A/N: Ahahaha… I know, I know. This was supposed to be a oneshot story, but since so many people liked it and encouraged me to add more to the story, I present to you Chapter Two! Spiffy, ne? I'm still not too satisfied with this, but I hope this will make the story more complete! Thanks again for everyone who took the time to read and give me a review!

Drifting halfway between dreamland and reality, Naruto started to feel cold. His body still felt leaden, but he was barely conscious of the sounds around him. When the wind suddenly picked up, he shivered then sneezed. He sniffled before sitting up and shaking his head.

Still hazy from his nap, it took him a while before he noticed his surroundings and found that Sasuke was looking at him. "Hey, teme. I thought you left me alone… again," he added on the end, just to emphasize his point and hopefully make Sasuke guilty.

"I had things to do." Well, if he was guilty, he sure did cover it up nicely. Sasuke turned away and continued to stare at the scenery in front of them.

Naruto put on his pouting face and crossed his arms indignantly. When he finally realized that Sasuke wasn't paying any attention to him, he stopped and crossed his legs, holding his shoes and leaning forward.

"Ne, ne, Sasuke? Now that you know that I, uh… Well, you know…" he muttered, not really wanting to say it. "Do you… Do you like me?"

There was a few seconds of silence before a monosyllable broke it. "No."

Naruto leaned back and ducked his head, trying to show his disappointment. "Oh…" the sound barely slipped out of his throat. He stared at his hands and blinked a few times, thinking that Tsunade and Sakura wasn't kidding when they said the side effects of the herb was worst than death.

"I'm… going then…" he stood up and tried to look as cheerful as possible.

"To where?"

"… I haven't seen Iruka-sensei in a while…"

"Me neither." And with that he confused Naruto to no end. As he stood and turned, Sasuke saw the incredulous expression on his face and flatly said, "Just because I don't like you doesn't mean I'm going to avoid you like the plague."

"Oh…" he said, but this time with a grin.

"Hurry up, dobe. It's getting late."

---

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto happily cried out as they reached the room. He put his hand on the knob and turned it, wrenching the door open with a bit too much force. On his face was his wide grin, eyes pressed together from the extremity of the smile. When he did open them, his jaw dropped and he turned cold with shock. "I-Iruka-sensei?" he choked out.

"What's wrong, dobe?" Sasuke strolled in as well. When he saw why Naruto was in such a state of surprise, he too froze on the spot and blinked.

"Uh, hey… You two…" Iruka lifted his right arm and waved weakly to them, a crooked smile on his lips.

"Why are you two…?" Naruto's shock ebbed just a bit and he could finally say something again.

Nervous laughter filled the silent room, except for the rhythmic "scrth, scrth, scrth" of cloth rubbing onto cloth. "From what I got from Tsunade and Sakura, an herb. An evil, vile herb."

Kakshi was latched onto Iruka's left arm, affectionately nuzzling his arm. His visible eye was closed and he was obviously content with his position but Iruka looked annoyed. The teacher sighed and looked at the two with an expression that you usually see on a mother. The expression that mothers wore when they were aggravated with their child but couldn't punish them because the kid didn't know they were pushing her to her limit.

"So that's why we haven't seen Kakshi-sensei in such a long time…" Naruto muttered under his breath. The wheels in his brain took a while before they clicked. "Kakashi-sensei likes YO—" a hand clapped over his mouth and cutting off his sentence.

"But how come he's like that? Naruto isn't latching onto me like a bloodthirsty leech," Sasuke pointed out, struggling to keep Naruto quiet. He was equally as surprised, but it would be rude to just burst out saying that.

Iruka raised an eyebrow. One because he was obviously uninformed that Naruto was also affected by the herb and two, because Naruto just tried stating the obvious. Again. So it was Sasuke… he thought to himself before answering the question.

"Kakashi was the one who found the herb. Unfortunately, he wasn't aware of the effects of the herb and held it for a good hour, trying to see if it was one of the normal plants," he paused here to sigh again, "Him not being too good at remember things like the color or shape of leaves sat on the spot before deciding that even if it was an old herb, it wouldn't hurt to show Hokage-sama."

The continual sound of Kakashi rubbing his cheek against Iruka's sleeve went on as the two tried to let everything sink in. Naruto had calmed down and stopped struggling, so Sasuke let go.

Wow… It would be scary if I held that herb any longer than I did… Naruto admitted, scratching his head.

"So!" the teacher perked up and beamed at them. "How you two been?"

---

Naruto laughed and poked Sasuke once they were out in the streets again. "Aren't you glad that I'm not like Kakashi? I wonder how long he'll be like that. An hour!" he shook his head, still chuckling.

As excepted from Sasuke, his only reply was a "Hn."

"Gee, Sasuke…" Naruto started talking in a slightly louder than average voice. "It sure is getting late. Aren't you hungry?" He nudged his teammate in the stomach playfully.

"Yeah, I am, now that you mention it." Naruto perked up, wondering if he would bring him out to eat again. "I'd better get home and make dinner…" he muttered and started to turn away. He left the blonde quickly.

"Teme!" Naruto yelled after him his face contorted with disappointment and anger. "Hmph…" Well, what did I except from him, anyway?

---

"Eating here by yourself, Naruto-kun?" Ayame asked the boy as she put down a bowl of ramen in front of him. She waited for him to snap apart his chopsticks and say "Itadakimasu!" and take a bite before he answered.

"Sasuke-teme wouldn't treat me anymore, so I came here by myself…" he explained between slurps.

She laughed at his childishness and said, "Is that so? Poor Naruto-kun…" she went back to her job and left Naruto with his food and thoughts.

I'd better go back to Tsunade after this… Who knows how long it'll be before the effects of the herb goes away… he thought to himself meditatively. It sure feels lonely without Sasuke to bother… The thought drifted lazily around Naruto's head and he sighed. Suddenly realizing what he was thinking, he shook his head. Must be the effects of the herb, he decided quickly.

"Do you… Do you like me?"

"No."

The memory of rejection left Naruto mortally depressed. He was able to forget about that for half the day, but now that he was quiet the events rewinded themselves and repeated. His usual cheerful grin gave way to a frown. He went through the actions of paying and left.

"Naruto-kun, you're not going to have another bowl…?" Ayame called after him. She looked at the bowl. It was only half finished. I wonder what happened to make him so sad?

---

Somehow Naruto managed to get to the Hokage's building, even in his drifting state. He opened the door quietly and shuffled in, completely deprived of his normal cheer. He saw Tsunade sitting in her chair, looking at Sasuke. They both turned to him when they heard the quiet creak of the door.

"Naruto!" Tsunade greeted, noting his calm entrance.

"Hn," Sasuke walked past him without another word. If "Hn" could be considered a word… Naruto watched him leave, completely dejected.

"Eh, Sasuke… Not again…" the Hokage shook her head and returned her attention to Naruto. "What brings you here, Naruto-kun? If it's about the herb, I'm sure you'll be glad to hear that we have some more information!"

Naruto perked up, but only a little bit. "Really?" he walked closer to the desk.

Tsunade nodded briskly. "Some of our ninjas were brave enough to sacrifice their time for our experiments. It seems that the longer you are exposed to the herb, the longer the effects will stay and the more irrational you will act. A few seconds, like in your case, seems to last only two weeks… or so… An hour or more will leave you completely childlike for a good month or two. We're still trying to find a cure for this, but we are definitely going to keep this herb away from the public until then!" She picked up a few papers and put them back in their piles. "If there's nothing else, Naruto, you may leave," she said without looking up. She already knew that he was dazed and not paying attention.

"Huh, yeah… I'd better… go…" he said absentmindedly and scuffled out again.

"Those two cause me the most headaches," she said quietly and took out a sake bottle from her hiding place.

---

I thought he wasn't going to avoid me like the plague… Or so he said. Naruto thought heatedly. His depression changed into frustration when he started thinking about it. He hadn't done anything wrong, so why was Sasuke treating him so coldly?

Driven by bursts of random fuming thoughts, he didn't pay attention to the speed he was walking at. His mouth was set in a scowl as he turned the corner too quickly and fell back from the impact of something. Hard. Bony. Painful.

A small yelp of surprise made its way out of Naruto's mouth as he felt his arm being caught seconds before he hit the floor. A hand snagged onto his collar as well. In the dusky hours as now, it took him a bit before he realized who was holding him up. Or rather, hanging.

"Dobe… Watch where you're going…" his savoir panted out, roughly pulling him back up.

"Let go," Naruto growled and pulled away hastily. The two of them stared at each other vehemently before Naruto finally gave up. "Sorry…" he muttered.

A small snort came from the other. "Whatever, dobe. Where were you trying to get to in such a rush? Bowling people over like that…"

"It's all your fault, Sasuke!"

"Okay, yeah, it's all my fault for making you run into me," he scoffed, jamming his hands back into his pockets and resuming his sulking pose. This is very illogical, he thought to himself as Naruto rambled on about something.

"… if you didn't treat me so indifferently I wouldn't have gotten mad at you!" the blonde finished, nearly yelling at him.

Sasuke turned his head away so that he wasn't facing Naruto. "So?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Naruto's jaw tighten and his hand turn into a fist. Sasuke nonchalantly took out one of his hands out of his pockets and blocked the hit, holding the fist and looking back at him.

"Well, aren't you the overemotional one?" Sasuke scolded at him like he was a child, which only resulted in an even angrier Naruto.

"Teme…" he growled warningly, trying to pull his hand back but not succeeding to do so.

He smirked when he saw Naruto struggling. Keeping the same distance between them, Sasuke started to talk again. "Remember what I said? I don't like you," he sneered. He watched as Naruto's expression turned in something that could be described as "I want to kill you so badly, but I want to break down and cry."

"Let go!" he yelled, his voice low.

Sasuke pulled him closer to himself so that he could see the forming tears in Naruto's eyes. "Exactly. I don't like you…" he paused and chuckled. He leaned in so that his words would tickle Naruto's ears. Sasuke could see the slight trembling from his holding back.

While Sasuke took his time to say his next words, some passerbys stole some curious looks at them, wondering why they were in such a position. They shrugged and continued on their way home. Whatever those two were doing wasn't any their concern, right?

Suddenly Naruto's body relaxed and went limp. He was still standing on his own but he lost his composure. The words ran through his mind over and over again. Why? Why, Sasuke He thought as his shuddering became more violent.

Several moments passed by and they still stood like that, Sasuke's breath coming out in even puffs and Naruto's coming out in more irregular intervals.

"I love you, dobe…"

Sasuke opened up the blonde's fist and placed his palm flat against it. Then he laced his fingers around Naruto's and brought it down again. He pulled back and stared at the crying blonde.

He sighed. "I was afraid of this…"

"Teme! You scared me so much!" he sniffled again and wiped his eyes.

"Hn," Sasuke snorted.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked as they started walking down the ever darkening streets.

"What, dobe?" replied in his uncaring voice. Darn it, how could he conceal his feelings so expertly?

"Does this mean I can hug you?"