A/N: OMG. It's been so~~ long since the last update. I'm really, really sorry for my late update. I really have no excuses. All I can say it's that...life happened...gave me a wake up on its wake...and took me awhile to get up on my feet again. So sorry, once more--for all those faithfull readers of mine. Here's the last installmente of this fic...and there shall be an epilogue uploaded shortly.

BTW... Happy New Year...and I sincerely hope you all had expended a wonderful Christmas with or without your loved ones.

And oh...I'm raising the rating in this chappie...there's gonna be some lime in here ;D


Ship of Fools

By Yoru no Tsuyu

夜の露

Chapter 10: The Way of Words

Kamikudakinasai
Nomikominasai to
Nando kuchi wo fusaidemo
Kuchibiru yaketadarete toorazu modoshitsuzuketa
Ikazuchi wo otoshi amagumo wo saite
Anata no moto e hakonde
Tsumazuku genjitsu wo samayotte agaiteta

Make it clear
Swallow it
No matter how many times I covered my mouth to stop myself saying it
The words smoldered behind my lips, unable to get out as I pushed them back
I threw down thunder and ripped through the clouds
And flew to you
Stumbling and struggling as I wandered through reality

-Ryuu- Amano Tsukiko


"Teme. We need to talk."

That was what the blond had said, and Sasuke, after painful silence-filled seconds, had closed his eyes, and in emotionless (though, weary) voice, had said, "Fine."

So, now they were sitting in front of each other, each of them expecting the other to say something.

It was Naruto who started talking.

"Teme, about the thing of how I would feel if you were to choose Sakura—"

"Just forget about it."

"I thought about it, and—what?"

"I said—just forget about it." The brunet repeated himself, clearly showing through his voice how annoyed and irritated he was through the whole ordeal.

"Just forget about it, you say?" Naruto repeated, clearly not believing the bastard was saying that, after all that had just—"Just forget about it, you say?" his tone of voice was louder now, and his fists were trembling by his side.

Sasuke seemed to be annoyed. But Naruto—he was angry.

"You bastard!" the blue-eyed boy leaped then, grabbing the other by his collar, "How the hell can you ask me that, after all that I've been through—"

"After all you've been through? After all you've been through!?" Sasuke all but seethed, pushing the other away brusquely. "You don't fucking know what I've been through because of you, you god fucking moron." His eyes were icy-cold, Naruto offhandedly noticed, but he was just too pissed to care.

"You—and it's just all about you, isn't it, Sasuke?"

"But it is about you, right?" the Uchiha's would have been bland and condescending if not for the way his eyes were burning, or the way his fists were beginning to tremble.

They settled for a contest of glares, then. And of wills.

Eventually, Naruto chose to be the wiser and began to talk once more, trying to tame his temper, "Listen, Sasuke, just—listen to me, okay?"

Silence answered him, which he took as a 'yes'.

"You said—you said that I was running away, just ignoring that. And maybe—maybe, at some level, that was the case." The blond took a deep breath, forcing his words and explanations to form into words—he had never been good with them.

"I—I was shocked beyond words, Sasuke. I…" another deep breath was taken as the blond began talking about that incident when Sasuke came back for the first time. It wasn't easy, but he had to do it. No one else could. "I never expected you to do something like that. I always loved you" Naruto hastily then continued, noticing the minute changes in Sasuke's breathing—it wasn't all that obvious, but it was still there, "—yes, as a brother, as family, as my best friend and rival, but I had never pictured you in that way, you know…"

Naruto was idly playing with the end of his pants as he talked about that night, and it was then that he noticed another change in Sasuke out of the corners of his blue eyes—the clenching of fists, the tensing of shoulders, so he hurried, "It was different, I never expected it, and for a time…I tried to make as if it never happened. But…that wasn't because I disliked it. It was more like…because I did like it that I got…scared." The boy pronounced those last words as if swallowing something as thick as honey, bar the sweetness.

"I just…Sasuke," he said, raising his blue eyes for the first time since his explanation began, locking them with those black charcoal like, pleading with them, "I was afraid of losing what we had—this bond, this connection, that not even you were able to sever it. I was so afraid, that I shut myself, denying seeing whatever that was in front of me.

"But…"

"But…?" the brunet now prodded, immediately hating himself at how…helpless he sounded. At how weak he sounded.

Naruto didn't seem to have noticed it—and if he did, he wasn't saying anything about it.

"But running away isn't the answer, either. Nothing will change out of it—and it only would end hurting people." You, Sakura-chan, and myself, was left unsaid.

"I…I like you." he said (blurted out), and he knew (he felt) he was blushing, and he (clumsily) reached out to grab a pale hand between his hands, squeezing them.

—The blond boy absentmindedly noticed his hands were sweaty—he had never been more nervous in his life—

"Sasuke, I…I'm sorry I…" he was getting scared at just how unresponsive Sasuke was. Maybe it was already too late—maybe—

"Shut up." The other said.

"Sasuke—just listen to me—"

"Naruto. Shut. Up." And with just that, the paler of the two leaned in, and lightly brushed their lips together in an almost shy and sweet gesture.

After the kiss (that successfully managed to shut the blond up), the older of the two quietly added, "I like you too. Moron." And that name-calling wasn't just a name-calling anymore, and it almost held an endearing tone to it—as endearing as that word could get, and as Sasuke could get.

And Naruto's breath almost hitched, because that barely-there smile was almost breathtaking.

And maybe it was a mirror of his own, and he couldn't be sure, but that moment—it came close to happiness.


As soon as Sakura was about to knock on the door—hands raised, almost touching Sasuke-kun's home's entrance—she noticed something was different. There was…noise, an unusual loud noise coming from somewhere within the house. Voices, rather. Raised voices. Familiar voices.

Sakura frowned.

That wasn't exactly what she had hoped to find once she decided to visit them again (yes, visiting them this time; Naruto, too).

She thought that she had heard one of the hunter-nin stationed there high upon the roof sighing—though that might have just been her imagination. And just as she was about to knock on again, she felt another presence approaching her—peaceful, light, delicate, but resolute and strong all the while.

"Hinata." She greeted the Hyuuga heiress, giving the woman a small smile.

"Sakura-san." The white-eyed one greeted back, giving a tiny and kind smile of her own. She had her normal attire that she wore at the hospital, though she was wearing her long dark hair in a braid. There was a bag on her right hand, as well.

"Food for Naruto?" Sakura inquired, amused at how that still had the effect of producing a blush on fair-skinned Hinata. It went without saying that she still had tender feelings towards the blond idiot—make no mistakes, though; she loved Neji very much, and that love wasn't on the brotherly side anymore.

"Well, yes. It had been a while since I brought Naruto-kun anything and I got…worried." She explained, frowning a little. Then, as if noticing something, the dark haired med-nin asked, "Isn't there…a lot of noise coming from Sasuke-san's house?"

"Yes, that was what I'd just noticed." The green-eyed woman agreed with her, narrowing her eyes. "Well then, the only way we might find out might be—"

"Don't worry." Hinata interrupted, a little, soft smile adorning her face, her Byakugan activated. Sakura wouldn't have guessed Hinata to be…well, bold. Then she was snapped out of her musings as she noticed the Hyuuga heiress blushing, abruptly deactivating her blood-line. "But… it'd probably be better if we just came back another …time." By the time she ended saying this, she was blushing scarlet.

Sakura wondered what Hinata was referring to, until a realization crossed her mind, making her smile a resigned one.

"Well then, good luck you two." The pinkette whispered at that compound's direction, "You're certainly gonna need it."

Then she turned around, and followed Hinata's silhouette's direction. She was going to find out if the other nin had any free time for a cup of tea, and past times' reminiscences.


The day had started fairly normal, and so the blond hadn't quite expected things to take the turns they did.

He had woken up, and upon finding that the teme had yet to wake up, he decided he might as well be nice to him and make them both breakfast.

As he arrived his destination (the kitchen), he started to make the motions of preparing it. As he was doing so, his mind took him back to the day before and its happenings. He could honestly say he was happy, but he knew that wouldn't change the clashes he was sure they were going to have. But…he felt at peace, and wherever this change was going to take them, he would follow it without wavering. It might be hard, but even still—

A burnt smell snapped him out of his contemplations, and he noticed he had managed the act of burning such a fairly easy meal. Making a face and cursing under his breath as he turned off the fire, he picked the pan and grumbled as he made his way to put it under the faucet's water, "Had it been ramen, this wouldn't have happened."

"It's not the miso's fault that you had managed to burnt it." A voice (a male, cocky one) said behind him, and without the need to turn and look at the other in the face he knew the bastard was smirking, damnit.

He did it anyways.

"This is all your fault." He said, crossing his arms over his chest sulkily (and childishly, as well).

"How come any of this is my fault?" Sasuke asked, raising one of his fine brows.

"You threw my ramen away." The blond's sulk only intensified at the memory of his beloved lost ramen and its demise.

"That was because you don't seem to eat anything but ramen." The brunet said, crossing his arms as well.

"So?"

"So? That's not nutritious—it's just junk food."

"Junk food—it served me well enough till now, teme." The blond countered back, stubbornly, and on his way of getting pissed.

"Look at how it served." The Uchiha retorted, blandly.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" without his noticing, the Kyuubi holder began raising his voice.

"That that might have influenced on how you ended up being." Sasuke answered, giving the blond a disdainful look from head to toe, and back to head again.

"Why, you—" that was all Naruto managed to say as he launched himself to the bastard, fully intending on wiping that arrogant smirk out the teme's face with a punch or two.

All thoughts of breakfast fled them as they rolled and tumbled on the kitchen and its floor, managing to knock some chairs there—and they almost succeeded on knocking the table, too.

None of them seemed to care.

This highly resembled easier times—the times when they both naively thought they could do everything they wanted, without really thinking of the consequences. And it felt so familiar, distinctly familiar, and it was easy to fall back into it, indulging.

Naruto knew it was very stupid for him to start a fight for just what the teme had said, and really, he should just stop, but this felt so much like before that he couldn't help it. And just as he knew his eyes might be reflecting these feelings (they were full of mirth), he also knew they were in Sasuke's, too (they were all over his eyes, even if the Uchiha prick tried hard to conceal it).

And this was when things detoured. Though, if Naruto had just thought better about it, he would have realized that in fact, they were related, and thus he should've seen it coming.

Naruto'd been striving for the upper hand, and really, he'd been trying not to laugh right then in respect of the memory of his ramen, damnit—but it was just so damned hard—and Sasuke, feeling the dobe's moment of slight hesitation and slack of strength and of concentration, he successfully flipped them over, with him on top.

Sasuke's unusual smirk was replacing his now usual blank expression of his face, and began putting more force into his grip, maneuvering his legs so that the dobe wouldn't try and get free.

None of them noticed (nor seemed to care) the hazardous state of the kitchen and living room—chairs tumbled down, at least two broken vases, tablecloth soiled and on the floor, books covering the floor as carpets.

Later they would be grateful (especially Sasuke) that those were the only places in such a state of chaos.

But back on track, Naruto was struggling to make the teme get off him (as Sasuke's expectations) when he felt a pair of lips against his own. At first he was surprised as those lips that were moving slowly, gently and with care, coaxing him to respond, then he remembered who he was with, and who those lips belonged to.

And this time around, instead of rejecting them, the blond welcomed them, embracing them with his own.

He hadn't had that many kisses before, though that didn't mean he didn't know what they were like or that he was inexperienced of them (there was a girl who he'd been dating when he was out of Konoha, training with Jiraiya, for a short while), but they couldn't possibly be compared to this—not even to that last kiss Sasuke gave him that night.

And in that moment, tan hand gently caressing dark locks as their lips danced and meshed together, they forgot about the world—it was just them (even when they were definitely all but alone, what with the ANBU practically surrounding the house—even when the Uchiha hadn't tried to put even a foot out of the place).

As things were, things were starting evolving fast; the air seemed to be raising its temperature swiftly by the seconds as their lips continued their movements against each other, exploring their feelings for one another—and they were slow, they were careful, and they were searching.

Hands, by their own volition, began their own journey. First, on clothed skin—from head sliding on tangles of hair to face, neck and shoulders; staying there, then up once more to shoulder blades and then starting once again their descent to chest and abdomen, down to waist and hips—and then, to the skin beneath them—sneaking up abdomen and brushing (teasing) on nipples.

In any case, it was Naruto who was the first to arrive at this point, Sasuke pleasantly beneath him (one had to agree that the blond nin was just as guilty), gasping into the kiss.

Eventually, their lips separated, being harder for them to keep breathing through their noses, the excitement of their activities hazing their ninja training and senses, puff of warm air surrounding them through their heaving breaths. Even when there was a crimson color dusting the teme's cheeks, he still had it in him to smirk at the other.

And Naruto was showing a smirk of his own, too—as it had always been a competition for them (on happier times) and Naruto was more than happy to simply enjoy it.

Deftly, without any kind of warning sign, the blond's right tanned hand began its (merry) descent down south, brushing something that had quite steadily been growing through the last few minutes of their activities. Naruto's expression, at his discovery, changed from of awe (at being the one responsible for it) to one of a foxy, mischievous, ear to ear grin—the one that almost always meant trouble was on its way.

Then added to that Sasuke's challenging look that just dared the other to do whatever he planned to do—that ending result meaning immediate, certain trouble.

"Excited, huh?" Sasuke felt slightly disturbed at how much that lewd tone resembled Jiraiya's.

"What do you think?" the Uchiha said as bland as he could, raising one of those dark brows just for emphasis.

"No need to be a sourpuss, teme." Naruto answered, still smirking as he squeezed quickly on Sasuke's arousal, and then letting go. Sasuke then, seemingly tired of letting the dobe having his way without probably even knowing what he was doing, flipped them over, him on top, impatiently so as he quickly and almost brusquely sneaked his hand beneath (too much bright) orange pants and dark blue boxers, coming with a secure hold of Naruto's arousal.

"So are you, usuratonkachi." And arrogance just spilled from the teme's voice.

"Hadn't…noticed." The blond boy responded, breath and voice heaving as that marvelous, callous hand began its pumping movement up and down, up and down.

Naruto, seeing the damn smirking face of one certain bastard, and not being one submissive (neither he liked the idea of being left behind), he reached up and, pushing easily apart Sasuke's yukata, grabbed hold of the Uchiha's cock, and squeezed tight.

The sudden sound of intake of breath on the bastard's part hadn't gone unnoticed by the blond.

"Gotcha." He said, breath labored.

The brunet managed to roll his eyes despite the pleasure that tan hand provided as it moved.

Puffs of warm air emanated from their mingled breaths, the temperature on the room getting warmer and warmer by the minute, sounds of their labored breaths filling the air.

Looking up, the blond was mesmerized by the look on the teme's face—unbidden, truly unbidden for the first time in a long time—no, that was wrong; he had never seen the other so unbidden before with something that wasn't anger. Sasuke's face had that pink tonality around the cheeks, and those pale lips were parted—it was, indeed, something till then unseen—and it felt good knowing that it was him the one causing it.

It felt exhilarating.

What he didn't know was that thoughts of that very same wave-length were crossing through the last Uchiha's head; and that the only reason the brunet kept his eyes closed was to avoid coming right then and there—something that would have been very mortifying and embarrassing: coming from just merely looking.

At some point, Sasuke, whom was sitting on top of the blond, changed positions somewhat—he changed from being atop the dobe (whom sat more upright, then) to one more of an equal position to Naruto's, his warm puffs of breaths fanning the blonde's ear, none of them ever breaking contact.

The moment was building and building, pleasure escalating and escalating, until the dam broke down, washing them with that white all building pleasure—

Naruto came first, hard, Sasuke's name panted in the Uchiha's ear—which just seemed to trigger the Uchiha's own orgasm, coming not so long after, a breathless' call of Naruto's name leaving his parted lips.

It took them a while to regain their semblance of composure (and to force to move themselves from their current position), with the calming effects of the after-glow surrounding them, washing them.

Naruto was looking at the residues of the teme's orgasm left in his right hand with something like marvel on his eyes, something like awe, like it just had the answers to all his questions.

Aside from that part of his brain that said he was a pervert (something that Jiraiya would be so proud of Naruto for, saying something in the lines of 'at last all his efforts were worth it'), which the blond just tried to brush it aside, because damn, that was not the answer he was looking for. But then he couldn't help but think that that Ero-sennin would definitely be crying when he found out his choice of a partner, going all teary-mode and wailing how all of his efforts were in vain.

Contradictory, really.

"Usuratonkachi."

That took his attention.

"What, teme?" he said, a scowl on his face, kind of irritating of how easily Sasuke could ruin the mood.

"You ruined it all by yourself with the way you were looking at your hand, like that pervert sensei of yours." The brunet said, scowling at the blond's hand.

Had the blond just said that out loud?

"Yes you did. Dobe."

Then Naruto had just the nerve to wriggle those blond eyebrows of his, suggestively.

Sasuke groaned, and stood up, disgusted at just how much the blond resembled that pervert sensei of his.

"Tsk, Sasuke. You're no fun." Naruto said, with mock-hurt tone on his voice, but his eyes full of mirth, clearly saying otherwise. He stood up, as well.

There, in that moment, eyes locked and connected, a clash of their own, they knew that even when it surely wasn't going to be a bed of roses, they were alright.

They were going to be alright.

Because they were stubborn like that.

続く···

To Be Continued...


A/N: Hoped you all liked this...and as I said before...there's going to be a short epilogue shortly after this.