Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Threadbare

By Cosmogyral

Thread 3:

"Hey, Neji, I think I finally get all of that philosophical crap that you've been saying all of these years."

Said man stopped the loosening of his tie and looked at the cheerful blonde. "Glad to know that my advice has been appreciated."

The sarcasm was ignored by the happy youth. "You must give in order to receive," Naruto recited.

Rolling up the sleeves of his button-up shirt, Neji curiously glanced at his friend as Naruto tied his apron. "You always give, Naruto. If you gave any more I would be worried." Reaching back, Neji tied his long black hair into a ponytail.

"No, no. Not money or anything," Naruto corrected as he searched around for gloves, "Questions. I was asking too many questions." Finally, a victorious smirk found its way to Naruto's face as he found the box containing gloves. "He didn't know who I was. How could I have expected him to answer when I didn't give him anything in return?"

"You mean 'the bastard?'"

"He's not a bastard!" was Naruto's immediate comeback. Then, actually processing what Neji said, he asked, "How do you know about him?"

"Sakura and Ino told Tenten, and Tenten told me. Not to mention Hinata." Reaching over, Neji stole the box of gloves from the blonde.

"Oh…" Naruto hadn't thought that his interest in the stoic man would be gossip-worthy. Slightly uncomfortable with the thought, Naruto changed the subject, "How are the wedding plans going?"

A frown immediately transformed Neji's face. Naruto had to contain laughter from spilling out. The blonde was amused at how quickly a simple question could change the usually pulled-together man's temper.

"They are…" Neji's sighed, like he was unwilling to admit a weakness, "…daunting."

"Ha ha. Say hello to married life, Hyuuga!" Laughing and patting the man on the back, Naruto started going to the back to grab the mashed potatoes from Sakura.

"Naruto," Neji called before he could escape, "Be careful. You know nothing about this man." Damn, Naruto thought Neji had successfully been distracted. "None of us want to see you get hurt." Looking back at Hinata's cousin, it pained Naruto to both hear and see the sincerity in his voice.

"Thanks, Neji. I'll keep that in mind." With a nod, Neji seemed to dismiss him, and Naruto slowly made his way to the stoves.

…Where he found a very intense make-out session between Sakura and the green-clad Lee.

"Ewww!" Naruto dramatized. "Get a room you two!" Being a complete, although slightly unorthodox, gentleman, Lee pulled away with a blush staining his cheeks. Sakura just gave an exasperated sigh and countered,

"You're just jealous, Naruto."

Laughing and scratching the back of this head Naruto admitted, "Yeah, you're right." With that, Lee seemed to relax and smile. Sakura fondly rolled her eyes.

"Don't worry, Naruto. The springtime of youth is kind to you! Surely you will find love!" Lee encouraged in his odd way.

Sakura sent Naruto a smile, but her eyes held a worried glint to them that Naruto didn't understand.

"Thanks, Lee. I guess I should start putting my springtime youthfulness to good use," sending the bowl-haired man a wicked look, Naruto teased, "Learn from the master, eh?" Naruto felt satisfied when Lee's face turned a bright red.

"Here," Sakura shoved a large pot of potatoes into Naruto's hands, "Take you potatoes and leave my poor boyfriend alone."

"Alright, alright, I'm going," Naruto turned and sent the two one last smirk, "just make sure you guys don't break anything." Scrambling to the serving area, Naruto barely dodged a well-aimed punch from his pink-haired friend.

Setting up next to Neji, Naruto could barely contain his excitement. Ever since the black-eyed man had thanked him, they had made progress. Naruto had started to tell the man little things about himself—how he was an orphan, how his only guardians had died, how he was striving to be an actor (hopefully he would make it to Konoha's main theatre troop someday, the ANBU). The man sat there and listened. Sometimes he nodded, other times curiosity would flicker in the black depths.

After a story about how Naruto used to play perverted jokes on his high school teacher Ebisu, leading to his love of dramatics, the man had unfocused his gaze and reached out his hand towards the blonde's face. He had stopped before he touched Naruto's whisker-like scars. Without hesitation, Naruto leaped into the story his guardians had told him since he was little. His parents had died in a car crash and he has been the only survivor. Unfortunately, the scars had never faded. That left the man silent for several days. Then one day, out of nowhere, the man had actually asked him a question.

"Why work here?" Naruto never thought that those three words would ever make him so happy.

From there, Naruto had told the story about how the owner, Iruka, had been a friend for years, and Naruto had many times had to eat here when his guardians were short on money. Besides, being homeless didn't make these people any less human. They still made good friends.

That comment earned Naruto a muffled Idiot, but there was no bitter edge to the name.

The man had even become a regular. Naruto almost looked forward to what each day would bring.

So, when hours passed and the man hadn't shown up, Naruto felt deflated with a slight twinge of irrational anger. He was actually starting to enjoy the man's quiet company. It was discouraging to think that the man didn't feel the same about Naruto's friendship. The gray-haired man with the eye patch had even come looking for the silent man.

Helping clean up the kitchen, Naruto ignored the worried glances being shot back and forth over his shoulders. Shouting a farewell to all, Naruto left to walk back home.

Keeping his eyes on the cement sidewalk, Naruto kicked a rock like a soccer ball. If he focused on the rock and the cracks in the gray cement, then his mind wouldn't drift to other things.

Having a particularly depressing thought, Naruto gave the rock a vicious kick, letting out his frustration. Hearing the pebble clank into a nearby alley, Naruto almost felt guilty for abusing the poor rock. Ambling over to the alley, Naruto intended to retrieve the mistreated stone.

Reaching the mouth of the alleyway, Naruto bent down to pick up the rock. Before his hand touched the stone, a loud clanking sounded deeper in the alley. Jumping, Naruto immediately pressed himself against one of the alley walls. His heart beat frantically and his eyes were as large as saucers. Every shift of light made his eyes dart and his nerves stand on-end. Once a couple of minutes passed with no other sound, Naruto decided it was safe to move. Creeping out, Naruto planned to run away, but his conscious got the better of him. What if it was Shikamaru? Chouji? Sai? Gaara?

Breathing deeply, Naruto calmed his heart and carefully made his way through the trash littering the ground.

"Shikamaru?" He hesitantly called. "Gaara?" When he received no answer, Naruto was desperately hoping that he had only heard a stray cat.

Finally reaching the edge of a large garbage dumpster, Naruto stopped, took a shaky breath, and peered around the edge.

He first saw scuffed and muddy socks. Those led to thin, torn jeans; and a ripped muddy jacket. Naruto almost didn't want to look any further—not wanting to confirm his suspicion. To top off the ruffed-up image, an all too familiar face lay sideways in a puddle. Gasping, Naruto took notice of the cut lip and large, dark bruises staining the even-paler-than-usual face. It was the dark-haired man from the Kitchen.

Naruto started to panic. What was he supposed to do? Looking frantically around, Naruto tried to spot anyone who could help. When no one appeared, Naruto reached out and gently shook the man's shoulder.

"Hey," Naruto whispered. When he didn't get a response, the blonde tried again, "Hey, come on. You need to wake up." As if those were magic words, heavy lids lifted to reveal the oil-pool eyes. It hurt to see. There were just as blank as when they had first met.

"Hold on," Naruto said, sounding much calmer than he felt. "Hold on. I'll—" fumbling around, Naruto tried to think of something that he could do. He didn't have a cell phone to call for help. Nobody was around...

"Okay…okay," looking down into those black orbs, Naruto made sure the man was listening, "Can you walk? It won't be far. My house is just down the street…"

The man gave a pained sigh then licked his lips and rasped, "Yeah…"

Nodding, Naruto pulled one of the man's arms around his shoulder and tried to haul the limp body to its feet. He could feel the mud on the man's side soaking into his jacket. The man grunted as he tried to find his footing. After a few tries, the duo finally steadied and made a slow limp over to Naruto's small townhouse.

Hobbling up the stairs, Naruto fiddled with his keys before finally jerking the door open. An aroma of Asian noodles assaulted their senses—attesting to Naruto's love of instant ramen. Not that Naruto noticed. Entering the moderately clean house, Naruto kicked the door closed and maneuvered his hurt companion to the kitchen table. Placing him in a chair, Naruto gently leaned him back into a somewhat comfortable position.

"Okay, hold on. I'll go get something to clean you up." Rushing out of the kitchen, Naruto went to the upstairs bathroom and gathered some towels, hydrogen peroxide, and bandages. Thumping down the stairs, and almost falling in the process, Naruto skidded into the kitchen and set his supplies down.

Slowing down, Naruto extended his hand and slowly removed the stained woolen hat. Greasy strands of black hair fanned across the man's face and stuck to the cold sweat coating the pale skin. The man didn't even flinch. Moving downward, Naruto slowly unwrapped the tie-turned-scarf that enveloped a thin but muscular neck.

Peeling off layer by layer of thin jackets, Naruto was surprised how much of the man's bulk was composed of clothing. Finally, Naruto stopped when there was only one layer left—a once tailored suit. The blonde didn't give it a second thought as he peeled that off, too. He needed to see the full extent of the damage.

Finished, Naruto winced at the dark bruising covering the thin, pale skin. Preparing himself, Naruto grabbed the towel and wet it with warm water from the sink. Returning, he started with the man's face—stopping temporarily if the man seemed in pain. Going all the way down—even to the tips of the man's fingers and toes—Naruto worked methodically, reaching for the hydrogen peroxide and band-aids when he ran into slight cuts. Luckily there didn't seem to be any major damage.

However methodical, Naruto couldn't help but admire the curvature of the slightly muscled form. Although skinny and obviously lacking in weight—there were whispered remnants of muscles from another life.

All of Sakura and Ino's hints came rushing into his mind. Blushing furiously, Naruto looked to see if the man had noticed. To his relief, the black eyes were closed.

Deciding he was finished, Naruto set down his supplies. Brushing his fingertips along the bruise covering most of the man's face, Naruto was amazed when eyes fluttered open.

"Hey, we need to move you to someplace you can sleep." Feeling awkward and nervous, Naruto asked, "Can you walk up the stairs?"

Nodding, the man quietly grunted. Naruto took that as a 'yes.'

Together the two managed to stumble up the stairs. Slowly but surely, Naruto was able to lay the almost limp man down on his bed. The damaged man was asleep before his head even hit the cotton sheets. Pulling the covers up, Naruto let his fingers linger as he took comfort in the man's deep, even breathing.

Naruto had to restrain himself. He would have liked nothing better that to shake the man awake and to demand what had happened. But, the man probably hadn't slept in a decent place, let alone a bed, in a long time. Retracting his hand, Naruto made his way back downstairs. He knew that he wouldn't be getting much sleep with the adrenaline pumping through his veins. Maybe he would wash the man's clothes and make himself a pot of coffee. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea.


Many hours and cups of coffee later, Naruto sat nursing his latest cooling cup of joe. It was well past midnight—almost nine hours since he had dragged the bruised man home at four.

Observing the sleeping man, Naruto felt chills go up his spine. He could only think of two reasons for the strong tremors. First, Neji had been right to warn him. Naruto knew next to nothing of the shadowy figure resting in his bed. The idea that he could have a criminal in his bed made the blond cringe. Second, he had to agree with Ino. This man was a sex god in poor man's clothing. Having finished washing the man's clothes, cleaning the kitchen, washing his own clothes, washing the dishes, and every other mindless thing he could think of, Naruto had been drawn back to the bedroom.

It was hard to say if the man was more mesmerizing in his sleep or when he was awake. His eyes were captivating and his wordless expressions (the ways his hands moved, his eyebrows arched, his head tilted) hinted at something deeper than rags and pale skin. Naruto hadn't even realized that he had picked up on those small things. Then again, when asleep the man looked almost innocent—like he didn't belong in any place but a castle, especially not rags. He couldn't be much older than Naruto, if not the same age. His nose arched and his jaw was sculpted in a way that only royalty could pull off. His lashes were rich black, like his hair, and lay peacefully on his soft skin. Naruto couldn't help but think of a prince turned pauper.

A rustling of the sheets broke Naruto from his trance. Resting his gaze on the shifting figure, the smaller of the two watched intensely as the man woke. He was almost amused when the man snuggled deeper into the soft pillows—then immediately stiffened in confusion. The blonde decided to give the man a break—he had had a rough day.

"You're awake." The man quickly turned to look at Naruto. Parched lips opened to say something then, seemingly deciding against it, quickly closed it. Pale eyelids squeezed over dark eyes as the man's mind registered the hurts from earlier in the day. Slowly they cracked open once more. "I found you in an alleyway close by after I left the kitchen. It's past midnight now," Naruto supplied. "Do you remember?"

The man furrowed his brows in concentration, then rasped, "A little."

"You were pretty beaten up," Naruto deadpanned.

"Yeah," the eyelids closed over the black eyes again and pale lips opened to release a sigh.

After a moment of awkward silence Naruto got up and left the room. The sound of shuffling drifted into the bedroom before he returned. Throwing a towel onto the man's back, Naruto yanked the sheets off. A groan of complaint immediately followed.

"Come on, you need a shower." Hearing the word shower, the dark haired man's lids cracked open and peered at the blonde. "It's the first door to the right, can't miss it." As the man unsteadily made to stand, Naruto suddenly started feeling bashful. Thinking quickly, Naruto decided to give the man his privacy. Walking down the stairs, he went to make another batch of coffee.

After forty-five minutes of nervously jumbling around the kitchen, Naruto had to force himself to sit down and stay away from the coffee. This only led his mind to take on different personas. Each sounded eerily like one of his friends. There was a Neji voice warning to watch out; a Sakura voice nagging that this was a bad idea; an Ino voice urging him to jump the guy; and a Lee voice encouraging him to take advantage of his springtime youth. Once he had gotten to the last voice, Naruto knew that he was in trouble.

Soft padding could be heard descending the staircase. A few moments later, the man entered Naruto's small, dim kitchen looking at the same time better and worse than ever. His hair, now without clumps of dirt and grease, framed his face in damp, silky, shoulder-length strands. Childish cowlicks dotting the back of the man's head forced clumps of black hair out in wild directions. The man's paper-white skin now had color from a mixture of the hot water and bruising; and although his clothes weren't spotless, they were obviously clean. The white, half-buttoned long-sleeve and the gray, fraying pinstripe slacks hung loosely on his shoulders and hips. At that moment, Naruto realized how much he didn't know—about everything.

The man moved to sit across from Naruto. It irritated the blonde at how quickly they went back to square one. He wanted to see the fire in those black depths like the day he had given him coffee in the alley. However, Naruto's concern and worry out-rode anything else.

"So," Naruto broke the silence, "what happened?" When he was greeted with silence, Naruto ventured a guess. "Thugs?" The man's barely perceivable shift confirmed his suspicion. "How many?" Nothing. "Two? Three?" Still nothing. "Four?" The more Naruto seemed to ask, the more distant the man became. Naruto knew they had gone through this before, but he didn't know what else he had to give. Looking into those apathetic eyes, something clicked within Naruto's mind.

"You didn't even fight back, did you?" The eyes looked up, only to fall back down a second later.

"I didn't ask you to save me."

Anger suddenly made Naruto rage to his feet. Stomping over to tower over his obsession Naruto gritted out, "Why didn't you fight back? You have muscle, you could have easily taken out two, three street thugs. They're nothing but skin a bone."

Silence fanned the fury in Naruto's stomach.

Yanking the man up by his white collar, Naruto pulled back his arm and pounded his first into the already tender flesh of the man's cheekbone.

"Do you think you're some kind of martyr?" the blonde screamed as the man's body hit the wall with a crack, looking boneless. "Like you deserve to get the shit beaten out of you?! Like you deserve to be on the streets?!" Closing the distance between the two, Naruto grabbed the pale, sturdy jaw and made those black eyes look into his roaring blue. "Nobody deserves that," he hissed. "What the hell could you have done to make you think that? Kill someone?"

Finally, Naruto felt a terrible sort of accomplishment when fury rippled in the man's black eyes, and straight, white teeth were bared in a half-snarl.

But Naruto's success was short lived.

As quickly as it had appeared, the emotion leaked out—to be replaced by an all-consuming agony. Naruto could practically feel the chill passing through the room and the willingness to live drain from the man's skin.

Naruto had said the wrong thing.

Knowing that in seconds he would lose every inch he had salvaged in these last months, Naruto acted without thought or reason—only desperation.

He leaned forward with eyes shut and enveloped the man's cool lips with his own—trying to keep the life from escaping. Naruto could feel the body stiffen in shock underneath him and the mouth under his lips inhale air from his own throat.

Pulling away slightly, Naruto opened his deep ocean eyes to look into slightly wide, murky black pools. Moving his hand away from the man's chin, Naruto moved it to trace the tender bruise on the left cheek. Brining up his other hand, Naruto caressed the other side like he would to fine silk.

Piercing those black eyes with his own, Naruto said with all the sincerity he could muster, "Nobody deserves that." Leaning forward again, the blonde tenderly kissed the man he hardly knew—his own lips massaging color back into lips pale from disuse. In a matter of moments the body pinned between him and the wall loosened and started to tremble. Retreating again, Naruto spoke to closed eyes, "I just want to make you feel."

Like drapes holding back the night sky, twin lids opened to reveal deep black windows. All of the silent man's weakness and fragility was exposed.

Breathlessly and painfully, swollen lips replied, "So do I."

The long, pale hands that Naruto had cleaned all those months ago dug into Naruto's wild blonde hair and tugged him forward as the man hesitantly fit their mouths together.

Slow and hesitant turned into slow and smoldering as Naruto blindly led them up the stairs, back into a familiar bed. As clothes were shed, Naruto took time to worship the battered body—kissing every chiseled muscle and every protruding bone and bruise.

Slow kisses soon turned quick and messy, and the heat between them only seemed to grow with each stroke of wandering hands.

The taller man took his attention away from Naruto's lips and lavished the blonde's neck in burning nips and kisses. Barely coherent and barely able to form words, it was a miracle that Naruto was able to utter a sentence. Between labored breaths he asked something that had been plaguing his mind for some time.

"Just answer one thing," a murmur on his neck signaled him to continue. "What's your name?"

The kissing stopped and the man's hands tightened around Naruto's arms. From their close proximity, Naruto could hear the man swallow thickly before meeting his eyes.

"Sasuke," he answered—worry, anxiety, fear, and expectation thrumming in his gaze.

Naruto's smile lit up the dark room. Dipping his head down, the blonde infused all of his joy, excitement, and exhilaration into the moving of their lips. He would show Sasuke what it meant to live.

"It suits you," the shorter man whispered on the corner of Sasuke's mouth. "Sasuke."

"Naruto," Sasuke echoed.

The names were whispered like secret words throughout the night—like they could solve all of life's problems.

And if said too loudly, they would break.


A/N: Yay! Another chapter for my lovely readers. So, this one is a little more intense. Hopefully it isn't' too cheesy. I tried to make it decent, but I've never written anything like this before. He he... So, yeah, tell me what you think. Reviews are much appreciated! Thank you!