Sasuke was close.
Naruto had been running for hours, faster than he had run since he left the Leaf, and the hot sun was burning his back and he was sweating all over, but it was worth it because Sasuke was just up ahead. Not just his chakra signature this time—it was him. He had finally caught up—
Naruto came to a halt. He was catching up to Sasuke. In just minutes, he would be face to face with him. And then it would be over. Were they nearing the end? Was that random town ahead going to be where they settled things for the last time? Hard to believe that Sasuke would drag him all the way out here just to end up… somewhere foreign.
But… what if the chase wasn't over and having him catch up was just another part of Sasuke's plan?
He took a deep breath and started running again. His senses were automatically leading him straight to Sasuke, just on the outskirts of the town to the left—but if he was right about it not being over, maybe he should keep his distance. Give Sasuke a chance to carry out whatever came next in his plan, if there was a next part.
Flickering off his Bijuu Mode and entering the town, Naruto had to painfully turn away from the only chakra signature he recognized. Sasuke's chakra was reverberating in him like it was his own.
Distance. Just a little bit of it. Just enough to gauge what Sasuke's next move was going to be. Besides, it was only fair that Naruto had fun, too, right? Since this was a game and all that. It was about time the tables turned on who hunted down who.
There didn't seem to be a lot of people in this town, but the place was cared for and full of life. And odd. He could tell they recognized him, they knew who he was, but no one was swarming him in an ambush of praise and gifts. Instead, the people he passed down the wide street just smiled and nodded at him. This was… nice. Yeah, it definitely felt better than being bombarded.
"Excuse me, son," a gruff voice came from behind him. He turned around. It was an old guy with a cane, smiling up at him from underneath his straw hat.
"Uh—hi! Good morning!" Naruto greeted, smiling back. The old guy chuckled heartily and readjusted the hat higher on his head.
"Mornin'. Never thought I'd live to see the day when a boy like you came walking into our little town." He held the cane out in front of him and wrapped his hands around the handle. "It's an honor having you here, Naruto. Welcome."
Embarrassed, Naruto rubbed the back of his head and grinned. "Thanks, Ol' gramps! I'm—uh… actually here looking for someone," Naruto couldn't get a hold of the muscles in his neck before they turned his head and his eyes scanned the far left side of town.
"Ah," the old guy sighed, "the Uchiha."
Naruto whipped his head back. "You know him?!"
"Careful, son. Don't want your eyes poppin' out of your head," he casually said, wagging a finger as he walked past him. Naruto followed him.
"How do you know Sasuke?" Naruto caught up with him and kept Ol' gramps' pace. "If you don't mind me asking."
"How do I know Sasuke…" he sighed, almost like he was reminiscing, and Naruto knew that he had been right. Sasuke had been here before, but a lot more times than he thought. It looked like the townspeople here were familiar with him. "He's a good kid. Though he doesn't believe it for himself."
Yeah. Yeah, Sasuke was. And no, he didn't.
"About a year ago, a group of bandits, awful bastards, the lot of 'em," Ol' gramps waved his cane around in the air, his voice louder and gruffer than before. "They reared their ugly heads 'round here every few months since the war's end and ransacked my town, terrorized my people. Stole from us!" He made a disgruntled sound and shook his head. "Then that Uchiha boy showed up like a damn blessin' in disguise and gave 'em hell," Ol' gramps cackled.
Naruto's heart did a strange thing—it beat so hard in his chest up to his ears that it had him grinning. He felt like he could hug Sasuke, like he could swing an arm around his shoulders and parade him around, telling everyone what a badass Sasuke was. Saving a whole town like that. He felt giddy. And proud. But the Ol' gramps had also mentioned something else. "Your town? Ol' gramps, are you like, some kind of Kage to these people?"
The old guy laughed loudly from his belly, his head falling back with his straw hat tipping. "A Kage!" He slapped a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "No, son. I'm a simple old man, born and raised in this very town." He patted his shoulder one more time, and then let go. "Though I've seen my fair share of Kazekages come and go over the years. Between you and me, Lord Gaara's the best of 'em."
Naruto laughed. "Yeah, Gaara's pretty great." Gaara was an amazing Kazekage and a friend. And from what he had heard from the other Leaf shinobi, Gaara had given them a 'speech of the century' just before the war.
Ol' gramps looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. "You rubbin' shoulders with our Kazekage, Naruto?"
"Yup! One of the closest friends I've got," Naruto said enthusiastically. "And he's as badass as he looks, too!" Ol' gramps laughed then, and he didn't understand, because honestly, all of his friends were badasses. Even Sai, that… weirdo. Oh—Speaking of Gaara—
"Say, Ol' gramps, you know anything about that abandoned village northeast of here?" Naruto looped his thumbs around the straps of his backpack.
Ol' gramps grunted and then went quiet. Naruto's stomach did that thing where it got full of anxiety because just a moment ago, he hadn't looked so upset. "I believe they were called the Akatsuki." Naruto almost froze entirely. "They ran its people out and took over their land." Ol' gramps stopped, leaned heavily on his cane, and sighed. "Next thing we knew, Lord Gaara was kidnapped."
Naruto frowned. So, they had used that village as a hideout. "But they got out? And they never went back? The villagers, I mean." Naruto hadn't felt such a wave of strong anger towards the Akatsuki in a long while, but his need to know the people had made it out safe because they had nothing to do with it was stronger.
Ol' gramps squinted his eyes at him and then hummed. "Yes, and no." His eyes moved to look at something behind him. "Some found refuge in our town, others in the capital. If you're askin' me, I think it's better no one went back."
"Why? It's been years since then and it's safe now! Families could have their homes back, their lives, and everything they left—"
"Son, they built better lives elsewhere," he pointed his cane behind him. Naruto turned his head to a group of teenagers joking around and shoving at each other. "Some things are better left in the past."
Naruto turned back to Ol' gramps. Okay, maybe going back wouldn't help, in some cases. "I guess…" Naruto spared another look at the group again, watching them walk away. One of them made a joke about another having a bad new haircut, and then he heard an uproar of laughter. A 'shut up' yelled with a particularly hard shove, and then more roughhousing. Not a care in the world. But he knew better than to believe that. Trauma doesn't vanish with a simple change of scenery.
"Those bandits you mentioned earlier," Naruto found himself asking, turning back to Ol' gramps, "were they from that village?"
Ol' gramps shrugged. "Ah, who knows," he waved a stiff hand up in the air, "might've been. Never seen 'em before in my long damn life 'til they showed up one night like animals." He turned to face the road again and carried on walking. "I'm jus' glad I got to see that Uchiha friend of yours kick their asses hard enough to leave us alone. Watchin' -em run away with their tails between their legs—" he laughed loudly again, and his hat fell off to hang around his neck by the drawstring.
Naruto chuckled, that sense of pride coming back again. He jogged a couple of steps to catch up with Ol' gramps. "I'm glad, too."
"No one messes with my love for this town or its people," he spoke loud and clear, pointing a stern finger up at the sky.
Naruto laughed. He liked this nice old guy. "You're damn right, Ol' gramps."
—
Naruto had spent the past couple hours sharing a meal with Ol' gramps—he learned his name was Hibiki, he still lived in one of the oldest homes in this town and was old enough to have lived Naruto's life eight times over. Ol' gramps words, not his.
He also heard him out on his opinions of Gaara being the best Kazekage the Sand ever had, and Naruto found himself agreeing with most of his points. One thing he couldn't agree on had been about Gaara's 'makeup'. He tried to explain that it wasn't what Hibiki thought it was, that it was because of Gaara's lack of sleep, but the whole can of worms that opened with that from what he knew of his friend's upbringing, all the way to being a jinchuriki had been a particularly difficult conversation to navigate. Not that Hibiki wasn't open to it, he just seemed to be in denial of the fact that there had been people out there who had wanted to hurt Gaara, whether it was his own family or the Akatsuki.
He could understand where Hibiki was coming from, he felt the same way. But the way he kept repeating 'some things are better left in the past', bending it to fit the context… that was a difficult wall to break through. Especially with someone so old. As stubborn as Hibiki was, Naruto still liked him, though. He was generally a fun conversationalist, quick-witted with a contagious laugh.
Despite getting caught up with Hibiki, Naruto never lost focus on tracking Sasuke's chakra. It wasn't too hard, though—Sasuke hadn't moved. He was still on the left side of town. Naruto decided to stretch out his break a little longer and found an inn to crash at. The receptionist recognized him, but like everyone else here, she didn't treat him any differently. She even let him pay for the room. It was kind of refreshing. Naruto could see why Sasuke liked it here. After she handed him the key, he was just a door away from finally getting that shower.
Unlocking the door and stepping in, he breathed in the room's cool air. He had been out in the sun for so long, he could practically feel his skin peeling off. He took off his backpack—it juggled in his hands and he caught it just before it hit the ground. Shit, that was close. He had nearly forgotten it was pretty much a ticking time bomb with all the stuff in there and just tossed the thing to the floor. Man, he just couldn't catch a break, could he?
Setting the backpack carefully on the floor, he dug around for his spare shirt—wait… why was it slimy? And what was that smell? He pulled the shirt out—
Yup. Naruto, future Hokage, great shinobi hero of the Leaf, knucklehead unpredictable whatever, Uzumaki, could, in fact, not catch a break.
The essential oil. Damn eucalyptus essential oil. The culprit. It had uncapped itself and decided to decorate Naruto's spare white shirt with blotches. He groaned, throwing his head back. All he wanted was a shower and a nap before going back to find Sasuke. It didn't feel like Sasuke was going to bolt out of here any time soon, and honestly, Naruto was tired. Being out of commission for so long, even with his daily training, taking on a mission like this one—self-imposed mission—yeah, it was exciting, but also kind of exhausting.
At least, there was a brighter side to this. Thanks to Sakura, he knew of the oil's benefits, so he supposed it wasn't so bad. Oh—properties. That's what Sakura had said. 'Medicinal properties'.
Sighing, Naruto dug out the rest of his belongings, going over each item to find what else was covered in eucalyptus juice stains. His black shirt, the pillowcase, and Sasuke's Hitai-ate. Luckily, the rest of his stuff had survived the surprise attack. He found the rogue bottle and its cap, capped it, and set it aside. There wasn't much of it left, but he hoped Sakura could still make use of it and the other two full ones. He cleaned out what he could, took his shirt and the other stuff, and laid them flat on the ground in front of the window, hoping the midday sun would do its thing and dry up the mess while he showered.
He grabbed his underwear and toiletries, a few of the lucky survivors, and went into the bathroom and set them on the sink. He looked up at himself in the mirror—huh… he had been right. Well, not really—his skin wasn't peeling off, but it was really red around his nose and cheeks. He took off his shirt—oh, his back was way worse. Damn, the desert sun had seared through the fabric?! Eh, it wasn't anything he wouldn't heal from soon enough. Besides, he didn't really mind the sunburnt look. He liked the way it made his eyes bluer.
Naruto took off the rest of his clothes, bunched them up, and tossed them into a small pile on the floor, except for his pants since they were the only pair he had. In his frustration, he had completely forgotten to pack an extra pair. But he'd had enough straight-thinking brain cells to think about packing rope. Rolling his eyes at himself, Naruto stepped into the shower, turned the cold water valve all the way, and let the water soothe his skin. Once he finds Sasuke, the first thing he was going to do was ask him what the hell was he thinking, and he better have a reason for coming up with some elaborate thing and making Naruto pick up the pieces he left behind to string them together like a bunch of scattered beads of a bracelet—
Like some kind of game—
Like… how it used to be.
Naruto hung his head down, letting the water flow over his ears. Sasuke could do whatever he wanted, and go wherever he wanted. And he didn't owe anyone an explanation—not even him.
Naruto sighed. He grabbed the soap and lathered it up. Sasuke didn't owe him an explanation—fine, but that didn't mean he couldn't ask questions, right?
Questions like 'why', for starters. Naruto lost track of how many times he'd thought he'd figured out the answer to that one, but…
Oh—had meeting Ol' gramps Hibiki been part of Sasuke's plan? Had he been another one of Sasuke's discreet messenger hawks? He couldn't have been… but then why lead him to this specific town? The one he'd helped save? Naruto wouldn't even have known he had done such a thing if he hadn't met Hibiki; but he had, and maybe that was Sasuke's way of telling Naruto a little bit about the amazing stuff he had been doing the past three years. The same way he had heard from Kakashi, but Kakashi always kept most of the details from him. In comparison, Hibiki had spared a lot more than Kakashi ever had. Maybe… he was supposed to go around meeting other people here? And hear about more stuff Sasuke had done until he got to Sasuke? That… was that part of the game?! Hunting for more messenger hawks?! No—no way Sasuke made that part of his stupid plan! He—the soap flew out of his death grip and into his chin then chest then stomach and he caught it just before it hit the ground.
"Damn it, Sasuke!" Naruto shouted at the bar of soap in his hands. If it was—what was that?! Naruto shut the water off. That thud—someone was in the room. He stepped out of the shower, grabbed a towel, and wrapped it around himself. His hand was on the doorknob when another, quieter sound came from behind the door. It sounded like the window—Naruto flung the door open.
A kunai. On the windowsill. Naruto narrowed his eyes and scanned the room for anything or anyone else. All his stuff was exactly as he'd left it. Even the Hitai-ate. No one was in the room besides himself. But he'd just miraculously gained one more kunai for his arsenal, like he had a shortage of stuff to hold on to. Naruto stepped closer to the window and looked outside. Just townspeople below, and no one on the roofs. But obviously, Sasuke was nearby and hiding. So, Naruto was supposed to go left when he got here, but he didn't, and Sasuke sought him out. He scoffed. Sasuke was getting impatient.
Good. Soon enough, he'd go west and meet up with Sasuke.
Good, because in all his attempts at getting Sasuke back, Naruto had cut off a piece of himself every damn time and held Sasuke's needs way above his own only to have Sasuke run away again and again and again until the fucking war when Sasuke had shown up with his insane declaration of wanting to become Hokage and then helped out in his most badass way but then he'd fucking run off again and had Naruto chase him down again to get him back but all that had happened was more fighting—as inevitable as it was—until they both ended up tearing pieces of each other off and nearly died on the battlefield only to have Sasuke fucking leave again and then have Naruto chase him down again when all he did was send him one stupid message and then Sasuke had the fucking gall to get impatient—
Naruto breathed in sharply, his hand gripping the towel around his waist.
It was devastating. Loving someone this much. And it was debilitating, knowing that he hadn't realized how much his heart ached until the boring days after the war. All his thoughts, his focus, his energy—Sasuke had taken it all from him and left. He had even fought the council for Sasuke's freedom and then seen him off. Because Sasuke had needed to leave for his own good, and Naruto had understood, so he'd let him go.
Naruto turned away from the window, leaving the kunai on the windowsill, and headed back into the bathroom. He still had a shower to finish. Sasuke could wait at least that much longer. Naruto got back into the shower and blasted the cold water again. The colder, the better. His skin felt like it was on fire, but it wasn't just from the sun anymore. He sighed, wondering if there was a way he could dunk his brain in cold water instead. Man, why was it so…
Sasuke wasn't complicated. But why did everything else have to be?
—
Naruto kept walking, constantly reminding himself to smile back at the polite acknowledgment he kept receiving because none of these people had anything to do with the annoyance he felt. And then his eyes caught a head of pitch-black hair—snapped to it like magnets. Naruto's feet stopped, jaw clenched, and fists curled.
He was leaning against a post at the town's west gate, his back turned to Naruto, just standing there so damn casually like this wasn't what he'd asked for. Like it hadn't been three years since they last saw each other. Like they didn't each have something the other wanted.
Naruto, at this moment, wanted nothing more than to just cross the single street between them, grab Sasuke by the shirt, and say hello in the way he knew best. He lurched forward—and bumped into a woman and she shrieked and dropped her full basket but this wasn't the damn time.
He picked it up, tossing the fruits in his general reach back into it, and gave it back, absently apologizing while his eyes tried to find Sasuke again. The woman said something but he didn't hear it because Sasuke was walking about thirty meters out and no way in hell was he going to let Sasuke use his Rinnegan to get away when they were this fucking close. He ran across the street, past the gates, halfway catching up with that jerk—but why was he walking? Why was Sasuke just… walking? Naruto slowed his pace, matching it to Sasuke's, and thought for a moment.
Maybe… Sasuke was leading him somewhere? He himself, this time, and not another damn inanimate object or someone else telling him where to go. It would make sense that they would end up actually meeting somewhere else, he had assumed as much. But he'd found out that this town held some kind of significance to Sasuke. Maybe not as much as he'd thought? What about all those other places? Like the town where Yuito lived, the village, the school, the home—did they barely mean anything, either?
No. It didn't make any damn sense anymore. Nothing had to have any significance for them to see each other! As far as Naruto was concerned, those were just places and people getting in the way of him seeing Sasuke.
How much longer, how much farther did they have to go until Naruto would get to see his face? Hear his voice? Be close enough to touch?! When would Sasuke stop fucking with him?!
"Where. Are we going. Sasuke."
Look back. Look back, damn it.
Naruto wanted Sasuke to look back with that Rinnegan he kept using to maintain the distance between them. He wanted him to show off the smirk that always bled with arrogance. That pale skin saved from taking any damage from the hot sun above because he was wearing… a cloak?
Naruto narrowed his eyes.
Long sleeves, a cloak, and a scarf around his head? What's up with all the layers? Wasn't Sasuke melting like he was?! Wait—right, of course, how could he forget. He scoffed. Stupid Sasuke was probably stupid fine because of his stupid fire chakra nature. The Uchiha had an advantage out here.
Naruto didn't, though. The afternoon desert heat, plus his boiling rage—yeah, not an ideal combination. He sighed heavily, begging his mind to let that go because Sasuke was in front of him. Not as a figment of his imagination anymore, not something he could let his mind bend to look back at him. Sasuke was in control of his own actions, his own choices, and his own thoughts, and all Naruto could do was follow him like he always would, and see where they ended up this time.
Suddenly, he was grateful he had enough self-control to grumble at Sasuke, and not yell like he had intended to. He sighed again, breathing in through his nose and rubbing the palms of his hands into his eyes. He dragged his hands up into his hair, his eyes locking onto the back of Sasuke's head again. Right. Okay. So, this wasn't over. The chase. It was just… literal, now. And slow-paced. Different but familiar. It better be over soon, though. Despite his pointless attempt at some semblance of revenge, he was tired of having it be so dragged out. All it did was keep the distance he was trying to close, but he also needed to care for himself. Iruka, Kakashi, Sakura, Tsunade—hell, everyone kept telling him to take better care of himself, and yeah, they might be right, but it's Sasuke. It was Sasuke, and they didn't understand, even if they said they did. He didn't have anyone to blame for his reckless behavior except himself. And Sasuke. And then himself again, then Sas—
Fucking cycles. His hands dropped down to his sides and slid into his pockets. Like hell he would let himself feel guilty for taking a shower, that would be… ridiculous.
These cycles were their way of finding each other. Endless loops of confusion, frustration, and heartbreak he never quite understood as a kid. And neither did Sasuke, until the war. Ever since, Naruto had tried to bend the idea, stretch it, condense it, break it, or throw it away entirely but they just kept coming back. And he didn't know how much longer he could fool himself by turning these cycles into 'games'. Taunting him and reminding him that they were so much older than them—they were centuries in the making—and it just happened to blow up in his and Sasuke's lifetimes and change their whole trajectory.
If he was allowed to be selfish for just a second, he would say he was glad it did. Because it created something he would never give up. Ever. A bond like he had never experienced before—an all-consuming, pain-filled, insane, wild, innocent, and pure bond.
A bond so irrevocably rooted in love from both sides, and Jiraiya had told him to ditch it. If that had been a test from Pervy Sage back then, he had no idea but obviously, he'd failed. He had never truly gotten angry with his sensei before, even when he'd refused to explain important parts of training and instead made Naruto figure it out for himself, but that day at the hospital, him saying forgetting about Sasuke would make him a better shinobi… Naruto's answer remained the same. He would rather be a fool.
No one understood that Sasuke was the reason behind his strength, the reason he had pushed himself so hard. Before he knew it, Sasuke had even become a big part of the reason he was determined to be Hokage. The reason he had moments from his childhood he could look back on and smile, even when it was so broken. The reason he was alive.
Honestly, how could anyone not see that forgetting about Sasuke was like forgetting about Naruto? Killing Sasuke was like killing Naruto? Imprisoning Sasuke was like imprisoning Naruto? And they called him dense.
Naruto took in the sight of Sasuke still walking ahead of him. He had used his Rinnegan to put some distance between them to have Naruto follow him. Fine. He'd give him that… since Sasuke not so much asked, but he did, in his own way. Because Sasuke had given him everything he needed. He'd left because what Naruto'd given back hadn't been enough—Naruto hadn't been enough. He hadn't been able to give Sasuke what he needed, but he could now because he realized he had what Sasuke was looking for. And for the most part, the world was calm, peaceful, and quiet. It was safe enough to finally consider themselves instead of the world for a damn moment and just fall into everything they grew up wanting.
Naruto let go of the dark blue pieces of fabric in his pocket he had been fidgeting with. He tried to sigh out that strange, painful, twisty thing in his chest one more time, but it felt like it had taken Naruto hostage. Out of this tangled mess that had been brewing for decades, the one thing that required not a neuron of thinking to know that it was true was the fact that Sasuke had always been his everything.
—
Naruto was going to close the distance and strangle Sasuke for all he was worth if he kept them out in the fucking sun any longer. He better not pass by those buildings up ahead, because if he did—man, Sasuke wouldn't know what hit him. Then he'd really see what other stunts Sasuke could pull in the afterlife without that Uchiha blood running through him. A heat stroke was the last damn thing Naruto needed.
Walking nonstop in a straight line for two hours with the sun right in their faces and Sasuke wasn't tired?! He hadn't looked back once, no matter how many times Naruto had tried to telepathically yell at him to make him. That wasn't like him at all! It wasn't like him to not taunt Naruto at least a little bit. So much for having the strongest bond ever.
Naruto swiped his bandaged arm across his forehead. Maybe Sasuke had looked back, but Naruto hadn't seen it happen. With the sun's position in the sky, Sasuke pretty much looked like a walking shadow. And the sand was doing all sorts of weird shit. Sometimes, it looked like there was water up ahead, or a mountain or a giant hole, or like it was just the edge of the world but Sasuke would get there first and there was nothing. Nothing but more tiny hot grains of dry sand and then—oh, a mirage. The weird shit was called a mirage. Weird wavy mirage.
And then… and then… ugh, screw it, he couldn't remember but those buildings would better be where they ended up. Naruto groaned, stretching the muscles in his neck. Another weird thing—he had caught himself a few times unconsciously stepping right into Sasuke's footprints. Exactly like he was doing right now. His jaw clenched, swallowing nothing but the air in his mouth. He was pretty sure Sasuke hadn't planned this, either. That would be… just too far. He got the point several times over. He didn't need his feet falling into Sasuke's footprints to remember anything else from their past. He didn't need to remember just how easily their roles could have been reversed, or just how easily Naruto could have fallen down the same path as Sasuke. Too fucking far, and he just wanted it to end already.
Well, look at that. Ol' gramps Hibiki might have had a point. Some things were better left in the past, but only if it meant they could move on from the bitterness to get to those sweet parts they damn well deserved.
Naruto took off one strap of his backpack, swung it to his front, and pulled out his canteen. It was almost empty, even though he had refilled it just before leaving the inn. It looked like he needed to start rationing his water since he doubted he'd find any out here. He sighed, uncapping the bottle. He took a sip, eyes squinting against the sun to find Sas—
He choked and coughed the water out—where the hell had Sasuke gone?! He'd been there just a second ago! Naruto hurriedly capped the bottle, shoved it back into his backpack, and picked up his pace, all while trying to clear the water that had gone up his nose. That damn Rinnegan. Sasuke was having too much fun with it. This would be the last damn time he would—wait, the buildings. Naruto struggled with the strap of his backpack, trying to put it on again as he ran to them—
Or it. It was one building. Naruto could have sworn it was… ah, the damn mirage. Didn't matter—one building was even better. One building with a hundred percent chance of Sasuke being in it. He hoped. Sasuke better be. He better fucking be in there. Naruto pressed himself to go faster, even when he felt like his legs were going to break off.
This was so random. What was a building like this one doing in the middle of the desert? Nothing around it except for big scattered chunks of its walls that had broken off and weeds. Other than that, it was a plain building with no glass in the windows and no doors. He carefully stepped inside, trying to keep the crunching sounds his feet made against the sand as quiet as he could. It was bare, there wasn't any furniture or anything, just little hills of sand and more rubble. It's like some kind of… big hollow box made of disintegrating mud. Was it some kind of hideout or something? Obviously Sasuke had been coming back to it since he knew exactly where it was. He would go back to certain places, stranded places, but never the Leaf. Never back to the Leaf for a simple visit, he just had to pull—
"Sasuke?" Naruto shut his brain off and called out into the empty room. Naruto's body forgot all about what it had just gone through because suddenly his nerves twisted so hard at saying his name that it had him woozy and frozen in place. He was going to see Sasuke. After three years of waiting.
But he got no response. Naruto turned around and faced the staircase tucked behind a half-wall that led to a second floor. One look at it had him steeling himself because he felt all of his frustration, confusion, exhaustion, and excitement hit him at once. But above all of it, was his nervousness.
Naruto was nervous. Out of all he had been through in his life, and all the people he'd met, Sasuke was the only person who could make him feel like a small, nervous child. Maybe it came from… maybe because this was different? This whole thing. He didn't know, but he was going to find out.
He followed the vague footprints in the sand to the staircase. This building was on the edge of ruin, everything had holes in it. The staircase was crumbling beneath his feet, he could feel his weight crushing the hardened sand. But that was only a distant observation because he was nearly at the top and his peripheral caught a shadow and he breathed in and looked up—
With a kiss or a fist, he still couldn't decide. He couldn't decide with Sasuke looking at him like that. Like… wide-eyed, unblinking. His chin tucked in further behind his high collar the longer Naruto stared; and why did his hair have to do that? Peak out from under his headband like that? Looking soft and shiny even in the dry desert air? He wanted to touch it.
Naruto blinked and swallowed to shut his mouth. He knew he was staring, but he didn't have to do it with his mouth wide open. He stepped forward and Sasuke blinked a little too hard but stood still, and then Naruto was finally, finally face to face with Sasuke.
He still didn't know how to handle Sasuke looking at him like he was shocked. Or surprised. Like Naruto wouldn't be able to find him. Like he wouldn't have chased him down again, to begin with. Like it was hard to believe that they could be this close again. It wasn't hard to believe, but Naruto still wanted to touch Sasuke's hair. Just… in case. He reached up with his left hand, and Sasuke did a thing with his eyes—they flicked down to his hand and then up back at him but he stayed still.
His fingers lightly held the strand poking out from underneath Sasuke's headband, hovering between his eyes. Didn't it bother him? Or get in the way? Probably not, because it was soft and wispy and not at all dry from the dust like his own hair was. Sasuke's brow twitched. Naruto looked him in the eye. Still wide-eyed, but Naruto could tell he was holding back from narrowing them at him. Did this… annoy him? Like, yeah, Naruto did just step into Sasuke's personal bubble and touch his hair because he wanted to, but he didn't have to get annoyed by it.
Naruto furrowed his own brows. His hand let go of the strand and gripped the fabric of Sasuke's headband and pulled it down over his eyes. He huffed, and walked to the other side of the room, ignoring the way Sasuke jolted. He didn't need to check anymore, it was actually Sasuke and not some weird mirage he'd hallucinated or whatever. He took off his backpack and set it on the… oddly not-so-dusty floor under a window. A quick glance around—an old broom was in a corner of the room and most of the sand was piled into the corners. Huh. So, Sasuke came here often enough to leave a damn broom.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Sasuke lift the headband back up and he turned away, looking down at his backpack again. He unbuckled it, and dug around for Sasuke's Hitai-ate, hoping this would be the last time he would have to hold on to it for him. Pulling it out, he instantly caught a whiff of the eucalyptus oil that had drenched one-half of it. And the other half… the threads were frayed, and its missing pieces were still in his pocket. He sighed. How much more was this damn thing going to go through? At this point, if Sasuke wanted, it would just be better to get him a new one.
He stood up and turned to Sasuke but his eyes were glued to his own hands. Yesterday had been… confusing. He still couldn't figure out some bits and pieces of Sasuke's stunt. The insane thing he had planned for months all because Naruto wanted to see him. But all this made one thing hilariously obvious. Sasuke wanted to see him, too, and this was just him saying hello in the way he knew best.
Naruto approached Sasuke, his eyes following the movement of his own hand giving Sasuke back his Hitai-ate. "Which one came first? The school or the home?"
Sasuke lifted his hand and gripped it. "You couldn't figure it out on your own?"
"I did, asshole!" Naruto scowled at Sasuke, pulling his hand back. "I jus' wanna make sure." He scowled even deeper to stop his mind from running off about how Sasuke's fingers had overlapped his.
"It didn't matter," Sasuke spoke too passively for Naruto's liking.
"It didn't matter?!" Naruto stepped closer. "I bet you thought of giving me a concussion at the school and then a place to sleep it off, didn't you?"
Sasuke scoffed. "A concussion?" He looked away to put away the Hitai-ate somewhere under his cloak. "Don't be dramatic."
Naruto flared up. "I'm dramatic? Mr. 'I want a revolution'."
Sasuke whipped his head back up and glared. Naruto glared right back.
"Dumbass."
"Asshole," Naruto easily shot back. "Doesn't change the fact that you dropped it on my head."
Sasuke's glare changed too quickly into a dangerous-looking smirk and it sent a chill down his spine. "Wanna fight about it?"
Naruto scoffed, holding his glare for a moment longer. And then he sighed. "No."
The danger left his lips. Instead, the smirk eased into a little smile, and Naruto found himself smiling back. This was easy. It was familiar, and it felt so damn good to be talking with Sasuke again. The best part? Seeing Sasuke alive and okay, and as strong as Naruto knew him to be. This had definitely been worth it. It was a hell of a lot better than fighting Kakashi over those reports Sasuke sent sometimes. They were always so official, dry in tone, and honestly, kind of boring to read. But they were his only proof that Sasuke was—
"Don't worry, you got me back."
He… what? Yeah, he did, but— "Huh?"
Sasuke shifted his weight on his feet and placed his hand on his hip. "What were you damning me for?"
Naruto stared at Sasuke, hardly able to contain his surprise. Sasuke had heard him back at the inn? "I couldn't figure out—no," Naruto squared his shoulders, crossed his arms over his chest, and glared. "For always slipping away, that's what." For this, for leaving, for always being just out of reach—
Sasuke smirked at him again like Naruto needed some more twisty things in his stomach, and then Sasuke turned around to look out the window beside him. "Well, your little outburst made me hit my head on the window frame."
"Oh?" Naruto quirked a brow, "So… that's how I got you back? If I'd known it was that simple—"
Sasuke turned his head back to glare again, and Naruto pressed his lips together to keep them from grinning. But really, if all it took was hitting Sasuke over the head with a stick to get him to stay back then—man, Naruto had gotten it all wrong.
Sasuke scoffed, facing Naruto again. "Whatever. Hand over my kunai."
"Oh, right." Naruto shoved his hand into his hip pouch and pulled out Sasuke's… messenger weapons. He took a step closer and placed them into Sasuke's outstretched hand.
Sasuke looked down at his hand, and then back up at him. "Where's the third?"
Naruto frowned. "The… third?"
Sasuke's expression dropped, and so did his hand. "Let me guess. You missed the second one?"
"There was a second one?!" Naruto shouted. "Where was it? I didn't see a second one—wait, wasn't that last one the second one? Do you mean the second one was actually the third?! Or—which one's the last one? Where did the second one even come from?! The third—I—" Naruto inhaled sharply and got even closer into Sasuke's personal bubble to poke an angry finger into his chest. "You know, you could've made it a little more obvious! Stupid you with your stupid breadcrumbs everywhere! It was really hard trying to figure out the shit you pulled—"
Naruto's voice died in his throat because Sasuke was laughing. He was laughing all quiet and cute with his head turned away until Naruto shut up and it made Sasuke look up at him again.
"It's fine," he said. "I didn't expect you to find it anyway."
Just like that, Naruto's frustration came back in the form of a balled fist between them. "Well, at least tell me where it was!"
"Use your head, dumbass."
"WORST. ADVICE. EVER!"
Sasuke's lips pressed together tightly, but that wasn't the only dead giveaway that he was about to laugh again, it was the flare of his nostrils. "Yeah, you better laugh. I didn't go through your mind games jus' for you to drag me all the way out here, call me a dumbass, and be done with it."
Sasuke blinked and tucked his chin in like he was using the high collar of his shirt to hide. But Naruto had a perfect view to watch the strain in his face slowly fade, and instead be replaced with a little smile. It almost… almost looked like the ones Naruto always caught Sasuke giving him when they were younger. He was too close, it was too hot to be too close to Sasuke—he took a step back.
"So, you gonna tell me where it was or what?" He muttered as his eyes tried to find something else to look at.
"In the sand." But they landed right back onto Sasuke.
"In the sand? What the hell does that mean?" Naruto mentally sifted through all the places a kunai could have been hiding 'in the sand' over the past two days. The first one had been outside of Yuito's town, the seco—third one had been in Ol' gramps Hibiki's town, and he got the Hitai-ate from the school…
"The home?! In that village?"
"Hm."
"Damn it! Why did—" Naruto almost stepped too close again. He cemented his feet to his spot. It was like magnets. Every time. Being anywhere near Sasuke felt like magnets were constantly pulling him in. He sighed shallowly. "You know, I thought it was weird that you slept in a corner but—in the sand?!"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "I didn't sleep in the corner—"
"Yeah, I know. Whatever." Naruto waved off, pretending to be passive about it. He crossed his arms and turned his head to the side. Huh. What a weird, small, triangular-shaped hole. It looked like it was the largest hole in that wall, but not the biggest one he'd seen so far, though. It was too small for a bird to fly through but big enough for a fist to fit through. Definitely perfectly shaped for a small bird, though, but he hadn't seen any small birds this far in the desert, and forcing this distraction wasn't working at all because Sasuke had his hawk summons and Naruto had his mini Rasengan—this was stupid—
"I'm impressed." Sasuke finally said something.
Naruto whipped his head back. "What?"
"You managed to find me without all of the clues."
"Hang on," Naruto squinted his eyes at Sasuke. "There were more?! Like, more than just that second kunai?"
Sasuke gave him the ghost of a look he recognized. A pained look, like he was about to roll his eyes or sigh but he didn't do either. He nodded instead and hummed.
Naruto's confusion hit an all-time high. "How many more?"
"A few."
"A few?! You jerk! You really thought I needed that many?" Naruto frowned.
Now Sasuke did roll his eyes. "Said I was impressed, didn't I?"
"Yeah—but no, go through them!"
Sasuke sighed. "What does it matter now?" He shifted his weight and placed his hand on his hip. "You're here, that should be enough."
"Well, yeah but I won't be able to sleep!" Naruto flailed his arms to fight off the flare in his chest. "I'll jus' be thinking about all the other stuff I missed the whole night and where you hid—"
Sasuke clicked his tongue. "You'll be fine."
"No, I won't—" And right then, Naruto was struck with an idea. A brilliant one and Sasuke was so going to hate it. He smiled and to his delight, he watched the horror on Sasuke's face taking shape as he realized.
"Don't you da—"
"You bet your ass I'm gonna get to them first, that'll give you a reason to come back with me." Naruto held his head up, grinning at the look on Sasuke's face. It was funny, the way Sasuke looked like there was nothing he could do about it, especially in the way his cheeks were turning red and his jaw muscles were clenching—wait, why was he blushing?
Naruto's eyes widened.
"I—I just meant that—" Naruto felt his whole face flush and he couldn't stop his hand from going up into his hair, "I'm gonna get to your kunai first—that second one, the one in the sand. I know where it is now! And then maybe you could visit or something? So you can have it back, like I'd give it back or… somethin', y'know? And—"
"Remind me to take the long way around." Naruto's mouth tried to defuse the blast of his laugh, it really did, but it was too late. It exploded out of his ears and nose instead. Surely he heard Sasuke wrong. Surely he had not meant what he just said.
"Ouch, Sasuke." Naruto unfroze himself and tucked his hands into his pockets. "You'd really go that far to avoid me?"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes, but Naruto hadn't missed the faint smirk pulling at his lips. "You wanna do this all over again?"
"Depends. How many times are you planning on having me chase after you?"
"You tell me."
Naruto could feel his pulse in his throat. Their squabbles always had a way of warping into something else—something on the tips of their tongues, but never spoken. It took one slip-up on his part to land them back here, wherever here was. The difference this time… he could recognize it now. The feeling he couldn't name before. His breath caught, smiling despite the twisty thing in his chest. Maybe he should shut his brain off more often. When had he ever needed to do a lot of thinking around Sasuke, anyway?
"Hmm, I don't think I'll have to anymore."
The narrowing of Sasuke's eyes went from being playful to serious in an instant. "Why?"
And there it was. The bane of Naruto's existence—that fucking question. How was he supposed to properly answer that when Sasuke had been gone for so long? And the one time he'd tried to rea—
Naruto slowly tilted his head to the side, imagining himself dumping all of his thoughts out. Sasuke furrowed his brows and Naruto's grin grew so wide that he started chuckling. It felt amazing, knowing he was about to end this whole chasing thing. But since they were having fun messing with each other this time, maybe he could push it just a little bit more.
Naruto watched Sasuke's eyes go from narrowed slits to blown out completely as he stepped in closer. And then too close. He still couldn't get a grip on his smile, it was out of his control, and he didn't care at all about what he might look like standing in front of Sasuke's huge eyes. He pulled one hand out of his pocket and brought it up to Sasuke's face. He didn't touch him, not yet. He wanted to save touching Sasuke's skin for his left hand, which he was sure would happen. Soon.
His fingers pinched the fabric of Sasuke's headband and pulled it down over his eyes. He kind of loved the way Sasuke jolted back, acting like there was something left in the world that could still catch him off-guard. His eyes were blinking rapidly behind the fabric, his jaw muscles kept clenching and then Naruto witnessed the wildest thing. Sasuke relaxed. All at once, he went still and his lips parted the smallest amount, making the quietest sound he had ever heard coming from Sasuke. A 'pop' that would have been inaudible if he hadn't been right in front of him. And he was breathing a little too hard for just standing there.
Kiss him, Naruto decided. The resolution of it made something burst in his chest—but he had made up his mind to mess with Sasuke first. Naruto leaned in until he could feel Sasuke's breath on his lips. He was so close. So close and he fucking missed it. No other ache could compare to being away from Sasuke.
Before he could change his mind, he tilted his head to the side and kissed the corner of Sasuke's mouth as lightly as he could. Naruto let go of Sasuke's headband, stood up straight, and slid his hand back into his pockets. He moved not another inch after that. It was a different kind of pain—a good pain—the searing of Sasuke's small gasp in his memory.
"Does that answer your question?" Naruto asked like he didn't already know the answer.
After Sasuke's brief struggle with blinking about a thousand more times underneath his headband, Naruto savored the smile that grew ever so slowly on Sasuke's face. The blush on his cheeks darkened—Naruto regretted pulling the fabric too far down, he wanted to see more of it. Sasuke huffed and then pointed his soft smile, one in which Sasuke had for once shown some teeth, to the ground.
"Idiot," he called him, out of breath, cute, and mushy. Naruto hummed, pretty pleased with the reaction and himself. But still, he would have preferred not having shot himself in the foot at wanting some semblance of revenge. He should really let that go. He just really, really wanted to give Sasuke a real kiss.
"Why'd you do all of this?" Naruto asked quietly, just because he could.
Sasuke shrugged, loosening and pulling the headband down the rest of the way to have it sit around his neck. "For old times' sake."
Naruto scoffed. "What the hell? We're not that old yet."
"Aren't we?" Sasuke lazily rolled his eyes. Naruto inhaled, scrunching up his face in a mock grimace.
"Sasuke? Making jokes?" Naruto was having a hard time understanding that, but it was amusing as hell seeing Sasuke's attempt at a joke. Or more like going through Sasuke's attempt at a joke. His amusement showed in the way he chuckled through the words, "remind me to teach you how to pull better pranks."
"Naruto? Teaching me?"
"Sasuke!" Naruto snorted. "No—rotten. Stop it. Just—no," he shook his head. His eyes fell on Sasuke, because how could they not when he was smiling with teeth again? It was so unlike him. This Sasuke was making light of the shit they had been through, genuinely smiling like he had an influx of them dammed in him for more than a decade and all they could do was break out of him in waves. This Sasuke, so far removed from who he used to be.
But then Sasuke's smile faded, making way for a stare. A stare Naruto was much more familiar with. Eyes gradually widening and barely blinking. Naruto squinted his eyes, which made Sasuke's jaw clench like it was some kind of automatic response.
"Stop looking at me like you're having a hard time believing something," Naruto muttered.
"That's not—" Sasuke blew some kind of fuse and stopped talking just as abruptly. Naruto quirked a brow, and for some reason, Sasuke felt the need to turn his head away. Sasuke's hair… really needed to stop doing that flowy thing it always did. He wasn't even doing anything, but his hair prettily curtained over his face as the air had swept in through the paneless windows. Free from its constraint of fabric, longer and softer than Naruto had expected—he felt the urge to touch it again. But Sasuke's reaction from before made it clear that if Naruto tried that again, he'd probably lose his other arm, so he settled for clenching the small pieces of fabric in his pocket.
Sasuke shook his head slightly, and Naruto was sure Sasuke was just taunting him at this point. "It's the opposite," his voice was quiet like he had just confessed to something and Naruto was thrown for a loop. Sasuke's eyes were pointed at his shirt, clearly to avoid looking him in the eyes. Had calling him out shaken up his confidence? He'd never known—never imagined Sasuke could be self-conscious over anything. He frowned. Another new Sasuke.
"What do you mean?" Sasuke's eyes shot up to his within the first syllable. They were still wide, and the rest of him tense. Naruto's frown deepened. What the hell has gotten into him all of a sudden?! From making terrible cute jokes to acting all nervous and embarrassed like he had something to be sorry for—
"I'd do it all over again, y'know," Naruto blurted out. "The whole treasure hunting thing. It's the most fun I've had in a really long time. It was nice—and a little exhausting, to be honest with you, but yeah, like I was saying, it was nice goin' through those memories again. Well, I mean it's not like we haven't after our fight, or—which was kinda weird if you think about it—or—um…" Naruto breathed. Or when his lessons with Iruka got too boring, or when he was eating alone in his apartment, or trying to go to sleep, or watching television to distract himself but it failed every single time. "Or a few other times here and there but like, I got the point. I get it." Naruto swallowed, wholly suspicious of why he was allowed to ramble like that.
Something must've happened in Sasuke's head because his eyes twitched and he looked at him like he was confused for a moment. Naruto held his tongue from blurting out anything else. After what felt like forever, Sasuke's eyes closed and he sighed. "I wouldn't," he said, looking back up at him with a mean-looking furrow to his brows.
Yeah, Naruto had definitely triggered something in Sasuke. He drilled his mind in place to keep from branching off into a headache of questions that would only confuse him more. So, he swallowed dryly, eyes locked on Sasuke's, waiting for him to say something or do something because what the hell did he mean by that?! He wouldn't what? He wouldn't—
"What?" Did Naruto have to bite his tongue off to get it to stop?! This whole time he had been trying to nullify the unrelenting buzzing under his skin, ignore the nerves that kept going off like paper bombs in the back of his head and ricocheting down his spine. But some things had always been out of his control around Sasuke, and right now, it was obviously getting the better of him.
"I wouldn't go against you again," Sasuke told him quietly like it was some kind of secret or revelation or a damn apology. "You were right."
Naruto felt his brows contort into a frown so deep, it hurt. "You were right, too! Sasuke, you had every reason to do what you did!"
"Don't get me wrong. I still believe the Elders deserve their long overdue punishment." Something familiar, something he agreed with, said in the stern tone he recognized and he let go of some of the tension in his shoulders. "But I was manipulated into my actions, so far as to believe I had to—" Sasuke cut himself off to clench his jaw shut, but Naruto could hear his thoughts anyway.
"Kill me?" Naruto finished for him. "So what?"
"'So what?'" Sasuke winced. "Naruto, you almost died at my hand—"
"But I didn't, because you couldn't actually do it, could you, Sasuke?" Naruto watched Sasuke go from annoyed to something shocked and then something guilty. He didn't like it, but he had more. "I knew sparing me wasn't some kinda whim you wanted the rest of Team 7 to believe. Besides, I stopped you," Naruto pulled his bandaged hand out, catching Sasuke's attention with it, "remember?"
He tucked it back into his pocket, and Sasuke's eyes followed the movement. He fully expected Sasuke to burst out in a slew of wise remarks and insults, because of course he remembered, and he'd just said he wouldn't do anything like that again, but all he did was stay quiet, eyeing the pocket for a moment.
"Doesn't mean I'm innocent," Sasuke muttered. Yeah, Naruto had been complaining about Sasuke being gone for too long after the war and said he was going to punch Sasuke for it, and maybe that didn't sound like such a bad idea. He could even double the number of punches, maybe they could be a nice refresher that'd wake Sasuke up from whatever this new thing was.
"Doesn't make you guilty of anything, either." Naruto would say that as many times as he needed to for Sasuke to get it through his head.
Sasuke looked at him, contempt showing in a slight furrow on his brow. "Only to you."
"Always," he said easily and held Sasuke's stare. At this point, Naruto could tell Sasuke's worst enemy was himself. Naruto's stomach turned. Had he been right? The whole time Sasuke had been away—on a 'journey of atonement' as Sakura had told him—had Sasuke been chewing himself out over the past? Specifically over what he could have done to him? Or the path he'd chosen? Or… what was it? What was making Sasuke feel like this?! Was there something he missed?
Naruto reeled back, a tingling sensation crawling through him. The look on Sasuke's face finally made sense. Naruto wasn't getting the whole story, he should've realized sooner. He'd just assumed…
His eyes scaled Sasuke's form. Sasuke was facing down and away from him, tense and statue-like. It was a mistake on his part again; he shouldn't have simply assumed anything. A stupid mistake. He bit his lip to stop himself from sighing. Should he ask? He wanted to, but Sasuke looked so upset—so weighed down. He didn't want to risk pressing Sasuke and possibly spooking him and having him run off. Maybe he could work up to it? He could keep an eye out for any more clues, and get a feel for this new side of Sasuke. Naruto swallowed the dry lump in his throat.
"Um… you said you wouldn't do anything like that again, right?" Naruto said carefully, giving Sasuke a moment to make eye contact again. It was something Sasuke normally didn't have an issue with, but here they were. "So… it doesn't matter, Sasuke."
"It doesn't matter?" Sasuke winced. Naruto sighed, wishing the tightness in his chest would just ease up even if a tiny bit. Sasuke was supposed to find his own kind of peace on his journey, not doubt, uncertainty, or more grief.
"No, it really doesn't," Naruto spoke under his breath, desperately hoping it also applied to whatever he had yet to know because damn it all, Sasuke deserved peace and happiness more than anyone else. His eyes made the mistake of flicking down to the slight twitch in Sasuke's lips. Delicate was not a word he would use to describe Sasuke, it didn't fit him. But he looked so fucking delicate sometimes that it drove Naruto to a completely new level of insanity—wanting to protect Sasuke at the cost of every damn thing he had.
Before the last drop of self-control to keep his hands in his pockets and not somewhere on Sasuke could fully evaporate, he explained. "You were chasing something in response to what happened to your clan. I couldn't let you go, so I responded by chasing after you." He took a deep breath in and continued quietly. "And… shit happened," he shrugged, shattered and bone-tired. "But we ended most of it, jus' a couple of old loose ends left to lock up, which we need you back for, by the way… and, um… I think we deserve to move on, Sasuke. You and me, I mean. Even if just a little bit."
Their lives in a nutshell—one Naruto knew would have been unjustifiably altered for the history books if he hadn't gotten a say in it—and Sasuke looked worse. His explanation did nothing but make Sasuke look… angrily depressed. He looked so much like his younger self. The version of Sasuke he'd gotten to spend the most time with. The one Naruto could have—should have reached out to more. The one that had slipped away.
Naruto took another deep breath, and it shuddered coming out. His hands lifted out of his pockets and circled around Sasuke, pulling him in a hug. He couldn't see the way Sasuke jolted, but he felt it. He only tightened his hold on him.
It took Sasuke about a minute to get reacquainted with what a hug felt like. Naruto could feel every time a muscle tensed and relaxed repeatedly all over his body. His breathing was short and shallow, and he could hear it each time Sasuke swallowed. Naruto stayed exactly as he was, only his thumbs moving in small circles along Sasuke's back, though he wasn't sure if Sasuke could feel it. He was wearing some kind of armor under his cloak.
Suddenly, Sasuke's hand shot up to Naruto's elbow, his chin bumped into Naruto's shoulder, and he froze like that for a moment. Sasuke's hand irregularly traveled up his arm, over his shoulder, and stopped at the back of his neck. It pained him to think there was a possibility of Sasuke being so used to fighting that his brain confused a friendly touch with a threat. He wished it wasn't true and that it was just Sasuke being nervous. Just nervous, like he was.
Naruto slowly dug his face deeper into the nook of Sasuke's neck, just a little bit. He felt Sasuke's jaw attempt to relax a couple of times before he finally said something.
"You smell."
All at once, the tension Naruto was holding blew out in a sloppy laugh. Sasuke's fingers lightly pressed into his neck and Naruto quietly sniffed, only just realizing he'd been tearing up.
"Okay, first off," Naruto cleared his throat and lifted his head just enough to talk, "cheap shot, Sasuke." The soft chuckle he got in response made him feel elated. Especially having it so close to his ear. It only made him refuse to let go of the hug even more. "It's either sweat or eucalyptus oil stuff," he muttered. "A bottle of it kinda spilled all over my shirt." He tilted his head and rested his cheek on Sasuke's shoulder, because why the hell not? What was stopping him? Nothing, as far as he was concerned. He finally had Sasuke close enough like this and it felt amazing. Relieving. Almost… healing.
He didn't hear it but he felt it—or knowing himself, he may have imagined it—the way Sasuke subtly breathed in for just a second longer. But then Sasuke breathed out, humming softly as his hand flattened around Naruto's neck and he knew this wasn't his own mind's doing again. Something inside Naruto's belly swooped so violently, it nearly knocked him off his feet. He really didn't want to be a blubbering mess right now—he tried as hard as he could to swallow the stupid lump in his throat.
He tried and tried and tried but he could only screw his eyes shut so tight. It didn't matter, though. It was Sasuke. When had Naruto ever hidden what he was feeling around him?