Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

To be honest, I am a wee bit nervous about this chapter. Not because of content, mostly, but because I fear it has been too long since I last updated and that people will have lost interest in this story or have gotten too frustrated with lack of update. My reason for being away is a grand one: I have earned my Bachelor's Degree of Psychology and have successfully graduated! That took most of my time and any free time I could claim went to maintaining mental health via doing silly things with friends. All of it completely necessary but I still fear that the time elapsed had been too long to keep up happy thoughts about the story. Oh well. Hopefully this can appease both you and myself.

Onwards with the chapter!


Airports must be one of the most boring places on earth.

That was what Naruto had decided as he situated himself near one of the bars Konoha Airs boasted about. He was not sure if he wanted a drink or not… Well...he was sure he NEEDED a drink. What he was not sure was if he wanted a drink NOW or when he was finally on his plane out of this hellhole.

To drink now? Or to savor the drink as a reward? Life was full of complex questions.

At the moment, Naruto was occupying himself by avoiding people and cursing Konoha for having a boring as hell airport.

Usually, at other non-Konoha airports, Naruto would be right at home at the bar. He would get himself something to drink—water at times—and would chat up some people. Once in a while, he would do the whole one-night-stand thing and get a dude's number, but most of the time he just wanted to have fun by listening to others' travel stories. He would tell them his own travel stories as well. If there was no one there, or if the people there were not interested in talking, then Naruto would converse with the bartenders and get crazy-customer stories from them. Airport bartenders usually saw a whole bunch of international crazies.

After he chatted them up, Naruto would ask to take a picture with them. If requested, he would act as photographer and take their picture for them. When they left, Naruto would send his selfie with them to Gaara, who was rarely impressed with this 'tradition'. The redhead was probably sent enough photos to complete an album.

However, Naruto felt no desire to do anything of the sort here; this was Konoha.

He did not feel comfortable talking with anyone from this damned town; he was just too paranoid. It felt like if he were to talk to someone, that person would either know the reason he left in the first place, or they would know the reason he was leaving now. In both cases: these strangers probably knew that Naruto was gay and was leaving because of Sasuke.

A tremble of terror ran down Naruto's spine. Gawd, just thinking the bastard's name made the blonde all the more paranoid!

Scanning around the airport areas he could see, Naruto discreetly searched for any telltale sign of duckbutt hair.

Seeing none, Naruto relaxed a bit, but did not let down his guard…there could be Uchiha-Agents around ANY corner! Just waiting for Naruto to slip up so they could ninja him back to the Uchiha Manor so the evil demon-lord Sasuke could torture him with his glares and monosyllabic grunts!

…Naruto really was very bored.

Not that his daydream ramblings did not have any merit…that bastard, Sasuke had decided that today he was going to be all weird and declare that Naruto couldn't leave Konoha and all that other shit.

And…and he said…

Naruto shook his head and slapped his scarred cheeks.

No. It didn't matter what Sasuke had also said.

What did matter was what the bastard had said ten years ago when he was cutting a knife into Naruto's cheeks. THAT message had been made pretty damn clear.

Petty lies about false love did nothing to dampen that message that had been cut on the blonde's face.

Damn…these thoughts were depressing.

Yet another reason why Naruto needed to get the hell out of Konoha!

But the plane was not going to be leaving for another hour and a half.

Naruto had already exhausted all of this airport-time-wasting-shenanigans since had had arrived about an hour ago. He had done the whole waiting in line thing, and the whole checking baggage bit. Hell, he even did the going through security shebang.

All that did was knock like an hour off his time. Not even two, like the airports in Suna, since Konoha was such a small airport.

Hell, even the guards recognized certain people!

So now, Naruto was bored from lack of activities to do, and pissed at how the guards' behavior reminded him of just how Konoha was; all about family connections rather than about the actual person.

Konoha sucked.

Sighing, Naruto took another look at the bar. To drink, or not to drink?

Drinking out of boredom was never really fun…it had a history of turning him into an emotional drunk…

So, no drinks. Not until after he was well out of Konoha air space, and closer to Suna. To home.

Since there would be no drinks, that took a hell of a time-waster out of Naruto's time-wasting schedule. He was so bored.

The blonde supposed he did not have to arrive at the airport three hours early. That was overkill; even for Suna's airport. But he was just too antsy in the hotel! He had already been pacing around for over twenty minutes and staring at the clock after every round around the room, so he had decided to be proactive and go to the airport early. Man, he could really be an idiot at times. He was so bored!

At least at the hotel he could do some work or something! He did not feel comfortable working in an airport; especially Konoha's airport! For all he knew, someone could swipe his laptop! Or if he wrote shit down in his notebook, he could get in the zone and this shitty airport could conveniently 'forget' to call out his flight so he would miss it and get stuck here for who knows how long, and Naruto would feel great despair, Gaara would get pissed that Naruto wasted his money and get worried about how the blonde was stuck in this hellhole for who knows how long, Temari and Kankuro would learn about this 'trip'—if they didn't know already—and mistakenly believe that Naruto had taken a fun mini-vacation to his old place of birth and ask him about it, and Matsuri would believe that the delay was so he could avoid work!

Wait…Matsuri!

Naruto felt a smile creep on his face as he remembered his assistant. His sweet, little assistant. His sweet, little assistant whose job was to answer the phone whenever Naruto called.

She was the answer to his boredom!

Smile creeping wider, Naruto dug out his ratty old cellphone from his pocket and called his assistant.

Matsuri picked up her phone on the third ring.

"MATSURI!" Naruto greeted her before she could say a word.

"…Hello, Naruto," she answered with significant hesitance. It was probably because Naruto had yelled in her ear. He should really stop doing that.

Oh well. Her ear would just have to deal with it. Naruto was bored! "I'm booooooooored," Naruto whined into his phone.

"Well what did you want me to do about it?" Matsuri shot back in the same whiney tone.

"Fiiiiiiiiix iiiiiiiiiiittttt," Naruto demanded childishly.

She matched his tone again, "But I don't waaaaaaant toooooooo!"

"But I'm boooooooooooored!" using his childish, whiney tone.

"What about woooooooorrrrrrrrk?" she moaned the question.

Naruto's smile grew. He absolutely loved it when he and his assistant played this game while still being able to hold a conversation. He leaned back against the bar and shut out the shitty airport as he replied, "But I'm in the aiiiiiiiiirrpoooorrrrrt! What if my laptop gets stoooooooollllleeeeeennn?"

"Why would your laptop be stoooooooollllleeeeeennn?" Matsuri asked.

"Beecaaaauuuuse!" Naruto replied, not wanting to tip off the airport ninja that were probably waiting around for him.

"Can't you write in your noooooooteboooooooook?" Matsuri practically wailed the question. It was all in good fun.

"But what if I get in the zone?" Naruto asked, forgetting to whine this time, "And miss my flight because of it?"

"Well, how much time until your plane leaves?" Matsuri asked, abandoning the whining tone as well.

"In an hour and a half, around nine," Naruto answered, looking at his watch. Yep, it was about seven thirty. He was really bored.

Matsuri made a thoughtful sound. Then she said, "The airports usually start seating people at least half an hour before their scheduled takeoff. The bigger ones start seating even before that! You're first class, right? So you'll be part of the earlier groups."

"Yeah, after the priority seating, probably," Naruto heaved a sigh. He would have been fine with a normal seat. Suna wasn't all that far from Konoha. It had only taken him about two, maybe three days to hitchhike there when he first left. The plan ride wouldn't take more than a couple of hours so, really, there was hardly a reason for there to be a 'first class' anyway. The plane was only mid-sized so there weren't more than a hundred or so people going on it. Gaara should have taken money from Naruto's own funds and pay for normal seating.

"Right! So you go to work and get in the zone and all that, and I'll call you in half an hour and we'll wait for you to be boarded together," said Matsuri.

"Mm, alright," Naruto agreed, deciding against making an innuendo about how they board together since she was his salvation at the moment. He reminded her, "Don't forget to call me in half an hour!"

"Kay!" she answered before hanging up.

Naruto had no worries about her remembering to call him. As his assistant, she was good at schedules and time and shit. Still, he knew that because of the small plane size the boarding would not take all that long. Probably close to half an hour after priority seating. So if she called around eight, that would still leave half an hour or so before he needed to get on the plane.

Oh well. Matsuri had promised to stay on the phone with him so she could keep him entertained until he would be on the plane and OUT of Konoha!

He could hardly wait.

Taking her advice about how to stay not-bored, Naruto walked over to a secluded table area of one of the airport eating areas. It was close to the gift shop and within a comfortable distance of the designated waiting area for his flight.

He took out his notebook from his carry-on luggage and got to work.

At this early point, his publisher just wanted a story overview. They had already approved of the overall plot—a romantic fantasy about a woman being kidnapped and falling in love with the cursed man who rescues her—but they needed to know more. Like, more about the characters and the plot points of the story.

Since this story was going to be dedicated to Matsuri, it would be centered around the woman and be essentially inserts of herself and Gaara for her very huge crush on him. The latter of whom, had little to no idea what was going on.

Figuring he would tell Temari and Kankuro before telling the redhead himself first, Naruto decided that the reveal would be hilarious. Especially if the blonde and two siblings decide to host another dessert party with some extra special brownies.

This was Naruto's favorite part of the process, and he had the knowledge that his assistant would call him later so he would not lose track of time. So he easily got absorbed in his work and got in the zone.

He decided to create Gaara's character first; the background and motivations and stuff. Gaara's character would be a product of war. In the fantasy world, there would be some war that would be fought for years on end. To help the cause, one nation would create a human weapon, and upon birth curse a baby boy with terrible powers so that one day he would vanquish their enemies. The cursed baby boy would be the nation's king's own youngest son. But soon after, before the cursed baby boy could even speak, the war ended. During the final struggle, the magicians who had cursed the baby died. With no one to guide or even explain the cursed baby boy's terrible powers, he grew up unable to fully understand or control his powers during a time of peace. Because of this, he accidentally killed many people as a child and grew up isolated. His people feared him, as did his family. He only distantly knew his siblings and rarely even saw them or his father. He wanted to get to know them, anyone, and dearly wished for at least one person to be his friend. Then the assassination attempts started. His powers protected him, but his inability to control them warped his mind. He decided that if his people feared him so much as to try to kill them, then he would give them a reason to know that their fear was justified and had actively started to use his powers to track down anyone who tried to kill him.

Matsuri's character would be a maid of the palace and would occasionally serve Gaara's character. She would have an understanding that he was cursed and dangerous, but not know much about it other than that. She would recognize that he was lonely and would try to speak with him on occasion. He would recognize the efforts but would be too jaded by the assassination attempts to reciprocate. Nonetheless, Matsuri's character would still try, and would start to fall in love with him. Then, during a time when the King drew near to death, it was feared that as the King's youngest son, the cursed man, would try to ascend to the throne. Another plan to assassinate him before he could try is formed. But because all direct attempts ended in death and worse, this plan goes roundabout and targets him through Matsuri's character because of her observed connection with him.

She is kidnapped as part of this plan. The rest of the plan is designed to lead the cursed man to a trap so that his cursed powers would be rendered useless and leave him without protection; so that at his weakest point he would be able to be killed. The cursed man recognizes this, but his siblings—and a Naruto insert character—would convince him that Matsuri's character genuinely cares for him and doesn't deserve the torture she would be sure to go through if no one went to find her. So despite everything else, Gaara's character resolves to save her and—

Naruto's phone rang.

"What?" he asked as he flipped his very old phone open without looking at the ID.

He heard a laugh from the other line, which he recognized after a moment as Matsuri's laugh. "Got stuck in the zone again?" she asked lightheartedly.

"Yeah," Naruto answered somewhat distractedly. His mind was still in the story he was making up. Everything was vivid in his mind, the characters, their development, their emotions, the scenes he would write, down to certain phrases he was going to make them say later.

"I thought so." Matsuri laughed again, "Well, it's eight o'clock! And I called you, just like I promised I would!"

"Yeah," Naruto repeated. "Hold on," he said, placing his phone down on the table on top of his notebook. His head was still in his story, so he violently shook it to physically get back out of the zone.

When it didn't work, he lifted his hands and slapped himself hard on both cheeks, making a loud noise. "YES!" he exclaimed, picking up the phone again, "Okay, I'm back."

"I heard that slap!" Matsuri chastised lightly.

Naruto chuckled with her and with his free hand rubbed the back of his neck. "So what were you saying?"

She hummed happily, "Nothing, just keeping my word is all. Like you do!"

Naruto smiled happily. It was nice to feel her friendship all the way in Konoha. He could not wait to get on that plane and make his way back home, to SUNA with his real friends.

Not wanting to mar his return HOME with his all-too-present bad feelings about the terrible place known as Konoha, Naruto found a better thing to focus on. "Soooooooo," he drawled teasingly, his smile widening on his scarred cheeks as he leaned back against his secluded little table and got comfortable, "did you and Gaara have fun while I was away?"

"NARUTO!" Matsuri exclaimed into the phone. The girl had somehow found a way to scream loudly while whispering. It was a strange talent; one that Naruto enjoyed exploiting for his own amusement.

"Yeeees?" he teased. He could practically feel the blush she most probably had on her face through the phone. It was awesome.

"Why do you want to know?!" she hissed into the phone.

"Gaara told me that he saw you yesterday when I called him," Naruto answered, pointedly not telling her that he, Kankuro, and Temari had various three-way bets going on for this budding relationship. One of which was for whether or not Matsuri would stop dropping ineffective hints and finally just ask Gaara out. Naruto was betting for by the time his first draft for this current book was due, since that was the time his assistant and his roommate/unofficial manager would spend a lot of time loitering around him to make sure he did not get too distracted. Kankuro bet before the final draft was due and Temari had bet by official publication. The three had a looooot of money riding on this, so they were all personally invested in this budding relationship.

Matsuri gasped with a noise just short of a squeal, "Gaara said that? Oooooooh! What else did he say about me?"

"That you came to our apartment to remind me about the upcoming deadline despite how you should have known that I wasn't there," Naruto answered.

"Really? Anything else?" she asked, not denying it.

He tried valiantly to not snicker into the phone, he really did. And he succeeded in angling the flip phone so he could laugh into his arm and make it sound like a cough. "Nope, he answered quickly, "He mentioned that you stayed a while, but nothing more than that." He would not mention that Gaara found it annoying because that would only make the poor girl avoid the apartment for a bit, and he would not offer any advice about just asking Gaara out already because of the rules of the bet; no external influence.

"Hmm," Matsuri hummed thoughtfully, making some conclusion by herself.

The blonde waited for her to complete her thinking process. She was probably making some plan of romantic attack veiled in ineffectual hints on his unsuspecting roommate. He hoped it was with food. Matsuri was a pretty decent cook when she was trying to impress Gaara.

During the wait time, Naruto took the opportunity to pack his stuff away. His notebook went back into his carry-on luggage along with his pen.

He checked his watch and saw that not too much time had passed since the phone call had started. "Matsuri," he said into the phone.

"Hmm?" she repeated as a question.

"You promised you'd entertain me until I'm seated, and you thinking about Gaara isn't all that entertaining," he chided her.

"Oh shut up," she scoffed back into the phone, "You adore him every bit as I do."

"Mm, that's true," Naruto conceded and leaned back into the table once more, "Did you know I'm going to convert him to the gay side and marry him and one day rule the earth with threats of changing weather patterns?"

Matsuri gasped and burst out laughing, "You wouldn't!"

"Oh, I would. It's all part of my agenda," Naruto promised as he smiled widely, squinting as he did so.

"Don't you DARE, girlfriend!" Matsuri jokingly threatened, though its effects were lessened as she continued to laugh.

Naruto did his best flamboyant gay impression, "Girlfriend, I do what I want!" He finished with a Z-Snap she couldn't see over the phone.

"NOOOOOO!" she fake cried, "YOU'RE POWER OF GAY IS TOO MUCH!"

He burst out laughing. The good kind of laughing. The kind that came directly from his diaphragm, felt in his throat, scrunched up his entire face, and made his tummy hurt. It was loud, it was proud, and it was full of emotion.

Not only was Matsuri being actively hilarious, she was completely accepting of him. Well, she always did. She never questioned it or judged him or anything bad.

She was amazing and it was flooring Naruto at the moment because this was happening while he was in Konoha! This was the town where he had been ostracized and ignored as a child. He had been fucking TERRIFIED of his gay side and hated it because he was always on edge, fearing the consequences that were SURE to happen if he came out in this stupid, rural little town. Derogatory terms for gays were not only hysterical but also celebrated in Konoha. Even though he was hiding in the closet, he was still teased as a faggot by other guys as if it was the most hilarious fucking thing in the world.

Yet here was Matsuri, laughing with him because she accepted him and his gayness. A bright ball of sunshine and rainbows and love from his life in Suna finding its way to Konoha.

He really wanted to hug her. He really needed to get back home.

It took a little while for him to calm down from his euphoric laughter.

When he did, Matsuri asked, "Hey, are you close to a gift shop?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?" Naruto shot back as he eyed the gift shop. It was so smug, pretending 'The Hidden Leaf Gift Shop' wasn't some sort of code for 'this is where we hide the dead bodies of tourists foolish enough to come to this death trap'.

"Well aren't you going to buy stuff from it?" questioned Matsuri.

Naruto paused. After a moment of hesitation, he asked, "What would I buy?"

"I don't know, and isn't that the point? You always buy us stuff from the airport. Gaara keeps saying it's because you are unoriginal." Matsuri said the last part with so much love it was a scientific mystery how hearts could not be popping up around her.

"He just doesn't understand the beauty and awesomeness that is watching him try not to roll his ridiculously mascaraed eyes when he opens his souvenir," Naruto responded quickly, trying to think of a way to say he would never buy any memorabilia of Konoha ever without bringing up any questions.

Matsuri sighed lovingly as she agreed, "I knoooooooow. Anyway, you better hurry up or else you won't be able to choose anything before you get called for your flight!"

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck and tried to evade any questions, "Uh, I don't need to buy anything this time."

"What? Why not?" Matsuri asked.

Curses. Two questions. This is what he was trying to avoid. He must learn the ways of the non-answer-answer. Gaara would have to teach him later.

"Because," Naruto thought for a moment, "because that's a business trip thing. The tradition is that you and I go to business trips and before we come back we look for something fan-related or fancy-pretty-thing for Temari, something puppet-related or doll-thing for Kankuro, sneak in something for you, and something really stupid at the gift shop for Gaara that he can't throw away because I'm his best friend and his roommate so he has to keep it. But I can't buy anything now because you're not here with me to choose stuff."

"I can choose with you over the phone," Matsuri replied.

Naruto hated it when she used logic. "But it's a business trip tradition," he reiterated, "and this isn't a business trip."

"So it's a personal trip?" Matsuri asked curiously.

Naruto didn't answer. He didn't want to.

Ignoring his silence, Matsuri continued, "I never got to ask! Why did you suddenly go to Konoha? Last I really got to talk to you, you were holing yourself up in your apartment so you could get this work done before the deadline. But then the next day I got a text from you, saying that you were going to Konoha for about a day or so and to not to worry about the deadline because you promise to get the work done and that you always keep your promises. I called your apartment to ask about it, but Gaara picked up and said you were going to be gone for a day and to not bother you."

Naruto didn't answer. But for a different reason this time.

He just recognized very distinguishable duckbutt hair.

The blonde gasped and dove underneath the table he was at to hide.

"Naruto?" Matsuri's voice exclaimed over the phone, probably responding to his gasp.

The blonde gulped as he curled into a ball under the table; making sure that none of his limbs were not visible from the outside.

Maybe something was said over the phone again, but Naruto wasn't really listening. He was too busy trying to convince himself that he did not see what he just saw. 'That was not Sasuke,' he sternly told himself, 'That was not Sasuke! I was imagining things! That was not Sasuke! He wouldn't show up at the airport!'

Steeling himself, Naruto took a breath. He didn't really see Sasuke, after all. After all that time at the bar he was simply drunk and hallucinating…even though he did not drink…

He decided that there was only one way to fix all this, and that was to look over the table he was taking cover under and confirm once and for all that Sasuke was NOT here in the airport.

Bracing a smile to pretend he was braver than he felt, Naruto grabbed the edge of the table and contorted his body so he could take a peak.

Fuck.

WHY WAS SASUKE HERE IN THE AIRPORT?!

Naruto ducked back under the table and clutched his phone to his chest like a lifeline.

It was okay! No, it wasn't okay!

He tried to take comfort in how the Uchiha was facing to the side, walking towards the bar Naruto had vacated over half an hour ago.

It was no comfort! WHY THE FUCK WAS SASUKE AT THE AIPORT?!

He heard someone calling his name and he jumped so hard he hit the top of his head against the table he was under. For a moment he thought that the bastard had found him and was calling his name! But then he realized that it was a girl's voice…and that it was coming from his phone.

Right. Matsuri.

"Yeah?" Naruto whispered into his phone, careful to stay quiet.

"Naruto!" Matsuri exclaimed, "What is going on? I hear you gasp and then you stopped answering me!"

The blonde winced at her loud tone. But he did not want to tip her off that anything could be wrong. She would ask questions, and those were the things Naruto wanted to avoid the most.

Those and Sasuke.

"Nothing, nothing!" Naruto denied quickly and quietly. He needed to think of a way out of this!

"Nothing?" Matsuri repeated, though in her loud tone again. "We were talking about the gift shop and then you started to freak out!"

The gift shop! Of course! He could hide there! It was perfect!

Lots of tourists went to the gift shop! It was a combination of both useful items for a trip and useless items for a gift, both at affordable prices! He could hide in the crowds there! Plus, it was close to his gate so he could be prepared to board quickly!

"Matsuri, you're a genius!" Naruto whispered, mostly to himself.

She answered anyway, "What? That's not telling me what's going on!"

"Nothing, nothing!" Naruto denied again. He was grateful he had a chunky, old flip phone at that moment because he was able to easily squish it between his ear and his shoulder while he rummaged under the table for his two bags of carry-on luggage.

"Liar!" Matsuri accused, "Tell me what's going on!"

"I told you, it's nothing! I'm just going to the gift shop!" Naruto assured his assistant.

Okay. It was go time.

Bracing himself, Naruto peaked his head out from the side of the table to make sure the coast was clear. When he was confident that he was safe, he totally nonchalantly slid out from under the table.

He stood up and picked up his carry-on luggage with one hand and held his phone with his other hand. Then, at a brisk pace just short of running, he dashed over to the direction of the gift shop.

While speed-walking to The Hidden Leaf Gift Shop, Naruto glanced furiously around him to make sure Sasuke did not see him. He held his phone up to his ear and tried his damndest to pretend everything was normal.

"I won't be able to find anything for Kankuro or Temari," he said IN A COMPLETELY NORMAL TONE OF VOICE, "but, uh, I can probably find something crappy for Gaara."

"Don't think you're getting away with this, Naruto Uzumaki. I know you bring Gaara up when you're trying to distract me!" Matsuri threatened over the phone.

The gift shop area was clear, so it was safe to continue walking over there.

"Whaaaaat? I'm not trying to get away with anything! I just need your help in deciding what to get Gaara!" Naruto said while he looked over his shoulder.

FUCK! SASUKE WAS THERE!

It was okay…it was okay… The Uchiha wasn't looking at Naruto… He was looking towards the table area Naruto had vacated.

The blonde was proud of himself for not voicing the screaming that was going on in his head.

Instead, he turned back around, wide-eyed, and quickened his pace towards the gift shop and towards safety. For safety, he also found a clump of people and walked around them to remain hidden.

Naruto remembered that he was on the phone and said, "So, so I could really use your help…the…the selection here is, uh, is kind of really lame."

"Really," Matsuri said, sounding completely unconvinced.

"Really, really," Naruto did his best impression of Donkey.

She was silent, but that was fine. Everything was fine. He was passing through the entrance of the gift shop. Neat.

"Uh," he looked at the display next to the wall where he could kind of be out of sight from the entrance if he angled himself right, "Yeah the, the selection here is lame. I might end up needing to get him something kind of normal. Do you think he'd like it?"

Matsuri sighed. "I think he won't care. He would think the same of whatever you bought him," her voice sounded resigned to the conversation but didn't want to be.

"Aw, because he loves me and anything I get would show I was thinking of him and he would just love it?" Naruto cooed into the phone, taking advantage of her willing to comply with his need to appear like a normal tourist and converse over the phone.

"Probably because he has a very low standard for our gifts and expects the worst, honestly," his assistant deadpanned.

"Perfect. Then I should get him something completely bland and boring. He would never suspect it," Naruto replied.

He glanced over his shoulder to see if it was safe. It looked all good…there was no visible duckbutt hair.

The blonde deemed it safe then to hide in the back of the gift shop. While he did so, he looked at his watch and saw that the plane should be doing the priority seating soon.

Then he would get on the plane, and go home to Suna.

"Something bland and boring?" Matsuri's voice asked over the phone.

Naruto found the wall area and faced it; hoping he was moderately safe from being sighted by the Uchiha.

Looking straight in front of himself, the blonde could feel himself getting a bit freaked out. He felt exposed…

"Hats…" he heard himself babble, "Hats! Everyone likes hats. They are super useful and a fashionable way to keep the sun out of your eyes! And! And! You know how the sun gets really hot and bright and shit in Suna? If I got a hat for Gaara, he wouldn't need to worry about that anymore because he would be wearing a hat that would be filled with fond emotions from his sexy roommate to protect his surprisingly pale skin!"

Then he heard a voice he hoped he would never hear again, "Would I get a hat too, then?"

Naruto whirled around and almost dropped his phone.

What.

The.

Fuck?!

He yelped in surprise and jumped back, bumping his back into the hat display.

Sasuke Uchiha stood before him, dressed in a black suit , hands in his pockets, his hair fucking duckbutting, and his expression a barely readable mix of that infuriatingly smug smirk and Uchiha-form of anxiety.

WHAT THE HELL WAS SASUKE DOINGHERE?!

"Sa…Sasuke?" Naruto gaped like a fucking goldfish.

The anxiety left the expression, leaving that smug look on his shitty little face. "Hn," he grunted.

That snapped Naruto out of his stupor. "Bastard!" he spat, feeling his face glare so hard it kind of hurt. But he didn't care; he hated the Uchiha!

Matsuri's voice suddenly called out from his phone, "Naruto?"

"I have to go. Something annoying just came up. I'll text you when I'm on the plane," he said. Not waiting for her reply, the blonde hung up by flipping his phone off and stuffing it into his jeans pocket.

Before either of them could say anything, the intercom started to make noise. The two maintained eye contact—Sasuke smug bastarding while Naruto glared—as the intercom lady said, 'Flight 42272 to Suna will be boarding soon. Flight 42272 to Suna will be boarding soon. Will those with priority boarding please come up to the gate? Flight 42272 to Suna.'

After waiting a beat when the intercom lady stopped speaking, Naruto hissed, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, BASTARD?"

"Isn't it obvious, idiot?" Sasuke replied in his usual mix between arrogant and disinterested.

Naruto could feel himself glaring even harder as he spat, "I have no fucking clue. But what is obvious is that YOU need to LEAVE!" He peeled himself off the hat display and made himself stand confidently in front of the bastard.

Sasuke dropped the smug look and went back to the old Uchiha standby of impassive mask. Then he said, "I'm not leaving."

"Oh, yes you are, dammit!" Naruto threatened, taking a step towards Sasuke.

The other did not back down. Instead, he reprimanded softly, "Language."

Naruto gasped and stepped back a little. He glanced worriedly around them to see if any children heard his potty-mouth. When he was satisfied that no one had, he narrowed his eyes into a glare again and murmured, "Teme," using Japanese, like they did when they were in high school and did not want Mrs. Uchiha to hear them swearing because technically that did not translate to any cussing.

A sad, regretful look sparked in Sasuke's eyes for a moment before he reestablished his Uchiha Mask and replied quietly, "Usuratonkachi."

The blonde flinched a little upon hearing the old nickname. It had once been affectionate, in its own way.

He refused to let that get to him, though. Any affection to or from this bastard died the day Sasuke decided to cut the bond between them.

"What are you doing here?" Naruto repeated the question, but in a low, aggressive tone this time.

The intercom lady interrupted them, 'Priority seating for Flight 42272 to Suna is now boarding. Priority seating for Flight 42272 to Suna is now boarding.' She was speaking to the people with disabilities, as well as veterans and other people who merit priority. She also was letting Naruto know that he would be boarding soon, too.

Waiting a beat after she finished speaking, Sasuke answered the question in a low, insistent tone, "I came here to tell you not to leave."

"Wait…What?" Naruto asked, completely shocked. The glare dropped from his expression to show his shock before he could even realize what was going on.

Sasuke's expression did not change from that Uchiha Mask of his as he grunted, "Hn." His black eyes kept contact with Naruto's blue eyes.

The blonde shut his eyes quickly and shook his head violently, as if he could force what Sasuke had said out of his head by doing so. "No," he said, "No. Y-You don't mean that."

"Yes, I do," Sasuke said, shifting a little uncomfortably next to the display of decorative mugs in the gift shop. He averted his eyes to look more at Naruto's chest than his face as he continued to say, "Stay here, in Konoha. Shisui and Sakura would love to have you home."

"Suna is my home," Naruto answered automatically. There was no bite in his tone, though. It was just reflex for him to deny Konoha at this point. He was vaguely aware that sometime while Sasuke was talking, his own eyes had opened back up. Though he had no idea what his expression was like; probably either gaping again or some sort of mesmerized stare because he could not understand what Sasuke was saying or why he was saying it.

The Uchiha continued as if Naruto hadn't spoken, looking even more uncomfortable. His voice was monotonic and spoke in a way that suggested that he was reading off a card or this was rehearsed or something, "And I…would love to have you come back as well. I was hoping that we could start over. You should stay here, longer than a day and a half. You were my best friend and I don't want you to leave. Especially not so soon after Itach—after my brother left us. I miss you and I love you."

Naruto froze. He covered his eyes with his hand as he held his forehead to forestall the headache that was sure to come blossoming. He bent his neck a little so he was facing downwards.

Then he laughed.

It was a different kind of laughing than before. That laughing was the good kind. This was different, but still something that came straight from the diaphragm and something he could feel in his stomach.

"Naruto…" he heard Sasuke's voice say. But it didn't matter.

He held up his non-head-holding hand up to halt Sasuke before he could say anything else while he continued to laugh. Because it didn't matter what the Uchiha said. Not now, and not anytime in the past twenty-four hours ago, either. It did not matter that this was the most Naruto had heard the other talk in a short amount of time than he ever expected from the taciturn bastard. It did not matter that Sasuke had made the effort to come to the airport to say his little speech to Naruto in person. It did not matter that he was saying words that Naruto had only dreamed about when he was in a rare happy-drunk stupor. It didn't matter, it didn't matter, it didn't MATTER! Because what he was saying were LIES! Naruto knew that what Sasuke really meant was what he had said ten years ago when he was sitting on top of the blonde's sternum with one hand on Naruto's throat and the other hand holding the knife he was about to use to cut into his cheeks.

He stopped laughing.

Naruto straightened his neck to be facing forwards, though he still cupped his upper face with his hand. His free hand clamped into a fist by his side while he forced his body to maintain composure in front of the hat section in the gift shop.

"Wow," he said, forcing out a harsh, raspy chuckle. "I'm an author now, so it's my job to come up with stories. And I've come up with some kind of lame ones in the past, but I could have never come up with one as bad as the one you're spewing right now."

"This isn't a story, Naruto. It's the truth," Sasuke's voice was still monotonic, but there was also some emotional strain in it. But that didn't matter.

"Riiiiiiiight. Like that shit you were saying this morning was also 'the truth'," Naruto put in as much sarcasm as he could into his voice. He removed his hand from his face so he could visibly roll his eyes.

Sasuke's eyebrows were slightly crinkled together and showed a small crease between them. Wow. He was emoting so hard right now the bastard could hardly contain himself. "None of those were lies, Usuratonkachi!" he exclaimed.

Naruto forced himself to not flinch at the old name. Valiantly choosing to ignore that and other lies the bastard had said, he glared at Sasuke and folded his arms as he asked, "How did you find me here?"

The two stood there for a moment and silently communicated with each other in a way Naruto would absolutely deny being like when they were still best friends.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, asking if the question was necessary for he had said something important.

Naruto glared and stiffened his posture, declaring that he would not accept anything except for the answer to his question.

The Uchiha minutely rolled his eyes before replying, "It wasn't ward, Dobe. I heard a slap then you yelling 'yes'. You probably were trying to clear your head with that idiotic method of yours and I could hear it from across the airport."

Naruto fought against the flinch from yet another old, affectionate insult shared form childhood. But it was harder to fight against the embarrassment from learning how Sasuke had found him.

The bastard smirked in response to the embarrassed flush.

The blonde heard himself growling a bit from frustration before he demanded to know, "How did you get passed security? You need a ticket or to be an employee to get this far into the airport!"

Instead of verbally replying, Sasuke took his hand out of his pocket and pulled out a plane ticket.

Naruto did not want to see that ticket. Who the hell did Sasuke think he was, blatantly throwing money around all willy-nilly? He did not think it was impressive that the Uchiha flaunted his expendable bank account like this. And he SURE as FUCK did not like that Sasuke was HERE trying to tell him not to go HOME!

Ten years ago this bastard cut Naruto's face because Naruto confessed love like it was the worst thing to ever happen to him! And now he keeps assaulting the blonde with blatant lies?!

That bastard spouted lies about wanting Naruto to stay; about apparently loving Naruto. He tried to convince the blonde that this was the 'truth'.

'Pretend this never happened, and leave Konoha forever.'

With a certain clarity, Naruto darted his hand forwards and grabbed the ticket out of Sasuke's hand.

And he ripped it up.

Sasuke looked like he was going to protest, but Naruto cut him off.

"Now you listen, and you listen WELL," Naruto took a step forwards and grabbed the Uchiha's fancy as shit shirt, violently pulling him closer so he could threaten him face-to-face. "I am done listening to your lies. I am going to LEAVE this place and I'm going home. And YOU," he shook Sasuke with emphasis, "are NOT going to follow me or tell me any more lies!"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed into an Uchiha-Glare. He pushed Naruto off himself and hissed, "What gives you the right to tell me what to do?"

"Hmmm, I wonder," Naruto said in a deliberately soft, mocking tone as he took his hand and cupped his chin while he stroked one of his scarred cheeks.

The two glared at each other. But once again, the intercom lady interrupted them. 'First class seating for Flight 42272 to Suna now boarding. First class seating for Flight 42272 to Suna now boarding.'

Naruto did not hesitate to grab a handful of hats from behind him and shoved them into Sasuke's chest, making the Uchiha grab them in his arms. Without pause, he grabbed some wine glasses from the display next to Sasuke and put them above the hats.

"Don't fucking follow me, Uchiha," he spat the last word like it was a curse.

Then he grabbed his carry-on luggage and speed-walked out of the gift shop as fast as he could without running or causing suspicion.

"Naruto!" he heard from behind him. But he did not look back.

While he dashed forwards, he heard the satisfying sound of the store burglar-alarms go off from the gift shop exit!

Instantly, security officers were heading in that direction.

Snickering to himself, Naruto slowed down to a more reasonable pace and moved to the line forming at the gate for his flight. He got in the back of it and felt even more elated with himself when more people got in line behind him and thus ensured some more safety.

Naruto waited until there were three people in front of him before looking back.

There was a small crowd forming to watch the commotion going on. There were also a few security guards in the mix.

He was able to see Sasuke, standing in front of the exit of the gift shop. There was satisfaction in seeing that in his arms were still the hats and wine glasses in his arms since he would not have been able to drop the hats without breaking the glass; just as Naruto hastily planned.

The Uchiha was facing towards Naruto's gate. Through the crowd, they were able to make eye contact.

Even though he wasn't facing them, it was obvious that Sasuke was speaking to one of the security guards. He shook his head in the negative and said something, but he maintained eye contact with Naruto. His black eyes were trying to communicate. While the majority of his expression kept its mask, his eyes were pleading with Naruto.

But the blonde refused to listen to anything Sasuke had to say or otherwise communicate.

He put on a mean face before squinting his eyes hard and sticking out his tongue as he flipped Sasuke his middle finger.

Then he turned around and saw that he was next in line. He grabbed his ticket out from his pocket.

When it was his turn, he gave the flight attendant his ticket. They checked it and handed it back to him, letting him know that everything was in order. He thanked them and continued through the gate and towards the plane.

He smiled at the flight attendant near the door and smiled extra wide for her when she pointed towards where he would be seated. It didn't take long to find his seat—next to a window—and he quickly put his luggage in the overhead compartment.

Taking his seat, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and sent a quick text to Matsuri and Gaara, letting him know that he was safely on the plane.

He turned his phone off and stuffed it back in his pocket. And then he smiled. He smiled so fucking widely he thought his mouth was going to fall off or something. But he couldn't help it! He was on the plane!

He was going home.


And that was the chapter!

So I got myself an Amazon Kindle App, and I had also received a couple of Amazon gift cards I haven't used yet. I was going to combine the two into a wonderous self-gift of buying myself books! I got a few, but my romance section is totally lacking. And the reason is fanfiction. I am so jaded by fanfiction now it is not even funny! (It is in fact hilarious, but still). I read the description of some books and I'm all 'psht, I've read and written stories better than this!' And sometimes when I do buy the books, the writing style pisses me off and I go back to the I've read better fanfiction! But the biggest buying-block I've had is that I'm mostly into gay love stories. I found a reeeeeally good one (The Book of David; Anonymous, written by Simon Pulse) but I devoured it in a day and that's only one book. I need moooooooore! Not many of my friends are really into gay romances—and some not into reading at all—so I don't have much opportunity for referrals. But then I remembered! FanFiction! YOU have all read good fanfiction too! And I trust the majority of readers' judgment on what makes a good written story! So please, can I possibly get a good referral for a good gay romance to purchase?

Anyhoo! A super amazifying thank you to all those who favorited/subscribed to the story despite my being away for so long! And an even more super-DUPER fantasmic thank you to those of you who reviewed! I cannot tell you how many writers block I was able to overcome by re-reading reviews! You guys are the reason this story got updated!