Title: Can't Forget

For the ItaNaruSwap

Recipient: chibisrule943

Warnings: Some underage because Naruto is 16. A little hint of violence.

Summary: Running away from problems can only delay the inevitable. They are unforgettable, but if someone comes who can ease that burden, then maybe it is possible to find a little happiness.

Disclaimer: The characters hereon belong to their respective owners. No profit is being made from this work.
bAuthor's Notes:/b First fic in a while. Hopefully it can meet your expectations. Have fun reading!

Can't Forget

Naruto dropped his head on the ramen counter, completely exhausted and numb. He felt like his endless energy had finally drained away, leaving him empty and purposeless.

He had finally fulfilled a promise that had consumed his mind and heart: he had brought Sasuke back. However the manner in which he succeeded left him wondering about the village that he fought so hard to protect. Because the only reason that could really bring Sasuke back to Konoha was Itachi.

A week ago, Naruto wanted to find some new jutsus to spice up his ninjutsu arsenal, so, rather spontaneously, he went to visit-or as some more hard-lined elders might put it snuck into- that old dusty room in the Hokage's tower lined shelf-to-shelf with all the scroll records of every mission conducted-in the hopes of scoring a few new tricks. Instead he found a scroll with the name Uchiha Itachi that included mission details and post mission orders. Following this visit, he barged into the Hokage's office, demanding to know what was going on. Unfortunately Tsunade hadn't known either, and her face had quickly taken on a red tinge as well. With Tsunade's permission (and a promise that Tsunade would give the village elders hell), Naruto left the village to search for Sasuke, hoping for this journey to fulfill his most important promise.

Of course Sasuke wouldn't listen immediately. That may have been Naruto's fault for presuming that interrupting Sasuke's and Itachi's death match at the climax with his usual energy would announce that the match was over. Sasuke had scowled and threatened to kill Naruto first if he didn't step aside. Naruto had the maturity to back down from the threat (or rather he thought he would look super cool if he acted mature) and simply threw the scroll at Sasuke.

Sasuke had not been happy (understatement of the year). He felt like invading Konoha and killing everyone, but his brother quickly ended that notion with his usual 'foolish brother' attitude. They had headed back in silence, after Naruto loudly proclaimed that they had to return to Konoha.

What followed was a boring night filled with long discussions (or rather arguments) from different sides on what should be done. They had agreed they needed the Uchiha Clan back in Konoha to make the village stronger. At that point, Naruto had zoned out, once he realized that he was done.

He had begun to wonder when had Sasuke become the center of his life that he didn't know what his next goal should be. Of course being Hokage was still and always would his dream, it hadn't consumed his life like his promise to Sakura had. What was the next objective he should work towards? Become stronger? Complete some awesome mission? What was he supposed to do? He was lost.

Then real life had suddenly stepped in, the life that he had always known. When he got home, there was graffiti all over his doors, his windows were broken, and his landlord was there waiting, trying to hide a smirk. Thankfully Naruto had saved up money from missions, but it hurt.

That left him with only one choice: Ichiraku Ramen. So he dragged his feet walked to the shop, weighed down by heavy thoughts that hadn't weighed so much before. Looking at the ramen that Ichiraku-san was preparing for another customer, Naruto felt a little queasy, lifted himself of the bench, and left. Maybe he could find some peace elsewhere.

Had I been running away this whole time from the loneliness that always had been a part of my life? I hadn't ever thought so. After all Sasuke was my brother, Sakura was my teammate, and it was the natural thing to keep the promise to my teammate to get my brother back. Right? Except now that the part of my life fixated with that promise is over, the loneliness has crept back. This has not affected how I feel about and interact with the people important to me, but it has brought back into view the things I had chosen to ignore.

The pain of being alone was out of this world. For Naruto, he had believed wholeheartedly that Sasuke's return would bring Team 7 back the way it was supposed to have been. However members for any team assignments were based on some kind of compatibility, and someone somewhere had come to the conclusion that Team 7 had been a failure since the beginning.

While Naruto didn't see Sasuke much (not for a lack of trying), from time to time he caught glimpses of the elusive Uchiha Itachi, who also faced public scrutiny. Though it had been orders, many people wondered what kind of person could kill their own family without any hesitation without being some kind of monster; no one voiced it aloud out of fear.

Naruto could not comprehend this sentiment. Yes, Itachi had done completed some very horrible missions, but he had done it all to protect his precious person. He had also done it to protect his village from civil war. Naruto admired Itachi's dedication to the things important to him. It was very apparent this dedication continued to exist.

The proof was visible before Naruto's eyes: Itachi never flinched. When Naruto saw him walk down the street at the same time as some men and women wondered how they could have allowed Itachi back into the village, Itachi walked down that street, back straight, proud, and never showing any signs of hurt or discomfort. Naruto wished he wasn't affected either, but all the feelings he had held back had come crashing down on him, making him more sensitive to the glares directed his ways.

They never spoke, Itachi and Naruto. It was unfortunate they were connected only by three things. Itachi had once chased after Naruto, Itachi was Sasuke's brother, and now they were both being shunned by a village they swore to protect.

And then it happened again. I thought it was over once I had become genin. The attacks, the bullying, I thought it had ended permanently. Apparently I had been wrong. They bided their time, waiting till anything that affected me could not possibly affect their Uchiha Sasuke. To know that they still hated me, after everything I had done to protect them, it hurt. I knew I had changed some people's minds and hearts, but it hadn't been them. The same people that had always chased after me. I started to recognize them though. Some were chuunin, the rest were civilians.

It hurt. I tried to hide it but it hurt. The physical pain I could handle. They would never be able to hurt me the way Akatsuki and Orochimaru had, but they hurt me in a different way as well. 'Monster.' 'Demon.' Had nothing changed? My dream seemed further out of my reach. If I could not change these people's hearts, how would I ever become Hokage?

Naruto couldn't fight back. He knew he shouldn't have wandered the streets so late at night, but after trying to vent his excess frustration through training, he had taken to the streets with the hopes that eventually he would be too exhausted to notice any new graffiti on his door. The result, however, was not worth that peace of mind he was looking for. He was on the ground, getting kicked and hit repeatedly, and he couldn't fight back.

He knew the repercussions better than anyone else if he did fight. These people would never stand a chance against him, and that is what the council would use to finally get rid of him. So he would have to stay quiet and take it. Take all their anger in, their hatred, their grief, and hope that one day it would end. He wanted to become Hokage, he wanted to protect his precious people, and he could only achieve this by not retaliating.

"Stop." That one word floated through the air, tinged with anger, and Naruto's attackers froze. Naruto could not see who was protecting him, yet it seemed to be enough as his attackers fled. Naruto tried to get up onto his hands and knees, but quickly collapsed back. It would take a moment before the fox could catch up and fix everything. He weakly looked up and whispered, "Thank you." The figure crouched beside him, put Naruto's arm around his shoulder, and lifted him up so he could stand. Naruto swayed a little, but the figure's grip was firm and protected him from falling once more. This time, Naruto could see who had saved him.

"You… why?"

Uchiha Itachi continued to look straight ahead as he helped Naruto take a step at a time. "What they were doing was wrong." Naruto felt a little warmth creep into his body. He had always believed his friends, if they ever saw these attacks, would protect him, help him get up, and lead him back out of the darkness. He had faith in his friends, but it had never worked out that way. They would never wander around late at night; they would be at home, with their families, doing whatever they do at such times. So while Naruto believed in them, this was the first time he had been saved by someone who wasn't obligated to do so.

"You didn't have to save me," Naruto replied with a huge fake smile. He wanted to believe that Itachi had saved him as a friend, but he wasn't so naïve as to believe he could become friends with everyone. This attack had reminded him of that darkness that separated himself from everyone else.

This time, though, Itachi gave Naruto a calculating look, searching for something deeper than the obviously strained smile on Naruto's face. "I wasn't aware the village still held prejudice towards you."

Naruto's strained smile almost fell off, but through effort, he was able to maintain it. "Well, I didn't know either. Funny, the things you learn every day. You can go now. I can get home just fine."

Itachi visibly sighed. He grip never loosened as he responded, "You don't need to pretend everything's fine. Whether you like it or not, I'll get you home, and then I'll leave." The rest of the trip was silent and left Naruto more confused than before.

It began abruptly, this connection formed between the two of us. It was a surprise to see him the first time, but even more so the second and third time. The fourth time I hoped he would come, but I tried to quell down that hope to protect myself from crushing disappointment. I didn't have to worry though because he showed up again. And again and again.

I didn't know what to feel. Gratitude was there, but every other feeling was jumbled up. Did he think I was too weak to protect myself? Or did he have a genuine desire to help? I didn't know, and it left more questions than answers. My feelings on the subject remained elusive .

The attacks didn't stop. They were slow in coming, and only did come when Naruto was careless with the time or decided to take shortcuts down alleyways (the alleyways part stopped after he figured it out, but careless was careless. He couldn't do anything about that.

One thing that did change was the Itachi always showed up. Every attack, he would appear with his usual cool fury and stopped the attackers in their tracks. Once they disappeared, he would help Naruto up and escort him back to Naruto's apartment. Sometimes they talked, sometimes they didn't. It was a slow development, but a bond was forming. Whenever Naruto was attacked, he never doubted that Itachi would come to stop them. He sometimes wondered if he had been stronger, maybe he could stop his attackers with a few words himself. For now, though, he accepted Itachi's help. Somewhere deep down, he almost looked forward to it, the moment where he could see Itachi standing in front of him, protecting him from the darker parts of the world that wanted to drag him back into that lonely existence he had once lived.

And slowly the attacks stopped altogether, once it became common knowledge that Naruto was under the protection of Uchiha Itachi. Some wondered how the two were connected, but no one dared to cross an angered Itachi, not after knowing that he was more than powerful enough to kill every one of them. When they stopped, Naruto had to speculate. Would he ever see Itachi again?

And then it stopped. The attacks stopped, and Itachi all but disappeared. Of course a week didn't really count as disappearing, but I couldn't stop myself from wondering if it was over. Even if the attacks had been painful in many ways, I felt comforted by the fact that Itachi would always come. At the same time, I was able to start speculating about these feelings that followed my every thought. Because each and every one of them always led me back to Itachi. And then I knew; there was only one kind of feeling I had heard of that made people feel like this. The question was whether or not I had that feeling for Itachi.

Naruto pounded the tree stump in front of him with punch after punch, kick after kick, in the hopes of clearing his mind of recent events. He hadn't seen Itachi in a week. Of course that usually was a normal circumstance with missions, but this week there had been neither missions nor attacks. Just Naruto and his thoughts.

The weirdest thing was the anxiety that pumped in his chest, the desire to see Itachi again and try to start a conversation beyond their usual after-attack exchanges. He was confused by these thoughts, which had only really started bothering him during this week without Itachi's presence. He hated the idea that he didn't know whether he 'liked' Itachi in that kind of way, because, really, aside from his obsessive devotion towards Sakura, hadn't really known or understood that kind of feeling. He could never compare what he felt towards Itachi to his feelings regarding Iruka-sensei or Tsunade baa-chan. He knew, at least, that he shouldn't even try. They were different things all together. But he just didn't have something to compare it to, and he would not dare ask his friends for fear of teasing (because really they teased him and as much as he teased them).

He felt the hairs on his neck stand up, which usually signaled to him that someone was watching. He closed his eyes and tried sensing where that person was. It felt like…

He turned suddenly, and Itachi was there before his eyes, looking as he usually did was a calm, almost deceptive façade. Naruto wanted to yell and ask what Itachi was doing here, but he paused, took a breath, and stared right back at Itachi, trying to match Itachi's intense eyes with his own.

Unfortunately, Naruto didn't have the same ability to stay silent and quickly lost patience. "Why are you here?" He paused, eyes turning down. Then he looked back up and made a show of looking around. "I don't see any big, angry mobs around here, do you?"

Itachi sighed, that deep profound sigh that conveyed his feelings towards Naruto's attempt at starting conversation. "It is not like I planned to show up only when there were mobs. Circumstance made it that way."

"Sorry," Naruto replied with a big grin. "But I really don't understand what you're getting at."

Itachi's eyes pierced into Naruto's heart. "You don't understand?" He walked towards Naruto, slowly and purposefully. "You can't tell me you don't. You're just running again if you do."

"Who's running?" Naruto yelled back, though it probably didn't help that he was taking a step back with every step Itachi took in his direction. However, there were no more steps to take when his back hit the very tree stump he had been using earlier. And Itachi was in front of him, an eyebrow quirked, and amusement evident with the slight turn of his mouth. Naruto felt Itachi's breath on his face, the heat emanating from his body, and just his presence consuming Naruto's spirit. "W-what are you doing?" Naruto semi-whispered, because as much as he wanted to, he had lost his breath.

Itachi leaned in close, his mouth next to Naruto's ear. "Is it so hard to believe that I have feelings for you?"

Naruto's breath hitched. Itachi felt something for Naruto? The village goofball who was hated and shunned by the village, who had never known his parent's love, who was never taught right and wrong from them either. "How can you say that?" He almost yelled, suddenly filled with emotion."You don't even know me!"

"Maybe. I know that the people you consider precious, you would protect them from every evil in the world if you could. I know that despite the villager's cruelty, you won't fight back even if you can, not because you're weak but because you have the mental strength to take their hatred head on. I know that you will pretend everything is alright to keep your friends and family happy. You give and give, and pretend to take. So maybe I don't know the little details, but there's time."

It was the most Naruto had ever heard Itachi speak. He felt himself warm up as he soaked in the words and the meanings behind them. "I don't really know that much about you either," he admitted.

Itachi pulled back to look Naruto in the eye once more."As I said, there's time. I'm not in a hurry. Are you?"

Naruto felt like he had been challenged. "I'll learn more about you faster than you learn about me," he loudly declared with his usual energy, a genuine grin appearing on his face.

Itachi winced at the volume, but the grin conveyed its own message. He sat down with his back against the tree stump and forcefully pulled Naruto down next to him, pulling him close. "Then let's start."

I can't forget my past because it has made me what I am today. I can't forget, but that doesn't mean I can't move forward. As long as he's here, nothing will stop me from achieving my dreams and being happy.