This was written for the sasunaru ficexchange for k_krum over at livejournal. I'll link to the original post over at lj (they posted a different/earlier version there—I like this one much more).
The boys are about 23 or 24 here.
A Fresh Coat
Naruto's afternoon turned out to be more of a hassle than he'd planned. He had wanted a quiet day to get away from the mountains of paperwork and hours of meetings that his life as Hokage was turning out to include. However, his closest advisors had decided any action of the Hokage had to be a big action, which of course meant that everything had to be planned, put into paperwork, and photographed on the spot.
So instead of a quiet afternoon in the city, eating ramen with the little folks, Naruto was being followed by photographers and forced into a long day of community work. Just what he'd been trying to escape—granted it wasn't the same kind of work he was getting away from. He wasn't quite sure what kind of work they had planned for him or which group he would be working with, but he was sure that it didn't involve his favorite ramen shop.
One of his assistants, an older man, was walking next to him, going over some notes in a folder and being menacing in a quiet sort of way. Naruto frowned at this and turned to his other side to speak with Ino—she was in charge of addressing and controlling the press. A bright smile lit up her face as she watched some young children on the side of the road and Naruto couldn't help but find her quite charming.
Putting on his own, winning smile, Naruto said, "Today sure looks like it will be exciting."
She looked at him, her smile lessening into a smirk. "You don't even know what you're going to be doing, do you?"
"Am I that obvious?" Naruto asked, scratching the back of his head. This was working better than he'd hoped.
Ino's smile broadened once more. "Well, you'll be happy to know that you'll be working with children today, not at the old people's home again." She paused as Naruto laughed quietly and then continued, "No, today you'll be working with a class from the academy to fix up an empty lot as an extra training field for them."
Naruto's stomach dropped at her words and he desperately hoped it didn't show on his face. For the past two years, ever since he'd been Hokage, he'd been avoiding the school. He hadn't really told anyone why, well, no one except for Sakura. Apparently his people hadn't noticed that he never agreed on visiting the children. He felt the color leave his face and turned away from Ino.
"So it's true, then," Ino said quietly and then elbowed him in the side, "you really are afraid of children! Everyone's been saying so, but I really didn't think that could be true." Her pause here allowed Naruto to recover his composure to glare at her. "Well," she began again, "you'll just have to man up and face them."
Oh. So that was the case—everyone thought it was the children. Naruto felt slightly more at ease now that he didn't really have to explain himself to Ino. Her suspicion was completely off mark. It was actually quite the opposite—Naruto would rather spend all day playing with children than do any of the tasks he'd so far been given as Hokage. But he could pretend that wasn't the case if it meant he didn't have to explain anything about Sasuke.
He hadn't started avoiding Sasuke on purpose—it had just happened that way. Bringing Sasuke home had been easy enough, at least after the remaining Akatsuki had betrayed and murdered his friends and team, but Konoha had not been as welcoming as Naruto had always expected. Sasuke had immediately been sentenced to three years in jail. Even so, during those years Naruto had visited him as often as he could, trying to keep a positive view of the future.
They had been friends then, somewhat more distanced than when they were younger, but it had been a closeness Naruto had sorely missed in Sasuke's absence. But by the time Sasuke was released on parole (where he was forced to live as a civilian), Naruto had decided to start campaigning to become the next Hokage. He knew that Kakashi favored him, but that wasn't enough. Naruto had desperately sought the approval of the whole village. So as he moved among the people of Konoha, he began to visit Sasuke less and less. And as he visited Sasuke less, he found that the more conservative and politically aware members of Konoha favored him more and more.
After that, Naruto had just stopped seeing Sasuke altogether. He made sure to keep tabs on Sasuke's progress in the village. When Sasuke had applied for the Chunin exams and participated in them, Naruto had purposefully made himself unavailable; when Sasuke chose to be a teacher at the academy (the best of the meager options available to him), Naruto had taken the next available mission so as to be absent during Sasuke's installation, and after he became Hokage he always found some way to decline all the invitations to visit the academy.
It was all very simple and it made his life easier, which made it hard for Naruto to consider going back to the way it had been before. As Hokage, he had the approval of his people and of the elders; as a man in Konoha, he had friends everywhere he turned. But he still felt guilt prickle in his stomach every time he thought of Sasuke.
Naruto hadn't realized how long his pause had been until Ino startled him by speaking again. She had a concerned look on her face as she said, "You know, Naruto, you don't have to do this. We can just cancel the afternoon and you could go back to your office if you don't want to face the children."
"It'll be fine," Naruto said quickly, wanting to make up for his silence and recover some of his pride. However tempting it was to take Ino up on her offer, Naruto couldn't quite make himself. It wasn't like there was a particularly high chance that the class he would be working with would be Sasuke's anyway. "It'll be good for me to be with kids."
The look Ino gave him told him she was unconvinced, but he ignored it. He knew she would let him do as he wanted and that no one really had anything to complain about in his choice. A connection between the youth of Konoha and their leaders was extremely important and would most likely mean an even higher approval rating.
When Naruto took a breath to say something else to Ino, something to lighten the mood, he was cut off by the man on his other side. "We're here. The kids should be here any moment." The man was still flipping through his papers.
Naruto shifted his weight nervously as he glanced around the field, hoping to have some sort of warning if it did happen to be Sasuke who brought the small children. The field was large and empty, covered in tall grass and weeds and the occasional small shrub. It would take a lot of work to clean, but it wouldn't be hard. There were some shovels and hedge clippers sitting a ways off and there was a pile of different supplies (logs, ropes, and hay mostly) to be set around into different tools for training.
Next to him, Ino and the old man were going over the appropriate conduct for dealing with children while the photographers were setting up their tripods and scoping out the field. It was just like every other time Naruto had worked out of his office, and he found it strangely comfortable. But then he saw a somehow still familiar figure emerge from on the other side of the field.
Sasuke.
He was really here. Out of all the different classes at the academy it had to be Sasuke's. Of course fate would work that way—Naruto didn't quite know how he could have thought otherwise. There was a strange churning in his stomach as the idea of spending an entire afternoon with his old friend settled in. It wouldn't do to be sick on the field—in front of the cameras—but that was becoming more and more of a probability as Sasuke and his gaggle of young ninja came closer.
Naruto closed his eyes for a moment in part to calm his stomach but mostly so he could concentrate. He needed something to say, anything to say to at least make this meeting go somewhat smoother. Should he comment on what he'd done with his hair? No, that was too personal. Maybe the weather? Too distant. What else was there to say to someone you hadn't seen in years?
Vaguely he felt Ino brushing his hair into place. He opened his eyes to see her smiling at him, but couldn't bring himself to return the gesture. "We thought it would be easier for you to see the children if they were with someone you knew," she said quietly when she noticed he was staring at Sasuke.
"Oh," Naruto said weakly, "you really didn't have to; I would've been fine." He stopped talking because the class had finally reached them.
Sasuke was standing at the head of his class, glaring with his arms crossed over his chest. As the sun moved out from behind a cloud, Naruto couldn't help but notice how Sasuke hadn't changed. His hair still shone in the light and his dark eyes still glinted with emotion that he would never show elsewhere. Actually, Naruto noticed, Sasuke looked a lot nicer, a lot better than he had the last time they had spoken. There was something about his posture that spoke of confidence and independence, something that Naruto hadn't seen since—well, for a long time.
Swallowing thickly, he noticed that everyone was waiting for him to act, to say something. So he said the first thing that came to mind. "It's good to see you again, Sasuke."
And that was when Sasuke punched him in the face.
After Naruto stopped his guards from killing Sasuke for treason on the spot (and after he stopped his nose from bleeding), he turned back to face Sasuke's glowering presence again. For a moment he was tempted to return the favor, remembering that the sight of blood on Sasuke's face was very satisfactory. Instead he offered him his hand. "Are you done now?" he asked and hoped that Sasuke would move on quickly if only so they could get away from each other.
"Only for the moment," Sasuke hissed angrily and then took Naruto's hand. It wasn't quite a shake, more like a hard challenge, and it couldn't have been over fast enough for Naruto's liking. He had only offered for the photo anyway. The camera flashed and Sasuke pulled away, walking toward the shovels and tools, leaving his class for Naruto.
Naruto took a relieved breath. That had gone over better than he'd hoped and he was already planning on how to avoid Sasuke for the rest of the afternoon. He looked out over the children and grinned. It should be easy enough to lose himself with these lovely people. He clapped his hands together to get their attention (although it didn't seem to have bothered them much that their teacher had just attacked their Hokage).
"Hello, children!" he said brightly and was pleased at the chorus of returned greetings. "Do you know what we'll be doing this afternoon?"
One small boy's hand shot up and he answered before Naruto could call on him. "We're going to be making a training field with you!"
Naruto grinned. "Exactly! It's important for you to know that there's more to being a ninja than fighting and technique. We have to maintain this village as well and it should be each of your goals to make sure there is never anything wrong here. Cleaning up this lot will teach you how important work skills and it will also give you a spot for technical training later."
"Naruto!" one of the closer boys said, pulling on the sleeve of Naruto's Hokage jacket. "Will you teach us a jutsu?"
The little boy's eyes were so expectant and adorable that Naruto couldn't refuse, even if he had wanted to start working right away. And he had just the jutsu for these kids. He smiled and knelt down next to them, pushing back his sleeves so they could see the seals he would make. "Alright, children, this jutsu is Uzumaki Naruto's oldest and most awesome move ever," he said, smirking as the children watched him with wide eyes. "I call it Sexy no Jutsu."
He heard Ino sigh above him and he squawked when she pulled on his ear. "Sorry, kiddies," she said, "no Sexy no Jutsu today." Naruto pouted just as dramatically as the children at this. Normally Ino would have joined him in executing this secret attack, but today she seemed set on presenting him as a good, well-mannered Hokage. Which was altogether too boring.
A couple of the people who had come with Naruto joined Sasuke in dividing the children amongst the tasks at hand. The children would mostly be digging holes, cutting grass, and pulling weeds while the adults (Naruto's staff, etc.) would work on fixing the fence and putting on the final touches.
Naruto eagerly followed a group of young girls to the shovels so as to dig some holes for the training logs, talking to them about what they were learning in class as they went. It turned out that Sasuke taught along the same lines as Iruka had, and Naruto couldn't help but feel happy that someone else had gotten so much out of those lessons as he had (even if it hadn't seemed so at the time). It was strangely thrilling to see the lessons of his youth passed on to another generation.
"You know," one of the girls said to him, all seriousness and intensity as she stopped digging, "I'm going to be Hokage someday."
A smile broke across Naruto's face at this unexpected turn in the conversation. "That's a good ambition to have," he said, patting her on the shoulder.
The girl shrugged his hand off. "You don't believe I can," she said. "No one does. No one except Sasuke-sensei."
Naruto stopped shoveling at the mention of Sasuke. He didn't know if he wanted to hear any more of this conversation because that would ruin his plan. There was no way that he could remain distanced from Sasuke if he heard the reasoning for Sasuke's approval of this young girl. He wouldn't be able to stop himself from pursuing further after he knew more. But the little girl wasn't giving him a chance to escape.
"Sasuke-sensei says that anyone who loves this village enough can become Hokage. Because if you love Konoha enough, you'll love the people of Konoha—from the best anbu to the lowliest prisoner—and they will love you back and that's what's most important. At least he says that's how it was for the people he grew up with." The girl's words were simple, but altogether beautiful and Naruto thought for a second he might cry. He looked from the girl to where he was conscious of Sasuke working with another group by the fence.
Was Sasuke really saying things like that to his students? Naruto knew from their conversations during Sasuke's years in prison that he didn't entirely approve of Naruto's ambition towards becoming the Hokage—he was still under the impression that the structure and leadership of the villages was too corrupt to do any good—but this sentiment was completely the opposite. And more, it said that Sasuke might still trust him even after their years of separation. Naruto gripped at his shovel tighter.
"I think you have a good chance of making it," Naruto said to the girl, who grinned up at him before turning to whisper to her friend.
The afternoon continued smoothly. Sasuke and Naruto continued to dance around one another, and the field began to look more like a training ground than a wild preserve. The children had gotten bored half way through their time and were mostly chasing each other around, but the adults around had continued their work. The field needed maybe a day or two more before it would be entirely ready to use, but Naruto figured that would be easy enough for skilled professionals.
Ino came up to him and patted him on the back as he watched Sasuke gather the children up to send them home. Naruto smiled in acknowledgement, but didn't really turn to her. "You did well today," she said, to which Naruto merely nodded, "but I don't think it was ever the children you were afraid of."
Naruto paled and finally turned to her, only to find that she was grinning at him. "I don't know what happened with the two of you, but I hope you'll sort it out."
For a moment Naruto stared at her, stunned. "I-just-well, I-," he stuttered.
She smiled at him again and said, "Don't worry about it. Have a good evening." And with a final wink, she left, dragging the other guards and photographers with her. The children followed behind, already reminiscing about their day.
Naruto turned to find that Sasuke was still there, grabbing up his paintbrush by the now half-white fence. This would be it. Naruto would talk to Sasuke, fix things as much as he could, and go home. Maybe they would even start seeing each other again. As he approached Sasuke, Naruto tried to ignore the way the setting sun cast shadows which perfectly emphasized Sasuke's angles, and instead focused on a good way to start this conversation.
Anything was better than his last attempt, he noted as he reached the fence, but he decided that silence would be the best course of action this time. Sasuke could start the conversation this time, and then Naruto wouldn't have to deal with another injury. He bent to retrieve another paintbrush, one that didn't look like the kids had used it for a kunai. Just as he was placing it to the fence, Sasuke spoke.
"Why did you do it?" Sasuke's voice was small and slightly hoarse.
"Why did I do what?" Naruto was immediately on the defensive. That question could mean anything. Why did you follow me? Why did you bring me back? Why did you stop visiting me? Why did you just—
"Why did you forbid me from becoming more than a chunin?"
The question hung in the air for a moment—Naruto hadn't been expecting it, but as he noticed Sasuke's brush still on the fence, he realized the importance of his answer. The decision had been put before him as his first trial as Hokage. At the time, he had been relieved that he got to make the decision and no one else, but as time had passed, he had come to the conclusion that it had been a test by the council. It had been a test which he had barely passed.
Naruto swallowed thickly. He wanted to answer this for Sasuke, to please him, to make him stay, but he wanted to remain truthful. He said simply, "I couldn't trust you."
Sasuke dropped his brush to the ground and turned to walk away almost faster than Naruto could react, but thankfully not faster than Naruto's hand around his wrist. With a familiar, angry snarl on his lips, Sasuke glared up at him. "Let me go," he said, menacing.
"Just listen to me!" Naruto said and dropped his paintbrush as well. He tugged Sasuke closer.
When it seemed Sasuke was going to be obedient, Naruto took a deep breath and said, "I really couldn't trust you then, not with protecting this village." When Naruto paused, Sasuke clenched his jaw and looked hurt, but didn't interrupt. "No one would have supported a lighter sentence because you've deserted before," here Naruto decided to leave out the other details of Sasuke's youth which factored into his decision.
Naruto reached up with his free hand to turn Sasuke's face toward him. Black eyes continued to glare at him, still burning with hurt, mistrust, and anger. "But I trusted you with something more important than that—" Sasuke snorted derisively and Naruto tightened his grip with both hands, "I trusted you with the children. This village would be nothing without the children—it would have little substance now and nothing for a future. Children are what keep Konoha alive, Sasuke, and I gave them to you."
Sasuke's jaw slackened slightly, and he looked at once surprised and hopeful. He continued to remain silent, but Naruto smiled softly at him anyway. "And I made the right decision," he said, dropping his hands away from Sasuke. "I was talking to this girl today and what she said about how you dealt with the question of becoming the Hokage—" Naruto stopped talking for a moment and glanced away over Sasuke's shoulder because he had seen the flicker of recognition in Sasuke's eyes before continuing, "well, you're everything anyone could ever want in a mentor."
"And what about you? How do you feel about me now?" Sasuke asked, and Naruto tried hard not to focus on his lips.
Taking a quick breath, Naruto said, "A Hokage couldn't be more pleased about—"
Sasuke glared at him and cut him off. "How does Uzumaki Naruto feel about what I told Kaeda?"
"Well I," Naruto paused and started again, "I couldn't be happier."
Naruto was suddenly very aware of how close they were standing. Their fingers were brushing as they stood, and Naruto nearly jumped in surprise when Sasuke drew his hands back and pulled away to turn back to the fence. Naruto watched him for a moment as Sasuke searched for something to do. He was vaguely disappointed that Sasuke hadn't responded—the conversation had been going well and it seemed somehow to have ended without conclusion. But he wasn't about to offend Sasuke again.
"Do you want your paintbrush back?" he asked softly, searching for where it had fallen in the dimming light.
There was a short pause before Sasuke said, "No, it's covered in dirt now."
For a moment Naruto was going to brush past this comment, but then he realized that there had been an off-beat tremble in Sasuke's words. "Are you," he started, "are you crying?"
When Sasuke didn't answer, Naruto moved closer to him again and placed a hand on his shoulder. He stood for a moment in silence and had no idea what to say to this. Usually when he was dealing with crying it was Sakura, who was always very vocal about her feelings, or Ino, who only cried when she was very angry. This was different; he had no idea what was wrong.
Sasuke mumbled something that Naruto didn't catch. "What?" he said softly.
"I thought you hated me," Sasuke said, bracing a hand against an unpainted area on the fence. "When you started your campaign and you stopped seeing me, I didn't think there was any other explanation. You must've started to believe all the elders." Naruto wanted to protest, but Sasuke didn't give him the chance. "And then you had to rule over my case and, well, your decision seemed completely political." Sasuke's words were becoming more breathless.
"Sasuke," Naruto said, "look at me." He waited as Sasuke slowly turned around to face him, his fists clenched in such a way that Naruto almost thought he was going to punch him again. Once they were eye-to-eye, Naruto noticed that Sasuke wasn't crying. Far from it, in fact; his teeth were clenched and his eyes were narrowed and his short breathing was angry, not sad. Naruto turned his eyes to look at Sasuke's ear instead of his eyes, afraid he'd want to punch some sense into him if they held eye contact any longer, and said, "I was being stupid and political then, and I might not have realized until today how perfect my decision was, but there was always a part of me that wanted you to be where you are today. I always knew you would do wonderfully and that I could trust you with all of this."
Again, Sasuke attempted to turn back to the fence, but Naruto leaned in and braced his arms against the fence on either side of Sasuke's head, keeping him from moving. He leaned in closer and felt Sasuke shiver. "You're beautiful," he said quietly.
Sasuke opened his mouth in question, but Naruto leaned in for a kiss instead, enjoying the gasp that passed through Sasuke's lips at the contact. Naruto pulled back suddenly with a frown and asked, "Is this ok?"
"Shut up," Sasuke mumbled, and pulled him back down for another kiss. Sasuke leaned back against the fence and Naruto almost pointed out that his back was going to be covered in a fresh coat of paint, but decided it wasn't worth it when Sasuke's hands reached up to cup the back of his neck.
It had always been a secret fantasy of Naruto's, kissing Sasuke that is, ever since that very first kiss long ago, but this was something entirely different than he'd ever imagined. That probably had to do with the fact that Naruto only had experience with kissing women. Sasuke definitely was not a woman, Naruto noted as Sasuke used one hand to pull Naruto closer by the waist. They moaned together and Naruto pulled out of the kiss, a feat that took quite a bit of resolve.
"Are you sure this is ok?" Naruto rolled his eyes at Sasuke's glare. "I meant that we're doing this here. I mean, it's kind of in the open and it would be our first—" He lost the ability to form thoughts as Sasuke's leg slipped between his own and pressed forward.
"I want you here," Sasuke said, placing a kiss on the underside of Naruto's chin, "and now," a kiss on the corner of his mouth, "inside me."
Naruto's resolve broke and he was ravaging Sasuke's mouth once more. So much for merely patching things up between them. Naruto growled into the kiss and shoved Sasuke up against the wall, taking a moment to be thankful that it was higher than they were tall, and pressed his thigh against the erection growing between Sasuke's legs.
Breaking away from Sasuke's mouth, Naruto began to trail kissing down the side of his neck, setting his hands to work with Sasuke's pants. Sasuke was humming approval above him, his own hands pulling at Naruto's coat and vest, heatedly seeking skin-to-skin contact.
As their clothes disappeared, Naruto again became deeply aware of how stunning Sasuke was. He didn't realize he was staring until Sasuke said, "You really are stupid. Staring isn't as good as touching." To emphasize his point, Sasuke's hand dropped to Naruto's unclothed erection and began to stroke.
Naruto's vision blurred for a moment and he curled over around Sasuke. "Fuck," he muttered, but then began to return the favor.
With Sasuke's labored breathing in his ear and hot hands around his cock, Naruto didn't quite know if he could make it to actual intercourse. "Sasuke," he muttered, "Sasuke, stop."
Sasuke looked hurt as he leaned back against the wall. Naruto wondered again how he could ignore the wet paint on his bare skin. "I can't," Naruto started, but was cut off again by Sasuke.
"You can't make it? Pathetic," he said, running his hands up and down Naruto's thighs.
Naruto growled again. "I'll make it just fine," he said, and with that ran his fingers around to Sasuke's opening. Although he had never had sex with a man before, Ino had forced him to read enough of her porn magazines that he knew the basics. Supposedly, a lot of prep was needed, so he pushed his finger in cautiously—the reaction was immediate.
"Fuck," Sasuke breathed, his entire body stiffening. His fingers clenched against Naruto's stomach and he tipped his head back against the fence.
Smirking at his success, Naruto added a second finger. Sasuke looked amazing, felt amazing, and Naruto wanted nothing more than to get on to the main action. In the mean time he shoved his erection up against Sasuke's and delighted in the small gasps he received. Soon, Sasuke's legs were wrapping up around his hips and his arms around his neck.
"Naruto, now, just do it," Sasuke mumbled against Naruto's ear as he hoisted his weight onto Naruto.
After a moment of concentration, Naruto's erection found where it was supposed to be and he pushed. The pressure and tightness was intense and he had to stop for a moment himself, Sasuke's cries aside. He was reminded again that this was definitely not sex with a woman. He began to push in slower, but then couldn't help but slam in when he felt Sasuke's teeth dig into his shoulder.
Once Sasuke was fully seated, he said, "move, move, Naruto, it's so good," and Naruto couldn't deny him any longer.
They moved together slowly at first, attempting to find a rhythm that Sasuke was comfortable with in his awkward position, but that only took moments. As he became more used to the weight on him, Naruto began to move faster. Everything felt amazing, his body on fire with pleasure. This didn't seem like it could last long enough.
Sasuke was moaning softly into his ear and clawing at his shoulders with each thrust. The wind was chilly against their bare skin, but that only seemed to heighten their sense of touch and everywhere their skin met seemed to burn. It was beautiful—Sasuke was beautiful and Naruto suddenly couldn't imagine why he had never done this before. He wondered how he had ever separated himself from Sasuke in the first place. All of his logic and reasoning seemed stupid in light of this moment.
But it was coming to an end. Sasuke was coming against his stomach and chest, breathing his name into his ear and clenching wonderfully around Naruto's cock. One last thrust and Naruto was coming as well. He leaned forward, pressing Sasuke fully against the wall again. It took a few long moments of simply breathing before he felt able to pull back and help Sasuke down.
Sasuke's eyes were closed as he leaned back against the fence, and for a moment Naruto thought he might be sleeping. But then he spoke. "Maybe you are good for something more than looking pretty," Sasuke said, fingers reaching out in search of Naruto's hand.
"Oh god, Sasuke," Naruto said, sinking down into a crouch, "I was so stupid before. I shouldn't have ever stopped seeing you. I should've let the stupid elders think whatever they wanted—"
"Shut up," Sasuke said, "I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to tell them where they can shove it now." He too sank to the ground to look Naruto in the face, a half smile on his lips.
Naruto felt a grin spread across his own face as he leaned against Sasuke. They laughed together for a moment before Naruto pulled back to look Sasuke in the face. "I love you," he said, "I always have."
A blush rose up across Sasuke's cheeks, but he didn't seem surprised and he definitely didn't turn away. "Whatever," he mumbled, "If you really loved me you'd find my clothes for me."
"Are you sure you'd want to put them on with all that paint on your back?" Naruto asked, frowning slightly.
Sasuke looked utterly confused for a moment before he turned to look behind him at the fence. "Shit," he said rather breathlessly, "why'd you let me do that?!"
Naruto laughed again. This was something he could learn to deal with—Sasuke was everything he wanted him to be, exactly where he wanted him to be, where he needed to be, and that was what mattered.