Maiden: Here it is, please enjoy ^^;;

* * *

Title: Nightingale

Summary: For centuries, night has been the only time forbidden lovers could meet. One evening, Sasuke decides he and Naruto no longer need to keep it forbidden, he takes his koi out for a date, and some very interesting things happen.

* * *

*EXTREMELY* special dedication: To my dear friend, whom this dedication has been long overdue, Difinity ^_^ this is for you

* * *

// . . . // = thinking

" . . ." = speaking

* * *

I believe that our lives are predetermined.

I believe that the stars have a way of knowing everything.

Why else would things have happened like this?

Why else would I be the reincarnation of the Kyuubi?

Why else would he be the way that he is?

Why else would we love each other?

* * *

The lukewarm night breeze whistled cheerfully as it blew softly against a certain blond boy's face.

A small anticipating smile grew wider as the minutes ticked slowly by.

//Sasuke said he'd watch movies with me tonight!// The boy thought anxiously to himself.

//Now, where is he?// Naruto pondered quietly.

As if on cue, a gust of warm wind embraced Naruto as he felt a pair of strong arms wrap protectively around his waist.

"Missed me?" Sasuke whispered sultrily as he place soft kisses on his koibito's exposed shoulders.

"Sasuke!" Naruto chirped as he whirled around energetically. "Ore . . ."

Before he could speak, Sasuke tilted his lover's chin up and crushed their lips together, exciting the feeling of elation the two got from being in each other's presence.

When they broke apart, panting for air, a soft blush played delicately across Naruto's cheeks.

"Sasuke, I got the popcorn like I promised." His grin reappeared as his blue eyes sparkled with affection.

His raven-haired teammate chuckled softly.

"Nani? I got the kind with butter, just like you wanted!" Naruto whined, agitated at the fact that he might have done something wrong.

"No Naruto, it's not that . . ." Sasuke said quietly as he brushed a blond bang out of Naruto's curious eyes.

"Eh . . . Sasuke, I don't like that look on your face . . ." Naruto pouted as he narrowed his eyes.

Sasuke smiled; one of his rare, warm smiles that only Naruto ever managed to see.

"Naruto, I only want to take you out to dinner, is that so much to ask?" Sasuke tilted his head contently as he took Naruto's hand in his own.

"WHAT??" Naruto responded quickly, drawing his arm away from his lover.

"Sasuke! We can't do that! What if someone sees us?"

The raven-haired boy sighed.

"Sometimes you are so thick, Naruto! That's the point!!"

Blue eyes blinked twice in confusion.

"Naruto, I want everyone to see us! I want the world to know just how much you mean to me!" Sasuke said quietly as he reclaimed Naruto's hand and kissed the shorter boy's exposed palm.

"Demo . . . don't you think, they might . . . not handle it well?" Naruto whispered, as if someone might hear them.

Sasuke chuckled softly.

"I'm here with you! What do you have to fear?" He answered in an assuring tone.

Naruto looked from side to side, then back to Sasuke's moonlit face, his eyes were full of passion and his smile showed he was being honest.

"Ma . . . okay, just this once." Naruto replied quietly as he quickly buried his face in Sasuke's chest.

"Only this one time."

Sasuke smiled and kissed Naruto on the forehead softly.

"If you say so."

"Oh, and Sasuke?" Naruto asked, his perkiness returning

"Yes?"

"You owe me ramen for this, lots of ramen."

Sasuke sighed and nodded, as the two leaped off the balcony, into the welcoming night.

* * *

Not too far away, two other leaf Genin sat in a modest restaurant, sipping tea.

"Anou . . . do you think Sasuke-kun has a date for the moon festival yet?" A pink-haired girl asked her friend as she traced her finger around the warm rim of the steaming teacup.

Her companion looked up, ran through her hands through her straw-blonde hair and sighed.

"Na . . .Sakura, you still haven't given up on Sasuke?" Ino replied annoyed.

"Just because Shikamaru asked you out doesn't mean I've got to stop liking Sasuke!" Sakura protested as she crossed her arms.

"Don't you get it? Sasuke-kun will never be interested in anyone! He's as cold as a polar bear's nose in December." [A/N - Couldn't resist ^^;;;]

Sakura sighed and looked at the table, realizing that Ino spoke the truth, but she bit her lip and looked up at her friend.

"I'll prove to you Sasuke has emotions! I don't care if they're not for me, but he can't be an empty shell!"

Ino rolled her eyes.

"You just keep saying that to yourself." The girl stuck out her tongue at her counterpart.

* * * *

"Sasuke, I think that guy just threw me a dirty look! LOOK! That old baba just gave me the finger." Naruto panicked as he followed closely behind Sasuke.

The dark-haired boy held his normal countenance and strolled through the busy streets calmly, the only difference was in the fact that he was holding Naruto's hand.

"baka, if you stop acting like a demented chicken then maybe they won't respond like that." Sasuke hissed.

Naruto glared at Sasuke, but then straightened up, following Sasuke in the most calm and composed way he could.

The two boys walked casually into the restaurant and a hostess greeted them energetically.

"Reservation for two, Uchiha" Sasuke said plainly.

The waitress blushed at the glimpse of Sasuke's face and she muttered an embarresed "hai" as she led the two to their table.

Naruto looked around the restraunt nervously. //Please don't let anyone we know be here// he pleaded inwardly.

Fate, however, was playing a sick game with the couple, as blue eyes fell upon two very familiar girls.

"Kuso!" The boy cursed and quickly performed a seal.

"Naru . . .WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Sasuke yelled as he turned around only to come face to face with a pretty, blushing female.

The girl twirled one of her pigtails and managed to mutter through pursed lips.

"Look over there . . ."

Dark eyes traveled across the room and they widened upon the sight.

"Sasuke, let's go . . ." Naruto began to say, but it was too late.

"Uchiha-san! Nice to see you again, what will you have today, and who is this adorable little lady?" The waiter, who was all too friendly with Sasuke, stood in front of the duo.

Sakura and Ino both twitched. Had they in fact heard the word Uchiha and lady in the same sentence?

Sakura turned her head slowly, glancing through the fake leaves to catch sight of Sasuke along with a blushing, blonde girl.

"Masaka . . . " Sakura muttered, her eyes going blank.

Ino could not help but laugh.

"Sakura! So he does indeed have feelings for someone!"

"No! It's probably just some sort of friendly thing, no way Sasuke would ever fall for a girl like that! She's too . . . too . . ."

Ino snapped apart her wooden chopstick and commenced eating.

"She's too what? Pretty? Sweet? Dazzling? " The girl teased as she carefully dabbed wasabi on her chopsticks.

Sakura was at the point of screaming.

"We'll see about that! I'm going to follow them!" The pink-haired girl whispered as she glued her gaze to the couple across the room.

Ino swallowed her sushi and smirked.

"This I've got to see."

Before Sakura could react, a very familiar acquaintance walked by the table that the girls occupied.

"Are we spying on Sasuke?" The voice asked amused.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura greeted, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I was just walking by outside, and I glanced in the window, and there's Sasuke with a female! Who even knew he was attracted to the opposite sex?" The silver-haired man said sleepily.

* * *

Naruto shoveled his sashimi into his mouth at an inhuman pace.

Sasuke winced. "Naruto, you do realize you still look like a girl, and that isn't proper . . ."

The blonde "girl" set down her chopsticks and declared that she was finished.

"Let's go!!" Naruto urged as he pulled on Sasuke's sleeve.

The dark-haired boy sighed and left more than enough money on the table, as he was promptly dragged out of the restaurant.

Ino and Sakura followed suit, dishing they money onto the table, collecting their things quickly, as if they were lionesses ready for the taste of the hunt.

"Whoa, those are bad spying skills girls." Kakashi shook his head solemnly.

"Hence we're not jounin" Ino muttered, and she placed her fingers on her forehead, to fight the coming headache.

"First of all, you're going to need a disguise . . ." Kakashi started as he did a seal, promptly changing into an attractive, middle-aged brunette man wearing the typical Konoha garb.

The two girls nodded, and when the smoke cleared, a small girl wearing a pink dress and a young women with dark, ebony hair sat in place where Ino and Sakura had sat.

Sakura sweatdropped when she laid eyes on Ino.

Ino stuck her tongue out at Sakura, rather fitting for her new alias appearance.

Kakashi turned to look out the window, and caught Sasuke and the mysterious girl turning the corner.

The "family" nodded and rushed out the door.

* * *

The night was still young, and the two lovers strolled through the streets contently, stopping at stores to buy things here and there.

Sasuke bought Naruto a frog key chain, and in return Naruto gave Sasuke a rubber snake.

The two stopped at a quiet park near the edge of town.

Soft light emitted from the shaded streetlights and crickets chirped merrily as the couple sat down in the cool grass.

Naruto took off his shoes and looked apprehensively around.

"You can drop the disguise now, nobody's here but us." Sasuke reassured.

The blonde boy shook his head.

"Iie, just in case." He said as he lay down, so he could stare up at the deep, dark sky.

Sasuke followed Naruto's action, and he lay down terribly close to the "girl" next to him.

Naruto obviously didn't mind and he scooted closer to his lover, nuzzling his face against Sasuke's shoulders.

* * *

The "family" held their breaths before they entered the park, they walked naturally as not to arouse suspicion.

When the trio spotted Sasuke and the mystery girl not too far off, they hastily dashed behind some bushes, which provided them with a primal view of the two.

"Look how close they are!" Ino whispered, deliberately provoking an already flustered Sakura.

"Urusai . . ." Sakura hissed back, not bothering to turn her gaze.

Kakashi sighed and turned away from the two arguing girls, only to reveal that his forehead protector was no longer over his left eye.

The sharingan shone its normal hue in the eye socket and Kakashi nodded knowingly.

//I should have guessed, that girl's chakra was way too familiar// Kakashi mused to himself, and a faint smile touched his lips.

//They were meant for each other, weren't they?//

Sakura and Ino were too busy spying that they didn't notice the third member of their party had swiftly and silently departed.

* * *

"Oi, Sasuke?" Naruto asked softly.

"mm . . "

"The sky is so big and dark, doesn't it make you feel kind of small compared to everything else?" Naruto questioned softly.

"Of course it does, so when you think of it that way, what does it matter what our lives our? Why do we care what people think of us? We're mere insects in the grand scheme of things." Sasuke answered lightly, turning on his side to embrace Naruto.

The blond was silent for a minute, but then he grinned.

"You're right."

"I'm always right." Sasuke smirked as he pressed his lips against Naruto's.

There was a crack, and when the smoke cleared, it was no longer Uchiha Sasuke and a blonde girl sitting on the grass kissing, but it was Uchiha Sasuke and a blond boy, none other than Uzumaki Naruto.

Ino's hand flew to her mouth to stifle her surprised gasp, and she turned to look at Sakura, fully expecting the pink-haired girl to have fainted, but instead, she saw Sakura smiling sadly.

"Sakura. . ." Ino started.

"No, it's really alright, I somehow knew that they had something going on, but I chose to deny it, because of my own blind love for Sasuke . . ." She choked as tears began to stream from her sea green eyes down her pale cheeks.

"But you can see for yourself, how happy Sasuke-kun is with him, they're meant to be together, I'm holding them back, and now that I know, I won't be a bother anymore." Sakura continued until her tears took control of her and she had to hold her hand to her mouth to stifle her sobs.

"Sasuke, do you hear something?" Naruto sat up suddenly, his eyes alert.

The Uchiha boy pushed his weight onto his right arm, listening intently.

"Yah, let's go back to your place Naru-chan." Sasuke finally stated and the two boys nodded, running off into the night, leaving a sobbing Sakura and a exasperated Ino.

* * *

"Mou . . . That was an interesting night . . ." Naruto started as he sat in Sasuke's lap.

Sasuke laid his chin on Naruto's shoulder, as his hands found their way around the blond boy's waist.

"Hai, but you had to pose as a female the whole time, which wasn't what I wanted." Sasuke said as he sighed.

Naruto laughed.

"Sasuke, I'm not afraid anymore, tomorrow morning, we're going to go to the meeting place together, and if it's okay with you, we're going to let Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei know"

The raven-haired boy's eyes widened.

"Honto?" He whispered, barely believing the words that had just escaped his lover's lips.

Naruto nodded, a grin had begun to spread across his features. The blonde hugged his astonished koi tightly, closing his eyes out of pure joy.

"Naruto . . I love you . . ." Sasuke managed to whisper, as he lay his hand on Naruto's back.

"Mmm . . ." Naruto returned, as he felt Sasuke moving them both to the bed.

The night had not gone to waste after all

* * * * *

Oro . . . Dif, I had meant for this story to be more, well deep, but it kind of just came out like this -________-() I'm sorry if it sucked

That's all I can do for now, but if someday I truly just get an amazing idea, I will still dedicate it to you ^__^

You are the bestest friend ever!

~Maiden

P.S. R/R is still appreciated? ^^;;;