DISCLAIMER…or whatever: um, yeah…if I owned Naruto, I would say screw collage and just do nothing but Naruto all day long… chuckle coughcough

WARNINGS: Language and violence…nothing too naughty...yet.

Oh…and there's some Suckura too…wide grin

NOTE: Please recall that in the last chapter, Sandaime told Obito that Sasuke had 'emotional problems'. Please keep that in mind from here on out. Just felt I needed to mention that.

SPOILERS: Not really. If you know anything about the manga then you will know that almost all things I say about the Uchiha clan in this chapter are completely fabricated. I did this to give the clan a sense of culture…and to progress the story… so don't bitch. Please. I will cry.

Enough of my idiot babbling…on with the friggin' story!

…What Would Have Happened…

Sasuke steadily forced his feet to keep their pace up the walk to his family's old home. He hadn't been here since that night, when they were killed. His whole body seemed to quiver beneath his skin. Just thinking about what he was doing was making him sick. He could feel the panic setting in. How was he able to force himself to come here? Why had he come here again? What was worth this horrible feeling? He had to find out if that man was really who he thought he was. Yes. He had to know!

He shoved down the fear and forced his trembling hand to still as reached for the front door. The nausea was really getting to him though. How the hell was he supposed to get rid of that? "Damn it! It's not like they're just gunna be lying on the floor!" He chided himself for being so childish…for not being able to get the image of his parents lying dead out of his mind. They'd been slain inside the dojo anyway. They weren't even in the house.

But they were in the house…in the beginning. Sasuke knew that…he'd seen it…they'd been beaten and then forced to crawl to the dojo. He made them wait there…for the right moment to come. Itachi knew that his younger brother would be home very soon. He waited for that moment to strike. Their bodies hit the floor just as Sasuke opened the door.

Sasuke couldn't hold the sickness in him anymore. He quickly leaned away from the door and began retching. He fell to his knees and released the contents of his stomach all over the place where a flower garden once grew. The worst part was, the getting sick…was making him feel MORE sick. He couldn't seem to control himself at all. His whole body seemed to be functioning against him. It took him a while before he was able to calm down enough to stand again. When he finally did, he quickly yanked open the door and entered his old house.

It didn't take him long to find what he'd been looking for. It would have been hard to miss. There was a certain wall in one of the hallways; it held pictures of all the different families in the clan. Sasuke approached them and examined them carefully, just like he used to do as a child. His father had told him that Uchiha were a very respected clan in Konoha. He said that the Uchiha's were all one big family…

"These are the living members of our clan, Sasuke. Get to know their faces well. These are the members of your family. Always treat them with kindness and respect, and they will do the same for you." His father's words rang clearly in his ears as he stood before that wall of memories.

"Are these really all of the Uchiha's that are alive?"

"That's right. When a member of our clan dies, we remove that photo and replace it with a new one. It is a part of how we pay respect for the living and the dead. If I were to die, this picture of us would be taken down and a new one, with just you, Itachi, and your mother would take its place. It is a process for letting go, of the soul that has let go of us. Do you understand?

Sasuke nodded. But he didn't understand. He was only six, and no one around him had ever died that he could remember. He looked up at the picture that was closest to his eyes. There was a young man in it…and a young woman…Sasuke thought she was pretty…he remembered just staring at it for a while. He'd never seen them before.

Sasuke stood before the last picture on the left, at the bottom. He had to kneel down to see it now. He remembered it because the next time he'd come to look at it back then, the man had been standing alone. He thought that that was the first time he'd really ever thought about what 'alone' meant. He studied the face in the photo. It looked like that man he'd seen today, but a lot younger, closer to his own age, but still a few years ahead of him. He didn't know what he thought about that. He knew these pictures were kept current until the massacre…and Sasuke remembered that he'd never seen that man before…could it be that he really was alive? He wasn't sure how he'd feel about that…if it were true. He had more questions in his mind than he could answer. It was getting to him. He tried not to look around. He didn't want to look at the things that would force his mind to keep remembering.

He couldn't help it when his eyes drifted up from the photo of the boy to the one of his own family. His own young face smiled back at him, and his mother and father. He shivered when his eyes met with the cold stare coming from the last person in that picture. Why did he have to be so afraid of him? He shook his head angrily and, without fully registering what he was doing, he pulled out a kunai from his pouch and jammed it into the image of his brother. The crunching sound the glass made rang in his ears. He stepped back and leaned against the opposite wall, breathing heavily. His eyes trailed around at all the faces that should be gone from the pictures. Vaguely he thought that he should take them down. There was no one left to hang from that wall, save for himself…and the other man. Itachi should be left there too, of course, but Sasuke didn't think anyone would care if he didn't want to look at him. They couldn't care. They didn't exist anymore.

Sasuke sighed heavily and rubbed his eyes. They had begun to sting. He couldn't stand it in this place anymore. He stood away from the wall he was using as a crutch, yanked out the kunai that was now buried in the image of his brother as he passed it, and made his way out of that house. He slid the kunai back into his pouch and ran as fast as he could back into the living world.

"Did you here about the stranger?"

"I heard he was the Uchiha that went missing ten years ago!"

"That's what I heard too! And I also heard that he brought back the head of another Missing Nin!"

"Yeah! Yeah! He brought it to the Hokage as a gift!"

"I heard it was so he would be allowed back into the village."

"Who told you that?"

"I know someone who was there."

"Who?"

"Well, I can't say who it was…"

"Hey! Your brother is an ANBU right?"

"Yeah…he was in

Sasuke hadn't been in town for more than a couple of minutes before he heard the villagers begin to whisper about the strange visitor that had arrived that day. He would have heard it earlier, had he not been sticking to the rooftops in search of the very man they were talking about. He was in a foul mood. It didn't help that he could feel the villager's eyes on him. Why did they always have to stare like he was some kind of freak?

"SASUKEEEE!" A girl's voice shrieked at him in that way that made his skin crawl and his blood run cold. He was about to turn and flee from the irritating girl that was so enamored with him, but he'd not been fast enough. He felt her arms snake their way around his waist and ensnare him in a death grip.

"Ugh! GET OFF!" The girl paid no attention. She snuggled her face into his back. He wished she would use that grip to strangle herself.

"Sasuke! I'm so glad I ran into you!" He was not in the mood for her idiotic prattle.

"I said, GET OFF ME! NOW!" He yanked himself away from her and spun around. She didn't even look bothered by his cold reaction. She went ahead with her babbling.

"Sasuke…since we are both here…um…I was just wondering…"

"No."

"But I didn't even ask-"

"NO! Look, I'm not in the mood for this shit right now okay? Just go away."

"What's wrong with you today Sasuke? Do you want me to cheer you up?"

"I'm tired of having this conversation with you Sakura! Leave me alone!" With that, he ran. Just like he always did.

It seemed like he could never stop running. Something just always seemed to be there to force his legs to carry him away in a hurried pace. He wished it would all just stop. He was getting tired of it. He wanted so badly to stop running. He just wanted a moment of peace. Was that too much to ask for? Why had his life been cursed in such a way that he could never rest? He was just so tired…tired of it all.

He stopped when he thought he had gotten far enough away that the girl wouldn't find him. He stood and leaned against a building to catch his breath. The smell of Ramen filled his nose. He suddenly felt a little hungry, even though he didn't really like the stuff. He was about to step around to the front of the building and go in for a bite to eat when a voice rang out and stopped him in his tracks.

"Naruto! Naruto!" The voice called out, but Naruto couldn't hear it. He was busy slurping. "Naruto! Hey bro! Did you hear?"

sluuurp "Egh?" Naruto turned from his meal and saw the little kid that was shouting at him. "Konohamaru? What?"

"A man tried to sneak into my grandpa's office today! Gramps had the whole room full of ANBU waiting for him!"

"That's nice."

"Yeah! And do you know what I heard?"

slurp "Wha's that?"

"I heard that the man gave my grandpa a severed head as a gift!"

"Oh, that's nice…HEY! I'M TRYING TO EAT HERE! I DON'T NEED TO BE HEARING ABOUT NO SEVERED HEADS!"

"BUT BRO! THEY SAID IT WAS THE HEAD OF THE UCHIHA TRAITOR!"

"Uchiha? What traitor?"

"HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW?"

"People don't really tell me things. It's not like I give a crap about any stupid Uchiha anyway!"

"The traitor who murdered their whole clan! I was little when it happened but even I still remember it!"

"The whole clan? That can't be true. There is an Uchiha in my class. He's a real bastard too."

"Yeah bro! He's the last one! I can't believe you didn't know that!"

"So?"

"Anyway, I snuck in and listened to some ANBU talking about it, and do you know what they were saying?"

"I bet you're gunna tell me."

"The man who brought the head was a Missing Nin! And he's an Uchiha too!"

"Great, now there are two bastards."

"NARUTO! IF THAT MAN BROUGHT BACK THE TRAITORS HEAD, THEN HE'S GOT TO BE ONE OF THE STONGEST PEOPLE IN THIS VILLAGE!"

Naruto paused to think. Missing Nin…He thought about the man who'd helped him earlier, about how he had his forehead protector in his pocket instead of wearing it. Severed head…He DID see that man carrying something wrapped up in a red and black cloth. Uchiha?... Black hair, black eyes, and pale skin… "Dead Last, who was that man you were just talking to?"

"HOLY SHIT! KONOHAMARU! I THINK I SAW THAT GUY!"

"REALLY BRO? YOU SAW HIM? THAT'S SO COOL! WHAT WAS HE LIKE? TELL ME! TELL ME!"

Naruto grinned and leaned down to stare his young friend in the eyes. With a slow and menacing voice he said, "He told me that he was a demon…" Konohamaru's eyes got large. Naruto inched closer and continued. "…and he beat the crap out of three really strong guys in like five seconds!"

"Whoa…" Konohamaru's mouth fell open, shocked by the coolness of the stranger…and the coolness of Naruto for being there to see it. "Hey wait. How come you were there?"

"Well…um…because I'm the great Naruto Uzumaki! I see everything!" Okay, so that was lame. He sure wasn't about to tell the kid that didn't really see it because he was too busy bleeding and hurting from the beating the three guys had just given him, but most of what he'd said was true anyway. That guy was an Uchiha huh? Wow. He never thought he'd see the day when he'd ever associate the name 'Uchiha' and the word 'cool'. Today must have been special.

Konohamaru gave his older friend an untrusting look. "I don't believe you."

"WHAT? You dare question me? Alright! Fine! You go find that guy and ask him! I bet you he'll tell you he saw me earlier!" He turned back to his meal, which was now getting cold. "Go on! What are you waiting for? I'm trying to eat!"

"Fine! I'm gunna go find that guy!" He started to run back the way came, but turned and yelled his goodbye. "See you later Naruto!"

Naruto waved over his shoulder at the kid and continued with his meal. His thoughts turned to the OTHER Uchiha he'd seen that day. He found himself wondering what HE thought about all this. Did he even know about it? His whole clan had been murdered? No wonder he was always such a bastard to people. Naruto thought he'd probably be a bastard to everyone too if he were in that position, but he would never be in that position…he didn't have a family to begin with. "What the heck am I thinking? I hate that guy!" With that, Naruto pushed those thoughts aside and decided to focus his attention on the new steaming bowl of ramen that was about be placed in front of him.

Sasuke's knees had given out on him a long time ago. He had just, kind of, slumped back against the wall and slid down it. If that building wouldn't have been there, he probably would have just fallen over and laid there. He couldn't even think. His whole body seemed to go numb, but he could still feel himself shaking. There he was, the great Uchiha prodigy, brought to his knees by no more than a few words spoken by a noisy child.

His brain had ceased to function at the part when he'd heard the words: the head of the Uchiha Traitor, but his ears kept working for some reason. He clutched at his hair with his trembling hands and beat the back of his head against the wall a few times to make sure that he was really still awake and alive. 'This can't be real. This can't be happening. This can't be real.'

Naruto, having spent his last scrap of cash on his last bowl, decided that he was full and got up to leave Ichiraku.

"I'll be back again soon old man!" He lifted the curtain that covered the entrance and stepped out into the street. There he was faced with a decision. Go home, or go out to the practice field. Had he chosen to practice, he would have taken a left and headed out of town to the training grounds. It was getting dark already, however, and he'd had an interesting day. He hadn't even washed the blood out of his hair yet. Practice could wait until tomorrow he thought. So, he took a right.

He'd just stretched his arms out and rested them behind his head when he caught a flash of something white out of the corner of his eye. He couldn't help but glance over to see what it was. Arm bands. They were white arm bands. The arms that wore them were wrapped around a head full of jet black hair. He stopped in his tracks.

'Oh shit.'

Naruto wasn't as slow on the uptake as everybody seemed to think he was. He knew that Sasuke had probably just heard every word that he and Konohamaru just said to each other. What he didn't understand, was how Sasuke was behaving. Naruto reasoned that he would maybe be happy that someone had killed the man who'd murdered his family, but to Naruto, Sasuke looked horribly sad.

'What the heck do I do? Should I just leave? Should I SAY something? What the heck should I say? He looks really messed up…' "Hey." Silence. "Hey…ugh…" Naruto approached the other boy cautiously. He didn't want to have a throwing star suddenly chucked at his head, after all. "…Sasuke?" He knelt down in front of him. 'Maybe he's sleeping?' That's almost what it looked like to Naruto. Sasuke was sitting against the wall with his knees drawn up to his chest. His head was slumped forward and his arms were wrapped around his head. Naruto had fallen asleep like that himself a few times…in class…or in detention…or…

Sasuke's arms fell away and dropped lifelessly to his sides. He lifted his head slowly and directed his eyes at the person kneeling in front of him. Naruto jumped back a little. He was freaked out by the look on Sasuke's face. He'd never seen anyone look like that before. He looked like all the life had been drained from him and he was simply waiting for death to come and take him away. His eyes just seemed to hang there, out of focus, in a dead stare.

"Hhh…hey man…you okay?" Naruto's voice was trembling and breathy. He hadn't meant for it to come out like that but it couldn't be helped.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed slightly. His lips curled at the edges in a way that made it look like he was about to smile, but he didn't. "No." Naruto almost didn't hear him. Maybe he didn't really hear him. Maybe he'd only seen the boys lips move.

"C-can I…can I do…anything…for you?" He didn't know what else to say. What else was there to say?

"…go away."

Naruto didn't have to be asked twice. He wanted to get the hell as far away from that guy as he could as soon as possible. He stumbled back and stood up. Glancing down at the other boy he felt compelled to speak again. "Look man, ugh… I didn't mean to yell at you earlier… I was… kind of… having a bad day." 'That was so stupid! Just keep your idiot mouth shut and leave before he gets up and kicks the shit of you!' He turned and started to leave but Sasuke's voice stopped him.

"…my brother…"

Naruto glanced over his shoulder. "That guy from earlier is your brother?"

"That man…murdered my brother."

Naruto was officially confused, but after he had a moment to think about it, he realized what Sasuke had just said. The stranger who helped him earlier had killed Sasuke's brother. That had to mean that Sasuke's brother…was the one who murdered his clan. "That really sucks man. I didn't know… sorry." He didn't know what else to say, so he left. He didn't see the other boy look up and watch him as he made his way down the street towards his apartment. He also didn't see as that boy got to his feet and ran out towards the edge of town, towards the training grounds. For some reason though, the words that the stranger said to him earlier kept repeating in his head.

'All Leaf Shinobi are comrades. One must never abandon his precious comrades when they are in need.'

The day after tomorrow, he was going to be a Leaf Shinobi too. So was Sasuke.

DUNDUNDUUUUUUN! To be continued in the next episode……..

"…That Day…"

Hope it wasn't a TOTAL waste of time for you….grin