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Chapter Eleven: Words Between Us

Naruto woke up early, his eyelids fluttering to adjust to the small beams of light breaking through his closed curtains. Birds chirped from outside the window, indicating that the long day of rain was finally at an end and that maybe, just maybe, the sun would show itself today.

His head slid over to the side of his pillow. The clock read a little past 6:30 in the morning.

It was astounding how much life had happened within the past six and a half hours for him. It was only a few short hours ago that he was making love to his Uchiha bodyguard, loosing his homosexual virginity to him, and enjoying every piece of Sasuke, all while getting to know the male a bit better. Flashbacks of warm, near-distant memories rang through his head; he remembers all of the thrusting and rocking and Sasuke's squirms and the feeling of his satiny silk hair between his hands and in his fingernails. The way they were both sweating as if they were standing in front of the sun, while cold drops of hard rain showered the outdoors, pelting loudly against the windows.

They had first spent a while preparing. Not so much Sasuke, but more so Naruto, whom refused to listen to any direction Sasuke was giving him and only became more anxious and loud as Sasuke stayed calm and collected. After an hour of prepping/calming down, Sasuke finally gave up on trying to be on top and resorted back to being on the bottom, to which Naruto happily complied. Once Naruto had finished (and still managed to come inside of Sasuke after multiple death threats to not do that "or else") Sasuke took to the top with a vengeance. They spent another hour or so making out and wrestling in a misplaced form of frustrated romance before they fell asleep. Naruto recalled waking up in the middle of the night to his bodyguard pressing the back of his naked body against his stomach and Naruto followed by wrapping his arm around the male's chest, hugging him closely into his own naked body.

Naruto flipped onto his back and stared up at the blank white ceiling above him, listening to the brisk noises of early morning outside. He licked his lips. He was more tired - physically, thoughtfully and emotionally - than he was when he went to sleep.

It was a strange feeling. Maybe it was because his only other sexual encounters were with the same girl - Hinata Hyuuga, the daughter of one of his father's many wealthy investors. Maybe it was because this was the first time he was sober during sex. Maybe it was because his stomach felt like steel. He wasn't sure. He wasn't sure why he had a strange feeling, nor why his stomach felt like steel. What he did know, however, was that all of the answers were sitting inside of the black-haired male beside him, sound asleep and probably dreaming of corporate slaughters or some weird Uchiha ritual that he was missing out on while on assignment.

Naruto looked over at Sasuke. He was now laying on his belly, his face buried deep in the palm of his hand. He looked peaceful. The opposite of Naruto, who felt sweaty and disoriented and had a lump in his chest causing his heart to palpitate. He leaned over and placed his lips delicately on top of Sasuke's, diving softly, before going all the way in. Sasuke woke up, but kept his eyes shut. He opened his arms up for Naruto to climb in before he opened his legs to do the same.

"It's not that bad."

"Yes it is!"

"You're being very dramatic."

"You don't know what it's like," Naruto said with a hearty laugh. He climbed into the backseat of his limousine, balancing the chopsticks on his ramen cup so it didn't spill anywhere. It was nearing noon and the only things that had changed since he woke up at six am was that they had made love more and more. They got dressed and ate breakfast and got back in bed and made more love before Naruto was due to work.

"Yes, actually, I do," Sasuke replied in some sort of a hushed tone before nodding a 'thank you' at the driver as he shut the door on the Uchiha. He scooted in and sat close to Naruto. "I went first, remember?"

"It's nicer on top," Naruto told him admittedly, shoving a chopstick-full of ramen into his mouth.

Sasuke sniggered in reply before running his fingers through his hair. He watched the blonde finish off his second ramen cup and wash it down with a warm soda can he had found underneath his bed ten minutes earlier. He was repulsive and messy. But Sasuke sort of liked that. He appreciated the polar dichotomy between the two of them.

"Wanna know a secret?" Naruto smiled slyly.

"Sure, what is it?"

Naruto grinned widely. "You're the first person I've ever brought home."

Sasuke perked up. "You mean romantically?"

Naruto nodded and chuckled.

"You've never brought any ladies home before?"

Naruto shook his head with a crooked smile.

"Really?" Sasuke was surprised, much to Naruto's enjoyment. "Well that's...nice, I guess."

"Yeah," Naruto sighed. "Not that I really took you home, though. Actually, now that I think about it, I tried keeping you as far from my home as possible in the beginning. So I guess you aren't really the first person I've brought home, then."

"Shut up," Sasuke struck his leg in mock insult. Naruto flinched and laughed wildly.

"I guess Minato brought you home first, not me," he laughed more.

"Don't act like you've tried so hard to get rid of me," Sasuke responded, his ego bruised. He folded his arms and looked out the window at the passing flashes of green and blue and white.

"Oh, I did," Naruto protested whimsically.

"What about that time I got lost in Konoha?" Sasuke reminded him. "You could have easily gotten rid of me that night."

Naruto blushed and looked away, pouting. "My parents would have killed me if I didn't go get you."

"Oh, please," Sasuke said. "You cared about my wellbeing, just admit it."

"No!"

"Yes," Sasuke smiled.

Naruto's face turned pink and he shoved the can of soda up by his mouth to hide the overwhelming color.

"It's okay to care about people, you know, Naruto-san," Sasuke told him.

"Will you quit calling me Naruto-san?" Naruto snapped back. "It's just Naruto."

"You're above me in this business partnership," Sasuke retorted. "It'd be rude of me not to call you san."

"This isn't a business partnership anymore, Sasuke," Naruto said. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked dreamily at the Uchiha sitting beside him in his car.

"Don't try to change the subject," Sasuke smiled slyly. "Just admit that you cared about me."

"Never!" Sasuke pinched Naruto's inner thigh and he retracted his leg, curling up in a ball on the other side of the car bench. Sasuke lunged forward and grabbed his leg and dragged him down the seat. Naruto let out a laugh before wrestling back away from him and playfully pressing his feet against the Uchiha's chest to keep him at bay. He nimbly threw his arms up before springing up to the side seat of the limo.

"You're crazy," Sasuke laughed.

"You're the one trying to pinch me!" Naruto smiled, secretly proud of himself for being able to preform so flawlessly in a moving vehicle. "I should have you fired for insubordination."

"I'm not sure how well that would go for you," Sasuke mused with a soft smile. He rested his elbow on the car door and placed his jaw in his palm.

"What? You don't think anyone would listen to my helpless cries for a non-violet bodyguard?"

"With your violent reputation beseeching you? Not quite," he joked. He paused with a slight frown on his face. "Besides, I think I'm as non-violent as Uchiha's get, aside from my brother," Sasuke replied. He folded his arms and his legs shifted uncomfortably in his black slacks and straight black tie. "Sorry, Naruto-san, you're stuck with me."

Naruto beamed. "Well, if I'm going to get stuck with someone forever, I'd prefer it to be you."

Forever.

The word chimed in Sasuke's ears, leaving his face in a permanent dumbfounded expression that he consciously tried to hide from Naruto. Naruto noticed his wording immediately and looked away, his face on fire.

Forever.

Forever was a long time. Longer than this month, for sure. Sasuke's eyes trailed to the outside world beyond his window, trying to escape the heavy room he was stuck in. The duties of his assignment slapped him across the face and said "forever" to him in a slow, evil voice.

In a shot of remembrance, Sasuke bolted up, recalling the sad, chicken scratch of a goodbye letter that was placed in his bedroom for Naruto to read. He covered his mouth in nausea, wishing that he had destroyed that stupid piece of paper this morning when they were both getting ready to go out for the day. In the very least, he wished he had hid it in a pocket of his leather suitcase. He sighed and began anxiously tapping his fingers against his knee; hopefully Naruto would never know just what that letter entailed. Truthfully, he barely remembered writing most of it. But he understood the gist of what he wrote. And he understood that if Naruto ever saw that note, "forever" would be a far cry from where they would stand with one another. That isn't to say that forever was in their future anyway, because that word itself reminded Sasuke that it was utterly impossible. Regardless, Sasuke never wanted Naruto to read that.

How did he let it get this far? He had asked himself that question every leg of the journey and still he is asking himself that question, damn well knowing the answer. He scanned the outdoors, barely even realizing that the suburban greenery and foliage had shifted into gray buildings and passing people and street lights.

"Oi, Sasuke."

Sasuke looked over at the Namikaze, who was staring unchastely at his pale bodyguard. Naruto came towards Sasuke with a glint in his blue eyes and Sasuke knew exactly what he wanted with him. He wanted to make love to him again. And Sasuke would let him on this day, over and over again, even in the back of his limousine.

-NSNSNSNS-

"What's with you?" Jiraiya gazed over at his godson with a judgmental eye. "You seem...different."

"He actually showered this morning," Sasuke smiled jokingly. Jiraiya laughed loudly as Naruto muttered profanities under his breath to the two of them, tied his apron around his waist and began watering the plants.

"But seriously though," Jiraiya spoke, trying to contain his laughter. Each time he looked over at the Uchiha, who was smirking devilishly to his cup of tea, he began snorting all over again. "There's something different about you. You seem lighter. Happier, I guess the word is?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Naruto brushed the golden locks from his forehead as he drenched a dying plant in water, drowning it to the core, before moving on to the next potted plant. "Nothing's different about me."

"Did you go out with Sakura again?" he asked excitedly.

"Sakura?"

"There's a spring in your step," he smiled and shook Sasuke's shoulders, unable to contain his unfounded enthusiasm.

"Jiraiya, I haven't seen Sakura since you forced me to go on a date with her." Jiraiya stopped shaking Sasuke and asked the bodyguard if this was true. Sasuke confirmed Naruto's statement.

"Well, you must have met someone new, then." Naruto shook his head. Jiraiya cupped his chin in thought. He silently pointed at Sasuke with a questioning stare and a half smile at Naruto, who rolled his eyes and turned away, not dignifying his godfather with a response. Jiraiya collapsed in defeat and hopelessness.

"You're pointing at me?" Sasuke clarified. He scoffed and turned his lip up into a slight snarl. "Don't drag me into this, Jiraiya-san, I'm a professional."

Jiraiya whipped his hands up in defense. "Well I had to ask," he protested.

Sasuke's cold, dead eyes slid over to meet Naruto's quizzically hurt stare. "I'd never," Sasuke said. He reverted to sipping on his cup of tea and Jiraiya surrendered to the argument and retreated to the back room. Naruto's eyes stayed locked on his bodyguard for a few moments before he turned away and watered more plants.

"By the way," the large, white-haired man returned to the door frame. "Don't forget that the art gallery opening is a week from tomorrow." He disappeared into the back room once more, and didn't return.

Naruto examined his emotionless reflection in the window. He'd never? He wasn't saying that last night. Or this morning. Or on the car ride here. Naruto peeked at Sasuke from over his shoulder. His face had a cold, blank expression. It was that same cold, blank expression that Uchiha's were notorious for producing. For displaying right before they were to assassin innocent people for the sake of money, their clan's business. Naruto turned away and he didn't look at Sasuke again during his shift.

The crying whine of the hot teapot rang through Sasuke's deaf ears. He mindlessly whipped the kettle off of the stove, shut the stove off, and poured the boiling water in his mug.

It was late now, and after a several-hour-session of work at the art gallery, Sasuke needed tea. He was safe from Naruto, who was cuddled up in a blanket on the patio smoking a cigarette and talking on the phone with one of his friends. It was dark outside now, and it was late, too. Sasuke hadn't eaten anything all day, but he barely even noticed. "Forever" was on his mind.

It was plaguing his thoughts ever since the word was uttered to him. He couldn't help it. It was like an itch he couldn't scratch; it wasn't going away. It was sticking onto his brain and clouding up his thoughts and obligations and he knew it, but he couldn't stop it.

After returning home from work, Naruto immediately wanted sex. Sasuke, who normally would have scolded him for being so salacious and wanting it so often while secretly wanting it as well, agreed. It wasn't until halfway through their session that Sasuke realized Naruto was upset. He was trying to hurt Sasuke. Eventually, Naruto stopped to talk to him..

"Sauce- Sasuke," he breathed heavily, rocking his hips slowly in a rhythmic, vindictive motion.

"What's wrong?"

"Well I was gunna ask you that same question," Naruto said. His voice was low and polite, a side that Sasuke had never heard before. He was breathing heavier and his hands were squeezed onto the Uchiha's hips as if they were glued there.

"I'm fine," Sasuke lied.

"Well what about today? At the art gallery?"

"I'm not sure I understand what you mean."

"You said you'd never," Naruto repeated, the words cutting him like a double-edged sword.

Sasuke looked over his shoulder and met the blonde eye-to-eye. "I was just covering up our tracks. I don't think it'd be appropriate to be telling people about our personal lives together, especially when we'll be attending that art gallery opening with different people." It was a lie. It was all a lying tale. And Naruto knew it was a lie. And Sasuke knew that Naruto recognized that. It was the only known lie between them. Naruto assumed it was because he wasn't doing Sasuke good enough, and he pressed onward to try and right his wrong. It never occurred to the Namikaze that perhaps it had nothing to do with him at all. The only thing that did occur to him was that Sasuke was distant. His mind was far away. And it was dwelling within the Uchiha Territory.

Sasuke blew lightly on his hot tea before taking a small sip. He eyed Naruto's back on the patio before escaping from the kitchen in silent steps. On his way towards the staircase, his peripheral vision caught the moonlight dripping into the back room where his painting was. Sasuke hesitantly crept towards the dark, unused room.

Sasuke elbowed the door farther open and poked his head in before switching on the lights. The ceiling lamp illuminated the room and his painting - or rather, Naruto's painting - was leaning against the wall, remarkably finished and well-graphed, just as he had left it.

That painting symbolized everything to Sasuke.

Forever.

The word played a grand role in Sasuke's life now.

He always knew how horrible he was acting during the mission. He was cognizant of all of the unprofessional, backstabbing, horrible things he was doing and the domino effect that his actions would have on his clan and his reputation as an Uchiha. His mind was always able to corral those ideas, however.

It was his mother who first commended him on his unwavering discernment. He remembers it well: he was fourteen and coming home from one of his first assignments. His father was angry at him for not sticking to their plan despite the fact that Sasuke's deviation helped the mission to be a success. It was his mother who calmed her husband down and told him that Sasuke's strong will to do what he felt was right was an amazing quality to have, and not one to shoot down.

And here he was: as strong-willed as ever. Always going against his assignment for what he felt was right. That first mission wasn't the last time Sasuke got in trouble for not obeying policy. He had been scolded countless times for going off on his own or creating new plans rather than sticking to the one his higher-ups gave him. This mission? This mission should be different. Sasuke came here promising himself it would be different. But it was no different.

But forever? Forever reminded him of that promise. The promise he made to himself and his father and his brother and his clansmen. He promised to draw out this assignment exactly as it was given to him. Naruto's nonchalant mention of "forever" reinforced his promise. That seven letter word corralled all of his dismissals and actions and the repercussions his thoughtless actions had. While his mind alone was able to push away all of the demons telling him that loving Naruto was wrong, that beautiful, romantic word was a bigger demon than he could ignore. He could not ignore forever.

Sasuke stared blankly into the portrait on the floor. The portrait he was to present at a prestigious gallery opening in one week's time. He could make it. Hopefully he could make it until then. He wasn't sure, but he had to try. And as for Naruto? He wasn't sure about anything in that field.

"But everything's alright, right? No one's died or anything, right?" Naruto rolled his eyes as he listened to his ever-panicked worry wart of a father ramble on and on about the health and welfare of every individual in Konoha.

"Everything's fine, dad," Naruto groaned.

"But you'd tell me if anything was the matter, right?" Minato asked hurriedly.

"Of course," Naruto stated thoughtlessly. He was barely even listening to his dad, he was simply accustomed to these types of random, emotional phone calls. Naruto had gotten so good at dodging his father's feelings that he was subconsciously able to answer yes or no depending on which answer suited Minato's question better. "I tell you everything, don't I?"

"Yes, yes, that's right," Minato breathed out with a sigh of relief. After a long pause he asked, "You haven't violated your probation or anything, right?"

"Dad!"

"Right, right, sorry," he back tracked. "Sasuke has you under control, I'm sure." Naruto smirked in thought, picturing him straddling the Uchiha and having his way with him.

"Yeah, Sasuke's good," he grinned, his crotch hardening at the thought.

"Okay, good, good."

"Hey, dad?"

"Yes son?"

"What time is it in Sunagakure right now?"

"Three am."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Goodnight dad." He hung up the phone and went inside to find his bodyguard.

-NSNSNSNS-

Naruto dragged his comforter around the house in a cape-like fashion, looking for Sasuke. He spotted the lights on in the back room and smiled in triumph before making his way down the long, dark hallway to the single room.

"Hey, you," Naruto said, roughly scratching through the hair on the back of Sasuke's head. Sasuke turned to him. "What are you doing back here?" he looked over at the painting.

"You know," Sasuke said, ignoring the Namikaze's question, "You should really be the one revealing this at the gallery opening a week from now."

"What?" Naruto asked, surprised. "It's your painting!"

"We both know who painted it, Naruto-san," he crossed his arms and took a sip of his tea.

"No one else does," Naruto retorted. "And it's just Naruto."

"But it's a lie," Sasuke stared into the soul of Naruto's painting. "It isn't mine to reveal. It's yours. You put the elbow grease and time and talent into this piece and you should be the one to show it off. It isn't my place to do so. I'm merely a hired hand in this city. I'm a faceless Uchiha. I am only to serve my assignment. Painting? That isn't part of my assignment."

Naruto lifted and eyebrow and cocked his head. "Stop talking like you're a drone," he ordered. "You sound strange. Get over it, it's your painting and it's yours to reveal and you're the one who will get the credit and the applause when you do that."

"You're being impossible."

"And you're being weird!" Naruto looked him up and down. "What is with you? You've been acting funny all night."

Sasuke stared back at him, wordless.

Naruto frowned at him. "You're not just some nameless fighting machine. You're more than just your last name," he told him sternly. "Now I'm going upstairs. You should come up to sleep soon, too." He walked out of the room and left Sasuke to his thoughts.

Why. Why all of the sudden was the dumb, selfish, royally spoiled brat making so many impactful sentences in Sasuke's head? Sasuke stared down at the painting that he so badly wanted to destroy. His growing pile of lies and secrecy from someone he wanted no secrets with - it was torturing him.

Sasuke listed all of the ways he had wronged Naruto. Then he listed all of the ways he wronged his clan. He rested his head against the wall beside him and shut his eyes and wished it all away.