Western Winds…

"D-Dammit b-bastard-d, w-why did you c-choose s-such a cold place?"

Sasuke glared silently at Naruto as his complaint falls on deaf ears. The two ninja continue through the frost covered land towards the Land of Waterfalls. The thick snow slowed them down slightly as they struggle to stay warm. They had 62 kilometers till they got to the border of their destination. Sasuke had no desire to stay in this country for a longer period of time than she had to; she wore clothing that revealed more skin then it should.
The blond shinobi looked at his closest friend; she was shivering violently. Sasuke didn't admit that she was freezing, but she had a very hard time of hiding it. Naruto looked very concerned. Deciding to do what his gut told him to, he went up to the cold girl and put his body next to hers.

"I-I swear Naruto, if you t-touch me…"

"D-don't f-flatter y-yourself…"

They tried their hardest to keep their body heat together to survive the dark, frigid night. It was rather awkward for them to be this close, but it was meant to be if they were to live longer. The temperature was below 0 degrees Celsius in this barren wasteland devoid of any vegetation. Both ninja try to distract themselves from the painful cold air stabbing at their open skin with some heavily forced dialogue.

"W-why do you h-have t-to keep e-e-everything t-to y-yourself?"

Sasuke knew the answer to it. She wasn't exactly an open book. She was quiet most of the time ever since the massacre of her clan. But the Uchiha Kunoichi didn't want her feelings to delude her from doing what was important. The raven just viewed Naruto as another obstacle, even if he was one of her closest friends.

"Y-you n-never s-stop t-talking i-idiot…"

Naruto deeply cared about Sasuke. She was the only one at the Ninja Academy that treated him like a human being (well, other than Iruka-Sensei), even if she was harsh with him at times. Even though he only thought of her as a good friend in the beginning, he started to notice how beautiful she was. He could remember the one day she released all her hair out of her ponytail and let it dance with the warm evening summer wind. Her onyx eyes staring into his cyan eyes; which made the then thirteen year old Naruto's heart skip a beat. There was something about her that captivated the teenage boy that only intensified his curiosity. Just then, as he snapped out his euphoric memory, the blond shinobi notices something in the corner of his eye.

"H-hot spring!" Naruto excitedly exclaimed.

The raven looked surprised as they both approached it. The two ninja's now had to deal with another awkward situation, stripping. They both knew what they had to do without a word being uttered. However, Sasuke needed to break the silence.

"Naruto, if you touch me, if you even look at me, I'll kill you."

"I get it Sasuke, I ain't going to touch you anywhere. Just because I was a student of Ero-Sennin doesn't mean I've turned into a sexual deviant; sheesh."

As they turned their backs to each other, they remain quiet; hoping that the weird feelings go away as their hearts beat in their chests. They wait patiently, but the feeling still remained. Sasuke heard clothing falling onto the stony ground. She was not ready to see a naked Naruto yet. The Uchiha kunoichi gingerly began to remove her Sound Ninja apparel that had her clan's crest sown into it; still feeling fear of the unknown. As the last articles of clothing left her body, Sasuke gently went into the springs. But to her surprise, she wasn't expecting it to be almost uncomfortably hot. It was quite a drastic change from the cold and her body had to adjust after placing her legs into the steaming water.
Naruto had a hard time keeping his composure. He wanted to see Sasuke's more mature, developed female body. He started to think about her breasts and tried to contain his excitement.

Damn you Ero-Sennin. Now I wanna turn around soo bad…

Though to be fair, Naruto should blame his natural pubescent body for wanting to break a woman's privacy, not his sensei even though he would probably be ten times worse…

The blond shinobi heard the water splash slightly as the waves lightly brushed against his body. Both ninja felt vulnerable being in the soothing water; they could easily be snuffed out by potential enemies that lurk. But in this case, they seem to be aware that they were a greater danger to themselves than any outside force can be at this very moment. But, little did Naruto know that Sasuke was having similar struggles…
Sasuke knew better not to turn around. It was risky that she is a girl and Naruto's a boy and they're both in the same bath. Although she would never admit it vocally, she remarks on how Naruto had grown much stronger and bigger since the Valley of the End. The raven slowly started to drift out of consciousness as she starts to dream.


The refuge that she had taken from Orochimaru was starting to crumble. The Uchiha knew that ninjas from Konoha were responsible for destroying their hideout. The ex-Konoha ninja stepped out and was in the sunlight; exposing herself to the intruders. She saw her former teammates and another ninja; probably her replacement. She saw him, the boy she reluctantly left broken hearted. Sasuke didn't want to see him here, but she had no other choice. The last Uchiha leapt towards the sole Uzumaki. Sasuke would've sworn he would have some kind of angry speech on how she left and broke his heart, but instead, he had a calm and content look in his deep blue eyes.
She was frightened, not concerned with whether she would win against him in battle or if she would fail in her attempt to avenge her clan, but the mere fact that Naruto may have became apathetic towards her. Sasuke tried to keep her façade up, but she was ready to cry. She never wanted to admit it, but she wanted to stay with him. But Sasuke decided to reject her feelings towards the boy. Her feelings would be nothing more than avarice shunning the justice she was more than willing to fulfill. Before a single tear formed on Sasuke's gentle face, a voice came out of the now older boy. Words that she would never expect Naruto to utter in his entire existence.

"Let's run away together."

Her straight face contorted into one of shock, as the looks of Naruto's teammates had been of total disbelief. The raven couldn't contain the water swelling up in her eyes as they begin to pour.

Why Naruto? You idiot, your throwing your dreams away! Why would you do this for me, someone who you placed your trust in and destroyed it? I've done nothing but cause you pain…

"Let's go, grab my hand."

The raven haired girl didn't grab his hand initially; thinking this was a ploy that Konoha would use to capture her. But she looked into Naruto's face; who looked absolutely sincere about what he had spoken. Her shaky hand, without thought, found its way into the blond teenager's grasp. It was as if they teleported somewhere else.


"Hey, you okay over there Sasuke?"

A voice jolts the drowsy kunoichi awake. Her body slumped against a bolder that divided the humid water into two ponds. To halt Naruto from having further concerned about her well-being, she shouted back.
The snow storm dissipated after its long duration. Her eyes looked up into the sky; now exposing the beauty of the cosmos. She just wanted to let everything escape from her mind to enjoy whatever brief solace that's within grasp. In that moment, she let go of any resentment towards people that have done her wrong, she let go of her personal obligations that had remained with being the sole survivor of the Uchiha Clan Massacre, and the worry of Orochimaru's lust towards her body. Sasuke truly felt peace and welcomed it, even if it would be short lived.
On the other side of the stone barrier, a blond teenager thought about the girl that was parallel to him. He wondered what was on her mind. Naruto was always curious, especially when it was about his closest friends. The sudden thought pained him. He just remembered that he had done something that went against everything he stood for. He abandoned the very village that he wanted to become the leader of, he abandoned the friends he had worked so hard to keep, and now he may never go home.

Snap out of it Naruto! You did what your heart told you to do! You know just as well that you wanted to stay by Sasuke's side. I've been through worse than this!

His thoughts started to dive deeper into the depths of what mattered to him the most.

Does Sasuke even like me back? I know she views me as her friend, but is that all that's there? We're do we even go from here?

It had been several moments that the two renegade ninja sat in complete silence. Both ninja stare at the sky as dawn was about to break the darkened sky. The star in their solar system came into view, illuminating the snow and providing much needed heat to the area. This was time for them to keep moving. Sasuke beat Naruto in getting out of the hot spring. She didn't want him to see her while nude as the kunoichi puts on her clothes as quick as humanly possible. Just as Sasuke finished putting back on her clothes and gear, she never noticed Naruto doing anything inappropriate towards her, not even taking a peek.

"Hm, I guess you were right about not being like Jiraiya."

Naruto gets out of the pool of water, coming into view of Sasuke.

"YOU REALLY MEAN IT!?"

There was something very wrong here, Naruto had no clothes on. The raven's pale face ripened into the complexion of a cherry. Her mind was violated, seeing Naruto's full frontal nudity. Her body wasted no time to do a 180 to not face such a sight; trying to ignore the elephant in the room.

"OH SHIT SASUKE! I-I'M SO SORRY!"

"IDIOT, J-J-JUST PUT ON SOME CLOTHES ALREADY!"

Naruto felt very embarrassed about his obliviousness to being modest in-front of someone that was the opposite sex. He covers his nether regions with his hands as he begins to search for his clothes.

Dammit, why did I have to be so stupid? Ugh…

The renegade shinobi found his orange trousers and began to pull them up to his waist. As he puts on more of his clothes, he listens in with shame as Sasuke continues her tirade.

"Damn you Naruto, you're worse than your perverted sensei!"

Great, now I just dug myself deeper…

Now both ninjas where fully dressed and on the move, except the Uchiha kunoichi refused to look at Naruto. Sasuke tried in vain to forget what had just happened minutes ago. During the long trek towards the border of the next land, they noticed a group of disheveled men. Naruto and Sasuke both knew that these must have been thugs roaming around in this area of the land. As some of the men approached the two former Konoha ninja, they expected some kind of response, but nothing came out of either of their mouths. They pitifully tried to block them from going any further as the thugs begin to cat call the raven haired girl.

"Hey there. I'll give you some good money if you sleep with me!"

"Yeah, you look mighty fine there lass!"

"You belong to us now!"

A kunai flung into the eye of the lowerer level ninja, causing him to fall to the ground and grovel in pain. The male companion to the girl began to violently throw punches at the unsuspecting criminals. They try in vain to stop the adrenaline filled blond as he beat them senseless. He used no jutsu's at all. He wanted to deliver them pain with his own two hands. As Naruto was distracted by his rage, one of the more powerful gang members was about to slash his back with a gendaito katana, but was stopped by the same kunoichi he had been lusting after. Sasuke used her sword to slice his arms off and impale him through the chest, ending him. The remaining gang of criminals fled, knowing that they stood no chance against powerful opponents like them.
Naruto and Sasuke continued on their way to their destination. They soon noticed some vegetation sprouting out of the ground as they traversed through the steep, stony hills. They saw the forest that reminded them that they were close to where they needed to be. But Sasuke had plans to go further than just the Land of Waterfalls. They would be able to access their situation and understand their next plan of action. But the raven noticed Naruto being uncharacteristically silent. His head was drooped low in contrast to him always having it held high. He looked exhausted as they walked at and even pace to the village. The silence was unwelcoming to her as now she hoped that he was not upset over the mob that had been trying to swoon her.

Naruto...

END...


Alright this was the second chapter. I'm still new to writing Naruto fics and I thank you all for the continued support. Another one coming next week!