When Itachi and Kakashi arrived at the hospital, made it passed the annoyingly flirtatious nurses, and up the agonizingly slow elevator to Sasuke's room it was almost 8 pm. The cab ride had been a silent event, neither of them feeling all that talkative. Kakashi had spent the ride shooting cursory glances at Itachi, fearing the rigid Uchiha would break down at any moment. Not that public life crises were Itachi's style, not at all. Kakashi looked for signs that Itachi was close to cracking, but Itachi's skin color was no paler than usual and his eyes were blank slates. Typical Itachi then. At the front desk Itachi had been a bit more curt than usual and Kakashi had had to smile apologetically at his brisk manner. On the other hand, the nurses were so dazed by Itachi's flawless skin and sheer perfection that Kakashi would bet anything they didn't notice. In fact, the brusque way in which Itachi acted was part of his charm. It was kind of a nice change of pace from Itachi's courteous arrogance with which he treated almost everyone. Sasuke was not always one of these exceptions despite what others might think. Kakashi's musings were based on years of observation and analysis of the Uchiha brothers' interactions and he still wasn't sure he had it right. He had concluded that Itachi cared for his brother and so had let Naruto go. He knew that when they were younger Itachi had had strange, incestuous dreams about his younger brother. He didn't know if anything had ever come of that. Itachi didn't love his brother in that way anymore, at least not to Kakashi's knowledge, but he trusted him. He trusted him a lot, enough to take care of Naruto, the one person Itachi truly loved. Kakashi's certainty that Itachi's relationship with Sasuke was platonic wavered as he watched Itachi's eyes outside Sasuke's hospital room. So much raw emotion that Kakashi felt like he'd seen something he wasn't supposed to. Then it was gone.

Itachi opened the door but it was Kakashi who and pushed back the curtain and saw Sasuke bandaged and sleeping. Naruto was sitting on the edge of Sasuke's bed. Itachi examined Naruto's face and decided it looked rather pale. Naruto was holding Sasuke's hand and muttering to himself. Sasuke's eyes were closed and there were bruises discoloring his china skin.

Naruto's head jerked up at the intrusion, looking a bit dazed.

"How is he?" Itachi asked, crossing the room to stare at his brother. Kakashi slipped quietly out of the room. Itachi watched as Naruto used his finger tips to gently rush sweaty black strands off Sasuke's forehead.

"The doctor says he'll be okay."

"Hn."

"He will be okay, Itachi," Naruto said. He looked Itachi straight in the eye, his own alight with confidence and desperation.

It was wrong but at that moment Naruto couldn't help but lose himself in those coal eyes. He'd missed them; missed Itachi and he couldn't lie to himself anymore. Just thinking about you, thinking about us, was there even an us? He didn't know. It tore him up. Why couldn't Itachi just be his? Forever and ever. Was that really so much to ask? Evidently it was. Naruto sighed inwardly.

"Has he said anything yet?" a new voice asked, low pitched but definitely female.

Itachi and Naruto turned and Kakashi was standing with a pretty young doctor.

The doctor came in, a thirty something woman with kind eyes and a stern mouth. She held out her hand and introduced herself. "Hi, I'm Sasuke's doctor, Dr. Finn. You must be Itachi; we talked on the phone."

Itachi shook her hand. smiled blandly at the doctor. "Yes. So what is exactly wrong with my troublesome younger brother?"

Dr. Finn blinked, clearly surprised at Itachi's attitude. She recovered quickly. "He's in a coma; we don't think it'll take more than a few days but of course it's impossible to know."

Kakashi stepped forward and he touched Itachi's shoulder. "Of course," Kakashi said smoothly.

Itachi smiled blandly at the doctor. "Thank you for taking care of my brother."

Dr. Finn nodded her acknowledgement. "It might help if you talk to him."

Itachi nodded back. "Okay."

"In most cases when the patient wakes up and has temporary amnesia," the doctor continued. "Depending on the extent of the damage, the time forgotten varies."

"How much time are we talking? A few days, years?" Kakashi asked for all of them. Itachi was playing the mute and Naruto seemed to have forgotten how to use his mouth.

"It is most likely that Sasuke will have forgotten a few months." The doctor said this as if it should be good news. She couldn't know that very nearly everything had happened during that time.

"What should we do?" Itachi asked, his voice notably unstrained.

"Humor him," Dr. Finn advised in a kind voice. "Do not talk of the present, or as it were, the future. He will be kept here until he remembers everything."

"How long will that take?" Itachi asked in a bored tone.

"It depends on the patient. Hopefully a couple weeks, but it could take longer." Dr. Finn's pocket beeped. "I'm sorry, I have to check on another patient. If you have anymore questions, don't hesitate to call."

Kakashi and Itachi looked at one another, conveying what had to be done. Then Kakashi spoke aloud, "Naruto, Itachi and I are going for a walk. Will you be all right here?"

Naruto's throat picked that moment to stop working and he gazed wordlessly at his best friend. He blinked and seemed to come back to himself. "Yes," Naruto said faintly. "Okay, yes, I'll stay with Sasuke."

"Do you want anything from the outside world?" Kakashi asked, forcing the levity.

"No," Naruto replied. He heard the door close as the other two left. He turned his face back towards Sasuke. He lay down on his side, his head pressed awkwardly against Sasuke's neck. He closed his eyes and whispered over and over, "It's all my fault. I'm sorry, Sasuke. So, so sorry. It's all my fault."