Doppelgänger (SasukexOC)

Chapter 3

I staggered backwards, crashing into an empty table. Shikamaru gave me a reassuring squeeze, but it did nothing to my already racing heart.

"There's no confirmation that they're definitely dead either, right?" I screamed into the phone. The woman, presumably a nurse, choked back a small sob.

"You see, they went off a cliff..."

The phone dropped from my hand on to the carpet. Shikamaru didn't even look at whether it cracked, and I thank him for that.

"What happened?" Kiba pushed past a wall of people that started to surround me. Shikamaru explained the phone call to Kiba in hushed tones as whispers floated around me.

"Dumped by the husband..."

"A commoner trying to marry a socialite..."

"This is the result..."

"Shut up!" Kiba yelled as Hinata drew me into a tight hug.

"They're...gone," the phrase repeated over and over in my mouth until it became a series of meaningless sounds. Then I screamed and screamed.

***

"I'm sorry," the doppelganger of the two most beloved in my life took my hand and looked down at the blanket. I wanted to say that it's fine, but I'm not. Since when have I been so selfish that I wouldn't even lie to make someone feel better?

But what did I get in return for thinking of others before me?

He took my hands and kissed the back of them. "I'm sorry that it happened on...your wedding day." I glared at him, mustering all the anger inside me. But all I found was an emptiness that I had familiarised myself with.

"But do you feel better?"

My head snapped up. Undeniably, I did feel that some of the odd weight was lifting.

"You can call me by their name if it helps," he said hesitantly. I smiled and ruffled his blonde hair, which was the exact same colour as my brother's.

"Thank you, Naruto," for the first time in a month since they were gone, I managed a smile.

***

A week later

"Wait, Sasuke's the one you were gonna marry, and Naruto was your brother. Are you sure you didn't mix them up?"

My hand froze halfway reaching for my sunglasses and I raised an eyebrow.

"Am I the kind that would make you think of a threesome?"

"Maybe," Sasuke smirked and two pale arms snaked around me. I've gotten so used to calling him by whoever he acts like the most that I occasionally forgot his real name. But he was fine with it, and I was more than happy to pretend that my two most precious still lives, just in the same body.

"But isn't this kind of a threesome, with you calling me Sasuke for something, then switching to Naruto the next second?"

"I don't even know who would ask this question. This would be the deep Naruto or the bright side of Sasuke," I laughed. Yes, laughed. He let me go just as I twisted around to face him.

"As long as you're happy," he breathed in my neck. Sasuke.

"Do you have parents that you would take me to, or would you prefer not to, since it'll be like introducing someone totally new so soon after, you know," he asked, eyes shining with sympathy. I traced his whisker-scarred cheeks and smiled.

"I don't have parents to take you to. They left Naruto and me when we were young." Silence.

"But I do have Itachi, Sasuke's significantly older brother as a guardian, and that's the reason why I know Sasuke for most of my life." I quickly added, not wanting the awkward silence and guilt to drag on.

"Itachi's, at nine tonight?" he grinned, taking my hand in his pale, smooth one. Sasuke's hand.

But there was a different light when he suggested for us to meet Itachi. Pushing down the sinister feeling, I nodded, trying to ignore the almost hungry look he gave me.

"This will be fun," I must have been hallucinating, because his voice went down an octave, and sounded raspy, even.

"See you tonight, Rui," back to normal again, he gestured towards the convertible parked just outside the restaurant.

I need some well-deserved rest. I thought as images of a grown man raising a belt, ready to strike at Naruto pervaded my mind.

He only appears when something bad's about to happen, but why now?