Wow, it's late at night. Anyway, another chapter down.

*Accepts wideyedwander's medal and trophy* "Thank you, thank you all! I'd like to especially thank my mother, my publisher, my cat, my aunt's niece's best friend's brother's wife's bran muffins, and the reviewers for taking me this far!"

When Sasuke woke the next day, Naruto was still conspicuously absent. For a second, the emptiness confused him, then he remembered the events of the night before, and flash of heat crept across his cheeks in the form of a blush.

Sasuke had been kissed last night, and much as his Uchiha Pride - the same pride he damned his father for having - loathed to admit it, the incident had been a mess of firsts: his first kiss with a girl, his first kiss with a ghost, his first time confessing his sexuality to anyone outside his family, and the first time it had been received with anything representing acceptance.

Even after sleeping on it, Sasuke still wasn't sure what to think of whole messy affair. Naruto was special to him, and during the week they had spent together he had shown Sasuke what it was like to be cared for, and had given him a greater understanding of ghosts that wasn't limited to their level of spiritual power, but that didn't mean Sasuke had wanted to kiss him. Did it?

Even though he was most certainly gay, Sasuke had never really been attracted to another person before. His personality and upbringing locked him in that way, making him focus on choices that would influence his life rather than casual relationships. Not that he hadn't experimented a little - what boy his age hadn't? - but he had never really felt something from the short encounters that only lasted as long as a chaste kiss. When Naruto had kissed Sasuke, it had woken something furious inside him, and he had kissed back with a vengeance. The passion Sasuke had shown unnerved himself even now, and he tried unsuccessfully to shake the thoughts of the encounter from his mind.

With a soft sigh, Sasuke got ready for the day and went downstairs, the aroma of breakfast enticing him to the dining area. Upon catching sight of a certain pink-haired girl, however, he paused. Sakura had tried to kiss him as well; what if she had only been acting nice to him because she was interested in him, and now that that option was no longer open, she would behave coldly toward him?

His fears were proved unfounded, however, when Sakura caught sight of him and steered him to a table with a cheery greeting, before disappearing into the kitchen and reappearing with two plates of food. She chattered to as him as she did every day, and even though he was grateful she wasn't ignoring him, Sasuke found the lack of change to be disconcerting, especially since he had been expecting such a large deviation from their normal relationship. Isn't that what normally happened when someone got rejected?

After sitting through her mindless chatter for a few minutes, picking at the food brought to him, Sasuke's nerves had finally had enough.

"Aren't you even going to acknowledge what happened?" He asked in a bitter voice, his hand slamming, open-palmed, against the table.

Sakura broke off mid-sentence, staring at Sasuke with wide eyes. "What do you mean?"

For some reason, the question infuriated Sasuke. "What's different now?" He curled his hand into a fist. "What did last night change?"

"Nothing." The frankness of the answer caught Sasuke off guard, and Sakura pressed her advantage. "We're friends, Sasuke. I wanted more, but it was impossible. It went no further. Nothing has changed."

A strange feeling sat in the pit of Sasuke's stomach. "But shouldn't something have changed?"

Sakura regarded him with something resembling sadness in her eyes. "Do you want things to change?"

"No," Sasuke admitted. "But I feel like they should."

"I think I know what the problem is."

Sasuke looked up at that; it wasn't every day that someone assumed to know the mind of an Uchiha. "What is it?"

Pushing aside her plate, Sakura set her elbows on the table and rested her chin in her hands. "How many other people know?"

What did that have to do with anything? "Just my parents," Sasuke answered, a tad nervously.

"And how did they take it?"

"Not very well," he admitted with a sigh. "They wouldn't talk to me for a whole week after I told them, and even when they stopped ignoring me, they refused to acknowledge the fact that… I'm…"

Seeing that he couldn't say it, Sakura supplied the word. "Gay."

Sasuke flinched, but the pink-haired girl ignored it. "You have some issues telling people you're gay since your parents took it so badly, which is why you expected me to shun you as well." At Sasuke's surprised and questioning look, she shrugged. "I'm going into psychology, so I've taken courses on early trauma affects later actions. It's one of my main interests."

Sasuke hmphed to conceal his discomfort at her accurate guesswork. "If you've finished analyzing me, can you just tell me what I should do, O Great Psychiatrist?"

"That's simple, really," Sakura said, placing both hands on the table. "You have to get over your fear by telling more people."

"No!" The shout came out before Sasuke could even think. "Absolutely not!"

"Why? It's not like you have anything to hide."

It was the pointed nature of the statement that cut through Sasuke's defenses, and he refused to look at Sakura, instead pushing away his half eaten plate.

"I should go."

To his surprise, however, Sakura caught his arm. "Oh, no, you don't! Sasuke, I hope that you would consider me a friend - so do the rest of us here in Konoha - and I'm not going to let you hide the hurt inside like that!"

It was not often that one could shock an Uchiha into silence, but Sakura managed it that day. Without further words, she dragged him out of the Hokage and down the street, and Sasuke was glad he had grabbed his satchel before heading to breakfast. After a few minutes, they came to a small park, where Ino, Tenten, and Choji were waiting for them.

"Sakura! You're late!" Ino called crossly, then she spotted Sasuke. "You brought Sasuke with you! You're forgiven."

Choji slapped Sasuke on the back as soon as Sakura dragged him into the huddle, and the blow nearly sent his sprawling. "She got you, huh? Yeah, Sakura has a tendency to drag people places. I've been on the receiving end of her 'persuasive walks' more than once myself."

For her part, Ino immediately plastered herself to Sasuke's side. "It's so great that you're here, Sasuke!"

So this was Sakura's game; she wanted him to confess his sexuality to drive Ino away. Sasuke would do anything to get away from the crazy girl, and Sakura knew it. Usually she held the blond girl in check, but today she was standing back and watching the exchange with a smirk, knowing she had won. Angry at himself, Sasuke realized that he had, again, been backed into a corner. However, this time he decided the he liked that these people were treating him as one of their own, instead of an unreachable figure, which is what he had been his whole life before coming to Konoha.

"Ino." Sasuke managed to pry the girl off of his side. "Please don't do that."

"But why?" The cheeky blond asked with a pout.

"Because… Because…" Sasuke faltered, then took a deep breath, all the words coming out in a rushed yell. "I don't appreciate you flirting with me because I'm gay!"

A stunned silence followed his words.

Tenten broke it. "Oh, Sasuke, I already knew."

"What?" Choji gave her a surprised glance. "How?"

"Let's just say I have a very good radar for these kinds of things."

Ino, for her part, appeared to still be in shock. "You… You're… Gay? As in, you don't like girls?"

Shifting uncomfortably, Sasuke answered, "No."

"Oh." Her shoulders sagged in dejection. "And I can't flirt with you anymore?"

"Please don't."

A sudden slap on his back nearly knocked Sasuke to the ground. "See, that wasn't so bad!"

Turning, he glared at Sakura. "No, but I would have preferred not to do it!"

She placed an arm around his shoulders. "But if you didn't say it, you would end up regretting keeping it a secret sometime or other. And doesn't it feel better to be out of the closet now?"

She was right; he did feel better now that the admission was out in the air. "I guess so."

"Excellent!" Sakura turned toward the rest of the group. "So, what should we do today? How about bowling?"

"Wait!" They all turned back to Sasuke. "That's it?"

Tenten frowned. "What, do you want flowers or something?"

"No! I mean, you're all okay with it? Just like that?"

"Of course!" Ino shouted, and Choji nodded in agreement. "You're still the same person, Sasuke. Why wouldn't we be fine with it? The only difference is I can't flirt with you anymore."

"Sasuke?" Sakura placed a hand on his arm. "Do you have anything you want to do today?"

Suddenly, something caught Sasuke's attention out of the corner of his eye, and he turned his head to find Naruto at the edge of the park, watching him with an unreadable expression, and he abruptly realized that there was something he wanted to do that day.

"Wait a minute," he told the group before jogging towards Naruto, who took off running in the opposite direction. He followed the ghost through a line of trees at the edge of the park, and found himself in some sort of labyrinth made of bushes and trees. Even though Sasuke knew Naruto was much faster than him, the ghost remained only a few paces ahead of him at all times so he wouldn't get lost.

Without warning, Naruto stopped running and turned around, and Sasuke almost crashed into him. He managed to stop himself in time, but the pair ended up nose to nose. An awkward silence reigned in the green maze.

It was Naruto who finally broke it. "You chased me."

"Of course I did! You ran!" Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest. "You ran the day of the fight with Gaara, too."

"Only because I needed you to chase me."

The admission caught Sasuke off guard. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I needed you to chase me!" Naruto seized the collar of Sasuke's shirt in anger. "I've been chasing you since I first saw you, so I needed you to chase me back!"

"When?"

"All the time!" They were so close, their mouths almost touched, and their breath, which was coming in hard pants, mingled. "Every time I try to make you laugh in public, every prank I pull, every time I touch you, I'm chasing you! And all because I couldn't stop thinking about you since the day I noticed the line of salt and saw you asleep in that room, which, incidentally, was my room when I was alive!"

Gazing into the blue depths of Naruto's eyes, Sasuke suddenly found himself getting lost. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I like you, bastard! And I have since I first saw you! Is that so hard to understand?"

"No. No, it's not." Sasuke reached out to touch Naruto's cheek, but he jerked away, letting go of Sasuke's collar.

"And then you had the audacity to tell Sakura of all people that you were gay, and there I was in the background completely unnoticed. It hurt, Sasuke, and when I finally had you alone, I couldn't help myself. I kissed you, and then I hated myself for what I had done."

Sasuke didn't know what to think, but he knew that what he felt was something new, something exciting, and it scared him a little, but it also made him feel free. He took a step towards the phantom. "Naruto…"

He raised a hand to stop Sasuke. "Just… Stop. We should probably part ways here. It was nice meeting you, Sasuke, but-"

"You moron!" Sasuke quickly closed the distance between them and enfolded Naruto in a hug. "Damn it, I didn't want you stop! Didn't you notice?"

"You might not have wanted to stop, but you would probably have regretted it. I'm a ghost, Sasuke, and as much as I wish it was otherwise, I'm just not good enough for you."

"You complete idiot!" Sasuke angrily pulled Naruto forward and silenced him by pressing their mouths together. At first, Naruto was frozen, then he tried to pull away, but Sasuke held him tightly against his own body, and he relaxed into the embrace. When the kiss broke, they were both breathing heavily.

"Naruto, I feel the freest I've ever been when I'm around you," Sasuke confessed. "If you need me to, I'll keep chasing you, to make up for all the times you chased me, because I like you too."

To his surprise, Naruto laughed, a deep, throaty chuckle that made Sasuke's skin tingle. "I don't need you to chase me all the time. I'm more comfortable chasing you."

"Than chase me for as long as you want, so that whenever I turn around, you're the first thing I see."

Naruto smiled. "I can do that."

They stood staring at each other for a few seconds before Sasuke asked a question that had he had been wondering about. "So, how long have you know that you were gay?"

"Since I popped a boner when I walked in on a couple of guys getting it on in one of the Hokage's rooms a few decades ago. I had suspected it a for a while before, but that pretty much confirmed it."

"Ghosts can get boners?"

Naruto laughed at this. "Sasuke, I can do everything you can, but I haven't had a chance to in a long time. Being dead isn't exactly the best thing for your dating life, you know?"

A voice nearby called out, and immediately both ghost and human stiffened.

"Sasuke!" The Uchiha recognized the voice as Sakura's, and the girl soon came around the a bush. "Sasuke! There you are! We all got worried when you ran off! What happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Sasuke answered, keeping his gaze locked on Naruto's.

"That's good. Did you want to come bowling with us?"

"Do it," Naruto said.

"Sure, I'd love to go bowling with you."

"Then come on! Everyone waiting!"

Sakura turned and started back, but Sasuke pulled Naruto close and sneaked in one last kiss before following her. From close behind him, Naruto whispered, "Go. I'll chase you, Sasuke."

So he did.

They spent the best day Sasuke had ever had together, finally freed from a burden he hadn't known he had been carrying. It was terrifying, yet exhilarating at the same time, and he found that he loved it. Choji no longer glared at him jealously when Ino got too close, Tenten smirked knowingly in a way that made him feel accepted, and Sakura dragged him places with a smile brighter than before. And throughout all of it, Naruto was beside him.

When Sasuke walked somewhere, Naruto walked right behind him. When he ate something, Naruto stole bits of it with a cheeky grin. When he sat down, Naruto would invariably sit down next to him, or, if there wasn't a lot of room, in his lap. Gone were the bad jokes and sexual innuendos trying to get a ride out of Sasuke in public. They were replaced with affectionate gestures: a gentle touch, a brush of butterfly lips against his hand, and once, with an impish smile, a tiny lick against his cheek. And they were all done in the presence of the other Konoha teens, placing new meaning to the phrase "secret boyfriend."

In the evening, they headed toward the gymnasium to watch the last event of Konoha Spiritual Week. Most of them had worked backstage in the other events, but this time Sakura insured him that tonight, all four of them would play a major part, and ordered him to watch carefully to find them.

Sakura gave Sasuke one last friendly punch in the shoulder - which had a little too much force behind it to normally be considered "friendly", but Sasuke knew that Sakura didn't know her own strength - before dragging the rest of the group backstage to get ready for the last, closing event of Konoha Spiritual Week.

"Get a good seat," was her last parting command before they were gone.

Alone and a little disconcerted about his newfound freedom, Sasuke walked to the back of the gymnasium, where Naruto was waiting for him. The phantom graced him with a smirk.

"How was your first day officially out of the closet?"

"I didn't know what to expect," Sasuke admitted. "No one's really known about me before. I was a little afraid at first, but I think it feels nice."

"You were afraid? You thought they'd just up and leave you?"

Sasuke's mouth dropped open, and he gave Naruto an accusatory glare. "You did!"

"That's different." Naruto clapped a hand over his heart melodramatically. "They were not left shaken by a substantial change in foundational philosophy, as I was!"

"Yeah, yeah. You kissed me, remember."

Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by Lee floating in through a wall. "Oh! I- I'm sorry. Is my burning youth interrupting something?" He had taken to referring to his young ghost status as such after Sasuke had explained it to be the cause of his weak powers, almost as if he had found it to be a kind of perverse compliment.

"No," Sasuke said hastily.

At the same time, Naruto exclaimed hotly, "Yes!"

The two glared at each other for a few seconds before looking away from the object of their respective angers.

"Why are you here?" Sasuke changed the subject and asked of Lee, keeping his voice down so that the audience already occupying the gymnasium wouldn't hear him.

"Oh, we always come to the final night," Lee explained in an offhand manner.

"Why?"

Lee's answer was cut off by the appearance of Shino and Kiba, who floated through the wall a little further down, and made their way toward the group upon catching sight of them.

"Hey, dog boy!" Naruto and Kiba did an exuberant fist bump while Shino looked on in penates Sasuke thought was jealousy, but couldn't be sure because of the glasses. "Ya made it!"

"We almost didn't." Kiba hooked a thumb over his shoulder in Shino's direction. "This guy here got distracted by a butterfly. A butterfly! Can you believe it?"

Shino raised a delicate eyebrow. "Was that before or after your dog decided to crap on everything?"

Sticking out his tongue, Kiba replied impishly, "After. Definitely after."

Then, to Sasuke's complete surprise, Shikamaru floated languidly through the wall.

"Troublesome," he muttered upon catching sight of the group, and he shoved his hands into his pockets. "I don't even know why I'm here." And yet, he still was there. The lazy genius never went anywhere if he could help it, so Sasuke figured whatever was happening tonight must be important.

"Why are you all here?" Sasuke asked with genuine curiosity. "You didn't come to any of the other events."

All the ghosts glanced amongst themselves before Shino stepped forward. "The last performance is… special. All of us always attend it."

"Why?"

None of them looked like they wanted to answer, but they were spared from that fate by the beginnings of an announcement. Sasuke quickly took a seat in the back row so he could be near the phantoms, who all floated quietly in the back of the gymnasium with an air of trepidation that confused him. It was just a show; what did they have to be afraid about? And if they were afraid, why were they here?

"Greetings!"

Sasuke looked up at the man in the stage, and to his surprise, beheld the masked figure of Kakashi. His one eye twinkled darkly as his muffled voice boomed out over the speakers.

"Welcome to the final night of Konoha Spiritual Week! As per tradition, the final performance is done by the staff of the Hokage, the most haunted building in town. Some of you may know of our ghosts, and some of you may even have felt their presence while traversing the stories halls of the richest cultural spots in Konoha. But tonight, be prepared to be scared, because every word of these last tales are true."

Ah, that explained why the phantoms were here; they were, after all, ghosts of the Hokage, even if Naruto was the only one Sasuke regularly saw there. But why were they so nervous?

His question was answered as Kakashi announced the first ghost. "A little over ninety years ago, a boy lived with his family, the Inuzukas, who owned the Hokage at that time. That boy loved dogs so much that when he died, he became one of them. Kiba, the were-beast ghost!"

Wait. What?

As Sasuke watched in astonishment, a person in a furry werewolf costume jumped onstage and growled. Several children in the audience started to cry, and in the back, Sasuke saw Shino squeeze Kiba's shoulder in comfort. On the stage, Kakashi kept talking about Kiba, but Sasuke's attention was riveted on the phantoms.

One by one, they got their turns, each being introduced by Kakashi, played by a person in a costume, and portrayed with such gross inaccuracy that it caused Sasuke's stomach to turn. Shikamaru, the lazy genius, was portrayed as cruel, manipulative monster who used his great intelligence to play harsh pranks on unsuspecting people, while Shino was called a pervert peeping Tom who hid behind dark glasses, and Lee wasn't mentioned at all. Surprisingly, he looked as hurt by this as the others were by their tales. As each one of them was called out and slandered, the others would offer some sort of comfort, whether a gentle touch or a weak smile.

Unable contain his horror, Sasuke's attention was called back to the stage by Kakashi's powerful voice. "The three ghosts of the Hokage: by themselves, they are not dangerous. No, it is their union, and their leader, which makes them a force to be reckoned with. And who is this wicked leader, you ask? A most fearsome tyrant is he, the only ghost in Konoha to gain the title of demon. Yes, the leader of the Hokage ghosts is none other than Naruto Uzumaki, the fox demon!"

This time, it wasn't a person who jumped onstage, but a group, dressed all in black and handling a massive stage puppet of a demonic looking fox. Sasuke recognized the people moving the arms as Ino and Tenten, and Sakura on the huge, bushy tail with Choji holding the creature up from the center. Naruto stood next Sasuke, looking stricken but trying to hide it, so Sasuke took his hand unobtrusively. The phantom started at the point of contact, then leaned down and settled his head in Sasuke's lap. A single tear trickled down and dampened a spot on Sasuke's pants, but he didn't complain. Naruto had been so dehumanized, he wasn't even allowed a person to play him, instead being faced with a monstrous puppet. If a single tear was all he would shed, Sasuke could offer him the contort of shedding it in peace.

The rest of the event was lost on Sasuke, because he could only focus on the distress of the ghost in his lap. In fact, he only realized it was over when Kakashi came up and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Did you like the show?"

Sasuke gave a noncommittal noise as Naruto sprang out of his lap.

Sakura and the other teens weren't far behind Kakashi. "Sasuke!" She chided. "I thought I told you to get a good seat?"

"I could see enough from back here." More than enough, actually.

The rest of the audience had left, so Sasuke was left in seclusion with the owner and workers of the Hokage. Perhaps this was why he let his guard down, and was taken completely by surprise by Kakashi's next words.

"I know you can see them, Sasuke."

Sasuke jumped. "See what?" He asked nervously.

"The ghosts. And don't bother denying it; I've seen you when you thought no one was watching, talking to someone. I've been waiting for years for another Uchiha to come to Konoha."

"Another?" The word did not come out as a squeak. Uchihas did not squeak.

"A few decades ago, a man by the name of Uchiha came to Konoha and stopped a ghost who was destroying a lot of property," Sakura explained.

"Yes," Kakashi agreed. "And ever since I took over the Hokage and felt his presence, I have tried to get another to come and do the same thing, even going so far as to advertise directly to personal secretaries of members of the Uchiha family. I know that he's there."

Well, there was the reason their family vacation had been booked in Konoha. "Who?" Sasuke asked, trying to keep an innocent face.

"The demon Uzumaki."

All the phantoms looked up at this claim, and Sasuke would have had to resist laughter if the look in Kakashi's single eye hadn't been so frightfully sincere.

"Why do you think this…" Sasuke almost choked on the word, "Demon… is dangerous?"

"Weren't you listening to the presentation?" Kakashi placed a hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Ever since the fire that destroyed the Uzumaki island and thus, their fortune, their clan has acted with hatred toward every other resident of Konoha. Even after death, the fox curse haunts the demon, and he is compelled to rebel against the people of their town."

"What would he gain from that?" Sasuke tried to scoff, but fear for Naruto made it get caught in his throat.

"Some kind of perverse enjoyment," Tenten stated, stepping forward.

Sasuke stared at her in surprise and disappointment. Kakashi was already strange, he knew that, but now it was coming from level-headed Tenten?

The masked man again addressed Sasuke.

"Inuzuka, Nara, and the others… We know they don't exist." He said this while Kiba stood at his elbow, scratching behind his ear. "But Naruto… He does. We've all found little things that he's done, and felt his murderous presence."

Sakura stepped up beside Kakashi, passing through an insubstantial Naruto as she did. "It's true. I know it seems crazy, but sometimes, I feel like he's following me. I can feel his breath against my neck."

Clutching onto Choji in a rare show of fear, Ino added, "And I've had things go missing or fall and break right in front of me, even if nobody touched them, and I just know it's him!"

"Please, Sasuke." Kakashi fixed the Uchiha with a piercing one-eyed glare. "Will you exorcise the demon Uzumaki?"