The rest of spring break passed quickly. Naruto spent his free time on the computer talking to Itachi, Sasuke occasionally popping up to annoy the ever-loving shit out of him.

At school that first Monday, Naruto was leaning against Gaara's locker, a scowl on his face as his arms were crossed as he waited for Gaara to show up.

The red-head showed up, a non-existent eyebrow raised at the blonde's attitude. "What's up with you?"

"Two words." Naruto pushed himself off Gaara's locker, his glare still set firmly in place as he held up two fingers. "Sasuke. Uchiha."

Gaara let out a snort as he did the combination on his lock, opening his locker and carelessly throwing books into the metal container. "Itachi's little brother? What about him?"

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. He silently watched as Gaara gathered his books. "You know him?"

Gaara just nodded in response. "I mean, I never met him in person, but he's been on Skype a couple of times, and we've played online games together."

Naruto let out a huff, once again crossing his arms over his chest. "Well, he's stupid, annoying, and bastardly."

Gaara let out a chuckle at Naruto's words. "I wouldn't have used any of those words to describe him. What did he do to you?" He closed his locker door and began to walk towards his homeroom, Naruto quickly following.

"He was bothering me nearly every day I was talking to Itachi." Naruto scowled at the ground.

Gaara gave the blonde a smirk. "Are you sure it's not just because you like Itachi?"

"What?!" Naruto stood frozen, his eyes widened in surprise at Gaara's comment. "Wha-what do you mean?"

Gaara stopped and turned to face the blonde with a roll of his eyes. "No offense, but it isn't hard to tell that you're crushing on him."

Naruto's cheeks tinted red as a blushed formed. He scratched at his cheek sheepishly, looking off to the side. "It's that obvious?"

Gaara only nodded.

Naruto let out a defeated sigh, slumping forward. "Damn, I thought I was hiding it well." He quickly stood up, a new look of determination crossing his features. "Well, that's okay! But back to Sasuke." He scowled. "No, it's not because he constantly interrupted me and Itachi hanging out, though, that was pretty annoying. He just is always insulting me and saying things that make me want to fight him. And he's always calling me dobe. What an asshole, am I right? But don't worry, I call him teme too. Ain't no way I'm going to let him get away with insulting me!"

Gaara turned and began to walk again, Naruto quickly following him once again. "Sounds to me like you two like each other."

"Are you fucking crazy?!" Naruto screeched loudly. Kids in the hallway turned to look and Naruto threw them apologetic looks as Gaara held in a laugh. He glared at the red-head. "There's no fucking way I like that bastard! He gets on my nerves and in return, I get on his. There's nothing else to it."

"Whatever you say, Naruto." Gaara chuckled. He reached his home room and turned to the blonde. "You'll admit your love to him one day." Without waiting for the blonde's reaction, he stepped into the safety of his classroom.

Naruto let out a growl and stomped his foot angrily, frustrated he was unable to lash out at Gaara. He turned and made his way to his own home room just as the warning bell rang.

The school days passed by quickly for Naruto, and soon it was already summer vacation. He spent his summer either hanging out with Gaara, Sasori and Deidara at the red-head's house or talking with Itachi on Skype, occasionally being tormented by Sasuke. By the time the first week of summer passed, Naruto officially declared his hatred for the younger Uchiha, much to the amusement of both Uchiha brothers.

As he spent more time with Itachi, Naruto's crush only seemed to deepen. Whenever he was apart from Itachi, the raven was on his mind and invaded his thoughts and conversations. The longing to see him in person was growing stronger.

The first week of the last month of summer vacation, Naruto found himself lying on the floor of Gaara's bedroom floor, staring at the ceiling. Suddenly, he sat up and looked over at Gaara who was currently lying on his own bed, wrapped up in a blanket that ended just under his chin.

"Gaara! I have the greatest idea!" Naruto shouted.

Gaara slowly opened his eye, a glare in place. "I'm trying to sleep, Naruto."

Naruto wrinkled up his nose. "It's ten in the morning."

"And?"

Naruto shook his head. "It doesn't matter. I have a great idea!"

Gaara let out a heavy sigh and snuggled further in his covers, closing his eyes. "What is it?"

"We should go visit Itachi!" He smiled brightly.

Gaara was silent, and Naruto felt his smile slowly diminish as the silence grew longer. Finally, a heavy sigh left Gaara's mouth and his eyes snapped opened, glaring at the blonde. "And how do you suppose we do that? A plane ticket costs a lot of money, and we're both broke. Neither of us can drive yet, and we don't even have a car. And we both know that neither of our guardians are going to drive us more than an hour."

Naruto frowned at Gaara's negativity before his face lit up once again. "What if we walk?!"

Gaara stared at the blonde before he let out a quick, sharp laugh. Naruto's eyes widened in surprise, he doesn't think he's ever heard the red-head laugh in the whole time he's known him. "Naruto, are you fucking serious?"

"Yeah."

"Do you know how long it'll take to get there?"

Naruto quickly stood up, walking to the computer in the corner of Gaara's room. "No, but Google will tell me!" He began to type wildly on the computer, Gaara watching him with a bored look. "It's only 930 hours!"

Gaara rolled his eyes and sat up. "Naruto, tell me, how long is 930 hours?"

Naruto went back to the computer and began to type again. A frown appeared on his face and he turned to face Gaara with a pout. "About 38 days."

Gaara snorted before lying back down, facing away from the blonde. "Yeah, it's not happening."

Naruto frowned as he closed out of the webpage and sat back on the floor. He sat crisscross, resting his elbow on his knee and then using his fist to hold up his chin. "I should have thought of this at the beginning of summer."

"We wouldn't have lasted a week. We would starve to death."

Naruto stayed silent before a smile creeped onto his mouth and he burst out laughing. "Yeah, you're probably right."

The rest of summer quickly passed, Naruto talking to Itachi every night, watching movies together, occasionally being bothered by Sasuke. Soon school started, and Naruto noticed, Itachi wasn't on Skype as often. He felt himself becoming more depressed as the days began to pass where he didn't talk to Itachi.

The only good thing to come from this, was Naruto was seeing even less of Sasuke. The occasional night where Itachi was on, Sasuke was nowhere to be seen. As September came to an end, Naruto felt concerned. It's been two weeks, and he hasn't heard from Itachi once. He felt himself get worried.

The first day of October was tomorrow, and Gaara wanted to start with Halloween activities right away. The blonde swears October is the only time Gaara shows any emotion.

He sighs as the clock reads ten o'clock and Itachi is once again nowhere to be seen. He's about to log off when a notification on the side of his screen pops up stating Itachi was online.

Naruto smiled brightly as he felt his excitement begin to grow. He's about to send the raven a message when a call pops up with Itachi's name. He quickly accepts the call and waits for the screen to load.

"Hey," Itachi greets with a casual look, a slight smile on his face.

Naruto felt his heart beat faster as he got to see him. He felt a blush heat his cheeks as he felt his stomach do flips. "Hey Itachi, long time no see."

Itachi gave a light chuckle. "Yeah, I know. A lot has been going on these past few weeks, but I have some good news."

Naruto felt himself perk up. "Yeah? What's up?"

Before Itachi could say another word, in the background, the bedroom door slammed open. Naruto's eyes widened in surprise, and Itachi closed his eyes, a look of annoyance on his face. In the doorway, Sasuke was glaring darkly.

"How can you fucking do this to me?!" Sasuke screams angrily, taking a step into the room.

Itachi gave a roll of his eyes but gave no further response to his little brother.

"You're such a fucking asshole! A goddamn coward! And selfish!" Sasuke continued on, throwing insult after insult at the older raven.

Naruto's eyes only continued to widen as he listened to Sasuke's tirade. He felt his curiosity spike, wondering what Itachi could have done to cause Sasuke to be this angry. He had to admit, though Sasuke could be annoying, he still had an above average amount of coolness to him. To see him lose it like this, was kind of amusing.

After what felt like five minutes of Sasuke yelling, he stopped, catching his breath and continuing to glare daggers at his older brother. Itachi turned to face him, an eyebrow raised. "Are you done?"

Sasuke only narrowed his eyes further, shoulders heaving. He took in a deep breath. "Fuck you." He then turned and stormed out the room, slamming the door behind him.

Naruto's eyes widened as Itachi shook his head, facing the camera once again. "So, uh, what was all that about?"

Itachi gave him a smirk. "My good news."

Naruto let out a snort before smirking back at Itachi. "Sure doesn't sound like good news to Sasuke, I'm excited to hear what it is."

"I'm moving back," Itachi started, but after those three words, Naruto practically tuned him out. His heart paused it's beating, his stomach filling with butterflies. Itachi was moving back?

"He just feels like I've betrayed him by leaving again." Naruto tuned in just in time to hear the reason why Sasuke lashed out at Itachi.

Naruto just smiled brightly, practically bouncing in his seat. "Well, screw Sasuke! Though," Naruto tapped his chin, a curious look on his face. "Not like I'm not excited, but why are you moving back? I thought you and your parents were reconciling?"

Itachi gave him a nonchalant shrug. "I've been trying but, we just keep fighting. It's too toxic. I'll be moving in with Sasori and Gaara."

Naruto went back to practically bouncing in his seat. "I'm so excited! I can't wait for you to come back, I like being close to you." His words hit his ears and he blushed. "I-I mean, like as friends, of course! I mean, of course I like spending time with you, and even online, it's fun!"

Itachi sat back in his chair, a smirk spreading over his face as he let the blonde continue rambling.

"But truly, any time we spend together is great." Naruto let his words die in silence, feeling if he spoke more, he'd just make things more awkward for himself. His cheeks were burning with the blush that seemed to get worse.

"Are you done?" Itachi asked with a slight chuckle.

Naruto could only nod in response.

"Good." Itachi's smirk slowly disappeared as he gave Naruto a serious look. "I wanted to ask you if you think you'd be able to pick me up from the airport?"

"Yeah!" Naruto smiled at him. "Of course! I can't wait, I'm so excited!"

Itachi gave Naruto the details of his flight and let him know he may not be on very much as he's continuing to pack his stuff and get things ready for his move. Naruto felt disappointed but understood, besides, Itachi will be back in person soon and he'd rather have that.

Two weeks passed quickly, and soon it was the night before Itachi's flight was scheduled to come in. Itachi was on skype with Naruto and the two finished watching a movie before Naruto would be going to bed for school.

"I can't wait to see you tomorrow." Naruto stated as he began to close programs on his computer.

"I know," Itachi gave him a half smile. "I'll be staying up all night and morning. I'm hoping I'll sleep on the plane."

Naruto nodded. "That's a smart idea." He gave Itachi a small smile. "Goodnight." He waved before logging off for the night.

The next day, Naruto kept pestering Gaara about Itachi's arrival, causing the red-head to roll his eyes. The day passed by slowly for the blonde, who continuously glanced at the clock every chance he got.

Finally, the school day ended, and Naruto met up with Sasori, Deidara and Gaara outside the school building.

"Hey Naruto," Deidara greeted him with a smile. "Heard you were bothering Gaara all day about Itachi's arrival today, un."

Naruto gave a sheepish smile to the older blonde as he glanced at Gaara who was giving him an annoyed look. "Ye-yeah, I'm just super excited to see him again!"

"Well, if we wanna make it in time," Sasori started. "We should probably head to the airport now." He glanced at Deidara. "You want to head with us?"

Deidara shook his head. "As much as I would love to, un, I'm grounded. School activities only, and even that's pushing it." He let out a laugh. "I'll see in him school. See you guys later!" He waved as he headed towards his bus.

"Alright, let's go." Sasori gestured with his head towards the school's parking lot. He led them to his parents' car, a green Prius.

Naruto snorted as he saw the car, climbing into the passenger seat. "This car suits you, Sasori."

Sasori rolled his eyes as he turned the car on. "Shut up, Naruto, or I'll leave you behind."

Naruto snickered to himself as he looked out the window as Sasori began the drive to the airport.

It took nearly forty minutes to make it to the airport, park and head into the luggage pickup area to wait for Itachi. Sasori and Gaara immediately grabbed chairs close to the luggage carousel, waiting patiently. Naruto began pacing back and forth in front of them, a giant grin on his face.

The two brothers watched for about five minutes. "Naruto?" Sasori spoke up, no longer able to keep quiet. "What is your problem?"

Before Naruto could answer, Gaara gave an evil smirk, staring at Naruto. "Didn't you know, Sasori? Naruto has a crush on Itachi."

Naruto's face turned bright red as he gawked at Gaara. He closed his mouth and glared at the floor, crossing his arms over his chest with a pout. "I do not!" It took most of his willpower not to stomp his foot as well.

The brother's began to laugh, both at the blonde's embarrassment and his childish antics.

The laughter only caused the blonde to become angrier, and he uncrossed his arms, fists at his sides. "Stop laughing!"

"You know what, Gaara," Sasori paused in his laughter. "I believe you're right." The two brothers began to laugh harder.

"Fuck you guys!" Naruto shouted as he sat down in a chair next to Gaara. He pouted as he crossed his arms over his chest, causing them to laugh harder.

"Well, that's a great way to be welcomed back." A voice from behind them said.

The three turned around to see Itachi standing directly behind Naruto, a smirk on his face.

"Itachi!" Naruto stood up quickly, maneuvering around the chairs before he threw himself into the older Uchiha, wrapping him in a hug. "Welcome back!"

Sasori and Gaara stood up as well, greeting Itachi.

"So, where are we going to eat? I'm starving." Itachi asked after everyone said their hellos.

The four of them began their walk to the car and grabbed dinner at a nearby diner. They chatted while eating, catching up on the time that passed since they last saw each other in person.

After dinner, Naruto was dropped back off at his grandparent's house, where he fell asleep with a large smile on his face.

oOooOooo

Hey there! I hope everyone is doing well, I know it's been awhile. I've been in a creative block and finally got some motivation and inspiration to get out of it. Here's hoping it lasts lol!

As always, if you liked it, please favorite and review!

~tachiequillsluv