Hey guys!

So like I said last chapter, somehow FanFiction managed to delete ch. 20 and 21, so I'm just reposting it here.

However, if you're new and this is your first time reading this...welcome!

Thanks guys and remember! Please review! How else do I know what to do?

I rushed down the halls, the sudden knowledge of Itachi's presence causing me to almost panic. He could ruin everything. I ignored the hollers of the security and slammed the conference room door open, Naruto and Itachi about to shake hands when I barged in. Naruto jumped back a few feet, almost as if being caught, while Itachi merely spared a glance in my direction, an evil grin forming on his face and a glint in his eye that I didn't like.

"Good morning, Mr. Hatake. Is there anything I can do for you, since you just came in so suddenly." Naruto avoiding looking in my direction, Karin and various other men grabbing me and attempting to drag me out when Itachi intervened. "Now now, he's a guest here. Leave us be." They looked me up and down suspiciously, my hands automatically fixing my suit as I focused on the situation at hand.

Something happened.

"Now what is it that you needed so urgently, Hatake?" I sighed softly, organizing my thoughts.

"I heard you decided to stop by and figured I owed you a visit."

"Ah, but if I recall you've been in America, separate from Naruto, yes? Why come all this way just for that?" He smirked, knowing he caught me. He straightened out his suit and turned to look at Naruto. "We'll be in touch. Until next time, gentlemen- I'll leave you to your business." He walked straight past me, into the hallway and out of the building. Silence only followed in his footsteps.

Eventually I had to look at Naruto, who was glaring at me. "What do you want?" He questioned, almost as if he were tired.

"I'm here to apologize." He scoffed, getting up and stretching.

"I don't want your excuses." He was getting ready to leave when I grabbed his arm.

"Naruto, please. You have to listen to me. I found some more information and-"

"What, on what you already knew?" He looked at me, pain on his face and a slight quiver in his voice. "What you have been hiding from me for years, even as I ended up giving everything to the murderer?" I shook my head hastily.

"He didn't murder anyone,"

"He might as well have, because he sure as hell murdered me." My hand fell slack at that, tears brimming in his now dark blue ponds. "Just go away, Kakashi. I'm not going to listen to you, and I'm not coming back home. I've already purchased a house here and secured a position as a primary dancer." He walked straight past me, almost like a ghost, and sped up to make sure I wouldn't follow.

And for the life of me, I couldn't.

I stood awkwardly in the hall, turning back and forth between each end of the hallway. Eventually I sighed and took a step closer to the door, leaning in order to hear better. I heard their voices, but as unfortunate as it was for me, everything was in the one language I did not know; English.

"Even if you could eavesdrop on them properly, you have no clue what they're saying." The red-headed assistant whispered from behind my ear, causing me to jump and almost shriek. My cheeks tinted with red as I scratched the back of my head from being caught. She was right anyway. Suddenly, an idea came to me.

"But you do." Her expression dropped, obviously the statement not predicted, and I could tell she was planning on running. Almost as if on cue, she turned the other way when I caught her upper arm in my hand. "Please, Karin!" She stopped and turned to look back at me, questions in her eyes.

"Why do you want to listen in on them, huh? What are you getting out of it?" I let her arm go, dropping my hands to the side and thinking seriously for a moment. I exhaled deeply.

"I don't want him to get in trouble, whatever it may be, especially since we have a performance tomorrow. I need him, no matter how gay that sounded, and I know right now he's struggling with something. There must be a reason he suddenly just pops up out of the blue, not a word from anyone else about his 'upcoming arrival'." Karin seemed to really agree with that statement, especially the part about his mysterious story. However this did not fully convince her, and she patiently waited for me to feed her more beef before I could pass. I cleared my throat uncomfortable. "And he's...my...mate." Karin's eyes turned into saucers.

"You're lying to me, you're seriously lying your way through this." I shook my head. She had worries in her eyes, but after a couple seconds of the cogs working in her brain she seemed to smile, obviously scheming some sort of plan. "You're for real?" I nodded. She shook her head smiling, about to shake my hand to accept the deal when I had to throw her another curve ball.

"He doesn't know it yet though. His Mark is easy to spot, since it's on his shoulder and when we get hot we take our shirts off and say screw it, so I've been able to confirm it many times. However mine, it's on my the back of my neck. My hair hides it. It's so bizarre…" Karin just nodded happily.

"Pretty bizarre. God the people would love this! Keep it that way; don't tell him." We heard a commotion back in the lobby area, and it was fastly approaching. I looked to Karin, who grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the hallway area.

"We'll never know what they said!" She chuckled.

"Don't worry, I was listening to their conversation the entire time." My eyes almost popped out of my head at the information. She merely looked over and shrugged. "I'm not the official translator for just any reason, Menma. Now get to work! We can chat later." She pushed me past the curtains and onto the stage area, where practice for the days before shows were held, and immediately after I heard her yelling at the intruder from earlier. I shook my head.

The second day of rehearsal with Naruto I had seen his Mark. I didn't look at mine often, since I was always told I was not normal and would never find my mate or feel the symptoms other kids did, but I knew it distinctly enough that I could tell it matched mine. I didn't feel anything, physically or emotionally, upon meeting him, but I knew something was off. Something still is off. I couldn't place it then, and I can't place it now. Simply due to the fact I didn't know what was going on in his life, I haven't said anything to him about our matching Marks. I didn't want to complicate what might already be killing him.

I tried to focus on dancing but eventually it was lunch time and Naruto still hadn't returned. I looked for any sign of Karin, but there was none, and I sighed as I got my things and prepared to get some food from the nearby convenience store. On my way out Karin called out to me.

"Oi! Wait up!" I stopped and waited for her to catch up. Once she did we began walking.

As we walked she explained what was said. She finished as I was taking some onigiri out of one of the fridges. "So he said yes?" She nodded and picked out a sandwich for herself. I shook my head as we headed to pay for it all. "But why? What is he running from that he just had to leave?"

"Well… he did mention something about murderers, but I don't think it had anything to do with his own involvement in crime." I stiffened.

"Murder…?" Karin shook her head.

"I may be extremely perceptive, but even I don't have all the answers."

I tripped, stumbling forward but catching myself with my hands. Menma threw his hands up and kicked the box closest to him, cursing aloud. "God dammit Naruto! Get in the game!" If it were any other time I would've smiled at his pronounciation. However, now was not the time for smiles.

Ever since talking with Itachi and the short confrontation with Kakashi my thoughts have been scattered, a bit of my mind in every which way or place. Itachi had shown up so suddenly, and with such a bogus proposition. I shook my head in attempt to shake the thoughts off, crouching and resting my head in my hands. I heard Menma cursing in the background and I mentally cursed myself. How could I be so stupid as to let these small things get to me? I shook my body, not fully ridding myself of my thoughts. It did nothing to help, however, and I found myself frowning in annoyance. Menma noticed my distraction and growled.

"If you can't keep your head in the game then get the fuck out," I tensed.

"What the hell did you say to me?!" Not knowing what he said I stood straight, anger flushing into me and my body welcoming it in order to distract myself further. He stood as well, chest puffing out in order to improve his 'toughness'.

He grit his teeth. "What the hell is your problem?" I growled and pushed him back, his actions mirroring mine with more vigor and hands just flying everywhere. I ended up pushing him on his back, straddling him and just hitting him with punch after punch after punch after punch…

My vision went blurry and my ears went death. All I could see was the blood sprouting from his nose, or my knuckles, I couldn't tell, and collection of my tears on his shirt. I couldn't keep track of how many times I had hit him, or how bad my hand was beginning to hurt, but eventually my body wracked with sobs so badly that I collapsed on top of him. I saw Karin out of the corner of my eye, her hand over her mouth and tears collected in the corner of her eyes. Kisame was beside her wearing a blank face and a tightened jaw.

My breaths became shorter and shorter, quicker and quicker, until I could feel myself hyperventilating. My entire body was numb, quivering, and I could only see the images around me shift when Karin and Kisame came over to me to pull me up. They were trying to speak to me, or rather that they were speaking to me, but no sound reached me.

I think they're calling for a doctor. Yeah, probably. They always do. I'm so dumb.

I began coughing, heavy gasps and sobs still trying to escape me. Eventually it all became too much for my body and I let the dark take over me.

"...Uso hitotsu ai wo futatsu, sorede nanto ka yarisugoshite kita deshou? Demo sore ja mou boku wo dama senai deshou? Jyou dou suru doushi yo*…"

Sasuke!

I screamed, grabbing the sheets around me and tossing around, pain shooting up my arms and forcing me to stop. I noticed the soft silk and I looked around, the familiar white sheets and beige dresser making my heart sink.

No no no no no… They took me back, he took me back, he tricked me!

"No...No!" I began to freak out, struggling out of the seemingly never-ending sheets of doom and fighting for my breath. A sigh of black hair and black sweat pants came into vision and I screamed yet again, turning to the opposite side and attempting to get out of bed that way.

He's coming for me! I have to get away!

Arms wrapped around me tightly, restricting me from any further getaways. I clawed at them, a growl emitting from the person behind me and a sharp jerk. "Naruto, control yourself!" I shook my head and tried to headbutt him, desperate to be freed.

"Get away from me! Leave me alone!"

He dragged me off the bed and threw me onto the floor, his hand slapping me across the face. I blinked, tears in my eyes and words in my throat when I looked up at him.

Menma…

I blinked a couple more times, noticing that the sheets were a light gray, the dresser a sleek black and stained glass.

Not...not Sasuke..

"Naruto…?" I flinched, looking at him and waiting for him to speak. "Are you okay?" Recognizing the word, slowly but surely, I nodded. He sighed, muttering to himself in his language. He sat down against the bed with his legs criss-cross, allowing me to sit up and take a proper look at him.

His nose looked a little more than broken, a trail of dried blood leading from his left nostril around his lips, his lip split in two places and his right eye more purple than I thought possible.

"What...What happened to you?" It took him a minute, but he registered what I said and pointed to his face with a question mark written all over it. I nodded. He merely looked away and gestured toward me.

I… I did that?

Vague memories of a fight back at practice came to me, but much of it gone.

I don't remember hitting him that hard.

"My sister...that used to happen to her a lot."

In the time that I had been in Japan I had picked up the basics of the language fairly quickly, only further causing me suspicion. Conversations with Menma occasionally used our phones, but for the most part could be understood.

"She wasn't my real sister, but she was as close to it as you could get. I don't know why they happened, but sometimes she would freak out for no reason. I used to pick on her for it, tell her how dumb she was for crying over little things. I was too young to understand it, yet she was younger than me and knew more than I ever could. Eventually when we got older I realized that it wasn't so dumb after all, that things like that were never actually her fault." He typed it in for me and translated it after he spoke, sensing my lost train of thoughts. I looked up at him, pain in both his and my eyes.

"Where is she now?" He smiled gently.

"Dead." My heart sank, thoughts of Sasuke and my parents coming to me. I felt a severe itch and a growing burn in my shoulder and winced at both the emotional and physical pain. "She killed herself when she was fourteen. Everything just became too much for her. My only wish is that she would've told me that she was hurting so bad, or that she was going to go through with it. I was only sixteen but I could've gotten the message soon enough; I could've saved her."

How sad.

"That's why I'm demanding you explain yourself to me. I won't let you leave until you do." My brows furrowed in confusion as the translator finished. I opened my mouth to object when he cut me off. "And if you tell me you don't need to I'll slam your fucking head into the wall. I'm not going to watch someone else kill themselves if I can help it. So you give me answers, now; why are you here? Why so suddenly? And what did Uchiha Itachi want with a guy like you?" I sighed and scratched the back of my head, my fingers hurting with every little movement from my knuckles. I gave in and explained my journey to him. He nodded slowly, taking in what the translator put out. He hesitated, too long for comfort.

"What?"

He sighed and stood, his hand lifting his hair from his neck and attracting my attention. I looked at it curiously, eyes widening when I realized what was there.

Impossible…

"You already have a Mate, huh?" He let out a breath and returned to his previous position. "My father always told me I would never have a Mate. When I met you I thought he could be wrong, but I guess not."

"This doesn't make any sense though. How could you, Sasuke and I all have the same mark…" Wheels were turning in my head, thoughts sprouting from everywhere and nowhere. "Your birthday is the same day as mine...We look very much alike...Maybe we're…"

"...Twins?" He finished for me. We stared at each other in awe.

"In that case, we could have the same marks but different Mates. Who's your father?"

"Uchiha Madara." My heart sank and my mark pulsed.

An Uchiha…

"Who's your mother?" He sighed.

"I don't know."

I shook my head slowly, in disbelief.

The damn Uchiha family murdered my parents because my mother had an affair.

Hmm... the truth hurts, yeah?

Thank you so much for reading! See you guys soon!

Love ya!