A/N: The end of another story. There's a poll up on my profile on whether or not I should do a sequel. Vote and let me know!

I have to say that being as this was supposed to be a one-shot, a lot of it I just sat at my computer and typed as it came to me. I'm surprised it got so much feedback and OVERJOYED it was so well-received! Keep the reviews coming, I read each and every one! I love yall!

I'll be working on New Bonds after this but two other stories have cropped up in my mind. All thans to you guys' encouragement.

Onward.

Chapter 9

Naruto did not do or say anything at this pronouncement. He merely looked at Sasuke looking into the flames and twisting his fingers. On the outside. On the inside, Naruto felt a keen eagerness to know all of this fascinating person at last. He waited patiently, the crackle of the flames the only sound in the night.

One thing Sasuke liked about Blondie was the fact that the guy seemed unflappable about the really major things. Hell, about anything. Some would say such a personality was about as exciting as watching paint dry, but Sasuke found it perfect. The constant mystery of wondering what Blondie was thinking was just so endlessly intriguing…like now, Sasuke had just said he had something to tell, basically the response to Blondie's ultimatum, but the dude didn't even blink. He didn't gloat or smirk or push. If Sasuke hadn't just been rescued by him, he would have thought that he could drop dead in front of Blondie and the dude wouldn't even care.

He liked that Blondie gave him time to get it out at his own pace. Sasuke stared at the fire and fancied he could see shapes, scenes from his past dancing in the heat. The night air was cold to him, but he was too absorbed in the fire to pay it any mind. After awhile, Naruto gazed into the fire too.

"What you said before about me being a noble is true, Blondie." Sasuke's voice didn't have its usual expressive flavor to it. It was low, devoid of inflection or life. It could have been a rock speaking. "The Uchiha clan was the largest and richest, most successful noble clan in Konoha. Our ancestry dates back to the founding of the village."

Naruto did not interrupt the steady flow of words. He listened attentively.

"I had a brother. Have a brother. An older brother. He was good at everything he did, a prodigy, a genius. People used to be afraid of him. They probably still are. I know I was. I used to think I was good at what I did too, but the night Itachi…the night he left, I found out that I was actually better than him in some ways.

"For one thing, I had friends. I was popular. Those same nobles I attacked, I used to hang out with them. One day Itachi found out about it. It made him really angry, the things he heard them say. It was stuff I heard everyday at school, I never paid it any mind. I mean, who cares, right? Kids. Looking back on it, I think it made him jealous. I think that's why he did what he did with me and on some level I blamed the nobles for making my brother…do those things. For making him touch me…in a way I didn't like being touched. I never really stopped to think about why I hated the nobles before, but that's the reason."

Naruto's brow furrowed in thought as Sasuke continued.

"He used to tell me it was okay to like it so long as nobody knew I liked it. Itachi said what we were doing could only be done at night, when we were alone and nobody could know. It would be the worst shame and humiliation if anyone knew what we were doing. But if it was just between us and, more importantly, done with family then it was okay."

Sasuke paused to pick up a twig. He methodically broke off tiny pieces of it as he spoke.

"My brother used to always threaten to tell my friends or our parents that I was a little fag boy. He'd threaten me for stupid crap like not giving him something that belonged to me or for crying whenever he…touched me. Sometimes…a lot of times, I used to like it. My body, I mean. It would like how it felt when Itachi did things and …and I wanted him to like me, to not hurt me, so I let him." Sasuke's head hung as he pressed the heels of his hands against the sudden tears that sprang up. "I just wanted him to like me like normal brothers do and not be mean. I let him do it for a whole year and I never told on him. I loved him even though I hated him. I just wanted him to love me back."

Naruto swallowed. It was a strange thing that Sasuke's tears could call forth his own. Crying was not a natural or common thing to him. The only time he could remember doing it was once when he was three and a dung beetle had bitten him and when Sasuke left his apartment some nights ago. Naruto frowned sternly at the flames, blinking his eyes hard to hold back the wetness that stung them. Why did his stomach hurt at Sasuke's words?

Sasuke cried hard for all of five minutes before he was able to suck his tears in and get a grip. He took a few deep, shuddery breaths before peeking in Blondie's direction. "Do you…do you hate me for that? For letting my brother do those things?"

Naruto looked at Sasuke with an unfazed expression. Evidently gay sex was not something to be done between brothers. Naruto had no clue, but he knew it didn't change his feelings. "No. Nothing you do will make me hate you." He said the words simply, because it was simple fact. Like saying he was male.

Sasuke felt as if a mountain rolled off his shoulders. He actually grabbed a handful of grass to keep from floating into the air. He smiled broadly for a minute, taking in the absolute acceptance Blondie always offered. Blondie was his rock, his anchor. It made Sasuke feel strong enough to continue.

"I guess that's why I could never admit to what we did. Not out loud anyway. It just always felt so wrong afterward…even though it felt good. Like what I did with my brother felt wrong and good." Sasuke looked at Blondie a moment. "I guess I'm really fucked up."

Naruto, remembering Konohamaru's words, felt knowledgeable enough to respond. "Yes, I guess you are."

Sasuke barked a small laugh at hearing the stoic voice that was delivered in. Then he resumed speaking.

"The nobles are the ones in power because they have money and influence. Superior techniques, in most cases. It's a common practice to make offerings to the gods for continued prosperity among the nobles. My clan took it one step further."

Here Sasuke could visibly be seen to tense up. His words came slower, though still without pause. Naruto felt his own skin tighten in response to whatever was coming.

"I never really thought about it when I was younger, but if it's true that the nobles run Konoha, then the Uchihas ran the nobles. They pretty much ran everything since Hashirama and his brother died. They were slowly becoming the law in the village and the Third couldn't really do anything to stop it."

Sasuke stopped talking. Naruto watched as Sasuke stared into the flames as if trying to read words there. His white brow knitted in concentration, in effort…in puzzled, disbelieving shame. The next words came in a whisper that the blazing fire nearly drowned out with its merry crackling, but Naruto's keen ears caught every syllable.

"People. My clan. Ate people. Every year they would make their offering to the gods the same as the other nobles, but they used human sacrifices. They would offer the most promising Uchiha of that year to the seven gods of luck and prosperity in exchange for continued wealth and good fortune. For power. Then…after the sacrifice…they would have a feast and eat the person."

Naruto, ignorant of just about everything under the sun, shivered at the thought of eating a person. Sasuke swallowed, still speaking in that mesmerizing, mesmerized whisper.

"The Uchihas were hated for that practice. It was considered a corruption of the old beliefs of the land to kill for personal gain and achievement. No one could speak against them, though, because that person usually found themself sacrificed as a special extra treat for the gods. When I was seven…my mom and dad came into my room one morning."

Sasuke looked away from the fire at last. He looked off into the night and Naruto thought maybe he was crying. Sasuke wasn't, though. When he turned his dark head to face forward again, Naruto saw that Sasuke's visage was pale and haunted. His lips were pressed tightly together. It was a long time before Sasuke spoke again. These words were halting. Forced and dragged from Sasuke's lips.

"They were so happy, smiling and crying and kissing me. They held me and hugged me. I thought maybe my teachers had said something nice about my schoolwork or something. They told me I was this year's Chosen." Sasuke's eyes were far away.

"What do you mean, mommy? Chosen for what?"

"Chosen as the clan's offering to the gods, Sasuke. It was to be your brother, but you are better than he was at your age. It is obvious you will surpass him. And you were always kinder, sweeter. The entire clan is sure the gods will be most pleased with you. Your sacrifice will bring us much luck and honor."

Sasuke looked back and forth between his parents. "I don't understand. What am I supposed to do?"

"Nothing, son," Fugaku said softly. "We will handle everything. You will only do as we say."

Sasuke was still uncertain, but his parents had never looked at him with such pride and love before, so he only smiled in return and scuffed his feet against the floor.

Itachi came home from work early that day. Sasuke, Mikoto and Fugaku were gathered in the living room. Mikoto had just finished bathing Sasuke in a cleansing ritual with the help of some other clan members. Sasuke was standing on a silver stool, having his body rubbed with scented oil. Itachi could be heard talking before he entered the living room.

"Mom! Dad? The Uchihas in ANBU were given early dismissal because the new Chosen's been selected. Who is-" He stopped when he saw what was going on in the living room. Sasuke jumped up and down on the stool, flapping his arms in the heavy embroidered fabric his attendants were trying to wrap him in. His eyes were shining with all the attention he was getting.

"Itachi, it's me! I'm the Chosen! Mom says I'll get to be an offering to the gods, she said I'll actually meet them! Do you think I'll get to see Ebisu himself?"

Itachi dropped his weapon's pouch as he advanced haltingly into the room. His voice was raw as he denied Sasuke's words, his eyes round as saucers. Sasuke interpreted this as a look of jealousy and his little heart swelled with pride at besting his brother. He decided to rub it in a little.

"Yeah and Mom said it was going to be you, that you were the Chosen but now I'm better than you so I get to be it. Nyaah!" Sasuke stuck his tongue out at his older brother. He hadn't even finished when he was knocked aside, his brother lunging for him wordlessly, a look of desperation on his face.

Sasuke fell off his stool and landed in a tangle of red and gold brocaded cloth. He peeped through the folds to see every adult in the room restraining Itachi, their chakra glowing around them with the effort. It took five Jounins touching Itachi's forehead to knock him unconscious. Sasuke, momentarily forgotten, watched in fright. Why had his brother tried to hurt him in front of everyone? Itachi's private brotherly beatings were never as serious as what had almost happened just now.

"I thought he might be a problem," Mikoto sighed. "Sasuke is the most important thing to him."

Fugaku hefted his elder son onto his shoulders. "I'll see that he's detained in the village holding cells until the ceremony is over." He pecked his wife on the cheek as he left.

Sasuke gasped when the material covering him was whisked away. Friendly hands picked him up and set him straight on his stool again. He was dressed and combed and made to sit down while other preparations were made. One of the women who dressed him pinched his thigh and smacked her lips. "That will be a tender morsel!"

At twilight, Sasuke was led by his mother and father, who held his hands, to the central part of the Uchiha compound where a fountain punctuated the plaza built there. It was a small plaza, nothing major, but the fountain was currently turned off. Sasuke heard another child in the waiting crowd ask his mother why the water was off. The mother told her young son that the tiered basins would catch the offering's blood tonight so that it might be drunk by a select few. If they were lucky, she said, they might get to taste a few drops.

Sasuke's hands went clammy. Offering's blood. That couldn't be right since he was the offering. That would mean his blood. His blood that the woman wanted to drink. Sasuke looked behind him with a frown, searching the woman out in the sea of faces. Everyone held a fat white candle and her face blended with the other eerily lit ones in the crowd. He turned around when his mother placed him on the top tier of the fountain.

"Neh, Mommy? I'm not going to get hurt, am I?"

"No, sweety. You'll go to sleep and then you'll see the gods."

"Oh. When will I wake up?" He took a cup that was handed to him by his father. The cup was hammered gold, inlaid with a motif of the seven gods of luck. It held dark, sweet-smelling liquid. Sasuke sipped tentatively, then eagerly. The syrupy liquid was very tasty.

"You will never wake up, my son." Fugaku had that expression of mixed love and pride on his face again. Sasuke suddenly didn't like that expression, thought it was a dangerous look.

"What do you me-mean n-nev-" the cup fell from his suddenly nerveless fingers. His body felt weightless, numb, like air. He could see and hear but he couldn't move or speak. When his parents took hold of his body and stretched it out in the shallow bowl of the top tier, he didn't feel their touch at all. He was getting really scared, especially when incantations to the seven gods began, the hundreds of throats making the chanting reverberate through the whole compound.

Night had fully fallen, making the candlelight the only illumination. Sasuke was starting to feel lightheaded and dizzy. Incense was burned as people came up to him one by one and asked that he carry messages and requests to the various gods, begging him to intercede with them on their behalf.

Sasuke was scared, disoriented, but he still thought things would be okay. He trusted his mom and dad when they said he wouldn't be hurt. He believed them when they-

It was fugaku who brought the ceremonial blade and held it over Sasuke in both hands, pointing it towards the heavens, letting it catch the candlelight of the fervent supplicants around the plaza.

Sasuke tried to scream, tried to move, but it was futile. That blade quivered, turned, pointed towards him and descended. Sasuke's eyes bulged as he screamed in his mind, screamed and screamed and-

-screamed. Sasuke was screaming, his hands gripping his cheeks until they bled. His eyes bulged from their sockets.

Naruto punched him. Sasuke went down without another sound.

Minutes passed as Naruto knelt over Sasuke. He'd tried calling his name during that recitation of horrors, tried snapping him out of it but Sasuke had kept right on talking as if compelled to get it all out. He'd reached the part about the knife and his screams were enough to stir the dead. Punching him had been the only thing Naruto could think of to bring him to his senses.

He waited, elbows on thighs, hands resting between his knees. Sasuke came around slowly. His nose was bloody. He swiped at it absently as he sat up and shook his head. He looked around the camp until his eyes met Naruto's. Sasuke looked down at his lap. He looked at his filthy nails, put one in his mouth as he sucked the dirt from under it.

Naruto did not say anything or ask that he continue. It was a prime opportunity for the blond to comfort this most important person to him, had he any decency, but Naruto had no such refinement. Had Sasuke asked, it would have been given and freely…but he didn't ask. He only waited until his insides stopped jerking and shuddering, waited until his mind receded from the edge of madness, waited in the dark with Blondie.

Blondie was with him. He'd heard everything so far and he was still right there, his rock. Sasuke turned to look into those severely direct blue eyes now.

"Blondie. Will you ever push me away again?"

Blue considered black as the question was picked over. A truth was realized, acknowledged and uttered:

"I will never push you away again. No matter the circumstances. Together until death. Then together again."

Sasuke felt an urge to vomit, so strong was the love in him. It was tearing him to pieces, killing him. He had to let it out or die:

"There's no life for me without you, Blondie. You're it. You're my…everything. You're everything, oh, God." And still it wasn't enough. Never enough. He turned from the blue eyes that killed him each time he looked in them. Better. He could breathe again.

Silence by the campfire. Though feet apart, each was aware of the other's pulse, of every pore, every breath in the other. Seconds…minutes…an hour…

"Itachi saved me."

It was like watching a rabid animal. Itachi flew over the fountain out of nowhere, carrying Sasuke with him, the knife grazing Sasuke on the meaty part of his arm instead of in his desperately beating heart.

Itachi killed all in his path until he reached a wall. He set Sasuke against this wall and set his back to Sasuke. His stance said it all.

If anyone planned on getting to Sasuke they'd have to kill Itachi first.

Well, they tried. Sasuke was immobile where he sat, but he could see perfectly well that an enraged Itachi was not something one went up against and lived to tell of it. Sasuke had never seen anything like it. And he had been chosen over his brother?

Eventually the clan started running. Itachi, given momentary respite, carried Sasuke to a nearby house, stormed through it until he found a basement and set his little brother down in it.

"Stay here, little brother. I won't let anyone kill you." He kissed Sasuke's head and was gone.

It was a while, but eventually Sasuke regained feeling in his digits, then his hands and feet and finally throughout his entire body. He rolled over slowly and looked around the dusty underground room. He could hear screams and pleas for mercy outside. There was a window that sat at ground level. Sasuke stood on a crate to see out of the smudged glass.

Bodies everywhere. People running, cut down by Itachi. Bloodcurdling screams. People cowering in corners, murdered heartlessly. Attempted defense of women and children by fathers and husbands. No mercy, none at all to be had from the young ANBU captain, the Sharingan wielder who killed, turned, killed and killed again. Sasuke watched his clan murdered before his eyes. And all to save his life.

Dawn. Itachi was walking back from the last kill to where he'd hidden Sasuke. He would take him and leave this place, start over with his little brother…

ANBU. They were everywhere around the Uchiha compound, kicking the dead bodies, noting that none were alive. Several were executing fire techniques and setting the houses ablaze. The bodies were being piled and burned as well. Itachi ran forward.

"So it was you," one tiger- masked man said. "We thought we recognized your chakra signature. You put an end to their evil ways. You've done well, Itachi. Hokage says you can live if you leave the village. Now move, we have our orders to burn the place to the ground."

"My brother-"

"You mean him?" the masked man pointed. Sasuke was laid out some feet away from a pile of dead bodies. "He's dead. We found him in a basement."

Itachi was shaking his head before the ninja had stopped speaking. He ran forward. No. No, it couldn't be. Sasuke was fine, was waiting for him, he-

He wasn't breathing. There was no pulse. The body was still warm.

There were no injuries on him that Itachi could see. He was forced to let him go when one of the ANBU roughly took Sasuke's body and tossed it onto the top of the pile of dead. Itachi had nothing left. He watched blankly as his brother's body fell limply.

Itachi, nearly mad with the knowledge that he'd killed his entire clan to save his brother, only to have his brother die anyway, turned and walked away. He left Konoha in a state of shock that lasted years. He was never the cocky, snarky, bellicose boy ever again.

The ANBU Jounin with the tiger mask smirked and chuckled to his friends. He went to Sasuke's body and pulled it off the pile. "That'll teach the little fucker to take my captain's spot before his balls even drop." He knelt, unmasked Sasuke's chakra and removed the senbon needles secreted deep in the boy's skin that had hidden his pulse. He'd been waiting to pay Itachi back for getting to be captain before him for a long time. Just his luck that he'd found the brat in a basement and recognized him.

"I didn't see Itachi after the basement. I stayed there like he said, but he never came back. I saw ANBU arrive and one kicked in the basement door. That's the last thing I remember before waking up in a hospital. The doctors and nurses were…"

Sasuke trailed off. He looked at the fire, still sitting in the position he'd adopted when he'd regained consciousness.

"They kept telling me I should have died. The night nurses were the worst. Sometimes they'd take me to the morgue and show me dead bodies, make me touch them and say that should be me. They'd stick me full of needles or cut me and heal me. The Third said I was to be kept alive." Sasuke looked back at his lap.

Naruto still crouched next to him, listening, bleeding for the lost little boy he'd been.

"Sometime while I was in the hospital I just…forgot. I forgot everything before that night, I didn't want to remember what my life had been like only to see what had become of it now. I didn't want to remember what my clan had done, how they'd all died because of me. When I was released, I was given a home, an apartment, since I was a noble, but the council had my name stricken from the nobility. The entire Uchiha clan was stricken. People came and kicked me out of my apartment. After that…I lived on the streets, I guess. I think the Third tried to help but I can't remember. I went to school sometimes. I forgot a lot of what I'd learned, though. I got hungrier and hungrier each day until it was a matter of survival. Villagers spat at me, harassed me…I didn't get good at defending myself until I was about ten. Then I started going to school again. I barely passed. I think Kakashi might have bribed the Chuunin officials to pass me because he didn't want me as a student anymore."

The fire was dying, going out as Sasuke's tale wound down.

"Orochimaru came and took me the day he killed the Third. I thought it would be fun at first, but…he was a sick fucker, seriously. There were all these kids at his mansion, all these devoted followers of his, I mean, shit, it was a freaking cult. I hated it there, hated him. One night I poisoned their water with some shit I found in his R&D lab. I thought he'd kill me for sure. He said I'd ruined him, killing off his best people like that. He said if he didn't have his Oral Rebirth Technique he would have been dead, too. He kicked my ass back to Konoha saying I wasn't worth his precious curse seal.

"I've been here ever since, doing nothing, not living, not remembering. Until you, Blondie. You changed everything. You changed me."

Sasuke, finished at last, stared at his hands. Naruto regarded Sasuke's hands as well, tilting his head thoughtfully.

"Yes," Naruto said softly. Sasuke looked up at him, but Naruto's eyes were still on the dirty hands. "I understand that. I cared about no one, nothing. Then you came and I felt…feel…things. You make me feel, Sasuke. You make me live. Until you, I was dead."

Sasuke wondered if it embarrassed Blondie to say the things he did like it embarrassed Sasuke. He didn't think so. Blondie didn't give fuck one about people's opinions of him. He was shut down. And yet he said Sasuke made him come alive.

"Am I yours, Blondie?" Softly, so softly that the words could have been the faint breeze passing between them.

"Yes. Mine."

They looked at each other in the dead of night, the witching hour upon them. Sasuke's heart sped up. He suddenly wanted Blondie's arms around him, he wanted Blondie's whole body around him and on him and in him. He wanted Blondie to swallow him whole.

Naruto held the gaze for awhile, then stood up. It seemed the tale was told. Now he knew his Sasuke. Knew his hurts and secrets. He knew why Sasuke did and thought the things he did. He understood another person at last.

Sasuke wilted when Naruto walked to his pack and began eating. A hunk of bread was held out to Sasuke, who shook his head in mute refusal. He didn't want food. Naruto withdrew the offer and ate it himself.

Sasuke tried to think if he'd ever approached Naruto when they were both wide awake and aware. Approached him forthrightly and deliberately. Like in an obvious way. No. He never had. And he really didn't have the guts to do it now, not when his feelings for the guy were so raw and bloody and doing fatal damage to his innards with each breath he took.

But he wanted him. Like…he could not sit there and watch Blondie eat and chew and swallow and lick his lips and-

Fuck! Fuck. Dammit.

After everything, after the confession and knowing Blondie loved him and wanted him and all that. After facing his issues with sex and homosexuality, he still couldn't just go to him, balls out and be with him? Well…well, maybe it took time. You know, for one to get their shit in order after …whatever the hell this was.

But he didn't want time, he wanted Blondie and now. Maybe if he dropped a hint?

Naruto finished eating. His mind had been on one thing for quite some time now: it was night time. He had a blanket in his pack. He wanted to spread the blanket and wait for Sasuke to approach as he was accustomed to the act taking place, but didn't know if it was right considering all the things Sasuke had revealed tonight. He thought it best if he let Sasuke tell him if and when he was ready to have gay sex with Naruto again. Likely it would take some time. Like a skittish animal took time to feel comfortable around Naruto's wild smell and presence. He sat on his haunches, oblivious to the concept of comforting another by virtue of the fact that he'd never received any. The most his limited mind could come up with was that since he himself internalized adversity and dealt with it there, that all people did. Perhaps Sasuke would too.

He was aware of Sasuke being extremely different from him without realizing all that that entailed. Naruto waited on the other side of the glowing embers, listening to the night sounds while allowing Sasuke his time to compose himself.

Sasuke simply didn't know what went on in Blondie's head. What to do, what to do?

Just get up and go to him, kiss him-

No! Oh, God.

Wuss.

Yes, I am.

Coward.

Yes, I am.

He's never turned you down, you know.

Yeah, but…

But?

But…just going to him and asking for it…just feels wrong.

It didn't feel wrong when he was fuc-

Alright, alright, Jesus. I know. It's not the doing it part, it's the approaching part. The here-I-am-gay-and-proud moment when I'm acknowledging I want it.

So…you prefer to bump and touch him while pretending to be half asleep so you can act like whatever happens is an accident?

Pretty much.

You are such a douche.

I know.

Sasuke's little dialogue with himself wasn't helpful. He sat staring at Blondie, hoping he would take the hint that way. Tomorrow he would grow a pair, a stone pair and deal with his issues but tonight he just needed Blondie to start things off.

Naruto glanced at Sasuke, found him staring, and held the gaze. After a moment, he looked away. Those eyes wanted things, things that Naruto had no idea how to interpret. It should be noted that Naruto was not exactly comfortable at the moment. His organ was swelling the longer this silence stretched out. He was very sorry, very very sorry, but the need rising in him was too insistent to be ignored for much longer. He wouldn't be able to allow Sasuke his time to deal with his grievances. Naruto's eyes turned red-

No. He would maintain control even if it killed him.

It didn't mean he couldn't set out a little bait for the skittish animal, though.

Naruto went to his pack, took out his blanket and spread it carefully on the ground within full sight of Sasuke's watching eyes. He stood and dropped his pants, tugged his shirt off and lay down on the far half of the blanket, nude, his back to Sasuke. He reasoned that presenting his back would seem less threatening.

Sasuke's jaw dropped. The dude was going to sleep! He'd just bared his soul and Blondie was turning his back and going to sleep. His heart hurt him terribly. What about all the things Blondie had said about Sasuke being his and …and everything? Sasuke blinked back tears. He crawled to the very edge of the blanket and lay as far away from Blondie as he could. What had happened?

Naruto tensed as Sasuke lay down. Why wasn't Sasuke touching him like he usually did? Naruto threw a glance over his shoulder. Sasuke wasn't shivering and he hadn't said he was cold, so Naruto couldn't use that excuse to touch him. Maybe he just needed more time. Naruto, schooled well by Sasuke not to make the first move, grit his teeth as his fangs lengthened and his vision blurred with lust. A low, hungry growl rumbled in his chest. He turned back around and dug his claws into the dirt.

Sasuke shut his eyes tightly, freezing already and trying to ignore it, trying to ignore Blondie ignoring him. His tears were hot. He bit his lip savagely to keep from making a sound. He could only assume that if he tried to touch Naruto, he would be rebuffed…

Naruto's mouth opened in a silent howl of acute sexual tension. Orange chakra baked off of him in waves. It was too much. Naruto turned and was crouching on all fours so swiftly and silently that Sasuke didn't know a thing. Naruto crept up to Sasuke and reached out a hand.

It hovered over Sasuke's hunched shoulder. Naruto extended a finger.

He let the claw graze Sasuke's arm, a tentative, questing, begging touch-

Sasuke flew at him, wrapping himself around Naruto as he searched for and found the full lips that left him slain to pieces with their sweetness. Naruto caught him reflexively, holding him, rolling with him, not knowing what was happening. Then he didn't care.

They rolled off the blanket. Naruto was bestial in his hunger for Sasuke, bruising his mouth with his own, digging his nails into the flesh of Sasuke's flank, the slim leg thrown over Naruto's hip. Sasuke's nails raked down Naruto's back and the blond purred strongly in pleasure, biting Sasuke's chin.

Naruto's mouth dragged lower, eating Sasuke everywhere, chewing his skin, making Sasuke scream and squeal and twist in delight and pain. Sasuke held onto Blondie, encouraging every caress and touch. The shaggy blond hair brushed his stomach, pushing under his shirt, ripping it to shreds. Then his pants were gone. He was naked under the sickle moon, Blondie looming over him. A few heartbeats passed as they looked at each other.

Then Sasuke held his arms out and Naruto fell into them with a growl.

Sasuke gentled Naruto's urgency with his slow kisses, his unhurried strokes along Naruto's back and arms, his softly sighing exclamations of his pet name for Naruto. The demon chakra sizzled Sasuke's skin, adding to the heat already surrounding him from Blondie's body. Finally, when Blondie lay on him quietly, kissing him deeply, Sasuke ventured to guide things.

He took Blondie's hand and sucked the first two fingers slowly, moving his tongue around them. Sasuke watched the red eyes become half-lidded with enjoyment. Naruto took his fingers from Sasuke's mouth and sucked them himself, while Sasuke leaned up and licked the fingers and Blondie's lips, his face, his mouth. After a minute, Sasuke took the hand and led Blondie's wet fingers to his ass, showing him how to insert one finger in the small hole.

Naruto caught on quickly. He pressed his thick finger deeply into the tight heat, making Sasuke gasp as the calluses rasped against his sensitive skin.

Blondie proved to be a natural at intuiting what needed to be done. He monitored Sasuke's reactions, his breathing and facial expressions until he knew Sasuke was comfortable with the one digit. Then he inserted a second, moving them in opposite directions, twisting and scissoring his fingers. Sasuke panted, hooking his hands under his knees and lifting them to grant more access.

Sasuke whined at feeling a third finger introduced. Blondie stopped the movement of his hand until Sasuke's breathing evened out, then resumed the waggling action of his fingers. Naruto leaned down and kissed Sasuke's delectable mouth, wanting to bite and draw blood, so sharp was his desire.

"Blondie. I'm ready," Sasuke whispered shyly. "Come to me."

Naruto positioned himself at once, thrusting into Sasuke with such urgency that the slim boy cried out sharply at the impact. Even prepared, the penetration stretched him uncomfortably wide. It was better than before, though. Not as painful. Blondie's weight pressed his cock deeply into Sasuke before he raised himself on his palms and began pounding powerfully into the boy he loved.

He hadn't thought about it before but Naruto decided he liked Sasuke's screams a lot. His coarse language and rough personality always melted away at night in the blankets and this shameless submission to what Naruto did to his body excited the blond unbearably. He moved harder and faster inside him, gritting his teeth against the pleasure/pain, bunching his muscles to hold back his release.

He was doing it again, Sasuke reflected incoherently, rubbing against that place inside Sasuke that just about blew the top of the Uchiha's head off with bliss. To not scream would have killed him. He groaned and yelled and writhed and scratched. He bit and punched and nothing stopped those movements. Sasuke didn't want them to stop.

They did, though, when Naruto pulled out of Sasuke to turn him on his hands and knees. Sasuke complied, to weak with pleasure to do otherwise. Naruto stabbed into him quickly and this deeper penetration had Sasuke dropping his head to his arms, breathing shallowly through his mouth in time to those hard thrusts. A little shriek escaped Sasuke each time Naruto's hips made contact with his own.

"Blondie!" Sasuke mewled as Naruto's large hand closed over the smaller boy's erection. He was losing it, Sasuke was losing his hold on his consciousness as his cock leaked profusely in Blondie's hand.

Naruto felt the moisture but knew Sasuke hadn't finished, not yet. He rubbed this moisture on Sasuke's organ, massaging firmly up and down as he did sex with him. Finally Sasuke bucked in his grasp, rearing up on his knees briefly. Naruto caught him under an arm, across his chest, holding Sasuke against his own chest as he also finished explosively inside him.

Sasuke felt Blondie lower his nearly comatose body to the grass before pulling out of him gently with a faint 'pop'. Sasuke was deliciously spent, floating on a cloud of heavenly aftershocks from his orgasm. He was sure Blondie would cuddle him on the blanket for the rest of the night, just the way he liked.

Well, Naruto did pick him up and carry him to the blanket, but he didn't cuddle Sasuke. Instead, he spread Sasuke's unresisting thighs and settled his head between them. A moment later Sasuke felt that long, wet, supple tongue lick all traces of cum and sweat from his well-used hole. The tongue even pushed inside of him, making Sasuke raise his hips before Naruto clamped his hands around them and held them still. Sasuke shuddered and sobbed at the delicious torture, especially when those fangs grazed his skin. The tongue then wrapped around the limp organ and drew it into Naruto's hot mouth.

Sasuke arched off the ground, his hands digging into Blondie's scalp as he gasped for air. Naruto did not let up at all, not even when Sasuke came weakly in his mouth several times.

At last, hours later, Naruto released his gentle suction on Sasuke's sweet organ, but only so that he could enter the listless boy again. Sasuke came around enough to hold onto Blondie with his strengthless arms, bracing himself for the rough ride, but it didn't come. This time Blondie fucked him slowly, sweetly, tenderly. He lay full length on Sasuke, nearly smothering him with his weight. Sasuke loved Blondie's heavy body, there was just so much to hang on to. So much to stand between Sasuke and all the bad things in the world. He was completely safe and protected. He was home, in Blondie's arms.

This time when Sasuke woke up in the morning, he remained enclosed in Blondie's arms as he reflected on how far he'd come in the past week. That a person could come so far in a few days would have been unfathomable to Sasuke had it not happened to him. He snuggled deeper into the large, muscular arms, liking the way Blondie's leg was thrown over both of his. Sasuke was nearly crushed and loving it. He smiled as he drifted back to sleep.

Epilogue

Naruto and Sasuke agreed later that morning, after comparing their impressions of last night, that communication would be something they needed to work on. They traveled all over the countries, avoiding hunter-nins, making their way in the world by means of Sasuke's quick brain and Naruto's strength.

The two boys were devoted to each other, learning and growing together until they became inseparable.

They grew wealthy with no particularly high morals to hinder them in the deeds they did. It was Sasuke who discovered that they were considered missing-nins and labeled in the Bingo book. Naruto was categorized as S-class. They celebrated gloriously that night.

Eventually they came across Itachi, running with a gang of other S-class ninjas. The meeting between the divided brothers was intense.

But that's another story.