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Chapter Text

Itachi could not wait to leave and Naruto never wanted to end up here to pick up Itachi in the first place.

And yet, here they stood. An awkward yet warm smile on Naruto’s lips as he made contact with Itachi as he exited the Meadow View Rehabilitation Facility.

“‘Hiya, Itachi.”

Naruto looked excited yet nervous as Itachi approached him and exactly the same as Itachi remembered, vibrant blue eyes and scarred cheeks, dressed down in cargo pants with an orange cut-off that showcased a colorful set of tattoos. The only difference being a freshly completed sleeve since Itachi had yet to see the piece finished.

“Hello, Naruto. It’s been a while…”

“Ready to go?” He asked.

“Yeah, let’s go home,” Itachi confirmed.

Naruto nodded and waited for Itachi to fall into step with him as they walked back to Naruto’s car.

The walk back was silent, which was uncharacteristic for Naruto and made Itachi feel uneasy… While he knew Naruto was an adult now, Itachi would never be able to shake the image of the hyperactive 12 year old he had met all those years ago. He knew that kid still existed in Naruto but at the moment he only existed as a ghost in his warm smile.

“Happy to have you back,” Naruto said as the smile pulled into that grin Itachi didn’t realize he was waiting for.

Itachi sighed with a weak smile, “Happy to be back.”

“I got something for you, actually,” Naruto said as he shuffled around his pockets and sifted through the junk in his cup holders.

As Naruto scoured his car for something, Itachi took in the beat up old jeep and found himself once again comforted by the lack of change in his pseudo-little brother. Naruto had this jeep since he could drive and boy, was it a piece of shit. Although, despite being able to afford a brand new, and much nicer car, he insisted the Jeep was okay and would be until it finally broke.

Maybe Itachi would buy him one, he thought idly, lord knew he owed him something, his mind added with a guilty pang.

“Shoot, I swear I had it!” Naruto frowned, his brows coming together in a genuinely sad expression, “can you check the glove compartment?”

Itachi nodded and opened up the glove compartment, only to find it stuffed with papers and random other trinkets. With a frown Itachi, pulled out a small toad bobblehead, that was orange with purple markings around it.

“You’ve got to clean out your car, Toto,” Itachi said, pulling out his firm older brother voice.

Naruto turned to him with his hand stuck in the sun visor, an expression of amused shock on his face as Itachi held back a small smirk.

The nickname caught Naruto off guard but it warmed his chest. After a moment longer and not being able to hold back the grin that split across his face, Naruto burst out laughing, “you haven’t called me ‘Toto’ since I was 15!”

Itachi smiled, it had been a while and it still rolled off his tongue just like it did back then.

Naruto then suddenly perked up even more when he pulled out what he was apparently looking for from the sun visor.

“Ta-Da!!”

With a stupid grin, he pulled out a CD case with something taped to the front.

“For you,” Naruto said, holding out the small gift to itachi.

Itachi’s eyebrows raised, “you didn’t have to-“

Naruto shrugged, “it’s nothing crazy.”

Itachi looked carefully at the CD with Naruto’s chicken scratch handwriting on it, which said “Naruto’s Super Shitty Mixtaqe To Spite Chi Chi: Vol. 6”. It still took Itachi a moment to read it but it was certainly better than when Naruto was a kid. Still, he sort of loved the fact that he knew immediately when something was written by Naruto when he spotted some qs that were supposed to be ps.

The CD case had something else taped to the top of it as well, which Itachi carefully peeled up so he could get a better look at it.

It seemed to be a blue poker chip and when itachi flipped it over there was a tiny fox painted quite poorly with a ‘60!!!!’ Painted above it.

Naruto laughed lightly, “I know this whole thing technically isn’t AA but I thought you should get a momento, sixty days sober is a pretty big win.”

Itachi smirked at the chip and fished around in his pocket. He had been paired with a sponsor the moment he arrived in rehab and upon exiting, he had given itachi one as well. When his fingers found purchase, he held the official chip up to Naruto.

“They beat you to it...it’s karma for calling me Chi Chi,” Itachi replied, holding up the CD with his other hand.

Naruto frowned, “damn, guess you don’t need mine…”

Naruto held his hand out as if expecting Itachi to hand back his shitty homemade sobriety chip.

“I like this one better,” Itachi said, his smooth voice quiet but still firm as he hid Naruto's creation in his fist.

“I’ll keep that in mind. You know the real one’s cool and all but… kinda boring. Makes it look like you might be in the Illuminati,” Naruto smirked.

Despite a nervous energy still floating about the car, Naruto’s causal tone finally settled into itachi and he felt more at ease as it seemed everything could maybe go back to what it was before so Itachi’s face went blank as he cracked his first joke in a while, “how did you find out?”

Naruto’s eyes went wide, “wait, what? What do you mean?”

With a solemn expression, Itachi whispered, “such a shame. We’re going to have to kill you now, Naruto, you know too much.”

Naruto’s brow furrowed in a very panicked and very confused expression, “Itachi… are you actually in the illuminati… I thought this-“

Itachi couldn’t contain himself any longer and burst into a fit of laughter, “No, Toto.
I’m not in the Illuminati, I promise… I went to rehab like I was supposed to.”

“You fucker!”

“You’re still the most gullible kid on the planet,” Itachi smiled.

“It’s ‘cause I trust you asshole, you’re my big brother. Always will be,” Naruto said looking playfully irritated.

There was no bite to his words and yet Itachi felt it all the same. He knew Naruto trusted him implicitly and it made his chest ache knowing on some level he had betrayed that trust before he finally agreed to go to rehab. Then again, Itachi was trying to move forward now, not be stuck in the past. That was the root of the problem that got him sent to Meadow View in the first place. So if Naruto could forgive him then maybe he could start to forgive himself.

“Thanks, Naruto,” Itachi replied gently.

“Ah no problem! I hope you like the CD, I found some of the weirdest gems of metal yet. I think you are going to be pleasantly disappointed!”

Itachi smirked but shook his head, “Not… not that. I mean yeah, thank you but… for everything.”

“That’s what family’s for,” Came Naruto’s confident and immediate reply.

Were Naruto and Itachi related by blood? No. Although Naruto thought they might as well be. Itachi had been in Naruto’s life longer than his own parents had at this point. In fact, all of the people that Naruto called family were found. Kakashi who was the closest thing he had to a father wasn’t related to him, Jiraiya his godfather wasn’t related by blood neither was tsunade.

To Naruto, family was found, chosen and fostered into something he would go to the ends of the earth for because when he had nothing he found people who still tried to give him all they could, especially Itachi.

On the opposite side of the coin, family was a very complicated word for the man sitting next Naruto and it was a large reason he was now being picked up from 60 days of inpatient rehabilitation by someone he thought of as his second little brother despite not having an ounce of blood relation.

“Yeah,” Itachi muttered, idly spinning the sobriety chip in his fingers, “how’s the band?”

Itachi didn’t want to think about his actual blood relations.

Naruto started the car and started to pull away, heading the 2 hours it took to get back to Kakashi’s place.

“Which one?”

“Tell me about yours,” Itachi replied.

Naruto nodded and a satisfied smile, “Fox Tears just went platinum,”

Itachi smiled softly, “I knew it would do well.”

Naruto shrugged, “Couldn’t have done it without you.”

Itachi frowned, “please, that’s not true.”

“The title track was all wrong and you were the only one who helped me fix it… Everyone said it was fine and was gonna let it slide,” Naruto argued.

“Well, either way, congratulations. It’s an exceptional album,”

The compliment warmed Naruto. When praise came from Itachi it always felt earnest, he had never known his older brother-figure to mince words or use them carelessly.

“Thank you, Itachi. We really are proud of it. Best one yet.”

Itachi nodded, “and how are the rest of the band members?”

“Good, Sakura and Sai were really worried but they were a lot of help, honestly. Lee was… uh, wayyyy too much. But they’re all super excited to announce the tour!”

A sense of shame bubbled up in Itachi’s throat as he learned how Naruto’s band mates were worried about him and then let his mind wander to his own band, The Akatsuki. The last tour date hadn’t exactly ended on a good note.

“And… How is my band?”

Naruto blew out a heavy breath and Itachi inwardly cringed. That nervous energy festering in the air, now stifling everything else.

“They were totally pissed for a while. Hidan especially… That guy really has a talent for cursing.”

Itachi put his head in his hands, “Shit.”

“What do you remember from that night?”

Itachi grimaced, “They told me everything in therapy. But there are holes.”

Naruto nodded, “Well, then I won’t go into it.”

Which was fine since Itachi was playing back what the therapist had already told him.

“On the last day of your band's tour, you were in an altercation with two members of your band… Hidan and Kisame. After some provocation from Hidan where he mentioned an incident from your past concerning the suicide of your older cousin; the altercation turned physical. During which, Hidan received a black eye and fractured collarbone. In addition, Kisame’s guitar, Samehada, was damaged irreparably by your hand.”

When Itachi awoke the next day on the floor of the bathroom in their tour bus, aching from a few mysterious bruises, he knew he really fucked up that night. When Hidan chucked a beer bottle at his head first thing in the morning and Kisame refused to talk to him at all, it was incredibly obvious.

And so in a defeated, hungover stupor, Itachi realized it had gotten too bad. The worst part was people had tried to tell him… warn him. Naruto had. Kisame had. Even fucking Deidara who barely ever took his head out of his own ass. It was only after he overheard Kisame talking to Naruto that Itachi realized the damage done wasn’t just to himself. He was dragging everyone down with him at this rate. Now Itachi’s little issue wasn’t so little anymore. Slowly but surely he was hurting the people he loved. Itachi believed it wasn’t a problem as long as it remained self-contained but that night, along with the splintered remains of Samehada and bruises on his and Hidan’s bodies screamed at Itachi that he was finally out of control. Embarrassed and ashamed, he called Kakashi for help and when he got home, went with him to check into rehab.

“Kisame?” Itachi mumbled.

“I think you need to talk to him more than anything. He seemed angry but sounded worried when he called for updates,” Naruto explained, “and they’re ready to have you back.”

Itachi raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“Really! I swear! Deidara kept saying how you were the only one who really appreciated his art and I swear I heard Kazuku mumble about how you were the only other member of the band with any class.”

Itachi scoffed with a sad smile, “what does Kazuku know, he’s fucking the biggest idiot in the band,”

“Deidara?!” Naruto exclaimed.

Itachi raised an eyebrow and shook his head.

“HIDAN?” Naruto yelled, even more surprised.

“You didn’t hear that from me,” Itachi replied.

“Huh…” Naruto mused, “it’ll be good to seem ‘em again soon. When you’re ready, ya know?”

“I’ve still got much more outpatient to do,”

“Yeah, yeah but they can visit…” Naruto started. His sentence faded off uncomfortably like the stifling anxiety was not just in the air but suddenly radiating from Naruto.

“What?” Itachi deadpanned.

“Um,” Naruto glanced at him nervously, quickly bringing his eyes back to the road.

“Spit it out.”

The bubble of anxiety in Naruto popped, “Well, since we’re speaking of visiting… Wheniaskedthetherapistshowicouldhelptheytoldmetotryandgetyoutoseeifyoudreachouttoyoirfamilybuttomakeitseemlikeitwasyourideaandontthinkiwasuppsedtotellyouthatbutyouknowicantkeepasecret.”

Itachi stared back, perplexed, “one more time Naruto, and slower.”

Naruto took a deep breath, an embarrassed blush coming to his cheeks, “Between me n’ kakashi, we talked to the therapist a couple of times over the weeks and we wanted to see how we could help, ya know?”

Itachi nodded, something in him dreading where this was going and the sense of anxiety coming from Naruto finally making sense. The therapist had explained a bit of what he thought was coming but he was hoping he could have kept that back in Meadow View.

“They want us to encourage you to reach out to your family… maybe visit them,” Naruto said with worry tainting his expression.

Itachi guess was spot on and he couldn’t help the sour expression that rose, “you said it yourself. You’re my family.”

Naruto sighed, “You know who they mean.”

“I haven’t seen them in 11 years,” Itachi whispered with venom.

“Yeah but…” Naruto started.

Before Naruto could finish Itachi sighed heavily, the anxiety Naruto felt made him feel like shit since he knew directly where it came from. Itachi shut down any conversation about his biological parents and refused to acknowledge them if someone would bring them up. His biological brother was a special case but Naruto would never bring him up himself, only if Itachi spoke of him first but he hadn’t talked to Naruto about Sasuke in years.

Cutting Naruto off, Itachi explained, “I know… the therapist told me that as well… She even suggested family therapy.”

“And?” Naruto asked.

Itachi knew he should do it. The incident that put him in Meadow View was frighteningly similar to the night that he ran away from home. A part of Itachi knew that if he didn’t do what the therapist told him he was going to end up in Meadow View again but when he thought back to his home life before he left, all he felt was despair and frustration.

But Sasuke was one exception.

During his childhood, Sasuke wasn’t ever apart of the constant pressure from his parents or misery from the suicide of his cousin. He was the one person who was still so innocent and now when Itachi thought of him all he felt was guilt for leaving him behind.

“I… want to start with Sasuke.”

Naruto nodded, he had never met Sasuke but he remembered the days where Itachi still talked about him with an immense amount of affection. Even now, years after Itachi stopped speaking of him, Naruto still kept an eye out for when Sasuke would appear in the news or earn an award of sorts.

Sasuke was the first chair violinist for one of the most prolific orchestras in the world and Naruto found himself watching videos of Sasuke when a new one came out on the official video channel. Naruto wasn’t sure if Itachi simply stopped talking to Naruto about Sasuke or he just stopped keeping up with his biological brother altogether so Naruto kept a note in his phone of the good videos in case Itachi ever changed his mind. He had a knack for recognizing the Uchiha’s guilty conscience.

A part of Naruto hoped Itachi would some day reach out to his other little brother especially since Sasuke meant so much to Itachi but Naruto never wanted to press him because his birth family was always a tender subject, it was like a storm cloud appeared above his head when anyone but Sasuke was mentioned. Although, Naruto was always optimistic and wanted the best for everyone he knew so even if Itachi’s bonds were broken, Naruto still held out hope that at least some were reparable unlike his own biological bonds… So he kept up with Itachi’s baby brother from afar… and maybe somewhere down the line Naruto also had developed a teeny tiny infatuation with Sasuke.

But based on the interviews Naruto had seen in recent years, now that Sasuke had really made a name for himself, Naruto thought he could be incredibly boring. He seemed quite straight-laced and rarely spoke more than what was required of him. When an interview was bothering him it was quite obvious, although no interviewer seemed to ever catch on. Maybe it was because Naruto had learned to read Itachi exceptionally well.

“Sasuke, huh, so how do you want to do this?”

Itachi thought for a moment. He had wanted to reach out to Sasuke before but that was a long time ago. Before Sasuke turned 18, Itachi was petrified that his parents would find out where he was and once Sasuke went to college when he had turned 18, Itachi had been caught up in the life of a rockstar and was well on the road that had ended in rehabilitation, meaning a part of him had given up on ever seeing his beloved brother ever again. Itachi had even convinced himself that Sasuke didn’t even remember him.

Nerves ate at Itachi’s breath, “I- I don’t know,” he stammered.

“Do you know what he’s been up to lately?” Naruto asked, a hopeful note in his voice.

Itachi shook his head, ashamed but took note of the tone of Naruto’s voice.

“Do you?” Itachi responded.

Naruto gave a small nod, “mmhm.”

“Why?” Itachi asked, his face blatantly confused.

Naruto squirmed in his seat and explained, “I never knew why you stopped talking about him… and you were always so proud. I guess I still wanted to make sure he was someone you could be proud of… if you ever talked about him.”

‘I do not deserve this kid in my life,’ was Itachi’s first thought. Naruto kept track of his brother for years so he could still be proud of him. Itachi was speechless.

“Naruto, you’re the kindest person I’ve ever known,” Itachi mumbled quietly.

Naruto blushed, embarrassed as an image of a sharp jawline, full cheeks and flintlock eyes came to mind. “It’s nothing really, he’s not that hard to find… Actually he’s really successful.”

Itachi raised his eyebrows, he was much too perceptive to miss that blush but he kept quiet instead, “so where is he?”

“First chair violinist at USSO.”

“Ah, of course,” Itachi mumbled quietly.

It was no surprise that Sasuke took up the family tradition and joined the family founded orchestra, USSO, the Uchiha Senju Symphony Orchestra. It’s what Itachi was supposed to have done before he left and it’s what their father did as well. For generations, it had been an Uchiha man at the helm and now, with Itachi gone, it was Sasuke’s mantle to take on. But once again the bitterness associated with his biological family reared its ugly head, USSO was an exceptional orchestra but from his own experience he knew Sasuke had been given other offers and their father had undoubtedly convinced his baby brother that there was no reason to explore other options beside the path that had been laid for him.

“We can draft an email when we get home if you’d like?” Naruto asked, yanking Itachi out of his anger.

He nodded silently, pondering every possible thing that could go wrong, “may I ask a favor?”

“Sure, anything!” Naruto replied.

“I will assist but will you write to Sasuke? Your name won’t set off immediate red flags like mine will,” Itachi asked, a concerned frown on his face.

More than anything, he absolutely could not speak to his father.

“Yeah, I can do that.”

Itachi breathed a sigh of relief and flipped open the CD Case and pressed it into the player as he looked at Naruto expectantly, hoping he would accept the non-verbal end to that conversation.

In response, a grin broke out across Naruto’s face as he realized what was to come.

“I take it you’ve found some new nonsense to show me?” Itachi smirked.

“You’re not ready, you think you’re ready. You’re not. This is the best thing I’ve ever heard, you’re gonna be so mad,” Naruto giggled.

“It will be hard to beat your last selections,” Itachi mused.

“They only get better, ‘tachi,” Naruto sang.

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

Itachi prepared to listen intently and while seven times out of ten, the music was not good, Itachi enjoyed it all the same.

The peculiar trend of Naruto’s Shitty Mixtapes started when Itachi first started showing Naruto music when they were kids.

He had quickly discovered that playing music that was as hyperactive as Naruto was an incredible way to get him to shut up and keep him distracted with the face-paced, complexities of metal. It also kept him close to Shisui, his cousin and closest friend who he would forever mourn. In fact, Shisui was the one who had shown him metal music, and the two of them found solace in its power and chaos. A desperately needed release in the face of their high-stakes, traditional family and the genre was something truly special to them both. Between the two of them they had a dream to run away from the Uchiha’s claustrophobic career path and start a metal band together. However that dream would never come to pass for Shisui.

But still, Itachi clung to the music and found a way to cope with the grief by sharing the music with someone new who took it in stride. That person was Naruto. He listened with rapt attention as Itachi explained how metal evolved into what it was today and all of the different kinds. Showing the hyperactive kid a wealth of examples from death metal to doom metal to power metal to nu metal and beyond. Itachi played Naruto almost all of his and Shisui’s favorites. He explained how the lyrics were crafted from famous myths and legends to poems and protests and how the genre has been vilified for all the wrong reasons.

But that fact was already a lesson Naruto had come to learn on his own, before he ever knew Itachi.

Then when Naruto was 14, he handed Itachi a CD he burned himself that said “Naruto’s mixtaqe for tachi!!” Explaining that he had found new sub genres of metal and while not all of them were new to Itachi, Naruto was so excited that Itachi just went along with it and Naruto kept creating mixtapes. Somewhere down the line though the mixtapes had turned into Naruto trying to find the most ridiculous songs he could to see if he could make Itachi laugh while he tried very seriously to give an honest review of Naruto’s selections.

After a full listen through of volume three or Naruto’s mixtape, Itachi had proclaimed that every song was “an affront to the science of sound” and the name was changed from ‘Naruto’s Mixtape for ‘Tachi’ to ‘Naruto’s Super Shitty Mixtape To Spite Chi Chi’.

But now, it was time to evaluate volume six.

As the CD started, Itachi heard a riff he could play blindfolded; the static shred of Metallica.

Except.. the harsh shredding sound that indicated the original song was missing, and instead was mimicked by a grating human voice…

Itachi’s eyes flicked to Naruto who looked like he was trying absolutely everything in his power to not break into a mess of laughter.

“Naruto… What in god’s name have you picked for us this time?” Itachi asked calmly.

“This… is an entirely a cappella rendition of Metallica’s Master of Puppets,” Naruto said with the stupidest grin on his face.

Itachi blinked, “Master of Puppets has almost 4 minutes of guitar solo,”

“And you’re gonna hear all of ‘em,”

Naruto finally lost it when Itachi physically paled at the concept of a human person trying to sing that second solo.

“Naruto, this might be your shittiest mixtape yet.”

Chapter Text

Sasuke had become way more difficult to find than either Naruto or Itachi thought.
When the two of them started their search they were squished into Kakashi's breakfast nook hunched over Naruto’s laptop looking at the USSO website.

“So… do we just hit ‘contact us’?” Naruto asked.

“I can’t imagine that would hurt,” Itachi replied with a nod, “but is there a more direct method?”
Naruto pulled out his phone and hunted through apps and came up with… Nothing. Except a twitter page that upon further investigation was a fan page for ‘the rising raven star of violin, Sasuke Uchiha!!’, which posted frequent updates about his whereabouts.

Naruto held out the phone with a shrug.

“We are doing this through proper channels. I refuse to stalk my own brother… in no way will that help my mental health,” Itachi deadpanned.

“Yep, you’re right, terrible plan,” Naruto nodded, “what do we do though? He doesn’t have a single social media page!”

“Did you try looking for a personal website?”

Naruto scoffed, “who has a personal website anymore? That’s so old school. Literally everything is done on social media now!”

Itachi frowned, “Akatsuki has a website, where else are people supposed to buy our tickets and merchandise?”

Naruto shook his head and grabbed his cup of noodles, “No, No, I’m saying a personal website. Vulpinine has one with our tour dates and stuff but like, I, don’t have a website.”

“But Sasuke is selling himself,” Itachi remarked, trying to get at what Naruto was saying.

Upon hearing that, Naruto snorted with laughter but then proceeded to cough as he had noodles in his mouth and now up his nose as Itachi spoke.

“Naruto? Are you alright?” Itachi asked, prepared to smack him on the back as hard as he could.

Disgustingly, Naruto spat a few noodles back into the cup and rubbed his nose in pain, “yea, but I just inhaled a noodle up my nose… He’s selling himself? Really?”

“Well, yes,” Itachi confirmed, either missing or ignoring his innuendo completely as he slid the laptop towards himself and typed in Sasuke’s name. “He’s a solo artist. Whereas we sell our bands with our website, he sells himself.”

“You realize you’re making him sound exactly like a prostitute, right?” Naruto asked.

Itachi scowled to hide the fact that he completely missed that fact, “get your head out of the gutter.”

“I’m just trying to keep you out of trouble,” Naruto smirked.

Itachi scoffed and proceeded to type in Sasuke’s name into the search bar.
“There, he does have a website,”

Naruto blinked at it, “this is the saddest website I’ve ever seen.”

And Naruto was not wrong about that. The website looked like it had been made about 15 years ago in 2003. In fact it looked closer to a MySpace page. The aesthetic was chunky blue blocks and white blocks used to highlight text that contained a small bio and overview of Sasuke’s career thus far and hyperlinks in comic sans at the bottom of the page in a very bold black.
There were two tabs at the top. Luckily, one of which was ‘Contact.’

Itachi moved the mouse over to click it and with an anxious shake to his fingers started to type up a message to his brother.

‘Dear Mr. Uchiha,
Due to recent events, I would like to request a meeting with you.
Best,
Naruto Uzumaki’

Itachi nodded with satisfaction and was fully prepared to hit send when Naruto protested.

“You can’t send that!”

“Why not?” Itachi asked.

“It sounds like you’re about to fire him!” Naruto exclaimed.

“Who’s getting fired?” A new voice came as Kakashi entered the kitchen.

“No one. Itachi’s trying to write to Sasuke and set up a meeting,” Naruto said.

“Let’s see then,” Kakashi replied, leaning against the table.

The foster father of Naruto looked much too young to have a child that was 23 and honestly, he was at 38 but the day that Naruto had arrived at his doorstep he had done nothing but his best for him since.

Naruto’s parents had done the same for him at one point so when tragedy struck, Kakashi took it upon himself to look after the kid and he was quite proud of who he had become. He felt similarly about Itachi.

The days long ago with the three of them sitting around this same breakfast nook eating take out that Itachi had ended up calling after Kakashi burned every single ounce of flavor out of whatever he had tried to cook warmed Kakashi’s heart. To see them back here after so long felt good.
Although, the two of them had grown and changed quite bit since then, Naruto now stood at a hulking 6’2 with arms plied with colorfully inked tattoos and Itachi also now with many more tattoos and a couple glittering piercings in his ears, lip, above his cheekbone and eyebrow.
Kakashi found himself laughing every now and then as he saw the visible influence he had on the two younger men when he spotted his own sleeves and piercings that he somehow managed to keep covered while he taught. It surprised most people when he said he taught music at a private boarding school, he still remembered Itachi’s expression of wonder when he finally saw the muted palette of tattoos that wound up his arms. That had been quite humorous as well but he was soon pulled out of his reflection when Itachi spun the laptop around.

Kakashi read it over with a quirked brow, “brevity may be the soul of wit but… you might want to argue your case a bit more, Itachi.”

“And maybe more personal?” Naruto added.

Itachi let out a displeased breath and flipped the laptop back towards him then typed once more.

‘Dear Sasuke,
I am writing to you on behalf of my foster brother. Due to recent events, he was hoping to meet with you. It has been a while since you’ve seen one another.
You can reach me with the contact information provided at the end of this message.
Sincerely,
Naruto Uzumaki’

As Itachi spun the laptop around to Naruto and Kakashi with shaky hands; his heart was pounding.
It had been 11 years. What was Sasuke going to do? Would he reject the invitation? Would he immediately rat on Itachi to their parents? Would he forgive him? Probably not.

Itachi couldn’t help but think that this was a terrible idea, he had severed those ties with no hope of ever mending them and he knew if he was forced to look at the damaged and frayed ends of those ties, Itachi would start to break even more than he already had because there was no two ways about it: Itachi had abandoned his baby brother of his own volition.

Naruto was a balm on his soul that Itachi had tricked himself into thinking made up for his failure but while he knew he had done so much for the man sitting next to him, it never made up for leaving his other little brother behind. That wound still festered. What right did he have to go crawling back to him as this fractured soul held barely together?

“Hey, you alright, ‘Tachi?” Naruto asked softly as Kakashi watched carefully.

Itachi was silent for a moment and the only thing that could be heard were his heavy breaths.

“Why would he even respond? ,” he mumbled.

“You’re his brother,” Kakashi replied gently.

“I abandoned him… He never did anything wrong,” Itachi whispered to no one in particular.

Naruto leaned into Itachi and put a hand on his back, rubbing small circles as Itachi shrank. He never looked quite so small as he spoke about his biological brother.

For Itachi, it was his biggest regret. Sasuke was the one person who he did not want to disappoint like the rest of the Uchihas had done for Itachi.

“You did what you believed was the best thing for you at the time,” Kakashi countered.

“That doesn’t mean it was right,” Itachi snapped.

“No-“ Kakashi started.

“-But this isn’t about beating yourself up for what you’ve done, Itachi,” Naruto spoke up, “it’s about forging a new future.”

Itachi scoffed, “What if Sasuke doesn’t want that? What if he wants nothing to do with me?”

“We cross that bridge when we get to it,” Kakashi replied.

Meanwhile Naruto balked at the idea, “you kidding ‘Tachi? You’re the coolest person I know, who wouldn’t want to know you!“

“Naruto-“ Itachi cut in sheepishly.

“Don’t ‘Naruto’ me! You’re the lead guitarist of one of the coolest metal bands around, you’re a super chill dude and so smart it BAFFLES me! Sasuke’s just gotta get to know you again,” Naruto pressed with that famous megawatt smile.

And somehow, it assuaged some of Itachi’s anxiety and it amazed Itachi every time.

“All we gotta do is send this message and wait!” Naruto exclaimed confidently.

Itachi frowned, idly picking at his nail polish, “waiting is insufferable.”

“Well, let’s get your mind off it then,” Kakashi piped up jovially, “I think you boys owe me a HALO rematch,”

Naruto nudged Itachi, “we did beat you last time.”

“In record time,” Itachi conceded.

Naruto grinned, “had to get at least one game in before the old console imploded, I can’t believe you still have that thing.”

“Hey! It works just fine,” Kakashi scowled.

“Guess we should see for ourselves,” Itachi sighed, moving away from the anxiety-inducing email.

“You’re on,” Kakashi said with a light tone as they moved to the living room.

As they left, Naruto made sure to put his contact information at the bottom of the email and hit send.

———

It had been a week and there was nothing. Empty inbox, no response from Sasuke or an assistant, just… Nothing.

Itachi’s anxiety skyrocketed as the days went by and although his therapist was helping, he still felt that gnawing desire to take the edge off, which was bullshit if he did say so himself.

Because It wasn’t like that urge went away, it’s just now that he was no longer in-patient and his addiction was more accessible, he found that it was harder to distract himself. It was that tiny little voice in his head that said, ‘it’s fine, it’ll just calm your nerves’.

It felt like looking at a blinking emergency exit sign and the more anxious he got the brighter that sign would flash, giving him an out if he would only just follow the sign. The longer the week went on without a reply, the flash of the sign got steadily brighter and Itachi was trying to force himself to look away.

But It was fucking hard.

And Itachi felt especially silly because this itch and metaphorical sign would never just go away. Now this stupid email was making it pulse.

Naruto was annoyed as well, he was the one who was compulsively checking his email but with those good intentions, Itachi tried his best not to show that it was getting to him and now between Naruto and Itachi the house was bubbling with uncomfortable feelings and Kakashi decided this simply would not do.

So after some brief consideration and a confident conversation with Itachi’s therapist along with his own personal experience, after a week of anxiety bubbling around his home, Kakashi decided that everyone was going to go on a field trip.

——

Methodically, almost robotically, Sasuke packed away his violin. After all, it was his livelihood and a very, very expensive gift from his parents when he graduated from the conservatory.

As rehearsal came to a close, Sasuke found himself ready to go home. It was his favorite part of the day if he was going to be completely honest. He looked forward to the solace of his own home where he could lock the doors and keep anyone who he did not want to interact with out. There was no one to be polite to and no one to please, Sasuke could just be by himself.

So with a relieved sigh, that they say had finally ended, Sasuke slung his violin over his shoulder and started to head home.

Luckily, no one tried to talk to him on his way out and disrupt his consistent routine.

Breakfast at 7:30, gym at 8:30, shower at 10:15, research and study the new and traditional composers to help his father sift through the masses for what pieces USSO should consider, that would end at 12:15, lunch at 12:20, rehearsal at 2:00 in the city, home by 7:00, dinner at 8, 8:30 if he was feeling adventurous with cooking, curl up with a good book, shut away in his library, and then in bed at 11:00.

And for Sasuke, this was… whatever. It was Fine.

He was a dutiful son, who his parents were proud of and beamed with quiet satisfaction when they bragged about him since all that he did was what he was supposed to. Sasuke’s role in this world was played brilliantly.

After all, someone had to after Itachi had disgraced them all. Sasuke had tried his damndest to forget his brother but Itachi always wormed his way back into his brain when Sasuke watched siblings squabble innocently or a moody teenager with hair much too long. It made a bitterness fester in his chest.

Itachi was an utter disappointment.

But now matter how hard Sasuke tried to make himself believe otherwise, the biggest disappointment was that he had never come back. So now, fuck him. Sasuke didn’t even have any idea where he was! He could have been dead for all he knew.

When Sasuke pulled into his driveway, his mood had been soured by thoughts of his absentee sibling. With a quick stride, he parked and made his way into the small Tudor style cottage made of almost exclusively white brick with ivy crawling up the sides, much to Sasuke’s dismay.

Inside the home had been stripped of its exterior charm. The soul of the house felt warm but the way it had been decorated made it feel hollow. There were no personal touches to the house and it was clean in a way that made it seem like no one lived there. The only exception being the library, which was the largest room in the house.

A large fireplace was the centerpiece of the room, however it was rarely lit because something about it unnerved Sasuke, maybe because he took comfort in the hollowness of the house and a functioning, roaring hearth made it feel just too home-y.

The walls were lined with bookcases up to the ceiling. His father had given him permission to have some of the books from their own collection as well as a series of gifts he had received over the years. Birthdays, Christmas, always books.

It was funny though, Sasuke thought, you could tell very obviously whether his father or mother had purchased the book. Fugaku gave books of information, something that Sasuke could learn from, biographies that if he didn’t like the look of Fugaku would get a custom copy, bound in dark blue leather with silver detailing. Mikoto was different though, her gifts were stories she thought Sasuke would enjoy, from a copy of Japanese folktales when he was a small child to the Count Of Monte Cristo most recently, which so far was truly a wonderful story. The other thing that filled the library were records. That was what Sasuke himself collected, all of which were classical.

All except one.

After Itachi had run away, Sasuke found himself frequently hiding in his brother’s room, which infuriated his father. However, most of the paraphernalia that had made Itachi’s room was stripped away by Fugaku. Band posters ripped, records removed, t-shirts thrown away. But Sasuke, in a desperate attempt to find something, anything that would bring his brother back all those years ago had found one singular record stuffed under the mattress, which Sasuke had kept in secret all these years.

The cover was burned into his brain.

It was funny because it looked like it was designed for a symphony’s recording. An illustrated image of the full moon setting over a mountain range, yet the whole cover was washed out with whites and pale blues. The title in delicate, swirling script read ‘Jinchagae,’ and below it ‘Over The Hills and Far Away’.

On the inside cover there was a note scribbled in Sharpie, ‘There’s more in common than you might think’. There was no signature indicating who the note was from but there was a small doodle of a dog with a headband. In addition, two tracks were circled, the title track and another live recording of a song called ‘The Kinslayer’.

No one knew Sasuke had this record and no one ever would.

His father would not be happy if he realized he kept one of Itachi’s records. According to Fugaku, the music Itachi so dearly loved was dangerous. It planted murderous and violent thoughts, ‘it killed your cousin,’ he would say. As a kid that terrified Sasuke, how could Itachi get involved with such dark material that killed Shisui? Fugaku would tell him about Marilyn Manson and how it couldn’t be a coincidence that he had the same moniker as Charles Manson. There had been band posters in Itachi’s room that had given him nightmares when he was little. There was one in particular with every member wearing a terrifying mask. One in particular had echoes of the Noh masks that hung in Fugaku’s office, blank, porcelain faces with uncanny proportions. They were human but not and those masks looked down at him and laughed whenever he sat in front of his father’s big mahogany desk and asked a ‘ridiculous question,’ or messed up a simple piece he was practicing but as he got older and Sasuke outgrew the monsters under his bed and he was starting to outgrow the illusion his father created as well. He now looked out the window of the ivory tower that the Fugaku and the Uchihas before him had built . The one that slowly but surely Sasuke was starting to think he was trapped in.

He had never listened to the record. Too afraid as a child and now dreading the contents… and knowing somewhere deep in his subconscious that Itachi hadn’t just abandoned him for no reason, meaning maybe that reason was hidden in the grooves of the LP. After all, Itachi had never been thoughtless, everything he did when Sasuke tried to remember him was intentional.
Itachi knew that Sasuke would find this record, it was left for him.

Chapter Text

Another week and a another email later, there was still nothing from Sasuke and Naruto was about to lose it on behalf of Itachi.

On the other hand, Itachi was quite successfully distracted by his new pet, Eddie.

Meanwhile, Kakashi was incredibly proud that his plan had worked.

The field trip he wanted to go on had been to the local wildlife rescue and shelter.

After Kakashi’s father had died, he was left with almost no one. The only people who were willing to take in the child were Minato and Kushina. Naruto’s parents took him in eagerly but still he felt like a burden; Kakashi’s thoughts were consumed about how they would probably be better off if they didn’t have to worry about the kid they had taken in. Especially while their band, Jinchagae, toured. Minato could have used the time to rehearse instead of homeschooling Kakashi on their tour bus. Kushina could have been writing more music with Minato instead of losing sleep while she coddled him through nightmares, and when Kakashi started to fixate on this he began to fall apart. As young as he was, he hadn’t been able to realize that he was tumbling down a depressive spiral… but Kushina had.

And she decided a puppy wouldn’t solve everything… but it couldn’t hurt.

Miraculously, it had helped significantly in addition to what he had already been working with. Obviously, Pakkun did not magically fix all of Kakashi’s trauma but raising the small pug gave him a bit more purpose. When Kushina gave him the ever important job of looking after Pakkun, affectionately nicknamed “the ninja pup” since Kakashi had trained him to the point where they could play hide and seek, he brightened up significantly and the pup became a vital member of Jinchagae’s tour crew.

Over the years, that spark that was ignited when Kakashi first started caring for Pakkun only grew. It increased tenfold when Kushina became pregnant. Minato had sat Kakashi down and explained how important was to him that Kushina didn’t want for anything while she was preparing to become a mother. Kakashi had taken the job quite seriously and he was happy to return the favor after all she and Minato had done for him. In Kakashi’s eyes, he could never repay them for giving him a home.

As he grew up, Kakashi realized he still felt the same way. Their actions had molded the rest of his career. He realized he could continue to help the next generation by passing on the legacy of those he had lost by teaching music and through it, a way to express themselves. It was how Shisui and Itachi had come to stop by his classroom eagerly hoping for a new album from Kakashi each week.

After all, it was Kakashi who had introduced the music to Shisui who, in turn, started bringing Itachi along with him when Kakashi had a new album to show him.

Yes, the kids were exceptionally talented musicians, and in terms of technical skill played almost better than Kakashi… but it was simply technical perfection. When he watched Shisui or Itachi play there was something missing. No joy or sadness; there was nothing. The two moved through their pieces like a 9 to 5 job they hated. The only difference between them was a smile on Shisui’s face that didn’t reach his eyes. The notes were nails to be hammered which simply had to be hit correctly. There was no freedom, simply cold perfection.

Kakashi had tried everything to coax some genuine emotion out Shisui while he played… it was bizarre, the kid was so lively and jovial when you spoke to him but it just evaporated into a facade when he was asked to perform.

So Kakashi had searched high and low for a classical piece that would get him truly excited about performing but not a single piece changed that hollow smile. Until Kakashi realized, maybe he needed a completely different approach, which, to him, meant a whole new genre.

It seemed so impossibly simple! After all, metal was what Kakashi had fallen in love with. A lot of the sub genres had the same technical complexity as the majority of classical pieces. It was arguably harder to play a guitar solo by Kirk Hammett than it was to play some Beethoven! And maybe, just maybe, the speed, spectacle and uniqueness that Shisui seemed to miss in classical could be found in metal.

So Kakashi had taken Shisui asside and presented him with a record cover. An Egyptian pyramid with a statue carved into it of a skeletal pharaoh with a condescending sneer. Iron Maiden’s Powerslave. At first, Shisui looked very wary but when Kakashi dropped the needle onto the record, he saw Shisui’s interest had been piqued.

He listened carefully to the mismatched introduction of Aces High. The casual plucks of the bass guitar and twirling eighth notes of the dual melodic guitars. The instruments playing with each other fluidly to create a more dynamic sound than what was being played individually. All of which was decorated by quick snaps of the drum.

Then the tempo picked up… And Kakashi watched as all of those tiny details Shisui took in while listening to the intro get kicked into a higher gear, like a plane with an old propeller finally reaching enough velocity to take off. A wide smile spread across Shisui’s face... he was finally excited.

And Shisui returned after school on Thursdays, every week, begging Kakashi to show him something new. Eventually, Shisui pulled along a very tense Itachi.

When Kakashi presented the album Shisui had requested just to show Itachi, he promptly apologized and walked out of the room.

It took two more weeks of Shisui trying to convince his cousin to come with him to see Kakashi. Despite that same hollow look that Shisui had, Itachi proved to be much more stubborn… After all, Kakashi had learned that they weren’t allowed to listen to any other music but classical since it was a distraction from their work.

But Shisui was determined and Kakashi had found the album to finally crack the hard shell that Itachi encased himself in by giving him Kakashi’s personal copy of Jinchagae’s « Over the Hills and Far Away ». The reason being that it was symphonic metal: A sub genre with classical singer that features complex power metal instrumentals with symphonic elements and instruments. It was given to Itachi with the note that the genres were not so different after all.

A hesitant Itachi returned to Kakashi the very next week looking for more.

And Kakashi was more than happy to keep his door open to the two boys and happy to provide a freedom through the music he shared. Just had Minato and Kushina had done for him.

So when Itachi returned home, even after 14 years, Kakashi saw that same lost look from when he first met Itachi return to his eyes, for a different reason than the first time but he thought maybe that sometime volunteering at the local wildlife shelter could help Itachi as well.

His idea was only bolstered when Itachi’s email to Sasuke was left unanswered and Kakashi watched Itachi grow more and more anxious and, in turn, Naruto as well (as much as they both tried to hide it from one another).

What Kakashi did not expect was for Itachi to bring home a bird.

A crow who he named Eddie.

The wildlife rescue had been busy, actually it was over crowded and Kiba, a former student and classmate of Kakashi and Naruto, was thrilled to have them volunteer. Kiba was even more thrilled when the small crow refused to leave Itachi’s lap.

Kiba had explained with a sad look at the bird that her wings had been irreparably damaged and she would never be able to go back to the wilderness and with the overcrowding at the refuge, she was starting to be left to the wayside.

But Itachi immediately gravitated towards her and the entire time he spent feeding all the other birds at the refuge, Eddie had remained perfectly content on his shoulder.

With few strings pulled by Kiba, Itachi was permitted to bring Eddie home.

Unfortunately, this did nothing for Naruto who would never admit it but was a little afraid of birds. He thought Eddie was super cool however, he had been slightly avoiding Itachi while he spent his time trying to train her. Instead, he fixated on the unanswered email and decided it was time it was answered… How ever he could make that happen.

So Naruto found himself looking through the USSO website at the list of musicians to see if any other names would ring a bell. He scanned the list of people, concentrating really hard for name he recognized… and as luck would have it, something vaguely rang a bell.

Hyuuga.

There were two, both were flautists. Neji and Hinata.

Neji… Neji… Where had he heard that name?

With a frown he tossed it out into the band’s group chat.

To: VULPININE🦊🎸🎤🥁🪕

🦊: Hey any a you guys know a Neji Hyuuga???

Bushy brwowww: NARUTO! NEJI AND I ARE THE CLOSEST OF FRIENDS. YOU HAVE MET ONE ANOTHER!

Sai-ko🤪: yea giant asshole, long hair, sde

🌸: stfu sai

Bushy brwowww: What does SDE mean?!

🌸: …

Sai-ko: Small dick energy😢

🦊: OKAY YEA NEJI, lee can you get me his contact info??

Bushy brwowww: That will not be a problem! Here you are my friend! ‘Contact: Neji Hyuuga’

🦊: thank u!!

🌸: also naruto when are you good for rehearsals??

🦊: ???? We don’t have a tour booked yet??

🌸: I know dipshit but I don’t wanna get sloppy in the meantime

Sai-ko: rehearse by yourself 🤭🤭

Bushy brwowww: Sakura is correct!

Bushy brwowww: I have been diligently practicing the new songs since we released our new album!

Bushy brwowww: I am so excited to play them with you all!!!!!!!

Bushy brwowww: We must be prepared for when we schedule the tour!!

Sai-ko: lmao slow down we need to let yamato know when to schedule the tour

🌸: just let us know, okay Naruto? We can’t go super long without playing. Yamato is already antsy.

🦊: okay, okay I’ll get you some dates soon.

🦊: and thanks guys, I appreciate you all holding off for me🧡🧡

Sai-ko: anything for you naruto :))

🌸: get a roooooommm (but seriously no problem, you’d do the same for us))

Bushy brwowww: WE LOVE YOU DEARLY NARUTO AND HOPE ITACHI IS DOING BETTER👍👍👍

Naruto grinned at his phone as he liked the well wishes of his friends then clicked on Neji’s contact and wrote up a message.

‘Hey! This is Naruto, I’m a friend of Lee’s. We met a while ago but I heard you were in USSO and I was hoping you could put me in contact with Sasuke Uchiha by any chance?’

A few moments later, Naruto received a response.

Neji: ‘Hello, Naruto. No.’

Neji: ‘I do not have his number.’

Oh boy. Naruto groaned and typed out another message.

‘Do you know how I could get in contact with him?’

The groan simply grew louder as Naruto watch Neji start typing, then stop, then start typing and then stop again.

‘God damn, is this guy part of the fucking CIA or something? Why is he SO hard to get into contact with?’ Naruto cursed.

Granted, people would have an equally hard time finding him but there were legitimate concerns for his safety after his parents were killed.

He had his last name legally changed from Namikaze to Hatake. Jiraya had given Naruto permission to use Sannin as a last name on album credits and when he performed he just went by Sage. When it came to Naruto’s close friends he liked to use Uzumaki or Namikaze but for his own well-being the public was barred from this knowledge and Kakashi and Jiraya had gone to great lengths to do so.

Very few people knew Naruto’s real name. No one waned t the horror story of Naruto’s parents fate to haunt his band. It wouldn’t be fair to him or his bandmates. Plus it kept the press from finding him when he was a child, which he was exceptionally grateful for. He knew there were risks when he chose the same career path as his parents but ultimately Kakashi encouraged him to follow his heart so Naruto brought together a band.

Naruto jumped when Neji finally wrote him back.

Neji: He never misses rehearsals.’

Oh… great. So Naruto would have to do this in person? Maybe Itachi would do it if Naruto explained that there was no way Sasuke was gonna reply if it had taken this long.

‘And that is…. When? And where?’

Naruto could somehow FEEL Neji rolling his eyes at him through the three dots that indicated he was typing.

And then his phone was ringing. It caught Naruto off guard enough that he almost dropped it into his noodles.

“Naruto?”

“Hey, Neji! Long time!”

“Look. Rehearsal is at 2:00 pm sharp in the Butsuma Memorial Concert Hall. Sasuke always arrives by 1:30. And leaves by 6:15,” Neji replied matter-of-factly.

“Thanks! I really appreciate it.”

He scoffed, “I’m not sure why you want to be put in touch with that man but he is severely lacking in sociability,” Neji warned with a displeased tone, “I’d quite rather rip my own teeth out then have an at length conversation with him out of work.”

“Thank you, Neji,” Naruto replied laced with sarcasm, “I’ll be sure to say hi when I stop in and make sure Sasuke is nowhere near you!”

“You are welcome. I guess I will be seeing you,” Neji concluded and promptly hung up.

Naruto frowned at the phone in his hand.

“ITACHIIIIII,” he groaned loudly.

“Yes, Naruto?” He replied, Eddie perched on his left shoulder, nibbling on a peanut that Itachi given her with mumbled praise.

“Just how bad do you want to see you brother?”

———-

Kisame was not happy.

He wanted Itachi to reach out himself but it had been two weeks since Naruto texted him he that he had officially returned home with a photo of Itachi curled up in a loveseat fast asleep.

And while Kisame was still pissed… it did make him smile.

Itachi and Kisame had been dancing around one another for the majority of the time they were in the band. Itachi too reserved to ever make a move and Kisame, despite his smarmy exterior, not wanting to push Itachi.

Whatever it was though, he always kept an eye out for Itachi. They were partners in crime. The dual guitarists of Akatsuki. They played back to back and in Kisame’s eyes they moved that way off stage as well.

Which is why it hurt really fucking bad as Kisame realized he should pull back even more when he watched Itachi demolish Samehada.

It was not a pretty sight and Kisame deeply mourned that guitar. Theoretically, he could rebuild it, after all between him and Sasori they were quite skilled when it came to building custom pieces, but it would never be the same. Samehada was something special… it had been crafted to the point where it was irreplaceable.

That guitar was his own personal Frankenstrat. Samehada was a mismatched monstrosity of multiple other guitar parts that had been rearranged and reattached to get the most unique sound Kisame could and god, did Samehada sing when it wanted to. The sound was so unique, he refused to use a single pedal when Kisame played with it.

It had become priceless. It held a piece of Kisame’s soul.

And then in one night, the cherished guitar was gone. Splintered against the wall into countless pieces. The vintage ebony fret board that was in laid with mother of pearl, snapped into 4 pieces, the body completely demolished, the frets themselves that were hand replaced by Kisame hade been scattered across the last venue they played.

But still, it freaked Kisame out that Itachi had driven himself to that point more than he was angry about losing Samehada.

Now that Itachi was back home, he let his anger exist. He needed an apology that was unprompted and so did the rest of the band.

So Kisame sent Naruto a text to see where Itachi’s head was at and if he planned on reaching out anytime soon

Chapter Text

Sasuke was already dreading rehearsal. His father was in a pissy mood based on the phone call he had just gotten off of, which meant that if people fucked up even the slightest bit today, no one would be having a fun time.

Not that rehearsal was fun… but Sasuke really didn’t desire to be actively wanting to take himself out with his own instrument.

But unfortunately, all of that was out of control so as he arrived, he moved into his regular routine and made his way to his personal rehearsal room.

As he approached, Sasuke was faced with a ripple in that routine.

There was… a ruggedly handsome miscreant standing by the door of his rehearsal room. He had a mop of blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes that seemed to be taking in the crown molding of the ceiling. His booted feet were incessantly tapping on the wall he was leaning on and really, the audacity of his casualness pissed off Sasuke.

By the way he was dressed, cargo pants paired with a rather garish orange sweatshirt, and the way he held himself, it was obvious he was not a part of the orchestra and therefore, not welcome. Not to mention, the small gold rings that pierced his earlobes made him seem even more out of place. Like Fugaku constantly reminded Sasuke… proper gentlemen do not have pierced ears, that was for women. Even if the gold did compliment the man’s tanned skin quite wonderfully.

Sasuke neared the door with his keys in his hand hoping that the man wouldn’t talk to him despite knowing that was the only reason he would be leaning where he was.

As soon as the man’s eyes found Sasuke, they brightened even more and Sasuke’s scowl deepened.

‘God damn it,’ Sasuke thought unhappily.

Once that bright gaze fell on him, he was almost uncomfortable. The man looked at him like he hung the sun with a smile so bright Sasuke almost missed the anxious energy bubbling under it. The only give away was the foot drumming against the door.

Sasuke switched his tactic in favor of biting into him with his famous glare that had been known to keep people from even approaching him.

The blonde’s eye widened for a moment but rather than leave, he smirked. Not a snarky one either, a genuinely amused smirk.

“Sasuke Uchiha?” He asked.

His voice was gravelly but warm just like the rest of his presence.

“This is a closed rehearsal. I don’t know what you could possibly be looking for but leave,” Sasuke snapped as he opened his door.

Before the blonde could even get something out Sasuke slipped in the rehearsal room and slammed the door shut behind him, locking it once again.

With a tired sigh, he set his violin down and began to open the case when there was a pounding on the door.

Sasuke ignored it and the knocking stopped… for a moment, then it returned with a vengeance.
And it quickly started to create a pounding in Sasuke’s head.

So he opened the door, cell phone in hand and snapped at the blonde, “if you don’t get the fuck out in one minute I’m calling security to get rid of you.”

And then he slammed the door shut again.

With his finger hovering over the number for security, Sasuke waited a moment for receding footsteps but instead heard the blonde’s pleasantly gravelly voice once again.

“Hey, I’m here…”

Sasuke strained to hear the voice on the other end of the phone call but could not.

“At USSO… No, I didn’t STALK him! Lee knows a member of USSO.”

Sasuke scowled. His finger once again returned to hover over the call button in order to get this man out of here, but as he went to finally go to push it the man cursed.

“But he threatened to call security on me!! Don’t laugh! It’s not funny, Itachi!” The man whined. “If I had known your brother was this much of a goddamn bastard I would have made you come!”

Sasuke froze. A shred of hope blossomed in his chest that he tried to smother immediately.

’Itachi?’

There was no way. It must be another Itachi… who also had a brother… named Sasuke.

“Fine. But if I get arrested. You’re bailing me out!”

Sasuke then made an impulsive choice as curiosity got the better of him.

He opened the door, reached out and yanked the blonde man inside the rehearsal suite.

“Who the hell are you?”

It took a moment for the bewildered blonde to register what had just happened but a surprised grin fell on his face when he realized he got what he wanted much to Sasuke’s irritation.

“Naruto Uzumaki,” he smiled, sticking his hand out for a handshake.

Sasuke did not take his hand. Oddly enough, Uzumaki sounded vaguely familiar but that was the last thing on Sasuke’s mind now.

“What do you know about Itachi?” He snapped, his glare hardening.

Sasuke watched something flare in Naruto’s eyes, “I’m here on his behalf.”

Sasuke could feel his cold mask break into frustrated confusion for a split second. He had just met this man and at the mention of Itachi Naruto had ruffled his feathers so badly that he completely lost his composure… No, maybe it was even before that; something was off the moment Sasuke laid eyes on the blonde.

And Sasuke hated it.

“I haven’t seen my brother in 11 years. I’m having a hard time believing you,” Sasuke seethed.

A sad expression flitted across Naruto’s face.

“And… he doesn’t even have the decency to come himself?!” Sasuke exclaimed.

“It’s not that!” Naruto shot back with a defiant stare, “I knew he wouldn’t wanna come here so I came myself.”

Who the hell was this man that knew what Itachi wanted?

“He wants to talk,” Naruto stated, making sure to meet Sasuke’s hard stare as he said it.

“What?” Sasuke asked softly, more caught off guard than anything.

“He wants-“

“Shut up. That was rhetorical, dumbass. I heard you the first time. Why?”

Sasuke watched the anxiety hidden in Naruto bubble to the surface. His hand rose to his cheek and knuckles rubbed idly against the bottom of the triad of scars scored into his cheeks.

“Itachi… he’s had a rough go of it recently. It’s not really my story to tell but um, he wanted, or he wants to get better… and reaching out to his biological family was one of the best options.”

Get better? Did something happen? Even after all these years, Sasuke’s heart, that he had long believed to be frozen over, clenched at the thought of knowing something happened to Itachi.

“Why should I believe you?” Sasuke probed trying to ignore the emotions that surfaced.

Naruto frowned, “good point.”

He then pulled out his phone and hunted through it for a moment then when he found what he was looking for. Naruto held out the phone to Sasuke.

The sharp gasp and moment where Sasuke realized it really was his brother also made him recoil from the phone altogether.

But he forced himself to look.

It was a selfie of the blond and another familiar face, although time had definitely changed it from the one he remembered.

The blonde wore an anxious smile as he eyed the crow that seemed to be on top of Itachi’s shoulder while Itachi smiled coolly as he fed the bird.

“That’s me, Itachi and… Eddie,” Naruto said with a small smile.

Sasuke bit back the emotion that swelled as he took in a face he hadn’t seen in a decade.
It was still Itachi. A face that was longer than he remembered as time had sharpened his features and he lost the soft cheeks he had in his childhood. His eyes were still warm but distant and so tired. The dark circles that were carved into his eyes felt like they had been made over years of poor sleep. His long hair was gently held back, but the front pieces were a bit shorter and fell on either side of his face, framing it.

Sasuke almost scoffed. His father would be pissed to see Itachi’s hair so long. According to Fugaku, the man in this photo had fallen very far from what he would consider a proper gentleman or even a functioning member of society because his hair wasn’t the thing he would be most angry about. It would be the piercings and especially the tattoos. After all, the family still had roots in Japan where tattoos were still taboo and still considered to be marks of the Yakuza. Fugaku would never allow a member of their family to even entertain the idea of getting a tattoo or a facial piercing. It made the family look bad. However, Itachi was covered in them.

In the photo, he wore a loose grey tank top that looked as if it was cut into that style from another t-shirt and it revealed a number of Itachi’s tattoos. Peaking over his shoulder was a traditional Japanese tattoo of a samurai however the eyes hidden in the helmet were feminine as they cried tears of what could only be assumed were blood. The rest of the sleeve was not in the photo but the tattoos moved over his collar bones as well. Two identical kunai knives that mirrored one another and pointed inward as they connected by a very thin line. On the wrist of his opposite hand, which was feeding the crow was a black and grey piece that Sasuke recognized, M.C. Escher’s Bird Fish an op art tessellation that moved up Itachi’s forearm.

The piercings were also a surprise. All silver jewelry glittered in the photo. There were a number, two in his lobes, a ring in his tragus, a small barbell in his eyebrow, a dermal just under his eye and a spider bite in his lip.

All the body mods made Sasuke feel the sheer amount of time it had been since he had last seen Itachi. They were different people now. It was obvious if you looked at them side by side. Although, when Sasuke was home and he had nothing to do, his longer hair curtained his face quite similarly to Itachi but no one besides him ever bore witness to his hair un-styled.

Sasuke forced his dismay into anger as he looked back at Naruto. “So why are you here?”

“I was hoping to set up a way to connect the two of you?”

More than anything Sasuke was pissed that Itachi didn’t even have the balls to come himself. He sent this giant, oafish, handsome idiot to do it for him. Who even was he to Itachi? Why was he getting involved? Was he-

“Why is it your fucking business? What are you? His boyfriend?!” Sasuke jibed.

Naruto recoiled with a very displeased expression, “Gah, ew, what? No! No no no no no no no. No.”
Sasuke in turn, also soured.

‘Ew? EW?!’ He thought. God, this day was getting even worse now he had to deal with a fucking homophobe?! It was bad enough that he hadn’t told his parents or anyone else for that matter about his own sexuality but hearing it around him just rubbed salt in the wound.

“No… Itachi’s the closest thing I have to family… so it’s not like that at all, I promise,” Naruto said, bringing his eyes back to Sasuke. They met briefly and Sasuke could have sworn when they made eye contact Naruto blushed.

He quickly cleared his throat, “I just… I owe Itachi a lot. I want to help him get better… in any way I can.”

Sasuke remained silent and he watched Naruto titter nervously.

“Listen… I’m realizing this a lot… so, uh,, I’m sorry to just barge in. I gotta bad habit of not thinking things through,” Naruto laughed nervously, “I’ll leave mine and Itachi’s number… Text him though, I’ll tell him I gave it to you.”

Sasuke was so bewildered by everything he learned that he didn’t even realize Naruto had grabbed a piece of his sheet music and scribbled his and Itachi’s numbers on it.

Naruto handed Sasuke the paper and moved to leave.

“Wait,” Sasuke mumbled.

Naruto turned back to him, his blue eyes soft in a way that Sasuke hated. He knew his hard exterior had melted away. That photo of Itachi had made him feel like he was twelve again and his parents had told him they didn’t know where his older brother was. Sasuke didn’t know the man in the picture he was shown… he looked familiar but there was so much he had missed and it was infuriating. He had decided long ago he would no longer mope over his brother who never bothered to come back.

“What’s he been doing all this time?” Sasuke asked softly.

Naruto gave him a small lopsided smile and nodded toward the paper in Sasuke’s hand, “you should ask him.”

“Is he okay?” Sasuke asked somehow even quieter.

Fuck, he was supposed to be angry. Not whatever this was…

Naruto’s brow furrowed. There was no doubt it was a pained expression but there was hope in those blue eyes. Sasuke was caught off guard that that hope seemed to be directed at him.

“I think he will be.”

Naruto saw the question on Sasuke’s lips before he asked it, “it’s not my shit to spill. Like I said, you should talk to him…”

Sasuke nodded, “fine.”

Naruto continued on toward the door but stopped before he opened it, turning back to Sasuke, “Also, I think you should keep this on the down-low for a bit… Itachi specifically wanted to start with you. I don’t think he’s ready for anyone else yet.”

Sasuke clenched the paper in his hand. He had spent so long trying to convince himself that Itachi had forgotten him all these years because if that was not true, somehow it just made it hurt more.

“Even though you seem like an insufferable bastard, it was nice to finally meet you,” Naruto said, opening the door, “and good luck with those caprices. They’re nasty but I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

Finally meet him? Did Itachi talk about Sasuke? He hadn’t tried to forget him like Sasuke had done?
And before anything else could be said, Naruto left, leaving Sasuke standing there looking at his sheet music for Paganini’s 5th Caprice.
——
Rehearsal had been a mess.

Sasuke could barely focus. His mind was still focused on Naruto’s visit.

There were a number of things that were bothering him and refused to leave him alone while he bumbled his way through the new pieces.

What had happened to Itachi that changed his mind?

What was he going to tell his parents? Would he tell his parents?

What was Naruto to Itachi? They seemed very close but he still hadn’t gotten a real answer.

What was Naruto’s deal? Why did Uzumaki sound so familiar?

Where had itachi been for the last 11 years.

What the fuck was he doing now?

And the list went on and on and on.

He had been so consumed by his thoughts that he snapped a string on his violin, earning him a glare from his father and then a stern talking to after.

“Sasuke. You’re the first violin. You are the example. Check your strings ahead of time so you don’t disrupt the entire orchestra.”

“Yes, sir,” Sasuke had replied and shelved his concerns until he got home.

But… Now that he was he wasn’t sure what to do.

Should he text Itachi?

The number was in his hand. After 11 years, he could finally see his brother again!

His brother who he didn’t know anymore… Covered in tattoos and piercings, becoming the villain his father had always warned him against. Was he doing drugs? Was he in a gang? After all, that was why Fugaku forbade his family members from getting tattoos in the first place.

Sasuke’s thoughts were all over the place. So much so that he didn’t even realize he was pulling out the record Itachi left.

‘They’re not so different after all,’

With a deep breath, Sasuke decided to play the record after all these years and skipped to the second circled track. The kinslayer.

Sasuke had splurged on very few things for this house. One of those things was the sound system.
As the needle dropped onto the record, the roar of a crowd filled Sasuke’s empty library.

Immediately, Sasuke found himself fixating on the technical flair of the song. The time signature was peculiar he noticed as the drums smashed sporadically through the sound of a keyboard synthesizer commanding the heavenly main melody. It continued building until it promptly cut off in an explosion, replaced by the shred of a guitar in a lower register.

The synthesizer sang a tinny manufactured melody. Yet while each note was succinct, they were scattered across the scale. It almost felt like whiplash. As the synth ended. The guitar replaced it, providing the exact opposite, a gritty constant riffing, less frantic than the synth and much more grounded and compact.

Then the lyrics started combining the two wildly different sounds. The tone of the synth matched the classical soprano whose voice rang out, echoing sharply though Sasuke’s library but the tempo doubled down on the consistent chugging started by the lead guitar. The words, including their meaning, were heavy compared to the delicate voice. They were sung like a march; the heavy thud of soldiers’ tired feet returning after a defeat.

Sasuke found himself lost in the sound, not quite remembering to listen to the meaning of the words. He had never heard anything like this. His father had kept him so sheltered and he kept himself so focused on his tasks at hand that he would never have time for anything else.

Sasuke sat in quiet amazement as he was bombarded with an inexplicable feeling. It was like the music he had been playing his entire life but more. More energy, more feeling, more passion, more intensity.

No wonder Shisui fell in love with it. It had Shisui’s same frantic liveliness that the adults of the Uchiha family tried so hard to keep suppressed.

That realization scared Sasuke.

He tried to ignore the voice that whispered about the difference in the way Shisui acted when he was with Itachi and Sasuke without an Uchiha guardian in sight. He had been so young… There was no way he could remember it clearly… Surely.

Sasuke fought the urge to immediately turn off the music as his thoughts spiraled. He instead forced himself to begin to listen to the words… but it didn’t make it better.

“Orchid kids, blinded stare,
Need to understand,
no need to forgive.”

Sasuke couldn’t help but think of Itachi. 11 years without a word from either side. As much as Sasuke’s anger was funneled to Itachi… at the same time he sat there and waited for Itachi to come back. While Sasuke was a child when Itachi left, he wasn’t anymore. He could have at least tried to find him rather than sit around and pout about how he didn’t know where he was.

Sasuke knew a part of him was and always would be a selfish and masochistic bastard but Naruto’s visit shoved that fact in his face.

Need to understand…

Hah. Sasuke had never even tried! When Itachi had left he blamed himself and was devastated… and then when he was sick of being sad (which happened almost instantaneously) he decided he was pissed and never wanted to give the time of day as to what could have possibly started this.
He knew Shisui played a large part but Sasuke didn’t want to believe what grief could have done to his brother. He refused to think about how it could have changed him… for 11 years.

And the guilt only seeped deeper when he realized he liked the song.

“Run away with your impeccable kin!”

That line tasted bitter in Sasuke’s mouth. It almost felt like an attack. Yea, run away from reason. Stay in your ivory tower. Don’t end up like Itachi… Don’t stray from the path your family has laid out for you: Symphony halls and black tie performances rewarded with restrained and polite applause.
Not this… not the impassioned roar of a crowd that was pounding through Sasuke’s library right now. Not the sound of the guitar that made his heart start to pound. He should refuse the small child in his heart who was pounding on his ribcage to the beat and begging for his older brother back.
But what was stopping him now?

What was so bad about Itachi? All he could think of was what his father had told him, which were just opinions from an angry old patriarch.

Itachi was just different now. His father hated ‘different’. But in his heart, Sasuke was different too. For fuck’s sake, Sasuke was gay! No one knew…. He was terrified to tell people but maybe… things could be different. Maybe if he started with Itachi…

Sasuke could feel his phone burning a hole in his pocket.

With his jaw clenched and the song fading, Sasuke removed the folded piece of sheet music and his cell phone and typed in Itachi’s number.

‘Hello Itachi. This is Sasuke. Your brother. A man named Naruto gave me your number and spoke about getting back in touch.’

Before he could second guess himself, Sasuke hit send.

He should have done anything to abate the anxiety making his chest hurt but no. Sasuke sat in his large leather armchair letting the album that way playing fill his head while he sat and waited.

Two and a half songs later, Sasuke immediately tensed when he felt his phone sound.

‘Apologies for Naruto intruding on you. Though I am happy to find his methods worked. It has been much too long, otouto.’

Chapter Text

This apology tour fucking sucked.

Itachi had officially arranged his affairs and was starting on the long list of people he needed to have conversations with that he absolutely didn’t want to have.

Sasuke was at the top of the list. They had exchanged brief texts and through Naruto’s unprompted advice and encouragement, Itachi had set up a meeting.

However, it made much more sense to have this meeting in person and after bouncing ideas off of Naruto and Kakashi, Itachi had decided to take Sasuke to The Puppet Shop, which sounded a lot more unsettling than it was.

The Puppet Shop was a claustrophobic maze of a music shop that was run by Sasori, who was the Akatsuki’s favorite jack of all trades. With an innate gift for both acoustics and mechanics, he could flawlessly execute anything that was asked of him. Kisame had proved that while they continuously tweaked Samehada.

Though Sasori’s specialty was the repair, modification and customization of any instrument under the sun, he could find literally anything if you needed it. Musical or not. He came from a large fortune that he rarely spoke of with a distant look and even further removed words. All that Itachi had gathered was that his family made brilliant strides in the robotics industry and they had profited greatly from it. When asked, Sasori’s serene, vacant expression twisted into disgust.
“There’s no beauty in my relatives’ shoddy machinery,” he would spit.

It was one of the few times Sasori’s genuine nature was revealed, it did not match his cherub-like face.

Itachi rarely interacted with him if he could help it and Sasori never went out of his way to speak to anyone. They shared a kinship in the way they decided to leave their families to start fresh but Sasori had no regrets and merely animosity for where he came from. Itachi was simply filled with a crippling grief and anxiety.

Luckily, Sasori was actually quite hard to find within his shop. Typically, he was hidden in his workshop deep in the labyrinth of things he had created which lined the shelves. This left the actual counter to be manned by a stray member of the Akatsuki or Konan who was at the top of the short list of people Sasori tolerated.

Though, as long as he remained unbothered, anyone Konan deemed okay or did business with the shop got free reign, which meant Itachi and the Akatsuki had free access to one of the many practice rooms also hidden within the giant shop.

But since the shop was Kisame’s favorite place to kill time, he had to reach out to him first… which Itachi was dreading.

‘Samehada was damaged irreparably by your hand’

The psychiatrist’s words kept echoing in his head and it was why he hadn’t been able to bring himself to reach out to Kisame. Itachi knew what that guitar meant to him. How it was a product of years of scavenging odds and ends to make something so unique and so tailored to his odd friend that no one could ever imagine him with another guitar.

And Itachi demolished it.

No matter what was said to him. He never should have done that. Not to mention, Hidan was the one who antagonized Itachi in the first place.

And while Itachi knew Kisame wanted to talk through Naruto trying his best to casually suggest that he should reach out, Itachi just felt so fucking guilty.

He deserved to be hated for that one.

Add Kisame to the list of people who were better off without him.

Scratch that. Itachi wasn’t supposed to be thinking like that anymore. His therapist told him so, even if his brain was screaming it at him.

With a tired sigh, Itachi tried to rub the thought out of his temples.

Moving on, next on the apology list was Hidan. Itachi was going to apologize to him to be polite and nothing more. Not even a fractured collarbone would stop Hidan from being a complete and total bastard down to his bones. The singer would be much more agreeable with Itachi if he at least said the words. It didn’t matter to Hidan if Itachi meant it. Just the act of submitting himself in order to give the egoist an apology would suffice.

All of that talking just to meet with his brother, who, Itachi believed, barely wanted to speak to him at all. It was taking everything in him not to back out because Sasuke was on the very top of the list of people who Itachi believed were better off without him. Sasuke had always been so good. That innocent, happy kid brother of his didn’t deserve being marred by the black mark of Itachi’s trauma.

‘That’s not true, not everything you touch becomes tainted,’ Itachi could hear in his therapist’s voice.

He scoffed to himself. In theory, that was true but it was just so hard for Itachi to believe. All this forgiveness business was not easy. Not at all.

Reaching out to Sasuke felt so self-serving. Itachi was torn between desperately wanting to reconnect with Sasuke and the belief that nothing good would come of him being dragged into Itachi’s mental hell-scape.

But Naruto was so excited for Itachi so if he backed out he would feel guilty about that too.
A drink could remedy that guilt, it had for years.

Itachi inwardly groaned, acutely aware and sick of his own shit. He propped his head up at Eddie who was on the dining room table in front of him and his book that was supposed to distract him.

He quirked an eyebrow at the bird as if she would be able to answer his dilemma.
As if reading his mind, Eddie pecked at his phone.

With a glare, Itachi swiped his phone from her and sent a text to Kisame.

——

The next day Kisame arrived at the Puppet Shop at 9 am sharp. Itachi was supposed to meet him at 10:00, which was impressive for him, since on tour Kisame realized Itachi rarely fell asleep before 4.
There had been too many nights of Kisame almost asking Sasori for his best sleeping pills just to make Itachi turn his stupid light off and go the fuck to sleep.

Maybe he finally got something that would help. Kisame’s chest felt a little lighter at that thought.
Until Itachi came, Kisame found himself with Sasori, who was helping him collect parts for a new custom guitar.

Unsurprisingly, Sasori was in his workshop already working. His presence was calm yet still unsettling to Kisame, which was saying something considering Kisame’s hulking frame and Sasori’s much slighter one.

Most of the time Sasori’s serene face remained unchanging, perfectly set by Botox that was so well done no one noticed he even had it until they watched his face twist in disgust and it did not move the way it should. Konan even swore he wore a wig but no one dared to ask.

“Makes sense,” she would shrug, “he wants nothing less than perfection.”

Sometimes it seemed he wanted it so bad there was nothing real about Sasori anymore. Deidara liked to call him the Wizard because he was the man who pulled the strings behind the curtain just like the Wizard of Oz.

“Disappointing about Itachi,” Sasori mumbled as Kisame entered.

Sasori slid his hand down the coarse wire of an E string as he strung the bass in front of him, which Kisame recognized as Kazuku’s.

Kisame scoffed.

“I would have thought he had more regard for my pieces,” Sasori said flatly, his unreadable stare leveling Kisame.

“He’s been going through some shit,”

“And lost all semblance of self-control. I heard it was… messy.”

Kisame almost growled. Sasori had such a niche way of sounding so aloof but so patronizing at the same time.

“What’d you hear from Hidan?”

Sasori made a face of distaste as he continued to work on the guitar in front of him, “he came with Kazuku and, if you remember, is no longer permitted to step foot in this room lest he would like to be choked out by the wire of his own microphone.”

“Can’t imagine you were too upset to see his fractured collarbone, courtesy of Itachi.”

Once again Sasori frowned but an odd satisfaction danced in his eyes, “so fragile.”

Kisame glared, unsure if Sasori was talking about Hidan or Itachi, “He’s coming by today. Bringing his little brother… and Naruto.”

The remark seemed not to phase Sasori, even when it was indicated that Naruto was not the little brother who was mentioned first.

“Send Naruto to me. I have the new strings requested by his bandmates,”

“They’re rehearsing, they’ll be here.”

Sasori slightly shook his head, eyes never leaving his work, “One band member is a sufficient enough contact.”

Before Kisame could challenge him he spoke again, “Meaning The Akastuki is on thin ice.”

Kisame laughed, knowing full well Sasori would never get rid of them considering how much business they gave him.

As Sasori finished stringing the bass in front of him he rose and beckoned Kisame.

“I got a new piece in. Originally for Samehada but it will work for the new build.”

Sasori opened a small apothecary cupboard filled with odds and ends for instruments and pulled out a small box, which was lined with black velvet when he opened it.

Kisame grinned.

Inside was an off-white saddle, the piece of the guitar that held the strings off the frets before they were wound into the machine heads. The divots where the strings would fall were tinted bright red with ink as well as the carving that decorated the tiny piece, giving the piece an almost bloodstained look through scrimshaw.

“Ivory. I carved it myself,” Sasori explained.

“Do I want to know how you even got it?” Kisame asked with a raised eyebrow.

Sasori shrugged, “Regardless of where it came from, it will be part of a masterpiece.”

A disembodied chime rang through the shop and Kisame looked down at his watch to find it was 9:45, meaning It was most likely Itachi walking through the door.

“You need anything else from me this morning?” Kisame asked.

“No.”

—-

Naruto could feel Itachi vibrating with anxiety and with the way his knee was bouncing so could a very unhappy crow.

“Did you take your meds?” He asked with a glance.

Itachi bit at his lip. As if reading Naruto’s mind, Eddie nipped at Itachi’s finger.

However, Naruto held back a sigh. He loved Itachi dearly and he knew that he would do anything for Naruto, however Itachi had literally no idea how to advocate for himself. Itachi opted to busy himself with trying to help others instead, as children it mostly meant Naruto through his complicated childhood.

For the longest time Naruto held off saying something. A large part because Naruto was so preoccupied with his own issues that Itachi could hide his own quite well. Until, Naruto started to find holes in Itachi’s facade. Itachi did very well when he was told to do something, had an unconscious need to be of service, which paired well with the way Naruto demanded his attention… It took Naruto a bit of time to piece this together despite clinging to him as a kid but Itachi would literally never take an action to benefit himself. However he would do it if he knew it would benefit someone else. And lucky for Itachi, Naruto was pushy. Naruto realized Itachi needed pushy and Naruto needed Itachi.
It was a concerning little cycle that broke when Itachi went on tour. Naruto wasn’t there to guilt him into taking care of himself.

Naruto wouldn’t let that happen again. He refused to lose Itachi, the thought of it utterly terrified him. So much so that when he started to hear Itachi’s slurred words on the other end of the line during his tours, Naruto would wake up to panic attacks and occasionally have nightmares.
But Itachi could never know that. Naruto had no desire to make him feel even worse so he would continue to keep an eye out for him and help Itachi be okay. It would give Naruto peace.
While keeping his eyes on the road, Naruto opened up the console and pulled out a small bottle of his own anxiety meds, prescribed as needed.

“Here. Take a half of mine, it’ll take that pressure out of your chest,”

“I don’t-'' Itachi tried to protest.

“Chi chi, you look like you’re about to pass out and your leg hasn’t stopped bouncing since we got in the car,” Naruto replied, cutting him off, “there should be one I cut already.”

Eddie crowed in what seemed to be agreement.

Itachi frowned and nodded, twisting open the cap of the small bottle. Out of the corner of his eye Naruto saw Itachi reading over the prescription label but he didn’t say anything and instead fished out half of a pill.

Naruto handed him his water.

He knew Itachi remembered what his prescription was. Naruto had had it for years and, when he was still young, Itachi would often come with him to pick it up. He would make sure the dosage was the correct one since the pharmacies were notorious for fucking it up and with the small print, Naruto sometimes mixed up the numbers. Though, it had been a very long time since he truly needed Itachi or Kakashi to double check it.

But that meant Itachi had noticed that the prescription was significantly higher than before.
Naruto wasn’t going to mention it if Itachi didn’t.

As they pulled into the parking lot, Naruto noticed the color coming back into Itachi’s cheeks.
He put the car into park and turned to Itachi, “alright, if you need anything, you know where to find me. I’ll be in the rehearsal rooms… or if you just wanna visit, though I think I put off your brother forever.”

Itachi raised an eyebrow.

“He only softened up when I mentioned you.”

Itachi’s brow furrowed. That didn’t sound like Sasuke… The kid he remembered was quite stubborn but eager. Always hanging around Itachi and Shisui, begging them to let him join them.

“Either way, he wouldn’t come if he didn’t want to,”

Itachi hummed in acknowledgement. It would be interesting to see who Sasuke was compared to Itachi’s memory of his little brother. If his parents had the same hold they had had on Itachi when he was growing up, that memory of a sweet kid, fascinated by everything around him would have probably changed but Itachi hoped that wasn’t the case.

However, Itachi nodded and Naruto grinned while he held his hand out for a fist bump, “it’s gonna be awkward but it’ll be great.”

“Awkward but great,” Itachi mumbled like he was repeating a mantra.

He deftly unzipped Eddie’s carrier and placed her on his shoulder, very thankful for the bird’s weight to keep him grounded.

-

The two, or three if you count the bird, of them walked into the shop with Naruto in the lead.
His bandmates had already arrived since he spotted their cars in the driveway before they got in. Sasuke was not since Itachi had decided he would speak to Kisame first.

Naruto beamed at Konan as he ambled through the door.

“Long time no see!”

“A pleasure as always,” came the quiet reply from the blue-haired woman, “Naruto, your band is practice room 2 and Itachi, Kisame is coming up from the workshop. And… who is this?”

Eddie cooed as Itachi gently pet her on his shoulder. She hopped onto his knuckles and he set her down in front of Konan.

“Konan, meet Eddie. She’s quite friendly.”

“And Itachi’s new best friend.”

Naruto flashed itachi a reassuring smile and a double thumbs-up, then the universal sign for ‘call me’ with the over exaggerated mouthing of “if you need”. He then disappeared into the bowels of The Puppet Shop.

Naruto's concern was equally comforting and infuriating.

For the longest time, it was Itachi who took care of Naruto.

And now? Well, it really just seemed like they traded who could hide their tells better.

Itachi fretted some more while Konan was busy with Eddie but Itachi’s train of thought was cut short by heavy steps coming up from the basement level.

“Look who's back from the dead,” Kisame mused, the normal chipper tone coming off much more icy than usual.

“Resurrected sober,” Itachi quipped back, flatly.

Kisame made an impressed face that didn’t quite feel genuine.

In return, Itachi flipped him another chip.

“90 days… Congrats. What else you got to show for it?”? Kisame pressed.

It was bizarre. All of their interactions were slightly on edge. Energy buzzed between them but neither of them could quite put a finger on what it was. It seemed to change constantly.

“A bird,” Itachi deadpanned, gesturing to Eddie on the table.

Not even Kisame could hold back the absurdity of that remark and he cackled, spooking Eddie back toward Itachi.

At that moment, Kisame traded a look with Konan who quietly left the room.

“You look a lot better,” Kisame noted with a reserved tone, “you feel better?”

Itachi busied himself with petting Eddie, “No.”

An awkward silence hung before Itachi added, “physically, yes.”

Kisame simply stared, waiting for Itachi to say what he needed to because there was no forcing it out of him.

“I don’t think I can forgive myself for destroying Samehada… can’t even imagine you would,” Itachi finally caved, bringing his eyes to meet Kisame.

“Thought a lot about it over the last couple months. I’m still pissed but I don’t think I ever would have let that guitar go if you didn’t shatter it.”

Itachi flinched at the word shatter.

“I’m too old to be angry. That’s what Hidan’s job is in this band, which I actually like being in. Believe it or not,” Kisame shrugged.

“I’m sorry,” Itachi still quietly pressed.

“I’m not accepting your apology yet. You still owe me.”

…

Sasuke was nervous as hell leading up to this meeting and inches away from biting the head off of anyone he talked to.

He did everything he could to distract himself. Especially the night before, However the rabbit hole he decided to descend down probably was a terrible idea.

He had gone and planted himself in front of his computer with a mug of tea, opened up YouTube and typed in ‘Jinchagae’. The band from the album Itachi had left him.

He watched about 5 music videos and then 5 concert videos that spiked his adrenaline in an oddly cathartic way before it started to really become a rabbit hole. In the recommended section, some music gossip channel had a video titled ‘Jinchagae’s Tragic Tail! The End of An Era!’

And it was late enough that Sasuke decided this video was a good idea.

When the video started, Sasuke was simultaneously reading over notes from his father but 15 seconds into the video he stopped dead.

The video had started with a small introduction of the band and their music before getting into the nasty details that the video was truly about.

‘In 2006, Jinchagae’s leading lady, Kushina Uzumaki and her husband, the band’s lead guitarist, Minato Namikaze, were brutally murdered by a superfan of the band.’

Sasuke finally realized where he had heard the name Uzumaki. He wasn’t sure how much was fact coming from the over enthusiastic man sitting in a gamer chair explaining this tragic story but Sasuke couldn’t bring himself to turn the video off.

‘Sources say the fan believed himself to be Kurama, the fictional fox made legend in the stories and lyrics wound throughout Jinchagae’s albums. The man was so entrenched in the lore that his legal name was changed! Talk about commitment!’

Oh, that made Sasuke’s stomach turn. He was right he had heard the name Uzumaki. His parents used this story to scare him when he was little.

“Don’t trust that horrid counterculture, Sasuke. You’ll end up like that ridiculous band your brother liked. Murdered by your own creation. They should have known better. They got themselves killed.”
When Sasuke was a kid he believed that. His parents were always right. Why write violent lyrics like that? The world was a dangerous place. It was like they were inviting it. It’s not like Sasuke ever listened to the lyrics to see if what his parents said were true. He trusted them.

‘According to police reports, Kurama found his way onto the tour bus and hid until they returned, only to be met by the son of Kushina and Minato.

The only reports of what was said on that bus are from that child whose name and whereabouts to this day are kept sealed in police records as is his report of what happened on that bus.
Though between you and me, I’ve heard there are rumors about where he is all these years later!’

The commentator winked, and Sasuke grimaced.

Was Naruto really related to that Uzumaki? Was that who Itachi had been living with all these years? And why the fuck would Naruto give Sasuke his real name.

‘From the police report, recording the aftermath, Minato and Kushina were ran through with a Japanese katana after bargaining with the man to let their son go.’

In a shitty, spinning power point transition, press photos appeared on the screen along with a headline. The photo was a wide shot of a masked man carrying a child, the only visible distinguishing feature being his bright blonde hair.

Next to spin onto the screen were the photos of the crime scene. Sasuke immediately shut his computer.

Uneasiness welled up in his chest. His parent’s warnings about the world outside of theirs echoing in his mind.

‘That kid will end up just as messed up as the rabid fan who killed his parents. How could they raised a kid surrounded by that evil culture?’

When Sasuke was younger and his parents brought their favorite scary story up to caution him, he always found himself thinking of that Uzumaki kid.

At first, he would picture that faceless blond tucked into the masked man’s arms. Then his parents would continue to lecture and that image twisted into the stereotypical mental image of everyone Sasuke’s parents deemed ‘bad’. Tattooed, dyed black hair, an ugly sneer meant to challenge anyone who approached.

But both of those images were completely incorrect. Honestly, Sasuke himself fit that description more than Naruto did.

And Sasuke’s curiosity was piqued even further. This rabbit hole was the one thing that stopped him from cancelling on Itachi all together because he had been thinking about doing that since they organized the damn meeting.

If Naruto was who he thought, Sasuke was baffled by the vibe he gave off when they last met. It was so incredibly warm.

Sasuke couldn’t help but think that Naruto had to be the reason Itachi changed his mind all these years. After all, there had to be a concrete reason why he was reaching out. Things like that didn’t just spontaneously happen.

But if all that was true?

Then it meant Sasuke’s parents were wrong. After all these years of living by their rules… that ivory tower he lived in would topple.

Suddenly, anxiety quickly turned to anger and overwhelmed Sasuke. How the fuck could this blonde ball of sunshine exist?! How could he just shrug off everything?! After everything he’d been through, there had to be something wrong with him! And there was obviously something wrong with Itachi!
But… When Naruto started talking to Sasuke it was like he didn’t have a care in the world… His only moments of stress were tied to Itachi.

All of Sasuke’s nerves about seeing Itachi were redirected and funneled into this frustration. He had to find out more. He was finally going to see what his brother had been doing all this time and now, somehow he also needed to know what Naruto had been doing all this time. He needed to know that his parents were right. That it was fine that he stayed in his ivory tower. That the world was no good and he hadn’t missed anything by being terrified to disobey his parents to be apart of it.