Ribbit! Ribbit! Ribbit! Rib-!

The sun warmed his face and birds were chirping in the distance. Naruto slowly woke up and sat up his bed brushing his eyes. His eyes went to the chair by his desk, where his new jacket was. It wasn't a dream, he thought, I am Hokage now.

"And you can't be late" he sighed as he looked at the clock, he was okay, so far. But he couldn't let himself be lazy, not on his first day. He shook his head, slapped himself softly and jumped off the bed to take a shower.

As he got ready he started thinking of Sasuke, not only he had become Hokage the previous day, Sasuke had come back, he was actually in Konoha, finally. Except the bastard had fled the party before he could say anything more to him. But again, how the hell was he supposed to say that. He had no idea. He didn't even know where in Konoha he was now.

How is it the second time this happens?, he wondered, frustrated.

He brushed the thoughts off, finished dressing up and headed to his office. Because it was his office now.

"Good morning!" he exhaled as he opened the door to the office. Shikamaru was, obviously, already there going through some papers.

"Ha, right on time, Hokage" he smiled. "Count me impressed"

Naruto mocked that last sentence as he approached the desk.

"I said I was going to be on time, didn't I?" he pouted.

"Well, good thing you are, there's a lot to do today" Shikamaru erased his smile and put ten big piles of papers in front of him.

Naruto looked at them and sighed. But quickly cracked his fingers and neck.

"Let's do this"

Halfway through the pile of papers, Shikamaru suggested to take a break while he took the ones that were ready to the office of the council, and filed some others. Naruto insisted in helping, but Shikamaru said that, as much as he liked the help, he had to remain in the office as much as he could. And he needed to continue reading and signing the rest of the papers.

"Understood" Naruto rolled his eyes and continued reading a paper that was meant to be a Jounin application, he had done several of this with Kakashi on those last few weeks.

The day went on, he didn't have a single minute free, not even to wonder about Sasuke, it was report day for all the regulars, like the guards at the gate, the common patrols around the city and the outposts a few kilometers around the village. There was another meeting with the council and the Daimyo.

By the time Naruto was signing the last report of the day, the sun was already going down. The day had gone so fast, it was weird for him. Shikamaru had left so he had finally had a time to himself. He laid down on the chair as low as he could, exhaling with exhaustion.

Being Hokage was hard, and a bit boring. But he already knew that. And he had accepted it either way. Because it still felt good to contribute to the village this way.

And suddenly Sasuke's face appeared on his mind. Where are you?, he wondered, looking outside the window. He wanted to see him so bad, he wanted to tell him how he felt. But how?, he asked himself.

"Naruto!" Shikamaru came in suddenly, interrupting his thoughts. He was holding a scroll in his hand and looked rushed with a worried look on his face. It made him jump of his chair immediately.

In the meantime, Sasuke stood in front of the new war memorial. It was four big rectangular stones that you could walk through, they also stood surrounded by a wide round green area, completely covered in white flowers. He stood there as he read each and every name. Thinking of what all those people sacrificed for the village, for their loved ones. How he had to live with the guilt of it all.

And that's when one stood out from the others:

Uchiha Itachi

His heart sank to his stomach. What was his brother's name doing there? He reached with his hand and touched the engraving. His eyes watered. "Brother" he whispered as he closed his eyes, a few tears escaped.

"Uchiha Sasuke" a man said, apparently standing a few meters back.

He quickly dried his tears and turned. It was a jounin, it had a serious look on his face.

"Come with me, the Hokage requests you in his office" he said, his heart jumped from his stomach to his throat. What was this about? For some reason it didn't sound like good news.

Was the council requesting his arrest again? That couldn't be, no, that was not it. Naruto wouldn't allow it. He shook his head before nodding and following the jounin to the Hokage tower.

"Sasuke" Naruto said standing up as soon as him and Tarou entered the office. "Thank you, Tarou" the jounin bowed and left the room.

"What happened?" Sasuke asked walking up to the desk, looking straight into those blue eyes, his eyebrows fixed in a soft frown.

Naruto sighed with a worried look, looking down at the desk.

"We received this scroll today and…" he looked at the scroll and extended it to Sasuke. "I think you have a mission" Sasuke's eyes widened, a mission? He took the scroll and started reading it, his eyes opened even more when he did.

"Am I reading this right?" Sasuke looked up to Naruto.

"Sadly" Naruto nodded. "We received a first report on that a a month ago, he was spotted on the west border, but they hadn't gotten close enough until now" Naruto explained.

The man appears to be in possession of the sharingan.

Sasuke read again on the scroll. That was impossible. No one else had the sharingan but the Uchiha clan. What the hell was this man.

"You want me to join them" Sasuke whispered, looking back at Naruto.

The blonde took a deep breath, pressing his lips together. His eyes fixed on Sasuke's.

"No one knows the sharingan like you do" he sighed.

This was his chance, Sasuke thought. This was the chance to help the village. Except leaving again was not something he'd like to do, he didn't want to leave Naruto so soon. But this time was for the village. That was more important than his feelings.

Sasuke looked down to the scroll again, and rolled it slowly, squeezing it a little when he was done.

"When do you want me to go?" he asked.

Naruto looked at him, tears almost filled his eyes, he didn't want Sasuke to leave on a mission so soon, he did not want to send him away so quickly.

"As soon as possible" he replied pressing his lips together. It pained him to do this.

"Understood" he bowed and turned to the door, He looked at Naruto through the corner of his eye before leaving the office, they both took a deep breath and Sasuke left.

Naruto groaned and let himself fall on the chair.

"Is everything okay?" Shikamaru asked with curved eyebrows.

"Yeah, we just haven't had the chance to…" he cleared his throat. "catch up"

His eyes stayed on the door for the longest time. No, he thought, I'm not letting him leave just like that. I must say something, he told himself.

Sasuke got to the inn and started packing, taking out his kunai and all his gear after months of laying on the bottom of that bag. He looked at himself in the mirror, gazing at his scratched headband. He was finally going to a mission again, a mission for Konoha, after all these years, after all these hatred. And with Naruto as a Hokage.

Fate is surely a weird thing, he chuckled to himself.

He grabbed the scroll and the map to were the jounin unit were stationed and headed out. The sun was already down, it was probably getting late too, there were not many people on the streets and some houses already had most of their lights off. It kinda reminded him of that night he left the village. He felt glad that so much had happened to him since then. That so much had changed. That now he was back. And all was well, or at least, starting to.

He walked towards the gate, greeted the guards and walked out of the village. Definitely very different from that time.

He started walking through the woods when a voice made him stop.

"So, here we are again" he heard Naruto chuckled from one of the trees he had just walked by. Sasuke turned to him with a short smile.

"Can't escape from you, can I?" Sasuke sighed, Naruto shook his head.

"Never" Naruto chuckled. "Sorry I put you on a mission so fast…" he sighed, looking down.

"No, I'm glad to be on it" Sasuke said, Naruto raised his eyes to him. "This way I can start helping the village, gain back the trust I lost"

Naruto smiled. "You're right" he took a deep breath. Naruto wanted to say so many things, but couldn't find the right words. "Just...be careful, okay? Konoha is not the same without you" he shrugged, hesitating before speaking again. "And I…" gulp "I'm not the same without you" he shook his heads slightly, shrugging a little, his hands were shaking.

Sasuke's short and almost nonexistent smile faded.

What did he mean by that?, he asked himself in panic. Could it be true and Naruto actually felt the same why as he did? Why else would he had said those words?

Naruto's heart was at his throat, he didn't know where those words were coming from, he just knew they had came out and there was no way of fixing it.

"I mean, I don't...um...What I meant wa-" Naruto started rambling, the silence was killing him, but Sasuke interrupted just in time.

"Naruto, stop" he said slightly raising his hand. Their eyes met, Sasuke took a deep breath, closed his eyes and slowly opened to finally speak. "Want to know my reason to be better?" Sasuke said suddenly, Naruto's eyes widened. He had spend months asking for that answer. Blue and black eyes still locked on each other. Naruto nodded nervously.

"It's…" Sasuke took a deep breath, without looking away from those blue eyes, there was no going back now. He was going to tell him, for better or worse. "You"

Naruto's heart almost jumped out of his mouth. "M-me?" he asked, blinking quickly. He was right, he was the answer, he had been the answer all along. "W-why?"

Sasuke shrugged. "You're the only one who never stopped believing in me, Naruto" Sasuke whispered. "If there was any light in me during all those years it was you" he took a deep breath, his eyes on the floor. "You were the only prove I still belonged somewhere, that I still belonged as your friend, that I wasn't completely lost" he looked back to Naruto's eyes, which were starting to water. Sasuke swallowed heavily. "And since that battle I feared I didn't belong by your side anymore, until I got this" he added looking through the inside pocket of the neck of his jacket, pulling out the piece of paper and handing it to Naruto.

"I guess I miss you" Naruto chuckled in a whisper.

"That's when I knew" he added. "If I was going to become someone worth forgiving, it was going to be for you" he looked back at the floor.

Naruto couldn't believe the words he was hearing, his heart had calmed down, his chest was filled with warmth, one that he thought it was impossible to feel, he was moved, he was happy, he was in shock, all at the same time. He had to say something back, he had to.

Gulp. "Of course I never stopped believing in you" Naruto chuckled. "How was I going to forsake the first bond I ever made? My most important friend..." he shook his head, looking around, looking for the right words to say. "I couldn't leave you alone, not you, not in that darkness" he took a deep breath. "Home was just not home anymore without you" Naruto finally dared to look at Sasuke, who was still looking at the floor. "Nothing is right without you" he added, Sasuke looked up. "I…" a small smile formed on his lips, his legs moved him closer to Sasuke. Now that he was saying his thoughts out loud, a new one came upon him. "I just can't live…" his smile got bigger, legs moved him closer, he never thought he'd be saying those words, but they felt right. "without you" he stopped moving, just centimeters away from Sasuke, who for some reason hadn't backed down.

They looked at each other for a couple of seconds, until Sasuke closed his eyes, lowering his head, and a short smile showed up on his mouth. And a crazy thought came to Naruto at the same time. Something that'd speak better than a thousand words from him ever could.

"You, usuraton-"

But Sasuke got immediately interrupted. Naruto had erased the centimeters between them in a step and now his lips were on top of his, one of his hands touching his right cheek. Sasuke widened his eyes like he'd never done before, Naruto was really kissing him. Now there was no doubt left in him, Naruto felt the same way as he did. His racing heart calmed down a little and his eyes started closing, while his hand moved to Naruto's cheek. His lips started replying to the kiss, separating a little, just to go back on a better angle.

Naruto felt as Sasuke replied to the kiss, while he felt his hand touching his cheek, something he could've only hoped for in his dreams. Sasuke was not weirded out, not pushing him away, he was actually replying to it.

They had been waiting years for this without realizing it. It felt sweet and soft, and most importantly, it felt right. Goosebumps ran through their whole bodies as their lips kept touching. They wanted to savor it for as long as they could, because they knew that the moment they stopped they'd have to face each other again, and what would they say? What would they do?

Sasuke slowly stopped the kiss, giving smaller kisses as he separated from Naruto, opening his eyes when he was far enough, but still closer to him as he could. The blonde opened his eyes to meet Sasuke's. They didn't know what to say to each other.

And suddenly, before any of them could give it any more thought, a smile started appearing in Naruto's lips, Sasuke's followed, and they started to laugh, their foreheads touched, hands still holding each other's cheeks. They didn't understand why they were laughing, maybe the nerves, maybe the happiness, a mixture of both most likely. None of them could believe what had just happened, what they had just done. After a few seconds their laughter started to get quieter and quieter, turning into a whisper, then a sigh of relief.

Their eyes met again.

"Promise you'll write?" Naruto asked with a smile on his face.

Sasuke smiled. "Promise"

They looked at each other for a while, then Sasuke kissed Naruto again, before disappearing. Naruto looked up, Sasuke was on one of the branches of the trees, he smiled at him, Sasuke smiled back and again.

"Usuratonkachi" he mouthed, and disappeared between the branches of the trees.

"Bakasuke" he whispered as he gazed into the woods. He touched his lips with the tip of his fingers. That was a feeling he was never going to forget.

Sasuke ran through the branches, his lips tight together, his heart fill with a joy he hadn't felt in years. And after all the shit he went through, he could finally say he was back home.

The End.