A/N

Well, I'm starting another new story; and this one is going to remain relatively condensed chapter wise. As in, each and every chapter should and will matter to the overall relationship and/or plot, so pay close attention, and try not to dismiss anything as filler, 'kay? :)

A few tags for posterity: angst, friendship, romance, etc. Genderbending from birth, so no 'super special jutsu' that causes Sasuke to become Satsuki. If you're unsure how a Fem. Sasuke would look, I hope any descriptions I use can help you paint a picture of her; otherwise, just type 'Fem. Sasuke' into Google, and pick a picture with which to imagine her as.

I will be hoping to get some reviews on this story, :D. I put quite a bit of work into it, so I'd love, love, looovee to get some reviews from you fine folks! It'll only take around a minute to leave one, ;;).

That's enough from me for now. I think we can go ahead and begin this wild ride, and so... enjoy!

She had left the village to seek the power to kill her brother.

He had left the village to seek the power to bring her back.

Two people - different in almost every way, and yet the same in just as many aspects. And now, they were on a crash course to meet each other for the first time since that fateful day, the hour when their lives had changed seemingly permanently.

In the end, they would have exactly two weeks to reconnect. Fourteen days with which Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Satsuki will come to realize just how close they could become...

The first thing he heard were… rumors. A murmur here, a whispered word there - nothing too overt, but enough to make the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. There's nothing to worry about, he reasoned with himself. Surely, they were just exchanging stories of something that had long passed - it couldn't be her…

But the truth became more than obvious after a few hours.

Jiraiya had ducked into a store to grab a few supplies. Naruto had, as per usual, been left outside by the sannin, for no reason other than to not bother the aged man as he picked up the necessary goods.

Uzumaki Naruto kicked at the dirt, a frown creasing his face; God, this was so… boring! It couldn't have been more than five minutes since Jiraiya had went inside of the store, but it had felt like an eternity. After all, Naruto had never been known for his vast amounts of patience - in fact, it was the exact opposite.

He heaved a great sigh, looking from left to right in his effort to find something, anything to distract him.

Naruto's attention was captured by a bird.

It was a dark bird - the same color as the midnight sky, though with a tail feather the color of violet. It sat on top of a power line, beady eyes staring down at the street below.

Another bird came, flapping its wings, landing right beside the dark bird; this one was bright, with a variety of colors that made it stand out like a rainbow. The bird cawed loudly, so loudly that several other people looked up at it for a moment.

The dark bird ruffled its wings in an undignified fashion, before flying across and landing on another power line. And, of course, the colorful bird followed, cawing even louder. The dark bird relocated, and the colorful bird followed, and that cycle continued until the two of them were out of sight…

Naruto frowned slightly.

Jiraiya soon came out, arms empty of anything - evidently, he had stored away all of the newly bought supplies in a storage scroll.

"Let's go get something to eat, brat," Jiraiya said, clapping Naruto on the back. "Where do you want to go?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Naruto protested. "I've never even been to this town!"

Jiraiya chuckled. "Neither have I, kid. But sometimes, you've got to use your intuition; that's a lesson you need to learn. I can think of half a dozen restaurants and stands we passed on our way through the town - can you remember any of them?"

The blonde swallowed. "Uh… there was that little place back there. It was a restaurant, I think," Naruto mumbled, rubbing the back of his head.

"There you go," Jiraiya said encouragingly. "We can grab a bite to eat then settle in for the night."

There wasn't much else to be said - they backtracked a little, went inside the restaurant and found themselves a table, then figured out what they were to order. The waitress came by, took their orders, came back with their drinks a few minutes later, and then they were left to their own devices.

Jiraiya was busy scribbling something in a small notepad. "I think I'll have to move him out of there," he murmured absentmindedly to himself, tapping a pen against his cheek. "There's no question that he's already compromised - it's only a matter of time before they try to haul him in…"

His teacher was going to be distracted for a while, Naruto figured. It wasn't exactly a bad thing, but Jiraiya took his spy network extraordinarily seriously. Maybe not seriously enough if he was tempted to take out a notepad full of sensitive information in the middle of a restaurant. But then again, who was going to be able to get the drop on Jiraiya of all people?

Naruto sighed once more. "I'm going to go to the bathroom, ero-sennin," he said, sliding out of the booth and standing up.

He wasn't really going to the bathroom - he just wanted a moment alone to think. Checking behind him to make sure that Jiraiya wasn't looking in his direction, Naruto took a detour out of the restaurant, to stand on the sidewalk outside and breath in the fresh air.

It was dusk - the streets weren't empty, but they had certainly dwindled in population. Naruto leaned against the wall beside the door, closing his eyes and resting his head against the wood.

There were two men beside him, standing there without a care in the world, idly smoking a cigarette each.

"- so, as I was saying, my sister was freaking out a little bit ago," one of them said - they were quite loud, and despite the fact that Naruto wasn't trying to eavesdrop on them… well, he heard their entire conversation anyway.

"What was she freaking out about?" the other man asked.

"There was uh… an assassination a few towns over. Apparently some entrepreneur made some enemies. Nobody knows how he made those enemies, but I guess it doesn't really matter because some girl went ahead and killed him in broad daylight."

"Jeez."

"Yeah, I know. The guy had some bodyguards, though - trained jounin from Kirigakure if I remember correctly. The assassin had a tough time of it… she managed to get away, but they said she took a few hits before she got out of there."

"Must be one tough lady, to be able to escape from a few jounin."

"I guess so. But… well, the reason my sister was freaking out was because the assassin might - and I mean might, so don't go spreading it around… she might have been Uchiha Satsuki."

The other man inhaled suddenly - Naruto froze in his tracks.

"How did they figure that out?"

"Well, the girl was wearing a mask to cover up her features. But they said that you could see a pair of red eyes behind the mask - and that one of the jounin who made eye contact with her fell unconscious where he stood. Sure sounds like the sharingan, doesn't it?"

"I guess. When did it happen?"

"Not too long ago. Maybe two or three hours at most - my sister was bugging me when I was getting ready to come out and meet you guys…"

The conversation lapsed - the men finished their smoking and went back inside the restaurant. But Naruto couldn't bring himself to move from that spot: he was still, so still that one could have mistaken him for a sculpture.

'Satsuki?' he thought.

They had spoken about it as if it was recent: her being sighted only a few towns away. What were the chances that she was nearby? What were-

No… no, she was probably long gone by now.

But it couldn't hurt to check, could it?

Naruto formed a hand seal - and two dozen clones appeared in a semi-circle in front of him.

"Just… look around," Naruto told them. "Split up and go check the towns around here; be sure to come back if you find something out, alright?"

"Sure!" they choursed back at him. And then they went off, flinging themselves onto a rooftop. Naruto heard loud talking from atop the roof - it took them a moment to group up, but soon they departed in groups of three, to start the search for Satsuki.

Naruto brushed a blonde spike out of his eyes.

He would have to wait and see if they could come up with something - but he doubted it.

After all, what were the chances that Satsuki had stuck around?

Naruto shrugged, before stepping back through the door and into the restaurant. It seemed that Jiraiya hadn't even noticed his absence, and with a heavy heart, he slid back into his seat.

He gazed about the place.

It was packed, from door to door, to the point where one could find every sort of person in the Elemental Nations within the restaurant's walls.

A man sat near the entrance, and a woman walked up to him - they embraced, linked hands, and were lead to a table by their waiter. At the table opposite Naruto and Jiraiya's, a woman showed a man how to properly cut a steak. In a corner of the restaurant, a couple were making out with each other, so close that they seemed to forget where they were - a public place. Naruto could see a man teaching a woman how to properly fold a napkin. At the table right in front of him, Naruto saw a woman instructing a man on how to properly use a pair of chopsticks.

The entire room seemed to pause for a moment, as an argument broke between a couple. After a moment of heated exchange, yells so loud as to nearly shake the earth, the woman stormed out - the man followed closely after, but it seemed he lost her in the crowd outside of the restaurant.

And, then, there was a couple… just talking. They looked happy to be together, smiling at each other, holding hands beneath the table and sneaking kisses in between bites of food.

"You alright, kid?" Jiraiya asked, at long last looking up.

"Yeah," Naruto mumbled. "I'm fine."

A long night awaited him… and his clones.

She grunted as she wound the bandage around and around the open wound on her arm.

"God," she cursed, closing her eyes and turning her head. Clearly, she had gotten sloppy - Orochimaru or Itachi wouldn't have gotten injuries like that from anyone less than an S-ranked ninja. And those jounin might have been A-rank at the very most, but the gap between A and S was massive indeed… she still had a ways to go, it seemed.

The girl took a deep breath, deciding to move on to the wound on her leg. She pulled up the leg of her pants, teeth clenching together as open air brushed against the wound on her calf. In all actuality, she'd gotten lucky - an inch or two to the side and her artery would have been severed.

She was no medical ninja - the most she knew were rudimentary measures. But she couldn't risk going to a hospital, not when she had done something so high profile nearby - hospitals took records, lots of them, and no henge would stand up to a doctor's prodding and poking.

Sure, she could patch up her wounds, stop the bleeding, maybe use some of her precious medical supplies to make sure nothing serious happened. But after that, she undoubtedly needed time to recover; Orochimaru's hideout was dozens of kilometers away, and she'd barely made it two or three kilometers considering her injuries… yes, she would need to find a place to rest.

But where? A cave or a tree, when there were authorities hunting her at that very moment?

There weren't many options - but in the end, Uchiha Satsuki decided to hide in plain sight.

She finished dressing her injuries, getting them to a point where she was at least not trailing blood behind her. A soldier pill or two kept her on her feet - and once she was ready to go, she went. There was a town not too far away from where she was, and she remembered bypassing it on her way to her mission.

That would have to be her destination. It put a decent, if still dangerous distance between her and where those Kiri mercenaries had been - and she couldn't make it more than a kilometer past it in all likelihood.

The town was a wide expanse: decently sized, with plenty of people and plenty of recreational activities. It seemed to be a tourist hub of sorts, and as a result, there were plenty of hotels that she could use.

A 'no questions asked' hotel would be too dangerous - if the mercenaries happened upon the town and suspected that she was hiding there, those types of hotels would be the first place they'd check. No, something a little more upper-class would be necessary - and thankfully, Satsuki was afforded numerous advantages that still allowed her to remain incognito.

Satsuki waited a little longer, until darkness had properly fallen. It had been the apex of afternoon when she'd carried out her mission - to escape had taken an hour, to dress her wounds another. It was late, and she didn't have much time before her soldier pill wore off.

She walked right into the lobby of a hotel, maintaining a normal posture despite the pain ringing through her body. Bold moves would be needed to make sure she wasn't in danger; she had her sharingan activated from the moment she stepped through the doors. The doorman, the receptionist, a guard or two, a family that was ahead of her in line - she put them all under her sharingan's influence.

Not to affect them, of course. Just to make them forget that she'd ever been there - no, all the receptionist would remember was checking a mousy brown haired woman named 'Haruno Sakura' into room two hundred and eleven. And that 'Haruno Sakura' had explicitly asked not to be disturbed until she was ready to check out.

By that point, however, Satsuki could feel the energy she'd gotten from that soldier pill ebbing. And God, she was ecstatic that this place had an elevator - lugging herself up the stairs would have been a death sentence. She pulled at the sleeve of the cloak she wore, grimacing at the increasing wetness that she felt; a change of her bandages would be necessary soon, she thought.

Her room beckoned. She opened it up with a keycard the receptionist had given her, throwing herself across the threshold of the door and slamming it behind her.

Satsuki panted.

She allowed the cloak to fall to the floor, grimacing as she took inventory - her clothes, torn in places and plain inoperable. She could still wear them perhaps, but blood-stained garments with holes and rips would likely make her stand out.

Satsuki ran a hand through her hair - God, she was in a mess. She'd done assassination missions before, and she had done them flawlessly… why did this entrepreneur in particular have to hire half a dozen mercenaries from Kirigakure, who were at least jounin level? Satsuki couldn't say his parnanoia wasn't founded, but it certainly made his killer have a much tougher time about it. Lucky her.

Carefully, she began to undo the bandages wrapped around her arm - and a gasp spilled from her lips as the wound throbbed. "Great… great… great…!" she hissed.

First order of business: to write and send a letter via hawk to Orochimaru that she would need some time to recuperate. Secondly, she would need a shower to wash off the grime and blood. And thirdly… she needed to figure out what that feeling in her gut was: a tingling sensation, one that made her fingers jittery and her eyes widen slightly.

Something was coming; she could feel it. But she didn't have time to worry about gut feelings.

Night had already dawned; it was perhaps an hour or two after dusk. As she pulled out numerous medical supplies from her rucksack, Satsuki allowed her guard to fall just a tad. She should be safe - with her consciously muting her chakra signature, and little to no paper trail to show that she was here, Satsuki felt secure in her place.

But, there was a weak spot.

The clones of Naruto had adopted an innovative strategy - with their relatively small numbers, searching through forests wouldn't give them any advantage. Instead, they split off to go to different towns. It was fool's play for a shinobi to slip into the numerous hotels and towns that dotted them - and Naruto didn't slack in questioning the receptionists and innkeepers and anyone and everyone who could know where Satsuki was. All he had to do was claim he was on a 'mission' for Konoha in order to get them all to acquiesce to his demands.

In a certain upper-class hotel, a little after noon the next day...

"No, sir, I'm afraid that I did not see anyone matching her description enter," the receptionist said.

Naruto grinned. "Do you think I could take a look at your log?" he asked.

She bit her lip. "I don't think…"

"It's for an official investigation," he said. "And besides, no one has to know."

The woman nodded after a moment. "Alright, I suppose," she said, pulling out a small black book. "It's all in here; read it quickly, please."

Naruto took the book from her, and flipped it over. Floor one was clear of any suspicious names - but floor two…

He tapped a finger on room two hundred and eleven.

'Well, well, well,' he thought. It seemed as if a brief burst of nostalgia - or a lack of creativity - had sold Satsuki out. It was a pity, too, because anyone but the Konoha Twelve would have been fooled by the name.

After all, Naruto was well aware that Haruno Sakura wasn't anywhere near there - he'd gotten a letter from her not two days ago saying that she was stuck inside the village for a month. And the book said that 'Haruno Sakura' had only checked in the previous night.

"Thank you for your help," Naruto said, handing the woman the book. "I think I've seen all I need to see."

She nodded, and smiled at his back as he turned and walked right out of the hotel.

Naruto muted his chakra signature, as much as he could hope to manage considering his potent reserves. It would have to suffice; he leapt up, under the cover of dark. Every hotel room had a balcony - and on the second floor, he went from balcony to balcony, peering through the windows. Most of the rooms were empty, or people who were clearly not Satsuki.

And then, there she was; seated at a table, diligently working at a wound on her calf.

He swore all the air vanished from his lungs.

In fact, he froze - he froze to the point that he fell backward and nearly fell over the railing; actually, he did, but he managed to catch himself at the last moment. Satsuki glanced up, but there was nothing to be seen, as he had already jumped down.

Of course, Naruto wasn't aware that he could simply dispel and let the original know about what he had discovered. There was quite the journey in front of him, to head back to the town where Naruto and Jiraiya were staying. It would take a few hours at least, and it would likely be dark by the time the original returned.

But Satsuki's location was known now.

And it would only be a matter of time before the blonde Uzumaki came after his 'friend'.

Really, the very thing that should have tipped Satsuki off was that gut feeling she had. Her gut had never lied to her - and right now, it was borderline screaming at her to vacate the hotel and get away from the town as soon as possible.

But she didn't; after all, she still had her wounds, her injuries, not to mention fatigue. Her supply of soldier pills was running low, and her bandages had to be rationed - especially for the wound on her calf, which was rather deep and wouldn't stop bleeding. It wasn't life threatening… hopefully… but she certainly wasn't in any condition to go out and about.

Satsuki took a deep breath, stretching - she leaned back in her chair, the wood creaking, her shirt riding up slightly to reveal a glimpse of her midriff. She'd changed her clothes the previous day, and now wore a spare set of her typical casual outfit: a simple white tank top with black slacks, her hair pulled up into a messy ponytail. It wasn't as if anyone was going to see her until she was recovered, Satsuki reasoned.

She allowed the slightest of yawns to spill from her lips; Satsuki had no sedatives on hand to send her spiraling into a dreamless sleep, and her wounds throbbing with pain all through the night did little to help her already precarious sleeping schedule.

There was little to do. She had already cleaned and polished her sword after the assassination, and it wasn't as if she had planned to spend more than a few nights away. There were no books she could read, training was out of the question… for the most part, she was reduced to tedious boredom.

Satsuki had sent a letter to Orochimaru a little earlier, but there was still no reply. It had been a simple message, detailing the success of her mission and her injury, and the expected recovery time. Nothing more.

She finished stretching, setting her hands back down. Softly, she patted the bandage on her arm - thankfully, the bleeding there had seemed to stem slightly. She would need more dressing sooner or later; but she was in luck - unless this town in particular was trapped a century in the past, there should have been bandages in every other market.

Another deep breath.

There was that feeling in her gut again, a telltale sign that-

A knock sounded at the door.

She didn't jump, she didn't freeze in fear… she went still, deathly still.

That chakra…

There was no mistaking it.

Satsuki rose to her feet, and grasped her sword from where she had leaned it against the counter. Limping slightly, her calf wound still throbbing painfully, she made her way to the door - and peered through the small hole. The chakra was gone; the hallway outside of her room was barren.

But she knew that he hadn't just disappeared - it was a ruse, a trick.

And her intuition was more than correct; the knock at the door had been a distraction. A shadow clone sent there to divert her attention from where the real Naruto was entering the room - via the balcony, which was essentially an open invitation into the hotel room. Of course, Satsuki had booby trapped that place. But Naruto managed to avoid it, throwing himself to the side of the row of kunai that was flung from the shadows - he rolled, did a somersault of sorts, and landed right in the middle of the living room.

Naruto drew himself to his fullest height - several inches taller than the Uchiha heiress at the very least. But height did not mean everything; and Satsuki did not appear daunted in the least.

She turned around, sword clasped in her hand, that signature sharingan spinning in her eyes; she showed not an ounce of weakness, not allowing her injuries to make her appear fragile in front of him.

There was at least three meters between the two of them.

"Satsuki," Naruto said.

"Naruto…" Satsuki murmured, extending her sword and pointing the tip at him.

He allowed the slightest of grins to crack his demeanor. "I heard about what you did," he said.

"And that is?"

"The assassination," Naruto mumbled. "Killing some guy in broad daylight, and almost getting yourself killed in the process."

"I didn't almost get myself killed," she said lowly. "As you can see, I'm fine. Now - what are you doing here? Orochimaru told me that you were off training with the sannin Jiraiya." She tilted her head to the side, red eyes gleaming - he was careful to avoid eye contact. "Let me guess; he doesn't know you're here?"

Naruto swallowed. "No," the blonde said, after a moment of measured silence. "He doesn't."

"Hmm."

Satsuki lowered her blade ever so slightly.

"Is there a reason behind that?" she asked, once more raising her sword up. "You would be wrong to assume that you could bring me back to the village on your own."

"I- well, I want to bring you back to the village, Satsuki," Naruto muttered. "But you're-" He gestured to her bandaged arm, to her calf.

Her eyes narrowed. "You did your research. I'm impressed," Satsuki admitted "I shouldn't have let my guard down. But that doesn't matter; you won't be forcing me to go anywhere, Naruto?"

"I don't want to force you to do anything," he ground out. "But you're - well… I… I…"

"What is it?"

Naruto drooped visibly. "I- miss my friend," he muttered, still not looking at her though it was from embarrassment this time, not him trying to avoid her sharingan.

Satsuki frowned; but she did not say anything.

"Satsuki?" he said.

"What?" she bit out. "Do you think appealing to my nostalgia is going to get me to come with you?"

"Aha!" Naruto declared. "So you do admit there's at least something there?"

"There isn't," Satsuki ground, fingers tightening around the hilt of her blade. "Nothing that matters in the grand scheme of things, at least."

"Hmph." Naruto folded his arms across his chest. "You're in denial."

"A blatant lie," Satsuki said. "But if I was? It does not change a single thing, Naruto. Nothing does - you know exactly what matters to me most."

He stared at her, desperately attempting to remain impassive, and yet the cracks began to shine through his face. He was angry… and hurt… and touched… and enraged. All at once, and only one person could have ever accomplished that feat.

"Satsuki…"

"Naruto."

She tilted her head to the side, and raised her sword up.

"I spared you once," she admitted. "But will I do it again?"

He scoffed. "Of course you will," Naruto said. "After all - who else can get under your skin more than me?"

"You know who."

"But he's not around," Naruto pointed out. "And besides, that's in a bad way. You know that all I mean is good for you, Satsuki."

"Perhaps," she said.

There was a moment of silence, the kind that one could struggle to cut with a naginata.

And then, a bird swooped in through the open balcony door, soaring above Naruto's head and landing on Satsuki's arm.

It offered her a scroll that it carried - Satsuki took it. The bird bowed its head, flapped its wings, and took off back through the window.

"Allow me to read this," Satsuki said, leaning the sword against her leg. She unfurled the scroll, and began to scrutinize the contents.

Naruto stared at her, tension in every pore of his body. There were very few people that Satsuki could be receiving messages from: and Naruto knew that the vast majority of that list were people loyal to Orochimaru. Or, the man himself.

She was done reading the letter after a moment; he could tell, as she lowered it slightly, and her eyes no longer went from left to right in a scanning fashion.

"What did it say?" Naruto asked, frowning.

Satsuki glanced at him for a moment; she pursed her lips together for a moment, as if pondering what he had said. Then, she took a few steps forward, pressed the letter into his hand, and then took a few steps back to her original position.

He turned the letter over and began to read.

It wasn't a long letter.

You should not have underestimated that man. I warned you that he could have a strong bodyguard, and yet, as usual, you choose not to listen. Your injury is unfortunate; and just as unfortunately, I'm afraid K is far too busy to make his way out to you. You will need to lay low, and recover on your own until you are strong enough to come back - perhaps that will teach you to ignore my warnings. I will give you approximately two weeks to come back here: after that, I will assume that your loyalties have shifted.

O

"Who's 'O'?" Naruto asked. "And 'K'?"

"Orochimaru is O, and Kabuto is K," Satsuki muttered. "It's not exactly protocol for S ranked nukenin to sign their names on the letters they send, you…" She paused for a moment - and Naruto smirked.

"You were about to call me an idiot, weren't you?"

"No."

He chuckled.

"You know what this means?" Naruto said, waving the letter in his hand.

"What?"

"You've got exactly two weeks of vacation!" he told her.

"If you hadn't noticed, I'm not exactly on 'vacation'," Satsuki murmured. "Neither am I inclined to take one, either. I will recover, then I will-"

"Oh, come on!" Naruto whined. "Are you kidding me? This is the perfect opportunity!"

"For what?"

"For us to be friends again!"

Satsuki folded her arms across her chest. "You're deluded if you think that I'm going to be your friend, Naruto."

Naruto took a threatening step forward - Satsuki's hand reached out, picking up her blade and raising it once more.

"How about this," Naruto murmured lowly. "I don't want to do this: but you and I both know that you're not a match for ero-sennin, not yet at least. And if I go to him right now, and tell him that you're a town over…"

"I would stop you," Satsuki said confidently.

"And if I don't return to him, and he gets worried, and he hunts me down and finds you?" Naruto told her.

She was silent.

"What's your point?" Satsuki murmured. "I could simply take off."

"With those injuries?"

"How do you know I won't deceive you and take off the moment I've recovered?"

"I'd find you."

"Would you?"

"I would."

There was a confidence to his voice - that all consuming smugness; because he had found her once before, and now, she was closer than he had been to her since their fateful battle. And if Satsuki knew Naruto, and she knew him pretty well, then nothing would stop him in his quest. Nothing short of death, and she couldn't help the way her teeth clenched when she thought of Naruto's cold, lifeless body.

And yes, even Satsuki could admit that Naruto could find her. There was a decent chance of it at least, considering Orochimaru was not exactly 'subtle' for the most part, and he would undoubtedly send her on more high profile missions.

This time, it was just him. But if he brought the sannin Jiraiya along with him?

She would be finished. It wasn't even a matter of discussion.

Perhaps her best option was to deceive him; to trick him into thinking that she would go along with his plan, then leave the instant she could. It was her only chance… incapacitating him then and there would bring Jiraiya down to bear on her, and regardless, she was in no condition to travel.

An agreement would have to be reached. A way to delay the moronic blonde until she was capable of eluding his grasp.

"What do you propose then, Naruto?"

"What?"

Satsuki's lip curled. "I said, what do you propose."

Naruto swallowed.

"This letter says that Orochimaru is giving you two weeks to come back to him: two weeks where you could be anywhere, and he wouldn't care." He paused. "So, how about this; you stay here, in this town, for those two weeks. I'll convince ero-sennin to stay in this area. And… well, we can hang out together, we can spend time together, just like the old days."

"And at the end of those two weeks?"

"You decide whether you want to come back to Konoha with me and ero-sennin, or go back to Orochimaru," Naruto said.

Satsuki chuckled. "You expect me to believe that you'll just let me walk away?"

"I won't," he murmured. "But that's because you won't walk away. I'll convince you to come back, one way or another, Satsuki."

"How can you be so sure, Naruto."

"Because I know that I can convince you," he said vehemently.

She clicked her teeth.

Finally, at long last, Satsuki lowered her sword.

"Two weeks," she said.

Naruto grinned. And it was a smile so bright, so warm, so infectious that most women would have melted before the blonde.

But Satsuki merely stared at him impassively.

"I am going to turn in for the night," she said.

"Alright, but that just means I'm going to come back first thing in the morning," Naruto told her.

"That's fine," she grumbled. "Now get out."

Naruto was half tempted to try and hug her, but he felt that would be pushing his luck. Besides - he already felt more lucky than he had in years! Two weeks with Satsuki, two weeks that he could spend worming his way back into her heart, and convincing her to come back to Konoha.

He would succeed. He had to succeed.

"I'll see you later?"

"The window… may be unlocked after you leave here, and left unlocked overnight."

"May?" Naruto said. "If you lock me out of here, then I'm gonna bust the door down!"

"I'll make sure you're the one who pays for the damages then," she retorted.

He grinned.

"See you," Naruto said, giving her a wave.

Then, body pulsing with energy, he bolted out to the balcony, and leapt off of it - she watched as his figure soared through the air, before he skillfully landed on a rooftop opposite her hotel. He gave her another wave in the distance, before leaping to another rooftop, then another, and soon he disappeared from sight altogether.

Satsuki stepped forward, walking to the balcony. She placed her hands on the railing, staring out into the night, the wind whipping through her hair - her ponytail swung from side to side, and her clothes rippled.

Her fingers clutched the railing tighter, and she crouched slightly, as if preparing to jump over it…

But the pain in her arm returned; as did the pain in her calf. Her exhaustion was still evident. Her injuries.

She couldn't leave.

Naruto would be back in the morning.

And in all likelihood, every morning for the next fourteen days.

Satsuki stared off into the distance,

She took a deep breath.

"You're such an idiot…" she ground out, eyes flickering with sheer, intense hate.

Two weeks. Two weeks. Two… weeks.

Satsuki turned, and stepped back into the hotel room.

A/N

One chapter to go; how many to come? I know exactly when and how this story will end. And it's only a matter of time before you guys know as well.

Thank you for reading this story, and I sincerely hope you enjoyed it. I put quite a bit of work into this chapter, as I said in the first A/N, so I hope it came out well. If you did enjoy it, how about you be an awesome person (as if you aren't already) and drop a review for me? It would do me a great service, and I geniunely love the kind of feedback you guys give me. Thank you!

Well, until next time, with the second chapter of this or another chapter of a story of mine that you may or may not be following. Have a nice day, and cheers!