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!

Two is a Crowd

Chapter 13: if not a part of you (day six)

"Fine," Sasuke says, before the other man even stepped out. "Tell me."

"Alright," his other self offered, and the waterfall's moisture failed to touch him. "You're not as angry at Konoha as you'd like to think you are."

"I'm—"

"You were looking for an out. You were looking to understand. And Itachi gave it to you, all at once. He wasn't bad. It was Konoha. He didn't have to be cruel anymore. He could be your brother again. Your innocent brother, forced to do what he did by the village's hand."

Sasuke felt something low and dangerous coil deep inside of him. There was no point to fighting this man. He was an illusion. A reflection. A figment of his mind. There was no point to—

"Are you denying that that is the truth?" he asked, and his fury was clear to his ears.

His other self only looked at him.

"In a way."

Sasuke's fury lashed out like a snake. It bit into his throat and his tongue, put the burning in his hands and told them to move—

"He had a choice," his other self said, unfazed. "He had several, even."

"Mistakes," Sasuke snapped. "So I'm throwing stones, now?"

"Are you? How many children have you tortured?"

Sasuke's teeth ground together.

"He—"

"He could have left," the reflection told him. "He could have done what he had to do without making us relive it."

"He wanted to die."

"So did you," it said. "So did I. You could have done to Naruto what he did to you."

Sasuke's head snapped back to him.

"Tortured him. Told him to hate you. Told him to live his life thinking only of you—why not? He could have killed you. He could have brought you to a fitting end, after your work was done."

The reflection rolled its head, lazily. Casually. It set Sasuke's blood on fire, how easily it spoke of it all—

"Is that too cruel a thing to do, Sasuke?"

Sasuke's jaw clenched so hard it hurt.

He didn't give it the satisfaction of a reply.

That Sasuke sighed, and relented. Sasuke's anger did not.

"It's not as if I don't understand," it said, and Sasuke wanted to lash out. "It's not as if I don't feel it too. Hating Konoha is the only way you can have your brother back, but it's a lie. Danzo is dead. Where do you put your hate?"

"Konoha."

"Konoha is transformed. Naruto is at their head. No council members remain. Where do you put your hate?"

…

Sasuke didn't reply.

"He did those things," the illusion insisted, and it was part of him. It— "It wasn't anyone else. You can't blame anyone else. Itachi—"

"Don't say his name," Sasuke snapped, and the panic was too obvious. It gave him away. "Don't say his name."

"Fine," the other Sasuke offered, and Sasuke didn't trust that kindness at all. "Fine. You're going to have to deal with the leniency you offer to him and no one else at some point, though."

"I'll deal with it!" Sasuke snapped, and he pulled away.

The water hit him like a blow.

Sasuke pressed his palms to the rocks and heaved in his breaths, stumbling, stumbling back towards the flame Naruto had already lit.

He just wanted to be dry again.

He just wanted to be dry.