Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Ok not gonna include too much rambling here. But I just must say that this storyline really intrigues even me, which is basically why I'm writing it. So, I'm kind of writing it for myself, but I'm glad other people found it interesting as well! Just so everyone knows, I've got the whole story mapped out, it's just a matter of putting it all down.

A few notes…Naruto's condition is only physical so it's not affecting him mentally. So nothing like 'his brain is one of a five year old.' No, that's just the way Naruto is. I know it's a bit out of character, but for the sake of the story to work...anyway Sasuke said he'd return ten years later, on his twentieth birthday, making the two of them ten years old in the last chapter, so like fifth grade.

Oh, and there will be some onesided GaaNaru, SasuSaku, and GaaNeji.

Chapter 1: Sharingan

---

"Uchiha Sasuke likes Uzumaki Naruto."

Those were the words on that board that greeted me when I walked into the classroom. Everyone was chanting that same phrase loudly, over and over. I could see Naruto blushing heatedly, trying to grab the eraser that was being tossed from one kid to another.

"Stop it! It's not true!" I heard him say. I caught his eye and he looked down at the floor, embarrassed.

I lunged at the kid with the eraser.

"Erase it!" I yelled at the boy beneath me. He shook his head furiously and continued to chant, "Uchiha Sasuke likes Uzumaki Naruto! It's true! I saw you two chasing each other around outside!"

Oh. Obviously in fifth grade, "chasing each other around" definitely classified as liking each other. It didn't matter though. All I cared about was the fact that Naruto probably felt like dying right on the spot. He never liked extra attention.

I took one last look at the kid underneath me, saw his smirking face, wound up my fist, and punched him. Hard.

As our wrestling ensued, I saw the eraser roll out of his hand and barely registered that Naruto had picked it up and was hurriedly erasing the board. All the screams and yells of "Fight! Fight!" from the rest of the class were all meshing together. Everything felt like a blur.

An hour later, once the teacher had come in and cleared that whole ordeal up, I was sitting in a corner of the classroom with a black eye, a bust up lip, and bruised knuckles, while Naruto was busy opening up different sorts of medicine. He dipped a cotton swab in a thick, purplish liquid. I held out my hand.

"This is gonna sting a little…" Naruto tentatively brushed my knuckles gently with the swab and I winced, quickly retracting my hand and blowing on it, wanting to make the pain go away.

When I looked back at Naruto, I saw that he had tears rolling down his face.

"Why're you crying? It's not like you got hurt…" With that said, the blonde looked from my eye to my knuckles and more tears seemed to pour out of his eyes.

"I know. But this is my fault. I'm the reason you got hurt."

I sighed. "Dobe, this isn't your fault. You have to stop blaming yourself for these things. And anyways, you shouldn't cry so much. The more you do, the more people will want to pick on you. You've got to learn to be stronger than this." I didn't think it was necessary to add that it hurt me whenever I saw him cry. Or that whenever he did, the urge for me to protect him became greater.

Naruto nodded his head and quickly brushed the tears away.

After a moment, he spoke. "It must really hurt," he said gently. "When I was running that relay, I found it hard to breath and that hurt. And I wasn't even bleeding. You…you've got bruises and cuts. That must hurt worse than what I felt."

"It's alright," I added rather stiffly. I didn't need him worrying too much about me.

I thought back to the relay. I remember him falling down. I remember the hospital car coming. I remember the paramedics yelling. I remember Naruto being strapped down on a gurney, while an oxygen mask was placed over his mouth. I remember the silent ride to the hospital, other than Naruto's laborious breathing. I remember seeing Iruka there in a panicked frenzy. I remembered not being able to go any further because I was not a member of Naruto's family. I remembered waiting. And praying.

I remembered thinking that, on that day, for the first time, Naruto might leave me.

It was only too soon that I found out that I would be the one leaving him.


Ten Years Later
Naruto rode his bike briskly down the dirt path, humming lightly to himself. He had learned to love biking. He felt the warm breeze ruffle his hair. Stopping at an intersection, he saw that familiar sheet of long, silky black hair.

"Neji!" Naruto called out cheerfully. Neji stopped walking and turned around, greeting Naruto with a wave.

"Ready for work today?" Naruto asked as he peddled over.

"If you mean ready to get dirt shoved up my fingernails once again, then yes, I'm ready," Neji answered with a grin. Naruto grinned back. Then, he let himself look over Neji's appearance. The Hyuuga always wore white, either pants or shirt, for as long as Naruto could remember. Today it was a shirt. It was tight enough to show the well-defined chest muscles, but not too tight so that it was enough to be comfortable. He had paired that up with tan slacks and sandles. Neji's dark hair was gathered up in a loose ponytail, which only seemed to contrast with his pale eyes and skin.

Before the two could speak another word, both heard the distinct roar of a sounding motorcycle. They turned to see Gaara making their way toward them, red hair blowing crazily in the wind. If there was anything to know about Gaara, Naruto had come to learn, it was that he looked tough, with a flaming tattoo right on his forehead, but he was probably one of the sweetest people the blonde had ever met. Gaara pulled to a stop beside him and Neji.

"Hey," he greeted the two of them with nods. He looked at Naruto's bike and gave a small frown.

"Naruto, why do you insist on riding that bike to work every day? I can give you a ride." Gaara patted the seat beside him.

Naruto gave a small smile and shook his head. "Thanks for the offer, Gaara, it's really nice of you. But I like my bike. It feels…like I'm running."

"Well," Gaara scoffed teasingly, "if that's the case, then this will feel like you're flying. Come on, what do you say?"

Naruto laughed but shook his head again. "No thanks Gaara. Oh! I know, how about you give Neji a ride instead?"

Neji's eyes widened as Gaara hesitantly looked at him. He looked away.

"I—I wouldn't trust Gaara driving me anywhere." Gaara simply shrugged his shoulders before saying he would have preferred riding alone anyways. He kicked his motorcycle back to life and rode off, throwing a wave over his shoulder to Neji and Naruto.

As he disappeared further and further, Neji swung an arm around Naruto's shoulders, as the blonde got off his bike to walk with Neji.

"So, Naruto…do you not like Gaara?" Neji asked him questioningly.

Naruto blinked. "I don't…not like him," he said, not quite understanding what Neji was talking about.

"Then why do you always push him away?"

"I don't know…what you mean." Neji turned to look at Naruto and it was clear that the latter really didn't have a clue what Neji was referring to. He mentally let out a sigh, wishing sometimes his friend wasn't so naive.

"You're still waiting for your secret lover, right?" Neji asked, eyes glimmering with amusement. He saw the blonde's cheeks redden just the slightest bit. "Naruto…it's been years, but you're still not giving up huh? I think you've got your head in the clouds…"

Naruto bit his lip as he processed Neji's words.

The two of them reached the greenhouse where they worked to see Lee, the other employee, already there. This surprised neither of them. They both assumed Lee got to work an hour early to run laps. Or to frolic in the flowers… something weird like that.

Naruto busied himself at a table with one of the smaller plants, while Neji went to help Lee. The blonde replayed what Neji had said earlier in his head.

I think you've got your head in the clouds

Shaking that thought off, Naruto noticed that he had dozed off for practically a whole hour. Crap.

"Naruto!"

He turned at the sound of his name being called to see Neji and Lee running toward him. Both looked genuinely upset, and Naruto knew that it must've been some pretty big news, to get either of them that worked up over it.

"What is it?" He asked them, worry setting into his face.

"We just saw some businessman drive away…"

Naruto understood the point immediately. "You don't think…" His worry began to grow increasingly.

Both Neji and Lee shrugged their shoulders. That was all it took. With a start, Naruto took off. He needed to find Gaara. Badly.

Making his way to the smaller building attached to the greenhouse as fast as he could, he saw Gaara sitting inside, reading a magazine with a bored expression.

Naruto rushed over to him. "Gaara, is it true?"

"Is what true?"

"Don't play dumb! Neji and Lee said they saw a businessman here! Your brother isn't really thinking of selling the greenhouse is he?!" Naruto was practically yelling by now. Never in Gaara's life had he seen the blonde so distressed.

"Calm down Naruto. Yeah I saw that businessman and my brother talking, but I don't think it's anything big." Naruto didn't look too convinced.

Gaara sighed. "Look, if it really bothers you, I'll talk to Kankuro about it." He hated seeing Naruto this upset.

"Do you think you could beg him not to sell this place?" Naruto questioned, hopefully.

"Sure I could." Not that Gaara had ever begged in his whole life, to anyone or for anything. But, in Naruto's case, he supposed he could make an exception.

"A-and…will your brother listen to you?" Naruto asked tentatively.

"Of course he will." He would make his brother see his way. For Naruto's sake, he would break his brother's neck before he let him sell the greenhouse.

A wave of relief flooded the blonde and he let out a wide smile. "Thank you Gaara!"

Gaara smiled back in return. He didn't know what it was about Naruto. But it was definitely something, something that had caught Gaara's interest.

"Hmm, I bet the reason you didn't want to sell this place was because then you couldn't see me every day." Gaara joked lightly, half-wishing it was true.

Naruto laughed and punched the redhead lightly. "Actually, it was because I couldn't stand to see my lavenders being taken care of by another." That thought seemed to spark another because his eyes widened with horror as he realized he had forgotten to water them this morning. Waving a goodbye and a "thanks again," he made his way back outside.

"Naruto, wait!" But the blonde was already too far away to hear.

Gaara watched as Naruto went over to his precious flowers. His smile saddened a bit when he saw how Naruto attempted to run, but it looked somewhat more like waddling. He saw the blonde cradle the flowers gently, then sprinkle water over them, before leaning into sniff their scent.

Naruto and him had been friends for the past few years. He had never told Gaara why those specific flowers were so important to him. But…he had told him other things…

Gaara's smile dropped a little more.

That…poor kid.

---

Flashes of light and screams were the only things that he could see or hear. He took a small breath. He should've been use to this treatment by now. It was nothing new.

The limousine door opened.

He followed Sai, pushing his way through the crowd that police held back. Microphones from newscasters were thrust in his face and cameras were clicking but he ignored both, as well as his adoring fans.

"Sharingan! Sharingan! Can I please have your autograph?!"

Stopping in his tracks, that one voice reaching out to him, he turned around to see a young girl of maybe around fifteen or so. He reached out for the cd and pen.

"W-wait! If it's not too much trouble, c-could I have your real name?" she asked, blushing, obviously flustered to be within such a close proximity of him.

He stared at her for a moment, contemplating her request.

A moment later, he found Sai waiting for him, having escaped the mob. He gave him a pointed look.

"Why did you sign that for her?"

The other simply shrugged, not caring enough to offer a response. Both continued walking. He thought of what he had written.

My real name…Uchiha Sasuke.

---

"Lookie here," Lee said while he slapped the magazine he had been reading on the table. Both Neji and Naruto crowded over to see.

On the cover was a picture of one of the most gorgeous men Naruto had ever seen in his life. He had choppy bluish-black hair that was blown straight around his face, but spiked up in the back. His skin was pale and he wore a quiet, thoughtful expression on his face. He moved his vision upward and was almost taken aback.

His eyes…

"Isn't he hot?" Lee sighed, while Neji let out a snort. "Oh come on, you have to admit he's good-looking and you're just the slightest bit attracted to him!"

Neji took another look at the picture. "Just the slightest bit." He held his fingers apart about a centimeter to emphasize his point.

"Sharingan?" he asked, pointing to the name that was imprinted below the picture.

"Ah, well that's just his stage name of course. Not many people know of his real name. It's said to be very private information." Lee concluded. Neither Naruto nor Neji wanted to know how Lee seemed to be an expert in this area.

"I heard he just recently came back to Tokyo from the states. I don't know exactly how long he's staying but in the meantime, I say we all go to his concert!" Lee declared loudly and officially, as though he had definitely made up his mind and left no room for any argument. Naruto and Neji looked at each other. The brunette shrugged getting up to ask Gaara if he wanted to go. Lee kissed the picture of Sasuke one last time before getting up himself, leaving Naruto alone.

The blonde looked back at the magazine. He couldn't help himself but let his eyes roam over the picture once again. His breath hitched when he stared into those eyes.

Those painstakingly familiar-looking eyes.

---

Gaara was not in the best of moods. He had just spent the past two hours waiting in line to buy stupid concert tickets to a show he didn't even want to go to, only to have them be sold out before his time to pay. In turn, he had ended up buying a pair from a sketchy looking guy with a large trench coat and shades, despite the warm weather, for an unreasonably high price, only to find he had been scammed and had only been given one ticket for the price of two.

Oh, it had been the best morning ever.

And then when he had returned to the greenhouse to find Naruto, he had offered the ticket to him, seeing as how he had no interest in the Sharingan concert, but the blonde had flat-out refused. He said that they had all agreed to go, and that he wasn't about to go without Neji and Lee, especially considering it was their idea in the first lace.

That was Naruto, always thinking of others before himself.

Well, that left Gaara with a useless, shitty piece of paper that had cost him 4000 yen. The only reason he had offered to go get tickets in the first place was because he had wanted to spend some time alone with Naruto, thinking Neji could keep Lee distracted for a few hours. Or, well, Lee could keep himself distracted for a few hours.

And now Naruto wasn't even going to go.

Gaara was really about ready to smash something.

---

"Move it a little more to the left! No, not that left! Watch out for that cord there, don't tr—be careful with that, it clearly says fragile on it!"

Sai raked a hand through his hair. His eyes fell on the person sitting on the bed, tuning his guitar, not giving a damn about the outside world.

"Ah, well Sasuke, what do you think of this place I got you? Isn't it gorgeous? Spacious and it has a great view! Of course it was just a tad bit expensive…but no matter! I, being the fabulous manager that I am, straightened it all out for you!" Sai didn't expect to hear a "thank you" and he didn't receive one. Instead, he picked through one of Sasuke's open boxes on the floor. He picked up a small sand bottle, containing a single flower inside of it.

"This looks interesting," he said while shaking it up and down. Sasuke looked up from his guitar to see what was so "interesting." Putting his instrument aside, he plucked the bottom from Sai's grasp.

"It's a lavender flower." He set it down on the table gently, next to a picture of him and a few friends from elementary school. Sai grabbed the photograph and stared at it.

"You still have this old thing around? Look how ugly you use to look!" Sai snickered at his own wittiness. Sasuke sighed and plucked that out of Sai's grasp as well, setting it down again, his fingers lingering on the frame.

"What, you still have feelings for your little elementary school friends?" asked Sai jokingly.

Sasuke let his eyes look over the picture. He was surrounded by four other people, but the one closest to him, with a huge grin on his face…

He shook his head, letting out a small frown, before flattening the picture.

---

Naruto sat on the grassy field, staring down at the picture on the magazine. In all honesty, he hadn't been able to put it down. There was something so captivating about it, something that made him wonder…

It couldn't be…

The blonde let out a yelp of surprise, feeling a gentle shove from behind, as Neji and Lee plopped down next to him. As a reflex, Naruto hid the magazine close against his chest.

"What have you got there, Naruto?" Neji asked as he prodded the blonde who just shook his head. "Let us have a look. We're your friends, right?" Sighing in defeat, Naruto uncovered the magazine, revealing the picture of the handsome young man.

"Oh I knew it!" Lee shouted excitedly. "Naruto thinks he's hot too!" The blonde simply turned his attention back to the picture, focused intently.

"What's wrong?" asked Neji as he saw how concentrated Naruto looked. He could always tell if something was bothering the other.

"N-nothing. It's just that…well…pretend you once had a really good friend that you knew in elementary school. Do you think that if you saw them again now, you would recognize them?"

"Hmm," Neji swished his long hair over one of his shoulders. "I don't know…it's been a while."

"But what if you were the best of friends?"

"That was then, this is now. I can't say I would definitely remember them."

"I suppose you're right." Naruto took another look at the picture.

Damn those eyes.

"Thinking of your lover?" Neji teased. But when he saw Naruto had not responded, he turned to see the blonde deeply immersed in a staring contest with the photograph. He put two and two together and his eyes widened.

"No way! Naruto, you can't be thinking this Sharingan guy is him!"

Lee turned, shocked, mouth wide and gaping. Naruto let out a small blush.

"N-no! I don't know that for a fact. I…I was just thinking. I mean, I don't know, he looks an awful lot like him…" He trailed off, not knowing how to continue.

There was a short silence before Lee let out a low whistle. "Damn Naruto…never thought you of all people would end up with a global pop star…"

"You know what this means, right?" Neji exclaimed offhandedly. When Naruto shook his head, he filled in the gaps. "It means you have to go to that concert!"

Naruto blinked at the two of them. "But I thought…"

"Don't worry about us! Lee and I will find some way to amuse us. Besides, this could be your only chance to see and maybe meet Sharingan! You have to talk to him! Maybe he's the one you've been waiting for!" Lee nodded vigorously as Neji finished his little speech.

Naruto thought about it. Gaara probably still had the ticket on him. He could go...it could be his chance to at least see if maybe...

But what if...what if he doesn't remember me?

---

Night had fallen. Sasuke fell back on his bed, exhausted. He really had appreciated the house Sai had gotten him for his stay in Tokyo, though he would never voice that appreciation out loud. Reaching for his phone next to the bed, he pressed his inbox button.

You have two new messages.

First message.

"Otouto, it's me."

Sasuke relaxed as he listened to his older brother, Itachi, speak.

"I hope you're doing alright in Tokyo. I know you're old enough to take care of yourself, but at least give me a call sometime so I know you haven't died. Oh, and remember..."

There was a pause. Sasuke couldn't remember the last time Itachi sounded so hesitant.

"If you have any more serious nightmares, let me know and I'm coming there immediately. You've stopped your medication, but still...you know I can't help but worry about you."

End of Message.

Sasuke let out a sigh. That was Itachi alright. Short, serious, and to the point. No goodbyes.

Second Message.

"Hey Sasuke…it's Sakura."

Sasuke's eyes widened as he let the message play on.

"Just wanted to say hi and ask how you were. The temperature in L.A.'s been pretty much the same without you here. I tried calling your cell phone a little while earlier but you didn't pick up, so I just wanted to make sure you were ok. Anyway, I'm almost done with the work I have here, so we'll meet soon in Tokyo! And…I really miss you. Give me a call soon, ok?"

End of message.

Sasuke lay there quietly, thinking over Sakura's words. He let a half-smile cross his lips before falling asleep.

---

Yeah so obviously Naruto's not the brightest bulb. Gaara's feelings for him are evident to everyone except…well…him. I kinda like how I brought Gaara in, not as he's typically portrayed. Guess I wanted to try something different? Neji's feelings will be revealed a bit more in-depth later. Oh and as for Sakura, she's a pretty important part. You'll get her/Sasuke's past a bit later as well, along with some of Sasuke's emotions. As for his "medication," no worry, Sasuke doesn't have an illness as well! He's just...suffered, I guess you could say.

Reviews are much appreciated and I promise, promise, promise if I get a lot, I'll update within the week!