Chapter 17

"Do you have color in here other than orange?!"

Naruto looked at his friend before turning to her husband in confusion. It had been nearly a week since the end of his seclusion, thought he was still not on duty. When he had opened the door not even ten minutes earlier after an insistent pounding, the last thing he expected to find was Sakura and Lee on the other side, or Sakura running into his room and started throwing clothes around.

"What is she on about?" he asked Lee sitting on his bed with a huge grin.

"We have been invited to a party," said Lee with excitement. He wore a green shirt and blue jeans and Naruto was glad that he had gotten out of his spandex phase during the middle of college.

It surprised the hell out of Naruto when Sakura had started dating Lee. Sakura had been hung over Sasuke since they were twelve when she first saw him at one of Naruto's soccer games. Lee had also been a player and had a crush on Sakura the whole time. It had been love at first sight for the green loving teenager.

Naruto could remember the day when Lee finally got the nerve to proffess his love to Sakura, and the heartbreak when Sakura turned him down.

"You wear too much green, you look like you have caterpillars above your eyes, your hair looks like a salad bowl and you spout words like 'spring' and 'youth' every five seconds. There is no way I'd date you."

That was the most heartbreaking moment Naruto had ever seen. Lee had been devistated for a week until Sai declared they would give him a make-over. They took Lee to Amane, an old friend of the group that owned a beauty salon, and did a complete make-over of Lee. She cut his hair, waxed his eyebrows and gave him some fashion advice.

It had taken a few weeks, but Sakura had warmed up to Lee and after six months, they started dating. Lee had toned down on the hippy quotes and they now were happily married for five years.

"A party?" he asked. "Is Kiba holding another party? He had one two weeks ago."

"Not Kiba, though he'll be there," said Sakura. "Sasuke!"

"Sasuke?"

"Uchiha-kun had asked Neji-kun to send out invitations for his welcome home party," said Lee. "Since they had mostly the same friends, Neji-kun made the list, and we were on it!"

"Including me?!" said Naruto in shock.

"Why not?" asked Sakura. "You guys were friends in school."

"We were on each other's rival teams. I highly doubt that made us friends."

"Well, you got an invite. Didn't you check your email?"

Sakura and Lee knew the answer just as much as Naruto did. Walking to his phone, Naruto pulled up his email and strolled down until he came to Neji's.

Uchiha Manor. 7:00 pm Saturday NH

"I knew you wouldn't have read your email recently, so I stopped by to get you ready," said Sakura.

"You know I hate reading my emails," said Naruto setting his phone down.

"Aha!"

Sakura pulled out a black button down shirt that Naruto had stashed in the back of his closet. Seeing it for the first time in ten years felt like a closed fist around Naruto's throat. It was th

"Not that shirt," he said harshly.

"Why not?" asked Sakura. "It's nice and definitely not orange."

"Not that one!"

Naruto grabbed the shirt and shoved it back into the closet. He sighed and turned to Sakura.

"I'm sorry," he said. "It's just...that's the shirt I wore to Mom's funeral. I swore I wouldn't wear it again."

Sakura's mouth gaped open in shock and a bit of pity. It had only been after his mother's death that Sakura and Naruto had became really close. Before, she only saw him as a loud mouth first string striker on the field. After the funeral, she started hanging out with him and they grew into a close friendship. He felt himself lucky to have Sakura as a friend.

"Right, putting this back," she said hanging the sweater in the exact same spot she had found it. "Now, the other side."

She started running through the other side of the closet. After a minute, she pulls out a navy blue shirt.

"How about this one?" She noticed the price tag still attatched and gave him an inquisitive look.

Naruto shrugs.

"It was on sale," he said.

"No kidding," said Sakura looking at the tag, "but it's all you got that's not orange, so on it goes."

She tossed the shirt and Naruto and walked out. Lee followed to allow Naruto some privacy to dress. Sighing, he turns to Kyuubi lying on his bed.

"I can never win with her."

Kyuubi huffed an agreement. A half hour and a quick shower later, Naruto was ready to go. He rode with Lee and Sakura to the Uchiha manor where the party was taking place.

Driving up to the manor, Naruto was shocked by the vastness of it. It was a Victorian manor with a cirlular driveway leading up to the front door and valet waiting for them. The entire yard from the edge of the sidewalk was fenced in and a gate closed the driveway. Hedge rows lined the fence and a small flower garden was in the grassy middle of the driveway. It was very pictureque.

Naruto was ashamed to say in all the years that Naruto tried to help find Sasuke, he had never came to the Uchiha manor. He met Itachi by coincidence at the precinct and they had started talking. He promised to keep an eye out for Sasuke at the pricinct and they spoke every once in a while.

Looking up at the manor now, he was amazed by what a decent guy Itachi had became. It was massive. Naruto could easily fit his house in it four times.

Lee pulled to the front entrance and they got out as a valet stepped forward to take the keys and gave Lee a ticket with a number on it.

"Wow, they got all out," said Sakura.

"This is crazy," said Naruto in awe. He noticed the security guards walking around the perimeter. "How do we get in?"

"We have invites, so it should be easy."

As they walked up the steps, they noticed the door was opened and a shrill voice came through.

"What do you mean I'm not on the list?! I'm one of his oldest friends."

"I'm sorry, but you're not on the list."

The three friends reached the top and saw Itachi's cousin, Shisui, standing in front of the entrance with a clipboard and pen. Standing in front of him in a low cut summer dress was Karin.

"Check again, or even better, call Sasuke," she said. "He'll tell you to allow me in."

"Sasuke and Itachi made the list themselves," said Shisui. "If they wanted you on the list, you would be." He spotted the friends and smiled. "Hey, Naruto."

"Hey, Shisui."

Shisui was the one that ran the tip hotline when Sasuke was missing. Both had met whenever Naruto visited to check any viable tips to see if they were real.

Karin turned toward them and smirked when she saw them.

"What are you doing here," she said. "This is invite only."

"We know," said Sakura, containing her irritation. "And we have them."

"There's no way in hell do you have invites," she said in shock.

"Actually, they do," said Shisui motioning to the security guards. "Please escort the lady off the premise."

"What?" screeched Karin as two security guards came and took her by her arms. "You can't do this to me? Do you know who I am?!"

"No one cares," said Shisui dismissively before turning to the group with a smile. "Have fun."

"Thanks, Shisui," said Naruto.

They walked in and Naruto was surprised by how small the group was. Almost everyone he knew since high school. There was even Gaara, who Naruto had met in the academy. When they graduated, Gaara was sent to another precinct, but they still managed to get together every know and then for drinks.

"Hey, Gaara, long time no see!" he called. The redhead turned to him and nodded a greeting. "So, where's the guest of honor?"

XXXXXX

Upstairs in his room, Sasuke was fighting off a panic attack. The thought of meeting Naruto again made him remember the last time he had seen Naruto. He could hear the gunshot and see Kin in front of him. He shook his hands, trying to get rid of the clammy feeling.

He had heard people say that getting shot was a burning sensation, but it wasn't. More like getting punched in the chest by a wrecking ball. He couldn't breath and felt like he was underwater. He tried to remember how to overcome a panic attack. Deep breathing. He needed the carbon dioxide he was losing from hyperventilation. He needed to ground himself, but all he could think about was Kin and that gun. The look on her face as she was about to pull the trigger. There had been no regret in her eyes. She wouldn't have minded killing a person she had known for years.

Sasule barely made it to his bathroom and threw up in the toilet bowl. He felt hands grab his arms and he attempted to fight them off until a gentle voice cooed in his ear.

"It's okay, Sasuke. It's okay. Breathe. Breathe."

Sasuke obeyed the voice, taking a deep breathe and slowly exhaling.

"Now, repeat after me. One, two, three, seven, nine, eleven, six."

Sasuke attempted to obey, but his breath kept catching.

"One, two,thr..." His voice caught and his stomach clenched. He groaned, resting his head against the cool porcelain until a cool clothe replaced it.

"Take your time. Seven, eight, nine, twelve, six, one."

Sasuke's second attempt was more successful than the last.

"Seven, eight nine, twelve, six, one."

Sasuke took several more breathes and looked up to see his brother kneeling on the bathroom floor next to him. Itachi's face had a mixture of worry and relief. He was the voice that broke through Sasuke's panic attack.

"Thanks," he said.

"How long have you had these panic attacks?" asked Itachi wetting another wash clothe and handing it to Sasuke. Sasuke used it to wipe his mouth.

"This was actually the first time," he said. "Shocked the hell out of me. I'm fine now."

"So you want to cancel..."

"No, I'm fine," snapped Sasuke which he instantly regretted. "I'm sorry. I just want to get my life back."

"Do you want to see someone about it?"

Sasuke instantly blanched. The thought about talking to someone, revealing his ten years as a dog, working with the police and getting shot by a dirty cop. As much as he wanted to tell someone, he doubted anyone would believe him. Ninety-nine point nine percent of the world believed that magic didn't exist. The one percent were mostly children or psychics that got to haunted house to haunted house freeing spirits from their tortured existence.

Sasuke shook his head.

"No. If I told anyone, even you, what really happened, you'd sent me away for the rest of my life."

"I would not," said Itachi, agast. Sasuke gives him a look and he laugh softly. "Well, only if you start seeing monsters or something. I'm not dad. I'm not keeping things a secret. Everyone knows what happened to me."

"Yeah, I know," said Sasuke.

He remembered reading Itachi coming out with his cancer a couple years before and he was proud that his brother brought it out. Fugaku had spent their entire lives making the Uchihas into this picture perfect family that would be the envy of anyone, but only the family knew how ugly the picture really was.

Sasuke just wished it was as simple with him.

Taking a deep breath, he nods.

"Let's go," he said.

Itachi helps Sasuke up and dusts his knees off. They walked out of Sasuke's room. Sasuke had been walking without a cane, but still limping a bit, for almost two days. He was more than happy to be back on his two legs again and glad that they seemed to buy the pyscological babble they speculated.

They walked to into the backyard where the party was underway and everyone stopped to watch Sasuke anxiously.

"Thanks for coming everyone," he said. "I'm sure you have lots of questions, so I'll answer the important one. When I left, I was in a bad place. It took me awhile to get my head on straight. There was some bumps along the way, some close calls, but the point is, I was lost and now I'm found. I want to get my life in order, and this is the start. I'm glad to see you all again."

He walked amongst the group and joined the party.

"Great to have you back, Sasuke," said Kiba.

"Thanks, dog-breath," said Sasuke.

Instead of being insulted, Kiba barked a laugh.

"Man, never thought I'd miss that," he said.

"I heard you and Hinata married," said Sasuke. "How is that going?"

"Great. We have a daughter and run our own animal clinic."

"I'd like to come an see it someday."

"Hey, man, that'd be great."

Sasuke walked around, greeting all of his one-time friends. Juugo and Suigetsu were absent due to them being out of the country on a research expodition. Sasuke had been shocked to learn that they had gotten together not long after graduating. He supposed it should have been inevitable, but it was still a surprise. They said that that they would come over to hang out the next chance they got to visit.

For an hour he spoke to all of his friends except for the one person he wanted to speak to the most, but was too nervous to. Every time he thought about going over to talk to Naruto, a mini-panic attack crept in and he had to excuse himself from whomever he was talking to just to settled down.

Looking over at the blonde, he saw that want on Naruto's face, but he couldn't bring himself to face him. Not yet.

TBC