there was a reason (i collided into you)

When he is twelve, Naruto has his first kiss with a boy that he hates.

It's his last day at the Academy, the day he officially becomes a ninja of the Leaf. The morning is the best he's ever had, and he can hardly contain his glee as he bounces around from classmate to classmate, proudly showing off the headband marking him as a genin.

Then Sakura-chan shoves him aside for stupid Sasuke, and his mood does a one-eighty.

The dark-haired boy is sitting at his desk, his hands laced together under his chin. Sakura and the rest of the girls in the class (excluding Hinata) are hovering by him with hearts in their eyes, but Sasuke doesn't so much as glance in their direction.

It makes Naruto angry. It always has, since the first day at the Academy. It's his attitude that Naruto hates—like he's better than everyone else, and other people simply aren't worth acknowledging. Like Naruto isn't worth acknowledging.

Even now, slumped against the side of his desk where Sakura shoved him, Sasuke ignores him completely. Naruto narrows his eyes and shoots the boy a glare, but Sasuke continues to stare forward with a look of complete disinterest.

Naruto grinds his teeth, anger spiking as Sakura and Ino continue their gushing. He refuses to be ignored for a bastard like this!

Naruto springs up onto his rival's desk, shoves his face close, boundaries be damned. Sasuke glances up, his blank expression finally giving way to the slightest flash of irritation.

Naruto narrows his eyes. Sakura snaps at him to stop glaring, and he growls. Why are they so obsessed with him? he wonders. Naruto doesn't see what is so special. Sasuke is a jerk. Why is everyone always fawning over him?

Dark eyes clash with blue, both of them radiating with an intense dislike. Electricity crackles between them.

And then someone's elbow knocks into Naruto's back, and his eyes go wide as he's shoved a few inches forward.

He sees it in his mind before it happens, tries to stop it from actually happening, only there's no time, and there's nothing to steady him, and Naruto's mouth comes down squarely on top of Sasuke's.

The entire room goes quiet. No one breathes.

There's a moment—a moment where Naruto's brain freezes and simply refuses to process, and he stares, wide-eyed, into a horrified face that mirrors his own. Sasuke's lips are beneath Naruto's, dry and chapped and weird, and Naruto's never been kissed before, but he's certain this isn't how it goes—

The moment passes, and Naruto rips himself away at the same moment Sasuke does, the both of them retching and clutching their throats. Sasuke mutters something threatening, but Naruto's too overcome by disgust to care. His stomach roils, and he scrubs his hand repeatedly over his mouth.

Gross, gross, gross!

He opens his mouth to yell at Sasuke—or maybe at the guy who bumped into him—but then he feels the murderous intent directed at him, and he's running from a rabid group of fangirls determined to rip his head from his body.

He doesn't think about it again until that night, laying in bed and staring up at the ceiling, cursing his bad luck to have been put on a team with Sasuke of all people. He remembers the feeling of another mouth against his own, and his entire body shudders, his face twisting up in disgust.

His first kiss—and it was a complete accident. He hopes his next one will be better.

Maybe with Sakura-chan, he thinks, and grins widely to himself.

His next kiss isn't with Sakura. It's just as much of an accident as the first.

This time, Naruto is fully prepared to blame Sasuke. If the idiot wasn't so concerned with finishing their mission and going after the weird bear-trophy-thing, instead of rescuing Sakura which is what they should be doing, then this never would have happened.

This being him and Sasuke currently locked together by the stupid boulder connecting their hands, refusing to be removed.

"This is stupid!" Naruto yells, still trying to pull his hand free from the rock, causing Sasuke to veer sideways. "We should be going after Sakura!"

Sasuke glares. "Stop yanking on my arm! Kakashi will rescue Sakura. We need to do what we were hired to do, which is finish the mission. Besides, Sakura should have known better than to get herself captured."

"Shut up, teme! Don't talk about Sakura-chan like that!"

"You shut up, idiot! We need to get this thing off!"

Naruto huffs, stomping his feet loudly, but acquiesces. He doesn't want to be stuck together with Sasuke for any longer than he has to. It's annoying, not to mention awkward. What if he has to pee?

They try everything to get the rock off, and then they try everything again a second time. Nothing works. Both of them are sweating and covered in dirt; Sasuke's dark hair hangs in his face and his eyes are tired. Naruto's wrist hurts where the rock encases it.

They come to a waterfall, and as a last resort, try jumping off it. Their interlocked arms are trapped on a rock above them as they hit the water hard and are quickly submerged.

The impact knocks the breath from him. The water is unbelievably cold, and the waves jerk him around roughly, knocking against Sasuke under the water. It fills his nose and invades his mouth. He can't breathe.

But their arms—still connected, dammit!—are anchoring them to the surface, keeping them from being swallowed up. A particularly heavy wave nearly pulls Naruto's shoulder from its socket.

Then, the water is propelling them both upwards toward the cliff-face. Naruto yells, still choking on water, and they're facing each other with wide eyes and mouths open as they come closer, closer—

Not again! Naruto has just enough time to think, frozen in horror as he and Sasuke collide, mouths knocking solidly together.

It's awkward as hell—maybe even more so than the first time. Their teeth clack together painfully, and the both of them are still choking on water. Sasuke's lips are ice cold against his. Naruto's soaked to the bone in freezing water, but he suddenly feels like he's on fire.

They crash back down into the water, hitting the surface hard. The current forces them apart, pulls them away from each other, and Naruto breaks the surface a few seconds after Sasuke, sputtering wildly.

Sasuke clutches this throat. His hair is soaking wet and plastered to his face, and he turns to face Naruto with a fierce scowl. "Why is it always with you?"

"That's what I should be saying!" he yells back, spitting.

Sasuke rubs his mouth, casting Naruto a hard look, before climbing out of the water. Their hands are still trapped together, so Naruto is forced to follow behind.

His lips are tingling. He's shivering from their dip in the river, but his mouth feels suspiciously warm. He glances at Sasuke out of the corner of his eye; his pale skin and black hair, soaked from the waterfall, a singular drop of water making its way down his left cheek. He's not looking at Naruto, but straight ahead, that familiar focused look on his face. His eyes are so dark they're almost black, but Naruto remembers as they came closer together, looking into them and realizing that they are actually a dark, dark brown.

He remembers the other boy's lips under his, softer than he remembered from the first time, and his stomach does a tiny swoop.

"You're staring," says Sasuke, without looking at him.

Naruto's face heats up. "A-Am not! Shut up!"

He turns his face away, hiding his blush. There's a funny, fluttery feeling in his chest, and he doesn't know what it means.

What is this? he wonders. What is this feeling?

He doesn't like it.

Sasuke isn't speaking to him, which shouldn't bother him as much as it does.

The boy in question is sitting up in his hospital bed, looking as surly and bad-tempered as always. It's only been a little over a day since Tsunade woke him up from the coma his brother put him in, and he still looks rather exhausted. He's even paler than normal, with dark circles under his eyes, as if he hasn't spent the last week asleep. He's skinnier, too—according to Kakashi, the med-nins were feeding him through an IV, so it's been a while since he's had some solid food.

He's still pretty bruised up, too. His skin is a patchwork of colors, the splotches of black and blue peeking out from under his clothes. The one at his throat is the worst—the imprint of Itachi's fingers around his neck is clearly visible, and Naruto's hand curls into a fist when he sees it.

There are muffled voices coming from the hall outside the room; Kakashi is out there with Shizune, discussing Sasuke's condition. Sakura is sitting in the chair by Sasuke's bed, smiling at him hopefully and attempting to engage him in conversation. He ignores her, the same way he's ignoring Naruto.

Naruto knows he shouldn't take it personally—Sasuke isn't speaking to anyone, not just him. But it still feels like a personal attack, and it annoys him more than it should.

He shouldn't care so much. Sasuke gets like this sometimes—hyper-focused and driven, consumed by some inner desire that threatens to burn him up from the inside. When he's in this sort of mindset, other people don't register to him.

Naruto can't even blame him this time, knows his fight with his brother must be consuming his every thought. Naruto can still see it—the way Sasuke was thrown around, his brother's movements calculated and cold. The memory of his comrade splintering apart under such ruthless hands makes him shake in rage, makes him want to punch and tear and destroy as if it will somehow fix all the damage that's been done.

But fighting will not piece Sasuke back together, and Naruto doesn't know how to help because when it comes to Sasuke he doesn't know how to do anything else.

He knows Sasuke's fighting his own demons, sees that crushing grief in his eyes beneath the dark burn of hatred. But he doesn't know how to handle those demons, doesn't even dare try to bring them up. The problem with being best friends with someone you also can't stand, is that fighting with them quickly becomes your go-to solution. For everything.

When fighting doesn't work, he has no idea how to respond.

"—to wake up, and I know Naruto was really worried, too."

Naruto tunes back into Sakura's words when he hears his name, catching the tail-end of the conversation. "Hey! I was not!"

As she turns her head from Sasuke to him, Sakura looks like she's resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "Oh, please. You were."

"I wasn't worried about that jerk!"

"Before you and Jiraiya-sensei went to find Tsunade-sama, you practically lived at his bedside. You refused to move."

Naruto feels his cheeks heating up, red spreading across his face. He glares at his female teammate, protesting, "I did not!" His insides are twisting in embarrassment, and though he was irritated by it a moment ago, he's suddenly grateful Sasuke seems to be ignoring them. "Why would I waste my time on that bastard!? I've got way better things to do!"

"The hospital threatened to kick you out," says Sakura. "Kakashi-sensei had to bribe you with ramen."

Naruto sputters, nothing to say to that that won't sound like a frantic attempt at a denial to save face. It's true. He did stay in Sasuke's hospital room, and Kakashi did have to bribe him with ramen to get him to leave—not that he wants Sasuke to know that. Ever.

And now he's thinking about ramen. His stomach growls loudly.

Sakura throws her hands up. "Really, Naruto? You're hopeless."

"Who's hopeless?" says Kakashi as he enters the room, body slouched and hands in his pockets as usual.

"Sensei!" she exclaims, springing upon him immediately. "What did Shizune-san say? Sasuke-kun is okay now, right? How long until he can leave?"

Kakashi pats her on the head, his one visible eye appearing to be amused. "Relax, Sakura. Sasuke will be fine. He just needs to take it easy for a while." He tilts his head, looking over at his injured student. "Alright there, Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn," Sasuke says, still ignoring them.

Naruto normally would roll his eyes at the typical reply, but now that his mind has latched onto the topic of ramen, it refuses to let go. His stomach feels unbearably empty.

"Kakashi-sensei, I haven't had food all day!" he complains. "Take us for some ramen!"

"Naruto!" Sakura yells. "You had like three bowls yesterday! And we're supposed to keep Sasuke-kun company!"

"What's the point if he's just gonna be a jerk! He doesn't even want us here, I'm hungry, let's go to Ichiraku's!" He turns to face Sasuke, practically bouncing on his feet. "Hey, teme! Tell Sakura-chan you don't care if we leave!"

To Naruto's building irritation, Sasuke ignores him (nothing new there), turning to Kakashi instead. "When can I get out of here?" he asks.

It's the first time he's heard his friend's voice in days. He refuses to admit the comfort it brings him.

(The last time he heard that voice was when Itachi had Sasuke pinned to the wall, fingers wrapped around his throat as he screamed and screamed and screamed, agony tearing the sound from his throat as Naruto stood there helpless and watched—)

Kakashi makes his way into the room, settling himself in the chair next to the one Sakura's in and crossing his leg over the other. As he addresses Sasuke, his relaxed demeanor becomes more serious.

"Your physical injuries have mostly healed by now. However, the Tsukuyomi that Itachi trapped you in"—Sasuke's face twitches minutely at his brother's name—"is another story. He managed to shatter your mind completely with that genjutsu, and while Tsunade managed to piece it back together, she's concerned about the effect it might have on your mental state, especially due to the long length of time you were under it. You'll need to remain here under observation for a few days, and Tsunade is recommending a psych eval—"

"What?" Sasuke protests this immediately. "I don't need a stupid psych eval! I'm fine! I need to get out of here so I can get back to training!"

"I took the evaluation too, Sasuke. It's just procedure. And they need to be sure there are no lingering side-effects of the genjutsu before they let you go."

Sasuke growls, looking much like he wants to kick something. "He hit you with it, too, didn't he? You're fine!"

"I was only under it for a few seconds," their sensei replies. "You were subjected to it much longer than I was. And you're much younger."

Sasuke huffs, scowling, but seems to reluctantly agree. Naruto immediately seizes the pause in conversation to butt in, "Ok, so Sasuke's staying here! Let's go for ramen now, come on, come on, come on, I'm famished—"

Sakura shakes her head, muttering to herself, "Honestly, is that all he eats? I'm surprised he's not sick of it by now."

"I'm surprised he knows what the word famished means," says Sasuke, corner of his mouth curling up into a smirk.

"Hey! Take that back, jerk!" Naruto yells, rising to the bait immediately.

"Who's gonna make me? You?" His smirk widens. "Even in the state I'm in now, you still couldn't land a hit on me."

"Wanna bet!"

Naruto jumps on top of the hospital bed, crouching with his feet on either side of Sasuke's legs. Sasuke jerks back violently, hitting the back of his head against the wall.

"Ow! The hell, dead last, get offa me—"

"You just wait!" Naruto brings his hand up and curls it into a fist for Sasuke to see. "You promised to fight me, remember? When you get out of here, you're gonna make good on your promise, and then you'll be sorry!"

"Naruto!" Sakura yells, standing up angrily from her chair. "Leave Sasuke-kun alone! He's hurt!"

Naruto doesn't look away, glaring into Sasuke's dark eyes. "This bastard started it! Thinks he can call me weak—"

"Well, aren't you? Don't blame me for stating the obvious."

"Sensei, make them stop!" Sakura implores.

"Sasuke, don't antagonize Naruto," Kakashi says mildly, not bothering to glance up from the copy of Icha Icha held in his hands. "Naruto, don't threaten the injured."

Sakura isn't satisfied by this, repeating, "Sensei!" in a screechy voice.

Kakashi sighs, flipping the page and holding his place before putting it away, walking over to his two bickering students.

Later, Naruto will curse himself for not realizing what was about to happen. They're in the same position they were that day in the classroom—Naruto crouching in front of Sasuke, looming over him and shoving his face extra close, close enough to feel his breath. Previous experience should have warned him about the position, but he's too busy glaring.

"Alright, enough, both of you," Kakashi says, and he brings both of his hands up to knock their heads together.

For the third time, their lips smash together.

Their foreheads knock together, hard enough to rattle Naruto's brain, and one of Sasuke's teeth cuts into his bottom lip. He gasps instinctively, hand gripping Sasuke's shoulder to steady himself. Sasuke radiates warmth, and Naruto is hyper-aware of every point where their bodies are touching. Beneath his hand, Sasuke's shoulder is bruised, and he seems unbelievably fragile in a way Sasuke's never been before. It's not right; Sasuke's not breakable, isn't supposed to feel so delicate, but Naruto can feel his fractures now, the ones that can't be seen, only felt, and he feels a sudden absurd instinct to protect, to shield.

Sasuke's lips are cold against his own, like ice. They are stiff and unmoving, and for reasons unknown, something deep inside of Naruto aches.

Sasuke places both of his hands flat on Naruto's chest, and then shoves. It's different from the two previous other times, jerking his face away in disgust; this time there is something angry in the action, something wild.

Some carefully confined emotion in him seems to have snapped.

"Get off of me," he snarls, and Naruto flinches backwards when he realizes Sasuke's eyes are blood-red, his Sharingan whirling.

"Sasuke…?" he questions, unsure. Where did this sudden burst of anger come from?

"Enough," says Kakashi, in a firm voice he rarely uses with them. Any residual amusement is wiped from his expression. "Sasuke, calm down."

Sasuke takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. At his sides, his hands fist in the sheets. When his eyes open again, the red in them has faded.

Naruto eyes his friend warily, both concerned and annoyed with the behavior. His heart is still pounding from Sasuke's body so close to his, and his chest is a mixture of emotions, all of them fighting to come out on top.

Annoyance wins. He feels it building up higher and higher. What the hell is his problem? It was an accident! He didn't need to blow up!

Is kissing me really that bad? Naruto thinks, with a twang of hurt. Then he pushes down the thought as far as it can go, because it doesn't make sense and is confusing as hell, and he doesn't want to think about what it might mean.

(He's doing a lot of that concerning Sasuke these days.)

"Naruto!" Sakura yells, face white with rage. "Just how many times are you going to steal kisses from Sasuke-kun? I told you, it's meant to be me!"

Naruto's face heats up as he sees Kakashi glance at him, an eyebrow lifted curiously. "It's not my fault it keeps happening!"

"Well, stop it! It's me he's gonna kiss!"

"Shut up," Sasuke grumbles, scrubbing at his mouth with the back of his hand. "I'm not kissing either of you. Get out. All of you are annoying."

Sakura looks as if Sasuke just gutted her. "B-but..."

Kakashi places a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "Come on," he says. "Sasuke needs his rest." He walks over to Naruto, still crouching near the end of the hospital bed, and pulls him by the collar of his jacket. Naruto squeaks, toppling backwards.

Ow, he thinks, his butt hitting the floor. He glares up at his sensei, who is looking rather smug. "Sensei! That was mean dattebayo!"

Kakashi shrugs. He has his book out again.

"Hope you feel better, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura calls.

"Hn."

Naruto rolls his eyes, and three out of four of Team Seven exit the room. Naruto begins to pester Kakashi about ramen again, and Sakura says something about Ino before leaving. He and Kakashi exit the hospital together, Naruto leading the way to Ichiraku's.

"So, Naruto," says Kakashi, and Naruto knows immediately from the mischievous tone of his voice that he isn't going to like what he's going to say, "What's this I hear about you kissing Sasuke?"

Naruto goes red. "Nothing! It was just an accident!" Three accidents. "I would never want to kiss that bastard! Gross!"

Kakashi chuckles from behind that pervy book of his. "You know, if you did want to kiss him, that would be okay. It's perfectly natural for a boy around your age to—"

Naruto turns, if possible, even redder. "I don't!" He looks from his sensei to the orange book in his hands, and scowls. "Sensei, you've been talking to Pervy Sage, haven't you!"

Kakashi ignores the accusation. "All I'm saying is that these things are perfectly normal." His eye is curved into a smile, enjoying the torment he's inflicting, because he's an awful, awful person. "You're growing into a young man, and with that will come certain urges you might feel compelled to act on…"

"Oh my god—"

"Now, it's come to my attention that you don't really have an adult figure in your life to explain to you how this works, and I just want to be sure that you're being safe—"

"I'm not attracted to Sasuke!" Naruto yells loudly. His face is burning; he's pretty sure he's never felt this embarrassed. "Th-that's just—no! No way!"

Kakashi seems surprised by this. "Hm. Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

"You know, I can lend you my copy of Icha Icha Paradise if you need some pointers—"

"Sensei!"

Not even a week later, Sasuke puts Konoha behind him and walks straight into the den of a snake.

Kakashi attempts to explain, to ease the sting of betrayal the news carries. He tells Naruto all the things he didn't know, about the curse mark and Orochimaru's plans for Sasuke. He tells him about Uchiha Itachi. "Sasuke was already unstable due to the effects of the curse mark on his mind. His reunion with Itachi…it made something inside him snap."

Naruto barely hears any of it. It's all just white noise. None of it seems real, and he can't wrap his head around it. Sasuke, go to Orochimaru? That just isn't Sasuke. He's too proud to go crawling to someone else for power. He would never let himself be used in such a way!

And Naruto is angry. Naruto is pissed. Because how dare he? That bastard thinks he can just walk away? Sever all bonds and just disappear into his darkness?

No. You don't abandon your comrades. And Naruto is going to bring him home, even if he has to break both of his arms and legs to do it.

After the battle at the Valley of the End, he wakes up in the hospital with a battered body and a shattered heart. Sasuke's headband—the one marking him a shinobi of the Leaf—sits on the table at his bedside. Naruto picks it up, runs his fingers over the long scratch on its surface.

I'll bring you home, he vows, cradling the headband to his chest. I promise, Sasuke.

It's a long time before he sees him again.

Naruto never quite realized how much space Sasuke took up in his life until he was no longer in it.

The empty spaces lurk around every corner, lingering like phantom pains. Memory throws its shadow over everything, distorting past from present, painting his life in sanguine colors. There's a name that catches between his teeth, a goading challenge on his tongue when he turns, only to meet empty air where there should be a pair of dark eyes and a cocky smirk.

Sasuke carved out a place in his heart, one Naruto didn't even realize existed until he was no longer there to fill it. What's left behind is a hollow space; a gaping void between his ribs that grows larger and larger each step farther Sasuke takes into the darkness—takes away from him.

Sasuke is gone, and the spaces he leaves behind bring nothing but reminders. Konoha is a landmine of memories, and no matter how he tries to avoid them, they keep exploding in his face.

He can't stand it—being around all of those memories, looking at Sakura and knowing that each day that passes is another day he failed in his promise to her. It hurts too much, so he leaves; Pervy Sage takes him on as a student, and he leaves with him to train to get stronger. He vows to himself that when he returns, he'll be strong enough to beat Sasuke and bring him home.

He thought the distance would help, but the pain in his heart only grows deeper, as months, then years, pass. He catches himself gazing up at the moon at night, wondering about Sasuke. What is he doing right now? Is he staring up at the same sky Naruto is?

Sometimes, when he lays in bed, he'll remember the phantom sensation of Sasuke's mouth on his, and he'll brush the tips of his fingers over his lips. A warmth fills him at the memory.

It's on those nights that Naruto questions his devotion to rescuing Sasuke. It's not just because he made Sakura a promise, it goes farther than that. He remembers in the Valley of the End, Sasuke looking at him with confused eyes and asking, "Why do you go so far for me?"

Naruto responded that it was because Sasuke is the first bond he had. He likened Sasuke to the idea of having a brother. But now…now he thinks maybe that comparison was a bit off target.

What is this feeling? he asks himself, just like three years ago, soaking wet with river-water, lips tingling and his hand brushing Sasuke's as they walked. He brushes his fingers against his lips again, and remembers. He remembers Sasuke calling him a scaredy cat, tossing him a taunting smirk, and that terrifying moment when Sasuke jumped in front of him to protect him from Haku's attack. He remembers Sasuke standing tall against Gaara, declaring he would protect his comrades with his life, and at the Valley of the End, saying you've become my closest friend.

He remembers Sasuke's lips touching his, the first time, then the second, then the third.

Oh, Naruto realizes, as the feeling bubbles up in his chest, makes a place deep in his heart. Sothat's what that is.

He stands with his arm out to keep Sakura back, Kakashi feet behind him, as he stares across the landscape at a face that once called him friend. Sasuke's chakra is cold, his countenance written in darkness. His eyes are wild, and there is an edge of madness to him that wasn't there before, as he screams at Naruto across the chasm that separates them.

"What the hell do you want!? Why are you so fixated on me!?"

His face, for once, is completely open. The emotions displayed there are staggering, especially on someone usually so devoid of expression. Desperation is written there plainly, bleeding into frustration; Sasuke has asked this question before, and Naruto has answered, but the Uchiha can't seem to accept the answer, remaining hopelessly confused.

Why do you go so far for me? Why won't you just give up?

"Because you're my friend," is what he says.

Because I think I might love you, is what he means.

All of it has led to this, standing before the statues of Madara and Hashirama, clashing together in a fated battle.

It feels right somehow, Naruto thinks, that it should end here, where it first started. Not the legacy of the Senju and the Uchiha, not the hatred that Konohagakure rose out of—this isn't about them. This is Naruto and Sasuke, in an echo of the fight all those years ago, when Sasuke walked off into the darkness and Naruto returned home empty-handed.

It won't end that way this time. Naruto won't let it.

Both of them are exhausted; they are completely depleted of chakra, and their bodies are too run-down for even the simplest of taijutsu. Their punches glance off each other, pathetic and useless.

Naruto spits blood out of his mouth—and gross, is that a tooth?—as Sasuke's fist once again connects with the side of his face. The punch is messy and uncoordinated, but there's still enough strength behind it to send him stumbling.

Sasuke's breathing is heavy; the dirty water thoroughly soaking him mixes with the blood on his face. The bright-red of his Sharingan has long since died away, but the Rinnegan still stares straight at him through an exhausted glare.

Naruto stumbles as he throws a haphazard punch, but the movement's too uncontrolled, with too much force behind it for his weakened body to handle, and he trips over air as his hit misses and he crashes forward.

His body collides with Sasuke's and they both lose their balance. Sasuke takes the brunt of the impact as he's knocked onto his back in the water, Naruto on top of him.

Their foreheads knock together, then their lips. Sasuke's lips are wet with his blood, and for a moment Naruto is frozen, thrown back in time. Beneath the coppery tinge, Sasuke tastes the same, his lips still feel the same against his own, cold and awkward but not altogether unpleasant. There's a heat in Naruto's belly that he's only recently recognized as want.

Then Sasuke bites down on his bottom lip hard, jerking his face away with a violent snarl, and Naruto remembers that, oh yeah, Sasuke hates him and they're supposed to be fighting.

Naruto pushes himself up with both his arms, so he's no longer putting his full weight on top of Sasuke. He looks down at the body beneath him, the metallic tang of Sasuke's blood still lingering faintly on his tongue.

"Um," he says. "Oops?"

Sasuke punches him hard enough to shatter his nose.

Naruto watches Sasuke.

The war is over, and Konoha's shinobi forces are making the trek back to the village, slowly but surely. The journey would be quicker if they weren't carrying the bodies of the fallen on their backs, but no one dares suggest leaving even one behind. They've stopped to make camp for the night; Naruto was in the middle of a conversation with Sai when he noticed Sasuke wander off, and followed him.

He's leaning against the trunk of a tree not too far away, staring up at the sky. From this distance, Naruto can't tell what his face looks like.

"Stare any harder, and you'll burn a hole through him."

With an embarrassing yelp of surprise, Naruto tears his eyes from Sasuke. Sakura stands next to him, her hair pulled away from her face; her cheeks and forehead are streaked with dirt. Her green eyes are unbelievably tired, but they watch him with unmistakable amusement.

"I wasn't-" Naruto feels his face heat up. "I was just making sure the bastard didn't run off again!"

Sakura smiles, amused, before her expression softens to something more gentle. "He's not going anywhere, Naruto. You did it. You brought him back to us."

"I know," he replies. And he does know - knows that no one can make Sasuke do something he doesn't want to do, that the only reason he's agreed to journey back with them to the village is because he wants to. If he truly wants to leave, then no one's going to be stopping him - not even Naruto. It should be comforting, knowing Sasuke is here of his own will, not because he's being dragged back in chains. But after so long spent running after him, so long spent chasing a goal that only seemed to get farther and farther away, Naruto finds it hard to believe he's finally obtained it. He's terrified to take his eyes off him, afraid that if he lets him out of his sights for so much as a moment, he'll be gone again. Back into the darkness where Naruto can't reach him.

And he can't handle losing Sasuke again. He can't. He doesn't fully believe he has him now. He can't stop seeing it in his head - Sasuke on the ground next to him, broken and bleeding; a soft smile curving at his lips as he spoke the words, I admit it, I've lost.

He's staring at him again. The lone Uchiha survivor hasn't moved; he paints a solitary picture, standing off by himself in his tattered, bloody clothing, isolating himself from everyone else. He's staring up at the night sky, and even from this distance, his eyes are troubled. Weighed down by ghosts only he sees.

To Naruto, he looks unbearably lonely.

"You should tell him," Sakura says, and Naruto startles slightly. "How you feel," she clarifies at his confused look.

Naruto's eyes go wide, panic rising in his throat and kicking his heart into a rapid beat. "Huh!? How I what!?" He can feel the heat rising in his cheeks. He waves his arms - arm, oh yeah, the other one's gone - around frantically. "That's not - I don't - it's not like that! Why does everybody - !"

"Naruto." She waits for his sputtering to die down before she speaks, smiling reassuringly. "It's okay. You don't have to hide it from me."

He still feels panicky, pulse racing beneath his skin, and though he knows he's being ridiculous, he still whips his head around to be sure Sasuke hasn't heard. He hasn't; of course he hasn't.

The panic slowly fades, replaced with weary resignation. His arm falls back to his side. "Sorry," he mutters.

Sakura blinks. "Sorry? For what?"

"I know you love him."

Naruto looks down, unable to look at her. The air is heavy with silence for a long moment. When Sakura speaks again her voice is still gentle, but now there's a sadness to it.

"We're not kids anymore, Naruto. None of us are who we thought we'd be. The girl that I was... she clung to her crush so desperately. She thought that if she loved him enough it would somehow make him love her. But the truth is, the boy she fell for, that she gave everything to love... he wasn't real."

Naruto turns his eyes up from the ground, frowning in confusion. What is she saying?

"The Sasuke that I fell for..." Sakura continues, "He never existed. He was an idea I created in my head. I've clung to that idea of him so hard for years, because I wanted so badly for it to be real. But it isn't. I fell in love with a dream, not a person."

Sakura's eyes are sad, but when she looks at him, she still smiles. "But you, you've always seen Sasuke-kun, right from the beginning. You understood him in a way I never could - never will. I've watched the both of you suffer for so long now. I just want you both to be happy."

There's a heavy pressure behind his eyes that he struggles to blink away. His throat feels choked, and he swallows. He doesn't know how to say how grateful he is to have her. "I don't think... I don't think Sasuke feels that way about me," he says instead.

She shrugs. "Maybe. You never know until you try." Her eyes meet his. Naruto wonders when she grew up so much without him noticing. "Tell him, Naruto. If you don't, you'll regret it."

Naruto slumps over in the center of the training ground, leaning his weight on his knees as he struggles to catch his breath. His body is sore and is going to be bruised tomorrow, and he glares halfheartedly up at his sparring partner.

The red fades from Sasuke's visible eye as the match comes to a close. "I win again, dobe," he says, and the smug tone of his voice grates against Naruto's nerves. He's not breathing as heavily as Naruto is, but his clothes are twice as dirty.

Naruto wipes at the sweat on his forehead, glaring. "You cheated, you bastard! We agreed no Sharingan!"

"We also agreed no sage-level jutsu. Didn't stop you from using that Rasenshuriken."

Naruto huffs, muttering an unsavory comment under his breath despite knowing Sasuke is right. Still, he can't help the wide smile stretching his cheeks as Sasuke offers a hand to help pull him up. It's been so long since he fought with Sasuke like this - a playful spar to test his skills, instead of deadly match to the death. It reminds him of their early days on Team 7, before everything fell apart. He's missed it.

Sasuke isn't smiling - when is he ever - but there's a spark in his eyes that Naruto hasn't seen before, not even back when they were genin. Even before Sasuke went rogue to hunt down his psycho brother (who turned out to be not-so-psycho), their team had been full of cracks. Kakashi had never had students before, let alone students as troublesome as Naruto and as traumatized as Sasuke, and Sakura had been too obsessed with Sasuke to see anything else. But out of the four of them, it was Naruto and Sasuke's issues that caused the biggest rift; Naruto, too eager to prove himself to ask for Sasuke's help, and Sasuke, too arrogant and set in his ways to admit he needed Naruto's. To Naruto, Sasuke had been a goal to surpass on his way to Hokage, and to Sasuke, Naruto had been an obstacle in the way of his revenge. Neither of them understood the other, because neither of them bothered to try. By the time Naruto recognized the depths of his teammate's pain, Sasuke had already drowned in it.

It's different now. Those cracks that splintered between them are gone. They broke apart and reformed into something newer, something stronger. There's an understanding now that wasn't there before, a camaraderie that can only be present with the trust and respect to build it on. Before was always about proving to be better, even when fighting together. Now, each of them can acknowledge the other's strength. They fight with each other on equal footing.

"What are you grinning about, loser?" Even Sasuke's barbs aren't as sharp as they used to be, have developed more of a teasing tone. "I beat you. Twice."

"I was going easy on you," says Naruto, as Sasuke sheaths his sword at his hip. "You know, since you only have one arm and all."

"And yet, I still managed to knock you on your ass."

"I told you, I was going easy on you!"

The corner of Sasuke's mouth pulls up into not-quite-a-smirk, and he perches himself on the bench Naruto is now sitting on. Truthfully, Naruto wasn't going easy on Sasuke at all, and he's actually rather impressed. It's been less than a month since Sasuke's been released from the cell they were holding him, and he's already mastered wielding his weapons with one hand. Ninjutsu is a slower process - relearning to form hand-signs without the use of both hands is an entirely new concept - but practice makes perfect, and Sasuke has been doinga lot of practice. Naruto recalls when Sasuke refused a new arm, and how Tsunade told him he wouldn't be able to fight as efficiently without it - and he wants to laugh. She obviously underestimated Sasuke's tenacity.

Still, despite knowing Sasuke's abilities haven't suffered from the loss, Naruto finds himself frowning at Sasuke's empty left sleeve when he catches sight of it. It's admirable how quickly Sasuke has adjusted to the missing limb, but Naruto simply can't fathom why anyone would want to when they have a choice in the matter. Why, when there is a perfectly good replacement arm available?

"You're staring again," says Sasuke, snapping Naruto's gaze from his empty sleeve back to his face. "Naruto, we've talked about this."

"I know, I know! But I don't get why you won't just take the replacement arm!"

"I told you already." He's not facing Naruto, is staring determinedly ahead. "It's a reminder. Of where I've been. What I've done."

Naruto shakes his head, unable to identify the complex swirl of emotions rising in his chest. "I told you. I've forgiven you already."

"Maybe," Sasuke replies softly. "But I haven't."

Naruto doesn't know what to say to that, doesn't know if there's anything he can say. If Sasuke needs his forgiveness, he can give it to him in a heartbeat. But he can't make Sasuke forgive himself.

He watches him, appreciating the fact that he can once again be this close without dodging punches. Sasuke's still not looking at him, something Naruto's come to realize means there's something in his face he doesn't want Naruto to see. Naruto's fingers itch with the need to reach out and touch, to place his fingers under his chin and turn Sasuke's head until he's looking at him, to smooth away the troubled lines from his face.

He doesn't. He curls his fingers around the edge of the bench and keeps them there.

Sasuke's head snaps to look at him suddenly. "Why did you forgive me?"

Naruto blinks at the abrupt question, at finding Sasuke looking at him. His Rinnegan is covered by his hair, his other one searching Naruto's face. "What?"

"Why go so far to save me? Why bother?"

Naruto frowns in confusion. "I explained this, remember? It's because you're my -"

"I'm your friend, right." Sasuke's expression is inscrutable, and the way he's looking at him makes Naruto's heart pound. "But is that all I am? A friend?"

Naruto's breath catches in his throat. There's something raw in Sasuke's voice now, and it pulls at something in Naruto's chest. He can't look away. He can hear his own pulse in his ears. Is Sasuke asking what he thinks he is? What does he say? What does he say?

Tell him. If you don't, you'll regret it.

Sakura's words flit through his mind. He swallows.

"You went so far for me," Sasuke is saying. "Chased after me for so long. You're telling me you would do that for anyone? For Sakura, for Gaara?"

Naruto opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. He knows what he wants to say, but the words get stuck in his throat. What if he ruins everything?

"Naruto." Sasuke's hand has reached over to encircle his wrist. His thumb brushes against Naruto's pulse point, and Naruto shivers. "Would you do that for anyone?"

Tell him. If you don't, you'll regret it.

"No," Naruto whispers, finally finding his voice. "I wouldn't."

It's very quiet. Sasuke doesn't speak, still staring at him with that unfathomable expression. But he doesn't move away either. He realizes that Sasuke isn't going to speak, that he's waiting for Naruto. Naruto gathers his courage and speaks, avoiding the other boy's eyes.

"I like you. I think I've always liked you." There's another word he can use here, another one that starts with an L with just as many letters, but he's not quite ready to say that yet. "And I missed you so much and I never wanted anything more than to bring you home, because you are more than a friend to me. If you don't feel the same way - if you don't - that's fine. I'm happy being your friend. I only ever wanted you to come home. If you don't feel - that's okay."

Naruto snaps his mouth shut, staring intensely down at his knees. His face is bright red. For a long moment, neither of them speak. Then a pale hand reaches out, gently lifting Naruto's chin. Dark eyes meet blue, and the dark-haired boy's lips twitch up into a smile.

"Moron," says Sasuke, and kisses him.

Sasuke's mouth is a raging inferno. Naruto's insides ignite, and he finds himself moving into Sasuke automatically, pressing closer to his friend as his fingers find the skin just above the collar of his cloak. Sasuke's lips pull on his and Naruto bites back, kissing him deeper, fighting for more. Sasuke's nails dig into his shoulder as he shudders, and Naruto swears he can taste Sasuke's heartbeat, pounding wildly in tune with his own. They share an erratic breath.

Sasuke pulls away just barely, their faces an inch apart. There's a hint of a smirk pulling at his lips as he meets Naruto's gaze, and Naruto can feel his breaths against his mouth. Naruto has to restart his heart. They are closer than they've been in years, so close he can see the flush of color in Sasuke's normally pale face and the glint of emotion in his normally expressionless eyes, and he stares at his best friend's face, unable to tear his eyes away.

He takes a much-needed breath.

"That wasn't an accident," he says.

Sasuke smiles—not a smirk, but an honest-to-god, genuine smile—and it's such a rare expression that Naruto can count the times he's seen it on one hand and still have fingers to spare.

He's the most beautiful thing he's ever seen.

"I know," he says, and sounds a bit breathless. "It means I like you too, loser."

Naruto stares with wide-eyes, slowly processing. A giddy feeling is spreading through his chest. "Really?"

"Really. God help me."

Naruto can't take his eyes off him, can't stop grinning. It hurts his face. He likes me. He likes me. Sasuke's flush deepens under Naruto's gaze. He scowls.

"Idiot," he says. "What are you staring at?"

Naruto just smiles, and then kisses him again. Just because he can.

Um... this fic was supposed to be short and humorous... just a tiny one-shot about Sasuke and Naruto's habit of kissing accidentally =D Instead it turned out twice as long as it was originally meant to be, and turned out being more of a study on the progression of Naruto's feelings. Oh well, I'm still proud of it :)

In case you didn't know, the first 2 scenes are canon. Everyone's seen the kiss in the classroom, but some people haven't seen the second because it happened in one of the filler episodes in Shippuden, and I know a lot of people skip the fillers.

Anyway tell me what you thought! I'm fairly certain I managed to keep them in character (though I did struggle with the last scene and with the scene with Sakura...)