A/N: PHEW – back again, still alive and kicking! (wipes forehead) I'm so sorry it took me a while! I just had this project I had had to get finished before I could focus properly on this 'lil baby. (grins)

BUT, before letting you off that demonic cliffie-hook… ENORMOUS thank yous for those reviews! (sends hugs and those treats promised) By now you do know that they mean the world to me, right? Thank you! (realityfling18, I'm sure you know where to go for your response.) (smirks)

Okay, seeing as weapons will soon start flying, let's get going, shall we? (sweatdrops) I hope you'll all enjoy!

(Weird choice of a 'starting out song', I know, but for some odd reasons it sounded like a perfect match to me.) (scratches head with confusion and a grin)

/ You make me feel
Out of my element
Like I'm walking on broken glass
Like my world's spinning in slow motion
And you're moving too fast

Were you right, was I wrong?
Were you weak, was I strong?
Both of us broken
Caught in the moment
We lived and we loved
And we hurt and we joked
But the planets all aligned
When you looked into my eyes
And just like that
The chemicals react

You make me feel
Out of my element
Like I'm drifting out to the sea
Like the tide's pulling me in deeper
Making it harder to breathe
We cannot deny how we feel inside
We cannot deny /

(ALY & AJ: "Chemicals react")

/ Twins were a great miracle in Konoha, especially considering the situation the village was in less than a day after the Kyuubi had been defeated with the greatest price. That's why Toshiki Ayami – who'd been working as a midwife for as long as she could remember – felt lover than ever before while dashing through woods, carrying a basket in her arms that held a screaming, newborn baby-girl with radiant burgundy eyes. It was like the tiny one had known that she'd just been ripped away from her twin.

" Shh", she tried to soothe to no avail, terrified by the thought of who could hear them. " Shh, little one. It'll be alright."

Judging by how the girl looked at her, even the baby wasn't convinced.

Just then her desperate eyes spotted a tiny, chapel-like building nearby. Not pausing for even a beat to think she all but ran to it, cautiously placing the basket to its doorsteps. She couldn't help sniffing a bit when meeting the tiny one's eyes, filled with accusation. " I… I'm so sorry", she choked out, stroking the back of the child's hand that held a beautiful, crescent shaped birthmark. " But with what's been sealed into you, you'll… you'll never get to live in peace here. You'd never be able to take it, not… not with how ill and weak you are." Still stroking the girl's hand, she could feel how hot and clammy it was from high fever. From birth, it'd been said this child wouldn't live long. So why shouldn't she be allowed to live away from hate and prejudices for that short time? " I… I hope you understand, that… that you'll be able to forgive me, someday."

She was very aware of the fact that she was doing the worst thing she'd ever done, that she'd be damned for this. But this was best for everyone, including the baby. (Or so she tried to tell herself.)

When she walked away, futilely trying to block the baby's crying from her ears, her only wish was that some gentle, kind soul would find the girl and take good care of her.

(Only hours later, Uchiha Madara crossed paths with the baby.) /

CHAPTER 12: Chemicals React

Naruto's heart was pounding, but not even nearly as badly as his head, when Gaara – eyes flaming almost like back when the redhead had held a demon inside him – approached the group of four threatening him, one hand holding a weapon. " What do you think you're doing to my visitor?" the village leader snarled, eyes narrowing. The sensation of threat was made even more impressive with Kankuro and Matsuri standing right behind the Kazekage.

The huge, one-eyed man who'd just lost his sword didn't shudder at all under the teen's hard gaze. " This 'visitor' of yours is a fugitive", the man snarled, giving him a repulsion-filled look. " We came here to arrest him, as well as a certain friend of his."

His head hurt even more, and he felt unnerving heat rising towards skin. ' Damnit, kit!' Kyuubi roared inside his skull, growing infuriated and restless. ' You know how to fight – you're not a pathetic rookie anymore! Why don't you take down these idiots and run?'

His eyes flashed just a bit. ' They're from my own village!' he hissed mentally, balling his trembling fists so tightly that nails dug deep into skin. ' I won't sink down to your level, do you hear me? If I give in now, I'll be just as bad as they think I am.'

The demon scoffed. ' Kit, do you honestly think there's room for innocence like that in this world? You're going to get yourself killed.'

Gaara didn't fidget under the huge man's powerful eyes. " Whatever your mission is, you're officially in Suna's territory. Therefore it's my right to take this… fugitive of yours to questioning. After that, I'll decide what to do with him."

The man stared at the redhead in utter disbelief. " What?!"

" I'm taking him to the village", Gaara repeated slowly, as though to a child, folding his arms. " He's Suna's responsibility now. You and your men, on the other hand, aren't welcome. Unless you're wishing to make a diplomatic conflict out of this, I'd suggest you to retreat behind Suna's borderlines."

He could actually see the man seethe and tremble with fury. He'd never seen anyone's face as red before. " Fine", the man barked out, casting dangerous looks towards both him and the leader. " But just to warn you… As soon as he leaves the village, he's ours. And for the record…" The man looked at Gaara straight into eyes. " Konoha will let you hear about this later." With that the man turned on his heels and started to make his way away, his men following slowly.

Naruto exhaled a long gasp of relief. Kyuubi was finally silent. His eyes moved towards Gaara, filled with inexpressible gratitude. " Thanks."

The redhead nodded, then frowned. " Are you moving alone?"

Mitori Saoishi had never lost a single battle in his life, which was the main reason to why he'd been chosen as a new member of the Akatsuki. That's why he was very much confident with his chances of winning as he went against Uchiha Sasuke – traitor, avenger, a pitiable boy drowning into his boiling anger.

He was to discover that perhaps for once, he'd ended up overestimating his capabilities. That's why he chose to take such a way out the battle he hated beyond anything else. He felt wind already bending under his will, humbly obeying his Kekkei Genkai, when ground started to break between he and Sasuke's feet. " You see, I can fly", he informed his frowning, tensed up opponent. " The question goes… Can you?"

It took for a couple of minutes until air started to carry his weight, allowing him to start floating gently towards the ground spreading below. Satisfaction surging underneath his skin, he looked downwards – and felt his inside turn completely cold when seeing no body laying there.

Sasuke's voice reached his ears. " So you decided to use a simple technique like that against me?" Looking up, he found the Uchiha hanging on what seemed like rope, which was firmly attached to the cliff. The Sharingan darted towards him was the most dangerous thing he'd ever seen, red flamed like lava against spinning black. " If I'd be that easy to kill…", the boy snarled. " … I'd have ended up dead a long, long time ago."

He emitted a groan. " They were right. You really are a paint in the ass."

He was almost sure he saw the boy pant hard, almost laboriously, but the eyes glaring into his revealed no exhaustion. " Hn."

-

Sasuke grit his teeth for a moment, trying to catch his breath.

It was only a little over a month ago he hadn't even managed to walk. He wasn't ready for this yet, damnit!

Staying still, however, wasn't an option at the moment. Taking one particularly deep breath, he managed to gather enough of strength to get back to solid ground without swaying or revealing weakness.

His opponent followed a beat later, eyes flaming with annoyance and a long, slender sword pulled out. " If you can't be squashed…", the other screeched. " … then I'll just have to finish you up the old fashioned way."

He was already reaching out for his own sword when there was a familiar, harsh voice. " No one is finishing anyone up." Turning his head, he noticed Gaara approaching with some ninjas he couldn't name and rest of Hebi. He felt a wave of relief he hadn't been expecting once finding Naruto from the redhead's side, uninjured. The Kazekage looked towards Kankuro and a girl he didn't know. " Put that Akatsuki member to restraints, will you? I want to ask him a couple of questions."

Some other time, he might've been a bit more alarmed by how little his former opponent struggled when being captured. At the moment he dismissed it as a sign of fatigue after using so much Chakra.

" Sasuke?" Surprised by hearing Naruto call him by his name, he looked towards the blonde to find a worried gaze. " Are you okay?" It seemed to him that for some reason, it took a lot out of Naruto to not rush over to him.

" Hn", he emitted, suddenly not finding the strength from him to speak.

" Yes, it's very nice to see you're all in one piece", Gaara stated, looking at them with a frown. " But could someone finally tell me what the hell is going on?"

No matter how hard he tried, Neji couldn't understand why he wasn't able to relax for even a moment since Gaara had headed towards the torches on the desert.

Was it worry? After all, he and Gaara had become… close, was probably a proper word, during the time they'd spent together lately. Whatever it was, the feeling was foreign to him – during his life, he didn't think he'd experienced such towards anyone. And this tiny, annoyingly loud part of him wondered why it found him now.

" It's not against any law to worry about someone you care about", Izumi – who he hadn't even noticed had entered the room – stated, almost managing to startle him.

He frowned, feeling a need to fold his arms defensively. " I don't… care, not the way you think at least." He sounded like a five-year-old who'd been caught red handed from doing something wrong and tried to deny doing it.

Izumi only smiled, clearly having found whatever it'd been she'd searched for.

Fortunately, he didn't have to wrestle with the new tideway of confusion her reaction caused, because less than an hour from his departure Gaara entered the huge hall in which they'd been waiting, followed by Kankuro. (He vaguely noted that the older sibling walked straight to Izumi, whispering something to her.)

His forehead wrinkled, all his attention on the redhead again. " Well?"

" We found Naruto and Sasuke, plus three people who claim to be Sasuke's new team", Gaara replied, pausing a step closer than would've been absolutely necessary. " There's something badly wrong in Konoha."

He opened his mouth – to ask if Gaara was okay or what the redhead meant, he never got to find out – when Naruto's familiar voice broke through. " Neji?" The blonde seemed to walk somewhat unsteadily while entering the room with also slightly limping Sasuke. " What are you doing here?"

One corner of his mouth twitched a bit. " Looks like there's a lot of catching up to do."

Shino's eyes felt oddly heavy when desperately trying to inch open that morning, rebelling viciously against the only two hours' sleep he'd had the night before. Some of the fatigue, however, faded when he felt something warm against his back. Turning his head slowly, he blinked somewhat sluggishly and gave a rare smile when finding Suzume sleeping right next to him, back pressed against his.

He dared to speak when the girl moved ever so slightly, starting to wake up. " I thought we were supposed to keep this in private", he pointed out.

The girl turned around so that they were face to face, placing her head into the crook of his neck. " I doubt the others would notice a thing. Sakura's fast asleep, and both lovebirds have been walking around to avoid each other."

Lacing his arms around Suzume to pull her closer, he just had to grin a bit. " So they still haven't figured it out."

" No", the girl confirmed gloomily. " And I doubt they ever will on their own."

Still smiling, he planted a kiss to the girl's hair that smelled like rain although they were already firmly in Suna's desert.

He would've loved to continue like that for at least a little bit longer, but came to discover that ninjas weren't offered many breathers.

They were fortunate enough to have enough of time for breaking apart until Sai appeared. The boy seemed suspicious for just a moment, but fortunately didn't seem to notice anything weird going on. " I just noticed a troupe from Konoha making its camp nearby. It looks like they're waiting for something. They didn't have Naruto or Sasuke with them."

Shino felt a small flash of relief.

At least Naruto was in some sort of a shelter.

" Then we should get going. There's probably something a lot more dangerous than Danzou's men looming around here", Suzume stated, then frowned. " Where's Ino?"

-

Ino had always been the type that hates waking up early, and no matter how well she'd slept it always took her at least two hours to get her eyes open. Sai's confusion-arousing presence also did nothing to brighten her mood. Counting in those facts, it was no surprise that she was tired and dangerously moody while their team of five started their final dash towards Suna's gates about twenty minutes later, careful to not let the other group from Konoha spot them.

She was mildly surprised when Sakura suddenly moved so that the pinkette was sprinting beside her, although she was keeping the tail of their small group. " What?" she all but snarled, inwardly wincing at her unnecessarily sharp tone.

Sakura didn't seem taken aback. " Look, Ino… I'm not sure how oblivious you are to your own feelings, but the rest of us have already noticed."
Her eyebrows furrowed. " Noticed what?"

Sakura only smiled mysteriously. " Just so you know… He feels the same."

" Who?" Noticing who Sakura was looking at, she forced a small laughter. " Yeah, right. Forehead, Sai and I… No way." Seeing no signs that would've stated the pinkette had been fooled, she groaned. " I'm screwed, aren't I?"

Sakura gave an all but sympathetic grin. " Yeah, you are. And you should let Sai know that as well before it's too late."

She groaned again.

And here she'd thought things couldn't get any more messed up…

It was so early that Kakashi was almost sure Iruka wouldn't be even awake when he entered the man's hospital room. Of course he should've known better.

As much of a ninjas as he was, he shuddered a bit when seeing all the still heavily bandaged wounds on the other ninja, in such places that they must've been nearly unbearably painful, and found his eyes locking to the bandage covering one half of the face.

Hadn't Tsunade said that Iruka would recover to his former shape?

" Hey." His voice was hoarse, didn't sound quite right. " I… thought I should come and see how you're doing."

Noticing his expression, Iruka seemed to come close to smiling. " It's not as bad as it looks", the brunette pointed out. The man then frowned as well as possible in his current state. " You've got something else on your mind as well, don't you?"

He swallowed a bit while taking the chair that'd been placed nearby the other's bed, wondering if the words tingling his tongue were the correct ones. " Iruka… Rin's alive."

Yes, Iruka had been trained well, and was an excellent ninja. But even so, he could see brown eyes widen for a fraction. There was a long silence. " Where is she?"

His heart clenched. " I… don't know." The words tasted bitter on his tongue. " Danzou made a deal of some sort. She was taken away."

" And you've got a bad feeling about it?" Iruka filled in.

He nodded, forcing his eyes into moving to the room's window.

Iruka's voice was unusually soft when the man spoke. " Kakashi, she's made it through a lot worse. She'll be fine."

Goodness, how good it would've felt if he'd been able to believe in those words!

He was ripped out of those thoughts when there was a hiss of pain that wouldn't stay hidden. He frowned when taking a look towards Iruka's contorted face, spotted drops of cold sweat. " Iruka?"

" It's… the wound", the brunette managed, and paused for a longest time until managing to finish. " It… takes a while sometimes… Before it becomes easier."

He'd never been good at soothing people who were in pain. That's why he simply sat there in silence and waited with Iruka for the ache to subside, hoping from the bottom of his heart that it was enough.

Morning's first sunrays had just showed up and it was cold in Konoha while Kiba stood in a tower, shuddering and wondering how he'd ever make it through his guard shift without freezing to death.

So worked up by those thoughts and observing the landscape spreading all around he was, that he actually jumped when wood screeched as someone showed up to keep him company. He couldn't keep himself from blinking when noticing who the arrival was. " Hinata? What are you doing here?"

Blushing heavily, the girl handed a mug of something steaming towards him. " I was w-wondering if y-you're feeling c-cold up here."

Feeling a tremendous slash of guilt, he smiled faintly when accepting the offering. " Thanks." He took a small sip, warmth as well as taste of berries and something he couldn't recognize caressing his mouth. " This tastes amazing."

Hinata's blush deepened several shades. " T-That's good t-to hear."

Still smiling, he returned to keeping an eye on the woods below, but his thoughts remained stubbornly elsewhere.

Hinata… She could've easily joined the troupe going after Naruto, or stayed at home worrying about the blonde. But instead…

In the end, he just couldn't keep the words inside any longer. " I've been an idiot, right?"

Hinata's face – just having regained their usual pale shade – blushed once more, even more pronouncedly than before. The girl didn't dare to look towards him. " M-Maybe a l-little", she responded in what was nothing louder than a whisper.

They stood in utterly comfortable silence for a very long time, simply enjoying of the view, until he finally noticed that Hinata's whole frame was shuddering. It didn't take a genius to understand that she was freezing.

His eyes remained fixed elsewhere when he, after several moments of hesitation, outstretched a hand and closed it around one of the girl's, rubbing gently.

It was the only way he could manage to say 'I'm sorry'.

It took the rest of the night before all stories had been shared, and by the time Naruto started to make his way towards a room that a girl named Matsuri had showed him before the meeting his legs were wobbling.

So unsteady, in fact, his walk was that eventually he started to slide towards the floor – until a firm hold broke his fall. " Dobe, why didn't you tell us you're tired?" Sasuke's voice growled.

Heat rose to his cheeks, and he wished from the bottom of his heart that it didn't show as a blush. " Because I knew you would've started to fuss."

Sasuke grunted, with what seemed like reluctance moving one arm to steady him. " Let's go."

He frowned. " What are you doing?"

He met an unreadable expression. " Getting you into your room before you go and collapse, deadlast."

He had no idea of why his body did such a thing – and at the moment, he didn't even want to know – but he found himself leaning closer to the raven's surprisingly warm body, feeling very safe all of a sudden. (In any other occasion, it would've stunned him that Sasuke didn't shove him away with harsh words.)

The walk to his room was far shorter than he'd remembered, and a distant part of his mind he refused to listen to felt disappointed when door was opened by Sasuke and the journey ended.

Neither said a word – too content with the silence – while they made their way towards the bed, and Sasuke gave him some time to sit down.

He gave the raven a surprised look when the boy didn't leave immediately, facing an annoyed one as response. " Idiot, I can't go anywhere if you're clinging to me." There was a sharp edge in the Uchiha's voice that would've aroused his curiosity if he'd been slightly more awake.

Noticing that he indeed was holding on quite tightly to the boy's arm, he flashed the raven a sheepish grin, fully aware of how much the other hated touching. " Sorry."

" Hn." Sasuke turned around so fast that he couldn't see the boy's face and started to walk away. " Now sleep. You're off no use like that." There was a clink of door, and the boy was gone.

He found himself staring at the closed door with this strangest prickle inside.

For this one, crazy minute he wondered if it was possible that Sasuke had felt it too, if it could be that he hadn't just imagined the sensation. But quite rapidly he managed to smother the silly, dangerous thought.

After all, there was no way in hell there could be something such between them. Right?

Maybe he should take the raven's advice and go to sleep, after all. He was obviously becoming delirious.

He drifted into oblivion, into dreams that disturbed him even further.

Cracking the newest code with both Temari and Shiho had been challenging from the very beginning. But the day – which was slowly turning to an evening – it was particularly challenging and troublesome for Shikamaru.

Three hours, twenty minutes and fifty-five seconds – this, he'd counted carefully – had passed from when he and the two girls had once more gathered into the library, which had felt uncomfortably hot recently. Still not used to the girls' bickering below surface that was giving him a headache, he tried desperately to sink deep concentration, futilely trying to find some magical key that would've cleared out the scroll in his hand from the book Shiho had found the day before.

So edgy the situation made him, in fact, that his body reacted with a violent shudder when Shiho's hand suddenly rested on his shoulder, most likely without the girl even noticing it. Tremendous heat wave went through him when the girl leaned closer, mere centimetres from his face. " Have you found anything?"

Hard as he tried, he couldn't bring himself to respond.

Both he and Shiho jolted a little when Temari stood all of a sudden. " I need fresh air", the blonde announced in a deviously smooth, even voice before walking away.

As though working free of his will his body moved, following the girl. He managed to catch up with her just outside the library. " What's going on with you?" he demanded before pieces clicked. " Is it still about that damn kiss?"

Temari gave him a look that spoke far more clearly than all words.

" Temari, you can't be serious!" he all but barked out, spreading his arms. " It was nothing but an accident, okay? And even if it wasn't, I don't understand why you should get so damn worked up – it's not like we'd be together or anything!"

Temari was silent for quite a while, most likely counting to ten, until managing to speak in a voice that crackled a bit with electricity. " Shikamaru… You've got to make up your mind eventually. You do understand that, right?"

He opened his mouth, then closed it again, looking like a fish on dry land.

Temari's eyes flashed a bit – with amusement or rage, was impossible to tell. She turned around sharply to leave. " I'm going back inside. We've got a code to crack, and it's getting too damn cold out here." With nothing further she was gone.

He buried his face into one hand, massaging his temple. " Troublesome…"

He was mildly startled by Kakashi's empathy filled voice. " They're pretty good at being confusing sometimes, huh?"

Turning around, he discovered despite mask that the man looked like he hadn't slept at all the night before. He knew why better than well – gossips travelled even faster than bad news in Konoha. " Hmph." He then chose to switch topic. " Now what are you doing here?"

" I heard you have a difficult code to figure out." The man's visible eye moved towards his other hand. " Is it that one?"

He looked down as well and blinked. Funny – he hadn't even noticed he'd taken the scroll with him outside. " Yeah." After thinking about it for a second, he handed it to the older. " I doubt anyone could solve this, but still…"

Nodding, Kakashi folded the paper open – and some colour disappeared from the man's face, as though he'd been encountered by a ghost.

He frowned. " What's wrong?"

Kakashi took his time before responding. " It's been a long time, but… I could recognize this coding anywhere. My sensei wrote this."

He blinked a couple of times. Had Kakashi been the Fourth's student? That, however, wasn't his main concern at the moment. " Can you decode it?"

The silver-haired nodded, visible eye sharp. " If you give me a little time, definitely."

Excitement speeded through his veins. " Then let's get to work."

Quite early that morning – after catching up with all that'd happened with Naruto and Sasuke – Neji wandered around through the huge building where Gaara worked, feeling some headache rising underneath his head. Apparently, it wasn't a good idea to push his body like this when there was still some poison running through his system.

Had he been asked later, he wouldn't have been able to tell which hallways he'd chosen when ending up to a breathtakingly beautiful garden that'd probably been shielded by the building's four thick walls for centuries already.

A real paradise in the middle of a cruel desert.

He'd been standing there for quite a while already until he finally became aware of the sensation that he wasn't alone. He had to blink at a bit at the bizarre sight of Gaara sitting in the middle of all the flowers in a meditative position, eyes closed.

He hesitated for a while before walking closer – not wanting to disturb the other's concentration – but eventually dared to take some slow, soundless steps. " In all honesty, I would've never expected you to be into stuff like that."

He saw the redhead shudder a bit with mild startle until eyes opened up and turned slowly towards him. " This is one of the first places I found when coming here." The boy looked around, visibly inhaling the flowers' scent. " It's easy to deal with emotions here."
He nodded, understanding better than well. If he was having this hard time with his current confusion, he couldn't even imagine what Gaara must've gone through with the demon locked inside him.

He didn't know what possessed him into doing so, for each and every part of him tried to tell him that it was a huge mistake, but he found himself walking towards the redhead and taking a seat beside the boy. Gaara seemed confused for a moment, but then relaxed. (Much more observant towards his emotions than ever before, he was surprised and alarmed to notice just how pleased that small sign of acceptance made him feel.)

He closed his eyes, inhaling the atmosphere. " It's peaceful in here."

" Hmm." They sat in an extremely comfortable silence for a longest time – only inches separating them – until Gaara's voice sounded. " Thank you."

He frowned a bit. " For what?"

The redhead hesitated before speaking. " For being here." The rest wasn't said out loud, but he could still hear it clearly. This was obviously the first time the boy wasn't experiencing this all alone, as well as the first time someone had been accepted along.

His eyes opened and he stared at the redhead, for once not bothering to hide his bewilderment. One didn't have to be a mastermind to realize just how much trust had been shown to him that morning, and he found himself feeling warm inside.

His hand twitched, but he didn't dare to follow the urge in fear of what it might cause.

As though working on its own accord, one of Gaara's hands moved all of a sudden. A quiver went through him when the boy moved a strand of hair to behind his ear. " It disturbed me." Had he not known better, he could've sworn he found a thinnest trace of a blush.

It wasn't until a couple of seconds later did he realize that the fingers by his ear hadn't been removed. His heart was pounding wildly when Gaara's hand slipped just a little bit lower to his cheek, sending cold shivers of pleasure through him.

In utter honesty, he had no idea of exactly how far the situation would've gone if Gaara hadn't pulled back so suddenly that it surprised him, getting up with a speed that must've made the redhead dizzy. Neither managed to speak words of parting until the redhead had already disappeared.

He emitted something between a sigh and groan, squeezing his eyes tightly shut.

Things were becoming a lot more confusing than before, because at that moment he knew his feelings better than ever in his entire life. And he didn't have a slightest clue of what to do with them.

-

Had the two boys been less worked up by each other, they would've noticed that they were observed through a window.

Eyes flashed with displeasure, and mouth twitched with disappointment.

This will not stand.

It was a chore, but eventually Sasuke found a nice place where he imagined no one would know to follow him – a tiny, breathtakingly beautiful pond, carefully hidden from all prying eyes behind the building. What seemed like hundreds of fireflies dancing around the place, soon to disappear with morning's proper rising, made it all the more perfect.

He'd just managed to slip into the warm water with a towel wrapped around his waistline when there were approaching steps. Looking to side, he felt a small slash he couldn't identify. " You."

Naruto, who also had only a towel hiding away his most private parts, gave a mixture of scoff and chuckle. " 'Morning to you, too, bastard."

He frowned. " What are you doing here?" Hadn't he put the boy into bed only a couple of hours ago?

" Karin told me it'd be a good idea to give my leg a nice hot bath. Besides, this seemed like a tempting place." The blonde peered towards the water. " Is it comfortable there?"

He fought away a groan. " It was."

Naruto shrugged. " Well, in that case…" Before he could emit a single word of protest the blonde had made his way into the water and sat beside him, eyes locked to the fireflies dancing all around them. " Man, it's pretty here!"

He shot a glare towards the other, although it wasn't even nearly as convincing as he would've liked. " Idiot, what do you think you're doing?"

The Uzumaki grinned at him, and he couldn't help noticing that it wasn't one of those goofy ones from their early teenage days. " Sitting with you, obviously." Seeing his look, the blonde scoffed. " Stop acting like a grouch – I know you have nothing against this."

Exasperation took its place upon his face, although it certainly wasn't the strongest of his emotions at the moment. " What the heck gives you a picture that I don't?"

Did the dobe just dare to inch himself closer?! " Because you would've already kicked me out if you did."

He shook his head, muttering under his breath, and fixed his eyes back to the fireflies. Had he paid more mind to his own actions, he would've realized that for just about the first time ever, he wasn't pushing Naruto away. (And had Naruto paid attention to his, the blonde would've understood how pleased he was to get to stay.)

Neither noticed that at some point Naruto's hesitant hand found its way around his, holding on tenderly.

-

The two, of course, had no idea of the quite flaming eyes observing them.

Suigetsu couldn't help smirking at the look upon Karin's face when he approached the girl, then glanced towards the sight outside. " How's your little experiment going?"

She emitted what sounded a bit like a hiss while turning around and starting to walk away. " Mind your own business, will you? I'm going to do some training."

Zetsu had always enjoyed of observing the meetings of the Akatsuki. It was strangely captivating to explore all the hidden tensions and power struggle that could be sensed deep beneath the surface, to wonder which one of them would betray first.

" So Saoishi is in his place?" Pein inquired, voice slightly tighter than usually.

He nodded quite casually, allowing whichever of his sides that'd make it first do the talking. " Yeah. He's now close to the Nine Tailed."
" What do we do now?" Kisame demanded. " Wait?"

" No." All eyes – including Pein's threatening ones – turned towards Madara, who was currently leaning against a wall with his arms folded. " We have a man inside, which is a good backup plan. But I think we've been approaching this… problem from wrong angle. It's too risky to go after someone that well protected on his own territory."

" Then what?" one of their new members – a woman he remembered being called Miko with fuchsia-coloured hair and blood-coloured eyes – asked.

Madara shrugged, as though his soon to be voiced answer was the simplest thing in the entire world. " We'll lure him here – in fact, I think I know just the right trick for that. The rest of you, keep his little sidekicks in line."

Zetsu had always known that Pein hated nothing more than his authority being questioned, but he'd never realized just how much until he saw how the man's eyes flashed at that moment. " I want to hear more about that plan of yours. The rest of you, make sure the Eight Tailed won't cause trouble."

The room emptied in an instant – almost.

" Zetsu." The hooded member's smooth voice captured his attention. The other moved one hand – most likely to brush hair – and he was allowed to spot a glimpse of a strange, crescent shaped birthmark against milky skin. " You've been in charge for most of this organization's interrogation work. Therefore, I'm sure you're smart enough to see that the Akatsuki is going down. After all, what kind of an organization would work when even its leaders don't have a slightest clue of what's going on right underneath their noses?"

He nodded slowly, carefully making sure that there were no unwanted ears listening. " Yeah."

He was certain he was being observed. " Would you like to join something that will last for a long time after these weaklings have fallen?"

He knew he was dangling dangerously close to a cliff, but he just couldn't contain his curiosity. Therefore he nodded.

After all, this could turn out to be interesting…

TBC, dattebayo.

A/N: Hold it… Hold it… YES – no cliffie! Hooray! (makes a little victory dance) SEE – I'm not a total sadist after all! (grins… quite scarily)

It seems I have quite a busy day ahead of me, so I'll have to start tuning off for now. BUT, of course, before going, PLEASE do keep sending those absolutely heart melting reviews! Aww, you know I'll be sparkling with inspiration if you do – and I've still got some treats I can bribe you with… (smirks)

Until next time – which I hope you'll all stay tuned for!
Be good!

Six chapters to go, counting in the epilogue.

realityfling18: Outdid myself? Yippee – thank you so much! (bows with a huge smirk)

(chuckles) Now whoever could resist NaruSasu moments?! Those two are absolutely adorable! (huggles, then is forced to run from VERY pissed off Sasuke)

That baby-thing sure arouses suspicion, no? (smirks mysteriously)

Colossal thank yous for reviewing! See ya around, yeah?