Feelings were not something Sasuke liked.

People often confuse him for not feeling anything. For being an emotionless sap.

It was actually the opposite. He felt feelings way too strongly.

He had a deep love for his family and big brother. He had a seething hatred for Itachi for most of his youth that was eventually redirected to the village and the people that pulled Itachi's strings. He felt intense remorse for the loss of the people he had loved, and he often mourned them a great deal in private. He felt intense fear in the early ninja days and sometimes when facing a particularly touch enemy. It wasn't out of character for Sasuke to feel these things. He was actually an incredibly "emotional" person.

But, he did very good hiding these things. Or shoving them down. Or not thinking about them at all. He didn't want to feel love again. He was scared to lose whoever he would feel love for. He didn't let himself feel joy or happiness anymore. Why bother when his family was gone? He still hated those elder snakes for what they did to Itachi, although his desire for harm is not like the blind rage he had.

One thing he particularly hated, however, was that Naruto was able to make him feel all of these feelings. He had a deep bond that was akin to love, although Sasuke would never admit it (and he hasn't realized he's IN LOVE, yet…). He hated Naruto for worming his way in his life when he just wanted to be alone. He mourned for the childhood that he and Naruto never had, and he felt pain thinking of how Naruto never even had a family to love. He was also afraid that Naruto would leave, or be reckless and get killed, or just do something incredibly stupid in battle.

Despite all of this, he has never felt peace or contentment in his life. Not even when he had his family. But when Sasuke opened his eyes that morning and felt Naruto against him, he felt a warm peace hug him in the cold morning. They weren't cuddling, although Sasuke almost wished they would, but Naruto was pressed awful close to his body and causing him to be very warm. The Uchiha almost smiled in spite of himself.

But then he frowned, staring blankly at the swirling snow outside their window. What exactly was this warm fuzzy feeling he got around Naruto? He had never felt this way about him before. The two had a strong bond that crossed even the great lands. But these feelings…these bubbly feelings in his chest were new to Sasuke. Unfamiliar. A little frightening even. Was it normal to feel this way about another person?

Sasuke thought back to last night at the kiss they had shared, cheeks flushing at the memory. He was certain that this wasn't an ordinary kiss. There was a deep weight to it and a passion that felt too intimate to be between just anybody. The gentleness in Naruto's lips made his body almost tremble at the thought, and he clenched his fists silently in order to not completely lose himself. Naruto was such a reckless person. Who knew that he could make Sasuke feel these things? The Uchiha felt overwhelmed all of a sudden and hastily went to the kitchen, wanting to be away from the warm body on him.

He returned to the main room with his fish to fry and slowly came to a stop, heart skipping a beat when blue eyes met his black ones. Those eyes said everything his lips weren't. Naruto was sitting up on the bed, staring into Sasuke's soul with an intensity that make him nearly drop his breakfast.

Sasuke wordlessly sat in front of the fire, feeling Naruto's eyes bore holes into his skull. "There's fish left for breakfast." He said flatly. As if the blonde didn't know that. Well someone had to break the uncomfortable silence.

"Oh." Naruto responded, blinking stupidly. He slowly went to the kitchen to grab a piece before he sat beside Sasuke in front of the fire, searing his filet on the flames.

This felt wrong. Normally they would share a comfortable silence or talk amongst themselves. But this felt weird. It felt unusual. Sasuke gritted his teeth together and bit his tongue, tasting the metallic taste of blood.

"So…" They both said at once. They both glanced at each other and looked away quickly. Well this wasn't helping at all. Sasuke just shoved his fish in his mouth, feeling a slight burning pain. Geez why does everything have to be so weird now?

"Tch." Sasuke said, standing up. "I'm going out." He grabbed his cloak to put on.

"But…but Sasuke…" Naruto retorted, but was met with a door shut. He stared at the backside of the door and sighed.

Sasuke breathed in the cold air. The snow was falling gently now. Everything was still white and the sky was overcast, but the snow wasn't blindly whipping in the air madly. He closed his eyes and breathed in the bitter cold deeply, almost laughing at the feeling in his lungs.

He surveyed their little cabin, feeling truly alone in the woods. Even though it wasn't snowing as hard, the visibility was way down out in the distance. Everything was white and blinding. He practically had to stomp through the snow since it was so high up, practically to his hips.

Sasuke felt a chakra presence next to him but didn't turn to see who it was. He could tell without even looking. Plus, there was nobody else for miles. Both men stood side by side, wordlessly watching the snow fall on the packed snow. Sasuke felt annoyed the blonde had followed him. He wanted to be alone.

Naruto exhaled deeply, frozen puffs flowing past his lips. "I've never seen anything like this." He said softly. He turned to look at Sasuke out of the corner of his eye for a moment, then turned back, smiling softly.

Sasuke glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, noticing the snow stick to his hair and eyelashes. The wind was gently rustling his hair, and his cheeks were rosy in the bitter cold. Naruto looked stunning. Sasuke felt his heart flip a bit before turning back to the snow. "Yeah." He muttered.

Naruto raised his arms above his head and stretched widely, looking up at the snow. He then looked at Sasuke again quickly, then looked away just as fast. Something needed to be done to lighten the mood. He slowly walked away, hoping Sasuke wouldn't notice.

The second Sasuke noticed was when he felt something slap his back, causing him to lurch forward. He spun around quickly, sharingan flying, ready to attack whoever it was. He glared in confusion at Naruto, who was holding several snowballs and whistling like nothing happened.

Sasuke turned away, looking back at the snow when another snowball slammed into his shoulder. He growled and turned back to Naruto, teeth gritting. "The hell?!" He spat.

Naruto blinked all too innocently, failing to hide a grin on his face. "I dunno what you're looking at." He teased.

Sasuke didn't even have time to call him a fool before another snowball hit him upside the head from another angle. He turned and saw a shadow clone practically pissing his pants in childish laughter.

Sasuke growled and finally launched himself at Naruto and slammed him into the snow. They both wrestled for a bit, Sasuke mainly trying to suffocated the blonde in the powder. Naruto was trying to chuck Sasuke off of him to no avail. Naruto was laughing gleefully while Sasuke was chuckling softly. Sasuke finally gained the upperhand and pinned Naruto down in the snow, rendering him immobile. They both looked at each other for a moment as they stopped laughing, getting caught in one of their moments. Without even thinking, Sasuke pressed his lips to Naruto's hastily.

There was that feeling again. Their lips perfectly molded together and explored each others as they lay against each other. They weren't even aware of the cold or the wet snow. Naruto wrapped his hand around Sasuke's neck and pulled him closer. Sasuke was practically shuddering as he felt Naruto's whole body beneath him. Their kiss was still gentle but with just a bit more passion. Sasuke realized he was hungry for Naruto. Those butterflies were back in him and caused a rucus.

Eventually he pulled away when the feeling became too overwhelming. Or maybe it was the wet snow starting to seep into his clothes, making him really cold in the subzero temps. He looked at the man beneath him with snowy eyelashes and frozen pink cheeks, lips parted breathlessly and eyes sparkling. The hold this man has on him. He smirked at the blonde playfully. "You're not very warm, Naruto."

Naruto blinked before he smirked back. "I could make you more warm, ya know." He said daringly.

Sasuke closed his eyes and chuckled and turned his face away, cheeks turning red. Naruto stared longingly at Sasuke's face. "I like when your face changes color." He said carefully, testing the waters.

Sasuke looked back at him. "You seem to do that to me a lot." Sasuke told him before feeling his heart stop completely. Why the HELL did he just admit that.

Naruto noticed the color drain from Sasuke's face as he felt his own face turn red from the confession. He grinned widely. "I've noticed." Naruto replied slyly.

Is this flirting? Sasuke had no experience in it at all. Hell, neither did Naruto. His flirting usually ended up with a punch to the face. But this…this was making Sasuke feel a bit giddy. It was fun almost. Although Sasuke was debating whether he actually wanted to flirt with Naruto. Since when did friends flirt? Or maybe Naruto was just teasing like he normally does. But then again, friends don't kiss each other. At least not like THAT. Well Sasuke decided he wasn't going to think about it at all. Sasuke smirked again before standing up, helping the blonde out of the snow pit their bodies created. "Let's go warm up." Sasuke decided, feeling a colder wind rustle his hair. He felt a sudden urge for Naruto to wrap his arms around him to warm him up all over, but he quickly shoved it away. He would never ask for such a thing.

It was still snowing ever so gently outside as they shook off the snow. However, they shouldn't try to go back to the village yet. Not only could it get worse, but the temperature was definitely below zero, and traveling in it would be dangerous. The cabin felt painfully cold, so they quickly grabbed their leftover food and huddled in front of the fire together. Sasuke noticed their shoulder were touching again, but he was shivering too much to really notice that much.

"I wonder what kind of fish this is." Naruto pondered, shoving it in his mouth. "I've never had this in the Leaf."

Sasuke shrugged. "Trout? I have no idea." He took a bite. It was pretty good. Everything about this trip was good. The food, the pretty snow, Naruto…

"I wonder if they miss us back home…" Naruto said suddenly, very quietly. He sipped some of his good warm tea. Thankfully they still had some of that left. It helped ease the gnawing in their stomachs. He stared at the cup forlornly. "I don't even know how long we've been stuck here."

"Maybe we can leave soon." Sasuke pondered, glanced at the darkening world outside the window. "It's not snowing as hard today."

"Yeah…" Naruto mumbled. He sipped his tea again. "Man I hope we don't run out of this tea. It's good don't you think?"

"It's pretty good." Sasuke muttered. Such boring small talk. What they both really wanted to ask was why they had kissed twice now. But neither of them could bring it up. Neither knew what it meant for their relationship.

Naruto looked at Sasuke solemly. "I wish I knew your thoughts, sometimes." He said softly. "Sometimes I can almost know what you're thinking when we fight. But sometimes it's hard to read you."

Sasuke glanced at him. "Why do you care anyways?"

"Because I care about YOU, Sasuke." Naruto retorted. He whipped his head back to the fire hastily, slight annoyance on his face."

Sasuke watching him for a moment before looking down at his own cup of tea. He was never good with words. But he had to say it. "I…care about you too, you know."

Naruto whipped around and stared at him with big eyes. "D…did you…."

"Yes I did." Sasuke told him. It's true. He did care about Naruto. If Naruto was taken from him, it would probably hurt worse than anything else. "I've always cared about what happens to you. Even when I tried not to."

Naruto stared at him. He really couldn't believe what Sasuke just admitted to him. He felt his hands tremble a bit as he set down his tea. He turned back to Sasuke. "So why do you never let me close to you?" He asked carefully.

Sasuke sighed. "You know why."

Naruto looked down sadly, feeling bitter pain for Sasuke. He had a deep ache and longing to be there for Sasuke and chase away his worries. Naruto clenched his fist for a moment, debating whether to do…that. Or Sasuke might punch him.

Slowly, Naruto reached out his hand and carefully grabbed Sasuke's hand. He laced their fingers together and gave it a squeeze. Naruto looked at Sasuke with determination as the Uchiha looked at him quickly in surprise. "Sasuke, I'll always be here. Haven't I even through the worst?"

Sasuke stared at Naruto, growing warm with their hands clasped. Naruto's hand was warm. Too warm. It was warm enough to melt the icy part of Sasuke's core and make him like putty in Naruto's hands. His breath caught in his throat. "I know, Naruto." He said, practically inaudible.

Naruto laid his head on Sasuke's shoulder, staring at the fire sleepily. "I could never leave you." He slurred in sleepiness.

Sasuke stayed awake for a long time that night, wanting to feel Naruto's hand in his as long as possible.