Arrow

Disclaimer: We do not own Naruto!

Authors' Notes: This is a co-write between dragninja and ninjadog. We're siblings so updates should not be that far apart. Here's how it works: we both think of the plot and ideas, outline them, and I (dragninja) write them. Seems fair, right? Well, it is! Lol.

Full Summary: Can cupid's arrow strike three times and save three loves from hardships? Naruto is feeling new feelings for Sasuke. He doesn't know when, or how, he will tell him, but he is determined to. What he doesn't know is that Sasuke is working for Orochimaru and spying on the Akatsuki, who are plotting to extract Kyuubi from him, which would, in turn, end up killing Naruto. Shikamaru and Temari are going through hard times as well. With Shikamaru as Konoha's strategist, he is constantly the target in assassination attempts, and Temari prays he will come home every day. Kiba is an ANBU now, which worries Hinata to death. Kiba is hardly ever around because he is always out on some dangerous, life-threatning mission. Can these three loves survive and rise above the war of life? Yaoi!Shonen-AI! sasukeXnaruto, shikamaruXtemari, kibaXhinata. R&R, please!

Chapter One

Pilot

Uzamaki Naruto, age eighteen, slowly walked down the streets of Konohagakure. A breeze blew slightly, ruffling his hair, carrying leaves on its gentle current. It wasn't that busy out, and aside from the wind, everything seemed quiet. It wasn't a good silence either. The lull that had befallen the village was ominous, and a pit of nervousness and fear formed in the blonde's stomach. Something was wrong, or was going to go wrong. Something was going to happen. And it wasn't good.

Konoha hadn't changed that much over the years. Tsunade-sama was the current Hokage. Orochimaru was still a threat. Sakura still wasn't his, which was actually a good thing. The only thing that he noticed a change in were his old friends. He, Nara Shikamaru, and Inuzuka Kiba had grown close over the years, and were best friends. All of their futures looked very bright; Kiba was actually dating Hinata in a very promising relationship, Shikamaru was Konoha's strategist, and Naruto himself was still training under Jiraiya-sama. However, despite all of this, there were a lot of things worrying Naruto.

One was Shikamaru. Konoha had gotten into a war. It was the Leaf and Sand villages against the Sound and Earth villages. Supposedly the Sand village had attempted to assassinate the Tsuchikage, the ruler of the Earth village. Konoha and Suna intelligence, however, found out that the Lightning village had launched the attack, but there is no reasoning with Earth village. Shikamaru was chosen by Tsunade-sama to form strategies for the Chuunins, Jounins, and ANBU going on mission ranking from C to S. His strategies, both defensively and offensively, have all been defeats to the enemy forces. He is such a big threat to them that they will often send assassions in to try and eliminate him. The attacks have recently gotten so bad that he has been forced to move to the Hokage's palace, where the security is the tightest. He found himself constantly checking in to make sure his friend had not fallen victim to one of the attacks.

Another thing bothering Naruto was Sasuke-kun. Sasuke had been withdrawing himself from people more often than usual. He was never around for some reason and, when he was, he was in his apartment. Naruto had tried to come up with ideas on what he could possibly be doing there alone, but once the ideas started to flow, some of them were quite disturbing: trying to find ways to commit a non-painful suicide act, cross-dressing, painting his nails over and over and over again, composing a new book called Poetry For The Emos, making out with himself, thinking about getting breast implants, looking at porn magazines, or, taking after Kakashi-sensei, reading porn novels. Of course, he could be developing a new jutsu or be just as depressed as before without thoughts of suicide.

Whatever it was, it wasn't stopping the new feelings Naruto was feeling towards him. For some reason, he all of the sudden cared about how he looked in front of Sasuke-kun, how he acted, and, most importantly, what Sasuke thought of him. At home, he'd blush at the mere thought of the Uchiha. Of course, he hadn't told Sasuke yet. He didn't think he ever would. He could never work up enough guts. Besides, what would Sasuke think of him? What would others think about him? He would be regarded as a freak. A boy who loves another boy. The idea wasn't very popular, mostly hated. People like that seemed to be looked down upon. And anway, if, by some miracle, Sasuke-kun felt the same way about him, where would they go from there? Would they be able to make it? The odds of pulling through with this were none to a million.

Besides, it could just be a phase. All in his head.

Right now he was going to Sasuke's apartment. He was supposed to meet Shika, Kiba, and Hinata at the swimming hole for a get together. Time was short nowadays. Shika was always off talking to some Chuunin, Jounin, or ANBU who needs advice on how to go about on a mission. Hinata was usually with Kiba, and when she wasn't, Kiba was never around for some reason. Times like these were a good opportunity to hang out, and Naruto wanted to invite Sasuke-kun along.

Whether or not Sasuke decided to come along, things were going to be awkward for Naruto. For starters, he knew he wasn't going to be able to help himself from blushing beet red when he was talking to Sasuke. Awkward. And if Sasuke said yes, he was going to have to spend the rest of the afternoon like that. Awkward. If Sasuke said no, it was going to hurt to be rejected. Awkward. And, regardless of Sasuke's decision, Hinata was going to be there. Awkward.

The reason why having Hinata around was uncomfortable was because he and Hinata, a while back, dated for about five months, until she dumped him for Kiba. She had a right to. Naruto knew that. He was being a jerk. Always putting himself before her. Always putting his dreams before hers. Always gloating over and talking about Sakura-chan's pretty face and adorable laugh. Besides, Kiba had adorable, little Akamaru. Hinata had always been a sucker for dogs. Now what kind of girl would pick a hot-headed idiot over the thoughtful owner of a puppy? Not Hinata. Her choice had been clear. Very clear.

Naruto finally arrived at Sasuke's apartment. He stood there for a while, staring at Sasuke's door, having second thoughts about asking him. Like he's mentioned before: awkward. This whole thing about these feelings were really starting to worry Naruto. He had been eating less, depressed more, being more sociable to get the damn thoughts out of his mind, and yet feeling as alone as he had been when he was just a child. Being bisexual was one thing when you were still dating the opposite sex; being bisexual was a different thing when you were dating the same sex. Or so it seemed to be in other people's eyes.

Just as Naruto worked up enough courage to knock, Sasuke came out. Realized Naruto. Glared at him.

"What do you want, loser?"

The Uchiha's words stung Naruto in a way that he would never be able to understand.

Flinching, Naruto replied, "Oh, um, h-hey S-Sasuke-kun..."

Sasuke was used to being called kun. By girls. Not by a friend. Not by a teammate. Not by a guy. Not by Naruto. At this, the prodigy cocked an eyebrow. Naruto continued.

"I was just, uh, wondering if you would, um, care to join me, Shikamaru-san, Kiba, and Hinata-chan. We're going to-"

"No."

Naruto winced at the rather blunt answer. He had not even listened to where they were going and what they were going to do.

"W-why not?"

"I have something to do."

"But you always have something to do, Sasuke! Take a break from whatever it is and come have some fun. A day at the swimming hole won't hurt you!"

"Baka."

With that, Sasuke disappeared, ignoring Naruto's offer and pleas.

So, rejected, Naruto arrived at the swimming hole, only to find Hinata there. Alone. She told him Shikamaru and Kiba were going to be late.

Shikamaru Nara poured Kiba Inuzuka a glass of water, which he turned down. As if he couldn't have told him before that he didn't want any water. Now he was going to have to walk all the way to other side of the room and dump it in with the plant. How troublesome.

Kiba handed Shika a scroll. It was standard proceedure to meet in his room at the Hokage's palace. It was to be just him and the person he was talking over the strategy with. The Jounin, Chunnin, or ANBU member was also permitted, by the rule of Tsunade-sama, to show him the mission scroll, whether or not the mission was ranked C or S. The meeting had to be held in secret and it was mandatory that the Hokage knew about it in advanced. Shika had already gotten all of that out of the way.

Kiba was a member of the ANBU. Shikamaru wondered how Hinata dealt with this. He was always away on extremely dangerous missions, most of them S ranked, and she had to deal with fear and worry when he wasn't around. He didn't think Kiba had ever talked to her about this, which was, in Shika's mind, the wrong thing to not do. Hinata and him should sit down and talk about it, maybe get things worked out a little more than they were. But Shika wasn't the expert. Nor was it his business.

Opening the scroll, Shika read over Kiba's mission objectives. It was a dangerous one, as expected. Sitting down, Shika read over it a couple of times. Kiba waited in silence. He was to go to Otogakure with five other nin, assassinate a general by the name of Suoh Riku, and retrieve and important scroll that was stolen from Sunagakure.

Putting down the scroll, Shika sighed.

"Suoh Riku...," he said. "You know that he's one of the most skilled ninja Otogakure has, right? He's both an extremely dangerous man and opponent."

Kiba nodded. He already knew. Shika continued.

"Six ANBU would be more than he can handle, however, security around him is going to be really tight."

"That's why I need your help."

Shika reached for the glass of water he poured Kiba to take a sip. It was empty. Damn it, he had poured it into the plant.

"Why doesn't Suna send in their own nin to retrieve their scroll?" Shika asked.

"They just sent almost their entire army into the Earth village."

Shika shook his head and sighed.

"No... They should have sent a little less than half, and we should've sent a little less than half. Our combined jutsus and strategies would be too unpredictable for them, while their same techniques would be too predictable. See, we're making the same mistakes that they are. We're in this war with another country, as are they, but we've been doing battle seperately. I need to talk to Tsunade-sama about this..."

"What about Riku?"

Shikamaru got up and walked over to a trunk that sat at the bottom of his bed. Opening it, it was practically overflowing with blank scrolls. He used them to write out strategies for bewildered ninja who couldn't make up their own, which was fine with Shikamaru because it gave him something to do. He was virtually already booked for the next week with meetings. He took out four scrolls.

Sitting back down, he began to write quickly, emptying his head of the three strategies that had formed as Kiba and he were talking. He filled out three scrolls, rolled them up, and handed them to his friend.

"If one doesn't work, try the other. If that, for some reason, doesn't work, try the third. Whichever one you pick, you shouldn't have to go to a second one. Unless you completely screw it up."

Kiba, baffled, asked, "Um, these are legible, right?"

Shika nodded and started to fill out the fourth scroll he had taken out. This one he had to give to Ibiki as a request to have a meeting with the Hokage. She would, no doubt, see him in a moment's notice, however, the war had been cutting down on everybody's time. Requests were mandatory to see Tsunade-sama, because most of the time she was at a meeting with one important person or the other. Requests just helped her manage her time and her calendar. Shika had no doubt that she was booked for the next week with meetings as well.

"Just don't let anybody see them, Kiba. You know the rules. Or, at least, I hope you do."

"Thanks a ton, Shika. But, before we go...I have something else I need to talk to you about..."

The lazy genius stopped writing and turned around in his chair.

"What about?"

"Hinata-chan..."

"Did something happen?"

"No, no, nothing like that. I'm just afraid something will happen when I tell her about the mission..."

"You still haven't told her about the mission? Kiba, why do you wait until the last minute to do these things? You're leaving tomorrow! You know how much she worries!"

"I know, but I can't stand telling her. It sucks. I mean, she always looks so upset."

"Listen, all you need to do is sit her down and talk to her about it. About everything. Tell her how you feel. If anything, ask Sakura-chan, Tenten-chan, or Ino-chan what to do. They're close friends with Hinata. I don't know why you would talk to me about this. I don't know much about women. They're too troublesome. I don't even have a girlfriend myself."

There was knock at the door. Shika, surprised, wondered who it was. He didn't have any meetings scheduled today.

Kiba opened the door and in walked Temari-chan.

Uchiha Sasuke sat on the tree branch, slightly annoyed at Naruto. He never took no for an answer. He had a very important meeting to attend to right now. He couldn't be off playing games with inferior ninja.

Kabuto finally arrived. Sasuke thought he was going to keep him waiting all day.

"You're late," Sasuke said.

"Actually, I'm right on time. I'm also surprised you came."

"Where's Orochimaru-sama?"

"He couldn't make it."

Sasuke didn't ask why. All that mattered was that Orochimaru agreed to train him. He needed to grow stronger, be more powerful than anyone could ever be.

"What are his terms?"

"He wants you to spy on certain individuals and report back here to me in exactly one week."

"Who?"

"Have you ever heard of the Akatsuki?"

"Itachi..."

"Yes. But you won't have to be worrying about your brother. He's off with Kisame-san, tracking down one of their demons. That's why Orochimaru-sama picked this week."

"What does he want me to listen for?"

"When and where they are going to plan their next move."

"Why? What's his business with them?"

"He used to be a part of them. You see, they're on a mission for power, too. Orochimaru is just using their ideas for himself."

Sasuke searched Kabuto's face for any lies or tricks. The Akatsuki were very formidable. One mistake by him and the would probably kill him.

"Why the Akatsuki?"

"He said if you pass this...test...then you will be worthy enough to train under him."

"Fine."

"Meet me back here in one week."

Sasuke disappeared, his dark eyes glaring at Kabuto until he was gone.

Kabuto had his doubts about this one. He told Orochimaru-sama that Sasuke-kun would probably fail. However, Orochimaru has seemed to place high faith in the boy. Perhaps too much faith.

"And perhaps not."

Kabuto disappeared.