A/N: Thanks for all the reviews last chapter! It was awesome! O_o

I'm still sick and instead of studying for a test I rather write because studying sucks major ass. Anyways, this chapter is written in the past, which is the reason for italics. If it's not written in italics then that means it's the present.

Warnings: Extreme vulgar language! (not suited to the innocent), mentions of prostitution, drugs, violence and other naughty things

Disclaimer: I've wished upon dozens of stars and my dream of owning Naruto has yet to come true. Whoever's running the cosmos has some fucked up humor.

The same tricks that, that once fooled me

They won't get you anywhere

I'm not the same kid from your memory

Well, now I can fend for myself

*Ignorance- Paramore

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Naruto lay on his side staring at his closed door. His bed was comfortable and he was indeed tired but sleep would not overtake him. The one time he allowed it, it would not comply. Naruto cursed the Sandman for holding a grudge against him and snuggled closer into his blankets trying to steal even more warmth.

He shut his cerulean eyes tightly and could only hope he would fall asleep. He knew though that tonight would be another sleepless night. Tonight would be just like any other night when Sasuke wasn't around. It frustrated the blond, not that Sasuke wasn't here but that he needed Sasuke to be here in order to sleep.

The blond still didn't understand why Tsunade wouldn't allow Naruto to go on the mission as well. Sure he had been shot, but who hasn't? It wasn't even a severe wound, just a graze… okay maybe not a graze but still it wasn't that bad! He only bled every now and then.

Naruto touched the bandages wrapped around his chest and winced slightly when he applied pressure to the wound near his heart. His fingers came back red and he knew that he should change the bandages but was too tired to get up.

The blond glanced at the clock. 3:35. Great, it was fucking 3:35 a.m and he was still awake.

Despite his body groaning in protest Naruto got out of bed and held his chest in pain. The blood was seeping through the bandages and he didn't feel like getting his sheets dirty again. He flicked on the bathroom light and groaned again as his eyes took a few seconds to adjust to the change in the lighting.

He grabbed the gauze he had set conveniently on the counter, knowing he would need to change it throughout the day. Discarding his old bandage he looked at the wound. The hole was smaller than most normal gunshots, considering he had been shot at from a distance. Bloody tissue was trying to escape from the stitches that Tsunade had replaced so many times just because Naruto kept ripping them. His stitches had torn a little again and there was a blackish tint to his blood.

The scene would've disgusted any normal human being but Naruto wasn't a normal human being. He was an assassin and assassins' lived around guns so naturally gun wounds were to be expected. It didn't mean that Naruto couldn't hold a grudge towards the person who incapacitated him for quite a while, making it impossible to go on missions with his comrades. The fear that they wouldn't come back alive was eating away at him; he was losing sleep and not feeling Sasuke's cool body besides his wanted to make the blond cry. Of course Naruto didn't cry because showing emotions like that is a weakness. To show people that you care for others can be used against you and that was even worse than being killed yourself.

Wrapping the bandage around his chest was more difficult than Naruto remembered. His hands were shaking and as he glanced in his mirror he realized tears were rolling down his scarred, tan cheeks. It wasn't from the pain but from thinking of his comrades on a dangerous mission that he wasn't allowed to take part in.

"Shit." He gasped and dropped the bandage, gripping the sink for support. The rest of the gauze unwound itself as it slowly rolled away from the bathroom and only stopping as it hit the opposite wall. "Fuck." Sobs were trying to escape from his throat but Naruto refused to let them come all the way through so it sounded like he was choking a bit. He sank down to the ground and leaned against the cupboard, more tears leaking from his even bluer eyes now. (1)

Naruto willed the tears to stop but they wouldn't, they refused to let up. He was pathetic. People went on missions all the time, so why was he crying about what might happen? His friends were probably well and alive and he was just overreacting. Naruto could only feel disgust towards himself. This is not how an assassin should act but Naruto didn't want to be an assassin at the moment. He wanted to be human.

"If you're in that much pain, you should go see Tsunade." A velvety voice offered. Naruto glanced up at the other occupant in the room and almost let out a cry of relief as he realized who it was.

Sasuke stood in the doorway holding the rest of the gauze, no emotion on his pale face but Naruto knew better than to look at his face. He looked into his eyes and could only see concern.

Naruto didn't answer as he continued to look at the raven. Without so much as a sound Sasuke crossed the room and began finishing Naruto's gauze wrapping from before. The blond stayed quiet as Sasuke pinned the last piece of gauze to another piece to secure it to Naruto's body. Sasuke looked into Naruto's eyes and wiped away his tears gently.

"Crying isn't like you dobe." Naruto was too tired to yell at the raven for calling him such a degrading name so he settled for smiling and seeking Sasuke's lips with his own.

The kiss wasn't hungry or needy like the kisses they usually shared were but it was slow, passionate and full of affection. Full of love. When they finally broke apart, Naruto buried his head deep into Sasuke's chest and held back his sobs of relief that the Uchiha was alive and well and was not going to leave Naruto. He would never leave him; Sasuke would always be around to kiss Naruto like they just kissed.

"Promise you won't leave me." Naruto whispered, looking up into Sasuke's onyx eyes for confirmation. Sasuke's eyes didn't betray him as he responded; "I'll always be here to pick up the pieces for you Naruto." They kissed again and it was just as beautiful as before. Naruto never would've guessed that someday they would never be able to kiss like that again.

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"The stitches can come out for real this time." Tsunade reported as she inspected Naruto's stitched up chest.

"Finally! That took too god damn long!" Naruto flopped back on the bed, exasperated.

"That's because you kept ripping your stitches out brat!" Tsunade snapped, grabbing scissors from the counter. Naruto sat up again as Tsunade cut one of the stitches and pulled on it gently. The rest followed the first and came out nice and gently.

Naruto grinned down at his stitch-free chest and jumped off the bed, only to fall back a moment later from dizziness.

"Take it easy brat. You just got your stitches removed. It'll be a while before you're fully recovered, considering all the damage you did while you were recovering before." Tsunade explained, throwing the gross string into the garbage and putting the scissors back on the counter.

"Yeah yeah. Can I go on a mission?" Naruto dismissed the blond woman's words.

Tsunade's eye twitched as she answered, "I just said it'd be a while before you're fully recovered so no missions."

"But Tsunade ba-chan-" Naruto whined.

"No buts brat." She glared. "No missions and that's final."

Naruto pouted cutely and tried to think of a way to make Tsunade say yes. "What if I only do information gathering?"

"You know that always leads to you pissing someone off and having them shoot at you." Tsunade reminded the blond.

"I promise to be good." Naruto pleaded. Tsunade was tempted to give in by the pleading look in the blonds' eyes. He had been out of commission for so long and Tsunade could sympathize with that. Not being able to do anything while you're loved ones were out there was difficult. It was more difficult than anyone could understand.

After looking the blond over for a good minute Tsunade sighed and raked her hand through her own blond locks. "Okay." Before Naruto could say a word Tsunade yelled, "BUT! There are conditions!"

Naruto just nodded feverishly and did a small happy dance.

"First, you may not keep a weapon on you." She silenced the blond with a look before he could interrupt. "I don't want to give the enemies any more reason to shoot you and I know you can wiggle your way out of anything with your words."

"Second I want you to be in sight of your teammates at all times. Whether it is Sai, Sakura, Kakashi, or Sasuke. I want one of them to know where you are."

"Third… I want you to live. Understand?" Naruto grinned and hugged Tsunade.

"Thank you ba-chan."

The woman hugged Naruto back and muttered, "I told you not to call me that brat."

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My job is simple. Getting kids hooked on drugs is easy enough. Offer them something strong enough and they come back sooner or later. I get paid a lot of money for it too; the boss is generous to those who are loyal. The only problem with the drug dealing business is the psychological aspect. When I was a newbie I couldn't sleep at night knowing I was ruining kids' lives, but as I became more used to the routine I convinced myself that the kids had a choice in their decisions and I was just putting pressure on them. If they really wanted to resist they could. It helped. It helped me through everything that was eating away at my mind, that's why when I see a cute blond kid I feel no remorse in trying to recruit him.

"Hey kid." I called out softly from the alley. The blond turned to me with the most amazing blue eyes I've ever seen. He was short with spiky golden blond locks and whisker-like scars on his face. He was beautiful and a little regret flitted across my face but I quickly went back to the job at hand. My job was more important than listening to my conscience nagging at me.

He pointed to himself innocently and I nodded in answer. Confusion was written all over his face as he made his way over to me. "You need something?" See there was that damn innocence again. This may be harder than I thought.

"Are you interested in buying?" I offered with a devilish smile marring my features.

"Buy what?" He cocked his head to the side.

Did I really have to spell it out? The look on his face told me that yes, I did. "Drugs."

"Oh." He replied calmly. I waited for a response but got none.

"So?"

"I've never really bought any before." That's the one thing you never do when buying drugs, never admit you've never done it before because then they can charge you a shit load of money.

"Would you like to learn?" I pressured, gazing at the kid through inviting eyes.

"No thanks. I rather get information." He smiled pleasantly and my own confusion broke through my façade.

"Wha-" And that's when I noticed the little red dot on my chest. My eyes widened a fraction and I knew that if I attempted to pull my gun on the blond then I would be shot and that was not happening.

"You're not too observant are you?" He giggled, staring at me in an amused fashion.

"Who are you?" I growled.

He just smiled, "You don't want to know who I am but I want to know all about you and your boss." My anger was reaching a boiling point. Even though I had no way of knowing this kids intentions it still angered me. How could such a brat best me?

"And what if I say no?"

Without missing a beat he replied, "Then I have my friend kill you." Sweat trickled down the back of my neck as the red dot moved over my heart.

The blond laughed silently as he asked, "Do you fear death?

I gritted my teeth together and forced out, "What do you want to know?

"Everything."

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Sasuke watched as Naruto walked away with the drug dealer and kept the red dot pointed on his back just in case he decided to turn on Naruto. He knew that once the two were out of site that the blond would pull out his own gun and use it to keep the dealer in line. The two disappeared behind a corner and Sasuke knew it was time to follow them. He left the sniper on the roof, planning on coming back for it later, and slipping his pistol into the back of his pants. He climbed down the fire escape and jumped the last 10 feet. Instead of following them directly he headed down the main road and looked down every alley until he spotted them heading into a back door in a surprisingly good looking building. Drug dealers usually chose run down places for their order of operations so this must be more than it seems. Shit.

Sasuke slowed down to a walk and made his way to a café across the street. It was too early for him to follow Naruto into the building so he would have to settle with waiting. Doing some surveillance wouldn't be bad either. Sasuke ordered some coffee and pretended to just people watch but was secretly only watching a certain group of people. It was pathetic how many drug dealers were situated around the building, they didn't even bother to try and hide their guns. They acted like they owned the town and it pissed Sasuke off to no end.

Sasuke sipped at his coffee and that's when he saw it. The small opening that the idiots had made for him. A kid who crashed his skateboard into a fruit stand distracted all the four or five guys guarding the building. This was his chance and no hesitation was allowed. Sasuke sprinted as stealthily as he could and slid into the building just as one guy began turning around.

When the waitress returned to collect Sasuke's money, the man was already gone. Leaving his cold cup of coffee behind and nothing else.

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Naruto could faintly hear the sound of dripping water. He wasn't sure if the sound was waking him up or the intense pain he was feeling on the side of his head.

Cerulean eyes cracked open and the blond allowed a low groan to escape from his pink lips. Darkness met him and his body felt dispatched from his conscience, the only thing he could feel was that searing pain.

Disoriented, Naruto tried to remember what happened but his mind was much too foggy to depict any information. The dripping of water continued and Naruto's eyes began to adjust to the poor lighting. The only light source was a small crack in the wall and even then it wasn't much light but it was enough to see two feet in front of himself. Naruto couldn't see where the water was coming from but he had a feeling that he underground near a sewer and the water was seeping through the walls.

A loud bang came from outside his room and Naruto winced at the extra pain added to his pounding head. He could hear footsteps slapping against water and could tell they were approaching him. In normal circumstances he would've pretended to be asleep but he was in too much pain to care. If the guy wanted to kill him then by all means please.

The door to the room Naruto was held up in opened. Naruto could only make out the tall form but couldn't see any of the features.

"Awake I see." Well the person was definitely a man; no woman's voice could be that deep unless she was on testosterone.

Naruto didn't answer him, for his own benefit and for the fact of not being able to answer if he wanted to.

The man kneeled down in front of Naruto and now the blond could see his features. He had brown soulless eyes; a rather large nose, a buzz cut, and his face needed a shave because the stubs were starting to grow into hairs. He was rather ugly.

The man was smoking a cigarette and blew the smoke into Naruto's face. The blond was too tired to try and be revolted. Sasuke smoked sometimes too (although it was illegal for him) and Naruto would always bitch about it to him. He hated smoke, it was disgusting.

"You're pretty sneaky kid. You almost made it all the way but lucky for me someone knocked you out with a lead pipe. I bet you're feeling that right now." The man snickered at Naruto's injury.

The blond remembered what happened, he basically kidnapped that retarded drug dealer and was going to kill the man right in front of him. Looking at his situation he realized that the mission was fucked up and would take a lot more manpower in order to fix it.

"Why?" Naruto croaked, inwardly groaning at the sound of his voice causing his headache to grow.

"Why what?"

Naruto glared at the man for making him speak again when the question was so fucking obvious. "Why haven't you killed me?"

The man seemed to ponder the question before gracing it with an answer, "Because that would be a waste."

Naruto was thoroughly confused. The man gazed at Naruto's confused expression and smirked.

"Your intelligence network must be really shitty." Blue eyes continued to stare at brown ones with no hint of getting it anytime soon.

"Drug dealing is not the only thing I do."

Naruto frowned. What was the guy getting at? Did he play poker in his free time?

Then it hit him. The devious smile on the man's face all made sense. Naruto was beyond disgusted.

"Prostitution." He hissed. The man just widened his smile and nodded.

"That's right. It's so easy to drug up girls and force them to work for me." The man cackled while Naruto grinded his teeth together. Naruto tried to swing his arm and punch that ugly smile right off his face but his arm didn't budge. Naruto looked up and for the first time noticed that he was chained to the stonewall.

"Did you actually think I wouldn't tie you up?" He laughed.

"You're much too innocent kid. I like that." He grinned.

Naruto growled, "So what do you want with me?"

"Innocent but not too bright." The man sighed. "I'm having an auction for my girls tonight and even though only men will be there I'm sure one or two of them will want to fuck a cute blond kid."

If Naruto was surprised he didn't show it, instead he settled for glaring.

"What makes you think I'll cooperate?"

The man laughed once more, "I'm sure you won't mind once you're doped up." Some fear entered Naruto's eyes for a split second. Drugs was a touchy issue with him and the thought of not being in control of his own actions scared him shitless.

"Goodnight kid." The man smiled sweetly before pressing a cloth against Naruto's nose and mouth. The blond tried his best not to breathe but the inevitable is well inevitable. Soon enough Naruto's vision swam before his eyes and the world went black.

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1)- When people cry their eyes usually gets brighter. I know that happens to me when I cry and I have blue eyes so yeah…

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A/N: Shit, how long has it been since I updated this? Sorry for the very long wait I honestly had a mental block for this story and the words just wouldn't come out. The next chapter will most likely switch to the present so I'll leave you on a cliffhanger for now. *Feels evil*

Thanks for reading! Reviews and whatnot are always welcome!