A/N: Wow, I got a lot of comments this time for the last chapter. Glad you guys liked it, always makes me happy.

Guest: I'll be brutally honest that that was my intention from the beginning, but you know..somehow it lead me to this, which isn't so bad. But don't worry, I have a whole list of stories I want to do, which include what you said. I just don't know when I'll write it, and obviously it'll be different, but just know that I have something like that planned.

Also, please tell me if you see some weird errors in this chapter. My 'N' button's been kinda off, so sometimes it doesn't even come up when I type. I tried my best to fix them, but I may have left some missing N's elsewhere. Thank you.

And as always, thank you for your support.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything.

"I..Itachi."

Did he hear that right? Did Sasuke just speak..?

"S..say that again?"

Sasuke opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He was too choked up from emotions flooding through him. He got up with pleading eyes and grabbed Naruto's arm and dragged him into the crowd.

Sasuke pointed at the auction podium and there he was, Itachi standing on top, waiting to be auctioned.

"That's..your brother?" Naruto couldn't really believe it. But he could see the similarity they shared. He saw the obviously older man, stand up there with some sort of grace, but in fear. He could see the slight tremble in him. But that face, the hair, the skin. It looked almost like Sasuke. There was no mistaking it, it was Sasuke's brother.

"Today we have a special auction!" Naruto heard an announcer yell out. "An Uchiha breed! But not only that! A hunter! Certainly one of the last few of these species."

This was the reason it was extremely busy. The "rare" breed was up for sale and everyone wanted him.

"Ten thousand!" I hear someone from the crowd yell.

"Fifty thousand!"

"Three hundred thousand!"

"Shit." Naruto mumbled.

"I hear three hundred thousand! Going once!"

"Four hundred!" Naruto yelled.

"Four hundred thousand over here!"

"Four fifty!" Someone else yelled.

"Four sixty!"

"Five hundred!"

People continued to bid, only going up by the little mere thousands.

"Fuck this." Naruto said under his breath.

Sasuke felt his heart drop when he heard that, not expecting the next thing Naruto said.

"One million!" Naruto yelled. He knew he was going to hear an earful from his father, but he didn't care.

It became dead silent.

"Sold!" The sound of the hammer pounding was what broke it.

Naruto saw Itachi flinch at the sound. He went up to the seller and simply wrote them a check. He received Itachi's papers in return.

"Congratulations." He said as he roughly handed Naruto the leash, making Itachi stumble in his steps.

"Yeah." Naruto glared at the man for treating Itachi like that.

Itachi didn't dare to look up at his new master. He was already down on his knees, kissing Naruto's feet.

"Thank you for purchasing me." He forced out.

"Stand up, you'll be thanking me when you see your brother."

Itachi sadly smiled as he stood back up, not believing Naruto's words. They started to walk back to a bench.

"That's very kind of you master bu—"

Itachi's eyes widened when he saw dark, teary eyes looking up at him.

Sasuke was bent down, since Itachi didn't look up once.

"S..S..Sasuke….?" Itachi stammered out. "I...is that really you..?

Itachi's heart clenched, still not believing his little brother was standing in front of him.

Sasuke couldn't process this either.

Both of them fell to the floor on their knees, unable to believe this occurrence. They slowly touched their hands together, connecting them. The exact opposite of when they were forced apart, but now this time, they were able to hold each other's hands.

"Oh Sasuke..!" Itachi nearly cried. He took Sasuke into a tight hold, smelling and feeling Sasuke to make sure he was really there.

Sasuke tightly hugged Itachi and let his tears flow like it never had before. His whole body trembled from the pouring emotions.

Nothing mattered at that time. It was as if they were in their own world. They heard nothing.

Silence.

All that mattered was their time with each other. Years of separation, and they were finally back together.

"You've grown so much..! And..and..you look so healthy. I..I'm so glad.." Itachi continued to hug Sasuke. "Otouto.."

Itachi let go of Sasuke to wipe his little brother's tears away and Sasuke did the same with Itachi's.

Naruto watched the whole exchange. He felt himself becoming emotional from them. He then saw dark eyes from Itachi looking up at him.

Itachi quickly casted his eyes back down.

"H..how can I ever repay you for this." Itachi dreaded asking. He knew it couldn't just be out of his master's kind heart.

Naruto bent down eye level to both of them.

"You can start by looking at me normally." Naruto smiled. "Come on, let's go."

Itachi carefully stood up with Sasuke, wiping the dirt off of his extremely thin, plain kimono he was wearing. He helped Sasuke wipe the dirt off of him as well.

Naruto noticed something off with Itachi. Every step he took, he took with a wobble, but his face didn't show or express anything.

"Are you okay?" Naruto looked at Itachi.

Itachi squeezed Sasuke's hand and swallowed.

"I'm fine."

Sasuke looked at Itachi with a worried look.

"When was the last time you ate?"

"It does not matter. I will eat when you tell me to, that is my purpose as your slave. To serve you and your wishes."

Naruto was taken aback by Itachi's broken attitude. He thought Sasuke was bad when he first bought him, but Itachi was even worse. It seemed it was cruelly pounded into him that he is a slave to serve forever.

"Well my wish is for you to tell me when you last ate." Naruto ordered, feeling that that was the only way to get answers from him.

"Three days ago." Itachi mumbled.

"Three days?!" Naruto exclaimed.

Itachi flinched at Naruto's voice.

"Well, we're going to eat now. Do you have anything you like?"

Itachi was a little shocked that he was being asked his opinion.

"I don't know.." Itachi answered truthfully.

"Well Sasuke's favourite food seems to be fish, right?"

Sasuke looked at Naruto and nodded, smiling.

Itachi couldn't get his mind around how kind his master actually seemed to be. Was it all an act? But his brother seemed happy. Which reminded him of something.

"Master..?" Itachi called out.

Naruto didn't respond.

"Master..!" Itachi repeated.

"Huh? What? Me?" Naruto looked at Itachi dumbfounded. He was never actually called master before.

"May I ask why Sasuke doesn't speak..?" Itachi hoped there was no damage to his otouto's vocal cords.

"He chose to not speak every since you two were separated. The first time I ever heard him actually speak was just earlier, calling your name."

Sasuke looked away, not wanting to face his brother.

"Sasuke. Why are you so stubborn." Itachi mumbled.

But honestly, Itachi didn't really care at this moment. All that mattered was that he was with Sasuke. He still couldn't believe that it was his brother's hand he was holding.

Naruto noticed that their tails started to intertwine with each other, making him smile.

Naruto lead both of them to buy food. He decided to take it to go since he felt that the brother needed time to actually catch up with each other.

Itachi was hesitant to sit on the carriage's seat, but the reassuring smile from Sasuke and Naruto made him able to sit.

Itachi's stomach growled through the whole ride back, but he suppressed it so it wasn't heard by the other two. The strong smell of fish wasn't helping either, but he knew that it wasn't for him anyways.

When they reached home, Itachi lightly gasped at how big the house was. They went inside and Itachi was extremely hesitant.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked as he unclipped both Itachi's and Sasuke's leashes.

Itachi jumped when Naruto approached him.

"Come on, let's eat."

"My feet are dirty." Itachi mumbled.

"That's what you're worried about?"

Itachi nodded. He didn't want to get beaten for dirtying his master's floor.

Naruto went to the kitchen and placed the food in the kitchen, while Sasuke ran upstairs to put all the bags in Naruto's room.

Naruto came back to Itachi with a small wet towel, so he could wipe his feet.

Itachi took the towel and wiped his feet.

"Master, where should I put the towel."

"You don't have to call me that, my name's Naruto. And you can just give it to me. I'll just throw it in the laundry."

"I can't do that and I'll put it in the laundry, just tell me where it is please." Itachi couldn't believe his master.

"Nope, I'll do it." Naruto quickly snatched the towel from Itachi's hands. "Go wait in the kitchen with Sasuke."

Itachi saw Naruto leave, and Sasuke returning back downstairs.

"Master told us to wait in the kitchen." He told Sasuke.

Sasuke smiled and grabbed Itachi's hand, leading him to the kitchen. He sat down on the small cushion on the floor. He gave one to Itachi and he sat down as well, still a little nervous.

Naruto returned back and took out the boxes with their food in it.

"I just bought you fish since you didn't know what you wanted really." Naruto handed Itachi a box and then one to Sasuke.

Sasuke excitedly opened it and started to eat.

"This is mine..?" Itachi asked, confused.

"Yes Itachi. It's all yours." Naruto realized that Itachi couldn't adjust quite as easily as Sasuke could. "Itachi, do you see your brother?"

Itachi looked at Sasuke, who looked back and at Naruto in question.

"He's not hurt at all right?" He started. "You're safe with me. Both of you guys are. You're not my slave or my pet."

Itachi couldn't really believe it.

Naruto lifted his hand, making Itachi recoil, but Naruto continued and messed Itachi's hair like he does with Sasuke.

Itachi stopped at the softness from the touch. It was a long time since he felt any gentleness.

"Is this real." Itachi mumbled. "Is Sasuke really in front of me smiling. Am I really being treated with kindness."

"Yes, this is real Itachi." Naruto smiled.

Sasuke held Itachi's hand and squeezed it.

Itachi looked at Sasuke with blurry eyes.

"You really did stay strong Sasuke." Itachi lightly smiled, tears slowly made their way down his pale cheeks. It has been a while since he had last cried.

Sasuke panicked, grabbing a napkin to wipe Itachi's tears.

"Thank you..thank you for letting me be with Sasuke. Thank you..really. I almost gave up. It was so hard living, not knowing if he was okay or not. I'm..so glad he is doing so well."

"You should thank Sasuke himself. He was the one that spotted you."

"Sasuke.." Itachi looked at Naruto. "How can I ever repay you."

"Unless you want to work for a million dollars, you can just stay with us forever."

"Anything..I'll do anything."

"Anything?"

Itachi nodded.

"How about you start eating. Sasuke's almost half way done."

Itachi looked surprised, but he quickly thanked Naruto again.

He opened the box, staring at the delicious looking fish in front of him. He started to use his hands, but he was stopped by Naruto.

"Do you know how to use chopsticks?"

"I do not." Itachi mumbled.

"I'll give you a fork since you haven't eaten in a while. Next time I'll teach you."

Naruto handed Itachi a fork.

"Thank you.."

Naruto finally sat down with the brothers and started to eat his own food.

Itachi hesitated again, before stabbing the fish with his fork. He lifted a piece and put it in his mouth. Taste exploded into his mouth as his mouth started to water even more. Itachi had never tasted something so good.

Naruto laughed to himself, seeing how similar the both Sasuke and Itachi's reactions were to eating fish.

"This is really good." Itachi said softly as he continued to eat.

Itachi was so full from eating the fish. His stomach had shrunk from not eating properly, so he wasn't able to finish it. Sasuke snuck his chopsticks over to his brother's fish and took some and ate it.

"You really haven't changed Sasuke." Itachi pointed out.

"How was Sasuke when he was young?" Naruto was interested in knowing Sasuke's past.

"He..Sasuke was always stubborn. He was extremely cute though." Itachi smiled softly. "I'm sure you read his papers, his mental age doesn't exactly match his real age, but it kinda makes him cuter. He used to try to sneak food a while back, but ended up getting in trouble for it. I don't really blame him though. We weren't really fed much."

"Can you read?" Naruto asked, curious how Itachi knew that piece of information.

"I can't."

"Then how do you know that about Sasuke's papers?"

"I was just told rather cruelly by our old master. People consider Sasuke to be useless since he's an Uchiha pet than a hunter like myself." Itachi angrily seethed out. "Sasuke can't choose who he is! Who are they to say that?!"

Naruto put his hand on Itachi's shoulder to calm down, but Itachi flinched once again.

"I..I'm sorry. I didn't mean it." Itachi recoiled back, thinking Naruto was going to hit him.

"What are you sorry for?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"I..don't know.."

"Listen here Itachi." Naruto said softly. "Like I said before, you're not my slave or my pet. You do not have to fear me. I bought you for the sake of you and Sasuke. I didn't buy you to torture you or hurt you. And trust me when I say Sasuke is happy here right?" Naruto looked at Sasuke.

Sasuke smiled and nodded.

"I trust you.." Itachi looked down. "I haven't seen Sasuke smile in so long, including the time we were together."

Naruto knew it would take a while for Itachi to act normally.

Itachi started to get up and clean the table, so Naruto got up as well.

"Master..! I'll do it, please." Itachi exclaimed, but respectfully.

"Naruto." He corrected. "And I'll clean this up. I'm not useless, unless that's what you're trying to tell me." Naruto didn't want to put it like that, but he felt that was the only way Itachi would listen to him.

Itachi gave up and sighed in defeat.

"Go upstairs with Sasuke." He looked at Sasuke. "Take your brother for a shower okay?"

Sasuke nodded and grabbed his aniki's hand, leading him up the stairs.

Itachi sputtered words of protest but was ignored by both Sasuke and Naruto.

In the shower, Itachi quietly stood there frozen. Soothing, warm water hit his back, something he hadn't experienced. He remembered the last time he asked to shower with warm water, his master cruelly poured boiling water on top of him. He claimed that it was a lesson to never ask for stupid things again and granted, Itachi never asked for it again.

"Sasuke?" Itachi called out.

Sasuke opened the door to the shower stall and peered in.

"What am I supposed to use?" Itachi didn't know if he was allowed to use the products.

Sasuke pointed at the things he was supposed to use, which was everything available to him.

Before Itachi could say anything else, Sasuke closed the door and left. He took the bottle with shampoo that Sasuke pointed at first and applied it to his hair. He did the same with the second bottle with conditioner. He made sure to clean his ears thoroughly as well as his tail. He cleaned his body with the soap bar.

He turned the water off and tried getting the excess water off of him. His hair had grown past his shoulders, so he wringed the water out of his hair before stepping out of the stall.

"Sasuke?" He softly called.

The door opened, but Naruto entered instead of Sasuke. He handed Itachi a towel.

"You're hair's really long." Naruto commented. He avoided looking at Itachi's naked body, but he found no arousal in it anyways, making him believe that his love for Sasuke was strong. This brought him to the next possible problem. How would

"I'm sorry, do you want it cut instead."

"What? I didn't mean it like that. You can have your hair the way you want it."

"Master..?"

"Naruto." He corrected again. "But yes Itachi?"

"May I use a hair tie or something to hold it back. I mean, if it is not any trouble for you."

"Of course Itachi." Naruto rummaged through his drawers and found one of Sakura's misplaced hair ties and gave it to him. Naruto left to receive clothes for Itachi and for his privacy.

Itachi thanked him and started to dry himself. When he felt his hair was dried enough he tied his hair loosely behind him.

Naruto knocked on the door and entered when Itachi said it was okay to. He came inside with clothes in his arms.

"I wasn't sure about your size, but I think you'll fit in my clothes."

"Master, it's not necessary to give me clothing." Itachi mumbled.

"Enough with that. If I am your so called master, then you should listen to what I say right?"

Itachi looked a little shocked.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be." He handed Itachi the clothes.

Itachi fumbled with the clothes, but he managed to put them on. It felt very strange to him, wearing clothes. He was given a sweater and a pair of sweatpants. Even though he's worn clothes before, it was still a strange feeling.

When they exited the bathroom, Sasuke was waiting for them. He ran up and hugged Itachi tightly. Sasuke's tail was happily swaying around. He turned to Naruto and squeezed him as well. He looked at him and gave Naruto a wide smile.

Naruto messed Sasuke's hair.

"Master?"

"Yeah?" Naruto was tired of trying to correct Itachi. He felt that nothing would change anytime soon.

"What am I supposed to do here?"

"Hm." Naruto thought about it for a bit. "Well you can be with Sasuke when I go to work. Would you like to learn how to read and write as well? I've been teaching Sasuke for a while, and I have to say he's an extremely fast learner."

"You..you taught him?" Itachi couldn't believe it.

"Yup. I'll teach you if you like, you gotta ask for it." Naruto wanted Itachi to learn to ask for things if needed.

Itachi looked troubled. He had to ask..? He had rarely ever asked for anything, only small things. Reading and writing was a luxury for a hybrid. Itachi remembered trying to sneak into lessons from his old master's son's teacher. He got a big punishment for attempting that. He only wanted to learn for the sake of him and Sasuke. It would've been a huge help back then, but here is his new master, offering to teach him to read and write?

"I would like to learn how to read and write if it's not a problem for you master." Itachi bowed his head a little.

"Sure." Naruto smiled. "You two catch up, I'm going to be downstairs doing some work."

Naruto left the two brother alone in his room and like he said, he went downstairs to get ahead in his work.

Sasuke and Itachi quietly sat in front of each other. They weren't able to actually be with each other, as it was sort of rushed. But now they had the time.

Itachi held Sasuke's hand to do the final check that he was right in front of him.

Sasuke sat up and pointed to the scars that were on Itachi's face.

"These.." Itachi touched them as well. "Punishment. You know I don't have regeneration skills like you."

Sasuke gave a sad look.

"Don't worry, they don't hurt anymore." Itachi reassured. "But what about you otouto..why did you choose to mute yourself? Master already told me it's because of me, but really..you shouldn't be so stubborn."

Sasuke pouted and shook his head. If Sasuke didn't make the choice to be mute, he would have never met Naruto. He'd probably never see Itachi again. Even though Itachi was finally with him, it was just hard to start speaking again. He remembered how hoarse his voice was when he spoke that one word. It was hard, and it was very strange. He made noises before, but that was different from actually speaking.

"You can't be like this forever Sasuke. But I won't rush you, so you take your time."

Itachi was understanding towards his precious little brother.

"And Sasuke?" Itachi continued when Sasuke tilted his head. "Is master..really that nice? I mean..he's just different. Did he really mean what he said..?"

Sasuke smiled and nodded.

"I see..I'm grateful. You seem really attached to him as well."

Sasuke nodded and blushed.

Itachi did not miss that.

"Do you like master?" Itachi asked.

Sasuke didn't lie, and nodded.

"I see.." Itachi felt a little hurt. "You're sure he loves you too right..?" Itachi wanted to make sure.

Sasuke smiled and nodded enthusiastically. He grabbed his cat set of supplies and showed it to Itachi.

"He bought you these?"

Sasuke made a 'mhm' noise and showed off his writing skills.

Even though Itachi couldn't really read it, he was actually proud that Sasuke learned how to write.

"I'm so proud of you Sasuke." He hugged his brother tightly.

Sasuke hugged Itachi back, and when they let go, he got up to show the stuffed cat.

"He got you this too? It looks like you."

Sasuke smiled and he put the cat on his lap. He looked down, emotions coming back to him.

"Sasuke?" Itachi bent down lower to see Sasuke's face.

Sasuke wiped his now teary eyes. He was just so happy to be with his brother. He hugged Itachi, while laying down on his lap.

Itachi started to play with Sasuke's hair to calm him.

Sasuke didn't purr though. It was strange, but maybe it was the fact they were both hybrids, it just didn't feel the same.

But it did relax him.

Sasuke ended up slowly falling asleep in Itachi's lap. He noticed the yukata coming undone, so he quickly tied it back. He curled around Sasuke, carefully putting his head down.

Sasuke instinctively curled against Itachi.

Itachi let Sasuke use his arm as a head rest, and slowly closed his eyes. He was tired as well. He found sleep overcame him, and for the first time in a long time, he found himself going into a peaceful slumber.