It Could be Sweet
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Set three years later. Spoilers for the premise of the current manga storyline.
Summary: ANGST. Set after another Sasuke/Itachi confrontation (see Author's note). How broken can one be before he's deemed unrepairable?

Author's Note: This is actually the sequel to The Words We Couldn't Say, which is primarily a one-shot Sasuke fic. It's short, won't take more then 10 minutes to read, so if this tickles your fancy, it might interest you to read why this story begins the way it does.

It is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you read The Words We Couldn't Say if, after the first two scenes, you're left utterly confused. But if can deal with the story starting with those circumstances without prior knowledge of what exactly happened before, then read on. Everything else that follows doesn't require previous knowledge like those two scenes. Summary: Sometimes the end does justify the means.

In his dreams, Mother and Father were still alive. He was being raised learning things like trust, perseverance and devotion; not hate and vengeance. He knew absolute happiness and the feeling of completeness. The precocious little boy that he once was had never died with the burden of a great tragedy, but instead grown into a spirited young man.

Thus, it was only in his dreams that he ever felt alive. Because in his dreams, he and Itachi were together. The legendary Uchiha brothers: invincible, inseparable and unstoppable except by each other. As it should have been. Forever.

Two men stood in the doorway of a darkened room, their shadows reaching out to a figure lying on a mat on the floor.

"He should not have returned."

Kakashi nodded, knowing he would not get any further explanation for this - partially voluntary - abduction from the village. He studied the young man beside him, his long dark hair pulled back in a loose ponytail and tucked beneath a cloak that would always seem two sizes too big for the slender figure Kakashi knew was underneath. "Why?"

The vagueness of the word was due to the several questions it represented. Why did they always fight so? Why did he always stop within a hair's breadth away from death in each encounter? Why did he do what he did all those years ago to his family? To his brother?

The other man - not quite grown out yet of his softer, deceivingly innocent in their boyishness features - turned his gaze away from his brother's resting form and towards Kakashi. "He isn't ready," was his cryptic response. It triggered an alarm in the older man's head, but for the life of him he could not place why. Itachi watched passively as the jounin pondered the message within the words. The amicable silence was broken once more with Kakashi asking, "Why?"

The me was implied.

If he had blinked, he would've missed Itachi's eyes widen for a fraction of a second before narrowing and hardening once more. "We all have our debts to pay, Kakashi." Warning and a touch of weariness emphasized the pronunciation of his name. A shared past hung heavy between them as their eyes tore away from each other and returned once more to the broken figure on the mat.

"And I just walk out here with him."

From the corner of his eye, he saw Itachi's lips twitch in what he assumed had once been the boy's ability to smile. The sharingan eyes, however, danced with the laughter his lips could not. "There is yet a long way to go."

The travel itself took at least two days, and that was without the added problem of carrying a seriously injured comrade. But it wasn't the physical distance that Itachi had been referring to. Kakashi stepped forward into the dark room and knelt before his fallen ward. He cast a critical eye over the bruised and broken body. "Ahh," he agreed solemnly, brushing long dark bangs from the boy's forehead. Is this how you feel on the inside? he wondered. Kakashi sighed wearily. "Sasuke..."

Where he was now, was absolute darkness. It was cold and it was still and he thought that if this was what death was like, well then, it wasn't that bad. Where he was now, was detached from the feeling world. There was no pain, no sadness. No anger, no memories, no laughter. Nothing existed. And so, then, perhaps he did not exist either. It was an almost comforting thought. But someone, it seemed, was determined not to leave him in this place. A soft, sweat melody permeated the darkness, calling to him and beckoning him outside. Sasuke didn't want to, but he found himself entranced by the sound. Contradictions danced in perfect harmony with each other: it was playful yet mourning, fleeting like a summer breeze yet possessing an inherent strength that he could not place. How was it that something so beautiful, so assuring, could come to carry such profound sorrow as well? It stirred something deep within his soul and brought a warmth he had not known he longed for since childhood. It wrapped itself around him and lifted him gently, slowly, out of his subconscious mind. It lay him down into a bodily form that felt stiff and heavy, binding him once more to the physical world. He thought that if he tried to move, there would be unimaginable pain. But the song continued to call to him, promising more warmth and beauty if only he opened his eyes.

And so he did.

The stars greeted him beyond the darkness of the treetops from a clear night sky. A fire crackled beside him and warmed his face. Sasuke was lying on the ground, carefully tucked into several layers of blankets. The music, he realized, came from a single wooden flute. He focused on the haunting melody and made out notes of immense - grief? Yes, but that wasn't quite all of it. Loss, then? Or longing? He willed his head to turn towards the fire and the source of the exquisite melancholy. Dark eyes fells onto the back of a familiar head of shocking white hair.

The song slowed to an end. "How do you feel?" Kakashi asked as he lowered the flute to his lap, his back and the shadows cast by the flickering light of the fire hiding his unmasked face. Sasuke grunted reflexively, embarrassed to have been caught staring and tried to move his head back up to face the night sky. There was little else he could manage to do in his state.

"Ahh, I'm sorry." Kakashi's voice carried a hint of amusement as he shifted in his seat to face Sasuke, mask firmly back in place. He fished a canteen from his backpack and knelt before Sasuke. Gently, he lifted the boy's head with one hand and brought the water to his lips with the other. Sasuke coughed with the first gulp, spilling water on both himself and Kakashi. He made to apologize, but Kakashi shook his head and brought the canteen to his lips once more. Sasuke drank greedily. More than half the water was gone when Kakashi lay him back down.

"You play." Sasuke's voice was rough and barely audible.

"Yes," the jounin replied, watching his young ward carefully. "I do sometimes."

The boy's eyes fluttered closed. "It's... nice."

Understanding, Kakashi leaned back against the log he had been sitting on earlier and picked up his flute. He paused momentarily to glance at Sasuke before pulling his mask down once more. The boy would not open his eyes again. He brought the wooden instrument to his lips and continued to play well into the night, until he was sure the young Uchiha would remain of this world for another day.

When Naruto ate only two bowls of ramen, knowing full well he was being treated, Iruka knew something was up.

"Don't worry about them so much," he said brightly to the boy, inconspicuously pushing a third bowl towards him. "Kakashi is probably with Sasuke right now, on their way home as I speak."

Wide blue eyes looked up at him hopefully. The boy really wanted to believe him. "But why didn't Kakashi-sensei tell anybody that he was going? How did he even know before the rest of us that Sasuke was gone again?"

Iruka brought the bowl to his lips and took a long, deep gulp of the soup. "Because he is Hatake Kakashi. And Sasuke is Uchiha Sasuke," he said thoughtfully.

Naruto frowned. "Oi! Iruka-sensei..."

The chuunin instructor laughed and patted Naruto reassuringly on the back. "When he was your age, Kakashi was just the same as Sasuke. Proud, rich, extremely talented and extremely stuck up. Naturally, this made him the crush of all the pretty girls," Iruka and Naruto both made a sour face. "And at the time, he too was the heir of one of the finest, most noblest families in the village to meet a tragic end."

"Really?" Naruto knew almost nothing about his teacher's past. He was clinging to the edge of his seat now. "What happened? What did Kakashi-sensei do? I mean, of course he turned out alright in the end, didn't he?"

Memories pursed Iruka's lips into a thin, grim line. "Maybe." He looked straight ahead, unwilling to meet the blue eyes and wild blonde hair seeking the confirmation he could not give. He closed his eyes. "You have to let them know, every day, that they don't have to bear it alone. That you'll always be there for them, whether they want you there or not."

"Iruka-sensei." There was concern in Naruto's voice now. "I don't understand you."

The older man opened his eyes and smiled weakly. "What you have to remember about geniuses, Naruto, is that despite all their brains and all their talent -- they tend to overcomplicate things."

The greatest puzzle that dwelled on all Konoha minds - at some point or another and in varying degrees - was that of Sasuke's defection. Everyone knew the violent fate that befell the once proud Uchiha clan, so it was only natural to point the finger at Sasuke's personal vendetta against his older brother. But Kakashi wanted to believe himself as one of the very few people still alive that understood the complexities of Uchiha thought. After all, he literally saw the world through their eyes. In the past few months, he began to question less the reasons behind Sasuke's departure and more on the reasons for his return. It disturbed him that the boy expressed little to no regret for the past three years, but had been for coming back. And perhaps the answer to that was where the real danger lay.

One day not too long ago he'd stumbled upon Naruto and Sasuke in the forest. Undetected, he watched as his more boisterous student cornered the other demanding an answer to the three year old mystery. Sasuke had snorted at Naruto's absolute (if not wholly naive) belief that he would actually get a response. Before the blonde could let his anger get the better of him and attempt to physically force an answer out, Sasuke vanished with that frightening new speed he'd acquired, leaving Naruto momentarily lost and confused.

Since that day, Kakashi began to strongly suspect a new theory about the Uchiha. It pained him that, since The Third's death, he did not really have anyone who knew the Uchihas as well as he did to confide these suspicions to. The fact also was that his reputation as an Icha Icha Paradise fan preceded him. Yes, so maybe he was a bit of a romantic, but he was always serious when it came to the people closest to him. Mostly because, as a rule, he made sure there weren't a lot to be close to. As the overseer of Sasuke's training for those few months they were known as Team Seven, no one could've known the boy as well as he did save his teammates. The flip side, of course, was that meant no one would've been more capable of pulling Sasuke off this rather self-destructive path than he. Not that he hadn't tried. But Kakashi was just not one to force nor beat submission into another if he thought they were headed down the wrong path. Especially when said deviant was an Uchiha. That was perhaps Naruto's mistake - he had come on too strong.

When Sasuke left, he probably didn't expect to leave such strong feelings of loss with his absence. After all, he wasn't really leaving anyone behind that needed him. Not in that life fulfilling way he so craved. Sakura, bless her heart, didn't need him to go on living and he knew it. He probably even suspected that her affections towards him were a hindrance to her own growth as a shinobi. Seeing how Sakura had grown under Tsunade's tutelage, Kakashi could not disagree. Naruto, on the other hand, Kakashi was still undecided on. He knew that Naruto had always held very strong, very passionate feelings towards the other boy that he still wasn't completely aware of. Kakashi could still see clearly in his mind the utterly crushed look on his face when he'd regained consciousness at the waterfall. The place where Sasuke had broken his heart, and almost succeeded in doing so physically. Kakashi also remembered how the bruising on Naruto's chest had lingered long after all the other wounds had healed -- as if even the Kyuubi power within the boy could not fully repair the damage Sasuke's betrayal inflicted on his heart.

And now here they were, less then a mile from said site of the waterfall, just on the edge of their country's border. Kakashi had quickly built a fire and settled Sasuke's sleeping form beside it before going further alone into the forest. Once a safe distance from the camp site, he released his dogs with orders to turn away any ninjas who may be searching for them, assuring them that they'll be within the village in a day or two, and to send one medical shinobi some time later in the evening, escorted by Pakku. He then refilled his canteen at the waterfall and returned to the camp to give Sasuke the fresh water. Still dangerously weak and in pain, Sasuke did not notice that the jounin had also slipped a strong sedative into the canteen to ensure he was out cold for the rest of the evening. Sure enough, just after midnight, he heard the familiar bark of his mutt Pakku returning to the site with Shizune in tow. She carried with her a large medical bag. "Kakashi," she greeted solemnly, her eyes already locked on the lying form by the fire.

"He's sedated," the jounin explained as Tsunade's right-hand (wo)man knelt beside Sasuke's still form and began to unpack her equipment. "I did what I could for his flesh injuries. But the internal bleeding..."

Shizune frowned as she lifted Sasuke's shirt. Such a broken boy. She looked back at the white-haired ninja. "How did this happen?" Kakashi winced under her careful scrutiny, and that was all the response she required. "Itachi," she mumbled and returned her attention to Sasuke, rolling up her sleeves to begin the long process of healing the boy's physical wounds. The other wounds she would have to trust in Kakashi to heal. At least as best he could.

When she was done, it was almost dawn. She stood up and nodded towards Kakashi, who'd disappeared a good portion of the night while she was working on the boy. Something told her though that he strayed nowhere near the village, despite how close they were. "Thank you," he said, and there was sincere relief and gratitude in his voice.

Shizune shrugged nonchalantly and pulled her medical pack on her back, ready to set off again. "What do you want me to tell Tsunade-sama?"

Kakashi's eyes wandered to Sasuke. He was deceivingly peaceful in his slumber. "I need time."