Yet another confrontation between Naruto and Sasuke after a bit of nostalgia. Yeah, I miss them as a couple, too.

aura-chan the neko-jin – We'll have to see what happens. ;)

kawaii kitsune-kun – Yeah, Naruto and Sasuke are still at it with arguing. Naruto doesn't think the breakup is fair, and Sasuke is going to explain just why he did it in this chapter. That's the main reason for their argument I guess in this chapter. And I have no clue what to do with Gaara. For once, I do have some idea of where I'm going with the story, but Gaara's getting in the way of that. --; I'll figure something out.

sux – Hahahahahahahaha! Lol, that made my day. Next time you flame, be a little more creative. And if you don't like the fic, well, no one is forcing you to read it. :P

sinn - I'm glad you like it. And thanks, I'll need luck to try and pull this story together... flailing with conflicting ideas

Chapter 16: Things Better Left Alone

Good, another mob of girls avoided. Sasuke really didn't want to run into his date—he couldn't even remember her name anymore—or he'd never be able to loose her. He was held up a few times as he was constantly pulled to the side by his superiors and shown off. This is why he hated parties so much.

"Yes, this is Uchiha Sasuke…star student…incredible abilities…great potential…rather unfortunate what happened…shows great promise…" And so the talk would continue until he could politely pry himself away, only to be pulled in by another.

Sasuke wove in and out of people, keeping his eye on the clock. He wondered when would be the earliest he could politely depart. His cheeks were feeling rather strained from his fake smiles.

"And I do hope you're not causing trouble," came a voice.

Sasuke looked over to see Naruto scowling up at sensei. "For the last time, no."

Sensei smiled and scruffed his hair. "That's good." With that, he headed off to talk to one of the other adults.

The black-haired nin was about to slip stealthily back into the crowd, but it was too late. Naruto had spotted him, and was heading over. Sasuke watched him near with a mix of dread and longing. The pang in his chest was back, and he used the excuse of having drunk too much punch.

The two stood face to face in silence for a while.

"Goddamn it," Naruto finally said, scowling and looking down, "I can't get sensei to stop hounding me. He keeps thinking I have some elaborate plot to ruin this stupid gathering."

Sasuke couldn't help but smirk and Naruto's comical face. "You don't do you?"

Naruto's head snapped up and he glared. "For your information, I don't."

The blonde's rival chuckled and scanned his eyes lazily over the crowd, keeping his eye out for any dangerous swarms of females.

"I remember the last time they had something like this. We had broken into the liquor cabinet on a dare—"

"Your idea," Sasuke corrected.

"—and put some of it in the punch after snatching the snacks that had been made beforehand. Then we hid under the speech-giving stage eating snacks and drinking the expensive wine we had taken."

Sasuke smiled at the memory, his first real one of the night. "Yeah, that was fun. Then you had to ruin it by letting out that massive belch during the Hokage's opening speech."

"And you got out of it by slipping out the back way of the stage and pretending you were behind there helping with the wiring, while I took full blame!"

"Well, it was your idea in the first place. Besides, I'm an Uchiha. They couldn't be allowed to find out or it would completely spoil my perfect record."

Naruto settled for sticking out his tongue.

Sasuke chuckled. Naruto could be so immature sometimes. Just then, he saw his date approaching from over the blonde's shoulder. She hadn't seen him yet, but if he didn't move fast, she would. "I've got to get out of here," he hissed quickly to Naruto, before worming his way as fast as he could through the crowd. He could hear the fox-child's feet padding along behind him.

He found a nice secluded area outside and gave out a sigh of relief. He had escaped once again.

"What was that all about?" Naruto questioned, looking behind him at the crowd a little ways off.

"Date evasion," Sasuke explained.

Naruto looked down.

"What's with the face? I never evaded you when we were dating."

"Yeah, but you never publicly announced I was your date either. If it was a formal gathering like this, you hooked up with some girl that we ended up running from for the rest of the night."

"It's too troublesome to turn them all down," Sasuke stated.

The blonde made a face. "You sound like Shikamaru."

"Look," said Sasuke, running his fingers through his own hair, "did you want me to publicly announce that you were my date to the entire crowd?"

"I guess not," admitted Naruto.

"Then what's your problem? Anyway, we don't have to worry about that anymore…" Sasuke trailed off, all too aware of the pain in his chest intensifying.

There was a moment of silence before Naruto spoke again.

"Sasuke…why did you break up with me?"

The dark-eyed boy looked away and instead focused on the grass off to his side.

"Sasuke."

Naruto's voice was pleading again, and Sasuke couldn't say that it didn't penetrate his cold exterior even a little.

"What did I do wrong?"

Sasuke winced and looked up at Naruto. "You did nothing wrong. And even if you did, for every wrong of yours I was doubly as guilty."

"Then why?"

Sasuke knew the answer. He had known for quite some time, yet he refused to recognize it. There was no way he could word it to make it easier for his ex, so he just got to the point. "Neji."

"What?" Naruto looked slightly surprised. "But I said I'd forgive you for that one night. It wasn't enough for me to want to loose you. Besides, you only did it to make me jealous and get me back."

Sasuke sighed and looked at the blonde before him. He thought he heard a rustling in the bushes, but dismissed it for the cold wind that suddenly blew around them. "Then what would be my excuse the next time it happened?"

"What?" Naruto said, dumbstruck.

Things were not going to be easy. Sasuke shut his eyes. "I didn't want to hurt you any more than I had already done. I admit to using Neji to get you back, but that's not the only reason I did it. It worked actually very well and doubled as an excuse I suppose."

"An excuse for what?" Naruto's voice trembled, and he felt he didn't want to know the answer.

The dark-haired nin opened his eyes. "I was partially attracted to Neji, and that feeling only grew after the night I spent with him. I got to be close to him and touch him, and I liked it."

Naruto's face was a mix of shock and anger touched with a hint of betrayal. "And what about me?"

Sasuke found his voice shaking against his will. "I loved you. I loved being with you. Don't think you didn't mean anything. Because you did, I had to break up with you."

"What the fuck is that for an excuse!" Naruto suddenly snapped. "You loved me so you broke up with me! Am I hearing right, Uchiha?"

"Look, Naruto, if I didn't care, I would go ahead and see Neji behind your back while still having the perks of being with you." It was an awful thing to say, and Sasuke was sickened with himself for knowing that it was true.

Naruto wiped his eyes angrily. "So you broke up with me because of Neji?"

"No, because I didn't want you to get hurt!"

"That's BS Uchiha!" Naruto screamed.

Sasuke darted his eyes to the crowd, speaking in a dead even tone. "Keep your voice down, Naruto. Do you want the whole party to hear us?"

"Who gives a fuck?" Naruto snarled, but lowered his voice anyway. "How long has this crush been going on? When did you start planning your backup plan when we fell through?"

"I don't know," admitted Sasuke, "but it wasn't long ago. Believe me Naruto! It only really started to grow after that one night."

Naruto scoffed. "Goddamn Neji ruined everything, and you did too, Uchiha. You didn't even come to talk to me about it."

"What the hell was I supposed to say? I didn't want to loose you."

"I believe it was you who broke up with me."

"I know Naruto, I know! I just couldn't deal with the guilt anymore."

"We could've found a way to deal with it. But I guess breaking up with me was the easy pathway to get to that goddamn Hyuuga! If it wasn't for him then you'd still be with me!"

Sasuke saw a movement off in behind the bushes and just saw the end of a ponytail disappearing off into the trees as it started to rain.

"Neji!" he cried out, running in the direction the Hyuuga had bolted.

Naruto watched his ex disappear into the woods in pursuit of the nin. He should've known Sasuke would go after him. After all, that was whom Sasuke wanted. He had made that painfully clear to the blonde. Naruto cursed the weather and cursed his former lover. Was he destined to always be rejected, shunned, and put out as an outcast? It was like it was all a cruel conspiracy, and everyone was against him, even Sasuke. Naruto headed back to his house to get out of the rain. It wasn't like the black-haired nin would return to him. There was no reason to stand there and get needlessly wet.

Um, yeah, my guilt levels for Naruto are over the roof right now. Things will brighten up for him soon…I hope.