Chapter 5: Forward

Summary:

Sasuke learns a little more about Naruto's past

Notes:

Okay so this chapter is kind of a brief explanation of some things. Sorry it took so long, it's because I wanted to add like way more but decided it might be better to just split it off into another chapter (which I'm working on right now!!) Hopefully this illuminates some things, I hope you like it!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Friday morning Itachi felt like he was going out of his mind. He had always thought that Sasuke was smart, despite how much he and his father tried to keep hidden from him, but there was no way he was smart enough to completely disappear in an hour and remain hidden for what was now approaching 7 days. He had no electronics, and no life knowledge. There was no way that he could stay undetected like this if someone wasn't helping him. And there was no way he could be dead because Itachi and Fugaku had all the hospitals scanned and watched. If an omega went into the hospital for a nose bleed within 300 miles, they'd know. They had men sweeping the streets of their city and the surrounding cities consistently. Of course, the first thing Itachi had done was interrogate Sasuke's friends to see if they had any idea where he was or where he might go. When they said no, Itachi went through Sasuke's phone to see if there were any clues there, but that also came up dry.

While Itachi felt more worried than anything, Fugaku was livid more than anything. He was positive his son was fine, wherever he was, but the end of the month was quickly approaching and if they didn't have Sasuke back by then, the deal with Orochimaru would fall through. Being unable to be mated to Sasuke was the only thing Orochimaru had said would be a dealbreaker if it couldn't be achieved. And this deal was worth 1.2 million. He partially considered the fact that maybe Sasuke was just hiding out until the end of the month passed, and he would return then. The thought irritated Fugaku even more, although he was sure that Orochimaru was interested enough in Sasuke that they may be able to renegotiate, even if the deadline passed.

In the meantime, Itachi and Fugaku had been at each others throats.

"He could be dead, or seriously injured, and all you seem to be concerned about is whether or not you'll be able to make more money." Itachi accused, coldly.

"Sasuke is fine, I'm sure of it. He's more capable than you're giving him credit for." Fugaku replied, unfazed by the daggers Itachi was shooting with his eyes.

"What has given you the impression that he's capable? He's never been allowed out on his own, he's never been told the light in which omegas are usually seen and consequently how they are treated, he's never even been in school with other people. He has barely ANY exposure to alphas. We never should have done this to him. We should have prepared him for the world instead of hiding it from him! Now he's probably with some random alpha who has him trapped and-"

"Itachi. Do you have any idea what Sasuke would have been like if we told him how harsh the world truly is for omegas?" Fugaku cut off Itachi's sentence sternly. "He would have rebelled even more than he already does, more than he already has. He would have spent all of his time up until now working to prove he is the exact opposite of how people view omegas. And it would have gotten him hurt, because no matter how smart or capable he is, that is not the world we live in. I wanted to keep Sasuke in the dark because I knew one day he would try to rebel, and I didn't want him to have the resources to do so. You used to share that viewpoint. I am just as upset as you that he is missing, but there is no question to me that he is fine. He most likely did some sort of intricate planning to find someone to help him. He must have been planning for far longer than our fight a few nights ago to have picked out the perfect beta or alpha to help him remain elusive this long. This was not a half baked plan on his part. And whoever is helping him is most likely a highly intelligent, successful and powerful alpha that Sasuke had been scoping out and working with long before this started. He is not simply running on luck."

Naruto hit his refrigerator hard, causing the jingling noise it was making to stop. He shot Sasuke a grin over his shoulder as if to say, 'see that fixed it.'

"Why do you live here?" Sasuke asked suddenly.

"Uh, because they let me," Naruto responded as he continued to make lunch for the two of them.

"What does that mean?" Sasuke pressed.

"It means I don't have a lot of options of when it comes to where I can live."

"Is it because you don't have the money?"

"No, it's because apartments managers and landlords also know I'm not a good person." Naruto replied sternly. Sasuke pondered for a moment before deciding he would just ask outright.

"Is it because of your indictment?" Naruto looked up at Sasuke stunned before narrowing his eyes angrily.

"You went through my stuff, Sasuke?" Sasuke felt his heart beat quicken with the obvious change in the Alpha's disposition. He suddenly remembered and noticed how much bigger Naruto was than him. He swallowed thickly and tried to appear unfazed before nodding. Naruto took a deep breath and calmed himself down. "You read it?" Sasuke shook his head.

"I looked over the first page, but I didn't really understand the legal jargon so...I figured I'd just ask you." Naruto felt himself soften a little at that. Not only because it meant Sasuke didn't know the details of his indictment, but also because he approached Naruto and tried to be upfront. He clenched his jaws before looking away from Sasuke and answering. Sasuke tried to brush off the Alpha's stern body language. So far, Naruto hadn't done much to show that he was the big, scary alpha that he was making himself out to be. Maybe he should feel more wary, but he hadn't seen a reason to yet. Even when Naruto's demeanor turned hard like it was now, Sasuke still felt safe with him. He wasn't afraid of Naruto.

"Yeah, it's because of that." Naruto didn't elaborate, hoping that Sasuke would feel too uncomfortable to pry further, but he had no such luck.

"What is it for?" The side of Naruto's mouth pulled up in a sneer and he shook his head gently as if he couldn't believe this was happening.

"You really wanna know, Sasuke? Fine. It's from when I was your age. I wasn't always the happy-go-lucky alpha you see before you," he said sardonically. "Back when I was 19 I had a bit of a reputation for being more than a little hot headed. There had been incidents before then where I had hit some guy or broken a glass or something from being so angry, but that time I went a little too far and they pressed charges." By this time Naruto had stopped preparing lunch to give his full attention to Sasuke who obviously was looking for more detail. "This guy was my friend, had been for years at that point, and, at the time, I was really into this girl that we both knew from school. We lived together off campus and he and I had a fight about rent, and, in retrospect, I wasn't even in the right, ha." Naruto laughed mirthlessly.

"We were trying to figure out who owed what for the month and...well, it doesn't matter. He got mad at me and I was mad at him and I said I wasn't going to pay any of my portion at all. He stormed out and sent me a text a few hours later with a picture of him in bed without a shirt with the girl I had a thing for cuddled up next to him, also without a shirt, asleep. It was obvious what had just gone down between the two of them. The text said, 'fuck me over and I'll just fuck her. Now we're both unhappy.' And, God, at that moment I wanted to fucking kill him. I'd been crushing on her for a while and had hung out with her a couple times, so I knew where she lived...and where he'd be.

So, I drove down there and I was just seeing red the whole time. I spotted his car and pulled out a baseball bat I that had in my car and just started beating the shit out of his car, breaking all the windows, knocking off the mirrors, smashing the taillights, everything. Pretty soon he was down there in the parking lot yelling at me and trying to get me to stop and trying to wrestle the bat out of my hand. When he actually succeeded? Oh man, that just infuriated me even more. He held the bat like he was gonna swing it at me and then he actually threatened to if I came any closer. And I laughed. Because I knew there was no fuckin' way he was gonna swing that bat at me. And instead I swung my fist at his face and hit his jaw. He dropped the bat instantly, I don't think he ever saw it coming. I don't think he ever thought I'd hit him. And I just kept hitting him, when he fell on the ground, I got on top of him to hold him down and just...kept going. It took a few guys pulling me off him for me to stop. I went home and he went to the hospital. He had a broken nose, busted lip, two black eyes, a couple missing teeth. I was just so fucking enraged. I got angry a lot, but that was the angriest I'd ever been. He never came back to our apartment, I just came back one day and all his stuff was gone. I tried texting him and calling him, but he'd blocked me. A little while later I got those papers and was charged for what I did. And now, the options I have when choosing a place to live are extremely limited, even though I make enough money to live somewhere else, I can't with my record. That's why I live here. Because they let me."

Sasuke would be lying if he said the story didn't disturb him. If Naruto had been willing to hurt someone he'd been friends with for years that badly, he couldn't help but wonder where he measured up in Naruto's head. If Sasuke had known this story before, he would have believed Naruto when he said that Sasuke should be afraid. He realized now that he actually dud kind of feel frightened. But Naruto hadn't...seemed that angry or volatile. Other than saying some degrading things, Naruto seemed very level headed. Naruto finished making their lunch and placed Sasuke's plate in front of him. It was difficult to believe that the alpha that had been allowing Sasuke to stay with him while asking for nothing in return, and who even went so far as to buy Sasuke a cellphone (and put him on his phone plan) was the same one that would destroy a friends car...and face.

"Thank you," Sasuke practically whispered, looking at the food.

"Starting to understand the gravity of your situation a little more, Sasuke?" Naruto mocked. Sasuke tried to hold his ground again. It wouldn't do him any good right now to be afraid and shrink back from Naruto right now.

"I understand why you said that I should be scared of you, but I don't understand why you've been so nice to me...for the most part. Where's that version of you?" Naruto looked into the distance like he was thinking while he chewed.

"Well, probably cause I've been working on it. The being nice stuff I mean. I was put in mandatory therapy IMMEDIATELY. It was required for a year, but I still go every Wednesday during my lunch. And they gave me some meds that help. They balance me out I guess?" Sasuke thought back to the medication that he had seen in the bathroom, so it was something Naruto is taking currently.

Sasuke's train of thought was interrupted by a notification on his phone. His friend, Ino, had responded to his message from last night, finally. He chanced one more glance at Naruto, who still looked a little agitated, and decided the conversation with Naruto was best left alone for now.

Ino: Sasuke?! OMG where have you been?! I've been texting you! Your brother came to my house asking about you! Are you okay? Where are you? What happened?! I have so many questions!!!

Sasuke: My brother was looking for me? Figures. My father and I had a fight and I left.

Ino: Left? And went where?!

Sasuke thought for a moment, he probably shouldn't tell her where he was, just in case Itachi went to question her again. It would be easier for her to not know the full truth.

Sasuke: Uh...that's kind of complicated. But I'm okay!

Ino: Can I see you? I miss you! And I have stuff to tell you

Sasuke: I don't know...things are sort of a mess with my family right now...

Ino: Lol yeah I bet! They're probably never gonna let you out of the house again

Sasuke scrunched his nose at that comment before he realized. She thinks I'm back at home again. Another message come through from Ino,

Ino: Maybe beg really nicely and tell them you'll be on your best lil omega behavior!

Sasuke sighed, catching Naruto's attention.

"What going on?" He eyed Sasuke warily.

"My friend finally responded, and she wants to see me."

"Oh." Naruto felt his stomach drop. He wasn't sure what to say, but before he could respond, Sasuke continued.

"She thinks I'm back with my family...I don't want to tell her the truth. What if she tells me to go back?" Naruto felt himself calm down. Sasuke hadn't even told his friend that he was still M.I.A. so there was nothing he needed to worry about right now, not unless Sasuke came clean to his friend and told them the truth about his whereabouts. "Would you...come with me to go see her?" Naruto's heart skipped a beat.

"Actually, I'm planning on going out tonight to hang out with my own friends." Not a chance in hell was he going to hang out with Sasuke and his omega friend. That was practically asking for trouble. It's one thing if Sasuke wants to lie, unprompted, to his friend himself, but if Naruto showed up, things would get interesting fast.

"Oh, can I come?" Naruto's eyes snapped to meet Sasuke's.

"No." Naruto wasn't even going to try to explain this situation to his friends. Disapproving wouldn't even begin to touch their feelings on the situation, he was sure. Sasuke was taken aback by the hasty answer. Naruto noticed the surprise and tried to offer an excuse. "We're meeting my friends girlfriend for the first time tonight...they just made it official...so it would be rude to randomly invite you." Naruto wasn't lying, but he hoped this was enough for Sasuke to back off on wanting to meet his friends.

"I just don't want to...go out alone." Sasuke practically whispered the last part of his sentence. He'd never been allowed out alone back when he smelled like a beta, and the one time he went out smelling like an omega he hadn't liked the attention. Sasuke couldn't help but feel like maybe he did need an alpha around him when he went out.

"I could scent you, if you'd like?" Naruto offered, understanding Sasuke's concern. Sasuke considered the offer for a moment before hesitantly agreeing.

A few hours later, Sasuke and Naruto were ready to leave Naruto's apartment, each ready to go their separate ways. Naruto stepped into Sasuke's personal space and lowered himself so that the scent gland on his neck was closer to Sasuke's. He held Sasuke's body securely to his own and gently rubbed his scent gland and neck along the scent gland at the base of Sasuke's neck. The way Naruto was scenting him felt so much more intimate than the ways Itachi had scented him in the past and Sasuke couldn't help the small moan that escaped from his lips. Naruto chuckled softly and moved his hand from Sasuke's lower back to the back of his head, turning Sasuke so their lips could slot together. Naruto kissed Sasuke deeper than he meant to, not realizing at first that he'd also gotten caught up in the scenting. Naruto abruptly pulled away from the kiss and stepped back.

"Okay!" Naruto's voice was rough from the beginning feeling of arousal caused by the kiss...amongst other things. "Have fun, and text me if you need me. But, Sasuke?" The flushed omega looked at Naruto questioningly. "Don't need me." With that, Naruto turned and walked away from Sasuke. Sasuke took a deep breath and headed in his own direction, guided by the map on his new cellphone.

Soon Sasuke was downtown by himself, in a completely different situation that he had been in exactly one week earlier. He spotted Ino at the cafe they had agreed to meet at and she became elated when she saw Sasuke.

"SASUKE! How are you?! I can't believe they let you come out...where are your body guards?" Sasuke easily answered with his rehearsed lie.

"Part of what I was fighting about with my father was about my personal freedom," not a total lie. "I got him to agree that I could take care of myself without having a guard or Itachi next to me 24/7," less than true. "We decided that I can go out alone as long as I've been scented first." It had occurred to Sasuke when he first started going out with his friends that he always had to be accompanied. When he had inquired about it, his father told him it was because he would be more likely to be targeted as the son of the CEO of a large, influential, business. Looking back at it, he felt dumb for all the lies he believed.

"Nice job sticking up for yourself! Wow, who was the alpha that scented you? I thought it'd be Itachi, but this smells way too citrusy to be him." Ino said sniffing Sasuke dramatically.

"Yeah, uh, Itachi wasn't available, so a different alpha had to scent me." Now this was the complete truth.

"Wow! They even let you be scented by someone outside of your family! I'm so proud of you!" Ino said, throwing her arms around Sasuke in a playful hug. The two continued to idly chat for the next hour with Sasuke occasionally lying to Ino when necessary. He wasn't ready to tell her about Naruto or what he'd been up to the last week. However, he was unable to stop himself from asking Ino the question that had been burning in his mind all week.

"Ino, do you know how sheltered I've been?" Ino looked a little guilty before nodding. "Why didn't you say anything?" Sasuke was instantly hurt by his best friends admission, he had been hoping she would deny knowing anything.

"Sasuke...you're all sheltered. You and Hinata more than most, but all of you are pretty closed off from the world. And if I had made it a point to say anything...I wouldn't have been allowed to still be your friend." She said softly. "I'm sorry I let you stay in the dark for some things...most things, actually. And honestly, I don't even know how much you do or don't know. But I couldn't ask while you had someone listening in or on Omi with how easily monitored it is, so I just...let it go. I'm sorry."

Sasuke wasn't sure what to say. It made sense why she hadn't said anything, but he couldn't help but feel betrayed as well. In his own way, even though Naruto declared how stupid it was for Sasuke to trust him, Naruto had been one of the more trustworthy people in his life. At least Naruto hasn't been trying to keep things from me, he just tells me the truth about everything, Sasuke thought to himself.

"I understand why you didn't say anything," Sasuke finally granted. Ino and him shared a weak smile before he finally crossed his arms "Okay, so what's the thing you wanted to tell me in person?" Ino squealed excitedly.

"Okay, so you know the alpha that's been courting me for the past few months?" She started. "We're officially in a relationship! He's met my parents and they accepted and approved of him so now I officially have a boyfriend! AHHH!" Ino beamed. Sasuke smirked at her, he wasn't surprised, this alpha had been all Ino had talked about for months.

"I'm happy for you, everything I've heard about him has been great."

"Yeah, he IS pretty great...um...actually...I was wondering if maybe you'd want to meet him?" Sasuke stiffened. Meeting a random alpha his second time out downtown by himself? Was he ready? "Actually, I'm going to meet his friends tonight, we were all gonna go out for a drink somewhere. I know you're not normally around non-family alphas, but, would you want to come maybe?" Ino looked hopeful and Sasuke tried not to look terrified. Multiple alphas? Ino's parents really did let her do way more than Sasuke's family ever would let him. The realization made him angry. Why SHOULDN'T he go meet random alphas if he wants to? Suddenly Sasuke remembered how much Naruto had told him about what alphas were often like.

"Is...it safe though?" Ino cackled.

"Now you sound like Hinata. Yes, it's safe. I'll be there, and my boyfriend will be there. No one is going to hurt you while we're around, Sasuke. And you can't walk around the world shaky and paranoid." Sasuke glared at her. He wasn't paranoid...was he?

Before he knew it, he and Ino were outside of a local Mexican Restaurant, waiting for her new boyfriend and his friends to show up. Sasuke tried not to appear as tense as he was, but his anxiety was getting the best of him. I can't do this, what am I thinking, after everything that I've learned the past week, I can't hang out with a random group of alphas as an unmated omega, even with being scented by Naruto."

"Ino, I'm not sure I can-"

"There he is! Hey! Kiba! Over here!" Ino jumped up and down excitedly. Sasuke turned around to follow her gaze on the group approaching them and his stomach dropped.

Three alphas approached Ino and Sasuke. He was sure from their scents that everyone there was in fact an alpha, even the pink haired girl that was with them. The brunette with the messy hair and red markings on his face had a smile as wide as Ino's, and Sasuke assumed that had to be Kiba. When the three reached Ino and Sasuke, Kiba chastely kissed Ino before turning to Sasuke to introduce himself.

"Hey, I'm Kiba," he began with his hand extended before his nose twitched and he frowned. He held onto Sasuke's hand at the same time he turned around to questioningly look at his friend.

"Nice to meet you, Kiba. Hi, Naruto." Kiba's head whipped back around to Sasuke, getting the confirmation from Sasuke's words what his nose was already telling him.

"Hey, Sasuke." Naruto greeted uncomfortably. The pink haired girl piped up immediately.

"Wait, you know him?" She questioned.

"This is the omega that Naruto scented," Kiba finally let go of Sasuke's hand in order to draw close to his friend again and sniff at Naruto's scent gland. It definitely held the same cinnamon like tones as the omega. Finally Ino couldn't take it anymore.

"Okay, what the fuck is going on here?" She snipped. Kiba, Sasuke and the girl with the pink hair all looked to Naruto for an explanation.

"Uh, hi, I'm Naruto, you must be Ino," he began. "This is Sakura," he pointed to the girl next to him. "Sakura, Kiba, this is Sasuke. There, now everyone knows each other."

Notes:

Alright, I know that's a little mean of a cliff hanger, but the next chapter will answer the long awaited question, why is it a problem that Naruto is helping Sasuke? Sorry I didn't put it into this chapter, I just wanted you guys to have something while I'm trying to finish up some details for the rest of this bit. Sorry there wasn't any smut though...what do you guys think, should I wiggle something in next chapter If you want me to focus more on the plot though, I can do that instead tho!