Doesn't it just suck when you have to wait for ages for a new chapter even though the author said they'd update soon...

ahem

Chapter 25: Get the hint part II

xxx

Sasuke thought he had established long ago that he was not a party person, nor a people person. He was much more the type to just hang out with his family, except he didn't have one. The closest thing he had to, well, anything, was Naruto, and Naruto was currently busy chatting away with Sakura and Charasuke about something unimportant he couldn't care less about.

The restaurant wasn't bad though, lit with cozy low-hanging lamps and furnished with dark polished wood and forest green. At least he had the small comfort of them sitting four and four at small tables, with no Menma in sight. He really wasn't feeling up for drama.

"Yeah, you wouldn't believe how huge that boulder was! We had to-"

He tuned Naruto out again, poking at the meat he'd placed on the small built-in grill in the middle of the table. Orochimaru had definitely been correct in his prediction of his increased appetite because he'd already finished his own share and had now started on Naruto's, the other ninja too busy telling his story to notice. Usually it would be the other way around, but Sasuke was just happy he could keep himself occupied. He'd already had to suffer through everyone telling him how glad they were that he was alright now, he didn't want to appear bored and risk someone coming over again.

Dipping the strip of meat in the sauce –really, they had to eat there again because the sauce was amazing– he minded his own business, chewing languidly and licking his lips to savor the taste.

"I have to go to the bathroom!" Naruto suddenly exclaimed, startling the three other occupants of the table with his hasty departure.

"What the hell? Naruto, you were in the middle of the- oh whatever," Sakura sighed the last part, returning to the shrimp on her plate. "I wonder why he was in such a hurry suddenly."

Charasuke shrugged, picking up a piece of bell pepper that Sasuke had been carefully preparing to just the right amount of burnt. Grabbing Charasuke's chopsticks with his own, Sasuke glared at him in warning, but only received a smirk in return.

"Should I remind you who's paying?" Charasuke drawled, mouth widening in a grin when Sasuke gritted his teeth and let go.

Charasuke might not be a terrible person, but that didn't mean Sasuke enjoyed spending hours together. Socializing. Ugh.

"Aww, don't look so put out, Sasuke! You'll get to be alone with Naruto soon enough," Sakura cooed, giggling when he sent her a dirty look. "He certainly knows a lot of stories, doesn't he?"

Sasuke made a non-committal grunt, slouching in his chair when it seemed as if both of the others had decided to torture him now that Naruto wasn't there to entertain them.

"Bet he knows how to get that scowl off your face, too," Charasuke grinned, waggling his eyebrows at Sasuke in a way that didn't make much sense.

"Yeah, by not being annoying," he replied, snatching another piece of raw meat from Naruto's plate that was strategically positioned between them and placing it on the grill, hoping the other two would get the hint. "Doesn't happen very often though," he added, ignoring how the others shared a look of disbelief.

"Say, Sasuke…" Sakura started, leaning forwards on her elbows and trying to make eye contact. "How long have the two of you been together?"

"What do you mean?" he asked casually, eyes trained on the too slowly cooking piece of meat.

"She wants the juicy details, stupid," Charasuke informed him, the words slightly distorted as he had put another vegetable into his mouth that was too hot to chew yet.

Sasuke couldn't believe he'd just been called stupid by his weak alter ego who was talking with food in his mouth. Only Naruto could do that and not piss him off.

"What details," he huffed irritably, knitting his eyebrows together and poking at his meat.

He'd prepare more pieces, but Naruto really hadn't eaten enough yet so maybe he should slow down a bit. Actually, why hadn't Naruto come back yet? Maybe there was a line to the restrooms.

"I told you we should ask Naruto instead," Charasuke mumbled towards Sakura, though she ignored him (as did Sasuke).

"It's just that you two seem like a married couple, I'm curious!" Sakura told him, radiating pure eagerness. "You two must have such an amazing backstory together!"

Sasuke almost choked on air.

Once he was done almost choking, he realized the other two were watching him expectantly, looking so innocent that he contemplated grabbing Naruto and leaving before he accidentally told them something. Surely Charasuke wasn't expecting a sunshine story after the whole thing with telling him about Itachi's eyes?

"Why the hell do you want to know stuff like that?"

Not that there was anything to tell that wasn't incredibly personal and not for anyone else to know.

"I just think you two are so cute together… I want to know!" Sakura was insistent, leaning over half the table now with puppy eyes while Charasuke rolled his.

"Aren't you being a little intrusive, Sakura?" Charasuke pointed out, and Sasuke fervently agreed. "At least admit you're a total slut for relationship gossip."

Sakura slapped Charasuke's arm with a pout, and things really weren't going the way Sasuke wanted them to. He needed to quickly think of something to distract them from the subject with, but he had a sneaking suspicion that this topic wouldn't get dropped that easily.

"Don't listen to him," Sakura complained, "He's as curious as I am."

"Well, there's nothing to tell," Sasuke tried, relieved that his meat was done so he could finally have a moment of peace while chewing.

"Oh, don't be like that!" Sakura kicked his foot underneath the table, beaming at him. "I bet it's super romantic!"

"What is?"

"Your relationship! How you got together! How much you love each other and your plans to get married and-"

Thankfully Charasuke stopped her with a hand over her mouth, shaking his head slowly in amusement.

"Sakura, you really need a girlfriend," he said, giving her a toothy grin when she glared at him. "I really doubt they came here to elope, you know."

Sakura let out a huff, slumped in reluctant defeat.

"Can't I ever have some fun?" she whined, grabbing her glass of water and drinking while maintaining her pout. "Why does everything have to be so serious and sad all the time, I just want to hear about something cute for once today!"

Sasuke wondered if that glass was really filled with water, or with something else entirely.

"Are you on your period?" Charasuke asked with slight pity, and Sakura groaned and fell face down onto the table, burying her head in her arms.

"Yes!" she cried out, adding another groan. "Everything sucks, what the hell did Naruto run off for, he was such a good distraction!"

Sasuke was low key panicking, staring at Sakura and wondering what just happened. She'd been acting normal up until now, hadn't she? Charasuke was patting her back and making gestures at Sasuke, apparently trying to make him say something. He gestured back, asking just what he was supposed to say because he really didn't know shit about comforting girls on their period.

'About you and Naruto' Charasuke mouthed silently, and Sasuke could just feel his whole body stiffen in discomfort.

There was nothing to tell though! No relationship, no sunshine story, no nothing. He'd have to fake it… Damn, this wasn't part of ninja training! It was easier to kill people than to comfort them, though he tended to avoid both.

But fine, everyone already thought they'd been dating happily for years, and it's not like it was a horrible accusation. It was nicer than being seen as a traitor, for sure. If it made people ask less questions he'd fake a damn marriage license personally.

…though Naruto would most likely freak out about that, too.

Charasuke's gesturing had become more urgent, and Sasuke awkwardly cleared his throat, wishing Naruto would show up and put him out of his misery.

"A year," he said, rubbing his neck uncomfortably.

Sakura's head snapped up, fingers digging into the table surface.

"Who confessed?" she asked, breathless, and Sasuke was going to bash Charasuke's face in later for looking so amused.

He desperately tried to come up with a plausible scenario, but the only thing that came to mind was when he'd told Naruto right after defeating Kaguya that he was going with him to Konoha.

"I guess I did," he sighed, figuring he'd passed the point of no return already.

A high-pitched squeal erupted from the previously so depressed girl, and Sasuke was starting to regret several of his life choices.

"I can't believe it!" Sakura gushed, though she looked like she did. "Where did you do it? What did you say?!"

Sasuke gave up his dignity and sent a pleading look in Charasuke's direction, but his alter ego was busy examining his sleeves. It was starting to dawn on him that he'd walked into a trap and swallowed the bait hook, line, and sinker.

Fine. Fine. If they wanted a story, he'd give them something good. Something that would distract them from the truth. It was basic tactics, anyway. If the enemy is looking for information, give them what they expect to find and they won't stick around looking for the truth.

"We haven't told anyone," he started, "Konoha is not so accepting in our dimension…"

Sakura's eyes widened and she straightened up, enraptured by the story already. Got you, he thought.

"That's terrible," she gasped.

"It is what it is," he shrugged, starting to relax now as he mapped out the lie in his head. "A year ago there was a huge war, and lots of people died. Naruto and I weren't far off, either."

Even Charasuke looked captured now, and Sasuke almost felt bad for lying to them. It was too late now, though, and so he carefully arranged his features to look resolute, as if the memory was painful. He couldn't say it was, really.

"We got separated, stuck on different sides of the battlefield. If he'd died I wouldn't have known until it was over."

Sakura was getting teary-eyed, holding a hand in front of her mouth as he continued telling the almost but not quite truth.

"I had a sword run through me, almost hitting my heart." He pointed to the place on his chest where there was still a scar, frowning as he remembered how he'd struggled to stay alive. That part hadn't been fun, that was for sure. "Luckily I was saved by a medic nin and found Naruto again, and together we fought the ones responsible for starting the war."

"Who was it?" Charasuke asked, but Sasuke shook his head.

"Don't interrupt me."

"Fine, sorry."

"Everyone else was either trapped in a genjutsu or useless, so it was just the two of us left. I'd had a lot of time to think while I was dying, and…"

He hesitated. He wasn't about to go into details with Hagoromo and everything, but he needed to phrase his lie in a sufficiently romantic but non-sappy way to make it seem plausible. No one would look at him and believe he was capable of romance, right?

"I guess when we'd finally defeated them and saved everyone, I just… looked at him and…" he grasped for words, forgetting about Charasuke and Sakura for a while. He really had been looking at Naruto then, all his emotions jumbled together in a terribly frightening mix of relief, sadness, anger, but mostly… affection.

"It's one of those feelings you can't explain with words, isn't it?" Sakura whispered, eyes glittering in a way that definitely would have sent him running if it was the Sakura from his own dimension.

"Sure," he agreed, glad he wouldn't need to clarify his emotions at the time. "I just knew what I had to do."

"That is so romantic," Sakura sighed wistfully, chin resting on her palm as she stared into nothingness. "Feelings blossoming in the midst of battle… It's like in those famous movies!"

Sasuke coughed, deeming the story sufficiently told and adding some more of Naruto's meat to the grill. He just hoped she wouldn't ask anything else because really, he was starting to feel a headache forming from all this nonsense.

He glanced up from the meat just in time to see Naruto hurrying their way, teeth gnawing on his lower lip and looking decidedly stressed.

"I'm not feeling well come on Sasuke we're leaving!" he rambled, taking hold of his arm and all but dragging him away.

"What?! Where are you going?!" Sakura shouted after them, but Naruto waved her off with a grimace.

"Stomachache!" he shouted back, and a few seconds later they were outside and heading down the street.

"Dobe, what the fuck? I was eating."

"What, I thought you didn't want to be there? This is me doing you a favor."

"Why do I get the feeling it's for a selfish reason," Sasuke muttered, allowing himself to get dragged but resisting enough to show Naruto he wasn't happy about it.

"It's not."

"No?"

"No."

Fine, whatever. As with everything else, Naruto would tell him eventually. Maybe he should be thankful that Naruto hadn't stuck around to hear Sakura's comments on his confession…

Yeah, that one was going to come back and bite him in the ass.

xxx

Itachi walked with care over the scattered debris, making his way over to the small canyon separating that part of the forest from the training caves on the other side. The destruction caused by Naruto and Menma's fight hadn't been properly cleaned up, seeing as Tsunade had decided to shut off the area rather than attempt to reconstruct it. There wasn't much left of the inner constructions, anyway, which was a shame in Itachi's opinion because it had been an impressive place.

Though the good part with it being abandoned was that no one came sneaking around to watch him train his new, and also first, student.

The bridge crossing over the canyon was gone by now, though moving over distances was hardly a problem for someone as skilled as him. The drop down to the rocky ground wasn't far either, but in even worse condition and too much of an effort to walk over.

With random intervals on the cliff wall were entranceways and holes made from explosions or heavy tailed beasts passing through, making the place a rather sorry sight. There were parts on the inside that were closed off or completely destroyed, though Itachi took confident steps towards the main hall where he could feel the chakra signature of his awaiting student.

He hadn't picked his student willingly, more like he'd been handed him by unanimous vote of the rest of the Akatsuki. Of course, at the time they had thought it was a brilliant idea to put Itachi in charge of him, though if they knew how things were currently standing they might have relieved him from his duties. Even so, Itachi was the only Akatsuki member relatively close to Konoha, and probably the only one able to handle the kid. Actually, he was surprised an Uchiha hadn't been put in charge earlier.

Nevertheless he was stuck training the new up-and-coming member of Akatsuki, whether either of them liked it or not.

Eyes adjusting to the dim lighting, Itachi paused when he reached the back of the hall where a large throne-like chair cut out of the rock was situated. Very few people knew that Menma had used this place as a base during his so called 'escapades' that time, and Itachi found it slightly ironic to look at the blond kid slouched on its seat and knowing there had been not one, but two masked men responsible for the near catastrophic event.

Not surprisingly, Menma didn't like talking about it.

"You're early," Itachi commented, discerning a bored look on the younger ninja's face as his eyes finished adjusting.

"Didn't really have anything better to do," Menma replied with a shrug, leaning his head in one hand to observe Itachi. "Though I was early last time, too."

"I suppose."

He could feel a slight tension to Menma's presence, and that pleased him. He should be feeling tense considering his treatment of Itachi's precious little brother. Not that Sasuke knew he knew about their fight, for some reason Sasuke had been so secretive about Menma even though it was obvious they were involved.

"I was half expecting you not to show up at all," he continued, narrowing his eyes when Menma swallowed uncomfortably.

"It's not like I'm happy to be here," Menma replied, straightening up on the throne but looking to the side. "We both know the only reason I'm joining Akatsuki is to keep me out of the village for a while."

Itachi spent a minute in silence contemplating the boy, the tension in his shoulders that seemed permanent, the dejected expression on his face, and how he appeared… spent, somehow. He hadn't been told explicitly what the reason for Menma joining them was, mostly vague excuses that if he became Hokage then they needed a new member from Konoha to represent them, or that the experience would be good for Menma. It was all top secret, no one outside Akatsuki and Tsunade's closest advisors knew.

"Weren't you also ordered to stay inside the village because of Naruto's arrival?"

Menma shrugged, glancing at him from the corner of his eye.

"Hasn't Sasuke talked to you? I did think you'd be angry at me."

"This is work," he answered, keeping his tone light but it was clear Menma took the hint not to try and hang out after work was finished.

"So you're angry," Menma mumbled, not surprised. "Sorry for causing you trouble."

"Am I really the one you should apologize to?"

Standing up, Menma rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck as if he hadn't heard his question and instead prepared for training. Physical training was only a small part of what Itachi was supposed to teach him, and he had to wonder why Menma seemed to assume today was one of those sessions.

"No," Menma said simply, looking Itachi square in the eye. "But what happened between me and your brother is none of your business. I will do what I want."

Itachi could feel the tick in his eye, and decidedly removed his Akatsuki cloak. Today was definitely going to be a physical training session.

xxx

If Naruto had a destination in mind, Sasuke couldn't figure out what it was. They were walking fast, Naruto still keeping his wrist in a tight grip, and Sasuke was growing more and more irritable. Still, Naruto didn't look like he noticed anything around him, lips either forming half said words or being chewed on, his eyebrows deeply furrowed. Sasuke wasn't worried, of course not, but Naruto had been acting strange the past days and he couldn't help but wonder if it was all going to culminate soon, and whether or not he really wanted to be in the vicinity when it happened.

The final straw came when Naruto decided to drag him up the stairs leading to the top of the Hokage mountain.

"Naruto," he said in a firm tone, digging his heels in to force the other into pausing. "I'm not walking the whole way up."

"Up? Up where?" Naruto asked, turning his head upwards in confusion, his mouth forming into an 'o' when he realized where they were going. "Oh, up there. Uh, no, maybe not."

Of course, it's not that Sasuke was tired or anything, he just couldn't see the point in taking the stairs when they could easily jump up using some chakra boosted moves. Still staring straight up, Naruto's eyes got a glassy look that either meant he was bored or talking to Kurama. Sasuke guessed the latter because soon Naruto puffed his cheeks out in annoyance and huffed, finally letting go of Sasuke's arm as he crossed his own.

Leaving the dobe to himself, Sasuke walked over to the railing on the small landing they were standing on, which was connecting two staircases and providing a good spot to overlook the village below. He rarely climbed the Hokage mountain, not too excited about the prospect of seeing the village in its entirety. It was easier to forget where he was when it wasn't so… obvious. It also reminded him of that time he went back to talk to the dead kages. This Konoha was certainly more alike the one he'd grown up in compared to the reconstructed one, except now he realized there was no secluded Uchiha district.

He hadn't really thought about it before, but the Uchiha seemed to live scattered throughout the village here, and the small lake where he'd spent a large chunk of his lonely years didn't even have a dock in the same place he remembered.

Since it was getting dark quickly he couldn't quite make it out, but the area he grew up in was filled to the brim with tightly packed houses that looked nothing like the elegant ones his family had owned.

"What are you looking at?"

Naruto must have gotten over his talk with Kurama because he came to stand next to him instead, leaning his arms on the railing and squinting at the sunset. His face was lit up just barely in orange and dark yellow, the last rays of sun glittering in his eyes.

Sasuke shook his head resolutely, getting rid of the weird observations he was making. There was nothing interesting about the sun shining on Naruto's face. It did that every day. Except when it was cloudy of course.

"Oi, answer when I'm talking to you!"

Naruto's elbow nudged him in the ribs and brought forth a nasty scowl, not that he seemed bothered by it. It really was rather disturbing how little Naruto was affected by his glares nowadays. When they were thirteen he would at least have gotten a stupid remark about it.

"What do you think I'm looking at," he muttered, remembering his irritation over Naruto dragging him all the way there for no reason. "I could have been looking at the meat instead but evidently you thought it was a better idea to just randomly run off. Moron."

"I didn't randomly run off," Naruto objected, angry for a second before deflating again. "It was your fault anyway."

"I doubt that," Sasuke disagreed, but Naruto looked down so that his face was mostly hidden from view.

The following silence was slightly awkward, a prickling feeling creeping up Sasuke's back and making him feel highly uncomfortable. Clearly there was something on Naruto's mind that had caused him to leave the restaurant so abruptly, and Sasuke hated having to wait for Naruto to explain things. He had a gut feeling he wasn't going to like the reason. It didn't help that Naruto started fidgeting, scratching old paint off the railing and scuffing his shoe against the ground. In the quiet of the night, those small noises were successfully ticking Sasuke off.

"Either spit it out or I'm leaving," he ordered, Naruto stiffening before chuckling nervously.

"It's nothing, really."

"Well then I'm leaving."

"No!"

Sasuke had barely managed to take a step back before Naruto's fingers dug into his forearm, blue eyes pleading with him to stay.

"I'll tell you, okay? Just… just give me a sec."

Sighing, Sasuke returned to his previous position, glancing at Naruto's distraught face. He couldn't understand what could be so difficult to talk about. Unless Naruto wanted to talk about feelings, in which case he should definitely plan his escape route. It was one thing to sometimes drift into more serious topics, and Naruto did have a tendency to spout emotional stuff, but the way he was carefully thinking it over could only mean bad news.

"I forgot to tell you about Jiraiya being dead here too, but Asuna has a teacher with the same name so at first I thought he was alive but yeah he wasn't and…"

Naruto trailed off, abnormally focused on the piece of dry paint he was scratching off with a nail.

"Nice try," Sasuke told him, still not sure he wanted to hear the actual thing bothering him but too used to calling out his excuses to stop himself.

Letting out a groan Naruto slumped against the railing, muttering to himself about what sounded suspiciously like 'perceptive bastards thinking they were cool and shit'. Honestly he was starting to get tired with the whole thing now, he was a hundred percent sure that if Naruto could just learn to speak his mind instead of faking everything being fine then his own life would be so much easier. For one he wouldn't need to spend unnecessary time trying to figure out dobe language.

"Umm, Sasuke, can I ask you a question?"

Well fucking finally.

"If you've got nothing better to do."

"Bastard," Naruto pouted, shoving him with his shoulder.

For some obscure reason the contact didn't cease as Naruto took a deep breath, let it out, then took another deep one only to let it out again at which point Sasuke got tired for real and lightly slapped the back of his head.

"Oww! What was that for?!"

"You never getting to the point."

Naruto bit his lip, his reluctant expression easy to see even in the fading light now that he was standing so close. Kind of too close, actually, but Sasuke waved the thought off and concentrated on waiting impatiently. Naruto seemed intent on doing anything he could to annoy him today and invading his personal space was one thing he'd unfortunately already gotten used to ignoring.

"So um, what do you think of gay people?"

Sasuke almost threw him over the railing. The only reason he didn't was because he didn't want half the village to suffer from Naruto's angry yelling as he fell. He was so considerate.

"Is there a point to this question?"

Instead of getting annoyed, Naruto only kept staring at the ground and gnawing on his lip. Sasuke was starting to realize that maybe this actually was what had been bothering Naruto the past days. Maybe all those people calling the both of them gay and assuming them to be in a relationship had finally gotten him to the point where he contemplated going on a killing spree to get rid of everyone bothering them, only checking to see if Sasuke would think it was worth the effort.

Or well, Sasuke wished that would have been the case because the solution would be so much easier than whatever problem Naruto had. Sadly wishful thinking got him nowhere and the atmosphere turned increasingly more awkward as Naruto tensely waited for his reply.

"I don't think anything in particular about them, you're the one panicking as soon as the word is mentioned."

After sending him a quick glance, Naruto chewed harder on his lips. This continued for a minute or so, Naruto alternating between glancing and chewing, and fidgeting some more. Just as Sasuke was beginning to think that the village might forgive him anyway for disturbing the peace and quiet, Naruto inhaled shakily and ran a hand through his hair, licking his dry lips before attempting to explain himself.

"But what if you like girls, but then there's guys too, and it's like, being with guys is totally weird but also not weird, and then everyone just assumes you're gay and…" he made a grimace, rubbing his cheek and staring with gloomy eyes at the view. "I know I like girls," he added in a small voice, sounding as if he was trying to convince himself but not being sure if he should.

It dawned on Sasuke then that Naruto was just as much of a dobe as he kept calling him.

"You can't be serious," he said, dismayed that all along Naruto was fretting over something so tiny and insignificant as whether he liked girls or guys or whatever.

"I know it's weird!" Naruto exclaimed, frustrated and pulling at his hair. "I just can't help it, and Kurama keeps telling me I'm being an idiot and that I obviously like guys but-"

"No," Sasuke said, placing his palm across Naruto's distraught face. "There's nothing weird. You like girls? Whatever. You like guys? Good for you. Can we go back to the barbeque now or do you think they finished all the food already?"

Naruto was gaping at him, literally gaping, so shocked that they stood there for almost thirty seconds before he seemed to realize that Sasuke's hand was smacked against his face. Quickly pulling it away, Naruto gripped his wrist with both hands and squeezed, still staring at him with ridiculously wide eyes.

"You mean you don't think it's weird? You mean it's okay if I, I mean if, if I," Naruto faltered, swallowing thickly and averting his eyes again.

Really, what was Naruto acting all shy and embarrassed for? He didn't give two shits if Naruto liked guys or girls or both as long as he didn't replace Sasuke with anyone.

…wait, scratch that last part. He had no idea how it snuck in there.

"This was seriously bothering you?"Sasuke asked, wondering how someone like Naruto, who had travelled with the infamous pervert Jiraiya, who owned way too many magazines with both guys and girls scantily dressed in questionable positions, could feel so distressed over something like being interested in guys.

"What, you know what it's like at home," Naruto mumbled, blushing angrily.

He was still peeling off paint with his nails, more viciously now, stiff and defensive and Sasuke felt like he should do something but really couldn't think of anything that wasn't simply too, well, close.

"Well we're not at home," he sighed, and Naruto looked up sharply, studying his profile while Sasuke let his gaze travel through the darkened village. "Besides, it's not like that stuff is anyone else's business. People are way too interested in other people's personal lives."

He frowned, thinking both of Sakura's earlier questioning and all the annoying people gossiping about him in their own dimension. Naruto had always been sensitive to those things, though, so maybe it wasn't that strange after all that he'd been worrying about it.

Before he could say anything else, Naruto released a heavy sigh that ended in a faint smile.

"You're the best, Sasuke," he said, at last seeming to relax again.

Sasuke merely grunted in response, his frown returning when he suddenly found himself surrounded by arms belonging to a certain dobe who had face-planted onto his shoulder for some obscure reason.

"Don't hug me," he complained automatically, as always wondering what exactly in his behavior that made Naruto think hugging was a good idea.

"You're the best," Naruto repeated himself, the words muffled this time and Sasuke's shoulder heating up from the warm air leaving his mouth.

There was some kind of tingling there, too, and the heat seemed to stubbornly spread throughout his body, but Sasuke refused to dwell on such things.

"Tch," he said dismissively, standing completely still so the moron wouldn't get the silly idea that he was in any way hugging him back.

If he leaned his cheek against the top of Naruto's head it was completely coincidental and only because his neck was tired.

xxx

Menma arrived home with a slight limp, though it would be gone in the morning thanks to the kyuubi's healing. He was feeling sore all over, in fact, and he was sure the shallow cut on his side had soaked his shirt. Not that he cared.

The lights were on in the house, just his luck that his parents would be home tonight. The only good thing about joining Akatsuki was that he could finally move out. His parents were good people but they seriously nagged too much.

If they only knew what he was capable of…

Shrugging the dangerous thoughts off, Menma sneaked in through his window and headed straight for the shower, successfully locking himself inside the bathroom before either parent could come greet him. Not that it stopped his mother from knocking on the door as he was peeling off the ruined shirt.

"Menma? You really should tell us if you'll be skipping dinner."

"Yeah, sorry," he called back, deciding it was probably best to bring the shirt into the shower with him and rinse it off before getting rid of it.

He knew urging Itachi into a fight had been a stupid idea, but he was still itching to continue, wishing he could go find some secluded training area and break it in tiny pieces. Sadly Itachi had followed him home almost the whole way, making any such plans impossible. Going out again now was just too much trouble.

The feeling of hot water beating against his back was soothing, and he stood for several minutes with his head bent forwards, trying not to think of anything. Like it always did whether he wanted it to or not, Sasuke's face floated into his mind. His pretty lips, always quick to laugh but just as easily downturned. His expressive eyes, dark and alluring, looking at him in ways he shouldn't, couldn't…

Gritting his teeth, Menma straightened up again and grabbed for the shampoo, massaging it thoroughly into his hair and ignoring the knots he found. There were things he really could do without thinking of right now, especially Sasuke.

Sasuke couldn't be his to think of, anyway.

Closing his eyes he rinsed the shampoo off, holding his breath as long as he could before ducking out of the water spray and gasping for air. He wished he could stay in the shower the whole night, never needing to sleep. Getting to work on his body instead he winced as he gingerly cleaned the wound, imagining for a torturous second that there was another hand there, a much paler one, caressing his skin with delicate care.

Placing a palm against the shower wall he leaned his forehead against it, pressing his other hand against the cut and letting the pain wash away all thought.

It was better that way.

Yes hello I'm still alive and well! I just had a severe case of writer's block by the end of summer break, and then I got a new job! A weekday job! So I am currently juggling three jobs and studying full time. Isn't it amazing. This job was way too good to pass on though, so yeah that's how it is.

Anyway! Did Naruto finally get the hint? *gasp* Sasuke seems like he's got a ways to go though... That boy is very inventive when it comes to thinking up excuses. I'm sure you're all angry you didn't get any Kurama commentary this chapter, but don't worry! You will get too much probably when we reach the real deal! Which is soon yay!

And Menma finally makes his appearance... I'm guessing some of you are happy Itachi got him good lol.

As always there were things I meant to say in the AN but I keep forgetting the important stuff. I'll try to get better with writing life updates on ao3 and though, but if you're worried whether or not I'm alive you can go check my tumblr because I'm always there haha. If I'm lucky I can write a bit more this week, but we'll see! And it might be for other stories heh, I'm so behind on everything it's depressing, really. At least I'm earning money wiiee.