Even though the boys had been in situations similar to the one they found themselves in now, it was nevertheless awkward. The young men stood in the changing room back to back so as to avoid any unnecessary eye contact. Each found themselves shivering slightly, yet it was a very temprid climate within the bath house, though neither thought much about the chills they had. Slowly single articles of clothing were removed from tan and pale skin respectively. Sasuke seemed to be having some trouble stripping himself of his rather tight shirt while conversely Naruto seemed to be having a hard time with the intricate design of his jean zipper. When all was said and done and each boy was decidedly naked (underneath a towel of course) they turned to meet their companions face. Naruto grinned sheepishly, new to the odd sensation bubbling from within his stomach, Sasuke on the other hand could do nothing more then try his very best to hide the faintest tint of a blush on his silky skin.
"Well then are we ready to go? My back is aching and I need something to make it feel better" Naruto breathed heavily, elongating his words as if to impart upon Sasuke, just how sore his muscles really were. "Whatever, let's get going before it get's cold." Slowly the boys walked through a very elaborate lobby, painted in chocolate brown with red rugs placed every few feet. Sasuke very calmly asked for directions to the men's bath, the receptionist of sorts working behind a rather large marble desk gave the boys their directions and added "We get that a lot, after the renovation and all" to this the boys only nodded and walked on.
Hiding behind a rather large vase within the bath house lobby, the receptionist could see a tuft of pink hair, suspiciously jutting out into the lobby. A young woman stepped into view and very sheepishly walked towards the woman's bath dressed in formal bathing attire, the receptionist thought nothing odd and went on busying herself with paperwork.
The young pink haired woman gave a small thanks to any deity listening, when she walked into the woman's portion of the bath, she found it deserted, almost as though her plan was more effective than she could have hoped. She found the adjacent wall to the men's quarters and sat with her back against it, generally during the peak hours of business no sounds could be heard through the rather thick walls due to the amount of sounds coming from each side, but seeing as it was rather late in the evening, if a pin were dropped in the other room, this woman could point you to where it landed. The young girl slowly dipped her toes into the water as she settled herself, testing the heat. When she found it to her liking she rested her legs knee deep and looked forward to an 'inspiring' conversation that she was about to be witness to, whether anyone knew it or not.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Sasuke was the first to step through the door into the bath, it had been ages since he was able to find a moment to relax, unfortunately he had to share the time with the obnoxious idiot "Che, never can get a break huh?" he scowled low enough his companion wouldn't hear. As he was lowering himself into the warm water of the pool in front of him he had a rather quick thought "I wonder why the dobe's being so quiet" as he completed this thought the raven heard a high pitched scream and quickly turned around to locate the voice. The sight he was met with left him confused and rather upset. As the raven turned he saw a flash run past him, upon further inspection he realized it was none other then his blond teammate. Apparently Naruto had cast off his towel and decided to jump right in as they would say… "Who are they?" Sasuke breathed out. What bothered the raven most was not that his 'friend' was running around naked screaming like a wild animal, no, that he understood, what really bothered him was when the blond finally entered the water with a resounding "SPLASH" and had somehow managed to completely soak the older of the two.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Sasuke turned around very carefully and met the eyes of said blond idiot. "Boy, Sasuke sure looks real mad, I wonder what new stick is up his ass" Naruto slowly blinked and took in the appearance of the only other person in the bath. Sasuke stood at the edge of the bath, seeping water from head to toe. "Looks kinda like a wet cat" Naruto chuckled to himself "A real mean pus.." before Naruto could let spill those disastrous words from his mouth the raven had entered the pool and placed his left hand firmly on the blonds lips. "What was that about cats Na – ru – to?" Sasuke made sure to emphasize the idiots name for effect. "Nothing, umm nothing. I was just joking?" Naruto tried to free himself from the Uchiha's grasp but too little avail. When Sasuke decided he had his fill of torturing the blond he waded to the other end of the spring, to be as far from the idiot as he could, on the way there he picked up the towel which had been covering his more 'secret' areas from the far end of the spring and sat himself against a large boulder, gently laying the towel over his lap.
The boys sat there for a few moments, nothing really needing to be discussed. A comfortable sense in the air made neither feel awkward, yet both knew they had questions to ask. Naruto and Sasuke sat in the water, Sasuke gently resting against the large rock behind him with his eyelids closed, while Naruto slowly pulled his hands through the water, wafting them as though the water was as light as air. Meanwhile a very impatient stranger sat on the opposite side of the men's pool, straining her ears to pick up the slightest noise, after the outburst from a few minutes before, the room had been almost deathly silent. She coughed ever so lightly, but feared she may have blown her cover, she waited for a few seconds without moving, it seemed as though she was still safe, in reality the blond had been too lost in thought to notice, and Sasuke had merely turned his head to the side for a moment, then resumed his relaxed position.
"Ne Sasuke, there was something I've been meaning to ask you." Naruto very shyly stated, Sasuke immediately picked up on the small fact and could only imagine that the blond wanted to talk about the rescue mission. "What is it?" Sasuke said in his usual indifferent voice. "I know you don't really want to talk about it, but the night we finally got to you, you know at the mansion, who was there that night?" The question had completely thrown Sasuke off guard, he had imagined that the blond would jump head long into questioning related to specifics of the nights events. Sasuke mulled it over in his mind for a few moments, trying to contemplate a rational plan of action. "Why is he asking such a specific question about that night, why does it matter who was there? Where is he trying to go with this?" Naruto could see the tense emotions running through his teammates head, he wanted to just say never mind and forget the whole thing, but he had to know, he had to know what happened that night. And seeing as Naruto had gotten more clever over the years of Sasuke's absence, he knew he just couldn't chime in with very blunt questions, this was an Uchiha he was dealing with after all "Yeah big whoop, they're not all that great anyway" Naruto mused inwardly. Naruto had already set up his game plan to try and trap Sasuke in a lie, or something similar so he would eventually just spill it.
"Well there in the main hall were Orochimaru, you and me, Kakashi and Sakura had been hurt inside the forest and they were your only backup. There were a few lackeys roaming around the palace, but we never saw any of them, they were probably too frightened of the snake to try and disturb him at the moment" Sasuke cringed at that thought, he tried to hide the contortion of his face quickly but it had been too late, Naruto had seen. But as much as Sasuke knew the blond, he figured the idiot wouldn't get what was happening, therefore he wouldn't ask.
"Oh" was all the blond said, he had just gained a new nugget of information and needed time to process it "I'll just have to think about it later, I have out get more out of the bastard" Naruto thought coolly. A few more moments passed between the two, Naruto shifted back and forth trying to find a new position to sit in, Sasuke merely scowled at the man's fidgeting. "Ne, Sasuke… Once we got out of the mansion, how did we get back to Konoha?" Sasuke stilled for a moment, eyes still closed, now something was definitely wrong. "Why would he ask a stupid question like that, it has almost nothing to do with what happened in the dining hall, but that's good, if he's not asking about what happened in the dining hall it must mean that he can only remember bit's and pieces of the forest and then waking up in the hospital." After running these thoughts through his head, Sasuke lazily answered "Well you had been injured in the main hall of the mansion, and I had managed to get you out into the forest, you fell unconscious due to blood loss, so I had to carry you back to the village." Satisfied Sasuke let his muscles unclench again, not realizing they had tensed in the first place.
Again Naruto took in this new information and slowly started to think about his next move. The boys seemed to be playing a game of chess which neither had anticipated. Answers were coming slowly to Naruto but he knew if he just kept asking the right questions, he could eventually unlock the memories of that night. "Ne Sasuke… who was traveling with us when you were taking me back to the village, did we get Sakura-san and Kakashi-sensei, and were they with us too?" Sasuke was reeling, what the hell was the blond getting at, however strange the idiot's questions were, Sasuke could see no harm in them so he answered as politely as an Uchiha could, "Sakura and Kakashi were retrieved by medics before you and I even left the mansion, they had already arrived at the hospital before we had escaped."
Naruto's body physically shook at the raven's words. "What does this mean then? Was he the one crying?" Sasuke still had his eyes closed when he finished answering the blond's question, but the water felt odd, as though it was shaking. Lazily opening his eyes, the coal orbs in his head slowly drifted to the sight of the shaking blond. "What the hell?" was all Sasuke could think. "What's wrong?" he asked a bit more concern evident in his voice than he would have hoped for. Naruto quickly stilled his body, not wanting to give away the revelation he had just come too "Nothing, just a little cold you know, I'm gonna… I'm gonna go ask for them to turn up the heat a little" and with that the blond was out of the water with a flash. Sasuke turned to see the blond running towards the reception desk, getting a little more than he asked for in the view, Naruto had been in such a hurry to leave the spring that he hadn't covered properly before exiting and gave the raven quiet a show of his tan behind. The Uchiha unconsciously blushed at the sight and turned around in embarrassment "Stupid idiot never knows when… can't he just ever... it was kind nic…? Forget it" and with those few words Sasuke submerged himself beneath the water.
Realizing that the blond had left the room for the moment, the stranger with pink hair tried to think about what she had just learned. "Nothing really" she said aloud "they really didn't talk about anything, Naruto asked some rather odd questions, but Sasuke responded without much hesitation, so apparently he wasn't disturbed by anything Naruto had said" and with another quick thought, the pink haired stranger decided that she was going to utilize this opportunity and confront Sasuke about what was happening while he was off speaking to the receptionist.
Slowly the stranger lifted herself from the water and quietly made her way through the woman's change room and the hallways which led to the other springs. She peeked her head past a corner to get a view of the lobby area and sure enough the blond was sitting in one of the chairs, dripping slightly on the carpet with his head in his hands, mumbling something or other to himself. It seemed as though the receptionist was on her break and he needed to wait for her. "Perfect" the stranger said in a low tone, "he'll be busy for a while" with that she crept around the corner she had hid herself behind and cautiously walked to the men's springs which just moments before she had been eavesdropping on. She stalked through the men's changing room, making sure there were no men present. She saw the cubbies which had been filled with the two young men's clothing and inwardly smirked as she saw a pair of dark black silk boxers which she could only imagine belonged to the raven haired male. "I have to remember to grab those on my way out…"
She walked casually into the men's bath with the confidence of knowing only Sasuke would be present. She snuck quietly behind him and then stuck her feet into the water, again only up to her knees. For a moment Sasuke couldn't understand why the blond was so close to him, or why he kept rubbing his very soft and smooth legs against the raven. "Wait that can't be.." Sasuke opened his eyes to see grinning pink haired teammate sitting next to him in the water. "What are you doing here" Sasuke said coldly, "I don't remember you being invited." Sakura quickly retorted "I was just in the neighborhood and decided I would come and visit my favorite teammates!" her quirk and spunk made Sasuke twitch, however no one seemed to notice anymore because the raven did it so often. "Spying isn't your best trait Sakura, you never were very good." Sasuke could only imagine what the pink haired bother would have to say to that "You mean you knew I was there? I mean what are you talking about Sasuke-kun?" there was only silence. "Whatever" was all Sasuke could reply. "What are you doing here?" he asked sharply turning his gaze upon the young girl.
At that very moment, Naruto finished his conversation with the receptionist and headed back towards the baths. "It had to be him, there was no one else there he said. He said I was unconscious, and even though I was awake I know it wasn't me. So then the only person it could possibly be was…" Naruto stopped as he heard voices coming from the bath. And as Naruto had been inclined to do, he always somehow managed to walk in to the wrong part of a conversation.
"I just thought that maybe you were going to finally tell him. I know it's hard but you know it's the right thing to do. For God's sake Sasuke, me and Kakashi could hear the screams as we were taken back to Konoha, we could hear him laughing. I can't sleep anymore; at night all I can dream of is Naruto and that monster, the awful things he did to him, and to you no less. And every time I see Naruto smile; I wonder whether or not he will ever know. And I understand you don't want to tell him because you're just as worried as everyone else that his smile is going to disappear, but what I'm saying is that you've seen the change he's gone through, he's a lot smarter than he used to be and you know it. He'll find out sooner or later, and what is he going to think of you once he finds out you're the one who tried the hardest to keep it from him, to hide it from him." Sakura tried to catch her breath.
Sasuke had enough, he barked softly but with ferocity "Listen, I know what is going to happen if he ever finds out, and my reasons for keeping it to myself are my own. I thought I had made myself very clear to you that he must never know. Let him be mad at me, let him hate me, let him kill me" Sasuke emphasized the word kill for some reason unknown to Sakura. "But give him what time he has without nightmares, without fears. I would rather take that pain from him, not for any other reason then it's my fault it's there to begin with, I caused it, and I should have to live with it. Not him." Sasuke folded his arms over his chest, clearly signaling to Sakura that he was done speaking, but she persisted, not being satisfied with his answer.
"Stop being such a martyr Sasuke, you know him as well as I do, he could never hate you for what happened, and I know he's already seen his medical report from that night, he has to know there are very few ways he could have gotten sustained some of those injuries, he can put two and two together. Look, I promised I wouldn't tell him and I won't, but you should. Do you even remember what you said the night you left? Huh? Do you!" Sakura nearly screamed these last few words at Sasuke, he could do nothing but hang his head, a sight uncommon for his family. "After you laid me on the park bench, you thought I was out, but you were wrong. I saw you looking towards the city, searching; I saw the direction your eyes took. It was the east part of the village wasn't it, the poor district." Sasuke growled he knew what she was getting at and he didn't like where it was going.
"Who lives in that section of the village Sasuke-kun? Hm? Who were you looking for?" Sasuke stood in the bath, the cloth previously covering his midsection floating along the top of the water. His face was pulled back in an evil glare "Shut up!" was all he could manage. "He's the only one we know who lives there, isn't he?" a few seconds of silence "ISN'T HE?" at these words Sakura began to sob profusely. "I always knew he was the one, but I still held hope. Do you remember what you said before you left, when you were looking for him? To see if maybe he was home? I know you had gone to search for him before you left, hoping beyond hope that he could make you stay. But you never found him, and as you left the village you hoped you'd see the lights on in his house before you left. Looking for some kind of a signal. But he wasn't there was he?" At this point Sasuke was stalking towards the exit of the pool, he knew if he stayed to listen to more of the girl either he would agree with her and lose his resolve, or he would kill her, and neither was a very good choice. "You said… 'Hopefully we'll meet again, under different circumstances. Hopefully you will see a different me, and I can finally show you how I feel. But for now I have to go and do this, I have to dive into my past before I can erase it. I just hope you're here when I come home. Until then'… "that's what you said, I remember it all so well, and what I remember most was the fact that you were saying it to him and not me." Sakura stood slowly and lifted herself from the pool, trying to catch the eye of her teammate. "So what, you have nothing to say for yourself then? You coward!"
Sasuke leaned against the door frames which lead to the change rooms; he took one last look at Sakura. "Yeah I know what I said and your right I wasn't saying it to you, I was trying to let go of him. But let me tell you something, what my feelings are for him, regardless of whether they are positive or negative, do not concern you in the least and you would do well to mind your own life. Secondly whether or not you think Naruto needs to know what happened that night is irrelevant. I make that decision, not you, so stop meddling in what you don't understand." And with that Sasuke turned and left.
What both Sasuke and Sakura had failed to notice was that before Sasuke had finally finished speaking, there had been someone else in the men's change room who was hurriedly trying to get all the clothes from his cubby back onto his body. Not only had Naruto heard almost the entire conversation, he now had to contend with the news that Sasuke loved someone in the village, and not only was it not Sakura, but it was another male. Naruto had failed to realize that he was the only one he knew who lived in the poor district of the village, not to mention he was the only person to live there that any of his friends knew. As Sasuke had finished talking Naruto was already almost to the door of the compound.
Sasuke walked into the men's changing room trying to quickly rid himself of the presence of Sakura. What he found when he got there was a wet spot next to where Naruto's clothes had been, and a very empty cubby which the blonds things had resided. "Fuck" he yelled loudly "He fucking heard everything" Sasuke then made short work of drying himself off and getting his clothes back on. He had to go search for the boy and explain. Sasuke wondered to himself how he always managed to get into these kinds of situations, always chasing after the blond to apologize. Uchiha's were never supposed to chase anyone, nor were they supposed to apologize, yet since he returned from Sound, all he saw himself doing was running around saying sorry to no one other than Naruto. "Che, he doesn't even know how good he has it"
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
As Sakura heard Sasuke run out of the changing room, invariably running after the blond, she smiled with satisfaction in the sense that her plan had worked perfectly. She knew she could pull it off, what with Sasuke's temper and Naruto's curiosity. She didn't break her promise to Sasuke, but she did manage to help Naruto out with his past. However, at the same time Sakura noticed she wore a bitter sweet smile. While helping Naruto she had been given a definitive answer to her questions of where Sasuke's love laid, she had always known he probably never cared for her in that sense, and always wondered whether it was the blond or someone else's affections that Sasuke sought after, now she had her answer. But it still hurt.
A/N Well that was a long chapter for me, I'm surprised, but my hands are killing me! Anyway next chapter confrontation, confession and compensation. Interesting ne? Well as always for most authors, more reviews mean quicker updates, and I really like the next chapter, there's a kiss, and that's all I'm going to say. Anyway until then, Ja ne!