CW: uhh self harm in a way , blood , cutting , excessive actions , kinda crazy behavior . if you don't like don't read , it's that simple

When Naruto left that night, he continued to give Sasuke his personal space, going pretty far to avoid him when he could. To his face at least. In the shadows, Naruto was still the same person he was before, making sure his eyes were always on Sasuke.

That was until he was assigned an ANBU mission, including a jonin and her team. The mission would only take a couple days at most, but it didn't make sense why he had to be on a team. He hated teams. His dad knew that. Which was probably why it turned out that way.

Dragged by the throat from his thoughts about Sasuke, Naruto's head turned, ears focused on the sound of steps coming from behind him. "Hey, Kitsune! Long time no see," the woman called, her head cocked to the side teasingly.

He didn't mind her too much, missions being bearable, but her team having to join? Unthinkable.

She took a seat at the bench next to him, man spreading as he was. "It's been what? Three years? You still chasing that rabbit?" Naruto hummed in response. "Mm, wait, Ash told me that you two got together not too long ago, that true?" Another hum.

He didn't know how Ash had known but everyone wants Sasuke, so when he's officially off the market, it'd make sense that some people would gossip about it. Especially when he's been stolen by the demon of the village.

"You still not talking on missions?? I hate that. Or, is it only in the village? Because last time, you were fine with talking, just obviously not like I'm talking."

Naruto looked at her, his eyes shining through the mask. She talked way too much—Ash more— and while Naruto had known her a while, he didn't like being around her, like Sai— tolerable, but not a first choice.

The woman put her hands up in mock surrender. "Okay, okay, I'll back down. Ash is out on a mission right now, otherwise she would have joined us. So, you're stuck with me for now, your favorite, Kimileeah."

Naruto side eyed her. He hasn't seen her for how long? And she's claiming to be his favorite? Yeah, no. "Not even. Far from it in fact."

Kim huffed out a sigh of disappointment, playfully kicking the dirt. "Man... when will Naruto ever care bout me and Ash... haven't seen him in forever, and I. And now I can't even get a few nice words out of him. Whatever will I do...?" Towards the end she made sure to bat her eyelashes as she pitifully looked at Naruto.

The blond took one look and kept walking: not his problem. What was his problem was that Kimilee's team hadn't shown up, not a single one.

"Where's your team?", he asked, Kimilee having to lean closer to hear him. "Told you that you were stuck with me, didn't I?" Behind his mask, he blinked in disbelief. He was doing a duo mission with Kimileeah Andres. Oh, how he hated his life. Why couldn't he do a duo with Sasuke?? It wasn't fair.

Kimilee lightly shoved him, her face contorting in laughter. "I can't even see your face, but don't look like that, asshole! Don't tell me you've forgotten how well we work together."

Despite his opinions about her, Naruto couldn't forget that. Kimileeah was the perfect partner for Naruto, capable enough to take care of herself and lenient enough to allow him to do as he pleased. They were usually on the same wavelength when it came to missions, not needing to say much to get what the other was thinking. It was the reason Naruto continued talking to her in the first place.

"Ahh, it's been so long since we've had a mission together, I'm so excited!!", she grinned, walking in front of Naruto so she could look at him. "You're acting like Ash right now," he told her, covering her face with his hand and shoving it out his way.

Kimilee groaned, "And you're acting like an old, boring, lame-ass who doesn't know how to have fun! Plus, you know Ash would be way worse than me."

Naruto just hummed along with whatever she said after that, not caring enough to listen to her blab on about the stuff she and Ashlynn have been into lately.

What Naruto didn't expect after the mission was for Kimilee to continue to hang around him, Ash joining in after she got back from her own mission. Like they were glued to Naruto's hip, every day, bothering him. It didn't make sense. He was genuinely ready to kill one of them. He just wanted to hang out and be around Sasuke, but he couldn't do that because fucking Itachi had been keeping Sasuke locked away, not allowing him to even go on missions. What sense did that make?? Itachi was a tyrant.

"Can you two leave me alone??", Naruto looked up from his bed as they snooped around his room. They had just dragged him around town and all he wanted now was to relax. But no, he couldn't do that. Couldn't eat lunch in peace, enjoy his time out in peace, it was a miracle he was allowed to shit in peace.

Ashlynn glanced out as if pondering it before looking back at him and smiling. "No. Because last time we did that, you completely ghosted us for God knows how long." Kimilee nodded in agreement as she spun a kunai between her fingers.

"Oh really?", Naruto asked sarcastically. "I wonder why."

Naruto moved his head as a kunai flew past him, getting stuck in his headboard. "Maybe because you are an obsessive little bastard who doesn't know how to share his attention. Speaking of obsessions, where is the poor thing? Surprised you don't have him stashed away somewhere." Kimilee came to join him on the bed, Ashlynn following after.

"First of all, I'm not obsessive—" "Shut up," Ashlynn groaned, "who are you lying to?" "Whatever. He's at home; Itachi, for your information, is the one keeping him hostage. He's perfectly fine with me," Naruto grumbled.

Sure, these two knew a lot that Naruto thought about, mostly because Kimilee was, as stated, on the same wavelength as him, just not as severe. That being said, they knew a lot, but not all of it. Not the part where Naruto wants to kill anyone who keeps him away from Sasuke, where he sometimes wants to force Sasuke to rely on him, to keep him solely to himself. Where sometimes, Naruto can't think of anything other than killing Sasuke just to keep him safe and compliant by his side. No one knew about that, no one but Kurama.

With Sasuke

"He's what?" Sasuke blinked in confusion as Deidara relayed the words for the third time.

"Out with some girls all the time, I don't know who they are, I've only saw them together after you started staying in. Just figured I'd tell you because I didn't want you to not know. They could be friends though," Deidara added on.

Sasuke looked around, trying to find the right words, to get the right thoughts to form. This was Naruto they were talking about. Naruto who's been obsessed with Sasuke since he found out he liked him. There's no way he was out hanging around with not one, but two girls that Sasuke didn't know of.

But then there was Deidara's "just friends" theory. Naruto didn't have fucking friends. He made that a clear point every time Sasuke asked if he had nothing better to do than stick by his side every day. "Why would I need anyone else when I have you?" "No one could compare, so there's no room to compete." "Being around anyone but you makes me want to gouge my eyes out." Naruto's words, verbatim, not Sasuke's.

So why the fuck was Sasuke hearing that Naruto was hanging around two females?? It didn't make sense. Why is it that as soon as Sasuke is unable to see him or be around him, Naruto finds something else— someone else to do and be around.

But it was fine, everything was fine. So, he smiled at Deidara, thanked him for letting him know and went to his room.

Deidara watched carefully as Sasuke disappeared around the corner, more confused than anything. Sure, Sasuke danced around Naruto to begin with and even had his own interactions with other people, but Deidara knew that Sasuke was the furthest thing from nonchalant when it came to Naruto.

It all made sense though when he heard the muffled screams coming from that general direction. He sighed to himself as he went to find Itachi to relay the information to. Itachi has known Naruto for a while, a lot better than Deidara did, so maybe he'd have a different take on the situation.

"I don't believe you." Deidara deadpanned at the male as refused to listen. These damn Uchiha's.

The blond shrugged, "Well, it's the truth, I don't know what you want from me."

Itachi narrowed his eyes, closing Deidara in against the dresser he leaned on. "What do you want? Have I not been giving you enough attention lately? Why are you being messy?"

Deidara, forcibly close to his boyfriend's face, turned his head. "You haven't. But I'm telling the truth. I saw Naruto eating lunch with two random girls."

Itachi stared a while longer, his eyes in search of any form of fabrication. He pushed off of him. "I don't believe you."

A door shut somewhere in the house and soon after, Mikoto poked her head into Itachi's room. "You will never believe what the fuck I just saw." Itachi's eyes shot between his boyfriend and his mother, letting his face fall into his hands in disbelief. "I think I can take a guess," he mumbled disappointedly.

Mikoto looked around before closing the door behind her. "Naruto??", she whispered for clarification. Itachi and Deidara nodded, Deidara more excitedly than the other. "I saw them eating lunch together!", he exclaimed and Mikoto's eyes widened.

"Really? When I saw them, they were going into a clothing store. I was going to follow behind, but you know how perceptive Naruto is. Does Sasuke know??"

Sasuke hugged Sora, his dinosaur, close to his chest, drying his tears on his tail. This wasn't fair. They had just gotten together. Literally not even three months ago. It made Sasuke wonder, what was Naruto doing every other time Sasuke had left him by himself, or every time Naruto went out of town. Was the doctor just an excuse to go be with someone else...? No, that would be too much. Sure, Naruto was a liar sometimes, but him going to the doctor has been for years; Naruto wouldn't continuously lie to him like that, right? Yeah, of course not, Naruto went to the doctors before he even liked Sasuke.

So why did this all feel so wrong?

Tbcc