I should apologize because it has been a year since I updated this story. I had the chapter ready but I didn't want to upload it before getting started with the next one, and it took me ages to do so.

I can only say that my circumstances have changed a lot in the last year - I decided to move to China to teach English and this turned out to be a much harder decision that I had hoped. I was living in Wuhan city, although my company told me I would be moving to Shenzhen for the next term. I guess you are all familiar with the coronavirus outbreak. It was a shock. I was lucky in the sense that I had already sent all my belongings to Shenzhen and I had my flight booked to return home for the Chinese New Year. I am now safe and sound in Europe.

To be honest, I was very tempted to move on and leave this story as it was - since I have been working in what one day might become my first original novel - but I kept receiving comments of people telling me how much this story means to them and hoping I would continue this story one day, and I just couldn't let them down. It is only thanks to you, wonderful people, and your supportive comments that I am here right now. Writing has always been therapeutic for me and in the middle of these difficult times, feeling part of this fandom is helping me cope with my worry for the friends I left behind in Wuhan and the uncertainty of the future.

So, without further delay, I hope you enjoy the chapter.

As always, a thousands thanks to my beta, TheNightShinobi. He fixed hundreds of little mistakes and offered fantastic recommendations, improving the quality of this chapter my a ton. You are the best, Casey!

Chapter 25

The next morning, Sasuke woke up feeling happier and more at peace than he had in a very long time – the events of the previous night fresh in his mind. He and Naruto had spent a long time in the shower, enjoying the warmth of the water cascading over them. They had kissed, and they had explored each other with their hands, each familiarizing themselves with the other's body contours.

Touching Naruto was addicting. They both had gotten hard and had cum again in the shower before going their separates way for the night.

Keeping his eyes closed and his body comfortably wrapped on his duvet, Sasuke savoured this memory. Naruto's hands on his cock had felt better than his own, making the experience highly gratifying. Definitively better than eating a tomato, no matter how juicy.

There was something very honest about being totally naked in front of another person, perhaps due to the amount of trust involved in the act. There wasn't an inch of his body that hadn't been touched by Naruto. Just remembering the closeness their bodies had shared, and how Sasuke had become the sole focus of Naruto's attention while everything and everyone else faded away, unimportant and forgotten, made him shiver.

Sadly, nature's call couldn't be ignored for long. Sighing regretfully, Sasuke disentangled himself from the sheets and rushed to the toilet. He washed his hands after quickly relieving himself, brushed his teeth, picked some clothes from his closet and got dressed for the day. Only then, he looked at his watch and was surprised at the time.

It was close to eight fifteen.

Usually Sasuke got up a bit earlier than seven and trained with Naruto for about hour. They had breakfast around a quarter past eight, and started their respective jobs (for lack or a better word) at nine. The very few days when Sasuke wasn't up in time for training, he was woken up by Naruto pounding on the door.

It was possible that Naruto had decided to sleep in today, he supposed. Sasuke had fallen asleep straight away after their activities in the shower, but perhaps Naruto had been too excited. Taking one last look at the mirror to make sure he looked presentable, Sasuke went to check on him.

He walked straight into his bedroom, not bothering to knock.

Naruto wasn't asleep. In fact, there were three Narutos in the room and none of them were asleep. They all turned to stare at Sasuke, taken by surprise at his sudden entrance.

"What are you doing?" the manner of Sasuke's voice did nothing to hide his confusion at the scene before him.

One Naruto was standing on top of the bed, with both arms flexed up and over his head, while the other two were flanking both sides of the bed respectively; the one on top of the bed had a medium size shuriken in his hand.

They all looked at him, a faint wave of colour flushing their cheeks; a couple of seconds ticked by awkwardly before two of them, the ones at both sides of the bed, vanished in a puff of smoke.

"We were just playing a game," the remaining Naruto told him, quickly jumping down from the bed and sitting on the edge of the mattress instead. "Catch the shuriken. It's like the game where two people toss a ball to each other and the one in the middle has to get it from them, but you play it with a shuriken instead of a ball. We invented it."

"I didn't know you played games with your clones," Sasuke said a bit incredulous.

Naruto shrugged. "It passes the time."

Sasuke decided to ignore the matter altogether, because it was weird to play games with replicas of yourself and he had more pressing concerns. "Why didn't you wake me up? I thought we had training. "

"I don't know…" he answered vaguely, playing with the shuriken. "Did you sleep well?" He kept moving the weapon swiftly between his fingers, and he was far too absorbed to meet Sasuke's gaze.

"Like the dead," Sasuke answered a bit dryly. Why was Naruto acting so weird? He had enjoyed getting off together as much as Sasuke, Sasuke was sure of it. There was no way he had changed his mind during the night, was there? "Hey," he called out softly, walking closer to him and taking hold of one of his hands. The stupid shuriken fell to Naruto's lap. "You okay?"

Seemingly surprised by the sudden touch, Naruto finally lifted his gaze to meet his eyes. "Of course I'm fine. Are you ?"

So that's how it was. His early refusal to meet his gaze and the obvious edginess he had displayed since Sasuke's arrival finally made sense. Sasuke's mouth curled into a tiny smile and he sighed in relief, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. Instead of answering Naruto's question, he sat down in the bed next to him, took hold of his chin, turned his face to him and kissed him.

Though the kiss lacked the passion of the ones they had shared late last night, it was sweet and reassuring – and more than enough to convey Sasuke's meaning.

"You are an idiot," he told Naruto as they broke apart, the ease of his tone of voice making clear that he was just teasing him. "You better wake me up tomorrow. Jerking off should not be an excuse for slacking off."

Relief turned the uneasy expression on Naruto's face into a wide smile. He grinned, a big, happy grin, and then he gripped Sasuke's t-shirt with both hands, pulling him closer. His eyes were shining. Sasuke kissed him again – it was difficult to resist.

Naruto laughed lightly; his whole face irradiated with joy.

"Did you sleep at all?"

"I slept a little," Naruto told him quickly, cheeks heated with embarrassment. "I will sleep much better tonight," he stated, and kissed Sasuke again.

Regretfully, Sasuke felt compelled to break the kiss a few moments later. "Come on, we've got to have breakfast." He stood up and offered Naruto his hand to pull him up from the mattress. "Konan will kill me if I miss work again."

Sasuke didn't let go of Naruto's hand as they walked side by side towards the kitchen. They didn't come across anyone on their way down, which wasn't unusual considering the time. However, when they entered the kitchen, Sasuke immediately spotted Itachi sitting at the table, an empty tea cup and a half-eaten piece of toast in front of him.

He had been reading the newspaper, but quickly put it aside to greet them. "Good morning, Sasuke. Naruto. I trust you've slept well?"

Sasuke opened his mouth to respond–

"You had no right to tell him!" Naruto's narrowed eyes glared daggers at Itachi.

Crossing his legs and putting the folded newspaper down on the table, Itachi answered completely unperturbed. "You are right. I didn't."

His agreement and calm demeanour only managed to further infuriate Naruto, "You promised you wouldn't tell him. You broke your word!"

Sasuke meant to defend his brother.

He was grateful to Itachi for telling him, because he would have never figured out Naruto's feelings on his own – or how to proceed afterwards. His brother had just been looking out for Sasuke's best interests, the way he always did. But the glare the Naruto was giving Itachi made Sasuke pause and think twice before he spoke.

After last night, it just didn't seem wise to provoke his best friend's – boyfriend? Partner? Partner sounded nice – to provoke his partner's anger.

Partner.

Nice, but also weird , even in his head; surely he would get used to it in time?

"Naruto, I understand you have the right to be angry, but if you recall, I never made such promise. I guessed your feelings for Sasuke and you confirmed it. Then, you stated that you didn't want him to know." Sasuke did not doubt that his brother's recollection of events was correct, but it would not appease Naruto. "I neither agreed nor disagreed with your preference."

"That's bullshit and you know it! I trusted you."

And… there you go. Prudently, Sasuke turned around and began working the coffee maker. Black and one sugar for him; double cream, two sugars and three spoonfuls of chocolate syrup for Naruto. He wrinkled his nose at the syrupy smell. How could anyone call that thick, creamy liquid coffee was beyond his comprehension, but Naruto had a sweet tooth and there was some truth to the rumour that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach.

"I am sorry I broke your trust," Itachi apologized.

"But you aren't sorry you told him," Naruto accused him stubbornly.

Fearing either of them would make him take a side (and wouldn't that be catastrophic?), Sasuke opened the kitchen cabinet in an attempt to make himself occupied. There was some bread, two cans of instant pancake and waffle mix, a half empty box of donuts and a pack of bagels. Sasuke took two slices of bread and put them in the toaster. Then he went to the fridge to get the honey for himself and a jar of jam for Naruto.

The discussion seemed to be reaching its climax.

"I will apologize for acting against your wishes," Itachi stated gravely.

"That's not enough," Naruto objected. "You have to promise you won't do it again. Whatever Sasuke and I–" he was struggling with words. "Whatever we are, you cannot–"

"You have my word that I will respect the privacy of your relationship," Itachi promised, his voice serious. Sasuke felt the heat rising to his face at the word 'relationship'.

Naruto blushed as well. "That's– I mean… I appreciate that," he said, finally taking a seat at the table.

Itachi nodded at him, perfectly composed, and the turned his head to look at Sasuke. "I take it it went well?" Sasuke made a vague, affirmative gesture, no quite sure if it was safe to speak yet, and he continued spreading some jam on Naruto's toast. "I'm happy for you. Both of you."

Naruto didn't sneer, which Sasuke took as a sign that his ire was abased. Sasuke took the two cups of coffees to the table and discreetly smiled at his brother – hopefully he would understand that Sasuke did not share Naruto's opinion. He brought the two plates of toast as well, and sat down in the empty chair between the other two men.

"Thank you," Naruto muttered quietly. He took a sip of the coffee and let out a sigh of pleasure. "Damn! This is really good, Sasuke." Sasuke smiled, satisfied. Naruto took another sip. "Really, really good. What did you put on it?"

"Cream, sugar and chocolate syrup." Naruto frowned, most likely thinking that that was how he usually made his coffee. "Three spoonfuls of syrup instead of one."

"Ahhh," understanding coloured his face. Naruto drank another sip of coffee, savouring it slowly, and took a bite of his toast. "Well, I'm only drinking it like this now."

Sasuke cringed. His… boyfriend – boyfriend? — was going to be toothless before he turned fifty; it wasn't an enticing prospect. On the other hand, Naruto was cheerfully eating his breakfast now, all previous anger forgotten. His plot had worked as anticipated.

"Are you going to the hospital?" Sasuke addressed his brother, taking advantage of the quiet moment to change the subject.

"Yes. I'm having lunch with Tsunade and then I'm reading to some of her patients in the afternoon."

"How is that going?" Naruto asked him.

"It seems to cheer them up. Many of them are orphans from the last War and they don't have many visitors. Tsunade thinks my visits have a positive effect on their health."

As he drank a sip of his coffee, Sasuke was assaulted by a wave of affection and respect for his brother. Itachi had told him he had only begun to visit some patients because he had become tired of waiting for Tsunade — they were going to have lunch together, but she had been called to perform an urgent surgery, so he had time to kill. Nevertheless, Sasuke knew himself well enough to recognize that he completely lacked the patience and sensibility required to do the same in the same situation.

"How is the house renovation coming along?" Itachi inquired with polite interest.

"The work is half way done," Naruto told him proudly, before taking a bite of his dripping toast. "It's only the last floor that still needs some work, and then we'll still have to buy all the furniture."

"How many rooms are there?" Sasuke asked him.

"The third floor has six bedrooms, four bathrooms, a small kitchen and two living rooms. That's going to be the guest floor, if we get any visitors. The fourth floor has offices and a conference room — it used to be a ballroom, but we thought we could use it for meetings." Naruto took another sip of coffee. "You know, instead of the library. It will be our official meeting room when we need to discuss important stuff. The last floor is going to have a recreation wing and a swimming pool."

Sasuke was surprised by this. "A swimming pool? Really?"

"Yeah!" Naruto nodded enthusiastically. "We're going to replace all the walls — use crystal instead. That way they can be open in the summer. And Konan told Nagato she wanted a jacuzzi and a sauna as well."

"That's a lot of work," Itachi had uncrossed his legs and his arms were resting comfortably on the table; he seemed genuinely impressed.

Naruto shrugged. "I helped a lot during the reconstruction of Konoha after the war, so I know what I'm doing. Gaara has his sand ability, which comes in handier than we thought, and Nagato is using three of his bodies to help. We'll be done in three or four weeks, I think. Although getting the furniture might take us longer than that."

"Maybe we'll have enough proof to move on Danzo by then," said Sasuke.

They had made some progress in that area, but not as much as Sasuke would have liked. Sasori and Deidara had found documents that proved an exchange of some kind had taken place between Iwagakure's leadership and Danzo, but the details were too vague to be truly incriminating. They were still looking for something more.

"Hopefully," Naruto agreed with him, a scowl upon his features – he hated Danzo almost as much as Sasuke did. But his expression lightened up after a few seconds. "We should go on a holiday after that. The three of us," he said excitedly. "Somewhere cold, full of snow." He smiled sweetly at Itachi as he said this. "Sasuke told me how he was dying to have a snowball fight with you."

Sasuke needed a couple of seconds to understand Naruto's reference — that conversation they had had almost a year ago while they travelled through Rock Country, when Sasuke had revealed to him how deeply Itachi detested cold weather. He chuckled then, amused. It didn't take a genius to understand that Naruto hadn't fully forgiven Itachi for betraying his secret, and judging by the way his brother's eyes had widened in horror, he had chosen his revenge well.

Luckily, they both finished their breakfast soon after that and the plans for a holiday in the mountains had to be put on hold. Sasuke drank the last bit of his coffee, stood up to bid farewell to both of them, and did not kiss Naruto goodbye. He was on Itachi's side but absolutely refused to kiss Naruto in front of him — his brother would forever tease him if he did.

Sasuke knocked on Konan's office two minutes later. Immediately, her voice came through the door, inviting him in. He opened the door and stepped inside.

Konan was sitting at her desk with her back to a balcony, her nose buried in some document atop several piles of paper, but she put it down swiftly and lifted her gaze to greet at him. "I wasn't sure you would come today."

"I told you I'd be here," he reminded her, walking to take a seat at his own, smaller desk. It was a new addition to the office, located opposite the second window – a space that had been previously covered by a bookshelf. Sasuke had come in one morning, a couple of weeks after he began working with Konan, and the desk had been there. Konan's wordless way of showing her appreciation and silent acknowledgment that they worked well together. "Sorry I skipped yesterday."

"Don't mention it." She waved her hand, dismissing the matter as inconsequential. "I understand you've been busy..?"

Sasuke arched his eyebrows, confused, and then shrugged, spinning his chair distractedly to get a better look at her, "I guess…"

Konan had never showed any interest in his private life. He studied her, wary of her intentions. Her eyes were gleaming, and her lips curled up into a knowing smile.

"You make a good couple, you know?" she declared, after it became clear that Sasuke had nothing else to say. Sasuke felt the heat rushing up his cheeks. "You balance each other out. Yahiko and I were the same. He was the dreamer, always pushing forward, pushing for something better…" she recalled with a sigh, "and I was the realist, the one who kept us fed so that we could keep working on his plans. They worry about the greater picture… you and I are good at taking care of the fine print."

She let out a small laugh, gazing the dozen set of papers in front of her. Konan had never talked about her past so openly, and she had never, ever, mentioned her relationship with Yahiko. Sasuke tried to come up with an appropriate answer but he was still stunned into silence. She didn't seem to mind.

"Plus, it was quite obvious from the moment we met him that Naruto was over the moon for you," she added. "And your jealousy was frankly amusing."

That statement was all Sasuke needed to be stunned out of silence. "I was not jealous!"

"Of course you weren't," she agreed; both her expression and her tone of voice very obviously stating that she didn't believe him.

Sasuke scowled. "How the hell do you know anyway?" It literally just had happened!

Konan tilted her head slightly to the right, an all-knowing expression on her face. "There were several clues: the fact that you skipped work yesterday, Naruto's anger at you, your odd behavior during dinner and your obvious impatience," she enumerated, crossing her legs and clasping her hands loosely together in her lap. "I'm a genius ninja trained to detect and manipulate people's emotions. How could I not know?"

Sasuke groaned, cursing internally. He hadn't been that obvious, had he? He could see how that chain of events had painted a peculiar picture, which in turn made her suspicious, but he hadn't left enough clues for someone to guess the truth right away. There was no way.

"Plus, you left the window in your room open," she admitted after a few seconds of watching him struggle to figure it out, her voice tinted with amusement. "Nagato and I were taking a stroll through the gardens when we heard peculiar noises coming for your bedroom. I'll give you a clue, lover-boy: you wanna keep your relationship a secret?" she teased him playfully, "Make sure to close all the windows before you engage with your boyfriend in that sort of activity."

"Shit!" Cursing, Sasuke hid his face behind his hands in horror, unable to muster up the courage to glare at her. "How much did you hear?" he asked, dreading the answer.

"Enough to know you had a very good night."

Sasuke sank down in his chair. "Fuck!" Konan's giggles were light. Sasuke knew she was just having fun teasing him – she did not do so maliciously; still, it was fucking embarrassing. He couldn't fucking believe that he had forgotten to close that fucking window. "Shut up," he commanded, his tone lacking any real bite. Her laugh was contagious.

"I'm really happy for you, Sasuke," she said again after a few seconds, assuming a more serious expression. She cleared her throat. "I'm also hoping this won't change our arrangement…"

"Of course not."

They first day Sasuke had come looking for her to offer his help – barely a week after Naruto began the renovations of the upper floors taking his other friends along for the ride, Konan had looked at him in the eyes, meeting his gaze with an expression that was both cautions and threatening, and asked him, "The work I do is critical for my country and confidential . Some things are simply better off left unknown. So I need to know, if I let you in, am I letting him in as well?"

Sasuke had understood her meaning at once and answered without hesitation. "I don't lie to Naruto. It doesn't mean I'm compelled to tell him everything . We both understand that."

She had nodded, taking him at his word; then she had invited him to take a seat and had proceeded to explain her job in the simplest terms possible.

The major problem was the country's economy. Most of the profit came directly from the Akatsuki; without the money they had made from missions, Amegakure could have never been rebuilt itself as quickly, and much less, become as prosperous as it was. However, Konan, whose distrust of Tobi ran deeper than a ravine inside her soul, had heavily invested time and resources to create an alternative source of income for the last several years. She had been moderately successful too.

Now, as a rule, Feudal Lords were content to keep agriculture as the main economic activity in their territories. Of course, they were also giving a percentage of the money that ninjas in the country's Hidden Village charged for missions, which added up to no little amount. People who didn't fit into the systems – inventors, pioneers, thinkers… – those were dismissed without a second thought.

Aware of this situation and determined to take advantage of it, Konan had made a point to welcome them with open arms into Amegakure. She had housed them, fed them, clothed them, listened to their troubles and finally offered them a job. They worked for her creating 'electric devices'. Sasuke had never heard the term before; electricity was electricity, it made lights worked, what else could you do with it?

Konan had pointed out to the dishwasher in the kitchen as an example of those devices. Sasuke remembered being fascinated by it the first few times he had used it, as he had never seen anything similar before. After Konan told him the story behind it the day he had approached looking for something to do, Sasuke's fascination grew even more.

He had already respected her pragmatism and wits, but that was the moment he realized Konan was wickedly smart, in an entirely different way than Itachi – a way which resembled Sasuke much more closely.

"So, I've got bad news and good news," Konan announced, adopting a more serious attitude. "Which one do you want to hear first?"

Sasuke straightened his back against the chair, ready for business. "Give me the good news first."

Konan eyebrows shot upwards, but didn't comment on Sasuke's choice. "Goods news is Koji contacted me this morning, they have sorted out glitch in the 'Game Pocket' programming, and yes, we are still working on that name," she added quickly, before Sasuke had a chance to intervene. He had complained many times, quite loudly too, that the name was stupid.

"That was fast." The problem had only been detected four days ago. "Is it ready to go into production, then?"

"Yes," Konan asserted with obvious pleasure. "The basic device, anyway. You know, the white and black screen, with ten games choices."

Sasuke had the chance to play with it a week ago, for experimental purposes only, of course. His favorite game was the 'snake one'; the one where you had to feed the serpent and every time it ate something, it became bigger and harder to maneuver around the screen. The one when you had to pop up bubbles was also quite entertaining.

"I still don't see why people would waste money on something like that. I mean, I take that it can be amusing… but there are certainly better things to do with one's time."

"No, you've got better things to do with your time," Konan corrected him pointedly. "That's why you are here, directing the project, instead of being considered as a potential buyer."

"So it's a 'game pocket' for losers, only," he joked. "We'll have a huge market."

"Precisely. Plus, I told you the results of the period trial. Customers who have frequency used the product during an extended period of time tend to experience a considerable drop in terms of critical thinking and social skills."

"Which is why," Sasuke finished for her, "we won't be selling it in our country." They had debated the issue before. Sasuke didn't believe it was possible to keep the device out of Amegakure market if it became successful everywhere else, but Konan was very protective of its population. There would be time to retake that debate after the product hit the international markets. "So we're going to be selling a 'game pocket' for fools, and it will make them even more foolish," he summarised. "I love the way you think."

They shared an easy smile, fill of understanding.

"The bad news are that the dishwasher selling figures haven't improved. Domestically, it's been a success. Outside our borders, however…" Konan made a worried face.

"How bad?"

"I left a copy of the data on your desk," she told him.

Sasuke searched around his table and found it quickly. He studied the numbers, eying the graphics on the second and third pages as well. "That bad," he concluded in displeasure. "We are not making enough profit to justify the cost of productions. The selling rates in Amegakure are still going up, however; perhaps we should raise the price…?"

Konan turned down that suggestion immediately. "No. You know I don't want to cause disparity within our population. The prices should be affordable for everybody."

Sasuke nodded, accepting the logic behind this policy. "What about raising the price outside our borders?" he suggested after a moment.

Konan's raised her eyebrows. "You want to raise the price of a product that nobody is buying?"

Put it like that, it sounded like a terrible idea, but Sasuke had the suspicion that it might just work. He took a few seconds to order his thoughts, and then explain himself, "If I read this right," he pointed at the documents, "people aren't buying the dishwasher because they don't think they need it, because they can wash their plates themselves, so they think: why waste the money? That's why we shouldn't present the product as a necessity, but as a luxury."

Now Konan looked intrigued. "Elaborate on that."

"People are petty. We make the dishwasher a luxury that very few can enjoy. We might even give a few as a gift to the Feudal Lord and the higher up nobles. What are the lower nobles going to do?"

"They will buy it," Konan answered immediately. "Just to show that they can, if not for any other reason."

"Exactly," Sasuke nodded encouragingly. "Then, after owning a dishwasher becomes popular between the nobility, we lowered its price discreetly."

"So that wealthy merchants can afford it too," Konan finished for him. She frowned as she considered the possibilities for few moments. "The idea has merit. Can you draw a plan, including actual figures and expected time frame?"

"Of course. I'll have it ready before lunch," Sasuke assured her and began to work.

He loved it.

Sometime earlier that morning…

Deliriously happy was not enough to describe Naruto's emotional state as he jogged up the stairs to meet his friends. He was blissful. He was giddy. He was glowing. He was over the moon. He didn't yet believe everything that had happened in the last fifteen hours. Sasuke finding out that Naruto was in love with him and instead of rebuffing him or throwing him out of his life in disgust – Naruto's worst fear ever –, he had wanted them—

He actually wanted them to try! To have an actual relationship! To be a couple.

A couple.

He and Sasuke

Even in the privacy of his mind, it sounded impossible. Taboo. In fact, Naruto had spent the entire night dreading what would come to pass in the morning; convinced that either he had imagined it, or Sasuke had experienced a lapse of temporal madness that he would regret bitterly soon after. And how could he not think this way?

Naruto had given up on the possibility of them being together that way even before he had a chance to process the depth of his feelings for Sasuke. Sasuke was perfect, just the way he was. Wishing for a romantic relationship with him had felt like a betrayal to Naruto, because in his mind, it was not unlike wishing that Sasuke were someone else, someone different.

But now—

Now—

Sasuke wanted him. Sasuke had let him— No. Sasuke had asked Naruto to touch him. And he hadn't been shy about it. They had kissed; they had kissed until their lips were red and wet and swollen. Naruto had kissed Sasuke on the neck, he had kissed him on his shoulders, he had kissed his nipples – and hadn't that being an experience? Sasuke's nipples were a lovely pink color among the milky, hairless skin surrounded them. Naruto couldn't wait to see them again: to touch them; to lick them; to make them twist and pucker beneath his tongue as he sucked them – and Sasuke would let him. That much had been made clear this morning.

Naruto chuckled out aloud, no caring at all if he sounded like a mad man – laughing to himself while climbing up the deserted staircase that led the upper floors of the mansion. He was just so incredibly happy. He hadn't even known that it was possible to be this happy.

Sasuke wanted him ! They would kiss again tonight, and they would fuck — if not in the traditional way. There was a little problem, though. Thinking about Sasuke and the way their bodies had felt against each other in the heat of the moment was making Naruto hard, which probably wasn't the best idea right now. He was going to be working with his friends, after all.

Naruto adjusted the erection that had begun forming inside his pants so that others would not recognize his business and tried to keep his thoughts as pure as possible while he reached his destination.

He was mildly successful on this affair, but was still grinning like an idiot when he entered what was meant to be the 'swimming-pool room', where Gaara and Nagato were already working.

Everyone stopped in their tracks when Naruto entered the room. Nagato and Gaara shared a look, and it seemed like some private communication was taking place between them – weird, that was weird. A few seconds ticked by; then, they turned their heads simultaneously to look at Naruto.

"Eh… morning, guys," Naruto greeted them a bit self-consciously.

"Good morning," they answered at once. Gaara walked to Nagato's side, stopping next to his wheelchair.

They both stared at him openly. "So, what's going on?" he asked, bewildered out by the behavior. "Everything okay with the pool and shit?"

"Of course, the work is going well," Nagato informed him politely; but the kept looking at him expectantly, as if waiting for something. "We've begun to put the tiles in the swimming pool. It should take us a couple of days to finish that."

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Gaara spoke. "We are friends, are we not, Naruto?"

"Of course," he agreed immediately. This Gaara was one of his best friends.

"I've been led to believe that friends share with each other major events that occur in their lives, especially when these events are joyful ones," the red headed stated as a matter of fact.

"Yeah, that's right." Naruto was pleased that Gaara had reached that conclusion since he still struggled a little when it came to understand friendships, but he still failed to figure out why Gaara had chosen this moment to tell him about it. Usually their philosophical conversations waited for the afternoons, after work was done.

Still, Gaara seemed to waiting for something. "So…?"

"So…?" Naruto was lost.

"I believe that what Gaara is trying to say," Nagato interjected, "is that we are both very happy for you. He had wished to congratulate you the moment he saw you, but I told him it was not polite to do so before giving you a chance to share yours news…" he admitted reluctantly. It was obvious by his tone of voice and expression, that Gaara hadn't understood the meaning behind his instructions at all.

Naruto frowned, trying to make sense of it all; then, in a second, his eyebrows shot upwards. "You know!" he shouted. Immediately, he covered his mouth with hand, he hadn't meant to say it so loud. "You know about Sasuke and me! How could you know?" It literally just happened!

Increasing his confusion, Nagato's face heated up, the skin on his cheeks turning a lovely pinky color. "It was an accident," his friend excused himself. "Konan and I were taking a walk through the gardens and Sasuke's window just happened to be open. I can assure you that we left as soon as it became obvious what was going on…"

Oh. Oh, crap. "Sorry about that," Naruto apologized, smiling guiltily. He couldn't believe that they hadn't checked if the window was closed! That was such a rocky mistake. Oh well, on seconds' thoughts – it wasn't that hard to imagine. They both had been otherwise engaged, of course.

Nagato made a gesture with his right hand, dismissing the apology. "I believe congratulations are in order, then?"

Naruto regarded at his two friends; both of them seemed to be anxiously waiting for his response, but there was no judgment on their faces. On the contrary, they had been waiting to congratulate him. When had Naruto gotten to be so lucky? Perhaps this was the universe's pay off for all those crappy years growing up. Not only had Sasuke asked him to be his boyfriend – it had felt like he was asking, anyway –, but Naruto also had the most wonderful, fantastic friends.

"Yeah, guys," he said, a huge smile on his lips. "Congratulations are in order. Sasuke and I became a couple last night."

Nagato and Gaara were both terribly happy for him. Nagato had noticed – or at least suspected – that Naruto's feelings for Sasuke ran deeper than simple friendship, although he had confessed he hadn't been sure it they were of sexual nature or not (no surprise there, since Naruto was still thirteen years old as far as everybody but Sasuke and Itachi were concerned).

Gaara, on the other hand, had been completely oblivious, which surprised exactly no one. A ninja Gaara might be, but he still had much to learn about human interactions. The important thing was that he was learning. And Naruto felt a particularly strong rush of affection, when Gaara approached him and wrapped his arms around him in a brotherly hug. "I am glad that he makes you so happy," he declared, his gaze and voice completely honest.

This Gaara and Sasuke were not especially close, but they shared meals daily and lived in the same a house and there was certain camaraderie between them. Plus, Naruto was a hundred percent convinced that this Gaara admired Sasuke, and aspired to be like him in many ways.

After the group finished their morning work – with half the tiles properly in place, the swimming pool had begun to look like one, as opposed to an empty, deep hole in the floor –, they walked down to the kitchen together. As per usual, Naruto got two servings of the meal the housekeeper had prepared for them that morning, set up the two plates in a tray, and, saying farewell to his friends, began to make his way towards the underground floor.

Obito's cell didn't resemble one but for the lack of windows or proper ventilation. Naruto had decorated the bedroom himself before moving the prisoner there, and he had made sure that it had all the furniture required to make it comfortable. He had also set up a bookshelf full of fiction and non-fiction books – which Itachi had helped him to purchase, since Naruto wasn't a big fan of reading – so that Obito didn't die from boredom.

Naruto also made it his mission to bring Obito his lunch every day and to sit with him to eat their meal for an hour or so. Sometimes they engaged in conversation, sometimes they did not. Sometimes Obito would get angry at him and throw his plate at Naruto's face – on those occasions Naruto saw the wisdom of leaving early and giving the guy some time to breath, but the frequency of such incidents had decreased considerably in the last few weeks.

Naruto wanted to believe that he was getting through to him. Sasuke insisted that Obito was just bored, and Naruto was the only tool available to rectify his boredom. Itachi was of the opinion that it was probably a mix of the two.

The Preta Path Pain was standing guard in front of the door as always – a precaution that Naruto thought unnecessary, since Shisui's genjutsu had made it impossible for Obito to try to attack in any way and his sharingan had been sealed by Itachi to prevent him from escaping –. He was expecting Naruto, and stepped aside the moment he saw him, opening the cell door for him.

Obito barely looked up when Naruto entered his cell. He was sitting on the floor with his back against the legs of his bed, reading a book.

"Afternoon!" Naruto greeted him merrily, leaving the tray with both meals on the table. "How are you today?" he asked him, taking a seat in his favourite armchair.

Instead of answering his question, Obito closed the book in his lap and watched as Naruto made himself at home with a neutral expression on his face. "You are happy today," he discerned, managing to sound uninterested.

Naruto groaned. "Not you too!" Honestly. Sasuke was going to tease him for ages when he told him. Did he have a giant, neon poster in his forehead announcing the world that the love of his life might like him back? Plus, he'd gotten laid last night.

Naruto was too happy to mind.

"You are even giddier than usual…" Obito pointed out, "no like that means much, anyway."

Naruto rolled his eyes, ignoring the slight. "Well, if you wanna know, Sasuke and I became sort of a couple last night."

The Uchiha in the room arched both his eyebrows, looking clearly unimpressed by such revelation. "Aren't you too young for that?"

Naruto snorted. "That's funny, coming from you."

Obito had been younger than him when he had fallen in love with Rin, and he still loved her to this day – at least, the memory of her. The man regarded him for a few moments, most likely thinking the same thing. Naruto prepared himself for a different retort, since his first insult hadn't fallen in deaf ears, but was taken by surprised by the next words that left the prisoner mouth.

"If you love him, kill anyone who'd hurt him," he said, his voice grave and his gaze solemn. "Believe me. You don't want to live in a world without him in it."

With a pang in his heart Naruto realized that, for once, Obito was being utterly serious. How would it feel, he considered for a minute, to lose Sasuke now? Or to have lost him the day before yesterday, it wasn't as if Naruto's feelings towards him had changed at all – he loved Sasuke just as much as before.

How would Naruto react if Sasuke were killed in front of him – killed by a person he trusted, a person he cared for , to protect people who were mostly indifferent to him? Naruto hoped he would not turn his rage against those people, for they would be blameless in such an affair. He hoped he would find the strength to keep on living, if only because that was what Sasuke would have wanted for him. He hoped, but he lacked certainty. There was no way for him to know for sure. In that moment, Naruto empathized with Obito more than ever.

Nevertheless, in the last few months, Naruto had gotten to know Obito well enough to understand that any attempt to show empathy would be immediately rebuked, ending conversation — so he chose to change the subject.

"My friends know," he told the man. "They are happy for me."

If Obito was surprised by this declaration, he didn't show it. His shoulders relaxed considerably. "Why wouldn't they be?" he asked, openly displaying his curiosity.

The irony of such question didn't escaped Naruto; he snorted. "Well. Sasuke didn't have an outstanding reputation where we come from." He avoided saying 'Konoha', as the name of the village was sure to infuriate Obito. "Not that I do, either. People hated me because I was the demon. They feared Sasuke because he was an Uchiha."

"Yes… I guess that make sense. Uchihas never had the best reputation in that place." Judging by his expression, Obito's thoughts were obviously very far away, full of memories of the past. He seemed to come back to himself after a few seconds, though. "They hated you? You were sensei's kid. Being the Hokage's son had to count for something, even if you had Kyuubi inside of you."

"Kurama," Naruto corrected him easily. "I suppose it would have made a difference, but people didn't know. I myself didn't know until— Until Sasuke figured out, not that long ago."

Obito didn't seem to have anything to add on this subject. His gaze grew distant and his demeanor more close up. Was he remembering his team? Naruto's dad had been his teacher. Surely, there had been a time where they were close — where Minato had meant something to him.

Did he ever feel regret for causing his death? His mom's death? Countless others? Naruto was too afraid to ask that question and Obito didn't volunteer an answer.

The Uchiha stood up, expression blank once again, and approached the table. "Food is getting cold," he noticed, addressing Naruto with a gesture of his head. "Come on, kid. We better eat something now."

What do you think? It was a long chapter so hopefully that makes up a little for my long absence. I figure most of you were expecting tons of smut, and I promise that it's coming in the next chapter. It is finished now, I am just looking for someone willing to beta it before I upload it. I promise that Sasuke and Naruto will have a chance to explore the physical relationship at length. But here I wanted to show you a little sample of the life Naruto and Sasuke had made for themselves in Amekagure.

I believe that for the first time, Naruto and Sasuke have found a place where they can simply belong. There is no judgment, no criticism, no expectations. They have found a group of people who accepts them, who cares for the people they are, no their preconceptions of them or the ghost of their dead families. Like Naruto thinks, in a way, they have found a family. A place where they belong. I wanted to show this.

I also wanted to show some growth in their characters. Naruto and Sasuke are both adults, and their experiences in the war changed them. They need to expose Danzo and end him, that's the priority, and they are working towards that goal, but in the meanwhile, they need something to occupy themselves with. I think they are both quite disappointed with the shinobi way of life, Sasuke in particular wants nothing else that destroy the system which ruined him. That's something he has in common with Konan, plus they are both quite intellectual, cunning and cold. I love the friendship that has developed between them as a result. Believe guys, these two are gonna change the world!

And finally, Obito. I felt guilty for ignoring the poor guy, and since Kakashi is still MIA, I thought he and Naruto deserved a conversation. After all, he is the one responsible for the death of both his parents, but at one time, he was also like family to them, so it's an interesting dichotomy.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I can't wait to hear your opinion and thoughts. Also, if any of you would be willing to beta the next chapter for me, please let me know. It has been so long since I wrote a chapter than I am afraid my wonderful beta will have forgotten me.

I wish you all the best, guys.

Anzu.