Woot! I can finally upload. Sorry for making you guys wait. Anyway, please enjoy this.

Standard disclaimer applies. SasuNaru, yaoi, OOC and unbeta-read

Cowritten by XKunoichiofthePaintbrushX so give her some love. And to those anonymous reviewers, please leave your e-mail address so we can personally reply to your reviews. Yoroshiku ne.

"You bought a new couch," the blonde pointed out as he padded into the living room of their condominium. Not really theirs. It was his lover's but he had moved in with him upon invitation.

"It was better than having the old couch be cleaned from the red wine stains," was the calm explanation. "And," the man smirked, "it's bigger and more comfortable. Our movements won't be constrained." He flinched when his head was tapped with a thick book none-too-gently.

"Get your mind off the gutter."

He chuckled, "You're the one who's thinking of perverted thoughts. I wasn't referring to that."

"No?"

"Definitely," was the honest and serious reply, "but now that you mentioned it…" he trailed off as a wolfish grin graced his handsome face. Their couch would be christened today.

Chapter 5: Drifting

"Hey Dad look at me
Think back and talk to me
Did I grow up according
To plan?
Do you think I'm wasting
My time doing things I
Wanna do?
But it hurts when you
Disapprove all along"
-"Perfect", Simple plan

"Hohohoho… somebody seemed to be bubbling with happiness today," Kankuro commented as he saw his younger brother flashing across the lawn and entering the house, the door slamming. "Hey, pipsqueak!" he hollered when Gaara passed by the kitchen.

The boy retraced his steps and stood by the doorway. But instead of glaring at his older brother which he always did, he looked at him calmly surprising the older one. "Where's mom?"

"Grocery shopping."

"Look," Gaara said in a poorly hidden excitement as he took something out from his bag and handed it over to Temari who was also curious at her younger brother's rare happiness.

They looked at it. It was just a picture of Gaara, a blond kid and a dark-haired boy. Except for the blondie, both boys were having a small smile on their faces.

"So?" Kankuro asked.

Gaara rolled his eyes. "It's a family picture."

"You mean pictures with your friends," Temari corrected.

"No, family picture," the boy reiterated before grabbing the print from them and going to his room. He looked at the picture frame that had his family portrait in it and then took it. It wasn't long before it was replaced by the new print. He looked at it then smiled.

His new family…

Someone who would play and eat with him… someone who would be there for him… someone like Naruto and Sasuke…

His smile widened.

-SasuNaru is love-

Sasuke knew it was a perfect moment when he saw his parents in the family den. He quickly opened his bag when he saw his father standing up.

"I asked our teacher to take this picture," he said as he gave the print to his mother.

Mikoto squealed at the cuteness of her boy, "Aren't you cute here?" She held it for Fugaku whose gripped on his mug tightened. What the hell?! The picture reeked of innocence but their pose was that of a happy family.

Gaara was standing in front of Naruto, a tanned arm draped over a shoulder. Sasuke on the other hand was standing beside the blonde boy all proud and confident. But what irked the older Uchiha the most was how a pale and tanned pinkies were connected. These three were taking things farther. They may be kids but if they won't be told to stop, it won't be long before those two would be dating. He shivered at that thought. That would be an embarrassing moment. A scandal… a stain to their family name and he couldn't have that.

Wordlessly, he left the place in haste leaving Sasuke confused. "Is he mad? What did I do now?"

"Nothing, Sasuke… nothing," she answered as she followed after her husband. "Dear…"

"Not that, Mikoto! Don't give me that 'They're kids' reason. We have to stop them. They're spending too much time together!"

"Well, if you spend time with Sasuke then he didn't have to spend all his free time with his friends," Mikoto retorted angrily.

"So this is my fault?!" Fugaku hissed.

"No, I'm not-" She was cut off as her husband slammed the door of his study room on her face. She leaned her forehead against the cool wood and sighed. There were a lot of things she wanted to say, if only Fugaku had a time to listen and discuss things with her.

I guess, Sasuke, we're on the same boat.

-SasuNaru is love-

Arashi sighed the moment his son turned his back. He could already imagine Fugaku getting pissed off when he saw the picture. It won't be a surprise if the man would pay them a sudden visit and demand him to forbid Naruto from seeing Sasuke.

"Naruto," he called out softly. "How about this summer vacation we go somewhere else?"

"But Gaara, Sasuke and I planned to spend it together." Naruto pouted.

"Don't you think you spend too much time with them? What about your poor otousan?" He put on a pitiful look making his son chuckle. "You haven't forgotten about me and Kyuubi, have you?" The cat meowed and rubbed her body against her master's legs.

The younger blonde grinned. "Of course not! Where are we going?"

"It's a secret."

Naruto immediately pounced on his dad trying to make him spill the beans. As they two wrestled on the floor, the older male wanted nothing more than embraced his son and hold him their in his arms where no harm and pain would reach him.

When you're older, you'll understand that not all things you want will be given to you.

­-SasuNaru is love-

Silence..

That was all he heard, minus the frantic scribbling of pen on paper, either way, it was still deafening. Sure, he was the top of all his classes, and homework was fairly easily done, but his father demanded his appearance once he was done, and he could not afford to disappoint him.

Somewhere in this work-induced trance, the sound of small feet pounding against the hallway floors was heading rapidly towards his room. Itachi sighed as he finished his last assignment for the day, and prepared himself for what was to come.

Just as he predicted, the door to his room was opened and a small figure was hunched over the doorknob, which he seemed to be grasping tightly in his small hand as he was in the process of allowing air into his lungs.

"Aniki!" Called an impatient Sasuke, "I waited for you in the backyard! You promised you were going to teach me how to play badminton!" Sasuke held his racquet towards Itachi's direction to demonstrate his point.

Itachi let out a small sigh before getting closing his notebook and putting away his things, "Come..." He said calmly.

Sasuke gave his older brother a questioning look before dropping his racquet and running across the short distance between him and his older brother. Before stopping registered in his mind, Sasuke flinched and awaited the impact once he saw his brother's fingers heading towards his forehead.

Tap.

Sasuke held his head in his hands over the forming bruise as the culprit stood and looked at him with sad eyes, "Sorry, Sasuke," Itachi said lowly, "Maybe next time..."

The younger boy looked up at his brother who seemed to tower over him in an almost intimidating manner, "It's always like this!" He pouted, "You break a promise then tap me on the head and say, 'Sorry Sasuke, maybe next time' When is your 'next time"?!"

Itachi gave his little brother a sad smile before turning away and walking to his father's study, where Fugaku was patiently waiting for his son.

Sasuke's eyes drank the sight of his brother walking down the hall before he was gone. As he turned back to pick up his racket he had dropped when running foolishly towards his brother, he noticed something that broke his heart.

In the trash bin, adjacent to Itachi's bed, was his badminton racquet, thrown away like it meant nothing.

"B-but," Sasuke whispered softly to himself, "He promised..." He didn't understand. His brother loved the game so much that he even said to him that he wanted to be a professional badminton player. Itachi had been so committed and determined to that sports that it wasn't soon that he began to develop a liking towards Badminton. So why? Why?

Unable to answer the question, Sasuke grabbed his racquet, and placed right next to his brother's before marching slowly out of Itachi's room, dark eyes cast downward in shame and disappointment before heading downstairs to get a small lunch. Even though he didn't feel like eating anyway.

On the way to the kitchen, he met his mom along the hallway. The woman was walking almost hurriedly but stopped the moment she saw the sullen look on her son's face.

"What's wrong, Sasuke?"

"Aniki keeps on breaking his promises and otousan is always busy," he muttered. He was getting annoyed with how things always worked for him. "Nobody spends time with me here. It's always Itachi this… Itachi that."

Mikoto's heart broke at the abandoned aura the boy was emitting. "That's not true. I'm sure your brother would love to spend time with you but is just busy while your otousan…"

"He doesn't care about me," she heard him murmured.

"He does." She lowered herself down to look at him eye to eye. She then gave him a Cheshire grin. "Just between you and me, okay? He proudly talks about Sasuke to me."

The boy gave her a dubious look.

"No, really he does."

The boy gave her a pout and crossed his arms. "So what does he talk about?"

"He says that you're a good and diligent boy; that you're very responsible and-"

"He said that? All of that?"

The woman nodded. "Why shouldn't he? After all you're all of that and more." And somehow her words and her warm smile made her son feel better.

-SasuNaru is love-

The Uchiha butler hurriedly yet gracefully went to the telephone ringing and answered the call in his crisp and polite voice.

"Good morning too, uncle! This is Naruto. Is Sasuke there?"

The 40-something years old man pushed the guilt he had for what he was about to do. Even if he was fond of the blond boy and even if he didn't want to do this, the master of the house had ordered him to and it was his job to obey.

When a certain Naruto calls, make sure he won't speak with my son. Come up with lies or anything… just make sure that they won't talk with each other. Understand?

He looked around, making sure that no one was within hearing distance. He mentally apologized before he answered in his practiced poker face, "Unfortunately, young master Sasuke is out. I do not know when he will return but I will make sure he will know you called."

"Okay then, thank you."

Emerald eyes looked at Naruto. "What?"

"Sasuke is out."

Gaara scowled. That was not possible. Sasuke would never ever break his promise no matter what happens. He grabbed the receiver and quickly dialed the Uchiha residence telephone number. In calm voice, he asked for Sasuke then gave his name.

The butler sighed in relief. "In a moment, young sir."

"I thought you're out," Gaara said the moment Sasuke picked up his call.

"Who said so?" Sasuke said. As the redhead told him, his hold on the receiver tightened until his knuckle turned white. After hanging up, he quickly marched to their butler. "You!" he growled. "Why did you lie to Naruto?" He never let the older man talked as he continued. "Gaara told me everything. How could you? I'm going to tell this to my parents."

"Sasuke, what is going on now?" Mikoto sounded exasperated. The boy didn't waste a second to explain everything while the butler remained standing silently.

"Why don't you go along, Sasuke? I'll speak with him." The boy nodded, threw a sharp glare at the man before going back to the dining room.

"I apologize, madam," the butler immediately said, bowing politely.

"Why did you do it? You know very much that Sasuke is very sensitive to things which deal with Naruto."

"But it was an order from Fugaku-sama."

The woman sighed. "I see," was all she said. Her husband was now doing something to separate those two. And although a part of her approved it because she also thought those boys spent too much time together, she still didn't like the idea of how he did things. It would have been good, if it wasn't so sudden and if he would fill the emptiness that would appear with the separation. How she wished she could speak with Fugaku about this but the man didn't seem to take it well when she started discussing things about Sasuke and Naruto.

She looked at the blue sky, confusion enveloping her mind. What should I do?

-SasuNaru is love-

Just as Mikoto expected, Fugaku got angry when she gave her opinion on what he did. In the end, she had no choice but come up with excuses every time the man would forbid Sasuke from seeing Naruto.

And slowly, the three including Gaara noticed that their time together had lessened. And despite the number of tantrums they did, the tears they shed and the questions they raised, they spent less and less of time together until both boys especially the blonde started thinking that Sasuke would be taken away.

One time when they spent the night at Gaara's place and the redhead was in deep slumber, Naruto who couldn't fall asleep with fear plaguing him, shook Sasuke awake.

"What?" his friend mumbled.

"Even if you leave me," Naruto started.

"I'm not leaving anywhere," Sasuke told him.

"Even if you go away, let us be friends, okay?"

Sasuke squeezed a tanned hand. "I promise you that."

The blonde smiled. "Thanks."

"Hn."

And Naruto finally had fallen asleep under that warm blanket of security caused by that sleepy promise…

Time flowed gently but surely and it wasn't long before Naruto, Sasuke and Gaara were now thirteen years old and starting on a new journey as freshman junior high.

TBC