Disclaimer: You all know I do NOT own Naruto. Oh well.

Also, thank you all who reviewed. Much love to you all!!

Chapter One: The beginning from Sasuke's Point of View and the Return.

As soon as he opened his eyes that morning, Uchiha Sasuke already felt like the day was going to be a waste. It was bright and sunny with birds singing outside in the gentle breeze. The Uchiha frowned at the brightness of the day. Yes, it was for sure going to be a horrible day. He could practically feel it.

Getting out from his comfortable bed was even hard for the raven haired teen. He wanted nothing more than to stay in bed all day and forget that he had to go to school. Even though he would be graduating in a few days, Sasuke still felt the need to rebel and stay at home for the day although he had no reason to.

However, hearing his father yell at him for being lazy and comparing him to his genius brother was not something that he would put up with just because he didn't want to go to school.

And so, with that thought, the dark eyed teen headed to his bathroom in order to start his daily morning routine.

After taking a quick shower and brushing his teeth, Sasuke got dressed in his school uniform and headed downstairs. There he saw his mother smiling happily while making breakfast. He father was seated on the table in the dinning room that was connected to the kitchen.

"Good morning, Sasuke!" His mother said brightly as she blew him a kiss from her position in the kitchen.

"Morning, Mother." He said with a small smile. It seemed that her brightness could never fail in bringing a smile (albeit small) to his usual stoic face.

"Good morning, Father." He gave a small bow toward his father who was currently looking through a newspaper.

"Hn." Was all he got from his father and he expect no more than that.

"Honey, the food is ready, put away that newspaper. Oh and Sasuke dear, have something to eat before you go to school, okay? You know it's bad to skip meals." His lovely mother prodded as she brought two plates of food to the table.

Never being one to deny his mother, the raven headed toward the table and took a seat sighing to himself at his weakness to his mother.

The two Uchiha males ate in silence as they always did. Neither one was really a person for conversation unless it was absolutely necessary. This was the kind of relationship Sasuke had with his father. Though sometimes he felt uncomfortable in his father's presence, he greatly respected the man who became CEO of Uchiha Enterprises at the age of twenty-one that is to this day the youngest ever in existence of the company.

"Have you chosen a university that you want to go to after you graduate, Sasuke?" Uchiha Fugaku said looking at his youngest son with dark eyes that appeared almost black.

In fact, he was very similar to his son as far as physical features were concerned. Both had dark obsidian eyes and dark raven hair. The older Uchiha had a more color to his skin compared to Sasuke's pale skin in which he inherited from his mother.

"I haven't decided yet. But I have two in mind." Sasuke answered in a formal voice.

"I see. I hope you make the decision soon before it is too late." His father slightly frowned at his son's answer.

"Dear, don't worry too much. With Sasuke's grades, he'll get into anywhere he wants easily." The beauty known as Uchiha Mikoto winked at her son before smiling to her beloved husband.

Sasuke looked thankful to his mother for getting him off the hook. Sometimes he wondered how his kind, loving mother came to marry a stern, aloof man like his father.

After he finished eating, Sasuke excused himself and head out the door to his car. The drive wasn't long since the school was located in his neighborhood. Soon enough, the raven spotted the tall buildings of Konoha High. It was a prestige and well known school throughout the city of Konoha. Only the smartest of students were able to attend this school for the school's criteria called for only the best.

As he parked in the student parking lot, Sasuke's eyes caught the bright yellow head of hair belonging to none other than Uzumaki Naruto. For a second, Sasuke just stared at his blue eyed friend before getting out of his car to join the blonde.

The relationship between the two was quite odd. They had met when they were very young. It was around his second year of primary school that Sasuke was introduced to the blonde ball of energy. At first, he remembered hating the blonde for being so loud and annoying, but that annoyance soon changed into something else.

So now, for seven years, the two had been together through almost everything. Though many people wondered what an Uchiha was doing with the loner known as Uzumaki Naruto. To this day, that question is still unanswered. And to be honest, Sasuke really had no idea himself. He was just pulled in by those innocent, bright blue eyes. And without him knowing, Naruto had taken the place as his most trusted friend.

"Naruto!" The raven haired teen called getting the attention of said blonde.

"Hey Sasuke!" Came the cheerful reply that was accompanied by a dazzling smile.

The way that the blonde had greeted him made Sasuke smile inwardly. He was the only one who would look at him like that without any hidden motives. Naruto didn't look at him as an Uchiha. He just saw Sasuke as Sasuke and that was something that he couldn't say about most of the people he met.

Most people tried to befriend him just because his last name was Uchiha. They wanted to gloat that they knew a person with such a famous name like Uchiha. They never really cared about him only about how they would benefit from knowing him.

Sasuke supposed that would be an explanation as to why he didn't get close to anyone. No one except for Naruto, of course. Somehow the blonde had wormed his way into the raven haired heir's close to perfect life completely disrupting the barrier that he tried so hard to make.

Soon enough, Sasuke caught up with the blonde artist giving him a small grin while greeting him.

"Good morning." He said to the smiling blue eyed teen next to him.

"Good morning, Sasuke. Look, it's a beautiful day, isn't it?" Though his voice was loud and could be considered annoying, it didn't bother Sasuke at all. In fact, he was used to Naruto's big mouth and even bigger voice.

"Hn." Was all he got from Sasuke as the said dark eyed teen went back into his stoic mode.

Soon enough they arrived to the classroom that they both shared. Though, Naruto might have seem dumb to any person who met him, the truth was that he was secretly very smart. However, Sasuke knew that Naruto just let everybody believe that it was just a fluke that he got into such a high standard school such as Konoha High.

"Hey Sasuke, wanna do something after school? I heard that they added a new flavor of ramen at Ichiraku!" Naruto explained all excited for the new flavor at his favorite place to eat.

"Hm, if you don't mind waiting for me, then sure. I have a Student Council meeting after school to discuss graduation." Sasuke frowned at the thought of having to deal with his president duties. To be honest, he had never really wanted to be the president, but since his brother was Sasuke had to follow. If not, then it would be another disappointment to his father.

"Sure! But since you're making me wait, it's on you, right??" Naruto grinned slyly while nudging his friend.

"…whatever." Sasuke rolled his eyes as the blond gave a yelp of joy.

"Okay, everyone take a seat." Their history teacher stepped in.

He was a tall silver haired man that was dressed quite oddly. He wore a black turtle neck in which the collar covered more than half of his face. To make his attire more odd was the rolled bandana that covered his left eye leaving only one eye visible. No one really knew how their teacher really looked since the man had never shown his face not even once.

"Sorry, I'm late. A crazy person jumped in front of my car on the way over here." As usual was an unbelievable excuse that Hatake Kakashi never failed to make for his tardiness.

All the students were used to it and just rolled their eyes not paying attention to the lame excuses that their teacher would make. It wasn't really worth questioning after all the times it had happened which was quite a lot.

"Yosh! Let's begin today's lesson…"

Sasuke sighed as the last class for the day was over. After Kakashi's class, all the others just seemed to fly by. And now, he was on his way to the Student Council room. Upon his arrival, the Uchiha realized that he was the first there. This did not surprise him at all. Though the members of Student Council were reliable when it came to being punctual they all failed on that.

"Sasuke-kun, you're here!!" A bubbly female voice came from the direction of the door.

With an annoyed sigh, Sasuke turned around and found who he expected to find, the pink haired girl who was also secretary for the Student Council. Her shocking pink hair was tied with a red ribbon which contrasted with the bright bubblegum hue of her hair. She had slightly peach colored skin and shining green eyes. Though she was nothing to look at, the pink of her hair and green of her eyes made people give the female teen a second glance.

"Hn." Sasuke didn't even bother to give her a proper answer.

A frown came to his face when he saw her suddenly blush and start fidgeting around in an odd manner.

"Since we're alone, Sasuke-kun, there's been something that I've been meaning to tell you…" Sakura started off her voice strangely firm even though she looked terribly embarrassed.

The Uchiha didn't respond for he knew already was she was going to say. He was actually quite surprised that the girl hadn't said anything sooner. This was their tenth year of knowing each other and this was the first time the girl would admit her feelings to Sasuke. He had always known that the pink haired girl had the biggest crush on him but chose to ignore it since he knew that he would never feel the same.

"Well…I really like you, Sasuke-kun. Would you please go out with me?" She said in a hurry as she tightly closed her eyes and clenched her hands together.

"…I can't accept your feelings, Sakura." He said in an emotionless voice as he stared at the flushed girl coldly.

It already bothered him that he at least got fifteen confessions a day and now he had to deal with the only girl he let into his circle of friends confessing to him. To be honest, he only let her get close to him because of Naruto. He didn't know why, but the blonde liked the girl. He couldn't see why. She was annoying to him and not to mention mean to Naruto.

"Why not, Sasuke-kun? We've known each other for so long! I know that you sometimes seem cold, but you've let me get close to you over these years." She said her eyes already beginning to get glassy with unshed tears.

"Have you ever asked yourself why that was?" Sasuke started off coldly.

"It was because Naruto liked you. I only let you get close to me because of him." He continued turning away not caring that the girl was going to cry. He had dealt with tears before from all the other people that he rejected.

"Is that why you can't accept my feelings?" Sakura suddenly said her voice low yet steady.

"Is it because of…him?" She continued looking up at Sasuke with anger in her eyes.

"Him?" Sasuke repeated not really understanding what the girl was getting at.

"You know who I'm talking about…Naruto." Her eyes narrowed as she thought about the said blonde who always seemed to be smiling happily as he was by Sasuke's side.

Sasuke frowned not liking what she was saying. Was she accusing him of liking that blond idiot? Sure he liked hanging out with the blue eyed painter, but he wouldn't go as far as to say he liked him.

"Naruto? You've got to be kidding me?" Why in the hell would I like him? I am NOT gay. Sasuke added the last part to himself.

"I don't think so Sasuke. Whenever I ask you to go somewhere with me, you always find an excuse to go with Naruto instead. Not only that, but you also give Naruto those 'looks'." Sakura said firmly believing in what she was saying. She couldn't believe that Sasuke wouldn't like her. The only way that he wouldn't like her would be that he liked someone else. And the only person that was closer to Sasuke than her was none other than Naruto.

"Looks? What looks are you talking about?" Sasuke questioned thinking that the girl was out of her mind. How could she think that he, an Uchiha, would like another male. The thought by itself was laughable. And to make things worse, she believed it was Naruto. Now that was even funnier.

However, at that moment, Sasuke felt something that he didn't want to identify.

'You know denial is not only a river in Egypt…' An unknown voice said in Sasuke's head. He frowned at the voice. He did not want to consider that. He was not in denial. It was wrong…it had to be. He couldn't like his best friend. It was impossible.

"Those gentle looks. You never look that way at anyone else except Naruto. Don't think that I don't notice it! So just tell me the truth!" Sakura once again raised her voice getting angry at the guy of her dreams, the guy she wanted to marry who was rejecting her coldly without a second thought.

'That's it…' Sasuke thought finally getting angry at the girl. That was the last straw. The green eyed teen finally stepped over the line.

"The truth? You want to know the truth?" Sasuke said in an icy voice that would make a grown adult quiver in fear.

However, Sakura was into her own feelings to notice the deadly change in Sasuke's voice.

"The truth is I don't really even like Naruto. He's dumb, retarded, loud and annoying. Just getting through the day having to listen to his bothersome prattle is enough to make me want to permanently shut him up. He means absolutely nothing to me. Nothing. So get it straight. My rejecting your feelings has nothing to do with that dead last." He said each word strongly hoping to get it through her thick head that he felt nothing whatsoever for the blonde.

As Sasuke said this, he had no idea that said blonde was outside of the room with his clenched fist over his heart. Neither did he know that with those words he broke the already fragile heart of the blonde. He didn't know how much pain he had just caused to the only person who had looked at him for him and not because he was an Uchiha. No, he had no idea at all…

Sakura looked unbelieving for a second before her eyes watered up finally not being able to take the harsh blow that was dealt when being rejected by her first love.

The door opened and the vice president of the Student Council walked in not even noticing the heavy tension that he was walking in to. His pale eyes glanced at the tearful girl then to the brooding Uchiha before sighing and taking a seat obviously ignoring the two. It was painfully obvious what had just happened. But Hyuuga Neji was never one to put his nose where it didn't belong.

Sakura quickly dried her tears and tried to focus at the task at hand. Although she was broken hearted, she needed to do her job. It was against what she believed in to slack off just because of personal matters.

The other members soon joined and Sasuke took a deep breath before starting the meeting.

"And so, if there is nothing else to be discussed, then this meeting is adjourned." Sasuke said in a formal voice. Inwardly, he breathed out a sigh. He was glad to finally be able to end the meaningless meeting.

Everyone stood while gathering their papers before giving the Uchiha a brief bow on their way out. Seems just like Sasuke they were happy that the meeting ended.

He didn't even spare a glance at the pink haired girl as she walked out with her head bowed. The dark haired teen did feel slightly bad for rejecting her. He was human after all, but he just couldn't see her in that way. Plus she wasn't really his type. His type was not pink hair but blonde. Also he couldn't stand the green of her eyes. He preferred something softer like blue…a nice bright blue.

'Just like Naruto, huh?' An image of the blonde artist flashed through his mind.

Yes, just like Naru-…!! Wait a second!! He was NOT just thinking that. Sasuke frowned at his thoughts. Naruto was definitely not his type. He was loud, annoying, obnoxious, stupid, clumsy…cute, adorable, beautiful…

"…I did not just think Naruto was beautiful." Sasuke grumbled to himself not believing his own thoughts.

Deciding that a change of scenery would get his mind thinking straight again, Sasuke headed out of the room. It was probably all because Sakura had said all those ridiculous things about him giving Naruto special "looks". Hell, he didn't even know how he looked at Naruto.

Walking to the entrance, Sasuke expected to see the blonde there waiting for him. And yet, said blue eyed teen was no where in sight. This made Sasuke frown. He was sure Naruto would be waiting for him. After all, he would be getting free ramen. The painter was never one to turn down free food, especially if it was ramen. It was his favorite thing to eat. Sasuke was sure that if possible, the blonde would eat nothing but those flavored noodles.

Deciding that Naruto had probably gotten tired of waiting, the raven haired teen began to look around the school hoping to find his friend somewhere.

However, the blue eyed teen was no where to be found at school. This made Sasuke slightly worry. Just where could Naruto have gone? All the other times, Naruto would patiently wait for him without ever leaving no matter how long the meetings would last.

"Maybe he went home…" The Uchiha mumbled to himself as he made his way to his car.

Soon enough, he arrived at where Naruto lived. Sasuke parked near the building while looking at the large structure. It was a fairly nice apartment complex in a quiet, peaceful neighborhood. He got out of his car and headed to the stairs knowing that Naruto's apartment that he shared with his guardian was on the third floor.

Sasuke knocked on the door waiting for someone to answer.

The door opened to reveal a nice looking man with his hair up in a ponytail. He had a large scar going horizontally across his face. However, that didn't make the brunet look rough especially since he always had a kind smile on his face. As always, he was greeted with a smile from the older man known as Umino Iruka.

"Hello. It's nice to see you, Sasuke. What brings you here?" Iruka asked politely with his usual kind smile on his handsome face.

"Is Naruto here?" Sasuke was never one for idle chat, so he just got straight to the point.

"Naruto? No, he hasn't come back from school yet." The brunet's smile vanished and his eyes began to shine with worry. If the blonde was not with Sasuke, then where could he have possibly been?

"I see. Don't worry. He's probably just messing around." The dark eyed teen said sensing the worry from the older man.

"I'll find him. Bye." With that, he walked away hoping that he could find the stupid blonde.

As he got into his car, Sasuke pulled out his phone and pressed number two. It was a speed dial for Naruto's cell phone.

After three rings, he finally heard someone pick up the phone.

"Hello?" Immediately, Sasuke noticed the difference in Naruto's usual bright voice. He sounded tired and his voice had dropped into a low tone. Thinking nothing of it, Sasuke began to talk.

"Dobe? Where are you? We were supposed to meet after school, but I couldn't find you. I tried stopping by your house but Iruka said that you hadn't returned from school." He allowed himself to sound slightly worried for the blonde. And deep down, he truly was. First the blonde was missing and now the empty, sad voice he was using.

"Why do you care?" Sasuke frowned at this. Just what the hell did that question mean?

"What do you mean? Naruto, is there something wrong with you? What's wrong with your voice? You sound…different." Finally, the raven haired teen allowed his worry to show. It was very unusual for the blonde to talk to him like that unless something was bothering him.

"I'm at our secret place." With that, Sasuke heard a distinct click and he was cut off by Naruto hanging up on him.

Sasuke drove out of the parking lot of the apartments and headed to a place he knew all too well.

It was a small park that the two had found when they were younger. Though it used to be a popular park, the amount of visitors soon dropped as soon as a grove of trees blocked the path. No one had bothered removing the trees since it was too bothersome and so they had just left it as is. Soon enough, everyone stopped going to that park. The two friends had rediscovered it and decided to make it their secret place.

Over the years, the two frequently visited the park since it was the only place that they would be alone. It was a place that they would go whenever they had a bad day or just to relax and forget all of their problems.

The Uchiha heir parked his car and stepped out making his way through the trees that blocked the entrance of the park. Soon enough a head of blonde hair was seen.

However, the appearance of said blonde made Sasuke stop in mid-step.

Naruto was looking up at the starry night with a look of intense pain and sorrow. He looked as if he was about to cry and although his eyes were glassy, no tears left his sparkling blue eyes. Sasuke didn't know why, but he felt his insides clench uncomfortably. It was so painful that he almost couldn't breathe. Seeing his usual cheerful friend with such a face was almost too much for him to bear. He had never seen such a look. Especially not from Naruto.

"Naruto…" Without knowing it, the obsidian eyed heir let out the other's name.

He noticed that as soon as the name left his lips, all the sadness and pain disappeared from the blonde's face only to be replaced with what he knew was a fake smile.

"Hey, bastard." With that fake smile came a fake voice that was even faker than usual.

Though he was really bothering him deep down, Sasuke chose to ignore it.

"Why didn't you wait for me?" His voice was thankfully at its usual stoic tone.

"Sorry, something came up."

Sasuke did not believe that for one second. What could have possibly of happened?

"And what is this something that you speak of?" The Uchiha heir decided to further press the truth out of his blonde friend.

"Oh you know…this and that." Though it was said in a nonchalant tone, Sasuke could tell that he would not be getting an answer from the blue eyed artist.

"Whatever." At his answer, Sasuke rolled his eyes. He should have known better than to ask such a question from the sometimes secretive blonde.

"Wow, look at the time! I gotta go now. Iruka's gonna be mad with me if I don't go back soon."

Naruto's sudden need to depart startled the raven haired teen. He had just gotten there and now the blonde had to leave? That didn't make any sense. Also they still hadn't gone out to eat like that had planned earlier.

However, it did look as though the blue eyed teen wasn't about to change his mind and so Sasuke just let him go.

"Goodbye, Sasuke. Take care." Were the odd words that came out of Naruto's mouth as he stopped to stand side by side with him before walking off in the direction of his apartment.

The dark eyed boy wondered why Naruto had said such a formal farewell like that. It almost sounded as if they wouldn't be seeing each other again.

Sasuke shook off that thought although it was really bothering him on the inside. But thinking realistically, he knew that nothing like that was going to happen so he was probably over worrying about the whole thing.

With that final thought, Sasuke headed home wanting to get to the nice warm bed that waited at his house. It had been a long, tiring day, so he wanted to have a good rest.

In the morning, Sasuke woke up from a restless sleep. It seemed what happened with Naruto was bothering him so much that he couldn't sleep right.

The Uchiha was tired and felt like he didn't get any sleep at all. Deciding it was better to attack the cause of him problems, Sasuke got ready in hopes of picking up Naruto before he left to school.

The raven haired teen wanted to get to the bottom of this. If he couldn't then he knew that it would be bothering him all day.

With that final thought, Sasuke got ready and headed off to the blonde's house.

After knocking on the apartment's door, it opened to reveal a very tired looking Iruka.

"Sasuke? What are you doing here?" Came Iruka's tired voice as he rubbed one of his eyes.

"What do you mean? I came to pick up Naruto." He said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. And to be honest, it was.

"Naruto? He already left earlier this morning. Didn't he tell you?" The Uchiha didn't notice the slight worry in the older man's voice.

"He didn't wait for me…we usually go to school together." Sasuke mumbled to himself wondering why the blonde was acting so strange. First, that look and now he leaves for school without him. It was really strange.

However, Sasuke didn't want to think anything of it. The dark eyed teen didn't like worrying over things and so he decided just to let it go.

"Well, I'll just see him at school. No big deal." Sasuke began to turn away from the brunet to head back to his car.

"At school? I'm afraid that Naruto won't be at school." Came the sad sounding voice of Iruka.

Sasuke stopped not believing what he was hearing. Countless of possibilities raced through his head as to why Naruto would not be attending school. However, none of them seemed like the right answer. None of them seemed like they would be possible.

"Why…not?" He finally asked slightly afraid of what he was about to hear.

"Because he left earlier for American this morning."

As soon as Iruka said these words, Sasuke's mind froze. Naruto had left to America? How could that have been? He had never once heard of the blonde's plans for America.

"He left to…America?" Sasuke asked still not being able to fully comprehend the whole situation.

"Yes, that's right." The brunet man started off looking at the raven haired boy standing in front of him with a look of sadness. It was now apparent to him that Naruto hadn't told the Uchiha anything of his plans to leave.

"As soon as he came home, he had told me to help him pack his things.

"At first I was puzzled as to what he meant, but he then told me that he had made a decision to leave for America early in the morning.

"I tried to reason with him by telling him it was too sudden, but he told me that he would take care of everything as soon as he got there.

"Apparently, Naruto had received a scholarship that would pay for all of his tuition and any other needs that he might have. Several of the professors had seen Naruto's paintings and photos and where highly impressed with his talents.

"However, I did not think that he would decide so soon. But I could not change his mind." Iruka said with a sigh as he closed his tired eyes.

"So, he's gone?" That was all that Sasuke allowed himself to say. For if he said more, his voice was sure to crack.

"Yes. He is." The older man replied sadly. He, too, did not want Naruto to leave.

"I see…" Was all the raven haired heir said before turning and walking away.

As Sasuke sat in his car, his mind ran over the various reasons why Naruto would want to leave for America so suddenly. He couldn't really think of anything.

"Goodbye, Sasuke. Take care."

Naruto's words echoed through his head. Now he knew why the blonde had said those words. It seemed whatever he was thinking about before was the cause of his sudden departure. But he couldn't think of what would make Naruto feel that way.

Sighing, Sasuke decided to skip school and headed back to his house knowing that both his parents would not be home. There was no way that he would be able to concentrate at school with his mind only focused on what had happened.

The dark eyed teen suddenly felt betrayed. He felt betrayed that Naruto didn't come to him with his problem. He felt betrayed that Naruto didn't want to discuss what was happening to him. And then he sudden made such a big decision without even telling him a thing about it. They were supposed to be friends, right?

As Sasuke fell onto his bed, he couldn't help but want to see those beautiful blue eyes and those sparkling blue eyes.

The airport, as always, was packed full of people. It had been a total of five years since he returned to Japan. In that amount of time, he was able to complete college and earn his degree both in photography and in art.

However along the way, he was picked up as a professional photographer and started to take photos of famous people and models. And this was the reason he was back in Japan. He had a job for a photo shoot with some big shot model. Apparently, they had hand picked the blonde for his talents in photography.

Naruto was never one to reject a job. Especially when they offered the amount that they did. He was surprised to see eight digits when handed a piece of paper from the model's company representative.

He looked around the airport and suddenly everything looked familiar. It felt like he had just left yesterday, but he knew deep down that though everything looked the same he was sure that everything had changed.

The photographer still remembered the day he left. It had been a rash decision, but he didn't regret it. Because of all the opportunities that he received during his time away from his home country, it was all worth it to him. Every moment he was in America, Naruto learned something new.

However, what bothered him the most was the way he had just left without properly saying goodbye to everyone...especially to Sasuke.

Flashback

I got back to the apartment that I shared with Iruka with my mind set. And I knew that if I didn't do anything now, that I wouldn't have the courage to do it again. My decision to move to America was something that I had selfishly decided on my own. I wanted to be selfish. For once, I wanted to think about myself and not think of anyone else.

"Naruto, where have you been? I've been worried. Sasuke had came by and said that he couldn't find you. What happened?" Iruka, as always, was the worrywart. No matter how little the matter was the older man was always over worrying.

"I was just at the park thinking." I said walking to my bedroom fully aware that Iruka was following after me.

"Thinking? Is anything the matter, Naruto? You know that you can always talk to me if you have any problems with anything." Although, the brunet was only my guardian he was really like a father to me. He treated me as if I was his own blood.

"I…want to go to America." I said finally. The news didn't really surprise Iruka because he was the one with me when I had received the acceptance letter.

"Really? That's wonderful." He smiled happily for me although I could see that it didn't reach his eyes. I knew that Iruka did not want me to leave. He was probably more attached to me than I was to him.

"Yeah…but I want to leave by tomorrow morning." I said wondering what would be my guardian's reaction to that. I didn't have to wait long.

"What!?!?!" Iruka exclaimed looking as if the sky had fallen. Yes, I had expected this reaction from the brunet.

"I want to leave my tomorrow." I repeated looking straight at him to show my seriousness.

"But what about your graduation, Naruto? And where are you going to live? Have you really thought this over thoroughly?" He was really panicking over this. And, once again, I had expected this.

"I've already contacted the principal. He said it was possible and that he'd have my degree by tomorrow. I already called Tsunade-bachan and Ero Sennin. They both say it is fine with them .And I have thought this over. This is the best solution for me." I surprised myself with the seriousness I talked with. Iruka must've heard it took because it seemed he was already giving in.

"Very well. It seemed that you even looked and planned ahead for this. Here, let me help you pack." Iruka then fully stepped into my room ready for a long night.

"I just hope you won't regret this, Naruto…"

"Don't worry. I won't…" At least, I hope not…

End Flashback

Naruto made his way to the front of the airport wondering who was going to pick him up. He honestly did not know. He just remembered Kiba telling him that he would send someone to go and get him. At the time, Naruto did not think much about it and so he agreed without much argument.

What he didn't expect was to see a familiar head of dark raven hair. Nor did he expect to see those cold, glaring obsidian eyes again. At least, not so soon.

The blonde froze in place with his bright blue eyes wide and his mouth slightly opened. He was completely stunned to see the person in front of him. After all these years, he stood in front of the man he ran away from.

"Welcome back, dobe."

Okay! There's another chapter. Don't you all love the cliffie? Haha.

Oh look!! Is that the review button?? It's just shouting "CLICK ME!!!", don't 'cha think!? You should do it.