Sasuke had used the Tsukyomi a few times before, mostly to extract information from ninjas and to avoid being captured by hunting nins from other villages. Yet, he wasn't quite prepared to what he met upon entering Kakashi's mind; though then again he hadn't known what to expect considering that his brother had been the caster of this genjutsu.

It was bizarre and confusing, like a strange nightmare and Sasuke didn't fully understand what was going on; it was a barren red land, with black sky and a blue Sun that didn't fully disappeared in the sunset, but started to move backwards, and when he reached the east again, it would move forward to the west and from the west to the east all over again, repeating a never ending cycle that occurred in what seemed a few hours.

Sasuke was in the middle of it, but he couldn't be sure of where was the middle, since the land changed constantly, like dunes in the desert, though a whole lot faster than what would be normal for a desert.

Even though this was a strange situation, he knew what he had to do, Tsunade had explained it to him a few days prior, while Kakashi was still getting better:

He had to find where Kakashi was in the illusion and then break it as gently as possible, after gathering the possible strayed memories in his ex-teacher's mind with a special technique, created by the Yamanaka clan years ago. It was a delicate and tiring task, not to mention dangerous, for he could easily harm Kakashi as well as remaining trapped in the illusion as well.

As he thought this, his legs tried to move, but the task was extremely hard, like if he was inside a strange gel, and he didn't like it at all; the more he remained in the illusion, the harder it would be to get out and it would be more stressing for his eyes and for Kakashi's mind.

Yet, he didn't have to move as suddenly he heard steps coming his way, and turned around to see a young Kakashi running, with his ANBU uniform, and behind him, there was a man Sasuke didn't recognize, but judging by the hair and the body, it had to be a relative of Kakashi; however, the man was covered in blood and a dagger was stuck in his stomach.

Sasuke realized this was a memory, as the young Kakashi fell to the ground and the man behind him stayed there, a few meters away from him. Kakashi asked,

"Dad… why? Why?"

The body of Kakashi's father, though, didn't answer and instead started to turn into sand, falling like a soft cascade, and it reminded Sasuke of Gaara's techniques. The young Kakashi stayed in the ground, petrified as his father dissolved into sand. Sasuke gathered his chakra to perform the technique Tsunade had taught him to catch the memories, and after five hand seals, he sent a strange white sphere that encircled the last remains of Kakashi's father and the younger version of his old teacher.

Just as he caught the white sphere again in his hand, the landscape changed again, and now he was in complete darkness, but several voices shouted and talked at the same time, stopping him from comprehending what they said. Soon, though, he realized that the same words were repeated all over again, and an image began to form at the horizon, growing bigger, and bigger, until it reached him.

The image was again a young Kakashi, though a bit older than the one he had seen first, with an Uchiha he didn't recognize, but Sasuke knew that he belonged to his clan because of his eyes, which shinned like rubies in the darkness.

They were talking, and though Sasuke couldn't hear what they were saying, he realized that Kakashi was crying, a situation that tugged Sasuke's heart uncomfortably, and he quickly captured this memory before it developed even more. He did not want to pry into Kakashi's memories, it was just too private. This time, though, after he had the white sphere in his hand, the darkness didn't fade away, but the voices lowered a little and then, many white spheres started to circle around Sasuke, every one of them a different voice, and he recognized several of them, including his own.

He started capturing the white spheres, they were memories, and as gathering them into a bigger sphere, he wondered where the "real" Kakashi was in this whole illusion that had messed up with his head. Finally, he gathered all the spheres and the voices quieted down; a relief considering all the noise they made, it was extremely irking.

Even though he had now a light ball in his hand, the darkness remained, and though he tried to move, it was useless, since he seemed to be in empty space, where there was no direction, no up, no down, no right or left, and a sudden fear started to crawl up from his chest to the rest of his body.

Was he lost? Could he get out? Would Kakashi be better or had he just worsened things, as usual?

He tried shaking off such thoughts, but it was impossible, the fear crawled up his body in a way that hadn't happened since he was a child; he knew it was the genjutsu doing, but he couldn't fight it unless he wanted to dispell the illusion and as he had not finished his job, he couldn't do so. The voices started talking again, with words of death and murder and blood. Traitor, killer… they seemed to whisper and shout at the same time, making Sasuke suddenly fell to his knees, clutching his head with his free hand, trying to calm, but it was impossible. And suddenly, he was falling, into the darkness, a fall without end, without point of reference. Time and space had seemed to disappear, and all there was himself and that bright sphere in his hand. The voices continued, murderer, coward, weak.

He closed his eyes, trying to shut out the outer world, but suddenly, his fall came to a slowed down and finally, his back was received by a pair of arms. His eyes widened and he when he opened his eyes, he found himself in Kakashi's arms. Yet, it wasn't the same Kakashi in reality, the one that Sasuke's mind had left in the medical room; no, it was the Kakashi Sasuke remembered from before leaving Konoha.

His bright silver hair was still defying gravity, and his mask was still on, and the Sharingan eye wasn't shedding blood tears, since Konoha's forehead protector covered it. The arms that had caught him were as strong as before, and his teacher said, smiling,

"My, my, you've changed a lot, Sasuke-kun."

He let him on the ground gently, and Sasuke realized they were in the training grounds where Team 7 had their first bell test.

"Thank you for gathering those for me." Kakashi said, pointing to the sphere Sasuke still had in his hand, but the younger man glared at him, before handing him the memories. As soon as the other man touched his hand lightly to take the white sphere, Sasuke dispelled the Tsukuyomi and came back to reality.

When the ANBU team and the Kazekage returned to Suna, Gaara thought that he hadn't been cruel enough with the ninjas. They had poisoned the water from the oasis that provided the vital liquid to the whole village, causing the sickness of most of the population and that's why they had been able to enter the village so easily.

Though the antidotes were well studied in Suna, the medical nins hadn't been able to attend all the people of the town in just one day, and as the shinobi had far more resistance to this kind of situation, they had been left for the end, while the kids and normal villagers had medical priority. But this had left the village in a compromising moment, since pretty much all the guards and higher ranks were poisoned and unable to fight even the weakest enemies.

Thankfully, the poison hadn't been lethal in almost all cases; it had simply drained their energy and gave them pretty nasty hallucinations. Even though, the enemy ninjas had used this to their full-advantage and got the forbidden scrolls almost without moving a finger. At least, Gaara thought, it isn't like if they were strong enough to fight my ninjas, so they had to find another method.

As for Kankuro, Shikari and Temari, they were all right when Gaara came back, so the redhead was relieved, but gathered the council in an emergency reunion as soon as he could. After explaining the news he had gotten from the ninja, the members of the council remained in silence for a few minutes, before one said,

"These are alarming news not only for us, but all the ninja countries. Lord Osamu had been trading goods with the Water country, according to our allies, but there hadn't been any word of a rogue ninja gathering, that's why we hand't thought he was worth mentioning to you, Kazekage-sama."

"But why does he wants them? What is he planning?" Another asked.

"Our safest supposition is that he wants to form his own army or own village, to become a rival with the other Great Countries, or maybe to try to control the ninja world. This is a good reason to assassinate one of the Kages, since it would imbalance the power of the shinobi and bring chaos." One of the eldest answered.

"Does this mean we should alarm all the other countries or attack him frontally?" The youngest member asked, a year younger than Gaara himself. The all looked at the Kazekage, expecting his answer.

"No. We need to know more about this Lord Osamu and his true intentions. Sending out and alarm would be unwise considering he's from the Temujin land, and they are always cautious when trading with us. Closing up that frontier would be bad for the Wind's commerce. Also, we do not know how many forces he has gathered, so risking our soldiers is stupid." Gaara finally said, after meditating the answer for few seconds.

The other members nodded, pleased with the Kazekage's decision, and Baki asked,

"Should we send spies, then?"

"As fast as possible. When the news of this defeat reach him, he'll undoubtedly take precautions about the new rogue ninjas that enter his forces. I shall speak with Konoha, ninjas from there won't be as suspicious as ours if they try to get into his ranks." Gaara answered, a light smile appearing on his face upon the mention of Konoha.

Baki nodded, he would see to it as soon as the reunion finished. Yet, one of the eldest members asked,

"Now that we have touched the Konoha subject, Kazekage-sama; may I inquire if your new relationship with the Hokage will affect our alliance?"

Gaara tensed up for a second at the question, not because he feared that they asked him about it with ill intentions, but because he felt embarrassed about discussing his relationship with Naruto with the village elders. He said,

"Without a doubt, it will increase the exchange of both shinobi, information and general commerce; but should we break up, I don't think neither the Hokage or I will let it affect the relationship between the villages badly. This is, after all, a personal decision we both took and should not affect our villages in a negative way."

"I'm relieved to hear so. We're glad you've found happiness, and do hope it works for the best, Kazekage-sama." The elder answered with a light smile and the others smiled as well.

"…Thank you." Gaara answered, though he had to lower his face for a second, since a blush threatened to make its way to his face.

Baki coughed, as he realized that Gaara was embarrassed, and said,

"Anyway, regarding…"

An hour or so later, the reunion finished and Gaara was left to finish the paperwork that his siblings hadn't taken care of in his absence, but they were only matters of extreme secrecy or importance that necessarily had to be signed or reviewed by the Kazekage himself, so it wasn't too much in the times that had been running.

The years after the fall of Akatsuki the life in the ninja continent had been quite peaceful, except for the troublesome relationship betweent the land of Earth and Wind; but it hadn't become an all-out war, so nothing until now had greatly disturbed the lives of ninja until now, with this Lord Osamu.

It made Gaara anxious, since he had believed that all their problems were over, but it seemed that it wasn't quite the case. After reading and signing the last paper, he decided to write a letter to Naruto, telling him about the reunion and the news.

After a second of doubt, he also told him about what the elders had said concerning their relationship, and after some more thought, he decided to ask him permission to accept Temari as an ambassador of sort and thus allowing her to marry Shikamaru, whom she had been dating for several years now.

He knew that his sister loved the lazy Konoha ninja a lot, and believed that Shikamaru had the same feelings for his sister, but it was still hard to let go one of his most important people to another country, she had been there for him ever since their sibling relationship had changed for the best and she had supported him through the years, just like Kankuro.

To tell the truth, he felt a little bit lonely, since now both his siblings would live with their own partner, (Kankuro already did) and now he was… alone, again. Not exactly alone, since he knew he was with Naruto, but now they were miles apart, and their only way to communicate with each other were the letters, which would take at least two days to reach the other.

And you couldn't put kisses or caresses in a letter, no matter how hard you tried, nor he could see the blue eyes he loved so much, nor hear the loud laughter that made him want to smile as well. And, besides, though the fact that Naruto wrote to him as soon as possible, Sasuke was still a shadow in Gaara's heart, now more than ever, since the brunette was right beside Naruto while he wasn't.

The redhead sighed, and when he finished the letter, went to the mailing post, where the messenger birds were kept, most of them being falcons or other fast flying animals. He was tempted to use their fastest falcon, but his more rational mind remind him that it should only be used in case of an emergency, and as much as he would have liked to get Naruto's answer as soon as possible, this was not an emergency case.

He took another bird, not nearly as fast as the other one, but very reliable and after attaching the message to its leg, and using a special jutsu to show him his destination, he saw him fly away into the dusk.

He stayed up there for a long time, watching the stars appear along with the Moon, and he wondered if Naruto was seeing the same sky and thinking about him or if he was doing something else. It was stupid, he knew, but he wished that even at this distance, he were still connected with the blond shinobi, even if such hope was dim in his doubtful mind.

Around midnight, he decided to head back to his room and finally rest.

Naruto was, in fact, watching the same stars as Gaara, but from the window of a hospital room. He sighed, feeling lonely without his beloved, whom his heart missed greatly and turned to see the figure at the bed.

Black hair was surrounding a pale, unmoving face like a halo, and the blond's heart tightened. Sasuke had been unconscious ever since he had dispelled the Tsukuyomi, to his dismay, and Sai had been worried as well.

Even though Tsunade had assured them that the Uchiha was just recovering his energies and that he should wake up the next day, the blond wouldn't rest until he saw those bottomless black eyes stare right back at him and heard his voice; which led him to his current problem:

What were the kind of feelings he had for Sasuke?

"Bastard…" he whispered, without realizing it.

The truth was that he couldn't define them himself. He knew he loved him, but to what extent? He loved him more than his friends, more than Sakura, more than Kakashi, more than Neji, more than Sai… the question was, even more than Gaara?

His brain and a big part of his heart answered no to this question, but there was a part of his heart that said yes. He knew that if Sasuke was to die the next day, he would die out of sadness, but he would do the same for Gaara. Did this mean he loved them equally?

He could picture himself making love to Gaara, better said, he had done it and by kami, it had been the greatest thing in the world, he could do it over and over again; but he had fantasized with Sasuke for several years as well, and his best friend was as attractive as always, so the sex was not a way to discern if he loved one of them more than the other. He tapped his chin gently, and looked through the window again, thinking that Gaara was probably watching the same stars as well, and the thought made him smile before he closed the curtains and turned to see Sasuke again. What did he feel for the Uchiha? Was it... kami forbid it, love?

But, even if he worried too much about this, Sasuke didn't feel the same for him, right? The bastard had confessed him his feelings for Sai, so why was he thinking about this so much?, he reasoned. Even if he did feel the same for Sasuke as for Gaara, those feelings would remain like that, a secret, because Sasuke wouldn't accept them either way. So in the end, there was nothing to worry about, nope, no problem.

That was what he resolved in his mind, and calmed his troubled heart, or at least gave himself some peace, since, if his feelings weren't returned then he didn't have to worry about them. Because, even if he did love Sasuke, he knew he loved Gaara, and he would stay with Gaara since Gaara loved him as well.

With this conclusion, Naruto sighed with sleepiness, and decided to get some sleep. But, even is he was tired, he wasn't leaving the bastard's side until he woke up, so he climbed to the bed where his brunette friend was sound asleep and he fell into Morpheu's land quickly enough.

Sasuke's first thoughts were that wherever he was sleeping was not his bedroom, and yet, there was a smell that was familiar. He lazily opened his eyes; to see a white ceiling he recognized easily enough, the hospital, he had forgotten how many times he had woken up seeing that white, empty ceiling. As the memories from the day before came back, he realized that there was something heavy on his stomach, and when he looked down, he found a tan arm resting on his abdomen and the tan arm was attached to a person he knew quite well.

Indeed, when he turned to his side, he found Naruto's blond head on the pillow next to his own, but he wasn't facing him. After some seconds of looking at him, he realized that they were in the same room, in the same bed, in a public place, and his eyes widened. He pushed Naruto to the floor, growling,

"Usuratonkachi, what are you doing here?"

As soon as Naruto's face hit the floor, he woke up painfully, and took a second to recognize his surroundings, and when he realized who had pushed him off the bed, he shouted,

"Teme, what the hell was that for?!"

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched, and asked again,

"...bed?"

Naruto frowned,

"I was sleeping, genius! It's what people normally do in a bed. It isn't like if we haven't shared a bed before."

Sasuke's eyebrow and now vein twitched a bit more and said,

"Are you really an idiot? That was in my house, not in the bloody hospital!"

"So what?"

"That anyone could have entered and seen us!" Sasuke shouted, his sharingan about to show itself, and Naruto realized that he was really mad, but he still didn't get the difference between this time and the one before,

"And your point is…"

"That you are with GAARA! That's my point! What would people think if they saw you sleeping with me while the whole village knows that the redhead is your boyfriend?! What if this reached his ears in the wrong way?" Sasuke finally answered, jumping out of bed, ready to punch Naruto.

What was the dobe thinking? Right, Sasuke didn't mind sharing his bed with the blond, he wouldn't mind waking up next to him everyday; but the blond idiot loved Gaara, and was going out with him, so sleeping with another man wasn't exactly a great idea, Sasuke thought, angered.

He knew that Naruto loved Gaara, and that Gaara loved Naruto, but why was the blond so stupid to put such a relationship in jeopardy by sleeping with his best friend?

Yet, as soon as Naruto heard what he said, his face paled a little bit and his mouth hanged open, and Sasuke sighed, trying to relax.

"Oh…but, I mean…" Naruto said, and Sasuke stopped him with his hand, as the other rubbed the bridge of his nose, and said,

"I get it, idiot; you weren't thinking..."

After a second of silence, though, the blond said in relief,

"Well, anyone, nobody has entered yet."

"How do you know?"

"Have you looked at the hour, teme? Not to mention that I would have woken up if somebody came in." Naruto answered, pointing at the clock hanging on the wall.

Sasuke looked at it, and the blond was right, nobody would have come in yet, it was 5 in the morning, and besides, there wasn't any mark of a chakra that wasn't theirs in the room.

He sighed, he definitely didn't want to be seen as the third party in Naruto's and Gaara's relationship, kami knew that Gaara didn't like him too much already, and if something like this went out, he knew that it would create even more problems, to both Naruto and himself, since he was first interested in Sai, though his feelings for Naruto were still unresolved, he knew that the blond was with Gaara, so there wasn't too much about it.

Now that he thought about the older ANBU, he wondered where the black-haired shinobi was. As much as he wanted to deny it, he was starting to like Sai's personality, but he didn't know what to do about it yet. Since they had first gone out to eat lunch together, they had been spending a bit more of time talking and learning about each other, so Sasuke knew that his feelings were somewhat returned, but what if the idiot ran away again like the time they had kissed in the forest? He pinched his nose again; it was too early to start thinking about his annoyingly bloody emotional problems.

Naruto said,

"So, now that you've made your point, can we go back to sleep? It's too early to be up right now."

"Hn. But you get to sleep in the chair, if you want to stay here." Sasuke warned him as he climbed up the bed.

"Bastard…" Naruto growled, but nonetheless, he carried the chair next to Sasuke's bed, and after the brunette had settled down, he rested his hands and head over the bed and fell asleep in some seconds.

Sasuke smiled when he saw him close his eyes, and thought again that he wouldn't mind waking up next to the blond every morning. Wait, what?

Sasuke groaned, running his fingers through his hair, he had to figure out his feelings for the blond Hokage before getting serious with Sai; but as he thought before, it was too early to deal with his emotional problems, and finally fell into a sweet slumber.

Unconsciously, though, his hand searched Naruto's, and the blonde's enclosed the brunette's hand in his sleep.

Sai was a bit restless when he woke up that morning. His instincts told him that something was different, but he wasn't sure of what as he ate his breakfast. He hoped that Sasuke would woke up that morning, he had gotten used to see the brunette everyday and he was worried about the strain the Mangekyo Sharingan had put on him. Luckily, the three of them, Naruto, Sasuke and Sai, would be able to work some what normally that day.

Yes, Tsunade had told them that the Uchiha would be perfectly fine by the next day, but Sai couldn't help but to worry about his health, and as he thought about the ex-missing nin being unconscious, he felt a strange tug in his stomach. Was this part of love?

The truth that at first he had been very attracted to Sasuke, but as he got to know the brunette (even if it had been very hard at first, Sasuke had been letting him know him little by little, ever since the first time they had gone out to get lunch together), he had started to feel very comfortable around him, and now, when he thought about him, he didn't think that much about kissing him, but also about his quirks and just what they had done during the day.

Of course, plenty of his nights were full of erotic dreams about the Uchiha, but that wasn't the most important thing now, it was just part of it. Now he just wanted to be with Sasuke, not just for the sex, but also for being with the person. Yeah, the Uchiha was irritable and not very communicative, not even when it came to Naruto, but he was a nice person, and Sai liked him, he was special.

As he thought all this, he didn't notice the smile that had slipped into his face, and it wasn't until he reached the hospital and heard a scream that the smile disappeared from his face.

The next chapter, yay! XDDD

But, what made Sai's smile disappear? Kuku... things will start to heat up soon, I promise.

Oh, and what will Gaara's spies find out about Lord Osamu? What will Naruto decide to do about that man, as well?

Well, please let me hear your pretty ideas, review! ^^