A/N: Okay, so, before we get into this chapter, I went back and changed the final line of the last chapter, as I agree with what a few reviewers pointed out in terms of it being inconsistent with other statements regarding Satsuki's mental state.

On to this chapter, this one will be largely from Naruto's perspective, with one intermission for another character in between.

Time for Chapter 40(!)

Enjoy!


Naruto Uzumaki had encountered his fair share of surprising figures dining at the Ichiraku Ramen Stand during his time as a regular customer. The stand was small, but it tended to attract people from all walks of life. Homeless and rich alike could be found seated at one of its four stools depending on the day. Three years prior, he had even shared a surprisingly pleasant conversation over the noodle delicacy with Hiashi Hyuga of all people. There was no exclusivity to be found at Ichiraku.

Despite his experience, he could hardly contain his shock as he pushed past the curtain.

Sitting on the rightmost stool, a pair of chopsticks in her hand and a bowl of meso in front of her, was Haku Yuki. Initially, the Jinchuuriki simply stared. He did several double-takes. The sight was so unexpected, and so lacking in explanation that he could hardly believe what his own eyes were showing him. Even more confusing was the fact that she was donned in what appeared to be the uniform of the Anbu Black Ops unit, save for the mask. Absolutely none of what he was seeing made a modicum of sense.

"You alright, lad?"

Snapping from his trance, the blonde looked beyond the counter, where Teuchi stood. The man was on the older side, perhaps fifty years of age. He had always been pleasant. How deep his knowledge of Naruto ran, the Jinchuuriki did not know, but it hardly mattered.

"Y-Yeah. I'm fine." Naruto said, well aware that his tone was unconvincing. Taking a seat on the opposite side of the small bar, he promptly ordered his most basic meal. Simple beef ramen, with extra noodles. Once the old man had disappeared to whip up the dish, Naruto's eyes slid back over to Haku. For an uncomfortable stretch of time, silence persisted. The blonde's emotions were muddled, but confusion and anger were at the forefront.

"I'd never had it before coming here. Ramen, I mean." Haku eventually said, sliding her bowl forward and carefully lining up her used chopsticks beside it. Her movements were controlled, refined, and intentional. Keeping his glare side-on, Naruto wordlessly accepted his noodles from Teuchi.

"I'm stuck on that first part. I thought you were rotting in a jail cell. Either that, or that you'd been executed." he said, choosing to make an attempt to stay calm. Haku absently tugged at a strand of hair hanging down in front of her left ear.

"As it turns out, my line of work gives me some…special utility." she said vaguely. Naruto narrowed his eyes further. Hearing her voice again was bringing back unpleasant memories, and his mood was dipping by the second.

"Mind elaborating? I'm all ears." he pressed. The huntress shook her head slowly, much to Naruto's great ire. She then took a sip of her water.

"Even if I wanted to, I can't say much. All you need to know is that we play for the same team now." she said, setting her glass down again. The Jinchuuriki took a bite of his ramen, chewing it gradually before swallowing.

"You know what? I don't wanna know. I get the feeling it'd just make me angrier than I already am." he said dismissively. Haku chuckled a bit and drummed her fingers on the glass she was grasping.

"Quite a temper on you. I've been polite." she mused. The Jinchuuriki sipped from his own water, which Teuchi had given him without needing to be told.

"I hate you." he said cuttingly. If his words affected her in any way at all, Haku hid it well, as she gave no reaction other than a slight shrug of her slim shoulders.

"I've seen Satsuki out and about a few times. Honestly, I didn't do much other than ruffle your feathers." she said casually. Naruto's hands tightened into fists under the counter.

"You tried to kill us." he hissed. The huntress shifted in her chair and turned to face him fully, her legs folded over one another.

"I'm not sure what you want me to say. I won't apologize, if that's what you're angling for. Like I told you back then, it was nothing personal." Haku said. She almost sounded bored. The topic didn't phase her in the slightest.

"You really don't care, do you?" the blonde asked. He was thankful for Teuchi's courtesy, as the older man had not returned from the kitchen. Almost certainly out of respect for the conversation at hand.

"Not in your case, no." Haku said bluntly. Naruto generally appreciated honesty, but the huntress' particular brand had pushed him over the edge. With no forethought, the Jinchuuriki leaned forward and cracked her across the jaw with a short punch. There was hardly any real force behind it, but it was enough to turn her head to the side. Retracting his fist quickly, Naruto prepared himself for retaliation. It never came.

Turning her head back toward him again, Haku wiped a trickle of blood leaking from her lower lip and cleaned her hand with a nearby napkin.

"Did that make you feel better?" she asked. Naruto clenched his jaw. His loss of control was a mark against him, no matter how easily he could justify it within his mind.

"Give me another shot and I'll get back to you on that." he said. Haku said nothing, but she leaned forward ever so slightly. She was offering up her chin again, daring him to swing. Whether she would defend herself or not was a mystery, but the longer Naruto hesitated, the less he wanted to find out.

"If it helps you sleep at night, I still don't have much freedom. I have a curfew, I sleep in the Anbu barracks, and I'm under surveillance most of the time even when I'm not on assignment. I don't even get paid." Haku said once the tense game of chicken had stretched on a bit too long, leaning her elbow on the counter and relaxing her posture.

"Besides, I never asked to be brought here. I was satisfied with dying in that river. It's not my fault Shikamaru has too much of a heart for his own good." she added. Naruto took another bite of his ramen, which was now lukewarm.

"You're not even grateful. You suck, you know that?" he said, his tone abrasive. The huntress sighed and turned back toward her empty bowl.

"I've given my thanks already. Just not to you. I don't particularly care how you feel about my being here. It doesn't matter much." she replied. The Jinchuuriki noted her wording, and its implications for whom she had likely been spending time with.

"Just stay away from me. Satsuki, too." he said. Haku downed the last of her glass of water slowly.

"Gladly." she said, standing up from her stool as she spoke. She then retrieved a mask from the counter to her left and put it on. Its design was that of a hawk. Without another word, she pushed past the curtain and left the stand. Shaking off the tension she had inspired in him, Naruto began picking at his cold ramen.

"She didn't pay." he pointed out to Teuchi, who had returned to the counter upon Haku's departure. The older man leaned on the bar and adjusted the flat cap on his grayed hair.

"I know. I invited her in to begin with." he revealed, eliciting a sideways look of skepticism from the Jinchuuriki.

"Why?" he asked directly. Teuchi poured himself a glass of what appeared to be sake from a bottle he produced from beneath the counter, taking a shallow sip.

"She looked troubled. Didn't even have her mask on." he explained. Naruto drummed his fingers on the wood.

"She's a killer, you know." he said. The older man gazed out beyond the curtains of the stand, which were blowing in the wind.

"So's everybody else I serve here. It makes no difference to me. You'll be one too, if you aren't already." he said in response. The blonde rubbed his eyes. It was rather late.

"My hands are still clean." he said, though he knew how little value such a virtue held in the harsh reality of his profession. Teuchi sighed.

"I served my time as a Shinobi. Thirty years, day in and day out. If I could give you any advice at all, it would be to pity those who have lost their warmth, not resent them." he said sagely. It was sound advice. Naruto knew it. Regardless, he couldn't find it within himself to take the words to heart.

"Thanks for that." he said quietly, laying a cluster of coins on the table. As he stood up and began to push past the curtain, he was halted by the older man's voice.

"Once you're done knocking that high-class brat down a peg, come back around and bring your team. On the house." Teuchi called. Naruto glanced back over his shoulder and was met by the stand owner's knowing smile, which he returned.

"I think I'll take you up on that."


Satsuki looked on blankly as she ascended the steps. She was on track to be up far later than she should be for the second night in a row. It was only ten-thirty, but she was a world away from sleeping. Not for any lack of exhaustion. No, she was tired as could be. Her reasoning was far more internalized. She feared dreaming. Finally, after years of tolerance, she simply could not handle it any longer. The nightmares had been worsening, and they had reached a horrid fever pitch recently. In the midst of her skittishness, she had left her home and let her feet take her where they may.

Now, at the behest of her subconscious, she found herself nearing the second floor of Naruto's apartment complex. She had realized where she had been instinctually headed less than halfway through her journey, but by then, she had little desire to turn around. As she neared the landing of the second floor, Satsuki mentally chastised herself for her lack of willpower. She had vowed to remain at a distance for a reason. A reason that had only become more solidified during her separation from the blonde.

He had begun to appear in her nightmares. In some, he was the lone light. In others, he served as another avenue for her pain. It was an even split, but no matter what role he played, it was never a net positive. It always hurt in the end. Despite that, and despite her better judgment, the fact remained that she missed him. It was a foreign feeling to the Uchiha girl, and she scarcely understood it, but she could not deny its truth. There was no point in lying to herself.

Even putting aside his status as perhaps her lone emotional outlet of any health, she had found herself missing their banter. The arguments, the insults, the dry humor, it had all become a routine part of her days without Satsuki herself realizing it up until it disappeared. The occasional moments of soft understanding in particular were a thing she found herself craving. Perhaps she was simply starved for empathy, but it changed nothing. Without meaning to, she had formed a genuine bond with Naruto, and its absence was causing her pain.

'You're so basic.' she chided herself as she pulled herself up onto the next floor by the railing on the wall. She then turned to her right and stared down the hall. He lived in apartment 236. She had only been told his address once, several months ago by this point, but she had never forgotten it. She had always been keen with numbers. Beginning a slow walk down the corridor, Satsuki fiddled with the hem of her skirt.

She felt weak. Breaking her own rules had never been a habit of hers, but she well and truly could not help herself. She had nowhere else to turn. She had never learned where Kakashi's home could be found, and while the Nara family had always been kind, she dared not disturb them at such an hour. Naruto was her only option, and truth be told, he was still her first choice. He understood her, at least to some extent.

'He never had a choice. He learned whether he wanted to or not.' Satsuki mused within her mind, self-embitterment seeping into her. Try as she might, she couldn't shake the memories of what had happened the last time she had spoken to the Jinchuuriki. He had come to her aid unharmed, and left bruised, bloodied, and shaken. The guilt had never left her. He had suffered at her hands, no matter how admirably he had ignored it for her sake.

She had run through that painful day time and again, searching for peace. She had yet to find it. Swallowing a lump in her throat, the raven-haired girl flinched slightly as the lights flickered overhead. The building was far from new, and during her brief stints in her teammate's apartment, she had noticed a lack of circulation in addition to the inconsistent quality of lighting. The complex having as many tenants as it appeared to was a surprise. It wasn't worth its rent.

'I should pay off the landlord and find him a new place to live. It's not like I don't have the savings.' Satsuki thought to herself. In a way, the poor quality of his living conditions was consistent with who he was as a person. He had never experienced anything other than minimal comfort. Minimal support. As such, he was more able than most to simply take what came his way in stride. Though such a trait appeared to be a virtue at first blush, Satsuki found it to be nothing but a vice when applied to Naruto. He deserved better, and he didn't know it.

Worse yet, it meant that he would not, and possibly could not, recognize when an endeavor was no longer worth the struggle. Predictably, this thought brought Sastuki's mind in a circle back around to her own experiences with him.

'You held me while I cut you open. I told you I hated you, and you just kept on telling me it'd all be okay. You wouldn't bail on me, no matter what I did to you.' she recounted. The memories filled her with a contrasting mixture of comfort and great worry. Comfort, because the long-gone feeling of his embrace warmed her to an extent that would never leave her own mind, and worry, because the memory was marred by the reality that he stayed when he shouldn't have.

Before she could explore the contradiction any further, she reached his door. For a number of moments, she simply stood in still silence. Going through with what she had come to do, simply speak with him, would be breaching the separation she had created, and likely the end of it altogether.

'I'm still unstable. This isn't right.' she thought to herself. She feared her own reaction to his face. She feared how she would feel hearing his voice. Her strongest reference for both was still rife with guilt. He had his own struggles. His own stress. The last thing he needed was to be dragged down by her inability to hold herself together alone.

'What changed? Why can't I do this alone anymore?' she lamented, resting her head against Naruto's door at the thought. It was frustrating and embarrassing. She had never needed outside help before the formation of her cell. In the dull quiet of the hall, Satsuki pulled forth past experiences. Numb nights alone, words spoken into dead air, bleak sleep. Waking on time, walking alone, going through the motions. A mindless cycle of monotony broken up by an occasional laugh or a few tears. As she recalled the thoughts, feelings, and circumstances, Satsuki came to a single conclusion.

She did not want to traverse it all alone.

Her pride was intact, and she still loathed the idea of being coddled or taken care of, but connection and understanding were now an integral piece she was decidedly missing. Her own determination to leave Naruto to his own peace, if he had any to begin with, was a direct challenge to what she now wanted, and her personal wants were burning hotter by a mile.

"I'm sorry, but I need you right now." she whispered quietly. She then stepped back and knocked on the door. She was met with nothing but continuing silence. After several seconds, she knocked again. For a second time, it garnered no response. Glancing down, Satsuki eyed the doorbell. He was likely asleep, if his lack of attentiveness was any indication. Ringing the bell would almost certainly wake him up.

'I'm already being selfish.' she thought to herself, putting aside her manners and pressing the button. Listening carefully for movement within the apartment, Satsuki was both surprised and disappointed to hear none whatsoever.

'Either he's ignoring me, or he's sleeping heavy.' she thought to herself. One option was significantly more unpleasant to think about, and as a result, the Uchiha girl opted to convince herself of the latter possibility. Stepping away from the door completely, Satsuki stared at the floor.

"I can wait a week." she muttered to no-one in particular. Unconvinced by her own weak conviction, the raven-haired girl tucked her hair behind her ears and set out for the stairs again.

Unbeknownst to her, Naruto had set out on a similar journey, missing her by minutes.


A chilly wind blew across the streets of Konoha as Naruto pulled his jacket collar up to cover his lower jaw. Summer was well and truly ending, and the nightly temperatures were consistently on the colder side. Having briefly returned home from his dinner at Ichiraku, Naruto had no one to blame for himself for the chills working through him. His trek had begun by choice, and it had ended unsuccessfully. Having found himself both bored and unable to sleep, the Jinchuuriki had chosen to attempt visiting Satsuki. Her gate had been locked. He had not seen her in nearly a week, and while he had occupied that time well, he still found her absence concerning.

The pair's relationship was complicated at best, and an absolute paradox at worst. They fought and bickered an inordinate amount, and they antagonized one another often, but beyond the surface of tension, there existed something far more tender. When the smoke cleared, and the masks dropped away, the pair nearly always found themselves connecting on a deeply personal level. From their blood pact in the tower to unexpectedly holding one another in the cold, their differences always seemed to melt away when they found it within themselves to be honest.

Naruto missed it. All of it.

He missed their back-and-forths, he missed their rather brutal humor, and while he would never say so out loud for the sake of his own safety, he missed her being near enough to be easy to steal a glance at. He had little issue admitting these truths to himself, as they had felt all too obvious once he had given them any degree of thought, but he was entirely lost to what they implied. He had considered her a friend fairly early into their first true assignment as teammates, but there was no denying that things had shifted.

If he had learned anything about Satsuki Uchiha and her place in his life since their cell assignment, it was that she was deeply, wholly complicated. No single emotion could be taken at face value, much less her words. There was always something hiding beneath the surface, dying to be interpreted. It made her fascinating, but equal parts frustrating. She was inconsistent in a way that made her completely unreadable. Shaking his head as his thoughts organized, Naruto turned on to a new street.

She had certainly become warmer toward him in recent weeks. More specifically, since his near-death at the hands of Orochimaru. From that point onward, her behavior had altered little by little. The change had been subtle, until it wasn't in the least. He had never expected to hold the girl in his arms, and especially not at her request, but she had shocked him twice in the space of the same week. The first request had made some degree of sense. She had been cold, and needed to be warmed. But even then, she had shown him genuine affection without prompting.

The second request had been far more direct, and its implications much more blunt. She had wanted to be held for no other reason than support and trust. Naruto knew better than to dwell on what had come next. Shaking his head slightly, Naruto sighed. His emotions regarding her were clouded at best. He understood them very little. All he knew for certain was that they were not negative. He no longer disliked her in any true sense. She was, in many ways, his best friend.

Frowning slightly, the Jinchuuriki rounded another corner. The descriptor of 'friend' didn't quite fit. It nearly did, but something was missing. She was something else. Something less simple. She was not a hormonal crush, either. He had flirted with the idea, but came up dissatisfied. He certainly found her attractive from a physical standpoint. In hindsight, he had caught himself staring more than once. It was the emotional aspect that muddled things.

He cared for her deeply, that much he knew for certain. Her safety mattered to him to an extent that stretched beyond others he knew, and her distress tended to draw him in to help more often than not. He also found her quite funny on occasion. Her jokes were almost always a veiled insult of some kind, and they were always directed at others, but her timing was excellent, and her choice in words was usually snappy. In spite of the many positives he could find in his thoughts of her, she frustrated him to no end.

Her moods shifted on a dime, her actions were erratic, and while he had no proof of it, Naruto couldn't help but feel as though he was being avoided. It was one thing for circumstance to keep them apart, that could be dismissed as poor luck, but six entire days of total absence felt eerily intentional, and not on his part. Turning one final corner, Naruto caught sight of his apartment complex.

"Home sweet home." he mumbled. Picking up his pace to reach the warmth of the indoors sooner rather than later, Naruto broke out into a jog. Soon reaching the front door of the building, the Jinchuuriki stepped inside and relished the heat.

Little did he know, the subject of his thoughts had passed him by, one street over.


A/N: Alright, so this chapter is a tiny bit shorter than the others, but I hope it's not too terribly brief.

As per request, I gave Naruto and Satsuki an exclusive chapter of their own, with a nice little call and response thrown in.

Three more of these chapters to go before the final round begins. I hope you're ready.

Leave me a review if you're able :)

I love you all

Read and Review!