Warnings: Incest. Drama. Big sads.

A Family Affair

Chapter Eleven

"What?"

The word was out of Sasuke's mouth before he could stop it. Before he could even take in the full weight and meaning of what Naruto had said, really, but he didn't think he could be blamed for that. It was just an automatic response. Like how you might say "ow" after hitting something even when it doesn't hurt.

"I want you to leave him," Naruto repeated. This time a little louder and a little clearer. Like maybe Sasuke just hadn't heard him before.

He had though. However, he did appreciate the opportunity to give a different response – a better response – now that he'd had a whole handful of seconds to think over what Naruto was requesting instead of just one.

Which was just what he did, giving Naruto a resounding—

"No."

And, honestly, he had hoped that that answer would give Naruto pause. Would maybe make the other boy rethink whatever exactly he was trying to accomplish here and see that Sasuke wasn't going to let himself be turned into the victim of whatever game Naruto was looking to play with him.

Though, it unfortunately didn't seem to be the case as Naruto shook his head and clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth a few times.

"I'm sorry, I might have given you the wrong impression and, you know, that's my fault. So let me try again…"

He straightened up a little and cleared his throat.

"You will leave him," Naruto amended, seeming to choose every word carefully. "Otherwise, I'll send all of these – he nodded down toward the open picture on his phone – to everyone I know. Our friends, our teachers…"

"You wouldn't."

"No?"

Naruto made a curious noise and slipped his phone back out of Sasuke's hand. Then without warning, he turned toward Sakura, whom they'd both left forgotten by the front door and gave her a smile.

"Hey Sakura, do you mind settling a bet?"

Before Naruto could start to offer her his phone though, Sasuke reached out. His blood was pounding in his ears as he grabbed Naruto's wrist tightly and yanked the blond back toward him.

"Don't," he bit out.

"Don't what, Sasuke?" Naruto asked expectantly, though he didn't give Sasuke any time to answer before he dropped his voice to a whisper and continued mockingly, "Do you think she'd look at you differently if she knew? Do you think she'd be disgusted or shocked? Maybe even humiliated to be friends with someone who could—"

"Stop, Naruto," Sasuke finally demanded. "Just stop."

There was a beat of silence between them before the blond let out a put-upon sigh.

"Well, if you don't want her to know the truth, then you can always ask her to leave."

Sasuke stared at Naruto, trying to weigh his options but he couldn't see a way out of this. Either he had to bow to Naruto in this instance or risk Sakura finding out about everything as well, and he wasn't ready for that. He wasn't ready for any of this, honestly, but what choice did he have?

When he finally broke eye contact and looked back at Sakura, he felt defeated.

"Will you go wait for me out back, Sakura?" he asked.

She frowned and her brow knit together in concern, but she didn't move.

"What's going on, Sasuke?" she asked instead. "What's Naruto talking about? What don't you want to tell me?"

"It's…" he trailed off and glanced back at Naruto.

The blond tilted his head to the side and smiled innocently as he wiggled his phone back and forth in his hand tauntingly. Thankfully, the screen was blank now, but that didn't mean it would be for long if he didn't cooperate.

He looked back to Sakura and tried to smile.

"It's nothing, Sakura. I just need to talk to Naruto alone for a couple of minutes."

"Are… Are you sure, Sasuke?"

No.

The word was urging to leave him, just like his body was trying to fly into its flight response and just run away from what was happening around him, but he couldn't. He couldn't move and he couldn't speak without worrying that Naruto would make good on his threat, and that…

Well, suffice it to say that he needed to deal with one thing at a time right now.

"Yeah, it's fine," he finally answered with a little nod. Hoping he seemed even half encouraging, because he certainly didn't feel it. "It'll only be a couple minutes."

Sakura hesitated. Long enough that Sasuke was sure she was going to argue, but eventually she nodded and walked past them, back toward the kitchen.

Once they heard her footsteps fade and the back door open and close, Sasuke let go of Naruto's wrist, feeling disgusted.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Funny," Naruto said, rubbing absently at where Sasuke had been gripping him. "I could ask you the same thing."

"Me?" Sasuke asked, gesturing to himself. "You're the one whose been—what? Following me; watching me? Unless you have some other explanation of how you got those pictures?"

"Well what else was I supposed to do, Sasuke?" Naruto asked. "You lied to me. You told me there wasn't anyone else."

"That's what this is all about?" Sasuke said. "Fine, I lied! I lied because I didn't want to hurt your feelings. But that doesn't make-make this – he gestured to Naruto's phone – okay!"

"Because screwing your brother is somehow better?"

"At least I love him."

That statement shut the both of them up and Sasuke wanted to run away the moment he saw Naruto's lips pull up into a sad, resigned kind of smile.

"Then at least I know it'll hurt," Naruto said quietly.

And while Sasuke was afraid to ask, he did it anyway.

"What do you mean?"

"I think I've already told you; you're going to leave him."

"No, I won't," Sasuke said, trying to sound as determined as before. "You can't make me."

It was a childish argument, sure, but right now, it was the only one he had.

"I can't?"

Naruto made an interested noise before he looked down at his phone and tapped it a few times. And since he was so close, Sasuke could clearly see that he was opening a new text and attaching the pictures Sasuke had seen to it.

"Are you still sure about that?" the blond asked, glancing up at him expectantly.

And in another time and place, Sasuke would have said yes. He would have challenged Naruto the same way he'd challenged him a hundred or a thousand times before, with a laugh and a grin but ultimately with the knowledge that Naruto would always keep his secrets. No matter how bad they were. Because that was just how things were between them.

Had been, he had to remind himself.

That was how things had been between them, but now…

Well, Naruto had already threatened him once.

So it was obvious by the way Sasuke's eyes flicked back and forth from the phone to Naruto and then back that there was no loyalty, no trust and, despite his own determination, he felt himself start to shake as he watched Naruto shrug and open his contact list, quickly finding and selecting a set of numbers that Sasuke was all too familiar with.

"I guess we'll see if you still feel that same way after I send these to your parents," Naruto mused to himself aloud.

"Don't you dare," Sasuke said lowly.

Naruto leveled a stony look at him, his thumb hovering over the send button.

"Why not? I mean, I think they have the right to know what the two of you are doing, don't you agree? Unless, of course, you leave him. Then there wouldn't be anything to tell them."

Sasuke recognized that question for what it was.

A final challenge. A final chance for him to change his mind. To give in.

"Naruto…"

It came out quiet, resigned and Sasuke clenched his fist at his side as he tried to come up with an argument. Anything he could think of that might make Naruto change his mind instead, but—

"Tell him you're done, Sasuke," Naruto said.

This time, it was a warning and Sasuke held up his hands when he saw Naruto's thumb twitch downward just the slightest bit.

"Stop!" Sasuke exclaimed. Not as relieved as he should have been when he saw Naruto stop moving. "You don't have to do this. I… I know you don't understand why—"

"You're right, and I don't want to understand; so you can save your breath!" Naruto ground out, cutting him off. "Now, you have until the count of three to take out your phone and text him. One."

Naruto held up a finger and Sasuke's head immediately started to spin.

He wanted more time. He needed more time, to think, to figure a way out of this, but—

"Two."

But there was only one option, an option he wished he didn't have to even consider. But how was he supposed to just let Naruto ruin their lives? Ruin Itachi's life?

"Thr—"

"Okay!" Sasuke shouted, squeezing his eyes shut as he cut Naruto off.

He waited a beat to see if the other boy would tell him it was too late, that the message had already been sent and the damage done, but when Naruto didn't say anything, Sasuke opened his eyes. And he was disappointed to see the gleam in the pair looking back at him. One that told them both only one thing.

Naruto had won.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Naruto asked. "I didn't quite hear you."

"I said okay…" Sasuke repeated, feeling disgusted with that word and with himself as he slid his phone out of his pocket to show Naruto that he wasn't lying.

"Well, it's good to see you have some sense," Naruto said.

Naruto lowered his phone and locked the screen, but Sasuke was very aware that the text was still there, waiting just below the darkness to be sent if he went back on his word.

So he didn't; he just unlocked his phone. Feeling a pang when his conversation thread with Itachi lit up the screen, showing the last message he'd sent his brother just a handful of minutes before.

"I love you too."

"Aww, that'd almost be sweet if it wasn't so disgusting," Naruto said, looking down at the message. And his tone made Sasuke want to clutch his phone to his chest so he could try and hide the words, desperate to protect his feelings and his brother in equal measure from the prying, judgmental eyes of a world (but more namely a boy) that wasn't ready or willing to understand them.

But he couldn't. Not with the threat Naruto held over him. So, instead he stood there feeling more exposed in this moment than he was sure he would ever feel again. At least, if he was lucky. Though at this point, that seemed very unlikely.

Especially when Naruto looked up at him and then nodded toward his phone.

"Well?"

Sasuke sighed and tapped on the message box to type out a reply, but then he stopped as quickly as he'd started and looked up at Naruto one last time.

"You don't have to do this," he said again. For some reason still trying to be hopeful that something that he could say would change the other boy's mind.

But Naruto tilted his head to the side and hummed. "Actually, I do, because I'm not going to share you, Sasuke."

"But I'm not going to be with you, Naruto."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Naruto replied dismissively. "Right now, I think you have something to do."

Sasuke's nostrils flared and he pressed his lips together in a tight line as he looked back down at his phone. Reading his brother's message again, he felt a chill run down his spine as a hopeless, disturbed feeling filled him. A kind of hollow sadness that he could remember feeling a few years ago when he came to the sudden realization that Itachi didn't want to be around him anymore. But now it was the realization that after he did this, things would be over.

But again, what choice did he have?

That was the thought he held on to as he typed out a disjointed message. A jumble of words that only vaguely resembled the loosest definition of a "break-up". But before he could even finish typing it out, Naruto made a dissatisfied noise and jabbed a finger toward the screen.

"That's too nice; erase it and try again."

"And say what, Naruto?" he questioned, looking up at the blond. "That you're blackmailing me?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow at him, looking both surprised and either curious or possibly impressed that he still had this much fight left in him. Either way, he ignored Sasuke's words and gestured with his chin back toward the phone.

"I have a few ideas," he said. But when Sasuke didn't move to look back down, Naruto lifted his own phone back up and unlocked it. "Unless, of course, you'd like me to go ahead and send—"

"Fine," Sasuke answered quickly, still eying the boy angrily before erasing everything he'd written. "What do you want me to say?"

Naruto proceeded to dictate the exact message he wanted Sasuke to send.

"I can't keep doing this. I made a mistake in being with you, and I can't do it anymore. I'm disgusted in myself. I'm disgusted in you and I don't want to see you ever again."

"He'll know I'm lying," Sasuke said quietly as he read the message over.

"And I'm sure it'll kill him," Naruto said. "Maybe he'll wonder how you could lie to him; maybe he'll even drive himself crazy asking why. So, why don't we find out, yeah?"

The blond gestured toward Sasuke's phone, where his thumb was hovering over the send button, but he couldn't bring himself to hit it. It would mean giving up the best thing he ever had and he couldn't. He couldn't. He—

"Oh geez, just—here," Naruto muttered, rolling his eyes as he reached over and hit the button himself. Leaving Sasuke to stare in shock as he watched the little "sent" next to the message quickly turn to "read".

"W-What did you just do?"

"I ripped off the band-aid," Naruto said, waving his hand dismissively. "You're welcome, by the way."

"You—"

"Oh, he's typing!" Naruto said excitedly, cutting off whatever Sasuke was going to say as he leaned closer so he could watch his phone expectantly.

And, true to Naruto's observation, three little dots had appeared underneath the message. They appeared and disappeared a few times in quick succession before texts started popping up on his screen.

"What?"

"Sasuke, I'm confused. What are you saying?"

"I think we need to talk about this."

After the third message, the dots appeared again but this time when they disappeared, a text didn't follow. Instead, his phone started vibrating in his hand before his brother's picture popped up.

"Oh, no, I don't think so," Naruto chimed as soon as he saw Itachi calling.

He snatched Sasuke's phone out of his hands and immediately declined the call. But he didn't just stop there. No, within a matter of a seconds and with a few sure swipes of his finger, Naruto blocked Itachi's number and then deleted his brother's contact completely out of his phone.

"What're you doing? What're you doing!?" Sasuke shouted, reaching out to take his phone back but Naruto stepped away from him.

"I'm not stupid, Sasuke. I know you'd just tell him later what happened, and I don't want you to do that. So, this is the best way to ensure that you don't. In fact…"

Naruto furrowed his brow and tapped Sasuke's phone a few more times before he let out a little satisfied noise. Then and only then, did he hand it back.

"Now his number isn't in your phone at all."

Sasuke's eyes widened and his heart climbed into his throat as he lifted his phone and swiped and pressed against the glass furiously to check his message and call history. But Naruto was telling the truth.

Itachi's number was gone.

His call history was empty and Itachi's message thread had vanished. Erased like it had never existed in the first place.

When Sasuke looked back up at Naruto, he started to shake his head. But before he could open his mouth to say anything, the backdoor opened and closed.

"Okay, guys, I think it's time that… Sasuke? Are you okay?" Sakura asked, interrupting herself as soon as she saw them.

And while Sasuke wasn't quite sure how he looked, he could assume it must have been pretty bad, considering that his face felt hot and he could feel tears pricking at his eyes. So he didn't feel remotely guilty when he shook his head, because no, he wasn't okay.

"I… I think I'm gonna go, Sakura," Sasuke managed.

Sakura opened her mouth, and Sasuke could tell that she was ready to say something. But then she looked between them a few times and her shoulders fell forward a little bit before she nodded.

"Yeah, that's okay, Sasuke," she said.

He turned to leave, but Naruto grabbed his wrist before he could take even a single step.

"Don't even think of going over to see him," the blond whispered, leaning close to his ear. "If I so much as even think you're with him, then I won't hesitate to send these pictures."

"Naruto, let him go!" Sakura demanded loudly, stepping toward them. Probably ready to pull them apart.

She didn't get the chance though as Sasuke yanked himself free of Naruto's grip.

"Fuck you," he spat.

XxX

Then he walked to the door and out into the night.

The walk back to the Uchiha compound had never seemed longer to Sasuke and the entire way there he kept rubbing the tears from his eyes, hoping that by time he got back to his parents' house that he wouldn't look too upset. Especially since he already knew he wouldn't have the patience for his mother's questions if she thought that there was anything wrong.

But that was thing. Everything was wrong.

He known that before he'd left Sakura's, of course, but the longer he walked the more it sunk in. Until he could barely stop himself from shaking. Enraged that someone he had considered a friend for so long would do something like this—following and taking pictures of him.

I think that's just called stalking, his brain supplied helpfully. Which he didn't appreciate in the least right now.

But it was true. Naruto had stalked him – stalked them – and now he was having to pay some ridiculous price because the boy just couldn't let him go.

Maybe it's better this way though.

Sasuke slowed to a stop on the sidewalk when he had the thought and looked down at his feet, wanting to feel just as angry at the thought as he felt toward Naruto. But for some reason, he couldn't. Even as he bit at his lip and his heart ached like it had been ripped open in his chest, Sasuke couldn't help but wonder if there was something that was actually right in the intrusive little thought.

Because, really, when he thought about it, how long had he expected things to last between them?

Had he really thought that he and Itachi would have been able to live the rest of their lives together, happy and hidden away from what the world really knew them as? Or would things have blown up sooner or later? Tearing them apart from one another because they just weren't supposed to be together?

Had Naruto just done the inevitable a little sooner than it would have happened?

"No," Sasuke said quickly, answering his own question. Because he couldn't believe that.

No, he didn't believe it.

At least… He was pretty sure he didn't.

Sasuke shook his head to rid himself of implications of that unpleasant thought and forced himself to focus and start walking again.

When he got to his parents' house a few minutes later, he immediately noticed that the lights were on in the living room. So Sasuke rubbed at his eyes one last time and took a deep breath before he opened the door and went inside.

"Sasuke! There you are!" Mikoto exclaimed as soon as he walked in. She spun around on the couch to look at him, but he just kept his head down and took his shoes off without a word. Which she didn't seem to notice as she continued, "Your brother's been calling. He said something was wrong, but he wouldn't say what. He just keeps calling to ask if you've come home."

As if on cue, the house phone rang. Sasuke's head snapped over to look at it, his eyes widening when Mikoto answered it.

"Yes, honey, he just got here," he heard her say after a brief silence. "Here, let me—Sasuke?"

But by the time she called out for him, he had already fled down the hallway and escaped into his room, shutting and locking the door behind him. Then locking the door to the bathroom just for good measure, but he could still hear his mother talking from down the hall.

"No, he didn't say what was wrong. Did you two have a fight? Do you want me to try and talk to him? …Yes, of course, that's fine, honey. Of course."

After that, there was silence and Sasuke sat tensely on the edge of his bed, waiting to see if his mother would come to his door and try to get him to talk. To tell her why he was so upset.

And as much as he didn't want it because he didn't want to relive what had happened, he also did. He wanted to throw himself into her arms and tell her about what Naruto had done. About how much he was hurting and hope that she could somehow make it better.

But she couldn't. No one could.

And she never came anyway.

He waited there, but after five, then ten, then twenty minutes, she never came down the hall. Never called out to him. Never made another sound.

Sasuke finally moved then. He laid down on his side on the end of his bed and wrapped his arms around himself as tightly as he could, hoping that sleep might just take mercy on him and make this entire night disappear. And if he was lucky, then it would all have been a bad dream. He could wake up in his brother's bed, laugh about how ridiculous this whole thing seemed and enjoy their Sunday together.

The moment he closed his eyes though, the shrill ringing of the house phone pierced through the silence of his room. Ringing once, then twice before his mother answered.

Her voice was quiet when she spoke this time, so quiet that Sasuke couldn't make out what she was saying. But after a minute of listening to her mumble, he heard her walking down the hall before stopping right outside of his door.

Then a soft tapping met his ears.

"Sweetheart, your brother is here," she said from the other side. "He wants to talk to you. He asked if you'd come outside and talk to him."

Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut and a quiet sob wracked his body.

"I… I can't, mom," he managed to get out. "I can't."

There was a pause, then Mikoto mumbled something and Sasuke quickly realized she must have still been on the phone with Itachi.

"Okay, sweetheart; okay," she said, her voice a little louder though not directed at him. But her next words were. "Sasuke, he says he's sorry for whatever he did and he hopes you can forgive him. He just wants to talk to you for a couple of minutes."

This time he didn't answer and from the other side of the door, he heard her sigh and take a step away.

"Honey, I don't think he wants to talk…" she said quietly. Then she hummed and let out a gentle, "Okay," before Sasuke heard a beep as she hung up the phone.

Seconds later, from outside, the sound of a car starting met his ears and another quiet sob shook him as he fought against the urge to get up and go to his window. Desperate for even just a glimpse of his brother so that he could tell him to stop and come inside.

Because he was the one who should have been apologizing, not Itachi. And yet his brother had still worried about him, had come to their parents' house and even gone so far as to ask for his forgiveness. Like Itachi was the one who was in the wrong, like he could have truly done something to change Sasuke's mind.

Like he believed the lie Sasuke had been forced to tell.

"Oh, god…"

Sasuke's eyes widened and he pressed his hand to his mouth at the thought, at the guilt that riddled him, but he barely had time to catch his breath from the new, hollow ache in his chest before Mikoto spoke up from outside of his door.

"Sasuke, sweetheart… I don't know what happened, but… But if it makes any difference, your brother does sound genuinely sorry about whatever he did. Now, I'm, well I'm not going to tell you that you should, but if you want to…maybe you should call him and let him explain."

Her words were quiet and careful. Just the sentiments of a parent that didn't want to see their children fighting, but that didn't stop the guilt and shame from driving deeper down into him. Swallowing him whole until he could do little more than hide his face in his hands.

"I can't, mom," he whispered again.

I want to, but…

"Okay, I understand…" she said, sounding dejected. "But please let me know if you need anything. Anything, Sasuke. Even if you just need someone to talk to…"

He heard her put her hand against his door.

"I'm here, sweetie."

Silence hung for a moment after that before Mikoto let out a soft sigh. Then her hand slid away from the door and Sasuke listened to her head down the hall.

The door to his parents' room closed with a quiet click, and as soon as it did Sasuke felt like maybe he could breathe again. But as soon as he pulled his hands away from his face and tried to draw in a shaking breath it just turned into a broken sob that he couldn't stop.

Then another that he didn't try to stop.

After that, he didn't know how long he laid there, shaking and crying as the weight of everything that had happened over the last couple of hours tried to bury him alive, but he cried until he couldn't anymore. Until his eyes burned and felt puffy. Until his head ached and his throat felt raw from the force it took for him not to scream. And then he only got up because he didn't think he could keep laying there, in the same bed they'd made love in just days before.

So, he pushed himself up, rubbing at the tearstains on his face as he grabbed one of the extra blankets from his closet before he left his room. Glancing at his phone where it laid on his bed only once as he left so he could check the time.

12:41 AM

Then he headed down the hall to the living room and started to make up the couch. He laid his blanket out and then turned to grab one of the decorative pillows off the armchair next to him when he stopped as one of the house phones caught his eye.

It was sitting quietly in its cradle to keep it charged. Completely inconspicuous. Not asking for trouble; not wanting to cause any either, but just the sight of it sparked a wild idea in Sasuke's mind.

A dangerous idea.

One he should have shaken from his head as soon as it manifested, but…

But maybe he could just have a minute. Just a single, final moment to listen to Itachi's voice, even if it was only his voicemail. That way he could commit the sound to his memory and hold it close in his heart whenever he felt alone.

Sure, he might not have deserved that after what he'd done, but that didn't stop him from reaching over and picking up the phone, his hand shaking a little as he found the list of the most recent calls they'd received. At the top was a number that he easily recognized as Itachi's even though he'd never memorized it, and after taking a deep breath he dialed it and put the phone to his ear as it rang.

Once.

Twice.

Then…

"Mom?" Itachi answered, his voice hoarse. "Is everything okay? Has he… Has Sasuke said anything?"

He didn't answer.

"Mom? Are you there?"

Sasuke closed his eyes and took a slow, quiet breath. Then he reluctantly started to pull the phone away from his ear to hang up when—

"…Sasuke?"

As soon as he heard Itachi say his name, Sasuke's eyes widened and he hung up the phone with a quick intake of breath.

Before he had much time to berate himself for calling though, a sharp ringing erupted through the house and the phone in his hand. Reflexively, Sasuke answered it just to stop the noise before it woke his parents. Realizing only a second too late what he had done when he saw Itachi's number on the Caller ID again.

But by then, his brother was talking, and the frantic tone of Itachi's voice stopped Sasuke from just hanging up again.

"Sasuke! Sasuke, is that you?" he asked. "If it is, can you just—could you please… Could I just talk to you for a minute?"

Itachi's words spilled out of him in a jumble as he rushed to beg for a chance. A chance that he didn't need to even ask for. A chance that Sasuke should have been begging him for instead. But Sasuke still didn't open his mouth.

Not even as his brother sighed, sounding more defeated than Sasuke had ever heard when he started talking again.

"…If you are there, then I just wanted to say that I'm… I'm sorry. I don't know what I did, but if—if you could just talk to me, then I could try and fix it. Because I want to fix it, Sasuke. Please just… Let me fix it."

The last few words were whispered before a quiet sob broke over the line and Sasuke bit his lip as his heart clenched painfully in guilt.

And even though he knew he shouldn't do it. Even though he knew what it could mean for him – for them – if Naruto were to somehow find out, Sasuke had to say something. He couldn't just stand there and listen to his brother cry. He couldn't let Itachi keep thinking that he'd done something and keep blaming himself despite the fact that he'd had absolutely no control over what had happened.

So, Sasuke said the only thing he could.

"I'm sorry, Itachi, but there's nothing for you to fix… Goodbye."

He whispered the last word before closing his eyes and finally hanging up the phone again, cutting Itachi off right as he started to say something else.

Then he waited, not knowing if Itachi would try to call back again so he could try and make Sasuke explain himself or not.

But as a minute, then two, then ten passed, the phone never rang again and Sasuke felt his heart sink as it hit him once again that, as quickly as it had started, it was all over between them.