Sorry for the long wait, everyone, but chapter 7 is finally here, and your torture will now end . Prepare yourselves for a sinfully enjoyable time, and as always be sure to tell me what you think.

Dedicated to my darling Sora-chan. If a bottle of glue could fix every crack in your heart, I'd buy out Elmer's just for you.

Disclaimer: I own it not; sadly, this is true.

Habitual Infatuation .::. Chapter Seven

Sasuke lost himself in the mesmerizing pattern being slowly scrawled over his skin. His coal black eyes closed of their own accord and his head leaned back, releasing a low growl of pleasure buried deeply in his throat. He'd never known simple touching could feel so good. Perhaps it wasn't the touch but the person doing the touching. One black eye cracked open and taunted Sasuke with a beautiful sight: Naruto watching him with a look of mingled fascination and desire, his blue eyes riveted on the path his fingers were tracing over Sasuke's hard stomach, through remnants of water, sweat, and semen.

The Kyuubi's head was cocked ever so slightly to the side, reminding Sasuke of a golden kitten playing in the sun. Those startling sapphire eyes were wide open and glistening with innocent curiosity, with lust and the abandon of inevitability. What they both had known would eventually come had finally arrived upon them. Sasuke could still hear the echo of Naruto's heated words in his ear: I want you, Sasuke. A shiver raced down his spine at the memory, raising goosebumps along his ivory smooth skin. He'd longed to hear those words without even realizing it.

Sasuke growled again, this time with frustration. He had lost his clothing long ago at the side of the river, yet Naruto for all his visible arousal was still completely robed and not even slightly ruffled. That would change soon if Sasuke had any say in it.

With one swift, fluid movement, Sasuke grabbed the tanned hands that were playing across his chest, ignoring the mewls of protest that came from his soon-to-be-lover. The black-haired ninja pressed his lower body to Naruto, using the other boy's hands to pull them closer together. He gasped when he felt how easily the blonde melded their bodies, how eagerly he moved to rub against him in the most sensitive area, sending a wave of delicious friction crashing through him.

Sasuke panted and tightened his grip on Naruto's wrists, unable to control himself with this animal lust in his veins. It felt so good to feel control slipping away, something he usually treasured as a means of protecting himself. He didn't want to protect himself from Naruto. He wanted to feel his walls torn down; he wanted to feel himself drowning in the liquid heat pooling between his legs; he wanted to feel until he lost all sense of himself.

Sasuke's hands danced across Naruto's clothing, finding the hidden ties and clasps that made a shinobi uniform. These were always kept in secret, hard-to-reach places, to keep an enemy from using them to their advantage in battle. A ninja was not easily undressed, but the challenge could make for an interesting touch during foreplay. Sasuke's arousal was heightened by the anticipation. Every inch of tanned skin he managed to free from the bonds concealing it took time and effort to reveal. And most of all, he got to see the dazed look in Naruto's eyes as his hands explored so much of him, buried deeply in his clothing. This was still so new to them; they'd been enemies once: rivals. Then, slowly, the friendship had formed, the bond between them. And now….

Well, Sasuke wasn't really certain about now. He knew what he felt for Naruto. It pulsed lazily but strongly just behind the shallow lust that burned his skin on the surface. There was deepness there, something profound that his pride would not let him speak of just yet. He would give his life for this innocent, beautiful, and strangely cynical creature in his arms, looking up at him with cerulean trust. But that said nothing of what Naruto felt for him in return.

A tingle of doubt suddenly wormed its way into the pit of Sasuke's stomach, slowing his hands as they journeyed along the curves of Naruto's body. This felt…wrong. Much of it felt so good, so satisfying, and yet…this wasn't how he wanted it to be. He couldn't handle the uncertainty. He wanted to take Naruto in his arms and whisper words of love to him, but he just couldn't. Sasuke was afraid of what would happen if he did. Naruto might run from him, like he'd run before. Sasuke might lose the beautiful little blonde forever….

Sasuke was broken from his thoughts by a tentative touch on the side of his face. Something hot and wet slid along the length of his jaw, and Sasuke jumped with the realization that it was Naruto's tongue he was feeling. A small moan escaped from between his lips before he could stop it. The touch was so light, yet so deliciously provocative. Who knew Naruto could do such wonderful things with that tongue of his…?

And Sasuke was suddenly overwhelmed with a desire to know what else that tongue could do. Two forces raged within him: his emotions and his desire, and the two were strangely interlinked. He wanted Naruto so much, but he wanted more than just Naruto's body. Which did he listen to? The side that said they should stop this now before their fragile bond was ruined, or the side that said stopping would cause just as much harm as continuing?

They couldn't stop now. They'd come so far already.

In a fraction of a second, Sasuke's mind was made up. He turned his head to where Naruto's tongue had been playing lightly with his earlobe, sending shivers down the dark-haired boy's spine. Their lips touched just barely—a ghost of sensation—but the touch was like a golden flower bursting into bloom. Eyes as black as spilled ink met perfect azure blue and held that electrifying gaze just as their lips held each other in a passionate lock. Sasuke moved first, slipping his tongue between his lips to trace a hot line along Naruto's. He felt the other boy shudder against him and knew what effect his touch was having. He gathered Naruto into his arms and pulled their bodies closely together, his tongue still working lightly along the outside of Naruto's mouth. The blonde boy's lips parted slowly at first and then more eagerly, inviting the intensity that Sasuke offered.

Sasuke took the invitation and slipped his tongue into Naruto's mouth, savoring the boy's sweet taste on his lips. Honeysuckle. The taste reminded him of honeysuckle, warm and sun-kissed: the taste of wild things that grow in tangles. Sasuke felt rather than heard the moan that rumbled deep in Naruto's throat like a kitten's purr. This sound spurred him on to devour the other boy, exploring his mouth carefully and thoroughly in a way that left them both craving more. Slowly, Sasuke began edging the other boy back towards the pile of sweet ferns that usually made his bed for the night. When he heard the crunch of fresh plants beneath his feet, he reluctantly pulled his mouth from Naruto's and gazed at the other boy's face.

The blonde's cheeks were flushed with a delightful rosy color, like wildflower blossoms popping out of sandy shores. His gemstone eyes were half-lidded and brimming with unshielded desire, something Naruto had obvious grown used to in such a short amount of time. The flicker of shame was gone from his face as he stared back at Sasuke, silently admiring for the thousandth time his porcelain skin and intense, inky eyes. No words passed between them as Sasuke guided Naruto down to the ferns, tugging away the final ties of his clothing as they went. They needed no words to express what they both felt, what they needed so voraciously in this moment: each other.

"Naruto," Sasuke breathed softly against the other boy's tanned skin as his lips dipped down to brush along the Kyuubi's collarbone. Naruto responded by pressing their bodies perfectly together, like jigsaw puzzle pieces. Sasuke's eyes fluttered closed as a flood of savory sensations washed through him. It was sinful for a virgin like Naruto to be so damnably good at this. How did the tentative blonde know just how to move against him? Perhaps this was a good omen; what they were about to do was meant to be, no matter how many dark doubts Sasuke still harbored in his heart.

Slowly—dreadfully slowly—Sasuke dragged his soft lips along Naruto's skin, across his collarbone to his shoulders and up the curve of his neck, exhaling as he went and tickling the boy with his warm breath. Naruto shivered beneath him, groaning from the teasing touch when the only thing both of them wanted was to be buried in each other. These mild caresses were exquisite torture for them both, but Sasuke refused to be rushed.

Long, pale fingers ghosted down Naruto's sides, playing with the curves of his body. He traced along the cuts of muscle below the taut skin of Naruto's abdomen, made firm from hours of rough training. Sasuke delighted in the tremors that ran through this sculpted, young body. He could feel the blonde boy's heart hammering in his chest and knew his own heart must be beating at a similar frantic rhythm. Sasuke aligned their bodies together, his need growing too great to contain for much longer, no matter how much he wished to draw out this experience. He rocked slowly against Naruto's thigh, letting his partner feel the intensity of his arousal.

Naruto responded in a most unexpected way. Sasuke nearly jumped as he felt smooth fingers slip between their bodies, mirroring the explorative path Sasuke himself had traced along Naruto's body just moments before. A groan poured from between Sasuke's full lips as Naruto's fingers traced paths of fire along his skin. The black-haired ninja rested his forehead against Naruto's, forcing the other boy to meet his gaze. Sapphire blue locked onto onyx black, and for a moment time froze. Panting breaths and sweat mingled between them as they stared at each other, knowing that only one step remained between them and the end of the old lives they'd led.

"Sasuke," Naruto whispered softly, his eyes never leaving those of the other boy. Sasuke swallowed thickly, amazed by how different his name sounded now as opposed to an hour ago.

Sasuke gritted his teeth slightly as a thought occurred to him. Naruto was a virgin, which meant this experience could be extremely painful for him if Sasuke didn't go through the proper preparations. Slowly, the paler boy let his fingers tickle down Naruto's abdomen to his inner thigh. Instead of caressing the smooth skin there as he had before, Sasuke traced a path around Naruto's body and slipped between his legs from behind. He felt Naruto squirm slightly, and the blonde boy's eyes widened as he realized what Sasuke was about to do.

"I don't want to hurt you." Sasuke's eyes were filled with inky intensity as his fingers gently tickled Naruto's entrance. "Say the word, and we'll forget this ever happened." This promise sounded hollow to them both. They knew this incident could never be forgotten, could never be swept away. They had awakened something in them both. Nevertheless, Naruto smiled slightly to show his appreciation of Sasuke's offer. He snuggled his warm, tan body closer to Sasuke's, making room beneath him for the other boy's fingers to move. That was all the consent Sasuke needed. The passions building in his body were hidden carefully by his outward self-control, but that didn't mean they weren't eating him alive. He wanted to consume this golden boy sprawled beneath him, body and soul, like Skoll who swallowed the Sun in ancient mythology.

Sasuke took a shaky breath, willing his self-control to last for just a few minutes longer. Slowly, he removed the fingers that tickled Naruto's entrance and placed them at the boy's mouth. "Suck," he whispered softly, his eyes trained on Naruto's. The blonde looked surprised for a moment but eagerly complied, taking the fingers into his mouth and working his tongue sensuously over them. It was all Sasuke could do to restrain a groan in response to the wanton display. After a moment, he gently pulled his fingers from the other boy's lips and slipped them beneath Naruto again. Sasuke knew he would have to do everything in his power to distract Naruto from the initial discomfort, or he might just scare him away.

Once again, the black-haired ninja let his long, nimble fingers toy with Naruto's entrance, teasing the puckered flesh. As his fingers softly worked at the skin, Sasuke worked his legs to either side of Naruto's until he was straddling the boy, bringing the hardened parts of their anatomy hotly together. Naruto moaned freely as their arousals brushed, slicked with fluid that proved how great their need for each other had grown. Carefully, Sasuke pushed one finger past the first ring of muscles guarding Naruto's entrance, encouraged by the fact that the blonde boy barely seemed to notice in light of their new position. Naruto took very well to having Sasuke sit astride him, ready to ride this golden beast into the hottest throes of pleasure.

Deeper penetration would be more uncomfortable, Sasuke knew, and so he began to rock against the other boy, gritting his teeth to contain the moans that wanted to pour from him. Feeling Naruto's hardness against his made it all the more real how he felt for his partner. His feelings were almost too much for him now, wondrous and frightening at the same time. He'd never felt for anyone before the way he felt for Naruto, and it reminded him sharply of why he was doing this. He wanted Naruto to fall in love—to love someone, someone who would be worthy of the stunningly beautiful creature that Naruto truly was.

Sasuke tried to force himself not to think of his uncertainties. He tried to tell himself that it didn't matter if his plan worked and Naruto came to love him, or if he failed and Naruto fell for someone else. It only mattered that Naruto could love. But Sasuke couldn't help but think the worst. A cold pit formed in his stomach at the thought of Naruto laying with anyone the way he was laying with Sasuke now. He began to wonder how his heart would possibly mend if this was the only time he would get to be with Naruto like this.

If there was no better outcome waiting for him, if Naruto would never come to feel for him the way he wished he would, then Sasuke would at least make Naruto feel as much as he could while he still had the opportunity.

Sasuke watched the ecstasy that his movements brought to the other boy as it twisted Naruto's facial features and deepened his voice to a sexy rumble. He kept up the rocking motion that brought them both such tantalizing pleasure as his fingers gradually delved deeper into the other boy. Naruto's sweet gasps of pleasure filled Sasuke's ears, and he could feel himself getting swept away in the music of it. Deeper and deeper his finger slipped into the body of his future lover, and eventually a second joined it. Somewhere in the course of this new exploration, Sasuke felt the soft touch of Naruto's lips against his and locked on to the blonde's mouth. So entangled they were in each other, it almost seemed they had already joined their bodies together.

Only a startled gasp from Naruto brought reality crashing back down on the panting pair.

"Sasuke!" Naruto's blue eyes were open wide as he ripped his mouth away from the lips and tongue that had been exploring it so thoroughly.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked, half drunk from the honeyed taste of the boy beneath him. God, please don't let it stop now. I couldn't bear it, he thought.

"You…when you…I…" Naruto stuttered, looking confused. Sasuke watched him carefully, trying to discern if he had done something to frighten the boy enough to make him want to stop. "Naruto, tell me what's wrong."

"It wasn't wrong," Naruto responded, chewing his lip in a deliciously cute manner. "It just felt…different."

"What did?" Sasuke's brow furrowed in confusion.

Naruto's blush covered the entirety of his face. Whatever it was, it was obviously a delicate subject in the blonde's book.

Sasuke smirked. They'd been tangled in each other for longer than either of them could figure out, yet Naruto still blushed at the thought of what they were doing. How utterly adorable.

"The…the thing that your finger touched…inside of me," Naruto managed to explain, blushing furiously. "Could…could you do that again?"

Sasuke blinked. He'd been concentrating so hard on the feel of his lower abdomen rubbing against Naruto and the taste of the blonde on his tongue that he'd almost forgotten the fingers he was sliding deeply into the boy's now stretched entrance. A sly smile spread across Sasuke's face as a whole new world of possibilities opened up in his mind.

"Yes, I can do that again," Sasuke purred, grinning like a fox. To demonstrate his point, Sasuke's fingers wiggled experimentally, searching for the exact location of the spot that drove his blonde lover wild. Naruto's muscles clenched deliciously around him, but still he kept it up until a moan of pleasure burst from between those delicate rose petal lips, signifying that Sasuke had found what he was looking for. Gently, Sasuke teased the spot within Naruto, watching as the boy's face twisted into a variety of expressions: lust, satisfaction, surprise, pleasure, and so on. Sasuke drank in these expressions, amazed at what a profound effect they had on him. He felt almost as if he could reach a climax similar to the one obviously building in his partner simply from watching his face.

Unable to take it any longer, Sasuke withdrew his fingers, earning a disappointed groan from Naruto. Chastely, the black-haired ninja kissed Naruto's forehead before shifting his weight to place a neglected part of his anatomy at his partner's readied entrance. Naruto whined slightly and bucked his hips with need, sending gossamer cracks racing through the iron fortress that was Sasuke's self-control. Oh how he wanted to bury himself in the soft body lying beneath him, feel it twist and writhe and wriggle. But he held himself off, concerned for the comfort of his new lover.

Sasuke fluttered kisses across Naruto's flushed cheeks and to his ear, whispering softly, "This is going to be uncomfortable, and I can't promise not to hurt you, but it will get better." With that, he pushed in, forcing himself to go slowly. Naruto's breath hitched into a strangled groan; Sasuke knew not if it was one of pain or pleasure, though he supposed it could be both. So difficult it was to move slowly when that gripping heat called to every inch of him. He focused on the pounding of his heart, the pit of his stomach that told him he felt too much for this boy to abuse him in any way. He listened to the ragged edge Naruto's breathing had taken, searching for any indication of fear or discomfort. He distracted himself from the mind-numbing feeling creeping through his body with maddening slowness.

He tried to think of a way to describe it. There had to be a word. Euphoria. Bliss. Ecstasy. Sheer, undiluted rapture in the form of two bodies moving in tandem. God, it felt so good. He sank down fully and paused, shaking with the effort to hold himself still. Naruto's body was so hot, so soft, so tender beneath him that all he could imagine was delving into it faster and faster, pounding the thrusts deeply into him. Instead, he buried his face in the other boy's neck and bit viciously down on the junction of his neck and shoulder. He didn't want to hurt the other boy, but he needed something to grip him to reality.

Naruto mewled with mixed pleasure and pain as Sasuke sucked viciously on his neck, lapping up tiny droplets of blood that his teeth had brought to the surface. Naruto's skin was on fire, and the tantalizing feel of Sasuke's tongue and lips did not help the situation. There was also another fire now searing between his legs, thick and hard and so hot he could barely stand it. It hurt like ripping skin, but somehow he felt filled, complete. A missing piece was now in place, and in just a little more time he would be able to see the greater picture.

Experimentally, Naruto wrapped his legs around Sasuke's narrow waist, locking them in place and unwittingly making it easier for the black-haired boy to thrust. This simple movement brought a startled look of pleasure to Sasuke's face that the blonde shinobi was anxious to see again. Tentatively, he bucked his hips forward, rocking ever so slightly against the warmth buried between his legs. This time, his actions earned a soft moan from Sasuke, whose inky eyes were wide with astonishment. Naruto moved again, this time more confident in the natural way his hips rolled together with Sasuke's. It hurt, certainly, but he found pain became less and less important the more he concentrated on the look on his lover's face.

Sasuke's breath came in shallow pants. Nothing he had ever done in his entire life had ever felt as good as this. His mind was hazy with the downpour of feeling rushing through him. His strong arms wrapped tightly around Naruto's shoulders and gripped the boy to him. His hips moved slowly at first, matching the rhythm Naruto had established, but gradually they picked up speed. He needed release, and he needed it soon. Normally, he would have drawn this out. He would have teased and touched and milked every moan he could get from the pliant body beneath him. But this was not the time for that kind of superficial flirtation. This was the time for passion too hot to be quenched. This was the time for an orgasm so sweet and unexpected it left you dizzy for long moments afterward. This was the time for Sasuke to show Naruto just how badly he wanted him.

And so he did.

The thrusts came harder and deeper. The sweat dripped. The moans became screams became gurgles became soundless, desperate breathing muffled by brushing lips and tasting tongues. Muscles grew taut and lax again in the constant rhythm of sex, slicked by all manner of bodily fluids. And when the orgasms finally came, they came within seconds of each other and hit both boys so hard they couldn't even breathe. They rode through the waves and aftershocks together, nails digging into skin, teeth clenched into wordless moans.

And all the while, Sasuke could only think of this thing that he'd done.

When they finally pulled apart, reluctantly, shakily, as if their limbs no longer knew how to function separately, only one thing was on Sasuke's mind.

He loved this boy. The realization didn't startle him as much as he thought it would. After all, he himself had devised the plan to make sex turn into love. What he hadn't planned was for his own cherub arrow to be turned back on him.

And still he could only think of this thing that he'd done.

He'd shown Naruto love. One form of love. The most skin-deep form. The easiest one to do and then forget about. One night stands ran rampant through the world without leaving too many broken hearts in their wake. Oh God, what had he been thinking?

Sasuke watched as Naruto snuggled against his chest, oblivious to the turmoil within his lover's mind. Sunset had fallen upon them in the time elapsed, and the final golden drops of sun splashing around them lit the forest up as if it were on fire. Naruto's eyes shown like twilight gems as his long lashes slowly fluttered closed. His skin was oiled gold, glowing with the light of satiation, marred only by little love bites Sasuke had left here and there that would soon fade.

Sasuke hoped with all his heart that what had happened between them would last longer than those marks.

His heart heavy with worry and his mind ablaze with thought, Sasuke let his own eyes drift closed and send him into the dreamy oblivion of after-sex sleep. But still all he could think of was this thing he had done: the manipulation, the execution, and all his hope for the future.

To Be Continued…