Sleepily Naruto padded out of his tent. It was early in the morning, the birds just barely awake, and he and Sasuke were on a longer mission. They were already gone from Konoha for a week. It was a fairly simple delivery mission and it was quite a relaxing one, they only had so much time because of the distance they had to cross.

Naruto blinked over to the other tent. Sasuke was most likely still sleeping, he hated mornings with a passion. Naruto couldn't blame him, he would be sleeping too if the sounds of the forest waking up hadn't pulled him out of his slumber.

But it was already too late for regrets, he was awake and he might as well do something useful. With that on his mind, Naruto went to search for firewood.

When he came back, Sasuke was awake too - well, at least he was conscious. He was sitting on a tree trunk, staring off into the distance.

Naruto chuckled low under his breath. Mornings were clearly not Sasuke's strong point.

Once he had started the fire and was boiling water, Sasuke finally showed signs of awareness. He padded closer to Naruto's fire and plopped down in front of it, not caring about the cleanliness of his pants.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty. Have you finally decided to grace us with your presence?"

Sasuke glowered at him and Naruto broke down in giggles.

"You should see yourself in the morning, teme. All grumpy and barely awake."

"Hn."

Uchiha Sasuke, people, always so eloquent.

But despite the fact that Sasuke currently looked mostly dead, Naruto couldn't help but find him gorgeous.

He had had a crush on his best friend for as long as he could remember, even though he only realized it shortly after they blew each other's arms off. It made so much sense, that he didn't know how he hadn't known it was love earlier. He truly was an idiot. Why else would the thought of Sasuke leaving his life reduce him into broken shells, leave him unable to breathe properly.

But it didn't matter now. He had realized it eventually. Now he just had to act on it.

That's where this mission came in play.

Naruto had begged Tsunade-baachan to give them both a long mission where they didn't have to do much. Just to have Sasuke for himself. Tsunade had only laughed at him and granted him his wish.

In theory everything was going according to the plan.

In praxis… well in praxis Naruto still hadn't found the balls to talk to the raven yet.

The blonde sighed. At least he still had a whole week to work up some sort of courage.

They ate breakfast quietly, Sasuke still half asleep and Naruto knew better than to bother his best friend in that state. Afterwards they packed up and continued on their way.

The day went by without any incidents, they bickered about what to eat for dinner (ramen or something healthy), but that was the only thing that really 'happened' that day.

They put up camp by a river side, even though Sasuke had complained about the mosquitos near the water, at which Naruto had laughed at him for being a wimp and not being able to handle a couple of insects.

Otherwise, it was a warm evening and a peaceful night.

The next days continued in a similar fashion.

And Naruto still hadn't talked to Sasuke. He would have to do it soon, their mission was almost over, his chance almost gone.

He would have to do it eventually.

But Naruto was still afraid. What if Sasuke didn't feel the same way? What if he hated Naruto? What if he left him again?

There were so many things that could go wrong.

And so, Naruto kept quiet, guarding the secret that he wanted out so badly. He was a coward.

It was the last night of their mission. His last chance. He had to do it now. Who knew when he would have this chance again.

Who knew when Naruto would be too late.

It was a warm evening again. They were sitting before the fire, quietly munching on their food.

"Uhm…" Naruto attempted to start his dreaded conversation.

"Very intelligent, dobe. How about you think what you have to say before opening you mouth?" Sasuke's grin was probably supposed to look condescending, but Naruto couldn't help but find it extremely attractive.

His heart beat out of his chest. This was the moment when he should declare his love to the sexy raven.

But all that came out was: "Never mind."

He had thrown away this chance too. He was pathetic. How could anyone call him the 'village hero', when he couldn't even talk to his best friend?

He didn't sleep that night.

The last day of their journey wasn't as uneventful as the rest of the days. They were attacked by robbers. They probably hadn't seen their hitai-ate and thought they attacked two civilians. The fight against them was easily won but it was a change to their quiet mission.

And they had caught them slightly unaware, as Naruto had to admit, embarrassed.

It was early in the morning, Sasuke had still been mostly asleep and Naruto had been deep in his thoughts about his inevitable conversation with the Uchiha.

That's why he reacted too late and the arrow had grazed his arm. It wasn't a deep wound, Kurama would be able to heal it in less than a minute, but Sasuke still fussed about it.

Sasuke was endearingly worried about Naruto even though he had no reason to be and Naruto wasn't about to say something about the hand still resting on his arm.

"You should have been more careful, usuratonkachi! You know better than to let your guard down like that! What if the arrow had been poisoned? I don't care that the Kyuubi can heal you, you shouldn't let it go that far!"

As Sasuke leaned closer to inspect the wound that was slowly closing, Naruto couldn't control his mouth.

"Can I kiss you?" He blurted out, surprising himself even more than Sasuke.

Immediately silence fell. Both shinobi stared at each other disbelievingly. A blush started to cover Naruto's whole face until he thoroughly resembled the tomatoes Sasuke loved so much.

"Ah, no.. Sorry… I didn't mean to.. I mean I did, but not like this and uhm... just, just ignore what I said." Naruto attempted to run away but a hand on his wrist stopped him in his tracks.

He stared at it as if it was an alien object and all words died in his throat but he didn't shrug it off.

"Dobe," Sasuke whispered.

Naruto swallowed. "Sasuke."

"You know, you don't even have to ask…"

Naruto's head shot up. Cerulean eyes finding midnight ones immediately. He only found sincerity in Sasuke's gaze. And yet the notion was entirely out of his grasp. So he did what he did best.

"Huh?"

Yeah, real smooth Uzumaki.

But Sasuke only chuckled.

"You are such a dobe."

And his smile was genuine and beautiful and Naruto could physically feel himself fall even more in love with his best friend. He couldn't help the biggest grin from spreading on his face, stretching from one ear to the other.

And he found it mirrored on Sasuke's face.

They leant forward at the same time. Their lips meeting in the middle. The kiss was short and awkward, just chapped lips clumsily sliding against each other. But Naruto couldn't help but think it was the best feeling ever.

Afterwards they sat on the forest ground, foreheads pressed together, gazing in each other's eyes. Midnight black meeting cerulean blue.

"You know, I never thought you'd ever ask," Sasuke broke their peaceful silence. "I actually never thought you'd ever feel the same way. I mean, you were always so in love with Sakura and you never showed any signs of liking men too. I resigned myself to stay your friend forever."

Even though the thought itself was sad, Naruto couldn't help but smile.

"And then this mission, it seemed like a dream, I never get to see you alone these days, you know... When you asked, I thought I hadn't heard correctly, that it was just my wishful thinking. I… thank you."

Naruto gaped. "Why thank me?"

Sasuke laughed.

"How could I not? Naruto, you saved me. You saved me from my darkness, you saved me from myself. I was bitter and I was angry and I did so many things wrong. Everyone had given up on me, even Sakura, even though she claimed to love me. But never you. You stayed, even though I hurt you countless times. And not a day passes without me regretting every single action of mine. And yet… I wouldn't change it for the world. Not a single thing. Because every single event lead me to you and I wouldn't have it any different."

"Naruto, I love you more than words can ever tell."

Naruto only realized that he was crying, when Sasuke wiped the wet trails off his face. Sasuke had only once been so open with him.

The heartfelt words were still echoing in his mind.

"I love you too," he choked out.

"Usuratonkachi," his love said.

Naruto was home.