The memory of rough hands on his wrists, Naruto's ridiculous face in laughing proximity. The present smell of wine and too much perfume.

Sasuke's fingertips wondered to the place on his neck where Naruto had laughed against him as they'd sparred, carried too far by his own momentum, and seconds away from winning the fight. He scowled at the memory, the feel, everything down to the trees in front of him and the party at his back. Never mind that Sasuke won just as often as Naruto did. If he'd only rolled to the left, he would have gone straight towards and under him, up on his feet and standing over Naruto's shocked face as he realised he was going to lose this time, but instead.. He'd done exactly what was expected of him. Rolled away because he couldn't stand being pinned.

Naruto hadn't won because he was the superior ninja. Naruto had won because he'd practically given him permission.

Naruto appeared from the trees then, Sasuke studying his movements the way opponents do, when. Naruto, Master of the Unexpected, suddenly made a noise, an ear-splitting thing neither of pain nor pleasure, that may never have been made before, but for translation purposes most closely resembled the war cry of Apache Indians.

'...'

'! ! ! ! !'

Sasuke:

'You're late.'

'You're Hokage!'

'..No, I'm not.'

'I'm Hokage.'

'..No, you're not?'

Naruto's grin looked painful. His eyes were watering. His hands were moving back and forth as if tossing something between them and sweet Jesus, Sasuke hadn't been frightened like this in a long time.

'Dobe.. You're drunk. Or possessed. Or lying.' Please, be lying.

'That's Hokage Dobe to you!'

'Listen Uzumaki–'

'No you're saying it wrong; Uzumaki Naruto, Hokage.'

Uzumaki Naruto. Hokage.

The same sound that Naruto made a moment ago, Sasuke now made with his eyebrows. Then Naruto was hugging him. Sasuke stared, heart not so much pounding as thrusting in a desperate attempt at escape as Naruto clung to him, rambling against his shoulder, warm breaths far too close.

'This is.. Knew you'd be here..' Breathe in, breathe out, 'Jiraiya said..'

First rule of defence, always find firm footing before you launch a counter-attack.

'...My face on a mountain!'

'Naruto. Stop talking in haiku.'

Naruto looked up at him, hair ruffled, blue eyes bright with.. Uch, he was practically crying.

'sniff.. Haiku?'

Sasuke shoved him. Naruto shoved him back, half punching, half pulling him closer so they stood in a strange balance together, and as Sasuke realised he was going to have to beat him into the ground just to attempt to get a grip on this, he heard the high-pitched clink of glass in the distance.

He could just picture Sakura tapping her glass against Hinata's, holding her excitement for her friend's future back so as not to shatter the glass stem. Hyuuga Hinata's engagement party was not the appropriate venue at which to beat your friends into the ground. And that was exactly what he'd end up telling Sakura to keep her from beating them both into the ground if she caught them once again fighting where they shouldn't. (Apparently she didn't like Team 7's reputation for it.)

'Does Sakura know about this?'

'No,' Naruto wiped his eyes with his sleeve, 'no I just got here. I can't wait to tell her though – Sasuke!' He's grabbed Sasuke's collar. Sasuke is not pleased. 'This can be Hinata's engagement present!'

Naruto looks so genuinely excited by this idea, as if he were the first person to think of roasting marshmallows over a fire. Since Naruto is the kind of person to think that gifting someone his hand print in a disc of clay shows remarkable thoughtfulness and originality, Hinata is probably lucky not to receive a portrait sized painting of Naruto's face.

Naruto is looking at him expectantly. Sasuke is imagining the proud face Sai wears as he presents his masterpiece, Naruto looking on wearing an identical expression of glee to his portrait. It's not an idle pursuit this daydream, more like scenario-based training.

'We got her a present idiot.'

'When?'

'I got her a present and signed your name on it. Idiot.'

'Teme, I like to sign my own name!'

And he'd sign it, 'Uzumaki Naruto, Hokage', no doubt.

Ungrateful brat, thought Sasuke, and simultaneously, I only paid for it because I have the means and you don't.

Well he hadn't. As Hokage that was all about to change.

The summer air went from sweet to cloying, every detail of the evening imprinting on him as if his Sharingan had activated, insisting he recognise this as an important moment. A changing moment.

Sasuke walked away from Naruto and back into the party without another word.

Naruto gave a small victory dance behind him.

' – sure there aren't like, 27 people more qualified in this room? In any room?'

' – couldn't have broken his ribs, he's walking fine – '

' – sure I heard something crack when the pink haired girl hugged him – '

Of course Sakura would have crushed him in her excitement causing the nine-tails to step in and heal Naruto freakishly fast. Of course the guests had no idea of what was going on around them.

Keep smiling Sasuke.

If he were anything like, say, Naruto as a totally random example, his grin would be psychotic by now, but on Sasuke's face a smile registered more as an absence of scowl. He caught himself in a mirror; disturbingly placid to his own eyes, and indescribably quick as he spotted Sakura enter with Naruto – who was clutching his side – and disappeared from both their sights.

There had been a period when he preferred Sakura's presence to Naruto's simply because she wasn't so bloody insistent about it. Naruto looked at him like he was a sunset – a beautiful thing which needed to be drunk in for the fleeting time it lasted. It was exactly as horrifying as Sasuke made it sound. Sakura looked at him more like a lightning storm – entrancing but dangerous. He found her suspicion easier to deal with than Naruto's reverence. And if he sounded vain for what he saw in their behaviours he could be forgiven, given their history. And it was exactly that kind of introspective attitude that allowed Sakura to eventually corner him.

'Can you believe it?'

'I'm actively trying not to.'

Sakura nodded, the news too fresh for anyone else's reaction but her own to be absorbed. By the time she took his on board he might have absconded.

Living in the wilderness had a certain simplicity about it, Sasuke found himself thinking, then flinched a little from the whole mess of Before that seemed so distant from now.

'He's worked for this his whole life and now..'

Sakura wound her hair around her fingers as she spoke, looking around the party with an absent air that suggested she wouldn't even be able to tell you the colour scheme if you asked her, (tasteful whites and golds, for the record.)

Sasuke tilted his head as if trying to work her out. From the outside it could be mistaken for a gesture of sympathy, or perhaps the other way around. 'Are you scared?'

'No! No, of course not. It's just.. Things are going to be different. They're not going to be the same. Things will never be the same, ever again..' Life has just changed irrevocably and I already miss Before, he heard in her silence. She frowned at herself as if realising how big that all sounded.

'That's all.'

'So he'll find something new to lust after,' said Kiba as he passed, 'he's never been short of a quest that one!'

'Thank you, Kiba,' Sakura rolled her eyes. It always felt like Team 7 were everyone else's business.

Sasuke – having just inadvertently been called something Naruto lusted after – had actually just been looking for allies. He wasn't afraid of change. He was a ninja, and he'd been acclimated early in life, quickly and brutally, to the fact that life was change whether he liked it or not. So positive or negative, Sasuke wasn't afraid of change.

He was afraid of this one very specific change.

Sakura's eyes were glistening a little. What was it about weddings; even an engagement party had everyone going. Sakura chewed her lip, her eyebrows furrowing ever so slightly, small lines forming and Sasuke caught himself thinking how subtly different she looked from his own image of her as a young shinobi, and of what he might look like if he hadn't run from that mirror.

Sakura laughed at their silence. 'This is so surreal. I feel like we should know how to act, you know? We knew this day was coming, but still. It's like..' She darted a look at him, one disturbingly similar to Naruto's way of looking at him, and since Sasuke Uchiha didn't intend on ever again comparing himself to a sunset, something to be lusted after, or anything else of the bloody sort, he snapped;

''Like' what?'

'..Like when we got you back.'

Like it had been something beautiful. Like he hadn't knowingly and willingly made their lives hell for months after his return and years before that and to this very day never apologised for it.

Team 7. Cautionary tale for those who would commit themselves to an unknown quantity.

But Sakura, her eyes shone with nervous excitement. She looked beautiful actually in her forest green dress, but before he could tell her so she'd wrapped herself around him in a brief, but extremely tight hug, and Sasuke ducked his head so she wouldn't see him wince, and doing so was why he missed Naruto, Master of the Unexpected's next move.

Sakura released him and abruptly sat down in the nearest chair. She stood up again. Lee beckoned her down to their table like a skittish colt. (Naruto had got it into his head that Sakura and Lee were an item, and, 'since Sakura-chan deserves to find happiness the seating plan should reflect that.' Hinata's fiancee seemed perturbed by Naruto's interference, but the dobes ability to engender loyalty in people had seen Hinata agree.) Sakura picked up a drink from the table and sank it in one before grabbing another. Sasuke looked around for whatever could be causing her to act this way –

Naruto was on stage, holding a microphone and a champagne flute. An empty champagne flute.

Two tables down from them Kiba gave a raucous laugh, as if encouraging someone to do a shot of something viscous. Shikamaru buried his head in his arms and Sasuke heard him mutter, 'I've had nightmares like this.'

'Hinata!' Gods, one thing Naruto didn't need to be was louder. 'Hinata, I just wanted to wish you luck. I'm pretty sure I won't get a speech in at the wedding so I just wanted to jump in right now and say it. Marriage is', – what the hell, thought Sasuke, could the dobe know about marriage? 'it's like the most exciting mission ever because the whole thing's an adventure, only with no fights – unless things go wrong I guess, not to say they will, you'll be fine – and no ninjas, except for you, of course.'

Sasuke was distracted from this trainwreck by the creaking of Sakura's table, close to breaking under the force of her grip, until Lee distracted her with a swift but sweet kiss to her lips. Sakura relaxed enough to allow him to entwine their fingers, and the table was saved.

So that was that. Sasuke spared them only a raise of his eyebrow since half of his attention was still on Naruto's heinous speech, which soon abandoned the engagement and moved on to whatever subject Naruto laid his eyes on. Until now Sasuke had thought he couldn't focus beyond the front of the room since he was mainly toasting, (read, mortifying), those seated at the front tables.

Until now.

'Sakura,' her head snapped up, 'I hope you're happy with Lee. I know you think I don't know about you two but I am a super talented ninja.'

Sakura turned red, and gripped her temples in her hands. Her elbows dug into the table hard enough to place it back on the endangered list.

'I would understand,' said Sasuke in her ear, 'if you wanted to run.'

'No,' she grit her teeth, 'Naruto's my friend, I'm proud of him. Even if he is an ass.'

'And Lee, you're not going to do any better then her, man. Although you might want to invest in a helmet.'

'I'm proud to be his friend,' Sakura chanted. Lee didn't seem to know what to make of the attention.

'Not like a threat, just Sakura is super strong and sometimes she breaks stuff without meaning to. But yeah, that's a good point! If you hurt Sakura-chan I will straight up banish you. I can do that you know.'

Sakura yanked Lee up by the hand, making eye contact with Sasuke for a brief moment.

'I'm sorry', she said picking up her cardigan, 'but you're on your own.'

She snuck past him, Lee in tow, as Sasuke nodded and smoothly relieved her of her drink. Pink champagne.

'And Sasuke. Sasuuuuke. SasUKE, if you know what I'm saying.' This accompanied by waggling eyebrows.

The guests who weren't looking at Naruto now turned to look at the Uchiha whose gaze was trained steadily ahead as though focussed on a target.

'Sasuke? Teme! Look he can totally hear me. Sasuke? Sasuke is here. I won't call it my greatest achievement, because it's his.' He nodded wisely. 'Although it is a lot mine too.'

Hn, thought Sasuke, turned out pink champagne tasted a lot like regular champagne. Just softer.

'What I'm saying is.. All of my precious people are in this room. I'm so happy right now I just wish I could hug you all at the same time, even the ones who don't want me to. Especially the ones who don't want me to. And then the ones who want it again. You're all so, so important to me and I wanted to let you know.. Because..'

It escaped no one's notice that by this point his gaze had fallen more often than not to one Sasuke Uchiha. Sasuke Uchiha who at some point during the speech had acquired a matching flute of champagne which he was steadily downing, glare firmly in place.

'Without you I'm nothing. All of you. You mean something to me. Everything, actually.'

And as Hinata's father relieved Naruto of the microphone and passed him on to Hinata – who blushed a soft pink as he embraced her tightly – it escaped no one's notice that there stood only an empty champagne flute where Sasuke Uchiha had been.

oOo

The air had cooled as evening settled, promising cold soon but not quite yet, warmth still rolling off the earth. The trees were already dark against the horizon – a crisp, light blue over a woefully unsuspecting village.

They had no idea. Most of them had never witnessed the power of the Kyuubi. Sasuke pictured the trees on fire; there'd be a deep orange, maybe even a red glow, thick smoke roiling high into the night air, and Sasuke would see none of that since he'd be right in the thick of it, looking for a mop of blonde hair and piercing eyes that wouldn't be blue any longer. And that was about where Sasuke's single minded, analytical ability to imagine came to an end, but he had enough experience with large scale destruction to hear in his head the tremendous sound of that fire. Trees shattering under the force of it a thousand times louder than the crackle of twigs on a bonfire, more than enough to drown out the cries of the one person who might be calling for him as he ran into the scorching heat.

Konoha had assigned the one person to lead it who couldn't protect them if Kyuubi became a threat.

Ridiculous.

And Sasuke had played a part in it. His participation in the village, the simple fact of his presence proved every day that the dobe could achieve whatever he set his mind to, and now that Sasuke was back Naruto's mind was invariably set on the village.

Sasuke and his damaged eyes would be their only chance. Was that the real reason the dobe brought him back? Did he know how this was bound to end? Had he been running after the Sharingan all this time?

Sasuke had learned the hard way never to underestimate him, but it pushed him to believe that even Naruto's trust should stretch to this, because if the dobe knew what he was doing all these years then he knew tonight was a false victory. He knew Hokage was a false title if the power was in someone else's hands; if someone else controlled you.

Naruto Uzumaki hadn't just been placed in charge of the village, Sasuke Uchiha had.

Sasuke Uchiha. Traitor. Sooner or later he would have to take Naruto out.

And in the meantime he would have to follow him.

Kiba and Shikamaru lurched out of the reception, laughing. Well, what other response was there to such an absurd situation? To sit there and brood?

For the first time in several years, Sasuke cracked up.

Kiba froze.

'Shikamaru, I'm scared.'

Shikamaru nodded slowly.

'Don't look directly at him, I hear he's enraged by eye contact.'

Kiba nodded.

'Shika, I'm sorry.'

'I said he's enraged by – '

'No, I'm sorry.'

Kiba smiled, a loving smile, a smile that showed years of friendship between them with just a flexing of his facial muscles.

'But it just became urgent that I be somewhere else.'

Smiles were dangerous. Shikamaru blinked, and by the time his eyes opened Kiba had scrambled into the distance yelling back platitudes as Shikamaru felt the Uchiha clock him. It felt a lot like a snipers snare.

But for fear of granting Konoha a prominent engagement party and a funeral all in one week, Shikamaru wouldwhistle a nonchalant tune. Instead he spoke, and watched as his feet told him run while his tongue was possessed by that blasted thing called genius.

'You'll have to take him home,' he said.

Sasuke didn't look at him. He was the only person Shikamaru knew with the ability to make you feel more at ease by refusing eye contact.

'Why would I?'

'Because he's the future Hokage and he's in a right state. Someone has to take responsibility for him. If only for the village's sake.'

Sasuke smirked. All this smiling made him look like something quite different. Alien.

'Enjoy that then. Don't feel the need to report back either; no news is good news.'

'I think Hokage duty is the ANBU captain's job.'

Sasuke now levelled a gaze at him in the same way a bulldozer would level a building.

'Che,' said Shikamaru, 'you don't think someone else will get it do you?'

Sasuke held his gaze. Was that, 'che', too much? Was that small, patronising sound going to be the cause of his doom at the hands of an unhinged Uchiha?

Sasuke looked away again, and Shikamaru silently thanked God, genius, or whatever else was listening.

'The elders don't trust me,' said Sasuke in a stiff voice.

'A fair point. But Naruto does. Besides, there's a certain logic in putting the most dangerous person in the village in charge of security, ne?'

Sasuke blinked at that, like he wasn't sure if it was an insult, compliment or manipulation. Of course it was all 3, but genius lay partially in neutrality – it was all of those things, but it was also true. Sasuke Uchiha couldn't abide being lied to, therefore, honesty was the best way to reach him.

Honesty, and Uzumaki Naruto.

Sasuke was in front of Shikamaru in an instant. That smile was really something up close; his teeth actually glinted when he pulled his lips back.

'Since you're so free with your no doubt totally selfless advice allow me to repay you with some of my own,'

'There's really no–'

Sasuke grabbed his collar. That was unnecessary.

Sasuke growled. 'You're going to need me on your side someday Shikamaru Nara, and I do not forget easily.'

Naruto stumbled outside then and for a second Shikamaru saw something flash in the Uchiha's eyes, something possessive, like he was mad at the very blood in Naruto's veins for flowing without his express consent. Then he released him with a little more force than necessary, stalking over to Naruto like the last few minutes were all foreplay and leading him away without a backwards glance.

In the growing darkness Shikamaru was left alone with his thoughts.

And Shikamaru thought Kiba owed him fucking big time.

oOo

Was it down to the Kyuubi, Sasuke wondered, or the booze, that Naruto ran intolerably warm against his skin?

Sasuke had wondered many things on the way into Naruto's apartment, tugging him along, struggling with his weight, but Naruto's body heat seemed to be the most.. urgent, right now.

'Moron,' he said into Naruto's hair, 'you're home. And DO NOT tell me it's Hokage Moron–'

'–Hokage Moron to you–' mumbled Naruto at the same time.

Sasuke threw him aside like a rucksack. Naruto grabbed him for balance. They were on the floor in less than a second.

Sasuke stared at the ceiling. There was just no point was there? He tried to anticipate Naruto's next move and Naruto didn't even wait until they were sparring to pin him yet again. He knew Sasuke's moves so well he could anticipate them when drunk, and he was too buzzed to even appreciate the victory.

It was so fucking unfair.

Naruto propped his chin on Sasuke's shoulder and surveyed his messy apartment through his messier hair, like Sasuke lying underneath him were the most natural thing in the world.

'This won't be my home much longer,' he said, 'I'll be moving to the tower. It's kind of sad.'

'This place is a dive.'

Naruto grinned. 'It's my dive though.'

Then flopped his head down into the crook of Sasuke's shoulder like he was going for a nap.

'A fucking. Dive.'

Naruto laughed, soft, but Sasuke felt it rumble against his skin. Then Naruto just breathed against him like a sleeping child. Utterly without shame.

After a few minutes, during which Sasuke realised he'd never before seen someone literally fall down drunk, Naruto murmured against his neck.

'I couldn't find Sakura..'

'She left with Lee. You were right.'

'Of course I was. Dare you question your Hokage!'

Sasuke cuffed him. 'That's getting old fast.' Naruto grunted and rubbed his head. Sasuke went back to staring at the ceiling. 'She deserves to be happy idiot.'

'Yes..' whispered Naruto far too close to his ear, words making their way lazily from his tongue, 'But why tell you and not me? You are kind of.. Known for being an emotionless bastard.. No offence..'

Sasuke felt a shudder at the way the sibilants slid across his skin. He shifted and cuffed him again.

'She didn't tell me. I saw them kiss.'

Naruto barely seemed to hear him. He was a mass of blonde hair obscuring Sasuke's view if he looked down, a dead weight on him, not holding back in the least, and Sasuke was very aware of Naruto's chest rising and falling against his.

Naruto said, 'remember we kissed when we were young?'

..Yeah, Sasuke remembered.

'It wasn't so bad,' Naruto said.

He looked up at Sasuke. The Uchiha's cheeks flushed from the wine, making his black eyes appear somehow more rich. So pale his skin was a tell if you knew to look for it, and Naruto had the peculiar feeling he was seeing his insides. And he smiled because he kind of liked it, but Sasuke wasn't looking at him any more.

Pressed this close, he saw what he had long suspected; Sasuke was in another time, those dark eyes wary of an enemy Naruto couldn't see. Somewhere so deeply hurtful he'd tried to seal it away, but now pulled inwards by a wound that needed attending to. Naruto watched him openly, thinking that healing Sasuke could take longer than they had. It filled him with an insane urge to bring Sasuke into the present, to keep him there always, at whatever cost.

And Naruto had made a career out of following his insane urges.

'Sasuke. Be with me?'

Sasuke physically seized under him.

'What?'

'Here. Now. This is the greatest day of my life.'

Naruto was smiling, not grinning but smiling, eyes crinkling at the corners and positively beaming with life and no thought for anything but now. He was so ridiculous, so stupidly open, and in this moment so fucking impossible to say no to.

Sasuke laid back, relaxing minutely now he understood what was being asked of him. Not holding back, just like Naruto. Head tipping back a little, legs opening a little wider, body opening in a full acceptance of the weight there.

I am here. Here I am.

Naruto answered the space Sasuke created so easily, like he was born to do this - to anchor him and lift him and remind him when he was mindless.

Sasuke's blood didn't seem to know if this was a repeat of earlier, if his heart should be breaking through his chest. His breathing became oddly conscious but still out of his control. All of these things that made Sasuke but were not Sasuke battled it out.

And he only watched Naruto.

Naruto whose hand was stroking absently at his side, Naruto who was watching him back with that intense blue stare.

Sasuke put his hand over Naruto's, stilling it, he kept it there while he found to his mortification that he needed to clear his throat before speaking.

'Shikamaru said, there's a place for me, with you in charge.'

Naruto nodded, eyes never leaving his.

'There's a place for you with me.'

Sasuke swallowed. Was it better never to voice his fear? Better to buy into this fantasy Naruto was offering where he was a useful member of society and not just a counter-measure to the Kyuubi, not living his life under the constant promise of tragedy.

Sasuke studied that close gaze. Easy to see why he'd be a good Hokage; wide eyes encouraging implicit trust. Useful in politics.

Essential in the art of controlling others.

No. Sasuke had learned not to trust in fantasy. There was truth, or there was lies. Both could bring pain. Nothing lay in-between.

'Because that's where I need to be? Or because you want me there?'

Naruto looked wary, and serious, and other things that didn't suit him.

'Because you say yes.'

His fingers lace with Sasuke's, and Sasuke hates himself a little for successfully making the happiest day of Naruto's life about him, but underneath that lies Naruto and Sasuke, and only tangential concern for Sasuke's individual future. Now he needs to know he's not once again being manipulated into doing what someone else can't, only because he needs to know they stand on strong enough foundations to support them. Because if Immovable Object and Unstoppable Force stand together then all bets are off, the game's wide open.

Sasuke places his hand in Naruto's hair. It's a small step, but it's the step after acceptance; a step after being here and into acting here.. It's a Yes. And it's enough.

Naruto's hand climbs out from under his and creeps up to his face. The look of wonder in Naruto's eyes, as though this is the first time he's seen him, and Sasuke is about to call him an idiot just to shake things up when Naruto kisses him. Barely a move forward, more pushed by their breathing and proximity, but it's nothing tentative, nothing by half, exploring the present and Sasuke is focussed on absolutely nothing but him.

A reprieve. A breath before the next step, because they could never spar without breaking something, never argue without throwing something; forever lighting a fire under the other and the simple harmony they're executing now is only the highest point of the circle – an extreme stretched so far it has no choice but to fold in on itself and return to zero.

Sasuke grunts when Naruto pushes further forward, just for a moment, pressing his skull back into the floor and giving him a taste of what this could be, what he suspects they both want it to be. Then Naruto pulls back, lips giving a soft pop as they leave his. His breath falls across Sasuke's open mouth, a look on his face like he just found a new goal, and Sasuke thinks that maybe another future, unformed and rocky but new lies ahead. Maybe it's not all laid out yet.

Maybe the trees don't burn after all.

Sasuke smiles and moves in on his target. He kisses Naruto with a finality to his movement, a sureness so like a Uchiha, but something in his lips yielding in their challenge, pulling back and daring Naruto to follow. Unique to Sasuke when he's learning a new technique on the level of chakra rather than brain. And Naruto, Naruto meets his every move like an inhale after too long underwater, gifting firm strokes and breathy kisses to every touch he's offered.

Naruto learns a new way to read him, in the spread of his fingers and the arch of his back. Unexpected and familiar all at the same time.

Sasuke learns to teach him.

Back to the start.

Whenever a situation develops to its extreme, it is bound to turn around and become its opposite – Fritjof Capra

I'd love to hear what you thought, thank you for reading!