Disclaimer: The characters, items, places etc of Naruto are property of Masashi Kishimoto. These objects are used without permission for entertainment only, not for making money. No infringement is intended.

I couldn't leave Just Walk alone- I kept imagining the day they were to have together, and had to write it. This is the second of what will be three fics under the 'Just' name. Presume Sasuke didn't defect from Konoha, of course, for him to be here- or if you wish, just assume this happened before he left.

Just Us

By Nanaki Lioness

"I wish you'd said you wanted to go for a picnic," Naruto complained. "I would have made some food and bought it with me for us."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Would that food be in date, Naruto?"

Naruto glared at him, looking mildly offended. "Of course!"

"Besides," Sasuke continued. "I told you earlier, I didn't have any plans for today. It's not my fault we ended up here."

'Here' was an outdoor market, teaming with people selling food- mostly freshly-caught local fish. There were a few stalls selling items, such as hand made wicker baskets, and a few had fruit and vegetables, also freshly grown. The whole town seemed to support itself on local trade, and it was busy with customers too. The day was hot and bright, but there was crispness to the air only found from a mix of salt and sea breeze.

The market was on the harbour of the town local to the beach they'd met at that morning. Their walk had taken them across the long shore, and had ended up meeting with the town they were currently in- it had taken them by surprise, but they decided to explore it regardless.

They were currently walking slowly through the market, trying to find something vaguely pre-packed to take with them to a heavily signposted local park. The park appeared to be something of a local treasure, and they had both instantly looked at each other silently when they came across a sign for it and nodded in agreement. They would visit it at some point today.

It was somewhere between breakfast and lunch time, but both of them had admitting at varying points to skipping breakfast, so the smell of fresh fish had drawn them to the harbour market. The idea of a picnic was born, and here they were, attempting to make it real.

"Hey, Sasuke," Naruto said quietly as they stood by a stall selling fruit, Sasuke picking out some apples. "You know that park will probably be packed with people?"

Sasuke shrugged. "So?"

"So… We won't exactly be alone, will we?"

Sasuke turned to him, an unreadable flicker of emotion in his eyes. "I want to do something normal."

"Normal?" Naruto echoed. "There's nothing normal about meeting up miles from home-"

"Exactly," Sasuke interjected quickly. "Normal…" He lowered his voice to barely above a whisper. "Normal couples go for picnics in parks. So that's what we'll do."

Naruto smirked slightly. "That's so cliché, Sasuke."

Sasuke glared at him darkly, but said nothing. He paid for the apples he'd chosen, indicating the rest of the stalls around them.

"Did you find anything?"

"Pre-packed sushi," Naruto told him. "That's about it that we could take away."

"Then that will do," Sasuke replied, following Naruto across the market to the sushi stall. They picked out two packets of assorted sushi, paying for them and two bottles of water, fighting their way through the throngs of people to get out of the market.

"Sure you don't want to go and eat on the beach?" Naruto asked as they finally made their way out. "You might even get a tan."

Sasuke frowned. "I think I'm going to be sunburned tomorrow as it is."

"Oh, you're one of those are you?" Naruto laughed. "Someone that can't tan and always burns?"

"I don't know," Sasuke replied evenly. "I don't stay out in the sun usually. I'm not a big fan of hot weather. The park will probably have shady spots, so I'd rather head there."

Naruto sighed, following Sasuke in the sign-posted direction. "Fine. I'll work on my tan another time then."

Sasuke didn't reply, looking lost in thought as they walked along the road to the outskirts of town. Naruto didn't push it- Sasuke wasn't the most open person, which he'd made perfectly clear when they'd started this.

It wasn't as though they'd sat down and talked about their relationship, or the want to begin one. It had just happened, without any huge intervention from either of them. They were close- though their frequent fights would have you believe otherwise- and they'd just kept getting closer.

One day after training they'd been sitting under a tree, panting and slick with sweat, and Naruto had leant tiredly on Sasuke's shoulder. He'd realised his mistake moments later, righting himself with a quick 'sorry', but Sasuke had shaken his head and shrugged his indifference. Naruto had taken that as a sign to lie back against him, Sasuke had rested his head on his shoulder, and it had progressed from there.

Naruto remembered their first kiss well- or at least, their real first kiss, not the one they had shared at the academy. It had been awkward and chaste, and Sasuke had practically avoided him for days afterwards, unable to look at him without looking cutely embarrassed.

He smiled slightly at the memory, glancing over at Sasuke at his side. He was glad he had both hands full- one bag in one hand for their sushi and the other with the water and apples. He felt he wouldn't be able to resist reaching out for his hand otherwise.

Though, he couldn't. He knew that. When Sasuke had finally stopped avoiding Naruto after they had shared that kiss, he'd said the only sentence Naruto had ever heard to that point that referenced there was something going on between them. 'No-one can know. You're an outcast already- I won't be the reason they all hate you even more.'

Naruto had protested with him, telling him he didn't care what the stupid villagers thought of him, but Sasuke had stayed firm, citing that ninjas needed to kill their emotions regardless and what they were doing went against that anyway.

Naruto had relented eventually- it was either a hidden relationship, or no relationship, and there was no choice in his mind about that. He didn't agree with Sasuke's point of view, but they disagreed often- one more to add to the pile would go unnoticed.

They arrived at the large iron gates of the park, Sasuke narrowing his eyes at how full of life it was. Regardless, he beckoned to Naruto to follow him in, making a beeline for a shady corner that seemed mostly unoccupied.

"This isn't going to be much like that clichéd picnic you wanted," Naruto said to Sasuke as they settled on the grass by a large willow tree. "We don't have a wicker basket or a blanket or anything."

Sasuke scowled at him setting the bags down in front of them. "Stop being a moron, Naruto."

Naruto rummaged through the bags, taking an apple out and mock-sulking, leaning back against the tree. Sasuke sat across from him, cross legged. "I should go back to Konoha and leave you here by yourself for being so mean to me."

He regretted it the moment he'd said it, not expecting the flicker of pain in Sasuke's eyes. It was gone moments later, but Naruto felt the need to comment on it.

"I was only joking, Sasuke. I'm not going anywhere."

Sasuke refused to engage the conversation, so Naruto settled for eating his apple instead. Sometimes, being in a relationship with Sasuke was like trying to gouge emotion out of a brick wall.

He smiled to himself. He'd take that, especially since when Sasuke did "falter" to emotion, he was utterly, uncharacteristically sentimental. He found it mildly amusing that it had ended up like this, though. Of all the people in the village to enter a relationship, he hadn't expected it to be either himself or Sasuke- and certainly not with each other.

"I think Kakashi-sensei knows," he said, continuing his chain of thought out loud. Sasuke glanced round at him, eyes narrowed in curiosity.

"What makes you say that?"

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know. I just think he does."

"You're just paranoid."

"You're the paranoid one," Naruto told him, poking his tongue out cheekily. "Here, come and sit next to me, I can't stand sitting so far apart."

Sasuke opened his mouth to object, but realised he'd be proving Naruto right about paranoia, so crawled across and leant against the tree trunk next to him. Naruto finished his apple, throwing the core into a bush nearby and sighing slightly. He shifted slightly closer to Sasuke, giving him a look that could be construed as begging. He wanted to sit closer to him, and he didn't want Sasuke throwing a fit at him for daring to in a public place.

"You said earlier today, 'no-one's paying attention'," he repeated, seeing that Sasuke was going to protest. "Look around you. Everyone's too wrapped up in their own lives to care about us. Are we paying attention to anybody else?"

Sasuke didn't have a protest for that- of course they weren't. Naruto was right about everybody being too wrapped up in themselves to pay attention to them, since every person near them was doing something. Parents playing with children, single people reading books, couples picnicking just like they were…

"Fine," he said instead, seeing Naruto's face light up. The blond shuffled right up to him, leaning on his shoulder much like he had done the very first time they had become physically close. Sasuke surprised him by resting his head on his shoulder in the same manner, too.

They didn't stay that way for long. Sasuke soon pulled away, silencing whatever protest Naruto was going to make with a glare. He picked up the bag with their sushi packs in them, handing one to his partner and taking the other for himself.

"What time are we leaving?" Naruto asked, opening his pack.

"I don't want to talk about leaving when it's barely lunchtime," Sasuke informed him, opening his own pack. "Just eat and we'll see about leaving then."

-.-.-

Yet, they didn't leave. They spent the afternoon in the park, Naruto lying out in the sun whilst Sasuke sat on the edge of the shade next to him- the best compromise they could come to for Naruto's want to catch the rays and Sasuke's want to not end up ridiculously sunburned.

They spent the time talking, which Naruto found unusual of Sasuke. He'd come to the conclusion that he was slightly less reserved when they were miles from the overbearing eye of Konoha, which was the only explanation he could come up with for his slight change in behaviour.

They'd talked about everything and anything- from how nice the day was, to training and they'd even touched on Sasuke's past a little. Sasuke had shed a small amount of light on his reasons for keeping people at an arm's length- Naruto had correctly guessed it was fear of losing people he loved all over again- and Sasuke had changed the subject when Naruto asked how he'd managed to evade that barrier.

The sky was beginning to cloud over, and the sun had begun to set slightly. Both of them noticed, and neither wanted to say anything. To point it out would be admitting their day was beginning to draw to a close, and neither of them wanted that to happen.

Eventually, Naruto sighed heavily and nodded in the direction of the fading sunlight.

"It's getting late and it'll take us a while to get back."

"I know."

Of course he knew. Naruto was pretty certain Sasuke had noticed it before he had.

"This is a nice place," he continued, pushing himself up into a sitting position. "We should come back again sometime. Maybe we can see more of the town than sitting around here all day."

The park had emptied considerably, and the corner they were sitting in had become deserted. It didn't escape Naruto's attention- he hadn't noticed before as he'd been lying down most of the afternoon. He reached out, clutching Sasuke's hand gently- and Sasuke let him, much to his delight. It seemed the lack of company hadn't escaped his notice, either.

"Pity we have to leave now," Naruto sighed.

"We can stay a little longer," Sasuke told him, letting his hand go and shifting himself over to Naruto's side. Naruto didn't protest when Sasuke laid a hand gently on his chest, pushing him onto the grass and lying down next to him. He curled up against Naruto's side, and the blond snaked an arm around him happily, staring up at the sky above them.

The sunset was contorting the blue skies into purple, red and golden, and it earned a smile from Naruto. It could be storming above them, and he still wouldn't move from his current position- and from the way Sasuke was practically clinging to his side, he presumed he would agree.

"It's just us," Sasuke said quietly. "So… Just five more minutes."

-.-.-

Author's Note: I see Sasuke as secretly sentimental. He seems the type to say nothing about how he feels and then suddenly surprises you out of the blue. I'm sorry if you disagree! XD