The sun was slowly sinking beneath the mountains, staining the western edge of the sky colorful shades of flamboyant crimsons

Words: 3,635

Written: August 21, 2008

Disclaimer: Read Chapter 1.

Warnings: AUish, not really sure, but probably shonenai, nothing explicit, amnesia, maybe dark themes.

Pairings: Not really sure yet, but I've got some ideas.

Notes: So, here's Chapter 2. Longest thing I've written, I think, considering how it's 8 pages on Microsoft Word. The fic's not turning out right, sadly, because I'm not really good at expressing things, especially when I'm trying to write something dark...

So. Recommended fic of the chapter: 'Quotidian' by firefly. Very, nicely dark... I love dark fics... Anyways, the pairing's Hidan/Temari, but it's really very good, so don't be put off by the pairing.

Anyways, hope you like/enjoy/review/critique, etc.

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Chapter 2: Of Unforeseen History, Bitter , and Grudging Forgiveness

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The sun was slowly sinking beneath the mountains, staining the western edge of the sky colorful shades of flamboyant crimsons and scarlets, the nearby clouds dyed colors that were anywhere from pale peach to a fiery tangerine.

Nightfall was coming, and the eastern edge of the celestial regions had deepened from the azure blue sky of day to the blend of royal blue and indigo of dusk.

Sasuke wanders the streets of Konoha aimlessly, hands tucked in the pockets of a dark blue hoodie, gracefully making his escape.

He had finally managed to lose all of his—well, not his friends, not really, but all of Sakura and Naruto's friends, all of whom wanted his to stay, to talk to them, to be their fuckin' friends. Like they knew him, forgave him, like he couldn't see all of their sideways glances, all of their nervousness and wariness that they tried to hide.

Tried to, anyways.

But it was more than he expected, their forgiveness, their willingness to overlook his betrayal for Sakura, but mostly for Naruto. He would never admit it, but, secretly, it felt—nice, knowing that they meant well, that they wanted to be his friend, not so that they could curry favor or get into his ass, but just to be—friends. It was—different. Nice, almost pleasant, but for the fact the one person he wanted to see most, needed to see never appeared.

He sighed, absentmindedly wondering where he would sleep tonight. He could always sleep in the forest, he supposed, or a cave—there were quite a few of them around—as was usual for him, but he wanted to sleep in a —real bed. To take a bath with hot water for once.

After all, he had more than enough money, so he might as well take advantage of it. Maybe even have a little drink or two for once.

Sasuke's dark eyes took in the street as he drifted towards an area where, if he recalled correctly, had quite a few bars, cafés, and nightclubs, as well as cheap lodgings where he could spend the night.

He finally chose a nicely lit up nightclub, with a small, closed café in the front, in a multistory building that looked fairly nice and clean.

He slipped through the door, maneuvering through the tables and people gracefully before he sat down in a shadowy corner on the left, on one of the tall stools—cushioned, red—next to the bar, waiting for the bartender to notice him as he tapped his fingers to the loud music.

"'scuse me, sir," a cynical voice cut in through his musings. "What would you like tonight?"

"Anything will do," Sasuke murmured, peering up at the bartender, vaguely surprised to see a tall, pretty brunette with narrow eyes, dark violet lipstick and thick kohl eyeliner and silvery amethyst eye shadow in a lacy, lavender and white dress covered in frills and bows, who looked out of place despite the thick, striking make up. "I'm not real picky."

"Hey, what about the special?" a voice cut in brightly. "A cocktail. It's pretty good."

Sasuke hesitated, but shrugged nonchalantly, resolutely not looking at the owner of the cheerful voice.

"Excellent! One for me, too, Kankuro-chan! Oh, and put his on my tab!" the voice smirked cheerfully.

"Shut the fuck up, Naruto," the girl growled, the noise at odds with her frilly outfit before she stalked away, muttering darkly.

Sasuke swung his head around so fast he nearly got whiplash. "Naruto?!"

The blond grinned at him, almost sheepishly, one hand running through his light hair. "Hey. You're—uh..." Snaps fingers. "Uchiha Sasuke, right? The one who was on my genin team a couple of years ago before turning missing-nin, and then came back and got pardoned by Tsunade-baba?"

Sasuke nodded slowly, frowning as the surge of elation turned into bewilderment and shock, his mind beginning the trying task of making sense of what the blond had just said.

"Hehe... Sorry about the hesitation just now," Naruto flashed him a brilliant smile. "I've got this, like, totally selective memory or something. It's kinda photographic—sometimes. I've forgotten so much that people will, like, mention something, and I'll have no idea what bullshit they're talkin' about. For the longest time, I couldn't even remember that you were on my genin team. Stupid, isn't it?"

Sasuke simply stared, unable to comprehend the information through the shocked daze.

Just then, the girl walked back, irritation narrowing her thin eyes. "Here. And you better pay, retard."

Naruto immediately turned his attention to her, widening his eyes innocently. "Who, me? Why would I need to pay when my tab is on the house, Kankuro-chan?"

Kankuro—her name sounded oddly familiar to Sasuke for some reason—snapped at Naruto, "I'm not a fuckin' girl, dammit! Quit adding chan to the back of my name!"

"You're not?" Sasuke blurted out before he could think his actions through clearly, immediately regretting his words as the girl—no, guy,—snapped his head towards him. Suddenly he remembered who exactly Kankuro was.

"Excuse me? You think cuz yer the famous Uchiha Sasuke mean that I'm gonna take bullshit from you?" he growled, heavily made up eyes flashing angrily.

"I can hardly call it my fault that you were mistaken for the other gender rather than a transvestite," Sasuke retorted coolly, smirking at her—him infuriatingly.

Kankuro flushed angrily, the hue somehow making him look prettier. "I ain't a transvestite!"

"Drag queen, then?"

He opened his mouth to retort, but Naruto quickly cut in, smiling winningly. "Hey, hey, guys. It's not that big of a deal. No need to fight and wreck the place up, 'kay, guys? We just finished repairing from when Sakura-chan went on a rampage and destroyed half the building—"

"You seem to forget that Haruno-san destroyed the building because of you," Kankuro interrupted dryly.

Naruto ignored him. "Anyways, introductions! Uchiha, Kankuro of the Sand, puppet master. Kankuro, Uchiha Sasuke, infamous genin. And I—," he paused for dramatic effect. "—am the great Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage."

He flashed them both a victory sign.

"Yeah, yeah, don't be such a dumbass," Kankuro muttered. "Anyways, my shift is o-vah. See ya in a few."

As soon as he left, Naruto almost doubled over with laughter. "Fuck, that was hilarious! Transvestite?! Drag queen?! That was priceless."

Sasuke merely raised an eyebrow, waiting for the laughing fit to be over. Naruto soon sobered up, wiping away fake tears. "Anyways, Kankuro lost a bet, so we made got the girls to dress him as a chick and take a shift here, cuz me and my friends, we all co-own this place and open it whenever we're. It's part café, part nightclub, and there's lodging upstairs. That's where we stay, sometimes. Long story."

Sasuke didn't say anything, opting to take a sip of his drink—a cocktail that was tastefully fruity and slightly sweet.

"So—uh..."

"May I rent a room here?"

"...What?"

"May I rent a room here?" Sasuke repeated patiently. "I do not have anywhere else to go, but I have sufficient money to rent lodgings."

"Uh...sure! You can have a room for free, if you want," Naruto offered, still cheerful, still grinning so happily, carelessly that it was beginning to grind on Sasuke's nerves. "I mean, you were one of us, way back before, right? I mean, we weren't real close friends or anything, just teammates, but I'm pretty sure that none of the others would mind. You'll have to work a couple of shits every now and then in order to stay and get any of the profit, though. That alright with you?"

But Sasuke wasn't listening anymore; all he could hear were the echoes of Naruto's voice

—Why do I have to stuck with him?!—

—Hey. You're—uh... -Snaps fingers.- Uchiha Sasuke, right? —

—Dammit, why are you so-so fuckin' stupid, Sasuke-teme? —

—The one who was on my genin team a couple of years ago before turning missing-nin?—

—You could've died. —

—For the longest time, I couldn't even remember that you were on my genin team.—

—Don't you know that I can't live without you...?—

—I mean, we weren't real close friends or anything—

—Sometimes...when I look at you, I think of you—

—Just teammates... —

—As...more than just my—lover, but like a...brother, family—

"—chiha," he was forced out of his thought by Naruto's voice, so familiar, yet so different from the one he remembered, tinged with concern, but concern for a stranger. Not for—him. "You alright there, Uchiha?"

"Y-yeah. Just—spaced out for a bit," Sasuke forced out, but he felt anything but. Anger and grief and betrayal were all twisting inside of him and all he wanted to do was scream What do you mean by that?! How can you say that we were nothing more than just teammates?! Not even close friends?

Naruto looked at him dubiously, but took a sip of his drink, bobbing his head to the loud beat of the music.

They sit in silence, Sasuke feeling sick to his stomach, as though Naruto had personally betrayed him—somehow. 'Aren't you the one who left him?' a smug voice asked in his head.

'Shut the hell up,' he thought back angrily.

'Telling yourself to shut up isn't very—effective,' the voice sneered delicately, but remained silent afterwards.

Suddenly, he realized just who could the answer to all of his questions. 'Sakura! She probably knows him best. She's smart; she'll know what's—wrong.'

"Is Haruno Sakura here, by any chance?" Sasuke asked.

"Uhm, yeah. She's upstairs, I think. Want me to take you to her?" Naruto offered.

Sasuke nodded tightly, for once glad of Naruto's helpful nature.

--

"—he's forgotten you."

Sakura stared at Sasuke, her lips pressed together tightly in a grim smile.

"...I beg your pardon?" Sasuke forced out, making his tone calm, his voice steady.

Because it was impossible, impossible, that Naruto would forget him. Not Naruto, Naruto who had been the light, the grinning beam of beautiful sunshiny hope that Sasuke had grasped on, had desperately remembered to get through everything. Not Naruto, who was insufferably happy and understanding and naïve and strong.

Not Naruto, never Naruto, because without Naruto, he would drown in this village of sideways glances and accusing eyes that screamed at him.

Why should we ever trust you again, when you took that trust and tore it to pieces, when you betrayed us, left us? When you would kill your best friend, your 'precious person,' your brother, your lover?!

Without Naruto, he would have already drowned, thrashing in the sea of lewd stares and smirking smiles and soft empty whispers and cold steel to his neck, resigning himself to an empty life but for Itachi's death.

"He's forgotten you," Sakura repeated, her steely green eyes hard and flinty, staring at him coolly. "Everything that made you—special to him, everything that you did together, everything that you a someone that he knew, everything. All he remembers of you is common knowledge, what everyone knows, like how you were the pride of the village, the first in our class, how you left us for a traitor."

"Some pride."

She spat the words out, as though they left a sour taste in her mouth, her eyes a strange shade of green that he had never before seen, and all he could think was that he was drowning in that odd hue, piercingly and cold. They were accusing, angry, joyful, elated, betrayed, screaming at him.

Why are you back?—-Ilovedyoulovedyoulovedyou so much, but you wouldn't even spare me a glance—I'm so happy—I missed you—We don't need you—Leave us alone—Stay—

"It's been—years since he remembered you," Sakura added, her tone listless, only slightly less stinging, quieter. "He hasn't been the same since, but he doesn't realize that. Whenever we tell him about you, he doesn't understand and forgets it by the next day."

"But—why?" Sasuke chokes out, his words almost garbled, almost indistinct.

"We don't know, honestly," Sakura admits wearily. "It's some kind of function amnesia, purely psychological in origin. It appears to be a combination of lacunar amnesia and repressed memory. Kyuubi says that Naruto doesn't want to remember you, so he's forcing his memories away unconsciously until you became nothing more than a background person who was just—there."

They were silent, neither knowing what to say to the other, and they study each other, trying to find their friends, their younger selves in each other.

Sakura's face still had the remnants of baby fat, Sasuke noticed absentmindedly, peering through his thick eyelashes. Though her face was nowhere near as round as it used to be. Pale pink eyebrows were softly elevated above viridescent eyes, a sort of—apple green. A crooked, delicate nose was above a kind mouth a few shades darker than her hair, which was now layered, and reached midway down her back, framing her face messily. She had become slightly leaner, slightly more muscled, slightly tanner, just enough to look almost-dangerous, but she still looked soft. Forgiving. Gentle.

Sasuke, on the other hand, had paled, his silky, once-fair skin now an ivory white, almost glowing in the dim light, strikingly harsh against his jet black hair, still in the same messily spiky hairstyle of so many years ago, but longer. The years he had spent training had made him muscled, almost sinewy, his svelte frame gracefully slender. All hints of baby fat were gone, leaving behind an aristocratic face that was perfectly, androgynously flawed with precise features: too-large eyes rimmed with thick eyelashes and matched his hair perfectly but for slight iridescently red sheen, a flawlessly straight nose above beautifully, blood red lips. Sakura had never seen anyone so—so inhumanely beautiful, so dangerously pretty, as though some incarnate of the darkest, most frightening nights, of the coldest, most sorrowful deaths, and all of the deadly mysteries they could hide.

They stared at each other, brokenly angry green against cold, shattered ebony, before Sakura destroys their silence, her voice apathetically blank. "You may have the room at the corner on the floor above this one. Just go up the stairs and walk down the hallway until you reach one without a decorated door. You can stay tonight for free, but tonight, we'll discuss what to do with you."

Sasuke stood up, his ivory skin pallid, his unnatural grace almost human. "Thank you Sakura...san."

He inclined his head slightly before slipping out of the room silently, closing the door behind him. There was no sign of him having ever been in the room other than the slight depression in the cushioned chair where he had sat.

Sakura fell backwards onto her bed, feeling her closed eyes filling with tears.

"You should not thank me," she whispered, despite knowing that Sasuke was long gone. "Thank Naruto. If it weren't for him, you wouldn't be here, you wouldn't be asking me for a room, and you sure as hell wouldn't have been given a second chance.

"Dammit Sasuke." Her tears spilled over and slid down her pale skin. "Why are you here? Naruto doesn't need you anymore."

"You're just going to break his heart all over again."

--

It was barely dawn, and the sky was a pale smoky gray, slowly lighting up as the sun neared the beginning of its journey across the heavenly expanse.

Sasuke has managed to stay, stay only because he cannot find the energy within him to leave his once-home, and the blond who has captivated his every thought, every hope.

I was a fool, he thinks, as he dresses quickly, his long slender fingers deft and unhurried. A fool, to think that everything could go back to the way it was, to think that I deserved to be as happy as I could have been.

It has been less than a month, but he has lost track of the days, every day bleeding into the other in monotony. It has been barely weeks, but he already has a schedule.

Wake up. Get dressed. Go out. Smile, be polite, act fuckin' grateful that you're here. Nod and smile. Eat when you're hungry. Go see Ibiki when he asks—calls—for you. Smile, smile. Eat sometime. Come back. Try to sleep. Smile, make sure you're smiling.

After all, you're happy because Orochimaru's finally dead, and you're back where you belong.

He stares at his reflection in the mirror, indifferently noting his inhumane beauty, his black eyes, black hair, white skin, red lips, shadows playing across his face, underneath his prominent cheekbones, a faint blue against his colorless skin, subtly crooning Dangerous, that's who you is. A seducin' deathbringin' heartbreaker, ain't that the truth, sweetheart?

Unbridled rage surges over him, and he punches the mirror in one clean movement, oblivious of the thud as his fist meets the looking glass strengthened by the wall behind it, the sharp crackling sounds that quickly fades away.

He stares at his distorted reflection, noting how his eyes were still perfectly reflected towards him, acutely black and subtly red, the shadows smiling at him indulgently. Insane eyes, he notes dully, almost laughing. It is then he notes the blood dribbling down his fist, down the cracked mirror in fractured veins, bright red and vivid against the rest of the reflection, dull and colorless, and this, time, he does laugh, softly and without humor.

He laughs and laughs, soft and hysterical and full of grief, and he pours a drop of chakra into the glass, ensuring it would stay together before leaping out the window.

Sasuke runs through the village, leaping over rooftops gracefully, silently, before he reaches the Hokage monument. Instead of climbing, he chooses to run upwards, the precisely controlled chakra at his foot leaving behind footprints of smooth stone without a blemish.

The chilly, dawn wind whips his hair around and raises goose bumps along his skin with a casual touch, moaning and shrieking in the distance, an eerie howling that he ignored. The only surprise is when stripes along his face freeze. He brushes his skin lightly there, astonished to find his fingertips wet and when he licks them, he realizes that they are tears.

How long has it been since he had cried? Salty, warm tears slowly trickling down his face, leaving tracks of moisture?

It is then that he sees Naruto, staring into the distance, arms wrapped around his legs tightly, and his unmistakable hair fluttering in the breeze.

He almost began to run towards the blond, but slowed down just in time to maintain his steady pace, absolutely refusing to acknowledge how much he wanted to see the blond, how much he needed to feel his burning warmth, to hear his voice, low and husky (not at all like Sasuke's smooth, deep voice), crooning assurances in his ears.

Sasuke hesitates as he nears the blond, wondering if he should leave, but Naruto turns around, slight astonishment flickering across his face before he smiles (but not the smile that was Sasuke's, soft and warm and loving; just a smile (still made his heart pound) for strangers, for everybody). "Hey, Uchiha. 'Mornin.'"

"You're up early," Sasuke remarks, his voice soft, sitting down gracefully.

"And you aren't?" Naruto retorts automatically. "Shush and let me watch the sun in peace."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, but stayed silent, his eyes appraising the blond slowly.

He had grown up, grown up into an exotic beauty, his once boyishly round face now lean and broad with wide cheekbones, the whisker-like markings darker than before—catlike, really, a quality emphasized by his slit pupils in large, almond-shaped eyes every bit as vividly blue as he remembered. His frame was wiry, sinewy and lean; his hair had been grown out, now slightly shaggily disheveled instead of uneven spikes, and decorated by fiery red highlights.

Naruto had grown up, grown up into an exotic beauty, longer golden hair slightly disheveled and ornamented with fiery red highlights framing a broad, lean face with wide cheekbones and darkened whisker-like markings—catlike, really, a quality emphasized by his slit pupils in large, almond-shaped eyes every bit as vividly blue as he remembered. His frame was lean, sinewy and golden, his slender, dexterous fingers with a hint of sharp claws at the end.

They sat there in silence as the sun slowly rose in the faraway distance, bright rays of light indicating its presence from behind the mountains before one could actually see its brilliant grandeur. The sky lightened as time passed and golden beams of sunlight lit up the village below.

"I love watching this," Naruto said quietly, his soft, almost melancholic voice the first sound to break their comfortable silence. "Watching the sun just—coming out and lighting everything up and seeing the—contrast between it being just bright enough to see and actually having light just, y'know, light everything up."

As he talked, his hands moved, as though of their own accord, as he struggled to find the words to describe the beauty.

Sasuke turned his head around slowly and stared at Naruto, slightly surprised at the wistful tone and the poetical words of the blond. "It is very—beautiful."

"Yeah. Yeah, it is," Naruto said slowly, his voice still soft. Sasuke watched him, feeling a fierce yearning as the sunlight struck the blond, who closed his eyes, as though a—god, as the brilliant light reflecting off caused his sunkissed skin to glow softly, his fire-streaked golden hair gleaming and flowing backwards in the small breeze. His pale, thick eyelashes shimmered in the intense light, fluttering slightly as it cast a small shadow on the silken skin of his cheek.

They sat there, in companionable silence, as Naruto watches the village that he loves and Sasuke watches the blond he loves.

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