Nel here, sorry it has been a little while, life got in the way! I also took some time to decide what direction to go with the story, hope y'all like it!

xxx

It had only been a short time, but Sasuke had already put quite a bit of distance between him and the cave, as he rounded a corner on the mountain path he slid to a stop. His companion leaned casually against the rock face.

"So, that was killing him, huh?" Sasuke crossed his arms and glared at the sarcastic comment.

"Things have changed."

"No kidding." He rolled his eyes. "It's totally normal to make out with the person you swore to kill. Happens all the time. So, what's the new plan?" They began walking down the path together.

"We are going to take down the Akatsuki." His companion chuckled.

"Maybe you should kiss them too." Sasuke stopped walking; he punched out to the side. It connected solidly with the shoulder of the man standing next to him. He flew into the rock face. Sasuke continued walking. After getting unstuck from the mountainside he had to jog to catch back up to Sasuke.

"Glad I wasn't on the cliff side." He muttered under his breath. "So, how are we going to accomplish this goal? And where is your robe?"

"Forget about the robe. As far as killing the Akatsuki we will just take out whoever we can without getting noticed and gather intel on the rest which we will pass on to Naruto."

"I see, so you are going to do intel drops to the love cave, are you?" He wiggled his eyebrows.

"Suigetsu…" Sasuke growled his name.

He smiled sarcastically, showing his shark like teeth. "Whoa, you actually used my name, you must be serious." Suigetsu went flying back into the rock face.

Sasuke shook his head as he continued walking. "Idiot."

"What the hell Sasuke! Hey, slow down!" He continued to launch curses at Sasuke's back as he picked rubble from the mountain side out of his hair.

Suigetsu had been tagging along with Sasuke for the last few months. He had been stuck in one of Orochimaru's laboratories for as long as he could remember. One day Sasuke had swooped in and broke him out, saving his life. With Orochimaru dead he probably would've starved to death. Besides owing Sasuke his life, he had his own interests; he wanted to get all the swords from the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. Sasuke was the best way to accomplish that goal, he was incredibly strong. He had just started being able to keep up with Sasuke when they trained, or at least that's what he thought. In the few moments of the battle he watched between Sasuke and Naruto he had come to realize he was dead wrong. He couldn't see very clearly from the distance he had been at, but he didn't need to be close to know that Sasuke hadn't even been showing him a fraction of his power when they sparred. They had moved so fast. He was kind of glad it hadn't turned into an all-out fight to the death. He was actually pretty fond of Sasuke, even though Sasuke never really talked…and when he did, he rarely said anything nice. Yet, he trusted him with his life. As they had spent time traveling together it had turned into more than just getting the swords, he wanted to see Sasuke's plans fulfilled, whatever those plans might be. He had come to view Sasuke as a friend.

Suigetsu hadn't thought that Sasuke had anyone he truly considered a friend in this world. As far as he could tell the only thing Sasuke had was his all-consuming rage and hatred. He had never mentioned anyone special to him, but Naruto had blown all of that out of the water. He had taken it a step further; he had proven that there was a person in this world that Sasuke loved, deeply. He could barely get Sasuke to talk to him about the weather, nevertheless, get him to change his mind about something this serious. He was considering trying to kiss him, but he had a feeling it wouldn't work out as well for him as it had for Naruto.

"So…who exactly is this Naruto guy?" Suigetsu asked hesitantly, he wasn't sure how Sasuke would react to being asked about it.

"An old teammate."

"Is that all?"

"Why do care so much?"

"Because I am your current teammate…" Sasuke didn't respond. "I've just never seen anyone have such an effect on you. I mean, you went from being dead set on killing him, to kissing the guy and you expect me to not wonder who this dude is?"

"You jealous or something?" Sasuke had a smirk on his face, but Suigetsu couldn't see it. Sasuke didn't need to turn around to know what look he had on his face, but to Sasuke's surprise Suigetsu didn't overreact like he normally did.

"I just…I mean, are you sure that this is what you want to do now? I will follow you either way, but I want to make sure you are certain of your choice. This means not destroying the Leaf, not getting your revenge. Are you really willing to let all that go? All for one person? Is Naruto really that special?" Sasuke stopped walking.

"We made a deal."

"We made a deal…seriously…you have got to get better at this whole communication thing." He frowned and let out a sigh. "I don't know what I was expecting. Let's just keep going. I hope you know what you are doing."

As Sasuke walked he thought about what Suigetsu had said. Was he sure about this? He trusted Naruto to follow through on his word, but everything had happened very quickly. He was walking a totally opposite path from the one he had been walking mere hours before. Was he really willing to change everything for Naruto? Or was he just acting impulsively, just caught up in the moment? He was so uncertain of himself, normally it was so easy for him, he just knew what he wanted and would stop at nothing to get it, no sacrifice was too great, and then, he couldn't kill Naruto. That had changed everything, for the first time there was a sacrifice that was too great. The thing he had wanted to accomplish so badly or at least he thought he had wanted so badly had come to a screeching halt in an instant. He definitely hadn't been expecting Naruto to tell him he loved him and to kiss him, he had been even more surprised to find himself kissing back…had he just been reacting, had an adrenaline packed moment gotten the best of him? Did he truly return Naruto's feelings? Everything he had said to Naruto in those moments had been genuine, he had meant every word. Now that his emotions had died down did, he still feel that way? He hadn't been able to bring himself to verbally return Naruto's feelings, Naruto had freely expressed his love, but he couldn't. Was it just lust, a fleeting moment of weakness? Or was he madly in love with that boy? Sasuke clenched his teeth in frustration. He didn't have to decide, not yet anyway, for now the ball was in his court, and he could still choose which team he was going to play for. This whole thing was giving him a splitting headache.

xxx

Sasuke must be pretty far by now...please be careful. Naruto thought to himself as they prepared to head back and meet Kakashi and Sakura.

"So, do you think they had any luck?" Naruto asked trying to take his mind off Sasuke.

"I like to think so, but we will know soon enough. Thankfully, it is a clear day. Traveling will be much easier." Sai smiled. "We should be able to make it back to the rendezvous spot by midday if we keep a good pace."

"Let's do it then." The two took off at a brisk pace.

xxx

"What is taking them so long!" Sakura paced back and forth.

"I'm sure they will be here soon." Kakashi didn't look up from his book when he answered. Sakura sighed and sat down next to Kakashi.

"I wonder if they found anything..."

After about another hour of waiting Sai and Naruto came bounding into the clearing. They both slid to a halt breathing heavily. Naruto flopped on the ground, letting out a big sigh.

"Ugh, I'm exhausted."

"Naruto! Sai!" Sakura ran over to them. "Naruto! Where are all your things?"

"He lost them." Sai answered with his ever-present smile.

"Hey! I didn't lose anything, my pack broke, and I had to leave everything behind!" Naruto yelled angrily. The three continued to bicker back and forth when Kakashi walked up.

"Glad you finally made it." Kakashi closed his book. "Let's do a quick debrief and then we will head back. I'll go first. The first location we tried wasn't any good, if it had ever been an Akatsuki hide out it was a very long time ago. The second location is a bit better news, we didn't find the Akatsuki, but it looked like they left in a hurry, which means we are getting close. We gathered what information we could from the hide out and then headed back here. What about you two?"

"The one I checked out was about the same as your first one." Sai said.

"Same for me." Naruto chimed in behind him.

"Well, at least we have an idea of the direction they are heading then. This mission wasn't a complete failure. Let's get back and report our findings to Lady Tsunade."

"Right." They all said in unison and started back toward the Leaf.

For a while they all traveled together in silence, keeping a quick pace to get back to the village as soon as possible. The weather was good and there wasn't a high likely hood of encountering enemies, so they were making good time. Naruto was lost in his own thoughts. He was having a hard time believing everything Sasuke had told him about the elders of the leaf, or more like he didn't want to. It broke his heart to see Sasuke in pain and to think it was the elders of their village who were responsible. He meant what he said. He would help Sasuke bring those responsible to justice, but they had to do it the right way. It wasn't going to be easy that he was positive of. At least they were going to do it together, he would never have to fight against Sasuke again, knowing that was more comforting to him than anything else, he hadn't realized how much it had been weighing on him, he felt as light as a feather. Now, he had to come up with something to tell Lady Tsunade about where his intel was coming from. Luckily, he still had time to do that. This whole thing still felt somewhat unreal, like a dream. It had all happened so fast, and had been so intense, now that things had calmed down, he was struggling to take in everything that had happened. It took every ounce of control he had to not explode with happiness. Especially when he thought about their time in the cave, he smiled as he replayed the memory.

"What are you smiling about?" Sakura's voice pulled him from his thoughts.

"What? Uh, nothing."

"It didn't look like nothing."

"Just looking forward to getting back to the village."

"Is that so, any particular reason you are so eager to get back to the village?" Sakura gave Naruto a sly smile.

"It's been almost a week since I've had any ramen! I'm going straight to Ichiraku's!" He smiled and laughed.

"Naruto! Do you ever think about anything else?" She gave him a frustrated look as Sai and Kakashi chuckled.

...She doesn't know the half of it...Naruto thought to himself. It was strange to think that a few days ago he had been so into Sakura, he would have done anything to be with her, and now the idea of being with anyone other than Sasuke seemed stupid, even gross. He wondered if that's how Sakura felt about Sasuke too, she had always been into Sasuke, and had never even given him the time of day. It would probably break her heart when she found out about them. He felt bad, but at the same time the idea of her trying to get with Sasuke made his blood boil. He chuckled to himself at the realization that he was the jealous type. He would protect the man he loved with his life; he would stand by him until his last breath. Nothing was official at this point, but after the night they spent together they obviously weren't just friends anymore. His heart fluttered. He had actually slept with Sasuke. He could feel his face heating up. He wished they could have spent more time together, there was so much he wanted Sasuke to know, so much he needed to know, he needed know that Naruto's feelings were never going to change, it wasn't just an emotional, irrational choice, he was committed. Now...how could he tell him...

"That's it!" Naruto shouted out loud. The team turned and looked at him.

"What is it Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit! I didn't mean to say that out loud!" Naruto scrambled to think of an excuse for his sudden outburst. "That's it! I can't go any farther, I have to go to the bathroom!"

"Alright, it's getting late anyways, let's stop for the night." At Kakashi's direction they all hopped down out of the trees. "We will leave at dawn. We should be able to make it back to the village before lunch. Start setting up for the night everyone, and Naruto, go to the bathroom."

Naruto disappeared into the bushes. Once he was out of sight he slumped against a tree and let out a sigh of relief. "I have got to be more careful, at this rate I'll be found out for sure. Tomorrow we will be back to the village, I just have to make it till then."