it will be up. It should be a lot more action packed than this, at least. Lots of exposition.
-I don't know what I listened to. It was a while ago that I wrote most of this, hehe…meh.