Author's Note: This here is actually my favorite chapter. Hopefully it will be yours as well. (~_*)

To those who wonder if Sasuke only started to like Naruto because he's now a gorgeous girl, I beg to differ. I tried to make it as clear as possible that Sasuke cares greatly for Naruto, even prior to his 'transformation'. He definitely respects Naruto, as stated when Naruto forced him to agree to training with Sakura, and cares for his well-being, as demonstrated by his urgent search for him in the woods, as well as, the slap he gave Sakura when she refused to take them to the witch. He cares for Naruto more than he realizes, but the option of actually loving him becomes possible only when Naruto transforms. Sorry, guys, Sasuke's straight in this fic. (~_*)

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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Chapter 8: Whoa! God have MERCY!!

Sasuke woke with a jolt to a deafening noise that he recognized only too well. Despite the change in his voice, Naruto's scream was an unmistakable entity in itself. Covering his ears with both hands, Sasuke started to yell back. Except his protest never came out.

Naruto sat before him, eyes wide with fear and mouth twisted into a perfect look of disgust. The expression was oh too familiar, but was not, however, the cause of Sasuke's speechlessness. Rather it was what Naruto was doing with his hands that took the air right out of Sasuke's lungs.

The little twerp was cupping his well-defined chest with both hands and was currently tugging at them, as if trying to pry them off. Sasuke found he could no longer breathe. The ludicrous, yet sensual scene unfolding before him made him want to laugh and moan out loud at the same time.

Fortunately, Sakura had also been ruthlessly awakened. She bolted upright in her seat and one look at Naruto sent her immediately into action. Grabbing Naruto's wrists she forced his hands down to his sides, much to Sasuke's relief and regret. After several pats to the head and a few soothing words, Naruto finally reduced his wailing to soft whimpering. Kakashi's reassuring hand on his arm, however, brought an evident stilling to the boy's quaking nerves. Involuntarily, Naruto slowly sunk under the covers and his lids closed. In a matter of seconds he was fast asleep.

"Sensei?" questioned a worried Sakura.

Kakashi quickly raised a hand to silence her and then motioned for the two of them to join him outside. Once the door was closed firmly behind him, Kakashi visibly slumped, breathing heavily.

"Sensei!" cried Sakura and even Sasuke leaned forward with arms outstretched.

Kakashi gently pushed his hands away and smiled.

"A little chakra exertion immediately after a restless night always does that to me," he explained softly, "I'll be fine."(Gomen, gomen, I didn't mean to make Kakashi such a weakling. I just thought this would be so much more realistic)

Straightening, he placed a hand on each of his students' shoulders. Tilting his head slightly Kakashi smiled once more. He could clearly perceive the concern etching their faces and the sight warmed his heart. Although he would rather that Naruto hadn't suffered, he realized that it required something as catastrophic as this for them to reveal their love and friendship for each other. Maybe he wasn't half as bad of a teacher as he initially thought.

"I need you to stay with Naruto. He's not stable and I don't want him left alone for even a second. Take turns watching over him, all right?" Kakashi said slowly, his words coming out as more of a command than a request.

Both his students nodded numbly and Kakashi gave their shoulders an encouraging light squeeze before he vanished in a cloud of smoke. As Kakashi fleeted away, a troubled sigh escaped his lips. He rather dreaded what he had to do next, but there seemed no way out of the distasteful task. Telling the Hokage this was definitely not going to be easy.

Once left to their own devices, Sakura turned to face Sasuke. A quick glance at his beautiful face revealed a strange, thoughtful look, which left Sakura feeling vexed and puzzled. But she dared not ask the dark-haired boy what he was thinking.

Sakura still remembered the vivid memory of his stinging slap, as if it were now permanently imprinted in her mind. She suddenly realized that she was afraid of him. She was afraid because she didn't understand him, and despite her naïve wishes and dreams, would never come to understand him.

"I'll stay with him first," Sakura finally said with lowered eyes and stepped back into the room, the door of which she closed with a soft click.

Alone at last, Sasuke clenched his hands into tight fists. Throwing one last look at the wooden door, he disappeared in an acrid puff of smoke. He was determined to find that sorceress and wasn't coming back until he did.

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It's GONE!!

Sasuke didn't keep his promise, however. An entire day had lapsed by and he still hadn't found head or hind of the enigmatic woman who lived at the edge of the village. She had literally disappeared without a trace. Trudging wearily back to the hospital he crawled through the opened window of Naruto's room and quietly slipped in.

A piece of paper on the side table informed him that Sakura had left just a while ago. In the note she specifically instructed him to give Naruto his medicine the moment he woke up. The drugs were, apparently, to keep Naruto sedated and, thereby, 'manageable'. On the table were several tablets and a glass of water.

Sighing, Sasuke flopped down on the chair by Naruto's bed and rubbed at his sore neck. He felt guilty having forced Sakura to watch over the moron the entire day. But in the end, he supposed, she had it better off. At least she could now go home and get some sleep. He, on the other hand, still had to stay behind for 'guard duty'. This was definitely going to be one long night.

*Several hours later*

Sasuke found himself cringing at the stiffness in his muscles and joints.

"Dobe, you'd better appreciate this. I don't like missing my beauty sleep," he murmured quietly as he began to massage his aching eyes. (I know, I know, I made Sasuke vain!!)

"I do," a voice said softly, startling Sasuke out of his meditative state.

Snapping his eyes open, Sasuke found himself looking at the serene face of his teammate. Naruto gave him a small smile.

"Thanks for staying," he said sincerely, causing Sasuke to blink.

The idiot was actually thankful? Impossible. Leaning over, Sasuke placed a hand on the blonde's forehead.

"You're not burning up," he found himself saying and shyly recalled that these were the exact, same words Naruto had said to him earlier in the woods. Strange how life had a way of reversing their roles like this.

"Are you feeling all right, Dobe?" Sasuke asked. "You thanked me just now. Sure you're not feverish or anything?"

Naruto's smile turned into a scowl. He pushed Sasuke's hand aside and attempted to sit up. Sasuke reached out to help, only to have his hand pushed away once more. After some difficulties Naruto managed to pull himself semi-upright. Only his strength deserted him then and he released a pitiful groan.

"You fool, let me help you," Sasuke growled and eased Naruto into a more comfortable position before adjusting his pillows.

For once Naruto didn't complain. He closed his eyes in submission. Sooner or later he would regret this. Knowing Sasuke, he would never let him forget the fact that he had needed his help just to sit up. But right then and there he was too tired to argue.

"Need anything else?" he heard Sasuke ask.

Forcing his eyes opened, Naruto stared at Sasuke and saw that the older ninja was truly worried (Ok, I'm really not certain whether or not Sasuke's older, but I'm just too lazy to check, so let's just assume he is, ok?). Maybe Sasuke wasn't as cold-blooded as he'd initially believed.

"I // " Naruto started to say, but couldn't finish.

"What?"

"I // "

"Yes?"

"Ano // um // I // "

"Uh huh."

"I // I // "

"What is it, already!!"

"I need to go to the washroom," Naruto bit out, turning a deep shade of red.

He expected Sasuke to laugh and give his usual sly comment, but, amazingly, the creep didn't do any of these things.

"Is that all?" Sasuke asked. "Need my help?"

Naruto blushed even harder.

"Just // just help me to the bathroom," he managed to say through his embarrassment.

"Sure you don't need me to hold your hand as well? Or // at least your pretty, little gown, so it won't get stained?" Sasuke mocked, earning himself a hard punch to the arm.

Raising his hands in mock surrender, Sasuke laughed lightly. That earned him another punch, which was uncharacteristically weaker than the first. Looking more closely at Naruto Sasuke realized that the boy was exhausted. This observation immediately put an end to his light teasing.

Sliding his arm around Naruto's waist he pulled the covers back and allowed the smaller boy room to get off. Supporting his rival's shaking form, he gently led him to the bathroom. The journey there was painstakingly slow mainly because Naruto clung tightly to him the entire way, much to Sasuke's annoyance. One look at the blonde, however, told Sasuke that he wasn't enjoying the process anymore than he did. Naruto was never one to admit to being weak and yet he was, amazingly so.

Holding Naruto like this Sasuke realized for the first time just how frail and small the younger shinobi was. Sure, he'd always known that the twerp was the shortest of their trio, but never had he really taken the time to access the difference. And there was a difference, a great one in fact. Naruto barely came up to his chin, which was unnerving because Sasuke was positive the baka never had any difficulties seeing him eye to eye before. Did the potion do this to him? Had it made him // smaller?

Then again, he shouldn't be so surprise. There were a lot more things than just Naruto's height that had changed // the first namely being that he had acquired a pleasing curve to his waist, which Sasuke's hand had not failed to notice. He also hadn't failed to notice the lusterless tint dulling Naruto's normally vibrant eyes either. The poor baka seemed completely out of it.

Positioning himself so that Naruto's weight rested fully against his side, Sasuke reached out and opened the bathroom door. Then he slowly ushered Naruto in. Before the door closed and barricaded him outside, Sasuke found himself stopping it with his hand.

"Promise me," he said kindly, "if you need any help, you'll holler."

Naruto appeared taken aback, but he smiled and gave a nod before closing the door gently. Sasuke found himself pressing his ears against the wooden frame, searching for any sounds of crashing objects. When none came he pushed away and leaned against the wall. The following few seconds of peace ended sharply when a terrifying scream issued from within the bathroom.

Sasuke quickly flung the door open, expecting to see an assailant. But none of his training could have prepared him for the sight he saw. Naruto was standing at the toilet bowl, the hem of his hospital grown pulled up about his waist and hips, the lose flaps of which concealing just the essentials. Sasuke could see that he had his hands cupped at the junction between his legs in the typical stance a normal boy would take to relieve himself. Except Naruto was anything, but a normal boy.

Naruto was yelling something at him now, but Sasuke barely heard a single word. He was too distracted by the lovely sight of exposed hips and thighs. Finally he managed to drag his eyes away from Naruto's slim legs, focusing them instead on the shocked face of his teammate.

"It's gone!" he heard Naruto scream.

Sasuke blinked, not understanding the significance, or the urgency behind that simple statement. It's gone? What did the fool mean?

"It's gone!" Naruto wailed once more, waving his arms wildly as if his gestures could somehow communicate to Sasuke what his words could not.

Sasuke's brows furrowed. He hastily stepped forward and grabbed Naruto's upper arms, stilling him.

"What?" he demanded, "What is it? What's wrong?"

Naruto buried his face in his hands and sobbed miserably.

"It's gone, it's gone," he kept on repeating.

"What's gone? What did you lose?" Sasuke asked slowly as if speaking to a young child.

"My // my friggin' peni$ is GONE!" Naruto hollered.

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*Hackles and rubs hands deviously*

I know, you guys are thinking: why didn't Naruto notice that his 'manhood' was missing immediately after he transformed? Why did I choose to make him have such a ridiculously belated reaction? My only response is: it's so much more fun this way!! Don't you agree? (*_~)