Hiiii, I bet you thought you got rid of me! Nah, just struggling to get the writing out. I'm just letting the story guide me because boy does it get messy from here on out.

A letter never opened.

too late to go back

Naruto jumped almost a whole foot when Sakura set his coffee a little too violently in front of him. His sleepless eyes moved to look at hers and he weighed his options for a split second, wondering if a snarky remark would get him a concussion before deciding against it, and decided on offering her a grateful smile as he grabbed the coffee. He noted that it had somehow not managed to spill all over, despite the force with which it had been deposited onto the table. He took a sip, grateful for the bitter taste as it made its way down his throat and settled onto his empty stomach like a lead weight he didn't know how to get rid of. He should have watched more videos about Houdini, perhaps then, he would have a better idea as to how they would get out of their current predicament.

He felt, more than heard, Sakura sit with aplomb on the chair to his left, listening as her manicured fingers tapped away furiously on her phone. His brain had not slowed down since the realization dawned on him that something had gone terribly wrong, the strings of fate artfully twisted by hands other than their own. Sleep had not come easy, and the measly hours he had managed to have in the last 72 hours could barely be counted on one hand. He'd failed to reach Sasuke, his heart twisting in worry, his lips pursing in pain, and his thoughts were beginning to spiral.

"Naruto." Sakura's voice broke through the haze that seemed to envelop him and he lifted his eyes, noting that the person they had been waiting for had finally arrived.

Gaara's impassive gaze was penetrating. His blue-green eyes seemed to look straight through his sky-blue ones and there was a hint of disdain there that Naruto found almost offensive. Sakura's green eyes flitted between the two of them, this reunion was not as enthusiastic as she had hoped it would be, there was tension there that she could not place, a strain that had never been present between them before.

Slowly, and deliberately, Gaara made a show of taking off his coat, placing it neatly on the back of the available chair. The cream turtleneck he wore under made his skin look impossibly pale, bringing out the dark circles under his own eyes, the tick in his jaw even more preeminent as he took a seat, crossing his arms in front of him, waiting for the blonde to break the silence.

For once Naruto did not immediately begin chattering, his darkened blue eyes holding the stare that his friend had leveled him with, part of him refused to back down, he had been hurt by Gaara's betrayal, not that he could really call it so. Logically he knew that Gaara had been protecting Hinata and Haru, but knowing that he had been deemed as potentially harmful by his friend wasn't something he really could come to terms with.

"Ugh, can you two just say something?" Sakura's voice sliced through the silence with force. Her eyes narrowed as she looked from Gaara to Naruto. "You can have your staring contest a different day, after we deal with this mess." She held Gaara's glare, not flinching as his cold eyes held her own.

"You introduced him to me." Naruto's voice was raspy, choked down by emotion, made gritty by anger. "You looked me in the eyes and told me he was your student."

"I told no lies." There was a haughtiness in Gaara's voice that had not been there in years past.

"Lying by omission is still lying," Naruto ground out. Gaara sighed, closing his eyes, there was a furrow in his brows that seemed to now be a permanent fixture.

"I will be getting a beverage." He deadpanned and stood, heading to the counter without any preamble. As though he did not have to answer for any of his actions, the accusation from Naruto still hung in the air between them.

Naruto's eyes widened as he watched his friend move towards the counter, his jaw slack in disbelief. He turned to look at Sakura who gave him a dainty rise of her shoulders. Her anger was palpable in the simple motion. His blue eyes followed the red head towards the front of the shop, he watched carefully as his friend ordered from the girl at the counter oblivious to the blush that crept along her cheeks. He must be missing something, he reasoned, there had to be some explanation as to why everyone had deemed him and Sasuke as a liability to Hinata and the boy. His mind was still reeling, trying and failing to find a plausible explanation when he heard Gaara approach the table once more. There was a grinding of teeth next to him, the only indication that Sakura was nearing the end of her patience, but Gaara seemed unaffected by the obvious anger emanating from the pinkette.

He set the cup of tea leisurely on the table, sitting down as though he had not just interrupted the conversation they were having a few moments ago. This time, instead of sitting with his arms crossed, he simply cupped the teacup between his hands and once again waited for Naruto to speak.

"Why?" He hated how his voice broke on the word. Hated how it hurt him to speak it, but he needed to know.

"What, exactly, are you asking?" Gaara said, his head tilted slightly to the side. "Why did she give birth?" When Naruto moved to speak Gaara forged ahead. "Why were you not informed of this? Why did she run away from home? Why did she raise Haru on her own for 5 years? Why am I his teacher?" A smile that could be described as cruel spread along his lips.

"Hinata ran away?" Sakura gasped before she could stop herself. Gaara's gaze snapped to her, a storm was brewing inside them making them darker than normal.

"Of course you would not have known." He scoffed. "Let me ask you a question in turn. Why did you not call?"

Why indeed. Sakura had the decency to look contrite at this, Naruto still stared blankly at the coffee cup between his hands. He could come up with a thousand excuses, could talk in detail about the loyalty born from friends so close they were practically brothers. He could even try to hide behind the bruised heart that Sasuke so obviously carried with him the first year in University. He could reason with Gaara, explain that he had been busy, that University had not come easy for him, that Sasuke had been fragile, easily startled by her name. He tried to find the words, tried to articulate these thoughts, but he knew that they would fall short. Why had he not called? If he asked himself that question and stripped away all the excuses he could think of on the spot, it left him with an answer he was not sure he wanted to know. His sky-blue eyes met Gaara's, hoping to find absolution, to somehow convey to his friends all the things he could not say. Surely he would understand, Sasuke was far more unstable than people thought, and he was his brother. Gaara had to understand that sometimes people had to make choices.

Naruto had chosen Sasuke. The realization settled like lead in his chest. No matter what excuse he could come up with, what sad story he could spin about prioritizing his brother's well being, the truth would simply be that he had not chosen Hinata. Gaara's eyes widened a fraction before narrowing, having seen the realization dawn upon the sky-blue eyes of his friend. Naruto would find no solace in his friend, he would find no absolution, part of him knew he did not deserve it.

"Ask your questions Naruto," Gaara goaded before taking a sip from his tea.

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence as Naruto gathered his thoughts, trying to navigate past the chasm that had opened in his chest at the realization that his choice being what led them to this was more difficult than he anticipated. Next to him Sakura cleared her throat.

"I think… We would like to know what happened… from the start if you could?" She asked tentatively. "You have to understand, we are incredibly confused by this whole situation."

"There are parts of the story that are not mine to tell, and even bigger pieces that I do not know." Gaara responded coldly. "But I will grant you what I do know."

"Thank you," she whispered, Naruto felt her hand on his thigh under the table. He wondered if that was her way of reassuring him.

"I learned of Haru when he was 5. Itachi brought him to my kyudojo, Temari had warned me that it would happen but I don't think even her warning was enough to prepare me… He looked so much like Sasuke that it was impossible not to know." There was a softness to Gaara's eyes as he recalled the memory. "I learned from Itachi that Hinata had not made it to college… and that she had been raising Haru on her own."

Sakura's fist clenched onto the fabric of Naruto's pants, however, his eyes did not leave Gaara. Afraid that if he looked away for just a second the moment would be gone, and the mercy they had been granted would be rescinded.

"I'm not aware of their living conditions, Itachi would not say and Temari was even more tight-lipped. Haru… well… he didn't say much, but from what I gleaned, things were not the best." He continued, taking a deep breath he lifted his gaze to meet Naruto's. "I know that Hinata wrote to him. Almost weekly at first, whether he read those letters or not is beyond me. The choice to keep him… that was not… articulated at first, it wasn't as though we had made a conscious decision. You have to understand that by the time Hinata moved in with Itachi things were… delicate…" Gaara cringed at his own words, it was obvious that he was trying to only say the bare minimum. His loyalties tested and stretched so thin that it caused him visible pain.

So much had changed in the last 72 hours, so many lives had been upended, and many more secrets needed to be uncovered. Naruto's gaze fell from Gaara's, heavy with the knowledge that he might have the missing key. The reason the letters never arrived. The truth.

"Is… is he a happy child?" Sakura's voice cut through the fog of Naruto's thoughts.

"Haru?" Gaara inquired, surprise lacing his voice. "He's… a taciturn child." He frowned, though mirth warmed his gaze now.

"Of course he would be," Sakura snorted and leaned forward. "But he can't be as bad as Sasuke was in his teens…. Surely?"

"Oh," a deep rumbling chuckle resounded from his chest. "No, he is different from Sasuke. He's quiet, and thoughtful. His arrows always strike true… Though his tsurune is often troubled."

"Oh, so he takes after Itachi." Sakura guffawed.

"One tends to take after those who raise them," Gaara responded, the mirth that warmed his gaze was now pure joy. "He is a wonderful child."

"How did Itachi come to raise him?" The questions were flowing freely now, and Naruto wanted to kiss her in his gratitude, he needed the distraction while he sorted through his thoughts.

"Things were complicated. I don't know the whole story." His response was careful and measured. "It happened after I met them, but before the Uchiha household was made aware."

"Wait, wait, Mr. and Mrs. Uchiha didn't know?" Sakura looked at Gaara incredulously.

He nodded slowly.

"I believe Haru was 6 when they moved in with Itachi. He began attending lessons more frequently. Things changed quickly at that point." Gaara's low voice was almost wistful and Naruto noted that his friend was more relaxed as the story moved away from its conception to the more current months. "I heard Fugako was incensed when he found out about Haru… the rest is as you guessed it. No one really… declared it a secret… but those who tried to talk to Sasuke about it were often turned away at the mention of Hinata's name… Eventually, we stopped."

"You…" Naruto cleared his throat, as though there was something stuck in it. "You mentioned that Hinata had sent letters. Do you know if one of them contained a sonogram?"

Gaara's eyes widened a fraction and he nodded his head slowly. Naruto paled, feeling as though he was about to be sick in front of everyone. He opened his mouth to continue but was interrupted by the ringing of Gaara's phone. Excusing himself, he picked up the call, walking a few paces away from the table they were sharing. Sakura stared at Gaara, before giving Naruto a concerned look, but before she could say anything regarding that Gaara returned.

"Sasuke showed up at Hinata's house." He said without preamble. "Haru beat him into a pulp." There was a quiet awe in the redhead's voice, an incredulous tilt to his voice.

"Well… someone had to do it, I suppose?" Sakura was nonchalant in her assessment, but the smile on her face was strained.

"I…" Naruto began, once again finding it difficult to speak through the barbed wire in his throat. "This… Sasuke never read the letters. He never had a chance to."

Gaara slowly set his phone on the table between them, and slowly sat back down, his eyes pinning Naruto begging for an explanation before he deemed this conversation over.

"The letters never made it to him… Orochi was intercepting them." There was a gasp from the pinkette, but the only reaction from Gaara was a slight flinch.

"You better have a good reason to believe this Naruto. I know how much you care for him, however, half hearted excuses will not save him from the beating he will get from at least 2 more of us." The countenance with which this was said bellied the incredulity that Gaara felt. Naruto did not doubt that Sasuke would find himself at the end of many fists as word spread of whatever had transpired today.

"I stopped by the mailroom one day on my way to our room in the dorm, I…" Naruto took a deep breath, the memory was clawing its way back, haunting him. "I saw her holding a sonogram. The writing on the envelope was familiar, but I couldn't… I wasn't able to see it. She was pale, uncharacteristically so… She said it was a friend's… I'm so sorry… I didn't know."

Though his head was hanging, Naruto could tell that there was a frost coming from in front of him. Gaara was displeased if that was even the correct word to describe whatever turmoil his friend was battling. He remained silent as he reached for the phone he had left on the table between them, and Naruto could only close his eyes as he dialed.

"Temari, we need to talk." Nothing could prepare them for the can of worms that Naruto had just now opened.

Translator Notes:

Tsurune: A sound made when the bowstring hits the bow when shooting an arrow.

Between natural disasters, awful writer's block, and a mess of an idea's notebook, this chapter was a long time coming. Things are going to start getting messy as a lot of people will be converging together and a lot of storylines will crash. I hope I can do it justice, but please be prepared for very interesting pacing from here on out.

Poor Naruto though, he doesn't know the shitshow he just started. Good luck to you my friend.

Leave kind words!

Much love,

Emi