AN: You win. The Alley Out Back will be turned into a multi-shot of unknown chapter and undeclared plot. The title will stay the same, the only reason being that my intuition tells me so. (Ok that's only half true. I really just don't want to change the title.) Enjoy. This chapter is a little short and pretty rough. Let me know what you think.


Rain sucked. That's what Naruto decided when class ended. It wasn't all romantic the way they made it seem in the movies. No. It was cold, and it was wet.

He'd decided – without checking the weather report first of course – to ride his motorcycle to school that day. He'd had his eyes set on an orange Ninja 100 ABS for a while, and the money he made over the summer at Ichiraku Ramen finally made it his. He made a conscious effort to show it off as often as possible. Not that it mattered at the moment.

There were two things his guardian Jiraiya had told him before he left for college. 1) Always go for girls with the biggest boobs, and 2) never ride a motorcycle in a thunderstorm. He hadn't had much luck on the first one, but he always obeyed the second rule. He never even rode his old bike in bad weather.

But today he was left with a choice: risk the rain, or walk home and get soaked. Neither option was appealing. On the one hand, he could accidentally crash and hurt himself. Or worse; he could damage the Ninja. Then again, he could end up having to walk the five or whatever miles home, get sick, and have to miss class or basketball practice.

He was seriously considering just risking it on the bike when a small Civic came skidding by, hydroplaning in the water. The driver managed to correct themselves before sliding into the church across the street, but they still couldn't stop at the stop sign. Luckily for them, the only one there to witness this was Naruto. That made up his mind.

With a grumble of irritation, he stepped out of the building and started walking. Oh, and of course he forgot to pack an umbrella. So much for it being 81 and sunny earlier. At least he had his riding jacket, so he wasn't cold. Yet. This was going to be a long walk.

He got barely a mile from campus before he determined he would never be dry again. It was as if the rain drops were seeping into him; past his skin, straight into the bone. The leather jacket he wore when riding really wasn't helping either. Sure, between it and his backpack – oh god his notebooks were bound to be soaked – his upper body stayed mostly dry. Instead, all the water dripped off onto his jeans, causing them to stick to him in places they really shouldn't.

To make it worse, a black BMW chose that time to speed past him on the street, splashing water into his face. The red brake lights flashed on, and it pulled over at the next bus stop. Good. At least the guy figured out he'd done something wrong. Maybe he was going to apologize.

Whoever it was, Naruto was still gonna kick his ass.

"Oh god no," he groaned when he drew level to the car.

The window was rolled down. "Get in, idiot."

"I'd rather not."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, before reaching over and pushing the door open. "You're soaked."

"Yeah, so a bit more won't make any difference."

"You have four miles till you're home. Don't be stupid."

He opened his mouth to ask Sasuke why he knew where he lived, then remembered the whole basketball team had each other's contact info and snapped it shut. Instead, he gave up and got in the car.

His jeans squeaked against the clean, dry leather of the other's car. Of course it still smelled new. Only the bastard would be able to afford a brand new car.

It wasn't until he'd slammed the door and Sasuke sped off that he realized they hadn't been alone since That Night over three months ago. In fact, he hadn't seen hide nor hair of the Uchiha since then. It was probably good they ran into each other now; basketball training started soon, and they couldn't afford to mess up the rest of the team with their issues.

Despite those thoughts, an uncomfortable silence hung between them that Naruto made no effort to dispel.

The quiet wasn't broken until Sasuke came to a sudden stop. Naruto looked up startled, only to discover they were parked directly in front of his apartment building.

"This is it, right?" The raven asked when Naruto made no move to get out.

"Yeah," he mumbled in response.

This wasn't good. They needed to talk or somehow solve this problem between them. But how…?

"Do you wanna come up –?"

"I'll just be going –"

They spoke at the same time.

"Oh." Naruto felt awkward. "Okay. I'll see you around then."

His hand was on the door handle when he felt a sharp pressure on his left bicep. He turned and saw Sasuke's hand. His eyes travelled upward, only to see the raven staring at him intently. Something flashed across the other's face, and Sasuke pulled. Naruto barely had time to close his eyes before their lips connected.

Just like the first time, the raven was kissing him frantically, an almost desperate feeling behind it. For reasons unknown to him, Naruto found himself willingly deepening the kiss, opening his mouth up to the prying tongue against his lips. His left arm wound its way around the back of Sasuke's neck, while his right hand tightly squeezed the other's thigh.

They came up for air momentarily, but while Naruto was panting to catch his breath, Sasuke had already moved on to the blond's neck. The raven bit down on a sensitive piece of skin just below his collarbone, causing Naruto to gasp. Wanting to feel those lips against his, he pulled Sasuke back up, tangled his hands in his hair, and kissed him again.

It was the angle that was making it difficult, Naruto realized hazily. He shifted his weight, trying to move his body into Sasuke's seat. But as he was halfway there, the other bit down on his lower lip. Naruto lost control of himself for a moment and wound up falling against the wheel.

HONK!

They broke apart immediately. Naruto stared at horror at Sasuke, the realization of what they'd just been doing crashing down on him.

"I…uh…" Sasuke was giving him that same strange look he'd worn the first time. "I gotta go!" He ripped the door open and flew out of it, barely grabbing his backpack in the process.

"Naruto?" But he was already out of the car.

"Bye!" He yelled, slamming the door behind him and running into the building without looking back.

He threw the door closed behind him, not wanting to see if the Uchiha was still sitting there or not. What the hell? He stood, forehead resting against the wall, dripping water on the floor, for a while. It wasn't until he heard someone walk out of their apartment that he finally moved.

Naruto ended up dragging his feet up three flights of stairs to his own apartment. Without really thinking, he unlocked the door, walked inside, and locked it again before collapsing on his couch. He was still completely soaked, but he didn't really feel it anymore.

There was something very wrong with him.

If he had been worried about how basketball training was going to go before, he was terrified now. What if he couldn't look at Sasuke without thinking about it? What if they couldn't play together because of that? Oh god, Naruto thought, covering his mouth. What if he tells someone?

His mind was in complete disarray, and the worst part was the bastard didn't even know he was the cause. Wait. Naruto sat straight up. Maybe he does know what he's doing. Maybe he's just trying to mess with me. But why would he do that? The blond racked his brains.

Then it came to him. Basketball. Of course. Bastard didn't want to have to share co-captain-ship with him anymore. He was trying to throw Naruto off his game. He growled and clenched his fists.

Selfish asshole. Sure, he was a bit of a ball-hog and not very good at sharing in general, but Naruto honestly never expected this from him.

He stomped angrily to the bathroom, tearing off his shirt as he went. He needed to shower. He turned the water to steaming, removing the rest of his clothes as well, before stepping in.s

But as the hot water poured over him, bringing feeling back into his limbs, he admitted to himself that he didn't mind the kiss itself. In fact, he decided, he could almost say he liked it. But wait. Did that mean he…liked men?

He summoned an image of Sakura. It still hurt to think about her. No matter what he'd told her That Night, he still had feelings for her; they didn't just go away. Because of it, he'd been avoiding her too. Something Ino mentioned the pink-haired girl had noticed.

So if he still had feelings for Sakura, then he wasn't gay at least. Maybe he just wanted to feel wanted. Not that Sasuke wanted him or anything, but if he closed his eyes when kissing the raven it almost felt like he did.

That must be it, Naruto decided, turning off the shower. He was still a little broken up about Sakura's rejection, so he'd settle for 'affection' of any kind. He could handle that as a conclusion.

Out of habit, Naruto checked his phone after he'd toweled off and put on pants. Ino had texted him, offering a ride. It was really a shame she hadn't done that before he left campus. Then he could've avoided the whole situation.

He ended up texting her back saying he'd gotten home – though he was intentionally vague about how – and tossed his phone to the side. Assuming his notebooks weren't completely destroyed, he had homework to do before bed. There was less than a week before basketball practices started, and the further ahead in his classes he was before then, the better. The whole Sasuke fiasco could wait.


AN: Like I said, it's a little rough. I'll work on this from time to time, but it takes a back seat to both Fallout and Insubordinate. Did you like this chapter? Was the kiss scene weird? Let me know by reviewing!