Identity Crisis

For those who are curious, chapter 3 to Mine is up, and I posted a oneshot called The Queerwolf. Now on to the story!

Identity Crisis

Chapter 2: Visible or Invisible?

"What the hell happened to my ears?!" Naruto asked frantically, tugging at what he knew were his ears - because that's where he could hear from - and because they looked like ears. Like animal ears.

Like fox ears.

"Why the hell aren't they at least red?!" Naruto bellowed angrily, once again tugging on his ears. It was a strange feeling having his ears feel so fuzzy, but he now knew for a fact they had to be his ears because it hurt when he tugged too hard.

"At least you don't have a tail," Sasuke said, and Naruto felt the strange sensation of Sasuke smirking over Naruto's own facial features as he saw Sasuke's face staring back at him in the mirror. Sasuke's black hair seemed to fit perfectly with the color of the black ears, and Naruto wondered if the ears reflected both Sasuke AND Kyuubi. Still, remembering Sasuke's comment, Naruto clamped both hands on his behind to make sure that there really was no tail sticking out from his butt.

Naruto looked at his appearance forlornly, seeing that his right arm looked like Sasuke's, and he seemed to have developed Kyuubi's fucking ears.

"This is not good," Naruto said as he began to pace back and forth in the small confines of his bathroom, wondering what the hell was going on, ignoring the fact that Sasuke was too busy smirking at his, no, their condition instead of offering helpful advice. Naruto decided to go over everything that was going on. "Sasuke's soul is in my body. Kyuubi's sealed in my stomach. I have Sasuke's left arm. I have Kyuubi's ears, but they look like Sasuke's hair color," Naruto said, and then began to chant this phrase over and over, trying to find some connections between them as he continued his pacing.

"I think I like the idea of ears on you. They'd be strangely alluring," Sasuke said mischievously.

"...Sasuke seems more perverted now that he's in my body..." Naruto added to his chant.

"I had to be somewhat perverted to want to go into your body in the first place. But furry ears sound sexy. You'd look hot with a tail too."

"…A tail on me would look hot? You're not well Sasuke. " Naruto shook his head, and once again started reciting his list. "I have Sasuke's left arm, Sasuke's brain has been perversely damaged beyond repair while in my body..." Naruto modified the last bit to his list. Sasuke sighed.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on so I can try and help?" Sasuke asked.

"No! You didn’t want to help and just laughed at me at first. I know you messed this up somehow. I have your arm, and your black fur on my ears."

"I have hair not fur," Sasuke hissed.

"Whatever! This is somehow your fault," Naruto said.

"Here I thought you were happy to see me alive," Sasuke grumbled. "Just tell me what's going on so that we can try and work this out."

"What else is there to tell you? I have fox ears and your arm took-" Naruto stopped mid-sentence.

"What?" Sasuke asked. He was not really fazed by the situation, just curious. He found frustration much easier to let go of than normal, and he had done a lot of thinking about his situation last night while "awake" in Naruto's body. For the past half of his life he had been dedicated to finding and revenging his clan. Itachi was dead. Now that he was in a predicament even more pressing, now that he was stuck inside of Naruto's body, he felt strangely at peace. Who said getting his revenge would only make him feel empty once he had fulfilled it?

"My arm is returning back to normal. And my ears, this feels really uncomfortable, are shrinking back and moving back down the side of my head," Naruto finished. He watched his reflection in the mirror in awe as he seemed to morph back into himself. It was like watching a henge vanish in slow motion. Naruto felt his ears as they were back in their normal location. "That was...weird."

"Are they gone?" Sasuke asked curiously.

"Yeah. My ears are back to normal, and my arm is normal."

"What happened?" Sasuke asked, and Naruto nearly growled.

"How the hell am I supposed to know? I'm not used to having someone invade my soul space - and Kyuubi doesn't count!" Naruto added, already anticipating Sasuke's comment. Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "I'm going to go see Tsunade-baa-chan and see what she makes of this."

Sasuke remained quiet as Naruto went about in a whirlwind getting ready to ask Tsunade about what was going on. Quite frankly, Sasuke wasn't sure that he liked the idea of Tsunade knowing that he was living in Naruto's body. He had been a missing-nin after all, and he wondered what would happen to him if he were taken from Naruto's body only to be killed. He was not afraid of death. Death did not frighten him any longer.

The idea of losing Naruto did scare him though. What would happen to Naruto if he were taken out of his body? Would Naruto die? Was it better to just stay in Naruto's body? Sasuke was sure he could live with that. The question was, could Naruto? Still, it was partially Naruto's decision. It was his body after all, though Sasuke felt he had some claims on it as well now that he was in it.

That, and he felt possessive of Naruto in general. He had been closer to Naruto than anyone else in his life, and he was sure that Naruto had been closer to him than anyone else as well.

Sasuke's musings were interrupted by a loud rumbling noise that came from Naruto's stomach.

"Heheheh," Naruto laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"I wasn't sure if that was your stomach or Kyuubi growling at you for a minute," Sasuke said honestly.

"Don't say that," Naruto grumbled, not liking the idea of hearing Kyuubi's voice now outside of going to “visit” him in addition to now hearing Sasuke’s voice. Sasuke's voice was one thing; hearing the voice of a demonic beast in your head was another. "Maybe I should eat breakfast first before we go. Lots to do today! Gotta see Tsunade-baa-chan, Kakashi-sensei, and my family."

Again Sasuke remained silent as Naruto went about making breakfast, better known as ramen. Sasuke wasn’t quite sure how he felt. Naruto, it seemed, had already stopped mourning for the loss of his body, and he honestly wasn’t surprised. Naruto tended to bounce back quickly. However, Sasuke wasn’t so sure he wanted Naruto to tell Tsunade he was living in his body, and he was sure he didn’t want Naruto to tell Kakashi that everything was okay with the fact that he had destroyed his body. Sasuke could see why Kakashi had did what he had; it still didn’t lessen the fact that thanks to him he no longer had a body.

A loud slurp from Naruto made Sasuke scowl.

“What’s the matter now?” Naruto asked through a mouthful of ramen after feeling the scowl.

“It can’t be good for your body just eating ramen all the time,” Sasuke mused.

“I don’t think it’s good for my body that it seemed to morph back and forth this morning, but I’m still alive. Don’t worry so much, my body will be fine,” Naruto said. Then his eyes widened. “Oh I get it! You’re concerned because you’re embarrassed about being stuck in my body, aren’t you?”

“That’s not true. You have a very nice body,” Sasuke nearly purred. Naruto blushed. It was the second time that Sasuke had said something about his body that morning, and he wasn’t sure how to respond. The two of them had had sex on several occasions, but having Sasuke living inside his body was more intimate than he could have imagined. Sasuke seemed more affectionate than before, and Naruto didn’t know how to respond to that. He wasn’t sure if Sasuke losing his body or if Sasuke killing Itachi had made him develop this strange change (or a bit of both), but Naruto knew he was going to have fun exploring this new relationship.

“Hmmm.” Sasuke made a thoughtful noise.

“‘Hmmm’ what?” Naruto asked.

“Well, I know that we discussed it last night, but I wonder if anyone will be able to see my features as you claim to see them when I begin to talk or make any less than subtle movements.”

“Wait a minute! I thought you said you didn’t think people would see you!”

“I said I didn’t think so. It doesn’t mean that I was correct. Perhaps we should test it out on someone first so that way people don’t see you morphing between your features and my features all up and down the street.”

- - - - - - - - - - - -

“What do you want me to do, go up to the little kid and ask if I go back and forth between having two heads?” Naruto asked Sasuke sarcastically.

“I don’t think you’ll need to say anything. I’m pretty sure he’ll react if your head starts morphing back and forth between two different heads,” Sasuke deadpanned. They, well, Naruto really, had decided to take Sasuke’s advice and see whether or not other people could “see” Sasuke. He had argued that if he could see Sasuke’s face in the mirror that there was a big chance that others could see Sasuke’s face appear. Naruto was also very concerned with the fact that his body had morphed part way into Sasuke’s body and then back. Sasuke had changed his mind about testing it out on someone. He was all for letting people just deal with it, saying Naruto was known for his practical jokes anyway, and Naruto retorted that he wasn’t like that any more. His practical jokes were few and far between now, and they would be much cooler than just morphing into Sasuke. Sasuke had then suggested having someone they knew see if they could tell the different, like Sakura, but Naruto said he didn’t want to test it on someone they knew in case they really did think he was just playing jokes.

Naruto had found a young kid away from most people in the crowd nearby his apartment. The boy was sitting off by himself, building a little house with some stones. He was sure the kid wouldn’t recognize him if he freaked the kid out, but Sasuke had told him Naruto was hard not to remember. They were currently “stalking” the kid, and Naruto finally decided the coast was clear enough to test out his theory. He walked up to the boy, and grinned broadly.

“Hello,” Naruto said. The boy blinked at him curiously, but said nothing. “Umm, what’s your name?” Naruto asked.

“My Mom said I’m not allowed to talk to people I don’t know,” the boy said.

“Er, well, I’m Naruto,” Naruto said.

“There goes him not knowing who you are,” Sasuke said. Naruto felt the sensation of Sasuke’s facial movements “over” his own, and he watched the boy’s reaction. The kid was either completely unimpressed with a person having two different heads and two different voices, or the kid really couldn’t see Sasuke.

“I’m Apashi,” the kid said.

“Well Apashi! It was nice meeting you. Have a good rest of the day, and keep listening to your Mom,” Naruto said jovially, waving once, before turning and bounding off in the other direction. Naruto turned around once, seeing the kid staring at him apathetically before continuing to build his little stone house.

“Well, he didn’t see you,” Naruto said.

“Yes but if he sees you again he’ll probably think you’re crazy for saying hello and then leaving,” Sasuke said. Naruto shrugged.

“Let’s go and see if we can get this worked out. I’m still not convinced everything’s okay. What if your body – or worse – Kyuubi’s body starts taking over mine again? That’s not pleasant, and I like being me!” Naruto said.

“I’m not stopping you from going anyway. I can’t,” Sasuke said.

“Heheheh,” Naruto laughed. “Right, then, umm, I’m going then, and I guess you’re coming with me.”

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Naruto decided that he would actually go through the Hokage tower instead of just jumping into Tsunade’s office through her window. He was hoping Kakashi might be giving a report, and therefore he might happen to see Kakashi on his way up. While he was still rather upset at the fact that Sasuke was sharing his body because Kakashi had killed Sasuke’s body, he wanted to make sure that his uncle at least knew Sasuke wasn’t gone for good. With any luck, Naruto could guilt him into helping him figure out how to find Sasuke a new body as well.

Naruto bounded up the stairs and waved cheerfully to those he saw, but was rather miffed at why they all seemed so shocked to see him. The people he saw seemed to force a smile on their face for him, and then wave at him a little sadly. Why were they all acting so weird?

"Oi, Baa-chan!" Naruto said as he banged on Tsunade's door before pushing it open and walking in. Tsunade was behind her desk, and she looked very strained. Naruto held back a snort. She looked like she had actually been doing paperwork, so that was probably why.

"Good morning Naruto," Tsunade said as she saw him. One of those obviously fake cheerful smiles that he'd been getting since he came into the Hokage Tower appeared on Tsunade's face as well, and Naruto knew something was wrong. Heck, she sounded really kind and sympathetic to him even. Something was definitely wrong.

"Geeze, what's with everyone today?" Naruto asked Tsunade as he walked closer to her desk. "Everyone seems in such a depressed mood." Sasuke slapped his own forehead, and Naruto nearly cried out at the contact as he felt Sasuke's hand on his head.

"Dobe. Everyone thinks I'm dead still. They don't know I'm stuck in your body. Everyone's being extra kind to you because they think you lost your best friend," Sasuke hissed out quickly.

"Oh, well, that makes sense," Naruto said, looking sheepish. Tsunade cocked her head to the side, looking at Naruto very concerned.

"What makes sense Naruto?" Tsunade asked, again very kindly, and very unlike herself.

"Haha! That's right! You can't hear Sasuke! I can hear Sasuke in my head and he was just talking to me," Naruto explained. Sasuke groaned. Tsunade frowned at Naruto, looking even more concerned than before. She stood up from behind her desk and gently took Naruto's hands. He was suddenly reminded of how motherly of him she could be, remembering the time that she had kissed his forehead and told him to become a good man and a great Hokage.

"Listen, Naruto. I know that sometimes it's hard for us when we lose those close to us. Sometimes we think we can still hear them speaking to us. I-I know it's hard, but you need to accept that Sasuke died," Tsunade said quietly. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Baa-chan! That's not what's going on. Sasuke lives in me. I can feel and hear him. He's inside me right now-"

"Yes, Sasuke will always be inside you as long as you keep his memory alive," Tsunade said.

"Baaaaaaa-chan! Listen!" Naruto whined frustrated, and then clutched his stomach. Sasuke was laughing so hard that the feeling was making his own stomach vibrate. "Sasuke's not dead! Well, I mean, his body's dead, but his soul is in me. He's sharing my body like how Kyuubi shares my body. Instead of being in my stomach like
Kyuubi though, I hear him in my head and sometimes I can see him in the mirror because his face and body kind of overlap my own but only I can see him. We're having trouble figuring out how that works. I was hoping you could help us fig-"

"Naruto!" Tsunade said loudly, grasping Naruto's hands and turning him around to look at her. "Don't do this to yourself! I nearly lost my mind when I lost both my little brother and then my beloved Dan. Don't lose yourself in thinking you can see Sasuke. He's gone Naruto.” Tsunade paused and gripped his hands even tighter, (but thankfully not with her monstrous strength) “But it's okay. You have a lot of people here who love and care about you too." Tsunade pulled Naruto in for a hug. While being hugged always felt nice, Naruto was rather frustrated (that, and she was a hugging him rather hard).

"I don't think she believes you," Sasuke chuckled.

"This isn't funny," Naruto mumbled quietly, hoping he was quiet enough so Tsunade wouldn't hear him. He also figured that her large breasts squashing his face would probably help muffle the sound to Tsunade's ears. Then again, Naruto didn't know that sound waves traveled through water, and her large breasts held...well, you get the idea.

"I know this isn't funny Naruto. This is very serious," Tsunade said, releasing Naruto from her vice like grip. "I know everything happened so suddenly, but," Tsunade paused. It was clear she was trying to comfort him and help him mourn, but Naruto was rather frustrated that she wouldn't listen to him.

"Tsunade-baa-chan," Naruto said exasperated, but made is voice serious to try and get Tsunade to listen to him. "I'm not making this up. Sasuke's soul is stuck in my body along with Kyuubi's. I think that Sasuke used something similar to Orochimaru's body transfer technique, but not quite because I'm still in my body too. But weird things are happening. This morning I woke up and I had Sasuke's left arm and Kyuubi's ears, but the fur was black like Sasuke's hair color. Then, a few minutes later, my arm and my ears when back to normal. Do you think you can do some tests or something or other to figure out what's going on?"

"Too bad those ears didn't stay," Sasuke said. Naruto ignored him, looking at Tsunade. She merely shook her head at him.

"Naruto, you're not making sense. You need more some time to rest and recuperate. Three years of your life were devoted to finding Sasuke, and it’s just a big shock that he died. I’m sorry to do this, but I'm reliving you for your ninja duties for a month-"

"WHAT?!?!?!" Naruto bellowed. "You can't do that! I don't need to rest! I need to figure out what's going on with my body and then figure out what happened to Kisame's body and find what happened to Kabuto. Also, Dokueki is still miss-"

"Enough!" Tsunae said, finally raising her voice. "You're not well. You've just suffered a terrible emotional tragedy. You need to pull yourself together. Sasuke is dead, and you have to come to terms with that. Naruto, you're much stronger than I was when I lost my loved ones. I don't want to see you go through my pain. I will do my best to help you, and right now what you need is time to examine your drive in life. Sasuke pushed you in many ways whether he was here or not, and you need time to adjust. If you want to be Hokage one day, you need to learn how to take care of yourself too." Tsunade heaved a sigh and put her hand to her temple to massage the side of her head. "Spend some time with your family. You have a whole new group of people who want to get to know you. Think of this as time to be with your family," Tsunade said, and she smiled at Naruto gently.

Naruto felt his rage boiling, but he could tell that Tsunade wasn't going to listen to him any more today. He would try again tomorrow. He nodded at her curtly before leaving.

"Mean old hag. What is she getting at? She can't do that to me! Whenever anyone else's teammates have died, they don't get relieved from duty!" Naruto fumed angrily.

"They also don't go around hearing the voice of their deceased friends in their head. Naruto, she dismissed you because she thinks you're going crazy. You’re lucky. If it were anyone else, they’d probably have been relieved from duty permanently for hearing voices in their head," Sasuke snickered.

"That's not funny! And why are you taking this so lightly? She's the best medical nin there is, and if anyone can figure out how to get you back into your body, well, a body, then it's her! Aren't you afraid you're going to be stuck inside me forever?" Naruto asked. Sasuke shrugged, and while Naruto couldn't see it, he could feel the strange sensation of Sasuke's "shoulders" overlapping his own and moving up and down.

"It's only the first day that we've been like together like this. Neither of us knows much about what's going on. We should figure that out first. I bet you didn't even pick up on what I am able to do either," Sasuke said.

"Huh? Pick-up on what?" Naruto asked confused.

"Exactly my point. It appears while I cannot see what's going on outside of your body, I can hear what's going on," Sasuke explained. "At least, I can hear things to an extent. It's probably not as clear as it would be if I had my own body. Why I still can't see, I'm not sure, but-"

"Wait, I got it! Isn't it obvious why you can't see?" Naruto asked, sounding excited, "You can't see out of my eyes because the eyes are the windows to a person's soul! It makes perfect sense! You're soul is not in charge of my body unless my mind is sleeping, so you get “window” duty then."

Sasuke grumbled something that sounded like "that could make sense in a weird sort of way," but it was clear that he was sulking because Naruto had figured it out before he had.

"Right where I thought he'd be!" Naruto said, interrupting Sasuke's grumbles.

"Where are we, and who are you talking about?" Sasuke asked.

"We're at the Konoha Memorial Stone, and we're going to tell Kakashi-sensei that you're spirit's still alive. He'll listen," Naruto said confidently.

"And why should we talk to him?" Sasuke asked clearly angry. "He shoved his fist through my chest and killed me - or at least killed my body."

"You shoved your fist through my body twice, at least once with the intent of killing me, and I still forgave you," Naruto said darkly. Sasuke didn't say anything, but Naruto could feel Sasuke's face turn slightly as though to say he had a point. While Naruto couldn’t see his expression, he felt a small twinge of what felt like regret, and knew it wasn’t his own.

Naruto approached Kakashi slowly, and it was clear that Kakashi was looking at the newest engraved name on the stone.

Naruto felt something in his stomach lurch as he saw Uchiha Sasuke now engraved amongst the names of the dead on the stone.

"When did they put Sasuke's name on the stone?" Naruto asked in way of greeting to Kakashi while allowing Sasuke to know what he saw.

"My name's on the stone? But I was a-" Sasuke began, but was interrupted by Kakashi, who, of course hadn't known that Sasuke was talking to Naruto.

"Last night," Kakashi said, his voice thick and sounding more muffled than normal through his mask. "The council wasn't sure whether or not they should put his name on it since he left, but he did kill Itachi. I pleaded that they put it on. I have a feeling there was more to what Sasuke was planning, and he wasn't really trying to hurt you when he kidnapped you, but we won't know because I ki-" Kakashi broke off and balled his fist up, clenching it at his side. His single visible eye had a tear at the corner of it. Kakashi reached his other hand out traced his fingers over Sasuke’s name. He then lightly traced his fingers over another name that Naruto didn’t know, but was surprised to see that the other person was an Uchiha too. Kakashi let his finger wonder from where it had traced “Uchiha Obito” and then linger longer over Naruto’s own father’s name.

"Kakashi-sensei, I-I know why you did what you did," Naruto reached out his hand and gently placed his over top of Kakashi's balled up fist. "But it's okay! Sasuke is-" but Naruto's words were drowned out as Kakashi (like Tsunade) gripped Naruto in a bone crushing hug.

"I'm so sorry Naruto!" Kakashi said. "I know that you and Sasuke were involved together before he left, but when I thought you were dead, I thought I'd lost my only family yet again. Please, you don't have to pretend to be okay with the fact that I killed Sasuke, but please, please don't hate me."

"I don't hate you," Naruto gasped out through the tight grip Kakashi had on him. He wanted to tell Kakashi to let go, but he knew that Kakashi was terribly distressed so refrained. He felt awkward. Never had Kakashi seemed to upset and broken before, and Naruto didn’t know what to do. Everyone was acting so emotional today.

"Never knew Kakashi could be so emotional, but, I do remember him telling me that he lost all of his most important people before. I guess he's just been good at wearing masks to hide how hurt he is. I guess I can't fault him for wanting to kill me if he thought he was trying to avenge his family," Sasuke murmured in acceptance.

"Can't - breathe!" Naruto choked out, but Kakashi didn't hear him.

"If Kakashi decides to let you breathe again, tell him that I forgive him," Sasuke said.

"Ka-ka-shi-" Naruto choked again, and Kakashi finally released his death grip on his nephew. Naruto took a gulp of air, and looked at Kakashi who seemed unaware of having nearly choked Naruto to death.

"I should head to the Hokage's office. Just before you got here, Yamato-san told me that Tsunade-sama wanted to see me," Kakashi explained, and before Naruto could even attempt to explain his predicament, Kakashi had vanished. Naruto reached out his hand, as though to try and keep him from leaving, but put his hand back down pathetically at his side.

"Do you kind of get the feeling that I'm never going to be able to explain our problem, or is it just me?" Naruto grumbled.

"I think Kakashi is more likely to listen and believe us, but just make sure not to get him when he's so emotionally unstable himself," Sasuke said calmly.

"Yeah, I guess. I mean, I never really thought how hard it must have been for him. I know he lost his father, and then he lost his brother before he even knew he was his brother. It looks like he lost a really important friend too." Naruto scratched the back of his head. "I guess I never really thought about all the tragedy that Kakashi-sensei might have gone through."

"Before I left to go to sound, he told me that he had lost everyone once dear to him. He was trying to relate to me, to warn me, and I wished I had listened," Sasuke murmured quietly. Naruto merely nodded, and then scratched his head again.

"But, what if everyone's right? What if I can only hear you in my head? What if I'm going insane?" Naruto said, questioning himself.

"Everyone? What do you mean everyone? You only really talked to Tsunade," Sasuke said, rolling his eyes.

"Yes, but she's the Hokage-"

"-since when has that mattered to you?"

"-and it makes sense. Why would I be hearing your voice? Why can't I see you?" Naruto asked, his voice starting to become panicked.

Sasuke smacked himself on the forehead, and Naruto almost yelped.

"Ow, what was that for?" Naruto asked, rubbing his head.

"Because if I were just an imaginary thing in your head, I wouldn't be able to do this-" and Sasuke smacked his own forehead again, which, of course, Naruto could feel.

"Ow! Stop that!" Naruto said angrily. "Okay, I get it," Naruto grumbled, his momentary hysteria leaving him just as quickly as it had come. "This is just all too weird."

"You've mentioned that several times. Just relax. Neither of us knows exactly what is going on at the moment. Right now people will assume that you're grieving for my supposed death. They may or may not act weird around you. Others will also be mourning for me, like Sakura," Sasuke said. Sasuke frowned slightly, realizing that there probably wouldn't be too many people that would seriously mourn his death for him. He was sure that his former fangirls would all be devastated, but there were few that he really knew himself.

"Why are you frowning?" Naruto asked, feeling Sasuke's frown over top of his own.

"Nothing much really. Shouldn't you go and see your family?" Sasuke added, hastily changing the topic of conversation.

"Forgot!" Naruto said, smacking his own forehead, and pausing.

"..."

"What?"

"From what I can see of your soul in your body, you look like you expected smacking your forehead to hurt me. Remember I can see your soul in the spirit realm; I know what actions you make, but I don't feel them, dobe," Sasuke said, smirking. Naruto grumbled something about not trying to smack his head to smack Sasuke back, but he was clearly pouting.

"That's not fair that you can touch me and I can't touch you," Naruto grumbled before sighing. "I guess I should go and find my family. Geeze, that's weird to say," Naruto said grinning widely, bounding off to where the Sen family, to where his family lived. On the way Naruto was lost in his thoughts, unaware that he had a rather depressed look on his face.

"What's the matter?" Sasuke asked, unnerved at how quiet Naruto seemed. He was used to Naruto being loud, but seeing him (at least, Naruto's "spirit form") looking upset bothered him. Sasuke realized that while he and Naruto had spent a lot of time together when they had been on team 7, he had hardly seen Naruto for nearly three years. What things about Naruto had changed?

"I can't touch you," Naruto murmured.

"Obviously not," Sasuke said, frowning.

"I mean, I can feel it when you touch me, but I can't touch you. What if I can't ever touch you again?" Naruto asked. Sasuke was silent for a moment. It was something that he had realized last night when he had been awake in Naruto's body. He could touch Naruto, but would he ever really feel what it was like for Naruto to touch him again?

"What does it matter?" Sasuke asked. Naruto shook his head.

"What does it matter?" Naruto repeated Sasuke's question. "It matters because you're my..." Naruto trailed off, looking for a word to accurately describe Sasuke's relation to him in their current relationship.

"Most important person?" Sasuke supplied.

"Yeah. I just don't like the idea of never being able to be close to you again. It's just nice to be so comfortable around someone to be touched and what not. I mean-" Naruto stopped mid sentence and gasped. Sasuke had run a finger gently down his own "spiritual" cheek, an action that Naruto felt.

"Dobe. I can still touch you. If you're worried about no one caring about you, well you're an idiot. I know what you mean about wanting to be physically close to people. Don't worry about it," Sasuke said, caressing his own and thus Naruto's cheek as Naruto continued to head to his family's place. "And you have your family now too," Sasuke said, his voice becoming quieter.

"Will you be okay?" Naruto asked.

"I'm part dead, of course I'm not okay," Sasuke bit out harshly. Naruto rolled his eyes, the tender moment broken.

"I meant will you be okay with me being around my family?" Naruto asked quietly. He was very attuned to people’s emotional well being, and he was apprehensive of Sasuke seeing him around his family. "I mean: you won't feel alone?" Naruto asked. It was Sasuke's turn to roll his eyes (though with Sasuke it was more a slight look up).

"Just because you have a family now it doesn't mean you can't relate to how I felt before," Sasuke said. Naruto smiled.

"You'll like my family. My great-grandfather is really super-hyperactive. I've never met anyone quite like him," Naruto said thoughtfully. Naruto's only response was a shake of the head from Sasuke.

Next Chapter: Daimyo or Ninja?

A little more romance in this chapter, but not too much yet. Don’t worry; it will come. :-) FYI, anyone who is interested can leave me their e-mail address and I will do my best to e-mail everyone. I wasn’t organized before, and people would ask me to e-mail them, and I’d forget. I actually have a list now, so feel free to leave it, especially those on aff. net who don’t get alerts like on ff. net. Please note if you leave your e-mail: on ff.net, please leave your e-mail address in the slot for e-mail, or put spaces in it like so: IloveNaruto @ yahoo . com, or else it will not show up. Hope you liked this chapter! ~ Jelp