A/N: all standard disclaimers apply :(

A/N/N: Alright everyone, sorry for the long update, but the good news is is that this fic is over with this chapter. Hope it was worth the wait and by the way, thanks so much for those reviews! They made my day :D

Forgotten Desert Nights

by: ladyrouge

Chapter 2

Naruto jerked up at the loud shouting that was taking place and feeling a tear that had somehow escaped his eyes, Naruto wiped it hastily lest anyone see it.

"Naruto," Naruto turned to see where his grandmother Tsunade was pointing grimly with a tight press of her lips and Naruto turned to onlyfreeze as he saw Sasuke pressed against the wall as his arms fought fiercely with the snake-like man, Orochimaru. Both men had injuries inflicted on their arms and legs while blood dripped tauntingly down their body, but no one individual seemed the closer to defeat although they were heavily breathing and panting. They weren't moving as fast anymore and opted to fight instead of twisting and flipping back to taunt the other.

When had it become like this . . .

Naruto felt his eyes well up with angry, bitter tears as he watched the scene. Sasuke would not win, Naruto knew that for sure because in the end . . .

. . . Naruto had not revealed Orochimaru's only weak spot to Sasuke.

Clenching his fists, Naruto felt his fingernails dig painfully into the skin of his hands, but he welcomed it. As Naruto and Sasuke spent time together, they had purposefully forgotten the reason for Naruto's presence through their growing attractions until the time had come when they did begin to forget how they had come to meet. Sasuke had not asked anymore and Naruto had forgotten. It had been like a dream to Naruto at that time, but now, as the consequences of his action—or lack thereof—was glaring him in the face and taunting him with his loss, he felt his stomach heave nauseously. For without the knowledge of Orochimaru's only weak spot—of where his heart had been relocated—Sasuke would never be able to kill him no matter the number of injuries inflicted.

Feeling his heart constrict, Naruto turned painful eyes away to tightly clench them in denial. He had promised himself to never let Sasuke get in harm's way anymore, but the irony was staring him in the face and laughing mockingly.

And suddenly, that was the breaking point.

Feeling his stomach churn wildly once more, Naruto sprang up and ignoring the worried questions of his grandmother and grandfather, Naruto ran blindly towards the direction of the bathroom—his private bathroom that they had gone out of their way to provide for him—and threw open the door before throwing himself on the toilet and heaving his breakfast out. By the time his stomach was heaving just air, Naruto stood shakily up with the help of the wall to splash some cool water on his face and in his mouth in an attempt to wash away the sour taste that still lingered in his mouth.

Done with that task, Naruto looked to the open door and without another moment's hesitation, he walked briskly over to it and locked the door before leaning heavily against it and sliding down wearily.

It was then—away from the eyes of everyone—that he let the hot tears of regret run down.

---

"Sasuke?"

Naruto and Sasuke were sitting outside in front of their tent-like home gazing at the stars late one evening when a thought hit Naruto. It had been bothering Naruto and now felt like the best time to get it off his chest.

"What, idiot?" the dark-haired man said fondly before gathering the blond closer to him.

"Bastard," Naruto stuck a tongue out at the dark-haired man, but like always, it was deflected easily with a chuckle and soft caresses to his blond hair. "Um . . . there has been talk in the village that you're going to marry the heir to the Hyuuga fortune, Hinata."

The caresses stopped abruptly. "And . . . ?"

"And . . ." the blond trailed off embarrassingly and could feel a hot blush spread over his face at what the dark-haired man must be thinking of him at the moment and Naruto wanted to slap and berate himself for stuttering over what he wanted to say. For hadn't he spent countless nights worrying and wondering how he would live if the dark-haired man married? But after comforting himself that he would not be hurt or cry if the pale man did decide to marry the girl, Naruto was already wavering in doubt and strength and he forced himself to be strong. "And . . . I just wanted to congratulate you," he finished simply; ignoring the hot jealousy that was aimed at the pretty dark-haired girl who always blushed in their presence.

As soon as the words came out his mouth, the dark-haired man stiffened, pushed him away and got up to leave. Feeling worried that he had said something wrong, Naruto grasped his hand tightly to halt him in his progress. "What's wrong, Sasuke? Did I say something wrong?" he asked confusedly to the dark-haired man. "I just wanted to let you know that I supported you."

At that, the man stiffened once more and tore his arm from Naruto's grasp before striding inside the tent. Feeling frustrated, Naruto ran after the man and tackled him onto the ground; straddling him firmly with both of his legs. "Why do you keep running away, teme!" Naruto asked frustratingly as he looked at the frowning face of the Uchiha.

They sat in silence before the dark-haired man finally spoke haltingly. "You'd really . . . be okay if I married her?" At that, Naruto started, but did not say anything as he stared; transfixed by the pale beauty of the dark-haired man that was reflected under the moonlight. At the lack of response, Sasuke's face darkened and he suddenly grabbed the blond boy down forcefully before clashing their lips together roughly. Naruto could only gasp as the prickling sensations swept over his body and drove him wild with the need to devour the man with kisses—to worship the dark-haired man's body until he came—with only one name on those sensuous lips.

Naruto.

His name.

Not Hinata's.

But hadn't he told himself countless times to not be selfish? So why was he having these traitorous thoughts that spoke against his earlier words?

Their lips finally broke apart and feeling flushed, Naruto could only pant slightly as the dark-haired man looked at him with those beautiful onyx eyes that looked almost sad and wistful to a point. Transfixed once more, Naruto could only look at him as he once more spoke with a halting, soft tone that bordered desperately on laughing. "Funny," he spoke softly into the wind as he turned his face, his eyes away from Naruto. "I find it . . . funny," he then chuckled hoarsely—and for a moment, Naruto felt like Sasuke was laughing at himself mockingly. "How I seem to care if I marry her or not."

"Why?" That was not what Naruto wanted to say. No, he wanted to agree with Sasuke and tell the dark-haired man to stay with him only, but for the betterment of everything, Naruto wanted to help him. "She's pretty and rich . . . and always blushes at you when we see her," he finally added in jealously—not wanting to call that to the attention of the dark-haired man but somehow finding it coming out anyways.

"I don't care about those things," the dark-haired man said stiffly before turning his face to the side mulishly. "I only care about one thing," he said softly before looking intently at the blond and the blond boy asked him curiously.

"You really want to know?" the dark-haired man asked and Naruto was happy to hear that there was some teasing back to the voice and the dark-haired man was not brooding or sad anymore.

"Yeah! Yeah!" Naruto wanted to know—to see how similar it was to his own.

For he had known for a long time that his was the teasing dark-haired man.

". . . I won't tell you," was the simple, teasing tone of the dark-haired man before he pushed Naruto ungracefully to the ground and getting up and walking inside once more.

"You jerk!" Naruto shook his fist at the man, but all the dark-haired man did was laugh like always.

"Oh, Naruto?"

Naruto stopped glaring at the dark-haired man. "Yes?" he asked pleasantly in hopes of the answer.

"You can take back your congratulations because unfortunately on your part, I will not be marrying her. I turned down her family's proposal," the dark-haired man gave the blond a smirk at the stunned look that fixed itself onto the blond's face at those words. Leaving the still stunned blond who was unknowingly—to the dark-haired man—feeling an overwhelming bliss at the moment, he gave the blond another smirk before going into the bedroom, but right before entering, he turned around with a laughing smile.

"Oh, and for the matter dobe, it's you that Hinata blushes at. Usuratonkachi," were the only laughing words before the onyx-eyed man turned and disappeared into the bedroom.

To say Naruto was beyond stunned that night is an understatement.

---

"Naruto! Are you okay?"

He could hear some pounding in his head and he moaned as he opened his eyes slowly. Had he gotten drunk again? Naruto hoped not because Tsunade and Jiraiya would be upset with him again.

"Naruto? Open up, it's Tsunade," the voice came again and Naruto almost laughed. Funny how thinking of someone can even make you hear them. "Are you okay?" the door behind Naruto shook and jerking out of his half-conscious state from sleeping, Naruto jumped up in nervousness. This was no dream!

And then reality came back and Naruto felt his stomach clench once more, but he knew that there was nothing left to come out anymore. How long had he been in here! Fumbling with the lock, Naruto successfully got it open on the third try and ran out; almost stumbling into Tsunade.

"Tsunade!" he jumped in surprise and stopped as she put her arms around him as her face got sad.

"Are you okay?" she asked softy and Naruto wanted to cry and rant that he wasn't, but only nodded numbly.

"Is it finished?" his voice held an unnamed, desperate fear and Tsunade glanced curiously at him before shaking her head.

"No, but it's very close, Naruto," here voice was sad, but it held firmness. "Before I came to get you, Sasuke was very close to losing."

Naruto's breath stopped and wrenching himself from Tsunade, he ran towards the battle arena once more; not caring if anyone saw him in this wild, haggard condition. All he could see were those onyx eyes from his dream and Naruto desperately wanted to see them again.

But as soon as he made it to the battle arena, chaos met him and Naruto felt his heart stop. The crowds were wild at the battle and Naruto felt tears flood his vision as he stared frozenly at the scene. Sasuke, his beautiful, teasing Sasuke was held against one of the walls weakly and if it weren't were the two arrows that protruded his pale skin at the shoulder—digging through the frail skin of the dark-haired man's shoulder and going into the wall behind him—Naruto knew that he would have crumpled to the ground.

Turning his eyes wildly to Orochimaru, he saw that the man was preparing to shoot another and Naruto wanted to scream in agony. Why wasn't anyone stopping this? Couldn't they see that Sasuke was in pain? Feeling his throat close up, Naruto closed his eyes before clenching his fists tightly and biting his lips tightly.

The sound of the releasing arrow snapped Naruto's eyes open and it was then that a calmness settled within him and Naruto wondered why he hadn't done this the first time before sprinting across the battle field. His tears blurred his vision, but he did not lose sight of the dark-haired man who was in pain as he ran with all the training that he had received.

There were loud, worried shouts as the crowd saw his intent, but Naruto heard none of it as he ran to Sasuke.

Sasuke,

Naruto finally felt free as he ran towards the man who was in pain because of him and the cruel world. He suddenly didn't care anymore of what his grandmother and grandfather would say if they knew of his love for the enemy.

This time,

He didn't hear the agonized scream of his grandmother or the hoarse, terrified shout of his grandfather. He only heard the weak, suddenly-frightened voice of Sasuke saying his name and Naruto smiled for the first time.

I'll save you.

Naruto flung himself around the dark-haired man and threw his arms to protect the man who had never been protected before, but a sudden, powerful twist sent him flying to the ground before he heard a grunt and turning to look, Naruto saw Sasuke bent down in pain as the third arrow protruded from his thigh.

"Sasuke . . ." Naruto felt his throat choke up with tears as he could only watch and cry at the pained face of the dark-haired man. "Sasuke!" he shouted in pain before jumping up and going to block the man with outstretched arms. "You'll have to go through me first before you hurt him," Naruto announced wildly to the overly-confused Orochimaru.

"What are you doing, Naruto?" Orochimaru said sternly to the blond.

"I'm protecting him," Naruto said firmly with conviction to the man.

"Get away, you idiot," Naruto heard Sasuke say harshly and Naruto flinched at the harsh tone, but brushed it off with effort.

"Naruto, get back up here!" his grandmother's frantic voice came to him and Naruto shook his head slowly.

"I can't grandmother . . . I," at that, his throat closed up and casting the half-bent Sasuke a look, he turned back to them—to the crowd and everyone. "I can't because I . . . love him," he finished with a whisper and everyone gasped as they stared incredulously at them. Naruto didn't care as he turned back to look at the dark-haired man, but his expression was unreadable as he looked at Naruto.

Disappointed at the lack of words of the Uchiha, Naruto knew he had not expected any declarations of love from the dark-haired man, but it still hurt nonetheless when nothing came. Turning back to the crowd with as much courage, he called out, "As the future king, I want this contract to end."

There was chaos once more as Naruto stared evenly into the eyes of his grandfather and grandmother before looking steadily at the crowd.

Finally, a voice spoke—the woman announcer from the beginning. "It can only end if someone has good reason to end this or prove these terms falsely. And there are two terms to note: the land of the Uchiha tribe and the captivity of Naruto."

Finally Jiraiya spoke. Clearing his throat and giving Naruto a long, hard look, started: "it looks like Naruto himself has just cancelled the second term." The woman nodded, but turned eyes to look at them once more solemnly. "And the first term?"

Everyone was silent before a feminine voice spoke up, clearly. "I can."

Naruto turned blindly to seek the woman and when he did, he froze in surprise.

"Sakura," Naruto heard the surprised tone of Sasuke as well. There was a bright shade of green and looking, Naruto saw Lee there as well.

"Do tell," the woman said softly and Sasuke broke out.

"No, Sakura, I forbid you," his tone was angry, but not at her.

"Hush Sasuke," her sea-green eyes were sparkling with tears. "It's your stubbornness that has almost gotten you killed and fool as I was, I almost let you carry out your stupid pride." Turning her attention to the crowd, the king and queen and the representatives of the many different tribes, she began in a soft voice that somehow managed to travel all over the battle arena. "Sasuke's mother, Kurenai, lived in a small tribe that bordered next to the Uchiha Tribe and it was not too long before she met the young king of the Uchiha Tribe, Asuma, and fell in love with him. When she told everyone back home abut her love, everyone was happy for her except for one." And at that, she stopped and looked at one person and Naruto gasped as it all came together as he heard the angry hiss of Sasuke behind him. "That one person that was not happy was her best friend for he had fallen in love with her as well. That one person was none other than Orochimaru."

Naruto watched Orochimaru's face darken as the cloud of the past came back to him, but he remained still and unspeaking.

"He pleaded for her to stay and marry him, but alas, she loved Asuma and cried and begged for his blessings, but he wouldn't give them and so she left. Months later, he snuck into the Uchiha Tribe and tried to abduct her—thinking it was for her own good—but when he found out that she was pregnant, he was enraged and ran away. Before that night, Orochimaru had only hated Asuma, but he now hated the little baby in Kurenai and tried to make their lives miserable as best as he could—especially after Kurenai's young death. But they always managed to pick up the pieces every time and this infuriated Orochimaru. Now," she said with a firm, but trembling voice to the listening crowd, "tell me, is it fair—"

"Sakura!" Sasuke's voice was weak, but it held a warning tone.

Not paying heed, she continued. "Now, tell me," her voice was strong and angry, "tell me if it's fair for a man to take his anger out on the son to hurt the father! Tell me!" she had started to cry and Lee patted her gently. "Because I don't think it's right for a man to countlessly hire men to try to kill the son who has not done anything. To feed lies to angry cousins to have them betray them, to do many things in order to break him! But upon not being able to break him, that man will do the lowest thing he can and take away their land?" Sakura stopped and gave Orochimaru a cold, freezing glare as she continued on: "That is the only hold Orochimaru has on that land, ladies and gentlemen—his anger and twisted love—and that's it. No legal claims or such bull crap," she finished and the crowd began to murmur amongst themselves about the news recently heard. Naruto felt relief as he suddenly knew that everything would be okay because Sakura had just proved it in front of everyone and Orochimaru—Naruto saw the angry, enraged look that appeared on the man's face and nor did he miss the maniacal glint that glinted dangerously in his eyes, but a grunt from Sasuke made Naruto turn to look anxiously at Sasuke.

"Sasuke! Are you okay?" Naruto asked frantically, but all he got was a cold glare that brought tears painfully into his eyes as the dark-haired man tried to stand up. Naruto reached out to help him, but jumped back as tears filled his eyes once more at the hatred that laced his voice.

"Don't touch me."

Naruto let his head drop as he stared at the ground and only heard Sasuke's frightened, hoarse voice as he shouted "Naruto!" before a sharp pain hit him and before he blacked out, he couldn't help but think that it was not as painful as the pain that currently resided inside his heart.

-

It was to the sound of crying that Naruto woke up to and fluttering his eyes open, he saw his grandmother standing there with tears running down her cheeks.

"Naruto," she cried as she ran to hug him tightly. "Are you okay? Orochimaru can't hurt you anymore, son. He's held in jail," her eyes ran over him hurriedly as she tried to assure him and he nodded. Except for the soreness in his stomach, he felt better.

He patted her shoulder to comfort her before a thought hit him. "Where's Sasuke?" He asked as he scurried off the hospital bed.

"I . . ." at that, Tsunade's eyes watered. "I'm sorry, honey, but I tried to stop them, but I failed. They just left about five minutes ago—"

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Naruto felt his heart clench and he ran out the door and down the stairs. He was familiar with this hospital—seeing as how Tsunade brought him here for every injury he sustained—and ran downstairs and out the front door. His heart was thudding loudly and painfully as he quickened his pace. He didn't know what he'd do if he was too late . . . !

Reaching the front door, he stepped out and ran his gaze around; not heeding the stares that he got for his appearance. A flash of black caught his eyes and turning to it as if it was his lifeline, he saw with a heart stopping relief that it was Sasuke, Sakura and Lee walking down the trial that led to the front of their city gates.

No . . .

Running, Naruto didn't care that he was hardly wearing anything proper of a prince in public or that he was not wearing any shoes either. All he cared was the black-haired man in front of him. The man who hated him . . . who didn't see Naruto of any importance anymore. . .

"Sasuke, you coward!" Naruto shouted frustratingly as he felt a slow tear slip down his tanned cheek and at that instant, the dark-haired man whipped his head around in surprise. Those beautiful onyx eyes widened when they met the teary cerulean ones before turning around once more and continuing to walk. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sakura and Lee cast him worried glances, but they did not stop either. "I won't let you run away from me without an explanation! If you hate me, just say it!" Naruto yelled and continued to run after them, but suddenly felt his foot hit something and he was flying before gravity pulled him down and he skidded across the gravel ground from his initial momentum.

Naruto bit back the pained whimper that made its way to his mouth and bit back too, the tears that came at his failure and he stared angrily into the ground in an effort to stall the tears. There was a crunch of footsteps before Naruto saw a pair of feet in front of him and turning slowly to look up, he met the sad, smiling face of Sasuke.

"Dobe, can't you be more careful?" was all Naruto heard before he felt himself picked up gently into the warm arms of Sasuke. And Naruto could only cry with happiness as the dark-haired man held him tight within his arms. They walked in silence to the hospital and when they had reached the entrance where a nurse was waiting to take Naruto, Naruto felt his breathing quicken as Sasuke began to hand him over to the nurse.

"Sasuke, tell me," Naruto pleaded with his hand tightened onto the dark-haired man's shirt. "Tell me that you hate me and I'll leave you alone," his face begged Sasuke for the truth. "Tell me," his voice was pained and the dark-haired man turned his face away for a moment. When he turned back, his face was pained and held a sad look to it.

"You really want to know?" came the sad, teasing words and Naruto felt a sense of déjà vu as the image of that last memory came back to him and his eyes brightened as he fell back into that long ago scene.

"Yeah, yeah," he said softly in anticipation.

The onyx eyes glittered in faint mischievousness and Naruto knew that Sasuke was reliving that scene and almost cried as the anticipated words came out of those beautiful, sensuous lips. ". . . I won't tell you."

"Sasuke," Naruto felt tears spring to his eyes at that and gave a smile at the reappearance of the old Sasuke.

Sasuke let a ghost of a smirk flit through his lips before he turned serious as he gazed intently and almost sadly at Naruto. "You really don't know, do you?" those words hit Naruto like a bull and as soon as he heard them, the voice of Asuma came rushing back to him and Naruto could almost feel the warm weather surrounding them as Asuma tousled his hair and told him not to hurt his son and Naruto blinked tears from his eyes. I'm sorry Asuma, but I have broken my promise to you. He closed his eyes in shame, but quickly opened them when he felt a finger tilt his chin up. Sasuke let out a small, broken laugh before speaking, "It has always been you."

Naruto felt his heart catch at those words and staring incredulously into the onyx eyes, Naruto felt a big smile cross his face at those words.

'I only care about one thing' Sasuke's voice came back to him from that night so long ago and now he had finally given him an answer.

"It has always been you," Sasuke repeated softly with sad, wistful eyes and Naruto threw his arms around the dark-haired man.

"It has always been you too," Naruto whispered breathlessly into the dark-haired man's ear and seeing the surprise and joy that came, Naruto only chuckled as the arms around him tightened and the smirk finally came back onto Sasuke's beautiful face.

-fin-

A/N: And yet another pathetic attempt at another AU Sasuke Naruto short fic. Hope you all enjoyed the ride to the end J And all comments are appreciated. Until the next story or update, see ya!