Summary: AU Pickpocketing and stealing are the only things Naruto knows to survive in the busy streets of Konoha. But what happens when she stole a wallet from the wrong guy, namely Uchiha Sasuke? What does fate have in stored for these two? SasuFemNaru

Pairings: SasuFemNaru, LeeSaku, NejiTen, KibaHina, JirTsu, ShikaTema, ChouIno

Warnings: Language, Sexual terms, Violence

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Thieving Gets You Nowhere
by Aesura

Incognito

The morning sun shining across the room and falling upon her face caused Naruto to wrinkle her nose in distaste and roll over, taking her face out of the offending sunlight. But, the room continued to grow brighter which forced her to slowly open her eyes. Tiredly putting her arms into motion, Naruto lifted her blankets over her head, trying to go back to sleep at the same time.

But, a glance at the clock on her bedside table, which revealed it to be just after eleven o'clock, prevented sleep from reclaiming her. She jerked straight up in the bed, looking confusedly around the room as she ran a hand through her short blonde locks. "Okay... why didn't Sasuke-teme wake me up for work?" Naruto wondered aloud.

Clad in her nightgown of choice, a long blue dress shirt she had taken from Sasuke's closet the week before and a pair of grey socks, Naruto wandered into the kitchen with Kyuubi in hand. She didn't want to feel completely alone, especially with Sasuke out of the apartment. A sheet of paper stuck to the refrigerator caught her eye as it was usually bare of anything but a few magnetic clips. Her eyes ran across the page, reading the note left in Sasuke's smooth handwriting.

Naruto,

Since it's Saturday, you're getting the day off. I already informed Teuchi-san and he said it was okay. I'll be at the police station until after ten o'clock. Make yourself at home... just don't break anything. And unless you call and tell me otherwise, I'll be bringing home Chinese for a late dinner.

Sasuke.

"I guess it's just me today," she told to no one in particular, sticking the note back on the refrigerator after reading it. Just as she was about to leave the kitchen and get dressed, an almost evil glint came into her eye. "Yeah... just me..." she muttered thoughtfully before backing up against the cabinet and running towards the opposite wall, sliding across the rest of the tiled floor when she was halfway there.

The teenager continued to slide across the floor, going farther and farther each time, until she finally hit the wall face-first and fell onto her backside with the last slide. "I'm okay," Naruto mumbled as she climbed to her feet, gingerly rubbing her now bruised hip. She picked up Kyuubi, the unfortunate victim of the little incident, and held it out till they were eye-leveled.

"Okay... now what, Kyuu?" she asked her stuffed animal, who stared back at her with a look that seems to be saying she was insane. "And don't look at me like that. Just because I'm talking to you doesn't mean I'm crazy." Naruto thought about what she had just said, beginning to shake her head slowly while running a hand down her face. "Okay, so maybe I am crazy for talking to you."

Then her stomach let out a long, rumbling growl. "I'm kinda hungry," Naruto admitted sheepishly. Putting Kyuubi down on the living room couch first, she then sauntered her way to the kitchen again.

Pulling open the refrigerator door, Naruto stared into its contents, not finding anything that really appealed to her at the moment. She stood in front of the open door, shivering slightly as the cold air moved across her skin, while she thought about what she really wanted for breakfast this morning... or lunch, really, considering that it was nearly noon by now.

Waffles. She wanted waffles. Just last week, she had watched Sasuke make waffles one morning and he seemed to have no trouble at all doing it. So, thinking to herself, Naruto decided that she, too, could manage to make waffles. After all, how hard could it be? Trying to remember what all Sasuke had put into them, she pulled out the carton of milk and a few eggs before moving over to the pantry where he kept the flour and other dry goods.

Half an hour later, the teenager stood in front of the waffle iron and impatiently waited for the first waffles to be done. She wasn't sure exactly how long they should cook as she didn't have a recipe, which had made making the waffle batter an experiment for her. But, she was confident that she had made them pretty much the same way as Sasuke had. And slight differences in the recipes shouldn't matter. Or so she thought.

Experimentally lifting the top of the waffle iron to check on her waffles, Naruto was devastated to find that the waffle had stuck to both the top and the bottom of the iron. She let out a loud groan before scraping that waffle up off the iron and suddenly remembered seeing Sasuke spray some oil onto the iron before he placed the batter within. So, rummaging around in the cabinets until she found the can of oil spray, she quickly sprayed both sides of the iron and poured more batter onto it.

This time, as soon as she closed the iron, batter oozed out of both sides and onto the counter. "Oops..." she giggled slightly, still anticipating the syrupy goodness of the waffles to come. A few minutes later, she lifted the top, relieved to find that the waffle did not stick this time and came up easily when she pulled it out and laid it upon a plate. Not even putting the batter in for the next waffle, Naruto poured a lake of syrup on and around her waffle before hungrily digging in.

Her first reaction to the waffle was to gag. Her second, to make a mad dash to the trash can and spit it out. "Okay... that's so much harder than Sasuke-teme made it look," she muttered to herself as she poured herself a glass of water to rinse her mouth out with. The bitter taste of her homemade waffle was still lingering in her mouth, threatening to make her gag once more. Sighing, she decided that perhaps it might be better to eat cold cereal instead. "At least," she thought to herself, "I made him get something sugary."

After finishing off her second bowl of the sugar-laden cereal, Naruto looked down at her dress shirt and realized that she had both flour and waffle batter in large splotches. She quirked an eyebrow, pulling the shirt out to get a better look at it and decided she might better change clothes before she got the batter on Sasuke's furniture.

Emerging from her room a few minutes later in clean clothes and the batter-splashed dress shirt in her hands, Naruto decided she better soaked it in water so it wouldn't stain. She, herself, had no idea what all would stain and what wouldn't, and since this was technically still Sasuke's shirt, she didn't want to upset him by putting a permanent stain in it. Better safe than sorry. So, blue dress shirt in hand, Naruto went into the bathroom, placing the shirt in the tub before filling it up with water. Once it reached the height that Naruto dubbed acceptable, she turned off the faucet, watching the soaked shirt slowly sink to the bottom before leaving the room.

Plopping herself on the couch next to Kyuubi, Naruto let out a big sigh, boredom kicking in again. Grabbing her stuffed kitsune, she lifted it up with both arms, so now it was hovering above her face. "Ne, Kyuu… what are we going to do now? I don't have anything to do now, and Sasuke-teme isn't here to take me to the movies like yesterday…"

Wait. Yesterday.

. . .

"Hey, Sasuke. When can I come down to your police station?" Naruto asked as she pulled open the bag of potato chips she was supposed to be putting away and began munching on them. "You know, so I could meet the rest of your frie—"

"No," Sasuke immediately snapped at her as he took the chips away from her and closed the bag, much to her disappointment.

His answer took her aback and her eyes narrowed. "Why not?" Naruto demanded to know as she grabbed the bag of chips back from him. When Sasuke didn't answer her question, she glared at him, which came out to be more of a pout than a glare. Even when she was young, she didn't like being ordered around.

. . .

The same angry look from their argument yesterday appeared back on her face.

Sasuke was not going to control her life.

She'd figured that much out when she'd ran back to her room to get appropriately for the fall weather. Once she returned to the living room, she did a full twirl so that Kyuubi could see her attire. "Well," she questioned, "how do I look?" Naruto still wore same apparel from before, but now was clad in a tan trench coat with a matching fedora.

"The perfect disguise for a spy in incognito," Naruto boasted to the fox with her hands on her hips. "And now to complete the look…" She pulled out a pair of plastic glasses with a fake nose and mustache attached to it, and slipped them on.

"Watch the place while I'm out, Kyuu!" Naruto shouted over her shoulder as she locked the door behind her, slinking out into the cool October air, adrenaline pumping her like fuel. She'd already noted down the address of the police station from all the case files on Sasuke's laptop when he wasn't looking (she was starting to think that she was smarter than him) and she soon found a cab.

"To the Konoha Police Station, please."

The driver glanced in his rear view mirror to get a good look at his customer, his eyes suddenly brooding down on her with an icy cold glare. Naruto flinched away, the look bringing back unwanted memories of her past. "It's probably just the glasses. My disguise does look a bit suspicious."

Naruto tried to laughed off in her mind, only to have it come out halfheartedly. She pulled up her collar around her to hide her face as much as possible. The driver still looked at her fixedly when the taxi arrived at the station. It looked very big from the outside. To be honest, she'd been expecting a huge, multi-story building like the CIA, but maybe it was just her imagination running around again. Naruto quickly paid the right amount for the drive, then hurried inside, wanting to get away from the man as fast as possible.

There were many people in the station when she entered the lobby, so she was careful not to make eye contact with anyone since she obviously didn't want to be noticed. One of the cops gave her a side glance when he walked passed her with a stack of papers at hand, giving her a slight bewildered look. Afraid of being caught again, Naruto got on all fours on the floor and started crawling around. "Now, if I were Sasuke-teme's friends, where would I be?"

The blonde continued searching, but as she turned a corner, she bumped into something, or more like someone. Naruto looked up at the person she ran into, a shaggy brunette with a gigantic white dog by his side. The man smirked amusingly down at Naruto's antics. "Well, who let a mutt in here?"

Naruto glowered, quickly standing straight up and stepping forward into his space. "I could say the same thing to you, dog breath."

The man's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "Why you cocky little...!"

Kiba reached for his belt, but found that it was gone. "Nani? Where did—" He suddenly heard chuckling coming from the blonde. Immediately, he looked at Naruto, seeing his belt loaded with his gun, handcuffs, and other regulated items dangling back and forth in her hand in a taunting manner. "Looking for this?"

"Hey! Give that back!" Akamaru barked in agreement.

"Hm…" Naruto pondered, tapping her finger on her chin, pissing Kiba off even more. "Maybe…" She then gave him a mischievous grin. "If you spin around three times and say 'woof woof'."

Kiba's eyebrow twitched. "Like hell I will!"

He made a lunge for Naruto, but the sly ex-thief slip from his grasp. "Ha! You can't catch the Great Uzumaki Naruto!" she exclaimed, sticking out her tongue at him.

She jumped on top of a table to avoid Kiba's advances, but he was proving to be persistent. He dove for her again, but she escaped him once more. Consequently, the tackle knocked down the items on the table, scattering them about the floor while causing a loud clanging. Kiba recovered quickly, going for the thief again. Not surprisingly, the two's antics drew the attention of the surrounding officers, including the passerby's, as they form a circle around the two.

Finally, the two both stopped, breathing labored, but not uncomfortable. Kiba smirked, wiping sweat from his forehead. Naruto wiped the blonde strands that have fallen over her eyes away, and smirked right back at him.

"Okay, play time's over." Naruto said indifferently.

Kiba laughed. "I agree. Akamaru, you're up, boy." The huge white dog Naruto had seen earlier ambled over. He stood next to Kiba and looked directly at Naruto. The officers around the circle began to mumble. Who would have thought this person would last this long, and that Kiba would even need to use Akamaru? Kakashi, Neji, Shikamaru, and Shino were four of the many who surrounded the noisy couple. "Why must Kiba get into these kind of predicaments every time?" Neji exasperated.

"Troublesome, I knew it."

"Does anyone know who that girl even is?" Shino muttered.

"Hm…" Kakashi mused, having an idea who the blonde might be. Hearing a yelp coming from the blonde girl, the four adverted their full attention back to the commotion.

The brunette let out a bark of a laugh in victory, playfully tightening the headlock he had on the blonde. "You were saying, runt?"

"Argh! Let me go, damn it!"

Sasuke had come around the corner of the lobby in time to see a person in a trench coat dodge Kiba's charge. His mind almost didn't believe what he was seeing. Someone was facing off against one of his officers. This would not end well. And of course, it HAD to be Kiba.

Sasuke treaded towards the forming circle of officers and pushed himself between Shino and Shikamaru. They both glanced at their boss with bored expressions and then returned their sights to the main attraction.

"What's going on?" Sasuke asked in a stern tone.

"Huh?" Shikamaru responded.

"See for yourself." Shino stated.

The Uchiha looked back to the captivation. The newcomer's hat had fallen off once Kiba had gotten a hold of them, blonde hair framing around the face. Aggravated blue eyes glared back into Kiba's mirthful ones. Sasuke's eyes widen. He stepped forward.

"NARUTO!"

Naruto turned toward the yell of her name, smile matching her bright eyes. Upon seeing Sasuke stalking toward her, the smile fell. Sasuke's face was dark, his black bangs hanging in his eyes. His whole body was tense, like it was coiled to strike. As Sasuke got closer, Naruto couldn't stop herself from stepping back and closing her eyes. Fear raced through her instantly. Her eyes shot open when she felt a heavy arm fall around her shoulders.

"Hey boss, Naruto and I were just playing around. Did you need something?" Kiba asked, Naruto couldn't believe her ears. Kiba, a.k.a. Dog Breath, was defending her. Treating her like a fellow comrade and friend. She risked a glance at Sasuke. His face was as dark as ever, but his eyes didn't show any malice. Sasuke pulled Naruto by the wrist in front of him so now they were eye-to-eye. "What are you doing here? I thought I told you not to come here!"

The same anger from before came back. "You expect me to stay in that apartment of yours for the whole day, then your crazy!"

An abnormal silence fell over the whole lobby, as Sasuke scanned the whole room, finding that everyone was still present, listening closely to their conversation. "What are you all still doing standing around? Get back to work!" Sasuke ordered.

Making most of the officers jumped, they scrambled to their destinations, leaving the lobby emptied saved for Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, Neji, Shikamaru, and Shino. After a few moments, Naruto glanced over Sasuke's side, trying to have a better look at the five remaining people. She already met Kiba, but who were the other four?

"You know, Uchiha, it's very rude to not introduce us to your acquaintance here."

Sasuke 'hn'-ed at Neji, before motioning a hand at the Hyuuga. "This is Inuzuka Kiba—you already met—Hyuuga Neji," Sasuke said, moving down the row. "Aburame Shino, Nara Shikamaru, and Hatake Kakashi."

Naruto smiled brightly at each of them. "Nice to meet you all!"

Each of them replied back in their own way, but the silver haired man, Kakashi, just continued to stare at her with his visible eye, his hand cupped around his chin. Naruto started to get uneasy. "What? Do I have something on my face?"

"Hm.. so you're Sasuke's dirty little secret…"

…

Everybody was silent until…

"EEEHHH?"

"..!..."

"NANI? You got her laid?" Kiba exclaimed before bursting out laughing despite how shocked he was.

"Sigh." Shino just shook his head.

"Troublesome."

"Scandalous…"

About an hour later, Sasuke called Sakura to pick Naruto up from the police station, since she's on her break now. She agreed and after the drive to Sasuke's apartment, Naruto bid Sakura farewell as she ascended the stairs. Once reaching the correct door, Naruto tried turning the knob on Sasuke's apartment, only to realize that when she had shut the door before, it had inadvertently locked as well. And Sasuke had yet to give her a key to the apartment.

"Perfect," Naruto muttered, leaning against the wall and slowly sliding down it until she was sitting flat on the floor, her legs stretched out in front of her. Realizing that Sakura was probably on the road by now and couldn't help her, the teenager let out a deflated sigh.

"Oh, Naruto! I forgot to ask you—"

Naruto looked up to see Sakura.

"What are you still doing out here, Naruto?" the pinkette asked concernedly. She leaned her side against Sasuke's door while looking down at the girl at her feet.

Laughing nervously, Naruto jumped to her feet and hesitantly smiled. "Well, you see... I kinda forgot to ask Sasuke for a spare key to his apartment, and I kinda sorta got locked out," she explained embarrassingly, playing with the ends of her shirt.

"Lucky for you, I have Sasuke's spare key," Sakura announced, taking a simple silver key out of her purse. She handed Naruto the key, which the blonde gladly took. Opening the door, both women entered Sasuke's apartment, the younger grimacing when she saw the mess she had made in the kitchen and the other looking at the mess in shock, wondering how one person could make such a big mess in such a short period of time. "How did you do this?"

Nervous laughter once again struck the teenager, causing her to bite her lip. "I was trying to make waffles and I kinda got it everywhere," she muttered quietly, eyes darting back and forth.

"Let's clean up this mess before I have to get back down to the hospital." Without a word, Sakura quickly began fitting what she could into the dishwasher, taking breaks occasionally to playfully ask Naruto how she managed to get waffle batter on the ceiling. Naruto simply told her she didn't want to know.

Finally, with both girls working together, the kitchen was back to its normal spotless shine. "There you go. I got to get back down to the hospital for my shift. I'll see you later," the pinkette told her as she walked to the door.

"Okay. Thanks for everything, Sakura-chan," Naruto replied, hearing the door shut when Sakura left.

Examining the house key again, Naruto was glad that Sakura had a spare. She wouldn't know what to do if the pinkette hadn't. Though, she could have tried going down to the apartment manager's office to have them let her in, but as Sasuke hadn't introduced her to them, she knew they would never believe her story. Especially considering how cold and distant Sasuke appeared to everyone. No one would believe that he would take someone like her in.

But, thinking back to the last few weeks she had spent with him, she realized he wasn't really so cold after all. He liked to act like he was, but when it came down to it, he was actually very kind. After all, he was taking a chance by letting her, a known pickpocket, not only live with him, but also work at his friend's restaurant, where she could easily access the cash registers. And he trusted her enough to let her stay here by herself when she could easily rob him blind. Not that she would, but she could.

No, Sasuke wasn't all that cold after all. Especially after the way he had acted the night before when they had gone to the movies. He had not objected at all to Naruto hiding her head in his chest and, after the first few times, actually leaving her head there for the rest of the movie. Not only that, but he also had put his arm around her. "Not that he meant anything by it," Naruto insisted to herself.

While lost in the ruminations of the enigma that was Sasuke, the phone rang, disturbing the teenager's musing while she went to answer the phone. But, even after picking the phone up, the ringing continued and she realized it wasn't the phone in her hand.

Following the ringing down the hall, she found the sound was coming from Sasuke's bedroom and she hesitantly entered it, intent upon finding the source of the ringing. There, on his dresser, sat a pager. Thinking once again that she had found the source of the ringing, she picked it up and pushed a button to answer it. The ringing continued.

Naruto threw her head back in disgust, groaning as she tried to find out what was still ringing. "It's gonna be a long day," she mumbled to herself, roaming around his room as she followed the sound.

A little after ten-thirty that night, Sasuke walked through the door, bags from the small Chinese place he had stopped at in one hand and the mail in the other. No sooner had he stepped through the door than he was assaulted by a barrage of what sounded like muffled 'beeeeep beeeeeep.' It was then that he realized he had left both his cellular phone and pager at home that morning. "Naruto?" he called concernedly, wondering why she hadn't answered the phone.

"Make it stop!" came a muffled reply from what looked like a pile of blankets and pillows on the sofa. Her head peeked out from beneath the pillow and looked pleadingly at him. "Please, just make it stop!"

Sasuke set the bags and letters down on the table, walking to the phone base to turn the cordless phone off, only to find it wasn't there. "Um... Naruto... where's the phone?" he questioned confusedly, looking around the living room to see if she might have placed it upon the coffee table.

"Check in the bottom of the laundry hamper, in the pantry, and underneath the cushion of that big chair," she muttered from beneath the pillow, sticking her hand out to wave it towards each of the places she mentioned.

Sighing and tiredly running a hand through his hair, Sasuke trotted off to each place she mentioned and finally found that it was his cell phone that was going off. Seeing that he got a text message, he clicked the 'Open' button.

"Hey Sasuke. Never you were such a player, seducing a poor naïve girl into your apartment. ..You know, there's a kinky store a few block from where you live, if you want to spruce things up. Bow chicka bow wow!"

Sasuke clenched his cell phone in his fist until his knuckles turned white, not caring that it had made a 'crack' sound. "That damn Kiba… Once I get my hands on him…"

In the living room, Naruto sighed with relief when the beeping had stopped and crawled out from beneath the blankets and pillows, the smell of food beckoning her to the table. By the time Sasuke had returned to the kitchen, she already had her chopsticks and was making considerable progress on the fried rice.

"You could've waited for me," Sasuke grumbled, taking the other small packages of food out of the bags and placing them on the table, the tops open on each so he could pick his way through them. Just as he was about to reach for the sesame chicken, Naruto grabbed it and began shoveling it into her mouth. "I feel like a scavenger in my own house," he mumbled, settling for the teriyaki instead and leaning back in his chair to eat it.

Swallowing the bite in her mouth, Naruto placed the half-eaten box of sesame chicken back on the table, biting her lip as she did so. "I'm sorry. You wanted that, didn't you?" she asked quietly, her eyes downcast as she pushed the box towards him.

Sasuke waved it back at her with his chopsticks. "No, go ahead. It's okay. I'll just know to get more of it next time," he told her, going back to eating his teriyaki and taking a few bites of rice to go along with it.

The teenager tentatively took the sesame chicken back, as though she half expected him to change his mind and want it back. "I guess I'm just letting my hunger get the better of me," she muttered more to herself than to him, yet he had still heard her.

"You're always hungry," he declared, thinking about her almost constant intake of food since she had gotten over her flu. "In fact, I've never seen you turn down any food."

"You can't be picky when you don't know when or where your next meal's gonna come from," Naruto explained, remembering that a little over two weeks ago, she was in that exact state... never knowing what she was going to eat the next day until she found it.

A silence settled over the room as they both continued to eat and Sasuke began to sort through the mail he had brought in. "Here... this one's for you," he told her, handing over an envelope from the Social Security Administration. "I think they've finally sent your card."

Setting her food down on the table, Naruto ripped open the letter and pulled out the small blue card. "So, does this mean I'm a real person now?" she joked as she read the number to herself and tried to commit it to memory.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. And this is also for you." Sasuke reached into his back pocket and pulled out another envelope, this one plain white. "Your first paycheck."

Naruto grabbed the envelope, carefully opening it and pulling out the check. Her eyes went wide when she stared at the amount of money she had earned. "Are you sure this is all mine? I mean, you didn't accidentally give me someone else's check, too, did you?" she asked incredulously. In her whole life, she had never seen that much money at one time.

"Nope, it's all yours," Sasuke replied.

Surprise was etched on Naruto's face. Not only was this man taking care of her right now, but he was trying to help her enough so that further on down the road, she wouldn't have to resume her old ways. "Arigatou," she murmured softly.

"You're welcome," Sasuke replied simply.

It was around midnight and Naruto had long since gone to bed, but Sasuke was still awake with his laptop at hand, going over the evidence in the case. Just as he let out a yawn and was about to go to bed himself, he heard a muffled moan coming from Naruto's room. He turned his attention away from the laptop and sat still, listening to see if the sound would come again or if it was only his imagination. But, it did resound and Sasuke rose to his feet and strode down the hall to her room, peeking through the open door to see what was wrong.

On the bed, Naruto twisted around until the sheets were wrapped tightly around her legs and strangled sobs and moans left her throat. Concerned, Sasuke quickly entered the room, ignoring the light switch as the moonlight cascading through the window sufficiently illuminated the room. At the edge of her bed, he sat down and gently stroked her sweaty forehead, softly calling her name.

As she heard her name, the distraught teenager's moans and sobs became coherent cries. "No, no… I don't want to die," she mumbled, twisting around on the bed once more.

"Naruto, wake up," Sasuke commanded gently, taking her by the shoulders and shaking her slightly. Cerulean eyes flew open, full of tears as they darted around the room, finally settling on the man in front of her. She pulled herself upright and threw herself against his chest, wrapping her arms around him as she soaked his shirt with a fresh wave of tears. Sasuke brought his arms around, holding her against him and stroking her back in long, soothing strokes. "It's okay, Naruto. It was just a nightmare."

The girl in her arms fervently shook her head before looking up at him with a tear-stained face. "No it wasn't," she muttered, remembering the dream too vividly for her liking. She reluctantly pulled out of his arms and leaned against the back of the bed, reaching under her blankets for her stuffed kitsune.

"Of course it was a nightmare, Naruto," Sasuke insisted, watching as she roughly wiped the tears off her face with the back of her hand while the other clutched the bear. "Everyone has them from time to time."

"It wasn't a nightmare," she insisted just as stubbornly as he had insisted it was. She knew what it was and she decided she would tell him as much. "It's... it's a memory," she whispered quietly, turning her head to look towards the door.

Just as Sasuke was about to say something, Naruto interrupted him. "Do you remember what I told you about living in the orphanage? About leaving that place thirteen years ago?" she asked quickly, watching him nod slowly. "Well, that's half-right." Taking a deep breath, Naruto began her story, telling him more things than she had ever told anyone before. But, she felt she could trust him with her past for some strange reason.

"I was four years old when it happened," she whispered, her brows furrowed as she looked down at the stuffed kitsune in her hands. "I remember it like it was just yesterday." She paused, looking up into Sasuke's eyes to see if he was listening or not. He was, and she lowered her eyes once more. "I was actually kicked out... the caretaker thought that I'd burned down the kitchen earlier that day. …I tried to tell her that the other kids did it, but she wouldn't listened to me. …She never does…"

A hand falling across hers made her look up in surprise and stop for a moment as she tried to find her words. "It was raining that day... I wondered to an alleyway and bumped into a drunken man. I was at the wrong place at the wrong time…" she murmured, clenching her eyes tightly shut as though trying to block the mental images. "Before I could get away, he grabbed me and slammed me against the wall. He... he wanted to released his anger, so he took it out on me."

She took a deep shuddery breath to keep the sobs at bay for now. She had to finish this without crying. "I saw him take out his switchblade, aiming it at me. But before he could stabbed me with it, I tried to block it. It made a big gash on my arm. It wasn't the first time I've been cut before," Naruto scoffed slightly as she unconsciously touched her scarred cheeks, not wanting to feel anything for it hurt too much. "But, this time was different. The slashing kept coming... they didn't stop... I was crying out so much, but nobody came to save me..." Her voice cracked slightly and she barely noticed when Sasuke's arms wrapped around her and drew him to her chest. "I kept hoping that it was all just a horrible dream, I wanted to close my eyes and fall asleep. But the pain woke me up again, and again, and again…"

"It's okay, Naruto. It's okay," Sasuke murmured softly, once again stroking her back to help soothe her. In his arms, the teenager shuddered and he could feel her choke back a sob as her arms feebly wrapped around his waist.

"And... and... then," she hiccoughed, her sobs breaking through the barriers she had so carefully erected. "When the beatings finally stopped, I thought that I was in heaven. I thought that I could finally be with otou-san and okaa-san, so that we could be a happy family. But I just got thrown into a dumpster like a worthless piece of crap."

Sasuke tightly clenched his eye shut just imagining what this girl had gone through at such a young age. No one should ever go through that, young or old. Yet she had.

"I don't remember much of what happened next. I just know that I laid sleeping in the dumpster for a while. I don't know if it was for a few minutes or for a few days, but I stayed in there until my cuts were dried up," Naruto finished, burying her face into Sasuke's chest and tightening her grip around him.

Not knowing what else to do, Sasuke simply held onto her, allowing her to cry herself back to sleep in his arms while he murmured soothing words to her. Once her breathing had evened, he carefully laid her back down upon the bed, pulling the blankets up to her chin. But, as he got up to leave, he felt a soft tug on his shirt. "Please don't leave me, Sasuke," Naruto whispered, her eyes pleading with him to stay. "I just... I don't want to be alone tonight."

"Okay. I'll stay here while you sleep," Sasuke replied, walking across the room to move the chair sitting there to her bedside. As soon as he sat down, Naruto reached over and grasped his hand within one of hers. He gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Just go back to sleep, Naruto. And I'll be right here."

Nodding, Naruto settled back down into the blankets, still holding onto Sasuke's hand as she fell into what she hoped would be a dreamless sleep. But, instead of a dreamless sleep, she dreamed of what it felt like when Sasuke had been holding her, comforting her and what it would be like to stay in those arms forever. Safe in those arms.

Hours later, the sunlight from the rising sun filtered through the thin curtains of Naruto's room and landed upon Sasuke's face. His eyes fluttered open and he found himself still sitting in the chair, but hunched over so his head was resting upon Naruto's bed. A warmth stretched across his neck and he turned his head to the side to find Naruto's arm resting across it. A small smile flitted across his face as he quietly yawned, looking at the clock as he did so. It was just after six in the morning and he knew if he didn't get some sleep somewhere comfortable, he would be regretting it later in the day.

A brief thought of climbing into he bed with Naruto crossed his mind, but with the way his thoughts towards her had been going lately, he knew he couldn't trust himself. And he didn't want to ruin the trust that was building between them. So, rising to his feet and ignoring the popping of his back as it protested the position he had slept in, he started to leave the room, but stopped at the doorway and turned back around. He slowly approached her bed and leaned over, placing a gentle kiss upon Naruto's forehead, believing that since she was still asleep, no one would be the wiser. He left the room, leaving the door partially open.

As soon as she heard him walk out of the room, Naruto's eyes flew open and stared disbelievingly at the door. She slowly brought a hand up and touched her forehead, the warmth from his lips still lingering there. Sighing with a soft smile, she snuggled back down into the blankets and closed her eyes, having forgotten her nightmare from the night before and only thinking about the chaste kiss Sasuke had given her that morning.

This will be the last one for a few months.