Naruto stirred, shaking his head slightly from side to side.
He ached all over, and felt like even opening his eyes would be too much of an effort.
"Is he waking up?" A man's voice, one he recognized... one dear to him...
"I don't know- he seems to be." A woman, one he had met a few times... who?
"Thank you for saving him." Naruto's eyes snapped open as the man spoke again.
'Sasuke?' he thought, just moving his eyes to look at the dark-haired Hokage and not his head- he had no clue what kind of condition he was in and didn't want to aggrevate it.
"So, you are awake!" Another girl spoke, from his other side. Naruto rolled his eyes over back towards the voice.
Sakura, sitting with Lee and smiling down at him. Naruto was extremely confused.
'Maybe they don't know I'm Kyuubi?' he thought hopefully, but realizing that Sasuke probably would have told them. 'Why do they still look at me like that? Don't they hate me for lying? Hells, don't they hate me for just being me?'
"Welcome back." The first woman said. Naruto rolled his eyes back over, feeling the strain behind his eyeballs. He felt a spark of recognition when he saw the woman- Tsuande, the lead healer in Konoha.
'Why is she here? Why am I still alive? I mean, I collapsed from exhaustion, but I was still aware enough when the villagers started hitting me...' Naruto would have scowled, had he had the energy. He had felt each hit, but hadn't had the strength to get up and fight back or run away before falling prey to unconsciousness. He glanced around the room, eyes finally resting on Sasuke. Naruto blinked in shock.
The Hokage looked tired, like he hadn't slept much lately, and had dark rings under his sunken eyes. He seemed... thinner, too, like he had eaten in a while.
"How... long-" Naruto coughed, throat dry and scratchy. "-have I been... out?" he asked. He was surprised he had the energy to speak.
"About a week. A few demons have continued to attack-" Naruto's eyes went wide, but then he narrowed them in anger. "- but they weren't as strong or as organized. We had very little trouble killing them." Sasuke said quietly. Naruto nodded, relaxing a tension he hadn't realized building in his shoulders.
"Glad to have you back." Tsuande said. "For a while we weren't sure if you were going to make it." She smiled, and Naruto found himself reflexively smiling back.
"Good to be back." he said.
"We'll leave you to rest, now that we know that you won't die." Sasuke said stiffly, looking downwards so that his bangs covered his eyes, making him even more unreadable than usual. "As Hokage, I have a few questions for the demon general Kyuubi. Report to my quarters when you're released from the hospital." With that, Sasuke got up and left, leaving a shocked silence in the room behind him.
'Why was he so cold?' the four ocupants wondered- Sasuke had seemed slightly happy just a moment ago...
'What got into him?'
Tsuande was the first to get over her shock, shooing Lee and Sakura out of the room. She quickly checked Naruto over and told him that he would be as right as rain in after a day or two of strict bed rest. Naruto complied silently, thinking about the Uchiha.
Two Days Later
Naruto swallowed nervously as he knocked on the door quietly. He had been dreading facing Sasuke since he had first transformed in front of the man, less than two weeks ago. He had known that Sasuke would have questions, but hadn't really wanted to answer them.
The door opened a minute later, the dark-haired man standing there.
"Come in." Sasuke said stonily, moving aside so Naruto could do as ordered. Naruto stepped forward, ignoring the ominous way the door closed behind him.
"Follow me." Sasuke said simply, walking ahead of the blonde. Naruto was lead to a small, impersonal living room, two chairs simply placed facing each other and a small table in between them.
Naruto gulped again as Sasuke took a seat and motioned for Naruto to sit down. He felt like he was being interrogated- which wasn't all too for from the truth, actually...
"As I am Hokage and you are considered a prisoner of war, all my questions must be answered with the complete truth or you could face anything from a fine to execution, depending on the seriousness and frequency of your lies." Sasuke said. "Firstly, I want to know why the demons attacked us."
"Well, you see-" Naruto's mouth had gone very dry, nervous as he was. "- you built your villages on top of some holy grounds for demons, where some of us pray for strength and stuff. It would be like complete strangers coming in and wrecking your, ah, 'churches'." he said, explaining as best he could.
"Why did you not simply ask us to move?"
"We didn't want to- well, most didn't." Naruto said, seeing Sasuke's eyes narrow. "I mean, we're bloodthirsty by nature- it takes quite a bit of effort to suppress the need, and some can't suppress it at all. We were killing ourselves off, and then we had a new target. We didn't need much more of an excuse for war."
"I see." Sasuke said coldly, then continued to ask question after question about various military things- the strengths and weaknesses of demons as a whole, what they could do to further arm themselves against demons, the like.
Before Naruto noticed, hours had gone by and dusk had fallen.
"I- I should be going now. It's late." Naruto said, standing.
"One more question before you leave- and remember you are still under obligation to answer me with the full truth." Sasuke said. Naruto froze, a cold shiver of fear passing through him. Sasuke had carefully avoided one particular subject during his questioning- a subject Naruto had hoped would be forgotten. One that Naruto did not want to talk about.
'Please, ask me anything but what I think you're going to ask, anything but something about the-'
"I have a mark on my back, in the shape of a nine-tailed fox. The demons that attacked me a little while back told me it was a 'mating mark'. What do you know about it? Why is it there?" Sasuke asked quietly.
"That was two questions." Naruto quickly pointed out, hopes dashed. Sasuke had asked the worst possible question- and he was obligated to answer.
"Answer them both, then." Sasuke said, glaring slightly at the blonde. Naruto swallowed.
"Oh, about that, when a demon choses someone-" Naruto had to stifle scared, nervous laughter at this point, hoping that telling it like it was no big deal would cause Sasuke to shrug off the importance of the mark. "- a mark appears on the chosen's back. It's harmless, really- don't be concerned about it!" Naruto deliberately left out as much information as possible regarding the mark.
"You didn't answer my question. That can't be all you know of it. Answer me, Kyuubi." Naruto cringed, hearing the anger in Sasuke's voice, Naruto's demon name spat out like a curse. It was said with such venom it almost hurt to hear it.
"The mark doesn't have to affect you- can we just leave it at that?" Naruto asked, hating the fact that some of his fear showed in his voice. he looked down, unable and unwilling to meet Sasuke's eyes.
"No, we cannot. Naruto-" The blonde looked up in shock at his real name. "- tell me what it means."
"It... the mark..." Naruto sighed. He had never been very good at the subtlty thing, and usually just burst out with whatever he had to say, but this was different. This was too important for him to just laugh it off. He sighed again, looking down at the floor as he spoke. He didn't let a hint of emotion enter his voice, trying to speak as tonelessly as possible.
"The mark is very important to a demon. When he or she finds someone they want to be with- forever, not just for a short while- the mark of the demon appears on the chosen one's back. The mark shows that a demon has an interest in the person- is physically attracted as well as enjoying the other's personality and intelligence. That's all it takes for the makr to appear, though it doesn't finalize and darken until the demon... claims the person. Once claimed, a person is off-limits. It's a binding of souls- eternally binding you to one person. Not many demons still attempt the mating ritual because they don't want to be tied down. To be rid of the mark all you have to do is sleep with someone else." Naruto turned, feeling the sting of tears as he saw- out of the corner of his eye- Sasuke's shocked look.
"I answered your damn questions, okay!" Naruto said, walking steadily away from Sasuke. "It doesn't /do/ anything, it's just a mark. Feel free to get rid of it. You have my blessing." Naruto said sarcastically, feeling the words sting his heart.
He was almost to the door when a strong hand grabbed his shoulder and spun him back around. He came face to face with Sasuke.
"What do you want now?" Naruto asked, trying to pull away and not look at Sasuke.
"So, this mark basically means that you love me, doesn't it?" Sasuke asked. His voice was carefully toneless, Naruto noted with a hint of despair.
'Probably doesn't want me to go ballistic and kill everyone.' he thought sarcastically.
"The deal was for one more question- I answered two." Naruto said. Sasuke's grip just tightened as he shifted Naruto's body away from the door and slammed him against the wall next to it. Naruto was taken by surprise and his head hit lightly against the wall- just enough to cause a slight bump, nothing more. Temporarily forgetting who had slammed him into the wall, Naruto looked up, ready to demand an apology-
"Answer me." Sasuke said, scowling. Naruto closed his mouth, screwing his eyes shut before he replied.
"Yes, goddamnit, yes! How much more do you want to humiliate me before-" Naruto's shouts were cut off rather abruptly as a pair of gentle lips were pressed to his.
Naruto's eyes opened wide as Sasuke pulled away, the harsh grip on his shoulder relaxed to a gentle pressure.
"Sa- suke?" Naruto asked, shocked.
"I love you." Sasuke said, dark eyes boring into Naruto's. Naruto just gaped as Sasuke kept talking. "I tried to convince myself to hate you, but it wasn't working so I just gave up."
"You? Gave up?" Naruto echoed. Sasuke nodded.
"I'm... happy, being with you. That's what love is, isn't it?" Sasuke asked. "I don't know exactly what else to call the feeling but happiness, and I don't want it to go away." Naruto threw his arms around Sasuke, holding him close.
"Yeah- that's what love is." Naruto said.
"If you want..." Sasuke said quietly, placing his arms around the blonde. "...I'll be your mate." Naruto froze.
"Do you know what that means? How serious that kind of commitment is?" Naruto asked softly. Sasuke shook his head.
"Explain it to me."
"It goes much deeper than human marriage. It binds our souls- literally. It's for forever." Naruto pulled back to look into Sasuke's eyes. "Are you sure...?"
"Would I have said anything if I was not?" Sasuke countered. Naruto smiled and leaned forward, kissing the Hokage. Sasuke moaned lightly as Naruto's tongue found his. When they pulled away for air, Naruto spoke again.
"Release your chakra." he said.
"Hmm?" Sasuke made a confused noise.
"Chakra is connected to our souls- we have to give each other all of ourselves to form the connection." Naruto- face flushed- backed away hesitantly. "Unless it's too soon-"
His answer was a rush of outpouring chakra from Sasuke, who pulled the blonde back close to him. Smiling ferally, Naruto released his chakra as well.
I don't think I need to explain what happened next.
A/N: Gah! Sorry about that- I don't know how well this chapter turned out. It was a pain in the ass to write- and I still think they moved too fast and Sasuke is OOC- but I didn't know how to rewrite it. For the sake of the plot, they had to ge together kinda quickly... sorry! Hopefully I'll see you next week- if not, then week after!