Disclaimer: All Naruto characters belongs to Kishimoto-san.

Pairing: SasuNaru

Warning: Yaoi, OOC, OCs and unbeta-read.

Author's notes: Please see my profile for an announcement about this fic. Also, there's a reason why OCs are present so just bear with it.

Chapter 2: Diminuendo

Naruto moaned in his sleep before he opened his eyes. He studied the ceiling wondering why it was different from before and when it came to him, he immediately sat up, eyes darting around the room looking for Sasuke.

He cursed. Sasuke was gone again. He hurriedly stood up, ending up losing his balance and that was how Sasuke who was carrying a tray of breakfast, found him, sprawled on the floor.

Sasuke arched an eyebrow while his lips curled in a mocking smile. "Careless, as ever, I see." Before Naruto could come up with a witty comeback, Sasuke held a steaming bowl of ramen in front of Naruto's face, it's enticing scent overwhelming his senses. Naruto's lips stretched into a grin. "Let me do my morning routine and I'll eat it." Without waiting for Sasuke's reply, he left for the bathroom.

"What's with that look, Sasuke-teme?" an uncomfortable Naruto asked with a scowl. It had been awhile since they finished eating their breakfast and neither of them moved. Both males were wary while tension between them grew.

Sasuke leaned back in his chair and took on a leisure position. "I was guessing when are you were going to leave. Surely, you didn't come here for leisure, did you?" Knowing the blond's commitment towards his work, Naruto would never go far from Konoha for a vacation. He smirked seeing upon seeing guilty look form on the Naruto's face.

Contrary to what Sasuke was thinking, Naruto hadn't forgotten his mission, but he didn't want to leave his friend. Naruto was certain that Sasuke wouldn't hesitate to abandon him again. At the moment, he was torn on what to do. "Throw me out if you want, but I won't leave you."

"Even if I tell you to get your ass here by evening so that we can move to a bigger room that we can share with each other?"

Naruto blinked. Was he hearing correctly? Sasuke was telling him that they'd be sharing a room? He was going to live with Sasuke, but more than anything else Sasuke was giving him a chance. "That's suspiciously kind of you," he coolly remarked while he vainly tried to fight off the happiness he felt from showing on his face. Sure, he missed the old Sasuke, but he was beginning to like this new one.

Sasuke snorted. "Don't get me wrong. I just don't want to have you sticking to me like a leech." He remained nonplussed and unthreatened even when Naruto reached over and grabbed a fistful of his shirt. With his voice smooth and sinfully tempting, he asked, "What do you say, Naruto?"

"Your word, bastard."

"If you don't trust me then don't come."

There was a brief silence before Naruto let Sasuke go by shoving him back into his seat. With one last heated glare, he disappeared in a blink of the eye, leaving an evilly smirking Sasuke.

-SasuNaru is love-

Naruto slumped on his bed and let out a puff of air. He turned to his right side where a blank scroll, carefully spread, laid. He reached out and let a finger slide through the brush that laid beside the scroll. It was almost time to send a report to Tsunade. He knew that, but he still hadn't decided whether to include the truth about Sasuke.

I am tired of a shinobi's life. I want to start a new life.

He respected Sasuke's decision, but he wanted them to be comrades, to be teammates... to be brothers of the Leaf. Could he ignore Sasuke's wish for a new life? Was he that selfish to disregard what Sasuke wanted for himself? He didn't know. More importantly, what would be the consequences of his telling to Tsunade about Sasuke's stunt? Would the village elders send an ANBU team to assassinate him on sight? No, they wouldn't. There would a trial and punishment, but there would never be an execution for the last Uchiha because of his political and military status.

Would Sasuke mind if he told Tsunade? Naruto was certain of the answer to that question. If Sasuke would find out, there was no question that he would disappear again and Naruto didn't want Sasuke to disappear again.

It was that thought that made Naruto decide to keep Sasuke's existence a secret for the moment. From now on, whenever he was with the bastard, he would try to convince him that he wanted him to return to Konoha. Sasuke had to return to Konoha with him.

I no longer want to walk on our path alone.

-SasuNaru is love-

Naruto paused just before he turned the corner of the street that would take him to Sasuke's inn. He took a deep breath to calm his crazily beating heart.

Sasuke is waiting, he kept on saying in assurance to that little voice that was frantically demanding, What if he left already?

Readying himself for the worst, he resumed walking and to see Sasuke standing outside of the inn sent a relief throughout his entire body that was more intense than the relief that had gripped him an hour ago after having found what could have been a good clue. He quickened his steps and for each step that brought him closer to the dark-haired male, his death grip on his knapsack loosened.

"You came," Sasuke said in an almost caustic tone. Even though he was confident that Naruto would show up, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't have been nervous. So nervous, in fact, that he ended up waiting outside for Naruto.

"You're still here," Naruto replied.

Grabbing his own knapsack, Sasuke said, "Let's go. I know an inn that would accommodate us well." He looked over his shoulder in a silent inquiry when Naruto grabbed his left hand.

"I'm broke at the moment-"

"It doesn't matter. I'll pay the rent for the meantime," Sasuke immediately pulled his hand free before it would register the blond how clammy his hand was. He mentally growled. He really hated waiting for people who were capable of disappointing him.

-SasuNaru is love-

The room they had rented had two single beds with a small table in between. It wasn't spacious, but it wasn't as cramped and small as their previous room. It also had a bathroom/toilet adjoined to it, which made the rent more expensive than that of the rooms that used public ones. Sasuke had chosen this kind of room not because he wanted to squander his money, but because he never liked using public restrooms and toilets.

Naruto immediately claimed the bed near the windows, leaving Sasuke no choice but to pick the bed near the wall. The blonde fell on his bed and sighed because the mattress was better than the last one he had.

"I'm going to take a shower," Sasuke told him to which he waved a hand in reply.

As the sound of the water hitting the floor tiles reached his ears, Naruto wondered what would happen to them from then on. Would he be able to convince his friend to return to his home? Or would the latter remain as stubborn as ever? He knew he had to plan this, unfortunately, he was aware that planning wasn't his strong point. In the end, he decided to be as spontaneous as he always was.

I want you to stay with me, bastard.

Asking Naruto to share a room with him wasn't the difficult part of his plan. What was difficult was convincing him to join him in his task to annihilate Konoha. For him to accomplish such a plan he had to awaken the grudge the blond had against the villagers. He was certain that Naruto held a lot of grudges, although, he probably buried them deep into his consciousness. At all costs, he had to draw them out and let Naruto see the stains that had covered the whole village.

Of course if his efforts would be for naught, then he would have to use his sharingan to control Kyuubi. Even though a huge part of him seemed to believe that he would end up using this method, he would do everything he could to win Naruto over.

I want you to stay with me, dobe.

After his shower, Naruto climbed to the rooftop where he knew Sasuke would be sitting after his shower. He hadn't seated himself yet when a messenger bird perched itself on his shoulder.

Under Sasuke's indifferent gaze, Naruto took the summoning scroll and applied the required chakra to activate it. In a second, a pouch of money and a plastic box container of dango appeared in a poof.

"You must be in a long-term mission to receive such amount of money," Sasuke commented off-handedly.

Naruto tensed a bit as he expected him to ask questions about the nature of his mission, but when the other male remained quiet, he relaxed. "I'm even on a budget," he replied while paying more attention to the Japanese sweets. He took the attached note and read it. It was from Sakura reminding him not to get into trouble. Taking a furtive glance at the man beside him, he wondered if his pink-haired friend could consider their former teammate as trouble. He smothered his dry chuckle by eating the dango and when Sasuke looked at him, he held the food's plastic container to him. "It's from Sakura-chan," he told him.

"I don't like sweets," Sasuke reminded him gruffly. In that short moment when his gaze shifted, Naruto had brought a hand hard on Sasuke's back and slipped a stick of skewered dango into his open mouth when he gasped out in surprise.

Sasuke glared at the sheepish Naruto while he pulled out the stick from his mouth. Unfortunately, the sweetness had reached his taste buds and got registered by his brain. He couldn't deny that the taste was close to that of the dango one of his aunts always made for him. Almost shyly, he started eating it, making his companion smile. "I just don't want to waste food, dobe," he explained defensively, but it didn't matter to Naruto, who was thinking that he should start feeding Sasuke with food from Konoha and maybe, just maybe, he'd start missing the village.

While eating, Naruto talked about the rest of rookie nine and the changes in Konoha while Sasuke listened. It wasn't because he was interested, but for the purpose of picking information that might be useful sometime in the very near future.

"... denying that he's seeing Ino and Temari at the same time. With his lazy nature and position in Konoha-"

"What's his position?" Sasuke who was feigning disinterest asked.

"He's a member of the council assigned for Konoha's self-defense. The village defense system had greatly improved. He's trying to make Konoha impenetrable."

"I doubt he can," Sasuke replied while thinking he should send someone to Konoha for a re-con mission. He should send a letter to that person.

"He can. The escape routes and traps... he made it as perfect as possible." Naruto smiled and added, "Of course, you'll know more of it when you go back to Konoha."

"How many times-"

He turned to him, eyes clashing as they each attempted to stare the other down, "I won't give up, Sasuke. I never give up."

His determination irritated Sasuke who stood up and made his way back to their room.

Naruto sighed. Although he wanted to chase after his friend, he laid on his back instead, afraid that his spontaneity would chase Sasuke away. At this moment, he realized that he should be careful in dealing with the bastard. Spontaneous but careful. He should know when to press on and when to stop. Obviously, tactics and strategy were also important in winning him over.

God! Sasuke really was trouble... He told himself that he had done enough for today.

-SasuNaru is love-

Calm and collected, Sasuke walked into what everybody called the "Den of Sins" in the Demon country. True to its name, the place really was a God forsaken place. Even in the dimness and fogginess from the pot many people were inhaling, Sasuke saw people partaking in carnal desires without inhibitions. It didn't bother him that few people were looking at him warily because he was a new face. He quickly twisted his body to avoid a man who went sailing past him from a group of drunkards that were busy fighting. He walked deeper into the place, regardless of the sharp gazes on him until finally, he found the door he was looking for. He went inside without bothering to knock, not that the occupants would ever hear him because they were too engrossed with their orgy.

Not the least bit scandalized with the scene in front of him, Sasuke leaned against the door and crossed his arms over his chest while he waited. He didn't wait long because few moments later, the participants had reached their climax.

One woman who noticed his presence sent him a sultry look while licking the cum from the penis of one man. Sasuke remained stoic. She, in her naked glory approached him and was about to reach out to touch, but his cold glare stopped her short.

One of the two men in the room chuckled loudly. "Our guest seems to not be interested in our activities," he said. The woman pouted and went back to him to snuggle against his legs just like the other two ladies. The other male stood up and draped on a robe before he sat on a chair and indicated for Sasuke to occupy the seat across from him. "What do you want, er-"

"Sasuke," the Uchiha supplied.

"What do you want, Sasuke?" he asked flirtatiously.

"Your services."

A seductive smile graced the man's lips. "Awhile ago, you gave off the impression that you're not interested."

"You know what I mean, Wataru-san," Sasuke answered calmly.

The man waved his hand, "We're nothing but sex-addicts."

His male companion – Yoshi, who pretended to be not listening to their conversation while fondling one of ladies, nodded in agreement.

Sasuke snorted, not the least bit convinced. He knew what they were. Even the scent of sex and cigarettes couldn't cover the thick scent of blood emanating from both men. "I have two words for you: killing spree." Just as he expected, the eyes of the man in front of him dilated and his hands trembled.

"You're not kidding, are you?"

"I never bluff." This time, it was Sasuke who looked more arrogant and in control. " So what do you say?"

Assured, both men switched from nymphomaniacs to killers. Their eyes were no longer lust-filled but gleamed with unspeakable danger and madness that encouraged them to continually make killing an art... the same madness that put Zabuza's blood-thirst as nothing. Strangely, it thrilled Sasuke to see them like this and the urge to fight them... to test his strength against theirs was there, rising.

"If you have the money-" the man on the bed said and Sasuke performed hand signs and had three pouches of money poof on the table even before he finished his statement.

The ladies squealed at the prospect of what such large amounts of money could buy them, then instantly fell quiet when Wataru raised a hand to silence them.

Wataru confirmed that the money held inside the pouches was real money... real money. Of course, he was surprised to receive such a generous amount of money. His blood brother who was based in Chicken country had told him of a very generous Sasuke Uchiha who had managed to penetrate their world and whom he had contract with.

Still pretending that he knew nothing about their guest and his reason for coming here, he asked, "Targets?" When the younger boy answered, his dark eyes gleamed ominously. "I just want you to do little things for me during the time I'll annihilate Konoha."

"Konoha?" he echoed, letting it roll off from his tongue. "I assume you have a plan."

Sasuke nodded.

"Unfortunately, our other partner - Tetsu is stoned so come back here tomorrow and we can hear our role in your plan." Having said that, he was back to his nymphomaniac mode. "You can join us, if you want," he said.

Sasuke looked at his companions who were now fondling each other before regarding Wataru. "I'll come back tomorrow same time."

The man gave him an amused look before nodding.

-SasuNaru is love-

"The hokage would be mad to see you procrastinating, dobe," Sasuke said when he joined the blonde who was lying down on the inclined grass-covered ground.

"She'd be more mad if I won't be able to find something useful," Naruto answered tiredly. He had spent his day running around the village, chasing sources which turned out to be false in the end. His nose twitched at the scent that fleeted to his nose and looked at the source- Sasuke.

"At least I don't spend my day getting laid with someone," he added irritably and it didn't help the fact that the bastard just arched an eyebrow, never denying his accusation. He felt a tug at his heart thinking how much Sasuke had changed. The Sasuke he knew would spend his day training and plotting vengeance but then again-

I want to start a new life.

But was this the life Sasuke wanted to have? More importantly, was this the person he wanted Sasuke to become? Even though Sasuke was in front of him, he felt like the man was so far away. Would there be a time when even though Sasuke was breathing and alive before his eyes, he would feel that the man was dead?

What had become of you?

Sasuke scowled, displeased to see a sad look crossing on tanned face. "If your mission is that difficult, I can help you." Of course, he didn't offer his help simply because he wanted to help, but because he had an ulterior motive.

Naruto gazed into his eyes and asked quietly, "What happened to you, Sasuke?" It was a question raised in sincere concern, making the other man scowl. "You were never like this. What happened to the honor of your clan? What-"

"You don't know anything about me or my clan!" Sasuke snapped icily, his eyes flashing red.

"Then tell me!" Naruto snapped back. "I won't know and I'll keep making mistakes until then."

"It's not your business!"

"It is! The moment you and I created-" He was cut off mid-sentence by the pain that exploded on his left jaw. His eyes narrowed and returned Sasuke's punch which Sasuke eluded by taking a step backward and leaning backward. With an angry cry, Naruto threw himself at him, sending them to the ground.

Sasuke grunted as a fist made contact with him. He raised his arms to block the punches being rained down on him and when he found a good opening, bucked against Naruto and rolled them over.

"You're nothing but a fucking burden!" he screamed.

Blue eyes darkened with pain and because he didn't have a perfect comeback, he swung his left fist which Sasuke caught with his hand and pinned it above his head.

"You're stupid, Sasuke," Naruto murmured so softly that it stopped the other man.

Sasuke looked down at him. While his mind couldn't name the look on Naruto's face, his heart did because it clenched tightly. "You won't understand, Naruto." There was hurt in his voice too. Hurt and unspeakable grief that made tanned hands twitch to pull him into embrace.

"I want to understand, but you won't let me. You never let me." Again that voice that made regret too strong. Sasuke pulled away and Naruto sat up, his blue eyes still trained on his friend.

Sasuke opened his mouth to speak, but a boy had appeared and approached Naruto, completely oblivious of the volatile tension that ran between the two males.

"I was told to give this to you." He extended to Naruto what looked like a letter. Sasuke remained quiet while Naruto read it.

"Your reply?" the boy asked cheekily.

With cheeks tinted red, he answered, "Let's go."

The boy beamed and happily led the way. Without any word, Naruto walked past Sasuke, their shoulders brushing. Sasuke clenched his hands, throat constricting with all the words he wanted to say but could never say. He looked over his shoulder to see Naruto's back growing smaller. Why did it feel like Naruto had abandoned him?

-SasuNaru is love-

As long as he could remember, he had been stared at, pointed at while whispers about him were exchanged so he should have been used to these. He was certain that he was, but the eyes that were on him as he made his way to Rika's room made him uncomfortable. There was just something about the stares these women gave him that made goose-bumps appear on his skin.

Taking the stairs two at a time, he went to the second floor, took the left wing and knocked on the farthest door. After hearing the permission to enter, Naruto walked in and blushed furiously. Rika- the hostess he met on the night he met Sasuke was in the process of donning her clothes and although she had her back towards him, it didn't make any difference. Nakedness was stark nakedness.

A fully clothed Rika turned and the smile on her face became wider upon seeing how the blond's face turned redder. How cute.

Naruto pressed himself against the door and looked sideways. "Can you put on a more proper clothing?" he asked, too embarrassed to appropriately react to the erotic sight of having a beautiful woman wearing a sheen lingerie gown that left nothing to a man's imagination.

Rika just chuckled softly and moved towards him in such a graceful manner, it was as if she was gliding. She teasingly draped her form over the male who trembled with embarrassment rather than desire for her. It was disconcerting actually to have him react like this. She could tell that he was already an adolescent... a late teen yet his reaction was so...

"You said in your letter that you want to talk with me about my village," Naruto said while squirming away from her.

Still teasing, she trailed a pointer finger on his chest and slyly, lowered the zipper of his jacket. At such action, Naruto stumbled away from her, chest heaving. What a glorious prey.

"We are talking. In this business, we let our bodies talk."

"Stop joking around!" Naruto told her with irritation lacing his voice.

Seeing that the blonde was too serious, she sat on the edge of her bed and leaned back on her hands. With a nod, she inclined for her guest to sit on the chair in front of her. When he did, she began telling him.

"I know you're here to look for your friend, but considering that you're from Konoha I thought you might like to hear this."

Naruto just nodded, never bothering to correct her on why he really came here.

"My cousin said somebody is planning to annihilate Konoha and had come to her masters for their services."

Naruto tensed and his eyes became hard. "Was she able to see this prick?" he demanded.

Rika shook her head. "Her masters were just discussing it. But, the man would meet them again."

"When? Where?" Naruto asked. Finally, he would meet the bastard and the thought made his heart thump with anxiety. If he successfully thwarted the plan then he could focus his efforts in convincing Sasuke to come back.

"Same place. Tomorrow, late afternoon."

"Same place?"

The woman nodded. "The masters' room of the Den of Sins."

"I heard it's a guarded place but," he gave her a confident grin, "I have the perfect plan."

-SasuNaru is love-

When Naruto had said "perfect plan", Rika thought of a grand plan of intrusion, but that was because she had no idea how simple the blond's mind worked, or that the blond had a technique which everybody thought to be nonsense. Of course, she didn't know any of these just as the bystanders of the Den of Sins didn't know that the drunk blue-eyed blond lady was just pretending to be drunk or that she was actually a male in disguise.

Excusing himself to the toilet, Naruto stood up and left, but not before gliding his fingers on the man's chest to his shoulders. He just winked at the man who slapped his bottom before he continued to strut provocatively while maintaining his drunken state. Nobody noticed that he walked past the hallway that led to the toilets.

And when he met a muscled man, probably a guard on patrol, he gave him a disarming smile and bemoaned her woes of getting lost. Convinced, the man gave her directions and continued walking, without bothering to check if the beautiful lady did follow his instructions.

Proud at how smoothly things were going, Naruto continued smiling until he reached his destination. He pressed an ear against the door and heard muffled voices. Stealthily, he slipped inside and his eyes scowled dangerously when he heard "intrusion", "bridgehead" and "Konoha". He didn't have to think to conclude that the bastards were planning Konoha's destruction. He withdrew a kunai from its hiding place and hiding his armed hand, drunkenly stumbled past the foldable divider where the voices came from, taking everybody by surprise.

The three men whom he couldn't identify looked at him murderously, mentally marking him. Alert for any attacks coming from them, he turned his gaze to the other side and his eyes widened, his jutsu broken while his kunai sickeningly cluttered to the floor. He knew without a doubt that he was staring at the man who was the mastermind behind the plot against Konoha... the man he was ordered to kill.

His lips moved slowly to utter, "Sa-su-ke."

And his world shattered.

TBC