A/N: Okay, sorry for the long wait, but in my defense I had terrible writer's block. Had I not waited until it was gone, this chapter probably wouldn't have turned out nearly as well as it did, in my humble opinion. I hope you all like it as much as I do, and leave me some nice reviews, even if it is a bit shorter than I would have liked. Once again, I do not have spell check, so I apologize for any mistakes. I would also like to thank all reviewers, and apologize for not saying that sooner as I seem to always forget to add that to my author's notes.

Also FlyingTurtleduck brought up that I mentioned that the torture Hisoka/Harry went through was worse than what some the T&I Department would be able to stand. I stand by how I wrote it in the story, because wizards have magic that could do very horrible things that wouldn't even be possible much less keep the prisoner alive, that a ninja couldn't hope to imagine much less accomplish. I hope that explanation helps.

Naruto was grinning wildly as he blocked another kick from Hisoka. He'd been training him for three months now, and there was a marked improvement in Hisoka's performance. He was now a mid-gennin level in taijutsu, and at even higher levels in almost all other ninja aspects. Hisoka - much to Naruto's delight - had even begun to open up a little. Had Naruto been the type to think deeply about things, he probably would have been a little more worried about how much he already cared for the slightly younger boy, and therefore examined more closely but, as that wasn't ever the case with the Uzumaki, the fond feelings were easily accepted and went unanalyzed. All in all, everything was going quite well, and Naruto was very pleased with Hisoka's addition to his life.

"Okay, I think that's good for today," Naruto said, calling their spar to end as he caught Hisoka's last punch. "You've improved a lot since you first started, Hisoka-chan," he complimented, smiling at his student with affection showing clearly in his voice. Hisoka gave a small smile in return, causing both of them to freeze, and in the next instant Hisoka was gone, having fled from the training field with barely masked panic in his strange eyes.

Naruto remained frozen on the spot for a few moments, shocked both by Hisoka's reaction and by his own. Hisoka's smile, small though it was, had seemed like the most beautiful thing in the world to him, making Hisoka's admittedly attractive features heartbreakingly beautiful to Naruto. And this disturbed Naruto, because he'd never thought that way about anyone before. Even when he'd had his crush on Sakura, he'd been more focused on the idea of being in a romantic relationship with pretty and smart girl. He'd never felt that overwhelmingly warm and happy feeling when Sakura had smiled. But he'd felt that for Hisoka, the beautiful boy who was broken inside that it made Naruto want to wrap him in his arms and protect him from the whole world.

Faced the revelations of what exactly his feelings for Hisoka were, Naruto was at that same spot on the training field pondering until the next morning, completely oblivious to the nine-tailed fox's amused gaze.

. . .

He had smiled. He had smiled, was Hisoka's prevelant thought as he ran to his home. The existance of Occlumency was completely forgotten, not even conceivable to his panicked mind. As soon as he entered the room, he had it completely surrounded by wards, before he thrust himself brutally into his mindscape.

There. Hisoka stood in front of the pool in the exact center of the cavern that contained his memories. The pool glowed a fearful yellow through the melting ice. The ice was melting. The ice that had been made from magic and determination to never let himself get hurt again, was melting. Hisoka desperately gathered his magic and tried to fix it, to freeze it, to make the melting stop. He needed that ice to stay. If the ice wasn't there he wouldn't be able to help but feel again. He already was.

Hisoka could feel the panic, the fear flooding his mind, clouding his thoughts. The hate and terror for his torturers, the betrayal he had felt towards Dumbledore and his former friends in England. He could feel his fondness for the people he had met in Konoha, his attachment to Naruto, his lo - No. Feelings would only make him feel pain again, the kind of agony that wouldn't go away like the physical kind would as the wounds that caused it healed. But it wasn't working.

The magic, his magic wasn't cooperating with him with him. No matter how hard he tried in however many ways, he could not make his shield of ice return. For hours he tried, not eating, not sleeping, but to no avail. It was as if his magic wanted the ice gone. Nonetheless, Hisoka did not stop trying until it was well into the night hours, when he became simply too tired to think or feel anything.

. . .

The next morning, Naruto was at the door of Hisoka's small apartment, trying to gather up the courage to knock. After spending the whole night thinking about his feelings - which had, by the way, given him a headache - he thought he could safely say that he was completely in love with his student. Which sounded very creepy now that he thought of it, even though he knew in his head that Hisoka was only a year younger than him. He loved Hisoka's determination to become strong, and the way he concentrated so fiercely on whatever Naruto decided to teach him. He loved how he couldn't stand being in a messy room and not cleaning it, and the way Hisoka froze whenever someone thought he was a girl, which happened hilariously often. How Hisoka always looked him straight in the eye. And the strength of Naruto's emotions scared him.

It terrified him that he hadn't even noticed how deeply he felt for Hisoka until it was shoved in his face. And the very idea of being rejected by Hisoka made him feel as if he had been plunged into arctic waters. Naruto wasn't stupid. He knew that Hisoka kept his emotions tightly locked up, and that even if he wanted to be in a relationship with Naruto, there was a large chance that Hisoka's fear would stop him from reciprocating. Even the small smile Hisoka had accidently let loose had probably terrified the boy. Which was why he was on the doorstep of the apartment Baa-chan had finally gotten around to giving him a month ago.

He wasn't there to confess his newfound feelings to Hisoka, he was just there to make sure he was coping well with what had happened. With that thought firmly in mind, Naruto raised his fist and rapped on the door.

. . .

Hisoka woke to the sound of knocking. When the memories of what was happening to him penetrated his grogginess, he wished he hadn't. Especially when he heard Naruto's voice calling him through the door, his concern obvious. He curled into a tight ball on his bed at the longing he felt at the sound of Naruto's voice. He wished it would go away, that feeling he couldn't bring himself to name. There was no greater way to cause himself pain than to feel that emotion. Especially toward Naruto, who was a man and his teacher. But nothing he told himself could stop the longing that only grew as he heard Naruto's footsteps as he walked away in defeat.

. . .

"Naruto-baka, what did you do?"

Naruto stopped his vicious assault on a training dummy in surprise, turning to look at the owner of the voice. Sakura stood there, hands on her hips and a scowl on her face. Uh-oh. That was never a good sign.

"What did I do?" he asked somewhat nervously, confusion rampant. Sakura's glare sharpened. Naruto gulped.

"Yes, Naruto, what did you do? I haven't seen Hisoka in days, and neither has anyone else. No one has seen you training with him either. That means you probably did something," Sakura ended with a growl. She had grown quite attached to the sad, bishounen boy in the months since he came. She frequently dragged him off to have lunch with her. Naruto heaved a sad sigh and sat down. Sakura blinked. Naruto never sighed, especially not sadly. She sat down next to him, carefully arranging her skirt.

"I really don't know what's wrong," Naruto admitted, "but he smiled at me Tuesday evening, and he hasn't left his apartment since. I'm trying to give him time but. . ." Realization dawned in Sakura's eyes as she took in Naruto's forlorn expression and dejectedly slumped shoulders.

"You finally realized how you feel for him, didn't you," Sakura crowed triumphantly. Naruto blanched, whipping his eyes up to Sakura's in shock. She smirked at him. "It was completely obvious to everyone accept you by the end of the second month." Naruto nodded his head numbly.

"What should I do?" he asked, sounding more than a little lost. Sakura sighed wearily as she looked at her best friend and former teamate.

"I honestly don't know," she said. "I know how he feels about emotions. If he reacts that way to just smiling . . ." Sakura trailed off, clearly at a loss. "I think the best thing you can do for now is to be yourself, and try. . . try not to hurt him," she said, troubled. Naruto nodded sadly.

"Thanks, Sakura-chan," he said in a subdued manner, before going off to continue taking his frustrations out on the dummy. Sakura frowned worriedly, wishing she could do more to help.

. . .

Hisoka was pacing, much like he had off and on quite often during the past few days. The last of his ice had melted the morning before. He was starting to come to terms with the idea that the full strength of his emotions were there to stay. However he was still terrified. He hadn't been able to stop thinking about Naruto at all since he'd shut himself inside his apartment. And every thought of Naruto came with a whirl of emotions, the foremost among them being fear and longing. Naruto had come by every morning since the first, taking longer to leave each time. And it caused a ridiculous hope to grow in his chest each time. It was difficult to cope.

The ice that had covered the pool that held his emotions had greatly dimmed all emotions other than determination. Everything else was liable to cause him emotional pain, not to mention distract him from his goal of becoming stronger. The ice could not block them completely, but it was able to dim them to the point that they were easy to ignore. But ever since he had met Naruto, the sunny shinobi had been melting the ice, and Hisoka hadn't even noticed until it was to late. And his magic knew that he - what he felt about Naruto, and followed his subconscious desires. Because deep down, even though he could not bear to even think it, he knew what he felt about Naruto, and he didn't want to stop. The closest he could get was hiding the feeling from himself, but even that had failed.

So Hisoka was left with no choice but to cope, and he was. Slowly but surely he was growing used to feeling emotions fully again. Even the despair at the thought of what Naruto would do if he ever knew what, exactly, Hisoka felt for him.

. . .

It was Tuesday again, Naruto thought as he once again knocked on Hisoka's door. It had been an entire week since he'd seen Hisoka smile. Even Tsunade had noticed Hisoka's absence by now. He knocked on the door again, calling out Hisoka's name for good measure. He waited a good five minutes. Then he picked the lock and opened the door.

To Naruto's surprise, Hisoka was sitting against the wall of the entryway, hugging his knees to his chest, looking at him light a deer caught in the headlights (if Naruto knew what headlights were anyway), an expression that quickly morphed to fear as he tried to run to his room. But Naruto, being a jounin, was obviously more physically capable than him, and caught him easily. Naruto wrapped his eyes around him from behind, trapping him and hugging him at the same time.

"What's wrong, Hisoka-chan?" Naruto asked in a low voice. A drop of moisture fell on the hand Naruto had resting on Hisoka's abdomen as Hisoka cried for the first time in years.

. . .

Hisoka looked at the tears shock, even as more streamed down his face. The last time he had cried had been in the early days as Voldemort's captive. But know that he'd started, he couldn't seem to stop. He could feel Naruto's heat behind him, and his arms wrapped around him, and he could finally admit it. He was in love with Uzumaki Naruto, the shinobi with sunniest personality Hisoka had ever seen, despite the demon that was apparently trapped in his gut. The jounin that had been assigned as his instructor. The man who had, as stereotypical as it sounded, melted the ice around his heart.

Hisoka was terrified. Even people who didn't have the emotional baggage he did were scared when they fell in love. And Naruto was male, same as him. Wouldn't Naruto hate him, or at the very least be disgusted if he found out? He didn't know what to do.

He was incapable of resisting when Naruto turne him around to face him. All he could was look him in the eye, emotions raw on his face, and wait for Naruto's disgust. He knew Naruto would see the emotions in his eyes. Naruto was strangely perceptive for a man who was oblivous to everything else when it came to things like that. So Hisoka prepared himself for the pain. He certainly wasn't expecting Naruto to kiss him.

(I considered leaving you all hanging here, but I'll be nice today.)

. . .

Naruto didn't know what he had expected to see when he saw Hisoka's face. It certaintly wasn't for his feelings for Hisoka to be reflected back from his eyes, along with a good deal of fear and trepidation. Therefore he was understandably stunned to silence for a few moments, which was not something that happened to him often. When his mind finally caught up with what his eyes were seeing, he was both physically and mentally incapable of stopping himself when he kissed Hisoka. It was really the only thing that occured to him at the time to erase the fear that he hated seeing in Hisoka's eyes. It was a short, soft kiss that ended after only a few seconds, and left Hisoka stunned enough to give Naruto time to say something predictably blunt -

"I love you, Hisoka-chan."

- before promptly kissing his wonderfully soft lips again. Well, Sakura had said to be himself. It was only a few seconds before Hisoka began kissing him back, hesitantly at first, but with steadily increasing desperation. Their lips were soon melded together in a frenzied dance of relief and longing, and it wasn't to long before Naruto slipped his tongue into Hisoka's eager mouth deepening the kiss further. Hisoka buried his fingers in Naruto hair, running his fingers through the shining locks and tugging gently.

Naruto had one arm wrapped around Hisoka's waist and the other hand was cupping Hisoka's butt, pulling him tightly against his body. As the hand on Hisoka's waist slipped under his shirt to feel the smooth skin beneath, Naruto pulled away from the kiss, only to begin kissing each tear from Hisoka's cheeks and gradually making his way to Hisoka's jaw and neck, before returning to his lips once more. This continued for a good long while, lost in a blaze of passion until they both slowly calmed down, eventually ending with both of them panting hard, they're arms entwined around each other, and Hisoka's cheeks burning red as he hid his face in Naruto's notably firm chest.

"I love you, too," Hisoka muttered before blushing even more brightly and buried his face even more firmly into its resting place. Naruto just chuckled fondly, tightening his hold as he pressed a kiss onto Hisoka's head. He wasn't sure how everything had ended up turning out so well with his terrible luck, but certainly wasn't going to complain.

A/N: I would like to congragulate everyone who guessed what the ice was after the previous chapter, in particular Ryuze and AmeliaPond1997. I hope you all enjoyed it, because I certainly did.