#wiwb

The streets are mostly barren as civilian families return home for dinner or to settle for the night, with only a few stragglers hanging around the small food stalls still open.  Gaggles of children run past them, racing the clock and their early curfews.

Their innocent conversations and carefree expressions contrasts so much to what Sasuke remembers of childhood, of nerve wracking tests and weapons and missions, that his steps stop while his eyes pursue their movements.  They linger on the way the kids joke and touch, unshackled by politics and questions of motivation.  In the joy bubbling through their round faces.

"Sasuke?"

His gaze snaps back to Naruto, curious blue eyes greenish with the window lights.  Half turned and many strides ahead of him, the blond seems unperturbed by the normalcy, the lingering echo of a life they've never experienced.

"Nothing," Sasuke snaps his legs to action just as Naruto's brows furrow at his answer.

Naruto stares at his face until Sasuke's a footstep away, where both their eyes quietly roving over each other's expressions.  Blond eyebrows quirk a little in question when Sasuke just stands there, waiting.  Blue eyes flicker to the side, concentration wrinkling his forehead, before Naruto snorts shaking his shaggy hair as he turns, muttering "Weirdo."

Back at you hangs on Sasuke's tongue as does his own head shake but he lets neither through, irked at the thought of doing the same action as Naruto.  Instead, he follows the other as they move closer to the looming building until they are shoulder to shoulder.

The Hokage tower is, oddly, intact and unharmed compared to the rest of the village they traverse after their two options proved unavailable.  It's imposing height, despite it's plain build, is unharmed though it stands closer to the heart of Konoha.

Perhaps rebuilt before anything else to serve as a focal point of morale.

They enter the building without questions.  The halls silent and bereft of anyone but a handful of weak chuunin lackeys.  They are probably new, faces Sasuke doesn't recognize nor does he care to by the way they skitter away from both him and Naruto.  They skirt around them as he and Naruto progress closer to their destination, barely concealed emotions on their foreign faces.

Wonder and confusion towards Naruto.  Anger, loathing, and grudging admiration for him.

Naruto ignores them with a disarming smile, while Sasuke gives them indifference.  The eyes that follow their journey is so heavy, so pointedly focused on how close they seem to still be, he wonders how much of Naruto's obliviousness is learned from years ago or if he does it for Sasuke's sake.

But he doesn't bring it up, even when the eyes start to  shift into alarmed indignation, that he is walking unguarded and confident towards the Hokage's office.  But they pose no threat as the two of them move forward, Naruto with a slight hop in his carefree gait and Sasuke trudging beside him, planning to discuss their living arrangements with the Godaime.

Even in their weakened states, perhaps the others felt his and Naruto's powers slowly building, much stronger than they'd ever faced.

Quiet is the one thing Kakashi didn't expect of the position.  He expects the caution for attacks from outside, with much of Konoha still in rubble and most of its offensive force downed by the war.  The worry for supplies, needed for civilians and shinobi alike, as the village mends and tries to move on.

But he doesn't expect the solitude after a day's worth of arguments, a day's worth of paperwork on top of paperwork.  The time in between today's shift and the next day's lets him wind down to think about issues outside of controlling Konoha's shinobi and efforts needed to rebuild the village.

More importantly, the two young men purposefully striding closer to his door.

It had been more than chance the two men didn't share a hospital room though both rooms had enough space to house a second bed.  In fact, Kakashi and Tsunade  adamantly made sure they were separated by plenty of rooms.  Kakashi because he knew of how much of Naruto's injuries were after his and Sasuke's duel in the Valley of the End and Tsunade because of pure, accurate instinct.  Both of them had planned to put floors in between the two, a better precaution considering how heated the two had always been, but the need of other shinobi and the fact that the floor they were being placed in was closer to Tsunade's office decided it for them.

But neither had factored in the other bond between the two boys, the one that drew them to each other like moths to a fire despite their outcries of rivalry and not being friends.

Kakashi remembers from long ago shiny obsidian eyes disturbed and worried as he looked at the empty chair across himself, absent of the loud teammate.  The way Sasuke had worried at his lip just slightly until he stood, announcing his need to train and wondering if Naruto had killed himself.  Remembers the quiet glances but snake sharp barbs every time Sasuke saw an opportunity to rile the other boy up, especially when Naruto's attention turned inward.

And he knows first hand the fervor of Naruto's resolve, to bring his best friend back at all costs.  Then and now still so passionately present, even when Sasuke had tried to sever their connection so many times before.

So, truthfully, he should have known that the two would seek each other out, even in their debilitated state.  That Tsunade found the two in Naruto's room, civil and very much behaved is surprisingly pleasant, especially since it signified Sasuke's movement more than Naruto.

There's something like happiness that knocks at Kakashi's heart knowing that the young child with dark hair, green around the ears but so involved with Naruto's wellbeing when all factors are taken away, is still there within that broken body and mind.  Still willing to connect with the one person who'd never doubted, never waivered even when principles were tested.

The fact that both their faint chakra signatures are calmly moving in the building, so close together that the two contrasting chakra blend in between them, rising higher in power though still so weak, is encouraging.  The refreshingly serene duo parting the agitated signatures of the remaining shinobi lingering in the building as they move forward without incident sparks eagerness to speak to his students.

Former students, Kakashi reminds himself.

He failed both of them years ago, unable to keep up with either when Sasuke chose power outside of his influence and Naruto, finding no help from him, chose a better teacher, one close to his own temperament.

Kakashi sighs, thankful that his failings did not lead to the death of possibly the two strongest shinobi in this generation.

With the two moving about, recovering fast, faster than the rest of the injured forces, Kakashi hopes the two continues in their mutual support.  Helping each other through emotional struggles that neither could open to those outside of them.  He fingers the scroll and the key sitting in the drawer before him, debating whether or not to give one or the other.

Sasuke had reached for Naruto in what he believed was his dying breath.  And Naruto had passed out with his body turned as much as possible to his friend.

That was sign enough.

The door slams open, banging on the wall, as Naruto jumps through yelling with all his heart, " 'Baa-chan!"

Kakashi shoots him an amused expression, expecting the stutter in the blond's overeager entrance, almost tripping him, as he quietly greets them with a wave instead of the Godaime.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Naruto's face scrunches, striding closer with a dark shadow not far behind.

"Language, Naruto." Kakashi hunches over the papers he'd been perusing, a hand on his chin to watch them.  He sees the faded colors all over Naruto's skin, the slightly darker echoes on Sasuke's paleness, and the fact that both boys are wearing chuunin clothes without a single new scratch as indicated by Sakura's earlier report about their well being.

"The fuck you doing here?"

Kakashi's eye curves upward, proudly as Sasuke's face creases in annoyance, "Working?"

Two pairs of eyes hover around the room, taking in the organized piles he'd created hours prior on desk right beside his familiar orange book.  They walk forward, stopping a few steps before the table, Naruto with a confused expression, "Where's 'baa-chan?"

"At the hospital."

"I know she goes there, but why're you here?"

Kakashi silently grins up at him, through the cloth surrounding the lower parts of his face.  Savoring the way the expressive boy's expression flits from confusion to annoyance as Kakashi waits for him to figure out the situation on his own.

"Hokage-sama," the honorific doesn't fit with the way his title is spit out as Sasuke pins him with a glare, an unacknowledged tic developing on the corner of his right eyebrow.  Kakashi frowns at Sasuke's refusal to play along, a sourpuss after all these years.  "We need-"

"Wait!" The tic grows more prominent as Naruto points at Kakashi, mouth wide in incredulity, "You're Hokage now?!"

He feels the smile widen at Naruto's shocked expression and the groan he hears, faintly, from the dark haired youth.

Seeing Kakashi behind the desk is just as unnerving as the ease they slip into the roles they once were when they'd been a team.  It grates on his nerves that nothing's changed between them after all these years regardless of the sins he'd done against the village.  The actions he'd taken against the Hokage.  That now Kakashi sits on a throne with history he either knows and is ignoring or is allowing Sasuke leeway to bring up.

He may be able to stomach Tsunade in the position, because she healed him without her personal grudges blinding her oath as a healer.  He may be able to acknowledge Naruto once he's up on that pedestal, it's a role he'd always wanted and Sasuke can't find it within himself to refuse that future.  But seeing Kakashi sitting on the chair composed and just as observant as he remembers sends an uncomfortable sensation skittering on his skin.

The older man's grey gaze watches his every move even when his focus is caught by Naruto's demanding voice.

Kakashi used to read him like the book nestled in his grasp.  Read him almost as deeply as Naruto could, spouting proverbs and insights he didn't want to hear without batting an eye.

Having that sharp mind capable of dissecting his thought process in the past now backed by official power to act on his instincts...

The thought sends a shiver of dread through him, warring with the irritation coursing through his veins as Kakahi amuses himself with the idiot.

"Why, I'm hurt by your disbelief Naruto," Kakashi leans back on his chair, looking relaxed yet out of place, for his lack of hat and white robe.  He looks comfortable, slouched and watching them almost stand over him, dressed in his usual jounin uniform.

"We missed your inauguration?!"

"Mah," Long fingers wave in dismissal, "Unnecessary. There wasn't a big ceremony.  Tsunade-sama announced she'd assume the head position in the hospital and named me the Hokage.  Whether permanently or interim..." Green clad shoulders shrug.

"I- congrats!" Naruto bounces on the ball of his feet, jostling Sasuke with an errant wave of his stump, "You don't look any different."

"The ensemble wasn't my style," The orange book reappears in his grip, slouching further into the seat with a short glance at both of them.  Sasuke feels no inclination to question why and Naruto looks indignant, perhaps thinking that Kakashi's opinion was blasphemy, but stays silent so the older man replies with that annoying curve of his eye, "Too much in the way."

Sasuke sighs and Naruto stares, stares some more until he explodes, "Pervert!  Gross!"

"I said no such thing, only that the robes and hat gets in the way of certain movements," He continues grinning at the blond, shooting them both with an expression merely missing the waggling eyebrows.

Naruto screeches, "You better not being doing stuff on the chair!"

"Only sometimes."

Naruto squawks and Kakashi giggles just like normal, mindless of his position of respect.  A tag team of aggravation, worse than any duo he's had the pleasure to hang around.  Only rivaled by, perhaps, Karin and Suigetsu.

"We need a place to stay," Sasuke butts in, tired of Naruto's screaming and Kakashi's enjoyment, even though the red flashing on Naruto's cheekbones creates an involuntary twitch on his lips.

"Of course, Sasuke." Finally acknowledging him with a tilt of his silver head, "I see you are well.

"As I could be."

"So distant," Kakashi returns to his leaning position, fist now located under his chin, regarding him with a neutral expression.  Steel grey prod him for a positive reaction, which Sasuke ignores.

"I am tired Hokage-sama," Sasuke levels him a flat look, unwilling to play the game.

"You're no fun," Sasuke could hear the disgusting pout in Kakashi's voice, even though his the lone eye stays impartial and focused on Sasuke's face. "So not cute."

"I know, right?" Naruto pipes in, thankful to be out of Kakashi's firing range. "He's such a stick in the mud."

"All the more... fun for you," Kakashi's eye, once again, adopts its crescent shape, sliding into a leer while he looks at both of them.

The familiarity in the room is so sickeningly uncomfortable it leaves a bitter flavor in Sasuke's mouth as both his former comrades try to draw him into their childishness.  Makes him think that nothing's changed.  Nothing but him.  "Kakashi."

"No fun, no fun," the older man sing songs, searching through a drawer in his right.  After rummaging through the compartment for a second, movement unhurried despite the bursting eagerness flooding through Naruto's every pore and Sasuke's ever sharpening glare, the former jounin produces an inconspicuous key, which he lobs at Naruto.  "Couldn't fix your apartment in time so I've taken the liberty to rent you a new one.  A two bedroom apartment near the academy.  All the amenities included and I've stocked it with basic necessities."

From their close proximity Sasuke could see the way Naruto's fingers are wracked with tremors, the key sitting squarely on his palm, as his face stays frozen in shock, mouth agape and falling wider with each of Kakashi's words.  The way his eyes are forcibly open to hold back the shimmer of tears on the surface.

He remembers the way Naruto had looked years ago as Sasuke reached up, chopsticks holding a morsel of food to the tied blond.  And, only hours ago, the way Naruto's shoulders curved around the toy innocently returned to him, face hidden from the world.

Seeing the expression now... Like he's never been given anything, without strings attached, before.

The naked gratitude painfully on his face a stark contrast to the overwhelming energy moments ago...

Ignites questions that burn all over Sasuke's heart, all the unknowns he'd never felt a reason to know flaring brighter on the surface.  Everything he'd waved off as nothing more than Naruto-ism.

The blond swallows, audible, fingers closing around the key to place it securely in one vest pocket.  Closest to his heart.  Cheeks stained pink and hand loosely hanging onto the pocket, Naruto beams at the older man.  "T-thanks."

"Don't mention it," Kakashi smiles back at the blond before looking at Sasuke.  "I'd like a moment with Sasuke, please."

Although a brief scowl pops onto Naruto's face, he doesn't question the request.  With a nod to both of them as he grabs the plant forgotten in Sasuke's hand, he leaves the room in silence, closing the door with a wave of his leg.

With stillness booming in his wake.

The click of the door signals a change.

A shift in Sasuke's body language, winding up and stiffening like a snake ready to strike, so easily observable Kakashi wonders how different the young Uchiha would be with someone he was completely unfamiliar with.

"He's recovering well..."  Kakashi mentions offhandedly, breaking the ice as he watches Sasuke's shoulders draw up, dark head still turned towards the closed door.  With a sigh, he continues.  "You don't need to be so cautious, I'm not going to slap some punishment on you for what happenedbetween you two."

The younger man slowly turns, nonchalant, eyes full of suspicion.  "Favoritism?"

"Hardly.  Naruto had faith you would return to us one way or another.  That it needed you both to be incapacitated is an unfortunate necessity."

"I tried to kill him."

"And tried to do the same with the rest of us.  Yet we're all alive, despite the numerous accounts of your...deadly prowess."

Displeasure scrunches up Sasuke's pale face.  Another failure among perceived many.

Another sigh escapes Kakashi's lips "I am your ally as much as you let me, Sasuke."

"And what is the cost?"

"Oh just cooperation."  He rapped on the desk, as if in thought.  "Of course your past activities will have consequences, but your actions starting now will be even more important."

A wall of silence, unaffected.

"Naruto can only vouch for you for so much before his own future is jeopardized."

A grimace.  "I didn't ask for it."

"No you didn't.  That is just part of him."

This time the younger man lets out a breath, sounding weary, bone tired.  Stance slipping out of the defensive, almost but not quite the bad posture that he loved to sport as a child.  Kakashi watches a shadow superimpose, a brooding child peeking out of the gloomy teenager, feeling a sincere smile form on his face.

He waits for Sasuke to bring up something, anything that bothered him.  Anything that Kakashi could try to help alleviate.

But nothing comes forth.  Nothing but tiredness and slight annoyance.

And as much as he'd like to sit around with Sasuke standing near like a floor lamp, he knows the young man would resent him for wasting time.  With a blink, he presents the scroll he'd been contemplating moments ago, holding it up for the young Uchiha to take.  "This is the Third's account of that night.  The truth about your clan and your brother."

A morose, far off look, "I already know."

"For the village," Kakashi lets it stand on the table, leaning away. "Absolve your brother... Perhaps mar your clan name but not as much as the Hokage and those of us in power."

"Why would you risk your position?"

He pins the younger man with a stare, so distrusting and still so, so young.  Reminds himself of years past.  Of wars and allies fallen.  "Because it is time for all of us to scrutinize the past.  To look deeply into the causes and the system we have in place that let so much bloodshed happen."

"Are you saying?"  Dark grey eyes probe him, narrowed and suspicious.  Pale fingers hesitantly rising.

"A part, a large part of the Uchiha clan's massacre had been from a lack of transparency in both the clan and the Hokage's  motives and thoughts.  Neither tried hard enough to reach each other.  I will do all that I can to remove that wall between the clans and the  village."

"If you think the clans will expose all their secrets, all their plotting to an outsider..."

"Perhaps - no.  The system will no doubt stay the same during my reign with small changes here and there, but the next generation..."  Kakashi's eyes drift to the closed door. "You all will have a chance to change everything.  You have all experienced what it is like to fight together for a common goal.  The strength in cooperation.  And you all have the power to strive for that goal, be it as a leader or as support."

Scowling, Sasuke's fingers close around the scroll, carefully placing it into one of the flack jacket's pockets.  "That isn't the only problem."

"Of course not.  But any step to a unified, truly unified village is a step towards peace.  Everything else can be chipped at in the years to come, but tell me...Will you help build that future?"

A deadpan glance is the only answer for a breath until a snort erupts from Sasuke's nose, turning away as he heads to the door.  Shoulders confidently raised and wider than Kakashi remembers.

"As if I'd let that dobe try to fix all of this alone."

And the ill-hidden fondness in the insult reassures Kakashi just as much as the words spoken, if not more.  The child he'd failed to save choosing to live for the future he'd once given up.

"The main house is still vacant."  Kakashi throws out, wondering if that one detail, that one step towards transparency, would ruin it all.

Understandably, Sakura doesn't return until noontime on the fourth day despite her promise to drop by days before. In hindsight, after the talk with Naruto, there were moments when Sasuke could have been gentler to her. But, after chewing over every detail he remembered, the coulds didn't outweigh the certainty that he'd spoken.

  He and Naruto are in the middle of discussing the wheres and hows of leaving the building, both stiffly standing, with Sasuke slightly leaning his legs against the bed and Naruto inches from him, waving arm and stump with his explanation. She enters his line of vision just as Naruto mentions stealing supplies after doing an hour of reconnaissance.

  "What are you guys arguing about now?" Sakura approaches them, startling their blond teammate, arms laden with clothes and two pouches. Her green gaze springs, never meeting directly.

  "Sakura-chan!" Naruto sing-songs, face blossoming, mood lifting and body bouncing enough to be annoying and Sasuke feels the muscles on his face shift when Sakura returns his attention with a reserved, but soft, look of her own. "We were talking!"

  "Only you two could talk and be audible through the whole hall," Her peachy hair swishes with her headshake as she steps closer, sidestepping them to dump her armload on the unmade bed.

  "That's cause jerkwad just wants to leave without anything," Naruto pokes him in the side, perhaps right into Sasuke's kidney by the jabbing pain his finger leaves. Sasuke, discretely, stomps on the closest toe, exchanging heated glares, before both of them look at her, Naruto with both his wheaten eyebrows raised in a failed attempt to question, and his through a sideways glance.

  "Figures you'd both be ready to...leave by now so here," She gestures to the supplies, "Clothes, soldier pills, and mild painkillers to last a couple of days."

  Naruto steps around him, grabbing a green clad shoulder to envelop her in a one handed hug, "Thanks Sakura-chan, you're the best!"

  "Of course," Her light cheek rests for a moment on Naruto's shoulder, arms around his shoulder blades, not clutching but close enough. It is, probably, the same gesture Sasuke had received days prior, but the familiarity eases nothing of the discomfort tapping in his gut as he watches them separate, to rifle through the proffered items.

  "Where did you get them?" Sasuke asks her, watching Naruto fingering the dark shirts with wonder.

  "Here and there." Vagueness is the shy friend of a guilty conscience, Sasuke remembers a female, kind voice telling him years ago.

  "You didn't steal them." The question is there, and Sasuke knows it borders on incredulous.

  "Well," She looks off to the side, a proud smirk adorning her nude lips, "No one said I couldn't borrow from the supply room."

  A second ticks by, wherein Sasuke feels a tick on his face as Naruto guffaws, grabbing her again in a too affectionate hug, "That's our girl!"

  "Don't encourage her, delinquent," Sasuke frowns at them both.

  "Jeeze, what crawled up your ass?" Naruto turns towards him, arm still slung around her shoulders as Sakura stares a little defiantly slightly to the left of Sasuke's eye contact, "If these were that important, they'd be guarded, duh."

  "I will not be explaining the morality of stealing," Sasuke raises his arm to pinch at the bridge of his nose.

  "I don't think you're up to being the voice of morality yet," Naruto frowns just as his stance shifts, hip jutting outward and body slouching a little. It is one that harbors no ill will and exudes nothing but pure stubbornness. The jab stings, but just a little. The truths is, after all, the truth.

  "Oh, burn," She snickers, green eyes flashing to his face and Naruto's, in a way all to much like Naruto, that Sasuke feels the budding headache increase threefold.

  Naruto's expression directed at her screams I know right and I'm good and Sasuke wants to throw them both out of the window when Sakura's smile grows bigger.

  "Fine," The word whistles between his teeth, feeling tired not from the situation but because one dumb teammate has morphed to two. In a short span of days.

  Both of his light haired teammates victoriously grin at him, expressions bordering on smug.

  "Fine," He repeats, cause he's now dealing with two idiots with apparently compatible wavelengths, "Now get out."

  Naruto squawks just as Sakura, finally, meets his gaze and glares at him with fire in her emerald eyes and says, "How rude."

  "Unless you want both Naruto and I to give you a strip show?" He teases her because as much as she is grown up, she is still a girl, and he banks on her sense of decency.

  She blushes redder than her pastel hair but only for a moment, before her face scrunches in contemplation.

  Naruto leers.

  "Get out." Sasuke scowls at her and wonders if perverseness is contagious. Naruto giggles, and it could only be considered a giggle from it's similarity to Kakashi's annoying sounds, while he pushes Sakura towards the door, turning full-out mirthful when Sakura, too, giggles along.

  Sasuke trails them as she playfully protests until they reach the door. Naruto's laughter and her gigles die out when she twirls at the threshold, candy hair fanning out, to consider them.

  Sasuke can't see the face Naruto's making, only the square of his shoulders and the unguarded stance of his legs, but something in his expression must be different by the slow buildup of tears filling her eyes.

  "Hey, now," Naruto reaches for her while Sasuke stands, rooted on the spot. "What's wrong?"

  "I don't," She shudders, stepping back and out of the embrace their blond teammate offers. " I don't know. It's just, I think I'm really happy."

  Naruto's eyes seek him, taking an effort to turn and send him an incredulous, questioning look for a blink.

  "I never thought I'd see you two standing peacefully together again."

  Naruto stiffens, hopelessness a foreign thought, no doubt especially for their situation.

  Sasuke's fingers twitches.

  Sakura and he have always been the realist, once her fangirl goggles were removed. He had never harbored delusions of returning to Konoha, and she, no doubt, dreamed but never believed. But Naruto.

  Naruto dreamed, hoped, and reached for everything he wanted. Perhaps down one moment, but never enough to let go, to be tethered by unkind realities. His beliefs often shaken but never toppled.

  Unsaid words and thoughts stream as green meets his black, perhaps passing through or over the embodiment of optimism standing in between them, and Sasuke nods to her.

  Naruto chirps his oblivious agreement, exuding happiness from every pore.

  Sakura's creamy fingers travel forward, clasping Naruto's shoulder, coral lips alarming against a brown cheek. "Thank you...for everything," her lips move, even though Sasuke hears nothing.

  Tanned arms stir, possibly to cage her or this moment, but her body moves out of reach once again, with a blue tinged smile.

  "Really. Thank you, Naruto," She says, throwing the boy such a sincere expression it sends discomfort skittering like insects across Sasuke's skin.

  "No problem, Sakura-chan." The timbre of his voice is low, and Sasuke wishes he could see the expression accompanying it. "Anything for you."

  Her face flashes happiness, cheeks reddening at that. She looks ready to hug Naruto again, but her eyes flick to Sasuke, and something must have been on his face. It makes her hesitate, smile slipping a notch into the space she and Sasuke share. She shakes her head and with another nod sent his way, leaves the bubble of thoughts and what ifs.

  The clacking of her heels echo, slowly fading with each step.

  "We really were that bad, huh." Naruto's gaze trails the sound until the sound disappears around the corner. Once he's satisfied with whatever makes his gaze linger, Naruto pivots to capture Sasuke with an upturn of his lips. "But, everything's turned up for the better, right?"

  Sasuke faces the hopeful sky and bright sun in front of him, grey clouds in the far of distance and couldn't, couldn't agree more.

            They change in companionable silence, Naruto in the connected bathroom and Sasuke on his bed, after knocking back a dose of pain pills. Putting on his shirt is just as easy with one hand as with two, though the long sleeves gives him trouble, but boxers and pants are another matter. Sasuke is glad that both are elastic at the waist, helping the situation just a little, but after embarrassingly wiggling and getting only the boxers on, slightly panting and sweating, Naruto slams the door separating them open, dark chuunin pants thrown over his shoulder.

  Dark, ordinary boxers on but riding precariously low.

  Red cheeks and a stubborn pout fills Sasuke's vision as he wretches it up, just as his own face feels hot.

  "I," Naruto licks his lips, turning redder and Sasuke feels himself burn a little more, the frown on his face growing deeper, "I help you, you help me?"

  Refusing the help would prolong the weirdness, the act and the contact. "Hn," he answers, watching Naruto approach with a determined face and hesitating steps.

  They're less than an arm's length apart as they stare each other down, waiting for someone to bow to the pressure and cave into starting. And stare some more, while their expressions shift from discomfited to annoyed, until Naruto's thicker fingers reach.

  Sasuke fights the flinch when uneven nails scrape the outside of his left thigh to grab a piece of the cloth, each jagged edge drawing its own line and sensation on his skin.

  But his quickly drawn breath is audible.

  And Naruto's fingers twitch before closing more confidently with purpose.

  Their gazes lock again, palms sweaty and hearts racing.

  Naruto opens his mouth, pink tongue briefly licking at his lips, before he breaks eye contact to quickly tug his side of the clothing up. A brusque movement, like pulling plaster off a wound.

  They stand together like that for a couple of breaths, too close in each other's space but neither moving to remedy it. Sasuke stands, motionless, still lost in the buzzing of his skin. Naruto waiting for something.

  A short, cut off snort comes from the blond as he moves back.

  "Uh," Naruto's head swivels to the side, hiding under a fringe of wheat, "As funny as it is to see you with half your pants on, can we get this over with?"

  The furtive glances Sasuke gets, from his face to his frozen hand brings a scowl on his face. Deepening when Naruto gives up to sit on the bed with an expectant look, readying his own pair by sticking his feet in the leg holes.

  The situation, in one word, is annoying. Especially the fizzing sensation Naruto's fingers left on his skin and the fact that only he seems to be affected by the touch.

  Sasuke yanks the fabric in his hold, now so so easy, turning with purpose to grab a part of Naruto's pants, never mind that the side he reaches for is where Naruto didn't lose a limb. He hears a muttered 'ass' as Naruto's arm crosses his chest to grasp the other side.

  He makes sure his own fingers touch nothing but soft cloth.

  And Sasuke steps back just as he pulls up and lets go, perfectly timed with Naruto's hop forward and own sharp tug.

  "Ta da!" Naruto stands, feet squarely planted with his arm thrown up and out in celebration.

  "Moron."

  "Bastard," Naruto laughs at him, twisting around to the things left on the bed. Sasuke approaches, but moves away when his fingers are batted away after both of them reach for the supplies. The blond throws two pairs of shoes onto the floor, one landing beside Sasuke's bare feet while he slips one on himself. Once done, other teen hunches over the items as he stuffs them into the only backpack they have. "We'll take forever with how slow you're moving, grandpa."

  A sneer forms on Sasuke's face, though Naruto can't see it, "Making sure you don't screw up."

  "How the hell could I screw up packing?" Naruto turns around, almost smacking him with the pack now nestled on his back.

  "The same way your underwear is backwards," Sasuke feels his lips stretch wider, thanking his sharp attention to detail while he keeps his face upturned to make sure Naruto catches it this time.

  Naruto flushes bright, flitting between anger and embarrassment. Stuck motionless with his hand wound around the pack's strap.

  "Are you ready," Sasuke smiles and smiles, turning away with a low "future Hokage-sama?"

  "Shut up!"

  Naruto's hand flies towards him but already Sasuke is, calmly, taking steps to the door. His cold palms meet the colder knob just as Naruto catches up to him.

  Swallowing back the bark of laughter that tickles his chest, he can hear Naruto's annoyed grumbles and insults quietly said but not really, Sasuke turns the metal facing forward with warmth close behind.

  His first steps, consciously, into Konoha.

            Despite the roiling voices booming in his head, urging him to return to the Uchiha district, he allows Naruto to lead them to their first stop, Naruto's old apartment complex.

  Or where it used to be.

  Just like many buildings they'd passed in Konoha, the apartment is in rubbles with people purposely puttering all around. Though Sasuke's used to this side of Konoha being less populated, it is the poorer side with less families and more single adults and children, the streets are much more lively with action than years ago.

  People moving about as they shifted through debris, saving anything they could.

  People pulling messes to cover with pure white sheets.

  He hears nothing from the form in front of him. Sees only the quiet clenching of a fist, closing and opening on the chuunin pants they'd borrowed.

  Sakura would probably hold that hand, perhaps squeeze it in her own grip.

  Kakashi would, perhaps, give some type of anecdote. Or let his student be, with his presence close at his back.

  Mother would offer her arms. Pull that strong, too strong back towards her to cradle and soothe.

  Father would let Naruto stand and think, brood or cry, without a gesture of comfort.

  Itachi would...

  Sasuke draws himself beside Naruto, glancing briefly at the blond's blank expression before returning his gaze at the ruin of Naruto's home. There are bits of wood everywhere and pieces of the old railing he used to see Naruto lean against, surveying Konoha on their days off.

  "Well," That grating voice cracks near the end, "this sucks."

  "Yeah."

  Naruto still doesn't move forward or back, just stares with his hand silently moving close to Sasuke's own. "I mean, I knew Pein's attack and that bijuu bomb did damage but..."

  "Yeah."

  They stand together, shoulders almost brushing with each breath, letting the sounds of movement wash over them as people pick up pieces of their lives, sometimes with cries of anguish, sometimes with cries of delight.

  In that easy silence until an old man, hands in thick gardening gloves, rolls past them with a wheelbarrow, pausing with a look of open surprise, "Kid!"

  Sasuke watches Naruto's profile as it crumbles a little, eyes lighting up in recognition, before it builds back up in a smile slightly sagging on the edges. He moves forward, body heat leaving Sasuke's side quick enough that Sasuke follows to remedy it, "Old man!"

  "I'm glad you're alright," the graying man stops a polite distance away, regarding them both with soft doe eyes.   Satisfied with whatever he sees, his attention moves back to the pile of wood and concrete, "Such a mess, huh? Takes a while to clear and fix things, especially with most of you shinobi out of commission. But it can't be helped, gotta do what we can."

  "I see."

  The distant sound of Naruto's answer must have been as obvious for the civilian as it was for Sasuke. His gunmetal eyes sweep from Sasuke to Naruto, before sharply turning to walk around the bend of the rubble, "Ah I have something for you, wait here."

  Clanks and sounds of solid objects bumping against each other drift from where the hunched back disappeared, mixing with the thuds of tipping stone and wood.

  Sasuke remembers all the piles of stuff he'd seen in Naruto's studio the few times he'd stopped by all those years ago. Books, scrolls, clothes, and food containers strewn about. Clutter and plants all over the place, making it almost dangerously busy yet homely. Greenery always tastefully placed away from potential danger. Every leaf always green and healthy.

  Naruto's home oozed his unorganized, but always caring, character.

  He wonders how much of that's been reduced to trash, underneath all the broken steel, wood, and stone.

  "I'm fine, Sasuke," Naruto huffs in front of him, now staring at the sky, where Sasuke remembers his balcony used to be.

  "Didn't say anything," Sasuke joins his focus only for a second before turning to watch five children, in an organized line, cautiously moving slabs of rubble from a collapsed building to a remote pile. Repeating the motion with salvageable items, though it lands in a separate pile.

  "I could feel your eyes on the back of my head."

  "Because your big head's in the way."

  "Ha ha, very funny," Naruto's downcast, storming eyes flash at him, "Teme."

  "Dobe."

  Thin, upset lips twitch at the corners. Even though the eyes still look troubled, almost navy blue and clouding, the slight movement feels right. Fitting in the situation, even if Sasuke wants more.

  "Hmph," Sasuke returns to watching the children, now rejoicing over something they've found. They titter amidst the destruction, smiling over a couple of toys they've uncovered under a big piece of wooden plank. They pass each toy to each other, from stuffed animals to simple slingshots and dolls, sharing the joy. Perhaps like family, Sasuke thinks, though none of the kids look at all similar.

  "If I didn't know any better," Bony shoulder nudges him, "I would say, you're being nice."

  "You are hallucinating."

  The shoulders shake against his. Again, Naruto whispers, "Ass."

  Their eyes meet again, still Naruto doesn't smile, but the air around him is less suffocating, heavy but breathable.

  "These," the old man's voice rips them both away from studying each other's face, "we found these in the mess."

  He holds up two items. In his right grip, a ripped and dirt covered stuffed toy that, with close inspection, Sasuke recognizes as a ridiculous copy of Kakashi. And on his left, a hand-sized planter, cracked and containing a plant with a half broken stem.

  Naruto lets out a strangled noise, reaching for the toy and clutching it to his chest when it's given to him. He looks at the plant, probably wishing he could take it himself so Sasuke gestures at the planter, offering his hand, freeing Naruto to bury his face annoyingly into the toy's head.

  "We'll probably find more of your stuff," the man continues, ignoring the shaking male in front of him to look at Sasuke directly, "and I'll gather the ones I recognize, so you and your friend could pick it up later."

  Naruto mumbles a 'thank you,' face hiding in the dirty toy. Sasuke acknowledges with a small movement of his head.

  "I've got to get back to work," the old man bows at them, "It really is great to see you, kid."

  "Thank you," Naruto repeats in a low, barely there voice, his face still covered as the man shuffles away.

  Clouds shift above, casting shadows all around them as they drift in the sky, lighting and darkening them all indiscriminately. Direct sunlight makes Naruto's hair shine golden, while the overcast dulls it into brass, like valuable metals resting on his bent head.

  Shaking with his sobs, swaying in the breeze.

  "C'mon, idiot," Sasuke follows the direction burned in his heart, expecting Naruto to pursue without questions.

  They travel in silence, Naruto slowly catching up while Sasuke shortens his gait. Naruto's hand is occupied with the Kakashi look-alike while his own contains the plant, rocking with his movements. They head toward his looming, waiting past. Farther than the impoverished outskirts of Konoha.

  Hushed footsteps trail him, sure in gait, despite it's light sounds.

  The rhythmic footfalls behind him eases, just a bit, the pressure each of his own steps summon in his heart. Two stones added, one stone taken.

  But, still, their march continues.

            Their second stop is no better.

  As soon as they step foot through the gates, Sasuke's whole being tightens like a cord.

  The buildings are standing, roofs and facades covered in dust and debris blown from the ruined parts of Konoha. The streets, too, are intact but dirty. However the sight before him sends Sasuke's vision reeling with rage, gut churning with red hot fury. Had he more chakra to spare, his sharingan would probably be activated in response, catching anyone who looks his way into a genjutsu of torturous screams and blood.

  People he doesn't recognize litter the streets, opening and loitering in doors long shut.

  They laugh and chatter away, between gray walls and red tinted memories, with abandon and joy.

  Breathing life into the graveyards of the Uchiha District.

  He wants to incinerate them all. May have done so, had he the energy.

  All hapless civilians. Desecrating his memories, chasing away shadows and ghosts.

  "Sasuke," Naruto's voice cuts through the crimson haze, soft spoken but poignant, "Sasuke."

  "What," His vision changes, tunnels to track a couple as they interact with a little girl, their daughter most likely. The man's kiss on her forehead sets his teeth grinding.

  "Stop trying to light them on fire with your eyes," a sharp poke in the side accompanies the order. "You're being rude."

  The little girl starts swinging her arms, joined with her parents, and Sasuke's teeth grinds more, bordering on painful, "What."

  "Try speaking in sentences." Another poke, this time right between two rib bones.

  Sasuke twirls on him, redirecting his anger at an annoyance easily reached, as the girl laughs and smiles, and her adults look all of content doting parents. "What. Are. They. Doing. Here."

  Naruto's frank stare doesn't waver, even though his eyes are slightly red rimmed, bottom lids puffy, "They're living..."

  "I know that," Sasuke hisses, putting down the plant to ready himself. Blood singing to beat the shit out of something, anything.

  "They're living," Naruto continues, "as best as they can, after all the destruction."

  "Why here?" His pale fingers almost close around a tanned throat, settling instead to furiously grasp the turtleneck of the chuunin long sleeve.

  Naruto's eyes never leaves his gaze, open in truth and honesty, "considering how far this place is to Konoha proper... This is a pretty good evacuation site."

  "This is my home," Sasuke's knuckles crush, grinding against each other, while he brings Naruto's face closer to his own.

  At this, Naruto does turn his face away, to scoff, "Not since you left."

  Sasuke doesn't know whether to let go and sock him or to keep his grip and headbutt him.

  "You dropped everything. Left no instructions for this place," Naruto continues, eyes full of challenge now. "Just up and stormed off. You should be more surprised if this place is empty still, by this time."

  "They have no right," His hot forehead is almost resting against Naruto's, blond locks touching it in cooling sweeps, colder than the wind blowing around them. His dark gaze is still trained on his friend's face.

  "Probably." Naruto sends him a sheepish grin, apologetic for something he has no hand in, "But you know, it's the most intact place people could relocate to while Konoha is being repaired."

  "I am here now," The anger is slowly ebbing away, blown away by Naruto's rare instances of insight.

  "Two and a half years. Later." Naruto stares at him like it's obvious, like he's explaining time to a child.

  Though his anger subsides, in the face of Naruto's non-reactiveness, parts of him refuses to give up the vestiges of his past. Lamenting and crying out at the strangers ruining his clan's homes. "It is still mine."

Naruto's arm is occupied by the stuffed toy and they both know his other arm would be grasping Sasuke's own, still aggressively holding his shirt, had he the capability. "You should take it as a welcoming. I mean, your goal was to repopulate the district, right? Well, they're populating it now," Naruto smiles up at him, back to almost normal levels of happiness and sunshine. It is irritatingly bright this up close, but it deflates the rest of Sasuke's rage.

  "Dumbass that's not," Sasuke starts, stops when Naruto breaks eye contact to look over his right shoulder as footsteps near them.

  "Um," A hesitant voice has them separating, Naruto stepping back and Sasuke turning with a slight step forward. The voice matches the brunette standing before them. Her face is homely, on the mousey side yet still beautiful. Plump in the right places and thin in others. Her green eyes shine with hope, though her body language still broadcasts nerves, "Are you guys looking for a place to stay?"

  She jumps at Sasuke's glower, looking uncertain until Naruto says, "No."

  "Ah," Her gaze stays on Naruto, feeling safer in his, no doubt, friendly demeanor, "Then you're visiting someone?"

  Sasuke glares harder, which she completely ignores, stopping only when Naruto's unforgiving finger pokes him right in the middle of his back, a little higher than where he'd toed Naruto days ago in his hospital room.

  "Oh, no," Naruto says, voice innocently unaffected to Sasuke's flinch, "we're just passing by."

  She visibly wilts, her eyes still shining with emotion towards the other male.

  "We work for Hokage-sama," Naruto takes mercy on her shy, curious glances. "It's nice to see you guys settling in."

  Her face blossoms into a gorgeous smile, not as elegant as his mother's or striking like Sakura, but enough that it brings attention to her feminine charms, sending Sasuke's gut twisting. "Yes, we are! The houses are in great shape and the utilities are finally..."

  And Sasuke tunes her out, feeling sick and upset at everything. She shines joyful amidst his clan's legacy, oblivious to Konoha's role in their demise. Too boisterous in the chaos she and their presence brings in the order that once ruled the Uchiha compound.

  She chirps on and on with Naruto's rasping voice responding mostly positive and only a step below eager, and Sasuke's body begins thrumming in pain. Head pounding with a headache and body increasingly throbbing, he pivots to walk around Naruto, opening the backpack to rummage for the pills.

  He knocks back one and closes his eyes, head tilted up to the sky, letting gravity help the circular object slide down his throat. Lets his eyes rest while his hair brushes against his cheeks in tune with the earthy breeze that almost always runs through Konoha.

  "You okay?" A hot breath fans on his neck, urging Sasuke to open his eyes a sliver.

  Naruto stays in his space, even when Sasuke opens his eyes fully. "Personal space, idiot."

  "Checkin' if you're still breathing," Naruto flippantly replies with a shit eating grin, close enough for Sasuke to count his eyelashes and see the blood filled cracks on his lips.

  Sasuke elbows him in the gut, pushing him out of the way to reach for the plant. "Where's your girlfriend?"

  "Very funny. Not." The backpack makes a dull thud when Naruto drops it, kneeling beside it with the toy still tightly clutched to his chest. He looks ridiculous as he, unsuccessfully, forces the toy into it with one hand.

  "You know...I used to hate seeing stuff like that too," Naruto pauses his effort, continues talking without looking, "Like, how come they get to be so happy and shit while I was always, always sad and alone. I hated them for ignoring me, or staring at me with so much disgust or something in their eyes. I didn't get it.

  "Then I noticed that you, too, usually didn't have anyone to pick you up or smile at you for a good day done at the Academy." Tan fingers fiddle with grey fabric, "but even you, sometimes, had Itachi. I was... I hated everyone."

  The chatter around them hushes, fading in the melancholic tone of Naruto's words.

  "But it just pushed me to make bonds as much as possible. It wasn't always successful, most of them weren't, but it lessened some of the feelings."

  "And now?" Sasuke asks, although he already knows the answer.

  He gets an earnest smile, "I have you, Iruka-sensei, Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei, 'baa-chan and everyone else who matters so those feelings only comes back whenever I remember how it was."

  "Hn."

  "I don't hang on though. I feel that it's kinda a waste to stick to the negative. Be happy when things turn up good, sad when they don't. But never linger on the bad, 'cause I wouldn't have chased after you if I had."

  Naruto's blue eyes dances when the light hits it while he looks up at Sasuke, catches something in Sasuke's throat that feels scratchy and burns all the way to his sternum. Sensation lingering there just as their eyes hold each other, familiar in feeling but different in cause. Identical to the many times they've had eye contact, but completely unlike in weight.

  Similar in stubbornness, but different in philosophy.

  Rightfully so.

  The feeling grows with each blink they take but still maintain eye contact, partly in competition though mostly in importance.

  The burning in his chest grows with each blink they don't break away.

  Until relief comes in the form of clouds obscuring the bright sunlight and Naruto returning to his task. Colorful cusses drowning out anything else as his efforts fail.

  "You just gonna watch?" Naruto asks after the fifth time of the toy popping out of its confines while he tries to close the top.

  "Maybe."

  "Jerk."

  "The entertainment factor alone makes me hesitate," Sasuke takes pity on him by pulling the backpack's opening in the opposite direction of Naruto's push. Closing it while Naruto's hand holds the toy still.

  "Sadist."

  Miffed blues clash with his, once again an arms length separated.

  "Only because you are a masochist."

  "Am not!" Naruto stands, makes an about-face, treading outside the boundaries of the compound.

  They stand, divided by an open gate. Naruto looking to the side in an irritated huff, arm clasping the pack strap with a deathgrip. Sasuke standing in the presence of old memories yelling for attention just as new ones are being created.

  "You coming?" Naruto's electric blue flickers to him, foot tapping the floor in impatience, sunlight dappling his skin.

  Sasuke takes a deep, deep breath, picking up the ignored plant before he takes a step, two when Naruto's face lights up in response.

  It's not a sigh.

He still can't feel the other's intrusive chakra and that's a cause for concern, but his own reserves is so low he assumes the same for Naruto.

  But he knows how much Naruto loves to break the rules, especially the inane.

  It's grating when he catches himself do it and has to forcefully stop himself with a frown. He's annoyed and frustrated all at once but like hell is he going to the other teen again.

  The first time was taxing enough. The multiple breaks he had to take, to stop the tremors from tripping him, stab at his pride and common sense.

  His mind is actively awake with nothing to take it up but circular thoughts. Nothing too destructive yet, but uncomfortably questioning the situation.

  The hallways are suspiciously void of guards, just as it was the day before.

  And, besides Sai, he's only seen Tsunade and a woman with ink black hair come into his room, briefly to check and administer medicine to dull the constant ache.

  He'd asked, Sasuke refuses to call it argued, with Tsunade about the narcotic coursing in his veins and how he felt it was unnecessarily high in dosage. After the event with Sai, he'd been on high alert when the drug waned and horribly groggy when he'd forcefully wake himself out of minutes of drugged slumber. Lowering the amount would let him feel the edges of white hot pain of his body still healing, but it would let him stay as aware as he possibly could.

  His eyes drift to the door for the twelfth time since he woke up. He doesn't even remember going through the ritual.

  Exasperated, Sasuke closes his eyes to meditate. He's never been too good at emptying his thoughts, too much memories and plans always spinning in his mind like broken record, but now's a good time as any.

  It works, somewhat. His mind mostly loops on now what. Uncomfortable but acceptable.

  Revenge still whispers in his mind much quieter than ever before. Dancing along the haze of nothingness and uncertainty of being back in Konoha entails. But there's no target for him to focus on, logically. The kages are still there, still breathing and making decisions that will leave plenty of people bereft while their own villages recover from the war. Perhaps they'll be more mindful than in the past, but still selfishly centered on their own villages. Only Konoha has been somewhat fixed. With Danzo corpse rotting in whatever burial that was chosen for him and the council unintentionally dealt with, the masterminds of his clan's demise no longer exist.

  The Third Hokage and Fourth too are long gone. Which left the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade, Sakura's mentor and the only person of past generation who's looked at him with distant pragmatism and irritation. No pity like the Third's eyes would sometimes slide into for a blink. No sickening worship like Orochimaru's gaze.

  Distantly, perhaps, she knows about the Uchiha massacre and how it came to be, but she had no hand in it.

  Everyone involved is gone.

  And so the dark feeling just sits like slowly dying embers in his subconscious besides the thoughts of Konoha and home.

  Sasuke's eyes open, staring directly the door. He sighs when nothing but the ticking of the clock hanging on the wall indicates movement outside himself.

  Home.

  His lids fall shut to calm the unease the word brings forth.

  Konoha hasn't been home ever since he step foot outside in search for power, disregarding all the bonds he'd made and the hopes that'd been placed on his shoulders. Even brief thoughts of team seven were never, ever thoughts of home. Once in a while he'd feel nostalgic, but most of the time he only thought of the easy life he'd been living and the time he'd wasted dreaming along with the team.

  Konoha was even less of a home once he'd learned the truth.

  Every time he'd run across team seven, every time Naruto had screamed, yelled at him to come home, the image of Konoha never came to mind. Not the trees shaking from the wind, not the hustle of busy bodies enacting their daily lives, not the

  His home had always been the desolate streets of the Uchiha district. The creaking, empty houses looming all around. The slams of doors and windows disturbed by nothing but wind and memories. The suffocating silence of ghosts murmuring in the halls.

  That was home.

  A home he never wanted to return to.

  A home he had to return to, every day he'd been in Konoha.

  Not once did he think of returning to Konoha alive, besides his revenge.

  But Naruto's vision of Konoha and what he's planning to do now and in the future eases a little of the discomfort he feels with Konoha and home. It is a softer version, more feasible than his plan had been. More we than I.

  And for some reason that makes a hell of a difference.

  For once we doesn't feel like swallowing glass or playing with something breakable. It eases the heaviness in his chest that lasted even after Itachi.

  "Yo!" The door flings open with a flourish, banging on the wall and interrupting the unknown territory of his thoughts.

  "Don't break the door, idiot." Sasuke sighs, opening his eyes to take in the still pale pallor and the splotches of color all over Naruto's skin. The solid but relaxed stance Naruto adopts as he enters the room and the hunched figure almost hidden behind him, "Sakura."

          The flinch her shoulder does as his deep voice says her name comes unbidden. So too are the tremors that overtake the fists on her sides and her teeth gnashing on her lips. She has a second to think maybe she's not ready and Naruto should have told her where they were going before his shadow moves forward into the hospital room, leaving her out in the open and exposed.

  Sakura gathers her courage to raise her head, to look at the third member of team seven in the eyes instead of the tops of her sandals. And her breath catches. He is, and has always been, so attractive to her. Even broken and stuck in a hospital room, covered in stale smells of old sheets and medicine.

  "Sasuke-kun," Her voice breaks a little and Naruto turns around to stare at her with both his eyebrows raised in confusion. He keeps gawking at her as the silence builds and his cyan gaze starts feeling too direct, probing her reaction, so her eyes flit to Sasuke, patiently, distantly waiting. "How are you feeling?"

  One incredulous eyebrow raises as Sasuke snorts, "Like I look."

  His pale skin is all splotches and uneven coloring, but still the most devastatingly handsome face in her eyes. His eyes are still a distant darkness framed by almost delicate eyelashes. His face, still strikingly perfect amidst all the bruises.

  Still so horribly beautiful.

  "Sorry," Sakura forces her eyes away, to follow Naruto's confident strides to the bed and his fearless settling on white sheets, "We're healing you guys as fast as your bodies can handle."

  "I know," Coal black eyes lazily blink at her as Naruto nods, all smiles and comfort, almost bouncing with energy beside their solemn teammate.

  They both look at her expectantly while her brain grasps at straws to continue and feel at ease. "There were quite a few casualties during the battle so-"

  "Why're you still standing?" Naruto's head tilts, so oblivious to his rude action and to the unsure slope of her back, while Sasuke stares with that beautifully blank face. A tan hand pats the space between him and Sasuke, like she isn't being stared down, accidentally or on purpose doesn't matter, so her eyes fall on the empty chair a couple of steps away. Naruto pouts when she plops herself down on it, hands in her lap picking at the fissures in her dry skin from washing her hands over and over.

  It's that much more difficult to keep eye contact, to figure out who to look at, the one who gives her comfort but doesn't really need her explanation or the one who makes her chest squeeze and her throat to freeze up unless she's talking about something professional, so her gaze lands somewhere in between. It lessens the urge to leave, helps her tongue form words that are informatively neutral, "So the other medics are preoccupied. But since you guys seem to be healing really well, Tsunade-sama and I will be handling your cases less."

  "Then who will?"

  Just his voice sends ice through her veins while her heart increases it's pace from his direct attention, "Shizune-san."

  Sasuke seems to weigh it for a second, eyes holding her captive while his mind worked.

  For once Naruto sits quietly waiting until he snickers at Sasuke's silence, "Dark haired lady who's always with 'baa-chan."

  The blanket shifts, causes Naruto to jolt up and frown, as Sasuke moves, "Ah."

  Everything feels so stilted it's suffocating and her mind whines escape. Usually Naruto would be talking their ears off, but he's watching both of them, as discreetly as he can. Which is not that discreet at all.

  "I'm just," Naruto azure eyes volley from her to Sasuke and back, rising from his position to walk to the door, "going to get something from my room."

  Coward, Sakura's mind yells at his broad back as it disappears behind the closing door and she's left alone with Sasuke. The void he leaves, always left Sakura's mind supplies, adds more weight to the her inability to meet Sasuke's focused stare.

  Time passes by with the ticking of the clock and the light through the window sways. The lack of sound and Sasuke's focus on her makes time slow to a crawl, making seconds feel like minutes and minutes into hours.

  She wishes, so much, that Naruto was with them right now. Sasuke has always been more talkative with him around, even if a bit condescending and incendiary.

  "I," Sakura swallows the bile rising in her chest, fingers twisting fiercer than before. "I should have followed you and Naruto. I should have recovered from..." the genjutsu hangs in between them, in the silence of Sasuke's deed.

  "Nothing you would have done could have stopped us." His dismissal stings, just like always. It squeezes at her heart. The cold, unaffected glint in his eyes as he stated her incompetence without a second thought. The way he said it as if nothing she'd been doing these past years would ever amount to anything.

  "I could have-"

  "Nothing Sakura," He pins her with an unapologetic glare. "Nothing you could have done would have stopped us. Your chakra was exhausted and I disabled you easily."

  The splutter of disbelief overtakes her just as fast as the white hot anger "Disabled?!

  "I stopped everything that I was doing. Stopped thinking about the people we'd passed, the people we lost, the things you've done. I let go of all of that to," Sakura notices the stiff shoulders right as her voice quiets from her shouting, "Save you."

  Her anger deflates so quickly as she faces the wall that is Sasuke. She listens to her breathing, echoing while the clock ticks away, her heart still stinging with every beat that Sasuke stares but doesn't look.

  "Why?"

  "Because I love you!

  "I love you, Sasuke-kun." Sakura bites at her lip to stop the almost whine her voice ends at. It's pathetic, weak her inner self laments. "I still do .. I mean, despite all the things you've done, I still.. I thought telling you would stop you from all this..."

  "But why? I've never done anything to foster it."

  "Neither have you for him." Sakura can't help the venom spewing from her shattering heart. She has a moment to regret dragging Naruto in the drama between them, but it has always hung between them all. " You've never questioned Naruto."

  Sasuke snorts at her and, again, it reminds her of the disconnect between them, "I questioned him each and every time we ran into each other."

  "Then what's different..." She tries to catch his eyes and make him understand. That she loves him so much and would do anything to make him happy.

  "Me," Sasuke looks at her with plain sincerity, "I don't feel the same towards you."

And it hurts just as much as she's expected. Sakura lowers her head to hide her crumpling mask, to shield her vulnerable heart.

"For what reason do you love me?" Sasuke continues, though she could barely hear him past the buzzing in hear head, "I see no reason for your attraction. I've never been affectionate towards you."

  "You are so cruel, Sasuke-kun."

  "And I've never shown myself to be otherwise."

  "Why him?"

  "I don't-"

  "Why him and not me?" There is so much-shameful- pleading in her voice, anger and pain mixing in that perhaps she would be embarrassed in another time.

  "Sakura...I'm," His voice changes, cold impassivity shifting to awkwardness, eyes wavering but holdfast, "I'm sorry for everything that I've done to you."

  "Please, Sasuke-kun."

  "I've rejected you every time. Given you many reasons to seek someone else."

  She wants to tell him there's only him, but her tongue gets logged in her mouth and sticks.

  "Just please..." Sakura searches his face for any sign at all. "Please tell me why?"

  Sasuke's eyes dart away from her for a second with a frown marring his still so beautiful face, returning with a look that catches her. His face looks emotionless, but the peacefulness in his stature, the openness of his eyes is more than enough, "Because he understands me."

  And Sakura knows. Finally understands what he means. How his voice lowers and softens with the words, how his whole demeanor unconsciously relaxes with his explanation. How much his aura calms and is so much more peaceful than she's ever felt around him. He says so much even without saying, but he continues without her.

  "You've studied under a Kage and the best medic-nin in all the land. Your brutal strength alone is greater than Naruto and mine. Your chakra reserve is probably in par, if not greater, than mine at it's peak. You have so much potential." His eyes light up in honesty and pure, foreign, encouragement. "You deserve better than me. Better than both of us, Sakura."

  "Sasuke-kun..." His words lift her just as much as it stabs and twists into her heart. Defeat floats in the air, like every time she's encountered him in the years they've all been chasing their goals.

  Sakura's mind understands, but her heart does not. Refuses to. A weight lifts from her shoulders just as a prickling cage pulses around her heart. She knows everything she's capable of, her strengths from all the hard work she's done to catch up and rival her two friends. All the blood and sweat she had shed to never fall behind again.

  "But I love you so much." Warmth trails on her cheeks, curving and meeting on her chin to drip on her wringing hands, "For so long.."

  "I know." His voice sounds husky with discomfort, yet still full of confidence. "You'll love again."

  For a while, her sniffles are the only sounds in the room. No birds or wind outside, no shuffling of people in a hurry in the hallway. Only her stubborn, hot tears and Sasuke's companionable, but respectfully distant, quiet.

  "You're," Sakura wipes at her eyes, then her running nose, and glares at him as best as she can with her eyes still watery. "You're a bastard, you know that?"

  "I've been told," Sasuke gives her a sardonic grin, "Multiple times."

  The laugh escapes her lips before she could stop it, sounding very much like screaming birds. Or dying animals, her inner self pulls at imaginary hair. It makes her tears fall faster and her nose clog up, but she keeps on laughing until she's out of breath. It's just, her goal is so close and yet has never been, and will never be, close enough.

  She laughs more at that. To marry the man of her dreams versus to be the hokage versus revenge. Her dream from the first day of team seven, the most mundane and civilian, being the most impossible. How pathetic inner Sakura tsks.

  "I really am sorry, Sakura." His face forms a blank mask, so unfairly stunning, with the downward slope of his brows the only indication of worry.

  "Tell me again in a couple of years," She wipes at her nose again, hates the bone weary tiredness she feels and yet relishes the new lightness of the air around them. "Or maybe when I kick your ass in training."

  "I look forward to it." Sasuke raises an eyebrow in challenge.

  "Psh," She rises after giving him one last look, hoping her conviction shone through her tear streaked face, "Says the recovering invalid."

  Sasuke's eyes widen and the corners of his severe lips twitch into a smile.

  Sakura ruffles her hair, pulling at the tips a little, before rising from her chair to rush the bed, enveloping Sasuke in her arms. The hug is forced and Sasuke a little stiff, but he doesn't push her away and Sakura wonders why she finds it strange to have him docile in her arms, "I'll see you around."

  Sakura feels him nod against her shoulder and she squeezes him once more, putting all the power she knows he can handle, all the frustration she feels still bubbling at the surface but too doused with his words to overflow once more. He huffs but doesn't say a word. She lets go and takes a shuddering breath. "Tell Naruto I'll be back tomorrow, okay?"

  And, with a twirl and a few steps to the door, Sakura says her good-bye to Sasuke-kun, her first love and heartbreak.

        Sakura must be out of it, Naruto thinks as his pink haired teammate walks closer without acknowledging him, head bent and shoulders shaking. His hand is occupied by the book he wants Sasuke to read and he can get her attention by tapping it against her as she walks by, but the muffled sounds she makes stabs an unknown emotion in his chest. It almost feels like the time he'd passed out, thinking of Sasuke and losing him.

  His arm twitches but doesn't reach for her as she trudges on, falling apart and in tears.

  So yeah, maybe he is a coward.

  He'd felt the charged weirdness in the room. Something he wasn't really part of that needed to be solved without him. Seeing her small back shrink in the distance makes him wish he was there, that maybe it would have made Sasuke's whatever not as painful as her almost silent crying.

  But things between Sasuke and Sakura are things between them, just as things between him and Sasuke are only theirs. Unless it's like a team thing, or something.

  Naruto shakes his head, walking closer to Sasuke's door. Loving people is so difficult and confusing. Loving Sasuke and Sakura...

    He shoves the book in his mouth with distaste as his hand twists the doorknob. So many things to worry about even when they're still recovering.

  Sasuke's duckbutt hair greets him as the other boy stares outside the window in quiet contemplation, no sign of Sakura's visit and the things said to make her cry. Black eyes lazily drift his way when Naruto scrapes the chair closer.

  Removing the book from his mouth as he sits, Naruto props his feet on the bed, "You made her cry again."

  Sasuke hns, eyes flitting a second to the book in his hand, still silent and unassuming.

  "You know, you were scaring Sakura-chan," Naruto tosses the book on the bed, straight on the bump where he thinks Sasuke's kneecap is, and feels satisfied when the leg jerks with the hit and Sasuke's forehead scrunches with annoyance.

  A flicker of concern passes through Sasuke's eyes before he scoffs, bending to grab the book, "Merely staring."

  "Well, I don't think she's used to it yet." Naruto kicks at the limb closest to his foot.

  "She's one of us." Pale fingers grasp the cover, one annoying brow raised.

  "Yeah, but she loves you."

  The bumps between Sasuke's eyebrows multiply, makes Naruto want to call him something funny.

  "Just tone down the intensity a little?" He says instead because Sasuke's being pretty agreeable, mostly.

  "I won't baby her." The stubborn set of his black eyes and lips are ridiculous, like he's being asked to do something very hard to do. It sends so much relief through Naruto that he can't do anything but smile, feeling happy from head to toe.

  "God, such a bastard."

  The concentrated stare, brimming with barely held back challenge dims with the amused tilt of pale lips, "So I've been told."

  Naruto grins and Sasuke's head bows, to regard the book in his hand. It's a little hard to see the emotion on his friend's face when he lowers his head, bangs sliding forward to form a curtain of silky black so Naruto stands, shuffles over to plop his weight on the bed. It dips a little with the addition and Sasuke's leg shifts close enough that he feels the other's body heat through the blanket. It's still hard to see anything on Sasuke's face, but the smaller distance is better, "So, whatcha been up to?"

  "Rotting my brain with boredom," Sasuke huffs, ruffling his hair with the exhale.

  "Me too," Naruto nods his head, " 'Baa-chan didn't give you books or something?"

  "No."

  "Weird, she gave me a whole stack of them." A whole stack of books, in fact. Ones he didn't think he'd need to look through for a couple of years. Just because he wasn't in pain and healing faster than the rest, didn't mean she could cram all the books in his brain.

  "And this?" Sasuke holds up the book he'd brought. Diplomacy in Troubled Times.

  "I felt like you should read that."

  A pale arm rises, readying to chuck the book.

  "Hear me out, "Naruto lifts both of his arms, one hand waving in front, "You can't be helping me if you don't know that stuff."

  That damn eyebrow lifts again while Sasuke's arm lowers, wrist still poised to flick the book at him.

"You know!" Naruto frowns at the skeptical look in front of him, "When I'm Hokage."

  "Right."

  "Well okay, maybe I need you to read it and help me understand it," Naruto scrunches his nose at the amused Uchiha, fighting the urge to punch that annoyingly amused expression off his pretty face.

  "Usuratonkachi," Sasuke's pink lips form the words even while it curves in laughter.

  "Not fair, she's making me study and you're just sitting here acting all pretty and shit." Naruto's chapped lips pout and cheeks flush. Seeing a laughing Sasuke, albeit quietly laughing, is still shocking. Not as much as the full blown, open mouthed craziness at the Valley of the End, but enough that everything feels warmer.

  "You should be happy, idiot," Sasuke settles back with a shake of his head, "She's preparing you."

  "But they're all boring," He whines and enjoys the answering grimace.

  "Then again, she has more work to do than usual." Sasuke snorts, grin still plastered on his face.

  "Bastard!" Naruto turns to bop his stupid friend in the head, moves his arm to do just that because Sasuke's amused smile doesn't leave.

  His fist gets inches closes to ink black hair before pale fingers catch his wrist in a tight hold that's loose enough for him to shake off.

  Their eyes catch each other, blue shocked wide and onyx silently regarding, contrasting as much as his bronze to Sasuke's alabaster. The heat of Sasuke's grip only paling in comparison to the heat from his eyes.

  Sasuke once said the strongest of shinobi could read each other's thoughts through each other's eyes.   That no words had to be said as long as gazes met while hearts warred.

  And there's no questioning that both of them are high caliber shinobi, if not the highest, based on the war and what they were able to do when they had to.

  But even looking into the vast pits of darkness that are Sasuke's eyes, Naruto had no clue what thoughts and feelings the other had, beside the entertained tilt of his slowly wilting lips. Both of their eyes are wide open, never mind that Sasuke's stupid long lashes are lazily lowering, yet he had no clue of Sasuke's thoughts.

  And the things circling around them.

  "What are you thinking about?" Naruto whispers, blushes a little because why whisper at all. Breathy voices while they're this close doesn't make sense.

  Sasuke's gaze flicks down for a blink while his pale fingers unfurl, "Nothing,"

  "Liar." Naruto says and wishes for his other hand to massage his freed wrist, cold just like the eyes that go back to examining the book in a blanket clad lap.

  Sasuke ignores him in favor of running his slim fingers against the aged edges of the book, flipping it open to the first page. The thin digits grasp at the edge of a page, doesn't find purchase, then rise to pink lips and even pinker tongue, Naruto has to swallow at that, before returning to flip the page.

  Watching Sasuke read is torture Naruto concludes, after a couple of pages of watching Sasuke's fingers repeating the same motions. Fights to not smack himself for staring while Sasuke keeps quiet and unconcerned despite how long Naruto's been gawking.

  "It's boring being all alone," Naruto huffs, flings himself back, right on top of Sasuke's legs. It hurts for a while and it looks like Sasuke want to whack him on the head with the book for doing it so recklessly. But it's warm and so familiar, like they've been this physically close for years instead of a day.

  "I know."

        Relaxed. That is the word Sasuke thinks as they sit in companionable silence, book shut and useless beside him, hearing only the distant chirping of birds and their breathing. There's nothing pressing in his head right now other than recovering as much as he can before facing whatever repercussion he had to face, now that he's contained in Konoha.

  The laxity of his thoughts may be an aftereffect of the drug in his system, but with Naruto still and just as settled beside him, the worry seems so far away.

  The blond's movements are mellower than usual and tinged with fatigue. His smile a little wilted around the edges, but still so bright. Unlike him, Naruto seems to be healing at a fast rate, unhindered by aches or drugs. Just like years ago, his smiles are freely given at any entertaining thought that crossed his immature mind, though more recent ones seem gentler than Sasuke's used to, much more natural and striking than all the grins combined.

  It sends a spike of heat down his gut that has nothing to do with pain.

  "Uh, are you okay?" Naruto asks him after a couple of minutes of weightless silence, both of them looking at anything and everything around them, all but each other.

  "Why wouldn't I be?" Sasuke frowns, a reaction from his thoughts and the feeling prompted by the worry wrinkling his friend's face.

  "You know," Cobalt eyes look him up and down, then divert to the side, away from Sasuke's stare. "You're so agreeably calm, it's freaky."

  Sasuke frowns at him for ruining the peaceful mood that cocooned them moments before. The one time his mind is empty of the past and merely living for the present, and the idiot questions it.

  "It's called introspection. You should learn it."

  "I know what that is," Naruto turns again to reach for him, face ready to explode in indignation.

  "Oh, there's room in that brain of yours?" Sasuke can't help the jibe, it's all too easy to catch the fist flying his way, the second time that day. A frustrated cry escapes Naruto's full lips while their arms push against each other, both bodies shaking with the effort to not give in.

  They only stop when tremors start from their core and travel to their struggling arms. Naruto draws back while Sasuke shifts to a better position, his ass feels numb from sitting tense for so long. His thin fingers stay around Naruto's fist.

  Sasuke fights the urge to run his thumb against the dip between Naruto's thumb and index finger. "How are you moving so much?"

  "I'm healing..?" Naruto doesn't move, doesn't question their point of contact, just like the day before.

  Sasuke doesn't believe him. After all, he is still so tired, still feels pain around the edges, especially after the adrenaline woken by Naruto's indignations. "You're cheating."

  The blond tenses, balled hands closing more in his grip, "Did not! Kurama's sleeping so I'm healing all by myself"

  Sasuke gives into the urge, moving his thumb in an up and down motion that he hopes calms the irate blond down. He's too tired to fight with Naruto again, "That's not what I meant."

  "Arg-what?" Naruto interupts himself mid growl.

  "You're an Uzumaki."

  "So?"

  Sasuke sighs and shoots him an exasperated, "Karin is an Uzumaki."

  Naruto tilts his head slightly in confusion.

  "She can heal people when they bite her," The confused frown blooms more and Sasuke wants to cuff the blond or smack his own forehead, but not as much as keeping their hands together. "You may have some type of healing factor too."

  "You mean with biting?" Naruto's nose scrunches as he contemplates his arm.

  "Possibly."

Naruto stares at his tanned appendage. Sasuke's hand unfolds, lets go of the fist as Naruto shrugs and opens his mouth on the span of bronze skin, biting down enough for Sasuke to see the skin dip down with the pressure. The blond stays there with his only arm in his mouth for a minute, concentration filling his face before he lets go.

  "Well that was cool," annoyed blue eyes shoot daggers at him.

  "What made you think it'd work for you?"

  "Oh, I don't know. You not stopping me!"

  "I don't stop stupidity," Sasuke smirks at him, enjoying the rising red flush overtaking Naruto's embarrassed face. Naruto splutters and rises, maybe to punch his face so Sasuke gives him some mercy, "Where do you think the healing chakra would come from if you bit yourself?"

  Naruto gives him a blank stare.

  "Nowhere. The healing chakra is from yourself," He doesn't feel exasperated nor annoyed, more like amused, Naruto's stupidity is endearing in of itself sometimes, especially when his crumpled in puzzlement.

  Realization dawns on the Naruto's face, dusting his cheeks with a slight red tint as his right arm twitches up then down. "Hehe."

  "Come here."

  "What are you doing?!"

  What indeed. Sasuke has a moment to think of biting the same spot, before realizing how impossible it is to reach it in their current position. He feels the warmth against his lips, slightly tingling with the impossible heat emanating from the other teen. Naruto's eyes bore holes on top of his head as he opens his jaw bigger to make room for his teeth, to bite down on the pulsing flesh beneath his sensitive lips. He bites hard, remembering how much force he had to use when Karin had been serving him.

He sucks a little, thinking perhaps the trigger for the healing differed from user to user.

  Of course nothing happens, the ability is Karin's peculiarity.

  "Hn." Sasuke's breath stirs thin blond hairs swaying and the sight of the darkening crescent shaped mark awakens some emotion in him, dark and curled enough to make his pale fingers tighten on the bronzed skin it held. He hears a strangled sound soon after the movement and Sasuke raises his eyes away from the temptation to make another mark on scarless skin. He plans on teasing his friend and is about to open his mouth to comment until his brain catches up with his eyes.

  Naruto's lit up like a lantern, face so crimson that Sasuke thinks of a tomato as his mouth opens and closes. It forces Sasuke to grin a little towards the expression, triggering a deeper flush on Naruto's face, spreading all the way to his tanned ears.

  Mouth usually flapping with idiotic babbling open and close without a sound, which sparks pride in Sasuke as something hotter darts lower. "I-What was that?!"

  He should laugh as Naruto reddens stronger, looking ready to combust, under his stare. But embers burn, embers he'd long thought doused, and he can't help watch the purpling mark on the frozen muscle. His eyes travel back up when Naruto twitches from his silence, "An experiment."

  Naruto splutters and embers burn brighter as Naruto reacts not in offense, but in embarrassment, skin darker in reaction than paling in revulsion. "Weirdo!" Naruto's arm reaches faster than Sasuke can block, he really is more healed.

  Tan fingers land diagonal on Sasuke's eyes, obscuring his vision while the palm painfully squishes his nose a little with the force.

  "Stop looking like that!"

  Sasuke feels his mouth twitch against a warm palm, sees Naruto noticing it in the space between tan fingers and the flush blooms more. He feels an emotion -happiness, contentment, delight, perhaps sadistic glee- to the fact that they're both one handed. His arm is busy in keeping Naruto from clawing his eyes, the pressure is uncomfortable enough, and his smirk rises a notch.

  "Asshole!"

  Sasuke is truly tired so he relaxes and lets Naruto's own force push them both back down on the bed. Naruto's hand slips upward, skimming his nose and forehead painfully.

  They end up with Naruto's body almost reaching diagonally against Sasuke's chest, butt still halfway resting on the bed.

  "Asshole," Naruto repeats, trying to rise to a one handed push-up position while Sasuke lies unhelpful beneath him, "Smug asshole."

  Sasuke allows his grin to change, for his lips to form a full blown smile. Even when his heart hammers and Naruto openly stares, a subtler pink rising on his cheeks.

  Naruto swallows sends him a smile in return, eyes open, teeth hidden, and heartbeat rapidly thumping between them.