i wanna apologize ahead for the really short chapter, this week was super busy :c but i managed to get this out on time so say!

unbeta'd as per usual y'know.

Naruto woke up at exactly 9:00am sharp so he could have plenty of time to prepare himself for his meeting with Sasuke. Even though the raven said he wouldn't be at his house until around noon, he still got up extra early anyway.

He quickly wiped the sleep out of his eyes and got out of the messy sofa bed. The blonde tidied up the sheets and put away the pillows and folded the couch back up to how it normally was before heading into the kitchen to start preparing a meal for them to eat. Even though Naruto had a taste for a nice breakfast, he decided to go ahead and prepare a more lunch type dish as he remembered that Sasuke wasn't the biggest fan of breakfast food. Going into the fridge, the blonde pulled out a large packet of fresh hamburger meat and went into the bottom fridge drawer and got out some potatoes, tomatoes and other vibrant vegetables. He went ahead and preheated the pans on the stainless steel stove and set the ingredients on the kitchen island to thaw out a little while he took a quick shower.

He left the kitchen and made his way down the hall and towards the bedroom. The door to the room was left wide open and it had a handwritten note attached to it from his wife in her typical bubbly handwriting in pink ink.

I tried to take off of work today but the staff wouldn't allow it, so I had to go regardless. Don't forget as SOON as I get home we are going to talk about what steps we need to take from here to improve our marriage. I'm going to try and see if I can get off early, but I can't promise that. I'll try to get off as soon as I can.

Love you,

Naruto grabbed the taped note off of the door and made an annoyed face. He was glad that Hinata was out of the house, but annoyed at the fact that as soon as she comes home they're going to have to have the dreaded "talk". He still didn't make up his mind about how he wanted to approach their situation, but he figured he'd think about that later. As the only thing on his mind right now was Sasuke. Tossing the note onto the bed, the blonde made his way into the large master bathroom. After stripping himself of his pajamas, the blonde stepped in the porcelain tub and turned the hot water on full blast. He could instantly feel the water soothe his muscles while the steam completely fogged up the large bathroom—creating a peaceful vibe as the steady patter of the shower droplets rained down on his tanned skin. Even though the shower felt really nice he knew he couldn't stay in there but for so long, as he wanted to make sure everything was absolutely perfect for when Sasuke arrived.

-XxX-

Naruto stood a few feet away from the kitchen island and admired the meal he had prepared. Freshly grilled burgers with homemade fries, two tall glasses of champagne and all topped off with a small garnish on the side with extra tomatoes as he knew that was one of Sasuke's favorite foods for some odd reason. The two plates looked picture worthy as they sat atop the large granite kitchen island. The blonde was impressed with the meal he made in the short amount of time—yeah he knew burgers and fries wasn't exactly gourmet, but he thought it was a good choice. Simple yet distinctive, as he didn't want to seem like he was trying too hard.

He could only admire the food for a few moments more before he heard 4 sharp taps on the door, A sound that he hadn't heard in a while. The blonde quickly primped himself one last time before heading over towards the front door. He immediately opened up the door and was somewhat shocked by what he had saw.

There was Sasuke, looking quite different. Instead of his usual tattered well-worn clothes that Naruto was used to seeing him in, the man was now suited in a black bomber jacket , tight black skinny jeans and expensive looking sneakers. Everything the raven had on look like it was custom made and tailored to his slim frame. Not to mention that gorgeous face, the man still looked as beautiful as ever with his porcelain skin shining in the bright afternoon sunlight. The only thing that changed was his hair, which was still in its usual spiky style—except now it was much longer , almost touching his shoulders.

Even though he hasn't seen the raven in about 3 months, he still looked damn good as usual. Naruto had to restrain his jaw from dropping. He awkwardly stepped aside so Sasuke could come in, completely dumbfounded as to what to say to some he sort of broke up with. Everything that he planned in his head to say had immediately left his mind.

"Umm... hey." The blonde awkwardly said fidgeting, as he gestured for him to come in.

Sasuke raised his brows at his half assed greeting as he stepped into the blonde's home. "All this time and you're still stupid?"

Naruto rolled his eyes in response as he fought down a small smile at the insult. "All this time and you're still a bastard?" He said as he shut the front door.

Once entering his home Sasuke immediately smelled the food that was on the kitchen island. He headed into the direction of the kitchen, leaving Naruto behind.

"I've always been the same, you might want to try being like that sometime." The raven countered as he sat at the tall stool at the kitchen island.

"And so the crucifixion begins..." the blonde thought to himself. But he knew he had to expect it, as he had likely lost all of Sasuke trust, however he planned on working on that today. He knew that he would likely have a long way to go in terms of repairing their relationship, but he damn sure was going to start today, especially with that bastard Pain lurking in the shadows.

Naruto followed Sasuke into the kitchen and sat in the stool opposite of him. He popped a French fry in his mouth and racked his brain for something to say, as his mind went blank from the moment he opened the door. This wasn't going to go quite as smoothly as he had planned. Fidgeting in his seat, he finally worked up the nerve to speak.

"... You look good." He nervously blurted out.

Which may have been really random and impulsive, but it was completely true. Even though he hasn't been helping Sasuke financially, he could tell that someone else has been stepping in filling his shoes. He tried not to get irritated at the thought. Who the hell was giving him money? The thought selfishly danced around in his head, even after all this time he still didn't like the idea of someone else caring for him. Even though it was completely hypocritical because he was the one who ended their relationship.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the blonde's comment as he picked up his burger and took a large bite, appreciating the extra tomatoes in his sandwich. Even though the Naruto was a dobe, he could still make a damn good burger. But he didn't come here for his culinary excellence, he was tired of Naruto beating around the bush. After swallowing the delicious bite, the raven finally spoke.

"You said you wanted to talk, so talk." He said before taking another bite of burger, followed by a sip of the wine.

Naruto was so nervous that he didn't even touch his meal besides the one French fry. He thought that they were going to have an engaging conversation over a good meal but that didn't look seem like it would be the case. But he knew he had to put on his big boy pants and cut to the chase, but he was going to tread lightly as he knew that this was a touchy subject for the both of them. He decided to get right to the point before he fully wore out Sasuke's patience more than what he already has.

"What are you doing with Pain and that guy?"

Sasuke took a sip of wine before speaking. "That guy, Pain and I were discussing business like I already told you."

Naruto didn't like that vague answer. "What business do you have with them?"

Sasuke made a face. "What business do you have in my business?!"

He didn't like the way Naruto was interrogating him at all. If he was so concerned about his well-being then he wouldn't have kicked him to the curb, as simple as that. His decision made it very clear that he wanted to take the side of Hinata's over his. Even though the woman was a complete and utter bitc-

Naruto had cut Sasuke's internal rambling short. Gripping his untouched wine glass, he started speaking, but now with a more agitated tone.

"Ummm I think it's sorta my business that you're going on little lunch dates with a drug lord I'm trying to arrest!" He countered sharply. Completely annoyed with Sasuke's defensiveness as if he was just overreacting.

The raven narrowed his dark almond eyes at that statement as he tried his best not to throw his glass of wine at him. "It was a business meeting like I said..." he gripped the glass very tightly before continuing. "As a matter of fact I don't have to explain anything to you. Don't you have a family to be concerned about?!" He said the word with immense sarcasm.

Naruto was getting annoyed at whenever he tried to get some information out of the young raven about what was going on, he'd always spin it back to Hinata or the break up that they had. He knew that was something they couldn't just sweep under the rug, but he didn't wanna hear about it every 10 minutes either.

"Sasuke what were you doing with Pain?" He kept on pressing. He was determined to get to the bottom of whatever the hell they had going on.

The raven didn't answer, instead he took another bite of burger. He made direct contact with Naruto as he chewed, not even making an attempt to reply to the question.

"The silent treatment huh?" Naruto thought to himself. This game was for two players, as he was already all too used to it dealing with Hinata.

He decided to change tactics, as he knew a way to get a response out of the stoic bastard.

"I'm not going to allow you to see Pain." The blonde simply said before taking a small sip of wine. He was prepared for a tongue lashing in 3...2...1-

"What the fuck do you mean I'm not allowed?!" Sasuke hissed from the other side of the table. "I'm not your child Naruto, I can do whatever the hell I want so get over it!"

If it weren't for the seriousness of the situation, Naruto might have almost laughed at the expected outrage from the raven. Even though he had mostly said that to get him to say something, he really wished he could actually prevent him from seeing that man. But he knew he really couldn't, all he could to was try his hardest to make Sasuke listen to reason and pray that he gets it through his head that those guys weren't people you wanted to do business with. Though Naruto didn't know the full extent of the business that Pain involved Sasuke in, but he knew whatever it was damn sure wasn't charity work. He just couldn't figure out for the life of him why Sasuke would want to involve himself with someone that the government was trying to put behind bars for about almost a decade now? Was money that tight?

The blonde thought about his next words carefully, as he didn't want Sasuke to storm out. But he also wanted to emphasize on how much he disapproved of his new "business" ventures.

"Please calm down, I want to talk to you, not argue."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed even further, shooting him a harsh death glare. "Naruto what do you want from me?" He started loudly as he pushed the almost empty plate from in front of him to the side. "You called me over here for sex didn't you? I'm not stupid, I know you don't give a fuck about me. So quit acting like you do and just state what you want."

Hearing that made his stomach hurt. Did Sasuke really think that he begged him to come over just to sleep with him? He was more to him than just a quick fuck, he really cared deeply for this man. He just really wished Sasuke would see it from his point of view.

"No." He simply stated. "I didn't call you over here for sex. I asked you to come over because I don't want you dealing with Pain and his minions." Which was the honest truth, that's the whole reason why he wanted to talk to Sasuke in person. He also wanted to talk about trying to repair their relationship but he'd talk about that later. Right now Sasuke's safety was on the line.

The raven rolled his eyes in response. "Unfortunately I don't live my life for your approval." He started. After eating a French fry he continued. "Since I stopped seeing you things got a little tough, but One night I met Deidara and he was talking about good money and I was interested..."

Naruto slightly leaned forward as he listened intently to what Sasuke was saying. Satisfied that he was finally giving him so info on what was going on, he also made a mental note of the one he referred to as 'Deidara'. He assumed that was the name of the blonde man that he had saw. He was going to make sure to search that name through the system, even if it was just an alias at least he had a name for the guy.

The raven continued. "Long story short he introduced me to Pain and now I'm thinking about working with him." He finished nonchalantly as if they were just talking about the weather and not a potential partnership with a drug dealer.

Naruto felt absolutely horrible hearing this, Just knowing that his actions caused all of this. Had he not cut Sasuke off he wouldn't have ever met those two and he wouldn't be involving himself in god knows what. Pain dabbled in so much that it was hard to pinpoint what exactly he wanted with Sasuke. Yeah he mainly dealt with drugs, but he also allegedly had his hands in tax frauds, prostitution rings, government document forgery and the list goes on. Unfortunately the government only could prove that he was dealing with illegal drugs, so that was the only thing they were after him for as everything was just merely speculation. But Naruto was pretty sure that bastard was doing other horrible things on the side.

"Doing what exactly?" Naruto asked.

"None of your business."

Tired of the circle they kept going in, Naruto decided that he had to be a little more aggressive. He knew that Sasuke wasn't going to be too happy but he didn't care, he wasn't going to let him ruin his life by dealing with a bunch of gangsters.

With a clutched fist, the blonde spoke. "I'm making it my business. I'm not going to just stand around and let you get involved with those people."

The raven arched a brow. "The only thing that's your business is your marriage." He hissed. "Hinata may can tell you what to do, but you aren't going to tell me what to do."

Ignoring the verbal blow, the blonde continued on. "You're not going to end up like Deidara and end up being Pains bitch. I'm not going to let you." He said, bright cerulean eyes narrowing in seriousness. His death stare almost rivaled sauces. Almost.

Sasuke had to try his best from bashing Naruto upside the head with the plate. How dare he speak to him like he was a child and tell him what he was and wasn't going to do?

"Since when do you have a problem with somebody being someone's bitch? You have no problem with being your wife's. At least I'll be getting paid for it." He spat before standing up from the stool, shaking the table in the process. He began to make his way out of the kitchen and head towards the front door. He had just about enough of this conversation.

Naruto ignored the other verbal blow and got up from the kitchen island to follow Sasuke. He quickly caught up to the younger man and grabbed him by the arm just before he got to the front door.

"Sasuke wai-"

The raven aggressively shook away from Naruto grip. He then turned around to face him.

"Don't fucking touch me."

Naruto grabbed the smaller man by the arms and pinned him against the door, successfully preventing him from escaping his tight grip. Sasuke's dark eyes narrowed to tiny slits as he tried to shake Naruto's grip, but he couldn't. The blonde had a vantage point because he was much more lean and taller. The raven finally stopped struggling and just shot cold daggers at him.

"Why the hell are you so fixated on me?!"Sasuke shouted in his face, still pinned against the door. He was almost shaking with anger, he was beyond irritated with how Naruto was treating him. He was a grown ass man who could make whatever decision he pleased.

Naruto didn't answer, instead he just stared into his dark eyes as if he were searching for something.

Getting even angrier, Sasuke began to result to kicking since his arms were restricted. He tried to aim for the blonde's crotch so he would let him go but Naruto somehow kept dodging his kicks.

"Why the fuck are you so obsessed with me you idiot?!" The raven snapped.

"Because I love you..." Naruto said quietly as he continued to look into Sasuke's fuming coal eyes.

-XxX-

the next chapter I'm going to try and have up by sunday morning instead of the late evening. but we'll see LOL

how will Sasuke react to this news? how will they move forward?

and more importantly... what does this mean for naruto and hinata?