Hi All,

This is just anote letting you all know I will be switching days I update from Tuesday to Monday. This is so I can better keep up with my classes, which go from 10AM - 8 PM all day long Tuesday. Enjoy the chapter!

Aki

Naruto and Jiraiya held a communal silence on the way home. There was a large amount of unease with the situation. This was more so with Naruto who, for the second night, would be on his own when anything could easily happen. Praying for the uneventful, Naruto followed Jiraiya into the small book filled home to ditch his bag on the couch. Before he could wander off to his room he felt a heavy hand on his shoulder.

"Where do you think you're going? I want to talk some." Jiraiya said and practically force-sat Naruto on the couch. Jiraiya then planted himself in his recliner and looked to the blond haired boy. "So, I know you think this is annoying, but we just need to make sure you're safe."

"Don't worry, I am safe. I'm never alone; they keep me well fed even if I don't want to eat." Naruto said and tried to come up with more. He realized he couldn't without giving away some Black Bird information. "I'm completely safe."

"I wasn't talking about that." Jiraiya said and sat foreword in his chair. Nervously brushed his hands through his hair trying to collect his words. Jiraiya straighten out and looked at Naruto. "On the phone last night… You have a girlfriend don't you?"

"Uh, no. Oh, this is because of the 'I love you.' It's just a friend." Naruto said trying to blow it off as nothing as fast as possible. "I don't have a girlfriend. It's…. It's a friend, who I'm just really close with but… And, um, they have issues with people…"

"You're lying. You blushed. Now, hey!" Jiraiya called as Naruto covered his ears and began walking away. Jiraiya got up and followed him down the hall. "I just want to stress the importance…"

"I am not having this conversation with you!" Naruto yelled and quickly retreated in his room. He shut and locked the door to hear Jiraiya try to continue his point. Being a bit faster thinking then Jiraiya, who had a key to his door; Naruto opened the window and jumped out. He figured it would be a minute or two before Jiraiya found out so he walked around the house and snuck inside the kitchen.

He could hear Jiraiya yelling about things he could care less to hear down the hall. Stopping himself from laughing aloud, Naruto opened the fridge and grabbed a soda pop. He casually sat down at the kitchen table and picked up a copy of the student press released two days ago. Naruto was surprised Madara hadn't found out yet that Sasuke was working against him, there was a picture of Sasuke and the group of genetics students being interrogated by the cops. It had made front page as 'Police hassle students about man-eater.'

Naruto finally heard the door to his room open followed by some swearing and stomping down the hall. A minute later Jiraiya, grumpy from his defeat, waltzed into the kitchen and grabbed a beer from the fridge muttering: "That kid's beginning to be a nuisance."

"Stop complaining, you only have to foster him, I have to be him." Naruto said smartly and waited for Jiraiya to notice. He did notice a minute later and quickly cornered Naruto who kept reading the article. "This paper really has a problem, they should get our editor up there."

"It's college kids who are angry their parents are paying their tuitions." Jiraiya said snatching the paper away. "Now, I'm serious about this. Have you ever gone through a medical text book?"

"No. I'm going into sports, remember?" Naruto waited a second before he looked up at Jiraiya. "Why?"

"There are some scary ass things in there. Things no man should ever have to suffer from. Terrible, terrible things can get caught from women, you need to be careful." Jiraiya said trying to spook him a bit.

Naruto stopped. "Don't you write about free sex? You're being hypocritical."

"You get what I mean! What's with you anyway?" Jiraiya asked and sat down across from him opening the beer. "All of a sudden up and moving out, being more of a smart ass then usual, and not to mention your so called 'friends.' What's been going on, Naruto?"

Naruto sighed and set his pop down. "Well, Tuesday, I guess I just kind of started talking to him. After a while, we just came to understand a little bit about each other and it's made me re-evaluate some things. I kind of feel accepted by them, if you understand that."

"What?" Jiraiya asked not understanding. "What do you mean accept? You didn't switch sides did you?"

Naruto shook his head and tried to think of a better way of explaining it. "There are actually four groups involved in the Quality versus Quantity fight. There's Quality: everything's on the surface, Tsunade doesn't do anything underhanded. Quantity: almost everything underhanded. There is a small group inside Quantity that's works against Quantity but they can't really do anything. Then there's a completely separate group that has recently started doing things since the inside group can't."

"And where do you fall?" Jiraiya asked. Naruto hadn't really thought about it. He probably didn't count as any of them completely, but he trusted in what Sasuke did. Naruto held up the number four. "So that's why you were at the fire?"

"We were told about ten minutes before, I wanted to get everyone out." Naruto looked at the can of soda pop and thought carefully about his options. He licked his lips nervously and sighed heavily trying to tell himself he could talk with Jiraiya. "For once, can you not repeat my every word to Tsunade?"

"Depends on what those words are, you should know that." Jiraiya looked around the table and grabbed the poker deck and held it up to him. Getting approval Jiraiya pulled out the cards and began shuffling. "You know, Naruto, it doesn't matter what side you're on to me. I know you'll always do what's right."

"Thanks." Naruto said and watched as Jiraiya tossed five cards his way. "So… I think I'm going to tell Tsunade I quit the movement. It's just not where my heart is anymore. I want everyone to have comfortable lives, but I guess not everyone's going to agree to that."

"It's a point." Jiraiya said and they looked at there cards. They each threw both their hands down simultaneously. "Bad hands, life deals 'um."

"Yeah. So, Sasuke… I like him." Naruto said blatantly hoping that was all he would have to say to tell Jiraiya the truth. Naruto imagined telling someone what he had come to define as himself to be hard, but it just slipped out so simply, he would run with it. As Naruto received a new hand of cards he waited to hear something from Jiraiya.

"He's a good friend huh? He seemed confident when I met him. Though, he reminded me of the time I met Madara. He looks like a much younger version." Jiraiya said and tossed two cards in. He took his new hand and read through his cards quickly. "I've heard things about him, and this group called Black Bird. What do you know about that?"

"It's just a bunch of friends, but we've come to make up the fourth group. Most of the time we actually spend eating cake if you'd believe me. But I meant…" Naruto stopped, he wasn't sure if he wanted to continue. He could stop right now and just keep everything to himself. Naruto could just hide away; he could be complete without anyone telling him.

He wasn't a quiet person; he didn't like the idea of having some huge secret. Anyway, it was Jiraiya. Jiraiya was his current legal guardian. He defiantly wanted to explain to him. "I…"

The doorbell rang before he could get out another word. Jiriaya folded quickly and deserted the table to answer the front door. Naruto could hear Jiraiya loudly inviting whoever it was inside and began going on about his manuscripts. A second later the author walked in practically yelling ecstatically at Kakashi. "Hey Naruto, tell him how good the new book is!"

"It sucks, I wouldn't recommend reading it. It's based off of pedophilia." Naruto said blandly and took a sip of his soft drink. He waited for Jiriaya's reaction, "What?"

"It is not, you spoiled little runt!" Jiriaya somehow had managed to get him in a headlock giving him a noogie. "It's based off a love that's not supposed to be!"

"Called pedophilia." Naruto said and Jiriaya gave up. He leaned his arms on the back of Naruto head and sighed looking over at Kakashi. "How can you put up with that many teenagers in one day?"

"I give them grades, they behave for me." Kakashi said lightly and looked down at Naruto, "I wanted to ask you some things. You want to go for a walk?"

"Am I in trouble?" Naruto asked remembering that he had skipped with Sasuke. He was thankful however when Kakashi began shaking his head. Naruto pried himself from under Jiriaya and rubbed his head. He sighed quickly and flipped over his hand. "Three aces."

"You cheated." Jiriaya said grumpily. "Hey, Kakashi, lose him down a dirt road or something. He cheated."

"You're only upset because the one bet you wanted to win you didn't." Naruto said and began walking out of the small home with his teacher behind him. He felt somewhat awkward; he was torn away from Jiriaya right when he was going to tell him that he was in love with Sasuke. Now he'd have to keep it in until he got rid of Kakashi. "So, what's up?"

"You're story…" Kakashi said as they turned off the driveway to the sidewalk, "How much did Sasuke help with it? There's no use lying, I can tell he helped with some of it. The grammar and syntax were impressive, and a few words I know are out of your normal vocabulary were in there. Also, it wasn't your normal story."

"Yeah, he burned that page…" Naruto said and scratched his head nervously. "Well, he kind of helped me develop the plot." Kakashi looked at him, "So he told me the plot, but I wrote all of it, he just went through and edited for me. I swear."

"I believe you." Kakashi said simply and pointed at street for them to head down. They turned and Naruto posed the same question he did back at Jiriaya's house. Kakashi laughed, "I already told you, you're not in trouble. It's alright to get a little help, everybody needs it now and then. So, out of personal curiosity, why are you hanging around Sasuke now?"

"Well, um… Let me guess there's no use in lying because you know something from Jiraiya already?" Naruto watched as his teacher nodded slowly. Naruto sighed slowly. "Tuesday, after class, Sasuke kidnapped me and dragged me over to a place to meet with some people. We ended up getting locked up in a cadaver lab for twenty minutes to avoid someone, and I actually got time to talk with Sasuke on the way there and in the lab.

"I used to just think he was scary and mean, he's not at all. He's just kind of different." Naruto said. He couldn't hear it, but his voice seemed to get sweeter as he spoke those words. Naruto felt himself blush and smiled as he began to think inside his head. He stayed in a swirl of warm emotions until he felt a heavy hand on his shoulder. "Huh?"

"You drifted off, Naruto." Kakashi patted his shoulder. "I think I've figure you two out finally. I take it Sasuke came on to you first, didn't he?"

"What? How'd you figure that out?" Naruto asked freaking a bit. He thought he was good at hiding things. Naruto broke from Kakashi grip and began pacing. "OhmygodwhatamIgonnado? WhatamIgonnado? Sasuke's going to freak!"

"Sasuke knows I know." Naruto stopped. Kakashi walked up to him and patted his head. "Sasuke's story was about his love of you, he didn't expect me to find out, but I did. It's why if you have a secret, you don't hide it in a hidden place, you hide it in the open.

"I won't tell, I promise, I was just wondering if you knew, but obviously…" Kakashi let the sentence drag into silence, Naruto knew the end words. "I was just wondering if you were going to follow Sasuke down or bring him up. Your two are polar opposites and there's only a few months of school left, I'd hate to see you copy him too much, though the missing school's not that bad."

"Aren't teacher's supposed to say something against that?" Naruto asked finding the statement out of place. Kakashi just shrugged. "I only missed due to some problems, hopefully they've passed for now."

"I just wanted to make sure everything was alright, with the season starting in two weeks and all." Kakashi said looking up towards the sky.

"Wait… This is about baseball? You don't care about my individual well-being?" Naruto shout at him. "Why couldn't you have just asked me if I was still going up for baseball? You didn't need to drag me away from a meaningful conversation with my guardian."

"Calm down, Naruto. It's because I care about you're well-being I dragged you away. Meaningful conversation eh? Let me guess, you thought telling Jiriaya was a good idea?" Naruto nodded. Kakashi sighed, "I wouldn't if I were you. I'd tell him when it's only absolutely necessary. Even some of the closest people to you can be the cruelest. Trust me, I had to watch someone go through shame and guilt that wasn't deserved, he ended up taking his life because even his closest friends though he was stupid for what he did when it was ethically correct. Just be careful, alright?"

"Never thought about that, O-kay." Naruto muttered somewhat brought down by Kakashi's speech. Kakashi began aimlessly walking away. "Hey! Who were you talking about?"

"Hm? My father." Kakashi said quietly stopping, "If you ever need to talk, I'm around. Tell Sasuke that goes for him too."

Naruto nodded and looked to the ground quickly sighing. Raising his head he saw his teacher had vanished. "How does he do that?"

---------( ---------- )---------

"Well, what did he mean by it? I mean, why would you say that about someone unless… He's hiding something isn't he?" Karin asked adjusting her glasses. She had been freaking out for the past half an hour as they had cake, but since Suigetsu was in the bathroom she was free to annoy Sasuke about the issue. Leaning in she whispered: "What's he hiding?"

Sasuke decided to amuse himself. He leaned in and whispered back. "If you can't figure it out on your own, relinquish the thought of ever finding out."

"You're going to uphold that stupid best friends bond aren't you? Curse you, curse you both." Karin whispered back. She threw herself against the seat and folded her arms angrily. It was then Suigetsu casually walked over trying to allude that he was fine even though the pain was worsening. Suigetsu sat down next to Karin not knowing what had happened. "Curse you."

"What?" Suigetsu asked and turned to Sasuke, "Did I do something wrong or did she start her cycle?"

"You don't say something like that out loud!" Karin said angrily and smacked him upset the head making sure to be careful. She went back to having her arms crossed and just stared at her plate.

Suigetsu couldn't help it, he turned to Sasuke smiling. "Did you hear that, curse me? I already have to put up with her how much worse could it get?" Suigetsu then grabbed a brownie off Karin's plate and began eating it.

"Suigetsu, I swear you are the most hypocritical person I have ever met." Sasuke couldn't help but laugh slightly. He then stopped and sighed. Sasuke pulled out his phone and checked it he stared at the screen for a second before something popped up reading 'blondie.' "I'm fucking amazing. I'll be outside."

Sasuke got up and quickly pressed his phone. "Hey…"

"Why didn't you tell me Kakashi knew?" Naruto asked somewhat blasé.

Sasuke got outside and leaned against the building trying to think. "What, no he knew that I liked you. He didn't know anything beyond that. I know Hinata didn't tell him."

"He talked to me for like five minutes and told me he knew you like me and wanted to see if I knew then drifted to the fact we were going out."

"He's nosy." Sasuke said stiffly and looked around him. There were no people on the street. "Don't worry Naruto, Kakashi won't tell. I think he understands that we'll retaliate if he does. Anyway, I don't think there's any harm from him as long as he doesn't tell Jiraiya."

"He told me not to tell Jiraiya, actually. He did say if either of us needed to talk, he'd be around. He disappeared on the street… Just vanished."

"The freshmen think he jumps out the window at the end of class. Just get over his ninja-ing. Anyway, Suigetsu and Karin are being horribly entertaining. Why don't we go out for breakfast tomorrow?"

"Okay, so what…"

"Holy shit, Kakashi?" Sasuke said quickly looking over as his teacher was standing next to him. Naruto over the phone could be heard yelling 'I told you!' "I'm gonna let you go, bye."

"You shouldn't swear." Kakashi said shoving his hands in his pockets. They exchanged a glare for a while before Kakashi began walking by him. "I stopped using the window when I broke my foot last year, I'm just really quick."

"Right…" Sasuke said shoving his phone away wishing he had told Naruto to hang on instead of hanging up. Re-entering the diner Sasuke sat down across from Karin and Sugietsu. "Kakashi used to jump out the window…"

"That's just a Freshman rumor." Karin said.

Sasuke shook his head, "He just told me he stopped when he broke his foot last year. It does explain why he refused to tell anyone why he had his foot wrapped up."

"He jumped out the window, that's… that's intense." Suigetsu said somewhat amazed. He began laughing and stole another brownie from Karin. He took a bite and kept talking, "That guy should be principle. I'd want a principle that can catch me in the act of spray painting the school monument."

"So that's what the paint was for? What'd you do with the can?" Karin asked. "It has everyone's fingerprints on it."

"In my room, as a trophy." He said happily and looked towards Sasuke, "So, what next, oh leader?"

"I don't know, I wanted to hear more of the argument. Karin's all upset because we have secrets due to our 'best friend bond." Sasuke said stressing certain parts so Suigetsu would pick up on what he was trying to accomplish.

Suigetsu nodded and smiled. "I'm sorry to say all our secrets are too… dangerous to be out. As a girl you should understand."

"All I want to know is what you meant when you told Sasuke that I was oblivious! Is it that hard?" Karin yelled getting riled. The boys were accomplishing what they set out to do. "Anyway, what do you mean secrets?"

"Well, usually a secret is something you keep hidden, like an escaped prisoner or a venereal disease." Sasuke said smartly. "Or perhaps you were indicating the plural?"

"You guys are hiding all these secrets from me, I want in right now!" Karin demanding slamming her fist on the table. She breathed hard for a minute and looked at both of them.

Both jumped at the opportunity. "I still eat raw fish." "I hate stupid people." "I really want to go over and stab Kisame." "I have this bump on my head…" "I can do screamo." "I can do a cop roll out of a third story window." "Nice!" "I know." "I can crack every bone in my hand."

"ENOUGH!" Karin looked at both of them for a second before she slammed her head on the table. "What's gotten in to you two today?"

"Sugar." Suigetsu quickly answered. Karin groaned in response and slammed her head down again. Suigetsu sighed feeling badly. He softly petted Karin's head, "Don't make a scene, we're just playing with you a bit."

"You want to know a real secret?" Sasuke said leaning in. Karin raised her head up enough to show her glasses. "Suigetsu has a crush on someone."

"No way!" Karin sat up and looked at Suigetsu who was busy giving Sasuke a dirty glare. "Who is it? Do I know them? Are they prettier then me?"

"Uh… I'm not telling. You do know them. And… same level. Is that a safe answer?" Suigetsu asked addressing Sasuke. Sasuke nodded thinking it would do.

"Who is it? Seriously?" Karin asked toning down. Suigetsu just removed his hand and began eating off his own plate for a change. Sasuke smiled to himself and mouth 'oblivious, indeed.'