Here is my new (and finally complete) story. For those of you curious as to where I'd been, this is what I'd been doing, writing this thing. I was dedicated to finishing this and it took a lot longer than expected because writer's block hit me every now and then.

This is dedicated to Jared, one of my super awesome friends who actually reads my work when I want someone to tell me if it's crap or not, and also to the author 7CrimsonKisses7, who is there by my side to keep me going and who tells me continually to keep up the good work.

You guys, this is for you!

The title is cliche I know, but bear with me.

Oh, and, uh, I don't own Naruto. Or Sasuke. Or anything. So don't sue.

I worked really hard on this and I'm really proud of it, so I hope you enjoy this too.

~~ Once Upon A Time ~~

They tell me I shouldn't love you. They sit me down in a chair and tell me that I'm not supposed to love you. But they don't really believe I love you. They bicker continually over whether I'm just a silly child, if I'm old enough to know what love is. And then they tell me that it's really just a childhood crush kind of thing, that it's just a phase and I'll be over it before dark tomorrow.

I open my mouth to protest, "I do love him!" but they shoot me pitying looks. 'I'm not old enough to know love,' they say. 'It's just because he's spent more time with you than your other friends.' But I can't possibly know it's love because I'm young and naïve and they've made up their mind on that. Nothing I say will change their minds; it just earns me more looks and sad faces and disapproving words.

'It's not because he's a man,' they tell me with looks at each other. This stings; they'd think that with me being their adoptive son, with me being exposed to two men living together for most of my life, that they'd have realized that I know that they're not disapproving because he's a man. I'm not as stupid as they'd like to believe.

They share another look. 'It's because he's older.' They start in on how I'm thirteen, that even if I did love him it would be wrong because he's so much older than me. Because he's an adult and I'm just a teenager. Because he's eighteen and I'm thirteen and even if I did love him, which I couldn't possibly because I'm too young to know what love is, it would still be wrong.

Part of me wants to snarl that they're seven years apart. But we've been through this before and if I do Kakashi will tell me that they met when they were in their twenties, that it wasn't wrong because they were both adults. And Iruka will burst into tears because it hurts him to go through this again and again. It hurts him that I fight them, that I stubbornly refuse to hang my head and tell them that they're right, that I know nothing about love and I'm delusional, that as a thirteen-year-old boy I don't know anything about relationships.

I stare down at my hands in my lap, twisting and turning because I hate this too, and take in a deep breath. "I love him," I say softly, and Iruka bursts into tears.

~~ They tell me I'm not supposed to love you ~~

I stare at the ground as I walk to school, sighing to myself. I'm going to be late for first period, I know already, and it's depressing because I've got a test that the teacher won't let me make up during lunch for being late without an excuse. It wasn't that I woke up late - I'd been up for two hours before I had to get up - it was just that I didn't feel like doing much of anything. Fighting with Kakashi and Iruka always left me in a slow, pathetic state for a few days. Unfortunately, we'd been fighting a lot more these days as the school year came close to ending.

A car pulls up next to me and honks and I nearly jump out of my skin. The door swings open and he looks at me with one eyebrow elegantly raised, motioning for me to get in quickly because he's got places to be and things to do as well. I throw my bag in and get in, closing the door quickly before he drives me off to school.

"Why," he says, "you don't just let me take you to school is beyond my understanding."

I shift uncomfortably. "Iruka and Kakashi disapprove," I mutter but we've heard this excuse a million times and if I really wanted to go against them I would take up his offer. As much as I hate them telling me to stay away, I don't want to anger them any more than I have by allowing him to take me to school every day. I think that I'd be in this state more often if I did.

"You had another fight, didn't you?" he asks softly as we pull up to the school, looking at me, and I turn my face away as my cheeks heat up. He reaches over and turns my head to face him. My blue eyes are brimming with tears and he looks at me with this pained face that makes me feel all the worse. "Naruto…"

He leans forward and his lips brush against mine and the tears that had been threatening to spill leak down my face. He pulls back to wipe the tears from my face but I knock his hand away and grab his head, mashing our lips back together. I don't want to think about the tears on my face. I don't want to think about the fight I had with my parents last night. I don't want to think about the fact that if I continue this, I'll be torn apart.

~~ I shouldn't love you ~~

"And what do you have to say for yourself this time?" I'm back in the chair, staring up at two brown eyes and one black eye.

"I don't have anything to say," I mutter, looking away. There's no use trying to explain anything to them anymore. In their eyes I'm wrong and they're right and no amount of reasoning will make them see things differently. They're dead set against me being with you and I'll never be able to change their minds.

I wonder vaguely if they've ever tried to talk to you about this. I wonder if they've marched over to your house while I'm at away, knocked on your door, and yelled at you to stop corrupting their child. No, that isn't something they'd do. The yelling, that is. If anything, they'd go inside, accept the tea you offer them and politely tell you to please stop screwing their son. If they've ever tried you haven't told me. Is that because you don't want me to be even more messed up? Are you trying to save me? Or maybe they've really just never tried.

"You have nothing to say to us after you spend the whole afternoon with him without telling us?"

"What do you want me to say?" I ask softly, looking up to meet their eyes. Kakashi looks exasperated, like he's tired of this and he probably is. I'm tired of it too.

"I want you to tell me why you didn't tell us!" Iruka looks as angry as he sounds. He always gets angry when I run off with you and don't tell him. He knows why I don't call and tell them. He knows just as well as I do that if I did call he'd yell at me over the phone, forbid me from going. We both know I'd still go anyway. And we'd wind right back up here, except maybe with a few different questions.

"You know perfectly well why I didn't tell you." I inwardly wince at the tone of my voice. Iruka doesn't take kindly to having me snap at him. In fact, he never takes kindly to any tone I use except a beaten, I-give-up one. But I never use that tone. I won't ever use that tone.

"Don't use that tone with me!"

I stand up, knocking the chair over backwards. "Then what tone would you like me to use?" I yell. "Every tone I use is a bad one to you! I could sit there and speak lowly and act like you fucking abuse me and still you'd yell at me to not use that tone!"

Kakashi intervenes before Iruka and I go head-to-toe. He steps between us and places a hand on both our chests. With Iruka being a schoolteacher and all you'd think he would have a lot more patient than to just explode when a child yells at him. But this is me and given how many times we've had this argument, it's easy to see why he has such a short temper. Sometimes I think I'd like it better if he did hit me, just hit me until I couldn't think straight, couldn't see straight, couldn't talk straight and maybe I'd say something that he actually wants to hear.

"Don't you get tired of this?" It's Kakashi who speaks. He's looking straight at me. It's a big fucking blame game and it's two against one. "Don't you get tired of the arguing and the fighting? Don't you?" He knows I'm tired of it. He knows what it does to me. He knows that I go to bed at night and wonder why I don't just give up, give in, and let them win this fight. "God dammit, Naruto, don't you ever get tired of this?"

I'm sure he's expecting me to yell. Something along the lines of, "Why the hell is this my fault? You're the ones who always bring this up!" He's waiting for it. Iruka's waiting for it. In the silence before my answer it's written on their faces that they expect me to yell. I don't think they want me to but they know it's coming and they're prepared for it. They probably have their responses on the tips of their tongues.

"Don't you?" I whisper quietly.

~~ I can't help it ~~

We're at his house for the day. I've been here since I left for school this morning. Iruka and Kakashi have no idea that I skipped, of course. They'll know by the end of the day though, but I'll deal with that when the time comes.

Some part of me is scolding me, reprimanding me. It has been all day. From the moment his car turned the corner and he opened the door, my mind has been telling me not to do it. It keeps poking me in the head and telling me that Iruka'll have my head for this. It keeps saying, in a high-pitched nasally voice, that I really shouldn't be doing this two days after my last fight with my parents.

And then he presses a soft kiss to my lips and the little voice is easily ignored.

His hands cup my face as his tongue slides into my mouth and I moan slightly, my eyes sliding shut. Our tongues tangle for a moment before he pulls away. I whine, reaching for him but he grabs my hands and intertwines our fingers. I lean, trying to kiss him but he pulls back as I go forward. Another whine escapes my lips. "'Suke…"

"I don't think your parents will be pleased to know you skipped school," he says softly, staring into my eyes.

My eyes narrow. "Who cares?" I try to sound like I'm angry at him for saying such a thing. I try to make it seem like his comment doesn't bother me, doesn't make me feel bad, doesn't make that voice pop up sneering, 'I told you so.' I fail miserably.

"You do." And before I can respond, before I can get angry or burst into tears or react in any way, he's pulled me in for a hug. I don't tell him, I never will tell him, but he knows exactly what to do in these situations. And even as I bite my lip and try not to cry because he knows we had another fight, he only hugs me tighter.

~~ Every time they tell me not to… ~~

It's not a chair this time. There's no hard wood digging into my back. There's no butt falling asleep. There's no one towering over anyone quite so high. There's no staring at the tan wall behind my two adult figures. There's no kitchen fan whirling above my head.

Instead we're in my room and I'm on my bed, the book I was reading shoved aside. My ceiling fan is whirling overhead and you'd be surprised at how different it sounds than the kitchen one. Kakashi and Iruka are still standing in front of me with that look on their faces but they don't tower quite so high. There's nothing digging into my back, nothing that makes me even more irritable and angry. I don't have the urge to jump out of my seat because it's so damn uncomfortable, which, by the way, has gotten me into even more trouble before.

"So?" The voice is clipped, sharp, angry. They're not beating around the bush this time.

I look up at them, blinking. "So?" I ask casually, crossing my ankles and setting my hands in my lap.

"You've skipped school three days this week." Kakashi's voice is calm, neutral, nothing that gives away that he's boiling up inside.

"I have." I'm pretty sure that the next question will involve you somehow. I'm almost 100 percent sure.

"Were you with him?" A rage washes over me. I suddenly hate the way he's standing over me, looking down his nose like some kind of arrogant bastard. I hate the way he spits out the word 'him' like you're some kind of disease. I hate the way his chocolate eyes bear down onto my face like he's looking for answer. He doesn't need to look; he knows it already. He knows I was with you. He knows it pisses me off to hear him spit out those questions like they taste disgusting in his mouth.

I'm silent for a few seconds, biting my lip and trying hard not to get up and start a fight. But I'm no good at calming myself – never have been – and I stand up, pointing my finger at him. "You know-" I snarl out, stepping towards him.

"He's going to college soon."

The words are spoken so softly that I could try to pretend that I misheard him, or that I hadn't heard him at all. But the way my body freezes up, the way my heart clenches, the way it feels like everything around me has shattered, we all know that I heard his words clearly.

"He's leaving you."

Those are spoken even quieter than the last ones and in the silence that follows I think we all hear my heart shatter. A tiny voice in the back of my head tells me that Iruka looks upset, like this was the last thing he expected, but I can't see his face through the blur of the tears in my eyes. I double over, placing my hands over my eyes like that's going to keep the tears from spilling.

You're leaving me.

You're leaving me.

You're leaving me.

"No…" It's barely a gasp out.

"You didn't…you didn't know?" Iruka does sound upset, maybe shocked, if I listen closely. "You didn't really think he'd finish high school and stay here, did you?"

I bite my bottom lip hard to keep from sobbing out.

I wasn't sure what I'd thought you were going to do. I don't even think I ever got that far. All that mattered was that you were here now. All that mattered was that you were with me. It never crossed my mind that you'd leave me. But college?

A hand is placed on my back. "Naruto?" Kakashi's voice sounds faint, merely a background noise behind the buzzing in my ears. I blink, trying to clear my eyes but all I seem to be able to do is push the tears down my face. I swallow thickly, suddenly realizing that my mouth feels cottony. My heartbeat sounds too loud now, thudding in my head with the buzzing that's now turned into a faint ringing.

"Naruto?"

"Naruto?"

"Naruto…?"

I black out.

~~ …I try to listen ~~

He wraps his arms around my middle and places his head on mine, staring out at the sunset with me. We're standing in the middle of his backyard. Nothing exciting, nothing romantic, nothing new or fun or sweet. But it's nice. It's calm. It's simple. It's us.

It's something I want to remember when he leaves.

My heart clenches at the thought and I shove it out of my head. "Sasuke?" My voice is soft, low, and I hope he heard me because if I have to say his name again I'll break down into tears.

"Mm?" One of his hands reaches up my shirt to rub circles on my stomach. It's what he does when we're like this; calm, quiet, relaxed.

"When are you leaving for college?" is what I wish I could bring myself to ask. I want to know when I'll never see him again, I want to know when he'll be out of my life, I want to know when I'll never be able to kiss him, or hug him, or be near him again. Yet, at the same time I don't want to know. I'd think it would be less painful to just wake up one morning and look out and notice that his car's not there. It won't work that way though. I'll notice the packing and the boxes and the moving and it won't be as painless as I hope.

"Naruto," he murmurs, pulling his hand from my shirt. I look up at him, my blue eyes meeting his black ones.

"What is it?" I'm worried that he knows what's wrong with me. I'm worried that maybe, just maybe, Iruka went and told. I'm worried that he's going to tell me that he's leaving soon. I'm worried, I'm worried, I'm worried, I'm worried.

He turns me around so we're looking face to face. Or…close to that. With me only being thirteen and him being a good five years older than me, it's easy to see why he's a good head and a few inches taller. And then he leans down so we're seeing eye to eye. I suck in a deep breath, scared and nervous and worried and -

"Naruto, I love you."

For a second, I swear that my heart stops. His hands are on my shoulders and his eyes are boring deep into mine. And I realize that even though he's five years older than me, even though he's legally an adult, he treats me like an equal. He doesn't tell me what to do, he doesn't dominate our relationship. He cares about my childish problems. He cares if I failed a test, he cares if some bitch was mean to me during class, he cares if I get into fights with my parents. He cares.

I throw my arms around his neck and bury my face in his chest, allowing myself to lose control.

"Don't leave," I whisper.

~~ I want to ignore you ~~

It's been two weeks since our last confrontation. I'm not sure whether I'm pleased that my parents haven't gotten on my case or nervous that any minute now they could come in and get on me for all the time I've spent with you. I'm slowly becoming paranoid, jumping at any moving shadows, stiffening at any creaks in the hallway. I keep thinking it's them coming to get at me. It's terrible.

I'm sitting on my bed like I had been two weeks ago, just sitting there with my hands in my lap and my ankles crossed. My fan is whirling overhead and it brings me back to our last fight. I bury my head in my hands and try not to cry.

"He's leaving you…"

You're leaving me…

In a few weeks you'll be gone, packed up and moved out and who knows what'll happen from there. You'll probably forget about me; find some cute boy in one of your classes and totally forget that I exist. Forget that I'm back here, heartbroken and alone. Forget that you spent all of those hours with me, holding me, kissing me, driving me to school. You'll forget my name. You'll never come back.

You'll never come back…

"Naruto?" The sound of Iruka's voice makes my head snap up before I can stop myself. There's a long moment of silence between us as I take in his nervous face, his teeth nibbling on his bottom lip and as he takes in my upset face, tear-chained cheeks telling him all he needs to know. I quickly try to wipe my face with the back of my hands but it's too late; he's seen all he needs to.

"Naruto."

I don't look at him; I can't bring myself to do it. He caught me at one of my most, if not my most, vulnerable moments. If I look at him, if I acknowledge his presence, he might say something, might make a snide remark, might remind me that you're leaving me soon.

I can only take in a shuddery breath and look away.

"Naruto, what I said…those couple of weeks ago…I…"

"Don't." I've shocked not only him but myself by speaking. I didn't think I could sound so stable. I didn't think I could open my mouth and not sob, not let out some sign that internally I'm dying. I'm split open, stripped of my barriers and bared naked to his eye.

For a second he looks like he's just going to leave. He looks like he's just going to turn his back and walk away and I deeply wish he would. I don't want to have this talk. He doesn't want to have this talk. If he did then we'd have had it about two weeks ago, not now. And then he purses his lips and sucks in a deep breath through his nose and I know that he's going to stay.

"Naruto, I'm sorry for what I said. I didn't mean-"

"Please," I manage out. "Please, just stop." I bury my face in my hands and try not to cry. "Just leave." I suck in a deep breath and have to mentally remind myself to let it out.

"Naruto-"

"Get out!" I scream. The door slams shut behind him and all that remains is the empty silence.

I burst into tears.

~~ But you know how bad I am at that ~~

I'm in his lap, his arms wrapped around me, his face buried in my neck. His breath is warm against my flesh, his lips ghosting over my skin. His hands are toying with the hem of my navy shirt and occasionally his fingers will gather their courage and slide up, their touch cold against my tummy. Sometimes, if he's really playful, he'll turn his head and take my earlobe between his teeth, tugging slightly and trying to get me to play with him. Sometimes I give in, turn my head and press our lips together, hands coming up to run through his hair. And sometimes I'll sit there and let him do as he wants and be unresponsive.

Today is one of those days.

After a few minutes of trying to get me to do something, anything, he gives up and we're stuck in an awkward silence. I refuse to say anything; I'm pretty sure that anything that comes out of my mouth will be stupid. So I sit there and hope that he says something to break the awkwardness.

The next thing I know I'm on my back, staring up into a pale face with black eyes framed by raven hair. He's pinning me by my shoulders, knees on both sides of my body. His eyes are searching my face, for what I can't say and then our eyes lock and it's all over from there.

He leans forward, pauses for a moment, and presses his lips softly against mine. The kiss is soft and sweet and yet it's just his lips moving against my unresponsive ones. His hands move to my face, cupping my cheeks as he pulls away and stares at me. "Naruto," he murmurs pressing his lips to mine again. "Naruto," he repeats, burying his face in the crook of my neck.

I lay there staring up at the sky as his arms wrap around me and pull me close. "Sasuke," I say, swallowing thickly. "Sasuke, do you love me?"

"I love you," he whispers in my ear, "I love you."

~~ Every time I look at you ~~

It's the middle of summer and I sit in my room staring at the wall. I don't think I've left in days. I don't know what time it is, what day it is, what anything is. All I know is that you got accepted to some college. All I know is that you got into some college and you'll be leaving soon. I don't know what college, don't care to know. All that matters is that you're leaving.

You're leaving me.

There hasn't been a knock on my door since this morning, when Iruka came in to tell me that he was going out with Kakashi. The silence has reigned since then, constricting and suffocating me. I want to run to you and cry, but this is all your fault anyway. Why would I go to the person who hurt me?

I sigh and pull my knees to my chest.

No, it's not really all your fault. You didn't know. You wouldn't know. You have to go to college sometime, right? You always were so interested in your grades. Straight A student – that was you. You wanted – want – to be a businessman. Like your father. Like your brother. Make your mother proud. That's you. And if children have to get left behind, then that's okay because they have the rest of their lives to find someone else.

I stare down at the floor, tears blurring my vision.

I wonder how I've been able to live in my naïve little world for this long. As I sit here, I wonder how I've managed to make myself believe that you were going to stay with me, that you'd be there with me forever. Did the thought really never cross my mind or did I push it out of the way because I didn't want to think about it? Did I just want to run away from the bad thoughts?

Did I want to pretend that I was fighting for something worthwhile?

~~ Every time I touch you ~~

He knows something's wrong. He knows, it's evident in his eyes, yet he stands there and purses his lips and turns away like he doesn't want to know. It hurts that he doesn't bother to ask but I know that if he did, I'd look away and tell him lies.

It's been silent since we met up. He's been sitting across from me, staring at his coffee as it cools in his hands. I don't think he's looked at me once. My own soda is sitting untouched on the table.

"Sasuke?" I sound pathetic.

His eyes dart up to lock with mine. "Are you finally going to tell me what's wrong?"

I stare at him, mouth dry, words caught at the back of my throat. I try to say something, anything, but no words escape my lips. Instead what comes out is something that is very near to the sound one makes when they choke on their own spit.

Before I can make another – embarrassing – sound, he starts talking again. "You've been acting odd for the past couple of weeks now and you've only gotten worse. And I'm pretty sure it's not your parents." He leans forward, resting his elbows on the table, head on his hands. "So, now that I've finally breached the subject, what is wrong with you?"

There's a long moment of silence and then, "You're going to college."

"I am," he says, resting his head on his hands.

"You're going away." I won't even look at him now. The soda glass in front of me seems much more interesting, even though it's beginning to look blurred through my tears.

"Am I?"

I look up, wiping my tears with my thumb. "Aren't you?"

He has an almost amused expression on his face. "You wouldn't know, would you? You never asked."

I swallow thickly and blink a few times. "Are you leaving?"

"No. I'm going to a college here, in the city."

With a shriek – no, it was not a girly one – I jump up from the table and pull him in for a kiss. There's a smirk on his face but I don't even care. He's staying and that's all that I care about at the moment.

~~ I fall in love all over again ~~

You walk me inside. Iruka's on the couch, curled in Kakashi's embrace and they both look at us as we enter. I'm half waiting for a snide remark to be made, for them to start some kind of argument but the other half of me is fairly certain they won't do anything at all. Kakashi smiles at us behind his mask and Iruka just goes back to watching the movie. I'm partially shocked and it takes you elbowing me to get me moving to my room.

You sit on my bed and pull me down into your lap, resting your head on mine. "We talked it over," you say, giving some explanation as to why Iruka didn't blow up on us. "You're only allowed to come over for thirty minutes on the weekdays and we can only go on dates on the weekend." You pause for a moment to let me take in this information. "Unfortunately, all sexual acts are banned until you're older."

"That's so shocking," I remark sarcastically. You pinch my arm.

"However, you can't skip classes or make less than a B in them." You pause. "So do well."

There's a long moment of silence, not an awkward one, and finally I turn and look at you and ask, "What changed their minds?"

"When they saw how upset you were, I think it made them realize that you really loved me."

"That's so cliché," I say, wrinkling my nose.

You roll your eyes. "They came over and talked with me while you were at school. And that's what came out from it."

"So no more yelling? No more fights?" My voice sounds hopeful. A month without fights would be like dying and going to heaven.

"There shouldn't be."

You bury your face in my neck and I almost miss your next words.

"I love you, Naruto."

~~ I love you, Sasuke Uchiha ~~

I worked really hard on this, so I hope you enjoyed it.

And now, if you'd kindly click the little review button and leave a few words, I'd really appreciate it.