A/N: Here's another 100 theme challenge entry. Still not going in order. Let me know what you think and please give me ideas for other pairings! I wrote this a loooong time ago, but I'm posting it anyway.

Warnings: Yaoi, OOC Sasuke, sexual references.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the character affiliated with it. They belong to Kishimoto-sensei.

#50 - Breaking the Rules

Naruto was breaking the rules.

Not only was he breaking some rules, he was breaking every rule that he'd ever been taught. Or, at least, all the ones that you had to worry about.

Because Naruto was something that he knew he shouldn't be, and it was because of someone that he knew shouldn't be a part of his life. But the that didn't matter, now, because there was no turning back for him. He was in this too deep to turn back, now.

So Naruto has resigned himself to breaking the rules. And breaking them happily, mind you. Because he wasn't about to break the rules without feeling glad that he did. So, no matter what happened, he knew he was going to be happy.

"Naruto?" Sakura's voice rang as she shook him. He rolled over and opened his eyes slowly, hiding the fact that he'd been awake for the last hour thinking.

"I'm up!" he said, hoping to sound sort of sleepy. Apparently the ruse worked, because the kunoichi straightened up and placed her hands on her hips, staring down at the blond.

"Get up, Naruto, we've got training today," she said quietly, watching Naruto's eyelids flutter as he sat up slowly.

"I know, I know," he moaned, stretching his arms and sending the muscles of his back rippling. His tan skin moved with the motion, and Sakura couldn't help but smile minutely. Naruto put his hands behind him and leaned back, raising his blue eyes up to green ones. Sakura just stared right back, taking in the way that he'd grown since she'd done this so many years before.

The previously scrawny biceps were now toned and tan, and the rest of his body was coated in thick, attractive muscle. The blond hair that was once puffy and a little too short was now shaggier and softer looking, hanging down into his blue eyes just a little to give him a look of well-handled nonchalance. Cerulean eyes that had seemed so much too big for this face years ago were now well proportioned and set in a bronze and strangely beautiful face, despite the scars.

Sakura would have found herself falling for the calmer, more level-headed, and much more handsome Naruto of today had she not known his most cherished secret.

"Weren't you planning to make a move today?" she asked, taking a seat at the foot of his bed. His eyes widened infinitesimally and he was silent for a moment, staring down at the floor.

Then, "Yeah." He looked up and their eyes met. "But Sasuke's just so...cryptic. I've got no idea if this is going to work."

"Neither do I," the kunoichi admitted, shrugging. Naruto stared at her with one eyebrow raised. "But it makes no difference. You've got to do something besides just sitting idle." The blond nodded and the corners of his mouth turned down. Sakura looked at him worriedly. What she'd just said was a lie. She knew that Sasuke probably wasn't going to feel the same way about Naruto, and that the raven would most likely shun the blond because of the fact, but Sakura wasn't about to tell him that. Naruto's world would fall apart if he kept the truth to himself without ever trying, but he would heal from heartbreak.

It was the only choice.

When Sakura and Naruto walked onto the training grounds they were met by Kakashi, who was sitting on top of a pole, Icha Icha Paradise opened in front of his face, and Sasuke, who was leaning against the pole that Kakashi was sitting on, his face impassive as he looked out into the distance. The clothes that rustled in the wind around Sasuke's body were strikingly similar to the ones he'd worn before he'd ever left the village, but the dark blue shirt didn't have a high collar now, and the shorts had morphed into pants.

"You're late," Kakashi said, not even looking up from his book.

"You're one to talk, are you?" Sakura shot back, crossing her arms over her chest as she came to a halt near the foot of the pole.

The white-haired ninja contemplated this for a moment before responding, "Yeah, I guess you're right." Sakura sighed and looked down at the ground. Naruto frowned up at Kakashi.

"What's the point of training today, anyway? We just got back from a mission yesterday." He brought his hand up and held it in front of his face, shielding his eyes from the sun.

"You can never have too much training, Naruto," the jounin said, closing his book and slipping it into his belt. "And the way that you two came back yesterday, you probably would have bled to death if we didn't get to the medical ninjas in time. What if the mission had been any further from Konoha?" Naruto grumbled something inaudible, and Sakura fidgeted. Sasuke was still staring impassively out at the distance. Kakashi cleared his throat to get the dark-haired shinobi's attention. "Even you could have been in serious trouble, Sasuke. You weren't as bad off as these two, but you were still in danger."

Sasuke looked up at the older ninja with an odd look on his face. "Hn," he said and returned his attention to the horizon. Kakashi rolled his eyes...eye, and then looked back down at the two slightly less emo members of his team.

"Sakura, I don't need you here." The kunoichi opened her mouth to shoot back a remark, probably a scathing one, but Kakashi kept talking. "Tsunade said she'd teach you a new technique. It's a special one, and I had to do her a special favor to get her to share it. So get out of here before I throw something at you." Sakura raised her light pink eyebrows, but turned and did as she was told. As she walked away, Naruto heard her mumble under her breath. He caught the words "immature," "stupid," and "joke," and couldn't help but chuckle.

"See you, Sakura!" the blond called. She turned her head and winked at him, giving him a thumbs up over her shoulder. Naruto scoffed at the corny way she'd done it and turned back around to face Kakashi, who was raising his one visible eyebrow in askance. The boy just shrugged and waved his hand to dismiss it. Kakashi never cares about these things, so he let it go.

"Alright, that leaves you two." He looked from one to the other with what Naruto thought was a look of...disgust? Yeah, something like that. Sasuke looked up, smooth indifference on his face.

"Well." Kakashi pulled his orange-covered book out of his belt again, opening it but keeping it held down. "Spar until one of you is out cold or screams 'uncle,' okay? Taijutsu only." He shot glares at the two boys, lingering on Naruto. A deep part of the jounin missed the days that Naruto would have said something stupid, trying to contest his sensei. But it was gone in an instant and Kakashi was smiling down at his "little students," waving with his free hand and singing a farewell before poofing away with the usual puff of smoke.

"Well," Naruto said after a moment. He looked away from the spot where Kakashi had disappeared - which had been the object of his attention for the last few moments - and over at the dark-haired shinobi. "Er...should we start?"

"Yes," Sasuke said. He didn't give the other time to respond before he launched himself across the space that had been separating them moments before. The blond was caught unawares and dodged the punch that had been aimed at his jaw at the last second, side-stepping and thinking about throwing one at Sasuke's stomach. He was never given the chance, as the raven jumped back after his unsuccessful attempt, far enough away so that Naruto wouldn't be able to hit him without warning.

The blond stared straight ahead, thinking about how best to attack. He glanced sideways at the pole that their sensei had just vacated, forming a plan of action in his unusually sluggish mind.

Sasuke followed the blond's eyes, seeing the gears turning in the head that he considered almost vacant. They moved in the same instant, seeing the other take off at the same time, but not willing to stop. They met on top of the narrow pole, so close to each other that, for an instant, Naruto could feel Sasuke's breath ghost across his lips. Then, suddenly, he felt the dark-haired ninja's hands close on his shoulders, pushing him sideways and loosening their grip. But Naruto wasn't about to go down alone.

He reached his arms out and gripped around the other's waist, feeling how much more slender it was than his own. Sasuke's eyes widened, surprised. He'd thought of every possible move that an intelligent person would make.

But he hadn't thought about it from Naruto's point of view.

The two went tumbling down from the pole, falling in slow motion, or so it seemed. The blond gripped onto the raven's waist tighter as they fell, but Sasuke's grip did the opposite, loosening until his hands were just resting on Naruto's broad shoulders. They seemed to just keep falling, and falling, and falling, and Naruto's heart was pumping hard in his chest. Sasuke moved closer to the blond as they neared the ground so that their bodies were pressed flush together.

The blond maneuvered in the air with seconds to spare so that he landed on his back with the raven laying across him. When they hit the dirt, Naruto let out a long, drawn out, "Oooof," and a sigh, feeling the breath whoosh out of his lungs. He stayed still for a moment, struggling for breath, trying to regain his normal patterns of breathing. All the while, Sasuke was laying on top of him.

When Naruto finally got his breath back, he looked at the dark-haired shinobi, surprised that he hadn't pulled himself off and walked away. Their eyes met and onyx swirled with cerulean for a moment of perfection.

"Why did you do that?" Sasuke asked breathlessly after a moment. Naruto lifted his head off the ground to better see the older. The raven was laying on his torso, their legs intertwined and pale hands resting on his chest.

"Do what? Pull you off?" Naruto asked, confused. Sasuke shook his head.

"Why did you take the impact? Wasn't the point to knock the other out?" His voice seemed different, somehow.

"Well, when I grabbed your waist I noticed just how much smaller you were than me. If I landed on top of you after we fell from that height you would've been squished." Naruto's eyes were swirling, just like his brain. The only real thought he had was, Should I do it now?

"So? I'm not a child, and the whole point was to knock me unconscious."

"I don't know. It just seemed like the right thing to do." His blue eyes wandered away from the raven's, but he could tell that those deep, black eyes were scrutinizing his face.

They were silent for a moment, and during that time Naruto wondered why Sasuke hadn't gotten up, but he didn't ask aloud, savoring the way their bodies where touching. Just as he opened his mouth to make his confession, Sasuke whispered something. It was so quiet that the blond couldn't make it out.

"What was that?"

"Look at me," the raven commanded. It was just then that Naruto noticed that he'd let his head fall back to the ground so that he was looking at the sky. He lifted his head and his eyes met Sasuke's once more. They lingered like that for a moment before Naruto's brain stopped working. The reason for such a thing was that there was something warm and soft on his lips, and he couldn't even believe it.

Sasuke pulled back and wiped his lips with the back of one hand, moving to push himself up at the same time. But Naruto clasped his arms around the raven's waist again, pulling him down closer.

"Why did you do that?" Naruto whispered. Sasuke shrugged as best he could, consdering his position.

"I don't know. It just seemed like the right thing to do." Naruto smiled as his own quote was used once more, and he brought a hand up to the back of the raven's head, pushing his head down until their lips crashed together again, and this time Naruto wasn't a limp rag.

In that one moment as they kissed, Naruto felt that everything was right with the world, and, dammit, he was glad that he'd broken the rules.

Nearly four hours later, Sakura and Kakashi reached the training grounds.

"...should be done by...now...?" Kakashi's sentence was disconnected, as he'd started halfway through and ended it like a question due to the fact that the training ground was deserted.

"I could've sworn I told them to knock each other out..." the white-haired shinobi said, rubbing the back of his head with one hand. Sakura studied the training grounds, looking for some clue as to where her teammates had gone.

"Hey, look, a note!" Sakura yelled. Sure enough, a piece of paper was being held onto the pole in the center of the training field by one of Naruto's kunai, blowing in the wind. The kunoichi ran over to it, ripping it off in one fluid motion and reading it quickly. She was blushing before she was done, and that caused Kakashi's interest to be drawn.

He walked over to where she was slowly, askance in his very aura. She held out the note wordlessly, and, when he took it, she clasped her hands in front of her and began to walk away.

Kakashi watched her for a moment before he read the note for himself, wondering what could have possibly made her react in such a way. He scanned the not quickly, noticing places where the handwriting switched and it was obvious that the writer had, as well.

He chuckled as he read, and when he finished he folded the note up and put it in his pocket. The jounin walked away with a grin hidden behind his mask and some thoughts hidden in his mind.

Sensei and Sakura,

Sasuke and I were fighting just like you told us, but some weird things happened. Somehow, we ended up kissing, and after we got over thinking about hitting each other, we sort of decided that we liked it. (Here the handwriting changed to Sasuke's) The blond is now mine, so tell Sakura to ask Ino if she's got a blonde thing. We're in the woods, but I suggest you walk away as soon as you read this note. (The handwriting changed back to Naruto's) Thanks, and please don't tell anyone.

Love,

Naruto and Sasuke (Naruto had signed Sasuke's name for him)

P.S. Sakura, you were right. Thanks again.