Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine

-oXo-

Chapter 21: 23rd of August

The next morning Sasuke and Naruto woke up at 8:30. Sasuke told Naruto to stay in bed, but when he stood in the kitchen he heard something fall. Sasuke walked to the hallway and saw Naruto lean on the small table, having knocked a scroll off of it.

"What are you doing? I told you to stay in bed."

"I've been in bed long enough. I just felt a little dizzy suddenly, but it's okay now."

Sasuke shook his head, but laid his arm around Naruto's waist anyway as he kept swaying and helped him over to the couch.

"Can you at least stay on the couch?" Naruto nodded, but decided that it wasn't a good idea and stopped, the dizziness wasn't completely gone yet.

Sasuke baked some eggs and they ate together sitting on the couch.

"You think it's all over now?" Naruto suddenly asked Sasuke while playing with his egg.

Sasuke looked over to him. "Yes, Tsunade did a real good job on the seal. I have no idea what you did on the inside, but I guess you did fine too."

Naruto looked back at his now empty plate.

"Good, because I was really getting tired of all this." He put his plate down and took a sip of his tea.

The bell rang and Naruto almost let his tea fall, but Sasuke was fast to catch it just in time. Sasuke gave him a quick look over before he let the cup go, stood up and walked to the door. Naruto heard Sakura in the door.

"Ohayo, Sasuke-kun. Is he awake yet?" she pulled out her sandals.

"Yes, he is in the living room."

"Oh?"

Sasuke followed Sakura to the living room. Naruto had slowly turned around, facing Sakura and Sasuke.

"Hello Sakura-chan," he said quietly, with a smile on his face.

"Ohayo." She sat down beside him on the couch. "How are you feeling?" she spoke softly, apparently she understood whispering was best for him right now.

"Pretty good; a bit dizzy, but nothing serious."

"Did you throw up or anything?"

"When I woke up I was very dizzy and disorientated. I threw up."

"That was yesterday around 15:00 and in the night you threw up again." Naruto looked up, apparently not remembering. "You also thought things sounded very loud."

"I still do, but since the nausea is gone it's a lot more bearable. Plus you're whispering instead of speaking normally."

Sakura nodded. "When you feel up to it I would like to do some tests." Naruto pulled up his nose and his fox ears lay flat, not pleased to hear the word test. "But it won't be in the hospital." Now his eyebrows rose and ears perked up. "I thought more about the training ground."

"That sounds a lot better." Naruto nodded, but soon stopped. "Ungh, still dizzy." He held his head in his hands.

Sakura grinned a bit awkwardly. It was silent for a moment.

"Have you heard about Tenten and Neji?" Sakura asked them.

"No, how could I, I slept for-?"

"They are dating."

"Really, since when?" Naruto slowly let one hand slide from his face so he could see Sakura.

"I guess it was already going on for quite a while, but more officially since Monday."

Naruto grinned. "I didn't see that one coming."

"But you also couldn't see Hinata being in love with you for over-" Sasuke started.

"Yeah, yeah I already know. No need to rub it in."

"Or Sasuke-kun," Sakura added.

"Nobody had seen that coming; can you blame me?"

Sasuke grinned.

They talked on for a bit till Sakura had to go. "I've got a lot of hospital duty the next few days, so I will see you on the training field."

"Bye Sakura-chan," Naruto whispered. Sasuke just waved his hand once.

When they closed the door Naruto looked Sasuke in his dark eyes and had his foxy grin on his face.

"You know, I feel like going for a nice, warm bath," his tail was sweeping.

"Have fun," Sasuke said with a look on his face that showed no emotion.

Naruto grasped his arm and clung to it. "You know that's not what I meant," he whined. Sasuke grinned and Naruto pulled at his arm. "You don't want me to fall over and crack my head open; being dizzy and all?"

"Hn, guess not, but I don't think you're head will crack open that fast."

Naruto frowned for a second but then dragged Sasuke to the bathroom as he swayed from one side of the corridor to the other. Sasuke let him walk as Naruto patted his hand away when he wanted to help him.

They entered the bathroom and Sasuke let water run into the bathtub as Naruto sat down on the closed toilet lit, feeling dizzy. He now regretted swatting Sasuke's hand away and not letting him help.

"Running water sure makes a lot of noise," he said holding his fox ears closed against his head. Though he had the feeling the sound wasn't as bad as it was before.

Sasuke sat on the side of the bathtub. They just sat there till the bathtub was full enough, took off their clothes and stepped into it.

"Ahh, this is heaven," Naruto said, leaning against Sasuke's chest, finally feeling less dizzy.

"I know a whole different heaven."

"Not now, Sasuke. You know, you are a pretty horny bastard."

Sasuke grinned. "Can't help it, you're just so foxy." He folded his arms around Naruto.

"I know, in more ways than one." Naruto grinned, but it soon turned into a soft laugh.

"You're so right about that," Sasuke said.

"Then… if I'm the fox, what are you?" Naruto asked pensively.

Sasuke stayed silent for a moment. "What's that for a question?"

Naruto shrugged and leant forward away from Sasuke so he could consider him for a moment. "The raven perhaps?" he asked, while grinning.

"Sure, if you want me to be," Sasuke said as he pulled Naruto back.

"Don't you know the story about the fox and the raven?"

"I guess I don't. Tell me about it," Sasuke whispered into Naruto's human ear. A shiver ran down Naruto's spine.

"Well, I don't know the whole story either, but it comes down to this: the fox beats the raven."

"Probably because he is so… foxy," Sasuke said with a mysterious voice, his eyes half closed and his mouth close to Naruto's jaw line.

"Hmhm," Naruto agreed, his eyes closed. Sasuke grinned and kissed Naruto.

"You want me to wash you?" Sasuke asked after a while. Naruto opened his eyes again, trying to look Sasuke in the face. Sasuke looked back; both studying each other's faces.

"Sure, but I just want to say I'm not in the mood."

"But you were the one suggesting taking a bath together."

"Yes, like this. Sitting in it and talking to each other or be silent; just enjoying each other's presence. Simple as that. "

Sasuke frowned a bit. "Simple as that."

"You're the one that is always so quiet and passive when you meet our friends. This should be easy cakes for you, being silent and saying nothing."

"But you are different."

"I already know that, you don't have to remind me." Sasuke pulled up an eyebrow, as Naruto just continued. "But I guess being special in some way can actually be a good thing." He grinned.

"Why?" Sasuke was a bit confused.

"Because someone found me special enough to share his live with." Sasuke stayed silent. "And even now he still loves me and I love him." Naruto laid his cheek against Sasuke's chest, glancing up to him.

"That's so sweet of you too say," Sasuke said truthfully.

Naruto's eyes suddenly widened and he bended away, getting loose from Sasuke's grip.

"Sweet of me to say? Are you feeling alright Sasuke? Did something happen to you too? Where is the real Sasuke?" He laid his hand on Sasuke's forehead, making his point.

"I just tried to be nice. You always complain that I never confirm in words that I appreciate what you say." Sasuke swatted his hand away.

Naruto leaned back again. "Perhaps I was wrong about that." He was silent, then he said thoughtfully, "But I'm not sure about it yet, so don't stop."

Sasuke just stayed silent and laid his arms around Naruto again. Naruto snuggled into his chest.

-x-

An hour and a half later, Sasuke and Naruto sat on the couch again. Naruto was leaning against Sasuke, but this time he was holding his head in his hands.

"Being dizzy stinks."

Sasuke agreed by nodding.

"At least I don't feel like I have to puke, like you had."

Naruto shuffled deeper into his blanket and Sasuke; letting his head go.

They lay there for quite a while until the doorbell suddenly rang. Naruto, halfway into dreamland, jumped up with a yip, grasping for his fox ears to dampen the sound and almost fell off the couch.

Sasuke looked up to Naruto. "What was that for a sound?" He was referring to the yip.

Naruto looked angry to Sasuke, who held up his hands in apology and walked to the door. Naruto grumbled while getting back on the couch with his blanket and still grumbling as he folded it around himself. Great, now he yipped when he got startled. What other fox treats would he have gotten?

Kakashi came walking into the room with Sai.

"Yo." Kakashi held his hand up.

"Konichiwa," said Sai.

Naruto groaned at the loud voices as he lifted himself up from the couch to look over the back, letting his hands rest on the back of the couch; his ears laying flat. "Hey," he whispered.

Sai blinked a few times and opened his mouth when he saw Naruto, his ears slowly rising again, but Sasuke came to stand next to him and gave him a warning look. Sai closed his mouth again, though Naruto didn't think it was because of Sasuke's scary look.

"Sakura told me you were awake and on my way here I ran into Sai." Kakashi spoke softly, having received the hint of Naruto's quiet voice. It was a bit abnormal for him to be whispering after all.

Naruto wanted to nod, but reminded himself in time not. So he just turned around very slowly; his ears still halfway up.

Sasuke walked out of the room to get some tea. He had no intentions of them staying for too long, but had decided they could stay for a while, only because of the way Naruto had acted.

He boiled some water and got the cups from the cabinet. He heard Sai talk; probably saying something stupid about Naruto, for Naruto reacted quite loud to it. The kettle was whistling and Sasuke took it away from the flame underneath it.

It wasn't like Sasuke hated or couldn't stand Sai. He didn't really have an opinion about the boy in general, but he was sure that he didn't like the way Sai sometimes could say things just like that. On the other hand, they could be funny as well. As long as he didn't have to be alone with the guy, things were fine.

Sasuke finished pouring the tea in the cups and walked out of the kitchen. When he came back Naruto was in the middle of a conversation about some mission from years ago when Sai had apparently been hurt. His blanket was lying on the couch, forgotten, as he was swaying his hands. He hadn't been cold anyway.

The raven folded his hands in front of his face as his arms rested on his knees. Sasuke wasn't really paying attention to the conversation; he was observing the people in the room. He liked to do this: you didn't need to talk, just be quiet and observe. You could learn so much from just watching people react to a simple question or even to your own staring. Sasuke was a master at staring, Naruto had told him often enough.

Naruto laughed at some funny part in the story and Sai gave a small grin. Kakashi was just pretending to listen too. The jounin knew more then he let them on. He knew how unsure Naruto really was about his changes and afraid the fox would control him; how Sakura buried herself into her hospital work because deep down she felt lonely. And Sasuke also suspected he had known, long before Sasuke had let Naruto know, that he loved the blond.

Sasuke could see, only because he knew Kakashi so well, that he had been concerned all this time and still was. This was confirmed even more by the way he looked over to Naruto. He didn't ask many questions, unlike what Sakura did, but he was just like Sasuke and observed.

Sasuke now turned his attention to Sai again. Sai had always been hard to read, not because Sasuke couldn't, but because there wasn't much to read into. Sai didn't have much emotion (although it was apparently more then he used to show), but that wasn't the problem. The thing was that Sai himself did not know much about the emotions he did have or how to react on them; making him somewhat unpredictable.

Sasuke looked at Naruto. He looked happy; happy because his friends were just that- friends. They did not laugh at him, did not turn away and leave him, but laughed with him; they stayed and looked him in the eyes. Naruto's ears were up again. Apparently his dizziness had subsided again.

Sasuke was happy that Naruto had not chosen the same path as the last time and kept hidden in the house, staying away from his friends. Instead he faced them and was cheerful; genuinely cheerful.

Sasuke's mouth curved up a bit and he noticed Kakashi was watching him. Kakashi's one visible eye showed he was smiling too. Sasuke did something he didn't do very often to anyone except Naruto: he gave Kakashi a small smile of his own.

-x-

Later that day Naruto was shuffling through the house, he was a bit disorientated, walking against things, but strangely not annoyingly dizzy. When he stood still for a short time everything became fine and he could move around. Especially when he sat on the couch everything seemed fine. Walking around was still a bit different.

What else Naruto found interesting was how sounds weren't so loud right now; it was changing every time, from loud to almost normal to actually hard to hear. He was getting a bit tired of it. Sasuke told him he was just adapting to hear with his new ears in combination with his normal ears.

Naruto finally finished his shuffling through the house and came to hug Sasuke from behind as he was making diner at the kitchen sink.

"Re-discovered everything?"

"I was just practicing my balance."

"As far as one can practice that."

Naruto grinned. "It smells nice." His tail shifted behind him.

"You just have to wait a bit longer."

"I meant you," Naruto mumbled in Sasuke's neck and hugged him tighter.

Sasuke turned his head to look in big blue eyes, looking innocently at him. "I thought you weren't in the mood?"

"I never said I was now," Naruto said as he laid his chin on Sasuke's shoulder.

"Hn," Sasuke turned back to the food he was preparing. He felt a hand coming under his shirt going up his torso. He raised an eyebrow.

Naruto started tracing invisible lines under the shirt over his skin and Sasuke couldn't suppress a shiver running up his spine. A chuckle sounded from Naruto.

"Is it almost finished?"

"Almost."

Naruto licked Sasuke's neck, let go of him and shuffled away. He knew how much Sasuke hated it when he did things like this to him and then left without finishing; which made it all the more fun to do.

He sat down on the couch and waited till Sasuke finally came into the room with two bowls of rice in his hands. Naruto took his and started eating like nothing had happened. He could almost hear Sasuke scowl at him. This only made his grin grow wider.

-oXo-

Next: to the training ground! What does Sakura want Naruto to do?