Three updates in one month. That's unheard of from me. At least not since the year 2009. Please Review after reading! Thanks to a few reviewers, they encouraged me to write again. My goal is to make the community that only allows stories with 1,000 reviews to join. I need your help to do it. Thank you all who have reviewed in the past. Sasuke's embarrassment in this chapter is for you.

Two weeks of training had passed since that incident down in Itachi's basement. Needless to say things hadn't been the same. Naruto wouldn't look at Itachi unless he had to, which was around every meal since the man seemed to enjoy sitting across from him while he ate. In response, Naruto tried to eat his food in his room, but that failed as well. According to Kisame, the man was a neat freak and refused to have food leave the kitchen or dining room. So it was either tolerate the evil emotionless jackass or not eat. Naruto tried to go without eating, but surprisingly, he found he was hungry for solid food after the second day. So putting up with the bastard seemed to be the only way to go.

"You are getting better. You can almost dodge my attacks now." Kisame laughed as Naruto struggled to get up to his feet.

"Yeah, yeah laugh it up. " He muttered, wiping the blood off his chin. He was still conscious after 12 hours of straight sparring, so it was an improvement. He used to only stay conscious for about 3 hours. After 45 to 90 minutes, he would awaken to resume his beating. Reflecting on that, Naruto had to say that it sounded pathetic even to himself. "Just you wait. One day I'll pay you back for every bruise and broken bone."

Kisame gave a hearty laugh. "I'd like to see you try." When the blonde glared at him, he laughed harder. "Let's call it a day brat. The old man upstairs probably has your dinner ready."

Naruto had to smile at that. "Aren't you older?"

"If you noticed the man is stuck in the 1800s."

"Yeah I noticed. He walks around in a 19th century suit around the house for crying out loud."

"That's nothing. You should see him during holidays. He's so fucking depressing. He just sits in front of the fire with his pipe, book, and glass of wine the entire month of December every year. He makes me wish I had picked up some random chick and had a family with her. Then I remember that I'm a crazy son of a bitch and would kill them if someone offered me enough money or made a good enough argument." Kisame laughed again.

Naruto had no doubts about Kisame's statement. The man was a bit . . . out there. But he had kind of taken a liking to him even if the man enjoyed beating the crap out of him for 12 straight hours. As for Itachi, he felt no sympathy for him whatsoever. "Let's eat."

Kisame put all their equipment away in a large old wooden chest then locked the basement door behind them after climbing the stairs to the kitchen. Itachi already had food on the table, still hot off the stove, but he wasn't in sight much to Naruto's happiness.

Kisame took his leave as soon as Naruto sat down. It had been a while since he had been left alone. A couple of bites and the silence started to get to him. He had been so busy he hadn't had time to think. Now he seemed to have too much time. Why was he still here? He had planned to stay to find out what Itachi was up to, but he hadn't tried to investigate once. Truthfully, he missed Sasuke. He missed seeing his smug face and arguing with him early in the morning. He didn't feel lonely when he was around. So why hasn't he gone back yet? He didn't want to let him down. That was the only explanation. Sasuke had done so much for him, taking him in, protecting him, what had he done in return? He put down his fork. Itachi wasn't in the house and Kisame had just left. He could do a quick search of the office and escape. He should be fine. If one of them came home early, he could feign ignorance. Nodding to himself, Naruto got up from the table and hurried to the office.

"You know I thought he would try to escape much sooner." Kisame and Itachi watched Naruto escape through the back door into the alley, clutching a small red folder to his chest as he ran.

"He was preoccupied."

Kisame laughed. "Beating him up was a good stress reliever." He looked at the Uchiha. "So what do you want to do about him? Bring him back?"

"No, he has done what I needed him to do."

"And your brother?"

"He's gone to stay with Shukaku's holder."

"Still spying on him I see."

"We need to change hideouts. Get ready to move."

"You sure know how to give orders. " A brief glare from those red eyes had him moving toward the house without another comment.

"It's your turn now little brother."

Living with Gaara was . . . trying at best. He heard a bit too much of Neji and Gaara since he had started staying here. He had to move to a guest room on the ground floor to be able to sleep at night. Truthfully, he felt a bit jealous, not that he would admit that aloud. He was still having a hard time believing he was in love with Naruto. He had decided to settle for a like. He could handle like. He didn't dislike Naruto, and he was lusting after him. Simple and easy to digest with no long term commitments. He could figure out the details at a later date. At the moment, he was more focused on finding his brother. He wanted nothing more than to tear Itachi to shreds and stuff his insides down his throat. In the process, he could save Naruto, rip his clothes off, and . . . Sasuke stopped in mid thought. "And I was told I only had to go through puberty once."

A glance at the clock confirmed that it was still mid afternoon. Neji would be in training now. Neji's uncle was involved with the Hidden Leaf shinobi. After talking to him, Gaara managed to convince the main branch of the Hyuuga clan to let Neji, a branch member of the family, be involved in the secrets of the Gentle Fists. Turned out, Neji was more talented in the art then his cousin Hinata. He had been training non-stop to catch up to her as quickly as possible. Since Neji had trained in his uncle's dojo at a young age, he already had the skill of a martial artist. Gentle Fist seemed to come naturally to him. Sasuke closed his eyes. Neji would be a good opponent if they ever became enemies.

Tonight, Sasuke would continue to search for Naruto and his brother through a bit of hacking into the city's CCTVs and Interpol computers, but he knew it would probably be a pointless search. There was only so much searching he could do while 1,000 miles away from Konoha, but it wasn't as if he could go back to Konoha and work underground until the cops gave up on him either even though he really wanted to try. It took about 3 hours of being yelled at by the Godaime of the Hidden Lead and being forcibly dragged to the middle of Suna before Sasuke conceded and decided to stay put; however, it didn't mean he was happy about it.

Sasuke knew Gaara was at his door before the red head even knocked. "What do you want?"

The door opened and Gaara came inside without waiting for permission. "We found Naruto." Gaara watched the raven try to act like the news didn't matter to him, but he could see the slight tensing of his muscles. "He is on a plane to Suna. He seems alright. A few bruises but nothing major."

"When will he arrive?" Onyx eyes watched the teen move to the dresser in the room and started pulling out Sasuke's clothes.

"In one hour. You two will be sharing an apartment down the road. It's safer in case someone comes to search my home and close enough that I can come to help you if you need it."

Onyx eyes continued to stare. "Why do I feel like you are setting me up?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"Of course not." Sasuke sat up. "I can pack my own clothes."

"We'll be leaving in 5 minutes." He left without another word.

Gaara showed him the apartment. Though calling it an apartment seemed to be stretching it. It was almost 2000 square feet, and it had almost every luxury appliance he could think off. It was an open floor plan where the kitchen was open up to the living room and dining room area and the large window in the living room over looked the entire city. There was a workout room with a treadmill and weights and enough extra space for close sparing with complementary mats. The bedroom had a king size bed in the center with silk sheets and a large white balcony attached. The bathroom had a large Jacuzzi tub and a two person rain shower.

Sasuke put his suitcase on the bed. Was Gaara trying to prove something with such a nice apartment? "Where's the other bedroom? I didn't see it."

"There is no other bedroom." Gaara's eyes shone with a bit of humor. Before Sasuke could say anything, Gaara quickly left, closing and locking the front door behind him.

"That son of a bitch." He was playing match maker. He was being set up, but he wasn't going to be that easily manipulated. This wasn't some cheesy romance novel where the man and woman lose themselves in the romantic setting of being alone in a house together and jump each other. First off because Naruto wasn't a woman. He knew that very well. Second, this was no time for romance. They needed to focus on the matters in front of them. Anything else could wait. They had plenty of time.

Sasuke was deep into his thoughts when Naruto entered the apartment. Sasuke put his irritation behind him when he saw those familiar blue eyes looking back at him. "Oi, Teme, I'm back." A cocky grin was enough to make Sasuke's heart flutter for just a moment. He was really okay. He was standing in front of him, unharmed, breathing, and unchanged.

He wasn't sure what to say. All he could do was look at the blonde and reassure himself that his brother hadn't taken away another person he cared about.

"Sasuke-teme, you okay?"

At hearing his name, he snapped out of it. He liked Naruto saying his name, he decided. "Just dumbfounded that you could actually find your way home. Who knew you were so smart."

Naruto glared. "I'm going to take a shower." He muttered and threw the red folder he stole at Sasuke. "I got that for you. Don't say I never did anything for you in return."

Sasuke caught the folder with ease, and Naruto took his chance to escape into the bathroom, with a small backpack slung over his shoulder.

Sasuke looked at the folder and flipped through the contents. Figures his brother would write in Latin. He was fluent in the dead language. Sasuke had never found use in learning a dead language, so he never studied it. After the massacre, he detested the language even more. Now he wished he had learned it. It would have saved him time decoding his brother's accounts.

Sasuke heard the shower running. The kitchen was fully stocked. He could make the dobe some ramen. He had no doubt that his brother did something to torment Naruto. He just needed to find out what.

He got the ingredients and started chopping up the vegetables and pork before making the broth. The idiot would probably thank him a hundred times for the ramen.

"That looks good." Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise, his whole body tensing, ready to attack. He hadn't heard or sensed Naruto's approach. He turned his head slightly to see the blonde looking over his shoulder, completely oblivious to how close he was.

"Hn." Sasuke added the noodles to the broth followed by the other ingredients. "Figured my brother starved you while you were there."

"Why would you assume that?"

"You're telling me he didn't?" He turned to face Naruto and his mouth went dry. All Naruto wore was his blue boxers and a towel around his neck. His hair was matted and water trailed down the curves of his muscles. Sasuke's watched as one droplet made its way past his tone abs and disappeared under the hem of his boxers. A part of him wished Naruto wore briefs.

"No, he fed me three times a day."

"He did?" Sasuke didn't know how many more surprises he could take in a day.

"Yeah, he's a great cook. Best food I'd ever had."

"He is?"

Naruto nodded, but his facial expression soured. "But he's as much as an asshole as you've said. I'm glad to be back."

Wanting to see a smile on the younger man's face again, Sasuke set the bowl of ramen on the table. At the sight of ramen being set in front of him, Naruto's dopey grin came back and he dug in. Sasuke smiled, just for a split second. It seemed his dobe hadn't changed much after all.

"So is there another room? I couldn't find it."

"No. It's a one bedroom apartment." Sasuke had to say, it was quite funny to watched Naruto's face turn into one of horror even if it kind of hurt his pride that Naruto didn't want to share a room with him. "It's fine dobe. You can have the room. I'll sleep on the couch."

"Like a pretty boy like you could survive sleeping on a couch."

Funny how Naruto didn't know he was just as good looking in a different way. "I've slept in trenches during both great wars. Nothing is worse than that."

"I'll sleep on the couch." Naruto insisted again.

"I'll do it."

"No, I will." A growl this time.

Sasuke smirked. "How about a wrestling match? The gym in the apartment has just enough room. Winner gets to decide sleeping arrangements."

"Alright. I've been waiting to beat that smug look off your face." The chair slid back across the wood floor as Naruto got up from the table. "Let me put some pants on first."

"I'll meet you in the gym."

"Yeah, yeah." Naruto waved him off then left the kitchen to go to the bedroom. Sasuke put the empty bowl and pot in the sink to be cleaned later. This was going to be an easy match. He couldn't believe Naruto would be so gullible. There was no way a fledgling could beat a vampire. Maybe he hit Naruto's head one too many times during their sparring sessions. Then again he always had that theory Naruto was dropped on his head as a baby.

Sasuke was the first to arrive in the gym. He took a seat on the blue mat as he waited. Naruto showed up in orange sweats that hung low on his hips. Sasuke didn't know orange could be sexy. He was sure only Naruto could pull it off with that perfect tanned skin that he had. Naruto crossed his left arm over his chest and hugged it to his body with the right; stretching then did the same thing to the right arm. "You ready?"

"It won't last long. Let's get this over with."

Naruto laughed. "That's my line." Naruto took his time getting to the mat area. "I'll let you attack first."

"It seems staying with my brother has made you even more stupid."

"Just attack, Teme." Naruto lowered his body and grounded his feet.

"So you are the uke."

Naruto flushed. "Wh-what the hell are you talking about?!"

"Uke. It means to receive one's attack. Were you thinking of the perverted definition?" He sure as hell was.

"N-no! Shut up. Just attack already." Naruto's face was still red. He made it so easy for Sasuke sometimes.

"Fine. I'll indulge you. First person to pin wins." This would be an easy win for Sasuke. All he had to do was take out Naruto's legs and pin the slightly smaller man underneath him. Sasuke moved at half the speed he would in a normal fight. The last time they sparred, Naruto could barely keep up with that speed. He didn't want to humiliate the blonde as much as win the match quickly. Just as he moved to take out Naruto's leg, the blond slipped behind him took out his leg and had the raven on his knees in a full nelson. He had barely seen the attack.

"You were saying?" The blonde was grinning from ear to ear. How and when did he become so fast and so strong? He was distracted when he felt Naruto move above him, his naked chest, rubbing against the raven's back, still slightly wet from his shower. "Come on, say it, Teme. You give up." Naruto whispered, his warm breath caressing his ear. Sasuke froze, unable to move, praying that Naruto didn't notice his growing problem.

"I give up, now get off of me."

"You're no fun. You could have broken out of that if you wanted to." He let him go and sat on his heels.

"Could have, but then I would have won too easily. " Sasuke kept his back to Naruto.

"Smug bastard as always. Fine I win, so I say we both share the bed. It's big enough. Just stay on your side."

"Whatever."

"Hey, face me when I'm talking to you!"

There was no way in hell he was facing the dobe with a bulge in his pants. As the thought crossed his mind, he found himself falling backwards.

Naruto had grabbed his hair and pulled him back. Sasuke retaliated, swinging his legs back into the air towards Naruto and pushed himself off the ground with his hands, kicking Naruto to the ground and landing on his knees in the process, straddling Naruto. Sasuke didn't miss the look of realization on the teen's face, and he felt his face heat up immensely. Faster than lighting, Sasuke was on the other side of the room, looking anywhere and anything that wasn't Naruto.

He expected Naruto to yell at him, to call him disgusting or a pervert. Laughing was the last thing he expected. "Why are you so embarrassed? You're acting like a virgin." He teased. "Don't take it so seriously. I mean a cold prick like you probably hasn't had sex in centuries. Of course rubbing up on someone else would cause you to react. "

Leave it to Naruto to do the unexpected. Even so, Sasuke couldn't look at him. He quietly excused himself, and he got as far away from Naruto as he could. Suddenly, the apartment didn't seem big enough.

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