The Author Says: This is the second chapter I've posted today, so if you haven't read Chapter 20 yet, click the back icon and read that one first :-)

U/L: 20th March 2009.

In That Moment

By TooDarnLazy

Chapter 21

He opened his eyes and immediately realized that Naruto wasn't where he'd left her earlier. A tendril of worry crept into his mind as he rolled up the scroll and stood up.

"Naruto?" he called, not expecting a reply but listening for any tell-tale sounds that would point out to him where she was. "Naruto, love?"

She was repressing her chakra very effectively if she was still in the apartment, since he couldn't sense her at all. Slivers of panic started working their way into his thoughts. "Naruto, saiai?"

He knew the possibility of her managing to leave the apartment was very low, since he had an ANBU squad positioned around it. They would have noticed if she tried to leave. But then again, she'd fooled them every single time she'd snuck into Konoha before the battle a few days ago. "Naruto?!"

She wasn't in the kitchen – the first place he'd looked. She wasn't in the bedroom, and not in the bathroom either. After looking in the bathroom, Sasuke had effectively run out of rooms in which to look for the blonde. His heart started pounding in his chest.

"Naruto!" He couldn't lose her now, not after everything. It would be terribly ironic if she were to leave now when things were starting to get better, after all the effort they – Sasuke – had put in to bring her back in the first place.

He quickly backtracked to the kitchen and opened the window, intent on calling the ANBU to flay them alive for letting Naruto escape under their noses when a flash of yellow caught his eye. A stab of hope shot through his heart and he leaned out the window and craned his neck towards where he'd seen the colour, and there, to his immense relief, was Naruto.

She was sitting on a stone bench on the tiny balcony that was accessible from a door tucked in a forgotten corner in his kitchen. The balcony had originally been intended for hanging out laundry to dry in the sun, and Sasuke had noted the door that was partially-disguised as part of the shelving when he'd first moved in, because every shinobi worth their chakra noted all entry and exit points in a room or building. He'd never set foot out there, though, so he had quite forgotten about it.

He strode across the kitchen and grabbed the handle of the hidden door, opened it and sagged against the doorjamb.

"Naruto," he half-sighed and half-growled. "Didn't you hear me call you? You had me worried."

She lethargically turned her head away from him to face the other direction. He bit his cheek to stop himself from blurting out something caustic, and instead just leaned against the doorjamb and watched her.

She had regained most of her colour, and no longer looked so pale. She must still be tired, Sasuke thought, because she was leaning rather heavily against the wall. He hoped she hadn't fallen when she'd made her way here. He sighed silently and watched the way the sunlight highlighted the beautiful gold of her hair.

A few minutes into his daydreams, an ANBU member appeared and dropped to one knee in front of them both.

"Rokudaime-sama, Namikaze-sama," he barked out. Sasuke straightened and nodded, business-like, while Naruto mulishly kept her head averted. The ANBU operative continued. "Godaime-sama sends her compliments, and requests that Rokudaime-sama and Namikaze-sama be available for a meeting in thirty minutes."

Sasuke wondered what the meeting was about – he knew Tsunade wasn't the type to bother with anything that wasn't important. He nodded at the ANBU operative. "My compliments to the Godaime, and let her know we will be there."

The ANBU operative nodded respectfully and disappeared. Sasuke turned to Naruto. "Would you like something to eat? You must be hungry since it's mid-afternoon, and the last we ate was in the morning."

She persisted in looking away, so with a loud sigh Sasuke looped his arms around her and lifted her up, and carried her back into the apartment. She started struggling initially, but after one wince – probably because of the pain from her stomach wound, Sasuke thought – she stopped. She looked away from him, glaring furiously at nothing in particular. Sasuke assumed she was going to pointedly ignore him for some time, based on how angry she looked, but he hadn't anticipated her reaction once he lowered her into a kitchen chair.

"I'll cook something for us to eat, alright, love?" he'd said, then she'd exploded.

"Why do you keep calling me that?" she shouted. He'd turned his back, and at the sound of her voice he whirled around. "Why do you keep calling me that, and why are you doing all this?!"

Sasuke stared at her, wondering if he hadn't made his motives clear enough. "Because you need to get better, and because I love you, like I said."

She stood to her feet and gripped the back of her chair with one hand for support. She glared at him angrily. "Stop saying that! Stop saying that… Stop saying things you don't mean!"

Sasuke snapped to attention and looked at her intensely across the table. She faltered a little. "Why do you think I don't mean it? You know me – I don't say things I don't mean. If I keep saying I love you, it's because I mean it. I. Love. You."

A look of confusion, hope and hurt passed over her features. "You couldn't possibly mean that!" she cried. "Not after… not after I…"

"Not after you what?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Not after I… the things I said and did that night!"

Sasuke folded his arms and gave her a half-grin with a tinge of sadness in it. "That night… I still remember the things you said—"

"Then why do you keep saying you… you lo… that!"

"I haven't finished!" Sasuke snapped. "What I am saying is that I still remember the things you said, and I also remember how it was right after the Kyuubi was contained after the battle. You couldn't have meant what you said that night. I can't be absolutely sure, but I think you were trying to get me to hate you for some reason or other." From the way she bit her lip and looked away, he was pretty sure that was why she'd said those hurtful things, but as to why she'd wanted him to hate her, he couldn't begin to fathom.

"I am very sure, though," he continued, "that you didn't mean what you said."

She flared up. "What if I did mean what I said? What if I hate that I'm back in Konoha? What if I hate being here right now?" she gritted out.

Sasuke graced her with a level stare. "I would say that I. don't. believe. you." He smirked at her, and watched her colour rise at his next words. "In fact, I think it's quite the opposite. I think you had and still have feelings for me, too."

His expression told her to deny it if she dared, and became smug when she couldn't meet his eyes, and red started to suffuse her cheeks. He felt his chest and limbs become so light at that indirect admission that he couldn't stop a smile from forming on his lips. "I love you, Naruto," he told her simply.

"Stop saying that," she said in a pleading tone, and slid into the chair. She put her elbows on the table and cradled her forehead in her palms. "Stop saying that. You can't possibly mean it."

Feeling concerned, Sasuke quietly walked over and knelt beside her. He took both of her unresisting hands in his, and leaned his forehead against hers. Her eyes were closed, and she looked tired. "I meant it when I said it that night, and I mean it when I say it now. I love you, Naruto. I want to feed you and take care of you and protect you. I know I've hurt you before, and like I've said – I want to make it up to you for the rest of my life. I want to be with you for the rest of my life."

He felt her hands tremble as he lifted them and kissed her fingers softly. For a long time she trembled quietly, then, seeming to draw resolve from somewhere, she lifted her head and took her hands out of his. She looked him directly in the eye with a resolute, almost hard look and asked, "For the rest of your life… does this mean you want to marry me? You want us to get married?"

To be honest, the word 'marriage' had never crossed Sasuke's mind, but as it dropped from Naruto's lips, he found he didn't mind it. He didn't see it as a binding burden, or putting his neck in a noose, or whatever other sayings men usually came up with to compare marriage to. If marriage was what allowed him to keep Naruto by his side, then he was all for it. "Yes," he answered without hesitation.

Her eyes became even more determined. "Then prove that you… you l-love me that much. Marry into the Namikaze and take on my name," she said softly, but in a stony tone.

Sasuke's eyes widened. "What?" he blurted out, almost stumbling back in surprise.

"That is my condition. If you want me to marry you, you will marry into the Namikaze family and take on my family name instead." With that she looked away and folded her hands on her lap.

Dazedly, Sasuke rose to his feet and leaned against the counter behind him. Her ultimatum caught him by surprise, and for all that he wanted to be with her for the rest of his life, he… his ambition had been to resurrect the Uchiha clan. To marry into her family instead… in all honesty, that wasn't something he'd ever thought of doing, nor did it appeal to him… he'd have to think about it first – his cherished ambition, or Naruto. It wasn't a choice he'd ever imagined he'd have to make.

He was reeling from the shock Naruto's ultimatum had caused, and almost missed the bitter, barely-whispered, "I knew it."

He looked sharply at the blonde, but her head was bowed and her hair curtained her face, concealing her expressions from him. He didn't, couldn't reply to that at this point. It was one thing to know without a doubt that he loved her, but to be asked to give up his clan name...

He kneaded his forehead with his knuckles and remembered the meeting Tsunade had requested in about fifteen minutes' time, so he put aside those confusing thoughts to be examined later. He drew a deep, silent breath and started looking for a pot to boil water in. While the water was boiling, he opened his cupboard and took out three cups of instant ramen, and, when the water had boiled, poured the hot water into the cups and set two of them down in front of the quiet blonde, together with a pair of chopsticks. He made sure that one of the cups was miso ramen.

She looked up in surprise, and he gave her a weak smile. "I know you're hungry, and who knows how long the meeting would take. I know you're not supposed to be eating ramen yet, but I won't tell Tsunade if you won't."

Naruto stared at him with a wary, unsure look before starting to eat. After a moment of watching her, he started eating as well.

xxXXxxXXx

When they shunshin-ed into Tsunade's office, Naruto was still glaring at him for carrying her after she'd vehemently protested that she'd be able to do it herself. Sasuke had just scooped her up in the midst of her spiel, glared at her, and shunshin-ed the both of them.

Naruto shot him one last glare and turned her head to the side, her cheeks burning. Sasuke smirked at her, then at the somewhat dumfounded faces of Tsunade, Jiraiya and Itachi. Well, Itachi didn't have much of an expression, but the raised eyebrow was a good indicator of his surprise.

Tsunade cleared her throat. "Well. Put her in the chair over there, then, Uchiha, and let me examine her. You say she's started to eat? Has she been taking her medicines?"

Sasuke put her gently down in the indicated chair so as not to jar her healing injury and kissed her forehead before straightening, blithely ignoring her glare. He gave short answers to Tsunade's questions and stepped back as the blonde Hokage stooped to examine Naruto. He snagged the nearest chair and set it beside Naruto's, and sat.

"You're healing fine, Naruto," Tsunade concluded with a fond look. "Your friends are clamouring to see you, but I didn't think you'd want any visitors just yet. Konohamaru has been quite persistent, though, so don't be surprised if he appears at your doorstep one day."

Naruto looked at her for a moment before averting her eyes. Sasuke saw Tsunade bite back a sigh and return to her desk. Jiraiya was sitting beside Tsunade, his left shoulder wrapped up in bandages and very obviously lacking an arm. Sasuke wasn't sure what the story behind that was – he hadn't inquired about the Sannin nor been briefed about his time in Amegakure just yet. The man was looking at Naruto with stormy eyes and mixed expressions of fondness and regret, but he held his tongue. Sasuke realized he hadn't so much as remembered the man during the last few days, but couldn't be bothered to feel remorse about it.

The chairs Sasuke and Naruto occupied were beside Tsunade's desk, and facing the same direction as Tsunade's and Jiraiya's. Sitting straight in his chair facing them was Itachi. A tight feeling started to develop in Sasuke's gut, and his jaw started to clench a little.

"Uchiha, Naruto," Tsunade began in a more official voice, "Uchiha Itachi has been summoned today to debrief us on Mission 25272, commissioned by the Sandaime Hokage 13 years ago." Sasuke stiffened when the significance of the number of years registered in his mind. "He has requested that the both of you be present for this debriefing."

The Godaime nodded at Itachi and settled back in her chair, leaning her elbows on the armrests and steepling her fingers. Itachi nodded respectfully, and his dark solemn gaze landed on Sasuke.

"Godaime-sama, Rokudaime-sama, Jiraiya-sama, Naruto-kun," he began, "I will begin the debriefing at the very beginning of the mission – the truth behind the Uchiha Massacre."

The Author has More to Say: Manga Spoilers!! Has anyone read chapter 440?!! KYAAAAAAA!! It's Namikaze Minato! It's a total Yondy!Daddy moment! And it was totally over much too soon! Uwaa!

Reviews and constructive criticism much appreciated!