Author's Note: Hey! This is the new chapter for 'Fighting Darkness' It's shorter than the last one; hell it's the shortest in this series but if you know your stuff, you'll guess what's going on :3 Happy Reading!

Disclaimer: Kao, Kam and Juu belong to Juura99. Gary belongs to Fullmetal Gary whilst Naruto and his posse are owned by Misashi Kishimoto

Warning: Swearing and shounen-ai (yaoi)oh, and angst.

Chapter 7

The funeral took place on the Sunday the week after her death. The residents of the Orphanage as well as the Freedom Fighters stood by her gravestone. There were also a few other people like the Sabaku siblings, Ino, Kabuto and Kisame. Naruto sighed, clutching onto Sasuke's hand as if it were a lifeline to keep him grounded in the world that was currently covered in white snow. Kamari, Kaoru and Gary had been silent most of the time, just talking amongst themselves for the past week and Iruka was starting to fret. After all, Kamari blamed himself for the death. Had she not ran in front of him to stop the bullet from hitting him, it would've only gotten him and she wouldn't have died the way she did. The children were crying openly, clinging onto each other for support. Kiba, Hinata and Neji were respectfully silent, bowing their heads low. Sai was eerily silent, just staring at the inscription that had apparently described the girl he had grown up with. Shikamaru and Chouji were staring in disbelief at the headstone, not knowing how it had happened. They knew how it had happened, but Cassie was just a person they saw as the one to always be there to play DDR with or SingStar. She'd laze around in the garden sometimes or concoct a variety of meals for Chouji to try. Sakura stared blankly at the headstone, seeing nothing but the abbreviation of 'K.I.A'.

Itachi had been quiet. Too quiet- even for his standards. Kisame had woken every night for the past week to see his partner sitting up and staring off into space. The blue haired man was worried for his partner's health and tried to get him to take some sleeping pills to which the older Uchiha just declined the offer before smiling and lying back down to go to sleep.

The adults of the orphanage looked on with saddened faces as it was time to leave. When they arrived back to Kakashi's place, everyone went their separate ways. Kisame and Itachi went to sit by the Koi pond, Itachi still silent. Kakashi and Iruka were sat in the kitchen, cradling mugs of tea and coffee. Kamari and Kaoru were sitting in their room with Gary, basking in silence. Shikamaru, Chouji and Shino sat under the space of a tree. Moegi, Udon and Konohamaru were inside, sitting on their beds, just staring at the ceiling. Sasuke and Naruto were in the living room and sat on the sofa, hands joined.

"I don't get it," Naruto sighed. Sasuke looked to his boyfriend with a confused look.

"Dobe, I'm guessing you don't get a lot of things," he replied. Naruto glared at the Uchiha but there wasn't much power behind it. It was what he needed right now, stability.

"Teme! What I don't get is that in her final moments, she told Itachi something! What did she tell him?" he asked aloud. Sasuke frowned. Though he would never tell anyone, he was also wondering what the secret message was that needed to be passed on via Itachi and no the whole group.

"Well it's probably no-" His speech was interrupted by a squealing of tyres and the front door slamming open.

"WHAT THE HELL?" came a gruff yell from the hallway. Naruto spun round to see Jiraiya standing there looking enraged. Kakashi and Iruka came out from the kitchen to see the grey haired man.

"Jiraiya, what's wrong?" Iruka asked. He was instantly pinned by a glare.

"What's wrong? A child is dead, the Research Facility has fallen to the ground and you didn't even tell me you'd found a lead on Naruto!" I was out searching for a whole three days! Could you have not told me?" he yelled, making Iruka flinch. His rage was nothing when he turned to Naruto though.

"YOU!" he roared. "YOU'RE A FUCKING IDIOT! WHAT DID I TEACH YOU WHEN YOU WERE TWELVE, YOU INSOLENT LITTLE BRATTY FOOL!" he screamed. Obviously, the shouting had been loud enough so that everyone could hear him. People came rushing in to see what was going on to see Naruto being screeched at by Jiraiya and clinging onto Sasuke's hand for dear life. Itachi walked up to the seething man to calm him down.

"Jiraiya, calm down. It was my fault; I forgot to inform you. Everyone is safe now, do not fret." Itachi soothed. Jiraiya calmed a bit but he twitched. It captured everyone's attention.

"Everyone isn't safe. If anything, that little stunt you pulled has put you in more danger!" he barked. Kakashi's visible eye widened and Naruto tensed, leaning further towards Sasuke for comfort.

"What do you mean?" Itachi asked back, just as fiercely. Jiraiya sighed and rubbed his temples.

"Orochimaru survived the detonation." He replied.

"Detonation? Were you guys playing with bombs?" Tsunade asked sternly. Sasori and Juura glanced to one another. They'd only used the one grenade and so it shouldn't have caused that much damage.

"They must've been; the whole place was laced with explosives on a timer!" Jiraiya explained. Itachi and Kakashi blinked at one another.

"Hn, seems like someone was either trying to kill us, or help us out," he told the silver-haired man. Kakashi nodded.

"Let's just hope they were helping us out. We don't need any more drama than we have now." He implied to everyone. Naruto looked towards Sasuke with a look in his eye that the raven understood all too well. The two stood up and exited the room before going outside.

"What do you think teme?" Naruto asked, rounding on his boyfriend for his opinion. Sasuke smirked.

"Well, first I think that you have a nice ass, and then I think about what to do with that ass, followed by what the Hell could be going on." Sasuke finished seriously, aware that Naruto's patience was being tested to its limits. Naruto frowned into the distance. Sasuke stared at his boyfriend's contemplative face and leant in to capture his lips in a kiss. Naruto sighed and leant into it, slipping his eyes closed. The two broke apart about a minute later for air even though the kiss was chaste.

"You need to stop worrying so much dobe. I'm sure Itachi and Kakashi will figure out what's going on." He whispered, threading his fingers into golden locks in a way he knew would calm the blond down. Naruto nodded against Sasuke's chest and sighed before snaking his arms around the covered torso, initiating a tender embrace. Sasuke returned it, kissing the top of Naruto's head.

"Everything'll be fine, I promise." He whispered. He felt Naruto nod against his chest when a distant cough was heard. Both boys looked around to see Shikamaru, Chouji and Shino watching them. Naruto blushed slightly but it was dismissed when the lazy brunet ushered them over to where they were sitting. The pair walked over -Sasuke's arm around the blonde's waist- to see what they wanted. Shikamaru led them to the Koi pond where Itachi and Kisame had been earlier.

"I overheard a conversation between Itachi and Kisame," Shikamaru started. Naruto's eyes widened and Sasuke's grip tightened around Naruto.

"What was said?" Sasuke asked. Chouji sighed.

"There was a name mentioned, but it wasn't very clear," he told the two. Sasuke frowned whilst Naruto tilted his head to the side.

"What else?" Sasuke persisted.

"Nothing you should know about Otouto," came a voice from behind the two teens. Everyone jumped at the fact that Itachi had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Onyx eyes bored into the eyes of everyone around him as he surveyed them. Finally, Naruto decided to speak up.

"What did Cassie tell you?" he demanded, avoiding the phrase 'before she died'. Itachi looked towards him and Naruto could've sworn he saw a flash of was that fear? Naruto mentally shook his head. Itachi wasn't afraid of anything that he knew of. He looked towards Sasuke as if hoping to confirm that he hadn't seen that small flicker of fear. Sasuke looked a bit too pale, so he had obviously seen the flicker of emotion too.

"Chouji said a name was mentioned. Who?" Shikamaru asked. Itachi looked towards the brunet who was usually too lethargic to do anything as he actually made an attempt to weasel some information out of him. Itachi smirked.

"I'm sorry but that's classified information between me and the person who revealed the information," he said in a sickeningly mocking tone. A look of displeasure flashed across the facial features of Shikamaru.

"You mean Cassie," he replied, baring his teeth. Itachi nodded stiffly before looking towards the group of teenagers before him.

"I'm not telling you because it doesn't involve you. She did research on me and found out something she shouldn't have." He coolly replied. Sasuke glanced towards his older brother.

"What do you mean Aniki?" he asked, tilting his head to the side. Itachi actually chuckled.

"Foolish little brother, I'm not going to tell you. You were far too young to remember it anyway. I doubt you even remember him at all," he said coyly.

"So it's a guy." Came another voice. Gary was standing behind Itachi with Kamari and Kaoru.

"Oh yeah, because that totally lowers down the possibilities," Kaoru replied sarcastically. Gary shrugged before withdrawing a chocolate bar and beginning to unwrap it. Kamari hummed appreciatively before glancing to Itachi.

"Look, we all want to know what she said to you; it seems like a big secret. If you want to keep it, that's fine, but just know that there are other people she trusted besides you," he stated calmly. Shikamaru sighed and rubbed his temples.

"Kam, reverse psychology isn't going to work on him." He stated.

"DAMN!" was the only yell from the twin. Itachi snorted before walking away. He shoved his hands into his pockets, trying not to let it show that they were curled into fists.

The two of them were sat on top of the hill, contemplating what to do. One of them adjusted his goggles that were consistently mussing up his black hair whilst the other just scratched his cheek where stress lines were forming. The wind whipped their travelling cloaks harshly, making them appear as flags in a storm. They had chosen this destination to meet at but only one was going to that place. They'd meet up eventually, but not before they'd helped with the task at hand. After all, they needed the Uzumaki-Namikaze child for this whole plan to succeed otherwise they were worthless to him and then the whole plan would go to shreds. The one with goggles pulled out a mobile phone and looked at his screen, sighing when he realised there was no signal.

"Stop moping would you? It's already depressing enough as it is!" the one without goggles snapped. The one with goggles just pouted and folded his arms across his chest.

"Well it's not my fault someone decided to kill the messenger!" he snapped back. Before they were aware of what was happening, they had started a brawl and were rolling around on the grassy hilltop. It then took a turn for the worse as they brawled a bit too far and started to roll down the hill.

"Now look what you've done, moron!" the one without the goggles yelled as they rolled at a surprisingly fast pace towards the bottom of the hill.

"It wasn't my fault! You need to control your temper!" the other practically wailed as they neared the river at the bottom of the hill. A splash broke the string of arguments as the two fell into the river. They sat up, the one without the goggles squirming slightly until a fish jumped out of his shirt. His companion laughed merrily at his predicament- until he was dunked under.

"Stupid lakes. They give me bad memories!" he complained. The one with goggles sighed nostalgically and patted his companion on the shoulder.

"There, there. It'll be okay." He grinned before standing up. His face blanched as he stared up at the huge hill they'd rolled down.

"Damn, my phone's still at the top!" he yelled. His companion came over to him and patted him on the shoulder- not to mention the huge grin on his face.

"There, there. It'll be okay."

Dinner was a quiet affair. Only the sound of cutlery clinking on china plates was heard as everyone was sitting in some part of the house and eating. Shikamaru, Sasuke and Naruto were all eating in their bedroom- the other occupants eating in the living room- and they were also discussing the events of earlier during the day. Shikamaru was sure he'd heard a name involving 'Uchiha' but from where he was positioned, it seemed unlikely that it was that name and so they'd been forced to move on to Itachi's next clue. The fact that it was personal and that Sasuke might not remember the person. That suggested that it was about an old friend of Itachi's that Sasuke rarely saw. But Sasuke couldn't remember Itachi having any friends until about five years ago when they'd started the whole rebellion and even then they were at most, business partners. Until Kisame came along, that is, and taught him how to love again.

Sasuke was straining for answers and nobody else could think of anything- even the lazy genius had put in some effort, only for it to be futile. Sasuke sighed in resignation before deciding to take their plates to the kitchen and wash them up. After the tedious job had been done, he returned to his room to see Naruto yawning whilst reading his book. Shikamaru was napping on his bed without a care in the world and so Sasuke turned his attention to the blond.

"Why are you reading my book dobe?" he asked out of pure habit. Naruto looked up and shrugged.

"It looked interesting," he replied but a feeling of dread washed over him when he heard Sasuke chuckle.

"Do I not interest you, Naruto-kun?" he asked, leaning over the boy, plucking the book from his hands.

"Teme! I was just reading the part where Edward and Bella-"

"Dobe, I know for a fact that I don't have any 'Twilight' books," Sasuke growled before pinning the blond beneath him and kissing him senseless. The two broke away for air.

"Sasuke, Shikamaru's in the room!" Naruto whined at the raven. Sasuke suddenly stopped his ministrations to actually glare at the brunet who was happily snoozing on his bed.

"Well then dobe, you'll just have to be quiet!" Sasuke whispered. Naruto was about to protest when the door slammed open and Kaoru and Kamari came bundling in along with Gary- who was still eating a chocolate bar.

"Naruto-chan!" Kaoru squealed, jumping onto the blond whilst successfully managing to push the raven out of the way. Sasuke scowled at the older twin before turning his foul mood onto the younger one who had dissolved into a fit of giggles.

"I'm sorry, it's just that you sounded so sensual when you said that!" he snickered. Naruto blushed a rosewood colour before hiding under his covers and refusing to come out for the next half hour.

He was fuming. More than that, he was tectonic, as if the slightest tremor could set him off and cause wide-scale damage. His medic had betrayed him and his research centre had been destroyed (along with the golden throne encrusted with emerald serpents and a muffin/cup holder) but he had also lost the Uzumaki-Namikaze child. The only one he could use to complete his research. To know how to use the Namikaze-Uzumaki, he still needed two people and he knew just where they would be. The issue however, would be getting them onto his side- he had just killed their messenger after all, but he had warned them to not get other people involved but the idiot with the goggles just had to disagree.

5 miles away, the man with goggles sneezed.

"What was that?" asked the man without. The man with just shrugged.

"I feel oddly insulted for some reason," he one without just shook his head before they continued on their destination: Hatake Manor.

I'm so sorry that this one's shorter but I'm practically collapsing at this moment and I need some sleep. Sorry guys, the next one'll be longer, I promise!