Hey there! I know, I know. You are probably very angry at me for not updating in... four moths. But believe it or not I had a really good reason. Shortly after New Year the doctors discovered that my grandpa's cancer had returned. Not on the lungs but on a um... urinary (?) I don't really know the medical term in english on that. And the worst part was that it couldn't be operate, leaving him with 3, 4 weeks to live. It was a big impact on me, since grandpa was taking care of me since I was a little girl (playing cards and stuff like that) And it was hard to accept it, especially when he was living with us the whole time. But! Since my grandpa never gave up, he lived for the whole three months ;) Although the last two weeks brought him nothing but a pain, especially since he could barely move ( the last days he couldn't move at all, barely able to drink, not to mention eat.) And the time finally come that he passed away ;( The funeral was last thrusday ( 26th march). Believe me or not, I tried to write this chapter twice. At first I killed both Itachi and Naruto, as well as other characters. The second attepmt ended with only naruto's death, but I suppose you wouldn't want the story to end so quickly. I didn't want it myself, because I have many ideas, so I decided it was better to not write anything than write something rubbish and regret it later. Though this is the longest chapter I ever wrote (7475 words) with some fluff and action. I hope you will find something for yourself in it and that it will compensate, even if just a little, for all the time you waited for an update (if anyone waited at all).

Now as for the reviews:

TheSecretUchiha: I'm glad that you liked the little moment at the end. I thought it was about time to put one. And about Itachi out of the shower- I saw him ;) Well, imagined is more appropiate word, but still! I'm happy that you like it so far and I'm sorry for not updating for so long.

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Cutsycat: Thank you for the review and as for the grey haired guy being Kabuto... i suppose you will find out in the next chapter.

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Lantia4Ever: Heh I'm getting the feeling that everyone liked the 'suit moment' and the 'bed time moment' in the previous chapter. Not that I mind. After all that's why I put it in there ;) I have an image of Itachi in the suit though I wouldn't mind if someone draw it for me ;) Kinda like a souvenir I could water my mouth at :P

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.Sailor.: Tanks for the review! ;) About Itachi and Neji moment. Hm... how should I put it... it's like you're bringing your new boyfriend to meet your parents and your Dad is 'testing him'. Neji being the Dad here. Like a clash of characters with Itachi being the one to stir the situation. I hope you kinda get my meaning :P And glad that you liked the kawaii moment ;)

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Asukasoryo: Well, the first step to love is attraction in my opinion ;) About Sasuke... hm... read to find out ;) Though I'm not sure about the brotherly part :P Thanks for the review!

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Cross - The Damned Alchemist: Thank you for the review. I must say I'm both happy and sad. Happy to have someone liking my story so passionately but sad to make them wait so long for an update. I promise to do it more often from now on so that you and your brother wouldn't be dissapointed ;)

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hentai18ancill: Umm... I wouldn't say that Neji is into Naruto. He's more like a overprotective older brother. He teases him but deep down he really cares for the blond ;) And Itachi wasn't really jelous... more like mischevious ;)

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lissatan: Thank you for the review. About Kakashi's crush on Naruto... I have no idea what to do with it for now so forgive me for not answering your question ;D

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black laurel: Thanks for the review. I seriously laugh at the 'akatsuki/secret service agents part being epic' ;) Though I'm not sure if I get your meaning on that :P But I'm glad that you like the story and I hope that you will stick with it for a while ;)


Previously on Black Guardian:

It was around two hours later when Itachi finished his typing and showering. He sat down on the bed and looked at the second one.

"What is bothering you?" he asked quietly. The figure on the bed tensed and a few seconds later Naruto sat and looked shocked at his bodyguard.

"How do you-"

"Your breathing is erratic."

"Ah, is that so…" the teen said and sighed once more.

"Care to talk about it?"

"It's just. Yesterday and today I had so much fun so I wasn't thinking too much about it. But now that I am alone I just can't shake off those feelings and images…"

Ah, he still thinks about that incident. Itachi thought watching his principle. He didn't like what he saw. The boy should smile and glow, not sit scared and hopeless.

"Come here." He said out of blue. Cerulean eyes widened but even though he got up and sat down next to the raven.

Without a word Itachi slipped under the covers along with the teen. Naruto moved closer to his bodyguard. Why? He wasn't entirely sure. Maybe it was because of the smell that lingered on the pillow, or maybe because of the body that produced the said scent and heat. His eyes were still closed and his senses were already leaving him. Before he noticed, he snuggled against Itachi's chest. With a content sigh, he mumbled a quiet 'goodnight' and slipped into a dreamland.

Itachi couldn't help but smile. He put one arm around the boy shoulders to bring him closer and chuckled lightly upon hearing mumbled word.

"Goodnight to you too."


When Naruto woke up the next morning he wasn't really surprised to see that Itachi wasn't in the room. Even though he remembered everything that happened last night, somehow he wasn't feeling embarrassed about it. Why? That was certainly a good question he would like to know the answer for. On second thought, when he entered the shower and turned the water on, he had this nagging feeling in mind. One that rarely showed up, but when it did, it was a really, really bad omen.

Breakfast itself was rather dull, the conversation being nearly lifeless. Minato was not present at the meal, and Naruto could sense the tension in the room because of it. His mother was not at ease. The teen didn't know exactly why his father wasn't eating with them, but he wasn't about to ask. He could practically feel his mother's bad mood, and became a little upset himself. Though he tried to play oblivious, as usual.

Itachi had a hunch that President's absence was linked to the phone call this Neji guy received yesterday, though he betrayed no sign of it. The blond next to him was obviously stressed; he didn't want any of his frustration directed at him. So he ignored him and let the principle glare at his food instead, with his head clearly full of confused thoughts and irritation.

--

"Allow me to explain your situation right now." Neji said calmly, even though his narrowed eyes showed how angry he was.

"You are in the custody of the United States Government. Do you know why?" the man didn't answer, but kept the eye contact.

"You are here because you were captured for illegal trespass the White House grounds yesterday during afternoon hours." The man in the chair stared straight ahead, as if the guy addressing him was not there at all. Neji was leaning against the wall opposite him, as he sat at a plain, metal table. He was handcuffed with his hands behind his back to the chair, which was securely attached to the floor. This was due to a violent struggle he had put up earlier. But now, his calm facade held even though the police guy was very intimidating. It was easy to tell that he was upset with him on a personal level; he obviously had a connection with his target.

"Very well then. Before we start why won't we introduce ourselves? I'm Hyuuga Neji."

The man's eyes widened for a moment. Of course Neji saw it and smirked in satisfaction.

"I see that the rest of the introduction is not needed based on your reaction. Now then, what shall I call you?" The man didn't answer.

"Not going to tell me? That's too bad. It would be so much easier if you would just let me know. But I think I'll figure it out by the end of our little session." He turned his head to him and glared with fiery eyes.

"Anyway, like I was saying... no one here is very happy with you. We are all quite upset that you tried to harm Mr. Namikaze." Neji pushed himself off of the wall and approached the man. He put both hands on the table and leaned forward on them, putting only a couple of feet between their faces.

"This can be very easy if you cooperate. Wouldn't it be nice to get out of this room? I mean, black isn't my favorite color, and I doubt you like it either. It's also quite cold, don't you think?" His glare held against Hyuuga's plain expression.

"I would really appreciate it if we could just get this over with. Tell us who you are, who you work for, and exactly what you were sent to do. It's not too hard, really. Then we can let you out of here. It would be nice to be in a warmer and friendlier place, wouldn't it? With something good to eat perhaps?"

The man turned away from him and stared down at the table. Neji forced a loud sigh and shrugged, standing up straight.

"Well, that's unfortunate." The smallest smile came to his mouth. "Though I may enjoy having a conversation with you... however one-sided it may be." Neji said and went to a corner of the room to get a chair to sit on right across from the man. Dragging it to the table, he sat down and casually rested one elbow on the flat surface.

"Now, what can I say to get you to talk... should I negotiate?" Hyuuga said to him, though he sounded more like he was thinking out loud. "No, I don't think that would work with you." Neji pretended like he was thinking hard. "Could I offer you something in return for the information?" He did not respond.

"No? I suppose I could always threaten you. But with what I wonder?"

The brunette made an expression as if a brilliant idea had occurred to him.

"Oh, I know!" He abruptly stood up, his chair being pushed backwards with the force of the movement. The man with white hair snapped up at his sudden action, and his eyes widened as he reached around behind his right hip. Neji whipped out a gun and pointed it right at his head.

"I could always just shoot you," He said lightheartedly, as if it was nothing at all. The man tried to scoot backwards, but couldn't due to the chair being attached to the floor.

"I mean, I'm pissed off enough that I could kill you." He blinked several times, both shocked and afraid.

"You see, Namikaze Naruto is not just the president's son to me. He's actually a very close friend. And since you don't know me, I'll just have to tell you that I'm very protective of my friends. I get upset when people mess with them. In fact, I tend to take it quite personally." Neji shrugged again, but kept the gun aimed at the man's skull.

"And you really picked the wrong friend of mine, you know. Naruto and I go way back, you see. He's a really cute boy, albeit a tad naive sometimes. He is, in fact, the friend I am most protective of. You really couldn't have picked a worse person to mess with. Well, I suppose your boss picked him." Hyuuga smirked and his gaze intensified.

"However, your boss isn't here. You are. So..."

The man's eyes became even bigger when he heard a click noise come from the gun, signifying that all Neji had to do was to pull the trigger and he would be dead.

"...I suppose you're all I have to take my anger out on. Sucks for you, doesn't it?" The brunette let out a dark chuckle.

"But it can't be helped. After all, I don't know your boss is, do I?" He looked at the man with fire in his pale, grey eyes. "Although, I think killing you would be satisfying enough for now."

Neji knew he was getting to him. Fear was radiating off of him in waves. He was doing a decent job of hiding it, but his eyes betrayed him. Now that he had shown just how frightening and serious and downright deadly he could be, Hyuuga was ready for a strategy change. It was time to whip out the lies.

Unhurriedly, he lowered his gun, but never took his eyes off of the man. Once it was safely back in place, he put his hands on his hips.

"But that would defeat the purpose, wouldn't it?" He slowly took the seat again, all the while keeping his stare at him. Red eyes looked at him warily, and though his fear dissipated a little, he could still feel his heart pounding in his chest.

"We need all the information you and your redhead friend can give us."

The man held in his shock at the mention of his 'friend.' He hadn't known they had two of them in their custody. Or did they? Regardless, the thought greatly disturbed him. He glared fiercely at his interrogator, refusing to believe it.

"You're lying," he spat. Neji hid his satisfaction at the outburst.

"Am I? I don't think you have the right to make accusations here." Realizing his mistake, the man promptly stopped all desires to talk and sat still as a statue.

"Are we back to not talking?" Silence.

"Such a shame. At least Jirobo talked to us, even if it wasn't much."

"What?" he exclaimed incredulously, almost shouting.

"Jirobo. You may only know him by his street name. It was hard to track him down after he nearly abducted Mr. Namikaze, but we got him when he lowered his guard. Snatched him up and brought him here just yesterday. We're on quite a roll with the lot of you." The brunette grinned.

"At this rate, we'll have all your people in our custody. Then it won't matter if you give us information, because you'll all be in prison."

"...I don't believe you," he said after a pause.

"He was tough to crack, so don't look down on him too much..." An idea suddenly came to Neji's mind, and he had to suppress an overwhelming urge to smirk.

"We had to use some serious physical force." The man only glared at him.

"Uchiha Itachi had a field day with that man... it was a little disturbing." The man drew in a deep breath.

"Ah… that's right. You've met Itachi before, haven't you? He's Naruto's personal bodyguard now and the man who got you here. Thanks to his information that is. I believe he gave you quite a scare, too. Back in the past." The man glared at him, remembering the painful blow to his stomach that Uchiha gave him few years earlier.

"After your friend refused to talk, they called him in. I was unavailable until after they had already brought Itachi here. But I witnessed enough to understand what the guy can do when he gets angry." Neji shook his head.

"Man, your friend was a bloody mess. It was pretty disgusting." White haired man frowned at him, and looked like he would have attacked him if he wasn't so restricted.

"But what can you expect? He's getting paid a lot. I would have loved to do the same to your friend... and not to mention, to you. Sometimes, violence is the answer."

"You motherfucker!"

"Thank you," Neji said casually.

"Protecting the ones I love is second nature to me. But Itachi, he was fierce! Though it's in a different way, I think he cares for him more than even me. Which is a lot... I don't think you want to mess with him. It's only natural, really, to be that protective of someone you have so much feeling for." Neji cringed inside.

That damn Uchiha would kill me if he heard the things I was saying.

"That man's a machine, I tell you. It took... three men, I think, to pry him off of your friend. Beaten to a pulp, Jirobo that is."

"You're lying!"

"I'd hate to see what he'd do to you, who he's had previous experience with. I mean, he must hate you. I bet he would simply unleash his fury upon you-just think about it. You tried to hurt Naruto. Not a good idea," He said, shaking his finger at him like a mother scolding a child.

"I think about how much I would love to smack you around... Itachi would probably want it twice as much. He'd destroy you."

"Shut up!" he shouted as he struggled against his restraints, the handcuffs digging into his wrists as he lashed his arms about in an attempt to get free.

"But maybe that would be beneficial to us. Don't you think your friend's tongue would loosen up after seeing you beaten up just as much as he was? Or better yet, what if you were dead?"

"SHUT UP!"

--

"I really don't like this. I don't like this at all." Minato said, patting his fingers on the wooden desk.

"We're very sorry sir." The man, one of the men keeping the guard outside said.

"Next time-"the other one said but was quickly cut off.

"Next time? Next time?!" the blond half screamed.

"Calm dow-"It was Kakashi who tried to loosen up the situation a little.

"Get out." Minato said through gritted teeth.

"Mr. Pres-"

"I said get the hell out of here!" All of the agents left, except for the silver haired one.

"Minato what's going on?" Kakashi asked a little surprised to see his friend in such a state.

"I'm not in a good mood. Sorry Kashi, but I really need good news right now, not some excuses." The man nodded. It wasn't like he didn't understand it himself. After all breaking through the White House guards was not something that happened every day.

"Is there something I can do?"

"Nah, I will be fine after laying down a little. You can go now, but thank you." Kakashi smiled under his mask and left the room.

--

Naruto sighed. How such a great day did turn bad so fast? His father's absence plus his mother's mood shouldn't have his feeling so down. There was something else, but he just couldn't figure out what it was. He did know that he was feeling worse by the minute, which was why he sighed again.

"...Mom?" Kushina looked at his son, a little surprised.

"Yes?"

"I... can I excuse myself? I'm not feeling too well."

"Of course dear. Is there anything I can do?"

"No thanks, mom. I'll see you later." Naruto slowly stood, and went to take his plate away from the table to clean it, as usual.

"Leave it, Naruto. You go on ahead." The teen smiled thankfully at his mother and left the room, followed by Itachi.

"Why the sudden departure?" Raven asked from a few feet behind.

"Something's bugging me, and I don't know what," Naruto replied with another sigh.

"You just had fun with your friends, right?"

"Yeah, but... I don't know."

I need to get out. Something about just being here... I need to call Kiba. He thought, opened the door to his room, and Uchiha closed it behind them.

"What are you going to do?" he asked, leaning against the wall next to the door.

"I don't know," the teen answered truthfully. Next, he walked to his closet, pulled out the red blouse and lazily put it on over his head. Then, he went to the night stand to get his cell phone. Naruto sat on the edge of the bed as he dialed his best friend's number and waited for Kiba to pick up.

"Hey Bro!" the brunette on the other end said excitedly.

"Hey, Kiba." The blond answered with a little flat voice.

"What's going on?"

"Well...umm ... do you want to do something? I know we were out yesterday but..."

"But what?"

"Dunno... I just feel weird. Can we go somewhere?"

"No prob. Where do you want to go?"

"Anywhere, really. You can pick."

"Ok then… how about a movie marathon? They're having the sport night tonight."

"Sounds good to me." Naruto answered and couldn't suppress the chuckle when he heard Kiba's 'yes!' from the other end.

"I love ya bro. There will be like lots of hot guys to pick."

"Sure, sure, whatever makes you happy." The blond replied sarcastically. Leave it to his friend to pick up a place with high dose of testosterone in the air.

"Alright so we meet at 8 pm. Want me to pick you up?"

"If it's no problem."

"Ok then, I'll be seeing you." And with that Kiba finished the call. Though Naruto wasn't really sure who his friend was talking about; him or Itachi.

Naruto flopped back against the mattress and stared at the ceiling. Something was just... eating him from inside. It was some sort of ominous feeling in the pit of his stomach. Like the one from this morning he tried to brush off only to have it intensified. Tired of walking blindly inside the maze of his mind, the teen decided to focus on the other things. Like Kiba, movies and... Why his bodyguard was looking at him quite oddly.

"...What? Is something wrong?" He asked him skeptically.

"...No." The teen frowned at the answer.

"Then why are you staring at me like that?" Itachi took a moment to work out his answer, not quite sure himself.

"Something about you is not right." Naruto's frown remained on his face as he sat up to face the raven.

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm not quite sure myself." Uchiha replied casually, and with a light shrug. The teen suppressed the retort that formed in his mind and the urge to roll his eyes, opting for a sigh instead.

"What are you and Kiba doing tonight?"

"Movie marathon. I want to get out of this house."

"Hn."

Naruto then paused in his thoughts, and replaced the irritated look with a more thoughtful one.

"Say Itachi, how old are you?" he asked randomly.

"What?" The raven replied, caught off-guard by the off-topic question.

"I asked you how old you are."

"Hmm… Twenty four." Shock crossed the blonds' face.

"WHAT? Twenty four? You're so young!"

"Really..." Itachi said bored with the conversation. Probably because he never liked to talk about himself.

"Yes really! Aren't other people in your business much older? I mean, you can't possibly be experienced at such a young age. It just doesn't make any sense."

"Then I suppose I don't make sense."

Absolutely not. He thought.

"How did you get to... where you are, I guess, so quickly? Don't you have to go through, like, boot camp or something?" For the first time since they met Uchiha snorted.

"I wouldn't call it that..."

"Then what would you call it?"

"What do you think we call it?"

"Don't answer my question with another one!" Naruto huffed.

He's so difficult...Seriously!

"It's more of a training than a 'boot camp.' Of course we stay in shape, but where I... learned to do what I do, they taught us more than made us work out."

"Where did you train?"

"Why are you asking me so many questions?"

"We're obviously going to be in each other's company for a while, Itachi. Don't you think we should get to know one another?"

Plus you can get the taste of being on the receiving end of interrogation. The blond noted in his head.

"I believe there is no reason to."

"Well too bad! I think we should." Itachi almost rolled his eyes.

"You know, for being twenty four you sure are immature." Naruto said, pointing the fact that he noticed suppressed gesture.

"Speak for yourself, Mr. Namikaze." he said with a little attitude, stressing the formality on his name.

"Okay, since you won't tell me about your job..." He thought for a moment before continuing "What's your favorite color?"

"...Black."

"Why do you like it?"

"I don't know. I just do."

"Come on, Itachi! Put some effort into this conversation!" He sighed.

"Yes, yes... I like black because... it's a nice color." Naruto cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Okay, so you like black because it's nice. Now, you ask me what my favorite color is." The raven shot him an 'are-you-serious?' look, which he returned with a 'just-do-it' look of his own.

"Well then, what is your favorite color?" The blond grinned.

"Red! But I also like blue."

"How cute." The teen pumped his cheeks and wrinkled his nose at that.

"Could you please cut the sarcasm? It's very rude." He leaned forward a little for emphasis. "Look, I'm trying to get along with you, can't you do the same?" He said loudly, finally showing his frustration with the bodyguard.

Itachi turned his gaze to the ceiling. Why wasn't he trying to get along with the teen? He didn't really know why he was usually so irritable around Naruto. It was odd, really, considering he was his principal, after all. They should be able to get along so that he could do his job, not to mention so that they wouldn't drive each other insane.

Something about Naruto just got to Uchiha. He didn't know what it was, but for some reason he could always feel annoyed by him. Or something like annoyed. Sometimes he didn't know what the feeling was, only that it made him feel uneasy. And Itachi didn't like to feel uneasy.

Though, when he thought about it, he was being hard to get along with. And he had to admit that he did it on purpose sometimes. He didn't like people prying into his personal life; which is exactly what the blond did. But still... he couldn't really deny that his behavior was juvenile. Maybe he was being a little childish.

"I apologize." Naruto blinked, a little surprised at the apology. Recovering quickly, he regained his scolding attitude.

"Good! Now, let's try to be civil with each other. No more of this bickering, okay?" Uchiha felt something tugging at him suddenly, a tingling in his senses. He glanced at the door for a moment.

"Right." he said monotonously, looking distracted. Naruto got his attention back.

"And no more being difficult! Especially on purpose!" Itachi smirked, turning back to him.

"Oh, of course."

"Now I know there was sarcasm in that one-"

"It's Kiba, Brooo!"

The door was flung open as an overly cheerful, and quite possibly high brunette waltzed through the doorway.

"My God, Kiba! You almost gave me a heart attack!" The standing teen laughed sheepishly.

"Sorry about that, Bro. But you sounded so down on the phone!" The blond smiled.

"Thanks for coming; you really are a good friend."

"Don't get all mushy on me! We've got movies to see, men to hunt, cities to storm!" Unbelievably, Itachi snorted for the second time that day.

"Aren't you exaggerating just a little?" he said, popping into the conversation.

"Maybe. Maybe not." Brunette replied happily.

"Anyway, I think we should just go ahead and get out of this place! No dawdling, Bro. Let's go!"

"Kiba, seriously... did something really good happen to you or have you had a lot of sugar?" Naruto asked cautiously.

"Jackpot!" The brunette exclaimed. The tanned teen was both shocked and curious.

"I'll tell you about it later. Hurry up; I want to catch a movie before... soon." The blond laughed.

"Okay, let's head out." He plucked his wallet inside his jeans pocket and looked at his bodyguard.

"Good to go?" He nodded, and followed the teens out, closing the door behind him.

--

"Yelling won't help you." Neji looked carelessly into the man's burning eyes. He was seriously angry; which is what he wanted. He was more likely to slip up that way.

"Talking to me will. So how about it?"

The man glared.

"Again, that's too bad-" Hyuuga was cut off by a sharp knock on the door. Hiding his anger at the interruption from the man in the chair, he crossed the room and opened the door with a scowl.

"I think we can call it a day, Mr. Hyuuga." Said Minato. The brunette dropped his frown when he saw his face. President motioned for him to come outside and he did so, closing the door behind. Neji didn't acknowledge the two men behind the president.

"Are you sure? I think I'm getting to him."

"I know you are. But we've just received some very helpful, and critical, information. We need you on the case for it." He smiled.

"It's time for you to do the job you're paid for. Let the interrogators have him."

"Of course, Mr. President." Hyuuga smiled thinking of how poor the man in the room will end up with Ibiki as his opponent.

"Oh, please. Formalities with people close to me are so irritating!" Neji smiled again.

"We'll start tomorrow, go get some rest. You did a good job today."

"Thank you, Hokage." Minato smiled. It was a nickname gave to him by Kakashi few days after they met.

"Much better. See you in the morning, we'll call you in." He made a 'shooing' gesture with his hands.

"Of course." Neji replied, before taking his leave. Had the situation been lighter, Minato would have laughed. But it wasn't, so all he could manage was a smile.

--

"So many movies, so little time!" Kiba said, even though he wasn't looking at the posters but around the hall.

"We can always skip one or two, you know." Naruto said with a grin.

"True, true. So Bro, what do you want to see?"

"Hmm..." The blond glanced at the titles above the people selling tickets, hands on his hips and a look of concentration on his face.

"I have no idea." He said after a moment of tension.

"You're always like this at the movies, Naruto." The brunette folded his hands on his chest. "Just pick one!"

"I can't! You do it."

"No, you do it!"

"No, you do it!" Behind them, Itachi sighed and rolled his eyes. Naruto had called him immature?

"NARUTO."

"KIBA."

"Just pick a freakin movie!"

"I don't know-oh!" Blonds' sentence was cut short when another body suddenly collided with his from the right. It had come seemingly from out of nowhere, and nearly knocked the teen over. He would have fallen had the person not steadied him so quickly.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry!" said the person who had crashed into him, slowly releasing his hold on him.

"I didn't mean to bump into you, kid. Are you alright?"

Naruto glanced down and rubbed his right upper arm, the place that had taken the impact of the damage. It hurt a decent amount for a collision from just another arm, and was more of a stinging pain than the ache it really should be. The person obviously had very pointy elbows.

"Yeah, I'm fine," He mumbled as he looked up.

It was a man who had so harshly 'bumped' into him. He was rather tall, and had a medium build. But it wasn't his body structure, or handsome face that caught Naruto's attention. It was his eyes. And his hair, too. Which were silver, maybe one or two shades darker then Kakashi's? His eyes though, were a small… purple orbs?

Probably contact lenses. He thought.

Naruto quickly realized that he was staring and turned his gaze away with an embarrassed blush, which he just knew Kiba took for something else. He'd surely be teased later.

"Are you sure? I kind of smashed you. I'm really sorry!"

"It's okay, really," He said, waving his hands in front of him and stepping back a bit. For some reason, he didn't like him being so close to his body.

The man seemed to have noticed him rubbing his arm, and took a step toward. Deciding without his permission that he should inspect it for injury, the man took a hold of the blonde's limb and looked it over.

"Does your arm hurt? I'd hate to know that I damaged the arm of such a fine young man." He looked genuinely concerned, though Naruto had a doubt that he was. He has, however, thought that the man was flirting with him.

"No. No, it really doesn't. I told you, I'm fine," He said, trying to conceal his irritation as he pulled his arm out of the man's grasp; though he didn't hid his disinterest in him. Naruto tried to take another step back, but was prevented from doing so by something hard and flat. He turned his head up and around, to find that Itachi was standing right behind him and that he had backed up into him. He didn't recall him moving, and only felt more embarrassed. However, Naruto's minor humiliation was short-lived.

"Are you through with harassing my boyfriend?"

The man, Kiba and most of all the blond gaped at Uchiha. The three were so shocked to hear the words that came from the bodyguard's mouth. Kiba, however, recovered first.

"Sorry, mister," he said as he glared at the man,

"But he's taken. Go run into someone else." The man recovered in a second. Glaring at the brunette, he stood up straight and retreated a couple of feet.

"My apologies. I was only looking out for your friend's well-being." The man turned on his heel and walked away. Naruto, finally recovering, raised a skeptical eyebrow at the man's retreating back. He exited the theatre and was soon out of their sight.

Once outside the man frowned deeply, with hands in his pockets.

"No one told me the shrimp was dating his bodyguard!" he murmured to himself.

"That ruined my whole plan of having a little fun with him before handing him over. But… I did what I had to do." he said and threw an empty syringe into the trash can, chuckling darkly.

--

"I-ta-chi!" Naruto said through his gritted teeth.

"What did you do that for?"

"I had thought that you were feeling uncomfortable and decided to help you out. But if it irks you that much," he said mockingly "I won't do it again. Next time, I'll let you get harassed."

"That's not what I mean! Ooooh... oh, never mind!" He huffed when the raven smirked. Naruto wasn't mad that he'd helped him, but he knew Kiba was going to get on his case even more now after the 'boyfriend' comment. He felt the headache coming on already! The blond turned around to face his friend, only to find the other one staring at the doors where the man had just exited with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"What a weird guy," he mused.

"There's something about him that's a little off..."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked but Kiba only shook his head.

"Just seemed a little sketchy to me. But whatever, it's nothing too important." The brunette's mood changed back to the cheerful one he'd come to the theatre with.

"Anyway, let's move on! We still haven't picked a movie yet."

"Yeah..." The blond sighed and then frowned as he looked at the movies. That guy had really pushed him hard; his arm was still sore from the incident. Again, he raised a hand to rub it gently. The slow movement didn't go unnoticed by Itachi, though not much did. He looked down at him with unusual concern.

"Are you really alright? Or were you just trying to get away from that man?" Slightly surprised, Naruto gave his attention to the bodyguard, though his eyes were still looking at the titles above.

"A little bit of both. It's just a little sore, that's all. The man had really pointy elbows." Though it still hurt, the blond released his arm. He didn't want his two companions to stay on the subject.

"Kiba, see anything good?"

"Um... yeah, but I can't decide which one. It's down to two." An idea occurred to him.

"Oh, I know!" Naruto had thought he'd felt the beginnings of a headache, but did not expect to actually have his head start hurting like it was now. He frowned more and closed his eyes, not really paying attention to his friend.

"Okay Bro, pick a number one through five."

"Eight," He muttered, distracted by the pain in his head.

"Bro..." Kiba said with annoyance, putting his palm on his face.

"Eight is not between one and five. Now, do it again."

"Alright..." The brunette came up to Naruto and got close to his grimacing face, bending to the side a little.

"Do you have a number?"

"Yeah..." The teen, now had his eyes tightly closed and was rubbing his temples. He really was getting a bad headache.

"Well, what is it?"

"I don't know, Kiba. What did you say again?" The other one frowned.

"Have you paid attention to anything I just said?"

"No... I mean yes... uh! I don't know!" Kiba's impatience faded.

"Whoa... Naruto, are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes. I... no." He groaned.

"My head hurts a lot."

"You're not one to have migraines, Bro. You never get headaches!" Kiba reasoned.

"Yeah, I know."

The blond suddenly felt very lightheaded. He shook his head in an attempt to get rid of the dizziness, but it only got worse. He didn't like standing in the bustling crowd of people at all, it was making him nauseous. He was feeling strangely claustrophobic, and wished that he was somewhere more secluded. He looked around, searching for something, or just anything, to make him feel better.

"I... I'm going to the bathroom," He suddenly stated.

"Kiba, can you come with me?" Naruto asked in an afterthought.

"Uh... sure."

They immediately headed to the bathroom, the brunette in tow. The latter turned to the confused bodyguard behind him before walking away with a shrug. Itachi followed behind the two; he'd just wait outside for them. Weaving through the numerous people was somewhat difficult, but the three managed to cross the theatre without any further incidents. When the boys went through the door to the restroom, Uchiha lounged against a wall twenty or so feet away.

As soon as both Naruto and Kiba were inside of the bathroom, the blond leaned against the wall and groaned again.

"Kiba..." he said quietly. His friend looked alarmed and went up to him.

"Okay, you are definitely not well."

"Kiba... ugh, I feel horrible..."

"Hey, let's get you to a sink. Splash some cold water on your face, it'll make you feel better. Icy water is great for headaches!" Naturally, he was totally making this up. Nurse Kiba was not someone you would want to take care of you. Regardless, the blonde complied.

"Okay." Naruto slowly pushed himself off of the wall and walked a few feet towards the nearest sink. He was feeling increasingly weak, and a little sleepy. Seeing his friend's lethargy, the brunette decided to help. He grasped his friend's arm for support, but immediately let go when Naruto let out a hiss of pain.

"Bro, what's wrong?"

"Oh shit, Kiba. My arm is not fine."

"Let me see it." The blond raised his arm so that his friend could look at it. But before he had a chance to inspect his friend's injury, the blond suddenly slumped to the ground.

"Naruto!" Kiba cried out as he tried to catch his falling friend. He managed to keep him from hitting the ground hard, however ungracefully.

"Oomph!" he exclaimed as his best friend nearly crushed him. They crumpled to the floor, Naruto held in Kiba's arms, unconscious.

"Oh, shit! Bro!" Despite being shaken, the blond did not open her eyes.

"Aaaah! What am I supposed to do?" There was no one else in the bathroom

"Um... ah..." He looked at his friend.

"Sorry about this, Bro." he said right before slapping him with a cringe. But still, Naruto didn't stir. Then Kiba remembered something.

"ITACHI" he yelled angrily, as if it was his fault,

"GET IN HERE!"

--

Outside, Uchiha was wondering what was taking the guys so long in the bathroom. He glanced at the door, frowning. In other words, Itachi was getting bored.

But then, something-or rather, someone-caught his eye. A familiar head of grey hair stuck out in the crowd. It was a man, wearing a blouse that matched his hair. He was relatively handsome, though something was a little off. And he just knew he'd seen him before...

Flashback

Itachi in the meantime chuckled lightly but almost immediately felt that something was not right.

Even in the candy shop huh? He thought looking carefully around. Finally he spotted a person dressed in black blouse with hood and rounded glasses covering his face. The man was watching something or someone rather intently. Itachi followed his gaze and to his surprise, or maybe not, it landed on the blond boy who was currently receiving his change. The raven quickly turned back to the man, but only managed to catch a glimpse of his grey hairs before the man vanished completely from his sight.

End Flashback

The raven was suddenly very alert.

The candy store! He thought, remembering. He very much wanted to walk up to that person, put them in a headlock, and demand to know why he was there (even though he was only buying something at the concession stand). It was too much of a coincidence, for him to be there when he was with Naruto again, to have not been purposeful. Thus, he wanted to know why he was here. He was about to go and find out, when...

"ITACHI, GET IN HERE!"

It was Kiba, and he sounded very mad. Uchiha abandoned all thoughts of the man in grey and dashed to the bathroom, flinging open the door. Upon seeing Naruto unconscious in a very upset brunette's arms, he rushed to the man on the floor.

"I don't know what happened, he just collapsed!" Kiba blurted out.

"One second he was standing up and the next he had fainted!"

"Give him to me." The teen hesitated, but handed his friend over after a moment. Itachi quickly but carefully took the blond and held him much like Kiba had. The first thing he did was check for a pulse. After finding one that was both present and steady, Uchiha rolled up Naruto's right sleeve. He was not surprised to find a tiny hole in his skin.

"He's been drugged," he angrily told the conscious boy, who gasped.

"It was that man. He must have given him the injection when he bumped into him." Kiba looked scared.

"DRUGGED? Is he going to be okay?"

"Probably."

"PROBABLY?" he nearly shrieked.

"If this was done by the same people who have been after him for a while now, I'm pretty sure they want him alive. If they wanted to kill him, they could've just used a gun." Kiba paled.

"D-don't say things like that!"

"But it's true."

The brunette's face fell. He really didn't want to come to terms with it-with the fact that his best friend was in such danger. It wasn't something the average boy was used to.

"Who would do something like this to him?" he asked no one in particular.

"Who in the world could want to harm Naruto? I... I don't understand..." He could almost cry. "I mean, he's such a good guy, you know? He's sweet and friendly and nice... what reason would anyone have..." he trailed off.

"Well, at least he's fine for now. And I'm sorry, but I don't know."

"He... he's my best friend." Kiba's eyes glimmered with unshed tears, as he realized just how little he could do for the boy he'd always known.

"I know," Itachi said softly, as he checked Naruto's eyes. He seemed to be perfectly fine, except for being unconscious. It was just like he was taking a nap. Unfortunately, he wasn't waking up and Uchiha's feet were falling asleep.

The bodyguard wanted to hit himself. He wasn't doing his job very well. Had Kiba not been there, it would have been easy for someone to snatch up the blonde while he was unconscious in the bathroom. The whole thing might have been planned. It was a good setting, after all. It was easy to make mischief in big crowds.

Then Itachi did hit himself.

"Oh, fuck."

It was a set-up! The man in grey, Naruto being drugged, it all made sense. And the people targeting the teen were no doubt planning to take him in his weak state, when he would go to the bathroom to recover from feeling ill. Then, once he was alone and unguarded, they would kidnap him and that would be it. And now, they were right in the place where the abduction would supposedly have taken place. While they were sitting ducks and he wasn't doing anything about it.

"Itachi...?"

"I'm so stupid!" he exclaimed, gathering Naruto in his arms and standing up.

"What's wrong now?"

"We need to get out of here. We're going back h-" Uchiha cut himself off mid-sentence. He had been about to say "home," which certainly was not what the large house was to him. "Hurry." Kiba nodded, disregarding the oddity because of the tense situation.

"Open the door," The raven curtly said to the brunette. In any other situation, he would have told him off for being rude and refused. But, since his best friend was drugged and unconscious and they were all near the people who wanted to abduct Naruto, Kiba hastily decided to comply. That is until he heard the sound of glass being shattered.

Both man turned around to see the same man in grey Itachi saw earlier. The raven cursed his luck because with the unconscious principle in his arms, there wasn't really much he could do. Though he knew what they should do. And that was to get the hell out of here.

"Kiba!" The Uchiha called and for some completely unexplained reason, the brunette knew what the bodyguard wanted to do. Without hesitating he opened the front door widely. Itachi slowly took a few steps back, still facing the man that was grinning widely, before his back hit something. He quickly turned around out of instincts and came face to face with the mirror image of himself. Charcoal eyes widened as he murmured one particular name.

"Sa…suke?"


So... um... did you like it at least a little? Your heartbeat quickened here and there? ;P Like the cliff changer? ;P It may be different from what I wrote previously, but I still hope you liked it :P And once more I want to humbly apologize! ( bends down on her knees, bowing her head in shame) I hope this chapter repaid the long await at least a little ;) I seriously feel bad about neglecting this story since I have high hopes and plans for it.

Well then, I hope to see you soon ;)