Hey! Not as long as last time, but still a while - sorry ^.^'
But I will say in my defence that I had to have my wisdom tooth surgically removed so I spent a week completely drugged on painkillers (I felt seriously sick)!
Anyway Yet againg WARNING: Some OOCness and weirdness still - but it will soon change! (maybe) ;-)
"Geez Sasuke..." = Normal speech
"Geez Sasuke..." = Thoughts (/speech in memories (all is curved))
Disclaimer: I tried cloning Naruto, but Kishimoto found out :-/
"Geez Sasuke, don't scare me like that. What do you want?" Naruto asked as he closed the door behind him. Before Naruto could even react, Sasuke slammed both of his hands against the door, pinning Naruto between Sasuke's arms.
"You," Sasuke answered with a very serious face. Naruto, still in shock and not understanding what he meant, felt paralyzed and couldn't move a muscle.
"Naruto, I love you," He said staring directly into Naruto blue eyes. Before Naruto had even comprehended what Sasuke was saying, his first immediate thought was: "What a headache!"
Naruto was staring blankly out in space. His mind was drawing a blank as if he either didn't believe or understood what the raven had just said. Being completely shocked he couldn't move and the only thing he managed to say, was a muttered: "What?" The raven, however, didn't answer, but simply stared deeply into the blonde's eyes. After a minute of absolute silence and no one having moved Naruto suddenly grinned and started a small laugh.
"Oh now I get it, you're just messing with me. Very funny Sasuke, couldn't you think of something a bit more original?" Naruto said, but his smile and laughter quickly evaporated when Sasuke glared at him and slammed his hands against the door.
"It's not a joke, I love you Naruto," Sasuke said, showing he was dead serious. This made Naruto panic a little. He had never seen Sasuke like this and a small part of him was hoping that it all was just a big nasty joke on the raven's behalf and that he would suddenly start laughing and mocking the blonde for falling for it. But Uchihas didn't make that types of jokes and he could tell by Sasuke's eyes that he was more serious than he had ever seen him before.
"I can't hide it anymore, I want you Naruto. I've wanted you for so long but I didn't have the guts to say it." Sasuke continued, clenching his hands as he spoke. Naruto was frozen in disbelief and believed he could how Sasuke was clenching his hand even though Sasuke had his hands on the wall, not touching Naruto's.
"But I almost lost you without even getting the chance to tell you. I don't want that to happen so I'm telling you now. So please stay with me." Naruto was taken by surprise by the odd sudden change in Sasuke's voice as he had continued, him sounding almost as if he was about to cry. And for some reason, it was as if Naruto couldn't really see his face, if he was actually crying (though highly unlikely for an Uchiha), but every time he tried it was as if his eyes refused to focus on him. Suddenly Naruto got another one of his strong headaches: felt an urge, a need, to getaway, he had to get away and fast. He pushed Sasuke away and ran for the door. Before he could hear Sasuke calling for him, he had already barged out the door and was running down the street.
Naruto couldn't believe what had just happened. He didn't what to feel or think of it all. The whole situation had just freaked him out. After all, they're best friends since childhood and they were rivals! It had just taken him by complete surprise.
Naruto stopped in an empty street. He turned towards a lightpole and punched it in frustration.
"Damn it! Seriously, what was he trying to pull anyway!?" Naruto thought out loud. He was still trying to convince himself that it was all just meant as a cruel prank from the Uchiha, but he knew Sasuke too well and there was no getting around the fact that Sasuke was serious. But Naruto couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about it – other than the confession itself that is.
"Damn it, what am I going to do now?" Naruto thought to himself. He certainly couldn't go back right now, having just run out on the raven's confession and all. Not knowing where to go, he just sat down, leaning against the wall. He looked at the sky; it was cloudy and it looked like it might rain but whatever.
"Naruto?" A familiar voice caught Naruto's attention and he looked up at the person who had called him out.
"Hey Gaara, what are you doing here?" Naruto asked surprised looking up at his good redheaded friend. He was standing with his arms crossed and looked distant as always.
"I could ask you the same." "Well I live in Konoha, but you live in the neighboring city so it's more normal for me to be here than you, right?" Naruto said with a grin rubbing his head.
"That's not what I meant." Gaara paused and sat down next to Naruto.
"I came to see you. I heard about what happened so I wanted to check up on how you were doing. I was on my way to yours and Sasuke's apartment when I suddenly saw you running down the street. So I followed you. What's wrong, what happened?" Gaara turned to look at Naruto. Naruto just gave him a sheepish smile.
"What do you mean? Nothing's wrong" He was trying to be convincing, but it was obvious that Gaara didn't buy it. With the constant and piercing stare from Gaara, it didn't take long to break Naruto's façade.
"Sasuke… It's Sasuke. I just needed to get away from him." Naruto said not knowing if he should explain or not. It was kind of embarrassing to talk about and he honestly didn't know how to say it without being laughed at – although, Gaara never really laughed at anything, but still.
"Why? Did you have a fight or something? That is not really anything new." Gaara was obviously curious, but of course, he was worried about the blonde even though he might not look like it. He has always looked like he didn't feel anything or cared about anything, but Naruto could sense it.
"No, it's not like that. I mean, I'm used to the bastard. But this time he was just freaking me out!"
"Why? Did he confess his love or something?" Gaara asked, obviously not meaning it as a serious question, but as soon as he said it, Naruto's body froze over and his hairs stood on edge. Gaara noticed this and widened his eyes in obvious shock – Or as obvious as it could be with Gaaara.
"Seriously?" Naruto could tell that if Gaara was to ever break his 'never laughing'-cycle it might just be today. He was obviously struggling to keep his façade. Naruto had never seen Gaara like that, actually having to struggle to keep stoic appearance. After all, Gaara was even better than Sasuke at the whole 'I don't care and nothing touches me'-look. Naruto was turning red from frustration and embarrassment and was about to leave when Gaara suddenly grabbed his arm.
"Don't run away from your demons, they will only catch you," He said before letting go of Naruto.
"Huh, what do you mean?" A confused Naruto asked, needing an explanation.
"That's up to you to figure out. But you should hurry up…" Gaara stood up and faced Naruto."Otherwise you will be stuck." Naruto didn't understand what he meant at all, but he was used to Gaara speaking cryptic and knew he wasn't going to get it any more specific. Naruto simply gave him an understanding nod and waved goodbye while walking away.
Don't run… The sentence echoed in his mind as he was running through the dark passages. Don't run… He kept hearing it, but for some reason he couldn't stop running: He wasn't even sure why he was running. Was it from Sasuke? "No it not him" He thought, but then who? The passages started rapidly filling with water. If he didn't get out he would drown. Don't run… He had to! Or he would drown! He made a quick turn through the passage, but the water rose and now he was completely submerged. They will only catch you! Naruto could feel himself struggling for air when he suddenly saw the huge evil eyes glaring at him with malice and killing intent. Running out of air and in complete horror, he felt his lungs fill with water as he tried to breath.
Naruto was covered in sweat and his heart was pumping as if he had run a marathon. Trying to calm down, he hurried to the bath room and tried to cool down, splashing water in his face. He looked himself in the mirror; his hair was disheveled and sticking to his forehead from all the sweat and his eyes were dull from too little sleep.
"Hey Naruto, you okay?" Naruto looked around and saw Kiba standing in the door opening.
"Huh? What are you doing here?" Naruto asked, groggy and confused.
"What the hell do you mean, I live here idiot. You're at my place." Kiba answered confused by the stupid question. It took some seconds before it sunk in for Naruto. He hadn't even realized it when he woke up that it wasn't his place. Kiba sighed, probably realizing that Naruto had no idea what he was doing there.
"You forgot, you came here yesterday wanting to crash at my place. Guess you're brain is still smashed." Kiba said in a jokingly manner.
"Hey, I was hit by truck, what's your excuse?" Naruto retorted as a joke. Kiba just grinned and hit Naruto in the arm.
"Yeah you wish." He said before going back to the bed room. After all, it was still way too early in the morning for him. It was weird, though. Naruto had seriously felt as if he had been in his own room, but now he realized, he had been sleeping on a mattress in Kiba's room. How could he have forgotten? But it was probably just the dream that had freaked him out so much that he forgot.
"So Naruto, Are you gonna tell me what's up? I mean, since you wanted to crash here? What did Sasuke bastard do this time?" Kiba asked sitting in his couch channel-surfing. Naruto sat next to him not knowing what to tell him, but he probably wouldn't believe him if he was to lie and say that they just had one of their usual fights. He had probably seemed out of character when he came to Kiba's rather than just pissed off as per usual.
"Ah nothing special, I just got tired of him s'all. I mean sometimes I don't get why I wanted to share apartment with him." Naruto said nonchalantly, sounding very convincing in his own mind.
"Ha, I warned you about living with the bastard. I mean, I would probably kill myself in less than a week with him" The brunette said with a grin making Naruto grin as well.
"Yeah, maybe I should've done that!" He said jokingly. Of course he didn't mean it – sure the raven pissed him off and could seriously drive him insane sometimes, but they shared a unique friendship, they understood each other in a way no one else did. Naruto then thought of the raven's confession. For some reason it felt so surreal and real at the same time. He didn't know what to do as he couldn't avoid the raven forever. At some point he would have to face him, but for some reason, Naruto felt lost about what to say. He liked him and all, but only as a friend and like a brother, this he was sure of. Yet, he didn't know what to answer him. "I just don't wanna hurt his feelings, that's all." Naruto thought, convincing himself this was the reason for his lack of words.
"You know, Naruto," Kiba said, getting the blonde's attention again. He was blushing slightly and scratching his cheek.
"I've been thinking about finally asking Hinata out." Naruto immediately lit up at this news.
"Hey, that's great! About time that you worked up the guts!" Kiba punched him in the arm and began chucking lightly.
"I just don't know where to bring her or anything. I really wish you could help me out here." Naruto gave him his signature thumbs up and smiled.
"Of course I can! Believe it, you're talking to Date Master Naruto!" Kiba cracked a huge grin trying not to laugh.
"Yeah right, maybe not after all!" "Hey, too late to take it back!"
They both started laughing and continuing joking with each other. Yet, Naruto couldn't let go of the thought of Sasuke. He kept pondering where it all suddenly came from. And somehow he couldn't shake this weird feeling that something was wrong: He had a hard time remembering all kinds of things such as going to Kiba's place and his weird nightmares that felt so real. His thoughts again drifted to Sasuke. "Something's definitely wrong, but…" Suddenly out of nowhere, Naruto felt a pull on his wrist and before he knew it, he had been pulled out of the couch and to his feet.
Naruto looked up and saw that it was Sasuke holding a tight grip on his wrist. Naruto was so surprised that Sasuke had pulled him all the way around the couch before he reacted by angrily pulling back.
"What hell Sasuke!? What do you think you're doing!?" Naruto said angrily trying to pull his arm out of the raven's grip.
"Leave him alone! How the hell did you get in anyway?" Kiba exclaimed getting out of the couch to help the blonde.
"How do you think mutt, through the door of course." Sasuke answered as if stating the obvious, not answering Naruto nor reacting to his struggle. Sasuke started to pull a now furious Naruto towards the door while he was wriggling and trying to make him let go.
"I swear Sasuke, let me go or I'll beat you to a bloody pulp!" Naruto yelled threatening, but in vain. Having had it, he raised his fist and was about to punch the raven in the face when he suddenly turned around and grabbed Naruto hard by the shoulders and started shaking him.
"Wake up, Naruto! Don't you get it!? You can't just leave like this!" Sasuke yelled sounding very frustrated and maybe even a little panicked? Naruto wanted him to let go of him, but he couldn't get him to let go. Instead the grip on his shoulders got to the point of being painfully hard.
"What the hell do you mean!? I can do whatever I want! Leave me alone!" He glared directly into the raven's eyes. "I mean what the hell is your problem anyway!? You've been acting weird, but now I've had it!" Naruto continued finally getting out of Sasuke's grip.
"Naruto, wake up!"
Suddenly, Naruto found himself lying in his own bed, panting and soaked in sweat. "What the hell I going on? Was it all a dream?" This was freaking out the blonde: He couldn't tell what was a dream and what was reality. Everything felt so real that it was impossible to tell. He looked around in the room. It was definitely his own, but then what had happened? Naruto couldn't help but starting to panic from not knowing what was going on. Had Sasuke's confession also been a dream? Or was that real? He didn't even remember going to sleep. Naruto stood out of bed and began pacing back and forth in his room, trying desperately to make sense of it all and figure out reality.
"Maybe I should contact Tsunade, I mean, maybe it's just a side effect of the accident or something. Then she would know what to do." Naruto thought out loud still pacing. Naruto then heard a knock on the door before it opened.
"Naruto, what the hell are you doing? It's in the middle of the night." Sasuke said grumpy at being woken up, but of course, unlike Naruto, even a sneaking mouse could wake him up. At first Naruto froze at Sasuke's appearance not knowing what had happened between them and what had not. Naruto then just cracked an apologizing smile.
"Sorry, I guess I just had a nightmare. It's fine." The raven stood, staring at Naruto, before walking into the room towards him. Naruto couldn't stop his muscles from tensing as he approached him. Sasuke stood right in front him now, staring directly into Naruto's eyes.
"You're a bad liar." He said with a serious look that made almost Naruto's heart skip a beat. When Naruto didn't answer he turned his gaze slightly while sighing. He then looked back into the blonde's eyes with a challenging smile.
"Fight me." This took Naruto by surprise.
"Wait, what?"
"You heard me, fight me. Now." Sasuke said and before Naruto could argue, he threw a punch towards him. Naruto blocked the blow in spite of his surprise. He didn't understand his sudden demand for a fight, but if he wanted to exchange blows, Naruto wasn't one to argue and threw a punch towards the raven. It didn't take long before they were both throwing punches at each other and blocking the other's. Naruto had realized what the Uchiha was trying to do: Ever since they were young, they would have a hard time talking to one another so they would end up fighting. For some reason, they just seemed to be able to understand each other through exchange of blows. It was something they had and if they couldn't figure out what to say, they would fight instead. This was exactly what Sasuke was doing right now, trying to understand the blonde. Distracted by his thoughts, Sasuke managed to land a punch on Naruto's cheek. This got Naruto's attention and he focused on the fight, but he still couldn't help the memories of him and Sasuke doing the exact same things as kids. Especially the one from when Sasuke's parents had died. They had practically wanted to kill each other, but at the same time, it had helped them both.
Naruto tried to tackle Sasuke to the ground but Sasuke was faster and stepped aside, making Naruto smash his arm and shoulder into his drawer. The pain sent shivers through Naruto's body and made his eyes well up in tear. That needed revenge, but before he could even turn around, Sasuke grabbed his arm and put it in a hammerlock and forced him to the ground, straddling him while keeping him the lock.
"You bastard! That's a cheap trick!" Naruto yelled struggling against his hold. Naruto managed to kick him hard in the back forcing the air out of the Uchiha and make him lose his grip on Naruto's arm. Naruto pulled his arm free and pushed Sasuke off him. Naruto turned around, still on the floor, but now facing Sasuke, panting from exhaustion. They had been at it for quite some time. Sasuke was sitting on the floor, staring right back also panting. All of a sudden, Naruto couldn't help but crack a grin and a small chuckle. Sasuke followed short after with a smirk. They were probably going to receive complaints from the neighbors due to all the noise they had made. But then again, it wouldn't be the first time.
"What are you scared of?" Naruto turned his attention to the raven, surprised by the sudden question.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Nothing scares Naruto Uzumaki!"
"Then why do you always run away?"
"What'u mean! I never run away from anything!"
"You sure about that?" Naruto froze still in his thoughts: His immediate thought was that he was referring to his confession, but somehow he could feel that it wasn't about that. He remembered back to before his accident; he had run out on Sasuke because of a fight, but that was just one example. Suddenly memories from long before his accident started swimming their way into his mind.
"God, you really suck!" A young boy yelled mockingly, laughing.
"Yeah, he was like the only one who actually failed the test!" Another boy added.
"I can't believe they don't just kick you out of school!" A third hollered.
Three boys were surrounding an eight-year-old Naruto, laughing and mocking him yet again for failing a test. Naruto was shaking from anger and clenched his fists.
"Shut up! I just didn't want to waste time on a test that isn't an exam, believe it!" The young Naruto exclaimed trying to keep cool.
"Yeah, right! I bet you couldn't pass to save your life!"
"Ha! I bet he couldn't do anything to save his life!"
"Is that a challenge!? I can take you all on, no prob'!" The three boys smirked at this, ready to take him up on the challenge. It was then that
"Isamu, Botan, Shiro! What are you doing?" A woman called as she approached them with two other women – obviously their mothers. As the women came closer their faces twisted in disgust at the sight of Naruto.
"Boys, you know not to hang out with him. And you! Stay away from our sons!" She said turning her attention towards Naruto, glaring at him. Naruto could feel tears well up in his eyes, but he refused to show it. He clenched his fists and jaw looking downwards before looking up and pointing his finger at them.
"Just you wait! I'll become someone important! Believe it, I will become stronger and smarter than all of you and then you have to acknowledge me!" He exclaimed before running away, feeling the tears finally streaming down his cheeks.
"Naruto, what in the world happened to you!?"Sakura exclaimed as she saw her blonde classmate and friend enter the class room, getting everyone's attention – even Sasuke's. He had a patch over his right eye, definitely covering a nasty black eye, several scratches all over his face and arms, the worst ones covered in bandage.
"Hey Sakura! Oh this, it's nothing, don't worry about it." Naruto grinned as he put his bag on his table.
"Of course it's something idiot! Tell me what happened to you?" Sakura insisted, angry and worried at the same time.
"I'm serious Sakura, I'm fine. I just fell and tripped down a set of stairs, that's all. You know how clumsy I am." Naruto explained scratching the back of his head.
"No you didn't." Naruto and Sakura's attention switched to Sasuke who joined the conversation.
"Those aren't the injuries you would get from falling down stairs. They do look a lot like those one would get in a fight, however." Sasuke commented, looking very serious.
"Ah! What do you know!" Naruto exclaimed frustrated, grabbed his bag again and walked towards the door.
"Naruto, don't just walk away. We can help you!" Sakura called, but the blonde didn't listen. Just as he was exiting the class room, Kiba entered.
"Wow Naruto, what happened to you? You look like shit!" Naruto didn't answer and just passed him.
"I can't believe you actually ran away and hid yourself in the equipment room." Sasuke smirked.
"Ahh! Shut up!" Naruto snapped feeling humiliated.
"He was totally freaking me out! I mean, all he would do was talk about dicks! And then he started hitting on me! I don't know who that Sai guy thinks he is, but I swear, if he offers his services to me one more time, I WILL send him to the hospital!" Naruto hollered while clenching his fists.
"Don't tell me you're scared of guy just because he thinks you're hot." Naruto glared at the smirking Sasuke. It was obvious that he was mocking him.
"I am not scared of him! But he's just a total weirdo! I mean, I just met him for the first time and the first thing he starts talking about is dicks!" Sasuke smirked even more at this obviously playing with devious thoughts.
"So it would be okay if a guy wanted to do it with you as long as you know them?" Sasuke observed a shiver shooting through the blonde and a slight blush on his cheeks, obviously embarrassed at the implication. Just to torture him further, Sasuke stepped closer to Naruto until he was practically breathing into his ear. Naruto jumped several feet up in the air from the shock before hitting the raven across the back of his head.
"You bastard, don't do that!" The only answer he received from the still smirking Uchiha was just a simple "Hn."
The memories kept coming continuously. He had never run away from a fight, which was why he didn't initially understand, but as the memories of his past, from an entirely different time in his life, he couldn't stop the sentence spinning in his head. "No, I didn't run away! I just. I just…"
"You just avoided the truth." Naruto looked at Sasuke in disbelief as he almost seemed to have read his mind.
"Even now." Sasuke added as he moved closer to Naruto. Naruto tried to stand, but for some reason, he felt paralyzed and could only watch as Sasuke came closer and gently held his face by the chin.
"About time you stop running." Sasuke said, his ebony black eyes staring directly into Naruto's sky blue ones. Naruto couldn't explain why, but suddenly the atmosphere just seemed to change in an instant. Sasuke was only inches away from his face, close enough that Naruto could feel the raven's breath on his skin. It felt kind of ticklish as he exhaled the hot air in his face. His mind went completely blank and even though the raven's intentions seemed pretty obvious, he just couldn't think straight enough to realize it or stop it. Slowly the distance between the two grew smaller until Sasuke planted his lips on Naruto's.
So that was chapter 3 - almost the lenght of the first two together! Still please do comment on both story and/or my way of writing and setup. I want to make it as good as it can be :-)
