Falling Away From Me

*~*~*~*

Tsunade had called in two teams to search for the gaki. She was thoroughly
put out that the boy could be so inconsiderate as to disappear at a time like
this. Worry gnawed at her insides, though she wouldn't let it show. She knew
he was itching to go hunt for Sasuke again, and knew that he hadn't gone
looking on his own. No, her gaki knew she was waiting for intelligence to
come in before sending anyone out. What could have happened to her little
brother? There would be time for musing later; right now, she had a mission
to assign.

"Kakashi, you are in charge of one team, consisting of Sakura, Sai, and
Shikamaru. Use your nin-dogs to track him. Yamato, you will take Kiba,
Hinata and Lee. Akamaru will track for your team. Find Naruto and bring him
home. All of you, be careful. We don't know who may have him, so stay alert.
Dismissed."

After the eight departed, the Hokage pulled open a drawer and removed a bottle
of sake. She didn't even use a glass; she drank straight from the bottle.
Shizune would just have to forgive her this once.

++++

Starting at Naruto's apartment, the two teams quickly picked up his trail. It
led to the market, where it meandered from stand to stand before leading to
Ichiraku's. Kakashi questioned Teuchi, the owner of the shop, and found that
the blond had left with a red-haird woman. Teuchi had never seen her before,
and didn't know where they went. The trail led from there down a narrow alley
nearby, and just vanished. Akamaru sniffed the area then barked at Kiba.

Kiba turned to the others and said that the dog smelled snake. They decided
to follow that trail and see where it would lead. They headed out of the
village, into the wide forest.

An explosion sounded, muffled by distance, alerting all the shinobi in Konoha.
Since they were already in the forest, the two teams of nins forsook the
snake's trail and took off towards the noise. They could always come back and
take the trail up again.

They were soon joined by ANBU sent out to investigate. When they reached the
site, all they found were two dead Akatsuki members. While ANBU took care of
the bodies, the two teams searched the debris-strewn ground. Both Pakkun and
Akamaru found the scents they were looking for mingled with some blood, as
well as others. Naruto's and the snake's scent were strong, but there were
different ones other than the snake's. There wasn't just one, but four.
Pakkun made the additional comment that one of the scents was that of the
missing Uchiha. Now, they knew they were looking for Sound nins along with
Naruto. Were they the ones to take the blond? It would seem so.

Kakashi was angry; Naruto had disobeyed orders and had gone out and found
Sasuke. Was the blond with him willingly, or was he a prisoner? With four to
deal with, Kakashi had to guess the latter. Damn, that boy could get into
some really nasty predicaments. Adjusting his pack, he took off, the others a
step behind.

++++

"Ne, Sasuke? Where are we going? I thought we were just going to take out a
couple of the Akatsuki. Why are we headed down their backtrail?" Naruto was
still a bit disoriented from his head wound. Kyuubi wasn't healing him due to
the seal Sasuke had placed. It hadn't clicked yet that the Akatsuki Sasuke
was after was his brother. He stumbled on landing on a branch, and was pulled
upright by the big guy. Sight blurred and sounds became distorted. He jumped
to the next branch, but missed it completely. He wasn't even aware as he had
lost consciousness.

Sasuke had turned to look at the blond in time to see his eyes roll into his
head. He rushed to catch the baka before Naruto hit the ground, but was beat
to it by Suigetsu. The Mist nin arrived a second before the Uchiha, scooping
the blond into his arms and laying him gently on the forest floor. Sasuke was
annoyed, but shrugged it off to examine the blond. The others gathered around
to see what was wrong.

Sasuke probed the head wound, noting it was still bleeding slightly. Pulling
a bandage from his pack, he then snagged a water bottle from Suigetsu and wet
it. After cleaning away the blood, Sasuke put antiseptic on the gash and
wrapped a clean bandage around the boy's head. Lifting an eyelid, the Uchiha
saw that Naruto's pupils were dilated. If they were to move on, the dobe
would have to be carried. He sighed and prepared to lift him onto his back.

"I'll do it," Juugo stated, placing a restraining hand on Sasuke's arm. The
tall nin bent down and easily picked up the kyuubi-vessel, shifting him to his
back. Once the blond was settled, Juugo began walking, followed by the other
three.

Sasuke and Karin hurried to once again take the lead. They were using Karin's
unique tracking skills to follow the Akatsuki's backtrail. She was only
paying a tiny bit of attention to the trail. She was lavishing most of her
attention on the Uchiha, trying to get him to notice her.

Sasuke was deep in thought, oblivious to the girl at his side. Naruto's
injury was going to slow them down. He pondered whether or not to remove the
seal blocking the blond's chakra. If he removed it, the kyuubi's chakra could
heal Naruto and the dobe could keep up. However, then Naruto would probably
try to escape, or attempt to drag Sasuke back to Konoha. That, he refused to
do until his revenge had been exacted. He didn't like how the other two males
of their group had taken to the blond, either. Juugo he could understand, a
little; someone who could control the curse through the sheer force of his
personality alone was someone to cultivate as a friend. Suigetsu was another
story. The former Mist nin was getting too friendly, too touchy-feely with
the dobe, and Sasuke didn't like it. Not. One. Bit. Something would have to
be done, and soon. He couldn't lose his dobe again, especially not to someone
like Suigetsu.

Suigetsu smirked as he trailed behind the others. He knew the Uchiha didn't
like the fact that he was acting friendly with the blond. That just made him
want to befriend the boy more. It didn't hurt that the blond had beautiful
blue eyes, a charming smile OR a nice ass. Said ass was right in front of him
and he felt the urge to grope it. He refrained, however, because he didn't
want Juugo to kill him. Once the boy was awake, and walking on his own, he
would be fair game.

++++

The teams from Konoha had split up to cover more ground, and to try to trap
the Sound ninjas between them. Pakkun had found a blood-covered bandage that
he said smelled like Naruto. So the baka had gotten himself hurt. Great,
just great! But why wasn't the fox healing him? Worry was quickly replacing
anger in Kakashi's mind. He pushed the thought from his mind and concentrated
on the trail.

Kiba and Akamaru were in the lead, sniffing out the Sound nins' trail. The
group was off to their left and ahead of them somewhere, but the scent was
getting stronger. Soon, they would have the baka back.

Hinata activated her Byakuugan, but they were still too far away for her to
locate the group from Sound. She let the jutsu fade. She hoped Naruto would
be alright.

Yamato called a halt, when they reached a clearing, to let the teens rest and
grab a bite to eat. He prayed that Naruto wouldn't lose his temper and let
the kyuubi out. Without Yamato there to control it, who knew what kind of
disaster that would bring?

Lee was bursting with energy, so he ran around the clearing to let some of it
out. He was worried for his friend. He didn't know why Naruto was always
chasing the Uchiha, but he hoped it wouldn't end like last time, when they
finally met again. He didn't understand why the Uchiha was so intent on
killing the blond, either. If Sasuke hated Naruto so much, why hadn't he
killed him earlier? The presense of the Akatsuki may have been the cause, but
why take the blond with him after the nuke-nins were dead? It didn't make
sense. He ran a few more laps before sitting down to eat.

++++

Sasuke called a halt, and Juugo gently laid the blond on the ground. Sitting
down next to the unconscious boy, he ran his fingers through blond locks,
wondering why he felt so protective of the boy. He hadn't given a rat's ass
about him when they first met, so why now? Maybe it was because once you met
him, you couldn't NOT like him. For Juugo, this was strange. He had never
liked anyone, exept for maybe Kimimaro. But that was only because the bone
manipulator could control him using physical restraints. Naruto could control
him, too, but with an entirely different approach. All the blond had done was
hug him and say 'Thank you.' For that, Juugo would forever be grateful. He
smiled at the young blond before getting to his feet. He needed to speak to
the Uchiha.

Sasuke and Juugo had gone off into the trees to talk, leaving Karin and
Suigetsu alone with Naruto. Karin was ignoring the two, which suited Suigetsu
just fine. He couldn't stand the red-headed bitch. Also, that left him to
molest the blond to his heart's content, at least until the others got back,
or the boy woke up. He sat next to Naruto, reached over and unzipped his
jacket. If anyone asked, he could say it looked like the boy was getting hot.
Hehe, he WAS hot, but not in that sense. Suigetsu ran his hand across the
blond's chest, feeling the well-defined muscles under the skin. He tweaked a
nipple, eliciting a soft moan from the boy. His member hardened at the sound.
He could just imagine the sounds Naruto would make in the throes of passion.

Suigetsu looked around to make sure he wasn't being observed, then slid his
hand over the boy's crotch and massaged his member to hardness. He was
impressed at the size. Who knew that such a shortshit could have such an
impressive package? He watched the blond's face contort in pleasure. He
should stop before the kid woke up. He refastened the jacket, and sat back,
pretending to just be keeping an eye on the boy. No one would ever guess
Suigetsu had molested him.

++++

"Why did you take that boy?" Juugo asked Sasuke. He truly was curious; not
that he wasn't glad to have him here, but why was Sasuke so bent on having the
blond with them? Other than comforting him when he was crying, or taking care
of his injuries, the Uchiha had basically ignored him. What was the boy to
Sasuke?

How to explain? Sasuke decided that with Juugo, it was best to tell him the
truth, at least in part. "He was my best friend before I joined Orochimaru.
I almost killed him twice, but the first time I left him half dead. The next
time we met, Orochimaru himself stopped me. Naruto wanted to take me back to
Konoha, and I couldn't go before taking revenge on my brother. As you heard,
my brother belongs to an organization that wants to remove the demons from all
the jinchuurikis, of which Naruto is one. To lure my brother to me, I need
Naruto. I can't let him be captured by the Akatsuki, unless it's Itachi.
Then I can challenge the bastard, get my revenge, and save the dobe."

Juugo wasn't satisfied. "Why would you want to save him if you've already
tried to kill him twice? Are you planning to kill him after you defeat your
brother? If so, I'll stop you. He seems like a good guy, a friend. He's
also very strong, from what I've witnessed. That is with his chakra blocked.
How strong is he really?"

Sasuke didn't want to upset the tall nin, so he replied, "I don't have any
real plans for afterwards. And yes, Naruto has grown strong. When he's able
to access the demon's chakra, he's almost impossible to defeat." He thought
for a moment. "I guess you could say Naruto is still my best friend, even
though we haven't spoken much to each other over the years. My fault, really.
When we were young, I thought he was annoying, and a rival. Someone to test
my strength against. I hated that Itachi came to get him when we were twelve.
I felt worthless, weak. I didn't understand at the time." He took a deep
breath. "I should have asked. Maybe then I wouldn't have gone to the snake
and we'd still be close. I can only hope it's not too late. I missed the
dobe."

"Why do you call him that?"

"I was at the top of my class at the academy, and Naruto was at the bottom. I
didn't find out until much later why he did so poorly. Until Iruka-sensei
came, none of the teachers would try to explain anything to him. Even Iruka
thought he was a baka until after the graduation exam, which Naruto failed. I
never heard the whole story, but somehow Naruto saved Iruka from a traitor,
and Iruka passed him. Some new jutsu he had learned, was the reason. Now,
Naruto uses that jutsu all the time." He smiled in remembrance. The blond
was still a baka, but he had to agree with Juugo: Naruto WAS a good guy and a
good friend. "Anything else you want to know? If not, we should be getting on
our way. Who knows who may be following us, or how close they are? Not to
mention we still need to find my brother."

Juugo followed the Uchiha back to the others. He frowned when he saw how
close Suigetsu was to the blond. What was that pervert thinking? As long as
Naruto was unconscious, Juugo would keep them apart. After that, the boy could
defend himself from any advances. He walked over and placed the blond on his
back.

After glaring at Suigetsu, Sasuke started walking, the others falling into
place. He had expected Karin to watch out for Naruto, but she had been
ignoring the blond when he and Juugo had returned. With Suigetsu sitting so
close, Sasuke had little doubt he had been messing with the dobe. He would
have to keep a closer eye on the pair. For now, he knew Juugo would deal with
any problems from the Mist nin. Until they had Itachi, the pervert was
needed.

++++

Kakashi's team was tired; he had yet to let them take a break. In his hurry
to rescue Naruto, the jounin was thinking of nothing and no one else. Now, he
was being asked to stop, by both the humans and Pakkun. He knew if he didn't
call a halt, there would be a revolt. The teens would just stop on their own,
and Pakkun would go back to wherever he went between summons. He submitted to
their wishes, if only for a short time.

He fretted that they were taking too long, that Naruto would be killed before
they could get to him. Three and a half years ago, Kakashi couldn't have
cared less what happened to the kyuubi-vessel, but now, he would protect him
with his life. How did that happen? Of course, now he was certain of who the
boy's father was; Jiraiya had confirmed his suspicions. He knew that was a
stupid reason for finally treating the boy right, but the Yondaime would have
been greatly disappointed in how he had treated the young blond in the past.
Kakashi would do whatever was in his power to make things right. Right now,
the right thing to do was rescue the boy before he did something stupid.

He waited until all had eaten and drunk their fill before calling them back to
the task. They quickly made up the lost time, and were soon nearing their
goal. According to Pakkun, Naruto and the Uchiha were just up ahead.

++++++

A/N: SneakyFox: Thank you!

dragonfire04: Glad you like it.

hisoka kurosaki: To answer your question, no, Sakura doesn't hate Naruto. She still thinks he's an idiot, though.

jewel: Thanks for the wonderful review. I appreciate that you like my stuff and hope you continue to enjoy my stories.

Neji: Hope this was quick enough for you!

Setsu: Hope this answered some of your questions.

killerfox: Yeah, but kind of N/C at the moment. Don't know if I'll continue that after Naruto wakes up, though.

jc: Thanks. I plan on continuing all my fics, though sometimes I don't have access to a comp when my muse hits me.

blue_genjtsu: Yeah, Naruto is working his magic.

Mija: Thanks!

Dark Toy: You guessed it!

AnA La PaNa83: I found Sasuke's reaction a little bizarre, too, even though I wrote it. And yes, there's going to be trouble in Hebi before too long.

Pain aun Chocolat: Thanks! How's that for a fast update? LOL.