Disclaimer : Naruto and other characters are not mine.

Warning : SasuNaru. Shonen-ai. Some other pairings later on.

"bla bla" spoken

/bla bla/ thoughts

Sunshine After the Rain

By Misaki Sakura

Chapter 8 : Truth and …

"What are you saying, Shikamaru? Naruto is a ghost!"

Sasuke glared at the lazy boy in front of him who had just told him that Uzumaki Naruto was dead. Something he couldn't believe. No sane person would believe it anyway.

"No. I'm just saying that he's dead. That could mean that he's not the real Uzumaki Naruto. But …"

"But?" Sasuke didn't like it even more.

"Look at the picture."

Shikamaru handed him a printout picture of the newspaper. In the picture were the whole Uzumaki family. A tall blond man with a beautiful young lady beside him and a small boy whose hands were held by his parents. A boy that resembled Naruto.

"It's..."

"Sasuke, if the Uzumaki Naruto we know is not a fraud then someone faked his death."

"But why?"

"I don't know. We don't even know if he's the real one or not."

Sasuke frowned. He was right before. Naruto was not an ordinary boy.

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Naruto sulked in front of the window. Out on the beach were his friends, playing in the water, looking for some shells. Him? He's in the villa, not even bothering to join them. Why should he? Everyone had asked him to come, even Hinata made a face that made Neji nearly strangled him. What was wrong with people that day?

He knew he's in a sour mood, but he couldn't help it. Where was he again? He didn't remember the island's name but that island was Uchiha's and it's located in the far, far south from Japan because it's autumn in Japan and the weather there was as hot as the oven. Even when he had turn on the air conditioner, he could feel the heat getting to him. Blame Sasuke who decided out of nowhere that he would join in their vacation. He was shocked when Sasuke showed up in front of his house with a suitcase in his hand at five in the morning that day. He remembered asking, "Are you running away from home, Sasuke?" and got whacked on the head because of that.

Sasuke threw his clothes into the suitcase and dragged Naruto with him after telling Iruka they're going for a vacation with their friends. Iruka didn't have the chance to say that it's not even holiday.

"What are you doing there, usuratonkachi?"

Naruto threw him a glare and resumed his sulking. He hated the sea. Not that he knew the reason, he just hated it. The sound of the waves rolling to the beach … it sent him shivering down his spine. Noticing the lack of response from the blond, Sasuke raised his eyebrows.

"What's wrong?"

Naruto ignored him and let's just say that Sasuke had never been ignored before. He's always the center of the attention. There's only one person who's brave enough to ignore him and it's the boy in front of him.

"Answer me!"

Naruto turned around to face a worried and pissed Sasuke. He was shocked. The almighty Uchiha Sasuke was worried! Hell, it's not possible! But still …

"I wanna go out."

"Didn't say you can't."

Naruto threw the cushion he was holding at Sasuke who dodged it and stormed out of the room, leaving Sasuke with his own thoughts. If he knew …

Now, where to go? He wandered inside the villa, trying to find something interesting to do when his eyes stumbled across a familiar painting. Yes, the painting of a ninetailed fox. Signed by Kyuubi.

/Kyuubi/

"You like that painting?"

Naruto turned around to face the source of the voice. A tall black-haired that looked so much like Sasuke. Not his brother though. Too old to be his brother. "…Yes."

"This painting was made by a very famous Japanese painter. An artist to the bone." The smile on his face was so soft which made Naruto wondered if that would be what Sasuke looked like when he smiled.

"You know the painter?"

A sad look made its way across the man's face. "Yes, I knew him."

"Knew?"

"Uchiha-sama, the meeting is starting."

The man nodded at the woman beside him and started to walk away. Suddenly he stopped and said to Naruto, "Please take care of my son, Naruto."

"Eh?"

Then the man left. Naruto stared at the retreating back, thinking /What the hell/

"So, you've met otousan." Another man came up beside him, causing him to jup in surprise. "Hi, I'm Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke's older brother."

"Hi, I'm Uzumaki Naruto."

"I know. Sasuke's told me about you."

Naruto couldn't shake off the curiosity of what Sasuke had told about him to his brother and Itachi saw that. "Actually he didn't tell me directly but I could see his mood getting better, all thanks to you."

"Eh?"

"Come on. I'll show you something, but don't tell Sasuke."

Again, his curiosity got the better of him so he followed Itachi who smirked.

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Meanwhile, Sasuke was glaring at one of the maid working in the villa who had just told him then every member of his family was there. He had made sure the villa was not used before he took them there. He asked the other to join him with Naruto so that Naruto wouldn't run away. He even asked the Hyuuga girl to come even though he started hating her. And now, his family was there too. So much for an unforgettable vacation.

"Is Itachi here?"

The maid didn't dare to look at Sasuke's eyes. If looks could kill, she would be a bloody poodle right now. "Ye- Yes, he is, Sasuke-sama." Then she ran away.

"What's bothering you?"

"Don't you think it's troublesome to ask many things? Why are you doing it so much lately?" Sasuke snapped.

"Feel like it."

"Itachi's here."

"So?" Neji asked from beside Shikamaru. He had come back from the beach cause Hinata wanted to take a bath after playing there. Neji was there to protect her, remember? Nothing to do with making sandcastles and all, nothing!

"So! He annoys the hell out of me! He's an older brother from hell! Not the first time he wants to interfere with my life."

"That's what siblings do, I think." Shikamaru said, though not based from experience because he had no siblings so to speak. His parents said he had a brother once but they didn't to talk about him. Wonder why.

"He cares about you."

"I don't need it."

Neji looked up from his Hinata observing and asked, "What's the latest thing he annoys you with?"

"He wants to know about Naruto, that nosy brother."

Shikamaru knew where Neji's answer would lead and he was amazed that Sasuke hadn't realized it yet. "You do realize that now Naruto is wandering around the villa on his own and with your brother ro-"

Sasuke didn't hear Shikamaru's words till the end because he was running out of the room to look for Naruto. /Before Itachi has the time to do anything to my Naruto../

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Naruto gulped as he saw the big room he was brought into. "Here we are." Itachi said, pulling Naruto deeper into the room. It was a living room, with many fluffy couches and a wide screen TV at the end of the room. And Naruto realized that it's a private room, a very private one. On the wall, the pictures of the family were hanged. Most of them were Itachi when he was still a little boy. Some of them had Sasuke in it.

"He is cute, isn't he?"

Naruto noticed that the Uchiha said 'is' instead of 'was' but didn't say anything. He had to admit that Sasuke was cute in the pictures. He wondered if there's still the cute boy inside the I'm-so-cool-I-can-freeze-the-hell-over Sasuke. He was too fascinated with the pictures that he didn't notice someone stepped into the room.

The woman looked at the blond in surprise. Then with a calm voice, she asked, "Are you Uzumaki Naruto?"

Naruto jumped at the voice. /Why do people keep sneaking up on me today/ Couldn't find his voice, he nodded.

"I'm Uchiha Mikoto, Sasuke's mother. Please sit down." The woman gestured towards the couch. Naruto took a seat in front of her. "Itachi, close the door."

Naruto started to feel uneasy at the whole situation. But the warm smile he received from the black-haired woman had calmed him a bit. A cup of hot tea was served in front of him by a maid who immediately backed out of the room.

"I've heard about you from Itachi, Naruto-san."

/What's with people hearing things about me lately/ He nodded.

"Sasuke is a good boy. Please, be patient to him. He has some troubles to deal with that even we can't get through to him. Only you can."

Naruto almost choked on his tea. Seeing the look Mikoto was giving him, he was sure it wasn't a joke. What the hell was going on!

"I know you must be surprised, Naruto-san, but I need to talk to you, fast, before Sasuke finds out about this. Like I said, he has a lot of things to deal with. I can't tell you right now because it's not my right to do it but I can say it has something to do with his self-consciousness."

Naruto snorted at that. Not that he wasn't being polite or anything but Sasuke and self-consciousness didn't stand in the same sentence. No one would associate Sasuke with that but seemingly, his own mother would. Would and did.

"He didn't show it but he was depressed. We tried to do something, believe me, Naruto-san, we tried very hard, to no avail."

"Why do you think I can do it?"

"You're our last hope." Mikoto sighed sadly. "Now, he has to deal with the marriage his father has arranged for him, but-"

"Marriage?"

Mikoto looked at the boy whose face was crazed with a deep frown. So Sasuke hadn't mentioned the marriage to the boy. Poor boy. "Yes, a marriage. Didn't he tell you?"

Naruto shook his head, feeling a bit hurt without knowing why.

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By the time Sasuke found him, the blond had done talking with the Uchiha's mother. He was sitting at the balcony, alone with his thoughts. "I finally find you!"

Naruto gave him a wary look then turned away. Sasuke sat at the seat in front of him with a very dejected look on his face. "Look, if you by any chance meet my brother, just run away. You don't need to listen to-"

"Why didn't you tell me about your marriage?"

"My what!"

"Don't act stupid, Sasuke! Your marriage!" Naruto didn't know why he was so angry at the thought of Sasuke marrying someone. And to lash it out at the raven-haired boy was not a very good idea. Naruto got up from his seat and ran out to the beach.

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"Open the door, Itachi!" Sasuke yelled, banging the door with his fist.

"Do you want to destroy the door, Sasuke?" the older boy said while opening the door. He barely missed the punch Sasuke sent him.

"Why did you tell him about the marriage?"

"Why does it bother you anyway? Foolish little brother."

Sasuke clenched his fist in anger. How he wished to wipe that smirk off of his brother's face. "Don't come near Naruto ever again, Itachi! Don't interfere with my life! You can marry the girl for all I care! I won't marry her!"

"You'll regret saying that, Sasuke, believe me."

He gave Itachi a disgusted glare and walked away.

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Naruto was walking numbly along the shore. Hearing the sound of the waves near him was soothing, yet it gave him a bit of fright. Something about it sent a chill down his spine for a reason he didn't know about. Times like this made him wonder about his past. His parents, his family. Iruka seemed to know something about it yet he didn't tell him anything. Why, he didn't know. Everytime he asked, Iruka would change the subject and then he'd forget about it. He had a family but he wanted to know his biological family, if his parents abandoned him or not.

/Of course they abandoned me. Why else would I be in the orphanage in the first place/

"HELP!"

"Good afternoon, Uzumaki-san."

The man known as Kabuto stood before him with a look that Naruto considered dangerous. Especially when he felt he had seen the man before. Recently … and … before that. As the man stepped closer, Naruto's feet were itching to run. His mind was screaming at him to run away. And he tried, but his feet, though wanted to run, couldn't move even for an inch. Kabuto's hand reached out to him and he stepped closer …

TBC

A/N : Sorry for the late update! Writer's block … not to mention the assignment I have to do so …. I'll try to update sooner next time. I even write this one in my classroom. (Sigh.)

Read and review, please. That's what keeps my going. (give a pleading look to all the readers) …