Note from the Author: I've taken yet another step away from my sanity.

And one can tell I'm still completely obsessed with NejiHina here. It's almost pathetic. And someone explain to me why I'm writing NaruSasu when I hate Sasuke.

I noticed that Kiba is the only boy besides Lee that uses suffixes when addressing boys.

I disclaim Naruto and "Catch Without Arms."

I'm not your star.

Uchiha Sasuke couldn't say that he ever really liked anyone in their little group. He wasn't really a people-person to begin with, in fact. But now that there were four couples in this group of fifteen, Sasuke really didn't like them.

He refused to look at Neji and Hinata – or Shikamaru and Temari – or Lee and Sakura – when they kissed. It wasn't that seeing it particularly bothered him – it was just his personal protest because everyone seemed to have such a problem with him kissing his boyfriend.

So now he sat scowling on a park bench as the Hyuugas kissed, connecting briefly at the lips before coming apart, just to come back together again – like magnets.

It was the middle of July, and the whole gang was gathered in the park. Inuzuka Kiba and Kankurou were terrorizing the toddlers on the jungle gym. Temari and Nara Shikamaru were lying cuddled on a blanket, picking out animal shapes in the clouds. Rock Lee and TenTen were sitting cross-legged beside them, exchanging CDs while Haruno Sakura was having her hair braided by Yamanaka Ino. Akimichi Chouji was munching contentedly on potato chips; Aburame Shino and Gaara were sitting quietly by, just enjoying everyone's company. And of course, Sasuke was by himself, completely miserable and wishing he had a gun so he could shoot both of the flirting Hyuugas in the head.

A kiss landed unexpectedly on his cheek. "Somethin' on your mind, hot stuff?" Uzumaki Naruto grinned, leaning on the back of the bench.

Sasuke grimaced at the nickname and tilted his head back. "Shut up." He murmured, wrapping an arm around his boyfriend's neck to bring their mouths together, before asking, "Why were you late?"

Naruto winced, hopping over the backrest into the seat beside him. "Iruka's fucking crazy. Decided my room was too messy for me to go out. Had to clean the whole damn thing."

Sasuke gave the closest thing he could to a smile. Naruto had been orphaned in a car accident as a baby and Umino Iruka, a friend of the family and a teacher in their high school, had adopted him. He was kind, reasonable, and honest – though he could be a bit overbearing – and he had been completely understanding of Naruto's relationship with Sasuke.

Now the Uchiha leaned close, brushing his lips on the skin at the blonde boy's hairline. "So do you really want to be here?" he breathed against his ear.

"Sasuke-teme, Naruto warned with a vague growl, nipping at the older boy's neck playfully. "We're here to hang out with our friends."

Sasuke sighed in exasperation, running his hand through his dark hair even though it was just going to stick up in the back anyway. "Well, we're all doing different things anyway, dobe. We're not really hanging out."

Naruto slid his arms around his waist. "Yeah, but we're all doing different things together." He turned his boyfriend's head toward him, captured him in a kiss again. "Come on, teme." He murmured, biting at his lip. "You love these people and you know it."

"Nope." Sasuke answered honestly, shifting with a strange cat-like grace to tuck his head beneath the younger boy's chin. "You're here – that's the only reason I put up with them."

"You're not so much better than them." Naruto teased, running his fingers through his hair and smiling when he gave a little purring sound. "Besides, they all like you."

Sasuke was about to open his mouth to protest that he was better than them, but it seemed the other thirteen teenagers present had collectively registered Naruto's presence and were shouting greetings to him. He untangled himself from Sasuke, grinning at Hinata who had called a "Hello, Naruto-kun." It became a bit forced at the scathing expression on Neji's face, and the elder Hyuuga pulled his cousin protectively into his arms.

It had been almost half a year since Naruto had told Sasuke he was in love with him and had been since they were twelve. Sasuke had been in complete denial, and decided to date Sakura just to prove he was straight. So Naruto had used a date with Hinata, who he knew had a crush on him, as an excuse to stalk the couple. Eventually, Naruto had followed him to the bowling alley bathroom, Sasuke had pinned him to the wall by the payphones and they had had their first – very heated – kiss. Of course, the moment had been completely disrupted by Sakura and Hinata walking in on them. Hinata had run home, crying. It had been awful, but she had fallen in love with her cousin soon after and had forgiven Naruto for using her – but Neji had never forgiven him for hurting her.

The elder Hyuuga and Naruto were the only real sore spot in the group – the only two people that didn't get along. Instead of constantly picking fights with each other, though – like Sasuke and Naruto had before they finally confessed – they opted to ignore each other or settled to send each other death glares.

Sasuke settled back against Naruto, laying his head on his shoulder, dark eyes lazily running over the group.

"Know what I think?" Naruto asked suddenly, instantly grabbing everyone's attention. "I think we should take a road trip."

"Oh, my God – that'd be so fun!" Ino clapped her hands excitedly.

"Where would we go?" Sakura asked, pulling her plaited pink hair over her shoulder to examine Ino's handiwork. "We have a whole country and – what – two vehicles?"

"Yeah." Kiba threw a pebble in the direction of a two-year-old and snickered when she started crying. "We have Sasuke-kun's Mustang" – not that anyone had asked him if it was okay to use it – "and Neji-kun's van. And I'm sure someone could guilt a parent into borrowing a family car."

"My dad'd probably let us borrow the station wagon." Shikamaru suggested, pushing himself up on his elbows while impressively ignoring his protesting girlfriend. "We won't look too cool, but we'll be more comfortable than cramming seven people in Sasuke's car like we usually do."

Naruto might as well have been bouncing in his seat, so Sasuke shifted to sit cross-legged beside him. "Let's do it!" he practically shouted, blue eyes shining excitedly.

"Where to?" Hinata asked in her quiet way, resting against Neji, who had his arms wrapped around her.

"Let's head toward the west coast." Temari suggested after sitting up and huffily pushing her boyfriend over. "I've always wanted to stretch out on a Cali beach." She gave a little giggle and demonstrated how she would lay out by falling back dreamily on the blanket.

"That might be fun." Sakura agreed, smiling widely. "Let's do it. We could leave this weekend."

"No – we'd have to do it at the end of July at earliest." Lee piped up.

"Oh, yeah – shit." Kiba growled, gesturing to himself, as well as Hinata, Neji, TenTen, Lee, and Shino. "We all have jobs."

"I'm sure Gai-sensei would be cool if we all took off for a couple weeks." TenTen lifted her shoulder in a vague shrug. "They'd be busy, but if he took the register and Kurenai-sensei took the stove -"

"Yeah, and he'd probably be happy we were making the most of our youth." Neji cut in, rolling his eyes. "Alright, when Hinata-sama and I go in tomorrow, we'll talk to them and see if we can get off for all six of us."

"Yay!" Ino leapt to her feet, did a little dance. "We're going on a road trip!"

"Yo." Kankurou swung up from where he was hanging upside down on the monkey bars. "Check out the sky."

Fourteen heads mimicked his, lifting. Roiling grey clouds were giving off low, angry growls.

"Damn weather." Naruto murmured and hopped up. "Let's go for Chinese, huh?"

There was a collective agreement, and everyone started to gather things together and form a little mob of people on the sidewalk.

"You know," Sasuke grabbed Naruto's hand and pulled him away from the group, "I think I'm just going to head home."

Naruto sighed, disappointed – as if this happened all the time. "Okay." He let his lips touch Sasuke's in a short good-bye kiss. "We'll hang out this weekend, okay? Just the two of us." He whispered, embracing him gently.

Sasuke nodded against his shoulder, then broke away to start the short walk home.

Like Naruto, Sasuke was an orphan. His parents had been killed in a drive-by shooting when he was eight. They had left him, as well as his older brother, enough money to live comfortably for the rest of their lives. They shared a loft apartment and each had a car, never having felt the need for a guardian because Itachi was an adult.

Sasuke reached the walkway of his building as the rain started coming. Mumbling a few choice curses, he let himself in, opting for the stairs as opposed to the elevator to delay his arrival home.

Eventually, he was opening the door and Itachi was looking up at him from the couch, a glint in his dark eyes. "Hi, honey – how was your day?"

Sasuke shook the water out of his hair, slipping from his shoes. "Can it, Itachi." He snarled, stalking past him into the kitchen. "I'm not in the mood."

His hand was on the fridge door when he felt an arm around his waist. "I'll get you in the mood." Itachi murmured, slipping a hand into his pants.

0

Sasuke locked the bathroom door. After turning on the shower, he lifted the toilet seat, dropped to his knees, and vomited. He heaved until there was nothing left in his stomach, tears leaking from his eyes, and collapsed on the tile, sobbing. He hated Itachi for what he did to him. He hated himself for the sounds he made when he was fucking him – for needing it so badly. His brother offered him a love that he couldn't even ask Naruto to give him – he loved him in a rough, raw way that Naruto couldn't because he didn't hate Sasuke like Itachi did. There was no way to stop this – Itachi was like a hallucinogen, tricking him into believing it was okay – a perfect place he could run to – sex that could make everything bad go away.

He pulled himself to his feet, stripping and stepping into the scalding water, rinsing the anger and frustration away with the soap – at least until the next incident.

0

"Hey," Itachi nudged Sasuke's bedroom door open with his shoulder and threw the phone at him where he lay on his bed. "It's your boyfriend."

Sasuke grimaced, muted the television, and picked it up. "Hi, baby." He whispered, sending his brother a Get-the-hell-out look. For once, he complied, but not before lifting his eyebrows suggestively.

"Baby?" Naruto's loud voice rang around his head. "Since when do you call me by pet names?"

"Thought I'd try something new." His voice was hoarse, and he though about making tea so that Naruto didn't noti –

"Hey, your voice sounds funny." Of course he noticed. "It sounds like – have you been throwing up again?"

"It's nothing."

"Sasuke-teme," he warned.

"I'm okay, I promise." The Uchiha pulled his blankets up over his head, hiding in the darkness.

"I can take you to the doctor if you want."

"Naruto, I'm okay." He repeated. "Really. After I get some sleep, I'll be fine."

"Alright," Naruto gave in, hesitant concern soaking his voice. "I love you, teme."

Sasuke closed his eyes against the words, his thumb moving to the disconnect button. "I'll call you tomorrow." He said softly before pressing it.