A/N: Next chap is done, which ends this fic.
Beta: Blood Zephyr
Chapter 4
Sasuke was crippled.
He lay curled on his side, one leg in his pants, one leg out, and his right hand frozen stiff in a claw of pain. The muscles in that entire arm had cramped and refused to let go. His whole body was singing loudly in pain, come to think of it, but he was happy. He tried to laugh. It came out as a hoarse croak. "Unngh…"
Naruto came over and stood with his hands on his hips. "You should see yourself."
Sasuke rolled his eyes upward, trying to look at him. "Went… ten… minutes."
Naruto snorted. "Yeah and it only took you-" he consulted his watch. "Nine and a half hours. You need to stop. You'll make yourself sick if you keep doing this."
Sasuke couldn't move. "Help… me up."
Naruto did better than that. He got an arm around Sasuke, got his pants all the way on, and carried him back to his place. Sasuke told him which pocket had his keys. Once inside, Naruto dropped him on the couch and leaned over him, bracing his hands on the back of the couch to either side of Sasuke's head. Sasuke stared up at the blue eyes, trying not to fall asleep.
"You're not going to mention this, are you?" Naruto said in a low voice. His face was very close to Sasuke's.
"Huh uh."
"Promise?"
Sasuke managed a nod. Naruto gave a half smile. Coupled with his serious look, it made Sasuke feel absurdly weaker. Needy.
He wanted to kiss Naruto.
That gave him a shot of adrenaline, which had him jumping up from the couch, which scared the hell out of Naruto.
"What the fuck, Sasuke! Jesus, you nearly gave me a heart attack just now. What's wrong with you?" Naruto rubbed at his chest, eyes wide as he stared at Sasuke.
What indeed. Sasuke stood where he was, the adrenaline already wearing off. He looked sideways at Naruto, but the expression on the blonde's face was nothing like before, so the urge to kiss him didn't come back. That was a relief.
"Sasuke?" Naruto said. He took a step in his direction.
"Nothing. Fine. I'm fine. Uh…" Sasuke contrived a wide yawn and threw his arms over his head in a stretch. "I'm tired. I should get some sleep. Are we going to practice again tomorrow?"
Naruto said nothing about the obvious attempt to get him to leave. "You need to lay off the Jack-off no Jutsu for a week at least. Let yourself recover. We can hang out tomorrow if you want, do normal practice. I'll stop by your place in the afternoon, 'kay? Unless you want me to meet you somewhere?"
"Here's good," Sasuke said.
"Kay. Round three-ish?"
Sasuke nodded. Naruto let himself out. Sasuke stumbled to the door and locked it. He leaned against it. Then he slid down it and sat on the floor, thinking.
He'd never wanted to kiss anyone. Sakura had tried to kiss him once, for which he'd punched her, but he'd never wanted to have such intimate contact with another human being. He had a few memories of seeing his father kiss his mother… but that was hardly one boy kissing another.
Sasuke twitched his shoulders in shame. Kissing another boy had to be wrong. Wanting to kiss another boy could only mean something was wrong with him. He covered his eyes and moaned.
The next morning, Sasuke diligently spent one hour practicing the Jack-Off no Jutsu. He was dismayed at both the soreness in his cock and balls and the quickness with which he finished. He barely lasted four minutes. How could he have had such a relapse over night? At least he was able to ejaculate a healthy dose of what Naruto called spunk. Sasuke gauged that there was a full teaspoon there on the floor, and not the single drop that had been coming out close to the end last night. With time he thought he could double the amount he released and have a nice large splatter like Naruto.
He only stopped because he had serious business to attend to today before he met Naruto. The blonde had made some interesting comments yesterday that needed investigating.
-oOo-
Sakura spotted Sasuke loitering outside Ino's flower shop. She quickly hid herself, hoping she hadn't been seen. Almost as soon as she spotted him though, Sasuke began walking. She followed. It was her turn to stalk him, after all.
Sasuke seemed not to have a destination in mind. He ambled along, looking at nothing, talking to no one, until he reached a book stall in the market square. Sakura hid herself behind a produce vendor.
"Sakura."
She whirled and there was Sasuke standing a foot away. He grabbed her wrist and performed Shunshin.
-oOo-
She was breathless when they landed. Sasuke had her in his clutches! She hoped he ravished her. She stood placidly by as he scanned the area for anyone else. They were near the training grounds, and they were alone. Before he turned back to her, Sakura quickly undid the first few buttons on her top, hoping to entice him further.
Sasuke turned around and was faced with Sakura's wide green eyes. Her lips were parted, her breathing rapid as if she were excited about something. Unnatural bitch. What was there to be excited about being taken someplace by someone you knew hated you?
"You know why I brought you here, right?" he said tonelessly.
"You want me." Even her voice was strained with excitement.
Sasuke blinked. He wasn't sure what she meant. By 'want' he interpreted that she expected something good to happen here. Fine. If it kept the bitch off guard, he'd play along. "Yeah."
"Oh, Sasuke!" Sakura held her hands clasped beneath her chin, eyes now the size of tennis balls. "I've saved myself for you! I'm a virgin!"
Sasuke analyzed this comment, but could find no threat in it. "Virgin?"
Sakura nodded vehemently. "I haven't let anyone else touch me."
Thoroughly confused, Sasuke debated asking what she was talking about. He decided it didn't matter, and got on with his business. "I've been holding back from really touching you because you're a team mate."
Sakura nearly died. She sighed rapturously. "Sasuke," she squealed.
"I mean, I don't think Kakashi would like me doing the things I dream about doing to you," he went on. "Or Naruto, for that matter."
Sakura knew how jealous Naruto could get. He'd always been jealous of Sasuke before he left the village. Then the knowledge that Sasuke dreamed about doing things to her made her knees weak. She stiffened them so that she could remain standing. She was close to vomiting at having her love returned at last. He wanted her! He really wanted her! Oh god!
"I know you're sickeningly strong," Sasuke was saying, "But I can take you. You've been begging for this for a long time, so I suggest you accept it and don't try to fight back. You're lucky I've decided to let you live, is all."
"Fight back? I'd never fight you, Sasuke!" The comment about letting her live sent a rush of moisture pooling between her legs. He intended to be rough with her!
"Good." Sasuke advanced swiftly.
Sakura, always so blind where Sasuke was concerned, had her eyes opened for her at last. She did fight back. It didn't help.
Sai was home. He put down his notebook at hearing the knock on his door and went to answer it. His eyes widened in shock, then he was being shoved back into the room, the door kicked shut.
Sasuke took Sai's scroll and bottle of ink first thing and threw them across the room. The paint brush went the same way. He pressed Sai against the wall, grimacing at the need to touch him. "I don't like being followed," he ground out between clenched teeth. "A fact Sakura learned not too long ago."
Sai eyed the blood on Sasuke's knuckles, the tiny droplets of it on his face and hair, and said a silent prayer for whatever condition Sakura was in. "It was her idea, not mine."
"What do you want from me?" Sasuke said. "Besides your death."
Sai met the eyes so like his own without blinking. "You."
Sasuke backed off him. That was twice now the word 'want' had been mentioned in a context he didn't understand. He narrowed his eyes at Sai. "What do you mean?"
Sai rubbed his neck and straightened up. "Just what I said. I want you."
"For what?"
"For what? Well… for companionship, I guess."
Sasuke frowned. He hated having a conversation with Sai, but he needed to understand what was going on. "We're team mates. What more do you need than that? You know I can't stand you."
"Being team mates is not the same as companionship. You seem to be into boys. I can take either or, but I'd prefer you. I always secretly thought you felt the same, since you go out of your way to hurt my feelings."
Sasuke's head was starting to spin. "What does that mean, into boys? You'd prefer me for what? You thought I felt the same as what, precisely?"
Sai regarded him thoughtfully. "I have romantic feelings for you. Sexual feelings. Some boys prefer other boys. And the way you always stare at Naruto, I figured… you know."
Sasuke felt a glimmer of understanding. He understood the word romantic. Romantic feelings. Sai had romantic feelings for him. From there he made the connection with the statement 'other boys', and it was a simple progression from that to his urge last night to kiss Naruto. He dropped the kunai he'd been hiding behind his back. Realization dawned on him with all the ceremony of a choir of angels heralding the birth of some heavenly being. He stuttered out a question. "S-so… boys can ki-uh… have feelings for other boys?"
Sai, correctly reading the awestruck look on Sasuke's face (Sasuke was staring up at the ceiling somewhere) realized he was giving his long-time crush an education. He took a few steps closer to him, glancing at where his ink and brushes lay. "Oh yes. It's actually fairly common."
The singing choir came to a screeching halt. Sasuke looked at Sai, stopping him in his tracks. "So that means you want to kiss me."
Sai ran through several lies before settling on the truth. "Yes. And more."
Sasuke didn't care what 'more' might entail. Sai had transgressed all bounds with his admission. Sasuke abruptly remembered his reason for being there, snatched up his kunai, and ran at Sai with Sharingan whirling.
Sakura got home from the hospital late. She limped into the house, trying to be as quiet as possible. Tsunade-sama had healed most of her injuries. She herself had done the rest, but she was still incredibly sore and in pain. She made it to her room and eased her door shut. She went to her window, opened it, and found Sai waiting in the branches of the tree that stood outside her house. He climbed into her room as she turned from the window to sit on her bed.
Sai was bleeding, she saw. He held his body in such a way that told her he had other injuries. She patted the space by her bed, inviting Sai to sit. When he had, she held Mystical palm over him, assessing then healing what she found.
Neither wanted to come out and admit their embarrassment. Somehow they each knew who was responsible for the other's injuries. An hour slipped by in silence. Sai was sufficiently patched up for Sakura to let him finish healing on his own. He sat staring out her window pensively. He hadn't thought Sasuke rejecting him would hurt so much, injuries aside.
"I think we should stop following Sasuke," Sakura whispered after awhile.
Sai nodded without speaking. Then he turned and kissed Sakura on the mouth, startling her. She recovered, then she succumbed, slipping her arms around Sai's neck as he guided them to a horizontal position. At least someone wanted her.
It was her last night as a virgin.
Sasuke made it home that night and found Naruto waiting in front of his door. The blonde stood up at seeing Sasuke covered in blood.
"What happened to you? I've been waiting since 3 'O clock, I thought you were going to meet me." At getting a closer look at Sasuke, Naruto put a hand on his shoulder. "You okay, man? Are you hurt?"
Sasuke shook his head, unlocking his door in the process. Naruto followed him inside.
-oOo-
This morning he'd made several clones and dispersed them throughout the village, waiting to see if Sai would follow him again. One of the clones spotted Sakura tailing it and he'd gone to that location. Before he'd finished with her, he'd gotten her to tell him that she and Sai followed him everyday. He'd been incensed, aware that his fixation on Naruto had given him a blind spot to all else. She'd screamed and begged for mercy before the end.
After dealing with Sai, he'd needed time to think. Sai's words had opened a door of possibilities in him. Realizing he needed information, he'd gone to Kakashi and asked if any of his books talked about boys loving boys. Kakashi had stared at him with that bland expression.
"Why are you asking?" his sensei had queried.
"Naruto said those books you read are about sex. Sai said he has sexual feelings for… some boy. He said boys can like boys. I want to educate myself."
"I don't read yaoi."
Sasuke had frowned. "Where can I learn more?"
Kakashi, privately trying not to laugh, but noting the blood on Sasuke's hands, managed to say, "Why don't you try Naruto? He seems to have come back with quite a bit of new knowledge."
But Sasuke hadn't asked Naruto. He'd gone off to his customary spot for watching Naruto's apartment and spent the evening thinking.
-oOo-
Now he was here with Naruto and he still had no idea what it really meant that he'd felt like kissing him. He didn't waste time thinking about it more, though. He only went to his bathroom, washed up quickly, and put on clean clothes. When he came back into the living room, he found Naruto looking around his place with admiration.
"Sweet digs," Naruto said. "You going to tell me what you were doing today?"
Sasuke ignored this to ask, "Why was I only able to go four minutes when I practiced the Jack-Off no Jutsu this morning?"
Naruto covered his mouth briefly. Sasuke thought maybe he'd been about to laugh, but the blonde's next words were serious. "Probably because you were slightly recovered. You only lasted as long as you did last night because you'd exhausted yourself. When you can go ten minutes before coming while being fresh, then you can consider yourself making progress."
Sasuke nodded, filing this information away. This jutsu was uncommonly difficult, he saw. Which ranked it right up there with Chidori. Chidori sucked you dry too. "Yosh, I want to practice again."
Naruto grinned. "Had a feeling you'd say that. If you drop dead, you can't say I didn't warn you. Want me to do it with you?"
"Yes. Like last time."
They sat side by side on the couch, units in hand, and started practicing.
