--A Little Game of Touch and Go—

Note: I changed Kyuubi's name back to Noah because it conflicted with Naruto's mom's name. Sorry for the confusion.

The morning came with many hopes toward the new day. Some to be fulfilled, others to be completely turned around.

Haku and Iruka left the village in the early morning hoping to get back the mansion before noon. Elsewhere, a certain sleepy fox was awakening to a bright new day.

---

"Noah, no. Just five more minutes." Naruto slurred lazily. His face was currently being squished under the force the kit's moving paws. It keened lowly as if to say, 'No way!'

"No fair." The blonde propped up onto his elbow and stroked the foxes' back with his free hand. He gazed at the opposite side of the room where, through the window, he could see the sun rising over the mountains in the distance. A sigh escaped him as he watched.

"Pretty, ne?" He asked Noah, moving his attention to the back of his ear. "I wish everyone else could see this." His head fell down and he drew his knees to his chest. Noah jumped off after being forced out of his position.

"Mom…I'm scared. This is the fourth night that I've had that dream and I…I'm not sure that it's a dream anymore. Haku, please come here soon. Come home soon." Noah returned to the bed, laying down at Naruto's feet, silent whimpers slipping out.

While the two weren't paying attention, a figure snuck into the room and approached the blonde.

---

"You seem to be in a good mood today, Sasuke." Itachi pointed out as he walked into the Dining Hall to see his brother almost literally dancing on air.

Sasuke stopped all movement and glared at his brother. "I'm not any different than usual." He claimed.

"So Naru didn't kiss you last night?" The young Uchiha's back went as straight as a board. 'Damn that all-knowing bastard.'

"Friggin' stalker." Sasuke muttered.

"Ah, so I was right!" 'He was guessing?!'

"I hate you. You know that?"

"Aw, Suke-chan is so mean!"

"Haku's not here, you know. You don't have to act like that."

"But I really miss him and he's coming home today. I'm just really excited."

"Honestly, what kind of king are you? Getting all love sick when he's only been gone for a day." The prince let out a breath of exhaustion and annoyance.

"Oh please, like if Naruto left for an hour, you wouldn't be all Hell, fire and brimstone with the servants."

"Like hell I would. Just because he kissed me last night doesn't mean I care at all for that dobe."

"AHHH!!" A scream echoed through the mansion, catching the attention of the quarreling brothers.

"That was Naruto!" Itachi confirmed. They both ran upstairs to their guest's bedroom and kicked open the door.

---

"I wonder how everyone's doing." Iruka mumbled as they walked along the path.

"I don't know. I hope Naru's okay though. I can't explain it, but I have this strange urge to punch Sasuke into tomorrow." Iruka laughed nervously at the comment.

"I could bet safe money that Itachi is worried about you." The tanned man pointed out.

"Great." He rolled his eyes.

"To be honest, I've never seen him act like this. It's really funny when you compare him to the way he was before you got here."

"Hm?"

"Well, before he never talked to anyone. The only response you'd get would be a 'hn' or a deadly glare. He seems genuinely happy. I hope you can continue to keep him happy in the future." Iruka chuckled lightly at the blank expression on Haku's face.

Haku turned red and faced another direction. "It's not my fault he's a weirdo."

---

"Gaara?! What the hell are you doing to Naru?!" Sasuke started to fume as soon as he saw the compromising position that Gaara and Naruto were in.

Gaara was sitting on Naruto's hips and pinning the blonde's hands above his head. His face was mere inches away from Naruto's. Naru had a deer-caught-in-headlights look and a frightened quiver in his lip. He starred at Sasuke almost gratefully.

Sasuke saw Noah attacking Gaara's ankle out of his peripheral vision. 'Help.' Naruto mouthed.

"I'll give you five seconds to get off of him and leave." The younger son of Satan stalked forward to the bed.

"What if I don't want to?" Gaara asked coyly, lowering his head further. Naruto squirmed and kicked. He bucked Gaara up and kicked him in the stomach, knocking the red head off of the bed.

"Little tease. Don't think you're getting away this time." Gaara went back for the bed as Naruto rolled off of it and onto the ground.

"FIVE!" Sasuke let loose his powers and his eyes burned red. Before they started fighting, Itachi took Naruto out of the room so he didn't see anything too violent.

No more than a few moments later, Sasuke swung the doors open with a semi-satisfied look on his face. Behind him, Gaara laid in a crumpled heap on the ground.

Three people went into the room, gathered the body, and took it downstairs.

"I called them to take him to the dungeon. I'll let Haku take over when he gets here." Naruto suddenly felt sorry for Gaara. 'Serves him right though.'

"Are you okay Naruto?" Itachi asked. He could feel Naruto's body shaking.

"Y-yes, I'm fine. I'm sorry I caused problems for you." He looked down out of shame.

"It was no problem. I'm sorry we didn't tell you what kind of person Gaara could be."

"Don't worry about that. I know now. I-If you guys don't mind, I'm going to just hang out in my room for a bit." Naruto was let out of Itachi's hold and he walked into his room, closing the doors lightly behind him.

"I'm going to go check on the detainment." Itachi waved shortly as he walked down the stairs. "Don't do anything I wouldn't."

Sasuke chose to ignore the last comment and knocked on Naruto's door.

"Ye- hic. Yes?"

Without asking permission, Sasuke let himself into the room. Naruto was sitting on the floor, not far from the bed, and his hands wiping furiously at his face. Sasuke swept over to him with his arm around his shoulder and down on one knee. He hardly noticed Naru flinch when he placed his arm around him.

"Are you okay?" The older one in the room asked, very concerned.

Naruto didn't say anything; he just looked at Sasuke and started bawling into his shoulder. This is where Sasuke started to feel awkward since he wasn't much of the comforting type. He simply held onto the other until he could feel the shaking subside slightly.

"I'm really sorry. I don't know why I…" His hand subconsciously went to his right shoulder.

Sasuke moved the hand out of the way and saw a dark bruise glaring up at him from the tanned skin. He stood up and towered darkly over Naruto.

"He did this?" It was spoken menacingly and it frightened Naru.

"It-it's okay. It'll heal within the day. So don't worry." Naruto tried to calm the other man down.

"So he did?" Pale hands clenched until nails breached skin. "If Haku doesn't kill him…"

Naruto again felt something akin to pity for the soon-to-be-female Gaara. "Sasuke?"

Sasuke looked down at the blonde on the floor, "hmm?"

"We're friends, right?" Naruto asked as he got up and sat down on the bed. He patted the spot next to him, indicating that he wanted Sasuke to sit down.

Sasuke plopped down, and let out a jaw popping yawn. The adrenaline from earlier leaving him drained. "Yeah, you can call it that," he agreed, slipping his eyes closed.

"Good."

The raven opened his eyes when he felt a weight on his shoulder and immediately his vision was clouded by gold. He lifted the body slightly to look at his eyes which were shut lightly, a slight purring, rather than a snore, emitting from him.

Sasuke laid back with Naruto's head on his chest and slipped into sleep as well. With his last few lingering moments of consciousness, he tenderly stroked Naru's golden hair.

"Something like that," he whispered with a smile on his face.

"SASUKE!!" The door to the room was slammed open.

"What the hell?!" Sasuke jolted up along with Naruto. He noticed a very angry Iruka with a mass of blubbering flesh attached to his leg.

"Welcome back?" Sasuke said, unsure as to why his servant was so angry.

"Fix. It. Now." Iruka lifted his leg forward to show that the bawling form was actually Kakashi.

Sasuke closed his eyes tightly. He didn't want to give those accursed books back to the pervert in fear that he might try to corrupt Naruto again but he couldn't take it out on Iruka too. 'Got it.'

"Kakashi…" He snapped his fingers a few times to get his attention. Rising from the bed, he stood before Kakashi.

"Why don't I give you the day off to go do whatever you want with Iruka?" 'That way he can take it out on Iruka, but in a better and, dare I say, more productive way.'

"Now I remember why I love this job!" And faster than you could say 'sex', the two were gone leaving nothing but a cloud of dust in their wake.

"Well he got over that fast." Naruto shook his head sadly. "Wait a minute. If Iruka's here then that means… Haku's back!" He scrambled off the bed as fast as he could but in his haste his foot got wrapped up in the blanket and tripped.

"Be careful!" Sasuke yelled and caught him but his foot stopped short and caused him to fall forward, pressing Naruto down onto the bed.

"Ahn!" Naruto cried out in surprise.

And that's what Haku walked in to see. Naruto pinned down onto a bed, clearly not of his freewill. Sasuke hovering above, hands on either side of Naruto's head and his expression as guilty as Haku thought he was.

"Wait a minute Haku! I can explain, I was just-"

WHAM!

Haku flung Sasuke into the wall and off of Naruto. He hugged Naruto tightly.

"Ah, Naru! It's been so long. Have you been okay? Did you have fun on your little trip? Did you miss me? I missed you so much! And – Ugh! What is that hideous, bleeding, thing on the wall over there?!" Haku pointed shakily at the wall on the opposite side of the room. A gross mess of flesh, blood, and dignity was oozing down the surface.

"That's um, Sasuke…Haku, why did you throw Sasuke into a wall?" Naruto looked at his cousin worriedly.

"I did that?! Well, he must've deserved it for some reason." Haku glared as Sasuke staggered to his feet.

"Are you okay, Sasuke?" The blonde asked, concerned. He walked over and helped the prince up.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks." Naruto assisted Sasuke to the bed. While Haku's back was turned for a brief moment Naruto whispered quietly to Sasuke, "let's wait a while before we tell Haku about Gaara, okay?"

Sasuke would've disregarded Naruto's plea if it weren't for the baby blue eyes imploring him to be silent. He shook his head and sighed in silent submission.

Naruto rushed up to Haku and hugged him tightly, "I missed you so much. You're not allowed to go on a vacation that long without me again." He smiled up at his cousin.

"Yea, yea, I wouldn't dream of it. Now, that walk made me really hungry and while judging from how fast Kakashi ran out of here with Iruka, I can probably guess they won't come, but I think we should have breakfast." Haku nodded as though agreeing with himself.

"That sounds good; I'll go downstairs and see how it's coming along." Sasuke made his way out of the room quickly.

Just as Haku was about to leave the room as well, Naruto grabbed his shirt, effectively stopping him. "Hm?"

"Haku…I… There's something that we need to talk about. I have a feeling you know what I'm about to say." Haku turned to face his cousin, a sad but knowing look upon his face. He nodded, confirming Naruto's fears.

"I want…no I need to know what happened exactly." Haku saw, in Naruto's eyes, more seriousness than he ever thought the boy possessed.

With a heavy sigh, Haku relented and sat on the bed, signaling Naruto to join him in sitting. Letting another large breath out, he began. He told Naruto everything, from the game of tag at the waterfall to Iruka finding them in the forest.

"They fought with all they had… to protect us." Haku spoke softly, caressing the other's hair. One of Naruto's hands was fisted in the sheets and the other was wiping furiously at his eyes.

"Haku I… I love you Haku, even though you lied. I know that you were just trying to protect me, but right now I…" He didn't finish, he just ran out of the room with the rest of the power that he had left in his drained body.

"Naru-!... I'm so sorry…Naruto." Haku could no longer hold back the tears. The tears he had been holding since seeing his family die right in front of his eyes. The tears he held back when he had learned that his brother's wife and his niece had been killed. The tears he held back when he should have let them go.

He was startled when he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up. It was Itachi. He didn't know what came over him, but he wanted nothing more than to bury his face in the older man's chest and bawl his eyes out, and so he did just that. Itachi just sat there, rubbing soothing circles on Haku's back and cooing sweet, nonsensical sounds.

-------

Naruto ran blindly through the castle, tears streaming down his face. He was fully content with just running until he couldn't run anymore until he ran into a small but firm chest. Knocked off balance, he was ready to fall but a large hand clasped around his wrist to prevent him from hitting the ground.

"Naru, are you okay?" Iruka's soft voice asked, very concerned. That was when Iruka saw the tears. "Oh dear, Naruto." The older man wrapped his arms tightly around the blonde.

Out in the hallway, where all the servants and maids could see, Naruto cried like a child, sobbing as though in mortal pain and in all actuality, he was, mentally.

"I-I-Iruk-k-ka, I…I just…Mooooom!" Naruto choked out. Iruka nodded and hummed softly as though trying to calm the boy. Noah keened lowly behind him, worriedly.

Kakashi stood from the door way with a serious and solemn look on his face. He turned his head down as though watching Naruto cry was a sin in the act alone.

'Poor child.'

An hour later found Naruto curled up in a tight ball on Iruka and Kakashi's bed. His eyes red and puffy and tear marks stained on his cheeks. Iruka sat on the bed with him, stroking his hair and listening to the quiet purr Naruto let out once in a while.

"Do you really think that he'll be okay?" Kakashi asked, looking up from the book he was reading in the chair across the room.

"Naruto is very strong, but even this will shake him for a while. That's as to be expected, even so, I believe he will be okay. I mean, he has us doesn't he?" Iruka smiled down at the boy and kissed his forehead affectionately.

"Yes, that boy certainly has a way of getting under your skin," Kakashi smirked and stood, approaching the man on the bed. He swiftly bent down and stole a sweet kiss from him.

The tanned man smiled as his counterpart made to leave the room when something struck him.

"Kakashi? Where exactly did you get that Icha Icha book?" Iruka quirked a brow and snickered as Kakashi quickened his pace to leave.

---------

During the same time lapse, we find two people lying comfortably on a bed; one spooned tightly into the other.

Itachi was rubbing up and down Haku's arm in a calming gesture. Nearly silent sounds of breathing were coming from Itachi as the older man had his nose pressed against Haku's hair, getting lost in the scent.

"Itachi…" Haku mumbled, he was so close to drifting to sleep and Itachi's ministrations weren't helping him in the slightest in the means of staying awake.

"Hm?"

"I don't know why you stayed, but I just want to…thank you." Haku turned his head and kissed Itachi's forearm that was wrapped around him.

"Haku I-" but the change in Haku's breathing pattern changed, interrupting him. '-and you're asleep. Great.'

"When will I ever get the opportunity to tell you seriously that I…" Itachi silenced himself and settled for simply enjoying the time that he would have with Haku. Within a matter of moments, Itachi slipped into the welcoming gift of sleep.

----------

It was when lunch rolled around that Sasuke began to get worried about the others. He wandered around the mansion looking for everyone. He started in Naruto's room only to find his brother and Haku asleep on the bed and snuggled together. Apparently, he made some noise as he closed the door because as soon as he stepped one foot away he heard a loud crash followed by a 'Pervert!' After that, he checked Haku's room, the garden, the kitchen, under the couch, everywhere. Somewhere along the way he picked up Noah and was cradling him in his arms.

It wasn't until he ran into Kakashi that he was told Naruto was sleeping in his and Iruka's room.

"You should just let him sleep for now, he'll be down within the hour, so don't worry." Kakashi smiled evilly.

"I'm not worried; I just don't want the food to go to waste is all." Sasuke shouted defensively and left the other man in favor of going downstairs to eat.

He found Itachi and Haku already eating so he joined in. There was a different kind of tension between the two that Sasuke couldn't quite name.

After lunch, Sasuke sat down on the couch in the living room with a good book and a comfy looking Noah on his lap. And that's exactly how Naruto found him a half hour later.

"Hey, sorry for disappearing like that earlier." Naruto mumbled apologetically. Sasuke could see some sadness in his eyes like he just wanted to give up but the look also told him not to ask about it.

"Hn. S'okay. We already had lunch but we saved some for you in case you were still hungry." It was then that Naruto's stomach decided to make itself heard.

The two sat down at the kitchen table, Naruto, with a bowl of beef ramen and Sasuke sitting across from him. The blonde ate slowly, which startled Sasuke a little. His eyes held a gazed look down at his bowl like it held all the secrets of life in its murky waters. A few times that he wasn't paying attention he missed his mouth and got it on his face. He placed the wooden chopsticks down and sighed, lightly closing his eyes to the world around him. When he opened his eyes he noticed Sasuke looking at him with a strange glint in his black orbs.

Before he could ask Sasuke what was wrong the other was out of his chair and licking up a stray noodle from the side of Naruto's face.

The tan face went bright red and he let out a very girly squeal. "Wh-what the-, Sasuke?! What are you mmmph!"

Naruto's eyes widened considerably when he realized just whose lips were on his. 'What? What's this…feeling?'

TBC…

Nomi: So just how long has it been? God, I'm sooooooooo sorry and I hope that you can find it in your hearts to forgive me. I'm kind of going through a mid-yaoi crisis…um…you see…it's like…I don't love SasuNaru as much as I used to (I still like it though). But, I'm trying really hard to work on my stories without half-assing them.

Mol: I guess its okay. I'm just glad you're still trying.

Nomi: Thanks. So I'll just write the usual stuff now. If there's something you don't understand, tell me and I'll clarify it in the story. If there's something you don't like about this update, tell me and I'll try to fix it. If there's something you want to see in a future chapter, let me know and I might add it.

Mol: By the way, she re-changed Kyuubi to Noah. Sorry, for the confusion but she promises not to change it again.

Nomi: Anything else?

SOL: Yes! I want smut!

SG: Porn!

Naru: Oh noes!

Haku: Touch him and die! –glarethreaten-

Everyone: Ja! R&R please!

SOL: Vote porn for president!

Quote of the day: Nobody ever really dies a virgin because life screws you every chance it gets.