"What were you thinking?" Sasuke growled as he turned to face Naruto. Naruto was wheezing where he lay. Usually the poison didn't affect him this much, but the large wound and the snake poison were separating his chakra's healing abilities and using the chakra on other things allowed the poison to spread even more. Tsunade was still working on his wound, but she couldn't do anything about the poison.

"I didn't want him to get away," Naruto wheezed.

"So you put yourself in danger," Sasuke growled. He could feel Sakura's chakra, along with two others, enter the field, but he didn't look at them. He was too busy examining Naruto to try to see if he could make out if the boy was okay. He couldn't tell, but that just frustrated him even more.

"I'll be fine," Naruto said as he reached out for Sasuke. Sasuke took his hand without even thinking and his whole body relaxed at the simple touch. "I'm just going to sleep for a while, and then I'll be fine." Naruto's eyes closed and his hand went slack, but Sasuke kept hold of it so that he could keep a finger over the pulse. Just to make sure that he was still alive.

Naruto woke in his hotel bed with a raging headache. He could tell that his fever was already starting to affect him because he felt dizzy and tired and hot and cold all at the same time. He groaned. He really hated being sick. It was so rare that he actually did get sick that it seemed to be that, when he actually did get sick, it was always much worse than other people's illnesses.

"How are you feeling?" Sakura asked as she removed a wet clothe from his forward and replaced it with another.

"I'm fine," Naruto groaned painfully. His throat really hurt.

"Here," Sasuke said as he pushed a glass of water in front of Naruto's face and Naruto drank it gratefully.

"Are you guys okay?" he asked.

"We're fine," Sakura assured him easily. "I wasn't even injured and Sasuke only sustained minor wounds. I've already healed him."

"Good," Naruto smiled slowly. "What about Kimimarou."

"It took a lot of convincing," Sakura said, "but I was finally able to see him. I did what I could, but I have no way of knowing if it will be enough. We're going to have to keep an eye on him for the time being."

"Okay," Naruto nodded as his eyes closed just slightly. He was really tired and he wanted to sleep off this sickness. He really hated being sick.

"Naruto," Sakura continued. "I don't think we're going to be able to keep it a secret much longer."

"Keep what a secret?" Naruto asked. He had to force his eyes open, but he could tell that this conversation was going to be important and he didn't want to miss any of it because he was half asleep.

"Us," Sakura answered.

"Us?" Naruto asked. His mind was not sticking with his brain at the moment.

"Let's talk about this later," Sasuke suggested. "Naruto needs to sleep."

"No," Naruto said. This was important. "What do you mean us?"

"Where we came from. Why we're so smart," Sakura answered. "They're starting to get suspicious."

"We can't tell them," Naruto shook his head. "We can't."

"He's right Sakura," Sasuke sighed. "If we tell them about us, they won't understand. They'll also try to pry for everything that we know about the future. If too many people know abut what is going to happen, it will all change and then we won't be able to keep track of it. We'll be working blind. Our whole reason for coming back would be invalid."

"But we've done enough already," Sakura tried. "We stopped Itachi from killing all of the Uchiha clan. We've stopped the village from being too badly damaged. We even destroyed Orochimaru and his henchman. What more is there to do?"

"Akatsuki," Naruto said shortly. He couldn't say anything more because his throat was so sore.

"But wouldn't it be better if the council knew that the Akatsuki is going to come," Sakura pressed. "They'll be ready for it."

"No," Naruto shook his head.

"If the council knows that the Akatsuki is coming, they'll be ready for the attack that we describe to them and then the attack probably wouldn't be the same," Sasuke elaborated.

"Then what do you want us to tell them?" Sakura asked. "It doesn't seem like their going to buy our story for much longer."

"We'll deal with it when it comes up," Sasuke answered. "For now, Naruto has to sleep."

Sakura looked over at Naruto to find that he was indeed sleeping. She probably shouldn't have brought it up in the first place, but she really needed to know. It had been really hard to convince Tsunade to let her anywhere near Kimimarou and the only way that she had been allowed to treat him was because she mentioned that Naruto had sent her. It seemed that Kimimarou already trusted Naruto.

"You know Sasuke," Sakura smiled sadly. "Naruto has a way of making everyone trust him immediately, but he acts like he can't trust anyone."

"He can trust us," Sasuke answered, "and that's all he needs."

"Yea," Sakura sighed, "but what if something happens and we aren't there? What will he do then?"

"Nothing will happen to Naruto," Sasuke said, "if I have anything to say about it." He leaned forward and ran his hand through Naruto's sweaty hair as a calm smile spread across his face. "I'll protect him for as long as he'll let me."

"Why do you keep saying things like that?" Sakura asked. "You make it sound like you and Naruto will be separated at some point."

"We can't be together forever," Sasuke answered as a frown replaced the fleeting smile.

"Well no," Sakura frowned too, "but you can stay together for as long as you both shall live. Naruto won't leave you if he knows that you love him."

"Sakura," Sasuke growled sternly. "I told you to stop bringing that up. I can't tell him so just leave it be."

"No," Sakura said resolutely. "I won't let the two of you go through life without being with each other. You love him. If you just tell him that, then you both will be happy. I want you to be happy."

"You don't know a thing about what's going to happen," Sasuke hissed. "You don't know a thing about us so just let it go and let us be happy as we are."

"But you aren't happy," Sakura pointed out. "You guys keep dancing around each other. You may be happy with the life that you're living now, but I want you to be as happy as I am with Ino."

"That's not going to happen Sakura," Sasuke sighed. "Just let it go."

"I don't understand you two," Sakura suddenly stood as she let her anger encompass her. "Why do you have to force yourselves to be unhappy for no reason?"

"That's right Sakura," Sasuke said tiredly. "You don't understand us so you won't know why we make the decisions that we make. We have our reasons. Please just let it go."

"I'll let it go for today," Sakura growled. She could tell that Sasuke was tired and there was no good reason to be fighting over Naruto's unconscious form. Besides, she needed to go check on Kimimarou. "I'll let it go for today, but don't think that I've dropped the subject." With that she stalked out of the room to go find her other patient.

Before she arrived at Kimimarou's room, Sakura had to stop and lean against the wall. What was she missing? Was there really a reason that Naruto and Sasuke denied themselves happiness? Or did they just think that the other didn't really like them that way? There had to be something, but why couldn't she see it? Why couldn't they just be happy?