Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter Twelve - Plotting

Naruto had come to see Itachi in order to go over the plans with him. He'd decided that he wanted to do it soon and he just wanted to make sure that everything sounded good once again before he called the Five Kages Summit he had planned on. Itachi reassured him that it was a sound plan, all the while remembering the conversation he'd had with Sasuke yesterday.

"What would you say if I told you I might be gay?"

"I'd say that you should tell him that you like him."

"Who said I like anyone?" Sasuke had demanded.

"Why else would you think you might be gay?" he'd asked and Sasuke had scowled.

"Okay, so I like someone, or I think I do. Big deal."

"So why haven't you told him yet?"

"It's complicated. He told me he's been in love with someone for more than six years now, but he hasn't ever said anything to him and doesn't plan to. On the one hand, it could be someone who's married or in a relationship and he doesn't want to ruin anything. On the other hand, the person could be completely free to be in a relationship with him. Either way though, he still loves him, right? So why should I put myself out there when he could never love me?"

"Who says the reason he won't tell you who it is isn't because it's you?"

"Right. Like he would have been in love with me all these years. I'm pretty sure he sees me as a brother."

"Is this your first crush?"

"Well, I've been in other relationships, of course, but they never lasted very long. He's the first one I've felt like this about, and definitely the first male."

"Hm. I'll have to think on it and give you my advice later." Sasuke had glared at him before going back to his breakfast.

"Naruto, can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah. Shoot."

"Who is it that you've loved for so long?"

"Who told you I'm in love with someone?" Naruto demanded angrily. He was quite like Sasuke in that respect.

"Well, Sasuke mentioned something about a friend of his he wanted to help, and I figured it was you. He said you told him you've loved this person for more than six years now. That's a long time to go without telling them, don't you think?"

"That's none of your business. And I told your brother that I don't plan on telling that person, so I wish he would just drop it." Of course, being an Uchiha, Itachi knew that Sasuke was slowly making his way home and would arrive any minute. He decided to speed things up.

"Why did you bring me back?"

"I told you. I didn't want Sasuke leaving the village right now."

"Are you sure you weren't just protecting him? Maybe you were worried that he'd go after me and your information would be wrong? Perhaps you feared he might not come back?"

"What are you getting at Itachi?"

"Why'd you come after me Naruto?"

"Dammit Itachi –"

"Who are you in love with Naruto?"

"That is none of –"

"Why'd you come get me Naruto? Admit it, you did it for Sasuke, not for the village or your desire to have Sasuke at hand."

"Itachi!"

"Who is it Naruto? Why'd you do it?"

"It's Sasuke, okay?! Are you happy now?! I did it because I'm in love with Sasuke and I wanted him to be happy! Is that what you wanted to hear?" Naruto fumed.

Itachi pointed to a spot behind Naruto. "It's what he wanted to hear," he stated calmly. He watched Naruto's eyes widen in horror as it dawned on him, saw him turn slowly to look at the person behind him. He took in Sasuke's stunned face and Naruto's pained expression. And watched sadly as Naruto took off, leaving Sasuke to stand and watch his retreating form.

Sasuke turned to him. "Did he just say what I think he said?" he managed in little more than a whisper.

"Yes. He said he loves you. I told you Otouto."

Sasuke was shaking his head in disbelief. "How did I not know that?"

"You were too preoccupied to see it. I just helped you a little. Are you going to go after him?"

"I doubt I could catch him even if I wanted to. In the interests of fairness, I think I'll let him calm down a little before I see him. I'll go after him tomorrow."

"What are you going to do now?" Itachi asked curiously as Sasuke started to leave.

"Go talk to Hinata." He made his way to the door, his back to his brother, but Itachi heard the softly spoken words as he left. "Thank you, Nii-san."

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Sasuke was still dazed from what he'd learned. It was a relief to realize that he could tell Naruto how he felt, even more of a relief that there was practically no chance of being turned down. However, it was overwhelming to have years' worth of bottled up feelings all directed toward him. He had to get some advice.

"Oh. Hello Sasuke. What brings you here?" Hinata asked, closing the book she'd been reading and standing up to greet him.

"Is Naruto in love with me? He shouted it at Itachi, rather angrily as a matter of fact, but I don't know if he was being serious or just telling Itachi what he wanted to hear." He only realized after he'd said it that she might not know about Itachi, but he figured with her being Naruto's friend and Kiba's girlfriend one of them had to have told her.

"Oh dear, that is bad isn't it? Well, it's not really my place to say, but no he wasn't just telling Itachi what he wanted to hear."

"So he really is in love with me?" She gave him a sympathetic look. "Why didn't he ever tell me?"

"He cares about you too much to lose you as a friend."

"Did he really think I'd ruin our friendship over something like that?"

It was Hinata's turn to look confused. "You mean it doesn't bother you?" she asked, her tone shocked.

"Of course not. It's actually a relief because I was starting to have feelings for him too lately, but I was worried I'd never measure up."

Hinata's eyes widened. "You mean you're gay?"

"Well, I think there's a very good possibility, considering how I feel about Naruto."

"Why didn't you tell him that when you heard what he said?" she asked carefully.

"He ran off. I figured I'd let him have the rest of the day to get over his embarrassment and show up at his place tomorrow to talk."

"He probably went to Iruka's place," she said. "I think you are probably right about giving him some time. But don't give him too long, or he might convince himself that he doesn't need you after all." His heart clenched painfully.

"No, I won't give him too long." She smiled at him, once again sympathetically, but this time he knew it was for a completely different reason.

"Good luck!" She said happily and went inside. He heard her telling Kiba excitedly and shook his head. If he wasn't careful, the whole town would know before Naruto did. He went to go train, hoping to pass the time quickly.

When he got to the training grounds he found Jiraiya sitting there against one of the posts, eyes closed as though in sleep. He was about to leave so as not to disturb the man, but the Ninja said, "Where are you going? You just got here." Sasuke turned to see that the man's eyes were now open and he was looking right at him.

"I thought you were sleeping. I didn't want to wake you."

"Nah. I was just enjoying the weather today. What brings you here?"

"I was just going to train, get rid of a little stress. Just to pass the time."

"Did you have a fight with Naruto?" the man asked wisely.

"What makes you say that?" Sasuke asked in surprise. Jiraiya laughed.

"Because you looked like someone had kicked your puppy when I asked you that."

"Oh," Sasuke muttered and he could feel the blood rushing to his face. He tried desperately to stop it, but knew he had failed when Jiraiya's chuckles got louder.

"Don't worry too much about it. I'm sure he'll come around soon enough. He can't stay mad at you, you know."

"Has everyone known about this aside from me?" Sasuke demanded furiously.

"Known about what?"

"That Naruto is in love with me."

"Yeah, pretty much. The question is, how do you know Mr. Oblivious?" Jiraiya asked suspiciously.

"He kind of shouted it at It- um, I mean, someone as I was walking up to them and he didn't see me."

"You're brother's pretty smart. He probably set that whole thing up just so that he'd be forced to tell you. Remind me to thank him. Now, what are you going to do about it?" Sasuke wasn't all that Surprised that he knew about Itachi.

"Wait until tomorrow then go talk to him."

"He'd probably prefer that you kiss him silly."

Sasuke knew his mouth was hanging open, but he couldn't seem to care enough to close it after the pervert's previous statement. "That's entirely none of your business."

"Of course it is. He's like a son to me, or maybe even a grandson thought I hate to admit it, and I just want him to be happy."

"Are you going to tell me he'd prefer I screw him silly next?" Sasuke snapped.

"Well, now that you mention it..." The old man trailed off suggestively then started guffawing once again. Sasuke shook his head in mock disgust, but on the inside he was laughing too. He knew the man didn't really mean it and that he was just being true to his character. It wasn't hard to read between the lines. With his simple suggestion that Sasuke kiss him instead of talk to him he'd managed to threaten him in a way so subtle some may not have caught it. It was his way of saying, "If you reject my boy I'll make you sorry." Sasuke decided that the man would find out soon enough even without him telling him that he had no intention of rejecting Naruto.