SONDER

(n.) The realization that each passerby has a life as vivid and complex as your own.

From the start, society teaches children that lying is unacceptable. A taboo that creates a chain effect of disaster and chaos. At first, the young are frightened by the thought of anything negative, so they try to follow the rules they'd been given.

Being children, they still lie about harmless things that don't have too much of an effect, because to an adult, it's still controllable. When the young reach adulthood, they slowly realize there are many exceptions that the simple rules they were taught, but many adults still choose to lie about the wrong things, paranoid over their own problems and the difficult decisions that awaited them.

The answer was simple. There is no definite right or wrong. That is the truth about being an adult. It is up to each individual to use their judgment and values to make decisions that will affect their life dramatically or minimally depending on their actions.

Though this truth is definite at its core, it can be frustrating as it can often cause conflict and create a road of deceit of self-disgust.

Despite the world of lies and distrust, people want to believe in others. Deep down, desiring the ability to place unbreakable faith in others is a shared wish.

Unfortunately, humans are liars by nature, an important survival skill just to get by in life. To save face. To protect pride. To be alone.

When the novelty of safety and quiet fade out, being alone without a friend was even more unbearable.

Naruto understood this rule set in life since he was young. So when he became an adult with a matured mind, he promised to love all, trust a few, and to protect his family and friends.

Especially to protect Sasuke. They shared a past during their darker moments, perhaps that was why Sasuke opened up to him with less caution than others. It was possible Sasuke didn't want to let go of Naruto because loneliness had become the normal setting for him.

Maybe Sasuke craved an end to his painful crawl to his goal, or he was afraid of his bond with Naruto. Too afraid if he'd burn.

The soft feel of sheets and blankets surrounded Sasuke's body.

Dreams of blurred figures filled Sasuke's head, faintly, lavender was found in the air.

Ocean waves crashed softly, singing in gentle crescendo without the screeching of birds. But it wasn't like any other he had saltwater pool he'd seen before. The ocean wasn't limited to a single shade of blue, there was cerulean, topaz, sapphire, teal, indigo, cobalt, turquoise, and other playful hues of blue that seemed to change with the movement of the saltwater.

The sun was dipping into the horizon with its golden fire, the rays of lights dyed the sky a vibrant scarlet, peach, and traces of soft yellow tapped the clouds.

It was so peaceful, this warmth made Sasuke feel safe from the darkness he lived in on a daily basis.

But all good things come to end, he knew that from experience. The price for something remotely amicable wasn't worth much if it meant he'd be stuck in time with false peace.

This warmth was only a lie to the real thing, and he was tired of being reminded of the impossible.

So he pushed forward. Finding his way back to his path was all he had left to his life. Destroying Itachi was the only thing that aroused any resolve from him, as long as he was still alive, he would never stop.

"To be honest, I thought you were happier without me." A voice echoed. Sasuke jerked his head and met younger blue eyes.

The short child across from him smiled. The ocean disappeared, darkness surrounded him and the child.

"I wouldn't have blamed you if you were. After all," The eyes twisted in cold pain. "We were alone and starved of love. Kids that lived in a world full of hate."

The sadness quickly left when they looked up to Sasuke's dark ones. "Thank you for being my best friend despite all of the doubts we carried. Cause I know you cared." The glowing smile somehow brought attention to the light horizontal marks on his cheeks, confirming it was Naruto as a child. It was so long ago when they'd been kids. When Naruto's skin wasn't so golden and more of a peachy orange, the blotches of purple and black on his limbs left Sasuke recalling the darker moments of their lives, bringing on a protective nature in Sasuke now that he perceived how incredibly delicate Naruto was as a child.

Without consciously knowing, Sasuke sauntered closer, recognizing the translucent image of his past. Getting closer, Naruto seemed to become less and less saturated until it was apparent, he was gone. Travelling back into the past does not change anything, it only opens up old wounds, bringing the risk of infection with it. "Don't go." Sasuke said, feeling lost and emptier than he thought possible.

Snow began to fall, bringing biting winter through his hollow body. Leaving him alone again in a black abyss.

"I've seen you carry that look on your face once a year at the orphanage, you always did look like you sucked a lemon." A familiar voice again, older and huskier with age. Instinctively, he jerked again from the break of silence. The black around him was sucked out, replaced by white as the snow seemed to have disappeared.

The same blue eyes, the yellow hair the same obnoxious hue that it was.

"Besides you being a total ass on those days, I hated seeing you look so depressed and angry. But I admired you too, you had the kind of strength I was missing."

This Naruto was the present Naruto that Sasuke had gotten to know, something farther from the past. "At the same time, I could kinda… feel the pain too. It had really hurt." His hand went to touch the middle section of his chest. "I needed to find you." Naruto's voice was soft and silky, comforting in many ways.

"Why?!" Sasuke snapped "Why did you do all this for me?! I don't deserve it. I've never done anything for you." That wasn't true, he'd helped Naruto out more than anyone at the orphanage, but nothing that deserved this, especially after Sasuke chose to abandon everything good in his life, Naruto included. He wouldn't survive losing someone again.

Soft laughter escaped Naruto, the blue eyes seemed brighter and stronger. "You have been my friend," the childish grin never failed to lose its shine, never failed to cause a quiver in Sasuke's heart. "That in itself is a tremendous thing." The way Naruto viewed him, was too kind; Bringing an heavy pull in his chest.

Everything clustered before disappearing. Before Sasuke could ask one question.

Why

Richly coloured flowers greeted him, before he noticed the moving presence of someone with a watering can that resembled a sunflower. The person watering the plants, hummed something that resembled jazz music.

"Why." the word escaped his mouth from his half asleep mind, his arm reaching out to tug the sleeve of the person.

"Wha—Well look who's awake now. Morning sleepyhead, how are you feeling?"

"Do you even have to ask? Looking at you hurts me." Sasuke snapped from the boisterous voice that was a tad too cheerful for his mornings. When Sasuke awoke from slumber, he needed at minimum an hour of quiet as he prepared himself for the day, if that was disturbed, than his mood would be quite foul.

The wince Naruto gave surprised Sasuke; he didn't think anything fazed Naruto, apparently he was wrong, he didn't care though, but he did refrain from saying anything more hurtful, even if he did enjoy seeing others become brought down by his doing. Letting out a brief sigh, he sat up, slicked his hair back, disliking the oily strands of his hair. "Where am I?" He asked with a much more softer tone.

As if oblivious to his grouchy mood, Naruto answered easily "My room, in my bed. I slept on the couch so I didn't do anything."

Sasuke's eyes furrowed tightly "Why?"

Naruto paused himself by placing down the watering can "You don't have to sound so defensive, don't you remember anything last night?"

Sasuke was about to shake his head, but then recalled a tree, a cat, and a large, white dog, however, Sasuke had a difficult time arranging those clues as to why he was in Naruto's apartment. Sensing his confusion, Naruto answered without Sasuke having to "We were gathered with Kiba to climb up a tree. Kiba's dog Akamaru is terrified of cats, so Kiba, and myself went up to the tree to coax Akamaru down. You didn't cause you thought we were being idiots, and then…" Naruto grimaced as his eyes hesitantly glanced at Sasuke sheepishly.

"And then?"

"Well… the branch snapped… and we fell on you. So uh, naturally you kind of lost consciousness. To be honest we were all freaking out, Choji managed to call up our friend Lee, who's an expert on impact injuries, to see if you were okay— Thankfully, you were. Though you probably have a few bruises… Sorry about that."

Scowling Sasuke began to remove himself from the bed "Calling the ambulance would have been preferred."

"That is true, but Lee lived across the street so he was closer." Naruto reasoned casually.

Sasuke wanted to scorn Naruto about the incident, but frankly, he didn't have the energy to do that, not in the morning. Plus, he did agree to come along so it was partly his fault for poor judgement.

"What are we eating?" Sasuke ventured to ask, sounding rather defeated. Picking up on the change of subject with eagerness, Naruto stood slightly straighter. "Well I don't have anything yet… but you wait here. So I'm just gonna grab healthy breakfast—"

"…Is that frozen Ramen wrapped in a fruit roll up?" Sasuke inquired with suspicion by the noodles bunched in a nest of fruit rollup by the counter.

"Breakfast burrito, but yeah."

"Would consuming a healthier food group kill you?" Sasuke began to get up, annoyed Naruto's eating habits haven't improved at all since they were kids.

"Its fine, you can have some fruit I have." Naruto pranced to the kitchen.

"And what about you? You can't live off of ramen, you know that."

Rolling his eyes, Naruto pulled out a chair for Sasuke for the small wooden table. "Give me some credit, I don't always eat it, it's just I got a busy morning. But, I'll eat something better since it bothers you."

"Doing what?" Sitting himself comfortably, Sasuke observed Naruto taking out food items out of the fridge.

"Shikamaru wants to propose to his girlfriend, and he asked if his best friends would be there to witness it. No way am I going to miss something like that." Naruto took out a container of baby tomatoes, and milk. "Of course, I still gotta find what I need to wear today, but I got taste so there isn't a problem."

"Do you need help?" Sasuke asked, finding himself cringe at what the possible things Naruto had in mind of what was classy and fashionable. When Naruto pulled out his favorite red fruit, Sasuke kept his eyes on them.

"Depends, was that an offer?" Naruto asked with a hint of hope in his voice before he rolled out a fair amount of tomatoes in a bowl before rinsing them, his body pausing just at the shelves of cereal he had lined on the right side of the fridge.

Finding the tomatoes quite appealing to his mood, Sasuke nodded before he finally received his breakfast, taking immediate action to bite into a cherry tomato and enjoy the balance of sweet, sour, and savory on his tongue.

"Whew, that's a relief, it'd be great to have a second opinion." The blonde man admitted, getting out a box of cereal and another bowl to prepare his own breakfast, switching to something healthier now that . "Thanks for the help."

"Of course, I'd hate to see you grabbing all the attention with your frightening taste in clothing."

"Say all the mean jabs you want, you just don't want to admit you're being nice to me." He teased with his blue eyes and glowing smile.

"Naruto." Sasuke warned.

"Just say it, you like being nice to me."

"Please. Shut up." Sasuke felt his ears turn hot as he bit into the juicy fruit.

"'About damn time!'" Naruto mimicked with a squeaky voice which was a terrible imitation of Shikamaru's fiancé. "'If you were one more day late, I'd thought I'd have to propose to you!'" He finished with a laugh that rumbled in his throat and chest.

Sighing with a feigned annoyance as the smile that he could not rub off was evident, Shikamaru rolled his eyes "How was I supposed to know she was eager about marriage, we both agreed when we met that matrimony was too troublesome."

"Who knows, although it was pretty entertaining when you panicked for a month when you were conscious of your mad feelings for her." Kiba shrugged, turning up the loud electro music that was a mix of beatbox and trombones and other odd harmonies.

"It is rather surprising to see Shikamaru to find his match." Sasuke commented with a hidden smile as he was driving.

"Preach it! It was pretty much love when Temari came along and proved she was the only that was able win every argument against him." Hooted Naruto, chuckling with Choji as Shikamaru's embarrassment became clearer with every comment.

"Please shut up, you guys are embarrassing me, it's not a big deal." The intelligent man grumbled under his breath, sadly, he was still audible as the song began to fade.

"We're just happy for you." Choji assured with his pleasant nature "You're the first one out of all of us to get married after all."

With that finished, Sasuke parked by the grocery market and a café.

Sasuke and Shikamaru approached the café in hopes for some lunch a cup of coffee while the rest went in for party supplies which would have been mostly alcohol if Naruto hadn't assigned Kiba and Choji jobs in there.

"Why the fuck do you get to choose the booze? You got taste buds of the dead." Kiba complained, a shade irritated by the requests of Naruto.

Confident in being able to argue his point, Naruto chose to reply in a deadpanned tone "You like Peach Schnapps. Enough said my man."

"What about it? Taste fine to me."

"Yeah if you flavored coolers like kids." Naruto added before he began to head for the alcohol section to avoid prolonged debate.

Turning his head to Choji, Kiba asked with insecurity he'd failed to hide "That's not true, right?"

Biting his cheek Choji found himself stuck between choosing honesty or consideration of Kiba's feelings. "Um…"

The wild chatter failed to distract Naruto despite the high pitched yelling in the background. Apparently a bunch of toddlers and children were around; because it was roughly afternoon, it must have been lunch time for them since there was a school a block away from the store, which brought back fond memories for Naruto. Back in high school, he'd go out for lunch with his squad and buy a bunch of junk food to eat in the front yard of the school, where they'd joke about the hot girls in their school. Those days were so simple and unsatisfying.

Eying the scotch, and whisky, Naruto decided to sacrifice the extra dough since Shikamaru had expensive taste and deserved the best for this occasion.

"Seems like you're busy for a stock of alcohol." Someone quietly mumbled in a toned voice, almost discreet sounding. A tall figure approached the tanned man.

Turning around while withdrawing his hand, Naruto took a moment from the alcohol section of the grocery store to observe the stranger. Slender limbs, milky white complexion, dark sleek eyes, and ebony hair that was tied. Surprised at the severe shared characteristics with Sasuke, Naruto stared.

After a moment of gawking, Naruto realized he was being rude and shook his head out of his confusion "Sorry about staring, you just look like my friend. Uh, Can I help you?" he hesitatingly asked, unsure where his sudden apprehension rooted from. It was almost like he'd been caught committing a felony when he had a right to the alcohol section, and wasn't even driving, so he was being a responsible adult. Plus this man was only striking a friendly conversation, Naruto was usually all for chatting with new people.

The dark eyes glanced at Naruto's overall body "Perhaps."

"Um," Somehow Naruto felt uncomfortable with the dark gaze staring down at him, which was a strange thing by itself. Fear wasn't something he felt often, even when questionable people approach him. But this man, seemed troubled by something dark and heavy, like his burden had drowned out his gentle soul. "Exactly, what do you need?"

Fingers of the stranger seemed to clench on to something in his jacket, by the sounds of it, it was likely paper of some sort. "I'm just hoping to get to know you," the glint in dark eyes softened before the owner of them pulled away, "Although I don't have the right, since you seem quite happy and don't quite deserve my misfortune."

Completely taken by surprise, Naruto struggled with his words before asking a pivotal question "What—Wait a sec, what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

With a weak smile and pressed lips, the man gave one final glance "Body language." He turned around the corner at the end of the aisle; with growing curiosity, Naruto pursued the escaping man, but he'd nearly tripped over a toddler, so when he looked up, the stranger was no longer within sight.

As crowds and waves of people continuously became a blur, there was a considerate pause before Naruto mumbled under his breath "Weird fucking guy." his eyes still searching for the quaint, shadowy man that seemed to have disappeared under his nose, he couldn't help wondering if Sasuke and the man were in fact, relatives; the idea was trashed though, Sasuke didn't have family so it was impossible.

At first, he merely stood there. Then the calls of his friends snapped him back on to his objective, encouraging his brain to shrug off the odd occurrence, for this was supposed to be the night of indulgences and partying.

Returning with rather toned down aura, it was noticeable to the rest of the group that something robbed Naruto of his usual energy and spirit. Rather than bring attention upon the change of attitude, Choji and Kiba were the optimists while Shikamaru was the supporter; Sasuke chose to stay quiet, but switched seats with Kiba so Naruto and Sasuke touched knees.

Due to the effort, Naruto was swept up by the mood and shortly began to laugh and joke in the car; Kiba already changing the radio stations, Choji mostly snacked, but found moments to laugh and talk. Shikamaru found himself sharing the mood, only he devoted his time in the car on his phone. Within a short span of time, he received congratulations on his marriage by his relatives and a handful of (expected) death threats from his in-laws. Sasuke kept to himself, but even he wasn't immune to Naruto's ridiculous banter that never seemed to end.

Arriving roughly behind 5 pm, the excited men quickly and efficiently transported the supplies into Shikamaru's apartment.

The evening started with celebration, which eventually turned into a drunken gathering, excluding Sasuke and Naruto. Sasuke took the initiative to be the one to drive the drunk idiots back home, where Naruto had 'changed' his mind.

At the end of the party, it was at exactly 11pm where Naruto heaved his friends carefully into taxis before sending them safely off home. Shikamaru was out cold on the couch with his limbs spread out, Sasuke simply threw a blanket over him and a note before he exited the apartment room in search of Naruto.

As Naruto finally sent off the last man, Kiba, he called over another taxi for his ride home since he was a bit tired of the unwanted return of a sadness he never understood even if he was an adult now, his fingers pinched at each other in an attempt to distract himself from the ache he felt in his chest. He needed a moment to himself to push away this drowning feeling. With a sigh of relief, a taxi was quickly available again, but as he was about to pay the taxi man, Sasuke asked "Want to go for a drink?"He neede

Wetting his tanned lips, he nodded, maybe he did need a drink.

"So what's on your mind?" The words were simple when they escaped Sasuke, but Naruto wasn't quite sure where to start.

Naruto could only stare at his second cup of whisky. "Nothing. Just kinda exhausted today. One of the side effects of staying up all night from horror movies." Naruto joked, his nails digging into his own hand, forcing his smile a little.

Dark eyes fanned in disapproval before he brought his lips to his glass of brandy, swirling it around his tongue to experience the slow burn of alcohol before swallowing "You play with your fingers when you get nervous." Sasuke commented, keeping his eyes focused on the wall. "You're not the type to turn down alcohol." He added.

Realizing that he'd been caught in his lie, he dropped the smile and took a swig of his whisky, drinking more than half of his glass, he needed the courage, not matter how stupid, he needed to get this off his chest.

Quietly he admitted "I… am happy for Shikamaru, but this made me realize that after years of growing up with people I care about, we grow apart at the end of high school by going to different universities." Tanned fingers loosely cradled the glass before he finished the rest of his drink.

"Now he's getting married, he'll be busy with his wife, and eventually, have kids. So he's leaving." His voice cracked in the middle before asking for his glass to be filled again.

Although Sasuke was wordless, he was paying attention, and nodded for him to continue.

"Although we celebrated today, to me, I was saying goodbye to Shikamaru because things won't be the same anymore, this was his night, and I wanted to remain sober to remember…"

Another gulp of burning alcohol.

"Our last time being a complete group of childhood friends…" His words tumbled out clumsily before he finished his third glass.

"What am I supposed to do when everyone's off with their own lives?" Naruto's face was covered by his hands "I'll be gone, I'll—"

"Naruto." Sasuke calmly said.

"Being alone is terrifying… I-I don't… don't know how I'm—"

"Naruto!" Sasuke snapped, his hand gripping Naruto's hand which placed a stop to Naruto's momentary hysteria to his surprise.

Quiet again, Naruto dropped his gaze to the ground before he continued with better control on his thoughts "I'm afraid of being alone. Sometimes I think about where I'll be when my dad dies, when my friends are off with their happy families… It's scary to-"

"You don't want to be alone and forgotten." Sasuke finished with soft breath, finding the fragile look on Naruto's face upsetting; to see sorrow on a person who was regularly smiling without troubles seemed so unnatural. Naruto was a happy person, but it occasionally slipped from Sasuke's mind that humans are never such simple things, and his best friend couldn't escape that fact.

Somehow, Sasuke wanted to comfort Naruto, to assure the rare case of distress. Normally Sasuke could charm and comfort anyone that began to drown in emotions in his presence, but around a person he loved, his mind would go blank and his heart would flutter erratically and he'd feel slightly dizzy. Without thinking, Sasuke fixed the gap between them to silence, or at least calm Naruto's drunk ramble.

His hand curved at the back of Naruto's head, lacing between soft locks of yellow hair to guide Naruto deeper into their soft meeting of lips. Naruto's tongue had subtle hints of whisky, aiding in the tingling pulses his body thrived in, turning the point of the kiss to a whole new direction when Naruto's hand slid to trace the curve of his body.

Immediately, Sasuke broke free of their heated exchange of tongues when he'd realized they had practically groped each other in a public place. The stares of some, though not many, had further pressed the embarrassed heat up his knew, rooting to his ears.

"Naruto, we should stop until we get to your house." Sasuke suggested with breathy words and a silky voice. His partner however, was slack, and when the brunette leaned closer, the soft traces of snoring was clear. Naruto was apparently a sleepy drunk.

I suppose this makes things easier to handle than a drunk Naruto. The porcelain man reasoned before he paid for their drinks and decided that enough was enough.

Both needed their sleep, today had been a long day, especially for Naruto as he'd been feeling slightly abandoned.

If Sasuke had been anyone else, he would have thought Naruto's reaction was a bit ridiculous when really, it wasn't. Not to him at least, because he knew where his fear of loneliness rooted from.

When they reached Naruto's apartment door, Sasuke practically dropped Naruto on the bed, barely able to remove the iron grip Naruto had on his arms before helping him out of his jeans and shirt. Checking the time, it was almost 12 am. Recalling that he needed to get up at 8 am to get to a meeting, Sasuke debated if it was really worth driving a little over an hour to get to his own apartment.

This was not a normal decision nor were the circumstances. Naruto wasn't a stranger nor just a co-worker. He was in a relationship, but the difference with this one, was that it was special. Sasuke knew that Naruto would never have malicious intentions, the mere suspicion of it was a laughable joke (either because he was too limited to be so sly, or that he valued morals. Probably both).

Concluding that it was perfectly acceptable to spend the night, Sasuke relieved himself of the tightly worn clothes, only to be surprised by the sudden slid of hands around his stomach and the warm touch from his back.

"Naruto, let go." Sasuke said mildly, continuing to unbutton his dress shirt.

Nuzzling into his warm neck, Naruto mumbled with lips pressed on the marble skin "Don't leave."

Once his shirt was open, Sasuke once again, paused before he rested his hand over Naruto's. Closing his eyes to take a calming breath Sasuke turned his head to Naruto to softly place a kiss on his head. Naruto seemed to have calmed at the action and began to pull away with the intention of going back to bed without any more fuss. However, Sasuke's grip on Naruto's hand didn't loosen before the ash coloured man realized and promptly dropped Naruto's hand like it burned him.

Wordlessly, Naruto settled in bed half asleep, patting at the space beside him for Sasuke to join him under the covers. Standing there, Sasuke didn't think much of it as he pulled the blanket over him and Naruto.

Unsurprisingly, Naruto had fallen right back to sleep after a couple of minutes, whereas Sasuke was still awake, finding how strange it was for Naruto to appear so calm and relaxed, to see him with minimal intensity, it almost seemed like Naruto was dead if not for the solid breathing; this brought fear and curiosity to Sasuke's thoughts.

If Naruto had died during that winter night, was it possible for Sasuke's life to have been different? There wouldn't be anyone left to stop his hunt for revenge, but did he really want that anymore? The ties with Naruto was a weakness, that was obvious to Sasuke, but the idea of cutting their bond off brought a strong ache in his left arm and a burn in his chest.

After years of going after his brother without a lead or a clue, Itachi might have been dead for all he knew. So if Itachi was gone, what was left for Sasuke to do? Be with Naruto? That seemed too easy, Sasuke wasn't impressed by the idea of settling with something instead of making decisions for himself, but maybe that was what he wanted. Being so determined on his goals, Sasuke's skills for being warm and open were pitifully poor.

Although pain and hardship had molded him, Sasuke wasn't black hearted. Yes, he could be emotionless, icy, and sometimes cruel; but he did occasionally have better moments.

This anger had helped Sasuke survive this long, but now it was devouring him from the inside. His past had dragged him through hell to create a hollow shell of himself. Now that Naruto had returned,

Sasuke felt protective around him, developing an urge to spend time with the idiot because he enjoyed their conversations, he liked who he was when he was around Naruto. Right now, Sasuke was still young, he could change his goals to something brighter, but was it worth it?

Letting go Itachi meant letting go his family, but he let go of Naruto, he'd end up ripping out a part of his heart that was growing back from years of rotting, it'd be the same as letting Naruto slip past his fingers like the way his family did. As much as Sasuke was a capable man, to lose someone important again was terrifying to him.

The place Naruto had in his heart was much more prominent with the months they'd been together.

You mean so much to me. Sasuke thought as his hand stroked the scarred cheek of Naruto, finding the warmth of Naruto's body calming and gentle for his brittle soul.

Sasuke understood if he tried separating from Naruto, he'd only come back since he seemed to act impulsively when it came to his gentle-hearted man who spoke with fierceness that even he couldn't resist, being with Naruto made Sasuke happy, and nothing was worth throwing it away since this is what he has now.

"I love you, Naruto." He confessed to the unknowing man who slept innocently without much awareness to Sasuke's contemplations. The mere utter of the words made his body tingle, especially his skin. But it was the truth, and it made Sasuke feel elevated to say it.

Even though Sasuke may have a difficult time the word 'love', he knew he would do his best to show Naruto his emotions than with words. But one day, Sasuke would find the strength to tell Naruto his past. That day would be the day when he was free of all his defensive walls that only Naruto had managed to pierce through.

But he could to it, for himself and for Naruto.

All he needed was to be kinder to himself and have faith.

Deep blue eyes blinked open, greeting Sasuke with his smiling gaze, and bright face "I love you too."

A/N: After almost a whole year, I FINALLY got around to rewriting the whole series. Originally I wanted to make this longer, but then I realized after a 150pgs out of 198pgs, this story started off with two incredibly young and scarred children and was about growing up to accept their fears and doubts, and to follow their better judgment despite their pride and difficult past. I don't really want to continue the story any further than this since the main theme was growth, and the first step into changing is the most difficult. I cringed at my writing and wonder how one year could make such a difference. This will be the only time I will ever rewrite a series (I think), the writing in this still kinda makes me wince since most of the time I was rewriting, it was like 3 am. Thank you for everyone that has put up with my crap writing, and I hope to be starting another series soon with much better quality. In addition, the man in the grocery store was Itachi with a letter to Sasuke, that's all I can allow myself to tell you, the rest of the unanswered questions are left to you to ponder, I may or may not write a sequel, it depends if I get an idea for it.

I realize the sex scene is gone, and I apologize for that, but when I reviewed the chapter, I hated the timing of it, so I needed to remove it as a writer. But I don't think sex will be a part of this story. Overall, this series was my first and was quite badly done.

Special Thanks to berry5tz and YoureMyParadox for your amazing support and reviews, I hope you'll forgive me for the long wait as I owe you two a lot for helping me grow as a writer. Again, thank you.