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Dark Abyss: Well! The wait is over folks! (ok...folks...) I mean people! Cuz you are, right? Anywayz, here is the moment you have all been waiting for! The next chapter!

I know that you're all very eager to read it, considering I haven't written anything for months! I apologize now and hopfully you will forgive me by the end of this chapter... don't want to know what would happen if you didn't. So please my friends...read on!

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Watching Your Back

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Chapter 6 - Hello

[... Naruto's POV...]

Walking inside my house, I felt a warmth that sprung memories. I knew this place all too well. Home. Nothing is better than going home and finding it in the same condition you left it. All yours...all warm...all...homey. I chuckled to myself and took in a deep breath.

You know how every house has its own...smell? It's own atmosphere? When you walk into your place, you won't usually feel it, but when you walk in others, you can because its a completely different place. Well, I felt that now. Even though it was my home, I had not been in it for a long time. Or, so it seemed.

Sighing, I dragged my feet over to my couch and fell onto it. I immediatly felt sleepiness and wanted to drift off,but something stopped me from falling into slumber. I sat up and ruffled my blonde hair. What was stopping me from sleeping?

"Sasuke..." I whispered.

Those cold eyes...no...not really that cold.

"Sasuke..."

I felt a cold wind prick at my face. I looked towards the source. The window was opened. Sighing once more again, I stood up and walked over to the window, shutting it. Putting my hands on the sill and starring down, I yawed and slowly walked down the hall to go to my bedroom.

Entering it was the same as entering my house. The same place, but was almost new to me. Slumping forward, I felt face first onto the bed, realizing that I had crushed my nose in the most unusual and painful way.

"Mphh," I said, my mouth pushed against the matress.

I sat up and rubbed my nose. It didn't hurt as much as Sakura did. She didn't even bother to see if I was ok...only Sasuke looked like he cared...

"Damn Sasuke," I muttered. "He doesn't care."

I surprised myself by saying that...but it was true. Being all so nice and then not saying anything once we got back. Sure, Kakashi and Sakura were there, but did he have to be so...so cold?

Lying down I felt tears fighting to get out of my eyes. I wouldn't cry.

"Sasuke wouldn't cry...not over something stupid."

I felt something cold run down my cheek. A tear. Why was I so weak? Why would I fall for the one I dispised?

I closed my eyes and tried to block out the feelings. I was never like this. Where was the energetic and bouncy Naruto? Where was the one that everyone thought was annoying and a nuisance? Did he not exist anymore? Was I...gone?

Figuring out for the 100th time that I couldn't sleep, I crawled out of bed and went to the kitchen. Finding it suprisingly clean, I decided to have something to eat. After all, I didn't want to clean it first. I looked in the cuboards gloomingly and suddenly a spark ran through me.

"Ramen!! Come to papa!"

[... Sasuke's POV ...]

I arrived at Naruto's when I heard a loud yell. It came from Naruto's house. At first I thought that something was wrong, but then I listened closly.

"OooOOooh RaaAMEeen! Ramen! Go! Go! Go Ramen! Go Ramen!" (a/n: sorry, was that disturbing? Hope I didn't insult Naruto...)

I could only shake my head and smirk. If Ramen couldn't cure Naruto of his depression, I don't know what could. Well...maybe I did.

As I approached Naruto's house, I heard a sudden squeal. I whirled around, ready to attack whomever it was. But I soon calmed down when I saw a head of pink hair.

"Dear god..." I breathed. "Why me?"

Sakura came up to me and smiled. "Hi Sasukeeee!"

"..."

"Why are you going to Naruto's?"

"..."

"Why aren't you talking to me?"

"..."

"What's wrong Sasuke?"

"Nothing."

"Finally," she said. "A word. Well, you can't be ignoring me on purpose. I'm so stupid of thinking that anyway."

"You don't know how much."

"Pardon?"

"Nothing," I said turning from her. "I have to go and talk to Naruto."

I felt her hand grab my arm. I turned around in fury, but was amazed to find her glaring at me in the most...well it made me feel extremely uncomfotable.

"Why are you being such an ass Uchiha?" she raised her voice. "I know that you never really talk to me, but ditching me to see Naruto? This must be something important. Now spill!"

I looked away from her reddning face. "None of your business."

"Is that so," she said. "Whether you like it or not Sasuke I'm not only your teamate, but also your friend. So cut the crap and tell me what's wrong."

I looked at her from the corner of my eye and sighed.

"I-I am going to see him...becuase I need to talk to him about something."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I know that. But about what?"

"Well, it's-" I tried to say. "Oh, nevemind."

I turned from her and continued to walk to Naruto's door. I had almost successfully rid Sakura out of my mind when I heard her voice again. This time more calm, but it made my heart race.

"You like him, don't you Sasuke?"

I whirled around. "What would you know? And why would you dare think that?"

"I would_dare_Sasuke because, first of all, you have never paid so much attention to Naruto in your life. Secondly, you were out looking for Naruto for a long time, in which I knew that it wouldn't take you that long. And thirdly, you're blushing like mad."

I growled. "So what. Doesn't matter."

Saukra smiled. "Of course it does. You know how badly he's been treated before."

I smirked. "Yeah, treated badly by people like you."

Once again, I turned from her and made my way closer to Naruto's house, leaving Sakura. When I looked to see if she was still there, saw that she was gone. Maybe she wouldn't actually ruin anything...but she did know now about who I liked, and if that got out...

I shook my head. It didn't what people thought. I was still Uchiha Sasuke. Still the strongest Ninja and still unbeatable. Nothing would change if I told Naruto my feelings for him...well, things would either get better for me...or worse. For some odd reason, I felt cold. Perhaps I was afraid of talking to Naruto...but I couldn't be. No way could I be afraid of talking to someone.

I approached the entrance to Naruto's house and waited for a moment to catch my breath. (a/n: I am going to say that Naruto's door is an open window with a curtain covering it. I'm sorry if this is wrong...but I don't know what his door is like. Maybe someone could..tell me?) I couldn't hear any sounds anymore and if I was correct, I swear that I could hear snoring. I shook my head. He had fallen asleep already? I wasn't sure, but I decided, I would go in, invited or not. I wouldn't back away.

Pushing aside the curtain, I entered the house. It was fairly dark, the rest of the windows closed. It seemed very cosy and to my surprise, the place wasn't totally littered with items. It was pretty clean, for Naruto. I breathed in the air and smiled. Naruto's house smelled almost like him. Well, not just like him, no, he had a exotic kind of smell about him, if that were possible. I took one last deep breath and continued my way into the home. I reached a hall and turned the corner to come to a door that was slightly closed. I didn't want to disturb Naruto's privacy...actually maybe I didn't mind to, but I tried to be as quiet as possible. I heared snoring again. It was really loud snoring, it was more of loud breathing. I guess he was really tierd, maybe his body needed more oxygen, especially after all the fiasco (a/n: a word?) in the forest.

Slowly pushing the door, I peered around the corner and a large grin grew on my face. There he was. My beautiful tenshi. Lying there. All alone. His body was in the shape of a star fish, his arms and legs sprawled out to reach the corners of the bed. His mouth was open and his breathing grew louder as I tip toed closer to the bed. I was soon right above Naruto and I sighed staring at his angelic features. What a lovely creature. To bad...to bad he couldn't be mine.

"I...I wish you were mine..." I whispered.

I gently ran my fingers across his brow, careful not to wake him up. I would kiss him if I had enough courage to. I wouldn't be taking advantage of him. No, I would do it so I would feel better. Better about my feelings for him. And maybe he would wake up and see me, staring at me with his soft eyes and kiss me back.

Thinking about this, I hadn't noticed that I had actuallt leaned down to Naruto and was so close I could feel his breath on my skin. His breath smelt like Ramen. I almost chuckled an then stared deeply at him. My lips parted a little and I'm sure that if I moved one inch closer my lips would be touching his, but I pulled back and frowned. I couldn't Not when he was sleeping and not now. It didn't feel right. But how did I know what felt right?

Turning back from the sleeping angel on the bed, I began to think. How was a going to tell him? When was I going to tell him? And was I going to even tell him at all? Smaking the palm of my hand against my forehead, I growled. Unfortunatly, as soon as I made that growl, I heard a loud intake of breath. I whirled around and saw Naruto's arms stretching and eyes flickering. I dashed out of the room and hid behind the door. It was dark and I tried to be as silent as possible. I heard some creaks and a groan. He was up. Luckily, I had not been spotted. I waited patiently behind the door, and waited

waited....

waited....

waited....

God damn Naruto! How long does it take for you to get up?!

I felt relieved when I saw him walk past the door without me being noticed to his eyes. Then again, I wanted him to see me. He had to know.

Slipping past the door, I crept a good distance from him and followed him to the den where I saw him open a curtain. Outside was the setting sun. It reminded me of Naruto's glowing face. But nothing was more beautiful than that. I heard him sigh as he stared at the scenery. I never knew that naruto liked nature so much. I couldn't see his face, but I was sure he was smiling. I could tell.

"Why..."

My eyes widened. Naruto was talking to himself.

"Why am I...why do I have to be like this?"

I frowned. Seeing Naruto sad and depressed broke my heart. I didn't want him to be that way. He didn't deserve it. He had been through enough already.

"Why...does nobody seem care?" he sniffled.

I stepped forward and I wanted to reach out to Naruto and caress his cheek in my hand. I could, but...I pulled my hand away. What was I thinking? He didn't even know I was in his house. He would freak out.

My plan was to express my feelings to him tonight, but how, I wasn't sure. These were my options:

1) Tell him

2) Kiss him

3) Have a little...fun with him...

I was leaning more towards the 1st and 2nd one, although number 3 would have been my preference, I had to think of what Naruto would want, or would be comfortable with. I groaned. Now I was thinking a lot about other peoples feelings. I didn't know if Naruto had some effect on me and had made me this way, but I knew I was different.

I swallowed and ran through the ideas in my head. In the end, I knew what I was gunna do. A combonation of 1 and 2. Number 3 could be left for later...if Naruto accepted my feelings for him. Taking another step forward, I approached the sobbing Naruto. I stood right behind him, looking at him arching back. His hands were covering his face and so, I stood infront of him. He still hadn't noticed me. I snickered, wondering how a ninja, even a junior ninja, could not figure out that someone was infront of them, without having to look.

Smiling and looking down at the little peice of sunshine beneath me, I gently grabbed his wrists and pulled them from his face. He stopped sniffling and looked up at me with a red face. He didn't look startled. In fact, I think he did know that I had been in front of him.

"S-Sasuke?" he asked

I still held his wrists and smiled.

"Hello, Naruto."

Naruto looked away from me. "What do you want? Aren't you hanging out with Sakura or Kakashi?"

I smirked. "No, I'm here...so I couldn't be with them."

He glared at me. "You know what I mean..."

I let my eyes shine with confusion, "Naruto...?"

"Tsht," he said looking away again. "There you go again. Pretending you don't understand a thing."

"I don't understand-"

"Of course you do!" he bellowed.

I tried to look calm, but truth be told, I was afraid. Afraid that I had done something terrible. Especially since Naruto was acting oddily towards me. Why was he being this way?

"What's wrong?" I asked, trying to look in his eyes.

"Nothing...it's...it's just...remember...in the forest? You acted like you really cared about me...and now...now your acting like it never happened..."

I slowly brought his hands closer, "Naruto..."

"No," he said looking at me with eyes I was sure would soon be building up with tears. "I thought you really cared...I thought you cared about me...but I was wrong. Just like when I ever thought someone else did, or smiled at me when they did. no...they weren't smiling at all. They were laughing."

I suddenly pulled Naruto's wrists up to my chest forcing his body to become very close to mine. I don't know what I saw in his eyes then, but it didn't matter. He had to know. I couldn't keep it bottled up inside of me for much longer.

"Naruto," I said clearly and softly. "I do care about you...much more than you think. I didn't just go out to find you that rainy day because someone told me to, I did it because I wanted to. And I didn't keep you warm that night because I thought Kakashi would kill me if you died, I did it because I wanted you to be safe. Everything that happened Naruto, was real. And my feelings for you are real too. Naruto...I love you."

I leaned down and gently placed my lips on his. I poured all my emotion into that kiss and put some preasure into it, making sure Naruto knew that I really ment what I was doing. It felt like forever, or I wish it could last forever. I slowly pulled back and looked into his shimmering eyes one more time before I disappeared, racing towards the sunset.

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OMG, what's gunna happen next?! Well, that's for me to know and you to find out. I hope that his chapter wasn't rushed. I tried to get it done soon as possible so I wouldn't lose my head by angry fans. So, I'm glad I can write and I hope my fans are glad I continued. Oh yah, I forgot to wish everyone a Merry Christmas...but since the holidays are still on...Happy Holidays! I'll be working on the next chapter straight away! Thanks for reading! ^___^