The seating arrangements for the buss seemed to have fallen fairly strangely. Kiba had managed to catch Hinata in a conversation as they were lining up for the bus, which actually meant that it seemed normal for him to slide into the seat next to her. Neji, was then left on his own, Shikamaru made a quick assessment of the situation, nodded slightly to Choji who somehow managed to drag Ino from her boyfriend's arm and into a seat with him. That left Shikamaru free to fall lazily in beside Neji, who wasn't quite sure how that happened. Sakura walked on the bus with Naruto, who was headed to two free seats so they could sit together, but when she spotted Sasuke sitting alone, she shifted to fall into the closest seat, nodding for Naruto to go ahead and leave her to the company of… Sai apparently.

Naruto paused, then slowly nodded, walking a few steps more forward and sat cautiously beside Sasuke. A few hours on the bus, both sitting in silence, or just plain fighting seemed like the two options. But he'd let Sasuke decide which one. It wasn't until the engine started that Sasuke started up the conversation.

"You look… better…" He managed slowly. Naruto wasn't quite sure where that comment came from. He hadn't even looked at him sine they'd been there. Even now Sasuke was staring out the window, but when Naruto turned to look at him he could see that his gaze in the reflection was focused on what he could see of the blonde. Naruto looked down, blushing slightly.

"Ahh… yeah… I'm good." He murmured.

Sasuke scoffed. "I mean you don't smell of alcohol or some guy today. That must be a first." He added sourly.

Naruto turned back to glare at him, only to find himself staring straight into his eyes and whatever response he'd had fell short. "Ahh… No."

Sasuke chuckled slightly. "Seriously? That's the best that you've got?" For a second he'd seen the old spark in Naruto's eyes, the kind he got before they used to compete against each other, with any stupid thing. If he could, he'd coax that back out of him.

He had decided before he signed up for this trip that this was how he'd play it. It didn't matter how frustrated he got, he'd be gentle, he'd get him to talk. That was what they needed. Some actual communication about what the hell was happened. Why he'd kiss him, only to run away? Why turn to alcohol and guys if he didn't care? Why the change when he'd confessed to him? And, most importantly, was Naruto okay.

He'd given up the other night, had come to the exact opposite conclusion, but the panic when Naruto had collapsed against him wasn't something he could forget. It had reminded him that he didn't just want Naruto, he didn't just need him, he loved him. All things that were meant to be gone after his time away, but apparently that hadn't happened.

Naruto shot back a glare. "Even when I do smell of either of those things, it's a hell of a lot nicer than your smell." He stuck his tongue out. Yup, there was the immature idiot.

"Really? I'm not too sure about that." Sasuke purred back. "I think I smell pretty decent. I thought you used to appreciate it."

Naruto responded along with a roll of his eyes. "What on earth gave you that idea?"

Sasuke shrugged, making sure he shifted just slightly closer to Naruto.

"You always, lent closer to me, held me a little too long. If you didn't like my smell then why was it?"

Naruto couldn't come up with a decent answer, he had to change the topic before they went too far down that path, so started with the first thing he could think of that would insult Sasuke enough to change the conversation.

"What? Are you jealous of the other guys?" Something in Naruto's tone sounded like he was hoping for a certain answer.

"Of course I am…" Sasuke answered carefully, watching Naruto's response to see if he'd answered right. The slight smile of… something… on Naruto's lips encouraged him enough to continue. "What do you expect? You're willing to do all that with them, but chicken out after a kiss with me." Avoiding the topic of love seemed best for now.

Naruto shifted slightly in his seat, biting gently into his bottom lip, something he'd said had hit a nerve. Sasuke was worried he'd pushed it too far, he just wanted to talk but bringing their conversation back to that so early might have been a mistake. He held his breath as he waited for what came next. Naruto pulling away.

"I didn't chicken out." Naruto huffed.

Well that was unexpected…

"I kissed you and you ran. Chicken." He taunted, laughing slightly in relief and at that familiar stubborn look on Naruto's face.

"No, I kissed you. You shoved your hand down my pants, the fire bell rung and I evacuated the building." He replied, only blushing slightly at the memory of what was going to happen in the classroom.

"Fine. Prove it then." Sasuke knew this was about the opposite of what he'd planned to do, but with that look in Naruto's eye he couldn't resist.

"How?" He answered without a hint of hesitation at what was obviously going to be a challenge.

"A game of chicken." Sasuke responded simply, his hand resting gently on Naruto's thigh, shifting up just enough that his intention was clear. "Or are you too scared to play?"

Naruto paused, looking down at Sasuke's hand. It wasn't in the spirit of what the threats meant, but he'd been told time and time again that his answer to Sasuke should always be no.

"No, I'm not scared. No, I'm not chicken." His hand slid up, starting on Sasuke's knee and twisted around to the inside of his thigh, the back of his hand, just barely brushing at his crotch.

The lights in the bus had been turned off so people could try to sleep, it was early enough in the morning that most people had already taken advantage of that. That made it the perfect time to play this game.

Author's Note:

Welcome back to one of the slowest updated stories! Hopefully this time I'll do a little better at sticking with it and I'm really sorry if anyone is actually still following it from the start!

I owe you ... something ... Let me know if there are any requests for apologies.