Chapter 2 – When A Friend Doesn't Let Go

Itachi left early in the morning the next day, taking his mask and uniform with him. Mikoto told him he wouldn't be back until evening. Sasuke almost sighed in relief. It was hard to hold such anger down, and he didn't think he could stop himself from attacking again. His time under Orochimaru had allowed him to learn some self-control, but he still recognized his own impulsiveness.

He went to the academy early, if only because oka-san's frequent glances his way disturbed him. Iruka-sensei's lectures were boring and his voice was grating with the irritation he'd felt at the student he'd sent to wait outside, like always. Sasuke barely listened, choosing to look out the window instead.

The sky was strangely calm. He wanted it to rain, and thunder. He wanted to feel ice-cold and numb, so that the numbness of his body would maybe distract him from that of his mind. He wanted to hear thunder so loud that the noise of his own thoughts would fade in comparison.

Because there was something else, an idea of something that shook him more than anything. He had begun to feel it in the morning, after waking up to Mikoto's gentle nudging once again. It was a duality that fought within him, struggling to take over even as he resisted.

It felt real. It was real. Oka-san and otou-san were alive, and aniki was there again. It was almost like the future had never happened, a tempting hint of ignorance that had somehow taken root in his mind. He fought it off as if his life depended on it. His life did depend on it. He couldn't allow himself to fall prey to his own mind.

"You'll have a quiz on report-writing tomorrow," Iruka-sensei was saying, "you should all be prepared, this is an important mark."

Sasuke couldn't hear his words. He was too busy clenching his hands on either side of his head, trying to take himself back. The episode seemed to be going to its peak, at a point where he'd honestly thought he was seven-years-old.

I saw oka-san and otou-san die. I passed the exam. I was Kakashi-sensei's student. Orochimaru gave me his power. I killed Kabuto. I am almost seventeen years old.

He forced the thoughts to run through his head repeatedly, cementing his identity within himself. For a while it seemed like it wouldn't work, like the illusion would snare him in.

But eventually, the feeling began to fade and his eyes became clear again. The brief episode of doubt was gone, but he had a feeling that it would come again, and that he needed to prepare himself.

What was that? Was it an effect of the time-seal? Or was it a product of his mind, formed from natural thought and so inevitable? What … what did he have to do when it came again?

He decided to push it to the side of his mind for later thought. Iruka-sensei's teaching voice made it back into his hearing.

That was when he noticed that all through morning class, a pair of blue eyes had been fixed on him.

Troublesome.

When they ended class for lunch, Sasuke took his bento box and went to sit away from the other children, underneath a tree at the edge of the playground. The other kids all went to eat in groups, and some of his previous 'friends' approached him. A few disinterested looks sent them away.

He'd only just split his chopsticks when he realized that he wasn't alone.

"Hey." The boy came to sit a little way beside him, carrying a lunch of cup ramen. He was wary, so unlike his cheer from before. The gap between them was noticeable.

Sasuke didn't respond. He chewed silently, wondering when Naruto would ever take a hint. It seemed that the dobe's younger self was just as annoying, just as clueless. One small part of his mind tried to protest, to mention that he'd become a half-worthy shinobi. He crushed those thoughts immediately.

"Did you always eat by yourself?"

"Hn." A non-committal sound.

"Over here?"

"Hn."

"Can I sit with you?"

Sasuke turned to raise an eyebrow. This was getting out of hand. "No, you can't." he said bluntly.

Naruto shook his head, slightly more confident now that he'd spoken actual words. "I like you better than the others." His face seemed slightly different from Sasuke's memories. The whisker marks and the wild yellow hair were the same, along with the set of stubbornness. But had he always had that undertone of worry in his voice? Was this before he'd grown so used to rejection?

But it was laughable. Sasuke wasn't even trying to hide the depth of his annoyance, of his dislike. The others merely avoided him; they were much better. "I'll move, then." He made to place his chopsticks back in the box. There were other trees, ones that weren't plagued with insufferable dobes.

"Wait!" Naruto reached out to clasp at his short sleeve with small hand, stopping the motion. He bit his lip. "So what's your reason? Tell me first before you go."

"Reason?" Sasuke asked tiredly, "what do you mean now? Let go of my sleeve."

But the small fingers had curled themselves into the cloth, refusing to relinquish it. Naruto was watching him with a mix of hope and wariness, and the cup ramen was set aside on the grass under the tree. He looked down for a few seconds, as if gathering his childish thoughts. Then he looked back with the sort of blind determination that was so typical of him.

"What's your reason to stay away from me?" He asked bluntly. "You've probably been told by your parents or something, but that's not why you do it. Your look is different from the others."

"Do I not succeed in conveying the fact that I don't like you?" Sasuke asked incredulously. He was sure he'd made that clear; even Naruto couldn't be so ignorant.

"I know you don't like me. But … you don't like me." Naruto struggled with how to express the notion, how to express that this dislike was ok.

Sasuke could piece together what he was trying to say. The others saw the Kyuubi in him, or saw their parent's disappointment in him. Sasuke, at least, hated him, the actual Naruto. He was slightly startled at the level of observation the boy possessed. It wasn't what he had expected.

"You're annoying," Sasuke listed, "you play pranks that disrupt the lessons."

"It's fun!" It's the only fun I have!

"You speak big whenever we have taijutsu practice but it's clear that you don't practice your katas."

"I do!" Every day after class in the academy training grounds!

"Well you practice them wrong."

Naruto seemed slightly taken aback by that, as if he'd never considered the possibility. "Will you help me practice them right? I'll do it. I don't really have anything else to do after class."

"I don't have time for that. I'm busy."

There was silence, filled with only the sound of his chewing. Half of the reason Naruto was so annoying was because he was a seven-year-old child, and Sasuke realized that he never liked anyone more than two years younger than him; the difference in mental capacity was too different.

There was a shuffle, and he turned to see that Naruto was sitting still, watching the other kids playing in the distance. He was probably expecting Sasuke to stand up and leave now that he had answered the question.

Sasuke didn't know why he said it. He just knew that he did, and that he would probably regret it sometime in the near future. In fact, the tendrils of regret were already creeping up inside. He said it anyway.

"Ch. Fine. You can sit with me."

Naruto had stuck to him like a persistent burr all through class, observing him with those surprisingly careful blue eyes. For the first time in about a year, he hadn't played a single prank for three straight hours in the academy. Iruka-sensei had been fidgeting around like a rabbit in the middle of a forest of wolves, wondering when the little monster would strike.

"Hey, Sasuke? You're strong, right?"

Sasuke turned to raise an eyebrow at the boy who walked beside him.

Class was over and all Sasuke wanted to do was walk home. For some reason, Naruto was still there beside him where they stood in front of the academy doors. "Sure," he said, because the boy wouldn't leave without an answer.

Naruto's eyes lit up, "so you'll be able to help fight people off, right?"

"If you get into a fight then that's yours to handle."

"No, I mean, to help someone who won't fight for themselves," he explained, clasping his hands behind his head. "I always try, but she gets mad at me later. She's really weird, you know. She never fights the people who make fun of her but she hits me when I try to help."

That sounded like half the people Sasuke knew. "Who?" He asked out of mere curiosity.

"I'll show you." Naruto grinned and tugged at his sleeve, "come on, this time we can be her heroes, ok?"

He stumbled along as Naruto pulled him with surprising exuberance towards the back playground of the academy. Some of the other adults were there to pick up their children, and Sasuke could feel the glances they threw their way when they saw him with the demon-boy.

Abnormal, their eyes said, it's not supposed to be like that. This yellow-haired boy wasn't supposed to have that smile.

They went out the building, following the fence until they reached the playground where some of the other children waited. With a sinking feeling, Sasuke realized that he had some sort of guess to who this was after all. He hadn't met her at this age. This was before most of the academy children dropped out, and the rest were put together in one graduating class.

Just as he'd thought, there was a small group of children standing there in the playground, gathered in a semi-circle around a form small enough to be hidden behind their height. They were all children from their class, mostly students who didn't rank nearly as high in class as he did. Sasuke frowned; she should be able to fight them off easily.

"Say that again, Forehead!" One of the other girls laughed.

"I'm going to place highest in my mental aptitude exam. Higher than all of you." The pink haired girl told them, arms crossed over her red cheongsam. The cloth was slightly scuffed, and her hair was cut into crude bangs that fell over her forehead.

"Yeah right. You're not even from a shinobi family. Go sell stuff in merchant shops like your parents do," another boy taunted effortlessly.

"Oi!" Naruto yelled, dragging him through to stand in front of the girl. "Shut up! She can be a shinobi if she wants to!"

Sasuke didn't bother responding to the kids. Instead, he turned to survey the girl who had her back to the academy building. She was clutching a small book bag to her side. Before they'd arrived, she had seemed strangely reserved. But for some reason, she was glaring angrily at Naruto.

"Hey! I don't need your help, Naruto!" She reached forward to grab the back of his orange jumpsuit and shove him to the side, into some of the children.

They promptly escalated into a full brawl, while Sasuke watched dispassionately and Sakura stood beside him, fuming. She hadn't noticed his presence yet. This was a nice change. Then again, she was seven. Did girls that young have crushes? He hoped not.

After a few minutes of watching Naruto alternatively take hits and deliver them like a wildcat, Sasuke decided it was enough.

"Stop," he said, his voice commanding. "This is silly. Won't all your parents be here soon?"

"Yeah, but his won't," a dark-haired boy took one last jab at Naruto, who stuck his tongue out in retaliation.

"Just go away, this is troublesome," Sasuke said tiredly.

The other kids made to head to for him too, but one of the girls muttered something with the word 'Uchiha' in it, and they all shot him glares before dispersing. His clan name carried some benefits; especially since he wore the same symbol as the police they'd seen patrolling.

Soon, it was just the three of them standing in the playground, feeling sand creep into their shoes and the evening sun glare languidly around them.

"You're welcome, Sakura-chan!" Naruto said brightly, rubbing a bruise on his cheek.

"Idiot," Sakura huffed, "I didn't need you there." She seemed to be glancing around for a way to escape the 'demon-boy' before anyone saw her there.

It wasn't right, the way she was acting. Sasuke frowned. It was too different. The Sakura he knew would have leapt right in and struck them back. He watched curiously as she pushed her pink bangs from her forehead in irritation, before self-consciously flattening them back down.

"They were taunting, and you did nothing," he observed. "You have higher scores in taijutsu than they do."

She seemed to notice him for the first time, and blushed slightly, looking down at her feet. "I … was told that it wasn't right to respond to them."

"Who told you that?"

"My mother," she squeaked.

"She's a civilian?"

Sakura averted her eyes, "yes."

"Then she wouldn't know that fighting is part of a shinobi's life." Sasuke finished. He hadn't meant to say it, but it surprised him. The difference between this shy girl and the annoying yet resilient kunoichi he'd known.

By the time he reached the Uchiha compound and unceremoniously said goodbye by closing the gate behind him, evening had already fallen. Naruto had cheerfully walked him all the way back, somehow happy to resign himself to the fate of walking the five kilometers to his apartment by himself.

His mother was away, and the house was curiously empty without her presence. This was one of the few times she hadn't been there to make him an evening snack when he returned. Sasuke left his books in the sitting room.

It was the day of Shishui-nii's death.

He couldn't afford to fight openly, his body was still too young and his erratic, untrained chakra flow left him with little to operate with. Anything he did needed to be done covertly, including killing him. Protecting Shisui against Itachi's attack sometime that night wasn't possible.

But he had to do something, and Uchiha Shisui lived nearby. Mikoto hadn't left a note, and Fugaku was at another full council meeting. They probably wouldn't be coming back until later than night, which gave him enough time to try.

Without any outline of a plan, he ambled out into the compound, headed for the other Uchiha's house. The day-shift police were returning; uniformed Uchiha shinobi were entering through the gate. They talked and laughed like it was just another day, but there was an air of hesitance about them. Most of them recognized him as the clan head's younger son, and they ruffled his hair and smiled as they passed. Sasuke patiently nodded but didn't try to conceal his contemplative look.

His mind kept showing him pictures of their lifeless faces.

Other than the police, there were only a few children returning from the academy, and no one else bothered him as he walked. It took another ten minutes to reach Uchiha Shisui's house, and he knocked politely on the door. Shisui was five years older than Itachi – though age rarely mattered in anbu and his aniki had a habit of associating with those much older than himself – so he lived mostly alone. Sasuke had never made a habit of visiting him beyond asking for where Itachi was.

"Itachi's not back yet," Shisui told him when he opened the door. "He'll return in a few hours." He was still as Sasuke remembered, with those strange, almond eyes and the messy hair that spiked up over his hitai-ite. Shisui had a different look from Itachi; he was a killer just the same but his eyes were always kind, they never had an edge to them.

"I'm here to talk to you, Shisui-nii." There was no need to be secretive about it. In a few days, there was the very real chance that he would be labeled at Itachi's killer; he had nothing to hide. This person had been one of his first victims.

Shisui raised an eyebrow, but he allowed Sasuke to step inside before closing the door behind him. "Would you like tea? Ah, I just returned from a mission so I haven't stocked any but-"

"I have to warn you about something," Sasuke turned to watch him and didn't attempt to hide the intelligence in his eyes, "you're in danger."

"Danger?- Sasuke shouldn't you be heading home? Mikoto-san will be worried-"

"Oka-san isn't at home. Her shoes aren't there."

"Ah," Shisui nodded in understanding. "Then she's probably talking to … never mind. Come in, Sasuke, you know to play shougi, don't you? Let's see if I can beat you as easily as your brother," he smiled.

Sasuke gritted his teeth. He hadn't come for company, he'd come to deliver a message. He made no move to take off his shoes, and remained standing before the closed door. "Shisui-nii, I … think someone's going to try to kill you tonight. You have to be careful."

The older boy stood there silently for a little while, giving him a strange look. He'd heard those words before, every skilled shinobi had. However, they weren't usually said by a seven-year-old boy. It was strange that they were being said at that time.

"It doesn't matter if you don't believe me," Sasuke told him. "I just came to tell you that so you would be careful, subconsciously or otherwise." This was Shunshin no Shisui after all. He could take care of himself, he had probably been taken by surprise last time.

"No, no it's not that," Shisui's ran a hand through his hair, looking older than his eighteen years. "It's just … why did you come to tell me? Isn't it ev-" He seemed to stop himself mid-sentence, but waited for Sasuke to answer.

Sasuke could see that he didn't believe it. "Be careful," he said again. "That's what I wanted to say."

He turned to leave. A hand fell upon his shoulder.

"Did you hear your parents talking, Sasuke?" Shisui asked softly. "Or did Itachi …? don't worry. It's nothing you should worry about. I'll be safe, all right? Want to come in and play shougi?"

Sasuke shrugged the hand from his shoulder and pushed the door open, leaving the older boy standing at the door, watching him with worry.

His father was in the sitting room when he returned. His lined face was set with some sort of disapproval, and he held a single signed document in his hand.

Sasuke acknowledged him with a nod of his head and made to go to his room.

"Sasuke. Sit." Fugaku's voice was slightly rough, as if he'd spent the day using it at his highest tone. He gestured towards the other side of the kotatsu. Sasuke went and carefully sat down, feeling as if he'd been called to his execution.

"Otou-san."

"Sasuke, I've heard some things about you," his father stated. "Things that are not befitting your role."

For a moment, apprehension rose up within him. Had his father seen something? Noticed something? It didn't seem possible; he'd acted the part of seven-year-old boy as best as he could.

"I've heard from Teyaki-san that you were seen walking with that boy."

Sasuke let out a small breath in relief. So it was about something as trivial as that. Judging from the wrinkle in his father's brow, he was taking it seriously. "Yes, otou-san."

"Why? You know well not to affiliate with him."

He responded with silence, because he was unsure what to say. It would be easy to spit out a remark, but this was Uchiha Fugaku, head of police. He would take his words and twist them, so that they pointed at him instead.

Seeing the lack of reaction, Fugaku leaned back, satisfied. "You know not to do it again."

It was strange talking to his father like this, before Itachi's disgrace. Sasuke knelt silently at the table, itching to leave. He had to plan. He had no time to indulge his father's sudden notice of him.

Fugaku was watching him with contemplative eyes, "where were you today, after class?"

"I went to visit Shisui-nii."

"Why?"

"To ask him if … aniki would be free to train with me today."

"Itachi is busy," his tone was final, no-nonsense. "Don't bother him for the next few days."

Sasuke nodded, he was fine with that. He didn't want to see him anyway, and this simply gave him an excuse. "I won't if you say, otou-san. Where is oka-san?"

His father ran a tired hand through his hair, "she's speaking with Hikaku-san about a certain clan event we have planned."

He frowned, "event?"

"It is nothing you need to know, you will be in Kusa at that time," Fugaku looked back down at the document he held. Sasuke leaned over slightly to see the Konoha council stamp. Once it was clear he was no longer needed, he stood up to leave for his room.

He had to sleep early if he didn't want to see aniki return. He didn't think he could hold back a second time.

That night, while the sky was dark black and clouded, Sasuke woke up to see Mikoto's ashen face. She shook him awake with trembling fingers.