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"Hey, Sasuke, why don't you ever smile anymore?" I heard Naruto ask one day. We were supposed to be finishing up a school project we agreed to work on together, but the thunder storm outside was so extreme, that it bathed the normally luminescent city in darkness. Naruto is afraid of fire, so there's no way we could ever finish that project until the lights come back on. Right now though, we were sitting on my bed, staring out the window and making small talk. There wasn't much else to do.

"Who cares?" I answered bluntly. I had stopped smiling when I was eight, choosing to close myself off after my family's death, but Naruto was just so persistent. I smiled a little bit inside when he was around, but he never knew it. He didn't really care to notice it, is what I'm trying to say; just like he never noticed that my heart was breaking at this very moment because of him…

"I do." He said, and I could feel his eyes on me like spikes. I didn't look at him. I was afraid to see that same brotherly love I'd seen for years when I knew that, deep down, I honestly wanted that love to grow into something I would want; something to fill my unrealistic desires.

"Well it doesn't matter," I told him, "And I do smile." I said indignantly, but to anyone else besides Naruto, it would have come out as stoic as ever.

"Really? When?" he asked curiously. I gave him a sideway glance and whipped up a half-lie.

"When I'm around the person I love." I was half-true, because whenever Naruto came, I did smile, but only on the inside. I knew that if I smiled openly, then he would immediately know everything.

Something flashed in his eyes that I would have so desperately wanted to describe as hurt, but it wasn't. It was curiosity, I knew that much from experience. After all, we've been best friends for years.

"You mean like me or Sakura?" I turned my head away.

"No." and he understood. I just know it.

"Ah." He said, and there was silence for a few minutes while the lightning flashed, and the rain throbbed against the window. I turned my gaze to him and he immediately returned it. If only he could return something else to me just as easily…

"So…" he began, his face scrunched up in concentration, and probably deciding what to say, "Who is she? Who do you love?"

Figures. Of course the dobe would know. If anything, I should've expected him to be mad at me for disclosing this sort of information.

"If you don't know, then you are clueless." I said lightly, and it was true. He was clueless if he didn't know. Couldn't he see the adoration in my eyes? Isn't that what friends, and what more, brotherly friends, were supposed to notice most? But no, Naruto and I were a special case; anyone could tell you that.

"Nuh-uh! Just tell me, you bastard!!" I looked at him and saw the anger that he didn't even bother to hide.

"Who cares?"

"Stop asking that! You know God Damn well who cares!" he shouted, the yell reverberating throughout my oversized home.

"Hn." I told him, looking away, "It's not your business."

"It is too my business! I thought we were friends!" he yelled, voicing the underlying question beneath those last five words, 'Are, we friends?'

"We are friends," I told him calmly, "best friends," quelling his nerves, "I'm just not going to tell you. If I ever get with that person, you'll know."

"Well, then, you should tell me so that I could get you two together!" he said, smiling happily. My heart clenched at this; he should be jealous. He should be kissing me fervently and whispering sweet nonsense's into my ear that say that I'm his, and only his, and in a way, it's already true. I am his… he just doesn't know it yet... Nor will he ever know…

"No, Naruto! This time, just stay out of it!" I told him. It seemed that what I'd said was a little harsh to my ears.

"What do you mean, stay out of it?! I'm your best friend, I have a right to know!!" he said.

…And maybe not only my ears…

"Naruto…" I warned, and he stopped, openly expressing his hurt, and I looked away again. I knew that if I saw, I would want to tell him everything, and then he would hate me even more for what I was: a fag. No… he can hurt for a few minutes, rather than be tortured with the embarrassment of having a gay best friend.

He quickly recomposed himself and growled openly, "Tell me!!" he yelled, and grabbed onto my arm in a bruising grip, squeezing it in his blind fury. He got like that sometimes. The only thing that bothered me was why he wanted to know. Couldn't he just accept that I didn't want to tell him?

"No is no, Naruto!" I yelled, furrowing my eyebrows angrily and attempting to yank my arm from his hold. He squeezed harder, and then, all of a sudden, he just let go.

5 Months Later

"Hey, Sasuke, why don't you ever talk about your feelings?" Naruto asked. We were sitting alone in the locker room after Gym. It was the last period of the day and since I was on the track team and Naruto, on football, we were usually trusted to lock up after school hours, which was good because we were given extra time to shower.

I wrapped the fluffy white towel around my waist and watched as he put on his shirt before answering, "Should I?"

"Of course! It's only healthy!" he said brightly, smiling. I sighed lightly and pushed back the urge to cry over what I couldn't have. Now was not the time to act like a spoiled brat; I am sixteen, "So is there anything you want to tell me?" he asked.

He was right on the dot. He always knew when something was wrong, no matter how much I tried to hide it.

"No." I lied. I wanted so much to gather him up into my arms and tell him how much I loved him, but I couldn't. That would be strange.

He frowned at me in disappointment, "Why are you lying to me? Is it that girl?" he scowled, "Just tell me who she is! I'll tell you if she's worth it -"

"It's worth it, Naruto." His eyes widened, and he made to get up.

"Where are you going?" I asked him, he paused and sat back down.

"Well, I was going to go back home, but then I realized that you're my ride home, and I'm stuck with you." He said venomously, and I looked away dejectedly.

"Oh." I said, barely above a whisper. I didn't look up, but I knew he was still glaring at me and, as I've figured out recently, slowly beginning to hate me, or at the very least, dislike me.

I tightened my grip around my waist and evaded the hand reaching for my shoulder as I swiftly made my way to the bathroom to change. Every day, Naruto managed to try and uncover some sort of truth about my "love interests", and every day, Naruto managed to bring me down by it. I didn't know when I was going to snap, but nowadays my moods were switching rapidly from being deeply depressed to just not feeling anything. At first, it scared me, but now I've sort of come to terms with these emotions. I even managed to deceive Naruto into thinking nothing was wrong, which was saying a lot, even if Naruto could deceive me. I notice that lately Naruto's been extremely angry, and it's only ever at me; never anyone else. It's like I said previously; he's slowly beginning to hate me, and I don't even know why.

A sigh came from the other side of the bathroom stall, and then I heard Naruto knocking on the door, "Look, Sasuke, I didn't mean anything, I was just angry is all. I didn't get much sleep last night because I was cramming for tests… But even I can tell that there's something wrong with you, and God Damnit, Sasuke, you know I hate it when you lie to me!!" He pounded once on the door furiously, as if trying to knock it down, but after that one punch, nothing came. It was deathly quiet for a second and I, suave as I am, replied without faltering.

"I'm not lying to you at all. I don't know where you're getting that idea from." I said coolly, and he didn't respond, so I opened the door and was met with a blinding pain centered on my left eye. I stumbled backwards onto the changing room floor as I yelled out in agony and clutched a hand over my wounded eye.

"Oh my God, Sasuke, I'm so sorry! I meant to hit the door and then – and then you came out and – and – I'm sooo sorry!!!" he flustered about, pushing my hair back from my face and trying to asking me if I was okay. I closed my other eye in content and sighed inwardly and the feeling of Naruto's hand in my hair. I felt blood trickle down the side of my face, but I ignored it. I knew that if I said anything, then Naruto would stop touching me like this; it would end all too soon, and I didn't want that.

Calm now, Naruto brought me up into a sitting position. I memorized where he touched me when he did it too, just like I did every time he touched me, and this time it was on my left hip and right arm. I opened my uninjured eye and stared at a guilty-looking Naruto before I ran a hand through his hair comfortingly. It really wasn't his fault. If I hadn't opened the door, then I'd have been just fine. It was actually my fault. Most things are, though, usually.

"Sasuke…" I heard him say, and he locked eyes with me before gently kissing the hand covering my eye, "There!" he said, grinning happily, "All better!"

And then we headed home.

One Month Later

About four weeks later, the bruise on my eye had completely healed, and the rumors that I had gotten into a gang fight had died down. Naruto and I were in my room sitting on the loveseat in the corner and watching television on the new plasma screen he'd somehow convinced me to buy. See, that was the thing about Naruto, one look at his pleading face, and I'd be victim to his pleasures, his wants. If he were mine, I'd spoil him rotten with lavish gifts, and shower him with attention; but he isn't mine. Not now, not ever, and I don't know when this hellhole without Naruto will ever end, but I find myself thinking that I wouldn't mind too much if I were to accidently fall off the balcony sitting to the right of us, or if I were to get into a car crash with an eighteen-wheeler on the way to track practice. It cares me, how much I depend on Naruto; that if he were to leave me, I would probably end up falling off the balcony, and when that time comes, it will be intentional.

Not only that, though, but I noticed that Naruto's angry all the time. He's angry just about every minute of every day, and I'm not the only one who's noticed, this time. All of our friends, the people we sit with at lunch, have asked me over and over again; why is Naruto so angry? And I'd shake my head like it was some sort of secret, but really, I didn't know. All I knew was that his anger was directed at me most of the time, and I usually ended up with a couple of bruises now and again, but never on my face. I never figured out why that was, but I was thankful. I didn't want people to question me with false accusations about my home life…

"Change the channel, I don't like this station." He said gruffly, his tone hard and stony. It was like that right before he was ready to burst; as if he was trying to keep it in, but in the end, the smallest motions I would make would set him off, so I obediently switched the channel, "I don't like this one." He said, and I rolled my eyes and handed him the remote, a silent invitation to do as he pleases.

"I have to use the bathroom." I said, and made my way to the safety of my bathroom, and closed the door. I checked my appearance in the mirror and sobbed quietly. He wouldn't be able to hear me through the door, or the noise of the screeching commercials forcing their way through my speakers, and I just cried. It wasn't the first time, no, but it was the first I just did it willingly. Normally I would try to suppress my cries, even if I was alone, but now, I wasn't sure I could hold them in anymore, my sobs grew louder unintentionally. I hadn't even noticed until I felt myself let out a scream. It sounded like pure torture to anyone who might have heard it, and even though I subconsciously knew that Naruto had heard that, I still allowed myself to sob loudly; freely. And I locked the door for good measure.

It was perfect timing, too, because not even five seconds later, I heard a harsh banging on my bathroom door.

"Sasuke, open up right now, or I'll force my way in!" I tried to think of an excuse as I washed my face hurriedly.

"S'Okay! I just… thought I saw a rat…" I clenched my teeth at the blatant lie I'd just told, and crossed my fingers, even though I knew that he wasn't that dumb.

He growled loudly from the other side and stuck a pin in the lock, or jammed it, or something, because he walked right in on me washing my face.

"Hey, I could've been on the toilet -" my argument was cut off when he slammed me against the wall and punched me on the shoulder repeatedly.

"Why," punch, "are," punch, "you," punch, "lying," punch, "to," punch, "ME!!" he screeched, and shook me against the wall, knocking my head against it. My tears welled up at the abuse.

"Why are you hurting me?!" I cried out before I could stop myself, and his eyes widened in realization. He brought a hand up to my shoulder to soothe the hurt, but I wrenched away and put at least five feet between us.

"So that's what this is about?" he asked quietly, "I can stop if you want me to..." he offered, and I stared at him, knowing that he took it the wrong way. I never meant physically, but I guess it's good that he still doesn't know, "I never meant to hurt you those times, it's just that sometimes I get so angry, I just have to let it out… you always happen to be in the wrong place." He added as an afterthought.

I looked downcast, "That's not what I meant…" though I did feel a little better knowing that he was just having issues, rather than knowing that he hated me.

"Then what did you mean?" he asked, a little bit confused, but there was a small hint of understanding, as if he knew what I really meant, but wasn't quite sure. I shook my head and brought my knees up to my chest.

"I...I forgot." I lied. I didn't think he would buy it, but it was worth a shot.

He growled, "You see, Sasuke! THIS is what I mean! You've been pissing me off so god damn much lately, it's not even funny! What's the matter? Do you dislike me or something?!" Naruto yelled and locked eyes with Sasuke in a peircing stare.

"Is that why you're so angry?" Naruto didn't reply, so he continued, "I don't hate you, you know..." I could never hate you... I added as an afterthought.

Naruto sighed, "Then tell me what's wrong with you? You don't ever talk to me on your own... or look at me... or yell at me when I ask to copy your homework... or -" I cut him off.

"Invite you over to my house? Eat lunch with you every day? Is there any more?"

He looked at me a little bit and laughed... His smile was so fake, and I felt my heart clench just a little at the sight of it. Why would he fake a smile for me?

"Looks like this was just one big misunderstanding, then!" he giddily replied, but I could hear the slight releif to his tone. I closed my eyes, slightly thankful that the arguement was over, but upset (always upset) that I didn't have the courage to really say anything I actually felt.

But that self-pity died down when I felt something soft and warm meeting my lips, and my eyes shot open. The object moved, and I found myself staring, shocked, into half-lidded, cobalt blue eyes. I was frozen for a second, thinking if I should really kiss back. Was Naruto doing this because he was suspicious of my sexuality? But what would he know about that? We've never discussed it...

I found myself kissing back after a few moments and watching as those eyes lowered completely from their lidded state, and then I, too, closed my eyes. He tilted my head to the side for better access, and I opened my mouth. It was an invitation, and he readily accepted it, our tongues clashing, swapping saliva. I pushed his head forward with my hand and kissed him heatedly. I felt so elated... so happy.

We never left each other after that.

ZOMG! IT'S FINISHED!

And Aged Whiskey comes out with another extraordinary one-shot, boobies :D READ IT AND REVIEW!!! :D

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