Waha!! Someone actually got it! I thought I was too vague, but Kaosll was
the first one to guess right! And that has to do with Naruto because...
well there's this theory I have on Yondaime and Naruto. But all that will
be revealed later in the story. As to your question about SasuNaru...
well... I don't really want to jump right into it without developing the
feelings, and have the reader wonder 'how the hell did she pull that off?'.
Call it working to improve my writer's skills while keeping as close to the
characters as I can. I can guarantee for sure that hints of the couple will
pop up here and there... like when I screw up Naruto's birthday (heh heh).
Title: Jaded
Series: Naruto
Rating: PG-13 (Will go higher later on)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama, Romance, Humour, Horror, Tragedy, Supernatural, Fantasy, etc. (pretty much all)
Summary: For most of his life, Naruto has had one dream (becoming Hokage) and one love (Sakura), but as he grows up he realises not everything is as easy as he wants to believe it is, and his romances are not as simple as getting the girl, but finding a love that's not bound by superficial reasons. (Eventually it'll be SasuNaru)
Pairings: Nothing serious in this chapter, just some SakuNaru development (trust me it will make the SasuNaru so much better) along with some SasuNaru friendship vibes. Once again, nothing 'serious'.
Chapter Title: 5. Sweet Dreams
In the morning, Naruto was back to his usual self and avoided Sasuke until he got the hint that the dark-haired boy wasn't going to bring up the dream again. They ate breakfast quickly before heading off again. The old woman waved goodbye but continued to shoot Naruto the coldest of stares. He pouted, but wasn't too upset over it. It wasn't like he cared about the opinions of one 'stupid old hag' anyways. He was glad that they had finally left the woman's hut. Even though they had only stayed for a day, it was one of the worst days of Naruto's life, but Sakura was okay with him harbouring the Kitsune, and Sasuke didn't seem to care much about it either, so all ended well. If only he could get rid of his stupid nightmares.
They had been walking in silence for a couple of hours, but every so often the blond would catch Sasuke watching him. He knew the boy was curious about his dreams, but there was no way he'd let two of his secrets be revealed in such a short span of time.
"I'm tired!" he cried, deciding to focus Sasuke's attention on something else. Kakashi didn't even flinch. He looked to Sakura and noticed she looked a little beat too. "Let's camp out, now!" he tried again. Still no reaction from Kakashi.
"I'm getting a little tired, Kakashi," Sakura piped up. The sun was already beginning to set and both she and Sasuke hadn't had enough time to heal their wounds completely. Kakashi stopped and turned around, looking first from Sakura then to Naruto. He shrugged and nodded.
"Sure, let's find a spot to spend the night and we'll get some sleep. It's still a good two days before we'll get back. I need to pick up something for Hokage-sama." Naruto made a face.
"What does Tsunade-baba want that it'll take us two days to get?" he yelled. Kakashi ignored him. He would have continued to complain, but they had finally found a good place to camp out for the night and he wanted to get everything set up so he could finally sit for a bit. Sasuke was starting to creep him out. The boy had been staring at him for a good five minutes and Naruto refused to satisfy him by looking directly in his direction. He knew it was because of the dream and Sasuke had heard him say something, but he didn't have the faintest clue what he said. Maybe Sasuke knew. Naruto frowned, hoping he didn't know anything.
They set up their sleeping bags and Sasuke and Kakashi went to look for wood while the other two stayed behind to keep watch over their stuff and look for food. Sakura walked over to the blond and looked at the small amount of berries in his hands, frowning.
"You haven't been getting much sleep, ne Naruto-kun?" she said softly. He looked up at her, surprised, but didn't deny it and instead kept his mouth shut. "You shouldn't push yourself this hard." Naruto smiled at her concern and put his berries in a small pile beside the space they had cleared for the fire.
"I'm okay, Sakura-chan," he exclaimed. She shook her head. "I just don't like walking for so long, ne?"
"You should at least tell someone if something is wrong." She put her berries with his and sat down on her sleeping bag.
"Hai, demo a shinobi is supposed to deal with duress and stress, ne? And just because I look like I'm a bit tired, doesn't mean I can't handle it. Plus, what makes you think I haven't told anyone already?" He sat down on his own bag, not noticing how defensive he was getting. She shrugged, watching him with worried eyes.
"I was just trying to help, baka," she huffed and began to prepare a snack for herself. "You don't have to bite my head off, you know." Naruto was about to apologize to her when Kakashi and Sasuke came back with their wood.
"Ne, Naruto-kun," Sasuke started, putting his wood in a pile. "You're getting to be lazy like Shikamaru." Naruto narrowed his eyes.
"So what if I am?" he retorted. "Unlike you, he's a chuunin already!" The other boy rolled his eyes and prepared the fire.
"Hai, demo he's also smart. A dobe like you can't do anything. If you got lazy, you'd turn into a vegetable."
"TEME!!!" Naruto yelled and went to tackle Sasuke from behind but was caught by Kakashi.
"Let's talk," he said and carried the fighting boy away from the campsite. He walked for a couple of minutes until he was sure they were out of hearing range before dropping Naruto to the ground.
"First you ignore me, now you want to talk to me alone?" Naruto huffed, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"You haven't been your usual self lately," Kakashi said. "You seem to be tired." Naruto laughed.
"Sakura-chan said the same thing to me just a few minutes ago." He avoided Kakashi's meaning.
"Naruto, what's wrong? Why haven't you been sleeping properly?" Naruto frowned, not expecting his teacher to get straight to the point.
"I have so been sleeping properly!" he argued. The jounin shook his head.
"No, you haven't. I can tell. You might just end up dragging the team down if this continues." Kakashi warned, turning around and walking back to the campsite.
"Who says I'm going to let it!" Naruto yelled after him. He got up and chased after the man. "It's nothing but stupid nightmares," he explained. Kakashi stopped and nodded.
"And are you going to let these nightmares control you?" he asked. Naruto stuffed his hands in his pockets nervously, remembering his dreams.
"It's kind of hard not to, especially when they have a possibility of becoming a reality," he said vaguely. Kakashi smiled to himself, noticing Naruto's desire to keep the subject behind his dreams hidden.
"You have to confront the subject of your fears, but only do it when you're ready." He smiled at the boy and pulled out his book, Icha Icha Paradaisu, and began reading it before all the light had faded. "Or only when you get caught," he added as an afterthought, remembering his own conflict with Iruka. So far he hadn't been caught, and his fears had remained hidden.
"Ne, Kakashi-sensei, you give the corniest pep talks," Naruto grinned. Kakashi ignored him and they both went back to their camp.
Naruto went over to his sleeping bag, ignoring the twin looks of barely concealed interest from his team mates and picked up his bowl of food. Kakashi sat down on his sleeping bag and decided he was going to keep an extra eye on the genin for a while until he got over the nightmares. He had a feeling Sasuke knew something about the dreams too by the way the boy took an unusual interest in Naruto following their leave of the hut.
"So, who wants to take the first shift?" he asked when everyone had finished their food. Sasuke and Sakura both shrugged indifferently and turned to Naruto who was waving his arm in the air enthusiastically.
"I do!" he exclaimed.
"Dobe, this isn't the academy, you don't need to raise your hand anymore." The dark-haired genin muttered loud enough for everyone to hear. Naruto usually hated the first shift. He often wanted to be the first one asleep, not to mention it was his idea to settle down for the night anyways. Sakura frowned at him suspiciously. Kakashi just nodded.
"Okay, Naruto first, then Sakura and Sasuke last. Good night!" He grinned and dove under his covers.
"Matte!" Sakura yelled. "What about you?! You can't just make us do the whole night shift!"
"Yes I can and did," Kakashi retorted childishly. "Besides, I'm the one with the most expertise here. I need my beauty sleep." His snoring a couple of seconds later told them he was going to ignore them. None of them were so naïve that they believed he was actually asleep. Naruto snorted.
"I bet he really does need the *beauty* sleep to fix what ever he's hiding under that mask!" he snapped, earning himself a rock in the head from both sides. "Well, it could be true," he pouted indignantly, making himself comfortable. He was planning to stay up for as long as it took to avoid people overhearing him when he muttered in his sleep. He didn't want Sakura getting any wrong ideas. Bah. How the hell could he be afraid of Uchiha? And if Sakura believed that then he'd be less respected in her eyes and Sasuke would be a hero once again.
"Oyasumi!" Sakura called and snuggled into her sleeping bag. Sasuke nodded, not caring if she could see it or not and got into his own as well, making sure to sleep on the side that allowed him to watch Naruto. He wondered if the things he heard Naruto mumble in his sleep were a one time thing.
***
Naruto yawned for the hundredth time, scratching the side of his head sleepily. He had already passed his shift over to Sakura who had her back turned from the camp, watching the trees, but he dared not go to sleep.
He blinked twice to keep himself awake, repeating in his mind that if he didn't sleep the dreams wouldn't come. They were stupid dreams anyways. So when he got over them (which really shouldn't be too long) he could catch up on his sleep then. Until they disappeared, he'd have to stay awake.
"Just like Gaara had to," he mumbled to himself sadly. He shuddered remembering the dark circles under the boy's eyes. Even though it was a few years ago he still remembered the torture the sand badger put him through. He tried to hold it off, but his thoughts were making him tired reminding himself of how tired Gaara had been and nearly half an hour before Sasuke's shift began he was fast asleep and snoring. Sakura looked over her shoulder and smiled softly now that the blond had finally allowed himself to sleep. Though she'd never admit it in broad daylight he was kind of cute while he slept. Cute, in a quiet and calm sort of way.
When her shift was up she stood up and stretched out her arms, letting out a big yawn. She couldn't wait to get back to sleep. Making sure her footsteps were as quiet as possible, she made her way over to Sasuke who was already sitting up in his sleeping bag.
"You were awake all the time?" She asked astonished. He looked at her blankly before her face registered in his brain.
"No. I'm a light sleeper. I thought you would have figured that out by now." He deadpanned sarcastically. She sweatdropped but remained silent, knowing it was futile to defend herself to him. It wasn't like he'd listen to her anyways. "Was there any disturbances?" He asked. She shook her head.
"Nothing out of the ordinary except that Naruto only fell asleep half an hour ago. He couldn't keep himself awake any longer." He frowned in thought before standing up and stepping lightly out of his sleeping bag.
"Okay, you can sleep now." She nodded lazily; climbing back under her warm covers and fell back asleep. Sasuke let his gaze wander to the blond genin and he watched him for a few minutes. There didn't seem to be anything wrong at the moment, and from the slight drool, Sasuke had to guess the content of the boy's dreams was food. He rolled his eyes and took up Sakura's spot watching over the camp, while keeping half an ear trained on his sleeping rival.
For the next few hours Sasuke kept look out until the sky began to lighten slightly. He decided to stand up and work out the kinks in his muscles and wake the others up in the next hour or so.
He was just about to add another log to the dying embers when a moan caught his attention. He whipped around, pulling out his kunai, ready to attack. His eyes scanned the campsite and came to rest on Naruto, who was tossing and turning in an apparent nightmare and the sounds had been coming from him. He quietly put away the weapon and walked over to the sleeping boy.
"Onegai!" the blond cried in a hushed whisper. Sasuke was at a loss of what to do. He dropped to his knees beside his rival's head and wiped away the sweat beading there. "Please leave me alone..." He bit his lip and considered the sleeping boy's words. "Sasuke, no!" He shook his head wondering what was going on. If Naruto kept up like this he'd get loud enough to wake the others. He moved his hand from the boy's forehead to his shoulders and shook him violently.
"Naruto!" He exclaimed, keeping his voice low enough to not wake Kakashi and Sakura. "Wake up, dobe!" It took him a couple of seconds, but slowly Naruto's eyes began to flutter open sleepily. They stayed blank for a couple of seconds before he recognised the boy hovering above him.
"GET OFF OF ME!" He yelled and began fighting Sasuke's grip on his shoulders. Taken by surprise, the dark-haired shinobi stumbled backwards and watched in awe as Naruto ran away from the camp.
"Naruto, matte!" He called out, but was paid no mind. He looked to Sakura's sleeping bag and noticed that she had been woken by their noise and decided to run after the boy to see if he could get to the bottom of Naruto's dreams. He figured he had a right to, especially since he seemed to be the topic of them, and it hurt him to know there was something about him that scared the normally unshakable boy. Or maybe it was just nothing more than nightmares. Everyone had nightmares, right? He stood up and took off after Naruto in the growing light.
***
Naruto pushed his way back into the camp after waiting for a couple of seconds. He watched as Sasuke tore after him, not realising that he had only done a full circle around the camp to throw him off the trail. He couldn't let himself be cornered into talking. It was too soon for him and he just needed to get over the sickening dream. When he saw Sasuke towering above him he nearly had a heart attack. Maybe he had to think about sleeping nearer Kakashi so that that face wouldn't have to be the first thing he woke up to. Not nice when he was having nightmares about the boy. He began packing up his sleeping bag, while making sure he made enough noise to fully wake up Sakura and Kakashi. He didn't want Sasuke to have the chance to take him aside and have a little 'talk' about this.
He looked over to Sakura, looking thoroughly annoyed at the early wake up call and plastered on his ever-present cheerful grin, sending a loud 'Ohayo, Sakura-chan!' her way. She turned to him and scowled darkly before pulling back her covers, stifling a yawn. She splashed her face with the water beside the fire pit and went back to her own bag to follow Naruto's example, muttering curses at Naruto for being an obnoxious brat and at Kakashi for having the audacity to still be sleeping.
A few minutes later Sasuke came back through the bushes, looking disappointed. Sakura rushed up to him.
"Ohayo, Sasuke-kun!" She exclaimed, sounding like the blond had earlier. He looked up and caught Naruto's gaze. They watched each other for a couple of seconds before they both adverted their gaze. Naruto knew what Sasuke's eyes were asking him. Why did you run away? They practically screamed that the boy was *going* to know what was going on, even if he had to do it the hard way. The blond snorted to himself.
"Not without a fight, he isn't." He muttered to himself, thankful that Kakashi had finally woken up and was ordering them about, getting ready for the rest of the trip. Naruto began yelling cheerfully, forcing the other shinobi from his mind. There was no way he'd let his dreams control him. It'd be almost as bad as if he let the Kyuubi do that. Almost.
~~~~~~~
muahaha... Dontcha just love SasuNaru tension?
Title: Jaded
Series: Naruto
Rating: PG-13 (Will go higher later on)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama, Romance, Humour, Horror, Tragedy, Supernatural, Fantasy, etc. (pretty much all)
Summary: For most of his life, Naruto has had one dream (becoming Hokage) and one love (Sakura), but as he grows up he realises not everything is as easy as he wants to believe it is, and his romances are not as simple as getting the girl, but finding a love that's not bound by superficial reasons. (Eventually it'll be SasuNaru)
Pairings: Nothing serious in this chapter, just some SakuNaru development (trust me it will make the SasuNaru so much better) along with some SasuNaru friendship vibes. Once again, nothing 'serious'.
Chapter Title: 5. Sweet Dreams
In the morning, Naruto was back to his usual self and avoided Sasuke until he got the hint that the dark-haired boy wasn't going to bring up the dream again. They ate breakfast quickly before heading off again. The old woman waved goodbye but continued to shoot Naruto the coldest of stares. He pouted, but wasn't too upset over it. It wasn't like he cared about the opinions of one 'stupid old hag' anyways. He was glad that they had finally left the woman's hut. Even though they had only stayed for a day, it was one of the worst days of Naruto's life, but Sakura was okay with him harbouring the Kitsune, and Sasuke didn't seem to care much about it either, so all ended well. If only he could get rid of his stupid nightmares.
They had been walking in silence for a couple of hours, but every so often the blond would catch Sasuke watching him. He knew the boy was curious about his dreams, but there was no way he'd let two of his secrets be revealed in such a short span of time.
"I'm tired!" he cried, deciding to focus Sasuke's attention on something else. Kakashi didn't even flinch. He looked to Sakura and noticed she looked a little beat too. "Let's camp out, now!" he tried again. Still no reaction from Kakashi.
"I'm getting a little tired, Kakashi," Sakura piped up. The sun was already beginning to set and both she and Sasuke hadn't had enough time to heal their wounds completely. Kakashi stopped and turned around, looking first from Sakura then to Naruto. He shrugged and nodded.
"Sure, let's find a spot to spend the night and we'll get some sleep. It's still a good two days before we'll get back. I need to pick up something for Hokage-sama." Naruto made a face.
"What does Tsunade-baba want that it'll take us two days to get?" he yelled. Kakashi ignored him. He would have continued to complain, but they had finally found a good place to camp out for the night and he wanted to get everything set up so he could finally sit for a bit. Sasuke was starting to creep him out. The boy had been staring at him for a good five minutes and Naruto refused to satisfy him by looking directly in his direction. He knew it was because of the dream and Sasuke had heard him say something, but he didn't have the faintest clue what he said. Maybe Sasuke knew. Naruto frowned, hoping he didn't know anything.
They set up their sleeping bags and Sasuke and Kakashi went to look for wood while the other two stayed behind to keep watch over their stuff and look for food. Sakura walked over to the blond and looked at the small amount of berries in his hands, frowning.
"You haven't been getting much sleep, ne Naruto-kun?" she said softly. He looked up at her, surprised, but didn't deny it and instead kept his mouth shut. "You shouldn't push yourself this hard." Naruto smiled at her concern and put his berries in a small pile beside the space they had cleared for the fire.
"I'm okay, Sakura-chan," he exclaimed. She shook her head. "I just don't like walking for so long, ne?"
"You should at least tell someone if something is wrong." She put her berries with his and sat down on her sleeping bag.
"Hai, demo a shinobi is supposed to deal with duress and stress, ne? And just because I look like I'm a bit tired, doesn't mean I can't handle it. Plus, what makes you think I haven't told anyone already?" He sat down on his own bag, not noticing how defensive he was getting. She shrugged, watching him with worried eyes.
"I was just trying to help, baka," she huffed and began to prepare a snack for herself. "You don't have to bite my head off, you know." Naruto was about to apologize to her when Kakashi and Sasuke came back with their wood.
"Ne, Naruto-kun," Sasuke started, putting his wood in a pile. "You're getting to be lazy like Shikamaru." Naruto narrowed his eyes.
"So what if I am?" he retorted. "Unlike you, he's a chuunin already!" The other boy rolled his eyes and prepared the fire.
"Hai, demo he's also smart. A dobe like you can't do anything. If you got lazy, you'd turn into a vegetable."
"TEME!!!" Naruto yelled and went to tackle Sasuke from behind but was caught by Kakashi.
"Let's talk," he said and carried the fighting boy away from the campsite. He walked for a couple of minutes until he was sure they were out of hearing range before dropping Naruto to the ground.
"First you ignore me, now you want to talk to me alone?" Naruto huffed, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"You haven't been your usual self lately," Kakashi said. "You seem to be tired." Naruto laughed.
"Sakura-chan said the same thing to me just a few minutes ago." He avoided Kakashi's meaning.
"Naruto, what's wrong? Why haven't you been sleeping properly?" Naruto frowned, not expecting his teacher to get straight to the point.
"I have so been sleeping properly!" he argued. The jounin shook his head.
"No, you haven't. I can tell. You might just end up dragging the team down if this continues." Kakashi warned, turning around and walking back to the campsite.
"Who says I'm going to let it!" Naruto yelled after him. He got up and chased after the man. "It's nothing but stupid nightmares," he explained. Kakashi stopped and nodded.
"And are you going to let these nightmares control you?" he asked. Naruto stuffed his hands in his pockets nervously, remembering his dreams.
"It's kind of hard not to, especially when they have a possibility of becoming a reality," he said vaguely. Kakashi smiled to himself, noticing Naruto's desire to keep the subject behind his dreams hidden.
"You have to confront the subject of your fears, but only do it when you're ready." He smiled at the boy and pulled out his book, Icha Icha Paradaisu, and began reading it before all the light had faded. "Or only when you get caught," he added as an afterthought, remembering his own conflict with Iruka. So far he hadn't been caught, and his fears had remained hidden.
"Ne, Kakashi-sensei, you give the corniest pep talks," Naruto grinned. Kakashi ignored him and they both went back to their camp.
Naruto went over to his sleeping bag, ignoring the twin looks of barely concealed interest from his team mates and picked up his bowl of food. Kakashi sat down on his sleeping bag and decided he was going to keep an extra eye on the genin for a while until he got over the nightmares. He had a feeling Sasuke knew something about the dreams too by the way the boy took an unusual interest in Naruto following their leave of the hut.
"So, who wants to take the first shift?" he asked when everyone had finished their food. Sasuke and Sakura both shrugged indifferently and turned to Naruto who was waving his arm in the air enthusiastically.
"I do!" he exclaimed.
"Dobe, this isn't the academy, you don't need to raise your hand anymore." The dark-haired genin muttered loud enough for everyone to hear. Naruto usually hated the first shift. He often wanted to be the first one asleep, not to mention it was his idea to settle down for the night anyways. Sakura frowned at him suspiciously. Kakashi just nodded.
"Okay, Naruto first, then Sakura and Sasuke last. Good night!" He grinned and dove under his covers.
"Matte!" Sakura yelled. "What about you?! You can't just make us do the whole night shift!"
"Yes I can and did," Kakashi retorted childishly. "Besides, I'm the one with the most expertise here. I need my beauty sleep." His snoring a couple of seconds later told them he was going to ignore them. None of them were so naïve that they believed he was actually asleep. Naruto snorted.
"I bet he really does need the *beauty* sleep to fix what ever he's hiding under that mask!" he snapped, earning himself a rock in the head from both sides. "Well, it could be true," he pouted indignantly, making himself comfortable. He was planning to stay up for as long as it took to avoid people overhearing him when he muttered in his sleep. He didn't want Sakura getting any wrong ideas. Bah. How the hell could he be afraid of Uchiha? And if Sakura believed that then he'd be less respected in her eyes and Sasuke would be a hero once again.
"Oyasumi!" Sakura called and snuggled into her sleeping bag. Sasuke nodded, not caring if she could see it or not and got into his own as well, making sure to sleep on the side that allowed him to watch Naruto. He wondered if the things he heard Naruto mumble in his sleep were a one time thing.
***
Naruto yawned for the hundredth time, scratching the side of his head sleepily. He had already passed his shift over to Sakura who had her back turned from the camp, watching the trees, but he dared not go to sleep.
He blinked twice to keep himself awake, repeating in his mind that if he didn't sleep the dreams wouldn't come. They were stupid dreams anyways. So when he got over them (which really shouldn't be too long) he could catch up on his sleep then. Until they disappeared, he'd have to stay awake.
"Just like Gaara had to," he mumbled to himself sadly. He shuddered remembering the dark circles under the boy's eyes. Even though it was a few years ago he still remembered the torture the sand badger put him through. He tried to hold it off, but his thoughts were making him tired reminding himself of how tired Gaara had been and nearly half an hour before Sasuke's shift began he was fast asleep and snoring. Sakura looked over her shoulder and smiled softly now that the blond had finally allowed himself to sleep. Though she'd never admit it in broad daylight he was kind of cute while he slept. Cute, in a quiet and calm sort of way.
When her shift was up she stood up and stretched out her arms, letting out a big yawn. She couldn't wait to get back to sleep. Making sure her footsteps were as quiet as possible, she made her way over to Sasuke who was already sitting up in his sleeping bag.
"You were awake all the time?" She asked astonished. He looked at her blankly before her face registered in his brain.
"No. I'm a light sleeper. I thought you would have figured that out by now." He deadpanned sarcastically. She sweatdropped but remained silent, knowing it was futile to defend herself to him. It wasn't like he'd listen to her anyways. "Was there any disturbances?" He asked. She shook her head.
"Nothing out of the ordinary except that Naruto only fell asleep half an hour ago. He couldn't keep himself awake any longer." He frowned in thought before standing up and stepping lightly out of his sleeping bag.
"Okay, you can sleep now." She nodded lazily; climbing back under her warm covers and fell back asleep. Sasuke let his gaze wander to the blond genin and he watched him for a few minutes. There didn't seem to be anything wrong at the moment, and from the slight drool, Sasuke had to guess the content of the boy's dreams was food. He rolled his eyes and took up Sakura's spot watching over the camp, while keeping half an ear trained on his sleeping rival.
For the next few hours Sasuke kept look out until the sky began to lighten slightly. He decided to stand up and work out the kinks in his muscles and wake the others up in the next hour or so.
He was just about to add another log to the dying embers when a moan caught his attention. He whipped around, pulling out his kunai, ready to attack. His eyes scanned the campsite and came to rest on Naruto, who was tossing and turning in an apparent nightmare and the sounds had been coming from him. He quietly put away the weapon and walked over to the sleeping boy.
"Onegai!" the blond cried in a hushed whisper. Sasuke was at a loss of what to do. He dropped to his knees beside his rival's head and wiped away the sweat beading there. "Please leave me alone..." He bit his lip and considered the sleeping boy's words. "Sasuke, no!" He shook his head wondering what was going on. If Naruto kept up like this he'd get loud enough to wake the others. He moved his hand from the boy's forehead to his shoulders and shook him violently.
"Naruto!" He exclaimed, keeping his voice low enough to not wake Kakashi and Sakura. "Wake up, dobe!" It took him a couple of seconds, but slowly Naruto's eyes began to flutter open sleepily. They stayed blank for a couple of seconds before he recognised the boy hovering above him.
"GET OFF OF ME!" He yelled and began fighting Sasuke's grip on his shoulders. Taken by surprise, the dark-haired shinobi stumbled backwards and watched in awe as Naruto ran away from the camp.
"Naruto, matte!" He called out, but was paid no mind. He looked to Sakura's sleeping bag and noticed that she had been woken by their noise and decided to run after the boy to see if he could get to the bottom of Naruto's dreams. He figured he had a right to, especially since he seemed to be the topic of them, and it hurt him to know there was something about him that scared the normally unshakable boy. Or maybe it was just nothing more than nightmares. Everyone had nightmares, right? He stood up and took off after Naruto in the growing light.
***
Naruto pushed his way back into the camp after waiting for a couple of seconds. He watched as Sasuke tore after him, not realising that he had only done a full circle around the camp to throw him off the trail. He couldn't let himself be cornered into talking. It was too soon for him and he just needed to get over the sickening dream. When he saw Sasuke towering above him he nearly had a heart attack. Maybe he had to think about sleeping nearer Kakashi so that that face wouldn't have to be the first thing he woke up to. Not nice when he was having nightmares about the boy. He began packing up his sleeping bag, while making sure he made enough noise to fully wake up Sakura and Kakashi. He didn't want Sasuke to have the chance to take him aside and have a little 'talk' about this.
He looked over to Sakura, looking thoroughly annoyed at the early wake up call and plastered on his ever-present cheerful grin, sending a loud 'Ohayo, Sakura-chan!' her way. She turned to him and scowled darkly before pulling back her covers, stifling a yawn. She splashed her face with the water beside the fire pit and went back to her own bag to follow Naruto's example, muttering curses at Naruto for being an obnoxious brat and at Kakashi for having the audacity to still be sleeping.
A few minutes later Sasuke came back through the bushes, looking disappointed. Sakura rushed up to him.
"Ohayo, Sasuke-kun!" She exclaimed, sounding like the blond had earlier. He looked up and caught Naruto's gaze. They watched each other for a couple of seconds before they both adverted their gaze. Naruto knew what Sasuke's eyes were asking him. Why did you run away? They practically screamed that the boy was *going* to know what was going on, even if he had to do it the hard way. The blond snorted to himself.
"Not without a fight, he isn't." He muttered to himself, thankful that Kakashi had finally woken up and was ordering them about, getting ready for the rest of the trip. Naruto began yelling cheerfully, forcing the other shinobi from his mind. There was no way he'd let his dreams control him. It'd be almost as bad as if he let the Kyuubi do that. Almost.
~~~~~~~
muahaha... Dontcha just love SasuNaru tension?