Author's Notes:

Well, this is embarrassing. I seriously have nothing to say for myself for the late update except I'm sorry, and life again, had kept me busy. T_T I do have something that would make you all not hate me though, I've finally grasped the lengths of this story xD, it would be about 13 chapters, yay! And as usual, thank you my lovely Beta, XxDreaming of RealityxX, for the edits you've done and the errors you'd fixed, and to all of you fine reviewers for reviewing, favorite-ing, and following. We only have three more chapters to go 'til the end, so stick around and enjoy the story~

Sakura frowned at the blond airhead sitting on her passenger seat with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Her frown turned into a disgusted scowl when Naruto sighed for the thousandth time since they had gotten inside her elegant vehicle that day. Having had enough of this dead, lifeless corpse sighing beside her, she snorted out.

"Blondie! Look, if you're going to spend your whole three-day vacation sighing like a stupid idiot, I'll drop your stinking ass out there, then you can get back to him!"

Naruto blinked out of his own little world and met her annoyed eyes with questioning ones of his own. "Huh? What's wrong, Sakura-chan?"

"Don't 'what's wrong?' me! You're clearly not in the mood for any trips right now! With the amount of sighs you've been making, its capital letters clear your mind's elsewhere."

A small smile came to his face at her words and he shook his head. "No, it's not like that. My mind is here, but I just have some loose ends that I haven't dealt with yet."

Sakura minimized her bitchy attitude to a degree to be able to get some information out of her friend. "Do these loose ends have anything to do with the dick?"

And when Naruto's face suddenly flushed red, Sakura had to roll her eyes, mimicking his sighs in number. Her best friend had formed a nasty habit this past three weeks. At the least mention of his roommate's name or any adjective that would refer to him, he would turn into a fricking blushing Virgin Mary. And needless to say, it was pushing all of her wrong buttons.

"N-No, what would make you think that?!"

"That!" She pointed to his face; ignoring the curses she got from the drivers on the road as her car slowly swerved to the right, forcing them to hit hard on the breaks as to avoid an unnecessary crash. "Right there! That stupid blush that catches your stupid face on fire every time I mention him! That what would make me think it has something to do with him!"

"Whoa! Wait a sec here, Sakura! A blush? Who's blushing?!"

"You are!" Frustrated by the horns disturbing her, Sakura stuck her head out and cursed back. "Oh yeah! Fuck you too,dickshits!"

Naruto took the chance and looked his face in the sideway mirror, his eyes widened at the obvious flush on his features. "…Oh shit! Don't tell me I've been looking like this the whole time?!"

"Not all the time, just when his royal ass would be mentioned."

"Holy fuck!"

Sakura again rolled her eyes when Naruto started banging his head with her car; if her friend didn't feel the pain, she was afraid her car would, and in worst case scenario, get dented by his iron skull. Frowning, she asked, in an attempt to have him stop his assault on her car's anterior.

"Mind telling me what had happened between you and him? And don't you even think about lying! I already know something's up."

Naruto concealed his red features with his bangs and had to grab his aching chest with his right hand as his heart had decided that pounding the regular way was boring and it needed to be out bursting from the ribcage that held it hostage.

"…I…I said something."

"Yes?"

"Something bad."

"And?"

"That's it. I said something bad."

Sakura snorted and pulled her car on the side, hitting hard on the breaks to have her friend rebound hard to the back – since he wasn't wearing the seatbelt – and show him exactly how much frustrated and on the verge of hitting him to death she was. And apparently her glare was enough to shriek him in his seat with that notion nailed to his thick skull.

"Look here, idiot, when you hold a conversation with someone, you hold it right! Now, let's try this once more." She took a deep breath, shedding off her anger and asked with a smile. "What happened between you and the dick?"

"I disagree with you always calling him a dic-"

"Naruto!"

"I told him I loved him!" He blurted out loud, causing her gorgeous green eyes to widen in obvious surprise. And Sakura was true to her emotions.

"Wow."

"Yeah…wow. I didn't even believe it myself, and after I said it and slept on it, it sank right inside my head. I said I loved him; not as a normal friend, but as a lover, a boyfriend. I'd become gay, the thing you were afraid of having happen to me had. I'm a fully pledged gay man now, Sakura."

The pink hair girl raised her hand stopping him. "Okay, wait right here, give me a minute, please."

Naruto watched as his best friend exited the car elegantly and went over to the mini-market they parked close to then, for whole fifteen minutes, disappeared inside. He just sat there, waiting for her return with anxiety running through his veins as to what she was going to say. Finally, Sakura came out holding a bag of water and refreshments inside. She opened the door and asked him to get out, throwing the bag in the backseat for now.

"You kicking me out because I'm gay?"

"Just come out!"

Naruto pouted. "I thought you didn't care about this stuff, Sakura. You, yourself said that we'll always be friends regardless of what may come, but this is the end? You throwing me out just because I like dicks? How could you, Sakura? How could you?!"

"Walk with me, doofus." Sternly, she answered all of his questions and began walking away.

Being filled with further confusion, Naruto followed close behind. Not a faraway distance, she stopped before a brown haired male, eating his ice-cream with a satisfied smile on his face, Sakura pointed to him in an authoritative tone. "Kiss him."

Naruto scowled at her words and folded his hands totally not getting his friend's point. "Why?"

"You said you're a fully pledged gay man now, right? Then you'd have no problem with kissing him."

Looking back from the surprised looking male and Sakura, Naruto shook his head. "I can't."

"Why? If you're gay, then there's no reason why you wouldn't be able to kiss him. He isn't that bad looking, I can kiss him. And you know I don't kiss trash."

"Sakura, we don't even know him, and look at him!" Naruto pointed towards the brunet who seemed offended by the two strangers having a very weird conversation revolving him, "We don't even know who he is!"

"Not a problem." Sakura crossed the small distance separating them, and extended her hand to the new male. With a friendly smile, she introduced. "Hello, I'm sure this sounds weird and very sudden to you, but mind helping us out for a little? But first, we'll begin with introductions, I'm Haruno Sakura, he's Uzumaki Naruto, you are?"

"Hashimoto Kenta…umm…what would you want my help with?"

"See, we know him now. So," Sakura switched to her flirtatious mood and winked back to the brunet male. "With something that won't cost you anything, Kenta-kun. Would you mind if I kissed you?"

The male dropped his ice-cream at those words. Having a beautiful girl, coming particularly out of nowhere and asking to kiss his lips, his mind went numb. This was every man's fucking dream! There's no way in the seven hells he'd say no! Kenta blushed, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly and nodded to her.

"I wouldn't mind if you do so, my lovely lady."

Sakura leaned down and took the other's lips into hers; she didn't put any emotion or will in it and mainly did it as demonstration to Naruto that you can really kiss anyone. She moved back after her demo had finished and gave her best friend an 'I-told-you-it-could-be-done' look, Naruto scowled in return.

"Okay, now it's your turn," She said, rolling her eyes when the man she'd just kissed clearly wasn't satisfied with a simple brush of lips.

"Sakura, I can't kiss him."

"Naruto, I have just established that 'can't' doesn't function here, it's invalid, you 'can' do it, and you will!"

"How about 'don't want to'? I don't want to kiss a random person of the street!"

"Hey!" Kenta pounced on his feet to defend himself. "I'm not of the street!"

"You," She pushed a finger on the new male's chest and forced him down. "Hush and sit back down, this doesn't concern you, so stay out. And you," Her attention fell back to Naruto. "If it's a matter of will, well, you've already concluded that you're one hundred percent gay, so, 'will' would not be a problem. If you're a true gay man, you'd have no problem kissing him, just like I –a true straight woman – didn't."

Feeling like his friend really did have a point there; Naruto sighed and moved close to the brown haired male. "I still don't agree to it, and I have no idea what you're trying to prove here, but if kissing him will allow you to stop this crazy game, then I'll do it."

Leaning down, towards the baffled looking brunet, Naruto put both his hands on his cheeks and steadied the head there. His eyes shifted to the slightly parted lips, and he felt his heart sink. Yet, he swallowed the sudden lump and brought his lips close to the other's. The moment his lips kissed the other male, Naruto felt his stomach swirl in disgust and his insides wish to strangle the lips that were making them experience such emotions. His mind quickly compared, this was different. This unwanted feeling running though his body was different, it wasn't the same as the delight, excitement, pleasure and fire Sasuke's kissing would bring to his body. He didn't like this, his whole being rejected this, and as his ears heard the flash of a nearby camera, Naruto pushed the head he was kissing away from him with his hands rubbing fiercely at the point of contact, his lips.

He blinked horrified eyes at the still baffled male and secured his tanned hands over his lips.

"See?" The voice of his best friend kneeling beside him brought Naruto out of his little fear-realm. "I just proved my point. Now, get up, we have a long way ahead of us."

Naruto took a few minutes to process her words and when he did, he found his friend had already said goodbye to the male they met and was on the way to her car. He followed and reached just in time for her to start on driving.

And in the car, they stayed in silence for a few minutes, in which Sakura spent organizing her thoughts. Finally, Naruto's sluggish voice asked with obvious puzzlement.

"What happened back there?"

"Me proving to you that you're not gay. You're just in love with a guy."

"Isn't that the same thing?"

"No, Naruto, it's not. When you fall for someone, you fall for who they are, not for what gender they are. And you believe you've turned gay just because you love the di– Uchiha Sasuke is wrong. If you're gay, you wouldn't show a face like this when you kiss another male."

Sakura gave him her cell and showed him the picture she'd taken of him kissing Hashimoto Kenta. He frowned. His facial expression clearly showed he was uncomfortable with the kiss, no, not just uncomfortable, he hated the kiss, loathed it with every fibre of his being. Naruto handed the cell back to its owner, having finally understood her objective to this little experiment she forced him into.

"Thank you, Sakura."

She gave her troubled friend a smile. "No need for it. I just felt that you needed to be corrected out of the false belief you have developed for yourself. So, tell me, what happened between you two after?"

"Well," Naruto began, slipping back into the chair in a comfortable position. "Nothing. It's been three weeks I think since I told him I loved him, and ever since, I've been avoiding him like the plague."

"Avoiding him? How exactly did you manage that? I mean you two live in one room. You can't avoid each other even if you tried."

"Well, I had exams to tend to, so I went over to Kiba's house a lot for group study, and I think Sasuke sensed I don't want to be near him, so, he started coming home late. Like at one or two A.M, when I'm already asleep. In the morning, I'd leave early for the exams and that's how it's been."

"And after you finished them, you jumped the first train out when your friends organized this little trip."

"It's not like I'm escaping or anything, they'd organised this trip a while back and I couldn't just bail on them, I didn't see why I should either, so I came."

Sakura sighed. "Wait, let me guess, you haven't told him a single thing about it, and left it all for the guards following us right now to report back to him."

"N–O." He flashed her a cheesy grin. "Firstly, there's no one tailing us, I told Sasuke to stop them from doing so. Secondly, I left him a letter, explaining everything."

She avoided hitting the breaks and maintained a normal exterior as her will to hit Naruto was only increasing by the minute. "So you just left like that? Without straightening up anything and didn't even hear what he wants to say to you?"

"Told you, have loose ends to think about."

"I always get astonished by how much of a moron you are."

"I can't help it, Sakura. Don't you think I want to meet him and talk all of this over with him? But I can't! Seriously can't! My tongue would knot, my throat would dry out and the words would stop flowing inside my head. I'd turn into a wooden statue beside him, and this would never have happened before, that's why I'm avoiding him. I've forgotten how to deal with Sasuke."

At the sound laugh that escaped her red, shiny, lipstick-ed lips, Naruto pouted.

"I swear, this is so funny!"

"Glad to see you having fun on my expense."

"Sorry, sorry, didn't mean to laugh at you. But it's all so thrilling. I hate him and I truly wish if you'd fallen for someone else, like your cute colleague Hinata instead of him, but you did, and it's your choice. And now, you're dwelling because you have lost the way to act in front of him, well flash news to you, stupid, HE FUCKING LOVES YOU, TOO! So there's no need to get anxious or turn into wood or anything! He's also in love with you, get that?!"

Naruto looked at her as if she had lost her mind, and by the grin on her lips, he didn't think that she was so far from it. "No, he doesn't. I don't really know what he thinks of me, maybe a really close friend, but not a lover. It's true we kiss and play around, but Sasuke's never mentioned anything about being in love with me."

"Maybe he isn't the type to hold emotions to values, he's just not romantic, still doesn't mean he doesn't love you."

"Have you not been listening to any of the things I've been telling you about?! Sasuke is the most romantic guy in the whole wide world! If he loved me, I'd fucking know!"

"To me, the way you two were dealing with each other and the way he's treating you, you're already head over heels for each other."

"I'm head over heels for him, he's not."

"Blondie, seriously, your self-denial can't be any more annoying. And get your stinking ass out, we've arrived!"

At the small, cozy hotel Sakura had parked near, Naruto elicited a sigh and got out, putting all the fuss about Sasuke and his unexpected love confession to the back of his head and enjoying the three day's trip he and his trio of friends were going to enjoy alongside a very amused Sakura.

"This will be Naruto-kun's room, over there is yours and Shino-kun's room, and on the other side, us girls will be in room number fourteen. If you need anything, just knock." Hinata finished with a cheerful smile on her face.

Kiba scowled at the room arrangement and snarled at his love interest. "Wait a goddamn minute here, you little devil."

"Is there something you need, Kiba-kun?" She fluttered her eyelashes cutely at him, and as always, his inner heart beat him and his angry tone died down.

"…W-Well, why is he having a whole room to himself while I share with bug dude over there? I mean, we three could have roomed in together instead of the overpay."

"You see, this is the first time Naruto-kun is participating in anything fun with us, so he got the whole room to himself. Could it be you want the room to yourself? Or is it that you don't want to room in together with Shino-kun?" Hinata gave a sideways glance to the bug lover and he raised Kiba the finger. "Maybe you're just not satisfied with my choice of arrangement. Is that it? Did I make you mad?" Like lightening, her eyes filled with tears and Kiba sweat-dropped.

"Oh! No, no! It's fine! You did nothing wrong! I'm fine with the arrangement, you don't have to cry. Please! I'm wrong, I was just jealous, Naruto can have the room, right, Shino?"

"Dude, it's your own mess, don't drag me down with you."

Kiba sent a glare at his best pal and tried to wipe the tears rolling down Hinata's eyes.

"I'm so sorry; I won't say I don't like anything you do anymore…so stop crying, I beg you!"

Just as swift as the tears began flowing, they stopped, and Hinata bared happy teeth to the male who realized late that he'd yet again fallen for her crocodile tears. Kiba released a defeated sighed.

"Now that's all the objections have been settled," She grinned again to the sulking brunet. "Everyone, you're free to go to your rooms and unpack! Remember though, we are going to come down at four for lunch, I know, it's a little late, but I also know how tired everyone is from the long drive and no one's going to object to some more rest, right?"

Sakura nodded, nursing her aching muscles from driving since morning. "I second that. Right now, I'm more tired than hungry."

"Alrighty then, see you everyone, enjoy your rest~"

With that Hinata broke the gathering and went towards her room, leaving her two best friends to wander lazily to the room she forced them into. Actually, her initial plan was to book only two rooms, one for the boys and one for the girls, but a call from her new pink-haired friend, Sakura, had her switch to the other arrangement and leave a room free for Naruto himself.

Naruto started saying his goodbye when Sakura grabbed him suddenly and winked.

"Naru-chan, if I were you, I wouldn't be so relaxed with the room,"

He frowned at her strange words. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you're not alone. We're still missing a person and he's on his way here. So, if you're going to sleep, sleep with an eye open~" She chirped cheerfully.

His beautiful azure orbs widened and his mouth gaped like a fish out of the water when he realized the meaning shadowing her dark words. "No. You didn't!"

"I did!"

"Sakura! How could you?!"

"Shush, baka! You should be thanking me! Now, you're going to have to force your little chicken self in there to tough it up, grin, and act like the man I know that is hiding somewhere inside all that stupidity!"

"I seriously can't believe you did this!"

"Get over it already now, bye, bye. I have some beauty sleep to catch up on. Take care, darling."

"Darling my ass, I hate you!"

"The feeling's mutual, sweetie."

Bearing a happy grin, Sakura merrily jumped the small distance towards her new room. As she opened the door, and was met with the two-faced, little devil who was neatly unpacking her bag; Sakura knew. This trip of theirs was going to rock!

Neji poked the tanned cheeks as a smirk resident itself on his face. Gaara rolled his eyes at the childish behavior and took hold of Neji's hand before the blond could explode.

"Stop it already. He doesn't like it."

"Aww…but he's obviously disappointed. Did you think Sasuke was the one who was coming? Sorry for bursting your happy bubble. But we're the ones who are going to intrude on you not him. Sasuke has too much in his hands to bother with a runaway roommate~" Neji merrily said, smirking even more when his words made an impact on Naruto, having the blond released an unconscious shiver.

Gaara frowned, putting the bags inside the room. "You don't sound the least bit sorry…and stop poking him!"

"That's because he's so cute to play with," Neji poked another unresponsive cheek, "right, Naru-chin?"

The only reaction the blond did to this was sigh to his Senpai, bend, excuse himself out, and leave the room to the two males before the long haired raven could come up with another annoying trick to make Naruto's life a living misery…more than it currently was. Neji pouted when his toy exited the spacious room.

"That's no way to treat your Senpai, Naru-chin!" He shouted to the closed off door.

"If you asked me, you should be thankful he didn't bash your pretty face into a wall."

"No, he wouldn't, because he couldn't. I know how to guard myself. Besides, some teasing never hurt anybody."

"When he's not having his heart in the court, your teasing is okay. But right now, he is seriously not in the mood for it."

"Nonsense! People are always in the mood for me!"

"Just keep believing that."

Neji's lovely face turned serious in a second and he said. "Do you think he's going to cry?"

"Well, I think if you keep teasing him about Sasuke anymore, something bad will happen. Naruto is in a shaky state right now and I can only feel sorry for him."

"You still won't ask me what happened between them though. Don't you want to know?"

Gaara pulled the hat covering his locks off and allowed his red hair to fall gently over his face, decorating it with hazy margins. "No. If he wanted me to know, he would have told me."

"Standing on people's silly desire to have you know anything, will not allow you to know anything. In order to grab knowledge, you have to disregard worthless things like 'permission' and attain it by force."

"That's in your world, not mine. And it's not 'knowledge', this is merely gossip, which I'm not interested in hearing."

"Always so righteous. I, sometimes, doubt you're a Sabaku."

Jade orbs flashed in a momentarily anger but it passed the next minute. "Coming from a family with a bad history doesn't mean I should follow in their footsteps and forget what I truly believe."

"I hate those morals of yours the most, but then again, maybe they were the reason why I didn't think you're trash like everyone else."

"That aside. Where's Sasuke really?"

"Hmm," Neji rose from the soft mattress and made his way towards the redhead who was busy with unpacking their clothes. "I thought you were 'above' pitiful gossip."

"This is not gossip; this is me asking about someone. It's not interfering with their business at any rate, and it's something you have the will to answer to or not."

"Well now, should I answer or shouldn't I?"

"Your choice."

Neji slumped back on Gaara's back when he bent over to open one of the bags and refused to budge even when Gaara clearly made him know, that that move wasn't welcomed.

"Sasuke is on his way here. Actually, he phoned me earlier to get him the grand suite here. But surprisingly, this small hotel those poor college students have booked into has no such thing as master or grand rooms, let alone a suite. I think Naru-chin is in for a very long night."

"Hn. And you just made him feel as if he was less than a dirt in Sasuke's shoes, unimportant as shit. Truly, your cruelty does amaze me."

"Cruelty? I'd call it getting even. You didn't think I'd just allow him to weasel out without any punishment from my side. He hurt my childhood friend, the least I could do is hurt him back…even for a few, silly hours."

Gaara stood up straight, causing the male over his back to stumble falling on the soft bed, and emphasized his old words. "You're as cruel as ever."

Neji smirked and pulled the redhead who was dangerously close, even closer. "And I love you, too~"

With tainted hands that knew little about how to treasure, love and not harm, Neji held close to the clam male on top of him, and as his heart burst out with alienated happiness that scared and shook him to the core, he allowed his lips to change from the normal smirk into a new expression that was truly foreign to them. A genuine, happy, radiant smile that made his fingernails tingle.

Naruto sighed at the waves hitting his feet. Really this place was magical. It was so fricking romantic that it was cliché. Ocean waves, clean, wet sand beneath his feet and a moony sky. Yes, so puking romantic. A picture of himself and Sasuke playing with the waves while one chased the other momentarily fleeted inside his brain, Naruto held his stomach not to gag at the image. There was no fucking way he was going to do something as horrible as that! He did love the dude, but he was still a man! A man who refused to be seen in that light for a day in his life!

Coming close to the hotel they were in, Naruto sighed. There really was no need to start worrying about stuff like A: Sasuke wasn't coming. And B: Sasuke didn't love him. They were friends, good friends, close friends, but not lovers. True, that night, when his heart overpowered his brain and he released those words out loud, he'd thought Sasuke was feeling the same way, and expected to hear the same words resonate after his. But that didn't happen. It never happened. Not the day after, not after and not in any minute that his plan to avoid Sasuke had failed in.

Sasuke's expression. It was still engraved into his memory. How terribly terrified he looked, as if he was looking at a very frightening horror movie or being in the present of a terrorist who had pushed the designating button on the jacket of bombs he was wearing. Now, Naruto wasn't all that big on confessions and he didn't know what face people would see as having been received the confession in a positive light, but come on! The dude looked as if Naruto was holding a knife and threatening him with it. In no dictionary did that translate as being happy to hear it!

He sighed as sand got inside his sandals and, dusting it off, he walked inside the hotel, leaving his pain outside and smiling when his beautiful eyed friend brightened at his sight.

"Oh, Naruto-kun! Where have you been?" Hinata was by his side in less than a second.

"Just checking out the premises, why? Something wrong?"

"Hmm…nothing's wrong, but we were looking for you, we're going to town for a group dinner, Sakura-chan, Kiba-kun and Shino-kun have already left. It's just you, me and the new arrivals."

"You stayed back for my sake?"

Hinata smiled. "I'm the one who'd organized all of this; I couldn't just leave without informing you. It's your first time coming with us, and I don't want you to have bad memories of your friends ditching you the first time around."

Naruto petted the girl gently on her head and smiled. "Thank you. But you didn't have to go out of your way for me. A simple phone call would have been fine."

"It's nothing. I wanted to go with you. We never got a chance to talk back at school, because we're in different majors. So, I wanted to catch up with Kiba-kun and Shino-kun's knowledge of you."

The blond sweat-dropped at her words, it sounded more like she stayed back to get info for a race that she felt obligated to win and not because she genuinely wanted to know more about him. He felt his mouth turn into a smile, really, people were never as they appeared, and neither was this one.

"I'd be honoured to tell you anything you need to know to catch up with them."

"Yes! Oh, but, don't think I just want to know because they know, that's not right. I really want to know more about you. You're always silent when you sit with us, and at times I wonder if we aren't just troubling you with our presence."

"Troubling me?"

"Because you're always so quiet around us."

Hinata directed him to the place where their ride was waiting as she continued holding the conversation with him.

"I guess my silence would be explained the wrong way. The reason why I remain quiet is because I'm calm and happy. Actually, I had a difficult phase in my life where I couldn't form friends…no that's not right, I wasn't given the privilege to form friends and Sakura was the only one by my side, I appreciate everything she'd done for me, but I still wanted to make friends, other friends. And when I met you three, I thought 'oh, how nice. I want to be in a friendship like this. I want to be one of their friends', and that's why when you texted me for the first time, I was really, very happy to receive it. So, please, never think I'm troubled because of you. I thank God every day for having you all in my life. Such honest and loving friends, no one can ask for more."

Naruto gave off a grin when the girl suddenly shot into his arms, holding him in a tight hug. "I'm sorry, Naruto-kun. I didn't mean to make you say all of these things to me! I believe you, and we'll always be friends; that's something you never need to worry about!"

He circled his arms around her tiny figure and nodded. "Thank you, Hinata-chan, I hope so, too."

They broke from the hug when a voice calling for the blond came to their ears. Naruto looked up to see his Senpai standing with the same smirk he'd left him with plastered on his lips, with Gaara nodding at him from inside the comfortable looking Ferrari. It was different from the sandy one Naruto had gotten into the last time he was introduced to the redhead's choice of rides, but it was equally attractive. Little difference like the four passenger seats didn't take anything from its beauty either.

Happily, Naruto slid in the backseat of the silver Ferrari and waited for Hinata to finish talking with her sadistic cousin and enter beside him.

"Wow, they really do have the same eyes, don't they?"

"Yes."

"Seeing them together makes you think they're twins or something."

"Having the same nasty personality, but Hinata's better…a little."

Before Naruto could reply to Gaara's comment, the two cousins came inside of the car. Neji grinned as Gaara closed the doors to the car and started on driving.

"As fast as you can, baby. We have to show Naru-chin here just how well you can drive!"

And again, Naruto had to brace himself for the life and death situation that the snake sitting in the passenger seat had him stumbling into.

The dinner was a lot of fun. Naruto didn't think he'd laughed so much in his whole life. Everyone had fun, and they all got to know a little about the other, even the stoic faced Gaara released a couple of laughs at not being able to restrain himself. It was heaven. Naruto had truly thanked his friends for such a lovely time and retreated towards his room, which now held not only his body, but the bodies of two other grown up males with him.

Upon arrival, Neji claimed hold of the only bed in the room, leaving Naruto and Gaara no other choice but to go fend for extra mattresses from the landlord and hope they can somehow arrange them on the floor and have a peaceful sleep. Having already been blessed with a strong will, Naruto refused to allow a simple setback as having a demon in his room forbid him from achieving a perfect closure to a perfect day.

So, being lucky as one can be, he was able to get a mattress. But Gaara couldn't, since the hotel was so damn crowded. And with that they got back to the room, thinking that Gaara could either bunk with Naruto or with his very selfish lover. Yet, when they got to the room, Naruto's limbs went numb.

There, on the bed that Neji had claimed as his, sat none other than the infamous Uchiha Sasuke, his darkest nightmare.

When their eyes met, Sasuke's face released a frown. "Why do you always need to run awa–?"

And Naruto didn't stand to hear the rest of that question, because as if struck by a jolt of a policeman's stun gun, he was out of the room in a flash.

"Wow, Naru-chin sure can run! You better hurry and catch him, Sasuke, or he may really get out of your hands this time. You do know what they say about third times…they tend to be the charm. And he's already run away from you two times already…" Neji trailed off with an amused smirk.

Sasuke cursed. "Damn that fucking Dobe! When I find him, I'm going to break those pitiful legs for him!"

"'Atta boy!"

With that the cat and mouse chase had begun. Gaara entered the room, dragging behind the mattress Naruto had just ditched for dear life and closed the door behind him.

"I see he's come."

"Yep! And you know what's the best part in all of this?"

"What?"

"We get the room all to ourselves!" Neji chirped, dragging a confused Gaara to the bed.

"Aren't they coming back here?"

"Nope. Remember when I told you Sasuke asked for the master suite?"

"But you couldn't find it."

"I found the next best thing. A room two floors up, wide enough, and a stranger-free zone. I just gave him the key and no one is going to bother us anymore."

"Neji…sometimes, you scare me."

"Yes, yes, now, throw that thing away and come here to bed, I want to sleep."

Gaara nodded to his demanding love and got rid of the mattress to the outside, closed the door locked with the lights off, slipped off his clothes, and then snuck into the warm darkness that he loved very much and addressed with the soft name of, Neji.

Sasuke cursed as fire ran through his chest at the long distance he was forced to run, and with every step his feet sore in, he made sure he'd make the idiot taste the doubled amount of pain when he finally caught him. Sasuke took a turn to the right as the golden locks he used to find Naruto with turned there. Getting down the wooden stairs, into the front hall, Sasuke had to reduce his speed as not to bump into an old woman who was happily making her way slowly to her room. He turned right and left and cursed again when the hair leading him was nowhere to be found.

Still, not ready to call it quits, he strolled around the hall. Well, there really were not that many routes of escape Naruto could take. It was either he went to the showers – a place he looked and didn't find him in – or up the stairs, Sasuke had that possibility erased since he'd blocked the way with the old woman. Then the only other route was…

His eyes looked at the entrance and he ran there. If Naruto chose to blindly get out, there were so many places he could go to. But, he had no car, no money on him and Sasuke was pretty sure he'd left his cell on the nightstand. So, where could he run to with no cash, money or connections? Easy. Nowhere far. So, relying on brains, Sasuke keenly scanned the area close to the hotel; he fisted his hands as his search was leaving him more and more tired.

This day of his hadn't been easy. He woke up with the intention to straighten up everything with Naruto now that the blond had finished with his exams, and had actually arranged for them to go abroad into another country, as a gift for Naruto and then he was going to ease the new emotions into Naruto's heart; hopefully having their first night in a lovely candle-lit room. But that all had shattered as he woke up to a cold room with a single letter that hardly explained anything to calm the anger inside of him. And then when he thought to grab his things and hurry behind the runaway blond, his company had called and he needed to rush there.

By the time he'd finished, he got a call from Naruto's pink haired friend. And that single call had him change everything he thought about her. He thanked her and called, asking Neji to help him with arrangements, only to be surprised that the long haired raven was in fact in a close location to the place Naruto was supposed to be at. So, he got inside his car after settling everything back home and made to drive for full four hours without rest to the faraway hotel.

And when he finally arrived here, Naruto had started this meaningless chase. Yes, he was beyond the point of simple anger. He was fuming, and just waited enthusiastically for the minute his hands could lay on Naruto's flesh to teach him a lesson about life.

Luckily for his tired limbs, his eyes caught the hair they've been looking for lying – more like hiding – between the dark plants made to decorated the area around the shore. Sasuke gritted his teeth as his legs picked up speed.

"NA. !"

The blond jolted from his hiding spot and made a notion to begin running yet, before he could clear the area, Sasuke's sweaty hand grabbed hold of his arm and by the backward force he was yanked harshly into the other's chest, forcing them both back into the sandy ground, with Sasuke crushed under his weight.

"Fucking Dobe!" Naruto panicked at the words and tried to free his arm but it was like Sasuke's hand had turned to iron and refused to let go. "You're not going anywhere!"

Sasuke made this clear by switching their positions and having Naruto dipped into the sand instead of him. Tired, pissed off, dark eyes faced him, and Naruto immediately looked away.

"Don't you dare dart your eyes away from me!"

"…I don't know what you're talking about."

"Like fuck you don't know what I'm talking about!" Sasuke punched the sand beside Naruto's head, jerking the blond to him. "You fucking run the moment I open my eyes and when I find you, you run again! I'm so tired of your little running game! From this moment onwards, you won't get to turn into your chicken, powerless, pathetic self and run away from me ever again!"

Naruto bit his lip hard; Sasuke was talking as if he was the only one shouldering all the pain while Naruto was the one causing it, which was far from the truth. Fisting his hands in return, the blond snarled up.

"Oh shut it! Where do you go off dropping all of this shit on me?! Yes, I ran! I fucking ran! I ran from you! I ran from being unwanted! I ran from the disappointment and rejection in your eyes! Yes, Uchiha, I chose to run! And it doesn't mean that I,myself, am pathetic, powerless or a chicken, it just means that I wanted your fucking thick head to give me some time to collect myself before you reject me! But as always, you don't know how to fricking sit and wait for people to gather their courage and came following me!"

"Who the fuck said I'm going to reject you for you to run in a courage-quest in the first place?!"

Honest, blazing orbs faced Sasuke's dark ones and Naruto had to get hold of the sand beside him as for his shaking hands to quit. "You did! The moment I said those words you gave me your answer! Your lips didn't say a thing but your eyes told me everything. It was too much for you. I might've been the one who'd run away in reality, but you ran away that night before me. Your face gave me everything that I needed to know."

Sasuke sighed and got off of Naruto, allowing the blond a minute to catch his breath and straighten himself upright. He sat backward on his legs and said calmly.

"I…that night, I was shocked. I thought I was prepared for it, but I wasn't. When you said those words – even though they were a nice dream I have only kept in head – I freaked out. You know the feeling when you strive for something so long and when you finally get it, you get scared of holding it?"

"I'm not a dream, Sasuke."

The raven allowed a tiny smile to show on his features. "To me you were. And I was scared of reaching my hand and grabbing you. Call it whatever you want, but at that moment, I didn't trust myself enough to accept your feelings."

Naruto sighed and started standing up, dusting himself off. "And you don't have to. I don't want you to force an answer for my sake, I can wait for it. Yet, if you're planning on rejecting me, I'd prefer you do it now, because I can try and heal from it in here…and we can return back to being friends, so you don't have to worry about anything."

Sasuke scowled and got hold of a tan hand before Naruto would run out of his reach and another unwanted chase would take place. "Naruto, you really need to go clean your ears some more and listen right when people are talking."

"I heard you loud and clear, Teme. You can't decide what to answer me with, you're confused. You can't reach out to me because you have no idea what you want me to be to you, a friend or a lover, and I'm fricking making it easy for you! Reject me now!"

"No, it's not that you can't hear, it's your brain. You're simply an idiot. A moron who doesn't even know how to process words' meanings right inside his head."

Naruto snatched his hand and glared at the male sitting on sand. "Fine! If I'm so fucking stupid, you say it! Right this instant, tell me what I am to you!"

Sasuke looked around him. Sea, moony skies, calm waves and sand with no one on it as far as he could look. And he could kill himself at the cliché atmosphere, but if the blond wanted to be romanced this way, who was he to forbid him such a simple request?

"Well, this isn't certainly what I had in mind for location or the method I wanted to tell you with, but if you want this, I guess I have no choice then."

"Just hurry up with it! Say 'no!', say 'I don't want to be with you like that' and we can get all of this behind us!"

At those words, Sasuke stopped the passionate words he was about to blurt and his facial expressions changed as his eyes took a questioning turn instead of a loving one. "…You want me to reject you?"

"I don't want anything. Just say them and let's get this over with."

"No. you really think that. You believe I'll reject you."

"Well, it's only realistic. Aside from being a man, I'm a person who'd forgotten about you, hurt you once and is still in the phase of 'atoning' for those mistakes. I have no good traits. I have no parents, no money, nothing that would make Uchiha Sasuke feel anything except for friendship for me. A friendship that I hold really close and would wish to lose my sight before losing it. So, no, I'm not hoping, I'm being realistic, and reality says that there's no chance you're feeling anything outside of friendship for me."

Sasuke frowned at the words and he fisted his hands at the insecurity that suddenly rose to his heart at them. "…Naruto, let's say, for example, I feel the same way you do, what would you do then?"

"Nothing. Because there's no need to think of impossible 'what ifs'. I'm living in reality."

"Then, does your reality only accept a solution of friendship between us?"

"Yes. You can never feel anything more."

"Do you want me not to feel anything more?"

Naruto turned his back to the other at this and shook his head. "Sasuke, you can't feel anything more for me."

"How about you stop with what I can and can't feel and tell me what you think would fucking happen had I actually felt the same way you do?!"

There was a long pause that followed Sasuke outburst and biting his lips, Naruto released faintly.

"…Nothing would happen. It would be a nice dream, just like the one you've seen with me in it. A nice dream that I will need to awake from before I sink hard."

"So, you're saying that even if I felt the same way you do, there's no chance of us being together?"

At this Naruto turned his head and Sasuke forced his heart to quiet down at the beautiful eyes reflecting the faint moonlight in their blue midst. "That's exactly what I'm saying, Sasuke."

"You're not going to change your mind?"

"There's nothing to change my mind off. Regardless of what we want, we live in two different worlds, you can't cross into mine and I can't cross into yours. It's hard, but I'm willing to live with it. As long as we have our friendship, we'll always have a bond we can get back to. So, no…I don't want to risk losing it to anything. I hope you can understand this, Sasuke."

Sasuke rose slowly from the sand. The beautiful picture his eyes were seeing the minute he woke up had so cruelly been crushed under the feet of the person who he'd given his heart to. And there were no more words to mend it, no more threads to fix it, for it was broken. There was no more need to believe, feel or hope. Because just now, before he'd even spoken or released a loving syllable out…

Naruto had decided their fate.

Sakura folded her hands on her chest and stifled the snort of annoyance her nerves were trying to push out. Her annoyance only increased at the new add to the table that made her gloomy mood turn heavier, having had enough of this depression so early in the morning. She took hold of the arm of whom she'd known as Hinata's cousin and pulled the long haired raven aside.

"Alright, I know you're his best pal, what the hell happened yesterday? Today was supposed to be lovey-dovey 'til we all die of their sickness, but it's nothing like that at all, it's a graveyard!"

"Humm…" Neji tilted his head to the side. "I can't see what you're talking about; they both look fine to me."

Sakura rolled her eyes and pointed a very annoyed finger to the two corpses barely munching on their supposedly yummy breakfast. "Just fricking look! Naruto looks as if his soul had been ripped out of his ribcage and your friend doesn't look any better either!"

Neji frowned at her words, and he took a better look at the two. And her words couldn't have described the situation any better. Naruto was clearly in no mood to eat let alone talk and Sasuke was giving the 'stay away or you're going to die' vibe, making the other people sitting on the table nervous, except for his Gaara who ate as if nothing was wrong.

"Well, now that I see it, it really does seem like something happened."

"Doesn't it? I thought that if he'd come here, Naruto would be able to solve all of this love misunderstanding out."

"Oh," Neji raised a brow. "You know about it?"

"He couldn't have hid it even if he tried. Sasuke-kun told you?"

"Yep. Although it was hell 'til he spilled it, but he did."

"So, what do you think happened between them?"

"Last thing I know, Sasuke had gone after Naruto last night to fix everything back to normal. Maybe something happened instead of them returning back to each other."

"Something? Like what?"

The long haired raven shrugged with a mischievous smile. "It's for them to know, and for us to find out."

Sakura's mimicked the other's expression and got up with a smirk of her own.

"I like how you're thinking."

"I think you're the first woman to say something like that."

"Well then, that's what being unique is all about. So, how can we handle this?"

"For now, let's finish breakfast and you try to get any information out of Naru-chin, while I will handle Sasuke…after he cools off that is."

Sakura nodded. "Sounds like a plan to me."

With that the two returned back to the table. The rest of breakfast was a bitch. And as soon as everyone was finished with it, they started leaving. The first one was Sasuke, who so rudely stood up and left the dining hall, he didn't give any introduction to himself or excuses for his intrusion. All were left as gaps, in which Sakura was forced to fill for the Ass. On Naruto's side, it was apparent to Sakura that he was depressed, with something to say but couldn't. She excused herself right after he did and made to stalk her friend to spill everything to her.

Actually, she had planned to do that the moment she opened her room's door and found him sleeping on the hallway beside it this morning. She had asked him what was wrong but Naruto only gave her a fake, happy smile that made her want to punch his sorry assed face for it, but didn't. Then she waited, to see if there was probably any fight between Naruto and the two who'd intruded on his room. Yet, when she saw Sasuke come down so proudly for breakfast and sit on the other, far end of the table, away from Naruto, she knew it had something to do with him. And now, she was going to find out all that had happened and wreck the supposedly happy atmosphere.

Getting the perfect opportunity with Naruto going inside his room, she followed and clicked the door locked behind her.

"Naruto. We need to talk."

She came upon him lying flat on his stomach on the big, comfortable bed that had been robbed away from him by a demanding Neji.

"Not right now, Sakura-chan, I'm so tired. I just want to sleep and hopefully just disappear."

"No. you won't sleep until you fucking explain to me what had all that been about. Why aren't you being lovey-dovey with his highness?"

Naruto dug his face deeper into the pillows if possible and it was a whole minute 'til he released his face back to answer his long timed friend. "Sasuke hates me."

Her eyes went wide as her brain started processing, and with visible utmost surprise, she said. "He rejected you?!"

"Well…h–"

"There's no fricking way he'd reject you! Naruto, he fucking adores you! No, I refuse to believe that! I've never read a guy wrong and that one was aiming for you from the first day I met him! There must be something wrong. It's just unbelievable that he'd reject you…wait," She quieted down and her brows met in a question. "Why did he reject you? Was it because you're poor? No, that's not it. He didn't care about that when he befriended your ass at the hospital, so, your looks? No, you're handsome, even cute. Then why? Why would he reject you?!"

Naruto had to sit upright and hold his hand up to stop his friend from ranting any longer to be able to explain to her. "Umm…the thing is…Sasuke didn't really say…in…words. But I know it, he doesn't want me, and he has no other choice but to reject me. Why would he want someone like me? I have nothing to offer, while he has everything. So, it only makes sense that he should be with someone who can give him the same things he's offering, not with someone like me."

"Wait, wait, wait…let me get this straight here. He rejected you but he didn't?"

"Umm…yeah…well…no, but…I guess yes…?"

Sakura rolled her eyes at the indecisive blond and put it in bold letters for him to answer. "Alright. A yes or no Question. Did Uchiha Sasuke tell you that he's not in love with you?"

Azure orbs avoided her question and Sakura pulled the eyes back to her and glared to him that no games are appreciated, so with a sigh, Naruto answered, truthfully.

"…No, he didn't."

"Then what's the problem? If he didn't reject you, why aren't you two in each other's arms as we speak?"

"It's me. I didn't allow him a chance to say it. I blocked all the doors before his mouth could say them. I'm the one who's forced him to hate me."

Sakura shook her head. "I'm afraid I'm not following you, Naruto."

"Sasuke…if he said he loves me, and we're a couple. This will only make it hard for him down the road. Look, life with me isn't easy, you know it. And life with him, isn't easy, he knows it. So, when you add a disaster to a disaster, what would happen?"

"Naruto, you're not a disaster, I don't know about him, but you're not."

"Yeah, yeah, just answer my question. What will you get?"

Scowling at being dismissed just like that, Sakura answered. "A catastrophe, I believe."

"Exactly. Tragedy, ruin and heartbreak. Not to mention we're both men, so starting a family is out of the question and I'd hate being the reason why Sasuke never knows the joys of being a father. That's why, it's better for us to forget any feelings of love and just to stay as normal friends."

Sakura smiled gently at her friend. Everything he said was right, and she understood how much courage he was showing to give up his love, which could be the love of his life for reality and happiness of the other, but…

"Could you do it, Naruto? Could you just sit by watching him live away from you?"

"I can try. For his sake, I'll try."

"He might grow out of love for you, and every time you'd see him with another person in the place where you should be, you'll hurt. You will reach a place where you don't think you can even be friends with him anymore, and that's when you'll really fall and see how much you've given of yourself. Can you do that, Naruto? Can you live a life like that? Just watching and never crossing the line."

Naruto clenched his hands hard and Sakura held into them afraid that Naruto would dig too hard and cause himself a cut. It was only recently that his old injuries have healed and she didn't think the raven would forgive her if Naruto's hand sustained anymore injuries due to his stupidity.

"…If it got too hard for me to handle, I'd leave him."

"Walking away from a love won't be that easy."

"Then, you tell me what to do, Sakura?! Since you look like you have all the answers, why not tell me what to fucking do about this pain in my chest?! How can I get rid of it?! How can I be someone who can help him and not ruin him in the same time?! I have thought about this for as far as I can remember! I fucking know that Sasuke loves me back! But if he spoke those words, it's the end! The end for everything between us! We can't even become friends if he did!"

"Why? Why does it have be like that? Just because you love each other, why does it have to be the end for you? Love is a wonderful thing, Naruto. And I know you've only had bad experience with it but that doesn't mean that this one would be bad. You can't just give up before you try."

Naruto fought hard for the overwhelming emotions inside him to subside but that never happened and before he knew it, his eyes were leaking.

"I've tried, Sakura. From the moment I realized I have deep feelings for Sasuke, I've tried. Every day was so fucking sweet it killed me and I was falling harder. I couldn't continue like that. I couldn't hate him; with every fibre in my body I love him. But that wasn't good. If I linked us together then there won't be any way out for Sasuke to escape from. And that's something I couldn't live with. If something happened to him because of me I'd never be able to forgive myself!"

And the only thing Sakura was able to do was hold her aching friend and hope for the bottled up feelings inside of his heart to find a way and release before the human in her arms really goes and explodes with them, for a sorrowful love was always the most painful type of love, and she feared Naruto the agony that would come with such heartbreak.

Thanks for the read and the wait, see you in chapter eleven and people review, I'll be waiting! :D