Killing had been an all too easy task for the raven. There is a statistic that explains how human beings don't know if they can kill another human being until faced with the choice. Though for Sasuke the prospect of it had hardly been a challenge, more like he had seen an opportunity to knock down the obstacles in the middle of his path and he had taken it. He was no fool though, and he'd only struck when he was absolutely sure that he had the upper hand against the one who had thought him and gave him all of this power (actually it was kind of ironic how it all played out). It would not have been wise trying to slaughter the snake the moment that the raven had entered his domain; of which the man thought he had so well control. Believe me when I saw that Sasuke wanted to just kill him or at least give him a good run for his money so that he could hurry back to the boy he loved so whole heartedly.

Patients had become a virtue while staying amidst Orochimaru and his self indulgent home; a pristine palace chock full of smoke and mirrors. Almost like a fun house except it was not fun and it was way to large to be considered a house, and here instead of clowns with juggling talents he had four armed ninja's able to spin spidery webs. In this three ringed circus he had learned how to fight with the strength of twenty Ambu black ops, that and how to not let his emotions get in the way of his training. Having the sole intention of keeping his blonde love safe he filed his emotions deep inside of his subconscious only to take out and admire like a greedy child when he permitted himself sleep, and even then he could not completely lose himself; one eyes had to be kept open.

Day in and day out he trained to be better then his brother, but first and foremost better then Orochimaru and Kabuto; those were the three people who would steal his love away from him and use the demon inside of him for their own intentions.

So he learned all that he was able just by watching, listening, and paying close attention to the thick environment around him—one where people disappeared left and right—while keeping up appearances that he didn't give a shit about anyone or anything but his own ambitions. He had been educated how to properly defend himself and how to wisely strike his opponent; where to hit and how. Accomplishing this wasn't just through hand to hand combat or when Orochimaru threw him into the crossfire giving him one word of advice, live. Orochimaru had also let him in on his plans to expand and dominate all the villages surrounding his even with such a little army to work with.

Because of this Sasuke had studied that trust was a weakness for, eventually, it was what caused the snakes down fall. He had been ignorant enough to trust someone who had the goal of destroying him and his god-forsaken empire from the beginning.

He trusted that the raven would actually honor their trade; the necessary skills to eliminate Itachi for Sasuke's body as a covering for his soul to wear. But Sasuke couldn't, no matter how firmly he believed in being a man of his word, he had someone to get back to and he wouldn't very well let someone have his body when it already belonged to Naruto. He couldn't allow himself to be taken from this earth when he had someone left to survive for.

And because of his will killing him had had been easy almost normal. He had almost relished in the sweet cracking of his neck and, his favorite part, the look of death shrouding his features. If he had brought the blood to his lips he would have almost exhilarated in the bitter disgusting taste. He had found a permanent way to deal with him, to shut him up forever. Then he shook the man's spiritual presence and planned to forget everything about the man who took away that chance to be with his dobe. He had no pity for his death. Pity required having some sort of affection for the man. He didn't even really hate him; for hate was an emotion that needed a heart to have. Sasuke had freely given that heart away. So he had nothing but his skill to associate himself with Orochimaru and therefore it made it easier to leave the memory of him behind.

And after that part of his revenge was over he had moved onto his next victim, and finding him and been the only semi-difficult part of killing him, his last of kin. Fighting him, he had expected that not to be easy, but they fought anyway. Sasuke with the help of his temporary team who had washed away just like a temporary tattoo; they had lost their lives to his cause just before he had delivered the final blow.

And that was that.

It was over.

He was free.

It did not matter that he was covered in quickly drying blood, his brothers and his own, he was free. Free from avenging his already avenged family. Free to go back to the one thing that he regretted leaving behind. He was now able to live his life with knowing that neither Orochimaru nor Itachi were alive and well, and now he could really just be with Naruto, who he loved with his whole existence. The only reason he had done what he did, all because he cared so deeply for him, although Naruto probably wouldn't be too happy that Sasuke had become a murderer in his name.

Killing in the coldest of blood had been simple—not the task but the act—but leaving his best friend behind had been one of the most difficult things that he had ever had to do; dragging his almost wasted body to a clearing and nursing himself back to perfect physical heath did not compare. He would not have made it this far if he had not promised himself that he would go back to the blonde. Surviving wouldn't have been worth it if he had nothing left to survive for. For him it was Naruto, who had always been his driving force, the beat to his once deceased heart, and the one thing he trusted even if he considered it a liability.

Although, Naruto was hardly a liability. Sasuke knew that the boy was more then capable of taking care of himself, but Sasuke had wanted to take care of him. Walking through the Konoha gates without him had been tough; to this day he wasn't sure how he had done that. How had he lived so long without a beating heart in his chest?

-Flashback-

It was warm in Sasuke's apartment but he was cold. Frozen in everything but time because it was trusted to pass by unnoticed when he wished that it would slow for a single second and allow him that one second to actually breath. But it would not slow its revolving tick tock, not even for an Uchiha, ones whose blood was absolutely pure in its line. Time would not let anyone control it besides its father and maybe mother time, but never a boy who just wished that he could spend a second more with his love. That's all that he could ask for was a second more frozen in time with his blonde, his dobe, his whole heart; it wasn't all that he wanted but a second more of time with his sure sounded nice because it was a second more he got to spend with Naruto.

Pale arms gripped tighter onto his tan beauty for he never wanted to let him go—not even in a million life times—but soon enough he would have to force himself to. Naruto sighed contently and in a halve awake sleep haze he nuzzled closer to the raven, and in turn his arms constricted tighter around him. Pressing their bodies flush against the other.

Sasuke tried desperately to burn the significant and also the insignificant things into his mind; the look of Naruto's body without cloths. He was an angel. Perfect in every single aspect and it made Sasuke wonder how anyone had ever mistaken him for a monster even if he did have one sealed inside of him. The sight of his sun kissed flesh, the red marks and love bites over his skinny but also toned limbs. His fingers and his toes, he burned the way that sweat had rolled down the curvature of his cute nose into his mind. His curves, only slightly feminine, and even the organ between his legs and the blonde curls that proved he didn't bleach his hair; Naruto was not particularly gifted in that area, but even so Sasuke loved every inch of him.

He made his hands never forget the feel of him, of running his hands over the boys' chest, through his soft hair, and all over his lower back side (AKA-his ass). The feel of his pert nipples when he rolled them between his fingers and between his teeth. The simple gesture of holding his hand or his lovely lips pressed against the ravens.
And he didn't think that he could ever forget the feel of being inside of him, when their bodies had moved together as one, even if he did want to for some strange reason. The feel of making love with someone who had stolen his heart at five years of age and who had kept it exceptionally safe all of this time.

The sound of his moaning the ravens name; screaming his name when he did certain things. Sasuke had wanted to push it, to see how strongly lust could drip from his voice when Sasuke teased him for so long, but there would be other times and places to do so once he had returned. The sound alone of Naruto was enough to drive him wild.

The taste of the blonde—like salty sweet taffy which was more then perfect for Sasuke who did not enjoy overly sweet things as if Naruto's specific taste had been fashioned for Sasuke and no one but Sasuke.

The smell of them in the air tangled throughout his entire apartment and nicely accompanied by the sweet smelling night wind blowing through his open window. The scent of Naruto and him together making love was marked all over this place especially in this room, rubbed into these sheets. It was beautiful—like Naruto himself—and it made Sasuke feel absolutely alive when he was here with Naruto lying together in the aftermath of their love making.

He would never forget, even if he lived as long as god, never.

Naruto was sound asleep dreaming, calmly from the easy going breaths that Sasuke felt rise in the boy's chest and they also trembled against his neck. The raven untangled their fingers and absentmindedly ran his fingers through his blonde hair, fiddling with the ends of it. He was pretty amazed at how it could remain so soft even after such a rigorous activity.

The older boy looked out the window and sighed.

Time had not frozen itself in place for him, and now the clock indicated that it was time to go. It was the moment where he had to complete the act of hurt toward the boy who held Sasuke's life in his hands; bringing pain to Naruto would be a wound inflicted upon himself. His heart ached like never before. It wasn't like he was cutting those strings that tied them together but he was stretching them to their limit until almost his whole soul was pulled form his skin/

Naruto whimpered from loss of warmth when Sasuke painstakingly removed himself from the blonde's side. He slid his legs over the side and was hit by and immediate cold gust of wind. Naruto was flopping from side to side behind him trying to find the raven and hold him close once more. Sasuke turned back to the tossing boy and quickly brought the silky comforter to his chin, carefully tucking him in place. And then he stood—nakedness the farthest thing from his mind—Naruto consumed his thoughts, and only Naruto, especially how much hatred there would be in his love if he really did what he had to do, like bad blood.

After he watched Naruto settle back into a deep happy sleep Sasuke moved away and fetched some clean cloths out of his drawers not even bothering with a badly needed shower as he slid on his all black attire; he wanted to keep the blonde's scent with him as long as humanly possible.

He grabbed a pen and a small slip of paper off of his desk and sat back down on the edge of his bed by Naruto's feet. Sasuke put a hand on Naruto's upper thigh while groping for the right words to properly express how he was feeling, but he couldn't find them. He sat, stared at Naruto's adorable sleeping face, and probed his mind expecting a stroke of genius to hit him, but it never came. He didn't know what the right thing to say was, or even if he wanted to write this note at all—it would be a wasted effort if he did what he wanted, if he shook Naruto from his sleep and tell him to get dressed as quickly as he could, but Sasuke didn't have the heart to wake him much less tear him from his home; from his family.

Deciding on the only pathetic words that would come to mind he scribbled them down in his always elegant scrawl. He was not at all satisfied with it when he sat the note on his dresser next to the bed and put his pen along side it. Sasuke contented himself, though, with knowing that he would come back one day and then he could properly proclaim his love for the blonde. He would win him again even if in the future he got tired of waiting and then belonged to another; which he hoped to god would never happen.

Sasuke's eyes turned back to his sleeping love who had no idea how badly the raven was about to destroy the both of them. He shifted his weight so that he was right above the blonde and for a moment marveled in his intense beauty. How would he find the will to leave such a creature? How could he go when he loved him so much?

"I'm sorry." He whispered emotion ringing clear and true in his voice, although he didn't find the bleeding of his emotions all that strange.

Even though Sasuke was not normally a sentimental person the blonde beneath him filled him with distinct emotions that he hadn't felt in a very long time, and also things that were positively new to him. It was to the point where he thought that he would explode because he knew that his body wasn't meant to hold this much of his heart for just one person. But Sasuke had to remind himself that this was Naruto, the boy he would gladly feel emotions and the like for. To outsiders that may seem like an unimportant part of loving someone, but if anyone really knew him they would see how big of a deal that just experiencing affection for the blonde was.

And the fact that it was more then just a feeling he had for his dobe it was a whole stake of his physical being and also his mental one and forked them over all because of this dumb thing that he had learned as love. It had taken a hold of his heart and it drove him toward Naruto until he had to admit those feelings…

How ever, he had had no idea that it would scale to this point. He had wanted but one kiss, maybe two, but he never thought that he alone would have the privilege to be able to have the blonde's virginity; he never thought that he would get to make love to him. It had been the best memory that he had ever experienced and he wished that their love making could have lasted forever; past oblivion and into the after life, but like all things now all of that was just a memory. One of his most prized but still just a memory.

If he stayed it would continue to be a reality.

The thought was tantalizing but impossible. He touched the snakes seal on his neck. Absolutely impossible.

He gingerly ran his fingertips over the lines in the boys face—his three whisker marks, his small dimples, the fold of each of his eyelids, over his lips, and the inner and outer shell of his small ears—permitting his hands to remember everything about this boy he was destined to leave behind, but the one that he would come back for because of the love; because Naruto was his magic, his angel, his dobe.

Sasuke then brushed the blonde strands of hair out of his way and pressed his lips to the exposed patch of skin there. His lips found the boys left and then his right eye, every whisker on each cheek, down his jaw line—from the lobe of on ear down to his chin and then on to the next lobe. Then he kissed the boys ears again allowing himself a small nibble on each; this elicited a small gasp from the sleeping child and this cause Sasuke to back off a bit until he went back to his dreams. He came forward again and trailed kisses down his petite button nose. After a moments hesitation he pressed his lips to Naruto's in a haste movement; wishing that the boy was awake to feel his once in a life time ministrations.

What he had not been expecting was for Naruto's own lips to curve upward and kiss back even though he was still dead asleep. "Sasuke…?" or maybe not so dead asleep because his eyes—big, beautiful, and blue—opened and stared at the raven with so much admiration and love that it would have broken the older boy's heart if there had been anything at all left to break.

"Sasuke…" The blonde boy said pushing himself up onto his elbows unsteadily, "You look sad. Wha's da ma''er?" He mumbled in a sleep deprived state and quickly put his hand over his mouth to stifle a yawn that consumed his face.

The corners of Sasuke's mouth turned up in a smile. Even when he was about to leave them both devastated he was still able to smile at the blonde boys antics, and facial gestures, and purely at the raw beauty of him. My god, that was true, how was it not impossible to be this astonishing; he was like the eighth wonder of the world. Even when his chin crinkled distastefully in the yawn he was perfect. Absolutely so.

"Nothings that matter." He lied in a tone that mothers use to coo frightened children back to sleep and placed Naruto's head back on his pillow. Eyelids already dropping, Sasuke had the feeling that the blonde wouldn't remember any part of this conversation in the morning; he couldn't decide if he was grateful for it or loathed the thought of him forgetting. "Go back to sleep sweat heart." He caressed the boy's cheek and re-tucked him into a cocoon of blankets and ran his fingers through the hair of his love for the last time. The last time in a very long while.

"Sasuke?" Naruto whispered trying his best to stay awake, but his eyelids just were pulled by f=gravity more and more. Sasuke smirked at how cute he could be without even trying.

"Hm," he answered continuing to massage his loves scalp.

"I love you…"

Sasuke's throat closed up but he managed to return a strangled, "I love you too, sweetheart. So much." And he bent down to once again kiss his beloved's forehead. He watched as Naruto allowed himself to drift into a deep, deep sleep where he would be dreaming of the raven and his words of love that he wouldn't remember in the morning anyway and he wouldn't have a single fear of waking up without the raven. He was dreaming of happy things, warm comforting memories flittered through his mind, and he had no worries about waking up alone and that was just how Sasuke was about to leave him. Alone.

It was the first time since Sasuke parent's deaths that he felt like weeping. The flood gates hung by the lock on the chain. But the best emotion of sadness he could let fall before the blonde child, who he had ripped out his heart for, was to allow a few stray tears to prickle the back of his eyes. He could give him no more then that. Uchiha's did not cry.

He wiped away the imaginary tears off of his cheek with the back of his hand and stood away from the bed. His wanton eyes turned toward the Paine glass of the window finding beams of light reflecting off of it; dawn was on the horizon. Time to go, really this time. And still he went back to Naruto's side planning to give him just a bit more of a goodbye. Sasuke touched the boys face and let out a silent sigh finding the stinging pain in his chest getting worse and worse; he was already missing the boy even before he actually left him.

"Goodbye…" he whispered feeling as if he had committed a massive sin against himself and against Naruto, "…for now." That didn't make the darkness subside any, not when he was about to walk away from the light. He let his lips linger on the blondes for a couple of seconds feeling his heart come alive within that moment and pump a little of his blood around. Naruto was the only one his heart belonged to, the only one who had it all along and the raven hadn't even noticed until a couple of months ago.

And as selfish as he was he sort of wished that he had never noticed it, saying good bye wouldn't be that hard if he didn't love him so much. All in all though he was glad. Glad because his dobe loved him too.

Then he was gone.

1—1

He had never given up, never forgotten any miniscule detail about the blonde, and he had never broken his promise to the blonde boy he left behind three and a halve years ago (God that's a long time without the blonde, but it had seemed longer. seconds dragged like centuries, years, he had lived without life for three of them) and he had most certainly kept the promise he made to himself.

After all was said and done, and Sasuke had no more missions, he ran as fast as his legs would carry him—that is when he was well enough after the gruesome battle that raged with his brother. He had been running for four days straight. He had not stopped once; not to eat, or drink, not to sleep, not even to get some of the feeling back in his legs. His own body and health were of no concern when he was so close to getting to return to his love once again. If his eyes permitted him a last look upon Naruto's faces then he would die4 a happy man. And if he got to hold Naruto once more, his heart would come alive again and would pound in the most joyous way, and he acted like this because it was crystal clear that Sasuke loved Naruto.

Loved him with everything that he had, and no amount of money could ever take that away.

And now, the gates of Konoha, the place of his childhood, were in view and his beloved lie just beyond that. How static the once stoic teen was to greet him in this life.

His legs faltered just inside the gates, but he maintained his feet and stopped. Sunlight filtered down on his face for the first time in years.

He had made it back.

Finally he was here.

His mother had told him just before she was murdered that home is where the heart is.

It felt so good to be home!

--

Okay A-should I be mean to Sasuke B-Should I be nice to Sasuke?

Feedback? I love you all!

Review please!