Tenten chucked the unloaded gun carelessly over her shoulder, then put her hands on her hips. "And now that that's been decided, would you mind telling me what the hell is going on here?"

Sasuke folded his arms over his chest antagonistically. "I thought you were avoiding me."

Cocking her head quizzically to the side, Tenten asked, "What on earth gave you that idea?"

"You didn't show up to the meeting this morning," Sasuke accused. "You're friends were hurt, too. They missed you at the karaoke tonight."

"Jesus, I was sick this morning!" Tenten exclaimed. "I texted Choji to tell everyone else! Did he not do it?"

"No, he told us," Sasuke said slowly, feeling his cheeks start to redden in the first signs of embarrassment. "I just assumed…"

"You assumed that I didn't come on purpose because I had a sudden epiphany last night that you were crazy and ghosts weren't real, despite the overwhelming evidence presented to me on the contrary," Tenten finished for him.

"Yeah," Sasuke muttered, embarrassed that his assumption had proven false and feeling a little guilty for making the assumption in the first place.

But Tenten waved a hand dismissively at him. "It doesn't matter. You were almost right; I had a tough time going to sleep last night, but I eventually came around to it. There's only so long a person can lie to himself and hid in the dark before the truth catches up with him."

"In any case, how did you find us?" Neji interrupted, stepping in between Sasuke and Tenten.

"Are you kidding? This is the best place for the local hooligans to hang out without any parental supervision. You couldn't even begin to imagine how many midnight jaunts I've been here for! I could walk that path blindfolded!" Tenten bragged, then narrowed her eyes almost immediately. "But the real question is, what are you doing here? It's impossible to find this place without help; that's why we like to use it. How did you get here? And who's the shady guy with you?"

"Shady-" Neji spluttered, and Sasuke, sensing that things were about to come clashing to a head, quickly raised his hand.

"This is Neji, and I asked him to come to Konoha."

Tenten crossed her arms over her chest, appearing to accept Neji's presence for now but still in interrogation mode. "You still haven't answered my first question. What are you doing here? And who were those weird spirits that I chased off? They didn't feel like the other ghosts you introduced us to last night."

Damn. Nothing got past Tenten, it appeared, and Sasuke once again found himself backed into a corner. He hadn't been planning on telling the meddlesome inhabitants of Konoha much more about spirits than he had already told them, and he was growing increasingly unwilling to share anything more - but for their own good. An appreciation and general knowledge of the spiritual realm wasn't a bad thing for the normal population of the world, but normal people weren't supposed to interact with ghosts; the more contact they had with spirits, the harder living their lives normally would become.

Sighing, Sasuke tried to find the vaguest answer he could say without offending Tenten. "The ghosts you scared off led us here. They… they're a bad lot."

"Look, I'm not stupid," Tenten said, taking a step forward angrily. "I know you have your secrets and your reasons for keeping them, but Konoha is our home, and this affects us too. We have a right to know what's going on."

"I know," Sasuke said quietly. "That's why I can't tell you."

Tenten folded her arms over her chest. "You can't tell me because I have a right to know? That makes no sense!"

"Perhaps I should rephrase," Sasuke allowed, bringing up his hands in a show of amicability. "This is something that I, someone who has been trained the deal with spirits all my life, cannot allow people like you to get caught up in. Let me suffice to say that you all were right - there is a malignant spectral entity in this place, but not the one you first suspected, and it is grossly powerful and dangerous. Konoha is your home, and because of that, an attack on it is an attack on you. You and your friends would reply to such an attack with rash thinking, and in such a case, casualties would be almost unavoidable."

"Jesus," Tenten whispered, eyes wide.

"I hesitate to involve even Neji in this," Sasuke continued, "and he has also been trained in the art of spectral warfare."

"Though I wouldn't exactly say 'warfare'," Neji interjects. "My powers are more suited to intelligence gathering and lookout. Sasuke's the fighter - I'm more of a spy or guard dog, really."

Tenten's face had grown introspective, but it cleared as Neji finished speaking. "I suppose it makes sense," she admitted. "But that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"At least you believe me," Sasuke said, passing a relieved hand over his brow.

"I have no choice; I can't not believe you," Tenten countered. "You're the only one who has any kind of experience with this. I can't see ghosts, after all. If I don't follow you, even if you are lying, there's a much higher chance of something going wrong. Face it, Sasuke: you're our only hope."

That gave Sasuke pause, more than anything else Tenten could have said. Sure, he had been investigating the Akatsuki, but more out of sense of self-preservation than anything else, and perhaps a little bit of obligation to Naruto and the other phantoms. He hadn't even really considered the fate of the other residents of Konoha.

It was strange, but to Sasuke, it seemed like the world outside Konoha had ceased to exist, like Chicago and his parents and his previous life were only a distant dream. He had forgotten the past for a while, had let the bright overtones of Konoha take over his dim memories. And it had made him truly happy.

Glancing behind him, Sasuke saw Naruto and Shikamaru, who had been watching the interaction with grim expressions. Shikamaru was standing slightly behind Neji, his hand floating a few inches above the Hyuuga's shoulder and an intense expression resting on his face. He was now a part of this, for good or ill, and Sasuke had the feeling that they couldn't exclude him even if they tried; his information network was just too good.

Sasuke shifted his gaze to the other ghost behind him, and he felt a pang of remorse when Naruto's eyes suddenly filled with tears, one of them dripping down his face and off his chin to splash damply against the glass-like sand. If Naruto was upset enough to cry corporeal tears, then something major was bothering him. Suddenly feeling very protective of the spirit, Sasuke made a vow to himself that Naruto was never going to cry in front of him again.

"Don't worry," he assured Tenten, but he kept his gaze locked with Naruto's. "I'll find out what's going on here, and I'll protect your home. I swear it."

It was almost two in the morning when Sasuke finally made it back to his room, Naruto in tow. Tenten had tried to get more information out of him, but he had managed to fend her off on the pretence that it was late and that she should probably get some rest before she had to confront Kakashi and her friends another missing work and the karaoke that night. She finally had relented and left, but Sasuke had made sure to extract a vow of secrecy from her on what she had seen that night, and she had reluctantly agreed.

But then once she was gone, Sasuke had to go through the process all over again with Shikamaru and Neji. Even though Neji was practically dead on his feet, he was set on making sense of the night's events before he fell asleep. Sasuke was only able to deter him by convincing him to check in on Hinata, since his cousin would definitely have felt the dark aura of the Akatsuki and would be worried. After he left, Shikamaru followed him without a word to Sasuke, only a slight nod and a look that promised that the discussion wasn't over.

"This is some situation you've gotten yourself in," Naruto remarked as Sasuke shut the door to his room, closing them off from prying eyes.

"Yes," Sasuke murmured as he collapsed in the chair next to his desk, too tired to do anything else. "I think that I may be able to recall one or two instances where I may have been in a situation with a more immediate threat to my life, but this is the most dangerous situation I have ever been in."

Naruto was silent for so long after that, Sasuke almost dozed off, but he was shaken out of his stupor by the phantom's question. "Do you regret it?"

"Regret what?"

"Coming here, getting involved with us phantoms and having to go up against the Akatsuki." Naruto swallowed with difficulty before continuing. "Getting involved with me…"

That shook Sasuke awake, and he forced his tired body up to wrap his arms around a surprised Naruto. "No. I don't regret any of it. I've finally found friends here, something I've never been able to do my whole life. Spending time in Konoha, spending time with you, has made me feel alive again, and I wouldn't change that for anything."

The ghost of a smile flickered around Naruto's mouth. "Really?"

"Of course."

Sasuke leaned forward and pressed their lips together delicately, and he felt Naruto smile against him. When they pulled apart, he found himself swaying slightly, and Naruto tugged on his arm to pull him toward the bed, laughing gently.

"Go to sleep, Sasuke. You need the rest. I'll be here when you wake up."

"Promise?" Sasuke asked sleepily.

"Promise," Naruto swore, pushing him down on the bed and pulling the covers and up over him.

The last thing Sasuke felt before sleep claimed him in its loving embrace was Naruto gently pressing his lips against his forehead, accompanied by a murmur of, "Good night, Sasuke. I'll see you in the morning."