Third Time Lucky   von Khaosprinz
================================================================================
                                  Kapitel 1: 
                                  -----------


Naruto felt lonely.
 
To change that, he decided to search among his friends for someone
to help him. He was eighteen now, and even if puberty was wearing off, at
least the times he felt like making an idiot out of himself had decreased
significantly, the hormones were not. And when he oh so
'innocently'–coughcough- decided not to look at his friends but to check
them out, he noticed three things that scared him shitless.
 
First, while he did enjoy looking at Ino's breasts jiggle each time she began to
jump around, they didn't turn him on. What did turn him on however, was Kiba's
sweaty, muscular back when the Inuzuka decided it was too warm to train with any
more clothes than necessary.
His first reaction at the time was choking on the water he was drinking, and
when his brown haired friend leaned down towards him to check if he was okay or
actually needed help, all Naruto could do was follow the salty pearls of water
trailing down the other's chest. He proceeded to choke some more. He then jumped
to his feet, shouted something he didn't remember and dashed off to his
apartment.
 
Once there, he slammed his door shut and leant against the wood, breathing
heavily, all the while muttering colourful curses under his breath.
"What the hell was that?", he asked the innocent plant standing on the other
side of room. He glared at it when it didn't answer.
Slumping down, he summoned up the little logical part of his brain to find the
solution himself. And boy, it wasn't nice. After some whining, denying,
realizing, sulking and glaring at the, the monster between his legs that
betrayed him every time it twitched when he thought about his male friends and
stayed still when he thought about his female friends, he gave in.
 
He liked men. Men. He, who had fussed over Sakura for years, liked MEN. He
groaned and buried his face in his hands. This couldn't be true.
In a last desperate attempt of denial he tried to conjure a picture of any of
his female friends in beach outfits.
That however soon proved to be one of his less smart ideas, when every single
beautiful woman in his mind soon turned into a gorgeous (he whimpered again at
that thought) man. He quickly scrambled to his feet to fetch a tissue to stop
his nosebleed.
 
That's it, he thought humourlessly, I'm a lost case. I'm officially gay.
 
                                                    
                                                     
   
 
A couple of weeks later, incident number two happened.
 
It was still unbearable warm outside, and after a good sparring with Sasuke, he
dragged his dark haired friend to a nearby river to cool off. He got rid of his
Jōnin uniform in mere seconds and jumped head-first into the cool water. He
returned to the surface and with a blissful sigh, before he looked over to his
friend who just stood there and stared at him. He waved.
"Come on now, teme! Don't tell me you're being shy now?", he asked, wiggling his
eyebrows.
Said teme shot him an indignant look and huffed, before he too stripped down to
his boxers. Ever since the war was over and he had rejoined the shinobi ranks of
Konoha, they both were Jōnin now, they had both somewhat returned back to their
normal. More precisely the normal bickering, rivalry and brotherhood they had
shared before his departure. There were a few changes however, and Naruto had
been utterly surprised when he first noticed them. They still (kind of) looked
out for each other on missions, but at home now as well, it seemed.
 
Sasuke, after having lost his real brother even twice, seemed determined to not
let something like that happen again. And so, when Naruto had ditched him once
because he had received a nasty wound after a training session with Kiba, Sasuke
had gone to find the Inuzuka. When he did, he had innocently asked him for some
sparring as well.
As it turned out, the only reason the Uchiha did so was to beat the brunette
into a bloody pulp for hurting his brother-in-everything-but-blood. After that
incident, nearly all the shinobi in the village were a lot more careful around
the Jinchūriki.
At first, Naruto had been irritated by the sudden change of behaviour towards
him, but after pestering Sasuke enough to actually tell him, or rather scream it
at him in the middle of a fist fight, he had felt warmth spreading through his
guts. He had cooed "Awww, Sasuke-teme cares for me-!", and after that he had
to nurse a nasty bruise on his head. But the gooey feeling in his stomach
stayed. That was about one month ago, and about three weeks after he discovered
his... preferences.
 
And right now, he was blissfully wading through the cool water and occasionally
splashing water at the irritated Uchiha to engulf him into a full-scale
water-battle. And after Naruto tackled the raven to pull him down into the water
(how old were they again?), the stoic male snapped and fought back. And while
they were at it, Naruto suddenly noticed all the things the girls liked about
Sasuke. He ignored it however and instead settled with grabbing his friend's
ankle, and swinging him over his head, throwing him back into the water a few
feet away. When the raven broke through the surface again, sputtering and
coughing up water, the blond snickered. When he caught the glare the other was
throwing at him, it turned into laughter.
Sasuke huffed and decided they had fooled around enough (he did not loose, he
merely decided enough was enough), and so he resumed relaxing for a bit. And so,
he leaned, with his back against the shore, arms crossed behind his head as he
looked up at the sky.
Naruto on the other hand, was slowly calming down and began looking at the other
male intently. He watched the drops of water running down the pale, scarred
skin, the lithe muscles moving... He zoned out.
 
After some time, Sasuke had the unnerving feeling of being watched. His eyebrow
twitched.
 
He half-opened one of his eyes, and peeked over to his blond friend, who was
staring at him with dazed eyes. His eyebrow twitched again, and he frowned.
Wondering what the idiot was up to this time, he slowly swam through the water
until he was in front of the blond. Still no reaction.
He briefly thought about experimenting with his Chidori Nagashi[1] in the water,
but disregarded the idea; he'd probably fry himself as well. With a noise
somewhere between a growl and a sigh, he simply smacked his friend on the head.
"What're you looking at?"
Instead of receiving an answer, a fact which caused his eyebrow to twitch again,
the younger male stared at him again, eyes widening and slowly but steadily
turning redder and redder. Another eyebrow-twitch. But when he opened his mouth
to ask again, aggravated, Naruto broke out of his stupor.
"Igottagoseeyoutomorrowbye!"
And with that, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
 
Now it was Sasuke turn to stare, dumbfounded. What the hell had that been? He
glanced over to the pile of clothes the blond had left behind and pinched the
bridge of his nose. Why was that idiot his best friend again...?
 
Naruto on the other hand stood panting in his apartment, his hands gripping the
table in front of him tightly. He didn't even notice that he was nearly naked
and dripping wet; he was way too busy being horrified by the recent events. He
was attracted, to Sasuke. And if he took the tightness of his actually loose
boxers into consideration, he was very attracted.
Groaning, he slumped onto the chair next to him and let his head fall onto the
table with a loud thud. Right now, the usually cheerful, optimistic and content
Uzumaki Naruto hated his very own life. He loathed it. And his hormones. And
his imagination. And so much more.
 
After he wallowed in self-pity for a while, he sighed. He banged his head
against the hard wood beneath his face once again before he mumbled wearily to
no one in particular,
"That's it. I'm dead. He's going to kill me."
"Who's going to kill you?!"
With a loud yelp, Naruto pushed himself away from the table, got stuck with his
chair on something, and crashed down onto the floor. And while he laid there,
a tangled mess consisting of himself, a chair, and a blanket -he had no idea
where that one came from- and tried to calm his frantic heart, the very man he
had been thinking about stood in the door to his living room.
"Holy son of a... Crap, Sasuke! You scared me to death!"
The Uchiha merely blinked at him, not sure if he should be amused by his
friend's idiocy, or if he should shake the name of the person that was going to
kill the blond out of him. He settled for something entirely different.
"You forgot your clothes, baka. And what was that about someone going to kill
you?", he added sweetly.
He watched as Naruto entangled himself and stood up again, running a hand
through his wet hair, followed by a shake of his blond head.
"No one actually, I was just thinking about something stupid."
Sasuke looked at him insistently before he shrugged. He would find out sooner or
later.
 
He let the neatly folded clothes in his hand fall onto the table and crossed his
arms in front of his chest.
"Fine, don't tell me. But care to share what just happened at the river?"
With a tiny bit of amazement he noticed that Naruto turned beef red again before
laughing awkwardly.
"I just, uh, thought of something and kind of... freaked out," the blond
answered and scratched the back of his head. He grabbed the clothes on the table
and turned to put them away-
"I guess it was something exciting then when you're trying to look like a hat
rack, huh?"
-but instead he decided to run face-first into the door in front of him. Yes,
he decided to do so, thank you very much.
Amused by his friends antics, Sasuke plopped down a chair, put his elbows on the
table and his chin in his hands, a smug expression on his features. Had Naruto
really thought he wouldn't notice? Geez, he was a shinobi, for god's sake, and a
very good one as well.
 
Rubbing his nose and ignoring the blush in his face, Naruto glared at his
friend. It were times like these where he wanted the old Sasuke back, not the
new one who actually behaved like a friend even if it wasn't a life or death
situation. Grumbling something incoherent under his breath, the blond suddenly
blinked. Maybe he could turn the table...
 
Grinning smugly he sat down on the other chair and imitated the Uchiha's pose.
"Maybe. Jealous because I have someone to daydream over and you don't?"
Sasuke blinked. He certainly hadn't expected that. He tilted his head the
tiniest bit.
"No, more like pitying because daydreaming is all you can do" he replied
nonchalantly. He felt his eyebrow twitching again when Naruto inched closer over
the table instead of blabbering nonsense.
"Aww, don't tell me you actually have a lover that isn't called 'your right
hand'?"
Another twitch. But he took up the challenge and scooted closer as well.
"Perhaps. I met some interesting people the other day."
Naruto raised his eyebrows in suspicion, coming closer once again.
"Ohhh? Do tell."
Another inch less between their faces.
"So you can have your perverted daydreams over my acquaintances? No chance in
hell, dobe."
Only five inches left.
"Why not, Sasuke-teme?" the blond mused, "I have to say, it appears to me that
you are lying."
Four inches.
"Well, and it appears to me that you are foolishly trying to change the
subject. Won't work with me", he shortly waved a finger in front of Naruto's
nose, "So tell me."
Three inches.
"Why should it be of your concern?" A small pout. "For all you care I could be
dreaming of Gekimayu-sensei[2] in a frilly apron. In nothing but a frilly
apron."
There was that twitch again. Two inches.
"Only god knows why I put up with you, idiot, but since I do, it is of my
concern. Not only would that image be incredibly disturbing, but it would also
ruin my reputation."
 
To his surprise, Naruto didn't come closer and instead looked at him for a
moment before laughing dryly.
Sasuke watched him for a while, mild confusion in his eyes. What was that now?
The laughing slowly died into mere chuckling with a hint of bitterness. His
friend's blue eyes turned to look at him, sparkling strangely.
"You. Always you. It's always about you, isn't it?" the blond mused while
shaking his head and chuckling some more.
The raven stared at him. Okay, that comment had been kind of mean, he admitted,
but they had both exchanged insults far worse than that and he'd never received
a reaction like that so far. He didn't like it. And so he did something he would
only for Naruto, at least for something trivial like this.
"I'm sorry. You know why I care, (anddon'tmakemesayit). If you don't want to
tell me, fine. I won't ask again," he huffed, his eyes never leaving the blond.
Who only laughed harder.
"That's a new one. The oh-so-mighty Uchiha Sasuke actually
does not understand."
 
The 'mighty one' stared at Naruto. What the hell...? He blinked when the
Jinchūriki suddenly turned to face him with a twisted amusement clearly
readable on his features.
"Aww, come on now, teme, think about it! Weren't you supposed to be a genius?"
he teased, "Now, what were we talking about?"
Sasuke thought. Hard. And after some moments, the pieces finally clicked into
place.
"Oh..."
Naruto snorted. This was hilarious, really.
"Oh."
He bit on his bottom lip, his shoulders violently trembling with suppressed
laughter.
"Ohhh..."
Taking a deep breath, Naruto decided it was time to save his dear friend from
his own brain. But the look of pure astonishment, with the tiny, tiny hint of
red on his cheeks, on his face was priceless. He snickered again.
"You're slowing down, teme. I'm disappointed."
 
Sasuke stared at him, bewildered. What in the name of – of –
of whoever was happening?! And why the devil was that blond
idiot laughing like a madman?
"Now really, idiot? You're telling me I'm the centre of your wet dreams and all
you do is laugh?" he seethed.
Naruto waved his hand dismissively.
"Whoever told you that? I never said that. This hasn't happened before."
The blonde leaned back in his chair, carefully observing his friend who blinked
at him.
"You mean, this is the first time that you...?"
"Yup."
"And this hasn't happened before?"
"Nope."
"And you're not lying?"
Naruto shot him a look.
"Right, right... But, uh, well... What now?"
The younger male shrugged.
"Nothing, really. I can't help what's going on in my head. I won't come on to
you, don't worry. So how about we just act like this isn't happening at all?"
They were good at that. Really good.
With a deep sigh, Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose. Running through all the
possibilities in his head, he finally nodded.
"Okay. But if you do something strange, I'll chop your balls off."
"Deal."
 
                                                     
                                                     
    
 
And so they returned to their former bantering. Admiringly, Naruto did succeed
in acting like he wasn't affected by his best friend. Sure, there were the
awkward moments when he caught himself staring or spacing out, but other than
that... Nothing happened.
 
Sasuke unfortunately found out just how little control one could have over his
or her imagination. And so, after a few days, he found himself spacing out every
now and then as well. Inwardly hammering his head against a brick wall, he tried
to play it off, but sadly, Naruto noticed. And grinned. But he still didn't do
anything strange. If the Uchiha wouldn't have been so busy cursing his stupid
imagination into oblivion, he would have been amazed by the ridiculous amount of
self-control his blond friend had acquired over the years.
 
Right now, a few days after the incident at the river, they were slowly walking
back into the village.
"Ne, ne, Sasuke?"
"Hn?"
"Can I crash at your place tonight?"
The raven stopped dead in his tracks and stared at his blond friend who just
innocently blinked back at him. After a short moment of thinking, he shook his
head.
"No."
"Aww, why not?"
"Why yes?"
"Because you're my friend and I want to spend time with you. Without beating you
up, that is."
Sasuke looked at him with half raised eyebrows and a bored expression on his
face. He looked eerily similar to Shikamaru at the moment. Naruto, on the other
hand, tried to look as genuine and innocent as possible.
They looked at each other for a while, until the blond finally gave in.
"Pff, fine... There's this strange civilian girl who thinks we're a couple
because I once gave her a bunch of flowers I found. And this morning, she just
appeared at my doorstep and insisted that we go on a date tonight. I told her no
because I was busy, but she didn't believe me. And well, yeah... She's creepy."
"So you want to hide at my place?"
Naruto shifted uncomfortably. Sasuke still looked bored, even though he mentally
made a note to... have a nice talk with her.
"Kind of, yes. So please? Pretty please? I'll even cook for you!"
The raven thought for a moment before he finally rolled his eyes and started
walking again.
"Fine, whatever."
"Yay!"
 
About half an hour later, Sasuke was busy glaring at both the door leading to
the bathroom where his blond friend currently took a shower, and at the beast
between his legs. Finding that none of them would spontaneously burst into
flames -and on second thought... he did not actually want that...- he groaned
and took his Chūnin vest off. He too wore the standard Jōnin attire, although
the common red swirls on his upper arms had been replaced by the Uchiha insignia
instead. He heel-toed out of his sandals and ruffled his hair in annoyance.
Naruto had run straight into his bathroom, not even asking if he was allowed
to...
Grumbling, the raven went into his kitchen to prepare dinner before he sighed,
defeated. Whom was he kidding? They spent just as much time at the other's place
as they spent at their own... Even half of their clothes were with the other's
home... Heck, he even had keys to Naruto's apartment, just like the blond had
some for the Uchiha's.
 
Muttering insults to no one in particular under his breath, Sasuke opened his
refrigerator and randomly took some things out. While it may have seemed like a
nice offer when Naruto had said he'd cook, it was actually more of a threat than
anything else.
Silently chopping the vegetables, he listened to the faint sound of the shower.
After some time, his goddamned imagination decided to perk up. As did other
things.
Cutting the air, now on stand-by, the raven didn't notice that Naruto, clad in
fresh clothes, had entered the kitchen. He tilted his head when he saw his
absent friend and examined him. When his eyes fell on a certain body part of his
friend, he snickered and decided to tease him a little bit.
 
Casually walking over to the raven and sitting down on the counter next to him,
he smiled widely.
"Thinking about me?"
Now he would have expected many things. For example being ignored, glared at, or
even stabbed in the leg. But he did not expect Sasuke to snap back into
attention, then stare at him, and then blush profusely.
"Yea- NO! What are you – ack, I mean-" And even stuttering.
Naruto's blue eyes widened. He had actually only wanted to fool around and
not... yeah. They gaped at each other for a moment until the blond found his
voice again.
"This... was not supposed to happen..."
Sasuke shot him a heated glare, though it looked kind of pathetic with the red
spread across his cheeks. And this, folks, is what you call an awkward moment.
Congratulations to the parents![Z]
 
Avoiding each other's eyes for quite a while, they stayed where they were, none
of them actually moving. When their eyes met after a few minutes, they felt even
more embarrassed. But then Sasuke shot a quick glance to the door, and somehow,
Naruto understood. And after a few more moments, he nodded.
The raven carefully put the knife in his hand down and grabbed the blond's wrist
in an oddly gentle manner. He led them out of the kitchen, down the hall, and
into the bedroom.
 
Now, what do you think what happens when two hormonal males, curious about
trying something entirely new, are about to do the nasty without actually
knowing how it works?
 
For Naruto and Sasuke, it meant broken furniture, mean looking bruises, and
foreplay that turned into a fistfight then back into foreplay. Why? Because
neither of them was willing to take the bottom role. After some time however,
Naruto gave in, for now at least. He couldn't beat the raven's logic who had
said that neither of them actually knew what they were doing, and chances they
hurt themselves were high. And since the blond healed ridiculously fast... Well,
there you have it. He did however succeed in making Sasuke promise that as soon
as they were a bit more experienced with this stuff, neither of them thought
that'd take long, they wouldn't stick to one role but rather switch. Even if
that promise had needed a Rasengan at his neck to be given.



                                  Kapitel 2: 
                                  -----------


The following weeks were like a blur to Naruto. It had only taken three days
(two of them full of embarrassing moments) until he had been able to make Sasuke
fulfill his promise. Funnily, no one else seemed to notice the change in their
relationship. Whenever someone walked in on them making out in public, they
simply shrugged it off as another of their quarrels. It was amazing how
oblivious people could be when they didn't care for the details, or otherwise
Lee wouldn't have joined them with a screamed "THE POWER OF YOUTH AT IT'S
FINEST!" in their 'banter' one day, even though Naruto was shirtless with one of
his hands in Sasuke's pants. But they had to give some credit to their poor
friends; their quality time usually did look like they were trying to throttle
each other...
However, they soon noticed things weren't working out. The more time they spent
together, the more they fought. And had mad make up sex, but that wasn't the
point. After only three and a half weeks, they were driving each other up the
wall and nearly going into a mental home voluntarily.
And so they decided they weren't a good match.
Best friends? Yes.
Rivals? You bet on it.
Brothers? Best one's at that.
Lovers? Only if the world was coming to an end. Or rather if they wanted the
world to end...
 
So they broke up, but since there weren't that many feelings involved, it only
took a few days full of awkward silences, misplaced hands, and evil punches
until everything turned back to normal. And so, Naruto decided, it was time for
him to go hunting. For a guy of course, not some poor animal he wouldn't even be
able to cook. But since it was boring to hunt alone, he was now pestering Sasuke
to help him find a new victim.
"… Why did I agree to this again?", the raven asked, irritated, while using a
picture of Naruto as shuriken target practice in his living room. Said blond
didn't even care about that as he lay sprawled on the couch, staring at the
ceiling.
"'Cus you wuv me- OW!" He ripped a shuriken out of his thigh and threw it back
at his smug looking friend.
"Ooops, sorry."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever...", Naruto growled and pulled a bandage out of his pocket
to tend to his wound.
"Well, just let's get this over with, I have a mission later." Sasuke resumed
his target practice. "So, Chōji, Shino, Sai, the spandex-monster,
Tsunade-sama's minions, and all those who're definitely straight are out. What
about dog-boy?"
Naruto contemplated for a moment. "He's hot, but our characters are too similar.
We'd probably be at each other's throat in less than a week..."
"Gaara or his barbie-brother?"
The blond had to laugh before he shook his head.
"Kankuro... naaah. And Gaara... well, certainly an idea, but that wouldn't work
with him in Suna as Kazekage and me in Konoha as Hokage."
"If you say so..." Sasuke caught the pillow that was thrown at him and threw it
back. He was slowly getting irritated again. "Shikamaru?"
 
Naruto put a finger on his chin. That one could actually work... if his lazy
friend was gay, that is. But then again, he didn't think Shikamaru could really
put up with all his energy. Too 'troublesome'.
"Nah. He's too down-to-earth."
"Gah, dobe, are you actually trying or are you just bored?!"
The blond shot him a hurt look.
"No, teme, but I am slowly getting the feeling you're so annoyed because you
don't want me to find a boyfriend."
"Don't flatter yourself, idiot. But, it'd actually help if you had an idea of
what exactly you're searching for."
"But I don't know", Naruto whined and pressed a pillow on his face, "I guess...
Something between Kiba and Shikamaru. Someone who is able to put up with my
energy, without riling me up, but not too calm so I won't get the feeling of
being annoying."
 
Sasuke rubbed his temples. Well, that information was... worthless. Standing up
with an irritated sigh, he started gathering his things for the mission.
"Oi, Sasuke, you're not planning on-"
"Pinocchio?"
Naruto stared at his friend. "What?"
"The guy with the Mokuton[3]."
"Yamato-taichō?! Ewww, no! He's nice, yeah, but that's just wrong."
"Kakashi?"
"That's equally wr-"
 
Sasuke turned around when his friend stopped mid-sentence. He hadn't been
serious about the last ones... But when he saw the blond sitting there, the
smirk on his face slowly but steady growing bigger and bigger, a strange fear
settled in his stomach. Naruto suddenly got up, tackled him to the floor, and
gave him a bone crushing hug, but before the raven could even open his mouth to
say something, the Jinchūriki was gone with a shouted "Thanks, teme, I owe you
one!".
 
What have I done...? To think he actually liked Kakashi... The poor man.

                                                     
                                                     
    

Naruto on the other hand happily bounced through the village in search of his
former sensei. Kakashi seemed like a perfect match for him. He was able to put
up with Naruto's endless energy without hurting him for it, he was fun to be
around, didn't seem prude -or otherwise he wouldn't read porn in public-, he was
smart enough to compensate for Naruto when he had his moments, and last but
certainly not least, the man was fucking hot. And the possibility that he would
finally see what was underneath that cursed mask was high as well. Okay, the age
gap could be a bit of a problem, but he didn't care about that one. At least not
right now.
Skipping through the streets he searched for the familiar mop of silver hair.
Before he found him however, he was approached by another man.
"Oi, Naruto!"
"Eh? Oh, hey Aoba! What's up?
"Nothing much. Say, have you seen Sasuke-san anywhere? We ought to go on a
mission, but he didn't show up at our meeting point." The man scratched the back
of his head.
Naruto pondered for a moment.
"He was still at his place about twenty minutes ago... I kinda kept him busy,
sorry. He should be there now, though."
Aoba sighed and nodded.
"Right, I'll go back then. Thank you." he turned to leave again, but Naruto
called him back.
"Ne, wait a second. Have you seen Kakashi-sensei somewhere?" The Tokubetsu
Jōnin halted and looked at him again, contemplating.
"Hmmm... I think I saw him an hour ago near the Hokage Tower. It looked like
Gai-san challenged him again. I don't know if he's still there though."
Naruto nodded, grinning. "Yosh! Thanks and good luck with your mission!"
And with that he darted off. Aoba gazed after him for a moment before he shook
his head, wondering what the blond was up to now, and left as well.
 
Speeding through the village, Naruto soon arrived at the Hokage Tower where he
was greeted by Gai hanging upside down from a tree and frantically doing
sit-ups.
"I guess he lost again...", he mumbled to himself, walking up to the man, "Hey
Gekimayu-sensei."
Without stopping his movements, Gai gave him a thumbs-up. Or down?
"Hello, Naruto! Why don't you join me in my training on this beautiful day?"
"Another time maybe..." the blond smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of
his head. No way in hell...
"Do you know where Kakashi-sensei is?"
Gai stilled for a moment, before he swung himself up into the air, did some
somersaults and landed in front of Naruto, tears of... whatever, streaming down
his face.
"My rival has beaten me yet again! But I shall not bow my head in shame, Naruto,
for I will win the next time! And you shouldn't give up either, my youthful boy!
I shall continue my training now, and may yours be blessed!" He gave him another
thumbs-up along with that blinding smile and disappeared.
 
Naruto stood there for a moment, not sure if he should roll on the floor,
laughing like a maniac, or go and sit in a corner to cry.
"That was unsurprisingly unhelpful."
With a huff he crossed his arms; this was getting him nowhere. He mused for a
moment until he got an idea. He sat down on the ground and started gathering
Nature Energy. After a few minutes he was in Sage Mode.
"Well now, Kakashi-sensei, where are you...", he muttered to himself and
searched for the familiar Chakra. He soon found it, and with a grin sped towards
it.

                                                     
                                                     
      

One famous shinobi know by the name of Hatake Kakashi lazily walked through the
streets, reading an infamous little book and pondering about what he should do.
There were no appealing missions available, Gai was out as well because of their
'only one challenge per day' rule, and he couldn't find someone who was worth a
spar. Not that he'd ever say that out loud, but well, there's no point in
kicking some little Genin's or Chūnin's ass, right? Perhaps he could go pester
Genma; that was always fun... at least until you had to pull Senbons out of your
body. That man had a frighteningly good aim...
He was so deep in his thoughts he didn't notice the dark blur with a hint of
yellow coming closer. Well, his subconscious noticed it, but since it was
neither unfamiliar nor dangerous, it shrugged it off. How bad that decision was,
he knew a few seconds later when suddenly all air was knocked out of him by that
blur. They flew through the air until his back hit the ground a few meters away,
and he couldn't help the 'oof' that escaped his lips.
 
"Heeey, sensei!", the person sitting on top of him chirped merrily. He blinked.
"Naruto?"
"The one and only!"
Kakashi looked at his student, a tiny little bit dumbfounded. Then he noticed
the orange markings around the other's eyes and he raised his eyebrows.
"Why are you in Sage Mode? Did something happen?" The younger male shook his
head, still smiling broadly.
"Nah, I was searching for you and couldn't find you." The Copy Ninja's eyebrows
rose higher, but instead of questioning his former student's motives, an idea
struck his head.
"Ne, how about a little spar?", he asked and eye-smiled.
Naruto looked at him surprised, but he nodded.
"Sure, but only if we go eat somewhere afterwards. Your choice, my treat."
Kakashi's eyebrows shot up again. His student inviting him for lunch that wasn't
specifically ramen? That was new.
"Who am I to decline such a nice offer?", he chuckled, "Very well then."
"Yay!"
Naruto quickly stood up and offered his teacher a hand to help him get up. The
silver haired male accepted the offer, briefly readjusted his clothing and
picking his little book up again, before they headed for the training grounds.
The civilians that had gathered around them to stare at the strange scene soon
departed again; they were used to the strange quirks most shinobi displayed from
time to time.
 
They decided that this spar should go under some special conditions, to spice
things up a little. No fatal attacks or blows that would seriously harm, no
Mangekyō Sharingan for Kakashi, no Sage Mode or Bijū Mode for Naruto, and it
would end as soon as one of them drew blood thrice.
 
The fight went rather smooth for Naruto. He had already nicked Kakashi twice by
the time he received the first wound, which was mostly his own fault. One of his
own shuriken had been deflected by the older male and had left a small cut on
the blond's hand because he hadn't been fast enough (and was kind of surprised)
to dodge. Right now he was searching for his former teacher since he couldn't
see him anywhere, when he suddenly felt a hand grabbing his ankle and pulling
him down into the earth until his head was the only thing left seen.
"Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu![4]"
"Awww, man!", Naruto groaned when he tried to free himself. Kakashi appeared
kneeling in front of him. He was panting harshly, even if he seemed rather
satisfied when he took out a kunai and made two small cuts on the other's
cheek.
"I win", he smiled and let himself fall on the ground, trying to catch his
breath.
"I hate it when you do this...", the younger male grumbled. "Now let me outta
here!"
Kakashi chuckled again, but put a hand on the ground next to the other's head,
made a sign with the other and breathed: "Kai![5]"
As soon as the earth around him loosened its grip, Naruto freed himself and sat
down next to his teacher, sulking.
"I hate this Jutsu..."
"Well, to be honest, this was the only way for me to win", the silver haired
male admitted, still out of breath.
"Really?"
"Really. I may have the experience, but your stamina is nothing but
ridiculous."
Naruto grinned again. Well, that was true indeed. He was barely sweating, and
the small wounds on him were already disappearing.
 
Kakashi finally regained his breath and pulled his hitai-ate down to cover his
Sharingan. He turned to his former student.
"Why don't you use other Ninjutsu than Rasengan or its variations?", he asked,
interested. The last time they fought like this was a long time ago. The other
shrugged.
"Never learned any."
"You didn't? Why not?" That was surprising.
"Well, there aren't any other Fūton[6] users I know of, and I'm no good at
learning something completely by myself if I don't even have the slightest idea
of what to do. Jutsu-scrolls are rare, too. And since my Taijutsu style doesn't
fit with Chakra Blades, I can't even use it like Asuma-sensei did."
Kakashi thought for a moment.
"As far as I know, Fūton isn't that rare in Sunagakure no Sato. You could ask
Gaara or Temari for some advice the next time you see them."[A]
Now it was Naruto's turn to be surprised, but he quickly smiled. And in a short
moment of courage, he even put an arm around his sensei and squeezed shortly. He
ignored the raised eyebrow directed at him.
"Thanks sensei, I'll sure as hell ask them! But, uhm, I kinda just thought of
something... Couldn't you teach me another Chakra Nature? I mean, you know all
the others, and well... I'm sort of the only Jōnin I know who can't use more
than one..." He shifted a little bit, embarrassed from both the question and the
confession.
Kakashi watched his student critically for a moment before he eye-smiled.
"Sure, why not. Do you have one in mind?"
The blond nodded enthusiastically, beaming at his teacher, and opened his mouth
to answer when a loud grumble emitted from his stomach. He closed his mouth
again, even more embarrassed, and laughed awkwardly. His companion snorted in
amusement.
"I'm sure that wasn't the Kyūbi-"
"Kurama", Naruto corrected automatically.
"Kurama, sorry – so I guess we go eat something first, then continue with
this?"
Naruto nodded and jumped to his feet. He offered his sensei a hand again and
pulled him up. His stomach growled again, but before he could hear another
comment, the blond grabbed the other's wrist and pulled him into the village.

                                                     
                                                   

"Where do you wanna go?", Naruto asked when they reached the front gates.
Kakashi, too exhausted to fight against the male tagging him along, thought for
a moment. He could choose the place and his soon-to-be-student-again would pay.
That called for something he usually wouldn't do.
"How about the new restaurant near the Yamanaka flower shop?"
Naruto inwardly winced. He had never been there, but he had heard that place was
expensive... Oh well, when he wanted to get on these terms with Kakashi...
"Alright", and with that he went towards the restaurant. His teacher arched an
eyebrow. He got the feeling his student had a plan...
When they reached their destination, Naruto searched for a place a bit more
secluded. Not only because of... well, he wanted some privacy, but because he
wanted to spare Kakashi from inhaling his food. They sat down and when the
waiter disappeared with their orders, the blond spoke up again.
"Just so you know, when our food comes I'll concentrate on it so you can eat in
peace without anyone peeking at your face. That's one of the reasons why I chose
this table", he explained.
The older male blinked in surprise. That was rather considerate, not many people
voluntarily declined an opportunity where they could see him with his mask
down.
"That's... surprising, but very nice of you. And what's the other reason?"
Naruto smiled at that, but it wasn't the wide smile he had seen countless times
before, nor was it the strained one he knew as well. It was a smile he had never
seen before, and somehow, it unnerved him.
"Because I want to talk to you and get to know you without people constantly
interrupting us. Especially since we're both rather famous."
Kakashi blinked. O-kay... That was certainly not the answer he had been
expecting. His student wanted to know him better? That sounded like this was a
date or something... He blinked again. Or was it a date?
"Naruto... Is this a date?", he asked, eying the other male seriously.
"Only if you want it to be one." There was that smile from before again.
"Do you want it to be one?"
The smile faltered for a moment but returned quickly. "...Yes."
 
Something in Kakashi's brain simply broke when he heard these words and
suddenly he knew the meaning behind that smile. It was handsome. It was
flirtatious in a way, and now that he saw what he was ought to see, he did see
it. His once small and slightly chubby student had become one hell of a man.
Nearly as tall as himself, slightly broader shoulders, defined muscles... But
not in a creepy way like the Raikage.
He leaned back in his stair and observed his student who seemed a bit nervous
now. He arched his hidden brow and added that fact to the little pool of
knowledge he had gathered so far. He ignored the waiter who returned with their
orders as did Naruto who merely sat in his seat, fumbling with the seam of his
sleeve waiting for a reaction. He ran through all the different scenarios in his
head and, after another two minutes, came to a conclusion.
 
"Well...", he started but was interrupted when Naruto, startled by his voice,
ripped a piece of fabric off of his sleeve and knocked a (thankfully empty)
glass over. Carefully putting it back in its place, he looked at Kakashi, who
wisely decided to continue like nothing had happened at all.
"I guess we can give it a try. But you have to promise me that no matter what
happens, it won't change anything. Like we're trying to upgrade, and if that
fails we'll reboot to the last functional point, which was half an hour ago.
Agreed?"
A tiny little bit astonished because of that condition, Naruto could do nothing
but nod his head. And then he smiled, when the words sunk in, and he understood
that he was a very precious person for his teacher. A fuzzy feeling in his guts
made itself know when he took up his chopsticks and started to eat, not even
once looking up from his plate, just like he had promised.
 
"So, Chakra natures... You said you had one in mind?" Kakashi split his own
chopsticks and ate as well. It was refreshing to be able to eat like a normal
person outside of his apartment.
The blond nodded and swallowed. "Yeah, I thought fire would be cool. I mean, I
can strengthen it with wind so it goes even more boom!"
Interesting way to put it, shot through Kakashi's head, as he became amused. He
considered it for a moment.
"You're right about that, but I think water is more suited for you."
"Eh? Why?"
The silver haired male casually put a hand in front of his face when he heard
someone walking their way, but the person didn't even look in their direction.
He continued to eat.
"If I recall correctly, you and Sasuke usually go together on every mission
above C-Rank, right? And you two have exceptional teamwork; not even mine and
Gai's is as good, and we have known each other far longer." There was more than
just a bit of pride in that statement. It was due to his teachings that Naruto
and Sasuke worked so well together. And their strange kind of
rivalry/friendship or whatever they called it.
"Yeah, we've noticed. What does that have to do with Chakra natures?"
"Sasuke can use both fire and lightning, and you can use wind. Do you remember
why you deemed it fitting when Yamato and I told you about it?"
Naruto pondered for a moment, chopstick stopping midway from the plate to his
mouth.
"Yeah... because on one hand I could keep his lighting at bay, and on the other
hand I can make his fire stronger." He blinked and nearly looked up when he too
got the idea. "And with water I could keep his fire at bay and make his
lightning stronger! You're a genius, sensei!"
Kakashi smiled, "Not only that, but it works the other way round as well. You
see, most Suiton[7] Jutsu you could learn are more of a supportive rather than
destructive nature, but together with his lightning even small puddles to stall
the enemy can become deadly traps. You increase the area of his attacks, and he
can make yours more effective."
"So we'll make an even better team then. Awesome!" Naruto punched the air, but
since he still had his eyes glued on the plate in front of him it looked kind of
strange.
"When do you have time? I think I already have one or two easy Jutsu in mind to
start with."
"I'm going on a mission tomorrow, but nothing bad. Just taking a letter to some
merchant who asked for permission to stay in the village for a few days. I'll be
back in three days, so maybe Thursday?"
Kakashi nodded, he always managed to get some time to spare if he wanted to.
Especially since all the Hidden Villages were at peace.
"9 am at training ground 5? We could go have lunch together and then continue
with the training, if you want to."
He could see a broad smile spreading on the younger male's face at his words,
who then nodded.
"Sure."
 
For the rest of the meal they simply updated each other on their current life.
Naruto learned that Kakashi had actually wanted to rejoin ANBU when the blond
had made Chūnin, but was rejected because of his age -he had to snicker at that
and was promptly awarded with a kick to his shin- and that Mr. Ukki was still
alive and growing. He heard some funny stories about Gekimayu-sensei and his
challenges -he had once dared Kakashi to use the Oiroke no Jutsu[8] to see which
of them was the prettier woman, but Kakashi had refused. Naruto got another kick
when he asked why- and how Tsunade-baa-chan threw a tantrum when he plainly told
her "Not ever again" and left after she asked him to take on another
Genin-team.
Naruto in turn told about how Sasuke was an asshole, no surprise there, about a
mission where a woman even older than the Tsuchikage had tried to get into his
pants and he had to flee for his dear life -Kakashi chocked on his food when he
heard that one, and after that he laughed. Hard. And then he got kicked.- He
wasn't that surprised when he learned of the short relationship of sorts his
students had, and merely stated that he kind of saw that coming, but promised
none the less that he wouldn't tell anyone else.
After they were done eating Naruto paid for their food like he had promised,
even if he shot a sad look at his now very thin Gama-chan. But, he decided, it
was very well worth it. He had really enjoyed it, and he told his teacher so.
Kakashi simply eye-smiled and waved goodbye before he disappeared in a puff of
smoke.

                                                     
                                                    

The next few weeks passed in no time at all, or at least Naruto had the feeling
they did. He had successfully learned two minor, and one major, water Jutsus
thanks to his Kage Bunshin, and he would never forget the look on Sasuke's face
when he had first used one in front of him in the middle of a mission. But the
raven quickly caught on and sent some electricity into the water, frying the
enemies standing in it. With this, a grinning Naruto and an evilly smirking
Sasuke concluded, they were even more one hell of a deadly duo.
 
With Kakashi everything went smooth. When they both had the time they trained,
ate together, trained some more, and sparred. They'd never before known each
other as good as they did now and since their last date, they could even call
themselves an item, even if the blond had to swear on his life to never tell
anything about the older male's face to anyone, but the pride swelling in his
chest for being one of the very few living persons knowing it sure made up for
it. Naruto had developed some rather serious feelings for his former teacher and
was therefore on cloud nine the last days, much to the annoyance of most of his
friends, especially Sasuke. He had even kicked the blond out of his apartment
more than once, because 'now it's even less possible to have a decent
conversation' with him. And what did Naruto do? He sulked for a moment, thought
about kicking the door in and beating the shit out of his friend, but then
decided to pay his currently favourite person a visit. As far as he knew,
Kakashi had returned from a rather tiring mission that night and could probably
use some company.
 
What started with a nice, casual visit containing a nice dinner and some kisses
here and there, soon turned out into an evening that told Naruto just how kinky
his new boyfriend could be. Seriously, he'd never thought of using his Kage
Bunshin's like... that. And while he lay sprawled on his teacher's couch in his
post coital daze, he tried to gather his senses enough to form a coherent
sentence. He heard Kakashi shuffling through the apartment when he suddenly felt
something being thrown onto his stomach. He blinked slowly. Then he blinked
again, and after some seconds he looked at the something. Another blink. His
clothes. He heard chuckling somewhere but couldn't quite process it, and instead
he tried to get into his underwear. It wasn't that easy if you felt like you had
no bones, or even muscles, at all.
Naruto successfully fulfilled his mission and stilled again. That had been
exhausting...
 
"Am I that good?" he heard another chuckle and Naruto turned his head to look at
its source. A satisfied smile settled on his features. At least he was able to
think straight again now, perhaps even talk?
"Mhmm- Where did you learn that stuff?" A complete, correct sentence. Yay him!
But instead of receiving an answer, Kakashi merely patted a small pile of books
on his commode. Naruto looked closer at them and nearly fell from the couch.
"Icha Icha? But there wasn't any of this stuff in the one I had to read!", he
exclaimed shocked.
Kakashi shot him a dazzling smile and the blond felt something warm rising in
his guts.
"You probably only read the normal edition. These are the limited, extended
editions."
Naruto's blue eyes grew so huge one might think they were about to explode.
"And the thing with the Kage Bunshin?"
This time the silver haired male tapped against his temple, now smirking. The
blond had to snort at that, amused.
"Figures."
 
After a few more minutes, enough of Naruto's strength had returned for him to
get completely dressed again. He watched his still half-naked boyfriend tidying
up after their adventure, aka changing the sheets, and shuffling around some
more, until the blond grabbed the other's wrist while the older male passed the
couch he now sat on. Naruto pulled the other down next to him, threw his thighs
over his lap, and leaned back against the arm of the couch.
"Enough shuffling, I have to leave in twenty minutes. The teme and I are going
on a mission tomorrow morning."
"Do you know when you'll be back?", Kakashi asked, stroking the leg in front of
him.
Naruto shook his head, a smile tugging at his lips, "No. We're escorting some
dude to the capitol. Depends on how slow he is, but I think maximum ten days,
probably less. I'll contact you when I'm back."
The older male simply nodded and they sat in a comfortable silence, Kakashi
fondling the other's thighs and Naruto playing with the taller male's hair,
occasionally moving his fingers across the pale neck. Kakashi wasn't usually the
cuddly type, but right now was an exception. They just had mind-blowing sex and
they wouldn't get another chance for at least a week.
 
When the twenty minutes were over, Naruto sighed deeply and reluctantly let go
of his partner. He stretched and felt his joints jumping back into place before
he looked at the other again. A grin appeared on his features when he suddenly
ruffled the older male's hair,his hand being slapped away with a playful growl.
The blond leaned down for a last deep kiss, before he pulled the famous mask
back into place and turned to leave, but then an idea struck his head. He faced
the older male again and pointed at the books behind him.
"Hey, can I burrow those for a while?"
Kakashi looked at him, at the books, back at him and started laughing.
"You've become curious now, huh? I thought those were trash?"
Naruto shrugged and then grinned despite the hint of red on his cheeks.
"Well, I was young and clueless back then."
The older male chuckled again before he stood up, but instead of grabbing the
books on the commode, he went to a bookshelf and picked up some books before
giving them to the blond.
Naruto looked at them and then frowned.
"'Icha Icha Paradise – Extended Edition', and 'Violence' and 'Tactics' as
well. Why these and not those?" He pointed to the pile behind them again.
"Because those were signed by Jiraiya-sama before he gave them to me. Nobody
gets them. I bought those in your hand before that, so I don't really need them
anymore. You can keep them, if you want."
The blond looked at him surprised. He could keep them?
"Cool!" He put them away in the pouch on his back before tugging the other's
mask down again, giving him a chaste kiss, before putting it back into place. He
waved, then left the apartment.



                                  Kapitel 3: 
                                  -----------


Eight days later, Naruto and Sasuke were back at the village. The former with a
little red book in his hand, and a smug grin on his features, the latter
switching between sneering at the other, and shaking his head in amusement. His
best friend had been turned into another Kakashi. Jiraiya would be proud. But
when Naruto had told him what he and his partner had done that very day...
Sasuke couldn't help but feel a bit jealous, even if he hadn't been told any
juicy details, no matter how persistent the raven had been. He had convinced
the blond, however, to let him read the books as soon as he was done.
He blinked. He was turning into another pervert. Damn.
 
They went directly to the Hokage tower to report their uneventful mission, and
ended up enduring Tsunade throwing yet another tantrum, and proclaiming she
would kill Kakashi when she recognized the book in her little brother's hand.
They had a hard time calming her down again. It was only when Naruto pointed out
that he was an adult, and would be very, very sad if the woman killed his
boyfriend, (she gawked for a moment at that; they hadn't particularly kept their
relationship a secret, but Kakashi wasn't one for PDA) that she finally relaxed
a bit.
 
When they left the tower again and began walking through the village, Sasuke
turned to his friend.
"Where do we go tonight?"
They had a sort-of-ritual that after every mission which was at least B-rank
(like this one), they would go for a drink the night they returned. But to the
raven's surprise, Naruto shook his head, his eyes not leaving the book.
"Sorry, I promised Kakashi to visit him when I got back."
Sasuke stared at his friend for a moment. Naruto had gained the awful habit to
kind of ignore him over the past few weeks, and now his patience had run out.
"Oh, so now that you've successfully wooed Kakashi I'm unimportant, or what?"
They'd not once in the last 14 months skipped this particular ritual. Naruto
looked at him, frowning, before he stopped. Sasuke stood as well.
"Don't be stupid, teme. But I haven't seen him in more than a week, and I've
seen you every day."
"So? That was a mission, and we've always gone out after missions like this!
Even after you-know-what!" The raven's voice rose in volume.
"It's just today, why are you so mad? It's not like I said I won't ever go out
with you again." Naruto closed the book in his hand and put it away. They
ignored their audience.
"Just today?", the Uchiha hissed, "Just today?! You've ditched me six times
ever since you started your thing with Kakashi, and half of those times you
didn't even fucking notice!"
"What?", Naruto blinked, "No way."
"Yes way. The first time-" Sasuke held out a finger "-was after your first date,
when Aoba and I returned from our mission. You're usually at my place before I'm
even back to pester me about the outcome-"
"You always say it annoys you, so-", the blond started, but was ignored.
"The second time was a week after that. I asked you for a spar and you just
waved me off because you had another date. The third time was the day after
that, same event. The fourth time is really funny", Sasuke laughed dryly, four
fingers in the air now, "The day after that, you promised to spar with me that
afternoon, but -surprise, surprise- you never showed up! Number five-"
"It's okay now, I got it!", Naruto interrupted, glaring hard at his so-called
friend, "Well, I'm sorry, but I do have a life outside of you now!"
"That's not the point-" This time, it was Sasuke who was interrupted.
"That's exactly the point! Do you think I'm stupid? Yeah, I know you do, but
guess what? I do have some brain cells as well. You're just mad that I don't
jump every time you call me anymore, that you've lost your favourite toy to kill
some time. But you know what? I don't fucking care! I have a life as well, and
it consists of spending time with people that aren't you, too, and if you're too
much of a bitch to accept that-"
"FINE! Fine, do whatever you want, I don't fucking care! Go to your lover, go!
I won't ask you for something again, I don't even know why I do at all! But
don't come to me when you're bored, or when he ditches you, got it?! Bye!" And
with that, Sasuke stormed off.
"I won't, don't worry!", Naruto yelled after him, angrily stomping in the other
direction.
 
In the audience, two young women looked at each other.
"I haven't heard them fighting like that for years...", one of them stated,
worried. The other nodded.
"Yeah, this one's serious, not the usual banter."
They were silent for a moment, until one of them spoke up again.
"I guess I better talk to Sasuke-kun. Naruto will go to Kakashi, but
Sasuke-kun..."
The other nodded, a crooked smile on her features, and she took off.
 
It wasn't hard for her to find him, especially not with the noise coming from
the training grounds, where he let out his anger. When she arrived, her eyes
grew big. He had only been here for like three minutes, and already half of the
area surrounding him was completely destroyed. She carefully approached him
while he stood there, Chidori Shinsō-ing [9] multiple trees around him at once,
turning every one of them into dust.
"Sasuke-kun?"
He whipped around, Sharingan swirling frantically and panting harshly, the anger
practically emitting from him in thick waves. She took a step back.
"Sakura. Leave."
She hesitantly shook her head and tried to approach him, but the sword pointing
at her throat stopped her.
"Now", he seethed.
Sakura watched him a moment, before something akin to pitying love settled in
her eyes. She sighed and gave a small, sad smile.
"I'll go. But... when you feel like talking, you know where I am." She turned
around and walked away. She met up with Ino again, who was still at the café
where they had sat when her two friends had shouted at each other. She shook her
head while she sat down again.
"No use. He threatened me..."
The blonde nodded and sighed, looking in the direction of where Naruto had
stomped off.
"I think Naruto doesn't realize just how deeply Sasuke-kun cares about him..."
Sakura shook her head, "But then again, he never has, right?"
 
Sasuke let out his anger and frustration on his environment for another few
hours, far into the dark night. He was panting harshly, his uniform completely
ruined. He fell to his knees, leaning heavily on his sword. He stayed like that
for a while until he finally regained his breath. He was completely exhausted,
both physically and mentally. He wasn't one to mope around, and preferred action
over words, after all, like his destroyed surroundings proved. Staring numbly at
the ground in front of him, he whispered a few words into the night, words he
had once long ago spoken to his brother.
"I don't mind you being with someone else and spending time with them, you
idiot... It's okay, as long as we can be together sometimes..."
He slowly pulled himself up into a standing position and headed home.
 
Naruto, on the other hand, had stormed into Kakashi's apartment, nearly broken
down the door with his knocking, and simply grabbed his partner, dragging him
into the bedroom as soon as it had been opened. Kakashi had been rather
surprised, but he had decided to ask his questions later. He was a man, after
all. And some time later, when they both lay sprawled on his bed trying to
gather their thoughts again, he finally asked.
"Not that I'm complaining... but what was that about?"
Naruto stayed silent for a while before he finally huffed and answered.
"The teme was being an asshole again. He accused me of only spending time with
you and not him, the sissy", he hissed angrily and turned to face his lover. The
older male raised his eyebrows, a tiny little bit of worry settling in his gut.
That didn't sound good... And Naruto had been spending an awful lot of time at
his place in the past weeks. He didn't voice that out loud however, they were
adults now and it wasn't his job to look out for them anymore. Even if he didn't
like the sound of everything.
 
                                                     
                                                     
              
 
The next sixteen days were not pretty. Whenever Sasuke and Naruto were in the
same room, the air around them practically vibrated with anger, and even if they
ignored each other as much as possible, broken furniture and other things had
become rather common. Several people tried to talk to the both of them about it,
but, stubborn like they were, they refused to listen. And where Sasuke took any
mission he got, Naruto refused to go on any of them unless Kakashi would come,
too.
 
And Kakashi... Well, Kakashi was getting both tired and irritated by the blond's
affectionate behavior. Among other things, like the fact that Naruto was at his
apartment nearly 24/7, and even got there before Kakashi himself got out of bed.
The whole thing made him think about certain other things, and on this very same
day, when he again awakened due to the sound of someone preparing breakfast in
his kitchen, he finally decided to do something about it. And so he stood up,
got dressed and made his way he into the kitchen where the blond greeted him
with a kiss, like every morning, before he continued preparing something to eat.
Kakashi soundlessly sighed and sat at the table.
"Naruto, we have to talk."
"Mhm? What is it?" The blond fumbled with the knot in a plastic bag for a bit,
until he simply ripped it open.
Preparing himself inwardly for the reaction, and praying that he'd survive this,
the older male spoke.
"I think it would be better if we break up."
 
Naruto froze mid-step. It was silent for a while, until he turned and looked at
the taller male with a strange expression on his face. Taking that as the hint
to continue, Kakashi opened his mouth again.
"I don't think we're really fitted for this. I'm not really the affectionate
type while you certainly are, and to be honest... It has been strange the whole
time for me. I know you're you, but sometimes I can't help but... see you father
standing in front of me. That's plain awkward, and kind of wrong. And sometimes
I still see the 12 year old boy you once were, and that makes it even
stranger..."
Kakashi was sorry, he really was. Even more so when the young man in front of
him stayed strangely emotionless. He wondered what would happen now... But a
selfish little part inside of him reminded him of the promise Naruto had given
him that one day in the restaurant; that no matter what happened, they would
still stay comrades, friends.
Some more time passed in which Naruto studied the other's uncovered face, until
he said something. His throat felt dry.
"I... see", he forced a smile on his face, "Well... then I'm sorry to have
wasted your time-"
"No! You did not waste my time. It was nice while it lasted, you're a great
partner, we're just not-"
"Yeah yeah, I get it, 'we're not meant to be' and all this junk. I think I
better leave now. I'll... return your stuff later." The blond suddenly felt a
tingling in his eyes. He wanted, needed to leave, now, or else he'd embarrass
himself even more.
"Don't. I gave those things to you and I want you to keep them", Kakashi
retorted softly, carefully observing the other. He flinched when he saw the
tears threatening to fall.
"Okay. Bye then."
Naruto rushed out of the apartment, not once looking back to see the pained
expression on the other's face.
"Bye..."
 
As soon as the door behind him closed softly with a 'click', Naruto shunshin-ed
back to his apartment, and threw himself onto the bed he had left only half an
hour ago. He simply laid there, face pressed into the pillow, trying to ignore
the constantly increasing wetness in his eyes and on his cheeks. He was not some
teenage girl, he was a grown man and nearly 19 years old! And he would handle it
as one, dammit! He tightly shut his eyes and dug his fingers into the sheets.
This had been his first real relationship. He had developed some serious
feelings for Kakashi, and now he had been ditched... I have every damn right to
feel like this, dang it! He grabbed the stuffed toad Sasuke had once given to
him after Naruto had pestered him enough about it.
Sasuke.
He felt another sharp pain in his heart before a bitter smile tugged at his
lips. He'd finally messed up enough to be completely alone again, after years of
finally being acknowledged. But right now, he found himself enjoying his
solitude, because this way, no one would ask embarrassing questions.
Tightly pressing the toad to his chest, he threw the covers over himself and
turned around, now facing the wall.
Life simply sucked right now.
 
                                                     
                                                     
              
 
Over the next few days, no one saw the blond Jinchūriki outside of his
apartment at all. His friends were worried, but they didn't know what they
should do. He refused to talk to anyone, not even acknowledging their presence
in his home. Sakura went up to Kakashi to get some answers from him, but she got
nothing more than a short shaking of his head and sad look, accompanied by a
deep sigh. Something akin to pity came into her eyes then, and after some tries
to get Naruto to talk to her. she concluded one thing: They'd need Sasuke for
this. Problem was though, the raven was out on yet another mission, and no one
was really sure when he'd return. And so she summoned Katsuyu, explained the
situation and instantly had two small slugs in her hands. She stationed one at
the gate and carried the other around with her, that way she'd know immediately
when her former crush returned.
A few more days later, Katsuyu poked her head out of Sakura's pouch while she
was eating lunch with Ino and Shizune at the hospital.
"Sakura-sama, Sasuke-kun has returned. He is currently speaking with the
guards."
Sakura jumped from her chair and rushed out of the hospital. The sooner she
dragged Sasuke-kun's ass to Naruto, the sooner everything would be back to
normal again. And Kakashi could finally stop feeling sorry all the time.
"How is he? Is he hurt anywhere?"
"I did not see any injuries. He seems very tired however."
"Alright. Thank you, Katsuyu-sama. You may go now."
"Very well. I hope Naruto-kun will come to his senses soon." And with that, the
small slug disappeared in a puff of smoke.
 
A short moment later, Sakura arrived at the gate and the first thing she did
when she saw her childhood crush walking into the village was throwing a punch
at him.
Completely caught off guard, he stared at her for a moment while she crossed her
arms and frowned at him.
"What do you think you're-"
"Kakashi dumped Naruto and he hasn't come out of his apartment in days", Sakura
interrupted him, her eyes narrowing when she saw his gaze becoming cold. "I
don't care what you two are fighting over now, but fix it."
"No", Sasuke simply said and turned to leave again. The girl grabbed his arm and
spun him forcefully around, not flinching when she saw red eyes glaring back at
her.
"Why do I always have to take care of him?!"
"Because you are his best friend, and probably the only one who knows what's
going on in that thick head he has." Her features suddenly softened. "Please...
No one managed to get him out of there. He didn't even acknowledge Lee-san's
presence when he challenged him. And the only thing he did when Kiba tried was
throwing the stuffed frog he's been clutching the whole time at him."
Sasuke's eyes widened the tiniest bit. Naruto still had it...? He looked into
Sakura's pleading eyes and finally rolled his own, Sharingan disappearing.
"Fine... Fine, I'll go to him." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair,
muttering to himself, "I swear, this is worse than taking care of a little
kid..."
The young woman smiled at him gratefully and gave him a little shove into the
right direction, a little more forcefully than necessary. Grimacing shortly at
the pain in his back, he made his way to the blond's apartment.
 
When he arrived, he sighed once more while fishing in his pockets for his keys.
He opened the door and entered the flat, heading straight for the bedroom. He
frowned at the darkness in the rooms, and when he pushed the door the bedroom
open, he froze.
Empty Instant Ramen-cups, clothes, books and scrolls were littered everywhere,
Naruto himself lying motionlessly in his bed under the covers. Sasuke scrunched
his nose at the mess. He had finally forced the blond to keep his apartment
clean over a year ago when had shoved a Ramen cup with spoiled leftovers and
some bugs into his face. He sighed again, and walked over to the unmoving figure
on the bed.
"Oi, dobe."
He was mildly surprised, and a bit disturbed, when the younger male didn't even
flinch at hearing his voice.
"I can't believe you. Hiding in here and moping around like a little girl...
Pathetic, really", the raven continued casually, leaning against the wall, arms
crossed in front of his chest. At hearing this, Naruto stirred and slowly turned
around enough to look at the other. Sasuke inwardly flinched. He couldn't
remember if he had seen those blues eyes like... that once before. He didn't
like it. Not one bit.
"I know why you're here. Sakura sent you, didn't she? Well, we both know you
don't want to be here, so just leave, will ya?" And with that, Naruto turned
away again.
Sasuke looked at him incredulously.
"Don't you think I'd have been able to get rid of her if I wanted to? Actually,
right now, I think you like this. You like staying here, being pitied by
everyone else and wallowing in your self-loathing. But guess what? I don't like
it, and since I'm your friend, I'll sure as hell kick your ass out of here if I
have to."
Naruto whipped around again and glared at him, but that soon faded again and he
slumped down, covering his eyes with his arm.
"Why are you even here?", he asked softly, "You told me not to come to you, and
yet here you are."
Sasuke sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed, showing a side of himself
only Naruto would ever see.
"Like I said, I'm your friend... And I'm sorry about what I said back then, I
was mad and because of that unreasonable-"
"No. No you weren't unreasonable", the blonde interrupted him, "I thought about
it these past days -it's not like I had anything else to do- and you were right.
I was an asshole. I completely forgot about my friends, even you. I should've
realized, but I didn't. I'm sorry."
Sasuke shook his head, leaning back against the headboard.
"But still, I shouldn't have made such a scene. I knew you were a lovesick puppy
and needed some sense knocked into you again, but instead I let my anger get the
better of me. I guess love really does make people blind, huh?"
They both smiled, Naruto's bitter and Sasuke's crooked.
"Yeah, seems that way."
 
Silence settled between them in which Sasuke discreetly observed the blond who
started playing around with the stuffed toad on his stomach.
"I can't believe you still have it", the raven stated and nodded at the toad.
Naruto chuckled a bit, and made the stuffed animal salute at him.
"Sure I do. You gave it to me, that's reason enough to keep it."
"Now you're being sappy", Sasuke replied, a small smile tugging at his lips. His
friend only shrugged and punched him in the ribs with the toad's stuffed hand.
After a while, he spoke up again.
"I'm not even that sure why it's taking me so long to come clear with the whole
shit. I mean, it's not like Kakashi was being mean or something, quite the
opposite actually, but somehow..."
"... What did he say?"
With a sigh Naruto told him the exact word's his ex-lover had said to him that
day. Not only because he wanted to talk about it to someone badly, but to
prevent some accidents happening to Kakashi otherwise.
"You're right, it was really sensible of him to put it that way. Too bad, now I
don't have a reason to hurt him."
The blond threw the toad at Sasuke's face, who only caught it and placed it in
his own lap.
"Don't do that. I can take care of myself."
The raven raised an eyebrow and threw a meaningful gaze at the mess in the
room.
"... Okay, I can usually take care of myself. Better?"
Sasuke nodded, along with the toad in his hands.
"But I'll come around again, I promise. I just need some more time without
seeing him... I really, really liked him, you know?" Naruto closed his eyes and
sighed deeply. The other simply looked at him. If that was what being
heartbroken was like... he'd rather go without it. After a few more moments the
Jinchūriki peeked at him and raised his arm, finger's curled into a fist.
"Everything's good again?"
Sasuke smiled slightly, before he lightly bumped his own fist against the
other's.
"Everything's good again."
 
Soon after that, the raven decided he had been soft long enough, and shoved his
friend ungracefully out of the bed, pointed at the mess in the room and simply
said, "Clean it. Now." He ignored the other's growling when he got to work, and
the Uchiha sat down on the bed again, watching his friend get rid of the trash
lying around and put books and scrolls back into the shelves. When Naruto was
nearly done, Sasuke got up and moved into the kitchen to prepare a real meal for
the both of them, even if he was dead tired and actually wanted nothing more
than to sleep for at least twelve hours straight. With a quick glance out of the
window he noticed it was already dark outside. He should head home soon. With a
wince he remembered that he still needed to report to Tsunade as well... but
that'd have to wait until tomorrow. And if the blond woman would yell at him, he
could always blame Sakura for everything. It was her fault, after all.
They ate in silence, and as soon as they were done, Sasuke made an attempt to
leave the apartment.
"I'll go home now. Don't do anything more stupid than you usually do, got it?"
But before he could even go past the kitchen table, a hand grabbed his wrist and
stopped him.
"Stay here tonight... please."
Sasuke watched his friend for a while, both staying silent. Naruto didn't look
at him, but the grip around his wrist was strong. After a while, he sighed and
nodded. Somehow, he wasn't all that surprised by that request. And so they
simply put away their dishes and went to bed.
 
A few hours later, Sakura climbed up the wall to get to the window of Naruto's
apartment. She hadn't heard anything from neither him nor Sasuke the whole day,
and she just wanted to check on them... Not that they finally killed each other
or something. She peeked through the window, eyes trying to focus on the place
where she knew the bed was, and when she made out two humanly shaped schemes in
the dark, a bright smile appeared on her features. One of them was curled up on
the bed, head underneath a pillow, and the other lying on his stomach, arm and
leg sprawled across the first person.
That's kind of childish... But well, it's not like they really had time to be
childish when they were children, ne?, she thought to herself, disappearing
into the night. Naruto, Sasuke-kun... Your friendship reaches far deeper than
anything this village has seen before. And I'll continue making sure that this
fact won't change…
 
                                                     
                                                     
              
 
The next morning, Sasuke was roughly awakened by a hand shoving him off the edge
off the bed, making him fall hard on the ground. He sat there for a moment,
until he heard someone snickering above him and glared at that someone.
"Naruto-"
"Oh, suck it up. You should know better than letting me sleep on the side facing
the wall."
Sasuke growled. As sad as it was, Naruto was right. That had been stupid of him.
Cursing under his breath the raven got to his feet and punched the smaller one's
head before getting some of his clothes out of the closet and getting dressed.
When his eyes fell on the bag with the empty ramen cups, a thought came to his
mind.
"By the way... As I've been told you haven't left your apartment since... then.
How did you stock up on those?" He pointed at the bag.
Naruto pulled his shirt over his head and shrugged.
"Kage Bunshin plus Henge[10]." He may be depressed, but not as much as to try
and starve himself to death.
Sasuke blinked. That was... smart. But sadly, he didn't have the time to stay
here any longer and got ready to leave, not without promising however to drag
Naruto's sorry ass out of the apartment as soon as he was done with Tsunade and
Sakura, and whoever else was going to annoy him today. The blond simply waved
him off at that.
"Hai, hai, tō-chan."
Sasuke's eyebrow twitched.
"What did you just call me...?"
"Tō-chan. Or do you prefer kā-chan?" Naruto dodged the book that was thrown at
him, snickering madly.
"Nah, you're too ugly to be my kā-chan." Another book flew at him and an idea
struck his head along with it.
"I know! You'll be teme-nii-chan from now on!"
 
The next thing Naruto knew was that he was on the floor with a killer headache.
And judging from the sunlight outside of his apartment, it was around noon.
Carefully brushing his fingers across the throbbing bruise on his head, he
couldn't help but chuckle.
Seems like teme-nii-chan likes his new nickname...
 
                                                     
                                                     
              
 
True to his promise, Sasuke returned in the early afternoon. He wasn't very
gentle about it though and simply grabbed the blond's collar and dragged him out
of the apartment. Naruto tried to free himself, shouting curses and insults at
his friend who didn't even twitch at them. A few of his friends tried to come
closer to talk to him, but a warning glare from the Uchiha taught them better.
The Jinchūriki didn't really care to notice about that in his rampage, but his
little tantrum however ended as soon as he realized they were heading to
Ichiraku. The fury in his eyes was replaced with bliss and all his wriggling
ended.
They sat down and Teuchi beamed at his favorite customer. He wasn't all that up
to date, but he had been worried when Naruto hadn't shown up at their place for
such a long time. The blond smiled back and ordered his favorite ramen. While
they were eating, Naruto interrogated his friend about his latest missions and
noticed with an inward smile that no difficult non-solo missions were among
them. So even then Sasuke refused to go without him, even if he didn't say it
out loud.
When they were done, Naruto reached for Gama-chan to pay for his meal, but
before he could do so Sasuke shook his head.
"My treat. You haven't done any missions lately and therefore didn't get any
salary. The last thing I need is you showing up on my doorstep 'cause you
couldn't pay your rent, idiot."
The blond ignored the insult and threw his arms around Sasuke's neck, who
instantly tried to shove him off again.
"Awww, nii-chan worries about me!"
 
Another pair watching the whole interaction chuckled when Naruto was thrown into
the fence on the other side of the street after he said something while hugging
a struggling Sasuke. The young woman with pink hair nudged the man next to her
in the ribs.
"It's unbelievable how fast Sasuke-kun made him go back to his senses, ne?
Sensei?"
Kakashi eye-smiled at her and nodded.
"They may not really realize it, but... I think all they really need is each
other."
Sakura looked at him astounded.
"Do you mean-" She stopped talking when he shook his head.
"No, not that way. Don't tell anyone, but Naruto told me they had been an item
for a few weeks, and that it had been a disaster." He thought for a moment, "No,
not like that at all. They need each other on a whole other level, something far
deeper than that. And while each of them might need, and mostly want, others as
well, just like Naruto with me, they won't be able to be truly happy without
each other. Or why do you think did Naruto succeed in erasing the hatred within
Sasuke? And why Sasuke let him erase it?"
Sakura thought about it for a moment before she agreed. Indeed. They were all
great friends, and she knew she held a special place in both of their hearts,
just like they did in hers, but between her two boys existed something special.
Something she again resolved to protect, no matter what. She owed it to them.



                                  Kapitel 4: 
                                  -----------


A few months later, everything was back to normal again. The awkward moments
when Naruto and Kakashi met were long since gone, and they even went on missions
together again. In addition to that, they resumed their Suiton training. The
only difference was that where Naruto had been eager for a relationship before,
he was now hesitant and decided to stay single for now.
 
On this particular evening, he was being dragged by Ino to a bar on the far side
of the village.
"Oh, come now! You haven't been to a party in ages, and today even Kankurō and
Temari are there! They'll leave again tomorrow, so you have to come!"
"Okay, okay..." It wasn't like he really had a choice, now did he? "Geez, let go
now, I can walk on my own, you know?"
"Not so sure about that...", she replied but removed her hand from his collar
nonetheless.
"Who else is going to be there?"
"Everyone from our class back then; Lee, Neji and Tenten, Kankurō and Temari of
course, like I said, Sai, Genma, Izumo, Kotetsu, Kakashi-sensei and
Kurenai-sensei, and I think that's it..."
"Why not Gekimayu-sensei?" Naruto inquired, even though he was unsure about him
being there. Gejimayu[11] would certainly spread enough 'youthfulness' for the
both of them.
"He's not in the village, thank gods... And you'll have to help me ensure that
Lee doesn't drink any alcohol. It took me hours to convince the owner of that
bar to let us use it tonight." She sighed deeply. Naruto groaned.
"Damn, you're right... Why did you invite him anyway?"
She raised an eyebrow at him.
"Not doing so would've have been mean... Besides, if he heard about it
somewhere, he'd have come anyway."
"Yeah, you're right..."
 
                                                    
                                                    
 
A few hours later, the party had reached its peak and Naruto had learned some
interesting, and slightly disturbing, things about some of his friends. For
example that Tenten was a scary drunk. She acted all normal most of the time,
but whenever you said something to her she didn't like... well, the various
weapons scattered over the place were self-explanatory. Or that Shino became
quite talkative, and Shikamaru... was oddly depressed. He currently sat next to
him, head on his arms and muttering about how everyone shamelessly took
advantage of his brain, and that some people even came to him for the easiest
things.
Naruto absently patted his shoulder, not really paying attention. Another thing
he had discovered was that Kankurō, acting as the DJ, had a strange taste in
music.
"Just what is this...? 'I just had sex and it felt so good'? I mean...
seriously?!", he asked Chōji who sat in front of him, swaying on his chair and
shoving some snacks against his cheeks. Some of the other songs he'd heard were
strange as well... Something about sweat dropping from a ceiling, or someone
creaming his pants because of eating a grape... The other male shrugged before
standing up.
"I better go home now", he gripped onto the table to steady himself again, "I'll
take Shikamaru with me. Good luck for the night", he added, slinging his
friend's arm over his shoulder before they both staggered out of the bar.
Naruto looked after them, a bit tipsy himself, but probably still one of the
most sober ones.
 
He looked around. Sasuke was playing a card game with Genma, Kotetsu and Izumo,
seemingly enjoying himself considering the smug grin on his lips, and Ino,
Tenten, Temari and Sakura sat in a corner, heads together, giggling like the
girls they were. Lee was with them with one of his Kage Bunshins making sure he
wouldn't even sniff at a bottle of sake.
A new song he didn't know boomed out of the speakers and the blond shot a look
at Kankurō. The puppeteer had gotten rid of his hood some time ago, and now the
zipper of his jacket was pulled down as well. Where the hell did he get this
music...? He nipped at his sake, only to throw the cup away when suddenly a
white blur ran past him and hid behind his back.
"Naruto, help me... Tenten wants me to... to do things...", a disturbed and
dishevelled Neji pleaded into his ear. Naruto blinked.
"Things...?" He wasn't so sure he wanted to know.
Said female appeared in front of him and tried to grab the Hyūga's sleeve.
"Oh, come on now, Neji! It's not so bad!
"No!"
Naruto decided to interfere before his bottle of sake followed his cup to the
floor.
"Tenten... I have no idea what all this is about, but if Neji doesn't want to do
it you shouldn't force him." He raised his finger in a teacher like fashion. The
young woman in front of him huffed.
"It's not like I want to rape him... I just want him to dance!" Naruto blinked
again, but the distressed sound next to his ear made him shake his head.
"No, Tenten... And I won't dance, either", he added, when her gaze shifted to
him. He prepared himself to fend off incoming weaponry, but to his surprise,
nothing came.
"Fine... Party-poopers..." And with that she left, knocking a few chairs over on
her way.
 
"You're a lifesaver...", Neji murmured and sat on the chair next to him. Naruto
shrugged.
"Don't mention it... But why didn't you do it? I mean, back then with
Gekimayu-sensei and Kirābī you-"
"Nooo, don't remind me...", the Hyūga groaned and grabbed the sake, not caring
about a cup, bringing it straightly to his lips. The Jinchūriki chuckled at the
reaction, but didn't say anything more.[C]
He suddenly heard a loud crash and shouting from the other side of the room.
"That sounds like... Oh shit, where's Sasuke?", he cursed and jumped to his
feet, hectically searching for his best friend. And there he was, standing next
to an upside-down table, grabbing a frantic Genma at his collar and glaring at
him in the middle of what once was their card game.
"Fuck!", Naruto cursed again and dashed off to save some more lives tonight.
Neji just stared after him, not even pretending to know what was going on and
drank some more sake. A few moments later, the blond returned, a thrashing
Sasuke draped over his shoulder. The Hyūga tilted his head curiously.
"What was that about?"
Naruto let his friend down again and tried to make him sit on a chair.
"You see- no, Sasuke, stay here! Nii-chan here is- damnit, sit!" He forcefully
pushed the raven's shoulders down.
"But-!"
"No buts, just sit!"
Neji blinked rather interested at the display. Sasuke struggled some more, until
his shoulders suddenly slumped down and he started mumbling incoherent things.
He then looked at Naruto, who shook his head, ran his fingers through his hair,
and plopped down on a chair. He wordlessly handed over the sake bottle, and the
blond gratefully took it.
"Well?", Neji enquired, and the other shook his head again.
"Sasuke... is drunk. And he's a strange drunk. First he gets all violent, like
you just saw, then he gets all depressed for a reason I do not know
and then he gets clingy... I'm the only one who can handle him when he's like
that-"
"You're the only one who can handle him at all", Neji murmured but was swiftly
ignored.
"So I usually take care he doesn't drink too much or that he's near me when he
does. Didn't work this time, so I just had to save Genma's ass."
Neji nodded in understanding though he didn't actually. And he didn't
particularly care, either.
"So that's when he's depressed?", he asked and nodded towards the Uchiha who
just sat there, murmuring and glaring at the table. Naruto shot his
brother-in-everything-but-blood a look and sighed.
"Yup."
"Interesting."
 
They started a casual conversation about unimportant things ("Hey, how was your
last mission? I heard you were in Kusa." "Not bad, and yours in Iwa?" "Good."),
all the while sharing the bottle of sake (cups had become unimportant ever since
they lost theirs and didn't feel like getting new one's) until they suddenly
heard some shouting and clapping. Naruto jumped to his feet.
"Oh shit, where's Sasuke?!", he asked panicked. Neji blinked at him owlishly
and raised his eyebrows.
"Right next to you."
The blond whipped around, and indeed, the man in question sat there, head on his
arm and drawing patterns on the table, still mumbling. He stared a moment and
then sat down again.
"Oh... Right." He patted the Uchiha's shoulder, but another wave of shouts and
clapping made him look at the group of people gathering in the middle of the
room again.
"What's happening there?"
Neji shrugged, but activated his Byakugan to take a closer look. His eyes
widened.
"What in the...", he breathed, rather disturbed and deactivated his kekkei
genkai. He looked at Naruto again.
"I thank you so much for saving me earlier...", he simply said and took a
large gulp of sake.
The blond, even more curious than before, stood up again and jumped on Sasuke's
back to see over the other people's head, successfully smashing his friends face
into the table. His blue eyes widened at what he saw.
Ino, Tenten and Temari were there, dancing (if you could call it that), with
Kiba, Lee and... Shino (What the FUCK?!) lying between their legs and doing
something that vaguely resembled push-ups. He wasn't even mad when Sasuke shoved
him off his back again, making him fall hard onto the ground. He picked himself
up from the floor and sat on his chair again.
"That's..." He couldn't find the words, but the long haired male in front of him
seemed to understand nonetheless.
"Yes. Yes it is." And with that, two new bottles of sake appeared in his hand,
seemingly out of nowhere, and he gave one to the blond.
 
A short while later, Naruto felt someone latching onto his arm. He slowly turned
his head and tried to focus on the dark mop of hair at his shoulder.
"I guess now the clinging starts?", Neji asked, interested, slurring a bit. He
nodded and drank some more sake. A pale hand reached up and took the bottle from
him. He blinked again when Sasuke drank out of it before shifting closer with
his chair. The Hyūga found it somehow astounding that Naruto didn't seem to
mind. They continued their conversation, Sasuke all the while getting closer and
closer to the blond, and it wasn't until he was practically hanging from him,
that Naruto had enough.
"Teme, I think it's time for you to go home."
He got no response apart from the grip on his arm tightening. He rolled his eyes
before freeing his hand and weaving a sign.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Another Naruto appeared next to him and he passed Sasuke over.
"Take him home, stay with him and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid.
Dispel when you think he won't kill himself."
"Aye!"
And with that, his clone slung one of the raven's arms around his neck and
slowly walked out of the bar. Mostly because he wasn't completely stable either.
Neji nodded, something akin to appreciation on his face.
"Those Bunshins sure come in handy, huh?"
Naruto nodded, blissfully smiling when a certain memory flashed through his
head.
"You have no idea..." The Hyūga raised his eyebrows at that, something he
couldn't quite name flashing through his eyes.
"Ohhh? Well, then give me an idea."
The Jinchūriki's smile widened before he leaned over the table and whispered
loudly:
"Let's just say Kakashi-sensei and I found some new merits about them when we
were a couple."
Neji's eyes widened when images flashed through his head and he couldn't help
the small blush that crept up his face. He didn't even care about Naruto's
uncharacteristic giggle, because damn...
"And your clone with Sasuke...?"
The blond shook his head, still grinning.
"Nah. They'll be good. The teme will use him as a teddy bear until he finally
passes out, that's all."
"Huh...", the raven breathed, the pinkish colour slowly disappearing from his
cheeks. He took another sip of sake, eyes shifting to the people gathered in the
middle of the room. There were less now, some gone and some occupying the tables
nearby, partially passed out from the alcohol. He shook his head when he spotted
Tenten among them, a bit disappointed that they didn't know their limits. Okay,
he definitely wasn't sober himself, but he wasn't completely wasted. Like Kiba
for example, who drooled on the table he was laying on and occasionally grunted
when a giggling Sakura poked him in the ribs. He wondered who else apart from
himself and probably Naruto still knew what they were doing.
 
​                                                  
                                                   
  
 
Exactly 87 minutes later, Neji wasn't quite where he was, what was happening
and why it was happening. All he knew was that the glass at his exposed back
was really, really cold. And the person between his legs, kissing him harshly
and thrusting into him, pressing him against the window, was really, really
warm. His alcohol-fogged mind didn't quite comprehend what had happened which
made them ended up like this, but it did understand however that this felt
fucking good. A low grown escaped him and he dug his fingers into the shoulders
beneath them, drawing blood. The grip around his thighs hardened, the pace
increased and he let out a noise he couldn't quite decipher when Naruto bit on
his neck, hard. He tilted his spinning head to make more room for this sickly
hot mouth that was breaking his skin and he soon felt his release coming closer.
He felt he was being shifted and- ohgoddothatagain! He now gripped the window
frame with one hand to better keep his balance, and his knuckles turned white.
They were both panting harshly now, his long hair sticking to his sweat-covered
skin. The blond lost all rhythm now, simply slamming into him, and when Neji
climaxed with a violent shudder mere seconds later, he actually ripped a part of
the wooden window frame out. Naruto followed closely and pulled his shrinking
member out.
They stayed like that for a moment, forehead against forehead, eyes closed and
panting harshly. When Naruto had the feeling his legs wouldn't carry him
anymore, he slowly sank down on the ground, all the while still holding onto his
partner. His vision blurred and his mind spun when the adrenalin disappeard and
the boozed state he had been in before returned. He slowly opened his eyes and
met pale ones, veiled with lust, hunger and satisfaction. He felt himself
getting hard again, and considering something was poking into his stomach, he
assumed the other felt the same way. He scrambled to his feet, pulling the raven
up with him, and simply murmured "We better take this to the bedroom...". All he
got in return was a dazed nod.
 
They didn't get far, however, because after two steps he was being turned around
and attacked. Or rather his mouth was attacked. He tried to say something, but
since only incoherent noises came out, he stopped and simply obeyed the
demanding lips. He stumbled backwards, pulling Neji with him and he blindly
tried to reach at least the couch in his living room. He couldn't do another
session standing, not now. When the back of his knees hit something soft, he
swiftly turned them around and pushed the raven down on the cushiony surface,
all the while not breaking the kiss. He placed himself between pale legs and
pushed two fingers in again, more for the messed up foreplay rather than
preparation. That was unnecessary right now. He licked at the half-hard member
in front of him, tasting it, and looked at his companion who had an arm draped
over his face and took a shuddering breath. He added another finger and stroked
himself as well, even if it wasn't particularly needed. He shifted after some
more seconds and pushed himself in again. It was amazing, just like the last
time. And his head was astoundingly clear, he thought, but he somehow had the
feeling that wouldn't last for long.
He started moving, a bit slower than the last time, but he wasn't even able to
settle for a steady pace until a hand gripped his hair and pulled him up to meet
pale eyes only few inches afar.
"Move", the Hyūga growled in a deep, husky voice, and Naruto had to shudder,
but he obeyed.
It soon became just as raw and wild as before, the only difference being the new
angle for Neji. The raven gripped his shoulders so hard there were big, ugly
bruises left, and when he came the blond was sure he could hear his bones crack
under the strangled whimper-moan-hiss his partner let out. He released after a
few more thrusts as well, sinking down on the arching body beneath him. He had
trouble breathing normally and the whole room was spinning around him.
Damn... Bunny sex and alcohol do not mix well together..., he thought and closed
his eyes.
 
Neji on the other hand was collecting his thoughts. Sure, he was satisfied
indeed, but a small little bit of his pride demanded him to change the fact that
he had been submissive... Twice. And being the quick learner he was, he had to
do something about it. Good thing he too was a victim of his hormones, and with
a bit more... attention he was sure he could go for another round. And
Naruto... Well, he'd see about that, right now, his pride was screaming at him
to do something. And with that, he swiftly moved from under the blond and stood,
pulling the other up with him.
"Bedroom. Where?", he asked, massaging the other's manhood and grinning smugly
when he felt it hardening. But before he could get an answer, he engaged the
blond in a bruising kiss. He felt he was being pushed backwards and he took a
step back. He was being led into the bedroom, but not without bumping into a few
things on the way. He too was hard again, and he buried one of his hands in
blond locks to pull those intoxicating lips even closer. Where was that damn
bed? He wanted some action, now.
His hip suddenly met something hard and he was pushed flat on his back. He
opened his eyes. The table.
Where the hell does this idiot have his bed...? Oh screw it, he thought, freed
himself and reversed their positions.
Naruto looked up at him dazed and slightly confused, not really comprehending at
all until slender fingers gave him the answer. He bit back a moan before
propping himself up on his elbows.
"'You sure?", he asked and tried to focus on the other male leaning down on him
between his thighs. He failed and fell back onto the table with a moan. He heard
light chuckling.
"I'm a fast learner."
Indeed he was, as Naruto found out a couple of minutes later when he was being
thoroughly screwed into his own table. I didn't expect this..., he managed to
think, but then again I didn't really expect any of this to happen... He was
writhing and clawing at the wood beneath him, leaving deep scratches the
surface. He reached up and grabbed a fistful off of sweat-dampened hair that was
tickling his stomach, yanking its owner down to him to engage him in another
heated kiss. He soon came with a strangled cry, though there was barely any
sperm covering his stomach. Neji followed closely, biting down hard on the
other's lips. He stayed where he was, far too tired and still drunk to do
anything else, but no matter how boneless they both felt, this was
uncomfortable.
"Bed...", he murmured once again with closed eyes. He felt fuzzy. A few seconds
passed before he got a groggy answer.
"Left."
He slowly blinked, and as soon as he fully progressed that answer, he got up and
looked around. Indeed, there it was, about two feet left of him. Huh.
He slowly separated himself from the hot body beneath him and stumbled over to
the soft mattress, collapsing on it as soon as it was in reach. The blond
followed a moment later.
 
​                                                  
                                                   
  
 
Naruto awoke the next morning far too early due to memories of Sasuke vomiting
all over him flashing into his mind. Add that to the excruciating pain in his
head, and he felt like throwing up as well. He slowly sat up groaning, and
blinked warily at the pale legs in front of him. He blinked some more.
Pale legs...? He followed them with bloodshot eyes until they disappeared under
his blanket, leading to a lump beneath it. He then noticed his own legs lying
beneath them, and the arm around his hip. He slowly lifted the covers to see who
owned the limbs all around him, and when he saw one Hyūga Neji curled up at his
side, sleeping peacefully, more memories flooded him. He dropped the covers
again and groaned.
"Oh god..."
He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, not only because of his throbbing
head, but to calm himself as well. Come to think of it, why was he hungover at
all? What was that stupid fox doing now?
Carefully entangling himself from the other male he climbed out of the bed. He
needed a shower, badly. He saw Neji frowning in his sleep, tugging at the
blanket and curling up even more at the loss of the warmth, and if it weren't
for him feeling like shit right now, he'd be chuckling at the fact that his
stoic friend was a cuddly sleeper.
 
He slouched over to his dresser and grabbed some random clothes before entering
his bathroom and getting under the shower. He leaned against the tiles behind
him and closed his eyes, entering his mindscape.
Naruto looked at the giant fox lying in his cell and looking at him with bare
hidden amusement.
"Seems like you had some fun last night."
The blond groaned again.
"I don't want to think about that right now...", he winced at the volume of his
own voice, "What's with the headache?"
"That, my dear container, is what you humans call a hangover."
Naruto briefly thought about banging his head against a wall, but then decided
against it.
"I know. Why do I have one? You usually take care of it."
He wasn't sure if foxes could actually snicker, but the noise his partner made
surely sounded like it.
"For my entertainment. You've been awfully boring the last weeks. You wouldn't
even play with me."
Naruto whined. "Kuram-OW!"
He winced when his voice echoed through the room and his head felt like it was
melting. He heard another chuckle.
"Fine, fine. Give me twenty minutes, but you'll let me out and have some fun on
your next mission."
And with that, Naruto found himself standing in his shower again. He waited some
minutes before he moved until the pain in his head started disappearing, and
when it did, he cleaned himself up.
True to his word, Kurama had taken care of his pain in simply twenty minutes and
Naruto felt wonderful. Apart from the dread in his stomach about the upcoming
conversation with the person in his bed, that is.
He got dressed and re-entered his living room, looking at the scattered clothes
that partly weren't his own. Picking them up and folding them, he thought about
what he was going to say.
I guess we were both pretty drunk... The question is, if Neji remembers the last
evening as well, though I think he does. Didn't drink more than I did, and I
remember everything, even if some things are a bit blurry. What's this chunk of
wood doing here...? His thoughts stopped for a moment until his gaze fell onto
the damaged window frame. … Right...
 
Naruto was torn from his thoughts when he heard a pained groan from inside his
bedroom, followed by some shuffling. Gulping, he mentally prepared himself for
the following confrontation, but before he went into his kitchen. Filling a
glass with some water and getting his painkillers, he went back into his
bedroom.
Neji sat on the edge of his bed, blanket covering his lap and head in his hands,
a pained expression on his features. Pale eyes opened and looked at him when the
blond stepped into the room, and after a moment they widened. Naruto inwardly
winced. He silently held out the glass and the pills and, after a moment, the
items were taken from his hands.
He sat down on a chair and observed his friend, noting the way his usually neat
hair was a mess and stuck out in all directions. After a few moments the blond
got up and left the room, only to return with a handful of clothes a moment
later. He was just planning on leaving them on the table and walking out once
more, when he noticed some stains on the wood.
Feeling a blush creeping up his cheeks, he instead put them on a chair and went
to get something to clean the table up. And the window as well... He hoped no
one had seen them, that'd be way too embarrassing.
When he returned a few minutes later, Neji looked a bit better than before and
observed his every movement, looking bewildered. Naruto gulped and interrupted
the awkward silence.
"If you want to shower, it is the door on the right in the living room. You
probably need it as badly as I did, it's, uh... even in your hair..."
The raven stared at him for a moment, before his pale eyes fell onto the strands
of hair dangling in front of his face. And indeed, some of the strands were
glued together by a sticky, milky white substance that looked an awful lot
like...
"Oh god...", he groaned, jumped to his feet and disappeared into the bathroom in
mere seconds. Naruto looked after him, not sure what to do, but then he simply
grabbed the clothes he had previously left on one of his chairs and put them on
the shelf next to the door to the bathroom. The shower was already on. He
carefully knocked.
"I put your clothes next to the door."
"Yes, thank you..."
He turned around and looked out of the window, only to find himself blushing
again when the memories of last night's activities came back to his mind. He
quickly turned around and went to change the sheets of his bed, even if nothing
had happened in there. His lips twitched with twisted amusement, and if this
wouldn't be such a serious matter, he'd be laughing at the fact that they did it
three times last evening, only to fall asleep as soon as they actually reached
the bed.
 
Half an hour later, a fully clothed Neji including hitai-ate with dripping, but
thankfully clean, hair that was hiding the bite mark on his neck sat in front of
him at his kitchen table. Neither of the two was speaking, and they carefully
avoided each other's gaze for various reasons.
One was of course the embarrassment, but in Neji's case it was some sort of
humiliation as well. He couldn't believe he had acted like he did the last
evening, even if he had been fairly drunk. To lose it like that... He had
behaved like a horny teenager!
He looked up when he heard Naruto speaking.
"Look, uh... What happened, happened, right?" Blue eyes locked with his own and
he winced, but nodded.
"Yeah, and we can't undo it now, so no point in whining over it." Gods, this is
awkward..., the blond thought.
Neji stayed silent for a moment before he spoke up.
"What now?"
"Uh..."
Naruto thought. They could act like this never happened, as strange as it was,
or act on it... Summoning all of his bravery (or stupidity), he voiced his
thoughts.
"We could, uh... go out sometime. Like, on a date or something."
Neji raised his eyebrows.
"... Did you plan to do this?"
"No! I just thought, uhm..." Now how should he say this?
"You thought?"
"... Seize the day? Or moment? I mean, this already happened, and I guess we
could give it a try... If you want to, that is."
Neji pondered for a moment, thinking through the options. He finally shrugged;
there wasn't much he could lose now.
"... Fine. But no word about tonight to anyone."
Naruto smiled at him nervously before nodding and scratching the back of his
head.
"Fair enough. How about... Now? I'm starving, and I don't have much here."
The raven looked at him again before he sighed. Somehow he had the feeling that
this was all happening a little too fast, but he still nodded.
"I need to change first, though." His current clothes may be clean, but more
than a bit rumpled.
Naruto nodded and got up, left the kitchen and returned with a complete set of
Jōnin gear.
"These should fit you, they're Sasuke's. You're about the same height, they
might be a bit tight though, you're broader than him."
"... Why do you have his clothes?", Neji asked, eyeing the clothes before taking
them. He didn't care about the fact that the Uchiha might not want him wearing
his clothes. He wasn't afraid of him.
"He stays over sometimes."
"Hm", was all the raven said when he left the room to get changed. A few minutes
later, he returned, looking perfectly normal apart from his freely flowing hair.
"Do you know where my hair tie is?"
Naruto shook his head, looking embarrassed again.
"No, sorry, I couldn't find it. The part between the bar and... is a bit blurry.
It was already gone when we arrived here."
"...Okay."
There was an awkward moment again, before Naruto suddenly chuckled. Neji raised
his eyebrows.
"What's so funny?"
The blond waved and looked at him mischievously.
"Nothing, just thought about something I said to Chōji last night after hearing
one of Kankurō's strange songs. The guy sang something like 'I ain't your Mr.
Nice Guy, more like the meet-you-take-you-home-and-fuck-you-twice-guy' and I
said that I'd take it slower in my next attempt for a relationship." He stood up
and grabbed Neji's wrist, pulling him out of the apartment. The raven's lips
twitched.
"So much for that..." He could very well just go with the flow, he concluded. It
couldn't get any worse, after all.
 
​                                                  
                                                   
  
 
Sixty minutes later he was proven wrong. He and Naruto had gone to a small café
that was still blissfully empty due to the early hour and had eaten a nice
breakfast while having a nice conversation. And while they were drinking their
fourth cup of coffee, someone shouted the blond's name.
"Naruto!"
Said male looked up and paled lightly, but still smiled.
"Oh, hey Sakura-chan..."
Neji discreetly moved his hand through his hair, making it fall over his
shoulder and cover the mark on his neck. He nodded in greeting to the girl who
sat down next to them, wearing sunglasses.
"Neji-san, hello. What are you two doing here?", she asked.
"I, uh, was just having breakfast when Neji came along and joined me...", Naruto
improvised and smiled nervously, "What's with the sunglasses?"
The pinkette smiled sheepishly.
"I got rid of my headache, but my eyes still hurt when it's too bright, so...
some sort of hangover, I guess. Sometimes I really envy your healing."
The blond laughed and rubbed his neck, lifting his coffee to his lips. Sakura
suddenly leaned over and nudged his shoulder.
"Soo, who's your new girlfriend from yesterday?"
 
Neji froze and Naruto spit his coffee out again.
"HUH?"
She winked at him, grinning.
"Don't play dumb now, I saw the two of you!"
She blushed when he looked at her incredulously. She quickly lifted her hands in
a pacifying manner.
"I actually just wanted to check on you, you seemed rather drunk. But then I saw
you and her in the window and, uh…" She blushed even more. Yesterday evening
had been even more embarrassing. She hadn't seen much, only tons of dark hair
and Naruto busy with her neck... She didn't notice Neji discreetly brushing his
fingers through his hair, making it fall even more over his shoulder to hide the
bite mark. Damn, why didn't that Uchiha wear bigger collars, like he did when he
was younger?!
Naruto sputtered, his face an interesting shade of red.
"You, eh, you don't know her. Civilian", he added, hiding his face in his cup.
She pouted, clearly not believing him. She hadn't seen much, but that muscular
figure didn't look civilian to her.
"I know you're lying. Why won't you tell me? She looked kind of familiar...",
she mused, tapping her chin with her finger. Neji had to summon up all of his
willpower to not say anything at being taken for a girl... Just because he had
long hair? Seriously?
Naruto decided to stay silent and stubbornly looked at his coffee. The young
woman stared at him before she huffed and suddenly turned to the Hyūga.
"And how are you, Neji-san?"
"I'm fine, thank you", he answered casually, tilting his head inconspicuously,
making even more hair fall over his shoulder.
"If you have a hangover, I could take care of it", she offered and smiled at
him. He shook his head.
"I'm fine", he repeated. Her green eyes fell on the dark strands that were
uncharacteristically untied.
"Letting them free today, huh?", she asked, a tiny hint of jealousy in her
voice. His hair looked softer than hers.
"...Yes, I thought I'd try something else today."
She suddenly put her elbow on the table and propped her head on her palm,
looking at him with a strange expression in her eyes he could barely make out
behind the sunglasses.
"You sure have pretty hair, Neji-san... Most of the girls I know envy you for
it", she sighed. He looked at her disbelievingly, but not showing it, with a
twitching eyebrow. He wasn't sure if he should feel flattered or insulted that
his hair was 'pretty'. He liked it, yes he did, but still...
"... Is that so?", he enquired instead and watched her nodding enthusiastically.
"May I?", she looked at him interestedly.
"May you what?"
But instead of answering she simply reached over and brushed her fingers through
his hair. He froze again.
"You have to tell me what you do to make it so healthy...", she muttered,
lifting a few strands and letting them fall from her fingers like a waterfall.
She couldn't feel a single split end. But then her gaze fell down on his pale
neck and the red spotting on it. She stared at the mark for a moment, slowly
putting the pieces together and then realization hit her like a brick.
 
Sakura sank back on her chair, staring at the two males in front of her in utter
disbelief. Naruto tried to shrink as much as he could, grimacing, while Neji put
a hand over his face in embarrassment, feeling himself blushing for the first
time in years. No wait, he did yesterday...
"Oh my god... You were her- I mean him... Oh. My. God. I didn't know you two
were..." Her jaw hit the ground when they shifted uncomfortably and blood rushed
to her face.
"You weren't... So that was- OH GOD!", she suddenly squealed, jumped to her feet
and dashed away, just as ashamed as the two males she left behind.
When she disappeared from their sight, Naruto broke the silence.
"So much for keeping it low for now..." At least she didn't know the juicy
details. He sighed. Karma was being a bitch again, but then again, when wasn't
it?
"I think that's out of the question now", Neji stated, the red finally
disappearing from his face. The blond nodded and emptied his cup.
"Might as well just go along with it, it was only a matter of time until someone
caught on, anyway." The Jinchūriki waved a waitress over and ordered another
refill. "We're in a village full of shinobi, after all."
The raven nodded his agreement and brushed his hair back in place to cover his
neck.
"True... So, what were you saying about Sai-san and his nicknames?"
Naruto's eyes lit up and a grin spread over his face. They continued their
previous conversation before Sakura had interrupted them, and after some time in
which mostly the blond did the talking with an interested Hyūga listening and
commenting, he came to a conclusion. This just might work out..., he thought,
but of course he knew better than to get his hopes up. He didn't need a
repetition of his last break up. And when he mused about his previous two
flings, he suddenly realized something, and this, my dear readers, was the third
time in his life, that Uzumaki Naruto was completely and utterly terrified. Even
if it was just for a moment.
 
He faltered in his speech and stared a moment at the male in front of him, who
frowned and looked back.
"Is something wrong?"
Naruto continued to stare for a moment, before he smiled brightly and shook his
head.
"Nah, just realized something."
Neji raised his eyebrows questioningly. He blinked in surprise when the blond
poked his nose.
"That you fit exactly into the pattern of my previous 'preys'."
The Hyūga blinked again, and an amused smile tugged at his lips.
"'Preys'? What're you gonna do, chop my head off and hang it on your wall? Or
rather the usual procedure of displaying my underwear on a shelf and showing it
to all your friends?"
Naruto laughed out loud, shaking his head. He calmed down when the waitress came
with two new cups of coffee, putting them on the table in front of him, and he
snorted once more before he answered, his blue eyes sparkling.
"Nah, I'll leave your pretty head alone, no worries." Neji's eyebrow twitched.
There was that 'pretty' again.
"And I'm not enough of a pervert for a shelf like that."
Now the raven snorted.
"Says the man who was student to two of the most well-known perverts from this
village, and who has inherited their love for a certain series of pornographic
novels."
The blond raised his shoulders, a crooked smirk on his features.
"Okay, okay, point taken. And it's not porn, it's highly inspiring erotica."
Neji wondered about the inspiring part, but decided to ask about that later.
Something whipped through his mind.
"Whatever you say... But tell me more about this 'pattern' you mentioned."
Naruto mused, smiling.
"Well... Let's just say all three of you are smart, silent and considered
geniuses."
Three? The Hyūga pondered for a moment.
"... You were with the Uchiha?", he asked, torn between 'I didn't see that
coming' and 'Why doesn't that surprise me at all?'. The other male simply
grinned at him and winked.
"See? Smart." Neji's eyebrow twitched at the unsatisfying answer.
"And you all seem to have a twitchy eyebrow", the blond added as an afterthought
with a small frown. It twitched again.
​                                                  
                                                   
  
Fin.




Hosted by Animexx e.V. (http://www.animexx.de)