Naruto sat behind a tree. Maybe I shouldn't have stalked off. He sighed and stood up. I'll just go back to the camp and…get over it. Naruto whirled around. Somebody was there. He could feel their presence even though they were trying so hard to mask it. Quickly, Naruto replaced himself with a clone and hid in the tree he'd been sitting under. The clone turned back around, shrugged and was on its way. The real Naruto waited. They were getting closer. Soon they would be in the same spot in which Naruto had just been sitting. A figure stopped at the tree. He knelt down and looked at the spot where Naruto had sat for three hours contemplating whether or not to go back. The figure was male. He had dark hair, black eyes, a slender face and wearing his normal blue shirt with white shorts. His headband was askew from its normal perfection. Naruto looked down at Sasuke as he looked up at Naruto through the leafy branches.
"Are you coming down or am I coming up?" Naruto's breathe caught in his throat. Damn that clone. He wasn't convincing enough. Naruto didn't answer but watched Sasuke stand there looking up into the tree. He watched as suddenly, Sasuke wasn't standing under the tree but, sitting next to Naruto. Sasuke sat there just staring at him. Finally he moved and pulled Naruto into a hug. Immediately Naruto let himself be vulnerable. He let out all the frustration and sadness as he began to cry into Sasuke's chest. "Sh. Don't cry. It'll all be alright." They sat there for an hour until Naruto finally looked up. His eyes were still clearing but he felt better.
"Thank-you for coming to find me Sasuke." Naruto smiled weakly. Sasuke smiled back.
"You make it sound like I had to look. Your chakra pattern was easy to follow." Sasuke laughed and Naruto laughed with him. Finally the boys sobered when neither could breath properly. "We have to go back soon. Kakashi and Sakura might actually be worried." Sasuke chuckled at his own joke. Naruto didn't laugh at all.
"I don't want to go back yet." Naruto crawled out of Sasuke's arms and pushed his back against the tree's trunk with his legs hanging over the sides of the branch. Naruto didn't look at Sasuke. "They don't understand." Sasuke looked at Naruto intently.
"You think that they don't understand?" Sasuke shook his head. "Of all people I think they understand the most. Think about it Naruto. Kakashi is not exactly Sakura's age is he? What they have is pretty much forbidden. Just like what we have." Sasuke crawled to Naruto and brought him back into the circle of his arms. "They understand a lot." Naruto thought about it, then nodded.
"Yeah. I guess they do." Sasuke stroked his hand through Naruto's hair. Naruto liked the way it felt to have Sasuke's hands on him. He put his head against Sasuke's shoulder and closed his eyes. He breathed in deeply as Sasuke gently pulled Naruto's face towards his own. Naruto opened his eyes and stared into Sasuke's. Naruto felt Sasuke's other hand creep up to Naruto's jacket zipper. Still staring into each other's eyes, Sasuke pulled down and took Naruto's jacket off using only one hand. Naruto waited for the other boy's touch. The touch that would tell him about how their forbidden relationship was all right. That nothing was wrong. Sasuke kissed Naruto and pinned him against the branch with his whole body. The ends of Naruto's hair just touched the trunk of the tree. All was still except for the boys. The only sound, their breathing growing heavy.
Naruto awoke to sunlight shining through the branches of the trees above. Did I fall off the branch? He looked around and saw nothing that he had expected. Where am I? His brain seemed to click on and he looked around the campsite. Sasuke had his arms around Naruto's waist, his head in Naruto's stomach. Great…thanks for keeping a low profile Sasuke. Naruto looked over to see Kakashi and Sakura curled up together. He sighed and wiggled out of Sasuke's arms. I'd better get a head start on training. If I don't then I'm screwed. Naruto walked to the squad's makeshift training grounds and began to rip apart a tree with kunai and shuriken. The tiny prick of a feeling that someone was watching him didn't make his mind waver from what he was doing.
Itachi stood on a branch looking down at a young blonde, throwing kunai and shuriken at a tree. Does he know I'm here? Or is he just stupid? Itachi narrowed his eyes. It's not as I expected. Sasuke has been too careless. Now that I know his weakness this should be rather easy. Itachi jumped down from the branch to the mossy forest floor. His footsteps making absolutely no noise.
Naruto suddenly felt someone behind him. He could feel their breathe on his neck. A strong arm wrapped around his waist, the other brought a hand up to Naruto's mouth. The world grew fuzzy and Naruto had but one thought running through his head. I knew I was screwed.
Naruto fell to the ground unconscious. Itachi stooped down and picked him up like a sack of potatoes. It was even easier than expected. He turned and leapt into a tree and sprinted off. Sasuke, you fool. Show your weakness and you get hurt.
Sasuke's eyes were suddenly open wide with the sharingan activated. Where's Naruto? He was up on his feet before you could breath. He looked around and saw that Kakashi and Sakura were not sleeping. Sasuke walked over to the makeshift training grounds and found Kakashi and Sakura there, looking at different things around it. "Where's Naruto?"
"We don't know. We can't find him anywhere. He may be headstrong but he always makes sure he's here for training." Sakura looked at Sasuke. Her face was wet with tears. "I heard him get up this morning and start training. He trained for about an hour and then I thought he took a break but, he never started up again." A fresh set of tears streamed down her face. Kakashi moved and put his arms around her.
"Sakura, it's not your fault. It's not anyone's fault." Kakashi looked at Sasuke from over top of Sakura's head. "Sasuke, do you know where he could possibly be? I can't sense his chakra patterns anywhere."
"He could be anywhere. Normally he's too careless to conceal his chakra and when he does he usually does a poor job of it." Sasuke sighed and looked around the camp. "I think an Akatsuki member took him. To be more specific, Itachi. I mean, who else would they send?" Kakashi and Sakura looked at him. Sympathy was plain to see in their faces.
"We know where to look but then we have the problem of getting in." Kakashi ran a hand through his silver hair. "I guess we could go back to the village and get ANBU but that would just mess everything up more." Sakura and Sasuke nodded. "I guess it's up to us."
"We could negotiate." Sakura hoped that her tactic would be taken into consideration instead of what both the men were thinking. She sighed at the silence. "Fine. We'll make a plan and go get Naruto back ourselves." She mumbled something about men and sharp, pointy objects.
"I'm sorry Sakura but that's the only thing we really can do." Kakashi looked at the tree, then back at his kunoichi and shinobi. "How are we going to get into the Akatsuki HQ?"
Author's Note: Am I spelling Akatsuki right? I'm used to reading it but my brain is pretty much blank. Ugh…lack of sleep makes the words on the screen dance. Hehe. Dance, squiggles! Dance! (Saddest part is that when my eyes get too tired, I wear my sunglasses to look at my computer screen. sweat drop )