I actually have a good excuse for taking so long. I couldn't get past the first scene… my brain didn't like the direction I was heading in, so it stopped functioning until I changed it to what you will read below. Mostly it was pertaining to the whole sex scene the night before…
I apologize for taking nearly two months to finish, but I should be over my writer's block, and ready to get back to work!
Thanks to my editor Mi-kun for helping me with the little details… yes, I like my commas.
Chapter Title: 58. Morning of Nightmares
The light filtered through the room, contrasting vividly with the horrors that were still occurring under the sun's bright happy rays. Naruto shifted in his bed, sighing when the warmth suddenly left his shoulder, the sheets being pulled away from him. He grumbled a little, sleep still muddling his brain, and tried to pull the sheets back in place but was met with resistance. He shifted again, trying to regain the lost warmth and failing horribly, but froze when he saw the person who had been hogging the sheets.
At first he frowned, wondering why Sasuke was still clutching the comforter deep in sleep, when he was bombarded with the remembrance of why Sasuke was there in the first place. He flinched, as though burned, and nearly fell out of the bed in his rush to distance himself from what had happened.
"Sasuke…" He whispered, horrified. Then something stirred in the pit of his stomach and he raced to the bathroom, just barely making it to the toilet in time for a rush of bile to rise from his throat. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly, wishing away the pain, and tried to ignore the taste of the fluid as is flowed out of his mouth. He sat on the floor for a good couple of minutes until he could get control of himself long enough to end the dry heaving as his stomach had long been empty.
Finally catching his breath, He pushed away from the toilet bowl and pounded his fist on the ceramic tiles of his floor, not caring that he was close to breaking bones. He needed to let out his pain in the only way he could feel safe about.
He bit his lip to keep from crying out at the pain, before standing up at last and leaving the bathroom. He stumbled, at first, his legs still wobbly from the combination of being sick physically and emotionally, but managed to make his way to the clean, white door of the room he always kept locked.
Placing a palm on the plain surface, he scrunched up his face, waiting until the wave of guilt had passed over him once more. He was no stranger to it, survivor's guilt, as he felt it daily, but usually he at least had some distance between those he felt remorse for and himself, but this was for someone he felt he could call an older brother, and the pain the hole left was almost unbearable. He opened his eyes and stared at the door again, eyes drawn to a corner where the white paint had slowly began to chip away and raised a finger to flick at the pieces that were about to fall off. Instead of tracing the edges like he thought his finger was going to do, he watched as the digit began tracing the characters of his former teacher's name.
He sniffled again, holding back the tears, but his body crumpled to the floor, chest still pressed up against the wood of the door as his body was wracked with dry, silent sobs.
(Star)(Star)(Star)
Sasuke had woken up when the bed had shaken with Naruto's disappearance, and almost instantly the cold had settled in, but he stayed under the covers for a few moments longer, allowing his friend the time to collect himself.
Still opting to give Naruto a few more minutes to himself, he pushed back the covers and swung his legs over the side of the bed and got up. He turned back and stared aimlessly at the empty bed, still tousled, wondering about the implications of what had occurred the previous night. He figured that if they were getting all of their firsts out of the way, it was only right for that first to be with Naruto as well, but something about it felt wrong. He didn't regret what he'd done, but there was something still bothering him about what had been done. Maybe Naruto had been right about him taking advantage of the blonde in his misery, but he couldn't think of any other way to be useful in such a tender situation.
Shrugging it off for the time being, he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and began his morning ritual of making the bed and tidying up the clothes that had been discarded on the floor the night before. He continued like this for a few minutes before he heard Naruto's sobs coming from the other room. He dropped the clothing into a pile on the bed and left the room, quickly and quietly, just like his training had ingrained in him.
"Naruto?" He asked, softly, when he came across the boy lying on the floor. He eyed the door cautiously, noting the way one of the young man's hands clutched the door handle tightly. When there was no reply he tried again, a little bit louder. This time he saw the reaction, more than heard it. The soft murmur of sobbing was beginning to fade, but the muscles of Naruto's bare back became incredibly tense. He didn't say anything more as his rival turned his head, letting go of the handle to rub his eyes a bit.
"Sasuke, you're still here." He muttered lifelessly. Sasuke frowned and nodded, crouching down so he was eye level with his friend.
"Of course."
"You should leave." Naruto exclaimed, turning his head to the side. He flinched when Sasuke raised his hand to the blonde's cheek and the older man hesitated before opting to lower his hand. Naruto continued. "There are people who depend on you and your skills to keep them alive. The war isn't going to wait for you."
Sasuke frowned at Naruto's confusing behaviour, but made no attempt to leave, not even when his friend pulled himself back up and began walking towards his bedroom.
"We can get dressed and go back to the front lines together." He said, following Naruto into the room. He grabbed Naruto's arm to stop him. "We're not alone."
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Naruto growled, ripping his arm from the Uchiha's grasp. "People are dying right as we stand here doing nothing."
"You can't seriously be thinking of going back there."
"Why the fuck not?"
"You're too emotional to be going into battle." Naruto narrowed his eyes, taking a step closer to his rival.
"I know how to keep my head." He snarled, his behaviour taking Sasuke completely off guard.
"Like hell you do." Sasuke gave a mock laugh. "Just seconds ago I found you lying at the door of a room that you refuse to show me, sobbing. What's in there? Why are there so many secrets in your life?" Naruto faltered in his anger, a blank expression crossing his features before he frowned in contemplation. "Why do I feel like I don't even know who you are?"
"I just need my privacy." Naruto retorted, keeping the slight edge in his voice.
"Your entire life is hidden from the world!" Sasuke shot back, gaining enough momentum to confront his friend on one of these same secrets. "What about the vest? When are you going to tell me how you got it? I know it's not Iruka's. You lied to me. It's just a vest, why the fuck do you lie to me about a damn vest?!"
"Why don't you mind your own goddamn business? Just because I lost someone, doesn't mean I'm suddenly going to break and confess all my sins to you." He made to run from the room, but was stopped quickly by Sasuke's hand on his wrist again.
"Why do you have to hide everything?"
"You assume I've got things to hide." Sasuke sighed and pointed to the room behind them.
"That room, the vest, and I know there's hundreds of other things." Sasuke said. "Stop lying!!" He shouted, shoving Naruto backwards into a wall. The blonde winced at the sudden flurry of pain.
"I go into that room every day and kill myself, happy?" Naruto exclaimed with a smirk. "The vest was given to me because I took it up the ass from Orochimaru, and you want to know what else? I slit my wrists because there aren't enough bad guys to kill to fill my daily blood quota."
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, you didn't know my demon is bloodthirsty like Gaara's?" Sasuke frowned, ignoring the sarcasm. He could tell when Naruto was being obviously belligerent.
"No, about the vest." Sasuke replied. "I know when you're lying and when you aren't, no matter how fast you talk. You got it because of that?"
"No, I already told you, Iruka gave it to me." Sasuke yelled something that Naruto didn't catch and his Sharingan eyes began to spin slowly, showing the progression of his anger. He slammed his friend into the wall again and narrowed his eyes in a glare.
"Usotsuki!!!"
"How the hell would you know if I'm lying unless you were there?! What would you do about it anyways? Orochimaru is dead. The vest is mine, even though it's the most horrifying thing I own."
"How?"
"I got it because that snake raped me. I 'took one for the team', and that's Tsunade's way of repaying me. Do you really think I want something that reminds me everyday of the reason for which I earned it? I would rather suck face with Jiraiya's wrinkled ass than own something like that. And then she lies by saying other people would be getting promotions, but they happened so slowly, and you guys were never moved to chuunin, and I couldn't bear to have the world know what a whore Uzumaki Naruto really is. He slept with the enemy to move up the hierarchal food chain." Naruto sighed, suddenly looking very tired. "You should leave."
"I don't think you're a whore." Naruto looked up at his friend and laughed viciously.
"How could you say that?! Or did last night entirely slip your mind?"
"What?" Naruto shook his head, quelling his anger slightly and shoved Sasuke away. He went into his room and picked up the man's clothing, shoving them into his open arms.
"This needs to end." He sighed, pushing Sasuke backwards again. "We can't keep doing this." Sasuke looked confused, but Naruto wasn't in the mood for anything. "Don't play dumb! Do you know how cheap this is? How wrong?! You're just using me for the sex, and I'm using you as a throwback to solve all of my problems."
"It's not like that at all, Naruto." But Naruto had finally cleared his head long enough to become set in his convictions.
"It's exactly like that. What kind of person am I if I keep coming to you when something goes wrong? I need to stop this now. I need to stop being weak. I need to learn to walk on my own two feet because eventually there won't be anyone left to carry me."
"Why don't you stop with the self-pitying angst, dobe? I'm not going anywhere." Sasuke crossed his arms, planting his feet firmly on the ground, remaining stubborn until the end. He wasn't about to let Naruto just push him out of his life. It would take a great deal more to make that happen. Of course, when Naruto's entire posture shifted lower and a feral growl slipped past his curled lips, he wondered fleetingly if he's maybe been wrong.
Within seconds, Naruto was on him, clothes scattered to the floor, forgotten, while teeth and nails were sent hurtling towards him in a fury that was almost missed by the Sharingan user, even with his unique eyes. If he could have stopped the assault, he would have asked what Naruto's problem was, but they'd finally reached a point where actions spoke louder than words, and Sasuke was finally going to meet the new Naruto.
Since the time Naruto had returned from his out of-body experience, the older of the two had never actually seen Naruto in a real fight. Sure, they'd sparred a number of times, but it had never been serious, and had never warranted for Naruto to show the other side of him; the side that was fused permanently with the demon that had lived inside of him for so long.
Sasuke stumbled backwards, startled, and tried to get away or fight back, but he had no weapons and he was only wearing a pair of boxers, leaving the skin on his arms back and chest open for an attack. He let out a puff of breath when one of Naruto's clawed hands left a set of scratches down his front, but he didn't run. Instead, he used his speed and size to his advantage and tackled Naruto to the ground, pinning both arms to his sides to avoid any more injuries. Already Naruto had drawn more blood from Sasuke in a matter of seconds than any other enemy in their entire lifetimes.
"I'll go, if that's what you really want." Sasuke whispered into Naruto's ear, his chin resting on the blonde's shoulder. Both of their bodies were heaving from exertion, and being so close to Naruto, Sasuke could distinctly hear the fast-paced pounding of his friend's heart. It was a few seconds before Naruto was calm enough to respond.
"I want." He hissed, as though he was in pain. He relaxed in Sasuke's grip, and when the older man's grip loosened, he freed his hands and enveloped the Uchiha in a tight hug, which was returned in earnest. "I will not sacrifice our friendship for anything in the world, including sex." Sasuke nodded into his shoulder before slowly letting go and standing up, away from Naruto. He smiled softly, understanding that this was probably something he should have done sooner, before he hurt the man he considered his best friend. He quickly collected his clothes and bent down, wincing slightly as his new wounds moved against each other, to give Naruto a quick peck on the cheek.
"I would never do anything to break your trust in me, so I'll go." And with that he left the small apartment, and Naruto, who was still sitting on the floor, staring at the floor and walls, which were no longer the white they had been, but dripping blood red. He sighed softly, none of the pain he'd just caused setting in too well.
"Will our relationship always be filled with so much blood?" Naruto whispered, rubbing away old tears and didn't notice when a small trickle of blood slid down his cheek instead.
(Star)(Star)(Star)
For anyone who looked hard enough, Kakashi could be found sitting in silent solitude on a tree branch overlooking a small pond. If he looked over his arm, he could clearly see his reflection, which was why he'd chosen that particular spot. He stared at his mirror image, tracing the edges of his scar with his eyes.
Uchiha Obito probably wouldn't be too pleased with him. He might have promised never to sacrifice his comrades for the sake of the mission, but he'd never said anything about possible love interests, though Umino Iruka was no longer an interest but a moment that came and went while he wasn't looking.
Kakashi cursed at himself and looked away from the water. He was upset with himself for many reasons, but the main one was that he still followed the thinking he had when he was younger and Obito was still alive, the only difference was instead of sacrificing his comrades' lives, Kakashi had sacrificed his own life. Every night he had gone to sleep telling himself he was doing the right thing, protecting Iruka and himself by denying what they possibly could have had, and every night he had nightmares of this very thing. Half of him was even debating whether or no this could be another dream, but in those he never felt the loss as strongly as he was while he mourned in the trees.
He had tried to pretend it hadn't happened, but eventually the truth sunk in. He then put himself into holding back the enemy until that was taken care of and the gates secured for the night. He tried to take his mind off the thought by focusing his energy on training, reading and other things he used to do, but he kept catching glimpses of a chuunin vest or a brown ponytail out of the corner of his eye, until he finally couldn't stand to be near the village any longer.
He sighed and leaned his head on the bark of the tree trunk, closing his eyes languidly. He was almost surprised that he had yet to feel the real pain and tears that he knew was supposed to come with mourning, but he felt nothing but the hollowness inside his ribs that threatened to take his breath away, but left the rest of his body numb. In some ways, Kakashi thought, it served him right. It was that higher power's way of saying, 'you snooze you lose'. He'd had so many opportunities to enjoy the short life that came with being a shinobi, and he'd blown every single one of his chances, despite Iruka's warnings.
'One day, you'll find that I have gone.' He had said. Later, when he had recognised the words as from a song, he had found it amusing.
"For tomorrow may rain, so I'll follow the sun." Kakashi finished softly. It seemed that everyone knew that Kakashi's time with Iruka was limited except him. He closed his eyes again, as a whisper of wind blew through the leaves, causing the shadows on his face to dance wildly before settling down again.
He knew that he would have to return to the battle field again, kill more shinobi that threatened his country, and otherwise get on with his life, but for that brief moment he wanted to believe he was eight years old again, listening to Obito crow on about friendship and that anyone who didn't care about their comrades were worse than those that broke the rules. He wanted to hear Obito tell him that it was okay to be proud in his father, that it was okay to have a life outside of his job, and that it was okay to miss his best friend.
He knew what Obito would tell him with his overly loud, but ever-confident voice.
"Kakashi, you're only human." But life wasn't fair and now Uchiha Obito was nothing more than a name on a stone, a memory and one Sharingan eye.
Kakashi jumped down from the tree, giving the pond one last glance before he headed back to the village where the sounds of battle were beginning to float through the air again.
"Someday you'll know I was the one," Kakashi sang to himself. "But tomorrow may rain, so I'll follow the sun…"
(Star)(Star)(Star)
"Where's Kakashi? Where's Naruto?" Tsunade asked, looking through the crowd of ninja that had assembled before her in the place that the funeral for the Third Hokage had been held. Jiraiya shrugged, looking for the pair himself. Neither could see them anywhere.
"Who knows, but they'll be here. They would never let Konohagakure down."
"That's not what I'm worried about." Tsunade shook her head, tightening her grip on a scroll she was going to read out loud to the people. "It's them I'm worried about. They suffered a huge loss."
"They'll survive it, don't worry so much." Jiraiya nodded to the far edge of the crowd where Naruto had just shown up, wearing his usual clothing, but staying far away from the crowd. Tsunade sighed, but didn't say anything more, wondering if was okay to just survive.
"There's been word of a large scale strike within the next twenty-four hours." She exclaimed to the crowd, which instantly quieted at the sound of her voice. "At the moment there are still battles being fought on the outskirts of the village, but we've already lost a number of our shinobi, your friends." She hesitated when she saw Sasuke moving to leave, but continued when she realised he was only moving closer to his friend. "Sunagakure is looking to occupy this village and kill the Hokage, while their allies are looking for something else." Her gaze rested on Naruto for a few moments before continuing on over the entire crowd. "Uchiha Itachi, I have been informed, is among the allies. Along with Gaara of the dessert, Temari and their brother, Sunagakure's new kage, Kankuro, these are shinobi to be careful of. Sand is also harbouring all of the former residents of the Sound village. Please be careful."
Naruto, who had been watching Sasuke out of the corner of his eye, was the only one to notice when Sasuke's eyes began to spin slowly at the mention of his brother. He knew the man was thinking about his own faults and decided to stop these thoughts before they spread like a disease. He stepped a bit closer to his friend and linked their pinkies in a promise.
Sasuke was startled from his thoughts and turned to the blonde, but nodded in understanding. He gave the pinkie a squeeze before they both dropped their hands to the side. It was an unspoken promise, one that they both understood, but if asked about, would never be able to explain in words.
Within seconds, Tsunade was shouting out orders, and chaos ensued, separating the friends, if only for a while. Naruto moved his battles outside of the main village, hoping to be able to stop as many of the enemy ninja before they could make it in too far.
As he was jumping through the trees, two sound jounin and a chuunin kunoichi on his tail, he spotted glimpses of Kakashi, who was fighting like there was no tomorrow. He paused for a second to marvel at the skills his former teacher was showing, but couldn't stare too long as he was completely surrounded by the enemy. What he had noticed, though, was that Kakashi was leaving a trail of dead or severely injured ninjas in his wake. None were leaving him unscarred, which was something Naruto had to make sure as well.
He steadied himself on the branch and quickly sized up the enemy, before they tackled him. He quickly launched a few clones at the men and hurled himself at the female's gut, hoping to take her by surprise, but they were all ready for his tricks.
"Three on one is hardly fair." Naruto whined. "I'm just a genin!" The girl laughed, throwing a couple of shuriken at the young man in front of her. They appeared to all be about Naruto's age, too.
"We've heard about you, Uzumaki Naruto." One of the jounin spoke up, explaining the girl's mocking laughter. "Uchiha-sama wanted you specially delivered to him." Naruto narrowed his eyes at this, and gathered his chakra to his feet, racing away from the ninja, straight up into the canopy of the trees. He used his chakra to keep steady on the smaller branches and began to run, hoping to find Sasuke along the way.
On the one hand, he knew that now that he'd been spotted and named, he would need the extra help in order to get rid of the enemies on his tail, but he had a feeling that Sasuke had somehow managed to find himself in just as much trouble Naruto was about to be in the second he was caught and he wasn't one to leave his friends when they needed help. Especially not after the look he'd seen in his rival's eyes at the mention of his older brother.
Something about that look just spoke volumes about the first thing the younger Uchiha would do when they had been dismissed. It would take a brain-dead rock to not realise he would go after his brother first and foremost, above all other enemies, and Naruto knew that if the two remaining Uchihas found one another, Sasuke wouldn't allow the battle to end until one of them was incapable of ever raising another weapon.
It took a few minutes, but finally Naruto had managed to shake the pursuing ninjas off of his trail, and pick up on Sasuke's. He followed the trail of writhing bodies, caught in the way of either brother's mind-blowing eyesight. He just hoped that he could get to Sasuke's side before things progressed past the point of no return. He landed on the rooftop across from the one he'd spotted Itachi and Sasuke fighting atop, Sasuke panting for breath, while the older, more experienced stood off to the side, looking indifferent. Nearly the entire stone floor of the top of the building had been torn up by Sasuke's devastating Chidori attack.
On the other hand, Naruto was the farthest thing from Sasuke's mind. The Sharingan wheel in his eyes was spinning at a blinding speed, and the curse seal on his neck throbbed, despite Orochimaru being long since dead. His own anger had activated it again. He spat to the side, his saliva tinted red with blood.
He lunged forward again, not taking into account that his brother didn't even seem fazed by his continuous attacks. He slipped a kunai between his teeth and shot his fists forward at speeds that even Rock Lee would be jealous of, but still Itachi was able to avoid injury by dodging lazily. He growled when none of his attacks were landing and jerked his neck, snapping his face to the side, and let fly the kunai from his mouth, an exploding scroll attached to its handle. The blade scraped past his brother, exploding the second it touched the man's creamy skin, but all the damage hit one of Itachi's exploding clones, missing the real thing.
Sasuke whirled around, wondering where the puppet master could be, but seeing no one but Naruto. He hissed, clutching his chest, where Itachi had gotten in a few hits, and walked over to the blonde, who had watched the entire thing.
"Where did he go, dobe?" He demanded, none of his earlier tenderness in his voice, sending chills down Naruto's spine with its iciness.
"I don't know. I didn't see him." Sasuke didn't seem to accept his answer, and reached out to shake his friend into revealing the answer, when a voice behind him halted his advances.
"It's not nice to treat your lover like that, little brother." Both young men whirled around to see the real Itachi smirking at them from the ledge of the roof. Before his presence had even settled in Naruto's mind, Sasuke was already charging forward to attack, the man he called his brother.
He quickly found his arm twisted around and his back pulled flush against Itachi's body.
"Trying to show off for the demon?" He whispered mockingly into his brother's ear, only succeeding in fuelling the fire that burned in Sasuke's eyes. Naruto had thought Sasuke had reached his peak limit for rage, but was sadly mistaken when his rival just kept getting angrier and angrier, rage blocking out all other thoughts save the one to kill the man haunting his life. "Do you really think this is your best, Sasuke?"
"Don't you dare speak my name with such familiarity." Sasuke hissed, and continued to struggle within the Akatsuki leader's unyielding grasp. "You won't leave here alive."
"You aren't even strong enough to break free of my arms. How could you possibly be strong enough to defeat Akatsuki?"
"My enemy is you, bastard."
"On the contrary, you know very little about the truth of the matter." Itachi shook his head in disappointment at his sibling's foolishness. "I was never your true enemy. It's the rest of the world who is after you and the secrets hidden in your blood. I'm just one of the levels you need to pass in order to be able to face those demons."
"You killed mom and dad, for that you have to die." Itachi nodded and released the younger man.
"For that, I know I will. You will make sure of that, if you can ever achieve the power that you were destined to possess. But you are nothing but a child compared to me. How do you expect to continue living if I could easily snap your neck right here?"
"You can't kill someone who's already dead. You killed me when you killed the clan." He growled and lunged forward, eyes blazing red and body becoming stained with the tendrils of the curse seal as it took over and flourished in his rage.
"Sasuke, you need to stop. If you push yourself farther than you are capable, you will kill yourself before I can even lay a finger on you." Sasuke ignored the warning, and continued to fight, both Uchiha brothers ignoring Naruto's presence, as he watched the battle from the sidelines.
"The only one who will die is you!!!" Sasuke screamed, not noticing that his rage and lust for power were hurting him more than they were helping him, the curse depleting his chakra reserves considerably in a matter of seconds.
"You're too weak, stop this now!" Itachi yelled back, frowning at his younger brother. "You're only hurting yourself!" Sasuke let out a bark of a laugh.
"And give up? I don't think so. I've pledged my life to this, and I'm willing to sacrifice all to see it through to the end." Itachi cursed under his breath and closed his eyes for a moment, forced to use his last resort.
"Mangekyou Sharingan!" He called, activating his bloodline limit and sending his brother into another world of pain and torture, but no matter how torturous the effects of his Sharingan, he realised that Sasuke wouldn't give up as easily as that, and was struggling to fight this attack off, despite the possible damage to his mind the struggle would leave behind.
"Sasuke!" Naruto screamed, running forward. Itachi looked up and shook his head.
"Stop him, Uzumaki!" He demanded, stepping backwards from the monster he'd created. "He'll never be able to give me a real challenge if he dies here. I'll come back when he's ready to show me the true strength of the Uchiha lineage." And he disappeared before Naruto had gotten much closer to his friend, who was suffering under so much pain.
The blonde ran forward, arms outstretched to try and cool down his friend's anger, but he froze when he saw Sasuke turn around, red eyes still blazing, curse seal covering so much skin that the pale parts were starting to look like the curse, instead of the other way around. It wasn't what Sasuke looked like that caused Naruto to falter in his attempt to help his rival, but the way he looked at Naruto. There was no longer any distinction between friend and enemy, and the Sharingan had bled through his eyes, the whites no longer white, as rage flooded his system with adrenalin.
"Sasuke…" He whispered hesitantly, hoping that maybe his voice would get through, but it just bounced off the enraged man, who was looking at him as though he were the man who had murdered his family.
"Naruto…" He hissed, long bangs covering his face in shadows. The blonde took in a shuddering breath and had trouble swallowing. "Bastard child… demon fox… you've hurt me, you've hurt everyone. I will make you pay for that… I will kill you."
(End of Chapter)
Okay… in case there are those of you who found that last scene familiar… go read the second last scene in chapter 6. To those of you who are lazy like me, wait till the next chapter and I'll explain it.
To QianYun: Thank you for the kind words. I never really liked reading fight scenes that were all about the physical stuff, mostly cause it was always so hard for me to keep up with all the legs and hands. And no… I don't plan on bringing Iruka back… he'll be mentioned a lot, but I'm not into bringing back the dead… it just doesn't work that way.
To Kali Swifteye: Yeah, I know to some it may be getting redundant, but to tell you the truth, real life is a lot like that. It takes a long time before all the kinks are worked out of any relationship… no promises, but maybe this will be the last one.
To Akutenshi: Yeah, a lot of people were bothered by the fact that Tsunade promised him he wasn't the only one getting a vest… I hope I explained it enough.
To Aisha: No lemon… it seemed too cliché to write about what was happening during closed doors. If I had written it, it would have felt like just another sex scene to me… and I didn't want to lose it.
To Kiiroyuri: In a way, it is because Sasuke was helped by Naruto… but it also goes a little more deeper than just that. And Sasuke found out when he went to the hospital to follow Naruto. About the whole Naruto rejecting Tsunade's understanding… he knows about her brother, but he also knows she had the rest of the village, including Jiraiya, to support her… he believes he has no one.
To Ru Shin: No, the part where the room is going to be revealed is actually planned out in its entirety, but this chapter gave a lot more hints.
To KageJutsu: Yeah, I didn't agree with the love scene at the end either. It just bothered me so much that I ended up taking some of it back. It just kept eating at me that it wasn't a real love scene, but Sasuke taking advantage of Naruto in his current state of mind, so I fixed it.
To Ruby Love: On your review of chapter 17… it took me a few minutes to go through the whole thing again… and I found the place where it said twelve-year-old… and I thought you were right… until I reread the whole paragraph… it was actually talking about when Naruto was twelve and brought Sasuke back to the village, not at that particular point in the story. Sorry if that was confusing.
Oh, and the song Kakashi was singing is "Follow the Sun" by the Beatles. Iruka said the same lines in a chapter with the same name.