It Started with a Kiss

DG32173

Sarah: chapter 3. (sarcastically) oh joy.

Sasuke: now that is not Sarah.

Naruto: YEAH! WHO THE HELL ARE YOU AND WHAT DID YOU DO WITH THE OVERJOYED, EVEN-MORE-HYPERACTIVE-THAN-ME SARAH! (shaking Sarah at every word)

Sarah: I'm just not very happy with my last two chapters. They are a whole lot shorter than my usual ones.

Sakura: (looking over last two chapters and comparing them with other chapters from other stories) yeah, she's right. Are you okay, Sarah?

Sarah: I dunno. I think I'm on an idea slump.

Sasuke: (has worry in his eyes) that is a very bad thing from the one who has almost limitless ideas.

Sakura: (looks very worried) yeah. I hope you get better soon, Sarah.

Naruto: (pouting in a corner) yeah, and then we can have the old, fun, Sarah back.

Sarah: I don't own Naruto's anime, manga, or the cast there off. I do own this story. Do not mimic my idea, after reading it, without my permission please.

GENERAL REVIEW RESPONSES

Sarah: wow … eleven reviews. Six more since I last posted. Thanks a lot everyone! I've decided to do one shoutout every chapter for a reviewer I think deserves it. Thanks a lot for all the reviews, everyone!

SHOUTOUT: Sasuke2006: yeah, you're right. A three-way isn't a good thing for this sort of fic. So, it's a Sasuke/Naruto fic all the way! And I don't like Sasuke/Sakura pairings one iota either. (Sakura: you (sniff) don't (sniffle) like me and Sasuke together? Sarah: I prefer Sakura/Naruto pairings. Or Sakura/Ino. Or even Sakura/Lee. But those are about the only ones I like. I just don't think you and Sasuke have the right chemistry to be together, sweetie. Sakura: oh. I suppose.) Well, thanks Sasuke2006. I hope you keep me posted on how you like this fic.

Here's a cookie for my shoutout: THANK YOU A BUNCHES HEARTBROKENWOLF! Me love cookies. Specially chocolate cookies. Me love chocolate much more than anything elses in the world. So if you really want to get on my good side, GIMME CHOCOLATE!

Sakura and Kakashi should have suspicions: oh, don't worry, they will. They will. But it will be about chapter 7 or chapter 8 that they start to have suspicions. Can't make it too easy for them, can we? Besides, we have to get Sasuke and Naruto together first, right? Cause suspicions without facts just don't add up right. At least it don't to me.

Sakura should be pushy when she finds out: don't worry. Sakura will most certainly be pushy. She will not like to even think that Sasuke likes Naruto, a guy, and not her, a girl. That will be a low blow to her feminine pride. Meh, she'll try to get him to like her but will fail. And then she'll switch her attentions to someone else. (wink, wink) but that's all the future of this story I'm gonna give out yet.

NOTE

(Authors note)

"Talking"

'Thinking'

Scene change

POV change

Memory

Scene change in memory

INDEX

Chakra: the energy used by ninjas for performing jutsus

Chapter 3

Second Meeting in the Night

Sasuke sighs as he sits in the middle of a small clearing in the forest near Konoha. He sighs as he watches the clouds move in from the east. Tomorrow morning it will be three days since he and Naruto had woken up together in that tree. They had both sworn to not talk about that to anyone else, ever. Of course, no one will ever hear it from him. He doesn't tell anyone anything anyway (try saying that five times fast!) so another secret means nothing.

He hears a stick crack under the weight of someone. He spreads his chakra and senses Naruto is behind him. "What is it, Naruto?" he asks softly.

Naruto is silent as he walks over and sits down beside Sasuke. "You had asked me a question two nights ago. Now it's my turn to ask you one," he says softly. Sasuke is surprised for two reasons. One, he never thought Naruto could talk softly; and two, he didn't realize Naruto would decide to ask him a question in turn for the first one.

"Go ahead," Sasuke says. "If I can't answer it right now, I will have a good reason."

Naruto nods. He is silent for a few moments. "Why do you distance yourself from everyone who tries to become your friend?" he asks after about three minutes, phrasing it the best way he could think of.

"Because everyone I am close to dies," Sasuke replies in a voice just above a whisper. "I can't bear for someone else I care for to die." 'Like you,' he adds silently.

Naruto nods in understanding. He has heard about how Sasuke's brother had supposedly killed the other members of the Uchiha clan, leaving only Sasuke alive to seek out revenge. "I understand," he murmurs. "I know what it's like to be alone. I've only had one person I've cared for die, in a sense. But they somehow came back."

Sasuke looks at the boy in surprise. Who had Naruto lost and regained? Apparently he voiced his question out loud cause Naruto answers it. Or maybe he was just continuing what he had been saying. "I lost and regained … you," the blond says very softly, almost too quietly for Sasuke to hear.

When Sasuke hears the boy's words, he is numbed with shock. 'Naruto cares for me? Why? What did I do to earn his trust?' he thinks.

Naruto looks at the sky. "Eh, I guess I'm kinda sappy, but I like to think of you and Sakura as friends," he says. "After all, we're supposed to be teammates and teammates usually become friends eventually. I decided to make it as soon as possible for me."

"Hm," Sasuke says, as it is the only thing he can think of to say at the moment.

As the air grows colder and damper around them, they mutually decide to move to a nearby cave. Just as soon as they reach the cave, the downpour starts. They sit near the back, since it is maybe three or four meters from the entrance, and watch the rain in silence. Without realizing it, they are inching closer to each other. As the night grows later, Naruto finds himself slowly falling asleep. He takes a daring chance and lays his head in Sasuke's lap and pretends to fall asleep; he wants to know what Sasuke feels for him, if anything.

Sasuke nearly jumps out of his skin when Naruto's head lands gently in his lap. He looks down at the 'sleeping' blond and his dark eyes soften. 'He is so beautiful,' he thinks, running his fingers through surprisingly silken hair. He can sense that the boy isn't truly asleep, but he's been resisting the urge to touch the blonde's hair since the 'kiss' just over two weeks ago.

Naruto fights the urge to stiffen when Sasuke's hand starts stroking through his hair. He relaxes further as Sasuke's fingers play with the blonde's bangs. Before he can stop it, Naruto falls into a half sleep(1) with his head in Sasuke's lap. Sasuke smiles lightly. 'Now he's almost asleep,' he thinks. He situates Naruto's sleeping body so that the blond is sitting in his lap with his head leaning on his chest. Sasuke lays his head on the younger boy's head, inhaling the sweet scent of the boy.

Naruto is awake enough to feel and hear what's going on, but not awake enough to do anything about it. As he feels Sasuke shift his position and then lay his head on top of his own, he gets the distinct feeling that Sasuke cares for him greatly. At this sweet thought, the blonde allows his dreams to carry him away from the waking world; Sasuke following close behind.

Sarah: (doing happy dance) yay, it's longer that the last two! More than a page longer, but that's still a lot!

Naruto: YES! THE MORE-HYPERACTIVE-THAN-ME SARAH IS BACK! YEAH!

Sakura: um, they've both lost their minds.

Sasuke: they would have to have each had a mind to lose. Which neither had what a sane person would refer to as one.

Sakura: (nods her agreement)

Sasuke: this fic has eleven reviews when this is posted. Sarah will want twenty before next posting. So you better review if you want this to continue on the internet. She will continue it for herself, but won't post anymore if she doesn't get the reviews she wants.