"OMG Ami, come here, you gotta see this!"

Two young women sat around the kitchen table of a sparkling, luxury penthouse suite. They were set up for a decadent, girls'-night-in LAN party - with laptops, a margarita each in hand and snacks strewn all over the table. Neither paid any attention to the smorgasbord before them, however, as they gaped at their laptop screens with drinks nearly spilling out of their hands.

"I'm putting on a mask!" called a third muffled voice from the closed bathroom.

"Your mask can wait, bitch, you gotta come see this!" Kasumi yelled back.

"Fine, fine, bitch," Ami walked out of the bathroom still rubbing her face, her gorgeous face slightly marred by the patches of green goop smeared across her forehead and cheeks. "What? Was that bitch OHKOed?"

Kasumi cackled, turning her laptop towards Ami. "No, even better! SakuraBlossom's getting stood up,"

Ami's eyes opened in surprise, then she leaned down between her two roommates to get a closer look. As she watched, a slow grin started to crack through her goop patches. Fuki shot her a look of annoyance as tiny green flakes fell onto her plush bathrobe, but both of her other two roommates ignored her irritation to focus on the action on screen. They started snickering as the clusterfuck unfolded on the screen.

"Serves her right!" Kasumi exclaimed, raising her margarita glass in a toast.

Ami clinked hers against Kasumi's in tacit agreement, then threw her head back to take a big gulp.

Fuki furrowed her brows in mock concern and sighed."I hope she doesn't get divorced again. What if she makes a move on Sai-san?"

"She dares!" Ami snorted. "I have him wrapped around my finger, you'll see. You guys are going to have to start looking for a new roommate soon."

"He's asked you to move in with him?" Kasumi gasped.

"No, but he's taking us out to brunch. To Au Merveilleux," Ami grinned triumphantly.

Kasumi and Fuki's mouths dropped open in shock, "That place is so expensive! He agreed?"

"Yep! So I don't care what Little Miss Perfect tries. She's too late!"

"She probably couldn't compete with you in real life, anyways," Kasumi fawned over her.

Fuki rolled her eyes at their little show of queen and follower, then looked back to her laptop. "I wonder what actually happened though..."

Ami and Kasumi both simultaneously shrugged and said, "Who cares?"

(￣ω￣;)(¬‿¬ )(¬‿¬ )

[Arena] System: Sm1rkMeister and SakuraBlossom are not in the Arena. They lose the second match of the server finals!

He... didn't come?

"What's wrong?" Temari asked warily as she stopped in the doorway thanks to the weird atmosphere in the air. Her glance darted between the three of them, as both Tenten nor Hinata were standing over Sakura with a hand rubbing her back in comfort. Sakura didn't seem to notice at all, though, as she was still laser-focused on her screen.

"S-Sakura-chan..." Hinata tried to break the stagnant atmosphere and comfort Sakura, but soccer only got up abruptly, letting their hands fall away. They took a step back to give her some space, but they all had concern written on their faces.

"I'm going to use the bathroom," Sakura couldn't bear to look at her friend's worried faces, so she simply kept her eyes down as she closed her laptop and got up.

Neither Tenten, Temari nor Hinata knew what to say as they watched her close the door behind her. However, they were all thinking the same thing.

What in the world happened?

(・_・;)(・_・;)(・_・;)

One hour earlier

"Whoo hoo! We got the funding! Proposal, here we come!" Naruto grinned at Sasuke from the driver's seat.

"Did you have any doubt? Drive, you idiot," Sasuke's words were harsh, but his face was relatively relaxed. Naruto was an expert from years of Sasuke-watching.

"I don't know, dude. Kisame was giving you quite a hard time over dinner."

"He's just cranky. Let's go."

Naruto tried to start the car, but it only made a slight coughing sound before going totally silent again. "Total piece of shit. I can't wait until you get your car. You think we should just walk back?"

"We're going to be late to the match."

"Dude. You sound so whipped."

"Would you like to face Sakura in a 1v1 match when she's angry at you?"

"...Point."

"If you died, I'd have to do all your work. Let's go."

"Fine!" despite their bickering, the two of them got on the road in good time. Naruto continued to complain, though, "I really hope when you buy a car, you don't buy something this crappy. Honestly! Next time we go for a rental car, I want one of those luxury ones!"

"Make us some money then."

Naruto grinned,"Now that we have that contract signed, you better believe I will!"

Despite his earlier flippancy, Naruto drove carefully as he took a tricky turn onto a normally busy, four lane artery road that was deserted at this hour. Once he'd merged successfully, he continued ruminating, "It's gonna be a tight timeline, though. Your trip down to Sunagakure to sign the contract for Ramen Dash isn't for another two weeks now, and Uchiha Corp will only release the funds from the Angel loan if you manage to convince BLOOM to let us respond to the bid-demo-whatchamacallit–"

"RFP. Request for proposal. At least try to pretend to be professional, idiot."

"RFP, whatever. That's not the point! Uchiha Corp. won't release the funds without that confirmation, and we can't afford to hire anybody else before that money comes through. The demo day is in September! Three months! I have to hire a team, and we have to build a demo for a new MMO in three months. That's insane!"

"We have a good team already and our contractors have already reserved time for us over the summer. Relax."

"I know that, but we need more people. We need at least another developer since you gotta do all this CEO stuff now, and also our own in-house QC. But we left it so late that I don't even know if we can even hire any half-decent interns anymore!"

"We'll manage," seeing that he was going to continue complaining, Sasuke added sarcastically, "what, do you want to quit now, before we get any funding?"

Hearing the mocking tone in his voice, Naruto sighed and said,"'Course not. Anyways, it's your future wedding fund at risk. Who told you to put up your entire inheritance as collateral anyways?"

"It was my choice. Besides, I'm already married."

A bit startled, Naruto took his eyes off the road for a second to glance at Sasuke. "Hey asshole, if I didn't know any better, I think you'd really like this girl."

"Keep your eyes on the road, you idiot."

Scowling, Naruto did as he said, but he was determined not to let Sasuke change the subject. "Come on Sasuke, I've known you for four years, what gives?"

"You'll find out after the finals. We're going to be late if you don't hurry up."

"I knew it! There is something going on between you and Sakura-chan."

Naruto wanted to keep interrogating Sasuke about his in-game relationship, but the words died in his throat as two bright spotlights suddenly flooded light into the front of the rental car. A truck was on the wrong side of the road, barreling towards them at an inescapable pace. Through the blinding lights obstructing his view, Naruto could already see the helpless despair on the face of the other driver. There's too much momentum, we're going to crash into it!

It's too late!

Sasuke lunged over and yanked the steering wheel as hard as he could. Their car veered to the right and careened into the ditch at the side of the road. As the truck whizzed past, Naruto couldn't be sure if he'd heard a dull thump on the far side of the car, but the flying side mirror and terrible screech of metal meant they'd just missed death by a layer of paint.

Naruto couldn't even be grateful that they'd avoided the head-on collision as now their car ratcheted into the gully and up the other side. His body was slammed back against the seat as Sasuke's side of the car just crumpled in. A sharp pain bloomed against his nose as his face bounced forward and slammed against one of the successfully deployed car airbags.

Dazed, coppery blood pouring down his throat, adrenaline still coursing through his system, Hands shaking, Naruto automatically looked for Sasuke. The airbags hadn't deployed on the passenger side of the car. Sasuke laid still, facedown on the dashboard, eyes closed and blood pouring down his face.

"N-no, Sasuke," Naruto's voice was hoarse and strange, even to himself, as he reached towards his friend with trembling fingers. The blood staining them, however, made him rethink. He fumbled for his phone, meaning to call for help, but his fingers were too sticky to dial the emergency number. Instead, he dialled Kiba on his speed dial.

"Yo, what the hell man? Are you watching the finals from that asshole's place? Why aren't you back yet? Did something happen with the funding?"

Naruto struggled to focus on keep his voice, as he could feel his consciousness slipping away from him. With the last of his strength, he managed to gasp out, "A-accident... Sasuke and I... We... Crash..."

"What!? Where?"

"Highway... Between downtown... And the University... Call police... Sasuke's hurt bad..." Naruto felt himself slipping under as Kiba and Chouji's voices quieter and quieter.

"Naruto! Hey, Naruto, stay with me now...!"

...

"Whoa Kiba, slow down!" Chouji grabbed his shoulder to keep from bowling over a nurse wheeling an empty wheelchair through the organized chaos.

"Where are they?" Kiba's eyes were wild and worried as he scanned the lobby. While it was busy, with nurses and doctors talking to patients and professionals. While the noise was constant, there weren't any discordant sounds of anxiety or panic that Kiba expected from a major car accident. His heart beat wildly in his ears, not sure if Sasuke and Naruto had already arrived and were being treated, or if it was the calm before the storm.

"No, I don't NEED - I said I don't-" Kiba's head snapped towards the familiar voice, relief washing through him. He ran to Naruto's side, nearly bowling over a nurse going in another direction to get to the figure fighting to get out of a wheelchair.

"Sorry! Sorry," Kiba apologized as Chouji reached Naruto first. Naruto saw the two of them and finally gave up fighting the orderlies in order to wave them over.

"You're okay? Where's Sasuke?" Chouji demanded.

"I'm fine - I said I'm fine!" Naruto snapped at the ER Nurse who went to move his wheelchair.

"You were just in a major car accident, Sir. You need to be checked out. There could be head trauma," the nurse told him, trying her best to maintain her professionalism.

"I'm not going anywhere until someone tells me what happened to Sasuke!"

"Miss," Kiba glanced at the nurse's nametag, "Ms. Kaori, we're all worried about our friend that was in the car with him. Could you please let us know where he is, at least?"

"You'll have to ask the front desk, but Doctor Shizune's got him now. She'll do everything she can to help him, but you're not helping anyone by refusing a CT scan!"

"I'll go. Which room will he be in?" Chouji asked the nurse.

"Right over here. I'll let you know when he moves."

"OK. Go with her, Naruto. We'll be right here when you're done with your scans, but you gotta trust us to take care of Sasuke now."

"His brother -"

"Kiba called him on the way over. Uchiha-sensei's on the way."

"We'll take care of Sasuke. Go take care of yourself, you idiot."

"Fine, but don't hide anything from me!"

As soon as the nurse managed to move him away, the two of them rushed to the front desk, all demanding in the same breath, "Where's Uchiha Sasuke?"

"Car accident, came in with the loud blond. Doctor Shizune has him," added Kiba in a terse bark.

The front desk nurse must have been used to this because she faced three aggressive demeanours with equanimity. "Give me a minute... Are you Uchiha-san's next of kin?"

"We're his roommates. Closest thing he has."

"Are you his emergency contact?"

Bewildered, the two of them looked at each other. How the fuck are we supposed to know?

"I'm very sorry, I cannot release any patient information unless it's to his family or emergency contact."

"Listen, lady-" Kiba started, about to lose his temper, when Chouji grabbed his arm to keep him from exploding. Before he could say anything else, a second hubbub broke out from the doors and Itachi came charging in. Itachi looked like he must have run here from the airport on foot, and he looked wild-eyed, windblown, and more dishevelled than Kiba had ever seen the always professional man. He spotted Kiba and Chouji, but his face turned even whiter when he didn't see his little brother with them. In two great strides, he joined them at the front desk.

"I'm looking for my younger brother, Uchiha Sasuke. I was told he was in a car accident? I'm his older brother."

"Are you his next of kin? What about his parents?"

"Dead. There should be a card in his wallet designating me as next of kin."

"I wasn't apprised of that. Please wait -"

"Unless you want to wait for the cycle of reincarnation to turn again, I'm his next-of-kin. Tell me where my brother is." The coldness in his tone was a surprise to both Kiba and Chouji, since he'd only ever been a mild-tempered professor and teasing older brother in front of them.

Flustered, the nurse pulled out some paperwork from a giant pile on her desk and passed it over. "Please review these consent forms and sign them for us, please, Mr, Uchiha. Doctor Shizune has your brother in OR2, and she had to act quickly."

"OR? As in Operating Room?" Kiba was aghast, "How badly was he hurt that he had to go into surgery right away?!"

Itachi snatched the clipboard from the nurse and began to read. Words like "concussion", "head trauma", "hemorrhage", "potential spinal injury", "risk of partial or full paraplegia" flashed in his mind's eye as he scanned the papers until it stopped on one particular word in the "Risks" section. Fear, a terribly cold feeling, gripped his heart.

All the air escaped from his lungs.

"Death".

Wordlessly, unable to speak, Itachi dashed out his signature on the bottom of the page and handed it back to the nurse. She gestured towards the waiting room. "If you could just wait now, I'll let the doctor know that you're here."

"Why do we have to wait? Can't we watch from the theatre or something?" Kiba demanded.

"No, I'm afraid that's not allowed. Please be patient sir, we're doing everything we can. Trust us."

Without any further argument, Itachi stumbled towards the chairs, barely paying attention to the other two there with him. He collapsed into a seat and closed his eyes, numb to everything else in the world. There was only one thought in his mind now.

I can't lose him. I can't lose Sasuke too.

(^_^)

AN: ...

Soooo it's been a while. Life stuff, work stuff, blahblah. But things are lightening up for me now until January, so hopefully you'll see a few more chapters come a bit sooner, lol. Plus I'm attempting NaNoWriMo again this year, albeit with NaNoSweMo as well, so we'll see how that goes.

I have some very bad news and some slightly good-ish news. This is the last chapter that Beta-san, Reglee, will be helping me out with, thanks to life stuff. Reglee's been an instrumental player in getting this series started, and his presence will be sorely missed (he doesn't fully get to escape though, because I'll still end up bouncing ideas off him, but alas, I must now edit my own wordy nonsense like a *pleb*). Thank you for everything over the past year and a half! If M/M Harry Potter x Ouran Host High School angst and fluff is up your alley, check out his fic on AO3, The Night with no Moon.

Originally I brought him on because my usual editing method did not play nice with chat lines, and because this was the first time I would've written for Naruto for *years* (There is an old buried account somewhere with baby LScore's scribblings. *somewhere*. I'm not telling you where, but you could probably find it if you look long enough), so I was a bit worried about characterization. But now that we're well on our way in this story and I'm a bit more comfortable with the characters, I'm going to try going Betaless for a while. We'll see how it goes; If, however, you are interested in being a mole-ish Beta (scene level tweaks and wording suggestions, not changing the big story, because yes, I do have a spreadsheet), please feel free to reach out to me in DMs or on Discord at LScore#8970. I'm open to Beta trades and complete beginners. The good-ish news is that the next chapter is already written so without a Beta, you may get to see it sooner rather than later.

Anyways! Thank you all for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed this installment (as much you could given... you know). As always, comments, reviews, kudos, favourites, bookmarks, and love letters to my Beta all make my day. Stay safe, stay healthy, and see you soon!