Hello everyone. As usual, another late chapter, and as usual my life has become hectic again. To be perfectly honest for the past almost two months I haven't had time for this sort of stuff. My Grandpa passed away and family from everywhere came to see us, and things have only recently started to settle down from that. Now I have work coming up so I finally buckled down and got a chapter done before I'm super busy again for the next few months. To warn, it may be a while before the next chapter so please be patient, everyone. And thanks to everyone for their positive reviews and I hope the story continues to please…however long it takes to get it all up.

Lost Ninja #1 (Jamie)

Chapter 3

Sasuke looked very confused for a moment but then his eyes widened as well, "Shit..." he cursed and struggled to get into the rest of his clothing. With the help of Iruka he was made presentable. It wasn't that he was eager to meet his future possible fathers in law or his possible future wife, but he did not want to look like he had intended to insult them. Not only by being late but being disheveled, it was unthinkable.

At last Sasuke was presentable in a dark blue robe that Naruto thought made him look every inch the powerful person he supposedly was.

"Naruto, come." He told the blonde, who started and obeyed, following his master as he went out into the hallway. He really shouldn't be bringing his slave along, but he didn't have time to bring him back to his quarters and he didn't trust to leave him alone right now, particularly with that pervert Jiraiya wandering around. Iruka followed as well, being Sasuke's advisor as well as his teacher.

Naruto followed closely behind as they walked though the hallways, the plush carpets beneath his feet soon turned to wood panels as they walked. Sticking close to Sasuke, Naruto looked very much like a child as he followed his master around. Finally though they made it to their destination and Iruka looked back at the demon that was almost like Sasuke's shadow. He was surprised that the two had bonded so well to each other.

Even more surprising was the fact that Sasuke allowed Naruto to grab a hold of his arm whenever he seemed overly nervous...Sasuke, as a general rule, didn't let people touch him, he didn't trust them. Perhaps it was just different because Naruto was not a human...but still it was odd.

Iruka pushed the thoughts aside and swung open the large doors, bowing to the side to let Sasuke enter. Sasuke strode in confidently, with his little demon trotting after him and gazing at the room in wonder. The ceiling was so high...and the table stretched out across most of the room.

Naruto emitted a small squeak and hid behind his master when he saw there were many people seated at the table, many of them looked like high-ranking noblemen or very wealthy merchants. Naruto fidgeted a little as the cold of the stone floor bit into his feet and the high ceilings maid him feel so small. He didn't really feel all that comfortable being in such a big open area after all the time he spent in a small cramped cage.

"Good afternoon." Sasuke bowed to the people seated at the table. "I apologize for my lateness, but something came up..." He told them, and took his seat. That something...namely Naruto, looked around uncertainly and finally sat down on the ground beside Sasuke's chair, unwilling to leave his master's side.

There were many raised eyebrows from the noblemen at the fact that there was a young demon sitting at the feet of their daughter's potential husband. But there was no point in drawing attention to this because Iruka cleared his throat and that seemed to be the signal that the meeting was started, and everyone completely forgot about the young fox.

Sasuke listened as the noblemen all outlined the reasons why choosing their daughter to be his wife would be best, and tried to look interested. Unfortunately most of the reasons were along the lines of the amount of power that marrying each girl would bring him, and the property it would add to his kingdom...Sasuke didn't particularly care about being powerful, or having lots of land, and to be frank none of the girls suited his fancy much...he knew he should pick one that he liked out of all of them but he found the whole situation bothersome.

Iruka must have seen that he had long ago lost interest in what the noblemen were saying about their daughters. It was almost impossible to tell though that Sasuke was zoned out because he looked precisely the same as he did when he was paying attention.

"Um my lord, might I suggest a...a ball?" Iruka asked hoping that he would get Sasuke's attention with that and not make it seem too obvious that his lord was being extremely rude.

Sasuke's outward expression didn't change but Iruka could tell that what he had said had gotten through to Sasuke. He looked at his teacher for a moment, before shrugging. "That sounds good." He answered, and then was forced to listen to the noblemen talk to each other, exited at the prospect of Sasuke dancing with one of their daughters and deciding she was the one for him. Sasuke sighed and absentmindedly reached down to rest his hand on his demon's head, why did it suck so much to be an heir?

Naruto who had actually fallen asleep during the long boring discussion, perked up when his master rested his hand on his head. He all but purred as Sasuke scratched him behind the ear, Naruto couldn't help himself, it felt sooo good. It was a good thing that he was blocked from view by the table; the noblemen might not take too kindly to having their daughter's future husband have a demon rub his face against Sasuke's leg in pure enjoyment.

Iruka, who was standing behind Sasuke, however, did notice it...and if he thought he'd been surprised earlier at how close the two seemed, he was utterly shocked now. Sasuke was actually letting the little demon...snuggle his leg? And he didn't even hardly seem as if he noticed, he was acting like it was all normal...he could only hope that the noblemen didn't notice...

Sasuke listened as the noblemen discussed what time the ball should be held...each, of course, was looking for some way to keep one of their rival's daughters out of it...this whole thing was ridiculous, in Sasuke's opinion, considering he didn't want to marry anyone...

Finally though, Sasuke had had enough and he stood up abruptly, "I'll have the ball one month from today." he said not actually caring, he could have had it two years from that day but he didn't think that it would sit well with the noblemen. "If you want your daughters to be there, then I don't care how they get here or when they show up." He said, and he could practically see Iruka sweating behind him.

"Umm of course your daughters' needs well be attended to while they are here..." Iruka hastily put in.

If the noblemen were put off, however, they didn't show it. A month, after all, was more than enough time to get ready and make sure that their daughters could all attend the ball. They all gave their assent to 'Lord Sasuke's excellent decision', and Sasuke decided that he'd been there long enough...he couldn't stand all of this upper class nonsense anyway...he'd never needed to dress in anything opulent, or wear jewelry on every appendage, and he couldn't understand why every other person in the world felt the need to.

Declaring the meeting over Sasuke abruptly stood up and left the council chambers, with a sleepy eyed Naruto following him. Naruto tried to suppress a yawn as he followed his master through the hallways, he wasn't sure where they were going, but right then he was almost too tired to care. That had been the best sleep he'd had in a while but he was still really tired.

Sasuke sighed as he loosened his robes and pulled all the sparkly jewelry he had donned for the meeting.

He made a quick stop at his room to deposit those useless items and change into something he felt more comfortable in, but left almost as soon as he'd gone in. Naruto was a little confused, but followed his master dutifully, after all, good slaves weren't supposed to question their master's sanity out loud.

At last, Sasuke opened a wooden door and stepped into a large garden area...this was his favorite spot for relaxing when life got too stressful, it was quiet there.

Behind Sasuke, Naruto's eyes widened as he stared out at the greenery and flowering trees and plants. He had not been around so much nature since he had been a kit with his mother. The young demon seriously wanted to squeak with delight and dash out to the garden. But he restrained himself, his master had not entered the garden just yet, Sasuke stood there breathing in the scent just allowing his body to relax.

Naruto watched Sasuke's face as it relaxed...he hadn't even realized how tense Sasuke had been...those boring humans in the colorful robes must be hard on a person to have to deal with. For a human, he realized, Sasuke was actually not bad looking, even if he did scowl a lot...

Sasuke finally reached out his arms and stretched, glancing down at his demon, who was bouncing eagerly on his feet. With a small smile, he waved at the garden. "Go ahead, have some fun." He told Naruto.

Naruto did not have to be told twice, without a word Naruto bounded into the garden and looked very much like a playful puppy as he dashed out on all fours before finding a patch of clover, thinking it the perfect place to roll around on the ground. Sasuke smirked as he watched Naruto roll around, he was obviously enjoying himself.

Naruto breathed in the scent of the grass...he couldn't even hardly remember a time he'd been able to feel grass under his paws...and the cage he'd had to live in was so smelly even his nose could barely pick up the smell. As he nuzzled his nose in the wonderful green stuff, Sasuke walked across the garden to where a large, shady tree was growing and plunked himself down on the grass next to it.

Naruto perked his ears up when Sasuke sat down and he rolled over so he was looking at his master, Sasuke looked much better leaning against the tree with his eyes closed and the annoyance relaxed. But what really caught Naruto's attention was the large tree Sasuke was sitting under. It had been a long time since he had even seen one of them, much longer then feeling the grass.

He rolled onto his four paws and crawled over to the tree, smelling it. The leaves overhead rustled quietly, throwing small shadows over the grass and those under it. Naruto placed a hand on the rough bark of the tree...it was strong and sturdy, and full of life, even though Naruto was sure humans must have put it there, and he'd thought humans only had the power to destroy things. Glancing at his master, Naruto couldn't imagine him recklessly destroying anything...

Naruto grinned suddenly and snuggled up to his master.

Sasuke's eyes shot open when he felt Naruto snuggle up to his shoulder, he wasn't all that surprised to see the demon there but Sasuke had thought the fox would still be exploring every nook and cranny of his garden.

"Naruto..." Sasuke said and was about to move away from the contact when he heard something that sounded very much like someone was sniffing back tears.

Blinking, he leaned a little closer to the blonde head...yes...Naruto was crying...

Sasuke should have just left the little fox demon to his sadness...after all, what business was it of his if his slave cried...but somehow, Sasuke couldn't stand the sound, it tugged at his heart...since when did Sasuke have a heart?

"What's wrong with you?" Sasuke asked...it wasn't exactly a polite question, but this is Sasuke we're talking about.

Jerked out of his own self misery, Naruto looked up at his master, he had not meant to start crying, and actually had not realized he had been until Sasuke had asked what was wrong. Reluctantly Naruto let go of his master's sleeve; after all he shouldn't ruin his master's things. Drawing his legs up to his chest Naruto wiped at his tears.

"I-Its just that I...I miss... my mother..."

Sasuke looked at Naruto for a second, wiping at his tears. He'd mentioned his mother before...when Sasuke had asked for his name, but he really had no idea demons could get that attached to one another...he'd always just assumed that they were near brainless things that ran around and destroyed things if not kept in check with a seal, or given some menial task to keep their small minds occupied…

"...What happened to her?" Sasuke found himself asking, despite himself.

Naruto sniffed and wiped at his runny nose with the back of his hand, "S-She...She's gone...They hurt her really bad..." Naruto closed his eyes against the tears, he didn't know if his mother was really dead, but she looked so still... Naruto was completely lost in his painful memory.

Neither mother or kit had much on there minds that day, his mother had been telling Naruto that he would be meeting his father soon, but Naruto was to interested in the colorful butterflies that fluttered around them. The slavers had attacked without warning, throwing spears and shooting arrows at his mother.

She had protected him, even after the spears pierced her skin and the arrows stuck in her side. Naruto could picture it all vividly...there had been blood everywhere, and his mother had fought tooth and nail to keep them away from her son, before she finally went down. Naruto had tried to wake her but she didn't move...and then the humans grabbed him.

Naruto whimpered at the memory and Sasuke looked at his slave, he was uncertain what to do, Naruto was sitting there wide eyed with tears streaming down his striped cheeks.

Finally Sasuke reached out a hand and drew the whimpering demon to him. Although Sasuke had given up on being shocked at Naruto's strangeness, and disregard to demon taboo, Sasuke could not help but want to hold the whimpering thing close to him...after all it had made him feel slightly better when he was little.

Naruto clutched at the thick fabric of Sasuke's clothing and buried his face in his master's chest, forgetting that he shouldn't cry on him and ruin his clothes. After a few minutes, his sobbing slowed into hiccups as he began to calm down. Somehow his master's presence was comforting to him. At last, when even the hiccups had stopped, Naruto just sat there, refusing to let go.

Sasuke was kind of surprised at his own actions, after all this was a demon slave...and a male demon at that. When had Sasuke begun to even care about demons, let alone a boy demon? He didn't have any close friends nor did he particularly like to be touched. But here he was, holding onto Naruto and wanting to give him comfort.

But he couldn't bring himself to let go...it was such an easy thing, Naruto had stopped crying after all, so his excuse that the poor thing was distraught was becoming useless...all he had to do was remove his arms from around the blonde and resume relaxing under the tree...

But his arms felt like they had been glued where they were, no matter how hard he thought about it, they refused to obey him and move.

Finally though Naruto himself moved a bit and Sasuke released him as if he had been burned. Sitting back up Naruto sniffed and rubbed at his eyes before bowing his head to Sasuke, "I-I'm s-s-sorry Master Sasuke." Naruto trembled a little, he was the worst slave ever, he not only broke down and cried but he had cried on his master's robes. Thinking himself in store for punishment Naruto trembled a little was he waited for a heavy hand to fall. After all the slavers had treated him much worse and he should accept his punishment.

He heard Sasuke sigh, and knew his master was annoyed with him, and screwed his eyes shut. Why did he have to mess up everything? All a slave was required to do was what his master told him to and he couldn't even manage that...

Sasuke, who had been glaring at the grass to try and get rid of whatever feelings it was that had made him cling to Naruto like that, turned when he heard a quiet whimpering coming from his slave's direction.

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly when he saw Naruto there with his head pressed down against the grass, his shoulders trembling. Staring at the fox in confusion for a moment, it finally donned on Sasuke that Naruto was waiting for Sasuke to punish him. Sighing again he sat back against the tree. He couldn't punish the boy for missing his mother, even if he was a demon. Sasuke knew what it felt like to lose a loved one.

He glanced at the demon again...then blushed and looked away. "...Get up." He said, annoyed with himself.

Naruto lifted his head a little to look warily at his master, who, it seemed, was still annoyed. "But...Naruto was a bad slave..." He muttered, confused. Why wasn't Sasuke punishing him? He'd cried all over the front of his clothes, he could see the wet spot from here.

Sasuke twitched, and looked at the confused demon. "Listen, you're not a bad slave until I tell you you're a bad slave got that?" He asked with a bit more force then he had intended. Naruto cringed a little and looked at Sasuke with wide eyes,

"So...is Naruto a bad slave?" the fox ask confused. Sasuke had not actually said he was a bad slave but he sure sounded annoyed for some reason, and that reason could only be Naruto right?

Sasuke let out a long exasperated sigh and looked away from Naruto, a tinge of pink on his cheeks. "No, Naruto, you aren't a bad slave." He answered, still sounding annoyed.

Naruto, however, brightened, and inched closer to his master.

"So Naruto's a good slave?" He asked eagerly, his tail wagging. Sasuke inched a little away from the blonde as he shoved his face up close to his own...his cheeks reddened a little more.

"Oh..." A voice said from in front of them, and both boys stopped moving entirely to look up and see a young man wearing a long dirty shirt with a high collar that covered his face, and wore strange dark glasses. "...I apologize sir, I didn't know you were with someone..." The guy told Sasuke in a flat tone, as if he really didn't care less but had to apologize anyway.

Sasuke schooled his face into his normal stoic expression as he stood up. He humphed as he looked at the taller boy around his age, "I was leaving anyway, Shino." he answered and didn't even bother looking back to see if Naruto was following him as he left the garden.

Naruto blinked looking up at the strange boy that had chased away his master with out even meaning to. Shino was simply staring back at the demon, or at least Naruto though he was.

"Um...hello..." Naruto said a little nervously, but the guy didn't answer him...probably thought it was beneath him to talk to demons. Shuddering a little at the guy's creepy gaze...and the fact that he had a spider crawling on his arm and didn't seem to mind, Naruto turned to chase after his master...only to find that Sasuke was gone...he'd just left Naruto there all alone...

Naruto could feel instant panic rise in him...he didn't like to be alone...it reminded him of all those nights spent sitting in that cage in the dark...

Shino watched as the demon's eyes widened and his breathing became shallow...it was almost like he was hyperventilating or something...

Naruto looked around franticly. He had to find his master, but he couldn't see him anywhere, although that did not mean he couldn't smell Sasuke, right? Dropping to all fours, Naruto closed his eyes and sniffed at the ground. Yep there was Sasuke's scent right there in front of him, now all he had to do was follow the trail

Shino looked at the small demon as he crawled along the ground, face plastered to the grass trying to trace Sasuke's sent. Shino didn't even bother to shake his head at the young demon's oddness; after all he had work to do.

Naruto followed the scent to the door, and pushed it open, crawling down the hallway. Luckily there was really no one else around and Sasuke's scent was clear and strong, leading directly down the hallway, so Naruto followed it, still crawling on all fours, since the scent was stronger where Sasuke's steps had fallen. And besides, keeping his attention solely on this task kept him from thinking too hard about the fact that he was now by himself in this huge, confusing place.

Naruto stopped when he smelt someone else's scent right in front of him; it was too strong to just be someone that had passed by. Opening his eyes he found that he was staring at a pair of feet. Blinking in confusion he looked higher and higher only to find himself staring into the masked face of Kakashi who was looking down at him and Naruto just knew he was grinning.

"Hello there." Kakashi said sounding a little too happy for Naruto's taste.

"H-hello..." Naruto stuttered, ducking his eyes away from Kakashi's one visible one. "I-I'm trying to find my master..." He muttered.

Kakashi knelt in front of the blonde demon boy and placed a hand on his head. "So that's why you're crawling all over the floor like a lost puppy." He commented, grinning behind the mask. Reaching over, he touched Naruto's face and the blonde instinctively drew back a little. "Hmm...Master Sasuke certainly picked up a pretty little thing, didn't he?" Kakashi commented.

Naruto blushed at being called pretty, no one had ever called him that before at all. Kakashi drew his hand back and smiled kindly, "But you're lost right?" He asked and stood up, offering his hand to Naruto not caring that Naruto was a demon or a slave. "I bet it would be a lot faster if I just took you to your master and not have you sniff around for him, don't you think?"

Naruto looked up at him suspiciously, but he didn't smell threatening, so he let Kakashi take his hand and help him up. Naruto's knees were scraped from crawling around on the stone floor, and he had to straighten out his kimono a little while Kakashi waited patiently...he had a little book in his hands but out of the corner of his eye he was watching the little fox demon...he was very envious of Sasuke, indeed.

At last Naruto was ready, and Kakashi lead him down the hallway.

Sasuke cursed as he retraced his steps back to the garden, Naruto had not followed him at all and now was probably lost or something. 'Damn, I'm probably going to have to put a leash on him...' Sasuke thought. Although he didn't want to, it would really keep the young demon out of trouble. Dismissing the thought entirely he pulled open the doors that lead to the garden...only to find that Naruto was not there. Only Shino, and he had not even bothered looking up form his work, the guy was like that, very creepy.

Cursing again, he closed the door to the garden and stared down the long hallway, and the many hallways that branched off from it...this castle was huge...the little demon could be anywhere...what if he'd been found by Jiraiya, or something...Damn it, he should have been paying attention! Sasuke wasn't sure why he cared so much but he wanted his demon back. Now.

Sasuke had practically searched most of the castle before he had to stop and catch his breath, leaning against the library door. He was almost in a panic over the lost demon, and he didn't question why he was panicking, he just was and there was no room to think rationally at this point in time.

Sasuke was started out of his panic attack though by the sound of someone clearing their throat behind him. Damn, it was Kakashi, he could tell just form the sound of the pages flipping as he read that perverted book.

His eyes narrowed instinctively...he didn't understand why they had to pick HIM to be his representative while he grew of age to ascend to ruler ship. Turning around, he was about to yell at Kakashi for interrupting his search when he noticed a certain short blonde haired blue-eyed fox demon standing behind the silver haired man.

"I believe this belongs to you..." Kakashi was saying but Sasuke ignored him completely.

"Naruto! There you are!" He cried, relieved.

Naruto blinked once and didn't give Sasuke a chance to open his mouth again before he glomped onto his master. Sasuke sighed and rested his head on top of the blonde shock of hair, Naruto wasn't anywhere near the best servant in the world, nor did he even know the proper kind of respect to show his master, but Sasuke could not help but feel relieved to find him...of course, if anyone asked, he would flat out deny it.

"Well isn't this sweet?" Kakashi spoke up, reminding Sasuke that he was there. He glared at the silver haired man, who had that unmistakable grin under his mask. "Perhaps Sasuke has no need for a wife with this pretty little demon around..." He teased, scratching his masked chin.

Sasuke's dark eyes narrowed again, and he let go of Naruto, pushing the confused boy behind him. "Kakashi..." He said as politely as he could, disregarding the man's comment as if he hadn't even heard it. "Thank you for finding my demon, you may go back to your duties now."

Kakashi grinned, "Oh sure, whatever you say Sasuke..." he answered then leaned forwards and whispered, "Don't be too hard on him, its probably his first time."

Successfully dodging Sasuke's fist, Kakashi just grinned and retreated down the hallway laughing. Sasuke sighed and rubbed his temples, why was that man such a pervert? He was almost as bad as Jiraiya, but at least Kakashi kept to the perverted books and did not spy on the woman's baths...

Naruto watched the man walk away, confused. He looked to his master, who kind of looked like he'd just smelled something unpleasant. "...Master Sasuke...what's a...w-w...wife?"

Sasuke sighed, he should have just taken Naruto back to his room after the meeting, and he would have saved himself a lot of grief. "It's like...a mate for life." He answered quickly, hoping to get this conversation over with "Oh..." Naruto's brows knit together. "...Why doesn't master Sasuke need one?" he wondered.

Sasuke stopped and stared at the demon, he really did not know how to answer that question. He had just been told he needed a wife and had accepted it.

Naruto looked up at his master again, still confused. "Master Sasuke is just a kit, he shouldn't have a mate yet..." the demon said, of course not knowing human customs or anything.

Sasuke twitched, "I'm 17, dobe," He said with annoyance, "I was ready to marry two years ago, I'm not a kit."

Naruto peered at Sasuke, "Master is only 17? " he asked astonished at how young his master was.

"Yeah..." Sasuke raised an eyebrow, not understanding what 'only 17' meant...he was almost an adult, and should be taking control of his family's lands soon. "How old are you?" He asked, sure that the little demon had to be younger than he was, he still acted like a child.

"Naruto is..." Naruto thought about it. "...I think I've seen a little over 30 years..." He muttered. He couldn't really remember, the time he'd spent in captivity had become a timeless blur.

Sasuke stared at the demon, "You're 30?" he demanded, and Naruto nodded his head a little, Sasuke could only stare at him in disbelief. The child like demon in front of him was older then Kakashi, now that was just scary. "When...when will you be considered an adult?" Sasuke had to know, after all Naruto kept referring to himself as a kit.

Naruto's brows knitted together, he wasn't shear about when he was going to be an adult, "Ummm...mother said I could start looking for a mate when I turned one hundred..." Naruto said trying to be helpful. Having a mate didn't necessarily mean one was going to be an adult, usually when one had their first kit they were considered an adult.

Sasuke stared at him. One hundred? That meant that Naruto still had...seventy years left before he could even take a mate! By that time, Sasuke would probably be dead and gone...wait, why did he care about that anyway?

"B-but you look almost the same age as me..." Sasuke blurted out, completely taken aback by this new knowledge.

Naruto fidgeted a little. "M-mother always said I grew fast...a-and I-I'm not in my true form..." Naruto hoped he had explained it well enough for Sasuke's liking, it was hard to explain something when he didn't understand it either.

When he had been in the slavers possession none of the other demons would associate with him, and Naruto could not understand why. This usually happened when another demon would ask his age as well and then they would ignore him...it was strange.

Sasuke was silent, and Naruto feared that now Sasuke wouldn't want to speak with him anymore...maybe he was like those demons...maybe there was something wrong with him...he didn't want to lose his new master, he liked him...he fed him and didn't hit him...and Naruto felt safe with him. He glanced up nervously to find Sasuke staring at him, then lowered his eyes. He should have kept his mouth shut, now master Sasuke would hate him...

Naruto waited for either the sound of Sasuke's feet to signal that he was leaving or his voice telling Naruto to leave. But Sasuke did none of these things. Instead he heard a sigh and looked up to see his master thinking about something really hard.

Finally Sasuke looked up, apparently having given up on trying to figure something out, he humphed, "Guess I don't know as much about demons as I thought I did..." Sasuke said quietly and turned to go. Naruto dropped his eyes again, his master was leaving him, ignoring him just like the demons had... Naruto's thoughts were interrupted when Sasuke turned back to him, "Are you coming or not?" Sasuke asked, sounding annoyed.

Naruto looked up in surprise to see Sasuke looking behind him, with his arms crossed over his chest, waiting impatiently. The blonde did as he was told and rushed over to walk beside Sasuke, and nervously looked at his master out of the corner of his eye...he looked kind of upset about something...and Naruto thought it had to be him. His master was probably disappointed in him...He hung his head and quietly followed Sasuke back to his chambers.

Sasuke sighed as he shut the door behind his slave, the demon seemed to be depressed about something but Sasuke didn't have time to play 20 questions with him. Walking over to his bedchamber Sasuke pulled out some riding clothing, he had a ride around his estate every second day and today was it. It kind of annoyed him to visit all the peasants that would soon be under his care but he could not put it off for any reason other than he had a broken leg.

Sasuke ignored Naruto's bright blue eyes as he watched from the bedroom doorway, after all, they had taken a bath together, and Sasuke had to school himself not to blush about someone seeing him naked. After all, his future wife was going to have to see him naked...eventually.

After pulling on his riding clothes, Sasuke grabbed his gear and walked out of his bedchambers and across the room to the door. Naruto followed, staring up at him.

"Wh-where is Master Sasuke going?" He asked anxiously.

"I have to go out for a while." Sasuke answered.

"C-can Naruto come?" Naruto asked, not wanting to be left alone.

Sasuke considered it for a moment...but he was sure Naruto didn't know how to ride a horse and he knew what it would look like if he was riding around with the blonde on his horse with him...he had a reputation to uphold. Finally he sighed. "Not this time." He told Naruto. "Just wait here...and don't wander off."

Naruto looked down at the ground but nodded his head. After all, he was the slave and Sasuke was the master; he had to obey his master.

Without a backwards glance Sasuke left his chambers and headed to the stables.

Back in Sasuke's room, Naruto sniffed and wiped at eyes that stung. His master was ashamed of him, he didn't want to be near Naruto just as the other demons had not wanted to be near him either.

He stood there in front of the door for a while, trying to hold back the tears...he'd only had a master for less than a day and already he'd managed to make him hate him...he didn't want Sasuke to hate him, but how could Sasuke like a slave that couldn't get anything right?...Naruto was a bad slave...

He sunk to the floor and covered his face with his hands, crying. He missed his mother...he was all alone now...

TBC…