I'm back with another chapter. Thanks for all the story alerts, story favorites, and etc. It means a lot to me, and thank you all who reviewed, it's so wonderful getting all this feedback.
I really like all the reviews I'm getting, and I love how some are taking sides. Like some want Sasuke to suffer and Naruto to be happy, while others are rooting for Sasuke, and want Naruto to suffer. And since there is apparently some confusion on this, Sasuke IS gay. He's not bi, because he feels no attraction to girls whatsoever. Yes he'll sleep with girls (as we found out last chapter) but he has no attraction to them. It's guys all the way for Sasuke. Also, I think I managed to make both the Sasuke and Naruto lovers happy on this one. Also, we're introduced to a whole other side of Sasuke that not even Naruto knew about. Now yes, I do skip about a week, but that's because the first bit of the chapter was going kind of slowly, so I had to get it going again. Also, I think you're going to be pretty shocked at someone's secret. I'm not saying names, so you'll just have to read and find out.
And with that, enjoy!
Sasuke walked in to his bedroom, having decided that he had done enough sulking on the couch in the living room. When he turned on the light he saw some flowers and a note were on his bed. A forget-me-not and a cherry blossom. The note said 'Forget-me-not's are symbols of love that was lost. It's said that they earned their name by the last words a man uttered as he was picking the flowers for his lover by a river, just before he drowned. I don't know what the sakura flower means, but I know how much you liked the flowers. I don't fully believe what Gaara showed me, not yet. I'll be back to get my stuff tomorrow, and I'm skipping school, as I'm sure you are too, to spend the day at their grave. Gaara has to go, though, so I'll be alone. See you tomorrow, and remember to bring Kyuubi's flowers and mine there. I forgot them at your place. Don't be late, and if you want to say anything to them in private, be there before 8 a.m. And also, keep the flowers on your bed with you. They're a reminder of what you could have had.'
Sasuke sighed. How could he have been stupid enough to fuck Sakura? It was just stupid, and completely selfish. He needed to apologize to her for it, and he definitely needed to apologize to Naruto and his parents. But for now, Sasuke needed to sleep.
He woke up the next morning, eyes dry from crying all the previous night. He felt like shit, but he got up nonetheless. It was 6 a.m, plenty of time to get dressed and go to the grave site and say a few words to Naruto's parents before he got there.
The raven got to the cemetery at about 7:50 that morning. He had 10 minutes. He quickly found his parents' graves along with Naruto's parents'. Their graves were right next to each other, so it was easy to find both.
Sasuke walked up to their graves, and took a deep breath. "I'm so sorry for hurting your son...I love him dearly, I really do," Sasuke began. "I know I hurt him deeply, and it's no excuse. I should have said something to him, but I promise I'll take care of him. And I'm sorry that Kyuubi isn't here to say a few words. He wanted me to tell you that he loved you and missed you, and was sorry that he couldn't be here. Also, one more thing..." Sasuke placed Kyuubi's bouquet between their graves. "This is from Kyuubi. And I just want you to know that no matter what happens between Naruto and I, I'm going to love him, even through death. He's always been a wonderful friend to me, and I can only hope I've been a good friend to him. Send some more love his way from you, I'm sure he'll be greatful."
Sasuke walked over to his parents' grave, and got down on his knees. He laid the bouquet of camellia flowers in front of them. "These are from Itachi," he said. "He wants you to know that he's sorry he couldn't be here and that he still loves and misses you guys." Sasuke took a deep breath again. He was going to start crying again, he could just feel it. He laid down his bouquet. "These are from me. I remembered you teaching me how to put sakura flowers in a bouquet. Thank you, Mom, for doing that. But...I didn't come here to talk about that. I love Naruto, as you know by now. I want him to be happy. We were pretend boyfriends for about a day. Then Gaara called him, and he 'broke up' with me for Gaara, but I know he doesn't feel that way about him. I was really upset, so..I slept with Sakura. Now he apparently wants nothing to do with me and...I made a huge mistake. I should never have done that." The tears were flowing, but he didn't bother them. "I made a mistake, and now I don't know what to do."
The young raven was so busy crying he never heard Naruto come up behind him. All the blond hear was from 'I want him to be happy' to the end. They were friends, of course Sasuke would want him to be happy. But a friend wouldn't be upset that they got together with someone instead of them.
"Sasuke?" Naruto asked, placing a hand on the raven's shoulder.
Sasuke turned around to find those wonderful blue eyes in front of him. "What?" the raven asked, having forgotten that the blond could have heard everything he said.
Naruto got on his knees and hugged Sasuke. "Thanks for being a good friend when I was such a complete prat. I'm still staying with Gaara, but you're still my friend." Sasuke nodded. "And Sasuke?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for bringing Kyuubi's flowers and laying them down."
Sasuke nodded and held out the red bouquet to Naruto. The blond gave him a questioning look. "The ones you bought. These are it. And Kyuubi says to tell them the usual."
"Oh. Thanks."
"No problem." Naruto walked away, and Sasuke remembered something. "Oh Naruto!"
The blond turned toward him. "Yeah, Sasuke?"
The raven held out an orange rose for him. "This is yours. I got it as a gift for you. I know it might not be much but..Kyuubi told me you liked them, so I got it for you." Naruto's eyes softened as he looked at the gift, and a smile played on his face.
Naruto wrapped his arms around Sasuke's neck. "Thanks Sasuke.." Naruto kissed the other boy on the cheek and walked to his parents' graves, determined to sit there and talk with them until the sun set.
It had gotten dark, and all of Naruto's stuff was at Sasuke's place. The raven had offered to let him stay, and that the blond could have his bed and he could take the couch and Naruto accepted.
Sasuke lay on his couch, staring at the ceiling. He had to go to school tomorrow, he knew it, but he couldn't sleep. He would never be able to sleep. Not as long as he knew Naruto was still with Gaara. That was the one thing he wanted to prevent now, no matter what. Gaara could not have Naruto as long as Sasuke was around. Starting tomorrow it would be a full out war over Naruto.
Friday, girls night
Sakura, Ino, and Hinata all sat around Naruto exchanging gossip. Sasuke, of course, made them all martinis and was handing them out. The Uchiha manor was stocked with all sorts of alcohol and anything you could think of to make any kind of alcoholic drink. It was one of the many reasons why Uchiha's always threw some of the best parties.
"O-M-G thank you sooooooo much Sasuke!" Ino yelled out, giving Sasuke a kiss as he handed the blond girl her unteempth drink that night.
Sasuke laughed and said, "Don't mention it, there's enough alcohol in this house to keep a Scottish man satisfied for years." The raven took his seat on Naruto's lap, joining in on the girls' gossip.
"So Hinata, did Kiba ask you yet?" Sakura asked, knowing from Naruto and Sasuke that the dog lover would propose to Hinata at any time.
"Ask me what?" Hinata replied quietly, and Naruto laughed.
"You'll find out soon enough, sweetie," Naruto said. Sasuke was playing with the blond boy's hair. Everyone there was drunk to an extent, some more so than others. "And Sasuke, stop fighting with Gaara all the time, you know he's just trying to be a good boyfriend to me." Naruto looked up at the raven in a way that tried to be stern but just couldn't because of all the alcohol in his blood.
"Oh blah. You're no fun, Kit-chan!" Sasuke yelled out. Gosh, just how many drinks had he had? "Because I tell you, if you compare me to Gaara, I am soomuch sexier! Isn't that right ladies?" Sasuke downed the rest of his martini, wanting something stronger than the almost non-alcoholic drink.
A whistle from Ino and a 'woohoo' from Hinata signaled agreement from them both. Sakura laughed and said, "Sasuke, I've seen some guys come close, but daayum boy, you have the best ass out of anyone!" This caused everyone to laugh. Gosh, why weren't they throwing a party instead of a 'small get together' with music blasting in the background?
"Seeeee Naru, they agree with me! I have the best ass ever, and I'm the finest piece of guy you'll ever see." Naruto laughed, as did everyone else. Sasuke was just about as drunk as Ino now.
"Sasuke! I challenge you to a drinking battle!" Ino yelled out, having snuck into the kitchen and gotten two bottles of vodka plus two shot glasses.
"Oh no she didn't!" Naruto exclaimed, thinking it was just too funny to see the two go off in a drinking match. No one ever came close to those two, so it was finally time to see who stood out longer.
"Oh hellyes she did! It's on bitch!" Sasuke yelled, signalling laughter from everyone else. Ino put the two vodka bottles down on opposite sides of the table, one shot glass by each. "Honey, these shot glasses ain't going to be used for anything so why get 'em?"
"Oh please, you know you're going to lose," Ino said, signalling Sakura to get a stop watch out. "Set it for a minute, whoever can drink the most in that amount of time wins." Sakura nodded her head.
"Open your bottles," she began. The raven and blond did as they were told, throwing the stoppers to the side. "Ready, set...go!" Both contestants instantly brought the bottles to their mouth and started chugging down the vodka.
"Come on Sasu, you got this!" Naruto yelled out as Hinata was cheering for Ino.
"STOP!" Sakura yelled out, a minute having passed. Both of them put the bottles down. Sasuke's was empty, centimeter of the bottle's height still had vodka. Ino's was about an inch from being empty, and it was obvious who the winner was. "Sasuke wins!" Sasuke and Naruto screamed out in excitement, Sasuke definitely drunk and in for a hangover the next day.
Obviously forgetting that Naruto was dating Gaara, Sasuke and Naruto kissed, similar to how they did in front of all those fangirls earlier that week. Ooo's were heard from the three girls surrounding them. Suddenly Sasuke pushed Naruto away from him. "And that, honey, is what you're missing," Sasuke said, smirking at the look on Naruto's face.
"Dammit, teme, it's always you," Naruto said, trying to hide the hard on in his pants, causing Sasuke to laugh at him.
"It's not my fault I can turn you on in a heartbeat, baby!" Everyone laughed, including Naruto. They were having a great time.
Naruto was getting ready for his date with Gaara. He somewhat remembered the night before, how Sasuke and Ino had a drinking match and Sasuke won, how Sasuke made out with him just after it, how Sasuke's lips had felt against his, so warm and wonderful, and how much fun they all had was what he remembered most. He definitely remembered the feel of Sasukes lips against his, their tongues practically making love inside their mouths, and the fireworks going off in the background. It felt so wonderful, and it was so much more amazing than when Gaara and him had made out. Damn that sexy raven, damn him.
Naruto applied his moisturizer and foundation, having settled on an black skinny jeans, and a half buttoned up blue shirt with black converse. He put concealer under his eyes to cover the dark circles forming there. Ever since Sunday, what he had been doing daily was starting to cause him to become anemic. He pushed his sleeves up halfway, making it look as though he was putting almost no effort into it. He was aiming for that certain 'I just woke up and got out of bed looking this sexy without any effort' look, the one that looked so damn good if you could pull it off right.
The blond put some mousse in his hands and spread it through his hair, messing it up tactfully. After hairspraying it with a medium-hold hairspray, he decided his look was complete.
He walked into the living room of his apartment, waiting for Gaara to pick him up. The red head said he would pick him up at 7:00, and it was just now turning 6:55. He had some time, five minutes can do a lot right? Naruto walked into his room and picked up the orange rose, smelling it. It had been the best gift he'd ever received from the Uchiha. How had Kyuubi remembered the story behind it that made the blond like orange roses so much?
Naruto had been holding hands with his mom and dad. They were walking down the road to a secret rose garden of theirs that the two adults had built when they were teenagers.
"Mommy, Daddy, how much longer?" the young Naruto asked, his feet getting tired.
"Not much longer sweetie, do you want Daddy to carry you?" his mom asked, smiling down at him. The young Naruto nodded, and his dad picked him up and carried him on his back.
"Hey kit, you're getting kind of heavy," his dad said, laughing as he could feel Naruto's 'evil glare' directed toward him.
"I am not! Mommy just says I'm getting musculter!" Naruto yelled proudly, causing his parents to laugh.
"Yeah, and one day you're going to be all big and 'musculter' just like your dad," his mom said, kissing him on the cheek. They stopped walking when they got in front of a small green house. Minato set down the young Naruto and they all walked in together. The first thing that Naruto noticed (and ever actually paid attention to) were the orange flowers in the corner of the greenhouse. He ran towards them, his parents following closely behind.
"See Kushina, I told you he'd like these the most," Minato said to his partner.
"I should have known you would be right. He just loves that color," she replied, giving the older blond a kiss on the cheek.
"Mommy, what are these called?" the young Naruto asked, smelling each and every flower, being careful not to damage any of them.
Kushina smiled at her son. "They're called roses. Would you like to take one home with us?" Naruto gasped and looked up at his mom, eyes wide.
"Can I really?" She nodded.
"Choose one of themand I'll pick it for you." The young Naruto nodded.
He took his time smelling each one again, feeling the petals of each, eventually he choosing one. He pointed to it and said, "This one, Mommy. I want this one." She nodded and cut the rose at it's stem, leaving enough left so a new flower could grow back.
They want home, Naruto riding on his dad's back again, smelling the flower the whole time. Roses would always be his favorite kind of flower, and it would always be the flower he tied to his parents. Even after they were dead, and if twenty years passed, he would always remember the smell of that first rose, the orange one he chose to take home with him.
A knock sounded from the living room, knocking Naruto out of his daze. He smiled and smelled the flower again, setting it back in it's vase and running to answer the door. Gaara, of course, was the source of the knocking.
"Hey babe," Gaara said, kissing Naruto on the cheek. "Let's go." He walked to his car, a red Porsche, soon followed by Naruto after he locked his door.
Gaara, unlike Sasuke, didn't like quiet. He had music going, and actually tried to keep a conversation going.
"Where are we going?" Naruto asked, trying to talk over the volume of the music.
"We're going to see a movie then have dinner at my place, is that all right?" the red head asked, seeming to genuinely want the blonds opinion.
"Yeah, it is. What movie are we going to see?"
"Some new horror film they have out, it's supposed to be one of the scariest things you'll ever see in your life." Naruto froze up. He couldn't stand scary movies.
"O-oh, that's great! I mean it's not like I'm scared or anything, it's gonna be awesome!"
Naruto screamed as the girl in the movie was stabbed by a shadow-y figure. He clung to Gaara's arm, scared to death.
"Naruto, are you okay?" Gaara whispered.
"I have to go to the bathroom," Naruto replied in a hushed voice. He got up and left the theatre, heading straight to the bathroom. He splashed some cold water on his face, glad that his makeup was water proof. Moans could be heard from one of the stalls, and Naruto was the only one in there that he knew of.
"Hello?" he called out. The moans stopped for a second, but then continued. "W-who's in here?" A stall door flew open and the blond screamed, terrified.
The two ravens in the stall burst out laughing. "Sheesh Naruto, take a joke," Sai said, laughing.
"Oh don't be so harsh on him, it's Gaara's faul that he's like this. The stupid red head should know, you never take a blond out to a scary movie on the first date," Sasuke said.
"True, but still. It's funny as hell."
"Shut up! It's not funny at all!" Naruto yelled. "I was enjoying my time with Gaara, I just needed to come to the bathroom for a minute. I wasn't trying to scare my best friend." Naruto was upset, Sasuke could clearly see that much. He thought he saw something on Naruto's arms, but he might have been imagining it.
"Sorry Naruto," Sasuke said. "Sai, go wait in the car. Our movie is over, and you said you wanted to go to Ichiraku's." Sai nodded, leaving Sasuke and Naruto in the bathroom alone.
"So what now? Are you going to make a move to try to get me back or what?" Naruto looked at him expectantly, having uncrossed his arms and putting his hands on two sinks.
"No. I'm going to ask what the hell is on your arm, because it better not be what I think it is." Naruto looked around nervously. How had the raven noticed those? He had been hiding them as well as he could all week!
"It's nothing, I picked up a cat and it didn't like me, so it scratched the hell out of my arms." Naruto dismissed it, hoping Sasuke would accept his answer.
"Naruto..." The raven stepped closer to the blond, leaving almost no room between them. "Show me your arm." Naruto couldn't help it, the closeness of the other boy was too much. He lifted up his arm, revealing the cuts on it.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... It's just that...I haven't been feeling too well lately, and I was alone, and I felt terrible, and so I started to..." he trailed off, not wanting to finish his sentence, but knowing he had to. "I started to cut myself, and I haven't been able to stop since then. I was going to call Tsunade about getting some iron pills prescribed to me, but I never got to it, and I just don't know...I've been feeling terrible ever since Sunday, and I can't help it."
Sasuke pulled the blond into a hug, hating to see his best friend go through this. "Naruto, you don't just need iron pills. You need anti-depressants if you're doing this. Come on, do you want me to take you to the hospital?"
Naruto nodded. "But first I need to tell Gaara that something came up and I finished our date."
Sasuke nodded. "My car is in the third row, I'm about four spaces from the front." Naruto nodded, and left the bathroom. To Naruto, it seemed like he always ended up skipping his first dates to go somewhere with Sasuke. To Sasuke, it seemed that Naruto always did something that got himself into trouble, so the raven always had to bail him out.
Sasuke had dropped Sai off back at his apartment so as to keep it just him and Naruto at the hospital. As Naruto had asked to see Tsunade, he was told to wait. When he explained that he was a friend of hers, as well as her godson, and showed them her necklace, they called Tsunade in right away. She had taken them to her office so as not to use any exam rooms that might be needed by someone else when she had everything she needed in her office. Naruto was sitting on the spare desk she had, explaining to her exactly what had happened.
"I felt so terrible and alone on Sunday night that I just started cutting...I blacked out at one point, and it's been like that every night since," he told her, ashamed that he would have ever even considered self harm, let alone practice it.
"Have you been experiencing any trouble breathing, light headedness, anything?" Tsunade asked. She was sure of her diagnosis, but needed a few more questions to make sure without running any blood work.
"Yeah, the other day I was feeling really light headed. I got really dizzy and fell on the ground. I was struggling to breath, and eventually everything just went black. I woke up the next morning, and I was late for school, so I just totally dismissed it and yeah." Sasuke grabbed Naruto's hand and squeezed. He smiled softly at Naruto, who returned the smile.
"Okay then, I'm going to prescribe some iron pills and anti-depressants. You'll be on these iron pills for a month, as well as the anti-depressants. Check back with me then and see if you're ready to be off them, if not I'll put you back on them for a few weeks. Pick up the prescription at the hospital's pharmacy, I'll drop it off and let them know that you're going to pick it up. Stay here until I'm back though, okay?" Both boys nodded and she left the room.
"Sasuke?" Naruto said, looking at his friend.
"Yeah?" Sasuke asked, wondering what his friend wanted.
"Thanks for bringing me here. Gaara was pissed that I was leaving with you, but I told him to get over his sorry ass or dump me right there. I guess he must actually like me because he shut up after that. Really though, if you didn't bring me here when you did, I don't know what would have happened."
"Don't mention it." Sasuke kissed Naruto on the cheek, causing the blond to giggle. "Seriously though, do NOT mention it. I don't want to remember the cuts on your arm."
Naruto nodded and sighed. "I just wish there was something that'd help get rid of these faster without them scarring."
"Actually..there is something. There are these silicone sheets I think they're called, you wear them twelve hours daily for up to twelve weeks, and they help get rid of and prevent scars. I can get you them sometime if you want."
"That'd be great. And again, thanks Sasu. I've treated you like shit, and you've been nothing but kind and wonderful to me." Naruto smiled at his friend. "Really, thanks."
He didn't know what came over him, but Naruto really felt like he should kiss Sasuke. He was timid at first, slowly moving his face toward Sasuke's. Before Sasuke started to move his face closer to Naruto's, he wasn't so sure he should do it, but they did. They kissed, and they weren't drunk or pretending to date. It wasn't really considered a friendly kiss or like the one they shared when they were drunk. This one was much more like two lovers reuniting for the first time after a long time apart. It felt good. In fact, it didn't just feel good, it felt wonderful. It felt right.
Naruto began to tear up, and Sasuke broke away to wipe away the blond boys tears. "What's wrong Naruto? Why are you crying?"
"I-I just...I don't know," Naruto admitted. "I guess that..this is just the best I've felt in a while. Better than Sunday morning, when we were just cuddling together and nothing was really bothering us. I mean yeah, it was nice being so close to you then, but..Gaara kind of ruined it. I guess what I'm trying to say is that this is just the first time in a while that I've felt like I belonged." Naruto smiled sheepishly, allowing Sasuke to wipe away the newly formed tears.
"It's the same for me too. I mean, yeah, right when your phone went off, I was kind of jealous. I just wanted you to myself that morning. And Naruto..about the thing with Sakura..."
"Don't. I get it if you needed to. I mean, it must've felt nice, right? I honestly wouldn't know, I've never had sex, but still, you just needed to feel good after being let down, right?"
Sasuke shook his head. "That's not it at all. And please, let me explain myself. When you looked hurt after what I said...well that hurt. And when you rejected me, which I honestly deserved for being a complete prick then, it really hurt. You were all I had on my mind, and I wanted you with me. I guess I just needed to get my mind off of you, like I used to do a lot of the time before you got into that accident, and so I went to Sakura. She was always willing to help me every time I needed to get my mind off of you. I'm sorry for having done what I did, and I'm sorry for having picked all those fights with Gaara this past week. I guess I just got sort of jealous." Sasuke smiled sheepishly, eyes averted to the floor.
"Y-you were jealous?" Naruto's eyes widened and Sasuke nodded his head. "But..why? You're Sasuke Uchiha. Everyone loves you, everyone wants to be your friend. According to everyone who doesn't really know you, you have no imperfections and you really are sex on legs."
"I'm not Sasuke Uchiha, I'm just Sasuke. None of them love me, and they only want my family's money. You know as well as I do that I certainly have my share of imperfections, and it might be true that I'm hot as hell, but I don't try to own it. And Naruto, I was jealous of Gaara because he had you. You can't be bought, you were my first friend, you're still my best friend, and you're amazing. You look better than I ever could, you have special privelages that you don't even know about, you have the wonderful ability to make everyone like you and get along and be friends, and me? I have none of that. I have my money, my looks, Itachi, Kyuubi, and you. Yes, you're my everything, so if you take away the people in my life, I honestly have nothing."
"I never thought of it that way.." Sasuke sighed and gave Naruto a chaste kiss on the lips.
"Oh well, I have it out of my system, and you now know the truth."
"Yeah..and since we're all making confessions now... I really don't like Gaara like I'm supposed to. Yeah, he's a great guy and he's good looking, but I don't love him as something more. And with Sai? Well..Sai just reminded me of you. But with Kiba? Yeah, I actually thought I could learn to love him, which is why I cried when he and I broke up. Every guy I've dated in the past, I thought I might be able to learn to love them, or they at least reminded me of you in a way. Gaara, well..he's quiet around a lot of people and can handle himself, so it reminded me of you..but I guess I always knew the truth. I'd never be able to love any of them, and none of them could replace what I really wanted. I guess what I'm trying to say is.."
"Naruto.."
"Don't interrupt me, Sasuke... What I'm trying to say.."
"Naruto," Sasuke said determinedly. He was going to do this now, whether he wanted to or not.
"What?" Naruto was aggravated at the raven's interruption.
All negative emotions disappeared when Sasuke kissed him, though. Naruto was caught by surprise, so he didn't know how to react, but slowly he started to kiss back. Sasuke pulled away and whispered, "I love you."
This is certainly not the end, even if it is my longest chapter yet and both teens confessed to each other how they felt, or at least Sasuke did anyway. I'm still working on this story, and I'm still about a chapter ahead of what I'm posting. Thanks to everyone who has stuck by this story so far, it really means a lot. And with all the new story alerts and favorites I'm getting? It's amazing to know that this is just continuously getting better, and it honestly means so much. Thanks so much, to everyone. You guys are wonderful.
