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Chapter One: Return

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"Ne, ne," A boisterous voice broke the silence of the Hokage's office, in complete disregard of what ordinary folk would have called societal norms "What do you mean 'Caretaker,' Baa-chan?"

The same as always, that boy. She really ought to call him a man, but it became so difficult when he acted like this. Pestering her for hours about this secret mission she had disclosed to him a week ago, why he ought not to tell anyone, what it would involve. She shouldn't have told him after all.

"It means you're going to watch him so he doesn't almost destroy Konoha again," Tsunade faced the window in her office, a room still in shambles overlooking an equally destroyed village after the extensive damage of a people at war. She couldn't hide that she worried over the blonde, but in this case it was for the best. Her gut and heart told her that there would be no better person for this mission "Starting today."

Naruto looked down to the musty ground, deep in thought as images passed through his head. After his capture, Naruto had sneaked through to see Sasuke despite everyone's insistence against it. It had been weeks of solitary confinement – what if their so-called "treatment" had really driven Sasuke insane?

Well, more insane than he already was.

He just remembered walking down that dark corridor lit only by flickering torches, to be met with those desperate red eyes. The man had just been captured and had been physically struggling against the chains for hours. As if to insult him further, he clothes remained tattered and his body covered in blood and filth. Some sort of seal had been put over the cuffs, and the guards had to come and change it every so often.

Naruto had walked in during one of these changing periods, seeing Sasuke fall to the ground like an animal as the ANBU tranquilized him for the sixth time that day. Those eyes faded into the darkness, and a tear had slid down Naruto's cheek in silence.

A pang struck in his heart, remembering another day; the day they captured Sasuke. He appeared a wild animal even then, lost and frantic. While the rest feared him, as his bloody arms were clasped into chains, Naruto couldn't help but smile.

"I'll do it, dattebayo!"

"I didn't give you a choice, baka," Tsunade flitted around with papers absentmindedly, sounding tougher than she felt inside "Are you ready or what?"

"Hai," He gave a solemn bow and a secret smile to her, and she smiled back. Tsunade gathered up a stack of papers to stamp. She called Shizune to have the ANBU guards bring Sasuke in. Naruto took a deep breath. He felt the sweat between his fingers as he clenched his fists in anticipation. Immediately his senses became acutely aware and he stood a little straighter, his heart beating faster with every creaking step down the hall.

Tsunade noticed these immediate changes. She crossed her arms, letting a sly smile crawl onto her face.

"Tsunade-sama," Shizune's distracted voice echoed across the room, which seemed to become just a little larger with the silence. Following close behind were a few masked ANBU, Hatake Kakashi, and in their midst a somber-looking man that sent anticipation through Naruto's entire being.

"Sasuke," He could barely manage. Sasuke seemed not to notice his obvious internal trauma. Every inch of Sasuke's body had been scrubbed clean of the blood and gore that had covered him in the midst of battle and his subsequent imprisonment. They had fitted him with a white tunic and plain black pants, but the aura of death still surrounded him. It cloaked him, flowed off of him, and had all but engulfed him.

"Seventy-two more hours in that cast, Sasuke," An impatient Tsunade broke the silence, wanting to remove Naruto from his destructive rumination and also get back to her paperwork. She gestured to Sasuke's arms, which were locked tightly behind his back with a new complicated seal Kakashi had placed on him. His shoulders slumped and his head hung low, but in a sentiment that seemed the opposite of shame "Your final judge will be Naruto."

At the blonde's name Sasuke's head snapped up, his eyes flashing red. Naruto seemed, for the first time in ages, truly nervous. He seemed acutely aware of Sasuke's mental instability, his vulnerability. That life, suddenly dropped into his hands.

His trembling hands, which were currently sweating profusely.

"Be gentle, Naruto," Kakashi seemed to read Naruto's mind. Sasuke flinched, struggling against the arm guards, and Kakashi continued to hum happily. Naruto's eyes flicked between the two. After a couple moments Sasuke's rage subsided and his eyes faded to their almost-black darkness.

Another deep breath brought him to the present. All of these years, all of this training and journey to be spent in the search. That had to mean something, right? With all of the courage he could muster, he looked into the eyes of the man who tried to murder him countless times, the man who had twisted himself against his very people. That man… who was his friend a long time ago.

Those empty eyes, so filled with death and destruction, seemed to hold him only in anger at first. A tremendous anger, so tremendous that for a moment Naruto felt guilt – but something much deeper in them held a desperation.

A great confusion had fallen over those eyes; Sasuke didn't quite know how to look at Naruto. Enemy or friend – suspicion or curiosity? About an eternity passed before Naruto managed to crack a smile. He almost cried. He remembered that look. It was Sasuke after all, very deep down there. The search wasn't yet over – Sasuke at last physically appeared, but now was a different challenge. He had to find Sasuke…in this body somewhere he was hiding, perhaps trapped.

"Sasuke-san, you are doing much better in health," Shizune nodded with a smile, wanting to comfort the situation somehow "Maybe even well enough for Ichiraku, ne?"

The man continued to stare at Naruto, flexing against the guards on his arms like a lion on a leash. The blonde watched his muscles ripple against a small knotted scar on his arm, and realized he had been the one to give such a mark to the arm. It seemed so very long ago.

"Ramen sounds nice," Naruto stated emptily, wanting to be rid of his current feelings. He felt so frustrated looking into those cold eyes, hearing that cold voice. It made him itch "If you don't mind I'd like to go right now."

"If you don't mind," Tsunade teased, acting as if she were unaware of Naruto's discomfort "We can set Sasuke up with you in your apartment first."

Naruto stiffened. No one told him he would have Sasuke in his home. It only seemed appropriate, but perhaps this would be more challenging than he imagined. He nodded, and the ANBU followed him out the doors towards his home. As they traveled, the thoughts and questions began to bubble up within Naruto. What was Sasuke's purpose now that he was no longer an avenger? Would he prefer to live alone or with company? Would Sasuke be…safe? He shook his head, telling himself that this Sasuke was a different man. At least for right now.

One of the ANBU coughed loudly as they entered the apartment. So much for stealthy, Naruto chuckled.

"Ano, I had burnt some instant ramen last night, sorry about the smell," Naruto pushed aside piles of laundry and trash to the side. He hadn't cleaned in awhile either, he realized as he bowed silently to the ANBU. And before he had a moment to let his mind settle, the masked men had vanished.

He stood in his apartment, facing the man he had been searching so diligently for, for so many years. He saw the boy he knew as a child. He saw the rival who drove him to greatness. He saw the unachievable power he longed to compete with. He saw his friend, and he saw someone who had for a short time become a monster.

"Your place is a dump," Sasuke stated before Naruto could even comprehend the complexity of the situation. He pushed a bunch of papers aside with his foot and sat on a chair in the kitchen area, seemingly complacent despite the vicious arm guards.

"Teme…" All past and present forgotten, Naruto felt a special kind of rage build up within him "This is my house!"

"I'll probably die like this," He muttered quietly, propping his right foot on a cardboard box filled with what else but instant ramen cups "Just breathing in your filth."

The two bickered like this for a couple minutes. It was like they were twelve years old again. No massacre, no Itachi, no Akatsuki, nothing. It almost wasn't real. Naruto's eyes wandered to the scar on Sasuke's arm. The realization came to Naruto suddenly. They hadn't looked into each other's eyes once. Just as suddenly he wanted it all to stop.

"Then why don't you clean it up yourself?" Sasuke growled, staring into the ground as if melting it

"I…I don't want to," Naruto said, but he didn't mean the cleaning. Sasuke glanced half in suspicion and half in concealed curiosity. He meant this… awful feeling.

Sasuke's head rose to meet the other man's. In an instant the coldness returned, and Naruto swallowed as it hit him like an ice storm. It's a reflex, Naruto told himself silently. It has to be.

He had to persist through this strangeness, and resist conflict. He had to prevent Sasuke from getting riled up, lest he endanger Konoha once more. He had to, if he really wanted to cure Sasuke of this…this mental sickness.

Yes. That's what it was, really. Sasuke has fallen ill, deeply ill. Naruto repeated to himself, over and over in his heart, that this sickness wasn't incurable. He took a deep breath and Sasuke answered with silence. He stared, and the stare seemed menacing despite Sasuke's attempt at neutrality.

"Sasuke," Naruto spoke clearly and soundly, unafraid. The room echoed – he hated this. Home wasn't supposed to be a scary place "I see your eyes."

Those eyes narrowed in suspicion. Naruto smiled, sickeningly sad.

"I want to make them better again."

Itachi's eye had been an important tool, but the damage Sasuke's eyes had sustained in battle had been tremendous in comparison. He would never attain that kind of power, and for the better in the opinions of most. But Sasuke understood this wasn't a literal goal. His mind calculated.

"What's wrong with them." He didn't question. This was a statement. Naruto saw a flash of red for just a moment.

"They were once the same as mine," Naruto stubbornly replied, pissed that Sasuke had the audacity to challenge him like that. He set his jaw, standing before the other man with a renewed confidence. He wanted to see those eyes like they were back then. He sensed Sasuke's resistance "I want you to trust me."

Sasuke growled again, but it wasn't backed by a threat. He didn't have the power for threats. He couldn't attack, even with his ocular jutsu; he sensed ANBU (albeit faintly) all around them. Breathing a sigh that could be of fire, he attempted once more to calm.

"Why?" A small mutter left the man, a sound containing as much desperate anger as any shout or scream. His eyes stared furiously at the other man, questioning and taunting and testing. None of it worked. Something about Naruto remained…Naruto. In every encounter, in every memory since the two had met, it had always been this way. The whole thing was maddening, and Sasuke almost laughed "What could you possibly gain?"

Naruto walked towards him with that deadlock stare. Sasuke tensed, not daring to move from the stool.

"Trust me," Naruto firmly said, bringing himself to his knees.

"I could kill you," His hoarse voice coughed, although it came out less enraged than he had imagined. He sensed the ANBU from afar, their own confusion. What was he-?

"I could do the same," And with outstretched arms and a shuddering breath, he embraced the other man.

Naruto breathed openly, unable to contain his emotions. Please believe me. He took in the roughness of the white shirt and Sasuke's distinct smell, and he breathed rather deeply into Sasuke's hair. How many countless years since he had been embraced as such? Memories of his father and mother, the beginnings of his childhood, flashed before his eyes.

"Trust me," Naruto repeated, more forcefully, to himself just as much as to Sasuke.

This was Naruto. Sasuke then thought to himself. Naruto who had challenged him, infuriated him. Naruto who had befriended him. The suspicion gave way to a brief humming in Sasuke's heart, followed shortly by the reflex of anger. Who would forgive his long list of sins with such unbelievable ease? It's a trick.

Sasuke backed away off the chair, shoving Naruto to the floor in one swift motion with a swift kick to the ribs. The other man doubled over, eyes watering, and Sasuke strode from the room.

"I don't trust you," A cold voice followed.

Naruto rolled over onto his back, surrounded by plastic bags, clothes and trash. He replayed the moment in his head. What just happened?

How was he going to do this?

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