OH MY GOD! I TOPPED THE 500 MARK! I'M GOING TO DIE! I LOVE YOU ALL SOOOOOO MUCH! I think that reviews have a secret healing power, because I suddenly fell, like, 500 better. So yeah, here's the next chappie. I'm just freaked that it won't be long enough to fill my goal. I really hope you like it. Love the angst!
- - -Recap- - -
Sasuke takes Naruto on a date, when Naruto figures out that Sasuke was a cat and takes it totally the wrong way.
- - - End Recap- - -
- - - Start Fic- - -
Kyuubi and Itachi were sitting on the couch, talking, about what they couldn't remember. Neither of them cared. They only remembered that in the middle of their conversation, Naruto burst through the door, his face bare of any emotion, hardly seen tear tracks making a pattern on his tanned face. As soon as he saw Kyuubi and Itachi, he put a smile on his face, so fake it almost hurt.
"Oh, hi guys, I didn't see you there." he said, his voice higher than it should be. Itachi and Kyuubi shared a worried look. Naruto was obviously hiding something and it had something to do with Sasuke. Naruto didn't even stay to hear their answers, he went right back to his hidden room and barricaded the door with the same jutsu he'd had to use on his house.
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He sat down on his mountain of pillows. Sasuke knew, he knew everything. Everything that Naruto had worked for over 13 years to keep secret. It had been so long he hardly even remembered how it had started. He had only been three or four at the time. So young. . .
- - -Flashback- - -
The young boy effortlessly dodged the rotten food being tossed his way, which only enraged the villagers more. How dare this deamon not accept the punishment that was rightfully theirs to distribute. It had taken five or six men to finally catch and hold him, and in their blind fury they beat him till he could hardly stand and may have killed him if not for the Hokage's sudden arrival. Those who had participated had been banished from Konoha.
"Are you alright, Naruto?" The man had asked kindly as the small boy held ice over his swollen face. He felt rage building inside him. This was only a child, who knew no more of murder than a dust bunny. Yet the villagers saw him as the Kyuubi himself. He frowned, he knew that he could not erase so many years of hate, but there were things the child could do to make it better, ways of letting the villagers believe in his weakness, if not his innocence.
"Naruto?" he addressed that small boy , who felt the urge to turn to see who else the man might be talking to, for never in his life had he heard a voice not raised in anger or hate. He raised his shadowed eyes to meet those of the old man's. The man smiled kindly at him, radiating safety. Naruto gave the smile only a child can give and curled up in the mans lap with no further prompting. This was the most trust the Hokage had ever had placed in him, a child that knew nothing but hate believed him to be trustworthy, and never would he betray that trust.
"Young one, you have been through much." he said. The boy did not answer him, but merely curled his hand around the edge of the Hokage robe.
"Naruto, would you like help to be kept safe?" he asked. Silently, the boy nodded. He wondered if the boy even knew how to talk. "It will be hard, you must know that." he said. The boy nodded again, his deep sapphire eyes wide with hope and trust.
"How?" he asked, his voice so soft it made almost no sound in the almost silent room.
"The villagers fear your strength, the promise that you already show at such a young age. To make them stop, at least not be as hard, you must never let them see your power, for they are cowards, who fear anything stronger than them. You must put on a mask, a mask of happiness and weakness, and never take it off, until you are ready for them to know." he said. The boy nodded
"I can do that." he whispered.
"You should also act in a personality different from your own, so that if they try to hurt things that you care about, they will not matter as much to you. I'll let you decide what mask you wear." he said. The boy nodded again.
"And one last thing, small one."
"Yes?"
"One day, you must become the Hokage. Show these cowards that they are not god and that goodness can defeat hate with ease. Promise me that you day, you will wear the robes of the Hokage, and that your face will be up on the mountain with mine. Do you promise?" he asked. The boy nodded yet again.
"I promise."
"Good boy. Now let me tell you a secret, you must never tell anyone. It's about a man named Uzumaki. ."
- - -End flashback- - -
And he was well on his way to fulfilling that promise. Though the village still believed him a chuunin, the truth was that he was the most respected of the Anbu captains, and the current Hokage had taught him all she knew for being a Hokage and even left most of the behind the scenes work to him.
Naruto had made his mask brick by painful brick, pretending that his heart did not reach out to the only villager as lonely as him, pretending to love a girl that he had found obnoxious. And even though she was now much more likeable, his heart had always stayed with the youngest Uchiha.
He snorted. And now Sasuke knew it. He knew everything. And he would never want to talk to Naruto again. Why he had taken Naruto on a date was beyond the him, but one could never fathom the mind of an Uchiha.
But the real question was, how the hell had Sasuke gotten his hands on that scroll? Naruto had been given responsibility of keeping the scrolls, as Tsunade had figured that it would be the last place that anyone would expect them and therefore the safest.
Naruto closed his eyes. He had long since mastered separating his emotions from his thinking, but those walls had started to crumble. He mentally rebuilt them, he would need to think about this with no emotions to cloud his mind. He entered the safe place that he had created mentally. It was like a glade in his mind, where no emotions could penetrate.
He settled himself crossed legged in the soft grass, hearing only the gentle shush of the trees and the splashes of the creek. He sent his mind back, he had loaned that scroll out recently. He searched his memory. He had loaned it to Kyuubi, right after he had mastered the jutsu that had givin the fox his physical form. Kyuubi had asked to borrow it, and when Naruto had asked why, Kyuubi had giving a vague answer that was no help. He had let it slid in the excitement of having a real person in his house. He was pretty sure that Kyuubi was the first person that Naruto'd had in his house. Well, the first person that he wanted to be in his house anyway. Vandals didn't count.
Then he had just forgotten about it. Which was so unlike him. He paused. Something had just occurred to him. . . That week, the week after he had givin Kyuubi the scroll, he had been sleeping a lot that week. And only when Kyuubi was back in Narutos mind. Naruto gasped. He hadn't. But there was nothing else that it could be. Kyuubi had messed with his memories. And this wasn't just a theory of his. Kyuubi had done it before. There were some memories that Kyuubi had decided that were too mentally damaging to his host and he had removed them, where they could only be accessed if Naruto looked for them.
So, Kyuubi had messed with his memory. But why. Unless. Unless Kyuubi had known about Sasukes plan. Unless he had planned it. That was the only way Sasuke could have gotten his hands on that scroll. There was no way Sasuke could have defeated Kyuubi in a fight and taken the scroll unless Kyuubi wanted him to have it. So Sasuke couldn't have had horrible motives, Naruto knew that Kyuubi would never do anything to hurt him. Not intentionally.
His eyes snapped open, he couldn't deal with this. Not now. He needed a mission. He had to get his mind off of this. He made the jutsu for transportation in his head, and the next second he was in the Hokage office. The Hokage was asleep on her desk.
"Baa-chan!" he said, snapping his hands down by her head. She shot up.
"I was working Shizune!" she said automatically. Naruto didn't laugh. "Oh, it's you." she said. "What do you want?"
"A mission. A long one, at least three months. Meaning do you have any missions that would take an ordinary person, I dunno, a year?" he asked as she sat back down, a sigh escaping her.
"Not this again Naruto." she sounded weary. "I told you last time that I'd only give you three missions a week."
"I don't care. Just get me the hell out of this village." he snapped. Realization dawned on her face.
"I knew it was a bad idea." she muttered, knowing he wouldn't hear her. Had he had normal hearing. But after having Kyuubi living in his body for 17 years, he had developed the advanced senses of the kitsune.
"What was a bad idea?" he asked suspiciously. Then it hit him. "You knew too! That's why you were so unconcerned about Sasuke. You knew too!" he yelled "Does everyone in Konoha know? Was this all some big conspiracy?"
"Naruto. . ."
"No, I don't want your excuses!" he shouted, not noticing her leafing through the papers that had served as her pillow.
"Naruto." she said
"I don't care just give me the d-" she thrust a piece of paper into his hands. He blinked.
"Whats this?" he asked. She smirked.
"A mission to the village hidden in the light."
"Oh?"
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"What did you do, Uchiha?" Kyuubi snarled, his face a mask of fury. Sasuke looked up, startled.
"Huh?"
"What did you do to Naruto?"
"Nothing."
"Bullshit! He was crying! I can't even remember the last time that he cried!"
"He was. . .what? Why?"
"You tell me, Uchiha. I know that you had something to do with it."
"Well, I think I might know some of why. . . But I don't understand his reaction."
"Tell me what happened. Don't leave anything out." Kyuubi said, plopping down cross-legged in one of the many chairs that made up Sasuke's family room, where the Uchiha had been wondering himself, what the hell had happened. He told Kyuubi everything, from his evil fangirl, to his realization of love to Naruto finding the scroll. When he had finished, Kyuubi was shaking his head, looking worried.
"This is worse than I thought. . ." he said. Sasuke looked confused and tilted his head to prompt the kitsune to continue.
"Couldn't you just talk to him about it?" he asked. Kyuubi shook his head.
"No, I doubt that he'll talk to me."
"Why?"
"Because, kiddo, he's smarter than you are. He'll have figured it out by now."
"Figured what out?"
"Jeez, you really are dense. . . I planned this."
"You WHAT?"
"I planned it, you getting the scroll, turning into a cat, finding out about Naruto." Kyuubi said, as though talking to an infant. Sasuke scowled, but was to curious to be truly angry.
"Why?"
"Because, I knew that sooner or later, it would drive the kit crazy. Being so in love, and have that person see you as nothing more than an idiot. It's more than even he can handle."
"Why?"
"Sasuke, someone needed to know, to see the real him. Even if you never found out how he really felt, Naruto needed someone that he cared about to know the true him, to have someone that he could truly relax around. And you were the perfect target."
"Why?"
"Because you're Naruto's precious thing. The thing that he would do anything to protect. And." he smirked. "You would be the easiest to trap."
"What!"
"Well, I knew about your quest for power, and so I transformed into one of your ninja pals, or whatever, and let you overhear me talking about this wonderful forbidden scroll with unlimited power and just happened to be located in this nice convenient little cave with hardly any protection."
"That was you!" he demanded.
"Yup!" Kyuubi smirked. From the look on Sasuke's face, Kyuubis life was in danger. So he did the only thing he could do. He changed the subject. "But, I'm sure that you want to know why Naruto reacted the way that he did." Kyuubi asked, which made Sasuke calm down almost instantly.
"Yeah. . .?"
"Well, he has trust issues, especially where your concerned."
"Me, why me?" Sasuke asked, a bit offended. Kyuubi raised an eyebrow at him.
"Do you even need to ask that?" he asked. Sasuke sighed.
"No, I suppose you don't. But that still doesn't explain his strong reaction."
"It's fairly simple. He thinks that for some reason, you wanted to hurt him, so you went to the trouble to spy on him, just so that you could use this information against him." Kyuubi concluded. Sasuke didn't think that this was simple at all, but there were more important things to worry about. Like Naruto. Kyuubi had said that the blonde had been crying.
"Where would he be?" Sasuke asked.
"Huh?"
"Naruto. Where would he be?"
"Uh, no telling. Last time that he got really upset, he went the Hokage for missions, until he was doing almost two a day."
"What, when was this?" Sasuke asked, shocked.
"Right after you tried to leave."
"Oh. How come I didn't notice, if he did so many missions, how come he was always around? In fact, for all the missions he apparently has, I can't even remember a day that he wasn't around." Sasuke said, only to see Kyuubi shaking his head sadly.
"That wasn't him, Sasuke, almost half the time, it was a clone."
"Huh? But Sakura always hits him, and I would have noticed if he suddenly disappeared in smoke."
"Special clones."
"So, you mean, all this time?" Sasuke almost whispered. Kyuubi nodded.
"I think that's what hurt the most, that no one ever noticed."
"But you said he used to do two missions a day, what does he do now?"
"After about a week of this, Tsunade restricted him to three missions a week, but he usually does at least five."
"Oh. . .So he would have gone on a mission?" Sasuke asked. The kitsune nodded. "Any ideas where?" The kitsune shook his head. "Will the Hokage know?" The kitsune nodded. "Alright. I'm going after him!" Sasuke said resolutely. Kyuubi grinned.
"Good luck." he said. Sasuke nodded and made the jutsu for transportation into the Hokage office. Nothing happened. He tried again. Nothing.
"What the hell!" he yelled. Kyuubi smirked.
"Oh, did I not mention, Naruto made it so that only he and the Hokage can enter the Hokage office that way, to prevent attacks and all that."
"Damn it! Can't that dobe make anything easy?" he growled, grabbing a coat and heading towards the door. Right as he was waling out, Kyuubis voice stopped him.
"Sasuke.'
"Yeah"
"Make him happy. He deserves it."
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"Hokage-sama. Uchiha-san is here to see you." said the guard at the door, waking the Hokage up from her nap.
"Which one?" she murmured sleepily. The man gave her a strange look.
"The only one there is, Hokage-sama." He said. She nodded, so it was Sasuke. Great. Now she could give him a piece of her mind. Sasuke waited until the man had closed the door before speaking.
"Hokage-sama, where is Naruto?" he asked. She blinked. That was unexpected. . .She sighed. Should she tell him, when there was a chance that he could hurt that brat any more. She compromised.
"Why do you want to know?" She asked.
"I want to talk to him."
"Oh, now you want to talk to him?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"I want to make things right again."
"Again? Again, Uchiha? Were they ever 'right' as you put it." Her voice rang with bitterness for the things that her 'little brother'd had to endure, some of which came from the very boy in front of her.
"Dammit! Don't play games with me!" Sasuke yelled, grabbing her shirt, a remarkable feat in itself, giving the clothes, or lack thereof, that she wore.
"Alright, Uchiha. No games. If you want to know where Naruto is, sit down and tell me what you'll do when you find him. If I like what I hear, I'll tell you where I sent him, then you don't deserve to find him." she smirked. "And if you want to impress me, I suggest letting go of my shirt."
Sasuke glared at her, before releasing her and sitting down in the chair across from her desk.
"Why should I tell you anything?" he asked, but it had no venom. The Hokage smirked.
"You want to know where Naruto went, don't you?"
". . . yeah. . ." Sasuke sulked.
"So, speak."
Sasuke couldn't shake the feeling that the Hokage was having way to fun with this.
"I just want to talk to him. I want to apologize for whatever the hell thinks I did. Good enough for you?" he snarled. She shrugged,
"Not impressive, but, as you're an Uchiha and don't talk anyway, I'll make an exception. And it's not normally in my nature to base my decisions on a family name, but since that brat likes you so much, I think I'll give you a chance." She said, before her face and voice hardened. "But if you hurt him, I'll strip you of all titles you may have earned and ship you back to the academy."
"I don't plan on hurting anyone."
"Good, now, you want to know where the idiot went? Let me tell you. . ."
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Naruto, however, wasn't sitting around explaining anything. He was working hard on his mission. Sort of. He had been givin a mission to infiltrate several hidden villages, as Tsunade had known from experience that only doing one village would not last him very long at all. She didn't know how, but Naruto had ways of getting powerful people to say the things he wanted to hear. Judging by the things she had seen him come back wearing, she wasn't sure that she wanted to know.
This time, however, he had opted for a less direct route, in fact, just now, he was currently sitting around doing a pastime better suited to Sasuke. Angsting. Despite what might have appeared evident from his usual grin, he was quite good at it. Maybe it came from knowing someone who had mastered angsting at the age of seven, maybe it had always been behind his mask. Maybe he was just a natural.
But whatever the reason, he was damn good at it. He even had the traditional brooding pose down. However, after a mere hour or so of brooding, he was very rudely interrupted by the very person that he had just angsting about. Uchiha Sasuke.
"Naruto." Sasuke said, jerking Naruto out of his brood. He had been searching al over this stupid village for the blonde, and he finds him practically mirroring Sasuke's own pose in the middle of a strange forest. The blonde in question looked up at the sound of his name, his eyes landing almost t once on Sasuke.
"Oh, hi, Sasuke."
"Hi? Is that all? And why are you even here?" Sasuke demanded. Naruto gave an attempt at a smirk.
"Shouldn't I be asking you that? Never mind, I know why. That old lady who has the nerve to call herself Hokage told you didn't she?" At Sasuke's nod, he growled "I should have known not to trust her, she can't keep a secret any longer than she can keep her money.
He looked up at Sasuke, fixing him with a stern eye. "Then why did you come after me? Wait, let me guess. You wanted to embarrass me more? Make fun of me? What?"
"That's not-"
"Or did you just want to see me suffer? Knowing that you're going to hate me now, and just prolonging the torture?"
"I don-"
"Or are you going to explain why you lied to me, lived in my freaking house for a whole FREAKING week, and never even thought to mention that you were who you were as I poured my fucking soul out to you?"
"I coul-"
"Well, whatever Sasuke, I don't even care any more, you can beat me up if you want, tell everyone in Konoha that I'm even more fucked up then they thought. That-"
Sasuke, who had been getting fed up with Narutos endless prattle, had covered the blondes mouth with the nearest thing at hand, his own mouth. Thus resulting in Sasuke's lips firmly covering Naruto's putting an instant stop to the blondes rant.
He was surprised at how soft Naruto's lips were, softer than silk. . . He tilted his head to the side so that their lips moved together, sending shivers down his spine. However, he knew that he should explain himself to Naruto before they got involved in some serious snogging, but god it felt so right.
He reluctantly pulled away, Naruto was staring at him with a slightly dazed expression, looking shocked. His hand slowly moved up to touch his lips.
"You. . . You just. . ."
"Yes. I did. Now that I have your attention, will you please let me get out more than two words?" Sasuke asked softly. Naruto nodded, still looking dazed.
"Alright. First of all, I didn't try to do anything. I just heard these people talking about this scroll, and where it was and I grabbed it. When I tried the first jutsu, next thing I know, I' a cat and you're taking me into your house. Which by the way, also wasn't my fault. If you remember correctly, I had been hiding and you had dragged me out of that bush and held me hostage until we got to your house."
". . .Oh, right. You still could have told me though."
"At first? No I couldn't have. I still thought that you would make fun of me for just being turned into a cat, and needing your help would damage my pride. Later? I guess I could have told you, but I wanted to know more about you." Sasuke said. Naruto smiled bitterly.
"I guess you did that."
"Yeah. I guess I did. Bur I learned a lot about myself too."
"Oh, really, like what?"
"I, think I might like you too."
"What? I thought you hated me!"
"Naruto, did that look like hate to you?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Naruto blushed slightly.
". . .No. . ."
"Good, because, I want to do that again, but I don't want you to get the wrong idea." Sasukes face was moving closer and closer to Naruto's. Naruto was turning pinker and pinker. He stopped with his face an half an inch from Naruto's, letting the blondes quickened breath rush over his lips.
Naruto gave a shuddering gasp, Sasukes scent almost overwhelming him.
"I won't get the wrong idea." he whispered, before moving so that his lips touched Sasukes. It started as an innocent kiss, they're lips just touching, until Naruto realized that this was real and pulled Sasuke closer to him, marveling at how well they fit together, like two pieces of the same whole.
Naruto's tongue slowly left his mouth, brushing against Sasuke's lips. Sasuke gasped, how had he not noticed how perfect Naruto was? And opened his mouth, Naruto's tongue sliding in, meeting him, sending shockwaves down both of their backs.
Sasuke heard a moan, and wondered vaguely if it was his or Narutos, but it didn't matter, not when Naruto was running his hands through his hair, and over the back of his neck, and he could feel the muscles of Naruto's back through the shirt, and oh god if Naruto kept doing that with his tongue, he was going to pass out.
Eventually, however, they had o pull away for air. Naruto and Sasuke stared at each other, both of them flushed, Sasuke with his hair looking even spikier in the back.
"So, are sure you're not getting the wrong impression?" he joked. Naruto grinned at him, the sift, sweet grin that he had fallen in love with, an he felt his knees weaken slightly.
"Oh, I'm not really sure, I should try that again, shouldn't I?" and he did.
- - - To Be Continued- - -
So how was that? Good? No, it's not over yet, not even close. Yay! Review! Oh, and please, people, leave your e-mail,or log in, or something. Oh, and I really really love suggestions, and if anyone wants to IM me, it's HeraldMage4evr, so yeah, do that! And again, everyone thank my beta, Kai19!