YAY~! first Naruto FF EVAR! I'm excited :) well, don't really have much of an AN so ENJOI!

In the midst of twilight, a younge man sat in the deep shade of an oak tree, desperately trying to wipe his face of tears. His face was blank, save the slight and almost unnoticable quiver of his bottom lip. He had been crying uncontrollably for hours. Though his sobs were silent and had no way wracked his body, they were just as painful. For hours he had kept them in, not yet ready to face the horrible truth. But as soon as the sun had fallen down under the far mountains, The younge man had sunken slowly to his knees at the base of that familiar oak tree, and let it all out...

He didn't know why he cried. He had friends, people he loved enough to call family... Hell, he even had a girlfriend but it just seemed so... trivial. Though there was nothing anyone would by any means deem despondant, save his gruesome past and childhood, he still felt... what was that word?

Empty...

Day after day, he smiled, laughed, talked with his loved ones, and day after day there was this horrid pain he couldn't identify moving through his chest. It was almost nauseating, and more than once did the younge man have to force his dinner down bite by bite. More than once did his dinner come back up, leaving him hungry and sick. He didn't understand what it was... what was missing.

But he felt so empty...

And now he lay under a tree in a mocking fetal position, crying and trying as hard as he could to make the last of the sun dissapear, willing the light to fade and leave him in darkness once again. These days sunsets were so agonizingly slow... The sun mocked him. It could continue on, come back up each day, bring light and happiness to others... So why couldn't it ever do the same for him?

He sighed. If he didn't go home soon, he would get yelled at. What he least looked forward to, everyday, was his girlfriend abusing him. Though he had used to like her, now he could only wonder what he used to see in her. She was abusive, loud, and scary. Not at all what he liked. In fact, over the past few months, he had found himself attracted to alot of the guys in the village. Slowly, the conclusion that he was homosexual had been drawn. He no longer felt attracted to the pink-haired hurricane, and , because of this, had really nothing to look forward to.

Well, nothing but his daily outings with Iruka. They talked while they strolled, they laughed at eachother's jokes and random comments. They went for ramen sometimes, but these days... The younge man was veering more towards bland food. He didn't really see the appeal in anything anymore, and he didn't even care enough to catch the worried glances haphazardly thrown at him every time he passed. His friends knew there was something up with him... But did anyone care enough to ask?

He found himself walking an unfamiliar path, and turned around, surprised to see he had left the village. Before panic set in, he sighed. This was what he needed. Not to defect, but to just... breathe.

And what better way than to get away from the village the suffered in?

Not to say he hated the Leaf village. Quite the opposite, in fact. Though the villagers tended to be simple minded and shun what was different, they were all in all good people, and Naruto lived to protect them. One day... The title of Rokudaime would be his...

Who was he kidding? He would never be Hokage, not with the elders that so despised him. And, though Tsunade tried, she could not fully outvote every breathing member of the council, as senile as they were, they were smart. Not so easily manipulated as one would think.

He dropped down into the grass and leaned back on his hands, smiling as the cool night air blew against his face. He took a deep breath, and opened his eyes, only to stare into blazing scarlet. He almost screamed, but surpressed the urge in time to jump back and gain his balance, staring at the trough framed red eyes. What a great way to end a terrible day, eh?

"Naruto..." The man said, staring blankly into said boy's blue hues. "I have come to take you to Akatsuki. It's absolutely pointless to resist."

"Is it now?" Naruto spat, clearly in no mood. "I'd love to go with you, but I don't exactly feel like dying."

Itachi 'hn'ed and in a movement too quick to follow, he had a hold of Naruto's arms, and was pushing him against the ground. Naruto growled in pent up frustration and kicked up, twisting to his stomach and pulling harshly out of the older man's grip before ramming his head backward toward Itachi's. The raven merely leapt back, watching guarded but passive as Naruto got into a comfortable fighting stance.

"Leave. I'm not in the mood for this shit today, Itachi." The blond seethed. Itachi's eyes almost widened, but the Weasel settles for tilting his head.

"You seem angry, Uzumaki Naruto. I've only just gotten here, so what exactly has caused this... frustration?"

Naruto growled again, before screaming/growling wordlessly and chunking down a kunai in anger. He huffed and closed his hands messily in his hair.

"In all honesty, Itachi? I dojn't really fucking know." (-.-" picture this face) Naruto sighed, falling onto his butt once more, seeming to forget the presence of one of his most troublesome enemies. Itachi sauntered over curiously, and peered around the blond head to catch a glimpse of his face.

"I... I guess i just don't like it here anymore. I've grown so angry at this place i really don't care what happens to it, and I guess I'm making casual conversation with you to ease the lonliness..." Naruto had no idea where these thoughts were coming from. He had had such different feelings earlier, but somehow... these words felt right. They were true to him, and he believed them to be the only truth. (like equivelent exchange? :D haha FMA joke :P)

"You know... you don't have to stay here." Naruto's head whipped around at the words, so fast there was an audible crack and the base of his neck but at that moment, he really didn't care. "So it's either stay here and be hated and bored or leave with you and be hated and killed?" He said skeptically. Itachi came close to sighing.

"What I meant, Uzumaki, was that you could come live ther, with Akatsuki. This may seem like a stretch of kindness, but be aware that it is only to strengthen our base of power. You would be nothing more than a tool for leader-sama to use and dispose of at his own whim. You'd be a pawn..." He paused for what Naruto thought was dramatic effect. "...In a very tricky game of chess."

Naruto mulled over the raven's words. It sounded horrible, but for some reason, he felt compelled to go. While his heart screamed at him to remain there with his friends, his mind and every thought within screamed at him to ignore his heart and go with Itachi, to defect, to become a missing-nin, to... (you get the point)

The blond looked up at said man and just... watched. He saw nothing in that beautiful pale face. It was devoid of all emotions, like a world without light. It was scary, but oddly comforting.

Naruto stood, swaying lightly on his feet, before raising his head to the raven haired man and nodding only once. Itachi smirked, and nodded in response before taking off down the beaten dirty path that lead away from his home. Naruto looked back at the grand gates of Konoha and sighed, before turning away and leaping after Itachi.

Sasuke groaned as sunlight entered his room and shone in his face. It was too bright, and too early. He needed to go to sleep. He rolled over, and just as he was about to drift off into dreams about awesome things, there was a loud pounding on his door. He groaned again and heaved himself up, rubbing his eyes as he opened the door. Sakura stopped dead at teh shirtless Sasuke but quickly regained her composure.

"Naruto's gone."

Sasuke's eyes widened considerably, and he looked to the sides of Sakura, as if expecting the blond to pop out form nowhere. When nothing of the sort happened, he turned back to Sakura.

"When's the last time you saw him?"

"Yesterday. He was acting kind of strange, and wouldn't really talk to anyone..." She looked up. "Do you think that has anything to do with it?"

Sasuke shook his head. "I don't know, Sakura... Maybe he's just at ho-

"I already went to his apartment!" She almost wailed. Sasuke cringed. "He's not there and we were supposed to go out for lunch and GODS if he's out with some hussy-

sasuke didn't really know how to react. On one hand, his immediate reaction would be to go back inside and sleep. On the other, his best friend and secret crush was missing and was none to keen on being found. So, being who he was, Sasuke walked around the ranting Sakur aand took off down the street toward Lady Hokage.

-~!-

Impatient, Sasuke merely scaled the walls of the tower and came into Tsunade's office through the window. The Hokage looked up and looked about to yell, but Sasuke interupted.

"Where's Naruto?"

Haha it's kind of slow rn but it'll get faster and then there will be smut ^w^ next chappie will be a time jump :D