Author Notes: One chapter up and one chapter going down! :D

This is the last time you guys will see Kasumi-chan, savor her presence now! XD She's cutefied 300 percent in this chap, I hardly doubt that you guys won't say: "aww…" when she speaks up. (unless you guys have a heart made of stone!)

Chapter 10

Rescuing Kasumi's mother proved to be an easier task to accomplish when you have an excellent tracker like Akamaru. (Though it still took some time for Sasuke to get used to watch and follow that…enormous, ferocious looking thi—…animal). Most of the people left to guard were composed by non-combatant servants, as the other went up to fight against Naruto's group before so the stray ones just gawked back at the black-haired nin in utter panic, some were even shaking their legs, fearfully.

The moment that the Uchiha directed his patented Glare ® towards his poor victims, the basement got efficiently emptied with only dust whispering on the wind.

Hn.

Opening the door was also an easy job. They placed the prisoners behind a fake wall however, Akamaru's specialty was to drill through any kind of material, enemy or unfortunate prey, as he did it leaving a huge numbers of women gaping when they saw a gigantic white living animal destroying the prison.

"EEEEEEEK!! MONSTER!!"

Ouch. Such ungrateful reaction pierced through his kind heart, Kiba's dog whimpered with forlorn depression so. The human shook his midnight strands and calmed down everybody inside the cubicle, ensuring that he was there to rescue them up and asking them to leave the place.

When one of them, hair ruffled and mildly bad smelling from the long confinement had exited peacefully, head straight and walking elegantly, standing out from the rest of the hostages with her auburn hair, Sasuke didn't even need Akamaru's tug to know. The shinobi touched gently the woman and said:

"You're Kasumi-chan's mother right?" At meeting the startled reaction followed with a hesitant nod, the brunet continued. "Come with us then. Your daughter is waiting for you."

"KAAAAAAAAA-CHAAAAN!!" The young red squirt quickly ran towards her kind mother and squeezed into a fierce and close hug.

"(sob sob) I love whenever I see a happy ending like that!" Kiba sniffed moved, swapping some tears falling down on his triangular tattoos.

"Awww…aren't you the sappy pup?" Naruto sneered towards his friend, even though he was also happy for the successful conclusion of that. The ruffian brunet directed a high kick towards the whiskered face, though the latter blocked with his arms. The battle was on, as the other two teammates just observed it with some sort of regular normality, as if they were used to see those kinds of banter.

Oh great…sounds like the goofy clowns were also here.

And right after five subsequent minutes of tight and sentimental hugging, Kasumi suddenly pried herself from her mother with a frowning expression.

"Kaa-chan, you stink!" Sasuke snorted and glanced at the dobe, receiving a glare in return. She's really Naruto's clone in personality, alright.

After the necessary presentations, Naruto and his group were wearing this time civilian clothes without their porcelain masks, the Uchiha took a moment to analyze the dobe's teammates. Still glaring at the Hyuuga, who was wearing traditional Japanese style clothes, he remembered about the Inuzuka Kiba, a loud and rash idiot just like the blond Dumbass with triangular tattoos on his cheeks and a small dog following around every time. Wait. So that means that the tiny, tiiiny dog turned into that…he widened slightly his onyx eyes; gigantic animal with the size of a horse?!

So, obviously, that man was the codename ANBU 'Dog', if his annoying loud voice and crude actions could be an added plus to his investigation. So, that also meant that the Captain Deer is…the lethargic, lazy, low-scores genin and was currently yawning in the middle of the scenario, stretching wide his arms. Nara Shikamaru. Who'd thought that…? Three of the dead-last on his class of genins in the Konoha Academy now stood proudly as powerful and deadly ANBUs. Either Konoha has fallen into loony bin to hire such rash people or time really changes quickly the people.

Kasumi's mother returned after a shower while her daughter was strangely unafraid of Akamaru's size, opting to pat his fluffy white fur and play with him, throwing a stick. (AN: I know that dog was supposed to be "it", but Kiba wouldn't allow me to label him as an object, right? ;P) The young woman bowed in gratitude towards her saviors and offered warmly:

"Thank you for helping Kasumi-chan. I hope you accept this small token of gratitude and stay here tonight for dinner."

Dog and Fox ears immediately perked up from her words. (perhaps it was because they were the only carnivorous mammals from the group and Hawk didn't eat a lot of food…)

"Reeeeaaaally??" Kiba tried to halt the rapid flux of saliva coming to his mouth while he imagined food (real food) being presented to him.

"That would be great!" Naruto beamed widely causing to the young mother chuckling back from their childish glee.

"Yes yes…it'll be my honor to cook for the people who saved me…" She glanced at her child fondly. "And helped my Kasumi-chan."

"Yeah! Sasuke-niichan, Dobe-niichan and Dobe-niichan's friends haf tcha eat kaa-chan's food! It's dozen, million, triiiiillion more delicious than mine!" As a form of emphasis, she broadened her tiny arms to show her cute comparison. "I miss kaa-chan yummy food!" She clasped the fabric of her mother's skirt. "I miss kaa-chan good smell."

The small girl wiggled her button nose at the hem of the cloth and tried to stifle a sniff. Luckily, Naruto heard the hushed noise and crouched his legs, touching affectionately her red locks.

"But above all, you miss your kaa-chan the most, right?" The amethyst eyes stared awed at the tender sapphire ones and cleaned up some stray droplets falling on her cheeks, smiling broadly.

"Yeah! Now I'm gonna grow up as fast as I can and protect my kaa-chan bravely just like you all saved my kaa-chan from the evil guys!"

Naruto laughed, her audacious manners definitely resembled amusingly with his, as he disordered her hair:

"It's a promise then squirt!"

"Yep! Don't call me squirt, dummy dobe-niichan!" Kasumi tried to protest flailing her arms around though her mother had securely locked her hands around her child's tiny waist, kissing her forehead while she cried happily at Kasumi's endless energy.

"They'll still encounter many hardships…sad things…but I think they'll manage it all pretty fine…" Sasuke and Naruto reflected at the small family, as they savored homely feelings and drank the cozy atmosphere.

Before anyone could realize, cheerful dinner was already gobbled voraciously down and everybody was ready to return to the Hidden Leaf Village.

As Kasumi's mother was still thanking the team and giving provisions for the length of traveling back, Naruto felt a tiny hand yanking his pants and moving him slightly away from the crowd.

"What, squirt?" He smirked at the answering pout.

"Be quiet, dobe-niichan. Hmph. Dobe-niichan is such a brat, can't you see that I'm trying to say important things now?" She raised slightly her chin smugly as she retorted back.

"Whatever brat. So, what do you want to say to me?" The blond quirked an eyebrow curiously.

"I just wanted to make sure…you're going to take Sasuke-niichan to his home, right?" She asked sincerely.

"Huh? How d'ya sure about that?"

She flexed her chin hesitantly for a moment, then continued.

"I think…I think Dobe-niichan is part of Sasuke-niichan's home right? Sasuke-niichan was so happy when you came."

"He was?" This time, Naruto had to confess, he was utterly befuddled.

"Not…happy, happy. I mean…Re…whazzat the word? Relaaakusu…"

"Relaxed." The tanned man aided her out.

"Yep. Relaxed. Ya know…it's been, I think, one week since Sasuke-niichan started to help me out. At the start, I think that Sasuke-niichan was…a little bit…scary…" She shudder a little bit. "Because he always maked a face like this…" And then, she frowned her eyebrows while her lower lip made an obtuse sulk.

It was the turn of the blond nin to snort. Trust Sasuke to always make a bad impression towards any small child.

"But then…but then…he really really tried to help kaa-chan. And he helped me a loooot of things. So I think that Sasuke-niichan is a good guy deep down, that's why I didn't mind his…" Again, the moping expression. "Face like this."

Oh. So that's how she became impervious against the Uchiha Glare ®.

"Then…I tried to make Sasuke-niichan's face more pretty, y'know, they say that everyone is prettier when they smile, oh, not that I'm saying that Sasuke-niichan is a ugly man, noooo, Sasuke-niichan is so pretty, prettier than many girls and boys I've seen around!" Babbling, her purple eyes sparkled gleefully, admiring the stunning appearance from the Bastard.

The Kitsune sniggered inwardly. Of course, no women from any age, when meet the emo-asshole, could not resist on becoming a Sasuke fan-girl. Kasumi had to be one more added number to the legion of fans.

"I tried hard to make Sasuke-niichan smile even if it's a tiny tiny little bit…but Sasuke-niichan always maked this face…" Then, she smoothed out all her face to show the neutral (blank) expression. "Or this one…" She quirked an eyebrow as one corner of her lips tilted down, the puzzled expression.

"I see…" Naruto watched with great fascination at Kasumi's performance. She could imitate really well Teme's face emoticons, well, not that his expressions were something challenging to reproduce, anyways…

"But sometimes, sometimes…when I speak about my dreams…Sasuke-niichan makes that small smile…it's so small that I have to see close to his face so I can see it better, but…he smiled. At least…it's a smile." She also tilted slightly her lips in light grimace, depressed that she couldn't succeed her innocent wishes of helping.

"Then…whenever people say…" Kasumi quiet down and whispered shyly. "Bad things about me and kaa-chan, Sasuke-niichan's face turned pretty pretty angry…Like this." Flaring her nostrils and tucking deeply down her mouth with furrowed eyebrows, she tried to reproduce the famed Uchiha Glare ® from her tiny face.

"Like what?" Naruto looked back baffled at her expression, she looked like that she was seriously constipated and needed to go to the bathroom now.

"Like…like this!" She furrowed closely her auburn eyebrows and pouted. "Gah! No, no no, like this, see? Like this." Using her second fingers to bring together her eyebrows at the same time she used her thumbs to pull lower the corner of her lips, representing the ultimate glower with some aiding instruments.

"Oh…like this." Naruto also tried his Uchiha Glare ® version.

"…Dobe-niichan, you look like you need to go poo now."

The mischievous blond huffed rebelliously. So what if he didn't have Uchiha blood in his veins and couldn't replicate that annoying Glare®? It's not that he's interested in using that anyways.

"So Sasuke-niichan always make this face whenever he beat the bad guys who bad-mouth me. It's so fun!" Oh…and then the Bastard accused him on not being a good material for kids. Bad Sasuke, bad! "Owie…" Kasumi quickly rubbed her temples tenderly like she was having a headache. "It hurts. How can Sasuke-niichan do that all the time?"

"I have no idea." Naruto chuckled back, wondering the same problem likewise.

"I have always tried to make Sasuke-niichan happy. Kaa-chan said…You're happy when you can live with the person you care and love and be yourself with him. I have always tried to make Sasuke-niichan feel at home then." She sighed disheartened and continued. "But I guess I can't make Sasuke-niichan feel that he's in his home, because I can't make Sasuke-niichan smile a lot."

"Well, I'm pretty sure it's Sasuke-niichan's fault, not yours." His fault for being a stuck-up asshole, that's for sure.

"Then you came, Dobe-niichan." She tilted her red head towards his blue gaze and spoke excitedly. "Sasuke-niichan was always so quiet…serious…It was my first time when Sasuke-niichan joked! I mean…strangely…but, yeah. Joked."

Both of the hyperactive 'kids' scratched the back of their heads in slight befuddlement.

"And when Sasuke-niichan talked with you…he smiled. A real smile. A strange smile too, but…he smiled."

"You mean, smirked, yeah, that smug, irritating and annoying smirk of his." Naruto contemplated as he let the girl continue.

"And when you're not looking at him…I saw, once. His smile. Everyone is correct. People get prettier when they smile. So…you came here because Sasuke-niichan is returning home right? Because where is his home, is where you're there too, right?" The young child grinned hopefully towards the widened cerulean eyes and declared. "Because I want Sasuke-niichan to smile like that more! Because Naruto-niichan is the one who can make him smile like that, right? Then, Sasuke-niichan will be finally happy!"

"You think so?" Even though her innocent words were unblemished by harsh reality, Naruto's heart thumped faster unbeknownst to himself.

"Yep yep! Then, maybe, maybe, he'll smile just like this!" Her lips broadened into a gigantic beam, though Kasumi still wasn't feeling satisfied. "I mean, I mean, like thiiis…" Each of her fingertips stretched her mouth for a moment but she retracted disappointed.

"Oh, like this?" He used his own tanned fingers to enlarge her tiny mouth, a small drool escaping on a corner. However, her amethyst eyes glistened with glee as she repeated the same action towards Naruto's lips.

"Yep! Like this!" They waited until both of them retracted their hands with lively smile on their faces. Kasumi declared gleefully:

"You better take good care of my Sasuke-niichan, Dobe-niichan!"

"And how do you know that I'm going to treat well your Sasuke-niichan, squirt?" The golden-haired man snorted challenging.

"I just know and don't call me squirt!"

"And how can you know if you don't have anything to prove about it?"

"I have my Women Intuition!" The girl beamed proudly stuffing her chest.

"And do you have any idea on what does that means?" Naruto quirked an eyebrow.

Apparently, Kasumi-chan still disobediently watched television, contrary to Sasuke-niichan's warnings. "Of course! It's super psychic powers that only women have it and have the ability to read minds!"

Not exactly that but we're almost there.

"Gotcha then. I'll make sure that your super powers will never fail afterwards." The young man pinched playfully her fluffy cheek.

"Then, I'll make sure Sasuke-niichan smile like this!" Naruto finally showed his widened toothy grin, a duplicate generating from the young girl as response.

"It's a promise then!"

"Yeah!"

After few days of constant traveling, Sasuke's arrival at Konoha was everything but ordinary, at the moment he set a foot inside the place. Sakura, Kakashi and Iruka were there, to reception him, probably already knew from Naruto's messenger bird when they finished the mission.

When the last Uchiha saw Sakura, her emerald eyes instantly glistened with uncontained tears, extremely contented from his peaceful return after many years of searching. She drawled herself to give a friendly and nostalgic hug and the stoic man had to admit…that it felt nice that someone besides Naruto would welcome him with open arms. He quickly changed the gears of thought when he noticed that she wasn't controlling her strength, as her bear hug was getting tighter and painful, he was having troubles to breathe and all of his blood was having difficulties to reach to his brain. However, he resigned himself to conclude that such small counter effects were insignificant when the kunoichi drew a deep breath and screeched near him, almost redeeming him deaf:

"YOU GODDAMN JERK, DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA ON HOW MUCH WE HAVE WAITED UNTIL YOU HAVE RETURNED HERE AT LAST? CAN YOU IMAGINE ABOUT ALL WHAT WE HAD TO WENT THROUGH JUST TO FIND YOUR FUCKING PALE ASS?! ON ALL WHAT NARUTO SUFFERED TO HELP YOU OUT?! YOU CRAZY ASSHOLE UCHIHA!" The pinkette continued to ramble loudly as she shook his head violently with her Herculean potency and Sasuke finally realized, with deep relief, that in this display showed that she had moved on with her childhood crush.

"IF YOU EVER DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT AGAIN, I'LL CASTRATE YOU, TEAR YOUR FUCKING BALLS AND SHOVE THEM DOWN YOUR THROAT!"

Yep. Definitely moved on. Crazy women and their PMS…

Kakashi's reaction wasn't as impressive as Sakura's one, actually it was rather calm and laidback just as his former mentor was supposed to be. He only looked with his lazy eye at his ex-student while he read the last fascicule of Icha Icha Tactics and gave a small wave. Sasuke opted to roll his eyes when he saw him. Later, Kakashi, however, changed his mind when he thought that he should act accordingly like a suitable teacher, so he gave three uninterrupted hours of lecture to the Uchiha, at midnight, while he simultaneously continued to read his porn and Sasuke was forced to gulp gallons of coffee to maintain his consciousness.

Iruka's reaction was as expected from his first nin teacher. Though Sasuke didn't have as close ties as Naruto had with the ponytailed man, he did respect Iruka and valued his life lessons when he was a kid. That also meant that Iruka decided to join Kakashi on the "we–are–your–teachers–you–should–listen–to–our–rambling–and–contemplate–about–your–stupid–mistakes" in five hours worthy of more lecture from the chuunin. However, Sasuke didn't hear those long torturing sermons from Iruka at the day of his arrival, as he certainly had his hands full of problems when he met her. The Godaime Hokage, Tsunade, the slug sannin.

When they jogged to the Hokage tower and place the reports, Sasuke did have a slight wince when he entered on the Hokage's office, there wasn't any gentle old man smoking a pipe. It was substituted by an image of an indomitable woman, with piercing honey colored eyes and two long pigtails. Before he defected to Orochimaru's side, he did remember about such woman that cured him after meeting Itachi, but really, isn't a little bit bizarre that she didn't change at all, even after five long years of absence? The brunet, in the end, just shrugged his shoulders and maintained a neutral face while he watched the Godaime.

Tsunade, on her side, kept a face of: 'who the hell are you?' when she saw someone who wasn't wearing the Konoha's hitai-ite but his physique clearly showed that he was a shinobi. Since Sasuke didn't keep a long stay at the start of her career in Konoha, his face wasn't so easily recognizable to her. It was after long minutes studying his features, comparing into her memories with the outdated 14 years-old teenager photo on Konoha's file, epiphany fell on her mind and the Sannin quickly threw him outside of her office with a violent punch.

"YOU! YOU WERE THE ONE WHO STOLE THE PURITY OF MY DEAR YOUNGER BROTHER! YOU-SHALL-PAY!!"

As the ex-outlaw of Konoha couldn't really update the latest gossip inside the Leaf village, Sasuke couldn't connect what does her rage had to do with stealing the purity of her younger brother, as he recalled that he never slept with anyone throughout his period of life.

The woman with titan strength ran towards him determined to drill a hole on his face as (thanks the gods) Sasuke knew that this was his signal to use his honed ninja reflexes and quickly evaded to the side, as dignified as he could be, seeing the situation presented to him. The Uchiha's brain sensibly decided to shove his pride aside for once and concentrated on his ultimate survival when the punch he had carefully escaped from her grasp carved a gigantic 5 kilometers radium of dent on the ground.

"WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ON ANYTHING IN YOU BRAT?! HOW COULD YOU STEAL MY POOR BABY'S HEART?!" She kept thundering while she ferociously attacked all his vital points and the ANBU bodyguards wisely understood that they shouldn't protect the Hokage from imminent attacks in this case.

They should protect the poor victim from the vicious clutches of their leader.

With only one finger, Tsunade drew a deep crater throughout the long road. Her bodyguards blinked at that.

But maybe not now. Good luck kiddo.

"I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING ATTRACTIVE IN THIS GOOD-FOR-NOTHING ASS! EVERYTHING ON YOU SCREAM EMO IDIOT, CHICKEN-BUTT HAIRED MORON, AND COLORLESS ILL SKIN!! I SHOULD HAVE ELIMINATED YOU AT ONCE, BUT NOOO…I DECIDED TO HEAL YOU WHEN YOUR EQUALLY IDIOTIC BROTHER USED THE SHARINGAN AGAINST YOU!!"

Sasuke wanted to protest about the insulting Itachi part though he astutely detached all kinds of comebacks for now to concentrate on ducking her deadly fists against him.

Naruto kept watching the battle with a serene (mocking) face, like such feat was a daily issue or, the more possible reason, it was in due time that the Bastard (don't forget about the capital letter B!) should be properly spanked and educated to recognize his errors. He and his team as well as Kakashi, Sakura and Sai, sat comfortably in front of a tea shop, drinking their beverages and eating dangos while they had the best view of the war instated in the arena, talking leisurely and discussing about the styles as well as ninjutsus involved in.

They couldn't post a bet inside the circle, since everybody would place it on Tsunade's side. A shame, isn't it?

"AND NOT ONLY YOU DECIDED TO JOIN FOR THREE FUCKING YEARS WITH OROCHIMARU AND LEFT HIM BROKENHEARTED ALL THAT TIME, BUT YOU JOINED AFTERWARDS WITH THE AKATSUKI THAT WANTED TO KILL MY NARUTO!! WHY WAS HE WASTING HIS TIME TO FIND A MORONIC ASSHOLE LIKE YOU?!"

Oh. Now Sasuke knows what exactly she was talking about "her baby" and "her younger brother".

Iruka, the only sane person inside this loony bin, kept giving nervous glances while Sasuke fled like a cockroach trying to escape from his nemesis; the bunny slipper. Tsunade were giving gigantic fissures all over the place, as well as huge tears on the economic state, as seeing that the government would have to pay all the impairment caused by this small scale of atomic bomb, instigated from the over-protection of a powerful parent against the wuv of her dearie adopted son.

When the sun was already settling in the horizon, all the gang were already rested enough, caught all the chitchat between them and happily filled their stomachs. Everyone returned to their houses but Naruto, who thought that maybe it was time to interrupt the lovely engagement of approaching bonds between his infatuation and the closest person that he could call as his mother. Calmly patting his ANBU uniform as well as his hands to remove the dust, he stretched as well all his sore muscles while he watched Sasuke being butchered by the Godaime. The legendary medical-nin punctured the left side of his limbs so the ex-avenger couldn't move swiftly as before. Boosting chakra on the leg that still wasn't damaged by her skilled hands, the brunet ran to the left until another heavy punch swooshed near his nose and impacted on the wall deterred him.

"NOW YOU'RE DEAD!!" The blond ANBU slowly read the mission report in the tea shop's table while he slurped more the green drink lazily. The owners were cornered at the far end of their restaurant, so Naruto grinned sympathetically at them and waved a hand to them, cooing that everything would be alright. Too bad they couldn't reciprocate his kind gesture, opting to shiver fearfully from the loud bams outside.

Sasuke dodged in the knick of time her knee that was directing towards his nether regions (oh, we wonder why she had chosen such conspicuous target like those) though another stinging points had redeemed the rest of his arm and leg unmovable. Now the poor Uchiha could see all the details through her murderous face, each vein popping on her temple as well as a gigantic maniac grin broadening on her mouth.

"Fu fu fu fu fu…foolish lil' Uchiha Sasuke…now you can't escape from my wrath!" Tsunade laughed sadistically while she crackled the knuckles of her hand. A cold sweat ran all over Sasuke's spine, now he surely regretted on returning to this place. Naruto was unhurriedly eating the last dango while he sighed that, sadly, it got cold from all the wait, counted each coin from the bill and placed it on the counter. (we would set a soundtrack of birds singing on the back, but even the poor animals had fled from all the small confrontation happening on the street)

An accurate deadly punch drove through the air while the blond man organized the papers and rechecked for any syntax error at the same time that the graphite eyes screwed shut, preparing himself for the prospect of long visits to the hospital and bandages all over his face. The moment her fist was five seconds to meet her target was when, after giving a jaw-breaking yawn, Naruto screamed:

"Baachan! I have to give this report to you now! Man…I'm all broken, tired and smelly. Can we hurry up on this?" (All of this sentences serenely spoken in 4.58 seconds)

The said well-aimed and lethal punch quickly diverted to Sasuke's cheeks side and divided a concrete wall in two. The honey colored eyes glared with might to her dear protégée:

"BRAT! Stop bothering me with your nagging voice you annoying mutt! And who are you to order me around! I can accept this badly written report whenever I want to!"

"Aww…how can you say something harsh like that…that hurt my poor fragile soul…I know that you wuv me baachan!" Naruto gave his copyrighted fox grin while he sauntered to Sasuke's side and pointed correctly his vital points, the brunet's appendages functioning again.

"No wait. Maybe you don't love me as much as I thought before. Because you set a trap against your own fellow Konoha shinobi, you HAG!" He crossed his arms in defiance as he remembered about the last detail of his mission.

The Hokage Godaime shook her pigtailed hair, gave a playful bump on the upside of golden hair and snorted. "Stop complaining so much about small aspects of life, gaki. It was a tiny push to help you out and I'm not receiving any appreciation here in the end from you huh, ingrate." The cerulean eyes narrowed, though he did it only for regular ritual sake. "Now gimme those papers and scram. AND YOU, Uchiha brat!" Sasuke returned her glower with a slight wince. "Better take good care of my Naruto or next time I won't purposely evade all my attacks! Remember that!" She made some hand signals and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The prankster boy gave a sympathetic pat on the shoulders.

"Well Sasukins." The Kyuubi-vessel winked. "You owe me this one."

Sasuke glared at Naruto.

The other man just ignored the one hundred percent perfected Uchiha Glare ® by making another one-hand signals, grabbing the alabaster hand and they also disappeared from the sight while Naruto kept wearing a saucy beam to his returned comrade.

Sasuke's "peaceful and reticent" retrieval had ended.

Sasuke's trial, on the other hand, didn't meet many complications and the council only berated to give him some D and E-class mission for a period of one month, while he was obligated to stay at Konoha within three months.

The Uchiha district was completely demolished much to his surprise and there it laid only a vast terrain, ready to be used for new buildings anytime.

His lodging, on the other hand, was placed in the neighborhood of the ANBU headquarters, the Uchiha symbol placed on the top of his apartment. The new founded fact that really astonished Sasuke, however, was the nibbling detail that Naruto's residence fell extremely near his. Though they didn't live in the same building, technically, his door was next to the dobe's.

...The usuratonkachi could be more manipulative and perceptive man then he originally imagined.

As Naruto's name swapped inside as the main topic, the brunet had to admit that the first weeks were beyond frustrating. Apart that fateful night where they sort of confessed their feelings and…huh, one thing led to another, afterwards, however, the Kitsune only greeted with normalcy and his usual friendly beam. There were no tentative brush; flirt on his eyes, even their daily sparring didn't have any sexual tension that Sasuke was expecting.

And since the grinding-that-could-have-turned-out-into-something-much-more-interesting, poor Uchiha was plagued with wet dreams that were slowly consuming his sanity. And it didn't help that since he almost tasted the real experience; his imagination ran wild with detailed description and senses. Cold showers became annoyingly, a daily basis for him.

The brunet really tried to instigate something from Naruto. Of course, he couldn't flatly say that he wanted the Dumbass, Uchihas shouldn't show that they look so needy…Nevertheless, Sasuke tried to lead to something else, subtle signs, like holding hands (though the blond only smiled obliviously back), pinning him down on the training (which was swiftly detached, since Naruto was a ANBU nin) and he even made a desperate move on wearing only a towel when the usuratonkachi visited him. (as a matter of infuriating taunting, the Kyuubi-vessel only yawned, and asked if the Bastard was going to treat him ramen that day)

Weeks passed…and nothing. The dobe was obviously plotting something (it was the highest possible scenario).

The dark-haired man was sure that his dobe was interested in him, at least sexually speaking. (He hoped to dear gods that it didn't stop just there) He told him so, right? Tsunade insinuated too, right? (and that was why she almost killed him on the spot) So why there wasn't any tentative move coming from that Dumbass?

Impatience was rumbling around his head, and for the first time for Sasuke, he couldn't read Naruto's mind. Maybe he wanted the brunet to make the first move?

But tche…he was an Uchiha dammit! He's not going to degrade himself to show he's on the pursuit side, the dobe had to chase after him and declare himself right? An Uchiha never sought after something, they always waited until whatever object of interest would eventually come by themselves. Obviously.

However…time was a ticking and Sasuke didn't want to waste it illogically.

"Are we going to fuck today or not?" He said, when he offered the mashed potatoes to Naruto.

The blond paused for quite a while; hand in the air, before quirking a sand-colored eyebrow and taking the food forcibly from the house host, pouring down the contents to his plate. Sasuke waited patiently while the Kyuubi-vessel cut down the potatoes into fine smooth small cubes, poked them with his fork and directed it to his dark-red colored lips (Sasuke idly licked his mouth in this moment) munched slowly before gulping the contents and neatly cleaned his face with a napkin.

"Delicious." The only valuable comment.

"Thanks." The other one deadpanned. "Well…?"

"Sasuke." Naruto rolled his eyes. Stupid asshole, aaalways thinking with his pride. Moron. "Like I've said in the mission weeks ago, I'm sure of my feelings about you."

"But what about you…? What are your feelings towards me... ?" The same yearned heat had touched once again his pale cheek with affectionate azure eyes.

The brunet couldn't retort impulsively back, he knew. He understood that Naruto wanted to determine on what their relationship would lie.

"What…what do you want from me…?" Sasuke murmured hesitantly, not daring to voice any word, trying to prolong and savor the warm contact of skin on his face.

"An answer. That's all that I need from you."

His onyx vision saw the whiskered face approaching steadily towards him, their breaths hitching from anticipation though Sasuke only felt a hot air tingling his lips.

Suddenly, the sun-kissed color no longer stood inside the house, leaving the young brunet alone, a cold after effect and thoughts swimming inside his heart.

Author notes: Yes, that was a cliffhanger. (dodges the knives)

Next chapter, peoples, is going to be the whole reason on why this fic is Rated M. (dismissal waving hand)

Stop drooling perverts.

Oh, and don't misunderstand that I've updated this chapter so quickly…I've already written half of this chapter, that's why this time was specially fast. (everybody face falls)

Err…sorry?

And did I mention I'll answer your reviews? Yep yep, I'll answer your reviews. Someday…(guilty eyes)