"Him?" Naruto asks after Sasuke has calmed. "Who's him?"

Sasuke shrugs, his smile faltering. "My first love."

"Oh," Naruto sits cross-legged, rolling his thumb across the back of Sasuke's hand. "Tell me more about him."

"It's not important." Sasuke tries to move on easily, darting his eyes to the wall. "It was a long time ago."

Naruto stares at Sasuke's profile. "Okay." The question itches his mind, but he won't bug Sasuke about it.

Instead, he'll go to Itachi.

That was the start of what would be chapter 48 of this story, which I haven't touched since *checks notes* uh... March 2nd of 2022 :). Yes, it's been a whole year and a half since I've even looked at this story. And that's why I'm discontinuing it. I know it sucks for those of you who liked this story (WHY?????????????), but I genuinely can't keep going with this book. It's a mix of, I'm bored of it, and Cringe, whenever I come back to this story. I started this book when I was back in high school. September 25th, 2016, when I was still 16. I'm... turning 24 now. Oh, god. It's been eight years 😐ALso, like, I'm writing up some other projects on the side for friends, which has stolen all of my attention. Like rn, I have a 60k+ word one-shot going on that has completely melted my brain.

Regardless of that, there's a huge difference between how I write now and how I wrote eight years ago. For me, it would be such a huge shift to start pouring purple prose and flowery language into this book that was written specifically to be like a telenovela drama. If you don't believe me, read the first couple of chapters of this book and the latest chapter of Among The Stars. Shit is completely different 💀

Not to mention, I probably lost more than half my audience for this book anyway, so why bother continuing?

And I'm sorry again for abandoning a book that was about to take a pivotal turn, so for those of you who still care, I will spoil everything that would've happened.

Big Spoilers Below:

CW: non-con, rape, pedophilia, character death, violence, blood, physical and sexual abuse etc.

In Chapter 48, I know for sure Naruto would've pissed y'all off. He's nosy, and y'all seem to hate nosy. But that boy is a SLUETH, and he wants to get to the bottom of things! He began digging into Sasuke's past via Itachi. Although they're not close now, they should've been close as kids. iirc, I had said in the last A/N that shit was about to get dark. Well, it does. Shit gets sick and twisted real fast.

Instead of Sasuke's past, Naruto gets Itachi's and all the shit he went through. The gist of it is that the Uchiha household is STRUGGLING big time. In order to stay afloat, Fugaku had to borrow and build up loan debt, knowing he couldn't pay anything back. At this time, Itachi was only 5, and Sasuke had just been born. 

The Uchiha business is failing, and Fugaku needs money to start paying off everyone he owes. Loan sharks have already raided his house for priceless goods like art and jewelry, they even took Mikoto's wedding ring. However, this still wasn't enough. More men would show up, threaten their lives, steal, and leave. It wasn't until Itachi poked his curious little 5-year-old head into his father's "personal meetings" with the big boss of all the loan sharks did things became even worse for the Uchiha family.

Boss had a thing for young boys. Fugaku knew that and thus kept both of his children hidden from him. Though the stress of raising a full family on his solitary income that dwindled by the day was getting to him. It wasn't until the boss gave Fugaku an offer he couldn't refuse. Each time he got to spend alone with Itachi, he'd take 10,000 off his debt. You see where this is going right?

The loan shark sexually abuses a young Itachi. He does it for years. Allowing his other ring of pedo friends to do it too, but only if it lessens Fugaku's debt. Itachi wasn't dumb as a kid. He knew his parents knew what was happening to him. Mikoto had tried to help once or twice, offering herself instead of Itachi but Fugaku had beaten her into submission, the debt making him insane.

Itachi grew up, got used to it, tried to enjoy it at times as he milked the older men for material things--cars and video games and shit--, all in the hopes Fugaku and Mikoto wouldn't offer Sasuke up since he was young. You're probably thinking, why didn't he just go to the police?  Kinda hard to do that when some of the police officers are also abusing him. It was hopeless for the whole family.

It wasn't until Orochimaru joined the mix that Sasuke fell into the trap too. At this time, Itachi was already 14, thus he hit puberty. He sounded, acted, and looked like a man. Orochimaru wasn't interested in him. He wanted Sasuke. He promised Fugaku to pay half his debt if he could just have Sasuke. Fugaku, sanity long gone, said yes. Mikoto had no say. Orochimaru groomed the 9-year-old boy, expressing how much he loved him, gave him gifts, and decorated his room which at the time was a lone mattress on the floor, all in return for just a few touches and some kisses. This went on for a few years. Orochimaru let Kabuto molest Sasuke too, but Sasuke did not like Kabuto because he hurt him more than Orochimaru did. Sasuke kept everything hush-hush per Orochimaru's orders, but it isn't until Itachi sees bites and hickeys all over Sasuke that it clicks with him as to why his little brother has been so distant with him.

Itachi tried to distract Orochimaru, offering him sex if he had just left his little brother alone. Orochimaru never had any intentions of leaving Sasuke, but took the deal anyways. Two for the price of one.

Sasuke, 13 at the time, saw this all happen. He felt betrayed, but not by Orochimaru, but by Itachi. Orochimaru manipulates Itachi for about two weeks, all the while still grooming his little brother. Sasuke begs Orochimaru as to why he wants Itachi more than him nowadays, and Orochimaru manipulates Sasuke into thinking it's because he's offering sex. At this time, Sasuke takes initiative and offers his virginity to Orochimaru. It hurts but he doesn't care, he wants Orochimaru's love all to himself. 

He does this because he thinks he found someone who actually loves him. His mother and father don't even bat an eye at him, and his brother is too focused on holding everything together to pay attention to him, so he finds solace in Orochimaru. 

It takes a week before Itachi finds out. He confronts Sasuke, who admits rather quickly that he did it to keep Orochimaru for himself. He yells at Itachi for being jealous and a whore. This is the start to their rivalry. Notice how I said rivalry and not hatred. That comes later.

God this shit is depressing and twisted. But yeah, so like, Itachi sets up a meeting with Orochimaru at night on some lone street. Orochimaru thinks he's going to get sex from him again, but is surprised to see a car flying right towards him. Yeah. Itachi hits Orochimaru with his car and then violently bashes his skull in with a bat. 

So the whole "I'm a pacifist" line from Itachi was lowkey a lie. I mean, yeah he'd prefers not to get violent, but if the only way to stop the madness is through violence, then so be it. He murdered someone. He does it for Sasuke, who then finds out on the news that the famous Dr. Orochimaru is found dead in the street. Sasuke knows it's Itachi's doing but can't find any evidence to point to him. That's when Sasuke begins to hate Itachi.

Itachi forces Fugaku to give up parental rights to Sasuke and goes to court to become Sasuke's legal guardian. He worked 3 jobs, scholarships fund his college education, and joined a gang. Together, they bought a house, and he and Sasuke lived in it for some time before his parents convinced Itachi to put Sasuke in Konoha's all boys school, where he could live on campus and have his own freedom. He puts Sasuke through therapy, which leads to Fugaku's and their rapists' arrest. But thanks to their connections, they spent only a few years in prison. Some didn't make it out alive, others did. Itachi is still bitter about the whole thing, but now he has a restraining order against his parents.

This is all revealed to Naruto, but Itachi tells him to get Sasuke's side of the story. Knowing a hint of Sasuke's past pisses Sasuke off once Naruto tells him he went to Itachi. Sasuke reveals the story to Naruto again, but this time it's much more biased. He uses flowery, rose-tinted glasses when he talks about Orochimaru, his first romantic love. His disdain for his brother is revealed again. He paints Itachi as jealous, controlling, vindictive, and an easy hole for anyone that wanted him. He tells Naruto that the only reason Itachi wanted guardianship over him is to control him further. Of course, my dear readers, we all know this isn't true.

Sasuke tells Naruto that the day he found out Orochimaru died, there was a void in its place. He filled that void by having sex with different guys. In therapy, he learned that he was groomed, and although he didn't want to believe it, he knew it was true. He desperately wanted to see Itachi as the bad guy, even though he knew Itachi did it to protect him. He did this to protect himself from the self-loathing that nearly made him try to commit suicide one day.

It started off with one guy a day, to a different guy a week. When the guys found out they were just flings and not Sasuke's loml, they spread rumors. Sasuke switched his game up and decided one guy a year would lessen the rumors and hide his ploy under a year-long relationship. This became the "New Year, New Boy" thing. He'd cheat in between but never let it be known.

Naruto would contemplate this for a while. By chapter 52, Sasuke and Naruto would have sex. It would be tender and soft and all the things you'd hope for. They really mean their I love yous and all that sweet shit. They begin dating shortly after.

A bunch of fluff between that. Everyone is sick of it blah blah blah. Sasuke loves Naruto sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much. Yeah. 

The SakuIno subplot continues. Yada yada yada.

But of course this is a Bollywood drama and I have to ruin everything.

Kabuto shows up again around their holiday break. Sasuke is scared of him, but has no one to turn to since majority of the school decides to spend the holidays with their family. Sasuke stays cause he hates Itachi and would rather not spend time with his parents. Naruto is with Sakura and his adoptive parents, Gaara is with his family, and Sai is visiting them for the holiday too.

Kabuto takes advantage of the situation and Sasuke. After Kabuto gets what he wants, Sasuke turns to Itachi and lets him know that Kabuto is back after the death of Orochimaru. Itachi, of course, discards his pacifist ways for a moment, and passes a fist through Kabuto's face after hunting him down. Kabuto dies after Itachi beats him to death, this time leaving so much evidence of himself being there that he has to burn Kabuto's apartment down.

Yeah so that's two murders for Itachi now.💅🏾💅🏾✨ (Maybe more cause he burned down a building? idk)

To absolve himself of the guilt, shame, and the void growing in him, Sasuke relapses and grabs the nearest guy to fuck. Once the holiday is over, and everything returns to normal, Sasuke doesn't try to hide from Naruto what happen. He meant it when he said he'd be honest with him from here on out.

Naruto understands, but wallows in the fact that Sasuke messed up their relationship within like 3 months of dating. He understands that what Kabuto did is not his fault, but having sex with that other guy was definitely something he didn't need to do. So Naruto is stuck between forgiving Sasuke and his own feelings of betrayal. 

They both decide on a break. Naruto and Sasuke still very much love each other, but it's a bit much right now. Time heals all wounds yeah yeah. They graduate, head off to college. Between that time, Naruto and Sasuke grow distant, each buried in work and schooling. Sasuke forgives Itachi and begins living with him for some time. They don't ever talk about what happened to them or Naruto. Sasuke doesn't ask about Kabuto. He knows deep down Itachi murdered him.

They meet again in graduate school. Naruto is still himself and Sasuke has seemed to mellow out. Sasuke tells Naruto that he vowed abstinence to himself while they were split, and that he'd never love a person like he loved Naruto. Naruto reveals the same, and apologizes for all the shit that happened.

Sasuke also apologizes for all the things he put Naruto through.

They get back together. Probably would've ended this on a purple prose-filled smut.

But yeah. This story would've easily hit like 80 chapters fr. btw, Gaara/Sai ship is still going strong in this story. They get married.

Uh, yeah. That's the gist of it. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. I will answer them. 

Okay. Love you bye!