Ha! I still live! Yup! That's right~! I, Kiki, still live. . .for now. Anyways, I'm really sorry about not updating earlyer. Febuary is hell. But not only that, I had to get ready for some super importaint things that I couldn't find the time to type this chapter. Hopefully I'll at least be able to update once a month. Anyways, onto the chappy!

Naruto was awoken by the harsh morning sun rays that shinned through a window. He stifled a yawn and grabbed his bag, ready to move on. Even though Naruto had told Sasuke that he would leave for good, that night for some odd reason, he couldn’t bear to leave the grounds yet. Instead, the blond slept in the old servants’ quarter that was on the verge of collapsing because of a huge fire.

Of course, Naruto didn’t necessarily want to leave his lover. He had just focused all his anger and frustration out on the young Shogun and had regretted it right when he left his presence. The blond also knew that Sasuke had the same problem only taking the situation harder than Naruto did. And that night he cursed himself for not going back and trying to mend everything back to the way it use to be.

He sighed looked around at that room he had fallen asleep in. Since the blond servant had left the main building at nightfall, he was unable to get a clear view of his surroundings. He had fallen asleep on the floor of the main room of the scorched building and the only thing that was left were several piles of remaining ashes, scattered glass fragments, a few metal objects, and a calendar that look incredibly out of place. Naruto guessed that it had been placed on the wall as a memorial. The date read July 23rd, Year of the Dragon(1).

That’s when the blond remember something. That was Sasuke’s birthday. And apparently, the tragic event had taken place two months before he had arrived.

Naruto shivered and stood up figuring that it would be best to move around than just sit on a cold floor in the middle of winter. He walked slowly down the hallway and entered a room that caught his attention. This room had not been burned. Well. . .not all the way. Only the first half of the room was scorched. In the back near the bed was probably the only area that was saved from the fire.

But what had really caught the blond’s attention were the items that were laid neatly on top of the bed. Stepping over the glass fragments that scattered the floor, Naruto made his way over to the bed. He carefully picked up the first item and examined it. The item was a portrait of two young boys smiling with their arms wrapped around each others shoulders.

Naruto recognized the boy on the right as Sasuke the other boy on the left was someone that the blond at never seen before. He was slightly shorter than Sasuke and had long hair and two dots on his forehead. Setting the item down, the blond servant picked up the second item. A book with a black cover and tanned, ridged pages.

Narutoflipped to a random page and read the writing that was neatly written on the page. Then entry was short but the book was easily identified as a journal. More than likely that it belonged to the boy next to Sasuke in the picture. He set the journal back down and finally turned his attention to the final object which was an ash tray with 5 essences.

“This must have been that boy’s room and someone pays their respects here. But why here?” Naruto asked aloud, unaware that he was not alone.

“His name was Kimimaro.” Naruto turned towards the doorway quickly to find Sasuke leaning against the door frame.

“Sasuke. . .”

The young Shogun walked over to the bed next to Naruto. “I like to come here once a month when I have time. But sometimes I come here just to talk to him even though his spirit isn’t listening.” He said, not looking at the blond. Sasuke reached under the bed and pulled out a small box of matches and essences. Pulling out one of each and lighting the match, the young Uchiha lit the tip of the essence and then blew it out so that it only glowed and released a small stream of smoke.

He placed the essence in the ash and prayed. Naruto only watched silently and wondering why the Shogun wasn’t asking why he was still here. After a minute, Sasuke finished and stood up to leave.

Naruto took a deep breath thinking now or never and spoke, “Sasuke.” The other teen stopped walking. “I’m sorry. . .about yesterday.”

Sasuke sighed and turned around. “No. I’m the one who should be apologizing.”

“But it’s my fault. I just kinda took my anger out on you and I shouldn’t have.”

“I’m the one to blame for that since I was the one being an ass for the last few weeks.” Sasuke paused. “Naruto, please don’t leave. I’ll do anything to make it up to you. So just. . .!” Naruto stopped his lover’s sentence short by practically tackling him to the ground and hugging him to no end.

“Fine. But you owe me the best present ever by taking next week off.”

“Ok, ok.” Sasuke said smiling. After a few minutes, Naruto got off of Sasuke and the two left the depressing building.

On the way out, the blond remember the calendar. “Ne, Sasuke, why is the calendar on the date of your birthday?”

With out looking at his lover the teen Shogun replied, “That was when the building caught on fire. Everybody who lived in this building died on that night. Including Kimimaro.”

“Oh. Is it why you were coughing so much during my first month here?”

The other nodded. “Yeah. I tried to get some people out of the building but I ended up inhaling too much smoke and when I left the building, I fainted. I also got cut on the arm by some burning wood.”

“Ow.” Naruto exclaimed quietly. Sasuke only nodded. On the way towards the two teen’s room, they found the two elders and Sasuke requested a week off from duties next week. The elders thought for a moment and said that it was possible since there were no meetings or important events that week.

- - - - - -

“Explain to me why you have to hide your face again?” Naruto questioned Sasuke as he rapped a cloak around him and then pulling the hood over his head.

“It’s not that hard to understand, dobe. One, I’m not suppose to go into the city and two, I don’t think people would ignore the fact that the Shogun is walking around Edo with out any guards protecting him.” The raven explained again for the third time. “So where are we going anyways? And how did you get the elders permission to let us travel alone?”

The blond smirked. “I have my ways of reasoning.”

“You bought a bottle of Japan’s finest sake and bribed them with it didn’t you?” The blond only chuckled nervously and then grabbed his bag.

“Anyways. . .You’ll see when we get there. It’s not that far from here actually. We’ll probably get there by noon. We’ll be staying there for a day or two.” Naruto told the teen Shogun.

“Ok. . .” Sasuke muttered as he followed his blond servant out of the room. The two headed towards the back entrance to escape the area unnoticed. Once outside of the wall, they circled around towards the front, avoided the pathway, and headed towards Edo. It was morning and day one of Sasuke’s week off with Naruto.

Apparently, they had to do what the blond wanted to do. The previous night, Naruto announced that he had convinced the Elders that they could travel by themselves for a few days. Now, the two were walking through the crowds of people and trying to keep Sasuke’s identity a secret until they leave the city. Soon, the two teens had left the city unnoticed although Sasuke insisted that he kept his hood up till they reached the outpost.

Naruto could only sigh and let him do what he wished being the servant and all. As they approached the outpost, two men carrying swords passed them and Naruto, being the closest to the two could hear a bit of their conversation.

“You know, I heard that some crazed organization is trying to enter and take over Edo.”

“What? That’s impossible. There’s no way someone would be that stupid to do that. Besides. It’s only a rumor. . .”

The two men disappeared behind them and Naruto was left wondering if he should tell Sasuke. But then again, he’d probably tell the blond the same thing the second man said so he let it go.

- - - - - -

Unfortunately, you can’t really trust Naruto with predictions. It was well past noon and they weren’t even close to the place according to Naruto. So, the two made camp in the forest. By nightfall, Naruto had managed to catch fish for dinner and make a fire seeing that Sasuke had no knowledge about survival.

But you couldn’t blame since he had lived in the Edo Castle most of his life and had only gone as far as the city square.

“Oi, Sasuke.” Stated Naruto after swallowing the last bit of his fish.

“Hm?”

“Has anybody ever tried to overthrow the Shogun or take over Edo before?” The blond asked, the subject still clouding his mind.

Sasuke thought this over a bit before answering. “I think so. But it was a long time ago back when the capital was Osaka. I remember Itachi saying something about it once.”

“Huh.”

The raven Shogun looked at his blond servant with a perplexed look. “Why do you ask?”

“Eh? Oh, no reason. The subject’s been bothering me lately.” Naruto said, laughing a little.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. “Ok then.” He yawned and laid down onto the grass. “Night, Naruto.”

The blond sighed and followed Sasuke’s motion. “Night.”

And with that, the two drifted to sleep unaware of the two presences that watched them in the trees.

1: I'm not entirely sure how their calender system worked back then so I just used the Chinese calender just to be safe.

Well? Did you like it? I had a hell of a time trying to write the part after Naruto comes back. I was going to do something else and actually have Naruto leave and Sasuke go look for him. But I decided not to. But then instead, I leave you with another cliffhanger -Hides behind Light-. Cake for anybody who can answers these two questions right.

Who is this organization?

and

Who are the two people spying on Naruto and Sasu-chan?

Anywho, reviews will be loved! So please review. I got cake, cookies, and FROSTING! I mean, no one can resist frosting. . .right? Cause I surely can't. Oh and if this chappy seemed short than usual, then my answer to you is that it IS. I couldn't think up anything else.

.:Message to Reviewers:.

Snowyrain
Thankies! And I agree. While I was writing this, I wanted to kick Sasu-chan's ass. Alot. And then I was going to make him beg. On his knees. In school girl outfit. Bwhaha?

Tsukishi
Arigatoo Gozaimasu!