Chapter Text
It starts when Sasuke doesn't show up to school one day. From what Naruto knows, Sasuke never misses school. Ever.
He also misses the next day.
And the next day.
The rumors come next. Horrible, horrible rumors.
“Did you hear? All in one night!”
“I heard it was Itachi-san!”
“No way!!!! But he-”
"Even the police precinct-"
“I heard Sasuke-kun is in the hospital.”
“The entire clan…”
Naruto doesn’t see the boy for an entire week, and for the entirety of that time, he doesn’t know what to think, or how to act. The whispering is a bit confusing, but it sounds like something happened to Sasuke's clan. Naruto doesn't know much about clans or clan politics, and Sasuke was kind of irritating, but…
The whispers are implying something bad. Something impossible.
Naruto doesn’t have a family. He doesn’t know what it means to have one and lose it. He can't imagine having something so precious ripped away from him, when he never really had anything precious to that degree to begin with. If there's anything he does know though, it's what it means to hurt and have no one around to soothe the pain. If the whispers are true, then Sasuke must be hurting. He must be lonely. Naruto knows what lonely feels like, and nobody deserves to feel that feeling. Not even stupid, rude, annoying Sasuke.
It’s only after the village takes on the distinct smell of smoke, and the unmistakable sight of towering flames are spotted within the perimeter of the Uchiha lands a few days after rumors begin to swirl, that the truth is confirmed:
The Uchiha Clan is no more.
Naruto struggles to understand the magnitude of this tragedy. Aren't clans kinda big? Naruto tried to imagine an entire school filled with people who are related to him. Did his whole clan die? How is that even possible, and why is he the only one left?
How can Sasuke even stand the horror of it all?
He wants to help, somehow. He wants to help Sasuke shoulder the pain.
Naruto isn’t sure Sasuke would want his help though, since they aren’t friends. But if he really is the only one left, who else will be there to help him? Hokage-jiji definitely would, but jiji is an adult. Comfort from adults is different, and jiji is sorta stiff when he gives advice. Sasuke doesn't talk with anyone in their class, and its clear that the girls make him irritated, so that means if anyone is gonna help, it should be Naruto.
Classes are cancelled, and most people are too scared to go outdoors. The whispers however, are just as prominent as the emptiness of the streets.
The skies burn red and grey for two straight days, and he can’t walk anywhere without hearing the horrible news. He hears the other students and villagers talk about Sasuke and his family, and something about their words make his stomach turn. He’d always thought the other kid was a jerk, mainly because he always seemed so much better at everything and so much more popular than Naruto. But the hushed way they speak reminds him too much of the way they speak about him when they know he’s there. The shifty gazes, the hurried way they talk, the way they throw Sasuke’s clan name around like a poison.
It's confusing, because much of the gossip steers towards sympathy for Sasuke himself, but.
But.
Something about the way they speak is wrong. So absorbed in the tragedy, everyone leaves Naruto alone, and he should feel relieved, but instead he feels sick. Naruto has never had a family or a precious person other than maybe the Ichiraku owners, but it feels inadequate to compare losing your entire family to losing two people who give you free food on occasion. He and Sasuke are the opposite of close, but Naruto…
Maybe just this once, he could offer a bit of support? It was common knowledge that he has no family, so maybe Sasuke would appreciate talking to someone who could understand the pain of being alone? Even if it was to yell at Naruto, maybe he’d feel a bit better afterwards?
On the way back to his apartment on a Friday evening, the decision is made for him when he spots Sasuke for the first time in a week.
-----
The area around them is quiet at this time of evening, with the sun hanging low in the sky. Sasuke makes a tiny figure at the bottom of the hill, a leg dangling off the edge of the pier. He’s hunched forward, and smaller than Naruto has ever known him to be. He stops walking, and for a moment, he just…looks.
Then Sasuke looks up.
Naruto doesn’t know what kind of emotion is in the boy’s eyes, but before he can stop himself, his feet are moving.
Moving towards Sasuke.
Their gazes stay locked as Naruto draws closer, making his way down the hill and onto the ramp. It is only at the sound of worn sandals on the aged wood that Sasuke looks away.
Wordlessly, Naruto sits beside him, unsure of what to say, but determined to stay, even if Sasuke decides he doesn’t want Naruto here. Hurting alone is agony, more acute than the physical ache of any wound. This, at least, is something he understands.
It’s the longest they’ve ever gone in silence together, Naruto is thinking, when the silence is finally broken by the trembling boy beside him.
When Sasuke finally speaks, his voice is like cracked glass.
“It was my brother.”
Naruto, for once, says nothing.
He stays silent, even when the soft sounds of sniffling reach his ears. Instead, he shifts over until their thighs are touching, and when a head falls to his shoulder, he doesn’t move away. Sasuke smells of ash and burnt bones.
They sit there until the sun dips below the horizon and the stars peek out. When Sasuke finally calms down, the look he gives Naruto tells him everything he needs to know. Slowly, they stand, and with Sasuke tightly clutching Naruto’s wrinkled tee, Naruto leads him through the worn alleyways and dirty back streets of Konoha, to his own small apartment. Sasuke is silent the entire time, eyes to the ground.
When their gazes finally meet, Sasuke looks haunted. It reminds Naruto of the homeless he sometimes sees on his way through the Akasen, the ones missing limbs, who stare into space as if whatever broke their bodies still stands before them. He thinks that old man Jiji should have made sure Sasuke was okay, but then again, sometimes he forgets to bring Naruto’s monthly money.
Not that any of the stores actually take it anyway.
Still.
Naruto is a monster, so he understands why maybe people don’t bother with him.
But Sasuke?
Why is the old man letting Sasuke just…walk around like this?
Naruto feels irritation well up in him for the first time, directed at the hokage. As the two boys settle onto Naruto’s small bed and curl into each other, Naruto clutches Sasuke’s shirt, still reeking of smoke, and makes a vow.
Uchiha Sasuke will never experience loneliness.
Not while Uzumaki Naruto still draws a breath on this earth.