Life is very stressful for everyone right now. It's none of ya'lls business to know but I am a healthcare personnal here in my country, so with all the stress of COVID-19, eternal shifts and burnout syndrome (among other personal matters that have affected me apart from the virus), so I'm sorry it took so long to update. Thank you all for your continued support.
Gaara tends to get a shady look in his eyes whenever Kiba touches Naruto. They were like polar opposites, Kiba energetic and talkative, Gaara very quiet and well mannered, thus it made sense that they would clash often. Naruto, who loves them both dearly, prefered to simply give each of them their time, thus it became common to see them spend time at the mansion sans Kiba. Not that that meant Kiba wasn't coming over as much, just that now I barely had a day or two without one of the two at the house. At first Gaara´s quiet and behaved demeanor was like a breath of fresh air, but the more I get glimpses of his barely noticeable expressions, the more I start to understand why Kiba opted to not spend more time than necessary with him. Naruto, on the other hand, ignores my comments about the red haired kid. Gaara is Gaara, and the way he is is perfect, so said the blond porcelain doll that once only had eyes for me. And so, my little bird started to slowly spread his wings despite my very expressed opposition to it.
Naruto never goes over to Gaara's house though. When asked about it, my blondie merely replied that Gaara's father works all day so no one would be able to chaperone their playdates. Good enough answer, as I really disliked having him where I couldn't watch over him. Kiba would invite him over every once in while, but since his mother, being a vet and owning her own clinic, would often have to leave him with his aunts during the day, and Naruto, despite being apparently extroverted, still cringed inwardly when around new people. It was something we were still working on.
Itachi hands me more college brochures excitedly as I send my phone a side glance. Jugo had been giving me hints at having found something out about Suna, more specifically, two kids that seemed to have some sort of power over the teenage gangmembers that seemed to pollute our high school. But, Jugo being Jugo, he didn't want to talk to me until he had the whole panorama painted. "Sasuke, try to give this a little more thought. Just last year you were so eager for college, and now you seem like you don't even want to go." Itachi scolds me as soon as he sees me pick up my phone to check for any messages.
"I already told you, I'm going to Konoha University, it's the best." He purses his lips at me. "It's the best in a 50 mile radius, not the best you can do"
His eyes soften when I still refuse to reply after a few minutes. "Naruto will be fine if you leave, you know? I relied too much on you all these years. I'll take fewer shifts, or quit if necessary, it's not like we are in urgent need of MY income" he chuckles lightly at his own joke while I give him my best "I am not amused" glare. "I want the best for you Sasuke, even if that means having to part ways for a little while. You will still come back during breaks and vacations if you see fit. But it's time you start thinking about you and not just about Naruto."
I swallowed back the words that were about to spew from my mouth. I couldn't leave, not with everything that has been going on. How can I leave when danger still looms over Naruto? I would drag him along with me if I could, but college life is hectic. How could I look after him in between crazy schedules and constant assignments? How could I drag him away from his friends and the life he fought so desperately to get used to? I bite the inside of my cheek until I taste the metallic sweetness of blood. How could I even begin to explain all this to Itachi, when he refuses to let me in?
Jugo texts me a photo of a blonde haired girl with dark bluish-green eyes who holds a fan against her cheek as she looks towards her left, seemingly lost in conversation and not taking notice of the camera that was intruding into her privacy. It's followed by another picture of a brunet with a cigarette in his lips following behind the blonde from the first picture, making it obvious that she had been talking to him when the pictures were taken. I raise my eyebrows towards Jugo who shifts uncomfartably. "I didn't take them, my brother sent it to me." His "brother", as he said it, was a contact from another of the gangs in the South District, so I simply nodded but still gave him a small smirk of disbelief.
Suigetsu takes the phone from my hand as I extend it towards him after examining the pictures and instantly smirks. "You sure? She looks like your type." A lie, neither him nor I could begin to guess at Jugo's taste in girls, as he never showed any interest in them. Not that he had shown any interest in men either. He just seemed like the type that didn't care for either. Jugo's eyebrows furrow into a menacing scowl and Suigetsu quickly changes the topic. "So these are the Suna leaders?"
"Just the ones in charge of the teenage recruits. They aren't involved with the recruiting, though. They pass down assignments and orders from central. They haven't gotten their hands directly dirtied by Suna, but that doesn't make them any less tough." Jugo chews through two toothpicks before his face visibly relaxes and Suigetsu can breath easily.
"They both look so young." Jugo looks over at me with a stiff stare. "Age doesn't matter when you are born into that life."
"You mean to tell me these two are direct family of the leader? They barely look alike, are they brother and sister?" Jugo nods as Suigetsu winces at the photo to try to look at them closer.
"I think I have seen her at school," I recall seeing that fan during my English class just a few days before. Again, Jugo nods. "Senior and Junior".
"What?! When did they infiltrate our school? I wasn't even informed of new guys in the area! How is this not fishy?" We both ignore Suigetsu as he trails off into a rant about his connections and how they failed him. "It's been months since school started, and they haven't made any moves towards me. One would think that they would try to mark territory with the only Uchiha they could have direct contact with."
"Unless they aren't interested in the Uchihas, for now."
"Then we are at a dead end again. If this isn't about territory, then why is Naruto involved?" Jugo shrugs his shoulders in genuine confusion. "Well, we can't assume that the Uchihas aren't their target just because they haven't done anything against me yet."
"Let's not forget, they have Uonuma on their side, who knows if they already know that he was once your childhood friend."
"Childhood friends don't mean anything now that we are older. The things he knew or thought he knew about me would be useless to them."
"Not unless you remodeled your house after so many years." Suigetsu was trying to circle back to the attempted kidnapping again, and Jugo quickly hummed a small Mn to distract me, knowing that I would once again storm off at his incitation. "We can't assume anything at this point, but at least now we have a broader view of the pieces at play." I nod slowly at Jugo as I notice the light from my bedroom window that shone against the dark night.
Naruto is clutching unto his frog pillow when I walk into the room, his eyes wide as they scan the room over and over. "Hey," I whisper to him as I scoot closer to him across the bed. Kurama was watching us from afar, and once he confirmed that I was near enough Naruto to calm him down, went on to resume his nightly rounds. "Just a bad dream," Naruto signs to me shakily, "I'll be okay." He curls into my chest anyways, his fingers, no longer small, trying to hold unto the folds of my shirt with less ease than when he was smaller. How he had grown in just que 5 years. At times, when he would get lost in thought, he had the matured expressions of a small adult, feigning knowledge far beyond his years. Of course, once he came to, his bright eyes and ditzy smile would erase all traces of that blossoming adult that he held within.
"Just try to forget about those bad thoughts." I whisper to him, relishing in what was one of the few moments I still had left with him. He was growing up, and soon he would no longer need my hugs or company. My little ray of sunshine would no longer need me. And that scared me most of all.
Two pairs of blonde ponytails bob into my field of view as I pull out my English notebook at the start of class. Temari, as Jugo had said she was called, ignores my presence and continues to chat amicably with another girl, giggling and gushing like a normal 17 year old girl. Does that girl know just who she is talking to? I ponder as I continue to pull my supplies out of my bag. Afterall, she didn´t know I knew who she was, so there was no need to let her in on that piece of information.
The class continued on as usual, and after having jotted down the assignment for next week, I hear the bell ring and feel my desk shake as Temari stands and begins to walk towards the door. "Sasuke!" Suigetsu runs in before Temari could leave, nearly knocking into her and not at all hiding the face of pure surprise on his face as he recognized her, something she noted as well. He turns from her and rushes towards me, a glint of terror in his face. Temari stands at the door and pretends to chat with her friend as she sends us side glances. Our eyes meet for a second before Suigetsu reaches me and starts pushing my things into my bag. "Itachi is here." He hisses at me under his breath in an attempt at keeping our conversation private. My eyebrows twitch slightly in confusion and he continues shortly. "He didn't say, but he insisted I find you right away." He swings my bag over his shoulder and starts pulling my wrist to follow him at an almost sprinting pace. As we pass by Temari and her friend I hear the small jingle of a ringtone from her bag. Her eyes follow me before we pass the door and turn into the corridor. "Hello?" her voice almost has a tinge of worry but I can no longer hear anything as Suigetsu keeps pulling me towards the front doors. "Something is wrong." I say to him. "No shit Sherlock, when did Itachi ever come to pull you out of school? Jugo is already waiting for me at the parking lot with his car, we'll follow behind so update us if you need us to do anything else."
I notice my heart had been racing when its hammering surpasses what is normal for me after a quick sprint. I know I'm fit enough to handle a small run without this much change in my heart rate. Seeing Itachi by the doors only makes the hammering double its effort to burst through my ribcage. His eyes are dark. "So you are here." I glare at him. "Where else was I supposed to be on a school day?" I snap. He thanks Suigetsu and after taking my bag from him starts walking out of the building, not even caring to look back to see if I was following him. Which, of course, I was, almost stepping on his heels as we fastwalked to his car. He unlocked the doors and climbed in to his side as I closed the door behind me. He didn't skip a beat. "Tanaka is in the hospital." I almost let out a breath of relief when Naruto wasn't the first word out of his mouth. But before I could breathe easily I couldn't help but look at the backseat and feel my throat close up at the empty seat that seemed to laugh at me.
"Where is Naruto?" Itachi was pulling out into traffic before I even finished my sentence. His eyes rimmed with red but fighting to hold back tears, of frustration or fear, I couldn't tell. He didn't answer me as he sped down the streets towards what I could only guess was Uchiha Enterprises. "Itachi, where is Naruto? Where did you leave him? Why didn't you bring him with us? Is he also hurt? Why isn't he here Itachi? Itachi? Answer me!" My voice slowly got louder and higher the more Itachi refused to answer me. His knuckles were white as his grip on the steering wheel tightened. He pulled over to a curb when he saw me start to remove my seat belt and try to open the door with the car in motion. Naruto wasn't here, which meant he could be hurt, or alone and scared somewhere.
"WHERE IS NARUTO!" I bellow as Itachi grabs my shoulders and turns me to look directly at him, the tears that he was holding back escaping down his cheeks. He looked tired. More tired than he had ever been. And scared. I didn't like seeing him scared. He was supposed to be the older brother. His fingers dig into me, keeping me grounded and I stare at his face.
"Sasuke, Naruto...Naruto is missing."
Suigetsu runs towards me when he sees me burst out of the car and run towards the garbage can. I barely made it before the vomit made it past my lips and into the bin. Itachi rushes after me, sending Suigetsu a confused look as he reaches out to me. I slap his hand away before he touches me, anger welling up inside me beside the empty feeling in my stomach and the dread in my chest. "This is your fault." Itachi lowers his gaze, suddenly finding his shoes very interesting. "You didn't listen to me, you didn't let me in on what you knew. Naruto could be anywhere, he could be in danger, maybe even already...and it is all your fault." I push him with all the strength I could muster before my stomach pushed the last remaining contents into my mouth and I was forced to turn back to the trash can. Suigetsu pales visibly as soon as he understands what is going on but steps in between me and Itachi when I stand and turn towards him again. "Move." He shakes his head and glares at me. "We get nowhere with you behaving like this. I know you are angry, but right now we need to keep our heads cool so that we can find him." My mouth almost drops at Suigetsu's words.
Itachi wipes his face feebly and tries to straighten his back, but he still looks miserable as he turns back towards the car. "I already called the Security department to close off all entries and exits into the city. They are waiting for further instruction at the Enterprise."
Suigetsu squeezes my hand, making me turn towards him despite my also miserable appearance. "Jugo and I will go to the South District and see if we can find out anything. We'll be in touch" he leaves before I could nod. Itachi waits for me as patiently as he can, speeding into the street once again as soon as I close my door.
I almost lose the last bit of composure I was able to hold unto to at the Uchiha Enterprises at the sight of Tanaka. Tsunade, having heard of my arrival, came to meet me soon after I entered his room. "He was beaten up pretty badly." She continued on to explain to me the progress they made with his Pneumothorax, his fractured ribs, his skull fracture, etc, etc. I squeezed his hand despite knowing he couldn't respond.
"He is just an old man..." I whisper when Tsunade caught on that I was no longer following her explanations and stops talking.
"He put up quite a fight with whoever did this." I scoff lightly. "You foolish old man, you are like a 100 years old, you could have never won..." His blackened eyes remain closed even as I leave.
I drive Itachi's car back to the mansion after leaving the hospital, barely being able to mantain focus on the road but I needed to check the security cameras in case anything could give me a lead. I need to know that he is okay even if it's just a delusional lie that I tell myself. Suigetsu and Jugo have yet to give me any news and I couldn't split myself into 10 Sasukes to be on top of everything, despite how much I wish I could.
"Hey," a soft voice with an undertone of uneasiness calls to me as I try to unlock the front door through blurry vision. Temari's red brimmed eyes burn into me as her brother, Kankuro, blows smoke into the air beside him. "We need to talk." Of course, Suna had to be involved. I stare sharp daggers at them as they get closer, my hands balling into fists as they stand in front of me. The sight of a very familiar chauffeur with an eye-patch forces me to stare at them in surprise.
"You are Naruto's brother, aren't you?" I don't respond to Kankuro's cold voice and continue to glare at the closest one to me, Temari. "We aren't here to shake our tailfeathers and show off power," Temari's eyes soften to match her tone of voice, her lips almost trembling with her next words, "Gaara is missing...please...please, tell me he is with you."