I finally have the time to post this one. This is the last chapter that is in MS Word already. The rest of the chapters will be copied and pasted to Word. Good luck to me.

Anyway, I promised this chapter to be fun but failed. It's still light but it's not as fun as I made it sound. Sorry.

Age update: Sasu and Naru are in their fifties (It's okay for them to go at it, right? Right.) Yuuzuki, Akemi, Miki and Kisho are 26, 21, 19 and 16 years old, respectively.

Chapter 83: Secret love for an Uchiha

Annoyed that he was told to wait because the Hokage was still doing the quarterly inspection, Lord Sakuma stood from his seat and went to the window. He parted the curtains and watched the busy streets below. He scowled, seeing nothing interesting. He was about to close the curtain when he spotted something or to be exact someone- Chie. He barely recognized her because of her clothes which were not the kimono she used to wear when she was still his daughter..

Truthfully, he had expected her to come home crying and begging him to take her back because she couldn't stand living a commoner's life with walking weapons of destruction. He hadn't expected to see her walking down the street with a wooden bucket in her hand and smiling sincerely while exchanging greetings with few villagers. The lady looked so content and happy. Her smile widened and took his breath away. He hadn't seen that smile until now and to him it was her most beautiful smile. And the one who caused it was the Uchiha who he hired to escort him former daughter. He watched with a frown as the two exchanged few words before the young man nodded, took the bucket from her and they walked side by side. The lord continued watching until the couple disappeared into a corner.

Going back to his seat, he thought it was okay for Chie to stay where it makes her happy rather than with him because he'd definitely push his standards on her and also she had put him into shame too many times. The arrangement now was better for both of them.

-SasuNaru is love-

Makoto spun around the moment the door to his art room opened and Shigure and Kazushi stepped inside. His movement was so sudden that it upset his coffee, causing it to splatter on his canvass.

"Fuck!" he muttered grabbing a tissue then remembered his friends. "Don't come in!" he shouted but it was too late. His friends were already there and their eyes were wide. Makoto sighed. There went his secret.

Kazushi and Shigure stood rooted to the ground, staring at the paintings of a familiar face staring back at them.

"Obsession?" Shigure asked. What other emotion was there aside from obsession that made his friend drew that person too many times? He grimaced when his lover hit him for being tactless.

"Unrequited love can morph into that," Makoto replied jokingly with a strained smile.

Kazushi guessed that it was because his object of attraction was familiar to them that he never allowed them to his art room. "Sorry to intrude. We didn't know-"

"It's okay. I should have locked the door." But he was all alone in his house and he didn't expect his friends to visit.

"We knocked a lot of times but nobody answered until we heard a noise coming from this room," Shigure explained, feeling guilty for finding his friend's secret accidentally.

Makoto shrugged his shoulders. He was so immersed with his hobby that he didn't hear the knocks. What kind of a shinobi was he? But it was too late. They found out already. "Can we go to my room?"

The couple nodded immediately.

"You don't have to answer but…" Kazushi started the moment he found a place to sit. "How long?"

"Almost three years. But it's a hopeless attraction."

"To who?" came a voice from the doorway.

They looked to find Kisho leaning against the closed door. Among the four of them, it was Kisho who had changed the most due to their profession. A year ago, they commented how he reminded them of a sheathed sword but now he looked similar to an unsheathed one. He was emanating a tempting dangerous aura similar to that of a blade glinting under the moonlight. He was no longer a walking contradiction of opposite things but the border where these things meet and separate.

"How did you get in?" Shigure asked. How come the three of them didn't hear him coming in or feel his presence until the moment he spoke?

"Door," the blonde answered casually as he padded to sit beside his assassin of a friend.

"Silent as the dead, eh?" Kazushi teased making the others chuckle.

"Did you kill an entire village this time, Kisho?" Makoto asked good-naturedly.

"Is that another speculation from the villagers?" the boy asked.

"No, expectations."

"I see," He answered. Morbid speculations... grotesque expectations... those were what the villagers had for him since that time. A year ago, two months since he became a master, he finally had a very brief encounter with one of the most slippery nuke-nin. That meeting had led him to his hiding place among a tight-knitted clan of seventeen bandits. Apparently, his comrades were ready to kill to defend him. Threatened and surrounded, Kisho had no choice but to fight back. Things spiraled out of control and when it was over, he had killed everyone.

The news traveled quickly to Konoha and got twisted. When he met a comrade, he had been shocked to find out that he had attacked and viciously massacred a clan out of unreasonable anger to a missing-nin who had escaped from his clutches.

For the first time, Kisho had been affected and he would have continued being so, if not for Shougo who made a brief stop at the village where he was spending a few days. In a neutral voice, his senior told him that the rumor-mongers were just villagers who had nothing better to do. Kisho pointed out that there were ninjas also so the older man had to correct his statement.

What do they know about our code of honor and rules of engagement? Nothing. So don't mind such worthless things.

That was the end of their conversation but Kisho had taken it to heart. As long as he and formidable figures in the hunter-nin organization knew the truth then it didn't matter what rumors were circulating around the village. With that thought, the rumor was buried under piles upon piles of mission and information.

Much to Kazushi's bewilderment, Kisho extended a hand.

"Invitation," he explained. "Invitation to your wedding."

"Wh- We don't have plans yet," the doll-looking lad said. "There's nothing to hurry anyway, right Shigure?"

"Yeah," his boyfriend agreed. "Besides marriage is just a way of formalizing things between two persons."

"Pity. I was looking forward to it." Kisho then focused his gaze on his other friend. "You're hopelessly attracted to who?"

Makoto blushed, looked away before he mumbled, "no one."

But Shigure decided that his friend needed help. "Actually, it's mmmpph."

"Who?" Kisho asked, annoyed that the coffee-addict was covering Shigure's mouth.

"Akemi," Kazushi stated simply making his three friends freeze. He continued grinning even when amethyst eyes were glaring at him.

"Why you-"

"How troublesome," the blonde commented, interrupting Makoto from completing his strings of colorful words. "But I'll help you."

"You will?" the three chorused. They were surprise at the announcement.

Noticing the wicked grin on Kisho's face, dread clawed its way to Makoto's heart. He was doomed. He glared at the couple who were silently enjoying how things turned out. Fucking bastards!

"You don't have to," he said, successfully hiding the desperation he had within him. "Akemi-san is now happy with his girlfriend."

"That's because, he had no idea of the sweetness of having a man for a lover." He announced it in a dreamy voice that Shigure rolled his eyes.

"Does that mean you had or have a male lover?"

"I'm not interested in holes that needed to be manually lubricated for me to slide into."

"I can't believe a sixteen-year-old could be this pervert," Makoto commented. "How could you say that about your brother?" If he heard his twin brother talking about him in this almost crude manner, he was certain he'd skewered that lad, brother or not.

The blonde shrugged his shoulders. "I'm just replacing what he has with something better. Besides he might be Bi because when he was a child, he wanted to marry chichiue."

"He was a child at that time!" Makoto snapped. He couldn't allow himself to be the cause of heartbreak of such a fine young man.

"So? It doesn't matter." Blue eyes looked at him intently, "Get ready to serve your ass because Akemi-nii won't give you his."

Looking at his friend's desperate look, Kazushi wondered if it was a right decision to interfere...

Sorry, Mako-chan but we want you to be happy.

-SasuNaru is love-

Kisho grinned widely as he Makoto joining at the Ubhiha training ground the next morning. It seemed his friend was now willing to cooperate with after how he profusely declined his help.

"I asked Akemi-nii to have a spar with you," he explained. "He's here," he said when the older Uchiha came to his line of sight. "Don't be nervous."

At that moment, Makoto wanted nothing more than to slit his friend's throat. But he smiled to his friend's brother and sent a greeting to his direction. "Why can't I spar with you?" he hissed.

"Because you have the same profession with him unless you plan on having a career shift."

"Can we now start?" Akemi asked in an irritated and bored tone. "I don't want to spend my day waiting for your whispering to end."

"Sorry," the junior ANBU said and was about to turn from his blond friend when the latter stopped him from doing so.

"Just give us a minute to wrap up our battle plan," Kisho replied while wearing an innocent smile that never sat well with his brother. "Spar is a gropefest in disguise so grope all you want."

"What?" a shocked Makoto uttered. He was about to withdraw when he was pushed towards his senior.

"He's all yours," the youngest announced in a voice sprinkled with suggestiveness.

When Kisho had asked him to spar with a friend, Akemi had accepted. Knowing that his brother's friends were all skillful and close to being gifted, he had been certain that a spar with any of them would be exhilarating and challenging. So when he felt nothing, he was disappointed. For every seconds passed and for every lame move on Makoto's part, his disappointment morphed into irritation. It was foolish to go all out on someone who wasn't. He wanted a fair and all-out spar not a one-sided one.

He danced around Makoto's rain of kicks and stopped behind him. "Lame," he whispered making his opponent shiver before he delivered a kick that sent the latter flying. He couldn't go all-out but that didn't mean he couldn't be merciless.

Makoto broke his flight so his impact against a tree wasn't as hard as it should be but it still made his bones tingle. Damn! But it was expected from an elite member of an ANBU.

"Don't mock me," Akemi said.

Kisho sighed. It was worse than he expected. Damage control, he thought.

"Sorry about that Akemi-nii. It seemed he's not ready yet."

"Then ask me when he's in his top condition." With that said, he left.

Makoto looked at his friend and chuckled sheepishly. "I fucked it up."

The blonde nodded. "You certainly did. You missed a lot of opportunity in groping him! "He never really saw the wide-eyed reaction on his friend as he was sent flying.

Makoto straddled him while holding a fist of his shirt. "You brat! I made a fool out of myself." He knew his performance was lame too, something an ANBU member shouldn't be committing. Ever. He was angry at himself for that. But what really pissed him was that he did it in front of that Akemi. Damn it. He glared at the still calm Kisho whom he wanted to vent his anger out on. He could feel the blood flowing hotly to his eyes darkening them ominously.

"You should have used that strength on him," the boy stated. He just blinked as his friend brought his fist down, hitting the ground and missing his face by hairsbreadth. "Don't worry. He didn't say he won't fight you again. You still have a lot of opportunities to grope him."

The amethyst-eyed lad couldn't help but laughed his frustration and annoyance out.

-SasuNaru is love-

Kisho stared at the ceiling above his bed. He had planned to leave four days from now but with things between Akemi and Makoto, he might as well stay for two more days. He had to create a spark between the two but how? After a moment or two, a plan came to his mind.

Exposure.

He had to get those two to meet a lot.

-SasuNaru is love-

"Sasuke," Naruto breathed while he looked at him after he had steadied his husband.

"I'm fine," Sasuke retorted, slapping the tanned hand away. He could see the blonde's thoughts through worried blue eyes and didn't like it.

Ever since he had informed his wife about his inevitable blindness, Naruto paid more attention to him than before. Any mistakes he made were assumed to be caused by his condition. Sometimes, he felt suffocated by the unnecessary worry and care he received from his wife that it pissed him off. Thrice, he had exploded because of this matter.

"Don't worry about me," he said and left his companion standing in the middle of the street.

Naruto glared at Sasuke's retreating back. Just the latter's casual way of dismissing his worry made his blood boil. "'Don't worry about me. Don't worry about me. Don't worry about me.' It's easier said than done, you bastard!" he shouted at him. He didn't give a damn if there were still a few people walking along their street or that he now had their attention. Sasuke was definitely asking for it.

Sasuke slightly tilted his head to the left just in time for a stone to whiz past his ear.

"Sasuke-bastard," Naruto spat.

Why? Why can't you understand? No matter how long we've been together why can't you understand that my worrying about you is as natural as breathing?

The Uchiha leader lifted an arm to block a hard punch and swung a leg to sweep his attacker from his feet. The blonde jumped over it and swing his free arm which was caught and the next thing he knew he was sailing across the street. He twisted in the air to land gracefully.

"Naruto," Sasuke warned but it had fallen into deaf ears as the blonde lunged again. He wanted the older man to understand his reasons of worrying… he wanted him not to take his feelings lightly… callously.

Sasuke bend back to miss the all-out kick then ducked to avoid the round-house kick. When another kick came to his view, he gripped the leg. He arched an eyebrow to a still furious and hurt blonde who swung his other leg. Upside down, Naruto looked at Sasuke who was holding his two legs and then smirked. The dark-haired man was caught in surprise when suddenly the legs escape from his clutches and wound around his neck. A split second and he was flying through the air and crashing against the trashcans.

He glared at his opponent and then met him halfway. After a lot of parries from both sides, he managed to hit the blonde simultaneously. He kneed the blonde and watched him as he fell to his knees. He let out a gasp as he was swept off from his feet. As he was falling, he managed to swing his leg and hit the smirking blonde's face.

As expected from two of the most powerful shinobis, they got back to their feet ready to continue their duel.

Seeing the couple fighting, passer-bys arched an eyebrow. It had been a long time since the two had resorted to physical fight but it wasn't an uncommon sight. No matter how they loved each other, they were still rivals and it was obvious with their attacks that at that moment they treated each other just like that. They didn't know if they could call it domestic violence. With those two, everything seemed to lose its traditional meaning.

"Fuck," Naruto cursed as he crashed against the trashcans, this time upsetting and tumbling them down. "That hurts, bastard."

"You started it, moron," Sasuke retorted acidly while glaring at him.

You…you always make me weak… you always make me feel weak. I don't want you to make me feel weaker.

Frustrated and angry that Sasuke was being more than a bastard that he usually was, Naruto gripped the closest thing to him which was one of the lids of the toppled trash cans and threw it towards his opponent before charging.

Sasuke with his sharingan activated, managed to grab hold of it and swung it to the approaching blonde.

Wide blue stared at him in surprise, disbelief and horror causing Sasuke to freeze also. His red-blood eyes gazed at a tanned hand that suddenly covered a particular area of his stomach and saw blood suddenly staining the hokage robe and the tanned hand before drop by drop, red-liquid tainted the ground.

"Sasuke, you…"

"Naruto, I…" he looked at the tin lid in his hand and realized that it wasn't the original cover. It was just a poorly make-shift cover with one side corrugated sharply.

"You won," the blonde acquiesced because Sasuke had drawn blood first. That was how they always concluded their fights. But because he was always a sore loser, he then sneered, "It didn't even matter to you where you'd cut me as long as you win, you asshole."

Sasuke stared at him wide-eyed and guilty. He quickly let go of the lid as if burnt and crossed the distance between him and his wife who pushed him away. "Naruto, I didn't…"

"Let me go, bastard," the blonde said and shoved himself away from Sasuke who desperately watched him as he walked to the other side of the street, leaned against a wooden wall surrounding a property before sliding to the ground clutching his bleeding stomach.

"Dobe, we need to get that-"

"Don't come over here!"

"This isn't the time for that!" Sasuke snapped. "You're bleeding. We need you to get to the hospital." He didn't want Kyuubi to heal Naruto because he knew skin regeneration shorted the blonde's already short lifespan.

Naruto chuckled dryly and slightly cringed as he felt his wound burn. Kyuubi was automatically healing it. It wasn't something that fox demon could stop because it was natural and instinctive. "Too late. It's already healing." And before Sasuke could say or do something, he looked at the inky sky and asked, "Why are you always mad when I worry about you?"

That statement made Sasuke remember why they were fighting. "Because it's unnecessary. That's why I don't want to tell you about my condition knowing you'd worry yourself to death."

"But you have no right to shrug off my feelings as if they were nothing," Naruto continued in a soft but intense voice.

"But you make me feel weak, helpless and incapable when I'm not. You make me feel like I'm blind when I'm not. You pissed me off when you make me feel like that," Sasuke retorted coldly.

Desperate and pleadingly blue eyes locked gazes with him…

"I have the right to worry about you. I'm your wife! Dammit!" He gasped when Sasuke appeared in front of him, his face too close for comfort.

"I know but you suffocate me with your worry. I need space, dobe."

The blonde sighed and rested his forehead against a shoulder. "I'm sorry but I couldn't help it. You mean so much to me that I… I couldn't help it but I'll try to back off."

And somehow both of them knew it was settled. Sasuke stood up and offered his hand which Naruto took it. They stood in the middle of the street, toes to toes. A pale hand rested on the wound he had given his blonde.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know that-"

"It's okay, bastard. I could have slit your throat if we weren't lucky." Naruto then smiled, "C'mon, let's take care of these bruises."

Sasuke nodded and slung an over Naruto's shoulders as they resumed their walk towards their home.

-SasuNaru is love-

Akemi looked up from plate when he heard two voices talking. He nodded when Kisho and Makoto walked in. The purple-eyed lad bowed while apologizing and thanking him for the time he spent sparring with him.

The older man just nodded.

"I forgot to bring the scroll," Kisho said a bit too happily. "I'll get it. You stay here and help yourself, okay?" And before his friend could say anything, he already waltzed out from the kitchen.

"Help yourself," Akemi said so suddenly that it made Makoto jumped. Amusement glinting in blue eyes, he commented off-handedly, "For an ANBU member, you sure are jumpy."

The younger blushed then chuckled sheepishly.

"I'm really sorry about what happened. To be honest, I was just nervous of having to spar with someone like you."

"If you're really sorry, then you better make up for it in our next spar, whenever that will be."

Makoto nodded and smiled. "I look forward to it, Akemi-san."

And the older man smiled.

When Kisho returned, the two were busy discussing the technicalities of one technique and he knew he wasn't so far from his objective.

-SasuNaru is love-

And for the next five days, Akemi met and bumped into Makoto into a lot of times to be considered coincidence. But he couldn't label the man as a stalker because he seemed to be just as surprise as him. In fact, the only one who seemed to be enthusiastic about these meetings was his brother if he was with Makoto. It was as if, he was up to something but no matter how many times Akemi kept an eye on his brother, Kisho didn't betray anything.

Even Chie noticed their frequent bumping into Kisho and his gang but whenever she looked at Kisho with eyes filled with doubt and confusion, the boy would disarm her with his charms and smiles until she forgot things that didn't concern her.

Despite his speculations, Akemi enjoyed his spars with Makoto. Just as the younger boy promised, he had given him more than the elite ANBU member expected. Sometimes their battles were purely about tactics while other times, just physical.

Makoto, on the other hand, enjoyed their battles too. He saw the different facets and skills of Akemi that had him skyrocketed to his current position. And when they weren't sparring, they were sharing intellectual conversations. He like the things he shared with the older Uchiha that Kisho's unasked advices of groping and seduction no longer pissed him off like they normally did.

But Makoto could no longer continue with his pretension especially when blue eyes would sometimes stare at him calculatingly and speculatively. And watching the man, he knew that at the tip of his tongue, a question was dying to make itself known. So after one of their frequent spar, instead of lying down to take a rest, he sat and called out his senior's name softly and shyly.

Akemi arched an eyebrow as he gazed at the suddenly shy lad.

"To be honest with you, I…" he trailed off, wondering if it was okay to say such things and to bare his heart, "To be honest with you, I…" He looked at Akemi with his deep amethyst eyes and continued.

Even if in the end, there was nothing for me… I'm still glad I learned how to love.

-SasuNaru is love-

Kisho seemed happy to find Shigure and Kazushi at the Konoha gates to send him off.

"When are you coming back?" Kazushi asked as he tightened Kisho's chest protector.

"15 months from now unless I will receive an invitation to your wedding."

"We told you we have no plans in getting married."

"Things change, Kazushi. They do," Kisho mumbled softly. "See you soon." He was about to disappear when he heard his name being called. He looked over his shoulder and saw Makoto together with Akemi.

"Take care, you brat," Makoto said.

"You too," he replied with a smile.

"He will," Akemi said as he draped an arm over Makoto's shoulders.

The blond boy just nodded before he disappeared quietly just as the wind blew by.

-SasuNaru is love-

She moaned as lips expertly attacked her pale neck. She was about to whisper a seductive invitation to the man when a familiar scent wafted to her nose. Without even hesitation, she pushed the man away and righted her hair and kimono. She knew he was here and that fact alone made her heart beat faster than her make out session with the surprised man.

Without looking over her shoulder, she left.

She ran to the place where she knew he usually stayed. She was 27-years old and yet she couldn't help but like someone who was way too younger than her. She didn't know anything about him outside his bed but it was okay. He always made that up to her when they made love. He was young but he knew the arts of seduction, pleasure and lovemaking more than anyone she knew. He was gentle but not boring. He was passionate but not suffocating. He was wild but not forceful. He knew female anatomy at its best. He knew where to touch to make sounds that could only be produce from musical instruments came out from her abused lips. He was a master of this and she liked him.

She ran past the stairs ignoring the owner of such inn, turned to the left then stopped in front of a very familiar door. She smoothened her hair and evened her breath before she opened the door.

"I've been waiting for you," her so-called lover said.

"I missed you, Kisho," she said as she grabbed the lad for a passionate kiss.

She was twenty-seven years old and he was sixteen. She was infatuated but he wasn't. Even if he didn't say anything she knew there were no strings attached. What they have was ephemeral and that was why she should enjoy it.

Kisho looked at her. She was beautiful… breathtakingly so especially when her emerald eyes were glazed with lust and desire; when her long silver hair spilled over his pillow and when her body was laid on his bed ready for his taking. She was beautiful and she was his for the time being.

"You're beautiful," he whispered to her ear while he let his fingers ran down along her chest. He took what was offered, indulging himself with the sweetness. As he feasted, he tried to forget about the coldness and bitterness an unrequited love brought; tried to forget haunting amethyst eyes; and most especially tried to forget Makoto who was in love with Akemi.

TBC

I can now hear few of you rejoicing that Kisho is...

Next chapter would be a look into their lives before continuing Kisho's problematic lovelife.