Hey guys! Here's the next instalment of FL! Sorry it's a bit late and a bit shorter than the previous chapters. If I didn't stop it where I did it would have probably gone on forever! Anyway enjoy :)

05/01/13 Update: One of my friends (Zeldafanatik) has agreed to be my beta so we're slowly going through my chapters and making any corrections. I'm also going to start naming chapters as we go along so any ideas would be greatly appreciated! Thank you all for your continued support, I wouldn't still be writing if it wasn't for you!

Chapter 27. Sasu POV

"Orochimaru… He was her dealer, wasn't he?" Itachi sits next to me on the floor of the spare room, his head in his hands. When Naruko received that weird phone call earlier she just froze; I thought she was going to faint when Itachi grabbed her to keep her standing. But then she started screaming while clutching her chest. And I had a feeling she was clutching at the scar there. Mom and dad came rushing in but there was nothing any of us could do to calm her down. Itachi and mom tried talking to her but she just kept screaming. I backed away, scared; not knowing what I should be doing. Though I know there was nothing I could have done because even Itachi couldn't help her. In the end dad called one of his doctor friends who came to sedate her. I watch as her chest slowly rises and falls.

"Yes." He sighs beside me so I edge closer to him and wrap my arm around his shoulder. What a day this is turning out to be.

"Is she still asleep?" I look back as mom pops her head around the door. I nod as she sends me a sad smile, her eyes lingering on Itachi's back. "Dinner's ready if you're hungry. Deidara called, he was worried because he couldn't contact you. I told him to come over and see you."

"Thank you, Mother." She backs out the room, probably to go back downstairs. After they'd moved Naruko upstairs Itachi ended up telling mom and dad what was going on which meant he had to tell them about her past. Dad sat frowning throughout the conversation while mom cried, saying she wished Naruko could have confided in them. I stand up with Itachi, though I don't really want to leave her. "I've got a phone call to make." He picks Naruko's phone up from the bedside table; he'd kept it near in case she got any more phone calls from that creep. "Stay with her." I nod as he heads outside; wondering if he's going to ring that red-head from Suna.

I sit down on the edge of her bed and brush my hand over hers, not sure whether to hold it or not. Itachi told me that she'd been getting blank letters since the Christmas holidays and that she thought they were from him; and then she got the one with a message in it. I give in and take her hand in my own, squeezing it slightly. I haven't seen her much since the Christmas holidays; only really in passing at school. Honestly I was avoiding her; I was being the kid that I am and getting all riled up that she had a boyfriend. I sigh; what did I expect? That she'd be single until I was old enough to actually pursue her? And there was the thing with dad; whenever he was home he would talk about the family business and how now that Itachi had left he wanted me to take over by myself. He kept saying how he wanted me to finish my schooling as soon as possible and spend some time in the company to get to grips with it.

I let a yawn escape, not bothering to cover my mouth. If dad came home early enough he would spend hours telling me all about the business and then I would have to do my school work; meaning sometimes I wouldn't get to sleep until three or four in the morning because I still had to do some catch up work from last year. I don't think my dad's ever spoke to me as much as he has these past few months.

"It'll be okay." I tell her though she probably can't hear me. "He can't get to you." I let my head drop as I fight the tears threatening to fall. "It'll all be okay." I wonder who I'm trying to convince when I say that. I look up as she fidgets slightly, the only movement she's made since we brought her up here. Before I know it I'm leaning over her, pressing my lips against hers briefly as a tear runs down my cheek. It'll be okay…

Itachi POV

"Gaara? This is Itachi." I listen as something breaks at the other end and orders are barked for it to be cleared up.

"What's wrong? Has something happened? Don't put that there, you idiot." He's probably at work; I think Naruko mentioned something once about him owning an art gallery.

"You could say that. You're coming up next week aren't you?" He grunts in reply, shouting something else. "Is there any chance you could come earlier?"

"Don't beat around the bush, Uchiha. Just tell me what the hell happened. Are you all imbeciles? If I employed some monkeys I bet they could do a better job than you!" I pull the phone away for a second, staring at it; glad not to be one of his employees.

"He contacted her."

"Another letter?" There's more clatter as something else breaks. "That's coming out of your wages!"

"He phoned her." There's finally silence on the other end after a door slams shut.

"She… she spoke to him?" I run my hand through my hair, not caring that it's a mess now. I lean against my bedroom door. Downstairs I hear the door open and close before mother shouts up that Dei is here. I cover the bottom of Naruko's mobile as I shout down.

"I'll be down in a minute." I take my hand away, sighing into the device. "Yes. Though I don't know what he said. She freaked out; we had to get her sedated." There's banging as drawers slam shut on his end; I'm guessing he's in his office or his bedroom. I think Naruko said he lived in the same building as his gallery.

"I'll be there tonight. Is she at your place?" I hang up after telling him to come here. I bang my fist against the wood behind me. What the hell is that guy playing at? If he comes anywhere near her, I'll kill him.

"Come in." I beckon the red head and a blonde haired woman in with my hand as he hauls a suitcase behind him. I hold a finger up to my lips to keep them quiet. He raises a non-existent eyebrow but doesn't say anything. "Naruko's asleep at the moment I'm afraid. She's not feeling very well." The man on the other side of the phone sighs. Apparently Naruko was supposed to meet up with Shikamaru between finishing at the school and starting work. He'd been round to her place and started to worry when she wouldn't answer her phone. I sat watching it ring for a while earlier, wondering what on earth I was supposed to say to him. Eventually I answered; might as well go with her lie from this morning. She must have forgotten all about him because of the letter.

"I'll pop over later, see how she's doing." No you won't.

"Sorry but that's probably not a good idea. Naruko will hate it if you see her ill and weak; you know what she's like." He sighs again before giving in; good, I don't know what I would have said if he protested.

"Get her to call me, okay?"

"Sure thing." I hang up, letting my attention drift back to Gaara. "Come on." He leaves the case where it is and the two follow me into the living room.

"Ahh, Gaara isn't it?" Mom stands up to greet him. "It's nice to see you again. I'm Itachi's Mother and this is my husband, Fugaku." Father gets up, a frown on his face probably due to Gaara's appearance but shakes the red-head's hand anyway.

"Nice to meet you. This is my sister, Temari." The blonde shakes Mother and Father's hands also. Mother ushers us all to sit down. The newcomers sit on the couch as I sit on the arm of Deidara's chair while Mother goes into the kitchen to fetch tea and biscuits.

"Itachi tells us that you were looking into the man that is harassing our Naruko." Father leans forward, his elbows resting on his thighs, as he examines the duo.

"Yes." He nods in thanks as Mother pours him some tea. "I keep an eye on things over in Suna. My brother and sister both work in the police force so we are able to keep track, if you will, of Orochimaru and his associates."

"But I'm afraid we're at a bit of a loss, Mr Uchiha." Temari speaks up, eyes on Father. "I work at the prison that holds Orochimaru and there's been nothing that we would consider out of the ordinary. We've searched his room many times and we've never found any mobile phones which he could have contacted her on. He's never sent any letters so that couldn't have been him personally. However there is the possibility that he could be getting somebody else to do it for him."

"Kabuto is the most likely suspect." Gaara looks at me as he takes a sip from his cup and I nod; Naruko mentioned that name when she was on the phone this morning. "He was his right hand man when Naruko was involved with him. If you wanted Orochimaru, you went through Kabuto. Though Naru was a special case; Orochimaru would always go to her." His grip around the cup tightens, his face scrunched in anger. "But the question still remains how he is contacting Kabuto."

"And we can't find anything on Kabuto's whereabouts. Since Orochimaru's arrest it seems as if he's just vanished. My other brother, Kankaro, specialises in drug cases so he's keeping both his ears and eyes open for anything that could help us find him." Mother finally sits down next to Father; he holds her hand in an attempt to stop her shaking. She's been very jittery since I told her about Naruko's past.

"What are we going to do then?" Father looks at the Subaku siblings; he got angry earlier when I was telling them about Naruko's life in Suna. He even said if he had known her parents died then he would have adopted her so that she wouldn't have gone through all of that. Gaara puts his cup down and sighs. His gaze lowers to his hands and he's silent for a while before speaking again.

"There's not much we can do at the moment. We can't prove Orochimaru has anything to do with those letters and until we find the phone he used to contact her, we can't link him to that neither. All we can do is keep our eyes and ears open on our end and stay with Naruko to make sure she's not being watched. I've also got some people on the streets keeping a look out but without any evidence we can't do anything." His voice breaks slightly as his body shakes, as if trying to contain his anger. His sister places a hand on his shoulder.

"But the good news is Orochimaru is still behind bars. And if we get our way he'll never get out, so he can't physically get to her. The only thing posing a problem at the moment is Kabuto. I managed to find an old photo of him and the guards on duty over Christmas confirmed that he visited Orochimaru during the holidays. Just before the blank letters started. I've instructed the others at the prison to keep a very close eye on Orochimaru while I'm away."

"But why wait all these years?" I look down at Dei, confusion on his face. "Naruko moved back a few years ago. Why wait until now if he wants her back?" Temari holds her hands up, shrugging slightly.

"Who knows? The only one who could probably understand his decisions is himself. The man is a psycho if you ask me. But if he's only managed to locate her now, that's probably why it's taken him so long."

"How did he end up in prison, if you don't mind me asking?" I look to the siblings as they share a look, as if having a silent conversation between themselves. I can't help but feel intrigued as I don't think Naruko ever mentioned how he ended up getting locked away. Gaara finally turns to look at me.

"He killed a girl." Mother gasps, her hand flying to her mouth as Gaara speaks. "It wasn't long after Naruko disappeared, though it took a good year to get him convicted. Naruko was his best customer so he was pretty pissed when she suddenly disappeared. She was good though; she never once mentioned where she came from. Orochimaru just assumed she grew up in Suna. So to him it was as if she just disappeared off the face of the Earth."

"The girl was also one of his customers." Temari takes a tissue from the coffee table and hands it to Mother; she smiles slightly as thanks, before continuing. "Naruko and the girl weren't exactly friends, but they were close. We figure he lost it one day trying to find out where Naruko was and went too far."

"Naruko's extremely lucky, Itachi." I look at the red head; I don't need him to tell me that, I already know how lucky she is. "That could have been her. Hell, it nearly was her but she refused to testify against him even though I begged her too. She was in hospital for ages because of him but she was so scared that when she got out she went straight back to him."

"The scar on her chest…" I take Dei's hand in my own as I nod in reply to him. Naruko never said outright how she got the scar on her chest but I guessed it had something to do with that man. There was a time when she didn't send me any letters for a good six or so months; I was worried but I figured she moved on and forgot about me but then they started again and I forgot about it. I wish now that I'd acted on it; that was probably the time she was in hospital...

Naru POV

I groan as I try to move onto my side but something stops me. My eyes open slowly and I blink a few times trying to see. It's dark but there's enough light coming in from the window to see Sasuke's sleeping face beside me. Before I know it, my hand is cupping his cheek; thumb caressing the skin beneath.

"Why are you in my bed?" I watch him for a few more seconds before sitting up, careful not to move too much to wake him up. The clock on the bedside table reads 1:30am and I realise I'm in the Uchiha's spare room. I rest my hand on Sasuke's head, letting my fingers play with his hair. "How did I get here, Sasuke?" But just as I say that my body freezes and I remember Orochimaru's voice loud and clear as if it had just happened.

"I'm sure you know exactly who I am, my little fox." I have to force my hand away from Sasuke in case I accidently grip his hair to hard. It's been such a long time since I head his voice that completely lost it.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, kiddo." I climb over him as sneakily as possible; looking back to make sure I didn't disturb him. I head out into the hallway and notice the light is still on downstairs. Huh. It's a bit late for anyone to still be up… I walk down the stairs silently as I hear familiar voices coming from the living room. I move to the doorway and a smile makes its way to my face.

"Temari!" They all turn to look at me as said woman stands up, moving in front of me. Immediately I wrap my arms around her; I can't believe how much I missed her.

"Oh, Naruko." She returns hug, holding me tight against her. "It's been too long, girlie." Finally I pull away and look over at the others.

"What are you guys doing here?" It's Gaara's turn to hold me and I feel myself melt into his embrace. "Gaara…" I pull away so that I can look at him, though he's not that much taller than me.

"I rang him." Itachi looks over at me and I can see the worry in his eyes so I send him my best smile. I glance over at Itachi's parents and my heart breaks at the look on Mikoto's face; she looks as if she's going to burst into tears.

"So… what's going on?" I ask, though I can probably guess. I head over to Itachi and give him a quick hug, whispering 'thank you' into his ear.

"We're going to stay for a while, make sure nobody is targeting you." I nod at Gaara.

"You can stay with me if you want." Gaara sends me that smile that always makes my knees weak but Temari shakes her head.

"I'll probably find a hotel. I don't want to impose." I don't argue, once Temari's made a decision you can't talk her out of it, no matter how simple it may be.

"Well, you can both say here for tonight. It's too late for you to be going anywhere now." Fugaku stands up and gives me a slight nod. "We better all retire to bed now…" There's a bang upstairs before Sasuke stumbles down the stairs, panic on his face.

"Naru… Oh. You're here." His head drops slightly, a blush spreading across his face as he runs a hand through his hair.

"Sorry. I didn't want to wake you." I smile over at him but he keeps his gaze lowered. His father laughs slightly before guiding his wife upstairs; though Mikoto sends one final worried look my way before following her husband. Itachi gets up to grab the spare covers and hands them to Gaara.

"Sorry but you'll have to have the couches. We've only got one spare room, I'm afraid." Temari waves him off, telling him it's not a problem before sending us all upstairs to bed. I give Gaara a quick hug before heading up, though I don't miss the longing look he gives me and that pains me. I stop outside what's becoming my personal room at the Uchiha's home as Itachi hands me my mobile.

"Shika rang earlier. He wants you to call him; I told him you weren't well." Damn, I forgot all about meeting him before work. He kisses my forehead before leading Deidara into his room. Sasuke makes to go into his room and I find myself following him; I don't want to be alone and I'd already disturbed Dei and Itachi the night before.

"Urmm, your room is that way." I pout, causing him to laugh.

"But your bed is bigger." He looks at me as if to say no, but I still close the door behind me. "Please, Sasuke? I don't want to sleep alone." The last time I slept in his bed pops into my mind and I can't help but try to tease him a bit. "I promise to keep my clothes on this time." His cheeks redden as he turns his head away from me.

"Whatever." He takes his t-shirt off before climbing into bed and I follow after him.

"Thank you, Sasuke." He stiffens as I wrap my arms around him, leaning my head against his chest, but eventually relaxes.

"Won't your boyfriend mind that you're sleeping with another guy?" I laugh, snuggling closer to him.

"He doesn't need to know." It's not as if it means anything anyway… I listen to his heartbeat beneath me. Just when I think he's fallen asleep he speaks up.

"Naru, about earlier…"

"I'm sorry you had to see that." I half sit up so that I can look at him. There's little light coming in through the window but I'm able to see his face. For the second time I cup his cheek in my hand, guilt rushing through me at the expression on his face. I scared him. Again. He looks at me like he did the day of the attack in the park; a look I never wanted to see again. "I'm so sorry, 'suke." His fingers reach up to wipe away the tear that escapes.

"Don't be." He smiles up at me before pulling me back down so that I'm pressed against his chest again. "I'm just glad you're okay." He wraps his arms around me and I snuggle in.

"Thank you." I yawn. "You'll make some girl really happy one day, you know?" My eyes flutter shut as I fall asleep, his arms tightening around me.

Sasu Pov

"I want that girl to be you, Naruko…"

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