I do not own Naruto….yet.

Day Two- part two

"Put who away?" he repeated.

Tsunade ran up to his side and gingerly embraced him, trying not to agitate his wounds, and aware of his delicate sensibilities after the attack.

"Who?" Naruto growled.

"Orochimaru" Sasuke answered him quietly seeing as Tsunade didn't seem to want to answer.

"You can't do that." Naruto pleaded suddenly, something Sasuke wasn't expecting from the usually loud and abrasive boy. Why would he want to save his attacker?

"I can, and I'm going to." Tsunade said. "There's no argument, whether you give evidence or not, I'm filing a report."

"But you have no actual evidence." Naruto continued.

"That's what I'm here for…." a new voice said, Sasuke paling when he heard it.

/

Fuck, Fuck…..Fuck. This was the most Sasuke could manage to think at this moment as he tried to think of a way out of his situation. Why of all people that the old, spiteful hag could have called; did she choose to call the one that he did not want to see?

He glared at the figure in front of him. Lucky for him the tall, dark haired man was too busy promoting himself to notice the his little doppelganger by the door. Damn hereditary genes making both of them look similar.

"Itachi!" Naruto grinned attempting to sit up more.

Immediately the older Uchiha turned recognising the familiar, sunny voice. His face fell however seeing the dark bruising marring the scared cheeks.

"Naruto-chan." he sighed turning back to Tsunade who was watching the interaction silently. "Why didn't you tell me it was Naruto?" he asked.

The principal just shrugged and picked up a few files off her desk that Sasuke noticed had not been there before he had been sent to go retrieve Shizune.

"These are the hand-written application that Naruto filled out for his subject choices last year; as well as the computer files after Orochimaru changed them to include him in his science class. As well as that I have included his school records and his medical records"

Itachi just nodded as he moved forward to acquire the folder. Sasuke had a suspicion that he would have asked for the information regardless. Just to further spite the poor witness, God decided for Itachi to notice him for the first time since entering. As Sasuke was currently wrapped up in his thoughts about investigatory processes, he failed to notice until it was too late that he was about to be glomped with a shout of;

"OTOUTOU!"

Sasuke's brow twitched, there were many reasons that Sasuke had not wanted to have excessive contact with his brother and this was one of them. The stupid man had a slight brother-complex.

The younger boy just thanked the lord that it wasn't anything incestuous. His brother had just been overprotective due to what had happened to their parents and had become rather obsessive, and protective over him. Though at least it was in doting way, not in a creepy way. A road to which it could have turned easily. At least in Sasuke's mind, he knew he was hot and that he was a pessimist, and half the time his assumptions turned out to be true. So the logical conclusion would be that his brother was infatuated with him due to his inherent sexiness, thank God that for once his assumption had been wrong.

"Hello Aniki." Sasuke sighed and removed his brothers arms from around him.

"Where have you been hiding? I haven't seen you for so long" Itachi pouted.

"Umm…nowhere." Sasuke looked around him, avoiding meeting his eyes. It wasn't that he didn't like his brother, his bipolar character however was a different story. How this man came to be one of the lead members of the Anbu force in Konoha was beyond him.

"Itachi could we please get back to business now?" Tsunade asked impatiently.

Sasuke immediately turned his attention back to Naruto when he heard a thump from his direction. Upon seeing Naruto slumped over the floor after attempting to stand he ran over.

"Perhaps you should let me take Naru-chan to the my house, Tsunade." Itachi suggested as Shizune hovered of the boy helping Sasuke to pick the boy up.

"I'm going too." Sasuke interjected just as Tsunade opened her mouth.

The women just nodded in a resigned manner. "Just don't let him sleep once he wakes up because he might have a concussion. If he starts coughing blood, or feints take him to the hospital immediately."

Itachi nodded. "We'll have to take him there first thing tomorrow anyway to be checked out by a registered doctor. I need a doctors report for the case file."

Nodding Tsunade picked up her phone. "I'll tell both of your teachers, and I'll make sure Kakashi knows."

Sasuke nodded. "Can you ask him to pick my car up as well, please?"

"Sure, and I'll arrange a time tomorrow when we can talk again Itachi. In the mean time can you have someone watch Orochimaru. If I know him, he'll be up to something."

Itachi nodded and took one of Naruto's arms from Shizune; and with Sasuke on the opposite side they carried the pale boy out of the room.

As they drove Sasuke scrutinized his brother. He was surprised that Itachi hadn't said anything to him yet; there was an interrogation coming and he knew it. Not to say that the rare moment of peace and silence in his brother's presence wasn't nice. Almost immediately after Sasuke noticed Naruto had fallen asleep, he started.

"Otoutou…." A whine came from Sasuke's side, causing him to sigh.

"Hn."

"Where have you been?"

Sasuke sighed. "I already told you that I was nowhere."

"You have to have been somewhere, I would have noticed you otherwise. In case you had forgotten we do live in the same house." Itachi stopped talking as he pulled up at the curb.

"Aniki," Sasuke cursed his brothers poor memory, and his lack of sensibility. "…I moved into the dorms two days ago, we don't live together anymore, remember?"

The man's eyes began to water. "But you'll visit me on the weekends won't you?…and during the week?"

I hate you sometimes, was what Sasuke thought to himself. He missed the time when the brothers used to loath each other. Once the stress of competition disappeared with the death of their parents however, the love basically overwhelmed the poor boy.

Itachi pouted and gave his brother watery, puppy dog eyes.

Sasuke couldn't resist when he made those eyes. A cop…was not supposed to use those eyes.

"Fine." he grunted eventually.

They got out of the car and grabbed one side of Naruto each. Sasuke waited as Itachi unlocked the door, swinging Naruto's full wait into his arms, so he was now carrying him bridle-style.

"Put him in your room." Itachi shouted from the kitchen, leaving Sasuke to wait in the hall with Naruto.

"Why not the guest room?" Sasuke yelled straight back.

"Just take him to your room." Sighed the man. "I'll tell you later. Besides…" he poked his head back around the corner to face his brother. "…don't you want some alone time with your 'friend'." he winked.

The dark-haired boy just rolled his eyes at his older sibling and carried his burden up the stairs.

Placing him Softly on the bed, Sasuke froze when the blonde let out a light moan. He watched his patients face intently looking for any sign of restiveness; when he found none he quickly escaped his room and went looking for some food.

"Why doesn't Naruto-chan come to play anymore?" Itachi asked as soon as he entered the room.

Sighing the younger boy sat down on one of the stools by the counter. Seeing the depressed expression on his brothers face, Itachi stopped his immaturity and sat down opposite.

"I don't know why, he just started ignoring me one day, and then we started to fight every time we talked to each other. I don't know what to do, I'm trying to be friends again. He just always acts like an ignorant, Dobe."

Itachi moved closer, wrapping an arm around the boy as he watched him bury his head in his hands.

"Don't worry Aniki, I'm sure everything will turn out fine." he rubbed a hand up and down his arm reassuringly.

/

Naruto groaned as he started to come back to consciousness. Looking around he found himself in a familiar room and groaned. He had a pounding headache but he eventually found the strength to lift his head up and take a glance to see if anyone else was there. This was one place he did not want to be. Though he had to admit that he had missed Itachi while the two of them had been fighting. Sure Itachi was a whole lot different than the last time that he had seen him; but Itachi had always been nicer to Naruto than he was to his brother.

The blonde boy was glad that Itachi had changed his personality after their father had died. Come to think of it he was glad that their father had died altogether. He was a horrible man, always pitting his sons against each other so that he could find the strongest to be his successor. Naruto remembered one time when Fugaku, their father, had gone to the trouble to bribe him into staying away from his sons. He apparently was a bad influence on them….to happy.

The downside to the power hungry man's death was that it drove Sasuke even more away from him, and everyone else. Sasuke had become introverted and bitter as a result of the stress his father pushed upon him. Also because in the end it had all been for nothing. The eldest son got all of the legal rights to the Uchiha property. Luckily for him though Itachi loved him and was not selfish with their belongings, he split the right and gave Sasuke half of the money that their family had accumulated. Which was a fortune in itself.

It was times like that, when Naruto wished that he had a sibling. Hell, he wished he had a family. The closest he got was the old hag, Tsunade; her husband, Jiraiya (who was also his godfather); and also Iruka. They weren't his family though…not directly.

Trying to stand Naruto swung his legs over the edge. His face and ribs were starting to ache really badly, and he just wanted to lay back down and go to sleep.

"Don't you dare think about going back to sleep." Naruto heard a voicer saying from the doorway. Turning he discovered Itachi leaning against the door-frame.

"I wasn't" the younger boy lied.

"Sure…."Itachi drawled. "…and I bet you weren't thinking about Sasuke a moment ago either?"

The blonde's mouth dropped. "How did you know that?"

Itachi just started blankly back at him. "You don't seem to realize that not everything you think stays there." he replied cryptically.

It took him a good few minutes to work that sentence out with his pounding head. "Do you mean I was saying all of that out loud?" he asked eventually.

"No, I'm sure you didn't say everything you were thinking. You did say my little brother's name a lot though."

Blushing Naruto straightened his legs to stand. As soon as he was vertical however his sense of balance seen to go awry. Grabbing his head he struggled against his wavering stance.

"Naruto." Itachi cried running over to support him. "Just lay back down. Tsunade said you might have a concussion."

"Can I have some panadol or something?" Naruto asked unsteadily

"Sure." Itachi said kindly before helping the boy. "OY SASUKE….GET SOME PAIN KILLERS AND GET IN HERE." he shouted suddenly

Naruto groaned, clutching his head. "Not helping, Itachi."

"Is he awake?" Sasuke asked immediately upon entering the room.

He slowly made his way over to the bedside table and set down the tray holding the painkillers and a large glass of water.

"How are you feeling?" he asked kindly.

Naruto frowned. "Just as well as someone who has been bashed by a creepy, old, snake-like paedophile."

"So I'm guessing…not well." Sasuke said with a blank expression.

"No shit Sherlock." the blonde replied.

Without either of the boys noticing, Itachi had slipped past them and out of the room. It was for his own benefit that his brothers door opened outwards. Quickly he slipped the chair from his study, under the door knob. Just as he finished he heard silence.

"Boys I just wanted you to know that I'm not letting you out until you are friends again. Also, Sasuke don't let that cutie sleep, he has a concussion." Itachi then left them to their own devices.

/

"What now?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know."

"If you got that stick out of your ass you might come up with an answer, you wouldn't be nearly as distracted."

"Maybe if you acquired some brains you might be able to come up with an answer, full stop."

"Teme."

"Dobe."

"You know what I changed my mind. You might have a stick up your ass, but instead of just taking it out; you should replace it with something more entertaining. You need to loosen up a bit."

"Says the virgin."

"Hey!...you don't know if I'm a virgin or not."

"I can say with the utmost confidence that you are a virgin."

"Can we just stop this conversation now please?"

Sasuke smirked, another battle won. He grimaced though, he hadn't even managed to have breakfast yet and he knew Itachi wouldn't bring them any food for a while. If he brought any at all.

"So what does Itachi want us to do exactly?" Naruto asked lying back against the head board of the bed, so he could rest more comfortably.

"To be friends." Sasuke said rolling his eyes. "weren't you listening?"

"I was, but surely he can't just make us be friends again. I mean…aren't we fighting or something?"

"I don't know." Sasuke frowned. "I thought you were angry at me.

Naruto looked confused. "What?"

"When I first came back to school, you wouldn't even look at me, or welcome me back." Sasuke sat on the bed opposite Naruto. "I thought you didn't like me anymore, so just resolved not to talk to you either."

"You have to be shitting me?" Naruto's eyes widened in comprehension. "I though you were ignoring me…"

Sasuke face palmed himself. He couldn't believe that he had done something so stupid, as losing his best friend over a little misunderstanding. Naruto….maybe, but not him.

"So do you mean….that we've been fighting each other all this time…for nothing?" he asked

"Now that you have a firm grip on the obvious." Naruto started. "What do we do? Can we just go back to being friends, like nothing has happened?"

Sasuke smirked, his spirits suddenly lighter. "I don't see why not."

In response to his smirk Naruto grinned. He stretched out a hand. "In that case….Sasuke Uchiha, would you like to be my best friend again?"

The dark haired boy grasped the outstretched hand in his immediately. He shuffled forward to sit closer a smile coming to his normally stoic face.

"You know what? I think I would."

/

Rei; "chapter four….done"

Sasuke; "Why do you insist on putting these stupid little authors notes at the bottom of each chapter. it's a fucking waste of time."

Rei; "Hey…its my time."

Naruto; "I think she does; 1) because she thinks she's funny….2) Many other authors do it, so she is conforming to societies standards…like a chump….and 3)because she is desperately fighting for any source of recognition as a writer from her audience, and she wants to implore them to REVIEW her lame ass stories."

Rei; "…"

Sasuke; "Holy fuck….that actually sounded half-way smart just then."