"So where are we going Tsunade-obaasan?" Naruto asked. They were in Tsunade's car now, driving slowly through the town. Music played softly in the background from the radio. The older woman had yet to tell him where they were going, and she didn't seem to want to tell him just yet.

"You'll see when we get there, brat," she replied. Naruto pouted. He never liked being left out of the loop. Not long after, they stopped and got out. Tsunade went around to the trunk to get something out while Naruto looked at where they were. They were at the cemetery. Tsunade returned with flowers, and handed some to him.

"I thought you might want to visit him since we missed it last week," she told him. He nodded with a sad smile. They walked in and headed to Arashi's grave stood. There was a small silence before Tsunade spoke.

"Has Yumi-san let you out at all since then?" she asked on their way.

"She…no. She just wanted to protect me, so she locked me in my room. She's still feeding me, and she'll tell me when she's going out. So it's not like she's forgetting me or anything," Naruto replied.

"It's still not healthy Naruto-kun. You need to get outside. You need to go to school too," she said. "Your friends have come to see me a couple times to ask how you were. Even that Subaku boy has. They're all worried about you."

"I know…but it's not my choice to stay home. I would go if I could, and if anything, I'd rather be at school all day than at home with mom," he said with a frown. He slapped his hand on his head and frowned even more. "That was a horrible thing to say."

"You have a reason to say it," Tsunade said. "You're the one who's put up with her the most after…all that. You're the one she's messing with to keep herself sane, and it isn't fair."

"But I owe it to mom," he replied as they stopped in front of a gray stone. He placed the flowers in a vase already filled with new water by the grounds keepers. His eyelids drooped as he stared at the grave. "I'm the reason he's dead. I'm the reason she has to go through all this. Because if it weren't for me, Snake wouldn't have killed him when he was trying to save me."

Tsunade sighed and stared at the grave sadly in silence. She could have told him a thousand times that it wasn't his fault for his father's death, and he would still think it was. Silence engulfed them again, each lost in their own thoughts. A breeze blew softly, sending a chill up Naruto's spine. It was beginning to get colder now. Fall was almost in full swing, and winter would come soon after.

"There's something I should tell you," Tsunade started quietly. "I doubt Yumi-san would have already told you that-"

"Ah…that's Deidara-kun!" Naruto said, not paying attention to the important message his aunt wanted to give him. "I'm going to say hi, okay obaa-san?"

She ran off without waiting for her reply. She saw two other figures with the blonde man, and figured the taller one next to him was Itachi-san. She knew Itachi didn't live too far away, but this would be the first time she'd seen the blonde's boyfriend.

"Deidara-kuuun!" she called as he neared the little group. The older man turned, as well as the other two (though the shorter one seemed to be uninterested in the new voice), and his face brightened as he saw Naruko.

"Naruko-chan! Good to see you!" he said with a grin. "What are you doing here? I thought you were sick."

"I was," she replied, slipping into her excuse easily. "I'm feeling better now though, and I hope I'll be able to go back to school tomorrow."

"That's great," Deidara replied. "Oh! How rude of me, I forgot. This is 'Tachi-kun."

"Nice to meet you," the dark haired man said, shaking Naruko's hand.

"And this is Sasuke-kun, but you should know him already," Deidara said, motioning to the other. Eyes met and sparks flew as the two recognized each other with slight shock keeping them silent for only seconds. "Guys, this is-"

"You know this teme?!"

"You know this dobe?!"

Both shouted as the shock wore off. They glared hard at each other and Deidara sweat dropped at the tension between the two. "Uhm…h-hai. I take it you two aren't too fond of each other."

"Like hell I'm fond of him, he's such a precocious bastard!" Naruko growled. Itachi smirked at this.

"You finally managed to find a girl not completely obsessed with you, Sasuke. I'm impressed," he said. "I like you, girl. What's your name?"

"I'm Uzumaki Naruko," she replied happily to him before returning to glaring at Sasuke who happened to be gaping at his brother. Itachi just smirked more.

"So what are you and Dei-chan doing here?" Naruko asked.

"None of your business, dobe," Sasuke answered quickly, seeming very sore about the subject. Naruko narrowed her eyes at the boy, who returned the look. Itachi jabbed his brother with his elbow as a sign that he should be more polite. Like hell I'll be polite to this dobe.

"Just paying our respects to our family," Itachi told her.

"Ooh. That's right. Dei-chan mentioned something about your family's death. I'm sorry for your loss," she said.

"We're getting by."

"Why are you here Naruko? I thought you would've come last week," Deidara said.

"She would have, but the brat was sick, remember?" Tsunade said, finally joining the group. Naruko grinned at her aunt.

"Yeah. Obaa-san said she'd take me today since I couldn't come last week," she said.

"Hn. I thought we were leaving Itachi," Sasuke said, tired of being ignored and discarded. Why does everyone find that girl so interesting? He threw her another glare, which she stuck her tongue out at.

"Alright. Since Sasuke seems so eager to leave, I guess we shall be on our way then," Itachi said.

"Why don't we all go out for a little something to eat? We were leaving as well, and if you don't have anything to do now…" Tsunade suggested, ignoring the protest from the younger blonde girl. She was well aware of her dislike for Sasuke and his own contempt for her. She knew what happened to the Uchiha family from a friend still working in the police force, and felt that they should be friends rather than enemies. They had more in common than they thought.

"Well we were actually-"

"We were going to be going around the town together, but Sasuke isn't doing anything today. Isn't that right?" Itachi said, cutting Deidara off. He knew what Tsunade was up to, having recognized her from his files. "He would be glad to join you. We would as well, but we have previously planned matters to attend to now."

"Aa…right. You're not doing anything now, are you? Going with them would be better than cooping yourself up in the house all day," Deidara added, catching on.

"No, I'm not doing anything, but that doesn't mean-"

"Then it's settled, Sasuke will come with us and then we'll send him on home when we're done," Tsunade replied, ignoring Sasuke and Naruko's complaints to the agreement made between the adults.

"Yes. If we're not home by then, you have a key to get in," Itachi told his brother as he began to walk away. Deidara gave him a grin and waved to the trio.

"Bye. Have fun," he called. And before Sasuke could really react, he was alone with his school nurse and his annoying female classmate. Oh joy…

"Itadakimasu!"

Naruko quickly dug into her bowl of ramen. Tsunade let Naruko pick (and she obviously chose her favorite place, Ichiraku), but she had been planning on taking her there anyway. The older woman looked past Naruko to Sasuke. The boy hadn't stopped scowling since he was left with them. She shook her head at his attitude as well as at Naruko's. She acted like he wasn't there, and was trying to ignore the boy's presence in the seat next to her as much as possible. It wasn't working too well since she would glance at the scowling boy at times before turning back to her ramen quickly.

"Soooo…" Naruko began. "How are you Sasuke-san?"

"What do you think, dobe?" he answered smoothly without looking from his own food. The blonde glared at him heatedly and mumbled, "Teme," under her breath. Silence engulfed them again. They need to talk without me here, I can tell, Tsunade thought with a mental sigh. The ramen shop was in a line up of shops and other small restaurants of the like. Making up an excuse in her mind quickly, she stood from her seat.

"I just remembered something I need to get. I'm not very hungry at the moment, and since you have to be home soon Naruko-chan, I'll get it while you both are eating," she told them. "I won't be too long, but if you finish before I'm back just wait for me here. I've already paid."

"Okay obaa-san," Naruko replied. Sasuke grunted when she look to him for recognition. She exited the small shop, leaving the two in an awkward silence.

Well now, such an awkward silence. Maybe you should say something. I thought you didn't like silence.

Shut up you bastard.

"Soo…I didn't know your brother was Dei-chan's boyfriend," Naruko said eventually, trying to block the voice from her head. It was true, she'd never been one to enjoy silence for too long, especially since the voice decided to pop into her head at random times.

"Yeah. Deidara-kun's like another mother actually. He's so girly," Sasuke replied without even thinking. Naruko grinned at this.

"Yeah, especially with his hair. I wonder about that boy sometimes," she said with a light chuckle. Sasuke's mouth twitched. He hadn't exactly meant to talk so casually with the blonde, but Itachi was always telling him he should be more social. And it was between a conversation with the dobe or sulking. He thought for a minute. Maybe she wasn't so bad…

"Y-yeah," he agreed.

"You know, obaa-san's actually my aunt," Naruko told him. She knew he had to be wondering about that since not many knew she was related to the nurse. "She used to be part of the police force, and Jiraiya too. You know him, don't you? I think most people get him for health. He's a pervert, but he's nice enough. But they both quit when…"

She stopped in her train of thought, realizing she might say more than she'd want to.

What are you going to say brat? Are you going to give him a heartfelt confession and cry on his shoulder?

No. Who said I was?

Baka brat, I'm in your head. I know your thoughts.

But I never thought that did I?

Maybe so, but even if you did that, he wouldn't give a damn anyway. You're just another annoying girl to him.

Why don't you ever shut up?

"When what?" Sasuke asked, knocking her out of her thoughts. She'd caught his attention now that she'd mentioned the police force.

"Uhm, w-when…when I was about six," she said finally. "But aren't your family police too? I've heard of the Uchiha reputation before from Dei-chan and obaa-san."

"Yeah. Father was so amazing at it, but…" he started excitedly, but then he frowned darkly, "they're all dead now." He clenched his fists remember this.

Ooh, nice one brat. Hit him where it hurts.

"Aa, that's right. I'm sorry for bringing it up again. I know how you feel," she said quietly while inwardly cursing at the voice. He narrowed his eyes at her. Screw her being good; there was no way in hell she knew what he was going through now.

"Like hell you do," he said. "You couldn't possibly know what it's like to lose someone."

Naruko glared right back at him. Where did nice Sasuke go?

Who the hell knows. He was probably just leading you on anyway.

No he wasn't!

He just insulted you brat. What are you going to say back to him? Aren't you going to stand up for yourself?

"What do you think I was doing at the cemetery? Visiting a stranger's grave? I've lost someone too!"

Pathetic.

"Were they murdered in front of you? Was it your entire family?!" Sasuke shot back.

You're too weak.

"It wasn't my entire family-" she started.

"So you couldn't know-!"

Just like you were back then.

"But-"

"Don't even-"

Weakling. Hearing this from that voice, and done with being yelled at by Sasuke, she slammed her hand on the table and stood glaring at the other boy. She'd had enough

"I may not know what it's like to have my entire family killed in front of me, but my father was shot right in front of me by a fucking serial killer!" Naruko yelled at him. "God, you teme! Don't you dare even think for a second that you're the only one suffering from losing someone when they were right in front of you! When you want to do something, but you know you fucking can't because you're too weak to even fight back! God damn it, you're such an idiotic jerk!"

Sasuke was too surprised to speak, but he kept his glare to hide the fact. The shop was silent now, and the few people that were there stared at the pair. Giving him one last glare, Naruko walked out of the shop. How dare he think he's the only fucking one that suffers! Like he's so special!

She could hear the voice's laughter echoing through her head. She hated that sound. Stop laughing you bastard.

"Ah…got into a fight, now did you?"

Naruko looked up with a surprised look, to see Tsunade standing in front of her with a smile. She opened her mouth to rant, but decided against it. She didn't need to yell at her aunt. She could deal with it on her own, and she didn't need any help.

"I'll take that as a yes," Tsunade said. "You both have been through a lot, you know, so don't go thinking you're the only one that suffers either."

She gave her aunt another surprised look as Sasuke finally decided to come out of the shop. Naruko glanced at Sasuke and then dropped her head. Being the stubborn person she was, she refused to talk to him even if her aunt was right. She headed to the car that Tsunade had brought in front of Ichiraku and got in without a word.

"Seems like we'll be taking you home now runt. Get in," Tsunade said to Sasuke. His face was blank, and he said nothing as he got in.

The car stopped and Sasuke got out. Naruko didn't look at him, nor did she say a farewell to the boy. But it didn't matter to him. She could sulk as long as she wanted. It's not like they were friends or anything. Tsunade motioned to him as he went around the car so he could walk up the path to the front door.

"Tell your brother I'd like a chance to speak with him again and give both him and Deidara-kun my regards," she said with a smile. He nodded silently. "Good. Take care of yourself Sasuke-san."

"…Arigatou," he said quietly before walking the rest of the way to his house. He heard the car pull away as he opened the door and went in. That car held one of the most frustrating people he'd ever met, and yet…he was actually starting to like her. God damn it.

A/N: Another chapter! Yes! All right, so you guys wanted some more Naruto/Sasuke interaction, and here it is. Truthfully I wanted more too. XP I think Sasuke may be a bit OOC in this, but I tried my best. Surprisingly this is the first chapter that I actually sort of like! Ha, I had fun writing it, especially the fight scene between Naruto and Sasuke. I had this little movie going on in my head as I wrote it, playing that scene. Anywho, I hope you guys all really liked it. And thank you sooooooooo much for the reviews! It warms my heart to see that people actually like this. So please review. It will make me very happy. And possibly help me update faster…

Disclaimer: don't own Naruto, and probably never will...