Whee! Fluffy chapter!!
To everyone: I'm really sorry about the spacing of the stories from chapter 42 and up... ff.n has been deleting all of my asterisks, so that's the reason you may have had some troubles reading and following. I'm so sorry for not going over the chapters before I posted them. I'm going to have to start doing that from now on. You can never trust ff.n anymore. I think I've fixed it... but you can never tell... I've made sure this one doesn't have the same problem.
Chapter Title: 47. A Great Day
"Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed, knocking roughly on his rival's door. It was only a couple of days since his nightmare and already something good had happened to brighten his life. "Come on, you idiot, open up! I have a surprise!"
"Naruto, what is it?" Sasuke asked, opening the door. He rubbed his head, wondering if this was the first time Naruto ever woke up earlier than he had to. Neither of them needed to patrol as they were still genin.
"I woke up this morning because of my nightmares again and the greatest thing happened!" Sasuke was perplexed. Normally the dreams haunted the young man, but it seemed as though they were the farthest thing from his mind.
"Would you stop wasting my time, dobe?" He growled out. "Get to the point!"
"I met up with Hinata in the market place and she asked me out!"
"Really?" Sasuke asked, not believing his ears. "Are you sick or something?" He asked and placed a palm on the blonde's forehead. "You should know that Hinata would never be so forward."
"But she was!" Naruto shoved the hand away, too happy to take offence to anything his rival was saying. "We're going on a picnic, today, for lunch after her patrol!"
"And you like her? Are you sure she likes you?" Sasuke frowned, his eyebrows furrowing.
"Of course! I've always liked Hinata. She's cute and maybe a little bit on the shy side, but they always say that opposites attract, ne? And she told me that she really admires me and wanted to ask me out for a long time!"
"Isn't this a bit sudden?"
"What do you mean by sudden?"
"All of a sudden, out of nowhere, Hinata's asking you out on a date. Are you sure that's what it was?" Naruto scowled, getting the feeling that Sasuke was just trying to ruin his day.
"We've hung out a couple of times, and she told me herself. 'Naruto-kun, would you... ano... I would much like to go on a date with you' just like that." Naruto exclaimed defiantly, imitating the girl's soft voice. "I thought you'd be happy for me."
"Of course I am." Sasuke sighed, realising that he would be better off talking to a weed in his backyard. "So are you serious about dating her?"
"She only just asked me out, baka!" Naruto laughed, regaining his cheer. "But who knows. We all need a little bit of normalcy, and maybe for me it's Hinata in my life." He pushed his way into Sasuke's house, and began dancing around while trying to ignore the grim look on his best friend's features. When he couldn't take it any longer, he stopped and glared at the young man. "What's wrong with you? Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?" Sasuke looked up and shook his head.
"It's nothing." Naruto shrugged it off, not wanting to think about Sasuke's mood swings too long. He'd come there for another reason besides telling his friend the good news.
"Can you help me make something for the picnic?" Naruto asked. "As you know, the only thing I'm a master chef in is Ramen cooking and I'd really like to impress her."
"Why should I help you? Go read a cook book." Sasuke shook his head and made his way to the kitchen for a drink.
"PLEASE!!!" Naruto begged, running after the young man. He tugged childishly on the hem of his shirt and began whining. "If you don't then it will ruin the only chance I have to impress her, and you know that the first impression is always the most important."
"You've known Hinata for years, usuratonkachi." Sasuke growled. The blonde brushed off the comment and continued pouting.
"But never as a lover!" This exclamation made Sasuke wrinkle his nose in disgust, his quest for a drink forgotten.
"I did not need to know that detail. You've only just started dating her and your mind is already halfway through the gutter."
"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled in protest. "I didn't mean it that way, jerk."
"Sure you didn't."
"Are you going to help me or not?"
"I suppose so, so long as I don't hear any more details of what you plan on doing with Hinata when you get her alone." Naruto laughed.
"Pervert."
(Star)(Star)(Star)
Sasuke peered over Naruto's shoulder as the blonde spooned out another piece of cookie dough to put onto the cookie tray that would be put in the oven when the other cookies were ready. His rival tensed at the contact and took a swipe of the chocolate chip dough and tasted it.
"You're supposed to be cooking it, not eating it." Sasuke said. Naruto smirked, knowing his friend would say something about it and smeared another swipe down the young man's cheek, over his shoulder. For a moment Sasuke looked shocked, but a smirk replaced his look of horror and he picked up some of the dough himself.
"You really do have a death wish, don't you?" He retorted, stepping back from Naruto.
"You're the one criticizing my cooking."
"You came to me, remember?"
"I can bake cookies, dumbass."
"That's not what you told me." He shoved a small piece of his arsenal into Naruto's hair. Naruto gasped dramatically and picked up one of the rice balls they'd made a little earlier. Sasuke backed up slowly, hoping he was wrong about what Naruto was threatening to do. "Dobe, put that down."
"Why should I?"
"Do you want Hinata to starve on your picnic?"
"She won't miss one onigiri." Naruto tossed the rice from one hand to the other thoughtfully. Sasuke grinned and picked up one of his own.
"What about two?" Thus began their food fight.
(Star)(Star)(Star)
One package of dough and half a bag of rice later they sat on the floor of the kitchen panting, back to back, surveying the damage. Both were covered, head to toe with uncooked and cooked rice, and raw cookie dough, and were completely drenched. The cookies that had been in the oven came out burnt and the others had been forgotten or used in the battle.
"Do you think the chocolate will come out of the walls?" Naruto asked softly. Sasuke chuckled.
"What about our clothing?" Naruto shrugged.
"You say that like you've never been dirty in your life." He scoffed, shaking his hair of the uncooked rice that Sasuke had thrown at him. The rice fight had started when Naruto casually picked up a handful of the granules and commented that at western weddings birds used to eat the rice thrown, and after a sip of water, exploded as the rice expanded.
He had tried (and failed) to shove his handful down Sasuke's throat along with a glass of water to see if Sasuke was anything like a bird. Water and rice had flown everywhere in the ensuing battle, neither one wanting to give up an advantage.
"I've never been cookie-dough-dirty before." Sasuke laughed and Naruto marvelled at the sound. It was rare that the dark-haired teen smiled and even rarer to hear him laugh naturally, something he only ever remembered Sasuke doing in his presence, and his alone. He turned around to look at how much he'd gotten stuck to Sasuke, and was proud to note that they seemed about equal in mess. He could even see the first swipe of chocolate chip cookie dough still smeared on his rival's cheek. Where other dough bits had pieces of dry rice stuck to them, that one smear had remained rice- less. He leaned forward and licked at the cookie batter until it had disappeared.
Sasuke went rigid at the feel of the sandpaper-like wetness running the length of his cheekbone, but relaxed at the second lick, raising his hand to the nape of the young man's neck. He didn't say a word until his rival had finished and sat back looking into his eyes purposely.
"Well at least I'm not poisoned." He murmured softly, chuckling nervously. He unconsciously licked his lips and smiled sheepishly. "Stop looking at me like that. At least you're a little cleaner." Sasuke snapped out of his daze and snorted.
"Who knows where that tongue has been." Naruto shot him an offended look before crossing his arms over his chest and pouting childishly.
"You're just jealous." Naruto stuck out his tongue.
"Of what?" Sasuke asked incredulously. "That you licked me?" Naruto frowned, obviously not really knowing what he'd been saying, replying on instinct. He shrugged and nodded. "I am not jealous!" Sasuke leaned over, on his hands and knees, and to prove his point, latched on to Naruto's collar bone, sucking on the smear of dough the blond had on his neck.
Naruto sucked in a breath quickly and leaned back, against the nearest wall. He followed Sasuke's earlier example and raised his hands hesitantly to his rival's head, not sure if he wanted to shove him away or hold him closer. He stifled back a moan, amazed at the pure pleasure he got out of the simple act. His mind almost melted, and he couldn't tell whether it was the slow and steady licks, the continuous sucking or the quick nips and raking of teeth over the same spot that felt better. Just like before, it was over almost as soon as it'd started, and Sasuke sat back, smirking at the result.
"Who knows where that tongue has been." Naruto whispered out, not even sure if the sound had made it past his quivering lips.
"Wouldn't you like to know, dobe." Sasuke stood up and set to work on cleaning up the mess they'd both created, almost as though he had no idea the turmoil tossing in his rival's head.
"Jerk." Naruto exclaimed in a stage whisper and stalked off to the young man's bedroom. "Just for that I'm borrowing your clothes, smug bastard." Sasuke laughed and continued to clean up the kitchen as Naruto ran the shower to get cleaned up for his date.
(Star)(Star)(Star)
Looking into the mirror, Naruto frowned, patting his head for the thirtieth time. He tried everything he could to make his hair into something that would make Hinata swoon, but everything looked weird on him. From behind him, he heard a snort of laughter.
"Well, aren't you the amused one?" He growled, continuing to play around with his hair.
"You just look so funny, trying to look nice for a girl."
"I bet it was that cookie dough you rubbed in my hair." Naruto muttered to himself, ignoring Sasuke for the moment. He tilted his head forward a bit to make sure the stuff had all been washed out.
"If she wanted you to look any different, she would have asked some other blonde out." Naruto looked up and nodded thoughtfully.
"True, but I don't want to mess this up."
"You won't, dobe. She asked you out... that has to stand for something." He didn't know why he was encouraging his rival, but he continued on, seeing the flicker of hope in his blue eyes beginning to grow. "Just do your hair the way you normally do. She'll love it."
Naruto smiled and ran to the bathroom quickly. When he returned his head was sopping wet and he had a towel on his shoulders to keep Sasuke's black button up shirt from getting too wet. Sasuke gave him a confused look, which he returned with a smirk and a shrug.
"I'd move if I were you." He warned before leaning over and shaking his head wildly, identical to the way a dog dried himself off. Water went spraying everywhere, including onto Sasuke, who hadn't heeded the blonde's warning. Said young man looked up and began snickering. "I told you so." Sasuke shot him a glare, but otherwise ignored the incident.
Naruto returned to the mirror, smiling to himself as his fluffy hair began to dry like normal in the sunlight shining through Sasuke's windows. He decided to leave the top two buttons undone, but his hands stopped when he caught the mark on his neck.
"Asshole!!!" He cried, outraged. "You gave me a hickey!" Sasuke moved in closer, behind him and examined the mark. There was a hint of humour in his eyes.
"Hmm, so I did." He smirked at Naruto's reflection in the mirror. The blonde looked panicked.
"What if Hinata sees it?!"
"Well then, if she really likes you she'll get angry and jealous of whoever you've been seeing." Naruto winced, but there wasn't much else he could do about the mark Sasuke had left behind.
"Fine, fine." He breathed out, giving himself a once over to make sure everything was in place.
"Do I look okay?" He asked.
"Yeah, you look good." Naruto turned around and smiled.
"Honto ne?"
"Yeah, Hinata will love you, but don't you have to go meet her first? What time is it?" He wondered, looking to the little alarm clock next to his bed. Naruto started and looked to the clock as well.
"Shit, I'm going to be late!!" He yelled, tossing the towel aside and dashing down the stairs to the kitchen to pick up the food Sasuke had wrapped for him. His rival followed behind, taking his time and called out to the young man just as he was opening the door to leave.
"Oi, Naruto!" Naruto turned around, pausing in the open doorway. "Good luck with Hinata." Naruto nodded and began to move when Sasuke continued. "And if anything goes wrong, you know you can come back to me."
Neither teen had mentioned the incident in the kitchen aside from the mark that had been left behind, and neither wanted to. When Naruto thought back on it, he was glad they hadn't discussed it, as he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to call it a mistake, which he knew they would agree upon if the subject ever came up. It was to become an unwritten thing between them. Not necessarily a rule, but more of a secret. Naruto stopped and looked serious for a moment. He glanced up to his friend who was standing a few steps up on the staircase and smiled serenely.
"Of course." He grinned cheekily and took off, slamming the door behind himself loudly.
(Star)(Star)(Star)
Hinata was waiting patiently for him on top of the rebuilt Hokage Tower. She turned around when she heard him running towards her and waved at him pleasantly. "Konnichiwa, Naruto-kun." She said and motioned him to sit beside her on the blanket she'd brought up. He took a second to catch his breath before plopping down gracelessly beside her.
"I'm sorry for being so late!" He exclaimed. She smiled and shook her head.
"You're not late, I'm a little early. I was relieved from my shift a little while ago. Did you want to start eating?" She asked, motioning to both of their baskets. He smiled eagerly and rubbed his hands together.
"Sure!" He said. "But I think I'd also like us to get to know each other a little better too." He unwrapped the onigiri and placed them in front of her. She nodded her head in appreciation.
"Did you make these yourself?" She wondered. He shook his head honestly.
"I would have, but I'm a really bad cook. I asked Sasuke to help me make them." He laughed. I didn't want to burn my apartment down." He pulled out the small plate of cookies and offered her one. "He helped me make these too. See that one?" He pointed to a messy flat blob of a cookie with two holes in them. "I tried to make it look like you... and I was about to give you chocolate eyes, but I remembered your Byakkugan and made the eyes holes instead." She giggled beside him and picked up the cookie he'd made for her.
"It's perfect!" She exclaimed and nibbled off a piece of it.
"Nyah! Sasuke said it looked stupid, but I knew you'd like it." Hinata opened her little basket to reveal two sealed containers and some tea.
"I made you some ramen, I thought you'd like it." She blushed and handed Naruto one of the containers. He accepted it exuberantly and opened it, taking in the delicious scent of miso ramen.
"I love ramen!" He cheered, not minding when a little dripped down the side onto his shirt. It wasn't his shirt anyways. She smiled softly and nodded.
"I thought so." She said. "But I wasn't sure what kind you liked best." He looked at her and laughed.
"Miso is the best, but ramen is ramen!" He took a small sip and sighed happily.
As the afternoon went on, they talked a lot about their teachers and some of the missions they'd been on recently until, on the subject of their team mates, Naruto found himself complaining about Sasuke's behaviour towards him.
"He never treats me with respect." Hinata nodded. "You do though, and I really like it, but he annoys me with his 'holier-than-thou' attitude." He puffed out his chest and made a face which his date laughed softly at. He could tell that the events from earlier that morning were still bugging him and he was confused at his reaction to Sasuke's soft, but talented lips on his skin. "I swear he does it just to piss me off. He's giving me a complex." He continued to gripe about the annoyances of his team mate until he was interrupted a few minutes later by a yawn.
"Are you tired already?" Hinata asked. Naruto shook his head furiously and held his hand up.
"No, no, it's just I didn't get a good sleep last night and we've been sitting here for a couple of hours." He looked to the empty food containers and got an idea. "My house is nearby, did you want to drop this stuff off and go for a walk with me?" He stood up and held his hand out to his date. She blushed furiously and nodded, taking the offer.
"Sure." She said and helped him pack away their things. Together, they walked back to his apartment, hand in hand, and stayed that way until they parted later on in the evening.
All in all, Naruto had had a great day.
(End Chapter)
To Katsfire: Henge no jutsu is your basic transformation jutsu. It uses chakra to create an illusion. Whether the illusion is another person, or an object. Naruto used Henge no jutsu and Gamabunta's chakra to turn the toad into the Kyuubi during his fight with Gaara.
To Shirl: Thank you so much for pointing out ff.n's mistakes. I hope this fixes the problem.
To Aka: I apologize if my lack of regular posting has caused you to lose the ideas. I'm going to try and update a little more regularly so you don't lose your place again. Oh, and I nearly died when I read your explanation: "naru apologizing for -cough- wanting to be fucked by sasu –cough-" hee hee... I think that one sentence was what influenced me to include that lil SasuNaru scene in here. Originally it was just supposed to be a food fight and nothing more. (Course, I also remembered that there was a lemon coming up in the next... four chapters... holy shyte... that's soon...)
To lightdragon1987: He didn't sleepwalk to Sasuke's house, it was more of the Kyuubi side of his consciousness that did the walking, so when the 'Naruto' side of himself finally recognised where they were going it was like waking up.
To Jade Tatsu: I finally figured out what you were talking about. I swear it wasn't my fault, I had the scene change written in. ff.n just doesn't like me too much. I hope this is better. Oh, and Naruto didn't recover... he just is remarkably adept in stuffing the bad stuff down. Oh, and Akatsuki is definitely around, and they will play a big role in his and Sasuke's final confrontation.
To Kyuubi-chan: What happened to your threats to poke me... cries
To The La/=/er: don't give up so easily. It's also a competition for me... to see if I can write well enough to give you two things to say. I've got a lot more of the story to go. And as for a prize.. well, you two decide what you want from me. I can draw (or so I'm told), and there's always a fic. I agree... I thought I was using too many adjectives... and Naruto wasn't really awake while they were talking. He was sorta floating. I also fixed the teme thing, thank you for that. Oh, and epiphany is the coolest word.
To TheTrueSilver: Yes, Orochimaru did rape Naruto. And that dream sequence was actually the memory of what happened that night when Naruto was fifteen. (Yes, Orochimaru used Naruto's best friend against him)
TO ALL: I hope you al enjoyed the fluffy chapter. The next two are probably going to be similar in feeling, and then I go straight into the good stuff (finally).
I checked my notes, and if all goes according to plans, the ultimate climax between Sasuke and Naruto will be in chapter 50. Wow. Right on the dot. I guess this means I know how fast I better get this stuff out. Read between the lines and you might die of a heart attack. Gomen nasai. I'll try and keep going as fast as I can.
Oh, and no, Hinata didn't notice the hickey.
To everyone: I'm really sorry about the spacing of the stories from chapter 42 and up... ff.n has been deleting all of my asterisks, so that's the reason you may have had some troubles reading and following. I'm so sorry for not going over the chapters before I posted them. I'm going to have to start doing that from now on. You can never trust ff.n anymore. I think I've fixed it... but you can never tell... I've made sure this one doesn't have the same problem.
Chapter Title: 47. A Great Day
"Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed, knocking roughly on his rival's door. It was only a couple of days since his nightmare and already something good had happened to brighten his life. "Come on, you idiot, open up! I have a surprise!"
"Naruto, what is it?" Sasuke asked, opening the door. He rubbed his head, wondering if this was the first time Naruto ever woke up earlier than he had to. Neither of them needed to patrol as they were still genin.
"I woke up this morning because of my nightmares again and the greatest thing happened!" Sasuke was perplexed. Normally the dreams haunted the young man, but it seemed as though they were the farthest thing from his mind.
"Would you stop wasting my time, dobe?" He growled out. "Get to the point!"
"I met up with Hinata in the market place and she asked me out!"
"Really?" Sasuke asked, not believing his ears. "Are you sick or something?" He asked and placed a palm on the blonde's forehead. "You should know that Hinata would never be so forward."
"But she was!" Naruto shoved the hand away, too happy to take offence to anything his rival was saying. "We're going on a picnic, today, for lunch after her patrol!"
"And you like her? Are you sure she likes you?" Sasuke frowned, his eyebrows furrowing.
"Of course! I've always liked Hinata. She's cute and maybe a little bit on the shy side, but they always say that opposites attract, ne? And she told me that she really admires me and wanted to ask me out for a long time!"
"Isn't this a bit sudden?"
"What do you mean by sudden?"
"All of a sudden, out of nowhere, Hinata's asking you out on a date. Are you sure that's what it was?" Naruto scowled, getting the feeling that Sasuke was just trying to ruin his day.
"We've hung out a couple of times, and she told me herself. 'Naruto-kun, would you... ano... I would much like to go on a date with you' just like that." Naruto exclaimed defiantly, imitating the girl's soft voice. "I thought you'd be happy for me."
"Of course I am." Sasuke sighed, realising that he would be better off talking to a weed in his backyard. "So are you serious about dating her?"
"She only just asked me out, baka!" Naruto laughed, regaining his cheer. "But who knows. We all need a little bit of normalcy, and maybe for me it's Hinata in my life." He pushed his way into Sasuke's house, and began dancing around while trying to ignore the grim look on his best friend's features. When he couldn't take it any longer, he stopped and glared at the young man. "What's wrong with you? Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?" Sasuke looked up and shook his head.
"It's nothing." Naruto shrugged it off, not wanting to think about Sasuke's mood swings too long. He'd come there for another reason besides telling his friend the good news.
"Can you help me make something for the picnic?" Naruto asked. "As you know, the only thing I'm a master chef in is Ramen cooking and I'd really like to impress her."
"Why should I help you? Go read a cook book." Sasuke shook his head and made his way to the kitchen for a drink.
"PLEASE!!!" Naruto begged, running after the young man. He tugged childishly on the hem of his shirt and began whining. "If you don't then it will ruin the only chance I have to impress her, and you know that the first impression is always the most important."
"You've known Hinata for years, usuratonkachi." Sasuke growled. The blonde brushed off the comment and continued pouting.
"But never as a lover!" This exclamation made Sasuke wrinkle his nose in disgust, his quest for a drink forgotten.
"I did not need to know that detail. You've only just started dating her and your mind is already halfway through the gutter."
"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled in protest. "I didn't mean it that way, jerk."
"Sure you didn't."
"Are you going to help me or not?"
"I suppose so, so long as I don't hear any more details of what you plan on doing with Hinata when you get her alone." Naruto laughed.
"Pervert."
(Star)(Star)(Star)
Sasuke peered over Naruto's shoulder as the blonde spooned out another piece of cookie dough to put onto the cookie tray that would be put in the oven when the other cookies were ready. His rival tensed at the contact and took a swipe of the chocolate chip dough and tasted it.
"You're supposed to be cooking it, not eating it." Sasuke said. Naruto smirked, knowing his friend would say something about it and smeared another swipe down the young man's cheek, over his shoulder. For a moment Sasuke looked shocked, but a smirk replaced his look of horror and he picked up some of the dough himself.
"You really do have a death wish, don't you?" He retorted, stepping back from Naruto.
"You're the one criticizing my cooking."
"You came to me, remember?"
"I can bake cookies, dumbass."
"That's not what you told me." He shoved a small piece of his arsenal into Naruto's hair. Naruto gasped dramatically and picked up one of the rice balls they'd made a little earlier. Sasuke backed up slowly, hoping he was wrong about what Naruto was threatening to do. "Dobe, put that down."
"Why should I?"
"Do you want Hinata to starve on your picnic?"
"She won't miss one onigiri." Naruto tossed the rice from one hand to the other thoughtfully. Sasuke grinned and picked up one of his own.
"What about two?" Thus began their food fight.
(Star)(Star)(Star)
One package of dough and half a bag of rice later they sat on the floor of the kitchen panting, back to back, surveying the damage. Both were covered, head to toe with uncooked and cooked rice, and raw cookie dough, and were completely drenched. The cookies that had been in the oven came out burnt and the others had been forgotten or used in the battle.
"Do you think the chocolate will come out of the walls?" Naruto asked softly. Sasuke chuckled.
"What about our clothing?" Naruto shrugged.
"You say that like you've never been dirty in your life." He scoffed, shaking his hair of the uncooked rice that Sasuke had thrown at him. The rice fight had started when Naruto casually picked up a handful of the granules and commented that at western weddings birds used to eat the rice thrown, and after a sip of water, exploded as the rice expanded.
He had tried (and failed) to shove his handful down Sasuke's throat along with a glass of water to see if Sasuke was anything like a bird. Water and rice had flown everywhere in the ensuing battle, neither one wanting to give up an advantage.
"I've never been cookie-dough-dirty before." Sasuke laughed and Naruto marvelled at the sound. It was rare that the dark-haired teen smiled and even rarer to hear him laugh naturally, something he only ever remembered Sasuke doing in his presence, and his alone. He turned around to look at how much he'd gotten stuck to Sasuke, and was proud to note that they seemed about equal in mess. He could even see the first swipe of chocolate chip cookie dough still smeared on his rival's cheek. Where other dough bits had pieces of dry rice stuck to them, that one smear had remained rice- less. He leaned forward and licked at the cookie batter until it had disappeared.
Sasuke went rigid at the feel of the sandpaper-like wetness running the length of his cheekbone, but relaxed at the second lick, raising his hand to the nape of the young man's neck. He didn't say a word until his rival had finished and sat back looking into his eyes purposely.
"Well at least I'm not poisoned." He murmured softly, chuckling nervously. He unconsciously licked his lips and smiled sheepishly. "Stop looking at me like that. At least you're a little cleaner." Sasuke snapped out of his daze and snorted.
"Who knows where that tongue has been." Naruto shot him an offended look before crossing his arms over his chest and pouting childishly.
"You're just jealous." Naruto stuck out his tongue.
"Of what?" Sasuke asked incredulously. "That you licked me?" Naruto frowned, obviously not really knowing what he'd been saying, replying on instinct. He shrugged and nodded. "I am not jealous!" Sasuke leaned over, on his hands and knees, and to prove his point, latched on to Naruto's collar bone, sucking on the smear of dough the blond had on his neck.
Naruto sucked in a breath quickly and leaned back, against the nearest wall. He followed Sasuke's earlier example and raised his hands hesitantly to his rival's head, not sure if he wanted to shove him away or hold him closer. He stifled back a moan, amazed at the pure pleasure he got out of the simple act. His mind almost melted, and he couldn't tell whether it was the slow and steady licks, the continuous sucking or the quick nips and raking of teeth over the same spot that felt better. Just like before, it was over almost as soon as it'd started, and Sasuke sat back, smirking at the result.
"Who knows where that tongue has been." Naruto whispered out, not even sure if the sound had made it past his quivering lips.
"Wouldn't you like to know, dobe." Sasuke stood up and set to work on cleaning up the mess they'd both created, almost as though he had no idea the turmoil tossing in his rival's head.
"Jerk." Naruto exclaimed in a stage whisper and stalked off to the young man's bedroom. "Just for that I'm borrowing your clothes, smug bastard." Sasuke laughed and continued to clean up the kitchen as Naruto ran the shower to get cleaned up for his date.
(Star)(Star)(Star)
Looking into the mirror, Naruto frowned, patting his head for the thirtieth time. He tried everything he could to make his hair into something that would make Hinata swoon, but everything looked weird on him. From behind him, he heard a snort of laughter.
"Well, aren't you the amused one?" He growled, continuing to play around with his hair.
"You just look so funny, trying to look nice for a girl."
"I bet it was that cookie dough you rubbed in my hair." Naruto muttered to himself, ignoring Sasuke for the moment. He tilted his head forward a bit to make sure the stuff had all been washed out.
"If she wanted you to look any different, she would have asked some other blonde out." Naruto looked up and nodded thoughtfully.
"True, but I don't want to mess this up."
"You won't, dobe. She asked you out... that has to stand for something." He didn't know why he was encouraging his rival, but he continued on, seeing the flicker of hope in his blue eyes beginning to grow. "Just do your hair the way you normally do. She'll love it."
Naruto smiled and ran to the bathroom quickly. When he returned his head was sopping wet and he had a towel on his shoulders to keep Sasuke's black button up shirt from getting too wet. Sasuke gave him a confused look, which he returned with a smirk and a shrug.
"I'd move if I were you." He warned before leaning over and shaking his head wildly, identical to the way a dog dried himself off. Water went spraying everywhere, including onto Sasuke, who hadn't heeded the blonde's warning. Said young man looked up and began snickering. "I told you so." Sasuke shot him a glare, but otherwise ignored the incident.
Naruto returned to the mirror, smiling to himself as his fluffy hair began to dry like normal in the sunlight shining through Sasuke's windows. He decided to leave the top two buttons undone, but his hands stopped when he caught the mark on his neck.
"Asshole!!!" He cried, outraged. "You gave me a hickey!" Sasuke moved in closer, behind him and examined the mark. There was a hint of humour in his eyes.
"Hmm, so I did." He smirked at Naruto's reflection in the mirror. The blonde looked panicked.
"What if Hinata sees it?!"
"Well then, if she really likes you she'll get angry and jealous of whoever you've been seeing." Naruto winced, but there wasn't much else he could do about the mark Sasuke had left behind.
"Fine, fine." He breathed out, giving himself a once over to make sure everything was in place.
"Do I look okay?" He asked.
"Yeah, you look good." Naruto turned around and smiled.
"Honto ne?"
"Yeah, Hinata will love you, but don't you have to go meet her first? What time is it?" He wondered, looking to the little alarm clock next to his bed. Naruto started and looked to the clock as well.
"Shit, I'm going to be late!!" He yelled, tossing the towel aside and dashing down the stairs to the kitchen to pick up the food Sasuke had wrapped for him. His rival followed behind, taking his time and called out to the young man just as he was opening the door to leave.
"Oi, Naruto!" Naruto turned around, pausing in the open doorway. "Good luck with Hinata." Naruto nodded and began to move when Sasuke continued. "And if anything goes wrong, you know you can come back to me."
Neither teen had mentioned the incident in the kitchen aside from the mark that had been left behind, and neither wanted to. When Naruto thought back on it, he was glad they hadn't discussed it, as he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to call it a mistake, which he knew they would agree upon if the subject ever came up. It was to become an unwritten thing between them. Not necessarily a rule, but more of a secret. Naruto stopped and looked serious for a moment. He glanced up to his friend who was standing a few steps up on the staircase and smiled serenely.
"Of course." He grinned cheekily and took off, slamming the door behind himself loudly.
(Star)(Star)(Star)
Hinata was waiting patiently for him on top of the rebuilt Hokage Tower. She turned around when she heard him running towards her and waved at him pleasantly. "Konnichiwa, Naruto-kun." She said and motioned him to sit beside her on the blanket she'd brought up. He took a second to catch his breath before plopping down gracelessly beside her.
"I'm sorry for being so late!" He exclaimed. She smiled and shook her head.
"You're not late, I'm a little early. I was relieved from my shift a little while ago. Did you want to start eating?" She asked, motioning to both of their baskets. He smiled eagerly and rubbed his hands together.
"Sure!" He said. "But I think I'd also like us to get to know each other a little better too." He unwrapped the onigiri and placed them in front of her. She nodded her head in appreciation.
"Did you make these yourself?" She wondered. He shook his head honestly.
"I would have, but I'm a really bad cook. I asked Sasuke to help me make them." He laughed. I didn't want to burn my apartment down." He pulled out the small plate of cookies and offered her one. "He helped me make these too. See that one?" He pointed to a messy flat blob of a cookie with two holes in them. "I tried to make it look like you... and I was about to give you chocolate eyes, but I remembered your Byakkugan and made the eyes holes instead." She giggled beside him and picked up the cookie he'd made for her.
"It's perfect!" She exclaimed and nibbled off a piece of it.
"Nyah! Sasuke said it looked stupid, but I knew you'd like it." Hinata opened her little basket to reveal two sealed containers and some tea.
"I made you some ramen, I thought you'd like it." She blushed and handed Naruto one of the containers. He accepted it exuberantly and opened it, taking in the delicious scent of miso ramen.
"I love ramen!" He cheered, not minding when a little dripped down the side onto his shirt. It wasn't his shirt anyways. She smiled softly and nodded.
"I thought so." She said. "But I wasn't sure what kind you liked best." He looked at her and laughed.
"Miso is the best, but ramen is ramen!" He took a small sip and sighed happily.
As the afternoon went on, they talked a lot about their teachers and some of the missions they'd been on recently until, on the subject of their team mates, Naruto found himself complaining about Sasuke's behaviour towards him.
"He never treats me with respect." Hinata nodded. "You do though, and I really like it, but he annoys me with his 'holier-than-thou' attitude." He puffed out his chest and made a face which his date laughed softly at. He could tell that the events from earlier that morning were still bugging him and he was confused at his reaction to Sasuke's soft, but talented lips on his skin. "I swear he does it just to piss me off. He's giving me a complex." He continued to gripe about the annoyances of his team mate until he was interrupted a few minutes later by a yawn.
"Are you tired already?" Hinata asked. Naruto shook his head furiously and held his hand up.
"No, no, it's just I didn't get a good sleep last night and we've been sitting here for a couple of hours." He looked to the empty food containers and got an idea. "My house is nearby, did you want to drop this stuff off and go for a walk with me?" He stood up and held his hand out to his date. She blushed furiously and nodded, taking the offer.
"Sure." She said and helped him pack away their things. Together, they walked back to his apartment, hand in hand, and stayed that way until they parted later on in the evening.
All in all, Naruto had had a great day.
(End Chapter)
To Katsfire: Henge no jutsu is your basic transformation jutsu. It uses chakra to create an illusion. Whether the illusion is another person, or an object. Naruto used Henge no jutsu and Gamabunta's chakra to turn the toad into the Kyuubi during his fight with Gaara.
To Shirl: Thank you so much for pointing out ff.n's mistakes. I hope this fixes the problem.
To Aka: I apologize if my lack of regular posting has caused you to lose the ideas. I'm going to try and update a little more regularly so you don't lose your place again. Oh, and I nearly died when I read your explanation: "naru apologizing for -cough- wanting to be fucked by sasu –cough-" hee hee... I think that one sentence was what influenced me to include that lil SasuNaru scene in here. Originally it was just supposed to be a food fight and nothing more. (Course, I also remembered that there was a lemon coming up in the next... four chapters... holy shyte... that's soon...)
To lightdragon1987: He didn't sleepwalk to Sasuke's house, it was more of the Kyuubi side of his consciousness that did the walking, so when the 'Naruto' side of himself finally recognised where they were going it was like waking up.
To Jade Tatsu: I finally figured out what you were talking about. I swear it wasn't my fault, I had the scene change written in. ff.n just doesn't like me too much. I hope this is better. Oh, and Naruto didn't recover... he just is remarkably adept in stuffing the bad stuff down. Oh, and Akatsuki is definitely around, and they will play a big role in his and Sasuke's final confrontation.
To Kyuubi-chan: What happened to your threats to poke me... cries
To The La/=/er: don't give up so easily. It's also a competition for me... to see if I can write well enough to give you two things to say. I've got a lot more of the story to go. And as for a prize.. well, you two decide what you want from me. I can draw (or so I'm told), and there's always a fic. I agree... I thought I was using too many adjectives... and Naruto wasn't really awake while they were talking. He was sorta floating. I also fixed the teme thing, thank you for that. Oh, and epiphany is the coolest word.
To TheTrueSilver: Yes, Orochimaru did rape Naruto. And that dream sequence was actually the memory of what happened that night when Naruto was fifteen. (Yes, Orochimaru used Naruto's best friend against him)
TO ALL: I hope you al enjoyed the fluffy chapter. The next two are probably going to be similar in feeling, and then I go straight into the good stuff (finally).
I checked my notes, and if all goes according to plans, the ultimate climax between Sasuke and Naruto will be in chapter 50. Wow. Right on the dot. I guess this means I know how fast I better get this stuff out. Read between the lines and you might die of a heart attack. Gomen nasai. I'll try and keep going as fast as I can.
Oh, and no, Hinata didn't notice the hickey.