A.N.: Hi minna-san! I'm still alive! Yay! .+avoids sharp objects behind the keyboard+. Really, sorry for the long wait. Lately, I've been busy as hell! But, to tell you the truth… .+fidgets+. I wasn't gonna submit another chappie till middle of December, but… just when I was supposed to be doing my term-paper, almost all of this chappie came to me. And even when I tried to ignore it, it just wouldn't leave me alone! T.T So, I decided I'd just have to write it as well. And…that had been the day before yesterday. XP Also, I had problems up-dating… Because I'm so poor and unable for me to buy a pen-driver, I have to rely on old lil' diskettes…and yesterday, trying to up-date it to the cyber's computer, the damn computer wouldn't read it! T.T Oh, and by the way, I so burned that diskette now…

So please forgive any misspelling this chapter may have.

This chappie is dedicated to all my wonderful reviewers! Thank you so much: SnowStorm75, Non Innocent angel, Pampan, FuriidamulovesTokioHotel117, BlackVampire14, singingrain, Fushica, Fitful Fantasy, Princess Teah, Endless Snow, happychica, Mikra, Sasuke2006. Thank you sooooo much+gives chocolate cookies+ And answering you, yes; you are what inspire me to write this. ;D

Disclaimer: You think I own anything? The only thing I own is the paper in which I wrote this, along with some ecchi boy-on-boy story of my own… +drools+Ahem!+ Putting it bluntly and clear: Me is not Kishimoto-sensei, so me does not owns anything. U.U

Warnings: Boy-on-boy. Boy love. Shounen-ai. Gay-man love. Don't like it, don't read. Oh, some OCCness as well… ;;;,

Pairings: Sasu/Naru, Lee/Saku, Neji/Ten, Shika/Ino, Kiba/Hina

Rating: T for mention of violence, bad-ass language and curses.

Vocabulary at the bottom.

So, having said that, on with the story!

Saint Valentine's Day a la Naruto.

By Aya Honey

Chapter 10: Acknowledge and Admittance of Feelings

Next morning, Sasuke was reminded of Naruto as the sun rays' entered his room, even though it was still winter and summer had yet to come. Even for such a proclaimed genius, the young Uchiha was still lost as to what to do with Naruto, and the whole issue related to him. Yeah, the day before he'd swore he'd make the dobe understand…but…said dobe had the main characteristic of being completely unpredictable. And so, how to make the idiot understand without screwing this up more? He decided to leave those thoughts aside for the sake of taking a bath.

His thoughts betrayed him in the end, because even trying so hard no to and being in the bath, he found himself unable to think in nothing else but Naruto. The kiss they shared the day before… the taste of the blonde's lips… Even in those shorts seconds, those lips surely tasted like heaven. He really, really hadn't planned that kiss to happen just yet. He just couldn't help it. His original plan that day was to just tease the blond, and make him chase after him… but the self-induced blindness of the whiskered dobe, and those lonely and hurtful eyes…they were the last drop to overflow the cup. He was furious that Naruto had deliberately chosen to ignore him, and it hurt… And Sakura…

Taking deep breaths, the pale boy willed himself to calm down. Supposedly, the reason for that bath was to calm himself and relax… The coal-eyed teen sighed. Obviously, it wasn't remotely working. Then, the only option left was… to have a violent, bloody, destructive, mind and energy-consuming training.

Raising himself and stepping out of the tub, he took a towel and began to dry himself. With his hair still damp and sticking to his face, he looked at his reflection on the mirror; his hair was longer than usual. Yet, he couldn't bring the will to cut it; it would have to do for the day. At least, it didn't block his vision…that much.

After picking his normal attire for the day, and putting them on, he left his clan's compound and started leisurely to make his way to the training grounds. On his way, he felt some hungry gazes to his direction, but he urged himself to ignore them, not wanting to commit a massacre. But maybe, just maybe, if he knew to whom those gazes belonged to, then his reaction would be different…

From a very safe distance, she eyed their prey. It seemed like said prey was making his way to the training compounds. That was becoming more and more like a routine now. Not that they complained, anyway; it helped them with their plan. And doing this kind of thing for The Plan, though rather simple, it made her giddy.

And now she thought that she really needed to lose herself a little more, and was thankful for their friends to have helped her with that. With a rare smirk on her features (something that seemed a little alien to her and her features, but not helping it either way) she released her Byakugan and made the signal of approval to the others to see. Now that she thought about it, this plan had a way to change her…

Naruto woke up, feeling weary, his room too dark for his own taste. Damn, it hadn't even dawned yet. The darkness always managed to remind him of someone—damn, now all the memories of what had happened hours earlier came flowing into his mind. And the memories of a certain kiss from a certain dark-haired person. He groaned, feeling more confused than anything.

He was tired of trying to think, of trying to understand why the teme had kissed him; he'd spent yesterday already a lot of time doing that. But no mattered how hard he tried, he still couldn't come up with an answer.

"You're really dense, aren't you kid?" Naruto could hear Kyuubi's voice inside his head taunting him, somewhat exasperatedly.

"Oh, shut up." The blond answered snappishly, annoyed.

After having shut the Kyuubi up, its container willed himself to sleep. And he turned around on his bed, tried to get more comfortable. And then turned to the other, trying to have happy thoughts. And so, after of a good ten minutes spending like that, the frustrated blonde boy sat up on his bed with a start, annoyed. He just couldn't sleep now. Dammit. The teme even managed to mess with his sleep…

More annoyed than ever, the boy got up from his bed, now realizing that it was useless to get back to sleep, as it wouldn't happen anytime soon; he might as well do something more productive. Maybe, just maybe, a good training would help him to clear his mind? He lazily contemplated his bed, as if studying it, then thought better of it. Nope. It would be useless try to sleep now.

After having took a quick shower (for the sake of waking up more than anything else) he put on his usual training gear, one of them being orange of course (that color was like Naruto's trademark, really) he left his apartment, via jumping roofs.

He didn't even try to have breakfast just yet (Ichiraku wasn't open yet) so he settled to go to the training grounds. Once he arrived there, he began doing some warm-up exercises before really starting to train (one time he tried to spar without doing a warm-up first; bad idea: without explaining the details, he ended being hurt in a lot of places). He started with some stretching; first the legs, then arms, bending his elbows…then, some push-ups…then making some abdominals…after a little while, he began sweating a little, but he didn't care; the exercise felt good…after some time of doing this, Naruto began with the training.

With his mind filled with preoccupations and thoughts of a certain raven-boy, and together with the rest of his concentration focused on his training and distraction…he didn't feel that he was being watched…

'So Naruto was really here, uh…? Who woulda thought he was such an early riser boy...' She was giddy with the prospect. Oh the possibilities, the possibilities… She urged the feeling of wanting to clap her hands together in excitement; if she did that then she'll really be discovered…

Though…it was exciting, really exciting. And it seemed that even luck was on their side. So…Naruto-kun was training… Then, if all went according to what was foreseen… then…

Ten-ten really thought it was exciting. It was a shame she couldn't tell Neji just yet…though, she thought he already knew, somehow. He was a genius, after all.

What would Neji-kun think of her if she'd told him of her enjoying seeing such hot boys together?

Maybe…

He'd just have to learn to bear living with that, ne?

Cutting her thoughts, she heard and felt someone as gracefully as the wind land beside her. "Wow…so Naruto is here…it will make things somehow easier…" the other person whispered.

"So, Temari…have you managed to convince him?" she asked interested, but cautiously, not raising her voice more than what was necessary. Their prey could hear them.

"Weellll…" the blonde girl stalled, but then continued "I tried to; I think I said some pretty meaningful things back there…but…it's up to him now." The fan-user had her eyes on Naruto now.

"Things?" The odango-girl was puzzled by the Suna's kunoichi's answer, and was looking at her now.

"Well…"

Temari then began telling Tenten what happened previously the previous night. She'd arrived from the reunion rather giddy, and her two brothers were suspicious on that. The puppet-user asked what she was up to. She innocently answered a 'nothing' back, which only seemed to arise their suspicious more. Then, seeing that she couldn't fool them, she bluntly went straight to the point, telling them the main points of what happened previously that day. And she also told them what they had to do.

"I have to do what?" the red-haired boy said, with a hint of not believing what he'd just heard from his, mind he, crazy older sister.

"Are you out of your mind?" The other boy said, this one with a little more of emotion laced on both his voice and features.

"Come on, guys…" the girl tried to reason with them. The hard task would be to convince them; especially Gaara.

"You still haven't answered my question, sister. I repeat: I have to do what?" This time he asked colder than the previous time. Really, it wasn't that he didn't hear well, but…rather, he couldn't believe what she'd just asked him to do. Help HIM…to get…

"C'mon, Gaara… You know most than anyone else how those two feel about each other…especially Naruto." She was almost pleading for him to accept, to understand, to comply now.

"Sister, what you're speaking about are merely suppositions. Have you heard from Naruto himself what you're stating?" the red-head challenged the pig-tailed girl, locking his eyes with hers. But she wasn't one to just give up.

"But…Gaara… that's the whole point! To make him admit about his feelings towards Sasuke!" Ouch. A reaction. Gaara twitched. Could it be that…? "Or…" she ventured "could it be, otouto, that you're jealous…?"

More twitching. Just the slightest tinge of red, but it was there all the same. "Of course not, sister. I couldn't possibly be jealous of HIM." It wasn't a big secret that the young Kazekage couldn't stand the younger Uchiha survivor. Was that a pout she saw there? Temari urged the sudden want to coo at his younger yet almost inexpressive brother at that rare display.

"Give it up, Temari. It's useless." Kankuro said, making a negating motion with his head. Said girl just shot a glare at his direction.

"Gaara." Temari tried once again, looking at his younger brother in the eye. "You care about Naruto, don't you?"

"Yes, I do." Gaara said neutrally, but without a hint of doubt about it.

"So," the kunoichi continued "you want to see him happy, right? Do you honestly believe that denying about his true feelings will make him happy? Just think about it. See it for yourself if Naruto is really happy, or even content, with the way he's now." After finishing saying that, the fan-user kunoichi made a strategic exit, leaving Gaara something to ponder about.

And that had been yesterday evening. When she returned, Gaara wasn't in the hotel room, and Kankuro seemed to be sleeping.

And today she hoped Gaara would just accept it, and do it.

And about Kankuro's part of The Plan… Poor Kankuro. She had to admit that she really pitied him. But, The Plan was still The Plan.

And so, the only thing that was left for them to do was… wait.

Naruto trained. He jumped from tree to tree, fighting imaginary enemies. Making flips and maneuvers, he threw kunai and shuriken at them. He summoned his clones, sparring with them. And one by one, they disappeared in a puff of smoke by his hand. But all of that wasn't enough to make him forget.

Damn. It was useless. With a final flip, he landed expertly on the on the ground, sweating profusely. In a moment of his training, he'd rid himself of his ever orange jacket. Sitting squarely on the ground now, he ran a hand through his disheveled hair, by the same tree as last time in his favorite spot; he seemed frustrated. Why was it so hard…? He felt so helpless as to what to do with the whole Sasuke and the kiss and his feelings issue, that he just felt like crying.

What were those feelings he felt, anyway? Were they real? If they real were indeed, then, since when? Why? Why him? Why not anyone else? Why not Sakura, or even Hinata? Why him? Shit… Shit shit shit shit shit…

He leant his head by the tree, feeling frustrated, weary, tired, confused, scared... 'Someone, just tell me what to do…'

"Hello, Naruto." Someone said by his side, standing some distance afar. Naruto whipped his eyes quickly with the back of his hand, and having recognized the owner of the voice, faced him, a grin placed on his face.

"Gaara! What'cha doing here?" he was kinda surprised to see the sand user there, but it wasn't really a bad kind of surprise.

"Have you forgotten?" the red-head replied, impatiently, walking closer where the blond was. "Tomorrow begins the Chuunin exams, and as the Kazekage I must be there." The Kazekage casually sat under the same tree Naruto was under, not too afar from him.

"So, Naruto, what's bothering you?" The red-head started once more, after some silent-filled minutes, surveying the blond. He hadn't missed the tears the blue-eyed boy had hastily whipped.

"Nothing." Naruto turned sour; he didn't even try to mask his feelings with false cheeriness. Gaara knew him really well.

"Something to do with the villagers? Have they bothered you again?" he offered. There were much too much times when the villagers had bothered and hurt the blond boy next to him, out of pure hatred and despise and of the misplaced image of the kyuubi onto him, believing that he really was the kyuubi, and that he was the one responsible of the killing of all those back when the kyuubi attacked the village. He understood, for he also was judged and misjudged for the One Tailed Spirit within.

"Nah, that's not it. It's just that…" Naruto was really at loss of what to say, of what to explain.

"Something to do about Sasuke?" Gaara offered once again. And by the look of Naruto's face, it seemed that he was right.

Naruto sighed, closing his eyes, leaning his head more onto the tree. "Yeah… isn't that always the case, I wonder." It was more like a statement than a question.

"He made a move on you, didn't he? And you don't know what to do."

"W-what-" suddenly, Naruto was really red now. "W-what are you saying—how—"

"You're really playing the fool, aren't you, Naruto? And how do I know? Let's just say that the display wasn't as secretive as you both thought." Gaara said with a touch of impatience laced on his voice.

"D-display…?" The kyuubi-holder was really worried that Gaara had seen the kiss between him and Sasuke…besides Sakura…though that didn't made any sense…he would have seen if—

"Yes. You know, the kiss?" the other boy answered somewhat irritably.

Naruto was as red as a tomato with that answer "H-how…"

"I told you already; the display wasn't as secretive as you thought. Sakura, remember?"

"Shit." The blonde cursed muttering, sinking more into the tree, his bang not being that quite successful in hiding his embarrassment as much as he liked.

Gaara sighed; he would really have to do it, right? Damn, his sister was right; Naruto wasn't really happy with the way he was now. "So, Naruto…what are you going to do about it?"

"Me? Nothing." The blond replied, looking away.

"Nothing, uh? And what did you felt about the kiss?"

"Feel!? What should I feel tow—"

"Don't play the fool with me, Naruto. We both know you have liked him since a long time now. Don't even try to deny it." the young red-head looked pointedly at Naruto in his eyes.

"Like? How—why should I like him?"

"I said it, Naruto, to stop playing the fool with me. If you didn't like him, then why did you go through all the trouble that was that training, and searching like crazy, just to bring him back?"

"It was a promise I made to Sakura; you know that." Naruto explained stubbornly.

"Hiding behind that excuse as always, aren't you, Naruto? When are you going to stop shielding yourself behind Sakura and start admitting your real feelings to yourself?" he was trying to make the baka blonde admit his real feelings already. Even when he thought that the Uchiha didn't deserve having those feelings directed at him. Gaara still couldn't forgive him for what he made the precious blond suffer.

Naruto was just about to answer something back, anything, when he was interrupted yet again by his red-head friend. "If you're going to give me excuses again, don't even try to." the Kazekage stood up, and locked eyes with Naruto. "It's really clear of what you feel, but it's time you stop being scared of those feelings and start admitting them, if not to yourself. If Sasuke is being serious or not, that's another different matter altogether." He said, voicing Naruto's major distress. Gaara then stood up and as silently as he came he left Naruto to himself and his thought, hoping that what he just did was for the best. He would be keeping an eye on them, especially on Sasuke.

"Admit my feelings, huh?" the blonde blue-eyed boy sighed for the umpteenth time that day, closing his eyes, feeling the warmness of the sun on his skin.

"Keh. You really like to make my life impossible, ne Sasuke?" in his head he had the image of that impossibly stubborn, superior-acting-attitude, burning and knowing eyes that seemed to know just everything, that lone heart, that strength and weakness, all that was Sasuke.

'Why you? I don't know, maybe because you understood what loneliness was like, and what people pretension of what you were was like. When? Probably since ever, but in that time I didn't know what it really was. When for sure? In those lonely days I spent after you were gone, after the images of you haunting my dreams. Were they real? Yes, they were, were much, as much as the rushing of my heart at that time of the kiss, as real as my determination to bring you back, when your absence and betrayal hurt so much I thought I would die. As real as the happiness I felt when I saw you again, after that long heart-breaking time. Why not someone else, anyone else? Because none of them could see for what I really was. Because…because it just happen, without choosing the person, not mattering if that person really deserved it or not.

'Yeah, teme, I really love you, you liking it or not.'

In another part of the woods, Kankuro was having a really difficult time. He didn't have another choice… 'Damnit, Temari…' he knew he would most probably just die today, as his adversary was almost killing him with his eyes.

"Aren't you going to move?" Sasuke asked coldly.

Kankuro gulped, taking his puppet from his back, putting it in front of him. "I'm sorry, Uchiha, but as much as I want to, I can't do that." he had to prevent the Uchiha to go there…

"Okay, then. I guess I'm going pass you through then." The younger Uchiha took a fighting stance, looking directly at his enemy, even without really understanding what was going on.

That morning, he'd decided he'd have a serious to kill training, to vent up his frustration. Just as he was arriving at his destined place, Kankuro appeared, saying he wouldn't let him pass. And that had been that. He thought he would take the chance and use him as his training dummy.

That was when he felt two familiar presences. Together.

He felt vile and jealousness wrapped all up together coiling within his system.

He then just decided to kill Kankuro in order to pass through.

And then, the bloody fight began.

Vocabulary

Suna: Sand

Kazekage: Suna's village's kage

Kunoichi: Ninja woman

Kunai: Those little like-daggers Naruto and company use in their fights.

Shuriken: Star-shaped weapon, the side of the palm, that Naruto and company also use in their fights.

Baka: Fool/stupid/idiot.

Dobe: Dead-last

Teme: Bastard

--ne?: at the end, it's the equivalent of 'isn't it?'

Odango: the hair-style Tenten uses

A.N.: Awww, about time he admitted his true feelings! Ooops… +notices dirty looks+ he he… yeah I know I'm the one that wrote this…so it's partly my fault… --;;;;,,, but for the story's sake, I couldn't just force it…

Anyway…any comments, questions, suggestions, constructive criticisms are really welcomed, and if needed, I'll answer you personally. Oh, it may take a while till I write next chappie…please bare with me.

So, press that kawaii pretty blue-ish buttom over there, onegai shimasu!

Oh, before I forget… would you guys like a Christmas one-shot for SasuNaru pairing? I could try and do it, but only if you ask me NOW so I can finish it. Suggestions for the story are also welcomed. Maybe a lil' lemon with it too! .+hint-hint+