Chapter 4
Barbeque and Hot Water!
"Sasuke, do you have anything in mind that we should do today?" asked Naruto.
"I haven't thought of anything yet." the raven replied.
"THEN WHY DON"T WE GO TO THE BATHHOUSE ALTOGETHER!" shouted someone from behind them. The two shinobis jump out of surprise and when they turned around they found Rock Lee.
"Bushy Brow, you scared the hell out of me!" Naruto shouted too. "I'm sorry. I'm just excited and when I heard you two are talking about something to do I just couldn't help myself." explained the guy with the huge eyebrows.
"You could have asked us more nicely. By the way why do you want us to go to the bathhouse?" asked the blond.
"It's because today is everyone's day-off and I figured that we should just relax and spend time with each other. Let's enjoy ourselves while we're young!" he exclaimed.
"I think that's a good idea." Sasuke said much to their surprise.
"Sasuke, are you sure?" Naruto asked him, somehow wondering why Sasuke agreed to it in no time.
"Of course. Hey, it a good way to spend the day and maybe after that we can eat some barbeque." he explained to the blond.
"I think that's a good idea too, going for barbeque." added Lee.
"I guess if Sasuke wants it then it's fine for me." said Naruto.
"Then it's settled. We go there this evening just after sunset. I've already asked the others out so I assure you guys we'll all be there. Then I'm off. I still have training to do." said Lee as he started to go to the direction of the training grounds.
"You know Sasuke, I really wanted to find something to with you today. Just the two of us. Relaxing in the bathhouse is nice, but I wished we could be there alone." he told the raven. Sasuke's face started to blush as he heard those words from Naruto.
"Me too. I want to spend some alone time with you but going with our friends doesn't seem like a bad idea." the raven said.
"I'm really happy for you Sasuke. You've changed a lot since you came back. If Lee asked this when we were still kids you probably would have turned it down. But now you're more open to going out with our friends." Naruto said.
"Naruto. I glad that you never gave up on me. I would have totally lost my way if you had not been there. I would have completely turned into a cold-blooded avenger were it not for you. I'm regretting all my past actions and I'm doing my best to renew myself." said Sasuke as he moved his right hand and cupped it on Naruto's chin, drawing his face closer to his.
"I love you, Naruto." he said as he gazed at the blond's blue eyes and then brought their lips together. They held their lips close for a while, feeling each other's warmth. It was not a kiss with lust, but with love. They pulled out after a few seconds.
"I love you too, Sasuke." said the blond and then he gave Sasuke a return kiss which lasted for a little longer. The kiss then ended later.
"I just remembered. Tomorrow is the day we leave for the escort mission with Sakura and Kakashi-sensei." said the blond.
"Then we should look forward to relaxing at the bathhouse later. Then we can be ready for tomorrow's mission." replied the raven.
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The sun has already set and it's time for the trip to the bathhouse. Naruto and Sasuke arrived in time and they waved at the others who were waiting for them.
"Hey Sasuke! We're glad you could join us." shouted Ino, with a huge smile on her face. She too was infatuated with Sasuke and somehow having Sasuke back in the village has reawakened her feelings for him.
"Hi there Ino. Everyone." the raven shouted back, much to the others surprise. This really isn't the same Sasuke they knew from before. Ino couldn't help but blush as she received a greeting from Sasuke too, which before she couldn't get.
"Now that we're all here then I suggest we go for barbeque first." said Lee. The bathhouse was like an inn. It also served different kinds of food and one of the specialties was barbeque.
"Then let's go everyone. I'm really, really starving!" said Chouji.
"You sure don't change Chouji. Always on the go for food." Naruto commented.
"It is food that brings us friends together right?" Chouji asked in a matter-of-fact way.
"Yeah you're right." said the blond.
The twelve of them sat. There were two long benches on each side of the long grill. Naruto was seated, of course, next to Sasuke's right while Ino taking this to her advantage, sat next to Sasuke's left. Shikamaru sat next to Ino and next to Shikamaru was Chouji. On Naruto's right was Sai. Sakura didn't want to seat next to her teammates because of the incident two days ago. She hasn't moved on about it yet. On the other side of the grill opposite to Sai seated Lee, and to him right followed Kiba then Hinata, Sakura, Ten-Ten and to the farthest right, Shino. Hinata, even though she has a deep crush on Naruto, couldn't muster the courage to sit in front of him or beside him.
When they were all seated the waiter delivered the meat to them on a trolley. Whoah, did they order a bunch. It was 10 kilos of pork. Some of them wondered how they were going to finish all that, especially Ino and Sakura, but remembered that they have a secret weapon. Chouji. That took care of things. Each started to place their own pieces of meat over the grill. And when the meat was done, they said in unison,
"Itadakimasu!" and they started to eat.
During the meal Ino started to talk with Sasuke, knowing that Sasuke was friendlier this time around.
"So Sasuke, how to you like the food?" she asked the raven.
"Oh, uhm, the barbeque is great." replied the raven.
"You know I'm so happy Sasuke. I don't even recall the last time we all ate together like this." the blond kunoichi said in return.
"I'm sorry that I wasn't able to be with you in the past few years." Sasuke said to her. The blond was surprised at these words. She never thought that Sasuke was one to apologize.
"Let's forget what you did before and be happy that you're here with us." the blond replied.
"Thank you Ino. Everyone." the raven said.
The whole time Naruto was kind of a little uneasy about seeing Ino flirt with Sasuke though he told himself that Sasuke's just being nice to everyone in order to make-up for the time he was not with them. On the other side of the table, Sakura was watching both Ino and Sasuke. She knew that Sasuke was kind of Naruto's lover and it makes her feel sad that Ino was flirting with Sasuke and that she would only get her heart broken too when she finds out. Ino's still her friend even though she's a rival to Sasuke but now it's almost hopeless.
When Ino was done talking with Sasuke, Naruto started a conversation with him. Their voices were low enough for only the two of them to hear.
"Hey, Sasuke. I do hope you're not flirting with Ino." Naruto said, with a kind of serious look on his eyes.
"Of course not. I haven't been with our friends for a long time and this day-off provides the chance to mingle with them." replied the raven in defense. Sasuke patted Naruto on the back with a little force. "Come on. Is my boyfriend getting jealous?" asked the raven in a teasing manner. A blush formed on Naruto's face. It turned so red Sasuke chuckled a bit.
"Hey, your face is all red." Sasuke said to the blushing blond.
"Uhm, it's the, it's the a, the heat. Yeah, the heat from the grill. That's why my face is red." defended the blond.
"Oh really? Is that why?" Sasuke asked again with a smirk. Actually Naruto was blushing because of something Sasuke said.
"Ok, that's not why. It's just, you called me your boyfriend earlier." Naruto said as he blushed even more. They gazed at each other's eyes for a while.
"Because you are my boyfriend." the raven said. "Now eat some of your turning-to-black barbeque before the others get suspicious." Sasuke reminded the blond.
"Oh, yeah, my barbeque! I forgot about it." Naruto said in a louder voice which caught the other's attention. "Ahh. It's still ok. It's not burned thank heavens." Naruto said.
The others continued their own private conversations with the person in front or seated beside them. Though there was one person, who through the whole time watched Sasuke and Naruto's conversation. That person kept eyes on the two and saw how each of them reacted and how they were whispering words to each other. And most of all, that person noticed that Naruto blushed a lot in the conversation. And that person will be talking with Naruto after their meal.
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When all were done eating they went to the bathhouse's locker rooms. In the men's locker room, each of them took off their clothes and then wrapped a towel around their waist.
"Okay. Let's head for the baths!" Lee stated and each started to get out of the locker room. But before Naruto could get out he said to them,
"Guys. Could you just wait for me and Sasuke. We just need to talk about something first."
A nod was given by everyone and Sasuke went to the blond who's still inside the locker room.
"What is it?" asked the raven.
"Sasuke, we almost forgot something very important." the blond said as he pointed to his neck.
"Oh, shit. I forgot that we gave each other bite marks." the raven said.
"So what are we going to do about it? It's not like we're ready to announce to everyone about 'us' yet." asked the blond.
"Just do a transformation jutsu to cover it up."
"Yeah, you're right. Good thinking." said the blond and with a puff of smoke both transformed but not much changed except that their bite marks we're gone temporarily.
"Now. Shall we take our bath together?" asked the raven.
"I can't wait." replied Naruto.
Unknown to the two, when the others were heading to the baths, one of them said that they would go to the bathroom first. This person heard their whole conversation and then saw what's coming. Sasuke leaned to kiss Naruto on his lips which the blond returned. Then the two started to go out the locker room and the person spying on them went to the baths in a hurry, avoiding being caught by Naruto and Sasuke. They entered the bathhouse and saw that the others were already sitting on the little stools and scrubbing. Kiba was the only one who hasn't started yet. Then Sasuke and Naruto joined them and took off their towels from their waist as well and let water flow through them. Sasuke whispered to Naruto,
"Don't you dare so anything funny. I might end up getting an erection here."
"Of course I won't." Naruto said with a chuckle.
The others who arrived before them were already done with the washing and went to soak in the hot water. After a few minutes Sasuke, Naruto and Kiba also finished washing and headed for the hot water as well. Naruto went in first but to his surprise Sasuke didn't sit beside him. Instead Sasuke headed for Shikamaru's group on one side of the small pool of hot water, trying to join in the conversation.
'Now that's totally a different Sasuke.' thought Naruto.
He was looking at Sasuke and Sasuke noticed this and smiled at him. Naruto smiled back too. But then he heard and felt a huge splash of water beside him. He looked and saw it was Kiba.
"Hey Dog-breath, don't jump in the water like that. This isn't a swimming pool." Naruto shouted.
"Calm down, hot-head. It doesn't hurt to have some fun on your day-off." Kiba reasoned.
"Just let me relax here. I'm going to a very important mission tomorrow."
"Very important mission huh? You sure are looking forward to it." Kiba replied.
"We're escorting a relative of the Fire Daimyou to the Land of Water." the blond explained.
"When you mean 'we', you mean not only you? I thought they could give escort missions to ninja of your level to just you."
"I do want to go on missions alone but sadly I'm still a genin and they wouldn't allow it. I have to go with Kakashi-sensei, Sakura and Sasuke. At least the mission is A-ranked so I'm really looking forward to it." replied Naruto.
"I see why you look forward to it so much. You can make-out with Sasuke during the mission." Kiba said.
"Yeah you're right." Naruto said with a chuckle before noticing that he just said something he shouldn't have. His face turned red in an instant.
'Ohh shit. What the hell did I just say? I'm busted. He knows that I'm with Sasuke now. Ohh, what am I going to do? Now he's going to bombard with question.' Naruto thought to himself.
"Naruto don't worry. I'm not going to tell anyone. In fact I saw you and Sasuke kissing in the locker room." Kiba assured the blond.
"You saw that?" Naruto said in a nervous and soft voice so they won't be heard.
"I also noticed how you and Sasuke whispered to each other when we were eating barbeque and how you blushed all the time. So are you and Sasuke, well how to put this, lovers?" asked Kiba with an evil grin on his face. Naruto thought about what to say but there was no escape now. He has to tell Kiba the truth or else Kiba might tell the others what he saw.
"Yes. You're right. We are together." Naruto replied.
"Man that really is a surprise. I mean Naruto, the most perverted ninja in our group and the Sasuke, the guy chased by almost every girl turn out to be gays." Kiba said.
"What? I'm not gay. I'm, I'm a, I just happened to be in love with Sasuke. That doesn't make me gay. I like girls too you know." Naruto said.
"And I happen to peek at girls when I'm in the hot springs!" he added with confidence but this time in a very loud voice which was enough to be heard over the women's baths. "Ooopppsss!" Naruto muttered while covering his hands.
Then he heard a scream from the women's baths. "NNAARRUUTTOO! YOU BETTER NOT BE PEEKING AT US YOU PERVERTED SON OF A..." Sakura yelled so loud it can be heard in the whole establishment.
"GAHH!" was all Naruto could get of his mouth but he was relieved that Sakura quieted down.
"Whoah! Be careful there man. You could have made Sakura destroy this whole bathhouse." Kiba said to Naruto, covered in sweat.
"Right." Naruto replied.
"Well at least you're not a hundred percent gay and you still peek at girls. For a second there I thought you went to the bathhouse to try and check my beautiful ass and my huge dick." Kiba said.
"WHAT ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Naruto shouted again.
"Hey, Naruto. What the hell are you two talking about back there?" asked Sasuke.
"It's nothing Sasuke. Kiba just said something crazy." Naruto replied. Sasuke glared at Kiba, implying something like 'Back off from my boyfriend, punk.' which Kiba understood.
"It was a good conversation Naruto, and I guess I'll be heading to Shino's group before Sasuke kills me. Don't worry I won't tell anyone about you and Sasuke." Kiba said nervously.
"You better not. Or else I'll have my boyfriend beat you to a pulp." Naruto threatened him seriously, but kind of in a joke.
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The group soaked for another hour and talked about ninja stuff. Naruto was glancing at Sasuke most of the time and Sasuke tried his hardest not to look back but couldn't help it. Their secret should not be known to their friends yet. But at this point two of their friends already know about it, Sakura and Kiba. Sasuke didn't know that Kiba already found out but he was curious about what Naruto and Kiba talked about. He noted to ask the blond about it later. When they were done they went to the locker room and put on new clothes. They met with the girls and went to the exit of the bathhouse.
"Did you have a great time Sasuke?" asked Ino.
"Yeah I did." Sasuke replied in his new friendly manner of speaking.
"And by the way me and Naruto are going to take the Chuunin exams coming one month from now." he informed the group.
"What? You guys are still taking the exams? I mean you two are the strongest shinobi in this village." said the surprised Ino. Everyone was surprised too.
"It's no big deal but if we don't take it then Naruto here wouldn't be able to become Hokage." said Sasuke.
"Now that really is such a drag, don't you think Shikamaru?" said Kiba.
"Yeah it is. And I'm going to be an examiner again." Shikamaru replied.
"Then good luck to you Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun." said Hinata.
"Thanks Hinata." replied Naruto.
They talked for a little bit more and then went their separate ways.
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Naruto and Sasuke walked together. Earlier they agreed to sleep at Naruto's place so Sasuke has already brought his equipment there.
"So Naruto, what did you and Kiba talk about?" Sasuke asked. Naruto stayed silent so Sasuke asked again, "Come on, what did you talk about?"
"Kiba said that he saw us kissing in the locker room earlier." Naruto replied in a soft voice.
"What?! That spying bastard." Sasuke growled.
"Hey don't worry. He said he wouldn't tell anyone." Naruto said calming Sasuke a bit.
"Did you tell him about 'us'?" asked the raven.
"I did. I said that we are lovers now." explained the blond.
"That dog-breath." Sasuke growled again.
"Sasuke." called Naruto making the raven turn to him.
"When are we going to tell our friends about 'us'?" he asked.
"I don't know. I don't think I'm prepared for it now. Maybe we should wait for a while." replied the raven.
"Do you think we can tell them after the Chuunin exams."
"Maybe. But let's think about it some other time. I want to go to sleep now. We don't want to be late for tomorrow's mission."
"Ok. Let's head back home and sleep."
A/N: I'm so glad I had a week off from my studies and I've finished writing this chapter. Sorry if there aren't much kissing or romantic scenes. I haven't had a girlfriend yet and I'm already 18 years old.
So if you have any suggestions for scenes between Naruto and Sasuke, PM me or just comment. I am a guy so I'm not very good in making guy-to-guy love scenes although I enjoy reading it. Chapter 5 and 6 will be about the escort mission. I will be writing the Chuunin Exam starting at chapter 8 or 9 so give me ideas if you have any. Thanks so much for those who follow this. It helps motivate me to write.