A/N: I didn't think this story would become this popular so fast! Another thanks to the reviewers, and thanks for the wait. I got caught up in a few things, heheh…

Disclaimer: Naruto, or any of the characters that appear here, are not mine. They're property of Masashi Kishimoto. I do own this cool looking pillow though!

Warning: This story is SasuNaru shounen ai which means that Sasuke and Naruto are romantically involved with each other. Don't like it? Can't help you there…sorry.

Deep Blue Sunshine

"A myth can be a journey, a myth can stay in place,

A myth can remain hidden from an entire race."

Chapter Three: A Prison Surrounded by Land

Lonesomeness. Restlessness. Naruto felt them many, many times in his tiny lake in the forest.

He didn't know much about the world. How could he? He'd been trapped in here for most his life. Barely any intelligent being came into the forest, unless it was Kiba. Heh, if the werewolf could be considered intelligent. But sometimes Kiba told him of all the adventures on land—the treacherous mountains where it constantly snowed, the scorching desert where Gaara lived. More than Naruto ever saw.

Naruto knew just enough, he supposed. Beyond this forest was an ocean, and in that ocean were many others of his kind. He knew what the basics were: how to act properly, how to sing and move through the water smoothly. But what was the use of common manners when all he had was himself and the other animals to keep him company?

He also knew that his living in this stuffy lake was not natural. He had been once a part of the ocean too….

But that human, Sasuke-

Kiba avoided humans at all costs, and Naruto never bothered to ask. His knowledge of humans was equivalent to the times it snowed, and it rarely ever snowed in the forest.

Naruto felt embarrassed when he talked to Sasuke. After all, humans lived just outside the border of the woods—well, according to Kiba. But Sasuke blew all expectations of what a human would be like. Before his visit, Naruto thought humans would be mild-mannered, pleasant, interesting individuals. Albeit a bit scared of the unknown and a little greedy, but he'd give them credit for that. Instead…

Sasuke had been a rude, cold bastard.

A very interesting bastard, nonetheless.

Oh, but the merman would rather be caught with a fishhook in his mouth than to express that he actually missed the human. Missing Sasuke meant that the lake had been getting to him, and he absolutely refused to believe that!

"Hmmph…Sasuke's probably forgotten all about me anyway." Naruto huffed to no one in particular. His neighbor, Mr. Bunny, raised an ear.

"It's true!" Naruto slapped the surface of the water with his tail, feeling the small sting of the water on his fin, "He's probably gone off and completely forgotten about this place."

Anger welled up inside of him at the thought. How dare he! After all, Naruto was the only merman in the forest, or in a lake!

"Arrgh!" Naruto slammed his fists into the water, scaring Mr. Bunny away. He'd never been this frustrated in his life!

It's been two days, since he went to the forest. And every single moment after that meeting had been filled with daydreaming of that stupid merman!

"I must be going crazy," Breathed Sasuke, urging Hellfire to go faster. He glanced at the dying sky where the wisps of clouds streaked and blended with pink, orange, and fading blue. Would it be hard to find the lake again, like this? All Hellfire did was take him straight through, off the path.

"I don't suppose you know the way?" He muttered to the horse, but the stallion didn't reply. At least he knew that some of his sanity remained…

What was Naruto doing right now? What could Naruto do in that lake? How did Naruto come to be in the lake in the first place?

They were only a few of the questions Sasuke had been pondering upon. They replayed in his mind over and over and over, like a bard that just would not shut up. They infiltrated his mind at the most inconvenient times, such as supper, the meetings with the counselors, while training with Kakashi, even in his bath. He went to the library in hopes to find information on creatures, but the only sources he could find were a few fairy tales, stashed in the children's section. And Sasuke absolutely refused to even touch that place.

And then there were the other set of thoughts that accompanied those particular questions, and he didn't want to think about that.

"I'm only coming back because I'm curious," The prince valiantly attempted to reassure himself. "Just this one visit, and I won't have these stupid questions floating in my head. It's not like I like him or anything…"

But as soon the sentence crossed paths with his thoughts, an image of Naruto flashed across his mind, laughing as his golden hair reflected the sun's rays, and his eyes sparkled like the lake's water. Naruto twisting and twirling expertly underneath the lake surface. Naruto streaming out into the air, and diving back in with pure skill. Naruto—

"Enough! I am not thinking about Naruto!" He cried out loud and Hellfire snorted, almost in response.

Soon, the mystical trees shadowed the evening light from the prince, bending their limbs as if they were sheltering him from the world. A spare rabbit twitched his ears at the oncoming guests. The familiar smell of the sea greeted Sasuke once again.

Everything was exactly like before.

In his daze, he didn't notice that they'd almost passed the lake. He jerked the reigns a little too harshly. Hellfire stopped in his tracks and lifted his front hooves in anger. The angle sent Sasuke dropping to the ground like dead weight.

A brief flash of pain flittered through his skull and the prince groaned—both in response to the unpleasant feeling and his bruised ego. God, if anybody from the palace saw that little stunt, they wouldn't live it down for ages.

He glared at the settling horse and sat up.

"I hate you."

A brief outburst startled his glaring contest and he looked at the source of the sound.

Naruto obviously tried hard to muffle his chortles with his hand. He also didn't try hard enough.

Turning his glare towards the merman, Sasuke gathered up the rest of his shattered pride and crossed his arms. If this wasn't embarrassing, he didn't know what was.

"Hah-! You should've seen how you fell! That-that was great!" Naruto laughed, earning a harsher glare from the human. He pushed himself farther towards the bank, briefly taking careful note of the shallow water. Grinning brilliantly, the merman swayed his tail.

"Tch, like you could do any better."

"I don't think that'll be a problem. I don't need to ride giant fuzzy animals to go fast." He retorted. But the fact that Sasuke came back, and so soon at that, surprised him a little. Why did Sasuke even come back in the first place? Was it even safe to ask that question? Would Sasuke disappear if he asked? One question led to another and another until he couldn't take it anymore. This human acting so cold at least owed him some answers!

"Hey, why are you here? Did you leave something behind?" Naruto was pretty sure Sasuke had little on him to begin with. And part of him wanted Sasuke to decline it. However, Sasuke's dark eyes clouded a fraction before replying.

"Do I need a reason to come back?" Sasuke challenged. Feeling a little defensive, he retorted without thinking. Princes never had to have excuses for being wherever they were. But he reminded himself that this was not the castle. Naruto wouldn't bow to him, let alone worship the ground Sasuke walked on. The idiot probably didn't even know common manners.

Somehow, that relieved him.

"Well," Naruto frowned a bit, "Unless you still want to apologize for hitting me with a rock, no one's really hung around here for no reason."

Sasuke frowned as well. Why was it so important to have a reason to come here? Maybe mermen didn't like people as much as Sasuke thought.

"Because I find you amusing, idiot. What else?" A small trickle of something stirred in his chest—unrecognizable—but retaliating against the statement. He pushed it aside.

Naruto flailed his right fist in protest.

"Hey! I'm not here for your stupid entertainment, you bastard! Who the hell do you think you are!"

Looking at the agitated merman, Sasuke smiled just a little: a ghost of that small, unimportant feeling he'd been taught to fight and control. This meeting felt relaxing, like a breath of fresh air. Something about this both soothed him…and frightened him a little.

"You're so noisy," Sasuke interrupted the raging blond, "Just keep quiet for a while, alright? If I'm really that bothersome, just go back underneath the lake." He came because he was curious, but if the idiot wasn't going to cooperate, what was the point? Besides, he could get the answers on his own. All he had to do was watch Naruto.

But a small moment passed by where Naruto did nothing but slight comply to his command, frowning and peering at Sasuke as if he was the one being studied.

"What?" He asked, shifting his position on the ground. The blond looked at him unsurely for a split second.

"Uh…nothing really. It's just that I've never really been with a human that much, so…" Naruto huffed and looked to the side, purposely avoiding Sasuke's gaze, "It's not my fault you have a funny-looking body!"

An idea filtered through the human's bemused mind. If he wanted to learn about mer-people, why not ask Naruto directly himself with the prospect of teaching him about humans in return? Surely the merman wouldn't refuse? He crossed his fingers together and smirked.

"How about this? I'll tell you about humans, but you have to tell me everything about mer-people in return." He asked strictly, as if he made a compromise with the neighboring country. If this didn't work, he didn't know what would.

Naruto perked up, his blue eyes shining at Sasuke like buried treasure. Sasuke inwardly congratulated himself as he looked at the expression on Naruto's face.

"Really? That'd be great! When do we start? Where do we start? What are we gonna do first?"

"We don't have enough time for anything tonight," Sasuke peered at the shying curtain of stars, just to make sure, "So the next time I come, we can create some sort of plan for lessons…or something like that."

And on top of that, he could find some sort of way to divert everyone's attention at the castle, dammit. While he COULD use his training grounds as an excuse, he could only use it for so long until the council caught on. The last thing he needed was someone to follow him around nonstop.

Naruto let out a disappointed groan, drooping his head between his folded arms. His voice was drowned out by the water, though his breath formed a shower of bubbles that rose and popped on the surface. It was a funny sight, and Naruto reminded the dark haired one of a disappointed puppy. Cute.

Of course, he'd much rather be trampled by Hellfire and scolded for days than admit to those thoughts.

"When are you going to come back, then?" The merman asked, stopping his slew of bubbles. Sasuke roughly shoved his thoughts aside and looked at him.

"Whenever I can."

Naruto wriggled his nose in distaste.

"Can't you give me a straight answer? Come on, you gotta know a general time, right? A couple days? A couple weeks? Something?"

"I'll make it longer if you keep asking me."

A grumble responded to his statement and he caught "what a bastard" somewhere along the sounds.

The rest of the night the forest held the sounds of bickering voices, and lapping water.