Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto (either manga or anime!); the wonderful Masashi Kishimoto-sensei owns all rights. However, the plot and Namiko Uzumaki are mine!

Chapter 31: Caught In A Moment

The last thing Namiko thought would happen that day was Orochimaru requesting to see her in his lab. She hadn't been back inside one of his laboratories since the very first time, and she had been happy to keep it that way.

However, she knew if Orochimaru ordered it, she needed to obey no matter how awkward and nerve-wracking it was to make sure she stayed in his good graces. Sasuke was hesitant to let her go, only agreeing if he went with her. They arrived at the door to the lab and Namiko knocked softly, praying that maybe Orochimaru would just forget.

His gravely voice traveled through the door, "You may enter."

Namiko tried to put on a bravado as she walked inside the dim medical room. "You wished to see me, Orochimaru-sama?"

"Yes, and I see Sasuke-kun came with you." A glint of something she couldn't place was in Orochimaru's snake-like eyes. "You don't have to be here for this; our little kunoichi will be just fine without you."

"I'm staying." Sasuke's tone was firm; he wasn't about to leave Namiko's side unless it was completely necessary.

"Suit yourself," said Orochimaru as he grabbed a syringe off the counter before turning back to Namiko, who nervously sat on the medical table. "You've been with us for several weeks and I think it's past time for you to become accustomed to poisons and toxins that you could come into contact with since you travel with us so much."

Namiko's eyes widened in worry, and she felt Sasuke's chakra tense behind her. Orochimaru flashed a malicious smile before putting on fake sympathy. "Don't worry, she'll be given very small doses so she doesn't die. Since you're so concerned about her, you get to be in charge of supervising her while the poison works its way through. Kabuto-kun and I are much too busy to be supervising anyway."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Which poison are you giving her?"

"Just a little mixture I made after experimenting on you." Orochimaru pushed the plunger on the syringe, causing some of the contents to eject, and flicked the tip of the needle. "Don't worry, Namiko-chan, you should be back to yourself within a couple of days." He steadied the needle above her shoulder and jabbed it through her skin. He turned to Sasuke and pushed the plunger roughly, causing Namiko to wince. "There's only a minuscule chance you'd die, so Sasuke-kun, be sure to keep a close eye on her heart rate and fever. We wouldn't want to have Konoha after us for killing one of their jinchuriki."

Before either could retort, Orochimaru had already left the room. "He could've told me that before he stabbed me with the needle!" snapped Namiko

"He did that to piss me off. He knows I have bad memories of when he did this to me." Sasuke clenched his jaw in anger.

"So, wait, how bad is this going to be?" Her worry had started to turn to fear as she searched Sasuke's face for an answer.

"Hopefully the kyuubi will help keep you more stable than I was." He motioned for her to follow him and they started walking to their room. They walked in silence for the ten-minute walk to their room on the other side of the large base; talking about anything sensitive in nature outside the safety bubble of their room was not a good idea.

Namiko suddenly felt a chill and was extremely nauseated. She faltered in her steps behind him, grabbing his wrist to steady herself, and stopping him just outside their door. "Sasuke, be honest with me, how bad is this going to be?"

Sasuke ushered her inside their room. "Go lie down." He ordered as he grabbed an extra blanket from a shelf.

No sooner did she enter their room did she rush to the bathroom to vomit in the toilet. Her stomach instantly felt a little better and she rinsed her mouth out with water before walking over to the bed.

She removed her sandals and sat propped up on the bed. "Sasuke, why didn't you answer my question?"

He sat next to her and laid the blanket over her legs. He tried to keep his voice steady and calm while inside his emotions were in turmoil. "Because I don't know. He injected me with all sorts of things when I first came to him. Poisons, toxins, and other drugs I had no clue what they were. Some I'm sure were meant to just cause pain to try and break me. I'm not sure if he's trying to do the same with you or just trying to purposely piss me off."

He blew out a heavy breath. "If I had to guess, you'll probably just continue to feel sick to your stomach and get a fever, like the worst cold or flu you've ever had in your life. The good news is that most of the time, it passes quickly."

"I hope you're right." She shivered and Sasuke pulled her to his side. "I'm just sorry this cuts into your birthday."

Sasuke chuckled lightly. "Don't worry about it. I'm more concerned about you. It's just a day. You're the only one who's ever paid attention to my birthday besides my mother."

"Birthdays should be fun," she said as she curled further into Sasuke, resting her head on his chest. "Even though it was always just Naruto and me, we always did something fun: go to a training ground, get a sweet treat, or his favorite…eating ramen." She giggled, but her giggles quickly turned into a cough.

Sasuke laid the back of his hand on her forehead and found her already becoming feverish. "Sorry, I need to move for a second. I'll be right back." When Namiko moved off him, he disappeared into the bathroom, coming out a moment later, and handed her a cup of water. "Here, take small sips."

She took a sip of the water and let out a groan of discomfort, "Ugh, that almost burns down my throat."

"Lay down." When she did, he took a cool, damp cloth and placed it over her forehead. "Try to sleep, I'll still be here when you wake."

"Promise?"

"When have I ever left your side since you've been here?"

"You leave me when you go to the bathroom," she said matter-of-factly.

Sasuke just stared at her. "Seriously? Now I know your fever is high."

She cracked a smile as she pulled the blanket under her chin. "Come on, that was funny. Naruto would've thought so."

"Naruto is a walking joke. He thinks everything is funny."

"Hey, Naruto! Sakura!" shouted Kiba, waving his arm enthusiastically as the pair approached. "I'm glad you guys could join us. It gets boring for Hinata and me to spar alone. Plus, I think it's overdue that we had a rematch of our fight in the Chuunin Exams."

"Yeah, I would definitely like that. You're way overdue for another loss," agreed Naruto cheekily. He turned to Hinata with a bright smile. "Good to see ya, Hinata! How've you been?"

Hinata's lavender eyes darted around nervously. "G-good to see you too, Naruto-kun. I've been well. How are you doing?"

"I've been great! I've been training my Rasenshuriken more and Ero-sennin is helping me learn sage jutsu. It's pretty hard stuff but I'll get it."

"I know you will," said Hinata with a sweet smile. She decided to turn her attention to Sakura to try and calm the blush she was fighting. "What about you, Sakura?"

"You know, the usual. I've just been working a lot in the hospital. This idiot here keeps getting hurt with his training, so he's made some extra work for me." Sakura rolled her eyes as she gestured to Naruto.

Kiba patted Akamaru as he asked his friends, "Alright, so Naruto and me sparring and the two of you sparring?"

Hinata nodded as Sakura turned to her and smiled. "Sounds good to me and Hinata. Maybe we can switch afterward?"

"Oh yeah! Let's go!" said Naruto excitedly, pumping his fist in the air.

While Sakura and Hinata practiced taijutsu, Kiba and Naruto went all out using anything and everything they could think of to try and one-up each other before Sakura finally had to step in and put an end to their spar.

"Are you two trying to kill each other?" sighed Sakura as she healed a particularly nasty cut on Kiba's arm. She looked pointedly at Naruto. "I'd expect this more if you were going up against Sai or Sasuke, but not Kiba."

"Awww, come on Sakura, it was just a friendly spar," groaned Naruto.

Kiba watched Sakura's hands closely as she healed him. "Yeah, we're both fine…"

"Try telling me that again when I'm not healing a massive gash in your arm, Kiba," said Sakura as she rolled her eyes. "Honestly, you two…" She shook her head and looked at Naruto and Hinata. "Why don't you two go ahead and spar while I finish healing Kiba?"

Naruto grabbed Hinata by the wrist and gently tugged her away from their teammates. "Since Kiba and I went a little overboard with the ninjutsu, we should probably stick to taijutsu." When they got about ten meters away, he let go of her wrist.

"Good idea, Naruto-kun." Hinata smiled softly and nodded in agreement. "I won't use my Byakugan either."

They stood across from each other in the training grounds, both their expressions calm yet determined. They began circling each other, exchanging light jabs and feints as they gauged each other's movements.

Naruto grinned, his competitive spirit rising to the surface as he prepared to face off against Hinata. Hinata's pale eyes shimmered with focus as she anticipated Naruto's next move. With a swift motion, Naruto launched himself forward, aiming a series of quick punches and kicks at Hinata.

Hinata gracefully evaded Naruto's attacks, her movements fluid and precise. She countered with her gentle fist technique, sending waves of chakra pulsing through the air toward Naruto.

Naruto dodged and weaved through Hinata's attacks, his determination shining through as he pushed himself to keep up with her. There was a mutual respect between them, each recognizing the other's strengths and abilities.

The spar continued for nearly half an hour with the two shinobi exchanging blows in a flurry of movement. Sakura and Kiba both sat and watched as the pair was in their own little world inside their spar. Eventually, Naruto called a truce, both panting from exertion but smiling brightly at each other.

As they walked off the training grounds together, Naruto patted Hinata on the shoulder, a grin plastered on his face. "Great spar, Hinata! You really kept me on my toes!"

Hinata smiled shyly, her cheeks flushing with pleasure. "Thank you, Naruto-kun. You were amazing too." As she watched him, she failed to notice a rock on the ground from Sakura's chakra-enhanced punch to the ground earlier and tripped over it.

Naruto swiftly grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him, failing to notice another rock behind his feet, tripping over it, falling flat on his butt with Hinata ending up in his lap and their faces nose-to-nose. Hinata blushed uncontrollably at their position and scurried to get off his lap before she could pass out from embarrassment and close contact.

The second she stood, she winced and it didn't go unnoticed by Naruto. "Hinata! I'm so sorry! What happened? Are you okay?"

"I think I sprained my ankle, but I should be okay." She took a step forward and let out a small hiss of pain.

"I'd say you need to have Sakura look at that. Hold on," Naruto quickly scooped her up bridal style and carried her over to where Sakura and Kiba were still sitting and had been watching them.

Sakura tried her best to hide her amused smile and put on her best "doctor face" as the two approached. "Naruto, what did I say about causing more work for me?"

"I swear, I didn't hurt her!" exclaimed Naruto as he set down Hinata gingerly on the ground, making sure to watch that he didn't bump her ankle.

"Don't blame Naruto-kun, it was my fault for not paying attention." Hinata crossed her legs to support her injured ankle and watched as Sakura started scanning her injury.

Kiba snickered and couldn't resist poking fun at the two. "Man, Hinata really fell for you, Naruto."

Hinata had a look of panic on her face at Kiba's comment. Sakura shot Kiba a small glare, and Naruto…was oblivious. "I think you meant on me, not for."

Sakura wanted nothing more than to smack some sense into her teammate. 'How on earth does he not see how smitten she is with him?' She concentrated her chakra on Hinata's ankle and started healing it. "Hinata, I hate to tell you this, but you have a hairline fracture in your tibia. I can heal the damage, but you should probably stay off your ankle as much as possible the rest of the day. Naruto, would you mind taking her home?"

Naruto hesitated, remembering Hiashi's threat to him, but decided to ignore it. "Sure, I'll take care of her, no problem!"

Sasuke's prediction about the kyuubi helping Namiko seemed to be correct and what she was going through wasn't nearly as horrible as his experience with Orochimaru's experimentation. She was nauseated, achy, sleepy, some tingling in her hands, and fighting a high fever for several hours but otherwise okay.

However, her high fever made her slightly delirious, and had some interesting conversations when she was awake.

"So if you had to turn into a food, what one would you choose?"

"Brussels sprouts."

"Why that? I'm surprised you didn't say a tomato. You love tomatoes!"

"I wouldn't want to be eaten and fewer people eat Brussels sprouts." Sasuke had tried ignoring her random questions for over an hour and telling her to go to sleep, but Namiko's stubbornness and lowered inhibition weren't very compliant with his requests.

"Fair enough. What about this: if a tomato is a fruit, is ketchup a smoothie?"

Sasuke shook his head amusedly. "Probably not."

"Can you tell me a joke?"

"Your brother."

Namiko lifted her head from his chest and shot him a half-hearted glare. "Why do you pick on Naruto so much?"

He ignored her glare but decided to answer the question. "He's always overly confident and has no sense of social or physical boundaries."

She sighed. "That only bothers you because you constantly keep your boundaries up."

"I don't keep them up with you."

She smiled up at him. "You're better with me but not perfect. Okay, new question: what is one thing you like about me that someone else wouldn't find endearing?"

"The way you won't let me avoid answering a question," he answered, prompting a laugh from her as she snuggled back into his side and her eyes drifting closed.

"I'm getting tired again." She stifled a yawn. "One more question though: what do you think I'm thinking right now?"

"How much you want to sleep?" suggested Sasuke as he started to run his fingers through her hair.

"Mm-mm," she hummed in disagreement, failing to hide a second yawn, "wrong. I'm thinking how happy I am with you and how much I…love…you…" her words trailed off.

Sasuke's hand froze. He craned his neck to look at her face and realized she had fallen sound asleep. 'Did she mean that? Or was that just the fever talking?' He kissed the top of her head and then resumed stroking her hair. '…I love you too,' he thought before drifting off to sleep as well.

Hinata was trying to control her breathing and force the blush to recede from her cheeks. Naruto had his arm around her, supporting her as they walked back to the Hyuuga compound. He had offered to carry her, but she knew if he did that, she would have passed out for certain. However, his arm supporting her as they walked prolonged her contact with him and she had to do everything in her power to stay calm.

"So, have you and Kiba been going on any missions lately?"

She took a deep breath and tried to focus on walking in a straight line and not putting too much pressure on her ankle. "Not as many since Namiko—I'm sorry!" She paused in their steps, jerking Naruto to stop beside her. "I shouldn't be bringing her up right now…"

Naruto smiled at her. "Hinata, don't worry about it. We'll get her back soon. I overheard Tsunade-baa-chan the other day saying they'll probably send a team out to look for her and Sasuke again soon."

"She's been gone almost two months now." Hinata's voice seemed smaller than usual. "How long do you think she'll be gone?"

Naruto ran a hand through his hair. "It's hard to say. If she's sticking with Sasuke, he's got until somewhere around the middle of November before Orochimaru has to take on a new body. And knowing Sasuke, he's going to take full advantage to learn as much as he can in the meantime to prepare to go after Itachi."

"Are you worried about Namiko? Orochimaru is quite powerful."

"She'll be fine! Sasuke is with her, and despite the fact I'm upset with the bastard, I know he wouldn't let anything bad happen to her."

Hinata nodded before signaling Naruto they could start walking again. "You know, Kiba told me once he thought Sasuke liked Namiko as more than a friend."

Naruto burst out in laughter. "That's ridiculous! Sasuke doesn't like anyone like that! He's had girls all over him since the academy, especially Sakura, and he never gave any of them a second look. You should know better than to listen to Kiba for love advice; he's going to be forever single."

"Maybe you're right." Hinata laughed lightly in agreement, but she was pretty sure Kiba was the one right in this instance. 'I want to ask Naruto-kun if he likes anyone, but I'm not that brave. What if he says no? Or that he likes someone else?'

They neared the Hyuuga compound and Neji ran up to them just outside the gate. "Hinata-sama, are you okay?"

"I'm fine! I hurt my ankle during training with Kiba, Sakura, and Naruto-kun. Sakura fixed it but said I should stay off it as much as possible over the next day, so Naruto-kun offered to bring me home."

Neji bowed toward Naruto. "Thank you for taking good care of her."

Naruto blushed the barest bit and rubbed the back of his head. "It was no problem! It gave Hinata and me a chance to talk for a while. I'd love to stick around, but I better go. I'll see you later, Hinata!" He turned quickly and ran off in the direction they came.

Neji wrapped Hinata's arm around his shoulders. "Hinata-sama…I don't put my nose in other's business, but you shouldn't listen to your father on this. Naruto is a good guy and a strong shinobi. You should tell him how you feel."

"NO! I couldn't do that! What if he says no?" Hinata's face burned bright red.

"What if he returned your feelings?" Neji suggested and Hinata couldn't handle the thought and promptly fainted.

Namiko barely moved during the night, staying plastered to Sasuke's side the entire time. He had woken several times during the night to make sure the cloth on her head was still cool and damp, encouraging her to sip on water to keep from dehydrating. In the late hours of the morning, Namiko started to sweat, signaling her fever had officially broken.

Unfortunately for Sasuke, that meant after her fever broke, he desperately needed a shower and to find a way to get her off him without waking her. 'Probably best if I leave the door open in case she needs me again and calls for me. It's not like she can see into the bathroom from the bed.' He stealthily guided her off him and silently walked to the bathroom, taking a scalding hot shower.

Namiko stirred awake a few moments later at the loss of Sasuke's body heat, feeling disoriented and still a little nauseated. She rubbed her eyes and realized Sasuke wasn't next to her. 'I wonder where he went. I'm too chakra depleted to use my chakra sensing, or it would be easy.' She threw off the sweat-soaked blanket. 'Yuck. I need a shower. At least it seems my fever broke.' She grabbed a change of clothes out of her backpack and walked to the bathroom.

And straight into a shirtless and wet Sasuke.

Namiko stumbled and Sasuke caught her by her upper arm, holding her flush against him. "What are you doing out of bed?" He noticed her cheeks were flushed. "Are you okay? Did your fever come back?"

"One question at a time, Sasuke. My brain is still trying to reboot." She looked up at him and chuckled. "I'm fine, I just woke up sweaty from my fever breaking and wanted a shower…" She watched a drop of water roll down his neck and chest, turning away from him so she wouldn't blush more. "…which I can assume you had to do as well thanks to me."

"I did, but that's okay. I'm just glad you didn't have any major complications from this." He kissed her forehead and walked around her. "Go ahead and shower. I'll be here when you're done."

Namiko nodded and shut the bathroom door. 'I'm feeling warm again, but I don't think it's from another fever.' She fanned herself with her hand. 'Maybe I should take a cool shower…'

She came out of the bathroom about twenty minutes later, clean, and drying her hair. "What time is it?"

"About eleven. I think we both needed the sleep."

"Sorry, I know you were probably up and down all night. Thank you for taking care of me." Namiko gave a sheepish smile as she sat on the edge of the bed. "I vaguely remember things from last night, but not clearly. Did I ask you if ketchup was a smoothie?"

Sasuke chuckled softly. "You did. I have no idea where you came up with any of those questions, but it was amusing. Do you remember anything else you said?" He was curious if she meant her confession or if it was just the fever.

Namiko shook her head. "Not really. Everything is pretty fuzzy."

"It's not surprising; your fever was pretty high." He tried not to be disappointed by her statement. 'I guess she doesn't remember saying that she loves me. That's okay though, I'd rather us both say it when we're consciously aware of our feelings, not just say it if she's not sure. I don't want either of us to say it under pressure. That's why I didn't say it out loud last night.'

'And I do love her. I have for years.' He watched her brush her hair and fluidly braid it.

Despite their current situation of being stuck with Orochimaru, he had grown to love simple domestic moments like this. He especially loved watching her cook when they were in the smaller hideouts. It made things almost seem as if they were back in Konoha in her and Naruto's apartment.

She tied off the end of her braid, throwing it over her shoulder. "Since you wouldn't tell me what you wanted to do for your birthday, I went ahead and planned some things for us." She got up and grabbed her backpack. "I think you'll like it. Come on!"

Namiko led Sasuke outside the base to a small open area and pulled out a small blanket from her backpack, spreading it over the ground. She sat down and patted the blanket next to her. After Sasuke removed his sword and sat beside her, she handed him a small canvas bag containing some onigiri and a couple of apples. "It's not much, but I thought we could have a picnic and just enjoy the view."

The southern base was created in the middle of the ocean near the Land of Waves. It was extremely secluded with not much land, but the ocean was beautiful, bright, and calming. It was a stark contrast to the dark dreariness inside the base, and Namiko couldn't have been happier for the sunshine.

After they ate their lunch, Namiko rummaged in her backpack before handing Sasuke a folded piece of paper. He stared at it for a moment before starting to unfold it. "What's this?"

"A birthday present." Namiko smiled nervously. "It's not like I could get you anything, so I drew a picture."

He unfolded the piece of paper, revealing a beautiful pencil drawing of the Uchiha pond with Sasuke holding Namiko as they sat on the dock. He activated his Sharingan, committing the image to memory. "This is amazing…this is probably the best present I've ever been given." He folded it back and tapped it against the seal on his arm guard to store it.

"I'm glad you like it."

"I love it." He leaned toward her and kissed her, slowly and deeply, his hand cupping her jaw. He pulled back just enough to stare into her blue-violet eyes, his Sharingan slowly spinning. "Thank you, Namiko. Truly." He moved his hand from her jaw to the back of her neck, pulling her closer toward him.

"Happy birthday, Sasuke." She put her hands on his shoulders to steady herself as he kissed her with fervor. Sasuke's other hand went to her bare waist and gently tugged until she was straddling his lap and he moved both hands to her back, pushing her flush against him. Her hands wound into his hair as he kissed and nipped at her jaw and neck, leaving behind small marks on her skin.

Breathless sighs escaped Namiko's lips, despite biting them to try to remain quiet. Sasuke didn't seem to mind this time and took as many kisses as he wanted. She could feel his desire coming off him in waves as his hands caressed her bare waist, his fingertips dipping under the fabric of her shirt at random.

Both were thoroughly enjoying their exploration of each other. She wasn't about to stop him until she noticed movement from behind him and immediately scrambled off him. Sasuke turned to see what or who had startled her, only to see one of the people he least wanted to see at that moment.

Kabuto.

The bespectacled shinobi had an ominous grin on his face. "Orochimaru-sama wants to see you both. I believe he'll be most interested to see how Namiko-chan is doing…" He turned to leave. "Go ahead and finish whatever it was you were doing, then come back to his lab as soon as possible."

The second that Kabuto was out of sight, Sasuke stood up and shoved his sword angrily into the rope around his waist. "This is just great; this was what I was afraid of!"

"It'll be fine, Sasuke," said Namiko, assuredly. "So we were making out, it's not the end of the world."

"It could risk your life though!" he growled out, "Now they know exactly how much you mean to me!"

She packed her things up and looked up at him from her kneeling position on the ground. "We'll be fine!"

"Why didn't you warn me? You should've been able to sense him!" snapped Sasuke harshly.

"Maybe because I'm too chakra depleted after being poisoned that I can't use it right now!" Namiko yelled back as she threw her backpack over her shoulder. Her voice softened, but still held a bit of contempt, "All I wanted was for you to have a good birthday despite our circumstances, but I guess I screwed that up too." She shoved past Sasuke as she headed back into the base.

Sasuke groaned aloud as he slowly followed her. 'We can't keep doing this. I have to distance myself. She's only going to get hurt.'

A/N: Sasuke sure got one hell of a birthday surprise! Poor guy just can't make up his mind whether to love her or push her away, and Namiko is just confused.

I also had to add a bit of Naruto and Hinata in there, just because they're cute.

Thank you all so much for the love you pour out on me! I appreciate your continued support!

Love, Eriisu

PS: Like a dear friend of mine says "Comments are my tip jar!" :)