Disclaimer: Naruto, his friends and the world he lives in don't belong to me but to Masashi Kishimoto. I write this story only for my pleasure and I don't make any money with it.


A/N at the end of the chapter


Chapter Six: Not a kagebunshin

Sasuke was the first to wake up in the morning. He looked at the floor: His three teammates had been able to find Naruto's apartment and get a key. There was a smell of alcohol in the air.

He looked to his side: Naruto was still sleeping. He had not changed at all, Sasuke thought, still sleeping on his back, exposing himeslf to anyone who might attack, and he still wore T-shirts with childish prints, be it an animal, the name of a band, or a symbol taken from a popular story or a game. Sasuke did not recognize the symbol on the T-Shirt Naruto was wearing now, but it was clearly ridiculous. Why did Naruto dress like a child when he might have been quite a good-looking man?

He sat up to be better able to look at him. Naruto, when he was sleeping, looked really idiotic, and he could only hope that with him, Sasuke, it was different.

Soon they would leave again, he realized. When his team had woken up they would ask Naruto where they could do their grocery shopping, and then say good-bye. They might visit on their way back. He just hoped that his team would understand in time that the place they were looking for did not exist, so that Naruto was still there when they were passing through this town again.

He felt some regret at the thought of leaving – not much, and remembering that staying meant to betray his family soon let him forget this regret. Enjoy the break while it lasts, use it to form plans and hope that his team would soon regain its sense of reality.

Recall every second of the day and night he had spent with Naruto, get aware of all the details and store them safely in his memory, so that later, when they were searching for that Blessed Realm again, he could dwell on them in the evenings when Karin and Suigetsu were busy with their pointless arguments.

Extend these last moments as much as possible. Look at Naruto while he could do it without being noticed – his messed up hair, his half-open mouth. Reach out to touch him, just his shoulder, very carefully – suddenly his wrist was caught by Naruto. Probably he had not been asleep at all.

"I did not want to hurt you", Sasuke said.

"You really think I am a complete idiot, do you? Did you believe I would let you stay in my room even in my bed, while I was asleep, if I did not trust you not to try and kill me?"

Sasuke felt embarrassed and a bit ashamed.

"You did not try to kill me in Orochimaru's lair either, did you? Or when my kagebunshin found you in the woods?"

Sasuke was silent, being reminded of what he was most ashamed of.

"No, I didn't", he answered to Naruto. "I just didn't want to be dragged back to Konoha. I didn't wish you any harm, nor do I now."

Naruto was waiting for what Sasuke had not mentioned, and Sasuke knew that he was waiting and that he knew that Sasuke knew that he was waiting. He knew that he had to talk; he had often imagined this moment and sought for words, though he would not have believed it if anyone had told him that it would be like this, with him sitting in Naruto's bed and Naruto lying by his side. None of the words he had thought of would do now.

"In the Valley of the End, however", he began, speaking the words one by one as if it hurt getting them out of his mouth. "There it was different. There I really wanted to kill you. I was out of my mind then, and foolish. Every moment since then I have been glad that I did not succeed."

"But you could have killed me, if you had wanted to, couldn't you? You beat me – I was unconscious and helpless and at your mercy."

Sasuke remembered well – how he had missed Naruto's vital points in his first attack, and how Naruto had been lying on the ground then, very similar to how he was lying on his bed now, and how he had simply not been able to take his life and turn his living breathing friend into a cold corpse. He remembered the wave of tenderness that had overcome him then, just as it overcame him now so that he had to restrain himself from reaching out and touching Naruto's shoulder again.

"I came back to my senses in time", he explained, not wanting to go further into detail.

Suddenly Naruto remembered how he had been overcome by the kyuubi during his fight against Pain. He as well had been glad to discover that he was not responsible for any more deaths or destruction.

"I did not want to be like Itachi who was ready to kill innocent people", Sasuke continued. He did not mention that it had also been his desire to assert himself as independent of Itachi that had held back his hand then. "I should have remembered in time. I am sorry. Please forgive me."

"Oh, never mind", Naruto answered. "It happens to all of us that sometimes we are out of our mind."

Sasuke felt awkward, not relieved as he had imagined that Naruto's forgiveness would make him feel. Rather a bit rejected – maybe he had deserved it. At least he had now summoned the courage to ask for forgiveness, and no longer had to worry about it.

Naruto got up. "So at least it was not on a whim that you spared me."

"No, certainly not, what makes you think so?" Sasuke asked back, rather confused.

"You told me yourself when we met in Orochimaru's lair."

Sasuke dimly remembered that somehow he had had to dispel Naruto's conviction that he actually cared for him and might return to Konoha. He had to be careful now, too.

"I have no idea", he said. "I must have been talking rubbish."

"Yes, probably. Let's go and get some rolls while your team is still asleep so that we can have breakfast together."

Before you leave, he wanted to add, but he did not have the heart for it. "There's a bakery on the other side of the street."

They got ready - staying at Naruto's place had its advantages, Sasuke thought while he was having a shower – then they got to the bakery.

"Don't buy your groceries here"; Naruto told Sasuke while he waited in the queue. "They are too expensive here. There's a supermarket that will open around noon."

Sasuke had not thought of it – he had been staring at the newspapers: there was the Sunday edition of the Morning Messenger, but also the other newspaper with the picture of Konoha on the title page. Sasuke tried to decipher it from where he was standing without being too obvious about it. He cursed Itachi for giving him the Mangekyou Sharingan, and himself for using it – his eyesight was definintely getting worse.

Naruto took the Morning Messenger from the rack when it was finally his turn. "You don't need to buy that one", he told Sasuke. "We've got it at home and won't need another copy."

Sasuke cursed himself and decided not to ask Naruto for that newspaper.

"Anyway", Naruto continued when he had finally purchased his rolls and croissants so that they could leave the bakery. "Why did you just touch me for if it was not to hurt me?"

He must not know the truth, Sasuke thought, the truth that there had been no other reason for touching Naruto than that he had wanted to do it.

"I needed to know whether you are real", he said. "Your true self and not a kagebunshin."

"You really seem to think I am an idiot, don't you? I have wanted you back for more than three years now – how could I leave the experience of meeting you to a kagebunshin? And if I were a kagebunshin, be assured that my true self would be on his way to meet you as soon as possible."

Sasuke looked cute when he was confused, Naruto realized, without any of his usual appearance of coolness and superiority, and he decided to continue: "Maybe you should postpone your departure, to make sure that you meet my original self as well, just in case that I might be a kagebunshin. For my original self is much more awesome than all my kagebunshin in combination."

A/N: This chapter was originally part of chapter five, but I divided the chapter in two parts mostly because last week there was a lot of work to do and I simply was not able to edit the whole chapter in one go. I wondered whether I should post two chapters this week, to make up for it, but then I decided to use the time I gained for some planning and on the first draft. (The story is not prewritten...) Anyway, the next chapter will bring some new events.