Warmth
"Naruto!"
Who's voice was that? It sounded kind of familiar.
"Ahh, damn it, Naruto. Give me that!"
Give what? The kunai maybe? Yea that was it.
"Dammit…it's deep."
What's deep? It was such a haze. But there was a dull pain.
"Kakashi-sensei!"
Kakashi…He knew who that was. It was vague. But he knew.
But then anything he could have registered disappeared, replaced with a dark cloud of painful memories.
…
Slowly, painfully, Naruto found himself again, forcing himself awake. Last he remembered he had gone into the forest, to that one clearing he was sure no one knew about. He and that one kunai he had brought. And then there was pain.
Naruto flexed his fingers, recalling instantly where the pain had been. He drew up a long breath through his nose before opening his eyes.
This was defiantly not his house. If it had been, he'd have been looking up at a particularly deep and craggy crack in the ceiling. Though the ceiling he stared at now was perfectly smooth.
Naruto wondered vaguely if he should sit up and look around this mystery house. He decided against it, concluding that he was exhausted and he didn't have a clue why. He also knew he was hungry, that different sort of pain in his stomach. Naruto then wished that it was his house so he could just get up and find some ramen.
Something stirred in the unidentified space in front of him, and Naruto snapped his eyes shut again, faking sleep. He heard someone drawing a deep breath, and getting to their feet on the creaky floor. Who that was he could only guess.
It wasn't Sakura, he knew that much already. Maybe it was Iruka-sensei. He seemed to be nice enough to him, even if everyone else wasn't. It could be Kakashi-sensei, he remembered vaguely someone calling his name. But then again, Kakashi would probably have found a more dignified place to sit than on the floor.
Shrugging his wonderings off mentally, Naruto hastily evened his breathing, appearing to the world as if he were indeed asleep. There was a sigh, though, that caught him off guard, and it was everything he could do to keep from stiffening.
Footsteps from a room beyond the one he was in came, stopping near where the first person had stood up.
"Still down?" came a voice. After a moment of pondering, Naruto placed it as Kakashi's. Another sigh, then,
"Yea." Then a yawn.
"You should rest, you were up half the night."
"No. I'm fine." The second voice was somewhat cold. But then again, most people's voices were cold when referring to him.
"You should at least eat something." Kakashi's voice said, "Here, I'll go get some riceballs or something." The footsteps retreated away from the room.
Naruto then decided that he was confused. From the forest to this house—who's house, at that, he didn't even know—and now riceballs! Next he was going to sprout wings and fly away, or something…
The first set of footsteps, the person who the cold voice belonged to, slowly made their way up to where Naruto supposed the side of the futon he was laying on was. Thus seeming almost purposely stepping on every creak in the floor. It was beginning to give Naruto a headache.
"You realize you're possibly the worst faker in the entire village, right?"
Naruto decided not to respond to that, remaining completely still. The person prodded his arm,
"Wake up, baka dobe."
There was only one person who would ever call him that. Naruto's eyes snapped open,
"You?"
"Me."
After the split second of his vision being blurry, it cleared and none other than Sasuke stood over the fox demon. Naruto tried to sit up, honestly tried, but fell back over, energy drained. He'd have to settle for glaring. Which he did. Though Sasuke merely matched the glare, said nothing. Finally, Naruto spoke,
"Your house?"
"Yup."
"Why."
"Because Kakashi's house is to far away, it would look suspicious at the hospital, and I don't know where your house is."
Silence from Naruto. Inwardly,
"Oh."
After a moment, Sasuke crossed his arms, saying,
"Don't you have anything to say for yourself?"
"Like what?" the retort came cold.
"Maybe a thank you?"
"And why would I thank you?"
"Because if it weren't for me, right now we wouldn't be having this conversation." Pause, drew a breath, "I found you in the forest after you'd cut yourself with your kunai." Another pause, the glare hardened, "Why would you try to kill yourself?" Though the question was cold, there was a confused note behind it, well hidden, but still there.
"I would think its obvious." Naruto snapped, slowly heaving himself up to lean against the head bored, this for the entire purpose of not having to glare at Sasuke from such the undignified position as laying down.
"Apparently not." Sarcasm.
"Because no one cares about me, if you must know…which I don't know why you do."
Silence.
"Now you get it?" Naruto almost yelled, but caught himself, settled with a harsh snap. If Naruto hadn't known better, he could have sworn he saw Sasuke flinch.
"Yea…"
"You should have just let me go on with it!" Naruto allowed his voice to gain volume.
"No!"
"And why not!"
"Because I-uh…you wouldn't understand. Your brain's too small." Sasuke said, biting his tongue.
"See!" Naruto did yell this time, "Nobody cares! Not Sakura, not Iruka, not Kakashi, not anyone!"
"Yes they do!" Sasuke allowed himself to yell back.
"Yea! Like who?"
A split second of hesitation, but it was all Naruto needed,
"That's right! No one! Especially not you!"
It was the only time Naruto could ever remember seeing Sasuke's glare become so hard and venomous. His jaw tightened for a moment as he fought to contain himself, but failed and shouted at Naruto,
"Yes I do care! I've always cared! You're just not smart enough to have ever noticed! Okay!"
Upon finishing, Sasuke spun around, and disappeared quickly as he could out the door of the room, leaving Naruto in stunned silence.
Sasuke sat on the windowsill, hugging his knee to his chest, his other leg he kicked against the wall. Naruto was such a…such a…he couldn't even think of a strong enough word for what he felt. He'd been a fool for ever thinking Naruto may not have been all that bad.
He only scowled harder as he heard Naruto's footsteps coming out of the other room. That was the one benefit of having a creaky floor. Naruto paused a bit apart from Sasuke, mouth set in a straight line, pondering. Finally, after working up enough nerve, the fox demon took a step towards him,
"Uh, Sasuke?"
"What now?" his reply was so cold and harsh it made Naruto shiver, and he decided that remaining silent would be the best course of action. He walked carefully up to stand along side him instead.
"If it makes a difference, I'm sorry."
"It doesn't."
"Well, I am."
"And why should you be sorry." Sasuke snapped, turning his glare on Naruto, "You'd never admit to being wrong if you'd just blown the entire village up."
Naruto couldn't stop a smile from crossing his face when he put this image to mind. But he knew this wouldn't make Sasuke any less angry, so he shook his head and replaced the thoughtful expression from before.
"Well…" Naruto began to answer the question, but hesitated, "I guess it's because…I-uh…" He stopped, thinking of how to word his jumble of thoughts.
"Exactly," Sasuke returned icily, returning his gaze to something outside, "You don't have a reason." Pause, "Just go away, you're fit to walk back to wherever you live."
Naruto blinked, then slowly let out his breath, turned and began for the door. He stopped about half way across the room.
"Sasuke," he said slowly, choosing his words carefully, "I know I've always been annoying, and loud, and always trying to do better than you at everything. And I know you hate me for it, and everything. But…" hesitation, "I've…always cared about you too."
Exhaling, Naruto turned and resumed his path to the door.
"Naruto?" stopped him after three steps. The fox demon turned. Sasuke had slid off the windowsill, and stood opposite him. After drawing a thoughtful breath he said, "…you don't have to go, you know."
Naruto smiled softly,
"I know now." He said, his voice just above a whisper. After a second of silence, Naruto walked up towards Sasuke. "I'm sorry." He whispered.
"For what?"
"Everything."
"Don't be."
Shaky breath,
"I have to be."
"No." it came with such a final note to it that Naruto couldn't bring himself to argue. "Besides," Sasuke continued, flicking the fox's headband over his eyes, "I'm stuck with you now, its my job to forgive you."
Naruto pushed his headband out of his eyes, grinning slightly,
"Stuck with me? What's that supposed to mean?"
Sasuke smiled softly,
"Nothing." He shook his head, "Nothing."
Kakashi stood in the kitchen, his back to the wall. Under the mask he smiled. They wouldn't be so lonely now. Now that they had each other.