Temari lead the four to a small door made of glass set between two businesses in the center of College Row. Through the glass a set of stairs was clearly visible leading to a lighted and open upstairs area. The note on the door said 'back in five minutes.' Temari sighed. "This place is run by an elderly couple, they're really sweet. Better than that, homemade pizzas to order! It's awesome, you can even help make it too. It's more a place for kids, but kids are all at school right now so I usually come by."

She threw herself against the brick and looked in the window of the bridal shop next door. She growled as she looked in. The dress she had picked out to be angry at was strapless and was so short the manikin hung out the bottom. "Is it me or are dresses getting more slutty? It's your wedding day not your audition for a porno."

"One day everyone's just going to be naked at this rate…" Shikamaru scoffed. He looked at Naruto. "Jiraiya's not helping any either. In my English class… Freaking pervert he is had everyone write a one page paper on miniskirts and how they are pro-american."

"The zombie apocalypse will fix everything." Gaara said slowly. "One day there will be a sickness strong enough to wipe out much of the population much like the plague but it will cause skin eating as a means to survive and then…. Kevlar will be made in full body suits."

"Sounds heavy. Whatever happened to the Mad Max look." Naruto said feeling his arms. "Nice broken in leather jacket, nice broken in jeans… It's all about comfy when you're dealing with the deranged."

"You two are dumb." Temari said out right. "Any outbreak is monitored and controlled by the CDC. It'd be lucky to spread over five states." The three guys looked at her. They stared until she shifted comfortably. "I dated a guy whose dad works there."

"Number four this year or five?" Gaara asked quietly. Temari hung her head down. She hated the amount of guys she went through but her siblings understood why she did.

"Three. I was with him for a month before he decided not getting any made me not worth it and slept with two freshmen. He still can't find his Xbox." Temari stood up and looked across the street to see the owners approaching in simple dress pants and polo shirts. She smiled and looked over at Gaara. "I got a new high score on the zombie level on black ops last night."

"You're evil." Shikamaru said. They all stepped out of the way and let the owner unlock the door. "Hi Mr. Akimichi."

"Hey there. You two back again, I've got to warn you, the misses is on a pineapple kick." He said laughing slowly at the end. "Let me get this open." He removed the key from the door and opened it up for his wife first then Temari. "Ladies first."

They walked up and then the owner followed. Naruto took after him and Gaara grabbed Shikamaru and made him wait a minute. After the door shut he let go and faced Shikamaru. "Are you going after my sister?"

"Are you going after Naruto?" Shikamaru snapped back quickly. He crossed his arms and stared into Gaara's eyes trying to judge his thoughts. "You didn't think anyone would notice did you. I'm a bit smarter than that."

"That's crazy. Naruto's dating Sasu…" Shikamaru's sighed dismissed the rest of his sentence. His eyes didn't break off for a second. "You caught me. Now what?"

"What nothing. It's none of my business who you go after." Shikamaru said and shrugged. "I won't tell if you don't."

"Break her heart…" Gaara warned pointing a finger. He quickly wrapped it into his fist and his knuckle cracked.

"Same to you. Naruto's one of my best friends." They stared for a minute and Shikamaru held up his hand. Gaara was hesitant but took his hand and shook it. "We don't speak of this with anyone else around."

"Right." Gaara dropped his hand and opened the door, pushing it a bit more as he began up for Shikamaru. The entered to find Temari helping Mrs. Basso chopping onions. "Did you order for us?"

"No, we're making mine. Where did you two go?"

Shikamaru walked in. "There was a bird that thought a squirrel's tale was a pine cone or something. Freakin' hilarious. Feel sorry for the bird. Bet he didn't think squirrels could do that type of damage."

"Men…" Temari muttered. Mrs. Akimichi leaned over and whispered in her ear causing her to giggle. Temari sprinkled the onion on her pizza and picked up the wooden paddle to put it in the oven. "So, you should tell them about the pizzeria's mission."

"We want people to cook for themselves! It's much healthier and cheaper too." Mrs. Akimichi said carefully placing one of her silvery locks behind her ear. "Shika dear, you didn't bring our grandson with you!"

"He's actually in culinary arts right now. I'll have him bring you some dinner. Apparently they are making lasagna today." Shikamaru said. The couple 'oohed.' Mr. Akimichi stepped foreword with a fresh roll of dough and slapped it down on the wooden paddle. "Alright kid, it's your turn."

"I'm Naruto. I'm actually a friend of Chouji's too." Naruto said grabbing a pair of gloves.

"Chouji's got so many friends. Just yesterday a pretty blond was in here with him." Mrs. Akimichi said. "It's a pity she only ate a mini-pizza. She's too skinny."

"You know, I tell her every time she comes here with him, it's perfectly okay, we won't tell if she pigs out, but no!" Mr. Akimichi chortled happily and sat down in a chair next to the work station with Naruto. "So, you want to knead the dough, grab it and roll your fists foreword."

Naruto grabbed the dough and began what he had seen on all those cooking shows he watched with Sasuke over the summer. He wasn't going to say it, but he had done this before.

"It's just fancy to pour the sauce in a circle. I saw it on yesterday's show, just watch." Natruo grabbed the ladle from Sasuke's hand and slowly poured the sauce in an even and smooth circle covering every inch of the dough. "See."

"If you can cook, why do I need to learn again?" Sasuke joked and wrapped his arms around him.

Naruto finished kneading and spread flour around the dough while he grabbed the rolling pin. He floured that as well and began rolling the dough out.

"You're pretty good at this, you want a job?" Mr. Akimichi asked. Naruto looked at him. His eyes jolted open in surprise, it made the old man smiled. "It'll be on Friday afternoons. At five each Friday we get a mother and child club in, we need a lot of help. I can't pay you, but I can let you have what's in the tip jar."

"I can do that! What time?" Naruto asked as he started to put on the sauce the same way he did when he was with Sasuke. He knew he wouldn't make much money but smiled at the thought anyway, he'd be able to go and tell his dad and his boyfriend he got his first job.

"They come in a six each Friday, why don't you get here at five, okay?" He stood up and grabbed another dough roll and waved Shikamaru over. "He doesn't need any monitoring, so it's your turn. Strait-up pepperoni again."

"I'm repetitive." He muttered and grabbed the pepperoni out of the fridge. Mr. Akimichi made the dough out into square shape and sauced it. As Shikamaru began peeling them apart he looked over at Naruto who was busy preparing peppers for his pizza. "Why aren't you in a cooking class?"

"Because, I can already cook and cooking and politics don't really go together." Naruto sighed and spread the little chunks everywhere. Mr. Akimichi shoved the cheesed pizza at Shikamaru. Shikamaru quickly dumped pepperoni on it and shoved it in the oven. He set the paddle down and searched around his pockets. "Right, I'm going out for a smoke."

"You and your disgusting habits." Temari mutter. She and Shikamaru glared at each other angrily and before he walked down the stairs and they heard the door close.

Naruto opened the oven and carefully slid his pizza onto the rack. "He's been smoking for quite some time. I don't think it's going to change anytime soon."

"Yea, but how often do you have to put up with smoke?" She asked. Gaara quickly texted her a message. She looked at it and 'ah-ha'-ed quickly. "So you have to put it with it constantly. It's annoying, isn't it?"

"You get used to it." Was all Naruto said. Temari finished chopping up everything for her supreme pizza and tossed it everywhere chaotically. As Temari readied her pizza to go into the oven a loud buzzing noise filled the room. Naruto grabbed his phone out of his pocket and answered it. "Hello… Ya, where? I'll be right there."

He hung up the phone. "Gaara can you take my pizza, I've got a family emergency. If you can, save me some."

"Sure." He said and watched as Naruto quickly turned around to talk to Mr. Akimichi. "I'll be here at five on Friday, is there a dress code?"

"If you could, child appropriate." He said and smiled shaking his hand. "There's a family emergency, get going, kid."

"Thanks, sir." Naruto dialed up the phone as he rushed down the stairs and out the door. He ran pass Shikamaru yelling about an emergency call. "I'm out on College lane, can I meet you at Black Bird?"

"Yea…" It was nearly a whisper out of Sasuke's mouth. He was strolling out of campus, shaken and disturbed to the core about Sasori's comment. He didn't think he could explain it over the phone and gripped the device tighter as he held back confusion. "I'll be there soon, I'm going to stop and get Jugo a Sobe. I owe him one."

"Okay. I'll see you as soon as I can." Naruto took a quick right and headed for the black bird house barely missing a couple of students getting lunch. He yelled back sorry and went back to the phone. "I love you."

"I love you too. Just hurry home." Sasuke muttered. He ended the call and headed into the corner café. They had up a poster with their former chef's name up asking for information. Sasuke looked at it and sighed. 'Maybe I am like Madara, I had him killed… He was killed because of my safety…' Sasuke sighed again and pulled a Sobe out of the front cooler not looking at the flavor. He set it on the counter and pulled out his wallet. "How much?"

"Buck ten." Said the small girl behind the counter. Sasuke Pulled out a five and grabbed the Sobe. He smiled at her and walked away shoving his wallet away. He rounded the corner and walked slowly to Raven street. He was surprised how much the renovation of some of the smaller buildings had improved the neighborhood. Where there was a crack house was a new modernized apartment building. He kind of missed the old neighborhood. He strolled across the street to see Tayuya sitting on the steps listening to Jugo slowly pluck out an Evanesce song that she could sing too. They stopped when he approached. Tayuya looked it him, hopped down and hugged him. "Whatever it is, it cannot be worse than my period cramps. Think about your balls getting crushed in repeatedly."

"That's not helping." Sasuke said slipping away from her. He handed the Sobe to Jugo and looked at him. "I'm showing Madara-ish traits apparently."

"Everyone picks up certain habits off of others." Jugo said trying to calm him. He placed a hand on him and looked at him. "You… are nothing like him. You will never be anything like him. You are a good person."

"Thanks. I'll be inside." Sasuke moved pass him and entered into the main hall of the group home and walked straight to the kitchen. He opened the fridge and took out a cheese stick. He jumped up on the fake granite counter and opened it eating it slowly. As he bit down into the motzerella he couldn't help but make comparatives between him and what he called uncle. He looked at the floor wishing he felt more respectable then the dirt on it. A sudden smell of aftershave filled the room and Sasuke looked up to see Naruto walking towards him backwards yelling at Tayuya to shut up about her period. Naruto turned around as Sasuke jumped off the counter and the gripped each other like they were going to be ripped apart.

"What's the matter?" Naruto asked as he patted him on the back. Sasuke nuzzled into his neck and sighed. "Sasuke…"

"Naruto… What if I end up turning out like Madara? I mean… We're so alike and Sasori noticed that I was acting like him. And I've noticed it too." Sasuke gripped him shirt tightly and began crying. "I had a guy killed because he recognized us two years ago. I had an innocent man killed."

"What…" Naruto said softly. "What do you mean, you must be mistaken."

"Karin was still a runaway and I couldn't risk them finding us either… Kisame killed him in the alley. He made sure to mug him to make it look like a random act of violence. We've kept it covered up. It was the day we put up the new rules in the basement… We didn't think anything of it… He wasn't a person to us, he was a liability and we took him out."

"You had someone murdered?" Naruto asked pulling away from him. Sasuke nodded trying to keep him as close as possible.

"Itachi heard the call go out over the police scanner, the guy reported seeing us and thinking we were all runaways. Karin was… So Kisame killed him." Sasuke broke out crying. "I feel like I did it myself. It feels horrible to think that I'm becoming Madara, I didn't feel anything for two years. I feel like a monster."

'I feel like I don't know you.' It was like a sudden disconnect from Sasuke. Naruto didn't let go though he clung tighter. 'I'll work to understand you though.' "I don't know what to say to that. I don't think it was right, I think you should have just left and not gone back. It wasn't you, it was Kisame."

"I feel so guilty."

"It'll be okay." Naruto said. "I know what you need to do though… You have to talk to the police."

"What?" Sauske pushed off of him. He gave him a look that was unmistakable. "I can't do that. Kisame's saved my back so many times, he fucking saved Itachi's life more times than I can count. He's not a bad guy."

"Incriminate one of Madara's lackeys then but give the family some type of closure! They're all guilty, maybe not of the crime, but worthy of jail. You're giving them closure and getting someone off the street. You don't know how much closure helps a family. When you don't know it's like a void and only when you think you know the truth do you feel better."

"I… I'll think about it." Sasuke said. He re-gripped onto Naruto. Naruto held his brunette and stroked his hair slowly. Sasuke's breathing became normal as he calmed down.

"Come on, let's go take a nap. I'm done with classes for the day." Naruto offered seeing as their room was still upstairs just as they had left it that morning.

"Me too." Sasuke looked up and Naruto used his palm to wipe his tears away and bring a smile to his face. Naruto let his fingers slide behind his neck and pulled them together. Their lips touched softly, a mix of Sasuke's tears and lip balm. They pulled apart and Naruto grabbed Sasuke's hand leading him up the stairs slowly and to their door. He opened the door and let Sasuke go and fall on the bed. Naruto crawled in next to him and lay there starring as Sasuke closed his eyes. Tired and emotionally drained.