A/N: flashbacks look like this


Chapter 3: Sting of Separation

Naruto sighed and dipped the tip of his tail into the river, watching as the small circle dilated and broke apart into larger ones.

He huffed softly and rubbed his cheek against the grass before snorting irritably. "It's weird that Sasuke hasn't shown up yet," he murmured to himself. He looked up, squinted at the sun through the treetops and muttered, "It's already past noon."

Naruto pressed his palms against the ground and pushed himself up to his feet.

He knew where Sasuke lived; they were practically next door neighbors. But was it really a good idea to go see him? With that jerk of a master?

Naruto tapped his chin in thought, looking to his side. "But what if something bad happened to Sasuke? A real friend would go see if he was okay." He smiled, cheeks reddening slightly as he pictured their kiss from yesterday. "And we're best friends," he reasoned.

Nodding in agreement with his plan, Naruto stretched and dusted off the back of his beige shorts. He began walking, fighting down the feeling of worry writhing in the pit of his stomach.

x-X-0-X-x

The first thing Naruto saw upon reaching Sasuke's home, was Sasuke himself. The pup was sitting with drooping ears, a frown, and a still tail in front of an empty barrel that was on its side, half buried into the ground to provide shade.

Naruto quirked a brow and slowly crawled out of the bushes, sneaking his way up to the other boy, "Psst! Sasuke!"

Sasuke raised his eyes and gasped as Naruto slid up next to him. "Naruto!" he whispered excitedly, ears perking and tail wagging.

Naruto tilted his head. "Why are you here Sasuke?" He frowned, "You didn't want to see me today?"

Sasuke quickly shook his head. "No Naruto, of course I wanted to see you...it's just..." he sighed and lifted his hand, cradling a rope.

Blue eyes traced the line, realizing that it wrapped around Sasuke's neck and was tied to the barrel. His ears flattened, "Oh Sasuke" he murmured sadly, "Your master tied you up?"

The pup nodded. "He said what I was doing with you wasn't right and that I needed to be 'properly disciplined'."

Naruto's frown deepened, remembering what Iruka had said yesterday. "But…" he trailed off and crawled closer to Sasuke, putting his face right up in other male's so they were nose to nose, making Sasuke's breath hitch. Naruto stared sternly at him, eyes wide and so very blue, "You don't believe him, right? You like being friends with me," his ears flattened against his head, "don't you, Sasuke?"

Sasuke was quick to agree, "Of course I do!" He held Naruto's gaze and sighed quietly, "But he's my master...what can I do?"

Naruto whined softly and leaned forward, rubbing his face into Sasuke's neck and wrapping his arms around the other's shoulders, cuddling him.

Sasuke blushed and began nuzzling his hair in response. "I'm sorry."

Naruto shook his head, about to say it wasn't Sasuke's fault when a sudden snort made him jump with surprise and release him.

The noise hadn't been loud, but it hadn't come from his or Sasuke's mouth. He looked at the other boy, "What was that?"

Before Sasuke could answer, Naruto, on all fours, crawled to the side of the barrel, where he found a bigger version of Sasuke sitting against the wood, sleeping.

Naruto slowly raised a brow. "Sasuke...do you know there's a bigger you back here?"

Sasuke's ears flattened deeply against his head. "Naruto, that's my brother! Get away from him!" he commanded in a firm whisper.

The blond ignored him, tilting his head and crawling further until he was nose to nose with the dog.

Coal eyes widened, "Naruto!"

The kit squinted, scrutinizing the sleeping face. "What? I just wanna look. Besides, he's sleeping." He straddled the other's lap and lifted his hands, hooking his thumbs under Itachi's upper lip to reveal a row of straight white canines. "Woooow, he has sharp teeth," he murmured in awe.

Sasuke blanched and reached for the boy, but the rope prevented him from going that far.

There was no telling what would happen if Itachi woke up! His brother might be a bit on the kind side to him, but Sasuke had witnessed Itachi hunt - the way he tore and destroyed his prey, leaving it bloody with a blank stare in its eyes. Itachi was more than capable of being cruel.

Sasuke would say his brother could be near heartless at times...

Sasuke's eyes widened as his brother tossed a limp, white rabbit in front of him, as if it were nothing more than a piece of wood.

The pup whined and cradled the bloody animal in his arms. It was breathing erratically, desperate to cling to what little life it had left.

Sasuke looked up at the other with tear-touched eyes. "Why brother? It's not time to hunt..."

Itachi's face remained impassive, and he crouched down in front of his baby brother, placing a curled finger under the pup's chin. "You are far too soft-hearted, little brother. You lack the cruelty of a hunting dog, you lack its hatred. And this is the only way I can help you to gain these aspects." He lowered his hand.

Sasuke bit his lip, crying now. "But..."

Itachi smirked, putting one hand on Sasuke's head and the other under the rabbit, pushing the two together until Sasuke's ear was pressed against the animal's chest. "Listen closely, little brother, and you will hear its heart stop beating."

Sasuke was near tears as he replaced the rabbit with an image of Naruto, and he pleaded again desperately, "Naruto please! I don't want him to hurt you!"

Naruto sighed and looked at him. "Fine," he muttered. But when he turned to glance once more at the other dog, he found himself staring into blood red eyes.

Naruto didn't know how long he sat there, how quickly Itachi lurched forward in an attempt to snap at him, how loudly Sasuke screamed for him to run. What he did see though, was a pale man step out of the house with a rifle aimed at him.

Naruto felt as if he were watching himself scramble to his feet, pictured himself running at a speed he didn't know he was capable of until he felt himself leap over the property fence, his legs pumping beneath him, and realized this was all real.

Itachi chasing behind him with manic fury, then, the boom of a shot and the searing burn that cut across his shoulder. The pain spread out like a poison through his arm, but he didn't dare stop and like hell was he going to slow down. Even after Itachi's footsteps no longer padded threateningly after him, Naruto kept running until he bounded through the front door of his home, tears streaming down his cheeks as he collapsed at Iruka's feet with heavy sobs.

The man dropped the spoon he'd been stirring dinner with and immediately picked him up and tried to soothe him. "Hey hey, calm down! Naruto, what happened? What happened?" He asked frantically.

Naruto didn't speak, just shook his head and cried harder into the other's neck.

Iruka patted his back and looked down, seeing the gash that cut across the kit's shoulder. His eyes widened, "Naruto!"

The blond flinched as Iruka quickly set him down on the couch and began fretting over the wound. "Naruto, what happened to you?!"

The kit sniffed through broken sobs and looked up with wet blue eyes. "Orochimaru and h-his dog," He rubbed his arm under his nose and pressed his face into his father's shirt with a pathetic whisper; "they hunted me."

x-X-0-X-x



Next morning...

Naruto sat cross legged on the grass of his yard with a blank look on his face, tiny fingers picking at the petals of a white flower he'd plucked out of the ground.

With a heavy sigh, he pulled out the last petal and let it flutter through the air, where a gust of wind blew it away and ruffled through his sunny blond locks.

He bit his lip as he stared at the now bare, green stem in his hand, and flinched when fingers suddenly wound themselves into his hair.

Tilting his head back, he stared up into Kakashi's masked face. The wolf smiled at him and crouched down. "What's with that depressed look? Where's the twenty-four-seven smile?"

Blue eyes peered up at him. "I...I really wanna go see Sasuke...but..." He glanced down, hand subconsciously coming up to his shoulder, which now had a large, white gauze pad wound with tape to press it over the wound.

Kakashi sighed. 'Yes, Iruka told me about that.' "But you're afraid of Orochimaru and Itachi."

The kit tilted his head curiously. "Ita...chi?"

Kakashi scratched the kit's head softly, "Sasuke's brother."

Naruto flinched, lowering his eyes and whispering a quiet, "Yes..."

"Are you alright though?"

He nodded once, "Yes, I'm okay, but I'm just scared," He pressed the heel of his palm into his eye to press back the threat of tears. "To go back," he finished.

"So this means," the wolf paused before leaning closer and looking straight into the kit's eyes, "you haven't seen Sasuke since yesterday?"

Naruto shook his head. "I haven't seen him."

"Hmm, I thought you would've at least spoken to him, or him to you." He lowered his hand from Naruto's hair and crouched down beside him. "But if you haven't even seen each other, then you don't know what's happening today, do you?"

Naruto stared at him blankly, obviously having no idea what he was talking about.

Kakashi frowned and hesitantly placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Naruto...Sasuke is leaving today."

The blond's eyes went wide. "Leaving?" He shrugged the hand off his shoulder, brows furrowing. "Leaving to where?"

Kakashi explained carefully, "Hunting season is coming up, and they're all leaving on a trip to train Sasuke on how to be a hunting dog."

Naruto's whole body jerked, the stem in his hand falling to the ground. "Wh - how long is he leaving for? He'll come back soon, right?"

The wolf rubbed the back of his neck while he spoke, "They were supposed to leave when Sasuke was a little older, but because of what happened yesterday, Orochimaru feels that he needs to undergo training as soon as possible."

Naruto's ears flattened, and he shot up from the ground with impossibly wide eyes. "Sasuke's leaving...because of me? Sasuke's leaving because of me? It's my fault he's going away?!" He exclaimed, pure panic choking his words.

Kakashi put his hand forward cautiously, "No Naruto, of course it's not - HEY!"

The fox had taken off mid-sentence, running wildly towards Sasuke's home despite the overwhelming fear that was thrumming in his chest.

"Naruto WAIT!" Kakashi yelled before shooting off the ground and running after him.

Naruto ignored his call, and felt that pressure build up behind his eyes when he caught sight of a truck being loaded in front of Orochimaru's house, Sasuke sitting with a small frown in the back of the topless vehicle.

Panic grew in the blond's chest.

Sasuke couldn't leave! He just - he couldn't! He promised they would always be friends! And they couldn't be friends if Sasuke wasn't here!

Naruto had every intention of running up to the other boy and yanking him off the truck so he could drag him to his home and keep him there. And he would've, were it not for the hand that reached out and yanked him back into the bushes, clutching him against Kakashi's chest.

"Are you crazy?!" the wolf scolded. "Do you want Orochimaru to shoot you again?!"

Tears were streaming down the Naruto's cheeks now. "I don't want Sasuke to leave!"

Kakashi clapped a hand over the kit's mouth. "Shh! Naruto, believe me, I understand how you feel. I like Sasuke too-"

"Ay muv bim!" Naruto muffled through fingers.

"SHHH!" Kakashi pulled him closer and lowered his hand. "What?"

The fox sniffled softly and looked up at his teacher. "I love him," he whispered. "He's my very best friend..."

The wolf's ears came down slowly. 'Oh dear...this could be a problem.' No wonder Naruto was so desperate to make Sasuke stay, he was confusing his emotions. What he felt for the dog wasn't just friendship, it was love.

Suddenly, the truck started up with a loud roar and caused both of them to jump with surprise.

Naruto whined loudly and lurched forward, breaking free from Kakashi's hold and stumbling out of the bushes.

He stood utterly still with silent tears as Kakashi climbed out of the brush to stand next to him. Naruto felt his stomach twist as he watched the truck drive further and further away, and he lifted a hand to crush Kakashi's shirt in his fingers with a pained grip.

The wolf looked down at him. "It's a very long trip Naruto, but if it makes you feel any better, they will come back."

The boy didn't seem to hear him, didn't even bat an eye.

"But Naruto, I feel I have to warn you," he crouched down, leaning towards an orange ear while Naruto continued to stare at the truck. Kakashi murmured, "Don't be surprised if Sasuke comes back...different."

The kit flinched and cast a sideways glance at him, but a gust of wind that blew past them pulled his eyes back to the truck.

x-X-0-X-x

Sasuke jerked to alertness as a swirl of wind suddenly settled around him, carrying with it a very familiar scent. His ears stood erect and his tail began moving of its own accord. He eyed his master and Itachi in the front before carefully twisting his body around and looking back at his home, where he spotted both Naruto and the tall wolf he was friends with.

Sasuke smiled and lifted a hand, waving it back and forth through the air and feeling comfortable warmth spread through him when the kit ran forward a little and waved back.

He sighed and relaxed a bit, watching the image of the blond shrink smaller and smaller, evoking a sting of hurt in his chest.

Sasuke wasn't stupid, what he felt for Naruto went past friendship, this he knew. And being separated from the fox like this made him want to scream and beg and cry and do everything he'd ever been told not to do over someone else.

But still, even though he hated that he had to leave Naruto like this, he couldn't help the feeling of excitement, the rush of anticipation that coursed through his blood.
Sasuke wanted to become a good hunting dog. He wanted to be just like Itachi, maybe even better. And if he had to go away in order to accomplish his dream, then he would do it. Swallow the pain and not care how much it hurt.

And this was the thought that stuck in his mind as he turned to smile at his brother in the front seat.