Sasuke stayed in the hospital for a few more days as he recuperated. Choji, Shikamaru, Kakashi, Ino, Kiba, and Tsunade all visited him while he was there. Tsunade grilled him on all the details of his escapades after he left. Sasuke told her all she needed to know.

He laid in his bed, staring at the wall in front of him. Waiting. He waited for Naruto to come back. He had told him to go home, to get some rest, he looked like hell. Eventually Naruto had relented, but Sasuke found himself missing his presence. It had been years since they had truly seen each other and it felt as if he could feel every second he was gone now. He felt like he needed to make up for it.

The door opened and Naruto came in, grinning. Sasuke hid his own grin, not wanting Naruto to see how happy he was to see him.

"Hey Sasuke!" Naruto said.

"Hi Naruto. Did you get some rest like I told you too?"

Naruto rolled his eyes "Yeah, yeah sure." He muttered "bossy," under his breath.

Sasuke glared at him "What?"

Naruto smiled innocently, "Nothing."

This time, Sasuke failed to hide his smile.

"Did Sakura visit you yet?" Naruto asked.

"No, you're the first."

"Cool!" Naruto said a bit too enthusiastically. "Grandma Tsunade said that you can leave the hospital later today."

"Really?"

"Yeah!" Naruto bounced excitedly on his chair.

"What?" demanded Sasuke.

"Well…" Naruto said candidly.

"What?!"

"Well…she said, if you want…you can come stay with me!"

"Stay with you?"

"Well, you know, until you get your own place."

Sasuke turned his face to the window to hide a blush that started creeping up his neck. "That's alright with you, Naruto?"

"'Course!" he said, then added "If you want."

Sasuke sighed like it was a burden "Oh, alright."

"Great!" said Naruto.

"What's great?" asked Sakura as she came in, carrying a bouquet of flowers.

"Sasuke's staying with me when he gets out of the hospital." Naruto answered.

Sakura's eyes widened as she put the flowers in the vase next to the bed. "Oh…I see…Do you think that's a good idea?" she asked as nonchalantly as possible.

"Yeah…why?" asked Naruto.

"Umm…no reason. That's great."

"I know!"

Sasuke stared at Sakura. She looked away and sighed.

Sasuke moved into Naruto's room that night. Both of them tried not to make a big deal out of it. They were just two roommates now, that's all. They sat around Naruto's table eating ramen and talking late into the night. Trying to make up for lost time.

Eventually they were both yawing too much to get a complete sentence out, and decided to go to bed.

Each tried to keep their face neutral as the climbed into the rather cramped bed together. Neither did a very good job.

"G'night Sasuke." Naruto mumbled into his pillow.

"Good night Naruto…Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

"There's something I have to say."

Naruto's heart pounded in his chest. He turned so he was facing Sasuke. His face was barely a foot away. "What is it?"

"I…I'm…sorry…Naruto." Sasuke choked on his words. "I'm so sorry." Tears started to leak from his eyes.

Without thinking, Naruto wrapped his arms around Sasuke, hating to see him cry. "It's ok, Sasuke. It's ok. All that matters to me is that you're back."

Sasuke buried his face in Naruto's shirt. "How can you forgive me?" he asked, then chuckled darkly "I tried to kill you."

"But, you didn't. Why?"

Sasuke lifted his head so he was looking Naruto straight in the eye. "Because I love you." he said.

Naruto froze.

"That's why…I thought I had to kill you." Sasuke explained through his tears. "'Take the life of you're best friend.' That's what Itachi told me I had to do in order to defeat him. But…as it turns out…I guess my love for you was stronger than my hatred for him," he finished.

Naruto was at a complete loss. He didn't know what to say. Their wasn't anything to say. What he needed to get across, couldn't be communicated with words. So instead he leaned forward and pressed his lips to Sasuke's.

Sasuke didn't pull away like Naruto feared he would. In fact, Sasuke pulled him in closer, tangling his fingers into Naruto's gold locks.

Naruto's hands slid up from Sasuke's waist, feeling the skin and muscle under his shirt. Then, not being one to wait, Naruto tugged Sasuke's shirt over his head. He straddled Sasuke and kissed his lips, his chin, his neck, everywhere he could, then tugged his own shirt off.

Naruto felt fire wherever Sasuke's skin touched his. He gasped as he brought his lips back to Sasuke's, as if it were him and not the air that he needed to breath.

Naruto's hands wandered down to the waist of Sasuke's pants and paused, but Sasuke only tightened his arms around Naruto's neck, desperately trying to get him closer.

He moaned at Naruto's touch as his hands slipped into his pants. He's breathing stopped as Naruto slid his pants off. He wasn't wearing anything underneath.

Sasuke gasped as Naruto's mouth went to work. He clutched Naruto's head and grunted "Naruto…why are you…so good at this?"

Naruto stopped his insistent sucking only long enough to say, "Not sure. Never done it before."

Naruto took a final lick before moving to kiss Sasuke's lips again. As they kissed, Naruto took his own pants off. Sasuke moved to try his hand at oral sex, fearing that he would never do as good a job as Naruto, but Naruto said "No need. It's plenty hard already."

Sasuke bit his lip thinking, god this is going to hurt, isn't it?

Naruto spoke his question into Sasuke's neck, "Do you wanna do this?"

Sasuke didn't even hesitate "Yes," he said breathlessly.

Naruto pushed and prodded and Sasuke kept biting his lip. Jeez Naruto, does it have to be so big?

Naruto pushed himself into Sasuke with a groan. Sasuke whimpered, chewing on his bottom lip furiously.

"Ow," was all he said.

"You ok?" Naruto whispered.

Sasuke didn't trust he voice, so he nodded.

"Want me to stop?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke shook his head quickly, and even though there were tears in his eyes he said "No. Don't stop. I want this."

Naruto went back and forth, slowly at first, but it was beginning to be too much.

"Sasuke…" he gasped

"Naruto…" Sasuke panted back.

Sasuke dug his fingers into Naruto's back, willing it to hurt less, and it was beginning to. Beginning to feel almost…good. His hands twisted into the bed sheets. He bit Naruto's neck hard.

Naruto pushed against him, his hands roving Sasuke's body. Trying to take everything in at once. Trying to feel every part of Sasuke.

Naruto moaned. I'm inside Sasuke! Was all that he was capable of thinking at the moment. Nothing else. It was as if his brain had shorted out. All that ran though it was Sasuke. Sasuke was everything right now. The world had disappeared. There was only Sasuke.

Sasuke thought the same. He became totally lost in it. Letting everything else, all the anger and hatred, just leave. Naruto took its place. Naruto was in him, around him, a part of him. He never wanted this to end. Ever. But then Naruto made a sound almost like a squeak and Sasuke felt something hot and wet, and he knew this moment he never wanted to end, was over.

Before he could think or process anything though, Naruto's mouth was back to work and Sasuke made a similar sound and left a white trail on Naruto's face and hand.

"Well…" was all he said.

"Well…" Sasuke replied.

They didn't say anything else. There was to much to say and no words to say them with, so Sasuke fell asleep with his head on Naruto's chest and Naruto tried to stay awake just so he could watch Sasuke sleep, but eventually he fell into a blissfully dreamless sleep.

TA DA!

Don't worry, it's not quite over, my friends. There's still the simple, ugly matter of breaking the news to Sakura (uh-oh!) Keep reviewing please, I love reviews, and more importantly, I love all of you!

Later Gator!