Fire: This is Fire again. Third week, third chapter. Thanks for all the reviews. I love reading all of them. As for the bit of English trivia I had last week, countries which used to be British colonies like Australia and Hong Kong also use the British towards.

Sasuke: Stop acting like all our readers are stupid!

Fire: I'm not! I just want to include everyone! Anyway, continuing reviewing. I want to hear everyone's opinion on my stories. No flames yet... (Fire attempts to whistle but fails...continues on with just rocking back and forth, waiting for flames)

Sasuke: (whistles a perfect tune) Baka.

Fire: (cries) If you don't remember the legend, go to Chapter 2 otherwise, here's the story.

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Chapter 3: Heartbreak

For many days, Sasuke found himself standing in front of Naruto's apartment. He hadn't noticed that he was doing it until after that day in the open-air marketplace when he ran into Naruto. He came to the jinchuuriki's door more often than he actually liked to admit.

Today, he had walked all the way up to the blond's door, his hand hovering again over the solid wooden barrier that separated him from Naruto's world...Naruto's private world. But, he always stopped himself. Somehow, he couldn't bring himself to call on the fair-haired chuunin.

As always, he would run as he felt the presence of fangirls surrounding him. They were beginning to understand his routine. They knew that he would come here eventually. He would suddenly find himself standing in front of Naruto's apartment, even though he hadn't thought about going there. It was beginning to scare him.

'What's wrong with me?' He stared at his outstretched hand as he curled it closed, away from the door again. He had a little more time before the fangirls found him. 'Why did I come here? Did I come to see him? But if I came to see him, why can't I knock on this door? Why can't I face him?'

He asked himself those questions even though he already knew the answers. He didn't want to face reality. He wasn't ready to face reality yet. He didn't want to admit that he was in love with his blond teammate.

'It's just Naruto...' Confused, Sasuke squeezed his hand tighter, stared at it, willed it to fall on the door. 'Just knock on the door...' But his hand refused to move.

"Sa...suke?"

Sasuke quickly looked up from his hand to find the door wide open. And standing there, in his orange outfit with his beautiful blond hair bound by his hitai-ate, was Naruto. The blond stared at him with his eyes wide open in surprise, and for a moment, Sasuke entertained the thought of grabbing him and kissing him hello, but he quickly shook that crazy thought out of his head. That wasn't an appropriate thought at a time like this!

"What are you doing here?"

"Naruto...uh..." Sasuke panicked as he looked around quickly. He could sense fangirls approaching. "Get inside!" He took two quick steps forward, pushed the blond back into his apartment before slamming the door closed. He just hoped that none of his fangirls actually saw him run in here. He didn't want anyone to know that he was in Naruto's apartment.

"Dammit Sasuke, what are you dong here?" Naruto demanded as he stumbled backward from the sudden push that Sasuke had issued to him. "And what did you push me for!"

Sasuke placed a finger to his lips to silence the other boy before pressing his ear against the door. Outside, he could hear the crazed shriek of a crowd of girls running in a direction that they thought he might have gone. He only allowed himself a slight sigh of relief when he was sure that they were all gone.

"Grrr... Sasuke-teme, I asked you a question," Naruto said with a hostile growl. This was the same thing that had happened only a few days earlier at the marketplace. But, he wasn't going to take a grunt for an answer this time. No matter how happy he was to see the dark-haired boy... "And you better answer with real words this time!"

"I'm hiding," the dark-haired chuunin said simply. Only two words, and it wasn't as if he was telling a lie. It was a half-truth really. He was kind of hiding from those fangirls–who still wouldn't back off, even after they found out that he was dating Sakura–and he was also hiding from Sakura as well. At least Ino had given up in respect for Sakura after finding out about their relationship.

As for Sakura...he knew that it wasn't nice to hide from his girlfriend, but he just couldn't stand her! She just wouldn't leave him alone, especially after he had thrown her that bone and gone out on ONE DATE with her. Now, she just wouldn't go away. Ironic. To use Shikamaru's words: it was troublesome. He didn't really want her as a girlfriend. All he wanted was...

The dark-haired boy looked a little sheepishly at Naruto. He didn't like to think that he was also here to see Naruto.

"Well, hide somewhere else," Naruto said, his voice full of hostility as he glared at the dark-haired boy. He hadn't seen that look on Sasuke's face before. "I don't have time to entertain you." His voice was filled with bitterness as well.

"I'm not asking to be entertained," Sasuke said as he looked around. "I just need a place to hide for a while."

This was the first time that he has actually been inside Naruto's home, and he was regretting it. The place was a mess. Scrolls lay everywhere, half-rolled-up or sprawling across flat surfaces–actually across most surfaces whether they were flat or uneven. Clothes littered the floor so that Sasuke couldn't step anywhere without tangling his foot in something first. There were discarded ramen cups everywhere: on the floor, on the tables, on the windowsill next to a surprisingly healthy-looking houseplant. There were even ramen cups on the sofa for which he was headed. And dust hung thickly in the air, making a mist of dust to cloud his vision. In total, Naruto's home was a neat freak's nightmare. And Sasuke was a neat freak.

"Dammit Naruto, your apartment's a dump!" Sasuke just couldn't not tell him.

"Yeah, well, if you don't like it, you should just clean it," Naruto said with a low growl as he grumbled to the kitchen which was much more to his liking. 'I can't believe that I thought that I was in love with him! I must be going crazy,' he thought as he switched the electric kettle on to boil water for some cup ramen.

After a moment, there was a shout from the living room. "Naruto!" Sasuke was standing in front of a nasty-looking fuzzy green-backed animal/pile of clothes/pile of garbage/pile of scrolls. "Do you have any cleaning supplies?" He would just have to kill the 'animal' later, whatever it was...

"Cleaning supplies?" The blond stood frozen for a moment. 'He's actually going to clean my apartment?' But after a moment, he couldn't think of any reason why he would be against it. He wasn't the one who was going to go through all that junk. "You want cleaning supplies?" Naruto thought to himself. Did he have cleaning supplies?

"Never mind," Sasuke let out another sigh before turning to the living room once more. He should have known that the blond would have no idea where the cleaning supplies were, if he even had any cleaning supplies to begin with. The apartment was a mess. He wouldn't be surprised if there weren't any cleaning equipment in the apartment at all.

'Well...I can't argue with it if I want to hide here for a while...' Sasuke pushed his arm warmers up his arm and stuck his hands into the nearest pile of...whatever it was. 'Uggh... But I wish he had cleaning gloves or something like that to protect my hands.'

It took longer than it would have taken Sasuke if he had actually had some heavy-duty cleaning soap with him, but after a lot of scrubbing, dusting, washing, picking up things and straightening things, Sasuke was left with a clean apartment, even if there were a few stubborn stains left over, but then, he really did need soap and a lot more elbow grease before he would get that out. In the end, he was left with an impressive pile of steaming clothing in one corner of the room, waiting to be washed, and a mound of mean-looking garbage, waiting to be taken outside.

"Wow, Sasuke! The place looks so clean," Naruto said as he dropped an empty ramen cup and used chopsticks absentmindedly onto the ground.

Sasuke sighed as he picked it up, wiped the small pool of soup that had spilled onto the floor and tossed the cup into a trash bucket he had unearthed not too long ago. "Naruto, put your garbage in the garbage can," Sasuke said with a weary sigh. He was beginning to regret having come in here to hide.

Naruto frowned at the other boy, suddenly extremely irritated. There really was no reason for it, but he felt so angry. Sasuke was being superior again, like he was Kami-sama, even in Naruto's home! "It's my apartment! I'll do what I want!" And with that, Naruto stormed out of his apartment, slamming the door after him.

With the vibration of the slamming door still reverberating through the room, Sasuke sighed, sinking into the only couch in the living room as the scrolls he had re-rolled and replaced onto the shelves not too long ago shook themselves free and fell to the ground in soft thuds. He doubted that Naruto even realized that he had locked the dark-haired shinobi in his house. "Dobe," Sasuke said as he sulked. "Can't believe that he would just leave me alone like this."

Naruto was already far from his home when he realized that he had just locked Sasuke in his apartment. He slapped himself in the face for his stupidity before turning around and heading back to his home. He couldn't even remember how exactly Sasuke managed to annoy him so much that he could have forgotten that he was in his own apartment. 'I mean...if he's so annoying, why didn't I just kick him out? He can't just kick me out of my own home!'

He growled to himself as he pulled his door open. The blond was all ready to yell at Sasuke and to kick him out of his apartment, but, as he looked around his unnaturally clean home, he realized that Sasuke was gone.

The boy heaved a sigh of relief as he stepped into the room, closing the door lightly behind him; they had rough handled it twice today already, and he was afraid that if he should close it too hard one more time, it might fall off its hinges.

Naruto fell onto the couch, almost exactly where Sasuke had sat not too long ago, and sank down into his seat. Suddenly, he felt empty again. He hadn't even realized that the feeling of restlessness, of loneliness, of general emptiness was gone until this moment. But of course, it was back now.

"Arrgh!" He rubbed his head vigorously, messing up his hair with both hands. "What's wrong with me!" The day was suddenly duller. He needed something to do! 'This has nothing to do with Sasuke! I was feeling this way before too!' His mind was yelling at himself, and somewhere in the back, he could hear the Kyuubi trying to hide a laugh at his stupidity.

"Oi!" A muffled voice came from beyond the front door as the doorknob rattled urgently. "I didn't lock the door."

Naruto sat up where he was and looked around. That was Sasuke's voice! "Sasuke!" He found himself standing instantly at his front door. He threw the door open, causing a strained groan from its hinges.

"Naruto?" Sasuke was standing on Naruto's doorstep, his hand still raised with fingers curled where it was holding a doorknob a moment ago. "What are you doing back here so soon?" He was sure that Naruto was going to be angry for a while longer yet.

"It's my apartment, teme," Naruto said as he glared at the other boy. "What are you doing back here?" He was sure that Sasuke had left.

"I was tossing out the garbage, dobe," Sasuke said as he pushed his way back into the apartment. If he didn't, he was sure that the blond would have slammed the door in his face.

"Hey!" Naruto felt himself pushed aside. "I never said that you could come in!"

"Yeah, well I'm avoiding Sakura," Sasuke said as he fell onto the clean couch, causing his bangs to fly around his head. He looked at Naruto with feathers of black sprawled over his eyes. "And I doubt that she would think to look for me here." It has been a long time since he actually found himself alone, without Sakura at his side. This was the last place that he could think of. Amongst other things...

Sasuke looked over, sneaking a look at Naruto before straightening in his seat and sinking deeper into the cushions. 'Stop thinking about him!' What had happened to his thoughts about Itachi? His mind was constantly filled with thoughts about aniki ever since that night, when he... He couldn't even finish the thought! Why was his mind suddenly overrun by this blond jinchuuriki!

"Sasuke?" Naruto closed the door lightly, then made his way to the dark-haired chuunin.

The Uchiha looked up at the blond with an inquiring look on his face. "Nan des-ka, Naruto?"

The blond shinobi's eyes were dark with emotion. For a moment, the world ceased to exist as Naruto stood in front of the dark-haired shinobi.

Then, Sasuke's vision blurred and he felt his head twist violently to the side as Naruto's fist collided with the side of his head. "How...dare...you!" Naruto spoke through clenched teeth, his voice dripping with rage. "How dare you disrespect Sakura-chan like that!" If Sakura was his girlfriend, he would definitely not be avoiding her so heartlessly!

"Ow...Naruto!" Sasuke growled as he rubbed his head where Naruto had hit him, hard. He glared at the blond-haired chuunin with the coldest look that could shoot out of his lightless black eyes. Then he rose to his feet. "Baka!" He snapped as he headed for the door.

Naruto watched as Sasuke walked out of his apartment, closing the door after him with a soft click. Sasuke was mad. Naruto could tell that Sasuke was mad. "Chikusho," Naruto growled to himself. Now, Sasuke would never want to come back to him again. 'I screwed up!'

You should go after him, the Kyuubi said with a mental smirk on his face. There was only the slightest touch of sarcasm in his voice. You ARE in love with him, you know?

'Urusai,' Naruto thought wearily. He was too tired to really argue with the Kyuubi at this moment. 'Damn Kyuubi.'

But, the Kyuubi didn't even take the time to rebuke him for his rude reply. There was only the echo of mocking laughter left in Naruto's mind.

Sakura looked around one end of the street before turning around and looking around the other end; he wasn't here either. The pink-haired kunoichi sighed as she gave up for the day. She had thought that Sasuke would stop doing that by now. She was supposed to be his girlfriend...right? Then, why is he still running away?

She sat down in front of the counter at Ichiraku's with a sullen look on her face. She had looked everywhere for Sasuke, but she still couldn't find him, just like all the days before.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto's voice came from the entrance as he walked under the cloth flaps that hung from the edge of the roof. "What are you doing here?" He sat down beside her.

The kunoichi sighed as she stared down at the drink that Ayame the ramen girl had set down. She took the straw between her index finger and thumb and pulled it toward her mouth, taking a slow sip before she spoke. "I was looking for Sasuke-kun," she said with another slight sigh. She was almost fed up with searching for him. Just almost. She knew that she would never really give up. It was Sasuke after all.

"Oh," Naruto said softly. What she had said at that moment just confirmed what he had thought passingly in his mind as he saw her. He had thought that she was here waiting for Sasuke, or was resting after being with Sasuke, or something else Sasuke related. She was taking a break between sessions of searching for Sasuke. He wasn't that far off from the truth. At least the Sasuke part was valid. He could understand why Sasuke was hiding from Sakura now. Even Naruto wasn't too crazy about the idea of a full-time stalker...and Sasuke had a whole legion of them.

'Arrgh! Stop thinking about Sasuke!'

"How are you these days, Naruto?" Sakura asked, all politeness in her voice. "I don't get to see you a lot now that..." Her eyes fell again as her words trailed off. "...Kakashi-sensei isn't around anymore." She spoke slowly, her voice reluctant to say those last words. She never thought that she would have to say it out loud. After all, she never wanted to acknowledge that they had no idea where their grey-haired jounin sensei could have gone. The Hokage probably knew where he was, but even if she knew, Tsunade wasn't telling them anything. He could be dead...

"Annoyed." Naruto was a little more concise than he usually was. "Tsunade-obaachan still doesn't have a single mission for me." There was a frown on his face, not unlike the one on Shikamaru's face when he was displeased with something. Sakura didn't want to think that Naruto might be hanging around the other teams lately–because the thought of all the members of Team Seven having abandoned her would be too painful–but the resemblance was there. "Not even a D-ranked mission! I swear, if she's holding out on me and giving those missions to some genin team or something, I'm going to hit her with my rasengan so hard that it's going to hurt until she's at least a hundred!" Which wouldn't really be that long from now.

Sakura couldn't help but stifle a laugh at the thought of Tsunade complaining about an injury by Naruto. That would certainly be something she would like to see, although she doubted that her sensei would fall for it. "Arigatou, Naruto," she said suddenly as she wiped tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes, startling Naruto with the sudden words.

The blond-haired shinobi stared at his companion in mild confusion for a moment before he spoke. "What for Sakura-chan?"

"For taking my mind off Sasuke...even if it wasn't for too long." She smiled a little sadly into her lap. "We should train together again," she turned to look at him, her eyes sparkling with mild sincerity, "like old times."

Naruto was silent for a moment. Was she trying to be nice? Did she pity him because he had no one now? "Yeah...maybe," Naruto said as he tried to think of what to say to that. It was a lie, and he knew that it was a lie. There was no way that he could ever bring himself to be around her again. 'Sakura-chan...she's a part of my past. There's no way that I can...'

They were silent for a moment, each understanding something unsaid between them. The name 'Uchiha Sasuke' hung unsaid in the air, slowly solidifying the distance between them until they were both hyperventilating.

"I–I'm going to go now," Sakura said as she rose quickly from her seat, her drink half-unfinished. "I'll...see you around, Naruto." She vanished quickly into the crowds beyond the ramen stand.

Naruto frowned to himself. It was amazing that he should think of something to say now that she was gone. 'How is Sasuke?' The question remained embedded in his mind.

It was funny when he thought about it. Sasuke really did think that he was going to find Naruto here. It was where he had found the blond shinobi many times before. The hill. He was disappointed when he found it vacant, and curiously, a little relieved as well. He couldn't imagine why he would be relieved, but he was.

Sasuke sank into the grass beneath him and looked up at the sky. From here, he was sure that Naruto must have seen the same sky. It filled him with a strange peace and an unfamiliar warmth in his chest. He could feel a liveliness fill his body. And for a moment, he couldn't imagine what could be making him feel this way.

But he wasn't stupid. His mind practically screamed it in harmony with the organ embedded in his chest. His heart only sighed at one name. Naruto.

'Kuso...' Sasuke pulled his loose collar away from his neck with a hand. He felt restrained...constricted. His mind wouldn't get away from what had happened at Naruto's apartment a few days ago when Naruto had punched him in the face. He heard his heart beating in his mind as he remembered it. He had really thought that Naruto was going to kiss him...

"Sasuke-kun!" The distant voice of his girlfriend called from nearby, but he was sure that the grass was enough cover to hide him from her for now. "Sasuke-kun!"

He felt the urge to run away. He didn't want to see her now. He didn't want to see her at all unless it was absolutely necessary, but that wasn't possible anymore. Not since she became his self-proclaimed girlfriend. And not since Team Seven stopped meeting together for training missions, much less actual missions. But then, even if they met together for an actual mission, there was no way that they could be given a mission. Kakashi-sensei was still missing, and there wasn't a single new mission to be found on Tsunade's desk.

So, Sakura felt that they had to get together...just for the sake of being together.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura's face appeared upside down in his field of view, her pink hair flowing around her head. "Didn't you hear me? I was calling for you."

Sasuke stared at her for a moment before rising into a sit. "Hn." He looked away from her, expecting to see Naruto since the blond used to always hover around her, but then, there was really no reason for Naruto to be around her anymore. And he was disappointed.

'Why am I disappointed! It's only Naruto... Naruto!' But, he already knew why he was so disappointed, and his mind was just irritating him now.

"Sasuke-k—"

"Sakura," Sasuke said quickly, interrupting her. "I don't think this is going to work."

The girl was dumbstruck. "Sasuke-kun, wh...what did you say?" She wasn't sure if she had heard him correctly. He couldn't be doing what she thought he was doing!

His coal-black eyes were cold and hard when they looked at her. "I don't want to be your boyfriend anymore," he said bluntly. "I never was."

Slowly, a crack formed on the surface of Sakura's heart. "You're...breaking up...with me?" Her voice came slowly as realization replaced the doubt in her mind. Only silence met her question as the fractures on Sakura's heart connected and small pieces fell to the ground at her feet in bell-like tinkles. Then larger chunks followed with less graceful crashes.

"Yes," Sasuke said slowly as he rose to his feet. There was pain on the girl's face, but strangely, he felt nothing. There was no guilt in his heart. He didn't say anything more to her as he turned away.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura reached out to grab his arm, but only grabbed air as her eyes blurred with tears. "At least tell me why..." Her heart lay in pieces at her feet, and no amount of time could bring all those pieces back together again. She grasped at them, trying to piece them back together, but they just kept slipping through her fingers... "Why did you... Why are you..."

"Naruto," Sasuke said simply as he continued farther away from her. "I'm in love with Naruto."

End Chapter 3

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Those of you who were reading intently may have noticed that backward was used for direction and thought that it should be backwards. If you thought that, consult your dictionary because backwards is an adjective relating to something that is lean back, like a backwards country or town. Backward without an 's' is used for direction.

More English unless you're tired of this and want to close the window:

Anyways is not a word and is a fabrication of pop culture. :( This might distress you so here's some good news. Anyway is a real word and is used in the same way that you might use 'anyways.' That means that we've been using the wrong word most of the time. We should be using 'anyway' instead of 'anyways'. How distressing...

Fire's babbling:

Fire: That's the end of Chapter 3. If you have any questions on any japanese words or terms in general used, send me a review, or an email and I'll set up a glossary of all the words I have used in the next chapter. Other than that, I'll just assume that everyone knows what I'm talking about.

Sasuke: Ahem!

Fire: (turns to Sasuke) Nani...?

Sasuke: (Glares at Fire)

Fire: Oh yeah...we've been meaning to tell everyone that there is a third genre for this story but since we could only choose two, I decided on romance and angst although it was originally romance and tragedy. So the third genre would be tragedy. Try not to hate me. There could never be a real happy ending when it's a love triangle. :(

Sasuke: (mumbles under breath) What triangle? I don't care about Sakura.

Fire: (shouts) Heartless freak! (smacks Sasuke in the head)

Naruto: (crying in the background) Sakura-chan...

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