Never Mentioned

oOo

He specialized in rash actions.

Nothing he did was ever thought more than halfway through or decided on more than a strong whim or emotion. He was a brash person; shoot first, ask questions later. It had been that exact mentality that had ended him somewhere in the bleak deserts of Suna. The sun had long since slipped beneath the horizon, and the sand dunes were cool as the chilled night breeze kissed them. The moon was bloated in its fullness, nestled in a dip between two sparkling hills.

"Damn it," he managed to wheeze, the words scraping past his parched throat. "Damn it!"

Grains of sand dug into his knuckles when his fists pounded the ground. Why had he even listened to them? Why did he allow himself a breath of hope when he knew the crushing grip of reality would only force it out of him? His lungs burned with fatigue as he took a shuddering breath. Anger boiled inside of him, starting in his stomach, coiling around his throat, and searing its way through his veins with every labored beat of his heart until his entire body pulsed with rage. A low hiss escaped his lips, whistling past his tightly clenched teeth. They said that any clue to his whereabouts was worth looking into. He had been so adamant about finding him and bringing him back before, so what made this time any different? Begrudgingly Naruto had prepared for the mission, going along with Tsunade's and Sakura's, and even Kakashi's wishes, and left immediately to hopefully find and bring back the lost prodigy.

Never mind that they didn't know where the tip had come from. Never mind that they were sending him on a wild goose chase, again, and that he would only return battered and empty handed. Just like all the times and all the clues and tips and missions before this one, Naruto knew that Sasuke wasn't in Suna. But he let himself be guided by others, playing the puppet while they yanked at his strings, making him do ridiculous flips and turns, and perhaps even laughing as they made a mockery of him. And he always did his show with a smile. Well, now that smile was gone, and in its place was a tight lipped grimace.

Misguided. For all his life, he'd been misguided because he'd never had anyone to lead him. He'd followed blindly after anyone who seemed like they could take him places: Sasuke, Iruka, Kakashi, Jiraiya, all people he'd trusted. Iruka had his own life at the academy, Kakashi couldn't seem to do anything that didn't end him up in the hospital, and Jiraiya had given his life for a former student. They all had other things to do, more important than taking care of or teaching him. But none of them had the guts to say it; they hid behind excuse after excuse and he'd let them, never once calling them out on their obvious lack of care.

The only one that had told him straight up that he wasn't important to him anymore was Sasuke. Those words, when they had been spoken, had been a knife plunged into his back to the hilt. But if there was ever one thing that Naruto could appreciate, no matter the circumstances, it was honesty. All Sasuke had done was tell him the truth, and eventually Naruto had accepted that, and, the knife plunged so coldly into his back had become a part of him. It reminded him that even in his worst hour, Sasuke had done at least one bit of good.

But recently, someone had been twisting that knife, driving it a little deeper, making the twinge of pain that much stronger. They didn't care anything for his feelings, and maybe they didn't care at all, but something had compelled them to do it.

And that was why Naruto was slumped over in the sand, his eyes glassy and his spirit defeated.

"Another useless chase, hm?"

Naruto didn't even bother to look up. "What do you have planned for me next?"

His visitor didn't answer. He never did. He would make statements, Naruto would in turn ask questions, and he would be promptly ignored.

"Some say the desert moon is the most beautiful."

"How poetic. But what does that have to do with anything happening now?"

He was silent for a moment. "Nothing is happening now. However if you are in need of action—"

"I'm in need of answers! Why did you tell me he was here when he wasn't? Why do you keep lying to me?!" Naruto shouted, the endless dunes swallowing his echoes. "What kind of sick bastard are you?"

A smirk, not devilish, nor triumphant, tugged at the corners of his lips. "I could ask you the same question. Why did you come here knowing you'd be disappointed?" he asked simply, no emotion except maybe vague amusement coloring his deep timbre. "Why do you keep lying to yourself?"

"I'm not."

"I believe you."

"No you don't."

"And neither do you."

Rolling over, Naruto laced his fingers behind his head, body parallel to the heavens, his eyes reflecting the sky pricked by points of silver. Had he been lying to himself? The answer was obvious, or he wouldn't be lounging in a desert letting a murderer give him a twisted, sadistic version of pep talk. But when had he stopped being honest, to himself and the people around him? When had he become so fed up with reality that he simply lied to himself to make it all go away?

He picked up a fistful of sand, letting the grains slide through his fingers to join the mass below. A perfect correlation to his life, slowly slipping through his fingers, pulled by forces he'd long foregone trying to control. Now he let his fate be tossed around, and eventually, it had ended up in Itachi's hands.

"You desire to have my brother."

"I'm past trying to bring that bastard back," Naruto spat, brushing the rest of the sand from his palms. "Clearly he isn't interested."

"And he won't be until I am dead," Itachi said, "but that is not what I meant. You wish to have my brother?"

It took Naruto a moment to determine where Itachi had gone, and when he realized what the elder Uchiha was talking about, Naruto choked on a gasp. "N-no! What the hell… of course not! I'm as fuckin' straight as they come!" he defended himself and his sexuality, feeling unbearably exposed underneath the other's unwavering gaze.

Another lie. Of course Itachi was right, because he could just never be wrong. But Naruto had told him things that he could barely say to himself, and the fact that he was gay had been something he'd cherished because no one knew. It had been a secret well kept.

Or so he'd thought.

"He would not deny you if you went to him," Itachi murmured. "Uchihas have an insatiable lust for power."

Scowling, Naruto replied, "I'll be damned before I go to that ass and ask him for… that. And besides, I don't want it if it's not real," he added quietly but resolutely. From what had been said, it was obvious that Sasuke preferred men over women, which rationalized his aversion to Sakura for so long. But, Naruto thought, no amount of homosexuality would make him love Naruto the way he wanted to be loved. Lust wasn't love, and love wasn't lust. They were separate, and Naruto had only been interested in one.

But the time for love had come and long since gone. Sasuke had stated clearly that bonds of any sort, Naruto assumed either physical or emotional, that weren't connected to killing his brother, weren't worth his time.

"Sex is as real as anything you will find. There is no hiding anything, nor can you lie. Tying down emotions to primal instinct may be what you desire, but in reality, emotions have nothing to do with it. They never have, and they never will."

"Well, then I'll die a pansy virgin then because there is a such thing as making love!" Naruto countered vehemently. "And clearly, your dick of brother didn't and never will want to make it with me."

Itachi turned fully to face him, the red and black cloak that hung down from his shoulders fluttering around his knees. His Sharingan wasn't activated, but somehow, that only made him all the more intimidating. Naruto had grown accustomed to the strangeness of the Sharingan, but staring into the starless nights of Itachi's eyes was more frightening, and thrilling, than looking at any swirling tamoe had ever been.

"Sasuke desires power. And he will go about any way to get it. You Naruto," Itachi addressed him by name, the three syllables rolling amiably off of his tongue, "are the essence of power. To conquer you and feel that power whether you are in the heat of battle or the euphoric throes of passion, would be more satisfying than any repertoire of jutsu or bloodline abilities."

Chills skittered down Naruto's spine. The way the words had sounded, not detached and empty, but brimming with meaning and almost forceful caused him to falter with his reply. "But how do you know that Sasuke…?"

Naruto should have expected their shaky truce to crumble. To let his guard down while in the presence of an S-class missing nin spelled death in certain terms, and idiotic in others. The fabric of Itachi's cloak, cool whispers of satin against his skin, billowed around him as a midnight wind picked up. He couldn't breathe properly, he found, and it was like wishing for a rock to move trying to get his muscles to respond.

The first thought that should have crossed Naruto's mind when Itachi's hands, hardened by repeated calluses, began to slide up his arms, leaving a trail of gooseflesh in their wake, should have been 'escape'. Followed closely by 'soon' when they reached his shoulders and his confident fingers, hot as brands, began to slowly trace his collar bone, until they met in the middle. And lastly, Naruto should have thought 'now' when those fingers, misleadingly sensual, laced themselves around his neck and tightened. When air didn't readily enter and exit his lungs, his base instincts finally kicked in. He tensed his muscles to spring, fight, kick, whatever it took to get away. Alarms that had been silent before now wailed inside his head.

"You hope to be Hokage," Itachi muttered complacently. "Yet, you can't even protect yourself."

"Yes," Naruto gasped with his limited air supply, "I can!"

"Your life depends on how you respond to what I am going to say," he said, lowering his face until his mouth was level with Naruto's ear. "I do believe you were asking how I knew that Sasuke thinks the same way, hm?"

Naruto managed a rigid nod. Itachi continued. "I know because it is not a feeling singular to him. It is the way of anybody with a spirit that craves power, a desire to be superior to any and all that they may or may not meet. It's quite simple; people, men in particular, feel most dominant when their mates submit to them. But, they don't want the submission to be easy, nor do they want it to be forced. Pride comes when they know they are skilled enough," he whispered lowly, "to bend their partners to their will so that they have no other choice but to surrender."

Naruto struggled to speak. "It doesn't ma—"

"Shhh," Itachi crooned mockingly, "I haven't finished with my story. The more finely tuned the skills are, the harder the challenge the man will seek. You, Naruto, are not only the ultimate challenge, but the ultimate reward," he breathed, smirking against Naruto's ear.

It was too much to take in, so Naruto didn't bother even trying to understand Itachi's words. As soon as his throat had been freed, he'd opened his mouth to protest. "But Sasuke—!"

It seemed Naruto was doomed to never complete a sentence for he was cut off again when his chin was jerked roughly to the side. His heart rammed against his ribs, the beat thunderous in his ears as he stared up into Itachi's face. Nothing had changed about it physically, but it somehow seemed… different. So close that their breath mingled, Naruto tried to fight the overwhelming sense of lightheadedness to keep focusing on Itachi, on what Itachi would do…

Deceptively warm lips moved against his own chapped ones as they murmured the words, "I never mentioned anything about Sasuke."

oOo

"We are done."

"Holy shit, you're serious?!"

Itachi sighed into the collar of his cloak. "If the body on my back isn't any indication, then yes, I am serious. We can leave now."

Kisame wasted no time in hefting Samehada over his back and sprinting off across the sands with Itachi close behind him. Breathing was difficult for Itachi's exhausted body, and carrying as much extra weight as he was, while not difficult, only made each stride more taxing. Illusions of the proportion he'd just made took almost everything out of him, especially to fool someone who'd grown accustomed to his particular style of genjutsu. Even the minutest details had to be perfect, and nothing could have seemed anything but normal. Everything from the way the grains of sand reflected the moonlight to the force of the breeze that swept across the desert had to be precise. And not only that, but he had to exert even more chakra in order to make the supposed fight more believable, since his opponent had nearly endless reserves.

Traveling headfirst into the wind was a mistake not even a rookie would make. So, with a quick suggestion, they altered their route to cut diagonally across the desert. Kisame complained to himself and Itachi ran silently beside him, gripping his prisoner's legs so that they wound tightly around his waist. Somewhat reminiscent of how they'd been only a few hours prior…

The distance was a hard thing to account for as well, seeing as though his target was at least a mile away. Regardless of whether genjutsu had been his forte, Itachi couldn't have taken the chance with someone so skilled. Kisame hadn't been an easy one to fool, but the results had been worth it. Even now, he remained none the wiser that what he'd thought he'd seen and heard and felt had been no more than a cleverly constructed and well executed lie. He didn't know what had really gone on between Itachi and the nine tailed jinchuuriki, just as he hadn't the numerous times before, and it would always remain that way.

"So what was so different about this time?" Kisame grunted to him. "Did you have to pull out any stops or was the kid just tired or something?"

"Nothing is different about this time, except for the fact that we have him."

Itachi could practically hear Kisame's mouth collapse into a scowl. "Why do you always have to be so damn secretive? It's not like I'm interrogating you, but I think it's fair that I know how the fight went!"

"You know how the fight went, the chakra bursts were impossible to miss."

The ground became more rock than sand and they picked up speed now that they were able to push off of a solid surface. "You never mention anything about any of your fights," Kisame almost whined. Itachi repressed the urge of smirk and kept his face blank.

"And it will stay that way."

oOo

A/N: Well, that ending part was a bit… blah, but overall I was pretty satisfied with it. I know it might have been a bit confusing, but if you think about it, it's pretty obvious what went down. So, anyway, I hope you enjoyed it and I'll also hope that you leave a review! )