A/N: This is not my usual fare but I like to try new things. So bear with me when I say that it's a yaoi.

To ate omi, who REALLY never gave up on trying to convert me, I love you. You're one of the HD! people I still talk to so I don't want that to EVER die. So Happy Hearts Day to the ONLY SasuNaru fan in a NaruHina forum!!! (Sulatan mo naman ako!!!)

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Obligation

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"I'm here to take you home," Uzumaki Naruto said with a serious face.

His friend raised an eyebrow. It was late, cold and very quiet in the forest clearing. They were face-to-face with a wide space in between them as they stood under the frosty moonlight. A gust blew; the trees whispered among themselves.

"I'm sorry but that's not on my plans," Uchiha Sasuke replied archly. He stared at his former teammate coldly. It had been three years since they last saw each other. Naruto had grown taller and more muscular; it also didn't help that he noticed that his friend was still blond and tanned.

He shook himself. He didn't need to evaluate and assess three years' worth of changes. There was no time for that.

Leaving Konoha was his decision. Nobody asked the stubborn blond to go after him. He himself told that annoying pink-haired Haruno Sakura to stop trying to convince him to stay.

He didn't want them anywhere near him.

"Go home," Sasuke said suddenly.

"You're such a bastard! Why are you so selfish anyway?" Naruto asked, anguished. He stared at the dark-haired young man hard. "I tried my best to track you down! You should be grateful at least."

"Nobody asked you to," Sasuke answered with a smirk. "Why'd you go after me? D'you miss me?"

He relished the crimson flush on Naruto's cheeks.

"Stupid idiot," the blond yelled. "I won't go after you if it wasn't for Sakura-chan…"

Sasuke froze.

That was it.

Naruto went after him because of an obligation. He should've known. He shouldn't have expected Naruto to come after him out of his own free will. Naruto wasn't any different from the rest of the world. He won't do anything unless there's something in it for him.

"Bastard," Sasuke smirked.

He turned his back on Naruto to go back to the woods. His heartbeats were on his ears. It was cold and dark. He would feel better if the blond won't see the treacherous wells in his eyes. If he could kill something, it would feel even better.

"Come back," Naruto shouted after him. "Konoha is waiting for you…"

"I don't care about Konoha! Konoha killed my big brother!" Sasuke yelled over his shoulder. He was running- up and down the branches, left and right- to get away. "You go back. Don't come near me!"

His emotions were getting better of him.

Naruto didn't miss the chance. He had wasted enough time chasing him already. There was no way he was going to let Sasuke go without a fight. He would die trying. If only the dark-haired youth would stop being selfish!

"You're a heartless bastard," he yelled before he watched his former teammate who was hailed as a genius slip on his footing, crash into a tree trunk and fall to the ground. He hopped off the branch he was standing on and landed neatly beside Sasuke's head.

"Don't you give up?" Sasuke asked as he sat up. He didn't want to fight. He wasn't in the mood for anything. Maybe that's why Kabuto kept teasing him for his emotional depth. "You're the bastard. You don't even know who your parents are."

That was mean but he didn't care.

Naruto sighed and squatted down so that they were face to face.

"You know," the blond said slowly "I don't know who my parents are. But that doesn't mean I have the right to angst. I know that I have friends. They love me and that's enough."

"They love you out of obligation," Sasuke snapped. "When your friends stick with you, it means they're just doing it for benefits."

Naruto rolled his eyes. Wasn't Sasuke supposed to grow up from the whiny, angsty emo-vamp that he was? "No. Some people aren't like that. Some people love you because they love you."

"You're an idiot to believe that," the dark-haired Uchiha said and he got back to his feet. He glared at the blond. "I don't think that's the case. It's all about your obligation to other people. That's why you do things you're not supposed to do… Like following me to the middle of nowhere to take me back home."

"Because that's what friends do," Naruto replied calmly. "Look, you talk of obligation and duty. Didn't you know I came after you because I think you need me? You're my friend and I don't really let my friends go out and get replaced by a slimy snake guy…"

"He is slimy," Sasuke agreed without thinking.

"Is there anything I can do to convince you?" the blond asked, staring straight into his best friend's eyes. "What are your demands?"

"Kiss me," Sasuke said coolly.

Naruto blinked.

"Kiss me," the dark-haired lad repeated with a smirk.

"Is that a trick question?" the blond chuunin asked, scratching his head. He approached his friend cautiously. It was like approaching a wild animal; he didn't want to scare it away. "Why?"

"Prove that you're not doing it out of obligation," Sasuke said slowly without taking his eyes off Naruto "not because dear Sakura-chan asked you to…"

The blond smiled to himself. Still possessive and jealous after all of these years…

Sasuke's heart froze when he felt Naruto's breath on his face. They were so close. Closer than they ever were, it was unbelievable. He didn't move until their lips made contact. After a short eternity- a minute, several minutes, a hundred years- he felt him step back.

"Can we go home now?" Uzumaki Naruto said with a wicked smile. "Because I'm here to take you home."

The dark-haired youth smirked. The night was young. There was still time for this.

They still had three years worth of catching up to do.

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