Chapter 25: Thunder Calls
Sasuke woke for a few drowsy moments in the morning, opening his eyes tiredly and blinking away the burn of sleep. He swallowed to soothe his dry throat, though it did nothing to help him. He glanced at the reason as to why he'd woken up in the first place and sighed.
It was too warm. Combined with the layer of four blankets and Naruto's arm flung across his chest to hug him closer and the leg hugging both of his own, a light sweat had formed on the back of his neck. Sasuke grunted, slightly irritated. The other was snoring lightly in his left ear again, his other hand clutching tightly at Sasuke's head to cradle his temple against Naruto's forehead.
He kicked Naruto's leg away to throw the blankets off of them, sighing as a gush of cool air hit them from the vent above his bed. Sasuke wiped at the back and sides of his neck and wiped them on his covers, sitting up to let the air hit his bare chest. Naruto grumbled something in his sleep, having gone a few inches up with Sasuke as he sat up. He fell back onto the bed, resting on his back and hogging most of the pillow. It was an issue they had last night - Naruto would always attempt to roll on top of him, and when Sasuke pushed him away or moved back, he scored most of the pillow. In turn, Naruto had woken him up a couple of times to complain about his sheet robbery - only to hog them all to himself and attempt to use Sasuke as a mattress again.
Sasuke rested back onto the bed again, pulling a single blanket over their bodies. He turned on his side and pressed his face into Naruto's warm shoulder, gripping the inside of Naruto's elbow.
He was just about to drift off to sleep when Naruto jolted in his sleep and woke with a grunt, rudely nudging Sasuke in the face.
"Sorry," he murmured, glancing at Sasuke's irritated scowl. "Had one of those dreams where I was fallin'."
He grunted in response, studying the bruise on Naruto's stomach. It wasn't the easiest on the eyes, but it was altogether interesting to look at. He reached a hand out to lightly graze his fingers over the swell, careful as to not press too hard and make Naruto flinch.
He drifted off again like that, weakly running his thumb over Naruto's bruise.
The next time he woke up, he felt refreshed, and Naruto had once again latched onto him. Figuring that it was probably late in the morning, he pushed Naruto away from his body and stubbornly ignored the other's morning hardness.
Sasuke propped himself up on his elbow, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as his partner whined in his semi-consciousness. He was dangerously close to the end of the bed, so he scooted a bit into Naruto.
"Time is it?" Naruto grumbled, throwing a heavy arm over his chests and tugging their bodies together again. His chest was comfortably warm against Sasuke's back, and incredibly tempting to lean back into.
Sasuke wished they had the time of day to laze around in bed for a few minutes, but their peers were most likely wondering where they were. Maybe a few of them were even growing suspicious - it wasn't unlikely for them to appear together a bit late to a gathering, but in the morning in equal states of unkempt…?
He glanced to his bedside table, squinting to see the numbers on his clock. "Ten thirty."
"Really?" Naruto asked, rolling onto his stomach and resting his chin on his folded arms. He yawned widely, closing his eyes again and smiling contently. "'S early."
"Maybe a bit," Sasuke sighed, resting back on the headboard.
A few moments of comfortable, calm silence ensued. Naruto messed with the tails of his pillowcase and struggled to keep his eyes open.
"'Bout what you said last night," he started. "Wanna talk about it?"
Sasuke thought about their multiple conversations last night, tilting his head back to rest it against the wall. "Would you like to tell me about this first?" he inquired a bit monotonously, moving his hand to rest over the lump on his stomach.
Naruto grunted under his touch, a small smile forming on his face. "Oh, yeah. Sakura punched me."
"And why did she do that?"
He filled Sasuke in on the exact events of the other night, watching as Sasuke's facial expressions took sharp turns from amused, irritated, and unimpressed. He wasn't particularly fond of the girl's reaction, and he felt a slight twinge of possessiveness when he heard just how much Naruto had planned to spend time with her.
Naruto also wondered why all of the female figures in his life were overbearingly violent. He studied Sasuke's blank expression as he stared off to the side again, lost in his own thoughts for the umpteenth time.
"So…" Naruto fidgeted for a few moments, discreetly rearranging himself in his pants. Sasuke's eyes were closed, and he pulled his knees to his chest in response. "What's the difference?"
"Why don't you list your train of thoughts out," the other said blandly, resting his elbows on his knees.
Naruto frowned and peered up at Sasuke. "Don't be like that. Especially not after last night."
When the other didn't reply, he pushed himself up to lean his side against the headboard, leveling his face with Sasuke's. His features softened at the tired look on the other's face. He'd probably tired Sasuke out emotionally, what with his mini speech right before they'd fallen asleep.
"Please don't close up like that," he murmured, refraining from touching the other. "You don't have to be that way around me. I promise that you're not gonna scare me off," he chuckled a bit. "I mean, I've dealt with you this far, right? So don't hold back."
He knew Sasuke was listening to him very closely, so he continued. "And I promise that I meant every single thing I said last night, Sasuke. I'm so glad that I met you." Naruto felt that without a physical expression of just how much he truly meant it, his words would be rendered invalid. So he set his hand on top of Sasuke's warm one and did his best to press his fingers between each of the long and thin ones. His looked brute next to Sasuke's, shorter with his calluses a bit more prominent.
Naruto tilted his head. "How come you have small feet and big hands? It's all unproportional."
The other raised his eyebrow but didn't reply, choosing to stay on the more serious side of their conversation.
Sasuke lightly squeezed their fingers together, letting Naruto indirectly know that he understood. Naruto let out a relieved sigh and leant forward to kiss Sasuke on the temple, a few strands of his hair sticking to his lips. He'd wanted nothing other but for Sasuke to know that he'd stick with him throughout the journey ahead of him; they didn't have a definite longevity set for them, but Naruto knew that he'd want nothing more than to spend the rest of it with Sasuke.
"I think," Sasuke said softly, tilting his head towards Naruto and staring at his pajama pant stretched over his knee. "That being in love with someone and loving them are two different things because they're reserved for different people."
He sent the other an interested glance, squeezing his hand to encourage him to continue.
"It's like the way you love Sakura, and in a platonic way, I hope," Sasuke sent him a bland look. Naruto knocked their shoulders together. "You don't… revolve around her, I guess."
"What," he murmured. "Sometimes I wait for her lazy ass to get up outside her door, but most of the time it's you," Naruto sent Sasuke a pointed look. "I didn't go to training today 'cause you didn't, and I only stay at lunch if you're there. Is that what you're saying?"
"Yes," Sasuke murmured, bringing their hands up and pressing his nose into the inside of Naruto's wrist. "You go out of your way for me."
He simpered at the once blank, but now softer expression on Sasuke's face. Naruto quickly moved his hand to cover the other's face, feeling a surprised intake of air and the furrowing of brows. It hadn't ever been anything else but true. Even when they'd been the barest of friends, he'd wanted to spend every waking hour by Sasuke's side - whether it be harassing him, having an actual conversation, arguing, or just merely sitting in contemplative silence.
"You're a lot better at words than I am."
"With," Sasuke corrected, pinching the loose skin between his thumb and forefinger slightly. Naruto removed his hand and Sasuke sent him a questioning look.
"Provin' me wrong again," Naruto leant over to plant an odd-fitting kiss on the other's lips, accidentally catching some of his nose in the promise. Sasuke scowled and leant away, but Naruto grabbed the side of his face and placed hard kisses on the wrinkle in his brow and along his temple.
Sasuke grumbled and pushed at his chest, pinning him back to the headboard. "Stop it." He wiped at his forehead.
"Sasuke," Naruto smiled.
The other sent him a disbelieving look and shook his head, removing his pinning arm from his chest. Sasuke threw his long legs over the bed and stood, granting Naruto a nice view of his slender, pale back.
And as Sasuke went searching about the room for his shirt, it was moments like these that Naruto took advantage of. If Sasuke ever witnessed the way Naruto looked at him when he wasn't looking himself or his back was turned, he'd surely send Naruto a firm glare and leave the room immediately. There were also moments like these where Sasuke got pretty ostentatious and took his time to flex all the muscles he could - whether it be stretching in that jumpsuit, or pretending not to see his shirt lying in the middle of the floor in favor of turning this way and that.
Even though Naruto could barely see his toned calves through the loose material of his pajama pants, he knew that they were never less than extremely easy on the eyes. Sasuke was all long legs and lean muscle, much more slender and graceful than his own build. The other really had grown a lot - Naruto remembered a time in which he'd have to tilt his head down slightly to speak with Sasuke, and now it seemed that the other had finally caught up with him. He really hoped Sasuke never grew taller than him, though, because he'd never hear the end of it. And if he did, well… Naruto would just have to take steroids or something.
Naruto drank in the sight as Sasuke bent over to pick up that dark blue shirt of his, raising his arms to tug it around his neck. The movement made the slender waist of his tense and the low-hanging pants to slip even lower, allowing a view of the thin trail of black hairs beginning just below his navel. Then it was all gone as his T-shirt covered the ghastly pale stomach, leaving Sasuke with a little more than a bad case of bedhead.
Naruto knew he probably wasn't any better, shrugging on the shirt that Sasuke had thrown in his face. He slowly rolled out of bed, slumping as he stood to go stand with Sasuke by the door.
"I wanna sleep all day," he complained.
Sasuke gave him an unamused look at he tugged the door open. "Save that for another day. You'll complain about being hungry if you do that, so we're eating now."
Just like Sasuke had predicted, the hall was empty and there was a faint buzz of water running through pipes as someone showered. He locked his door behind him and turned to Naruto. "Don't you think Sakura will be a bit curious as to where you were last night?"
Naruto shrugged. "I dunno. I'm usually asleep whenever she tries to visit me, so…"
Sasuke watched him calmly as he rubbed drearily at his eyes, trudging along as they reached an elevator.
"That is the only night you're sleeping in my bed," he said.
Naruto turned to him and pouted. "But Sasuke-"
"No. That bed is not made for two people, especially one of which who sleeps like an animal."
The other continued pouting but didn't say anything, instead never taking his stare off of Sasuke.
That night, Sasuke stared into the darkness of his room as Naruto snored away happily by his side.
—
The next morning, after Sasuke's annoying nagging and pestering, Naruto was tugged off to conditioning. He took it as a punishment for staying over at Sasuke's again. Not too many of his friends had chosen to attend today, but thanks to the torturous amount of push and pull ups they'd been punished with as a result of Kiba's fooling around, he wasn't even sure he was seeing straight.
Karin had attended today's session, though a feeling in Naruto's gut told him that she attended every single day. He watched her follow through their exercises with impressive speed and endurance, never even stopping when sweat made her glasses fall off her nose. She didn't bother acknowledging him when he attempted to talk to her, though, and Naruto simply left it at that.
They had also been assigned into their tactical groups, in which Naruto was yet again reunited with Karin. She stood silently with Juugo as their names were called and assigned to existing and formed to new groups. He'd be working with Shino, Karin, and another man whose name he couldn't bother to remember - all he knew was that he was the captain figure of their little squad.
Ino had cared enough to join him in the cool down stretches that Sasuke had reminded him to do, pressing the soles of her smaller boots against his as they reached for their toes.
"What have you been up to, Naruto?" she asked, without a hint of suspicion dripping into her voice. Naruto knew then that it was nothing more than a simple and harmless question.
"Nothin' much," he said nonchalantly, stretching out the muscles in his shoulders.
It was then that Ino rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Nothing much besides causing a bunch of ruckus and nearly knocking Chouji out? If that's your definition of 'nothing much', Naruto, then I guess it is what it is."
Naruto tilted his head unappreciatively. "Kiba is a bad influence on me-"
"Don't," Ino aimed her pointer finger at him, sending him a warning look. "Blame this on Kiba. You two are horrible together no matter what the situation. I don't care if Shino's the one with the bad influence, Naruto, you need to behave!"
He cringed at all of the nagging he'd received today. It just seemed to be the day of nagging today, and he hadn't even come across Sakura yet!
"Especially when you're operating under Yamato," she grumbled into her knee, leaning back to give him a condescending glare. A few pieces of Ino's hair stuck to her face and the sweat on her forehead was dewy. "Haven't you heard about him?"
"Sorry I'm not in the most recent gossip circle," he grumbled back, feeling a small twinge of irritation when he learned that there was yet another thing he hadn't been paying attention to.
"Well," Ino chided, crossing her legs and leaning back on her hands. The bright afternoon sun washed her features out from his view. It wasn't necessarily hot out, but the weather was awkwardly teetering between a slight chill and gentle warmth. "He's not someone you can joke around with."
Naruto said nothing and stood, wiping his hands against each other to rid them of thin blades of grass. He did the same to his back and legs as he walked away from Ino, following another small group in his platoon that were heading back inside as well.
Ino's voice chided right into his ear again. "You could at least offer to help a girl up."
He tilted his head. "I thought you said you could take care of yourself."
She huffed and leant away from him, most likely remembering what she'd said not too long ago. "Well, just 'cause you're a guy, that doesn't mean I wouldn't help you up either."
Acknowledging her comment, Naruto grunted and lifted the hidden door under a smooth patch of grass. He held it open for Ino, sighing as the conditioned air hit his overheated skin. She jumped in and Naruto followed right after, almost shoving her out of the way.
On the way down and until the intersection of the dorms, he held lighthearted chats with Ino. She filled him in on a few of the things going on around here, most importantly the major meeting for strength early tomorrow morning. Naruto probably would have never even heard about it until someone questioned him why he wasn't there after the meeting. He thanked her and they parted ways, trudging towards his own room.
Naruto hadn't been there in… a while. He only really stopped by to pick up some clothes. He spent most of his time roaming about the halls and lobby with his friends or inviting himself into Sasuke's room. Besides… Sasuke's was nicer anyway. They had nearly the exact same furniture, but in Sasuke's room, it looked richer and more inviting. Perhaps it was the fact that Naruto could actually see the footboard of the other's bed; his own was draped in dirty shirts and boxers and towels he'd forgotten to return.
Naruto picked around inside his shoe for his key and unlocked his door once he found it, finding that his room was unreasonably cold. He did some cleaning around once he shut the door, throwing snack wrappers and paper plates into the trash bin. Naruto figured that he'd reward himself with a shower once he got his chores done; maybe Sasuke could stay over and he wouldn't always be taking up the other's bed.
He made a pile of shirts that could be worn again and ones that smelled absolutely unacceptable. As Naruto tucked the re-wearable clothes away in his dresser, he thought of all the exercises and drills that he'd gone through today and wondered if he'd gained any weight. That was a question saved later for Tsunade; he'd have to bring it up with her.
Naruto tucked his few dirty clothes under his arm and headed for the elevator, kicking his feet out as he walked. The traffic around this area was at an all time low, with only a couple of people passing by every few minutes. This seemed to be the catnap time of day, or when everyone chose to relax elsewhere.
Once the ledge clicked in alliance with the floor, he made his way across the relatively quiet lobby and into the messy storage room where a few washers and driers were.
A man was waiting for his clothes to dry, but he didn't greet Naruto. He made his way over to an unoccupied washer and struggled to remember just exactly what Tsunade had tried to teach him. His socked feet nearly slid on some of the detergent covering the floor, and he quickly tossed in a few shakes of the box he found resting on the ground.
Naruto pressed the go button for his clothes to wash after a few moments of confusion and kept his back turned away from the man that hadn't greeted him. Unfortunately and fortunately, he knew that this would be a fast process; Tsunade's punishment for his acting out had been to wash countless bath towels after towels. It was gross, but he had learned something out of it nonetheless.
A few minutes later, he waited for his clothes to dry, the man who didn't greet him having left. Naruto's thoughts transitioned to a few of the funnier moments between he and Jiraiya and he chuckled to himself. As perverted as he was, he was a good guy; for the last five years, he had been documenting the state of the government as they knew it and life living outside of a Sector. The man had said something about writing it down for history, but… Naruto knew his porn books would sell better.
Naruto tugged one of his shirts out of the dryer and buried his face in it, reveling in the warmth and flowery smell of the detergent. It was a bit girly, but he didn't mind. Gathering his clothes back into his arms, he hoped he didn't trip on anything or anyone as he headed back down to his room.
He ended up throwing the clothes on his bed and choosing a shower over his responsibilities. It was a long and thankfully undisturbed one, of which he was thankful for.
A few hours later at dinner, he sat just a little too close to Sasuke to be considered friendly, but the bench was crowded, anyway. Sasuke told him under his breath that he was being forced to work beside Sai, Suigetsu, and another man by the name of Torao. Naruto smiled and said that Sasuke had been put in the group for a reason, and that teams were—once again—always supposed to work together. Naruto gave him a lecture on how teammates were supposed to best each other and encourage each other to work even harder, and how he already saw that reflecting in Sasuke. The other hunched over his food and pretended he wasn't listening, But Naruto could just tell that he was.
After that, Sakura sent him a suspicious glare from across the table, raising her eyebrows in a way Naruto knew he'd better be in his own room tonight. He slid further down into his seat and innocently played with the peas on his plate.
When the dinner inched to a sluggish end, Ino harassed the boys she was closest with to get up and relax with her in the lounge. A few others rose to join them, and others trudged away to be in their own solitude or socialize with the other members of the Center. Naruto clasped his hands under his chin and dug his nails into his hands when Sakura and Karin stayed behind to sit with Sasuke and him. They sat in a tense silence of Naruto wanting to speak to Sasuke—privately, he may add—and Sasuke enjoying the long silence between them all.
That was when a large hand fell on his shoulder and practically startled Naruto out of his pants, making him turn quickly and peer up into the grinning face of his godfather.
"Jiraiya!" He called, turning around and almost elbowing Sasuke harshly. Naruto grinned right back at the man, swatting his hand away from his shoulder.
"Quiet down," Jiraiya reprimanded, moving his hand from his shoulder to the top of his head. "Why don't we go have a talk somewhere else?"
The grin slipped right off of Naruto's face and he paled, unease washing over him. "Eh? Why not here?"
Jiraiya's lips twitched and flicked his head in the direction of the hallway between the lobby and the infirmary. Naruto turned to send Sasuke a confused look, the other giving him a slightly interested one. Sakura frowned slightly and gave him a small wave before he stood and followed Jiraiya away from the table.
"What's this about?" Naruto spoke up "Is someone hurt? Did-"
"Oh," Jiraiya interrupted and flicked a dismissing hand in his direction. "This is just a quieter area. All your little friends gathered in the lounge and it'd be too much hassle to go anywhere else."
Naruto frowned and stood a bit awkwardly where he was in the threshold of the hallway, studying the shadows covering half of Jiraiya's figure. He stuffed his fists into his pockets and leant against the wall opposite of Jiraiya.
They sat in a few moments of silence before Naruto started fidgeting, taking the pockets in and out of his pants. He glanced back into the lobby, where he saw the tables being folded back up by a few volunteers. The table he and Sasuke had been sitting at was empty now.
"It's just about time we had a talk," Jiraiya said, crossing his arms. Naruto swallowed nervously as a darker look came over the man's face. "Tsunade would have done this, but she didn't want to deal with you."
Naruto creased his eyebrows together. Was this about his parents? Because he knew now that he'd squeezed and harassed every single story Jiraiya had about them from the man. Was there something he had been skirting around, something Naruto would have never asked about?
"I mean," Jiraiya shrugged heavily, looking bored. "Don't get me wrong, but I always thought you were into girls."
Naruto paused for a second and then nearly jumped out of his skin, looking at the other man in horror. Wait, he and Sasuke had never ran over what they would say and do if someone hit the nail on the head! He was shocked for a few moments, but quickly jumped to a method he'd used all to often.
"What?" he squeaked, attempting to level out his voice. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Son," Jiraiya sighed, giving Naruto a scrutinizing look. "We can get this over with if you'd knock that shit off already."
Naruto frowned and dropped the act, hunching his shoulders over and jamming his hands back into his pockets. He let out a resigned sigh. "Fine. Did Sakura tell you?"
Jiraiya sent him an odd look. "Sakura? Just who are you telling, son?" An amused smirk made the wart on his nose dig into his cheek. "Suna accidentally asked me about you two after she… witnessed some activity in the early morning."
He paled. "Just how many people know now, besides you and Tsunade?"
"Kakashi and Gai."
Naruto flushed deeply as Jiraiya snickered, pressing himself further into the wall. He said nothing out of the fear that he'd stutter and his face would grow hotter. The precaution didn't help at all, though, and the moment he realized just what kind of talk Jiraiya wanted to have, his face began to tingle even more and he tried to walk away.
"Nuh-uh-uh," Jiraiya chided, hooking his finger in the collar of Naruto's shirt and dragging him back into the hallway. "You're stating here. You're going to listen all the way through because you need to know this, Naruto-"
"'Just like I needed to proofread your porn books?" Naruto scowled at the man and swatted his arm away, sliding down the wall to sit on the floor.
Jiraiya looked a bit stern when he'd interrupted in the first place, but the look was replaced with a carefree one as soon as he'd heard what Naruto had to say. "What can I say? You have a sharp eye."
Naruto grumbled to himself under his breath and wrapped his arms around his legs, bringing them closer to his body so he could rest his chin on top of his knees. "Just get it over with. It's not like I've heard this a thousand times-"
"You have heard it," Jiraiya raised his hands to compare the matters. He raised his right hand. "But you've heard the version of this talk between men and women from about five different people. Please don't tell me you thought this worked the same way between men and men."
Naruto scowled up at the other man. "Of course I didn't!" Well, he thought. He definitely knew. After the other night, it was proved even further that Sasuke had the equipment that every other man did.
"If you say so," said Jiraiya, glancing down at a watch that hadn't been on his wrist before. "How can I let my godson walk into a relationship without knowing how the sex works? That's blasphemy, I tell you…"
"I already know how it works," Naruto grumbled, flushing again when Jiraiya looked at him in surprise.
The look of surprise turned into the rolling of eyes. "What have I told you about lying? Anyway, kid. Yada yada, foreplay."
Naruto squeezed his eyes shut and did his best to slide even lower on the wall and curl up into the tightest ball he could, squeezing his head between his knees.
"But before I start anything, I'm telling you that you have to be meticulous." Jiraiya carried a more serious look on his face now. "Naruto, stop that. You'd better listen to me. Both of you can get hurt if you don't do this right."
Naruto sobered up a bit then, begrudgingly resting his chin back onto his knees. He didn't look directly at Jiraiya, instead choosing to stare at a little moth bunny floating around on the ground.
Jiraiya grunted in approval. "Now," he said. "Once you're past all that…"
After Sasuke had held a one-sided chat with Karin and Sakura in which he had spoken five words max, he excused himself to shower and relax a bit. When Naruto had been dragged off by Jiraiya, Sasuke hadn't expected it to be anything serious - Naruto just had a flair for the dramatic. He would be fine.
He was unfortunate to find that Sai had chosen to shower in this wing of the building. When the shower curtain was thrown open, Sasuke knew. That was why he'd thrown the bottle of shampoo in his hand straight into Sai's face and yanked the curtain back closed.
After that, he sighed contently and let the hot water work out the kinks in his shoulders. His chest had felt a bit heavy for most of the day - would it be the weather or the thoughts brewing in the back of his mind, he didn't want to deal with either.
Sasuke shut off the water and dried himself off quickly, wrapping the towel around his shoulders and stepping into his boxers. At least an hour had passed already, but he didn't feel too rushed. He brushed his teeth and returned to his room, eyes heavy and stinging from being awake so long.
Sasuke noticed he'd kicked off his shoes earlier and set them neatly, side by side, next to his door. He placed his room key on the edge of his desk like he always did at night. He remade his bed, whose covers had fallen everywhere due to a certain common guest he'd always had, and he patted the corners of his pillow. Sasuke picked a few stray pieces of rock that had fallen out of his combat shoes from the carpeted floor, throwing them in the trash. They fell inside a long empty yogurt cup.
He stared at the cup before quickly standing and flicking the light completely off, leaving him in absolute darkness save for the sliver of light under his door from the hallway. Sasuke would usually dim them just above the level where they would be off.
He laid down a bit stiffly and stared into the darkness, his new angle now blocking that sliver of light away from him. Sasuke shut his eyes and willed his breathing to slow down a bit.
Right before drifting off to sleep, he had been thinking of a time when he was around the age of ten. They were all in their old camp, where things had been a plenty more simple. He had given into the demands of playing an innocent game of tag with Suigetsu and Karin. What Sasuke had failed to notice was that his brother was nowhere to be seen—he had been disappearing a lot lately, he had noted. But he always returned with firewood or game.
Sasuke growled angrily when Suigetsu managed to snatch him by the sleeve of his shirt, and ensued a squabble with Karin of whether or not it counted.
"You didn't touch him, you touched his shirt!" Karin argued, her small fist waving in front of Suigetsu's face. The other boy was scrawny, and since it was the summer, his bruised and knobby knees peeked out from under his cargo shorts.
"Still counts," Suigetsu drawled. "The shirt's touchin' him, right? Why can't we just get back to the game?"
"Maybe you shouldn't be so serious about this whole thing," Juugo said softly, having come up from behind them. He hadn't been invited to play, but they all knew Juugo wouldn't want to either way. He got frustrated too easily and too quickly, and he didn't want to drag their fun down with his anger management issues.
"I don't want to play anymore," Sasuke announced, truly annoyed from all of the arguing. He turned and attempted to stomp back towards the camp.
"Don't be a sore loser!" Suigetsu shouted, pointing at his turned back. "You always get all asshurt whenever you lose and try to cheat your way into winning! It pisses me off whenever you try to bend the rules just so you like them!"
Sasuke scowled when he heard the fowl use of language, knowing he could use this against Suigetsu. Itachi had spoken to him not even a day earlier about his language and the consequences should he say another cuss word. Sasuke knew he was a tattle tale, but at least he abided by the rules.
"You're not supposed to cuss," Sasuke said tauntingly, turning so that he could send Suigetsu a superior look. "Especially over something so stupid."
"Don't try to cover it up!" Suigetsu called back, though he looked a bit miffed once he realized he'd cursed. He turned a deep shade of pink for a few moments before leaning back and launching himself at Sasuke, making the other boy stumble away and nearly fall on his back.
Sasuke glanced incredulously at Suigetsu reeling back up and popping his knuckles. Was he serious about this?
"You always think you're the best of us!" Suigetsu yelled again, looking a bit angrier than Sasuke thought he'd ever seen him. "But what the hell makes you better when you're such a fucking brat!"
When Suigetsu swung with angry tears in his eyes, Sasuke ran. Karin gasped and Juugo shifted up from his seat to try to stop him, but when Suigetsu followed right after him, they let them be.
Sasuke ran farther and farther into the woods Itachi had told him never to go into without him, Suigetsu's footsteps becoming farther and farther behind his own. The other little boy yelled taunts and insults right behind him, calling him a chicken for running and to man up. But words couldn't explain how much he couldn't handle to see the disappointment in Itachi's eyes when he learned that Sasuke had gotten into yet another fight with Suigetsu again.
Sasuke panted heavily and leant against the tree. He would have lasted a lot longer, but the summer sun made the thick forest humid and sticky so that his shirt already clung to his back. Vague concern welled into his mind when he listened and found that Suigetsu's footsteps had stopped completely, and he wondered if the other had gotten lost.
Sasuke smirked and turned to where he expected Suigetsu's footsteps to start back up again, but instead he heard none. He paused when he realized that the area he'd turned to didn't seem like an area he'd ran through. He turned a different way, struggling to remember which direction he'd came from and which way he'd turned to lean on a tree. Sasuke jogged a bit deeper in the way he thought he'd come from, but found that all of the trees in this forest were near identical, and the ground under his feet was too flat and thin to hold footprints.
He calmed the slight stutter in his breath and assured himself that he'd find which way he came from. "Suigetsu?" he called, turning in every direction.
Sasuke received no answer. He turned to the side and began jogging in that direction, hoping to find a clearing that he'd already run through. He stopped again and called for his friend again, slightly panicking when birds above his head flew away with his shout. Sasuke flinched when one of the black birds flew a bit too close to his head for comfort, yelling Suigetsu's name with a bit more urgency.
"Suigetsu!" Sasuke turned when he heard a rustle from a different direction. His eyes widened when he thought he saw a shadow that was much too large to be his friend rush by from the corner of his eye. He gasped and did the only thing he knew how to do - run.
Sasuke ran even though he knew the crunches behind him were his own footsteps, ran even though he knew he might have imagined the extra ones. He ran until his throat burned with the effort to drag in air and his eyes were dry from not blinking enough. But Sasuke didn't want to close his eyes, because then he couldn't see where he was going.
Sasuke grunted when he tripped over a near invisible tree root, falling onto his hands and knees. He panted heavily and blinked away the burning in his eyes.
He didn't hear the crunch of footfalls in front of him because of the beating of his pulse in his ears.
"What are you doing?" a familiar, deep voice asked him. Sasuke sighed in relief and tried to look up at his older brother, but a hand on top of his head stopped him. Itachi had always said that keeping his neck relaxed would help him breathe more clearly.
When Sasuke didn't answer, Itachi sighed. "Do you realize how far into the woods you are? You're lucky I found you, little brother."
Sasuke blinked at the ground below him. "Was that you?"
"Was what me?" his brother sounded a bit concerned. "Did you see someone?"
"I don't think so," he wiped his hands of dirt and shifted to sit on his knees. Sasuke looked behind him. "It might have been a tree."
Itachi let out an unamused and condescending grunt. "Sasuke, what were you doing?"
Sasuke opened his mouth and looked up at his brother, preparing to launch into the story with Suigetsu. But when he looked at Itachi, the words died in his throat, his chest filling with terror.
Itachi stared down at him blankly, his face stony. He had expected to look into stern and reprimanding eyes, but nonetheless curious as to why he'd been running. Instead Sasuke peered into two empty black sockets, unseeing and bland. The skin that had once been around Itachi's eyes was wrinkled slightly and Sasuke's breath left him in an attempt to drag in air for a frightened and hoarse yell.
Sasuke sat up with a horrified intake of air, frantically pushing the sheets clinging to his body off of the bed. He breathed just as heavily as he had been back then, in that dream, and when he'd seen Itachi's gouged eyes. He opened his own to complete and engulfing darkness, his heartbeat spiking when not even the hint of light from under his door.
Sasuke felt as if a thousand bugs were crawling across his body, so he stumbled away from his bed and almost tripped on his sheets. He couldn't calm his breathing or knock off the chill on the back of his neck as if there were someone else inside of his room. The hairs on his arms stood up as he rushed to turn his lights on, the cold sweat all over his body uncomfortable.
Sasuke stared with wide eyes into the darkness of the room as he helplessly pushed at the dial of his light, panting when it wouldn't turn on.
Was this another dream? Did the power go out? Temari had never said anything about the power going out! Panicked, he risked turning his back to wrench his door open and slam it shut behind him, the hallway drenched in the red of an emergency light above his head. It was all too eerie and did nothing to settle the fear that had settled deep into him. Sasuke hadn't even thought of where he was going when he ran into the next wings with the hair on the back of his neck standing on end.
The hallways were still quiet, but a few men gave him odd looks when he ran past them. Sasuke didn't even think twice about the gratitude that washed over him when he realized that Naruto was too stupid to lock his door at night.
Before he turned the knob all the way, he rested his forehead against the door and attempted to calm himself down. Never once before had Sasuke been so illogical - first of all, the events in his dream hadn't even happened. When he looked up, Itachi had his eyes and they'd headed off back to camp to which Suigetsu didn't return to for another day because he'd been off sulking by himself. Suigetsu had begrudgingly apologized to him for blowing up and saying hurtful things.
Second of all, there was absolutely no way that there could have been someone else in his room. The only other time someone had been in his room, it had been Naruto, and even then he'd never felt so threatened. The only people in his room were himself and the ghosts of his memories.
Sasuke quietly opened the door and slipped inside, content to find Naruto slept with his lights just a bit brighter than Sasuke usually left them. He could see the sprawled body under blankets in the dim light and he clicked the door shut, leaning back against it as he swiped at the thin sheen of sweat on his forehead.
It was oddly relaxing to see that Naruto had a few articles of clothing thrown around on the floor. That along with a small frog keychain hanging from his lamp gave his room personality, more than Sasuke's had. It was warm, familiar.
He sighed when he realized he couldn't go back to his own room, not when it had become a centre of fear for him. Sasuke leant off of the door and slowly walked towards the bed, inspecting Naruto's sleeping face.
Of course, a thin trail of drool had pooled on the pillow, and Naruto was oblivious to the world. He slept shirtless again, the blankets bunched around his body covering the broad expanse of his back. Sasuke sighed and sat in the space Naruto wasn't occupying, staring at the wall. He moved as quietly as he could to settle underneath the blankets, resting on his side to face away from Naruto.
The warmth from Naruto's back seeped into his own, calming him into a drowsily relaxed state.
Never in his life had he been so dependent on another person. It was a fact that he'd relied on Itachi more often than not - but this, this wasn't relying on Naruto. Naruto was both his weakness and his strength, and it was more aggravating and enchanting than anything he'd ever encountered. But yet again, Naruto was his mobile home and best friend, lover and acquaintance. It was all so agonizingly weakening, but it wasn't worth giving up.
It was no wonder that Itachi had left him.
A/N: You are all such wonderful readers. It's been a pleasure to see y'all telling me how much you love S5, thank you so much! I'm sorry this update is late - I haven't been feeling too bright and time is slipping from my hands. But until next update - we have something in store.