It was only flashes of awareness. Naruto crying, being carried, Kakashi talking, hospital wall, Visitors, the word troublesome. The last thing he recalled was an unbearable pain as a woman reached into his mind and unjumbled everything.

The tendrils of exhaustion bound him tightly to the bed. His entire body felt weighed down by sand, his mind lost in the fog. Still, he willed himself awake if only just for a moment. His eyes strained against the near-blinding light of a full moon.

Naruto was there. She used his bed as a pillow while she slept in a chair, a dopey smile on her face. The slightest dribble of drool stained the sheets.

"Naruto," Sasuke choked out. Seeing Naruto had lifted the fog from his mind and things became clear. Itachi had gone after Naruto, and he had saved her. Somehow he had done the impossible and pushed Itachi away. He nudged Naruto on the arm again. "Naruto."

Naruto stirred and let out the same grumpy groan she always did when he woke her up. With the smack of her lips, she sat up and looked at him, eyes still heavy with sleep. "Watchu wan Bastard?"

Sleepy Naruto was high on the list of his favorite Naruto's. A fair amount of that fondness stemmed from the fact that sleepy Naruto was also a cuddly Naruto. With great effort, Sasuke scooted to the side and flipped the blanket over. "Let me hold you."

"Mkay," Naruto mumbled, her dopey smile returned as she crawled onto the bed next to Sasuke. She collapsed and buried her face into Sasuke's shirt. Moments later she began to snore.

With Naruto in his arms, Sasuke allowed himself to slip back into sleep.

XXXX

Sasuke let out a yawn as he walked home in the middle of the night with a bag of groceries in each hand. He would have preferred to wait until morning to get these things, but for one Naruto had asked him to get them, two she was suffering from something Sakura called Mother Nature's Gift. So he had to be the one to get feminine care products for his girlfriend.

He really just liked to think on that thought. Naruto quick to proclaim that she was his girlfriend. Despite the fact that he was still just The Bastard, but he was her bastard. Naruto was his girlfriend, his dorky, loud, excitable, spazzy, hyperactive, girlfriend.

"We're here to take you to Orochimaru." Sasuke was vaguely aware of the four ninja that had appeared in front of him. Of them, only the redhead stuck out. He wondered how Naruto would have looked with red hair.

Sasuke stepped to the side and continued to walk home, he had a girlfriend that was in mild discomfort to get home to. "Not interested."

"What?!" The redhead shouted, they all began to walk after him. "Listen here shithead we're offering you a chance to get power that you can't get in this shit-hole of a village."

"Don't care, now quit following me." Sasuke continued to walk down his path unerred by the temptations of Orochimaru. When he felt the four of them continue to follow him he let out a deep sigh. "If I leave the village Naruto would be upset with me, and I'd also be away from Naruto, so I'm not going to leave the village to join Orochimaru."

"But don't you need to get stronger than Itachi?" One of the males said. "Orochimaru can do that you know, he can make you strong enough to beat Itachi."

"I already beat Itachi." Sasuke shrugged sure he had been knocked out and Itachi only ran because Jiraiya was nearby but it was still his victory. Naruto was still here with him. And nothing was going to change that. "Besides I only want to get stronger to protect Naruto."

Not so much to protect Naruto as to bail her out of whatever trouble she got herself in. Being targeted by an evil organization? He'd be there. Too much paperwork? He'd be there. Out of ramen? He'd be there. Need for cuddling? He'd be there in a heartbeat. Couldn't do that if he was with Orochimaru.

"Like hell, we'd believe that!" One of the males shouted The Group as a whole made the grave mistake of challenging Sasuke's ability and his patients. They all fell before Sasuke's Susanoo.

He didn't even spill the milk.

There was no way he was going to leave Naruto just because some old guy offered to train him.

XXXX

"So you're just leaving me?" Sasuke did not hide any of his disdain at Naruto's most recent declaration. She knew that he would react like this. That's why she didn't want to tell him until just now… an hour before she left. "To train with some perverted old guy."

"I resemble that remark," Jiraiya interjected with the same unearned pride he had whenever he claimed to be a super pervert.

Sasuke shot the old man a dirty look and pointed towards him as though Jiraiya was all the evidence he needed why it was a bad idea.

"It's not for that long," Naruto mumbled, not quite willing to meet Sasuke's gaze. She didn't want to go, well she did, but she wanted him to come along too. But she knew that he couldn't. It wouldn't be safe for him. And even if he wanted to be the one to protect her, there was no way she was going to let him do all the fighting.

Sasuke let out a low growl and corrected his posture. "Three years isn't that long?"

Naruto winced and gave Sasuke a shrug.

"That's longer than you've been my girlfriend!" It did seem like a long time when he put it like that. Actually just putting into words made it seem like a long time. Three years. Three years without Sasuke, ramen, Sasuke's cooking, or Sasuke's bed. "I'd be fine with it if you would let me come too!"

An image of the Kyuubi eating Sasuke shot through Naruto's mind like an arrow impaling itself into her desire for Sasuke to be there with her. "I can't it'll be too dangerous."

She regretted those words instantly.

His eyes narrowed at her. "Why?"

Naruto sucked on her bottom lip. She looked to Jiraiya begging for his help -he pretended not to notice her. "I umm, well I wanna come back and show you how sexy and awesome I am after three years."

"Bullshit."

"The Akatsuki is after me?" Naruto said like it was a question.

"All the more reason for me to be with you in case Itachi shows up again."

"Last time you were in a coma for a month!"

"I gave up a chance to train with Orochimaru to stay here with you." Sasuke's words were as cold as ice and there was a desperation in his voice. Cracks in the ice began to form as the hidden truth began to melt away. "Please, don't leave me alone Naruto."

His plea struck a cord in Naruto that reverberated throughout her body. Dropping her bag to the ground Naruto hugged onto Sasuke as a desperate need to remind him, both of them; that they were not alone anymore.

"I will be back I promise. And I never got back on my promise!" Naruto whispered into Sasuke's ears. His arms wrapped around her and pulled her in tight, desperate not to let go. "But you need to stay here okay?"

Moments that lasted an eternity passed between them like sand in an hourglass. Before at last Sasuke nodded. "Just, just tell me why my, why is Itachi after you."

It was Naruto's turn to squeeze Sasuke for fear that he might flee from her once he learned the truth. So much of what happened to Sasuke stemmed from the Kyuubi, it only made sense for him to hate the Nine-Tailed Fox, and her because she held it.

She nestled her head into his neck, her voice was little more than the wind as it carried her most terrible secret. "The Kyuubi is sealed inside of me."

Silence drifted between them and then Sasuke grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her back. For a moment she feared his rejection. Then he kissed her and she felt like an idiot. But she was his idiot.

"When you come back we're getting married."

"Yea, okay." Naruto nodded happily. She picked up her bag and began to walk away, with every step she looked back to Sasuke with a smile on her face. Whatever came at them in the future they would face it together.

He followed them all the way to the gates. And when he was nearly out of earshot Naruto spun on her feet and shouted at the top of her lungs. "I Love you Bastard!"

AN: so yea, partially due to beta reasons and partially because I want to be done with this fic, I'm ending it there. I'll eventually have a fic that has a good ending but I think this is actually fairly standard ending for me.

If you're not too mad at me check out my other fics, notably Fox's Illusion.

Ending this fic also opens up a slot for a possible Naruto x Fem Sasuke story y'all have been bugging me for, Still need to find an idea for that. But anyways. Thanks for reading! Sorry if the ending was disappointing but it's better than just leaving the fic on the side of the road!