Enjoy!

The Long Way Home

Part 4

Morio's Escape

Chapter 2/3

They sat under their bridge out of the town's limits and chewed their dinner in silence.

Sasuke was watching the ground in front of him as though he found the pebble near his leg fascinating while Naruto watched Sasuke. The biggest change Naruto had noticed between younger Sasuke and older Sasuke was how thoughtful he'd become. Not in a thoughtful of other people way, but a sitting down and figuring things out way when previously he would have just done whatever violent thing he wanted in every situation, confident in his ability to always survive and think on his feet. And Sasuke still was overly confident in many ways but it was tempered by a caution that Naruto had never seen before. Of course it probably helped that he wasn't quite the same rage fueled psychopath that he once was either.

But when Sasuke got thoughtful, he tended to stare off at some inanimate object while his thoughts were turned inward. He wouldn't necessarily see the object but it seemed to work as some kind of out of focus center for his thoughts.

Whatever direction his thoughts were taking now must be pretty interesting though because after a few moments Sasuke blinked almost in a surprised way and flushed a little.

"What?" Naruto asked curiously.

"You said you didn't want some stranger to touch you," Sasuke said still staring at his pebble.

"Not this again."

Sasuke ignored his comment and made eye contact even though it seemed a little difficult for him at the moment.

"What if it wasn't a stranger?"

"What, are you offering to be my fellow actor like Morio suggested are you?" Naruto scoffed.

But Sasuke wasn't smiling. "Yes."

At first Naruto figured he'd heard wrong, that Sasuke, despite the look on his face and his general personality, must be joking with him.

"Sorry, you said that into my crazy ear. Say that again?"

Sasuke didn't look impressed. "I'm not a stranger," Sasuke pointed out.

"No, but you're not exactly my dream girl either, no offence. I'm not doing that with you." Sasuke scowled at him. "What's wrong with me? We've... kissed before, twice."

"Those weren't kisses, they were accidents and you know that. And accidents, I'm pretty sure, you hated even more than me! Sasuke, I know you, and I can't believe you'd want to do that with me of all people."

Sasuke's look had lightened a little but he still didn't look particularly happy. "Okay so maybe I don't. But I'm the best option."

"Why's that?"

"Because with a stranger you won't have any options. At least with me we can fool them."

"What, how?"

"By working on your acting skills. He wants to see some newbie guy get a hand job, fine. I get my hand in your pants, pretend that's what I'm doing you pretend to come and it's done. No one gets molested and the worst thing you have to suffer from is maybe a few kisses and the awkwardness of me getting a little close."

"A little close?" Naruto asked with wide eyes. "Sasuke, you punch people for accidentally bumping shoulders with you. You have more personal space issues than a field mouse in owl country. There is no way you could stick your hand down my pants or kiss me for that matter. I was shocked enough when you were all like 'pick me, pick me' to Morio earlier."

"I hate this place," Sasuke admitted bitterly. "Doing this will bring us closer to home."

"We still don't even know how close or far that is yet for sure. All we have is some vague map and a general direction."

"Do you want to stay here?"

Sasuke had a point. Of all the places to get stuck in this was pretty bad. A martial state with little to no freedom where the soldiers would beat you to death as soon as look at you.

Naruto couldn't believe this, but Sasuke was slowly talking him into it.

"You really think this will work?" Naruto asked hesitantly.

"I don't see why not. If we get an instruction we don't like we can always bail later. But there is something we have to do first if we are going to pull this off. Ah, no pun intended."

Naruto smiled ruefully at him. "What?"

"We need a practice run. At least with the kissing."

Naruto laughed out of nervousness. "Wont practicing defeat the point of what the guy wants?"

"Maybe, but I'm more worried about you freaking out and losing it when I get close."

"I won't freak out."

"You're freaking out now," Sasuke told him calmly.

Okay, so he was freaking out a little bit. Last year Sasuke had wanted him dead, now he was proposing they make out so Naruto figured he had every right to freak out.

Sasuke scooted closer to him till they were sitting, facing one another, their knees touching. Sasuke reached out and touched the side of his face but Naruto didn't flinch like he might have expected to. The soft touch of fingers against his jaw didn't feel bad, but he could feel his heart race a little as Sasuke leaned in and...stopped.

It seemed that despite his apparent confidence he was having a harder time with this than he thought he would. His eyes were locked onto Naruto's and they seemed suddenly uncertain and Naruto wasn't that surprised. What had surprised him was Sasuke's earlier more forward nature. Not that Sasuke wasn't a forward person, but physical contact seemed random with him, always on his terms and almost always only when necessary. Sasuke might have talked big about his willingness to be Morio's happy little worker or Naruto's accomplice but Naruto just got the impression that Sasuke was still coming to terms with just what he would be required to do. So he wasn't surprised when Sasuke hesitated, but he was when he himself didn't. Maybe it was because Sasuke had balked. Perhaps there was still a smart part of him that wanted to beat Sasuke at his own game. Well he hoped that was all there was to it.

He'd closed the gap when Sasuke had hesitated, pressing their lips together in a quick chaste kiss before drawing away and trying not to blush fiercely.

He kept telling himself that it should have felt strange, it should have felt wrong but instead he felt almost...comfortable. Embarrassing but not disgusting. Of course this last week had forced them to try and be more comfortable around each other whether they wanted it or not. But he still expected something more shocking than this.

Even though it had lasted only about a second he could still feel the brief warmth and feel of Sasuke's lips against his. The surprisingly yielding and soft touch lingered on his lips for a few moments afterwards and he drew his bottom lip in between his teeth and bit down softly trying to dispel the persistent feeling it left behind.

"This is weir-"

And then Sasuke stopped hesitating. Unlike Naruto he wasn't as gentle or as chaste, his lips pressed against Naruto's and then moved roughly, the borderline aggression forcing Naruto back onto his hands before Sasuke grabbed the back of his neck and drew him closer once more.

Sasuke pulled minutely away, allowed Naruto to suck in a deep breath and bestow a shocked look to Sasuke's glittering dark eyes.

"Open your mouth a bit," Sasuke ordered softly but commandingly.

"Why, what are you going to do?"

"Feed you candy, what the fuck do you think I'm going to do?"

So it had been a stupid question, but he was feeling more than a little overwhelmed by this point and he couldn't help it. It was probably lucky when Sasuke pressed their lips together again so he could go back to not thinking. Well until Sasuke made an angry frustrated noise against his lips and Naruto remembered to open his mouth to the kiss. He felt a tongue slip against his lips and then brush against his own tongue and his eyes dropped closed.

They stayed closed until Sasuke drew away and it took him a couple of seconds to realize he'd been abandoned. His eyes snapped open and he saw Sasuke looking at him with a half smile.

"What?" Naruto asked sharply.

"You look like you've been hit with a bat."

"I feel like it too," Naruto muttered.

"Haven't you kissed anyone before?"

"Of course I have!"

"Not including me," Sasuke added smugly.

"I have! It's just that most people I've kissed have tried to kill me at some point, so excuse me for being a little wary of the experience," he retorted.

"Whatever, but you did it wrong."

Where the actual kissing had failed to freak him out those words did. Go figure.

"Um, was it...bad?"

"Not bad, but not good acting. You can't be that submissive, this has to look like you don't want to be kissed."

Oh right, the acting. "I would have tried if I wasn't just attacked with your lips. Don't worry I think I can manage acting like I don't want you to kiss me when the time comes."

Sasuke's smile, however small it had been, twisted a little. "Good. At least you didn't freak out. I'll tell Morio in the morning that we'll work for him. Get some sleep."

And with that abrupt dismissal, Sasuke got up and went back to where he'd previously been sitting and lay on his side, his back to Naruto, who was by this point wondering what he had said that had obviously annoyed Sasuke so much this time.

"The room has a one-way window where our guest will be sitting for the show. Always be mindful of the angle he can see you from and try to pick positions that will best display yourself to the client. Don't just jump into the action straight away, work up to it, make him believe that the progression of things is natural. The client is paying a lot of money for a mere twenty-minute show so make it a good one. He would have preferred longer of course, but seeing as how reticent you were to do this I figured more than twenty minutes might be pushing it."

Morio's litany of instructions seemed to go on for a long time as they walked through the halls at the back of his club. Sasuke had visited him that morning with their deal and it had only taken a day for Morio to send for them. Apparently the client was very eager.

"Our client does have a few non-negotiables he wants done though so as long as you follow those we wont have a problem"

"Which are?"

"Well I mentioned the reluctant factor. What that means is that I don't want it to appear to be forced so much as coaxed. I want you, Naruto, to appear to be drawn into what Sasuke is doing to you like you can't help yourself. Show the odd little act of defiance, but always give in. This is not meant to look like rape."

"That's very..uh...particular," Naruto commented with some nervousness.

"Don't ask me what it is," Morio said shrugging. "But a lot of people seemed to find that kind of seduction hot to watch and hey it pays well so I can hardly complain. The other stipulation is that when you finally get to the big finish, he wants to see as much of Naruto as possible. He wants to see his face and as much of his body as he can so face the glass of the window, it's important."

Naruto almost stopped walking but was helped along again by Sasuke's steady hand against his shoulder.

"That shouldn't be a problem," Sasuke told Morio confidently.

"Oh and before I forget, the client will be able to hear you clearly. If you absolutely must talk to each other in private I would suggest very low whispers or code but mostly I would suggest not saying anything you don't want overheard at all."

"Do we have to do some sort of big act or something?" Naruto asked with a hint of worry.

"No. Look at Sasuke like he's going to attack you, look scared but defiant."

"Shouldn't be too difficult, " Naruto muttered earning a look from Sasuke.

"Okay so here's the room," Morio announced stopping by a normal looking white door. "The client is already waiting so don't dawdle."

Morio opened to door and gave Naruto a little shove through before turning back to Sasuke. "This is an important client, please don't piss him off."

When Sasuke stepped in after him the door was closed and Naruto became very aware of a few things. One, the huge mirrored wall on one side of the room opposite the huge red satiny covered four poster bed. Two, that he was now alone in a room with Sasuke in front of that mirror and a huge bed. And three, just how hard it was to breathe like a normal person now in light of the two previous facts.

It was obvious as they stood there and stared at one another that both of them were trying very hard not to look toward the big mirror. Actually seeing the look on Sasuke's normally so carefully blank face made him wonder if Sasuke was having another moment of hesitation. But then Sasuke seem to take a deep breath and harden his features in an expression that Naruto knew too well.

Sasuke was determined.

Naruto swallowed as Sasuke took a few steps toward him and didn't have to act much to look wary, afraid and back up a few steps himself. But then the backs of his legs encountered an obstacle which he knew must be the side of the bed and that made it even worse.

It took Sasuke seconds to catch up with him and when he did he showed little of the hesitation of the previous night, he stopped in front of him, reaching forward to pull at Naruto's t-shirt like he could use the cloth to pull him closer but Naruto was steadfast and didn't budge.

So Sasuke stepped even closer himself and leant forward for a kiss and Naruto drew his head back as though he could avoid it. He probably would have managed it too if Sasuke's hand hadn't reached up to the back of his head, almost forcibly drawing his face closer till their lips touched.

The thing was that it wasn't difficult to pretend to be nervous or stand offish towards Sasuke. He just let his edgy emotions act for him and there was really little thinking involved. Last night might not have seemed as creepy as he had imagined and perhaps that was why he felt strange about doing it now. But it was mainly because there was some random stranger watching them and oh yeah, this was Uchiha Sasuke for fucks sake.

He had never really known how to act in front of Sasuke and their relationship had never been even slightly affectionate in all the time they'd known each other, quite the opposite in fact. If somebody had asked him last week who the last person Naruto could imagine to be kissing now, it would have been Sasuke hands down.

Speaking of hands, Sasuke's other hand had slipped beneath his shirt and was trailing upwards, dragging the material with it an exposing his skin inch by inch. So far he hadn't really dared to kiss Sasuke back and when he let up to drag Naruto's shirt up over his head, Naruto placed a palm against Sasuke's chest as the Uchiha let the material fall to the ground.

Sasuke's expression was a little freaky. Naruto knew he was acting but it almost looked... dangerous.

Sasuke went to lean in again but Naruto held him back.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea," Naruto told him.

The subtle shift in Sasuke's face would have been unrecognizable if you weren't the one standing directly in front of him. The slight rise of one eyebrow was asking a question.

Sasuke didn't seem to know if Naruto was playacting or if he meant it. And honestly, in that moment, Naruto wasn't entirely sure either. Acting or not, this was happening a little too fast and was all a little overwhelming. He tried to focus and calm his mind using every meditation trick he could think of but it just wouldn't work. Eventually his eyes settled onto dark ones and he felt his mind finally ease a little. Weird, Sasuke's eyes never usually worked to calm him like that, possibly because they had used to look at him with such malice. But there was a sort of reassuring confidence there too and right now he even looked a shade concerned. It did wonders for his nerves.

He shook his head just the slightest to show Sasuke he'd just been acting.

"I promise by the end it will have been worth it," Sasuke told him before leaning in against the less resistant Naruto and reclaiming his lips.

For a moment Naruto forgot to feel strange or nervous. He let Sasuke kiss him and after a while remembered to open his mouth and allow the kiss to deepen. He could feel Sasuke's hand on his hip, pushing him backwards and down till he was lying back on the bed, Sasuke braced over him.

Not having that nervous feeling washing over him in full force he started instead to feel a little weird instead about Sasuke pushing him around like this. He never let Sasuke push him around and acting or not he suddenly felt the almost overwhelming urge to take some measure of control back. But he didn't and fought down the urge instead. The less he resisted, the better the act he supposed. And besides, the urge to do anything other than just get it over with as quickly as possible made him feel weirdest of all. This was a play, he wasn't supposed to take an interest at all, right?

Eventually, Sasuke sat up and Naruto watched, swallowing thickly as Sasuke untied his own shirt and shrugged it off his shoulders. Then he was back, kissing him moving languidly like you might move against a lover. Sasuke wasn't actually touching him but you'd have to be real close to notice that little fact. Of course they couldn't fake the kissing though, not if it had to seem real and Naruto felt like he was being devoured by his old friend's mouth, explored by his tongue, his lips smooth and soft yet still demanding. His lips left off from Naruto's mouth after what felt like a long time and trailed over his jaw and around until he felt warm breath against his ear.

"You're supposed to be resisting," Sasuke reminded him in a low whisper.

"Fuck," Naruto muttered.

How the hell could he have forgotten that? Well at least he could give in to his urge a little bit.

He pushed at Sasuke, rolling the other's body off him and sat up quickly, moving away to sit at the edge of the bed. Across from him was the large mirror their audience was sitting behind. He tried not to look directly at it, but movement behind him caught his eyes as Sasuke crept over the bed towards him.

"We should stop," Naruto suggested wishing that his voice was a little shaky from acting rather than accident.

Sasuke didn't answer him. He watched Sasuke came to a stop and sat down behind him, an arm coming around to encircle his waist. He almost jumped when he felt a tongue slide up the side of his neck. Sasuke was watching him in the mirror as Naruto watched him. Weird or not, anxious or not it was almost fascinating to see Sasuke like this. It was certainly a side of him that Naruto had never seen and he doubted a lot of people had with the way Sasuke usually treated people and his general unwillingness to get close to anyone. Naruto wondered if it was all an act or if the slightly licentious look on Sasuke face was in any way real.

Then he forced the thought away. Of course it wasn't real.

Sasuke's right hand slid lower, fingers slipping underneath the waist of his pants and Naruto reflexively grabbed his wrist a little harder than intended.

"Stop, don't."

"You really want me to?" Sasuke asked almost teasingly. He was way too good at this acting thing. He had definitely missed his true calling in life.

Naruto made sure he took his time in responding before he replied softly, "No."

Sasuke used his other hand to pry Naruto's fingers loose of his wrist and then held that hand off to the side as though restraining it from impeding him again and let his hand trail lower still.

Sasuke turned his hand inside his pants and Naruto almost jumped again when he felt the briefest touch against his groin. But it had been an accident, Sasuke didn't touch him again but began moving his hand inside his pants, shallowly enough to not give the game away but hopefully realistically enough to fool their onlooker.

Naruto tried his hardest to look like he was being pleasured and not at all going through perhaps the weirdest thing he had ever experienced in his life.

"Moan," Sasuke suggested into his ear.

"Bite me," Naruto suggested rudely right back.

Unfortunately Sasuke actually obliged. Through half lidded eyes he watched Sasuke's mouth descend on his shoulder and then felt a rather harsh sting as Sasuke sunk his teeth in almost hard enough to break the skin. He didn't moan but he did hiss loudly. It probably counted as a sex noise, Naruto figured, but it didn't mean Sasuke had to be so harsh about it. So to prevent further biting, Naruto tried his best to make some aroused noises like he was actually being pleasurably jerked off.

He felt stupid frankly and didn't want to see Sasuke's expression in fear of seeing amusement reflected there. So he sort of laid his head back against Sasuke's shoulder and tried not to think about making a fool of himself.

"Come already, would you?" Sasuke ordered softly into his ear after what felt like an extremely long time.

Oh well, he had made a fool enough of himself, might as well go the whole way. He stiffened his body against Sasuke and made his last moan louder and longer before collapsing his body back against the one behind him.

"See, not so hard after all," Sasuke told him.

He couldn't quite hide his annoyance at being so embarrassed when he muttered back, "Asshole." He could feel Sasuke shudder against his back with repressed laughing, forehead buried against Naruto's shoulder in order to hide his expression from the client just as the overhead lights switched off apparently signaling an end to the twenty minutes.

Sasuke was actually laughing. It was a pleasant change to his usual personality these days, he just wished Sasuke wouldn't laugh at him and more with him.

"Go fuck yourself Sasuke," Naruto muttered quietly. "It wasn't that funny."

He felt Sasuke raise his head and again the warm breath against his ear as Sasuke replied, "Yes it was."

To say the walk home was awkward was an understatement. Relief of having the whole thing over and done with had been short lived and afterwards Naruto had a difficult time meeting Sasuke's eye.

There were a lot of reasons for it if he thought about it. He was embarrassed for one and for another thing he hadn't expected nor particularly wanted his first proper kiss with someone who had meant to do it, and wasn't trying to actively kill him, to be a forced encounter with another guy just so some perverted stranger could get his rocks off. The only real solace he could take in what had happened was that it had been an act, only for show, and it didn't have to mean anything to him if he didn't want it to.

But that was another problem. It wasn't like the experience had been as horrible as he had expected it to be. Embarrassing sure, bizarre definitely, but not as uncomfortable in the actual moment as he thought it should be. It was weird. Even weirder because it was down to the fact that it was with Sasuke that made it almost okay. Not that he had gotten over excited by the whole thing, the situation not doing it for him on way too many levels. But Sasuke was one of the few people in his life that had seen him at his very best and his very worst so embarrassing himself in front of Sasuke wasn't such a huge deal. Sasuke thought very little of him anyway most of the time, so he doubted it would change his viewpoint of Naruto having heard him fake moan or anything like that. Sasuke himself had acted quite the lecherous personality for a while which was both a little scary and fucking weird but still not exactly mind altering. He'd seen Sasuke in some pretty fucked up mental states before so seeing him play acting a lecher wasn't about to make him think of his friend in a worse way.

So in the end he felt only mildly weirded out by the experience and was far more concerned that he didn't have a stronger aversion to the night's happenings. He supposed in the end he felt so awkward about it because he felt relatively okay about it.

"Try not to think dobe, it makes you look stupid."

It even helped that Sasuke was back to being a jerk, almost like nothing at all had happened.

"Bet a little kiss on the cheek doesn't seem like such a big deal now, does it?"

Sasuke smirked at him. "Annoyed it might not shock me so much anymore?"

Naruto looked over at Sasuke in surprise, the first time he'd looked at his face since they'd finished their act at Morio's.

"It wont?"

"Don't give me a look like I'm giving you permission," Sasuke warned him. "I'm just thinking you'll stop now,"

"Don't make it sound like that little friend cheek kiss thing was because I wanted to kiss you. I explained what that was for. You know it's not like I just got something out of my system at Morio's. Trust me Sasuke, tongue kissing you was something that was never in my system, believe me."

"Couldn't hurt to hope you might stop. Besides, you were looking like you were over-thinking things, that's never a good sign with you."

"You're going to make another moron joke aren't you?"

"No, just don't want you to over-think things. Don't feel weird about it."

"Why do you think I would?" Naruto asked curiously. "Do you?"

"No. It's easy to dismiss when you know it isn't real."

Naruto wondered if Sasuke had meant it like Naruto imagined he did. Because to his ears, it sounded like Sasuke was okay with the closeness so long as it was faked. If he was in a real situation with a real person perhaps he would not have seemed so confident or so in control.

Naruto sighed. He sure wished Sasuke had this epiphany yesterday when they'd first met Morio. If he hadn't flinched then and given his own plan away, tonight might never have needed to happen.

But then it wasn't the first time Sasuke had said he could do something like that without being able to actually do it when the time came. To say it shattered Naruto's view of Sasuke was an understatement. To him, Sasuke was always so determined that it seemed as though nothing would stand in his way. But lately, he'd begun to realize how wrong that assumption had been. Sasuke wasn't some machine, he could be as uncertain as the next person. It was just that with Sasuke he'd never ever show his uncertainty knowingly. It made him wonder just how well he thought he'd known Sasuke previously or just how much he might have overlooked. Not that these new imperfections were a bad thing, it actually made him happier that he was finally starting to see something real behind the mask at last.

Or perhaps he really was overthinking things.

TBC

See you tomorrow ;)