And welcome to chapter 6! It's finally here and you had better thank god that it is! I just can't believe you people are still putting up with me. XD! Anyway, in regards to the Iruka question, I did get some takers and I decided to just go ahead and put him in. He's not showing up this chapter, but I promise that he'll be in the next one. And before anyone even thinks about asking, I'm not putting in KakaIru as a side pairing. -_-' I want to keep this story strictly SasuNaru, but I do plan on starting a KakaIru, since I got into the pairing a couple months ago, but that's as soon as I get a plot for it. Whenever that happens… _!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did, Sasuke would've stayed in the damn village. you stupid teme!! it happened a long time ago, get over it!! God!!
Chapter 6: The Confession
Naruto was eventually sound asleep in his hospital bed, Sasuke continuing to hold his hand all the while. Now that he had admitted to himself that he was in love with the young blonde, how he was going to tell Naruto was called into question. He couldn't be entirely sure of Naruto's reaction to such a declaration, but he was hoping that the relatively small amount of time they had used to bond would at least deter a negative reaction. Sasuke didn't even remember the last time they had argued over something or gotten angry at each other. But even so, the outcome of a certain action is undetermined until said event actually takes place.
Sakura left the hospital in favor of returning home upon hearing the good news and finding out that Naruto had fallen into slumber. Her excuse was that Naruto needed to sleep more and that she could wait for another opportunity to spend some time with the boy, but Sasuke knew that she would have stayed if Naruto had been awake.
Coming clean about his feelings was always a hard thing for Sasuke, seeing as he almost always kept himself at a distance from others, whether it was physical or emotional. He was, of course, very uncomfortable when it came to just thinking about telling Naruto about his love, but he did not want to spend the rest of his life wondering what could have been, especially since Naruto was due to die at any given day.
And that was another thing that bothered him. Even after telling Naruto how he felt, there was no guarantee that they would spent a significant amount of time basking in the feeling if Naruto did accept his newfound emotion.
There was no real set date for Naruto's death, just a predicated period time of about two months depending on certain elements.
Sasuke sighed lowly, the small noise like a pin dropping on the ground compared to the more or less rhythmically timed beeping of the monitors. He found the machine's constant sound to be virtually annoying. He knew that Naruto was alive just by watching the rise and fall of his chest and the beep the resounded every five seconds that signaled the boy's heartbeat was a continuous, almost unneeded reminder of the obvious.
Sasuke couldn't wait to get out of the hospital, the overbearing smell of antiseptics getting under his skin and weighting heavily on his nerves.
Three hours later
"You certainly took your sweet time napping like that," Sasuke said jokingly, stepping out of the hospital doors with Naruto right behind him.
"Oh right, and the fact that I was tired had nothing to do with it," Naruto said back with a smile, his hand still clutching Sasuke's even as they walked down the street.
Naruto hadn't been too content on letting go of Sasuke's hand. He gripped it while he was sleeping, but now that he was awake, he couldn't let it go for too long. It was almost as if he thought that if he released Sasuke's hand, it would be lost to him forever. Sasuke didn't mind, however, but it did make him wonder why Naruto was being just a tad bit clingy.
"It's okay. I understand. So do you want to get something to eat while we're still out? Or do you want to go home to eat?" Sasuke asked.
"Well…I guess I could eat out," Naruto answered, after a moment of thought, "but I don't have--"
"This one's on me, all right?"
The blonde nodded in response, unsure of how to react to Sasuke's sudden generosity. As they walked down the street, they got curious glances from the occasional passerby, but besides that slight feeling of awkwardness, their stroll was otherwise uneventful, not to mention quiet.
And that didn't change, even while they ate. They both seemed to be too absorbed in their own thoughts to even think about conversing with each other.
"Hey, Sasuke," Naruto called out, breaking their silence after they were leaving the ramen shop, once again hand-in-hand.
"What?"
"I just…I just wanted to say that I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"Well…I guess for causing you so much trouble."
"It's not your fault, Naruto. If anything, I should be the one apologizing to you," Sasuke said, his last sentence more like a quiet breath from his lips.
"What?" Naruto asked, not really catching all of what Sasuke said.
Shaking his head somewhat, he answered, "It's nothing. Do you wa--"
"Hey guys!"
Sakura ran up to them with a wave. Sasuke was faintly annoyed at being interrupted, but kept his complaints to himself.
"Hey, Sakura-chan," Naruto said with a smile.
"What happened to waiting until later?" Sasuke asked.
"What, I can't say hi to you two while I'm out--ummm. Why are you two holding hands?" Sakura questioned, gesturing to their hands.
Sasuke basically gave her a look that told her to mind her own business while Naruto, on the other hand, just blushed, his face slowly being consumed by the redness.
"Uhhhh, well--" Naruto started.
"Oh, nevermind, it's not important. So what're you two doing?"
"Nothing rea--"
"We're going to the pier," Sasuke interrupted.
"The pier?" Naruto asked, more than a little confused.
"Oh, I see. Well, I've got some errands to do so I see you guys later," Sakura said, walking off with a wave.
"The pier?" Naruto asked again with a raised eyebrow.
"I was about to ask if you wanted to go, but she showed up. So do you want to or not?"
"I guess it would be nice."
Sasuke nodded his head with the tiniest of smiles on his face. They weren't that far from the pier and from there it was only a short walk back to Naruto's apartment so it was like they were just making a quick stop before moving on to their true destination.
Naruto was a little uneasy at best. He couldn't figure why Sasuke was being nice to him all of a sudden. It wasn't like he was a heartless person before he was injured, but he hadn't really acted this way before either. In this situation, there were definitely more questions than there were answers.
Sasuke felt like he had to take Naruto somewhere else besides back home. Not only because he wanted to tell Naruto how he felt, but also because the poor blonde had chosen to stay cooped up in his apartment since he was released from the hospital after his accident. It was like Naruto had just given up on living out the remainder of life, choosing instead to wallow in his misery, waiting to pass away.
Sasuke wanted Naruto's last days to be something he could remember, if only for a little while. He wanted to see the blonde's face break out into a smile because he was feeling happy.
It was mid-afternoon by the time they reached the pier, their small delay due to the fact that people who wanted to talk to Naruto kept stopping them along the way. Sasuke figured that they had heard what was going to happen to Naruto and were just being nice because of it, but it was hard to say.
They sat down at the very end of the pier, their legs hanging off at the front and almost touching the cool water. They were trapped yet again in another silence and quite frankly; Sasuke was getting tired of it. He didn't come here to just sit in silence that was quickly becoming something beyond repetitive. If he wanted to be surrounded by peace and quiet, they would've gone home already.
"Naruto?"
"Hmm?"
"I was just wondering something. Why is it that all you did was stay at home before?"
That had been bothering him for quite a while and it was nice to finally just get it off his chest.
"I…I'm not sure really."
Naruto had slowly sunk into depression after finding out he was going to die. The thought of dying kept him from sleeping and about a week after Sasuke had moved in, he had briefly thought about killing himself, to just go ahead and end it all. Afterward, though, he felt terrible and hated himself for being so weak.
But that night he had spent with Sasuke made him rethink what he wanted to do with the rest of his life.
"I mean," Naruto continued, "I'm still not comfortable with…you know. There was so much that I wanted to do with my life, as I'm sure you know. I just…wasn't sure what to do."
Sasuke wrapped his arm around Naruto's shoulder, pulling the blonde closer to him for comfort. Naruto would probably never say it out loud, but he liked it whenever Sasuke chose to hold him like this. He felt safe and comfortable in the warm embrace Sasuke provided.
Before Naruto could really enjoy the closeness, Sasuke cupped his cheek, raising his face up before kissing Naruto's lips ever so gently. At first, Naruto's eyes were wide with surprise, but as the feeling of Sasuke's lips on his sunk in, his eyes drifted shut, surrendering himself over to the pleasant sensation.
After a few seconds, Sasuke pulled back and said lowly, "I don't know what to do either. But…I know that…I love you…and it hurts me to see you look so sad all the time."
The confession was finally off his chest and he felt much lighter without the pressure of knowing and not telling pounding in his brain. Now all that was left to deal with was Naruto's reaction. He was silent for a moment before breaking out into a small smile, a tear slowly trailing its way down his face.
"What's wrong?" Sasuke whispered, wiping away the tear with the side of his index finger.
"Nothing. It's just that…it makes me really happy to hear you say that. Actually…I was just sitting here wondering how I was gonna--" Naruto started before being interrupted by Sasuke's finger on his lips.
"Shhh. You don't have to say anything. Just knowing that you accept my feelings is good enough for me right now," Sasuke said quietly before capturing Naruto's lips again in another soft kiss.
Author's Note: *5 second pause*Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww! That was so sweet and too friggin' cute for words! I think I'm gonna start crying! Ahhh that was satisfying. I think that's the least depressing chapter of this entire story so far. Thank god for fluff! :D! Oh, and Ethereal-Sage? I'm sorry about almost making you cry and I don't want this to sound wrong, but it's kind of comforting to know that I was able to evoke some real emotions with my writing. Not that this is my first time writing mind you, but I'm still getting used to people actually reading my work and piping in with their two cents. And the same goes for you guys too, SkywardShadow and UchihaUzumaki baby. I know…this story is just too depressing. T-T! Please Review!
