It was the smell of coffee that came to him first; rich warm and with a distinctive undertone of Hungarian spice. It wrapped around Naruto's brain like a great big fleece throw, enfolding him in happiness. The second sensation to register was softness supporting his body. It confused him. His sagging second-hand mattress had always contained one too many lumps to be considered very comfortable. Whatever it was he was lying on at the moment was incredibly soft, cushioned by clouds and had to have been stuffed with angel's feathers.
The third sensation to penetrate his unconscious mind was heavy bedding swaddling his bare chest. He snuggled deeper, seeking the lovely blanket of sleep, but his mind continued to surface from the deep pool of sleep, registering more details as consciousness casually took over.
Naruto lifted his lids slowly. He saw nothing but shadows at first, the room decorated in deep grey for all his sleep bleared azure eyes could discern. They adjusted slowly as he blinked and swiped at the corners. Finally Kyuubi kicked in and the room brightened perceptibly. Naruto yawned as his eyes began to quest around the dimly lit room.
It wasn't his bedroom, which confused the blond at first. In fact, this place bore no resemblance to his dirty, too small rat's nest.
The room was clean for one thing and neatly organized, two adjectives never associated with the chaotic cesspool he'd come to call home.
The walls were painted a deep burgundy to compliment the lush navy blue carpeting and the polished mahogany furnishings which gave the place a sophisticated sheen. A short hardwood night-side stand made of the expensive material stood at Naruto's back. On it perched some sort of clock/radio, the white glow from its digital face was the only light in the room. The blond didn't bother checking the time. He would have to get up if he did that and he was still so tired. The blond glanced to the window, covered by heavy curtains. Through a slit in the heavy fabric, Naruto could see the barest hint of pink and orange and yellow. The sunrise would be beautiful, mainly because it told him what he wanted to know. He figured it was still early enough that he could roll over one more time, skip the shower, and still make it in time to open the café on time. A win-win.
He rotated lazily from shoulder to stomach, burying his face into the pillow nearest to him, the one which had strangely enough remained untouched during the night. The unexpected smell of Uchiha Sasuke filled his senses, enveloping every node in his brain with a delicious haze. He nestled deeper, his semi-conscious brain taking in as much of that incredible smell as it could with each deep breath he took.
Something clicked and Naruto sat bolt upright, his body instantly awake. Everything swirled into focus: him running into Sasuke on the way to Shikamaru's, getting irked and forcing the raven to come along, Shikamaru's apartment, the message that had been literally torn into the wall; the overwhelming sense of responsibility, the absolute shock, losing consciousness…
"Merde!" He flung back the thick blue covers and had made it half-way to the door before realizing that he was dressed in nothing but his old orange boxers, the ugly ones with the red spirals. He'd been promising to throw them away for years now, but had never quite gotten around to it. In hindsight, Naruto kind of wished that he had, not that he really was concerned about the Uchiha; the man's retinas could explode for all he cared. But the idea that Sasuke had seen him all but naked was…odd. And he refused to walk around, unless it was in his own home, with nothing but boxers on; it just wasn't right.
Thus a frantic search for his clothing began; which was how 'the Uchiha' found him a few minutes later: tearing frantically through his bedroom, clad in nothing but a pair of ugly underwear.
Sasuke toyed briefly with the idea of letting the blond discover him on his own, because the man hadn't noticed when he'd opened the door and walked inside. But as soon as the idea had occurred to him, it was rejected. His ultimate goal, (for now and as far as it concerned the blond man) was to make Naruto more comfortable around him. So in the grand scheme of things, it would be more damaging for the blond to feel as though he were being watched and stalked.
"Your clothes are on the night-side stand, next to the alarm."
Naruto jumped and peered up from where he had knelt to look under the bed. His eyes darted to the neatly folded pile of jeans and T-shirt. They were exactly where the raven had said, in their laughably obvious locale next to the digital alarm he'd ignored from the get-go.
The blond turned back to tell the raven that he'd known where the clothing was all along, he'd just dropped something, but the doorway was already empty.
Muttering insults under his breath, Naruto quickly donned his cloths, which he noted, had been washed and padded quietly out of the bedroom.
The ever persistent smell of coffee drew him down a large and very long hallway.
For a moment Naruto wondered if the hall would ever end or if he were trapped in some sort of dream state where he'd keep walking forever and ever. But the moment padded and the blond found himself in a wide and rather Spartan living room.
The carpet was short and so white that it practically gleamed. The walls were smooth and untextured, but themed bright red and black to match all but the largest piece of furniture: a black iron framed giant with white upholstery.
A set of six Uchiwa paper fans hung on the wall closest to Naruto, juxtaposed to the massive iron inset gas fireplace on the other.
The blond slowly approached the large mantle. It reminded him sort of, of the small brick one he'd had at Iruka's. He had enjoyed many a late night mug of warmth with his foster father, soaking up both the heat and love while they talked about each other's day.
The fireplace was unlit, but it mattered little since the room was very pleasantly heated. Still, something was missing. The answer crashed down on him like a ton of bricks. What this hearth and mantle lacked more than a fire…were pictures.
Iruka had put pictures up any and everywhere he could. Naruto had tried to convince him that he didn't want his face tacked up in the bathroom, but he had failed to dissuade his proud foster father. To the blonds recollection, there had never been a time when the small brick mantel hadn't been overflowing with candid snapshots of Naruto. Naruto at a basketball game; Naruto and his first car; Naruto getting his high school diploma; Naruto and Iruka standing at the top of some windy tower; Naruto on his first date; Naruto… Maybe it had been Iruka's way of trying to make up for all those lost years in the blonds life, the years when he'd had no one to take pictures.
Naruto realized with a start that he hadn't seen a single photograph or even a family photo album. Even when he'd been walking the long hallway, only paintings and still lifes hand adorned the never-ending wall space between unlabeled doors.
What sort of man was this Uchiha Sasuke? A man with no family? No friends? Was this raven haired man who radiated confidence and poise; who ran a successful business and left three hundred dollar tips, just as alone as Naruto himself…?
Flashes of memory began to flicker to the surface, little snippets, moments that the blond hadn't even realized that he'd captured until now. Every time he'd seen Sasuke, at 'Leaf', at 'Sound', taking a walk down the street, the man had been by himself. There had never once been a companion, or a friend, or a family member, not a single time, never.
Pity swelled inside Naruto. On a strange impulse, the Uzumaki ran a hand over the empty shelf above the fireplace. His fingers came away clean, although he wasn't shocked by this. It was another indication of how sterile and empty it was; a testament to how lonely and barren the rest of this place was too. There was no warmth, no light, no real indication that anyone really lived here at all.
"What are you doing?"
Naruto, to his utter humiliation, eeped.
It wasn't a sound that he commonly made, nor would he ever in his life admit that his 'manly' vocal cords were capable of emitting such an adolescent squeak.
Unfortunately, that denial did little in the way of banishing the unfortunate habit. It would emerge at the most inconvenient times, when it was the most awkward or embarrassing…like now.
The blond turned, ignoring the ever-so slight arch to the raven's eyebrow, or the subtle upturn to one corner of Sasuke's delicate lips.
He coughed, trying to disguise the weird chirp from a moment ago as a sneeze or something less bizarre. It was fake and both men knew it, but Naruto pressed on, masking embarrassment with his quick-button anger.
"Don't sneak up on a person like that!" He pointed a finger at the raven. "I might've killed you, you jerk!"
Actually, the Uzumaki was amazed that he hadn't heard the other man's approach, even on the soft carpet. His hearing was good enough for that. At the very least he ought to have smelled Sasuke before he'd gotten so close. The man's scent was so thick around him now that it was nearly tangible. But at the same time, it wasn't overbearing. Sometimes having super smelling sucked, especially on really busy days. Sometimes the smells would get so solid that he'd have to breathe through his mouth just to keep himself from getting high off of the over applied perfumes and colognes around him. Compared to normal people, Naruto wondered when he had started to think about the raven as on a completely different level than everyone else, the man's scent was subtle, almost delightfully so.
Sasuke's smirk had disappeared, and he had chosen not to mention the unmanly noise. The Uchiha instead made the same sound that he seemed to every time Naruto got feisty. It was a sort of snort, but it came out of his mouth; it sounded something like "che" and the blond wondered if it meant that Sasuke was actually annoyed.
The raven stretched out his arm, holding out the steaming coffee mug he held in his hand out to Naruto. The strong odor of coffee rose with the thick steam, tantalizing the blond with its heavenly potency, reminding him that he really didn't hate Sasuke all that much. It had been ages since he'd had coffee, (it had been ages since he could afford coffee) and the familiar scent of that glorious caffeine beckoned. All of the blonds' ire faded, replaced quite completely with desire…for the mug in the Uchiha's hand.
"Thanks," Naruto muttered. He reached out and lifted the mug away from Sasuke, grabbing it by the lip with the very tips of his fingers. The last thing he wanted to do right now was make things awkward by random skin contact, so he avoided the possibility altogether.
If the raven was disappointed by this; he made no indication. Once the porcelain cup was safely in Naruto's hands he backed a respectful step away, giving the blond the breathing room he hadn't realized that he'd wanted until it had been given.
"What were you doing?" Sasuke repeated; his voice was low and without a trace of curiosity beyond the asking itself.
"Planting explosives," The jest was second-nature to Naruto, a defense mechanism he'd developed over the years just to get people off his back. It wasn't that the Uchiha's inquiry was such a prying one or anything like that, but the blond was on the defensive again somehow and that really ticked him off.
But at the same time he knew, as soon as he said it aloud, as soon as the raven acknowledged what his mind already pieced together; as soon as he admitted that he felt sorry for the other man, things would start falling apart. His life would crumble. All of the lines and the boundaries he'd set up for himself which were already beginning to erode would break apart and he would be left in a frightening grey area he had never been before in his life. If he acknowledged their common ground…he didn't know what would happen then. And Uzumaki Naruto was more than a little afraid of finding out.
The raven's eyes narrowed dangerously and he asked again. "What were you doing, with my fireplace?"
"Joke," Naruto held his hands up defensively, his careless smile showing none of the tumult inside. "It was a joke; jeez you are such an uptight bastard. Who jokes about planting bombs?"
The Uchiha turned away; walking towards the open arch Naruto hadn't seen when he'd entered the living room. From what Naruto could see, it led into another large room. This place was decorated with the idea of clean-up at the forefront of design motivation. The floors were dark grey tile and matched the granite countertops. The walls were a deep blue-green.
He's serious, Naruto realized with a slight shock. He's not just being a jerk about my joke. He's actually expecting someone to plant a bomb in his house. What sort of life does this guy lead? What sort of man is this Uchiha Sasuke?
"I just noticed that you don't have any pictures up on your mantle." As soon as the blond rushed through the words he turned away from Sasuke to stare at the empty wall behind him. He pretended to study the walls featureless surface with rapt interest, but inside he was sweating. He was waiting for it, curse his impulses, he was waiting for Sasuke to ask 'Wh-'
"Yeah,"
Naruto glanced over his shoulder. Sasuke had stopped, but hadn't turned. The man simply stood in the middle of the archway, his back to the Uzumaki.
"W-why not?"
He approached the other man cautiously, stopping a few feet away, close enough to reach out and touch Sasuke's shoulder…if he wanted to, which he didn't.
"It's not something I like to talk about."
"Oh," Naruto cleared his throat. Silence was becoming a common thing between them. It filled the room uncomfortably, weighing down on them both like lead. He didn't like the quiet, it reminded him too much of the years before, when all he had to talk to was the silence.
"Then let's talk about something else instead." He walked past Sasuke into the kitchen, looking back to smile broadly at the other men. "Do you have anything to put in this coffee; I really don't like it black."
"I have sugar on the counter over there," He indicated a small white ceramic dish over on the far side of the kitchen near the refrigerator, a massive stainless steel machine that was large enough to hold food for the whole city block. Maybe that was something of an overstatement, but Naruto was pretty sure it wasn't much of one. "Milk is in the refrigerator."
"What, no creamer?" The blond set his mug on a counter and stuck his head into the steel giant in search of the milk.
"No," Was all the Uchiha said. He liked his coffee black, very black and very bitter. He disliked those additives that took away from the drinks true taste, but that was a personal preference, and Uchiha Sasuke had never been one to reveal those little details about his personal preferences; at least not intentionally.
"You know…" Naruto had found the carton of 2% and was in the process of adding a generous amount to the contents of his mug. "People might like you if you actually talked a little more."
Sasuke took a sip of coffee, reveling in the hot slid of liquid down his throat. He could feel the warmth settle in his belly, it braced him somewhat, soothed him.
"People might like you if you talked a little less."
"Lies," The blond proudly proclaimed, replacing the milk and reaching for the small bowl of sweetener. The Uchiha's eyebrow rose several millimeters as Naruto added more and more sugar to his coffee. Six teaspoons of the sweet white powder was mixed in before he finally stopped. The Uzumaki turned and grinned at Sasuke, taking a long swallow of his overly sweetened beverage before he spoke again.
"The fact that I'm here is proof that you like me at least a little bit."
Sasuke really wished that the blond didn't look so smug. He took a deep breath and sipped at his drink, the clawing bit enough to stabilize his skyrocketing ire.
"It's proof that I wasn't going to leave you lying unconscious in the middle of a trashed apartment downtown."
"Oh, come on Sasuke." Naruto's grin was irksome and filled with a certain ignorance that was also amusing. "I know that you like me, at least a little."
How can you say something so blatant? The Uchiha thought. There is no way that you would be completely fine with saying anything so forward about someone's feelings for you unless you had absolutely no clue just how right you really are. So the real question is…how do I respond?
.:xXXx:.
"What if I said that you were right?"
Naruto choked on his coffee, a thin stream of the brown liquid dribbled out of his nose. He wiped it away self-consciously, glaring daggers in the Uchiha's direction. The cursed man didn't even bat an eyelash.
"What did you say?"
The raven stared at Naruto, unyielding black against crystalline blue. The blond watched pale lips part and in slow motion form words.
"I said: what if I said that you were right?"
"I…" Naruto's Adam's apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed hard. "I…don't, I mean…I can't…"
Sasuke started towards the blond, his coffee mug set down somewhere along the large expanse of countertop on the way. His steps were even and deliberately slow; they might've been menacing but for the small measure of carelessness he had added to his movements for the express purpose of keeping the blond from total panic. He didn't want the man hospitalized, it was enough for him to witness once to realize that, put under enough stress, Naruto would and could collapse, and that was not his goal.
He reached the Uzumaki who was by this time, quite literally shaking. Whether the tremors were being caused by fear or simple apprehension Sasuke wasn't altogether certain. But the man had not moved, which was a promising sign; but Sasuke wanted insurance all the same. He had a message that he wanted delivered and he would make sure that it was.
.:XX:.
He didn't know what was going on; his head was whirling around, nothing made sense. He tried making sense of what Sasuke had just said, but it didn't compute. It didn't make sense that...the man he'd spent almost every moment of their acquaintance arguing with would say something like that. He didn't know what was going on. He looked up and it was something of a shock to find the raven quickly approaching him. The instinct to run came a second too late.
Before Naruto could move to escape the Uchiha, he found himself trapped. The small of his back was pressed firmly into the unyielding granite edge while two long, strong arms bracketed his hips, confining him inside.
Sasuke's palms were flat against the cool stone and it was with some surprise that the blond realized no part of either man was actually touching the other. The raven's body hovered a fraction of an inch away, so close that Naruto could feel the other man's heat. He was hyper-aware of every breath; every movement, however minute and the blond had a feeling that that was Sasuke's goal. But he couldn't keep his senses from instinctually expanding to take in every detail of the raven. It was a defensive means, second nature to Kyuubi meant to keep Naruto safe, but in the blonds' current situation it was becoming increasingly troublesome. He could feel his powers trying to take hold, trying to trip a failsafe in his brain that would transform him, that last thing he wanted right now. If he suddenly sprouted claws, he was pretty sure that Sasuke would back off and probably let him go. But if his eyes started glowing red, his scars got black and whisker-esk, he grew fangs and started talking an octave lower in addition to the claws; Naruto was not only sure that the raven would back off and let him go, the man would probably have some sort of apathetic aneurism and figure out that he wasn't exactly normal.
It was taking all of his concentration just to keep his powers from manifesting physically; there was no way that he could push Sasuke away. Even when the brunette leaned in, he couldn't do anything but keep from instinctively reaching out and licking that creamy white skin. The urge to taste every inch of pale flesh, to feel the man's hard body, to smell that beautiful scent mingle with his own and hear every whispered breath…was growing unbearable. This was bad.
.:XX:.
Something wasn't right. Sasuke could feel the hesitation, which he had anticipated, but he hadn't expected the blond to be so docile; not during the first advance at least.
The Uchiha leaned back, still keeping Naruto in the confines of his arms, but backing off a little to study the man. The blond had his eyes squeezed shut, he was panting hard and… Sasuke's onyx orbs tracked the wash of red as it crept along Naruto's cheeks. Sasuke had noticed the blonds' strange tendency, probably a genetic trait, to blush downwards and continue to emote until something else distracted him from the self-consciousness. His curiosity was piqued slightly; a moment of fancy, the desire to see just how far down the red went.
"Stop playing games!"
Naruto's voice was strange. It was pitchy, in those three words; the blonds' voice went from deep penetrating bass, to his 'normal' voice, shaking with vibrato. The tone he used was probably meant to sound confident and angry, but with the abnormal highs and lows, it came off weak and fragile.
This was perhaps, a bit premature, but he was not mistaking the blonds' reactions. If Naruto wanted him away, then he would've pushed and cursed, not stammered and blushed. There was really only one way to tell for certain. It would be something of a gamble, but if he was right…
"This is no game." Sasuke assured. This was a calculated risk.
.:XX:.
This was bad, this was bad; this was very, very bad. Naruto could practically taste the Sasuke leaning in towards him. He knew that if he opened his eyes, the jig would be up, the man would see the red, his pupils and then his secret would be out. He could feel his nails growing, elongating; it was the same steady pressure that was building on the inside of his mouth, a warning that his fangs would start to show through.
He heard Sasuke say his name, the challenge to push him back, shove him away was there, he could hear it plainly; although, in his current state, the blond would've been able to hear a pin drop on the floor above them. He smelled the heat of the raven's body as it drew nearer, could nearly taste the stray flakes of skin that he was pretty sure Sasuke didn't know he was shedding.
And then he tasted something else. Something was pressed onto his mouth, the contact steady, but the pressure was no more than a whisper. Sudden realization blotted out Kyuubi, the niggling pull of power was completely washed from Naruto's brain, replaced by the knowledge that he was being kissed by Uchiha Sasuke.
Blue eyes popped open, wide with surprise. Shock and the absence of Kyuubi spurred his limbs into mobility. He grabbed at the man's shirtfront and pushed, keeping the raven from advancing while he backed his head away. He was surprised to find himself breathing heavily and thrust the information aside to focus on the pair of fathomless black eyes which were still a few scant centimeters away.
"I don't know what you mean about liking me." The blond cursed himself for sounding breathless. He really ought to be angry and punch the guy. That was the natural reaction; that was what he was supposed to do. But he couldn't stomach the idea.
"We barely know each other. And you can't like someone that you don't even know, not in the way you mean."
To Naruto's relief the raven backed up on his own, one…two…three steps across to the other side of the kitchen. But the intensity of the man's piercing onyx gaze hadn't backed up a step. Sasuke continued to study him closely, his expression unreadable.
"I have a proposition for you Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto felt himself swallow which did nothing for his suddenly dry mouth. But he would not show the raven just how much he felt like he'd been backed into a corner. Boldly, the blond met Sasuke's unwavering gaze, folding his arms across his chest.
"Come on, let's hear it."
If the raven was surprised by this show of bravado it didn't register on his pale perfect features. His voice was very straightforward, business-like and professional.
"One week, we will 'get to know each other', "date" if you care for that term. Allow yourself the chance to grow more accustomed to the idea."
"You're assuming that I'm gay."
"I never assume anything."
Naruto had the feeling that the raven meant it, every nuance. He also got the feeling that Sasuke was being extremely patient with him, past what he normally would. He'd probably never had to woo a single partner in his life. People were more than likely flinging themselves at the Uchiha's feet night after night, begging the man for attention. Which begged the question: why Sasuke was even bothering with him in the first place?
"And what happens after the week is up?"
"Two outcomes are possible. One," The raven presented a single pale digit to illustrate. "You will remain unconvinced and I will no longer press the subject. You will not hear from me again."
Naruto cleared his throat. "And the second?" Wearily he waited for the answer.
A second finger joined the first and then both dropped to the raven's side. "You are convinced."
The blond snorted. "What, you're not going to argue the point, try and convince me right here with descriptions of pleasure and fantasies of all the wonderful nights we would have together once I became your lover?"
"Would that sway you?" Not a muscle on the Uchiha's face twitched, nor did the pitch of his voice raise or drop a hertz. His eyes, however, only increased in their passion. "Would knowing that I could give you more pleasure than you have ever dreamed of persuade you? If I said that you would be begging for it over and over again after the first time, would you agree to try?"
Naruto hadn't realized that he was gritting his teeth until his jaw began to ache. Images of the two dancers flashed unbidden into his brain. His dream, the flashes of pleasure, the expressions of utter bliss as they touched each other. Sasuke could do more, Sauske would do more. He could make you feel better than you ever have in your life.
Pale lips caressing his skin, slender fingers curling around his aching and swollen flesh, sliding up and down, faster and faster until the pleasure was too great, too much, over and over again…
The raven frowned slightly. "I have offered the terms, what is your answer?"
.:xXXx:.
Shikamaru pounded on Naruto's door again, shaking the sturdy wood on its hinges. "Open up you idiot! It's me, come on!"
The door remained shut.
The blond was not home.
Shikamaru sunk to his knees, his forehead pressed up against the smooth timber. He was out of options. It was only a matter of time before that pair from Akatsuki tracked him here and then…he was done.
The brunette wondered fleetingly what it might be like to die. If the experience was like everyone claimed in stories; if you really saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Would Asuma be there to greet him? Would it hurt?
What was the point of running and hiding and doing all those troublesome things to avoid those two if he was just going to wind up killed anyway? He was just going to be another figure on the death statistic sheets. He would be swept under the rug and buried under a mountain of paperwork.
The Nara heard voices, two of them, coming up the steps. They were headed in his direction and they were arguing.
Shikamaru closed his eyes and fingered the long-dead cell-phone in his pocket. All for nothing…all for nothing…