Chapter 3:

Night fell, and still Naruto hadn't felt the need to return to the camp. He stayed near the river, getting lost in his thoughts and ignoring-for the most part- Kurama's snide remarks.

Sleep was a word not in Naruto's vocabulary that night. For hours, Naruto stayed up, just gazing up at the stars that could be seen through the canopy and listening to the small stream behind him. He knew that even if he tried to go to sleep that he wouldn't be able to manage it. Sasuke was is his mind, non-stop.

The look in those eyes...

The taste of those lips...

His eyes...

His lips...

The feeling of Sasuke's body on his would not go away and he seriously doubted that it ever would. It was all thoroughly branded into his mind for life.

Maybe during their next Taijutsu only spar, he'd be able to fake fall on Sasuke for another feel...? Or would that be too much? Especially after that accidental kiss that was just better then he'd ever dreamed to think would ever happen.

Through it all, Naruto firmly ignored the chuckling coming from deep in his mind. It would be worse if he replied, way worse.

He still couldn't believe how his body had betrayed him by giving away what he wanted. Hopefully, Sasuke would just think it was his imagination... Because if Sasuke didn't think it was just his imagination, somehow, Naruto doubted that he would ever get close to him every again...

Naruto couldn't help but let out a frustrated groan... He could hope... right?

"Kit, he liked it! Just confess already!" Kurama interrupted Naruto again.

This time Naruto replied. "Kurama, there's absolutely no way that Sasuke likes me like that!"

"You are an idiot." Kurama mumbled in disgust.

After that, Naruto ignored him completely.

The next day, Naruto drifted into camp before everyone woke up to ask Neji if he could go ahead and scout the area in front of them. The Hyuuga had been the one to have the last watch of the night and he seemed releived to see Naruto walking over to him.

"Are you alright, Naruto?" Neji asked as soon as Naruto stopped right in front of him.

"Huh? Oh yeah! Hey, Neji... I was wondering if I could just go scout ahead... right now...?" Naruto trailed off, his eyes darting over to where Sasuke was sleeping and then back to Neji.

"You want scouting duty?"Neji raised his eyebrow, pupil-less eyes boring into Naruto, making him feel a little bit uncomfortable at the intensity. For a few minutes, he didn't say anything, then. "Would you like to have it for the rest of the mission?"

Naruto nodded his head, eyes once again darting over ther the sleeping Uchiha. "I keep getting distracted when I'm with everyone so I think it would be best if I went solo..."

"Naruto, I can't let you go ahead too much. You have to at least camp with us during the night." Neji narrowed his eyes at the blond in front of him.

A sigh left Naruto's mouth. "That's fine. I'll send clones back every few hours just so you know that everythings clear."

For a minute, Neji said nothing, then slowly nodded his head. "Once we reach Sound in a few days, make sure you send out extra clones ahead of your location. Fall back towards us when you do that, I can't let you go into enemy territory by yourself."

With a small grin, Naruto happily agreed. "Thanks' Neji, I'll see you later!"

With that, the blond jumped into the tree's, disappearing quickly from Neji's range of vision.

"Yes, Sasuke?" Neji asked, turning back to the Uchiha who had been awake that whole time, eyes locked on the blonds back.

The raven haired teen just shook his head and began to pack his things up, ignoring his leader's knowing stare.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

That day had started like the previous one, nothing suspicious, nothing threatening. Naruto was a bit more on edge though, because they were very close to the Sound border and should be going across it either later on that day or very early the next. Neji had discussed it with him before leaving to scout ahead again that morning.

It had been quiet for most of the day, but just an hour before he was planning to turn back to the group, he felt something spike in the clearing just ahead of him. Senses immediately on alert, he moved in, cloaking his presence as much as possible.

Naruto jumped down from the tree tops, sliding to a stop, eyes darting around the area. After a few moments complete silence, his tense shoulders relaxed as nothing happened.

"Weird, thought I sensed something..." Naruto shrugged to himself and jumped up to the treetops again. With a with flick of his hands, he made a few clones of himself and sent them back the way he'd come. He was at least an hour ahead of the group, farther then he should have been but Naruto ignored that part for the moment. Instead of stopping for a break, he slowed down a bit.

Again, Naruto made a few more clones, and sent half of them ahead of him. For the last two, he sent to the right and left respectively, with orders to disperse if they found nothing for an hour.

"Kit, would you stop ignoring me and listen?!" Naruto heard Kurama's grumble and finally gave in.

"What do you want?!" Naruto asked while jumping to the next branch a bit faster then before.

"There was something there, I sensed it."

With those words, Naruto fell to the forest floor. "So, that wasn't just me? Could you still sense it after I lost it?"

"No, Kit. It was there for a split second but disappeared completely after that."

"I should go back then, I don't want the other's to get there and fall into a trap or something." Naruto murmured out loud, before turning back.

"I'll keep my senses on alert... there was something there and I don't like it, not one bit." Kurama grumbled as Naruto ran back at top speed. When they were close, he slowed down, eyes darting all over, trying to see if he could spot the thing from earlier.

"I can feel faint traces of it... go over to the right, there's something by that tree."

Cautiously, Naruto walked over and spotted it from the corner of his eyes. Carefully, he walked over and squatted down, brushing away the leaves covering the flashing object. It was a pair of glasses. Naruto frowned at them, he couldn't sense anything coming from the glasses, but it was odd finding them there...

"Can you feel anything from them?" Naruto asked, his hand hovering above them, not wanting to touch them until he got confirmation that there wasn't anything malicious in them.

"There's nothing-just a faint chakra residue... it's safe enough to pick up." Kurama said and Naruto picked up the round shaped glasses. As he gazed at them, something about them sparked a sign of recognition.

Had he seen them before?

Just then, he felt the memories of his clones that he'd sent back to the group hit him. Neji was going to order them to stop for the day, and he wanted Naruto to start heading back towards them.

With one more look around the clearing to see if he could spot anything else, Naruto turned away, putting the glasses in his pouch where he kept his sealing scrolls.

Later, he walked into the camp, spotting everything already well on its way to being done.

"No fire tonight, we're too close to the border for them to not notice it." Naruto suggested to Neji, walking over to the Hyuuga's side.

Neji nodded in agreement. "Did you spot anything unusual?"

Naruto hesitated for a second. "There was something but it disappeared before I could find out what it was." Just a few seconds after that, Naruto felt the memories of the rest of his clones hit him. "My clones found the border and went a little bit further in. They spotted a base and it seemed heavily defended. I'm not sure if the hostage is there but it's worth a shot to scout it."

Neji stayed silent for a few moments. "Are you tired, Naruto?"

The blond just shook his head. It took a lot to tire him out and running for most of the day certainly wasn't strenuous in any way.

"Good. Sasuke, come here."

Neji turned his head and Naruto felt his stomach drop.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, nonononono.

"Sasuke, I need you and Naruto to scout out the base just across the Sound border. I need you two to get in and get out without raising the alarm. We'll disassemble the camp and go meet you. Depending on what you find, we'll act."

Naruto snuck a glance over at Sasuke as Neji spoke and inwardly groaned. He hoped this wouldn't distract him but had the feeling that he would be hoping in vain.

"Hai, come on dobe." Sasuke glanced over at Naruto, their eyes meeting.

Naruto nodded, trying his hardest to keep his face from turning into a tomato, and tearing his eyes away from that gaze. "Right! Ah wait- don't call me that teme!"

"Never, dobe." Sasuke smirked, and gestured for Naruto to go ahead. "You know where the base it."

"Ah, right!" Naruto jumped away, heading for the base with Sasuke just a few steps behind. With all of his power, Naruto kept his mind focused sternly on the mission. That lasted for about ten minutes.

"Why so quiet?" Sasuke's voice tore Naruto's focus away in just seconds.

"Wh-what do you m-mean?" Naruto stuttered. "Ack!" His left foot missed the next branch by a long shot, and his right managed to skim the branch with his toes. Needless to say, Naruto felt himself fall face first down to the forest floor, with no way to stop himself in time. Suddenly, he felt someone's arms wrap around his torso, stopping his fall with inches left between his nose and the ground.

"You're so clumsy, dobe."

He heard from Sasuke as the other teen's arms pulled him upright again. Naruto felt as Sasuke's muscles flexed and tightened around him, the hard muscle pressed deliciously against his stomach. His heart pounded loudly in his ears, and Naruto shivered, eyes closed as he locked that feeling into his mind. Safe, he felt so safe. "Ah... thanks, Sasuke..." The whispered words left Naruto's mouth, wishing that those arms would stay there for just a few more moments.

"Usuratonkachi." The endearing way that Sasuke said that made Naruto's heart speed up, and for the first time, he didn't immediately retaliate. Instead, Naruto's eyes shot open and connected with Sasuke's own. There was a shock of electricity between them and the arms that Sasuke still had around him tightened, bringing Naruto flush against Sasuke's body.

"Sa-Sasuke...?" Naruto felt the world spin around them. This was just a dream, right? He must have face planted and been knocked out... He must have... This was just a dream. A wonderful dream... A dream that would end soon because it wasn't real.

It wasn't real...

But it felt oh so real.

Sasuke lowered his head slightly. He brought one hand up to tilt Naruto's face up. Sasuke's eyes trailed down towards Naruto's lips, and Naruto couldn't help but dart his tongue out to lick his bottom lip. Sasuke watched this action intently, before suddenly, his own lips descended onto Naruto's.

Naruto couldn't hold back the gasp as their lips met, and Sasuke took the opportunity to dart his tongue into Naruto mouth. This time Naruto groaned, and opened his mouth a bit wider to let Sasuke explore it better. After a few minutes, Naruto couldn't take it anymore, and he had to pull back for air. He opened his eyes, not even noticing that he'd closed them as soon as Sasuke's soft lips had brushed against his.

Sasuke's lip turned up at the corner at the look on Naruto's face, his cheeks flushed and his chest heaving. The look in Naruto's eyes were heavenly, and Sasuke couldn't help but lean down for another kiss, this time he was a bit rougher, he wanted Naruto, wanted him to be his.

The moan that slipped out of the blonds lips made it clear that he wanted Sasuke just as much.

Suddenly the tables were turned and it was Naruto that dominated the kiss, his tongue slipping into Sasuke's mouth, exploring every nook and cranny that he could. Naruto shifted, bringing his arm up and burying his hands into Sasuke's black locks. It was soft and silky, slipping easily between Naruto's fingers.

When they broke away again, it was Sasuke's turn to gasp for breath.

"Naruto, we need to get going..." The look in Sasuke's eyes burned. It was obvious that he wanted to keep kissing Naruto.

It hit Naruto. "W-wait... this isn't a dream?!"

The chuckle that left Sasuke showed his amusement. "No, this isn't a dream."

"I told you so!" Kurama yelled loudly. "That's what you get for not listening to me!"

"You were taking too long, so I decided to beat you to it." Sasuke smirked.

The blush that erupted on Naruto's face was unavoidable.

"Come on, how close are we to the base?" Sasuke pressed one more kiss on Naruto's lips before pulling away.

"Ah..." For a second, Naruto was in shock. Then he shook it away, his face spreading in a wide grin. "We're almost there."

They took off into the darkness of the trees. With in a few miles, the trees gave way to fields of rice paddies. The duo slowed down, fading into the night shadows as they made their way to the base that Naruto's clones had found hours earlier.

"Is that it?" Sasuke whispered as they neared the building.

Naruto just nodded with a quick glance at Sasuke's profile. The shadows obscured his features but Naruto could still see the outline of Sasuke's face and the sparkle in those ebony eyes.

"I can't spot anyone. At all... That's odd. My clones saw that they sensed multiple chakra signatures throughout the building..." Naruto couldn't help bit frown. There was just something odd about it...

"Hn. Let's get a closer look, then we'll come back here and wait for the others." Sasuke stated, taking charge of the situation.

"Hai." Naruto nodded and followed Sasuke's lead, keeping just a few steps behind him.

Neither Shinobi noticed the menacing presence watching them from the distance.

A/N: Alright! Thank you for reading! And thank you to everyone that has favorited, followed, or reviewed this fic!

Special thanks to Schlydie, Mrs. Driver, Nashi-ossu, Guest, baekyeol1, and Guest for the previous chapters reviews!