Naruto walked down the hall intending to look in on Sasuke, and contemplate how to befriend him, when he saw Shikamaru asleep and the bedroom door wide open. Naruto's eyes first went wide with disbelief, and then narrowed in anger. He stomped into the bedroom, growled in anger, and walked out to where Shikamaru was still sleeping. "WAKE UP YOU IMBECILE!" Naruto yelled loud enough to wake the dead, and Shikamaru jumped to attention. "HE IS GONE!" Naruto was pissed enough that his eyes were a strange shade of red-blue, and all of the markings that were usually invisible on his body appeared. Shikamaru was shaking slightly. Naruto growled softly. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Shikamaru straightened his back, and locked his knees. "I do not know how he managed to be quiet enough to get past me sir."

Naruto growled deep in his throat. "You're supposed to be the best security money can buy, yet you manage to lose one of the most important people in the building." Naruto was yelling, and breathing very heavily by the end of his statement. "Find him, or so help me you will be found face up, in the river, tomorrow morning." Shikamaru took off.

Naruto sighed and sat down in the chair. Damn these people. They can't even take care of one person on their own. One person who is tired, not even completely healthy! He rubbed his forehead, stood up, and walked down the hall to the library.

He was looking down at the floor and still rubbing his temples when he entered. He heard a soft snoring, and looked up, his eyes going wide. Sasuke was slumped over the desk, 3 books piled in front of him, with an open one under him, and he seemed soundly asleep. Naruto chuckled quietly, and walked over to him. He leaned over the other male and rubbed his nose against Sasuke's neck. Naruto breathed lightly on his neck, and the other boy shivered. "Time to wake up Sasuke."

Sasuke rolled his body a bit. "Mmmm. Just a little longer." Naruto laughed again, and lifted Sasuke's head up off of the book. He carefully pulled the book out from under him, and shut it. He looked at the title, and saw that it was a book of fairy tales. He shook his head thoughtfully and placed it on the pile of books. He went into the hallway shutting the door as he walked out of the room.

It was the door shutting that woke him up. For a moment he was very disorientated, then he remembered that he had woken up from his nap, and opened the bedroom door. He had been about to wake Shikamaru, when he had seen a dark fox with nine-tails. He really wanted to get a close look at the fox, so he had followed it down the hall. The fox had paused at one of the doors, patiently waiting for Sasuke to catch up. When Sasuke finally came in sight of the fox, it nudged the door it sat in front of, and walked in.

Sasuke hurried to catch up, and pushed the door open even more with a gasp. The fox had led him to an enormous library. As Sasuke walked among the books he completely forgot about the fox. He picked up about six books, and took them to the only table in the room. He looked through all of the books, put them back, and found more. He repeated the same thing; finding books, looking through them, and putting them back many times, until he finally found a book of fairytales. He had fallen asleep looking through the book for one particular story.

Satisfied that he remembered everything that had happened before he fell asleep, he stood up and starting setting everything to rights. He froze when Naruto walked in, talking to a mirror.

Naruto looked up from the mirror in surprise. He looked down at the mirror again, "I'll contact you again later with more details." He put the mirror on a nearby shelf, and smiled at Sasuke. "You're awake. I'm glad." Sasuke nodded and smiled slightly back at Naruto. This made Naruto grin even wider. He walked towards Sasuke, who clutched the fairytales book to his chest and stepped back. Naruto kept approaching, and Sasuke continued to back up until he finally backed into a shelf. Naruto stopped when he was about a foot away from Sasuke. "How...did you find the library? Shikamaru said that he hadn't shown you where it was."

Sasuke's tongue darted out to wet his lips and Naruto followed it with a hungry look in his eyes. "I...I...I..."

"Yes?"

"I followed a fox that had nine-tails."

Sasuke shrunk into himself, and Naruto froze."A fox with nine tails?"

"You think I'm crazy don't you?" Sasuke looked very glum.

Naruto looked down at Sasuke. "No."

Sasuke looked up. "No?" He had a questioning look on his face.

"No I don't think you're crazy, but very few have seen the nine-tails fox demon's shadow."

Sasuke looked scared as his eyes got huge. "F...F...Fo-Fox de...demon?"

Naruto smacked his forehead with a hand, and Sasuke jumped. "Now I've frightened you. It's just his shadow. It wanders around the mansion helping people. If it has shown itself to you, then it likes you, and wants to protect and help you. It most certainly will not harm you." He said this last bit with a fierce look. Sasuke seemed to relax, and he slumped over, his head resting on Naruto's chest. Naruto heard some mumbles. "What?"

"You smeialsngoesd"

Naruto looked perplexed. "I still didn't catch that."

Sasuke leaned his head back, looking up at Naruto's face. "You smell good." Sasuke turned a light red as Naruto chuckled, and laid his head back on Naruto's chest.

Naruto smiled and placed his nose in Sasuke's raven-black hair. "You smell good too." They stayed like that for several minutes.

Shikamaru rushed in panting. "Boss...I'm sorry...but I ...can't find him...anywhere." At the first word out of Shikamaru's mouth, Sasuke had jumped and hid his face against Naruto. Naruto growled and seemed to bristle threateningly at Shikamaru, who looked up, froze, and then rushed out of the room. Naruto placed his nose back in Sasuke's hair, and calmed himself. Sasuke had seen how fast Shikamaru had fled the room and started to laugh.

"What exactly are you laughing at?" Naruto sounded very stiff.

Sasuke couldn't stop laughing. "Did...you see...how fast he...ran out...after you...growled at him?" Naruto smiled crookedly.

When Sasuke stopped laughing, he stepped away from Naruto, wiping away the tears from laughing so hard, and he walked to where he had gotten the fairytales book. He put it back on its shelf, and when he turned around, he ran into Naruto, who had followed him. "Why fairytales?" Naruto was looking at Sasuke with a curious expression on his face.

"I was looking for an old folk story that my mother used to tell me, but I didn't find it. Sasuke looked very sad as he stated that.

Naruto laid an arm across Sasuke's shoulders. "Want to see another amazing room?" Sasuke gave a small smile and nodded slightly. Naruto led him out the door and up the stairs

Unseen on the top of a shelf located along the wall, the Fox-Demon's Shadow watched the males as they left the room. His head slightly tilted to the left, he nodded solemnly. He leaped into the air, and vanished before he landed on the ground.