Kakashi was late. Not that that was unusual or anything but it was still annoying. Naruto Uzumaki wasn't very patient and every time he was forced to wait around for his pervert sensei he had a tendency to loose his temper. And he always seemed to lash out at the person he least wanted hurt. That was how found himself in his current predicament.

"What was that teme?" asked Naruto, his hands balled into fists.

"You heard me dobe," said the teme in question. Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto had been best friends and rivals for as long as they had known each other. They had always been competing with each other but neither of them seemed to be able to completely beat the other. They were exact opposites that it was hard for their other friends to understand why they were really best friends. Sasuke was cold and stoic; he thought things through and was always in control of his emotions. Naruto on the hand was always loud and obnoxious, anxious to get noticed by anyone although there was one he wished would see him more than anyone else ever could. Naruto was clumsy and often got into trouble and never seemed to be able to control his mouth and had a natural ability to say something stupid and embarrass himself. They were as different as the sun was from the moon. Naruto with his golden hair, bright blue eyes and tanned skin was just like the sun. While Sasuke was the moon, pale with dark hair and intense eyes.

"Bastard," growled Naruto and he launched his balled fists at the Uchiha's head and only narrowly missing him as the Uchiha spun out of its path fully intending to return the attack with one of his own only he was stopped.

"STOP!" screamed Sakura, the rage in her voice enough to paralyze both of them as they each had enough experience with those fists of her to know not to push her, "I swear. You'd think after all these years one of you would have grown up by now."

Shamefully the pink haired ninja had a point. Sasuke and Naruto had been through a lot together. Naruto had been abandoned as a child because he carried within him a demon. And not just any demon but the Kyuubi, the nine-tailed-fox that had attacked the village before he was born and it was sealed away inside of him. His village had turned on him, ostracized him because of something that he had no control over. Sasuke had grown up as a member of the Uchiha Clan, a powerful ninja clan in their village. When he was a boy his brother had massacred the clan, leaving only Sasuke alive. So like Naruto, Sasuke was left to raise himself all alone. However the villagers all loved the brilliant Uchiha but Sasuke hated having their praise and eventually completely rejected it. He betrayed his village and run off to an evil ninja named Orochimaru in order to get powerful enough to kill his brother.

However before that he had grown close to Naruto without realizing it and when he had left Naruto had used his endless determination to come after him and bring him back to the village. After a series of fights of such epic proportions that they could never duplicate them they had decided that Sasuke would come back to the village after he defeated both his brother and Orochimaru. However Naruto was not the type to wait patiently for Sasuke and so he helped his friend achieve his goals. Ever since Sasuke's return their roles in the village had seemed to switch. The people now respected Naruto for what he had done for them and fear Sasuke because of his actions.



But none of that matter to Naruto and Sasuke when it came to their daily lives. Now that Sasuke was back everything had returned to normal. It was just like they were twelve-years-old again, fighting like friends. To each they were the brothers that they didn't have and maybe even a little bit more. While most of their conversations eventually brought out their fists they always seemed to end an amicable note. Anyone around them could see that they were meant to be more than just friends or surrogate brothers. They were destined to be lovers.

However there were a few obstacles between them and that destiny. The first was that each of them were a little unwilling to accept that they were gay. The second was that both of them were simply too stubborn to admit that their feelings for each other. A third reason was that their village was not overly accepting of homosexuals, something they knew from watching Kakashi and Iruka. And one other reason was that they were both very powerful ninjas and thus they had an obligation to the village to pass on that power, especially Sasuke. And if they let themselves have what they truly wanted most they would have to give up the chance to pass on their powers, to continue their perspective lines. And it didn't particularly matter if they were willing to give up that chance because the council certainly wasn't.

Sakura sighed as she watched the two companions turn away from each other and fold their arms in unison and she laughed softly. It was tragic for them and she knew it. At first when she realized what they felt for each other she had been angry. She had always imagined her and Sasuke ending up with each other. But she understood it now, even if her old friends didn't that they were simply meant to be. Besides she had found other interests in a ninja named Rock Lee and she was very happy with him.

"Well it looks like he isn't going to show again," said Sakura, "I have to get back to the hospital I guess." She would never admit how disappointed she was. Kakashi had been worse than usual these days about showing up when planned. Sure when they were a team and Kakashi was their sensei finding him at their meeting spot on time would have been a sign of the apocalypse but now they were lucky if he showed at all. And she had been so looking forward to catching up with everyone. And being stuck on the bridge with Sasuke and Naruto for so long got boring and annoying with all of their constant bickering. That was until the point she began to realize how much of a third wheel she was.

"Yeah," said Sasuke gloomily but then almost everything Sasuke said sounded a little bit gloomy, "Hey Usuratonkachi, do you want to get some ramen?" Sakura could barely detect Sasuke's hidden hopefulness. She had learned to pick it up. At first it had seemed to her that Sasuke took Naruto to dinner out of some weird sense of responsibility but she had learned otherwise. She knew now that from his tone that Sasuke just wanted to spend sometime with Naruto and of course Naruto was too dense to realize this.

"Not today Sasuke, I have plans," said Naruto and both Sasuke and Sakura were a little shocked. Not just because Naruto had plans or that he was turning down ramen but also because Naruto had said no to Sasuke. He never did that, Naruto had no power to deny anything Sasuke wanted from him and he never felt the need to.



"Okay," said Sasuke as he tried to shrug it off. He was a little hurt but he wasn't going to let the dobe know that. Naruto turned and walked away a small pain in his heart when he turned around to see Sakura grab Sasuke's arm and pull him the opposite direction. Sure it wasn't that way anymore but he hated seeing them together.

"Come on Sasuke," said Sakura, "It's probably something for the Hokage you know that."

"I know. It's not like I am upset over the dobe or anything." He knew she was probably right but he still would rather have had dinner with Naruto. He refused to admit why. He refused to think about how every time they were out together he found himself pretending it was date or something. He ran his fingers through his hair. Thoughts of Naruto were getting progressively harder to erase these days. Images of his smile, his lips, his skin were always clear in his mind. He remembered his touch for days even if it was nothing more than a simple pat on the back. He looked at Sakura and saw that she was smiling at him, knowingly and annoyingly. It pissed him off.

"I'll see you later Sasuke," said Sakura. She waved and ran off to the hospital. Sakura had grown up a lot after Sasuke had left. She had trained very hard with Tsunade and became an expert medical-nin. Sasuke sighed out of boredom and decided to go bother the dobe and so he turned around and walked back the way he'd come. He felt a little unsettled in his stomach. How could the dobe have other plans? Somewhere in the back of his mind the image of Sai came unbidden as it always did with thoughts of Naruto. Slightly enraged for no reason he stomped after Naruto.

His temperament did not improve when he found the blonde baka sitting on a wall staring into space. That irritated him to no end. How could sitting around doing nothing be more important or better than having dinner with him? He didn't understand why Naruto had lied to him. Clearly he didn't have any plans. He felt his rage building as his fist naturally formed in his pocket.

"This is what you call plans, dobe?" yelled Sasuke, "Ditching me to sit on some stupid ass wall!"

"Huh?" asked Naruto turning to look at him and Sasuke's anger died instantly at the sight of Naruto's eyes. They were pale instead of the bright blue they usually were and lacked the liveliness Sasuke had grown to crave. It shocked him deeply, the blank look on the dobe's face.

"Naruto?"

"That was where I was born," said Naruto and he pointed. Sasuke looked across the street. There was a dilapidated old hut, abandoned for years and was clearly not even a decade old. It must have replaced whatever had been there before, where Naruto was actually born. Because Sasuke refused to believe that his friend had been born in that shake.

"I – uh – Naruto?"

"I've been coming here a lot lately. I keep meaning to go inside but I just can't seem to do it. It's stupid really. I mean why can't I? It's just a few steps. And why do I even want to go in there anyway? What 

could it possibly hold for me?" Silence fell between them, something neither of them were very used to. And then Sasuke spoke.

"Do you want to go in?"

"Yes."

"Then let's go in," said Sasuke, "Together."

"Sasuke?" asked Naruto in shock and looked at his friend and the hand that was stretched out to him. He smiled the smile that gave Sasuke shivers and grabbed the hand, jumping down off the wall. Sasuke let Naruto lead the way across the street slowly and then paused in front of the door. Naruto slowly reached out for what was left of the doorknob but he didn't grab it.

"It's okay, I'm here." With renewed force he grabbed the knob and wrenched the door open. That was when everything exploded. They screamed each others named and grabbed onto each other as they were sent flying, the whole earth around them shaking. Naruto closed his eyes in terror and confusion as Sasuke wrapped himself protectively around the kitsune until everything settled back down.

"What the hell?" asked Naruto and there was a loud pop and flash of light. They next thing they knew a mass of blonde hair and orange clothes shot right at them, hitting them straight on and sending them tumbling and groaning.

"Naruto are you okay?" asked Sasuke and Naruto nodded and looked at what had hit them. It was a girl and she was about their age and badly hurt, barely conscious. Her golden hair was caked with ash, debris and her own blood. She was wearing a tattered orange jacket. She coughed up some blood and blinked her eyes open. Sasuke's breath hitched painfully in his chest at the sight of her crystalline blue eyes. There were such a pure sapphire just like -.

"Naruto," she whispered before she passed out completely.