As the morning previous, I was easily and most calmingly awakened in Sasuke's arms. The only difference was that the Uchiha was still fast asleep, and I had the privilege of watching his face finally melt into one of serene composure. Honestly, this would definitely explain the reason for his infinite amount of fan-girls. With Sasuke unconscious and only inches away from myself, I could freely and shamelessly watch him and understand the reason he acted so guarded all the time- or, at least try to. And this could easily be depicted as any fan-girl's dream.
Except, I wasn't a fan-girl. Nor was I a fan-boy, to all of you who are so convinced of that fact. Sasuke could just be a little bit…overwhelming. Do you ever see me fawning over him and staring at him when he's not looking, or even somewhat stalking him around the entire village of Konoha? No, you don't. And last night did NOT count.
Either way, with the time that I was given now to, in a way, study Sasuke, I was easily indulged. Much like last night, I took note of how long his eyelashes were, the contrast of his jet-black hair to his pallid skin, the arch of his eyebrows, even. But now, I noticed other things. The slight flush of color to the apples of his cheeks, natural to one in that sleeping state, his thin lips parted so minutely, only someone as close as myself would have noticed, and even more that he was breathing through his nose and not his mouth. I could feel the steady rise and fall of his chest under the palm of my much tanner hand, the heat radiating in small waves off of his neck and touching my face- which, of course, caused some coloration to my own cheeks. Though that was nothing out of the ordinary. I could hear the soft whistling of Sasuke's breath as he inhaled, and the even softer whooshing sound he made when he exhaled. His expression, although obviously tranquil, also embraced a few emotions which were seldom seen on any Uchiha's face. Sadly, these were completely indescribable, at least, for me. And, it never failed that Sasuke should smell like lavender, even overnight. Just...damn it! What did he USE?
But, as all things must end, Sasuke surely woke up moments after I had so intensely taken in every little detail of his beautiful face. Blinking a few times, his eyes that resembled coals beginning to cook in a grill- black but notably warm- fluttered open to focus on the ceiling. And, as any ninja would, he felt my eyes still glued on him. He peered at me from the corner of his eyes and smirked- this effectively made me blush, but not at being caught. This I was already much too familiar with, having Sasuke notice I was staring at him. I was sure he was just as used to it as well. No, it was the faint glimmer of his white teeth between the slight gap that the corner of his lips made when they pulled up. Of course- the Uchiha just had to be perfect in practically every way. "Morning, teme!" I murmured happily into his collar bone, still feeling a bit drowsy myself.
I felt his chest rumble soundly under my hand again, an evident sign that he was hiding a soft chuckle. "Good Morning, dobe," He mumbled back softly, giving one of my shoulders a soft squeeze. Smiling still, I slowly sat up, rubbing one of my eyes as I stretched my neck up, down, left, right, before my eyes landed on Sasuke again. If Kakashi was right, this would be our last travelling day- we would arrive at the land of waves by late afternoon today, deliver whatever important necessity it was that we needed to deliver, and be back to Konoha by dusk. That meant another night or two with the teme, depending on how quickly our journey back was. Either way, I didn't mind right about now. It's not as if Sasuke and I were on bad terms.
Or so I thought.
The morning carried on as normal; the three of us silently eating our breakfast with Kakashi off in his tent doing who knows what, then shortly taking off for the Land of Waves. This time, as to not tip Sakura off for any reason, Sasuke walked up in front with Kakashi-sensei, which left Sakura behind them with myself. She never really spoke to me much, except to insult me, like Sasuke normally would, but she could still be mostly nice to me on occasion. Apparently, one of these occasions was today. The entire three hours it took for us to get there she spent by keeping me busy with small talk and friendly chatting- everything from what valuable item we could possibly be delivering to the variety of different ramen flavors and condiments, to which I'm pretty sure I babbled enough for the four of us. Sasuke seemed to be on a different air wave than us, because he completely blocked us out, as he usually would. I tried not to think much of it, though. He was trying to keep everything normal, after all.
Soon enough, we reached the main gates leading into the Land of Waves, and in about another hour, we were already on our way back home. Still chatting happily with Sakura-chan, it soon became dark and we had to set up camp. But we had made good progress- since Kakashi had taken to sprinting across the tree tops on the way back, we had covered about half the distance very quickly. Why we didn't do this on the way to our destination is beyond me. After helping Sakura set up her tent and wishing her a good night, I was on my way back to me and Sasuke's tent. Before being able to fully walk away from her tent, though, the pink-haired kunoichi grabbed me by my elbow, spinning me around so that I was facing her yet again. With an innocent smile and the slightest tinge of a blush on her cheeks, she looked into my eyes- she didn't have to look up very high- and gave me a quick hug. A bit taken aback, I gently patted her shoulder, my other arm wrapping around her waist. "What's wrong, Sakura-chan?" I asked softly, confused, but didn't show it.
In another moment, she pulled back, her eyes glimmering in a way I had only seen when she fawned over Sasuke, and shook her head, still smiling. "Nothing's wrong, Naruto. I just…I guess I never saw you for who you really are. You're really a great guy, and a great ninja, even if you can be no less than an idiot sometimes," Here, she paused to giggle a bit, bringing a hand up to her mouth. "Well, anyway…I'll see you in the morning," She said gingerly, and before going back into her tent, she leaned up on her toes to give me a quick peck to the cheek, quickly zipping up the tent's flap behind her.