A/N: SasuNaru (or NaruSasu, for that matter) is my OTP, and I could never forgive myself if I didn't write a story for these two, so...voila!

This story takes place during Naruto's first reunion with Sasuke in Shippuden - when team Kakashi led by Captain Yamato goes to look for Sasuke in Orochimaru's hideout. Of course, expect major canon divergence, but then again, wouldn't be fan fiction without that, would it?

Read and review? ^^

'Because in the end, only the ephemeral is of lasting value.'

The sound of running footsteps echoed down the hallway.

Not this door. Not this one either. Not even this one. Dammit!

The two shinobi screeched to a halt at a sudden fork. With a quick nod to Sai to take the right, Naruto shot towards the left.

Sasuke!

Door number seventeen. Door number eighteen. Fuck this. Door number nineteen.

As he slammed the last door shut, he swore he'd seen a flicker of movement inside the darkened room. Yanking the door ajar again, he stepped into the all-consuming dark inside.

Sasuke?

"Sasuke?"

It didn't take very long for his eyes to train themselves to the dark. The room was not very big, but he could make out a low bed at the far end of the room, and a pair of black eyes that shone in the faint light coming in through the crack under the door, and…could it be?

Black eyes morphed into red, and Naruto felt his breath hitch. He opened his mouth to shout. "Sak – "

Before he knew what was happening, he found his back to the wall and a warm hand pressed against his mouth, effectively cutting off his warning cry to his teammates to let them know that he'd found what they were here for.

Pinned against the wall by the one person that was so familiar yet so foreign to him, Naruto was suddenly caught between the intense urge to both pummel Sasuke into the ground and hug him tight enough to crush every bone in his ribcage.

He did neither, and as Sasuke locked eyes with him, he shakily raised a hand and fisted it in Sasuke's shirt, half-expecting a sharp jab, or a fist to his face, or even for Sasuke to chidori his hand off.

But Sasuke just stared at him, and Naruto suddenly felt like he'd been trapped in the worst genjutsu of all time, though he was pretty sure that Sasuke had done nothing to him.

That gaze. Sasuke's eyes.

He gulped, letting out a breath through his nose that directly hit Sasuke's palm still pressed against his mouth, who then slowly retreated it, as if he'd forgotten it had been there.

"Why, Sasuke? Why?"

He couldn't find it in himself to do anything more than whisper, and he turned his face away in shame. This was not how he'd imagined their reunion to be. When they would have finally located Sasuke in Orochimaru's lair, he would have beaten Sasuke to a pulp and wiped the floor with him, then dragged his unconscious body back home.

Not this. Never this.

A hand gripped him by the chin and forced him to look back at Sasuke. Back into those eyes that could devour his very existence.

And I would willingly let them.

"Naruto."

It was barely more than a whisper, but it went straight to Naruto's groin. Sasuke's voice was made for candlelight and satin bed sheets, and Naruto knew he was fighting a losing battle. Again.

Naruto could feel his breath getting ragged. He tightened his grip on Sasuke's shirt, feeling bewildered, yet finding himself in acute anticipation.

"For all you know, Naruto, I could kill you right here."

That silky smooth timbre. Those eyes. That warm breath hitting his face – they were that close.

Fight or flight. Fight or flight. Was there a third option?

As if sensing the dilemma going on inside his head, Sasuke tilted his head a bit, a faint smirk appearing on his face.

"Scared, dobe?"

That bastard.

His fist connected with Sasuke's stomach, sending him flying across the room, crashing into the bed. With a hard jerk, he threw Sasuke across the bed and climbed over him, effectively straddling him.

"You asshole! Tell me why!" he growled, all intentions of calling out to Sakura gone. He had a personal score to settle first.

"Why, Sasuke? Why?!"

Despite being pinned beneath Naruto, Sasuke still had that smirk on his face, and Naruto suddenly felt that even though it looked like he had the upper hand, the entire thing was being orchestrated by the Uchiha himself.

Why?

"You're still so naïve. So reckless." Sasuke's eyes never left his, and in spite of the fact that he was the one pinning Sasuke down beneath him, Naruto felt utterly and completely defenseless.

Must keep up the façade. Must keep up the –

"Shut the fuck up, you bastard. How dare – "

Before he knew it, their positions were flipped, and he was the one lying on the bed, Sasuke on top of him.

Too close for comfort.

Slowly, painfully slowly, Sasuke began leaning down. Naruto's breath caught in his throat. His mind was a whirlpool. Every instinct told him to reach for the kunai at his waist, but he once again had that feeling of being trapped in a very powerful genjutsu – one where he could do nothing except lie there and accept what was coming to him.

Sasuke's face was now almost over his, their breaths mingling. Hard, ragged.

Sasuke altered his course slightly right, moving his face down till his lips touched Naruto's left ear. Their cheeks were touching, and Naruto could die in embarrassment from the fact that he realized he was getting hard. This close, Naruto could feel Sasuke's breath coming in short, hot spurts, and he couldn't help fisting the sheets below him so hard he felt his nails would tear the fabric.

"What do you want, Naruto?"

His name. From his lips. Lips touching his ear.

"Sasuke, I…" He stopped, bewildered at his own voice. Ragged. Out of breath.

"I'll ask you once again. What – " Sasuke flicked his tongue out, lightly running it on the edge of Naruto's ear. "…do you want?"

Naruto bit back a moan, biting his tongue hard. He could feel the tangy taste of blood in his mouth, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

I cannot. I have to…save him. Bring him back home.

"I want – " Naruto all but panted out, "you to…come back." Deep ragged breath. "Home."

Sasuke brought his face down to the crook of Naruto's neck, lips brushing bare skin. "And that's it? Nothing more, Naruto?"

Naruto could hear a faint voice in the back of his head, years of training reminding him one of the cornerstones of being a shinobi - never expose your bare neck to the enemy.

Vulnerable. Vulnerable. In more ways than one.

Sasuke's breaths kept hitting the crook of his neck. Short bursts of warm air, giving away just how hard Sasuke was breathing as well, even if he was not panting out loud. Then he remembered Sasuke had asked him a question, but for the life of him, he couldn't remember.

"Sasuke, what – "

Once again, he found Sasuke's hand pressed over his mouth, and Sasuke's face directly above his, their noses touching.

Too close. Too close. Need to back the fuck –

"I know what you want, Naruto," Sasuke breathed over him, eyes dark and voice even lower than usual. His eyes were laced with something Naruto couldn't place. Or just couldn't dare to hope for.

He raised an unsteady hand from the bed, wondering if he dared to do what he suddenly wanted to do.

What the fuck am I doing? What the f –

Slowly, he brought his arm and placed it on Sasuke's back, closing his eyes, mentally preparing for a punch to his gut.

It never came.

"Look at me, Naruto."

Eyes closed, he tightened his grip around Sasuke, tugging him closer, making Sasuke lose his balance on the arm he had been using to prop himself up over Naruto, falling over him in the process.

Naruto's groin came into contact with something hard, and he thrust himself up mindlessly, needing that delicious friction. It was a couple of seconds later before his mind caught up with his body, and –

Fuck.

His eyes flew open, breath so ragged he felt he was on the verge of passing out.

Sasuke simply stared at him, never leaving his eyes for a second, and Naruto found himself free falling.

"I know what you want, Naruto," Sasuke repeated, pushing himself down against Naruto, grinding against him, eliciting a moan from the blonde trapped beneath him. "What you've always wanted."

Naruto could hardly focus on what Sasuke was saying, the surrealness of the situation preventing any coherent thought formation. He found himself thrusting up against Sasuke again, and again, and wonder of wonders, Sasuke kept grinding back.

"Naruto," Sasuke all but purred his name, and Naruto couldn't stop himself from raising his other hand and fisting it in Sasuke's hair, tugging his face even closer, Sasuke's lips touching his own hand over Naruto's mouth. "I want it too."

For a second, everything froze. Naruto felt like someone had suddenly stopped the time around them. He stopped thrusting up against Sasuke, and a fraction of a second later, after sensing Naruto's motionlessness, Sasuke followed suit too.

The room suddenly seemed deafening in its silence - silence broken only by the hot, ragged breaths coming from the two shinobi.

Naruto blinked once, not daring to ask Sasuke to repeat what he'd said in fear that maybe he'd heard wrong, and maybe Sasuke had said something else entirely, and maybe –

Sasuke watched the play of emotions on Naruto's face, corners of his lips turning upwards in a small smirk.

Naruto began to mumble something along the line of "but you – " which Sasuke effectively cut off by pressing harder down on his mouth.

"You talk too much, usuratonkachi."

Then he removed his hand from Naruto's mouth, closing the distance between them and crushing his lips against Naruto's.

For a second, Naruto felt the blood rushing to his ears, and suddenly, everything was going too fast for him. He slammed his lips against Sasuke's, tightly fisting Sasuke's hair around his fingers, opening his mouth as Sasuke opened his own, tongues battling in a lewd war for dominance.

This wasn't the first time they had kissed – the third, his mind provided – but Naruto knew this was different, not in the fact that this wasn't accidental, but also because this…with his tongue inside Sasuke's mouth and Sasuke's tongue almost down his throat…this…felt like home.

Naruto let out a short moan as Sasuke ground down against him, their erections pressing together, and Naruto found himself helplessly thrusting up into Sasuke.

More. More. Please.

The sound of a door slamming nearby shattered the haze in the room. Instantly, both Naruto and Sasuke stilled.

"Naruto!"

Fuck. No. Not now.

Sasuke lifted his face a bit to look at Naruto. Naruto still had one hand in his hair and the other wrapped tightly around him.

"Sakura," Naruto muttered, suddenly sounding very, very defeated.

Sasuke's eyes never left his, and Naruto felt a sob clawing its way up his throat. He bit it back, turning his face away to look at the wall, desperation scraping at his insides.

He felt Sasuke's hand gripping his chin and forcing him to look back into those onyx eyes, and Naruto felt like something inside him was breaking.

Sasuke dipped down, lightly touching his lips to Naruto's, moving away before Naruto could kiss him back.

"Sasuke, just – " Naruto hated how small he sounded. "Why? Why now?"

The sound of running footsteps neared.

Sasuke let a small lopsided smile slip onto his face. If Naruto didn't know Sasuke any better, he could almost have said that in that moment, Sasuke could have once again been that boy on the bridge who had thrown himself in front of Naruto's body, so that he could die and Naruto could live.

The footsteps had almost reached the door.

"Tch. Usuratonkachi."

And then Sasuke was gone.

Naruto felt time pass by him in slow motion. He knew he had to get up and straighten himself out. He knew he had to make up something to tell his teammates. And yet he couldn't stop thinking about how surreal the entire thing had been, and how ironical it had been that after all these years, Sasuke too had –

He smiled sadly as he moved to the door to meet up with Sakura and the rest. Naruto wasn't the brightest of people, but he knew what would transpire from there on. He knew they would all probably have a big showdown, Sasuke would probably show off a bit – that bastard, and then he would leave without letting anyone so much as lay a hand on him, and this mission would have, in the end, been futile.

Sasuke wouldn't come back home. Not to Konoha. Not anytime soon.

Later that night, as Naruto lay in bed, moonlight pouring in from the window, bathing the room in white, he thought of what Sasuke had said, back in that small room where – for a few brief moments – reality had ceased to exist. So maybe Sasuke hadn't answered his question of 'why' after all, but...

'I want it too,' he had said. So many years of friendship and rivalry and bonds and blurred lines and…belonging. It hadn't been just Naruto all along. He could live with that answer.

His heart drummed to a steady beat of Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke, and Naruto smiled, closing his eyes.

This is not over, teme. Just you wait.