Enjoy!

The Long Way Home

Part 14

Experimentation

Chapter 2/3

Juro watched the road as he leant up against the tree and stifled a yawn.

"This is boring," he told his companion.

Nobu continued to eat his bread, apparently not listening at all to his friend bitch.

"I don't know why we have to do this," Juro continued.

Nobu sighed and stopped eating.

"We're doing this because we want to see if there are any travelers coming out of this town worth robbing. Travelers usually make for easier marks and generally travel with a decent amount of cash."

"No I get why someone needs to watch the road. I just don't get why it has to be us."

"Because it's our turn. If you want a cut, you gotta take your turn at everything. You know that."

"It's just so fucking early though and I-"

"Juro, shut up," Nobu told him getting to his feet and looking toward the road over Juro's shoulder.

"Don't talk to me like that I-"

"Look, you idiot. What do you think of those two?"

Juro looked to where Nobu was gesturing to see two young men head down the road out of town. Their bags looked laden enough to suggest travelers and sure enough they got onto the road leading north where there was nothing but fields and trees till the next down several days walk from here.

"They look pretty young," Juro mused. "Can't be more than twenty. Probably a few years shy."

"That's a good thing. We want either young ones or old ones. Anyone who won't put up much of a fight."

Juro peered at the two a little closer though it was still hard to see too many details at this distance.

"Ones got a sword," he told Nobu offhandedly.

"Bet you dinner he doesn't know how to use the thing. Can't be all that good, guy that age. Look at him walk, confident sure, but I bet you a pretty boy like that just wears the thing around to look cool for the ladies. And that other one, he walks like he's on some kind of exciting adventure. Probably a goofball."

Juro didn't really get the same impression from these two. From watching them he might have been more inclined to think these two acted like they were confident and carefree because they had nothing to fear, not because of some stupid untested bravado. But then what did he know, he wasn't much older than them anyway and Nobu had been doing this for a lot longer than him.

"If you say so," he told Nobu.

"I do. Besides, I thought you hated waiting out here looking for marks. Here, I'll keep them in sight, you go back and tell the others. If these two stick to this road heading towards the capital you should be able to catch up pretty quickly."

Juro nodded and with one last look at the pair on the road did as asked and rushed off.

Sasuke ignored Naruto's wincing and tried again.

He had to admit though, it didn't sound much better the fifth time he tried to play his flute either.

He didn't get it. He'd used his Sharingan to watch that guy on the road play but he still wasn't having all that much luck duplicating the sound. He should have been able to copy it near perfectly but he supposed it wasn't all that surprising that he was having trouble.

For one thing he'd never been as good using his ability to copy things as say Kakashi was. He was still very good, but copying complicated, deft movements like this hadn't been mainly what he'd used it for. After all you didn't need to mimic your opponents when you could tell from their movements what they were doing and use that information to counterattack in a battle decisive way.

Mainly though he figured it hadn't worked because he hadn't been paying proper attention at the time. He hadn't expected his Sharingan to activate and had been a little too shocked to really absorb what he was seeing to be all that useful.

They'd stopped for a break in the middle of the day to eat in a little clearing off the main road, sheltered under some trees. Naruto had eaten quickly before lying down in the grass next to where Sasuke was sitting and sighing contently.

"It's too hot today," Naruto had told him. "I feel like I'm melting walking in the sun. This is much better"

"We'll wait out the hottest part of the day here and walk further this afternoon," Sasuke had agreed.

So having a longer time to relax, Sasuke had gotten the sudden compulsion to unpack the flute and give it a try. Needless to say he had expected better results.

"I'm happy you've found a hobby Sasuke, but I'd rather you didn't play it around me. Sounds like you stepped on one of those mice."

Sasuke frowned at him. "We're always together," he reminded him. "When exactly do you want me to practice?"

"Ah right, good point."

But Sasuke did give it a rest. He wasn't so thrilled about his failure either. Instead he looked over the shiny instrument, noting a weird flowing script etched into the instrument.

"Ne, Sasuke?"

"Mmm?" Sasuke replied distractedly, staring at the marks in the silver metal.

"When we were leaving, I uh, don't suppose you took anything from say the bathroom, did you?"

Sasuke continued to pretend to be engrossed in the flute but really he felt a little caught out. He didn't know why he should care, he had just been practical by taking it.

"Yes."

"You took that bath oil?"

"It's in my pocket. Why?"

"Uh no reason. I was just wondering why you took it."

Sasuke spared him a glance. "Why were you looking for it?"

Naruto didn't reply which was pretty much what he expected. The answer was obvious and not even Naruto was stupid enough to continue the line of questioning when he was equally as guilty of thinking the same thing.

Instead, Naruto suddenly grabbed the flute out of Sasuke's hands and gave it a shallow toss towards his bag on the other side of him without looking.

"It's just a flute Sasuke. People leave stuff behind all the time, it's not that interesting."

Sasuke looked around at him with a deep scowl before crawling over Naruto to retrieve the item in question.

Sasuke didn't realise at the time why he'd decided to just lean over Naruto rather than get up and retrieve the flute an easier way and he sure didn't realise just what position he had put himself in until his hand closed over the cool metal of the flute and he felt a tentative brush against the front of his pants as fingers grazed his groin.

Needless to say the attention stopped him from moving for a moment other than to look down and see he'd unintentionally crawled so far over Naruto that he placed his crotch directly over Naruto's face. And instead of Naruto telling him off for it he had instead decided to feel him up instead. It was probably all that talk about taking the bath oil that earned him a less vehement reaction but Sasuke felt somehow unwilling to complain about it.

The tentative touch turned into a more direct grope before Sasuke decided whether he was going to move or say anything and he felt the waist of his pants loosen as Naruto's free hand tugged at the tie on his pants. Once completely loose, Naruto skimmed the pants down to expose him replacing his hand after a few moments and Sasuke felt warm fingers against his naked flesh.

He heard himself moan softly and grow harder as fingers wrapped around him tightly and began stroking him. The arms in his muscles were tensed as they held him up over Naruto and he tried to will them to relax before they jumped slightly at the sensation of a warm wet lick across the head of his cock. Just once but it had startled him slightly though in a decidedly pleasant way.

He felt a hand low down on his back coaxing him down and Sasuke readjusted himself, moving one leg back so he could comply before his sensation assaulted brain had worked out why he was doing it. But by then the hand jerking him off had slid down to the base of his cock and a warm wet mouth engulfed the head and sucked. This time his moan was much louder and he felt the hand on his back move down to grab his ass roughly enough to probably leave a mark.

No one had done this to him before. Having yourself surrounded by slick warmth was a new experience for him and when Naruto used the his grip on Sasuke's ass to move him down even further and be even more encased, feeling a tongue flick against him at the same time he worried how much longer he could make himself last.

Not that Naruto was exactly that smooth at this. He was a little aggressive, a little too forceful and seemed more aimed toward putting his all into the task rather than experimenting and taking his time. But the effect was still pretty amazing.

Being unskilled meant little when you had a lot of pure focus and energy sucking and lapping a very sensitive part of your body. He put such an intensity into it Sasuke could feel his eyes practically roll up into his head behind his closed eyelids at the sensation.

The grip on his ass eased up and he felt his pants slip further down his legs as Naruto tugged at them. It wasn't until a minute or so later he realised what Naruto had been doing when he felt the hand back on his ass, fingers sliding none too gently in between his cheeks and rubbing at his entrance. Naruto must have grabbed the bottle of oil from Sasuke's pocket.

He felt slick fingers rub against him apparently not seeking entrance but merely rubbing for the sensation. Just like before he was amazed at how sensitized that area was to touch especially being rubbed so assertively. But he felt really exposed like this. The way he was braced up made him feel so open and compromised. But there was something in there as well that felt kind of...exciting too.

The warm suckling embrace of lips around his cock, the almost painful grip around the base and the insistent rub of oil slicked fingers at his opening convinced him to enjoy it and bite down the usually hateful feeling of not being in control. And then all thoughts just sort of sprang out of his mind when he felt a finger push into him through now fairly softened muscles.

Naruto didn't waste time, that was just something built into his personality. He focussed on something, spent probably not enough time thinking about it and then plowed ahead without any further thought. It often made him seem impetuous in many situations and what they did together seemed no different than the norm.

Admittedly it was sort of a strange feeling and it made him tense a little. He could feel the slight stretch around the finger, feel the slightly uncomfortable feeling of having something just inside him. He knew Naruto was moving his finger, almost like he was exploring which should have made him feel all the more exposed, but the movement itself was weirdly nice all on its own so he tried his hardest not to think about it too much or what might be going through Naruto's head this time.

He did however make himself relax again, remembering what he'd said to Naruto last night and knowing he was probably just making it more difficult for himself by tensing up at the invasive feeling. So he focussed on the good feelings, the mouth around him and the movement going within. And when he did relax more he found it began to feel even better.

He was pretty close to coming already that even the slight sting of being stretched further - a second finger? - didn't really faze him at all until he felt those fingers delve into him more deeply and deliberately gaze across something inside him that made his mouth silently spring open and every muscle in his body to tense back up again all at once.

So that was what he'd touched before in his exploration of Naruto last night. No wonder Naruto had such a reaction to it. It was almost like he had a button inside him solely designed to make him see stars. He let out a ragged breath before Naruto went ahead and did it again a little more forcefully eliciting a long low moan deep in his throat and making him come harder than hed ever come in his life.

Now that he'd finished, his muscles felt cramped from holding himself up in this position and they protested harshly when Naruto grabbed his hips and rolled him over so that he was now lying on the ground and could focus on just breathing for a little while.

"That wasn't fair," Sasuke told the branches above his head when he could speak again.

"How do you figure?"

"You knew more what you were doing because of what I've done to you," Sasuke accused.

"Are you seriously bitching about that?"

Unfortunately, Naruto had a good point. Thanks to his experience being on the receiving end of Sasuke whims he had a good head-start on doing that to another person for the first time. But Sasuke couldn't truly bitch about it since he was the one enjoying the benefits of such an education himself.

"Well it's nice to see your mouth has more talents than just talking my ear off," Sasuke admitted.

Naruto elbowed him in the side. "Jerk. So that must have been pretty good huh?"

"You really want me to tell you how good you are at sucking cock?" Sasuke asked mockingly.

"Well I can't be better than you," Naruto returned. "Last time I thought you were gonna suck my lungs out through my dick."

"Funny," Sasuke replied unamused before shifting a little and becoming aware of a dull sort of ache. "My ass hurts."

"Sorry."

Sasuke took a deep breath. "Don't be."

And he meant it. Okay, so he'd known Naruto would pay him back for last night and he'd also known what that would entail. But he still hadn't known how he might react to it despite the attention he'd already received in that, er, area before until it had actually happened.

This was a little more than a gentle rubbing and he would have thought he wouldn't like to have someone touch him quite so intimately because he'd imagined he wouldn't like giving up enough control to let it happen. He'd half expected when the time came that he would flat out refuse rather than let himself be that receptive. He wasn't sure he whether he should feel pleased that he hadn't felt any trepidation or annoyed by it.

Oh well, either way at least he knew now how good it could feel to just give in like that.

Naruto rolled himself till he could rest half propped against Sasuke's side and leant down to capture his lips. It was about at this point that Sasuke realised something important, basically because it was digging into his hip.

Well of course Naruto wasn't done yet since he hadn't come but the fact that Sasuke felt so relaxed and wiped right now meant that he didn't much care. Well not enough to rouse himself to do much more than lie there and let Naruto have free reign with his mouth anyway. It was possibly the first time he didn't feel the overriding urge to fight back so to speak and while he wasn't against the kissing right now, his own contribution was token at best and Naruto didn't seem to mind one bit.

Naruto moved over him till he could get himself between Sasuke's legs and finish removing Sasuke's clothes. Once done he leant back over and reinitiated the kiss, bracing himself up with one hand while using his free hand to undo his own pants.

So it wasn't surprising that Naruto wanted to finish too, it was hard to blame him even if Sasuke felt sated himself. Of course he still found his own hands reaching up to run fingers over the sweat slick skin of Naruto's arms and up to his neck. Dare he say it, but it was actually kind of relaxing. And as Naruto continued kissing him, lying against him and groaning occasionally Sasuke started to feel a little more into it too. Well maybe if he did join in he could come again and be twice as relaxed.

So he pushed at Naruto's side to encourage him to create a bit of space between their bodies to which Naruto complied, moving down. But instead of giving Sasuke access to him he moved down too far, grasping Sasuke's leg in a tight grip before jerking his hips up and quite unintentionally pushing up against another still quite sensitized part of Sasuke's body.

This caused Sasuke to suck in a quick breath of air while Naruto almost stilled completely. It was quite obvious he hadn't actually meant to do that and gotten a little carried away in the moment. He'd just meant to grind up against the writhing body beneath him like he usually did. And it had kind of hurt.

Just that little bump without anything going inside had stung just from the force Naruto had used alone. But a small crazy little part of his mind had also felt a little thrilled at the unintended touch. Of course at the same time he wanted to smack Naruto upside the head for both the pain and the stupidity but he also felt a strange urge to push back a little too.

What. The. Fuck?

To distract himself he grabbed a handful of Naruto's hair and pulled him down into another kiss. Admittedly it was a little forced though especially because Naruto wasn't exactly being greatly responsive and also because he'd gone back to being a little aggressive due to either the sensation or trying like hell to not think right now.

After all fingers were fine, but more? No, he didn't want that, it would hurt, he knew that even as his traitorous body moved to teasingly rub against the erection sitting against his hole. And there was no way in hell Naruto was going to fuck him.

It might be nice to lose control occasionally, but to put yourself in that sort of position freaked him out a lot more than anything else they had done so far. Besides, that wasn't what this was about. You could relieve frustrations without having penetrative sex, they'd at least proved that by now.

But then at Sasuke's small movement Naruto let out a groan that sounded like he'd been holding it in and he kissed back with a little more enthusiasm. He didn't push against Sasuke this time but he seemed to like the sensation of what Sasuke was doing to him.

This unaccountably pleased him to hear. Here he had thought that being in this sort of position was like being at someone's mercy but he was hardly lacking control in this situation. With only kissing and the slight movements of his hips he could feel Naruto losing himself, hear it too and that in turn made him even more aroused.

Naruto broke away from the kiss and laid his forehead against Sasuke's, his heavy breaths hitting Sasuke's face.

"Ahh, don't do that," Naruto practically growled.

"You're the one lying on me, move if you don't like it."

He felt Naruto shift against him, just a fraction against his slicked hole and Sasuke's eyes dropped closed. Okay, so it hadn't hurt that time. Actually that had felt strangely good. But before he could move to rub against him in turn, Naruto grabbed his hip roughly to stop him.

"It isn't that I don't like it. I feel like..."

But whatever Naruto was going to say, he stopped himself and moved away, scooting over Sasuke's body again so this time he could lay against him, trapping their erections together in a tight grip. Sasuke's head dropped backwards at the touch and Naruto attacked his neck, kissing and sucking at the exposed skin almost painfully.

Actually, out of the two positions, this one felt even more vulnerable and Sasuke had to wonder if some sort of moment had just been missed. He also wondered if Naruto felt the same when he went completely still above him after grabbing his arm painfully. But what could he do, he didn't even fully understand what he wanted so it would be pointless to tell Naruto off or even encourage him to keep going.

But as the moments dragged on and Naruto still hadn't moved or spoken he eventually looked up first taking in the sight of wide surprised blue eyes and then something thin and shiny resting against Naruto's throat held by a dirt stained hand with a very steady grip. Looking past Naruto he followed the arm up till the grinning face of a strange man swept into view. His features were hard to make out with the blinding sun shining directly behind him though.

"I'm glad I finally got both of your attentions. Now I'll try that speech again. This is a robbery. You both be good boys and don't make a fuss while we steal all your stuff and nobody will get their throat slit. Understood?"

"No fucking way," Naruto ground out.

Immediately, the guy behind Naruto reached forward and grabbed a large chunk of his hair, dragging him off Sasuke and forcing him to kneel with his head tilted back and the blade still at his throat.

Sasuke sat up swiftly but didn't get a chance to rise to his feet before he felt something sharp poke him in the back. He looked over the find his own sword held by yet another bandit. At least this one wasn't smiling. Actually he looked very sombre about what he was doing and had the decency to throw Sasuke his pants before indicating that he was allowed to put them on.

As Sasuke did so he took a moment to look around him a little more thoroughly, getting angrier by the second at what he saw. There were at least five bandits in all not including the one that had Naruto prisoner. And the fact that all of them had managed to sneak up on both of them was infuriating.

He prided himself on being not so easy to take by surprise but his chakra loss meant that he had to be a lot more on guard than he was used to. Problem was that was easy to forget to do when you weren't used to having to do it. Plus Naruto had asked him one time whether there was anything that could make his mind just go blank and closed off to the rest of the world and the sad fact was that there was. Pity he just happened to be doing just that when it would have been helpful to be a little more aware of his surroundings.

Apparently the man guarding Sasuke had better manners than the one holding Naruto though because that guy didn't offer Naruto any clothes and in fact seemed to find it quite funny to find them both naked like this. Which was embarrassing sure, enough to annoy Sasuke even more than the fact he had been taken by surprise, but he refused to let that annoyance show. Remain calm and cool, that was what was needed here. Unfortunately Naruto seemed to have missed the class on staying level headed in the face of danger to judge by his red angry face.

"What are you doing Nobu?" The man behind Sasuke asked with a weary tone.

Well that was unsettling. It wasn't generally a good sign when criminals used their names in front of you. It usually meant that you weren't going to be around to tell on them. Of course it probably wasn't his real name anyhow.

"Just too tempting," Nobu replied with a smirk. "We probably could have stolen your stuff when you were busy making out with each other and you wouldn't have noticed," Nobu continued giving Naruto's hair a painful yank. "But you were lying too close to your bags and anyway this is way funnier. Not so hard now are you champ? But I guess having a blade against your throat ain't a real turn on, is it?"

Sasuke wondered how long Naruto would take the abuse before doing something stupid. Probably not too long to judge by the look on his face.

Still Sasuke didn't really care. The moment that blade came away from Naruto's skin these men would realise their mistake at targeting them. The only leverage the bandits had at the moment was the fact they could probably slit Naruto's throat before he tensed a muscle. Hopefully they would be too cocky realise that was all they had going for them and not realise they were attempting to rob two skilled fighters.

Of course being outnumbered did make him a little wary too. He didn't know the skill level of these men and deprived of chakra it wasn't exactly a sure win. But Sasuke remained confident, so long as that blade came away from Naruto's throat it would probably be worth the risk

"I wouldn't suggest moving though," Nobu continued speaking directly to Naruto. "If you do you won't have enough blood left in you to fill a bottle cap let alone your cock. Just be a good boy and stay still, we'll just tie you up so you don't get it into your head to follow us and do something stupid. You'll get free soon enough when we're well gone and you can get back to rubbing up against your pretty boy and we'll all be happy."

Well that was interesting. They had obviously discounted Sasuke as being the bigger threat from the get go. He was used to having people make assumptions about him based on how he looked but he'd never been discounted as a threat before. This was good, this he could use to his advantage. Or he could have if that last comment hadn't made Naruto's face go almost purple with anger. Sasuke sighed. So much for strategizing because time was probably about up on Naruto playing it cool. He had really hoped Naruto might be a little smarter about this.

"I really hate bullies, ya know," Naruto told the guy through clenched teeth.

Sasuke was already halfway to him by the time Naruto had elbowed the guy in the groin but he still didn't manage to get close enough before the guy's arm jerked and Naruto cried out.

He made himself stop a couple of steps away as the now clearly in pain robber jerked Naruto's head back up by his hair once more and placed the knife against his throat again. Across his neck was a thin red mark where the guy had sliced him, probably accidentally by the look of it because it hadn't been deep enough to do any real damage.

"Stop right there, pretty boy or I'll slice your boyfriend's neck for real the next time either of you move," the man warned him angrily.

"You said you would the first time but you were obviously lying," Sasuke reminded him with narrow eyes. "You don't know who you are dealing with," Sasuke warned him, ignoring Naruto's by now pained look.

He couldn't be sure but the guy had an edge of nervousness to his features now. He obviously thought robbing two teenagers was going to be easier. But Naruto fighting back and Sasuke outright threatening him was obviously ruining his plan to get some easy money. But since Naruto had ruined his first plan, making the likelihood of having the knife taken away from him now, he had to start improvising.

"If you leave now I won't hunt you down afterwards," Sasuke promised.

"Oh sure, big words for someone standing there half naked with their boyfriend's life in their hands."

"Not my boyfriend," Sasuke said with irritation. "Don't make me laugh."

"Fine, fuck buddy then, I don't care. All I care about is you both doing what you are told. And if you care one little bit about his life then you won't fucking move again!"

Annoyingly, he did actually care. No matter what, Naruto did not deserve to get taken down by some nothing bandits over a little bit of money. It was one thing to take on six to two odds when one of them wasn't being held hostage it was another to start a fight with that blade still so close to Naruto's neck.

And while he had the impression that Nobu guy was nervous about actually having to use it, Sasuke couldn't count on the guy not panicking when threatened and doing something stupid. The best he could hope for was that the guy would be reluctant enough to use the knife if he had a better alternative. Sasuke just had to give him one.

Naruto however didn't seem to think Sasuke wouldn't just pick a fight anyway to judge by the slightly worried look crossing his face. And frankly, Sasuke couldn't blame him considering this whole regained friendship was a relatively new thing. He might trust Sasuke with a lot of things but he also had to know how little restraint Sasuke had in moments like this. No doubt he probably thought Sasuke would gamble with his life over this. He obviously didn't think Sasuke was all that protective of him.

"Now my associate there," Nobu said, gesturing toward a man slowly stepping toward Sasuke with a length of rope, "is going to tie you up. Once you're both secure we'll take what we want and be on our way."

Sasuke watched Nobu carefully while keeping the 'associate' in view out of the corner of his eye.

"Funny thing," Sasuke told him levelly, "is that I don't believe you. You have no right to take what we are carrying. It's too important."

Predictably, Nobu's eyes lit up a little at the suggestion that what they had in their bags was more valuable than he expected it would be. Which is exactly what Sasuke wanted him to believe.

"Yeah, but is it worth your fuck buddy's life?"

Sasuke didn't respond at first, being very careful to avoid actually looking at Naruto.

"Well?" Nobu prompted impatiently.

"I'm undecided. You have no idea what we will be losing if you take what's in those bags. It's a lot to ask for even to trade for someone I care about. And I do care. If you kill him, you will never get what you want, I promise you."

Nobu didn't seem to believe what he was hearing.

"I don't think you understand what's going on here. We have you prisoner, both of you. It's not a matter of dealing, it's a matter of doing what you are fucking told!"

"For now. But soon that won't be the case and you will have to deal whether you want to or not. I will give you what you want in return for his life so you'd better come good with your end when the time comes."

"What the fuck are you talking about? Are you high?!"

"Not at the moment. Just remember what I said."

Now that the rope bearer was within range, Sasuke lashed out, hitting him hard enough to put him out of the fight. He turned on the two opponents behind him, lucky to just miss almost having his head cut off with his own sword.

When he ducked, he used the chance to take one of the men off his feet and rolled to the side to avoid the sword wielder again. He was loathed to leave his sword behind, but his attack had opened up a clear path for him and as soon as he got his feet underneath him he started running. He snagged both of their bags on his way through and kept running, listening closely for sounds of pursuit or even another sound of pain from Naruto.

But just as he predicted, neither of them came.

TBC