Hey, this is my first Naruto fanfic, and most likely the only one I'll ever finish. Be warned, there's some naughty stuff within. This is a NaruSasu/SasuNaru fic. If you don't know what that is, then, well, I pity you. If you do, then you know what to expect. Either way, I hope you enjoy yourself.
KD.
Uzumaki, Sasuke
It had been a hard day. A long, hard day. And it wasn't over by a long shot. Their training was done for the day, and the after-supper dishes were washed, but more was yet to come as the sun sank below the rooftops of Konohagakure.
*Plip. *
And, it seemed, the day was officially about to get much worse.
*Plip, plip, plip. *
"Aaaaarrrrgggg!! I'm gonna kill you, pipe!!" Naruto wiped the water from his forehead and leapt at the offending piece of metal, eyes wild with rage. "Gyaaaaarrgg!!"
"Stop that, dunce!" Sasuke growled through clenched teeth. "You're going to break it again."
Naruto squinted down at him, pausing in his attempt to rip the piping from the ceiling where it was none-too securely bolted. "It keeps dripping on me!" he whined. As if on cue, a large blob of water smacked him in the eye. "Rrrrr…. Arrrrrrgg!! DIE!!"
Sasuke sighed, rubbing his temples tiredly. How had they gotten themselves stuck in this dingy little apartment together? The four of them, no less… And in the crowded, noisy, smelly part of downtown, too…
"This is all master Kakashi's fault. I can't believe I have to stay in the same room as Naruto! He snores so loud, I can't get my beauty sleep!" Sakura pouted from her spot on her bed, across from Sasuke's own. She glared at the blond shinobi hanging from the stubborn metal. "Naruto, you're going to get us in more trouble! Leave the pipe alone already!"
"It keeps dripping on me!! YOU try sleeping like that!"
"I can't sleep with you snoring anyway!"
"I don't snore! That's Kakashi-sensei in his room!"
"Even he isn't that loud, thunder lungs!"
"What did you say?!"
Sasuke ground his teeth together and buried his face in his bed, pulling the pillow up over his head to block out their shouting. He was going to snap if he had to stay here much longer. He was certain of it.
But he had to admit, they probably did deserve this…
*** Three days earlier ***
"Team seven, report."
Sasuke's earpiece crackled slightly, and he sighed to himself. "Target sighted, but it's causing interference. Surveillance was right, though. The tower still seems to be active."
"Yeah, and I can see my house from up here! And my favorite noodle stand!"
"Naruto, stay focused… sigh. Continue upward team seven. Kakashi out."
Sasuke glanced over to his right and glared at Naruto, who just grinned back.
"Lets hurry up, Sasuke! I'm starving, and Iruka-sensei is taking me out for ramen after this mission is over! He's buying!" just the though of it made Naruto's eyes light up.
"Do you have to think with your stomach, or does it just come naturally?" Sasuke shook his head in exasperation, resuming his long climb up the abandoned radio tower.
Naruto blinked in confusion, then laughed. "Yeah, I guess I do have a one-track mind! But I can't help it! I'm a growing boy!"
"You haven't grown any since you were ten. Now get moving!" Sasuke looked back down at Naruto, who hadn't moved an inch. "Or we will miss lunch."
"Nooooo! No way! Nuh-uh!! I'm not missing out on a free lunch!!" With that, Naruto stood so he was "standing" on the side of the tower and ran straight up the metal skeleton of the old building, kicking up red dirt and rust.
"Hmph." Sasuke snorted and followed suit, not one to be out-done by the hyper blond in something so simple.
Since learning how, Sasuke and Naruto had often engaged in these vertical races in their free time. Pushing one another to reach a higher level each time, it was not so much for fun as it was another form of rivalry. In fact, it nearly qualified as training they pushed so hard, and they spent so much of their time together, the other young ninja-in-training were beginning to wonder if perhaps something else was going on between the two. Most of those ninja were Sasuke's fan-girl club and the boys who despised the two for all the attention they were getting from said girls.
Even Sakura was starting to wonder (as she openly longed for Sasuke and secretly crushed after Naruto) if there was perhaps a reason Naruto was so good at his "Ninja centerfold", and Sasuke never showed any interest in any of the ninja schoolgirls.
Sasuke squinted up at Naruto through a thin haze of red. He was a dozen or so feet above him, and still climbing. Sasuke himself was beginning to feel a tight pulling ach in the back of his legs, an annoying reminder of his near-fatal encounter with Haku's acupuncture needles. They had done damage to his calf muscles that would never heal fully.
The sound of Naruto hopping from one girder to another brought the Uchiha back to himself. ~Damn… He's getting better than me… I'm going to have to train harder, or I'll never-~
"Te-m sev-n! –port! Sas-ke! –ruto! C-n you ---- me??"
"Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke stopped his ascent and tapped his ear-piece, getting loud, grating feedback for his efforts. "Damn… Naruto!"
"Huh?" Naruto stopped as well and looked back down at Sasuke. "What's up?"
He sighed. "There's too much interference here… I heard Kakashi-sensei try to contact us, but now all I have is static. Is your com any better?"
Naruto shrugged and tried his own communicator, wincing when it screeched back at him. "Ow! Uh, now what..?"
"We keep going. We have to complete the mission, with or without assistance."
"Right! Okay! Chaaaaarrge!!" Naruto jabbed his finger in the air determinedly, charging up the side of the radio tower.
Sasuke sighed, and followed quickly.
Moments later they were at the top, trying to figure out how to take out the pirate signal relay that was causing all of the radio-signals across the village to become garbled and fuzzy at random.
"Lets just trash it! That'll stop it!"
"How are we supposed to do that, dobe? The signal is originating somewhere else in the village, and we need to use the relay to find out where."
Naruto stomped impatiently, glaring at nothing in particular. "So what are we supposed to do?? That sound is really starting to annoy me!"
~Huh?~ Sasuke looked over at Naruto, confused. "What sound?" he watched the blond pace back and forth, kicking at loose sheets of rusted iron. He looked to be genuinely irritated, and he kept smacking his ears in an attempt to stop whatever noise it was that was bothering him.
"Huh? Oh, ah, heh, never mind! Come on, what do we do now if we can't bust it?" He stopped pacing, looking back over at the taller boy.
The black haired teen shook his head, taking out a kunai and his emergency message kit. He wrote a quick message note and wrapped it around the grip of the blade, tying it on with a short length of red ribbon. Looking around briefly, he hurled it at the patch of trees where he knew Kakashi would be. "We wait."
Naruto huffed irritably and plunked down on the very edge of the maintenance platform, his feet dangling in the open air. He gave Sasuke a look that clearly said "show off"
Sasuke sat down next to him, ignoring the look. He pulled his one knee up to his chest and wrapped his arms around it, resting his chin there. He looked out over the expanse of Konohagakure, thinking of how much smaller the town looked from so high up. It was easy to forget that there were many larger cities than this, when one was wandering amongst the myriad of twisting streets and tiled roofs. Around the edges of the village rose huge trees, named Fire limbs by the Hokage who founded the village. They were found only here, and some said they got to such enormous size because of all the chakra young ninja poured into them during their early training.
He was startled out of his thoughts by the sudden metallic crackle of radio static.
Naruto was fiddling with a small radio he'd pulled out from under his coat. After a moment of fiddling with the dials, static gave way to music in a language Sasuke didn't recognize.
"Sugoi! I love English music!" The blond grinned, turning the volume up. "This must be what the pirate station is playing. Too bad we have to shut it down, I really like this kind of music…"
Sasuke blinked at Naruto, stunned. "You? Like music? In other languages? Why??"
Naruto smiled, an odd, sad look in his eyes. "I'm not just the dunce everyone thinks I am. I do more than just pull pranks and get in everyone's way…" he shook his head and the look was gone. "Iruka sensei taught me some English a few years back. He thought it would help me learn discipline, but it just gave me more way's to make everyone else look stupid!"
Sasuke sighed and shook his head at Naruto's superior laughter. "Only you would think of something like that, dobe…"
The orange-clad fox boy just grinned and turned his attention to the illegal music issuing from the red plastic radio.
After a short while, Sasuke got curious, and looked over at Naruto. "So… What's this song about?" he wouldn't openly admit that sitting up here, the sun setting through the trees, listening to romantic-sounding music with his rival was beginning to make him feel somewhat uncomfortable.
Naruto blinked, startled out of his half-lidded contented daze. "Huh? Oh, ah, she's singing about how some woman betrayed her, and that her aloft superior act isn't fooling anyone anymore." He looked over at Sasuke briefly, before looking back out over the quieting city. "It's really kind of a sad song. The woman was in love with her, but now she's just hurt… Though I might be getting some parts wrong!" he laughed then, the fiery orange light of the sun making him look more like the fox-spirit he housed. He started humming along with the song after a while; trying to hide his growing discomfort under the look Sasuke was giving him.
"Ah…" Sasuke looked away again, watching the lights of the town begin to flicker on in the growing gloom. They were still bathed in the golden light of the setting sun, however, and he couldn't help but notice how Naruto's hair and skin seemed to glow, his bright blue eyes now like night waters reflecting torchlight. It was amazing, how the other boy affected him sometimes…
Then the next song began and instead of humming, Naruto began singing along softly in Japanese, his youthful boyish voice contrasting with the sultry English lyrics. His words echoing in the silence that had blanketed them, Sasuke couldn't help but be drawn in by Naruto's voice.
"I tried to kill the pain, but only brought more… So much more…
I lay dying; I'm pouring crimson regret… and betrayal.
I'm dying! Praying! Bleeding! And screeaaaming!
Am I too lost, to be saved? Am I too lost?!
My god! My tourniquet! Return to me salvation!
My god! My tourniquet! Return to me salvation…
Do you remember me, lost for so long?
Will you be on the other side? Or will you forget me?!
I'm dying! Praying! Bleeding! And screeaaaming!
Am I too lost, to be saved? Am I too lost?!"
Sasuke stared at Naruto in disbelief; jaw slightly agape. It reminded him of his family, of himself… The way the boy next to him sang, it was almost like he was singing from his heart, expressing emotions he'd never revealed any other time…
Naruto kept singing, oblivious.
"My god! My tourniquet! Return to me salvation!
My god! My tourniquet! Return to me salvation…
I WANT TO DIE!!"
Naruto shouted the last four words, pain in his voice. His eyes were clenched shut tightly, and tears glistened at the corners of his eyes. It was as though he was shouting at the entire world, begging for an end to his suffering. It made Sasuke's stomach twist into knots and flutter painfully. He had to keep himself in check, to quash the urge to take the blond in his arms and comfort him. It made his chest ach, and he didn't know why…
"My god! My tourniquet! Return to me salvation!
My god! My tourniquet! Return to me salvation…
My wounds cry for the grave! My soul cries, for deliverance!
Will I be denied??
Christ!!
Tourniquet!!
My suicide!! My suicide…"
As the song died away, Naruto coughed and cleared his throat, a bit sore from his exuberant singing. He turned and looked at Sasuke, grinning ear to ear. "Pretty impressive, ne Sasuke?" His voice was a bit hoarse and his cheeks were flushed red, his heart beating fast under his jacket. He took one look at the silent boy next to him, however, and the smile vanished.
Sasuke was staring at him with dark, slightly glazed eyes. He had the look of someone trying to remember a dream, or a long-forgotten place from years gone by. Though he was sitting a foot or two away from Naruto, he was leaning so close their faces were mere inches apart. He looked the way Sakura had looked when he'd masqueraded as Sasuke and they were going to kiss…
"S-Sasuke..? What… What are you doing..?" His voice was quiet, and he backed away some. Sasuke was acting strange and that could very well be a bad thing, so he didn't want to startle the seemingly entranced boy. He could end up losing a body-part or two that way.
Sasuke shook his head and blinked rapidly, looking momentarily panicked. He got up quickly and walked over to the pirate station, where he stopped, his back to Naruto. His cheeks were bright red, and he knew he looked like an idiot now. He hadn't realized he'd been staring at the shorter blond boy throughout the entire song, but he couldn't have helped it anyway. The song had really gotten to him, and he rubbed his chest, his heart still hurting.
Naruto tilted his head and squinted at Sasuke, wondering what the hell was going on. But the raven-haired boy wouldn't look at him, and he got no answers from his tensed back. "…. Oi, Sasuke! You okay?" He refused to let that stop him, however.
Sasuke nearly jumped, but managed to control himself. Instead, he turned and fixed an icy glare on Naruto. "What, Dunce?" His tone was flat and hard, like solid granite.
The younger shinobi flinched at the harshness, totally unlike how the older boy had been moments before. "Er... Ah… Guess I shouldn't sing outside my bathroom, eh?" He laughed uncertainly, hoping to lighten the mood some. The Uchiha just snorted and turned back towards the illegal broadcasting array.
Without a backward glance, Sasuke let loose a loud shout and slammed his foot into the array. It shattered instantly, sending pieces of metal and wire flying in all directions. It made him feel somewhat better, but not nearly enough. Now Naruto was going to laugh at him or something equally immature. Like Hokage the fourth had when Sasuke asked him why boys had to like girls. He'd been ten at the time, but it still hurt to be laughed at…
Naruto, meanwhile, was watching Sasuke smash the remnants of the pirate station into tiny pieces. It was highly unusual to see the normally stoic boy get so… emotional. After a few minutes however, he got worried and stood up. He walked silently across the metal grating and stopped behind Sasuke. He would ask him what was wrong or something, anything that would stop his sudden rage. He reached out to tap him on the shoulder, but Sasuke acted first.
He suddenly spun around and jumped back, eyes wide. "Don't you dare touch me, Uzumaki!!" He stumbled on a larger piece of the array however, and landed hard. He winced, feeling a sharp chunk of metal jab him in the thigh and pierce the still sore flesh. He quickly got to his feet though, and ignored the cool blood running down his leg. The panic was rising in him again, threatening to overcome him, and the sight of Naruto coming closer made it worse. He continued to back away.
Naruto was beyond confusion now, and the sight of the blood on Sasuke's leg made his heart jump. But he quickly noticed something far more urgent and he rushed forward, grabbing Sasuke by the arms before he backed right off the edge of the platform. "Sasuke! Calm down! What the hell is wrong with you?? You nearly walked right off the edge!" he shouted, pulling him away from where the railing had rusted away years before.
Sasuke didn't resist as Naruto pulled him back towards the centre of the tower, making him sit down. After a moment he calmed down some, though he refused to look at the other boy and didn't notice as he bent down. Suddenly he was shoved onto his back, his injured leg thrown over Naruto's shoulder as calloused hands ran up and down his thigh. "A-Ah!! Wh-What the hell do you think you're doing, dunce??" A bright blush covered his face and now he did resist. "Let go!! Hey, stop that!! You perverted baka, go feel up someone else!!"
Naruto ignored him, continuing what he was doing. Soon he found the injury (evident by Sasuke's sudden pained yelp as he brushed against the shard of metal jutting out of his inner thigh) and he pulled Sasuke closer. Before the other could resist further he had his lips pressed to the wound, sucking hard.
"Ahh!! Naruto!!" Sasuke stared at him in horror, frozen in place. He knew what the blond was doing now, but he didn't care. He wanted him to stop. Now. Nobody got that close to him without his permission, and no way would he ever give Naruto permission to do this! Sudden he felt teeth dig into his thigh, and the world spun.
Naruto looked up from between Sasuke's thighs (where he was sucking the wound clean of dirt and rust), surprised by a strange noise that sounded oddly like a moan. He blinked. Sasuke had his head thrown back, arching up from the hard metal, his spine bent back painfully. His mouth was hanging open in a silent "O", his eyes wide and shimmering with unshed tears. He was either in extreme pain, or…
"A-aahhh!" Sasuke let out a shuddery wail as Naruto again bit him. He could understand it as being accidental the first time, but the second had been harder, more deliberate. Naruto had bitten him on purpose! Struggling against the haze in his head, he forced himself to sit up. He grabbed Naruto by the shoulders and yanked him up to eye level. "What the Hell do you think you're doing?? Why the hell did you bite me?!" He knew he was blushing, and his breath came in short gasps, but he did his best to summon up a decent glare.
Naruto glared back. "You had a huge chunk of rusty metal stuck in your leg! You'll get tetanus if you don't clean the wound! You can't just suck it all out, you have to squeeze it out!" He was lying of course, and Sasuke had to know that, but he'd learned what he'd wanted to.
Sasuke glared at him and shoved the blond away. "I can clean my own damn wounds, dunce." He was quickly regaining his composure, and he went about wrapping the gash with gauze. He made sure to turn away from the younger boy as he did so. It was one thing to be affected by what Naruto had done, but it was an entirely different to let him see how it had affected him. No way was he letting Naruto know biting him had turned him on.
It was some time until Kakashi contacted them again. Neither spoke as he berated them for destroying their only clue, or during the long walk to their impending incarceration. Sakura was already there when they arrived.
*** Three days later ***
Naruto had finally given up on "killing" the pipe above his bed, and had settled on doing push-ups to blow off stream.
Sakura was also silent now, sitting on the blonds back as he trained, pouting over what she considered "unfair punishment". Kakashi however, thought it fitting that she be locked up with her teammates for a full week as punish for skipping their mission in favour of shopping. Even if Sakura had bought him a very nice bookmark for his hentai collection…
Sasuke was the only one of the three who wasn't so relaxed. He was becoming more and more restless, his mind reeling with thoughts and theories revolving around Naruto's recent actions. Though he had only known him for a few months now, he knew the short shinobi wasn't the sort to play those sorts of pranks. He'd had plenty of guys flirt with him before, of course, some had been serious, and some had been joking, so he could tell the difference. But Naruto… he'd looked so… so smug when Sasuke had responded to his actions!
He rolled onto his back, glaring at the water-stained ceiling. Plenty of people accused Sasuke of being gay, and he didn't do anything to dispel those rumours. He wasn't interested in girls, that much was certain, but he didn't find guys any more appealing. He just wasn't interested in a relationship right now. First he had to become as strong as possible, then he had to avenge his clan, and then, after all of that, he had to find a suitable woman to restart his clan with. So it didn't really matter what he wanted, in the end. He had duties to fulfill.
Soon he found his mind wandering, revolving around what his possible sexual preference could be. Those thoughts quickly brought him back to the subject of Naruto, however. He remembered when he'd first seen the diminutive ninja. He'd escaped from a mob of girls by hiding up on the school roof, and Naruto had been standing on the very edge, watching the sakura blooms dance on the wind. He'd looked so lost and alone then, like even the slightest thing would send him to tears. He'd held in one hand a can of orange paint, and a brush in the other. Looking around, Sasuke found the large orange spiral pattern he'd painted on one of the walls. He'd been tempted to talk to the boy at the time, but his own experience with strangers had left him wary, and in the end he simply ran off to tell the Hokage about the graffiti.
Sasuke grit his teeth, and curled up in a ball on his side. His mind kept wandering aimlessly, and it wasn't doing him any good! He thought for a while, and remembered the first day of shinobi training. It made his insides writhe like a pit of restless snakes, thinking about how Naruto had unwillingly kissed him that day. He had to admit, it had been his first kiss, and willing or not, it was important to him. He remembered that all he could taste was ramen, and that his lips had felt soft but chapped. Now, just the smell of ramen made his stomach do flips. Even now, his heart was fluttering and he could feel himself blushing. He wondered briefly, what it would feel like if Naruto had kissed him willingly, but quickly blocked the thought out of his mind. Just thinking about it was turning him on! He was not gay! No way was he going to end up some pansy-assed queer! Hell, the only feminine thing he ever did was wear black nail polish and black eyeliner! And that didn't count as being gay!
He suddenly remembered seeing Naruto at a club once, after their encounter with Zabuza, and the blond had been dressed up like a punk rocker. He'd been in baggy and ripped jeans, with a large black and red anarchy shirt that went down nearly to his knees. He'd had shoes two sizes too big, and he'd been wearing enough punk jewellery to choke a horse. Watching him dance had been a real sight. Him, with his spiky yellow hair and no sense of rhythm, dancing all alone in the crowded club. Eventually Sasuke had waked over and dragged him off the dance floor and over to a table. He himself had been decked out in all his Goth-metal glory, and it had taken Naruto a few minutes to finally realize who he was. They'd talked well into the night, drinking cheap sake and laughing at the other people there. They'd danced a few times once they'd gotten drunk enough, and Naruto had even managed to get him to do a slow dance at one point. Though because they didn't know anyone else there, they'd ended up dancing together for that one… The sun was just beginning to rise as they headed home and parted ways for the day. After that night, they'd become more like competitive friends, than rivals, and neither minded much.
Now that he thought about it, Naruto had done things like this on quite a few occasions… They went out for ramen, they danced, trained, studied, even went to the hot springs together a few times. In fact, there were few things Naruto did without him being there, and even fewer things that Sasuke did without him. God, had Naruto been turning him gay all this time?? Was he just being friendly, or was the blond trying to seduce him??
"Yamate!" Sasuke slammed his head against his pillow angrily, trying to stop that train of thought. No way! Not possible! Naruto, of all people, was not gay!
A loud thud made his head shoot up, eyes wide. Naruto and Sakura were in a pile on the floor, looking at him like he'd just grown pointed fox ears.
"Anou, Sasuke kun… Stop what?" Sakura blinked at him, cutely confused.
Sasuke just grit his teeth and jumped from his bed. Without any explanation he leapt out the nearest window and raced across the rooftops, an unreadable expression on his face.
He needed to get out of that place, away from that annoying boy. Now.
+End part one+
Sigh. I guess this is one of the longest things I've written thus far… Part one took up 6 pages on it's own, and I already have parts two and three written on paper, so it won't take me too long to get them up here…
So, how is it so far? Does anyone like it? Or am I doing this for my own enjoyment? Not like I care anymore, but it's nice to know.
Anyway, if nobody reviews, I'll probably just make this story two parts long rather than three or more. So if anyone likes this, review and I'll make it longer. Of course, if I get nothing but flames, I won't update for a very long time, if ever.
Part two will hopefully be done in a week, maybe two depending on if I can get to the library to update. Later.
"Love and peace, Hate and war! This is what my pills are for!"
Koril Dragonic