"He missed our algebra class, and Kakashi and Jiraiya say that he hasn't been in either of those. I'm getting worried. No one's had any contact with him for four days." Naruto groaned and slammed back against the passenger seat of Itachi's car to be flatter. It was a giant improvement over the beater he had used for years. It was somewhat comforting to be laying down. He felt his eyes start to close, but a loud noise from another car startled his eyes back open. "What if something happened? What if he decides not to come back? What if he can't come back?"
"He'll show up. I promise. He's just... Sasuke." It was all Itachi could call his brother's behavior. Naruto huffed. Itachi could sense that something was still wrong. He pulled up to a red light, the first one in a while, and looked at the blond. "What else is bugging you?"
Naruto shrugged against the seat and looked up at the top of the car. He liked that Itachi had gotten a model with a moonroof, he liked to stare out it. Itachi nudged him for an answer before he started to drive again. Naruto grunted again. Itachi let it go for the moment and just drove in quiet. Soon he parked the car and turned it off. He reclined his chair back like Naruto's and poked him on the forehead. Naruto lurched at the touch, but settled and grumbled again."I'm not supposed to tell anybody."
"Then you should tell me. You know I'm quiet unless it's something dangerous." The Uchiha had a point.
Naruto grumbled and sighed. Gaara had already discovered it, Itachi was family. He should know too. "I don't know if I should have said yes."
"About what?" Itachi shifted and sat sideways in the seat. He watched as Naruto grabbed about his neck and tugged a gold chain up and fumbled to grab the ring. He held up up to Itachi and watched as Itachi smiled, squeezing his lips in and looking away. The man wanted to be happy for his little brother, but there was a good amount of sadness that surrounded the meaning of Naruto's words. "Oh."
"We're fighting half the time. Gaara just says it's stress from college and that he'll cool down with time, but it's getting to him. All that stuff that Orochimaru did, it's changing him. He's not Sasuke anymore and I don't know if I can handle it." Naruto slammed up in his sleep and shoved the ring away. Then he looked about. They weren't in the city anymore. They were out in the country up some drive by a nice white and blue farmhouse with a barn, a knocked over silo, and a lovely painted mailbox Naruto had seen Sasuke working on. This was Itachi's new house. "Wow, you have a barn?"
"Yes, I've got to fix it up, but it's going to make an excellent garage, very spacious and I'll have room for several cars. Not that I'll ever own several cars. I think I might put in a small workshop. I like making pottery. Very soothing." Itachi explained. He took a second, gazed at his house and back at the blond. "I wish I could just tell you from experience he would calm down, but he's not on the same serum as I was. Everyone's noticed."
"He literally told me he would be fine if he died as long as Madara and Orochimaru died too." There was a sudden sob in his voice. Naruto inhaled sharply several times in an attempt not to cry. "That's like eight levels of not okay."
"There's not much we can do. He'll crush me in a fight, and there's a good chance he'll be able to take Nagato on." Itachi told him honestly. There was little he could do and to make false promises would give the boy hope where the elder Uchiha didn't see any. "I wish I could just go back to the days where punching him in the face worked."
"You guys always had a really weird brother dynamic, you know."
"Things are different when you also have to raise your brother," Itachi said pointedly. He unlocked the door and motioned to Naruto to open his but the boy had pulled out his phone. He was on his messages with Sasuke and they were all sent. "When was the last time you tried to get a hold of him?"
"A half an hour ago. I've texted him every hour on the hour since Tayuya said he marched out." Naruto brushed a little tear from his face before he shoved the phone in his pocket. "It's starting to get bad for my health. I slept maybe two hours last night and can't focus on anything."
"Then why did you offer to help?" Itachi said throwing his arms up angrily. Naruto wasn't expecting that. Suddenly Itachi was out of the car, around to his side and yanking the passenger side door open. "Into the house, you're getting a nap."
"I don't think I can sleep." Naruto admitted as he got out. Itachi pushed him forward towards the house.
"That's what benadryl is for." The Uchiha punched in a lock code, opened the door and shoved Naruto into a very nice and simple living room. Itachi pointed to a plush deep blue recliner and commanded: "Sit."
"I tried to keep my dad around this week, but he said he had to go meet that Nine guy across the border for a few days." Naruto flopped. He sunk into the cushions and felt around the side. A cool plastic handle popped easily and his legs were flung up. He reclined back and looked up to the ceiling. The exposed beams were painted a fresh warm, yet light, peach color. How, he wondered, was Itachi related to Sasuke. "I'm worried we might need him to keep Sasuke in line."
"Since he's gone, we don't have to worry about that for the time being," Itachi assured him. He handed him a pill bottle and a glass of water. Then Itachi took to a rocking chair across the way and picked up a crossword book obviously from Jugo. Then Itachi put on a pair of glasses. Naturo hadn't known Itachi had glasses. The man huffed and scribbled answers down. "I'm just concerned I'll get a 'I'm in France' call at two am with 'I lost my credit cards' and a huge headache."
"I'd prefer that over cops showing up at the doorstep any day." Naruto took two pills, swallowed and leaned back. The view out the front window was fantastic. A large tree off the porach cast a good shadow, but beyond that was a lovely amount of lawn with bushes and ornamental grass. Then Naruto saw someone pick some of the grass and start weaving it together. Like he had called out the figure looked up and met eyes with Naruto. He lowered a hood to show long violent orange hair with black marks across the face. He waved. "There's someone outside."
"Stay here." Itachi put his book down and pulled out a gun from the side table. The Uchiha took to one side of the door and peered out. No one. He huffed and looked towards Naruto. "I thought I saw someone in the woods earlier, and it is hunting season. You get some rest, I'll call over Nagato."
Nagato sat on the porch swing next to Itachi and kept an eager eye to the forest. There was so much cover in the area the house could be under constant surveillance. It was so peaceful. This was the type of environment he wished he could provide for his child someday. "Who else would have done it? You've been here, I've been at the warehouse with Orochimaru and Kabuto. Minato's in Mexico, which is a fantastic fucking thought to have right now. I can't compete with a highway wrecker."
"He simply would not destroy five miles of a highway," Itachi said defensivly. He tried to keep the anger out of his voice because, whether he liked it or not, Sasuke was an option. He hoped in his heart that his mind was right and his brother was not a danger. "It's public property, and he hates that type of thing."
Nagato sighed and relaxed back, the white wicker swing going back suddenly. "So, there's another one of us?"
Itachi looked up at him with two dull red eyes. That was how it worked. If it wasn't anyone they knew, it must be someone they didn't. "Now I'd like to go back to blaming it on Sasuke."
Nagato pulled his phone out. There were a few moments of silence between them where the noises of the country filled in. The leaps whipped, the grass rubbed stalks, and several birds called loudly. A moment of reprieve. Nagato thrusted his phone at the Uchiha. A clip of a man in black. He put a hand under the road like going through butter and lifted it up. The cars flew and the black asphalt acted as a ribbon that responded to a quick shake. "Witnesses say it was done in an instant too. After seeing that I believe it."
"What about this Nine?" Itachi wondered if perhaps Minato had upset him. After all, Minato was upsetting to him.
"I don't know his powers. They are said to be the top. He could do it I think, but Minato would have stopped him." Nagato blew the idea off. Itachi still thought it was possible. "I'm thinking about One through Eight."
"There are eight others?" Itachi closed his jaw and sat back. No. This was too much. "I just... Hey."
The screen door opened and Naruto stumbled out still drowsy from the medication. He held up his phone and barely conscious slurred: "Someone tore up the highway."
"Don't worry, Sasuke wouldn't have done this," Itachi promised.
"I know he wouldn't. He complains about potholes enough driving a 'vette." Naruto grumbled. He gave a slight nod to Nagato and walked back inside to the chair.
A few more moments of silence and Nagato stood up. He sighed, took one more good look about the homestead, and turned to Itachi. It was clear the man was troubled deeply. "If it makes you feel any better, Orochimaru is freaking out like I have never seen before."
"It might be a good idea for you to go for safety somewhere." Orochimaru said in a pleading tone. He wasn't smiling as he usually was, instead, he wore concern on his face. Then wine. It was a nice red wine that he was sure was going to stain.
"Get out of my house." Tsunade commanded. She lowered the glass down to refill it. The woman normally wouldn't waste good wine on something like this, but he wasn't listening to the forty other times she had told him to leave in the last five minutes. "Just because some freak ripped up the freeway doesn't mean I'm going to drop everything and do what you tell me."
"Can't we be civil? I'm just trying to get you to go somewhere safe. Like Connecticut, nothing ever happens there." Orochimaru tired again. He grabbed some paper towels off the kitchen counter and dabbed gently. It was going to stain. That was not something he needed right now.
"I've survived hurricanes, tornados, house fires, earthquakes, being shot and being married to you. I think I'll do fine."
"Tsunade?" He pleaded again. There was a slight pout to his lips as she walked out of the kitchen, through the dining room and out onto her porach to chug the wine. "Tsu, please."
"Go away." The voice that came out of the woman was a deep grumble of final warning.
"Fine, suit yourself." Orochimaru took three steps off the porch and turned around to see her angry gaze. "It's not like I'm trying to help or anything!"
"Oh my God, I can't believe you won't go away." Tsunade screamed at him and threw more of the wine. Orochimaru exhaled sharply through the nose and vanished. There was a sip left and she took it. As she did a convoy of three police cars rolled in silent but with lights. "Of course he leaves right when the cops get here." Tsunade stood up and pointed and shouted at them. "He went that way!"
Sasuke stood in the phone store and watched the man behind the counter, who stared at the sandwich bag on the counter. It was ninety-percent of Sasuke's phone. At least he hoped. A good half was intact and he had gotten all the bits he could find.
The employee of the shop opened the bag and carefully dumped the contents into a white bin and picked it over. "So, wait, what happened?"
"I was talking at an outdoor cafe and some guy accidentally knocked it out of my hands and it was run over by a semi." Sasuke sighed and watched the man's face twitch. Sasuke couldn't tell if the sales clerk knew he was lying. He, in fact, slung it against a building so hard the bricks underneath chipped on impact. "Is the sim card recoverable?"
"Let me see." Carefully the employee took the bits and searched. A moment later the largest part of the phone fell apart and the man pulled the sim out. He looked it over and nodded with a grin. "Oh! You got extremely lucky, it looks intact. Now, let's see if you're in warranty."
"I don't think I am anymore. I just need a new phone stat. My fiance is probably having a panic attack over it." Sasuke huffed. Naruto was probably livid.
"Well, let's get her calmed down then." Her. Naruto would laugh at that. He had joked about getting them matching kilts for ease of access, and when he did Sasuke had joked back that Naruto would make a pretty girl. The Uchiha sighed. Gone a week. No contact because he busted his phone in anger. Maybe a gift? No, Naruto hated most of his gifts. 'I want you to stop wasting your money on me. I live in a dorm!' A small, cheap one. "This is an older sim card, we can transfer to a newer one with a newer phone."
"Do it." Sasuke said and pulled out his black card and dropped it on the counter. The employee told him not quite yet with a laugh and joke about how he 'must be in trouble with her.' "We had a fight before I left."
"Bummer." The employee said grabbing a thousand dollar phone from under the locked counter.
'Yes,' Sasuke thought. 'Bummer indeed.'
Another employee walked up and nudged the one helping Sasuke. He laid down a tablet and pointed. "An entire highway was torn up in California an hour ago. They say some guy in black did it."
"With what, a bulldozer?" The employee asked. He took out the phone and hooked it to a computer. As that booted he put the sim into a reader and pulled up Sasuke's information. Under his information was plans. And there was all of the original Black Bird. Him covering everyone, Suigetsu, Karin, and Jugo. Naruto refused to let him pay for his phone.
"No his bare hands." The second employee insisted. He pulled up a video. "Check this out."
Sasuke watched the video from upside down and saw the sign that was the exit for his college. Then he watched everything in the video go to shit. He couldn't even do that. Who the fuck was this man and why was he so close to everything. He blinked a few times. Naruto was there. "That's right by my college."
"No crap? I think there's a super villain by you or something." The extra employee half jested.
"You do want the latest model, correct?" The original man asked. Sasuke nodded. His eye never left the tablet. "And would you like the extended-"
"All the bells and whistles. Put it on my card." Sasuke insisted. He then spun around the tablet and watched as some woman was talking in front of it with a microphone in the evening time. It was a live newscast. "How do you turn it up?"
Naruto raised his arm and caught the hackysack. He lounged on his bed, legs bent and crossed, the window let in a cool autumn breeze. He tossed it back over without looking. Gaara laid the opposite direction, but caught it nonetheless. He spun it in his hands still in a daze from his medication and sighed as he threw it back over. "Sasori wants me to move back home."
"We set his neighbor's cat on fire. I'm sure they don't want you back home." The ball landed to Naruto's right. He didn't even try to catch it. A new issue had occurred. Someone was trying to remove his roommate, the only true confiant he could trust.
"He seems to think I'd be safer there, but it won't help." Gaara insisted. At that Naruto nodded and picked up the ball. It flew over and Gaara caught it. "Safety is an illusion."
"I mean, he's only ever there at night and the guys who beat you up know where his house is." Naruto pointed out. Gaara raised the ball again and waggled it. Naruto shook his head and Gaara tossed the ball into their dirty laundry corner. "Honestly, you're safer here. I mean, my dad found you like five minutes after the fact. There, you would have been S.O.L."
"That's true." Gaara looked over and made eye contact with Naruto. They stared at each other for what seemed like a long few seconds. "I've been feeling off lately. Not myself."
"You're down to a few cups of coffee a day, it's probably that. Plus, you've been sleeping at night now." Naruto tried to explain it away. Then he stopped. Kankuro had a long talk with him a year ago. He might have just written off a serious ask for help from Gaara. Before he could open his mouth the red head nodded.
"I know, it's weird." He laughed and bit and rolled on his side in some weird excitement. "I made it to the cafeteria before they stopped serving breakfast today. First time. It was packed. I was not expecting it. Very strange."
"It's called normal to eat breakfast, you're weird." Naruto teased. He saw Gaara's face drop slightly. "I didn't mean it like that."
"I could tell. It's not even that I wasn't aware of my astounding absurdities. I was participating. It was a community event. I was welcomed. I wasn't out of place. There were morning rituals. I'm so used to observing-" Gaara's sudden commentary on cafeteria breakfast faded as there was a knock on the door. He huffed in agitation and called. "Come in."
The door opened and in walked Temari, ugly pastel blue leggins with yellow flowers, a red flannel shirt, and flip flops. "How's my laundry day look?" She asked striking a pose. Both boys snickered as she smiled and looked to her brother. "Ready to go Gaara?"
"Yea." Lying down and rolling over were simple things. Gaara sitting up was a struggle. He pushed himself up in pain and got onto a knee. He moved a little wrong and gasped.
"You poor pathetic thing," Temari sighed. "It's like watching a baby."
"Quiet Temari," Gaara barked. He got up with great effort and waved to Naruto. "See you later. I have to go have a doctor shove their hands in my bad spot and ask me if it hurts."
With that Gaara and Temari left the room. The door closed and Naruto was alone. It was early enough for a nap so he closed the window and curtain and covered himself in a thin blanket. About twenty minutes later the door opened. Naruto didn't even flinch. "What'd you forget?"
"I'm not Gaara." Sasuke's deep voice interrupted the silence, followed by the door closing. The Uchiha walked to the window and tugged back the curtain some.
"Then knock," Naruto growled. He sat up and watched Sasuke take a seat next to him with a plastic bag in his lap and a smoothie in one hand. 'How like him to just show up.'
"So that's where we're at now?" Sasuke's kept his voice soft, but firm. He pulled a little paper bag out of the plastic bag and handed it to Naruto, then one for himself. Naruto opened it and revealed a plastic container of chinese food. "I'm sorry I took off. I messed up, all right?"
"Then stop taking off." Naruto sighed. He opened the container and watched as somehow a fork had already ended up in it. Sasuke had a bit in his mouth even though Naruto didn't see him open his food. He was getting faster. "Where'd you even go? Besides the chinese place, I mean."
"I was upset so I ran and ended up in Arizona," Sasuke explained. He took another bite and left a streak of brown sauce down his chin. Naruto on habit took his thumb, wiped it and ate it. Sasuke smiled.
"On foot?"
"I'm surprisingly fast?" Sasuke giggled at that and then saw Naruto's expression was still grumpy. "I spent a couple days in Tuscan and came home when I heard about the highways."
"Wow." It was bland. Not even playful or angry sarcastic. Naruto didn't care.
"You're still upset at me?"
"Unbelievably. You came back for the highway repair and not for me." Naruto put his food down, something Sasuke rarely saw, and placed his hand on his chest. "I'm your fiance, Sasuke. You didn't come back for me. You came back because there's someone else to fight." Sasuke shook his head. "I know you. Admit it."
"Don't put words in my mouth," Sasuke ordered as he stuck a finger in Naruto's face. Naruto stared and slowly Sasuke backed off and sighed. "I came to talk with you, can you not act like a dick for five minutes?"
"Fine." Naruto went back to his food and ate small amounts slowly. "What's up?"
"How do you feel about leaving?"
"Leaving?"
"Let's you and me leave."
"That's just taking off again!" Naruto shouted. The chinese in his hand bounced, but Sasuke covered it and stopped the spilling. The blond sighed and shook his head as he apologized for raising his voice. "I have somewhat of a job, and college and friends and family. I'm not going to ditch everything."
"All that's here is stress. If we go somewhere, we don't have to worry about those douchebags. I don't have to see anyone else die or get hurt." Sasuke sat back, and watched Naruto. "Don't you think a little separation from this would be good?"
"Just because you don't see it, doesn't mean they're not still going to die." Naruto closed his food and set it to the side. He had lost his appetite. "They're not after you anymore, they're after my dad. And I'm going to stay by his side and make sure everything's okay."
"What about my side?"
"That's selfish." Naruto shifted off the bed and threw the bag and fork away. "Those were your words, not mine."
Sasuke dropped his head into his hands and took a minute before looking up, some tears had swelled into his eyes. "We're not this broken, are we?"
"I think we are." Naruto sniffled and wiped his eye with a finger quickly. He took Sasuke's empty food container and tossed it all out.
"How do we fix this?" Sasuke pleaded.
"I don't know." Naruto sat down and leaned into Sasuke, he shoved his face into the nap of the Uchiha's warm neck. Sasuke gripped him tightly and cried. They stayed with each other for a moment before Naruto yawned. "Nap?"
"Please. I want to hold you."
