Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any of its associated characters!

Summary: COMPLETE (new chapter up everyday - total of 35 chapters!). Sasuke's a writer whose been writing the same words for years. He's tired, he's annoyed, and his money situation is...pretty messed up, even by student standards. Enter Naruto. Modern AU (College/University), Sasunaru/Narusasu. Posted for Sasuke's birthday!

A/N: Those of you that follow me on tumblr will find this very familiar!


Enter Naruto

Chapter 8: Warrior

Two weeks later, Sasuke was tapping his fingers on the keyboard, trying to build up the motivation to read through his essay again. He had to have read it a million times by now—and he knew it needed more editing, but—well—if he had really wanted to work, then he wouldn't have taken Naruto up on his offer to go to his house. No matter how insistent the blonde had been that they would actually stay focused this time.

"Ugh," Naruto's voice interrupted his thoughts, "I'm so stiff."

He reached his arms up, stretching—

"Well maybe if you sat properly—in a chair—that wouldn't be an issue." Sasuke eyed him, eyebrow raised. Really—Naruto had a perfectly good desk, a perfectly good couch, and he chose to sit down, on the floor, beside Sasuke's feet. It couldn't possibly be comfortable.

Naruto grinned up at him.

"It's comfy down here."

"And yet you're stiff," Sasuke slipped the laptop off his lap so he could stare down at Naruto properly, "so which one is it?"

"Mm," Naruto leaned against the couch, using the cushion to help arch his back, "I've been slacking on my stretches and stuff though."

"Yoga?"

"Yeah," Naruto shoved himself up, "I don't meditate as much as I used to, but I do more yoga."

He threw Sasuke a grin as he reached past the TV—ah, that was a mat of some sort—

"I might do a bit now," he said. "You mind?"

He rested the rolled up mat on his shoulder.

"No." He didn't mind. He didn't mind at all—that was the problem. It was already bad enough to see Naruto stretch casually

Sasuke forced his gaze away from Naruto's smile—staring at his laptop, instead. If he could just focus on his work—if he could just ignore Naruto, for the time being—if he could—just—

"…Doesn't that hurt?"

Naruto glanced back at him, putting his foot down.

"If I do it wrong, yeah." He grinned, picking up his other foot—he stretched an arm out as his leg curved back—Sasuke could see the way his thighs flexed—

"But that's the same with every position," Naruto's voice was breathy—he exhaled, reaching up at the ceiling before ducking down—oh good lord—that—that pose—

Sasuke turned away, face burning—out of the corner of his eye, he could see how Naruto was shifting—he tried not to look, but Naruto's back was arching—and—

"You're making me nervous." Naruto laughed softly, relaxing his body as he turned to smile back at Sasuke—

"Ah—sorry—"

"D'you wanna try?"

Sasuke blinked. Naruto rubbed the back of his neck.

"You spend most of your day sitting, too—and it makes you feel a lot better, at the end—like you feel it in your posture and everything—"

Naruto glanced up at him, looking nervous—Sasuke resisted the urge to sigh.

As if he could say no to those eyes.

"Sure."

"Wh—really?" Naruto brightened, sitting up straight—

Sasuke shrugged.

"I'm wearing jeans, though—I don't think—"

"Borrow my pants!" Naruto sprung to his feet, moving to one of his drawers before Sasuke even had a chance to reply—

"I—"

"Here!"

Sasuke automatically caught the cloth as it came—were these…Naruto's pajamas?

"Iruka makes me pajamas." Naruto threw him a bright grin. "The fabric's really light and comfy—they'll be way better than jeans."

Sasuke eyed the pants again—now picking out the frogs, hopping along the hem—

"Do you…like frogs?"

"I do!" Naruto laughed. "They're so cool! There are so many different kinds—and colours—and they do such cool weird stuff and live in so many different kinds of places—I actually used to keep some tree frogs when I was in high school—like just in a tank—but then they started having so many babies that it all kind of went out of control."

Naruto laughed.

"But they were really awesome—they had blue legs, but their backs were orange and they had black spots everywhere." Naruto waved his arms, as if that would somehow project the image into Sasuke's head. "They were only like—the size of my thumb," Naruto pointed his thumb at Sasuke, "so they were really hard to pick out from the tank most of the time, but I put in these film canisters—for breeding, mainly—and they loved those. That's probably why I got so many tadpoles, heh."

He rubbed the back of his neck, laughing again—

"Anyway—yoga! Put those on!" Naruto shuffled back towards the door. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom—I'll be back!"

The door shut.


Naruto pressed his back against the bathroom door, his heart hammering in his chest. He hadn't—he hadn't even remotely—expected Sasuke to agree, and then he had and Naruto had gotten so nervous and flustered that he just started blabbering on about his fucking frogs

He heaved out a breath.

He already had it bad enough when they weren't in close quarters—he already could barely control himself as it was, when Sasuke was charming and funny and gorgeous and sometimes he'd do that little half-smile thing where his hair flicked back and he looked at Naruto with eyes that were warm and laughing and goddamn it all if he did that when Naruto was close enough to kiss him—

Oh, god, Naruto was doomed.

He swallowed, running his hands under the tap in an attempt to get them to be less sweaty. He just—Sasuke just…it was so automatic. Everything with him just felt natural. Every moment just flowed—everything felt so good when Sasuke was around him, Naruto just couldn't help but seek him out—to want to talk to him—to want to be close to him—

He had never felt so…connected to someone.

Shit.

He exhaled, pushing himself up off the counter. He had to get back upstairs before Sasuke started to realize something was off.

And—well—if he did, Naruto could always pretend he was getting sick or something.

Sasuke glanced over at him as he opened the door—Naruto couldn't help but grin at the sight; he seemed a little embarrassed, honestly—

"They suit you," he couldn't help but say.

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"I'm not sure these suit anyone."

He flicked the waistband against his skin, as if making his point. Naruto laughed—as if his heart hadn't skipped a beat at the action—

"They are great and you know it!" He moved back over to his mat, gesturing Sasuke to follow. "C'mere."

"Okay," he breathed out as Sasuke moved to stand in front of him, "put your hands together."

Naruto grinned, pressing his own palms together.

Sasuke did the same.

"Namaste," Naruto said, waggling his eyebrows.

Sasuke snorted.

"Reach your arms up," he said softly, doing the same—it was easier if you could see someone doing it, in front of you, "to the ceiling. Keep them up there." He dropped his own, moving around Sasuke. "Reach higher—inhale," he watched Sasuke's chest rise, "reaching higher—higher—and exhale—"

He moved back around him. "Can you feel it in your back? In your shoulders?"

"I can," Sasuke answered.

"Mm, good." Naruto moved back in front of him. "Now exhale, and bring your hands back together—slowly—that's right—"

Sasuke breathed out softly, slowly, as he brought his arms down—somehow, Naruto could pick out some sort of intensity in those eyes—

"Keep your hands like that," Naruto lifted his own leg, "but press your foot to your leg like this—"

Sasuke glanced down, swaying a little as he tried to imitate what Naruto was doing—

"You don't have to go as high as mine—just do what's comfortable," Naruto told him, "and pick a spot to stare at. It's really hard to stay stable if you move your eyes around."

Sasuke—apparently—picked Naruto's eyes to stare at. At least, it was the only explanation Naruto could come up with for the way his gaze wasn't wavering—

Naruto swallowed, feeling his nerves spring up right under his skin for the thousand time. He desperately tried to focus on the yoga, and not on the way Sasuke's hair framed his face so perfectly—not on the way his skin didn't seem to hold a single fucking blemish, not a single discoloration beyond the faint blush on his cheeks—and definitely not on the way his eyes seemed to just go on forever, as if they held the universe itself within them—

Sasuke stumbled—Naruto saw the panic in his eyes as he swayed too far to the side—

Naruto reached out just as Sasuke did, grabbing each other by the hands.

"Sorry." Sasuke pulled back.

Naruto just laughed.

"No—you did awesome!" He took a step back. "You did way better than I first did. Do the other side, or you'll feel lopsided all day. Here—"

Naruto moved forwards, helping Sasuke pick his foot up.

"This is your non-dominant side, right?" He said, picking up on the way Sasuke was already starting to sway—

"Ah," Sasuke swallowed, "yes."

"So, like—stare at my lamp." Naruto let his hands hover around Sasuke—just in case he fell again—just in case—

"And sometimes it helps to press harder against your leg," Naruto said, "like really flatten your foot there. And then just focus on your breathing—"

"I feel like I'm focusing on enough already," Sasuke muttered.

Naruto laughed.

"Yeah—sorry." He moved back around so he could see Sasuke's face again. "I'm telling you everything at once. It's really about the breathing. Here—put your foot down."

Sasuke obeyed, quietly shifting some of his muscles as he did so.

"Mmkay, use the whole mat," Naruto started, "and stand with your feet out apart. Wider—yeah, like that."

Naruto moved around him, grinding his attraction to Sasuke down into a fine dust.

"Now have your feet facing the wall—and face it too, but don't move your hips." He watched Sasuke shift, biting his lip. "Yeah, like that. Raise your arms up and bend your front knee—almost like you're lunging—"

Naruto imitated the pose for him—and Sasuke copied with ease. He smiled, letting himself shake loose.

"Now just focus on breathing slowly. Let me worry about your form," he said, lifting one of Sasuke's arms as he did so. "Inhale…" He walked around, bending down to tap at Sasuke's ankle—Sasuke immediately understood. "Good—exhale…"

He walked around again—Sasuke's eyes were following him, now. Naruto grinned.

"Don't focus on me," he said. "Focus on breathing. Feel your body—inhale—feel each muscle that you're using—feel the ones that are tighter, the ones that are loose—exhale…" Naruto lifted Sasuke's arms again.

"This pose is one of my favourites," he said, eyeing the way Sasuke's muscles were starting to protest. "It's called warrior. It's very simple—keep breathing, Sasuke—"

He grinned as Sasuke's chest rose again—

"—but it gets pretty tough pretty fast, doesn't it?"

Sasuke's eyes darted to his—now that was definitely a glare—

Naruto's grin widened.

"Relax—go back to standing."

He could see the relief in Sasuke's face as he shook out his muscles.

"I thought I was in good shape," he muttered.

"You are," Naruto said immediately—Sasuke was in fantastic shape—and this was giving him the perfect excuse to properly appreciate it, "but there's a lot of muscles that we don't really use in exercise. Posture muscles, you know?"

Sasuke nodded, breathing out again.

"Other side, now, Sasuke."

Sasuke gave him a look.

"You gotta! I told you—otherwise you feel weird and lopsided—"

He cut himself off as Sasuke rolled his eyes, shifting his body.

"There, perfect," Naruto adjusted Sasuke's knee a little—trying, very intensely, not to think of the way he was touching Sasuke's thigh, "now breathe—again."

Sasuke's breath grew harsher pretty quickly. Naruto didn't blame him—the first time he had done this, his body had physically started to shake. It had been a long time ago—but still.

"Exhale—relax further into the pose," Naruto told him, gently lifting Sasuke's arms again. "You feel the way it's working, right?"

"Y—eah."

Naruto tried to hide the smile at the strain he could hear in Sasuke's voice. It wasn't much, but he could see the way Sasuke was…starting to pant…

Fuck.

As if he was ever going to be able to get that mental image out of his head—fuck—

"That's about equal," Naruto forced out—suddenly sure he couldn't take a second longer of this. "There's normally a lot more poses 'cause we do a warm up and a cool down, but this is just kinda what it's like."

Sasuke sagged back against the arm of the couch, exhaling. Naruto took a moment to eye him over—he did seem to be sitting a little straighter—

"You can have your mat back." Sasuke threw him a small smile—Naruto laughed, shifting to stand in front of him. He didn't quite want to start again yet, but…

"You teach the sessions in your program, don't you?"

Naruto blinked.

"Uh—yeah, I do most of them actually." He laughed. "How did you know? Was it that obvious?"

Sasuke tilted his head a little—he always tended to do that in the way his smile pulled his lips—

"It was," he pulled his legs up onto the armrest, draping an arm over his raised knee, "and it seemed that way from how you described it."

"Oh—yeah, that's fair." It took everything Naruto had to keep his voice light—to keep his eyes (and hands) to himself—because the way Sasuke was sitting—the way he was looking at Naruto—

"Mm," Sasuke made no effort to move, "do your yoga."

Naruto's face flushed—he suddenly felt very self-conscious—

"Are you gonna—watch me?"

"…Turnabout is fair play."

Naruto ducked his head, cheeks burning.

"Asshole," he muttered, smiling all the same. Sasuke only raised an eyebrow.

"Show me how it's done, moron."

Naruto laughed, but obediently started again.

He did his routine facing Sasuke, this time.


A/N: I posted this excerpt on tumblr ages ago! So you can see all the edits I went through, haha. I was on version 74 of this fic when I initially posted that, and the fic only had 275 pages; I ended on version 104 and it has 387 pages! Whew!

What did you think? Let me know!

See you tomorrow,

- Kinomi