Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any of its associated characters!

Summary: Sasuke has spent three years trying to figure out how to live on his own. Maybe it's time to try something different. WIP. Future SNS, updates once a month. Canonverse. Rating may change!

A/N: It's Sasuke's birthday! It's pretty much midnight in my time zone, and I couldn't wait any longer :) I missed NS day, so I had to make sure I had something up in time for today! Not the most traditional of presents, but this chapter felt like a big one. I hope you all like it!

Two is a Crowd

Chapter 5: if not a reminder

Sasuke tried to stay on the subject, as the woods warmed up around them, but Naruto was the soap in the water he had always been. He slipped past his problems swiftly and easily—sticking to anyone's but his own. Sasuke scowled as the sun rose, but grew tired with the light, and so the next time Naruto passed a village by—he let it go. It was a mistake, in the end, because Naruto proceeded to dodge the next three.

Sasuke glared a little deeper at each one.

It was unsurprising. Realistically, Sasuke was—annoyed, but not surprised. Naruto was the first to sacrifice his own comfort for someone else's, no matter how Sasuke would scream and stab and claw at the goddamn walls begging Naruto to leave him alone. Leave him be. Let him die.

Naruto never would.

But it wasn't a solution, and Naruto had to know. Sasuke's problems came with the night and the quiet and mirrors in a bathroom—but most of all, they came from him. He couldn't avoid them if he tried. They were part of him. They were in his head. They may as well have been his blood.

Sasuke stopped at another village's entrance, and Naruto laughed and shook his head.

…

It was infuriating.

"No," Sasuke said, and his heels had dug into the ground. "I want a bath."

"Oh," Naruto said, turning around. "Oh, are you—"

"Yes."

If Naruto spotted the lie, he didn't say so. Sasuke didn't give him much of a chance, to be fair—he'd already turned onto the path. The makeshift dirt they likely called a road—these villages were close together, but scattered. Passive. Quiet little houses, on the outskirts of the life Sasuke knew. He wondered how differently life passed out here. Had the war even reached them? Did they even know how to fight?

Sasuke wasn't going to ask.

The tenseness was back, though. Sasuke felt it with a sigh, because Naruto's eyes were on him again and that meant it was already too late. He'd already been read and understood. Any person here could recognize him. Any person here could have been hurt by him. By the ripples in the water that he dropped the pebble into—or better yet, the ripple that he was. He'd never been the pebble. He'd only been the effect. The commanded. The tool to be used.

Sasuke rolled his head back to try to ease the tension in his neck. These thoughts soaked his whole body like water. He never even had the chance to notice until he was submerged. He was meant to be dealing with Naruto's nonsense, right now, not supplementing their steps with his own. He turned to—

"Naruto Uzumaki."

Sasuke froze.

"Uh—yeah? Oh!" Naruto ran up to the courier ninja, completely unfazed. Unarmed. Unchecking that this wasn't a disguise, Naruto, you fucking moron—

"It's from Sakura!" Naruto declared, turning around. "Uh—I'll—you can head back. I'll send a reply."

Naruto waved them off, and the ninja bowed and vanished. Sasuke let the air hiss out through his teeth, but kept them clenched. Fuck. That had every sense of his on edge. There was nothing suspicious in the air, but Sasuke—

"That was quick," Naruto laughed, turning the letter over in his hands. "Lemmie—let's find some food or a place or something so I can read this. Um."

He looked up at Sasuke, and Sasuke could not relax.

Naruto tilted his head.

"...You're an idiot," Sasuke settled on, and he spun around on his heel. His anger fell through his fingers about three steps in, and the fear bubbled up like the bursts of dust as his shoes scratched the ground. The ninja was gone. There was nothing that could harm them. Nothing Sasuke could sense, anyway.

…

Maybe it was the letter. Maybe it was the way Naruto beamed at getting the reply.

Sasuke curled all of his thoughts into a ball and pushed them down. They'd spring back up to slap him later. He'd deal with them then.

Naruto paid for another room and Sasuke wondered how much money he actually had. Sasuke had been under the impression that things like this were hardly enough to hurt. And Naruto certainly hadn't done anything to refute that, but then, if most of his funds had gone to rebuilding Konoha…

Sasuke watched him, but Naruto betrayed nothing. He was cheerful and already darting down the hall—the second door of four. It was a small inn—light walls and straw roofs, filled with that kind of heat that drew out the scent of the wood.

They dropped their things in their room, and Naruto hummed happily as he slid out onto the engawa, leaving the door to the outside wide open. The breeze hit Sasuke with something warmer than he expected, but he didn't follow.

Not all the way, anyway.

Naruto looked up at him, and Sasuke leaned against the doorframe.

"You hungry at all?" he asked, opening the letter. Sasuke felt the small flare of chakra—one he recognized from Naruto's letters, although not all of them held it in the same way. He supposed it made sense to have some level of protection on what the new—interim?—Hokage wrote. Unless Sakura wrote in code, or included nothing at all—but Naruto was too curious for his own good. And any code Sakura wrote would probably go right over his head.

Sasuke's lips twitched, and he stepped outside.

"Not particularly," he answered, and Naruto hummed in response.

It certainly was…better than the last place. Smaller. Less enclosed. Something in Sasuke wanted to sit on the ground…lean against the walls. Even with the small path in front of them, and the strangers that passed them by—Sasuke sat back in the shade, and blended in with the life around him.

…

No.

It wasn't bad.

He kept half an eye on Naruto, though, because something serious in the letter had stolen his attention. The happy smile had slowly faded, and a furrow was coming to Naruto's brow. A frown to his lips. Naruto sighed and propped up a knee, leaning forwards with a hand twisted up through his hair—

Frustration. Worry. Bad news? No, Sasuke didn't see alarm. He did see sadness, though. Something resigned. Something…

Naruto's eyes reached the end of the letter, but they continued to stare.

Sasuke felt his panic grow.

"What news?" he asked, and Naruto blinked—he looked up at Sasuke, but he only shook his head—

"Nothing—nothing big," he said, and it was quiet. Naruto folded and unfolded the letter in his hands. "Um."

He stared back down at it, and his eyes grew vacant.

…

"Naruto."

Naruto snapped back into reality again.

"I—sorry. I—just let me—"

Naruto stood and walked inside, staring down at the page. Sasuke followed and pulled the door shut, closing the world out from them—trapping them here, together—

"Just give me a minute," Naruto said, and his pacing brought him to the bathroom. "I—do we have some paper or something?"

He spun around.

Sasuke blinked at him.

"You had some."

Naruto breathed in something that stuck halfway.

"Right—I—" he said, shuffling past Sasuke. "Yeah. Yeah, I…"

He grabbed their bag and nearly walked into the door Sasuke had closed. Sasuke blinked as he went and sat again—as if he was relaxed. As if they were back to sitting outside.

Sasuke left the door open, but didn't sit down.

…

Naruto stood and walked past him again.

The paper was crumbled in his hand. The pencil was flipped between his fingers. Naruto mumbled to himself and spun on his heel, nearly bumping into Sasuke on the way—

"Oi," Sasuke snapped, "moron."

Naruto jumped and breathed in.

"I—sorry," he said. "Sorry. Um."

Naruto's eyes barely met his for a moment, but it was a moment too long.

"Um," he said, and it was hollow. It was vacant. Naruto was staring at the words in his hand as if they were a death sentence. "I…"

He let out a breath. Sasuke didn't do the same.

"I think I need to go back," Naruto said, and his voice was quiet.

The blood froze in Sasuke's veins.

"What?" he asked, and Naruto flinched.

"I need to go back," he said again. "I don't think I can…stay here."

Naruto stumbled back, running a hand through his hair.

"I need to—" he turned away, "I need to go back, Sasuke. There's too much to…I should've known. I should've—"

Naruto spun on his heel and buried himself into the letter again. Sasuke felt something in him burn alive—

"One letter and your resolve is broken?" he asked—quiet. Deadly. It lashed Naruto back around, but Sasuke didn't let him speak first—

"I told you you'd regret it."

"I don't regret—" Naruto snapped. Naruto moved forward. Naruto was stepping closer and Sasuke raised his chin, baiting the anger, baiting the truth— "you think I fucking want to go? I don't have a choice! I don't—"

He turned away, and Sasuke didn't breathe.

"This was bad," Naruto said, and he was talking to the ground. "You know it was. I've made you worse, and I made Konoha worse, and let's just—"

He heaved out a sigh, twisting a hand through his hair.

"We just have to go back to the way it was before," Naruto said, shaking his head. "Plenty of resignations have been temporary, I'll just—I'll have to—"

He walked past Sasuke, and Sasuke felt the wind.

The devastation was there. The desperation, too. Sasuke felt the sick in his stomach, the writhing in his mind—he turned to face Naruto as it built up in him all at once, pounding at the cracking walls—

Naruto paced past him again, and Sasuke's flame fizzled out.

Naruto was still talking. He was still talking—to the floor and the walls and the wood and the doors and anyone but Sasuke. He was talking and giving the same reasons over and over again—pacing and moving and walking and…never picking up their things. Never reaching for a door. Not either of them.

…

Sasuke casually moved to close the door they'd left open.

Naruto stopped.

"Stay another week," Sasuke said, and he was studying every twitch of Naruto's fingers. "They've been fine this long."

Naruto shook his head.

"No, Sasuke, I—I've already been away too long," he said, holding the letter tight in his hand—it was twisted, it was nearly crumpled under the grip—

"Stay another week," Sasuke said, and he stood in front of the door. It seemed to slowly dawn on Naruto, then.

"Or what?" he asked, some suspicious, disbelieving spreading smile across his face. "What are you going to do?"

Sasuke raised his chin.

"I thought you liked this village," he said. "It wouldn't be a shame to raze it to the ground?"

"We wouldn't—"

"I will not hold back, Naruto."

Naruto flinched back, and he was surprised. Sasuke didn't know why. He didn't want to fight, but he would, and Naruto should have known damn well what that felt like—

Naruto's laugh was humourless.

"You know I could just leave out that door," he said, pointing a thumb behind him.

Obviously. Sasuke didn't say it, but obviously. He held his arm to the other side of his hip as if he was crossing his arms, but he didn't move.

Naruto looked down and back up. His smile was flickering into something more…genuine.

"You—" he said, and it sounded like a laugh. "You'd really fight me to stop me from leaving?"

Sasuke tilted his head, but didn't move.

"Would you like to test the waters?" He asked, and there was a kunai in that pouch. He knew where his rope was. He wouldn't hurt Naruto, he wouldn't escalate anything that Naruto didn't first, but he would answer in kind—

Naruto's mouth opened a little, but it only closed again.

"…Okay," he said finally, and it was a laugh. "A week. I don't really know what that's gonna change, but I'll stay another goddamn week. Okay?"

Sasuke moved away from the door.

"Good."

…

Now if only he knew how to change an idiot's mind.

He'd never been good at this. Sasuke was always the one convinced, not the other way around—Naruto was the one to do the talking. Naruto was the one to get him to listen. The closest Sasuke had come was asking him to come here, and even that was already backfiring.

One of Sasuke's specialties, it seemed.

The village stayed quiet. It stayed calm and warm and friendly. They split a melon and had a basket of peaches and Sasuke would have liked to think he could have enjoyed either of them, if not for the panic drumming louder with every passing hour, but he probably would be just the same.

Born to lives of turmoil. Addicted to them. They didn't seem to know how to live any other way.

Sasuke let out a breath and stared up at the ceiling.

He could go to Sakura. He could. There was a chance, there. He'd stolen the letter as soon as Naruto had let it go, and poured over the words demanding his return—

Only to find they weren't. The letter was harmless—passive laments and frustrations and yes, it was annoyed, and yes, it was full of problems, but the words didn't beg and they didn't order—they were just…words. Words written to someone who had been there, who had lived this, and so they would understand—

But Sasuke knew Naruto, and he knew what Naruto had read. Naruto looked at every problem as if it was his own. Everything broken was his to be fixed. No matter the place or the stranger or the home or the town—the entire world was Naruto's duty, and his world started in Konoha.

The back of Sasuke's head hit the wall.

It started as Hokage. It started by taking over all he had left behind and finishing the job Sasuke knew Naruto felt he'd left unfinished. Sasuke didn't pretend to know the ins and outs of Sakura's mind, but he knew Naruto's, and he knew exactly what words looked like when viewed through a lens of guilt.

He studied the shadows up above him. They'd moved already, with the sun…

…

It didn't matter what Sasuke believed. If Naruto didn't believe him, it didn't matter—and he wouldn't. If he was going to, he would have already, and the best Sasuke could do was this temporary pause. This break in the storm. This stupid—stifling silence.

He breathed out, and Naruto shifted. Sasuke had kept an eye on him…just in case. They sat with a wall between them, though—Naruto on the inside, Sasuke on the outside. The door was open between them, and neither moved to close it.

They didn't go through it, either.

No…Sasuke's words were no good here. This was back to the issue. This was back to his hatred. Naruto would listen to Sasuke's words about many things, but there was a barrier when it came to Konoha, and one week was not long enough to break it down.

…

Six days, now.

Would Sakura be enough? Maybe. Maybe not. She had good reason to hate Sasuke, now, and good reason to love Naruto—she lined up well with the rest of the world, that way. Was there anyone that didn't? Someone who loved Naruto enough to forgive Sasuke? Someone who had always put him first, before anyone else, before duty, before orders, before…

One of Naruto's memories flickered into his head. Vague and confusing, as they always were—Sasuke had had an entire lifetime flashed before his eyes, and his sporadic knowledge of Naruto's life wasn't always enough to place them and piece them together—but Naruto was young, and this was…oh. Right before he'd…

Oh.

Huh.

Sasuke had always wondered how Naruto had passed the genin exam.

It took Iruka three out of the six days they had left to arrive. Sasuke was just about ready to grab Naruto and tear down the path to meet him on the way—they'd both been just as restless. Just as uneasy. Naruto was stressed and Sasuke was stressed and the panic between both of them could have razed the village to the ground on its own. Sasuke stared at Naruto harder than he ever had before, and Naruto caught him a hundred times a day, and Sasuke let him. Let him.

"I'm not going to try anything, asshole," he said, and Sasuke glared at him anyway. He was filled with guilt, even now. He was obsessed with it. Whenever Naruto didn't catch Sasuke's eye, he wasn't even here. He wasn't even in this room. He was in Konoha. He was planning and frowning and thinking of all the things he would have to do when he inevitably left.

It drove Sasuke crazy.

He dragged Naruto out into the village. Not a particularly strenuous task; all it took was Sasuke to leave, and Naruto followed—unconsciously, automatically, like the tether between them had shortened. Maybe it had. Maybe it was shortening, even now. It hadn't been so long ago that Sasuke had been alone. It hadn't been so long ago that he thought he'd been okay. But Sasuke's emotions swelled up with the fury of someone who had been suppressed for years, and Sasuke could do little else but bow his head and ask for mercy.

As if they ever gave it to him. They were part of him, after all.

Sasuke looked to the skies, and searched for his messenger hawk again. He'd asked her to fly fast. Barely written two sentences in the letter—asking him to come, telling him to follow. He had no doubt Iruka would jump to his feet, but if he would arrive in time, Sasuke didn't…

…

Sasuke stopped.

"Whoa—" Naruto said, bumping into his back. "What's—"

Sasuke raised an arm, and his hawk slowed her dive with an elegant flap of her wings.

"Naruto!" Iruka called.

"Wh—Iruka?!" Naruto yelled, and he leapt at the man. Iruka caught him in a laughing hug, stumbling back with the steps of a man who had clearly done this before.

…Sasuke busied himself with his hawk.

"What are you—"

"I came as fast as I could," Iruka said. "What's going—are you hurt? You're alright?"

"I—no," Naruto said. "I mean—yes, I—what?"

Iruka peered past Naruto, and Naruto spun around.

Sasuke only stared right back.

"Tell him," he said simply. "Or I will."

He turned on his heel. That was it. That was the best he could do.

…

…

He didn't turn back around. He didn't look back. He rewarded his hawk for a job well done and felt his confidence fail him almost immediately, but he—stayed away for as long as he could.

It wasn't very long. Admittedly, it wasn't very long. There were only so many streets Sasuke could wander before his head started asking what he thought he was doing. What he thought he would return to. Sasuke's choices backfired. They always had. This one would too. Naruto missed Iruka—dearly. One split second was enough to tell him that. So why would he choose to stay away? Why would he ever want to? Sasuke's throat was swollen and his hand was shaking and it was like trying to write his stupid replies all over again. He was so—stuck. So hollow. His feet moved on their own, following the path to the side door, stepping up to the engawa he knew was theirs, he knew, he knew would knock on the door and no one would answer—

"It doesn't matter what I want!"

Sasuke froze.

"You don't—" said Naruto's voice. "Iruka, you have to know—"

"I do know. I know a good deal about Konoha, and the changes that have been made," Iruka replied. "I also know you."

Naruto didn't reply. Sasuke stayed still—unmoving, unbreathing, unheard, unseen. Masking his chakra was like breathing—automatic and easy, until he paid attention to it. If Naruto caught the waver, he didn't come bursting through the door—but it seemed impossible. Naruto was as attuned to Sasuke as Sasuke was to him.

"Did your letters sound any different? I'm sure you wrote about Konoha's problems," Iruka was saying. "Were you asking Sasuke to come back and help?"

He heard Naruto breathe in, and Sasuke's heart stuck in his throat.

"I mean," he said, and his voice was quieter. "I wasn't…not."

…

Sasuke closed his eyes.

"And what would you have done if he had come?"

There was a shuffle, as if Naruto had sat down, against the same wall Sasuke leaned against.

"Told him to go. He'd never be happy there." Naruto huffed out a breath. "I know, I know. I…"

"And Sakura?" Iruka asked, and Naruto let out a small, wet laugh.

"She'd punch me," he replied, and it was a mutter. "Shouldn't be doubting her."

Sasuke heard Iruka laugh. There was a thump, against the wall, as if Iruka had sat down, too—

"She's doing well," he said. "She did train under Tsunade, you know."

"Yeah." Naruto's laugh was thick and uneven. Filled with the breath of a man who was trying to pull himself together. "How much is she drinking?"

Iruka snorted.

"I have no idea. I've yet to see a bottle in her hand," he said. "I'll be sure to tell her you asked."

"No!" Naruto yelped. "No, don't, she'll—"

Iruka laughed at him, and Naruto's voice cut off. There was another shuffle against the wall.

"She's doing well," Iruka said again. "I mean it. Konoha's problems still exist. You know these things take time."

"…I know," Naruto replied. "I just—I don't know. I guess I just wanted to hear that—everything was good." He let out a humourless laugh. "Everything was perfect. The world was suddenly solved."

Sasuke's eyes gently opened again. They stayed low, though.

"I know," Iruka replied, and it was gentle. "It's something we all want to hear, isn't it?"

Naruto let out a breath in answer, and Iruka let out a soft hum. Sasuke's gaze lifted and unfocused, blurring the leaves in front of him…

"It's not as if the village doesn't want you back," came Iruka's voice, and Sasuke's gaze focused again. "It's not as if you couldn't help if you were there. But others can help too, you know. Others are trying hard. And there will come a time where you cannot be there for Konoha. Maybe that time should be now."

Naruto breathed in.

"Let them try. Properly. Let them try without you."

He didn't reply. Sasuke could feel the words on Naruto's tongue as if they were his own, but something stilled them, and Naruto didn't speak—

"Naruto," Iruka said. "Take the break. Take the step away. If anyone deserves it, it's you. You've spent your entire life without being selfish."

"That's not true," Naruto said. "The whole Sasuke thing—you know the whole Sasuke thing—"

"Good," Iruka said, and Sasuke was frozen. "As you should be. As you should have been. Look at you two. Weren't you right? In the end, weren't you right?"

Naruto didn't reply.

"You've always seen him," Iruka continued. "He's always seen you. You fought for so long to have this. You have it now. Take it, Naruto. Please. For all of us. We fought for you too."

"Um," Naruto replied, and he was crumbling. Sasuke could hear the shake in his voice, the same as the tremble in his own hand. Burning in his eyes. Lump in his throat.

Naruto broke, and Sasuke moved away from the door.

They found him on the other side. He didn't count the time it took him to start breathing evenly again, but he did manage to move around to the entrance of the inn. He sat on a small boulder, wedged somewhere in the shade.

Naruto immediately spun around to face him, though. Sasuke was never hidden to him, he supposed.

"Well," Iruka sighed, glancing between them. "That was easy. Let me shower and meet up with you. I did run here."

He gave Sasuke a teasing glance, and Naruto ducked his head with a small laugh. Sasuke…didn't reply, although he did feel some sort of breath build up in his chest—

Iruka passed them by, and walked back into the inn.

…

Sasuke's mouth closed again.

"Alright, asshole," Naruto said, and Sasuke's head jerked up. "How much did you overhear?"

Sasuke's mouth welded shut. Naruto's eyes narrowed, but he only laughed.

"Prick," he said. "You know you could've just been there. You could've stayed with us."

And Sasuke might have known. He might have.

But he wasn't sure he could.

Naruto's eyes stayed on him, but Sasuke didn't rise to meet them. Not yet. He needed another moment. Another breath. Another stretch past the tension and minute past the pain—

"…He wouldn't tell me how he knew I was here," Naruto told Sasuke, and Sasuke said nothing. Naruto stared at him, though. He stared at him firmly and insistently, and when Sasuke broke to meet those eyes, they were full of something that almost broke him. Almost tore him apart. Almost dropped him to his knees.

Naruto was happy again.

Naruto was looking at him, and he was happy again.

Sasuke looked away, but not before the chakra made it to his eyes.

A/N: And that's it! For now. I'm playing with the next few coming chapters...they're either going to be super long, or you'll be getting some extras. But we'll see! Thank you so much for reading. It's really nice to have a long term fanfic to come back to like this again :) I hope you've been liking it too!

Until next time,

- Kinomi