Waking up was absolute bliss. No pain, a soft pillow, well rested, warm and dark. Naruto took a deep breath, taking in the scent of his surroundings since he didn't feel quite ready to open his eyes and find out where he was. The smell of moss and the woods was mixed strongly with another familiar scent that made him smile. He always loved that scent. It calmed him somehow, but also thrilled him a little. Add to that the feeling of a soft breeze, the warm sun on his back, a hand slowly moving through his hair and the soft rise and fall of the stomach he faced while lying on his side, and he was in heaven.
Naruto took another deep breath, pulling his limbs in as if to capture or intensify the comfort he was in. "Finally awake, are you?" Sasuke asked gently, a little mock in his voice. Reluctantly, Naruto opened his eyes and glanced up Sasuke.
"No." Naruto answered, closing his eyes again. Sasuke softly pulled at his hair to get Naruto took open his eyes again.
"Sorry, you kind of need to wake up now." Sasuke ran his fingers through Naruto's hair again. He had never expected the blond hair to be this soft and since no one was around and Naruto had been asleep, he couldn't resist running his hand through the soft locks while he sat reading a certain book and waiting for Naruto to wake up. The grunt that left Naruto at his words made him chuckle. The reluctance to wake up was endearing and quite frankly, if it was up to Sasuke, Naruto could have stayed laying on his lap for the rest of the day. Too bad they needed to leave soon. Not to mention deal with Sakura.
Naruto shot up when Sasuke laughed, glaring at Sasuke. "Don't laugh at me! Waking up is hard..." He pouted, which just got another chuckle from Sasuke. He loved seeing Naruto's blue eye shine like that. Sasuke associated it with Naruto being happy.
Now that he was sitting, Naruto looked around. He didn't see anyone around and didn't recognise the little clearing they were in. But Sasuke was there, so he wasn't worried. "Where are the others?" He asked.
"They're close by." Sasuke said a little aloof with a small smile. Naruto noticed Sasuke wasn't looking away from him. Naruto didn't either, meeting Sasuke's eyes head on.
"Shouldn't we stay close together?" Naruto asked. It didn't seem likely Shikamaru would let the group separate like this. Naruto saw a sharp edge appear in Sasuke's eyes, clearly angry about something. Naruto cocked his head, wondering if he said something wrong.
"I didn't want you to wake up near Sakura." He said in a steely voice, glaring in a direction somewhere up ahead of him. Naruto guessed the others would be somewhere that way.
"Sakura..?" Naruto mumbled to himself. "That's right. I still need to apologise to her."
Sasuke's attention snapped back to Naruto. The anger hadn't lessened. "What? Why would you need to apologise to her?" He snapped. He wasn't angry with Naruto, but he didn't understand why Naruto still wanted to apologise to Sakura. "Don't you remember what she just did to you?" Naruto looked down and patted his chest. The stab wounds were gone. There probably wasn't even going to be a scar left. His clothes were ruined, though, which was a shame since Sasuke had only just bought them for him.
"She stabbed me. That's alright, though, I hurt her first. Like you said, I took something important from her, her mother. So, I need to apologise." He smiled at the end.
That didn't sit well with Sasuke, who struggled not to yell in his frustration. "She tried to fucking kill you, Naruto! Do you know what that means? You could have died!" Sasuke placed his hand in Naruto's shoulder to emphasize his words. He was staring Naruto down with urgency. Did Naruto not understand what happened and what could have happened, would have happened if they hadn't found him when they did?
Naruto stared back at him for a second before smiling again, breaking Sasuke's anger with ease. "Just because she did something wrong, doesn't mean that what I did wrong is suddenly not wrong anymore." He said followed by a second of silence, his smile dropping as he looked down. "Do you think they'll lock me up again? I don't want to be locked up anymore." He was genuinely worried about this. He didn't like the uncertainty of it all. He just really wanted a home to call his own, where he knew he could always go back to.
"Why would they lock you up again?" Sasuke asked.
"Sakura said that because I attacked her, she could have me locked away again." Naruto wrapped his arms around his legs, leaning his head on them.
"Did you?" Sasuke asked. Naruto nodded. "Were you the first to attack?"
Naruto shook his head. "No, but I was the first to land a hit and I did the Genjutsu, so I think she might be right..." He furrowed his brow and started picking at grass strands nearby.
"Shikamaru is talking to Sakura about what happened. He'll listen to you too. Just be honost and it'll be alright." Sasuke moved his hand from Naruto's shoulder to his neck. He didn't like Naruto was upset over the stupid pink-haired girl. The damage she's done during this trip just seemed to keep getting worse. "For what it's worth, I don't believe you were the instigator and I think that she got what she asked for, so there shouldn't be a punishment for you. But you really need to think about how you're going to tell your side, because it will be her word against yours and I don't have to tell you that that gives her an advantage. You need to get the message across that you were acting in self-defence." Sasuke moved his hand a little further up so he was practically cupping Naruto's cheek. The blond seemed to melt into the touch as he listened carefully to Sasuke's words. "Shikamaru knows you. Don't worry." Naruto nodded. "Good." Sasuke let his hand fall, hopeful he got through to Naruto.
"Naruto, I need you to know... I'm sorry about what I said earlier. I let Sakura get to me and I shouldn't have. Not before asking others, but when she said that you were manipulating me and it couldn't be real, I..." Naruto interrupted him with a kiss. Not a small peck like before, but he lingered, settling his hand in Sasuke's neck. Naruto had to face upwards a little as he leaned in, with him being shorter than Sasuke and all.
Sasuke felt a little panicked when Naruto didn't end the kiss immediately, nerves swirling in his gut. He had seen Naruto move in as he spoke, but expected a short kiss like before. Wide eyed, he tried to pull back a bit, but Naruto's grip was firm on his neck and he kept their lips connected.
Sasuke didn't know how to react, but when Naruto scooched a little closer and moved his lips lightly against Sasuke's, Sasuke relaxed and closed his eyes, letting the feeling wash over him. The soft feeling of Naruto's lips on his felt amazing. He never thought he'd feel this delighted, just because of skin contact.
When Naruto's tongue slid out and ran across his bottom lip, he gasped. He hadn't even thought about that, let alone think it was okay to do that, but Naruto did and Sasuke loved the feeling even more than just the soft lips dancing over his own. For a second Naruto broke the kiss. "Sweet." Naruto said and placed his lips right back against Sasuke's. In the second Sasuke had just enough time to take a breath before the kiss continued.
Naruto persisted with soft licks at Sasuke's bottom lip, but Sasuke almost didn't dare to return the gesture. He did want to try to be a little more participating, so he slightly moved his lips in the same way Naruto did. The soft moan it enticed from Naruto made Sasuke feel a little more bold and he continued to mimic Naruto's movements. The rhythm they settled on only made it more amazing and evoked a light sense of trance in Sasuke, letting him forget the nerves and his slight panic and get swept away by the feeling. Before he realised what he was doing, he parted his lips and met Naruto's tongue with his own. Naruto whimpered at that, which was the cutest sound Sasuke had ever heard, and Naruto scooched closed again, leaning into Sasuke more heavily. Sasuke wrapped an arm around Naruto to pull him even closed and to keep Naruto steady.
Sasuke let out a moan. This was amazing, perfect, sweet and all he wanted right now. He had never felt this way before and it felt so amazingly right. If this would never stop it would be too soon.
Sasuke dared let his hand wander down Naruto's back, trying to find the parting in his clothing. He wanted more skin contact, craved it. He wanted to feel the warm, soft skin running underneath his fingers, the hard muscles flexing underneath the smooth surface with every twitch and move, feel Naruto's breath as his chest rose and fell in the heated pattern that he, Sasuke, had made him settle into. He needed to feel more connected physically, like he had a hunger for it that had gone unsatisfied for years. And he needed to feel thrill and pleasure running through Naruto, to make Naruto feel good and special and loved, which would be Sasuke's thrill and pleasure in return. Even if he had no idea how to do all that and it seemed impossible, he needed to try and he would try his hardest. And he knew that with Naruto he could try and discover how to do just that.
He needed all that and more, right now, but he didn't get any of it. Instead, a voice shattered their blissful moment and took away any chance of further happenings. "When you two are done..." Shikamaru said a little loudly, standing way closer than he should have been without either of them noticing. The kiss broke when Shikamaru's voice startled them and with that the moment ended. Naruto let his head rest against Sasuke's chest breathing hard and Sasuke wrapped his arms around him more tightly and protective. He, too, was breathing hard and he felt his raised heart beat in his neck. The most deadly glare he had ever produced was cutting into Shikamaru right now, but it was met head-on with an obnoxious smirk. "We're leaving soon and I need to talk to Naruto before we do." Shikamaru added, and then walked back towards the camp, giving them back their privacy, but not the moment.
Sasuke stared daggers after him. It had been such an intense moment and all of that was gone now. Slowly realisation sank in on what had just happened and a red blush crawled onto his face. Naruto seemed to come back to himself slowly as well, his hard breathing interrupted by small bursts of laughter as the adrenaline slowly left him. He sounded so happy and content as he lay against Sasuke's chest that Sasuke couldn't really wish for more. Sasuke smiled down at Naruto. Pretty much all his doubt was swept away by the kiss.
With another deep breath in and a forced breath out, Naruto pushed himself off Sasuke and looked up at him. "So, did any of that feel un-real?" He asked. He had that smile again. That smile that he only seemed to give to Sasuke. That smile that made Sasuke feel like he was special to Naruto and Sasuke loved it. He could look at that smile forever.
"Yeah..." Sasuke answered, smirking a little. He knew what Naruto meant, but 'unreal' was a very good way to describe their kiss.
Naruto nodded, and then shook his head. "Yeah, okay, I'll give you that one." Naruto said, letting his head hang with a chuckle, glancing back at Sasuke through his lashes. "I meant, did any of that feel in any way fake?" He asked.
Sasuke wrapped his arms around Naruto again. "No, it was all very real." He was quite for a second. "I loved it." He admitted. Naruto smiled up at him again, completely happy it seemed.
"Sasuke, I don't lie. I have never lied and I never will. And I might mess with people's heads a lot, but it would never be about something as serious as creating fake feelings. I don't need to involve manipulating feelings to get what I want. I'd never do that to someone. Least of all you. I never needed to, even if I had wanted to. Even in school you had feelings for me, but I don't think you ever even realised that." Naruto said seriously. Sasuke thought about it and he had to admit, thinking back on it he did remember the feeling of wanting to be close to Naruto during school. That took Sakura's 'spell by kiss' theory right out the door. Despite already knowing Sakura had been wrong, it still felt reassuring to Sasuke knowing his feelings ran deeper and went back further than he had originally thought, meaning it wasn't just a sudden infatuation and craving, but something more long-lasting and sustained. He nodded and smiled at Naruto and he was happy to see the serious look on Naruto get replaced by that smile again.
Sasuke leaned forwards and gave Naruto a quick kiss on the lips before standing up. He held out his hand to Naruto. "Come on. Something tells me the others might be waiting for our return." Naruto grabbed his hand and let himself get helped to his feet. "Yeah, and that probably has nothing to do with Shikamaru just telling us they were." Naruto answered sarcastically.
"Nope, now, come on." Sasuke took a few steps, then stopped and turned around to face Naruto again. He wanted to say something, but didn't really know how to. "Are you alright? No pain or wounds anymore?" He asked instead. It wasn't quite the right time to say what he really wanted to say right now, because he wasn't totally sure yet himself and it wasn't something he could take back once he said it. He did have a feeling it wouldn't take him much longer before saying it, though.
"Yeah, I'm all good, ready to get back into action again!" Naruto yelled, shifting his weight from one hip to the other a couple of times.
"Good." Sasuke grabbed Naruto's hand and guides him back to the camp. Even after entering the camp, Sasuke didn't let go of his hand and Naruto wasn't going to complain about it.