Warning: Mostly swearing, and of course a little Yaoi.

I don't own Naruto, this story is for my own twisted amusement (and hopefully yours as well) and I make no profit from it.

Thank you everyone who reviewed…You are my inspiration 8D.

I noticed my math is now a bit flawed in my flashbacks but I don't want to go back and change it, I changed the length of time he was in college, since a detective needs at least a bachelors, I probably will go back and fix it eventually. To be correct: in present day Naruto is twenty four, when he met Sasuke he was twelve and so on… sorry but you'll get it.

Helping People

It's So Much Harder When They're Cranky

"Naruto! Stop it. He didn't do it. I don't feel any negative emotions when I look at him just," Sasuke shrugged, "contentment."

Naruto felt the blood freeze in his veins and his heart constrict in pain at those words, he could barely breathe. Was he so obsessed with Sasuke that he couldn't even tolerate him being happy with anyone else? Wasn't that supposed to be proof of love, if you only want the other person to be happy even if it's with someone else? Did this make him a horrible person? Because he knew that if Sasuke was in love with someone else he would want to die.

He looked at Kakashi and felt the world shudder and stop. The man was crumpled at his desk as if shattered and devastated, tears running freely down his face.

"You loved him." Naruto wasn't sure if he was talking to Kakashi or Sasuke.

Chapter 6

Naruto stood numbly in Kakashi's office, struggling with his emotions; jealousy, so this is what that feels like. The ghost had always been just his, he'd never had to share him with anyone. Sasuke however, had had to share him with everyone: Tsunade, Hinata, Sakura, numerous girls at college and he'd never been very understanding of the ghost's feelings. He felt so selfish, he had put Sasuke through hell over and over again. He'd never even told Sasuke he loved him; he'd implied it but had never really said it.

He remembered the distraught look on Sasuke's face the day he'd realized Sakura was a serious girlfriend and not going anywhere.

Flashback

(Three years previous)

Naruto is twenty-one

…Cue piano solo

Naruto surveyed his small dorm room wondering to himself how he'd come this far. This was his third year at State, three years into getting his degree in criminal justice. He looked back on the last three years with nostalgia.

It had not been easy having his most precious person be invisible. His freshman roommate, Nara Shikamaru, had frequently wondered aloud why Naruto only slept on one side of his bed and how he always managed to not succumb to gravity and simply fall off. He had even remarked numerous times that it was as if Naruto were being held by someone.

The blond had become so used to his godmother's large house and privacy that he would often forget Sasuke and he were not alone. He would often slip up and made numerous mistakes. Sometimes though, it almost seemed like Shika could feel Sasuke, it was a little bizarre. For example, one night Naruto had been sitting on his bed, reading his psych homework while absentmindedly threading his fingers through Sasuke's silky hair; when his roommate, seeming very confused, had asked him exactly what he was doing with his fingers. He had looked down at Sasuke as his fingers stopped their soothing movements to find the ghost giving Shikamaru a glare of death, the mood of the room had shifted completely as you could feel the malice emanating from icy black eyes. Shika had cleared his throat awkwardly and said 'okay, forget I said anything, I'm going to the library' and left.

Still, putting the thought of Shika being psychic aside, Naruto was lucky that his roommate didn't really care if the blond was odd and tended to have conversations with thin air or react to invisible things.

They had seen a few other ghosts on campus: one in the library, one wandered about the lake and another appeared to be his friend Gaara's mother following him around making sure he was okay. None of them seemed remotely threatening and didn't really need help either but Sasuke was with him to communicate with them just in case.

Naruto wanted Sasuke with him always, it comforted him greatly to know that whenever he turned around the ghost would be there, but he knew he needed to prepare for the time when Sasuke wouldn't be there. So ever since the Hinata incident he'd been trying his best to keep Sasuke at arm's length, he'd distanced himself, trying to wean himself from his addiction gradually. To accomplish this Naruto had many different sexual partners, always female and almost never the same girl twice. He figured he was in college, he should experiment right?

Naruto was popular, he was attractive and not really worried about having a lasting relationship at the moment, and that seemed appealing to many a female student. The blond always told them he wasn't looking for a commitment right now so all he could offer them was a one night stand or a nonexclusive fling of some sort. Sasuke was not happy. He would always inexplicably disappear whenever Naruto was with a coed, like it was something he didn't want to see. Sometimes they would be walking side by side up to his room, a girl would be waiting there, and Sasuke would just turn on his heel and walk away, often not returning for hours.

Then he got bored. After a while he didn't even respond to them, he had to imagine Sasuke with him to become aroused at all.

Sasuke appeared to notice. He had taken to doing some absurd things for the blonde's attention, like roaming their dorm room with no clothes randomly shouting 'naked time'. Because of that and other instances Naruto was now in a near constant state of excitement. Like one day Naruto came into his room after class with Shika next to him and Sasuke was lying on his bed completely naked, brazenly pleasuring himself. He had gasped and stared, embarrassed and painfully erect, Shika had left immediately, citing some excuse about visiting his girlfriend Temari.

Sasuke was driving him crazy, he needed to find a way to make it stop.

All that drama was a thing of the past though, or at least partially. From the beginning of this year he had found himself with his own room, Shikamaru had somehow managed to find them suite dorms where they no longer had to share a room but instead just shared a bathroom. And Naruto had decided last month that since he had some privacy he would try quality over quantity and get another girlfriend. It had not worked so well last time but he was hoping this time would be different.

Sakura was in his Abnormal Psych class and he had been flirting with her shamelessly. The pretty nursing student had seemed interested and unaware of his reputation. They had been dating for a couple weeks now and he was giving monogamy a shot.

Sakura would be here any minute now they had gone out almost every day he didn't have too much studying to do, and Sasuke was… being difficult. Sitting on his orange comforter, mostly being all broody emo guy and well pouting was the only way to describe it really.

"Did you want to come with us?" Naruto asked while fumbling, trying to fix his tie. They were going to have dinner with Tsunade tonight, a big step.

"Pass. You know I can't stand your girlfriend." Sasuke stood up came to stand in front of him, deft fingers fixing Naruto's tie properly.

"It's only been two weeks, give her a chance, you might learn to like her."

"Somehow I don't think that will happen."

"She likes you though," Naruto teased, tilting his chin slightly so Sasuke could tighten his tie. "You should've seen the way she looked at the painting I did of you. I wanted to ask her if she needed a little private time with it." Was he really trying to make their relationship work? Probably not, since he didn't care in the slightest if Sakura was drooling over Sasuke, and he wasn't really jealous about her feelings after all she couldn't even see him so she couldn't possibly take him away.

"Ugh, Moron, that's disgusting."

"Mmm, is it?" Sasuke was far too close to him, his soft lips only an inch or so away.

"Yes," the pale young man licked his lips, staring fixatedly at the incredibly soft looking mouth so close to his own. "So you can tell her I'm not interested. She's lacking some important equipment." Reaching down, Sasuke boldly cupped the blonde's half-hard dick, stroking it through Naruto's pants until it was achingly hard and leaking.

Naruto fought an inward battle with himself, one that he ultimately lost, he decided fuck the consequences, he was tired of being good. He wanted to play. He arched into that pleasure giving hand and closed the gap between them, nibbling Sasuke's lower lip, licking it lightly, soothingly before thrusting his tongue inside in a rough proprietorial kiss.

Maneuvering Sasuke toward the bed, Naruto laid him down on it, settling himself between spread slacks clad legs, he whispered in his ear, "So you like my equipment do you? Not too big?" He rubbed said equipment against his friend, chuckling at his choked gasp.

"Ah, don't flatter yourself, moron."

The blond sucked on the tender, oh so sensitive skin just below Sasuke's ear. "Oh, really?" He breathed softly into the ghost's neck, large tan hands flat on the bed on either side of Sasuke's head, he deliberately abstained from touching him anywhere else, "Naked time." The private school uniform disappeared almost instantly, "Hey, that's handy," Naruto observed, a big grin on his face.

"We should wait until you send your girlfriend away properly, we don't want to be interrupted again do we?" Pale hands found their way under a fancy button-up blue shirt, caressing a wide muscular back as Sasuke hooked his feet around Naruto's legs, holding him closer.

"I can't sent her away, we're going to Tsunade's for dinner, remember?"

"So you're choosing her over me… again."

"Dammit Sasu, we've had this conversation before, I have to make an effort to be normal. If I don't I won't be able to move around as a detective and find any information for you." Naruto's eyes darkened, sliding up and down Sasuke's naked body, "But as soon as I get back we can fool around all you want." He firmly grasped a creamy slender cock in his wide calloused hand, twisting, pulling and rubbing his thumb across the bulbous mushroom head while licking a light pink nipple.

Sasuke closed his eyes, "Ah… Fuck, Stop it."

"What? You started it."

"My mistake," the apparition opened his eyes, gazing into blue imploringly, "Can't we spend the day together, like old times?" As soon as the words left his mouth there was a knock on the door.

"Sakura," Naruto looked toward the door, "just a second!" He shouted the last part, talking to his girlfriend on the other side of the door.

"Get off, let me up." Sasuke looked pissed but a little devastated at the same time. No one else would be likely to notice but Naruto had been with the ghost a long time now so he was getting quite adept at reading his moods, although interpreting the reasons for those moods seemed to elude him.

The blond man did as he was told, a little disappointed when Sasuke's school uniform reappeared, "Hey, calm down." He said as he headed for the door. Naruto opened it, trying to ignore Sasuke in his fit of pique, and stepped aside for Sakura to enter.

"No, I will not fucking calm down! I'm sick of this fucking shit. I am not your goddamn toy, Naruto. You can't just play with me whenever you want and leave me in the box, ignored the rest of the time. Why don't you play with your girlfriend and leave me the fuck alone." Sasuke barely waited for Sakura to get out of his way, then absconded in a temper, slamming the door open farther and then shutting it just as forcefully behind him.

Naruto winced as the loud bang echoed throughout the small room, "Strangely violent drafts today huh?" Naruto commented to Sakura after the ghost had gone.

End of Flashback

(Return to present day…)

The detective made a shameful self-discovery; he realized that Sasuke had been right; he did have a tendency to only pay attention to the spirit when he felt like it, use him whenever he was bored and then ignore him the rest of the time. Just thinking about the fact that Sasuke had a real life with emotional attachments, friends and family put everything into perspective, dead or not Sasuke was a person, a real person and Naruto was a jerk. He treated Sasuke like shit and had for years. How does he even go about responding to something like this? By saying: 'Sorry I'm such a big fucking selfish jerk that doesn't think about anyone but myself'?

He was always trying to protect himself, thinking that denying them a physical relationship would somehow stop him from falling too much for Sasuke, that he would not miss him as much when he eventually left him, without realizing it was already far too late. When Sasuke left he would be broken, he would cry for him so long and loud he would be heard at the beginning of time and he would continue until the day he died. Why wasn't he saving up all the memories he could, to get him through all the long lonely nights without him?

He swallowed his emotions, closing the too-painful-to-think-about-right-now box and concentrated on his objective, getting to the bottom of the mystery of who killed Sasuke and how.

"Okay," Naruto declared brusquely, deliberately not looking at either Sasuke or Kakashi, "now that we've established the affair, I need you to tell me everything that you can remember about that day."

The professor was still quite upset by the vision of Sasuke's tragic death as described by Naruto and tried desperately to regain his former composure. "I guess I always retained some hope that Sasuke wasn't really dead, that maybe he had just run away or something. Itachi was always so sure that he would find him." Kakashi mused into the silence, not really answering Naruto's question. He wiped his eyes and looked directly at the detective. "To hear you talk as if it's a foregone conclusion that he was murdered is a little difficult for me to accept. How do you know so much? You also seem to be too emotionally invested, considering he's someone you never met."

Naruto shrugged and avoided the question, "I found the story on the internet and was curious."

"Uh huh, right, that's believable," Sasuke muttered, leaning against the wall, trying to absorb the implications of his new memories, "You may as well be holding a sign that says, 'Hi, I'm suspicious'."

The professor made no comment as Naruto seemed to glare off into space for no apparent reason, but he did shift in his chair, adjusting his posture in case he needed to make a quick getaway. Clearing his throat, he answered the detective's almost forgotten question, "Well, to my recollection, the day started normally. Sasuke was supposed to come over to my house the night before, for some 'tutoring' help, but he had not shown up. When I asked him about it, he told me 'something came up', but didn't elaborate, he didn't seem worried about it so I wasn't either."

"Could you read Sasuke?" At Kakashi's questioning gaze he explained, "Could you tell if he's being honest or if he's just telling you what you wanted to hear?"

"I presumed that I could, after all, we were close."

Naruto's fists clenched.

"Okay… Did he stare straight at you? Extremely focused, like almost not blinking?" Naruto described what he had come to know as Sasuke's lie face.

"Yes."

"Was anyone else acting strange? Even if it's someone completely unrelated, it could still be important."

The professor thought for a moment, searching his memories, "The headmaster's assistant, Kabuto, and one of Sasuke's fellow students, Kimimaru, seemed perturbed by something that day and they were both over whatever it was a couple days later."

"Okay, good. Thank you for your time," Naruto reached across the desk, shaking the man's hand.

"Let me show you out," Kakashi got up from his chair.

Holding his hand up, Naruto stopped him, "That's okay, I remember the way out." Opening the door, he waited for Sasuke to exit before he stepped through himself. He didn't want to be rude, but he wanted to talk to Sasuke in private before they got to the hotel. To make up in some small way for what he'd done, he needed to tell Sasuke he loved him as soon as possible and ask him what he wanted for the future.

On the way out, he searched for a quiet place to talk, like an empty secluded hallway. It didn't take long to find one since all the students were still in class. Spotting a short deserted hallway off to the side by the bathrooms, Naruto headed for it at a fast pace. Sasuke had barely rounded the corner behind him when the blond pulled him into a tight embrace.

"What are you doing, idiot."

"I'm so sorry, baby." His voice was muffled as he buried his face against the silky smooth column of a pale perfect throat, "I've been such an asshole, by not paying enough attention to you and not considering your feelings. I love you so much and I've wasted so much time." He drew back slightly, cupping the sides of Sasuke's face, he gazed deeply into bottomless black eyes with a small smile. "What is it you want? Do you want to find the person who killed you to give you peace?"

"I don't need to know that to have peace dobe, I decided long ago that all I need is to be with you. What about you? Do you still need to ignore me most of the time to feel normal?"

"Nah, normality is overrated," Gripping the head of blue-black hair firmly, Naruto pulled him into a deep kiss, electricity coursing through his veins at the feel of the strong full lips on his. Pulling back, breathless, "Let's go make up for lost time." He suggested as he gently pulled the dazed apparition toward the exit.

As they were leaving the building Naruto saw a man walking down the hallway toward them. The pasty man had long black hair, yellow eyes and a smarmy expression, being tremendously creepy even though he was wearing a fancy suit and tie, Naruto felt his cop senses tingling. He had not released Sasuke's hand, so he immediately felt the ghost stop dead in his tracks just before he let out a blood curdling shriek.

"No, No, No…" Sasuke was frozen in place eyes wide, his expression one of abject terror as he stared at the rapidly advancing man. Wrapping his arms around himself almost in protection, he tore his hand from Naruto's, backing away slowly, pleading, "Don't come near me… For the love of god, don't fucking touch me you slimy bastard."

Grabbing the creepy man by the throat, Naruto shoved him back against the wall snarling, "What the fuck did you do to Sasuke you son of a bitch!?"

TBC

I am disappointed in this chapter. I think it's crap, when I started it I wanted it to go in a completely different direction, I wanted it to be much darker, full of angst and homicide detective drama. But alas, my creative muse no work that way. Sigh.

Sorry for any confusion, the synopsis of the passing of three years in a flashback was difficult for me so it wandered and didn't make much sense.

Sorry also that Naruto was being such a dick, but at least he had a 'wow I'm such a dick' epiphany. And that Sasuke was OC and a bit of a whiney little bitch.

Cliché? Very much so but… Madara… need I say more? Really Kishimoto? Really? I am still a little undecided as to whether I'm happy or pissed. THIS PART CONTAINS SPOILERS, seriously if you don't want to know, don't read it. I have always said: "if Kakashi was going to be gay for anybody it would be Obito" and I am looking forward to more Kakashi/Obito fics, now that he's still alive (yes I am perverted). I already found one that was awesome! I was geeking out about it. But I HATE when people randomly come back from the dead, it irritates me. Ranting a bit ;)

Well anyway, hope you liked the update everybody. It took me much longer than anticipated, doesn't it always? Fail.

Comments? Opinions? You know I love them.