Lately, I just haven't really had the drive to update any of my stories, even though I always promise myself not to wait too long in between updates. However, it seems like my life always takes up almost all of my attention and gives me less time to update. So for those readers who are still here, thank you for putting up with my highly irregular update schedule. I don't mean to make you guys wait months between updates. Well, enough of my apologizing, let's start this chapter! It'll be from Naruto's perspective and will take place at the same time as the previous chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

'Thoughts'

Moving around in the kitchen, Naruto was preparing dinner, trying his hardest not to make a lot of noise so he wouldn't wake Sasuke up. As he was working, Naruto took a moment to think about how the young man he picked up had suddenly occupied most of his current thoughts.

Why am I getting so attached to this kid? The plan was to bring him along and just drop him off in the city somewhere, maybe have a quick fuck along the way. Now, I definitely can't abandon him and just using him for a quick fuck seems wrong. The worst thing about this is that I may be falling for him.

Naruto shook his head and continued to cook.

"I can't fall for the kid. Not only do I barely know him, if those guys found out about him…" Naruto muttered to himself. Suddenly, the blonde was shaken out of his thoughts by his cell phone vibrating on the counter. Turning off the stove, Naruto walked over to his cell phone and accepted the call.

"Hello?" Naruto answered.

"Bro, where are you?" The voice on the other end replied. Recognizing the voice as Kyuubi, Naruto sighed.

"I'm at home Kyuubi, what do you want?" The blonde said, grabbing a plate from his cabinet and piling food on it.

"Did you forget? We have a meeting tonight and we kind of can't start it without our fearless leader present." Naruto groaned.

"I completely forgot. Look, I'm leaving right now. I'll be there in a couple of minutes." Naruto hung up and starting rushing around the kitchen, grabbing some tinfoil to put over the plate of food. Writing a quick note to Sasuke, sticking it on the plate and placing the plate in the fridge, the blonde rushed out of the kitchen and out of the apartment, making sure to lock the door behind him. Jumping onto his motorcycle, he started the engine and raced down the street to the usual meeting place, not afraid of being stopped by cops. Naruto lived in the part of town that cops were afraid to patrol since most of the residents did not have very positive encounters with law enforcement in the past.

A few moments later, Naruto stopped in front of a run-down looking building. The exterior was covered in graffiti and most of the windows were either boarded up or broken. The area where the front door should have been was also covered with a strong looking board and secured in place by other boards that were nailed to it. Ignoring this, Naruto headed down a nearby alley towards the back of the building. Pulling a key out of his pocket, the blonde unlocked the door, which looked brand new and out of place on the old building. Once inside, he relocked the door to make sure no unwanted visitors entered and headed down a dimly lit hallway. Walking past cobwebs and empty rooms, Naruto finally reached the room at end of the hallway. Opening the door, he walked in and headed towards a table where about 7 other people were already sitting at.

"It's about time you showed up…" Kyuubi said. Walking by the red head, Naruto slapped him across the back of the head. "What was that for?!" The red head moaned, getting no response from the blonde. Sitting down at the head of the table, Naruto started to speak.

"So, since we last met, we were in the process of acquiring territory from the Wolf gang, which includes the warehouse district. Kiba, what's the status of this acquisition?"

"It's almost done. We just need to finish clearing out the area of any Wolf members that refuse to switch sides." Kiba stated. Nodding in approval, Naruto continued on.

"And how is our Krystal production going?" This time, a red head with a tattoo on his forehead stood up.

"We're actually producing more product than projected which is good, because demand is at an all time high." Krystal is a new synthetic drug that Naruto and his gang created. It's more addictive than what is currently being sold by drug dealers and is usually bought in large quantities, meaning that Naruto's gang gets a large profit from the sales.

"Good job Gaara. Keep at them and make sure that the workers don't slack off. If we keep this up, there will be no other competition in this area and we can start planning how to move this operation out of the city." Naruto replied. Kyuubi raised his hand.

"About that… I've heard rumors about the Sound gang returning to try and take over this area." Kyuubi said in a serious tone. Leaning back in his chair, Naruto sighed.

"There have always been rumors of their return, but they have always just been rumors." Naruto replied. Kyuubi shook his head.

"This time it seems like the rumors are legitimate. I have good sources that have told me that their leader has been gathering members from other regions." Standing up from his chair, Naruto started to pace back and forth.

"Until we can truly verify these rumors, inform the others to be on the look out for anyone that looks suspicious or out of place hanging around town. If they do spot someone, tell them to report it to me, OK? Everyone is dismissed." The sound of chairs scraping against the floor followed as the people around the table left the room. As Naruto was about to leave the room, Kyuubi stood in the doorway.

"So, when are you going to tell the lovely boy that's staying with you that he's hanging out with a leader of a street gang that produces and sells drugs?" Kyuubi playfully asked. Naruto leaned against a nearby wall, thinking about his answer.

"I was hoping that I would never have to tell him." Naruto replied. The redhead shook his head.

"I think you really should tell him. Otherwise, he could possibly find out in other ways and I can guarantee that he will not be pleased that you kept such a big secret from him. Also, if Sound somehow finds out about him, you know for a fact that they are going to try and use him to get to you." Kyuubi said. Pushing off of the wall, Naruto stood in front of Kyuubi.

"Ok, ok. Look, I'll tell him. I just need to find the right time and place." Shoving Kyuubi out of the way, Naruto stormed out of the room and headed out of the building, trying to control his thoughts. Once outside the building, the blonde took a deep breath to steady himself and headed back to his motorcycle and started the journey back to his apartment. Once Naruto reached his destination, he hopped off of the bike and headed inside of the building. Unlocking the door to his apartment, he noticed that all of the lights were off.

Maybe Sasuke is still asleep… The blonde thought. After a second look, Naruto noticed a sliver of light coming out of the bedroom Sasuke was sleeping in. Walking over to the room, the blonde noticed that the door was slightly open. Knocking, the blonde pushed open the door and saw Sasuke sitting on the bed, curled up in a ball.

"Is everything ok?" Naruto asked. Looking up, Sasuke stared at Naruto with a scared look on his face.

"Who are you really and what have you dragged me into?"

Once again, I apologize that this update took forever to come out. Real life is crazy right now and demands my complete attention, so updating isn't usually at the top of my to-do list. I can't promise when the next update will happen, but I can promise that I won't abandon the stories I have right now. They'll just take a long time to finish.

Anyways, please read and review.