Résumé: Naruto met Sasuke through a dare involving getting him to smile, which led to Sasuke becoming Naruto's tutor and later, his friend. Meanwhile, Itachi broke out of prison and returned to the city. After Sakura broke up with Naruto, the two grew closer until they developed strong romantic feelings for each other. When Tsunade's party rolled around, Naruto asked Sasuke to be his cross-dressing date, and they shared their first kiss at the party. After some hardship, they entered into a relationship, but Sasuke's tormented past soon interfered. Soon after things have appeared to return to normal, Itachi pays Sasuke a visit, shattering his mental stability.

SMILE

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I do not own the poem, The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost, from which the titled is derived. I only borrowed the title, not any of the themes, though.

Warnings: Fucked up stuff, sexual situations, strong language, Crazy!Sasuke, super angst, and Itachi.

Would you be a dear and review, please? :)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

The freezing water struck him like bullets; the cold would have pierced him to his core and numbed his body if he had not already been desensitized to all feeling. Through the dark hair that had been flattened against his ghastly countenance, his eyes stared downward at the water that spiraled into the void of the drain. Their vacancy made it seem as if the strain of all his memories flooding back to him with such vividness had caused the nerves in his mind to erupt. The stillness with which he stood prompted the question of whether a soul inhabited his body, and of how anything, such as will, could possibly exist within him to keep him standing. His disconnection from his surroundings—his inability to perceive—prevented him from hearing the sound of the bathroom door opening and seeing the reflection of a person in the mirror. The door of the shower slid open completely, moved by an inelegant hand, striking the wall loudly enough to cause some lucidity to return to him. As he slowly lifted his bowed head, his hair moved to reveal his pallid skin, his colorless lips, and his grey eyes, which remained blank as they shifted so that the person entered the corner of his vision.

Sasuke regarded each familiar aspect—the golden hair, the exposed, bronze skin, and the blue eyes—instead of taking him in as a whole. The gears in his mind began to turn slowly as he recognized who was entering the shower. His name entered his mind. Sasuke angled his body toward him, so that he could now see the entirety of him; the only item which adorned him was the necklace that hung from his neck, its aquamarine gem resting in the center of his bare chest. Although the thoughts of his mind were hardly coherent, Sasuke could discern from the nature of his smile and his glazed eyes that there was something off about him. Naruto only saw him as a whole; the details—his sallow complexion, his hollow eyes, and even the abnormality of a freezing shower in the middle of the night—were invisible to him.

He stepped into the shower, the flow of his movements disrupted, although he did not seem to be inebriated to the point that he utterly lacked coordination. He approached Sasuke, his lips stretching into a wider, seductive smile, as he murmured in a low, husky voice, "Is there room for two in here?"

Before Sasuke had a chance to consider formulating a thought, Naruto's hands were touching the frozen, white skin of his body, which might as well have been alabaster. Suddenly, his back was pressed against the cold, wet tiles of the shower and Naruto's body was pressed along the length of his own. Naruto's long fingers traced the contours of Sasuke's slim body as he locked his lips against those of Sasuke. Like Sasuke, Naruto suffered from desensitization—from understanding the reality of the situation, from fully feeling the frozen water as it struck him—but his was induced by alcohol, instead of a complete shattering of his mental stability and the destruction of any happiness or any sense of normalcy that he may have had. Sasuke's eyes remained open and his lips unmoving, although unresisting, throughout the kiss. He fell into a new type of shock, as his body was unable to deal with the physical proximity when his mind was in such a state.

Naruto ended the kiss in favor of placing his lips close to Sasuke's ear. As if just realizing that he was standing in a stream of cold water, he asked, "Why're you taking such a cold shower, huh?" He whispered with a slight slur, his voice thick with implications. The lens through which he was currently looking allowed him to see no alternative explanation. "C'mon, 'suke," he purred as he began to kiss down Sasuke's neck. "I want you to do me, this time."

Sasuke stared ahead blankly, looking through the glass of the shower door and at the reflection of himself and Naruto in the mirror; he looked at the vacant countenance which returned his stare from behind a tanned form. Despite his disoriented state, he registered Naruto's words; he said nothing, as if he had forgotten how to use his voice, but his lips parted with the desire to speak, or, more so, to attempt to communicate what had happened, and to prevent Naruto from continuing with the course of his actions. Naruto's hand began to wander down his body. Deep within him, a semblance of an emotion resembling frustration began to stir. Sasuke looked to his side, away from Naruto, at the bare wall of the back of the shower.

With an expressionless face and a flat voice, he spoke. "Itachi came."

Immediately, as if he had been struck by the force of the words, Naruto halted and pulled away from Sasuke. He stared at Sasuke, who had angled his head toward Naruto when he had stepped back, with confusion. Sasuke turned away from him, his expression indecipherable, and exited the shower without another word or without glancing at him for a second time. Naruto remained standing in the shower; his eyes, which were fixed forward, did not even shift in Sasuke's direction as he left. That name had instantly pierced through the drug-induced fog of his mind, the name which he had grown to abhor alongside Sasuke. Although his mind became much clearer, his thoughts were frozen like the water which rained down on him. As he regained some sobriety, he began to grasp the details which he had overlooked in his drunkenness; the frightening stillness of the atmosphere, the instinctual feeling that something was amiss, which permeated the environment, and the lifelessness of Sasuke. At the thought of him, Naruto's mind began to race along with his heart, which lurched with fear.

His movements still uncoordinated, due in part to the sudden panic that overcame him and in part to his residual intoxication, he turned off the water, stumbled out of the shower, fumbled to put on the clothing he had discarded, and nearly ran into the bedroom. Visions of all the worst scenarios that he could possibly imagine overwhelmed him; he wondered what Itachi had done to Sasuke, how it had affected Sasuke, and how Sasuke would choose to react. The memory of their argument over two weeks ago, having temporarily been buried by his former stupor, resurfaced, and reinforced his panic.

Upon entering the dorm room, he expected to see the Sasuke with volcanic eyes glowering at him, if Sasuke was present in the room at all, but instead he found Sasuke sitting on the bed, dressed in his nightclothes, disturbingly calm. Naruto halted, standing near the bathroom door, absorbing Sasuke's disconcerting appearance. His rapid heart rate dropped slightly, but his apprehension did not waver. Sasuke looked at Naruto, whose eyes were alight with anxiety and whose appearance was disheveled. He kept silent, appearing as if he had nothing with which to follow that devastating statement. After a few seconds of merely looking at each other, Naruto forced himself to speak; he struggled to find adequate words, having no idea on how to begin.

"Sasuke…what happened? Did…did Itachi really come…?" he asked hesitantly, his fear and concern showing through his voice. Fully aware of what a delicate situation it was, he tried to choose his words carefully, but in doing so he could hardly form an articulate sentence. Naruto knew that, despite his seeming composure, Sasuke was likely teetering precariously on the brink of mental instability. Although Sasuke's behavior was irrefutable proof that Itachi had made his presence known to him, Naruto's unwillingness to accept that which he had feared since the start of their relationship kept him in a state of incredulity.

"Yes," Sasuke deadpanned.

His inexplicable calmness worried Naruto more than anger or borderline insanity would have. With each passing second, Naruto became increasingly convinced that it was a façade, behind which some emotional state that he could not comprehend lurked. Naruto swallowed hard. He looked at Sasuke, who seemed physically unscathed, and asked himself what damage Itachi had done to him mentally. Wounds were temporary, they healed, but the impression left upon the mind was permanent. Although he could see no visible signs of harm on Sasuke, he posed the question, "Did he do anything to you?"

"No."

"He didn't try to hurt you or anything? How long was he here?" Naruto moved away from his position near the bathroom door, with the desire to close the large amount of space between them, and approached Sasuke tentatively.

"A couple of minutes."

Unable to fathom why Itachi would behave in such a strange manner, Naruto became confounded. It was not as if he had any concept of Itachi's personality, other than what he had learned from the photos, but such a visit seemed to lack a logical foundation. Naruto remembered that he could not think of Itachi, who was criminally insane, in the same way he thought of anyone else; he could not project any social expectations onto him. Even still, his mind, which was still partially clouded by alcohol, despite the gravity of the situation, could hardly understand it. "What? Why would he—"

"I don't know," Sasuke interjected, somewhat harshly, the first hint of emotion entering his voice. His fingers, which rested on the bed, began to grip the covers as his frustration and his confusion grew apparent.

"I don't know." He repeated, his voice more subdued and less rough. Now, as Naruto looked at Sasuke, he could see the reflection of the building turmoil within him.

"Sasuke…" Naruto murmured with concern as he approached Sasuke further. His eyes overflowed with the same earnestness that had filled them a few days ago, beneath the tree, and that had irritated Sasuke. In that moment, that earnestness enraged him.

"Don't come any closer," Sasuke spat venomously, a threat palpable in his tone, as well as an edge of hysteria. He could feel his previous state returning to him as the vehemence and anxiety that had surged through his veins upon seeing his brother began to flow through him once more. After he had begun a slow recovery from the force of his delusions, Naruto had appeared before him, forcing him to confront what had just occurred. To think of it—to have it flooding his mind and drowning out every other thought—was nothing with which he was unfamiliar, but to have to open his mouth and speak of it was something else entirely. "I…I can't…" Sasuke stuttered, his breathing becoming labored.

Naruto had halted with Sasuke's sharp words, somewhat wounded, although he knew that he should have learned to expect such behavior by now. The viciousness of Sasuke's voice did not bother him as much as his feelings of worthlessness did. He asked himself what he could possibly do for Sasuke if he was unable to ease his suffering, how he could keep him safe, sane, or content, and what he should do, when he never knew what to do every time Sasuke was thrown into such a state. Although he considered standing back as Sasuke had ordered, for fear of aggravating the situation by continuing to approach him, he could not stand idly by and watch the person he loved fall to pieces in front of him. Naruto sat beside Sasuke, whose eyes looked elsewhere, seeming to hardly notice Naruto's presence. Sasuke leaned against one of the wooden posts of the bunk bed, looking as if he might crumble to the ground had it not been there. His dark eyes adhered to the door in a manner that frightened Naruto. Naruto placed a tentative, trembling hand on Sasuke's thigh and whispered his name.

"Why would he…why…" Sasuke mumbled. He seemed to be speaking to himself now, most likely lost in his mind as he relived the encounter, based on the traumatized look that entered his eyes."Only to tell me…"

"What did he say to you, Sasuke?"

At the sound of Naruto's voice, he seemed to jolt back to reality, and realized that Naruto was sitting beside him, his large blue eyes fixed intently on him and his tanned hand resting on his own leg. Although the glance that Sasuke spared him was brief, it was long enough for Naruto to see the hatred pooling in his eyes and that his face was contorted with the beginnings of rage. Before he could react to what he had seen in Sasuke's face, Sasuke pushed his hand away roughly. He faced away from Naruto as he spoke. "I'm not worth killing. He went out of his way just to say that." Sasuke paused for a moment before standing abruptly. He walked to the center of the room and then turned around to display the loathing that was painted across his features. He began to speak quickly, his voice rising in volume as he did so, the desperation in his voice augmenting along with his hatred.

"Why would he come here just to say that? What kind of sick fuck would do something like that? That bastard. He's just trying to fuck with me, he knows what seeing him would do to me. Even after everything he's done to me, he can't rest without coming to fuck with me once more before leaving. He's already ruined my life once…What a sick fucking bastard. I'm not going to let him…" Sasuke trailed off, having grown so furious that it impaired his ability to speak. His feral eyes, which were alight with bloodlust, insinuated that he envisioned nothing but his brother's death before him. Naruto, having stood soon after Sasuke had done so, looked on at the sight of him in silent horror. "I'm going to get him, this is my last chance, he's leaving, my last chance to…to avenge…"

As his words faded into silence, he stiffened and trembled, as if the rage which had shaken his voice now shook his body; his falling silent had removed an outlet for his wrath, which could no longer be contained. Once more, Sasuke turned to look at the door. At that instant, Naruto realized that his stillness was that of a compressed spring, brimming with restrained energy, to the point that it would soon erupt—Sasuke would jolt toward the door, throw it open as he staggered, and run. The image of Sasuke's back growing progressively smaller as he ran, toward Itachi, away from him, caused Naruto to return to a full panic. Before that could become reality, Naruto lurched toward him and grabbed his arm so tightly that it would undoubtedly leave a bruise. He had no concept of the force he was exerting, in part due to his slight intoxication, but, for the most part, because he thought of nothing but preventing Sasuke from leaving. Sasuke's stillness came to an end as he whipped his head toward Naruto to look at the hand which held him with bulging, outraged eyes and gritted teeth.

"What the hell are you doing? Let go of me!" Sasuke shouted. His voice was uneven and uncontrolled as it bended to the will of his passion. He waited for no response from Naruto and attempted to tear his arm free from Naruto's grip. He struggled as if he was a wild animal that had been caught in a snare and was willing to lose his arm in the process of escaping. Naruto felt as if his heart was throbbing erratically. Without thought, he grabbed Sasuke's free arm roughly and pinned him against the wall. He brought his face close to that of Sasuke and stared into his dark eyes, looking for even a semblance of the Sasuke that loved him. He was met with nothing but pure hatred, which seemed to devour Sasuke's personality and render him incapable of expressing any unrelated sentiment. Those eyes looked at him, but they did not see him; they looked through him and past him to a person that was not physically present but undoubtedly lived eternally within Sasuke's mind.

"Sasuke…you can't. You won't. You're not going anywhere. I won't let you leave!" Naruto's voice, which was laced with desperation, yet retained an unremitting character, had risen to a shout. He paused briefly to wait for a response, either verbal or physical, from Sasuke, which he knew would not come. His vision was dyed the color of Sasuke's eyes as his own eyes bore into them to the point that their blackness was the only thing he could see. Anger then seized Naruto; although he had a concept of the extent of Sasuke's trauma, he grew exasperated with the entire situation, and in particular, Sasuke's folly. "If you ran out there, what would you do anyway? What would you accomplish? Chasing after him isn't going to solve anything," he rebuked, "you don't know what you're talking about, Sasuke, you can't think straight, you can't…Goddamnit, just get a grip on yourself, think for fucking a second! You're not going to do this. You're going to stay here!"

"Let the fuck go!" Sasuke screamed, recycling the same phrase, seemingly unable to think of anything but escaping from Naruto's grip. Truly blinded by his fury, he did not see Naruto, and did not acknowledge him; he merely registered that there was something holding him against the wall. When Sasuke began to struggle more ferociously, Naruto turned him around so that he was now facing the wall and held his wrists behind his back. Because Sasuke could hardly move, he remained still, and simply growled. With his face pressed against the wall as well his body, he had been forced to turn his head to the side in order to lessen his discomfort. Although Naruto could not see Sasuke's eyes, which were hidden beneath his hair, he knew that they retained their ferocity.

"Sasuke, you've got to calm down! Please! Listen, I don't want you do this to you, I hate it, but you aren't giving me a choice!"

"Let me go!" Sasuke repeated. His voice had lost the majority its desperate edge, taking on a more ominous character in its place. For the first time since the beginning of the conversation, Sasuke seemed to be speaking directly to Naruto rather than to himself or an unseen, oppressive force. By holding him against the wall, rendering him immobile, Naruto had forced Sasuke to begin to calm down. The red haze over his mind began to clear since he had no choice but to think when he could not move. He began to comprehend that thrashing against the wall would not aide him in escaping Naruto's grip. Struggling was futile when he would only be subdued. I can't do anything like this; not with him around. Through the curtain of his dark hair, he looked at the indistinct form of Naruto behind him with clenched teeth.

"Sasuke…I'm sorry, but I can't. It's for your own good. Please, Sasuke…please. I don't want to see you like this. I don't want anything to happen to you. If you chased after him…if I lost you…I don't know what I'd do," Naruto pleaded, evidently distraught. He held his breath in anticipation for several seconds as he watched Sasuke, who was completely still, except for the periodic rise and fall of his chest as he breathed quietly.

"Let go, Naruto," Sasuke said finally, his voice even and stern. Hearing Sasuke utter his name impacted Naruto profoundly. He hesitated for a moment before responding.

"I will, if you promise that you won't do anything rash."

"I won't."

Naruto held onto Sasuke's wrists for a moment longer as he looked at what he could see of Sasuke's face for any indication that he was lying. His eyes were still hidden behind his hair. Slowly, Naruto let go of one of Sasuke's wrists. The arm he had freed fell limply to Sasuke's side and remained there. Tentatively, he brushed Sasuke's hair away from his face so that he could see the eyes that had been beneath them. Sasuke did not react to Naruto's light touch; his eyes betrayed nothing, neither reinforcing nor dissuading Naruto in his decision to trust Sasuke. After looking into his eyes for a few moments, Naruto let go of his other wrist. His second arm returned to his side in the same lifeless manner as the first one. Naruto took a small step backward, to allow Sasuke room to turn around, and so that he was no longer pressed against the wall, but Sasuke made no move to turn.

Naruto stared at Sasuke's back in disbelief; it was not as if he had expected everything to return to normal—he did not know what expectations he held—but he had retained a small hope that some part of the Sasuke that he knew would return to him. He felt himself begin to struggle to breathe as a knot gathered in his throat and his eyes began to sting with the threat of tears. Without much thought, he wrapped his arms around Sasuke in an embrace and buried his head into Sasuke's shoulder as he clenched his teeth and fought to preclude his imminent tears. When Sasuke displayed no reaction, his desire to sob augmented, as well as his simultaneous desire to prevent his tears from flowing. Despite the fact that his original intention was to release Sasuke, he found himself tightening his embrace, gently clutching onto Sasuke's shirt. When he felt Sasuke's fingers ghost over his own, his eyes, which were brimming with unshed tears and hardly open, widened to the point that a few tears escaped, and his heart lurched. For an instant, his hopes increased dramatically, but they plummeted when he realized that Sasuke's fingers were curling around his own only to remove his hand.

A strange pain struck Naruto's chest, as if he had been stabbed by an intangible arrow which could only penetrate the soul. In a manner that could be misinterpreted as tender, due to the light touch and slow movements, Sasuke lifted Naruto's hand off his chest. Inexplicably, Naruto found himself wishing that Sasuke had torn his hand from his body with a violent gesture. Because he could not bear to have his second hand removed by Sasuke, he allowed it to fall to his side before Sasuke made a move to touch it. He took a few steps backward. Sasuke turned to face him. When only his profile had been exposed to Naruto, the drastic change in his expression had not been so palpable, but now, with the entirety of his pale face revealed to Naruto, it was impossible to overlook. His countenance had been drained of all its anger, but it had left absolutely nothing behind in its wake. Naruto merely stared at the shell of a person that stood before him; Sasuke's vacancy overwhelmed him to the point that it consumed his remaining vitality.

Incapable of regarding him any longer, Naruto tore his gaze away from the voids that functioned as his eyes. He became aware of the extent of his fatigue, which was amplified by his residual intoxication, and the coldness of his body. Although he did not look at Sasuke, he could see his form in the corner of his vision; it occurred to him how easily Sasuke could escape in that moment, and, if he did, how he would likely remain standing in the room instead of chasing after Sasuke. Naruto turned to face away from Sasuke completely.

"Let's go to sleep."

He took off the clothes that he had worn that day and put on pajama pants and a sleeveless shirt. He heard the bed squeak as Sasuke entered it in acquiescence. Naruto stared blankly at his dresser for a few seconds before turning around and approaching the bed. Sasuke's raven hair had fallen across his face, hiding the majority of it from Naruto. The only telling feature which he could see was Sasuke's mouth, which remained impassive and gave him no indication of Sasuke's emotional state. The apathy that had engulfed him disappeared when he realized that he wanted Sasuke to callously refuse to sleep in the same bed as him, to climb onto the top bunk, to begin acting like himself and show some signs of life.

Naruto entered the bed, lying down behind Sasuke so that they were facing the same direction. He stared at Sasuke's back for several moments before embracing him. He felt as if he was latching onto a corpse that drained him of his warmth despite being incapable of feeling it.

He sat facing the large backyard, with his back to Sasuke, gazing into the distance. His hands, like his expression, were empty as he stared; he was surrounded by abandoned, opened notebooks and textbooks that seemed as if they would remain untouched by him for the rest of eternity. Although he appeared to be unoccupied, Sasuke hesitated to approach him for fear of being a nuisance. That was one of the last things that he wanted to be in the eyes of his brother. His greatest desire was to come to resemble his brother as much as possible in his achievements and unmatched intelligence, and by doing so he would win the respect of both his father and brother. Sasuke's small fingers gripped the pages he was holding somewhat tightly, causing the papers to wrinkle, and he bit his bottom lip. He walked toward his brother until he stood behind him and began to speak as soon as he arrived at his position.

"Itachi, can you—?"

"I'm busy," he interjected without looking at his younger brother. Sasuke was surprised that his brother had immediately noticed his presence, without so much as sparing him a glance, and thought that Itachi must have known that he had been watching him from a distance. He frowned with slight discouragement but pressed on regardless.

"You don't look busy," Sasuke said huffily.

"I am."

"No, you aren't!" He insisted with a whine. "I've been watching you for a while and you stopped doing your homework a long time ago."

"Fine. What is it that you want?"

"Well, um, I'm having some trouble with my math homework and I was wondering if maybe you could help me."

Itachi turned to look at him. His expression, which had been disconcertingly impassive, softened; some light entered his dark eyes and his lips curved upward almost imperceptibly. "Alright. Sit down."

Sasuke returned his brother's smile, although his was unrestrained and filled with the eagerness of a child. A light blush tinted his cheeks and he tightened his grip on his papers; his brother would rarely agree to help him with his homework—in part because Itachi was often overwhelmed with schoolwork, already having been accepted into a prestigious college at his young age, and in part due to his increasingly withdrawn disposition—so when it occurred, he would grow excited. He watched as Itachi moved some of the papers and books to his left, in order to make room for his little brother to sit beside him. When a space was cleared, Sasuke sat down quickly and looked up at his elder brother with enthusiasm.

"What exactly are you having problems with?" Itachi asked.

"Well, my teacher said that when you add fractions you've gotta find something called like the L…um," he struggled to think of the proper term as Itachi watched silently, making no move to tell him the answer. "The…L…CD?" Sasuke looked at his brother with uncertainty, seeking confirmation. Itachi nodded as his lips stretched into a small, encouraging smile. "Yeah, that!" Sasuke exclaimed, his eyes alight, but his face fell slightly as he continued after a moment of thought. "But I'm not sure what that means."

"It stands for the least common denominator."

"Oh…that's the bottom part, right?"

"Here, I'll show you how to do them," Itachi offered.

He took the papers from Sasuke's hands, his gesture an almost impossible combination of roughness and gentleness; he did not wait for any response from Sasuke before he pulled the pages away from his little brother in a manner that could be considered impolite, but he moved in such a precise, elegant fashion and the pages slid through Sasuke's small hands so smoothly that he had the impression that Itachi had acted with an element of tenderness. He observed Itachi attentively as he demonstrated how to solve the problems, doing so quickly and thoughtlessly, without sufficient explanation, and attempted to learn to the best of his ability. Although Sasuke was determined to master the subject, after a few minutes, his eyes could not help but wander upward from the page of his homework to his brother's unsmiling countenance. He wore a smile that he struggled to contain as he was filled with happiness at having an opportunity to be close to Itachi.

"Fugaku, where have you been all evening? You were supposed to be back in time for dinner."

"I was held up. A few hours ago Shisui's body was found in a nearby creek."

"Shisui? Oh god…what happened?"

"A suicide note was found in his room."

"Suicide? Why would he do such a thing…? Itachi was so close to his cousin, I don't know how—"

"Why are you concerned about Itachi in such a situation? He might as well been the one who had done it."

"What do you mean, Fugaku? You just said that it was a suicide."

"I had never explicitly said that. The circumstances surrounding Shisui's death are suspicious, and I suspect that Itachi—"

"Fugaku! How can you speak of our son in such a way?"

"Because I have every reason to believe that our son is capable of such a thing! No one in their right mind would behave as Itachi has been behaving lately. He was never a particularly sociable child, but he's become so withdrawn within the past few months that it has begun to disturb me. Mikoto, he hasn't even been attending any of his classes at his university for a few weeks. Would someone in the right state of mind be so indifferent toward their future, their family, their life?"

"You're being too harsh on Itachi, Fugaku. Don't forget that he's still so young; he's probably just being a moody teenager. It's a difficult time for everyone at that age, but Itachi has so much pressure on him on top of all that. I can't even begin to imagine how hard it must be. So you shouldn't just jump to such drastic conclusions about him, you've got to try to understand what he's going through."

"Even if he didn't do it, he still needs professional help."

The white walls enclosed him, serving as his cage, incessantly whispering of the things that society had deemed him to be; they encroached upon him, denying him his right to a life that was his own; they blinded him in their blandness, their lifelessness, and caused him to feel all the more insane, when the only thing that he could see was a continuous, colorless wall. Perhaps if he was capable of registering more than the single, unifying characteristic of his surroundings, if he did not continually fall into a state that resembled being suspended between dreaming and wakefulness, he would have noticed that there was more to the room than what he had observed. But his body, unaccustomed to the antipsychotic medication which flowed through his veins, refused to allow him to lift his head in order to regard his environment more extensively, and kept him in a perpetual state of grogginess. Occasionally, when his eyes would crack open, the corners of his vision dark and indistinct, he would catch a glimpse of a figure standing over him, and an unchanging, pitying voice would reach his ears. It would murmur 'poor Uchiha boy.'

When more of his mind returned to him, he became increasingly aware of the others which existed outside of his distressingly pure, isolated world. He would remain lying in his bed with his eyes closed due to a desire not to see, to exist solely within the darkness that was the inside of his eyelids, but he could not prevent himself from hearing. Voices, in that eternal tone, would hover around him, uttering, "his brother…possible dissocial psychopathic type…genetic vulnerability…exhibiting symptoms…psychosis…schizophrenia."

A thick layer of fog, which originated over the ocean, cast itself over the coastal city, weaving between the buildings and invading every corner. As he walked away from his car, Naruto exhaled, watching his breath, which materialized due to the cold, as it mingled with the heavy fog until one became indistinguishable from the other. He could see the movement of the fog through the air around him, unable to see much more than that because it obscured his surroundings. The sun, which rested behind the gray clouds, had not been in the sky for long; few sounds entered his ears as he walked toward the dormitory building. The silence, as well as the weather, created an eerie atmosphere that unnerved him further. With his hood pulled over his head and his hands in the pockets of his jacket, beneath which he wore his clothing for work, he approached his home with a hint of a haste that he struggled to contain showing through, his movements reflecting his subdued anxiety.

When Naruto was close enough to the building to distinguish the finer details of it, he glanced at the drawn curtains behind the window of the room that he knew to be theirs. He saw himself standing in front of that window as he had done earlier that morning, after he had awaken, observing the gray sky, the dim light ghosting over his pensive features. After everything that had happened during the night, the stillness of the room and of the morning had felt precarious, as if it could be shattered by a single harsh word or negative emotion. Within himself, he had felt frighteningly immobile as well, like the atmosphere had permeated his body. A few minutes had passed before Naruto had closed the curtains, causing the room to fall into the muted darkness characteristic of the early morning. He had turned from the window to look at Sasuke, who had been lying in the bed, with his eyes closed, his hair disheveled, and his face expressionless, as if he were a blank slate, yet uninfluenced by the world. But when he had opened his eyes—his eyes—Naruto recalled the image of them in his mind as he looked away from the window and continued his journey toward the dorm rooms.

Sasuke's eyes had been abysses, unchanged from the way they had looked the previous night when he had first found Sasuke in the shower. They had remained devastatingly empty, like everything that he had known to be Sasuke had been extracted from, or no longer existed in, the body before him. Whether or not he had slept at all had been unable to be determined based solely on the look of those eyes. Then, suddenly, that had faded from his eyes, replaced by a different sort of emptiness; it was one that was flat and disinterested, and did not speak of the emotional shock which had afflicted him. Sasuke had worn the eyes with which he looked at everyone else, but—Naruto thought, as he looked at his ill-defined reflection in the glass doors of the building, before pushing them open and entering it—that's not how you're supposed to look at me.

"Good morning, Sasuke," Naruto greeted with uncertainty, his voice husky from being unused for so long. Sasuke merely looked at him without responding before sitting up and angling his body subtly away from Naruto. Silence passed between them for a few more moments, each second that Sasuke said nothing adding to Naruto's gradually building anguish. He said suddenly, without a transition, "I have to go to work."

"Then go," Sasuke finally uttered, his clear, monotonic voice cutting through the air. He looked at Naruto with an apathetic expression.

Naruto was disheartened by Sasuke's bluntness, by his willingness to let him go so easily, but he had not truly expected otherwise from Sasuke. He knew that he would have to fight against Sasuke, who, even in his current state, was unremittingly stubborn, to remain at his side. He knew that he could not leave Sasuke, especially when he had no concept of what was occurring within Sasuke's mind.

What if, Naruto thought as he opened the door that led to the stairwell, looking upward as his eyes followed the path of the steps. At first, as he climbed the stairs, he walked at the same pace, but he began to unconsciously slow down as his mind reiterated 'what if…what if…' like a broken record, refusing to complete the thought. When Naruto exited the stairwell, he looked down the long, dimly lit hallway, which seemed to stretch to infinity. He saw the door to their room at the end of the hall.

"Are you sure?"

"It's not my choice. Go to work," Sasuke responded impassively.

"Well, if you wanted me to, I could stay…I don't have to go to work."

"What if I said that I didn't want you to stay?"Sasuke posed, his voice devoid of defiance or cruelty, despite the nature of his words.

"I'd stay anyway," Naruto replied firmly.

"Then why are you asking me at all?"

"Because…cause I just want to know that you'll be alright, Sasuke."

"I'm fine."

"I've made up my mind. I'm staying."

"Don't you care about your job?"

"That doesn't matter. I'll be alright, what matters right now is that I stay with you."

"Don't be stupid. Just go to work."

Naruto could begin to feel Sasuke's budding irritation and knew that the conversation was traveling in the wrong direction. He bit his lip, feeling as if he had no choice but to acquiesce; he did not want to trigger anything else in Sasuke, he did not want to ruin his seeming calmness and have a repeat of the previous night. All he desired to do was to help Sasuke, and when Sasuke appeared to hold no concern for him, he rendered Naruto largely powerless against him. Naruto studied Sasuke for a few moments, his despondency beginning to return to him, before surrendering. "If I go, will you be here when I get back?" he asked earnestly.

"Yes," Sasuke answered without a second of hesitation. Despite that, his body was still angled away from Naruto and his eyes were looking at something other than Naruto.

Naruto stood in front of the door to their room. He took the key out of his pocket, slid it into the lock, and twisted it so that he could open the door.

"Promise me that."

Sasuke's eyes shifted until they landed on Naruto. He locked his indecipherable eyes with the expressive ones of Naruto. After a moment, he spoke. "I promise."

Naruto stepped into the room to find that it was in a state of disarray. Sasuke was nowhere to be found. He noticed a photo lying on the floor and he picked it up. He stood in the center of the room, with the Uchiha family portrait in hand, allowing desolation to overcome him.

(A/n): Sorry for taking ridiculously long to update, but then again I did warn you guys...haha. Well I've been on winter break for about three weeks now, and I've got another week or so before I have to return to school. Hopefully I can get a good amount of writing in before I have no time to write again. I've written about the last third or two fifths of this chapter today, so please excuse me if the latter parts of the chapter are not as well written as the first scene. Anyway, I spent hours writing today, because I thought that I should treat you guys with a New Year's present. Now, for some actual notes.

Although schizophrenia is mentioned, to clarify, Sasuke isn't schizophrenic. Following the massacre, he exhibited symptoms of schizophrenia, so the doctors suspected that he may have had it. The symptoms only persisted for a period of less than six months, though, so it was diagnosed as schizophreniform disorder, which is different. I think that episodes of the disorder can occur later on if triggered by something, but I'm not sure…I'm a physics major, not a psych major haha. So for those savvy in psychology out there, please correct me if I am wrong.

Also, yes, I know, Naruto is a ho when he is drunk. I know it was somewhat fucked up of me to throw a bit of sexy times in there, what with Sasuke being forever scarred and what not, but man I wanted to include it xD I mentioned in a previous author's note, that of chapter 23 to be exact, that Naruto has a job which I never devoted time to mentioning, because it was largely unimportant. He got a job as a waiter at Ichiraku's. In this chapter, he was supposed to work the morning shift, and it opens relatively early on Saturdays, but he left work after being there for less than an hour.

That is all! Review, please! :D