Author's Note: Alright! I'm back! And this is the longest chapter I've written so far. Hope that makes up for the late update! This is for all you guys that have supported me this far, and given me so many wonderful reviews. And special thanks to "ddd", who's reviewed every single of my chapters in this story. You guys are awesome!

Warning: YAOI (Rating will go up and content will be more explicit in later chapters), some swearing.

Disclaimer: I do not own 'Naruto' or any of the characters from the anime/manga.

Bold and Italics flashbacks

The Art of Fabrication (cont.)

By: Nine1991

Chapter 4: One Step Backwards

"-like ramen, you need to wait until the noodle cooks just right and the texture is soft, but not too soft that it's mushy otherwise you won't-"

Patience.

"-but of course instant or even homemade is nowhere near as good as Ichiraku's because Teuchi has this secret recipe that, for some reason, he won't tell me-"

Calm down.

"-definitely my favourite. Hey, Sasuke, what's your favourite food? Actually, I don't think I've ever seen you take a liking to anything since you arrived here-"

I…

"-think you're the type of person who doesn't like anything just for the sake of not liking anything. I mean, what's the logic in that? Everyone has to like something-"

…will not…

"-if you like something then it helps you make friends since someone might like what you like and you might like what they like and the likings might even be mutual so-"

…strangle him.

"-but I guess you don't need to socialize since you've already got your own group of fangirls and all. Though I really don't know what they see in you, teme, since your personality's crap. I mean, you don't even like ramen-"

Snap!

Bam!!

A pause. Then, "Wow, Sasuke." A low whistle. "Do you usually mark your trees by punching holes in them or are you just really excited? I mean, I know Jiraiya's supposed to be part of the Legendary Sannin or something, but, seriously, he's not that great."

"He can't be if he was stupid enough to accept you as a pupil, usuratonkachi," Sasuke grunted, and continued walking as if he hadn't just manually inserted his fist into the tree behind him. Naruto jogged a little to catch up.

"Tsk. Don't be like that, bastard. And stop calling me that! Do you get off calling people names and insulting them or something-"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and walked a little faster. He could feel his patience nearing its limit, and, since that had never happened before, he wasn't sure what would happen when the scales finally hit zero. Maybe he'd loose it and murder the blond himself, which would be quite a shame since it would mean a week's worth of bodyguard duty wasted. Not to mention the absolute ruin of his perfect 'completed missions' record. 'Or maybe,' he thought, as the blonde's annoying voice continued on and on in the background, 'it would be worth it.'

He had thought, following the timid show of gratitude displayed almost a week ago, that his job would be easier once Naruto felt indebted to him. Perhaps there would be less of the childish jibes and name-calling, and maybe there wouldn't be as many two-hour chases around the village. Perhaps they might even become – and he was being very generous here – loose friends in a way. At that point, he had patted himself on the back believing that, by saving the blonde's life, he had just gotten rid of a great number of future possible headaches. It took all of two days before Sasuke felt like kicking himself for falling into a false state of security.

For Naruto, instead of simply cooling down from his hotheadedness like Sasuke had initially planned, had done a full 180 and gone the other extreme. The disgruntlement that had accompanied having Sasuke as company had morphed into something akin to giddy excitement, and it seemed that Sasuke had turned into some sort of potential best friend – if the buddy-buddy antics and rapid-fire questions were any indication. Once, the blond had even tried to drape a playful arm across the Uchiha's shoulders, and Sasuke would have laughed at the fact that the blonde's short height made it awkward and almost impossible if he wasn't trying to refrain from tearing said arm out of its socket. Personal space was something Sasuke had developed an acute liking for since he was a child, and he did not take lightly to having it threatened.

Over the days, the blond had found it fitting to open up more and more (much to Sasuke's chagrin) and the speed of his speech had steadily increased, not to mention the volume. Now, Sasuke had figured that the blond was loud, but Kami-sama, was the blond loud! The constant chatter and childish bouncing had on many occasions given Sasuke a migraine, and he was beginning to regret saving the idiot in the first place. He was a very accomplished ninja, and well versed in the art of calm, but countless missions had not prepared him for resistance against blond idiots and, as a result, he was wound tighter than a spring. If there was ever an 'Ignoring Blond Nuisances 101', then he sure missed it.

"Sasuke! Oi! Don't space out on me!" An obnoxious tanned hand waved itself vigorously back and forth in front of his eyes, and Sasuke scowled.

He swatted the hand away. "Get out of my face, usuraton-"

A gruff clearing of the throat cut him off, and it was no more than a split second before Sasuke was crouched low in a defensive pose, kunai in hand and ready to throw. Who…? How come he hadn't sensed any chakra! Sasuke blinked. In front of him stood some old geezer, leaning lazily against a tree and not looking the least bit perturbed that he had been this close to becoming a kunai cushion. The white-haired man surveyed Sasuke with amused eyes, his arms crossed across his broad chest.

"Ero-Sennin!"

And Sasuke relaxed when he saw the blond bouncing jovially up to the man. So this was the great Jiraiya of the Legendary Sannin. No wonder he didn't sense the man's chakra.

The man's eyes switched from Sasuke to the hyper blond in front of him. "Hmph, gaki! Took you long enough to get here."

Naruto's face scrunched as he brought up a hand to point at the Sannin. "Don't you even start! I bet you just arrived yourself! You've been peaking in the women's bathhouse again haven't you?!"

Jiraiya sniffed. "I find it in the kindness of my heart to teach you and all of a sudden you think you know me so well."

Naruto raised a golden brow. "Actually, there's a handprint on your face."

Jiraiya paused, before his expression turned smug and if not a little proud. "So what if I did, gaki! Art should be well appreciated, not hidden behind those horrible wooden fences! I'll have you know, one of them had legs up to he-"

"Shut up, Ero-Sennin!"

"I really don't know where I went wrong with you."

"I'll tell Tsunade baa-chan!"

"Why, you little brat!"

Sasuke chose to ignore the commotion as he settled himself under the shade of a large tree, unwilling to allow his brain cells to deteriorate any further. What little respect he had for the great Jiraiya of the so-called Legendary Sannin had completely disappeared five seconds after the old man had opened his mouth. 'An idiot for an idiot,' he mused, glancing back at the two squabbling forms. He crossed his legs and closed his eyes. If he was going to have to spend the whole day listening to two fools bickering, he might as well get some meditation done.

"Neh, neh! Ero-Sennin! So what are you gonna teach me today?"

A snort. "What makes you think I'm going to teach you anything, gaki?"

"Eehh! Then what the hell are we here for?!"

"To gauge your chakra control."

A pause. Then, "My chakra control's fine."

Jiraiya shrugged. "I'll believe it when I see it."

Naruto sent a reproachful glare Jiraiya's way, before letting out a large huff and plonking himself down on the dirt floor, legs crossed as he ran a hand through his gravity-defying hair. He grumbled, "So what do I have to do?"

The Sannin grinned. "You're going to spar."

"We're going to spar?" Naruto brightened, his eyes lighting up with interest.

"No, you're going to spar."

Naruto frowned, clearly not perceiving the difference between his words and the Sannin's.

"You're going to spar…with your bodyguard."

Sasuke twitched from his spot beneath the tree. Say what…?

-LineBreak-

He wondered how he got himself into these situations. Was fate that desperate for him to kill the blond and screw up his mission? 'Cause if that was the case, she was doing a great job, the cruel bitch. His fingers twitched as the blonde's annoying whine pierced the air.

"Hey! Ero-Sennin! Where are you going?! How are you gonna check my chakra control if you're not even gonna watch me spar?"

The broad back of Jiraiya never turned, a hand was simply brought up to wave lazily in the air as he walked away. "I have my ways. You better start sparring." And he disappeared, possibly off to stalk some random, innocent, unaware women.

Naruto grumbled under his breath – something about perverted hermits and their sneaky hobbies – as he turned to Sasuke, who was standing approximately 10 metres away from him, stance bored and face expressionless. "So, Sasuke, wanna spar?" he asked, smiling widely.

Sasuke said nothing as he slipped into a fighting stance. It wasn't like he had a choice. Maybe some rogue nins could ambush them after their spar and kill the idiot off, and he'd have an excuse saying that he was just too damn tired from their workout to carry out his job properly. Yeah, he wished. Then he'd probably be slaughtered, gutted and stuffed by that busty Hokage and used to hang as an ornament in her office. He inwardly shuddered. No, that did not sound appealing at all.

Naruto face, if possible, split into an even wider grin at seeing Sasuke acquiesce. "Yosh! I'll kick your ass, Sasuke! By the end of this spar, you'll be begging for mercy 'cause I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the future Rokudaime!" And, with an entirely too energetic bout of bouncing, the blond fell into a fighting pose, knees bent and fists raised. Sasuke silently noted that it was, by no means, a perfected pose; with gait uneven and weight leaning too much on the right foot to be considered balanced. And with that mischievous smile still firmly in place, Sasuke wondered if the blond was taking this seriously at all. 'Is this a game to him?' Sasuke thought darkly, his eyes narrowing as he prepared to block an attack.

As he suspected, Naruto made the first move, charging forward with a speed that left grass blades leaning in his wake. But it was still entirely too slow as Sasuke sidestepped the blond, twisting his body just the slightest bit so that Naruto would just miss him. Big actions were unneeded. A good shinobi knows to execute his offensive and defensive moves with the least possible effort to preserve energy. And as the yellow-topped blur zipped pass him, Sasuke observed so many gaping holes in the blonde's defense that, if he had wanted to, he could have executed an attack and ended the spar straight away. But what would be the point in that? If he did so, then he'd probably have to listen to the idiot whinge and whine the whole day, and, frankly, that was something he'd rather avoid. No, it was better to drag it out and get some light exercise.

At seeing his target slip away, Naruto twirled around and skidded to a stop, creating a cloud of dirt behind him. He straightened up, still grinning as if he had expected his tackle to fail all along. Tanned hands were brought up to form a hand seal, an obnoxious shout of "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!", and then there was a poof! as nine more Narutos appeared. Sasuke figured that he should be thankful that Naruto no longer wore his bright orange jumpsuit, otherwise he would've been blinded by the sheer intensity of the colour.

All ten Narutos smirked cockily as twenty fists were brought up, poised to fight. "How do you like that, Sasuke!" a chorus of voices shouted at the same time, and Sasuke suddenly felt a headache coming up. One Naruto was enough, but ten was bound to break his patience. He raised an eyebrow and adjusted his footing. It seems that this time he would have to dish out a few blows. It was at that point that all ten Narutos charged.

Sasuke moved into a flurry of perfectly executed moves. A strong punch in the gut. A smooth swerve of the leg. Neat, graceful acrobatics. And it was with steady poof!s of smoke that, ten minutes later, only one Naruto remained. Sasuke stood up from his last low kick, his face still as blank as ever. "Is that all you've got?" he asked simply.

Naruto was still grinning playfully, and Sasuke's temper was beginning to bubble and flare. Was he not being taken seriously? Did the moron think that this was all a game? Was he not worth the effort?

"You're not even worth killing."

"Tsk, of course not! I'll have you know I'm mighty awesome with seals too!"

Sasuke blinked, his eyes focusing back on Naruto. Seeing the proud expression on the blond ninja, Sasuke sneered, "Actions speak louder than words, usuratonkachi."

Naruto huffed, a mild red painting his cheeks. "That was just a warm up! I'll show you what I can do, teme!" And with a familiar hand seal and subsequent puffs of smoke, the forest was filled with a crowd of fifty or so Narutos – all grinning, all confident, and all getting very much on Sasuke's nerves. Sasuke's eyes narrowed. 'What kind of fool would be stupid enough to use the same technique twice in succession?'

"Let's get started!" A battle cry of sorts before all the Narutos attacked. It was literally raining blond idiots, and for every gentle poof! and small, billowing cloud of smoke as each clone was efficiently eliminated one by one by the Uchiha's superior taijutsu techniques, Sasuke's temper increased like an oxygen-fed flame. Every critical punch he dealt, every fatal kick he delivered, and every shadow clone he dispelled felt like mocking laughter to his ears.

This is too easy.

A fist smashing into an annoying whiskered face. Poof!

He's not even trying.

Swerve. Crouch. A swipe of the leg and three Narutos tumbled down. Poof!

Why isn't he trying?

Block. Somersault. An elbow imbedded deep into an orange clad stomach. Poof!

Goddamn it! Why isn't he trying!!

Sasuke's eyes flashed as he delivered a clean jab to the throat of another clone, the body disappearing in a puff of white smoke. He twisted, his spine forming a clean curve and muscles flexing underneath his shirt as he sprang away from the chaotic crowd, a series of graceful flips putting him a few metres away from the fifteen or so shadow clones that still remained. His hands were swiftly brought up to perform the appropriate hand seals – his fingers practically blurring through the familiar positions – and there was a grunt of "Katon Gokakyu no Jutsu" before the fingers of his right hand formed an 'o' over his lips and a sudden crimson cloud of flames engulfed the mass of Narutos, painting the scenery in hues of black and scarlet. Sasuke's skin tingled from the intenseness of the heat and, for a moment, he felt a pleasant sense of calm at the familiar sensation before the anger deep inside him proceeded to bubble and burn, once again bringing itself to the fore.

Naruto was coughing as he stood, hunched, his hands on his knees as he tried to recover from inhaling so much of the acrid smoke. His shadow clones had all been dispelled by that last attack and, frankly, he was not surprised. That fire jutsu was way cool! Maybe he could get Sasuke to teach him it one day.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was not so delighted. His expression darkened as he saw the edges of the blonde's lips quirk into a smile. 'He's still smiling?' he thought furiously, 'Why is he still smiling?' His fingers itched to tear that thoughtful expression from the idiot's face. And it was at that moment that something inside Sasuke snapped.

Naruto let out a surprised grunt when he felt the kick to his abdomen, the hit powerful enough to propel him a couple of metres before his back collided harshly with the hard ground. He groaned as a jolt of pain raced down his spine and his side throbbed. He had barely managed to gather his senses before he felt someone straddle him, locking his arms at his side. A hand roughly gripped a bunch of his hair and Naruto bit his lip to stop from shouting out at being so ruthlessly manhandled. 'What the hell!?' Bright blue eyes opened dazedly and was met with cold obsidian. But…it was no longer obsidian because, at that moment, Sasuke's eyes were morphing into a brilliant shade of crimson, three comma-like shapes whirling in their midst. Naruto's brows furrowed confusedly. 'Those eyes…'

Sasuke was livid, an ugly expression marring his pale, aristocratic features. The grip on Naruto's hair tightened and the blond winced as his head was jerked a few inches off the ground. Sasuke leaned forward and snarled, "Do you think this is a game?" His voice was low, and there was a cruel edge to it that Naruto had never heard before. "Do you think I'm playing here?"

Naruto's face flushed with irritation and he wiggled underneath the dark-haired nin. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Sas-" He was cut off when the grip on his hair forcefully crashed his head onto the hard ground, only to be jerked back up once again. Naruto groaned in pain as stars flashed before his eyes.

"Shut up! I don't have time for your childish games." The Uchiha's tone was sharp. Meant to cut. Meant to tear. "You call yourself a ninja?"

Naruto looked up at him with wide eyes. They were just sparring…then…what did he do wrong? He didn't understand.

Sasuke's expression was turning darker and darker by the minute. If the Uchiha had paused to reflect on his actions, he wouldn't have been able to pinpoint just when faint annoyance had turned into raging anger. It was like the heat of a volcano, steadily boiling yet instantly hazardous at the same time. There was just something about the blond that kept getting under his skin – persistently, repeatedly. It was all the goddamn laughter and cheerfulness and for fuck's sake, did the idiot ever stop smiling?

The tomoes of the Sharingan swirled a little faster as Sasuke's lips twisted bitterly. "You think you have the time to smile? You should be trying to get stronger!" His grip tightened and Naruto had to bite his tongue to stop from letting out a pained whimper. "And you ask why you need a bodyguard. This is why! You dead last."

"Because you're weak."

"Because you're weak."

"Because you're worthless."

"Because you're worthless."

"Because…"

Sasuke bent forward until Naruto could practically feel the warmth of his breath ghost his cheeks in a weak caress. And when he spoke, his voice was low, guttural, so close to a growl that it was almost inhuman. "You. Are. Pathetic." A shallow breath. "Dobe."

And Sasuke glimpsed pretty blue eyes flashing a violent red before he found himself propelling through the air, and he let out a grunt of pain as his flight was halted by his back meeting the resistance of a stubborn tree trunk. He collapsed into a heap at the foot of the tree, an acute throbbing in his lower chest where a rib was most probably broken and his left shoulder completely numb. Sasuke looked up.

Naruto was slowly getting back on his feet, his head hung forward in a way that obscured his face in shadows. His voice was low as he spoke; no longer bright and cheerful like it had been a mere hour before. "Don't," and his head lifted to reveal intense, darkened blue eyes, "Don't you dare tell me what I am and what I'm not." Tanned fists were clenching and unclenching, like they wanted to grab something, punch something. "And don't," and was it Sasuke's imagination or were the faint scars on the blonde's cheeks getting thicker? "Don't you ever set my priorities for me again." Naruto's expression was almost feral, his teeth bared as he snarled.

Sasuke picked himself up off the ground, ignoring the jarring pain that raced up and down his side like molten lava. He surveyed the blond through narrowed eyes. This Naruto was dangerous. This Naruto intrigued him. He smirked, reveling in the adrenaline rush. "And what if I don't want to stop?" A single dark brow quirked in an antagonizing manner. "What are you going to do, dobe?"

And that was all it took for all hell to break loose. Naruto was at his side within a split second, a punch hitting home, and Sasuke would have landed shoulders first into the hard ground if it weren't for his quick reflexes as he flipped himself upright, his feet sliding across the dirt. A swipe of the hand across the edge of his mouth revealed blood, and he smiled sadistically as adrenaline coursed through his body, making his limbs tingle with sudden energy. He hadn't felt so alive in ages! He flexed his muscles as he prepared to spar.

It was punch for punch, kick for kick. Their limbs blurred as they dished out hit after hit, never relenting, always pushing forward.

"You think I don't see their glares?" Naruto growled, as his leg swung in a wide arc that threatened to crack Sasuke's neck, "You think I don't feel their hate?"

Sasuke ducked before his own fist lashed out in what would have been a powerful punch, only to be blocked. "So you wear a mask. Is that it? Poor dobe." His voice was harsh, mocking. "You must cry yourself to sleep every night."

Naruto's face flushed in anger as he snarled. "This is me, bastard! I wear no fucking mask!" and the blonde's expression turned scornful as he looked Sasuke dead in the eye. "Not everyone wears a mask, you know."

And maybe it was the fact that the blonde's words hit too close to home that made Sasuke see red. The Sharingan swirled at a dizzying rate as the fighting kicked up a notch and the clearing they were fighting in underwent a massive transformation. Trees were battered close to death by powerful kicks that missed their sole target and small craters littered the ground where misdirected chakra-enhanced punches had landed. Their fighting was raw, purely instinctual and completely un-strategic as they sought to pummel each other with their bare hands, as well as any other usable limbs. Jutsus weren't even thought of in the heat of battle, and maybe perhaps that was why Sasuke later found himself backed to a tree, his hands locked at his side and a tanned arm against his throat.

Naruto's eyes were unusually dark as he stared at Sasuke, his gaze seemingly contemplative and calculating, reminding Sasuke of the look the Hokage had given him when he had first stepped into her office. Blue eyes were looking straight into his, and pale, pink lips opened to say something before the blonde's head suddenly snapped to the side. Naruto's gaze narrowed, golden brows pulled into a frown as he seemed to scan the surrounding tree tops, as if he was looking for something. Sasuke felt the pressure on his neck slacken slightly and he chose that moment to reverse their positions.

But it didn't go exactly to plan as Naruto, catching on to what was happening, hooked his leg against Sauke's in an effort to keep him firmly in place, which only resulted in them losing their balance and both tumbling down to the ground. Naruto huffed as he found that he was, once again, beneath the Uchiha, his arms locked at his side in a position that was all too familiar. He turned his head away, and Sasuke noticed the small necklace that had slipped out of the blonde's shirt during their struggle, the aqua stone pendant gleaming in the luminescent moonlight.

Naruto's expression was soft in a way that gave Sasuke the impression that the blond was reminiscing. There was a deep breath before the silence was shattered by Naruto's calm voice. "Do you know what a missing nin is?" and without waiting for an answer, he continued, "A missing nin is a ninja that has deserted their village. They have no one. They have no home, and they're hated by all. People want to get rid of them, because they're seen as pests. Maybe dangerous pests, but pests all the same." A pause. Then, "I know they hate me. The villagers. I come back from a mission and I know that they wish I had died in it. It doesn't matter that I'm loyal to Konoha, and that I do my share to keep it prosperous. If I did break away, they'd probably rejoice and claim it as another reason against me." Naruto bit his lip, his eyes unfocused like he was looking through time and space itself.

Something inside Sasuke ached, and the Jounin mildly wondered if perhaps another rib was fractured higher up.

"I've met many missing nins since I've become a ninja." The blond paused as he wrenched a hand up from his side to touch his forehead protector, tanned fingers ghosting over the insignia. "But in the end, the fact that I wear this doesn't make a goddamn difference." Sapphire-blue orbs peered up at Sasuke through short, golden lashes, supposedly in an act of defiance. "I've seen those missing nins exterminated, and I've cheered with all the rest. But when it comes down to it…" And Sasuke fancied he saw a hint of genuine confusion in those blue depths, "…am I really that different from any of them?"

Silence took over, the end of the question seemed to hang in the air like wisps of vapor above their heads. And for the first time in a long while, Sasuke didn't know how to react. So he did the only thing that came to mind…

…he got up and walked away. Not once looking back. But if he did, he would have seen blue orbs dull in forlorn resignation. And as he continued walking, his shoulders weighed down with heavy burden and unwilling to take up another's, the shadows of the forest under the pale moon seemed to cling to him, lovingly, malevolently.

"Because you'll always be my little brother.

So hate me.

Fear me.

Grow stronger.

Otouto."

-LineBreak-

Sitting lazily on the branch of a tree above the clearing where the boys had just recently fought, Jiraiya surveyed the scene below him. He watched as Naruto pulled himself up into a standing position, his shoulders slumped and dejected as he proceeded to slowly walk away in the direction the Uchiha had taken. "Well, Tsunade would be happy," he muttered, before jumping out of the branches and landing silently on the ground. He gave the clearing one last sweeping glance before he too strode away under the ethereal moonlight.

-TBC-

-LineBreak-

Hey guys! I'm sorry, the ending was a bit rushed because I really wanted to get this chapter finished, posted, and delivered to you guys by today. Anyway, we're moving house at the moment so I've been a little busy, what with packing up and all. Plus, the telephone company screwed up our system or something, so I haven't got any internet at home until Tuesday. Which means I've been having to depend on the school computers for connection to the net.

I apologize if any of you who've got me on author's alert received more than one email alerting for the previous chapter. There was some kind of glitch with the system or something and the details of the story weren't showing up correctly, so, me being me, I just had to try and fiddle with it, didn't I?! Anyway, I wound up deleting and reposting and for a moment, half of my reviews wouldn't show up so I was paranoid that they all got deleted, especially this really sweet one from JD01. Yeah, so for the rest of that day, I was sitting in front of my laptop, pouting and generally looking like someone had died, and my mum even asked me what the hell was wrong!

Ok, back to the story. If you're confused about anything (and I know this chapter might have been a little confusing) feel free to ask, whether through a review or whatever. Also if there are any mistakes, same thing. I'll be sure to reply, since I do check my email for reviews everyday (yes, I'm pathetic like that.). Anyway, let me just say again that you guys are awesome and thanks for all the support so far.

Please review! All comments are welcomed (and needed)!

- Nine1991 -

P.S. to JD01: Thank you so much for the sweet review. I'm not quite sure I deserve such a decent praise. I swear, my smile was a mile wide when I read it.