Hello All.

Yes, I'm alive.

Should I tell you exactly why I've been away so long (including the hospital visits, exams, work, stress and madness) then we'll be here all day. Fortunately, I'm not gonna do that and so- without further ado:

Enjoy:

Pairing: NaruSasuNaru

Rating: M. Seriously potty mouth this boy has.

Dedication: To Skully- for her (abnormal) patience.

Beta: Ffft. Yeah, right. Forgive the horrible mistakes within- I have tried my best.

Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine- he belongs to Mashashi Kishimot. Also, the lyrics quoted are from Shinedown's song 'Energy'. That's not mine either.

Chapter 3: Fracture

A fucking bio bomb or something must have just landed in Sasuke's house because right now the Uchiha knew he was hallucinating.

"Married." Sasuke parroted tonelessly.

Mikoto nodded brightly and clutched unto the man's –Madara's- hand even more tightly. For his part the sharp eyed male just took in the youth's stunned appearance with a grim twist to his thin lips.

Sasuke blinked once, twice then stood up and headed towards the kitchen without a word.

Inside the spacious butter-cream colored room Sasuke stood like a mannequin. Married. His fucking mother was getting married. To- to a….

The Uchiha spun on his heels and yanked open the double door fridge before sticking his head inside the freezer and just leaving it there. Arctic air crashed over the brunet like a frigid tsunami and even though Sasuke knew he was probably giving himself a head cold he left it there any way. One minute…two minutes…time slipped away like smoke.

Oddly enough Sasuke wasn't thinking about anything in particular- his thought processes seemed to have frozen and left the Uchiha absently considering the properties of the packet of ground beef right in front of his nose. Odd- his mother normally bought the other brand- the one without the-

"That's not healthy for you." A soft voice stated absently.

Sasuke shifted slightly and turned to blankly eye Madara out of the corner of his eye. The immaculate man was gazing hard and unwaveringly back. Sasuke blinked.

Moments passed in utter silence before Sasuke slowly pulled his head out of the freezer. Reaching in, he extracted the packet of ground beef before closing the door. A half stride later and he'd liberated pasta from the pantry. Wordlessly Sasuke went to the bar counter and began to assemble his materials.

Madara didn't move an inch.

Sasuke had gotten the beef cleaned, into a seasoning bow and doused under onions and black pepper before he spoke.

"Where is she?"

"With the boys…upstairs."

Mindlessly Sasuke added the scallion and thyme before shifting to find a pot and setting it on the stove. The younger of the two watched the pot heat with flat eyes.

"Do you know that she does this every six months or so? Finds a new man and claims to be getting married but dumps them before the fact. My mother- the serial bride."

Madara moved soundlessly around the island and reached for the olive oil before handing it to Sasuke.

"Yes."

Figures, Sasuke thought. A man like him doesn't make a decision without researching every conceivable thing he could beforehand.

Sasuke reached for the bow and with the aid of the dicing knife he slid the contents into the hissing oil. Carefully he covered the pot- but he didn't relinquish the knife. Sasuke's heart rate tripled in mere seconds but he forced himself to remain calm. The balance of power was about to be established- and Sasuke would be damned before he came away as the submissive.

"Does she know what you are?"

Madara's eyebrows shot up into his hairline. A tiny flash of teeth followed. "And what, pray tell, am I young one?"

Sasuke just stared. Hard.

Utter silence.

His gaze was returned by coldly amused black eyes and- no matter if his heart was going to beat out of his throat- dared the intruder to answer. Madara's lip twitched in both amusement and grudging admiration.

"…No."

The elder man kept his eyes locked with Sasuke's as he silently handed over a wooden spoon. Sasuke took it in his other hand. Not relinquishing the knife was a sign of fear yes- but it was a petty loss. Sasuke had already gained the upper hand.

Deliberately breaking eye contact Sasuke removed the pot cover and stirred the simmering contents.

"I must admit," Madara muttered softly, "you're just as smart as they said you were."

Sasuke didn't react. Not even for the implication that he'd been watched. Under no circumstances did he want to build a rapport with this man. He'd been burned one too many times by powerful, manipulative bastard thank you.

The older man delicately perched himself on a bar stool and a sardonic smile etched at the corner of his lips.

"What gave me away?"

The Uchiha's nostrils flared in annoyance. This fuck just wouldn't give up would he?

"My, what a temper you have young Sasuke."

The eighteen year old casually turned his back and fished out large pot for the pasta before dunking it under the faucet.

"Not afraid are you?" Madara sighed tiredly. "I keep forgetting how big the egos of the Uchiha family are."

Sasuke couldn't resist. "Don't you mean our family?"

"No- I mean your family. I don't look like an Uchiha, do I?"

The dark haired teen didn't need to look up to know that the man was pulling an innocent, wide eyed expression. Asshole.

The noodles went on and the sauce went into the beef. The warm kitchen was starting to pleasantly smell like cilantro, thyme and the . Sasuke looked back up and stared straight at Madara.

"Why her?"

The dark eyed man's gaze became serious. "The boys need a mother. Their birth mother- a woman named Konan- is unknown to them and I would prefer for them to have some semblance of normality in their lives. My…world is yet unknown to them as well."

"That's it?" Sasuke accused. "You just want them to have a Mom?"

Madara shifted to look out the window and for a fleeting second Sasuke fancied that he saw a flash of utter exhaustion cross the man's face. It was gone in seconds though and Sasuke passed it off as a trick of the dying evening light.

"That's it." The other man turned to face Sasuke and there was- oddly enough- a gleam of honesty in the black red eyes. "No nefarious plots, no underhanded schemes, no convoluted conspiracy. Your noodles are done."

The Uchiha blinked at the non-sequitor before turning away to strain the soft pasta. For the first time in what seemed like eons the eighteen year old allowed his mind to work furiously. In sheer seconds he considered scores of possibilities and probable actions but discarded them just as quickly. Turning back to the stove Sasuke rested the noodles down and clicked the beef off. He stared the long haired man right in the eyes.

"…I hate children."

Madara's grin was shark like. "I know. You're the only senior boy in your year that didn't enter the mentorship program."

Sasuke slammed the metal cover unto the pot. "And I fucking hate people snooping into my life too."

The man nodded- eyes wide in comic sincerity. "Of course- that's why you get so pissed when your blond boy snoops in your laptop. I know these things."

Sasuke glared.

Madara just threw back his head and laughed.

Who cares who's there to stare and tell you how to look?

I'm not even sure they know you by name.

Who cares who's there to share what they think of you,

Everybody here plays the same fucking ga-

"Fuck this music is emo." Sasuke muttered to himself as he stuffed his feet into his shoes. It was pushing two am and the house was as dark and silent as the grave. The pervasive blackness from outside seemed to push into the room through the French windows and for the millionth time Sasuke found himself wondering just how the fuck he was sleeping on the couch while two snot nosed brats lounged in his bedroom.

No mistake, Sasuke didn't mind the couch- It was a soft, deep, human-swallower of a thing that was probably more comfortable than his mattress, but it was the principle of the entire situation. His own mother had kicked him out of his room to put up the children of a man who the Uchiha would bet his life was a drug dealer. Ass crack of night or not Sasuke was getting the fuck out of there.

Shod, the young man unfolded his frame and pressed the next button on his iPod; for all their brilliance Shinedown sometimes only managed to piss him off. Silently Sasuke moved across to the foyer where he grabbed his duffel and hoodie. His hand was on the doorknob when-

"The last time you crept out of my house in the middle of the night I didn't see you again for eleven months."

…..Fuck.

Sasuke didn't turn to look at his mother. Her soft voice had speared him through the gut and he cursed himself a fool for forgetting how light a sleeper Mikoto was. How many nights in his childhood had he woken up to find his mother puttering silently about his room checking windows and switching off paused video games.

"Sasuke," Mikoto continued softly. "Do you really hate me that much?"

Oh double fuck. The Uchiha sighed and pressed his forehead against the polished ash door. The bitch of the situation was that no, he didn't hate her. Naïve as Mikoto was Sasuke understood her and accepted her for it.

"I just-" a shuffle alerted him to her movement towards him. "Sasuke, the last time…when you ran away it broke my heart you know that? I woke up and my baby child was gone into god knows where. We searched for you for so long. Combing the back alleys and homes until Fugaku started suggesting the morgues."

Sasuke grit his teeth. This same old guilt trip again. He had been fourteen when he'd left; lured away into a darkness by a man that wanted more from him than he could give. Orochimaru had been the ultimate predator; a snake of a man who offered power and adventure to a lost teen who had been standing impotent as his family fell apart. In hindsight the Uchiha knew he had run away more out of silly teen angst and rebellion than for true disaster- it had been a mistake but a mistake that had fucked up more lives than he cared to admit.

He also knew that if it hadn't been for one tenacious blond who had missed school for an entire year and almost literally walked the fucking 188 mile distance from Konoha to Sendai to drag his ass back home then he would still be there in Sound, probably drugged and fucked out of his mind.

Naruto.

God. Naruto.

"You're going back to your father's?"

And Sasuke just loved how they always made him the connection between them instead of their own fucked up decisions. Fugaku was always 'your' father, never 'her' ex-husband.

"No." He answered flatly, opening the door.

"Naruto-kun then?" The hopeful tilt in her voice reminded him just how much his mother loved the blond. Before he could answer Mikoto had spun around and padded into the kitchen. Soft rattles, bangs and the rustle of a paper bag caused Sasuke to frown momentarily before she came back pushing a reinforced hemp bag at him.

"Here." She insisted. "Some things for the both of you- the rest of that spag bol you did, some ramen and a few other things. I know how he eats and- Oh!"

Sasuke blinked as his mother rushed back upstairs to her room for a second before coming back with a-

Oh hell no.

"No Mother." Sasuke grated as she began to tuck the wad of US notes into his pocket.

Mikoto's lips thinned and Sasuke remembered that this woman had stared down a drunken Fugaku before. She didn't acknowledge him as she finished her task and turned away. Sasuke cursed under his breath before turning back to the door.

"…Sasuke?"

A beat.

Her voice was defeated. "I'm sorry."

He didn't even turn back as the door shut behind him and the freezing night air cramped his lungs. Once again Sasuke deliberately didn't think about anything; not about how dangerous it was to leave Mikoto alone with a murderer, not about how dangerous getting back to the Proper would be and certainly not about how his own mother would rather apologize for saving herself than him.

No, definitely not that.

Anything but that.

Two thirty seven am and Sasuke was plodding, head down, past the few drawn looking hookers that haunted the Proper's streets like exhausted ghosts. He'd passed the high school a couple minutes ago and the old wooden Mother of Our Faith church where Naruto went for Rehab meetings was looming up ahead of him. Sasuke figured another half an hour and he'd be home- with Naruto.

But first- his fucking iPod was blaring Shinedown again. Grumbling, Sasuke pulled the slim silver digit from his pocket and ruthlessly jammed his finger into the next button. He'd only been distracted for a second but experience should have taught him that that was a second too long. He looked up to find himself staring into the stitched up face of Konoha's resident Frankenstein.

"Ain't it a bit past your bedtime Uchiha?"

Sasuke felt like slamming his head into a wall.

"No Kazuku- but I'm sure they're missing you for your 3 am performance back at Cirque du Freak. Run along now Stitches, I don't have the energy."

The gangsters face mutated into a monstrous glare.

"The fuck you just done call me, bottom boy?"

Ok, fine. Not the wisest move- Sasuke would give himself that. Everyone knew that the Scourge of Konoha despised having the numerous raised, stitch like puckered scars on his body acknowledged in any form. Sasuke had heard that the last punk to insult Kazuku's body had ended up flayed and minus one liver.

"I said, what did you just-"

"Kazuku- enough." A low whisper slipped into the conversation like smoke. Immediately the bulky man moved a step back, his abnormal yellow-green looking eyes brimming with hatred.

Sasuke stopped dead.

"Show yourself Sabaku." He ordered barely managing to cover the homicidal intent that had flared up inside him. Sabaku Gaara; the man the young raven would give anything to sink a bullet into, materialized from the darkness.

"I was not concealing myself Uchiha Sasuke." He stated in that soft half strangled voice of his that made the Uchiha's fingers itch to finish the job.

There was no love lost between the two at all despite how similar they were. Having known each other from infancy the two had grown together in close proximity since Gaara's father, the Mayor, had had a close working relationship with his Chief of Police.

The redhead had actually been alright back in the day; sure he rarely spoke and had a tendency to stare blankly at something for hours at a time but he'd been alright. Sasuke had introduced him to Naruto and the three had been thick as thieves for a while with the hyperactive blond actually managing to coax some laughter out of the quiet redhead every now and again.

But then they turned eight and after Gaara's mother had lost her fight with cancer the brilliantly successful Kazekage had swallowed a mouthful of bleach and half a bottle of Xanax. Bye Bye nice Gaara.

"The fuck ever." Sasuke retorted. "What are you doing out here- trying to lure more innocent people into heroin dependency?"

Gaara's soft green eyes just stared at Sasuke. Fuck the five foot bastard for being so pretty too.

"Naruto came to me because you left him for your forty year old lover. I comforted him the way I knew how."

Sasuke was torn between vehemently denying that Orochimaru had been his lover and slamming the sole of his three hundred dollar loafers into Gaara's delicate nose.

"You made him an addict you bastard! God knows how he survived when he came for me. He still won't tell me how he got his fix during those months on the road. Do you know what his withdrawals were like Sabaku?" Sasuke snarled taking a step closer.

"Where the fuck was your comfort when he was shivering so hard he bit his tongue nearly in half? Where were you when he couldn't eat for a month and the house reeked of vomit and piss? The fuck were you when he started hallucinating Sabaku? Sucking Frankenstein's dick?"

To Gaara's credit the redhead lowered his eyes momentarily and a vague something flickered past his pale face.

Sasuke stared at the shorter teen and felt himself tremble in rage. Naruto was still Gaara's friend though and he knew that the blond would be pissed if he hurt him. Gaara's appearance usually fooled people into thinking he was a helpless little androgyne but Sasuke had seen the Sabaku heir wipe his delicate fingers clean of blood after sinking a sharpened pencil into a classmate's shoulder.

Silence reigned supreme for a few minutes before Gaara looked up and stepped to the side symbolically.

"Pass Uchiha Sasuke. I do not wish to confront you."

That fuck. Sasuke was itching for a fight but it was late and the Uchiha didn't particularly want three am in the morning to be realized in the ER.

Gritting his teeth Sasuke stalked past the short redhead and the other members of his gang that had stayed silent in the shadows of the church eaves. As he passed the marble front steps Sasuke glanced up at the large crucifix that hung above the entry archway. He hadn't set foot in a church in years, half out of lost faith and the other half out of sardonic fear that he'd be struck dead the second he entered. Mikoto had always been a religious woman and she'd dutifully toted Sasuke and Itachi behind her whenever she went to Mass. Sasuke had absorbed the tales of the good lord and could still remember some of them but right now, when the world was pitch black and the problems kept coming, Sasuke wondered what kind of merciful god was up there.

Passing by the Uchiha continued up the street suddenly desperate for his floor mattress and his lover's warm Irish Spring scented body.

Fifteen minutes later Sasuke pushed his way into the empty foyer of Naruto's house. Tossing his duffel into some random corner the Uchiha toed of his shoes, tore off his sweater, chucked the iPod unto the floor and fell, exhausted and face first beside a snoring blond- only to be jabbed in the gut by a hard edge.

Motherfuc-

Yanking the sheet back Sasuke snorted in disgust at the blonde's still snoring form- Judgment day wouldn't wake Naruto from sleep. Looking back down to the object he had fallen on Sasuke's eyes widened when the flickering moonlight highlighted the words blazoned on the cover of the hard backed book.

'Climbing Out- What to Do When Your Marriage is in the Gutter.'

Sasuke blinked.

Wait…..What?

Lawl. Poor Sasuke. He just doesn't get a break does he? XD