Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

“I’m going to miss you when you leave Sasuke…know that, okay?”

Sasuke adjusted the strap on the backpack slung across his shoulders and lowered his head. He focused on taking quick and steady steps ahead and tried not to give in to the overwhelming urge he began to feel to turn back. 

He had a few hours before the sun would come up. He didn’t want to take his chances waiting any later to slip out of Naruto’s apartment before he woke up. He had to do it when he had the chance, and that chance had finally come. And yet, Sasuke hesitated.

Lying beside Naruto while the world seemed to spin in every possible direction, buzzing with some invisible energy that left him in a state he’d never be proud to admit; that wasn’t how Sasuke expected his Friday night to end. That wasn’t how he expected his last night with Naruto to end.

“Shit.” Sasuke hissed as he wiped at his tears furiously with his sleeve. His chest ached, and he couldn’t understand why. These emotions, they weren’t something Sasuke could easily understand or even control; he didn’t know when they started getting complicated and he didn’t know when he stopped wanting to punch Naruto in the face and instead wanted Naruto to fuck him over the counter.

It didn’t make sense. It was stupid.

It was painful.

Sasuke hadn’t expected his decision to hurt so much. His initial plan had always been to leave as soon as he could, and yet when his moment finally came, he could barely muster the strength to do so. He couldn’t turn back; he needed to get as far as he could and leave Naruto out of his mess. It had nothing to do with him, and Sasuke would be damned if the idiot got hurt because of him.

He’s going to hate me. 

Sasuke frowned as the thought crossed his mind. It was better than Naruto getting involved in his shit. If this is what it took for Naruto to be safe and sound in his own little world, Sasuke would accept it. Or so he wanted to believe.

Sasuke stopped in the center of the sidewalk when he noticed his clumsy steps and tried to gather himself. He was by no means sober, and he prayed it wasn’t obvious to anyone who may have seen him.

He only had one destination in mind, and unfortunately, it was a long trek on foot. Luckily, the weather was fair tonight and it didn’t seem like there was a cloud in the sky. Sasuke wished he could at least see the stars; that was something he never thought he would be so fascinated by, and yet, spending most of his life underground made him realize how much he had actually yearned to see the sky.

An entire world existed above him, and he had never remembered it.

Bits of memories remained scattered in his mind while some floated around as clear as day. Memories so clear Sasuke couldn’t understand how he had forgotten them. Sasuke still struggled with connecting them, and realized it wasn’t his fault, but a result of the constant experiments he’d been subjected to. He had probably seen the sky so many times in his life, and yet he felt as though his world had abruptly doubled in size. 

Sasuke felt like he needed to sleep for a couple of days. 

Ever since he met up with his brother, he’d been wrestling with what felt like a lifetime of memories that didn’t feel like his own. He had tried to drown them out with alcohol, and luckily, it had worked for most of the night. Instead of trying to piece together his own brain, Sasuke just let himself go with the flow and realized that maybe his relationship with Naruto wasn’t purely what he had thought it was.

It had started as what Sasuke called a pity-party of a relationship and quickly moved into what Sasuke imagined to be friendly coexistence. So, why did Sasuke feel a certain way when Naruto looked at him or when he called his name…

Sasuke shook his head hard, hoping it would dislodge the tangent that started to form in his head. It was too late for that. He had to keep looking forward or he’d lose sight of what was really important. 

He had to go through with what he decided. His feelings, whatever these feelings were, would only become a distraction. 

Sasuke pulled out his cellphone and sent a quick SOS message in the hope that he could at least stop walking. The road seemed to stretch on forever and at this rate, he was never going to make it.

As Sasuke’s mind reeled, a sleek black sedan rolled to a stop a few feet ahead of him. As Sasuke approached, a familiar figure leaned out of the driver’s window. The two nodded to one another before Sasuke walked around the hood of the car and dropped into the passenger seat with a heavy, but relieved, sigh.

“Sasuke…are you alright?” Sasuke tried to avoid eye contact and kept his eyes locked on his hands, which he kept fisted in his lap. It was hard to look at this man because no matter how much he questioned things, he couldn’t deny that this was his brother. Their similarities were so uncanny, even Sasuke was shocked when they had first met. Although his brother was a bit older and had longer hair, they both had the same fair skin and piercing dark eyes.

Eyes that Sasuke couldn’t bear looking at.

“I’m fine.” Sasuke grit out. He feared that speaking about what happened would make him emotional, and he did not want that right now.

His brother Itachi hummed in what sounded like disbelief. They drove a block or two before he spoke again.

“You’ve been drinking.”

It wasn’t a question, but it didn’t sound like an accusation either. 

Sasuke directed his attention out the window in annoyance. “And?”

“And…I’m just worried, that’s all.”

“Worried?” Sasuke scoffed. “Why would you be worried, you barely know me. We’re practically strangers.”

“No Sasuke, you barely know me.” Itachi replied quietly. Sasuke frowned when he felt the pinpricks of guilt but still refused to look back. “Drinking might be a little detrimental to your condition, don’t you think?”

“It’s not like I do it often.”

“If that’s the case, then fine.”

Sasuke bit back another bitter remark when he noticed the tall glittering building ahead. It towered over everything in sight, and Sasuke had to squint from all the light it emitted in the otherwise dark and sleeping city. Uchiha Enterprises, huh. What a joke.

They drove through the parking garage, the soft engine purring as they wound their way up towards the top “employee only” section. Sasuke nearly rolled his eyes when he saw that Itachi had a CEO sanctioned spot that commanded most of the upper level alongside his own personal elevator. 

“You’ll be staying with me on the top floor.” Itachi gestured for Sasuke to follow him to the large silver doors. Sasuke shut the car door and hesitated. There wasn’t any going back now. It felt like this was the moment when everything would change. Sasuke wanted to believe that his choice had been final once he left Naruto’s apartment, but deep down he knew he’d always have the chance to turn back around. Once he walked into this building, he couldn’t do that anymore. Once Naruto realized he was gone…there wasn’t any recovering from that.

Itachi turned around when he noticed that Sasuke hadn’t moved. He cocked his head to the side in curiosity but didn’t say a word.

As if to force the resolve into his body, Sasuke took a deep breath, readjusted his backpack, and strode to the elevator with his brother with the best neutral expression he could muster. The two stepped inside and Itachi pushed the button for the fifty-seventh floor before leaning against the wall to look Sasuke over.

“We have many things to discuss, but for the meantime I want to focus on your health. Rest as long as you need and we will continue from there, understood?”

“Yeah.” Sasuke had no problem agreeing to that. He too leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, listening to the soft pinging the elevator made as it ascended to the top floor. He peeled them open again once he heard the doors open and followed Itachi down the marbled hallway to the large door Sasuke knew was the penthouse suite. 

It must be nice to be living large like this.

Sasuke found himself too exhausted and upset to even take in the fancy place his brother lived in. His body moved in what seemed like a single, linear direction to his bedroom without processing anything else. He didn’t even hear what his brother said to him, if he had said anything at all, and dropped onto his bed fully clothed. 

Itachi peeked into the room and sighed when he realized that his baby brother had knocked out just like that.

“At least take off your backpack, Sasuke.” Itachi couldn’t help but smile in endearment as he carefully lifted Sasuke’s arms out from the straps. He doubted the boy would even wake up if he shook him, but he couldn’t be too sure. He took off Sasuke’s shoes while he was at it and left the bedroom door cracked, leaving to return to his own room and prepare for what was to come next.

When Sasuke awoke, he learned that two days had passed.

“You let me sleep for two days?!” Sasuke asked in disbelief. 

“You were exhausted enough to sleep for over forty-eight hours Sasuke, you need to stop pushing yourself so much.” Itachi barely glanced at him as he scrolled through the news on his tablet. He had finished his breakfast when Sasuke finally emerged from his room fully showered and dressed, oblivious to how time had passed.

Sasuke instead focused on what was on the kitchen table.

“Who the hell eats cake for breakfast? Don’t you have cereal or something?”

“I’m an adult and I can eat what I want.” Itachi replied. “There are bagels over there and the fridge is fully stocked. Cereal is in the cabinet.”

Sasuke shook his head in disbelief and went to the fridge to grab a carton of milk. The amount of sugar this guy seemed to consume already made Sasuke’s head hurt.

“And I thought Naruto was the only one with bad taste…” Sasuke muttered under his breath as he reached for the cereal. A sharp pain in his chest took him off guard and he clumsily dropped the box onto the counter. Sasuke stared at it in a mixture of confusion and annoyance; that idiot’s name seemed to be the only thing that bounced around in his head, and now it left him feeling empty. 

“Is everything alright?” Itachi asked.

“Yeah…” Sasuke picked up the box again and poured himself a bowl. He sat across from Itachi and poked at his cereal, refusing to acknowledge that his appetite had vanished as quickly as it had come.

“You have a lot of catching up to do.” Itachi murmured, his attention still fully invested in whatever was on his screen. “You have to eat properly as well.”

“Okay, mom.” Sasuke huffed grumpily and shoved a spoonful in his mouth.

Itachi raised an eyebrow humorously before setting down his tablet and directing his gaze to Sasuke.

“Are you fully prepared to take this on, Sasuke?”

Sasuke looked up from his cereal and frowned. “What do you mean?”

“It seems like you have some reservations.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Maybe you don’t realize that you do.” Itachi smiled.

Sasuke stiffened. “I don’t.”

“Then we will proceed as planned. There’s someone we’re scheduled to meet soon, will you be ready?”
He nodded and finished his cereal while Itachi made a few phone calls in the living room. Sasuke took this as his opportunity to snoop around the penthouse and see exactly what kind of place he’d be living in. 

The first thing he noticed were the freakishly high ceilings. There could easily be a second level, but the open layout certainly made the place feel twice as spacious then it was. Large white pillars accentuated the otherwise sharp corners, and his brother seemed to be a minimalist when it came to decorations. All of the furniture was brand new and the appliances looked as though they’d never been used. Sasuke had grown used to the rusted toaster Naruto refused to replace and the couch that looked like it had survived two world wars before landing itself in Naruto’s living room. While Itachi’s place had no scent whatsoever, there was always something in Naruto’s apartment that either smelt really good or God-awful funky. There was never an in-between.

Sasuke caught himself thinking about Naruto again and sighed. He had to get out of the habit or things were really going to be difficult. Clearly his brother was catching on to him. He couldn’t make it seem like he had any reservations from this point forward if he wanted to figure out who the hell he was. What kind of life had he been living?

“Let’s go.” Itachi paused in the hallway to check his appearance in the mirror. He gave Sasuke a small smile before opening the door. Sasuke pretended to not see it.

“Be on your best behavior, little brother.”

The two brothers stood side by side wearing matching expressions of annoyance. 

“He’s late.” Itachi sighed. “As usual.”

Sasuke cast his brother a sidelong glance before pushing off the wall they leaned against and started pacing the abandoned apartment. They’d been waiting at least a half-hour, and Sasuke didn’t even know who they were supposed to be meeting.

“Think your car will still be out there when we leave?”

Itachi chuckled. “It’s an Audi, Sasuke, not a Porsche.” 

Sasuke’s face contorted in confusion. “Am I supposed to know what that means?”

Itachi blinked back at him speechless. It was the first time Sasuke had seen his brother at a loss for words. He couldn’t help but smirk at that.

“I’ve been underground my whole life, and you expect me to know cars?”

“The car will be fine, Sasuke.” Itachi replied.

The front door suddenly unlocked before swinging open to reveal a tall man with snow-white hair. He appeared to be no older than Sasuke, and his wide shark-toothed grin would have made them think he hadn’t been keeping them waiting.

“Suigetsu. How many times do I have to ask you to be on time?” Itachi sounded more tired than angry. Suigetsu scratched the back of his head sheepishly and held up a tray of drinks.

“I know, I’m sorry! But look! I brought coffee, or in your case Itachi, I brought you a frap. I know they’re your favorite!”

Sasuke noticed his brother’s face twitch when it tried to maintain its annoyed expression. He took the drink and immediately took a sip.

“I’ll forgive it this time.” He nodded in satisfaction.

“I got you a black coffee Sasuke, since you seem like the type.” Suigetsu handed Sasuke his drink and gave another smile. “Heh…crazy seeing you again, do you remember me?”

Sasuke had barely been able to take his eyes off Suigetsu since he walked into the room. The mark on his neck throbbed as Sasuke’s mind reeled backwards to place where he had seen this guy before. His mind flashed back to the time he spent in the holding pods, suspended in fluid, and the young boy that had been across from him. Surely, the two had the same white hair and sharp lavender eyes, but Sasuke couldn’t remember his face. It had to be the same person.

“I think so.” Sasuke replied. “You were in the tank across from me for a while.”

“Yup!” Suigetsu took a sip of his drink and sighed happily. “Aw it almost melts my heart to think that you remember me better than Itachi.”

“Watch yourself.” Itachi warned, his tone immediately turning acidic.

“I’m joking!” Suigetsu recoiled and his expression turned serious. “For a while, Orochimaru was trying to decide between me and you for their next host. While you took to the experiments pretty well, I on the other hand,” Suigetsu’s hand strayed up to pull at a few strands of his hair and gestured to his eyes, “started to mutate and basically got booted to one of their errand dogs. Much like your brother.”

Sasuke’s eyes widened in surprise and he turned to look at Itachi.

“You were an experiment too?”

“Of course.” Itachi sighed. “But unlike you, I fell ill quite often and wasn’t strong enough to go through a lot of the testing. The last thing Orochimaru wanted was a sickly body, so they turned their attention to you. Suigetsu, we’re getting off track, we need to explain this properly.”

“Right, right.” Suigetsu crossed his arms and took a few sips of his coffee. “Well I guess we can start with this safehouse yeah? Sasuke, clearly you remembered it because you found Itachi’s note and contacted him.”

“Yeah?”

“Well, this is one of the apartments Orochimaru had secured for us to use while we were out and about doing business for them. Making deals in their place, picking up packages, you know, grunt work.” Suigetsu scratched at his cheek and looked at Itachi.

“I left the backpack here in a gamble that you’d come back.” Itachi spoke up, and to Sasuke’s shock, Itachi had finished his drink in record time. “Of course, I wasn’t sure how much you’d remember, but there were occasions where I would take you with me on these excursions. We’ve spent a good deal of time here with Suigetsu.”

Sasuke looked between them with a scowl. He was starting to get sick of not remembering the things he felt like he should know.

“I left you money for obvious reasons, my contact information, and a gun to protect yourself in case Orochimaru’s assistant Kabuto came after you. You know how to use a gun, that is muscle memory, but I still wanted to make sure you were safe.”

“Which is why he hired me to tail you.” Suigetsu pointed to himself proudly. “I followed you and the blonde guy all over the place. For a while, I really thought you were just going to stay with him!”

It took all Sasuke had to not turn red at Suigetsu’s words.

“You…were following me? For how long?!” Sasuke demanded.

“Let’s see…I first spotted you in town with that guy and it looked like he was giving you a tour judging by the way you guys were just driving around. That’s when I saw you come to this apartment.” Suigetsu nodded to himself. “Yeah, and ever since then.”

Sasuke bit the inside of his cheek when Suigetsu gave him a devious smile.

“Even on the night you left, I was at that club. So much fun!! Right Sasuke?”

Sasuke wanted to jump out the window. Anything to get away from Suigetsu’s piercing gaze. It was so fucking embarrassing, and Sasuke was terrified to know if his brother knew anything about it. It didn’t seem like he did, as Itachi narrowed his eyes at Suigetsu before looking at Sasuke in suspicion. 

“In any case…are we heading over to the facility now Itachi?” Suigetsu, thankfully, switched back to their main subject. Sasuke tried to steel his expression back into place before the attention was directed back to him. How much had this Suigetsu guy seen? He prayed he didn’t have a way to look into Naruto’s apartment while they were at home.

Even so, it wasn’t like he and Naruto had been doing anything. Aside from that night, they hadn’t done anything. Still, why did he feel so unsettled by the thought of being watched?

“Sasuke, we’re going to take you back to the facility we broke out from. It’s abandoned now, but there were still a lot of things Orochimaru had to leave behind, and I think that might help with your memory.” Suigetsu pointed to the door. “I’ll meet you guys out front.”

With that, Suigetsu left first, closing the door behind him.

“How are you doing? It’s a lot of information to process at once.” Itachi made no move towards the door. He kept his concerned gaze on Sasuke, and it only succeeded in pissing him off.

“I’m fine, I’m not a child.” Sasuke snapped back.

“I know you aren’t.” Itachi replied. It seemed no matter how rude Sasuke’s responses were, he always gave a calm and patient reply. Sasuke didn’t know if it was his personality or just a method to annoy him.

“As Suigetsu mentioned, I also noticed that you seemed to take a liking to the man you were staying with. His name is Naruto, am I right?”

“Don’t.” Sasuke gritted out. His name alone made it feel like his insides were twisting into a knot, and the last thing he wanted was for Naruto to end up on Itachi’s radar. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Well, we have to. You stayed with him for nearly four months, Sasuke. I have to extend my thanks for taking you in, and I’m curious as to what type of person—”

“Itachi.” Sasuke kept his words resolute. “We aren’t talking about this and you will not contact Naruto, do you understand?”

Itachi met his stare with one of equal intensity. Despite the tension between them, Itachi broke into a smile.

“Oh, I think I understand perfectly.”

Sasuke remained silent in the backseat as the group drove through the city. They followed the winding roads out towards the denser parts of the forest, where the tall concrete buildings were quickly replaced by towering pine and oak trees.

Although it begged to tug at Sasuke’s memory, he struggled to remember that blurry night. He had spent most of his time trying not to pass out in Naruto’s car as he felt the adrenaline dying out and the overwhelming pain in his side that he had all but forgotten about. He thought that he was going to die. Had he only escaped to get taken by someone else? And then he passed out in their car? What if Naruto had been a predator or just downright crazy?

Sasuke shook his head. 

The guy was just an idiot. A kind-hearted, honest, and straight-forward idiot. There wasn’t any other person in the world that would have stopped for him. There wasn’t anyone who would’ve given a naked stranger their coat after being attacked by them and then invite them into their car.

“Look familiar Sasuke?” 

Sasuke blinked at Suigetsu’s question. He realized he had completely zoned out, but it didn’t seem like it mattered for all he saw were trees and more winding road. Now, the forest was a vibrant green rather than snow white, and it seemed like a completely different place.

“Not really.” He admitted just as Itachi turned onto a dirt path. He drove a few feet before parking.

“A bit of a walk from here, but we’re going up near those mountains.” Itachi pointed off to the distance, but Sasuke couldn’t see anything. He figured it wouldn’t be much of a hidden facility if it were sitting in plain sight.

The three walked through foliage as the path came to a sudden end and they made most of the trek uphill until the trees gave way to rock cliffs that stretched as far as Sasuke could see. A small indent in the rocks caught his eye, and sure enough they moved close enough to see that it was in fact a passageway that led inside.

Itachi and Suigetsu took the lead while Sasuke fell back, his pace slowing as he felt his neck begin to hurt. He pressed his hand against it, wondering if the searing heat was real or just in his head.

The spot ached too much for Sasuke to tell, and as he slipped between the rocks to follow his brother, Sasuke groaned when a massive wave of pain slammed through his skull. He caught himself on the wet rock wall, gasping as he felt like his skull was tearing apart. Scattered images flashed behind his eyes, but it all disappeared before Sasuke could understand what they were. The pain quickly began to subside, retreating back to his neck to become a firm, but tolerable, throbbing sensation. 

Sasuke stared down at the murky water at his feet in confusion. The pain had come and gone so quickly, he almost wondered if it were real. It seemed to be, for Itachi was running back to his side with one of the most concerned faces he’d ever seen on him.

“Are you alright?” His hands gripped Sasuke’s arms and he gave Suigetsu a concerned look. “Maybe this should wait for another day. We don’t know what this may do to his memory.”

“I’m fine Itachi. It was just a sudden pain.” Sasuke waved off the concern and started again, descending down the narrow tunnel. “This means that it’s working. I might get my memory back here.”

Sasuke certainly remembered the stench that came through these tunnels. The old and dirty water at his feet and the dripping from the top of the cavern felt oddly familiar to him as they advanced through the dark. Suigetsu handed Sasuke a heavy flashlight as they went deeper, and the dead quiet began to put him on edge.

As if guided by some invisible compass, Sasuke took a right turn when the path split into two, but neither Suigetsu nor Itachi tried to stop him. The path opened into a large room that looked like it had been a classroom of some sorts. Sasuke noticed an old blackboard, now covered in moss or mold, and some overturned desks near the back.

“What is this place?” Sasuke asked.

“It was our classroom.” Suigetsu came to stand by Sasuke’s side. “We were actually pretty good friends. At least, I considered us friends, but I never knew what was going on in that head of yours.” Suigetsu chuckled.

“You helped me with my assignments though and we sat next to each other near the front over there.” Suigetsu pointed to a spot where one desk still remained in place. “Oddly enough, we spent most of our time in class or fucking around. We were in the lab every now and then, but Kabuto always said he wanted us to have ‘a regular childhood’. What kind of sick joke is that?”

Sasuke stared at the old classroom and frowned when he failed to recollect any of his time there. It seemed like the lab dominated his memory as though he had spent his entire life submerged in a tank. If what Suigetsu said was true, that meant Sasuke was missing a majority of his memories and he couldn’t understand why.

Sasuke turned around, passing Suigetsu and his brother to go down the other path. He could feel his patience wearing thin, and he was starting to get desperate to remember something that could ease the unrest that was starting to build. Who was he without his memories? If this didn’t work, Sasuke didn’t have any other options.

Something in his gut made him pass the first few tunnels to his right, and he instead followed the larger one until it opened up to an expansive space. White paint, which had now come close to fully faded, outlined boundaries to make it look like some sort of arena. Sasuke walked up the center of the traced circle and looked around, wincing as the pain in his neck started to flare up again.

“This…” Itachi took a few steps into the space before pausing. He scowled at the ceiling before meeting Sasuke’s confused gaze. “I hate this place. This is the colosseum.” 

“May the best experiment win!” Suigetsu shouted, his voice echoing against the cave walls. “Orochimaru had his experiments murder each other for sport. His victors got to stay alive and possibly become his new host. That’s how he weeded out the weak ones, and that’s how our numbers began to drop so fast.”

“We…murdered each other?” Sasuke looked down in disbelief. In a quick flash of pain, Sasuke caught an image of his hands stained in blood, and an eerie roar of chanting seemed to drift through the air.

Immediately, Sasuke backed off the marked area in panic.

“We had to. You and I…well we were Orochimaru’s favorite for a reason.” Suigetsu nodded solemnly.

“How many?” Sasuke asked hollowly. 

“I don’t know your count exactly, but you…you were a really good fighter. Unchallenged, actually. I remember when Orochimaru put you against Jugo, and I was sure they were trying to get you killed, but—”

“Suigetsu, enough.” Itachi cut him off suddenly with a stern look.

“Jugo…” Sasuke repeated. The name sounded so familiar, and yet—

“He was like the rabid dog of experiments. Pretty sure he was only created to cause chaos and shit, but the guy could be funny.”

Sasuke took note of the past tense. He looked at Suigetsu and Itachi in mild terror as reality started to dawn on him.

“I killed him, didn’t I? In this room, with all of those other kids?”

Itachi and Suigetsu hardened their expressions and looked down. They all fell silent, and Itachi took a few steps forward as though he wanted to console Sasuke, but even words seemed to fail him.

Sasuke turned on his heels and all but ran out of the room, following the long and twisting tunnels back to the entrance. Every breath he tried to pull into his body was shallow and rough against his lungs, and he had to stop after a few minutes to try to catch his breath. He wasn’t sure if his head was throbbing or his entire body was, and he could feel his vision fading around the edges as the roaring of his heart filled his ears.

“Sasuke, it’s going to be okay.” Hands touched his back and slowly started to guide his body forward. He felt another set of hands wrap around his body to keep him upright and they began to trudge forward again.

“It’s okay Sasuke, you’re having a panic attack.”

He could barely hear them. It felt like everything in his body had gone numb, and yet they were still trudging forward, inching closer to the light that filtered through the rock ahead.

Sasuke tried to draw in enough air to dispel the sudden woozy feeling he was getting but failed to take anything more productive than a shallow gasp. It felt like his lungs were collapsing. Maybe it was the cave air? Was that why he felt like he was suffocating?

“Itachi, what do we do?” Suigetsu sounded panicked. “This isn’t good!”

“We just need to get out. He needs fresh air.”

Sasuke could swear he heard gunshots behind them. Loud and clear, cracking through the air as they splashed towards the exit. He wanted to scream out, or say something, but another wave of dizziness hit him and left him sinking into darkness.

The last thing he heard was his brother calling his name.

“Sasuke! Sasuke! Sasuke!”

Slowly, the roar of the crowd reached Sasuke’s ears and he looked up to see an audience of children packing the far wall of the colosseum. Their chanting voices made the air feel thick with tension, and Sasuke could feel a bead of sweat run down his neck. His bare arms were grimy with blood and dirt, and he could only smile in exhilaration as he turned to face his opponent.

The other boy stood at the opposite end of the arena, flexing as he prepared for the starting signal. He stood much taller than Sasuke and nearly had an extra eighty pounds of muscle to him. It was hard to believe that they were only a year apart.

Jugo.

Sasuke met his stare only to be greeted with a feral growl. He had never liked the guy; he seemed to be jacked up on something to make him one of the bodyguards or hunters. If Jugo wasn’t rampaging through the classroom, he was terrorizing the other kids. There was even a rumor that he’d eaten one of them.

Sasuke sighed. No matter how he looked at it, this wasn’t going to be a fair fight. The guy fought with brute strength alone, and Sasuke had seen him tear through a cave wall like it was made of sand. Sure, Sasuke had his enhancements, and he knew he had the brains in this setup, but he was starting to find it difficult to maintain his usual air of superiority.

He tightened the grip on his katana, his knuckles turning bone-white against the onyx hilt. What if he lost? Jugo would undoubtfully tear him limb from limb before they stopped the fight. After all, this was an elimination round.

Only one was going to walk away from this fight.

Sasuke took his stance, leveling his katana until it pointed at Jugo’s chest. He could imagine the blade breaking immediately on impact. He hoped he at least had a fighting chance.

“On my mark.” 

Sasuke sucked in a long, calm breath as he steadied his breathing and set his focus onto one singular action. His eyes zeroed in on the pulsing vein bulging at the side of Jugo’s neck.

“Go!”

Nearly as fast as lighting, Sasuke lunged forward. Jugo barreled to the side, kicking up dust in the audience in the process, and charged at Sasuke with the momentum of wild animal. Sasuke dodged his attacks with ease, balancing on the balls of his feet as he spun across the arena deflecting Jugo’s attacks.

Slowly, Jugo’s arm began to morph into something that resembled a mutated bear claw. 

Sasuke frowned. It seemed like the rumors of Jugo getting mutant enhancements were true. That meant trouble for him. He needed to end this fight now.

Jugo lunged again, this time a bit faster than before, and Sasuke barely had time to roll to the side as a sweeping hit knocked him back to the other end.

Sasuke quickly rolled to his feet and tried to rub the sand out of his eyes before Jugo could land another attack. He noticed the blood dripping down his cheek but ignored it.

“Sasuke…” Jugo’s eyes widened as he moved closer. “Today’s the day I wipe that stupid smirk off your face.”

“I don’t associate with wild animals.” Sasuke readjusted the sword in his hand and beckoned Jugo forward with the other. “Let’s finish this.”

In a roar of anger, Jugo launched himself into the air. It was a careless mistake, and Sasuke could only blame Jugo’s impatience for bloodshed. Sasuke almost felt sorry for him.

As Jugo came barreling down on him, Sasuke used all the strength he could muster to swing his sword up to sink it into Jugo’s jugular. He took the full weight of Jugo’s body as it slammed against him, knocking them both to the ground with a massive crash.

Sasuke winced as he felt where Jugo’s claws had sunk into his skin and turned away as he felt blood run down his chest. He remained still for a few moments, checking to make sure Jugo was dead before heaving the heavy body off of him and climbed back to his feet.

The crowd erupted in screams of delight and surprise. His name echoed through the cave walls again, followed by round of applause.

Sasuke looked down at his hands. Now that the deed was done, they shook as the adrenaline began to fade. His entire body was now soaked in blood; he could feel the continuous dripping on his face and onto his clothes. He turned to look back at the boy he had just been fighting. 

Alive he had looked so much bigger and threatening. Now, he looked no different than Sasuke and his friends. Helpless and broken, forced to fight for what? 

Sasuke sighed. He’d rather it be Jugo than him. He wasn’t ready to die yet. He wanted to live in the outside world. He wanted to live under the blanket of blue sky and shining stars like any other regular person.

If that meant he had to cut his way to the surface, then so be it.

Sasuke slowly blinked awake, finding himself back in his bed at his brother’s apartment. His head throbbed with every heartbeat, and he groaned as his eyes adjusted to the bright light filtering through the room. It almost felt like a hangover, especially the way his memories seemed to jumble themselves together in his head. The longer he tried to place them, the more they’d retreat to the back of his mind only to be replaced by another.

Sasuke closed his eyes again. Being awake was just exhausting now, and all he wanted to do was sleep. He almost missed the days when he couldn’t sleep. He’d spend hours trying to find a way to recover his memory and pace around Naruto’s apartment as though it would help him think of something. He was sure he drove Naruto insane, considering the guy was a late sleeper, but he had adapted to Sasuke’s sleep schedule and even woke up early on his weekends to help.

A shuffling noise beside his bed made Sasuke open his eyes again. He felt too tired to be alarmed that someone was with him, and his suspicions were only confirmed when he saw his brother’s face looking down at him.

“How are you feeling?” Itachi asked, his brow furrowed in concern.

“Like shit.” Sasuke muttered.

“I’m sure it all must have been a shock for you. We should have waited until you were better prepared.”

Sasuke slowly tried to sit up, but when a wave of nausea washed over him, he immediately gave up.

“Don’t think any amount of time would’ve helped.” Sasuke sighed. “Now I feel like I’m better off not knowing anything.”

Itachi remained silent for a while. Sasuke could hear pages turning, and he wondered if Itachi was reading a book.

“I broke you out of that facility to try and give you a normal life. One our parents would have wanted for us.” Itachi said quietly. 

“You broke me out?” Sasuke turned his head to look at Itachi in surprise. “How the hell did you manage that?”

“Well it wasn’t exactly easy.” Itachi smiled back. “I spent years earning Orochimaru’s trust, and I proved to be a useful errand boy. Thanks to being on good terms, I was able to spend most of my time watching you and plotted our escape.”

Sasuke hummed in affirmation. He recalled his brother mentioning that he was too weak to fight in the arena, so it made sense that Orochimaru would make him do something else if not get rid of him entirely. Itachi must have been one hell of an errand boy.

“I know those tunnels better than I know anything else. So when Orochimaru started to fall ill, at least in this case it was when things got really bad, I cut the power and evacuated as many allies as I could. One of them set you free, but you were long gone before I could find you. All I could do was clear the path and hope you made it out alive.”

“Wouldn’t it have helped if you told me this plan in advance?” Sasuke asked jokingly. “You know, so I wouldn’t have run out into the snow butt ass naked and confused?”

“I did tell you, Sasuke.” Itachi chuckled softly. “I’m assuming you don’t remember. I knew then that your memory was fragile. You’d forget basic facts sometimes and some days you’d forget who you were…” Itachi stood up and handed Sasuke a small book. It looked brand-new with a nice black leather cover and binding, and Sasuke almost wanted to ask where he got it from.

“I think you should start writing things down until you can remember them clearly on your own. It might help.” Itachi frowned. “Or it might not. Do whatever you need to, but don’t push yourself. I want you to stay with me here for the time being, and I will transition you into the company so you can try to start living a normal life…if only it were that simple, right?”

Sasuke took the book and turned it over in his hands.

“From an underground fight club to a big ass company?” Sasuke scoffed. “How the hell did you become CEO in such a short amount of time anyway?”

“Well…the company was always ours to begin with. Our father started it, and when our parents died things got complicated.”

“I’m used to complicated.”

“Our father’s brother was livid at the decision for the company to be passed down to me and you, so he did everything he could to get us out of the picture so that he could take over the company himself. Orochimaru happened to be a family friend, although I’m sure Father didn’t approve of the way he supported our extended family financially. Our aunt and uncle basically handed us off to Orochimaru for ‘research’ in exchange for his continued support." Itachi made a sour face and hardened his gaze.

"I stole back the documents proving their illicit embezzlement and looked into every other incident I could find to shut down the company from the inside so that I could take it back. To this day I’ve been tracking Orochimaru’s whereabouts so that I can turn him over to the authorities.”

Sasuke frowned. “Going through all that…wouldn’t that ruin the company’s reputation?” 

“Only if that story got out to the public.” Itachi winked at Sasuke before turning to leave. “Please know that I have a wide range of acquaintances, Sasuke.”

Sasuke shuddered at his brother’s remark.

“In other words, ‘don’t cross me’, huh?” Sasuke snickered under his breath once his brother left the room. 

Sasuke flipped through the blank pages of his new book, wondering what the hell his life was going to look like once we wrote everything down in it. If it was anything like his head, it would be a scrambled mess, but his brother seemed to be right about trying to map it all out. 

He reached into his bedside dresser to retrieve a pen and found himself staring at the first page. What should be the first thing he wrote about?

He thought back to his dream about Jugo. No, that wasn’t a dream, but one of the first cohesive memories he’d ever had. Sadly, it wasn’t even a good one. Sasuke doubted he had many good ones anyway.

As he touched the pen to the paper, he realized that he wanted to write about something else. He wanted to write about the stupid blonde-haired guy that took him in and followed him on this wild goose chase of a memory hunt, and how he made Sasuke feel like he could be a whole person despite having no memory at all. He feared that he would forget everything they talked about or what his apartment looked like. What if he forgot Naruto’s face? His name?

What if he forgot the way Naruto made him feel?

Sasuke dropped the book and pen in his lap and pressed his palms against his eyes. He didn’t want to consider that possibility. He didn’t know what he’d do if he had to go the rest of his life with an unreliable memory either. What would be the point of making memories if he had to forget them soon after? It didn’t make sense.

He wanted to go home. Sasuke blinked.

What did home mean? He never really had a home to begin with. If he wanted to consider the stale cave air and dark winding tunnels home, then sure he had a home, but it wasn’t somewhere he’d ever want to go back to.

Naruto’s vocabulary had worn off on him. It was always, “when are you coming home?” or “let’s go home, Sasuke!” and near the end, Sasuke almost started to believe that it was his home too. Now it too had to become a memory at risk of Sasuke forgetting. 

Sasuke could only be glad his brother had left before he could see him in such a pitiful state. It was pathetic, the fact that simply thinking about Naruto left him a wreck, but when he finally let his memories flood back in…it was excruciating.

With a pained sob, Sasuke curled onto his side and buried himself in his sheets, wishing he could hide away from the world. He didn’t know things would be this hard for him, especially thinking that Naruto would probably move on from this if he hadn’t already. The very thought of never seeing Naruto again made him feel miserable, especially after the way things had ended. Naruto had really cared about him, and Sasuke had no choice but to deflect his feelings and leave him behind. He felt like an asshole, and not in a way he usually took pride in.

Instead of running from it, as Sasuke had been since arriving at Itachi’s place, he let himself hurt in hopes that he could at least try to move on from it. No matter how much he cried about wanting to go back, he knew he wouldn’t be able to.

He wanted to at least tell Naruto he was sorry.

Slowly, the pillowcases beneath Sasuke’s head dampened to the point where he tossed the pillows off the bed completely. He had no idea how long he’d slept since they went to the hideout and he didn’t care if he never left this bed again.

Burrowing deeper into his blankets, Sasuke let out a loud, but muffled, sigh of frustration.

“Until you get a basic understanding of office etiquette, I hope you don’t mind being my personal assistant. You will essentially be executing any tasks I give you, maintaining correspondence, attending meetings with me, and on some occasions doing any odd jobs I don’t have time to take care of myself. You know how I like my coffee and we only order from the vendor on the fourth floor, so make sure you…”

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…

Sasuke tuned out his brother’s rambling as they made their way through the massive office space that made up Uchiha Enterprises. It pained him to think that there were technically six floors to this company, but at least he only needed to know the first three. Itachi had dragged him out of bed at six in the morning for this headache of a grand tour, and now that more people began to populate the office space, Sasuke could feel himself getting nervous.

At twenty-four, people would assume that he was competent in the workplace, when in fact Sasuke didn’t know jack shit from a contract to an invoice. He knew he was smart; top of his class if Orochimaru and Kabuto gave them any sort of legitimate education. He could only help he was as smart as he sounded. 

Itachi, on the other hand, seemed to be overly excited about Sasuke’s first day. He nearly introduced him to every person that walked in the door, and Sasuke could only shake his head at his brother’s obvious endearment with him. It had stopped pissing him off and instead started to make him feel better the past few days. It felt nice to know at least someone in this world gave a shit about him.

“Don’t make me do anything major okay? You know I don’t know what I’m doing.” Sasuke grabbed his brother’s arm as they came to a stop in front of someone’s office. “I’m not good at this kind of thing.” His fear was that his brother was about to drag him into a meeting or some sort of serious conversation with a higher-up. The last thing he needed was to make a fool out of himself on the first day.

“Relax Sasuke, I would never.” Itachi mused. His lighthearted comment only made Sasuke more suspicious. “Look.”

Itachi pointed to the plaque on the office door.

Sasuke Uchiha

“You gave me an office?” Sasuke gaped at the plaque before turning to his brother. “Is that okay?”

“We’re still growing as a new company, and we have the space. Plus, I can’t have you hovering around me all day in my office.” Itachi opened the door and gestured for Sasuke to go inside.

“I thought I was your assistant?”

“You are. One of them. I’ll call you when I need something, but for now…” Itachi set down a laptop alongside a pile of files. Sasuke had been wondering what he planned to do with that.

“Go through all my emails from the beginning of the week and organize them for me. I have folders on the left, and you can just drag them as you see fit. Those files, can you scan those to me?” Itachi took in Sasuke’s pained expression. “Do you know how to make scans and copies?”

“No.”

“Do you know how to work a printer?”

“No.”

“What about the laptop?”

“I’ll manage.” Sasuke grit out, taking the laptop from his brother. He walked around the desk at the center of the room and dropped into the chair. His brother watched him get settled with a sympathetic smile.

“You’ll catch on quick. Call me on my extension if you need help, okay? I’ll check back on you after my ten o’clock meeting.”

“Sure.” Sasuke booted up the laptop and frowned at the login screen. “Password?”

“I love Sasuke, no spaces.”

“Please leave.” Sasuke dropped his head to his desk with a groan. “You’re so embarrassing.”

He heard Itachi’s laughter fade and the door clicked shut, finally leaving Sasuke in peace. He glanced up from the table to open his brother’s email and felt his jaw drop open in disbelief.

Almost a thousand emails from just the beginning of this week?! And he had to go through all of them?!

Sasuke closed the laptop again and put his head back down.

Maybe he wasn’t cut out for this “regular life” transition after all.

Four months later

One day after getting off from work, Sasuke put himself up to a new challenge. He sat in the passenger seat of Itachi’s car, clenching the thick envelope in his hands as if his life depended on it. He and Itachi had decided on at least repaying Naruto for helping out Sasuke, and the only way they knew how to do that was through money.

“Do you think the amount is sufficient?” Itachi asked as they pulled into the lot.

“I don’t know. Maybe.” Sasuke stared at the familiar apartment building, fully distracted. He knew Naruto wouldn’t be home from work for another two hours, but he still felt a weird sense of urgency. 

“Make it quick, Sasuke.” Itachi sighed as he put the car in park. “This isn’t a time for a stroll down memory lane.”

“Shut up.” Sasuke muttered as he climbed out of the car. He counted his steps as he walked across the asphalt and paused at the main door, realizing he needed a key to get into the lobby. 

“Shit.” He muttered.

“Forget your key?” A voice piped behind him.

Sasuke froze. It wasn’t Naruto’s voice, but it still managed to scare the shit out of him.

He turned around to see a woman maybe ten years older than him. She gave him a kind smile.

“I recognize you! You and Naruto were staying together, right? I haven’t seen you in a while and started to worry!” the woman moved to open the door and gestured for Sasuke to come in. “I hope things are going alright!”

“Uh, yeah…” Sasuke gave her his best fake smile. “Things are great.”

“That’s good. Naruto is such a good guy, he’s always helping someone or doing something around here. Quite a catch, I’d say.” With a wink, the woman waved goodbye before ascending the stairs, leaving Sasuke at a loss for words.

She thought they were fucking.

“Great.” Sasuke muttered as he walked up to the mailboxes. He should have expected that assumption to be floating around considering their circumstances. As Sasuke slid in the envelope and shut Naruto’s mailbox, he paused in minute horror.

Is that what Itachi thought?

Sasuke stepped back and retreated out of the apartment building before someone else could see him, but he realized he couldn’t exactly make eye contact with his brother.

“Everything okay? Did you know that woman?” Itachi asked as soon as Sasuke settled back in the passenger seat.

“Just a neighbor. She recognized me and let me in.” Sasuke replied and cast his gaze out the window.

“Ah, lucky. Hopefully she won’t say anything to Naruto.” Itachi pulled out of the parking lot and set them back on course towards their apartment. “That could be messy.”

“Itachi.” Sasuke began, unsure if he wanted to continue with the rest of his sentence. “What kind of relationship do you think Naruto and I had?”

“Oh, now you want to know?” Itachi purred. Sasuke dared to peek over his shoulder and caught his brother with one of the most devious smiles he’d ever seen. He immediately regretted saying anything.

“It’s just—”

“I think,” Itachi abruptly cut Sasuke off, “that you were very close considering the amount of time you spent together. Which then makes me think…” Itachi trailed off, and Sasuke winced as though to brace himself for the impact.

“…that you have some unresolved feelings you need to sort out or you’ll never feel better.” Itachi’s smile slowly retreated, leaving nothing but his usual serious expression. “The longer you wait, the more you’re going to suffer.”

Sasuke stared back at Itachi in disbelief. Those were not the words he was expecting from his brother’s mouth, nor did he think he’d be so observant. He did remember his brother taking notice from the very beginning, but he didn’t want to hear it. Now, it just left him feeling more conflicted.

He didn’t want to admit that his brother was right.

They made the drive back home in reserved silence. Sasuke had decided that he’d spend the rest of his free time adapting to his new life rather than chasing the ghost of his old one. He’d repaid his debt to Naruto, and now the best thing he could do was leave him alone. Maybe, after time, things would hurt a little less.

If only things could be that simple.

Several weeks later

Footsteps outside of the bedroom door roused Sasuke from a deep sleep. He blinked in the darkness, failing to make out anything aside from the light filtering underneath his door. He didn’t know what time it was, and he didn’t really care; he closed his eyes again, quickly dozing off back to sleep.

Sasuke felt a hand comb through his hair, pulling it at the roots to smooth it against his scalp. Sasuke sighed in satisfaction at the sensation, letting his head fully rest against it. The mattress beside him dipped as more weight leaned onto it, and Sasuke slowly opened his eyes in mild annoyance. Who the hell was interrupting his sleep?

“You don’t have to wake up.” The voice murmured into his ear. Sasuke immediately turned to the voice, eagerly pulling them close against his body as he fought to stay awake.

“It seems like you want me to wake up.” Sasuke replied with a smile. He started to make out the familiar face in the dark; he ran his hands over smooth cheekbones and stared into the deep and seemingly endless blue abyss of Naruto’s eyes.

“I just missed you, that’s all.” Naruto settled at Sasuke’s side and wrapped an arm around his stomach before leaning in for a kiss. Sasuke met him halfway, tangling his fingers in Naruto’s hair as he molded to the kiss. Electricity crackled through his bloodstream as their lips met, and for a moment Sasuke wondered if it was possible to be this happy. He had wanted this for so long, and now he finally had Naruto with him, in his bed…

Sasuke moaned as Naruto deepened the kiss, using his tongue to skillfully grind against Sasuke’s until it felt like he was melting. Naruto’s hand slid up his shirt, tracing over muscle before moving up to lightly pinch at his nipples. The sharp sensation made Sasuke arch his back in surprise, and he squeezed his eyes shut as Naruto continued to distract him with his kisses.

Soon, that same hand traveled down into Sasuke’s underwear, teasing at his straining erection with slow strokes that left Sasuke writhing in Naruto’s grip.
Sasuke impatiently pulled down his underwear, eager for the unhindered contact, and moaned into Naruto’s mouth as he sped up the pace.

“That excited, huh?” Naruto chuckled huskily as he thumbed at the head of Sasuke’s dick, spreading precum along his shaft before giving a few firm pumps from head to base. Sasuke gritted his teeth as he felt his hips instinctively buck into his hand, desperate for more. Naruto slowed his pace as he repositioned himself to hover over Sasuke instead, and Sasuke watched in heated curiosity as Naruto shuffled down between his legs to bring Sasuke’s erection to his mouth.

Sasuke couldn’t help but whimper as he watched Naruto lick along his shaft, rolling his balls with one hand while he jerked him off with the other. Sasuke’s head flopped back against the pillows as he tried to hold back the embarrassing sounds that started to leak out as Naruto continued. He tightened his hold in Naruto’s hair as Naruto took him throat-deep, a talented tongue pulsed against his dick and left him gasping under Naruto’s grip.

“Don’t stop.” Sasuke begged as Naruto started to bob his head, sending waves of pleasure coursing through his body until he felt a strong, coiling heat building in his gut. Every movement made it coil tighter, and tighter, until Sasuke thought he was going to burst. He thrust up into Naruto’s mouth, matching his movements desperately as he let that feeling build until he couldn’t take it anymore.

Sasuke arched off the bed again as he came hard down Naruto’s throat. He felt his entire body turn to static as Naruto finished sucking him off, only to pull back and give him a playful smile.

“You came a lot.” Naruto said as he swiped a thumb across his chin and proceeded to suck the residue off.

Sasuke could only smile back, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath and he pushed his wet hair away from his forehead. He felt Naruto spread his legs and a new sensation made him suck in a sharp breath. He looked down to watch Naruto slide two fingers inside of him with a heated expression.

“My turn.” He looked up to give Sasuke a seductive smile that immediately made the blood rush to his groin again. The reaction made Naruto laugh, “that was fast.” 

“Shit.” Sasuke looked up at the ceiling, trying to distract himself from what was coming next. He knew Naruto was on the bigger side, and as much as the thought turned him on…

Sasuke cried out when Naruto pressed against something sensitive. He felt his entire body clench around his finger, and for a moment Sasuke was terrified that he’d come again already.

“There, huh?” Naruto muttered to himself as he thrust hard against it again. Sasuke gasped as the intense pleasure washed over him and threw his arm over his mouth to stop from screaming out again. He felt Naruto’s fingers slide in and out, stretching him out until Sasuke was covered in sweat and panting again. Two firm hands braced either side of Sasuke’s thighs and he felt Naruto lean forward to press against him.

“Sasuke.”

Sasuke peeled open his eyes to meet Naruto’s and realized that he had leaned in for a kiss. Sasuke pushed up on his elbows to press his lips to Naruto’s once more, this time painfully eager for what was coming. He felt his toes curl as Naruto positioned himself and never in his life had he wanted something so bad. Sasuke broke the kiss as another moan slipped out, and he all but lost it when Naruto pulled him close, slamming in deep. Before Sasuke could process the sensation, his vision scattered apart and left him alone aside from a lingering voice that was no louder than a whisper.

“Please don’t leave me.”

Sasuke jolted awake, gripping at his chest as he struggled to catch his breath. He looked around the room furiously only to confirm that he was still alone in his bedroom. The rest of the penthouse was eerily silent, and there wasn’t any light shining underneath his door. Sasuke sighed as he shrugged out of his now sweat-soaked shirt and tossed it aside in annoyance. He certainly couldn’t ignore the wet, sticky sensation in his underwear either. 

He pressed a hand to his forehead before getting out of bed to maneuver through the dark and find a clean pair of underwear. The clock read only three in the morning, but Sasuke didn’t care as he headed off to his adjoining bathroom and hopped in the shower.

Dreams like those came more often than Sasuke cared to admit. It wasn’t like his attraction for Naruto had gotten any stronger, but it certainly didn’t seem to wane over time. It was a feeling Sasuke didn’t understand, especially the consistent and aggressive urge that he felt when he even thought about Naruto these days. It wasn’t like Sasuke had any experience; he had kept mostly to himself for most of his life and he certainly didn’t have any memories of having sex with anyone. He supposed it could be a possibility. That made him frown as he watched the water swirl down the drain.

He wasn’t just craving sex; he was craving Naruto himself. He missed hearing his voice, he missed the way that he looked at him after a long day at work. He missed the feeling that night when Naruto pressed his body against his in the nightclub, his erection tucked tight against Sasuke’s, rubbing every coherent thought out of his mind to the point where Sasuke had been sure he’d come in his pants. It had felt so good and he had been too embarrassed to admit that he wanted more. That if he had a few more shots, he would have torn off his clothes then and there and let Naruto do what he wanted in front of everyone.

It was such an embarrassing feeling.

Sasuke pressed his forehead against the tile wall and closed his eyes, letting the water run over his head in defeat.

No matter how hard he tried, these feelings just wouldn’t go away. Sasuke wasn’t sure if he even wanted them to.

Sasuke finished his shower, dried off, and climbed back into bed dreading when his alarm would go off in the next four hours. He rolled onto his stomach and mumbled a string of expletives into his pillow before falling back asleep.

“Fortunately, we are entering the final phase of our escape.” Itachi made his way around the room, his eyes touching every person in the room with an equal amount of intensity. The conference room fell deadly silent as all side conversations abruptly stopped at Itachi’s statement. 

Sasuke lazily looked up from his notebook, abandoning the weird scribble he hadn’t realized he’d been working on for the past twenty minutes. He immediately picked up on the sudden switch in Itachi’s tone and cast a wary glance around the room. 

He met eyes with Suigetsu, who gave him a tight smile but otherwise no other indication for Sasuke to tell if something was wrong. The others shifted in their seats; their eyes cast down at the table as if they were too scared to look at Itachi.

“The police have been broadcasting their discovery of Orochimaru’s lab, thanks to an anonymous tip.” Itachi stopped at the head of the table and finally made eye contact with Sasuke. “Which is all going according to plan. What comes next is their investigation of who owned the lab and what took part there. Although we’ve planted sufficient evidence, there’s always a possibility for error.”

Sasuke frowned. 

During his six months at Uchiha Enterprises, Sasuke had finally been able to grasp their situation and found himself fully involved in his brother’s plan. Although, Sasuke admitted at first that things gave him more unease than hope and he didn’t know how to approach the mechanics of the law like his brother did. In fact, Itachi had an expansive wealth of knowledge in things Sasuke would never have imagined. As a child, Itachi had immersed himself in books and research long before they were taken away to the facility, and not only had Orochimaru taught Itachi his black-market mindset, he had also given him the freedom to act as he pleased. 

Itachi had a deal over Orochimaru’s head.

A long and twisted agreement that would have put Itachi as the head of Uchiha Enterprises with Orochimaru controlling the company from the shadows, fully under the assumption that he would receive Sasuke’s body. If all had gone well, it would simply look like the two brothers rightfully stole back their family company now that they came of age.

Itachi had left the facility two years before Sasuke escaped. On the surface, Itachi had been making deals and blackmailing his relatives out of power through Orochimaru’s influence. In reality, Itachi had launched into his original scheme of getting rid of Orochimaru for good.

Each member that surrounded Sasuke at the table had a part to play in Itachi’s plan. Some were his inside agents, reporting to him on Orochimaru’s actions and general health. Others were involved with evacuation and execution. In Suigetsu’s case, his primary role had been to watch over Sasuke during his time in the facility up until his escape.

Orochimaru falling critically ill hadn’t been a coincidence after all. Months of slow poisoning and altering of his medication pushed him into that state, and Itachi knew he only had a small window after Orochimaru fell ill before he finally took over Sasuke’s body. It was a gamble that didn’t sound like it would pay off.

Sasuke wouldn’t be here if it hadn’t. If his brother hadn’t made it in time…

Sasuke clenched and unclenched his fists at the table. His body was still his own thanks to his brother. As broken as his memories were, he could still exist as his own person and he no longer had to sit in a tank waiting for the time to pass. 

For Itachi to pull together something as complex as this…it made him somewhat terrifying. In the most recent months, Sasuke realized that his brother scared him. More than his ambiguous past and more than the thought of Orochimaru chasing after his body.

He knew he could at least rest at ease knowing that his brother cared for him, but Sasuke wondered how much did that loyalty cost him? Sasuke had been the only family he had left, and it sounded like Itachi had been fully prepared to sacrifice everything to make sure his plan succeeded. How many people lost their lives for that to happen? How much chaos had Itachi caused for Sasuke to be sitting with him right now?

Sasuke didn’t know what to think. He didn’t know what to feel. He didn’t want to be sitting here if it meant countless people had suffered for it. But it wasn’t like he even had the right to choose that.

“Evidence will likely point the authorities to human experimentation. No amount of tampering could change that, but we adjusted a few things to point them towards Orochimaru’s previous partner Sasori.” One of the members stood from their chair and gave Itachi a firm nod. “As some of you may know, Sasori was a follower of Orochimaru, and he spent his time researching ways to perfectly preserve the human body. More than that, he constructed puppets out of their corpses for his own merit and even tried to bring them back from the dead.”

Sasuke felt goosebumps rise on his arms as he listened. How the hell could sick bastards like that get away with this?

“We’ve retrieved models that Orochimaru had received as gifts from Sasori and set things up accordingly, but the underlying connection between Sasori and Orochimaru still exists whether they cut ties or not.”

“Where is Sasori now?” Another member asked.

“Deceased.” Itachi sighed. “Has been for the past two years. As long as possible, we keep the authorities on Sasori’s trail. It’s possible that it will lead to a dead end, and if it doesn’t, by the time they catch on to Orochimaru it will be too late.”

“Reports say he doesn’t have much time left.” Suigetsu commented. “If it all comes down to ‘what if Orochimaru talks’—”

“That snake won’t talk.” The same member as before shook his head in disgust. “Everything he’s done for the past fifty odd years would be brought out into the light. Even on his death bed, he wouldn’t admit to anything.”

“Even so, wouldn’t it save us time if we just stormed in and took him out ourselves? We’d be able to get rid of him and destroy the evidence all at once.” Suigetsu shrugged. “It’s not like we were doing this for justice anyway. We’re just trying to save our own asses.”

“Orochimaru still has a good number of guards.” Itachi crossed his arms and frowned. “Do you suggest we take our chances causing a scene and risk our lives when he’s on the verge of death as we speak? He has no suitable hosts and we’ve cut off their supply. Waiting is our only option.”

Suigetsu groaned. “What a pain in the ass…”

Sasuke wanted to leave. This wasn’t something he wanted to be a part of, but he didn’t know how to disengage from the conversation. He hated the fact that he was just as tied to this as everyone else, despite having no direct contribution to it. Everything had been in motion while he had been sitting around in ignorance, running around trying to recover his memory without understanding what would happen once he finally did.

Living in that dark obscurity, not knowing a single damn thing about himself…Sasuke was beginning to long for those days again. That was the closest he had ever gotten to a new start, but he had thrown it all away for what? Now he had to be complacent in something that could ruin everything he thought he had.

With a loud bang, a young man threw open the door to the conference room and ran up to Itachi out of breath.

“Sir, I have something you have to hear…”

With that, the two men breezed out of the room, leaving the rest of the conference room in awkward silence.

“Why am I getting a bad feeling?” Suigetsu leaned back in his chair and sighed. He didn’t look particularly bothered by the situation at all, as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “Sasuke, you okay? You’re looking kind of pale. Paler than usual, at least.”

Sasuke scowled back at him across the table, refusing to offer a response. As Suigetsu began to open his mouth again, the door swung open and Itachi stormed back in.

“I need the acquisition team now.” Itachi pointed over his shoulder. “Reconvene with your captain, you have three hours.”

“Yessir!” On command, four members leapt out of their chairs and left the room without another word.

“Yo Boss.” Suigetsu turned in his chair and waved at Itachi. “You gonna share with the group?”

Itachi calmly met Suigetsu’s curious stare.

“Orochimaru’s dead.”

Sasuke felt a strange sickening twist in his stomach as he watched Suigetsu’s eyes light up. It was pure, unfiltered excitement. Over someone dying.

As much as Orochimaru terrorized him and ruined everything Sasuke knew, he couldn’t say that he felt particularly overjoyed about hearing that he was dead. Relieved? Maybe, but he wasn’t about to jump out of his chair and celebrate.

“Our team is cleaning things up as we speak. Most evidence we already have or have already destroyed, which means…”

“It’s finally done!” Suigetsu spun in his chair, kicking at the air in joy. “Good fuckin’ riddance. They were like a hundred something years old anyway.”

Sasuke took now as his opportunity to leave. He brushed past his brother without a word and retreated down the hallway, finding respite in the simple office environment that he’d grown accustomed to. He could hear the phones ringing from different offices, the sound of fingers tapping against computer keys, and the smell of coffee in the air, which put Sasuke at ease as he returned to his office. He dropped into his chair and buried his face in his hands, hoping that at least this all meant that he could finally move on and properly start over.

For the rest of the week, Itachi noticed his brother’s evasive behavior. He didn’t make eye contact, he barely offered Itachi a sentence outside of any work-related matters, and at home, he rarely saw Sasuke’s face anymore. Things had certainly gotten tense during the last handful of weeks leading up to Orochimaru’s death, and Itachi had expected the rift to occur sooner or later.

 He didn’t try to approach Sasuke or force him into conversation as he knew his brother would only lash out in return and possibly even increase the distance between them. Sasuke was retreating into himself, but Itachi was starting to think that it wasn’t entirely his fault. Sasuke didn’t seem to sleep much anymore, and that particularly bothered him as he knew how exhausted Sasuke was. Since recovering his memories, he could sleep through most of the day if not disturbed, and Itachi often had to nudge the boy during meetings to keep him awake. Sasuke seemed to exist in a fog, barely conscious but somehow still fully proficient at his job. 

Sasuke’s success in the company had certainly taken him off guard, but he should have expected as much from his brother; it was only a matter of time before he climbed up to the board of directors. Maybe the stress of working so much was getting to him?

Itachi frowned as he watched his brother disappear back into his office. Once he went in, he rarely ever came back out unless he had a meeting or went to the bathroom. His associates have only shared a couple of words with him if they were lucky, and few have claimed to have ever seen him. 

“Oh, Sasuke…” Itachi sighed sadly. He didn’t know what to do anymore.

“I’ve never seen you look so glum on a Friday before.” Suigetsu fell back against the wall beside Itachi and offered a sympathetic pat. “You still worried about Sasuke?”

“He’s not doing well.”

“I heard he made a really good impression on the CEO at—”

“Suigetsu, that’s not what I’m talking about.” Itachi snapped. He immediately caught himself and softened his tone. “It’s like he’s just shutting down.”

“He’s always been pretty depressed.” Suigetsu nodded, and for once he sounded serious. “I’ve tried talking to him, but you know how that goes.”

“I don’t know what to do.” Itachi admitted. It pained him to think that his brother was suffering right in front of him and there was nothing he could do about it; there had to be something he could work out.

“Well…maybe he needs to get laid, if you catch my drift.” Suigetsu smirked.

Itachi’s neck whipped around to look at Suigetsu so quickly that he felt it crack.

“I am not giving my brother a prostitute!”

“You’re a fucking idiot.” Suigetsu deadpanned. “Find that blonde guy, Sasuke’s like obsessed with him. It’s almost painful watching him pine over somebody when he’s that fucking gorgeous.”

“Naruto?” Itachi widened his eyes as he felt a lightbulb go off in his head. “That could work…or it could be horrible mistake.”

“You love playing with the odds though.”

“This is at the cost of my brother’s mental health, Suigetsu.” Itachi frowned.

“And everything else wasn’t? Get a grip, he’s a grown man. If it fails, maybe he can at least move on with closure.” Suigetsu stepped away from the wall and offered a small wave. “If it goes well, he gets laid and can finally get away from you.”

Itachi rolled his eyes. He actually enjoyed his brother’s company, but perhaps Sasuke felt differently. It was time he made a change.

He returned to his office, immediately walking up to his direct assistant. As soon as she saw Itachi’s gaze lock on to her, she dropped everything she was doing to give her full attention.

“Hana…” Itachi sat on the edge of her desk and gave her an angelic smile. The smile on her face threatened to waver as Itachi watched the seven stages of grief flash before her eyes right in front of him. She probably thought she did something wrong, the poor child. Maybe she needed a raise. “I need your help with something.”

“What can I do for you Itachi?” she asked quietly, clearly fearing the answer.

“I need you to call Naruto and request him to come here as per Sasuke’s request.”

“You…want me to make an appointment for Sasuke to meet with this…Naruto?” she clarified carefully, as though she were mistaken. “Right now?”

“No, later in the evening since he’s probably at work.” Itachi cast his gaze out the window as he thought. “Don’t stop contacting him until you reach him.”

“I thought we had a strict policy of not holding meetings after three…” Hana froze when she caught sight of Itachi’s expression.

“He’s special.” Itachi said simply before leaving the room. As an older brother, Itachi could only do what he’d always done: he’d drop any opportunities in Sasuke’s lap and hope his foolish little brother would find the sense to pick them up. He only hoped that his decision would yield a positive result.

As soon as the clock hit five o’clock, Sasuke grabbed his bag and prepared to leave his office for the day. It felt like the day would never end, and he just wanted to hop in the shower and go to bed.

“Sasuke, sir?” a light knock at his door caught his attention.

“Yeah Hana?”

The door cracked open to reveal a small head of blonde hair and two round brown eyes staring up at him in what looked like fear. Honestly, fear seemed to be Hana’s constant state of being, so Sasuke wasn’t entirely sure if this had anything to do with him.

“I’m really sorry…it looks like your evening meeting won’t be taking place after all.” Hana sniffed. 

“Evening meeting? What are you talking about?” Sasuke blinked back at her, completely unaware.

“Your meeting with Naruto? Itachi told me to set up the appointment for you…” Hana trailed off as she watched Sasuke’s face shift from confused to horrified to infuriated in a matter of seconds. She seemed to put two and two together on her own without Sasuke’s response.

She gasped. “Itachi, that weasel!”

“You spoke with him? You talked to Naruto? What did you say?!” Sasuke moved towards the door and Hana immediately shrunk away. Her words started to come out rapidly.

“Just that you requested a meeting with him here tonight and he sounded really confused at first like he didn’t know who you were but then he got really mad and said that if you really wanted to see him you would come to speak with him in person and then he hung up the phone I’m really sorry!”

More than Sasuke felt the infuriating desire to wring his brother’s neck, he felt dread trickle through his blood at Hana’s words. Not only had Sasuke avoided contact for six months, but the one contact Naruto received had to be an arranged meeting?! It was such a dick move that he never imagined his brother would have thought to pull it. 

If Naruto didn’t hate Sasuke before, he certainly did now.

Sasuke couldn’t stand for that. 

Hana ducked out of Sasuke’s way as he dashed out of his office, completely forgetting the work bag on his desk. Sasuke wasted no time dodging people to get to the elevator and took it down to the parking garage to storm up to Itachi’s car.

He wanted to key the shit out of the nice black paint, but that would come later. Sasuke angrily clicked the unlock button and slid into the driver’s seat before taking off out of the garage.

He technically didn’t have his license yet, but that didn’t stop Sasuke from swiping Itachi’s spare key a long time ago. He doubted the guy even noticed it missing, but he sure as hell will miss his favorite car from its spot. It was a small satisfaction compared to the shit Itachi had put him through, and Sasuke wanted to properly get his payback for this.

He told Itachi not to get Naruto involved.

Now Sasuke didn’t know how to fix what his brother had fucked up. As easy as it would be to continue to leave Naruto alone and let him stew in whatever feelings he had towards Sasuke, it didn’t feel like an option anymore.

Sasuke couldn’t stand to be hated. Not by Naruto. Anyone, but him. 

All he had to do was apologize. Maybe he’d forgive him, but Sasuke doubted that. After all that had happened between them, what the hell would apologizing even do? Sasuke had spent months grieving over Naruto and what he had done to him. He still remembered the days they spent together in his little apartment, fighting over stupid shit and laughing about even dumber shit. It was nice. It had been Sasuke’s life for over four months.

Sasuke came to a screeching halt in the parking lot. He stared up at Naruto’s apartment building and hunched over the steering wheel as he thought. 

Maybe this was his chance to come clean. He could just spill everything, and then he wouldn’t have anything left to hide. Being honest might be the only way to make a sincere apology. 

“Hey sorry I disappeared for six months…?” Sasuke groaned as he confirmed how fucking stupid it sounded out loud. It was so much more complicated than that. “I’m sorry I still have feelings for you. I’m sorry I had feelings for you and never told you. I’m sorry…”

Sasuke trailed off as he thought to himself. The longer he sat there, the more he’d regret his decision to come back. Before he thought of a reason to leave, Sasuke stepped out of the car and strode up to the front door.

He realized he was sweating. His heart thundered in his chest as he raised a finger to Naruto’s doorbell, and for a brief second Sasuke wondered if he was going to throw up. He couldn’t believe he was doing this.

Maybe, if he was lucky, Naruto wouldn’t be home.

Sasuke looked over his shoulder and confirmed his fate: Naruto’s sedan remained parked in its usual spot, sitting loud and proud in the evening sun.

“Fuck me.” Sasuke muttered under his breath and he pushed the doorbell. He still didn’t know what he was going to say. He didn’t know if things were going to work out. He didn’t know if he was going to walk back out of here feeling worse than he already did. He didn’t even know how he would react once he saw Naruto’s face.

After a few seconds of excruciating silence, Sasuke pushed the doorbell again. Then again. 

“I know you’re in there…” Sasuke hissed as he pounded on the button. If this was his only chance, he had to take it no matter how annoying he sounded. 

After about five minutes of nearly breaking Naruto’s doorbell, Sasuke faintly heard the sound of a door slamming. 

Someone’s coming.

Sasuke backed up and wiped his palms on his dress pants as he listened to footsteps thunder down the main stairs and stomp up to the front door.

Everything Sasuke had was riding on this moment. He resolved to do everything he could to make Naruto understand. He wouldn’t leave until he fixed what he’d broken. 

Sasuke took a long, deep breath to calm his nerves.

As he exhaled, the front door flung open and Sasuke braced himself.

This was his last chance.