-Naruto-
The water feels so warm...
Soothing.
I tilt my head back, running my fingers through soapy tresses, exhaling slowly as the steam unfurls overhead.
Drifting like smoke.
No matter how much I scrub, I can't wash away the feel of you.
Even with the water running down my face, I can taste your lips, even with the soap bubbles trickling down my chest, I can feel your hands...
You are everywhere.
But then, perhaps you always have been.
I spend a long time in the shower like that, losing myself in the warmth, but the soap gradually rinses away and my fingers begin to prune slightly...
Finally, I turn the water off.
The brisk air chills me as I step out of the fragile steam, slipping on a pair of fresh boxers and rubbing the towel lightly through dripping tresses.
Even now, I can't stand the thought of facing you.
But I can't hide forever.
Pulling on a loose pair of sweats, towel draped lazily over my shoulders, I push the door quietly open.
You're sitting on my bed.
The silken black of your hair is mussed slightly with sleep, with the tossing and turning I'm sure we'd both partook in, and you're still just as beautiful and terrible as you've always been, and that obsidian gaze lifts slowly to meet mine.
I look away.
"Naruto."
Nothing.
I say nothing.
Ignoring the twinge in my heart that voice always brings, ignoring that incredible desire to go to your side and look you in the eyes and ask a thousand useless questions.
Ignoring you.
I go to my dresser then, shuffling through the top drawer for a shirt.
I feel your eyes on my back.
And I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I swear I don't care, and I hate you and all I want to do is...
Warmth.
Your arms wrap slowly around my waist, carefully, hugging me gently from behind.
I'm suddenly so aware of my bare skin, of the soft warmth of your touch, of the flecks of water still caught in my hair.
I feel your face against my neck.
You're not kissing me, not nuzzling me with any sense of sexuality...
Simply holding me.
And I'm aching so fiercely, so surprised and so uncertain...
I can find no words.
"Break up with her, Naruto."
Your voice is so soft.
A breath against my throat.
My hand goes slowly to the ones locked around my waist, my eyes falling downcast.
What are you doing, Sasuke?
What in the world are you doing?
"Sasuke... What the hell..."
"Please, Naruto. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done what I did and I regret it."
The apology surprises me.
You bastard, you awful, cruel, beautiful bastard...
Why the hell are you being this way?
"Sasuke, what are you-"
"I don't like it."
Your voice is so quiet.
I've never heard you talk this way.
So softly, so sadly...
Like a hurting child.
"... You don't like what, Sasuke?"
I say it softer now, resigned.
"I don't like to think of you with her. With anyone."
I sigh, attempting to loosen your arms from my waist.
You still hold tight.
"Sasuke, you're not making any sense. Why the hell does it matter to you anyways?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Then why-"
"I don't know, Naruto."
I'm feeling so much at once.
Confusion, uncertainty, pain and years of built-up hurt...
Yearning, too, for what I'm not sure, and warmth, and something heart-breakingly like
love.
But love in itself is an uncertain thing.
"Sasuke..."
Why won't you let me go?
