Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

Caught in the Middle

Chapter one: Cold Hearts

Sasuke opened the door and looked at the room until he heard an impatiend growl behind him and remembered about Gaara waiting to get inside instead of waiting for him to stare. He entered and stepped asside, allowing the sand ninja to follow him inside the room. It was warm and everything was new and spotless. The walls were painted in a beautiful bloody red with some black kanji delicatly drawn in certain places and a huge window on the wall opposite to the door, black curtains hanging on each side, down to the floor. It was at dusk and there wasn't much light coming through the window so everything was a little obscure but it was obvious that the room was good for both of them to try to live together without killing each other.

There was one bed on the left side, on which Sasuke had already put his backpack and there was another bed on the other side of the room. There were bookshelves instead of bedside tables at the heads of the beds and next to the bookshelves guarding Gaara's bed was a door that led to a big bathroom. A desk occupied the opposite corner of the room, next to the window, on Sasuke's side of the room and it looked like they had to share it because there was only one. The other thing they had to share was the wardrobe but that seemed big enough to keep both the boys' clothes. All the pieces of furniture were dark-brown, the sheets covering the beds were black and the carpet on the floor was also a dark colour, although Sasuke couldn't determine it in the dim light.

Gaara let his gourd next to his bed and looked outside the window, through the branches of the old trees. Sasuke sat on his bed, still trying to figure out what had made him come to the Akatsuki and actually join the organization where he knew his brother was! He would be close to him now, but he didn't know if that would help him in his mission to kill the older Uchiha. The second thing he was trying to figure out was him being teamed up with Gaara and especially, the sand ninja one tailed-beast being there. Who would have thought Gaara to join the Akatsuki? He was the host of the Shukaku, it was impossible for the Akatsuki not to want anything to do with that and yet he had come without any second thoughts, but that was none of Sasuke's business and he didn't want to get involved.

It seemed almost a miracle that the Leader had accepted them so easily. It was a true miracle that they could 'persuade' two of the members, Kakuzu and Hidan, to tell them where the Akatsuki base was. After torturing Hidan for weeks (Sasuke had lost his temper with Kakuzu and 'accidentally' killed him) they found out everything they wanted to know. Now they would let the Akatsuki members do their jobs and get the traitor back to punish him in their own way...

"Are you hungry?" Sasuke asked, looking tired at Gaara, who was stading in front of the window with his arms crossed. The red-haired ninja shook his head after glimpsing towards him and went to his bed, lying on it to stare at the ceiling. "Yeah, me neither..." the Uchiha muttered, doing the same thing, but intending to sleep rather than stare at the red ceiling like his new partner. He didn't know much about Gaara, just that he couldn't sleep because of the shukaku and he thought he didn't want to know more. Besides, the red head was just not going to tell him anything. He was there only to have the chance to kill as much as he wanted, not for a stupid partnership or anything else.

He closed his eyes, enjoying the dark and the silence. Still, with all his tiredness, he wanted to know where his brother was. Itachi must have recognised his chakra pattern by then and was probably trying to find out what was his little foolish brother doing there with the host of the one tailed beast. He first felt Gaara's unusual chakra as he concentrated on locating Itachi, but he was used to such weird pattern because of Naruto, then scanned the other rooms in search of his brother. Sasuke nearly jumped out of the bed. He could feel it in the room next to them, a calm, cold flow, impossible to mistake for another. So Itachi was right next door! How funny could destiny be...

So, he was calm? Sasuke could almost feel hate burning inside him when he thought about his brother. How could Itachi not feel the same knowing that he was there, right under his nose?? That bastard. He told his thoughts to shut up and decided that a bath would be good for his sore body to relax and stood up, heading towards the bathroom door. For some reason (instinct perhaps) he wanted to dodge an imaginary blow of Gaara's sand but he somehow felt disappointed when he realised that the red-haired ninja had no intent to attack him with his chakra infused sand and entered the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

Everything was made of white marble with red veins drawing complicated nets on the floor and walls. Sasuke looked in the huge mirror above the sink and saw his hair was tousled more than ever and that his headband was starting to fall to one side, the horror of him almost looking like Kakashi making the boy turn around to let the hot spring water to fill the tub. He then took his headband off by simply pulling it and looked at the symbol of Konoha. He took his kunai and placed its sharp point on the metal, slowly moving his hand to leave a scratch mark over the leaf symbol. Now he really felt like a missing-nin.

He almost threw his other clothes off him to get into the tub as fast as he could and happily sunk in the hot water, feeling his strained muscles finally relaxing. A smile bloomed on his lips and he let out a groan of pleasure, feeling the smooth surface of the tub against his back and the water like a hot liquid blaket wrapped lightly around him. So, the Akatsuki members were treated like real aristocrats despite being such low criminals... at least he could cope with that aspect. He still didn't know if he'd be able to kill with such cold blood, but he was sure Gaara would be more than happy to do that for him until he got used to being a member of that organization.

He couldn't wait to be face to face with that bastard that was his brother. Even after two years of training with the other bastard, the snake Orochimaru, his abilities were not enough to surpass Itachi's. Sasuke just couldn't wait to see his reaction to his little brother being there, so close, as a member of the same organization. He'd enjoy to see Itachi full of rage or even ready to kill him for being such an idiot, because Sasuke knew that joining the Akatsuki was the last thing he should have done, mostly because it was only to annoy his older brother.

Sasuke let his body glide smoothly deeper into the tub, looking at the bubbles he made by exhaling with his nose under water. He accidentally inhaled and jumped out in an instant, sneezing and coughing angrily. He wrapped a towel around his waist and took another one to dry his hair, walking out of the bathroom still coughing to get rid of the water viciously burning his windpipe.

His heart jolted strangely again when he saw Gaara sitting on the window sill. His left leg was propped up and his arm was resting on top of his knee, while his other leg was hanging motionless along the wall, not reaching the floor, his right arm bent in his lap. Sasuke went to his bed and sat on it, drying his hair with the towel while silently gazing at the sand ninja. A silver moonbeam fell on his face, making it even more pale, but not pale like a dead, just beautifully pale. Probably the slight glitter of his sand shield was making his skin look like that.

Sasuke slipped into his boxers and shorts, making sure that Gaara wasn't looking and just as he was going to put his black sleeping t-shirt on, the sand ninja jumped of the window sill silently and went into the bathroom. The Uchiha finished dressing and heard the tub filling with water. So, he was not the only one who appreciated a bath after such a long journey. Wait a minute. He turned around and looked next to Gaara's bed. He had left his gourd behind! Sasuke was finally free to look at it closely! He couldn't miss such an opportunity!

He waited to hear the water stop pouring in the tub, then Gaara's clothes rustled in the silence and finally, no more sounds. Sasuke had to move carefully and he was able to do that easily because leaf ninjas were trained to use stealth almost perfectly, due to the fact that Konoha was surrounded by thick forests and any crack of wood under a ninja's foot could have turned a mission into a disaster. Finally, he reached the bed and knelt in front of the gourd, holding his hands out to touch it. His eyes became crimson red and he could now see the tiny particles of sand the gourd was made from, thanks to his sharingan.

His fingers spread as he almost touched the strange gourd Gaara took with him everywhere but just as he thought he could feel the hard sand under his fingers, his body was gripped by sand from inside the gourd, lifted into the air, unable to move any part of his body but his head. He struggled but with no other effect than his physical exhaustion. He had underestimated Gaara. How could he have been so foolish to believe the sand ninja would leave his gourd unprotected?? There was nothing he could do except wait.

Almost half an hour later, the bathroom door opened and Sasuke turned his head to meet the eyes of a very calm Gaara, who walked to his bed without looking at him, as if he weren't even there, trapped in his sand. The red-haired ninja had a towel around his waist and his chest was exposed to Sasuke's curious look. He was thin, but with well developed muscles visible under pale skin and no exposed ribs to count, as the leaf ninja had thought.

Sand covered Sasuke's eyes as he heard clothes rustling and after less than a minute, the sand making everything darker than it actually was returned to the rest of the harsh mass keeping his body unmoved and he could see Gaara finally looking at him.

"Are you going to keep me like this for the rest of the night?" Sasuke asked, trying to sound less sleepy than he was. It was such an embarrassing situation.

"No. I might kill you for this." the reply was, cool, calm and colected.

"I was just curious."

"Curiosity is going to get you killed one day. This gourd is like my own body."

Sasuke felt a cold shiver running down his spine at the sound of his voice. There was something about it that made him feel weird. More like... frightened. He hated that word but it was close to what he felt and he couldn't deny it. Something in that icy tone told him that Gaara wouldn't hesitate in doing what he had said. 'I might kill you for this'. By saying that the gourd was like his body, the sand ninja probably suggested that he could feel whatever approached it just like he could feel anything near his body.

"I wasn't going to do anything." the Uchiha defended himself.

"Respect other people's property and I shall let you live."

"I'm not afraid of you!" Sasuke snapped.

Gaara sat on his bed and the grip slightly tightened around the raven-haired ninja. He knew he could be crushed like a bug but that didn't matter as long as he was in such an embarrassing situation. He tried to move and discovered that his body was now starting to hurt.

"I don't care if you are afraid of me or not. Mind your own business."

The sand around Sasuke released him and went back inside the gourd as the ninja tried to stand without trembling because of numbness. He didn't want Gaara to think he was weak so he looked at him, ready for a short fight before going to bed but to his great surprise, the sand ninja lay in bed already, obviously not interested in any kind of arguments.

Sasuke grawled at him and went out of the room, turning back to the door and staring at it like an idiot when he realised he didn't know why he had left it! It certainly had something to do with his vainglory. Now he could only enter the room at least an hour later, otherwise Gaara would know he had been overwhelmed by shame and fear.

He grawled again, wondering what could he do in a whole hour. He needed sleep, that was for sure, but he couldn't sleep until he got back into the room. He turned away, trying not to think about his warm bed and fluffy pillow and grawled again. Sasuke stopped suddenly at the sight of one of the Akatsuki members, swallowing a thick lump in his throat to speak in a hoarse voice that didn't even seem to be his.

"Itachi!"

He met his brother's sharingan just for a second before the man entered his room and closed the door. Without thinking twice, Sasuke rushed after him, slamming the door and locking it without any purpose.

"Don't you dare ignore me!" he hissed. "Look at me!" the boy demanded, angry that his brother wouldn't even bother to look at him.

"To see what?" Itachi's reply was as he slowly turned his head to gaze upon Sasuke with one crimson eye.

"I came here to prove that I can be just as good as you! At least try to look as if you realise what I've done!"

"You've done nothing great."

Despite that barrier of void that hid Itachi's true feelings and thoughts, Sasuke could see a slight trace of disappointment in his eyes. Nothing great?

"So... you've got nothing else to say to me? Something like 'oh, Sasuke you're so stupid and such a nuisance why did you bother come here you little brat'?"

"Why waste my time with you?" he replied in a cold voice, making Sasuke take a deep breath and step backwards. Itachi took his cloak off and put it on the couch, then turned to his little brother and glared silently at him. "You don't want to be here anymore." The man almost let the light of a smile brighten his eyes. "But there is no turning back now. You shouldn't have come here in the first place."

"Why not?" Sasuke glared with the same anger.

"I am the first reason for which you should have never left Konoha."

"And the second reason?"

"You."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Me?"

Itachi narrowed his eyes. His little brother was still so naive and childish. Still just a kid despite that mature body that emprisoned his soul. Such a pity.

"Never mind. Guess you'll always be too ignorant to notice me anyway." Sasuke suddenly snapped, leaving the room just as fast as he had come in. He didn't give a damn on his pride right now so he angrily slammed the door to his room, completely forgeting about Gaara, jumped in his bed and pulled the soft blanket over him, biting his lip in frustration. Itachi was right, there was no turning back now.

So, he was now a member of the Akatsuki, the criminal organization where his brother was and he was teamed with a cold blooded sand ninja who would have killed him without a second thought. How worst could it get?