Chapter 11: Ambrosia

Sasuke closed his book and silently put it on the nightstand. He tried to shake off the feeling in his chest, gently rubbing at his upper body through his shirt. Slowly he made his way out of his room, and then down the stairs - taking his time in hopes this visitor would go away. As Sasuke arrived at the front door, he tentatively reached out for the handle and put his fingers on it loosely.

Meanwhile, Naruto stood there in the darkness, his body bouncing up and down lightly to stave off the cold. As he was about to bring his hand up to try a third knock, the door very slowly opened before him.

Naruto sniffled slightly and took in the sight of Sasuke. His heart dropped only a little as he looked at Sasuke's sleep-deprived eyes; eyes that he could tell were trying hard not to leak. His normally lustrous hair was strewn about messily; his normally neatly pressed clothes were just pajamas.

"H-hey, Sasuke... mind if I come in..?"

Naruto's voice was soft and gentle as he felt Sasuke's glossed eyes look right through him. He brought a pale hand up to wipe his even paler face roughly, stepping aside only enough to let the blonde boy inside. It was even darker in the house than it was outside, and Naruto could hardly see a hand in front of his face.

Grudgingly, Sasuke pulled the string on a small lamp, dimly lighting up the foyer. The soft glow seemed to make the ebony haired boy look even more disheveled, and Naruto didn't know what to do first - so he settled on scratching the back of his neck. Sasuke grew impatient, not to mention a little uneasy.

"What do you want?"

Even his voice sounded pained.

"Well... I just thought we could, you know... talk.. a little."

And for a few minutes they stood there, in the hallway, just looking at each other.

"...About what?"

"You know what about. That... thing that happened yesterday."

Sasuke shifted his weight from foot to foot, his gaze falling to his naked feet. He didn't know what to say, or what to do. What he wanted was to know the right thing to say or do.

"I don't know what got into me. I'm... well, I'm..."

"Sorry?"

A thick silence fell over them, and Sasuke glanced up at him, just for a second.

"Yeah, I guess so." He gave a weak shrug.

"Is that why you look like you're about to cry?" Naruto's voice was so hushed, Sasuke barely heard it.

Was it? Was Sasuke so afraid of what would happen between them, he was sorry enough to cry? Did that even make sense? He didn't know the reason, but Sasuke unexpectedly started to shake, as if he was very cold. He sank slowly to the ground, trembling with no control over himself, starting to sweat and breathe heavily. Naruto stood there, as if he had felt the cold and was now frozen, looking on at Sasuke in front of him. He had never seen his teammate, who always had such a hard exterior, act like this in all of his life.

Sasuke was having a panic attack.

Snapped back into reality by hearing Sasuke's sobbing, Naruto rushed to sit by his friend and put his hands on his shoulders.

"Sasuke... Sasuke, look at me!"

Hesitating for a few seconds, Sasuke slowly brought his head up, eyes searching Naruto's face.

"Tell me what's wrong."

To Sasuke, it sounded more like a demand than a request. But, relaxing a little, he brought his hands from his chest to clasp at his ankles. He sat there Indian-style, and Naruto relaxed to join him before replacing his hands on Sasuke's shoulders. When a minute passed and Naruto was about to ask again, he heard his teammate say something that was almost inaudible.

"I'm a hermit crab."

"..What?"

"I'm a hermit crab, Naruto."

Naruto's next question was cut off when Sasuke elaborated without persuasion.

"My shell... it's gone. I'm not myself anymore. You stole my shell away."

"What does that mean?"

Sasuke moved a hand to clutch at his chest again. This frightened Naruto, and he in turn tightened his grip on Sasuke's shoulders.

"This... feeling I have... right here... it's your fault. You took away my shell. You made me feel... these things."

"What kinds of 'things'?"

"You make my stomach hurt. You make it hurt in this wonderfully painful way, like I'm about to burst. Sakura couldn't do that."

Naruto's face deadened. "That's because you hate Sakura."

"I kissed her."

Now it was Naruto's turn to sweat. He had always dreamed of Sakura being his first kiss. Had, anyway. He wasn't so sure anymore.

"...I see. Why did you do that?"

"To test myself. I can keep my shell on when I'm with Sakura."

"Sasuke, stop with this 'shell' nonsense. You're a human being, not an animal."

Sasuke looked up at him with the most hopeful eyes, as if he had just been given the greatest compliment in the world. Naruto's world narrowed when Sasuke looked at him like that. It made him feel wanted.

"You think so?"

"Of course I do, stupid. I know so."

"Even after how I've acted?"

Naruto nodded. But, he couldn't stop himself from asking just one more question.

"So.. does that mean that when you kissed me it was also a test?" He could feel his voice shake as he forced those words out of his mouth.

To the blonde's surprise, his friend's answer was immediate. "No."

"No? Then why did you do it?"

Oh, he was really starting to sweat now. What in the world was he getting himself into?

"Are there things you like about me, Naruto?"

What kind of answer was that? "Uh, yeah, I guess so."

"What are they?"

Naruto heaved a sigh and let go of one of Sasuke's shoulders to run a hand through his hair. His eyes shifted around in thought, before landing back on Sasuke's expectant face.

"Well, you're determined, and that's good. You're... a strong fighter. You're also a good friend."

His face regained that hopeful look. "I am?"

"Sure. Well, except when you don't tape my favorite show."

Sasuke's personality seemed to shine through again as humor was brought into the situation. He shoved Naruto's other hand off of him with force.

"It was one episode, dobe."

"Yeah well, you don't watch it, so you don't know how good it is!"

Sasuke made a 'tch' sound and looked away, crossing his arms over his chest. He was clearly feeling better, and Naruto guessed that a little bit of sarcastic humor was just enough to lift his spirits. Better than the wreck he was a few minutes ago, at least.

"So, you never answered my question."

Sasuke moved his eyes to Naruto.

"Why did you do it?"

"There are things I like about you too, Naruto." I can't believe I said that out loud.

"That usually won't bring someone to kiss someone else, Sasuke."

"Okay, well there are things I REALLY like about you. Good enough?" I'm SUCH an idiot. Just shoot me, right now.

Those words were almost inaudible, but Naruto heard them. "No."

"No?"

Naruto moved his hands to clutch Sasuke's biceps tightly. He took a deep breath, biting his lip in confusion, yet knowing clearly what he wanted to do. Tentatively, he inched his head closer to Sasuke's, gauging his reacting as he moved forward. He could feel Sasuke hold his breath as Naruto drew closer. With a sharp intake of his own breath, Naruto closed the gap between their mouths.

There was no rush this time, no force, no feelings of being unsure. Naruto sighed in his throat when he felt Sasuke push lightly into his touch. The blonde titled his head to fit their lips more perfectly, feeling the warm breath come from Sasuke's nose come in ragged puffs.

Sasuke sighed too, putting his arms around Naruto's neck to practically drape himself across his teammate. Naruto confidently dragged his strong tongue across Sasuke's bottom lip, making the other boy nip at his own lip in return. When the blonde was granted entry into the other boy's mouth, he shifted one of his hands to grasp the back of Sasuke's skull, crushing their mouths together. Their tongues danced erotically to their own beat, with the pajama-clad boy stopping every once in a while to give his partner small nibbles. Sasuke liked to bite; Naruto took note of that.

When Naruto was confident Sasuke was enjoying himself, he took his lips away to replace them on a soft spot behind Sasuke's ear. When a small mewling sound escaped from the other boy's lips, Naruto bit there, seeing if Sasuke liked getting what he had given.

"Naruto..." Sasuke drawled out, gently pushing at Naruto's chest to get a look at his face. He pressed their foreheads together, taking shallow breaths from his nose.

"I... I... Naruto..." His voice was strangled, part of him not wanting to seem vulnerable. Sasuke was still Sasuke, after all.

"You don't have to say it, Sasuke. I think I know."

A small smile tugged at the right corner of Sasuke's mouth and he nodded, which made Naruto's eyes light up at the sight.

It was Sasuke's turn to show Naruto what he could do, and he took this chance to grab Naruto's collar and yank their faces together, ending in a wet and sloppy kiss. Naruto squeaked and instinctively grabbed the boy's forearms firmly. To Naruto it seemed more like an attack; like Sasuke had penetrated his defenses and rendered him helpless. And he did attack - nipping, biting, and sucking on the other boy's tongue. It was driving Naruto absolutely wild.

Naruto decided it was time to finish the journey he had started a minute ago, detaching himself from Sasuke (not without complaint from the latter), only to latch his mouth onto the boy's pale neck like a leech. He continued to drag moist kisses underneath his jaw accompanied by rough licks. He gave a particularly forceful lick when he came across Sasuke's adams apple.

Sasuke twitched a few times, squeaking softly. Removing his hands from Naruto's collar, he hesitated a few seconds, then started to delicately run his fingers along his partner's clothed chest. As Naruto continued his assault on Sasuke's flesh, the fingers on his chest tightened, gripping his shirt. A tan finger moved to unbutton the top button on Sasuke's pajama shirt, tugging the material down to reveal his shoulder. He continued his path of kisses to the collarbone, eliciting more soft mewls, gasps, and yelps.

"Nnn... Naa... Wait..." A rough push sent Naruto sprawling backwards. Damnit, what is it this time?!

Sasuke tried to catch his breath, dropping his head forward to clunk it on the other boy's shoulder.

"I want more than just this."

"I thought I already told you, I know."

A choked sob. "I want to hear you say it."

Naruto bit his lip, running his fingers through Sasuke's beautifully soft hair. He never thought he'd have his teammate like this.

"Well... there's things I REALLY like about you too, Sasuke."

Without warning, Sasuke dove with all his might onto the other boy. He attacked the boy beneath him with his hands, drowning the blonde's ears in sobs and cries. Naruto could feel the warm tears soak through his shirt, along with Sasuke's warm hands feverishly touching his skin. But it was Sasuke's next action that made the one beneath him raise an eyebrow.

Sasuke's head followed his hands, tickling Naruto's belly as he wiggled his head underneath his shirt. He stopped to rest his cheek against the soft tummy beneath him, wiping any leftover tears away before wrapping his arms around the blonde's back.

Naruto looked down at the giant bump underneath his shirt. It was so. Fucking. CUTE.

Sasuke was burrowing into Naruto like a little kitten, and it made Naruto's heart jump. As he was about to say something, he heard Sasuke mumble something sleepily.

"This feels safe. Much better than a shell. It's warm in here."

And Naruto grinned, and that grin turned into a soft smile. He propped up on his elbows, and Sasuke whined slightly at the movement, which was just adorable. He chuckled, making his stomach bounce up and down, and that earned him a gentle bite to the rib.

Who knew Sasuke could be so endearing?

And neither Naruto nor Sasuke saw the pair of emerald eyes staring at them intently through the window.

Author's Note: Eek, chapter 11! I hope you liked it, with the SasuNaru action. :D Took me a while, but I got to it. :P Review, please!

But I still have some gripes about this chapter: 1.) The hermit crab thing, which I knew I was going to tie in with the first journal, isn't as appealing to me as it was at first. When I first wrote it in this chapter I thought it was pretty good symbolism, but now I think it's just stupid.
2.) I know (or at least I think) Sasuke is so terribly out of character, but I tried so hard to make this believable. Please forgive me if you don't like the way he is portrayed. It was an attempt to portray the 'madman' in him, hence the title. And besides, he's the uke in this story. :D
3.) Also, I think sometimes I write so much in detail, it ruins my writing. Is my description of the make-out too... descriptive? Does it take away from what they're actually doing?

I purposely avoid saying what Naruto's favorite show is because I have no idea what it would be. And, I got the idea of Sasuke's adorable snuggling from what I used to do when I first started dating my husband. xD That's when I was still shy!