So, this is a sequal to Three Steps. It takes place about 8 months to a year after Three Steps. There will be one last part but I don't know what it will be or when I will write it... Anyway, I wanted to do one last story before school starts. I'm currently working on a longer story but I was afraid I wouldn't be able to finish it in time so I wrote this one really fast to get one in. Hope you enjoy.
WARNING: Yaoi, language, angst.
Disclaimer: It ain't mine!
The bed was empty. Naruto shouldn't have been surprised; it was almost always empty recently. Empty and cold. It was lonely in the empty bed. Naruto was feeling lonelier now, after Sasuke had promised not to cheat on him anymore, than he had while Sasuke was cheating on him. At least when Sasuke was cheating on him, Naruto could find someone else to share a bed with. But now Naruto was alone in a cold bed. The thought that Sasuke might have actually continued finding other partners to go to bed with had crossed Naruto's mind many times. It terrified him. He hadn't actually appreciated the way their relationship was, but he had gone along with it because he would rather have an unfaithful Sasuke than not have him at all. It scared him that Sasuke might not love him as much as he loved the raven. The empty bed terrified him.
Lately Sasuke had been busy at the hospital. He said it was the same as always, but Naruto felt like Sasuke was busier. He still had his suspicions about Sasuke's fidelity. In the past when Sasuke was 'busy' at the hospital he was usually having fun with one of the nurses. When he called Sakura or Hinata they would tell him that Sasuke was in surgery or doing something else important and didn't have time to talk. They said they would tell Sasuke to call him when he got a break, but Sasuke never called. Naruto knew that Sakura and Hinata would tell him the truth if Sasuke was fooling around, but it had been nearly two weeks since he saw the raven and it worried him. He grabbed his phone and punched the speed dial. The phone rang and rang.
"Hello, you've reached the cell phone of Uchiha Sasuke. I'm unavailable at the moment so please leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as I can." A recording of Sasuke's voice came through the headset. Naruto sighed and waited for the beep.
"Hey, just calling to check up on you. Call me back, okay? I love you." He said before hanging up. He had left at least a dozen messages in the past week, but still no call. Just as Naruto was going to set his phone down, it started ringing. He answered it without even looking at the number, hoping it was Sasuke. "Hello?" He said.
"Naruto, it's Jiraiya." Came an excited voice through the line. Naruto sighed, slightly disappointed but not too upset.
"Hey, Jiraiya." He smiled
"What? Are you so upset to hear from your godfather?" The older man huffed. Naruto laughed.
"No, I was just hoping you were Sasuke." He explained.
"Ah." The older man said understandingly. Jiraiya knew what Naruto meant by that and Naruto was thankful that Jiraiya didn't ask any further questions. "I'm calling about your latest book. I just heard back from the publishers and they love it. They're going to start printing tomorrow and it'll be on sale by next month." He said excitedly. Naruto let out an astonished breath.
"What?" He asked to make sure he had heard Jiraiya correctly.
"You heard me. They're publishing your book. They were amazed by it. Guess you're no longer a porn writer, huh?" Jiraiya laughed. Naruto laughed as well.
"Really? That's awesome. Thank you so much Jiraiya." He smiled.
"Yeah, I got to go kiddo, call you later." The older man said before quickly hanging up. Naruto was thrilled. He had been bored and wrote a tragic romance story and submitted it to the editor by mistake. When the editor had read it, he was blown away and asked to send it to a publishing company. Naruto had figured since he had already established himself as a pornography writer the publishers wouldn't be interested so he had easily admitted his defeat and forgotten about it. But now with his book getting published, it opened a whole new genre for him to explore. He was ecstatic and quickly called the hospital.
"Konoha General, this is Ten-ten, how may I help you?" the receptionist's voice answered sweetly.
"Hello Ten-ten, this is Uzumaki Naruto. I need to speak with Uchiha Sasuke please." He said.
"One moment please." The girl said before the hold music came on. Naruto figured it would probably be easier to get a hold of Sasuke through the hospital line if only for a few seconds. He wanted to tell Sasuke his good news. Naruto waited almost five minutes before the line was picked up. "Are you still waiting, Uzumaki-san?" Ten-ten asked.
"Ah, yes. Do you think you can page him again?" He asked.
"Of course, please wait a few more minutes while I try to find him." She answered before the music came on again. Naruto felt a knot in the pit of his stomach. He had gotten so excited about telling Sasuke that the idea of not being able to talk to the raven made him feel a bit sick. It had been over five minutes. Naruto bit his lip as he felt tears in his eyes.
"Hello?" Sasuke's voice finally came through. Naruto felt a wave of relief come over him at the sound of the raven's voice.
"Sasuke." He smiled. He could hear lots of noise in the back ground and felt bad because he was probably interrupting the surgeon.
"Naru-babe, I'm sorry I can't talk right now, I'm swamped. I'll call you later though, okay? I love you." He said quickly.
"Wait, Sas-" was all he got out before the line went dead. "I got my book published and wanted you to be the first to know." He finished sadly. In the past, Sasuke had always been the one to proof read Naruto's books (mostly to make sure he was always the boy) and the first in line to buy a copy. Naruto was pretty sure Sasuke didn't even know he had written a new book. Naruto felt his tears falling down his cheeks as he glared at his phone. He suddenly felt angry with Sasuke. Sasuke was always neglecting him, always cheating on him, always taking from Naruto but rarely offering anything back. Naruto threw his phone against the wall, successfully smashing it into about ten pieces.
"Asshole." He growled, wiping his tears away. "I hate him so much." He cried and buried his face in a pillow. He almost cried himself to sleep, and probably would have had his alarm clock not gone off. "Fucking great." He sighed. He had a meeting today with his editor and then a book signing for his last book that had been published. He took a quick shower, hoping the cool water would help the puffy redness that surrounded his eyes. He quickly dressed, thankful he had figured out his outfit the previous night, grabbed his back up cell because his regular cell was still laying on the floor in ten pieces and grabbed a poptart for breakfast before heading to his meeting.
"Naruto?" His editor asked slightly shocked by the blonde's appearance.
"Sorry, I had a bad night." He said as he sat down.
"Although I'm sad for your difficulties, they always seem to give you better material for your stories." The other man said. Naruto tried to smile but it didn't work too well. He knew his editor was right, and that he was trying to comfort him, but he was still upset. "I'm sure Jiraiya has told you the good news already?" The editor smiled. Naruto smiled slightly and nodded.
"I'm very excited. I hope that this book will be a huge success and open my writing up for a whole new group of people." He said. The editor laughed.
"I know you actually mean what you're saying, but it sounds kind of funny when you look like that and say it in a monotone voice." He smiled. Naruto laughed softly and nodded.
"I should be fine before the book signing. Don't worry, I won't look bad in front of my fans." He assured his editor.
"I know. Jiraiya is here, he wanted to take you out for lunch before your signing as a celebration." The editor informed him. Naruto nodded.
"Thank you, I'll be leaving then." He said and left to find his godfather.
"You look like hell, kid." Jiraiya frowned when he saw Naruto.
"Yeah, I had a bad night." He shrugged.
"Well, today we're celebrating the success of your not-porn book being published." Jiraiya smiled and put his arm around Naruto's shoulders. Jiraiya lead the blonde man the few blocks to Ichiraku's ramen. Naruto ordered four bowls as soon as he sat down. He was thankful Jiraiya didn't make a comment about it. Jiraiya knew that when Naruto ordered more than two bowls right off the bat it was because he was really upset about something. Ramen was a comfort for Naruto. After the four bowls he ordered two more and felt immensely better. He went with Jiraiya to his book signing. It went normally, his fans would say how much they loved his books and asked him about any news works.
"Is it true your stories are based off of your experiences with your lover?" One of his fan girls asked.
"Loosely, I guess you could say." Naruto nodded.
"It makes for great reading but Sasu is a terrible boyfriend." She said.
"He's not that bad. These characters are more exaggerated versions of the people they're based off of." He said. The girl shrugged.
"I think Naru's a great character but she's too good for Sasu. That's just my opinion though, I love your work so I'd probably be happy with whatever you write between these two." She smiled and walked off. Naruto started thinking about what that girl had said. Really, she was right. Sasuke was a terrible lover. First, Sasuke constantly cheated on him but they spent a lot of time together. Now Sasuke doesn't cheat on him and they hardly see each other. It was all sorts of messed up. After his book signing he pulled out his phone and hit the speed dial. The phone rang twice.
"Hey." Sasuke smiled when he answered the phone, hospital noises were echoing in the background. Naruto was speechless for a few seconds. Sasuke never answered his phone.
"Hey." He said with a small smile. It was somewhat bitter-sweet to hear Sasuke's voice. Because he knew that no matter what horrible shit Sasuke did to him, he would always be hopelessly in love with the other man.
"What did you need?" Sasuke asked.
"Um, what are you doing tonight?" He asked hopefully.
"Nothing, what do you want to do." The raven asked. Naruto felt his heart swell with happiness.
"Let's have dinner somewhere nice. I want to celebrate." He said excitedly. Sasuke laughed softly.
"Really? What are we celebrating?" He asked.
"Oh, I didn't get a chance to tell you but I," Naruto started.
"Uchiha Sasuke to the OR." Naruto heard the announcement in the background.
"Dang, I have to go, babe. But I'll see you at dinner and you can tell me your good news." Sasuke said and hung up. Naruto sighed. He was disappointed, but at least he was going to see Sasuke later. Naruto was definitely excited about his dinner date. He spent the rest of the day getting ready and thinking of the best place for them to go. Around 5:00 his phone started ringing.
"Hello?" he answered without looking at the number.
"Naruto," Sasuke sighed. Naruto's jaw clenched, he knew bad news was coming. "I'm sorry, babe, but I can't make dinner tonight. There was a huge wreck and everyone's being brought here. I can't get out of it because we're understaffed at the moment. I'm so sorry, I was really looking forward to tonight." Naruto felt his heart breaking but he managed a smile.
"You have more of a priority to those people than to me. Save some lives and be a hero, I'll be fine." He said. He knew he had no place to be greedy with Sasuke's time when lives were at stake.
"I'm really sorry, Naru, I'll make it up to you. I love you." He said.
"Me too." Naruto said softly and hung up the phone. "At least he called." He sighed, trying to make himself feel better although it didn't work much. That night Naruto once again went to sleep in a cold and lonely bed.
"Sasuke, why didn't you tell us Naruto wrote a new book?" Sakura pouted when she came into the hospital changing room.
"What?" Sasuke asked.
"Yeah, I bought that one last night. It's a lot different from his normal writing." Hinata said. Sasuke looked between the two girls. He had no idea what they were talking about.
"What do you mean Naruto wrote a new book?" He asked. The two girls looked at him slightly shocked.
"You didn't know?" Sakura asked.
"I haven't been home in almost a month because I've been so busy here." He said.
"Oh, well, this story is really good and sad. It's called The Unfaithful and it's about this girl whose doctor boyfriend is cheating on her and she gets really depressed and starts cutting herself for every girl he cheats on her with. Then she decides to kill herself but her boyfriend comes home, finds her covered in scars, realizes his mistakes and saves her. Then he spends the rest of his life doing amazing things to make up for each scar." Hinata said somewhat dreamily.
"Damn, Hinata, did you stay up all night reading it or something?" Sakura asked. Sasuke was pale. He knew Naruto's books were based on their relationship. Did that mean Naruto was cutting? Did it mean he was suicidal?
"I have to go." He said as he ran out of the changing room. He drove home as fast as he could and ran inside. He heard Naruto in the shower. He ran to the bathroom and threw open the curtains.
"Sasuke?" Naruto shrieked in surprise. Sasuke let out a sigh of relief when he saw Naruto's skin had no new scars. He wrapped his arms around the blonde and pressed his face into his neck while leaning heavily on the other man. "Sasuke?" Naruto asked softly.
"I'm sorry." Sasuke whispered and tightened his grip on Naruto.
"For what?" The blonde asked, running his fingers through the raven's hair.
"For neglecting you. I'm a terrible lover." He said. Naruto could tell that Sasuke was on the edge of crying.
"Your clothes are getting wet." He said softly.
"I don't care. Just let me stay like this for a little while." Sasuke said tightening his grip.
"What's wrong, Sasuke?" Naruto asked calmly.
"Hinata told me about your new book. I half expected to come home and find you covered in scars." He answered softly. Naruto couldn't help but to smile as he lifted Sasuke's face and saw how worried and relieved he was.
"You know those stories are only loosely based off of our relationship." He said reassuringly. Sasuke smiled softly.
"I'm a terrible lover though. I've been gone for nearly a month, and I had no idea you were even writing a new story. I just got really scared when Hinata was telling us about the story." He said.
"I'm not suicidal, Sasuke. I got the idea when I was cutting vegetables and accidentally cut my finger." He said holding up his finger so that Sasuke could see the tiny scar that had been left behind. Sasuke laughed softly and kissed the scar gently.
"I guess I have to make up for this, huh?" He smiled. Naruto laughed as well and nodded.
"It better be amazing too." He smiled.
"I love you, Naruto, with my whole heart." Sasuke said while pulling the other boy in for a deep kiss. Naruto moaned softly and gripped Sasuke's shirt tightly.
"You're really gonna have to get out of your clothes." Naruto breathed into Sasuke's mouth. Sasuke laughed.
"Then undress me." He smirked as he kissed Naruto some more. Naruto smiled and tore off Sasuke's clothes. Both men moaned at the skin to skin contact.
"Don't you ever go a month without coming home ever again." Naruto growled as he pressed into Sasuke. Sasuke smiled.
"Definitely." He agreed. "Do you want to mess around in here, or do you just want to go straight to the bed?"
"Bed." Naruto panted softly. Sasuke easily picked Naruto up and carried him into their bedroom. He tossed Naruto onto the bed and quickly found a bottle of lube before crawling over the waiting blonde.
"Hey, sexy." Sasuke smirked. Naruto smiled and pulled Sasuke in for a kiss. Sasuke squirted some lube onto his fingers and slipped one into the blonde. Naruto moaned and arched his back. "Did that feel good?" Sasuke purred into Naruto's ear. Naruto growled in response. The raven laughed and pressed another finger into the man beneath him and began stretching him. Sasuke kissed Naruto's neck and shoulders causing the blonde to moan in pleasure.
"Sasuke." He panted softly.
"Are you ready?" The raven asked. The other nodded. Sasuke lubed his erection and gently pressed into the blonde. Naruto moaned and wrapped his legs around Sasuke's hips. Sasuke groaned at the feeling. "You feel so good Naruto." He panted. Naruto smirked and pulled Sasuke down for a kiss.
"You feel amazing." He purred. Sasuke easily thrust in and out of his lover. "So good." Naruto panted over and over. It didn't take long before they both came. Sasuke collapsed beside Naruto and Naruto curled into his side.
"I missed you, Sasuke." Naruto whispered.
"I'm sorry, Naru. I was so busy. I only had an hour and a half between my shifts for a nap and every time I seemed to get a day off, some huge disaster would happen." He apologized.
"I know you didn't do it on purpose, Sasuke." Naruto smiled. Sasuke sighed.
"I know you know, but I still feel bad about it. I mean I didn't even know you were writing a new book." He said. He turned and looked at Naruto. "I love you so much. You know that, right?" He asked. Naruto sighed and smiled softly.
"I do. Even though I doubt it sometimes." He answered. Sasuke frowned.
"I don't want you to doubt it, Naruto. I'm not good with emotions and relationships so I don't really know what to do, but tell me what I can do to make sure you never doubt my feelings." He said.
"Just come home. It's really hard to sleep in an empty bed, especially because of how you were in the past." Naruto said softly.
"I can do that. Or at least try my best to do that." He smiled. Naruto laughed and kissed Sasuke gently.
"That's all I ask." He smiled and rest his head on Sasuke's shoulder. "I love you, Sasuke." He whispered. Sasuke kissed the top of Naruto's head.
"I love you, Naruto." He answered. Naruto smiled as he fell asleep, his bed wasn't lonely any more. THE END.
Anyway, there will be one final part so keep a look out for that. REVIEW PLEASE!!! DO IT!!!