Hello there! If you clicked on this because it sounds interesting, Yayy! I've had this idea for awhile, but I wanted to finish my other stories before I started a third. So here's chapter one. Enjoy!

Edit 2: I'm going to post this chapter now, since the manga is really super close to being over. And then my biblical writings of wisdom would've been all for nothing. Without further ado...I present the chapter! (As I write this, I don't have a name yet. I will in a bit though, Lol. Inceptionnnn...)

Sasuke Uchiha was not heartless.

Yea, maybe it seemed that way, but would a heartless man never return to his village after a extremely taxing war? Probably not. Would a heartless man...? Well, Sakura couldn't really think of anything else.

Not that she really tried too hard though...

Five years after the war, and the village and it's occupants were perfectly fine. Or at least near perfect.

After the war, the Konoha 11 had some gaps and holes to fill in their hearts. The death of Neji Hyuuga still weighed heavily upon them. Not only his death, but the countless other lives given. These deaths were mourned in silence, then slowly were forgotten as the village carried on with their daily lives.

However, Naruto still felt as if these deaths were his fault. No matter how many times Sakura, Sai, Yamato, Kakashi and the others tried getting through, nothing worked. The blonde was abnormally downcast. He no longer was the bright cheery boy any longer. All those deaths, in his mind, were his fault. If only he would've tried harder, and defeated Madara/Kaguya sooner. Add that to the fact that after they did win, Sasuke disappeared without a trace.

Naruto took to the bars, drinking so much alcohol, it made Tsunade's drinking look like child's play. This behavior was so unlike the once radiant, almost stupid, bravery that inspired everyone. Suddenly, it seemed as if the sun had left the world. Without the buoyant and loud blonde cheering everyone up, the world seemed very desolate and bleak.

Oddly enough, the only person that impacted him the most happened to be the quiet Hinata Hyuuga. Perhaps because she moved on past her beloved cousin's death, maybe it was she managed to grow out of her shyness, whatever it was, she managed to bring Naruto out of his depression.

When he finally walked into the Hokage mansion, Hinata in tow, clothes cleaned, looking as he once did, Tsunade assumed that it was a trick of some sort. But noticing how he looked reinvigorated, and how he clutched onto Hinata's hand as if it were his only lifeline, she realized it.

Naruto was back to normal. And he was raring to go look for his friend once again. Who was Tsunade to stop him?

Calling in the Konoha 11, Tsunade ordered a S-rank mission to go and find Sasuke Uchiha and bring him back to the village. It was just like before, except now they had the girls, and were missing one man from the original mission...

This time though, they would not fail. They would bring Sasuke back, whether he wanted to or not!

Naruto could be such a pushy bitch sometimes.

All Sasuke wanted was some space to think. Seriously, he killed his brother, gets the entire story about his fucked up past, and Naruto expects him to just prance on back to Konoha like everything is fucking dandy? Nope. Not a chance in hell.

Immediately after winning, when everyone was distracted, Sasuke slipped away leaving no trail. In the heat of the battle, he could think clearly. His thoughts weren't encumbered by those intrusive and depressing thoughts and memories. He had other things to concentrate on, such as how to defeat his opponent and how to not get stabbed.

But after they killed Kaguya, all of those thoughts came rushing back, nearly crippling Sasuke with the flood of emotions after being so empty for so long.

He barely made it out of the battlefield, away from the others before he began to suffer and break down mentally. Those emotions of anger, guilt, sadness, and confusion were eating away at his soul...If he even had one. Especially after all the shit that he's done.

Spending 3, nearly 4, years in the village of Amegakure, he managed to get a hold of his emotions and also managed to scrape up some information on his clan and dead his brother. Amegakure proved to be a very nice village. Rainy, but nice.

When he arrived, no one questioned him too much. The most questions asked was when he was attempting to rent an apartment. And when he went to the bar, where he met a nosy Cloud shinobi who seemed to have nothing better to do than grill Sasuke, the bartender kicked the cloud ninja out for, 'being too annoying and pushy'.

When Sasuke asked why he did that, the bartender shrugged saying, "It seems that everyone's had a taste of Hell. You look like you've been through Hell and back a couple of times. I figured you could use a break, and besides, you looked ready to beat the shit outta that guy."

After that, Sasuke felt a strange kinship to the not-overly-friendly bartender. Plus, since he went to that bar practically every night, he became known and word got around not to mess with him. (The cloud ninja stupidly came back with a few friends, and Sasuke dealt with them outside of the bar easily, not a scratch upon the Uchiha.)

But after 3 years, word got around that some Leaf ninja were looking around in the village for a fugitive. Sasuke guessed pretty easy who those ninja were.

Upon hearing this news, Sasuke decided that leaving would be for the best. Packing up his things, he dragged them along to the bar for one last drink.

He'd been there for maybe half an hour before some newcomers walked in, drenched. Unluckily for him, it happened to be a Leaf shinobi. She had pale lavender eyes, so Sasuke guessed that she was a Hyuuga. Trailing behind her slowly was...Naruto. Tensing up, he tried his best not to bolt like a scared rabbit.

His best bet would be to try to inconspicuously leave in a little bit. Not to soon, or else they'd notice him.

The two sat down a little ways down from Sasuke. They sat there for a bit, staring at the counter dejectedly before the blonde finally burst.

"Damn it Hinata! We still haven't found him! We've already been looking for 8 months now!" Naruto banged his hand on the counter top, earning a few annoyed glances from the other customers.

"It's alright Naruto," The girl named Hinata soothed. "This is the best lead we've had in...in forever. We will find him. You didn't give up before, so don't give up now!"

Naruto sighed, and ran his hand through his messy, and dripping hair. "I hope we find him soon. I really need to get back home."

"Why would you need to get home?" The girl asked. Naruto sighed. "Nothing, don't worry about Hina-chan."

Sasuke eavesdropped for a bit longer, then decided that leaving now would be good. Glancing at the bartender, who had become strangely good at reading Sasuke's expressions, he silently said goodbye while also willing him to distract the two ninja to his right.

"Hello there! What can I get you two?" The bartender boisterously asked. Grinning at the two, he strategically managed to direct Hinata and Naruto's attention away from Sasuke who immediately disappeared through the door.

Sasuke walked quickly down the street, his cloak thrown over him and his bag-

Was still at the bar.

The clothes themselves weren't too much of a loss, but if Naruto had the help of Kakashi's stupid dog Pakkun...

He couldn't afford to think about that. he'd take care of that when the time came. As of right now, he really needed to get out of here.

He did plan on returning to the village, he just hadn't worked out the finer details. He would go back eventually, but right now-

Suddenly, he ran straight into some blonde tourist knocking her over. He really needs to stop smelling the goddamn roses, and pay attention.

"I'm sorry!" The woman said, standing up. She brushed off her cloak, which was pointless considering that she was trying to brush off water, and they were standing in the wettest village ever to exist. And it was currently raining.

"It's fine." Sasuke brushed off her apologies. Underneath her cloak, he caught a glimpse of her skimpy purple outfit with netting on both her knees and elbows.

Sasuke tried to walk past the woman, but was stopped when she grabbed his arm.

"What?" He snapped.

"Sasuke." She breathed. Her excitement was obvious, as her grip tightened unnecessarily, her nails digging through the fabric.

"Who are you?" He asked. Taking a closer look, he noticed how she looked slightly familiar.

"That doesn't concern you." The woman replied coolly. He took note of how her hair was in a ponytail, her blue eyes, and arrogant and judging expression.

"Ino Yamanaka." Sasuke said. Ino stiffened.

"How did you figure-?" Before she could react, Sasuke had knocked her out, and set her on the wet ground. Activating his Sharingan, he immediately took off across the tall buildings, hoping that it wasn't too late to escape.

Suddenly, a few kunais flew at him from his left. Deflecting them with ease, he looked to see who attacked him. Sensing no one, he didn't immediately realize that it was a distraction.

Dodging to the side, a Rasen-shruiken flew past him, Naruto right behind it.

So much for escaping subtly...

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled. Sasuke stopped on top of one of the skyscrapers. He heard Naruto land behind him. The rain continued to pour relentlessly.

"Naruto." He replied calmly.

"Why? Where did you go after the war? What's wrong with you?!" Naruto ran at Sasuke's turned back. Sasuke merely reappeared behind Naruto.

"Why are you searching for me?" Sasuke asked quietly.

"Because you're my friend!" He yelled, whipping around to face the Uchiha.

Sasuke was silent.

"Why did you leave?" Naruto asked.

"I needed to think some things over."

"For three goddamn years?!" He yelled.

Sasuke went silent again. How could he make his former teammate see that he was falling apart at the seams?

"I learned the truth." Sasuke finally said. Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"What truth?" He asked warily.

"My clan...Itachi...Madara and the First Hokage...I learned about my past. I learned about the horrors that my clan committed. I needed time to think about all of this."

Naruto was the one who was silent. This was the most personal and emotional information Sasuke had told to Naruto in years. He didn't want to accidentally scare Sasuke away.

"I just...couldn't take it." Sasuke whispered. Naruto could barely hear him over the rain. He was staring at Sasuke, dumbfounded. Sasuke had never ever broken down like this.

"The pain of knowing what my family took part in, what I did to my brother...it was too fucking much. I needed space. I didn't want to..." Sasuke deactivated his Sharingan.

Naruto watched his old friend. In those few moments, he realized that Sasuke was just a boy like him. A scared, lost, confused, and lonely boy who needed a family and friends for comfort.

Sasuke suddenly sunk to his knees, and looked down. Naruto made no move to help him up. He could see the loss in Sasuke's dark eyes. And whether or not those were tears or just the rain rolling down his cheeks, Naruto would never know.

"You're not alone."

Sasuke looked up slowly, the rain shower turning steadily turning into a drizzle.

"What?" He asked.

Naruto smiled gently. "You're never alone. No one is ever alone. Especially not you Sasuke. I mean, c'mon look at you! You have me, Sakura, and Kakashi-sensei on your side! Even if the whole world was against you, and I was your only friend, you wouldn't be alone!"

The rain slowed, and finally disappeared.

"Sasuke," Naruto walked over to the kneeling Uchiha. Extending out a hand he continued, "Come home."

Sasuke stared at Naruto's out stretched palm. Finally, he grabbed the hand and was hoisted up. Before he could react and move away, Naruto pulled him into a hug.

Too shocked to do anything, Sasuke just stood there. Naruto squeezed Sasuke.

"We miss you man." Naruto muttered. "Don't be such a teme."

Slowly, hesitantly, Sasuke moved his arms to return the hug to the blonde.

For the first time in eight years, the relentless downpour in Amegakure stopped.

Well, that's chapter 1! Kind of just to fill you in on what's what. The next chapter is going to be much more exciting than this. And just to be clear... *Ahem* THIS IS A SASUSAKU STORY. And I own none of these fantabulous characters. Just the plot is mine! :)

Until next time, see ya later! :)