Open Deviate Reinstall

by Fourangers

Sasuke, a professional hitman, is revenging his clan. In attempt to deceive his followers, he accidentally involves a random blond civilian with his mission. However unexpectedly, there's more than it meets the eye. AU NaruSasu

Open. Deviate. Reinstall.

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Someone was following him. Graphite eyes subtly scanned the corner of his vision as two men posing as tourists glanced toward some random store and a woman, who appeared to be a local, kept stopping frequently to read some newspaper. He knew that once he entered their territory they would be wary of any suspicious movement. However, there was no point in attracting their attention unnecessarily, so he wanted to stay incognito for as long as possible. He continued to walk with the same relaxed posture, even though his eyes kept searching for any viable escape.

He noticed a blond man looking at the map, whilst admiring the Venetian Glasses displayed on the store's shelf. Of all the people around him, he appeared the most unsuspecting one, wearing an orange t-shirt with baggy cargo shorts and flip-flops, wild golden locks framing his tanned face and some odd whisker marks on his cheeks. All in all, he was just a regular tourist having fun in Italy. Although one part of his mind was warning that this was a risky plan, he slowed his steps until their gazes connected and he smiled, saying:

"Love."

Fortunately he had enough money in his pocket and he had his back facing the people tailing him, so whatever subtle movement wouldn't be seen by them. His hand showed a thick pack of 100 euros to the blond that made his blue eyes widen and without wasting a moment, his pale hand cupped the tanned cheek and sealed his lips onto his, while secretly slipping the money and his cell phone in the blonde's pocket.

The blond looked completely befuddled from this odd turn of events, but he turned him around while caressing his arm till his fingers reached the cell phone inside the other pocket and he picked it up. "Sorry for making you wait. Where do you want to go now?" He spoke, attentive to any sign that this tourist would bail out.

However, the blond just kept a quirked eyebrow until he answered. "To St. Mark's Basilica, but I kinda got lost here. Those streets are an endless maze."

"It's faster if we go by boat. I'll pay, don't worry about it." He kissed the whiskered cheek and rushed him to the appointed place.

While they waited for the boat to arrive, he noticed that the people continued to follow him, not fully convinced by his hastily planned act. They sat next to each other, his obsidian eyes watching the landscape passing by; one arm encircled around the blond while another one was typing a short message. The phone vibrated as the blond picked it up bewildered, noticing that it wasn't his cell phone but he still read the contents:

What's your name? Answer me through the phone.

With one quirked eyebrow, the blond typed back.

Naruto. What the hell is happening here?

He poked Naruto's shoulder while speaking: "Naruto, stop looking at the cell phone and pay attention to the scenery. This architecture is magnificent." As the blond stared out the window, his fingers typed a quick excuse:

Annoying reporters. I'll pay you 5000 more euros if you spend the whole day with me.

Naruto looked at the cell phone, widened his eyes and retorted. "'kay, I just have to ask one last thing here."

5000 euros? I'm in. So, what should I call you then? My chocolate cake, pudding, fluffy kins, slave, boytoy—?

He read the message and saw the significant glance the blond gave him, expecting him to give his name. He drew Naruto closer with his arm and responded:

"Now that you're done, look at the landscape okay? We're almost there and it's not like we'll be able to see this so easily again, it took so long to save enough money as it is for this trip."

Naruto shrugged with a frown and retorted. "C'mon, it's not my fault. I get easily distracted whenever someone types me a message. I'll take some photos so you can't complain about a wasted trip."

He quirked an eyebrow, amazed by Naruto's speedy recovery. The blond acted naturally as if they were really lovers, snapping photos with an easy grin. When the camera was aimed at him, Naruto said cheerfully:

"Now say cheese!"

His hand covered the lens in an instant, his expression closing to a warning glare till he forcibly softened, growling. "Naruto, you know how much I hate being photographed. Be nice will you?"

"Whatever, you're such a bastard. Let's go, I think I saw a sign pointing to the Basilica. There are some other tourist spots nearby too…" The blond opened his map to glance inside.

Meanwhile, he subtly looked around to see if they continued to follow them and unfortunately, they still stood in their positions in apparent disinterest around the couple. Naruto was entranced staring at some kids giving food to the pigeons in front of St. Mark's Basilica, so he stepped in and spoke:

"Didn't you bring any bread from the hotel?"

Naruto snorted and answered. "Of course not. You think I'd know that we'd need it to feed those pigeons?"

Under normal circumstances he wouldn't bother helping Naruto out, well, in any regular situation he wouldn't even be associating with someone like him, but he considered that he should get into the 'kind boyfriend' act for now. He asked the children to give some bread to him, placing a few pieces on Naruto's palm.

Naruto mumbled an embarrassed thanks, then he happily threw the crumbs to the ground as the birds approached, some even flew to eat from his palm. He approached the blond and placed one hand on his hip, kissing the whiskered cheek afterwards. Naturally, Naruto tensed for a few seconds before retorting with a light elbow jab on his chest.

At this point the people investigating appeared that they had bought their act as each one of them slowly left the area. He couldn't let his guard down yet, while he followed Naruto to explore the Basilica, watching the blond snapping other photos, his onyx eyes searching for any suspicious movement.

They spent a few more minutes exploring the neighborhood and looking at the souvenir stands, when Naruto wanted to buy a Venetian Mask and began bargaining the price with the vendor. Observing the blond chatting and no longer sensing any watchful eyes, he figured it was time to get rid of the civilian, pay the money and part ways. So once Naruto was done, they went to a nearby cash dispenser located on a narrowed street.

"It is him!"

This sudden shout caught his attention and he saw familiar faces, henchmen from the group of assassins he had killed earlier. The street was fairly crowded but they paid no mind to this detail, already removing their guns from their pockets. He tsked in frustration, if it's not one nuisance, it's another. He turned left and started running; however, Naruto followed him with a perplexed question:

"Wait, where are you go—"A gunshot interrupted him and horrified blue eyes noticed people behind them holding guns. "What the f—"

He grabbed the blond's arm, increasing their speed. "Keep running."

Adrenaline coursed through his veins and pumped his legs to dash at high speed, his brain trying to calculate and plan for any possible escape. Unfortunately he didn't have any knowledge of the streets of this city, so he blindly chose a path and prayed that they wouldn't wind up in a dead end. They turned again and took a few seconds to recover their breath with the enemies still on their tails. He already involved an innocent civilian in this skirmish, so with a little bit of regret, he threw a gun at Naruto's hands, figuring that the blond would at least have this weapon for his defense.

"Whoa!" Naruto clumsily caught it and squawked. "Are you giving me a gun? What's—"

Gunshots caught their attention, but he started to return fire, his eyes narrowed and face grim in concentration. He managed to kill one henchman as they resumed running across a bridge. Passersby were screaming in horror, fleeing to avoid being hit by stray bullets, as they settled in their respective corners, shooting and evading bullets.

He was experienced with firearms and field battle, in which he efficiently killed the remaining enemies with a shot to their hearts. They fell soundly to the ground, settling a pregnant silence at last, saved for some crumbling of the walls around them. He turned to Naruto, who looked back at him with raised eyebrows.

Great. How is he going to explain this whole situation to this civilian? He mused if he should increase the payment to 10000 euros to keep Naruto's mouth shut, as he touched the blond's shoulder and rasped out:

"Let's go."

When he raised his onyx eyes, he saw two extra henchmen suddenly appearing in front of him from around the corner, their guns aimed at his head and fingers ready to pull the trigger—

Two gunshots thundered in the street, one bullet piercing each head with a frightening accuracy as they also fell with a loud thud. He instantly turned his head stunned only to meet the muzzle close to his nose and the man holding the gun wearing a carefree grin.

"Hey. I guess you weren't expecting this huh. Sasuke Uchiha." Naruto said.

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Astonishment slowly morphed to awareness until it narrowed into silent fury shown through those pair of graphite eyes. Naruto was still holding his gun, attentive for any attempt of escape or retaliation. Sasuke was mostly frustrated with himself for such a slip and also because he wasn't expecting such betrayal. He channeled his anger into a full potent glare and growled:

"Who the hell are you?"

Naruto blinked in fake innocence. "Me? Well, you should know, I'm Naruto. I'm just a normal tourist having fun in Europe—"Sasuke narrowed his eyes even further. "Taking a vacation from my job in the CIA."

Naruto widened his grin from the look of absolute disbelief crossing over Sasuke's eyes even though the rest of his face kept a blank expression.

"Yeah, isn't this such a coincidence? Either someone up there really hates you or maybe we should see this as some sort of twist of fate! Ah… I'd recommend you not to try picking your gun you have hidden behind your back, just letting you know." Naruto tilted his head to one side, showing that he noticed Sasuke's minimal movements with his hand. "So anyways, since fate has already conspired letting us meet, we should think positively and try to use this to our advantage right?"

Sasuke tensed and glared even harder. "What?"

Naruto dropped his cheery disposition and spoke gravely. "We know your intentions; don't think your actions went unnoticed by the CIA. We know that you've been killing every assassin that contributed to the massacre of your clan, I've been monitoring your every move ever since you murdered the first assassin."

"So why haven't you taken any action yet?" Sasuke asked, very acutely aware of the fact that Naruto's gun was still aimed at him.

"Well, because I actually want to make a proposition. Those assassins you've been targeting actually have ties with illegal firearm manufacturing and if I can manage to get their contacts or any information, it'd help hunting them down, stop this and the illegal trafficking. And I have no idea how you did this, but you found those hired assassins that even our database was having difficulty pinpointing. So I don't want to waste this opportunity, I'll help you with your revenge, and you'll let me grab any pertinent info to my investigation."

Sasuke lowered his head, his dark bangs slightly shadowing his eyes, making it harder to read his expression. Naruto shrugged his shoulder, in an attempt to lighten the situation:

"C'mon, aren't you happy that I'm willing to do some extra homework when I was supposed to be relaxing now? An extra hand helping you out won't hurt right?"

"I am not falling for your machinations. You'll definitely arrest me once this is done or betray me. Besides, there's no guarantee that you're really with the CIA or if you're one of them, you could be waiting to kill me when my guard is down." Sasuke growled.

"What? Fuck, you've got some trust issues man!" Naruto lowered one hand and grabbed his ID from his pocket. "See? It's all authentic, from my photo making dumb faces to all the unimportant information. Plus, if I really wanted to kill you, I would have done that a long time ago bastard. Actually, I could do it now but I haven't. Happy?"

The brunet glared, dissatisfied from Naruto's laidback answer.

"What?" The blond furrowed his eyebrows. "About me arresting you? Ok, I confess that once you're done it's my duty to hunt you down like the dangerous criminal you are but since you'll be helping me out by gaining good info for my investigation, I will let you go for now ok?"

Sasuke still looked doubtful.

"Pinky swear!"

"I'm not interested in becoming your pawn, and I have always succeeded in accomplishing everything on my own before."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I'm not using you, I already told you, it's a short alliance. Also, you have already made a mess by yourself and now you need a partner. C'mon, decide already, I'm pretty sure someone called the police and they are on their way."

Sasuke turned his whole body to face the blond with his fists balled; offended from the fact that Naruto stung his pride. "Are you deaf? I work alone. I have no interest in letting anyone tag along. Why should I even accept your help anyways?"

Cogs of time slowed down as graphite and blue eyes stared at each other, no words were uttered in the thin silence that could be disrupted any moment, leading to possible destruction.

Until the blond made a noise of disbelief.

"Why should you accept my help? Really? You're really asking me this? Are you fucking blind?" Naruto snorted loudly. "I'm awesome!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, slightly taken aback by the blonde's unpredictable behavior once again.

"My acting skills are great! I can fake I'm a college student or a lawyer, a doctor, hell, I can even dress in drag and guys will hit on me!"

The brunet stared for a few seconds, grumbling. "…unbelievable."

"Wha? Don't believe me? Well, I fooled you, didn't I?" Naruto raised his chin haughtily.

Sasuke glared back at Naruto's tactless retort.

"And did you take a good look at me? I'm the hottest guy you'll ever grace your eyes to meet in your entire life! Men and women equally swoon just from the sight of me! And see those muscles? They aren't just for show, you know. And my stomach? Six pack. You definitely can't get a pretend-to-be-lover better than me!"

Sasuke idly gazed at the way the blond was gesticulating everywhere, barely holding his gun correctly. In any opportune second with Naruto's guard down, he could easily disarm this stupid moron. Actually, he could even grab his own gun and turn the tables. What Sasuke was asking himself right now was…why wasn't he taking any action then?

Naruto continued his boasting, ignorant to his possible impending death. "I'm a quick thinker too and am always able to plan an escape from any tight situation. My charming personality is one of the many reasons I have swept many women and men off their feet. I'm cheerful, charismatic, smart and sensible!"

"Very humble too." Sasuke muttered back.

"Hey, sarcasm is unappreciated." Naruto harrumphed. "Now about artillery. You saw yourself how good I am with guns right? That's something that you can't definitely complain about. Plus I also know how to use machine guns and bazookas. Ok, so what do you think now? It's an awesome deal, isn't it?"

Sasuke stared as if Naruto was a crazy alien born from outer space.

"Ok…I guess the fact that I'm pointing a gun at you makes it difficult for any open negotiation right. So let's do this." Naruto clicked on the safety switch of the gun and then raised his hands. "See? Now you have full liberty to accept or deny my proposal."

A sardonic part of Sasuke's mind contemplated the need for such action when it was rather easy to render Naruto defenseless before. He also concluded that the blond was probably the most idiotic person he had ever met in his life…Who the hell would trust a renowned murderer whom he knew for about an hour no less?

Sudden nonsensical shouts caught their attention and they saw some random people pointing at them, followed by some police officers walking towards them. Sasuke tsked, running in the opposite direction in an attempt to escape from them. He hid down a secluded alley, seeing all the police pass by as the commotion slowly ended. Sasuke relaxed his guard and prepared to exit.

And then he noticed a familiar mop of golden hair next to him.

"Why are you still here?" Sasuke growled.

Naruto blinked twice and smiled easily. "You didn't exactly say no to me…"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, walking back to the main street while Naruto followed behind. He should come up with some kind of excuse to get rid of this stupid blond, no one with a reasonable mind would agree to this lunacy.

However, as it really appeared that the gods above were playing tricks with them, the moment Sasuke was going to dismiss Naruto, the hair on his nape prickled and he noticed watchful eyes upon them. They probably heard the fight that happened a few hours ago and had returned to confirm any rumor. He turned around to face the blond, eyebrows knitted together in frustration and growled:

"Fine if you're so determined to be my bitch, you better show your skills now." Before Naruto could open his mouth in automatic protest, he was quickly silenced by a rough kiss.

Despite his brain was still recovering from this sudden assault, his body couldn't help but to respond back, his arms moving on their own accord and encircling Sasuke's waist, his face angling a little bit, deepening the kiss. His lips nibbled and teased, with his tongue breaching inside his mouth and eliciting a gasp from Sasuke.

Naruto's blue eyes shifted sideways, realizing his surroundings, all the onlookers and the suspicious followers ogling at them. He detached his mouth from Sasuke's, forcibly cleared his throat and said:

"Honey bee…" Sasuke glared in response. "Shouldn't we go to a quieter place so we can continue in private?"

The brunet searched the crowd to see if there were still followers observing them and unfortunately, they hadn't moved one inch from their positions. With a short nod, he grabbed Naruto's hand and dragged him into an empty alley. Without wasting a second his hands pinned Naruto against a wall, bodies pressed together as they resumed their kiss.

"I don't remember…" Naruto growled between each gasp. "Agreeing being your bitch bastard."

Sasuke answered with his knee wedging between Naruto's legs; raising till he rubbed Naruto's growing erection. He briefly tugged the tanned earlobe with his mouth and whispered. "I don't see you complaining. Your body clearly likes it."

Naruto moaned at the way Sasuke's leg was shifting rhythmically against his cock, but he twisted his wrists and removed them from Sasuke's grasp, pushing him a few steps backwards. He clasped both pale wrists and turned their bodies around, lightly biting Sasuke's lips in vengeance, with a low snarl.

"I'm not your bitch, I'm not anyone's bitch, got it? You asshole." Their mouths connected, rolling their tongues in such a pleasurable way that startled both of them. Naruto licked his lips and whispered with his mouth brushing Sasuke's. "I'm sure that in this case you're going to be mine. If I ever let anyone take my ass, it'll only be after I allow it. So dream on bastard."

Sasuke opened his mouth with what Naruto expected to be another rebuttal, but the brunet only darted his tongue out to invade his mouth. He tried to also twist his wrists in an attempt to turn their positions but Naruto eliminated any remaining gap between them, their bodies melding perfectly. He placed his hands on each side of Sasuke's torso, continuing their kisses.

The intensity of his reactions startled Sasuke. Those touches didn't feel foreign; his body reacted naturally as if there were no personal barriers between them. Their lips moved in synch, leaving no gaps or pauses between each breath.

Naruto however, had the cold realization that everything was all an act; they should stop this before they breeched a point of no return. He pulled his head back, increasing their distance into an arm's length and husked out.

"They're gone. The people watching us. Gone."

Dark grey eyes were still hazy with lust until it returned to the usual cold hue; Sasuke straightened his suit and shoved Naruto away. He walked past the blond with a bump of shoulders and the latter asked him:

"So where are we going now?"

"Back to my hotel so we can maintain a low profile." Sasuke answered, picking up his cell phone to search for his current location. He noticed that he still had Naruto's that he swapped at the beginning so he showed it to Naruto, glaring.

Naruto traded the cell phones back and said. "Ok, so gimme the address and I'll meet you there. I have to pick up some of my luggage in my hotel and—"

"Do I really come up as some sort of naive idiot to you? I'm not going to give you an easy opportunity for you to contact anyone at the CIA and arrest me. You're going with me so I can keep a close surveillance the entire time."

The blond threw his hands in the air. "What the hell, I didn't—Do I really come up as—really? You're such an asshole." He snorted loudly. "You just can't get enough of me eh?"

Sasuke had to suppress the urge to shoot several times at that idiotic blond head.

They arrived late at night at a sophisticated 5-star hotel that left Naruto gaping in awe while Sasuke entered nonchalantly. No one questioned the fact that the blond was wearing shabby clothes and walking side by side with a Japanese young man with aristocratic features, entering together in the elevator. Sasuke's room was also decorated lavishly, beautiful chandeliers illuminating the suite with a gorgeous view of Venice's river.

Sasuke stared at Naruto who was admiring the sight from the window, still feeling a bit off put from the fact that it was the first time he actually allied with someone, from the CIA above all else. He also realized that there would be natural necessities such as taking a bath and going to the toilet, giving ample opportunities for the blond to escape or contact authorities.

"I'm going to take a bath." Sasuke declared and Naruto perked up, raising an eyebrow.

"Ok…wait. I didn't bring any change of clothes, how I'm gon—"

"You probably wear the same size as me, I'll lend you some." Sasuke said, picking up his own set of clean clothes and throwing another to Naruto. "While I'm in the bathroom, you're going to wait for me in that room." He pointed out.

Naruto followed his finger with his eyes, staring at the appointed place in silence. Until he muttered incredulous. "Isn't that like…the closet?"

"Hn."

"The fuck! I don't remember agreeing to this either!"

"You promised that you won't betray me or arrest me in this brief alliance. I'm making sure you'll hold your end of the bargain."

"How about simply believing my word?" When Naruto met a dubious look in response, he groaned. "Fine then, for now. Shit, this sounds like the start of an abusive relationship."

Sasuke glared daggers towards the blond in which the latter shrugged lazily, entering the closet. Sasuke locked the door and fortunately took a quick bath. Once they were done, Naruto started yawning and lied down on the biggest couch, ready to sleep. He heard a noise and opened one eye to peek, surprised that Sasuke actually brought him one pillow and a blanket, placing them on a smaller couch.

"Huh. I can't believe that you can be nice when you want." Naruto chirped happily, raising himself to pick them up.

"You're going to sleep here." Sasuke held the items securely.

"Huh? Why?"

"I have already assured some counter-measures in case there's anyone who'll try invading this place. But even if they managed to succeed, at least I made sure they will only enter through the living room and this spot is perfect for you to defend yourself while I make a safe escape." Sasuke smirked, placing some pistols on a nearby table.

"Oh wow, gee thanks. I feel welcomed already." Naruto bit out sarcastically, grabbing the blanket and plopped down the sofa, closing his eyelids.

Sasuke gazed for a while at this strangely domestic scene, not used to seeing someone actually living in his room. With a roll of his eyes, he returned to the bedroom.

A few hours had passed. Sasuke couldn't sleep. For the first minutes, he was on high alert for any suspicious sound coming from the blond, his reflexes acute in case Naruto would try to murder him at any second. Afterwards, he wondered why the hell the stupid moron was so silent, unmoving save for some shuffling from his blanket. He slowly lost his desire to sleep, bewildered and at the same time, intrigued by Naruto's quietness.

Without making any sound, he stood from his bed, picked up his gun and shifted silently towards the couch where Naruto laid. The blond was sound asleep -his chest slowly expanding and contracting, his expression tranquil and his body relaxed and unguarded. Sasuke knew he wasn't faking because Naruto didn't tense once Sasuke was close to him.

And such a situation raised more questions in Sasuke's mind. Why? Why is Naruto putting a blind trust on him? They barely had met and yet, Naruto believed that Sasuke wouldn't betray him and kill him. Could this all be pretense just to make him gain Sasuke's trust?

Sasuke loaded his gun, pulling back and releasing the mechanism with an ominous noise. He aimed at Naruto's sleeping face, positioned a few centimeters away from his nose. Naruto didn't startle, flinch or anything, he didn't even twitch. For a few minutes, only the echoes of the clock ticking moved in the stillness of the room. Sasuke stared unreadable, though a slight frown betrayed his lack of expression.

The moron was really sleeping.

As if he was answering Sasuke's question, a sliver of drool escaped from Naruto's mouth.

Rolling his eyes, Sasuke lowered his gun, his vision still trained onto Naruto. As his analytical mind tried to figure out this puzzle, this blond was a mystery. He was probably the dumbest person in the world or maybe the boldest one, facing death without fear. Or maybe he is the boldest dumbass—yes, this trait rather fit someone like him. But what Sasuke couldn't comprehend was why Naruto chose to trust him, of all people. When there was no advantage to doing it and he could be eliminated at any given moment.

And yet, why wasn't Sasuke pulling the trigger himself, putting an end to this tangled mess?

This unnamed feeling…

Sasuke looked at Naruto for a while, slowly feeling the sleepiness catching up to him. He returned to his bed after quietly shutting the door. He would figure out this situation later.

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Sasuke Uchiha. Born on July 23rd, Kyoto, Japan. Blood type AB, currently 24 years old.

Ten years ago, several professional assassins united to eliminate the oldest clan of mercenaries, the Uchiha Clan, the only survivor of this skirmish was the patriarch Fugaku. He disappeared from the map a few days later with what the CIA assumed was to protect his identity.

Years later, the son Sasuke Uchiha suddenly appeared and began murdering everyone involved in the massacre. Not expecting this turn of events, those assassins took time to contact one and another, giving opportunities to Sasuke to enact his vengeance.

Naruto was responsible in the CIA to keep a close surveillance on Sasuke Uchiha, in case he would go on a rampage and kill innocent civilians in any cross fire. However, so far, Sasuke maintained his moral code, focusing his attacks only on the culprits and attacking only in their hide-outs. Satellite photos, among some local photos, tracked his route, traveling from Japan, China, Hong Kong, Syria, Germany and now Italy. His last targets were murderers who also worked for the Italian mafia, so it was expected to be harder than usual, Naruto knew from experience.

He used to live on the streets, living with garbage for food and charity money. He got tangled up in gang wars in which through this, he became infamous enough to catch Kakashi Hatake's attention, his mentor and superior, who thought that he could use his talents for a greater cause. A few years later he became a full-fledged CIA agent, impressing anyone who considered that Kakashi was wasting his time with this dirty beggar.

At first Sasuke Uchiha wasn't his case, rather Kakashi's, as Naruto was only responsible for providing every possible photo or word hinting at his whereabouts. Staring at the lonesome figure that somehow captivated him, Naruto came to contemplate who exactly was Sasuke Uchiha. If he fought this hell willingly or if he faced it like an unavoidable obligation. If he mourned for the loss of his family, or if he was using their deaths as a tool for his vengeance. He wondered if Sasuke was moving fueled only by hatred, anger and bitterness, or if he had ever tasted liberating feelings of empathy, happiness and love.

Naruto wondered why the loneliness constantly haunted Sasuke's eyes, giving him the desire to reach Sasuke somehow.

Blue eyes blinked wide, quickly realizing his surroundings as he kicked the blanket out of his way. Instinctively he knew they didn't have many days left, so he was determined to know more about Sasuke, what lied behind numbers and cold facts.

"WAKE UP BASTARD!" Naruto yelled, emphasizing with loud bangs on the door. He placed his ear on the wooden surface, listening to any signs of Sasuke stirring awake. Naruto banged the door once again, shouting. "C'mon! This hotel's dining hall closes their breakfast at 10 and it's 9:30 already! I wanna eat some fresh Italian bread!"

The door was suddenly pried open with a glowering pissed off Uchiha, his elegant composure gone and his spiky black hair ruffled up. "I don't want to eat any breakfast moron." He was always more the nocturnal type.

"What? I read in this hotel's pamphlet that they serve homemade jelly! Strawberry, grape and orange flavors. Can you imagine pouring this delicious jelly on freshly baked bread and eating it like it's melting in your mouth? I bet it's something to die for! Oh wait, bad pun." Naruto grinned, observing that Sasuke was still holding his gun as a customary habit.

Sasuke grunted, rubbing his eyelids. "Go by yourself."

"I can't, I'm not the guest at this hotel so I'm not allowed to enter unless you go with me."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes in a silent message of "Like I care about what you want."

"We have to try out authentic Italian Bruschetta too!" Naruto said and added with a teasing note. "I already woke you up 'neeways, what's the problem about putting some clothes on and eating breakfast? You're halfway there already."

Sasuke aimed all possible deadly weapons and sharp objects with the power of his glare to the blond though Naruto just answered with an indulgent grin. Grunting irritated, still half awake, Sasuke started removing his shirt in front of Naruto. The latter raised an eyebrow, surely not expecting this free strip tease but definitely wasn't complaining either, staring mesmerized at the way the taut pale muscles flexed and contracted. Slowly but surely the brunet noticed stray eyes gazing upon him, and he mentally rolled his eyes. He unlaced the ends of his sweatpants whilst returning to his bedroom, Naruto merrily followed behind. Sasuke slammed the door in his face.

"Cheapskate!"

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Sasuke was sure he had made the dumbest decision ever. Not only had the stupid blond managed to disorganize his whole schedule, disrupt his sleep and drag him to do superfluous stuff such as eating breakfast, but he wasn't helping much with his agenda:

"Did you see that cathedral? We should go there and see all the details and sculptures!" Naruto said excitedly, grabbing his camera.

Sasuke glared. "No. We have better things to do for now."

The blond placed a hand on his cheek and sighed melodramatically. "You were a much better boyfriend when we started 'dating'."

"That's because I didn't know your true nature yet, boyfriend." Sasuke growled, trying to pay attention to the task at hand.

They were surveying the mansion where his last targets lived, looking for any possible gap, escape routes and the patrolling schedules but…

"Oh hey! Did you see that store? It's a Gelateria! I've wanted to try some the moment I arrived in Italy!" Naruto tugged Sasuke's sleeve, walking the exact opposite direction of the mansion.

…This goddamn moron kept making him lose his concentration. Once they entered the Gelateria, Sasuke wrenched himself from Naruto with a frown.

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows. "'Sheesh man. What's your problem?" He smiled apologetically to the store owner.

From behind the glass doors, Sasuke could see the main entrance, the security walking around the area. He glanced backwards, Naruto was chatting with the owner, taking a stab at Italian as it appeared, from his accent, that he could speak Spanish.

"Hm…so many options! I'm actually undecided which flavor I should choose. What do you say, my fluffy muffin? Do you prefer Mango or Orange flavor for my gelato?"

Sasuke threw a nasty glare towards the blond, before returning to survey the mansion.

"Hey, help me out! Pleeeaaaase? Pudding? Cutie Pie? Love muffin?...Honey Bee?"

Sasuke turned around, grabbed the tanned wrist with such force that erased the grin from Naruto's face. Sasuke growled:

"Have you had enough with your stupid jokes or can't you simply be serious just for once?"

Naruto hissed back. "Can't you just act every once in a while like you don't have a stick in your ass, bastard? 'm paying attention dammit." He showed some info written on his cell phone. "See? Multi-tasking!"

Sasuke freed his wrist, noticing that the owner was staring at them with considerable wariness. Naruto however, appeased her by saying happily:

"I'm going with Orange flavor after all! Hey, let's go dearie, I still want to go see that cathedral."

Sasuke twitched one eyebrow in annoyance, though he didn't want to discuss it with Naruto since it'd rouse more suspicion. He replied politely:

"We shouldn't go now."

"Really? I told you that there're some really interesting things to see there, you didn't notice because you're not wearing your glasses." Naruto said, raising question marks on Sasuke's head. "Here, you need them."

Naruto offered a pair of glasses to Sasuke and, frowning, the brunet put them on. There was nothing out of the ordinary with those glasses aside the fact that the right side was little bit heavier, so he adjusted them pressing the side until all of a sudden, he heard a quiet snapping sound of a camera close to his ear.

"The camera can snap 200 photos." Naruto muttered, staring at his own digital camera in fake interest.

"…hn." Sasuke adjusted his glasses again. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea allying with a CIA agent that had spying skills and equipment.

"Don't you want to eat some gelato too before we go? My treat."

Sasuke frowned and grunted to himself. "I hate sweets."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Not surprised. Not all ice-cream is sweet though. How about coffee flavor then? At least try coffee then. It'd be a shame if you visit Italy and don't try their Gelato."

"Hn." Sasuke shrugged.

"There we go. Feeling better my smoochie pookie? I'm so so sowee that I made you wait for so long. Now let's go." Naruto went ahead and opened the door, smoothly avoiding another sharp glare coming from Sasuke.

It was only when they were in front of the cathedral that Sasuke noticed there was a back door to the mansion that was not as heavily guarded in comparison to other areas.

"There're some trees nearby too, we can hide behind if we need to later." Naruto muttered, still snapping his photos. "Also, could you be a little less…freaked out? We're supposed to be a couple, 'y know."

"I'm not freaked out idiot." Sasuke growled in a low tone, forcing himself to relax his body when Naruto hooked his arm around his to show him some random images with the camera. "You're the one who keeps irritating me with those horrid names."

Sasuke understood logically that they were acting to avoid rousing any suspicion but he had always worked alone, he never had any patience to interact with anyone else. He wasn't used to Naruto's trail of thought and had become accustomed to investigating from afar, looking straight ahead and using binoculars. However, the streets in Italy were too narrow with buildings very close to another. He supposed this act was a good idea after all because till now no bodyguard appeared to be wary of them.

"Have you taken enough photos?" A husky whisper jolted his senses and Sasuke tried to inject nonchalance as much as he could in his shrug of shoulders. "Your target most likely lives on the second floor, there's a corridor before reaching the rooms too. Turn around, you've been staring for too long at the mansion."

With an annoyed grunt, Sasuke obeyed and stared in complete disinterest at the cathedral, whispering back. "I already paid extra money for the plans of that house. I'm going to receive those today so I can study it. For now we have to survey the area and find every possible escape route, the blind spots and any vegetation to cover us."

"Ok…let's move around, fake we want to see the bakery over there." Naruto whispered, each breath generating goose bumps on Sasuke's skin.

Sasuke shuffled to widen the distance between their bodies as he glared at Naruto. That's another thing that he disliked ever since this alliance had started; Naruto was too unpredictable and spontaneous with him. He didn't know how to react around this stupid blond and couldn't make sense of all the emotions he felt whenever he interacted with Naruto.

"It's better if we divide tasks, someone studying the plans while the other stays the night observing the mansion." Naruto said, casually putting an arm around Sasuke's shoulder. "We can't go together tonight, it'd be too suspicious."

"We can divide, each one gets to observe half of the night."

Naruto hummed and then shook his head. "No, you're Japanese, you'll attract attention here. I can go, I'll put some grease on my cheeks and then wear some old clothes; no one will notice me." The blond contemplated for a while and asked awkwardly. "If you're ok with that."

A large portion of Sasuke's mind was warning against the very idea of letting a stranger roam whenever and how ever he liked. There was still the possibility that his freedom may be in jeopardy if the CIA agent called the authorities and had him arrested, and his common sense was screaming that he shouldn't be letting anyone in.

Sasuke opened his mouth nevertheless, and felt like his lips were moving on their own accord:

"Fine."

Naruto blinked in astonishment. "Really?"

Sasuke frowned and glared at Naruto as if he didn't wish to receive any further questioning regarding this.

But Sasuke received instead a warm smile brightening Naruto's blue eyes that fairly quickened his heartbeat. The smile turned into a playful grin as the blond approached to whisper very close to his ear:

"You're such a nice boyfriend, after all." Moist lips kissed Sasuke's cheek and let it linger for a bit, before releasing with a resounding plop.

Naruto immediately sprinted a few steps forward to avoid any possible backlash because Sasuke's look was becoming murderous, even though a slight blush on the pale skin thrilled him.

Overall though, Naruto maintained his word and observed well the whole scheme of the mansion, staying awake the whole night and only returning after 5. He threw himself on the couch with a tired sigh with his cell phone full of notes ready to be used later. Sasuke stared once again in mild amusement at the blond sleeping soundly, defenseless, completely unaware of his surroundings even though the brunet made the noise of loading the gun two times, also letting some bullets fall to the ground on purpose but without any effect whatsoever. Naruto was sleeping like a log.

It was 9:30 am and Sasuke was already dressed and ignoring the pointless complaints about Naruto whining that he missed a nice strip show. He ate Bruschetta only because it had fresh tomatoes on the toast with the fragrant smell of olive oil, not because Naruto had finally convinced him to eat breakfast. They spent the rest of the morning cleaning up weapons, checking all the equipment and electronic devices. They also gathered all the photos and info to plan the best time to infiltrate the mansion, which they decided was in between shifts while the guards were distracted.

"Now that we have this afternoon free, let's spend it by exploring Venice, what do you think? I still want to enjoy my vacation, after all." Naruto suddenly declared once he finished filling another cartridge.

"And why the hell should I go with you?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow while he folded the map.

"Huh? But you said that you wanted to keep me under close surveillance, right? Then you let me go by myself last night and now you're letting me explore this city all by myself too…? You're quite a slacker in this department I see…" Naruto replied teasingly, unaffected by Sasuke's pointed glare.

The brunet took a while to respond, looking at all his organized inventory spread all over the room, silently agreeing with the fact that he was free for the next few hours.

"I'm…not interested."

Naruto stared confused, replying. "You mean, you've already been to Venice before?"

"I'm just not interested." Sasuke snapped. "We're going to infiltrate the mansion in the next few hours and yet you can't take anything seriously."

"What? No, we've already planned everything carefully and have prepared everything. So I don't see the point in staying here brooding when we can go explore this city." Naruto rebutted. "I do this all the time whenever I'm on missions, because really, at any second I might die. That's why I have to value those small moments of freedom, to live life to its fullest."

Sasuke didn't know how to reply. Almost his entire life he walked along a straight and narrow line, never bothering to look sideways because he didn't want to get distracted.

"And besides, I know how to divide my job and my life. There are times that I can relax, so why not?" Naruto shrugged.

But Sasuke couldn't do the same, because for him, there was no division line. His life was revenge, revenge was his most tasking over-bearing job; his job was his life- a never-ending obligation that weighed heavily on his shoulders, blinding his vision with hatred and grief.

Naruto noticed clouds of doubt hanging around Sasuke's eyes so he squatted down to be in Sasuke's line of vision. His fingers curled around pale ones, murmuring.

"What's the matter? It's just one afternoon. There's nothing wrong with having fun for a few hours, right?" It was this soft spoken tone that terrified Sasuke, this discordant chord disrupting one constant wavelength of his mind.

Naruto said. "Really. Bastard, there's nothing out of the ordinary doing this. We're just going to visit Venice. We're not going to steal an entire factory of tomato sauce or a whole plantation of tomatoes."

Sasuke immediately snapped to attention. "How do you know something like this?"

Naruto looked back incredulous. "Maybe from the fact that whenever we eat I see you choosing something containing tomatoes? What are you implying? Our intelligence is good but it's not thatgood. Besides, if I could know anything about your personal tastes, the first thing I would want to know is if you wear boxers or briefs." The blond widened a mischievous grin. "Or if you prefer au natural."

Sasuke stood up with a roll of his eyes, placing the cartridge inside his gun noisily. Naruto did not appear to understand this veiled threat as he continued to muse:

"Or thongs! Yep, definitely thongs."

"Don't you have anything better to do now?" Sasuke deadpanned.

"Ok then! Let's go and explore the beautiful city of Venice!" Naruto said, pumping his fists. "Since we don't have a lot of time left, I want to visit one place at least. Go with me, Sasuke."

Sasuke didn't want to admit that he was starting to let his narrowed vision go astray, noticing a new door that unraveled a whole new world.

"Don't call me Sasuke." The Uchiha muttered in mild annoyance.

Naruto actually blinked confusedly. "What, you really want me to call you Honey Bee?"

Sasuke gave him a look that translated as 'you moron'. "Let's get this over with." He grunted.

"Sure will do Emo Bear!" Naruto chirped happily, only to receive a nasty whack on his head in response.

They both reached a consensus that they wanted to go to Rialto Bridge, observe the market selling silver, jewelry, works of art and all sort of things. The peaceful atmosphere, seeing people from different nationalities strolling around and letting himself mingle with them made Sasuke realize that this was an unusual experience. Ever since his clan was exterminated and he survived, a yakuza, allied with the Uchiha, sheltered and trained him with weaponry, martial arts and basic spying skills. They hoped that Sasuke could help them by being part of their group but he convinced them to let him go altogether with a great sum of money; the Uchiha clan's inheritance.

He had obsessed 24/7 in hunting down everyone that was involved with the massacre; observing, planning and executing each murder perfectly. Anything that wasn't related to his vengeance he discarded considering it unnecessary. But now Sasuke stood in the middle of the bridge unable to be part of this scenario, unfit with this regular lifestyle. He was one in the crowd, stuck while all the current moved around him.

"What's the matter? Why are you just standing there? C'mon." Naruto pulled Sasuke by his wrist and Sasuke started walking again, bumping some random strangers as he apologized in response. "There's one thing that we have to see when we're on the Rialto Bridge!"

Naruto started climbing the stone walls until he sat on the edge while some people stared in disapproval.

"I don't think we're allowed to do this." Sasuke pointed it out.

"Bah, 's fine, no one is complaining yet. Join me so we can watch the sunset together!" Naruto replied.

Sasuke thinned his lips in disapproval, crossing his arms as he stared back.

"Enjoy the sunset bastard." Naruto showed him with his hand as emphasis. "Or I'll shoot you."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow unimpressed, before he sat next to Naruto with one fluid motion, one side of his mouth quirked a haughty smirk.

"Show off." Naruto snorted. The blond quieted down as he gazed forward.

Sasuke also inevitably shifted his vision to see the sun settling down, positioned in the middle of old houses and reflecting the sea, the celestial blue color darkening and changing its hue. He turned his neck to observe the sunset reflected on the azure iris, golden hair shining from rays of light as they both watched a myriad of colors passing through their eyes.

It was really a breathtaking sight.

Once finished, Naruto turned around jumping down to land on the ground.

"Why, why are you doing this?"

Blond eyebrows furrowed bewildered. "Say what?"

Sasuke also landed next to Naruto, frustration and confusion laced in his tone. "You just allied with me because you needed some info. There's no need for you to waste your time dragging me to those kinds of places, trying to talk with me or befriend me. So why?"

Naruto sighed, scratching his head. "I don't know. I've been following your case ever since your first murder, but you make me wonder. I only see reports of your latest locations and feats, but I wanted to know more about you."

Sasuke narrowed his graphite eyes, growling. "So you want to know more about my mindset so you can dissect and later use it for future investigations?"

"What? No!" Naruto groaned, running his hands through his hair agitatedly. "I want to understand only you! No one else and nothing else! I—I want to know what else there is about you aside being the avenger of your clan. I want to see you beyond that." Naruto slowly realized what exactly he was spouting out so he mumbled lamely. "And…yeah, that's pretty much it so. Huh. Yep."

"Why?" Sasuke asked, trying to press the issue.

Naruto sighed heavily. "Because, ok?" For once the blond wanted to end the conversation, a heavy blush blossoming on his cheeks that didn't go unnoticed by Sasuke.

"Hn. Never thought that I would see you lose your ability to babble so much." Sasuke smirked from the indignant look coming from Naruto. "We should return too and get ready for tonight." Sasuke added to change the subject.

"Yeah yeah." Naruto nodded, frowning. "Let's go."

▲o►d▼r▲o►d▼r►deviate►r▼d►o▲r▼d►o▲

At night, they stopped a few blocks behind the mansion, carrying their bags containing their gear. They dressed in bulletproof vests there as they didn't wish to raise suspicion at Sasuke's hotel and afterwards placed several smoke bombs and other stuff for any eventuality.

The guards patrolling around the back door were half awake, yawning every once in a while, giving them the opportunity to use a grappling hook to climb the walls and pliers to cut the barb wire and pass through.

They waited till the area was cleared enough to climb down, in which the garden fortunately had tall bushes to pass through. Naruto lock-picked the door to the kitchen; silently entering, holding their guns (that were equipped with silencers) ready as they went to the next room. Since Sasuke had access to this mansion's plan, on one of the walls he clicked on a switch that granted them access to a secret passage to another room.

Sasuke slowly opened the fake wall to check around and noticed a security guard in front of them. He snuck up behind the guard undetected and expertly and efficiently stabbed him in the nape as the guard fell with a loud thud, but not before another guard widened his eyes, about to raise his gun in alarm. Naruto however quickly finished him with a bullet to the head. They both moved the bodies and placed them inside the secret passage in deft speed, opening the door that was located next to the stairs that lead directly to the master bedroom.

It was still a tricky situation since there were bodyguards patrolling in both ends of the stairs, but the lights were off in a way that allowed them to move without being noticed. They still waited for the right moment to climb the stairs, but one enemy spotted them, opening his mouth to shout:

"What the—"Sasuke killed him with a stab to his heart and grabbed the corpse and slowly lowered him to the floor. His companion also saw them with his gun aimed and ready to shoot, but Naruto was quicker and shot his stomach making him crouch in pain, and finished him off with another bullet to the head.

"Ok, we better be quick before they notice anything else." Naruto whispered. "We'll enter together—"

"Enter together?" Sasuke hissed back. "I already told you, you'll go find whatever information you want while I will kill my target."

Naruto made a small noise of protest. "Circumstances are different, I better help you out—"

"No, this is mymission, I can handle myself." Sasuke replied with an angry hiss. "The target is mine to kill and I don't want anyone else take my revenge."

"You're seriously the most stubborn bastard I have ever met—"Naruto grunted, moving to open the door, only to be stopped by Sasuke's gun dangerously hovering over his shoulder.

"I told you, I won't allow you to interfere with my business. Step back now or I will kill you." Sasuke pushed Naruto with his gun.

The Uchiha also tried to ignore his heart clenching once he saw the hurt look spreading over Naruto's eyes before being substituted with an irritated scowl.

"Fine, go fuck yourself for all I care. I'm off." Naruto shoved away Sasuke's gun with his hand and turned around, stalking towards another room.

Sasuke stared at the retreating back with a tinge of guilt curling in his stomach. He silently opened the door, shifting towards the bed with his gun pointed at the slumbering body.

The light flooded inside the room all of a sudden, dozen of guns aimed at him. His graphite eyes widened once he realized that he had fallen into a trap.

"Hah! Sasuke Uchiha…the annoying brat that survived decades ago…" His enemy stood up from his bed, walking triumphantly towards him. "I should thank you for killing the other ones too and eliminating a lot of competition."

"How—"Sasuke growled, until he shouted in pain when someone kicked his legs, two thugs grabbed each arm and forced him to submission, disarming him.

"I knew it the moment you stepped onto Italian soil, fucker. I bribed every officer from the custom service in every airport and they warned me once you landed here. I have been waiting for this opportunity for so long. To succeed in killing the Uchiha where everyone else had failed." He picked up a gun and aimed it at Sasuke's head. "Hold him now. Keep his head close to the ground, exactly how he deserves to bow to my superiority."

Sasuke struggled with all his might, the sting of his pride enraging his whole being. But no matter how much he growled, strained his muscles or moved his limbs, they rendered him immobile, slowly forcing his whole body to bow in humiliation.

With his face glued to the ground, Sasuke saw two bombs rolling onto the carpet, hissing and expelling a white smoke that spread through the room. Everyone looked around bewildered, starting to cough as tears leaked, fogging their vision.

One thug holding Sasuke fell rapidly, not before the other one also died with a bullet piercing his head. Another bodyguard close to Sasuke died, and another one and then another. They fell like flies; one thud followed another in an eerie rhythm, showing the murderer's efficiency.

"He has a partner?" The enemy shouted incredulous, unable to spot anyone. "Quick, kill the Uchiha! Someone kill that son of a bitch—"

Sasuke felt someone grabbing him and dragging him out of room, as he also coughed and wheezed out, rubbing his eyelids. Through his blurred vision he could see the familiar blue eyes as he said:

"Of all things, tear gas? I swear—"

"You'll get over it, don't be such a pussy." Naruto grumbled, alarmed as everyone in the house heard the commotion and was running towards them. The window was located too far from them, so the only option would be the room on the right. "Let's escape through there—"

"Escape?" Sasuke grunted, still rubbing his eyes. "We've come this far, I'm not going to do something as cowardly as that. Give me a gun so I can kill him inside that room."

"I don't think we can re-enter there bastard, I didn't kill everyone if you hadn't noticed and your vision hasn't recovered completely." Naruto was positioned facing the stairs while Sasuke was facing the opposite direction; towards the room on the right.

The first bodyguards arrived on the second floor but Naruto killed them easily, protecting Sasuke while the brunet was still occupied with his eyes. The number of enemies kept increasing as it was becoming difficult for the blond agent to eliminate them all.

"We should take cover in the room in front of you, before they get here!" Naruto shouted, taking a few a steps backwards.

Sasuke protested. "My target is still inside that room, I'm not going to let him escape!"

"Crazy ass! First priority should be our survival bast—"

The doors in front of Sasuke suddenly opened with several guards aiming at them. On the stairs dozens of guards arrived and in the master bedroom some others exited to join the crowd, as they were surrounded by both sides. Sasuke however was still disarmed and his eyes weren't completely healed.

"Fuck it—" Naruto sprinted a little and jumped towards the carpet laid below Sasuke's feet, pushing and sliding it across the ceramic floor, the brunet lost his balance and fell together with Naruto, as the latter used this opportunity to twist his upper body around and kill the enemies that were targeting Sasuke. They slid to arrive close to the end of the room and Naruto's sudden move avoided being shot from the enemies positioned on the stairs.

Naruto and Sasuke hid behind each side of the door as the Uchiha, vision now restored, glared at the blond. "Don't you have other less crude methods idiot?"

Naruto threw a semi-automatic gun to Sasuke and grunted. "Stop complaining and do your job bastard, however crap-assed it might—"

Sasuke answered by aiming and killing three enemies with consecutive shots from Naruto's side. Blue eyes briefly narrowed towards deadpanned dark gray ones, before they both swiftly concentrated on the battlefield. Once both sides had established their respective positions, it was difficult for Naruto and Sasuke to get an accurate line of sight to hit them. Fortunately they were still skilled enough to wound them and sometimes they managed a critical hit, keeping the enemies at bay. It was an indubitable fact that they were only two men against a whole organization nevertheless, as reinforcements kept arriving one after another. Naruto was the one who first noticed while he exchanged an empty cartridge with a full one:

"We won't have enough ammo to fight 'em all and there's also a secret passage that leads to this room. If the enemy decides to use it—"Sasuke stopped shooting, stood up and shifted a few steps away from the door to glance at the next room behind him, as Naruto mumbled. "Hello—? Sasuke? Are you listening to me?"

"We're lucky. I've heard that the head of this group likes to collect antique weapons and the room next to us actually stores those."

"Old weapons?" Naruto frowned.

"It's better than nothing." Sasuke threw a flash bomb, blinding the enemies for a while as they walked towards the appointed room.

Naruto was the first one to notice all the growling and snarling, sharp teeth were close enough to gnaw his leg off if the blond wasn't quicker and kicked the dog away. From behind the shadows revealed several Doberman, baring their teeth and poised ready to attack.

"Well damn." Naruto picked a switchblade from his pocket and gave another cartridge to Sasuke. "I'll take care of this, you cover my back. Get ready Sasuke, this is going to be one helluva crazy ride."

"Hn." Sasuke shot at a random guard's head while most of them were still disoriented from the flash bomb.

Sasuke could feel warmth emanating across his back suggesting Naruto's close proximity as the menacing barking continued around them. One of the dogs ran and jumped in an attempt to bite his neck, though the blond damaged the animal's eyes with his fingers and kicked at his legs afterwards.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow staring at the unused blade.

"What? I like dogs." Naruto grumbled, giving shallow wounds to the next dog, enough to make it cower away.

One Doberman jumped to sink his canines in Naruto's jugular while the blond was occupied with others, but Sasuke prevented it by killing it with a bullet passing through his skull. Naruto turned around to glower incredulous while the Uchiha stared back unimpressed.

This…was a unique experience for Sasuke. Before, he always was aware of his surroundings, alert to any suspicious noise or movement. However somehow, even though he listened to the barking and yips from the dogs next to him, he knew that Naruto could take care of this problem somehow (and without using his knife to kill the animals, figures).

He was too busy shooting and preventing anyone to invade the room, not sparing one second to glance backwards. To think that he would ally himself with anyone…allowing Naruto to protect his back, just as Sasuke was protecting his, this partnership was rather refreshing.

…Trust.

An emotion blossomed from his chest, outlandish and yet comforting, almost liberating in some kind of way. There was someone that would help him bear this burden, even if only briefly.

Sasuke stared suspiciously as the enemy started to retreat, leaving an ominous silence from his side of the room. From behind the doors, his eyes identified the muzzle so he jumped, also pushing Naruto forward with urgency:

"Careful!"

The sub-machine gun instantly killed the remaining dogs as Naruto and Sasuke hid behind the table. Everything was pulverized to dust, glass breaking and the rifles displayed in the cabinet fell to the ground, the blond observed with a roll of eyes:

"Well, isn't this shit going to be easy. This rifle is loaded and whoever is using the sub-machine gun is an amateur. Let's go to the other side of the table and wait till he's out of ammo. There are only 51 bullets left."

Sasuke received one rifle from Naruto and muttered slightly impressed. "How do you know something like that?"

"Recognizing the noise coming from it, I'll know the gun model. He's almost done. On count of three. One, two, three!"

Naruto instantly rose from his spot, one bullet piercing the enemy's face accurately. He also killed five guards next to him in a matter of seconds, but one succeeded in hitting Naruto's stomach as the blond doubled in pain, fortunately he wore a bulletproof vest to protect him. Sasuke killed the remaining ones, though there were still some survivors who mumbled in fear and fled from the room.

"Fuck…didn't kill me but still hurts like hell." Naruto hissed, rubbing his belly. "Well, now that we can take this break, you go kill your target while I copy all the info from their computer before the reinforcements arrive."

"You haven't done that yet?" Sasuke retorted.

"'f course not, I was too busy thinking the best way to save your sorry ass, bastard." Naruto snorted, searching for more bullets for the rifles and putting the weapon on his back, holding onto the strap. They also collected the other guns left on the ground, walking carefully towards the door in search of any trap.

What they saw was Sasuke's target whimpering in fear, shooting haphazardly which both young men avoided easily, hiding behind the door.

Sasuke glared at Naruto. "He's—"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Yours, whatever. Don't overdo it."

They returned to the corridor, the old man noticed them and raised his gun to aim at Sasuke. Snarling, Sasuke quickly shot the offending hand, approaching towards his target while the latter shouted in pain.

The enemy didn't bother to retrieve his gun from the ground, as he ran towards a room on the far left. Sasuke quickly reached him, with the gun digging into his shoulder as the Uchiha pulled the trigger.

Icy graphite eyes stared as the man screamed once again, his hand touching the injury, stumbling backwards and entering the room, scurrying away from Sasuke as he muttered:

"Wait…please, don't kill me. I'll give you anything! Money, gold, jets, a private island…anything!"

Sasuke approached him, a hand tightening around his neck and hissing in cold fury:

"I do remember when you forced me to bow down, to prove your superiority. So how does this—"Sasuke shot one leg and the man fell to the ground, his screams echoing loudly in the room. "—feel now that you're bowing down to the Uchiha clan?"

"Nononono—don't kill me, please! Please, I—I—I have a family, have mercy, I have a so—"The muzzle made contact with his forehead and the man gulped dryly, his whole body trembled in fear.

"I'm sure that my clansmen must have asked for mercy too, but you gave them none. This is payback." Sasuke shot him, blood gushing to the ground as the corpse fell with a noisy thud. Sasuke spared a few more seconds to stare at the lifeless eyes, lowering his weapon.

"Papa…?" A hesitant whisper snapped Sasuke out of his reverie and he saw a tiny form stepping out of the shadows. The boy had his mouth open in shock, as he approached close to his father and repeated. "Papa…Papa!"

The child started yelling and crying, tugging the corpse in hopes for any sign of life, fat droplets of tears dropping on his baby cheeks. Blood painted in crimson the once immaculate clothes, the young boy screaming until his voice was completely hoarse.

Sasuke stood dumbfounded, everything unfolded before his eyes felt like an old dusty film reel reawakening his worst nightmares. He couldn't move, react or even move his neck, his vision completely focused on the boy.

The boy coughed and gasped out of breath, finally realizing his surroundings as he raised his head, the victim and the assassin stared at each other wordlessly.

Slowly, those childish eyes narrowed into a pure undiluted hatred, a fire that would corrode and consume his soul—

As he vowed for vengeance, thirsty for his enemies' blood. Every single day, every second, his body was fueled with hate; imprinting this emotion inside his mind and driving him insane. There wasn't a day that his soul would forget this and not scream in pain. There wasn't a moment when he didn't wish to have their heads, avenge his clan and stop this agonizing misery. He dedicated his entire life to kill them, finish them, make them suffer as much as he was suffering right now—

Before Sasuke could even realize himself, his gun was aiming straight at the child's head.

The hiccups died in an instant.

Wide eyes stared in horror, also mirroring Sasuke's ones unbeknownst to himself.

"Sasuke—"A distant voice arrived at the scene and Naruto continued. "We should hurry because I killed most but there was one little bastard that esc—Sasuke, what are you doing?" Naruto instantly raised his gun towards the Uchiha, startled from the unusual situation.

Sasuke's eyes briefly skittered towards Naruto, before he expelled a trembled exhale.

"Sasuke, lower your gun right now." Naruto ordered with a commanding and intimidating voice, any trace of friendliness gone. "He's just a kid, an innocent boy."

Sasuke stared at the frightened child, muttering almost mutely. "He's no longer innocent."

"What?" Naruto hissed in confusion, carefully taking a few steps forward. "He doesn't have anything to do with the murder of your clan, he's just a small boy!"

Sasuke made a brusque movement with his gun that alarmed the boy and the blond agent, snarling. "I'm doing him a favor. "

"What the hell? Sasuke, you're killing an innocent life, how the hell is that a fucking favor?" Naruto raised his voice. "Lower your gun Sasuke!"

"He's going to live in hell from now on! Thinking and obsessing over revenge, remembering this moment and replaying it over and over, even haunting his dreams! He's going to fall in an endless nightmare, hating everyone and everything—"

"It won't be like that Sasuke! There's no need for you to do that!" Naruto shouted back, his shoulders tense and still aiming at the brunet. "There's a chance that he might have a good future, so you shouldn't end his life!"

Sasuke scoffed. "How can you be so sure about this? You don't know anything." The bitterness was visibly ingrained in his voice.

"I don't…but you shouldn't kill him Sasuke. Don't do this. You don't want to do that." Naruto pleaded, trying to make contact with his eyes but Sasuke was closed off, unreadable. "Lower the gun."

Sasuke didn't answer Naruto instead, the finger still rested against the trigger.

Naruto gradually felt panic rushing through his veins and he muttered. "Sasuke, please, don't do this. Lower the gun."

Sasuke breathed out something that Naruto couldn't hear very clearly. He noticed a slight shake on the gun Sasuke was holding, so he pressed on, softly:

"Sasuke, I beg of you. Please, hear me out. Stop this…don't kill him."

Hearing the hesitant plea made Sasuke look at Naruto for a second, but the boy used this opportunity to run off.

Sasuke turned around, widening his eyes as his gun moved to aim at him. Naruto shouted frightened:

"DON'T! DON'T SHOOT HIM! DON'T SHOOT HIM DON'T SHOOT HIM DON'T—"

Naruto's voice was suddenly interrupted with a loud noise thundering inside, a bullet had pierced Naruto's leg. Sasuke stared in suspended disbelief, blood streaming out from Naruto, the pained grunt ripping out from his throat as his partner fell towards the ground. A familiar emotion spread coldly through his veins as he kept watching, feeling unbearably helpless.

Naruto was faster and used this momentum to grab Sasuke, throwing themselves and shattering through the glass window; fortunately falling onto thick bushes. They took a few seconds to recover themselves; the blond was first to act by aiming for a nearby exit door, one shot breaking the lock and three others on the surface, resulting in opening the door.

Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows in bewilderment but didn't question him, picking up Naruto under his armpit. However, the blond grabbed his head, pushing them to the ground:

"Duck."

They hid behind thick foliage, listening to the nonsensical Italian shouts from the 2nd floor, slowly dying out with the sounds of footsteps.

"Maintenance shed." Naruto rasped out, placing an arm around Sasuke's shoulder.

"What?" Sasuke promptly helped Naruto out, noticing that the blond grabbed a short twig.

"Let's go to the maintenance shed, quick. We don't have much time." Naruto repeated as they rushed off.

Naruto gnawed the twig, using both hands to pick his tools and rapidly lock-picked the maintenance room's door, they entered just in time while hearing the people running outside the mansion.

Sasuke heard the noise of cloth being ripped and saw Naruto tending his wound, using the twig to tighten his bandages. The brunet approached and helped Naruto out.

"…you think they are all out already?" Sasuke mumbled, an uncomfortable silence settling between them.

"No, there are at least 3 out there. I heard 10 voices back when we fell from the window, I heard 7 exiting. Let's wait a little and be careful." Naruto responded, cupping his wounds, his face screwed in pain.

Sasuke observed Naruto guiltily, walking to the door and opening it halfway. A few seconds passed and one enemy skittered inside suspicious, though the Uchiha was quicker and twisted his neck with a sickening noise.

Sasuke returned next to the blond, picking him up and holding his gun with his other hand.

"What are you d—"Naruto grumbled, as they stepped outside.

"You're still wounded and bleeding. I'm not going to wait for whatever henchmen to arrive while you die from lack of blood." Sasuke grunted.

He placed Naruto's hand securely around his shoulder, also holding his partner by his waist. They walked out still careful with their surroundings, but since the thugs were steps ahead, it made it easy for them to hide and return to the hotel.

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"Fuck! Easy dammit." Naruto hissed when Sasuke poured antiseptic on his wound, also putting anesthetic on it. He dug his heel into Sasuke's shoulder, while the brunet was staring at the wound located on the back of his leg.

"Inhale deeply - I'm going to remove the bullet from your leg." Sasuke grabbed a pincer, looking at Naruto's blue eyes for some sort of agreement. He tried not to think too much about how suggestive their current position was and how easy it'd be if he decided to throw the other leg over his shoulder.

Naruto frowned, inhaled as requested and nodded. He immediately grunted when Sasuke moved around with his pincer, the uneasy squishy feeling penetrating his skin. He closed his eyes, not wishing to witness whatever was happening to him, and blinked wide open when he heard a sound clattering on the table.

"Done. You're lucky that the bullet didn't pierce through any vital muscle or bone and stayed in one piece." Sasuke calmly picked up a thread and a needle and poured alcohol on it. "Now I have to stitch your wound."

"Do you really have to…?" Naruto whined, sighing when he saw the insistent glare coming from the brunet. "Yeah, yeah, let's get this done with then." He huffed loudly, placing his elbow on the table with his chin on his palm, sulking.

The next several seconds settled a quietness between them, Sasuke concentrated on his task while Naruto stared at him.

The silence was interrupted by, oddly enough, Sasuke, as he was still stitching Naruto. "So?"

Blond eyebrows furrowed. "So…?" Naruto repeated numbly.

"What happened to you before, for you to react that desperately when I was trying to shoot that kid?" Sasuke said, raising his eyes to meet Naruto's. "The way you shouted sounded too personal and emotional to only be associated with your sense of morals."

Naruto winced, both from the tug from the needle and from memories, as he paused to contemplate. Sasuke allowed him some space to reflect, also unsure why he would be interested in someone else's business. Before Sasuke would call off the enquiry, Naruto answered:

"It was…my last mission. Some crazy terrorists in Iraq decided to kidnap random American families and ask for ransom. Unfortunately there were some political problems so we had to rescue them before the media caught wind; we were a small team taking care of this case."

Naruto stared at Sasuke using his needle, tugging and pulling his sun-kissed skin, contrasting with pale fingers that were holding his leg. He inhaled and exhaled briefly, continuing his story:

"Everything was going fine, we invaded easily and succeeded in eliminating the head of that group, I was responsible for freeing the prisoners while the rest of my team was taking care of the rest. And then…I saw how sick those bastards could be. They forced a kid to guard the door." Naruto balled his fists, snarling with barely controlled anger. "He was probably 8 or 9 years old, something like that. Holding a machine gun that was bigger than him, it was obvious that he didn't know what he was doing there or he didn't even know how to use that thing. But he already knew the fear of dying."

The blond opened his hands with slight difficulty, as if he was forcibly controlling his own emotions. Fresh memories rushed in and reopened his emotional wounds, but Naruto kept confessing:

"He just kept staring at me, not knowing what to do. I wanted to disarm him, convince him or do anything to get him to stop shaking somuch…he was so scared. But he was still holding that machine gun and I didn't know if he was going to do anything bad by accident…I didn't know how to react."

Naruto fell silent once again, pursing his lips, clenching and unclenching his hand repeatedly. Sensing the impending end, Sasuke murmured, albeit hesitant:

"…did you kill him in the end?"

Naruto curled a saddened smile, shaking his head. "It was a stray bullet. But I still saw him die in front of me. I still saw his life fading out from his eyes. Then I…I realized that I really needed a break."

At last, Naruto expelled an agonized sigh, staring straight to the floor, finishing his story. He felt Sasuke squeezing his leg softly so he turned his eyes to stare at Sasuke's. "That's why…?"

The blond scoffed and bit out sarcastically. "Yeah, but now it's all ruined. Seriously, this is the worst vacation I have ever had. When you came at me, kissing me out of the blue, I should have kicked you in the balls and yelled calling you a pervert and gone on my merry way."

"But you didn't." Sasuke replied and finally placed the leg on the ground, his body shifting as he placed both hands on each tanned leg, staring straight at Naruto.

Naruto felt unable to avert his gaze, as he murmured back. "Yeah…I didn't."

They just sat unmovable for countless minutes, cogs of time once again slowing down around them as graphite and blue eyes exchanged wordless communication, their vision focused only on each other. Naruto was acutely aware of Sasuke's hands on his legs, the warmth spreading through his skin, Sasuke's close proximity; his steady breaths fanning Naruto's face. His eyelids felt heavy when pale fingers moved forward, the soft creak of the chair in concurrence with the tick of the clock.

Naruto almost felt something brushing his lips until, all of a sudden, all the warmth, Sasuke's weight and everything retreated as the brunet stood up and said:

"The stitches are done. You better take a bath first before I bandage the injured area."

Sasuke moved around and began organizing his equipment with his usual nonchalance, apparently unperturbed by Naruto's actions. It was only when he heard some shuffling from the chair and later a quiet noise of a door closing that the brunet allowed himself to shed his cold façade.

What the hell was that just now? Sasuke paced in his bedroom, also noticing the noises of a shower running. It wasn't supposed to be like that. This was all over. Their act, their alliance. Everything. At this moment, it would be to his advantage if he used this opportunity to flee and avoid being arrested. And yet…

Sasuke sat on the bed, his expression filled with doubt; first time in his life he was hung on a precarious line that shook his resolve. He had his duty. Whatever he was thinking or feeling now, it would be a foolish decision.

He had to end this.

Naruto stared at the caramel tiles in the shower, rivulets of water running over his body. He kept wondering how his initial wishes about wanting to know Sasuke better got tangled with other emotions, bringing forth a desire that was spiraling out of control.

He heard a sudden noise of the door flinging open that broke his line of thought, and saw Sasuke approaching him and entering the shower still fully clothed.

"Sasuke…?" Naruto mumbled bewildered, but any further enquiry was interrupted with fingers threading his wet blond locks as Sasuke kissed him.

Naruto didn't waste one second to return the passionate kiss, opening his mouth to grant full access and enveloping his arms around Sasuke, the cold tiles touching his back. Lips locked and slid with each moan, fueling their lust. Naruto ripped the soaked shirt apart, barely hearing the buttons falling to the ground with a tinkering noise as they both stepped outside the shower.

They walked back to the bedroom, stumbling drunken from addicting desire, mouths thoroughly attached the entire way. Sasuke fell first on the bed, scooting backwards while Naruto grabbed his pants and stripped them away together with his boxers in one swift move. He moaned when the blond sucked hungrily on the head of his cock, the darkened blue eyes staring straight at him. Naruto licked his stomach and slowly made a bee line back to his lips, nipping his collarbone. They kept kissing as their bodies fit perfectly like a jigsaw puzzle, hard cocks sliding pleasantly with each thrust as they voiced exclamations of wonder and building fire.

They couldn't keep this up for too long, as one was trying to outdo the other from all the passion they felt. Tanned fingers fumbled around to find lotion he previously grabbed while they were in the bathroom, gazing at obsidian eyes in a silent question to Sasuke.

Sasuke whispered close to Naruto's ear, nipping and licking Naruto's neck as his lover began preparing him, one finger sliding inside. Once enough, one more was added, opening even further with scissoring motions. Naruto kissed chastely on his thin lips, the intensity of emotions reflected on his cerulean eyes that had Sasuke reeling, feeling like he was drowning in them.

No further words were needed when Naruto buried himself within him, they moved as if it was the most natural thing in the world, as if their souls already knew from long times past. Skin was pressed to skin, hearts mutually claimed as limbs got hopelessly tangled until it was impossible to recognize one from another. Tanned hips plunged inside while Sasuke responded in synch, his legs thrown over Naruto's shoulder as he fisted the covers below.

Naruto almost closed his eyelids from the hot tightness, though he kept them open just enough to witness Sasuke's gasps and broken moans. Obsidian eyes expressed such vulnerability that left him breathless, as Naruto picked up Sasuke's arms and encircled them around his neck, kissing once again the swollen lips.

The speed increased and encompassed them with growing pleasure till they reached their peak, destroying the dam. They shouted together, overwhelmed by an orgasmic bliss that left Sasuke feeling content and ecstatic – emotions he was unfamiliar with - and wishing that time could be stopped and these sole seconds could be ingrained in his mind and body forever.

Naruto fell next to him, breathing rapidly as they were recovering from the high. He nuzzled the pale neck with one last peck on Sasuke's collarbone and one arm encircling the pale waist. Sasuke played with the golden hair with his fingers, inhaling deeply Naruto's scent, briefly kissing his forehead, his lips feeling the coarse hair of his eyebrows.

Spent, Naruto was slowly closing his eyes when he heard a quiet shuffle and watched as Sasuke turn over on his other side. For some odd reason, his heart was unsettled as his hand enveloped around the pale wrist, murmuring:

"Sasuke…"

Sasuke quickly turned around and Naruto felt a sudden sting as Sasuke injected something in his arm.

In an instant, Naruto's body started to go numb, blue eyes were wide and incredulous while Naruto rasped out:

"Sasuke, what—"

His lover cupped his cheek, whispering. "I have to go. I'm going to do something that I'm sure you won't forgive me for, I have to leave now."

Naruto tried to move, to keep his body awake, but his vision was becoming foggier and hazier as he hissed. "Wha—you—mea…"

"That's why you have to forget me after all this. I'm going to make sure you won't ever be able to find me. Forget me and move on." Sasuke murmured, witnessing in excruciating sadness Naruto shutting down, blatant betrayal accusing through his blue eyes.

He still spared some moments to comb the blond hair, breathing out almost inaudibly departing words as he prepared to leave.

Fully dressed, Sasuke began packing his luggage in the living room when he heard loud metallic noises behind him.

"Wait…you—don't go…" Naruto was leaning heavily on the door, wheezing with difficulty as he kept staggering and bumping against the furniture, the remnants of their tryst still showing on his stomach. His switchblade clattered to the floor as Sasuke noticed a trickle of blood sliding down the tanned leg, the brunet murmured worried, approaching him.

"You shouldn't have done that. It might cause an infection in your wound."

Naruto shook his head vigorously. "No-I—Sasuke, don't go—"

He randomly punched the couch in attempt to keep conscious , his hazy eyes zeroed onto Sasuke's solemn ones, his feet attaining a little bit of ground and walking straight towards the brunet. Naruto raised his arms, growling.

"W—ill find you…"

Through sheer will and determination he took the last steps and finally succeeded in grabbing the pristine shirt, snarling next to Sasuke's ear.

"I won't ever let you go…"

Five hours had passed and Naruto awoke alone on the bed, his leg patched and bandaged. Barely containing his fury, he booked the first flight back to the USA.

I will never forget you…You were the best thing that ever happened to me…

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A young brunet was chewing his gum when he noticed his superior and waved his hand, grinning.

"Hey Naruto-niichan! How was your vacat—"

Naruto zipped past by him, acknowledging with a grunt and leaving the brunet confused. He had never seen his friend in such a sour mood before.

Naruto was almost pulling his hair in frustration, rubbing his face with his hands for the umpteenth time as he kept replaying last night's events over and over in his head. That fucking crazy asshole bastard son of a bitch fucking—aaaa…Naruto groaned loudly, searching for any possible hint in Sasuke's bio stored in the CIA's information bank.

Stupid insane frikkin' emo—Naruto yelled, in a futile attempt to calm his nerves. He messed his hair, staring at the monitor as he recalled:

I have to go.

Go. Go fucking where? Fucking asshole who loves some melodrama; Naruto mused, the moment he found that bastard—

I'm going to do something that I'm sure you won't ever forgive me for, I have to leave now.

Blue eyes snapped open, remembering this crucial detail once again. Through the entire trip back, Naruto tried to decipher the meaning of those words, failing to focus his mind when he was still angry and his body numb from the remaining anesthesia.

Naruto contemplated, attempting to connect Sasuke's past with the recent events. What possible thing could Sasuke do that Naruto wouldn't forgive him for? He reviewed what he knew of Sasuke's childhood, reading every detail possible. Files describing the Uchiha massacre, several photos and old clippings from newspapers writing about the last surv—

Naruto suddenly had an epiphany, rushing to find his Technical Analyst as he shouted:

"Konohamaru! Find me the latest location of Itachi Tanaka Pearce! I'm going to borrow a jet now!"

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He lived in the suburbs, in a quiet and safe neighborhood with a steady income, with a warm and normal family. It was dinner time when he messed the hair of his child, kissed his wife chastely and went out to buy some groceries. Sasuke narrowed his eyes in silent rage as he observed the carefree smiles, their happiness living at the expense of his own.

He exited the house, walking nonchalantly; completely ignorant that someone was following him. When he was approaching near a dead end alley, a painful punch on his face surprised him, leaving him completely unguarded.

He staggered backwards into the alley, staring at his offender with increasing confusion. He was just an unknown Japanese man in his early twenties, wearing elegant clothes and with an outward appearance similar to his father's. The Japanese's face was contorted in fury as he hissed in a gruff, menacing voice:

"Hello Itachi."

Itachi noticed that the young man was holding a gun so he spoke slowly, in an attempt to pacify and negotiate his escape. "…listen, I don't know you, but let's calm down okay? The money is in my pocket, so I'll give it to you if you want."

The brunet quirked a mirthless sneer; growling. "Of course he wouldn't tell you about me."

His eyebrows suddenly furrowed into an angry snarl, hitting Itachi with the back of his gun as the victim fell to the ground, the strength of his blow made his cheek bleed. Itachi looked at the blood in complete astonishment, freezing when he heard the click of the safety pin being released as this crazy stranger prepared to fire.

"Sasuke, stop this right now." A third voice echoed inside and both brunets turned their heads dumbfounded to stare at a blond with his gun poised at the Japanese man, slowly walking toward them.

"…Naruto." Sasuke acknowledged him but quickly focused his vision on his latest victim.

"So I can guess that you weren't expecting me to find you so quickly eh, bastard?" Naruto muttered.

"…and I can see that now you're here to do your job; you're here to arrest me right? Am I completely surrounded or have you placed some snipers around me?"

Itachi said confusedly. "Wait, you're a cop? Please arrest this lunatic, I haven't done anything wrong and he's trying to kill me!"

Sasuke snarled. "Shut the fuck up, you don't know—"

Naruto interrupted, calmly raising his voice. "Sir, please calm down, everything is going to be fine. Sasuke, I didn't bring anyone with me, I swear. It's just you and me. You don't want to do this, let's just stop this and leave this place peacefully, alright?"

Sasuke scoffed. "I don't want to do this? I'm extremely sure I want to do this dumbass."

"Really?" Naruto said. "Are you sure? Sasuke, I know that you didn't wish to bring a life of misery to that boy back when we were in Italy, and yet…if you kill Itachi, isn't his son going to suffer the same pain as you? You don't want to do that right?"

"I'm already hated anyway…and I will fully accept the responsibility of facing his vengeance, if he comes to me later on." Sasuke replied, his gun still aimed at Itachi.

"No…that's not how this is supposed to go Sasuke. Lower the gun and you'll stop this cycle of hatred, it's that simple. Itachi is only a civilian that has nothing to do with the mas—"

"Nothing to do with the massacre?" Sasuke exploded with an enraged shout. "He's the whole reason for it!"

"For fuck's sake Sasuke, he's your half-brother!" Naruto yelled with the same intensity. "Your father was the one who sold information about the Uchiha clan to the murderers and helped the massacre!"

"You think I didn't know that? My father sold us out because he chose themover the clan!" Sasuke replied agitated. "He chose his lover, a whore over my mother and this son of a bitch over—"He paused to recover his breath, mouth closed into a snarl.

"But…" Naruto slackened his jaw, trying to form a concise argument. "If you want to go after the culprit, you have to go after your father if he's the cause of it all!"

"I already did that! I killed him once I started this whole vengeance! I hated him the most, he has to be the first one to go! He changed his identity and he was living in a faraway monastery, it took so long to find him but it was worth it, when I succeeded killing him on spot!"

"Wait, then…" Naruto asked stupefied. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because he didn't suffer enough! I want to kill his beloved son so he can go to hell and tell that man how much he failed to be a father! That's how my vengeance will be complete!" Sasuke shouted, each word rumbled in the street.

Naruto shook his head, stepping close to Sasuke with his gun still aimed at him. "No…that's not it. I knew I shouldn't support you in this cause, because it's no good. You're not killing him because of this; you're killing him because you need a new target for your revenge. Even after you kill him, you'll keep looking for other targets, because now you can't see past your vengeance. You have to see that there's more than hatred, abandon it and live for a better cause."

"And what exactly would that be?" Sasuke scoffed sarcastically. His gun moved to aim directly at stunned blue eyes and he snarled. "You? "

Naruto stared at the challenging gleam coming from Sasuke's eyes, an uncanny calmness flooding his senses as he absorbed the whole nerve-racking situation. To Sasuke's growing apprehension, the blond threw the gun to the ground with both arms resting at each side.

Naruto's eyes narrowed in fierce determination, responding with a simple word. "Yes."

Time seemed suspended whilst they held their breaths, the sudden revelation settling to each side. Naruto observed as Sasuke was still torn apart, closing his eyes in pained hesitancy as he expelled a heavy sigh.

Graphite eyes suddenly rose to meet sapphire ones, Sasuke rasped with a resigned smile:

"I knew I should have killed you right at the start."

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A strong light bathed his eyelids as he returned to consciousness, his body fully awakening with an excruciating pain spreading over every inch of his skin.

"…you're awake?"

He heard a familiar voice, so he grunted out.

"Where am I?"

"In the CIA headquarters - the hospital division. I'm going to call the nurse."

He shook his head in disagreement, saying. "Just raise the bed for me." He saw through blurs of colors the other one nodding, clicking on a button as the upper part of the hospital bed inclined and stopped at a slight sitting position. He used this opportunity to focus his vision, seeing the spiky blond hair and the visible relief reaching Naruto's blue eyes.

"What happened? Who shot me?" Sasuke asked, wincing slightly from the acute pain in his shoulder and remembering bits of memories here and there.

Naruto gave him pain killers with water and answered. "Your half-brother Itachi, he shot you on your right shoulder and the bullet passed close to your collarbone. He picked up the gun that I left on the ground."

Graphite eyes narrowed with an old resentment resurfacing. "I knew it. After all, he had half of the blood of the Uchiha Clan, it'd be natural that he would use this opportunity and—"

"Oh, shut up." Naruto said with a laidback sigh.

Sasuke glared in full indignation, crossing his arms.

"You have no idea how difficult it was to convince him to stop panicking and drop the gun. You also lost a lot of blood so I had to rush you as fast as possible to the HQ, to avoid any bureaucratic risk by going to a public hospital."

Sasuke grunted with a slow shrug with his left shoulder, wincing afterwards from the slight movement. "So now you arrested me and I'll be judged for my crimes?"

Naruto placed the jacket on the chair and sat next to him, replying. "Well, that would be the standard procedure. But considering that you have valuable talents that we shouldn't overlook, I can definitely pull some strings in your favor. On the other hand, I should also consider your bitchy mood and I can definitely see you having trouble passing the psychological exam, so…I dunno?" He wrinkled his nose, musing.

"Are you calling me crazy?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"For attempts of murder on innocent people, kissing and then jumping me out of nowhere anddrugging me after we had sex among other things, well…" Naruto said in mild amusement. "Yes?"

Sasuke harrumphed softly, picking up the small bowl of jello placed in front of him.

"But…" Naruto continued, watching the brunet eating his food. "I'm confident you can carry out missions well as long as someone keeps a constant eye on you, keeping your volatile temper in check."

"Hn."

"And…considering that I saw you lowering your gun before you were shot…I guess I'm the most appropriate person for this job, right?" Naruto grinned wide.

Sasuke's first reaction was to scowl in denial, embarrassment creeping up to his cheeks. However, seeing the way Naruto's smile was stretched from ear to ear comforted his restless heart, thinking that for once…he was making the right decision.

"Did I?" Sasuke mildly teased.

"Yes, you did. Just admit it; you fell for my awesome charm. I know that I'm irresistible." Naruto snorted.

"Don't flatter yourself dumbass."

Naruto deliberately paused contemplating and then brightened up. "You're right. You can flatter me."

"You should know that I can easily grab the gun you have on your holster while your defense is down and shoot your stupid blond head."

"You wouldn't do that…" Naruto cooed. "Not when I can call you Honey Bee and I can get away alive for it right?"

One black eyebrow twitched in annoyance, the infuriating pet names were back.

"You're also fortunate that your past victims were all criminals and that the CIA also targeted, so I can have some documents forged saying that you were our agent fulfilling a long-term mission, killing all the main mercenary organizations across the globe." Naruto mused out loud. "Well, aside Itachi, who could perfectly sue you for attempt of murder but…I guess he was so traumatized that he agreed quickly when I asked him to forget about all this as long as we didn't involve his family any further. Aren't you glad that everything worked in your favor?"

Sasuke exhaled slowly, taking a moment to let all the information sink in. He still felt out of place being suddenly stripped of his main goal in life and now he had no visible future, like a new born hatching out of its shell and seeing the world for the first time. It might take a long while till he would get used to this…maybe he wouldn't ever feel fully accustomed. However, knowing that he had Naruto by his side halved his insecurities, almost making him look forward to those days.

"So when am I going to start all this?" Sasuke wondered, staring at the only person that would unravel for him a whole new path.

"Once you're fully healed." Naruto answered, clicking the button to call the nurse. "Don't worry about it; first order of business once you're healed will be to bend over on my desk so I can fuck you. That's the least you could do after all the trouble I went through for your sake, you bastard."

"As if. The first time was an exception, there's no way I'll let you top me so easily." Sasuke snorted.

"We'll see about that." Naruto grinned as one nurse arrived to check his pulse. "For now…rest."

Naruto gently placed his hand on Sasuke's forehead, smoothing down his frown as the brunet entered in a deep slumber. He realized that from now on, Sasuke would be irrevocably his, a life depending on him. He also wondered how much he would be able to help Sasuke in this journey, if his emotional scars would ever truly heal, with no repercussions down the road. All he knew was that they were embarking on an unknown future.

But having Sasuke by his side, for some reason, gave Naruto positive expectations, knowing that brighter days…would come.

---

AN: Neo_snexchange have finished now I'm officially publishing now.

Betareaded by the awesome, cool and patient belledragon. 75% of the fic should be credited to her, really.