Hey! Look what happens when you review! Early update! The sad thing is I must hold chapters captive in order to get you all to update. Really sad people. Or maybe its because I gave you a goal to hit. I don't know. I have two tests next week in Fluid Mechanics so wish me luck on that. To all you people complaining about how everyone is so easy going on Naruto I just wanted to say, no, I'm not saying rape is good (yes some people accused me of this). This story is supposed to be a romance not a let's hate Naruto fest and be angry at him for 20 chapters until he redeems himself. The people knowing and accusing Sasuke is supposed to be somewhat funny (I have a warped sense of humor apparently). The story became so serious with Itachi's arrival, so I'm trying to make it a bit lighter. I am also using the anime logic of if they fight all is forgiven despite past transgressions. If we didn't use that logic, Gaara would never be forgiven (at least not easily) Goku wouldn't have made friends with Vegeta, and Yusuke would have many more enemies than friends. So the half who are pissed at me for everyone taking the whole thing lightly well after this chapter I am not longer defending my story to you all. Naruto will never get the whip (poor guy is hard enough on himself) from his comrades. They forgave him, Sasuke forgave him end of story.


"Thanks Hinata-chan. I had fun tonight." Naruto stopped just outside the gate to the main Hyuuga house. "Maybe we can do this again sometime?"

Hinata stood before him, blushing lightly and looking down at the ground. "I had fun tonight too Naruto-kun." She answered quietly. "But I can't."

Naruto smiled sadly. "It was the food wasn't it? I knew I should have taken you to get ramen instead of trying something new."

"N-n-no that's not it, Naruto-kun. I-it's just that I am already seeing Kiba . . ."

Shock was his first reaction then slowly, he nodded in understanding. "So it was a pity date."

"I thought perhaps . . . y-you needed someone to talk to . . . about Sasuke-kun."

His blue eyes studied her intently before sighing. "Who else knows and how much?"

"E-everyone kn-knows the basics of what h-happened."

Another loud sigh escaped him as he leaned against the gate. "I can only imagine what you think of me. How everyone must think of me."

"No one blames you N-naruto-kun."

"Then who is? Sasuke?" He snapped at the dark haired girl, causing her to flinch. His features softened. "I'm sorry, Hinata-chan. I didn't mean to bite your head off."

"It's okay. I understand. N-no one blames you for what you did. I don't mean to say th-they approve, but they don't think any worse of you."

"Well they should. I attacked him. Why should anyone take my side?"

"I think. . . it's because they haven't forgiven Sasuke-kun, not completely. H-he hurt all of us, but he hurt you the most. S-sasuke-kun, may have been i-informed about how hard you worked to get him back and how much p-pain you went through, but he never saw it. N-not like us. I think it is easier to blame Sasuke because of it especially when you're the one hurting in the e-end."

The blonde look up at Hinata, smiling gently at her. "I think this is the most I've heard you talk at one time." He watched the girl turn bright red before chuckling. "It's still my fault. I betrayed his trust."

"Y-you are a good person Naruto-kun. I'm sure Sasuke-kun kn-knows that too. B-b-better than anyone."

"I wish I fell in love with you Hinata-chan. You've always been there for me. Even when I was oblivious of your affections." He laughed. "I guess karma's a bitch since that's kind of how Sasuke is with me. Still, even when the village hated me, you were always so kind to me. I hate to admit it, but I'm always afraid that with any mistake I make everyone will turn on me again." He lifted his hands to look at them. They trembled slightly. "Just the thought scares me. To be shunned again all because I was stupid enough to give into temptation not only once, but to blackmail him the second time. How could I be so goddamn weak willed?"

"I admit I-I was surprised that you were in l-l-love with Sasuke-kun and that you . . . took advantage of his drunken state. I didn't know what to think, but some part of Sasuke-kun must have understood that you weren't yourself. He's still friends with you, and he doesn't seem to blame you. He was the most worried out of all of us when you disappeared."

"And that's what's so confusing!" Naruto said exasperated. "He gives out mixed signals. I was so sure he felt something for me. I mean, why would he forgive me? Why would my leaving be blackmail to him? I know I am his friend, but there are limits, ya know? I've crossed them, but he keeps coming back acting like nothing is wrong. I don't get it. I've tried to move on in the past too, but then he does some self sacrificing stunt or he says something that makes my heart want to beat out of my chest, and he pulls me back in. I don't know how much more I can take."

"S-so what will you do Naruto-kun?"

"If I can't move on from him soon . . . I think I should leave like I had planned until I am. I don't trust myself around him."

Hinata took his hand into hers. "If you think it is best, th-then you should do it, just know that we're all h-here for you."

Naruto clasped her hand. "Thank you Hinata-chan. You're right. I needed to get this off my chest. Thank you for listening."

She smiled shyly at him. "I am glad I could help." Before she lost her nerve, Hinata kissed his cheek. Naruto stared at her wide eyed as she turned a bright red. "I-I always w-w-wanted to d-do that. I-it's cl-cl-closure."

"In that case," he smiled back at her. "I'm glad I can help." He kissed her cheek. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight Naruto-kun."

Naruto waited until she was within the safety of the walls surrounding the main house before he left. She had been the first and only one he told about his idea of taking up Gaara's offer. He didn't know how he felt about people knowing kind of what happened between him and Sasuke. It seemed like to them it was more of a both drunk and Sasuke regretted the next morning type thing instead of Naruto really forcing himself on him, but even that much sat unwell with him. Even though it was just his closest friends who knew, and he knew they wouldn't tell anyone else outside their group, he still felt ashamed. He didn't want them to know. Only Gaara really knew the whole truth, and he was the only one Naruto wanted to know. He knew the man wouldn't judge him, not when the Kazekage himself had a long list of transgressions, and he felt the red head was the only one who really understood what he was feeling. Leaving on good terms with Sasuke before he screwed up again sounded like a better idea.

Growling slightly, he brought his hands up, hitting both sides of his face simultaneously. "No time to get depressed. Get a hold of yourself Naruto." Besides, his three day shift would start in 12 hours. He didn't have time to be distracted. He would sleep, eat, then go watch Sasuke and his brother from the bushes . . .that didn't sound stalkerish to him at all.

Naruto climbed the stairs to his apartment, feeling a bit lighter after his talk with Hinata and his own little pep talk to himself. When he entered the apartment however, the mood disappeared, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Something was off. His eyes scanned the apartment, seeing not one thing out of place since he had left, but somehow he knew something was amiss. This, honestly, caused him to become even more alert. If it was a prank by some kids, or Kakashi, something would be out of place. He knew his apartment well and could notice when even one article of clothing out of place or, in Kakashi's case, he would have tripped the trap by now. He went through his things, his bathroom and the rest of the apartment for any deadly traps. He could not find a single thing wrong.

Maybe he was just paranoid. He had expected Sasuke to exact his revenge the month he had first come back from his trip from Suna. So maybe his nerves were just frazzled a bit from the sparring earlier and seeing Sasuke half dressed. He let himself linger on the memory of a half dressed Sasuke. Sure, he had seen him naked several times, but the raven's body always seemed to intrigue him every time.

After a while of fruitless searching, he was hungry once again, so the ANBU decided to eat the leftovers he had brought home from the restaurant instead of his usual bowl of instant ramen. Giving up his search and chalking it up to just him being restless, he pulled out his rarely used plates. He only decided to get plates because Sasuke had insisted that he was not eating instant ramen every time he came over. When he picked up the plate, the little warning bells in the back of his mind started ringing again. He looked at the plate. The plate looked normal enough. He went to set the plate down and reached for another one, unable to shake the bad feeling about it when he felt Kyuubi's chakra flare. He didn't get the chance to ask why. Pain enveloped his body, starting from the fingers and rapidly spreading to his organs. It felt like his insides were being eaten alive and melting simultaneously, needles jabbing into every inch of his skin, his brain ready to just explode out of his skull. He had felt this pain once before, but it was much more tame compared to this. He never wanted to die before just to stop the pain, but he did recognize the agony. He couldn't concentrate on that particular train of thought as he could only focus on his body being ripped to shreds from the inside out.

The pain kept growing, and he could feel Kurama's chakra pushing back. He could hear himself screaming, louder and louder though it seemed more distant with each passing second as if his mind was separating from his body, like he was observing rather than feeling it himself. The pain became so much that he could no longer scream in agony. His mouth was open but no sound escaped, he couldn't breathe. He couldn't bring himself to take a breath through his suffering. Soon after that, everything went black.


When Naruto regained consciousness, he felt numb for the most part bother physically and mentally. The other part just felt extremely nauseous. He struggled to open his eyes. He managed to get them opened only to be forced to shut them again, the overhead light from the hospital overpowering his vision, making it blur.

"Take it easy, Dobe. " Sasuke's familiar voice filtered through his ringing ears. He decided to brave the light again, opening them slower this time to let them adjust. His eyes felt dry and scratchy, but seeing Sasuke's face made the discomfort worth it.

"What happened?" Naruto asked. He didn't recognize his own voice and his throat felt like it was on fire from the attempt to speak louder than a whisper.

The raven must have noticed his discomfort though because he turned around to grab a cup of water with a bendy straw in it. He helped Naruto lean forward, using his hand to support his head. The water was a welcome relief and aided in soothing his throat. When he finished, Sasuke laid him back down against the pillow.

"One of your neighbors heard you screaming and decided to check up on you. She called Tsunade after that. According to Sakura, you should have gone into cardiac arrest by the time they arrived, but Kyuubi seemed to have been keeping the poison away from your heart. It seemed like you already had a slight immunity to that poison though otherwise even the nine tails power wouldn't have had a chance."

"Yeah, I do. Aburame poison. Deadly and rare insect. Accidentally got stung." It hurt just to keep his sentences short, but Naruto kept muscling through. "Must been . . . 10 times . . . that amount." Naruto was going to gesture to the water again, but Sasuke had already grabbed it and held it out for him.

"Tsunade knows. She was livid. She sent a team to investigate the Aburame clan on who wanted to kill you. Turned out that someone had broken into their main house and stole a bottle of the poison and replaced it with a fake." Sasuke took a seat.

Naruto noticed that Sasuke was keeping a professional tone as he was relaying the events as if he was giving a debriefing. It was too weird when he was laying in the hospital bed, loaded up on so many pain killers that the dim hospital lights seemed blinding still. Deciding to save his vision, he closed his eyes again. "When . . . get out." He winced again.

"Don't talk Dobe. It's obviously uncomfortable for you." Sasuke replied annoyed, but still picked up the papers Tsunade had left behind. "Full recovery expected, no major damages, avoid straining your heart for the next couple days, can go home in a few hours on orders of strict bed rest." He scoffed at the last part. "Like you could sit still for longer than a few minutes. "

"Why are you here?"

Sasuke glared at him for speaking again, but still humored the blonde and answered his question. "I came because Sakura was in hysterics. That's all."

Naruto braved the light one more time taking in his appearance. Sasuke looked tired, his hair was messier than usual, and his clothes were wrinkled, and the blonde could swear they were from yesterday. Given Sasuke's perfectionist nature, he wouldn't be caught dead looking like that in public. Sakura must have been one special girl if he was willing to come out like that for her. Jealousy swelled in his chest. It didn't last long as the pain meds took a toll on him and lulled him back into unconsciousness, leaving Sasuke to watch over him.

A few hours later, he was awake and good to go. Tsunade argued about having guards set on him to be safe. Thanks to his newly found diplomacy skills, courtesy of Gaara, and two jugs of sake, he was free to go home on strict bed rest. Despite that he had been poisoned and almost died 16 hours ago, he was quite happy. Regardless of the reasons Sasuke had come to the hospital, he had sat by him and entertained him with a game of go while they both waited for Naruto to be released. To Sasuke's quiet surprise, Naruto was actually a decent player, to his amazement, it was the blonde's first real game of go, and to his frustration, he found out later Naruto just moved random pieces which always seemed to work out in his captains favor. Funny how life always seemed to do that for the blonde.

Still, he should get something for the raven, he thought as he walked back to his apartment. Sasuke had left the hospital earlier to attend to his brother, telling the blonde to go straight home, no detours. Sasuke looked so serious that Naruto worried if his gaze would set something, or him, on fire.

Thankfully, nothing spontaneously combusted, so he was currently walking down the busy market in the middle of town, taking the long way home to avoid bed rest as long as possible. That's when he saw the bookstore. It was Sasuke's favorite store. He used to come to the store all the time as a kid before he left the village. Nowadays it, was difficult to go into an enclosed public area with the villagers and sometimes, the raven was refused service. When Sasuke was denied service to the bookstore, it had been one of the few times the Uchiha had let his frustration show. Thanks to Shikamaru however, Sasuke and the young genius managed to set up a system for Sasuke to get his books anonymously and before they even came open to the public.

Seeing a poster for a new book of a series Naruto knew Sasuke liked, he went inside to talk to the owner to see if he could get it two days prior the actual release date. Sometimes being the village hero did have perks. The owner agreed happily and told Naruto he would leave the book in a brown box outside the store for him to pick up before dawn. It would be convenient for Naruto since he was on his way to work around that time.

Having paid for the book, he left the store. There was nothing wrong with giving a friend a thank you gift, Naruto tried to convince himself. Just a random present between friends, not just because he liked him.

His trip home was uneventful and new security had been added around his house which proved to be very annoying when it kept denying him access to his own house 5 times before someone came to actually input Naruto's chakra signature into the barrier. Inside wasn't much better. Every item had been thoroughly checked for any more poison or traps that might have been laying in wait. It took him almost two hours to put everything back into its proper place. By the time he was finished, he was ready to just pass out onto his bed. He was still off duty for another day, so he might as well catch up on his sleep. Without bothering to change out of his clothes, he collapsed onto his bed falling asleep.


Naruto was up by four am. Well rested and just a bit antsy from yesterday's events, he was ready to go check in on the guards at his favorite Uchiha's house for a status update. He felt a bit bad that someone had to take his place yesterday and today. The feeling passed when the guy who took his place was a complete jackass though. He couldn't wait to get back at him when he least expected it. No one foulmouthed Sasuke in front of him.

The village was just beginning to awake as he made his trip to the bookstore. Store owners prepared to open for business, cleaning, preparing food, and/or setting out their goods. The bookstore was one of the few places that opened a little later than most stores as the owner was in his late 80s, and early mornings were hard on him, so it was quiet in front of the wooden building. As promised the brown box was waiting just off to the side of the front entrance, just under the stand used to display books outside. He couldn't help but grin as he trotted over to pick the package up. As he picked it up, he noticed the invisible wire and the explosive tag just as it ignited.


"YOU STUPID IDIOTIC BRAT WHO DARES TO CALL HIMSELF A SHINOBI! ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME DIE FROM A HEART ATTACK!" The big busted, blonde hokage strangled the young man in front of her as her assistants tried to pry her off. Tanned skin turned to blue before she released her victim, watching in satisfaction as the young shinobi gasped for air. "How could you almost die twice in less than 48 hours?"

"I-I didn't." Naruto managed to get out through his crushed windpipe. "You did more damage than the damn tag you old bat."

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!" Sakura and the other assistants held down the Fifth before she could really kill the man in front of her.

"I'm fine, just a few bruises. Kurama's cloak protected me from the major damage. It wasn't until you came running in where I needed medical attention!"

"Why I outghta-"

"Tsunade-sama, the elders want to speak to you," Sai interrupted her, before she could really kill Naruto that time. She had seemed rather close to it before.

Naruto silently prayed thank you to whatever god was looking out for him. He hadn't been kidding. He received only minor injuries from the explosion and thankfully no bystanders were hurt, but he ended up with much worse when Tsunade came changing down to the crime scene and tried to beat him to a bloody pulp. Apparently, one of the villagers sent word to her when they saw him get caught in the explosion.

Sai came further into the room after the Godaime's rather loud departure followed by Kiba and Shikamaru. "Great you guys are here. Have you found out who's been trying to kill me already?"

Kiba took a seat in the last chair available in the room. "Nope. There was no scent near the explosion. Completely wiped clean. Hell, your scent was wiped too, and you were there when we arrived. When we looked for the shop keeper, he had been heavily drugged at the time. He slept through the entire thing."

Throwing himself back against his own chair, Naruto tried to think of anyone he could have pissed off recently. He was on pretty good terms with everyone recently though.

"I don't think Uzumaki's the target." Everyone looked at Shikamaru like he was crazy.

"Have you not been paying attention Shikamaru? I've been almost killed. Twice!" Kiba nodded in agreement and the young genius seemed to contemplate whether it would be worth explaining it to them.

"Troublesome," he muttered, quickly debating on whether he should pick up smoking again if he had to answer every obvious question. "Naruto, didn't you once say that you only bought those plates because Sasuke refused to eat ramen?"

"Yeah, it was annoying having all the paper plates around all the time, so I just bought some."

"Who usually gets the plates if you're preparing the food?"

Naruto paused. Sasuke normally got the plates while he prepared the water and looked through his cabinets for edible food for his guest that wasn't ramen.

"And Sasuke normally picks up his book packages from the location you picked up yours. Sasuke is the only patron the book keeper does that for. If it wasn't for your date with Hinata, you probably wouldn't have gone to get the plates in the fir–"

"Wait! Wait! Wait! How do you know about my date with Hinata?" Naruto asked exasperated.

"A blog," Shikamaru answered annoyed at being interrupted.

"Wait there's a fucking blog about my life!"

"There's no blog," Kiba assured him. "It's a comic book Sai puts out."

"What?!"

He watched Kiba pull out a small comic book with a chibi picture of Naruto and Sasuke on the cover. Chibi Naruto was trying to hold Sasuke while, chibi Sasuke pushing him away with a slight blush on his chubby chibi cheeks.

"What the fuck Sai?!"

"I only released it to our friends, a few instructors, Gaara and his siblings, and a couple guards." Sai listed off his fingers.

"It's my private life! Underline private! Not everyone needs to know about it!"

"It brings in quite a profit though. I'll give you your portion when-" Sai didn't get to finish before Naruto launched himself over the coffee table at him.


"Great, the entire village knows I'm a rapist and that I have a crush on Sasuke." Naruto had been pulled off of Sai who had to be removed from the room before the blonde snapped again. How did he not know about a circulating comic about his life?

"Getting back to the subject at hand," Nara spoke up impatiently, ready to go home before Temari came looking for him. "Sasuke seems like the real target, probably someone who holds a grudge against him."

"Probably," was Narturo's echoed reply. There were a lot of murder attempts on Sasuke after he had first come back, but after the second year they dwindled to only a few. They hadn't had any the past two years and none of the attempts were so skilled.

"Whoever's behind this has been watching Sasuke for months to be able to pick out such well placed traps. He has been even watching inside your apartment to pick out that particular pattern and has access to certain information to know about the books. Sasuke places his orders anonymously. No one knows about it except the two of us since we set up the trading system."

"Not to mention that he doesn't quite care who is caught in the crossfire. That explosive could have killed him or a random kid who decided to pick up the package as a prank." Naruto added grimly. If it was anyone but him, the traps would have worked.

"The best traps are in places you let your guard down."

Naruto looked over at Shikamaru. "What do we do now?"

"You take up that offer to live with the Uchiha brothers."

The blonde bit his tongue, so he wouldn't ask how he knew about the offer. He really shouldn't ask how anymore. "You are worse than a bunch of old ladies." The brunette didn't dignify that with an answer.


End! Review my minions! Reviews means updates! God I'm tired. Why do I stay up so late into the night for you people. It's 1 am! Early turn in for me. Night all.