There you have it: Chapter 3. Enjoy.

-x-

"Would you be so kind and shut down my pain receivers?"

[Junky Mecha, A.I.]

-x-

The bitter smell of smoke stung his nose. He sluggishly lifted his head to examine his surroundings while his senses came back to him. His view of the front of the vehicle was obstructed by a body recently knocked unconscious. His stomach flipped when his mother's red, red hair came into focus. He vaguely noticed his head pulsating. Streaks a shade darker than the hair they filtered through dribbled down his mother's pale shoulders.

"M-mom?" The blonde called in sickening realization. He was met with the light pitter pattering of the rain hitting the metal of the car.

Fragments of their road trip were projected onto his closed eyelids. He remembered how only a week or so before, his mother had suggested some mother-son bonding. He'd nearly knocked her over when he flung himself into her arms out of gratitude. They'd been passing through a rough patch. They planned what locations they wanted to visit, and only three days later were hitting the road. Music blasting from the stereo. Windows open to let in what little breeze endured the desert's arid environment. Flushed, sun kissed faces. A rapidly growing pile of empty water bottles littering the back seat. He'd chosen to sit in the front seat. It wasn't because he wanted to keep his mother company, but because it made him appear older than he really was. He looked about thirteen years old, but was really fifteen. So why was he now sprawled on the back seat, plastic digging into his flesh? The last memory he could scavenge... was of his mother, Kushina, claiming she missed his father. Then the flare of irritation that sparked whenever his father was mentioned... They'd gotten back into the car, their raised voices unnoticed in the hectic parking lot. They'd argued over the subject for a while, before impenetrable silence fell over them. When Kushina opened her mouth to apologize, Naruto beat her to it. Only he didn't stutter an apology but three painful, painful words. I hate you.

But he never did. He'd thought it, voiced it, multiple times. He'd even wished harm upon her. But he never meant it. He'd die if anything happened to his mother. She was his support, his courage, his determination, his reason for being the person he was. He loved his mother with a passion greater than the whole universe. Only now, as he watched her lying so motionless, did he realize his mistake. His mother had given him life with the help of his father. So how could he hate the person who had taken care of him when he'd been the most vulnerable? His mother could have taken his life away without hesitation. She'd told him the story of her nine month pregnancy so frequently and with such rich detail that he could recite it by heart, and picture any scene. Only now, as the blood began to dry, did he feel regret. He hoped she'd wake up soon so he could tell her he loved her, and that was what mattered, right? But she never did.

Naruto let out a deep breath. Sasuke turned towards him, an unspoken question hanging in the air. They'd stumbled before each other by pure coincidence, or as Sasuke called it, punishment. The moment Naruto saw the raven, Sasuke was doomed. Naruto had insisted on an early breakfast, more for his benefit than Sasuke's.

"I have a mandatory work meeting to attend..." Sasuke had half-heartedly protested. He would have put in more effort had it been later on in the day. He'd found he didn't function properly in the mornings. Naruto was surprisingly persistent. Now, as they sat in the cozy café, the atmosphere had abruptly shifted from pleasant to serious. When the blonde didn't respond, Sasuke found himself repeating the question... out loud.

"Is there something the matter?"

Blank blue eyes snapped to awareness. "Of course not! I'm absolutely chipper."

"Chipper? I didn't know that word was still in use." Sasuke proudly showed off his trademark smirk.

"I'm surprised you even know what it means." Naruto retorted. At any other time he would have laughed off the insult, but he still wasn't feeling up to his best. He always tried to distract himself with strange hobbies, but somehow that memory managed to sneak up on him and spoil his day.

"I've had my share of experiences." Sasuke arched a brow, inflating Naruto's irritation. The stupid bastard could do that, and he couldn't! It irked him when someone could do something with ease when Naruto had been practicing for years upon years.

"You act as if you're so much older!" Naruto huffed. Sasuke's other brow joined the first.

"Aren't I?" He asked in apparent surprise. To be honest, Sasuke could easily compare Naruto with an 11 year old. Or perhaps a golden Retriever pup.

"I'm 22, if you haven't forgotten." The blonde pouted.

"I haven't forgotten. I'm a few months older." The Uchiha leaned back in his seat. He'd realized that Naruto wasn't as bad as he had originally thought he was.

"Yeah, like two months older, I bet!" Naruto shovelled a pile of scrambled eggs into his mouth before he could start a rant on how much of a bastard Sasuke was.

"Two months and seventeen days, to be exact." Sasuke closed his eyes, savouring the taste of bacon covered in maple syrup. It was a strange combination, but he frequently craved anything sweet and salty. Naruto remained silent in effort to calm down before mumbling, "Can I try some of your bacon?"

Sasuke took his time in answering, as he wanted to build the suspense. "...No."

"Aw, c'mon, Sasuke!" Naruto put on his best puppy eyes. Sasuke hesitated, but still managed to refuse.

"Please, please, please! With vanilla ice cream and chocolate fudge and rainbow sprinkles and a cherry on top?" The Uchiha chuckled at the blonde's childishness. Yes, he was definitely an 11 year old.

"If you add two cherries..." Sasuke trailed off. He liked teasing the blonde. Wait, what? When had he come to that conclusion? He decided it wasn't the best opportunity to drown himself in critical thinking.

"With two cherries!" Naruto quickly repeated. Now, Naruto didn't know why he was begging for a bite of Sasuke's bacon. He'd just finished his own bacon, as a matter of fact. He'd just figured he wanted a taste of Sasuke's 'cause it almost cheered the Uchiha up.

"Alright, alright. Calm down first." Sasuke sighed. As he picked up his plate, he caught a glance of the time on his wrist. He had forty minutes to stop by the nearest bakery and order an unhealthy amount of croissants before getting to work. Shikamaru had specifically requested the croissants. For what purpose? Sasuke did not know.

"I've got to get going soon." The raven commented absently. He forked the rest of his uneaten bacon onto Naruto's plate. Sasuke saw a flicker of disappointment pass through Naruto's eyes. The blonde had succeeded in distracting himself from the grotesque images that swamped his brain, and now his distraction was leaving?

"Oh... okay. Thanks for the bacon." Sasuke studied the blonde as he took a small bite of one of the crispiest slices. Naruto nodded in delight that he didn't even try to hide.

"So... you like it?" Sasuke asked out of politeness. He checked the time again, and found that four minutes had passed. Had he really spent that long watching the blonde? He really needed to get to the bakery too...

"Yeah!" Naruto finished devouring the rest of the bacon in under a minute. He then waved a waitress over and asked for the bill. Before the waitress could leave, Sasuke stated they'd be splitting the bill.

"No-" Naruto tried to protest, but the waitress was already gone. He looked over at Sasuke with a foreign warmth in his eyes.

"Listen, do you know of any nearby bakeries?" Sasuke asked. Naruto contemplated what to say for a moment before replying with, "Yeah, I go to this really nice one that's a block away to buy Shikamaru croissants all the time."

Sasuke was surprised that he hadn't noticed Shikamaru had taken a liking to croissants. He really needed to start going out with his frie-acquaintances again.

"Would you mind giving me directions?" Sasuke prompted, tapping the table in impatience. He wasn't irritated with the blonde, but with the dark haired waitress who was taking her time.

"Sure. As you're leaving the café... take your first left, then take the third right. The bakery is straight ahead. It's called Haruno Bakeries." Naruto explained. He didn't have to let Sasuke know that the only reason he went to the bakery that was farthest from his house was because the baker's daughter was one of his friends. She kind of looked like a treat, too. With her pink hair and all.

"Oh, that's Sakura's dad's bakery, right?" The Uchiha questioned. Naruto nodded. The waitress finally arrived with the bill. She then carried away both their credit cards. She returned shortly. The two exited the café and stood outside for goodbyes. At least, that's what Sasuke thought. Naruto made to follow him to the bakery, but Sasuke abruptly turned and none too gently shoved him away.

"Sasuke?" Naruto did a good job of hiding his distress.

"I can find it on my own, thank you." Sasuke glared.

"Fine, asshole. Don't bother to ask for my help anytime soon." Naruto's voice shook as he spoke. Sasuke didn't respond and instead walked further and further away. He left a quivering blonde in his wake.

-x-

Two days later, Naruto spent an hour to two hours on the phone with Ino, talking about Sasuke, complaining about Sasuke, laughing about Sasuke, and crying over Sasuke. Ino could only do her best to comfort him. When the blonde finally hung up, he sat on his favourite bean bag chair to think. That... day... he'd been on his way to visit friends, you could say. They were probably going to have a mouthful to say to him. Shikamaru had warned him not to associate with them, but it was difficult. They'd been his family after every failed activation. In a weird, twisted way he felt he could trust them. Shikamaru, however, had always made wrongful accusations of them. Those accusations seriously hurt their relationship, but they'd been friends since they could speak, and they managed to survive that rough patch. The brunette had never been able to trust Naruto's 'family' ever since they'd-

"Naruto?" Someone called out from his living room.

"How the hell do all of my friends manage to get into my apartment?" Naruto shouted back. He heard a male chuckling.

"It's called a spare key. Don't leave it in the same place if you don't want us to use it!"

The blonde rolled his eyes. "Kiba, is that you?"

"Damn right it is! What, don't you remember the sound of my sweet, sweet voice?" The two were slowly making their way towards each other. Naruto could hear Kiba's voice echoing from down the hallway. He'd forgotten to turn on the lights, so the mixture of darkness and loud voices echoing in his apartment made him shiver.

"Kiba, your voice resembles that of a prepubescent teenager!" Kiba's laugh was rather sweet though. It made Naruto smile.

"No, it's hot." Kiba's volume had significantly dropped, as they were both just outside of the same room.

"Keep telling yourself that, bud. Maybe the puberty fairy will take pity on you." Naruto opened the door, and came face to face with a grinning Kiba on the other side of the room.

"I didn't know the puberty fairy existed." Kiba shook his head in thought. Naruto rushed towards him and wrapped his arms around the taller boy's shoulders.

"I didn't know someone as annoying as you existed. Also, I just made her up for the sake of being witty." Naruto retorted. The brunette didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around Naruto's slim waist.

"You're the one hugging me now, dude." Kiba laughed. Naruto could feel Kiba's whole body shake with amused laughter.

"Good point." The blonde finally pulled away, but let his arms stay on Kiba's shoulders.

"I hear from piggy you're suffering from heartbreak." Kiba muttered, his concern evident in his voice.

"Ino or Chouji?" The blonde dropped his arms to his sides, turning away from one of his best friends to pace.

"Ha. Ha. Ha. I'm practically rolling on the floor laughing." Kiba deadpanned. The two remained silent, each one waiting for the other to break the tense silence. Since they were both such chatter boxes, this was a surprising feat. Eventually, Naruto spoke.

"You know what's the worst part of my life?"

"Being AI?" Kiba asked quietly. He had taken a seat on Naruto's bed. He could barely make out Naruto's silhouette in the darkness.

"It was a rhetorical question, stupid." There was no teasing in the blonde's tone. Kiba looked down at his feet.

"...Falling in love with every person who activates me. I'm not meant to be a worthless cyborg that you can reset and activate whenever you like. I mean, I remember that one old guy who activated me. I was horrified. Well, not at the time, of course. My will couldn't override my purpose. So I loved him with everything I could. And Kiba... Oh, it was... It was... I hate it! I want to be me. I want to be Naruto Uzumaki. I want to stop getting hurt, because Kiba, I'm so tired. I'm tired of being treated like less than a pile of shit. I'm tired of being lusted after. Why do people even lust after cyborgs? I'm a freaking robot with a human heart. With a human mindscape. Do you know how hard it is? I... I wish I'd never been turned into a cyborg. I don't even want to go on, living this life. Wait, I don't have a life. I'm a cyborg, remember? I don't have a life but a purpose. Screw you, Cy-Tec. And when-"

Kiba and the whole gang had been trying to prevent this breakdown from happening for as long as possible. Now, that it had happened, Kiba didn't feel emotionally prepared. So he stopped Naruto physically.

"K-Kiba? What the hell?" Naruto cradled his cheek. He hadn't received any physical harm. Tsk, like a human could ever harm a cyborg with their fists. His pain receivers were spiking though.

"Stop. Just stop talking. I don't ever, ever want to hear those words again." Kiba's voice shook with his pent up anger.

"I love you, Naruto. Shikamaru loves you. Ino loves you. The whole gang loves you. And Sasuke will come around to loving you too. We've all been trying to help you get through this. We know how difficult life has been for you. And we're trying so hard to keep you sane. But when you say those things... it's like you're throwing away all of our effort. All of our hard work. So stop, okay? We're going to get through this together. I promise. We'll find a solution to it all. So please, just stop. You have to keep holding on." The brunette pleaded. With Naruto's enhanced vision, he could see tears trailing down Kiba's cheeks. The sight stirred his heart.

"Kiba, I'm so sorry. I just need some time to get back on track, okay? I'm sorry." Naruto breathed out. Tears blurred his vision. But they weren't tears. Not really. They were an artificial substance created to resemble tears. He wanted to cry so bad... to cry for real. Who knew he'd ever miss crying so much? Kiba wrapped his arms around Naruto and rubbed his cheek against the soft, golden hair.

"Sh, it's okay, Naru."

The blonde sniffed before releasing a dark chuckle. "You know, if I could cry for real, I would."

Kiba joined in the laughter. "I'm sorry for punching you."

"It's... okay."

"Ow!"

"Don't be such a cry baby."

"Come on, you're made out of metal or something. I'm made out of bone!"

"That's no excuse..."

-x-

Things got substantially better as time moved on. It had been a week since Naruto and Sasuke's shared breakfast. Five days since he'd had that discussion with Kiba. And it had only been yesterday that Sasuke had come over to apologize. Shikamaru had obviously given Sasuke the address, as the Uchiha held Shikamaru in tow when they arrived.

The apology had been quick and to the point.

It was the most heart-felt apology Sasuke had ever given.

-x-

So... I'm sorry. That took way too long. I just couldn't think of what to write, and I ended up rewriting it twice. I'm moderately pleased with how it came out. I hope you guys think so too. Thank you so much for the reviews and for the Favourites. You make me so happy.

Lucky Kuro Neko: Haha, awww! I know! Poor Naruto. Thank you for the review!

lowfat-yogurt: Thank you soo much! Haha, I'm so proud that you think so. I hope you like this chapter just as much! Oh, and I love your pen name.