AN: Hello people of Fanfiction! As promised, I am posting these next chapters w/or/w/o any lovely reviews, I cannot truly remember if I proofed this chapter but none-the-less, you now have it. So, go ahead and enjoy it already minna!
Note: Suna Akurei, Hyūga Hisae © Anna Uzumaki
Pairing(s): Naruto/Sasuke With: Neji/Gaara, Shika/Kiba, Sakura/Lee, Kakashi/Iruka, Hinata/Shino, Ino/Choji, Kankuro/Hana, Temari/Tenten, Jiraiya/Tsunade, Itachi/Kimimaru, Suigetsu/Sasori.
Warning(s): Yaoi, lemon(s) in later chapters, sexual content (Duh!), slight nuggets of OOC-ness (bear with me), adult language, blood/gore, angst, drama & slight child abuse.
Disclaimer: Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto
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Chapter Nine
Findings at night
Naruto woke up with a sudden sharp jerk that sent him into a sitting position in his bed, panting heavily and clutching at his throat.
"Naruto, snap out of it!" Sasuke yelled quietly from beside him again, the panting blonde reflexively jumping away from him in his confusion and fell off the bed to the floor. As he slammed onto the floor he, somehow, but thankfully, missed the steps that lead up to it and was even more dazed as he looked around the dark room. Naruto really started panicking at that point 'No, I am back in that dark place, But how?' He thought and automatically curled his arms around his stomach.
"Naruto, Naruto! Get a hold of yourself." Sasuke said a bit louder and slid across the bed to crouch on the floor beside an obviously fear gripped blonde, the raven prince then grabbed the shuddering blondes' shoulders and gave him a sharp shake.
"Sasuke, what… What are you doing?" Naruto asked and blinked quickly in an effort to clear his head.
"You were mumbling and groaning in your sleep dobe, it woke me up," Sasuke informed him. "Are you okay?" He continued and looked at him with a worried expression.
"I was?" Naruto deepened his frown, "Hmmm… but, yes, I'm alright." he continued and slowly removed his arms from around his stomach, 'I haven't had that nightmare in a while, it was really bad tonight, and I remembered everything this time.' He thought and absentmindedly rubbed his permanently scarred cheeks, a constant reminder of that horrible night along with his tattooed stomach.
"Naruto… was it that again?" Sasuke asked as he watched Naruto rub his whisker marred cheeks with a knowing expression. As Sasuke's question pulled the tanned prince from his previous thoughts, he stilled his rubbing and looked up at the pale raven. Of course he knew what was wrong with him because this was not the first time he had reacted quite like this whenever he slept with the Uchiha during a storm.
"Yes," Naruto sighed, "But this time it was worse, I remembered everything." He continued. 'But something was missing. Someone else was there, but who was it?' He mentally mused, and then grabbed his head which had begun to throb painfully. It hurt every time he tried to remember if someone else was truly there that day, he never told anyone about this pain, with the exception of Gaara, because he did not want them to worry any further than they already were. Not being able to look ogling raven in the face, the blonde prince looked down at the hand that was propping him up off the floor, he did not want Sasuke to see the sadness and on-coming pain, and it would clearly be plain to see, on his face. Just then he registered that the pale prince still had his hands on his still slightly quivering shoulders, he could easily feel the heat from him through my silk pajamas, and that feeling was amazing.
"Naruto…. Come back to bed, it is still night time." Sasuke informed the bothered blonde prince and stood up.
"What time is it?" Naruto asked still sitting on the carpeted floor.
"It is 3:00am, now get up dobe." The raven answered and then smirked, that smirk, it always made Naruto feel so happy no matter what he was going through. When he still sat there staring at the smirking prince said prince grabbed the ogling blondes hand and pulled him to his feet, then walked back up the few steps to the high raised bed.
"I am not tired anymore teme." Naruto huffed at the raven as they crawled onto the huge bed.
"You need to rest, who knows what time we will be woken up." Sasuke said sternly to stubborn blonde, who smiled slightly at the assertiveness in his voice.
"I'll be just fine, you should just go to sleep, teme." The whisker faced prince told him and gave his own little smirk, then turned to get back off of the bed, but just as his feet landed on the first step Sasuke grabbed his wrist.
"Tsk, you are being stubborn dobe. Now, come back to bed!" The raven instructed and yanked the blonde back onto the bed.
"Teme, I said I am not tired anymore!" Naruto hissed as dragged him across the bed.
"Well, I will just have to do something about that, Naruto." Sasuke said and tightened his hold on Naruto's wrist.
"Sasuke…." The blue eyed prince glared at him, he already knew exactly what the onyx eyed boy was planning, he always did this whenever the blonde refused to admit to something and refusing to admit that he was indeed still tired gave him a perfect cause to do this.
"Then go to sleep." Sasuke said and glared back into azure eyes.
"Fine, whatever you say teme." Naruto sighed and faked a yawn, he thought he might have fooled the raven because just then he loosened his hold on his wrist slightly and narrowed his eyes ever so slightly more.
"Really now, dobe…" The raven raised an onyx eyebrow at the blonde and in that moment Naruto knew then that he had not fooled him, he also knew that he had to make his escape and quick.
"No!" The blue eyed prince screeched and turned to hurriedly get away from the plotting raven.
"Get back here dobe!" Sasuke yelled and scramble off of the bed to chase after the escaping blonde. This is what always happened when Naruto refused to admit to something, which was shortly followed by Sasuke doing something completely embarrassing to him as well. Surely Itachi was informing his little brother on… certain things, which Sasuke, for the past few weeks, had been doing to the young blonde. However, Naruto wasn't necessarily complaining about being subjected to them.
As Naruto ran across his room in an effort to reach the main bedroom door that led to the hallway, he could tell that Sasuke was right behind him and at that, he wondered if he would be successful in opening the door before the raven caught him. That thought, however, was crushed as the blonde crossed the middle of the room and Sasuke pounced, tackling him to the floor. Naruto, however, was mindful of the guards that where roaming the halls and hoped that they were not passing by just then to hear the struggle he put up against Sasuke.
"Teme, I am not going back to bed!" Naruto hissed and turned the raven over to pin him to the floor.
"Stop being so stubborn dobe and just admit that you are tired!" Sasuke said in a low whisper. He then somehow got from under the blonde and in turn pinned him to the floor and straddled his hips, 'This is provocative position, but… I kind of like it… Darn you Itachi!' Naruto thought as he struggled to get free, only to find that couldn't pry the ravens hands from his wrists which were now pinned above his head, so instead he brought both of his legs up so that his feet were now flat on the floor and then bucked his hips, which successfully sent Sasuke tumbling off of him and onto the floor.
"Ha!" Naruto huffed a laugh at him and used that chance to escape out of the door.
"Dobe, you are going to get it!" Sasuke called after the now doomed blonde as he ran out the door and down the hall.
Naruto knew good and well, that running down the halls at this time of the night was not the best idea, but he most certainly did not want to go back to sleep just yet and he was fairly sure that Sasuke knew that. As he ran around a corner at the end of the hall, he quickly looked behind him and blinked when he didn't see Sasuke. He then slowed to a stop 'Where did he go? I know he was right behind me.' He thought and looked back around the corner to the other hall, only to quickly draw his head back as he saw Genma walking down the hall that Sasuke should have been on, 'Crap, why do I always have to run into him?' He thought and hastily turned to continue down the hall to the stairs. Once he'd gotten halfway to the stairs he looked behind himself again and saw Genma round the corner to the hall he was still on, and he just knew that he was going to be caught, but just then someone suddenly grabbed him from behind covering his mouth to keep him quiet and pulled him into a room. Once he was in the room, he quickly broke free from their hold and turned to see Sasuke with his finger to his mouth.
"Quiet dobe or he will hear us!" Sasuke hissed and watched as the blonde panted with slightly frantic eyes, 'Damn, I probably shouldn't have grabbed him like that.' He though as he remembered how Naruto first explained to him on how he was kidnapped years ago.
"Sasuke, what in the- how did you get in here?" Naruto asked in a breathless voice as he looked at him in utter shock and confusion, 'Oh, it's just Sasuke….' He inwardly sighed in relief.
"I obviously entered this room from the other hall dobe." Sasuke looked at him with an expression that was clearly meant to question the blondes' mental status.
"I knew that, I was just seeing if you did teme!" Naruto said quickly and stupidly if he was being honest with himself.
"That makes no sense Naruto." The raven shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Shut up!'' Naruto hissed at him.
"Naruto, Sasuke?" A familiar voice suddenly whispered to them from the darkness somewhere in the room. As they turned to where the voice came from they spotted Gaara standing in front of the bathroom door across from them. Naruto then realized they were in the room Gaara stayed in whenever he visited his castle.
"Gaara, why are you up?" Naruto asked somewhat stupidly or so he thought.
"I could as you two the same question." Gaara said.
"Gaara, what are you whispering about?" Yet another familiar voice asked. They then looked behind Gaara to see Neji come out of the bathroom behind as well.
"Neji, what are you doing in here?" Sasuke asked and raised an onyx brow.
"I, uh, Gaara asked me to keep him company tonight." Neji told hesitated slightly. The three other princes could've sworn that they saw him blush, but it was too dark to tell.
"Naruto, what are you two doing up and roaming the halls?" Gaara questioned as he turned back toward the two intruding princes.
"Dobe here woke up and wouldn't go back to sleep, then he took off running down the halls." Sasuke told him before Naruto could even open his mouth.
"Is your name 'Naruto', I believe not so shut up!" Naruto seethed at Sasuke and proceeded to glare darkly at him.
"Whatever, I was just telling him the truth before you could make up some stupid lie." The raven shrugged and smirked at the miffed blonde and once said blonde saw that stupidly beautiful smirk, his previous rage vanished.
"Do you two ever not argue?" Neji asked hypothetically as he walked across the room to sit in a chair next to the window.
"What was that Prince Hyuga, did you say something?" Naruto sarcastically questioned him and cocked his head slightly.
"No, you are just hearing things." Neji said and stifled a chuckle.
"You all are getting too loud for this time of night, Genma-san will be sure to hear you." Gaara cautioned the too loud princes. The grey, blue and onyx eyed princes had in all honesty forgotten all about Genma-san, but they knew Gaara was right about their current noise level.
"Ugh, right, I forgot all about him." Naruto admitted.
"Great, with him constantly surveying these halls it will be even harder to sneak back past him." Sasuke grumbled.
"What were you two doing in the halls at this time anyway?" Neji asked, repeating Gaara's earlier question.
"Uh, I woke up and could not get back to sleep, then Sasuke tired to tire me out by… wrestling me, which is when I took off running down the hall." Naruto scratched the back of his head as he confessed.
"Why could you not get back to sleep?" Neji questioned and raised a perfect brunette brow.
The tanned prince then glanced at Sasuke from the corner of his eye and saw that said raven was looking at him with the same worried expression as earlier. The blonde then looked over to Gaara, who had gone to sit by the window as well when he and Sasuke were bickering, who had a slightly unsettled expression covering his features. Naruto then immediately understood that he and Gaara were awake for the same reason. He shook his head slightly and turned back to Neji, not completely forgetting that he was still awaiting a reply, but as he looked at the grey eyed prince he knew that Neji had noticed his quick survey and before he could answer, he spoke up.
"Oh…" Neji said with knowing, "Sorry, I should not have asked." He apologized.
"No, its okay, it's in the past now so no need to apologize." Naruto told him.
"Naruto is right, it is in the past." Gaara second him.
"But Gaara, if you feel this way then why did you wake up screa-" Neji began to say before Gaara cut him off.
"Neji, stop, don't bring that up, please." Gaara pleaded with him.
"I apologize I did not mean to upset you." Neji said and ran a hand through his loose hair in an almost embarrassed way.
"No need to apologize, I know you did not mean to." The blood red-haired prince said back to him soothingly. The blonde suddenly felt as if he was intruding on them as they talked, it seemed like something more than just a conversation now, it seemed more private. 'Huh, they almost seem like Sasuke and I. Hmm, I wonder if Kankuro is teaching him...' The cerulean eyed prince puzzled mentally before the ravens voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Naruto let us get back to your room now, before it gets any later and before we get caught." Sasuke said in a low voice that only the blonde would be able to hear, 'Hn, I wonder if Neji has made his move on him yet.' The raven inwardly smirked, he somewhat felt the same way about the current conversation between Gaara and Neji. Though, he had better knowledge to the underlining of current situation.
"Right," Naruto agreed in the same hushed voice, "Well, you guys, we are going to head back to my room now. I really do not want to get caught by Genma-san tonight." he spoke a little louder for Gaara and Neji to hear him.
"That is understandable." Neji turned to him with an amused look. He was obviously remembering the last time Genma caught the blonde roaming the halls at night, and it was not pretty.
"Alright Naruto, Sasuke, Just don't get caught creeping out of here, I do not want to get in trouble either." Gaara chuckled and smiled at Naruto brightly, he always smiled like that whenever he was around and said blonde always returned it with an equally bright smile. However, Naruto didn't fail to notice how Neji stared at the teal eyed prince when he laughed, 'Hmm, I wonder what is up with these two.' The tanned prince thought.
"See you guys at breakfast." Sasuke said and headed towards the door that put us closer to Naruto's room.
"Goodnight… again you guys." Naruto said and followed after Sasuke.
"Goodnight." Gaara and Neji said at the same time, Naruto could hear them chuckle quietly at the coincidence as he followed Sasuke out the door.
As the two mischievous princes snuck back down the hall back to the blonde's room, Naruto grabbed Sasuke's hand in an unconscious gesture. Sasuke only looked down at the contact and smiled, yes, smiled. Naruto loved his smirks and they always took his breath away, but his smiles did something completely different to him, they not only left him breathless and made his head spin, but they made his whole body heat up and made his stomach clench in the most pleasingly weird way. Like what had happened in the pool earlier, 'Speaking of which, I will have to ask him more about that later.' Naruto thought idly. Though, he often wondered if he was alone in thinking like this whenever they held hands, but after seeing Iruka and Kakashi earlier, he figured thinking like this was not that bad. They continued down the long hallway quietly and hesitantly, until they finally reached the blondes' room and quickly stepped inside.
"We were lucky not to run into any of the guards, especially Genma-san." Sasuke said in the same low voice as before.
"I agree, I don't think I could deal with him or my parents if I were to get caught. We should get back to bed now." Naruto said and ran a hand through his spiky hair. His other hand was still holding Sasukes.
"So now you agree with me, Dobe?" The onyx eyed prince smirked and then pulled the whisker cheeked prince towards the bed.
"I would have agreed with you earlier, but you know I was not ready to go back to sleep just yet." The azure eyed prince told him and glared slightly.
"Sorry about that actually, I knew you most likely did not want to go back to sleep right away, but I figured since I was here, you would." Sasuke admitted and with the dim light of the moon pouring into the room Naruto thought he saw him blush, 'Is he embarrassed?' Naruto thought and furrowed his brow slightly.
"Sasuke….?" Naruto asked and cocked his head at the pale prince.
"Nothing," Sasuke said quickly and pushed the blonde down onto the bed, forcing him lay down and then looked down at him, "Now, will you go to sleep?" He continued.
"Alright alright, whatever you say teme." Naruto mumbled and rolled onto his side to face him.
"Good," Sasuke said through a yawn and grabbed each side of the tanned princes face, said tanned prince just stared at him in shock and blushed, "Good night Prince Naruto Uzumaki." The raven continued using the blonde's full name and title, and then proceeded to kiss him gently on his petal pink lips, his lips were so soft and warm, then slowly pulled back and smirked. Naruto quickly debated with himself that he was beginning to like this form of kissing instead of the usual kiss on the cheek or forehead. The blonde had also heard people announce his name like that on a daily basis but when Sasuke said his name like that, it simply made him ecstatic and the fact that the pale Uchiha kissed him on his lips only fueled the grin that nearly split his face in two. However, he managed to recover himself slightly and jibe Sasuke back in the same formal gesture.
"And a very Good night to you as well, Prince Sasuke Uchiha may sleep find you well." Naruto smiled at him and almost hesitantly stroked his cheek with the back of his hand.
"Hn." Sasuke grunted his response and smiled once more, causing the blonde's dazzling smile to return with full force. If Naruto thought that Sasuke's smiles made his heart race, then he would be pleased to know that his bright smiles made said ravens heart skip a beat or two whenever he let one show, which was quite often.
The sleep that Naruto had following their short show of somewhat personal affection, led way to one of the most peaceful rest he had had in a while. Naruto knew that they were just joking with each other, but for some reason something tugged at the back of his mind that this was somehow different. Sasuke was his best friend, they practically grew up together since their mothers were the best of friends, they had always put them together when either one of them traveled to each others' castles for tea or other get-togethers. As Naruto fell into unconsciousness, he wondered idly if Sasuke might have felt the same way he did, in the way they said our good nights and with that thought on his mind, he peacefully fell asleep.
As Naruto slept, for who knows how long, he could've sworn heard an annoying knocking sound, for a moment he thought he might have been dreaming until he heard someone softly call his name. The drowsy blonde then opened one blue eye and saw that Sasuke still asleep, he briefly thought that the raven might have been the one who called his name, but he obviously wasn't. He then heard the knocking again and then his name being called a bit louder, he then realized that it was Ayame, and looked over to wooden clock on the bed side table and the time it told was a clear indication that it was indeed almost time for him to be awakened. He then quickly sat up in the bed and looked over at Sasuke before giving her permission to enter.
"Yes Ayame-san, you may come in." He croaked his voice full of sleep.
"Ah, young Master, were you already up?" Ayame asked as she stepped through the door.
"I am afraid not, your knocking is what awakened me." He informed her.
"Yes, well I suppose that is for the best as it's time for you to start your morning young sir…. Oh, the young Master Uchiha is here as well?" She said and then turned her attention to the sleeping Uchiha beside him.
"Oh uh, yes, we had a bit of a sleepover." Naruto told her and then felt somewhat foolish at his answer, 'Why did I say sleepover, is not the fact that he is already supposed to be sleeping a few doors down classified as sleeping over?' He thought.
"Hmm, is that so? Well, as long as Genma-sama didn't catch you two roaming the halls last night, I'm sure there's no harm done." She said automatically seeing right through the blonde prince's lie.
"Yes Ma'am." The tanned prince said and blushed lightly.
"Well now, why don't you wake up young Master Uchiha while I prepare your bath, is that alright with you young Master?" Ayame asked me.
"Yes, that is fine." Naruto agreed with her and waited until she was completely in the bathroom before he turned to Sasuke, but instead of waking him up right away, he quietly looked at the pale ravens sleeping face, 'He really is pretty handsome, but man, he can sleep through anything!' The blonde exclaimed in thought. He then stopped his appraising of his sleeping face and shook his shoulder rather roughly, knowing that a gentler shake would most likely not wake him.
"Hey, Sasuke, it's time to get up," Naruto said as he shook the sleeping raven, but there was no reply, "Teme, wake up!" The blonde prince said just loud enough so that Ayame would not hear him, and punched Sasuke in his shoulder.
"Ugh, Naruto, what are you doing?" Sasuke stirred and glared at his attacker while moving to a sitting position.
"It is time to get up teme, Ayame-san is now running my bath, are you going to join me?" Naruto asked him with a smirk and noticed that Sasuke was rubbing his shoulder, which was growing redder and redder.
"Hmph, I might as well after getting beat on while sleeping, dobe." He smirked.
"Well, if you weren't such a heavy sleeper, you would have heard Ayame-san come in and the small conversation we had." Naruto jibed at him as he slid off the edge of the bed and stretched, then turned to see Sasuke stepping down from off the bed as well, only to sit back down in one of the chairs by the window.
"I wonder if we will have the scheduled lessons for today or if the majority of the day will be dedicated to the dancing lesson." Sasuke said after a moment of silence.
"Hmm, I am sure Genma-san will inform us after breakfast." Naruto told him and went to sit in an empty chair across from the pale prince and as they sat there, they chattered idly about the things that they had encountered last night, especially Kakashi and Iruka sensei.
"I am honestly still in disbelief that we saw that." Naruto absentmindedly scratched his cheek.
"I know, I do not necessarily have a problem with, um, two men being together, but it was still a shock to stumble upon such a scene." Sasuke shook his head slowly.
"I agree, I wonder if Genma-san heard anything from Iruka sensei's room, he was patrolling the halls last night." Naruto thought aloud and furrowed his brow in concentration.
"Hmm, they are all friends, so maybe he already knew?" Sasuke cocked his head to the side.
"Possibly, though I cannot say I would be surprised if he did know." The blonde said through a yawn just as Ayame came back into the bedroom and informed the two chattering princes that the bath was ready. As they approached her, she bowed and greeted Sasuke just as he greeted her as well and continued into the bathroom. As the two boys sat in the huge tub their conversation ebbed and flowed occasionally, but in the end they stopped talking, simply choosing to let the hot water wake them up even further, and as usual, Naruto could not keep his eyes to himself and found them often drifting back to Sasukes' naked body numerous times during their time in the bath. However, Sasuke also couldn't keep his eyes to himself either and often stole glances towards the peeping blonde, even though it was through their peripheral that they stole these secret glances, they both could've sworn that the other was secretly staring at the other, though according to them they might have just imagined it.
AN: Now, how many of you expected the boys findings? When I wrote this I really wanted to get something like that in the story asap, and I fear I might have just brought it out of nowhere... if you feel that way, here is my apology in advance 'Gomen ne!'. But, until next time! Ja ne, And as always, REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! (but, whether you do or don't, I will put them up anyways... but there still very much appreciated.)
Please note: Suna Akurei, Hyūga Hisae are mine, well my versions of Neji, Hinata and Gaara's parents names. But mine none the less.
- Anna Uzumaki