The distance to the bus stop was not too long. Two sets of footsteps clacked against the wet concrete as rain pattered around them. Pale fingers reached to wrap themselves around a tan wrist. It was raining. Not pouring, but almost. Naruto slowed down a bit for Sasuke to catch up and finally hold on. Naruto had always been faster than the other kids.

Sasuke was wheezing slightly, but he managed to keep it as soundless as he could. Plus, the sound was being masked by their laughter. The sky was painted indigo with splotches of purple and magenta that were left behind by the sunset. Bright stars, ones that he would never have seen in the city, began to make way in the sky. The white lights illuminating the bus stop were closer now. If they kept it up, they'd reach it in twenty seconds, he decided.

Naruto was smiling, causing something new to bloom in Sasuke's chest. For a moment, he was scared that he had upsetted the blond earlier. But everything had ended up turning out alright, after all. They were silent now, aside from occasional pants that came out every time their shoes pressed against the ground.

They finally reached the bus, which seemed fairly older than the last one they took. They had almost missed it, but the bus driver was nice enough to lag behind his schedule. Sasuke panted and allowed himself to be led inside by Naruto, and swiped his card. They walked to the end of the vehicle, relishing in the heat and sitting in the open area.

It was fairly empty, aside from the two of them along with a couple of passengers wearing suits and the driver. They all seemed to be preoccupied with something, be it a book or tapping on their phones or laptops. Naruto let out a breath, sitting back with his smile still stretching across his face.

Sasuke sniffed and pulled out another tissue from the packet of tissues he kept with him, the one he had taken from to help wipe away Naruto's tears. Naruto stretched in his seat and yawned before taking a look at Sasuke.

"Woah, Sasuke, what happened to your face?!"

The not-so-pale anymore teen's eyes rolled upwards in amusement.

"Calm down, I have thin skin. I get red easily whenever blood rushes to my face after being in the cold."

Naruto made a noise and nodded in affirmation before sending Sasuke a vulpine grin.

"Ya know, I should keep a list of random fun facts about you. Like, who would have known that Sasuke Uchiha had thin skin?"

"Stop talking as if I'm a celebrity," Sasuke mumbled.

The blond opened his mouth before closing it. The bus ride was going to be long, so he figured they should do something productive to pass time. A lightbulb lit in his head, prompting him to dig deep into his bag and find American Assassin. The page he was on was marked by an orange-painted bookmark he had received from Ino. Apparently she was trying out art in order to impress some junior. Sasuke's head was in the other direction as he rubbed his hands together, clutching at any source of heat he could find.

Naruto chuckled and nudged Sasuke, who turned around, head tilting to the side. Sasuke's face was unimpressed as his dark eyes glanced at the book. Naruto noticed how dark they really were, with no clear boundary between the iris and the pupil.

"You're still up to that chapter?"
"I'm a slow reader," was the blond's confession.

Sasuke sighed and took the book into his own trembling hands and opened his messenger bag. For a moment, he left the book in between their laps and searched through it before pulling out his earbuds. They fell on his lap as Sasuke pulled out his phone, plugging the headphones in and swiping on the screen a couple of times. Naruto's brows drew together as Sasuke handed him the right earbud and pushed them into his own ear.

The mood was peaceful now. Naruto rested his head on his palm as he looked outside. He knew the rain was loud outside, but it was muffled behind the window. He closed his eyes and leaned back on his seat, listening to the sound of pages being flipped. Sasuke was probably turning to the page that Naruto had left off from.

The world was quiet for a moment before loud, ear splitting music began to blare inside of his ears. Naruto reeled and yanked it off, glaring at Sasuke as he shoved it towards his chest.

"Asshole!"

Sasuke would have been doubling over in laughter right now, but his Uchiha pride was not allowing him to. But then again, his Uchiha genes never seemed to work properly whenever he was around Naruto. He went with smirking and shrugging instead.
Naruto huffed and turned his face away, sticking his nose up in the other direction much like a toddler.

"Sorry, I had to wake you up," was Sasuke's excuse.

The raven tapped Naruto's shoulder and lifted the earbud in his direction. Naruto pouted before taking it. He was interested in what was going to happen in the book, anyway. This time, though, he was cautious. He held it close to his ear first, to make sure loud music still wasn't playing. When he heard softer music instead, he hesitantly pushed it in.

Soft, peaceful chords made their way into Naruto's ears. His posture immediately relaxed after he adjusted himself on his seat, scooting a little closer to Sasuke. His excuse was that he needed to see the book better, and he'd stand by that excuse until he died.

Sasuke ran pale fingers through his black hair, the colors strikingly contrasting with each other. Naruto noticed how the way the light reflected off his hair gave it a blue tinge. He figured Sasuke would be the type to listen to classical music, though he'd also expected rock, or metal, or whatever related to that. He looked angsty enough to listen to those types of stuff. An awkward poke to his shoulder snapped him out of his trance.

"Let me know when you want me to flip the page," whispered Sasuke. "Just give me a nudge or something."

Naruto nodded and pulled his hood above his head. The ride back home was going to be long, he knew it. He felt kind of tired now, the adrenaline was beginning to wear off. Embarrassment reddened his face when he realized that he had just been crying in Sasuke's arms a couple of minutes ago. Sure, the pale student didn't seem to be bothered by it, but Naruto couldn't believe it. The last time he cried in front of someone was… He couldn't remember.

So why with Sasuke? That question echoed in his head for the next forty minutes. They remained quiet, shifting once in a while for comfort. Naruto looked up at Sasuke a couple of times too, to be met with the pleasant view of Sasuke concentrating on the story. He looked tranquil, with an expression that Naruto had only seen a few times in their short time knowing each other.

The bus finally whistled, indicating that they had reached their stop.

Naruto got up and stretched, handing Sasuke the white earbud. Sasuke laughed quietly as he began to push everything inside his gray messenger bag.

"But why-y-y?!" Naruto moaned and rubbed his face. The ending wasn't enough to satisfy him, it seemed.

"Calm down. Maybe I shouldn't introduce you to the next book or you'll be freaking out even more."

"Next book? There's more?!"

"Of course there is, idiot. You really think it ended like that? Victor gets way worse in Kill Shot, by the way."

They both stood as Sasuke straightened out his black overcoat. Naruto bent up and down to get rid of the sore feeling in his rear end.

"Damn, my ass hurts."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and grabbed Naruto by the wrist, tugging it along as they walked over to the front. The bus driver gave them a pitied look and a lopsided smile, evoking a frown from Sasuke and a blink from Naruto.

"Good luck out there, kids."

They realized now that the sound of the rain pitter pattering against the window had now multiplied, and the raining from earlier had transitioned into a full blown storm. Both of their eyes widened.

"You like running, dobe?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto gave him a wild grin.

"Yeah, I do."

Sasuke smirked, getting ready to make a run for it. Naruto clearly had other plans in mind, since before Sasuke could say anything he felt larger hands below his knee and back. His mouth opened, but before he could protest he felt his body get hoisted up onto fairly strong arms. Oh God, he wasn't-

He was being carried bridal-style by Naruto.

The Uchiha blushed furiously as the blond bolted out without a warning. Rain immediately splashed onto their faces. He was able to get a clear view of the sky now, which was colored a midnight blue with less stars mottled across it. Obviously, he wasn't stupid, so he knew not to struggle against Naruto's hold. Still, he couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by how embarrassing he looked right now.

Then, Naruto began to laugh, but he wasn't laughing at him. No, he was laughing at them. And damn the blond for having a contagious laugh, because every ounce of humility and pride in Sasuke evaporated once he began to laugh as well.

How ridiculous they must have looked right now! Some blond, blue eyed freak was carrying a pale, black haired teen as they both held onto their bags. The rain flattening the hair on their heads made them look even funnier. Sasuke's stomach began to hurt from laughter, humored wheezes escaping his lungs since it had been a while since the last time he laughed.

"How do you like this rollercoaster, Sasuke?"

Time seemed to slow down for the onyx eyed boy. The question echoed in his head, again and again. Naruto… did this for him. Sasuke's heart swelled with appreciation as he became silent and searched through those blue eyes. They were raw and unfiltered. Don't do this to me, Naruto… Don't give me hope.

"I loved it. Thank you, Naruto."

Lampposts lit up the rest of the streets, but they remained that way, with Sasuke latching onto Naruto as the sunny teen tried to shield him from the rain. Naruto finally let go of Sasuke and placed him down under the awning of a cafe.

"I'm going to get us something hot. I'll also see if they have any umbrellas, okay?"

Sasuke nodded and suppressed a shiver. Naruto walked inside, leaving Sasuke to think to himself. A light blush pooled in his cheeks as he remembered Naruto's question from earlier. He still couldn't believe that Naruto had done something like that for him. He shook his head and flicked his own forehead to mimic Itachi. Kami, Sasuke, you're even sappier than mom now.

Naruto walked out a couple of minutes later, holding two hot cups in each hand and an umbrella tucked in between his arm and forearm. Sasuke noticed the umbrella first, though, and took it from Naruto to avoid any accidents.

"They had umbrellas?"

"Nah, but this nice guy noticed I was all wet and happened to have an extra he could lend me."

"Hn. That's kind of him," said Sasuke. He eyed the drinks before handing one to Sasuke, who took the smoky foam cup with both hands and sipped it.

"White tea?"

"Yeah. Do you like it? I asked for oolong, since you got it last time, but they ran out so I asked for any."

"It's good. What did you get?"

Naruto grinned, just like a toddler, and flaunted his drink with his own cold hand. "Hot chocolate."

"Ew."

"Teme! Hot chocolate is great. What isn't there to like about it?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Ugh, it's just.. Gross. Too sweet."

He closed his eyes, expecting to hear a full on tangent about his stupidity until strong arms wrapped around him instead, causing him to stiffen. He relaxed into it a second later, though, but it still caught him off guard.

"Why the sudden hug?"

Naruto shrugged around him. "It just felt right," he pulled away and smiled.

"That experience, under the bridge. It meant a lot to me. Thank you."

Sasuke looked down, unable to look at Naruto directly in the eye. What was going on with him? How could a single statement make his stomach twist and turn like this? He sucked in a breath and looked back up.

"I'll… remember this day. Thank you for spending it with me," he replied, hoping it sounded okay.

It seemed to have been the right thing to say, because he felt himself being pulled into another bear hug as Naruto opened the umbrella. They were definitely going to catch colds after this, but hey, it was worth the rollercoaster ride.

Chalk white fingers pushed furiously into Sasuke's keyboard. The purple envelope was ripped apart and discarded on his desk, but Sasuke paid it no attention. What was more important was its contents.

Most things that could only be accessible tangibly were now present online, so here Sasuke was, typing down the URL positioned on the top of the page. He couldn't believe he was doing this, but he figured it was necessary. He made a promise to himself to not get mad at Itachi for at least a week because of the rollercoaster thing, but damn was it hard.

It was hard, alright. For some reason, the older Uchiha had made it his sole mission to annoy Sasuke today. As soon as he got home, Sasuke was bombarded with taunts and irritating jabs directed towards him. When the mocking reached level three, Sasuke had stormed upstairs and locked himself into his bedroom.

Seriously, what was up with him today? The one time Sasuke actually felt respect for the long-haired Uchiha, his older brother had already begun to unknowingly take advantage of the promise he'd made to himself.

He sighed as he pressed enter, and was taken to the site he was looking for.

"The Ryuchi group," he read aloud. Dragon… what? What the hell kind of name was that?

He scrolled down and winced at the bright light that did its best to illuminate the rest of the dark room. It was some type of introduction, or description.

The Ryuchi Group is a highly-selective organization that hand picks only the brightest students through a rigorous exam…

Sasuke scrolled further down. He didn't really care about the test, he knew that Orochimaru was going to pull some strings regardless of his score. His breath caught in his throat when his eyes skimmed over one particular section. The benefits.

"Community service time, scholarships, internship options, opportunities for colleges," he breathed out, continuing to mutter them out loud.

He couldn't believe it, Orochimaru really did know how to blackmail. This was any dedicated student's wet dream. Sasuke sighed and sat back, running a hand through his hair. Did he really want to do it? Well.. he had the option of refusing, but Orochimaru did threaten him and implicitly say that bad things would happen with Itachi if he did. He sighed and pressed the down button a couple of times, stopping at Orochimaru's face.

There was nothing he really had to see from that, so his eyes flicked to another profile. A white haired man, who looked about Itachi's age, maybe younger, had the pleasure of having his picture next to Orochimaru's. His name was Kimimaro Kaguya. Sasuke wondered for a brief moment if Itachi knew him. He seemed to have no eyebrows, aside from two red dots that looked tattooed on where his eyebrows should have been and red under his eyes. There was something awfully familiar about him, but Sasuke couldn't care less at the moment.

The sucky thing was that the entire thing seemed credible. Credible enough for him to actually be tempted. Nothing bad was bound to happen, aside from seeing Orochimaru's face. Sasuke grimaced as he thought of the creeps ghastly white complexion and yellow eyes.

"Damn it, Itachi. The things I do for you.." he mumbled.

"What things?"

Sasuke jumped up in his seat and slammed his laptop shut, twisting himself around to find Itachi standing by the doorway with a key in his hand. A key! What the hell?!

"What the fuck, Itachi!"

Itachi's eyes and expression were dark, enough to bring chills down Sasuke's spine. The last time he saw Itachi like that was… well, it wasn't good. Itachi was clearly angry at him. Sasuke began to panic. Sure, little telltale signs weren't enough to actually scare someone, but this was Itachi. Nothing was ever normal with him. His eyes darted around to see what Itachi was mad about, before they rested on a familiar looking piece of paper.
"Actually, I think I already know what things you're doing," Itachi said through gritted teeth, advancing towards Sasuke and picking the envelope up with his hand. The writing on the torn-open cover was an obvious giveaway of what it was.

The younger Uchiha wasn't a dunce. His brother obviously knew about the offer since Orochimaru literally told him that Itachi had received and rejected it. But he couldn't see what was wrong with it. The benefits were actually good, and there was nothing to lose. All he had to give was his time and effort, and that was something his parents were dying to see from him.

"Do you, though? Y'know, not all teens nowadays are like you when you were younger. A lot of us watch porn," he answered boldly.

God, out of all excuses, what drove him to using porn?

He was obviously desperate. He didn't want Itachi to dictate what he could and couldn't do anymore. If he wanted to do something, he'd do it. Itachi glared at Sasuke in response, his gaze prying through his own. Sasuke desperately tried to shield his mind from any attempts to read his mind, even though he knew it wasn't real. Okay, maybe it would take some convincing, but he still would.

"You clearly don't understand what you're getting yourself into."

"Like what? Signing up to take extra science classes?" Sasuke spat.

Itachi's eyes narrowed and Sasuke stilled. "Do you think this is funny, otouto?"

"I think it's ridiculous. It's just a clu-"

"A club? Is that what he told you?"

Sasuke glared at Itachi for cutting him off.

"Do you want me to show you what kind of club activities they enjoy carrying out?"

An eye roll. He stood up, curious to see what Itachi was talking about. The website was credible, and seemed to have no flaw, so what the hell was he getting at. Itachi took this as an invitation to lead Sasuke into his room, which hadn't happened in a long time. Before they entered, Itachi ordered Sasuke to stay outside, and he disgruntledly obeyed.

The door unlocked, which meant he could finally go in. A large orange envelope was in Itachi's hand as the other one peeled it open.

"Close the door behind you."
Sasuke's heart rate escalated as he did so. What was Itachi going to show him? What was in that envelope? He hesitantly walked towards his older brother, who pulled out a couple of pictures and handed them to him face down. He took them in his hands and gulped. It was now or never, he guessed.

"Hn, probably something…" He trailed off.

His eyes made contact with the pictures. He immediately wished he didn't, because his brain decided that it couldn't take it almost a second after. Sasuke's hands began to shake as flashes of dead relatives and politicians littered across the floor flooded his mind. Itachi noticed what was happening too, and gently pried the photos out of Sasuke's hands.

"What the fuck, Itachi," he whispered, the tone of his voice contrasting too much with his tone a couple of minutes ago.

Itachi walked behind Sasuke, the pictures still in his hands. Sasuke had only looked at them for a split second, only noticing grotesque depictions of mutilated bodies. There were no faces, like his memory had told him. A hand rested on his shoulder, which he flinched away from and slapped off of him. The hand returned, squeezing his shoulder until it hurt and raising the picture up in front of him again. Sasuke panicked and looked away. His brain couldn't handle this, he knew it.

"Do you want to be the cause of this, Sasuke?"

"No! I don't…"

"Then look at it. Burn it into your memory so that every time you look at that man, you see this image instead."

"I.. I can't."

"You can, I believe in you."

Sasuke laughed humorlessly. Since when did this talk become inspirational? He suddenly felt the urge to sob, which terrified him. It'd been years since he last cried, and he wasn't about to break down in front of Itachi. No way.

"No, it's not about that," he shut his eyes. He was digging himself even deeper.

Itachi was silent, but the silence was loud, A deep voiced sound of understanding made its way out of the man. "I see," he said simply and let go of Sasuke.

Sasuke opened his eyes. "You do?"

Itachi was already at the door. "It has to do with me."

The door closed behind him, and Sasuke could do nothing except watch. A sense of dread churned in his stomach. He had no idea how Itachi could do that. It was so easy for him to bring answers out of somebody. Sasuke took a shaky breath and pulled his phone out of his pocket. It was time he contacted the Akatsuki.