And here is the one-shot I promised in the latest chapter of One Building At A Time. This was written a while ago, and was first posted onto my livejournal account, a_dying_saturn. since I want to have all my fics I've written in one good and secure place, I am also uploading this story right here on . There is no difference from the livejournal version and this version. They are one and the same. Please enjoy!
Disclaimer: I'm running out of things to say about me not owning this series. So... I dont own Naruto.
Sasuke didn't know exactly when it had started. He supposed that years of experimentation performed on him by Orochimaru may have done it, but then again, why would the snake bastard need Sasuke and Naruto to be able to read each other's minds? Sasuke had accepted a long time ago that he would be no longer welcome in Konoha, and Orochimaru had no intention of letting his prized Uchiha body leave. No, Orochimaru couldn't be the cause of the mind link. Maybe God was just fucking with him. Yeah, that had to be it.
Sasuke limped back to his room after a particularly hard day of training. He leaned his back against the doorframe and stuck his hand into the opening of his shirt to feel the wounds on his stomach. A sharp, stinging pain hit him as his index finger ran firmly up and down the cut on his belly. He removed his hand and looked at the red-stained finger. Uchiha blood, spilt and wasted training with a sick minded pervert. He ran his hand once more on his stomach and felt the blood seep out from the pressure applied by his own hand. The blood smeared all over his torso, creating disgusting patterns and finger impressions wherever his hand wandered. This was so stupid, letting the blood flow freely and weakening him. The blood would dry there, no doubt, and leave a mess he'd have to wash off of himself later. Sasuke sighed, grateful only that Kabuto had assured him that he would be fine. His spleen had not ruptured, all internal organs were uncut, and no scar would result from Orochimaru showing him how to use a new jutsu by performing it on him first.
Sasuke stumbled into his room and collapsed face up onto his hard-as-stone bed. He closed his eyes and rested his right arm over his eyes to block out any light, hiding his face in the crook of his elbow. His left forearm rested on the still intact part of his stomach, the hand clenching and unclenching the thin blanket over him as he tried to sleep. Tomorrow, he promised himself, I'll wash it all off tomorrow.
The apartment was small and dirty. It was coated with a thick blanket of dust, and someone had obviously forgotten to take out the trash, leaving the bin overflowing with candy wrappers, cup ramen, and scraps of torn up paper of what appeared to be incorrectly written kanji. The low table in the center of the room still had plates and cups and chopsticks scattered all over it. Used cups and plates and chopsticks, by the look of it. Dried up sauce residue and the remains of uneaten food were still stuck to the dinnerware. Posters and scrolls covered the walls, and a small window showed a thin sliver of moon through the window shade blades. The bed in the upper left hand corner was unmade, and a lonely sleeping cap lay on the pillow. A large plant stood next to the bed, with huge, green leaves brushing the ceiling.
This is not my room, Sasuke thought. Perhaps it was nothing more than a nightmare. Being forced to live in an unclean hovel such as this one…
Sasuke turned around after hearing the door slam behind him. Naruto, exhausted and caked in dried mud, walked slowly to the center of the room, passing through Sasuke as if he were nothing more than an unseen ghost. Huge lines of sweat carved tunnels through the mud as they ran down Naruto's body. He tossed the shirt in his hand into the pathetic looking clothes hamper nearly bursting at the seams. Naruto had some intense training, too. Sasuke stood silently as he watched Naruto kick off his remaining clothes and stumble into his bathroom, slamming the door loudly. He heard the sharp hiss of a shower being turned on, and the painful groan Naruto let out as hot water washed away the last bits of clinging mud on his sore body.
What the hell is going on? Sasuke thought.
He heard the shower turn off, and Naruto poked his head out of the bathroom, a startled look plastered to his tired face.
Who's there? Naruto thought as he crept slowly around his place, lifting up the curtains and checking under the bed.
Sasuke froze. He could hear Naruto's thoughts. They ran though his head as if they had been his own. He bit his lip, and decided to try something.
Hey dobe! Naruto, can you hear me? Sasuke thought.
Sasuke? Came Naruto's reluctant follow up thought. What the hell are you doing in my brain?
That's what I was going to ask you, dumbass, Sasuke thought. The last thing I need is your thoughts parading through my head.
And you think I do? Naruto thought. My God, your thoughts are the most negative things I've heard since…well…EVER!
So, Sasuke thought. What do you propose we do?
Naruto stared at the floor, not thinking for the most awkward five minutes in Sasuke's short life.
I don't mind if you don't mind, Naruto thought.
Sasuke closed his eyes, contemplating. It wasn't like Orochimaru or Kabuto would believe him if he told them he could hear Naruto's thoughts. He knew no jutsu to get it to stop. Hell, he didn't even know if it was a jutsu that was behind all this. Sasuke sighed; there was nothing he could do.
I don't mind, Sasuke finally thought in reply.
Good, Naruto thought. Now go away and leave me alone. I want to sleep.
Sasuke, finally relieved, obliged.
. . .
Sasuke woke up the next morning after the strangest night of sleep he'd ever had. Apparently the mind link between him and Naruto also let them see each other's dreams, and while Sasuke never dreamed of anything at all, Naruto treated him to a variety of dreams involving much more than he'd ever wanted to see of Sakura. Sasuke briefly wondered if Naruto had seen Sakura in the array of dress or undress he'd seen in the dreams, only to conclude that it was nothing more than the erotic dreams of a horny teenage boy with no hopes of fulfillment.
. . .
Sometimes, when Sasuke was taking a break from training with Orochimaru, he'd use the mind link to see how the dobe was progressing in his own training. He was usually pleasantly surprised to see that Naruto was improving in leaps and bounds, and would give a short congratulations thought to him before going back to his own training. Some days, like today, Sasuke was less than impressed.
Are you training, or are you peeping? He asked after seeing Naruto sitting outside the wall of the women's onsen, looking for a small hole.
Naruto staggered back, flustered.
I…I…Jiraiya asked me to take reference photos for him. Naruto held up the small disposable camera. Sasuke held back a smirk.
Tsk tsk tsk… you'll never have the power to bring me back to Konoha if you waste your time trying to peek at unclothed women. I don't even know why you bother; it doesn't seem interesting in the slightest.
Sasuke, does it seem uninteresting because you think it's a waste of time, or because you prefer males? Naruto's face was bent in a stupid teasing grin.
Sasuke flushed pink. I-
Hey Sasuke, chill. So you're gay. It's cool, alright? I like boys too. Actually I like both genders. It doesn't matter to me, ok?
You can't- Sasuke tried to explain.
Don't even try to deny it. You've always ignored girls. I figured it out a while ago.
So maybe Naruto had grown some brains after Sasuke left. He was right, of course. It didn't stop Sasuke from closing the mind link for a while out of spite.
He didn't think anything to Naruto for two weeks.
. . .
Naruto thought of some pretty strange things when he was bored or busy. Sasuke figured out a few months into the mind link he shared with the dobe that Naruto had a habit of singing Hatsune Miku songs both aloud and in his head when he had nothing better to do. Sasuke found it very annoying.
She's cute and has a cheerful voice! Was Naruto's reply when Sasuke asked why Naruto liked the teal haired vocaloid so much.
Naruto then treated Sasuke to an almost endless mind loop of the song "Triple Baka" until Sasuke was more than tempted to march back to Konoha just to strangle the blond.
. . .
There was a part of Naruto's brain that no matter how hard he tried, Sasuke couldn't weasel his way into it. It bothered Sasuke that Naruto wouldn't let his hear exactly what it was that Naruto seemed to be hiding from him.
When he asked, Naruto said, if it concerned you, I'd share it with you.
Sasuke was never curious about anything, so when it started to irk him about how much he wanted to know what it was, it got on his nerves. And his newfound curiosity also bothered Naruto.
After Naruto threatened to close the mind link permanently if Sasuke didn't let up, he sighed and decided to give up. He guessed that some things were just meant to be private.
. . .
Sasuke stared at the mental image of the pale skinned new member of team seven. This was the idiot they'd gotten to replace him? Pathetic.
He called himself Sai. Sasuke searched Naruto's mind, trying to see what the man's real name was, only to find that all thoughts associated with the man called him Sai. Sasuke guessed that Naruto didn't know the brunet's real name, or if he even had a real name.
Sasuke seemed more indifferent to the other man in Naruto's new team. This one called himself Captain Yamato. Sasuke could vaguely remember Orochimaru once mentioning to Kabuto how much he missed having people to experiment on that reacted positively to his manipulation the way Yamato had. Sasuke assumed that this Yamato and the Yamato he'd heard of were one and the same.
The purpose of this new team? To try to find Sasuke Uchiha and bring him home to Konoha. Sasuke laughed at the thought. The group consisted of a blond idiot whose mind Sasuke could read like a book, an annoying pink haired girl who, while highly intelligent, also had a huge temper, a pale skinned brunet whose favorite activity seemed to be insulting the size of Naruto's dick, and one possibly competent shinobi. Sasuke had never seen such a ragtag group of failures.
. . .
Sasuke stood cold and unfeeling on the top of the ledge, staring down at his former teammates.
"Sasuke," Naruto said out loud, "Come back to Konoha with me."
Sasuke closed his eyes and relished the sound of his dobe's voice being used out loud for once, instead of just in his head. Naruto's voice rang in his head as well, begging pleasepleaseplease over and over again, as if it were a Buddhist mantra guaranteed to grant you a state of nirvana. It was just too damn cute, but Sasuke had no intention of being dragged back so easily.
"I have better things to do with my time than playing around in Konoha with you," He replied.
Sasuke saw the blond go from optimistic to downhearted in just a fraction of a second. He also saw the small shiver run up Naruto's spine at the sound of his voice. It was the same reaction he'd had to hearing Naruto's voice out loud for the first time in nearly two years. Sasuke and Naruto locked eyes, not thinking anything to each other for fear of ruining the reunion, even if it wasn't going as Naruto planned. Sasuke's hand twitched. He couldn't help it. Staring into Naruto's deep blue eyes like he could see straight through his soul. It was…sexy.
"If you won't come back willingly," Naruto said, his voice starting to falter like he was going to cry, "then I'll drag you back by that stupid purple skirt thing you're wearing!"
"Hn," Sasuke smirked. "I'd like to see you try." He performed hand seals and raised his arm, poised to do the same jutsu on his former teammates that Orochimaru and once used to cut his stomach so long ago. Orochimaru blocked Sasuke's arm. He slowly raised his mouth into an evil grin.
"Naruto," he said, licking his lips with that creepy tongue of his, "how nice to see you've arrived."
Naruto glared at the evil sannin.
"Give Sasuke back, you son of a bitch!"
"Sasuke is under no obligation to stay with me," Orochimaru taunted. "The Uchiha is here completely of his own free will, I assure you."
Sasuke watched as Naruto began to shudder. His sharingan showed that Naruto was building up an insane amount of chakra.
"LIAR!" he yelled, as the sinister red chakra formed a second skin around the boy. It was something Sasuke had seen once before, when he'd been badly injured by Haku. It meant business.
Orochimaru gripped his hand tighter around Sasuke's wrist. He opened his eyes to find himself in one of the hallways of the hideout.
"That was an interesting surprise, wasn't it?" Orochimaru said gleefully.
All Sasuke could do was watch his master walk away.
. . .
A few days later, after Sasuke felt he'd given Naruto enough time to cool down, he tried to open the mind link.
Naruto, he thought.
No reply.
Naruto, he tried once more.
Nothing.
God damn it Naruto! He thought angrily. I know you can hear me in there!
Sasuke fumed silently for a few minutes, until one quiet thought interrupted his anger fest.
I'm not going to think anything to you. Short and painful.
Well why the hell not? Sasuke asked. He waited a few minutes for a reply.
Everyone I want to communicate with is right here in Konoha.
That was it? Naruto wouldn't think with him because he wouldn't go home? Didn't Naruto understand that he couldn't leave yet? Orochimaru may not be doing anything to ensure Sasuke stayed, but he would never let his new body get very far. Didn't he understand that Sasuke still had to find a way to get out of Sound without Orochimaru or his henchman tailing after him? Didn't he realize he still had a brother to hunt down and slaughter? He still had a lot to do before he could even go and consider coming back to Konoha!
Quit acting like a whiny bitch and think to me, he thought.
Sasuke sat down and waited fifteen minutes for a reply that never came.
Sasuke sighed and raised himself up and walked back to his room.
What have I done?
. . .
Sasuke knew that Naruto wasn't going to think to him anytime soon, but Sasuke still watched him. Instead of taking missions, he spent endless hours helping Shizune order paperwork and running errands for the princess Hokage. Naruto never once complained, which Sasuke considered odd. Not doing dangerous and exciting missions always made him complain.
Naruto had spent all of this one particular day washing the windows in Tsunade's office. Naruto seemed to be on autopilot, wiping the same clean spot on the window over and over again, without consciousness, without thought.
"What's bugging you, kid?" Tsunade asked him.
Naruto lifted his head, almost shocked to see he was still in the Hokage's office.
"What makes you think I'm upset?" Naruto replied nonchalantly.
"Well, first of all, that one spot on my window is squeaky clean…and everywhere else isn't. Second, you've been acting like a post break-up girl for the past few days."
"Everything is perfectly fine," Naruto said. "Quit psychoanalyzing me."
"The Uchiha wouldn't return home with you," Tsunade guessed correctly. "Is that it? You're acting like you got dumped hard."
"Well," Naruto started, "I did. That stupid mind link thing you did for me hasn't helped any. All it did was make me feel worse when he said no. You said interacting with him would make him come home, but he isn't here, is he?"
Wait, so Tsunade did this? Spending the past two years thinking with the only person he even remotely considered a friend was just some jutsu induced ruse to get him to come home? It all dawned on him now. All those hours thinking with Naruto and encouraging each other's training, spending two years worth of sleepless nights trying to ignore Naruto's painfully erotic late night dreams, putting up with Naruto's god awful mental humming…and here he was thinking the mind link was proof that fate was tugging on him to train hard and fight his brother faster so he could return to Naruto sooner. But no, it was a jutsu, a forced fate that lied to him. Naruto had lied to him.
Sasuke closed the mind link and forbid himself to even think about Naruto for the next four days.
. . .
Sasuke opened the mind link hopefully for what he thought would be the last time, to confront the blond.
Naruto, he thought. We have things we need to discuss…right now.
Sasuke waited a few moments for his reply.
Yeah, we do. It was the first non-grumpy reply Sasuke had heard in ages.
You used a jutsu to lull me into coming home with you. You lied to me. Sasuke thought calmly.
I just wanted to hear your voice again. Naruto's thoughts were soft and he sounded scared, like Sasuke was going to yell at him. I wanted you home, here with me, and you said no!
I can't just run home and leave my mission in the dust! Did you think I went to Orochimaru for shits and giggles? I needed power. Power greater than Konoha could offer me. I'll never kill my brother if I come home before then. Can't you understand that?
That's no excuse for acting like I didn't even matter to you. Okay, score one for blondie.
Naruto, what kind of moron are you that you don't think I don't care about you? That you didn't matter to me? I spent two years every day hoping you'd open the mind link so I could communicate with you. It was the only good thing in all the time I spent there. I…
Sasuke couldn't do it. He couldn't bring himself to be honest and just admit he loved the stupid idiot. If Uchihas cried, he'd be doing it right now. He searched through Naruto's mind one last time. This was it. He was going to kill his brother and spend the rest of his life wandering through village after village. He couldn't ever come home just to find Naruto staring at him like he was disappointed in him and waiting for him and…
The part of Naruto's mind that he never let Sasuke see was open now. He saw years of frustration and anxiousness to get Sasuke back. He saw hapless hours of training on his behalf and endless nights spent crying over how he left. He saw…love.
Now you know, he heard Naruto think.
Everything I ever did was done with the goal of getting you back here safe and sound, so it'd be like you never left, and we could be friends again, and I could tell you that- Naruto stopped. Sasuke saw a flash of the blond's face becoming more and more pink with every passing second.
Say it, Sasuke thought softly.
Naruto paused for a moment.
So I could tell you that I love you.
Sasuke closed the mind link temporarily so he could do some mental math. Orochimaru was getting sick and weak. If he asked for information on where his brother was and then killed him, it would only be a couple of weeks until the deed was done, and he could return home. To Konoha. To Naruto. He re-opened the mind link.
I can't come back right now, Sasuke thought. Give me just a few weeks. Let me finish what must be done. Promise me you'll wait for me.
The mind link between them was so strong, he could almost see Naruto right before his eyes, feel his warmth in his arms, feel his lips brushing softly and shyly on his own…
I've always waited for you, Sasuke, Naruto thought. I'll wait as long as I have to. Naruto closed the mind link, and for once, Sasuke didn't mind.
He felt like he had grown wings.