Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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What the hell is wrong with you? Sasuke sat on his floor, mentally beating himself up. He wasn't sure how much time had passed since Kiba had left. Watching the Inuzuka walk out and hearing him cry had almost been too much for Sasuke to bear, and he had borne a lot in his years. He was fucking it all up, everything. Sasuke could hear his brother laughing at the whole situation, mocking him for caring so much for the other boy. He could hear Itachi shaming him for being turned on by Kiba.

And what the hell was that? Do you suddenly like boys now? Kiba would think you were disgusting, you pervert. These thoughts articulated what Sasuke feared…that Kiba would think he was disgusting. Now, not only did he put his friend's life in danger by caring so much about him, but his friend would be revolted if he knew the truth. Sasuke wasn't really sure what the truth was because these feelings and thoughts were so new. He had grown up with boys around him his entire life and not once before had any of them turned him on. Like any other guy, Sasuke could tell when a fellow male was decent looking (or in Kiba's case, incredibly hot), but none of them turned him on. None of them ever made me hard-- but Kiba had.

Of course, thinking about him made him realize that no girls had ever turned him on, either. Sakura, the other girls, they had all tried. Aphrodisiacs, candles, even one girl had handcuffed him to a bed and spent hours teasing his body. Now Sasuke realized that none of it had ever made him hot. Hot the way he had felt with Kiba pinning him down.

Shivering, Sasuke hugged his knees to him. The truth was, he was scared. After all the years of the arrogant façade, the mask that he never took off for anyone, he no longer knew himself. At this moment, he wasn't sure if he wanted Kiba the way his body seemed to want the boy. He wasn't sure who his real friends were. He wasn't sure about his skills, or his ability to one day kill his brother and exact the revenge he had spent his whole life focused on. Sasuke had been chasing his dream of becoming the avenger for so long and so hard that it had become his priority. Kiba and all of the emotions that came with Kiba were foreign to the Uchiha. Foreign, and a burden. Kiba is standing in way of my job as the Avenger. The thought broke his heart inside but he knew it to be true. And Kiba would always be in Konoha, occupying Sasuke's thoughts and making him this scared and confused. Kakashi had said he needed to be more focused and that must have meant he needed to remove any and all distractions.

His mind made up, Sasuke stood up and began doing what he knew he needed to do.

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"Oy, dog boy! Wait up, I need to ask you something!"

Kiba had been hoping to avoid the ninja—he and Akamaru had smelled the noisy ninja and had been trying to hide—but Naruto had seen them and there was nothing he could do but wait for the blond boy.

"What is it, baka? I am on my way to train with Hinata and Shino and I don't want to be late." Kiba continued to walk, and Naruto moved next to him, keeping pace.

"Sasuke has missed practice four days in a row, and he isn't at home. Sakura had the weird idea that you might know where he was." Naruto's nose wrinkled up and Kiba couldn't tell if it was in confusion or distaste. Naruto had been Sasuke's best friend and might be jealous of the new friendship Kiba and Sasuke had. But Naruto was also very dense, and he may just not know why the Inuzuka would know something about a boy who, until the last mission, had nothing to do with him. And besides, if Naruto was feeling jealous, he could stop feeling that way. Sasuke had made it very clear to Kiba that there was no friendship and that, if anything, they were worse off than when everything had begun.

"He is home, he just isn't answering his door."

"No, he isn't home. I went inside and the place looks like he hasn't been there for a little while. So he isn't with you?"

"No—" Kiba was about to insult Naruto's slowness when Kakashi-sensei showed up in front of them.

"Kakashi-sensei! I am glad you showed up, I can ask you, too!"

"Ask me what?"

"Have you seen Sasuke? He has missed training for four days now, and Kiba hasn't seen him either!"

Kakashi's one exposed eye narrowed.

"Sasuke is missing? I sparred with him a week ago, but I haven't seen him since. Naruto, why don't you check with some of the other teams and see if they know anything?"

"Hai!" And with that, Naruto sped off into the village, leaving Kiba with Kakashi.

"Kiba, now that Naruto is gone, I would like to speak with you."

Kiba was shocked that the infamous copy-ninja would have anything to say to him, so wide eyed he simply nodded.

"When Sasuke and I last sparred, he seemed very…disturbed. Unable to focus and shaken up. Basically, he was not at all like the cool and calm Sasuke I know. Sakura came to talk to me and mentioned that you and Sasuke seemed to have an, uh, how do I say this…connection."

Kiba winced and turned red with embarrassment. He vividly remembered Sakura's envy over his 'connection' with the silent Sharingan user.

"I was wondering if you knew if anything was wrong with Sasuke?"

All of this talk and questions sparked Kiba's interest-- and his worry.

"Hn. Sasuke has not been at all like the way he was before we met Itachi. I…I had thought he and I were friends. He had seemed so genuine. But ever since he woke up, he has been so cold and distanced. I thought it was just post-stress from fighting his brother, so I gave him a little space. But Sakura had told me to try to talk to Sasuke again, and when I did…he…he made it very clear that he and I are no longer friends of any sort."

"Well, his actions seem strange, but Sasuke has always pushed people away…it could just be the stress, as you say…"

Kakashi looked confused when Akamaru began to bark excitedly at Kiba, whose face instantly became upset.

"Why the hell didn't you say that before?" Kiba yelled at Aka, who promptly growled a gentle warning in return.

"Well, what did he say?" Kakashi's own ninja dogs spoke to him when he summoned them, but he was unable to understand what Aka had been barking about.

"Aka said that when Sasuke and I last fought, he could sense a serious unbalance in Sasuke's chakra and mental stability. He said that it seemed like maybe Sasuke was seeing things, because he was going to attack me with Sharingan, and that when we left Sasuke's chakra was raging out of control!"

"This confirms my fears. Kiba, I read the report you filed about Itachi's attack, but Sasuke never filled in after you had passed out. Itachi's Sharingan is different. It is Mangekyou…it is extremely dangerous and very rare. Only an actual bloodline successor may possess it, and only at a great cost—the user must kill his best friend in order to obtain it. Not much is known about it, but… I think perhaps Itachi has done something in Sasuke's mind, something that may be blurring the lines between reality and the hallucinations Itachi forced Sasuke to see."

Fear gripped hard at Kiba's heart and suddenly he found it difficult to breathe. Finding his voice, he whispered, "You think he has left the village, don't you?"

Kakashi's one eye looked away, confirming Kiba's suspicions.

"I have to go after him."

"Hn. I will as well, with Naruto and Sakura and other teams. We will search north, east and west. You search to the south with your team."

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A/N: Ok, Ok, I took forever with the revisions. But I promise there will be a new super duper installment tomorrow that will rock your socks off! And remember, if you like my fiction, spread the word! I am a first-time author.

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-Jenny-