Hello all,

I know there is a little bit of a "tone" problem with this chapter. Please don't mind it too much. This is pretty much the last or before last transition chapter before we head toward the 'present' time. This narrative format is a choice from 5 years ago that maybe did not age too well.

I will be keeping it as is to avoid re-writting too much, but this is likely a chapter that will be re-worked in the futur.

In any case, enjoy!

Sasuke was 15 now.

It was the summer before his last year of middle school, and probably the year he would recall as the weirdest of his life.

Itachi had messed up.

The perfect son, the light of the Uchiha family, the prodigal genius, was renouncing his inheritance and was marrying a 'commoner'.

The scream of outrage that had come out of their father's mouth after Itachi dropped the news at dinner was still resonating in Sasuke's mind. This was the first time since his birth that Itachi was going against their father's will.

The family had imploded.

The arguments spread like wildfire in a hay barn full of gunpowder. All were arguing about money, the inheritance, the company, the duty to be an Uchiha, and everything that came with it.

Itachi was 20. He had left for university at 16. He had done everything perfectly. He had obtained both his bachelor's and master's in record speed. He had been training as an executive for the company for years already. He had done multiple internships in business and politics. And now… he was getting married.

Sasuke just felt hurt.

Itachi had chosen. He was leaving Sasuke behind in this crazy house. Yet not once itachi thought to introduce her to Sasuke or even warn him of his choice. No, Itachi cared more about this stranger than him, the company, or anything else... Surely, he must have known that Sasuke would have been happy for him, right?

Sasuke was so hurt.

However, the one who took it the worst was Mikoto. She had tried to reason her son. A wedding was too much… Itachi could date for a few years, meet maybe one of their partner's daughters, and see his options…

Itachi had not taken her suggestion positively.

Soon, Mikoto was torn by all the anger and venom that Itachi was showing.. She was torn between her first, perfect child, his love, and her husband.

Home had become a war zone. Fugaku had gone mad. And Sasuke was doing all his best to stay out of it. Staying at school longer became an habbit, going to his clubs and working for the student council later than ever was now the norm. The Uchiha Sunday dinners were filled with so much hostility that Madara himself started to cancel them.. And soon, without the patriarch, they were nonexistent.

At the end of the summer, after two months of vicious fighting, Itachi started blackmailing the family. Sasuke learned this news from his cousin. Obito looked way too happy about the situation. He was himself going to university and had been considering Itachi his rival for a while now.

It was unclear to Sasuke what path Itachi was trying to achieve. He both seem to want to leave, convince his family, and protect his fiancée, yet, it seem that Itachi couldn't break all the ties with the name and the company as they were ingrained everywhere.

Itachi started holding some assets until their father would break, which was far from happening. Even with his company in great danger, Fugaku would not even budge a centimetre to listen to his elder.

Sasuke could not stand it anymore. He started sneaking out at night. His room was on the first floor, and the bay windows literally just needed to be opened for him to leave. The only thing that was bothersome was the cameras. Soon, Sasuke realized soon he did not need to hide. No one was watching, nor caring.

The teen started to go to way more parties than he could have imagined. Mostly small gatherings and get-togethers that he didn't really like, but also big ones that really took his mind off things. Anything was better than being at home. Although he kept telling himself he did not like noise, and he did not like to go, it felt quite good to let go of the pressure in a completely different environment with a nice drink.

Sakura was still hanging around him a lot. It was, again, under one of her demands that he joined only the second biggest party of the year at the end of summer. He had missed the first one back in the spring, so she had insisted.

Sasuke agreed.

This party wasn't in the Konoha district, but downtown. This usually meant many people that he did not know from other schools.

It was already late when he saw the boy sitting silently in a corner of the room. Out of curiosity, he approached him. Maybe it was his look or his physique, but the orange-haired boy from Jomae High really stood out to him.

Juugo was one year older than him. He was tall and finely muscled. He looked quiet and soft. Sasuke had approached him and looked at him weirdly before asking what he was doing. Probably the alcohol was helping the still socially awkward Uchiha talk to a stranger.

Juugo said he was listening to music. Sasuke had raised an eyebrow until he saw the discreet earphone tucked into Juugo's shirt. And so, he sat down and asked to listen. Whatever music that was, it couldn't be worse than the electronic shit that was playing in the room.

Juugo had let Sasuke listen.

Rock.

Pure rock.

Sasuke had never been allowed to listen to this kind of music. His nanni as a child had warn him about the danger of "evil music" and Sasuke already not a big fan of noise, was never listening to music anyway.

Yet here, unknown noises were suddenly flowing from his ears to his veins.

The music, of course, didn't speak to him right away. He was fifteen, and not exactly impressed by a screaming guitar riff or the intense build-up pulsing in his ears.

Like everyone else, he couldn't quite understand the slow symphonies of chords he'd never heard before. Maybe it was just to be polite, but Sasuke lied a little and whispered, "Yeah, it's okay."

This lit up something in Juugo. A smile that rose to his eyes. The large boy almost stood while had started to talk about it.

The language that Juugo was speaking, Sasuke's knew, from afar, but had rarely experienced it himself: passion.

And suddenly Sasuke cared. He wanted that.

He wanted to feel his chest rise with pleasure when listening to something he loved. He wanted to talk about things he cared about. Not just experience them.

Sure, Sasuke liked martial arts, and some of the clubs he was in… but he'd never watch them on TV, or go above and beyond. Those, were just ways to release frustrations—

Not something to live and breathe.

Passion was fascinating, especially when it was carried through a body, all the way to the eyes.

Juugo loved—loved—music.

Sasuke had always disliked noise, but maybe—maybe—he could try to see what was really offered there.

Juugo talked about his love for old rock, metal, and classic punk with every fiber of his body. His sentences were short, his voice low, and honestly, to everyone else in the room, he might have looked half-asleep. But Sasuke was close enough to see it.

So he listened.

Truly listened.

He tried to understand what, in those rhythms, could be so fascinating to the redhead. And maybe Juugo had realized he had, for once, a real person to talk to—or maybe he was just passionate—but Juugo had talked to Sasuke until he couldn't talk anymore. Describing his music taste, answering Sasuke's questions.

At some point, they both had an earphone in, and while the conversation had died down, the music kept going.

Strong.

Loud.

But… reassuring, in a way? Like an explosion of rage sometimes, and a softness another.

He listened to all the songs Juugo swiped through on his phone—Arctic Monkeys to Jimi Hendrix, The Kinks, Metallica, Joan Jett, Måneskin, Green Day, or Sabaton. Old classics too… Queen, The Rolling Stones… and Juugo's favorite: Nirvana. Sasuke felt it then—Teen Spirit, the noise that moved something inside him.

Then Juugo had quietly mentioned that not far from the apartment, a concert was going on in some basement.

It was 9 p.m., and Sasuke had agreed.

Soon, Sasuke was in the middle of the crowd. He still didn't like to dance, but suddenly, the loud music blasting from the speakers—noises he still wasn't sure about—felt like a release… like something he hadn't felt since he was seven, fighting with all his might.

So he let go.

That night, when it was time to leave, they exchanged numbers. Juugo had asked him, and Sasuke had said yes. For the first time, Sasuke had exchanged his number with someone—and not for a school project or Student Council work.

The fifteen-year-old felt odd about it for a while.

He had always been a little apart, a little lonely. But for once, he wanted to know more about someone.

Four days later, he got a text. Juugo, asking if he wanted to go to some music thing. Sasuke hesitated… Like… he didn't really know the guy, and he was older—not from his school. But then a scream came from upstairs. A vase shattered.

That convinced him.

He typed "yes" without much thought.

He never regretted that decision.

Juugo became his first real friend, real fast. And music—real music—entered his life. Not just noise… sounds.

This summer already felt different. The parties that had become more regular started to feel normal. Now, he could actually enjoy dancing (when it was a good song). He could sometimes invite the ginger-haired boy, or more likely, go out with Juugo and his friend—a girl named Karin.

Karin was from his school, a year under him. Now that he had met her, he definetly remembered seeing her around.

She was the weirdest person he ever met. Loud, obnoxious and rude. Yet, for some reason, he accepted her presence.

He suddenly had someone else to talk to at School, and most of the time anyway he would see her outside of school anyway.

The last year of middle school for Sasuke became a year of discovery. Juugo, and especially Karin, weren't ones to follow the rules, and with them around him. Everything was different.

Soon, at fifteen, Sasuke had a fake ID.

For the first time in a while, his parents weren't just inattentive—they seemed to have forgotten his existence entirely. And for once, he embraced that.

Late at night, Konoha was still a nice suburb of the greater area. But the actual city—HinoKuni—was something else. That year, Sasuke even found time to hook up a bit. Mostly with older girls… the ones from his age or school just weren't his style.

His first kiss had actually been a bit weird—with a nice emo girl from a group of musicians playing in one of the bars he and Juugo had gone to.

She had immediately caught his eye. Purple hair cut just to the shoulder, a piercing on her chin, and a thin figure.

She had a nice smile and had taught him some guitar that night, which Sasuke had felt pretty good about. She was impressive in her dark clothes, with her tattoo. Many people might've said she was drop-dead gorgeous, like a fantasy for young boys.

But to Sasuke, it was the Charisma.

When she kissed him—in front of Juugo and Karin—he tried to own it. He participated mid-ly, and she had smile at him from his inexperience, but she didn't judge him for it.

Konan. That was her name. He remembered.

But the kiss had been… a bit too wet for him. She smiled again, before stoping. He was still a bit too young and shy. They exchanged numbers that day, but it quickly became clear they'd just be friends.

Later, over the school year, he tried kissing again. Mostly girls from other school, at parties or bars. It was easier when he was a bit drunk. Still, he hated the fake nails that would grab onto him, or the perfumes that smelled too strong, but it didn't really matter.

He never fully understood why, but none of it ever felt right. He tried to ignore it. Especially when Juugo and Karin were around. Now that he was spending time with them—and sometimes with Konan—sex was a constant topic in his life. It was everywhere. Talked about like it was just... the most amazing thing ever. The thing that would make him, a real man. He had kissed Konan a few more time too.

She was so relaxed in her approach to intimacy, as if it were just a pleasant walk shared with someone else. Just one to be enjoyed for what it was. That made it feel safe. Sasuke got better at it. He still didn't feel much, but it was... nice. Enjoyable, in a quiet sort of way.

On the other hand, Karin, is new friend-If he could call her a friend- was literraly obsessed with sex. All the time, she was discussing it, reading these smutty stories with gore and unhinged erotica. Sasuke felt bad for Juugo sometimes. She gossiped about sex all the time and being in the same school he was spending much more timed with her. Not that it mattered—Karin only had a thing for soft, pretty boys anyway. She'd ask Sasuke to hook up constantly. He always refused. Sasuke knew he wasn't her type. He was still too strong. Too serious. It was just for "experimenting" apparently.

But now, with Karin always around, Sasuke heard everything—who at Jomae High had lost their virginity, with who, how, when. It was relentless.

Now with Karin around, he was hearing about all the sex life of their Jomae high classmates. Who lost her/his virginity with who. It was relentless.

How had this happened? Barely two years ago, it had all been gross to everyone. And now it was all anyone cared about.

Sure, he couldn't lie—his curiosity was there. His hormones were doing what hormones did. He'd tried porn. Sometimes, he even got off to it.

But deep down... something always felt off.

Of course, he had asked himself question. But the teenager never really wanted to get too deep into this, too aware where it could lead him. At some point, he had told juugo that he felt disconnected from it all, sex and all that.

Juugo had been no help—not that he had much experience either. He just shrugged and said Sasuke should try the real thing. With someone he trusted or whatever.

Sure…

Maybe one day.

Sasuke just breathed out as he was plucking his new earbuds in his ear.

This…. That sounded nice.