Naruto 1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**: Remembrance

Author's Notes: _I know you all are readying your knives and stones, but hold them for cliff hangers and when I'm in a bad mood. This is a __**gift fic**__ for my one of two wives, Taylor. I hope, somewhere, this does some justice to the free reign you gave me. And just maybe gives you inspiration._

**Chapter One**: Remembrance

The cherry blossom festival is going on in DC, and it's…amazingly beautiful / amazingly fucking crazy. Seriously. Inspiration struck, and thus, a gift was born.

For Taylor – my artsy wife, my other muse. Be jealous.

* * *

"Te_me_~!" The blonde sang out with a skip to his feet.

The other male hung his head with a long sigh, his raven bangs hiding the scowl on his face while his free pale hand ran over the spikes on the back of his head in a ruffling manner.  
The skipping feet settled with a resounding smack on the concrete sidewalk, coming to a halt next to the taller man, before a bright tan face turned with a screaming smile.

"Hey, Sasuke!"

Sasuke turned, glaring his hard midnight eyes from underneath his long bangs before grounding out his greeting from between his clenched teeth. "Dobe."

"So…Are you going?" The blonde rocked back and forth on the soles of his sneakers, impatiently waiting for the crosswalk to signal them to go.

"Naruto, what in the hell are you talking about?" Sasuke's forehead wrinkled slightly as he stared forward and thought about it absently; worrying about the fact that he might be stuck at the light forever.

The blonde reached a hand over and traced a few fingers up the pale forehead gently, erasing the lines sweetly, "The Cherry Blossom Festival. We go _every_ year."

Sasuke immediately stepped onto the street as soon as the signals changed and called over his shoulder, "Then why in the hell are you asking?"

The blonde took a few long, quick strides to catch up, "Because you try to make an excuse not to go…_every year_."

Sasuke turned right as he stepped up on the curb of the sidewalk, easily weaving in and out of pedestrians with his hands safely holding his bags and his eyes looking like they were closed.

Naruto on the other hand, tripped on the curb, ran into three strangers, and then stumbled into Sasuke's back still yammering on like nothing at all happened; ignoring Sasuke's threatening growl like he was an innocent puppy.

"-then you try to dodge me and come up with some hasty excuse!"

Sasuke make a quick left down a pathway, cutting through a set of apartment buildings with hastened paces, leaving Naruto to jog to keep up with him.

"Naruto…is it that big of a deal?"

The blonde huffed as he stepped off the pathway and into the parking lot, dodging a parked car quickly after noticing he wasn't paying attention with each step he took, "Yeah! Everyone is going! It's wouldn't be the same without you teme!"

Sasuke sighed harshly as he turned right again and approached his apartment block, the blonde following after him still as he walked up the cement steps and quickly opened the glass door in a rush.

"Hey, Sasuke? Why are you in such a rush?"

The raven took the steps two at a time, digging his keys out of his jacket pocket before reaching the second landing, "I still have to get to work, dobe."

Naruto followed suit as Sasuke entered his apartment, the raven immediately turning right into his kitchen and the blonde flicking on the lights too. Sasuke sat down his groceries on the counter before walking right back out of the other side of the small strip of a kitchen; the blonde sighing in annoyance and amusement before busying himself with putting away Sasuke's food.

"You know, teme, your food would spoil if it wasn't for me! Going to the store at nine in the morning…You're crazy!" Naruto called after a few minutes of prolonged silence as he grabbed the last items to put away.

"No. It wouldn't." Sasuke said in a dead voice from behind the blonde, making Naruto jump.

"DAMMIT!" The blonde spun around and clutched at his shirt over his chest, letting his eyelids flutter shut while he tried to still his erratic heart beats.

Sasuke let an amused smile play for a split second before he set his face in a scowl, "I can put my own food away, dobe."

Naruto's eyelids snapped open, his aquamarine eyes locking with Sasuke's nighttime glare, "Just say thank you."

"No."

"_Say it._" The blonde growled playfully with a smile.

Sasuke rolled his eyes before reaching around the blonde and grabbed the milk and eggs, turning to the fridge and putting them away. "No."

The blonde pursed his lips before following the raven out of the kitchen, "It's not hard. Just say thank you because I was _nice_ enough to put away your groceries. Then I'll leave  
you alone and I'll see you tomorrow."

Sasuke approached the coffee table in the living room, lifting up a stack of magazines and peaking underneath them before setting them back down with a frown.

"And why would you be seeing me tomorrow?"

Naruto huffed, "The festival, teme!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes as he began to lift up cushions from the couch, glancing quickly before setting them back in place, "Why are you forcing me to go?"

"Because you can't ruin the glorious repetition we have set in place."

The blonde grabbed the badge that sat idly by on the lamp table and waved it sweetly in the air with a light wave. "Say it."

"No." Sasuke righted himself with a glare and crossed his arms defensively.

"Come _on_."

"No."

"_Please_." Naruto wined with an air of teasing.

Sasuke sighed and approached the blonde quickly in three short strides in the tiny living room, coming toe to toe with him. The raven leaned down just barely as he leaned in to have his nose almost touch the small tan nose of the teasing blonde. Their gazes locked; onyx eyes intensely glaring, and azure eyes sweetly waiting.

"_Thank. You_." Sasuke ground out with a quiet hiss.

A bright smile bloomed on the tan face, crinkling the bright blue eyes shut for a fraction of a second before they opened once more, "_See_, was that so hard?"

The blonde reached forward and clipped the ID badge onto the caller of the button up shirt quickly before throwing his hands behind his back with another blinding smile.

"_Now_. You go have a nice day at work."

Sasuke's glare hardened, "And you go get the hell ready for work yourself."

The blonde turned for the door, "I'll pick you up tomorrow!"

"For-"

"You know what for. I'll see you tomorrow at eight."

Sasuke reach a frustrated hand up to the back of his head to ruffle the pleasant spikes, his hand trailing to his face and running down in a flustered manner.

He didn't want to go.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"The damn train is late." The brunette whined.

"Kiba, the Metro is horrible this time of year. A bunch of tourists are going into town, what do you expect?" Naruto turned to his left to give his friend a look.

Kiba shrugged his shoulders before shoving his hands in the pockets of his jacket, "For them to drop everything for me."

Naruto heard a chorus of soft giggling on the other side of Kiba, "Hey Sakura? Ino? Karin? Hinata? Anyone? Did you guys bring something to drink?"

The group of girls shook their heads before continuing their conversation on where they were going and what they were going to look at before the blonde turned to the raven to his direct right.

"Did you?"

Sasuke gave Naruto a look, "Dobe, do you think I could carry a drink?"

The blonde looked at Sasuke's jeans and jacket and frowned, "You're no fun."

Sasuke rolled his eyes with a sigh as the train approached while he listened to Kiba and Naruto yell.

"Shino! Haku! Zabuza! Juugo! Move it!"

Kiba poked his head out of the doorway just as Naruto passed, "Neji! Tenten! Let's move it before the train moves without you!"

The large group ran down the escalator quickly, a few lagging behind leisurely while everyone got settled in their first pick of their seats.

"It's nice, you know…" Naruto flopped onto the seat next to Sasuke's, "being closest to the first station."

Sasuke turned to the blonde with an impassive face, "You say that _now_. Then at the end of the day when you're exhausted, you'll be whining."

"Naruto Uzumaki _does not_ whine."

"Sasuke Uchiha says that is bullshit."

Naruto huffed, "And why is that?"

"Because I hear that nails on the chalkboard noise _all the time_."

"So why am I going to be whining at the end of the day?" Naruto's eyes drifted over the seats that carried his cluster of friends to see the new train operator board before he walked into the operating room.

"Dobe, you'll have been walking around all day. We're going to have to most likely wait for the train for an hour like every other year, and then stand nearly the entire way home on the train and then I get to hear about 'your aching feet'. Then you'll be hungry and tired."

The blonde stuck made his bottom lip protrude then in a prefect pout, "_No_."

Azure eyes watched onyx eyes roll with an annoyed huff, "Then why are you giving me that look?"

The blonde shrugged his shoulders when he felt the train jump to life and ignored their group of friends light chatter pick up excitedly. Naruto rested his head gently on Sasuke's shoulder lightly, leaving the raven to try and shrug the weighted and pesky thing off and swat away the ticklish strands of hair that were prodding his neck lightly.

"Dobe. _Get. Off. Me_." Sasuke growled as he tried to roll his shoulder again to get the blonde to move his head.

Sasuke sighed not two seconds later when he heard the soft snoring escaping the blonde's lips and just took to staring out the window.

Damn it all.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"I'm going to go see the Japanese Stone Lantern." Kiba said looking down at the newspaper clipping that was more of a map and tour guide for everyone.

It showed the few surrounding memorials, which types of Cherry Blossoms were where, and what events where taking place along with a bloom calendar.

He always made sure to get the same clipping out of the Post.

A few of the heads in the group nodded along with him, while Ino spoke up, "I want to walk the Kutz Memorial Bridge. Then I'll find you along the pathway."

Naruto piped up next to Sasuke, "I want to see the Pagoda."

The group turned towards the blonde, "Dude..." Kiba started, "Start off at the top with us."

The blonde shrugged, "I never get to take a picture of it because you bastards look at the first planting stone, look at the lantern, walk the two mile bridge, and then complain about being tired. I'm going."

The group started shifting around to the three destinations after Naruto's determined speech before the blonde looked to Sasuke who was standing with his hands in his pockets, looking over his shoulder at nothing.

"Where are you going?"

"Home."

The blonde snorted, "Fine. You'll come with me."

Sasuke instantly threw his head back before he felt Naruto grab at his elbow and tug him along, and he reluctantly decided to follow.

The Tidal Basin was surrounded by a glorious color display of different shades of pinks and a few lingering whites. The two walked at a usual pace while the blonde wrestled to get his camera ready to take pictures of the wall of trees that where surrounding them.

The branches of the trees shivered with each new passing blow of the wind, petals from the trees being caught up and plucked to be taken away to dance leisurely before fluttering gently to the ground. The walkway was crowded with clusters of tourists, workers who drifted over to chance a glance on their break, and couples enjoying a romantic stroll.

Naruto ran before Sasuke again, the raven leisurely walking along with his hands in the pockets of his jeans while Naruto snapped pictures of everything twice. The line of trees, the buildings, the Japanese Pagoda, the water, a random bird, the petals being chased away angrily by the wind, a scowling Sasuke, a quarter of his own face – everything.

Sasuke's shoes shuffled on the damp tattered petals already scattered on the pathway, and instantly sensing a few unlucky ones stuck to the soles of his shoes like the ones stuck in his hair. The raven let himself enjoy the chilled, early spring breeze on his skin while he ignored the angry dark clouds hovering over his and Naruto's heads, threatening to cry out once more in protest.

"Hey, Sasuke…do you remember this place?"

The raven turned to the blonde who was a few feet away underneath the one tree that stood out amongst the rest. Not because it was a rare type of cherry blossom amidst the cluster of most common, no. Not that at all, but the reason made his heart pound.

The blonde stood underneath the falling petals that blew loose from the harsh early spring wind. A few scarce petals were stuck in the unruly locks of blonde hair awkwardly while his sky blue eyes stared in a daze toward the raining trees.

"This is the place…That time. The day you told me you were in love with me."

* * *

Author's Notes: I know people are like, "Is she going to go left, right, backwards, forwards?"  
To an author…that makes sense.  
And here I go again, taking one big giant leap out of my comfort zone-y zone. Oi


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Reverie

Author's Notes: _-dies laughing- I confused people with that last line. –snorts- Oops.  
WELL NOW! –dusts off hands- Glad I was clearing it up this chapter anyway.  
_  
Chapter Two: Reverie

I added a lot of OOCness and a sweet little moment that would never happen.

For Taylor – The wife, the muse, the friend. Be _very_ jealous.

* * *

-0- Eight Years Prior -0-

Sasuke kneeled down at the top of the driveway after noticing his shoelace was untied, and not wanting to be like Naruto and falling on his face, he kneeled down to tie it. His long raven black bangs tickled his face gently at the quick swooping motion while his moonlit fingers worked his shoelaces. A not-so-curious midnight gaze landed on a suddenly looming shadow while he repressed a sigh and pretended not to notice.

He'd give this one to Naruto.

Sasuke felt two hands suddenly smack against his shoulders with excessive force in a shove before he lost his balance from the asphalt of his driveway and tumbled to the grass of his lawn.

Sasuke's eyes gazed up as he lied on the lawn at the looming figure of the blonde, his wrinkled clothes sloppily thrown on, "You really want to get me killed, don't you?"

The blonde huffed before lightly kicking Sasuke's side and turning around to flop on top of his stomach with a wide grin.

The raven groaned loudly, "OW! Naruto! You're fucking heavy!"

The blonde frowned before reaching his hand over and flicking the small pale nose, "Are you calling me fat?"

"Naruto…Get off. You're going to get me in trouble." Sasuke grunted while he tried to shove the blonde off of him, and tried to desperately hide his grin.

"Why am I going to get you in trouble Sasu?"

"My dad, asshole."

"I know he's an asshole." The blonde grinned cheekily.

Sasuke shoved weakly against the blonde's shoulder to have the teen laugh loudly, "Stop being nice." Naruto scrambled to get up; Sasuke making it harder when he was halfway there and shoving his shoe against his backside and kicking him on his face with a loud laugh.

Sasuke hopped up with ease, before he rolled his eyes playfully and grabbed at Naruto's arm to help pull him up and straighten him. The blonde flashed a bright smile before he tried to dust off Sasuke's shirt, leaving the other teen to swat his hands away.

"You're going to get me kicked out, dobe."

Naruto raised a brow sweetly in question, "I don't get it."

"You know my dad stares out the window…" Sasuke mumbled as he dusted off his own shirt before swooping back down on the perfectly manicured lawn and grabbing his wallet that had slipped out of his pocket.

Naruto turned to stare over his shoulder with a curious expression, his face scrunching up in confusion as his eyes ran over the front of the mansion.

"How in the hell can you tell?" Naruto's eyes turned to land on his best friend, "I mean, you have five million windows. I still have nightmares from getting lost trying to find the bathroom."

"I can see him, dobe."

The blonde turned back around quickly, suddenly, shooting his small arm in the air with a flamboyant wave while he stood on the edge of the driveway and dropped his jaw with a loud yell.

"HEY MR. UCH-"

Sasuke's hand snapped out and grabbed Naruto's waving one before he tugged the blonde around and led him down the driveway in half of a sprint, yelling over his own shoulder.

"DOBE!"

Naruto tightened his grip on Sasuke's hand, smiling as he tried to keep up with Sasuke's long strides, "TEME!"

Sasuke pulled on the blonde's hand just as they reached the end of the long and curvy driveway and were finally out of sight. Naruto's feet smacked against the asphalt while Sasuke yanked on his hand to pull him in front of the raven, and the blonde laughed lightly at the feeling.

Sasuke stared into Naruto's face, his eyes bright and his breathing coming his short pants, and not able to release the blonde's hand while Naruto's tan face was lighted with a flush from the short run and a bright smile from the bout of laughter that was currently pouring out of his throat.

The blonde swung the two hands in between them playfully as his laughter died down in sweet childish giggles, his smile bright and random chuckles still itching at him while he wiped away a lingering tear from the corner of his eye, "What?"

Sasuke shook his head with a chuckle, not able to fight away his smile with a fake scowl any longer, "And you call _me_ the bastard?"

Naruto's throat erupted again, this time causing him to double over and clutch his stomach with his free hand while his other refused to part with Sasuke's.

The blonde eyed the ugly grass stains that had dirtied the front of his shirt and immediately straightened up and spun Sasuke around, finally detaching his hand, to start laughing at the other teen once more.

Sasuke looked over his shoulder and tried to eye whatever it was on his back that Naruto was laughing at, spinning a little with each step, "What?"

The blonde held up one tiny, tan little index finger while he steadied his shaking frame with his other hand on his knee, while he tried with little effort to calm his laughter.

"What is so funny, Naruto?" Sasuke grinned despite himself.

Naruto blew out a laugh mixed with a gust of air from between his lips, having spit a little on his own shirt from the act before throwing his hand over his mouth and giving the muffled response.

"Your butt…"

"Excuse me?" Sasuke repeated the action of trying to look at his backside, giving the impression of a dog chasing his tail while he spun on the spot.

"You have this _huge_…" Naruto coughed, "Ass! That I just can't believe exists! What has your cook been feeding you?" The blonde threw his hands on his hips and shook his head in a disapproving manner.

Sasuke turned to face the blonde with a sour face and started to approach him with the look of murder flashing, "Damn you, dobe."

Naruto waved his hands up in front of himself in a surrendering sort of way before laughing and ruffling the hair on the back of his head, "I'm kidding! You have a huge grass stain on your butt from when you let me knock you down. _That_ part, I'm serious about."

The raven sighed before he shook off the embarrassment, and gave a small shrug of his shoulders before turning to walk down the street, Naruto jogging to keep up.

"Say, teme?"

Naruto linked his pinky finger with Sasuke's as they walked down the wide sidewalk through the upscale neighborhood, leaving the raven to try and yank his hand away only to give up after Naruto twisted it an unnatural way.

"What, dobe?"

"This year, can we see the Pagoda?"

* * *

Naruto made a dead sprint towards the group of teens standing in the middle of the walkway before making a flying leap like some crazed squirrel onto an unsuspecting Kiba's back.  
Kiba, on the other hand, lost all sense of manly pride that he collected in his seventeen years of life when he screeched like a girl before he swatted dangerously at Naruto's deranged locks that were flying freely in his friends' face.

The group erupted in laughter just as Sasuke made his way up and plucked the clinging blonde off with a light smile and a shake of his head. "Stop. You're causing a scene."

Kiba cleared his throat before adding more of a base to his voice than usual, "Y-Yes! You're causing a scene."

Sasuke looked at Kiba with a sad look, "And you just sound like a jackass."

The group whose laughter was dying down to giddy chuckles shot back out into a roar of glorious laughter to flare Kiba's blush to the fullest extent.

"Alright, so, where are we starting?" A girlish voice chirped with a clap of the hands.

A tan finger reached up and poked a face, "Where do _you_ have in mind, Haku?"

"I want to see the old trees. What are they called…" The boy trailed off absently while most of the group pondered themselves.

"Oh! The..Usu..Usu…"

Sasuke reached a pale hand up and smacked his friend upside the head lightly and playfully, as if to make the CD stop skipping.

"Usuzumi! That!" Naruto ended as if Sasuke had told him the answer.

Haku laughed lightly, "Well, they have some stand near the Jefferson Memorial."

"We were going to the Paddle Boat House." Kiba said as he swung his arm around Shino and Neji who shrugged him off with repulsed faces.

Naruto snorted, "I want to go to see the Pagoda. I've seen everything else, but I never got to see that."

Sakura eyed the blonde, "Naruto, that's on the _other side_ of the Tidal Basin."

Sasuke sighed, because he could already hear the loud, excited answer playing in his head before Naruto even had a chance to think.

"_SO_! It's worth the long walk. I can be fit as a fiddle then, right Sasuke?"

"Naruto, you wined about the three minute walk to the bus stop to get to the metro station. You thought your legs were going to give out." Sasuke cut with a hint of a smile when the blonde growled.

"I'll make the walk damn you!" Naruto pointed a threatening finger that seemed more like a challenge to Sasuke than anything else.

"Alright…We'll just meet back here at five for dinner?"

* * *

"Carry me."

Naruto dragged his feet sluggishly on the concrete pathway next to his best friend who simply rolled his dark eyes with a chuckle, "Dobe. It's not much further." Sasuke lied.

Naruto fell back just barely behind his casually walking friend who had taken to walking with his hands crossed lightly in front of his body as if he was thinking about some important thing or another.

Two tan arms threw themselves around Sasuke's shoulders and neck unsuspectingly while he let his feet and legs drag limply behind him as the raven trudged on, pretending like nothing was happening. The other tourists that had stopped to pose for pictures or were gazing at the scene around them paused to stare at the two boys who passed by at the slow pace; Sasuke pulling a limp Naruto and Naruto refusing to walk anymore.

"Naruto, walk damn you!" Sasuke chuckled as he adjusted the arms around his neck.

"No."

"I get a free pass at 'I-told-you-so' for an entire week." Sasuke tested in hope.

"I'll deny it."

"Fine. I can too." Sasuke stopped abruptly in the middle of the walkway only to cause the blonde to slide halfway down his torso as he made no attempt to cling to the Uchiha, and made his point that he was exhausted.

Naruto grabbed at Sasuke's shirt with one hand and waved it slightly, "Mush."

Sasuke looked up towards the cloudy sky before looking immediately down towards the ground and biting the inside of his cheek and grounding out his answer with the smallest of blushes that no one else could notice but Naruto.

"Just get on."

The raven huffed with a stumble as soon as Naruto leaped onto his back and let his arms hang loosely around his neck before he yelled loudly, "MUSH!"

Sasuke barely turned his head to face the blonde who was smiling from ear to ear, his eyes barely able to hold themselves open, "Say it again, and I'll drop you and leave you to die."

Naruto laughed lightly, his breath tickling Sasuke's face with the new Spring breeze before a tan hand came up to lightly flick at his nose, "I'm just teasing you, bastard."

Sasuke rolled his eyes before he continued on down the pathway trying desperately to ignore the lingering looks he received from passersby that couldn't get over the fact that two best friends that just so happened to be extremely close.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Hey, dobe. Wake up." Sasuke murmured with a turn of his head to the blonde who always managed to fall into a deep sleep in a few seconds.

Naruto shifted his head before he began blinking his eyes tiredly, "What, teme?"

The blonde moved his head once more to a comfortable position before Sasuke rolled his shoulder to make Naruto lift it to look at whatever it was he wanted him to look at.

Naruto reached up a limp tan hand and rubbed at his tired eyes. "_What_?"

"Your favorite."

Sasuke dropped Naruto's heavy legs with a sigh of relief, gently feeling the blood rush back into his arms while the blonde tugged on the sleeve of his shirt, "What are you talking about?"

Sasuke huffed before pointing his finger in boredom, "The Akebono Cherry Blossom."

Sasuke barely had time to react before Naruto's hand reached up and grabbed the first thing he could find on Sasuke, which just so happened to be the collar of his shirt, and dragged him to edge of the trees in a choke.

Naruto's steps settled when he approached the trees and released Sasuke of his death hold, "I thought these were only off of Independence and Ohio?"

Sasuke rubbed his neck with his left hand, "Well, don't question it. Enjoy it."

Naruto skipped off of the pathway to make a smooth transition to the grass to pass through the other trees to get to the one that stood out the most; dodging a hyper runaway toddler chased by a couple with a stroller, and doing an awkward dance around a slow moving tourist group that were in matching bright lime green shirts – all fifty-five of them.

Sasuke casually walked up behind the blonde as he walked up to the tree with pale pink petals that stood out against the angry gray sky that rumbled ominously in the far distance.  
Naruto snorted as the wind shook the line of trees violently, sending a shower of petals to rain on the pair that stared out towards the water of the Tidal Basin to see the paddle boats turn and rush to their fullest extent back to the docks.

"We better get a move on, dobe." Sasuke stared to his right at the blonde who was gazing at the tree and occasionally letting his eyes flick towards the water.

"Can we stay for just a minute?" Naruto asked with a serious tone.

Sasuke's eyes softened a fraction while he watched Naruto's dazzling sky blue eyes dance around the petals of the tree, "Alright. Fine."

The blonde instantly flopped down onto the grass underneath tree that swayed lightly under wind of the quickly approaching storm. The blonde reached both of his hands up and grabbed at Sasuke's free hanging wrist before tugging on it several times with as much force as it took before the raven tripped over his Uchiha pride and stumbled down next to the blonde.

Naruto let out a sweet chuckle while Sasuke situated himself on the grass, laying on his back and staring up at the beautiful tree, before the blonde turned and stared down at him.  
Naruto smiled one of his heavenly pleasant smiles while the looming sky contradicted something so pleasant, and his bright eyes sparkled with joy while the tree rained down another batch of petals down on the pair.

"Naruto…" Sasuke's brow furrowed lightly in concentration as he watched the blonde's face turn ever so slightly in innocent question.

"What, teme?"

The sky cracked out again, making Naruto look away from the laid out raven for a fraction of a second to watch the lingering sight seers to pick up their paces as the storm drew more near.

Naruto looked back up at the tree, blinking his eyes violently just as the latest shift in wind sent the tree raining petals on the pair in a bittersweet celebration.

"Naruto," Sasuke called lightly, to have the blonde take his attention away from the falling petals to look back down at his best friend with happy and curious eyes.  
Sasuke took one last breath in and let it out, "Naruto…I…"

The raven watched the small changes in the tan face; the shift from joy to fear in his bright eyes, the heavenly smile shifting to a dead flat line in confusion, and his brow furrowing as he understood what was coming, but not why.

"I love you."__

* * *

Author's Notes: -Wipes brow- Alright. _I_ have been a busy little author. Enjoy it.  
**AND** I always think its bullshit how Naruto is the one who confesses… though I'm guilty of that on several accounts. Sasuke has feelings too._  
I'm in LOVE with this story. This and AEOY are my special babies at the moment._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: Regret

Author's Notes: _Thank you all for the reviews. It means a lot._

Chapter Three: Regret

For Taylor

* * *

Sasuke sat on the back corner seat of their compartment of the train while he ignored his friends ramble on about their day and simply stared out of the window at the quickly flashing by scenery.

The broody man had managed to glare at someone to the point they hopped up and gave up their seat while the rest of his group of friends stood holding onto the bars and poles and each other while the Metro train rocked unsteadily on the tracks towards the Vienna station.

Second worst day in history was his conclusion really. He really didn't want to think anymore about the first.

The raven tried to ignore Naruto as the man acted – or maybe just felt like – everything was normal, carrying on conversations, showing off his pictures, and talking about the Pagoda that he just oh so loved to see. Sasuke wanted to scream.

The raven watched as the cars raced by the windows, his mind trying to focus on the hasty drivers while one half was trying to focus on the laughing blonde. The train slowed suddenly with a jerk, causing Sasuke to look away from the window to notice they came to the last stop just as the muffled announcer repeated his thoughts.

Sasuke hopped up from his seat and slid out before his friends could move an inch due to a man with a cart of some sort who got his wheel stuck in the slots where the doors slid open and shut on the other end of the compartment where they stood. The Uchiha didn't bother waiting and he walked swiftly with the crowd, not riding the escalator but taking the steps two at a time as if in some important rush and swiftly walked through the overhead walkway tunnel towards the parking lot.

Then he remembered at the worst possible moment just as he was about to make his wonderful and glorious break for the home stretch to get away from it all…

"HEY! TEME! The car is locked!" Naruto called while he jogged to catch up as the rest of the group lingered behind and made plans for food.

Of course, that was right, he rode with Naruto.

Sasuke stopped in the middle of the sidewalk causing a group of teen girls to giggle as they steered around him before he glared to shut them up abruptly.

The blonde caught up to the raven's side and smiled like nothing was out of the ordinary, "We're all going to get something to eat at Yorkshire."

The two began walking calmly to the car while Sasuke shoved his hands in his pockets, "I can't go."

Naruto frowned lightly and thought about how to approach what he had caused, "Look, Sasuke, if it's about-"

"It's not. Kimimaro sent me a text message and they need me to come into the office." Sasuke lied.

"You're a horrible liar." Naruto corrected as he watched his sore feet shuffle to the car that sat at the back end of the parking lot.

Sasuke grinded his teeth together, "What makes you say that, dobe?"

Naruto dug into his pants pockets for his keys while he used his other to wave to his group of friends that were lucky enough to get a closer spot and were climbing into their own cars.

"Well, it's because you left your phone at home."

Sasuke sighed, then cursed, and reluctantly got into the car.

* * *

Naruto pulled into the front spot outside of the apartment complex to drop off Sasuke, one part thankful to end the awkwardly silent car ride, and the other disappointed that his best friend was bailing on a day they could spend together.

A pale hand reached for the door handle before Naruto pressed the safety locks with a determined face, "Hear me out."

Sasuke paused with his hand still lingering hopefully on the handle, "Do I have a choice?"

The blonde smiled lightly towards the steering wheel with a faint chuckle, "No. Not really."

The raven let out a small sigh before his hand retreated, "Alright. Go ahead before I decide to break the window and just jump out."

"You're going to get together with me tonight and we're going to go out and have fun and you aren't going to be a bastard."

Sasuke snorted, "You're making it sound like I don't have a choice."

Naruto shrugged, still refusing to look at his friend, "Well, you really don't."

Sasuke actually let out a small laugh, causing the blonde to turn and face him with a smile, "That sounds like an agreeing sound there, teme."

Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose, "You know, sometimes I really hate you, dobe."  
_  
Because it's impossible to say 'no' to you.  
_

* * *

"Hey, teme…?"

Naruto reached a small tan hand forward and prodded the buttons of the radio, ejected the CD they _were_ listening to, and somehow managed to open the sunroof.

Sasuke flicked his dark gaze away from the road to the blonde in a bored manner while Naruto flashed a grin with a shrug while the rain dripped lightly in from outside. Sasuke began to easily fix the mistakes the blonde made with a quick swipe of his fingers. The sunroof shut politely, the radio turned itself off and the CD was back on to play quietly in the background.

"What did you want, dobe?"

Naruto smiled towards the road as he rocked back and forth to the music with misplaced rhythm, "I was going to ask how you turn the heat on."

The raven repressed a snort as he took the off ramp towards the restaurant and blindly reached over and pressed the button for the heat to blow full blast.

Sasuke smoothly drove the car through the little shopping center to the restaurant him and Naruto visited most while he thought about random things and the blonde chatted away about the late lunch with the rest of their friends.

Naruto's bottomless stomach never really surprised Sasuke in the least, well, that was until he was facing the check for the meal.  
The raven pulled smoothly into a parking space in the tiny lot and cut the engine while the blonde scrambled out of the car with his stomach roaring in hunger as if he hadn't eaten in three days.

Sasuke followed slowly behind, feeling heavy footed while Naruto had a little skip to his step as he opened the door and held it, "Come on, teme! I'm not a doorman!"

Sasuke slowed down a fraction with a smirk hidden under his bangs while he pretended like his feet moving along were the most interesting thing in the world till he heard Naruto's foot stomp with a chuckle.

Sasuke looked up to see the blonde leaning against the door with one of his pleasant and easygoing smiles playing with his lips and his bright aquamarine eyes were twinkling with a tint of mischief.

Sasuke smiled despite himself and the brooding mood he was determined to stay in drifted off before he picked up the pace.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Sasuke was still grumbling, mumbling and cursing at the menu when the waitress walked by for the third time to have Naruto wave her off like some airplane.

"Teme…" Naruto sputtered away a ball of laughter, "Calm down."

"Naruto…" Sasuke's eyes flicked over the top of the menu with a certain gleam of murder that the blonde saw a few rare times when he was bold enough to pull pranks on his best friend.  
"Look at where the idiot sat us."

The blonde didn't have to bother, he already laughed loudly about it when she started walking towards the table and Sasuke punched him in the back of the head for it.  
The one table that had to be left empty in the middle of a tour group that just happened to be all women. It just happened to be all women who had a staring and giggling problem.

"Naruto, need I remind you I have a knife."

"Alright, alright. Last time I ask to sit next to the fireplace." The blonde grumbled as he waved over the waitress.

"If you're cold, ask for my damn jacket. Don't throw us to the jackals."

"Is that how you see females?" Naruto let out a breathy laugh when one overheard and glared.

"The dumb ones."

The waitress came by briskly and scooped the two up and out of the danger zone and guided them to a booth off to the side; the backs high and tall with dark wood and easy to guard against unwanted guests. Sasuke took a drink from his tea that was brought over from the old table while the blonde still continued to scan the menu while nibbling on his bottom lip in an indecisive worrisome habit.

"Dobe, you know the menu and the food like the back of your hand. Pick something."

Naruto looked over the edge of the menu with a foul look, "_That_ is the problem, it's all good."

Sasuke reached across the table and snatched the menu away, tired of waiting on the blonde to decide, and cut him off when he opened his mouth to most likely whine out a complaint,

"Pick a number one through five."

"Seven."

"Hm. Chicken livers, interesting."

Naruto pulled a face while chuckling, "Ew, teme. Alright, alright. Three."

"Turkey sandwich."

Naruto nodded his blonde head once in a stiff movement making the unruly blonde locks shift abruptly to lightly cover his bright eyes that were smiling along with his lips.  
Naruto drew up one of his index fingers to swipe underneath his eye and cleared his throat to signal Sasuke, who was watching this small gesture that something was on his face.

"I'm not falling for that again." Sasuke glared after having fallen for the 'booger hanging out of your nose' gag that Naruto pulled twice since they had left.

"No…" Naruto huffed before he lifted up from his seat and leaned across the table to reach towards Sasuke's face, "Close."

Sasuke snapped his mouth shut, that just so happened to drop open just slightly before he shut his eyes like Naruto had originally meant.

The Uchiha barely felt Naruto's fingers pinch at his skin before he heard the triumphant, "HA!"

Sasuke's onyx eyes came into view as his pale lids fluttered open to see the same tan index finger holding out a single, solitary black eyelash.

"Oh, come on Naruto."

"Do it."

"No."

"_Dooo it_." The blonde stretched as he inched his finger closer to the raven's face.

Sasuke sucked in a barely audible breath before he blew at the eyelash angrily from the corner of his mouth for the tiny piece to disappear.

Naruto flopped down into his seat with a blinding smile that always and only seemed to spring forth around Sasuke, "What did you wish for, teme? To not be cold blooded anymore?"

Sasuke shot the blonde a glare out of the corner of his eyes while he started out the large open windows to watch the rain pick up suddenly with intent of trapping them.

"No, really, what did you wish for?"

Sasuke shot another glare before letting his tone catch a slightly icy edge, "Stop. Right there."

They both knew if Sasuke made a wish, exactly what he would wish for.

"Sasuke…" The blonde began, catching his friends' attention away from the window, his dark gaze catching with a bright one that was laced with worry.

"Sasuke I…"

Sasuke hadn't felt this feeling in a long time. It was that overwhelming feeling when your body goes into overdrive due to your feelings spinning wildly out of control. Your legs go numb while your arms get heavy, your fingers tingle and your palms ache while the taste from your mouth leaves, and for one single solitary moment, you can't see and you only hear the ringing in your ears; your heart skips several beats before taking a wild plunge into your empty stomach that just so happens to be twisting, turning and jumping.

Sasuke swallowed thickly; feeling like he was peeling paint away from a wall with his finger nails when his saliva trailed down his suddenly dry throat while he waited for the blonde to finish in hope.

"I…I should have told you how I felt."

* * *

Author's Notes: I'm trying to upload my pictures of the blossoms (and the Pagoda) on my computer… but…well…me have-y problems. Give me time.  
Also, I put in some mindless filler bullshit there in the middle. I don't know why…maybe to show their relationship and how they act…or to get to the ending note. Who knows? Let's go with both.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: Repercussions

Author's Notes: _Pissing reader's off since 06 and enjoying the trend to the fullest extent.  
ANYWAY…if it says ' prior' it's flashback. Otherwise, it's 'present time'.  
If you don't know who said the last line in the last chapter…read it again._

Chapter Four: Repercussions

Disclaimer (Since I don't think I've done it yet…oops): I _obviously_ don't own Naruto. I don't own anything pertaining to the movie Se7en either.

For Taylor – Only a muse this cool could inspire me to write a fiction in less than a month. And one that understands my lack of e-mails…maybe? XD

* * *

-0- Eight Years Prior -0-

The silence that followed Sasuke's three word sentence was strained. The only thing that was accompanying their long, time stopping moment was the tourists that were rushing by, the thunder that was approaching, and just as quickly, the rain that started to pour upon them.

Sasuke blinked his eyes rapidly and turned his head lightly to the left and then the right while he tried to still look up the blonde that was hovering over him with a blank staring face. Another flash of lightening made Naruto blink his eyes, the one blink to lead to several rapid ones, and the crack of thunder had him on his feet with one swift movement.

Sasuke scrambled up as well, turning to face the blonde that was shaking his head just barely while letting his jaw silently move in unsaid words while his eyes searched unseeing.

"Naruto…?" Sasuke reached out a quickly dampening hand, and in one quick blink, the blonde turned and ran.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The walk back to the metro station was agonizing and teetering on the edge of impossible. Sasuke had to stop himself on several counts from throwing his phone into the Tidal Basin as he walked the paved path that sat directly on it towards the station, his friends calling to regroup, but the raven not wanting to see their smiling faces.

The feelings that were passing through him were strained and awkward, ripping and dry. It was hard to really explain it to its fullest, but he suddenly felt so heavy with this overwhelmingly empty feeling.

Did he expect the whole scenario to play out to perfection? No. Not at all. When it really broke down to it, he was at least expecting a swift punch in the jaw, and he might have taken a laugh in the face. Something would have been amazingly better than nothing. All he got was running away. It was unfair – unjust. That was his best friend and they were supposed to be able to talk to each other about everything, but apparently, talking about strong feelings towards the other was out of the question.

This was one of the reasons Sasuke wanted to find the sick sadistic bastard who invented fairytale endings and beat him to the brink of death; maybe crawling back to life by the skin of their teeth could compare to how he was feeling.

Walking the long distance back to the Metro station was unbearably painful without Naruto next to his side complaining about something or yapping about nothing. It grinded on Sasuke's anger even more. He was being the fearless Uchiha – like usual – and it gets him screwed over. He lost his best friend because he couldn't control something that, he was told, could be able to control.

Feelings should be able to be kept in check.

His excuse, the only one he could find on the entire ride back, was that some asshole whom he had crossed and listened to in passing told him was love was an action.  
Action, feeling or everything in between, it had just ruined him.

Walking back home from the station was numbing.

Earlier that morning, they were fine, just like every other day. They joked, they kidded around, they smiled and they laughed. Naruto clung like usual, and rambled on about something on television while complaining about some math problem he couldn't figure out mixed with his excitement of seeing the blossoms before most of the tourists got into town. Sasuke took it for granted.

Going up the driveway was something that was more like a smack to the face while he trained his eyes on the front door instead of letting them flicker up to the window where his father usually lurked. He walked straight through the front door, rain soaked and impassive while a passing maid and a waiting butler paused before offering him assistance. Sasuke didn't really remember them being there till he was halfway down the hallway to his room and trying to control his shivering.

It got to the point where he wasn't sure if it was from the cold or if it was from the frustration.

When he crossed the threshold to his room, he instantly turned and shut and locked his door absently before leaning forward, resting his damp forehead that was littered with his stuck bangs against the cold door with a harsh sigh.

He wouldn't admit it and say it aloud, he was done admitting things to anyone maybe save himself, but he could mentally beat himself up over this one thing to the fullest extent. He'd do anything to take back what he said - what he did - just to have that idiot next to him and have everything back to normal.

* * *

The rest of the weekend past by without a notice to Sasuke. He really didn't remember any of it to recall save for the feelings of anger and regret. When school came around Monday, it just doubled.

Sasuke walked into homeroom to be greeted by only one empty seat, and that belonged to Naruto. He didn't show up late as the class dragged on, or skipped in when lunch came around and begged for other's food. The blonde just never showed. For three days – nothing.

On the fourth, Sasuke made a hasty decision and an even worse excuse not to wonder off to school before lying in his bed all day staring at the ceiling, and just allowed himself to be mad.

He was _pissed_ at Naruto.

He repeated the same action the next day, except he rolled in the regret again.

He shouldn't have said what he did.

When Saturday morning came around, Sasuke was already awake to see the sun rise and engulf his room in bright light through the opened shutter. A light tapping came to his door, and he simply figured it was his mother trying to be polite and finally check on him, or maybe one of the older ladies in the kitchen staff that were simply charmed by any and everything and wanted to slip him some food.

But Sasuke ignored it and rolled over to face the wall with an irritated sigh when the knocking picked up in volume. Apparently, someone thought something was extremely important. Sasuke threw his hand over his head and tugged the pillow from underneath him to throw it atop his ruffled hair and distracted ear before all the noise and rapid tapping became muffled and almost unnoticed.

Sasuke let out a sigh of relief before he absently wondered why someone hadn't come up with something that could shut out the world from a mental aspect.  
But, in his mental musings, he completely missed the door opening to his room and gently closing the door behind them before toeing their way to his bed.

The raven jumped when he felt something shove on his back stiffly and then a dead weight drop on his bed near his feet, and he absentmindedly thought it was Itachi coming in on that rare occasion that he wanted to be that great older brother instead of the shining son.

But instead, when he removed the pillow from over his head and glanced down at the foot of his bed, Naruto was leaning back against the bed frame like nothing had happened in the first place.

"Hey bastard. I brought over your favorite movie since you can't seem to buy it yourself." Naruto waved a cover of a DVD box in the air with a grin while Sasuke went on staring and trying to understand.

He ran. He hid. Now he's pretending.

And he was supposed to be the bastard?

Naruto kicked his foot against Sasuke's back with a grin and waved the DVD again, "I got Cole bringing us up some food."

Sasuke's eyes followed the blonde as he stood and watched him as he walked to the television set that was rarely ever used; only when Naruto was over because the idiot couldn't live without it.

The raven finally made the decision to sit up and throw the covers off of him, ignoring the simple fact that he was only left in his boxers while he let his darks eyes watch the blonde while he made a conscious effort to keep his mouth shut.

Naruto's hair, as ruffled and messy as it usually was, had an air of distress to it, just like how his clothes were. The blonde's clothes were never perfect and Sasuke could remember on several occasions reminding the blonde to go home and fold his laundry, but these clothes seemed warn and his shirt was actually on backwards.

The young Uchiha was pretty damn sure that if his ears weren't playing tricks on him, he had just heard Naruto's stomach roar like some ferocious battle of the beasts were taking place within his stomach. Sasuke now knew he wasn't imagining the light circles that were under his eyes showing fatigue.

That was when the first and only batch of guilt hit Sasuke like some punch to the stomach that caused an intense wave of nausea.

"Oh yeah," Naruto walked back to Sasuke and reached in his back pocket before he handed over a bundle of folded papers, "Kiba grabbed our work from school."

Sasuke reached forward with one hand while the other pressed fingers against his eyes to will away the pressure of the onslaught of overriding emotions.

"Teme, you alright?" Naruto questioned as he stood in front of the raven with one eyebrow raised gently behind limp bangs and his hands tucked to hide behind his back.

Sasuke looked up, intent on saying something snappish and rude, intent on saying every little thing that had been on his mind the entire week until he look directly at Naruto's face.

The blonde was smiling sweetly, and Sasuke could see the strain behind that sweet smile. His eyes weren't crinkled at the corners or forced shut, and there weren't any lines around his mouth because of it. His bright white teeth weren't flashing to show off some random piece of food stuck in between and his eyes weren't brightening from something funny or all around fun.

Sasuke decidedly clenched his jaw and mumbled, "Yeah, dobe. I just don't feel well."

The raven watched some little spark of something in Naruto's face before a knock to the door caused the blonde to clap his hands together and skip his way over and open it to one staff of the kitchen that Naruto just happened to sweet talk into doing anything.

Naruto took the tray while Sasuke stood from his bed and grabbed a pair of shorts that were lying on the floor next to his bed and slid them on silently, glancing over as Naruto came back and gently placed the tray on the floor and flopped down messily next to it.

"I got you some non-sweet stuff bastard, I swear." Naruto said with an eye roll after he grabbed a cupcake off the tray.

"Hn." Sasuke sat down calmly on the floor while the blonde pushed the tray out in front of them instead of in between them.

"Sasuke…start the movie!" Naruto whined with icing on his nose and his mouth full of food.

The raven ignored the clenching sensation in his stomach, and pushed past the anger while he turned around and grabbed the remote off of his nightstand.

He knew he could put everything aside if that meant Naruto was happy.

The raven turned back around and gave the blonde one of his light glares, "You know you hate eating during this movie."

The blonde paused for the briefest of moments, and his aquamarine eyes paused at Sasuke's ever-so-slightly hurt dark eyes before he flashed a smile with teeth that had chunks of cake packed where it could go.

The raven rolled his eyes before turning to the television after silently clicking the play button and absentmindedly grabbing some piece of food to shove in his mouth.

Damn it all, it was a cookie.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"_Hell, love costs, takes effort, takes work_…"

Sasuke snorted lightly as he took a drink from his cup and set it back down gently before he glanced in Naruto's direction to find that he was, of course, sleeping.  
He had taken a pillow off the bed not even two minutes after the movie started and went from sitting up straight to lying lazily on the floor.

"You know…" Sasuke mumbled to the sleeping teen, "I completely disagree. It's complete bullshit. It's one sided, it hurts, and nothing comes out of it but heartache."

"_You_ _say 'the problem with people is that they don't care, so I don't care about people._'"

The raven let his head bob once, his bangs tapping his face lightly before he mumbled again, "Now _that_ is more like it."

The blonde let out a small snore while his hand came up to scratch at his stomach while he slept and his lips moved silently in his stupor.

The young Uchiha silently watched as Naruto dumbly tried to scratch at something that seemed too persistent to bother his slumber and something too persistent that wouldn't stop bothering him. His eyes flicked up to see Naruto's eyelids twitch along with his lips while he wrestled with most likely what Sasuke had presented him with tied into pretending like it never happened.

One day, Sasuke might be bold enough to ask what in the fuck possessed the asshole to be ignorant enough to show up and act like nothing happened.

Naruto mumbled in his sleep, kicking his leg wildly and just barely missing the tray and knocking against Sasuke's glass just enough to make it shake and right itself again. Naruto's lips continued to move as low hums of mumbles continued to slip through his lips causing Sasuke to furrow his brow and turn his ear towards him instead, and started to lean down trying to listen.

All Sasuke could hear was whispers and rushes of breath while his nose was assaulted with the smell of vanilla as he continued to lean in slowly as not to disturb him and inevitably freak him out.

Sasuke grabbed at his own bangs and held them from tickling the blonde's face when he was only an inch or so away before he heard Naruto mumbling again in a whisper.

The raven froze when he caught what the dobe was mumbling, "I'm…sorry…Sa…su…"

Sasuke turned his face quickly, almost smacking noses with Naruto while he double and triple checked that he was asleep while he silently prayed that he wasn't, hoping that he was awake and he was just too scared to open his eyes like he did when watching horror films.

But then, he let out another small snore, and Sasuke knew it was hopeless.

Sasuke slowly let his eyelids flutter shut before sighing just barely and leaning down in little bit of space that was left to be filled between him and Naruto.

The raven gently pressed his lips against the blonde's in a brief, gentle, feather light, tender kiss before pulling away. Midnight eyes searched Naruto's peacefully resting tan face with one last ounce of hope that he _was_ awake and _he did_ want the kiss.

The blonde just let out another little snore; his upper lip twitching and leg moving restlessly again.

Sasuke simply sighed, reaching out and moving blonde bangs out of the way of the perfect face with his fingertips.

"Don't be sorry, Naruto."

* * *

Author's Notes: I've never gone so long without Dialogue, but you have to get a sense at what the bastard was feeling a little bit. –rolls eyes-  
"Hell, love costs, takes effort, takes work…"  
-Morgan Freeman from Se7en.  
"You say 'the problem with people is that they don't care, so I don't care about people.'"  
-Brad Pitt, from the movie Se7en  
Bar scene.  
That's for the people who never saw the genius of this perfection of the movie.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: Realization

Author's Notes: _- I didn't realize how…sad that last chapter was. Oops. Anyway. Sometimes, love isn't perfect. But it gets as good as it will get.  
_  
Chapter Five: Realization

For Taylor – May this chapter bring you happiness even though your computer brings you deep set anger.  
And a double thank you. You just give me random inspiration when I need it most.

* * *

Sasuke finally opened his mouth to speak while his brain tried to catch up on thinking, "Feel about what…?"

Naruto's eyes flickered around the pale moon face that was blank beyond comparison, and usually void of all emotion really didn't cover Sasuke up until now. It seemed like Naruto uttering one sentence sent the raven into some premature catatonic state.

"About you…" Naruto started as he let his eyes flick down to the table so his eyes could dance over the sheen top that sloppily reflected his face, "the day you told me you-"

Sasuke slid out of the booth seat before the blonde had time to finish completing the complicated thought that finished a rather serious sentence.

Sasuke walked briskly through the small restaurant, swerved around tables, ignored the waitress as he just dodged her in the nick of time, and pushed the front door open himself before the hostess had time to react.

He didn't want to hear one word Naruto had to utter when it came to _that_. Not now. Eight years ago – sure – then he would have felt some form of relief even if it was on the negative side of things.

Disappointment –yes.

Relief – _yes_.

It would have given him a since of closure. Hell, even if it was _seven_ years ago, and the idiot blonde just needed time to get his act together before he made some dramatic speech that made _no sense_, Sasuke could deal.

But now, after eight fucking years, Naruto wants to bring up how he feels, and the raven didn't want to hear another damn word.

Sasuke walked quickly to the car in the back of the parking lot as his feet sloshed in the rain that seemed to engulf the entire ground as well as his feet. He felt his shirt cling unnaturally to his body while somewhere in the back of his mind; he realized he left his jacket in the restaurant with the dobe. The Uchiha approached his car and calmly unlocked it while one half of his mind was screaming to drive away and never took back, and the other was waiting for Naruto to come outside looking for him.

He hated this bullshit.

Sasuke slid into the car before letting his head fall back into the uncomfortable headrest while he slid his pressing bangs out of his face. His dark gaze danced over the ceiling of his car while he tried to regain some of that Uchiha composure that was supposed to be so wonderful.

A light tapping came to the passenger window, causing Sasuke to barely and limply turn his head in that general direction to see the blonde standing there with the raven's jacket held high over his head, and a face of sorrow spelled clearly.

"Bastard…let me in…" Naruto called solemnly.

Sasuke sighed, letting his hand linger over the lock buttons while black eyes lingered on the disappointed looking male standing outside his car window. It would be easier to just drive off and start over.

A sweet little push of the button later, the blonde opened the door to allow Sasuke to hear the relentless rain smack across his seven hundred dollar leather jacket that was a gift from his brother while the blonde spoke up over the rain.

"May I?"

Sasuke just looked away, knowing the dobe would simply hop in no matter what answer he gave him.

The raven heard the door shut after he heard the blonde flop down into the seat and throw his jacket somewhere on the floor, and mentally noted to never again _wear_ something expensive around the blonde. He already learned his lesson with objects.

"Could you let me finish, teme…?" Naruto whispered over the sloppily pounding rain on the car.

The raven let out a frustrated sigh before he righted himself in his seat and turned to look at the blonde with what he assumed was his impassive face, but one pulled with lines of anger.

"No, damn it. Not _at all_. I don't want to hear if you don't have feelings for me or if you do, because when it boils down to it, for you to wait _eight years_ to just want to address it is unfair."  
The raven said through clenched teeth, trying to keep from yelling.

"But Sasuke-"

"No buts, no cute faces or childish antics. I did what you wanted to do, Naruto. I pretended like NOTHING HAPPENED!" Sasuke yelled.

"But Sasuke-"

Sasuke continued on, his voice laced with anger, "Naruto, closure would have been nice eight years ago so it would have been easier to deal with, not you waltzing around me and with me like I didn't have any feelings for you. Everyday was like some smack to the face for crying out loud. I just admitted I was in love with you, and you didn't even want to talk to me about it?"

"I do now…" The blonde whispered as he fumbled with his fingers.

"Then maybe I should wait an ungodly amount of time and have you go through what I did. Why don't you just spit in my face for crying out loud?"

Naruto's eyes fell to his lap before flicking back up to Sasuke's face, the tan face usually carrying a smile and bright eyes looked almost defeated before he let his hand lift to the door handle with a shrug, "I didn't mean anything bad by it."

And then, the door was opening and the rain was louder than any scrambled angry thought that Sasuke was trying to put together in some awkward thought bubble.

And with the slam of the door – everything burst.

Sasuke's head fell roughly against his head rest while his right hand came to swipe down his face in a frustrated manner, his breath coming out in a harsh sigh. Sasuke's dark eyes flicked to his keys that lingered in his limp hand, then to the passenger door and back again. His right hand that now hovered over his mouth came up to run over the top of his own damp head in a frustrating manner.

Sasuke let his left hand come up to the door handle, two fingers gripping and tugging at the door handle while the rest gripped his noisy keys that chimed together in protest.  
Sasuke stepped back out into the pouring rain with a quick step out of his car and letting his fingers slide off the slippery door as he snapped the door shut behind him in his haste before he jogged off lightly though the puddle that was considered to be a parking lot.

The raven ignored the water that splashed to his knees while he worked his eyelids against the unrelenting rain that fell in harsh bites against his flawless skin.  
Sasuke walked up onto the sidewalk of the shopping center underneath the small hanging cover against the pouring, angry, rain to let his eyes find the blonde.

Naruto sat on the cool ground, his back against an empty store front while his knees stood up to hold his limp arms and the damp blonde head lay slouched forward with his chin resting against his chest.

Sasuke had his jog let up to a dragging stroll before he called out, "Naruto…"

Sasuke watched the blonde head bob, and knew he snorted, "Eight years. I'll give it to you, alright."

"I lost my temper."

"You? Temper? No..." Naruto turned his head to stare the opposite direction in which the raven came from.

The Uchiha's steps stopped a few feet away, "Come on dobe."

"Eight years."

"Let's just get in the car and we can try again." Sasuke sighed.

"Fuck you, bastard."

"I get it; I'm cold blooded, cold hearted, and the Ice Prince of bastards. Get in the car."

Naruto slowly got to his feet before he started the opposite way to leave Sasuke mentally damning his stubbornness, "Naruto, so help me if you don't get back in the car I will hunt down that sleep cap of yours and burn it."

The blonde's steps instantly faltered before he turned while his eyes were watching the ground, "Here."

Sasuke clenched and unclenched his jaw to hopefully will away the uncomfortable atmosphere and the pit falling sensation that was taking place in his stomach.

Naruto made a rolling motion with his hand, "Go on."

The raven took a few careful steps forward towards the defeated looking blonde before he decided two feet apart was just enough, and slumped against the shop front, "I'm mad, yes. How much more do you want me to act through that?"

The blonde shrugged his shoulders heavily while he still studied the ground.

"Dobe, acknowledge me for _once_."

Naruto's head lifted barely before his eyes peaked shyly upwards, "This is what I wanted to avoid the entire time."

Sasuke reached a hand up to let his fingers rub at his forehead as if erasing something away, which he was hoping to be frustration, "Fights happen, dobe. I've knocked you clean out before and you've never acted like this."

"That's because I got a fair swing in."

"Swing away."

"I want to explain _why_ before I explain what." Naruto said gently.

"I don't understand blonde, dobe." Sasuke tried to will away his glare while he tried to relax his hands that had curled into fists.

"When you said…" Naruto paused to think his words through carefully, "That you love me, I got scared."

"Crazy feeling, isn't it?" Sasuke bit before he shook his head slightly and signaled Naruto to continue.

"Damn, Sasuke," Naruto ground out while he rubbed his cheek with the palm of his hand, "I don't know how to talk about this. I don't know where…"

"Find where." Sasuke stopped himself from using another harsh tone, before choosing the right sentence that was more appropriate even despite what he said in the car. "Naruto, I deserve _something_."

"Well, what else do you want me to say? I was scared, alright?"

"Oh? You think I was fearless _confessing_ to you? I risked everything on you!" Sasuke snapped before rolling his eyes at himself because he knew he was a step away from apologizing.

"I was scared that I was going to lose this…" Naruto moved his hands in between the pair, "What we had. I cherished it, more than anything else. I thought it was going to change-"

"Yes, Naruto." The raven interrupted sternly, "That's what happens. Things _change_. You think when I opened my mouth, and said three _life changing words_ that I wasn't scared that I was going to lose you?"

"You don't get it! I _couldn't_ have us change. If you left…" Naruto's mouth slowly closed before a tan hand came up to message away at his own mouth.

"Why in the fuck would I leave?" Sasuke asked in a dumbfounded tone.

"No. See, makes no damn sense!" Naruto threw up his hands to have them come smacking down against his legs.

"Try again…" Sasuke tried in a softer tone.

"If…you…_this you_," Naruto pointed his index finger at Sasuke, "left…I don't know what I'd do with myself. That's why I tried to act like nothing happened. So I grabbed your hand, tugged you along, and hoped with everything I had you would pretend with me."

"I did what I had to do to keep you around…" Sasuke admitted in a grumble.

Naruto fixed his desperate aquamarine gaze on Sasuke's face, "And now do you understand?"

"Just say it Naruto…" Sasuke whispered as he flicked his eyes to lock with bright blue.

"Fine, alright! _I love you_, you heartless asshole," Naruto snapped.

If it wasn't the most serious moment of their lives, Sasuke might have doubled over laughing at such a way to confess loving someone. He was pretty sure 'I love you' and 'heartless asshole' didn't belong in the same sentence.

But that was Naruto.

The pause that followed was long and drawn, which was pretty amazing when it comes to the blonde. Usually he'd gone off into some glorious speech by now, but some things don't always work that way. The only noise for comfort to their ears was the rain that was slowly dying to a sweet trickle, and the cars zooming past in the distance on the highway.

Naruto's chest was heaving like he had just got up and ran some unspoken marathon, while Sasuke was glaring with his arms snaked across his chest like he did every other fifteen minutes. Naruto's body shook on edge while he locked his jaw in determination hoping it would will away the nervous shakes that suddenly plagued him while Sasuke just stood there.

And then, he spoke quietly.

"Anything?"

"Anything what?" Naruto barked.

"I was referring to, did anything change in the past five minutes aside you looking like a jell-o mold."

"I…" Naruto thought, his eyes flicking away for only a second, "I…"

"Dobe, we're still the same. Save for a feeling that you've been battling to push aside that's now out in the open, _but_…" Sasuke drew when the blonde opened his mouth, "when you stop being such a blonde, you might just realize that things get better."

"Sasuke, it will be a cold day in hell when you aren't a bastard." Naruto said in a dead tone, referring to things 'getting better'.

The raven, despite trying to keep his composure had a smirk unconsciously etch its way onto his lips, before he sputtered out a laugh that had his eyes crinkling shut.

Sasuke waved the blonde forward when his laughter died into sporadic chuckles, Naruto giving him a foul face from laughing at him. Sasuke reached his hand across the small space and grabbed at Naruto's wrist, tugging at it a few times lightly to have the blonde stumble into him and jab at his rib cage.

It was absolutely wonderful, how eight years of strain and stress disappeared in the wind within eight wonderful seconds. It was like Sasuke never had to deal with the hurt with what he thought was unrequited love, and Naruto never had to deal with the hell of regret. Those eight years were wonderfully forgotten so new ones could pave the way.

Sasuke began pushing back Naruto's damp bangs that were sticking stubbornly to his forehead while letting his eyes dance freely over the tan face, always returning to the smile that was beyond extraordinary.

The blonde placed his hands on the side of Sasuke's chest on his rib cage, while the raven's pale moon glow hands found their way to the back of Naruto's neck. Sasuke leaned down and kissed each corner of Naruto's lips – his smile. Sasuke trailed feather soft kisses along the right side of the tan jaw before falling down his neck, and kissing his way back up.

Naruto hummed in contentment before chuckling, "Who knew you had a tender side, bastard?"

Sasuke chuckled lightly just as he found his way back to the corner of Naruto's lips, and let them ghost against the corner of the blonde's mouth, "You."

Sasuke slid his lips over and gently pressed his lips over Naruto's to finally have the blonde to push back eagerly, even pushing up on the tips of his toes as he wildly swung his arms to drape them around Sasuke's neck. Sasuke's hands pulled the blonde closer by the back of neck and finally, that time stopping moment was perfect.

Naruto pulled back, almost giggling while he combed his hair through the back of Sasuke's damp hair and letting the Uchiha kiss back and forth between the corners of his mouth.

"You know, I always thought first kisses with someone were supposed to be awkward, but I guess we waited too long, huh? Got all eager…." The blonde wondered lightly, forgetting the first initial part of their interaction.

Sasuke paused for a fraction of a second on the way to kissing along Naruto's jaw line again, remembering their first kiss was mostly one sided. Mainly because Naruto was asleep.

"What was that pause?"

"Hm?" Sasuke busied himself with kissing Naruto's neck in a ticklish manner that made the blonde just barely shy away.

"That pause, after I said something about a first kiss. You don't pause unless you did something wrong." Naruto pulled back to try and stare at the wondering eyes of the raven.

"Sasuke…"

"Don't worry your empty little blonde head over it," Sasuke said dismissively, "you're thinking too much. I can hear the rocks cracking from smacking together so roughly…all two of them. Those poor pebbles."

The raven let out a laugh when the blonde punched his arm roughly with a pulled face, "You'll tell me."

"Oh, really?" Sasuke asked the rather confident blonde, "What makes you say that."

Naruto sent another poke with his index finger at Sasuke's stomach while he smiled brightly, his eyes looking at him warmly, "Because you love me."

"And you'll let me get away with it." Sasuke said in a mumble.

The blonde snorted with a grin that couldn't quite seem to match his light hearted feeling.

"Naruto…?"

"Hm?"

"If you _ever_ make me wait eight damn years again…I'll kill you."

Naruto leaned up and brushed his nose with Sasuke's gently and sweetly, "Fair enough."

* * *

Author's Notes: I'm writing an extra something to end it. I'll finish it sometime this week after Tuesday considering Sunday through Tuesday is utter insanity.


	6. Epilogue

Chapter Six: Epilogue – Reality

Author's Notes: _I wasn't going to do one. But…It's became a damnable trend with me. Oops.  
Why did I do all the chapters with 'R's'?…Because…I don't know. But it worked beautifully._

Chapter Six: Epilogue – Reality

For Taylor – In the End, I hope you liked it.  
Thank you for all the inspiration, putting up with me (and my zombie-mode).

* * *

-0- Two Years Later -0-

"Te_me_~!"

"Music to my bleeding ears, dobe." Sasuke replied dully.

Naruto pursed his lips and crossed his arms in a huff, "Don't be such a bastard."

Sasuke looked up from his book, his reading glasses on the end of his nose before he peaked over the edge of the paperback novel, "Oh the impossibilities."

"Everyone is waiting." Naruto shuffled his way to the couch and unceremoniously flopped down onto Sasuke's lap, making the raven drop his book.

Naruto fiddled with Sasuke's undone tie that was hanging carelessly around his neck, while Sasuke corrected Naruto's statement.

"Everyone is not waiting for us. I can bet my ridiculous salary that Kiba is late….like usual."

Naruto shrugged as he fell back against the couch and left his legs to dangle over Sasuke's lap, "Of course he's late. But the best part is driving off when he's driving up to meet us, watching him scramble out of the car and try to run and catch up."

Sasuke rested his head back and let his glasses slide up his nose to blur the room, "Car pooling is a damn hassle."

"Bitch, bitch, bitch…" Naruto complained while he studied a random spot on his palm.

Sasuke looked like he had begun to message Naruto's kneecap, but the blonde had smacked his hand over his face to try and cover the obvious laughter as he squirmed and shuffled around on the couch.

The raven looked bored when he used his other hand to tickle at the blonde's stomach making Naruto's fidget and try to fend off the evil hands even more, "You are the most ticklish man in history."

Sasuke let his hands recede with a smirk while Naruto was trying to calm his giggles and wiping at his eyes to rid them of tears, "Bastard."

The raven grabbed at Naruto's legs with a smirk that was growing into a smile before rolling the still giggling blonde onto the floor with a laugh. The raven got up, stepping over the blonde who was in a downright laughing fit, and swooped down to grabb his book while removing his glasses.

Sasuke walked in the kitchen and towards the fridge, swinging the door open and eyeing the water.

Sasuke heard Naruto rustling around on the floor and staggering around to get up before he heard Naruto's feet shuffling towards the kitchen where he was grabbing bottles of water out to take with them.

Naruto leaned against the entryway to the kitchen with a warm smile, "I can't believe I didn't even have to ask you this year."

Sasuke looked over the refrigerator door, "Why?"

"I had to drag you last year so we could see the lighting ceremony." The blonde shrugged with an eye roll.

Sasuke straightened up and folded his arms on the door, "Naruto, if I had to listen to Sakura, Karin, or Ino utter one more thing about us kissing, I was going to hurt the closest thing that was next to me."

"I'm always that closest thing next to you."

"Hmm… next time stand a little further away." Sasuke shrugged.

Naruto rolled his eyes with an inaudible chuckle that had his shoulders shaking while Sasuke shut the door to the refrigerator. "Is anyone driving with us?"

The blonde opened his mouth to speak, halfway opened and the breath taken to get his full sentence out before Sasuke's front door was thrown open like hell itself broke through.

Or Kiba.

Sasuke blinked a few extra times at the ruffled looking man in his entry way, while at the same time, was peeling off a certain blonde who had been scared to the point of latching on like a girl.

"Is something wrong, Kiba?" Sasuke grinded out while glaring.

The brunette turned his head sharply and caught site of the two, "I knew _someone_ would wait!"

Sasuke sighed while pinching the bridge of his nose while he listened to the blonde behind him snort, "Well…I guess that answers my question."

Kiba cocked an eyebrow before shaking it off and waving them to hurry along, "Let's move it!"

The brunette boldly took a large stride into the small strip of cramped kitchen and grabbed a fist full of both Naruto's and Sasuke's shirt as the pair stood squished side by side, and yanked them roughly along.

Sasuke jabbed at Kiba while Naruto wondered if he could get away with biting his friend's hand without the two of them ending up in a grappling match that usually had one of them getting hurt and Sasuke badly hurting someone based on stupidity.

"What's the damn rush?" Sasuke snapped when he reached back to grab the water.

Kiba huffed as if it were obvious while Naruto slid on his shoes that he had abandoned carelessly by the door, "The parade is today and we want to get somewhat good spots."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and glared at the man, "Kiba…over a _million_ people go to watch the damn parade. You think leaving early will help?"

Naruto paused – somewhat – hopping around trying to shove a stubborn shoe on his left foot before stumbling in to a wall, "_How many_?"

Sasuke looked around Kiba, "Yeah, not so fun now, is it dobe?"

The blonde straightened himself up, his shoe half on while grimacing, "Well…I think I have a stomach ache."

Sasuke snorted while tugging Naruto out the door that Kiba held open, the brunette mumbling about time wasting assholes, "Nice try dobe, but I suppose it's my turn to drag you there."

The raven gripped the back of Naruto's shirt harder as the blonde tried to make a daring dash to the bathroom and barricade himself in there.

The blonde grumbled while Sasuke dragged him out the door, Kiba grabbing the raven's keys, "Teme…I'm going to beat the living hell out of you for the next eight years."

Sasuke snorted, "I think I can deal with that."

* * *

As expected, and what Naruto was struggling to avoid, chaos would be a calm word to describe the morning. The metro station was more like packing sardines in an open can before transferring them into a moving one. Sasuke was pretty sure he lost Naruto nine times, and the group which they met up with, a countless amount more.

The ride on the way there in the car was bad enough with Naruto tugging on his shirt yelling 'Mush!' and Kiba bitching about needing to urinate. Not to mention, the ever present, early morning, every day, bumper to bumper traffic that just so happened to start as soon as the tires touched I-66.

Once they got to the Vienna Metro station, Sasuke finally convinced Kiba to just pee in some secluded part of the back of the parking lot in the trees solely so he didn't have to hear him complain on the train along with Naruto, who he just knew was going to bitch about having to stand.

Sure enough, two stops later, Naruto was complaining about his aching feet and cramped places, and knew the blonde was going to be dragging his so called aching feet as soon as they reached their stop. So, once the raven finished dragging Naruto to where they were going to watch the parade, the blonde suddenly utter words that would condemn anyone else to death.

"Teme…" Naruto's eyes flicked to large pink balloons of the blossoms as they floated by, "I'm bored."

Sasuke's eyes lingered on the bright balloons for a second longer before letting them flick over to the man who had the smallest attention span in known existence.

"You're bored?" Sasuke asked loudly over the crowd in an irritable voice, "What in hell would you like to do, dobe?"

Naruto smacked Neji upside the head for stepping on the tip of his toe when helping Tenten get a better view for a picture, who in turn, simply shook his head.

Everyone was used to Naruto.

The blonde turned back to Sasuke with bright eyes, "Let's go look at the _trees_ instead of a dumb parade!"

The raven groaned, "Naruto…do you know how far the Tidal Basin is from here?"

"Who cares!?" Naruto shouted over the applause of the crowd, "Let's go!"

Kiba turned around towards the pair with hopeful eyes, "Please tell me you're going somewhere with less fucking people?"

"Kiba, _everywhere_ is full of people."

The man turned around with some struggle, shouting over another round of applause, "Not as full as right here at this moment! Let's move!"

Kiba reached over a grabbed Hinata's hand, the woman immersed in the presentation of the parade, and dragged her through the crowd behind Sasuke and Naruto.

* * *

"ONWARD MY TRUSTY STEED!" Naruto bellowed from Sasuke's back, his right hand pointing in a random direction, and a bright smile on his lips.

"DAMNIT DOBE!" Sasuke yelled, his ear ringing.

Naruto ignored Sasuke as the raven made threat of dumping him in the middle of a busy street and looked over to Hinata, who was on Kiba's back, the man looking as if he was struggling more and more with each step.

"Hinata!" Naruto thrust his palm towards the suddenly giggling woman who tapped it lightly.

Naruto rested a tan chin on Sasuke's shoulder, "Say pack mule…?"

The raven let out a rough sigh, "What, dobe?"

"Aside you taking me somewhere to kill me, where else are we going?" Naruto asked sweetly.

Sasuke grumbled his promises of death, refusing to mention _his_ feet were aching, "Wherever you want to go."

The blonde planted a gentle kiss on a powder pale cheek, "Come on, teme, you know where I want to go."

"Hell it is."

Naruto snorted, "Asshole."

"Idiot." Sasuke replied in a bored tone.

"Love you too, bastard."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Naruto flopped down on the grass underneath the Akebono Cherry Blossom tree next to Sasuke who was already leaning up against the twisting base of, and the bright blue eyes followed Kiba and Hinata as they continued up the path around the Tidal Basin hand in hand.

"One year, dobe, we might want to look around." Sasuke commented after following the path of sparking blue eyes.

Naruto looked over at feeling Sasuke's hand rake through his hair that had taken to fluttering in the breeze, "Why would we want to do that, teme?"

Sasuke sighed as his hand retreated, leaning forward and gently kissing Naruto's lips, mumbling against them, "I have no idea…"

The blonde smiled, his eyes crinkling closed as Sasuke pulled back; the raven having no time to blink as Naruto yanked him down to have him lie on his lap.

The raven blinked rapidly against the cloud dotted sky, the sun bright and harsh against his eyes that tried to fight against them until a sun bright head and a tan face leaned over him and blocked the harsh light.

Naruto smiled down a heavenly smile as the wind blew and played with his hair, ruffling it gently, and shaking the tree branches to have petals shower down upon the pair in joyous celebration.

Sasuke smiled gently up at the blonde before he leaned up on his elbows to brush noses with the blonde, "I love you, Naruto."

And finally, from this spot that hunted him - lying under this tree with Naruto after uttering those words - still made his stomach clench even though they were together, but Naruto erased the memory and simply created a new one.

Naruto smiled gently, lovingly in return, "I love you too, Sasuke."

And there they sat, enjoying each other, relishing in the moment, and enveloped in the loving atmosphere; all within the falling petals.

* * *

Author's Notes: 'Zombie mode' (Taylor and Jen understand…) has been killing my writing _anything_ lately. From e-mails to fanfictions…but this being a gift I wanted to sit down and concentrate on it.  
So now, I need to concentrate on AEOY.


End file.
