NARUTO'S POV

I faced off against Sasuke as Kakashi came up behind him, putting a hand on his shoulder in silent warning. Sakura stood off to the side, a couple of feet away, panting slightly from her sprint over. I knew that she was going to blame me for the whole thing, but I didn't care. Sasuke needed knocking down a peg and I was angry enough to do it. Just a few seconds ago he had whispered into my ear, saying that I knew why he was being such an ass. An involuntary shiver had stolen through me from the warmth of his breath. It made me furious that my body had responded that way, and before I could even think to stop myself, I had punched him in the face and shoved him off me. Not that I would have stopped myself; the bastard usually deserved a punch in the face.

"Pfft, he's not worth it anyway." Sasuke turned, shucking Kakashi's hand from his shoulder as he walked away.

I watched him for a few seconds, irritated that he probably thought he had won. After considering the repercussions for wiping the smug look of his face for a few seconds, I decided that any consequences would be worth it, and sprinted after him; shouting his name to get his attention. As he turned around I barrelled straight into him, knocking him to the ground and landing on him with a jarring thud. Before he could try to knock me off him I grabbed his shoulders and pushed them hard into the ground.

"GET OFF HIM NARUTO!" Came Sakura's angry yell, a distance behind us, followed by a heavy sigh from Kakashi and him telling her to leave us to it for now.

I looked down at the Uchiha's shocked face, a grin spreading across my own at my victory. "Not so great being on the other end, eh Sasuke?"

A pink stain spread across his cheeks as he replied quietly through gritted teeth "Naruto. Get. Off." As he spoke, another bead of blood grew in the corner of his mouth, drawing my attention to his lips. For a split second the memory of his lips pressing against mine flashed through my mind and it was as though I could feel them again. Embarrassed, I shut the thought down, shaking my head as though to throw it from my mind.

"Seriously, Naruto." Sasuke must have taken the shake of my head as the response to his demand. I looked back down at his face and frowned, noticing that his pupils were dilated. Gradually I began noticing other things; his teeth were still clenched together, his jaw was set in a determined line and he was breathing more shallowly. He hadn't struggled to free himself once, even though I knew my crushing his shoulders into the hard ground had to hurt. Under my scrutiny he averted his gaze.

"Please..." He gritted out, so quietly that even I barely heard him. I couldn't remember the sullen bastard ever having said the word 'please' before. Confused, I found myself frowning more deeply, before realising what he hadn't wanted me to notice. I was straddling his hips, and the action of leaning forward to apply pressure to his shoulders had pressed our crotches together, his a growing bulge beneath mine.

I leapt up and back in an instant, panicked and confused; I couldn't stop the rush of words escaping me loudly "Sasuke! You.. It…was…No. No way, you weren't-? What the hell?!' A frustrated sound escaped me as I failed to form a coherent sentence. Sasuke was suddenly on his feet, moving in close and hissing at me to shut up. Instantly I lowered my voice, remembering where we were and who could overhear us.

"What the hell was that?!" I growled quietly at him. Kakashi and Sakura had come no closer, and because no punches had been thrown, Kakashi hadn't moved to intervene either; I exhaled gratefully, desperately trying to keep my head.

"What do you think it was, moron?! I told you to get off me!" He hissed back at me in a low voice.

"You! You provoked me first!" I kept my voice low "You think I'll just take it? No way in hell, asshole, I'll give as good as I get! I just didn't expect you to...to..." I trailed off, not knowing how to put into words what had just happened. I blushed furiously; embarrassed and more confused than ever.

Barely above a whisper, Sasuke practically barked at me; "I couldn't help it you idiot! I provoked you to train harder; I didn't expect you to climb on top of me!"

Indignantly, I retorted loudly; "I did not, you rat bastard! You're the one who-"

"Shut. Up!"

I lowered my voice again quickly "The one who... The one who started all this! You're so mean, and then you kissed me! I can't take it! Pick something and stick to it, asshole; then at least I'll know what to beat your ass for!"

He stopped for a second before responding with even more vehemence "I can't pick one, stupid! I want you, but you really piss me off too; that's not how it works, dobe."

Stunned into silence I stared at him for a second, not knowing how to respond to the strange insult/compliment, before deciding not to respond at all. I expelled an exasperated breath and turned to walk back to the giant apparatus, suddenly needing another outlet for my frustration. Sasuke fell into step with me silently, a scowl on his face.

I knew that I shouldn't have attacked him; I knew that I shouldn't have let him bait me so easily. I just couldn't help myself when it came to Sasuke; no one made me angrier than the Uchiha heir, despite the fact that he has my first real friend. We trained together constantly, went on missions, and had even been to Ichiraku a couple of times together with Sakura. We practically spent every hour of the day together now. He made me want to become even stronger; to be a better person. But he also annoyed the ever loving crap out of me. I sighed. Maybe I could understand where he was coming from a little. Not that I'd ever admit it to the asshole, I assured myself silently.

I glanced over at him and saw that he was looking at me too. Automatically I pulled a face as I shot him a glare; hoping that he assumed the pink tinge to my cheeks was born of anger. The last thing I needed from him was more teasing. He glared right back at me. After the way his body had reacted to me being on top of him, I imagined that he must feel pretty embarrassed too. I blushed deeper. Well at least now I knew that it wasn't just some horrible joke that he was playing on me; he actually liked me like that. Wait, how did I mean that?

I didn't like him, I told myself. He was my friend. Probably my best friend if I was being honest with myself; despite how horrible we were to each other. I couldn't jeopardise that by liking him. Besides, he was a guy, and an asshole to boot. I didn't know anyone other than Sasuke who liked someone of the same sex, so it's not like I could even ask how it was supposed to work. Were they supposed to piss you off so much that you wanted to kill them? I was sure that the Uchiha would say yes. I thought about asking Kakashi sensei, but his last strange non-answer hadn't helped at all after Sasuke had kissed me.

I was going to have to figure it out for myself. I sighed again. Stupid Sasuke. Asshole.

As we arrived back at the giant monkey bars I saw the real reason that Kakashi and Sakura hadn't come over to us before. Iruka sensei stood with them, chatting happily. He looked over at us and waved in greeting "Hey Naruto, Sasuke. I hope you're both training hard!" Sasuke nodded silently in greeting, as I exclaimed happily; "You bet, Iruka sensei!" my mood lifted almost instantly at the sigt of my favourite teacher.

"Are you okay Sasuke?" Came Sakura's concerned voice.

"Go away." He tossed back harshly, before turning away to walk back to the wooden apparatus.

A small stab of pity lanced me as I gazed over at her. She might be an obnoxious know it all, but being constantly rejected by the person you like had to be horrible. Realising how mine and Sasuke's situation was similar, I groaned to myself, really not wanting to have to apologise to the sadistic asshole on top of everything else.

"What's wrong Naruto?" Iruka asked.

Brought back from my thoughts, I quickly replied, grinning widely for emphasis "Oh it's nothing Iruka sensei! I just wanted to stay and chat with you, but I have to train. No way in hell I'm gonna let Sasuke beat me!" I punched the air, having riled myself up a little "YEAH!" I turned and ran towards the first log, ready to put my all into it until I got across the damn thing, and maybe even beat the Uchiha in the process.