A/N: This chapter was painful to write, but it was fun like hell.

Thank you once again to my lovely beta, chase3136, who is doing a wonderful job revising this. You rock so much!

Thank you to those who reviewed! Much love to you guys!

I want to remind you guys that I write for both mine and the readers' pleasure so please, if you're enjoying this story – and even if you aren't – please let me know. I love reviews and constructive criticism, it keeps me going and making me want to get better!

I hope you love it as much as I do ^^.

Chapter Two: Of Feelings

Naruto really wanted to be happy for his friend. He had no reason not to be, when Sasuke had been the most understanding and supportive of his relationship with Hinata.

"She's been head over heels for you for years now," The ebony haired male had said. "You're such an idiot for chasing after the wrong person. If you want a girlfriend, at least go for someone who actually cares about you that way."

Naruto had loved Sakura. Actually, he still did, and for reasons he was not sure about. She had been his first love, the first girl he ever really cared about, the first girl that awakened his first wet dreams. Those are not things to be easily forgotten. Nonetheless, the blond boy had been painfully reminded, over and over again that Sakura was in love with Sasuke and would never love him the same way. Just like Naruto felt sorry for her vain attempts to steal Sasuke's heart, he also began to feel sorry for himself for being equally pathetic but too scared to admit it.

When a blushing Hinata offered him chocolates on Valentine's Day, Naruto had been most surprised that the girl had a crush on him. He had also felt a cozy sort of happiness because he found out that someone liked him and wanted to be with him.

Tired of waiting for the impossible, and motivated by his best friend's words, he decided that the Hyuuga heiress deserved a chance to be with him, and that the bronzed male could as well give himself the chance to finally be loved.

She had fainted when he approached her with his answer.

In spite of his low expectations of her, Hinata was a sweet, caring girl who did anything and everything to make him happy. They had had a few problems with intimacy at the beginning since she was painfully shy, and he was clueless as to what to do and how to deal with her as a female. Eventually, they managed to figure things out by themselves and everything was okay.

It was true that the blond liked Hinata. He could not say he loved her with the kind of passion one saw in books and movies, but he cared about her, cherished her with all his heart, and hoped that, someday, they could build a home and a family together because they were that good together. It was simple, and their relationship was simple.

What did he know about love, anyway? He had never been with anyone else before her, but as far as he was concerned, he thought that, being with someone that made him feel this carefree could only be a good sign.

Being with her was comfortable. It was nice, even though, sometimes, the quiet girl was a little too quiet for Naruto's taste. But he could manage; he could cope with her lack of joyfulness just like she could cope with his excess of it.

Even if Sasuke would not say it, or show it, Naruto knew he had been happy for him. There had been a small smile disguised as disgust on his lips. It had been a smile that had showed up for just a second before it vanished, but Naruto had seen it.

Sasuke had been happy back then, had he not?

Then, why couldn't Naruto feel happy for him, as well? Why had he felt such a constricting pain in his chest at the prospect of his friend being with someone?

Naruto had always watched Sasuke walk alone. When he or Kakashi were not walking beside him, when there was no Sakura beside him; it was Sasuke's back he had watched walking ahead of him, lonely and independent. It seemed out of place to think about the day when Sasuke would have someone else walking by his side, holding hands with him and…walking away from him.

An outsider.

But what right do I have to think of his partner that way? That would be admitting that Hinata and fuzzy eyebrows are outsiders too.

As Naruto made his way to the Hyuuga compound to pick up Hinata, hands stuffed inside his pockets, he frowned deeply; head bent as he looked at his own shadow. It was almost sundown and it had been three days since he and the raven had fought, and they had not seen, or spoken to each other ever since.

Naruto had had the time to think about the fact that Sasuke was now in a relationship, and yet, his thoughts were still not organized at all. He was still mad, still shocked, and still resentful.

Sasuke should have told him he had someone, it was the least he could have done since they were teammates and friends.

He's with a guy…

Naruto came to the conclusion that that particular detail did not bother him all that much. Yes, he had been astonished to say the least, because Sasuke was still Sasuke, the bastard who thought of nothing but knowledge, power and honor. He should have seen it coming though, since the Uchiha had never showed any interest in girls. Truth be told, no girl he knew seemed to match up to his high standards. Sasuke may want to have kids, but it was not like he needed to get married to do so.

He's having sex with that guy…

It did not matter if Sasuke was dating a guy, Naruto assured himself, shaking his head when a very disturbing image of Sasuke going at it with some faceless male popped into his mind. He had the right to be with whomever he wanted, even if it was a little unnatural.

But…

Was he in love? Did he want it to last? What kind of life would he lead?

Naruto was worried.

Is he happy?

What kind of guy was he that was good enough to convince someone like Sasuke that being in a relationship with another guy was a good idea?

The thought was unsettling and it made Naruto jealous that someone else could have such power over him.

Who the hell is that guy? I want to know who he is….

He did want to know. Yet, he was afraid to know.

As he walked down the semi-lively streets of the village, he noticed he was approaching the street where Sasuke's small, new apartment was. For some reason, he sped up his pace to reach the narrow street, and could not help it when his eyes shot up to search for the familiar building and the familiar windows.

As soon as he found it his heart fell to his feet. His friend was at the kitchen window, leaning in a relaxed way over the windowsill as he smoked a cigarette and clearly enjoyed the view from there, with his features softened.

Naruto stopped in his tracks to look up at him, not really knowing why he did, just knowing that he needed to, and that he needed for Sasuke to look at him as well.

Amazingly, he did; charcoal orbs drifting down to where Naruto was as if he had always known he was there. The tanned male tried to swallow but his throat was desert dry.

Sasuke's handsome face was expressionless but Naruto was not sure he had the energy to attempt a similar feat since he was feeling too anxious and eager to say something, do something, anything to make him feel better about this whole issue. He would not apologize because it had been Sasuke's fault to begin with, but he wanted to make amends.

They were looking at each other unblinkingly. Naruto opened his mouth a little. He was sure that if he shouted,Sasuke would be able to hear him.

How are you doing, bastard?

Are you still mad?

Forget about what I said, I was upset.

I'm still mad at you for not knowing that you have friends you can talk to, but never mind that, let's talk now!

Can you come down here?

Can I come over?

Can we talk?

Can we forget about what happened?

Can we hang out?

Let's have ramen! My treat!

Please, talk to me.

Naruto forgot about Hinata. There were so many things going around his mind; so many things he wanted to shout so that the pale man would pay attention to him,and want to make up with him.

He breathed in deeply and was, in fact, going to say something that had nothing to do with his previous thoughts when he saw Sasuke jump slightly and look over his shoulder. Naruto tensed immediately and his teeth clanked when he clenched his jaw.

Sasuke was speaking to someone inside the house in an apparent natural tone, but Naruto could not hear what he was saying. It did not matter anyway, because all that mattered was that there was someone there with him and Naruto could not, would not come in-between that right now.

"Shit." He muttered, defeated, resuming his walking at once.

He was wasting his time brooding over him. He had to patch things up with his best friend but he could not expect it to happen like it had the previous times. Sasuke had someone now, someone who was becoming part of his life, of his house. Things would never be the same again and Naruto just had to accept it,like Sasuke did.

I'm just a secondary person in his life, now.

But Sasuke had never been secondary in his life, not even after he started dating Hinata, and realizing that only made him feel worse. Speaking of which, he had to go get her…

Shit, I'm all messed up.

Naruto bit his lip, fighting back a growl of anger. Was that really anger? Or was it something else? Whatever it was, he did not want to cope with it right now.

I thought we were each other's special person!

But he could not expect the raven to feel the way he did, to see things the way he did.

Don't leave me behind, you fucking prick.

Had he had the courage to look back, he would have seen Sasuke staring at him with a frown and a look on his face that showed perfectly how frustrated and hurt he was at his friend's stupidity.

000

Sakura was shaking from head to toe as she made her way to the investigation department over the Hokage's residence.

She greeted familiar Shinobi she met in the hallways with a short nod, clutching the strap of her purse to keep herself calm and composed, but it seemed that the closer she got to her destination the more nervous she became. Why she felt that way was a complete mystery.

However, as she reached the last oak door on the left of the corridor, she knocked with a confidence she had not known she had until that moment.

"Come in." A familiar voice drawled from the other side and she complied, reaching for the doorknob and turning it.

The room was spacious enough for a large group of people to work in. Like a library, it had many wooden tables with and without computers on them and shelves that reached the ceiling, filled with books and scrolls of all sizes. There were many metal cabinets that,Sakura thought, held important files and documents of all sorts.

Unexpectedly, the place was almost empty except for a group of five people who were gathered around one of the nearest tables.

Five heads were raised to look at her, but Sakura only recognized two of them – Neji and Sasuke – who were sitting side by side. The only woman in the group seemed to be in her mid-twenties, and the other two men looked like they were almost forty.

It was the first time Sakura was seeing Sasuke's ANBU team. It was impressive that Neji was the captain, despite how much older the others looked, and that Sasuke was so young compared to the others. Even so, the Hokage had once said it was one of her best teams and that they all worked perfectly together, despite their age differences, so Sakura took her word for it.

They were all wearing their green vests.

"Erm…, I'm sorry to interrupt," Sakura said, smiling apologetically and bowing. "I was just wondering if I could steal Sasuke-kun for a moment."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, but it was Hyuuga Neji who spoke before he did.

"We're having a meeting, Sakura," the brunet said, slowly yet intensely. "You should come back later."

Sakura had never been too fond of Neji, not that she knew him very well. She admitted he was a very attractive man, and had heard all about what a genius he was, but still, while Sasuke's cold personality drew people to him, Neji had some sort of menacing presence that could sometimes be even more arrogant than Sasuke's.

"Yes. Well, I'm on my lunch break so it's not like I have all the time in the world," she said defensively. "I'm a medic; I can't just come back later. Besides, I only need to have a word with him; I promise I won't take long."

Neji looked at Sasuke, who made an imperceptible gesture with his hand that made the older one press his lips together in an annoyed way and nod.

"You have three minutes."

Sasuke got up, his chair not making a sound as he did so and went over to Sakura, whose heartbeat increased.

In a matter of seconds they were back in the hall, the Uchiha with his back against the now closed door, arms crossed over his chest while Sakura was standing in front of him.

She gulped and searched inside her pouch for the little brown flask she had brought with her and extended it to him.

"I made you some more of that sleeping syrup you wanted." she said. Sasuke eyed the flask in a way that made her nervous.

"Thanks, but I don't need it anymore," he said simply without accepting the object. "I've been sleeping just fine for the last few weeks."

"Oh." It was all she could say, her hands trembling weakly.

Did he sleep well because now he had a lover?

"Sorry for not telling you earlier."

Sakura shook her pink head and quickly stuffed the flask back inside her purse before her shaky hands caused her to drop it. Then, the medic smiled forcefully. She wanted to look into Sasuke's slate eyes but found she couldn't because it made her blush. She wanted to look away but was unable to because her own emerald eyes were automatically attracted to his features.

"It's alright, I'm happy you're finally able to sleep well!" She said, smiling nervously, tucking a lock of pink hair behind her ear.

"Yeah…" He said, uncrossing his arms. "Look, I have to go back inside, but thanks anyway."

"Wait!" she called, before he could turn his back on her. He did wait, staring at her with false patience. "I…I just want to say that you shouldn't brood too much over what Naruto said. He really cares about you, he's just worried."

"Hn…" Sasuke said nonchalantly. "That doesn't stop him from being an idiot, does it?"

Sakura could hear the resentfulness in Sasuke's words and it bothered her suddenly. He had never been resentful towards her. Hell, he had never felt, or showed, any particular emotion towards her besides annoyance or the occasional worry when she was in danger during the rare missions they went on together.

"He's really upset that you didn't tell him," she explained, miserably. "And so am I. We're your friends and you shouldn't be afraid to tell us anything." At Sasuke's lack of reaction, she pressed on. "Anyway, it's been a week since the two of you spoke, you should really talk to him."

"I'll think about it when I have the time." he said simply. "Don't worry about it, we will settle things our own way, you know that."

The slightly more careful tone he used was able to soften Sakura's pain. With his effort to be nice, he was trying to tell her that he did not want her to lose any sleep over it, which expressed some sort of concern for her.

She was able to smile a little with honesty.

"Alright, then," she nodded. "Just do what you think is best for you."

"I will." He gave her a small, meaningless smile, but it was enough for her.

"By the way, Ino thinks we should throw a birthday party for you this year, since we couldn't do it last year," she muttered, feeling a little brighter now that he had given her an opening. "It would just be a nice get together in a restaurant; she'll take care of everything. What do you think?"

"It sounds nice." he said, surprising her.

Sakura stared at him, bewildered. Yes, Sasuke usually accepted her and Naruto's invitations to hang out more often, but generally, he had never wanted to go to birthday parties or any other meetings with the other teams.

"Erm…, alright, I'll tell her and then I'll let you know how things will go." she said, feeling her smile widen slowly since he was now smiling in an encouraging, but not too personal,way.

"Sure."

"I'll see you around then."

"Yeah."

He turned around and she started to walk away, sighing in relief and amazement at how well that conversation had gone. Then, his voice echoed behind her.

"Would you like to meet him? My…the person I'm going out with?"

She quickly turned to face him, her heart pounding as if it wanted to jump out of her chest. Her eyes became huge, looking at his stoic stance, one hand over the door handle, head tiled ever so slightly to the side with seriousness.

Did she want to meet the person who was kissing and doing all kinds of perverted things with the love of her life? The person who was stealing him away from her? Who was disrupting her team's peace?

Of course.

She needed to know who this man was and if he was that worthy of Sasuke's love…no, attention. She was scared shitless, but this was not the time to be selfish and run away. The medic had to be there for him. He had to know he could trust her and that she would support him no matter what, so that he would not drift away from her for good. She could not afford to lose him.

"Yes, I'd love to." she said gently, somewhat moved by his attitude.

"Then, I just might take him to that so-called party."

She offered him a big grin.

"Please, do!"

000

Sasuke liked to touch. It was not a reflexive thing, nor even something that came naturally to him – it was something that he did consciously out of a necessity of comprehending things. You could see something and understand what it was, but if you did not touch,you could never have a full comprehension of what it was made of, what it felt like, and how it worked.

Touching was feeling. Feeling was seeing. Seeing meant understanding. Understanding meant knowledge, and knowledge meant control. It was as simple as that.

Sasuke liked Neji's hair. It was long, completely straight, thin but strong, soft, and it billowed when he walked. It was fascinating and he liked to touch it, liked to run his fingers through it, liked to grasp it with everything he had. When they had sex it became even more beautiful, sometimes scattered all over the pillows like dark hazel threads of silk, other times falling over Sasuke's chest - or over his back – and caressing him all over. It always smelled nice too.

If there was one thing he had forgotten after so many years of being alone and keeping away from other people,it was how warm it felt to touch another person. He had also forgotten how reassuring it felt to have someone around.

The decision to leave his family house and move to a much smaller apartment in the center of Konoha had not been hard for Sasuke, since he had been tired of being forced to travel around the house every time he needed to go somewhere. The silence was driving him crazy with memories of what it had been like when he had not been alone there; of what it could be if his parents were still alive. He loved it, he treasured it, but the house was chaining him down; not allowing him to get away from his past, his feelings, his fears, and his nightmares.

So he moved to a smaller, cozier apartment, and it had been heaven since he had had no memories from that new place. He was more than willing to create new ones, though.

Sasuke had some kind of childish fascination with watching the pale eyed male doing things in his new home. The feeling of having someone else walking about was exhilarating, familiar. It was comfortable; it felt like something inside him was being slowly filled.

It was rather nice. More than he could have hoped for.

Sasuke found out that he did not mind sharing his bed either since Neji seemed to be as much of a quiet sleeper as he was.

It was a little before dinner time and the young Uchiha was standing in front of the worn out, and gaping gates of the Uchiha Compound, staring at what had once been the shelter of a huge, powerful and united clan.

"You know," Sasuke turned his surprised head to meet his companion's voice but Neji was still watching the scenery before him. "When I was a child, before my father passed away, I was a very different person. I was cheerful and enthusiastic; I smiled often as well. When I look back, I wonder how and why I became the way I am today."

"I know what you mean," The raven replied, feeling his features soften. He had been there, he could relate to it perfectly. "I used to be this really adorable kid who blushed easily and was able to actually laugh when I was happy. I tried so hard to impress everyone, I wanted to be seen. Now, I'm just a…not a ghost, more like a very distant memory of that silly kid."

Neji locked eyes with Sasuke.

"I think I sometimes miss him," he muttered, solemnly. "The kid I used to be. How it felt to be happy and hopeful about the future."

"I miss him too," Sasuke admitted, sighing loudly. "I've been thinking about it, and I might tell the Hokage to tear this place down. Not my house, obviously, but the rest of the compound. 'The Idiot' sometimes says how Konoha should have an orphanage, maybe it's a good time to provide the space for it."

"The Idiot" was what Sasuke usually said when referring to Naruto to someone other than Naruto. Neji was more than accustomed to it by now.

"Are you sure?" The Hyuuga asked, getting closer to the shorter young man as if to provide reassurance.

"No, but I know I can't just expect for the houses to remain intact by the time this village has enough Uchihas to live in them." Sasuke responded sarcastically, unconsciously leaning his shoulder on Neji's.

"You're right."

They watched the compound in silence for a few more comfortable minutes before turning around and heading home. Neji would not sleep over that night since his uncle Hiashi had been nagging him about how he had been spending too many nights away instead of fulfilling his duties.

"So, it's been almost two weeks," Neji said casually, as they walked side by side down the nearly deserted streets of the village. "How do you think we're doing?"

Sasuke could not help a small, crooked smile.

"I'm not sure, it's too early to say," he said, shrugging. "But it's alright, I guess. I honestly didn't think we'd be able to make it through the first day, seeing as how unpredictably similar we are to each other."

Neji allowed himself to smile too, but only for a second or so before clearing his throat and re-assuming his usual stiffness.

"I think we'll be fine."

Sasuke was caught by surprise at Neji's almost hopeful tone, but thought it would be safer not to agree with him just yet. Just because things were working out, it did not mean he should start thinking it would be like this forever – actually, "forever" scared the living shit out of him. He did not want to get attached too soon or he might end up hurt. Either way, they were a "couple" now and Sasuke wanted to push Neji's buttons as well – one week had been enough to figure out how well they fitted together, but it was time to see how far Neji would go for that. The Hyuuga had started it; would he still want it if things got a little more complicated?

As they reached the entrance to the building where Sasuke's apartment was, Neji was caught off guard as the Uchiha suddenly grabbed him by the collar of his white, Hyuuga garment in a swift movement to bring him close and kiss him. It was not just a peck on the lips; Sasuke made sure he forced Neji's mouth open to stick his tongue inside and ravish the brunet as much as he could.

He had no idea if Neji had seen the two passersby nearby, but he wished he had. He wanted to see what he would do. Even though they usually went out together, they had never displayed their affection in public.

Neji was still for a moment, almost as if he was too flabbergasted to do anything. Then, a few seconds later, hands were moving slowly to place themselves over Sasuke's arms as his mouth responded with eager gentleness.

Kissing in the middle of Konoha was a big thing, even if it was late and not many people would see it. However, Sasuke was sure that those two people, who were surely watching them,would be more than enough to spread the news so fast the whole village would be on fire with rumors by the morning, and he did not know how to feel about it. He did not know what to feel at all, especially because he had expected for Neji to shove him away instead of kissing him back.

As it seemed, Neji had wanted it - had been waiting for it. Was he that serious?

"You want to make it public?" Neji asked when they broke the kiss, breathing hard while joining their foreheads together, causing their hitai-ate to clash with a metallic sound.

Sasuke bit his lip and kept his eyes firmly closed – his heart was beating too fast; he knew his captain well enough and yet, nothing could have prepared him for such an easy acceptance from him.

"Maybe." He sighed, body coming alive almost immediately with something very similar to exhilaration as Neji's fingers tightened on his arms. Sasuke could feel Neji's chakra boiling enthusiastically through his veins as if it were his own.

"Then that's fine with me." Neji muttered back.

Neji's hands came up to cup Sasuke's face at the same time as his lips searched for his mouth once again in a rather possessive way, his control slipping away quickly, especially after feeling the shorter one's arms wrap around his waist to press them together.

They kissed intensely for what felt like hours until they both realized they were probably getting a little too excited.

Sasuke was the one who ended up pushing Neji away in a rather rough move, to make sure they were no longer touching and that there was a reasonable distance between them.

The fair skin males looked at each other while gasping for air, Neji quickly trying to compose himself with as much dignity as he could, as Sasuke cursed himself internally for blushing.

Why the fuck was he blushing?

"You should go." he said authoritatively, wiping remnants of saliva from the corners of his mouth with the thumb of his right hand.

Neji inhaled sharply, eyes gleaming dangerously with a very vivid form of lust.

"Or maybe, I should tell my uncle to fuck off." was the immediate and arrogant answer he gave, forcing Sasuke to remember exactly what it was about the damn Hyuuga that turned him on so much.

Sasuke swallowed hard and licked his lips with a predatory gleam, enjoying the way Neji's eyes followed the path his tongue traced.

"That's up to you," The younger whispered. "But if you do stay, keep in mind I'm in a very good mood today."

"It that a threat?"

"Only if you want it to be."

"Fuck you."

"No, Neji," Sasuke whispered, smirking, holding out his hand to his lover, palm turned upwards. "Fuck you."

And there was no way that Neji would ever refuse to place his own hand over Sasuke's.