AN: FINALLY I get to update! Enjoy peeps!
Sasuke continued to knead the muscles, he let out a quiet sigh and stared straight ahead, visibly showing Naruto that he wouldn't prod, but that he was there if need be.
"They had kids in there you know? Jirayah ad his boys do some sniffing around, one went undercover…" Sasuke could hear the lump in Naruto's throat.
"Well, anyway, it was a human trafficking ring, they were using children…orphans." He cut off conversation there and Sasuke felt the small shudder that went through the tanned body. He bent over Naruto's shoulder, peering into his face. Naruto had hung his head low, eyes drilling a hole into the dark wood on which one clenched fist lay. It too, was shaking.
In all truth, Sasuke never wanted to see Naruto like that ever again. To say that the man was livid was an understatement. Hate oozed out of every cell in the blonde's body. It was a frightening sight; the raven never thought that such cold, calculating hate could be seen in the usually deep, cerulean pools. Here was a very good look into the man Naruto was. A profession of crime had sculpted a perfect killing machine, yes, no doubt about it, Naruto was capable of killing id the need arose. Sasuke could easily read that in the eyes that were now boring into him. He flinched, looking away and mumbling a soft apology.
"It's me who should be sorry." Naruto grimaced, "I shouldn't darken your day with my work shit, that wasn't meant to come out."
"Naruto, nothing you can tell me will darken my day; it can only make it better."
"How so?" he cocked his head to the side and waited eyes tired and a bit sad.
"Because that means you trust me." Sasuke said simply, deciding that beating around the bush wasn't necessary. Nor was what he said a lie, he had been confused by the quick trust, ashamed of his lies, and quite intent to at least say something that was completely true. It made up for his shady life, if only a little.
"You already knew that though." Naruto winced as he took another gulp of the tea and burned his tongue. "Shit, should have sipped that." He was massaging his lips and scowling at the cup that was innocently steaming in front of him.
Sasuke let out a little laugh. "You look like a boy that…" his words died on his tongue when he caught a good look at the blonde. Apart from the disheveled look he came home with, the soft, plump lips were now effectively swollen form Naruto's rubbing. In short, he had that just-fucked look all over him. And that sat only too well with Sasuke… Much too well for the raven's comfort.
'That what?"
Sasuke cleared his throat and made his way to the freezer, peeking in, he raised his voice so that Naruto could hear him. It also gave him a comfort in hiding his flushed face from the piercing view. "Like a kid that is pissed that he was bitten by a bee that he poked at."
He heard Naruto snort at that. And when he closed the fridge, he snorted at the still scowling blonde.
"What have you got there?"
Sasuke brandished the simple ice cream stick in front of his nose. "To dull the pain."
"With sweets?"
"The alternative was an ice cube, but you don't have any made… would you prefer to wait that long?"
"…no."
"Then take this."
He seated himself in front of Naruto and rested his chin on his hand. "Does it hurt bad?"
"Like a bitch." The twist on his face told Sasuke all he needed to know.
"Show me."
Naruto's eyes widened in incomprehension. "What? Why?"
"Just stick it out." Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I wanna see if it's serious."
"It's a regular burn." Naruto rolled his eyes, "besides it's stupid."
Sasuke glared at him, raising a delicate brow. "Naruto… stick out your fucking tongue."
The blonde blushed, poking out his tongue a bit, looking everywhere but at Sasuke. "stick it out like you mean it." Sasuke growled.
Blue eyes flashed in annoyance and Naruto stuck out his tongue all the way. Sasuke peeked at it, it was a bit rosier than normal, but thankfully it wasn't a serious enough burn to bring out the med kit. He poked the tip with the frozen juice dessert and Naruto jumped a bit. "Its ok, it will dull that throb. The burn isn't nearly as serious as I thought." He murmured, running the tip over Naruto's tongue. He was glued to the way the juice melted against that tongue, dribbling down to the tip of the quivering flesh.
He realized that Naruto wasn't fidgeting or pulling away, and he raised his eyes to the blue. Naruto was just staring at him, not questioning, but curious and hazed with something that Sasuke didn't want to identify.
He pushed the ice cream in further, allowing Naruto's mouth to support it. And got up quickly. "Don't bite that, just hold it against your tongue, run the tongue over it."
"I'm not stupid Sasuke; I know how to… hold that." Naruto followed Sasuke to the bedroom, where the raven walked off to cool down. Truth was, Sasuke looked like he was about to drool just then. Clearly away in his private little world, it gave Naruto a nice opportunity to stare at the way the raven's own tongue kept flicking back to moisten his dry lips.
He stood in the doorway, enjoying the coolness on his tongue and the heat that had built up in his belly. It was a delicious cocktail of emotions, and seeing Sasuke rummage in the bags for an excuse not to look at him was even better.
"I'm going to take a shower." The raven declared, turning to face him holding a bottle and towel like a shield.
He walked quickly past him, pointedly ignoring the eyes following him. He hated the humor and the playful air that suddenly hit Naruto. At the same time, he was happy that the burn provided a distraction form the demons that Naruto was being hunted by. He had hated to see him so helplessly furious even more than the fact that he was now injured… if that could ever be called injury.
"You know…" he halted at the bathroom door, hanging his arm over his head as he leaned on the frame. Naruto had his eyebrows raised and a hellish grin on his lips, which in turn had the pink juice drooling onto his chin. "For a man that takes a bruise to the ribs with no fan fair, you sure do whine like a girl over a minor tongue burn."
Naruto scoffed at that and quickly made his way to Sasuke. "It hurts!" he whined, "and I don't get burned there a lot, so it's not a feeling I appreciate… it numbs the taste!"
"Yeah you whiny kid, for like, a day." Sasuke rolled his eyes. "And what are you saying? That you appreciate various bruising and the like?"
"You know what I'm saying precisely."
"Still makes you a girl." Sasuke smirked and shut the door in Naruto's incredulous face. "Not fair man!" He could hear behind the door as he made his way to the shower. He pulled back the curtains, looking around for the loofah and slowly stripping himself of clothes.
He peeked at his wound, it was healing good, he decided. There was a thin layer of pink flesh covering it, and while it still ached and throbbed, Sasuke figured it had more to do with the wrestling match he had with Naruto than anything else.
He hadn't meant to take long, but the soothing warmth that sleeked itself over his body was too pleasant to snap through. He relaxed with a sighed and leaned back against the cool tiles, shivering slightly at the drop of temperature.
He lathered the shampoo into his hair and groaned at how wonderful the scent was. Here was finally some privacy that he could take the mask off. He had wanted Naruto so badly there at the table. The lips were so inviting, the juice that snaked over them begged him to lick it off and by the looks of it, Naruto wouldn't be ferociously against the idea either. There was a hidden spark lurking in those eyes when they looked at him, and the suggestive way he sucked on that ice cream when he stood there nearly drove him crazy.
The thing that killed was that he knew Naruto hadn't deliberately wanted to do it. It was just how he was; everything he did looked like it was an orgasmic pleasure. Sasuke had noticed. The way the blonde ate, drank, hell, even nibbled at chips had a sensuous undertone to it, and he was completely unaware that he was doing it!
The water lost some of its heat after a while, and Sasuke stared at the drain as it slurped out the remains of the moisture before stepping out and toweling off. The side hurt, but no more now than a bad bruising, hardly something to call in the blonde for. Besides, he doubted if he could keep his hands to himself in Naruto decided to help out again. No, it was best to not do anything stupid… Anything he might later come to regret.
He brushed his teeth, and absently stepped out into the darkened room.
He realized that Naruto had dimmed the lights, leaving just enough of them on so that Sasuke could still see where he was going. He made his way to the bags and dropped his stuff inside an empty one. Then he made his way to the bed.
He put one knee on the soft mattress and looked over. Naruto was lying on his back, hands behind his head and looking up at the ceiling, eyes wide open. Something told Sasuke that Naruto was once again lost in his sorrows. Maybe he should have asked him to come in with him. He might struggle with self control, but at least Naruto would be occupied enough with mothering him that he would be too busy to let his thoughts wonder.
He lay on his side, letting the bed sink around him, and propped his head up with an arm. He didn't want to start talking; he could sense the words on the blondes tongue.
"They killed them all." It was a whisper, Sasuke barely caught the words. "They couldn't run with them so they killed them and left them there…" Naruto turned to him, mirroring Sasuke's position and looking up and down at the pale arm that Sasuke placed in front of his chest. "The kids were still tied up, some were chained to a wall and all had their throats slit. It was a clean, quick break."
"Naruto…"
'No, maybe you're right… maybe I do need to let it out of my system." Naruto smiled bitterly. "The man who was undercover was dead too, they did a test on the body, the DNA proved it."
"Why do a DNA test on…" Sasuke understood suddenly.
"That's how bad he was mutilated…" Naruto looked beyond Sasuke then, "Makes me wonder why Im in the business sometimes. A life snuffed out so quickly, and those children…"
Sasuke had nothing to say to that. He watched Naruto flop back onto his back and claim the window with his eyes. "It's not that I haven't seen shit like this before, hell, I've seen worse… but these were kids… the oldest was what, eleven?"
Sasuke didn't know what to do, he reached out a hand and stopped himself half way, as if unsure what to do with it hovering between them. He finally placed it on the arm beside him, running his thumb up and down in what he hoped to be a comfortable motion.
"So what now?"
"Nothing…" Naruto gritted his teeth, some of the anger returning. "We have no suspects, the guy we had on there is dead, obviously, so that's a dead end."
"You mean to tell me that no one knows who these people are or what they do?" Sasuke raised himself up a bit, incredulous.
"No idea… nothing was left behind except a gory mess..."
"But the man undercover must have given you some clue, surely, when he was still alive?"
"Sasuke, when you go undercover form something like that, it's impossible to contact anyone, dangerous even. You have to live and breathe like they do, and for that, it can take months, hell, even years before you can contact your side with valuable info… al we can do is hope and have faith in our colleagues that they don't turn sides."
"He didn't."
Naruto snorted. "clearly not."
"So who takes the case?"
"I wanted to… but they won't let me go undercover…"
"Because of me." It was a statement, not a question.
"Yes."
"Good."
Naruto looked like he wanted to protest but Sasuke shook his head. "Don't even bother, you might not like my point of view, but I won't change it. I'm glad they didn't let you go."
"Why do you care, even?" Naruto asked.
"I have my reasons." Sasuke smiled, snuggling into the pillow. "I know this might sound harsh Naru, but there was absolutely nothing you could do, and then, there's always tomorrow."
"For what?" Naruto's chest rose with his scoff.
"For getting even" Sasuke mumbled as he fell asleep, leaving Naruto to his own thoughts. Not hearing the soft "thank you" mumbled across his palm.