Sasuke's eyes grew wide as he heard Naruto's statement. "Is that so?" He asked thinking that Naruto was merely saying that he knew as a way to extract the truth.

"Yeah. I never would have thought something that horrible actually happened; to force himself on you like that is just..." He trailed off. Nothing he could say would make his friend feel comforted, so he silenced himself. A few moments passed before either of the boys spoke again.

"Who told you?" Sasuke inquired.

Naruto knew that the Uchiha would not be pleased with the answer to that question. "That's really not important."

"I want to know how you found out." The tone in Sasuke's voice turned bitter.

"Orochimaru told me."

Sasuke felt his stomach twist when Naruto revealed this fact. "You're lying! There's no way that's true!"

"It is true. When he found our team I asked him, and he said that… that it was 'pleasurable' but you wouldn't agree and…"

"Shut up! Don't you think I already knew that he enjoyed it?" He raised his voice in response.

"I'm sorry…" Naruto apologized; it was clearly too soon to relay Orochimaru's words to Sasuke.

"I don't need your pity." Sasuke hissed. Though he did not intend to come across as irrational, he could not manage to suppress his emotions. "You should go now."

Naruto tried to be understanding, but Sasuke was getting on his last nerve. "I'm not pitying you! I'm just trying to be there for you as your friend, so stop getting mad at me!"

"You just don't get it, do you?"

"I think you're the one who doesn't get it; all you ever do is push people away when they just want to help!"

Sasuke composed himself. "You should go now." He repeated.

"You're ridiculous!" Naruto said as he rose from the chair he was seated in.

Sasuke rose as well and slammed his hands onto the table before him. "You have no right to judge me! You have no idea what I went through!"

"You're right, but you don't have to act so insane!"

The two stood on opposite sides of the table glaring at each other. Their heated staring contest was broken when the door opened. Itachi entered with a small bottle of medicine in his hand. He looked over the situation and saw the tension between his little brother and Naruto.

"I got some medicine for you. Since you still aren't in particularly good condition, you really shouldn't be out of bed." Itachi said. He decided that his little brother didn't need to get any more worked up than he currently was. "I think you should go so Sasuke can get some more rest, Naruto."

"I was about to leave, anyway." Naruto said as he advanced towards the door and exited. After he left, Itachi turned his attention back to Sasuke.

"Your claim he's your closest friend, but all you do is argue with him." Itachi noted.

"Whatever," the younger said, "that's how it's always been. He's too much of a loser to get along with like a normal person."

"If you say so; here," Itachi opened the bottle of medicine and poured some into a small cup he obtained from a nearby cabinet, "take this. It's supposed to help reduce the pain."

Sasuke took the cup from Itachi and swallowed the liquid. He placed the little cup on the table before sitting down again. "I'm not so sure that being back in the village is the best thing for me." Sasuke confessed.

"I wouldn't say that; after what you've gone through, it's normal to act somewhat irrational."

A sigh was released from the younger, "I guess that's true."

Itachi moved over to Sasuke and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Give it some time; things will start to look up again." He looked down at the discontented teen. "Let's go out and do something to get your mind off of it."

"Like what? I don't feel up to doing much."

"We can go for a walk. That's simple enough." Sasuke did enjoy walks, so he decided it wasn't a bad idea to get some fresh air. After telling his brother that he would go, Sasuke went to his room to change from his pajamas into his usual attire. Several minutes later, the brothers headed out for their early morning stroll.

This is getting really hard to write! I'm trying to keep it interesting, but the end is almost here and it's not very easy to bring to a close... Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter! Please review