Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Warnings: SasuNaru. cliché-ness O.o;; shounen-ai, implied yaoi, mild cursing, violence (since there's police involved), fluff at the weirdest places/times, sappiness and… yeah XD This installment is short, but at least it's much longer than the previous update XD

Credits: Idea of someone kidnapping Naruto's/other's loved ones was from a Thief!Takao fanfic :) I forgot the name/author, but I think I got influenced by that :) Though, of course, this would be different from that XD

Authoress' Notes:Sorry for the delay. Announcements at my profile page :) Thanks to everybody who email-ed, PM'd, IM'd me. More of the authoress' notes on the prologue :D

Promotions: Please join the C2 for the OTP in Naruto: SasuNaru and NaruSasu: SasuNaru Shounen ai and Yaoi Heaven. Please join my forum for Filipino yaoi-shounen-ai enthusiasts. Links are on my profile.


It was very strange, Naruto decided, as he looked down on his bare hands, and on his clothes. He didn't go out without wearing his thief-costume anymore, and yet, here he was, standing in the middle of a park, wearing clothes that he normally wore when he was still free.

When he still wasn't the infamous Phantom Thief.

He shook his head, letting his golden bangs sway with the motion. There was no use of longing for the normalcy that he once had. That they once had. Ever since Orochimaru came into their lives, he was forced to become a sneaky shadow, a dark thief—

Naruto suddenly whirled into motion, as soon as he heard a set of footsteps arrive. He readied himself to run. He turned around quickly, and he found himself face to face with the famous prodigy detective.

Uchiha Sasuke.

Ever since Orochimaru came into their lives, he was forced to become a Phantom Thief, but he met Sasuke in the process.

…And since when did Detective Uchiha-san become Sasuke, anyway?

"Sasuke…" The blond mumbled, stepping back slightly. The sky was clear and numerous stars winked down at them. Naruto averted his eyes away from the detective's figure, only for him to see the full moon that illuminated the park.

Full moon…

It was a full moon when Naruto kissed his chaser.

Naruto longed for his costume—at least, it would mask the pink blush that colored his cheeks at the thought.

"…Naruto…" Sasuke uttered, stretching a pale hand towards him. Blue eyes widened in shock and happiness. The detective called him by his name! …Wait, how did he know his name?!!

"You…" Naruto took another step back. How the hell did the detective know his name?!! He wasn't supposed to! He was supposed to chase and chase, but he wasn't supposed to catch Naruto! Not yet!

The blond's mind was rushing with thoughts of how to deny the name, on how to run, on how to make excuses, on how to escape. Yet, his lips parted, unbidden, and formed words that Naruto himself was surprised to say.

"Sasuke, I've fallen in love with you!"


A Thief's Kiss

Chapter Two - King of Diamonds


"…You still remember why we're doing this, right?" Shikamaru patiently asked the blond that was seated on the bed.

"Of course I do!" The blond sullenly retorted, with hands fisted on his blanket-covered lap. Naruto's head was bowed down, and his shoulders were shaking. The genius strategist had no doubt that Naruto was vividly recalling their reason for these crimes.

Shikamaru sighed. "…Then you know that just a little more, and then it's done, right?" The man known for his laziness moved away from his position near the bedroom door, and offered a comforting pat on the blond's shoulder.

"…I know that…" Naruto mumbled, with shoulders continuing to shake uncontrollably—at anger towards Orochimaru and the anguish of what happened to his loved ones.

"…I know that…" Naruto repeated, glaring at his fisted hands determinedly.

The comforting hand suddenly turned into a serious grip. Shikamaru gave their phantom thief a cool stare. "…You can't get distracted," He warned the blond, not pulling his hand away.

The bowed head lifted up and met Shikamaru's stare evenly. There were no traces of the high school-dead last inside those azure eyes. There were only determination and a hint of guilt.

"I won't," Naruto said strongly, shrugging Shikamaru's hand off.

The older male couldn't help but let out a derisive snort and shot Naruto a reprimanding glare. "Then who was the one shouting 'Sasuke, I've fallen in love with you!' in their sleep?" Shikamaru questioned with his wiseass voice.

Though Naruto kept his head turned, the strategist could still see that even Naruto's ears turned red.

"…Ah? No denial?" Shikamaru asked wisely. Naruto stayed silent.

"So, you've really fallen—"

And that was all Shikamaru was able to say, since his face was met with a barrage of pillows that Naruto threw, just to shut him up.


"So, was the Phantom Thief really at the church?" Kakashi asked his colleague brightly, though he looked like he wasn't really interested with the answer.

Sasuke suppressed the urge to pour his coffee on the perverted pocketbook Kakashi was currently engrossed with. As soon as the thought arrived, however, Sasuke suddenly felt that the book wasn't worth his caffeine supply for the morning.

"Yes, he was," The young detective answered stiffly, still sore about the fact that the thief escaped… again.

"…Oh?" Kakashi sounded genuinely interested. Sasuke frowned at him. The silver-haired man seemed awfully enthusiastic when it's about his failures, or his personal life. It must be Kakashi's idea of revenge, since Sasuke always gives him tons of work.

"Then it's good that our Sasuke-chan can read the thief's mind!" Kakashi exclaimed in a cheery voice, seemingly oblivious to the death glare that the younger male shot him.

If there was something about Kakashi that Sasuke hated most, it wasn't his constant lateness, nor his unwavering perverted-ness, nor his irritating laziness. It was the annoying-as-hell-not-to-mention-reputation-degrading nicknames that Kakashi seemed fond of.

"Stop the Sasuke-chan!" The younger detective snapped.

Kakashi actually paused. Before he launched another attack at Sasuke. "Sooo, did you and the phantom thief walk down the aisle?" The silver-haired man asked enthusiastically, and without waiting for an answer, continued on with his tirade. "Aah, Sasuke-chan just got married with the phantom thief! Oh, the exciting tale of forbidden love! Oh—"

"Shut up." Sasuke icily commanded. Kakashi stopped. But that's because he knew that Sasuke was really serious now.

"It really is forbidden, Sasuke," Kakashi solemnly informed him.

And then, he said a set of words that he regretted using, but he knew he should say anyway. "Focus on surpassing Itachi, for the moment. And that means catching the phantom thief."

The glare that Sasuke sent him could have melted diamond. "I know."

Kakashi watched Sasuke angrily storm out of his private office.

"It really is an exciting tale of forbidden love…"


"Ehh? Are you a new student?" An annoying female asked him in a flirtatious voice, while she hooked an arm gently around Sasuke's elbow. The Uchiha shot her an irritated look, but she seemed oblivious with his displeasure.

Sasuke strongly held back the urge to roll his eyes, and to punch this girl. He mentally congratulated himself for accomplishing such a feat, as he made his way towards his seat. Getting in the Blue Ridge University and being a registered student wasn't as difficult as he predicted. However, he seemed to have forgotten that college had packs of irritating mindless bimbos that did nothing but try to shove their disinteresting, feminine bodies at him.

…Did he just say feminine bodies were disinteresting?

Sasuke frowned. Oh well.

A kind-looking teacher entered the room, smiling warmly at the students assembled in her class. She was introducing a transfer student, Sai, to everyone, while at least half of the class' population drooled.

The young Uchiha scrutinized Sai's appearance. His first thought was that this is the phantom thief, but then the idea was discarded immediately. After all, he trusted that the phantom thief wouldn't be this easy to find.

And, Sasuke mentally added, this Sai didn't cause him the tingling feeling that he got whenever he saw the Phantom Thief.


He was walking down the crowded hallway and dodging various girls' hands efficiently, when he suddenly saw a pair of ocean-blue eyes. Sasuke's heart skipped a beat, while his mind screamed at him to move, quickly, and chase the guy. Blue eyes, blue eyes…! The thief has blue eyes!

He could barely see the person's golden hair from this distance, but Sasuke had no qualms about pushing people aside hurriedly. He ignored the various shrieks of 'Hey!' and 'Ouch!', while his legs ran forward.

He was getting closer, and closer, and closer—

He stretched out a pale hand, and steadfastly grabbed the thief's arm.

It was soft and… pale?

Sasuke stared at the person he caught.

…A girl?

"…You…" Sasuke stared quizzically at the blonde girl with blue eyes.

It wasn't the same blue eyes, Sasuke realized.

He pulled his arm hastily back.

"Yes?" The girl asked brightly. Her smile was radiant, innocent, too innocent, but it seemed… fake. "Wow, you're cute! Are you here to ask me out? I'm Yamanaka Ino, and—" She continued to babble on cheerily, while Sasuke's lips thinned into a mechanical smile.

"…I'm sorry." The detective bowed down respectfully and inched away from her.

Ino waited until Sasuke was far away from her before she sighed tiredly and ran a hand through her platinum blonde hair. "Damn, he knows Naruto better than we thought…"


As soon as his 'classes' ended, Sasuke made his way to inspect every single room in the university. He had to admit that he was feeling excited that he would get another opportunity to see… uh, catch the phantom thief.

"I'll catch him this time for sure…" The raven-haired male muttered below his breath, eyes darting around to pinpoint the thief's whereabouts. He was a bit mad about mistaking that lanky girl earlier for the phantom thief, but he was determined not to make the same mistake—any sort of mistake—again.

His footsteps were hard and crisp, as he hurriedly checked room after room, mentally taking tally of the places he inspected. His ears were also ready to pick up any sound, but all he could hear at the moment were his thoughts, his own footsteps and the hum of his controlled breathing.

He was deep into his thoughts, and he didn't hear the set of footsteps that came –impossible! How could he not hear a set of footsteps? Or maybe the other was just stealthy?!- and he crashed solidly into the other.

"Oww! That hurt!" The other whined loudly, while Sasuke simply groaned in pain. Damn it, he crashed against somebody? What's wrong with him?! Maybe he should stop thinking about the phantom thief that deeply—it only caused him accidents.

"I'm sorry," Sasuke automatically apologized, not because he was actually sorry, but because he couldn't really show his uncaring personality that freely here.

"Ah, it's…" Here, the blond Sasuke crashed into paused abruptly. "It's okay…"

"I'm sorry," Sasuke repeated, before his mind finally caught up with him. He stared into the other's blue, blue eyes.

The blue-eyed blond shifted uneasily beneath his dark stare. "Anou sa, I should get going…"

There was that feeling, that tingling feeling, again, and Sasuke felt the sensation of butterflies fluttering against his skin. Is he the one, Sasuke asked himself, and before he knew it, before the other could get away, his hand stretched out and held a tanned arm in an unyielding grip.

"H-Hey!" The blond exclaimed, tugging harshly back. "What's the big deal?!" Sasuke noticed that those blue eyes were averted from him.

Sasuke's other hand gripped the other arm tightly. The hallway was dark, and it was getting late. Sasuke could actually hear his heart pounding, his thoughts echoing in the vacant corridor. Even in the mild darkness, the other's fascinating blue eyes still shone. Sasuke gripped the other's arms tighter.

"You," Sasuke breathed out, leaning close to invade the blond's personal space, "Have we met before?"

There was a dangerous glitter inside Sasuke's eyes. The blond tried to pull his arms away again, to no avail.

Sasuke leaned closer, until his breath was warming the other's face. The blond visibly froze at his proximity.

"Are you the Phantom Thief?" Sasuke questioned darkly, his voice silkily weaving around the two of them, with their arms growing numb with the pressure they were applying.

The shorter man sighed deeply, and his shoulders sagged. Sasuke raised an eyebrow. He was correct? Well, he had a strong hunch, but that was only basing on the eye color. But if this is the phantom thief…

"I'm not," The blond said shortly, before successfully surprising the Uchiha and pulling his arms away. Sasuke gritted his teeth. Escaping, huh?

In a burst of motion and energy, Sasuke held out his hand again, and tugged desperately back. Even Sasuke was surprised with the strength he applied, and he became off-balance, but he didn't relinquish his hold on the suspect.

The blond fell against Sasuke's body with a loud 'Oww, let me go, bastard!', while one tanned arm flailed around desperately as they bough sought to regain their balance, and the control the situation. Well, Sasuke was still in a state of shock, while the blond wasn't the most un-clumsy person around, so the flailing arm actually caused more harm than good.

As soon as Sasuke regained control of his footing, the other's hand hit the back of his neck –hard- and pushed him forward.

Forward? But collapsing forward meant…

And so, Sasuke lost that momentarily-gained balance, and fell forward, as his mind could only watch, horrified, at the dazed motion that the two stumbled into. The Uchiha wanted to squeeze his eyes shut as he fell towards the other's face, but if this was really the phantom thief…

Sasuke ignored his rational mind and Kakashi's statement from the day before.

And he let himself fall forward, without trying to fight what's going to inevitably happen next.

This time, he was the one that initiated their second kiss.


To Be Continued

…Erm, hello? Hahaha. Sorry for this chapter's shortness (well, this is an on-the-spot-writing, after all) and for the extremely late updates –dodges random projectiles- I've been working hard on my GPA so yeah… not much time left for fanfic-writing :l Sorry, sorry. But I promise to not abandon my fics:)

Please do check out my profile/my LJ for more updates:D

Fangirling: So what if I'm a SasuNaru supporter? Sasuke-after-timeskip, MARRY ME!!! LOL

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