Riayu: I open up my email the morning after I update and what do I see

Riayu: I open up my email the morning after I update and what do I see?

Arbela: Indifferent That people actually think you're not a crap writer?

Riayu: -.- Someone has a crab up their ass.

Arbela: Not my fault that you imagined me being this way.

Riayu: Damn, you have a point. Anyways, thank you to everyone who is reading my fic, has put me on their alert or favorites list, and all you who have reviewed! Hands out boxes of cookies

Arbela: If you don't wipe that goofy grin off your face I'll take this sword and ram it up your fiction-writing ass.

Riayu: What sword?

Arbela: This one Pulls long sword from the air Now start writing before I kill you.

Riayu: O.o Right, onto the fic of doom!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

"Naruto, you have a phone call!" Hinata called from the kitchen, where she was making lunch. Said blonde turned his MP3 player off and stood up from the couch.

"Hello?" he asked when the phone was at his ear. There was a moment's pause as if the person had disappeared. Finally, when Naruto was about to hang up, there was a voice, low and dark.

"Naruto, this is Itachi," the voice said.

"No it isn't," he said, walking back into the living-room and sitting on the couch again. "This is Sasuke, Itachi's failure brother. His voice is a little raspier than yours, deeper, sexier. But I'm sure he would be able to imitate yours perfectly." He smirked, thinking of the scowl that would be on the face, though not really able to imagine the face itself.

"Shut up," was the quick reply.

"Right, then I guess this is goodbye," the blonde sighed dramatically, held the phone in front of him, and was about to press the end call button when there was a shout from the other end. He smirked and brought the phone back to his ear.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke, what was that?" he asked, cradling the phone between his ear and shoulder so that he could pick at his nails. There was a sigh on the other end as Sasuke struggled to say what he intended.

"I need your help," he said finally. Naruto nearly dropped the phone, but was quick to recover.

"Need my help with what? Surely you could figure something out without the help of a 'total idiot'. I'm sure your brother would be able to do anything without my help."

"Not really," Sasuke said. "I need your help with him. He's locked himself in his room and is refusing to come out. You seem like you would be good at making him do things."

"You have it backwards. He's good at making me do things. But I guess I could give it a shot. How long as he been in there?"

"Since the end of the party," Sasuke said with a sigh. Naruto felt his jaw drop open.

"But it's been three days. Hasn't he eaten?"

"He refuses to eat anything," Sasuke said with a tired sigh. "I'm not even sure what he's doing in there, but he has his music on so loud the walls are shaking." There was a loud crashing sound and for a moment Naruto thought he had lost connection, but then there was Sasuke's voice again, panting slightly.

"Sorry about that, Itachi threw something at me," Sasuke said in between pants. Despite Naruto's detest for the boy he found himself slightly aroused by the breathless tone of voice.

"I'll be over soon, okay?" he said into the mouthpiece, not bothering to wait for a response before hanging up.

"What's up?" Hinata asked, turning away from the food she was making.

"Some friends require my help. I'll be heading over after lunch if that's okay," Naruto said, smiling at her.

"Right," Hinata said. After being with Naruto for the week she had come to realize that he didn't always need her help getting places. He seemed to be able to remember how to get to certain places, such as Gaara's and Chouji's houses by foot. She often wondered why he had even bothered to bring her if he only needed her to cook. Surely someone in his family would be willing to do that for him. But he didn't seem to like being around his parents. He even refused to see Pein sometimes. She wondered if maybe they made him feel blinder than he already felt. She doubted that, because he didn't have a problem with being around his friends, who often talked about the problems the accident had caused. Maybe she would get the guts up to ask him one day. Until then she would settle with talking to him and sharing the house with him.

Naruto ate his food quickly, got up, and grabbed his jacket. He shouted goodbye to Hinata then dashed out of the house and started walking. The Uchiha household wasn't too far away; close enough for him to walk, even on a chilly day. He pulled his hood up to hide his blonde hair and blind eyes. As he walked he listened to the people around him, complaining about jobs and kids. People bumped into him as he walked; one or two apologized, most of them yelled at him to watch where he was going. He smiled at the irony, stuffing his hands into his pockets to protect them from the cold.

When he felt he was there he turned and walked up the large path that led to the large estate, knocking loudly on the door when he reached it. A butler opened the door and offered to take his coat, but the blonde refused and left the man as he walked up the spiral staircase towards his destination. Sasuke met him at the top of the stairs.

"Teme," the blonde said by way of greeting. He could practically hear him scowl in response. "Take me to him," Naruto said, smiling.

"Usuratonkachi," Sasuke muttered, leading the way to his brother's room. "Good luck, Blondie." Naruto knocked on the door and waited for the music to quiet.

"Who's there," Itachi's voice came, the music lowering.

"It's Naruto," the blonde said, waiting for a response.

"What are you doing here?" Itachi asked. There was a clicking sound and Naruto could hear the doorknob being turned.

"Sasuke called, he was worried sick about you and wanted me to make sure you were okay," the blonde said. He made a surprised sound when he was suddenly pulled into the room and the door was closed and locked behind him. A cold hand immediately slithered up his shirt as frozen lips were placed over his own. For a moment the blonde melted into the kiss, nearly gave in to the lust of it. But a voice deep inside him told him it wasn't right.

He pulled away from Itachi almost immediately, wiping his mouth on the sleeve of his hoodies.

"I didn't come here to screw you, Itachi," Naruto said, running a hand through his hair. "I came here to figure out why you won't come out of your room. What's wrong, Itachi?"

"I didn't want to be around my brother, so I locked myself in my room, that's all." Itachi said, trying to get Naruto to kiss him.

"And you didn't eat why?"

"I wasn't hungry. Can we stop with the twenty questions?" Itachi asked, again trying to take the boy in his arms.

"God, you're so horny, Itachi. I'm not going to screw you! We're not dating anymore, remember? I broke up with you and I meant it," the blonde said, throwing his hands in the air. Itachi was silent, staring at him with slowly darkening eyes, if that was even possible.

"I told you things that no one else knows," Itachi said quietly, his eyes furious. "I showed you the real me. I LOVED YOU!" He shouted angrily, grabbing the blondes collar and hoisting him into the air, slamming him against the bedroom door.

"Don't lie, Itachi," the blonde said, staring down at him with blind eyes. "We both know you were only in it for the sex, for the lust." The hand gripping his collar tightened, air coming more difficultly. "You never loved me." He was pulled away from the door then slammed against it again.

"What the hell would you know? You're just a fucking idiot! You thought I was lying when I said I loved you? You think I'm lying now? You are so blind!" the brunette screamed, slamming him against the door another few times. The blonde smiled such a dark, ironic smile that Itachi dropped him and stepped away. He had never seen something so full of hatred, not even when he looked in the mirror. The most frightening thing, though, wasn't the loathing in the gaze, but the fact that it wasn't directed at Itachi. No, it was directed inwards; the blonde was directing all of his hatred at himself.

"Yes, Itachi, I am blind. In fact, I'm so blind that I can see behind your shroud of lies. I'm so blind that your lies are as transparent as the rest of you. You're hiding in here to get away from everything. Seeing me scared you, and you didn't want anyone to see, especially not your brother. You saw that I wouldn't fall for you anymore, that I had finally stopped being that ignorant little boy that let you screw him whenever you wanted." The blonde unknowingly took a step toward the brunette.

"You didn't want to come to terms with what had happened that night. Seeing me blind made it more real that anyone else's disabilities; those could all be ignored. But you can't ignore this, can you? It's sickening, isn't it? To think that this is all your fault too," the blonde smiled cruelly as Itachi inhaled sharply. The blonde wouldn't stop there, though. No, two years of self-loathing and he finally had someone he could poke and prod. Finally, he wouldn't be the only broken one, not today.

"It was all your fault, that's what you were always saying. It was your fault they got into that car accident. Heaven forbid you don't get every little thing you want for your birthday. It was your fault that I was at that party, too. 'It'll be fun, Naruto. You can bring all your friends, Naruto.' So I trusted you and went. When you told me to drink I drank. Then my parents called and I told you. 'You're not that drunk, Naruto. Everything will be fine.' What's today's lesson, class? Never, under any circumstance, trust an Uchiha!" The blonde was panting and shaking with rage, his eyes stringing painfully with unwanted tears. He turned and fumbled with the lock on the door, trying to keep his hands from shaking as he jolted it opened and walked out. The minute he stepped through the door he walked straight into Sasuke.

"Gomen," he said, walking around the second brunette.

"Was all of that true?" a voice asked quietly.

"What?" Naruto asked, turning to face the voice.

"Is that really how my parents died? Getting a present for aniki?" he asked quietly. Naruto paled, his triumph-fueled mood shriveling into guilt. "Tell me," Sasuke said desperately.

"You're going to need a drink and a place to sit," Naruto suggested. Sasuke sighed and grabbed the blonde by the arm, leading the way down the stairs and down a hallway into a large kitchen. He poured to glasses of sake and put one in front of Naruto, who merely held the cup for comfort. He waited for the brunette to sit before telling the story, or as much as he knew, of the Uchihas' death.

"It was your brothers sixteenth birthday, if I remember correctly. They were going to throw a huge party and had gotten almost everything they needed when your brother suddenly added something to the list of things he wanted. I think it was a new car because the one he had wasn't good enough of something like that. So they rushed out to get it before the party started. I guess the roads were slippery that day. He told me they hit a patch of black ice and went skidding off the cliff… You know the story from there." Naruto listened to the sound of Sasuke tossing back his sake and slamming the glass back on the counter.

"I don't see why I care, my father always expected me to be just like Itachi." He said, getting up and pouring himself more sake. He sat heavily in the chair, leaning forward on his elbows and staring down into his sake.

"You miss your mom," Naruto said knowingly. "She was the person who took care of you, loved you, made you feel like you were your own person. She took care of you." There was silence from the Uchiha boy; the blonde had struck a cord.

"What makes you think that?" the Uchiha asked, his voice perfectly monotone.

"Because I was the same way. When my parents died I hardly knew my father, I didn't have much of a reason to miss him. But I still miss my mother sometimes. She was the one her took care of me and loved me." There was silence for another few minutes.

"Thanks for your help, Naruto," Sasuke said absently. Naruto wondered what could possibly be on his mind that would make him thank the blonde that had probably only made things worse. He leaned forward across the counter and ran his fingertips along the contours of Sasuke's face.

"What are you doing?" the brunette yelled as fingertips brushed his lips gently, leaving behind tingling trails.

"I want to know what you look like, teme." He touched the face for a few more moments then gently touched the brunette's hair, laughing after a moment.

"What," Sasuke asked, staring at the blonde. The milky blue eyes seemed to glitter, turning a sky blue for a split second.

"You're hair is shaped like duck's butt!" the blonde laughed, trying to contain his laughter. He reached out to feel for a reaction, the brunette was pouting.

"Come on, teme, you know it's funny," the blonde said good-naturedly. "It was just a joke, or do you not have a sense of humor?"

"What is he still doing here?" a voice asked. Naruto's stomach turned cold at the sound of Itachi's voice. He was thoroughly pissed off now.

"I was telling your brother how your parent's really died since you decided to keep it a secret. Then I was cheering him up because he was all broken up inside. Then I made fun of him. You came in right before I could tell him that he's three times as good looking as you are." He was surprised by his own words, but the more he thought about it the more he agreed. After all, the lines of Sasuke's face were smoother, not yet ruined with hatred, or maybe because he was younger.

"Get out, now," Itachi hissed, sending a shiver through the blonde. He stood, downed his sake, and was walking down the long hallway towards the front door in no time. He didn't trust himself with the walk back so he hailed a taxi, sitting heavily in the backseat.

"You need to stop hailing my taxi, it's such a pain," a familiar voice said. Naruto smiled, pulling some money from his pocket.

"You already know my address, Shikamaru, take me when you're ready." The car moved through the traffic, stopping a few minutes later in front of the house. Shikamaru took his payment, returned the change, and actually said goodbye to the blonde as he climbed out of the cab. Up the stairs and into the house, the blonde threw himself on the couch and heaved a sigh.

"What's up, Naruto?" Hinata asked, looking at the exhausted blonde.

"I've got some new material for my book. It came to mind in the car," he got up, went into his room, and started typing.

Riayu: That was fun….are you going to put that sword away?

Arbela: Huh? Oh yeah Stashes sword What was the point of that chapter?

Riayu: Hmm…Mostly to get some more background and a reason for Sasuke and Naruto to talk. I just felt like writing today.

Arbela: Shouldn't you feel like that everyday?

Riayu: Well you haven't been doing your job, I've been entertaining myself with Sims 2 trying to make a video. Anyone know where I can get a video converter from? All help is much appreciated!

Arbela: Reviews might make her write faster, and they will earn you cookies!