Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, and I do not make any money from these writings.

"For someone about to visit a friend, you seem awfully down," Jiraiya said leaning against the boat's railing and looking at his student as a warm sea breeze blew his hair in the afternoon sun.

Naruto shifted his gaze from the sea to the erotic novelist writer, "It doesn't feel right, taking a vacation while Sasuke is still," he trailed off.

The older man clasped the younger ninja on the shoulder, "Sometimes a break is the best thing to do. Our little trip to this island will give you some time to rest up and myself sometime to do some much needed research."

The blonde's eyes widened in terror, "Please, no more. I don't think I could take another chapter. It's so boring."

The young teen had prolonged the last three words and the older man smiled at his pleading expression. Over the last few weeks Naruto had been acting less and less like himself and it was starting to worry the older man. That's why he had suggested the trip. At first he thought they should return to the Leaf village, but then he thought that might be too distracting for the blonde. However, once he heard about his little visit to this country and that he was friendly with the royal family, there was only one choice.

Soon, the island crested over the horizon and there was a stirring on deck and the two headed up to join the milling crowd eager to disembark. Naruto darted towards the railing as they were docking. A broad grin crossed his face as he first recognized a carriage and the boy standing outside of it waving. There was a man standing next to him, but from this distance he couldn't recognize him or if he knew him at all.

Naruto waved back, and as soon as the cruise ship hit the dock and cut the engines, Naruto disembarked from the ship in a way only a ninja could. Running down the hull of the ship, he landed on the dock and sprinted towards Hikaru. The boy sprinted towards him and they stopped a few feet away from each other, looking each other up and down.

"You grew." Hikaru said looking up at the blonde.

"So did you," Naruto responded, although he didn't add that their relative heights hadn't changed. "Are you still good with that bow?" he gestured towards the quiver on his back.

The younger boy blushed unexpectedly and shifted to try to hide the top of the quiver with his head, "I was practicing, and well, kind of lost track of time and your ship was coming in so," he trailed off.

Sensing his friends embarrassment, the fourteen-year-old added, "Maybe you could show me how good you are sometime?"

"Yeah, maybe once you're settled in."

The man that had been standing with the young prince strolled up to join them, "Naruto you're turning into a fine young man," he said with a smile.

In the back of the blondes mind he knew he recognized the man and then it suddenly came to him, "Prince Michiru?" It looked like him, but he must've dropped at least fifty pounds maybe more.

"King Michiru now," the man corrected, padding his much reduced stomach. "Normally, my duties wouldn't allow me to meet you here, but for such an honored guest I was able to find the time."

Naruto felt his cheeks warm and he looked away scratching the back of his head, speechless.

"And there he is," the king broke away from them and intercepted Jiraiya as he was coming over to join up with his student. "It's an honor to have such a great literary genius visit this humble country."

Naruto's expression faltered as Jiraiya's widened with pleasure. "It's always great to meet a fan."

"Yes, yes and for as long as you stay here I insist that you and Naruto stay at my humble palace." The blonde hung his head, both embarrassed that he had misunderstood and to find out that his perverted sensei had yet another fan in high places.

"Hey, Naruto are his books really that great? When I told my dad about the letter you sent me and mentioned his name he got all excited, but no one would let me read one of his books."

The young teen put his hand on the younger shoulder, "I think it's an adult thing. Believe me, there's nothing special about those books."

Both of the men talked animatedly for a moment before joining the other two. Hikaru turned and bowed towards the older man as he approached, "It's an honor to meet Naruto's teacher."

Naruto burst out into laughter, "What?"

Naruto's sensei grinned at the boy, ignoring his student and said, "It's nice to know that someone appreciates the fact that I'm one of the greatest ninjas in Konoha's history and that I'm also a best-selling novelist."

"Modest as ever." Naruto muttered.

"You're one to talk."

Hikaru glanced back and forth, concerned until the two both broke into grins. His father spoke up, "I don't know if you ate before you left the ship, but I have arranged for a small meal if you would like."

The promise of food was enough to motivate everyone to climb into the carriage and they were off. The three of them talked mostly about how the cruise was and Hikaru remained silent for most of the trip. They arrived at the mansion with little fanfare, and to Naruto's relief, no ambush. The dining room was already prepared for them and the two adults sat at one end of a long table and Naruto and the young prince sat at the other.

At first he thought the layout a little weird, but when Naruto realized that the two older males were probably talking about the books the pervert wrote he was glad for the distance. Turning his attention back to his young friend, he smiled, "Your father lost a lot of weight."

The younger boy's eyes shot up from his plate and smiled. "Yeah, he says he wants to drop seventy-five pounds before the wedding."

"Wedding?" Naruto echoed questioningly.

The boy smiled, "My mom and dad are going to try and get back together. They've been seeing each other almost since you guys left."

"That's good, right?"

"I guess so. She's really nice and all. I spent some time with her and she was the one that said I should attend a local school."

"How is that going?"

"Good, I have some friends now."

"That's great Hikaru." Naruto noticed that the other boy blushed and that seemed odd, but he wrote it off to the spicy meal.

The dinner continued and the two talked a lot, just catching up with each other. When the Genin noticed that the two adults were breaking out the alcohol and knowing how Jiraiya could get, he suggested that Hikaru should show him how well he was with his bow. They left the two adults behind. The prince led him to a small range at the back of the mansion built for target practice. It was about fifteen feet wide and maybe fifty feet deep. The backstop only consisted of hay barrels. The walls were smooth concrete, and as it was late, they had to turn on the lights.

Downrange there were several round targets at various distances and the boy smiled and looked up at the teen and said, "Watch this." He notched an arrow and brought it up he fired. It hit dead center of the nearest target on the left, but he wasn't done. Quickly notching another, he fired again and again, walking down the width of the field hitting each target dead center. Then he turned and smiled.

"You're pretty good." Naruto said smiling.

"Pretty good?" the Prince objected. "Most of the guards can't even do that!"

Shrugging, he put his hands behind his head in a casual manner, "Well you do it fast, but really all you have to do is shoot straight."

The younger boy's face reddened in anger and the blonde wondered if he had pushed him too far, but before he could apologize the boy shouted, "Fine, watch this." He took several steps back and turned, preparing to fire again. Again, each one of the arrows hit the target, but it took longer and was only very close to being dead center.

The older teen smiled at the defiant look the young prince gave him. "You really are good. You know I was just teasing, you right?"

Hikaru's face reddened in embarrassment as he looked down at his feet. "No, I'm sorry. I'm still not used to this friend stuff."

That confession made Naruto feel a little awkward, not that he couldn't sympathize. So he changed the subject. "Can I try that bow? I've never actually shot one before."

"Really?" The prince was surprised, but he grinned, "Sure. I'll give you a quick lesson." The quick lesson lasted for a few hours and it wasn't until a servant informed them that it was past midnight that they turned in for the night.

The next day, Naruto slept in. When he did wake up, he showered and went through several kata in the garden. Even on vacation, he didn't want to completely slack off. He had never been the best academic student, but that didn't mean he had not tried. Naruto became lost in the familiar movements and didn't notice his observer. That was until he finished and heard clapping.

Hikaru stood in the shadow of a tree only about ten feet away. "That was really cool looking." he waved his hands in a vague imitation of Naruto's movements.

"Thanks," he shifted to fully face his friend. "What's up?"

The boy shrugged and pushed up his glasses. "I wanted to ask you if you would like to go to the beach house on the other side of the island, like we did last time. I haven't been out there yet during summer vacation."

Naruto thought about the little beach house that was at least three times the size of his apartment. Last time he had been there it had just been Hikaru, Lee, Sakura and himself. Kakashi had still been recovering and it had actually been a lot of fun. "Sure, will it be just be the two of us?"

"Yeah," the other answered. "Come on, breakfast is ready, we can go right after that."

The blonde smiled at the other's enthusiasm and followed him into the dining room. Jiraiya and the King weren't there and Naruto wasn't too upset by that. He liked Jiraiya, but after sleeping next to him for nearly two months straight he would be happy to have the island between the two of them.

Jiraiya was just stirring as Naruto was about to leave and the old man gave him his blessing with a wave of his hand. By this time, Naruto could recognize all the signs of a hangover and it looked like the Sannin was having a monster one. It only took about an hour by carriage to the beach house, and once they arrived, the carriage turned right around and left them alone. The blonde knew there were guards around, but they were hidden so it was almost like they weren't there.

The beach was exactly as how Naruto remembered it. They dumped their stuff in the house which was always kept ready for a visit from the royal family. Then, the two spent the day on the beach, playing like little kids. They swam, played Frisbee and even built a sand castle. They had Ramen for lunch, which turned out to be one of the prince's favorite foods. At the end of the day, Naruto dug a small pit and drag some driftwood over to start a fire so they could roast marshmallows, an activity he hadn't done since the last time he had been on the island.

"Hey, Naruto, can I ask you something?" Hikaru asked as he stared into the fire.

"Sure," Naruto answered as he popped a marshmallow into his mouth. As it hit his tongue, he spat it out shouting, "Hot!"

The prince chuckled at his discomfort, but his expression quickly became serious. "How can you tell if you love someone?"

The blonde was fanning his tongue, but when he heard the question he smiled thinking the little prince had a crush. "Well," Naruto began sagely, "When you like someone you want to be around them. You think about them and you want them to be happy."

"So if you want to be around someone and you think about them while wanting them to be happy youlovethem?"

"Pretty much." Naruto said before draining the rest of his iced tea. For a second, he thought about adding that you dream about them, but that was a conversation he didn't want to have.

The prince was silent for a second before asking, "How do you tell them?"

"Well, when I told Sakura I just blurted it out." what Naruto didn't add was that after his confession she had turned him down flat for a date.

"So you think I should just tell them?" The Prince questioned

"Yep." Naruto said casually smiling over at him.

The boy stared back at him and after a moment of silence said, "I love you Naruto."

The older teen froze at those unexpected words. Several thoughts flashed through his mind all, vying for dominance. In his panic, he chose the worst words to say at that moment. "Yeah, just like that, but to the person you like."

Hikaru stood and left without saying a word and after a few seconds, Naruto came to his senses and went after the prince. His friend wasn't running away, but he was taking quick measure steps, clearly trying not to look like he was running away. Fortunately, Naruto's legs were longer and he was able to grab the boy's shoulder before he reached the beach house. "Listen Hikaru, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said it like that."

The young Prince rounded on him with tears in his eyes, "I knew it was a one in a million shot, but I wanted you to say that you loved me too and now you don't like me at all."

Naruto suddenly had an abundance of sympathy for Sakura. "Hikaru, you're my friend and that's never going to change. It's just, I can't," he trailed off.

"I know, but I wanted you to." the other boy said as he suddenly hugged Naruto.

The taller teen threw an arm around the other, not knowing what to say or if he should say anything. They stayed like that for a few minutes, neither of them saying anything. The prince broke the silence a few minutes later.

"Will you really stay my friend? Will you still visit me when you can?"

"Of course, I promise. I'm not sure when I'll be able to come for another visit, but I give you my word that I'll come and visit you again." Two words came to Naruto's mind and they were words he had not uttered in a very long time, but the situation called for them, "Believe it."