I'm sorry for the long wait (yes, I know it's been over a month), but I have a few good excuses (One of them being a trip for a week... and then I couldn't get myself to finish the chapter) You all have my wonderful Fruits Basket-esque Mi-chan (aka Kyu) who kept bugging me to finish, just like I asked her to. It's really the only way I'll get something done if I get stuck on something.

I hope this chapter will make up for some things. It's a plot booster and it's got some good yumminess. No lemon this time though.

Chapter Title: 52. Sasuke-sexual

Kakashi closed his eyes, feeling his face tense up in a cringe no one could really see. When he'd heard about the rumour, he didn't believe a word of it, but after having a talk with the chuunin who had heard it all, he had his doubts. So, he did what most people should have done before starting to talk, he went straight to the source and asked the boy himself.

"So is it true?" He sighed, looking up at Sasuke. The younger man was blushing furiously, but the jounin wasn't sure if it was out of guilt or out of embarrassment of having his fellow team mates there to hear Kakashi ask the question. There was silence among the four as they waited for Sasuke to reply when Naruto found he couldn't hold his tongue any more and burst out laughing. Kakashi frowned, but was slightly amused at the reaction he had gotten from the genin. Sakura's eyes had nearly popped out of their sockets, and Sasuke was flaming red, glaring at Naruto in a way that should have been able to turn a whole village to stone.

"Sasuke?!" Naruto exclaimed when he found the breath to speak. He was still holding his gut and wheezing between chuckles. "Him, fucking some girl in a back alley? I couldn't imagine him being so crude." He shook his head.

"The person who heard the girl moaning his name, said it was behind Ichiraku." Kakashi explained. Naruto's mouth snapped shut so fast he bit his tongue, and after a moment remembered how he was 'supposed' to react.

"Y-you soiled I-Ichiraku by screwing some common girl behind it?" He yelled, pointing a finger at his rival, but everyone knew he was faking it. The only thoughts going through his mind were ones of how badly Sasuke was going to murder him afterwards for being so loud the previous afternoon. He shut up after receiving Sasuke's expected glare and turned to Kakashi once more.

"Today, I'll just be training Naruto." He explained. "You two can go on to your patrols. Sakura, I'll get to your training tomorrow." He nodded to Sakura and Sasuke, who took it as their cue to leave.

"Hey! Don't leave me with this pervert!" Naruto screeched at their retreating backs. Sakura turned back and smiled broadly.

"Don't worry, Naruto-kun. If Sasuke made it out of Kakashi's training without being raped, I'm sure you will too." She laughed and disappeared into town, not realising the impact of her words. Sasuke, who had stopped as well, looked at the blonde's frozen expression and offered a smirk.

"Don't worry so much, dobe." He nodded reassuringly, knowing there wasn't much he could do for his friend without compromising the secret he was keeping for the man. Naruto shook his head, as though dispelling the horrid thoughts, and grinned easily, almost to the point of being overly fake. Sasuke turned and disappeared after Sakura into the heart of the village.

"I don't really want to train with you, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto exclaimed, turning to the jounin. "Couldn't I train with Ero-sennin and you can go take a day off or something?"

"I wish, but Jiraiya isn't in the village at the moment, he's doing a handful of middle-class missions for the next week." The blonde pouted, but continued trying to barter his way out of training.

"Even though I can only see one of your eyes, you look like the walking dead." Naruto complained. "Gaara's probably had more sleep than you, and from listening to Sasuke, you're a real bitch when you haven't had your sleep. When was the last time you saw a pillow? Have you ever heard of sleeping pills? You know, you should stand up to Tsunade-baba. She's not half as strong as you people make her out to be!" He continued chattering as Kakashi grabbed him by the collar and led him out to the training grounds near the forest, not even noticing, now, that the younger man was even talking. After a few years the rest of Cell Seven had learned to tune Naruto out completely.

For a while, they fought, neither one saying a word to the other. At first, Naruto was itching to say something to ease away a little of the tension his teacher was oozing, but he decided not to incur the wrath of the tired jounin and kept quiet. Eventually he became accustomed to the eerie silence, not noticing it as much.

They'd just barely breached the jutsu level of their spar when nothing happened. Kakashi was tensed for an attack, but none came. He listened to the forest, but there was nothing but the wind rustling the leaves. He waited another few minutes, and still nothing happened. He lifted his hitai-ate, hoping to find the blonde's chakra signature, but even with the Sharingan there was nothing.

Naruto had completely disappeared from their fight.

(Star)(Star)(Star)

"Sasuke should be on his break, ne?" Naruto muttered to himself, wandering through the village. The first place he checked was Ichiraku, and when he didn't find the older teen, he checked all the places he could remember Sasuke going on his breaks. He huffed out a breath in frustration when he found the bench near the outskirts of town empty. He was about to declare his search over and devote the rest of the day to other, more fruitful pursuits, when he felt a hot breath blow across the back of his neck, tickling the short hair that was already standing on end. Out of well-trained habit he stood stock still. They were in the middle of some sort of war after all.

"You weren't looking for me, were you?" A voice asked sweetly, as hands were placed amiably on the blonde's shoulders.

"Why the hell would I look for you?" He asked, knowing it was Sasuke already and not bothering to turn around. He felt a slight hesitation in himself in wanting to see Sasuke's blood red eyes, even if they weren't spinning malevolently.

"Oh, I don't know." Sasuke replied teasingly, lifting his hands slightly so they only ghosted over the fabric of Naruto's hideously orange jacket. He could see the collar of the chuunin vest peaking out. "Maybe it has something to do with the reason you're not with Kakashi-san right now. But right now I don't care. You know you're going to pay for your overly loud mouth, right?" Naruto shook his head, trying to keep his thoughts off of the hands making their way slowly down his sleeves. He tilted his head back to look at Sasuke without having to turn all the way around. He was spending too much time with Shikamaru.

"What are you going to do about it?" He asked playfully, finally turning around fully and sticking out his tongue. Sasuke frowned and narrowed his eyes. Naruto wasn't surprised to find he couldn't tell if Sasuke was being serious or not.

"I'll have to keep that tongue busy in the future is all." He leaned forward and put his lips over Naruto's, pushing his tongue back into his mouth. They fought for dominance in the kiss for a moment before Naruto regained his bearings.

"Matte yo!!" He yelled angrily, pushing Sasuke back. "We're in public, asshole." He hissed under his breath, seeming to shrink into himself to avoid any possible attention. Sasuke tossed that thought over in his head for a moment before smirking evilly.

"So?" He asked, stepping forward. "Who's watching?" Naruto almost missed the last hand seals Sasuke was performing, before leaning forward in the puff of smoke to recapture Naruto's lips. His rival tried to back out of the kiss again, but when the smoke cleared and he saw that Sasuke had transformed his outward appearance, he sighed and just let it happen.

Sasuke was the one to finally break the kiss, transforming back and looking around. No one had given them a second glance. He looked back to his friend to see conflict in his blue eyes.

"We shouldn't do that, Sasuke." He whispered, ashamedly. "Best friends don't do that." The Uchiha's face hardened slightly at the younger teen's words, but he tried to ignore them.

"We're friends, plus a little extra, okay? Or do you really not want to kiss me?" Naruto looked at his feet and began fidgeting nervously.

"Kissing in itself is fine, but it's a pointless action between us." He sighed softly, but continued trying to explain himself. "It makes me feel like you almost care about me... and I don't like to lie to myself that way. Anything else, but that." Sasuke nodded and held his hand out, palm out.

"No kissing at all." He exclaimed stiffly. Naruto looked up, relief shining in his eyes.

"No, every so often is okay, but not like that." He placed his own hand over Sasuke's open one, smiling shyly to himself. It was an odd smile, not because of its bashfulness, but because it was one Sasuke never thought he would actually see. Naruto was truly smiling and it wasn't a mask he was hiding behind. "I guess it's a little too much for me."

"So how did you escape from Kakashi's clutches alive?" Sasuke stopped and looked Naruto over. "Never mind that, you don't look too badly damaged. Did you get the nice Kakashi today?" He asked stonily. Gone was Naruto's timid smile, replaced by his familiar amused grin.

"What time is it?" He looked up at one of the clocks that had been stuck randomly on a nearby building. "It's been almost fifteen minutes since I last saw Kakashi, he should be here any minute." Sasuke gave him a sceptical glare, but Naruto just continued to grin. "You'll see." He whispered, chuckling to himself. Sure enough, a couple of minutes later, Kakashi came strolling casually up to the pair, covered in minor burns, mud, leaves and twigs and looking like he was soaked with water, straight to the skin.

Sasuke turned to Naruto, surprise barely evident in his face, only to find the blonde trying desperately to hide his peals of laughter. He appeared to be near tears, he was laughing so hard. The dark haired genin returned his gaze to their sensei and saw that Kakashi didn't look too pleased with Naruto's mirth.

"You think this is funny?" He hissed between his teeth. Naruto looked up and stopped laughing suddenly, as though he'd only been faking it. He offered a smirk and a shrug.

"Of course not." He answered. "But I have to say I told you so. Imagine if I had been trying to kill you. Chances are you might be dead right now." Kakashi's face lost its anger and regained its infuriating indifference.

"You really think you are up to my level? A jounin? You're still just a genin." He exclaimed. Naruto seemed to have been expecting that jab and merely smirked.

"A very long time ago someone mentioned that Kabuto was about your level." He replied. "I used Rasengan on him when I was twelve and he was almost completely disabled." Kakashi's eye twitched, but Sasuke interrupted them both, looking only slightly curious.

"Rasengan?"

"Do you remember the move I used against you when you woke up in the hospital when we were twelve?" Naruto asked. Sasuke nodded in understanding, and the blonde returned his attention to Kakashi. "If I was able to do that kind of damage when I was twelve..." He trailed off suggestively. "I know you're a very respected teacher and you are at a level higher than I am right now, however you're not the right teacher for me. There's nothing more I can learn under your guidance. I need a teacher who reacts in the same ways that I would in battle. Plus, I need Jiraiya's training if I ever have to restrain Sasuke from trying to be a missing nin again." He laughed and punched Sasuke in the arm, earning himself a light glare at the insinuation.

"I suppose I could use the time off." Kakashi replied lightly. "You two never saw me if anyone from Tsunade asks." He commanded before disappearing, leaving both boys to their own devices.

"So I guess that gets me off the hook for training." Naruto grinned victoriously and turned to his friend. "Anything you want to do, now?"

"If you think you're better than Kakashi, spar with me." Sasuke offered. "Consider it an alternate to the sex thing. You did promise to help me become stronger in exchange for me staying in Konoha." Naruto crossed his arms and puffed out in mock anger.

"You mean you were using me?!" He screeched. "I'm crushed. And all this time I thought we were friends." He sighed dramatically and his shoulders drooped for effect. "I suppose I do owe you a couple." Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Only a couple?" He queried. "How many times have I had to help you out or save your life or lie for you or-" but Naruto held his hand up to stop him from continuing, rolling his eyes.

"I get it, jerk." He exclaimed fondly. "But how many times have I saved your ass?"

"How many times has it been your fault I needed it to be saved in the first place?"

"You don't know how many times you've ruined my life!" Naruto retorted, leaning closer, only barely registering that they were nearing an argument.

"You don't know how many times it's been you ruining my life. I've lost a lot of sleep over you, dobe." The blonde stepped back, a look of confusion washing over his face.

"Eh?" Sasuke took this as a sign of weakness and lunged in for the kill.

"Backing down from our fight, Naruto-chan?" He taunted. "That's why you started this argument, isn't it? To avoid having to fight with me?" His friend's jaw dropped and he nearly smirked at the offended look that clouded his blue eyes.

"I am not backing down!!!" He snarled back. "UZUMAKI NARUTO never backs down from a fight!!" He boasted and grabbed Sasuke's arm, leading him towards the training grounds were they had their first battle against Kakashi.

(Star)(Star)(Star)

It wasn't until almost a minute into their fierce battle that it occurred to the noisy blonde to ask the most obvious question.

"Weren't you supposed to be going back to the patrol route?" He asked, while dodging one of Sasuke's many high-kicks. The question didn't even make his rival stop to think of an answer. It was almost as though he'd been waiting for it to be brought up.

"Did you really forget we had a day off?" He sneered and twirled around, aiming a kunai for the middle of Naruto's ribs. His hand was grabbed before he could make contact and for a moment all fighting stopped. It was a stalemate. Their breathing was shallow and irregular and even though they'd been only going for a minute, and could go on for the next couple of days, they were putting all of their effort into their attacks.

"You mean Kakashi wasted my only holiday?!" Naruto exclaimed, not really sparing the energy to sound as upset as he should have. The question was left unanswered as they started up again, bouncing away from each other. Sasuke skidded to a halt before lunging back at his partner, dirt still unsettled from his attempt at stopping. He aimed at grabbing a handful of the blonde's hair, but came up with nothing but air as the young man gracefully twisted out of the way, just in time. Naruto stopped for a second and held up his kunai in front of his nose, blocking the nearly invisible needles from their path. They cluttered noiselessly to the grass.

In that second that Naruto had taken to disable Sasuke's attack, the Uchiha had been able to regroup and tackle him to the ground. They struggled, neither one gaining any advantage, as their kunai knives clashed together fiercely, until finally Sasuke's weapon was knocked from his hand. Naruto smirked up at his rival in victory, from his spot, pinned to the grass.

"You've got no more weapons, Uchiha-san." He exclaimed smugly. Sasuke didn't show any signs of despair though, and thoroughly caught the loudmouth off guard when he found himself suddenly in a fight for the last remaining kunai the pair had. The scuffle was short-lived though and Naruto felt his face being shoved into the dirt, his own kunai only millimetres from killing him. Sasuke was on his back and it was obvious that even without a weapon, the man had turned the tables on his rival.

The weight on his back shifted and suddenly there was a puff of breath on his ear, disturbing the small blonde hairs on the back of his neck. They were both still trying to catch their breaths.

"Not as... 'relieving' as I thought it would be, Uzumaki-san." He whispered softly. "It lacks the passion I need." Naruto blushed at the comment.

"And last time we did something like that in public, we were overheard." He replied. Sasuke laughed and stood up from his place, straddling Naruto's back. The blonde rolled over and accepted his helping hand.

"Maybe some other time, Naruto-kun." He smirked, declining the almost non-existent offer. "Save it for when we really need a release, ne?" His friend grinned and nodded, giving Sasuke a punch to the shoulder before picking up his fallen weapons.

(Star)(Star)(Star)

Sure enough, Sasuke and Naruto mutually took up the unsaid offer a few days later after a particularly rough lecture from Tsunade on the lack of effort being put into the patrols. The number of raids had been steadily increasing, and more and more injuries were counted from shinobi and villager alike. Tsunade had obviously been having a tough time, as well, so they were taking that into account as she berated them scathingly, but when she began picking on the members of Cell Seven, nerves started to break. It was a sore spot with all of the members, including Naruto and especially Kakashi, that it appeared that none of them had been promoted to chuunin yet.

"And Sasuke!" She fumed, condescendingly. "You could at least try and make an effort to look like you want to become a chuunin! Or do you want to be a genin the rest of your life?!" The comment had stunned everyone into silence, and for a moment guilt flashed across the Hokage's face. Sasuke's face betrayed nothing and, without a word between them, Cell Seven left the Hokage's office at the same time. After the teens had left, Kakashi held back for a moment and looked Tsunade straight in the eye.

"You of all people should know how hard they're trying." He said. "There is not one single other person in this room who can say otherwise." He shut the door behind him.

Sakura had gone off to work on a patrol of her neighbourhood, while Sasuke and Naruto found themselves locked in a heated battle on Sasuke's bed in the Uchiha home.

"She shouldn't have said that." Naruto exclaimed, lying belly up, with his head hanging off the side of the bed. He was lazily channel surfing on the TV beside Sasuke's bed after they had finished. "I don't care that she's Hokage, it was a low blow." He pressed the button and another show came on. The TV had fascinated Naruto the first few times he'd stayed over at Sasuke's house, but now he was used to the novelty and was just flipping through the channels out of habit.

"It doesn't matter." Sasuke replied. He was lying on his stomach, using Naruto's steadily rising and falling chest as a pillow, his cheek resting on Naruto's bare skin. He had his face turned to the TV, but had his eyes closed. Both men were only wearing their boxers. He felt Naruto's muscles tense as the blonde fought against gravity to nod. They lay there in a comfortable silence, until Naruto decided to open his mouth again.

"This thing that we're doing... I mean, us having sex..." Sasuke could hear that Naruto was having difficulty with his words. He smirked at his friend's unease with the subject he was trying to breach. "It doesn't mean we're that way, or anything does it?"

"What do you mean by 'that way'?" Sasuke asked tentatively, inwardly knowing.

"You know, gay, homosexual, preferring guys... that way." He sighed, surprised that he hadn't seen the question coming a long time ago, but he knew Naruto would want to talk about it sometime. When he considered the tone in Naruto's voice, he winced inwardly. It was almost like he was trying to get reassurance that at least one thing in his life was stable; that there was one constant in himself that he could rely upon.

The sincere question also reminded him that he couldn't allow himself to even consider getting too attached to his rival in that way. It would be too much of a distraction from a goal that he'd had for more than a decade. He almost couldn't remember a time before that goal had been burned into his consciousness.

He sighed again, remembering words he told Cell Seven when they had first come together under Kakashi. The restoration of his clan had always been a secondary dream, something that would be dealt with after Itachi was gone, but not before; one thing at a time. He furrowed his brow, realising that even if he killed Itachi he was never going to be able to allow himself to fall in love with Naruto, no matter if he really was 'that way'. For now, he would just have to live in the moment and worry about the consequences later. He didn't even think he was that attached to the blonde he was lying on.

Naruto sat up, and was surprised when Sasuke didn't even notice that his head had slipped down the tanned skin to rest in his friend's lap. He waved a hand over Sasuke's face, which was staring at the ceiling, noticing that he was completely lost in thought.

"Answer my question, jerk." Naruto exclaimed, pinching one of Sasuke's cheeks to get his attention. The Uchiha shook the thoughts from his head and smirked.

"This thing we have going on... 'us'... it doesn't mean we're gay." Sasuke replied, reassuringly. "Think about it, are you attracted to any other guy?" Naruto paused to think about that. He closed his eyes and pictured a number of the other chuunin and genin, including Shikamaru, Kiba, and even Shino, doing some of the things Sasuke did with him. He shuddered violently and gave a nervous burst of laughter. The thought of the bugs that he would wake up next to, freaked him out.

"Definitely not."

"Then it seems like you might just be Sasuke-sexual instead of homosexual."

"Yeah, right. You're so full of shit." Naruto leaned down and gave Sasuke's nose a quick kiss.

(End of Chapter)

To TKM: I agree that they're equal. That's most of the reason why I like them so much. Neither Sasuke nor Naruto seem to be more dominant than the other to me, solely because they keep fighting. If Naruto was a complete 'uke' he wouldn't constantly be challenging Sasuke for supremacy.

To The La/=/er: As always, it was a pleasure to read your review. I shouldn't take this long in the future, but I've been dealing with hectic issues lately (six whole days jammed with parties and such with my friends and then a trip). I really couldn't take having them fight with nothing but kunai and shuriken all the time, plus I thought the weapon looked like something Sasuke would be able to handle (having multiple uses in a battle). I'm glad that there are some people out there that enjoy the small details of the story just as much as the 'big picture'.

To Kyuubi-chan: The only reason I have 64 written already is because that was originally the first chapter. It was before I decided to expand it and start at the beginning.

To KageKitsune 16: The question about why Naruto's lying about the vest will be answered. That's all I'm saying.

To AkaNoShika: the spiky ball would be the mace. The kusarigama is a chain attached to the handle of a sickle. I suppose I should show a KakaIru argument to show you how being in the same room causes them to argue.

To Seraphina DW: I understand your squickyness over the whole casual sex relationship thing, and I don't plan on shoving pointless lemons in where ever I can. It's not really my style.

To MIA: The shinobi that beat up on Naruto got away. They left before anyone came.

To Ni9h7ki773n: If you could point out where the OOC-ness is I'd be glad to fix it when I come back around with the revised edition.