So, requester was anonymous, but this sounded like fun. The request was a Kyuubi/Sasuke/Naruto story; I'm fairly sure this isn't what you had in mind, and it definitely isn't fluffy, but I had a lot of fun writing this one. It's a tad different than what I usually do, but that's one of the points of this exercise.

Happy New Year! Hope you enjoy this little ditty.

The Things We Do

Sasuke knew that it was said to torment him. The narrowed eyes, the slight snarl that was meant to come across as a grin, the irritated tap-tap-tap of her nails were all dead give aways. From the start, Sasuke knew why he was allowed back in the village. The official reason his past sins were forgiven was Orochimauro's decapitated head he brought as a peace offering, but Sasuke knew the real reason was to shut Naruto up. But just as Sasuke knew why he was accepted back, he also knew that Naruto's beloved Hokage still saw him as a traitor. She made her opinions clear, snide comments once Naruto was out of ear-shot, and Sasuke had grown used to ignoring them.

He would have ignored this one too, if it wasn't for two small factors. The first, Sasuke had done his homework. He knew his family's own sordid start, so he knew that what she said held weight. He could still ignore it, find some other excuse, if it wasn't for Sakura's carefully worded warning the first time he showed up at Ichiraku and paid for all of Naruto's ramen.

She had tugged on his arm, pulling him out of the stand and down the street before mumbling an insult about Naruto's intelligence. Sasuke allowed himself to be mildly surprised when he heard Naruto yell out that he heard that! and allowed Sakura to pull him further away. She had chewed her lip a bit before she started.

"You know he's merged with the Kyuubi." Sasuke had shrugged and asked her her point. She'd frowned. "His chakra is almost completely purple. Every day he takes on more of the demon's characteristics. His senses, his healing, his power, everything is…tainted by that thing inside of him." Sasuke had shrugged again, and asked her to kindly get to the point. She had huffed and glanced back in the direction of the ramen stand, now out of sight. "Just…be careful. Sometimes, when I look at him, I see more demon than Naruto." That last statement had pissed him off beyond all belief, and he had stalked away and resolved to not think about her comments again.

So when Naruto smelled the enemy miles before Kakashi's dogs, Sasuke joked that Kakashi was loosing his touch.

And when the whisker marks on Naruto's face seemed just a bit darker than usual, Sasuke made a mental note that the lighting was bad and that he had to change the light bulbs.

And later, when Sasuke noticed that the sheets were shredded after they had sex, he reminded himself to take the kunai out from underneath the pillow next time.

The flashes of red he saw out of the corner of his eye were just a trick of the light, the guttural growl was a snore, the occasional eruptions of fiery temper were stress induced. Sasuke could excuse it all. Until today.

Sasuke huffed at his train of thought and rolled over to look at his bedmate. Despite the day he had, he couldn't help but grin. They had moved Naruto into his small apartment today. It had been when they had gone to submit his change of address forms that Tsunade had found her opportunity. Her words still echoed through his skull.

"The Kyuubi's always had a thing for Uchiha's."

Sasuke had shrugged and went to pull Naruto away from his conversation with Iruka. It wasn't until later, once Naruto was asleep and Sasuke was left to think on his own, that the dots had started to connect.

If there was one thing that Sasuke was absolutely positive of it was that Kyuubi and Naruto were two very different beings. Naruto was not the demon. Sasuke would have been content to leave it at that, but he knew he could no longer allow for excuses. If it wasn't Naruto who wanted him, if it was Kyuubi influencing Naruto, forcing his body to lie here with Sasuke, it would be the worse sin that Sasuke could do to keep Naruto against his will. Sasuke had spent the rest of the day watching for any signs of hesitancy, any flicker of doubt or disgust, but all he could see was excitement brimming out of him as they moved his meager belongings and arranged his plants.

So now here he was, lying awake like some fool watching his lover sleep. Sasuke reached up a hand to brush over Naruto's cheek. It was a testament to his training that he didn't flinch as bright red eyes snapped open to stare back at him.

"Careful, boy." It was a growled out warning, but it sounded like a tease. Perhaps it was the sinister smirk on Naruto's face that changed the words' meaning.

Sasuke worked hard to keep his breathing slow and steady and narrowed his eyes. "I'm not afraid of you."

The smirk stretched even further and in one fluid move, Naruto's body was straddling his, Naruto's hands pining his wrists by his head. Sasuke didn't dare to allow himself to blink and forced his body to relax.

"I wonder what it was about your family that first caught my attention- your power, or," there was a pause and a slow nip to Sasuke's ear, "your beauty?"

Sasuke turned his head slightly so that his eyes could track the movements of the body above him. He tried to think of a reply, but any remark he made he foresaw leading into dangerous territory. Instead, he changed the course of the conversation. He wasn't sure how much time he had, so he led into the topic that he was just thinking about. "Tsunade said something interesting today."

"Yes, I heard." Sasuke felt Naruto's weight settle more firmly on him and glanced away from the red eyes long enough to see that the smirk was still there. He felt one of his wrists released so that a claw tipped finger could be tapped against an ear. "I have very good hearing." Sasuke could have prevented his wrist from being reclaimed, but he was willing to play this game, for now, in favor of getting his answers.

"Of course. I'm aware." Sasuke scowled up at the near giddy expression.

"And I know you; I know where your train of thought has taken you. It's an unfortunate Uchiha trait to over think things to death." Naruto's head cocked to the side and with a sigh, he bent his elbows to rest his weight on his forearms. "You want to know who loves you."

Sasuke knew where this was going. "You aren't going to tell me." He expected to see a grin, but instead there was a little frown and a scowl.

"Does it matter?

"Yes," Sasuke replied immediately.

"Would it make a difference?"

Sasuke couldn't answer that one as easily. Instead, he kept his reply generic. "I couldn't force someone to stay with me if they didn't love me."

That grin was back. "How very politic of you. Then, if I were to say that it wasn't Naruto who loved you, would you leave him? Would you let him leave you?"

Sasuke considered it. If Naruto wanted to leave him, he would let him. But he wasn't sure that he could be the one to walk away. He was selfish by nature. It was Naruto who was the selfless one, and Sasuke couldn't pretend to be as strong as he was.

"I reserve making decisions unless I have all the information." There was a chuckle an octave deeper than he was used to hearing and then he was being kissed, hard and unforgiving.

"Then I suppose you'll just have to be grateful for now." The amusement was clear in Naruto's voice.

"And I suppose you'll just continue to enjoy keeping me in suspense."

"Of course. You're most beautiful when you're suffering." The sentence was punctuated with a nip to the underside of his jaw, and then, with a shuddering exhale, the body on top of him relaxed. Sasuke counted his breathes until, "Sasuke, you're squeezing too hard; I can't breathe."

"Sorry," Sasuke mumbled and eased his grip. He hadn't noticed when he moved his arms. "Did I wake you?"

Naruto tilted his head so he could look Sasuke in the eye. Sasuke breathed out a sigh to see the blue he favored. "Mhm, but that's okay." A grin spread across his face, gentler and more sincere than the last one he saw. "I'd rather see you then to sleep."

Sasuke allowed himself to yield to Naruto's kisses.

After all, he supposed he could make at least one more excuse.