Naruto hurried out the locker room and slammed the door shut. Behind him, he could still hear the others chatter and laugh with each other, joking about the finished game. It had ended in a tie, with both teams winning different rounds but Naruto's head was not concerned with the results anymore. His thoughts were someplace entirely else.

He slumped his back against the closed door and inhaled deeply to calm down. He could feel heat radiate from his body, which had nothing to do with running in the setting sun for hours or the shower he had just jumped out of. Naruto knew that his face was glowing red. His heart was still pumping way too fast.

"Dammit...",

he muttered to himself, covering his eyes with one hand.

At first everything had been fine. It had been as normal as could be expected. Even when Naruto and Sasuke weren't fighting, they always got fired up and competitive when playing sports with each other. No matter how apathetic Sasuke had acted in the beginning, once the game had started, he hadn't pulled any stops and played with the full intent to win.

This time had been a bit more intense than usual though and even though Naruto's ankle had started aching through the middle of it, he had kept running like crazy, so he wouldn't loose out to Sasuke. Even after playing for hours, with Naruto and Sasuke panting, sweating and glaring at each other, neither of them had been willing to back down. It had been all the others complaining about calling it quits, arguing that the sun was already going down. Some had even sat down on the grass, refusing to get up to play for another minute.
It was Hane, who had been the one to break it up in the end. He was the one who had the key to the locker rooms and so he made the rules.

Yes. Everything had been fine up to that point. It had even been fine when walking back to said locker room to freshen up. Everyone had been in a desperate need of a shower.
It had been normal for Naruto to grumpily glare at Sasuke and to tell everyone willing to listen, that he definitely would have settled the score if they had just played one more match. It had been normal for the others to laugh it off. It had been normal to start stripping out of the clothes in the boy's locker room before showering. It had been normal for everyone to do so.
That's when it had hit Naruto. Everyone. That included Sasuke. Naruto had realized this when he himself stood half naked in nothing more than his boxers.
Sasuke was about to take off his clothes and head into the same showers as Naruto. Naked. Both of them.
Suddenly the normality of the situation had been blown to smithereens along with Naruto's mind. For a moment he had stood there completely frozen and watched Sasuke take off his shirt. His eyes had taken in every detail of how Sasuke had moved, the way his fingers had grasped the hem of his clothing, before slowly pulling it upwards, revealing the sweaty skin underneath, inch for inch...

It was as if Naruto's head had stopped working for a second, clogging his thoughts before they were released with a force like water breaking through a dam.
It was quite incredible actually. Hadn't Naruto been close to a nervous breakdown, he'd had credited himself for being able to think so clearly despite all of his blood escaping to his southern regions. Definitely code red.
Within a few seconds, which felt much longer, he had decided upon his plan of action. There was no way he could let anyone, especially not Sasuke, see his state of mind, let alone the raging boner beneath his boxers. Naruto had never in his life been quicker with stripping down, jumping into the shower, cleaning his most critical body parts, jumping out, changing and bolting out of the changing room. He hoped the others hadn't noticed his flushed face and that his strangled "First one out, losers!"-shout had been enough of an halfassed explanation to his escape. Thank goodness the showers had a cold water tabs. If anyone had seen him have a hard on in the boy's changing room, he wouldn't have been able to live it down in this life time.

Naruto's hair was still wet and drops of water rolled down his neck, making him shiver. His heart was still pounding and however much he wished to blame it on something trivial like sports, he knew it wasn't true.
He had reacted to watching Sasuke undress and not in the chummy buddy kind of way.

That... had definitely not been normal.

Naruto sighed and leaned his head against the wooden door with closed eyes. This was ridiculous. He and Sasuke had changed together many times before. He had seen him naked countless of times so why didn't it have any effect on him until now? The only time he had ever cared about seeing Sasuke naked in the past had been to compare the sizes of their members in middle school.
Suddenly Naruto opened his eyes. He had seen Sasuke naked. His thoughts started to wander back to the last time he had seen that ripped...

"What the hell is wrong with meee?!"

Naruto hollered, turned around and started hitting his head against the wall, interrupting the forbidden thoughts already creeping into his head.

"Naruto...?"

With a shriek, Naruto jumped back and turned around. In his angst, he hadn't noticed how someone had approached him and it had nearly made his heart jump out of his throat. In front of him stood Saki and looked at him with wide, slightly nervous eyes.

Naruto inhaled deeply and willed his heart to start beating again.

"Holy fuck, Saki. You scared the hell out of me!"

"I... I'm sorry...?",

she said, looking truly distraught, as if she was going to cry at any second.
Naruto sighed.

"Ugh... it's fine. You startled me is all. What brings you here?"

Still looking a bit unsettled, Saki seemed to slowly calm down.

"Uhm... well...",

she mumbled and looked past Naruto with searching eyes. Suddenly Naruto perked up, his mind starting to take his own question more seriously. What did bring her here? She wasn't part of their old class and Kaede hadn't mentioned anything about bringing Saki to watch the game. As far as Naruto knew, Saki was as interested in soccer as Kaede. A deadly premonition came to his mind before Saki even said the words.

"I... I was actually hoping to see Sasuke..."

It stung. Why did it sting? Was it because he heard her say the words herself instead of it just being Kaede's musings?
He didn't want to care and yet her innocent, searching eyes seemed to prick him with needles. He would have loved to do nothing else but step in front of the door of the boy's changing room, hold out his arms and block the way in and the way out.
But he did no such thing. Swallowing down the saliva gathering up in his mouth, threatening to choke him, Naruto forced himself to at least try to act normal.

"He's still changing with the others. Do you want me to go fetch him for you?",

he asked, his throat feeling very dry. Saki suddenly looked very embarrassed.

"Oh, no! I don't wish to bother him and I'm in a hurry. Do you think you could pass him a message for me?"

"I guess...",

Naruto said unenthusiastically. With his hands in his pockets and wearing a small frown, he waited for her to tell him the message but she didn't. Instead she rummaged through her little, green purse until she finally fetched out a notebook and pen from it. She hastily wrote a message, ripped the page out of the book, folded it carefully and handed it to Naruto.

"Will you give this to him?"

Naruto eyed it suspiciously. He did not have a good feeling about this.

"What is it?",

he asked. His heart sunk when he saw a faint blush spread across the girl's pale cheeks. She brushed a lock of grey hair behind her ear and averted her eyes towards the floor.

"It's... nothing special...",

she mumbled, while her blush spread to her ears and she fumbled her skirt between her fingers in an embarrassed manner. Naruto was glad that she didn't look at his face. He didn't want to pretend to be fine.

In that moment the door was slammed open and knocked Naruto out of the way. Enmu stepped out and was pushed by some of the other boys, following him out of the door. They were loud as usual and filled the empty hallway with the echoes of their laughter. Hane was the last one out.

"What are you doing on the floor?",

he asked with a grin upon seeing Naruto, who was slowly trying to sit up, while groaning out of pain. The others ignored the curses directed at them and noticed Saki.

"Whoa! Cute girl alert!",

Enmu called out. Suddenly Saki found herself surrounded by boys, all pairs of eyes looking at her. By the looks of it, the girl seemed overwhelmed and quite uncomfortable with the attention.

"Hey! What's you name? I haven't seen you around here."

"Are you a pal of Naruto?"

"We're all going for some yakiniku. Why don't you tag along?"

"You can sit with me!"

"Don't listen to him. He eats like a slob!"

"Hey!"

Saki turned her head back and forth to look at all the different guys, as though they were predators.

"Uhm... that's alright... thank you...",

she said in a small voice and seemed to shrink but they guys would have none of it.

"Nonsense! It will be our treat! Come on!"

Cheering and hollering, they started to walk towards the exit with poor Saki in the middle.

"Guys, go easy on her.",

Hane laughed and went after them, most probably to make sure that they didn't scare her too much.

Soon, the voices started to fade away and Naruto was left standing alone in the hallway with Saki's note still in his hand. Naruto looked at it and frowned. Why, out of all people was he stuck with it...?

He heard the door behind him be opened once more. Naruto was painfully aware of who it was. He bit the inside of his cheek as he heard Sasuke step out the door. Tensing up, the note slightly crinkled in Naruto's hand, as he held it with a bit more strength than necessary. Without looking at the other boy, he held out the note for him to take it.

"From Saki.",

Naruto muttered with a frown. He felt the note being pulled out of his hand and couldn't help but peek at the raven, when he unfolded the small piece of paper to read the message written on it. Sasuke had obviously returned to his act of behaving apathetic.
Naruto watched those dark eyes quickly skip over the lines. If there was anything out of the ordinary to be read, Sasuke didn't show it. His face remained a complete blank, even after having finished reading. Naruto snorted.

"Isn't that nice?",

he said with a taunting smirk and put his hands behind his head. Sasuke turned his beautiful, dark eyes to him. A wave of emotion rolled over Naruto and made him clench his toes, despite his best efforts to remain focused. Had he just thought of Sasuke's eyes as beautiful?

"What?",

Sasuke asked. His hair was still damp from the shower. They were standing at a normal distance and yet it felt way too close. Naruto casually took a small step to the side to scoot away a little and hoped his intentions weren't too obvious. He put on a cocky grin.

"Getting little notes from girls at the locker room? Hane is right. This really is like the good ol' days, ey?"

He made a little paus, his eyes casting the little paper, snuggly sitting in Sasuke's hand, a quick glance before looking away again.

"What did it say?"

Naruto felt his heart thump hard against his chest, when he finally asked the million ryo question. He anxiously waited for the reply, bracing himself for the worst.
For an unnerving moment Sasuke simply stood there looking at him. Finally, he averted his dark eyes.

"None of your business.",

Sasuke said, folded the note again an stuck it into his jeans pocket. Ok, that did not appease Naruto. Quite the opposite actually. An awkward laugh came over his lips.

"Yeah, well. It's not like I care.",

the blond said in a dismissive manner and smiled an awkward smile, that did not mirror the horrible scenarios playing inside of his head.
Sasuke adjusted the bag hanging over his shoulder and started walking towards the exit without any further comment. Naruto looked at his retreating back in silence, an uncomfortable lump forming in the pit of his stomach. He bit his lip, thinking it over, before rushing after Sasuke.

"But let's just say that I did, just hypothetically. What did it say?"

Naruto kept his eyes firmly set on Sasuke, while walking next to him.

"It's none of your business.",

Sasuke replied without as much as glancing at Naruto. Naruto awkwardly tried to laugh it off.

"I know. I don't even want to know. I was just thinking out loud.",

he said in a high pitched voice.

"You should try using your head for something useful for a change.",

Sasuke remarked with a flat voice. This made Naruto flick his head around to shoot him a glare. His eyes narrowed.

"You know Sasuke, sometimes you can be a real fucking..."

Click!

Both boys froze in their tracks, the noise they just had heard, having gained their full attention.

"...Click...?",

Naruto slowly repeated into the otherwise dead silent hallway. The 'click' had eerily sounded like the noise a key makes, when being turned inside a lock. Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other.

"... No way..."

That's when the lights went off.

It took a while before any of them reacted. For the longest time, they simply stood rooted in their positions, completely dumbstruck. The situation felt awfully familiar.
Finally, Naruto seemed to wake up from his trance. Turning away from Sasuke, he bolted down the dark hallway, closing the short distance between himself and the exit. He reached out and forcefully pushed down the door handle.

The door was locked. Of course it was.

"You've gotta be kidding me!",

he shouted and kicked the door, something he regretted the second he made impact with the hard surface and he was reminded of his sore ankle. Naruto didn't even curse. He opened his mouth in a silent scream, while jumping up and down on one foot, holding the hurt one in his hands. He even teared up a bit.

"They're not picking up.",

Sasuke remarked. Naruto looked over his shoulder through blurry eyes. Sasuke's face was illuminated by the light his phone's screen cast on him, while he scrolled through his contact list.
Naruto wrinkled his nose and was about to voice his complaints, when he felt his pocket vibrate. He picked up his phone to read the text.

"Be nice now and don't kill each other. :-P /Kaede."

Naruto grimaced. Of course she had been in on it.

"Don't you smiley me...",

he muttered, staring at her message. Naruto blinked when he heard a sigh followed by retreating steps. He looked up to see Sasuke walking off in the opposite direction.

"Where are you going?",

he called after him.

"I don't know about you, but I'm not planning on spending the night here.",

came the flat reply. Naruto grimaced again. He looked at the message Kaede had sent him and gave the door a last longing look. Finally, he admitted defeat, groaned and turned around to limp after Sasuke.

"Should we just climb through a window?",

Naruto suggested upon catching up.

"We can't. They're all fixed.",

Sasuke replied, while keeping his gaze forward.

"Oh, right...",

Naruto said resigned and remembered how they never had been able to open a window, when it had gotten too hot inside, during the summers.
The hallway was dark but the faint, green lights, cast by different exit signs, guided them. Naruto's eyes started to get used to his surroundings as well. Ironic how they had all those exit signs without any real possibility to use them. They passed one of the small windows.

"Hey, if we'd break one it'd count as self defense right? Since we're trapped in here with no food? I'm starving."

Naruto heard a creaking noise and turned his attention to the front again. Sasuke had opened a door, leading up a staircase.

"...Or we can just head into school and use another way out. Sure. I was about to suggest that.",

Naruto hurriedly added and threw his hand up in the air with a shrug, to emphasize his point. Sasuke glanced back at him and raised an eyebrow, before heading in.

The gym building was connected to their old school and soon enough, the two boys found themselves walking through familiar corridors, passing empty classrooms. Outside, the sun had finally gone down but thankfully, the night wasn't too dark. The faint glow of the distant street lights broke through the windows and made the different assignments and drawings pinned on the walls visible. They were mainly school projects, where the students had drawn pictures to illustrate their reports on different subjects such as biology or history. Despite his stomach growling out of hunger and his initial annoyance with the prank pulled on them, Naruto couldn't help getting nostalgic. After all, he had spent three years of his childhood in this school. This was where he had gotten yelled at for running down the corridors. These walls had been covered with his awkward drawings. He remembered the pranks, the detentions... Come to think of it, he had gotten into trouble quite often...
Their steps echoed against the walls.

"No way!"

Naruto suddenly called out. He ran forward, leaving Sasuke a few yards behind, to inspect the posters on the wall outside the classroom, waiting at the end of the hall. A piece of paper with rules written on it, was neatly pinned against the doorframe, proving that their old teacher Haga was in charge of said class. However, it wasn't the list of rules that had caught Naruto's attention. His eyes were focused on the big papers hanging on the wall next to the door. He grinned, as he recognized the theme of the class assignment.

"Hey, Sasuke! Look!",

he called out, while inspecting the different papers.

"They are studying about the hokages."

The papers were covered with handwritten notes, drawings and some old, blurry pictures from history books. There was one paper standing out from the rest though. It wasn't as grand as the others and was a bit off topic. Still, it made Naruto smile.
The title read "Uchiha Sasuke" and was accompanied by the copy of the only salvaged picture of said man. The picture was severely damaged. Most documents and historic photographs had been destroyed in the great fire, which had burned down half of Konoha almost 200 years ago.
Uchiha Sasuke's portrait was faded and half of his face was hidden beneath ashes, since the flames had destroyed most of the photograph. Still, some of his facial features were recognizable. Blurry but still somewhat visible.
Uchiha Sasuke did not belong to the line of hokages but was often mentioned together with them, since his story was tightly interwoven with the past leaders of Konoha.

"They even included you here!",

Naruto joked and pointed at the messy project to show it to the approaching Sasuke. The raven merely glanced at the paper while passing by.
Naruto's smile stiffened a bit, as the raven continued walking. Naruto directed his gaze back to the paper, looking at a smudge on Uchiha Sasuke's photograph, which he interpreted as an eye.

"They were right, you know.",

Naruto said into the emptiness.

"You really are like him. Apparently Uchiha Sasuke was a hardass too."

"The same sources stating that the seventh hokage was a goofball?"

Sasuke didn't even look back when he spoke. He stood at the end of the hall and looked right and left, obviously debating with himself which way to go.
Naruto scoffed.

"How can you say that? The seventh gave his life to protect his people."

This time Naruto looked at the poster next to the one about Uchiha Sasuke. It was titled "Uzumaki Naruto - the seventh hokage". A picture of the carved face on the hokage mountain greeted him.

"What could be more glorious? I would have done the same."

Naruto was met with total silence. He turned around to crack a joke but froze when he saw Sasuke standing perfectly still, with his eyes resting on Naruto. He had the weirdest, unreadable expression on his face. It only lasted for a second though. Naruto didn't have the time to react before Sasuke broke the eye contact, looking away.

"Don't say stupid things...",

he mumbled. An awkward silence settled between them. Neither knew why but the atmosphere had dampened dramatically. Suddenly embarrassed, Naruto scratched his neck and turned his gaze downward. A small piece of paper caught his attention.

"Oh, hey! You dropped something."

Glad for the distraction, Naruto hurried forward to pick it up. Only when holding it in his hand did he recognized the note to be Saki's. It was too late though. He had already seen its contents. It was a very short message. It wasn't even a full sentence. It contained only a single word surrounded by little hearts: 'SAIL3N'.
Naruto jumped up to his feet and held the piece of paper accusingly in front of Sasuke's face.

"What the hell is this?!",

Naruto pointed at the offending note in his hand.

"Is this some kind of secret lover's code or something?!"

Sasuke almost had to look cross eyed to even see what the heck Naruto was exploding over and leaned back before slapping Naruto's hand away. He returned the glare.

"No! Why the hell did you even read it?"

"That's my question! Don't go dropping notes when you don't want others to see it! What the heck is this anyway?"

"It's none of your business! Didn't you say only minutes ago, that you didn't care about whatever the note said?!",

"Well, I changed my mind! Spill it!"

"No!"

The sound of a door being opened and closed interrupted their arguing. Both turned their eyes to the right. At the end of the hallway, a faint light shone upon the wall, facing the parallel corridor.
The boys had gone silent, listening for footsteps. Who would enter the school at this hour? Either way, Naruto wasn't sure if this was good or bad news.

"Maybe he can bust us out?",

Naruto said hesitant but was shot down rather quickly, when Sasuke snapped back in a hushed voice.

"You moron, we're not even supposed to be here!"

"So what do we do?"

The light became brighter and brighter. Suddenly Naruto felt Sasuke grab his arm and jolt him towards the opposite direction. They ran towards the staircase and headed up another floor. They ran down hallways, changed direction several times and turned many corners. Finally they burst through a door, leading into a classroom and quickly shut the door behind them.

There they stood. Both leaned with their backs against the wall, desperately trying to catch their breaths. Naruto turned his head to look at Sasuke. Noticing this, Sasuke turned his head as well. For a while they simply stood there panting and staring at each other.

Suddenly Naruto threw his head back and burst out laughing. Sasuke got a puzzled look on his face, which only made the whole situation even funnier and when he asked what the blond was laughing about, Naruto completely lost it.
Naruto tried to reply but choked and held his stomach, which was aching from laughing and coughing at the same time. Sasuke cocked an eyebrow and tried to give Naruto a reprimanding look but his lips started twitching as well.

"You're an idiot.",

Sasuke said and turned his head away but Naruto had already seen the smile, the raven was trying so hard to suppress. Finally, Sasuke reached his limit as well. A chuckle started shaking him before he started laughing as well.
For the longest time, both stood there, breathless and yet laughing at the absurdity of it all.

Naruto wiped some tears away from his eyes and looked at Sasuke. The raven had his eyes closed and bit his lip, in a vain attempt to calm down. Unlike Naruto, Sasuke wasn't one to laugh out loud. It only happened on rare occasions. A warmth spread through Naruto. It was as if all the tension from the past few weeks had fallen of them, if only for this moment. He couldn't help but smile and averted his eyes before Sasuke had time to catch him staring at him.

"I've missed this.",

he said.

"What?",

Sasuke asked in a husky voice and wiped away the tears from his lashes. His shoulders still shook from occasional chuckles.

"This. Just being normal..."

Naruto looked at the classroom. It wasn't until now that he realized where they were. He recognized the old pattern on the curtains and the skeleton standing in one corner, next to the shelves, filled with books about math and grammar. It was their old classroom.

"Hn."

Naruto glanced over at Sasuke. The raven had his attention focused on the room and had a nostalgic look gracing his features. Pale streetlight broke through the windows and reflected in his eyes, revealing their dark grey color. A small, hardly noticeable smile tugged at the raven's lips.

There it was again. That tugging sensation in the pit of his stomach. Naruto felt his heart speed up and flutter around, while his eyes took in the features of his best friend.
They were still they. Two classmates standing in their former classroom and yet everything had changed. Sasuke had outgrown his round cheeks and pouty lips. He wasn't a puny, awkward middle schooler anymore. He had grown up to be tall, slim and undeniably good looking. Sasuke's features were sharper than Naruto's. His nose was straighter and his cheekbones more prominent. His dark hair framing his face made a nice contrast to his pale skin. Naruto had always known Sasuke to be good looking but there was a difference in knowing and actually seeing it.
Sasuke had always been Sasuke to him. Naruto had never stopped to really see the gradual change from them being kids at middle school to what they were now... or re-evaluated his own standing in this. When had this happened? When had they changed so much? It had always felt natural to have Sasuke around. He had always been there, even if not always by his side. Even when they had fought and beat each other up over stupid things like nicknames.
The girls had always fawned over the raven. At the time, Naruto had never understood what they had seen in the arrogant boy, who treated everyone with such indifference. It wasn't until he got under Sasuke's skin that he understood. Until he got to know Sasuke's other sides as well. The way his nose would scrunch up before he unwillingly started to laugh, how he'd remove pickles from any dish and yet loved to eat gherkins straight from the jar, the danger of tickling him, how hopeless he was at ice skating, his determination, his strengths, his weaknesses and the heart wrenching sight of seeing him completely heartbroken over a family issue.
The way he smiled at Naruto when calling him stupid.
Naruto missed all of this.
He looked at Sasuke's calm expression. They hadn't been this relaxed together for such a long time. If this could even be called being relaxed, because Naruto was feeling hot and cold at the same time, standing alone in a room with Sasuke.
Maybe... having these feelings for Sasuke was jacking things up. All those moments, the girls never got to see, were sides he had entrusted Naruto with. His friend. Sasuke trusted Naruto. At least he used to. Naruto felt himself slowly returning to earth. Maybe it was better if they just returned. Simply being friends instead of the awkwardness hanging around in the air, as it had done the past couple of weeks. As long as Sasuke was still there, Naruto didn't care. He wouldn't. With time he wouldn't care. As long as Sasuke was still by his side and happy.
Naruto bit his lip and tore his eyes away from the raven.

"Hey, Sasuke. Can't we just go back to how it was?",

he said and forced himself to smile. He could feel that Sasuke had turned to look at him. Naruto could feel his skin start to prickle under the gaze. Sasuke didn't reply. Naruto continued, while keeping his gaze on the floor.

"Things have been so weird lately. I don't even get what the heck we are doing.",

Naruto chuckled but it quickly died down.

"I guess... what I'm trying to say is... It's ok if you don't always want to go to the cinema with me... or if you want to pass secret messages with others... You can do that... just..."

Naruto shifted uncomfortably, looking for the right words to say. He could still feel Sasuke's gaze burning his skin.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is...",

he continued.

"... You're still my best friend. Can't we just hang out and be stupid like we used to?"

Slightly embarrassed, Naruto scratched his neck and glanced up at Sasuke. Sasuke had averted his gaze again. The small smile had vanished from his lips and his eyes had grown sullen, almost tired. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak.

"I don't know if I can, Naruto."

Naruto froze upon hearing those words. It was as if his blood had run cold. He took at step forward and stared at Sasuke in alarm.

"Why not?! Look, I know I'm stupid and that I can be a handful at times. Also, I suck at this talking thing but at least I'm trying!"

Sasuke didn't reply and Naruto got more and more anxious with every silent second that passed. Naruto inhaled deeply and tried to keep his calm.

"Sasuke, you're my best friend...",

he trailed off. Sasuke still wouldn't look at him. Finally the raven sighed and put a hand over his neck, where it remained. His eyes were directed towards the floor. It felt like an eternity passed until he finally spoke.

"I don't want to be just friends."

Sasuke turned his head further away.

"I like you."

Silence. No one spoke. It was so silent you could have heard a pin drop. The only sound came from outside, where cars passed by on distant roads.
Naruto simply stared at Sasuke with wide eyes and parted lips. It was as if someone had turned off his brain for a moment, rendering him speechless and dumbfound. He didn't see or hear anything but Sasuke. Sasuke who was standing next to him with knitted eyebrows, lips pressed into a fine line. Sasuke who glanced at him.

"What? You've got nothing to say to that?",

Sasuke asked and frowned. Naruto didn't change his own expression of shock but at least he was able to gather his wits enough to say something.

"What about Saki?"

Sasuke's frown grew darker at Naruto's question.

"I confess to you and you start talking about Saki?"

"But that note...",

Naruto started but was cut off.

"It's her account name on message-nin.",

Sasuke interrupted with an annoyed tone in his voice.

"We bonded when you stranded us at the cinema and she wanted my advice concerning a guy she likes."

"Oh...",

Naruto said and looked down. This was all too much information to process at once. He mouthed another "Oh" and stroked his bangs away from his face. Silence filled the room again. He looked up.

"Who does she like?"

For a split moment, Naruto saw Sasuke's eyes widen and his shoulders drop in exasperation. Then the raven caught himself again.

"Are you serious right now?! Can we get back to the main topic, please?"

Being yelled at, triggered Naruto's defense and he started yelling back.

"Well, gee! I'm sorry! It's not like I get confessed to by my best friend everyday."

"You think it's any easier for me?!"

"No! I just-! Argh!",

Naruto gripped his own hair, trying to sort his thoughts out.

"What do you expect me to say?!",

he burst out.

"Maybe if you-!",

Sasuke started but suddenly broke off midsentence. No words came out anymore. For a moment the two boys stared at each other. In the heat of the discussion, they hadn't noticed how close they had stepped to each other. Now Sasuke's dark eyes were mere inches away. Naruto could almost feel heat radiate from him. A light tingling sensation gripped Naruto's palms and he started to feel oddly light headed... They were standing so close and yet Naruto wanted to move closer. He wanted Sasuke to come closer.
Just barely, hardly noticeable, Naruto shifted his head. He angled it just a bit and his eyes shifted to look between Sasuke's eyes and his lips. For a painful moment they both stood there, simply breathing and looking at each other.
Then something in Sasuke's eyes changed and he seemed to deflate. The aggravated and maybe even anxious expression, vanished and he averted his eyes.

"Nothing I guess.",

Sasuke said and moved away, leaving Naruto with nothing but a gust of cool air. Naruto blinked. Sasuke opened the door leading to the hallway and looked down the empty corridor.

"Let's just get out of here."

Sasuke had barely stepped out the door, when he heard rushed steps behind him. A hand grabbed his shoulder, spun him around and before Sasuke had time to grasp what was going on, lips crushed against his. This time it was Sasuke's turn to blink.
Naruto let the awkward kiss linger for a moment longer before pulling back. Naruto glared at Sasuke, who only stared at him with wide eyes and a dumbstruck expression on his face.

"Hey asshole.",

Naruto growled, still having a firm grip on Sasuke.

"You're annoying, over dramatic and sometimes I don't understand what the hell you're thinking. However, you're still my best friend and no matter how much you may hate it, you always will be. Nothing in the world will ever be able to change that. I know it's weird and shit. I'm not even quite sure where the hell I'm trying to go with this... But... I'm just thinking... being friends doesn't rule out anything. I mean, if you can't even be friends, then how can you ever become anything more?",

Naruto trailed off.

"... Or so I've heard.",

he concluded, looking at the floor. He felt his ears turn red, as heat shot up his face. His lips were still tingling.
Sasuke still didn't say anything. The silence filling the empty, dark hallway was unnerving. Naruto finally gathered his courage, pushed through his embarrassment and looked up to face Sasuke. Sasuke's eyes had never left Naruto. The surprise was still evident on his face.
Naruto shifted from one foot to the other, the anxiousness returning to him. Why didn't Sasuke say anything? Hadn't he complained about Naruto's lame reaction a mere minute ago?

"Sas-"

Both got startled when electronic music suddenly ripped through the silence. Feeling his pocket vibrate, Naruto recognized his phone to be the source of the ungodly sound. He cursed mentally but still fished it out from his jeans to see who had the nerve to interrupt this delicate moment. Naruto didn't even bother to look at the caller ID before picking up.

"What?!",

he barked into the phone but there came no reply. Looking at his hand he found it be empty. Frowning, he snapped his head to look at Sasuke.

"What the…?!"

Naruto was cut off, when he felt something soft press against his lips. Naruto blinked, trying to realize what had just happened. He felt how fingers slipped his switched off phone back into his pocket. Naruto stared at closed eyes, which were way too close. Sasuke's raven hair tickled the bridge of Naruto's nose, as he angled his head more to the side, creating the faintest of friction between their lips. Naruto felt his breath hitch, making him breath in Sasuke's naturally musky scent. That familiar, intoxicating scent, which was so familiar to him. The tingling sensation was back again, pricking his palms and making him feel lightheaded. His hands twitched but he didn't know what to do with them. In their awkward movement his right hand accidentally brushed against Sasuke's. He felt how Sasuke moved his hand to grasp Naruto's, intertwining their fingers. Sasuke started moving his lips against Naruto's and slowly, Naruto closed his eyes as well, responding to the touch. Fingers moved up and cupped Naruto's cheek, guiding him to a better angle. Their noses brushed against each other and Naruto felt Sasuke's skin against his. The kiss was soft, slow and very gentle. Naruto parted his lips just a bit and felt the moisture from Sasuke's, as they seemed to synch with Naruto's movements. Finally, the tingling sensation in Naruto's hands grew too much to handle. Naruto raised them and wrapped his arms around Sasuke's neck. He felt Sasuke's hair brush against his arm. It sent shivers down Naruto's spine and he pulled Sasuke in closer, intensifying the kiss.
Finally, they broke the lip-lock. Slightly out of breath, the boys stood there and Sasuke leaned his forehead against Naruto's. They looked at each other and suddenly they both started to smile. Chuckles broke out and the most honest, lighthearted feeling of relief washed over the two of them. They stood like that quite a while, catching up with what had just happened.

Finally Naruto broke the silence.

"Hey Sasuke..."

Sasuke made a sound indicating that he was listening. He had his eyes closed and seemed to relish in the moment.

"I'm hungry.",

he said, causing Sasuke to snort and poke an eye open.

"You're talking about food now?"

"Yeah. I'm starving.",

Naruto said, not being able to ignore it anymore. Sasuke sighed but didn't really seem upset about it. He was probably remembering his own hunger as well.

"Fine."

It didn't take long for them to find a way out. The janitor or whoever they had fled from earlier, had left long ago, making their exit easy. After heading downstairs, they went into a classroom on ground level and climbed out a window.
They were met with fresh, cool air. It was a pleasurable night. Soon the two boys were trotting over the lawn and towards the exit of the school grounds.

Naruto hummed while walking. He felt extremely light, as if the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders. It was like he'd be able to take off at any minute, disappearing into the sky. He glanced at Sasuke, who obviously had put on his too-cool-to-care expression but Naruto knew better. A wide, idiotic grin spread across the blond boy's lips and he started to chuckle.

"What's so funny?",

Sasuke asked without really looking at Naruto.

"Nothing.",

Naruto answered with a singsong voice, suddenly not being able to face Sasuke but keeping his grin. Oh man, he could run a mile now. Better yet, play soccer for another three hours, he was bursting with energy.

"We should totally play basketball in the park!",

he suggested and pumped a fist into the air. Sasuke snorted.

"Your ankle hasn't had enough yet?"

"I could beat you with two hurt ankles. The others just quit before I had the chance to show you my real strength!"

Sasuke shot Naruto an amused smirk before shaking his head and looking forward again.

"Usuratonkachi.",

he said with a soft voice.

Naruto frowned, something in him stirring.

"What does that even-?"

Suddenly, Naruto stopped in his tracks. Sasuke halted as well and cast a glance over his shoulder to look at Naruto.

"What is it?",

he asked. Naruto had his eyes turned towards the sky, the stars reflecting in his clear blue iris. A strange expression marred his face and it took a while before he spoke.

"Nothing...",

he said but kept his eyes turned upwards.

"For a second I had this weird feeling that it was gonna snow."

Sasuke glanced up at the sky before turning his attention back to Naruto.

"In august?"

"Yeah, I know.",

Naruto replied absentmindedly.

"I know…"

"Naruto."

Naruto averted his eyes to look at Sasuke again. The raven stood waiting for him with an extended hand. For a moment Naruto simply stood there, looking at Sasuke.

We'll be able to truly understand each other in the next world.

Slowly a grin spread across Naruto's lips.

Next world, huh?

He started to move forward until he was running to catch up with Sasuke. Naruto extended his hand as well.

If possible I'd like to meet you there.

His index and middle finger wrapped around Sasuke's. Dark eyes widened for a second before they turned up to look into clear blue ones. Naruto grinned widely at him.

"The seal of reconciliation!",

he announced, his face beaming. Sasuke didn't say anything at first.

Maybe things will be different next time.

Then his lips turned upwards into a smirk. He turned around and interwove his fingers further with Naruto's to get a better grip around his hand.

"You're an idiot."

For once, Naruto didn't retort with anything. Instead his grin grew wider. He gripped Sasuke's hand tighter and together they started walking again.

In the next world.

A/N.: Ugh! This took forever to write! I actually had lots of ideas for the final scene but when I started writing them out, they just didn't feel right. I don't know how many times I redid this chapter but I'm finally happy with it and I hope you are too.

I might add a sequel chapter (can't promise anything though) but this is pretty much the conclusion of this fan fiction. It was supposed to be a two-shot at most, yet somehow we ended up with 5 chapters! I had a lot of fun writing this and I want to thank all of you for your support! Your kudos and comments inspired me to keep writing and I appreciate each and every one of you! THANK YOU!

P.S.: I've drawn a doujinshi of the first chapter. It will be out on my tumblr "pumpkintaledraws" and deviantart "love-ly-meow" as soon as I finish it, so keep an eye open for it! Cheers!