Note from the Author: I'm slowly putting all of my favorite Naruto pairings in this story – can ya tell?

Here's a fun fact for ya – the pen I used to write this chapter was stolen by my sister's cat.

… to make you all look fat.

It was still night. Sasuke had been asleep, but was now staring at the blaring red numbers of his digital clock, which read 3:07 AM. He sighed, rolled over, and found himself face-to-face with a sleeping Itachi.

Sasuke's brow furrowed and he sat up, leaning on his hand, staring down at the beautiful pale man that was his brother. He never slept with Sasuke after they'd had sex. It could only mean one thing: Itachi was afraid he was losing him – that he wouldn't need him anymore. Sasuke smirked, lying back down, brushing the dark hair from his brother's face, and cuddled into his arms, surprised when Itachi responded, throwing an arm across his hip.

Sasuke sighed, closed his eyes, relaxing. He was alright for now with this, because he knew Itachi had a reason to worry. Sasuke was close to never needing him again.

0

Naruto yawned as he pulled the door open and only had time to yell in surprise when he was tackled to the floor. It took him a moment to get past the initial shock to recognize the feel of Sasuke's lips on his, the weight of him on his hips. Naruto smiled against his mouth, pushed him away. "My, my, aren't we energetic."

Sasuke smirked, laying a kiss on his jaw. "I missed how you taste." He said softly, running his hands up his sides. "I feel like I haven't kissed you in a year."

"Yes, well, we all know that isn't the case, don't we?"

They jumped apart, blushing.

Iruka stood in the doorway, hands on hips. "Want to take it somewhere else do that the neighbors don't have to watch this pretty public display of affection."

Red-faced and clumsy with embarrassment, they stumbled to their feet and up the stairs, slamming the door to Naruto's room behind them, their lips all too eager to find each other's again as they toppled onto the bed – all self-consciousness forgotten as hands roamed and mouths mashed together.

Naruto groaned as Sasuke bit down on his lip. "What's say we continue the little contest we have going?" the Uchiha suggested hoarsely, a glint in his eyes.

Naruto grinned, dropped his head toward his lover's shoulder. It was his favorite place to bite him – fleshy and sensitive, and the sounds he made when his teeth sank in there were lovely.

Sasuke felt him freeze, his breath on his skin driving him crazy, and he writhed impatiently, pulling him closer.

Naruto pulled away. "Sasuke, what is that?" he whispered.

Dark eyes searched for blue ones, but they were fixed on his neck. Fingers pressed into the skin, and he cried out. "Naruto, what the hell? That fucking hurt!"

The blonde jumped off him. "That's a fucking hickey!"

Sasuke sat up, brow furrowed. "So what?"

"I have never bitten your neck."

"How do you - ?"

"Because that's not the part of you that I like to bite!" Naruto cut him off angrily.

Sasuke fell back on the bed, covering his face with his hands. He was all too aware of the volume of Naruto's voice – and that everyone within a three-house radius could probably hear every word he was saying. This sucks.

"Who the fuck gave you that?" Naruto was leaning over him again, his hands on either side of his head, face still flushed. "Was it Hinata?"

Sasuke dropped his hands, glared at him. "What?"

Naruto stood upright, moved to the window, stared out at the ground like he was deciding if it would kill his boyfriend to throw him out of it. "I've seen her bite Neji like that." His eyes turned back toward the other boy. "And you've been spending a ton of time with her." The anger had left his voice. It was now laden with hurt – afraid he was right.

Sasuke unfolded himself from the bed, went to him, wrapped his arms around him, pressed his forehead to his shoulder. "Naruto," he whispered, his heart breaking a little when he didn't respond to his touch, "it wasn't her."

"Then who was it?"

He winced against the question. "I can't tell you about this. You have to trust me."

"You're cheating on me." Naruto broke out of his arms, stormed to the door, opened it, turned on him with a stony gaze. "That's all I really to know anyway, right?" He tossed his head toward the hallway. "Get out. Until you're ready to take this seriously, there's no this, so you've got nothing to worry about."

Sasuke swallowed, nodded. "I understand." He offered softly, and felt like he was stepping on cracking pieces of his shattered heart with every step he took. He paused in the doorway, smiling sadly at the picture of a twelve-year-old Naruto riding piggyback on Iruka, laughing. It seemed like just yesterday, Naruto was challenging Sasuke to a game of kickball, losing horribly, but being proud of himself anyway – swearing he'd win the next game, and with the oath, declaring them friends. "You know," his eyes roamed across the line of framed photographs. "I was so close to not needing him anymore." He left before Naruto could ask.

0

Hinata stepped into the movie theatre, savoring the air-conditioned loveliness, the smell of popcorn, the feel of her hand in Neji's.

"Hi, Hinata-chan – Neji-san!" Sakura waved.

They made their way to the group that stood waiting by the box office. Hinata searched their faces. There were only fourteen people here, including them. "Where's Sasuke-kun?" she asked Naruto.

He glared at her and she shrunk into Neji's shadow. "We broke up." He murmured at the elder Hyuuga, since his cousin was hiding her face in his shirt. "He was cheating on me."

Neji and Hinata exchanged a glance over his shoulder and Neji asked, "How do you know?"

"It's none of your business." Naruto snapped, shoving his hands in his pockets, shoulders hunched. "Can we just see the damn movie?"

Hinata felt it was time for her fool-proof getting-out-of-the-situation technique. She made her knees wobble and she gave a little miserable moan. "Neji-nii-san, I don't feel so -" She fell backwards and forced the smile from her face that Neji caught her immediately.

"It's probably the heat. I'm taking her home." Neji announced to the group and guided her outside. They didn't speak until they were buckled into the car. "To Sasuke's?"

She looked at him, surprised, then smiled fondly. He always had known her best.

0

Neji flexed his hand, trying to signal to his cousin that her grip hurt. She loosened it a little, clinging to his arm instead when the door of the Uchihas' apartment opened.

A tall, dark-haired man who looked remarkably like Sasuke stood in the doorway. An eyebrow lifted in a "Can I help you?" gesture.

"Is Sasuke home?" Neji took the prerogative, since Hinata seemed terrified.

The man blinked slowly. "Yes."

"May we see him?"

He stepped aside, pointed down the hallway. (Hinata noticed he was wearing nail polish.) "Last door on the right."

"Thank you." They started in the direction he'd indicated. "That was him, wasn't it?" Neji asked, voice low.

"How did you know?" she whispered back.

"First of all, you were scared out of your mind of him." He paused, trying to explain perfectly. "And his thoughts were displayed on his face: 'They look like siblings. They're close for siblings. Oh, well – I'm fucking my brother.'"

She blushed at his word choice. "How can you always tell that stuff?"

He shrugged, face impassive. "It's a gift.

She sighed, rolling her eyes, and knocked on the door of the room Itachi had designated.

"Go away, Itachi" was the muffled response. "I'm not up for it right now."

"Sasuke-kun," Hinata called softly, "it's Neji-nii-san and me."

A rustling found its way to their ears, followed by a reverberating bang, and the door opened just enough for them to step inside. Sasuke looked awful. His hair was unkempt – more than usual, anyway – and the bags under his eyes were dark. "What's up, guys?" His voice was hoarse – hollow - and he seemed to be trying to sound nonchalant.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun," Hinata looked him up and down, "what happened?"

He flinched when her fingers found his ribs and stepped away from her touch. "I'm okay." He smiled weakly. "No physical damage, I promise." The corners of his chapped lips fell, and he sank to the bed, running his fingers through his hair. "I always told Itachi not to leave marks on me." He whispered, eyes downcast. "The one fucking time he doesn't listen." He shook his head, letting his body fall backwards like it was too much trouble to hold himself upright, his feet still on the floor.

"Maybe now's the time to tell Naruto-kun?" Hinata suggested.

He closed his eyes. "Don't ask that of me now. I'll do it when I'm ready." Rolling over onto his side, he curled up in a ball, like an emaciated dog afraid to be kicked again. "Thank you both." His eyes were on the wall. "I've never really had friends before. Not before Naruto, anyway."

"Well, remember something." Neji finally spoke up. "You've got four days to fix yourself up."

Sasuke lifted his head like it weighed two tons. "Why?"

Neji smirked. "You and I have a one-on-one match on Friday."

The Uchiha almost laughed. "I'll be there, Hyuuga. Count on it." He tried and failed to stifle a yawn.

Hinata smiled sympathetically. "You're tired. We'll come back tomorrow." She stepped into the hallway, pulling the door closed behind her as she said, "Sleep well."

0

Naruto plopped down at the kitchen table and proceeded to take his frustration out on his waffle, stabbing it with a fork, syrup splattering everywhere.

The asshole still hadn't called, or stopped by, or anything. He wasn't kneeling here on the kitchen tile begging for forgiveness and telling him the whole thing was a huge misunderstanding – which just led Naruto to believe that it wasn't and his hopes that Sasuke really hadn't cheated on him were being dashed.

Iruka came to the table, mug in hand, and his eyebrow lifted at the mutilated breakfast. "It's not your waffle's fault Sasuke's a jerk, Naruto." He sipped at his coffee. "But since you don't seem ready to give up on him, why don't you go talk to him?"

"No way." Naruto growled, shoving a forkful in his mouth and speaking around the syrupy waffle. "That bastard's going to come crawling back to me, or we're never getting back together."

Iruka sighed. "If you really love this guy, which I know you do, you'll stop being an idiot and go see him."

Naruto swallowed thickly, staring down at his food, which didn't seem very appetizing anymore, and nearly jumped out of his skin when the doorbell rang.

Iruka rolled his eyes. "Gonna get that?"

He remained hopefully frozen in his seat, praying this was all about to be straightened out.

Iruka slammed his cup on the table, mumbling about lazy kids, and went to answer the door.

A moment later, Kiba came bounding in, Akamaru on his heels, and Naruto's heart sank – no, "sank" wasn't strong enough. His heart more like plummeted into a volcano and exploded. Why was it always Kiba when he wanted it to be Sasuke?

Iruka followed them into the kitchen, eyeing the dog. "If he leaves me any unwanted presents, you're never allowed here again."

Kiba grinned, scratching the back of his head. "Nah. Don't worry, Iruka-sensei, he's really well-trained."

"Yeah, okay." The silence was awkward if anything, and Iruka got the hint. "I'll, uh, go somewhere else." He placed his mug in the sink and left the room.

"What do you want?" Naruto mumbled, pushing his plate across the table to Kiba, who in turn put it on the floor for Akamaru.

"I wanted to ask you something." Kiba laughed nervously, his face tinted pink. "Um, how do you go about telling someone you're in love with them?"

Naruto chuckled, forgetting for a moment that he and Sasuke were no longer together, lost in the memory. "Well, Sasuke and I – it happened kind of weird. We were at the mall with Sakura-chan and she was hanging all over him and he was just fucking letting her. I got really pissed and went to the bathroom and I couldn't even figure out why I was pissed – it wasn't like we were dating or anything. But anyway, he came after me, wondering what the hell my problem was. And I said something like, 'My problem is that I fucking love you, okay?" He shrugged, smile fading with sadness, before he remembered why he'd told the story. "You're in love, Kiba? Who's the unlucky girl?"

Kiba's face flushed even more deeply and he tugged uncomfortably at his collar. "That's, uh, the other thing I wanted to ask: How did you tell Iruka-sensei you were gay?"

Naruto, who had been taking a sip of his orange juice, sputtered and coughed. "You're gay?" A sly smile crossed his face. "I bet I know who -"

"Just answer the damn question."

"Alright, alright." He sat back in his chair, thinking. "I'm pretty sure I just told him I was in love and that it was with Sasuke. He was cool about it." The mischievous glint returned to his eyes. "Gonna confirm my suspicion?"

Kiba rolled his eyes, standing. "Thanks for the help, Naruto." He paused in the doorway. "Whatever happened with you and Sasuke-kun?"

Naruto stiffened, averted his gaze. "Bastard cheated on me. I found a hickey I didn't give him. I think it was Hinata."

Kiba barked with laughter. "Hinata? Shy, little Hinata who only just went all the way with Neji-kun? You think she has the nerve to cheat on someone? Wait – you think she's the kind of girl who'll give a guy a hickey? You're out of your mind, dude." He shook his head. "Later."