Enjoy!

The Long Way Home

Part 15

The Deed

Chapter 2/5

The next morning found Naruto a little more tired than he would have wanted. Sasuke's mysterious little 'you should hope that's all I'm going to do' threat had hung over his head all night and no matter what, he hadn't been able to get Sasuke to elaborate further on what he had meant.

And to top that all off, Sasuke must have been on some level considering the possibility of actually going all the way yesterday. With him no less. Well Naruto supposed he couldn't have been too keen on the idea since he had pretty much talked himself out of it before Naruto had even voiced any of his concerns, but still, it had apparently been an option for Sasuke and that was a weird development to say the least. Well it might have been weird if you didn't factor in Sasuke's general way of thinking that is.

Where their physical interactions were concerned Sasuke tended to think about it with a detached sort of logic. Or so Naruto assumed. The whole reason they had even started relieving each other's frustrations in the first place was pretty much because Sasuke had believed that it was the most logical way to combat the problem.

And sure maybe Naruto could also let himself believe that Sasuke might have chosen that option also because it was the most pleasurable way of dealing with it too, but Naruto couldn't shake the idea that Sasuke was doing the same thing all over again now. Perhaps he'd felt something was missing and so had thought about fixing it just like before.

Which was kind of Naruto's main problem with the whole idea. Sasuke was just fixing a problem, there was no real feeling involved, it was just convenient for him. And it wasn't like he probably even really desired his friend either, he just wanted to experiment, to resolve an issue and that was just a bit too cold for Naruto. Curiosity was one thing, but not for something as important as this.

Frankly, Naruto might have considered the possibility if there had been anything more to it than that. In a way Sasuke made a good point. Maybe he was waiting for some perfect moment with a perfect someone and while he waited might end up missing out on a lot of experiences along the way. So while perhaps he might have settled for a 'good' moment, even with his best friend, Sasuke's own reasoning just wasn't good enough.

Of course all of this didn't prevent his own brain from thinking about the possibilities, which had mainly been what had kept him waking up throughout the night. He had realised by morning that although Sasuke might not feel any real desire for him in particular, he couldn't honestly say the same himself. Which was a very odd feeling.

Last night he had dreamt about Sasuke in ways he never had before. Parts of his body in intricate detail that he felt compelled to touch and taste and... What the fuck?! It didn't help at all that by now he'd gotten a pretty good idea about what was supposed to happen if things did go that far.

Not that he had ever been completely naive about it, but taking a moment to really think it all through to the point of putting himself into that situation made him think about the physicality's of the act a lot more than he had before. Combine that with the knowledge of what he had already found out with his recent explorations and the unexpected experience of how such a thing might work and even more importantly, feel good, had made for some incredibly interesting visuals.

Sasuke would probably tell him it was hormones or something and perhaps it was true. And they were friends, close friends, friends that share a lot more of themselves physically with each other than regular friends did, but friends all the same.

And while it was a connection, a better stronger and more precious connection than he'd had with say Amaya, it wasn't even remotely romantic or anything like that. But try telling that to his body. His traitorous, horny body that had kept him on edge almost all night.

He knew Sasuke did it for him, he wasn't stupid enough to try and deny that at this point. And sure that connection thing was more important to him than the physical stuff and he'd assumed that had been a big part of his attraction to Sasuke till now, but he knew deep down that that can't have been all there was to it.

Of course he'd never especially pondered over exactly how Sasuke did it for him other than the connection and general attraction. I mean Sasuke was a guy, not some curvy girl with the obviously interesting attributes he generally appreciated in someone he found attractive.

But when he gave it some careful consideration that morning as he lay there just after dawn his mind gave up some interesting memories and visuals that he hadn't really let himself focus on before. Mainly he remembered that time after their big fight.

He had snuck into camp and seen Sasuke sitting up on that rock in a pose he had thought of as beautiful. It was a different sort of beautiful admittedly, but the fact still remained. The way his skin glowed with the enhancement of the moonlight, the way his hair moved like a fluttering shadow, the way his lean muscles had looked stretched taught and tight had made Naruto want to run his hands, mouth and tongue over every inch he could just to feel and taste and enjoy.

Naruto's face screwed up at his own thoughts. Well maybe all those drooling fangirls had a point about Sasuke after all. But then they also didn't know the sounds Sasuke could make when Naruto did that to him and that alone was almost reward in itself. Just like earning compliments from Sasuke, getting an unrestrained pleasurable sound out of Sasuke was like winning a prize. He didn't do it often because it just didn't seem to be his style but when he did it was like a little victory in itself.

Not to mention an incredible turn on. Of course that was a little more psychological than Naruto was willing to get into at the moment and probably had a lot more to do with their issues with each other than he really cared to think about.

He sat up and let his gaze flicker over to Sasuke who was still asleep on his back a little ways away to his left. The night had been hot and the day was even now threatening an even worse heat than yesterday so neither of them had bothered about wearing much to bed last night. Since their last shopping trip Sasuke had acquired a new pair of pants mainly just to sleep in when they were on the road.

He still slept in his weird robe shirt when they had a room, but he seemed unwilling to go pants-less when sleeping outdoors which was understandable considering the great outdoors wasn't exactly a private hotel room. But last night due to the heat, Sasuke had worn his new three-quarter pants and nothing else when he'd lain down to sleep and well, they were nice pants really when his long shirt didn't cover up half of them.

Firstly they were sort of an off-white color but still quite a few shades lighter than his skin. Secondly to help combat the heat they were incredibly thin and lightweight. And this probably helped to keep him cool because Sasuke often didn't bother with underwear much since the style in this country tended more towards the light baggy kind, which was good because it kept everything nice and airy, but it also had a tendency to bunch sometimes when you spent your entire day walking and being sweaty.

So the effect of Sasuke's sleeping pants with all the factors considered, well, he might have been better off sleeping nude anyway. Very light colors, mixed with a night of sweating and added to the fact that Sasuke had very dark hair meant that his pants had at some point turned semi-translucent, and stuck to him like a second skin with every detail nicely outlined below the waist with careful attention paid to the groinal area.

And this visual was very enticing indeed, sweat included. Which just made him think he was either starting to become a little creepy or very crazy. But then he had never had these kinds of thoughts about anyone else either so perhaps his creepy/crazy urges were just Sasuke-specific.

Which was even more baffling.

After all, Sasuke wasn't beautiful like a girl was, Naruto understood that. He actually wasn't like anything else Naruto could describe. Certainly no other guy tempted him like this and even if he did allow that he had never really been in the same position with any other guy to be so tempted, he doubted it would be the same. Sasuke was, well, different like he'd said.

Or maybe he should have said... special?

Well not if he didn't want to be glared at for a full whole minute he shouldn't have.

But anyway, what this all came down to was that he did not think he wanted more with Sasuke considering Sasuke's lack of respect for such things plus the fact that he did want something a little more special. Or a better moment at least than just simply being too frustrated to care anymore. The trick now was getting his hormones to understand this. And perhaps getting Sasuke to understand too because if Sasuke tormented him tonight like Naruto fully expected him to, well, who knew what might happen?

And to get Sasuke some proper less see-through pants to wear in the future.

Naruto's eyes flickered over his sprawled form once more.

Well maybe he didn't have to go that crazy.

Sasuke began to move a little before yawning widely and Naruto watched dark eyelashes flicker for a moment before his eyes began to slowly open. With a grin Naruto crawled over to him to put his face within first sight of Sasuke's waking eyes.

As expected Sasuke started a little when his eyes focussed before momentarily closing again while he let out a big sigh.

"Happy Birthday, Sasuke!"

"What did I tell you about waking me up and personal space?"

"I don't think you told me anything," Naruto replied. "I remember you saying it was bad manners to grope you when you were asleep, that's all."

"That would have been preferable," Sasuke replied grumpily.

"Hey that's still totally an option, Birthday Boy. Didn't think you'd wanna get all worn out before they day's even started though," Naruto told him with an even wider grin.

Sasuke watched him for a few moments longer as though he couldn't quite work him out.

"Why are you so excited about this whole birthday thing? It's not like it's yours. Yours isn't for months, right?"

To say it was surprising that Sasuke had even the most basic idea of when Naruto had his birthday was a bit of an understatement to say the least.

"October actually," Naruto supplied. "So you're older than me now."

"I'm always technically older than you," Sasuke informed him. "The time of year makes no difference."

"You're taking all the fun out of this. C'mon Sasuke, turning eighteen is a big deal!"

"So you say. And keep saying I might add. And won't fucking shut up about it."

"And here I thought you were going to get into the spirit of things," Naruto teased. "We're in a big private field filled with blue clovers and we're gonna spend the entire day training then you're probably going to spend the entire night frustrating me and it's gonna be fun. Well the last part maybe only for you. You didn't want to be denied in what you want to do, so you might as well make the most of it."

So apparently his hormones were in control of his mouth too. If Naruto promised him such a thing there was no telling what Sasuke might do. But then it reassured him somewhat that Sasuke had dismissed certain things yesterday and said that it wasn't an option. Of course that was right before he'd agreed that after tonight they would slow things down. After.

It certainly didn't reassure him any to see the slightly evil half smile that graced Sasuke's face in that moment.

"Maybe you're right."

And the sinking feeling he got when Sasuke freely agreed with him didn't help much either.

"You're so into reminding me that my birthday is a big deal. Usually on birthday's it's customary to get presents, right?"

The problem was that he was pretty sure Sasuke was joking. He was ribbing him about making a big deal out or his birthday so Sasuke was trying to get him back by making him feel bad. Unfortunately for Sasuke, it didn't really work.

Mainly because Naruto had snuck out yesterday morning while Sasuke was taking a bath and gotten him a present without him knowing. It wasn't much, but when Naruto had seen it, it had sort of reminded him of Sasuke.

So with a grin, Naruto climbed over Sasuke to reach his bag, pulling something shiny from the side pocket and sitting himself back down onto Sasuke's lap as though it were the most natural place in the world to take a seat. He dangled the object in front of Sasuke's face who then went from frowning at being so roughly used as a seat, to a mixture of surprised and confused.

"What is that?"

"It's your birthday present."

"That doesn't really answer my question. Besides, I was only joking, why the hell would you bother?"

''Cause that's what friends do," Naruto replied obviously. "Here."

He grabbed Sasuke's left wrist and fit the silver bracelet before giving Sasuke a chance to look at it.

Sasuke bought it up close to his face to see that it was a thick silver cord and over that cord here and there a series of pieces resembling parts of silver dragon. The clasp was a clever little spring in the head of the dragon and clipped over the tail piece on the other side giving the impression that the dragon was biting down on it's own tail.

"Jewelry" Sasuke questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Well it's not like I had a great amount of choices," Naruto admitted scratching the back of his head. "But I kinda think it looks cool. Plus you seem to like shiny things."

"It's hideous," Sasuke replied. "Besides, does it look like I wear jewelry?"

He hadn't really expected Sasuke to like it and so wasn't entirely put off by the comment. Besides, Sasuke often acted like an asshole when presented with a random act of kindness like it was some kind of self defence mechanism.

"Looks like you do at the moment," Naruto replied with a smile. "You don't have to actually wear it. I just wanted you to have something, ya know?"

"Not really. Besides I was aiming to get blown when I said that about getting a present, I didn't expect you to actually have one," Sasuke told him in a casual matter of fact sounding voice while eyeing the bracelet stubbornly clinging to his wrist.

Naruto however couldn't remain quite as casual about the comment. After being kept awake by certain thoughts last night, the mere mention of doing anything right now made his heartbeat quicken just a little. Right now he wasn't so sure he was all that happy that Sasuke had taken it to heart when Naruto had told him to find the fun.

Well he was happy, he just wasn't sure how safe that was right at this moment.

But what had he said to Sasuke, that he might as well make the most of it? Well he could hardly turn around and say 'no' now, could he? That and he didn't especially want to.

Stupid body.

So while Sasuke was still looking in disgust at his birthday present, Naruto lent forward and ran his tongue up the middle of Sasuke's chest. He had wanted to taste some skin, he had felt a sense of wanting to do something since he had woken up.

All because of these weird thoughts put into his head by Sasuke yesterday that wouldn't leave him alone. And he wanted to take his time tasting right now even if the resulting act was quick and to the point. But for now it felt nice to explore a little more.

Sure, in the past, skin got licked, things got grabbed, hell sometimes even things got inserted, but the lead up was always generally pretty quick as was most of the rest of it to if he had to be completely honest. And he would have thought that stupid thoughts might make him take even less time but it instead seemed to have the opposite effect.

By the time he latched his tongue over a hardened nipple it was safe to say he had Sasuke's full attention.

"Not that I don't appreciate the effort but that was mainly a joke too," Sasuke informed him dryly though probably not as dry as Sasuke had intended his voice to sound.

"Yeah, 'cause you're such a joker, huh?" Naruto teased forcing Sasuke to make room for Naruto to kneel between his legs.

"So if you say 'stop' I should take that as another joke?" He continued leaning forward again.

He curled his hands over Sasuke's hips, his thumbs against Sasuke's hipbones and his fingers digging into his back on either side of his spine. He grazed his teeth over the skin above the waistband of Sasuke's pants before running the tip of his tongue up and delving into Sasuke's navel.

He wasn't sure if it was before he was rubbing at that spot on Sasuke's back or whether it was what his tongue was doing but Sasuke arched his back slightly and sucked in a small unsteady breath.

"Probably," he eventually answered. "You also probably shouldn't pay any attention either."

"Like I ever do," Naruto, well, he kinda lied. But Sasuke was being a smart ass.

Sasuke was being quite passive right now so Naruto took the opportunity to open the ties on Sasuke's pants and freed his erection. So apparently Sasuke was enjoying this even though Naruto had done very little other than lick him. No kisses, no groping and yet his enjoyment was really very obvious. But he knew better than to draw attention to this lest he snap him out of whatever pliable mood Sasuke was currently in.

So when Sasuke went to shift his body, Naruto wrapped his lips around him and moved his hand back to where it was, digging into the sensitive area near Sasuke's spine and was rewarded to hear a loud groan in response as Sasuke stopped any further movement.

Last time he'd done this he'd been in an awkward sort of position and it had been his first time into the bargain so he hadn't been real confident either. Thankfully that time Sasuke hadn't moved all that much because Naruto had almost managed to choke himself in this enthusiasm without the added help. This time he had more control and didn't feel so worried if Sasuke chose to give into temptation and thrust into his mouth. He knew the urge would be there, he'd felt it himself but had managed to keep himself under control... just.

This time Sasuke was less shocked, less restrained and probably didn't realise it when he went to move his hips upwards in an attempt to get more of himself into Naruto's mouth. But Naruto had a firm grip on him and managed to stop the movement before it became a problem. But the restraint only seemed to make Sasuke try harder so Naruto dug his thumbs into Sasuke's hips in clear warning. It must have hurt but all he heard was a moan of frustrated annoyance than almost made him smile.

He felt Sasuke's fingers close over his hands and Naruto thought for a moment that Sasuke might attempt to rip his hands away, but they merely tightened around his wrists and Naruto wondered whether Sasuke had left his hands there to keep Naruto's in place or just to give himself the option of freeing himself if Naruto frustrated him too much.

Well, Naruto might have really wanted to give Sasuke a taste of his own medicine but he knew that whatever he did might have bad ramifications later so with this in mind he took a deep breath in through his nostrils and sucked his way down Sasuke's length taking as much in as he could and setting about finishing Sasuke off as quickly as he could muster.

Sasuke had seemed to really like it to judge by the sounds when he did that, so he repeated it with slow and deliberate movements till he could hear Sasuke's labored breathing and punctuated with occasional moans he was positive Sasuke didn't realise he was making. It was enough to make him painfully hard himself.

Naruto knew Sasuke couldn't last like this, he'd seen and heard him make some pretty interesting noises, but he'd never heard him lose himself quite so much. His shoulders practically lifted off the bed of clovers as he came with a shuddering 'ahhh' before he collapsed back breathing heavily and still gripping Naruto's wrists like his hands were vices. Sasuke was going to have some interesting bruises on his back and hip bones later tonight, that was for sure.

"Better present?" Naruto asked watching Sasuke's sweaty and reddened face.

"Yes."

"Well at least you're cheap to buy for," Naruto teased him. "You going to hang onto me all day?"

"No. I want to tell you something first. I don't want you to finish yourself off," Sasuke told him finally opening his eyes.

"What, why?"

Naruto hadn't planned to do that. Actually he'd been hoping for some form of reciprocation here. He wondered if he'd been wrong to hold Sasuke down like that. Sasuke didn't generally like being forced to do anything even if it was to lie still while he got his dick sucked. But then Sasuke probably would have told him to let go if that had really been the case.

"I thought I can do anything I wanted today," Sasuke reminded him.

"Yeah but-"

"So if I want you to stay frustrated then that's what you'll stay."

Fucking evil asshole!

Not that he would show Sasuke how much that pissed him off.

"Fine. You think doing that got me all hot and bothered?" Naruto snorted, "As if."

Sasuke gave him a half smile, "Whatever, dobe."

Naruto kept a firm eye on Sasuke as he stretched in preparation for the day's workout. Mainly because he wanted to be ready when Sasuke was but also partially because Sasuke hadn't bothered changing out of those pants of his. They'd found a relatively shady spot where the trees overhung the clovers and the sun wasn't so fiercely beating down on them but Sasuke's skin was still sweaty and flushed and they hadn't even started yet.

The river was a good half hour hike from where they had ended up so neither of them had bothered bathing this morning despite spending a sticky night in the heat because such cleaning might be a little redundant just before a big workout.

The plan was to spend the morning sparring, eat lunch, maybe get a few more hours of training in and then go down to the river to wash off before returning to the field for the night.

It was a good plan, just the sort of day that seemed to appeal to Sasuke right now. The problem was that Naruto still couldn't stop dwelling on the 'tonight' part of it. And this was only aggravated even more the more time Sasuke spent stretching compounded by the evilness of this morning.

Of course there was nothing suggestive about what he was doing. But it still made Naruto bite his lip a little as he watched muscles move under ruddy, shiny skin. The way they flexed and his whole body went taut when he stretched his hands up over his head and his pants slipped just that little bit on his hips and...

Naruto took a deep breath. This was Sasuke's fault. He'd denied him release this morning after bringing up the sex talk yesterday and now Naruto couldn't shift it from his mind. It was a bad idea, he knew it was a bad idea but he was also slowly beginning to realise that if Sasuke changed his own mind and teased Naruto mercilessly, he wasn't sure just how strong his resolve would actually be.

Well so much for all that sleeplessness last night. He really could have saved a lot of time if he'd realised this sooner. A huge part of him just really hoped that Sasuke didn't change his mind. A smaller though half hard part of him disagreed.

It took him a little while for Naruto to realise that Sasuke was watching him. So not wanting to look like a pervert Naruto tried his best to make it look like he was doing his own stretches only to see Sasuke smirk at him, turn away and touch his toes like he was doing it in slow motion.

While he was down there he leant further forward still, planted his hands on the ground and shifted his legs further apart. After holding that position for a few moments he pushed forward, bringing his legs up and together into a perfect handstand. He gave Naruto that same smirk.

He was probably just showing off, Naruto figured, rather than putting on a show but the effect was pretty much the same. He wanted to show Naruto that his balance and form were perfect, not to show how flexible he was or how nice his ass looked while he was bent over which was pretty much what Naruto had gotten out of it. Oh well, showing off was something he could at least keep up with.

After spending a few moments willing himself to calm down he turned his back on Sasuke and boosted himself up onto his hands.

Once he had his balance, though admittedly a little shakier than Sasuke's had been at first, he shifted his weight and raised one hand up off the ground and held it out away from his body and used his opposite leg to keep his balance. He grinned right back.

Not to be outdone, Sasuke attempted the same but Naruto was pleased to note with at least a small tremor in his arm as his entire weight was gently put onto it.

"You can't keep that up." Naruto taunted him.

"Watch me," Sasuke challenged. "You'll overbalance before I do."

Naruto doubted that. Neither of them were exactly in their peak physical form right now but this test of strength and balance at least proved they were still in fit form. But what Sasuke didn't know was part of Naruto's sage training had been all about balance and once he got into the right frame of mind there was no way Sasuke was going to beat him.

He closed his eyes and let his mind relax, finding that center within himself and feeling nothing but the soft warm breeze flow over his skin and the rustle of the leaves in the trees above him

"Don't start meditating," Sasuke warned him in a slightly strained voice.

"I'm not trying to," Naruto replied a little annoyed by the distraction. "But even if I did, I don't think it's gonna cause any more headaches now."

"That's not what I'm concerned about."

Naruto wanted to roll his eyes but didn't even bother opening them. He didn't really want to get into an argument right now with Sasuke and talking about Kurama surely would. Apparently, him popping back up again hadn't eased any of the issues Sasuke had with the tailed beast and in fact had only seemed to make him even more sour about the whole subject.

"You're trying to distract me," Naruto accused changing the subject.

"As if I need to."

After that Sasuke went quiet and Naruto got back to letting his mind wander. He didn't know exactly how long he managed to hold the position but eventually the pounding in his head from being upside down for too long made him open his eyes.

To his absolute surprise Sasuke was sitting exactly where he had been stretching, legs crossed beneath him with his head in his hand, elbow propped on his knee, watching him.

The surprise at seeing that Sasuke had given up made Naruto wobble and tumble forward into an undignified heap amongst the clover.

"Your landing could use some work," Sasuke informed him.

"When did you give up?" Naruto asked. "I didn't even hear you move."

"I doubt you would have heard me sing considering your little trance. That was... impressive." Naruto moved his head so he could look across at Sasuke. Sasuke actually looked serious.

"I told you not to underestimate me."

"Well at least now that your arm is cramped up from being a show off it should make it even easier to kick your ass."

Naruto's arm was tingling from the effort and he knew it would be sore later.

"Don't be so confident, teme."

Was it the idea of what might happen later that made him focus on Sasuke so intently while they fought? Probably, and it wasn't exactly doing him any favors either. Every time he got close to him, felt that warm half naked body against his own skin or felt those tensed muscles slide under his fingertips he got a little distracted to say the least.

Admittedly, the heat had slowed them down a little as they fought but too many times now he had seemed to get the upper hand and then gotten too distracted to follow through.

Sasuke would slip out of his reach far too easily and give him that smart ass little half smile of his that would prompt Naruto to pay more attention again, regain some focus and want to get the smug bastard back for that look alone. Until of course, the next time he grappled with him, lost his moment and got a foot in the face for his troubles.

Sasuke had stepped back out of his reach, kicked out hitting him in the chest following it up with a kick to the head. Fucking asshole was really quick.

After scoring that particularly nasty hit against him, Sasuke actually backed up a little, still ready for a counterattack but also not following up with another move that probably would have laid Naruto out on the ground in a painful heap if he'd pushed it.

"Is this some sort of misguided birthday present?"

"What?" Naruto asked irritably wiping a stray drop of blood from a cut just above his eyebrow.

"You're not trying," Sasuke accused.

Well that was an understatement. Okay so Sasuke did win a lot of their sparring matches but only when he was armed. He wasn't now though, his sword had been left with their packs for today so really it should have been a lot more equal.

"I am!" Naruto argued fiercely. "It's just really hot today, that's all."

"Bullshit, you're going easy because you're so caught up in the meaningfulness of one stupid day out of the year. I told you that you wouldn't lay a finger on me today but I didn't actually expect it to be true. And it's pissing me off that you think I might enjoy some half assed attempt rather than actually working for it."

"I'd never let you win on purpose, you gotta know that."

"Then what the hell is wrong with you?"

"I just... need a break or something," Naruto told him chickening out.

Well it wasn't entirely untrue. He wouldn't mind a moment to clear his head a little. Besides, they'd been at this for hours now already so he didn't hate the idea of sitting down for a little while.

Sasuke was still eyeing him like this was some kind of trick but eventually eased his stance and nodded his accent before swiping the back of his hand over his sweaty brow.

Naruto hadn't been lying about the warmth of the day though and the heat itself was a massive distraction on its own. Both of them were red faced and dripping with sweat by this point and Naruto wondered whether they might end up killing themselves instead of attempting to kill each other by continuing to train like this.

Instead of sitting, Naruto joined Sasuke underneath the shade of a tree where he sprawled, eyes closed and attempted to breathe like a normal person for a while. His body felt weak and tired right now and his overworked and overstimulated brain just wanted him to take a nap.

Actually he had been on the verge of taking an unintended nap when he felt a light touch on his brow. He opened his eyes to see Sasuke sitting next to him and inspecting the cut above his eyebrow and frowning.

"Ow," he told Sasuke meaningfully.

"A child could have blocked that move," Sasuke informed him.

"You beat up a lot of children?" Naruto asked sarcastically.

"Just you," Sasuke returned.

Sasuke's touch lingered for a moment longer before he took his hand away and turned his gaze across the field.

"It is hot," he muttered.

Naruto suddenly felt kinda bad. Here he was ruining Sasuke's day with his inability to focus on a proper fight and bitch about the heat instead. He could almost see that Sasuke was on the verge of calling their sparring off and Naruto felt a bit guilty about that.

"Change your pants," Naruto told him. "They're almost see through now."

Sasuke first frowned at him and then looked at his pants.

"So? What do you care?"

"I'm going to change too, mine are just as soaked and it's getting uncomfortable."

Thankfully Sasuke didn't seem to understand why this was pivotal to their continued workout and also didn't take a moment to bitch about Naruto being weird. All he did do was look down at his pants for a few moments before apparently coming to the decision that perhaps they weren't the best clothes for training after all and instead got up and changed into a clean black pair.

Well, Naruto thought once he was back on his feet and facing off against Sasuke again, it wasn't a huge improvement but at least it was something. Nothing could compel either of them to wear their shirts in this heat but at least he was a lot more covered than he had been before. And while he was still conscious of what might happen later he was able to put a lot more effort into the sparring as he forced thoughts of afterwards aside for the time being.

This was more like it. Sasuke was quicker and more agile than him. But he couldn't match Naruto's stamina and strength and as time rolled on this fact became apparent to both of them. Strangest of all was though how little Sasuke seemed to care. Oh sure, he wasn't thrilled whenever Naruto managed to pin him or throw him to the ground. But behind the surface annoyance, Naruto could see the excitement of the challenge.

This was something he had not seen in Sasuke for a very long time. Once upon a time he had seen Sasuke's pleasure in having someone to push him to greater things but that hadn't lasted.

Soon enough Sasuke's outlook on their rivalry had changed from pleased to frustrated and Naruto had never really understood why. After all, during that time he had driven himself to become that much better and almost as soon as he'd really felt he was starting to get somewhere, after beating Gaara actually, Sasuke had become a lot more vicious towards him. Right now though it seemed to be a thing of the past. Sasuke looked pleased again to face off against an opponent that might actually kick his ass.

Right now Naruto managed to get an arm up to block an incoming strike and force Sasuke back before turning and throwing out his arm, his fist neatly connecting with Sasuke's face. Truthfully he'd expected Sasuke to move before impact but he didn't put a lot behind the hit so he hadn't really managed to hurt him much.

Sasuke backed off from the fight for a moment, rolling his shoulder to stretch out possibly strained muscles after Naruto had tried to pull him off balance a couple of moves earlier.

"Regretting telling me I was going too easy?" Naruto taunted, watching him.

"Hardly. At least now I feel like I'm fighting a real person instead of an inanimate dummy."

Really, they were probably going a little too hard on each other now. To add to his cut brow, Naruto also had a pain across his ribs that wouldn't go away plus a right leg that wasn't responding as well as he would have liked after Sasuke had attempted to break his knee with his foot.

Sasuke himself had a cut lip, an aching shoulder and probably multiple other minor cuts and bruises. They were frankly wrecking each other but Naruto had to admit that he hadn't had this much simple fun in a long time. Maybe Sasuke was right, maybe this was a good way to spend a day after all. So long as they lived through it of course.

Naruto took the opportunity to lunge forward intending to first incapacitate Sasuke then wrestle him to the ground in the hopes of persuading him to end the sparring for the day. It might have turned out to be a lot of fun, but the heat was still as intense as ever and all he really wanted to do now was take a nice long soak in the river.

However, Sasuke dodged his hit, stepped to the side and kicked the back of his already injured knee, forcing Naruto onto the ground. As Naruto lay there, blinked sweat out of his eyes and winced a little, Sasuke came over and sat as casually as you please on his belly giving him a tired though still way too smug smile.

"That was pretty sloppy. You can't need another break."

"I don't know how you aren't," Naruto told him honestly.

"I am, more than you I expect. But when your opponent has energy to spare, the trick is to let them do all the work and make whatever hits you can count all the more. You ran towards me on an injured leg, tried to grab me and all I had to do was step aside and take advantage of your weakness. If you had spared one moment to think strategically, you would have won that round."

Now that he was paying more attention he could see what Sasuke meant. Naruto felt weak right now but Sasuke looked moments from dropping. Sasuke was obviously pushing himself to keep up with him and had to think his moves through a lot more carefully in order to keep up.

His face was flushed red, his hair lay in wet strands against his head and there was no doubt in his mind that he wouldn't have to convince Sasuke to end their sparring now. But despite his worn look, Sasuke still looked quite pleased with himself and Naruto, even knowing now that if he insisted on continuing would probably come out on top next time, decided that Sasuke could keep his last victory.

Of course next time it wouldn't be Sasuke's birthday and Naruto would make sure not to let him have last win even if it did kill them both.

"I'm guessing we're done for the day."

Sasuke nodded, and Naruto felt Sasuke's weight on him increase as he relaxed more.

"Looks like it's getting late anyway," Sasuke observed.

Naruto hadn't noticed exactly how long they had been at it but it was well past noon so it would have been quite a few hours since they'd last bothered to take a look around themselves. Of course it was maybe mid afternoon, not exactly 'late' as Sasuke had put it.

"I guess it'll give us some time to go get cleaned off and get back before sunset," Naruto agreed though a little confused.

"That's the idea. It would be good to have dinner finished before it gets too dark."

Which also didn't make a lot of sense. For someone who hadn't been too keen in the first place to even acknowledge his birthday, Sasuke had sure taken an interest in having it planned out to his liking. But even so, dinner was usually prepared after darkness had fallen anyway so his new sense of efficiency about planning their night was a little strange.

"Uh okay. But why?"

Sasuke looked down at him then but his expression didn't give much away.

"I have plans for later."

Naruto didn't exactly need reminding. But what really worried him this time was that it seemed as though he wasn't the only one that might have been dwelling on this today. But instead of looking annoyed and unsure like he had yesterday, Sasuke looked a little more determined. or course Sasuke would give nothing away like usual so Naruto guessed he would just have to wait and see.

Sasuke got off him then and stretched while Naruto also took the chance to right himself. Together they made their way back to their bags.

Halfway there a black clad figure stepped out of the treeline and stopped. His face was partially concealed by a black cloth wrap, which was a really odd thing to wear considering the heat but apart from surprise them, the man took a steady stance and didn't do anything threatening.

"Uh, hello?" Naruto said eventually after a few moments of awkward silence.

"You're name is Sasuke, yes?"

The man seemed to completely ignore Naruto and was watching Sasuke very closely.

"Who wants to know?"

"I do. You match the description perfectly. Both of your descriptions match," the man added finally seeming to take notice of Naruto. "He is Naruto, you are Sasuke."

Naruto looked toward Sasuke to see that his friend was watching the newcomer just as intently as he was being watched. Just from Sasuke's general demeanour, Naruto figured Sasuke didn't like the idea that some random strangely dressed man would know his name. But whatever the reason, Naruto figured it couldn't be bad. They hadn't done anything wrong. Well lately anyway.

"Yeah, that's us," Naruto acknowledged. "What's this about?"

"I am a Hunter. There are seven more surrounding your position. I have been ordered to take you into custody."

A Hunter? Like those lawmen the old guy had told him about. What the hell?

"No way!" Naruto argued suddenly alarmed. "He hasn't done anything wrong, there's no way you're taking him anywhere!"

"This is not a request," the man replied coolly. "He will come with us, he has broken the law."

"And I said no!" Naruto shot back. "If you want to take him you'll have to come through me."

"What law?" Sasuke asked levelly, ignoring Naruto's outburst.

"Murder. We have witnesses who have stepped forward and accused you. You will be given a trial, but if you resist capture we are within our rights to use deadly force against you." For a moment Naruto had thought he must not have heard right. Murder? Sasuke hadn't murdered anyone. Well he certainly hadn't killed anyone recently anyway.

"You're wrong," Naruto argued.

His own voice sounded strange to his ears. Less determination and too much shock he supposed. He felt a little stunned that's for sure.

"We have witnesses," the Hunter repeated. "I would ask you to kneel where you are and keep your hands clasped behind your head while we bind you. Naruto, please stand back and let us take the prisoner. We have no quarrel with you."

Sasuke didn't make any move to comply, actually he looked ready to start a fight. Against eight? Was he serious? They'd just spent to day wearing each other out and Sasuke thought he could fight his way free? Naruto might be generally willing to fight against the odds but Sasuke was usually a lot more careful. But that didn't mean anything, it had to be some sort of mistake, right?

"We can do this," he heard Sasuke mutter to him.

The Hunter seemed to sense Sasuke's reluctance though and raised his hand. Before he even heard the high pitched whistle of a loosed arrow, Sasuke grunted and faltered beside him and Naruto looked down to see an arrow embedded in Sasuke's thian.

"That was a warning shot," the Hunter informed them. "Resist again and there will be no more warnings."

Naruto watched the dark material around the arrow grow wet with a weird kind of detachment. Part of him was screaming to start fighting and don't stop till there was no threat left and he and Sasuke were safe. But no matter how loud the screaming got, Naruto just couldn't make himself move.

"This is a mistake."

His eyes finally found Sasuke's and he saw there that Sasuke wasn't in as much denial as he was. There was something there that made Naruto unsure.

"Sasuke?"

Sasuke grit his teeth against what much have been a lot of pain and turned his eyes away.

Naruto took a step back not knowing what else to do. Sasuke obviously wanted to fight, but they were outnumbered and besides, these weren't bandits they were considering beating up. These were lawmen, they were supposed to be the good guys, right? As much as he still wanted to fight, as much as he wanted to protect his friend with every fiber of his being he knew that the moment he stepped in it would be Sasuke they would aim for, not him.

"They'll kill you," Naruto said in realisation.

Sasuke's eyes snapped back toward him and Naruto knew they must not have liked what they saw. But Sasuke didn't look pissed, he looked about as shocked as Naruto felt. Instantly he felt so bad he could barely look at him. But he held eye contact and shook his head.

"Just... don't resist."

TBC