Temari had always been a distrustful individual. It was how she grew up–a house full of tension, forever waiting for the calm to stop and the storm to begin. More often than not, the storm did begin and she was left with no support coupled with the responsibility of looking after her siblings as the eldest of them.

But she could never really protect Gaara like she thought she should've. Afterall, her brother was always the cause of conflict. She'd seen the blood that stained his tunic when he was just a 5 year old child and something had shifted within her that night. Something had tainted her love for him.

Their relationship moving forward was incredibly strained and it had even escalated to blows a couple times. Kankuro was the only person keeping her sane and afloat as her familial life went to hell. But he was just as troubled as she was and they could only hope for some miracle to give them their brother back; their baby brother with chubby cheeks and innocent eyes, the brother who had 'love' carved on his forehead and his heart. Gaara hadn't always been the monster they'd come to look at him as. He'd been a shy kid with a crooked smile who liked to make sand castles and throw the grains in Temari's hair.

Something had happened to him. Slowly and gradually and Gaara's sanity was ripped away from him right before Temari's eyes and she could only stand and watch in horror.

Now though, now Temari had this hope which was turning more solid from fragile. Gaara had changed. He truly had. Or maybe he was just returning to his true self. Whatever had happened between him and that Uzumaki she didn't know. But she was grateful for it.

So when that evening his brother walked into their home, looked at both of them and smiled–a real fucking smile–Temari knew that even though they had a lot to work on, they'd be okay. They'd be fine. Then her little brother went to his room and maybe after a whole decade of insomnia, went to sleep. He looked so damn peaceful that Temari and Kankuro just stood outside the threshold of his room and stared at Gaara's sleeping form with an overwhelming amount of fondness.

Yes, Temari decided, they'd be perfectly fine now.

"Get a shovel," Sakura hissed at Ino, "the moment I find that bastard–I'm burying him alive."

The blonde's lips twitched upwards but she blocked Sakura from going any further.

"Calm down," she said in the best soothing tone she knew. "You've already done two rounds of Konoha. This isn't helping."

Sakura threw her a sour look and stubbornly refused to back down. In return, Ino gripped Sakura's arms so she couldn't jump away and begin her frantic search anew.

"You're being ridiculous," Ino chided. "Besides, Sasuke isn't some toddler who got lost. He's a grown ass teenager who has months of experience at being a competent shinobi. Let him be responsible for his own health, will you? Didn't he tell you to trust him?"

"He did," Sakura groaned, as she pulled her arms away from her friend's loosening grip, "but it's difficult okay? I don't want him to do something that he'll regret."

Ino pondered over Sakura's words for a bit before deciding that this was all utterly stupid.

"This is so annoying," she glared at Sakura. "You won't stop worrying about Sasuke and that idiot won't stop being elusive. Ah! Fine! Come on - let's go all around Konoha once again."

Sakura relaxed at that and gave a small smile to Ino, aware that the blonde wasn't usually as easy to convince. Yet Ino was willing to just be there for Sakura while she figured out how she could be there for someone else that she held dear to herself.

"Park first?" she questioned and took to the roofs at Ino's affirmative response.

Sasuke better be alright or Sakura was sure that she'd end up murdering someone.

Shikamaru was extremely pissed.
Really, the Nara was positively livid but his exhaustion and laziness prevented him from expressing his rage in an appropriately grand manner.
Instead, he glared silently at the trees surrounding Konoha and sulked.

"Sorry," Naruto said, exasperated. "But you really should've expected the journey back to be long."

"I had," Shikamaru said dryly, "but I hadn't taken into account your insane urge to make a straight run for Konoha. For fuck's sake, why couldn't we have taken a break?"

"I don't know," Naruto mumbled, "Just didn't think it was a good idea for Itachi and Kisame to be sentenced without our verbal accounts of the events, y'know?"

Shikamaru sighed, "We weren't the only reliable witnesses there. Besides, if our testimonies were that important, the Hokage would just delay the judgement. You don't need to worry about those rogue nins at all."

Naruto shrugged, that strange feeling in his gut that had been there the whole of yesterday returning back.

"It's not Itachi and Kisame that I'm worried about."

Shikamaru let the matter drop, recognizing that Naruto was in one of his paranoid moods and nothing could deter the blond from doing what he wanted right now. Best to go along with him and see where that lands him.

"Fine, but you're still playing that promised shougi match with me."

At that, a tiny smile broke out on Naruto's face that made Shikamaru strangely happy,

"Absolutely."

It was almost sunset by the time the duo of chunin returned to Konoha and immediately Shikamaru's eyes fall on Ino whose face looked red with strain and she was panting heavily while huffing with her hands on her knees.

He raised an eyebrow at Sakura who was standing beside his ex-teammate with an equally exhausted look. Well, he could totally relate with that at the moment.

Sakura caught his eye and then Naruto's, after which she was before them in an instant, hands waving wide and words coming out faster than the two boys could comprehend it.

"Relax," Naruto immediately took control of the situation, one hand tapping lightly on Sakura's shoulder. "Calm down, alright Sakura? We're here, we'll listen. Just try to control your breathing."

Sakura understood that she had to steady herself so she closed her eyes and let the feeling of calmness engulf her while she felt the added warmth of Ino's palm on her other shoulder.

"Okay," she took in a shaky breath, "Fine. Okay. Awesome. I'm fine, now. Thanks guys. I'm fine."

Naruto nodded and pulled his hand away though a frown was evident on his face.

"So," he looked at the two girls, "Mind explaining what this is all about?"

"Sasuke," Sakura replied, chewing the inside of her cheek–her nervous tic, "We can't find him."

"Elaborate, will you?" Shikamaru jumped into the conversation.

"He was called for a private meeting with the Hokage yesterday afternoon. I wanted to go with him but he was stubborn to go alone and I let him," Sakura sighed, wiping her sweaty palms on the battle dress she wore.

"He didn't return last night–er... he had slept at my place the night we returned from the mission and he'd promised to come back and gather his belongings. So, I immediately knew something was wrong when he didn't come. I started searching, right? I didn't find him so I thought okay, he's probably gone to his apartment instead and will come back tomorrow or something. He didn't. So I went straight to Ino and we've been searching the whole of Konoha for him. Like we've been to all the possible places Sasuke could be at at least twice now and we still can't locate him!"

"Oh," Naruto blinked after the Sakura's frantic tirade was over, "Any idea what the Hokage had called him in for?"

Sakura frowned, thinking about the possibilities.

"Perhaps something about Itachi?" Sakura looked at Shikamaru, "I mean there's nothing else that could require the Hokage to have a personal chat with him, right?"

The Nara hummed in thought, "Yes, that's the most likely reason. But I doubt it was about the mission of Itachi's sentence. The Hokage, even at his discretion, wouldn't consult or involve a chunin in the judgement-making process. Atleast not for a case as high profiled as Itachi's. It doesn't matter that Sasuke is Itachi's brother. It has to be something else we don't know of."

"Oh," Naruto said again, as if he wasn't really paying attention to what was being said around him, "Oh fuck."

"Naruto," Shikamaru said, touching the dazed blond's arm, "What happened? Did you realise something?"

Naruto shook his head, having come out of his thoughts. He smiled at them, a wavering sort of smile but confident nonetheless.

"Nah," he waved a dismissive hand. "Don't worry about it. Sasuke will be fine."

"How do you know that?" Ino asked, dubious and doubtful.

Naruto shrugged before moving away from the huddle they'd found themselves in,

"I just do."

"Where are you going?" Shikamaru asked as he saw Naruto making his way into the village proper.

"Got an urgent errand to run!" He lied and the other realised it immediately but they also knew Naruto was aware of it, "Like I said though, don't worry about Sasuke! He'll be alright."

With that, Naruto was gone, mixed in with the citizens of Konoha that crowded the Konohan market.

"I guess that's that," Shikamaru said.

Sakura groaned, "He didn't even tell us anything! How am I supposed to just take his word and accept it?"

The Nara yawned, and rolled his shoulders to get the lethargy out of them.

"He was your teammate, wasn't he?"

Sakura nodded, unsure of where Shikamaru was going with this.

"Right. So you should know that simply trusting Naruto is the best thing you can do sometimes."

"And this is one of those times?"

Shikamaru smile was a lazy stretch of his lips,

"Definitely."

The river flowed calmly, a stark contrast to the raging stream of Sasuke's thoughts. He dangled his feet beneath the edge, his toes sticking into the cool water. Years ago, he'd whined to his mother about how his small feet didn't reach the surface of the lake and even that sliver of memory only served to sadden Sasuke further.

He gazed at the sun setting below the horizon and in a distant part of his brain–the part which was still unaffected by the clusterfuck of revelations–he took note of the fact that he was incredibly hungry right now. He shrugged it off almost instantly and pushed himself further towards the edge of the bank, minute shivers running up his legs as they were exposed to the chilly air.

"Oi!" Naruto's voice was faux-casual, but Sasuke was too busy staring at the waters to notice it. "I'm back Sasu-kun! What's up?"

Sasuke didn't respond but he also didn't stop Naruto from hopping down beside him and similarly dangling his feet in the river.

Naruto nudged Sasuke with his shoulder, eyes kept purposely on the sky.

"What's up?" he asked again, softer this time.

Sasuke sighed and shook his head slightly, "Nothing for you to bother about."

"That's for me to decide," Naruto replied smoothly, "So, will you tell what happened or not?"

Ofcourse, Naruto was well aware of what had happened. There really was only one possible scenario here. He should've known Hiruzen would pull something like this honestly. Now, Naruto just hoped that the old Kage had atleast softened the blow.

But even if he knew that the truth of Itachi was now known by Sasuke, he wasn't going to admit it. He would only speak of the matter if Sasuke wanted to talk and open up about it. If the Uchiha wasn't ready to share his feelings then Naruto wasn't going to push it - well, atleast not after the initial attempts at persuasion.

"I... hate Itachi," Sasuke whispered, voice bland like it had been in the years following the massacre.

Naruto just nodded, and stayed silent while Sasuke decided whether he should spill his guts or jump into the river.

"I hate Itachi," Sasuke repeated again, "but I'm not sure what hate means to me anymore."

"Okay," Naruto said quietly, not wanting to ruin the peaceful atmosphere they'd found themselves in. "You have plenty of time to sort out your feelings. Take your time."

Sasuke gulped then, the water suddenly feeling too cold to bear. He pulled his feet up and tucked them below his thighs as he sat in a meditative pose. His hands fisted automatically and his chunin vest felt too restrictive and tight. And in that moment of discomfort, he decided that he needed an outlet for all of this.

"He didn't kill my clan to test his strength," he spoke as if he was talking to his ownself. "He killed them because he was ordered to."

And surprisingly, Naruto just believed him. The blond just believed his words without so much as a skeptical look.

"Who ordered him? The Hokage?" Naruto asked, because he wasn't really supposed to know this stuff.

Sasuke's jaw clenched and his carded his fingers roughly through his disheveled hair,

"The elders did. But the Hokage–he didn't even fucking stop them. I don't get it. How could they just..."

Naruto's arm was pressed against Sasuke's now while the blond's eyes still stayed on the dark orange of the sky. Soon, it'd be dark.

"I don't know Naruto. I don't know how to feel and that sucks because some part of me wants to go to Itachi right now and hug that stupid bastard but another part of me wants to forget him, break any and all ties with him and get rid of him altogether. Think of him as a nightmare that I've finally woken up from."

"I get it," Naruto's smile was wry and sad. "Sometimes, people hurt you and even when things get better, even when the people had good intentions, the damage is done. And it's so thorough that you can never look past it."

Sasuke slowly unwrapped his legs from underneath his butt and dipped them back into the water. He shifted closer to his confidant, the friend who was more or less keeping him sane.

"Won't ask me why was Itachi given such an order?" Sasuke questioned. "Just gonna do your annoying empathy bullshit?"

Naruto shrugged, a small grin on his face.

"Nope," his voice was cheery despite everything, "I don't need to ask those questions right now."

"Suit yourself" Sasuke replied, "Can I bitch more about Itachi then?"

Naruto looked at Sasuke, his grin widening to meet his eyes,

"Go on, I'm all ears."

Till late that night, the two boys who were brothers in all but blood sat by the riverside where once they'd denied their bond of friendship. They sat, one talked and one listened. And even if things got a little emotional–then crazy–then emotional again, none of them would mention it the next morning.

Sasuke felt himself relaxing bit by bit as he ranted in a small, frustrated voice about Itachi and the Hokage and that guy–Danzo–to Naruto. His thoughts entangled themselves even as he spilled out a jumble of almost indecipherable words. Talking about his feelings was hard–he knew that. But by the time the moon was hanging high in the sky, he also knew that there was some significant wisdom behind the whole "let it all out" thing.

It was a little past midnight when a yawn escaped Naruto's lips and Sasuke's droopy eyes drooped even further.

"I think we should get going," the blond said, eyeing Sasuke's uncharacteristically lax posture with amusement. The Uchiha rarely ever untensed and seeing him so calm and relaxed sent a wave of fondness within Naruto.

"Yeah," Sasuke muttered, as he stood up with Naruto. "I'm so damn tired."

"You didn't sleep last night, did you?"

"No," Sasuke said, walking towards the road. "For some reason, I thought it would be a wonderful idea to go to my clan's compound yesterday. Turns out, I've still got some trauma left from the massacre. Who knew?"

Naruto smiled, it was good to see some humor back in his friend, nevermind the morbidness of it all.

"Dumbass," Naruto mumbled before stopping and frowning at Sasuke's back.

"Hey Sasuke," Naruto called out and the Uchiha halted to look at him, "You know that even if Itachi asks for forgiveness you don't have to forgive him, right?"

Sasuke held Naruto's gaze for an intense moment or two before snorting,

"Yes, I do," he turned his head again and continued walking. "Now come on before I fucking faint on the middle of the street!"

Naruto was perfectly happy to fall in step beside Sasuke–just like countless times before.

Author's Note:

Thanks for reading. :)