Happy New Year! I can't believe that in about a month I will have been posting this story for a year. If you've been with me from the beginning then you know the full impact of how cool that is and what an adventure it's been:) Happy reading this chapter.

He gradually began to hyperventilate; his entire body was shaking, and all at once he wanted to tear all nine tails off of himself, no matter how much it would hurt.

"I've…I…I caused this…this is my fault…" One hand flailed for a kunai from his supply belt, and the other hand snatched at the tails coming from him. He slowly neared the kunai to the base of his fistful of tails, numbly preparing to slice them off in a sudden fit of insanity.

"Maybe this will make them go away..." "Maybe this will make it stop!!!" He screamed at the tails, the symbol of the suffering he'd endured his entire life, as a demon vessel. His hand with the kunai rose and his jaw clenched in anticipation. "I want to kill Kyuubi…I want to kill Kyuubi for cursing my life!!" He began to sputter words through his own tears. "He made me kill Sasuke…YOU MADE ME KILL SASUKE!!"

Chapter XXXIX

Captivate Me

He made a sharp downward motion at the tails, and at that precise moment of desperation, a noise in the not too far distance distracted him briefly. Especially since his hearing had now developed an unreal level of accuracy due to Kyuubi's changes. He paused, looking up through the blurry sheet of tears in his eyes. There were voices approaching from some unseen direction. The blonde made an instinctual dart for the brush, as he'd done many times as a child. Then, he'd wanted no one to see him because they would only drive him away or look at him with disdain. Now, his nine tails were a dead giveaway, and he wanted no one at all to see him in such a state. From his safe and hidden vantage point, Naruto could see masked figures through the still lingering smoke. "Anbu…" Of course, Naruto's only conclusion for their presence was that Sasuke actually had been in the burning building. He felt his heart wrench inside of him; he though he might vomit.

"I can't be seen here…I can't be seen anywhere…" He turned to flee the nightmare of a scene that lay in the black smoke, and ran blindly through the woods. He didn't stop running so soon this time. Minutes and minutes passed by, and it became evident as the morning wore on that the day wouldn't be sunny. The sky appeared as a simple white with occasional shades of light gray, and that was all.

---------

After nearly 30 minutes, he still knew he wasn't far enough away to be safe from being discovered, but it was too difficult to keep going; he was beginning to feel dead inside, and he knew that Sasuke's absence still hadn't completely hit him, despite his outburst earlier. He stopped running and stared straight up through the trees and into the blank, colorless sky above him. He knew to be afraid of the moment when it would hit him full force, and even as he thought about that, it still didn't completely set in. He felt that maybe he didn't really believe it, but knew that denial was unhealthy—and right now he couldn't even drag out an emotion. Sitting down, he took the feeling-less opportunity to go back to what he'd been doing.

"I'll never let this happen again…I'll kill myself before I let these tails appear again…" He retrieved his kunai from his pocket, and wondered briefly if there was blood in the tails. His hand with the kunai once more neared his fistful of tails, even though he knew it was radically insane to even try something like what he was doing. He didn't care anymore. His hand around the tails was the hand with his engagement ring on it. There was still blood all over the yellow diamond from when he'd cut his right hand from squeezing it. While taking a moment to gaze at it, the white skies suddenly grew ominous and began to splatter large, heavy but sparse raindrops in a slow succession that never quickened. The wetness made the partially dry blood stains run in bright red streaks down his hand. He stopped thinking and moved—the kunai broke skin just barely through the dark orange fur, as he'd hesitated. He flinched terribly, and it was almost like he didn't actually expect the tails to hurt. His breathing was growing more shaky by the second as he attempted to recompose himself. He eventually made his hand move again.

"I don't care what happens now…" He closed his eyes—but then he felt a sharp grip on his wrist, along with the feeling of someone pressed against him directly from behind. "Hey, don't do that…self-mutilation hurts in more ways than one. I would know." Said the voice. Naruto dropped the kunai in an instant, freezing up in shocked familiarity. "Sas—Sasuke?" With all they'd been through on the mission, he was inclined to not believe it. But Sasuke's hold against him was unmistakable. In fact, it was very similar to how Sasuke had surprised him from behind in the field of black roses that day. That perfect day not too long ago at all when they'd promised to marry.

"Naruto? You didn't think something happened to me…did you?" Sasuke was saying. Naruto turned around and stared blankly for just a few seconds, but then found himself all over Sasuke, hugging him, his thoughts of what he'd thought had happened fading away into distant nightmare. Sasuke, mildly alarmed by Naruto's behavior, had no idea what was going on. He managed to pull Naruto back from him and get eye contact.

"Naruto—what.." He paused there, and Naruto spilled everything.

"You… I saw.. the building it was burning! And I had hurt you…you were bleeding I saw you I thought you were dead!!" Naruto exclaimed through tears. Sasuke shook his head, touching Naruto and pulling him closer.

"Naru-chan…no, I was the one who blew up the building. Anbu came and healed me after you left—Sakura and Kakashi sent them after us after they heard about the traps here in the Grass Country. Some of them took the clone and some were with me gathering evidence…but I had to find you on my own…so I gave them the slip." Sasuke explained quickly. Naruto was staring at him tearfully, but soon his expression switched immediately to anger.

"Sasuke-kun why would you do that?? Kyuubi made me hurt you, trying to get to the kid, and you were bleeding on the ground!! Imagine how I felt coming back to find you, thinking I'd hurt you, and fearing if I'd gone back too soon I would lose control of myself, and then finding the entire clearing up in flames?? I thought I had killed you!" He shouted, shaking Sasuke by the collar a few times before simply pausing and staring at him. "Sasuke-kun…" he murmured breathlessly. He then stepped closer and kissed Sasuke, and they stood there in a solid lip-lock for nearly a minute.

"…I missed you…does that make it better? I shouldn't have acted so recklessly, perhaps..." Sasuke murmured, resting his chin on Naruto's shoulder and standing silently, his arms around Naruto, staring at the tails of the demon fox still somehow attached him. "I don't even know how that's possible…I still don't really understand what happened, we were so careful. He's…he's probably so tired right now…" He'd barely even gotten the thought out before Naruto seemed to lose all energy and collapsed. Sasuke held Naruto up against his body and sat down with him, leaning over him closely, shielding him from the splotchy raindrops that were still falling. Naruto seemed to be still awake, but only barely.

"I want you to just rest now…alright?...I'll take care of everything." Naruto made a small noise, and that was all. "We're going to leave…it'll take us a few days to get back, and that'll equal about a week that we've been out here." He whispered to Naruto, who surprised him by answering.

"I can't…I don't want them to see me like this…" He murmured quietly. Sasuke smiled sadly, reaching to gently touch to the tails.

"Naruto the village loves you…things aren't the same as they use to be. They'll welcome you with open arms and we'll heal you." Sasuke whispered to Naruto. Naruto didn't reply—he seemed to be sleeping. Sasuke stood up, lifting Naruto also and readjusting himself to the weight; the long tails made Naruto around 50 pounds heavier.

"I have to get us back to the village…I want to be overseeing anything they do with the clone experiment. And of course…I have to get Naruto help. Who knows what's going on with these tails…" One thing he knew for sure, was that it hadn't been a normal example of the fox demon cloak.

"The actual demon cloak is something I wouldn't have been able to handle without truly fighting him."

----------

There was a small cave, ground level, about the size of a very small room in a wall of rock not too far from where they had ended up, and once Sasuke had found it, he took Naruto inside, then went back out to find food and supplies to make a fire. He came back and set up the fire near the opening of their cave, then sat by Naruto, digging the needed elements out of his first aid pack. But then when he really looked, there weren't any injuries.

"The minor cut he made on the tail is already healed…" Sasuke peered curiously down at Naruto, and the water streaked dry blood all over him. There was blood that seemed like it had come from Naruto on his right hand, but that was healed also. "The majority of this blood is mine…" He wiped with a rain moistened cloth to clean the blood from Naruto's face. He found himself moving slower and slower, until he was simply sitting there, staring at Naruto's whiskers, and then staring at the tails, spread out everywhere all around Naruto. "I…wonder…" Sasuke stopped there and shook his head at himself.

"I shouldn't think that…" He murmured out loud, and moved on to delicately clean the blood from Naruto's engagement ring. Not 5 seconds had gone by before he was thinking again.

"I wonder what it would be like to…sleep with him now…?" He felt himself blush, and he stared at Naruto's furry tails. Almost immediately, about 10 different rather interesting scenarios entered his mind, some involving things he hadn't even done with Naruto just yet.

"Damn…" he mumbled at the trickle of blood from his nose. He dabbed at it with his damp cloth and swiped with his hand, trying to push the thoughts away for now, as fun as they were..."Naruto would probably smack me if I tried that at a time like this…" He took a deep breath. Naruto was now clean of the blood stains, and Sasuke knew he should be resting also, but it was too late—now he couldn't stop thinking about it. He could feel his heartbeat in his chest, and it was getting a little too warm, completely unrelated to the fire. Sasuke sighed in frustration.

"If Kakashi were here he'd be laughing so hard at me right now…" He attempted to sit still and simply watch over Naruto, staring facing the opening of the cave as Naruto lay in front of him.

The next time he glanced down at Naruto's face, the blue eyes were open. Sasuke felt his breath catch in his throat.

"N-Naruto…you're awake." He managed to say. He had to admit to himself that right now it was feeling like when they'd first been together, nervous blushes, butterflies in the stomach and all. All while Naruto slowly sat up and stared at him cluelessly. At observing Sasuke's facial expression, Naruto smiled warmly.

"You alright? You know I'm fine. A little tired…like psychologically. But I'm okay! Don't worry." Naruto was explaining. Sasuke nodded stiffly, unable to keep the blood from rushing to his face.

"I know, I know you're fine.." he muttered quietly as their hands found each other. "God, what's wrong with me…it's those tails…they make me want to take him and just…do stuff to him that just might knock him out again…"

"Sasuke your nose is bleeding!" Naruto's voice interrupted Sasuke's raunchy thought processes.

"Naruto it's fine it's not an injury—" Naruto was already wiping the blood, and to do so he had to sit all the way up, and get very close contact. Sasuke closed his eyes as Naruto tended to him. One of Naruto's hands was in Sasuke's hair, holding his head still, while the other hand took the cloth and wiped at the steady blood stream. He could feel Naruto's gentle breathing against his face.

"Naruto…" Sasuke opened his eyes, and Naruto sat there, his legs folded under himself, the tails waving and floating randomly in the air behind him.

"Yeah?" Naruto answered. "Ignore those." Naruto added as he followed Sasuke's eye movements. Sasuke caught himself and kept eye contact.

"I can't." he said bluntly. Naruto looked slightly hurt for a little while.

"What—I…I can't help that…they're.." he began to stammer helplessly, and Sasuke felt bad for not explaining himself but he didn't want to bring up the reason why he couldn't ignore the tails.

"What would Naruto do if I told him that this form…of him with these nine tails…God, it turns me on…" "No, no, Naruto don't look so upset, I don't mean it that way…I think they're…cute. On you." He awkwardly stated. Naruto blinked a few times and stared at him more closely.

"You what?" Sasuke sat silently, fearing the reaction.

"These are Kyuubi's tails…demon tails. They caused Naruto so much pain and all I can think of are dirty thoughts??" Sasuke scolded himself. But then he realized Naruto was interested in what he meant.

"You like them? What do you mean?" Naruto questioned suspiciously. Sasuke shook his head at himself and took a deep breath. He felt like a kid on a first date that had run into an extremely awkward situation. The attraction was starting to feel like an animal instinct. He couldn't hold back from it much longer.

"Sasuke…" Naruto smirked at him slightly. "I know what you're thinking." he said. Sasuke scooted closer, sitting close against Naruto.

"Oh yeah?" he answered back, his hand sliding around Naruto's waist, and he couldn't help but linger with his hand near the base of the tails. Naruto didn't appear to be put off, or anything of the sort.

"Sasuke you're really clueless sometimes…I'm probably more of a freak than you are when it comes to this kind of stuff." Sasuke rose an eyebrow, and all hesitation melted away. He raised his hand to stroke the whiskered cheek.

"I just…didn't want to take your situation too lightly.. I mean…they're Kyuubi's tails." Sasuke said quietly. Naruto smiled brightly.

"If I'm around you, then…then I'm comfortable enough with myself to not feel threatened by that." Sasuke smiled and took a breath of relief, then gently placed his hand behind Naruto's head and pulled him in, delicately running his tongue along the slightly pouted bottom lip before gently sucking on it, and finally invading Naruto's mouth with an intensely passionate kiss, letting out all of his recently building tension all at once, and Naruto pressed still closer to him to achieve even more intimacy—which was immediately granted. They separated just a little, just to silently stare at each other to the sound of the now torrential rain outside. Naruto blushed and smirked a little as Sasuke curiously touched the fur on the tail closest to him.

"Do you feel that?" he asked as he stared. Naruto nodded cheerily.

"Yeah.. a lot actually…they're kind of touchy." Sasuke looked up, an interesting grin on his face.

"Good or bad?" Naruto scratched his head coyly.

"Good…in a weird tingly way…it's like you're touching my backbone…as weird as that sounds…" Naruto tried to explain, then giggling as if it tickled while Sasuke's hands traced the center of his back, but then continued into the mess of orange fur.

Before even a few more minutes had gone by Sasuke had Naruto lying fully on top of him, trapped in his arms, accepting invasive kissing readily until he was suddenly cut off when Sasuke paused, and stared up at the bright blue eyes gazing back down at him. He chuckled a little at the look on Naruto's face.

"Hn…and I thought you'd smack me for being attracted to the tails…" Sasuke said in a light whisper; he took a slow deep breath as the tails began to move around him and under him. Naruto's breathing had deepened, and he looked a little nervous even.

"This feels a little too good…" he murmured after a few seconds of in depth staring. Sasuke kissed him some more, and they pressed against the wall of their cozy fire-lit cave, playing with each other until it all became too much and sex became inevitable. He had Naruto in the back corner of the cave, and they had moved steadily faster, furiously taking advantage of one another on the ground until basically being forced to slow to a stop due to their exhaustion levels. Naruto groaned from under Sasuke.

"You better have enjoyed that…you kept pulling them." Naruto panted with a smirk. Sasuke looked up from resting with his head on Naruto's chest, stroking Naruto's hair as he sat up further. "Heh…Sorry Naru-chan…I couldn't resist."

----------

After a little while of resting, and complaining to Naruto that he couldn't spoon properly because of the tails, Sasuke busied himself with cooking the food he'd caught. Sitting by the fire as Naruto slept behind him was peaceful. He turned his head, smiling at how the blonde was positioned. He was curled into himself with the tails wrapped around him, exactly like a fox might sleep.

"I wonder…can anything in the village make him normal again? Why are the tails still there…?" As he cooked, it seemed that he could feel eyes on him. He looked up, and outside through the opening of the cave, which wasn't very big—in fact the cave's ceiling wasn't but 7 feet high in the first place. There was a shape with eyes staring at him from amidst the brush and under the trees, shielded from the rain. Sasuke stood and stared more closely, and saw that there was adult fox, sitting, eyeing him steadily.

"Why is…"He felt a chill go up his spine as he gazed at the yellow eyes. As he stood more still, and observed more carefully, he noticed that the one fox was not alone. He could now manage to spot at least three more hidden in various spots within his vision. "It's Naruto…they must be attracted to him somehow." Sasuke concluded. He felt a small tinge of his previous issue of jealousy toward Kyuubi for being a part of Naruto's very being, but it didn't linger long; he knew it was silly to let it. He had sat back down—apparently the foxes had no intention of getting any closer or becoming a bother. And so Sasuke sat, eating his food, under the constant surveillance of the foxes.

"Maybe Kyuubi is…a fox god of some type. A demon fox god." He concluded as he turned his head to watch Naruto sleep. Taking a deep breath, he turned to stare back at the foxes, who resiliently did not move.

"As soon as Naruto wakes up, I'll wait for him to eat, and then we'll leave for home."

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The sun shone brightly in Konoha as Kakashi reluctantly approached an Anbu meeting area, having been asked for personally regarding an apparently urgent matter. Sighing dryly, Kakashi closed his eyes, crossed his arms, and waited against the wall he'd been instructed to wait by. He heard a sudden approach, and when he looked up, there was a masked Anbu officer standing in front of him.

"I am not at liberty to discuss these matters aloud." The officer said. Kakashi was handed a written report, and suddenly the Anbu was gone.

"I'm guessing this is a report on Sasuke and Naruto's mission…"

He had returned to the house to let Sakura read it there. She took the report curiously, and Kakashi put his hands in his pockets and stood to listen as Sakura cleared her throat.

"It says… 'The Anbu group located Uchiha Sasuke badly injured with a deep stomach wound, and medical action was required…'" Kakashi sighed, and Sakura's voice began to shake as she read.

"Sasuke did not complete the recommended recovery time but evaded the group, against orders, and destroyed the location. He is now unaccounted for and untraceable. Uzumaki Naruto was not seen, and we suspect that Sasuke violated orders only to locate him. We have recovered evidence from the hidden experimentation site as well as a live experiment, the details of which must remain confidential until further research has been completed, and Sasuke and Naruto return to Konoha." Sakura looked up at Kakashi for a reaction. Her hands had the paper in a death grip, but Kakashi did not appear to be worried in the least. He was rolling his eyes.

"Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke…I'm sure he's fine, but he'll pay for not recovering later. And it seems something serious has happened to Naruto. And of course, Sasuke wanted to deal with it alone, because he's too possessive for his own good when it comes to Naruto…if they aren't back in 48 hours I'm going after them." Kakashi decided quickly. He smiled down to Sakura.

"They're fine, I'm sure Sakura. They can handle themselves well enough."

---------

Sasuke busied himself with packing their things up while Naruto kicked dirt over the fire, successfully putting it out as Sasuke came up behind him. They left in a hurry—Sasuke wasn't allowing any lingering.

"We have to get back there. I refuse to let anything happen to that clone without our knowing about it." Sasuke said as he paused a few yards outside of the cave. He made a quick surveillance and now saw no foxes.

"Hm…well good. That way I've got my kitsune all to myself." He found himself thinking. He grabbed Naruto's hand and they dashed into the forest, quickly heading back the way they'd come for the most part.

"We're aiming to reach Konoha in far less time than it took us to get here. I want to make a three day trip in under 36 hours." Sasuke was saying as they ran through the trees. He got no reply. "Naruto?" He glanced at Naruto and squeezed his hand a bit. Naruto seemed distracted.

"Those tails giving you trouble…? It was pretty difficult carrying you they weigh about 50 pounds." Naruto shook his head and then appeared more focused.

"Oh. No, they feel like nothing to me…In fact I feel so balanced that I seem lighter. I don't think I could fall over if I wanted to." Naruto explained. Sasuke jumped, and suddenly they were leaping tree branches.

"Well let's travel up here then. It uses a little chakra but it saves time."

"There's something following us, I know it." Naruto said immediately following. Sasuke stopped so fast on the branch they'd landed on that Naruto swerved, but as he'd pointed out just seconds before, his balance was unparalleled, and he effortlessly recovered from a near impossible position without using an ounce of chakra.

"What's following?" Sasuke asked. They stood together on the branch, staring back the way they'd come, and Naruto pointed down into the brush.

"I swore I saw something…it was really quick though…" Naruto said quietly. Sasuke saw it just as Naruto spotted it; a fox emerged from the bushes slowly, watching them with it's golden eyes as they observed it from the tree. Sasuke sighed and slipped his arms around Naruto's waist, slightly annoyed at the foxes presence—it seemed invasive. But Naruto seemed rather happy to see it. Sasuke watched Naruto's face light up, his bright blue eyes responding to the foxes gold ones with a familiar sparkle that was similar to someone seeing a member of their family.

"Foxes!" Naruto hissed excitedly, turning to look at Sasuke. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the happy look Naruto had, as adorable as it was.

"Plural…foxes? As in there's more than one following?" Naruto nodded and pointed, still comfortably within Sasuke's hold at his waist. They watched as about 10 foxes were now watching them from the ground.

"Can I go down to them?" Naruto was asking. Sasuke uncomfortably looked away.

"It's so strange. Kyuubi is a demon. Naruto should hate Kyuubi. Sometimes I think he does. But then other times…it's like he so accepts his identity as being entwined with Kyuubi that it's like they're the same entity, and there's nothing out of the ordinary. Why?" Sasuke's hold around Naruto tightened.

"No…we have to leave." He said as coldly as he could without sounding like a jerk. Naruto wriggled out of his hold and crouched on the branch, looking down at the fox group.

"Sasuke they're only going to follow me to the village." Naruto said more seriously, some excitement in his voice being replaced by a concerned, sympathetic tone. The foxes had paused, since Naruto had, and Sasuke watched curiously as he could see little foxes about the adults, playing together, dashing about and tumbling with each other while the adults waited. Before Sasuke could say another negative word, Naruto had dropped to the ground, somehow not making a sound as he landed, and was crouching, facing the foxes. "Naruto!" Sasuke hissed. "What are you doing?"

"Shhh Sasuke-kun!" he received a terse reply. Sasuke indignantly sat on the branch and watched every move possessively.

Naruto crept closer to the foxes, close to an adult fox with three baby ones nearby to it. The foxes had surrounded him by now, but seemed to be waiting. Naruto took a deep breath.

"Should I talk to them…? What do they want from me? Do they…just want to be around me?" He felt no desire to ask Kyuubi, as he normally would have tried. Kyuubi had caused him too much pain in the past few days. Naruto sat calmly there for minutes and minutes on end, while Sasuke sharply watched from above. One fox caught Naruto's eye. One of the baby foxes playing with the others had completely stopped, and stood beside an older fox staring at him intently. It's eyes were a very dark black, with only small flecks of orange.

"Reminds me of you…" Naruto said to Sasuke without looking at him. Question marks erupted in Sasuke's mind.

"What reminds him of me…" Naruto felt a pull to do what was on his mind.

"I want you." Naruto said next, and Sasuke knew Naruto wasn't talking to him this time. "What're you doing…" Sasuke called. Naruto didn't answer, but he slowly crawled over to the little fox, and at once all the foxes stopped to look. He cautiously reached out with his hands toward it and touched, then looked up at the adult fox just above.

"I'll take care of him okay? I promise you." Naruto said quietly. Sasuke cocked his head. "He's talking to it…" The fox stepped back two steps, and nudged at the small fox with her nose. At the prompting, the little fox ran to Naruto quite willingly, and Naruto took it, standing up.

"I have to go now…" He turned hesitantly, but then more readily, and jumped back into the tree with Sasuke. Sasuke stared, wide-eyed.

"Are you serious? You're bringing that fox back with us…?" He questioned. Naruto nodded.

"Yup! I'm calling it Ku-chan." Naruto declared emphatically. He cradled the baby fox in his arms and it was still, putting up no struggle whatsoever.

"Let's go!" Naruto exclaimed next, urging at Sasuke as if he were the one that had been holding them up.

"Hm…alright Naru-chan…I don't understand it but…" He didn't finish his sentence. "Come on…we've got to go." He said softly, putting aside his issues with Kyuubi's hold on Naruto in favor of seeing Naruto happy. Naruto nodded.

"Hold on." He paused to take the carry pack off of his back and unfastened it, carefully putting the fox inside and leaving the top open so it could see. He put the pack back on and took Sasuke's hand again.

"Alright let's go…The Anbu you ditched probably gave a really bad report back home. No one knows we're okay."

:) So it looks like they're home safe maybe?

No cliffyhanger today, figured I'd chill out a bit. For your sakes.

But don't forget just cuz theres no cliffhanger doesn't mean there isn't an exciting chapter coming!! ;)

-Kitsune