Disclaimers: Naruto is not mine, sadly. This is purely a fanfic using someone else's characters.

Warnings: This story includes strong language, violence, sexual content (yaoi), & angst.

Blind Sighted

Chapter 4: Fight Me

"Can't see the forest for the trees."

-unknown

--

Naruto rammed his hip into an end table but didn't let that stop him. He stumbled past it, slammed his hand against the wall and when he tried a second time found the side door. He shoved it open and stormed out into the yard.

Sasuke followed after him, his patience wearing thin with every step. "Will you just wait?!"

"I'm tired of waiting" Naruto growled. He pulled a kunai free and spun around. "Arm yourself."

"Naruto.."

"Now, Sasuke!"

"I'm not going to fight someone who can't fucking see!" the raven snapped.

Naruto spun the kunai in his hand and raised it in front of him- letting the metal gleam in the moonlight and refract in unseeing eyes. "Why not?" he sneered. "Afraid it'll be all that more embarrassing when you lose?"

He slashed out and Sasuke tore his own blade free to block the attack. "Enough! I already told you- I won't fight you, Naruto!"

The blonde grinned, his canines sharp and growing longer as Kyuubi's chakra flared to life inside. His skin stretched taut as his smile grew wider.

"Heh. You don't really have a choice."

--

Naruto wasn't always this unreasonable. He did actually rest while Sasuke made him an early dinner, and he managed to keep him calm as the day stretched into night. But apparently there was a limit to that, and Sasuke managed to find it. He had merely mentioned that he should help him get ready for bed, and suddenly the blonde was up- insisting that now was the time to spar.

Sasuke tried to talk him down, but everything he said seemed to do the exact opposite. Naruto didn't want to be reminded that he was blind, and he sure as fuck didn't want to hear Sasuke tell him there was something he was incapable of doing.

So, now they were standing in his backyard, their weapons clashing under a gibbous moon's watchful gaze. Primal red chakra swarmed the blonde, and blood-red eyes narrowed at the sight of it. Sasuke already knew that the Nine Tails was just as blind as his host, and that this was ridiculous. He saw no point in sparring with someone who couldn't see him coming. Maybe he could sense him, and maybe he could block his attacks and send out blind shadow clones to counter them, but he was still at a disadvantage.

And Sasuke had no interest in fighting him like that.

"I'm not doing this, Naruto."

The blonde growled as he turned to face the direction his voice had come from. "I'm not giving you a choice, Sasuke."

He lunged towards him and again Sasuke blocked his attack. He grabbed hold of his wrist and kept him close as their kunais sparked between them. "Why are you doing this?!"

"Because I don't need you treating me like I fucking can't!" Naruto shouted.

A shadow clone's hand slammed up from the ground and grabbed Sasuke's ankle, holding him still as two others dropped down from above. "Rasengan!"

"God, you're frustrating." The Uchiha shifted out of sight and away from the feral Narutos, then reappeared on the other side of the clearing.

Naruto leapt back as his clones attacked the empty space Sasuke used to be in and spun around, seeking him out. "Fight me, dammit!"

"You have nothing to prove, Naruto. I know what you're capable of."

"Shut up and just do it!"

Naruto lunged, a rush of chakra filling his palm. He threw his arm out in front of him, a wild cry tearing from his throat, but Sasuke ducked away from his attack before he could land it. He grabbed his wrist and forced it up. Energy shot from his hand and into a tree nearby, sending shards of bark flying all around them.

Sasuke ignored the splintered fragments and jerked the blonde towards him. "Let this go, Naruto."

Cloudy eyes turned away from him- a force of habit when he felt inferior. Sasuke was tempted to pull him even closer, to wrap his arms around him, but he knew Naruto would shy away from it. He already didn't want to be this close.

A rush of Kurama's chakra tore at the skin on his wrist, scorching the hand holding onto it, but Sasuke still wouldn't let go. Refusing to give up, Naruto pulled another kunai free and jammed it towards him. Sasuke just grabbed that wrist and forced it still too. Naruto tried to pull free from him, but Sasuke yanked his wrist forward and their faces level.

"Stop, Naruto" he said firmly.

"I won't!" Demonic chakra shot from his stomach and slammed into the Uchiha, sending him flying back. He flipped his body in the air and landed calmly on his feet then slowly stepped towards him, prepared to do it all over again.

As many times as he had to to get through to him.

"Why are you so desperate to fight me?" he asked- more to get Naruto to consider what he was doing than to get an actual answer. He was pretty sure he already knew why. It was the same reason Naruto wanted to spar when they were younger too. He felt he had a point to make, something to prove, and this was how he did that.

"Because I'm not weak, ok!" he shouted into the clearing.

"I know that" Sasuke murmured, closing the distance between them.

"And I.. I hate this.."

Sasuke swallowed. "I know."

Naruto threw his kunai down hard and sent his fist flying. Sasuke caught it an inch from his face and held it in place. The blonde screamed in frustration, but he refused to release him. Instead, he gently pushed his arm down and stepped closer. Naruto went to step away from him, but Sasuke wouldn't allow that. He grabbed the back of his head in a tight grip- locking him in place.

"Sa-Sasuke..?"

He wordlessly pulled the blonde against his chest, then released his fist and wrapped his arm around him in a very un-Uchiha-like embrace.

"What..?" the blonde breathed, utterly confounded.

Sasuke rested his head against thick honey locks, breathing in the smell of him and locking it away in his memories for safe keeping. "I'm sorry, Naruto" he murmured. "This should never have happened to you."

Tears filled those opaque eyes, but Naruto quickly blinked them away. "I don't want you to treat me different" he choked. "I just want things to go back to normal."

"I know."

"No! You don't know!" he screamed, jerking back to glare at the Uchiha. "Because this- you- you're already doing it! You never did any of this before, Sasuke! And I know why you are now!" He slammed his hands against his chest, forcing him a step back. "I don't need you to act like this!"

"So, what? You're pissed at me for comforting you?" Sasuke snapped, sharingan eyes burning with rage. "You'd rather I was just a fucking asshole to you?! Is that how you see me?!"

He saw the pained look on his face. "Christ- it's an expression, Naruto".

"I'm not a fucking idiot, Sasuke."

"Then why can't you see that I just want to help you!"

"And why can't you see that I don't want to be treated like someone who needs your fucking help!"

Naruto shoved hard against his chest and stumbled back out of his arms. Part of him missed the warmth and comfort as soon as it was gone, but his pride kept him from reaching out for it. And he absolutely was not about to admit it.

"Just be Sasuke!" he shouted. "Stop being.. this!"

"Be Sasuke" the raven repeated, his voice low and venomous. "Like you have any idea what that means."

"Don't I?"

Sasuke shifted out of view and reappeared behind the blonde. He grabbed a fistful of hair and wrenched his head back. "No. You don't." He brought up a kunai and stabbed it into his chest and the shadow clone poofed in his arms.

"Not too bad for someone who can't see, don't you think?"

The Uchiha glanced up at the blonde hanging upside down from a large oak, chakra locking his feet firmly against a long extending branch. "I'm the one who told you that you had nothing to prove to me, Naruto."

He watched as his jaw clenched tight, his blue eyes flicker red.

"It's not for you."

Naruto lunged again, and again Sasuke forced him back. The stubborn blonde tried everything he could to get him to engage in a fight, but Sasuke refused. He blocked every kunai, avoided every clone, and dodged each attack. His infuriated crush shrieked with rage and Sasuke saw his opening. He appeared before him and went low, knocking his feet out from under him.

Naruto stumbled back and Sasuke finished the rest. He tackled him to the ground and dropped down on top of him. Naruto tried to perform a jutsu, but Sasuke grabbed his wrists and forced them down in the dirt on either side of his head.

"Kurama- don't help him!"

Naruto stared blindly up at the Uchiha, dulled blues wide with shock. "Did you.. did you seriously just order Kurama to-"

"I'm not ordering you" Sasuke cut in. "I'm asking you to help Naruto."

"Help me? He is! He's helping me-"

"Be a moron. And he should stop. It makes both of you look bad."

"What the hell did you just say?!"

Sasuke leaned in, long ebony strands hanging in front of the blonde's face, tracing the markings on his face..

the corner of his mouth..

"Kurama is a demon, Naruto. He's not here to serve your every whim."

"I never said he-"

Naruto could feel the Nine Tails' chakra dissipating, pulling into a part of himself he couldn't reach without him. "No.. no- wait!" He jerked his head up to glare at the face hovering somewhere above him. "What the hell did you do?!"

"Convinced your demon to take the night off."

Naruto's mouth dropped open. "I.. why would he.. why would he ever listen to you?" Kurama!! Where the fuck are you?!

Watch your tone, human.

Why are you doing this? Why would you listen to Sasuke? I'm your-

A deep growl filled his mind and his words died on the tip of his tongue. Naruto stared into the darkness above him, even more bewildered. What the hell is happening..?

He tried to wrench his wrists free, but Sasuke bore down on them. He winced. "Let go."

Sasuke forced his arms over his head and pinned his wrists beneath one powerful hand. Naruto leaned his head back to look at them, remembering as he did so that he wouldn't be able to see. He turned his face away instead, hiding behind long blonde hair, but Sasuke wasn't going to let him off that easy. He grabbed his jaw and jerked him back to face him.

"Even Kurama knows when you are being unreasonable, Naruto. He shouldn't be used to soothe your hurt pride."

Naruto gritted his teeth together, irritated that Sasuke would call him out like that and that Kurama would pay it any mind. "It's none of your business."

"It is. You wanted me to fight you, did you not? So you could prove something to yourself? But I have no interest in hurting you."

"It never bothered you before."

The hand on his jaw tightened and he gasped in pain. "Sa-"

"I have made a lot of mistakes" Sasuke said, his voice razor sharp, "but I do not like hurting you."

Naruto could feel him leaning in. He tried to pull away but the grip on his face was like iron. "Sasuke.."

"I won't cause you pain for your own selfish desires. You have no right to question that."

Then he shoved off of him and stormed away, leaving the blonde he loved, and desperately wanted to protect, lying in the dirt outside his home.

And Naruto stayed there for a while, staring at the inky black world he was trapped in, wondering when his friend stopped also being his rival.

Author Note:

Was that too much?

I just love making our little cuties yell at each other. The drama of it all~

~*throws a scarf over the shoulder with a flourish as theater kids everywhere break into applause*

Yes, the drama.

I just adore it. ;)