Hello folks! Well.. this is my first story, and I haven't had anyone to read through this before posting, besides English isn't my first language, so please, don't be mad at me if I've screwed up somewhere!

I am pretty sure it's alright, though.. Anyhow, on with the story, please review! :D

Ehm.. I do not own them, sad enough.

They aren't ninjas in this one, and they might be slightly out of character.. not too much though, I've tried to make them behave themselves ^^'

***

'Is this really necessary?' Sasuke thought, trying to look as stoic and uncaring as usual, but it was quite hard when sitting in the lap of his friend. In fact, Sasuke had a hard time keeping from blushing. This was very unusual, and very humiliating. People in general had gotten the picture by now; you don't come to close to Uchiha Sasuke, and you definitely do not touch him! This unspoken rule had been unbroken for a couple of years now, not including the very few required touches, like in gym-class, when they had to touch. Otherwise, the rule had protected Sasuke well. 'Hn, there seems to be at least one who hasn't got it' Sasuke thought, angrily.

Even so, he didn't move away, mostly because of the pair of arms that wound themselves around his waist when he tried before, which made his whole body tense up. 'Okay, Naruto, you've proven your point, I'm not untouchable.. Please let go of me now..' he thought, glaring at the arms. The owner of those restraining arms chuckled, as he read Sasuke's face. "You know, I don't think your great mind power is strong enough to get my arms off of you, Sasuk~e" he said, grinning wide. Oh yes, he was enjoying this. Sasukes glare hardened, just about to turn into a death glare. 'Just because we're at some damn bus stop that's only got one fucking chair, that doesn't give him permission to make me sit on top of him! I am very capable of standing up, dobe!' Strangely enough, Naruto didn't seem to respond to Sasukes angry mind waves. Sasuke inhaled deep and tried to relax, even a little, wondering why he accepted this at all. Well, as long as no one saw them, saw him, like this, it was.. tolerable. He still didn't like it though.

***

As Sasuke began to relax, Narutos grin widened even more, if possible. The fact that the Uchiha even let himself be touched was a big surprise, and Naruto didn't wait for him to change his mind, so he had secured his grip of the lithe body above him as fast as he could. Sasuke did tense up at that though. Even so, it all went a lot smoother than expected, probably because of the chock. Sasuke hadn't had any close contact in years, for all Naruto knew.

By now, Naruto was grinning like a madman. 'It would be so funny if someone came here now' he thought, imagining how Sasuke would react. The vision that came up in his head of Sasuke freaking out, made him laugh. An Uchiha didn't freak out, that just didn't happen. Sasuke froze again, turned the Uchiha-glare towards Naruto. "What?" he demanded, looking offended. "Oh, nothing, nothing - just imagining some of your less pleasant characteristics. Like.. you freaking, for an example. " He said, smirking. Sasuke only huffed and glared some more, but he didn't relax again.

***

They didn't talk much during the bus ride. They just sat beside each other, Sasuke looking out the window and, on occasions, at Naruto. It was quite a long ride, and Sasuke was tired, so at some point he fell asleep, leaning his head against the window. The next thing he knew was Narutos voice waking him up, telling him they should get off the bus. 'Oh yeah, school.'

Sasuke wasn't thrilled. Still he got of the bus and began walking towards school, not completely awake yet. He was somewhat aware of Naruto walking beside him, but didn't think much about it. "You're kind of out of it, aren't you?" Sasuke snapped back to reality, turned his head, and found himself looking straight into a pair of questioning, blue eyes. He looked away, nodding. This was also highly unusual for an Uchiha. They didn't show any weakness, well, some of us may not consider tiredness as a weakness, but still. They did.

Sasuke began to wonder if something was wrong with him. The rule had been broken, and he let it happen! He didn't even try to stop it! Plus, he just admitted he was "out of it". He glanced at the boy walking beside him. 'Maybe it's him. He's doing something to me!?' Sasuke, even in his current, strange state, knew that he wasn't making any sense, not even to himself. He tried again. 'No… maybe I'm sick? Or..'
Sasuke couldn't think of any explanation that actually made sense, so he stopped trying. 'Anyway, I should stay away from Naruto. At least for now. He's… too much… too…'
He glanced at Naruto again, his eyes widened. 'Too close!'

***

Naruto had noticed that something with Sasuke was off today. The distant, untouchable Sasuke wasn't nearly as distant and untouchable as usual. 'I am so going to take advantage of that' He thought, grinning. Ok, they had been friends for years, but still, Naruto didn't know too much about him.

Sasuke didn't open up, not to anyone, though sometimes, Naruto thought he saw the wall between Sasuke and everyone else crack. Sometimes, the real Sasuke would show, though you wouldn't notice if you didn't watch him closely. And that's what Naruto did. He watched him closely every day. Sure, he joked around a lot with his other friends, but he always kept an eye on Sasuke, just so he'd know when, if, the wall splintered. He knew that the cracking always threw Sasuke a bit out of balance, not that he'd let it show, but it was quite a long time since he could fool Naruto with his ever-present mask of indifference. So every time he noticed Sasukes slightly different behaviour, he would make up some excuse to leave his other friends, to get to Sasuke's side.

Naruto didn't know if Sasuke knew that he saw the cracks in the wall, neither he nor Sasuke would bring the subject up. Anyway, what was certain was that the wall wouldn't hold forever. Some day, it would fall, and when that day came, Naruto wanted to be beside him, wanted to prevent the real Sasuke from breaking down alongside his wall.

***

At lunch, Sasuke finally got to be on his own again. Today he had to fight hard to keep up his usual attitude, he really tried, but… it was like Naruto said earlier; he was totally "off". To be surrounded by random, annoying people when he wasn't too great was very tiring. He wanted to go home, to be left alone, but of course, he didn't.

The one person who wasn't a total pain in his ass was, surprisingly, Naruto. Even though his plan was to stay away from him, Naruto wouldn't let him. He'd always show up, suddenly walking beside him, sitting at the same table in the classes (even though Sasuke was quite sure he was heading towards another table, just some seconds earlier) and such. And to his own surprise, he didn't mind. Naruto wasn't loud, as usual. He kept quiet, and when talking, he kept his voice low. He also got the attention away from Sasuke when the random people went too far, he'd let Sasuke escape, and find him again some minutes later. Yeah, Sasuke didn't mind. That didn't lessen the feeling of relief that washed through him now that he was completely alone, though.

When the school day finally ended, Sasuke knew he had Naruto to thank for his mental health. 'The more reason to keep away from him, starting now'

Yes, Sasuke didn't like to depend on others. He hadn't done that for a long, long time, and he certainly wouldn't start now. Even so, he took his time to get out from the classroom. 'Not that I'm waiting for him or anything, I just wanna see if…' He didn't even bother to continue the lie he made up for himself.

Naruto beamed at Sasuke as he rushed to his side, walking to the bus stop. Sasuke didn't smile back, but nodded briefly. He could get used to this. Maybe.

***

They ended up in Narutos flat. When they were about to part, Sasuke still hadn't gotten back to his normal self. Naruto didn't like the thought of letting the raven haired boy go home alone in this state. He knew that Sasuke could take care of himself very well, but… he wanted to help, he really did. In the end, it was probably the combination of his genuine kindness and worry that made Sasuke give in. Naruto opened the door, stepped inside, let Sasuke in, closed and locked the door again before he turned to the slightly taller boy. "So, what do you want to do? You've got homework? No?" He wasn't surprised when Sasuke shook his head. "'Thought so, me neither… you want something to eat?" He asked, smiling brightly. He didn't really wait for Sasuke to answer, but took of to the kitchen as he spoke. Sasuke obediently followed. Yeah, something was totally wrong with him.

"So, you want something?" Naruto asked again, standing looking into the fridge. Sasuke just shook his head again. 'Fine' Naruto thought, helping himself to some ramen.

"Well then, what do you want to do? I've got all these games, if you wanna play. Or we could watch TV, or just hang out, whatever you want." Naruto ran around, looking for a bowl, but when Sasuke didn't answer he stopped, turning to face him. "Well?" Still no answer. 'He's not so talkative, is he..' Naruto thought. ''Guess I'll have to make the decisions then'

"How about we watch a movie, 's that okay with you?" Naruto began to worry a little when Sasuke just nodded again. When he thought about it, Sasuke hadn't uttered a word since they entered his apartment. 'What's wrong with him?' Naruto wondered 'I know something's totally off, but… I don't know.. maybe I'm over thinking this.'

Naruto shook his head, but he couldn't get rid of the feeling that Sasuke definitely seemed more fragile than usual. It made him want to hug the other boy, made him wanna tell him that, whatever it was, it would be alright. However, that would not be a great thing to do since Sasuke wasn't the cuddling type. A shiver went down Narutos spine at the thought of Sasukes reaction. He decided to continue the conversation. "Okay then, how about you go pick a movie? They're lined up in there, by the TV." He pointed towards the living room, which, conveniently enough was next door to the kitchen.

Sasuke barely bowed his head in agreement before he slowly shuffled out, into the next room.

Naruto sighed quietly before continuing his search for a bowl. 'Really, this is getting worse. I need to get him to talk to me, at the least. And he needs to relax, and I really want him to open up to me!' At this point, Naruto was quite frustrated, but he calmed himself quickly. 'Nothing's getting better by me getting all worked up about this. Besides, I can't make Sasuke trust me, if I put pressure on him, he'll run away for sure. I guess I'll just have to wait, and be there, so he knows he can come to me if he needs to.'

***

Sasuke was positively flipping. He didn't really know how he let himself get talked into this, but still, here he was, sitting on Narutos floor, fighting with himself. 'This is not good, this is not good, this is not good!' He felt as if he was at the breaking point, something he couldn't allow himself to be. He's senses was on overdrive, his heart racing, eyes flickering, registering everything, the scarcely furnished room, all possible and impossible exits, even the colours seemed brighter than usual. This was just too much, his whole life he'd been taught not too depend on anyone but yourself, not too trust anyone but the family, not too open up to anyone without a very valid reason. And yet, here he was. This was probably the first time he'd visited someone else's house, besides - of course, within the family or because of his father's business. He'd never felt the need to, either.

Still… He hadn't protested half as much as he should have, getting dragged here. He was torn between dashing out of there - he was quite sure he'd be able to get out before Naruto could stop him, ask him strenuous, but qualified questions – and, well.. staying.

After all, this was Naruto, his one real friend; the one he, despite himself, found himself trusting more and more, even depending on… a little, maybe.. Naruto made him open up, bit by bit, even if he didn't mean to, it was almost impossible to resist that bright, ever present smile of his, those eyes…

Sasuke couldn't trust himself with Naruto. He had fun, if nothing else, he'd laugh at the dobe's stupidity, he could relax, and sometimes he even talked about himself. This was not Uchiha-like behaviour. Even that said, Sasuke sometimes had a hard time finding the error in spending too much time with him.

'This. Is. Enough. Now is not the time, I can't, I can't let him weaken my defence any more, not right now. I have to get out of here or I don't know what I'll …!' He's thoughts were interrupted by a hand tapping gently at his shoulder. "Sasuke?"

***

Naruto entered the living room to find Sasuke sitting stiffly on the floor, eyes flickering. '..This is getting worse, isn't it..' Naruto thought, getting worried.

He quietly approached the rigid boy. 'Heh, this kind of feels like taming a wild animal' he thought grimly, though a bit amused. Gently, but firmly, touching his shoulder, Naruto called out his name. "Sasuke?"

Sasuke flinched away, looking up – startled. Naruto would have been offended at the reaction, were it not for the look in Sasukes eyes. He looked desperate, but for what? Naruto couldn't make up his mind, it could be; "Please – let me out of here!" or; "Please – make me stay, I can't take it!" As it was, Naruto decided it to be the second alternative.

He realized he hadn't gotten a verbal response, so he tried again. "Sasuke… Are you alright?" 'Though I bloody well know he isn't.. At all.'

Sasuke still didn't answer; he seemed to try hard to collect himself. Naruto's heart ached; he looked so vulnerable, so fragile. He reached out his hand towards Sasuke again, but at this, Sasuke flew up, slapped his hand away and dashed out of the room, clearly making a run for it. Naruto would not have it. He rushed into the hallway, grabbing hold of Sasuke's elbow, holding him back as he was opening the door.

"Where do you think you're going?!" he exclaimed, trapping the other boy against the wall, slamming the door shut, his blue eyes glinting dangerously.