"He's late, AGAIN." Naruto groaned. "And where the heck is Sakura?!"

Sasuke just shrugged in response, trying not to pay much attention to his orange jumpsuit clad teammate while waiting patiently, or impatiently rather, for Kakashi to arrive.

It was pretty hot summer day, just the kind of day where you'd want to stay inside and stay cool, or go for a swim. But unlike most children, Team 7 had to of course fulfill probably another boring D-Rank mission.

"Sasuke! I'm freaking hot here!" Naruto complained, taking off his orange jacket.

"Then cool off somehow." Sasuke said coolly. "Don't come crying to me."

"Seriously, where is Sakura?! She's usually here before we are! And not to mention ready to drool all over you." Naruto added the last part in a mutter.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

"Face it Sasuke, you've got it made for crying out loud!" Naruto ranted on. "What's wrong with you?! You have so many girls to pick from!"

"Did it ever occur to you that I don't even WANT my fangirls?" Sasuke asked him with a light scoff. "You can have them. Hell, I'll pay you to take them."

"C'mon Sasuke! These girls are all loyal to you and really like you! They support you!"

"They're not loyal, you loser. They're obsessed, and practically stalk me on a daily basis. What do I care about them. They don't know a thing about me."

Naruto crossed his arms. "That doesn't mean you can't give one of them a chance or even to be nicer to them!"

"Being nice to them will only encourage them and I would rather eat a bucket of fermented soy beans than give either of them a chance." Sasuke muttered.

Right then, a puff of smoke bellowed near them and Kakashi appeared in its place, smiling through his mask.

"Hi there you two. Did I keep you waiting very long?"

"You're freaking late, Kakashi-sensei! You're setting a bad example for your students!" Naruto accused, pointing his finger at him.

Kakashi merely shook his head. "Well I'm afraid that Sakura has come down with a cold, and won't be able to come today. So you two lucky ducks have the day off."

"Say what?! Sakura's sick?! Aw man!" Naruto whined.

"See you tomorrow!" Kakashi waved at them and then disappeared.

"Oh come on!" Naruto called after him, and sighed. "Well, so we got the day off."

"Uh-huh. Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going home." Sasuke turned to leave off the bridge.

"Hey, wait Sasuke! Aren't you hot?"

Sasuke turned to stare at him. "Excuse me?"

"You know, it's really hot today! ...Hey! I know! You have a private pond under your family name, right?"

"Yeah, and?"

"Well it's really hot today, and we've got the day off, so what say we shed our drawers and go for a cool swim?" Naruto grinned.

"...You're not serious, are you?" Sasuke blinked.

"Course I am! C'mon, it'll be fun!"

"Forget it." Sasuke turned to leave. "I'm just gonna go home."

"Oh c'mon, Sasuke! What do you have against having some fun with your buddy?!" Naruto yelled.

Sasuke grumbled under his breath. "EVERYTHING."

"Not good enough!" Naruto came to him and threw an arm around his shoulder. "We're going to go have some fun in the pond together and you're gonna like it!"

"If I say yes, will you go away after we're done?" Sasuke growled.

"AFTER we go to Ichiraku afterward!" Naruto added, grinning. "And I won't leave you alone until you say yes!"

Defeated, Sasuke sighed heavily. "All right, FINE. But just for a while."

"Much better! Now, onward!"

I just know I'm going to regret this... Sasuke thought.

--

The two boys headed on back to the lonely, deserted mansion to go get a change of clothes and so that Naruto could borrow a pair of Sasuke's swim trunks. They loaded up on a couple of towels, sunblock, and sunglasses.

"Put your sunscreen on, Naruto." Sasuke said to him as they came back outside and headed out toward the pond.

"I don't like that stuff!" Naruto protested. "It smells funny!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and thrust the bottle of SPF-50 at him. "Whether or not it smells funny is irrelevant. It's to protect your skin. I'm quite aware that you tan easily, yes, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't apply some sunscreen to protect your skin from too much exposure to the sun."

"What about you, Sasuke? Can YOU tan?" Naruto wanted to know, taking the bottle of sunscreen.

"No, I can't." Sasuke responded. "Some people have more sensitive skin and are more vulnerable to sunburn."

"Haha! I just thought you were half dead!" Naruto quipped.

Sasuke rolled his eyes again and just walked on while Naruto was inspecting the sunscreen with his nose, cringing every time he did.

They soon arrived at the pond that the Uchihas had property upon. It was clear, beautiful sparkling swimming pond, and fairly big enough to have fun in. The area was surrounded by thick trees to prevent the public from seeing.

Naruto and Sasuke settled their towels on a couple of rocks, then removed their clothing. They had already changed into their swim trunks back at the house, so they lay their spare clothing on the rocks with their towels.

Sasuke applied some sunscreen onto himself while Naruto went to inspect the water, poking it with his finger and then his toes as if testing his bath water.

"Naruto, can you come over here and rub some on my back?" Sasuke said to him.

"Oooh! Sasuke's asking for help!" Naruto laughed, coming over and taking the bottle. "Never thought I'd see the day!"

"It's called common sense, Naruto." Sasuke told him, rolling his eyes again. "It's more logical to have someone else rub sunscreen on your back than to try to do it yourself."

"Whatever, you little bastard." Naruto squeezed the sunscreen onto his hand and started to apply it to his teammate's back. It was nothing new, he'd seen Sasuke without a shirt on before, although this time actually TOUCHING his skin was a bit nerve-wracking.

Carefully Naruto applied the gooey, sticky white substance in sure strokes along Sasuke's back and lower back, until reaching the rim of his swim trunks. Then he squeezed some more onto his finger and drew a happy face on Sasuke's back.

"There we go! All done!" Naruto said in triumph.

"What the hell were you just doing?" Sasuke wanted to know, taking the bottle back from him. "Did you draw something on my back?"

"Noooo, what makes you think that?" Naruto said innocently.

Rolling his eyes again, Sasuke shook his head and decided to drop it. "Well, whatever. Now turn around and let me do you."

"It must be the end of the world!" Naruto quipped, turning around. "Sasuke's touching me!"

Ignoring his silly quip, Sasuke squeezed the sunblock onto his hand and applied it onto Naruto's back, taking note of his sun-kissed skin. It was a bit lighter than caramel, but dark enough to be noticeable. It was very soft to the touch, also.

Trying to ignore his nerve-wracking feelings, Sasuke finished with Naruto's back and then proceeded to do his shoulders and then came around to do the rest of him.

"Hey! What are you doing!?" Naruto cried.

"You wouldn't put it on yourself, so I'm going to do it for you." Sasuke said indifferently, as though he were telling him he was having tea.

"Oh come on..." Naruto grumbled, pouting.

Sasuke couldn't help but chuckle at Naruto's misfortune and continued to apply the sunscreen. Naruto stood there, taking it and grumbling to himself. Unwittingly, he blushed a little bit as he felt Sasuke's hard-working but soft hand applying the substance along his skin. It felt strange for some reason, which was odd because it was only Sasuke.

After a minute or so, Sasuke stood and put the bottle away, wiping his hands.

"All right, done. Now we can go into the water. It's waterproof, so we don't have to wait." He started to head to the shore of the pond.

"Awesome!!" Naruto ran toward the pond and leaped to the water, curling his body into the cannonball position. "GERONIMO!!!!"

He careened into the water, causing a pretty big splash. Also splashing Sasuke in the process. Naruto popped up from under the water, grinning.

"Aw man, that was awesome! Come on in Sasuke, the water's great!"

Still miffed about being splashed, Sasuke came into the water after him. Naruto swam about and started splashing a bit.

"THINK FAST!" Naruto slapped a wave of water at Sasuke.

"GAH!" Sasuke yelled in surprise, shielding himself. "Stop it, Naruto."

"NEVER!" Naruto laughed, splashing him again.

"I'm warning you..." Sasuke growled.

"Nyah nyah!" Naruto splashed him again.

"That is IT!" Sasuke said angrily, marching over to him. "Splash me again and I freaking KILL you!"

"Oooohhh! I'm soooooo scared! Oooohh!!" Naruto mocked, grinning. "Oh help me! The big bad Sasuke will kill me over a SPLASHING!"

"You ASKED for it."

The Uchiha smacked his face and then pushed him into the water. Naruto tried to stand up but then Sasuke splashed him with a pretty big wave.

"Hey!!"

"Payback time, you loser."

"WHY YOU!!!"

Naruto tackled his teammate into the water, causing them both to submerge. Sasuke struggled, and then grabbed a hold of him as they came up to the surface.

Diving under, Naruto grabbed at Sasuke's feet, trying to make him fall. Sasuke stumbled a bit but managed to regain his balance. He reached in and grabbed Naruto, pulling him up.

Getting an idea, Naruto grabbed Sasuke around his waist and picked him up bridal style.

"Hey! Put me down!" Sasuke struggled to free himself. "Let me down now!"

"All right." Naruto grinned, and then tossed Sasuke into the water, laughing his head off.

But Sasuke didn't emerge.

"...Sasuke? Sasuke? Where are ya?" Naruto looked around for him, treading the water. "Okay, you can come out now! It's not funny! Where are ya!?"

SPLASH!

Sasuke popped out of the water, RIGHT in Naruto's face. Naruto squealed in surprise and fell back into the water on his bottom.

Smirking, Sasuke chuckled. "Oh I'm sorry, did I scare you?"

"You idiot! Don't do that! I nearly thought you had drowned! Come on! You don't do that to your friends! I thought I may have caused you to hurt yourself or knock your head on a rock and then you drowned!" Naruto ranted as he stood back up. "What the hell were you trying to do?! It wasn't funny! And another thing-"

Getting an idea, Sasuke went over to the ranting blonde, smirked, and then kissed him on the lips.

KISSED.

"MM!!!" Naruto's eyes shot wide open, not at all expecting that. He could barely even move as his mind tried to register the fact that Sasuke was kissing him. For the second time.

Sasuke pulled away and smirked more at Naruto's expression. "Well, that sure shut you up. Guess I should've done it before."

"W-what the hell was that?!" Naruto cried, blushing. "You just KISSED me!"

"So?"

"So?! You don't just kiss your friends!"

"Was it that bad, Naruto?" Sasuke said coolly, looking pretty unfased.

"W-What?!" Naruto asked, confused and angered. "That's not what I'm talking about!"

"So you liked it." Sasuke said.

Naruto puffed his cheeks and pouted. "That's not the point!"

"Oh, that's too bad. Well then." Sasuke went to him and kissed him again.

Naruto struggled, trying to pull away, but this time Sasuke held him to his body, preventing escape. His lips moved expertly along his, with his tongue poking out and tracing his lips. Naruto opened his mouth in surprise and felt Sasuke's tongue slip in and explore his mouth.

His own tongue strayed nervously, unsure of what to do. He felt the other's tongue poke along his, which sprang it to life and they engaged in a wild battle for dominance. If not for Naruto's inexperience and the need for air, he could've won.

Pulling back, Sasuke smirked at him lightly.

"You liked it."

"...Shut up, you bastard!"

Sasuke just smiled and then kissed him again.

It became their little secret.