Thank you everyone for the favorites and alerts. And especially, my thanks to the reviewers.

I will be going on a week-long trip to Japan in two days. Since I've got this chapter and one more written, I decided to just post one a day until I left, and then hopefully by the time I get back I will have written more. That's the plan, anyway.

Enjoy these next two chapters until then!

Of course, they had to meet at the bridge the next day. That was the best – the worst thing about being teammates. It meant they were shoved together constantly no matter what they did, and Sasuke didn't actually have to stretch himself outside of his comfort zone if he felt like spending some time with his one and only friend who wasn't actually his friend at all and was just an absolute idiot, a piece of shit and not worth even thinking about in the first place.

…Also, he was late. Kakashi-level late, and he'd left Sasuke alone with Sakura for two hours and counting. This was hell. She kept nattering on about… shopping or something. On and on and on and on and (he was going to be driven insane) on and –

"Where is Naruto, anyway?" she asked, and Sasuke gave a violent twitch. Seeing as this was the first reaction she'd gotten out of him in the past forty minutes, Sakura pressed the point, laughing scornfully. "That idiot, he probably forgot we had to meet today. Honestly, Naruto's so stupid, isn't he?"

Sasuke closed his eyes as tight as he could. "No, he's not. He's… very clever."

Sakura blinked. "Huh?"

He didn't even know why he was bothering to talk to her; she'd never give up now. But Sasuke felt compelled to explain, to justify that he wasn't the only one Naruto could fool, it wasn't his fault that he felt this… hurt. So he opened his eyes and asked Sakura, "How much do you really know about Naruto?"

She smiled tremulously, a hint of a blush on her cheeks. "N-not that much! I mean, I don't care about him, Sasuke. For me… there's only you…"

"Exactly," Sasuke snapped, ignoring the latter part of her reply. "No one knows anything about him. And he pretends to be this – this stupid cheerful, incompetent idiot, when actually all along he's…" just pretending. Not really your friend. Much smarter than you thought, much smarter, because he's really got you this time, hasn't he?

Sakura didn't care about any of that. It didn't affect her. She wouldn't understand – and why did Sasuke even want her to in the first place? Even if she tried to comfort Sasuke, he knew that he'd only shove her away. Anyway, Sakura was just a fangirl. It wasn't like she really knew him. He'd never let her get close enough.

"…Nevermind," Sasuke muttered, turning away from Sakura once more. "Forget about Naruto."

Kakashi burst out of the woods then, dashing up to them at a speed that was truly frightening. Sasuke reeled back, torn between wondering what on earth had their sensei moving so urgently, and why Naruto still hadn't arrived.

"What were you two kiddies just talking about?" Kakashi asked, a little too nonchalant. "I thought I heard you say 'Naruto'?"

Sakura was too surprised by his sudden appearance to do the usual 'you're late!' shout, and readily answered. "You got it in one, sensei! We… Sasuke was just telling me about Naruto." She blushed, presumably at the thought of Sasuke telling her anything.

Kakashi's eye narrowed, glaring ferociously at Sasuke. He seemed absolutely furious, despite his calm voice, and Sasuke found himself pressing back up against the rail of the bridge behind him, trying in vain to get away. "Oh really? What were you telling her, Sasuke~?"

"I – nothing!" Sasuke said, wondering just why Kakashi was so interested in his opinion of Naruto, anyway. And where was that idiot in the first place? "Just that he's not… It was nothing."

Sakura had no idea what was going on, but it was clear their teacher was angry at Sasuke, and so she leapt to her crush's defense. "Really, it was nothing! Sasuke was just saying that Naruto's not really stupid after all. I – I mean, he passed the genin exams so he can't have been that much of an idiot, right? That must've been what he meant. Sasuke's so nice…"

A long, tense moment followed this statement, while Sakura swooned to herself and Sasuke sweated under the force of Kakashi's glare. Times like these, he really could understand that his sensei was one of the village's most elite ninja… he wasn't even releasing any killing intent, but Sasuke still felt like there was a sword at his throat.

Then all of a sudden, Kakashi relaxed, eye curving up into a grin. "Well, well, that's great isn't it? It's so good to appreciate your teammates. Naruto did work very hard to graduate. Actually, all of you have been working so hard, you get today off! Enjoy the holiday!"

"Oh!" Sakura squealed, too excited by the prospect of being left alone with Sasuke to bother yelling at Kakashi for making them report to the bridge and waste half the day before actually telling them they had it off. "Sasuke, since we're already here together, do you want to-"

"Actually, I have to speak with Sasuke," Kakashi interrupted. He didn't bother to wait for either of his students to react to this statement, stepping forward and gripping onto Sasuke's arm. A swirl of leaves lifted up around them – the world shifted –

And then Kakashi was pushing Sasuke down to sit on a bed. They were inside a small room, with little more furnishing than that bed, just a few shelves and a desk. But judging by the photos Sasuke could see on the windowsill next to the bed, this must be his sensei's apartment… It was tiny. But… why was he here?

Kakashi sighed, leaning up against the desk. "At least you had the sense not to tell Sakura. But, if you've really figured out the truth about Naruto, you should have come to me first. No matter what you think you understand, attacking your teammate is not okay. I think you might have begun to realize that, since you stopped at the last minute… But the fact that you even tried worries me."

Sasuke's eyes grew wider the longer Kakashi spoke. Was this… about him capturing Naruto yesterday? But that didn't make any sense – they'd had much worse fights before, physically speaking anyway, and Kakashi had always waved it off as sparring. And… was he really going to have to explain his behaviour? Sasuke couldn't do that! He could never admit that he'd – why he had been so angry.

…And what did Kakashi mean, 'come to me first'? What did it matter to him how little Naruto really cared?

Utterly confused, Sasuke began, "No, you don't understand – I wasn't – he tricked me –"

"I think you are the one who doesn't understand." Kakashi leaned forward to look Sasuke straight in the eye, and spoke slowly and clearly so he could not be mistaken. "Naruto may contain the nine-tailed fox, but that's all. He is not the Kyuubi, he just has it sealed inside him – and he is not evil, so you've got no right to go after him. Even if he were, as soon as you realized you should have reported to your superior, not… Sasuke?"

It felt like the world was crashing down around him, everything he'd thought he knew uprooting itself and making so much sense. "Oh, kami," Sasuke whispered. "Naruto's… the Kyuubi is sealed inside of him?"

Kakashi stopped dead. "You – you didn't know?"

"No," Sasuke muttered, still in a daze as his brain worked overtime to acclimatize itself to this new reality. "I mean, I noticed how he healed overnight and everything but I thought – I thought his dad was part of some clan in another village, and his mother gave him her name and took him here – I thought he was born from an affair and it was a bloodline, not…"

Kakashi seemed a bit dazed himself now. "That's… a very good cover story. I'll have to remember that. But – just to clarify – you really didn't know? I really did just reveal an S-class secret to you when you had no previous knowledge of it whatsoever?"

"…Y-yeah," Sasuke muttered, staring up at Kakashi, who was now groaning and holding his head in his hands, muttering about execution. "But – why did you think I knew already? I didn't do anything that…"

He stopped, suddenly realizing how this situation had come about. Kakashi confirmed his thoughts only a moment later, growling, "Naruto… I'm going to kill that brat! He was all panicked, said you knew and you'd attacked him for it – and then I thought you told Sakura, I thought there was such a leak in my team and everyone would know – and it was me. I told you. I'm in such deep shit…"

Sasuke couldn't care less about his sensei's screw-up. "Where's Naruto? I – I have to talk to him."

Kakashi lifted his head a bit, and eyed Sasuke cautiously. "You… do understand what I said earlier, right? Naruto's just a jailer. He isn't a demon."

Sasuke snorted. "How could that dumbass be a legendary demon? If he were so all-powerful, you'd think he'd be able to beat me in a spar once or twice. I get it, I won't attack him, I just – I need to talk to him. Where does he live?"

"…Hm." Kakashi squinted at Sasuke. "You don't know? How do you feel about a trade? I'll give you Naruto's address if you swear not to tell that I told you Naruto's secret. You figured it out on your own, got it? …I really would rather not be executed."

"Sure, whatever," Sasuke spat, standing up quickly. He felt jittery, rushed and urgent. He had to see Naruto now. "Where can I find him?"

Kakashi's eye curved in a smile, and he scribbled something on a piece of paper. "Here's his address. Just remember, Sasuke… Naruto is very sensitive about this. Be careful with what you say to him."

"Whatever," Sasuke snarled, snatching the paper and dashing out the door with all the speed his ninja training had instilled in him.

Kakashi watched him go, and smiled to himself. "Ah, friendship… Well, if that's all okay, then I guess I can go back to more important matters!" With a perverted giggle, he dove onto his bed and pulled a small orange book out of his pocket to read.

-xxx-

Sasuke had to ask for directions twice, but eventually he found the right building and headed up to Naruto's apartment. The area wasn't the best, yes, but it was just shabby rather than being truly broken-down; not too bad for an orphan living primarily off of Genin wages. Still, the peeling paint and weak-looking door wasn't what Sasuke was used to.

He knocked on his teammate's door; waited. There was a long pause. Sasuke knocked again.

"I'm coming!" Naruto shouted from the other side of the thin wood, and then, a few seconds later, the door slid aside to reveal –

Naruto. The same Naruto that Sasuke had been training with every day, albeit in a simple t-shirt and shorts rather than the jumpsuit he usually wore to training. He didn't look any different in essentials though, as Sasuke had half-expected him to; only the whisker-like scars on his face took on a new meaning now, and his entire face was steadily draining of color.

"S-Sasuke," he whispered in what seemed to be utter horror.

Sasuke's stomach twisted in simultaneous relief and also some impossible emotion similar to realization.

"Let me in," Sasuke demanded, and then when Naruto showed no sign of moving, he repeated: "Let me in."

Naruto stepped back blankly, and Sasuke brushed past him. Once the door was shut behind them, Sasuke took a deep breath. The air in Naruto's apartment smelled like stale ramen.

"The Kyuubi," Sasuke said quietly. "It's… been in you this whole time?"

Naruto looked close to tears for some reason. He nodded, then swallowed hard and whispered, "Don't hate me. It's not me, I didn't even know, it's not – I'm not –"

"You never told me," Sasuke said, cutting through Naruto's jumble of words easily. "In – in Wave, was that how…?"

Naruto nodded frantically, hands balling into fists at his sides, and said, "But that's the only time – I can't do that on purpose, I don't want to, I – don't hate me." His face grew firm with a resolve that, on second glance, seemed incredibly fragile. "Don't."

The Kyuubi held the power to destroy most of Konoha with ease. Tearing down exemplary shinobi left and right without a thought, it was the most powerful of all nine legendary Bijuu. And yet, it was contained – in Naruto of all people, this boy in front of Sasuke with such a brittle sort of bravery on his face, so prepared to break under Sasuke's disgust.

A smile spread across Sasuke's face, completely uncontrollable. "Well, obviously you can't do that on purpose," he drawled, watching with a sort of burgeoning joy as Naruto's bracing-for-the-worst-and-determined-to-withstand-it expression transformed into shock. "If you could, you'd have actually beat me once, Naruto."

Naruto was gaping now, astonished by Sasuke's smooth tone, and he went on, heart leaping: "I mean, if you really held the power that the Yondaime sacrificed his life to contain, then I'd expect you to at least be able to make a decent bunshin, but no~. That's a little too challenging for a dead-last like y-oof!"

Sasuke stumbled back two steps, his shoulders colliding with the door. Naruto had barreled into him – a tackle? Sasuke thought, bewildered – and now his arms were wrapping around Sasuke's sides, his head pressing in to Sasuke's shoulder… What kind of a hold was this?

The answer came after a moment, with a small shudder and squeeze from Naruto: this was no attack. This was a hug.

…Oh.

Instantly, Sasuke's face flushed red. He stood awkwardly still, hands floating in midair, suddenly hyper-aware of the brush of Naruto's hair on his collarbone. And of course, of course now he thought of those whispers, all those little 'I love you's, and he felt all too hot, and maybe a bit shaky.

Naruto was muttering incomprehensibly into his neck, hands clenching open and closed against his back, obviously experiencing such a profound form of relief that it bordered on euphoria; and yet here stood Sasuke, hands still hovering dumbly just over Naruto's shoulders. Red to his ears, barely breathing, and somehow not even thinking about the Kyuubi because Naruto's breath was warm and slightly wet against his neck and for some reason it was making him shiver.

The one-sided embrace ended after an interminably long time, yet somehow all too soon; Naruto pulled back, blushing, yet with a wild grin and bright eyes. "You're my best friend," he laughed abruptly, as though the hug hadn't been bad enough.

Sasuke swallowed hard. "Rival," he was quick to correct.

Naruto only laughed. "That too."

"You… you're such an idiot," Sasuke hissed, groping behind himself for the door handle. Finding it, he quickly escaped out into the hallway, still feeling as though he was burning all through.

Naruto didn't follow him; the last Sasuke saw of him that day was through the closing door, and Naruto had sprawled on his back on the floor to close his eyes and just grin, and Sasuke's insides leaped in what he was pretty sure was fear.