Chapter Rating: M for violence

To my Reviewers:
Shizuka Ketsurui, lunabasketcase: Thank you. :) I'm glad you're enjoying it so far.
Agent0003: Lol. I don't really use big words, so my spelling is generally alright.
Love Squared: Iruka has died at war. Hope that clears stuff up for you.
mirai3k: lol. I wonder how much good could possibly come out of his death…but let's see alright? Lol
diamond-princess2006: :) They may not be too in-character since this is a character study for the most part, taking into consideration how Naruto and Sasuke may change as they grow older.
Azamiko: lol. I love fluff though. :D
hecate-19: Sasuke's not with Oro-moron anymore, this is after Sasuke has come back, and I have taken into account changes in their relationship and chemistry, which I hope to explore farther later on…:)

Author's Note: Sasuke has come back from Oro-idiot (sorry to fans of said baka...hehehe...I suppose he has some merits?) and this is a few years AFTER Sasuke's return, so naruto and him are cool now. this is a sort of char-study and doesn't have too much of a complicated plot. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy!

ii.

The next morning was a perfect dance of lies. But this was the way it was. As a ninja, you were not given time to recover.

Sasuke entered the mission's room just as Naruto did. Kakashi was already there, standing patiently in line to receive their assignment. The one exposed blue eye passive and when his two ex-students and current team mates walked in, he turned around and the eye was then an inverted u; a smile forming beneath the man's mask.

They stepped up to join Kakashi. And the little conversation had between Kakashi and Naruto followed the rhythm perfectly. They laughed, teased and were bored. They were the perfect dancing partners for each other. But the music was muted as they stepped closer to the table and both men fell quiet.

Kakashi's hands were in his pocket as he stood in front of the table, the Chuunin there explaining the mission. A retrieval of scrolls; S-class nins involved; trifling really.

There was a pause when the Chuunin handed Kakashi the scroll containing the information he had just stated and more. Kakashi just stood, looking at the Chuunin, who looked at Kakashi as if wondering what it was he was doing wrong.

Sasuke knew of course.

The Chuunin wasn't Iruka.

As Kakashi pulled out a hand from his pocket to take the scroll – his movements slow and languid and screamed of tired boredom – Sasuke brushed his fingers against Naruto's. Sasuke could remember the feeling of dry, chapped skin against his lips. He brushed his thumb against Naruto's index finger. He felt the hand twitch. Naruto's rough fingers pulled gently at Sasuke's fingers and stroked what palm he could reach through the gloves Sasuke was wearing. For the briefest of moments, their fingers were entangled and then they both pulled away. If Sasuke had been anyone else, he would have glanced over at Naruto, aching to see the blonde's face and reaction to him.

He didn't need to. The face would be blank.

After all, it was Naruto who knew this dance the best of all.

---

"How long before we reach there?" Naruto called out from somewhere behind Sasuke.

Sasuke glanced up ahead at Kakashi.

"Two days." Kakashi replied.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sasuke saw Naruto nod. After that there was no more talking, the sound of wind rushing over their ears was the only thing that saved them all from malignant silence.

Thirty minutes of traveling lead them to the first fight of that mission. It had hardly seemed fair; the three of them against two nins from an unknown village. So Kakashi fell back and let Sasuke and Naruto handle it.

Sasuke quickly made assessments of both ninjas. They were deft and quick in their movements. Not nins to be meddled with but still, hardly any challenge at all. He decided to keep his Sharingan eyes to himself.

With a perfect blend of Ninjutsu and Taijutsu, Sasuke proved why he was considered the genius of his year in the academy. With every attack made towards him, he had the perfect counter-attack. Soon enough, his counter-attacks were being blocked and he smirked to himself.

The Nin pulled back from Sasuke and quickly made it clear that his specialty was long-range attacks. Shuriken cut their way through the air at him, lethal if Sasuke had been less competent than he was. Sasuke deftly dodged each and every single one and retaliated with a barrage of his own.

Behind him Naruto was being bombarded by fire-based jutsus and he could feel the heat of the fire ball that Naruto had just dodged swiftly. Returning attention to his own assailant, he saw that the nin was now performing hand seals. The swift jutsus performed were familiar to Sasuke who recognized the slightly altered earth-based jutsus. He felt the ground beneath him ripple and move, cracking and shooting up stalagmites of sharp rock. Using the momentum of the rising rock, he propelled his entire body backwards; barely missing a fire ball formed by Naruto's opponent.

He had felt the heat and it had seemed to dry him out as well as making the earth beneath the hand he had landed on burning hot to the touch. He ignored the pain and decided he was weary of fighting. He flipped and was on his feet, quickly turning to his attacker and ran, headlong towards him, bouncing off the towers of rock that had formed between them. When he was within a good range, he swiftly attacked with shuriken. The shuriken met their target and the familiar Poof! and smoke and the appearance of a log seconds later announced that Sasuke's opponent had just performed a kawarimi. He smirked. He looked around quickly, taking in everything. Naruto was performing a new rendan. His fight would be over soon too.

Sasuke waited a second more and felt the expected grasp around his ankle and looking down he saw his attacker propelling up from the ground, shuriken in his free hand, aimed straight for Sasuke's head. Sasuke merely grabbed the arm that was rising up towards him and turning his body; pivoting on the foot whose ankle was trapped, he pulled the arm that held the shuriken swiftly backwards in a jerking motion, using the momentum of his attacker's body to aid him in his movements. The attacker cried out in pain and Sasuke was sure then that he had pulled the arm out of its socket. Without missing a beat, he shoved the shuriken the nin was holding straight into the nin's back. The hand around his ankle disappeared and he was now behind a buckling ninja. Placing his hands on both of the nin's shoulders, he catapulted himself up and over the nin, pulling out a shuriken from its holster midair and was facing him in a fraction of a second. There was no hesitation in Sasuke as he drove the shuriken straight through the nin's throat.

The dark eyes rolled back into the nin's head and he was dead. Glancing over to Naruto, Naruto was making his way to Kakashi. His gaze drifted over to Naruto's opponent. The body was propped up against a tree and by the odd angle the head was in, Sasuke knew that the neck was broken.

He took his time walking over to where Naruto and Kakashi stood waiting for him. Kakashi gave him a nod showing some form of approval. Sasuke shifted slightly. The fight today felt strange although nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. Looking over at Naruto, there was blood at the corner of his mouth. Sasuke looked away, fighting the urge to brush the blood away with the pad of his thumb.

---

They were lucky to come across an inn and although Naruto complained loudly that he wanted to keep going; that he wasn't tired and he wanted to get the mission over with, in the end, Kakashi's authority ruled him over.

The mats on the floor of their room were arranged neatly side by side with thick blankets folded neatly at the foot of them. Each mat had its own hard rectangle of pillow and one by one the men walked in, claiming a space for himself. Sasuke chose the place farthest from the door; closest to the window.

Naruto was between Kakashi and him. Like always, Sasuke kneeled at the foot of his mat removing articles of clothing that he did not need as well as weapons that would bother him in his sleep. He lay them neatly next to his pillow. He could feel Naruto watching him from where he lay on his own mat. Naruto just shoved clothing and weapons off and collapsed wherever he could. Besides Naruto, Kakashi was looking thoughtfully at the sliding door.

Turning to Sasuke, Kakashi announced that he was going. Sasuke merely nodded. He knew that Kakashi would be heading to the bar for sake. Naruto did not reply. After a moment, he crawled and settled gracefully onto his mat, pulling the blanket over himself. He let a sigh escape his lips and he closed his eyes, allowing himself to fall asleep.

A few hours later, Sasuke awoke and listened intently to the sounds around him. He listened for Naruto's quiet snoring and was not surprised when he didn't hear them.

"Kakashi's not back yet." Naruto whispered in the dark.

Sasuke turned his head and looked at Naruto's profile. There was emptiness in the blue eyes that stared up at the ceiling, and then turned to stare at him.

Maybe it was inevitable that his hand slid out from underneath his blanket and then slid beneath Naruto's, searching for a hand; breaching the twelve inches that separated them. He found his fingers brushing Naruto's bare side and then he made contact with Naruto's elbow. Fingers traveled easily down a forearm and made contact with knuckles and then fingers.

Before this, it had always been Naruto who initiated touches. Naruto often draped an arm around Sasuke's shoulders and pressed hands against Sasuke's back and side as they walked side by side in Konohagakure. The touches were objective and intimate all at once. During battles in which they fought side by side, Naruto had always taken the time to pause and touch Sasuke faintly on his bare elbow. If Sasuke was otherwise engaged, Naruto would go back to fighting and reach out to Sasuke the moment he was free. Sasuke barely noticed the light brushes against his skin as he clashed with enemies. Yet on some level, perhaps he did because on missions without Naruto, he often felt there was something missing from his fights.

It had taken Sasuke a while to realize that this was how Naruto grounded himself. How Naruto reassured himself that Sasuke was still with him. The fleeting contact of fingers-to-elbow was some way of proving to Naruto that no, Sasuke had not run off – he was still there. The fact that Sasuke let him proved to Naruto that they were on good terms. And in a way the contact grounded Sasuke too.

They were reassurances that he was not alone provided by fleeting gentle coldness or flushed heat against his own skin. That contact had been missing from the fight today. Naruto had not gone near him even once.

Naruto was still watching and as Sasuke's hand came into contact with his fingers, sliding gently between them with his own, Naruto did not even blink or acknowledge the touch. Sasuke pulled their hands out from underneath the blanket and in the moonlight he saw Naruto's hand, lying with its palm facing up.

He didn't know what he was trying to provide, or trying to take, but after a moment, he had propped his body up with an elbow and reached over to trail fingers on the exposed palm.

"What are you doing?"

"Shh."

Sasuke whispered gently as he sat up some more, regarding the warm palm beneath his fingers.

"I don't want your pity."

"I know."

He grasped the hand and brought it up to his lips kissing the delicate skin on the wrists.

"You don't look at me when you do that."

"I never did."

Sasuke shifted closer to Naruto, lips pressed against wrist. His tongue slipped between his lips and tasted the skin there. He sucked lightly as if taking what life and feeling he could through the translucent skin. Then he let the hand drop and it did, where it fell on his lap and then slid to the floor.

"I don't want your pity."

"I'm not giving any."

"Then what's this?" Naruto wrist nudged Sasuke's knee.

"An apology."

Naruto turned his head to stare up at the ceiling. Sasuke bent over to block the blonde's view.

"Accept it, Naruto."

The blonde didn't say anything but he accepted the kiss that was given to him. Sasuke did not know where his kisses were coming from. But they appeared. And he gave them away. Kissing was new. They had kissed for the first time the night before. Perhaps because it seemed natural then, Sasuke was doing it again now.

It wasn't cool and dry this time. It was hotter. But just as distant. Naruto's mouth didn't move beneath his own and the moment Sasuke pulled away, Naruto rolled over, his back to Sasuke's side of the room.

Sasuke lay back down but couldn't get back to sleep.

Kakashi came back two hours before dawn and the stink of alcohol and blood hung in the air. Sasuke did not mention it the next morning and if Naruto had noticed, neither did he.

to be continued...