Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective author. The original characters and plot are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. No copyright infringement is intended.

As usual, Lemon links on my page.

The shuffling of fabric moving on skin, the rustles and creaks as the bed shifts with loss of weight, the pounding of fast, heavy feet hitting the floor, the sound of a door swinging open strong enough to bang against the wall; the sounds of Naruto every morning.

Sasuke Uchiha never got a good nights rest anymore. Even then, as he sat up in bed and watched the open door for his lover to return, he could here Naruto in the bathroom, doing what he did every day. It almost always woke them up. The sickness. The urgency of it required that the blond didn't think about Sasuke, who likes to sleep late on days like this – and every other day too – when he isn't due for a mission. No, this selfish whatever-it-is always decided to drag his boyfriend away at the worst possible times. Sasuke hated it.

A good thing was though, that in the two months which had passed since Naruto's sickness started, his temperament had actually relaxed. He was much calmer now and the mood swings came rarely. Sasuke supposed he was getting better. Though he couldn't speak of it as normal for his blond boyfriend to act calm.

Naruto stumbled through the door again and flopped down on the comforter. He was very pale and stank of sickness. He felt it too, the burning the in the back of his throat. He groaned as he buried his head on Sasuke's chest. Sasuke groaned too as he let his body fall back down onto the bed. They would get up now. They always did.

"Hey Sasuke? Is it tonight that Gaara's arriving?"

"Yeh." They were having a party for the sand siblings. It was just an excuse really; to party. Sasuke didn't want to go but Naruto was adamant. The blond always got his way when he was like that.

"What time is it?" he moaned before letting a long yawn escape him. Sasuke wasn't sure that he wanted to know, but nevertheless he turned his head to the alarm clock at the side of his luxury bed.

6.27

"Its half past six, let's get up." It wasn't as if Sasuke wanted to get up. He just didn't like to lay awake in bed and there was no way he would get to sleep after listening to what Naruto had just done. Sasuke often felt very selfish; he cared so much for his sleep that he would forget how bad it must have been for Naruto.

Naruto was the first to the kitchen – after racing Sasuke to the shower and putting clothes on – and he felt rather proud. Just as he was about to grab his breakfast, the doorbell rang. After shouting 'just coming,' though he was sure they wouldn't hear him from nearly the opposite side of the mansion, he ran to the door and hastily unlocked it before swinging It open to reveal who would be at the house at such a time in the morning.

"Hello, Brat." Tsunade started cheerfully. "I took into consideration your condition and decided that now would be an appropriate time to invite myself to your home. I hope I didn't wake you up; you did say that you were usually woken up around this time anyways."

"Oh no! I was already awake. Come in old hag! I'm just making myself breakfast, do you want something?" He spoke as he led the older blonde through the beautiful house.

"No thanks I just stopped by to see how you were." Truthfully she had come to check up on Naruto inconspicuously. It unnerved her how ill he was and that it was ongoing, yet she had never seen anything quite like it. It seemed to be just a bug, but the changes in his personality were strange. She had hoped to pick up on other symptoms whilst she was visiting.

The kitchen was rather basic; a large breakfast bar in the centre, large windows leading out into the porch at the back and a hue of blacks and whites on the appliances made the room look lavish as well as very clean. Tsunade took a seat at the bar and watched the boy as he prepared something to eat. She saw him gather a mixture of foods before he turned to her and said…

"Don't tell Sasuke, ok? He doesn't like it when I eat stuff like this so shhh."

The Hokage didn't see anything wrong with what he had in front of him; it seemed perfectly alright, perhaps not for breakfast but she certainly didn't se anything wrong with the food. That is until she saw what he did to it. Her mouth opened slightly as she watched Naruto scoop out a fair amount of chocolate ice cream before emptying the contents of a bottle, which she now saw to be tomato ketchup, atop it. After this she saw him open a cupboard and remove a tub of pickles from it. Tsunade swore she was going to hurl if he even thought about putting that on ice cream. Sure enough, Naruto took out a fair amount of sliced pickles and spread them neatly on top of his 'breakfast.'

The Hokage watched in amazement as the blond took his plate to the breakfast bar and began to eat it; using the pickles to scoop ice cream and tomato sauce into his mouth. The two built up a few conversations but Tsunade found it hard to ignore the smell and look of what the jinchuuriki seemed to be enjoying. She was about to excuse herself as she couldn't stand watching such a thing any longer when she heard a rather annoyed voice from behind her.

"Naruto. I told you not to eat this shit any more!" Sasuke approached the younger boy and snatched the plate away, much to Naruto's distress.

"No! Sasuke! It's really good, you haven't even tried it!"

Sasuke took a fleeting glance at the stuff before dropping the plate into the kitchen sink.

"I do not need to 'try it' when any sane person can clearly see how disgusting it is! This is probably what's making you ill!" Sasuke yelled.

"I never ate it before I got Ill!"

"Well, it certainly isn't going to make things better, is it?"

"You don't know that! I like it. Why can't you just let me do what I want?" Tsunade was feeling increasingly uncomfortable as the two inched closer to one another, both screaming at the top of their voices. She'd seen them argue before and it always made her feel out of place; they seemed to forget anything else existed.

"That's because I want you to get better, not worse!"

"It's hardly going to make me worse, Sasuke! It has nothing bad in it!"

"God damn it, Naruto! Just do as I say!" By now the two were inches away from the other, their noses almost touching, and glaring heatedly.

"Fuck you! You can't just boss me around like that!"

"Yes I can and I will! As long as you're living in my house, eating my food, and sharing my bed I will tell you what you can and cannot do!" Naruto looked taken aback and for a moment just stared at his boyfriend before his eyes watered and he shook his head; trying to get rid of the worthless emotions his 'lover' had just made him feel.

"Fuck you, Uchiha!" Sasuke flinched and his heart beat faster as Naruto turned away from him, "I hate you!" He screamed before running away through the house, leaving Sasuke alone with the Hokage in the kitchen. Tsunade was not getting involved with this. She was far too busy running the scene over in her head. Something very odd was happening here and Tsunade was very bothered by it. A small voice in her head said that she had seen such behavior before, recently, but she pushed it away. Impossible.

"I think you should leave." Sasuke's voice held no emotion but Tsunade could see the pain behind his eyes. Naruto's comment had stung. She agreed wholeheartedly that she was now intruding so she quietly left the house. The Hokage would have said something to the Uchiha about telling the brat that she hoped he would get better, but she though better of it. In this situation it would be foolish.

Sasuke listened to the clapping of the woman's heels as she receded from the house and as soon as he heard the door close behind her he let out breath he wasn't aware of holding. He dejectedly took a seat. 'I hate you!' Naruto's words repeated over and over in his head. It hurt. He knew it wasn't true. But it still hurt. He knew he had to fix this. What he had said had been out of line and he admitted that it was he who had caused the scene.

Sighing, he lifted himself from the dining stool and began the walk towards where he was sure the blond had gone. He traveled the halls slowly; trying to make as little noise as possible. He knew he was in the wrong. The entire morning he had been in a bad mood. Somewhere in his mind he knew it was because he did not want to go to that party. But he pushed it aside when he heard soft sniffling and whimpering from behind their bedroom door. The pang that nipped his chest further worsened his mood. He hated guilt and he hated himself for making Naruto cry.

He tapped at the door with his pale knuckles and, receiving no answer, opened the door and let his eyes sweep the room for Naruto. He spotted a blond mop of hair sticking out from behind the black bed. Cautiously, he made his way over to his boyfriend. The jinchuuriki had already realized he was present but still stiffened as the raven approached.

Sasuke kneeled on the ground beside his lover. The blond had his legs pulled up against his chest with his tan arms wrapped protectively around them. His head lowered into his knees and his body shook from sobs.

"Naruto?" Sasuke started quietly. Naruto sniffed.

"I didn't mean to upset you. I know things are hard for you right now and I guess I can put up with you eating those…concoctions…" Naruto didn't move or show any signs of replying so Sasuke continued.

"I didn't mean what I said, Naruto. I shouldn't have said it. It was wrong of me. Please forgive me?" The Uchiha asked, still whispering. The blond mop moved slightly and two shining cerulean eyes - red-rimmed from tears – were revealed. The raven felt a pang of pain in his chest as he watched the sad pools of blue wonder over him. He really hated making Naruto feel bad.

The blond didn't know what to say; he wanted to make up with Sasuke. He knew the bastard was telling the truth when he said he hadn't meant it but…it had still made him feel like shit. Like an object that was owned and could be thrown away whenever the older boy felt necessary. The jinchuuriki knew that wasn't what his boyfriend had meant when he had said those things. What he had said hadn't even been that bad. It had been degrading and had made him seem like he was unworthy but it hadn't been meant harshly. It hadn't been meant at all.

Naruto struggled before placing a light, wet kiss on the pale lips before him. Sasuke responded immediately by wrapping his arms around Naruto and pulling the boy's body close to him as Naruto wiped his tears away on Sasuke's blue shirt.

Desperately wanting to break the horrible tension that had gathered from the bicker, Sasuke tried to change the subject; "What time will we go to the party tonight?"

Naruto sniffled, "it starts at half seven so I guess around then. It's good that we got the day off."

"Yeh…I'm a little hungry, let's head back to the kitchen. I'll make you something since you didn't finish the last."

"…yeh…"

It was late. Sasuke knew that for certain…no doubt well after midnight. He was sitting in the living room; the television was on low volume and playing a rock music channel. It was in English, but it didn't matter, the words were unrecognizable either way. He was pissed, very pissed. If rage was visible then it would have rolled off him in waves and echoed through the house like a storm.

He had left the party early without Naruto – the blond had wanted to stay longer so he had come home alone – his thoughts had been mixed and still were. Gaara had been there; obviously. As had his siblings. He had met the redhead a few times upon his return to Konoha. They had not spoken much but when they had it was always deep. Both boys shared much in common. Though they had never spoken of their interests or thoughts, both knew how similar they were.

So every time they had spoken in the past they had been alone and it had been deep, depressing and extremely personal. The Uchiha had no idea how Gaara managed to pull his shell away; he supposed it had something to do with the boy's personality. He knew the information he told the former Jinchuuriki would not be repeated and he also knew that the redhead really didn't care about him – if anything he disliked him – but would give him advice or support, which, as strange as it was coming from Gaara, was extremely comforting.

This night had been no different.

He hadn't been drinking and Sasuke had grown bored of the party some time before they met. Gaara had appeared next to him in a flash and had merely indicated to the door before the two had escaped the large crowd of loud people and out into the streets of konohagakure.

The party had been held in one of the larger buildings in the village. The training dojo; where Gai and Lee were usually found, and where the preliminary round of the Chuunin exams was held(1). The building had been perfect for them and had been bursting with people from the moment Sasuke had arrived to the moment he left. Granted, the crowd had been somewhat more intoxicated when leaving but Sasuke didn't care. Besides, Naruto had seemed able enough to find his way home and that was all that mattered.

He had told Gaara of his conflicting emotions regarding the boyfriend and had expressed how they had gotten worse since their last encounter (his and the Kazekage's). Gaara had not said much but had nodded here and there throughout the explanation. Sasuke had shown little emotion either and both had seemed numb. To the eye one might have though they were merely discussing the weather.

Gaara though, had not given him advice – much to Sasuke's annoyance – but had told a story of his own, one that had intrigued Sasuke and had him feeling a slight pity for the redhead as well as a great rage. He remembered the kazekage's words clearly…

"I have a son." Gaara had said, making Sasuke glimpse at him from the corner of his eye as they walked leisurely down the street.

"He's a beautiful baby. I love him. But I also hate him." This had Sasuke's head snapping round to study the redhead. He was completely blank.

"It is small and very far in the back of my heart but it is there; the hatred and resentment is there." He paused for a moment. "Me and Neji. We were together. I loved him. I Still do. But we're over now. It ended about a year ago, perhaps a little over a year. Everybody thinks Hiashi doesn't know. But he does…" Sasuke wondered what Gaara was talking about, but before he could ask the former Jinchuuriki spoke again.

"Hinata. Her relationship with Kiba. He knows. He found out about two years ago. He tried to persuade her to end it but she refused. He turned to Neji. Offered him the clan. Said he'd make Neji the heir as long as he would take Hanabi and procreate with her. Marry her. I didn't think Neji would do it. I believed he loved me more than the clan. But…" Sasuke fought the shiver that wracked his body…it was really cold.

"It hurt. It hurt more than anything I have ever felt. That was when I realized I loved him. I still do. I felt like I couldn't breath, couldn't eat, couldn't live. The Sunagakure council had been pressing me to make babies for a while so I found a lovely looking girl. I got her pregnant and promised her everything she wanted. She took it. Now I have a son."

"Tonight," he said coldly and Sasuke wondered how he could have told such things with the blankness he always held, "He told me that he knew of the child. He was sad. He told me that he had planned to apologize for his behavior. That he was going to ask me to run away with him. To love him and be happy with him. He asked me if I would have said yes. I wanted to lie. To tell him that I hated him for what he had done and that I could never be happy with him again no matter the circumstances. But I couldn't. I told him 'yes'. I told him of my love for him and he told me of his. We went to one of the store cupboards earlier to express our love one last time."

"It hurt more than when he ended it. It hurt so much more to learn of my mistake. If I hadn't been so foolish as to think that I could get back at him by building a false family then we could have been together. I would have left Suna and I would have left everything and everybody for him. I love my son. So I could never leave him. But I also hate him for taking away the one thing I love most in this world. Even if it is my fault. I'm hurting a lot right now for my mistakes and here you tell me about your hurt." Sasuke flinched at the blank tone. They had stopped walking and Gaara faced him with completely blank eyes.

"You tell me how much pain you are in for what you are going to do. It is your choice Uchiha. No matter how much you may feel otherwise. It is you who will be the one to end it. It is Naruto who will hurt more in the end. It is he who will wish for death more than anything just to stop the pain. Don't be so selfish." Sasuke grit his teeth, he despised people talking down to him, even Gaara. "You say it is for your family but I know they would want you to be happy. They wouldn't want you to sell your life out to keep the name Uchiha going. It. Is. Gone. Do not dwell on the past and selfishly hurt the one you love. You are meant to be a genius. Act like one." Before Sasuke had time to reply Gaara's body had turned to dust and vanished before his eyes, leaving him to walk home livid.

The words still echoed in his mind; 'they would want you to be happy.' Sasuke closed his eyes and leant further into the seat. He didn't need this, he much preferred when his conscience was berried deep inside of him so that he didn't need to feel such strong emotions. They were a weakness, they were holding him back; if he didn't have them then he would have no problem leaving Naruto and would have done so by now.

Sasuke decided to put his thoughts elsewhere, to try and calm his anger. He wondered if Naruto knew that Hinata and Kiba had been discovered. Vaguely he wondered if even Kiba knew. But that really wasn't any of his business in the first place. 'What's the fucking time?' He didn't know. Must have been late, he had been sitting there for hours.

His thoughts wondered back to the morning. It had been one of Naruto's rare mood swings. They were hard to come by now but every once in a while he would have one. Sasuke was unlucky enough to have been on the wrong end of one this morning. The Uchiha honestly preferred it when Naruto got angry. He didn't feel as bad. He hated to see Naruto cry; the jinchuuriki never cried and it was somewhat horrifying for him to witness such a thing.

After they had re-entered the kitchen Naruto had decided to make smoothies. He had done Sasuke a strawberry and vanilla one – which wasn't as bad as he had expected – and himself a chocolate and tomato one. For some reason he had not been eating ramen as frequently as he used to. Not that Sasuke complained but it was unnerving to see such a change…his friends also thought it was exceptionally weird.

It hadn't been a hot day but the two had gone out to the garden about mid-day and Naruto had insisted that he took his top off. Not like Sasuke complained but he was trying to read. The blond had been such a tease. Sasuke was still unhappy with the boy for what he had done.

The two had been by the pool, Sasuke reading on the patio floor and Naruto swinging his legs in the water, completely disregarding the fact that his orange trousers were getting soaked. After a while though, it seemed Naruto got bored and he had stripped himself of his jumpsuit bottoms to take a dive in the water. Sasuke had ignored him when he asked for the raven to join him. He was busy.

Naruto hadn't liked being ignored. He had crawled his dripping-wet-clad-only-in-white-boxers-body (obviously soaked and see through) over to his boyfriend and had snatched the book straight out of Sasuke's hands, flinging it to some unknown destination. Normally the Uchiha would not have stood for such behavior but his hands had quickly been filled with something else as Naruto sat in his lap; legs spread at either side of the dark male.

'What are you doing?' he had hissed and attempted to shove the blond off; he was soaking the ANBU captain and Sasuke was not amused. However, Naruto had giggled before pinning Sasuke's hands above his head and leaving the raven back down on the patio. The Jinchuuriki had hovered over his infuriated boyfriend for a moment before leaning closer and whispering an amount of specifically erotic scenes involving both men in his ear, if this wasn't the only problem Naruto had also started rubbing his crotch over Sasuke's ever-increasing hard-on.

Sasuke no longer cared about being wet or about reading his book or about being annoyed at his boyfriend but just as he was about to rip the remaining clothes off his lover, Naruto had disappeared. He had literally puffed out of existence leaving a horny Sasuke, completely soaked on the ground. Sasuke had almost completely ignored him for the rest of the day and evening - only speaking when necessary. His dobe would need to be taught a thing or two as soon as Sasuke was no longer grumpy.

As Sasuke's thoughts came back to the present he realized – angrily – that the blond had affected him again! Proof of such affection was evident in the bulge present between his legs. He growled before sinking farther into the seat, the previous anger rushing back to him, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides…Naruto was in trouble when he returned from the party; that was for sure.

Naruto had never felt so relieved to see the Uchiha mansion as he did tonight. He had needed to stop numerous times on the journey back due to many discomforting troubles; sickness; forgetting where the mansion was; falling over…So yes, he was glad to see the house. He quietly entered – trying not to wake the Uchiha he was sure would be sleeping – and made his way through the house calmly. The first stop was the kitchen. He was hungry.

The place was very dark and Naruto couldn't help stumbling as he moved around, still trying to be silent. He got as far as the fridge before he stumbled on something and fell face first onto the tiles with a groan. Nevertheless, he got back to his feet and began his journey anew only to come face to face with two angry Sharingan eyes. Upon further inspection, Naruto could make out the markings of his - supposedly sealed - curse.

"Oh! H-hey there S-sasuke…um, I was j-just getting some food and-" He started, tying to seem innocent; it didn't work to help him in this case as he was spun round and forced chest-down onto the dining room table. The blond wondered what had gotten into his boyfriend but found the answer as Sasuke walked closer to him, causing his front to press against Naruto's ass. This wasn't good; Sasuke was in dangerous (sadist) mood. It was lucky that the jinchuuriki could still tell the difference between sadist Sasuke and moody/angry Sasuke in his drunken state. Though, now that he knew it wasn't going to be too hard to please the other male.

"What took you so long, Na-ru-to?" he hissed into Naruto's ear, bending over and pressing all of his weight onto the smaller boy's back.

"I have been waiting for hours for you." The feeling of Sasuke's hot breath on the back of his neck sent involuntary shivers down his spine. He wouldn't reply. It would do no use to reply when Sasuke was like this; it would only serve to make him angrier. He felt two cold hands slide up under his shirt to rest on his warm back.

-lemon-

The jinchuuriki struggled to breathe as Sasuke rested his entire body atop the younger boy's. He gave the former only a few minutes before wriggling – much to his body's distress - and demanding to be untied.

"Sasuke. Get the hell off me and fucking untie me right now." The ANBU captain pulled away slowly and Naruto winced as Sasuke's limp member slipped out of his abused anus, more red trickling down over old, crisp blood smears. He felt the bonds holding his raw hands loosen and stumbled for the door. Naruto made it half way down the hallways before a particularly painful throb erupted through his spine and the next thing he knew he was falling to the ground.

He would have landed on his back had arms not wrapped tightly around his middle and lifted him up. Naruto wasn't thrilled at the thought of being carried bridal style to the bathroom but he couldn't find it in himself to complain. At least that way it was less sore.

The room seemed especially cold on both males naked skin, their drying sweat making the air around them claw at their bodies. Naruto found himself feeling very sleepy as he was placed on the toilet seat, his behind aching in protest at sitting down. The sound of running water made Naruto even sleepier and he aloud himself to doze off for a few moments.

When he came round he was carefully seated between his boyfriends legs in a hot bath with bubbles and candles. Sasuke was never a romantic lover but after he came out of a sadistic faze he would always feel incredibly guilty. At least Naruto guessed he did – after all, an Uchiha would never admit to feeling guilty. The future Hokage was immensely relaxed as his lover ran his hands through blond locks, a lather picking up from the shampoo.

"Are you feeling better?" a soft voice that vaguely sounded like Sasuke came from behind him.

He yawned, "yeh…just sleepy. Still a little boozy from the party."

"I spoke to Gaara…." Sasuke said, sounding much more himself, "…for a while, the usual."

"…ah. Yeh I saw Temari and Shikamaru talking by the wall for the whole party. Honestly, when are they going to get together? It's obvious to anyone that they like each other..." Sasuke just grunted a reply as Naruto continued to talk about the evening's events. The blond purred slightly through the antics as the raven turned to washing his body – namely the dark blood stains on his lithe tan legs. He ran his fingers lightly over the soft flesh, the red marks seeming to dissolve into the surrounding water in a pink haze. He was ever gentle, especially while cleaning other, more delicate, parts of his dobe.

He knew that his lover had not enjoyed their latest activities. He couldn't remember much of it; he never could when he was like that. But there had been far more blood and much more pain than there had ever been when they had been rough. He had seen Naruto sneak a hand over his stomach when he was resting on the toilet seat. He couldn't help but worry if he'd made the blonde's illness worse.

Placing his own hands over the younger male's tummy he couldn't help but frown. He'd caught Naruto looking in the mirror one morning, a look of horror on his face. He seemed to think he was getting fat – though he had never actually said so…Sasuke had seen him fret over it again and again. It was silly in his opinion. Sure, it was slightly strange to get extra weight when you were a ninja since working out was mandatory – except in Chouji's case – but Naruto was not getting fat. It was just a slight protruding on his stomach, probably bloating caused by the strange food he had taken to eating and the sickness that was bothering him. It was nothing to worry about.

The Uchiha wasn't sure if Naruto thought he disliked it or if he was bothered by it but in all honestly he didn't think he'd be bothered by much that Naruto did; especially where looks were concerned. Sasuke, himself, had picked up many scars in his time away from Konoha; he wasn't going to complain about a tiny bump on his boyfriend's belly.

"Sasuke? Are you even listening any more?" He was tapped on the arm insistently, bringing him back from his thoughts. He didn't dignify that question with an answer; Naruto knew he hadn't been listening.

"I'm kinda tired," the blond said – maneuvering himself so that he was nestled in a pale chest, his face fitting snugly in the crook of Sasuke's neck. "Take me to bed." He ordered and wrapped his arms tightly around the older man. Sasuke sighed. He hated being ordered around.

(1) well…I'm not completely sure if it is the same hall but I'm about 50 sure so if I'm wrong feel free to let me know and I'll change it.

I'm deeply sorry for the long, long, long wait for my upload but I do have a good reason this time; I finished this chapter about a week and a half ago and yet I haven't been able to upload it as my internet was down. Even as I am writing this I'm still not sure how much longer it will be until I will be back online but as soon as I am I will upload this!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Xx..xX