The only thing running through Uzumaki Naruto's head was how he never wanted this night to end. This night. The night that Sasuke, hisSasuke, came home. Really came home. Finally.
Sasuke was here. Actually here. Here to stay. Konohagakure was, had always been, and still is, Sasuke's home. But this time was different, for this was the time when Sasuke knew it was his home, that he was willing to accept that fact.
When the surreally, satanically superlative beauty had attempted, twice, thus giving the Uchiha a double failure as a ninja, to kill him, it had done things to Naruto that he had never thought possible. Because for perhaps the first serious time, suicide sounded beautiful and welcoming. Death in general sounded…wondrous. It roused a morbid fascination that had been treading in the doldrums of his heart, of which was noticed all too late.
Haruno Sakura had been crying. Sai had been painting special pictures just for him, a twit of emotion stained throughout his eyes. Hatake Kakashi had had his hand on Umino Iruka's shoulder, comforting the other man pathetically. Uchiha Sasuke didn't know. Uzumaki Naruto didn't want him to know. But knew he had to tell him, all the same.
Naruto's head was resting on the crook of Sasuke's neck, Sasuke's head resting on Naruto's head in return. Sasuke's arms were wrapped soothingly around his body, his left arm around his waist and his right around his right knee. Naruto's legs were bent to the right and his feet thrust to the side, out of the way, as his knees rested gently on Sasuke's legs. His hip stuck out in a slightly sexy manner, his swift curves accenting strongly by the silver-diamond fireflies in the sky.
Sasuke's arms held Naruto to him even closer than they had been seconds before. The raven [Naruto didn't dare refer to Sasuke as a crow, not after the many incidents with Itachi looked stellar, like he was a fallen angel sent to break and mend Naruto's heart.
What would he think…? What would he say, if I told him…? What would he say to me? Would he resent me, think me weak, pathetic? Try to stab me with his voice like he had done so many times before…?
And what's that saying again?
They're only words and words can't kill me.
But I can't even spell them,
And the cadence of what she says is,
Well…
Sai had a secret. It was a very special secret, but it was a secret. One that he didn't want to tell anyone about—at least, not yet. Maybe he would tell Naruto, seeming that the blonde was the only one that might have even a dash of understanding of the feeling.
No one had ever bothered to question Sai of his past. Only Sai knew what the important aspects of it were—everything else was pointless grunge in the big picture. He did not know his age. Nobody did, but he knew he clearly must be quite a few years older than his teammates.
How else could it be true that they had been a mere twelve-years-of-age when they had first met his lover three years ago?
His lover was dead. Dead to the hands of a man that Sai had never been able, and would never be able, to look straight in the eye. For only one eye showed, the other covered by his Hitai-ate.
He had been gentle, pure, like the waters of this planet on their first birthdays, never been touched, harmed, or sullied by any sort of organism or any other element.
This marked the day of his death. He was always visited by his darling on this day. So here he sat waiting, in the cool vibrant greens of Konohagakure's grass, staring into the endless, black and blued abyss called the sky. The night was lit by silver-glowing fireflies, the creatures acting as exceptionally bright, shimmering stars in the sky, fading in and out of sight, contrasting magnificently upon the dimly lit dust specks in the atmosphere.
The outlines of the tops of the tall trees could be seen, as if glowing, the sky painted with an unknown blend of light, the hues of blacks and blues blooming into one another perfectly, as if the Gods had decided to Photoshop the night and twist reality a bit. Could the night sky really be so many shades of a bruise?
A hand touched his left, bringing him out of his admiration temporarily. Sai smiled, a genuine, true smile, without looking over to admire the person next to him. He knew who it was, and he knew the moment he looked over they would begin conversation. He knew what topic would come up.
They sat in silence, admiring the memorable scene surrounding them. The other's head was resting against the crook of his neck, bringing him a contented comfort.
Let's talk about spaceships,
Or anything except you and me, okay?
Let's talk about spaceships,
Or anything except you and me, okay?
Okay.
He was so nervous he thought he was going to die for perhaps the fourth time in his life—the countdown of one, when Sasuke attempted to kill him for power, two, when he let Sasuke get away, and third, the emotional trauma that followed those two years of separation.
Maybe he should hate Sasuke. Yes. He should, but he couldn't. And he wouldn't. Gods, he loved him, he loved him all too much. There was no room in his heart for hate right now. Right now, his heart was made of Sasuke. Sasuke. Sasuke. Sasuke. Sasuke.
Naruto fell even farther into Sasuke's embrace, his nose absently in-taking every scent on the man. He smelt so good, just as always.
When people think of Sasuke, they think of him as having a dark, deep, musky scent. But it was the farthest thing from true. Sasuke's milky white skin smelt of lavenders and chamomile teas, his hair smelling of a scent that was the Uchiha's, made as a sort of humanized pheromone.
Elegant, long, slender fingers were running through up and through his hair.
"Naruto…?" The voice was airy, flawless in tone and in the way it slid off the tongue, no deep rasp in the back of his throat like so many others.
Naruto's nervous eyes looked up at the Uchiha, his eyes locking with the moonlit eyes gazing on him. His expression was a blank slate for the most part, but his eyes were scared.
"Sasuke…what's wrong…?" he whispered softly, shifting his body upwards as he spoke, now the one predominantly holding the other man.
"He's behind me," Sasuke whispered weakly. "He's…he's there…" He held Naruto even closer.
When Sasuke needed comforting, he was different than some people. Most people wanted to be held by the one they loved, a feeling of security and warmth protecting them from harm. But Sasuke liked to hold. Naruto allowed Sasuke to do so to him tightly, Sasuke's arms wrapped as much as possible around him, Naruto's body melding perfectly to his, the other man's fingers trembling as they gripped tightly onto his clothing.
Maybe it was because death liked to embrace as well.
Naruto was comfortable like this, with Sasuke's head resting tightly on his neck, his own head resting on Sasuke's.
"How many stars do you think are in the sky?"
The Uchiha let go of Naruto abruptly, his hands having slid from being crossed over Naruto's back, one clutching his shoulder the other the juncture of his stomach, to now holding onto his lower arms, near his elbows. He looked slightly stunned. "Well, how many do you think?" Sasuke remarked in return, carefully picking his words.
"I don't really know…" Naruto drawled on the end, losing himself in thought. Damn. He was awful with estimating things. His bottom lip puckered out in a pout as he playfully glared at Sasuke, satisfied at the change the conversation had taken. "Shut up, teme!"
Sasuke gave a light, chest-deep snicker. It was evident Sasuke hadn't laughed in a long time, since the snicker, which was once signature to the Uchiha before he had head out to Otogakure, sounded quite a bit awkward to the raven. "Hnn. Doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to guess how many stars are in the sky right now."
"The fireflies are prettier."
The Uchiha smiled, altering the angle of his head to kiss Naruto on the tip of his nose, all thoughts of Orochimaru out the door.
And don't look now,
But there's a spider crawling on the wall behind you.
I should have paid attention in algebra.
"Sai-san…" the other man said, a slightly hurt tone to their voice, hoping to gain the other's attention. He had not spoken to him since he had appeared.
"Haku-chan?" Sai answered, allowing his lover's name to serve as the question, 'What is it?'
"Why won't you look at me?" Haku's translucent hand caressed Sai's arm, causing the skin he touched to rise into goose bumps to show his chill.
Sai looked over to face the soul of his love. "I love you, Haku."
The angel smiled happily. "I love you too, Sai." He continued to caress Sai's arm tenderly, knowing the other man did not mind the cool chills he received from it.
Let's talk about spaceships,
Or anything except you and me, okay?
Let's talk about spaceships,
Or anything except you and me, okay?
And then they were kissing. Sai and Haku. Saliva coated lips gracing across each other's smoothly wet salivating noises steaming hotly from between them. Sai began to pull his head back, a spectacular and sensual string of saliva connecting their lips to each other.
"What is this…Haku…?" he breathed darkly, a firefly flitting past his face.
Haku smiled his beautifully pure smile. "What is what, Sai?"
"This…this feeling…" he continued to breath, unable to avert his eyes from the other's. Those beautiful deep, honey-clover eyes. "I can't breath…I feel like I can't stay alive with out you, Haku…I want to go with you. Take me with you."
A contented sadness was evident in Haku's eyes. "It's love, Sai," he whispered softly, shifting his body so that it would be even closer to the other male's. "I love you."
"I love you, too. Bring me with you." Sai interlaced their fingers.
"There's nothing for you where I reside." Haku tightened the grip between the locked fingers.
"Then you would be my nothing." He gave him the most pure kiss that he could muster.
Haku gave one last tight squeeze before slowly drifting, blurring into the deep depth of the night.
"Just don't forget, Sai, one day, I promise, you'll find someone who can be with you—who can be with you always."
Sasuke kissed him fully on the lips, carefully, two pairs of pale cherry-coloured lips melded together in a sensual dance of lips.
…why exactly had he gone to him again?
Oh. Yes. Power. If anything, it lacked such a thing and was more of sexual training. He couldn't help but wonder if Orochimaru had potentially that his brother was going to molest/rape him when they met…?
…he wasn't thatpromiscuous. Nope. Not at all.
Naruto giggled as he moved his happy features farther away from Sasuke's, the cool oxygen whisking between their now chilled lips. Naruto's eyes were glittering in happiness and amusement. "And just what were youthinking about, Mr.? I already told you, I'm here, you don't need to fantasize about me anymore." He winked playfully, the golden eyelashes of the other playing against the bone below his eye.
Sasuke couldn't restrain the small laugh that sounded from his mouth. It sounded awkward and rough, the evidence of him having not laughed for so long showing even more than earlier. "Of course not, Naruto, I was fantasizing about Orochimaru and my brother."
Naruto hit him on the shoulder, playfully. "Bastard! Ya sick pervert."
A smirk graced the older man's features. "Idiot," he whispered in reply, his arms wrapping around the other tighter, bringing their bodies back to the close proximity they had had previously. He felt the wet lips of his lover kiss his neck chastely.
He ran fingers through golden hair. Never again. On no account again would he leave this man, betray him, or even attempt to hurt him.
But he couldn't say he wouldn't lie to him. Otherwise that would just be even more of a false pretense.
"You know, you don't need to stop being who you are." Hot breath caressed his neck, the cool air feeling even cooler than before on that one area.
"These fireflies are beautiful…"
Just for one night he wanted to keep from talking about himself. He wanted to talk about Naruto and embrace the man.
Out of the blue, all of a sudden, he was being pushed into the beautiful water they had been resting near, the sudden lack of oxygen astounding but also the beauty of feeling so free in the crystal clear pure water.
Arms wrapped around him, pulling him through the thick waters and up above where the gravity suddenly hit. He rotated his body as to face his lover, both soaked to the core, hair mussed, wet, dripping, skin glistening, eyes loving and bright, and suddenly skin-tight clothing that felt as if he had simply put on excessively heavy clothing.
But still they felt free. For once, free.
He wrapped his arms around his lover in return, the two standing chest deep in the rippling, cool water, sharing their love through warmth.
Through their arms, through their implicit, unspoken silence.
Let's talk about spaceships,
Or anything except you and me, okay?
Let's talk about spaceships,
Or anything except you and me, okay?
Sai thought he saw something from across the lake he sat at. But what did it matter…? Haku had left him—again. Heaven…what was it like? Was he really the only thing tying the incomparable being here?
Whatever was so, he would wait. But wait for what?
He did not know. But if he was truly honest with himself, he didn't want to know. He'd rather let things happen on their own, spontaneously, while he keep up with the smiles and feeling of freedom and air.
Haku would decide when they would be together once more—for good.
It felt like an eternity had passed. Had it? Who knows. But it's not like it even mattered.
For once in his life Naruto did not regret surviving that attempt. That attempt to endhis existence. Sasuke was home. He was here. And he would always be here. They would be together forever, right?
It felt like those diamonds in the sky were dancing around them, fluttering their fragile stain-glass wings around as they kissed the darkness with their glow. The moon, the colossal white pearl, shone down on them, embracing the darkness with its light, the reflection casting an ethereal radiance to the couple's water slick skin.
But the mood was too quiet. Nothing could be heard, all was dead silent.
"Hey, Sasuke?" Naruto inquired softly, staring into Sasuke's onyx eyes.
"Yeah?" Sasuke replied in an equally soft tone, caressing the blonde's cheek.
A firefly flit in between them, one landing on Naruto's nose and one on Sasuke's. Naruto giggled, disrupting the two fireflies and causing them to flutter away, the noise of fluttering wings like a serenade of the natural world. Pink lips were brought to a smile, as were even paler pink lips.
"Let's talk about spaceships."
Sasuke smiled in response, leaving a light peck on Naruto's nose.
Okay.