They had decided to spend a day resting, now that there was no worries of pursuit. Sasuke had divvied up the roles for everyone, and they had begun to set up a makeshift camp. Naruto had been away for a long time on his task, and Sakura tracked him down. His aura was hard to miss, even at a distance. She walked up behind Naruto, watching him growl low in his throat as he tried to catch fish in the icy cold water with his bare hands. She grinned as she threw a kunai with expert precision through the center of a fish, wheeling it in with the ninja wire she had tied around its ringlet handle. "It works faster my way."

Naruto looked back at her with a frustrated, bemused expression. "I like my way better." His hands darted in and grabbed a fish, and he threw it in his bucket. "Guess it's the fox in me."

"The fox?"

"Never mind." came the grunted reply. Another splash, and another fish eluded him.

She decided to cut to the purpose of her visit. "So… what do you think of having Hinata along?"

He stopped his efforts entirely, looking at her. "She's really nice. She's pretty weird though."

Naruto… calling someone weird? "How so?"

"Like… she's always stammering and blushing and bowing." He put a finger to his lip, contemplating.

"She's only like that around you, Naruto-kun." Sakura sighed at his raised eyebrow. "She likes you, Naruto."

Naruto chewed his lip. "I like Hinata-chan too. Doesn't mean I get all blushy and stuff…"

Sakura furrowed her brow. "No… I mean… she LIKES you likes you." Naruto looked at her blankly. This had to be one of the less intelligent conversations she'd ever carried out, but… it was with Naruto, after all. "She wants to go on a date with you."

Naruto's eyes went to the ground as he thought it over, pieces falling into place. It took a good moment for him to process. Finally, he uttered a single word. "Why?"

Sakura giggled. He seemed genuinely puzzled. "Well… I think I'd be best for you to talk about it with her yourself."

Naruto's eyes fell. "What about us? We… we went on a date, didn't we?"

Sakura barely contained a sigh. That was the question she didn't really want to hear. She sat down next to him. "Um… well…" She scratched the back of her head. "I know you like me Naruto, and that's sweet. But Sasuke and I… we're a couple now." That wasn't strictly true… she hadn't actually talked it over with him and said the words.

Naruto swallowed and stayed silent. "Seriously?" Sakura nodded quietly. "I always thought…" His voice caught in his throat, but he cleared it. "I always thought I had a chance, ya know? He never really seemed the type to…" He waved his hands vaguely. "I dunno."

Should she tell him what she could barely admit to herself? That he ran a dangerously close second in her heart? That if Sasuke hadn't taken her with him, she probably would have ended up seeking comfort in his arms? No… that would probably only make it worse, she knew. "I'm really sorry, Naruto-kun. I know I'm probably hurting you and I hate it."

He tried to shake his head... to tell her that he wasn't hurt, but it wasn't very convincing. "When you left... I kept thinking... I'd never get to see you again. And now..."

Her voice faltered. "I always want us to be a team, Naruto-kun."

His voice was choked up to the point of tears, but that statement made his eyes light up."Promise?"

She nodded with a smile. "I promise. We'll always be a team." She ruffled his hair, and he growled and drew her into a hug. A few days ago, she probably would have punched him in the jaw, but now she returned the affection. He was sobbing quietly into her chest, and she stroked his hair softly. Being no stranger to unrequited love, his tears cut her deep. Life really wasn't fair sometimes, but this was for the best.

After a while, Naruto sat up and rubbed his eyes with a resigned smile. "You finally managed to melt that icy bastard's heart?"

Sakura felt herself blushing. "Something like that. Listen, Naruto… This won't change anything."

"Damn right it won't. I'm still going to kick that bastard's ass every time we spar. Don't think I'll go easy on him just because you're his girlfriend." He grinned at her.

She smiled back. "You're still the number one ninja at surprising." His hands dove into the water, pulling out a pair of fish with a flourish.

"Hinata…" he said her name contemplatively as they walked back with their catch.

Sakura nodded. "Promise me you'll at least talk with her."

He nodded sagely. "There's been a little too much ignoring of people's feelings, lately."

To hear him put it so bluntly and kindly nearly broke her heart. "I'm… I'm sorry."

He grinned wryly. "Naw… I didn't really mean you. You might have punched me and yelled at me, but you never ignored me. I was more of talking about what Sasuke did to you. And…" his voice grew quieter. "And what I've been doing to Hinata."

Sakura rubbed his shoulder. "Somehow… I think she'll forgive you pretty quick."

-----

Hinata was mulling nervously over how the next few hours might go… the opportunities she might have. During the mission with Naruto, Shikamaru had ordered a stop twice. The first time, Naruto had been too wired to sleep, and half of the double wide area she had cleared of bumps and sticks went to waste. The second call for rest, they were both so exhausted it was more of passing out than going to sleep. She had been shaken awake by Neji scant hours later, and found the blond boy drooling on her lower left pant leg. He apparently had been using her calf for a pillow all night. She probably shouldn't read too much in to it, she knew… he probably just collapsed onto her randomly. Still… it was her first night of sleeping in the same proximity as Naruto, and the thought of it made her glow.

She could see Sakura and Naruto were walking back from the river, her hand briefly making contact with his shoulder. She burned with envy, though it never reached her porcelain features. Why did Sakura get to be on Naruto's team and not her? Why did he laugh and smile easily with that girl and not… not her. She bit her lip to keep from screaming.

As she thought, her hands went through the practiced motions of making a fire pit. Kiba and Shino always made her do the mundane work during their missions, mainly because she wouldn't complain. The small sticks she had collected were the driest she could find, but they still wet with dew, and practically useless. As she struggled with the moist kindling, Sakura's voice hailed her from down by a stream, forty yards away.

Her suspicion mounted. She wandered over to where Sakura was filling water skins with mountain run off from the stream. "Yes, Sakura?"

Her pink haired rival leaned in conspiratorially with a grin. "You like Naruto, right?"

Hinata stuttered, feeling her face blush. "Um…"

Sakura shook her head. "Don't worry. We'll leave you alone to talk after dinner. He might even be a little more forthcoming than usual." She glanced back to where Hinata had been working. "And ask for Sasuke's help with the kindling. Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu makes a mean cooking fire."

The ivory skinned girl looked dazed, but bowed and walked back to her work. The pieces were falling in place quickly now, Sakura thought to herself. Alone time with Sasuke was now all but guaranteed. Sakura coughed to cover her snickering. She mentally high fived with Inner-Sakura… as well as one can high five with an imaginary construction. Her plan was progressing well.

-----

Sasuke sat with a pile of weapons around him, cleaning the kunai and various other weapons absently as he contemplated his train wreck of a mission of revenge. Sakura he had brought willingly, but even that had been a stretch to justify to himself. Naruto he could concede might be helpful. But now there was a Hyuuga girl with them that he barely knew. He scratched the back of his head absently. The worst part about it all was that… he wasn't nearly as upset as he should be. A few months ago even, he would have just dumped everyone in the woods and set off by himself again. Let them try and chase. But they had thrown away their vows and lives to help him find peace… and he felt a strange sort of responsibility towards them. I must be getting soft… he thought ruefully.

Naruto wandered over, picking up a second oiled rag out of the pile of packs and helping him silently. Sasuke looked over the blond boy quietly. His eyes were bloodshot, and his features were ashen. Naruto showed no signs of starting conversation, so Sasuke sighed and broke the uneasy silence. "You really would have killed me, wouldn't you." It wasn't really a question, more of a statement.

"If you had kidnapped Sakura… I would have done worse than kill you."

He snorted. "Why did you think I kidnapped her, dead last?" He called Naruto by the old insult he had used back in the academy.

Naruto shrugged, throwing a finished kunai in the pile. "Mostly wishful thinking on my part, I guess. If you wanted her, all you had to do was ask." He looked at Sasuke in the eye. "You knew that." Sasuke stared right back silently, not backing down from the stare. At last Naruto was the one to look away, his voice bitter. "You could have chosen any of them. There were piles of girls hammering on your door, Sasuke. Why her? Why…" He trailed off, the thought completed only in his head. Why the girl I liked?

Sasuke fought down unpleasant guilt. "She… she saved me."

Naruto chewed on that. "From what?"

"Itachi told me…" Sasuke held his breath, realizing what he was saying… a secret he'd kept locked away for as long as it had been his to keep. Naruto looked up at him with curious blue eyes. He sighed. "He told me that I'd have to kill my closest friend to… to ever have a chance of defeating him."

Naruto shook his head. "And you believed him?"

"Itachi had the Mangekyou Sharingan before the end. It let him see the future, Father said."

"What does any of that have to do with me?"

"I tried so hard not to make friends with anyone ever since then." Sasuke drew in a long shuddering breath. "But somehow… you slipped by all my defenses."

Naruto grinned. "When I'm with you… sometimes I wonder if it's what it'd be like to have a brother. An older… very annoying brother, but… still."

"But don't you see, Naruto? That's why I ran away. It all fits so perfectly." From Naruto's expression, he could see Naruto didn't see at all. "I used to think that Itachi meant that I'd need to kill you with my own hands to manifest my own Mangekyou and be on equal level with him. But now… look at it. Itachi, for whatever reason, wants to kidnap you. And we're hunting Itachi together." Sasuke's obsidian black eyes looked haunted. "What if at some point I have to choose between your life and taking Itachi's?"

Naruto grinned. "You'd kill Itachi in a second."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "I'm not joking around."

Naruto shook his head. "Neither am I. Every ninja has ideals he'd give his life for. Look at the Sandaime… he died to cripple Orochimaru and save the village. And he died happily. For you… you'd give your life killing Itachi. And if that means that I'd lose my life too… to rid the world of that stupid monster… I'd die with a smile on my face, same as the old man."

Sasuke looked over at Naruto with disbelieving eyes. There was maturity in those crystal eyes he had never seen. "Well… you might be willing, but I refuse to let anyone die on this mission of mine except for me." He hesitated, then reached into his backpack, pulling the thick scroll from the bottom of the pack. He unfurled it, and by the crackling firelight Naruto could barely make out strange glyphs surrounding the one thing he did recognize… the Uchiha family crest. Sasuke sat on his knees before it, lighting a bowl of incense. "Every night, I commune with my ancestors. I ask them for the strength to carry on with my mission. All of them are there in the afterlife… waiting for me." His smile was darker than night. "All of them… except one."

Naruto rubbed Sasuke's shoulder before kneeling beside him. "And together… we'll send him straight to Hell."