Posted: December 28, 2007
Disclaimer: Do not own.
Warnings: Shounen ai, spoilers for anyone not keeping up with the manga, & AUish. Anything involving Akatsuki and bijuus after the timeskip is completely irrelevant to this story, and as such, never happened. Actually, this applies to everything after the timeskip except the part where Naruto, Sakura, and Sai meet up with Sasuke.
General: Takes place after chapter 308 for those of you that are keeping up with the manga.
Thank yous: peachie-x and Nox (betas) as well as everyone who has reviewed SF. Much love!
Summary: The invisibility started with one silly wish upon a star. Good thing Sasuke's doormat personality, Sai's attempts at matchmaking, and a mission gone wrong were all quite normal in the life of Naruto Uzumaki... Wait. What? SasuNaru
Previously:
"After what seemed an eternity, Naruto fell asleep again. When he was deep within the dreams of his memories, Sasuke leaned forward and placed a kiss on the blonde's temple, where he whispered, and choked out, and sobbed, "Yeah, I know."
…It was always worth it…"
Surface Flaws
Chapter XIV
When you left you
left with me
A dream no longer reality
I live the shadows of
our past
With this love that's born to last
I guess I'll
always love you
You've got the love I need
You've got the love
I need
- I Guess I'll Always Love You (The Supremes)
"-you home. And he'll be in charge of you. Sakura will stop by daily for check… Are you even listening to me?" Tsunade snapped her fingers irritably in front of Naruto's face, triggering a blink from the distracted blonde. He scrunched his nose and glared at her, though the look was mild at best.
Snapping. Tsunade had been doing a lot of that lately and Naruto completely did not mind, even if he led the female Sannin to believe the opposite. It was a fine improvement from being whacked upside the head on a regular basis. As a bonus to her, it caught his attention in an irritating fashion without impeding the progress Naruto had made in overcoming his paralysis.
"Why would I listen to you when all you're doing is yapping away and not getting to the point?" Naruto retorted with a wiggle of his toes, a tilt of his head, and a challenging grin.
He was paralysed.
"Because all my 'yapping' as you're calling it is to give you some sort of understanding as to what is going on, brat." Tsunade's fingers flexed ominously around the clipboard she held in front of her. But it was a waste of her time. The blonde had already tuned her out - as he was prone to doing these days -, and had instead focused his attention upon the vase of flowers beside his bed - daisies. They had some sort of sentimental meaning behind them, and had Naruto actually been listening to Ino rattle on during her visit, he would know what that meaning was.
At the time though, he had been too caught up in himself to pay her, or anyone else for that matter, any heed - Gai and Lee had been the exceptions. Naruto glanced fondly at the green jumpsuit they had left him and swore to himself that the minute he could, he would slide into it and wear it in place of his dingy white hospital issue gown.
…The minute he could…
A long sigh passed his lips and Naruto's gaze drifted back to the daisies and all the people he had been so rude to when their only purpose had been to offer comfort and support.
He was paralysed. From the neck down. And yes he had moped and demanded to be alone and cried and pretty much hated the hand his life had dealt him and ignored the small blessing that he could speak and glare and laugh… for about two days. Then it had struck him - in the form of a very offensive, but badly needed, 'Get Well' card from Sai that happened to be leaning against the vase of daisies - that laying motionless in a stuffy sterile room was going to do nothing to improve his situation.
In fact, moping would probably do no more than exacerbate it.
A week after that revelation, Naruto - stubborn and determined and optimistic as he was - had managed to gain movement and feeling in his toes. And two weeks after that he had been able to move his neck, which was a blessing among blessings because having a conversation with people that were pacing at the end of his bed was frustrating beyond all comprehension at best when he couldn't follow their movements, let alone see them.
While his unwavering resolution helped immensely, in the end his gradual improvement was all due to the simple blessing that Itachi had returned the Kyuubi to Naruto's body when the extraction jutsu had failed.
Tsunade had tried to explain to Naruto what had happened. First she had told him that the Kyuubi's removal had severely damaged his chakra systems. But, she had added, that wasn't the cause of his paralysis, because upon being returned to Naruto's body, the Kyuubi had reconstructed Naruto's chakra systems entirely in the span of two days.
("Absolutelyamazing!"
"Absolutely do not care.")
After a reverent moment of marvelling over the Kyuubi's expansive abilities - despite Naruto's voiced disinterest -, Tsunade moved on. What had left Naruto a quadriplegic was the damage the jutsu had inflicted upon his neurons, at which point Naruto had loudly reminded Tsunade that 'He didn't have a damn clue what the hell neurons were.'
("Check a dictionary then!"
"How the hell am I supposed to read it if I can't even hold it, hag?!"
"You have friends; get one of them to do it."
"What? You too old to waste five seconds telling me what neurons are?"
"You litt--")
After things had cooled down a bit, Tsunade began to use Orochimaru's deadened arms from long ago as a way of giving Naruto something to compare his situation to. She never finished; there was no point speaking over Naruto while he chewed her head off for even mentioning 'that bastard snake'.
Persevering, Tsunade then tried a new approach, one that Naruto at least somewhat understood, though thinking about it still gave him a headache. Essentially, the Kyuubi was attempting to heal all the damaged neurons throughout Naruto's body - Tsunade's exact words -, which could take forever if the demon didn't instead focus all it's energy on healing certain sections at a time.
("And how're ya gonna give the Kyuubi tips on healing neurons? Be--"
"Are you listening to a word I'm sa--"
"--cause I sure as hell can't. I don't even know what neurons are…"
"We've had this discussion, brat. Now listen to m--"
"Because you're too old to remember!"
"Uzumak--")
Another silence had consumed the pair while Tsunade sat in the corner of the room farthest from Naruto until she had her temper in check. When she was ready, the Hokage had dumbed down her explanation to a point that Naruto clearly understood.
("Help direct the fox's chakra to specific points in your body; it will shorten your healing process by months. Try starting with the toes. Understood?"
"Yeah, okay."
"…"
"What?"
"Nothing… I'm just surprised…"
"Because I didn't ask you what the hell neurons are, right?"
"Yes…"
"I've figured it's a waste of time asking you, so I'm gonna ask Sakura-chan. She's better at explaining things anyway."
"I swear, brat! One day I am going t--")
A hand appeared before Naruto's face and snapped. Reacting purely on impulse, he turned an irritable glare on Tsunade as she said, "I'm not speaking for the good of my health."
"I understand what's going on," Naruto retorted in a rude tone that simply screamed 'I'm a know-it-all teenager.' "I'm a lucky bastard like no other and somehow Kyuubi was returned to my body," he recited, mimicking Tsunade's voice, "and he's now healing myneurons.Slowly but surely."
Offering a cheeky grin, the blonde nodded his head conclusively; that about summed his situation up. And by summed up, he meant paraphrased it to an almost unrecognizable extent.
Tsunade snorted and walked around to the other side of Naruto's bed. The clicking of her heeled shoes echoed loudly in the clinical environment. "If the progress you're making was slow you would still be fighting to make your toes budge an inch. If you were anyone but you, your toes would never budge an inch. Quit being melodramatic," she instructed with no sympathy.
And while her tone was harsh, Naruto could see the relief in Tsunade's eyes as she offhandedly placed her clipboard on his bedside table, ignoring him when he indignantly yelped, "Oi!"
There was a relaxed quality to her body language that had been absent the first week or so he had been actually awake in the hospital. When there had once been ridged almost militant steps and averted eyes, there were now comfortable shuffling and confident eye contact.
It dispensed the discomforting notion that perhaps he could die at any moment.
For a while he had honestly thought that he would. Or worse, remain a quadriplegic forever, end his ninja career, and never take over for the hag as Hokage.
"I can't believe no one's opened the curtains for you yet," Tsunade said suddenly as she marched to the windows and drew back the dreary white blinds with a flourish. Grinning, she glanced over her shoulder at Naruto to watch in amusement as he squinted against the unexpected sunlight.
"Gah, can't you leave them closed?" Naruto whined as he turned his head away from the windows as quickly as possible. "Some people don't have the privilege of being able to use their hands to shield their eyes."
Picking up her clipboard, Tsunade levelled Naruto with a firm glare. "I thought I told you to quit being melodramatic."
"And I'm telling you to close the blinds."
The woman scoffed at the demand and made her way back around Naruto's bed and to the door, her shoes clacking on the floor seeming considerably less loud against the low hum of Naruto's groaning and whining.
"Sasuke should be here in about twenty minutes to take you home," she said and, smirking almost imperceptibly, slipped out of the room.
Naruto's outraged squawk of "What?!" went completely ignored.
-----
Naruto under Sasuke's care: Week 1
"I'mnot eating your disgusting baby food!" Naruto hissed, seething as Sasuke shoved a spoonful of mush at his mouth. It wasn't even decent tasting mush. In fact, he suspected cat piss probably tasted better. If Naruto hadn't been so busy sealing his lips against Sasuke's assault he definitely would have told the other boy as much.
"For the last time, it's not baby food, you idiot," Sasuke drawled, his tone about as bland as the piss he was trying to pass off as food, "It's nutrient enhanced apple sauce."
"Mmph mph mm mmph," Naruto intoned through his tightly closed mouth before turning his head away from Sasuke stubbornly. As if calling it 'nutrient enhanced apple sauce' was going to make it taste any better. Just because Naruto couldn't move didn't mean he was required to take orders from Sasuke like some… well-trained dog.
In case the idiot had forgotten somewhere along the way, Naruto still had free will and his sharp mind.
When Sasuke let out a dramatic, drawn out, irritated breath, Naruto chanced a glance back at the brunette and had a spoon practicallyslammed through his line of defence - his lips - and down his throat.
He had no choice but to swallow. Well, he did, but the alternative to swallowing was choking.
…Or he could do neither…
Swishing the mush around in his mouth, Naruto tried not to smirk all dastardly-like. This meant war! If that bastard thought for one second that he was going to get away with force-feeding Naruto Uzumaki…
Lips splitting into a menacing grin, Naruto winked at Sasuke then spit, hurled, spewed the piss coloured, nutrient enhanced blend at the brunette, aiming for his beady little eyes, which weren't so beady anymore. To be exact, they were stretching over the expanse of his face with alarmed comprehension.
In the end, Naruto was quite pleased with Sasuke's girly squeak and the gob of crap hanging from his immaculately styled locks.
On the downside, there was apple sauce all down Naruto's front and on his covers, and soaking into his thin t-shirt.
For his part, Sasuke was being extremely well-behaved. While he eyed Naruto with a murderous glare, he also said nothing and replaced the spoon in the bowl.
"If you try to feed me any more of that crap, I will bite off your fingers," Naruto threatened as Sasuke placed the bowl down on the nightstand a little too hard. Steeling his jaw, the brunette pulled Naruto to his chest and adjusted his limp comrade into a lying position.
Naruto grimaced when dark strands of hair slimed over with 'apple sauce' brushed against his cheeks. The bastard was doing that on purpose; he knew it.
"Quit whining," Sasuke said in monotone as he reached over to the bedside nightstand and collected the sheets of paper towel he had brought. Scowling, he began roughly wiping Naruto's chin free of the disgusting 'food'.
The protests and indignant retorts Naruto began spouting were muffled and lost as his face was prodded and rubbed. Really, he supposed death may have been better than this. Sasuke enjoyed playing nurse a little too much.
And that more than anything pissed Naruto off.
"You know, I've seen infants that are less messy and picky than you."
…If Naruto had been able to really move…
"Yeah? Well infants don't know any better than baby f-" "Apple sauce" "-ood, bastard," Naruto countered, completely ignoring Sasuke's correction and imagining all the ways he would kill the bastard when he was able to move again.
Yeah, that sounded right. When he was able to move again!
On automatic, Sasuke tossed the soiled paper towels to the side of the bed Naruto wasn't occupying and grabbed for a handful of clean sheets. He was taking in the mess all down Naruto's shirt and his expression was delightfully unpleasant. Naruto smirked.
"Lovely," Sasuke muttered to himself after a moment, dutifully grabbing for the hem of his teammate's shirt, but not without an extremely aggravated huff.
Grudgingly - and without blushing! -, Naruto allowed Sasuke to remove his shirt, but not without some muttered threats about Sasuke keeping his hands to himself, to which Sasuke replied, "Quit flattering yourself."
"You're a complete bastard!" Naruto informed his caretaker furiously, worked up because he knew Sasuke wasn't being gentle with his numb body.
The Uchiha stared down at him with a dry expression, not pausing his work. "So you've said on multiple occasions," he taunted. There was a hard glimmer in his eyes that set Naruto's already flickering temper aflame and the blonde nearly saw red.
So Sasuke didn't give a shit. They had definitely already established that, and he would be damned if he wasn't going to get the last word this time.
It was too late for Naruto to convince himself that he didn't care either. He had told the bastard that he loved him after all. Though, in his current situation, he couldn't figure out why.
Releasing a bored groan, Sasuke moved off the bed and scanned Naruto. The blonde didn't flinch under the gaze, only glanced pointedly at the crumpled ball of paper towel beside him, sitting on his bed.
"As if you can even use that side of the bed," Sasuke grouched, but nonetheless moved back onto the bed. Absently he leaned over Naruto, reaching for the paper towels.
There was no way he could have seen it coming when Naruto snapped his head up, aiming a direct blow to the Uchiha's precious jewels.
There was also no way he could have muffled the pained yowl that tore itself from his throat, nor could he have prevented Naruto cackling with mirth despite the pain shooting through his neck from the strenuous movement.
There was a dull thump as Sasuke rolled off the bed in pain and Naruto's cackles grew. All right, so there was no way the blonde would be getting the last word in through his consuming laughter, but who wanted the last word when you could get the last laugh, right?
When the door slammed behind Sasuke, Naruto was absolutely howling.
-----
Naruto under Sasuke's care: Week 3
"Can you feel anything?" Sakura asked gently as she ran a pencil lightly across the bottom of Naruto's foot. On the other side of the room, Sasuke was sitting with his arms crossed tightly over his chest while he watched with a blank expression.
Naruto let out a breath of air and nodded his head. "Yeah," he told her in a shaky tone. "Yeah, I can feel it."
Beneath the blankets his fingers curled loosely into a fist and he tried so hard to keep in the fear that was pumping through his body. It was the only sensation he could feel really, the sharp spikes of adrenalin rushing through him. Besides that the only things he felt were the pencil on the bottom of his foot, the collar of his shirt on his neck, and the soft pads of his fingers against his palm.
"And has there been any more mobility with your hands? Like being able to move your wrist?" Sakura inquired, pulling the blanket back just as Naruto's hand fell limp. The blonde shook his head and swallowed roughly as shots of pain pierced and soared through his fingers like tiny arrows.
A sweat was beginning to form on his brow and Naruto pressed his head against his pillow as the pain intensified, trying to deny that it was there. "I'm fine," he told Sakura in a strangled voice, "It just smarts a bit sometimes, just like you and the hag said it would."
Unsure, Sakura nodded and placed a cool hand to his forehead, stroking his hair back. He could tell that she was looking right through him. There was no way she couldn't after everything they had gone through together.
Nevertheless, she finally hummed her agreement, the sound resonating in the back of her throat and somehow vibrating through Naruto like a wave of relief. She wasn't going to call him on his lie and tell him that he wasn't fine. And, somehow, that lessened the pain more than any drug could. Bending at the waist so their faces were inches apart, Sakura offered him a sympathetic smile.
"I've got to get going," she told him softly. "Everything looks good though. You're improving steadily even if it doesn't seem like it." Her tone brightened and she placed a kiss to his forehead.
Warmth bubbled in his chest and Naruto let out a contented sigh; it was the closest he could come to putting his appreciation of her into words. And it seemed she understood that because she suddenly nuzzled her face into his forehead and whispered something Naruto couldn't quite catch - something Naruto figured he wasn't meant to catch.
Pulling back and tweaking his nose affectionately, Sakura added, "Don't get too discouraged by the pain, hey?"
"It means I'm regaining my feeling and some medical babble about Kyuubi and neurons." Naruto's eyes twinkled despite the throb in his hands.
It was worth it when Sakura giggled indulgently and ruffled his hair. And while he was relaxed, Naruto couldn't help the way his smile waned the second her back was turned. She was walking away - heading towards the table near his bedroom door.
He wanted to beg her to stay. Not because he needed her, but because he was scared and because he wanted her to finally tell him that this wouldn't last forever. A craving coiled within him - a yearning to hear something more assuring than 'You're improving steadily'.
He wanted a promise that he would finally reach one hundred percent.
With all her notes and books on him and paralysis gathered in her arms, Sakura spun around to face him and Naruto managed to brighten his smile and nod his head reassuringly when she said, "See you two later," before leaving with no promises of complete recovery.
When she was gone Sasuke rushed in all frowning lips and worried eyes and Naruto couldn't help but wonder if he was really that transparent.
"I'm okay," he whispered as the dark-haired boy gathered him into his arms and held him gently.
Sasuke buried his face in Naruto's neck, inhaling deeply. "I know," he agreed quietly, his lips brushing Naruto's skin as he spoke.
And wasn't it an improvement that he could at least feel that?
"I'm okay," Naruto repeated, his whisper sounding weaker than before. "I'm not going to be stuck like this for forever, right?" he whimpered, his head collapsing so his chin was settled on Sasuke's head.
He had this strange idea that his body was trembling. But that was impossible because he couldn't move.
"Not forever."
Was Sasuke trembling?
"Soon?"
They both pretended Naruto's voice hadn't cracked. And Naruto pretended that he hadn't realized that Sasuke was… crying? He couldn't be.
"Soon," Sasuke confirmed. "Soon."
He…was.
Naruto blinked and realized there were tears in his eyes too. "You're not lea…" he tried to ask as his throat clenched tightly and his body thrummed with sorrow.
"Never again."
Naruto let out a choked sob - covered Sasuke's sniffling - and not another word was said.
-----
Naruto under Sasuke's care: Week 7
Fire scraped over his body, sparking as it went and leaving him in a heated discomfort. There was nowhere to run. All around there were bars. To his left, to his right, in front, behind - nothing but bars. Huge, looming bars.
The fire reached his stomach and settled there, digging into him and biting into him like nails, pulling at his skin and clawing and tearing like teeth. He tried to call for help but his throat was burning and clogging up with flames. There was no room for his tiny words of desperation to pass through.
He opened his eyes and saw nothing but a thick red smoke. It crawled behind his eyelids and into his head, clouding his mind and pushing a searing pain through his skull. His teeth clanked together - tick tick tick tick - like the warning of a bomb about to explode and the blaze began spilling over - 'over what?' - and into his mouth.
Then the words exploded from him, filling the air with a scorching sentence. "What don't I get?"
His eyes snapped open - 'when had they close?'- and the smoke was gone. The fire was gone. Instead he was surrounded by cacti, each one pressing sharp tiny needles into his skin. Sasuke stood just beyond the garden of deadly plants, watching with little expression as the needles grew and pulsed, injecting pain into him like nurses inject numbness into their patients.
He growled as the plants tightened around him and the needles sunk in deeper, filling him further with the clashing vibrations of pain and numb.
"It was always worth it," Sasuke said and he looked aggravated, but in a very apathetic way - 'was that possible?'. Could Sasuke not see him? Being speared through by the lethal plants?
"What though?" The scream ripped its way from his mouth in the same way a forest of needles ripped free of his stomach, white like teeth and dripping saliva.
They snarled and suddenly formed the red head of a fox.
Kyuubi.
It stared up at him with glowing red eyes, black at their core and bottomless - infinite.
"Quit. Standing. Still."
Ink dripped from his eyes like tears and he shuddered, staring down at the red demon that possessed glowing eyes and snapping teeth. The ink - his tears - rolled down his cheeks. They dropped to the fox one after another, sizzling and forming into simple symbols that began pushing Kyuubi back into his stomach.
Stop.
The phrase echoed in his mind as Sasuke shouted from beyond the cacti, "It was always worth it," over and over and over until it sounded like he was chanting. The beast that had emerged from him screamed, a high-pitched blood-curdling scream - 'but someone else is screaming. Me?' -, and slowly melted back into his body, trapped behind bars of ink.
"Naruto."
He stepped into a cactus and ignored the piercing pain and injection of numbness.
"Sasuke."
He passed it and fell forward.
"Naruto."
Another cactus appeared.
"I'm coming."
His head began shaking from side to side and a ragged whimper fell from his lips, falling to the ground in a spatter of ink. The ink rearranged itself into bars and suddenly a path appeared as the cacti were pushed back by the symbols just as the fox had been.
At the end of the path was Sasuke, standing serenely, his head raised to the sky and his eyes closed. "Hurry," he whispered and Naruto ran, stumbled over himself in his rush to reach the boy.
"Hurry," he whispered and Naruto had no choice but to obey. His heart pounded in his chest, loud and deafening like a drum. Boom boom boom
"Hurry," he whispered and Naruto tripped over himself falling the last few steps and wincing when the skin on his knees peeled back. No blood. - 'Should it hurt?' -
"I'm here," he said quietly when he was finally standing in front of the other boy.
Sasuke lowered his chin, drifted down until he was no longer looking at the sky, and his eyes snapped open, red like blood and suddenly the moon was red, and a sinister shine reflected off Sasuke's, no Itachi's face.
"Hello."
Naruto woke up screaming. Sasuke's face was pushed close to his and he was cradling Naruto's scarred cheeks in his hands. "Naruto," he breathed in a panicked voice.
His eyes flickered all over Naruto's features - each whisper-shaped scar, two blue eyes, top lip, bottom lip, childish nose, blonde eyebrows -, almost reaffirming that he was really awake and okay and the blonde offered a shaky smile.
"Sorry," he tried to say, but all that came out was a terrified breath of air.
Sasuke shook his head and his expression slowly became calmer as he realized that Naruto was really awake and okay. "It's fine. Go back to sleep," he said soothingly, "I'll be here when you wake up again and then you can have some baby food."
Naruto fought back an exhausted smiled and faked a scowl. "Hate that stuff," he muttered as he let his head loll to the side and his eyes close. He felt Sasuke settling down beside him and, trembling, reached out and grabbed the other boy's hand. It didn't matter that the movement ached like no other.
All that mattered was that he was able to do so.
Besides, the pain would go away.
-----
Naruto under Sasuke's care: Week 12
"I can feed myself, bastard," Naruto griped as Sasuke gathered some ramen noodles with his chopsticks and held them out to Naruto. The blonde lifted his arms and tried to grab for the eating utensils but Sasuke's reflexes hadn't been set back by almost four months of paralysis, and thus he avoided the swipe without dropping a single noodle.
"You're overestimating your competence," the brunette taunted, taking advantage of the outraged gape on Naruto's face and shoving the food into the boy's mouth.
"M'not!" Naruto protested as he practically inhaled the noodles. "My arms are perfectly fine, asshole. Sakura said so!"
Sasuke laughed dryly and set the chopsticks in the ramen cup. "If you keep arguing you'll be back to eating nutrient enhanced apple sauce," he threatened. And while his voice was completely serious and his mouth showed no traces of a smirk, the tiniest trace of crinkling around his eyes hinted towards his amusement.
Naruto pretended to be horrified by this prospect. "If I end up dying ofmalnourishment I will haunt you until the day you die."
"It's your fault for being so picky," Sasuke reasoned with a bland shrug as he placed the ramen cup on the nightstand. "I made ramen today because I thought it would shut you up," he drawled and moved to straddle Naruto without actually putting any weight on him.
"Quit being so optimistic then," Naruto managed to retort without his voice breaking because Sasuke hadn't done anything like this yet - not since the mission. Oh, he'd been touchy feely, but that was part of the job description. You couldn't very well clean someone after you force-fed them without touching them. A tiny voice reminded Naruto that you couldn't comfort them properly either.
The corner of Sasuke's lip lifted minutely. "Why the sudden nervousness?" he asked innocently as he shifted from Naruto's knees to his lower thighs.
"Oi! Personal bubble!" The blonde objected, choosing to completely ignore the question. "You're in mine so get out."
Sasuke scoffed and moved nearer again just to be an ass. "And why should I? You never get out of mine when I want you to."
And wasn't that the funniest observation he had ever heard.
"That's because you're stuffy and it does you a little a good," Naruto informed Sasuke condescendingly. "Besides, you always go all weird on me when you're this close." Here a tiny, almost knowing smile tugged at Naruto's lips.
Sasuke mirrored the look and leaned in even further - leaned in until his nose was nearly touching his blonde counterpart's.
"Don't try to tell me you don't like it," the Uchiha said with a mocking grin. Naruto's hands flexed around the sheets on his bed and he absolutely did not unthinkingly moved the slightest bit toward Sasuke…
…
Well, he might have just a teeny tiny bit…
His vision swam and suddenly his breath came in short little huffs and all he could think about was kissing Sasuke kissing Sasuke kissing Sasuke. "All right, I won't then," he said, breathless. And hell if Sasuke's soft breaths didn't feel warm and perfect against his skin.
And he really wished the bastard would just get on with it and kiss him. Because he definitely wasn't going to sit like this all day waiting for Uchiha Sasuke decide he was… ready... to… make… his…
Move.
Well that felt nice, Naruto thought to himself when Sasuke's lips were finally upon his, soft and gentle and unassuming. It was a light press and that was it. It was wet and nothing special and their noses were pressed together rather painfully. All the same, Naruto thought he was going to faint.
And that's what made it so perfect.
That's why Naruto loved him.
"You should get some sleep," Sasuke said suddenly, and Naruto realized the boy had pulled away and he had had no idea.
Blinking dazedly, the blonde nodded his head absently. "Yeah."
He was asleep before Sasuke had laid him down.
-----
Naruto under Sasuke's care: Week 17
Naruto was sleeping. And he didn't look like an angel. The sun wasn't shining through his window and illuminating his golden hair like a halo. In fact his hair wasn't a golden blonde so much as an overwhelmingly obnoxious blonde.
But that was okay because it suited him.
Though, in all honesty, Naruto's personality was obnoxious enough on its own.
Naruto was sleeping. It would have been nice if there had been a soft smile on his face, or some sort of serene expression at least. But there wasn't. There was only a thumb in his mouth and a viscous strand of saliva peeking out from the corner of his lips.
All in all it wasn't a pretty sight.
But that was okay, because Naruto was sleeping.
And so Sasuke could finally say the one thing he'd been meaning to tell his friend for quite some time.
"I love you, too."
AN: First off, I'd like to thank everyone that has reviewed Surface Flaws as well as the many people who have added it to their C2s. I'm absolutely flabbergasted by the success of this story! Every favourite, alert, C2 add, and review makes me absolutely glow and bubble!!! Thank you sososososososo much!
Also, I wanted to say OMFG I'M SO SORRY FOR HOW LONG THIS CHAPTER TOOK TO GET OUT!!!!
3-2-1
EXCUSE TIEM!!!
Is it any consolation that this chapter has had 8 rewrites? And that Since October I have been dancing from 9-5 Sunday through Friday? And that for the first two weeks of December I was doing nothing but sleeping and performing? Oh yeah, and that listening to Mika completely took over my life. Not to mention that I discovered Doctor Who! (Shameless Plug: Watch it!) And feeding the fish (WHUT FISH?) takes forever!!1!1 Oh yeah. I had to shave my legs and armpits between all that crap! Tiem management why have you failed me!?!?! (Lol, I haven't shaved my legs since September when short season went out of fashion XDD)
…
Wow, that totally sounds like I'm trying to win an award for the busiest schedule. LOLOLOL TRYING TO WIN? I'VE ALREADY WON!
Just kidding.
But seriously, I've been pining away over how I was going to write this chapter for quite some time. I'm absolutely sorry for the wait and that's about it!
EPILOGUE: COMING SOON!
