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-Kitsune :)

Chapter 14

Question Me

Kakashi reached the clearing first, followed by Sakura, and they walked a little ways into the training field, then Sakura stopped when Kakashi stopped.

"Where did Naruto and Sasuke disappear to?" he asked. Behind a thick tree, the couple was busy kissing against the trunk.

"Sasuke!"

"Mm."

"They're looking for us.." Naruto hissed. Sasuke sighed and rolled his eyes, letting go of Naruto's waist, steadily growing more irritated by interruptions when he was busy with the blonde.

"Fine.." he silently climbed the tree with his chakra while Naruto walked on out nonchalantly, smiling at Sasuke's sour attitude, which he found cute. While they were talking, Sasuke dropped silently from the tree behind them.

"So, where's Sasuke-kun?" Sakura was asking Naruto. They all turned around and Sasuke was right there in their faces.

"Here." Sasuke said plainly. Kakashi could tell he was a little agitated for some reason. "Hm.. well then, I guess we'll start training." He said after Sakura freaked out about how Sasuke snuck up on them.

"Sasuke-kun you're amazing!! We should totally do something together later by the way! Like.. a nice dinner or something?" she exclaimed. Naruto crossed his arms and glared at her. Sasuke sighed.

"Hm." That was all he bothered to say, much to Sakura's embarrassment.

"Ooooh! Why is he so cold toward me…" Sakura complained in her mind. She looked over at Naruto, who was beside Sasuke. The two were talking already.

"I…I…I can't stand that Naruto gets more warmth from him than I do!" Sakura concluded to herself. She sighed, prepared to admit a truth to herself that she never thought she'd even have.

"I'm…so jealous of him.. Of Naruto…I always have been…" Sakura hung her head as she walked, and Kakashi stared at her.

"What's the matter with you, Sakura?" he asked casually. She looked up, straight ahead, tuning out Naruto's laughter on Sasuke's other side, and Sasuke's slight smirk in her peripheral vision.

"Nothing…" she droned.

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Kakashi stared, opening his lunch. Sakura was next to him, eating her own lunch. It was now Sasuke and Naruto's turn to fight each other, and afterward, he and Sasuke would eat lunch while she would get training from Kakashi to improve her hand to hand abilities. They both watched the match. After about 15 minutes of Naruto doing as instructed, testing Sasuke's chakra by having him repel everything with it, Naruto backed up and formed specialty seals.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!!" He yelled. Sasuke's eyes widened as Naruto suddenly became 20 Naruto's.

"So! Wanna play??" They all said, swinging their shirts off. Sasuke's hand shot to cover his nose and mouth, feeling a nosebleed coming on quickly, and a bit embarrassed, especially since he knew Kakashi would notice why he was covering his face. Kakashi indeed noticed, and sighed, rolling his eyes as the Naruto clones dog-piled on top of Sasuke.

"Here we go.." Kakashi sighed under his breath. Underneath the many clones, two Narutos had Sasuke sandwiched, one under him from behind, the other on top of him, right in his face seductively.

"Actually I call this one.. "Sexy Jutsu, Sasuke-kun Edition…" Naruto whispered in Sasuke's ear. He smirked as Sasuke began to gasp, a stream of blood dripping from his nose.

"Mm-hm.. nose-bleed.. good thing no one can see you under all these clones of me, huh Sasuke?" the two said simultaneously. Sasuke, in the center of multiple squirming Naruto bodies, felt himself almost overload on pleasure.

"Naruto stop it.." he tried to order, but in the next instant, the two behind and on top of him suddenly laid lips on him, the one behind sucking rather intensely on his neck, right under his ear at his 'spot', the other stifling his groaning protests with an aggressive tongue kiss. Sasuke made himself build chakra despite the extreme distraction, but immediately lost it as a third Naruto, pressed up right beside him, managed to turn around. Sasuke felt his entire face flush as the third Naruto began to lick up the side of his face. Sasuke panicked, hoping the other 17 clones wouldn't vanish and expose the spectacle.. he groaned a little loudly through his tongue kiss with one of the clones then turned his attention to kiss another; his hands were all over all kinds of Naruto body parts—his chakra was spending itself because of his heightened arousal—there was suddenly a white hot spasm of climactic surge—Sasuke let out a shriek. The Naruto clones suddenly all vanished, and Naruto was sitting on Sasuke when the smoke cleared. Sasuke, a bit shocked, and almost on the verge of losing control of himself, lay there staring blankly up at the sky with a bloody nose, gasping for breath. Naruto grinned hugely, putting his hands behind his head while he remained seated right on Sasuke's hips.

"Hehehe! I win! How's that for training your chakra??" He exclaimed. Sasuke blinked as he suddenly saw Kakashi and Sakura bending over him.

"Are you done Sasuke?" Kakashi asked with a permanently raised eyebrow. Sasuke sullenly wiped the blood from his nose and sighed deeply.

"That was.. so.. wrong." Sasuke grumbled, shifting his eyes to give Naruto a narrow glare. Naruto only laughed aloud.

"Woohoo! Sasuke couldn't handle my awesomeness!!" Naruto exclaimed, cracking his knuckles.

"Among other things…" Sasuke murmured under his breath. 'Good thing Naruto's sitting there…' Sasuke thought to himself, still red in the face and still trying to catch his breath. He knew Naruto knew what he was hiding, so he continued sitting.

"So! Kakashi-Sensei, aren't you going to train Sakura??" Naruto asked quickly, crossing his arms and not moving from on top of Sasuke. While Kakashi and Sakura turned around to walk a little ways away, Naruto quickly got up, and Sasuke sat up slowly, giving Naruto a frustrated, yet aroused stare.

"Naruto.. that was so uncalled-for…Over-kill…" Sasuke sighed, getting up slowly, feeling a little stressed. Naruto bit his bottom lip, watching Sasuke stand, staring at the stream of cum down Sasuke's leg.

"Wooow Sasuke-kun.." Naruto chuckled triumphantly.

"Shut up, dobe.." Sasuke muttered, his cheeks turning bright red as he turned to sneak off into the woods toward the river to get himself together. When Sakura and Kakashi glanced, Naruto was alone in the field, laughing seemingly at nothing.

"Hey. Mind clearing the training ground??" Sakura pressured.

"Oh! Sure thing.." Naruto snickered as he walked for the spot under the tree where his and Sasuke's lunch was waiting.

------------

When Sasuke finally came back, he was still blushing. Naruto snickered from his spot sitting cross-legged in the shade of the tree as Sasuke sat down quietly beside him without looking at him.

"Hehe! Still a little hot and bothered, huh?" Naruto bragged. Sasuke grumbled a bit as he picked up his chop-sticks and wordlessly began eating.

"Mad at me?" Naruto laughed some more. Sasuke swallowed his bite of food and glared at him then.

"You little.." Sasuke murmured, letting a slight smirk show. Naruto went back to cheerily eating after seeing that Sasuke wasn't actually mad at him.

"Ah.. I might have to ambush you with that one more often!" Naruto said with a short giggle. Sasuke narrowed his black eyes at his highly amused boyfriend.

"Not if you don't want me to pick them off by screwing them all until I find the real one.." Sasuke said quietly. Naruto only grinned some more.

"You're going to be quiet all day, aren't you? I really got to you didn't I!" Naruto exclaimed. Sasuke put down his bowl slowly, his hand on his stomach.

"Sasuke-koi?" Naruto asked softly as Sasuke bent further over, one arm hugging his middle.

"Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed, scrambling closer and putting his arm around Sasuke's shoulders, his other hand on Sasuke's chest. Sasuke's hand moved to cover his mouth tightly and he choked.

"Sasuke? Sasuke! Every day this happens! Why?" Naruto yelled at him some more. Sasuke's free hand went around Naruto for support as he took three deep breaths, then uncovered his mouth.

"Pressure.. chakra again..." Sasuke choked out, his eyes squeezed shut.

"What should I do?" Naruto asked attentively. Sasuke leaned further forward still, his hand pressed against his stomach, and coughed violently. Naruto experienced a sharp pang of fear.

"Sasuke! Sasuke don't do this!" He shouted, shaking Sasuke a little. He glanced up at the field, and Kakashi and Sakura were far across it, too far to really notice anything going on. Naruto looked quickly back to Sasuke.

"I'm okay…just my chakra puts a lot of stress on my body now…No big deal." Sasuke said nonchalantly, rubbing Naruto's back. Naruto took a few breaths, calming down slowly as the color began to return to Sasuke's face. Naruto sighed with a bit of relief. "Oh.. that's.. that's good.." Sasuke suddenly cringed terribly, his free hand flying to the curse mark on his neck.

"No!!" Naruto screamed. Sasuke took deep, scraping breaths, then let out a small grunt of pain, then a larger one. Naruto took both of Sasuke's hands and forced them together into the first seal.

"I won't let this happen!" Naruto shouted. "Do it!! Gather your strength and do the special Jutsu Kakashi taught you!" Naruto demanded, a wild, panicked look in his eyes. Sasuke glanced at him and quickly began forming the seals.

"Uh…Hakkei-Chuushin no Jutsu! Aaah!!" Sasuke forced out.

"Sasa-kun?" Naruto stared as Sasuke gasped and collapsed completely. He waited, carefully stroking Sasuke in his lap. In about ten seconds, Sasuke stirred, rubbing his eyes slowly.

"What.. what happened.." he murmured. "Am I going to collapse like that every time I use that jutsu…" Sasuke groaned, pushing himself up and pausing when his face was centimeters from Naruto's. Their lips brushed briefly, followed by a light kiss. Naruto blushed a pale pink, his eyes half closed as Sasuke sat beside him again, seemingly perfectly fine.

"Are.. are you fine now?" Naruto asked timidly. Sasuke leaned back on his hands and stared out at the field, far across where Kakashi was getting Sakura to block his hand-to-hand attacks.

"Yeah.. this jutsu.. it has a problem though." Sasuke began. Naruto sighed and leaned with his head against Sasuke's shoulder with a frustrated sigh.

"What is it?" he asked. Sasuke closed his eyes.

"Kakashi knew I would figure it out on my own.. but other than the fact that I'll collapse for a good few seconds afterwards, it requires me to judge first whether I can control the seal with my will within the next few seconds.. or if the seal will enflame. If it gets a chance to enflame.. the reaction is unstoppable, and that chakra recovery jutsu will only make it worse. Just now.. any later had I used the technique and…it wouldn't have worked…and if I had waited and not used it, there would have been a better chance of stopping it if it enflamed at that moment. Understand? It's either do it and risk being too late, or nothing." Sasuke explained to Naruto very calmly. Naruto clenched his fists. "Sasuke. Look at me!" Naruto demanded, and Sasuke opened his eyes and looked. "Promise me, the second you feel weird, use the technique!"

"Naruto—but I—"

"Promise!" Naruto emphasized, tugging on Sasuke's arm. Sasuke stared for a few moments, blinking. Naruto gave him an unwavering stare from those perfect blue eyes. The perfect blue eyes that he knew he couldn't say no to.

"I promise." Sasuke agreed simply, leaning toward Naruto. Naruto nodded.

"Yeah.. good.." Naruto closed their distance, his arms resting on Sasuke's shoulders as he kissed Sasuke intently. Sasuke rose a hand and rested it on Naruto's forearm as he deepened the kiss. They pulled apart slowly.

"That's our promise. But you also have to promise to never.. ever…do what you did with your clones today again. At least not to win a sparring match…" Sasuke said with a small sneer. Naruto smirked.

"Now I really can't promise that.." Naruto chuckled, giving him a mischievous grin.

------------

"Um.. Naruto?" Sakura called. Now that Naruto was recovered from his incident with the Kyuubi, she was going to finally ask the questions she promised Sasuke she'd ask. They were outside, and Kakashi was grilling things for dinner. Sasuke was sitting on a bench by the fire and grill, helping Kakashi turn meat. They seemed to be talking about something. Naruto was over by the table, having some trouble cutting a grapefruit. He looked up and behind himself when he heard Sakura.

"Ah, Sakura. Hey could you please cut this grapefruit?" Naruto asked, sitting down and handing the knife to Sakura.

"Uh—sure? But hey Naruto.. could I maybe ask you something?" she began. Naruto blinked.

"Hm? Uh sure! What is it?" he agreed. Sasuke glanced briefly, saw Sakura's nervous expression, and did a double take. He looked away once he made sure Sakura saw him look.

"Well Naruto.." Sakura said, going back to cutting the grapefruit the right way.

"I mean.. you and Sasuke are getting so close.. I mean.. you don't seem to be rivals anymore. Why.. why the sudden best friendship?" Sakura asked cautiously.

"Don't be mad, I just.. it's all so weird!" She exclaimed. Naruto rose his eyebrows at her, then looked down at the table and thought carefully.

"Well.." he began quietly. "It's.. I don't know.." Naruto said at first, and Sakura cocked her head at him.

"You.. don't know? Do you think Sasuke knows?" She asked, knowing very well Sasuke's response. She'd heard it herself. She wondered if Sasuke would be angry that Naruto said he didn't know why.

"Actually I—" Naruto started again. "—I.. Sasuke is.." Naruto paused, and Sakura watched intently as Naruto began to smile to himself and fiddle with his fingers. "Sasuke's like a…warm darkness.." Naruto murmured. Sakura rose an eyebrow and almost dropped her jaw, but decided to listen to it further. Naruto cleared his throat, seemingly uncomfortable.

"…because…I say that because.. there's all these mysteries to him…if you look from the outside.. but once you know him.. you begin to adjust.. like your eyes in a dark room.. and you see things you never saw there before.." Naruto sighed a little, his cheeks turning a bit cranberry.

"Then.. you realize it's a familiar room.. it's not so dark. You're warm.. comfortable.. The darkness isn't so cold. Because you.. you're similar.." Naruto paused for a long while, and Sakura stared blankly, squeezing the knife handle tightly as she looked. "Warm darkness?...Warm darkness.. Then.. why is the dark so cold to me.." she found herself thinking. Naruto was smiling to himself.

"So that's why…we both accepted each other. And.. sometimes I might doubt the dark.. sometimes I feel like.. I'm vulnerable to it.. other times I feel it might push me out at any time.. and stay to itself.. and disappear…" Sakura blinked and stared as Naruto suddenly looked a little more apprehensive.

"But.. that's the test there isn't it?" Naruto said with a grin. Sakura stared blankly, feeling a strange, growing envy inside. Naruto suddenly looked very normal, like his usual light-hearted self.

"Did that answer your question Sakura?" he asked simply. First of all, Sakura was shocked at the deepness of Naruto's analogy of Sasuke. Second, she was angry because she knew that she hadn't "adjusted to the darkness" of the "dark room".

"The dark room won't let me in…" She stared, only halfway done cutting the grapefruit, and Naruto took a big piece of it and stood up, taking it over to the bench where Sasuke sat, and sitting beside him, handed him the fruit as he took the spatula Sasuke was barbequing with and flipped a few pieces of meat. Sasuke ate the grapefruit while he talked to Naruto with his mouth full. Sakura stared hard at how closely the two sat—how they moved together.

"They.. they act like they're about as comfortable as you can ever get around someone…" Sakura went back to her grapefruit.

"I wonder what Sasuke will think about what Naruto said.." she wondered aloud.

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The second Sakura caught Sasuke alone, she sat beside him. They were outside on the big rock facing the rest of Konoha, the sun setting behind the trees they faced. "Sasuke-kun.." she began timidly. Sasuke looked up and didn't say much of anything, but he didn't seem to be irritated, so Sakura stayed seated by him.

"I.. I talked to Naruto today. About what you said.." she said. Sasuke immediately looked up, then turned to face her more directly.

"What did you ask him?" Sasuke asked. Sakura blushed; Sasuke was staring at her so intently—she didn't even care that it was because she was talking about Naruto.

"I asked him this exact question, 'why the sudden best friendship?', and I said I was wondering why you two didn't seem like rivals anymore." She reported. Sasuke nodded. "Good. What did he say first, though? Do you remember exactly?" Sasuke asked next, looking down and fiddling with the hem of his shorts. Sakura nodded.

"Mm-hm! He first said that he didn't really know.. so I asked if he thought you knew why." Sasuke nodded, encouraging her to go on.

"He didn't really answer me.." Sakura looked down, quieting a bit. "He said you were like…a "warm darkness". His exact words." She looked up to watch Sasuke's reaction first without the explanation. Sasuke blinked and stared for awhile, then went back to messing with his clothes.

"Darkness, huh? Hmph." Sasuke mused rather coolly. He didn't look too excited; he looked more apprehensive of it than anything. Sakura nodded.

"He explained it Sasuke-kun. He said…that you seem cold and uninviting at first.. like looking at a dark room.. but once you go inside, you're.. he said something like 'you begin to adjust, like your eyes in a dark room.. then you see things that you never saw there before.'" Sakura nearly quoted. Sasuke looked up attentively as she spoke. Sakura went on.

"He said then it's comfortable because you recognize the room and realize its familiar.. like realizing that you guys are similar." Sakura watched the slight smile on Sasuke's face.

"So he said that.." Sasuke reaffirmed quietly. Sakura nodded, smiling a little because Sasuke seemed happy.

"Yeah.. he did. But.." Sakura paused, wondering if she should even put a damper on the moment. It was too late.

"But. But what?" Sasuke asked her. Sakura knew he'd get it out of her anyway if she tried to keep it to herself.

"Well.. after that he added some things.. he said that sometimes he doubts the dark.. and other times he's vulnerable to it.. He said.. exact words.. 'it might push me out at any time and stay to itself, and disappear'." Sakura finished, and waited. Sasuke looked a bit disconcerted, but was keeping it inside.

"Vulnerable.. doubtful? Disappear.." Sasuke repeated the key words to himself quietly. He rubbed the side of his face in thought, then pushed his hand up into his hair and pulled it through. Finally, after a couple of minutes of complete silence, Sasuke looked up at Sakura. Sakura stared back, wondering at him.

"Why was my doing this so important to Sasuke-kun? What's going on that I don't know.." She wondered. Sasuke turned back around to face the trees and the setting sun. "Thanks Sakura. You kept your promise." Sasuke said without looking back at her. Sakura stood up.

"Anytime.. Sasuke-kun.." she sighed and walked away. "How long will I be left in the dark? Or rather.. How long will the 'dark' avoid me.."

------

You're like the sun.

The moon lives in darkness, but it draws all light it has from the Sun.

The moon cannot fade into darkness because the Sun can always reach it.

Neither betrays the other.

The moon cannot abandon it the only light it has.

You're like the sun.

-Sasuke

Naruto stared at the note on his desk, blushing and smiling.

"Darkness? Sasuke.. is he talking about himself? Is.. is it coincidence? Or was he listening to what I told Sakura.." Naruto picked the note up again and folded it, hiding it in his rather disorganized papers.

"I don't know which.. but it's a deep note.." Naruto said aloud to himself as he got ready for training. It was 8AM.

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By the time Naruto got himself outside, it was around 9AM, and he couldn't find anyone at first.

"Naruto was that you opening the door? We're around front!" Kakashi called. Naruto turned and jogged quickly for the other side of the house. Once he got there, he froze. "Hey! Wow this is awesome!!" Naruto exclaimed upon seeing friends as he walked over to stand next to Sasuke. Ino, Shikamaru, Lee, Kiba, Neji, Ten-Ten and Shino were all there.

"What's the occasion?" Sakura asked Kakashi as Naruto greeted them all excitedly, jumping on Shikamaru temporarily and disrupting his chill attitude, exchanging a few friendly words with Ino, giving Shino a broad grin and actually getting a hug out of Kiba and Akamaru. The dog cheerily licked Naruto's face.

"Well, the occasion is that today is for fun. No teams are training today, so all these people showed up at the door to visit." Kakashi said.

"So! I'm gonna go ahead and mind my own sensei business. I'll be around occasionally, but other than that…" With that, Kakashi vanished, leaving settling grass in his wake. "Whoa, that was quick." Ino said. They stood around in a big awkward group for awhile while everybody got caught up with Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura.

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Later on, food was being cooked, sports balls and games were out, and everyone was outside. Sasuke sat on the big rock alone, feeling immensely agitated as he glared across the yard. Naruto and Kiba were playing together with Akamaru. Kiba was helping Naruto teach Akamaru his own commands. Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"Hn…Kiba…Hey.. what, what was that!? Did he touch Naruto's back!?" Sasuke had just gotten around to clenching his fists when he felt hands on his shoulders from behind. "Sasuke-kun! How have you been?" Sasuke blinked, trying to clear his unexplainable blind anger as he turned around.

"Um…hey.." Sasuke muttered. Ino closed her eyes and smiled.

"Are you angry Sasuke?" She asked as she sat down next to him. Sasuke sighed.

"No…" he answered plainly. Ino rolled her eyes.

"You're so brooding, Sasuke. With your dark looks..." She said. Sasuke grunted and stared at Kiba.

"Kiba doing something interesting Sasuke?" Ino asked. Sasuke gasped and abruptly stared at her.

"No! It's.. it's just—"

"Naruto." Ino interrupted casually, studying her fingernails. Sasuke unsuccessfully tried to hold back a flush. Ino gasped and gave him a mischievous grin.

"So it's true!!" She hissed. Sasuke clapped his hand over her mouth, nearly pushing her down onto the rock.

"What? What do you know?" He hissed, staring at her before slowly taking his hand off of her mouth. Ino giggled.

"Oh, not much.. just I overheard Kakashi saying something to our Sensei about how he thinks you and Naruto are a lot closer. Then I heard some stranger say he saw, quote, 'the Uchiha treat the 'fox' to Ramen' one night. Who else might that be?" Ino said. Sasuke looked utterly horrified. Ino stared at him in the stiff silence for awhile, then laughed a little.

"Sasuke loosen up! I won't tell.." She coolly hopped down from the rock and began to walk away. Sasuke jumped down and followed her, and they went partly under the shade of a tree nearby.

"Wait one second. Won't tell what?" Sasuke played like he didn't know. Ino turned around and came up close to him, then leaned to whisper in his ear as he leaned forward to listen to her.

"You like Naruto way more than you've ever liked anyone before.." Ino whispered in a sing-song tone. Sasuke started to be shocked again, but calmed himself before Ino backed up and looked him in the face for a reaction.

"Hmph…" he smirked. "You don't know the whole story." He said calmly. Ino smiled at Sasuke.

"True. But either way, I won't tell anyone anything I might think is going on. All I know is you're going soft Sasuke." Ino said with a smile.

"Maybe that's not so bad." She said, laying a hand on his shoulder. Sasuke kept his smirk and closed his eyes, crossing his arms.

"Sure Ino. Believe what you want to." Sasuke excused, and sauntered off. Ino watched carefully as Sasuke made his way over to Kiba and Naruto, hovering about but not really saying much to either of them; he was simply—monitoring. Ino snickered to herself. "How cute, Sasuke-kun." She said to herself.

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"Kiba." Sasuke greeted after awhile, and sat beside Naruto, cross-legged on the ground. Kiba looked up.

"Uchiha Sasuke! Hey." Kiba greeted. They exchanged a strange look, and Naruto looked back and forth between them, but then shrugged it off while he played with Akamaru. After awhile, Sasuke found that he was getting impatient, so he stood Naruto up.

"Later, Kiba." He said, nodding for Naruto to follow him.

"Uh.. later.." Kiba answered, staring. Sasuke jammed his hands in his pockets and walked around the side of the house where they were out of sight because of the wall.

"Sasuke-koi?" Naruto asked, puzzled.

"You're cute when you're confused." Sasuke said, leaning against the wall, his hands still in his pockets.

"Hm?" Naruto scratched his head, blushing slightly.

"Kiss me." Sasuke said next very bluntly. Naruto grinned.

"O-okay.." he came in close, his arms circling Sasuke's waist, and pressed his mouth to Sasuke's. Their tongues touched, then caressed, and Naruto opened his mouth wider to give Sasuke more room as their tongues twined together. Naruto pulled back first when Sasuke didn't even take his hands out of his pockets.

"Sasuke?...You're being random." He said. Sasuke licked his lips and smirked, glancing away toward the corner of the house, around which everyone was still frying food and playing.

"So are you having fun with everyone here Naruto? Miss anyone?" Sasuke asked casually. Naruto blinked, then stared at Sasuke.

"Are you jealous?" Naruto guessed immediately. Sasuke froze and stared at Naruto, then looked down.

"No I'm not jealous.." Sasuke denied. Naruto came closer and laid himself on Sasuke, resting his head on Sasuke's chest.

"You're possessive of your sunlight, though. Mr. Moon." Naruto said with an evident smile. Sasuke smirked and closed his eyes as he rubbed Naruto's back.

"So.. you found my note after all. I was beginning to think you'd lost it in the middle of that mess you call a desk." Sasuke said. Naruto pulled Sasuke's arms more tightly around himself.

"You know you belong to me, Sasuke. No need to get jealous." Naruto said with a smirk, leaning with his hand on the wall by Sasuke's ear. Sasuke only shook his head.

"I think you've got the ownership mixed up here." He said with a small laugh. They both looked to Sasuke's right as there was a strong breeziness on the other side of the house where no one was.

"Sounds like Kakashi just blew in. Hold on Naruto, I'll be back. I want to ask him something." Sasuke said, walking away. Naruto watched him leave and smiled.

"You were sooo jealous." Naruto laughed behind Sasuke's back as he turned and walked back to the others.

"Hey, Ramen!" Naruto exclaimed, dashing over to where Shikamaru and Shino had some.

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Three hours later, everyone was far more quiet. Kiba was asleep under a tree, his hands folded on his chest, Akamaru asleep on his stomach. Shino was playing Japanese Chess against Shikamaru, and loosing gracefully. Lee, Neji, and Ten-Ten were having mini sparring matches quietly in a corner of the yard. Naruto was with Ino, and both of them looked up at the same time and looked around.

"Hey.. when was the last time you saw Sasuke?" Ino asked him. Naruto picked at his plate of rice cakes while he looked around.

"He really hasn't been back since…" Naruto paused. "…since he went to talk to Kakashi-Sensei." Naruto answered. Ino peered around, then made a face.

"I never saw Kakashi.." She mused. Naruto got up off the rock they were sitting on. "Where is he? He said he'd be back.." Naruto said, looking in every direction. He was beginning to get an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. Ino peered at him from behind for awhile before she said something.

"What's up with you and Sasuke?" she asked bluntly. Naruto flushed bright red and scratched his head without turning around and looking at her.

"Um…nothing. Why?" he asked, still not turning around. Ino hopped down behind Naruto and put her hands on his shoulders.

"You guys are so close. I can see it." She said slowly. Naruto suddenly spun around, suddenly catching her off guard.

"Okay, okay!! Don't say anything pleeease Ino, Sasuke will kill me.." Naruto caved rather easily, Ino found herself thinking.

"Say anything about what? Why will Sasuke kill you Naruto?" She asked with a grin. Naruto glanced back and forth, then grabbed her wrist and pulled her, running off behind a tree with her.

"This is serious isn't it?" Ino whispered as Naruto sat down with his legs crossed in the grass. She sat down also and they leaned closer in order to whisper. Naruto took a deep breath.

"I.. have to tell someone.. Sasuke.. I don't know what he's thinking about it.. We actually should've talked about this already.. but for some reason we haven't…" Naruto rambled, looking every which way but at Ino. Ino stared. Naruto was fiddling with his hands. She reached out and pulled his hands apart.

"Hey! Stop fiddling, what is it?" she asked eagerly. Naruto sighed and finally looked at her.

"Can I trust you?"

Cheaaaaa!! I like Ino :) She's kool. Much better than Sakura. If you havent read my profile, she's like the only girl that I wouldn't mind being with Sasuke. HIGH PRAISE!

-Kitsune