Crash and Burn

By: Clever Audrey

Disclaimer: I do not own any Naruto at all. That honor would belong to Kishimoto-sama.

Rating: PG-13ish

Warnings: SasuNaru. Shounen-ai. Angst. There will be enough WAFF to give you cavities - keep your toothbrushes handy, kids. Probable OOCness at times.

AN: Set at the end of the 3-year jump, so I'm obviously making all this up.

I.

Uchiha Sasuke stood in the middle of the room, breathing heavily, sword unsheathed in one hand. Replaying the sparring match in his mind, he finally nodded to his teacher, satisfied. The man bowed and left the room.

From a darker corner, Orochimaru grinned. "Excellent, Sasuke-kun, as usual."

"Hn." Sasuke walked closer to a lamp to examine the blade of his sword.

"Are you feeling prepared, then?" Orochimaru continued, his tone measuring.

The Uchiha teen half-turned. "For what?"

The snake-man smirked, his eyes both wary and eager as he watched for Sasuke's reaction. "For our upcoming attack on Konoha."

Dull black eyes met Orochimaru's slit-pupiled ones as his student of the past three years turned to face him fully. "Konoha…" Sasuke repeated the name slowly, almost curiously, as though just remembering the village's existence. He was silent for a long moment, then nodded slowly, turning back to the window. "Yes…yes I am prepared…."

"Excellent," Orochimaru murmured, letting his eyes linger on the tall, black-clad figure bathed in the dim golden lamp-light. "Sasuke-kun. Then, I will tell Kabuto to-"

"No," Sasuke interrupted thoughtfully, as though he hadn't even heard Orochimaru's words. "No, I'm not fully prepared."

"What?" Orochimaru's eyes narrowed.

"I've never yet thanked you."

"Thanked me?" Orochimaru's eyebrows went up as Sasuke turned to face him again. He barely contained his eagerness at the look on the beautiful teen's face – anticipation, and more heat in the dark eyes than the exiled shinobi had ever seen…he had decided against forcing his desires on the boy, but if Sasuke would come to him willingly…. "Thanked me for what?"

The older man licked his lips as Sasuke crossed the room to stand in front of him, the heat in his onyx eyes deepening. "For taking me away from that place…" His left hand went up to gently touch Orochimaru's face, fingers slipping into his hair. The man shivered. Sasuke let a hint of a smile touch his lips as he leaned down and lowered his voice even more. "For taking me away from him…so here's your thanks…"

Him? Was all Orochimaru had time to think before the hand in his hair tightened, as Sasuke's eyes hardened and his voice changed. "Here's your thanks – you sick bastard."

Orochimaru barely had time to register shock and rage before the sword still in Sasuke's right hand came up and cleanly swept his head from his shoulders.

Sasuke stood very still, drenched in blood, still tightly gripping both his sword and Orochimaru's head. "Finally…" he whispered to the silent, darkening room.

But the runaway of Konoha knew that he couldn't linger. The trip out of Sound would be much, much more difficult if he was discovered before he got at least a little ways away.

Going to his own room down the hall, he tossed the head into a bag, quickly threw on fresh clothes, cleaned and sheathed his sword before gathering up his remaining possessions. There weren't many – mostly extra kunai and shuriken. Then, activating the Sharingan, he slipped out of Orochimaru's compound as silently and quickly as he knew how.

He didn't have long – Kabuto would be coming to check on his master soon – but Sasuke thought it would be enough. Without their leader, Sound would be floundering for a while. If he could only get back over the border…Sasuke shook his head. There wasn't time for "ifs."

Resettling his pack, Sasuke struck out into the night, down a road he'd never thought to walk again.

Tsunade sighed at the stack of reports still waiting on her desk. This was so annoying…why had she taken this job again?

"Oi, Tsunade-obaachan!" Came a loud voice from the door.

Oh. Right. For that obnoxious, disrespectful, loud-mouthed little boy – who wasn't a little boy anymore. "Come in, and be quiet!" the Godaime called out, sighing again.

"Eheheh." Uzumaki Naruto, now a splitting image of the Yondaime, charged in and plopped himself down on the edge of her desk, his ANBU mask dangling from one hand, the short staff strapped to his back knocking into the stacked papers and scattering them.

"Naruto!" Tsunade yelled, even more annoyed.

"Heh. Sorry, Tsunade-obaachan." At least the little annoyance had the respect to look sheepish. Then he grinned, spoiling the image.

Tsunade growled, gathering the papers gingerly, gladly taking the excuse not to look at the boy. She couldn't stand to see that grin anymore…not when it was barely a shadow of the one he used to have.

Sighing yet again, the current Hokage looked back just in time to catch a flash of the emptiness in Naruto's eyes as he dropped the smile. But it was gone instantly, so fast she would have thought she'd imagined it – if she hadn't seen it there before. Heart aching for the boy who had grown to be both younger brother and son to her, she wished desperately for something to make that emptiness go away, knowing all the while that there was nothing she could do.

The only thing that could fill that particular hole in Naruto's heart was years and miles away. Shoving down her anger, Tsunade finally realized that she didn't know why Naruto was there at all. It was getting late, too.

"Naruto, what did you need? And why are you in uniform?" the Hokage frowned at the blond boy. "I told you, Naruto – at least two weeks rest before I let you go on any more missions!"

"But Tsunade-obaaachaaaan," he whined, a perfect mimicry of his younger self, except that his voice had really deepened too much for that. "I want-"

"I know that you want more missions, Naruto, but I can't say yes. You're doing too much. You work yourself to the point of collapse, take maybe two days of rest, and then you're back here asking for more missions. You can't keep doing this to yourself!"

"I heal fast-"

"That's not the point!" Tsunade slammed her fist down hard on the desk, startling him. "Yes, your body heals quickly, but your mind-"

"Is fine!" Naruto interrupted, a little too loud, a little too fast.

No. No, it's not…not your head or your heart…. Fighting back the sudden urge to pull Naruto into her arms and sob, she merely frowned at him instead. "No, Naruto. Not this time. Go home. Sleep. That is your order from your Hokage – your mission."

"I can go home, Tsunade-obaachan, but I won't sleep. Please," he gave her puppy-dog eyes. "please let me do something?"

And Tsunade glared at him, angry at him for doing this, and angry at herself for always giving in. And she did always give in – not because of the eyes, or the calculated pout. It was because of his voice. Because no matter how good he was at covering it, whenever he came asking for more missions, his voice was always underlined with panic….

"All right," she whispered, unable to meet his eyes. "All right, Naruto." Reluctantly, she picked out a paper from another stack on her desk and handed it to him.

"Yatta!" He yelled, jumping up and dancing toward the door. "I'll be careful, Tsunade-obaachan! Don't worry!" Then he was gone, the door closing noisily behind him.

Gods help me…Tsunade thought, slumping forward and burying her face in her hands. Gods help him


Sasuke sailed over the rooftops of Konoha, pushing away the memories that had assaulted him as soon as he'd crossed the wall into the city. He had to focus on his objective now.

He stopped a couple of roofs away from the Hokage's tower. Red eyes scanned the building, looking for the protections and guards he knew must be there. I just have to get into her office. Making sure neither the pack nor the sword strapped to his back would make any noise, he jumped the last two roofs forward, then leaped down, heading at a dead run, as fast as he could go, for the wall. He stopped, silent, in its shadow. From there, he jumped straight up, catching lightly onto the sill of an open window he'd seen from the roof. When no alarms sounded, and his Sharingan could not detect the presence of anything else, Sasuke flipped up and neatly through the window, landing soundlessly in the darkened hallway.

He straightened cautiously, eyes scanning the darkness, both to check for obstacles and to orient himself. He'd never been in the Tower much before he left, and his memories had faded over the years. Still, he knew he had to go up, so he followed the curve of the hall until he came to a stairway.

The ex-prodigy of Konoha climbed through the darkened stairs and halls, suppressing his chakra and blending with the shadows to slip past the guards stationed throughout the building. Finally he reached the large double doors that he knew to be the entrance to the Hokage's chambers. A faint light burned under the door, and Sasuke could sense with his Sharingan that there was only one person inside at the moment.

Taking a deep breath, Sasuke reached out and turned the knob on one of the doors, slipping inside as it opened silently, closing it behind him again. He was surprised to find the Fifth Hokage of Konoha awake – it was still night outside, in those blackest hours that come before the dawn.

Tsunade looked up from her reading only when the door clicked almost inaudibly back into place, the look on her face promising a scolding to whoever had dared interrupt her.

Then she saw who her visitor was, and her eyes widened.

Before she could say a word, though, Sasuke was across the room, pulling a bag out of his pack, and standing calmly in front of the desk, no expression on his pale face.

"Hokage-sama," he whispered, tossing the bag onto the desk, and reaching around to take the sword, still sheathed, off his back.

Tsunade's eyes widened even more as the bag fell open and Orochimaru's head, tongue lolling grotesquely, was revealed. She gasped, and quickly covered mouth and nose with her hand before closing the bag, sealing both the horrific sight and smell back inside.

She raised her eyes once again to regard Sasuke suspiciously. "What does this mean?"

Sasuke's only reply was to hold out the sword to her, holding her gaze steadily.

Stunned, still suspicious, but sensing no hidden malice in the Uchiha heir, the Godaime reached forward slowly and wrapped her hand around the beautiful sword, which Sasuke relinquished immediately. Letting his hand fall to his side, he stepped back, and waited. He had done all he could. Now the choice was hers…for one of only a few times in his life, Sasuke could admit to himself that he was tempted to pray.

"Why now? Why come back now of all times?" There was anger in Tsunade's voice, in her eyes. "And why like this? I'm guessing that no one else knows you're here."

Sasuke nodded. "Like this…because of the two opinions in this village that matter to me, yours is the one I need first. I have done what I can to show you my sincerity. You have the bastard's head there. Whether or not it permanently killed him, I cannot say, but that particular body is gone. Sound will not attack Konoha anytime soon. If and when they ever do in the future, they will be much weaker, and easy to fend off."

The Hokage's eyes narrowed. "That's it? No apologies? No begging?"

"No."

She continued to hold his midnight eyes, measuring him, testing him. After what felt like a small eternity to Sasuke, she nodded once, very slowly.

"I must bind you now, and inform the Council. You do realize that I can't let you off – you are still missing-nin as far as this village is concerned. Your punishment will be decided as swiftly as possible. Your…gift…shall certainly be taken into consideration." Sasuke nodded, unsurprised.

She laid the sword carefully across the desk, stood, and moved to stand behind him, bidding him to cross his wrists in front of him. Locking them together with chakra, she then had him sit in a chair to the side of the room, noting the fatigue around his eyes. Very, very dull eyes. Shuddering, Tsunade remembered the last time she had seen the Uchiha boy with eyes like that…just after she woke him up from his brother's mental attack, over three years ago.

She went to the door, calling for the guards, wondering abruptly how Sasuke had gotten past them. Oh well – she'd have time to ask that later. As soon as her messengers had been dispatched to rouse the two members of the Council and a few others, she returned to her desk.

"You still haven't answered my other question." She reminded the dark teen quietly. He blinked at her. "Why now?"

He bowed his head and was silent for a moment before answering in a low voice, "I couldn't take it anymore."

"Couldn't take what?" She wanted to know, but he only shook his head slightly and refused to answer.

It was not as long as Tsunade had expected before her advisors showed up, along with certain select ninja. Kakashi was, of course, the last one to arrive, although for once he was not late. His one visible eye narrowed at his former student, who was currently standing, eyes closed, resting against the bookshelf behind him.

Tsunade rose to stand in front of Sasuke, and all the others formed a semi-circle behind her, watching the teen in silence.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Tsunade stated, and the man in question opened his eyes and scanned the people in front of him dispassionately.

"Yes."

"You have returned voluntarily to Konoha, but the charge of missing-nin stands against you. You were a known ally and student of one of Konoha's greatest enemies. Because of you, shinobi of this village were severely injured. Even today, some are still hurt by what you have done." There was no hint of mercy in her face or voice. "Before Hokage, Council, and the leading ninja of this village, how do you answer these charges?"

Sasuke's voice and face were calm. "I acknowledge my guilt to all of the charges brought against me."

A slight murmur ran through his judges.

"However," he continued, locking eyes with Tsunade and ignoring everyone else, "however, I would point out that I have done what I can to remedy the first charge," he nodded toward the bag still on her desk. "There is nothing I can do about the second, but the third…" he closed his eyes briefly, "the third I was hoping I might yet undo."

"What is this remedy that he speaks of, Hokage-sama?" the first Council member wanted to know. Grimly, Tsunade strode to her desk, opened the bag, and drew out Orochimaru's head for all to see. Shock ran through those assembled.

"Uchiha Sasuke has returned with this to prove his loyalty, and has given his sword to me as further proof." Turning her eyes back to Sasuke, she examined him once more, before returning the gruesome trophy to its bag and beckoning toward the back door of the room. "We will deliberate on your punishment."

"I will await your decision," came the quiet reply.

And he did. Sasuke knew that, in a very literal sense, he had nothing to lose here – nothing that he hadn't already lost three long years ago. Nothing to lose – and potentially everything to gain.

So when his judges filed slowly back into the room and circled him again, looking somber, Sasuke did not flinch or look away.

Tsunade stood in front of him, and caught his gaze. "We have made our decision, Uchiha Sasuke. Are you prepared to hear it?"

"I am."

"Our decision, then, is this. You will be allowed to return to Konoha – but for these first two months that you are back you will be kept under strict house arrest and will be guarded continuously. You shall possess no weapons for the first month, and for both months your chakra shall be restricted. Do you understand and accept your punishment?"

Sasuke had closed his eyes after "return to Konoha," but opened them now and nodded sharply. "I do."

"Very well. I shall bind your chakra now, then, and your guard shall be sent for." The Godaime stepped forward, placing a partial-binding jutsu on him before releasing the chakra around his wrists. He frowned slightly at the abrupt absence of most of his chakra, but accepted it. He could stay – that was all that mattered.

Feeling an odd mixture of exhaustion and giddiness – none of which showed on his impassive face – Sasuke returned to leaning against the bookshelf, closed his eyes, and rested. The Hokage had assured him that his guard would come soon, and that he could then leave and get some proper rest.

Thinking about where he was going to rest – he was sure his old apartment had long since been rented out to someone else – he decided that could be filed under 'questions that can wait until later'. Some of the group in the office had disbanded, while others remained behind. Kakashi stayed, but merely pulled out his book and did not try and talk to his former student. Sasuke mentally shrugged, not surprised. No one was going to be very happy with him for quite some time.

He was about to doze off, when a familiar presence touched on the fringes of his awareness. Fully awake again in an instant, Sasuke's head came up, and he stepped forward, facing the door, startling those near him. It was several seconds before any of them could hear the person that Sasuke, even after being gone for three years, could still sense from some distance away.

"Oi, oi, Tsunade-obaachan, why the hell do I have to be here now? Do you have any idea how early it is?" Uzumaki Naruto appeared in the doorway, hastily clad in baggy blue jeans and a black t-shirt, a blue jacket (trimmed with the same eye-smarting shade of orange his old outfit had been) thrown over the shirt. "I just got home and to sleep yesterday too, so why-"

Naruto went utterly still, staring at the black-clad teen facing him from across the room.

"Sasuke?" the blond teen whispered, incredulous and almost inaudible, after a moment of total silence.

"Naruto," he replied, voice low to keep it from shaking.

"Sasuke…" Naruto started to step forward, a dizzying whirlwind of emotion passing through his sky blue eyes. Then he snapped his eyes shut, grimacing. When he looked up, his eyes were completely blank and fixed on Tsunade. "Hokage-sama, what was it that you needed me for?"

Tsunade winced inwardly at the blank eyes and voice – Naruto never called her that – and hoped that she was doing the right thing. "I am aware that you just got home yesterday, but since you'd probably be in here later today asking for a new mission anyway, I thought I might as well give it to you now. Uchiha Sasuke is to be held under house arrest with a constant guard for the next two months – and I have decided that you are the best one to do this."

Blue eyes closed again. Voice even more unemotional than before, he replied, "As you wish, Hokage-sama. I assume that I am to take him to my apartment for now?"

"Yes."

"Very well." Eyes open once more, he turned to his charge, staring very fixedly at a point somewhere over Sasuke's left shoulder. "If you'll follow me, Uchiha-san." Without waiting for a reply and to all outward appearances not seeing the pain flaring behind the midnight black eyes, he turned and began walking out of the room.

Holding his unconcerned, unemotional mask firmly in place, Sasuke scooped up his pack and followed.

Everyone in the room stared after them, before turning questioningly to the Godaime. Tsunade gazed out of the door, her worry only showing in her eyes. I hope I did the right thing…. Her eyes fell to the bag still lying on her desk. We couldn't save each other, Orochimaru. Not you, not me, and not Jiraiya. But I think that those two – those two are different. She swallowed against her grief for the teammate and friend she had lost long before his death. I can only pray that they are different, that they are stronger – because they both deserve better than that. They deserve to be happy.


Sasuke followed Naruto back through the streets of Konoha. The sun was just now beginning to rise, so luckily there were few people about. They received a couple of curious glances, but nothing more. Their route was familiar to the dark-haired shinobi, and he quickly realized that Naruto must not have moved from his old apartment in the time he'd been away.

Sasuke refused to let Naruto's refusal to acknowledge him register in his mind. He'll get over it – I believe that. I have to believe that…. Sasuke forced himself to focus on the city around him. Outwardly, it really hadn't changed all that much. Little things here and there – and it seemed quieter than he remembered. And not just because it was early morning – there was some…presence gone from it that he couldn't quite place.

After what felt like far too long to Sasuke, they reached Naruto's old apartment. Well, at least some things never change. He suppressed a wry smile at the sight of various ramen cups strewn everywhere, the old posters still in place on the walls. He dropped his pack next to the door and slipped off his sandals.

"You may have the couch, Uchiha-san," Naruto said in a flat voice that left a numb feeling in Sasuke's stomach. He dropped the blue jacket on a nearby chair and heading for the living room. "You'll have to forgive me for not having anything more suitable."

"Naruto." The blond ninja stopped at Sasuke's voice. "Naruto, please look at me," he requested quietly. Very slowly, Naruto turned around and met his gaze with eyes like a clear winter sky – blue and icy cold.

Sasuke moved forward cautiously, stopping a couple of feet away from Naruto. Then, black eyes never leaving blue, he slowly dropped down onto his knees. "Naruto…I'm sorry."

The sky blue eyes widened, shock replacing the blankness before Naruto closed his eyes and bent his head.

"Get up." The command was low, almost a growl. "Get up."

Swallowing, Sasuke stood. This was his true verdict.

"How dare you…" Naruto's voice was still low, growling. Sasuke stood very still, the cold, numb feeling in his stomach spreading out to fill all of him – Naruto still wasn't looking at him, still wasn't acknowledging him. "How dare you leave…for three fucking years…and then come back…and tell me you're sorry?"

Sasuke was opening his mouth to say something, anything, when Naruto's head snapped up.

Blue eyes blazing with anger and grief locked with his. "You bastard! You fucking dumbass!" The shorter boy's voice began to rise in volume. "I can't believe you would be so stupid! Baka! Ahou!"

But Sasuke had seen, beneath the grief and rage, something that he thought might be hope… "Naruto," he whispered again, his soft plea cutting through the other boy's rant.

Shock passed over his friend's face yet again, followed by a lost look that almost made Sasuke's heart stop. Then the anger was back, blazing hot in the shinobi's eyes.

"No, no, NO! I will not listen to you, to your fucking excuses-"

"I didn't come back to give you excuses." Sasuke kept his voice as quiet and calm as he could, suppressing his own rising frustration at Naruto's stubbornness.

Naruto glared at him, and Sasuke's hopes rose slightly. "Bastard. Jerk. Bastard."

"You said that already, dobe," Sasuke pointed out, finally irritated, falling with incredible ease back into their old verbal sparring.

Naruto froze again at the sound of his old nickname. Then, he drew back his fist and hit Sasuke square across the face. "Baka!"

Annoyed, shocked, and strangely relieved, Sasuke staggered, caught himself, and was preparing to return the favor when two strong arms wrapped themselves around him and pulled him close.

"You're such an idiot, Sasuke," Naruto murmured next to his ear. "So dumb…"

"Naruto…" Sasuke drew in a shaky breath and returned his friend's hug just as tightly. "I know, but…Naruto…tadaima."

The arms holding him tightened. "So dumb…and I can't stand you and I'm fucking mad at you and…and…okaeri, Sasuke." He could hear in the blond's voice that he was holding back tears. Then, in a low whisper, "I'm glad you're back!"

Letting his friend's light fill him, Sasuke felt that he was waking up, that somehow the past three years had just been a long, terrible night filled with nightmares, and that at long last, the sun was rising….

I feel…warm…. Briefly tightening his embrace, the Uchiha heir then stepped gently away. He would deal with everyone else and their reactions later. He had his best friend back, and that was all that mattered.

"So…how have you been?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow at him. "How do you think, baka?"

"Yes, yes. You're mad at me, you hate me, and you spent months thinking of all the ways you were going to kill me if I came back. But – I didn't think you would let it get you down too much. That's not like you."

It was mid-afternoon. They had both fallen asleep not long after their reconciliation, and had only just woken a little while ago. Naruto had found Sasuke lying out on his roof, drinking in the view of the city and basking in the sun.

Naruto was quiet for so long after this remark that Sasuke finally looked over at him, questioning. "Sometimes-" he began awkwardly, stopped, then continued in a brighter tone. "Sometimes I was a little down, yeah. But it was mostly okay." He gave Sasuke his trademark grin. "I spent the first couple of years out of the village seeing places with Ero-sennin, then I came back here and Tsunade-obaachan made me ANBU. I've been working a lot since then. Not much more to tell, really."

Sasuke had the feeling that there was more to tell, but the familiar grin reassured him. "Ero-sennin?" He questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Jiraiya-sensei." Naruto grinned again. "He's the one who taught me the Rasengan – but he also writes those perverted books Kakashi-sensei's always reading."

Sasuke nodded, hiding a smile at the face Naruto was making. Every moment he spent here, he was waking up more and more. It felt good to be alive again.

"Naruto."

"What?"

Sasuke turned his head, and briefly let a smile flash across his face. Ignoring the way Naruto's eyes widened at this, he whispered, "I'm glad to be back, too."

Naruto blinked a couple more times at him before returning the smile. "Heh. Yeah."

The two boys lay in silence for a while longer, enjoying the sun and each other's company.

"Ne, ne, Sasuke," Naruto said hesitantly.

"Mm?"

"What- what happened with you?"

It was Sasuke's turn to be still.

"If you don't want to talk about it-"

"It…wasn't good. I knew that going in, of course, but the reality was harder to deal with than it was in my head. I'm stronger now – that much I know for certain. But the price…" he trailed off, eyes closing, forehead wrinkled slightly, as if in remembered pain. "He was a fucked up bastard, you know. It was always so dark…I think this is the first time I've felt sunshine, Naruto. In three years…."

"Eh, I always said you were messed up," Naruto said loftily, trying to cheer his best friend.

Sasuke almost laughed. "I was, too. But now…."

Naruto tried not to let his horror and rage show on his face. That bastard snake! How dare he hurt Sasuke like this….

"It's fine, dobe," Sasuke said quickly, voice indifferent again. "It's over now. I'm back."

Naruto scowled at the taller boy. "What do you mean 'it's over now'? Really, now I think about it, how did you get away in the first place?"

"I killed him."

"Eh? Just like that?"

Sasuke shrugged. "He let his guard down. I had my sword out from practice earlier. It wasn't too hard to slice off his head." The dark-haired teen decided that his friend didn't need to know exactly how he had gotten Orochimaru to let his guard down – it would only make him even more upset. "I brought it back with me – that's the only reason Hokage-sama let me stay, I think."

"You brought back the bastard's head? Ewww." Naruto scrunched up his nose, and Sasuke couldn't help but laugh. It really was hard to stay gloomy around the noisy shinobi. He'd always hated it before – he'd be in the middle of a perfectly good brooding session, only to have his teammate interrupt him. But now…

"Ne, baka."

"What, dobe?"

"Is there anything I can do?"

Sasuke smiled slightly. Naruto understood him so well sometimes. "Just be here."

"Eh? That's it?"

"That's it."

Naruto studied him carefully, as if to make sure he weren't hiding something. "All right then." He grinned. "I'll be so 'here' that you'll be begging Tsunade-obaachan to move out by the end of the week!"

Sasuke sighed with nervousness at this announcement, and lay back, closing his eyes again. Yeah, it was good to be home.