Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Happiness, by Accident ❯ Happiness, Interrupted ( Chapter 4 )

AN: I'm sorry that this update has been so long in coming. I can no longer be sure how often I will update since I have a lot of real life pressures taking away time from my writing but I've already begun the next chapter and I will try to avoid such a long wait for it. There's more drama/action in this chapter, their relationship progresses a bit more and so does Sasuke's character. I hope he's not unforgivably OOC but I think I may've mentioned before that considering the circumstances of the fic, it's kind of inevitable. Now moved to the M category for Violence in this chapter and possible future smuttiness. ^^ Enjoy.

 

Heads Up: NaruSasuNaru, AU, Sasuke POV, offensive language ahead, Violence, action, and eventual romance. Also my first Naruto fic.

 

Happiness, by Accident

By: Lotus-chan

Ch04: Happiness, Interrupted

 

“KIYAA!” I ducked under a round house kick and took a step back as Lee followed it up with another spinning kick to the face. Raising my arms, I used my forearms to block a series of rapid fire punches before I side stepped, anticipating the low kick a split second before Lee moved. He initiated another high kick with his other leg and I bent backwards, feeling the wind brush against my face at the speed of Lee's movements. I was not however fast enough to prevent Lee's next move. Coming out of the kick, he crouched low and swept a leg under me as I was regaining my balance. I fell on my back but quickly rolled out of the way as Lee got back up and aimed a finishing blow at my torso.

 

Now a few feet away, I kicked out with my legs and landed on my feet, ready for his next attack. He was on me fast, punching out with his right hand. I moved out of the way and grabbed his arm, intending to flip him over but he twisted himself around me until he was behind me, holding me trapped against his chest. Before he could claim another killing blow, I hooked a foot behind his ankle and pushed back. Lee took me down with him as he fell and as soon as we hit the floor I escaped his grasp by rolling to the side and twisting my hips to end up on my feet all in one fluid motion. Lee was already on his feet by the time I looked up. So fast! He was standing, one hand behind him and one in front in a ready stance and beckoned me forward with a look of anticipation.

 

I grinned and showed him just how fast I could be. Running forward I pressed punch after punch, which he deflected, his face melting into strict concentration. He stepped back and aimed a kick at my midsection which I blocked with a kick of my own. Pulling back, I didn't give him a chance to press another attack. I kicked high, aiming for his face but Lee ducked under it. I used my momentum to pivot my hips and send another kick at him just as he was straightening up. Lee was quick to catch on and caught my leg in mid air, pulling me forward. I slipped, losing my balance and my back hit the floor. “HA!!” I looked up and Lee had his fist to my neck. It was over.

 

We were both breathing hard from the exertion of our mock battle and Lee smiled brightly at me as soon as I nodded, acknowledging his win. “Wow, you're a genius!” he said, the fist at my neck now extended in a friendly hand to help me up. “We've only been training a few days! I've never seen any of our other students pick up the lessons this fast. Do you have any previous training?”

 

I smirked and took the offered hand. “Some; I haven't had any formal training in years though. My parents wanted me to focus on academics after my brother's death so that I could take his place as heir.” I'd discovered over the past five days that Lee was very easy to talk to and I tended to confide things to him. He knew about my family, the curse, and the situation with the spell and the demons that were bound to us. Lee in turn was a spirited, if odd, friend and a skilled martial artist.

 

The day after we met, Lee and Gaara paid us a visit; Gaara confessing to having found us due to his ability to track the souls of people he's met... creepy. They invited us to visit their home which turned out to be a martial arts dojo. Lee was a genius in his own right; at seventeen he was the assistant master of the taijutsu style taught here and offered to teach me that same day. I'd been only too happy to take him up on his offer, but not just because I was eager to resume a pastime I enjoyed. After finally escaping the grips of the Uchiha mansion, along with its confinement and dark memories, I was anxious to direct my new found energy and freedom into something positive; something that could help restore my emotional equilibrium and help me focus.

 

It also allowed Naruto and Gaara, who were apparently old friends, to do some catching up. Lee walked over to the bench and tossed me my bottle of water. “I'm sorry to hear about your brother.” He said sincerely. That was another quality I liked about Lee, he was honest and sincere to a fault.

 

“It's ok, it happened a long time ago.” I said and was surprised to realize I was right. I did feel ok talking about him. I screwed off the cap of my bottle and took a swig wondering when that had changed when a bark of familiar laughter drew my thoughts back to the present. The sliding doors of the dojo were open and I could see both demons sitting outside on the walkway, talking. The dojo was old; built before the revolution and was currently undergoing restoration which was why we had the place to ourselves. There was a central rock garden right outside, surrounded by the elevated walkway where Naruto and Gaara were seated.

 

My eyes caught movement beyond the walkway and I watched slightly perplexed as the rocks seemed to rearrange themselves into wave-like patterns around the small serenity boulders in the center of the garden. Lee turned his head to see what I was looking at and smiled. “It's supposed to be a rock garden, but since Gaara's domain is sand he's ground the small rocks into a fine powder in order to manipulate them.”

 

I watched as Gaara seemed to move what I now knew was sand into elaborate wave shapes with a mere twitch of his fingers and shook my head. “Where did you meet this guy?”

 

Lee chuckled at my intonation and sat down, “I think the more appropriate question is `when'.” I raised an eyebrow and watched as Lee looked down at the water bottle in his hands contemplatively, “Gaara and I first met about two hundred years ago during the reign of the tenth shogun, although I don't remember it.” He looked up and smiled at the confusion on my face. “It was my past life.”

 

“Oh…” I said sitting down next to him and glancing outside again. “Then, if you don't remember it, how do the two of you know each other now?”

 

Lee was looking out to the patio as well where Gaara and Naruto were talking. “Gaara tracked me down. You remember his ability to track souls? Well, he waited two hundred years for me to be reborn in order to find me again. He's been with me all my life, in fact some of my earliest memories are of him.”

 

I blinked, a bit impressed by that. A small envious voice in the back of my mind wondered how strong Gaara's feelings must've been to go so far and wait so long to be with Lee again. Something of what I was thinking must have shown on my face because Lee snorted, failing to suppress a smile.

 

“Gaara and I didn't have that kind of relationship back then. At the time, I was a ninja who'd been injured pretty badly after a mission. I was only meant to be a passing curiosity to him but…” and he turned that smile to me, “Gaara's curiosity got the better of him and he stuck around longer than he meant to.”

 

He paused and I watched his face carefully as his smile slipped minutely, “I'd suffered some crushing injuries on that last mission and was bedridden. Gaara told me he'd been watching me for a short time before that and noticed how I'd been all but abandoned as I got worse. My ninja brothers brought me food and water but little else. No one came to visit or treat me, not that there was much that could've been done for me at the time, medicine being what it was.”

 

Lee's eyes seemed to lose focus and he stared at his water bottle again as if lost in thought… or in memories that he should not have. “I eventually developed pneumonia and I knew my time was running out when Gaara finally decided to reveal himself after days of watching me from outside my window. I was so happy for the company that it didn't matter to me whether he was human or demon. I welcomed him inside and bemoaned my inability to be a good host.” Lee chuckled and shook his head, “No wonder I confused him so much.”

 

He leaned his elbows on his knees and looked at me again, still with that subdued little smile. “You see, that's why he came looking for me again. I'd enjoyed his company in my last days; had even asked him to be there when I died…”

 

He paused with a faraway expression on his face and I finally had to ask, “You said you don't remember it, but you talk about it like you do.”

 

His smile recovered and he sat up again. That was another thing I'd noticed about Lee in the time that I'd known him: he never let himself get too down. There was always a smile on his face but unlike with most other people I'd known, it wasn't a mask to hide his true emotions. It was just the way Lee was. “I don't remember it but… I've been around Gaara so much that I think we've established some kind of connection because… when I was really young, Gaara used to think about this a lot. He hadn't understood why I'd needed him there, why I'd been able to smile on my deathbed. He'd had so many questions and waited for me to be reincarnated so that he could finally ask me.

 

“He waited for me to grow up a bit first but all throughout my childhood I remember having these dreams... Whenever Gaara was around, I'd dream of being in a room in a traditional Japanese house with a forest outside the window. I dreamt it in such detail that I could tell you how many tatami mats were on the floor, what weapons were placed on a stand near the bed, their names and how they were arranged - long before I knew anything about weapons. I could describe the room in perfect detail right down to the smell of tsubaki drifting in from the garden outside.

 

“I was about twelve when I began to see Gaara and myself in those dreams, as if from the outside looking in. So I asked him about them and he told me I must be picking up on his memories of my final days. That's when he asked me what he'd been waiting to ask for the past two hundred years.” Lee shook his head, still smiling and finally took a swig from his bottled water.

 

“It seems like it should've been such an easy thing to understand,” he said continuing, “but Gaara hadn't been able to make sense of my very human need for companionship in that other life. Things between us changed pretty quickly after that talk. Once he was satisfied that his questions had been answered he no longer had a reason to stay by my side. He should've picked up and left but he didn't.”

 

He looked me in the face and his ever-present smile slipped again, probably without his even noticing. “Be grateful that you're going to have Naruto-kun with you forever. Relationships are never perfect but they are special and you've been given the chance to keep yours for a long time. Gaara promised me that he would continue to be by my side until I died and that he would look for me again and again for as long as he was alive. But I won't be the same person in my next life and I won't remember how much I loved him…” he trailed off for a moment and then shook his head as if to banish his sudden bout of melancholy.

 

“You guys have nothing to worry about though!” Lee's smile turning optimistic. “The two of you can never be torn apart!” he said jumping to his feet. “The strength of your bond and the good fortune to have met Naruto-kun in the Springtime of your Youth will…uh…” My sudden hysterical laughing is what interrupted Lee's speech on youth before it could really pick up speed. The almost manic turn in the conversation had gotten to me… that and the sudden fear that Lee was going to go off on the sort of energetic tangent that would leave me slightly disturbed. Lee chuckled a bit and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “Sorry, my uncle's way better at that than I am.”

 

I waved a hand and tried to regain control of myself. Lee used to frighten me just a little with his speeches the first couple of days I came to his dojo for practice but I eventually found myself unable to keep a straight face. Lee chuckled and sat down again, knowing I didn't mean any harm. “Well, what about you guys?” He asked, cocking his head curiously.

 

“What about us?” I asked distractedly. My attention was suddenly on Naruto who had glanced back into the dojo when he heard me laughing and smiled at me.

 

“How many months has it been since you guys got together? Or has it been a few years?” he asked cheerily.

 

I turned my head to look at him oddly, “What makes you think it's been that long?” I asked surprised by his question.

 

He blinked, “Was I wrong? …A few weeks then?”

 

“…I met Naruto the day before I met you.” I answered a bit reluctantly… and if his eyes were any rounder, they'd have taken up his entire face. “What?” I blurted.

 

“Oh uh,” He said and smiled in an obvious effort to deflect away from his gaping a moment ago. “Nothing! It's nothing. Never mind.”

 

Another thing I liked about Lee? He was a terrible liar. “It's not `nothing'.” I insisted, feeling a scowl lining my features. I was a bit angry because I never pestered people about what they said or thought. It usually didn't matter to me but this was different. Why had he reacted like it was a shock? Like I'd just blurted out that I believed in space aliens rather than that I'd known Naruto for just under a week.

 

Lee looked away from me uncomfortably and shook his head. “It's not my place to pry into your personal business Sasuke-kun. Forget I said anything.”

 

Ok, that's it. “Lee, if this has something to do with my…” The word `relationship' seemed a bit …loaded somehow, “situation with Naruto, I want to know what's on your mind.” I urged in manner I was aware was uncharacteristic of me. There was a hint of insecurity that was slowly creeping up on me in response to his reaction. Why did it matter how long I'd known Naruto? …Wait a sec… he'd asked me how long we'd been `together'…

 

Just as that unsettling realization was beginning to dawn on me, Lee finally spoke up. “Ok.” He said decisively and appeared to gear himself up for what he was about to say next, “If you insist then… I hope you'll forgive a personal question but… do you… love… him?” he asked, the hesitation and reluctance clear in his tone.

 

I blanched, “What?!”

 

“Naruto-kun,” Lee continued, taking my reaction in stride, “Are you… in love with him?” His own cheeks turned a subtle shade of pink from restating the question.

 

“I, uh…” I glanced nervously outside but it didn't appear as though Naruto had heard anything. What the hell kind of question was that? “What does that have to do with anything?” I asked desperately. I … hadn't been prepared for that kind of question, let alone how to answer it.

 

Lee took another swig from his water bottle but this time it looked deliberate, a nervous distraction to avoid looking at me. “I see… I just figured that you were a bit more reserved; maybe a bit more private with your feelings and that's why it wasn't as obvious with you as it was with him.”

 

I stared at him until he finally looked at me. “What is obvious?” I deadpanned, although I had a sinking suspicion I knew what he meant.

 

Lee raised an eyebrow at me. “Haven't you noticed the way he treats you? The way he's so protective of you? He's always considerate of your feelings, of your opinions, always aware of you in some way. That's why I thought you'd been together longer.”

 

`Well, there are perfectly reasonable explanations for that.' I thought remembering his obligation to protect me and his ability to sense my emotions but just as I took in a breath to speak, Lee shook his head as if he already knew what I was going to say.

 

“I know what you're thinking and it's more than that. Do you remember how Naruto-kun reacted when I first offered to give you taijutsu lessons? It took us twenty minutes to talk him down because he was convinced it was too risky. The potential for accidents to happen during training is really high and he didn't like the thought that at the speed we would be moving, he might not get to you in time. That's not the reaction someone has out of obligation to you, Sasuke-kun. You've told me that Naruto-kun is forced by the spell to protect you from harm in the case of an accident but he has no obligation to actively try and prevent those accidents from happening or to show any concern for you should anything happen to you.”

 

I was staring hard at my shoes. Great, now it was me trying to avoid looking at him. I didn't even understand why I wanted to deny what he was saying so much. My eyes darted to the left and I watched Naruto still talking to Gaara outside. Lee scooted a bit closer to me and said in a near whisper, “You should see the way he looks at you when he thinks no one's watching. If you had, you wouldn't have to wonder whether or not it was friendly concern or something more. You'd know.”

 

“It's not really him I'm worried about.” I found myself saying. I'd have to be dense not to have noticed there was something going on all those times he's kissed me in the past few days. I just didn't know what that `something' was. Naruto used any excuse to touch me, whether it was an arm around my shoulders, or a casual brush against my hand, or leaning against me when we sat next to each other. At first it had unsettled me; I wasn't used to being touched and certainly not in ways that made me feel comfortable, but Naruto refused to be discouraged and I couldn't deny that it was slowly getting easier.

 

At night we would share the bed in my room, ostensibly because there was nowhere else to put Naruto who needed to remain close. But I'd be lying to myself if I said either one of us put any effort into finding alternate sleeping arrangements. Naruto would crawl into my bed every night, and every night he would reach out in his sleep and drape himself all over me like a second blanket.

 

And like an idiot, I would let him. If he reached for me, there was no way I could deny him. I was embarrassed to admit it even to myself. I was afraid to lose what I had with him and I didn't even know what that was. He seemed to… to feel something for me but how could I accept that? How could I accept what Lee was telling me? Naruto and I hadn't known each other long enough for something to develop between us and I sure as hell didn't believe in that `love at first sight' crap. In fact, I was afraid that I was responding to him out of a need for someone, anyone, and it was only Naruto because he had conveniently fallen into my lap when I'd been so desperate for someone to care about me.

 

“I'm attracted to him.” I admitted in a voice so low even I almost hadn't heard it. “I just can't be sure of anything more than that. Six days is not long enough to know if you lo… if you feel that way about someone. Which is why I don't get him!” I said finally raising my head and turning a frustrated glare towards my demon guardian. “He acts like it's the most natural thing in the world for him! Like he has no doubts! Like he's known me all my life instead of just six days!” Like it's easy for him! Or my worst fear… Like he's forcibly compelled to respond to my needs and has no real emotions invested…

 

I heaved an aggravated sigh and got to my feet just as there was a knock on the open door. The secretary who worked at the front bowed slightly, “Your take-out order is here Lee-san,” She said timidly.

 

Lee smiled brightly, “Thanks! I'll be right there.” She bowed again and walked away. Lee got up and turned that smile at me understandingly. “Why don't you take a shower and relax a bit? The locker rooms are still under renovation but you can use the shower in my room. I'll go see about lunch.” Lee patted my shoulder, his body language oozing optimism on my behalf. I barely kept myself from groaning or jumping at the casual touch and just watched awkwardly as he walked out of the dojo.

 

I had a sudden realization that whatever my situation with Naruto, he wasn't going to judge me for it. Lee was a good guy. I took a deep breath and let out another big sigh as I turned and walked towards the outer walkway where Naruto and Gaara were seated. A cold breeze swept through the dojo and I stopped suddenly when a wave of dizziness hit me. It was over quickly but when it passed I blinked my eyes and my vision was suddenly much sharper. I've always had 20/20 vision but this… I could see the wood grain through the varnish on the floor under my feet, I could see the detail on individual leaves in the trees outside as if I had them under a microscope. I closed my eyes and shook my head, alarmed. This was not normal!

 

I heard a few loud voices next to me and opened my eyes but there was no one there. Then I looked up, realizing that I was hearing Naruto and Gaara's conversation from the garden outside and got a real shock. There were bright… I don't know what to call them… auras? Around both of them. The color of the aura around Naruto I immediately recognized as the fiery red of his chakra. I'd never been able to see it in its relaxed state before. Then what they were talking about caught my attention.

 

“Have you completely taken leave of your senses?” Gaara asked in that classic monotone that was unique to him. His cool blue aura remained undisturbed next to the agitated swirls of the one around the demon fox next to him.

 

“Please, Gaara?? Pretty please???” Naruto asked pressing his hands together in front of his face in supplication. “I told you I can't do it myself! My senses are too keyed to Sasuke right now; all of my powers revolve around him. I tried looking for her the other day when we were in Shibuya and it was impossible! Not only are there too many humans in this city but every time I tried spreading my senses outward they got yanked back to Sasuke like he's some kind of magnet! My senses are only concerned with: where is Sasuke? Is Sasuke ok? What's happening around Sasuke? Could that guy over there be getting too close to Sasuke and why? Gyah!” Naruto shoved both hands into his hair and ruffled the locks to further express his frustration.

 

For one shocked moment I just stood there. Then I shot towards the wall next to the sliding door so that I could keep listening. The extra sharp sight and hearing was already fading back to normal but my mind was too preoccupied with what I'd just heard to notice or care.

 

“I can't.” Gaara said simply and calmly.

 

“Aw, c'mon Gaara!” Naruto whined.

 

Gaara shook his head, “I've never met her. It would be like trying to find a single piece of straw in a haystack.”

 

“Um, I think the term is `needle in a haystack'.”

 

There was a pause, “No, `needle' implies I know what I'm looking for.”

 

“I told you all about her already! C'mon! There's no telling how many times she's been reincarnated by now. I need to find her!”

 

“If I remember what you said correctly, it is she who promised to find you. Wasn't she coming back with her memories just so she could recognize you?”

 

“Yeah but she's probably been reincarnated two or three times by now, or more! Demons don't reincarnate so what if she thinks I'm dead? What if she gave up? What if she doesn't remember me anymore?”

 

“You don't know how long it'll take her to reincarnate. It took Lee two hundred years before he came back.”

 

“Yeah but I've been stuck in that tablet longer than that! Besides, she said she'd reincarnate right away. I need to look for her, it's been way to long but I can't do it myself anymore, I need your help.” A pause, “Here, use this!”

 

I got closer to the edge and peeked around the corner. Naruto had pulled his necklace out from inside his hoodie, taken it off and all but shoved it in Gaara's face.

 

Gaara responded by recoiling sharply away from it. “Do you have any idea what you're holding?”

 

“It's her necklace. Sure, it's been in my possession longer by now but it used to belong to her; she made it. You can still get an impression off this though, right?” Naruto offered hopefully.

 

There was a moment of silence before Gaara finally spoke. “So let me get this straight.” He began, giving Naruto a Look. “You want me, a demon, to find the reincarnation of an Inari priestess… using her warded necklace.”

 

“This thing's not warded.” Naruto said giving first the necklace and then Gaara an incredulous look.

 

If Gaara could've facepalmed, he would have. “What kind of demon are you Naruto?”

 

“Hey!” Naruto huffed, offended.

 

“I mean what kind specifically.” Gaara asked with a sigh, as if this conversation was suddenly trying his patients.

 

“Oh, you mean… I'm a fox, of course.” Gaara continued to look at him imploringly for several moments until Naruto got the picture. “…A nine-tails?” Naruto said, raising an eyebrow.

 

“Exactly,” Gaara continued as if to say `bingo!' …only with much less enthusiasm. “You were raised in an Inari temple, by Inari priestesses, and you are a kyuubi - of course the necklace doesn't hurt you. Foxes, and the kyuubi especially, are the favored and beloved messengers of Inari. None of the goddess' powers will hurt you but I do not belong to your goddess and cannot touch that necklace.”

 

Naruto looked crestfallen. “Oh…” he said, pulling the necklace back. “I see.”

 

Gaara saw the disappointment in Naruto's face and sighed. The sand in the rock garden stirred and a small amount of it arched in the air and settled in the space between them, forming itself into the shape of hand. “…I'll try.”

 

The transformation of Naruto's face was instantaneous. He smiled wide and dropped the necklace into the palm of the hand of sand. “Thanks a ton, Gaara. I owe you one.”

 

Gaara grunted a response and stared suspiciously at the necklace, now in his possession, as if it were going to attack him. When it didn't, the hand of sand became a fist around it and settled by Gaara's knee. “I can't guarantee it'll work. Normally I have at least an impression of that person's soul by having met them once. I don't usually take impressions off of objects to find people, especially objects that have been apart from their original owners as long as this has.”

 

“Even if you can narrow it down for me, I'd appreciate it.” Naruto started, suddenly much more solemn. “If I keep trying like I have been, Sasuke's going to find out something's up and… I'm not ready for him to know about her yet.”

 

I stopped breathing as I processed that. Did I understand that right? Naruto was trying to find some woman and he didn't want me to know about it…

 

“Why do you want to keep this from your boyfriend?” Gaara asked with the tone of genuine curiosity.

 

Naruto's back was to me but his head was down, staring at his feet. “Sasuke's not… my boyfriend… exactly…”

 

I didn't hear anything else after that. I braced myself against the wall because it felt like the ground had been swept out from under me. Then the beginnings of a chuckle startled me and suddenly I felt like laughing. `Of course I wasn't his boyfriend' I thought, the word for some reason sounding ridiculous in my mind. `When did we ever agree to that?'

 

I made a physical effort to get myself under control, took a deep breath, and walked outside. The motions were purely mechanical, I didn't even feel like I was really there. I kicked Naruto in the backside, “Oy, dobe. Get up, I need to go take a shower.”

 

“Ow!” Naruto glared at me over his shoulder. A perverse sort of satisfaction completely failed to come over me, I just felt numb. “A tap on the shoulder would've worked just as well, asshole!” I didn't answer him, just turned around and walked away. “Hey! Sasuke, wait up!”

 

I heard him scramble to his feet and chase after me but I didn't stop. I picked up my duffle bag and walked out of the room into the hallway. Naruto finally caught up with me and peered into my face, frowning. “Sasuke, what's wrong?” I knew he was sensing my unease and I silently cursed that ability of his. It always made it impossible for me to lie to him.

 

“None of your business.” I finally answered, entering Lee's room. I spotted his bathroom immediately and made a beeline for it.

 

“Sasuke stop!” Naruto grabbed my arm and I yanked it out of his grasp.

 

“I said it's none of your business!”

 

“Like hell! In case you forgot, we're joined at the hip! Your problems are my problems!”

 

“Yeah, and I know just how much you're enjoying that.” I said bitterly.

 

He blinked. “Huh? Where did that come from?!”

 

I shook my head and started for the door again. I didn't want him to know I'd been listening in on his conversation with Gaara. He grabbed my arm again just as I reached the door, “Sasuke…”

 

“Let go, damnit!” I snapped. Naruto pulled his hand away as if stung and that's when I remembered my power over him. “Shut up about it, Naruto! Just stay out here until I'm done.”

 

Naruto had opened his mouth to say something to me but immediately closed it in response to the order I'd given him. If looks could kill, then the glare he was giving me definitely would've but I neither flinched nor backed down. Quickly, I turned around, entered the bathroom, and slammed the door in his face.

 

Cursing under my breath, I ignored the stinging in my eyes and dropped my duffle bag on the floor. I quickly took off my karate gi and stepped into the shower, turning the water on as hot as it would go. As I stood there soaking I resisted the urge to punch the wall as I remembered the things Naruto had said. It was obvious that he was inconvenienced by his connection to me. Of course, it's not like being forced to protect someone who is in constant danger was something he would enjoy; especially if doing that was getting in the way of finding someone, a woman my mind supplied helpfully, who was obviously more important to him… than I was.

 

`So much for Lee's reassurances...' I thought resentfully. `If this is how Naruto really feels… maybe all of his affections so far have just been in response to my need for someone after all. No more than a demon bound by a spell, fulfilling the spell's obligations.' The thought made me feel sick to my stomach. I washed quickly using whatever soaps I found and stayed in the spray for a few more minutes trying to gather my composure. My reaction to all this finally had me admitting that I cared a lot more about Naruto and how he felt about me than I'd thought. A lot of good it did me now…

 

Another wave of dizziness struck me just then and I braced a hand against the wall to steady myself. It was gone fast but that extra sharp sight was back again. Along with the hearing; all of a sudden the sound of water hitting the tiled floor of the shower was deafening. I was looking to my feet as soon as the thought occurred to me and gasped. Stumbling back, I hit the wall of the shower stall watching as a huge transparent snake surrounded by a purple aura coiled itself around the drain near where my feet had been.

 

“Sasuke!” Naruto threw the door open, his need to protect me overriding my order for him to wait outside. The snake hissed angrily as if it knew it had been discovered and quickly darted around my feet before I could move. Just as Naruto reached the shower and pulled the curtains aside, it reared its large head and bit the ankle of my left foot.

 

“Shit!” I cursed, stumbling to get away. Naruto caught me before I could fall flat on my ass but before he could do anything about the snake, it disappeared through the wall. I heard Naruto use a few curse words in classical Japanese that I'd never heard before as he turned off the water and helped me limp towards the toilet so I could sit down. Wet, naked, and now cold, I looked around for something to cover and dry myself off with if only to have something to focus on besides the fact that I once again had to endure the humiliation of having been rescued. Luckily, my duffle bag was within reach. I quickly pulled my towel out and draped it over my lap.

 

To his credit, Naruto completely ignored my nudity and kneeled down in front of me to inspect my ankle. It was bleeding slightly and it stung, but that was about it. “It doesn't look that bad…” he said, still inspecting it and eventually heaved an aggravated sigh. “I'm sorry. I was late again.” He said shaking his head, genuinely angry with himself. “The bite will hurt for a while but it won't give you trouble. I'm immune to demon venoms so it should heal ok. You've got so much of my chakra in you by now that it should take care of it. In fact, you don't even feel human any… more...” He looked up at me and trailed off.

 

I had to admit that although I'd been listening to him I'd been a little distracted with watching how his aura flared and responded to his emotions. However, when Naruto finally looked at my face I was unsettled by the look of shock on his. “What?” I asked confused with the way he was looking at me.

 

“Stand up, Sasuke.” He said, getting up and reaching over to help me get to my feet.

 

“What? Why?” I asked, but didn't resist. There was something about the look on his face that made me uneasy and I decided not to argue. He helped me up and I quickly wrapped the towel around my waist before Naruto pulled me, limping to the mirror over the sink. I inhaled sharply.

 

My irises were red.

 

They were red the way Naruto's eyes glow red whenever he gets angry, but there was something different. I leaned over the sink to get a closer look and realized that the three tiny symbols of the curse mark from my shoulder were in my eyes. Some instinct told me this had nothing to do with the demon snake that'd bitten me just now. This had to be the reason I'd been able to see it in the first place.

 

I didn't realize I'd said that aloud until Naruto pulled me back and held my face level with his so that he could look into my eyes. “You're right, that snake should've been invisible to human eyes but… all of that demon chakra inside you must be giving you some of my abilities.” He was shaking his head, a worried expression falling over his features. “… But not enough to make a difference. I only knew to come help you because you freaked when you saw it. If you hadn't seen it and it had been something much worse, I might've never got to you in time. I'm tired of getting there too late. I won't be late next time, Sasuke. I don't care if you don't like it but I'm not leaving your side anymore.”

 

His words made my heart skip a beat and I was suddenly very aware that Naruto was still holding my face in his hands. I wanted so badly to believe that he really cared as much as he seemed to; that the look in his eyes right now was as honest as I wanted it to be and not a lie born of obligation.

 

His thumb was caressing the side of my face and he began to lean in slightly. I turned my head away and blocked his lips with the palm of my hand. I was screaming on the inside but I couldn't let him touch me when I knew he didn't mean it. Naruto stopped and gently removed my hand from his mouth, giving me a puzzled look.

 

“Just… just wait outside while I get dressed. Besides, you have to help me get my eyes back to normal before we can go anywhere.” I said limping back slightly, my ankle was still throbbing.

 

Naruto frowned, took a step back as if to fulfill my order but stopped abruptly and gritted his teeth, fighting the spell. He crossed his arms over his chest determinedly, the brief flash of confusion I'd seen in his eyes now covered up by stubbornness. “Nuh uh, no way. I already told you, Sasuke. You're not leaving my sight anymore. I can't protect you if you keep sending me away.”

 

“Fine! Then just turn around!” I said unwilling to argue.

 

Naruto sighed in relief as the spell released him and did as I asked, allowing me to get dressed as quickly as I could. As soon as I indicated I was done Naruto turned back around and crouched down to inspect my ankle again. It was still bleeding slightly so he looked around the bathroom and found a first aid kit under the sink. I sat back down on the toilet seat and let Naruto bandage the bite. As soon as he was done he looked up at my eyes again from his crouched position on the floor and shook his head. “I don't think there's anything I can do about your eyes, Sasuke. It's definitely because of my chakra but even if I could take it back I don't think I'd want to. It's probably a good idea for you to have demon sight the next time you get attacked by something anyway.”

 

I glared at him. “Oh, of course. It's also not going to draw any attention at all. Red is a perfectly natural eye color for humans.”

 

Naruto stood up and crossed his arms again. “Maybe you're just too worked up. I have to work to calm myself down when my powers get out of control. Maybe that's what you need to do.”

 

There was a knock on the door. “You guys ok in there?” Lee's voice said through the door.

 

I snatched my duffle bag off the ground in frustration and limped my way to the door on my own, refusing any more of Naruto's help. He thought I should calm down. I almost laughed. Thanks to him my emotions were a jumbled mess, my eyes were blood red, and I had just been bitten by a demon snake… Oh yeah, I was going to calm down real fast. I heard Naruto make a long-suffering sigh behind me and follow me out of the bathroom where I gave Lee and Gaara quite the surprise.

 

We sat together to have lunch after I explained what happened in the bathroom but I didn't eat much. I mostly watched Naruto inhale his udon, mumbling his regret that it wasn't ramen, and noticed Gaara give Lee a few worried looks as said taijutsu master ate the sushi on his plate with relish. The sand demon was undoubtedly worried about there having been a demon attack in their home and what that might mean for his human lover. My gaze returned to the oblivious Lee and for the next half hour that we sat, ate and chatted, I was overcome with a deep and guilt-ridden sense of envy.

 

00000

 

“What the hell, Sasuke?! What's with the cold shoulder all of a sudden?!” I felt a muscle twitching above my eye and started counting to ten… again. “Don't be such an ass! We could've gotten back to the apartment a lot faster if you'd just let me get a little closer!” Naruto was practically yelling at the top of his lungs. It seemed as though Naruto insisted that whenever he was angry, the whole world had to know about it. I tried to ignore the stares he was attracting and walked a little faster.

 

Late that afternoon after we said our goodbyes, Naruto had approached me intending to use his powers to transport us directly back to the apartment but there was no way I was going to let him get that close me again after everything that had happened. I ordered Naruto to keep a distance of five feet away from me unless it was absolutely vital to my survival and decided to walk the twelve blocks into the city to my apartment building instead.

 

My eyes still weren't back to normal so Lee let me borrow a pair of sunglasses before we left the dojo. Thanks to that I was able to covertly see every curious and offended stare shot in our direction in glaring detail as we continued to walk along the sidewalk with Naruto yelling at me from behind. “Stop being such a stubborn prick and let me help you! You're gonna walk the next ten blocks on that ankle just `cause you're mad at me??” I didn't answer; partly because the ankle was throbbing. I'd barely managed to stuff it into my shoes, what with the mild swelling and the bandage, but I refused to accept any more help from him and let my silence speak for itself.

 

“Fine then! See if I care! It's your busted foot Sasuke, not mine!” Naruto yelled petulantly. My hands fisted and I bit my lip. I was not going to rise to the bait and cause a scene in public. `Just keep walking, Sasuke.' I told myself. `Don't turn around, don't even acknowledge that he's there. He's just some loud mouthed psycho. You don't even know him.'

 

I shoved my way through the crowd on the city sidewalk, sighing in relief that Naruto seemed to have run out of steam.

 

Two seconds later, “Why're you so mad?! Look, I'm sorry I couldn't fix your eyes…”

 

“Shut up!” I yelled back, stopping in my tracks and turning around. Naruto ground to a halt and immediately stopped talking. I adjusted the sunglasses nervously and looked around. People were still staring, now especially since Naruto and I were standing still and blocking the flow of the crowd. I drew my attention back to Naruto in frustration, “We'll talk about that later, got it moron?!” I ground out, doing my best to indicate that this wasn't the time or the place. He glared but gave me one short nod.

 

Relieved that he was going to be quiet for a while, I began to turn around when a tall foreigner knocked into me. I stumbled toward the edge of the sidewalk and set my foot down wrong while trying to compensate. It sent an unexpected jolt of pain through my swollen ankle and I lost my balance. Naruto was there before I even realized what had happened. He grabbed me from behind before I fell into the street and I felt the rush of wind on my face as several cars sped by us at just that moment.

 

My heart was beating overtime from the near-miss but when I looked around, this time no one seemed to have noticed. I glanced up into Naruto's face and he raised his eyebrows as if to ask if I was ok, still unable to speak unless I rescinded my previous order. I swallowed hard and nodded, moving away from him to stand on my own. “I'm fine.” I said quietly and watched as he took a few reluctant steps back, putting the obligatory space between us. I squashed the guilty feeling that threatened to creep up on me and started to slowly make my way down the sidewalk again, moving as far away from the street as I could.

 

00000

 

I was limping pretty badly by the time we finally made it into the lobby of my apartment high rise. It was a cavernous space. The front desk was to the right of the doors, a lounge and bar lay on the left with the private elevators for residents directly in front. There was polished granite on the floors, the walls were covered in warm paneled Japanese cedar, a grand chandelier hung from a high ceiling, and soft music was playing over hidden speakers. It had always reminded me of an upscale hotel lobby. Itachi had always had more simple tastes than this but the apartment had been a gift from our father and he insisted that my brother could accept no less.

 

I was barely half way across the floor of the lobby when Naruto came around to stand in front of me, blocking my way. He glared at me and pointed to his throat. I sighed inwardly but nodded. “Go ahead.” I said, looking around. There were only a handful of people in the lobby; two security guards behind the front desk and a few residents in the lounge. Good, I didn't want to worry about someone overhearing something they shouldn't thanks to Naruto's lack of tact.

 

“Take back the five foot order and let me help you.” Naruto said seriously. I'd expected him to yell at me like he had outside but this… this was a quiet demand.

 

It made my blood boil. Why did he bother? He'd made it abundantly clear to Gaara that I was nothing but an inconvenience. The possibility that he might only be pretending to care stung worse than I cared to admit. “I don't need to do a damn thing and I definitely don't need any help from you. I made it here on my own just fine! I can make the last few feet to the elevator without you!”

 

I registered the hurt in his eyes with some confusion but never had the time to react to it. The next few moments happened in a matter of seconds but I remembered every detail as though it happened in slow motion. A loud groaning and cracking sound interrupted us and I watched as a large amount of dust rained down from the ceiling and onto the ground around us. A few quarter sized chunks of plaster clinked onto the floor between us and with a sudden sinking feeling I looked back into Naruto's face for a split second before my gaze was drawn upwards. The crack on the ceiling widened as I watched. The crystals on the grand chandelier chimed as it came free of the screws bolting it to the ceiling and fell a short distance before catching on the electrical wiring that fed electricity to the lights. Sparks flew as it hung swinging from the wiring for less than a second before the wire snapped under the weight.

 

For one ridiculous moment as the massive chandelier came free of the ceiling, I wondered how many times things were going to fall on me.

 

“Naru…” I started in a horrified whisper as I took a step back on my throbbing ankle, knowing that the chandelier was falling too fast and I would not get out of the way in time.

 

He was on me before I even finished speaking. With inhuman speed, Naruto shoved into me and we fell together, rolling away from the center of the floor. There was an enormous crash not even a split second later and we were covered in a rain of dust and crystal as the chandelier shattered on the floor inches away from us. I landed hard on my back with Naruto on top of me, shielding me from the debris.

 

“Naruto?!” I said trying to look into his face as soon as the danger was over. I hadn't been half as afraid for myself as I was terrified that Naruto had gotten hurt saving me.

 

Naruto shook his head, a small cloud of dust and plaster coming free of the blond locks, “Wow,” he said looking at the remains of the massive chandelier and then me. “You're not hurt are you?” he asked, concerned. I breathed a sigh of relief. If he could ask me that so carelessly then he must be ok.

 

“Uchiha-sama!” There was the sound of hurried footsteps and suddenly Naruto was lifted off of me and there was someone else behind me, helping me off the ground. “Uchiha-sama, are you alright?!” It was the security guards who had been standing behind the front desk. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the other guard dusting off Naruto's clothes and asking him the same question. That's when I realized Lee's sunglasses were hanging half off my face. I felt a rush of panic and quickly shoved them back on before anyone noticed and started asking questions I couldn't answer.

 

I cleared my throat to say I was fine but as soon as he let me go I faltered slightly on my bad ankle. Naruto made to come help but stopped suddenly, held back by the five foot order. The security guard reached over and grabbed my arm to keep me from falling. “Uchiha-sama, allow us to call a paramedic to see to your...”

 

“NO!” The guard looked at me in shock. “I… I'm fine I don't need any medical help.” With all the demon chakra in me, I was afraid they'd find more than just a bad case of red eye. “Naruto,” The demon in question looked up. I pulled my arm out the guard's grip, put my weight on my good leg and reached out to him. “My cousin; he'll help me up to our apartment. I'll be fine.”

 

I saw Naruto's lips morph into a barely restrained smile as he walked over to me and slipped between me and the guard. “I got this.” He said pulling my arm around his neck and grinning at the guards. I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes and allowed Naruto to steer me around the ruined chandelier to the elevators. As the elevator doors dinged and we entered I heard one of the guards mumble a confused “Cousin?” before the doors closed.

 

“Ok, what the hell Sasuke?” Naruto asked as soon as I hit the button for the top floor of the high rise. “Are these accidents gonna happen back to back like this from now on?”

 

I shook my head, “This shouldn't be happening. It's too soon. The accidents aren't supposed to get this bad until I'm much older unless…” My eyes widened and I quickly turned to Naruto. “You didn't see my father down there did you?”

 

Naruto raised an eyebrow. “I was a little busy diving under projectile chandeliers. Besides, I didn't think your old man was supposed to be back until tomorrow.” He was right of course but as the elevator dinged and the doors opened I couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. I had no explanation for the severity and frequency of the accidents today and I knew I wasn't going to be completely at ease until I found one.

 

Naruto helped me limp to the door and I let us inside. Despite my unease, once we closed the doors behind us I breathed an internal sigh of relief. In the week that Naruto and I had been here, I'd come to think of this apartment as a haven. It was the safest I'd felt since the death of my brother. I glanced at Naruto out of the corner of my eye as I carefully toed off my sneakers. I could see the turbulence in his chakra with my enhanced vision and as weird as that still felt, I instinctively knew it meant there was something bothering him. The brief sense of relief and triumph he'd expressed downstairs when I accepted his help was long gone.

 

Despite the fact that I was still upset with him I couldn't help a bit of reluctant curiosity. `He's probably thinking the same thing I am.' I thought as Naruto, uncharacteristically silent, steered me towards the couch in the center of the living room. `Something's happening with my curse. Something about today is different; something is making things worse.'

 

After I sat on the couch and got comfortable he brought my swollen ankle up, pulled the sock off and placed a throw pillow under it. I winced, both in pain and at the sight of it. “It looks more like a sprain than a bite.” I commented offhand. It was very swollen and there was a faint aura around the bandage as if it were emitting its own light; a violet slightly dimmer than the aura of the snake that had bitten me.

 

Naruto was staring at it with a concerned expression that was making me nervous, but before I could say anything he stood up abruptly and said, “I'm going for the first aid kit.”

 

“Naruto..?” I didn't know what I was going to ask but Naruto ignored me and disappeared into the bathroom. `Damnit, I shouldn't have to be worried about that idiot too.' I thought fuming. I didn't know if there was something wrong with him or if he was hiding the possibility that he knew something was wrong with me. Just then I felt the enhanced sight finally fading and took off Lee's sunglasses. I tossed them onto the coffee table carelessly and rubbed at my eyes with a short sigh of relief. At least for now that was one problem solved.

 

I looked up when Naruto walked back into the room carrying the kit, still quiet. `How ironic, I've been trying to get him to shut up for the past hour and now that he has, it's creeping me out'. He kneeled down in front of my ankle without looking at me and started unwrapping the soiled bandage. “Naruto?” I asked hesitantly. No response. “What the hell is wrong with you?” So… maybe I just couldn't take it anymore.

 

Naruto took the bandage off and tossed it aside then opened the first aid kit. “I'm sorry,” he said, still not looking at me.

 

I blanched, “For what?” That was unexpected.

 

“Dunno.” He said with a shrug.

 

I frowned, “Why are you apologizing to me when you don't even know what you're apologizing for?”

 

“Because I did something that made you mad but I don't know what it is.” He said and moved my ankle slightly to study the bite. I winced but kept silent. “… and then I failed you again.” He said looking at the wound for a moment before he shook his head and pulled out an antibacterial wipe to clean it with. “This is taking a while to heal but it's probably because you walked through half of Tokyo on it. You could've taken a bus Sasuke.” He said managing to sound both berating yet still contrite.

 

I looked away stubbornly, allowing him to continue cleaning the wound and then suddenly realized I hadn't asked him to. I looked back at Naruto and it dawned on me that all this time, Naruto had been voluntarily attentive. It made me want to believe the things Lee said to me earlier; that I wasn't just an obligation to him. That he really did feel something for me and that it wasn't a compulsion of the spell. But then I remembered the woman I wasn't supposed to know about and it all seemed like nothing but a pipe dream.

 

I hissed as he lifted my leg to re-wrap the bite. “Sorry.”

 

“Stop apologizing and you didn't fail me. Who knows what else that snake would've done if you hadn't gotten there when you did.” I meant the words but my mind was in so many places that I heard them as if someone else had spoken them.

 

“You mean better late than never?” He made a short self-depreciating laugh that shocked me back to my senses. “Next time it could be something that really can kill you. What if I'm late then?”

 

I barely noticed when he finished wrapping the new bandage. Naruto was beating himself up for this; for something I didn't even blame him for, for not preventing something no one could've predicted. He was upset about it, concerned for me, and that only made me feel more frustrated and angry. I didn't understand it and I felt something inside me that had been building up since early this afternoon finally burst. “Why do you care?! I'm obviously standing in the way of what you really want!” `Shit!' I half raised a hand to cover my own mouth but the damage had been done.

 

Naruto gave me this incredulous look, “What the hell are you talking about, Sasuke? `What I really want'?” Naruto stood up abruptly and glared down at me. “You don't seem to have a clue about `what I really want'. I didn't think I'd been that subtle about it for the past week but maybe I should spell it out for you! The only thing I want is you!”

 

Naruto's face flushed bright crimson and he paused for a long minute without looking at me. “I… don't know what's going through your head but if you think I see you as just some dumb human that I have to babysit from now till eternity then you're wrong. As long as this spell lets me stay by your side… I don't need anything else.” His voice had trailed off a bit by the end of his outburst and the flush had migrated to his ears. Naruto coughed unnecessarily then abruptly he grabbed the first aid kit and the old bandages and fled to the kitchen. I was still staring at the spot where he'd been crouched long after he'd gone, wondering if I'd really heard what I thought I had.

 

The sound of the faucet startled me out of my musings and I looked across the room. The kitchen shared space with the living room, separated by a long bar counter. Naruto was at the sink washing his hands, looking everywhere but in my direction.

 

Did I misunderstand? Was I jumping to conclusions? I thought back to what I'd overheard and wondered if perhaps I'd made a mistake. I hadn't heard the whole conversation. For all I knew this mysterious woman was Naruto's long lost third cousin or something equally as benign. `This isn't like me…' I was tired of speculating and tired of the jealously I was reluctant to admit -even to myself- that I was feeling. It was time I stopped acting like some stupid love scorned teenage schoolgirl and found out the truth.

 

When I looked back towards the kitchen Naruto had disappeared but I could hear him rummaging in one of the cabinets beneath the counter. I meant to ask who that woman was; to confess what I'd overheard. Instead what came out was: “Naruto, are you in love with me?”

 

Smooth, Sasuke. Real smooth. I wanted to crawl under the couch and die.

 

There was a loud clattering of pots and pans hitting the floor. I heard the sound of Naruto hastily shoving them back into the cabinet before he straightened up. Naruto's eyes darted all around the room as if looking for an escape route when he suddenly seemed to remember the small pot in his hands and turned his back to me to put it on the stove. “W-what did you say?”

 

I gripped the edge of the couch in annoyance. “Are.you.in.love.with.me?!” I said more slowly, as if he were especially dim or didn't speak Japanese. Then I kicked myself. I was embarrassed to have to repeat it, and not a little afraid of the answer so I'd automatically gotten angry with him. It was my defense mechanism, my shield.

 

I was an idiot. `That's exactly the way you ask someone if they love you,' I thought sarcastically. I groaned and buried my face in the palm of my hand.

 

“Y-yeah… I am.”

 

I froze.

 

My eyes darted back to the kitchen where Naruto still had his back to me. He pulled a pitcher of filtered water from the refrigerator and I watched as he poured some into the pot. His movements were slow, deliberate. He was bracing himself.

 

“S-since when?” Was all I could manage.

 

Naruto made as if to turn and face me but stopped half way. He opened a drawer to his right instead, the movement almost seamless. As if that's what he'd meant to do all along. “Since day two.” He said nonchalantly. He pulled a spoon out of the drawer and started fiddling with it while the water heated.

 

I felt my brows furrow, “How is that possible?” I said desperately. I wanted to believe him. I wanted to believe him so badly. “Nobody falls in love overnight and it's not like I made a great first impression…”

 

“It was the spell, okay?!” He said finally turning around to face me.

 

I sat there for a moment in stunned silence just staring at him as he confirmed my greatest fear. Wow… I didn't think it would hurt that badly. I noticed a trembling hand reaching up to clutch at my chest but I redirected it and wound up smoothing out my shirt unnecessarily.

 

Naruto must've felt that too because he dropped the spoon and almost ran out of the kitchen to me, “No! Sasuke, damnit!” he went back into the kitchen and quickly pulled something out of the pantry. “Don't misunderstand! This is still my choice. What I meant was you… you read the spell wrong!”

 

I looked up at him in confusion. Naruto was pouring something into the water. He found another spoon and stirred his concoction so fast I could see even from my vantage point that he was about to spill it. “That first day, I was a mess. It was like a tornado had gone through my head. I couldn't sort things out or sort through them but by the second day things were starting to fall into place.” He turned off the stove and poured the contents of the pot into two mugs. Grabbing them and a handful of something else he came into the living room and handed me a mug.

 

Naruto sat on the floor beside the couch and held my eyes with his. “I had all those memories of yours. I remembered the things you'd been through, the things you'd done. Birthdays, vacations, that time you got lost in an amusement park when you were five.” He said with a grin.

 

I groaned and turned away from him in embarrassment. In an effort to distract myself I took a small sip of what was in the mug and started. “Hot chocolate?”

 

“Unsweetened Belgian dark.” Naruto said with a smirk. That's when I noticed the other item he'd brought with him. He opened and upended four packets of sugar into his chocolate all at once.

 

“Itachi used to make this for me.” I said still shocked. My brother knew how our father treated me. It was rare when Itachi could convince him to let me stay over and it typically only happened after he flew into one of his rages and couldn't stand the sight of me. When I did come over, I was usually upset and Itachi would make me this same hot cocoa and sit with me until I felt better.

 

“I know.” Naruto said solemnly. Touched, I felt my eyes drawn back to his, as though his blue irises had a magnetic pull that I was helpless to resist. “All of these memories…” he started, bringing us back to the matter at hand. “I feel like I was there with you. I see them in my mind like I experienced them right along with you. There's nothing I can do about those memories, they're in my head now and they're not gonna go away. I feel like I've known you for your whole life; like I've been there with you every time you've had some important experience.”

 

“But you weren't.” I said weakly.

 

“But that's what it feels like and I can't change that. The spell gave that to me and I don't regret it. I mean, after seeing all those things, feeling all those things, knowing you like I do now because of it… It's still up to me to decide how those memories make me feel about you.”

 

I gripped my mug tightly, the heat seeping through the ceramic only slightly uncomfortable and completely ignored. “And…”

 

Naruto's smile was small, warm, and genuine. “… and I love you.” There was only a small amount of pink on his face now. As if it'd been easier to say the second time around.

 

I didn't even want to hazard a guess at what my face must've looked like. It was one thing to speculate about someone's feelings for you and quite another to know. “I…” I didn't know how to respond, all I knew was that it felt like some enormous burden had been lifted off my chest. Like I could finally breathe again and I realized in that moment how much I'd needed to hear him say that.

 

Naruto's smile widened a bit at my speechlessness but when I made to give some kind of reply he reached up and placed a single finger over my lips. “You don't need to say anything Sasuke. I have a bit of an advantage over you since it's only been a week for you. Even if you're not sure how you feel now, I figure I have an eternity to make you love me back.” He said boldly, taking his finger back.

 

Damn, how could he say that with a straight face? I turned away slightly, hiding my face behind the mug of cocoa. “It's not like I'm your… boyfriend, Naruto.” I said randomly, remembering his words to Gaara earlier today. It had been a struggle to get the words out, especially that one but I'd needed to say it...

 

Naruto took a sip of his cocoa, liked his lips, grinned at me and said, “Do you wanna be?”

 

I couldn't look at him. I knew my face was burning, there was just no way it couldn't be. I couldn't even speak. My throat felt tight and all I could do was nod. That was exactly what I'd needed him to say because now it was real. It felt … like something had clicked into place. Like a part of me that had been broken and incomplete was now whole. I'd never had this before, never thought I ever would and it felt so right. I'd been through a lot of dark times in my life but if that was somehow the price I had to pay to have him then I had no regrets. Deep down in a place where I was always honest with myself I admitted that falling in love with him wasn't going to be very hard.

 

I felt the couch cushion shift beneath me and looked up to see Naruto sitting on the edge beside me. He took the mug from my hands, setting it on the coffee table and placed a warm hand on my cheek. The world could've ended in that moment and I wouldn't have noticed. All I could see was the blue of his eyes slowly yielding to red in his emotional state and thought vaguely how well both colors suited him. So caught up was I that his lips on mine surprised me and I jumped. Naruto's lips had barely brushed me but he pulled back at my reaction, worried he'd done something wrong.

 

I would only realize that later because in that moment all I could think about was how he hadn't touched me long enough. So I brought my hand to the base of his skull, delighting in the feel of the short blonde hairs along my fingers before I pulled him forward into a bruising kiss. His lips on mine tasted like heaven, the sugar from his cocoa on my tongue was forbidden fruit. I was falling into him, loosing myself to him faster now that I knew there was no more need to hold back.

 

It was the first time I'd ever initiated a kiss.

 

Naruto seemed to realize that too and he growled appreciatively, deepening the kiss. He leaned into me and when that wasn't enough for him, I felt him shift. Naruto never broke the kiss and I was too caught up in it to care about what he was doing but I quickly realized what was happening when I felt his leg come to rest on the couch on my other side. When Naruto's weight settled on my lap he leaned forward, pressing his chest to mine and I hummed approvingly. He was warm and that warmth was seeping into me, filling the cold dark void that had once brought me to the edge. It seemed like ages ago that I had been so far gone that I'd longed for my life to end and now the one I'd hoped would be the instrument of my death had become my salvation instead.

 

Naruto tilted my head back and breathed a small sigh through his nose before gentling the kiss into something slow and savory. His tongue which had been warring against mine now moved in a gentle caress and I relaxed against him, letting him set the pace. He was right, we had all the time in the world.

 

He pulled back and kissed my lips once more, then moved his mouth along my jaw down to my throat. I turned my head slightly to give him better access and felt his tongue on my pulse. His small fangs grazed lightly against the skin alternating small kisses with gentle quips from his teeth and I shivered. My arms encircled him and held him tight, one hand remaining in his hair as Naruto abused a sensitive spot on my neck near the curse mark. The other hand sliding up his back feeling the heat of his body through the fabric of his cotton shirt.

 

There was a knock on the door. Naruto growled angrily and I tried not to laugh. As annoying and poorly timed as I agreed it was, seeing Naruto's frustrated and angry face when he half turned toward the door was almost worth it. There was another knock and he sighed dramatically and leaned back, sitting on my thighs. “We can ignore them right?” he asked pouting.

 

I snorted, “It's probably security making sure I made it up here in one piece. I better get it. I don't want them to try forcing their way in because they think something's wrong.”

 

Naruto raised an eyebrow, “You better get it?” he asked with a warning tone in his voice. “You're staying right here and off that foot, Sasuke.” I stared at him for a moment, then heaved my legs over the side of the couch and sent him sprawling to the floor. “Gah! What the hell, Sasuke?!” he said scrambling to get back up.

 

I smirked, “Just coz we're dating doesn't mean you get to order me around.”

 

“Damnit, Sasuke. You know it's not like…” I cut him off by grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him into a quick but gentle kiss.

 

When I pulled back I knew I was smiling and didn't care. The confused look on his face only made me smile wider. I caught a glance of the mugs of cold cocoa and sighed regretfully. “Why don't you make us another batch of hot chocolate and I'll send the security guards away. They'll probably want to talk to me anyway.”

 

Naruto looked at my ankle hesitatingly but eventually shook his head and picked up the mugs. “That foot's never gonna heal…” he grumbled under his breath as he got up and walked toward the kitchen. There was another knock on the door, louder this time and Naruto growled out an angry `coming!' as I got to my feet. The ankle didn't feel like it was in any better shape and I spared it a short worried glance before slowly limping my way towards the door. I was healing so fast these days that seeing how long the bite was taking was making me nervous. I didn't have time to think about that for long though because when I opened the door my stomach bottomed out and my blood ran cold.

 

My father grinned at me from the hallway, his demon Tobi was directly in front of me, hand poised to knock again at the door. Naruto was between us almost instantaneously. “Well, Sasuke?” My father asked, ignoring the threatening growls from the blonde demon in front of him. “Aren't you going to invite me in?” There was no dizziness to warn me this time when a flash of my enhanced sight returned and I panicked. I closed my eyes quickly, struggling to push it back and was surprised when it actually worked. Surprised but not relieved. I opened my eyes slowly, still feeling Naruto's chakra resisting my efforts to suppress it and hoped they hadn't noticed.

 

With a steadying breath I stilled my trembling hand on the door knob and my face went blank. I turned aside to let them in and when Naruto began to argue, I grabbed his shirt and pulled him aside so he wasn't still blocking the door. My mind was racing. What was my father doing here?! He wasn't due back until tomorrow! And as I watched him enter the apartment and do nothing more threatening than standing there taking his shoes off I felt an unprecedented well of anger stirring inside of me.

 

That anger frightened me a little. It'd been a very long time since I'd felt anything towards my father besides fear or indifference but having Naruto in my life had changed me. I was feeling things again and what I felt now was a simultaneous anger with that old fear because my father was violating the one space where I'd felt safe. He'd never come here even when my brother was still alive and indeed Fugaku was looking around the apartment with a deceptively innocent curiosity that validated that truth.

 

`He doesn't belong here', I thought angrily. I felt Naruto take the door from my hand and slam it closed, echoing my sentiment in his own more expressive way. My father turned around and shot a withering glance at the blonde demon, “Still haven't taught it any manners I see.”

 

Naruto glared, “I'll show you manners…” He said taking a threatening step forward.

 

“Naruto calm down!” I said alarmed when Tobi moved to confront him. I didn't want this situation to escalate. I knew Naruto was angry on my behalf for the things in my memories but right now my father and his demon weren't doing anything and if I could keep it that way and get them out of here quickly, all the better. My father didn't seem to be in any rush to leave however. He ignored both demon's angry posturing and walked further into the living room. Now that his back was turned I limped forward a little wondering at what he was carrying.

 

Fugaku placed his black brief case on the coffee table and turned to look at me holding a strange tall object. It was wrapped in a protective travel cloth the way you might wrap a sword only this was thinner and longer, like a staff. “I'm sure you're wondering why I've come back so soon. While in Boston, the Tokyo Police Department sent me this.” He pulled a folded piece of paper from an inside pocket of his suit jacket and offered it to me. I was still several feet away and showed a split second's hesitation at the distance. I didn't want to draw attention to my ankle or get any closer to my father but they both seemed inevitable. Naruto preempted me by walking forward and snatching the proffered piece of paper away from him before coming back and handing it to me.

 

Fugaku frowned first at him, then at me finally noticing the bandage on my ankle. “Somehow I thought the nine tails would be a better guardian than that.” He muttered disapprovingly. I ignored him and opened the letter. My heart sank. Reading the first line: `We regret to inform you…' I knew what the rest of it would say. “Your uncle always said he'd outlive me because he was a year younger, a pity for him he was wrong.” My father's lack of compassion was not surprising. He seemed completely unaffected but I on the other hand was devastated. I'd never met my uncle in person but we talked a lot over the phone when I was younger - before my father found out about it and put an end to it. Even from a distance, my uncle had been more a father to me than my real father. I took a moment to breathe, I would have to mourn my uncle later - I couldn't afford to show my father any weakness now.

 

Naruto gave Fugaku a glare and came to stand next to me. He turned his back to the other two so they wouldn't see and gave me a sympathetic look; silently giving me his support without them knowing. Probably in an effort to deflect away from the suspiciousness of the gesture he asked me a question he'd probably already figured out the answer to, “Ne Sasuke, why does your uncle's age matter?”

 

“Go on, Sasuke.” My father said suddenly, Naruto turned around quickly when he spoke. “I want to make sure your demon understands how important this is.” He was smirking at Naruto all of a sudden and it was only feeding my anxiety. I wasn't used to this side of him, the cold calm exterior, the way his gaze raked over Naruto calculatingly… even covetously. I didn't know what to make of it but I knew it meant trouble.

 

“The curse… you know that the intensity of the accidents increase with time…” I started, glancing at Naruto out of the corner of my eye and then shifting my gaze back to my father who was waiting for me to finish. “Well, if any of us manage to live that long by the time we get to thirty nine the curse gets more intense. The accidents go from external to internal, things our demons can't protect us from: disease, infections, etc. No one has ever made it to forty.” I looked at my father then with a dawning realization.

 

He smirked confidently and nodded, “I'll be forty in two months. Your Uncle thought he'd outlive me and take the family business from me. Well now he's dead and since the fool had no children it makes us the last of the Uchiha bloodline.”

 

His lack of compassion, unsurprising though it was, still burned me. I glared at him but quickly turned my gaze away out of habit. In the past even the wrong look had been enough to drive him into a rage which he wouldn't hesitate to take out on me. I knew with Naruto here he couldn't touch me but the fact that he was so relaxed and so in control of himself was unnerving by virtue of its unfamiliarity; especially with the revelation that he essentially had less than two months to live. He should be on edge, frightened, unhinged, but instead he was calm and confident.

 

`He knows something I don't.' I thought glancing back at the letter in my hand. I was about to fold it back up when I saw the date on the edge of the paper that denoted when it had been printed. “You got this at the beginning of the week...” There was a sudden crash of thunder outside and I looked out the wall of windows with a small confused frown. I knew for a fact it wasn't supposed to rain tonight but I could see rain clouds gathering in the sky, blocking out the last rays of sunset.

 

“I received the email the day I arrived in Boston. I stayed only long enough to exchange a few pleasantries and left your mother behind to put the finishing touches on our… business deal.”

 

My grip tightened on the piece of paper in my hand. I didn't care if he was my father, I was tired of playing games. “You and I both know mom doesn't help you with the business. If she's involved then it either has to do with your social circle or me.”

 

The smirk on my fathers face gave me chills. “I'm glad you're not as dumb as I thought you were. No, it wasn't an official business transaction and yes it had everything to do with you.” He handed the staff to Tobi, who took with a gloved hand, and started walking around the living room. Tobi held the thing away from his own body but stayed next to the couch, watching us. “You see, you're my contingency plan Sasuke. If I really die before forty I need to make sure you're at least married. Itachi would've already been having children by now but unfortunately I can only hope for the start of a pregnancy if that.”

 

I felt the blood drain from my face so fast that I was lightheaded. Naruto reached out and grabbed my arm, the look on his face both concerned and possessive but when it shifted back to my father it was downright dangerous. Fugaku stopped in front of the windows and peered into the darkness beyond, “The flight to Boston was an unfortunate but necessary risk. No matter how hard your mother tried she couldn't arrange an omiai* with any respectable Japanese families. Your brother's death was apparently the final straw. Even in this age people are still very superstitious and there's no longer a way to realistically hide the fact that Uchiha men tend to die young. It was clear if we were going to find you a fiancée we were going to have to look abroad.”

 

He started walking again, making his way back to us but I wasn't paying attention. There was no way… no way was I going to get married to someone I didn't even know, someone who wasn't… Naruto slid his hand down my arm and gripped my hand for a moment before he let go and took a small step away as if readying himself for a fight. He was still watching Tobi and I wondered briefly if there was something happening between them that I couldn't perceive. “We found a respectable, well-to-do Japanese American family to tie to our name and if all goes well you'll be married by this time next month.”

 

“No.” The lights went out for two seconds, simultaneous with a flash outside and almost immediately thunder crashed with a deafening roar. The storm was right above us. The look on my father's face after I refused was bone chilling and a part of me screamed in terror of defying him; screamed that I knew what would happen to me if I did. I caught the surprised look on Naruto's face and it strengthened my resolve. “That crash of lightning was for us. You've been here too long, you should leave.” `Before something happens,' I added in my mind. I wanted him out of here, not just because he was trying to ruin my life but because I did not want a repeat of what happened the last time we were in a room together for too long… not while we were on the top floor of this apartment complex.

 

Fugaku walked right up to me and I struggled against the urge to take a step back. I felt Naruto's chakra pushing back against my mental barriers again, struggling to come to my defense. “First you defy me by daring to refuse a marriage that will save our family, then you tell me to leave.” He grabbed me by the front of my shirt and hauled me forward nearly right off my feet.

 

“Sasuke!” Naruto moved to stop him but Tobi got between us with that thing that looked like a staff and Naruto actually stepped away from it nervously.

 

Fugaku glanced at them quickly before he said, “That demon's been a bad influence on you, Sasuke.” It was then that his gaze drifted to my neck and his face twisted into pure revulsion. He yanked the collar of my shirt down to get a better look, “A very bad influence...” He said repulsed. He pushed me back and my swollen ankle twisted beneath me. I gasped and Naruto was there in an instant to catch me before I fell. “I suspected you were a faggot Sasuke but not even I expected you would let it prevent you from fulfilling your duties as the Uchiha heir. Itachi would've never disgraced me in such a manner.”

 

“Why don't you shut your pie hole and get the hell out!” Naruto said, hooking an arm under my knees and picking me up. I'd have been angry with him for making me feel like such a damsel in distress if it weren't for the fact that I was Freaking Out. He knew… He Knew! I raised a hand to my neck where the hickey must've been and clutched at Naruto's shirt with my free hand when he started moving. He gave the other two a wide birth and eventually put me down on the other living room sofa. This one was farther away from them and much closer to the windows. I could hear the rain pouring outside like the heavens themselves had opened up.

 

“I see that Sasuke not only failed to teach you manners but any sort discipline at all. Not that I'm surprised if he's been too busy taking it up the ass.” His lip curled disgust.

 

I gripped the seat cushion as if I was holding on for dear life. “Get out.” I didn't even realize I'd said it until after it was out. I shot a terrified look back to my father but he appeared to be ignoring me.

 

Fugaku turned to his demon and nodded. Tobi mutely began unraveling the object in his hand and I heard a sharp intake of breath from Naruto as it was revealed. “I'm sure you recognize this, Sasuke.” My father began as the rings at the top of the staff chimed now that they were free. “This belonged to a Buddhist monk during the sengoku period. It's from our private collection.” I remembered it. The bottom of the staff was broken into a sharp edge and Tobi raised it into view when he gripped it with both of his gloved hands.

 

All of a sudden Tobi ran passed my father and raised the staff over my head. I didn't even have a second to react before I heard Naruto call out my name and get between us. Tobi swung and stabbed Naruto in the stomach with the sharp end of the staff. Naruto fell back and I heard the sound of wood cracking when the force of the blow embedded the other end of the staff into the floor in front of me.

 

“NO!” I threw myself off the couch and onto my knees beside him. This wasn't happening… Blood was seeping from the wound in his abdomen and Naruto gritted his teeth, holding back a scream as he reached out for the staff. But his hands kept stopping an inch before touching it as if he simply couldn't. In that same moment I felt a wash of anger and Naruto's chakra barreled through my mental defenses.

 

Naruto's red aura churned in absolute agony but even as it roiled in angry waves, it parted around the staff and I knew that was the reason he was bleeding. So I reached out, grabbed the staff and cried out when it burned my hands. I pulled them away in shock and Naruto grabbed my wrist. “Run.” He said with a gasp. Even with the agony I knew he was in he was still worrying about me.

 

I shook his hand off me, grabbed the staff again and heaved. I'd be damned and go to hell before I ran like a coward and left him behind! “It's not going to kill him.” My father said off hand. He had walked back to the coffee table while I was struggling with the staff. “Naruto, as it turns out, is unique among all the demons our family has collected. Stories have been told in our family for generations about the nine tails' incredible strength, resilience, and raw power. How the one who would finally summon him was destined to end the curse that was killing us. Unfortunately, there seems to have been some kind of mistake.”

 

I watched them out of the corner of my eye while I kept trying to remove the staff from Naruto's middle. Tobi wasn't moving at all, simply standing a few feet away awaiting his next orders. Fugaku sat in front of the table and opened his brief case. “I've dedicated my entire life to figuring out how to lift this curse and I know that I'm almost there but two months is not long enough. I need to live longer.” My eyes widened when he stood up with the spell book in his hand. “Itachi understood that and submitted himself to this experiment willingly. You see, I can't summon two demons from the tablets with the same spell, it wasn't created for that and the backwash of power could be fatal but… I consulted with a Shinto priest and learned how I could take the demon from someone who'd already summoned one.”

 

I pulled my hands away with a frustrated yell. The skin was an angry red and blisters were starting to form on my palms. I didn't care. My heart was racing. He was planning on taking Naruto away from me. “Fuck no!” Naruto screamed. He was struggling not to squirm through the pain even as he shot a glare at my father. “I'll NEVER obey you!”

 

My father smirked, “Very soon you won't have a choice. I will teach you to give me the respect I deserve and you will help me live long enough to break the curse. It's plain to me that the old stories got it wrong, it's not who summons you who will break the curse, but rather whoever possesses you.”

 

“Wait a minute, you said Itachi did this willingly?” I asked with a sudden sinking suspicion. “Why? He didn't have Naruto and taking his demon guardian away would be as good as…”

 

“He was not supposed to die!” My father snapped, his face morphing into the angry mask I was more familiar with.

 

Oh my god… “You killed him.” I was frozen in shock. “You said Itachi died in car accident… You even tried blaming me for it!”

 

“Itachi wasn't just coming to pick you up that day, he was rushing back to the manor to summon a new demon.” Fugaku was flipping through the spell book with an annoyed air about him. Like the death of his first born was an inconvenience he was trying to brush off. “I had attempted to remove Kisame from him but something went wrong and the demon died half way through the extraction. We were riding in separate cars from my office to avoid instigating anything severe or fatal but alas…” he shrugged and finally appeared to find the desired page.

 

“Alas…” I repeated under my breath. That's all the death of my brother was to him. Perhaps frustrating because he was the perfect heir but `alas', unfortunate.

 

“My motives were different back then. At the time I thought merely having another demon protector would be enough to elongate my life. Now I know that it has to be him.” He finished looking at Naruto with that same covetous glance from earlier… that same glance I now remembered from when I'd first summoned him.

 

I was more angry in that moment than I had ever been in my entire life. I grabbed the staff and pulled as hard as I could. Naruto cried out in pain but his cry was cut short when he coughed suddenly, blood spilling from his mouth. I froze, “Naruto?” I asked, terrified that I'd made the damage worse.

 

Naruto gasped, coughed again and spat the remaining blood in his mouth onto the hardwood floor. “M'ok.” He said quickly.

 

“Sasuke, step away from the kyuubi.” Fugaku said, voice calm once again. “If it console's you, then know that this shouldn't kill him.” He continued mockingly. “I discovered what went wrong the last time and all you'll have to do is return to the manor to summon another demon when we're through. I have the jet on stand-by, you'll get your new demon, get on the plane and be in Boston tomorrow in time to meet your new fiancée.”

 

My blistering hands stung but I kept pulling without turning to look at my father. “Over my dead body.”

 

Naruto's eyes widened but I gave him a subtle shake of my head. I was not going to let this happen. I was not going to run and I was not going to let my father take him from me. I was tired of being afraid.

 

“I'd rather not lose my last heir unless it absolutely comes to that so how about over your new friend's dead body instead.” My head snapped up and my eyes widened. It was the wrong thing to do. “What in hell has happened to your eyes, Sasuke?” He said in a shocked and dangerous tone.

 

It was the first time since my enhanced senses returned that I'd looked at him dead in the face but right then I didn't care if he knew. “How the heck do you know about Lee?!” I demanded and then in the next second it hit me. In front of Gaara, in front of that snake and now in front of Tobi. The protectiveness of Naruto's chakra while it pushed against my mental barriers. It was defensive against any demon that wasn't Naruto and the fact that it hadn't left me during my walk through Tokyo and even in the lobby… “You've been following me.” I said, the realization dawning.

 

Tobi turned his head to the side, looking at me curiously but Fugaku completely ignored what I'd said and once again demanded, “Why are your eyes red, Sasuke?!” I hissed and had to pull my hands away from the staff again. They were trembling slightly and they stung like crazy… but all I had to do was look at Naruto to ignore my own pain and keep at it. Naruto was tiring. He wasn't squirming as much anymore and a small pool of blood had formed on the ground around him, soaking into my jeans. I didn't care what my father said, with my enhanced sight I could plainly see how the staff was killing him.

 

I reached for it again when suddenly there was a hand in my hair slamming my back onto the floor. “You will answer when I speak to you!” My father spat in my face. I glared at him and braced myself with my arms. Using the ground as leverage I kicked up over my head with my uninjured foot to hit my father in the face. A gloved hand reached out and grabbed my foot an inch before the kick connected.

 

Fugaku fell back in shock while Tobi peered into my face more closely. “He's full of demon chakra.” He said without any infliction or emotion. I yanked my leg away angrily and he let me go. “The spell is affecting him differently.”

 

“What the hell does that mean?!” Fugaku demanded, grabbing the spell book and getting to his feet.

 

`You read the spell wrong,' echoed in my mind just as Tobi said, “It's a different spell.”

 

“What?!” No one had time to react. There was a flash of light and an explosion tore at the side of the building. The windows shattered inward sending broken glass and rain water all over the apartment. I ducked and covered my head just long enough for the glass to settle before I launched myself back to Naruto's side. My father screamed in rage seconds later as he got back up from where he'd been thrown. “This is your fault Sasuke! My counter spell won't work if you changed the original!”

 

I ignored him. “Naruto?!” He opened his eyes and looked at me in the semi darkness. That alone helped me breathe again. “We need to get out of here,” I said gripping the staff again. “Before lightning strikes again!” We needed to find someplace safe and I had to warn Lee and Gaara that my father had gone crazy.

 

“You've ruined everything.” My father said in a dark voice from halfway across the room. “You've refused to give up the demon, refused to fulfill your duties as a son of this clan, you are worthless to me now. Tobi!” I looked up the same time the other demon did. “Kill him.”

 

“Sasuke!!” Naruto cried out in a panic. His chakra surged inside me, reacting to his fear and lending me strength. I pulled again with all my might screaming as the holy staff burned the skin of my hands and with another sound of cracking wood the staff came free. Naruto screamed again and curled in on himself against the pain. His chakra immediately came together in a churning mass over the wound to begin healing it.

 

I fell on my back still holding the staff when Tobi flew into my field of vision with demonic speed. I could still feel the borrowed chakra coursing through my muscles, enhancing more than just my five senses, so I quickly turned the staff over my head just as he was right on top of me and thrust the sharp end of it into his heart. Tobi's hand stopped inches from my throat. He never made a sound but I could almost feel his black aura screaming. I watched it pull away from the staff the way Naruto's had; pull away from his heart. His body shuddered and I knew the wound was fatal.

 

My arms trembled as the enhanced strength began to leave me. There were no more demons around to threaten me so Naruto's chakra was drawing back. I pushed against the body above me and Tobi fell next to me, the staff still embedded in his heart.

 

“Naruto…!” He was still on his side, holding his middle. But before I could get to him my father got between us and slashed at me with a shard of glass the size of my arm. I wasn't fast enough to completely avoid it and fell against the couch bleeding from a long shallow wound on my chest. “Shit…” I cursed in shocked surprise. Fugaku screamed in incoherent rage and slashed at me again but that time I was ready. I ducked under his arm and grabbed his wrist, twisted it and forced him to drop the shard. He uttered a frustrated yell and slammed a fist into my swollen ankle. I screamed in pain and the next thing I knew his hand was back in my hair.

 

My head hit the floor with enough force to leave me shocked and dazed. I could feel the small glass shards digging into the side of my face as he held me there and brought another sharp object against the skin of my neck. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that if I didn't move now I was dead but it was a disconnected thought; I just couldn't focus through the pounding in my head. All of a sudden I felt a hot foul breath against the side of my face and the whisper of death in my ear. “You were always worthless, Sasuke but if I'd known you'd become such a monumental failure, I would've done this sooner.”

 

I waited for the inevitable but it never came. Instead Fugaku screamed in agony and I felt him release me. I waited only a moment, just long enough to get off the ground without falling back down again and looked behind me. Naruto was struggling to his knees, still holding his stomach, the pain clear on his face. He was staring at my father who was yelling as he removed a large piece of broken metal from his thigh. When Naruto noticed I was back on my feet he reached out a trembling blood stained hand to me. “Sasuke, quick… I can get us out of here.”

 

`Yes!' I moved to take his hand but just then Fugaku tackled me onto the sofa. I struggled to get away but I was still a little dazed and he was over-powering me. Then I remembered his wound so I reached out, grabbed his thigh and squeezed. “Gah!” His hold on me weakened and I scrambled up and over the couch, falling onto the floor behind it.

 

“Sasuke!”

 

Damnit, while trying to put a barrier between my father and me, I'd separated myself from Naruto. I'd barely come to realize that when my father jumped over the back of the couch right next to me. I cursed again and got to my feet too quickly. The apartment spun in my vision and I stumbled backwards on my bad ankle until my back hit something that creaked and yielded slightly against my weight. I looked behind me and my heart leapt into my throat. It was the window frame or what was left of it. Behind me on either side there was nothing but air.

 

I felt the wind whip through my hair and buffet against me. Fugaku grinned. He quickly blocked my escape and thrust a hand against my neck, choking me. I raised both hands to try to pry them away but I was dizzy and exhausted and he was stronger than I was. “No one to save you this time.” He said just as I saw Naruto get to his feet behind the couch.

 

Naruto's eyes widened. “NO!” Fugaku shoved hard against my neck. The twisted metal frame I was leaning against gave way and I fell.

 

My stomach bottomed out as I dropped from the 22nd story of my apartment building. It wasn't two seconds later though that I saw Naruto run passed my father and jump out after me. “Are you crazy?!” I called terrified.

 

“Shut up and take my hand!” He was falling a few feet above me and reached out to me with his hand again. I raised my arm to take it but he was still too far away. We were falling fast but in that moment it felt like an eternity.

 

“I can't reach!” I yelled against the rush of the wind in my ears. I stretched and felt my fingertips brush his. There was another flash as lightning struck the top of the building again, blinding me momentarily. I heard Naruto call my name in a panic and that's when the worst pain I'd ever felt exploded at the back of my head and everything went black.

 

00000

 

Darkness.

 

Silence.

 

I was surrounded by nothing.

 

Was I dead? No… no, this was so unfair. This wasn't what I wanted anymore. I wanted to live…

 

“Sasuke!”

 

Suddenly I could hear a voice as if muffled through layers of cotton. I opened my eyes again and the darkness was interspersed with splashes of color; blurred images that made no sense. “Sasuke!!” Sensations were beginning to come back to me slowly. It was wet, cold and there was an excruciating pain in my abdomen that made me want to gasp but my lips were forming another word instead.

 

“SASUKE!!”

 

The blurred images came into slightly better focus. Someone grabbed me and shook me. “We have to get you out of here now!” There was a flash of blond hair and heals clicking against concrete as they pulled me away… away from what?

 

“NO! I can't! Sasuke!!” I looked at the ground and there were two people bending down to pick up a prone unresponsive form. There was red everywhere. `Blood…' a terrified thought echoed in a different voice, `so much blood.'

 

It was a body.

 

My body…

 

00000

 

The pain was what woke me. I ached everywhere but above it all was the worst headache I'd ever felt in my life. I groaned but didn't dare move. Mercifully, the pillow beneath my head was soft and the bedding that covered me was warm. I was as comfortable as could be expected but I was also confused. Where was I? “Shh, lie still and drink this.” Someone put a straw to my lips and that's when I realized how thirsty I was. The cool water went down my dry throat like ambrosia. I coughed just as the straw was taken away and had to grit my teeth against the new onslaught of pain that one act had brought. “I can give you something for the pain but it'll only take the edge off. If you need it I'll give you something stronger once you've had a bite to eat.”

 

It was a woman speaking. I felt her hold a pill to my lips and the pain was so bad that I didn't care what it was. I let her slip it into my mouth and swallowed it with a few extra sips of water. She took the straw away again and for several minutes I just lay there and breathed until I could open my eyes. It was dark but there was a small lamp lit somewhere in the room that filled the space with a gentle glow. The woman leaning over me with a concerned expression was blonde and I stared at her a moment. Her face seemed… familiar somehow. “How are you feeling?” She asked quietly.

 

Something about her made me feel more at ease. I instinctively knew I could trust her so I was honest. “Like someone dropped a building on me.” I managed, my voice slightly hoarse.

 

A smile tugged at her lips and she sat back in her chair as though relieved, “Close. You fell from the top of a twenty-two story apartment complex and landed on your head.” The small smile wilted as her eyes took in the rest of my body, “The impact killed you.” My eyes slowly widened in shock. “Naruto ended up using his body as a lifeboat for your soul until his chakra could repair your body enough for you to return to it.” She sighed and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I still don't understand how the hell he did that or why it worked. From what he told me your death should've killed him too but honestly, I don't think even he knows how he did it.”

 

Naruto. My eyes widened. “Where is he?!”

 

She indicated with her chin the space behind me and I turned my head as much as I could until I caught him in my peripheral vision. Naruto was lying down next to me. “Naruto?” He didn't respond. I could see his chest rise and fall as he breathed and that immediately put me more at ease but… “What's wrong with him?” I made to raise my hand to touch him but it felt heavier than I expected and I looked down. My hand was lying above the covers and was already gripping his. Bandages had been wrapped around them to keep them together. Seeing those bandages made me become aware of several things at once.

 

My entire body felt like it'd been shoved through a meat grinder. The hand that was holding Naruto's didn't hurt at all but I could feel the stinging pain in my other hand like the skin was raw under the bandages. I could feel all the little cuts and bruises that covered my arms and face, right down to the big one on my chest. The bandage around my head was tight and itchy, my ankle still felt the way it had when I'd first been bitten but the leg above it hurt a lot more, probably from the fall. All this information about my own injuries came to me in a split second but the one thing that disturbed me the most was what I saw on Naruto's abdomen. It was wrapped in bandages and I could see where blood had seeped through them. Naruto could heal injuries in the blink of an eye. To see him in bandages carried such a deep sense of wrongness to it that I turned my head back to the blonde woman.

 

“He's… sleeping.” She began and the sincerely worried expression on her face stopped me from whatever I'd been about to say. “It's like I said, he's healing your body. You were dead for a good five minutes and even after he got your heart beating again… you were in very bad shape.” The way in which she said it made it clear that was an understatement. “He wouldn't be separated from you, wouldn't accept that you had died. It was the amount of chakra he was expending that finally caused him to slip into unconsciousness. He was… is essentially using his own life force to support two people, one who was almost mortally wounded and another who should for all intents and purposes be dead.” Her gaze moved to our joined hands. “Knowing that touch made your connection stronger, he tied your hands together before he passed out.”

 

“Is that why he isn't healed yet, because he's using all his energy to heal me?” She hesitated a moment at my question, then nodded. “I was there when he was stabbed.” I said with a deep sense of guilt. “I know how bad that injury is. He needs all his strength. Why haven't you untied us yet??”

 

Her gaze drifted to Naruto with quiet concern laced with affection. “Because you could still regress and if you die, he dies.”

 

I shook my head slightly and grit my teeth against the renewed pounding at the back of my skull. My head felt like it was splitting in two. “Untie me. I'm fine now, the curse won't…”

 

“I'm not talking about your curse!” She hissed drawing her gaze back to me sharply. I blinked in surprise and fell silent under that sharp stare. “Don't you think I know exactly how bad his injury is?! Neither one of you are `fine'. I would love to untie you and put you both in a hospital but that's not possible right now.” She took a deep breath and ran a hand through her hair, messing up her pigtails. “He cares more about your life than he does about his, that's why it would kill him. He made me promise not to untie you and swore in exchange that he wouldn't die. So I'm holding him to that… he's never lied to me before.”

 

I looked at her curiously and after a moment said, “You… know Naruto?”

 

“Oh I'm sorry, I never introduced myself. My name's Tsunade.” At the lack of recognition on my face she frowned slightly, “Didn't Naruto tell you he was looking for me?”

 

“Naruto didn't want his boyfriend to know because he was afraid he might misunderstand.” A new voice said behind her. I shifted my gaze to look over Tsunade's shoulder just as Gaara came into view. If there was any lingering anxiety left in me it was gone in that moment. He nodded to her respectfully but kept a polite yet notable distance. I felt a flash of my enhanced senses as Gaara stood there but they receded just as quickly once they recognized he was not a threat.

 

Tsunade sighed and stood up, smoothed out her pantsuit and gave me another look. “I'll go find you something to eat.” She said, just as my stomach rumbled. I nodded to her gratefully but wondered as she walked away if I would have the energy to eat. I was hungry but so exhausted I could sleep for a week.

 

Gaara took her seat after she left. “Who is she?” I asked remembering the familiarity with which she'd spoken of Naruto.

 

“She's the priestess who raised Naruto. You could call her his mother.” My eyes widened. “Naruto and I brought her up to speed with what's been going on. She's been helping us hide you.” Wonderful, I'd made a complete ass of myself to Naruto's mother. Wait a minute.

 

“Hide me? What … what's going on? What happened?”

 

Gaara regarded me curiously, “What do you remember?”

 

“I… remember the fight with my father… I remember him attacking us and…” I trailed off and closed my eyes for a moment. Thinking hurt.

 

“Tsunade said it was possible you might not remember everything with the blow to your head. We would've taken you to a hospital if your father didn't have so many doctors in his pocket but Naruto said he could heal you better if we left it up to him so we did. You can relax, we're safe for now.” I opened my eyes again and looked at him. `For now'? He saw the question on my face. “When we were at the dojo, Naruto gave me his necklace so that I could help him find Tsunade.” A mound of sand rose up from the ground next to him and the end of it formed itself into a closed fist. It opened up and the necklace tumbled out, dangling between its fingers. “What we didn't know was she was using it to find him. Late that evening she showed up at the dojo looking for Naruto. It turns out that the necklace is also warded because it's a protection charm so she was … annoyed that I had it and eager to get it back to him.

 

“Lee and I … accepted her request to show her where you lived.” I raised an eyebrow when I realized Gaara paused every time he was downplaying Tsunade's reactions. “When she was pulling up to the building we saw both of you fall from the window. Naruto survived the fall, you didn't.” Gaara was speaking in the same familiar monotone as always but I noticed how tense he was and how his hands clenched and unclenched. His body language betrayed his cool exterior and I wasn't sure how to react to it. So I pretended not to notice and let him continue.

 

“Naruto wouldn't move until he got your heart beating again. Then we got you both into the car and got out of there. We were going to go back to the dojo but Naruto told us your father knew about us, had threatened to kill Lee and the dojo was the first place he'd look. So we snuck into Tsunade's hotel room and hid there for the rest of the day until Tsunade could book us on an overnight train to Hokkaido. That's where we are now.” I blinked, it was the most I'd ever heard him say all at once and I was immediately struck by how bizarre it was that I was more surprised by that than by the things he'd actually said.

 

I sighed quietly and decided I was too tired to react too strongly. At this point I was a little overwhelmed and just didn't have the energy to do anything but nod and agree, no matter how odd the story. I'd freak out about… almost dying later. “Why Hokkaido?” I asked with eyes half lidded. I was exhausted and the pain killer was making me groggy. I wasn't going to last much longer but I was curious.

 

“There's an onsen* attached to a Shinto temple to Inari in Hokkaido where Tsunade says we'll be safe. You got more problems than just your father, Sasuke.” He said, his eyes drifting to my ankle.

 

I shook my head. I'd deal with that later. “Lee?”

 

Gaara's gaze went from my ankle to a corner across the room I couldn't see. “Sleeping.” I saw the protectiveness in that gaze and gripped Naruto's hand tighter reflexively. I was suddenly sorry that I'd gotten them involved. Gaara brought his gaze back to me, “Lee's on board with whatever you need.” He saw me start to shake my head and cut me off before I could say anything. “I agree with him.”

 

I blinked in shock. I'd expected Gaara to be pissed at me for putting his lover in danger but his next words would force me to reevaluate my opinion of him yet again. “You and Naruto are friends, and we have precious few of those. Lee and I agreed that if we did nothing while you needed help then we didn't deserve the bond we had with you.” Gaara looked me right in the eyes, “Bonds like these are what make life worth living, they define us and it's up to us to protect them with everything we are. That's what Lee and Naruto taught me. I cherish my bond with Naruto and I will always be there for him if he needs me.

 

“The one you've made with Lee is similar and he's eager to prove himself a good friend to you.” He paused contemplatively, “Lee's never had this before. For that alone I owe you my gratitude.” Gaara stood up and the hand of sand dropped the necklace onto my left palm. “Give this back to Naruto when he wakes up. I don't like holding onto it.” I tried to curl my fingers around it but couldn't close my hand.

 

“Hey wait, can you untie my hand from Naruto's before you go?” I asked hoping he would help me before Tsunade came back.

 

Gaara stared at our joined hands and actually gave me a mildly incredulous look. “If you can't do it yourself, you're not ready to let go of him.” I frowned and attempted to lift my left hand. It trembled and the necklace slipped from it and onto the bed but I was only able to lift it a couple inches before I let it fall back. My whole arm ached just from that. “You fell off the top of a building, Sasuke.” He reminded me what I thought was unnecessarily. “Get some rest.”

 

I sighed in mild frustration and closed my eyes, taking his advice. I hoped Tsunade wouldn't wake me to eat anything. I was too tired to care about being hungry, too tired to care about anything except perhaps the hand I was holding above the bed sheets. I was worried about him but tried to console myself with the thought that no one else was panicking. Naruto would be ok, and as long as that held true, then so would I.

 

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I'm trying to stay away from Japanese in this fic but:

 

1) Omiai: This is a meeting arranged by a go-between where parents from two different families bring their heirs to meet for the first time to see whether a marriage can be arranged. This is still practiced today. O.o

2) Onsen: hot spring.

 

AN mini: The last scene was kind of an apology. My boyfriend told me to leave it on a cliffhanger but I just couldn't do that to you guys after waiting so long for this update. Please let me know if you guys like it! Reviews are a great motivator to help me keep writing, even the not-so-nice ones. Thanks!