A/N: Sequel to "Two Idiots". Naruto and Sasuke's relationship progresses, but they have to deal with external factors.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters.

Chapter 1:

Thoughtfulness

They were watching him again.

Sasuke did his best to focus his attention on his book. Years of training, though, made him uncomfortably aware of the group of people observing him. He sighed and glanced at the gates of the Academy for the seventh time in the last ten minutes. What was taking Naruto so long?

This had started happening more often. Once Sasuke had increased the frequency and length of his visits, he had found himself waiting for Naruto more and more. After all, Naruto couldn't keep ditching his responsibilities to meet Sasuke every time, and he and Sakura had forbidden the blonde the use of shadow clones. The idiot would end up passing out due to chakra exhaustion otherwise. And it was fine. The wait itself didn't bother Sasuke that much; he was used to spending his time alone and was even grateful for it. The audience without Naruto as a barrier, though, was a nuisance.

As Nara had warned him during the early days of their relationship, nothing Naruto-related stayed private for long. The villagers were aware of his movements as if they were part of the T&I division — and some of them might actually part of the division working for the Council. At first, the group following them was composed mainly of his detractors. Some still wanted him to get away from the Hero of Konoha; others wanted to keep an eye on Sasuke in case he decided to disrespect Naruto. But neither of those afflicted Sasuke as much as the third group: the fans.

They were not Sasuke's fans, obviously. They were just so invested in the idiot that they followed their relationship closely. They knew their preferred training ground, their usual order at the bar and Ichiraku, which weren't that difficult to guess. But they also were aware of smaller, more private things, like Naruto's brand of toothpaste and fabric softener or the name of the plants he kept. It was creepy, to say the least, and Sasuke was grateful that he didn't spend enough time in Konoha for them to stalk him to that level.

Furthermore, if Sakura was to be trusted, they were betting on the milestones of their relationship. Apparently, the list of things they were trying to predict was considerably detailed and extensive, which had his idiotic teammates laughing uncontrollably for a long time. Sakura even had insinuated they could help her pay for the costly vacations she had been planning. Sasuke had limited to glare at her, cuffed Naruto on the head before he could give an affirmative reply, and grumbled something about people with too much free time.

Sasuke closed his book while considering the possible consequences of directing the crowd one of his most threatening stares. Would they report him to the Hokage's Office? Would it warrant another of Nara's lectures? Could the damned Council use it against him? He sighed yet again and decided he wouldn't take the risk, as he had successfully kept the Dobe and himself out of trouble in that regard. He could go back to his apartment, and Naruto could go look for him when he was done doing whatever he was doing.

You better be drowning in assignments, Usuratonkachi, he thought as he prepared to disappear with a body flicker to prevent the villagers from following him.

"Sasuke!"

The breathless shout came just in time to keep him where he was. Sasuke frowned at the blur of black and orange running towards him but didn't move. To his right, he could hear the excited murmurs coming from the indiscreet crowd, and his frown intensified, before tunning them out.

"Tardiness is not one of the things you are supposed to pick up from Kakashi, you know?" He commented when Naruto was close enough.

"What?" Naruto's smile transformed into a pout. "It wasn't like I did it to annoy you. I was-" he made a suspicious pause and looked away —a clear sign that he was hiding something. Ultimately he decided on: "Iruka-sensei has been going too hard on me lately."

"Hn, sounds like you have been slacking," Sasuke replied calmly, fighting to contain his grin when he saw Naruto's offended expression. Of course, he knew how hard Naruto was working, but it was always amusing to rile up the blonde a little.

Naruto soon realized what he was doing, mirroring Sasuke's mischievous expression. "Show some sympathy, Bastard. I've been sequestered here since sunrise," he commented while stretching a little.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Stop whining, and I'll treat you to dinner."

"Yes!" Naruto raised both arms in victory. "You are the best, Sasuke!" He declared, launching himself at him.

Sasuke managed to catch Naruto by the collar of his shirt before could latch onto him, keeping him at arm's length. "Back off, idiot!" He growled, motioning to the group ogling at their interactions. "Control yourself, or this will never stop."

Naruto looked over Sasuke's shoulder and grimaced. "Yeah, right. I keep forgetting." He smiled apologetically. "Sorry about that."

"Not your fault." He released Naruto, who fell into step with him, even if his enthusiasm seemed to have evaporated.

Sasuke turned his head just enough to confirm the group of people was following them at a cautious distance and counted to ten. If it were up to him, they would use jutsu to move wherever they needed to go; anything to keep those pests away. However, Naruto preferred to take the more scenic route, and Sasuke, like the fucking idiot he was, had decided to humour the blonde.

It had not been a decision he had taken lightly. In fact, it had been the result of another one of their stupid misunderstandings turned into a vicious argument. Naruto had been adamant on walking through the village despite the spectators. Sasuke had gone as far as calling the idiot attention seeker —he was still berating himself for that one. They had then proceeded to decimate half of a training ground before Sakura had sent them both to the hospital. Only then, while both were waiting for Sakura's shift to end so that she could shout at them properly, had Naruto decided to talk.

"I never thought I would get to have this," Naruto said absent-mindedly.

"If you mean multiple injuries after a fight, Sakura might have finally caused you brain damage." Sasuke huffed, still furious at how the situation had blown out of proportion.

"No, you jerk. I didn't mean this precisely," Naruto said signalling his cuts and bruises. "Just-" he averted his stare to the small window of Sakura's office. "Walking around the village with you for no particular reason- there was a time I didn't even know if I would be able to bring you back." He made a pause and shrugged. "I know it's stupid, and a waste of time, and there are lots of annoying people, but-" he turned to face Sasuke with a half-smile "-it was nice."

Sasuke didn't know what to say at first. It had never crossed his mind how important was something like that for Naruto. He supposed that was an essential part of the problem; he had been just thinking about how it was an inconvenience for him. It wasn't like he spent enough time in Konoha for it to become truly unbearable. Besides, Sakura had recently lectured them on the importance of compromise when it came to relationships. It would be fine as long as Naruto kept his distance in public.

As they walked in uneasy silence, Naruto wearing an afflicted expression, Sasuke had to admit his decision had not had the desired effect. He glanced between the idiot's left hand and the people on the street, struggling to reach a new resolution. He decided to ditch his pride. It had never done him any good anyway. Sasuke braced himself with a deep breath and reached for Naruto's hand.

The blonde barely missed a step before ducking his head and smiling in that way that caused him to close his eyes. Sasuke counted that as a win-win. Naruto was making that silly face, and he was too occupied with the electric sensation running through his arm to care about who might be watching.