Sorry for the delay. Anyone who is up with the manga should be able to see how manga Sasuke could be giving me and probably a lot of other writers problems. Its hard to imagine him not trying to kill people and showing concern for anyone but himself right now =_=
Anyways, Chpater 22. Oh! And massive thankyou, huggies and kissies to Maria for helping me. I nearly cried in relief ^_^;
In all honesty, he wanted to defy Sasuke and swim.
In all honesty, he was happy just to be conversing so easily in the form of the fight.
In all honesty, he was becoming the tiniest amount captivated by the other boy...
When he'd jumped at him, Naruto knew Sasuke would move but he jumped anyway. The taller boy stood a top the river's surface had moved his half his body away by the time Naruto was upon him, but only half so they collided and fell. It was amazing to just fall without putting your hands out to stop you because there wasn't enough room with someone tumbling with you. Freefalling.
When they hit the water Sasuke had moved back to being completely beneath him again and caught the blonde with his body. Naruto fell heavily between Sasuke's legs on his knees, his face smacking itself on the chest in front of him; his important head area saved by Sasuke who had yelped at the bite of the cold water.
But it wasn't the shooting pain of the rocks under his shins, or the jolt of his head being snapped back on impact that Naruto noticed while they were sat there in the cold water, shaking the splash from their hair and laughing and scowling and hitting and pouting. It wasn't any of that that stayed in Naruto's new memory, it wasn't any of that that lingered in his mind as he had sat watching Sasuke hit every target in the clearing perfectly afterwards while he sunned himself.
It was Sasuke's smell that he hadn't been close enough yet to smell ever before that got Naruto.
The mixed aroma of jasmine and juniper, vaguely intimate with a warning bitterness to it that was heightened by the wet of the boy's clothes, skin and hair. It was warm in a strange way, so natural and perfectly 'Sasuke san'.
It wasn't something incredible for Naruto to say that it was a smell he had decided he loved straight away since he didn't know many smells in comparison, but he thought it anyway. The feeling he had lying there in that one second of aftershock with his ear against Sasuke's heart, his arms halfway down the other boy's shoulders; slipped from clutching his neck in attack, his body pressed to another... with that smell encircling them, enveloping them... Naruto was warm despite the pool they sat to the waists in.
Safe.
Sanctuary.
A feeling provoked by Sasuke's jasmine scent, even stronger than the first time Sasuke had walked into the hospital room with no name...
Naruto exhaled slowly into the late afternoon. Sasuke had been training for a long time. The day was nearly gone. The blonde now sat on the far side of the clearing on a slope in the long grass waiting quietly, running his fingers through the tall threads every now and then to reassure himself that after being silent for so long that he was still tied to the living world. Would they be going home soon? Where would he sleep tonight? His own 'home'? Naruto's eyes followed Sasuke's flight in mid air as he twisted, releasing one by one and two at a time, sometimes three, of his weapons in a precise assault. The river bubbled and chattered happily.
It was so strange. How could you have such a strong feeling, a feeling he thought he'd lost when he had learnt Uchiha Sasuke's name, just from being near enough to breathe someone in? How could you feel such soothing, such a comfort just being with someone, just speaking to them? Naruto was only just realizing it. The effect being with Sasuke had on him. Not like how it was with Iruka. Not how it was with Kakashi or Sakura...
They were a strange pair, right? They were mean and cold with their words and actions, right? Then why? Even after being hit again. Naruto was happy. Happy just to be.
Was this what friendship...what their friendship, was like? A bond that was so different to any other he had encountered so far. One where he could run his mouth off if he felt like it, where he could say and do whatever he liked and it felt like Sasuke wouldn't leave; get mad sure, but not leave. A bond where he could be as reckless as he wanted to be. It wasn't the words between them that made him feel close to Sasuke. It wasn't that they were friendly at all; it was just being near enough him to feel him.
Companionship. It had happened so fast. Just today. Just now. A safeness with the person most likely to hurt him in both ways, physically and emotionally.
The wind rustled the grass around him and Naruto looked up, not remembering having his eyes drop from Sasuke to his hands hanging between his knees. The dark haired boy was making his way up the small slope toward him. Nothing was said as Sasuke flopped down next to him. Naruto smiled, willing to bet he didn't smell like jasmine anymore. More like damp metal and sweat.
"Done?"
"Yup." Sasuke looked sweaty and sticky, his skin shiny and pasty in the late sun but still glowing surreally.
"You're really good with those," commented Naruto.
"Kunai?"
"Yeah."
"I guess. I learnt from someone who was lethal with these things." Naruto tried not to notice the tone of Sasuke's voice he didn't understand when he said 'lethal'. They sat for a while.
"When are we going back?" asked Naruto.
"When I've caught my breath a bit," replied Sasuke. Naruto lay down too, falling into the grass.
"Ne, Sasuke san. Can you teach me to walk on water?"
Sasuke barked out a dry laugh.
"Impossible you idiot."
"Why!" Naruto screwed up his face, closing his eyes angrily as he frowned.
"Because, Dobe, it's not possible in your state."
"Why?" Sasuke sighed in reply and rolled over to be propped up on one elbow facing Naruto.
"Look." Sasuke opened his hand as he spoke like the explanation was sitting right there in his palm. "You're not a ninja anymore. You forgot everything you know. To be able to walk on water you need to precise chakra control. You need to be able to channel your chakra to the most difficult place; in your feet." Naruto blinked and arched his eye brows, getting a bit lost.
"They teach us in the academy when we are learning all the basics; how to feel chakra within our bodies and be able to use it to give us the boost to be able to run really fast and jump between trees. Right now you can't even feel the chakra in your body right? You're not aware of it even being there right?"
"There's something inside me?" Naruto's eyes widened. What was chakra? Sasuke ran his hand over his face and fell back onto his back.
"Yes... Chakra- your energy, the stuff that would power your jutsus if you had any," replied Sasuke wearily. Naruto sat up and leant over the Uchiha, looking into his tired face, his dark eyes that peered back up at him.
"Can you see it Sasuke? How do you know I have it?" Again Sasuke sighed closing his eyes for a moment and then reopening them, training them on Naruto once more.
"Apart from the fact that I've seen you use the stuff and somehow seen it come from your body, yes I can see it." The breeze quickened as it jumped across the tips of the grass. Sasuke's eyes grew wide enough for the iris to sit alone in the white and Naruto watched in complete amazement as it filled with red.
Backing up a little Naruto asked, "W-what is that?" He drank in Sasuke's eyes, all bright and alive, bound by the burning of them, still hovering over the other boy.
"The Sharingan. Right now I can see the chakra in your body."
"That's... insane..." murmured Naruto. Sasuke's mouth turned up into a smirk and he snorted a soft laugh through his nose.
"It's nothing scary if you're on my team so don't worry."
"Y-yeah..." Sasuke laughed softly again and Naruto kept watching even as Sasuke's eyes faded to black.
"What are you looking at Dobe?" asked Sasuke.
"Nothing... I was just wondering..."
"...?" Sasuke's questioning silent reply hung in the air between them.
...What your real laugh sounds like... What do you sound like when you are laughing properly? Not that soft snort or that high and mighty chuckle...
Sasuke san's laughter...
Another thing that would surely captivate him. It was all the little things that Sasuke didn't willingly share.
Naruto cleared his throat.
"I was just wondering," he repeated casually. "Are you ticklish at all Sasuke san?"
"No."
"Really?" The mischievous smile from across the river was edging onto Naruto's mouth.
"Naruto..." A warning.
Ignored.
Taking advantage of the bond they had that allowed them to do or say anything, Naruto pounced, his fingers attacking Sasuke's ribcage. Immediately Sasuke was squirming, protesting angrily at first, throwing his fists around but then was in bouts of throaty laughter, ringing out loud and clear between his insults and huge gasping breaths.
"Stop it! Stooop! Na- Na- Naruto!" Sasuke managed in protest and then grabbed the other boy and tickled him back, his fingertips scampering messily over his sides. Naruto laughed until he cried and lost all strength to tickle Sasuke any longer. He then collapsed half on top of the other boy and they lay panting, flesh to flesh until they had calmed down.
Smack! The back of Sasuke's hand flew out and hit him across the forehead with a sting that made his eyes water. Naruto rolled over, still panting and laughing softly. It was nice right now. Even though he'd been hit again, it was nice because he'd done something you shouldn't do to someone you hardly knew and it was ok. The sky was turning red above them; the colour of Sasuke's ninja eyes turned into something incredible, smeared and stretched out across the sky.
"He's having a hard time understanding why you two aren't the same with each other."
Naruto blinked lazily his mind on the person lying next to him.
Don't worry Sasuke san. You don't have to be nice to me because I can accept your cold shoulder. I know that's how you are. I know that really you care about me inside so being cold is fine. And I will keep being stupid and reckless, doing whatever I want without a second thought because you seem to like that. Tiptoeing around you, trying to force myself; you don't like that. So I'll just do whatever I feel without ordering it in my head. Without a second thought for what your reaction might be. Because you won't leave me, ne?
"What was that about Usuratonkachi? You're such a loser today," said Sasuke next to him. Naruto looked over. Sasuke didn't look mad. He was kind of smiling.
"Nothing... I just wanted to see what you are like when you laugh," replied Naruto breathily, moving his steady blue eyes back to the red sky.
"Baka."
"That's mean."
"Hn."
Naruto hummed in response, returning to his thoughts, replaying Sasuke's expression when he laughed in his head.
Just as I thought. Sasuke san holds a lot back. What else do I not know about Sasuke san?
A lot.
I wonder when and how I should start to ask him something like that... How much is Sasuke san willing to share with a stranger in the shell of his best friend? Will I ever be able to get back to the person Sasuke san knew?
Naruto lifted his hand and spread his fingers against the canvas of the sky above, imagining another face, identical to the one he had grown used to in the mirror in such a short time; the face of Uzumaki Naruto from before. He tried to picture the metal plating across his forehead.
Can that be me ever again?
Maa, only time will tell.
…
Sasuke sneezed quietly as they walked the road back to the village. His shirt was still damp with river water and now the sweat from his training was cold and dry on his neck and chest.
I better not be getting a cold, he thought to himself. The taller boy sneezed again and he felt Naruto's eyes on him.
"Your jacket would be good right now," mused Sasuke out loud.
"My jacket?"
"Yeah. You're always wearing this orange jacket... but now that I think about it, you haven't had it since the day before..." Sasuke trailed off.
"Since the day before? Before I lost my memories?"
"Yeah...something like that" A painful stab in the chest for Sasuke as he recalled that it had been longer than that. The day of the night that Naruto came looking for him in the light rain, in the dark... the day before all that was probably the last time he'd seen Naruto's beloved jacket.
"Ne, Sasuke san..." Sasuke sneezed reply.
"I lost my memories on a mission with you right?"
Ah. They'd lied to him.
"Hn." Naruto paused, thinking it seemed.
"Kakashi san said that one of the enemies tried to completely destroy my mind but got stopped. He said that you stopped him..."
Another lie. Thanks for putting the witness position on me Sensei. Now he's going to want to know what happened exactly.
"Sasuke san..."
"Hmm?" Sasuke was running scenarios through his mind. It was hard to imagine Naruto with a terrified "my mind is being destroyed!" expression.
"Thanks for saving me."
Sasuke's eyes widened and he looked to the small blonde by his side. Naruto didn't look to him. He was blushing a little, a healthy flush across his sunny skin.
A reply caught in Sasuke's throat. He took a second to get over the apology, to come up with an appropriate response. Sasuke doubted he would ever be able to easily talk back to Naruto when he said something so out of character.
"Ah... Yeah..." Nice, good work there.
It was hard to lie to Naruto when he was like that. Had he looked up would the other boy be able to see the lie on Sasuke's lips?
Silence.
Today had been ok, thought Sasuke. Unsettling as it had always been so far but ok until now. Now the atmosphere was too soft; inescapable. Naruto wanted to talk. Sasuke could tell.
"Ne Sasuke san?" God, he wished he'd stop calling his 'name'.
"What is it?"
"Can I..." Sasuke sighed at the requesting, unsure tone to cover the pathetic noise of rejection pushing at his thin line lips. Naruto never used to do that.
"Can I...I mean my house isn't... well I..."
Sasuke coughed.
"Naruto."
"Yes."
"Do you want to have dinner at my house, you might not remember but I know you can't cook," said Sasuke with a smirk to give the offer a bite, an insult for the Sasuke-Naruto effect. Naruto flushed with either anger, embarrassment or happiness. Sasuke couldn't tell anymore.
"Let's go by my place and find my jacket for you Sasuke san!"
"We don't need to."
"But you keep sneezing and when you coughed just now it sounded sore."
"You don't need to notice things like that Usuratonkachi." Sasuke felt his face heat. Naruto had been paying that much attention to him? He chanced a glance. Naruto's eyes were soft. Sasuke reddened yet again.
"Sasuke san, your face is all red. Do you have a fever?" Naruto reached his hand to Sasuke's forehead but Sasuke batted it away halfway. Dobe. So naïve. A fever...
"I'm fine. If you want your jacket we can go look for it. It's up to you."
Naruto was smiling again.
"Ok."
By the time they reached Naruto's place and had found his jacket folded neatly on a chair Sasuke was shivering and feeling weak.
Damnit. Ninja are supposed to have good endurance, a lot of stamina, and now I'm sick just from falling in the river.
The boy scowled as they neared the road that lead into the Uchiha complex.
"You don't look good Sasuke san," said Naruto suddenly. Sasuke swallowed thickly. He didn't feel good.
"Here." A warmth fell to his shoulders and he jumped as Naruto draped his jacket over Sasuke's shoulders.
"I told you I don't need it!" The young Uchiha's trembling, fatigued voice gave him away. Naruto raised his eyebrows in doubt. Sasuke glared. The jacket was removed and Sasuke shivered in its absence.
…
After they had eaten Sasuke stood with his palms on the counter top. The apron he was still wearing felt heavy on his neck.
"Sasuke san?" He looked up. Naruto's horrible worried expression was reflected in the kitchen window in front of him, the boy's whiskered face pale and clear in the pane of night time. The cold of the glass so close made Sasuke dizzy as he leaned forward to examine his complexion that was even paler than Naruto's.
"Sasuke san."
"What."
"I'm... I'm staying over!" Naruto's voice was forceful and anxious at the same time.
"No you're not," snapped Sasuke. "I don't have a place for you to sleep."
"Yes I am! You're sick and there's no one here!"
Silence. Sasuke's breath was shaky. He straightened up and looked into Naruto's face again and nearly cried out. That determination. Again. He wouldn't give up. Not with that face...
Sasuke shook his head gently.
No way... Not with him like this... The last time Naruto was here they...
"Sasuke san."
Damnit.
"You good with the floor then Dobe?" A tiny smirk was all he could manage to accompany his words.
"Fine with me." Naruto came close to him and they stood together and looked at their milky night time images. Sasuke coughed painfully.
"You should go to bed Sasuke san."
"It's still early."
"You're sick."
"No I'm not."
"Yes you are."
"No."
"Yes."
"What are you? My mother?"
"No."
"..."
"Where is you mother Sasuke san? She should be here to look after you." Sasuke clenched his teeth.
"You're right. She should be."
"..."
"Let's go to bed."
Too shaky to protest. Too scared he'd sound weak if he resisted. Being sick was horrible. Naruto had been talking down Sasuke's walls all evening and the way he was speaking it was like he wasn't even Naruto. It was like they were years back, like they had broken into another time where Sasuke couldn't see the kitchen window and in Naruto's place behind him was the shadow of a tall figure saying to him gently, "Come on Sasuke, you're sick. Let's not bother anyone; I'll put you to bed."
"Ok. Naruto," Sasuke said, saying the name to pull him back to the present.
Damn being sick. There was no good time to say "Hey Dobe, lets try get your memories back, you can count on me, I'm gonna do it!" when you're the one being lead by a small warm hand around your wrist in the wrong direction of your bedroom in your own house. There was no good time when you he was the one looking after you.
There was no good time for such a line when you were sick.
Damn.