Chapter 18

Sasuke smiled as he spoke with Sakura and her husband Lee. He was shocked to learn that they had gotten married and was even planning a baby. Strangely enough, he could actually see them as parents.

Lee had changed a lot since high school. Gone were the green spandex and orange leg warmers. He wore a green muscle shirt and blue jeans, and thankfully got rid of the bowl cut and caterpillar brows. He did make comments about love, youth and spring at odd moments, but not as often as when he was younger.

"Oh, Ino, Ino, come here!"

Sakura waved to Ino who was standing with Sai, Naruto and Gaara. Sasuke had a moment of irritation at the presence of the pale man, but he was apparently Ino's plus-one. The man was obviously flirting with both Naruto and Gaara and Ino seemed to not mind. At Sakura's call, she turned and smiled before grabbing Sai and dragging him over.

"Sasuke-kun! It's been such a long time," said Ino.

"It has," said Sasuke. He turned to Sai and held out his free hand. "Sasuke Uchiha."

"Sai Yamanaka," said Sai. Sasuke frowned in confusion.

"Your brother?" he asked to Ino and all four started laughing.

"No, Sasuke-kun, Sai's my husband," she said.

"But I saw him flirting with Gaara and Naruto."

"I know," said Ino. "He's a outrageous flirt, but so long as he knows who he belongs to, I don't care. No harm in some harmless flirting. As long as that's what it is, or else someone's going to be missing body parts."

Sai laughed and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"My delicate flower," he said, and grunted when Ino elbowed his stomach. The three friends laughed at his antic.

"What is it you do," asked Sasuke.

"I'm a police sketch artist," said Sai, "when I'm not painting."

Sasuke looks at him in surprise.

"You're a painter?" he said.

"I'm not famous or anything. I spent too much time trying to help my wife and her friends find killers."

"What is it that you do, Ino?" asked Sasuke.

"I'm a criminal profiler," said Ino. "I get in the heads of killers and find out why they did it and who their next victim will most likely be."

"Sounds scary."

"It can be, but I know it'll help people in the end."

Sasuke nods until he heard Naruto squeal. He turns in time to see Naruto hug Gaara. Sasuke barely knew the redhead, but Neji invited him because he was a friend of Naruto's and Sasuke wanted the blonde to feel comfortable, so Sasuke approved it. He had known both were close during school, and it looked like their friendship stayed through adulthood.

Sasuke had heard that only five percent of friendships survive after school, and only one percent develop into a romantic relationship. He knew that Gaara and Naruto weren't dating. The three months together gave him enough information to know that Naruto rarely sees Gaara, but that didn't stop the twinge in his chest at the thought of losing Naruto to another.

He felt his chest compress and his vision started to go vertigo.

"Excuse me," he said and hurried over to the juice bar.

XXXXXX

Naruto was surprised by how much fun he was having. The last person he had expected at a Uchiha party was Gaara. Especially when it's a party to welcome Sasuke. During their bouts during the games in high school, Sasuke and Gaara got into fights almost half as much as Sasuke and Naruto on the field.

Gaara had became a potter after graduating, going to an arts institute to master the art. It was where he met his wife Shijima, a painter. Naruto is invited to all of their gallery openings, although he doesn't have enough money to pay for any of it. Gaara did gift him with a traditional Japanese mini-tea set.

Because Gaara lived in Suna, two hours by train ride, both friends didn't get to see each other as much as they wished, which was why Naruto was glad to attend the openings or any event that gaara was able to get to.

"How's Shijima and the kids?" he asked as he picked up a bottle of beer from a concession table. The Uchiha's seem to have forgone waiters and only hired servers to restock food or drinks when it gets low.

"They're good," said Gaara. "They wish you would visit more."

"I wish I could, but with my job..."

Gaara nods.

"I understand." Gaara paused a she gave Naruto a sad look. "I heard about Kyuubi. I'm sorry."

Naruto smiled gratefully. Sometimes, he did forget that Kyuubi was slowly dying. The red fured golden retriever had been a part of his life for ten years. It was hard to think of going about his day without him someday.

"It's going to be hard to replace him," said Naruto.

Gaara gave him a sympathetic look that the redhead rarely had.

"No one's asking you to replace Kyuubi, or Kurogane. They know you never can."

"You should have met him, Gaara," said Naruto. "Kurogane was the smartest dog I ever had. He knew what I wanted him to do before I gave him a signal or spoke a word. It was almost like he and I were of one mind."

Gaara looks at him sadly. He didn't know what it was like to lose a partner, he could feel his friend's pain over losing Kurogane. He was sad to have not met the dog that had changed his friend's life. Naruto lived for his friends and his dogs.

"Are you going to take up a replacement?" asked Gaara.

"If I want to stay on the K-9 division, I'll have do. I doubt they would be as good as Kurogane and Kyuubi."

"You always said the dog is as good as the trainer, and I don't know anyone better than you."

"Thanks, Gaara," said Naruto gratefully, but there was still an edge of sadness in his voice. Gaara decided to try and lighten the mood.

"I was thinking about opening a crafts store. Teach others and maybe have days where customers could paint the wares."

Naruto looked at his friend in shock and and smiled widely.

"That's awesome man!" he said. "I'll have to come visit and see."

"I sure hope so. I'm thinking of setting up shop here."

Naruto jumped with a squeal and hugged his friend.

"Finally, no two hour train ride to visit!" he said. Gaara awkwardly hugged him back. He had gotten used to the touchy-feely side of Naruto, but it still left him awkward at times.

Naruto turned and watched as Sasuke moved through the crowd. He seemed to be all right one second, and pale the next. Several times he excused himself from a group to go to drink a glass of water. As a cop, Naruto could see the signs of a panic attack easily.

"Excuse me," he said and walked over to the raven haired man. Sasuke had just finished speaking with Sakura and Lee and was now selecting a glass of water from the food and drinks table.

"I would try something a little stronger."

Sasuke visibly jumped and turned to see Naruto standing behind him. He froze in his spot. He knew he would have to get around to talking to Naruto, but every time he thought about it, he got caught in a panic attack and had to excuse himself from whoever he was talking to. Now, Naruto was standing behind him and he had absolutely nothing to say.

Naruto watched as Sasuke's face went even paler than Sai's. Naruto was no EMT but he knew that wasn't a very good sign.

"Are you okay?" he asked in concern. "Here, let's sit you down."

Taking Sasuke by the arm, Naruto lead him to one of the many lawn chairs carefully set around the backyard pool and bonfire area, but also away from the party. Grabbing a bottle of water along the way, he popped the cap and handed it to Sasuke, who drank half the bottle before taking a breathe. He positioned Sasuke's head between his knees, and Sasuke took the signal to breathe slowly.

Itachi appeared after a minute and Naruto signaled him that they were all right and the older Uchiha walked off to distract the rest of the guests away from the absence of the guest of honor. After a couple more minutes, Sasuke's color was better and his shaking had stopped.

"You okay now?" asked Naruto.

Sasuke nodded.

"Sorry, I was just..."

His voice froze, unable to say the words. Surprisingly, Naruto seemed to understand.

"It's overwhelming. Being away for so long and suddenly surrounded by people you know. You want to start your life over again, but you're afraid you're not ready to. And you're too scared to admit it."

Sasuke could only nod. He was afraid. He was afraid that he was going to screw up the second chance Tsunade gave him and Naruto wouldn't want anything to do with him, and he was too scared to admit it.

"Let's talk about something else," said Naruto. "Say the first thing that comes to mind."

"How did you know what to do?" asked Sasuke.

"I've suffered from a few of them myself." Sasuke gave him a shocked look and Naruto laughed. "It's true. My first week on the job, I got into a shoot out with some robbers. For a while afterwards, I jumped at everything."

"How did you get over it?" asked Sasuke.

"I talked. I found someone I could talk to and Kyuubi helped. Dogs are very good with stuff like that. Trained right, and they can help anyone with anything." Naruto was silent for a moment as he looked at Sasuke with a small smile. "If you ever want to talk, I'm here."

Sasuke frowned slightly, and then smiled.

"I'd like that, but not right now."

Naruto didn't look disappointed. Instead he gave a huge smile that made Sasule smile wider.

"Whenever you're ready," he said.

After that, they spoke of old times and the pranks each school gave each other. Because both schools were rivals, trying to outprank each other had became a tradition. The pranks never went very far and were harmless, so unless they got out of hand,the principles looked the other way.

Naruto was howling with laughter as Sasuke laughed next to him in a softer tone.

"I wish I saw the look on you guys faces. That was the best prank I ever came up with."

"You mean you were the one who did that?" asked Sasuke. "The place stank for a week. How did you do it anyway?"

"Not easily. Do you know how hard it was to get that pig in there? Thing kept trying to escape."

"I can imagine. Where do you even get barnyard animals anyway?"

"I never reveal my sources."

Sasuke paused for a moment before speaking.

"It was Kiba wasn't it?"

Naruto fakes an annoying groan and Sasuke laughed.

"Curse me for only having one friend with access to barn animals."

Both laughed and the talk turned to Naruto's first week in the force. Sasuke was forcing himself to not burst out laughing as Naruto retold his tale.

"So there I was, running after this guy, and I grab him by the pants,. Only no one told me that they were velcro, so they ripped right off."

Sasuke burst out laughing. Fortunatley for him, Naruto was as well.

"Please tell me he was wearing underwear," he said.

"No, no he was not."

Both laughed loudly and tried to stiffle them as Itachi walked over with a smile on his face.

"Sasuke, while I commend your rekindled friendship, you have other guests to see to," he said.

Naruto laughed in embarressment as Sasuke looked embarressed.

"Right, sorry, aniki."

"That's okay," said Naruto. "I haven't meet Yahiko yet. I can't wait to meet the little guy."

"Then how about coffee later?" asked Sasuke nervously. "We can talk more and I'll meet Kyuubi."

"Sure," said Naruto excited. "Here, let me give you my number."

They exchanged numbers and Naruto got up to greet Kanon and Yahiko. After Naruto left, Itachi took an envelope from his back pocket and handed it to Sasuke.

"This came by courier,"he said.

Sasuke took the envelope and saw just his name and address. No return address. He also noticed it unopened. Since his return, Itachi had carefully screened his mail and calls to keep reporters and hate mail away from Sasuke. Itachi had thought he had been discreet, but Sasuke knew his brother better than himself. He gave Itachi a curious look.

"You didn't read it?" he asked.

"I figured it was time for you to take a step in the world," said Itachi and turned to join his wife and son with Naruto. Sasuke opened the envelope and took out the single sheet of paper.

Friday 8 am Ichiraku Cafe

Sasuke looked at the note in confusion. Whoever sent this knew his schedule, since he had none. The date was in two days so he was free. But who sent it and why so discreet?

"Hey, Sasuke!" He looked up to see Naruto waving at him, Yahiko in his arms and tugging on his hair. Putting note in his pocket, he got up and joined the party.

TBC