AN: This story is a sequel to Hero Worship. If you haven't read it yet, that's ok, this story can stand alone. If however you haven't read it yet and would like to read it, if can be found here: /s/4504498/1/HeroWorshipPart1
Just to be clear, I lay claim only to my OC, Kyousuke and the story itself. All the other characters and the settings belong to Masashi Kishimoto. (Oh, and another OC that makes a brief appearance much later in the story belongs to me as well.)
So, without further rambling, I give you Hero Worship: Then & Now!

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Kyousuke stood aside, letting the flow of people pass him unhindered. The day had ceased to be anything more than the passage of time, people hurrying by in their own capsules of time. Kyousuke's eyes were riveted on one couple that moved along with the crowd, though neither seemed aware of the crowd. When you were so deeply in love, no one existed but the one you love. Feeling his heart clench slightly, Kyousuke forces his gaze away from the couple. Sasuke looked so much like his older brother, it made it hard for Kyousuke to breathe sometimes when he looked at him. Since he'd moved in with his older lover, Kakashi, Sasuke had only become that much more attractive. Love lit his features, giving him a glow that intensified what seemed to be a natural beauty inherent in the Uchiha clan.

Watching the two men move through the crowd, and yet, move through their own little world, Kyousuke felt not a bit of jealousy. This surprised him. The attraction he'd felt to Sasuke had been instantaneous, and had never completely gone away even as their friendship grew, but his heart wouldn't be satisfied with an imitation of it's desire. He could be jealous that the two had found the love he'd been denied, but he was never a petty man. He didn't begrudge anyone love. He wouldn't wish the crushing weight of loneliness and unfulfilled love on any man. He was happy to see the two men so happy together. It made his heart lighter to know that he had helped that bond of love to grow.

When Kakashi and Sasuke disappeared from the crowd, Kyousuke takes a deep breath and lets it out in a deep sigh. They were likely home by now, though the way they saw only each other, it didn't matter where they were. Kyousuke smiles at this thought and can't help but chuckle softly in amusement. The two men acted more like young boys than grown men. Love could certainly make a man do some of the strangest things. Shaking his head as the smile fades from his face, Kyousuke turns his attention back to the milling crowd as they continue to shuffle past him, each with his or her own thoughts to fill the day much as Kyousuke had his.

Moving back into the steady flow of the crowd, Kyousuke let it move him along aimlessly. He had nothing important to do, and after seeing Sasuke with Kakashi, his mind wanted to turn inward, so he let it. After so many years, he would have expected to feel nothing for the older Uchiha, but his heart had other ideas. He'd been able to gradually put Itachi from his mind over the years, and with the absence of thought, his heart began to numb to a love that would never know fulfillment. All of that had changed the night Kakashi Hatake had approached him, seeking help with one of his students. Kyousuke didn't know who the boy was, only what he looked like and where he lived. Kakashi had told him the boy's name was Sasuke, but at the time the description and the name didn't click together for him.

It came as a hell of a shock when Kyousuke did find the boy. At first he thought he'd stepped back in time and was looking at Itachi. When he could breathe again, he'd forced himself to move forward, and making contact with the boy had made functioning easier. Over time, he managed to desensitize himself to the fact that Sasuke looked so painfully similar to his older brother. Their mannerism differed widely, Itachi always having been self-confident, and this was the saving grace that kept Kyousuke from a badly broken heart. As his friendship with Sasuke had grown, he'd felt himself growing closer and closer to the boy until he'd realized he was growing to love Itachi by proxy. This was fair to neither Sasuke, nor Kyousuke, so he'd squelched that emotion quickly. Turning his attention to helping Sasuke with his desire to win Kakashi's heart had helped distract him from thoughts of Itachi, from love and from making mistakes. By the time it was over, a month later, Kyousuke knew he and his heart were safe. Sasuke would never be anything more than his friend, but he still ached for Itachi every time he laid eyes on Sasuke.

Kyousuke was drawn deeper into memory in spite of himself. Drifting with the crowd, Kyousuke doesn't fight the onslaught of memory, but rather embraces it. He hadn't allowed himself to remember Itachi in years, and now it felt more like a pleasure than a promise of pain. It was now the next best thing to having Itachi in his life once more, not a doorway that led to a badly wounded heart. Kyousuke was twelve years old again and looking up at Itachi, pain and confusion scrawled across his face...

"But, why Itachi? I don't understand? Why can't you stay here? This is your home. You're one of the villages best ninjas!" Kyousuke pauses, then lowers his gaze as he whispers the last thought, "You're my best friend, I love you."

"I can't explain Kyousuke. It's best if you don't know. I don't want to leave. I don't want any of this that's about to happen, but I'm powerless to stop it! I'm sorry, Kyousuke, more than you'll ever know."

"If you don't want to leave, then don't leave! Stay here! Stay with me! You can come live with me, I'm sure Uncle Denar won't mind. And if he does, I'll just hide you in my room! He'll never know! No one will! I won't tell your parents, or anyone else in your clan if you don't want them to know either!"

Itachi turns his head aside at that, but not before Kyousuke sees the agony written there. This only works to further confuse and scare him. Something terrible was happening to Itachi, Kyousuke could understand that, but he didn't know what that terrible thing was. He felt his anger grow, knowing that something threatened the happiness of the boy he'd idolized for most of his life. At that moment, he wanted to lash out at any one or any thing if it meant that he could make things right for Itachi again, and guarantee that he'd stay in the village. And if it guaranteed that he'd never have to see such pain on the older boy's face again.

"I'm sorry, Kyousuke. There's nothing else that can be done. I have to leave the village. Tonight. After tonight, I'll never be welcome here again." Itachi turns back to look at Kyousuke once again, his black eyes shining with unshed tears. "One day, I hope you'll learn the truth, and it will help you understand. Goodbye, Kyousuke."

As Itachi turned and slipped off into the trees, heading back for the gate into the village, Kyousuke shakes his head hard in denial. He runs a few steps after the older boy, crying out in his own agony to him, "Itachi! No, don't go! Please stay with me! I love you so much! I love you more than I have ever loved anyone else, and more than I will ever love anyone else!" It's all to no avail. Itachi only hunches his shoulders, head hanging as he hurries back into the village, leaving Kyousuke to drop to his knees, sobs ripping from his throat as he felt his heart breaking in two...

Movement seen from the corner of his eyes draws Kyousuke's attention. What it was about this movement at the edge of a crowd of movement that could draw him from his thoughts, he couldn't say. Moving quickly to the edge of the crowd, and out of the flow of moving bodies, Kyousuke stands and scans the area he'd caught the movement from. Seeing nothing, he frowns, wondering what it was that had drawn his attention. Stepping back and leaning against the side of a building, Kyousuke closes his eyes and tries to draw back from memory the movement that had caught his attention. Concentrating on it to the exclusion of all else, he gradually begins to pull up a picture of just what had caught his mind. It was just a faint glimmer at first, but then begins to take form. It was a taller man, not much taller than Kyousuke, but tall. Dark hair, dark cloak. Those were the strongest impressions. Just as he's about to give up on pulling any more clarity from his memory, the man he was looking at in memory turns and glances his way, familiar black eyes standing out more sharply than any other detail. Jerking from his contemplation of the vague flash of memory, Kyousuke gasps and quickly scans the crowd again, his heart racing. It wasn't Sasuke. Sasuke was about Kyousuke's height. This man had been taller. It was Itachi. There was no one else it could be. Itachi had come home.