Sorry this took longer than expected to udpate! But, I am like...having a kind of panick attack overthe fact that I haven't updated my other ongoing story in such a long time...I literally looked at the date of when I last updated and started hyperventilating and going 'YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME?.! THAT LONG?' so yeah, I'm trying to focus a bit more on that story just to get the next chapter FINISHED already and post it. But most of my inspiration is fueling this story, hence these chapters come quicker. Once this story is finished (not yet though, still quite a bit to go) then I'll obviously throw all my focus onto the other story. So all R-S2 fans, I'm sorry it's taking so long, but I am working on the next chapter (which has some important info and explanations) so please be patient with my poor soul! (_ _)

Also, a big thank you to EVERYONE who's been reviewing my story! I'm sorry if I haven't answered you, but don't think that I'm not sobbing youthful tears of gratitude(oh God) after reading your encouraging words and postive feedback! You're all AWESOME!

Warnings: Swearing, some OOCness (come on, it's AU! OOC is already a given)

Disclaimer: Me no own ever. *sob sob*

Note: I FREAKING ADORE THE LATEST NARUTO SHIP EPISODE! It's one of my favourite ever...And it's a filler! But DAMN that baby had so much SasuNaruSasu hintings! XD I LOVE IT!

Online!

The first words that registered in my mind were simply 'Fucking. Ow.'

My entire body felt stiff and sore and my stomach was aching and my head was throbbing and dammit, I was about ready grab the nearest blunt object and knock myself out with it to get away from the pain.

However, the logical voice in my head, which sounded very much like Sakura, started giving me reasons as to why that was a very bad idea and it would only make it worse and blah, blah, blah.

I wasn't too sure I liked that version of Sakura's voice.

Opening my eyes was a battle, since my eyelids just felt so heavy, but I knew that unless I actually had a look at where I was, I wasn't going to make any progress.

There was a great rush of air, and slowly the dramatic beat of a drum and awe inspiring sound of a trumpet in the distance played as slowly, I opened my eyes to the bright lights of the world.

...My imagination was working overtime, it seemed.

But back to serious my mode. I blinked a few times, trying to get my eyes to adjust to the harsh whiteness around me. Although I couldn't see anything just yet, I knew that there were only two places I could be.

Heaven, or heaven's waiting room A.K.A the hospital.

Slowly, things came into focus and I concluded that I was still a part of the 'waiting' portion of this place. The bright light was coming from the window next to me, the sun shining directly onto my face. I guessed it was getting on in the day, maybe late afternoon if the reddened sky was anything to go by.

I tried to move, but found I was still too weak. Obviously, I was still tired and my abdomen was really sore. Curse that four-eyed devil in disguise.

Groaning at the pain, I let my eyes move to the side, and frowned when I noticed the room was empty. A sharp pang of sadness shot through me and I let my eyes look back out the window, the glaring sun not even registering as I blankly stared out over the town.

Had it been stupid of me to assume there would be someone by my bedside? There'd never been someone before, so why would that change.

'Naruto please...wake up...'

Sasuke's words... Had those been part of the dream I'd had? Had it been my imagination?

The thought of that hurt a lot more than I was ready to admit aloud. I shifted again-"OW!"-and looked over the room once more, trying valiantly to ignore the blatant emptiness of it.

There were three other beds, unoccupied, and a few bland decorations. And everything was white.

Well, at least there was no fucking fog this time. Because that would have sucked.

I groaned again, rather loudly since there was no one around, before sighing and starting to contemplate ways to pass the time-

The door slammed open, there was a loud yell of "HE'S AWAKE!" and had I not been in such pain, I may have just screamed and fallen off the bed in my shock.

Instead, I snapped my head around, regretting it when my vision swam, before I was met with brown, pink and black and a whole lot of arms. For one nerve-wracking moment, I was convinced there was some mutant octopus-monster trying to grab me with its fleshy tentacles and devour my intestines. However, soon the loud chattering in my ears became clear and I realized it was not a mutant octopus-monster trying to devour me, but merely Kiba, Sakura and Sasuke's mother Mikoto giving me a frantic group hug.

Needless to say, I went from mildly scared to downright petrified.

"Naruto! Oh my God, are you okay?" Sakura cried as she clung to my right arm.

"We've been so fucking worried you dumbass!" Kiba roared while trying to become one with my chest and legs.

"Does it still hurt!.?" Mikoto asked worriedly, her hands brushing through my hair in a calming gesture.

I could only mouth wordlessly, trying to think of what to say but forever being interrupted by Sakura and Kiba as they continued to fuss and rant. Sakura seemed extremely worried, as well as Mikoto, but I wasn't sure whether Kiba wanted to hug me or throw me into the middle of the road before riding over me with a steam roller. I couldn't quite decide.

"Not to impose on your happy moment of joy at his awakening, but not only are you smothering him, I think Sasuke's on the verge of throwing you two out the window about now." Itachi's smooth voice cut through the squabbling going on around me. Mikoto immediately stopped fussing, simply standing there with one hand resting on the top of my head. Sakura pulled herself away, and I felt the blood start rushing back into my arm, giving it life once more. Kiba seemed to be a bit hesitant, clinging to the front of my hospital gown.

When I had been put in one, I was still contemplating.

Finally, after a moment, Kiba sighed and crawled off of me, and I took a deep breath at last, feeling the air rush into my now uncompressed lungs. Once I'd perfected the art of breathing, I turned my head to look to the side.

Sasuke was mere inches from my face.

"GYAAH!" I was still too sore to make any sudden moves, so I couldn't even jerk back. However, it didn't stop my mouth from opening wide and screaming. I swear I saw Sasuke's bangs flutter a bit.

Sasuke stared at me while I tried to calm my rapidly beating heart, and once that was accomplished I looked back at him.

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" I demanded. Sasuke didn't answer, instead continuing to stare into my eyes, as if searching for something. I stared back, waiting.

After five minutes of nothing but silence and staring, I snapped.

"WHAT?.!" I yelled in his face again.

It seemed that was the trigger to get Sasuke to move. And move he did.

Right onto my bed, his arms wrapping around my shoulders and his mouth attempting to suck my very soul out of my body.

I heard Sakura give a bit of a surprised gasp. It was then I realized she hadn't ever really seen us kiss like this, so no doubt this was new to her. Kiba was staring blankly in the background and Mikoto had discovered an absolutely fascinating speck of dirt on the window which she was now observing with great interest and intent. I couldn't be sure, since my vision was ranged from side-to-Sasuke-to-side, but I had a feeling Fugaku and Itachi had started discussing some very important matters...like world domination or whatever it is evil-overlord's discuss during special moments between their offspring and said offspring's boyfriends.

My hands weakly reached up to pat Sasuke on his shoulders, and with great effort, I managed to pry him away slightly, enough for me to move.

I took the biggest gasp of air, my eyes wide and drying by the time I turned back to my soul-vampire-boyfriend.

"Teme! W-what the hell?" I asked loudly, my cheeks a bit red from the kiss. Sasuke's head was bowed, and for a moment I grew worried that perhaps I'd hurt him somehow. "O-Oi, what's wrong-"

Sasuke's forehead collapsed against my shoulder and I stilled, his hair brushing against my cheek as a soft whisper that only I could possibly hear, sounded.

"I'm so glad...you're awake."

I sat, feeling stunned at not only the admission, but the emotion in Sasuke's voice. There was such a strong mix of relief, happiness and even sorrow in his tone, I was had half a mind to pull his shirt off and check to see if his 'Perfect-Uchiha-Robot' batteries were faulty or something.

I swallowed and reached up to hug him, combing one hand through his aquatic birds' rear-end hair slowly.

"Yeah...I'm awake now." I muttered. He sighed, his breath hitting my chest. There was silence for a few moments, as everyone had a special moment. However, soon Sasuke's head snapped up, his nose slightly scrunched. I blinked, wondering what the expression was for.

"Sasuke?"

"...That hospital gown smells almost as bad as your old blanket." He said, rubbing his nose lightly. The moment was broken as Kiba snorted loudly while I grabbed the material and took a sniff, grimacing when I confirmed that it did, in fact, rival the stench of the legendary Ass-blanket.

"That's gross." I stated. Sakura giggled and walked over again, sitting down next to us. Kiba quickly sauntered over and joined, a smile on his face.

"Good to know you're still the funny moron you always were!" he cheered. I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, whatever." Kiba's grin grew and Sakura looked relieved. Even Sasuke's smirk had a happy tinge to it.

I decided not to tell them that their close proximity made me feel like I couldn't breathe.

I had been told I'd have to spend at least four days in the hospital, much to my devastation. I hated this place with a passion, since all it reminded me of was sickness and death and misery for loved ones. I wasn't a pessimistic person very often, but everyone has their emo-areas, and mine happened to be the hospital.

However, there was slight relief for me when Dr. Shihou declared that by all rights, I should have stayed much longer. However, not only was I healing at, what she described, an alarming rate, but Fugaku had pulled some strings with his all-powerfulness and gotten me out early.

I owed him big time. Perhaps he'd like a set of heavenly golf clubs?

Either way, it was the third day at the hospital, and I was bored. Yesterday, Sasuke, Sakura and Kiba hadn't been able to visit, as they'd had to go to school. From what I could guess, Sasuke wasn't going to be punished for beating Kabuto. And the others agreed with the principle's decision. Kabuto was obviously expelled, but it wasn't over yet. I knew that, since the Uchiha's were helping me press charges, we'd be in court too.

I wasn't looking forward to seeing his face again.

I was sitting in my bed, one of my favourite manga open in front of me. Sakura had bought it for me on the first day. Apparently, the reason I'd woken up to an empty room was because Fugaku had decided to drag everyone out to a lunch and quick gift-shopping to try and disperse the gathering clouds of depression above their heads while they sat waiting for me to wake up. But, since Kiba had such super-hearing, he'd heard my loud groan from down the hall and sprinted to the doors to see if it was true that I was up.

I shifted slightly, wincing when my stomach bent. The most abused area was definitely my abdomen and it was taking the longest to heal. While the rest of my body was banged up, it was healing quickly so the pain was dull and bearable. I'd gotten to the best part in the story when there was a light knock on the door, and one of the nurses stuck her head in. She smiled at me when I looked at her.

"Naruto-kun, there are three visitors here for you." She said. I smiled back at her and thanked her and she ducked out of the room. Wondering who was visiting, I marked my place and set the book aside.

Soon the door was being pushed open, and I felt my eyes widen at seeing who was there.

"Naruto!"

"Iruka-sensei!"

Iruka came hurrying forwards, hugging me around the shoulders. "I got a call this morning from Sarutobi-sensei. What happened to you?" he asked worriedly.

Behind him, Tsunade and Jiraiya came barging in. Tsunade gave me a firm hug and a knock on the head, and Jiraiya simply patted my head like I was a dog.

"Hey squirt. What happened to you?" he asked as he squatted down onto a chair, his eyes only briefly glancing at Tsunade's large breasts before refocusing on me.

I was impressed he managed to stay so focused in her presence. I felt special.

Tsunade kept her silence, her hazel eyes scanning my face and chest as she took in the multiple marks and band aids.

I sighed, scratching the back of my head a bit nervously. I guessed that Sarutobi-sensei hadn't really told them everything, since he himself didn't know the entire story. I didn't really want to talk about it so soon, but I knew they'd only continue to harass me if I didn't come out with it.

"I...I got attacked at school...the day before yesterday." I mumbled. The air stilled almost as quickly as the three people sitting around me, and I could easily picture the looks on their faces, without even looking at them.

For a few moments, I waited for someone to say something, internally placing bets with myself on who would break the silence first.

"...W-what?"

And all the little Narutos who bet on Iruka win! Wow, that was more than half of them.

"Who attacked you?" Jiraiya asked, his tone dark. I shifted, clenching the sheets in my hands.

"...His name is Yakushi Kabuto, he's a classmate of mine." I said quickly. As soon as the name left my mouth, I felt sick as flashes of what had happened played through my mind. A shiver ran through my body and I curled in on myself slightly, as if afraid he would appear beside me if I said his name to much.

Tsunade and Jiraiya looked stunned while Iruka looked a bit confused, his eyes darting about as he obviously thought of something.

"Hang on," he started, leaning back a bit, "Kabuto? Yakushi Kabuto?" At my nod, he frowned. "Isn't that Orochimaru's kid?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at the other two.

Tsunade growled. "Yeah, that's him."

I stared at them. "You know him?"

"More accurately, we know his father. The three of us used to be great friends back in the day, before Orochimaru got into a bad crowd and turned ugly on us." Jiraiya explained, scowling at the memory. "Old Snake-face adopted that Yakushi kid a while back. How he managed to do that, I've no idea, but he did. It's not all that surprising that the kid turned out to be some freak show."

Iruka was looking more and more panicked. "B-But...but then..." he turned to me, gripping my shoulders. "Naruto...what exactly did he do to you? And be honest!" he added as I opened my mouth.

I stared at him, seeing the slight pleading in his eyes. When I glanced at the other two, they were watching me intently, waiting for me to tell the story.

I bit my lip, looking between them, before heaving a long and suffering sigh. "Alright, I'll tell you." Iruka nodded, moving to stand up. He was most likely going to pace, since he did that when he was anxious. Before he could completely get out of his seat, however, I reached out to grab his arm.

"You may want to stay seated. By the end, there's a good chance you'll need to sit down anyway." I mumbled. I knew Iruka well enough to guess his reaction.

It was going to be a long talk.

~Sasuke POV~

I stared down at the rubbish bag in my hand gloomily, not at all pleased with where I was right now. The school's sports festival had carried on after the other day's morning incident, and it had been very successful, only ending today. Once the short lived confusion and hype over seeing my family and Naruto leaving the building, with the two of us bloodied and bruised and one unconscious, everyone had gone back to their usual business and enjoyed the festival without a care as to what could have happened to Naruto.

And it was making me sick.

I saw classmates that had classes with Naruto and I. People who knew him from school continued to pass by.

And yet not one of them ever stopped to ask if he was alright.

No one even noticed he wasn't here now.

My jaw clenched in anger as I heard footsteps approaching, only to turn and see the girl Karin and her friends sauntering up to me, each holding nothing but an empty water bottle that they had probably bought and emptied by themselves, just to have an excuse to come up to me.

"Hello Sasuke-kun! How are you today?" Karin chirped. Her voice reminded me of nails on a chalk board, and it was hard to stop the wince.

Instead, I just glared at her and her groupies. I was in no mood to deal with their petty flirting and useless attempts.

"Hn." I held the bag out expectantly, waiting for them to drop their bottles.

...

What, was their 'speed' option faulty? It didn't take that much thought and concentration, or effort to reach out and let go of the bottle into the black bag! It's simple, ladies!

Reach out.

Let go.

Watch bottle disappear with awe.

Turn around, walk away and hopefully never come within fifty five thousand feet of me ever again.

Was that too hard?

"Sasuke-kun, where were you all of Monday? We missed you!" one of her friends said, pouting and crossing her arms under her mosquito bites-oh wait those were her boobs- in an effort to look cute.

And those bottles were still in their hands.

I felt sorry for the plastic. It had to be touched by those long nailed, manicured...things!

Eugh.

Suddenly, I heard more approaching footsteps, and I looked over my shoulder to see Mizuki walking towards us, his steps firm and his face set. I narrowed my eyes, dropping the back and turning to face him, my arms held steady at my sides and my feet apart. Behind me, the girls shut their mouths, obviously sensing something was coming. Mizuki stopped several feet away, staring at me with narrowed eyes. I met his gaze, not backing down from any challenge he may be presenting.

...Why could I hear the 'Eye of the Tiger' playing somewhere in the background?

Shaking that thought aside, I waited, wondering what Mizuki wanted. I also had something to say to him, but it could wait.

After a staring match, which I wasn't even sure if it was a challenge or not, Mizuki finally stepped forwards again, waving his hands dismissively at the girls behind me.

"You three girls, you're slacking. Get back to cleaning. This field needs to be clean by the end of the day. Everyone else is doing their part, but I've seen you three do nothing but drink your waters and chat to boys. There's time for that after school." He scolded, and the three girls squeaked out apologies before dropping their bottles-finally- and scurrying away-hallelujah- to start cleaning like the rest of the students.

Mizuki continued forwards until he'd passed me, but I heard him stop right behind me and tensed, waiting for him to speak.

"...How..." I blinked, glancing back at him at the odd word. I was surprised to see he looked rather awkward. I waited, wondering what he was going to say.

He took a few moments to get himself together before he sighed, and looked somewhere to the right of me.

"How is Uzumaki doing?"

I had not expected that question, so it took me a moment to register that it had been said at all. When the momentary surprise was gone, I swallowed and straightened up, returning my face to its usual stoic mask.

"Hn. He'll be out of hospital in two more days. He's healing at a good rate." I said emotionlessly, reaching down and grabbing the bag I'd dropped. I scowled when I noticed one of the girls had managed to miss the bag and dropped their bottle on the floor, where it had rolled away. I reached towards it, but another hand closed around it before I could, and I stared up at Mizuki as he held the bottle out.

"...That's good." He murmured, his eyes trained on the bottle in his hands and not on my, now gaping, face. It took me a good minute to reach out and take the bottle, tossing it into the bag. Mizuki immediately straightened and dusted his hands, but it was more of an uncomfortable gesture than anything else. I stood watching him, wondering when he'd...changed.

Suddenly, a thought struck me that made me stumble. It was barely noticeable, so I didn't worry he'd seen it, but it was enough to shock me completely. Slowly, as I stared at the teacher that I'd come to dislike greatly over the past few weeks...

"Sensei?"

Mizuki looked up, and I found his shocked face rather amusing to see as he forced out a "yes?"

But it was not all that surprising.

After all...

"...Thank you...for asking about Naruto."

I didn't smile at other people very often.

Mizuki blinked bemusedly, looking a bit lost. However, soon I saw comprehension dawn on his face as he realized what I was getting at, and he once again looked a bit out of place and lost. He clapped his hands together, nibbling on his bottom lip.

"Right." he murmured. "Yeah."

I smirked, looking down at my hands. I saw the light marks from shallow scratches I'd gained after breaking the pipe from the wall. It brought forth another thought and I sighed, feeling a little annoyed I was showing so much gratitude in one day.

"Also...thank you for stopping me on Monday." I muttered, shifting my feet. "You stopped me from doing something I'd regret."

At that, Mizuki smirked, shoving his hands into his pockets, his white dress shirt bunching up around his arms.

"You wouldn't have regretted it, Uchiha." He stated, raising one eyebrow at me, as if to challenge me to deny it.

I stared back at him before smirking. "You're right sir. But still...Thanks."

He nodded, looking off to the side at some students that were messing around until they caught sight of his glare and quickly resumed picking up rubbish. I shook the bag in my hand, checking to see if I needed to empty it yet. There was still a bit of space, so I guess I could wait a bit more-

"I used to have an older brother."

I froze, staring at my hands. That had come out of nowhere, and the tone had seemed...strange. Nostalgic, maybe.

I looked up slowly, but Mizuki was still looking away. I wondered if he'd even realized he'd spoken at all. I decided to keep quiet and see what he would do next.

He took a breath, his eyes glazed over. "...He was...really annoying. Always pulling tricks on me, and getting me into trouble. And our parents adored him. They treated him different to how they treated me. They still loved me, and took great care of me...but there was always something about the way they treated him that made me feel like I was missing out on something." He paused, sniffing and tilting his neck to rid himself of a crick.

I straightened up, wondering why he had started talking about something like this, and to me of all people. But somehow, I felt that perhaps this would answer something. My gut was telling me to pay close attention.

"He bullied me a lot, and I used to say I hated him. And all he would ever do was laugh in my face and tell me 'I was just a brat'. And that would make me hate him all the more. As I got older, I grew apart from him. He went off to college, and I hardly spoke to him. I still told everyone he was an ass though." Mizuki smirked, still looking distant. I felt I could at least relate to that part of his story. I constantly reminded Itachi of his asinine status, after all. But he did the same to me, so we balanced out.

Although, I was pretty sure Itachi's sneak-poke attacks between my eyes were unfair most of the time.

Mizuki sighed, combing one hand through his hair. "...When he was 24, he graduated from his college. I was your age. He called me and told me he wanted to spend the day with me before he left for his new job in another state. I agreed since I really didn't have anything better to do. So we met up outside our house and started to walk...to the bus station."

I felt something inside me freeze over and drop before shattering. Hesitantly, I looked up at Mizuki and saw there was a pained look on his face. But I wasn't sure if it was pained from memories...or from his attempt at keeping it from showing his old anger.

He smacked his lips, looking down at his shoes. After a moment, he took another deep breath and looked up. "You know the story, right? About Uzumaki?" he asked, his tone blank.

I stared at him before nodding slowly. "Yes...I know it."

"So you know that people died in that incident." He continued in that empty tone.

"...Yes..." I replied, bracing myself for the blow I could see coming.

"Yeah. My big brother was one of them." Mizuki said, his voice cracking on the last word. He huffed and cleared his throat, his eyes looking around. I vaguely noticed that quite a lot of time had passed, and that students had moved to another part of the field. My bag wasn't going to get filled anytime soon.

"He...We had arrived and were among the crowd waiting for the next bus to leave. And it was then that we started talking about the old days. When I told him I still thought he was a complete jerk...he laughed. And he said 'You're still just a brat.'" Mizuki leant heavily on one foot. "And then, he smiled at me and told me he was so glad to see his baby brother."

I felt my mouth run dry, and it was now easy to see the growing sadness in my Maths teacher's eyes. I could understand what he was saying now. I understood what he was explaining.

This was his reason. This was why...all that time...

He had hated Naruto.

"When I asked him what medicines he'd been mixing, he'd just ruffled my hair and gotten me into a headlock. It was like nothing had changed between us. And then...then that bus crashed, and everything was chaos. But all I could see was my big brother pushing me down before he vanished in a burst of flames." Mizuki's voice was hollow by the end, and I couldn't look at him.

A heavy silence descended between us, our backs to each other. I stared straight ahead, my hands fisting in the bag. I could hear Mizuki shuffling his feet behind me, and the very soft sniffs he took every now and then. Finally, I tilted my head up to the sky, looking at the white clouds floating overhead.

"...Sensei...I...I understand why you felt resentment towards Naruto. In all honesty..." I swallowed. "If...If it had been me, I may have been exactly the same."

There was a sigh from behind me.

"Yesterday, I realized why my brother had said what he said." He muttered, his voice a bit thicker than normal. "When he said I was just a brat, he was right. That's all I was. And to be honest...that's what I still am." Here, Mizuki chuckled humourlessly. "I'm still the bratty kid brother who thinks everyone's out to get him. But yesterday, after...everything...I realized just how wrong I'd been this entire time. I've made many mistakes."

I turned my head to look over my shoulder, smirking at my teacher. "Don't worry...You're only human after all."

Mizuki turned his head and glanced at me, a slight frown on his face. "You trying to tell me you're not a human, Uchiha?" he asked.

I sniggered. "Well, sir, according to Naruto, all the Uchiha's are 'perfect-robots'."

Mizuki stared at me, his face blank before he furrowed his brows. "An Uchiha making a joke." He muttered before shaking his head. "Uzumaki, what have you done?"

I smirked, pulling the bag up and slinging it over my shoulder. "But sir...As much as I, uh, appreciate you telling me this...I need to ask why you are telling me this?" I tilted my head. "The one you really should talk to is Naruto, since this is between you and him."

Mizuki smirked, and I saw a familiar evil behind that smile. A shadow of the old, snarky Mizuki had emerged briefly.

"Oh? And here I thought it would be better to explain myself to Uzumaki's over-protective boyfriend before confronting him. After all," he grinned, already walking away and ignoring my indignant frown, "I don't want you coming at me with a rusty pipe, thank you very much."

I blinked, utterly bemused.

And then, I smirked, following after him so that I could empty the bag and continue my work. When I was close enough, I called out to him.

"Don't worry sir. No pipes. I have a very nice metal bat, reserved just for you."

Mizuki's snort scared more than half the student's nearby, while my grin took care of the rest.

I don't know why, but at some point in a previous chapter, a while ago...I had the random urge to make Mizuki an okie dokie dude. Don't ask me why, I just...felt like it. ¬_¬

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Not sure when the next will be done, but I hope you all have patience! Please leave a review with your thoughts on the chapter! I LOVE YOU ALL! ^_^

Kao: *crawls in, looking beaten and abused* You...Bastards...I told you...that she...was...Alive!

Juura: What happened to him?

Kam: A couple of fans threatened him, and then some of your friends beat him up because they thought you were dead.

Juura: And...you didn't help him?

Kam: Not at all. :)

Juura: *sighs* You guys... *looks at Kao* ...Kao?

Kao: X_x