Sometimes Sasuke reminded Iruka a little too much of Itachi.

For one, he had those slight, but clearly visible if one was accustom, facial expressions that told everything thought. It had taken Iruka years of knowing Itachi to have an idea of what he was feeling and thinking, and Iruka was one of the best at reading others. His skills had paid off when Itachi had first approached him with the startling and completely out of the blue proposal...

"Umino."

The voice was calm but Iruka knew that something had changed. Instead of the slightly familiar and calm tone that Itachi usually held around the slightly older man he was speaking as if in a business meeting; cold and polite. As if he were trying to distance himself from the situation. It was somewhat amusing and so Iruka thought he would play along for the moment knowing if he teased Itachi enough he would snap out of it and treat Iruka like he usually did and not how he treated everyone else...well, excluding Sasuke of course.

"Uchiha."

He watched as Itachi fought the urge to roll his eyes but the young Uchiha forged onwards and informed the other, "I would like to propose an alliance between our clans."

Hiding a snicker Iruka replied in kind, "For a proper truce between our people," he nearly choked on his laughter but being a master of pranks held it down and continued, "We will need a bond of blood. A marriage between two of our head families."

Watching Itachi's face he was surprised the ANBU nod as he agreed, "We will."

Realizing he had just gotten himself into a situation wherein Itachi had the better footing and the better face control Iruka spoke in honest, "You've got to be joking. I'm the last of the Umino and all the Uchiha head family members are male!"

"Then the union will be an unusual one," was the cool retort as Iruka gaped at the younger.

"What are you playing at?"

Itachi sighed and stepped forward taking Iruka's hand in his own as he repeated his first words, "I would like to propose an alliance between our clans." He then leaned for and kissed him.

The kiss was short, sweet, and chaste though the passion that was bottled inside the Uchiha heir was clear. The beating of his own heart pounded in Iruka's ears as he wondered why he never wanted the kiss to end. As the other backed away and returned to his cool manner Iruka could do nothing more than sit with his fingers touching his lips wondering if he was dreaming but even in his dreams Iruka knew he couldn't have come up with this turn of events. The calm and stoic Uchiha had just kissed him after proposing a joining of their clans. He had no words for the moment, his mind was blank.

So, foolishly, he let his tongue talk, "So whose taking whose name?"

"Uchiha Iruka."

"What? Umino Itachi sounds better," Iruka defended not wanting to be seen as the female in the obviously upcoming relationship, "Anyways, you have a brother to carry on your name, I am the last Umino!"

"Your point?"

"We're a dying breed!"

"I suppose I should consider myself lucky that I happened to catch the last one."

"CATCH!? I'm not a fish!"

"No..."

"Well, at least we agree on something-" Iruka began but was interrupted as Itachi kissed him again causing his voice to die out and his mind to turn to mush.

"You're a dolphin."

He had refused to speak to Itachi for the rest of that day, he had planned it to be a week but Itachi was very persuasive. Their relationship afterwards had been a constant upwards spiral until the ending of their final month together. Iruka had seen the changes in Itachi's demeanor. The hatred at his family once they realized his relationship with Iruka, once they condemned Iruka as being a seducer who only wanted the power of the Uchiha name. Those times had been miserable.

But that had been the only confession he had ever accepted. A few had confessed before that, but he really hadn't felt the same or even in a similar way. After he had accepted, whether their relationship was a secret or not, somehow Itachi managed to keep any potential confessors away. Even after Itachi was gone no one had asked him out on a date. Not until Kakashi...and, well, both him and the copy ninja knew that while it might have worked it wouldn't work. Maybe if Iruka hadn't loved Itachi like he had he would have said yes. Maybe if Kakashi didn't have that red eye that haunted Iruka. Maybe then...but as it was it would have just torn open old wounds for both of them.

He hadn't expected the confession from Itachi but looking back on the event it was pretty obvious that Itachi liked him. Sasuke's confession was just as strange and confusing but looking back on it now it still doesn't make sense...

"Iruka-sensi?" the voice was soft but confident. As if Sasuke knew he could never lose, that he could just snap his fingers and receive everything he wanted.

"Yes, Sasuke-kun, is something the matter? Shouldn't you be training with the rest of Cell 7?" Iruka asked not looking up from his paperwork as he did the monthly reviews. The Hokage needed the forms to be completed as soon as possible and, while he had already done the rest, he had to go over a large pile that the others had avoided doing. It was labeled Hatake Kakashi.

"Iruka." the removal of the suffix as well as the commanding tone made Iruka look up. The boy was leaning towards him over the desk. His hands on either side of Iruka's paperwork as he leaned down so his eyes were level with the seated man.

"Yes?" Iruka pushed wanting to know why the boy had avoided his questions.

"May I kiss you?" he asked and Iruka had stared at him in shock. Seeing this as an opening the young Uchiha leaned forward and captured his previous teacher's lips.

This sent Iruka into a spiraling confusion as memories were awoken in his mind of his first kiss with Itachi. But the differences were obvious. Sasuke didn't try to keep the kiss tame on his side. He leaned further over the desk and pulled Iruka towards him by the lapels of his vest. The kiss was rough and like fire, burning at his mouth. Unlike his elder brother the younger Uchiha didn't keep his passion back. He showed how much he wanted Iruka, how he refused to back down and give in. How he was certain Iruka agreed that he belonged to the young man kissing him.

All his life Iruka had been trained to attack the enemy. Defend his village and his allies. He had been trained to never leave without permission, trained that missing-nin were shamed and to be killed or arrested. He had attacked his own before when they had betrayed the village or tried to hurt Naruto. He had defended himself. Iruka did not need protection. Yet, here he was, frozen in his spot uncertain of how to respond. He didn't want to hurt the young boy but he certainly didn't want to give the Uchiha false hope. So, as gently, but as firmly, as he could he pushed Sasuke away and stood.

"Never..." Iruka hissed, darker then most believed the often cheerful man could go, "You may never kiss me again. I am your teacher and an adult you can rely on. Find someone your own age-" he was interrupted as Sasuke slammed his fists against the table.

"I do not want someone my age," he hissed and Iruka could do little but watch in confusion and concern as Sasuke stormed towards the door. The boy opened it in silence and as he was closing it he stopped and looked over his shoulder glaring at the elder man.

"I want you."

And the door slammed shut.

Iruka had then pushed it aside as a childhood crush. One that Sasuke would soon grow out of and forget. It wasn't the first time Iruka had been wrong but it certainly was the most dangerous.

Both brothers had learned the lesson of determination and discipline very well. The only difference is that Itachi had the stamina that allowed him to learn patience; he would outlast his defeat and returns for another battle until he wins. He only backed away for a moment. Always planning and preparing for the next battle. The next chance...

"I need you to come with me."

He shivers for a moment as the words echo through him. He isn't quite sure he understands how this all began but he is certain that refusing won't end it. His heart beats impatiently and he knows the answer he wants to say but as he turns to respond the four faces of the four great Hokage remind him of what he must say.

"I cannot come with you...you killed them," Iruka whispers turning away from his lover hoping that his voice remains as nonchalant as possible, "You're a missing nin now, Itachi. And as soon as that is announced I will hunt you down with the rest, protect Sasuke with the rest, and continue with what I've always done." The silent with the rest that comes after seems to press the matter.

He feels that burning glare of the sharingan and knows that the glare is the only way that his ex-lovers knows to protect himself. Itachi was never the type to show his emotions in public, and any emotions he considered embarrassing never survived in private either. Closing his forlorn chocolate brown eyes he waited in silence for the two possible responses that would come from an upset Uchiha. Cold, deadly calm or passionate fire that would burn him. In the end, even the cold would burn him in its own bitter way.

Breathing as calmly as possible he pulled himself together to make this act as real as possible. He knew lying wouldn't work, Itachi always knew when he was lying. So far, so good with the truth. For as painful as it was, it was honest. He couldn't leave the only home he had ever known. The only home he had ever wanted to know. He refused to be hunted by his friends; they were all he had left. And somewhere inside he knew one love, hopefully not a true love though his heart refused to believe him when he tried to convince it that this wasn't true, was worth a entire lifetime of friendship and loyalty.

What Iruka did not expect was to hear Itachi fall to his knees on the roof behind him. To feel his knees at the edge of his lower back. To feel that warm, yet frigid breath against the nape of his neck. He was prepared to die, he was prepared to be attacked in some way, and he was prepared to fight. His best bet on physically but verbally as well if necessary. He was ready to be brushed off, so that Itachi could make a hasty escape. He did not expect to feel hands on either side of his waist without weapons in them, hands that lingered in the air waiting. He was not ready to feel the coldness of rain when the sky was clear and still lingering with darkness.

Slowly, as if worried Iruka might disappear if startled, the hands touched his back and he felt them cling into his shirt. They then traveled upwards to his shoulders while Itachi let his forehead rest against Iruka's upper back. The shivers that passed through the younger were felt by the elder. Itachi's grip tightened until it was almost unbearable as he took several calming breaths.

"I need you..." kissing the back of the other's neck he let his hands slide down Iruka's arms to hold him in place as he kissed and nipped a trail up the side of his love's neck to his jaw line, "Please."

Sasuke had patience like his brother did but unlike his brother it was shorter on two extremely perilous subjects. Revenge for what Itachi had done and when he was denied what he wanted. Where Itachi would never give in, Sasuke would give in if he received what he wanted by doing so. So he supposed he shouldn't have been too shocked when Sasuke announced he was leaving...

"You'll never see me again...I won't be here anymore..." Sasuke whispered watching Iruka's face for any sign of regret or pain at his leaving.

"You shouldn't leave. Orochimaru will hurt you, Sasuke. Don't leave for this. You can become strong here, in Konoha, with Kakashi-kun and Cell 7. He'll only use you and hurt you," Iruka tried to stop the boy from leaving. Whether or not Sasuke had graduated didn't matter. He was still a child in Iruka's eyes. He still needed protection.

"I'm hurting now. I need to defeat that man. I need to kill him for what he has done. I will leave," Sasuke smirked and with a tilt of his head drew closer to the older man, "But maybe you could change my mind?"

He trailed off in a way that let Iruka's thoughts follow the path the words meant to lead to. He couldn't, he wouldn't...but was he therefore in the wrong?

"No threats, Sasuke. You wouldn't stay even if I let that happen and if you did then it would be for the wrong reasons. Think of Naruto, he cares for you."

"The dobe will adjust. That bitch Sakura is all his now," even as he holds the tough front Iruka can see the truth in Sasuke's eyes. Sasuke shouldn't be here, he should be with Naruto. That is where Sasuke wants to be.

"Why are you doing this?" Iruka asked softly, "You love Naruto...it is as clear as day in your eyes. Why are you asking me this, you want him, don't you?"

Sasuke seemed to be taken back by the statement. It was true he cared for Naruto but Sasuke refused to believe that he loved him. Uchiha's didn't love. Itachi had taught him that, "Itachi had you. You loved him..."

"So that means I should love you?"

"You belonged to him."

"I don't belong to people. I'm not a possession."

"I want you."

Iruka felt some pity for the boy as he realized the truth. Sasuke wanted what his brother was denied. The one thing he could get that didn't involve fighting. For Sasuke knew that if Iruka was his by will...well, then his brother would die a very different, but several times more painful death.

"This isn't a victory you can get, Sasuke. Do you really think you can this? If you leave there is no coming back. Everything you have here will be lost."

"It doesn't matter."

"It will."

And it had, in a way. Sakura had later told him that while Sasuke's face held no emotion towards them she could feel a hint from his chakra that on the inside he was screaming in fury at Sai. That he was angry that he had been replaced. She also said that she wouldn't have had a clue if it wasn't for her training under the Hokage. Sai had later come to Iruka asking what Naruto and Sasuke's relationship had been before Sasuke's betrayal. When asked why he stated that Sasuke missed Naruto. That there was a need in his eyes that Sai wasn't even sure Sasuke knew about. Iruka simply nodded as he knew all along. Sasuke would never admit that he needed Naruto just as Itachi claimed to need Iruka.

Sasuke was also just as vindictive and held grudges just as strongly as his brother. He remembers when Itachi came looking for Naruto. That destroyed Iruka a little more than when the man he loved had killed his family. Naruto was like a son to Iruka. Itachi had known that. Yet his ties had been broken and he supposed as he was the one who refused Itachi first he really shouldn't be surprised that Itachi doesn't care how much he loved Naruto but he is...

"Don't you dare, Itachi." his voice held the threat his eyes flickered at keeping. One moment he was a ninja, the next he was Iruka who wanted nothing more than to make everything how it used to be.

The other turned around as he removed his strange hat and let the robes fall to the ground. The face that is across from his is cold, the eyes cold to all around. Each step forward that the other makes echoes. Iruka knows Itachi is more powerful, he knows he doesn't stand a chance. But he won't let Itachi hurt Naruto. He won't let him take the boy away to kami knows where to do kami knows what.

"It is not your choice, Umino," Iruka resists the shivers that threaten to run down his spine. His body ached, telling him as he pushed away the blush that pushed valiantly forward, that it had been too long since he had heard Itachi, "You made your choice long ago. Now...now you have to deal with the consequences."

Iruka's eyes widened. This wasn't just an apathic move, not just an order. This was done vindictively. This was to be the revenge for the pain that Iruka caused upon refusing him. His throat was dry as he gulped in silence. There was no getting out of this.

"Itachi..." Iruka began but a snicker from the other caused him to stop.

"Itachi? Are we still on such friendly terms?" Itachi growled as he smirked at the man before him. The man he still wanted. The man he was going insane without.

"You don't belong to the Uchiha clan, now, Itachi. You have no other name."

He was then up against the wall, his arms pinned by the angry young man. He hit the man in the groin with his knee before smashing his skull against Itachi's. If he had been anyone else they would have been out for a few minutes. As it was Itachi, he simply rearranged his positioned himself between Iruka's legs as he kissed his old flame with the passion he had had that night so many years ago upon the rooftop when no one else was there and nothing else mattered.

"I still need you, Iruka." he whispered as one hand ran down the chunnin's side, "I'm going insane without you. Will you leave Konoha with me? Please, Iruka."

Hard yet gentle lips ghosted over Iruka's as his mind filled with the possibilities. Why had he said no before? He loved his village, the people, and he had a job to do. But was it worth it? Over the years he had thought repeatedly whether or not it was and he always forced himself to believe that it was. But was it truly worth the pain of losing Itachi all over again?

"I can't..."

"You mean you won't..."

"I can't leave, they need me here."

"Know that I will ask again...and again every time I see you...until either you cannot say no or I cannot take the refusal and force you to come. Know that this doesn't end when you say no...it won't end until you’re with me...forever," Itachi whispered and then he was gone.

Even with all the similarities between the two brothers, he had always made different choices with Sasuke. For Sasuke was far too young, far too good of friends with Naruto, and, in the end, he really wasn't Itachi and Iruka refused to treat him like he was. He wasn't the type to use a look alike to release the tension and emotions he had wound so carefully in his heart. Sasuke was a completely different person and Iruka did his best to discourage any idea that he would accept Sasuke's feelings as more than a crush.

It seemed to be becoming a habit...because when it came to Sasuke, Iruka was wrong again.

Iruka was in another village having just completed a mission. He had just decided to stay one more day to assure all was finished before heading back. He wasn't the type to drink so passed the opportunity up leaving the rest of his team to party and instead went to bed. He was alert even in his sleep at the moment for he was on a mission and anything could happen. He hadn't exactly expected to wake up uncertain of what had woken him up. He hadn't expected to stand up out of bed just as the door opened.

"I always seem to read you wrong, Iruka-sensi," the suffix is emphasized and Iruka knows that to anyone else it would be arousing but Sasuke is still a child in his eyes even if the boy is eighteen years old because in the end the ten years is huge to Iruka even if Sasuke thinks it shouldn't be.

Iruka refused to respond as he slid into a fighting stance. He wouldn't let Sasuke go without a fight; even then he didn't plan on losing. He wondered if it was truly fair, if he saw Itachi again would he have fought him in honest? Iruka knows that he wouldn't but he tries to assure himself otherwise.

"Not talking to me? That will change."

"You saved us some trouble when you killed Orochimaru, besides that I really don't need to say a thing," Iruka found that even now he can't stop himself from speaking. He already knows he has said the wrong thing because, with Sasuke, Iruka never seems to do anything right.

"Don't you mean, Itachi? I killed him too," Sasuke watched Iruka and found himself proud when the other flinched at his words. But his fury set in and he held it close. Itachi still meant something to Iruka. He hated him for that.

"Naruto isn't coming anymore, Sasuke. He's given up on you," Iruka felt no joy at the growl and obviously forced stoic stare that follows, "Tsunade is planning on giving up her title to him. He's to be the Hokage."

"Because he gave up on me?"

"Because he realized what was more important."

The rooms fell silent and Sasuke did his best to hold his temper in. The only thing that had kept him near sane the past few years was that Naruto believed him more important than becoming Hokage. He needed to know that Naruto felt something for him. He needed Naruto, just as much as he needed his revenge.

"You should have stayed in Konoha," Iruka informed the boy, "I was once told that every Uchiha needs someone. It isn't predestined, it just happens but when it does happen their Sharingan makes them go insane when they aren't with that person. First, it blinds them. Then it kills them from the inside out."

"Who told that shit?" Sasuke asked somewhat desperate to know that Iruka was lying. For his eyes had been weakening and he could feel something growing inside of his body every time he thought of Naruto.

"Itachi."

Sasuke couldn't control himself after that. Iruka should have known better than to provoke the boy but he couldn't stop himself. Something inside had died with Itachi. In the end the only thing that consoled Iruka was that soon Sasuke would die the death he spared his brother from and each step of the way Iruka would be there. Whether or not he wanted to be.

Iruka sighed and sat up, a sharp pain rising from his lower back up his spin. He had always known this was Sasuke and not Itachi so he hadn't been a fool and believed that when confronted with a final, absolute denial they would respond the same. But of all things that Sasuke had ever done in his constant battle to prove he was better than his elder brother Iruka had never expected this.

He had never seen this coming but...

A pair of arms wrapped around his waist and pulled him back into bed before moving so that the owner of said arms was moving Iruka's legs apart to lie between them. Blood red eyes bore into Iruka's chocolate hues.

"You don't get to leave. You're mine. Always have been, always will be." Looking away from the Uchiha, Iruka closed his eyes in shame as the man above him whispered, "I have you...not Itachi...but me. I have you. You can't leave."

...it was obvious that Sasuke thought he should have.

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Akuma: Yeah...a sort of follow up to Sorrowful Goodbye. Hope you guys like it, nine pages total! Woot!