Summary: Naruto met Sasuke through a dare involving getting him to smile, which led to Sasuke becoming Naruto's tutor and later, his friend. Meanwhile, Itachi broke out of prison and returned to the city. After Sakura broke up with Naruto, the two grew closer until they developed strong romantic feelings for each other. When Tsunade's party rolled around, Naruto asked Sasuke to be his cross-dressing date, and they shared their first kiss at the party. After some hardship, they entered into a relationship, but Sasuke's tormented past soon interfered. An argument involving Itachi causes Naruto to fully realize the hold Sasuke's past has on him, and with the advice of Neji, the two go on a trip. As they return from their peaceful weekend, Naruto fears that they will never experience the same peace again.
Special thanks to my 1,200th reviewer, mammacass99! :)
Also, I'll give this chapter a title whenever I think of one.
SMILE
Disclaimer: I will NEVER own Naruto. And that makes me sad.
Warnings: slight angst (?), extremely one-sided LeeSaku, strong language, NaruSaku-ishness, and Itachi.
Do review, dearies!
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: UNTITLED
The sun hung directly above them, in the center of the sky, causing the shadow of the tree beneath which they were sitting to be reduced to an imperfect circle; the gaps between the branches allowed shards of light to reach the ground, interrupting the otherwise uniform shadow, as if someone had haphazardly plucked away spots of darkness. The shadow would tremble across the grass when the biting, winter wind rustled the leaves of the tree and blew harshly against their faces. Only the leaves of the tree would quiver; its thick trunk provided it with enough strength to prevent it from bending to the will of the wind, and it was also the reason that the tree's roots still dug deeply into the ground in the center of a green courtyard of the Konoha campus.
Although the distance was not that great, Naruto felt far from the students who walked along the concrete paths which swerved throughout the campus and around the courtyard. He was certain that he could have a conversation with Sasuke, speaking at a normal volume, without any of the passers-by being able to hear the words which they uttered. They were quiet, though, as they sat beside each other and studied, textbooks and notebooks either in hand or in the grass which surrounded them. As Naruto read the words which littered the page, his mind began to wander, causing those words to become empty as he stared at them with an equally empty stare. In the sheer silence, he wondered what path Sasuke's thoughts were taking; if they were really focused on the material before him, or if they were leading him to his brother. Naruto's eyes lifted from the page to give Sasuke a lingering glance.
His gaze would ghost over Sasuke's countenance, his cerulean eyes attentive, searching for any indication that he may still be tormented and haunted by his brother—the slightest dip of his thin, dark eyebrows, the subtle downward curve of the corners of his lips, or a sidelong glance that lasted for a second too long—and for any indication that a semblance of the violence and instability within Sasuke which he had discovered during their last argument remained. Naruto had begun tossing surreptitious glances at him soon after they had returned from their surfing trip, since the apprehension which had been creeping upon him steadily had struck him at full force once they had stepped into their dorm. He feared that the familiar setting, which overflowed with the various memories that were connected to it, would incite a relapse in Sasuke. The beauty of the secluded beach was that it had been free of any associations before they had arrived; each moment in which they had touched the sand or the ocean, they had gradually filled its former vacancy with pleasant memories, rendering it an eternal paradise in their minds.
Although there was no visible sign of it, Sasuke had taken note of Naruto's furtive glances and his attempts to conceal the pensive, intense stare with which he gazed at him at times. It was not as if Naruto was not prone to staring at Sasuke, but the nature of the look was noticeably different. At first, Sasuke chose to say nothing regarding Naruto's persistent looks and endured the annoyance he felt toward Naruto. The notion that Naruto was looking for a crack in his façade of strength, because Naruto truly comprehended his weakness now, irritated him increasingly as the days progressed, despite the fact that those looks had begun to decrease in amount as Naruto gained reassurance from Sasuke's normal behavior.
On that windy day, underneath the tree, the look that Naruto had tossed Sasuke had been of a kind that he had not given him in a couple of days. An irrepressible, sudden need to scrutinize him, to ensure that there was not a brooding expression on Sasuke's face, had begun to eat at him as they sat in what felt like false tranquility. He found that Sasuke's downcast eyes were looking intently into his book, his expression focused and neutral. Naruto's eyes had hardly been resting on him for a few seconds when Sasuke announced his knowledge of Naruto's gaze.
"I'm fine, so stop looking at me like that," he insisted bitterly, without taking his eyes of the book to look at Naruto.
Although he knew that he should have anticipated that Sasuke would notice eventually, particularly due to his perceptiveness, Naruto's eyes widened with slight surprise. At first glance, Sasuke appeared to maintain his apathetic veneer, but Naruto discerned that Sasuke's grip on his book had tightened and that his demeanor had become sullen. His coal black eyes bore into his book in a dour refusal to look at Naruto. Several moments of silence followed Sasuke's words as Naruto contemplated whether he should respond with a succinct acquiescence or an inevitably verbose explanation. Regardless of his actions, Sasuke would grow more exasperated by the second. Naruto bit his lip before speaking.
"I'm sorry, Sasuke, I didn't mean to…I mean, I just can't help it since it's only natural that I'd be concerned after that episode about two weeks ago, you know. But you seem to be alright and everything. I was just being paranoid and I wanted to make sure that you're okay, so yeah. I won't do it anymore, I promise—."
Immediately after Naruto had finished uttering the last syllable of his last word, before his sentence could properly come to a close, Sasuke slammed his book shut abruptly, stood up, and stormed away. Startled, Naruto looked after him while sitting, before standing and doing the same. Naruto's dumbstruck response allowed Sasuke, who was walking briskly through the grass, to nearly make it to the concrete paths before Naruto even considered chasing after him.
Sasuke's eyes adhered to the ground ahead of him as he walked. A sudden burst of wind tousled his outgrown, raven hair violently and stung his face in its coldness. The apologetic nature of his speech, the gentleness of his tone, the earnest gleam of his eyes, had driven Sasuke over the edge for a reason unknown to him. He wondered what could soothe his building frustration, if not those things. He could hear Naruto scrambling to follow him, calling his name, amid the whipping of the wind and the sound of the leaves. He continued to walk onward without turning around, not quite aware as to why his legs seemed so adamant to push him forward and put distance between himself and Naruto.
He felt a touch at his wrist. He halted in slight surprise; he had not heard Naruto approach, aside from the sound of his voice, which mere seconds ago had seemed to be nothing more than a distant call that was muffled and being carried away by the wind. Now, Naruto's voice seemed close, as if he was speaking into Sasuke's ear, and clear, cutting through the sound of the wind.
"Sasuke."
He uttered as his fingers wrapped around Sasuke's thin wrist, his grip firm, yet somehow gentle. Sasuke turned to look at him, his expression unrevealing. Naruto gazed into the dark, seemingly bottomless eyes which stared back at him, knowing that slight sadness was present in his own blue eyes. "Please don't be mad," he requested solemnly, his voice somewhat subdued.
Sasuke returned Naruto's gaze for another moment before averting his eyes. He felt Naruto's fingers slide down from his wrist and to his hand, and then Naruto entangled their fingers. Naruto raised his other hand to Sasuke's face; he brushed his raven hair away from his face, running his fingers along the length of the long strands which framed it, and then fluidly moved his hand so that he was holding Sasuke's chin. As Naruto grazed his thumb over Sasuke's lower lip, causing his lips to part, Sasuke looked up at him, his countenance remaining largely expressionless. Without glancing about the courtyard for witnesses, Naruto brought Sasuke's lips to his own. He pulled away slowly, but hovered close enough to easily touch his lips to those of Sasuke again, if he so wished, and to look into his coal eyes, which no longer seemed so callous. Briefly, Sasuke looked as if he might close the gap between their lips, but then he untangled his hand from Naruto's and took a few steps away.
"Don't do anything like that in public ever again," Sasuke ordered in his usual tone, although his voice was not unnecessarily harsh. Because he faced away from Naruto, his moderately flushed face went unnoticed. He scanned his surroundings, and found that, luckily, only a few people had been passing through the courtyard at the time, and no one appeared to be paying particular attention to them. The prospect of being seen, though, was not the main cause of his tinted cheeks.
"Fine, I won't," Naruto said, "but only if you stop being mad."
"You're lucky that I'm not mad after that."
Upon glimpsing Sasuke's expression as he turned to face Naruto, he confirmed that Sasuke's anger had dissipated. Naruto's lips stretched into a smile. "I guess I am lucky, then," he said brightly, and paused before continuing. "Since you stormed off in the middle of our study session, I'm guessing that it's over. So come back to the tree with me so we can get our stuff."
"Alright."
Naruto smiled at him once more before turning around and beginning to walk toward the tree. Sasuke looked after him for a moment, watching his back as he moved and his golden hair as it was disheveled by the wind. The corners of his lips curved upward to form an imperceptible smile. He wondered what had happened to him to make him abnormally forgiving and wondered if he was becoming soft, but he dismissed his musings as unimportant, and followed after Naruto.
The image of Naruto, Sakura, Neji, and Gaara sitting alongside one another on the edge of the fountain, their former, typical meeting spot, was reminiscent of a time in which the ties that connected the friends had not been stretched. Although they seldom gathered there now, in a sense, they had not grown that distant from one another; the bonds between them were stronger than they had previously been, due to everything which had unfolded following Naruto meeting Sasuke. Finally, they had come to understand one another and had attained a higher level of maturity, which in turn led them to achieve a permanent emotional intimacy. No longer were they dependent on the constant presence of their friends; they had all begun to find, or at the least, look for, their own paths in life and their own places in the world. Whenever the majority of them did happen to come together, a feeling of nostalgia was ever present in the back of their minds.
The idle, friendly conversation in which they were engaged was coming to a close. The four were now standing, the three boys encircling Sakura as she spoke to them. "So it'll start around ten or eleven officially, but of course you guys can come earlier," she instructed, referring to the party that she was holding at her home that night. Yet again, Sakura's parents had gone overseas to a tropical paradise, in that instance being Costa Rica, on one of their frequent vacations. "And you can bring someone along if you'd like. If you're wondering, Naruto, yes, that means that Sasuke is invited." Her tone was lightly patronizing, as if she regarded it as a trivial matter, although internally she was smiling proudly at her magnanimity.
"That's nice of you and all, but I don't think he'll want to come. I think New Year's was a onetime thing. I'll ask him anyway, though," Naruto responded, somewhat caught off-guard by her invitation.
"I'll ask Tenten if she wants to come along. She has work tomorrow, but I doubt that that will discourage her," Neji said with a reserved smile which complimented his fond tone. "Actually, I'm meeting her for lunch, so I'll be going."
"I'm going too," Gaara added, "I have a class in ten minutes."
With that, after Naruto and Sakura bid them farewell, Neji and Gaara took their leave; Neji walked in the direction of the parking lot, toward his car, whereas Gaara went in the opposite direction, disappearing between the campus buildings, leaving Naruto alone with Sakura. Silence enveloped them for several moments before Naruto turned to face her.
"Well…I think I'll be heading back to my dorm now…" Naruto stated inelegantly, angling his body away from her in the beginning of a movement to turn around. Before he could utter the words which would finalize his departure, Sakura's slender fingers wrapped around his arm and effectively halted him. Immediately after he stilled, Sakura removed her hand from his arm, having placed it there in the first place without much thought. She fought to preclude the blush which threatened to appear on her cheeks. Naruto tossed her a curious glance.
"Um, do you want to hang out?" Sakura blurted awkwardly. Her embarrassment, which was without any clear source to Naruto, was palpable. Even she was unsure as to why she was being so sheepish concerning a matter that should hold no gravity under normal circumstances. As of late, she had been contemplating spending some time with Naruto, away from everyone else and away from school; doing so, in her opinion, would be the ultimate rekindling of their friendship. She considered that perhaps she had placed an underlying significance into a simple proposal that could not handle its weight.
Naruto merely grinned at her, making her feel ridiculous, and consented light-heartedly. "Sure." Of course he would agree, Sakura thought in self-reproach, it would be unlike him to say no. I don't know what I'm getting so worked up about. A reason why she could have sensibly expected him refuse came to mind.
"Are you sure that it'd be okay, though? Since, you know, Sasuke," she said inarticulately.
"What about him?" Naruto posed, acting quite dense.
"Well, um, he doesn't seem to like me very much," Sakura elaborated somewhat reluctantly.
"So?"
Naruto's unremitting dullness caused Sakura to redden further. Although she viewed his lack of comprehension as being preposterous, instead of her explanations, that did not make her feel any less silly. "I don't exactly think he'd appreciate you hanging out with me like this," she clarified.
Naruto laughed loudly in response with clear amusement. She stared at him, dumbfounded and somewhat startled. "Oh shit, you think I'm whipped, don't you?" He chortled as if the notion was absurd. "Well, I assure you, no one could ever do that to me. Why does it matter if he doesn't appreciate it?" Naruto asked, the inquiry somehow a combination of being genuine and rhetorical. Sakura nearly rolled her eyes at his boastful statement, her embarrassment momentarily diminishing, with skepticism and slight annoyance taking its place. The image of Naruto strewn lifelessly across Neji's couch appeared in her mind's eye; it lingered for a moment and then passed quickly.
"Well, I don't want him to get mad at you," Sakura stated truthfully. Regardless of the resentment that existed between them which, for the most part, remained unspoken, and although she could be spiteful toward him on occasion, she did not want to give Sasuke an opportunity to grab hold of another reason, no matter how minuscule, to dislike her.
"Don't even worry about it," Naruto replied in a blithe voice that reinforced his words. "Of course I'll let him know about it so he doesn't bite my head off later, but he's going to be a little pissy no matter what. So let him shit bricks, he'll get over it, it's no big deal." He grinned at her impishly. As he took his phone out of his pocket, presumably to text Sasuke about his impromptu outing, the pink-haired girl stared at him with dubious emerald eyes.
"If you say so, I guess," Sakura mumbled. When Naruto returned his phone to his pocket and his attention back to her, she continued. "So, where do you want to go? Is there anything that you want to do?"
"Why're you asking me? You're the one that wanted to hang out," he pointed out with a grin.
Sakura's eyes widened with mortification for an instant before she realized that he was joking. Her cheeks reddened with a combination of embarrassment and anger, releasing the latter emotion by whacking him harshly. "I just asked you on impulse!" She insisted defensively while Naruto winced. "I didn't have anywhere particular in mind."
"Calm down, I was just joking," Naruto grumbled as he rubbed the spot that she had hit on his arm. He looked at the seemingly innocent pink-haired girl out of the corner of his eye, wondering when she had begun to exhibit violent tendencies. Although he had been aware of the spite and rage that existed deep within her for a long time, he had never seen her behave as truly to herself as he had recently. Regardless of being on the receiving end of her fury, the corners of his lips twitched upward.
"You shouldn't joke like that," Sakura chided, but quickly changed the manner of her speech when she realized her temperament. "But, um, anyway, maybe we could go get some coffee? There's a place within walking distance." A coffee shop was the most casual and comfortable place that she could think of to spend time with Naruto. Briefly, she had considered inviting him out to lunch, or even over to her house, but both alternatives seemed too intimate and potentially awkward, at least on her part.
"Coffee sounds great!" Naruto said with an enthusiastic grin. Sakura wondered if she had committed a grave error by mentioning the prospect of caffeine to a hyperactive blond. "Especially since it's been so cold lately…I mean, I even think that my tan has been fading…Oh god, I can't imagine what I'd look like if I became as white as Sasuke, or even as white as you, Sakura," Naruto went off on a tangent, rambling on trivial subjects for the entirety of the short walk to the coffee shop. Sakura listened and laughed in response to his babbling for the majority of the time, adding to the conversation when appropriate. Happiness bubbled up within her when she looked up at Naruto as he spoke animatedly; his pleasant words were directed solely at her, which was something that she had not experienced in months, vaguely reminding her of their former days together.
Once they had their hot coffee in hand, Sakura and Naruto sat across from each other at a small, round table for two which rested alongside the windows that functioned as the shop's façade. Naruto took a gulp of his steaming, hot coffee, evidently relishing it, whereas Sakura took a small sip of her own drink. As soon as Naruto placed his cup back onto the table, his phone vibrated loudly, causing him to take it out of his pocket. His eyes were fixed to the screen as he read the text message. When he erupted with laughter, Sakura assumed that he had finished reading it.
"I was right, he did get pissed," Naruto announced with a snicker.
Sakura assumed that he was referring to Sasuke and that Sasuke had just responded to his message. Curiosity tempted her to ask what he found so amusing and insecurity made her suspect that it was an insulting comment about her, but she did not inquire about that subject. Instead, she asked, "So, speaking of Sasuke and everything, how are you guys?"
His eyes, which gleamed with vivacity, fell flat for an instant so brief that Sakura doubted that she had witnessed it all. When she had asked the question, Naruto's fingertips had just made contact with his coffee cup for which he had been reaching. During the silent second following her words, his long fingers remained rigidly wrapped around the cup. He sighed, and his expression returned to normal—although the change in it had hardly been discernable to begin with—as if the exhalation released his tension as well as his breath.
"I guess that everything is alright," Naruto began, "since I wouldn't exactly say that things are going that well. Things are kind of shaky. The problem isn't exactly the relationship between us…it's kind of hard to explain." He spoke vaguely, merely ghosting over his concerns instead of delving into them. His tone was nearly casual; the slight edge of exasperation and solemnity in his voice was what prevented it from qualifying as such completely. Part of his irritation derived from the fact that he was tired of the subject which ran incessantly through his mind. Naruto could find no release by confiding in someone. The only person he had attempted to do so with was Neji, and despite his innate wisdom and perceptiveness, he felt as if even Neji could not grasp the complexity of the situation. "About two weeks ago he kicked me out and I had to stay at Neji's," Naruto mentioned off-handedly.
"What?" Sakura blurted with palpable surprise and concern. After she thought about it for another moment, Sasuke forcing Naruto out of their dormitory was not so shocking; on the contrary, it seemed like something that Sasuke would very likely do. She considered the notion that Naruto's silence concerning the matter was what had taken her aback. She extinguished her desire to prod and whine about why he had not told her. "Well, I'm guessing that specific problem was solved, since, you know, it's been two weeks and all," she commented lamely.
"Yeah." Naruto did not know how he had expected her to respond, or even why exactly he had brought up that event. He took a quick sip of his drink, and then proceeded to change the course of the conversation. "So what's up with you and Lee? The last time you talked about him was a while ago. Have you been seeing him in the past month?"
The question caught her somewhat off guard, effectively distracting her from the previous topic enough for her to genuinely engross herself in the conversation, although she stored the fragment of their chat involving Sasuke to mull over later. Sakura was observant enough to recognize that Naruto had no desire to speak more on the subject. Her demeanor changed slightly, a small smile appearing on her thin, pink lips.
"I've hung out with him a couple times lately. I actually do enjoy his company, even though he can be pretty annoying and embarrassing sometimes. I just really like that he's so active and energetic. It kind of rubs off on me and makes me feel a bit more alive. It's almost like he makes ordinary things exciting." When she noticed Naruto's lips stretch into a smirk, she elucidated hastily. "I made it clear to him, though, after a few dates"—she blushed at the slip, but continued nevertheless—"that I only wanted to be friends with him. Of course he was disappointed, but unfortunately, he isn't exactly discouraged. He respects my decision, though. I really think that he should just give up. I mean, he's a nice guy, but I'm just not attracted to him at all. No matter how hard I try, I just can't do it." Frustration showed through her voice. Sakura's eyes were downcast, somewhat ashamed of herself for being unable to overcome her superficiality. When she glanced upward at Naruto, with his flawless caramel skin, stunning eyes, and handsome face, she recalled her description of Lee's personality. He kind of reminds me of you in that way.
"I won't criticize you, Sakura. I think it's good enough that you gave him an honest shot," Naruto stated with a gentle and earnest smile. He quickly abandoned his caring sobriety, though, for an idiotic grin and a cheerful laugh. "I mean, I would have never been able to go on anything close to a date with bushy-brows like you did."
Sakura smiled at the indirect compliment and laughed at the joke, both aspects having succeeded in significantly alleviating her shame. "Oh, so what, you've considered it?" She taunted lightheartedly.
Naruto's face contorted into an exaggerated expression of disgust. Sakura had no doubt, though, that the mental image produced from her question revolted him on some level. "Just because I'm bi, that doesn't mean that I'd hump anything with two legs," he retorted, causing Sakura to giggle. "Just look at my dating history. The people that I've humped have been very good-looking." He grinned like a fox.
Sakura flushed at both references: that of him having had sex with Sasuke and of their former intimacy. He noticed her pink cheeks and teasingly said, "What? Too soon?"
She responded by stretching across the table and smacking him. Her explosive burst of anger dissipated immediately after hitting him. She sat back down, having stood up slightly to be able to reach him. As Naruto rubbed the spot where she hit him, he murmured that the people with whom he had sex happened to be abusive as well, and then pouted. Sakura snickered at Naruto's expense. Her laughter gradually became less mocking and progressively more jovial and unrestrained. It diminished into an amicable and serene smile; it was an expression that her countenance seemed intended to wear.
"I've missed this."
In the midst of silence, Sasuke sat in his chair, his coal eyes focused on the book in his hands. The only sound was that of his fingers against the pages as he turned them. In the tranquility of the winter night, few sounds filtered through the walls of his room, the cold seeming to freeze all movement in the outside world, leaving it in a peaceful state of stillness. Undoubtedly, people walked the streets in the frequented clubbing district of the city, but on the shore, near the college, it was rare for a human shadow to be cast by the streetlights. As he perused the novel, he wondered vaguely when a shadow in the shape of Naruto would form, as his boyfriend would walk, or more likely, stumble, from his car to the dormitory building, if he returned at all that night.
As Naruto had anticipated, when he had told Sasuke that he was invited to Sakura's party, Sasuke had declined curtly and insolently. Entering the pink-haired girl's home was an action that he would never commit. In addition, he was unwilling to accept her overt peace offering, particularly after her sudden outing with Naruto earlier that day. Although a small part of him wanted to chaperone Naruto, to ensure that he did not do anything characteristically idiotic while intoxicated, memories of Gaara's New Year's Eve party prevented him from doing so.
Sasuke realized that he had been staring at the same page for several minutes, having lost himself to his thoughts, and picked up reading from where he had left off. His eyes roamed over the pages without interruption for an amount of time long enough to allow himself to become engrossed in the fin-de-siècle world of the novel.
A single knock at his door yanked his attention away from the book. He glanced at the digital clock on the night table, noting that it was hardly past midnight. It was early for Naruto to be returning to the dorm, but his doing so for whatever reason was not implausible. In the back of his mind, the nature of the knock—the lack of loud, persistent rapping, which seemed to better suit Naruto—and the fact that he had to knock at all when he had a key, confounded him and aroused suspicion in him. In response, his mind whispered rationalizations; that he had not yet rid himself of the paranoia which sometimes afflicted him, that he was over-thinking a simple knock, and that Naruto was undoubtedly intoxicated, and thus his behavior was altered and his stupidity was amplified. Sasuke shut his book, placing it on the desk beside his chair, and walked toward the door.
He opened the door. His face had been set in its usual apathetic expression when he had first turned the knob, but as the crevice between the wall and the door grew and his gaze shifted slightly upward to meet the eyes of the person standing on the other side of the door, his disinterested countenance changed dramatically. His pupils dilated and his eyes widened to the point that they nearly bulged out of his skull. They grew wild, partly in response to the savagery the person before him incited in him, and partly as a primitive reaction to the paralyzing fear which enveloped him. His mind became frozen in a state of trepidation, empty of all thoughts, both coherent and unintelligible. He merely stared ahead with his feral, coal eyes, as the door slowly opened, moving forward due to its inertia, since Sasuke's hand had fallen from the doorknob. With each fraction of a second, the bloodstained eyes of his brother—whose penetrative gaze was directly focused on him, stabbing through his flesh, and enslaved him—were further revealed, until those eyes dominated Sasuke's vision.
Itachi's hand moved to grab the door. Sasuke continued to stare at him vacantly; he was hardly able to register what was occurring as the cessation of his thoughts was replaced with the familiar relentless stream of them. His thoughts twisted around each other chaotically, becoming entangled to the point that his mind nearly reverted back to its immobile state. But his eyes managed to dart down to see the painted fingernails which were now resting on the wooden door. The sight caused him to regain enough sense to stumble backward, but other than that, his mind could not conjure up a response.
With the door now completely open, Itachi took a single step forward and entered the room. Those eyes were devoid of all emotion, yet they somehow seemed murderous, as if the lack of empathy present in them whispered of the heinous deeds he was capable of committing without the slightest change in his apathetic countenance. Sasuke had witnessed the moment in which that disturbing vacancy had permanently entered those eyes. The gaze with which Itachi looked upon him was identical to the one with which Itachi had stared at his eight year old self when he had discovered the bloody corpses of his parents. The only aspect of Itachi which differed from that traumatic night was his clothing; he wore a dark cloak which concealed his entire body, except for his disconcertingly inexpressive face.
The threat that face presented caused his thoughts to untangle themselves enough to allow him to wonder why he was incapable of speaking and moving, or performing any sort of function, except perhaps breathing. During his avenger phase as a young teenager, he had envisioned such an encounter countless times; he had anticipated his brother's reactions, and he had planned all of his actions and words, but he had never expected himself to freeze. Sasuke told himself that he went rigid because he was different now, that he was not bloodthirsty, that he was not mindless, but part of him whispered that it was because he was surprised, that he had never actually thought that he would encounter his brother.
"Hello, Sasuke."
His mellifluous voice sounded, so perfectly smooth that it seemed dangerous, for the same reason those disquieting eyes did. Sasuke felt as if that voice vibrated throughout his body until it struck his bones and shattered them. Itachi's words seemed abrupt as they pierced through the frighteningly still atmosphere of the room and misplaced, as if any words spoken by him did not belong in that room. No part of him belonged there; the sight of Itachi, existing within his own space, was so surreal that Sasuke began to doubt his sanity. Like the other times, it was as if the image of his brother, which had been painfully cut into his mind, had been extracted from it and placed before him. Lately, fantasy and reality had been transitioning from one to the other so seamlessly that it caused Sasuke to question whether what was occurring was reality.
After resting his heavy stare on Sasuke for several moments and being met with no response, his eyes began to roam over the contents of the room. Although Sasuke merely watched the dark irises as they moved, he knew upon which items they paused: the surfboard with the fox demon design, the miniature refrigerator covered in stickers, and the framed photograph of himself and Naruto. When Itachi's eyes landed on the photo, Sasuke's heart stopped. They lingered there for an instant too long before slowly shifting to look at Sasuke once more.
"My business in the city is done," Itachi started, "so I'll be leaving, and I probably will not return." He paused briefly, taking a moment to absorb the sight of Sasuke's trembling, tense, body, and his coal eyes which seemed perpetually widened due to shock. "I'm sure that you remember what I told you the last time we saw each other. Evidently, you did not listen to my advice. Regardless, I've decided not to follow through. There is no more value in killing you now than there was ten years ago. Foolish little brother, you are that same child, still trying to survive through the ugliness of your wretched life."
Itachi turned to leave.
A part of Sasuke's mind which had been silenced and subdued throughout the encounter overpowered him; every nerve in his body screamed for him to lunge for Itachi; to grab his throat and strangle him until the light left his eyes; to reach for that box in his closet and put an end to ten years of torment by eliminating the source; to stain the entire room with Itachi's blood, like his brother had stained the floor of their home with the blood of their parents. Despite that, he remained rigid, fighting with all his strength not to submit to his bloodlust. The strain of his effort was evident; his fists were clenched so tightly that his short nails dug into his skin, and the veins running beneath the thin, pale skin of his arms seemed to become more prominent as his heart rate accelerated to the point that he could feel his pulse throughout his entire body. The breadth of his gaze narrowed until the image of Itachi's back as he walked out the door filled his vision. The door closed behind Itachi with a soft click, but Sasuke heard no sound, not even that of his own frantic heartbeat.
Sasuke stood in the center of the room, so tense that he looked as if he would shatter from the slightest touch. The expression on his face was that of excruciating pain, as if he was enduring hellfire, as he forced himself not to chase after Itachi. His body ached with the desire to unleash all the wrath and hatred which had built up within him over the years upon Itachi, but his feet remained firmly rooted to the ground. He tried to think of Naruto, in order to give himself a reason not to run wildly into the streets, searching for his brother, but his thoughts continued to return to Itachi. After several unbearable minutes, when the miniscule, rational part of his mind decided that enough time had passed for Itachi to have left the area, Sasuke released the hold he had placed over himself and collapsed onto the floor.
He dug one of his hands into the carpet, gripping the material tightly, like he was clinging to his life, and he clutched his face with his other hand. His raven hair spilled over his eyes as his head hung only a few inches above the ground. He gasped and panted as he struggled to breath; his body shook vehemently with fear, shock, anguish, and a hint of residual fury. Even with his hand covering one of his eyes, even though some part of him faintly recalled that he was in his dorm room, facing the floor with his eyes wide open, Sasuke was thrown back into the past, seeing the massacre of his family occur before him with stunning, stinging clarity.
(A/N): Another short chapter, I know, but I was very stubborn about having the final scene of this chapter be the final scene, and I didn't have much buffer material. The next chapter will probably be retardedly long, though. The downside is that it will not be up for a long while. I start college in about a day, and the curriculum is particularly rigorous, so I don't know when I'll have time to write. I wanted to post before I start, though, which is why I'm updating much earlier than usual.
Some notes: Ino was not present at the group gathering because she was in class at the time. I just couldn't find a good place to mention that in the story. She's present at the party, though, of course! In chapter 15, it is mentioned how Sakura's parents often take vacations, if anyone was wondering. And the book that Sasuke was reading was The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, for his English Literature class. :3
Also, I was going for the mood of a return to normalcy which is suddenly interrupted, if anyone feels as if Itachi's appearance was too random or incompatible with the rest of the chapter. :x