Light our Shadows

Ch 17: Love him, Damnit

"Open our eyes...? To what?" Itachi demanded. "My little brother is perfectly fine."

"Wow. He's perfectly fine, huh? That what you tell yourself every time you shoo him away when he goes looking for you? You know, Sasuke always said you were a liar." Naruto grabbed the kettle to pour himself more tea. "Never realized that meant you would lie to yourself too."

Naruto watched the water pour into his cup. Blue eyes locked on the rising steam that wafted from its depths.

"Man," He placed the kettle down shutting his eyes for a moment. He sniffed the beverage. The soothing aroma of jasmine filling his nose. There was no question Sasuke brewed this. He could detect the faintest hint of mint in the leafy mixture. Sasuke liked to give his beverage a little kick like that. It was more the thought of Sasuke than the smell of the calming tea itself that made him ensure his eyes stayed blue when he opened his eyes once more. "There's nothing I hate more than people who do that. Sucks to know my brother-in-law's one of them. But what can you do?" He lowered his cup down. "Can't pick the family you were born into. It's not Sasuke's fault he was stuck with the parents you share or a brother like you. Fate really gave him a pair of crap covered dice in a rotted wood cup."

Itachi's eyes narrowed at the hokage. "That's an unfounded speculation. We all love him, it's just that we're busy with important things."

"Things are more important than Sasuke? Seriously? It's not just your dad? You think that too?" Naruto frowned, he wanted to throw up. This was absolute bullshit he was hearing.

"Yes. Because those things will effect his life in the future. He's not old enough to know about anything yet." Itachi insisted. "He's kept at a distance for a reason. You've made enough absurd accusations. You know nothing of our life here in the past. Sasuke's more than cared for."

"By who? Not either of your parents. Certainly not by you either. Not when it comes to his emotions. Your father doesn't even acknowledge his existence half the time and when he does he treats it like a chore. Like Sasuke's not worth his time and you, Itachi, are just as bad. You abandon him every chance you get. Crush his hopes with endless empty promises with little to no real explanation when the upcoming plans fall through. Over and over and over again. You let him down and you lie to his face. It's not right. Can't you see how much your hurting him by not being there? All your doing by being distant is causing him harm."

"The world doesn't revolve around Sasuke. I can't shirk my other responsibilities every time he wants to practice a new jutsu or play a game."

"Why not? You seriously can't take five measly minutes to do a thumb wrestle or watch him throw some damned shuriken?" Naruto sighed heavily. "Maybe can't is the wrong word. Maybe you just won't because you have no regard for Sasuke's feelings right now. But if you won't make time for him, if that's really the case, then you could at least have the decency to be straight with him about it instead of constantly leading him on and getting his hopes up for nothing. Do you even know what that does to him?"

"Sasuke's six. He doesn't understand-"

"His age isn't the reason for his lack of understanding. Don't try to sell it like it is. Sasuke's sharp but he's not a mind reader. It's your fault for never having the balls to tell him the truth. You have responsibilities to attend to as an anbu and future clan head whatever- who cares, no one's denying you aren't actually busy. You have a lot going on. Too much of a burden for someone your age. You want to use what little time you get to rest to actually do that and that's fine. Your allowed that, your his brother not his father. It shouldn't be your job to parent him, but you need to stop treating him the way you are. It's detrimental to his mental health."

"Are you done?" Mikoto demanded as she looked to Naruto. Despite her silence, the way Naruto was laying into her son was truly irksome.

"Not even close." Naruto denied attention shifting to Mikoto. "You, Mikoto, are complicit in all of this treatment. Your husband ignores him, your son can't be bothered to make real time for him or be truthful with him, and what do you do about any of it? As much as you care for Sasuke, you don't do anything to stop what's going on. I don't know who's worse out of the lot of you. I really don't."

Naruto hung his head.

"You know, my Sasuke, he never talks about any of you very much in our time. All of you are dead. I'm not giving details there. Sasuke and I agreed not to reveal too much of any of your deaths. Anyways, I always thought he never talked about you guys because he missed you and the pain of the loss he felt hurt him too much to even speak of you, but seeing all of you now and how you are with him ...I wonder if it's really because he doesn't have many good memories left of you to talk about."

"That may be true for your Sasuke, but that's not the case for my little brother now. If something was wrong with him then I would know."

"Stop it with the lies, Itachi. You don't know. None of you do because your so wrapped up in your damned Coup you don't even notice his pain. I sat here and watched you ignore him. All of you. He's down, barely did anything but poke his food, and as if that wasn't alarming enough, you didn't notice the fresh bandages on him, did you?" Naruto already knew the answer to his question. He got no satisfaction from the look of confusion on their faces.

"Bandages...?" Mikoto frowned at Naruto.

With a solemn look in his eye Naruto told the two of them all about what was likely one of Sasuke's most dangerous coping mechanisms.
One that would only worsen overtime through his childhood to teen years. He'd never realized it had developed as early as the academy. Even if Sasuke had told him the habit started a long time ago.

His Sasuke didn't do that kind of thing anymore though. Not that he merely grew out of it. It wasn't that simple. Naruto just ensured Sasuke got the help he needed in their time when he realized he needed it. Aside from being able to talk to himself, mandatory monthly therapy sessions with Ibiki Morino seemed to do the trick. The guy kept a tight lid, and he was good with dealing with pain. In other words, the retired head of the T and I division was the perfect therapist for the Shadow Kage.

Idly, Naruto wondered if they'd have time while they were in the past to convince the man to drop his daily torture session and give the Uchiha's a much needed family therapy session. Man, that would be nice. Not that it would change anything. Ah, well. He'd just have to talk no jutsu his ass off and hope it worked out.

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Not my best chap, I know, but I felt like I needed an extra Naruto calls Sasuke's loved ones out on their bullshit chapter. Cause it's very cathartic. At least to me. He loves Sasuke so much he can't keep quiet. Even if his words don't make much sense. I've been wanting to reveal Ibiki as Sasuke's therapist since chapter 1. I don't know why. It just feels right to me. For whatever reason. Sasuke deserves to heal properly okay? Like Naruto shouldering his pain with him is great and everything, but how about some healing and prospering too?

Next chapter Fugaku and Sasuke are gonna talk! Yay!

1. Thoughts on this story so far? What do you think?

2. Is there anything in particular you want Sasuke to bring up when he's talking to his father?