So yeah... I'm sorry? I meant to update this earlier, but I never really got it done, and I'm sorry! But all of the sudden I started writing other stories, and before I knew it a year had almost passed. But I wont abandon this fic! Because I love writing it! I love the fact that every short story has it's own theme, and therefore won't get boring to write. :)

19 Ice (ItaNaru) (Good Itachi)

"I don't understand how you can hang out with a guy like him!". Sakura never really understood, none of them did. But he didn't really care, they didn't need to understand. As long as he knew the truth, nothing really mattered. The others nodded in agreement, none of them, not even Sasuke, understood how he could stand being in the same room as Itachi. But then again, they didn't understand their relationship.

You see, everybody thought that Itachi was an emotionless doll, only doing as he was told. But that was just because they didn't know him, not like Naruto did anyway. But he was happy that they didn't, because that was a privilege reserved for him alone, and he didn't want to share. He was a bit possessive about what he considered 'his'. But then again, the feeling was mutual, and he knew that Itachi preferred to keep Naruto to himself.

Many people compared Itachi to a block of ice. He was cold, emotionless, not really caring about anyone, or that was what he seemed like, but Naruto knew better, he knew what hid beneath the surface of that seemingly cold man. He knew that Itachi cared for not only his brother, but most of the people in the village, he knew that not everything he did was for the better of the village, and he had seen him return home, broken, when he had been forced to kill a child while on a mission.

So he knew better than anyone that Itachi was nothing like a block of ice, quite the opposite actually, but he only pretended to be emotionless, only pretended not to feel hurt, not to feel the pain, but when he returned home to Naruto he would break down, tear that emotionless mask off, and just be him. Everybody had some way of coping with everything they did in their life, Itachi's way was that emotionless mask.

20 Mischievous (ShikaNaru)

Yells of anger sounded through Konoha as several people looked for the blond troublemaker. Really, how could one boy cause so much chaos, and then just disappear? It was like he never existed! He even wore that hideous jumpsuit, and still, he managed to escape them. They were amazed by his ability to hide, but they wished that he would use it for something better than pranks.

A laughing blond slowly stumbled into his small apartment. Another day well spent. Pranking people and avoiding detection for the rest of the day. He saw it as an opportunity to train, it wasn't every day that you had half the village looking for you, but then again, it wasn't every day that someone managed to paint half the town an eye wrenching lime green, but they had deserved it! Or so he managed to convince himself.

"Did it work?", came the lazy question from Narutos couch. Naruto would have been startled under normal circumstances, but he had know that his lover would ask that already before he walked through the door, but he didn't understand why Shikamaru always asked when he already knew the answer. There was no way that a plan made with the combined effort of the master prankster and the village strategist would ever fail.

A lot of people often wondered how Naruto got all the crazy ideas that he did, but that was easy enough, it was simply because he wasn't alone. He had his evil mastermind with him. Because while he might be the one to suggest a prank it was Shikamaru that helped him make it work. People often mistaked him for the mastermind, and Shikamaru never really saw it fit to change that, because that would cause more attention for him, and that was simply too troublesome.

21 Letter (ShinoNaru)

Shino loved Naruto, always had, but it had gotten easier telling the blond now that they were older and officially together. But still, Shino felt kinda bad about it all, because he knew that he hadn't been the only one after the blond. There had been a long line of admirers, and some that really loved the blond, but he had ruined every plan that the others had, and made sure that none of them would get the blond.

They accused each other, got angry, because they knew that a lot of people liked the blond, and yet, no one really accused him. He was too silent, too emotionless, there was no way that he was after the blond, they hardly even talked! Or that was what they thought. But they were wrong, oh so wrong. The Aburames were one of the only families that hadn't shunned him when he was a child. They understood that he was no the demon, they understood him. And that was what helped Naruto through his childhood.

But there was one person that Shino felt really bad about fooling, but then again. She was too shy, there was no way that she would fit with the lively blond. She knew now that it was him that ruined her chance, but when she was younger she hadn't known. She had thought that the blond simply didn't like her like that, and after a year of trying she had stopped.

And that was why she didn't deserve the blond. Shino had tried to make Naruto understand his feelings since they were young, and the blond was obvious to all his attempts, not wanting to think something wrong, but that hadn't stopped Shino. He had tried and tried again, and he didn't care how many times he failed, because the blond was his.

And that was why he never delivered any of the love letters that Hinata gave him to the blond. She should have known better. He simply burned them and pretended to give Naruto them. And it was only later, when Shino and Naruto finally got together, that Hinata understood that not even one letter had reached the blond, but she couldn't be mad at her teammate, he had done what she couldn't, and taken what he wanted. And really, she was pretty happy with Kiba.

And I'm done for now. I plan to finish this within the next two months, but I'm not really sure how it's gonna go... But I'll try ._.

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