A/N: Well look who decided to show up? So sorry...I know how frustrating it is finding a good story and the author just disappears! I fully intend to finish this story once and for all.
Sasuke had memorized the ceiling pretty well. He knew where all the cracks and chips were. That's what happens when you wake up in the middle of the night and stare at it for hours and hours. Mind reeling from yesterday's events.
Sasuke was never shy. Never unconfident or nervous or squirmy. He always faced things head on, daring anyone to get in his way. Today he felt an overwhelming sense of uncertainty and shyness.
Today, however, he felt as if he couldn't face Naruto ever again.
He woke up sometime after 3am with the wind still howling against the walls, the fire now a distant memory. He shivered, not from the cold but from the anxiety he felt of the situation. And he felt annoyed because he was rarely anxious about anything. He quietly got up to rebuild the dying fire, carefully not waking Naruto up. He wasn't ready.
He laid back down against his side and stared at the ceiling, thinking back over the years of him and Naruto. It was always Naruto. Sasuke couldn't deny how he had felt about the blonde, despite all of the times he was literally running from him. There was a deep bond between them that Sasuke had never had with anyone else, not even Itachi. But after last night, Sasuke saw Naruto differently. He had NEVER done something like that with anyone, especially not Naruto. It was such an intimate act having someone touch him like that and making him feel those feelings...he had never felt anything quite like that before. It made him blush just thinking of how Naruto had made him feel such pleasure.
The wind slowly died down and sunlight started to peak through the windows. Sasuke hadn't moved in hours, just thinking. He felt Naruto stirring next to him, so he wordlessly got up and went outside. He couldn't face him now. Maybe he will just run off into the snowylandscape and never have to see him again. He stood outside staring at the snow until his fingers were completely numb, seeing nothing because his thoughts were so loud. He kept replaying last night over and over again in his head, face turning red again but not from the cold. The cold became unbearableand he finally crept back inside.
Immediately he was met with bright blue eyes boring holes through him. He stopped and felt his breath catch. So much for sneaking in. Naruto hurriedly looked down at his book he had found, face turning considerably red. "Has the snow stopped?" He said timidly, staring at the book like it was the most interesting thing in the world. Which was funny because Naruto never reads.
"Yes." Sasuke said carefully, watching Naruto. His demeanor was interesting to him. "It's really cold out." He said stupidly. He suddenly felt vulnerable. Sasuke went to the kitchen area to try and find something. The soup last night was completely gone, and the cabinets held unfulfilling things in them. He grabbed an unopened jar of parsley and choked some down. Just to have something on his stomach. Anything to not be near Naruto.
Naruto was quiet, and a glance at him made it obvious he wasn't reading at all. Sasuke threw the parsley in the cabinet, suddenly annoyed. He wanted real food and to be away from Naruto. He didn't want to confront or think about anything. This was worse than the morning after they had kissed.
"...Sasuke." Naruto said nervously. Sasuke stared in the cabinet, not turning to him. He could feel the blonde staring at him.
"We are out of food." Sasuke muttered, avoiding the question.
"Sasuke." Naruto said more quietly.
"We are going to starve." Sasuke clenched the cabinet doors. "There's hardly any more fish in that stupid lake. And we can't make a trip because there's not even a chance to catch our breath between blizzards."
"Sasuke." Naruto said, firmly this time.
"What,Naruto?" Sasuke whirled around, glaring. Their eyes met, both questioning each other. Eyes saying everything.
For a moment, Naruto was silent. He looked like a child that was caught doing something wrong. His eyes were baring intoSasuke's, and it was clear what he wanted to ask. He wanted to ask what last night meant, why they did that, and what did it mean toSasuke? Why have things changed between them so much lately? He looked at Sasuke only a moment more before looking down at his book dejectedly. "We need more firewood." Naruto said flatly.
Without a word, Sasuke huffed past Naruto back into the cold. Anything to get away from his feelings that he did NOT want to think about. Naruto winced as the door was slammed, feeling confused and sad all at once.
Sasuke was dashing back to the cabin as fast as he could, an armful of wood practically spilling out of his arms. He couldn't believe what he had seen.
"Naruto!" He yelled as he flung himself inside their cabin, throwing the wood down. He panted heavily, adrenaline coursing through him and weakness from their tiny amount of food lately catching up to him as he doubled over.
"Sasuke?!" Naruto jumped up and put a hand on his back. "W-what happened? What's going on?"
Sasuke looked up at him, remembering all at once last night and this morning, but pushing it to the side at the moment. "I-I saw a herd of something off in the distance. Some kind of antelope I think. Or deer, I don't know, but what I do know is that it's food." His eyes were wild. "I hurried back as fast as I could. We need to go after it together."
Naruto was speechless for a minute, blinking stupidly before jumping up. "Alright let's do this!" He exclaimed, suddenly filled with energy. They both hurriedly went outside and into the direction Sasuke Sasuke had come, trudging through the deep snow together.
They couldn't go very fast because of how deep the snow was, but the herd wasn't too far, if it was still there. It was hard to tell from the mounds of snow blown everywhere. The sun was blinding against the white, not a cloud in the sky or a single hint of a breeze except for the clouds their frozen breaths were making. The only sounds were their steps in the snow. After a while, the snow was so compact from the winds that they could walk on top, which was much easier.
Sasuke looked out over the landscape after a while and stopped. There was no trace of any living being anywhere around them. No trace of a building or tracks from ninja or animals. It was like staring out over a frozen sea. With no warning at all, Naruto fell through the top of the snow, crying out.
"Woah there," Sasuke helped him out. "What, have you been secretly sneaking food or something?" He said teasingly.
Naruto just laughed, dusting snow off him. "Whatever Sasuke!" was the only thing he could say. He glinted his eyes at the dark haired man, just happy that Sasuke was actually talking to him. "You're the one who is still holding my hand."
Sasuke's face fell as he looked down, hand interlocked with Narutos still. He quickly threw it away, turning pink. "I'm leaving you next time you fall in." He said bitterly, turning his reddening face away. Naruto just smiled to himself and went on. Sasuke watched from behind, feeling somewhat calmed by his presence. Maybe feeling these feelings weren't such a bad thing. It just all felt so new to him, and he wasn't quite sure if he should run from it or run into it. I mean, this is Naruto after all. Quite literally a ball of sunshine, but it did chase away the gloomy clouds in his mind. He watched the blonde merrily stomp and kick up snow amusingly. Silly Naruto, he chuckled to himself.
They continued trekking over the snowy hills. They didn't intend to go too far from their cabin, because who knows where in the world they were and if another snowstorm would show up. But the skies were clear, and Sasuke was half tempted to make a break for home, but he knew that might be foolish since they seemed to come without warning here. They could be lost for days. However, he was growing uneasy. They still had not spotted the herd. Perhaps he would see it at the top of the next swell. When they reached it, the only thing seen all the way around was white swells. No herd. There were barely any tracks behind them either because of how hard the snow was packed down.
Sasuke looked back toward their cabin and there was nothing. Their almost invisible tracks disappeared off over the swells into nothing. Underneath that great big sky, it was just white land and Naruto. Sasuke wasn't scared. He knew where their little hut was, and as long as the sun was up and there were not clouds he wouldn't feel too lost. Ninja were impeccable at tracking after all. But he suddenly felt a chill. He felt that he and Naruto were the only lives left. Two people alone in the cold wilderness. He felt incredibly small.
"Sasuke? You okay?" Naruto stopped and looked at him concerningly. Sasuke hadn't even realized he had stopped. He looked at Naruto with wide eyes, making Naruto feel uneasy at his out-of-characterness. "I'm fine." He said, looking over everything. "This just feels surreal."
"Yeah." Naruto muttered. He walked up next to Sasuke and stared out next to him. "It's like...we are the only ones left on earth, huh?"
Sasuke looked at him in surprise. Seems Naruto was able to read his mind. Although that wasn't all that surprising. But he in turn could read Naruto's mind it felt like. He stared at the blonde, who in turn looked at him with wide eyes as well. He could feel it. Naruto was afraid.
Slowly and uncertainly, Sasuke gently took Naruto's hand. Side by side, it was to two of them against that great big wilderness. If they were the last two on earth, well, that would be fine with Sasuke. He gave Naruto's hand a gentle squeeze. "We'll be fine, Naruto." He said, more confidently than he felt. Although he was surprised at what came over him, grabbing Naruto's hand like that, it did help calm him a bit as well. Naruto smiled back sunnily, but his eyes were still heavy with anxiety.
Over the next swell, Naruto started whooping and hollering. "Look Sasuke! Look!" He jumped up and down. Far off, there was the herd sticking out against the snow, heading toward the south.
Sasuke immediately hit Naruto, causing the blonde to yelp. "You idiot!" Sasuke hissed. "Keep it down. You'll scare them off."
Naruto pouted but didn't say anything more. They walked forward and knelt on the snow. These deer looked massive, larger than any kind of deer or antelope Sasuke had seen. The bucks had enormous antlers that they would need to be wary of. They almost looked as big as moose, but moose were not native to here. Or maybe they were? Who knows where they are. This was not going to be an easy task.
"Naruto, listen to me." Sasuke said. "We are going to have to take it slow and easy and not scare them off. I'll work around them to the north before you close in from the south. Come in slow and see if we can herd one away from the herd so we can take it down." He looked toward the horizon. "No cloud in sight."
"I think I can take one down all by myself!" Naruto spouted.
"No, you can't." Sasuke spat. "You're weak from hunger and low on chakra. It's going to take two of us to get one down, if we even can."
Naruto grumbled. "Why do you always have to take charge." He stood up and stretched. "Man I'm out of shape! We haven't done any training in forever!"
It's true. They've done mostly nothing in all that time they've been cooped up. They were out of shape, low on chakra, and low on energy from the little food they've had. Well this is going to go great. Sasuke stretched slightly before taking off. "Don't mess this up, moron."
Naruto ran up to him. "Hey, wait! Sasuke!" He stopped in front of him, close enough where Sasuke could feel his breath. Just looking at the blonde, Sasuke could tell how nervous he was of this. If they didn't get one of those animals...Naruto said nothing for a moment, breath caught in his throat. He wantedto say so much,but only settled on, "Good luck."
Sasuke nodded, noting to himself how absolutely dazzling the snow reflected through Naruto's eyes. He turned and went on, before he did something dumb like kiss him.
They separated as they slowly crept around. Sasuke looked over and saw panic on Naruto's face. That dolt better not do something crazy. The landside seemed to make an illusion that the antelope were closer than they actually were, but looking at them through his sharingan made things more clear. Sasuke thought of all the food they could make with one of these. His mouth watered. Just a few more minutes and they could surround the tail end of the herd. He saw one that was somewhat off to itself. Perfect.
He turned to motion at Naruto and instantly jumped from a deafening explosion. Naruto was jumping up and down, yelling like an idiot. In his excitement and pride, he had tried to hit one of the antelope with a rasengan. But they were too far away to hit, and Naruto's low chakra only made it worse.
IDIOT!Sasuke cursed to himself and took off, running towards the herd. The antelope were high-tailing away at top speed, much faster than they could run. They looked like the wind was blowing them across the land. Sasuke finally stopped and watched them trail further and further away, finally getting swallowed by the horizon.
He stared after them for a moment, mind reeling from the turn of events. That was their food. They had one shot. He turned and looked at Naruto, who was pale. Rage filled him as he barreled toward Naruto, who could only sputter out a "Sa-" before he was shoved to the ground.
"You moron!" Sasuke yelled, punching the blonde. "You scared them away!"
"I'm sorry, okay!" Naruto yelled. He pushed Sasuke off of him and pinned him down to the ground. "I thought I could make it! I mean, at least I tried!"
"You're so reckless! We weren't even close enough! I told you the plan, loser!" Sasuke heaved Naruto off of him and pinned him down again. His sharingan was spinning madly. He was so hungry he didn't care about anything at this point. He could probably kill Naruto and feel nothing.
"Get off!" Naruto yelled. He kicked Sasuke off and began throwing punches. Sasuke expertly avoided some, but was smacked with others. They were both so out of practice and weak that they looked almost drunk with sparring. Sasuke whaled away at Naruto, also trying to fight against everything he had been feeling the long time they've been there.
"This is stupid, Sasuke," Naruto said after a while. "We are wasting our energy!" He landed a solid punch against Sasuke's temple, causing the Uchiha to stumble and fall back. He heaved, out of breath and exhausted. He slowly got up and went to strangle Naruto, who grabbed him by his colar. "Sasuke! I said I was sorry!" He yelled. "I messed up, okay?"
Sasuke threw Naruto off of him, practically growling. "You mess everything up! Naruto, you're always so wreckless!" He huffed and turned back toward their cabin. "You're pathetic."
Sasuke took only a few steps before he was thrown to the ground again. Naruto was mounted on top of him, eye brimming with anger. "Like you never make mistakes! You always think you're so perfect Sasuke!" He hesitated slightly before he shouted, "You're the pathetic one! One minute you hate me, the next you want me to get you off!"
Silence. Sasuke felt his brain short-circuit. He didn't have a response to that, so he tried punching him. Naruto had him pinned, however. Naruto continued. "You keep trying to push me away Sasuke. I just want to know what's going on dammit!'
Sasuke glared at him, eyes cold as ice, but deep down he knew that something was, in fact, going on. He was mad at Naruto's wrecklessness, but he also knew that he was trying to push away Naruto too. He tried to shove off the blonde, but his massive ass was weighing him down in the snow.
Naruto's expression turned from anger to remorse. He looked at the Uchiha sorrowfully. "I...I'm sorry Sasuke. I know I ruined everything." He slowly got off Sasuke and turned before he could notice the tears welling up. Naruto had so many emotions building inside of him. Sasuke pulls away so much that Naruto can't bring him back sometimes. But Naruto too kept replaying last night in his head. And he also felt confusing feelings for Sasuke. Naruto turned back to head home before Sasuke grabbed his hand again.
Naruto turned back and looked at dark eyes, now softer. Sasuke felt a pang in his heart, seeing the sorrow in Naruto's eyes. He didn't usually allow himself to be this soft with anyone, but he gently wiped away one of Naruto's tears with his thumb. "Don't cry. You'll get icicles on your face." He muttered. He gazed into his eyes, lost for any more words. Naruto just stared, eyes searching. Sasuke's hand still on his cheek.
"What's on your mind, Sasuke..." Naruto said softly. He had a deep yearning for Sasuke. He always had such high walls around and never letting anyone in.
"I...I don't know." Sasuke said finally. Eyes were interlocked, both men trying to figure the other out and read the words that neither were saying or seemed to want to say.
"I'll get us more fish, I promise." Naruto said nervously. "I know you're really hungry."
"Yeah." was all Sasuke could say. He gently stroked Naruto's cheek with his thumb for a minute more before turning back to the cabin, heart racing. Naruto watched him for a moment before walking after him, anxiously noticing the haze that suddenly appeared from the north sky. Sasuke noticed too without a word.