A low rumble of thunder echoed across the nearly vacant forest. The rain, which had already been coming down hard, came down even harder. The boy quickly took shelter under the overhang of a rock. He pulled his knees close to his chest, panting slightly. He scanned the area, hoping for a sign of his teammates.

Another flash of lightning lit up the area and revealed a figure moving among the trees, but not much was seen of it, due to the short life of the blast that sent the area plummeting back into darkness. The boy shivered slightly as the thunder sounded again. A few minutes later, there was another flash of lightning that showed the other figure had moved closer. The boy could see the others messy blonde hair was matted down. Streaks of water and blood ran down the other boys face and arms and his clothes seemed attached to his body.

The boys locked eyes for a second before they were sent into darkness again. It took a second for he boys' brain to register who it was, and when it did, he dashed out into the rain again to help the other boy.

"Naruto!" he called out as he ran towards his best friend.

The (A/N: oh so convenient) lightning flashed again as the first boy neared the other. He saw his friend falling, as if it were in slow motion, smiling as if challenging the other to catch him, and he quickened his pace. He barely managed to catch his blonde friend before he hit the ground. He hastily half dragged, half carried the boy to the shelter, laying him down gently once they were out of the rain.

He took off his shirt and laid it over the blonde before lighting a small fire with his fire ball jutsu in an effort to keep them both warm.

"Mmm…Sasuke…" he muttered, furrowing his brows.

"Shh, Naruto." he soothed gently, "It's okay. Go back to sleep. I'll take care of you."

The blonde seemed to relax and his breaths took on a gentler, steadier rhythm. When Sasuke was sure he was asleep, he crawled next to Naruto and leaned down, his head a few inches above the blondes for a minute before he leaned down the rest of the was and chastely kissed him on the lips. Naruto moves slightly in his sleep and Sasuke pulled back quickly. The boys' face tensed in his sleep when the raven haired boy pulled away. He instinctively reached out and pulled Sasuke closer to him in a tight hug.

Sasuke smirked and gently rubbed off the blood and water from the blondes' face with his sleeve before cuddling up to him and drifting off to sleep.

Naruto opened one of his eyes slowly and looked at the Uchiha in his arms, sleeping peacefully despite the storm. 'Works every time.' he thought, grinning and giving him a light squeeze before falling asleep himself.

They were woken the next morning to the sound of their names being called. Sasuke rubbed his eyes and Naruto rolled onto his back and stretched. They brushed against each other and both shot up, now fully awake. When it registered in their minds who they were staring at they both blushed and turned away, trying to hide their embarrassment. The sound of their names being called got louder and they realized who was calling them.

"Looks like they're looking for us." said Naruto, stealing a glance at Sasuke, who was still looking somewhere else.

"Hn." Sasuke replied, turning around as he felt his blush receding.

"Should we go out to them?" he asked, turning to the Uchiha, handing him the shirt. They locked eyes for a few moments before Sasuke turned away.

"Sure, if you want to." Naruto got up and Sasuke fallowed suit. They went off to find Sakura and Kakashi, neither of them noticing they were holding hands and neither minding the closeness of the other.

It didn't take them to find Sakura and Kakashi and as soon as they found them, Sasuke wished it had taken them longer.

"Sasuke!" Sakura screamed happily as she ran over and tackle hugged him before he had time to react, knocking the un-expecting boy over. Naruto fell down along with them and it was then that the two boys were aware of the fact that they were holding each others hand and quickly untangled their fingers, blushing. Sakura remained oblivious to all of this and was content with sitting on Sasukes' lap, with her chest pressed against his, hugging the boy, but Kakashi noticed.

He noticed the vibrant blush on both boys faces as they let go of the others hand. He noticed the way they gave each other side glances, but kept failing to make eye contact, and the hint of jealousy in Narutos' eyes when he saw how Sakura held Sasuke. Kakashi smirked to himself. He could tell this group was going to get a lot more fun.

To be continued...

(a/n: woo! chapter one! lol i was going to leave it there, but my imouto said 'no, continue' so i did. please review and let me know what you think!)