Well, getting at least a few reviews is enough for me! It just seemed like more people were reading my story without reviewing. Feedback, feedback! I'd love to know what you think about my story, good or bad!

To be truthful, right now I think this story is a piece of crap (sigh). Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters and blah! So, nyah! You can't sue me now! (attempts to chuck demonic plushies at anyone who dares say otherwise)

Fragile Bonds

Chapter 2: Decisions

"I made a promise to her and I'm not about to break it!"

A chill ran up the raven-haired boy's spine as he remembered those words. He could still recall the mixed feelings that came with the intensity behind them. Sasuke knew what he had heard, but it seemed like there was something more… a much deeper meaning behind it. Only problem was that he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

He shrugged it off, and continued on his way to his rival's home, jumping from roof to roof. He stopped when he came to the correct apartment building, standing on the roof of another across it.

'Now which one was it…' he scanned each room and smirked as his eyes caught hold of an open window.

Sasuke made a jump to the apartment building. After a few quick hand seals, he shoved his hands in his pockets and scaled the side of the building effortlessly. He came to a stop and jumped onto the windowsill. He squatted down and peered into the room.

He raised an eyebrow and quickly flung his body backwards, barely dodging a kunai. He gathered chakra to his feet and quickly pressed them firmly across against the wall.

"Ah, Sasuke!"

He shot a glare up at the older man. "And what was the point of that? I have a feeling you knew who I was,' he scowled.

Kakashi only smiled, his eye curving in delight. The jounin backed away from the window to give the other boy room to come in. "So, why are you here? You haven't come to try and do anything to Naruto have you?" he smirked.

Sasuke frowned, ignoring the question. "I'm here because of you."

"Ah. Well, you see… that was because-"

He turned his back to Kakashi. "Don't even bother."

The silver-haired jounin grinned under his mask. 'I win.'

Another boy walked into the room, stretching out his arms. "Okay, okay. I'm ready now. You better treat me to some ramen as payment for barging into my apartment for no reason," he mumbled adjusting his sleeve. He stopped as he noticed a familiar figure standing by the window. The two gave each other piercing looks.

A sweat drop rolled down the side of Kakashi's face. "Well, since he seems to be here for the same reason, I guess I can go," he said. Neither one acknowledged him at the moment. He slumped his shoulders and brushed past Sasuke. He glanced quickly back at the two before leaving them to themselves.

"What are you doing here?!" Naruto spat.

Sasuke sighed and shoved his hands back into his pockets. "It's not like I wanted to come here, idiot," he stopped and waited for a reaction. The blond clenched his fists and was about to retort when Sasuke interrupted him. "Sakura asked me to."

This blew away whatever comeback he had in store for the Uchiha. "Sakura?"

"That's what I said, idiot. Or do I have to repeat myself?"

"Stop calling me that!" He said, growling.

"Before you try to start anything, we might want to get back to the others," he said, clearly enjoying his victory over his rival.

And for the second time that day, Naruto went into a mumbling spree.

"What's taking them so long?" Sakura whined. Even with Sasuke, they were still taking quite a while. 'Please don't tell me they got into another fight! Maybe asking him to go wasn't such a good idea,' she frowned, contemplating her decision.

Neji sighed and leaned against a tree, attempting to escape from the sun's heat. "Why don't we just do this another day? Most of us don't have any upcoming missions."

"He's right. It's already getting pretty late, Sakura," Ino rested a hand on Sakura's shoulder.

A few of the others nodded in agreement. Sakura sighed in defeat. "All right. We'll try again some other time."

Ino smiled, walking over to Shikamaru. "Will you wake up already?" No response. "Shikamaru?" No response. Her right brow twitched. She bent down and looked lovingly at her companion, leaning in close to his ear. "Shikamaru!!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

"GAH!" He looked around in shock.

'What could have made that horrible sound? It ruined his sleep!' he looked around and met the eyes of a certain blond. His lazy expression took its place on his face again.

"That explains it," he muttered to himself.

"What was that?" she said, the twitching in her right eye slowly ending.

"Nothing, nothing," he frowned.

'Arguing with her is like signing your own death warrant.'

The two got up and left, Shikamaru following Ino. One by one, the others left as well, leaving Sakura by herself.

She slumped down onto the picnic table, resting her head in her hands. "That's the last time I'm ever going to ask Kakashi for any help."

The two were arguing all the way through the streets. People threw suspicious glances their way.

"Shut up, you bastard! I shouldn't have even accepted that stupid mission!" Naruto yelled.

"Will you keep your mouth shut, you moron? Everyone's looking at us."

"Like I care! It's not like it's the first time it's happened," he hissed. Sasuke frowned and walked faster.

"Look, the faster we get there, the less time we'll be around each other," he said, trying to make a point to his seemingly uninterested companion.

The dark haired boy smiled in satisfaction in getting the other to shut up, but realized he was very wrong when he received a hard blow to the back of his head. "What was that for, you idiot?" Sasuke hissed, narrowing his eyes dangerously at Naruto.

Naruto blinked. 'W-Why did I do that?' he thought, slowly stepping away. This brought the attention of the crowd to them. People had stopped what they had been doing, silently watching the two boys. 'Why am I so angry?'

He felt like apologizing, but at the same time didn't want to allow his rival the chance to make fun of him. Instead, he decided against it completely. He expected Sasuke to just insult him by calling him 'idiot' or 'moron'.

Naruto was taken by surprise when a shocking pain shot through his jaw. He stumbled backwards gripping his jaw. The bittersweet taste of his blood was beginning to flood his mouth as it seeped through the corners of his lips. Naruto glared up at his opponent and could have sworn he saw a glimmer of guilt before his expression returned to its usual cold expression.

"You total moron," Sasuke spat, making sure that his words only reached the ears of whom it was directed to. "I don't even know why I came back here when I had to continue dealing with the likes of you!"

Naruto's eyes widened. He wanted to hiss back at him, yell at him, anything to make the other boy retaliate, but he stopped when it suddenly became hard to breathe. Those words had been painful. His eyes began to sting and he shut them tight, brushing past any body in his way.

…the less time we'll have to be around each other…

He vanished into a dead end.

Sasuke, still irritated with his 'friend's' sudden outburst, turned to follow him, ignoring all the blank looks. He wasn't there. A frown marred his fair features. He used the discarded boxes and crates to hoist himself up onto the top of the roof. He scanned his surroundings. Nothing. "Shit," his whispered to himself.

"So…incredibly…bored," Sakura was in the midst of falling off the bench. She focused all her concentration on staying awake. Well, at least what was left of it.

She could have returned home, but she waited in case the other two finally did show up. Oh, she's got a lot to show her former sensei.

'I guess I shouldn't be surprised. That guy has always been late! And those stupid excuses! The day the word 'early' and the name 'Kakashi' appear in the same sentence would be the day Hell froze over!'

And of course, that wasn't happening any time soon.

"Sakura…?"

"Eh?" she looked up, her emerald orbs meeting black ones. "Oh! Sasuke!" She blushed as she realized she forgot to add the ending to his name that she always used to. She had finally gotten comfortable enough around him to be able to refer to him simply as Sasuke. She looked around. "Where's Naruto?"

"Hn," he grunted and diverted his gaze from the pink-haired girl. "Not sure."

This time, she didn't hesitate to fall off the table. "What?! What do you mean?"

"He took off," he bluntly stated.

The second idiotic decision today. She took a few mental notes.

Don't send Sasuke to get Naruto.

Don't leave Sasuke and Naruto alone.

Don't ask Kakashi for a favor when time is involved.

She sighed. No point in asking them for anything. "It doesn't matter anyway. Our plans were cancelled," she began. "But! Since we're here, how about we go on a date!" she smiled hopefully.

"No."

Sakura hung her head low. She could have sworn a boulder had hit her square in the head. 'Why do I even try?'

The weather that night didn't betray his emotions. It was windy and it rained for hours.

Naruto was curled up in his bed, waiting for sleep to drape its veil around him so that he could finally escape reality. Sleep never found him. He groaned. "Dammit!" he punched his pillow.

He turned flat on his back and folded his arms behind his head, staring at the ceiling. He did this every once in awhile when he was in thought. At time, it would seem as though patterns and pictures would show up.

The blond squinted. A strange oval like shape formed and it seemed as though there were three tiny, curved flames around it.

No, not a flame…

He continued to stare at him when the pattern took shape. "Er…" he turned to his side. "Even the dots on the ceiling are trying to make me miserable!" he sighed, recalling the day's events.

'I wonder if anyone would miss me,' he thought.

I don't even know why I came back here when I had to continue dealing with the likes of you!

It made him shudder. He ran the words through his head over and over again until he finally came to a conclusion.

"I'm going to do it."

'What am I doing here…?' he didn't have to see the sky to be able to tell it was late. 'Now that I'm here, I might as well go through with it.'

The raven-haired chuunin cringed at the thought of the satisfaction the other boy would get from hearing his words. Sasuke took his time in making his way up the stairs to Naruto's apartment, but found himself in front of his door rather quickly.

He took a deep breath before knocking lightly on the door. He pressed an ear against the door to listen for footsteps. 'Maybe he's sleeping?' he did a mental victory dance. That way he wouldn't have to look like a fool. Then something caught his attention. He couldn't hear anything, but that was the problem.

He took hold of the doorknob and gently twisted it, surprised to find that the blond had left it open. He gently pushed it open and stepped in, quietly shutting the door behind him. He still wasn't sure if Naruto had just forgotten to lock it.

The bed was empty. Worry seeped into him. Had it been the afternoon, he couldn't have been bothered, but where the hell could he have been when it was around two in morning? Still, he wasn't full convinced that the boy wasn't in his room.

"Naruto?" he whispered. When no one answered, he raised his voice. "Naruto?"

"Maybe he's gone out for a walk," he said, trying to reassure himself that the blond still was close by, but the words sounded false even to his own ears. He didn't have to search the bare apartment to realize it.

He left.

Naruto was gone.

"He what?!" an angry woman slammed her hands down onto her desk. Had she added anymore force to it, it would have shattered under her palms.

"To put it bluntly… he left the village. He's not here."

Kakashi had tried to explain it in a way that would have been less stressful for her, but it was a worthless effort. It didn't take a genius to realize that Tsunade loved the boy. He was like a younger brother to her if not a son.

Tsunade's anger left, leaving only sorrow and worry. Even with the spell she used to make her appear as if she hadn't aged a day… at that moment, the mask did nothing to hide her true self. She fell back into her chair, balancing her head with one hand. Feeling confident that she had managed to calm down, Kakashi continued.

"Sasuke checked his apartment. It was empty save a few clothes, sheets, and food items. All personal items, had he possessed any, were gone," he said. His voice did nothing to reveal his inner turmoil. The jounin feared for his student's safety. "He and I did a quick search around the village and there wasn't any sign of him."

Tsunade shifted in her seat. "I only hope that he knows what he's doing. At this rate, he could be classified as a missing-nin. We have no idea what his intentions are," she stood up and walked towards the window in her room. The moonlight gave her skin a faint, silvery glow. "If it comes to that, I don't know if even I can do anything."

She frowned and spun around. "Kakashi! Send an ANBU team to retrieve him! Alive!" Kakashi hesitated. "Kakashi, I gave you an order. What are you doing?!"

"I'm sorry, but I know my student. I believe he knows what he's doing." She frowned.

"A bet?"

"Master that technique in one week." Naruto looked up at the woman questioningly.

"If you can do that then you have what it takes to become Hokage. And…" she reached up to touch the jewel around her neck. "This amulet will be yours."

Her gaze softened.

"But," he continued. "Whether or not that is true, I would feel better if I knew he had someone to watch over him."

She nodded in agreement. "Well, then there's only one person for that job."

Finally! I got done with the annoying past thing. I know that little scene with Naruto and Sasuke might have made you want to gag, but I needed a reason for him to leave. Review if you like it! I love hearing what people have to say about it.