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chapter four

"I'm not an idiot either. Don't try to convince me you care what I think, I know you only put up with me for the sake of the team." Sakura poked at the fire with a stick, the orange flickers reflecting in her green eyes. Sakura frowned at the dying fire. Sasuke stared at them but shook his head to avoid being stuck watching the endless pools that were Sakura's eyes.

"That's not true, Sakura." Sasuke said quietly. The two of them had a very bad history with each other, but by now surely they had to forget it and move on. "I know that I did terrible things to you, and everyone else. I am sorry for them, and you don't have to forgive me. I just want to know if there is some way to make it up to you. I don't want things to be awkward between us forever." He gestured between himself and Sakura. "Like it or not, it's just us, Kakashi and Naruto. We have to get along."

"Well, Sasuke, you almost killed me. You left me. You nearly killed Naruto, and plenty of my friends. You betrayed the village. You did kill many innocent people." Sakura sighed, throwing her stick into the nearly nonexistent fire and looking up at Sasuke. The fire was almost gone, but there was still some flickering in her eyes. "I don't know how you're going to make all that up for me. It's kinda hard to make up emotional trauma."

Sasuke knew this from experience, and he nodded, conceding to her point. "I still want to try, Sakura," He said, pressing his lips together in a thin line after he said her name.

"Well, good luck, Sasuke." Sakura said softly. Sasuke sighed in relief in his head. That wasn't an outright let down, but he was disappointed that he didn't get to have a real conversation with Sakura.

The two of them sat in silence until Kakashi returned with the firewood he left for. "You guys get a few hours of sleep, I'll keep a look out, then we'll get going." He said briskly, getting on his knees to start the fire. Sasuke watched as he piled the wood into the correct way, then backed away to do a fireball, but it was too late. Sasuke had beat him to it, there was already a small fire going. Sasuke's hand stopped growing red, and he backed away from it.

"Houka Hira no jutsu." Sasuke shrugged as Kakashi looked at him weirdly. The older boy nodded a little bit, turning back to the fire.

"Flaming palm jutsu. You have to teach me that one later." Kakashi said, sitting back.

"Later." Sasuke agreed.

<>

Itachi Uchiha was no idiot. He knew something was up with Sasuke immediately- or, what he thought was Sasuke for three minutes, then realized was a shadow clone jutsu. He gestured for the clone to follow him into his room, and shut the door.

"Alright, Sasuke. Where is the real you, and how do you know the shadow clone jutsu?" Itachi asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously at the copy of his younger brother.

The Sasuke clone panicked immediately. He should've known that nothing gets by Itachi. "Look, nii-san, just trust me on this. I'm fine, the original is with his friends. He'll be with them for a few days."

Itachi raised an eyebrow, clearly not buying the story. "Sasuke has friends aside from Naruto?"

"Lots, actually." That was a new voice. Itachi spun around, and saw Naruto sliding open his window. The blonde grinned sheepishly, and waved. "Hiya, Itachi-nii. Can I come in?"

The older boy rolled his eyes and nodded. Naruto jumped inside landing on the floor, nimble as a cat. One has to be fast and have quick reflexes to live with Uzumaki Kushina, unless that person wants a concussion when they piss her off.

"Sorry, I would've come earlier to explain, but Kaa-chan forced me to do the dishes." He stuck out his tongue and fake gagged. "Itachi-nii-chan's not gonna snitch if I tell you, right?"

Itachi frowned. If there was something to snitch about, things must be bad. "No, I won't tell on you." He instantly regretted saying that afterwards.

"Itachi-nii-chan's so cool!" Naruto exclaimed, which made Itachi crack a little smile. "Anyway, yeah, this is that bastard's shadow clone. He's gone with Kakashi-nii and Sakura-chan, and he told me he'd be back in a couple days."

Itachi's right eye twitched. "And might I ask where - exactly - he went?" He put his hands on his hips and leaned forward, glaring at the five year old cowering in front of him.

"Outta the village on account of Sakura-chan's gotta get a new summon." Naruto explained, sitting himself on Itachi's futon. "Ooh. This is comfy. I could fall asleep in it-"

"My brother is out of the village," Itachi's eyes narrowed more. "With Kakashi-senpai?"

"Don't forget Sakura-chan." Naruto added, laying back on Itachi's futon and staring at the ceiling. "Sakura-chan's there too."

Itachi sighed loudly, putting a hand over his eyes. "Who is 'Sakura-chan', Naruto?"

"My bestest friend." Naruto beamed, just the thought of Sakura making him happy. Then his grin turned devilish. "She's also Sasuke's girlfriend." He said nonchalantly.

Itachi looked like his head was going to explode. "Aside from the completely absurd fact that Kakashi abducted my brother, Sasuke got a girlfriend, and he didn't bring her over here to meet us?"

"I dunno, Itachi-nii-chan, but I think you should yell at him about it anyway." Naruto grinned, rubbing his hands together. He was going to get stabbed for telling Itachi that, but the look on Sasuke's face when he returned would be worth it. "But remember, Itachi-nii-chan, you didn't hear this from me."

Itachi sat on the floor where he had been standing, muttering curses under his breath. "That little shit. Kakashi and Shisui are both such a bad influence. To think he left with a girl without telling me..." He was mostly joking, but Naruto clearly wasn't going to give him any real answers, so there was no use in the blonde being here. Besides, if the girl they were talking about was the same age as them, why would a five year old need to leave the village to find a summon?

Naruto stood up, yawning, sensing that the conflict had mostly been resolved. "Anyway. It's been a long day, Itachi-nii. Don't worry about Sasuke, he'll be back soon. Remember not to mention any of this to Aunt Mikoto or Uncle Fugaku, 'k? And I'm sure you'll meet Sakura-chan soon, yeah?" He walked over to the window, and saluted him. Itachi didn't pay the blonde any attention, still brooding, but Naruto knew that the older boy heard everything he was saying. "See ya, Itachi-nii-chan!"

Itachi didn't feel any better about this, but he guessed he could keep up the ruse for Mikoto. Their father was hardly around enough to even notice his son's disappearance, frankly. Itachi put a henge around the clone to make its chakra seem similar to Sasuke's, so no one would suspect anything, and sent it to bed. He told it to report back to Sasuke that the younger boy "owed him one for Itachi covering for his sorry ass". Then he threatened destruction on Sasuke for not telling Itachi that he was leaving.