Watch Me When I Fall

You can't control who you fall in love with, no matter how hard you try. SasuNaru.

YAY! I finally got my thoughts down on paper—er, rather, document. I'll warn you now that I absolutely suck at writing lemons, so the probability of there being one in this is somewhat slim. Sorry. I'll make up for it with other aspects of the story, I promise! :)

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I knew Sasuke enjoyed walking, it was, so he said, the only time he could properly think, I just never imagined being in a situation as this one. December was always my least favorite month because of the cold, and in Northern Konoha, it really isn't the best time of the year to be wandering aimlessly through the streets, but I've got nowhere else to go.

The time on my cellphone blinked 12:38, but even so, I could barely remember the events that had happened just a few hours ago. My head still throbbed, though Sakura had given me medicine to dim the pain, where Orochimaru hit me still burned as if it had happened again just now. My hand involuntarily reached up towards my head, fingers running over my hair, feeling the bump as it slowly rose. I cringed, mumbling a not-so-silent 'Ow.'

Tsunade loved Orochimaru; not in that adoring way a woman loves her husband, but like a girl loves a brother; the bond was similar to Sakura and mine. I could understand it, having grown up with Sakura, Tsunade needed Orochimaru, like an alcoholic needs wine—though Tsunade probably wouldn't have minded trading the snake-like man for a bottle of good wine—Tsunade couldn't just let Orochimaru go. After all, they, along with that pervert of an artist Jiraya, had been friends for over fifty years. I was in no position to let Tsunade force one of her closest friends to go away at the expense of her difficult grandson. Even if it happened that Orochimaru was the most disgusting of pedophiles.

So without a word to either Jiraya or Tsudane, I left. I took a small bundle of clothes, namely my favorite pair of jeans and a few t-shirts, plus a sweatshirt I knew Tsunade wouldn't let me leave the house without having—'in case of emergencies' as she would always put it. Originally, I had gone to the house of Uchiha Sasuke, seeing as he was the best friend anyone would rely on when faced with a situation like mine. But after a few days, we'd gotten into a fight, like usual, only worse.

You see, I have this fear of lightning and thunder, something Sasuke happens to love, though that's beside the point. And because Sasuke's older brother was home for the holidays, I'd been sleeping on the couch facing the back wall of the house which was primarily window so the Uchihas could look out at the view of the pretty Konohagakure River. The Uchiha Mansion was across the city from my own residence at my grandmother's house, and when arriving at Sasuke's admitted to have walked across the city rather than taken the train which would have been much faster and safer. Already Sasuke was getting all motherly and overprotective, scolding me for being a dumbass and walking the distance between our homes. But the thunderstorm the next night, along with the drama that ensued at school that day—all thanks to blabbermouth Yamanaka Ino—was sure to have put Sasuke in the downright shitty mood he was in now.

So basically, Sasuke and I arrive at school from completely different directions, I walk the two blocks from the train station to the school after taking a half hour train ride, and Sasuke pulls up from the opposite direction in his sleek black Lexus. Showing up together obviously would give anyone, especially a sasuke-obsessive female, the impression that something happened the night before. Which nothing did. It was last night that shit happened.

As I mentioned before, I'm scared shitless when there's a thunderstorm, and being on the couch that just so happens to face a huge-ass window doesn't exactly help my fear. I ended up, in the wee hours of the night, crawling down the dark hallway to Sasuke's room. The very room I remember playing 'superhero' in when we were ten. I knocked on the door, sort of hoping he wasn't pissed I was waking him up. I'd forgotten he was such a thick sleeper until I woke him up by shaking his shoulders gently.

Sasuke squinted his eyes, giving me an intense glare through the dark blackness of the room, "What the fuck is wrong?" he mumbled, sleep dancing through his words. He was angry, but guaranteed if I knew Sasuke he'd forget I woke him up by tomorrow.

"I'm scared," I mumbled back, blushing slightly as I mentioned the phobia. Sasuke was, after all, another male, and we males developed a pecking order depending on who was the strongest—being the guy who wasn't afraid of anything.

"Of what, your shadow?" even through the sleepiness the bastard still managed to sarcastically taunt me. "Go back to sleep," he turned away, facing the opposite wall.

"Of the lightning, Sasu," I whispered back loudly.

I expected him to snort in laughter, shrug and repeat himself slowly. I didn't expect him to turn to face me then move over in the king sized bed, yawning as he opened his mouth to speak, "Would it make you feel better if you slept with me?" I rubbed my eyes tiredly, what did he say? I shrugged as he looked up at me, awaiting my decision. Slowly, I crawled into the bed next to the Uchiha.

For the next hour or so I could feel myself tossing and turning, and with each small movement, waking myself up again. Occasionally, I was afraid I had woken Sasuke up, so I'd turn and look at him, but he was always in the same position, seemingly sound asleep. Finally, I gave a frustrated sigh; it was just too damn dark in here, the fact that the curtains were closed, by my request to keep the lightning out, made the room even darker. Last I remembered, it was painted slate gray, a color that only caught the light when the sun's rays passed through open windows at approximately four to five thirty in the evening. Why Sasuke couldn't have painted his walls more of a proper color like white or vivid yellow—as my bedroom walls at home were painted—was beside me, but the darkness was much too overbearing.

Slowly, I turned around, "Sasuke?" I whispered, wondering if I'd get a response.

"Hn?" he turned his head to look at me. Even through the darkness, I could see a hint of light in his onyx eyes. I expected him to be glaring, about to snap at me for waking him up, but his face remained emotionless, wiped clean by sleepiness that we both felt but couldn't get rid of.

"I can't sleep," I confessed, sitting up in the bed. He followed suit, "Me either," the softness of his voice surprised me. In the years I've known him, I'd never heard him sound so, well, sweet. Especially when it was me he was talking to. "What's wrong?" he asked, brushing raven bangs from his tired black eyes.

"I—I'm not quite sure," I hesitated, unsure of what to say. Maybe it's because I'm currently sleeping in the same bed as my best friend and childhood crush who I never quite stopped liking, there, I said it—except that I didn't, when I opened my mouth to talk, no words came out, which was incredibly odd since many people will say they know me as the 'talkative one,' Sasuke being one of those 'many people'.

"Are you feeling okay?" he asked, raising one pale hand to my face. When his fingers touched my forehead, they felt like ice; I cringed away, slouching back down under the sheets. "Stop moving, Naruto," he whispered, moving his hand to feel my forehead.

"Your hand is cold," I mumbled, unsure of what else to say in response to his movements. "You're burning up like fire," he retorted softly. I nodded as best as I could.

"Water?" he offered. I shook my head, but he got out of bed anyway. I followed him, not wanting to be alone because, well, I'm not the biggest fan of being alone in a bedroom that doesn't belong to me, but the guy who makes my heart beat twice as fast when he smiles—though for Sasuke, that's pretty damn rare. I jumped out of the bed, my feet burning with cold as they touched the hard wooden floor. I hissed softly before following Sasuke with a soft slam of the door behind me.

"Hey, Sasuke," I said, forgetting about it being the middle of the night, unaware of how loud I may be talking.

Sasuke moved his fingers to his lips as he reached into the refrigerator, "Shhh," he turned to look at me, giving me that signature glare he always seemed to wear, "my brother's here, remember?" I nodded before continuing.

"Best friends can tell each other anything, right?" I asked, realizing how unsure my voice sounded. I covered my mouth subconsciously as I noticed, but pulled my hands away when Sasuke gave me a second glance.

"I wouldn't call us 'best friends', Doofus," Sasuke said. I cocked my head to the side, why the hell not, I've known you longer than anyone else in the world—besides Tsunade and my parents. "Remember two years ago when we—" I cut him off, moving my forefinger to his mouth.

"We accidentally fell over during science night in ninth grade and ended up with your tongue down my throat, yeah, I remember,"

"I wouldn't quite put it that way," Sasuke said, removing my finger from his face. "The way I remember it was you tripped over me and ended up pushing your face into mine,"

"You were on top of me, Uchiha, how could I have tripped you?" I hissed back. He shrugged, ending the conversation. "Anyway, you were giving me some shit about how best friends tell each other everything," Sasuke said, changing the subject back to before, "Care to finish?" was that—curiosity in his voice?

"I can trust you, right, Sasu?" I asked, raising one eyebrow in question. He shrugged, tossing me a bottle of cold water, but he nodded. "Sure,"

"So what if there was this guy and he loved one of his friends, but this friend didn't love him—actually, she wasn't really sure she even liked him as a friend," I said as quickly as possible, not even sure I understood my own words. But Sasuke, he understood every detail of what I said.

"What is this, a twelve year old sleepover?" he asked, sarcasm dripping from each word he spoke. "And is this 'guy' you?" it wasn't much of a question if he'd meant it that way.

"It was a hypothetical situation, actually," I mumbled back.

"Wow, big words there, Doofus," Sasuke teased, turning from the kitchen to walk back to his room, dragging me by the arm as well. I laughed softly, "Yeah, tenth grade vocab quiz word,"

"Didn't think you could remember that far back," This was the Sasuke I'd always known. The boy full of playful scorn, who smiled whenever he caught me being an idiot, the only person who could get away with calling me a dumbass while smiling the perfect smile that hammered a nail farther into my heart each time he cracked a grin to break the delicate glass-like organ inside me.

"Well, I guess you just don't know me too well, 'Suke" I laughed. He snorted back in faint amusement. "Sure I don't, which is why you're coming to me for love advice girls talk for hours about on the phone going over their minutes so their parents have to pay an extra hundred dollars for on their cellphone plan,"

I must have zoned out for a half second because I missed the majority of what he said, it was a mouthful, after all, "Of course," I shrugged as he pulled me down onto the bed. If he'd been listening really hard, I was sure even he could hear the beating of my heart as he plopped down next to me on the soft mattress.

"So, lets get this straight, you like this girl who doesn't like you back—who is…?" he paused, waiting for me to fill in the blank as if it was Mad Libs or something of that nature. "His name is, uh, John, and her name is—" I paused to think hard, "—Mary,"

"Definitely," faintly, I could see Sasuke give a sarcastic roll of his eyes. "And you want to know what to do to get her attention?"

"What John wants to do to get her attention," I corrected, "Hypothetically,"

Sasuke sighed, rolling his eyes for a second time, "I know it's you, Doofus, move on," he snapped. I sighed,

"Fine," a pout crossed my face; I took a sip of water. The conversation went on from there, I wasn't even sure what I was saying, but it all seemed to pour out effortlessly without me having to think—something I wasn't sure I'd even be able to do even if I wanted to, I was much too tired for that kind of thing, anyway. I watched as Sasuke nodded once in a while, interrupting to ask a question every few minutes. If it were anyone else, I'd say they weren't paying attention, it didn't seem like he was; his eyes were staring off into space. But it was Sasuke. This was the guy who could doodle in class for the entire period and still remember every major word the teacher spoke, able to take a pop quiz on the class and score high enough to get an A. I knew he was listening, even if he didn't want to. Sasuke would always listen to me, he always did.

As our conversation poured on I could hear myself becoming more and more drunk—and okay I wasn't drinking, but the more I talked, the more the truth began to pool in my head until it threatened to spill out.

"So, does this person you like have a name?" Sasuke asked, the conversation becoming too detailed not to put a name to the face I spoke of. I nodded, "I know them?" he asked next, I nodded again and before I was aware, I opened my mouth to say the name.

Haruno Sakura, I wanted to say, but my mouth wouldn't move that way and he'd never buy it, "Uchiha Sasuke," I said at the speed of light, I blushed, "Er, you."

"W-wait," Sasuke blinked. I'd never seen him look so… confused, "What? Me?" it was like our roles switched. He was suddenly the confused one and I was the—no, I was just as confused. "Why me?" he asked after a minutes pause. I couldn't remember what I'd said before his name, everything drained out of me the second I said it, all I could think of was how royally screwed I was when in the morning he remembered how much I let slip from my mouth, all of this private conversation with me confessing that the 'this girl' in the confession wasn't a girl at all, in fact, it was the person I was talking to who was helping me with love advice that, as he so delicately said, was something twelve year old girls talked about hours on end on the telephone.

"I-I'm sorry, Sasuke," I whispered, watching as he dug a hole in the bedding. "I didn't m-mean—" he turned away, letting that nail in my heart hammer all the way into the glass, shattering it.

"Go to sleep, Naruto," he mumbled, suddenly tired. I could hear him yawn before speaking again, "We have school tomorrow,"

"I-I don't want to sleep," I said, unsure of why I said it.

"Why the hell not?" was that sourness in his voice?

"In my dreams you're never depicted as the cold, heartless bastard I always liked,"

"Too bad,"

"We're still friends, right?" I asked, twiddling my thumbs in nervousness. What if he said no? I decided at that moment that I didn't want the answer; what if it broke me into a thousand pieces?

"If you shut up and go to sleep, yes," and I did. I laid back on the bed and fell asleep the second my head hit the soft pillow. And before I knew it, morning had come.

- - -

Why yes, that was a short chapter. But I didn't want to discuss much in the first scene as it would ruin things for the rest of the story. Especially the first sentence—and I'm bringing that up so you'll be all like "WTF!?!?!"

Anyway, answers are to come. Also, how is Sasuke going to take this news? Is he going to remember what happened that night?

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