Sasuke walked into school the next day feeling much as he had the day before. His brother had left after getting a call from Tsunade, asking him to come over. Sasuke knew that the blonde woman was working on the case with his brother, and he also knew that she had left the week before to investigate something at Itachi's request. Since she was calling to see the elder Uchiha, he concluded that she was back.

Unlike most days, when he arrived earlier than the rush of students and the crowds of gushing stalkers otherwise known as his fan club, he had arrived late today. When he'd left the house, Itachi still hadn't come back, but Sasuke decided not to let it bother him. If they had found a solid lead to that monster, then they were getting all the more closer. And that was a good thing. It didn't matter how much time Itachi had to spend away working as long as Snake was caught.

Ignoring everyone else as he weaved through the crowded halls, he made his way to his homeroom. He entered, adamantly refusing to let any flash of blonde hair or tanned skin catch his attention, and walked over to his seat. His eyes, unfortunately, refused to listen to what he told them to do and glanced anyway in the direction the blonde should have been.

No one was there.

It was only Hinata sitting next to two empty seats, one of which belonged to him. He froze for an indiscernible second before continuing on his path, not wanting anyone to notice his reaction to the blonde's absence. He couldn't have people thinking he actually cared.

No one was there.

Sasuke sat and felt the emptiness that floated beside him in the unoccupied chair. It was uncomfortable. It was unnatural. There was supposed to be someone there. Now there was only air. It wasn't supposed to be like that…

But wasn't that what he'd wanted?

Ever since that night he hadn't wanted to see her, no…him. He kept forgetting. But he wanted to forget. Forget that night, forget what he'd seen, and forget that he'd been betrayed, lied to. Most of all, he wanted to forget the pain he'd felt when he realized he'd been lied to because he wasn't supposed to have gotten so friendly with the other that he would be hurt by anything. No one was supposed to get close to him anymore.

So he'd dreaded going to school on Monday because that had meant that he'd have to see him. In classes, he'd had to sit by the blonde simply because that was his assigned seat. He had no choice in the matter. By the time lunch came, he was determined to leave if the blonde decided to sit at that table because he finally had a choice, but when the blonde had finally shown up, with Sai at his side no less (Sasuke hadn't expected anything else), he found that he couldn't move. He couldn't look at the boy, who then looked more like a boy than he had that weekend, that night, but his body wouldn't budge either. He was tense and the droning sound of outside conversations were downplayed as the blonde's voice overpowered them. He didn't want to listen, but he couldn't help it as each word pierced his skull and sunk into his brain without his admittance. Then before he knew it, Sakura and Ino had left, had done what he wanted to do. Kiba went as well after Hinata refused his invitation. And finally he couldn't take it anymore. He didn't want to hear excuses and he didn't want to see that liar's face. He'd made to leave, but Sai had stopped him and had the gall to call him childish.

He wasn't being childish. Sai knew why he was mad. He couldn't possibly think that Sasuke would just forgive everything because of something little like a crush. Crushes were easily forgotten about and pushed aside. Sasuke told himself that, and yet he couldn't stop the feeling and the pain that went with it. When had he gotten so close to that boy? When had his feelings grown to such a level without his noticing?

Sasuke resisted the urge to slap himself. He'd wanted to forget about the blonde, but it seemed that Naruto was the only thing on his mind.

Still, a feeling of uneasiness had settled itself in the pit of his stomach. He didn't know what caused it, but he wanted it to leave him alone. He was worrying about enough as it were without his paranoia kicking in.

"Sasuke-kun…Sasuke-kun? Are you alright?" Sakura asked, pulling him out of his thoughts. It was lunch now. Yesterday he'd made the decision to sit with Sakura, Ino, Choji, Shikamaru, and a few other people he'd seen around the school. He was starting to regret that choice.

"Hn, I'm fine," he replied. Seeing that he was now ignoring her, she turned away to chat with Ino some more. His eyes wandered around the cafeteria until they settled on the table he used to sit at. He frowned as he realized he was staring.

"She…he didn't come in today," Sakura said, also looking over at the table.

"Probably got scared. He always got scared easily," Ino scoffed.

"Hn," was the Uchiha's reply. He was watching Sai's face which had a strange expression on it. He seemed worried and anxious about something, though he was hiding it well. Those were emotions he wasn't used to seeing on his normally cheerful friend.

"Stop acting like you're not worried about him," Shikamaru said suddenly from where he was resting his head on the table.

"We aren't," Sakura retorted.

"We're just stating facts," Ino added.

"Sure, sure," Shikamaru replied, waving a dismissive hand at them. He kept his head down.

"He seemed really hurt when you guys left," Choji told them in between bites of his favorite chips.

"Good," Ino said, though with less conviction than she'd intended. Shikamaru sighed then, and lifted his head with an expression saying how troublesome everyone was being and how troublesome it was to put forth the effort he needed to keep his head up.

"Quit lying. You're doing the same thing as he did by fooling yourself into being so mad with him that you'd leave him," Shikamaru said. "Look, Sakura and Ino, you've been friends with him for so many years, and you're willing to throw it away over this? So he's actually a guy. So what? You know that he was always honest with his personality and I'm willing to bet it hasn't changed just because he's announcing that he's a boy now. Naruto is Naruto. He's just the same as when he was Naruko, but with more testosterone instead of estrogen."

"You never know Shika, he could still have a lot of estrogen. He does look pretty girly even though he's trying to look like a guy," Choji said, putting his two-cents in while still happily munching on his chips. Shikamaru simply shrugged at the statement deeming it too much effort to actually answer. Sakura and Ino remained silent. Sasuke had tried to tune out the conversation, but failed miserably.

"Hey Uchiha," Shikamaru said. He put his head back down on the table. Even though he couldn't see the other boy, or hear any acknowledgement to tell him Sasuke was listening, he continued, knowing that the Uchiha was. "You'd better apologize to him when you finally decide to take out that stick up your ass and go see him. Holding someone's feelings is a big responsibility, and withholding your own is just cruel when they are the same. You better get your head on straight soon or you just might lose your chance."

"Hn," was the Uchiha's reply. Sasuke stood up and left suddenly, not wanting to hear more. Lunch was almost over anyway. He could make it through the rest of the day. Then maybe he'd take the scenic route home. The one that went by a certain blonde's house…

Sasuke slowed as he turned onto the next road. He'd decided to take the scenic route and was now going past Tsunade's house. He still refused to think of the blonde boy, although he had failed miserably throughout the day, unable to get him out of his mind. That coupled with what Shikamaru had said to him had bothered him enough to want to stop and talk to the blonde boy. But there was the fact that Naruto hadn't been in school that day, and Sasuke wasn't sure if it was because he was sick or if he was scared as Ino had said, or even if it was something entirely different.

A few cars were parked in front of the house. He recognized one as Sai's and another as his brother's. He could see Sakura and Ino sitting on the doorstep and wondered briefly at why they were there before he saw the miserable looks on their faces. Had Naruto refused to see them? Would he refuse to see Sasuke?

The younger Uchiha shook his head. He wasn't even going to stop. He was going to keep going until he was home, and then he would forget about Naruto. Before he could complete his plan, he found that he'd been on autopilot and had parked behind Sai's car. He debated whether he should get out and try to talk to Naruto or continue on his way like he'd wanted to before. Reasoning that he was already there, he decided he might as well try to talk to the blonde. He sat there for a few more seconds before finally getting out and heading for the front door.

"Ah! Sasuke-kun!" the two girls cried out in surprise at seeing him.

"Are you…here to see him too?" Sakura asked hesitantly when he was closer. Sasuke nodded. Ino looked down and he missed the sad expression on her face.

"He isn't here," she told him, making him stop.

"Something happened. We don't know what though," Sakura explained. "They wouldn't let us in, but Sai-san is in there. He said he'd find out what happened and then tell us. He drove us here."

"We wanted to apologize, but I guess we were a little late," Ino said. Sakura wrapped an arm around the blonde girl's shoulders and hugged her. Sasuke looked at the girls a little longer, waiting for anything else they could tell him. His mind had immediately told him many bad situations that could be cause for the two girls to remain outside. He rushed in the door, not bothering to knock. He wanted to know what happened and he prayed it wasn't anything bad.

Did run away? Did he kill himself? Or was he locked in a room right now and about to kill himself? Was that why Sai was here? To coax Naruto out before he could hurt himself? Sasuke's imagination went wild with that one. But no, his brother was here. It was something worse. He passed the living room with a glance, but stopped and did a double take. There was a bloodstain on the floor. He drew a sharp breath and his eyes widened at the sight.

"Sasuke?"

He nearly jumped at the sound of his name. He turned to see Sai down the hall heading toward him. He calmed himself quickly and walked toward the other to get away from the sight. It reminded him of the night his family was killed and he'd come home with his brother to the sight of blood dripping off the walls and on the floor of their living room from his father. His mother had been found in the bedroom, and although he hadn't seen it, he'd been told it was a gruesome sight.

"What are you doing here? I thought you wouldn't come to your senses for at least another week. I know how stubborn you can be," Sai joked.

"What happened?" Sasuke asked seriously, ignoring Sai's faked lightheartedness. The genial smile melted away and in its place was a somber expression.

"Naruto-kun's mother was killed and he's been taken by Snake. All we have to go on is a note he left."

Naruto groaned as he came back to consciousness. His body felt like lead once again, like it had the night of the party. This time though, it wasn't so heavy that he couldn't move. He lifted himself up on one arm after a fair amount of struggle and then looked around. He was nervous and scared. Where was he?

He was on a couch, a rather large one at that, and in someone's living room. It wasn't his, he knew that much. The room was dark, but he could see how differently everything was set up. A large television set was placed upon a table against the wall opposite of where he was; crackling away on a fuzzy channel that meant it had no reception. In the dim light it gave off he could see a small coffee table in front of him, another smaller couch against the wall to his left, and a large bookshelf against the wall to his right with many knickknacks as well as books on it. Some books were on the floor, strewn about and open to random pages it seemed. Some even had pages torn out and thrown about them. The floor was wood and a large carpet nearly covered it. His eyes traveled along the walls, seeing the outline of picture frames although the glass of each was broken and no picture seemed to be in them. Next he saw thin beams of light seeping through planks of wood that were nailed across the windows on the outside.

His nervous feeling grew to one that was constricting. He felt trapped. Just like…

"Naruto-kun, you're awake!"

The blonde whipped around as fast as he could with his sluggish body to face the newcomer. He sighed as he saw it was only Kabuto. The man stood behind the couch and looked down at him with a smile. The light of the television created a glare across his glasses, preventing Naruto from seeing his eyes.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"My whole body feels so heavy. Kabuto-niisan, what happened? I remember seeing you and eating that sweet you gave me. We talked a little and then…I don't know…" Naruto said. He looked up at the silver haired man for answers.

"It's okay. You're awake now though. Maybe you just fainted," the man replied.

"Yeah, maybe…" Naruto said looking down. He looked back up. "Kabuto-niisan, where is this? If I fainted, we'd still be at my house right? Why are we here?"

The man only smiled, ignoring the question.

"Kabuto-niisan…?"

He reached forward, taking a strand of hair in his hand.

"You grew your hair since we last saw each other," he said.

"Okaa-san wouldn't let me cut it," Naruto replied. "Now, where are we?"

"It's so pretty. You look even more like a girl now," the man said, his smile widening. Naruto jerked back suddenly, causing himself to fall off the couch and hit his head on the coffee table. He shut his eyes in pain and clenched his teeth. He opened one eye and looked up at the silver-haired man in the dim light to see only that he was still smiling, widely now, and his hand hadn't moved from where it had been when he was holding his hair.

"Now, now, Naru-chan. If you move too much you'll hurt yourself," he said in a jovial tone that was much deeper than it should have been. Naruto froze, hearing that voice.

"Y-you…you're not…" he said in a trembling voice, not able to complete the sentence for fear it was true. He struggled to stand, using the coffee table as support, but his vision was swimming in and out now.

"Oh damn, you've figured it out already? I was hoping to have a little more fun acting with you Naru-chan," the man said in mock disappointment. Naruto was shaking now. He wanted to run, but he was just barely standing. The man grinned and an unnaturally long tongue came out to wet his lips.

"Oh well. We'll still have plenty of time to play together. Or perhaps I should get you a playmate? Oh, that would be very fun indeed, I do think," he suggested. A satisfied look came over his face as he walked around the couch toward the blonde. Naruto tried to back up, but only managed to fall over again, his legs failing him.

"Looks like the drug's affecting you again. I'll let you have your rest for now. We'll play a little bit later and then I'll get you your playmate. I know last you were with me you were so lonely," the man said. He was right in front of the blonde now. He snatched Naruto's long hair suddenly near the scalp and pulled the boy up so their faces were close together. Naruto could smell the man's disgusting breath. He shut his eyes to get away from that sadistic look in the other's eyes. he couldn't see it still due to the glare from the television on the glasses, but he could feel it; he knew it was there. He felt the breath move from his face to his ear and he shivered in disgust.

"You should be grateful I'm getting you a playmate. I know you'll like him too. He's quite the handsome boy, intelligent too. He's the one you uselessly pine over like a little girl."

The man chuckled and pushed the blonde away from him, ignoring the cry of pain from him as he hit the floor. "Too bad he doesn't like you much."

"No," Naruto whispered from the ground. Tears had started to leak from his eyes. He was terrified for both himself, and now Sasuke.

"Leave him alone, leave him alone. I'm fine by myself. I won't be lonely, I won't be lonely," he begged.

"Aw, I made him cry. Shh, shh, there now. Don't cry. Don't cry," the man cooed, crouching now next to the blonde's head and running his hand through long blonde hair. Naruto repressed the urge to shudder and move away from the invading hand. He forced his tears to stop as well. "There we are, shh. I won't bring him if you don't want him."

"I don't, I don't. I hate him, don't take him, please," Naruto cried.

"That's a good boy. Snake is all you need. I won't take him if you don't want him," the man said with that sadistic smile of his. He leaned down next to the blonde's ear again, and Naruto nearly cringed. "But I can't guarantee that I won't take him if he gets lonely without you."

"He won't, he won't. He hates me," Naruto cried, the tears coming back again. "I won't be lonely. I don't want him here. All I need is Snake."

"That's a good boy," the man cooed, petting his hair again. "Now get some rest and we'll play later."

He stood and left. Naruto stayed where he was on the floor, not having enough energy to drag himself onto the couch again. He curled in on himself, letting the tears fall as he shook.

The house, it screams with the souls of the dead

Walls drenched in blood that drips without end

Littered with bodies long since buried

He'll lie with them if you don't hurry

His body is lined with scars from the past

As new ones open, how long will he last?

But for policemen like you, it should be cake

To find the hiding place of little old Snake

Time's ticking away; you don't want him to die, do you? But take your time. I do so love playing with my toys, you know.

Snake

A/N: ahmugud. I'm pretty psyched about this…that sounds wrong with how this story is going. Poor Naru-chan, I'm so sorry! And sorry to everyone else for making you wait this long with that cliffhanger last time and for the shortness of this chappie. I got stuck on one part and then I've been pretty busy with helping my mom clean the house since my whole family's coming to stay with us for Thanksgiving. I wanted to get this out before they all come and give me no time to myself to type for all you lovely readers. Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving, by the way, for everyone who celebrates it.

Yes, Naruto calls Kabuto Kabuto-niisan. He really was the babysitter when Naru-chan was younger, it wasn't just something Snake said to get to Naru-chan. That's why Naru-chan thinks it's his old babysitter at first. Just wanted to clear that up in case it confused any of you.

Now, I'm going to try to update this as quickly as possible. It might not happen, but I'm going to try. I get points for that right? (dodges sharp objects being thrown) Eh heh…well anyway, thank you for reading and bearing with me to this point, and thank you to all the lovely reviewers who take the time to comment. You all are truly the ones that keep us writers going. So please, review and help keep the chapters coming! Oh, and points for anyone who guesses where Snake and Naru-chan are (the last part was the note left by Snake if you couldn't tell)!