Hello folks!

I'm looking forward to this chapter especially, and I'm sure all of my fellow NS addicts are also looking forward to the chapter, so I won't keep you any longer.. (:

Chapter Seven: Fate's Palette

"Here's everything you need to get," Jiraiya handed Sasuke a small, yellow parchment paper with a list of different beverages to purchase. "Thanks for going on the coffee run this morning," he added with a smile. Sasuke, who only offered to run Naruto's errand for him so that he could explore the city some more, nodded in reply and said he would be back within fifteen minutes.

Jiraiya watched Sasuke exit the gallery, the wind chimes by the door tolling as the door shut behind him. With a proud smile, Jiraiya watched his silhouette disappear around the corner.

"He's a good guy," Jiraiya told Naruto, who was busy wiping down the windows.

"Hn," Naruto responded, focusing a little too closely on the stubborn smudge of red paint on the glass. He dug the wet cloth into the smudge using his fingernail, refusing to be defeated by something so miniscule.

"Thank goodness you've relaxed a little bit since yesterday," Jiraiya continued. "You were being a brat." Naruto finally removed the paint splatter from the window. He grinned triumphantly and checked out his squeaky clean reflection, throwing himself a dashing smile. "You seem much brighter today, though."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Naruto agreed with his godfather, ruffling his blonde locks with his fingers. For whatever reason, his cold shower that morning induced sleepiness. After getting out of the shower, Naruto went straight back to bed, getting four hours of well-needed sleep. Maybe Jiraiya had been right; maybe Naruto had just woken up on the wrong side of the bed yesterday, seeing as his energy was far more lifted today. Or maybe it was because his plea for Sasuke to be amenable to friendship seemed to have worked; the bodyguard was far more open and friendly towards his client today.

Naruto gave up on trying to figure out what was going on within his own mind. His cold shower cleared his brain of the infinite headache over all of his questions and he went to sleep deciding to allow whatever needed to happen, happen. That's not to say he believed Sasuke's Obito story, or that he liked when Sasuke kissed him because both of those statements weren't completely true. But he decided that since he didn't know everything, he couldn't knock anything either. He still didn't know much, in reality. He did know that Sasuke seemed to react positively towards his new mindset, though, which made him more positive in return. As much as he dug in his heels and told himself he hated the Uchiha around, he had to admit it was nice to be on good terms with the black-haired male.

"So what had you so peeved?" Jiraiya asked him, sorting through some 6x6" canvases in a wicker bin. "It's not because I've been neglecting you, is it?" Typical Jiraiya, always assuming everything in Naruto's life was about him. "I mean look, I love Sasuke but you'll always be my number one youth, you know that right?"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I'm not jealous of you and Sasuke," he said apathetically. Truly, he wasn't.

"Well," Jiraiya smacked his lips. "If anything is the matter, you know you can tell me, right?"

Naruto scratched his neck in indecisiveness. He wanted to fill in Jiraiya on his current state of mind, but truthfully he wasn't exactly sure what that mindset was. All he had debunked was that he knew nothing. Besides, he wasn't so sure he wanted to vocalize his problems right now anyway.

Naruto stopped washing the windows. "I don't know," he mumbled, trailing off. "It's this whole art gallery opening thing, I guess."

"What about it?" Jiraiya asked curiously. "Are you upset that Sasuke's painting a portrait for it and you're not?"

"This isn't about Sasuke," he whined. "Not everything revolves around that guy, you know."

Jiraiya shrugged. "Well it seems like it," he protested innocently. Naruto cocked an eyebrow.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, nothing," Jiraiya backed off with a nervous chortle, noticing his godson's hasty reaction to that comment. "It just seems like you think about Sasuke a lot, that's all." He smiled warmly, but it didn't cool off the blonde at all.

Naruto huffed. "Well this isn't about him. It's about the art gallery opening," Jiraiya's eyes fluttered, waiting for Naruto to continue. "I don't know...I'm just regretting asking Sakura to be my date is all. I'm not as into her as much as I led her to believe, I guess."

"Because you like Sasuke?"

"What?"

"Oh, sorry, I thought that's where this is going," Jiraiya replied nonchalantly. He threw his hands up in defense of Naruto's icy stare.

"I told you this wasn't about Sasuke!" Naruto complained. Maybe he wasn't sure where exactly he and Sasuke stood at the moment, but he knew he was getting sick of people telling him that something was going on between the two of them. No one knew better than Naruto that something was definitely not going on. "It's about Sakura! I hate dating in the first place! I should've just invited Kiba or Shikamaru or someone to come hang out with me. Now I'm stuck going on a date again."

"Well what's wrong with dating?"

"I hate it," Naruto reiterated. He sprayed a cleaning fluid on the glass windows and began wiping them down.

"Are you sure you're just not dating the wrong people?"

Naruto whipped around to face Jiraiya. "Stop implying things."

"I'm not implying anything," Jiraiya's grin said otherwise. Naruto scowled at the artist.

"Then shut it, I don't need your opinion anyway," Naruto grabbed the dirty, damp sheets of paper towels and the spray bottle and trudged them behind the back counter, throwing them into a cabinet beneath the cash register. "You asked me what had me upset and I told you."

"Uh huh," Jiraiya's smile stayed the same.

"Cut it out!"

"I didn't say anything!"

"Like you had to? I know you well enough to hear your unspoken words, you know," Naruto responded harshly. "This isn't about Sasuke. Sasuke can do whatever the hell he wants. I don't care."

"Well, see, that's just it," Jiraiya replied quickly. "You never care about anything - but you seem to be caring a lot right now. So I have to believe that it's care over something important. You've always hated dating, but that's because you don't care about it. So why would you all of the sudden start caring about some girl you're taking to a gallery opening?"

"Because I'm not interested in leading her on. She has scary eyes like Granny Tsunade. Imagine breaking up with her - you'd get killed. Sakura gives off the same vibe."

"Girls are all scary, kid," Jiraiya said. "So if you're trying avoid someone scary, maybe you'd be better off with someone with a different pair of eyes. Someone like-"

The gallery doors swung open and Sasuke reentered the art room with a paper tray full of three cups of coffee. Jiraiya's face was covered in a fallacious smile and he suggestively wriggled his eyebrows at Naruto, who responded with a punch in his godfather's side.

Sasuke pulled the blue bandana over his forehead, pushing the hair from his eyes and tucking them behind his ears. It had been a week since Jiraiya first forced a blank canvas on Sasuke and told him to paint something, and finally the painting supplies the artist had promised him had come in the mail. Sasuke was still frantically unsure of what exactly to do to Jiraiya's prized possession, but he had less than two weeks until the gallery opening, so it was time to begin trying.

He dragged the large 10x3 canvas across the floor and rested it against a wall. Naruto okay-ed the use of the back room (coincidentally the same back room Jiraiya had destroyed and Naruto had paid to get fixed) to be his painting room. He folded his legs and flopped down in front of the long, white board. He didn't even know where to start.

The piece had blue marks of oil paint dragged across the canvas horizontally. Jiraiya hadn't the slightest iota of clue of what those navy streaks once were, and Sasuke didn't have any idea what they should become, either. In retrospect, he was a bit aggravated at the old man's forced suggestion for Sasuke to complete the painting. Sasuke didn't have an artist's eye, nor any sort of background at painting. This was going to be a disaster.

Sasuke took the ceramic painter's palette from a cardboard box Jiraiya had labeled "Sasuke's Paint Stuff" and squeezed generous drops of each color into the tiny inlets on the tray. Step one of preparation: complete. Step two of painting: incomplete. Sasuke let out a quick, exasperated sigh. He had a genuine fear of screwing this up.

He took a thick paintbrush from the cardboard box beside him and dabbed it liberally into the black paint. He tilted the brush towards the canvas, closer...closer...

"Getting anywhere?"

Sasuke jumped at the unepexcted voice, dropping the paint brush on his pants. He scowled down at the mess.

"I was," he muttered, disgruntled. Naruto strolled over, his hands in his pockets. He had the hood of his gray sweatshirt pulled far over his head, covering his eyes from Sasuke's view. He had headphones on, blasting some sort of loud, electronic music, with only one piece in his ear and it's match dangling from around his neck. He stared blankly at the canvas before turning his gait towards the window. He opened it and sat down on the windowsill and lit a cigarette.

"You smoke too much," Sasuke commented.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed, a careless expression on his face. "But it's rare for Kushina to be away for so long. I'm just taking advantage of my time while I can."

Sasuke thought it was rude of his client to refer to his mother by her first name, but let it go silently. He took a rag cloth from the cardboard box and wiped the paint off of his pants, which had already been stained with the black oil paint.

"You know if you completely trash that painting Jiraiya will never forgive you, right?"

"I know that," Sasuke snapped back, surprising Naruto. He had never noticed any fire in the Uchiha's personality before. Usually he was just well-mannered and compelling - never rapturous. It piqued his interest. He watched quietly as Sasuke took a deep breath and dipped the paint brush back into the black cup of paint on the palette. His hand unsteadily hovered a few centimeters away from the canvas.

"Are you nervous?" Naruto mocked with a snort. "It's just a painting!" he tried to muffle a laugh, but Sasuke shot him a red-eyed glare anyway, his hand still shakily levitating before the white board.

"I'm not nervous," Sasuke lied. "I'm focusing."

"Do you need help?" Naruto was still smiling wildly.

"Not from you!"

"Oh come on," Naruto slid off of the window pane and tapped the butt of the cigarette on it, putting out the fire. He brushed the ash off of the sill and hid the cigarette behind his ear. He crawled over towards Sasuke, who recoiled immediately. "I've painted before. It's not that hard."

"Well then I know I can do it," Sasuke muttered. Despite his reluctance, his fingers allowed the Namikaze to pluck the paintbrush from his grasp. Before Sasuke could stop him, the black paint was thoughtlessly smeared onto the canvas.

"Hey! What are you doing!" Sasuke clutched his wrist, halting Naruto's painting.

"What?"

"What do you mean 'what'? This is my painting," Sasuke tried to pry the paintbrush from Naruto's hands with little success. Naruto's hands were big and strong and he was sitting stoically and unwaveringly as Sasuke used half of his might to pry the brush away from him. Naruto wasn't even trying and he was still stronger than him.

"You were looking at it as if you saw the face of death. You'd still be sitting here just staring at the canvas if I hadn't done something," Naruto replied harmlessly. He noticed that Sasuke gave up on trying to take the paint brush from him. He slumped over, pouting, causing Naruto to smile. He had never seen Sasuke hopelessly defeated, either. That too piqued his interest. It was sort of...cute.

Without thinking, Naruto gingerly brushed Sasuke's hair out from his face, tucking the paint brush behind his ear. His fingers lingered on his silky black strands. They felt softer than Naruto imagined and his hand ended up sliding to the back of his head, grasping as much of his black tresses as possible. Realizing that he was touching the Uchiha, his arm recollected, his hand landing gently on his muscular and slender shoulder. Sasuke's dark eyes slid to the corner of his face.

"What are you doing," he asked monotonously. His voice was clear and careful. Naruto blushed fiercely and pulled his arm back into his lap. Sasuke didn't wait for the reply he knew wasn't coming. He took the paint brush out from behind his ear and began painting, finishing the stroke of black that Naruto had started moments ago.

Naruto felt his stomach ignite from the touch. It was instinct that began stroking Sasuke's hair; he had never planned to. He felt like the biggest idiot. That was too much interaction. He feared that Sasuke would react by pushing him away again, returning to his oath of silence while body-guarding. He instantly regret the moment of touch.

"So what was this streak of black supposed to be exactly?" Sasuke asked Naruto casually. Naruto wanted to kill him for the amount of casualness in his tone. He was acting as if that never happened - and Naruto, in the back of his mind, wanted that instant to be realized as something that happened. Although it mortified him to touch Sasuke, he wanted Sasuke to believe it was real. He had touched him.

Naruto cleared his throat and blinked awkwardly. "I was thinking it could be a sunset," his voice came out raspy and quiet, like a whisper. "The blue that Jiraiya painted sort of takes up the entire middle of the canvas, so I was thinking it could be the sun right before it's out of sight on the horizon," he said. Sasuke nodded in reply.

In truth, he was inwardly shocked at Naruto's insight on the painting. He had never even thought of that. It was so artistic of him. It was impressive. But he had just crossed a line, so he would not be receiving any kind of open respect from the Uchiha.

"You know, you never answered my question," Naruto told him, awkwardly trying to change the subject.

"What question," Sasuke sighed uncomfortably, his hand continually stroking the black paint on the canvas. He didn't want to talk to Naruto right now. He wanted to maul him and have sex with him and then kill him for touching his hair and his shoulder and since he could not do that, he didn't consider them on speaking terms. Didn't he remember that Sasuke was gay? An attractive blonde who knows that Sasuke is gay should not be running his fingers through his hair or feeling up his shoulder. It was dangerous and insulting and it was threatening to Sasuke's willpower - he was only a man, he couldn't control himself at all times. Surely Naruto had to know that. Surely he should understand temptation.

"When I asked you in the elevator at the Hokage's Monument - I asked why you'd be willing to go to Jiraiya's art gallery opening with a girl," Naruto elaborated. Sasuke's painting ceased. He gave Naruto a dirty look from the corner of his eye.

"Why wouldn't I be willing to? It isn't as if Jiraiya knows that I'm not heterosexual," he replied coolly. "I don't think it's particularly smart of me to waltz around telling people that in a place like this."

"In a place like what?" Naruto asked.

"Like Konoha," Sasuke said back. Naruto raised an eyebrow, puzzled. Sasuke licked his lips. "Well clearly this isn't the friendly kind of place, now is it?"

"What are you talking about? Konoha is super friendly. I don't get what you mean," Naruto questioned.

Sasuke groaned audibly and put the paint brush down. "I'm not an idiot, Naruto," he quipped. "Clearly this isn't an open and safe place to announce that I'm into guys. Based off of your reaction when I told you, it's obvious that that kind of behavior isn't acceptable around here."

Naruto stared dubiously at the dark-haired male. "What the hell? Nobody cares if you're gay, you're absolutely crazy if you think that," he responded. "Konoha is a great, friendly place. Don't be dumb."

"Well then why do you have such a strong opinion about me liking guys?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto swallowed. "Who said I do? I don't care if you're into guys or not."

Sasuke let a crooked grin creep onto his face. It was a smile of relief; all this time he had believed that Konoha would judge him. He was extremely pleased to know that his inquiry was wrong. It made him feel much more comfortable residing there.

"That's good to know," he admitted dreamily.

"Well, good, glad to hear it," Naruto deadpanned, the slightest bit of patriotic offense taken by Sasuke's assumption. "So you'll tell Jiraiya you don't need that girl date, right?"

"Wrong."

"Wrong?"

"Wrong," Sasuke smiled.

"Why wrong!?"

"Because it's not as if I hate girls or something," Sasuke stated. "I'm just not attracted to them." He took another brush and dipped it into a dark gray. His confidence in front of the canvas was elevating. Seeing Naruto's strong reaction and brilliant idea of a sunset helped calm his nerves. He could definitely complete this painting now. "I've taken girls out before. Plus this is just a one time thing, so it's not like I'm bothered by hanging out with a girl all night. It beats going by myself. And Jiraiya has already made the arrangements; it'd be rude of me to bail out now," he added.

"That's not the point," Naruto didn't listen to any explanation Sasuke gave. "You don't like dating girls so you shouldn't go with one."

"Well who else would I go with?" Sasuke asked. He looked over at his client coyly. "You?"

Naruto's complexion instantly flushed three shades brighter before he had the chance to save face. He tugged impolitely at his sweatshirt and redirected his embarrassment into anger.

"I'm going with Sakura, you already know that. And I don't like guys, which you also already know."

"Why don't you just save us both some time and admit that you don't actually want to go with Sakura," Sasuke said wistfully. The dark gray on his paint brush was mixing well with the blue and black on the canvas and he was happy with the outcome so far. "Or better yet, just grow a pair and ask me to go with you instead."

Naruto viciously knocked the paintbrush out of the Uchiha's hands, the brush gliding across the blue and black and making a mess of the canvas. It fell to the ground and the paint splattered on Sasuke's pants and on the tiled floor he was sitting on. Sasuke emotionlessly looked down at the paint drips across the white tile.

"You really need to control your emotions better," he told Naruto. Naruto threw his strong fist into Sasuke's jaw, knocking him over. He instinctively leapt at his bodyguard. Sasuke lifted his feet up and kicked Naruto back. He stumbled to his feet in time for Naruto to grab him by the waist and violently slam him into the wall, his head cracking against it. Sasuke blinked a few times, trying to refocus his eyesight, but it was no use. He was dizzy and felt as if he was going to throw up. His vision was blurring and all he saw was Naruto's fist being reaimed at his face. Sasuke crouched down as Naruto swung and his fist slammed into the wall. He let out a yell of pain and Sasuke slipped out from under his grasp.

Naruto whipped around, writhing in pain and frustration.

"What is your problem?" Sasuke asked, infuriated. He stumbled back, his head and his view still spinning. He felt the thumping pang at the crown of his head where his head hit the wall.

"My problem?" Naruto breathed through his grit teeth. "You're my problem!" He staggered towards the Uchiha, who backed up messily with each step that the Namikaze took towards him. "You're the most narcissistic little punk I've ever met. Not everything's about you, you know!" He lurched forward to grab Sasuke, who diligently moved out of the way. The quick movements disrupted his blurring eyesight and he fell to the floor drunkenly. "I hate you!"

"Well get over it," Sasuke shouted. He was breathing heavily as well. "You only have two more weeks with me so just suck it up. You'll never see me again after this month is over and you can go about your life happily."

"You're not going anywhere," Naruto responded. He dragged Sasuke by the shirt, lifting him up off of the ground. Sasuke elbowed the back of Naruto's arm in a pressure point, causing him to release his grasp on the Uchiha. Sasuke fell to the ground and felt his ankles shake under his weight being dropped so carelessly. He elbowed Naruto again in the back of the neck, which sent Naruto to the floor. He scrambled up to his feet, vindictively shoving Sasuke back against a wall. Sasuke grabbed him by the strings on his sweatshirt and wrapped them around his fist, securing Naruto from escape.

"Let go of me," Naruto said straightly. Sasuke stood still and confidently, glowering deeply at his client. He was a brute. He had unattainable brawn and a temperament to fight anyone. He was an idiot. He also had a jagged scratch on his cheek that was threatening to bleed.

Sasuke hadn't obeyed Naruto's stern command, but he never asked him to again. He met the Uchiha's vermilion glare with his inability to back down. In actuality, it'd be simple for him to push Sasuke's hand away from him and break free. But in retrospect, it wasn't that simple at all. Sasuke, although easily dealt with, was not. He had Naruto wrapped around his fingers and, as Naruto watched as the Uchiha literally did so, realized that sad, true fact. Sasuke's eyes, although aggravated by Naruto's aggressive behavior, also had a white glint of longing.

"You know, Naruto-san," he said softly. Naruto looked away and straightened up at the sound of his chiming voice. The relaxed tone caused him to stop towering over his bodyguard and holding hostage against a wall. In return Sasuke let go of his ties with him. "I lied to you on that first day together," he admitted shyly.

"When? About what?"

"When I said I found you unattractive," he whispered. Naruto met his gaze. "You are very attractive."

Naruto's heart sank out of his chest and he felt his lips go dry. It was relieving news - so relieving, it was also like shock, as if he had just been gut-punched. He couldn't respond thoughtfully. He had nothing to say. All of his sleepless nights mindlessly wondering and hoping that his stupid gay Uchiha of a bodyguard would for some reason, in some light, find him attractive - and all for naught. Naruto looked down, trying to collect any type of functioning pattern. Swiftly, he looked up and backhanded Sasuke across the face, right over his freshly-recovered split lip. Sasuke kept his face turned from the impact and felt the slightest bit of warm liquid on his lip that he quickly licked away. After a few moments he leaned back and rested his head on the wall behind him.

That wasn't necessarily the reaction he was expecting.

He looked up at his contributor with apology.

"It's too late to say shit like that," Naruto murmured. Sasuke didn't realize until he turned his head just how close Naruto was to him. Naruto was by his profile, whispering in his ear. "It doesn't matter to me anymore. I'm already here."

Sasuke grabbed on to Naruto's neck and pulled his jaw to his. Naruto welcomed his mouth this time, wrapped his strong arms around Sasuke's shoulders and kissed him back. His lips pressed hard and eagerly against Sasuke's and his heart rate was rapidly rising. Sasuke's arms flailed to wrap around the Namikaze's waist and he clutched onto his empty belt loops, pulling him closer, groin to groin. Naruto let a breathy moan escape as he distastefully licked Sasuke's front teeth. Sasuke suspected that Naruto would be a bit whorish about kissing, and was almost pleasantly surprised to know his assumption was right.

Sasuke cupped Naruto's face between his hands, his fingers dancing between his thick blonde locks. He felt like clutching on to the client and grasping him harshly to make sure he never went too far, but the moment he felt his nails dig into the boy's skin he released his grip and hugged him instead.

Naruto drenched Sasuke's lips and chin and jaw in kisses, never coming up for air. He noticed the hot density in his crotch rubbing against Sasuke's inner thigh and grabbed tighter to Sasuke's shoulders. He opened his mouth wider as each kiss came, and short, near-silent moans escaped his throat each time. Instinctively, his mouth began moving down towards his neck, sucking the skin underneath Sasuke's jawline. He ran his hand through Sasuke's soft, wispy hair and aggressively bit down on his neck, before showering him in apologetic kisses.

Sasuke was clutching fiercely onto Naruto, pulling at the fabric of his sweatshirt, trying to keep him closer and closer. As shivers ran up his spine from the wet, kissing sensation on his neck, he thew his head back farther and felt his his hand creeping towards Naruto's lower waist. Naruto's kisses began aligning back up towards Sasuke's face, making a break for his ear. He breathed heavily into Sasuke's eardrum, making Sasuke's senses go wild. His hand balled up into a fist, forcefully grabbing his sweatshirt. The hand nearing his lower waist dropped to the front of his pants, his fingers crawling up Naruto's thick thigh. Naruto swung his arm around Sasuke's hips and kept them firmly pressed together, making Sasuke's insatiable appetite for closeness complete.

Their lips met each other once again, and Sasuke wasted no time in slicking his tongue into Naruto's mouth, which opened wide and welcomed it. Naruto lovingly bit down on the Uchiha's tongue before his danced over it and smashed into Sasuke's with powerful strokes. Sasuke felt his stomach implode and his chest filled with the butterflies his belly could no longer hold. His hand instantly crept upwards, unbuttoning Naruto's shorts and climbing in. Naruto's hand immediately grabbed his, their kissing at a cessation.

"I'm not into that," Naruto whispered strongly.

"You don't even know," Sasuke chuckled nervously. He was full of hot, pumping blood and all of his veins were coursing. He was ready to burst, and he needed Naruto to feel that way too. "You've never tried it."

"And I don't want to," Naruto defended lightly. "Can't we just stick to kissing?"

Sasuke pushed his arm out straight, leaving distance between their bodies.

"Can't you just admit you like it? Can't you just admit that you like me?"

"Why are you being so difficult?" Naruto groaned loudly. "We were having fun!"

"I'm not being difficult, you are." Sasuke refused to back down.

Naruto wiped his mouth on the sleeve of his sweatshirt, offending Sasuke as he wiped away all of his kisses. It was a sign of treachery that didn't go unnoticed, nor did Naruto intend it to.

"Don't make this something it isn't," Naruto shortly shook his head in passive warning. He backed away from Sasuke so that his palm wasn't pushing his chest away.

"Then what is it?" Sasuke implored. He felt his dizzy head fill with frenzy. Just when he thought he was getting somewhere... Just when he had made the biggest and most inappropriate move of his career, Naruto backs away, all in vain. He felt all of his blood rise to his brain, pounding loudly on his skull. He abrasively pulled his hand through his hair, inadvertently knocking the bandana down from his brow.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "You sound like a girl," he meant for that to sting.

"I don't understand why you're acting like this," Sasuke fought back, knowing he had already lost the battle.

"Ditto."

Sasuke crossed his arms and slumped back down into the wall. He looked away, longing for his painting. For that moment when the only thing weighing on his mind was doing the painting justice and making Jiraiya proud. He should have known Naruto would still be his typical asshole-self; after all, he couldn't help it. That's just who he was: selfish and self-gratiuitous. He didn't care about Sasuke - all he wanted was a quick fix. And Sasuke had given it to him. He caved in and he was the only one to blame. And at work, no less. Sasuke shut his eyes in shame. He was wrong - Naruto wasn't the idiot. It was him. This was what fate had aligned all this time and it was always right in front of him. He was only lying to himself, believing Naruto would somehow be different for him.

"Maybe you were right," Naruto spoke. Sasuke hadn't realized Naruto was now near the doorway, halfway out of the room. His hand was resting steadily on the doorknob. "Maybe you should just work in silence and we should go about our days separately."

Sasuke licked his dry lips and nodded in reply. "Sounds good to me," he mouthed. No voice came out of him. Naruto hovered in the doorway for a few more moments, before exiting the room and shutting the door behind him. Sasuke slid to the floor, still mindlessly staring at his painting. At their painting.