Hello! I'm back. This is not the story I've been promising. To make a long story short, my brother was naughty, my computer was taken away, and I didn't get to type anything up. I handwrote some stuff though, so no fears.
Anyway, now that my computer is back, I started typing...
So...I got the idea to make a oneshot sequel to Always There. If you haven't read Always There, I highly recommend that you do before reading this...
Perfection
Five dates. Five long, impossibly painful dates. Everything was supposed to be somewhat perfect by now.
But no.
He was dating Naruto. There was no such thing as perfect, was there?
Sasuke's mind supplied him with memories of sunlit mornings waking up in the blondes' arms.
So okay. Maybe 'perfect' existed. In the future. Far in the future.
They were working on their sixth date at the moment.
So far, nothing bad had happened. The waiter hadn't been stabbed with a fork. Naruto hadn't knocked over the table. Sasuke hadn't been unintentionally knocked unconscious. Sweet green peppers hadn't been confused with massed amounts of Cayenne pepper. No one had been forced to work in the kitchen because someone forgot to bring their money when they were supposed to be paying.
Naruto had stained his shirt (How do you stain a black shirt?!), and therefore was forced to wear his blindingly orange jacket. Sasuke was tempted to ask if that was the only color the boy sitting across the table from him owned.
"Saaaaasuke…" Naruto whined.
"Yes?" Sasuke asked, raising his eyes to peer at the blonde from under his bangs.
"Hurry up and finish your diner! It's going to get cold and I'm getting bored."
Sasuke sighed.
"And besides," Naruto continued, "I have dessert at home, and I can't wait for you to try it. Iruka taught me how to make it, and he says that I'm really good at it."
"Like you were really good at making diner earlier?" He asked innocently.
Naruto blushed slightly.
"That doesn't count. I only ruined it because you were talking to me. Actually talking, not 'hn'ing. I hate interrupting you when you decide conversation is good. I know you have been talking to me more since we started dating, but you still don't talk all the time, like a normal person."
"A normal person? A normal person doesn't talk all the time."
"I'm normal, and I talk all the time."
Sasuke smothered a laugh and settled for giving the blonde a small smirk.
"Of course."
Naruto scowled at him.
"Finish your food. Then I'm going to take you home, and make you eat what I made, and then make you eat your words."
Sasuke bit back a somewhat older and more perverted remark to this statement (his older self had clearly spent way too much time around Kakashi, and it had rubbed off on him), instead answering with: "I'm sure whatever you made is going to be good. Especially if Iruka said you made it well."
That said, he quickly took his last few bites while Naruto smiled at the praise he had been given.
After paying, the two made their way outside.
"Come on!" Naruto grabbed Sasuke's arm, pulling him away from the building they had just left.
Sasuke frowned. "Your house is the other way, dobe."
"I know! But I wanted to go for a little walk. So come on!"
Naruto refused to let go of his arm, so Sasuke was forced to run down the street beside him. This frustrated him to no end, but he decided to ignore it as well as he could, because throwing a temper tantrum was not Uchiha like.
And it would probably end up making this the sixth ruined date, a new record in Konoha, replacing the previous record of five. Three guesses which couple could claim that…
"We're there!" Naruto announced, his face flushed from running.
Sasuke took a moment to look around. Naruto had brought him to the top of the Hokage mountain. They were standing over the Thirds' head.
"Naruto, what…?" He started to ask in confusion.
"Look! We didn't miss it!" Naruto pointed at the distant horizon while dropping down into a sitting position, in turn yanking Sasuke and causing the raven to lose his balance and sprawl into his boyfriends lap.
Sasuke made a startled sputtering sound as he fell. Then he turned his head and frowned up at Naruto. The blonde finally released his arm, scratching the back of his head and smiling guiltily.
"Oops."
Sasuke snorted, sitting up and looking at where Naruto had previously pointed.
"What didn't we miss?"
"The sunset! Have you ever seen it from up here?"
He blinked, then shook his head. "No."
"Well, now you're going to!"
Sasuke sat back in amazement.
Naruto had been planning this from the start. He must have been.
"It's starting." Naruto said softly.
Sure enough, when Sasuke lifted his gaze, the sun had begun to set. The landscape had been thrown into darkness, and the sky was changing quickly from clear blue to a multitude of vivid pinks and oranges. It was so beautiful, it took his breath away.
He felt Naruto inching closer, snaking an arm around his waist as the colors painting the sky faded into reds. Sasuke let a small smile grace his lips and then he touched Naruto's arm. The blonde glanced at his boyfriend, just in time to see him rest his head against his shoulder, still watching the setting sun.
Naruto studied Sasuke, watching the colors dancing in his eyes. Hesitantly, he brushed a few strands of hair off of his cheek. Sasuke's dark eyes flickered toward him questioningly.
"I…" Naruto began quietly.
"…hmm?"
"I thought… never mind." His eyes moved away from Sasuke's, lingering perhaps a little too long on his lips. And that was why he saw the small, mischievous smile on his face.
Sasuke lifted his head, tilting it slightly toward him. The raven twisted about before leaning against his chest, his face inches from Naruto's.
"Sasuke…I don't think we should do anything like that yet. It's too early. I don't want to mess anything up before we know…"
"Know what?"
"Before we know…if we are going to be…"
Sasuke studied the blondes face.
"Before we know if we are right for each other?"
Naruto blinked in surprise.
"How did you know?!"
Sasuke bit his lip, something Naruto supposed was a nervous habit (1). He really didn't know. It would appear that Sasuke knew him a lot better than he knew Sasuke.
"You should stop biting your lip. You don't want it to start bleeding, do you?"
Sasuke shook his head in answer.
Naruto recognized this behaviour of his. It was the timidness that he'd seen many times before, while taking care of him, always right before the raven went to sleep. The boy looked away, deep in his thoughts.
With a hand under his chin, Naruto turned Sasuke's face back toward him.
"How do we know if we're right for each other?"
"We just are."
"How do you know?"
"…that's what happens when you spend time in the future."
"When you spend time in…Sasuke…what are you talking about?"
"Nothing." Sasuke answered quietly, not meeting his eyes.
Naruto could see that it wasn't 'nothing'. Whatever Sasuke was talking about, it was true. He really believed whatever it was.
"You spent time in the future?"
There wasn't an answer.
"What did you see? Anything about us? Is that why you say that we are right for each other?"
"I…I did…"
"You what?" Naruto asked patiently.
"…us…"
Naruto smiled.
"We were dating?"
"…kind of."
"I'm glad."
Sasuke smiled weakly.
"Me to."
Naruto pulled Sasuke into his lap, wrapping his arms around his waist and holding him tightly.
"'See you in a little while, love'. That's what you said that day. When you fainted."
"Fainted sounds so girly."
"When you passed out, then."
Sasuke nodded, once again biting his lip.
"You should stop doing that."
"I will."
"When?"
"…eventually."
Naruto smiled at the boy in his arms.
"If we're meant to be together, I'm going to…"
"To wha-"
Naruto closed the gap between them, pressing his lips gently to Sasuke's.
The blonde pulled away soon after, studying Sasuke's reaction.
"Not bad for a first kiss, huh?"
"Not my first kiss."
"…oh."
"It wasn't yours, either."
"Yes it was…what are you talking about?"
"The day we became Team 7. Do you remember?"
"How could I forget?" Naruto answered with a chuckle. "But that doesn't count."
"Oh?"
"It wasn't a kiss. It was more of…we hit lips. So this was both of our first actual kisses."
"Fine then. This still wasn't my first kiss."
Naruto frowned. "Who do I have to kill?"
Sasuke laughed softly.
"No one." Sasuke held out a hand and ticked things off as he spoke. "You were much taller, more mature, somewhat less clumsy, and, uhhh…ten years older, but it was you."
"Ten years older? What else did this me do to-"
Sasuke leaned against him, brushing his lips across the blonde's, successfully stopping him from speaking.
"Nothing that you won't eventually do."
"Of course! We're talking about me in the fu-"
"I got it!"
Both of the boys jumped at the sound of that triumphant voice. Sasuke looked at Naruto with wide eyes.
"Have we told Sakura that we were dating yet?" He asked quietly.
Naruto shook his head.
"We haven't really told anyone yet."
And then Sakura was there, standing right beside them.
"I got it!" She repeated.
"Got what?" Naruto asked, silently hoping the pink haired girl wouldn't ask why Sasuke was sitting in his lap.
"Your first kiss as a couple, of course!" Was her somewhat cheerful response.
Naruto's eyes got wide before he asked, "What do you mean by 'I got it'?"
"You'll find out."
"When will we find out?" Naruto asked hesitantly. "And-and how did you know we were a couple?!"
Sakura smiled.
"Ino and I thought something was up. We followed you today, and decided that either your 'friendship' is very…odd, or you two have been acting very couple-y. And then we saw you were all holding hands and now your going to be kissing each other all the time and I think I'm babbling and Sasuke, are you blushing?"
Naruto tore his open mouthed stare away from Sakura to look at his boyfriend. Sasuke had his head lowered, bangs covering his face in a desperate attempt to hide his red cheeks.
"You are!" Sakura said in wonder. "I didn't know you could blush!"
Sasuke lowered his face further, before pressing it against Naruto's chest to shield himself from her eyes.
"I'm not blushing." He said stubbornly, his voice muffled.
"You aren't? Then why are-"
Naruto gave her a look that pointedly told her to stop talking.
"Of course you aren't blushing. I was right. It isn't physically possible for you to blush. Now I'm going to get to work. I have to finish my present for you two." With her words, Sakura scurried away.
"That was…odd." Naruto said toward the top of Sasuke's head, looking down at him awkwardly.
"Is she gone?" The raven asked.
"Yeah."
Sasuke lifted his head, peering about. Then he sighed.
"This is so embarrassing." He murmured.
Naruto blinked.
"That you're…dating me?"
"No! Not at all! It's just…you always make me feel so…uke. I don't mind it, but it's kind of…" Sasuke trailed off, looking at the strange expression Naruto was giving him.
"What do I make you feel?" Naruto asked in confusion.
Sasuke frowned at him, giving him an expression that could either read 'How thick are you?' or 'Should I tell you or wait for you to find out?'
"What-what's 'uke'?"
Sasuke sat back and scratched the side of his head almost nervously.
"N-nothing. You don't need to know about that now." The raven shifted about until he was facing forward, still in the blonde's lap. He leaned back, resting his head against Naruto's shoulder.
Naruto couldn't help but smile at the contented sighing sound he made.
"You seem happy."
Sasuke turned his head, breathing against his neck. Naruto's smile widened at the expression which could only be described as pure bliss on his boyfriends face.
"We missed the end of the sunset." Sasuke murmured.
"We did, didn't we?"
They sat quietly in the darkness for some time, enjoying each others company. When it got just a little too cold and they both started shivering ever so slightly, they had to break the mood or freeze.
Freezing to death wouldn't be so bad, as long as I get to spend a little more time just like this, Naruto thought momentarily as he stood, holding Sasuke against him. No, I couldn't do that to him. Unconsciously, Naruto tightened his grip, squeezing Sasuke against his chest.
"I thought I…was clingy." Sasuke gasped out. "Naruto! I can't breathe!"
"Oops! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to squeeze you to death." Naruto held onto Sasuke's shoulders, forcing him to stand at arms length while he guiltily looked him over. Sasuke rubbed his chest lightly, a small pout on his lips.
"I have enough confidence in you to know that you weren't trying to squeeze me to death. I'd hate to see what kind of damage you could do if you got it through your head that squeezing was an effective way to kill anything besides insects, though."
"Sorry."
Sasuke bit his lip again, and before Naruto could start to complain, the raven lifted his hands.
"I know! Don't tell me. You're going to have to get over that whole lip biting problem you have. I'll stop eventually, like I said."
Naruto couldn't help but smile.
"Alright. I'll get over it."
Sasuke nodded and began abusing his lower lip as he pulled out of Naruto's reach and started walking down the path to the bottom of the mountain. He waved over his shoulder.
"Let's go!"
"Coming!"
Naruto hurried after the raven. He caught up with him and walked beside him for a while.
As they entered the village, he felt Sasuke's hand brushing against his own. Trying to make it seem as inconspicuous as possible, he let his fingers wrap around Sasuke's, so they were holding hands. It felt like they had always done such things. But they hadn't.
And Naruto couldn't help but wonder what the villagers would think.
Would they be angry that two males were together?
That the boy whose body contained the Kyuubi no Kitsune was with the last remaining Uchiha loyal to Konoha?
Maybe…maybe this wasn't good. Maybe he and Sasuke weren't supposed to be together. Maybe they needed to stop before something bad happened to one of them. Before someone else discovered them, and they didn't like what they'd found.
Quickly, he tried to remove his hand from his boyfriends. Sasuke held his hand tighter, refusing to let go.
"What's wrong?" He asked quietly.
Naruto almost froze.
"What if we get in trouble?"
"For holding hands? That's definitely not breaking any laws."
"No. I mean…what if we get in trouble for…for…us? What if that's against a law?"
Sasuke had stopped walking and was facing Naruto, staring at him.
"If it was against a law, Tsunade would find a way around it. I don't think she necessarily likes me, but she thinks of you as some sort of little brother. She'd do just about anything for you."
"I know that. But…what will other people think?"
Sasuke's face was blank as he continued staring. Naruto could see emotions dancing in his eyes and anger in his voice as he spoke.
"Who cares what other people think!"
"I-"
Naruto felt fingernails digging into his palm before Sasuke ripped their hands apart, turning away with a frustrated growl.
"It doesn't matter what they think!"
He's panicking! There isn't any other explanation for this. What do I do?!
"Sasuke!"
The raven froze, not turning to look at him. Naruto took a few small steps closer to him and placed a hand lightly on his arm, only to have it shaken roughly away.
I always knew he had a breaking point. He's hidden his emotions for years. He was bound to break sometime. But I thought he'd be mad, not…this. I guess he's angry, but I think this is more…what? Is he scared? Does he think I'm…
Persistently, Naruto put his hand back on Sasuke's arm. When he was shaken off once again, he did the only thing that seemed like a good idea.
He wrapped his arms around the ravens tense body from behind, trapping him in a hug.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I don't want you to get hurt."
"Y-you didn't think that w-would hurt me?"
He did think that I was…
"I wasn't trying to break up with you."
Sasuke snorted, trying to pull away. Naruto clung to him tighter.
"I wouldn't do that to you. Didn't I promise that I wouldn't leave you alone? I intend to keep that promise."
Sasuke stopped trying to free himself, standing still with Naruto holding him. When the blonde let him go, he didn't even try to move. In confusion, Naruto attempted to look into his eyes, only to find that he had them squeezed shut.
"Sasuke…are you alright?"
He felt a painfully tight grip on his arm.
"Don't you dare forget that promise again."
"I won't."
Sasuke took a deep breath, nodded, and then opened his eyes. He loosened his grip on Naruto's arm, letting his hand slide down to the blondes hand, tangling their fingers. (2)
"Do you want to go home now?" Naruto asked hesitantly. "I-I could walk you to your house so you can…No. What am I talking about? You don't want to be by yourself."
There was a small smile on Sasuke's lips.
"You're learning."
Naruto studied the other boy for a moment, before allowing a huge grin to split his face.
"It's about time! I've known you for…how long? We became a team when we where twelve, and we didn't really talk to each other much before that. So…only four years? Four years! That doesn't seem like a very long time."
"It doesn't." He agreed. "You're my best friend, though."
"Best…friend?"
"Yes. I've told you that before."
"Yeah, but I thought you were just trying to make me feel better."
Sasuke tilted his head.
"Why would I do that? I'd only say something like that if I meant it. You know that."
Naruto nodded. Gently, he pulled on Sasuke's hand so they could start walking again.
"You also said that I was the only person that you trusted enough to let your defenses down around. Would those defenses be hiding your human side, which I've seen a lot of lately?"
Sasuke scowled. Before the raven could hit him across the back of the head, Naruto ducked and ran forward a few steps.
"Catch me if you can!" He called back teasingly. And then he ran. He ran for all he was worth, because he knew Sasuke would catch him rather quickly if he didn't.
Naruto weaved in and out of the alleyways, trying to confuse his boyfriend. He almost gave up, because it didn't appear to be working. And then he wasn't being followed.
The blonde slowed to a stop, looking over his shoulder.
"Sasuke? Did I finally manage to lose you when I was running away? You know I've been trying to do that for a long time. When we were rivals, I swear you made a point of finding me first, and as quickly as you could, just to make me look like an idiot. Sasuke? I really did lose you!"
Slowly, he retraced his steps, looking about for his boyfriend.
It would be just like him to hide and ambush me…Actually, it might be like the old Sasuke, but I don't know about now. Where is he?!
In his frustration, Naruto realized that he'd managed to make his way toward his house. It was just a few streets away, now.
Ha! Sasuke wouldn't give up and head off to my house, would he?
As he looked through the dark night sky, he saw a bizarre glowing light coming from the general direction he was going. And now that he though about it, there was a lot of noise coming from over there. He quickened his pace.
As he came out of the mouth of an alley, he felt his stomach drop.
Many, many people were scurrying about. Too many.
Because his house was on fire.
And it wasn't just burning a little. It was completely and utterly engulfed in flames.
The multitude of people hurrying about were attempting to put out the flames, using everything from water jutsus to bucket brigades.
"Naruto?" Someone called. "Naruto! It is you!"
Quite suddenly, he found himself being held in a tight hug.
"We thought you were in there…"
"Iruka! We've established that he wasn't roasted. Can we get back to getting rid of this fire now?"
And just as suddenly, Iruka's arms were gone as the man hurried after Kakashi, who reappeared seconds later.
"Start using some sort of water jutsu."
"I never learned any!"
Kakashi frowned.
"I'm going to have to teach you one in the future. For now, help them." He pointed off to a line of civilians tossing buckets of water.
Naruto joined the front of the line, closest to the fire. If anyone were to get burned for being too close, it'd be him.
What caused it?
For the entire time he was tossing water, he thought as hard as he could, trying to figure out what exactly had caused the fire.
What seemed like hours later, he was covered in sweat and smelled like smoke, but the fire was out.
And his house was gone.
Nothing was left.
Naruto sat on the ground, right where he'd been standing, too tired to move, and stared at the charred remains of his home.
It's not like I had anything that couldn't be replaced in there. But it was my home…
He looked up as he heard people approaching.
Iruka and Kakashi were standing over him, surveying the damage.
"Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto began, deciding to get the most important thing on his mind out in the open, "did either of you happen to see Sasuke?"
He received puzzled looks.
"Why would he be here?" Kakashi asked.
Naruto shook his head. Of course they would ask that. They didn't know everything yet.
"There is a more important question than that," Iruka said, reaching out a hand to help him up.
"There is?"
The two older men gave him confused looks.
"Yes. Yes there is." Iruka studied him for a moment, worry in his eyes. "Naruto, how did your house catch on fire?"
Naruto bowed his head slightly.
"I thought about that since I started helping put it out, and I think I know what it was."
"Well?" Kakashi asked.
"Ummm…I was cooking a little earlier, and I got a bit distracted. So I burned the food. And then we went out to eat, and then we took our time getting back, and when I got here, everything was on fire." Naruto glanced at them, taking a breath. "I think I left the rice cooking on the stove."
Iruka sighed. Then he and Kakashi began speaking at the same time.
"Naruto-"
"We? What-"
"Rice?!" A scandalized voice all but screeched. "All this because of rice?! I'm going to kill you!"
True to their word, this person tackled Naruto, knocking him to the ground and sitting on his belly, whereupon they proceeded to suffocate him. He managed to push the now trembling person away from him, long enough to get a good look at a pair of tar black eyes. And then the person was suffocating him again.
This person, who Naruto now knew to be Sasuke, was actually kissing him, not trying to kill him.
He might be trying to kill me…he mused.
Finally, he collapsed against his chest. Naruto sat up, wrapping his arms around Sasuke and holding him close as the raven slid into his lap.
Naruto quickly scrutinized the boy in his lap.
"Sasuke, you're shaking, covered in so much soot that I can't even see your skin, and…" His eyes widened as he took in the bandage covering the other boy's left hand and arm. "And you burned your arm!"
"It's nothing. I didn't even notice it until someone grabbed me and tried to fix it up."
Naruto's eyes narrowed at the sound of Sasuke's voice. It was rough and scratchy, like he'd inhaled way too much smoke.
"You didn't go into the fire, right?"
Sasuke shook his head.
"I'm not stupid."
"How come you didn't notice your arm was burning off?"
"It wasn't burning off. I got a little close, but I didn't actually get burned." He paused to clear his throat. "And I didn't notice because I was too scared."
"You? Scared?" Naruto snorted. "That doesn't happen."
"It does…when you're involved. I thought you went in there." The raven finished speaking in a near whisper.
"I'm not stupid either. I don't run into burning buildings."
Sasuke leaned back for a moment. He pulled his arm back and swung at him, punching him in the shoulder.
"Ouch! What was that for?!"
"Don't ever try cooking for me again! If I ever find you in a kitchen, I'll…I'll…"
Naruto leaned forward and brushed his lips against Sasuke's, just as the other boy had done to him earlier to get him to stop talking.
Surprisingly, he did stop speaking. He actually stopped in mid rant and appeared to melt at the slight touch.
"Huh. I never thought that I'd hear you ranting. I never thought I'd want you to stop speaking. And I never thought I could render you speechless. By kissing, no less."
Sasuke just stared.
Someone cleared their throat.
Naruto jumped, turning his head to see a bewildered looking Kakashi and Iruka.
"Are we missing something?"
"Ummm…"
Sasuke broke from his trance and leaned forward to whisper something in Naruto's ear, much to the continued puzzlement of the two older men.(3)
"Well, well, well," Naruto said as he peered over at Kakashi and Iruka. "I never thought…Anyway…"
"'What will other people think?'" Sasuke quoted with a small scowl. "Knock that off! You sound like a hypocrite!"
Iruka uncomfortably shifted the position he was standing in, shooting Kakashi a look.
"How am I a hypocrite?! What is a hypocrite?!"
The older men were starting to be mildly amused by this exchange. As they watched, they noted that Sasuke appeared to be physically restraining himself from either smacking himself on the forehead or hitting Naruto, settling with muttering 'dobe' quietly, breathing deeply, and scowling as furiously as he could. And then Naruto laughed.
"You know, it's hard for me to take you seriously while you're sitting in my lap and looking cute."
Sasuke looked fit to die of embarrassment.
"What'd you say earlier? That I made you feel…ummm…'uke', I think. Is that-"
Sasuke's eyes went wide in horror as Kakashi guffawed loudly. Iruka hit him soundly over the head.
"Don't you dare!" The brown haired teacher warned before looking down at the two boys sitting in the middle of the street. "Are you two…dating?"
"Yes." Naruto said, studying his boyfriends horrified expression. His brow furrowed as he asked, "What's so bad about what you said earlier? You were embarrassed after Sakura left and you're a little more than that now."
"How-how long have you two been dating?"
Naruto tore his blue eyed gaze away from Sasuke, looking up at Iruka.
"We started…ummm…a week and three days after Sasuke came back from his last mission."
Iruka nodded, studying them.
"I never saw it coming…" He admitted.
"You never saw it coming?" Kakashi asked in surprise. "I've been waiting for this to happen for three years. They have been so sickeningly oblivious of how they've felt for so long, I was ready to actually start trying to get them to notice each other."
"You were?"
"Yes." Then Kakashi was fidgeting. He patted down his pockets, and then looked around with what was clearly a pathetic expression on the quarter of his face which was showing.
"What is it now?" Iruka asked with a sigh.
"I've gone too long without doing something perverted." He said with what Naruto and Sasuke both supposed was meant to be a suggestive wink, which was utterly destroyed by the fact that only one of his eyes was visible.
Iruka sighed again, before he reached into his pocket and tossed something in Kakashi's general direction. The somewhat lazy teacher was very quick to catch the something.
The something happened to be very orange.
The very orange something happened to be…
"Iruka-sensei! Why were you reading Kakashi-sensei's porn book?!" Naruto screeched, jumping to his feet and dumping a somewhat bewildered Sasuke onto the ground.
The blonde looked down. "Sorry." He pulled the raven to his feet, holding him steady before turning back to his teachers.
Iruka was blushing slightly.
"I-I wasn't reading it. I was hiding it. Kakashi was ignoring me while I was talking to him, so I took it. It did him some good, too."
Kakashi sniffed before cracking open the book and all but stuffing his nose into it.
It might be night time, but darkness can't keep Kakashi from his porn, Naruto thought. I guess there's enough light for him to see by from the buildings around here.
He turned to look at the remains of the building he'd previously lived in.
"Where do I go?" He whined pathetically. He glanced at Sasuke, whose hand had tightened around his upper arm, as though merely thinking of the fire made him sick to his stomach.
Hmmm…
"So, Sasuke…" Naruto began with a grin, "what do you think about people who've been dating for only a short amount of time living together?"
The raven frowned, putting two and two together. And then he grinned back at Naruto.
"I like it. I figure if we're living together in ten years, we might as well start now."
Iruka was about to ask what the boys were talking about with this whole ten years thing, when he felt someone wrapping their arm around his own.
Kakashi.
"Come on. They've got everything under control." The silver haired man proceeded to pull him away from the two boys, before he said, in something resembling a whisper, "Besides. I can only read Icha Icha so many times."
Poor Iruka was so shocked he didn't even put up a fight as Kakashi dragged him away.
"…we both smell like smoke. You look like you rolled in that pile of ashes over there. So I propose that we go home, shower, and go to sleep. Because I'm tired."
"Of course."
Naruto narrowed his eyes.
"If you limp when you take a step, I'm carrying you to Tsunade's office. And I don't care what you say."
"Good thing I'm not hurt, then."
Naruto stared pointedly at his arm.
"Besides that."
As they started walking, Sasuke was a little uncomfortable as Naruto continued to stare at him.
"What?"
The blonde turned his head away.
"Nothing…I was just worried that you were hurt more than just your arm and was hiding it. You've done it before, so don't argue with me."
"I'm not going to argue. But you don't have anything to worry about. I…"
Naruto looked back, trying to catch Sasuke's dark eyes as the boy thought about what he was going to say, only to find them hidden behind long, dirty bangs. He really did look like he'd rolled in the ashes left over after the fire.
"I…" Sasuke looked up, clearing his throat. "I won't lie to you. And I will always ask you for help when I need it, and I won't complain when you give it."
Naruto smiled softly, the expression vastly different than his usual large grin.
"Okay." He put an arm around Sasuke's shoulders, pulling him close and holding him in a half hug as they continued to walk.
After a few minutes of enjoyable half hugging and silence, Naruto's dark haired companion spoke.
"You're a little…possessive."
"Am I?"
"I think so."
"Is that bad?"
"…no."
It was quiet for another minute before Naruto giggled.
"What now? You're murdering the silence."
"You're mine and I'm yours!" The blonde chirped.
Sasuke sighed.
"You can be possessive, as long as you don't get creepy about it."
Naruto sobered instantly.
"There's only one person who truly deserves to be defined with 'creepy'."
He watched as Sasuke's hand unconsciously went up to the left side of his neck.
"Orochimaru…" The raven breathed.
Naruto nodded slowly.
"Does…does that-that thing ever bother you?"
Sasuke had a far away look in his eyes for just a moment before he shook his head.
"I never notice it unless I think about it. Or use chidori more than twice." He shrugged slightly. "I did that once, and I'm not planning on doing it ever again."
"I'm glad. It scared me to see you just lying there, in too much pain to even dodge…well, anything. If Konohamaru decided to throw a shuriken at you-and he has bad aim right now, let me tell you-he could unintentionally kill you."
"You wouldn't let him."
"I wouldn't." Naruto agreed. "But Gaara could have-"
"He could have, but he didn't." Sasuke said in a tone which called for the end of this conversation. "You saved me. That's all that should matter." A second later: "Look. We're home."
And so they were.
As soon as they were inside, Sasuke disappeared to take a shower.
Great. Naruto thought. I think that he might be mad at me because I don't know when to shut my mouth. We've been dating for a month, at least. And friends/enemies for four years. How come I don't understand him enough to know when I'm being an idiot and saying the wrong things?
The bathroom door creaked open and Sasuke stepped out with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. He looked at Naruto, slightly surprised, a faint pink blush coming to his cheeks.
That could just have been the hot water, though…
Speaking of water, Naruto found the small droplets dripping from Sasuke's wet hair and rolling down his pale chest to be terribly entrancing. The blonde felt like he watched the drops sliding across the other boys skin for ten minutes, but it was probably only ten seconds.
Sasuke cleared his throat, trying to catch his attention.
"You can shower now." And then he hurried away down the hall and out of sight.
Naruto felt like smacking himself on the head. In fact, he did.
"What's wrong with me?!"
He showered as quickly as he could, then hurried down the hall in his towel. He knocked carefully on Sasuke's bedroom door. It opened, revealing Sasuke dressed for bed.
"So, ummm…" Naruto began, gesturing with one hand. "I don't really have any clothes here, and I don't think that anything you have is going to fit me. So…what…"
Sasuke was frowning at him. He looked him up and down before nodding his head. Naruto watched him curiously as walked out of the doorway, halfway down the hall, before seeming to hesitate and half turn back. And then the raven hurried away.
He hadn't said a single word, and it was worrying him.
When Sasuke returned, he was carrying a small pile of clothes. He handed them to Naruto, who took them, clutching the bundle awkwardly under one arm.
"Uh, thanks. I'll…" Naruto turned to make his way back down the hall.
Sasuke rolled his eyes and pushed him into the bedroom, shutting the door behind him. Naruto looked around the room.
And then there's that…he thought, quickly pulling the clothing on.
He opened the door, peeking around. He saw Sasuke leaning against the wall and gave him a small, grateful smile.
"They fit. Thanks."
Sasuke's lips twitched.
"Couldn't have you running around naked." He said as he walked into the room.
"Whose are they? You're way too thin and scrawny to fit into them without looking like you're dressed in a sheet."
Of course he was exaggerating a little, but it was true. These clothes never had fit onto Sasuke's body, and they probably wouldn't for some time.
The boy suddenly appeared very interested in the paint on his wall.
"They were…Itachi's." He said, not turning his gaze away from the wall.
"Oh."
Naruto almost gave into the side of him which would have said: 'Your brother slaughtered your entire family. Why in the world do you still have his clothes?'
But then he realized that this would be just like when he'd aimlessly talk about something, and inadvertently get Sasuke mad at him.
Or really upset. And then he'll stop talking for a while. Because while he's been acting human lately, and letting more of what he's feeling show, I don't think he's ready to be that human. Not yet.
"So," he began. "How was today's date?"
Sasuke looked at him, startled.
He was waiting for me to say something stupid that would wind up hurting him in the long run. I never noticed that before. So he was right earlier. I am finally learning about him.
"I-I guess it was the best so far." The boy paused, thinking. "Yeah, it was. There were a few…bad things, but other than that, it was good."
Sasuke's dark eyes were looking into his blue, questioningly.
Are we good?
Naruto gave him that soft, meaningful smile, and Sasuke visibly relaxed, tension the blonde hadn't even noticed leaving the space between them.
Just like that, we're fine…
As Naruto watched, Sasuke walked to the edge of his bed, pulled back the covers, and crawled in. As he settled himself down, he turned and peered over his shoulder.
"You coming?"
Naruto looked at the raven haired boy. Really looked at him.
And couldn't help but smile and nod.
He turned the light off and carefully walked in the dark toward the bed, where he crawled under the covers, just as his boyfriend had. He stretched out on his back and breathed in deeply.
Naruto felt the bed sink as Sasuke shifted closer to him. A pair of arms gently curled around his middle, not quite hugging, but just holding him. A head lightly rested against his chest.
Naruto stayed as still as he could, waiting quietly for Sasuke's breathing to even out as he fell asleep.
Not long after, he was rewarded by the sound he'd been waiting to hear.
You know…his sleepy mind thought. That has to be my favorite sound…
Hours later, neither boy noticed the slim figure who stepped lightly as they entered the bedroom. The envelope that had been deposited at that time on the dresser with the words 'What I got' printed neatly on the front went unnoticed for most of the next day. It contained, when the envelope had been opened at long last, two copies of a picture of two people holding each other tight, illuminated by the beautiful light of the setting sun.
As the morning sunlight cheerfully peered through the curtains, Sasuke opened his eyes. He was surrounded by a pair of strong, warm arms.
His Naruto.
He snuggled against the blonde's chest, hiding his eyes and hoping for at least a little more time before he had to get up.
His mind was fuzzy and sleep quickly retook it. But before it quieted down for the second time, it graced him with one complete thought.
Who knew that burnt food, good meals out, pleasant evenings spent watching the sun set, near emotional breakdowns, and rice could bring about perfection.
The End!
Notes:
(1) Yes, Naruto, you're right. This is his nervous habit in this story.
(2) You should have read Always There before reading this story. If you have, you should have noticed that this-the hug-is what Naruto did at the end of 'Broken Promises'. At this point in the story, Sasuke is remembering what happened then. I think. I need to ask him to find out...
(3) Naruto is being told that Iruka and Kakashi are going to be a couple in ten years, if they aren't already.
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