A Little Bird Told Me (Part Two)
-a Naruto fan fiction by Calliope-
Message: Continuation of "A Little Bird Told Me"
Summery: After Naruto's seemingly perfect chance at getting the girl of his dreams goes horribly awry he finds himself in close quarters with the last person he would have ever expected, Sasuke Uchiha.
Warning: sasunaru *shounen-ai*
The story says that, "Nayoko, the Red Footed Crow will lead you to the person you are destined to be with, as she in the Guide of Hopeless Loves". And that was what he'd been expecting, so how was it that instead of being in the arms of the love of his life, Naruto had found himself sprawled out on the ground in the middle of the street with Sasuke Uchiha's elbow jabbing him in the ear?!
"ACK! FUCK! GOD DAMN IT NARUTO!" Sasuke was shouting at him at the top of his lungs, grabbing at his arm and flailing on the ground, trying to kick Naruto off of him.
"Sasuke! What the fuck?!" Naruto jumped up, tripping as he did so and landing back down on the ground, hit his tail bone hard against the road. "Oww!"
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Sasuke seethed over and over again through clenched teeth as he lay on his back grabbing at his arm.
"What the hell's wrong?" Naruto scowled at him getting back up and dusting himself off.
Standing over Sasuke as he could see a dark red puddle spreading out from around Saskue's shoulder as he lay on his back in the road way. He had his hand clutched tight over the back of his right arm, and his eyes and teeth shut tight together as he breathed hard and slow trying to hold back tears of excruciating pain.
"Aw damn it!" Naruto gasped wide eyed, knowing full well what he'd done. Bending down he helped Sasuke to sit up and pulled his hand away from his arm.
Sasuke examined his palm, as it was dripping with blood which began trickling its way down his wrist. Naruto cringed as he looked over his arm, the dressing which had been put on it to cover the fresh stitches bellow it hand been torn off and the strings binding Sasuke's flesh had been snapped open causing blood to gush from his reopened wound.
"Oh my god I'm so sorry!" Naruto said, bouncing around flusteredly, not sure of what to do.
"Oh yeah, cuz that helps!" Sasuke shouted at him, trying to get to his feet, and putting all his wait on his good arm. Naruto grabbed him by the shoulders and helped him up.
"Sasuke, I'm so so sorry!" Naruto continued to repeat as he watched, wide eyed, as the blood from Sasuke's arm snaked its way down his for arm and into his hand. Not only had he given him the wound in the first place with his idiocy, but he'd now proceeded to make it even worse.
"Why the hell don't you watch were you're going you fucking moron!" Sasuke yelled at him, his hands shaking as his body was wracked with an intense pain that he was trying so hard to suppress.
"I said I was sorry!" Naruto defended himself.
"Yeah well that's really fuckin' great isn't it!" Sasuke continued to rant, "You can't just be sorry for everything! God damn it, why don't you just get lost!"
"Well EXCUSE ME!" Naruto shouted back at him, his face flushing, "I'm only trying to help!"
"I think you've helped enough for one day." Sasuke shook his head and began to walk off.
"Hey wait! Where are you going!?"
"Home."
"What! You need a doctor idiot! You can't just leave your arm like that!"
"Oh yeah? Watch me." he scowled and continued off down the road. Naruto ran after him, forgetting all about Nayoko and his date with his assumed destiny.
"Look, you've gotta' get that fixed." Naruto insisted as he struggled to keep pace with Sasuke.
"It's fine I tell you!" Sasuke shouted, his voice cracking, as Naruto could see tears welling up in his eyes.
"Don't me an bastard Sasuke!" Naruto pleaded with him angrily, "This is my fault and I want to see that it gets fixed!"
"Why the hell should you care?" Sasuke stated flatly, never looking back at Naruto as he continued walking.
"I'm not just gonna let you bleed to death!"
"I'm NOT going to bleed to death."
"Well, maybe not, but still!" Naruto shouted. He stopped and let Sasuke walk off. He knew there was probably no way to get Sasuke to listen to him. He was too damn stubborn. Jogging to catch back up with him Naruto grabbed his shoulder to try to hold him back.
"Let go of my idiot!" Sasuke shouted at him, pulling away from him.
"Come on Sasuke! Really!"
"Fuck off!" Sasuke yelled at him, getting right up in his face before storming off again.
"Fine then! Be a stupid bastard! See if I care! But don't be complaining when Kakashi-sensei tells you you can't take part cuz you've got a fucked up arm!" Naruto shouted after him. Sasuke stopped again, his shoulders slouching forward, shaking his head and muttering something under his breath.
"Fine." he sighed, knowing that Naruto was right.
"Good, now come on, I know where the closest doctor is. Been there enough times." Naruto snickered a little. And with that he led a begrudging and bleeding Sasuke through the dark and silent streets of Konoha.
When they arrived at the doctors house Naruto knocked on the door sharply, and they waited. When there was no answer Naruto knocked again, only louder; and a third and a fourth time, until he was nearly banging down the door.
"HELLO!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Shhh! Shut up you moron!" Sasuke hushed him bitterly, looking up and down the streets.
"Well where the hell is he?!?" Naruto exclaimed, looking thoroughly irritated.
"Hey you!" Naruto and Sasuke both jumped at the sound of an agitate voice from behind them. An old man leaning out the window of the house across the street was scowling bitterly at them.
"Sorry old guy!" Naruto laughed light heartedly, "But my friend needs to see the doctor!"
"He's not home!" the old man told them harshly, "he's gone out to the field."
"Well what about his wife? She's a nurse isn't she?!"
"She went with him."
"Well bah!" Naruto huffed, folding his arms across his chest. "We'll just have to go find someone else. There's plenty of medics in this town."
"Look Naruto, can I just go home? I'm done with this. I'll be fine." Sasuke told him, sighing tiredly.
"No way! We've gotta do something about your arm!"
"I'll deal with it in the morning." Sasuke shrugged and turned to walk back home.
"Well then at least let me redress it." Naruto suggested, noting the way it was still oozing steadily down his arm and dripping slowly from his finger tips.
"Fine." Sasuke yawned, not wanting to fight anymore, and knowing Naruto would never just give up.
* * * * * *
When they arrived at Sasuke's small house on the outside of town he handed Naruto his key, as you had to pull the knob and turn the key at the same time to actually get the door to open.
Stepping into the small dark space Naruto felt himself becoming a little uneasy, as he'd never actually been in Sasuke's house before. He flicked on a near by table lamp, casting a light glow across the room which illuminated the sparse and clutterless room; just as neat and uncomplicated as Naruto had expected it to be. There was nothing at all around to make it feel welcoming. No knick-knacks or trinkets, no personal belongings, or even clothes laying around, nothing at all; just a kitchenette, a bed, a night stand, and other random pieces of furniture, nothing but a pair of running shoes by the door to suggest that anyone even lived there. His house was as cold and uninviting as he was, and it made Naruto shiver.
Sasuke kicked off his sandals and wondered into the bathroom at the far side of the room to grab a towel and some bandages. Naruto just stood their in the doorway feeling intimidated.
"Here," Sasuke said, startling Naruto as he hadn't even noticed him come back, "use this." he handed him a stark white towel and a bottle of antiseptic. Sasuke grabbed a cloth from beside the sink and wiped the majority of the blood from his arm.
"Here, can you help me for a sec."
"Uh, sure." Naruto agreed.
"Grab the edges of my shirt and pull it over my head."
"Um, ok." Naruto nodded uneasily, stepping towards him. He grabbed the corners of Sasuke's blood soaked shirt and pulled it over his head as he bend over. Naruto tossed Sasuke's bloody shirt haphazardly into the sink before turning back to his now topless counterpart wandering over and sitting down on the edge of his bed. Naruto did likewise, sitting cross legged behind him, the gash in his arm staring back at him ominously.
"I really am sorry about this." Naruto said again quietly, really meaning it sincerely.
"It's no big deal." Sasuke shrugged. Leaning over, Sasuke opened up the draw of his night stand and pulled out a small wooden box. Opening it up he pulled out a pair of tweezers and some small silver scissors.
"Here, use these to take the string out." Sasuke instructed him, handing them to Naruto.
"What?! You're kidding!" Naruto stammered, just as much grossed out by the idea as he was nervous at the thought of hurting Sasuke again by his own instruction.
"Just do it damn it. You can't leave em' in."
Swallowing hard Naruto took the towel and pressed it against Sasuke's wound to blot up the excess blood. Pressing ever so slightly he hoped a bit of pressure would help to stop the bleeding, if at least for only a moment. Sasuke's back straitened and his head tipped back ever so slightly as Naruto pressed down against his gash; knowing he was hurting him deliberately made Naruto even more uneasy than he already was.
"Are you sure?" Naruto whimpered, as he watched the way the blood from Sasuke's arm soaked deep into the fibers of the fresh white towel.
"Yeah, yeah." Sasuke nodded. Uncrossing his legs Naruto put one on either side of Sasuke so he didn't have to reach as far.
"Ok, this is going to hurt a lot." Naruto warned him as he poured some of the strong smelling antiseptic out on to a clean corner of the towel. Sasuke too a deep breath and nodded. Tentatively at first, and then all at once, Naruto pressed the soaked towel against the wound.
Sasuke seethed loudly as he drew an unsteady breath through his tightly clenched teeth. He had his other hand on Naruto's knee, his nails digging sharply into his shin as he tried to keep from screaming. But Naruto didn't mind.
Gently he blotted away at Sasuke cut, stopping to examen it closely and noticing that the bleeding had more or less stopped.
"I don't know how to do this without hurting you." Naruto sighed, picking up the tweezers uneasily.
"Then just hurt me." Sasuke told him calmly, relaxing his grip on Naruto knee. "Sorry about that." he apologized, putting his hand down in his lap.
"No, it's alright." Naruto assured him as he placed a hand on Sasuke's exposed back to steady himself as he held the tweezers up to the broken threads sticking out from the back of Sasuke's arm. His skin was soft and cold under his fingers, distracting him momentarily from his task. Glancing across his shoulders Naruto noticed a small scar on the back of Sasuke's neck and wondered for a moment what it was from.
"Are you going to take them out or not?" Sasuke's voice snapped him back and made him jump.
"Oh, yeah." he nodded, and began to pull slowly at on end of a broken length of string. Sasuke twitched again, and clenched his fists, muttering obscenities ever so lightly under his breath.
"It's ok, if you wanna scream you can." Naruto assured him with a laugh.
"I'm fine." Sasuke replied stubbornly. Naruto just shook his head, wondering what the point was in denying a pain that was so blatantly obvious.
* * * * * *
It was a long time before Naruto had managed to pull out about half the strings in Sasuke's arm, and his fingers were begging to cramp up from his unsteady shaking and the cold breeze coming in through the open window.
"Do you mind if I stop for a second?" Naruto asked, his voice seeming abnormally loud as his ears had become accustom to the silence.
"No." Sasuke murmured, taking the opportunity to rub his sore shoulder and relax his tense arm.
Naruto rubbed the blood from his fingers thoughtlessly on the front of his white cotton t-shirt, leaving long thick dark streaks of Sasuke's blood across his chest.
"Are you hungry or anything?" Sasuke inquired, as Naruto got up uneasily from his bed.
"No, I'm fine." Naruto shook his head, yawning and stretching his arms above his head and exposing his flat stomach.
"You know, you don't have to do this, you can just go home if you want."
"Nah," Naruto shrugged, "I figure it's the least I can do."
"True." Sasuke nodded coyly, half smirking.
"Hey it's not like it was on purpose!" Naruto pouted, crossing his arms defensively.
"Didn't say it was," Sasuke shrugged, "not the second time anyway."
"You prick! That was so NOT intentional! But I could make it be if you wanted!" Naruto shouted at him, his ears tingling at the mere suggestion that he would do such a thing.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Sasuke said, getting to his feet, "I'm just buggin' you. No need to get all worked up." He shook his head mockingly as he wondered past him towards the sink.
"Yeah well," Naruto huffed.
Sasuke took his bloody shirt from the sink and threw it into the trash, knowing full well that it wasn't salvageable. Naruto stood there quietly, thumbing at the edges of his dark colored shorts as he watched Sasuke uneasily. The low light from the lamp shawn gold against his deathly pale skin as he rubbed the blood from the sink with his left hand, leaving his right arm to hang at his side, his half sewn wound seeming black in the dim light.
Even how he cleaned his sink seemed calm. Watching the way he did things so smoothly and deliberately made Naruto feel rather drowsy, his rhythmical motions putting him to sleep.
"Um, do you think I could close the window?" Naruto asked, realizing again that he was feeling rather cold in his shorts and t-shirt.
"Go ahead." Sasuke nodded melancholily. "There's a sweater in second draw of my dresser you can wear too if you want." Sasuke offered, never turning to look at him.
"Oh, ok." Naruto nodded, wandering over to the lone dresser on the far wall. Sliding open the draw he found a black hooded sweater neatly folded on top of several dark colored shirts. Pulling it over his head he felt as if he were swimming in the evidently larger than necessary article, but it was warm and soft against his skin and he pulled his hands inside the long sleeves, gathering up the cuffs tightly in his fists and hugging himself. Sighing deeply he noticed how strongly the soft fabric smelled of something inviting and unknown - which was no doubt Sasuke.
Flopping back down on Sasuke's hard bed he rolled over on to his side, facing the wall, and closed his eyes. He let his muscles relax and his hand slip over the edge lifelessly. Tapping his fingers lightly he wondered to himself how Sasuke slept in this bed ever night. As he began to feel as though he were drifting off to sleep, it felt strange to have the presence of someone else in the room.
Then, Naruto began to sense a nagging tightness in his chest, all of a sudden realizing what he hadn't before; that Sasuke was alone too. That to Sasuke it would also feel strange to sleep with someone else in his room.
He'd never thought about it much; the fact that Sasuke was just as alone in life as he was, but in a completely different way. There was a time when he'd known what it was like to feel safe, with someone else watching over you from the next room, to know what it was like to be loved unconditionally. Naruto never had. But Sasuke had had that taken away from him, leaving an emptiness where Naruto had never had the chance to feel a loss.
Maybe, Sasuke wasn't so bad after all. Maybe his seclusion was just his was of dealing with his loneliness, like acting out was for Naruto. After all, unlike Naruto, Sasuke was alone in a crowd. Where Naruto was shunned Sasuke was embraced, but not to his liking. Perhaps that was why he was so bitter. He spends his days being endlessly doted on, yet, he still goes home alone. Just like Naruto.
Rolling over again, Naruto looked up at Sasuke, who was examining Naruto's handy work in a small mirror by the door. His dark hair half obscured his serious and emotionless eyes. Eyes which always seemed as if they'd never felt anything at all.
Sensing Naruto watching him Sasuke turned to look at him, Naruto's huge blue eyes staring at him momentarily before darting away again. He shook his head and walked over to the bedside, standing over top of him as Naruto looked up at him, a look on his face like a puppy expecting to be beaten.
"Would you relax." Sasuke sighed, raising an eyebrow at him morosely.
"I am."
"Fine," he shrugged, sitting down on the edge of his bed, "wanna finish now?"
"Oh. Sure."
Naruto resumed his tentative exercise in unsteady nerves as he removed the rest of the sutures from Sasuke's arm. Eventually he'd taken them all out and began to wrap his arm back up again in fresh bandages.
"Thank you." Sasuke said, half whispering, as Naruto fastened the bandages tightly around his arm
"You're welcome." Naruto yawned, his eyes blinking heavily. The clock on the wall was pointing to one twenty-five. Sighing deeply, relieved to be done, Naruto flopped back on the bed. Sasuke, who was still sitting between his legs, leaned back against him, his arms up on Naruto's thighs like the arms of a recliner and his head laying on Naruto's stomach.
"You gonna go home now?" Sasuke inquired, emotionlessly staring up at he gray ceiling, "Cuz you can just stay here tonight if you want."
"Sure." Naruto said, not even really realizing what he was agreeing to.
"Why is it so cold in your house?" Naruto asked, a slight shiver running through his bare legs.
"I don't know." he felt Sasuke shrug, "It just always is."
"Don't suppose it could do with the fact that it feels like a prison in here." Naruto snickered lightly, feeling the weight of Sasuke's head on his stomach as he did so.
"Maybe." he sighed, "But my whole life is like a prison."
"Hm? What do you mean?"
"Nothin'."
Naruto didn't bother asking him what he meant; he was pretty sure he knew what he was talking about anyway. So they both just laid there, in Sasuke's dimly lit and dungeon like room, staring at the ceiling, with nothing but the sounds of their own breathing.
Sasuke could feel every time Naruto breathed in and out, with his ear against his stomach. He yawned sleepily, feeling a cold shiver running up his spine. Sitting back up he looked down at Naruto, sprawled out on his back, eyes closed and yawning, his nose twitching as he did so.
Grabbing Naruto by the ankle, his cold touch startled him awake.
"Mar." he groaned, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.
"It's cold, pull back the blankets would you." Sasuke told him through another yawn, rubbing his own eyes too.
"K." he nodded slowly, crawling across the bed and pulling back the grayish looking bed spread. "Do you have an extra pillow?" Naruto asked, sliding down off of Sasuke's bed.
"Uh huh." he nodded, "But you don't have to sleep on the floor you know."Sasuke told him, as Naruto curled up on his side on the linoleum.
"Huh?" he questioned, looking up at him with one eye open.
"Really. I wouldn't make you do that."
"Um, ok." Naruto agreed uneasily, sitting up slowly, his hands in his lap, staring up into Sasuke's darkly shadowed eyes.
He jumped back up on the bed as Sasuke wondered over to the closet and pulled out another pillow. Naruto threw the covers up over his head and squirmed around in them like a cat stuck under a towel before finally settling down. Sasuke threw the pillow at him from across the room, hitting him in the head.
"Heyyyyyy." he groaned, half laughing, pulling the soft downy pillow under his head.
Sasuke climbed into bed next to him and flicked off the lamp. His unadjusted eyes saw only black for a few moments, before he was about to pick out Sasuke's figure laying next to him in the bed, his face towards him, laying on his only good arm. Even Sasuke's half closed ebony colored eyes seemed bright in the darkness of his single windowed room.
Naruto was sure he saw a hint of a smile on his face as he closed his eyes, and left Naruto wondering what he was even doing there. He studied Sasuke's pale, sharp featured face, in the darkness as he lay there awake; his ivory colored skin and long dark eye lashes making him look almost fragile. The same strong, angry, and at times volatile Sasuke who he knew in the day seemed to have disappeared all together, leaving just a lonely, self secluding, boy.
Sasuke's eyes blinked open again, looking back at Naruto, startling him and making his face flush.
"What are you think about?" he whispered.
"Nothing really." Naruto lied.
"Really," he questioned.
"I bet Sakura-chan would be real mad if she found out I stayed over here." Naruto smiled, imaging the looking on her face.
"No doubt," Sasuke sighed, "I should tell her. Maybe she'll get upset and leave me alone for a day."
"I doubt it." Naruto shook his head, knowing something so petty would never deter her.
"Well, I can wish can't I?"
"Yeah, I suppose." he laughed lightly. "But at least she likes you at all. She hates me."
"She doesn't hate you." Sasuke assured him.
"Yeah right. It'd take a miracle to get her to notice me." he groaned, feeling a little disheartened.
"Or a magic crow." Sasuke smiled, thinking of that mornings escapade.
"Ye," he began, and then he remembered. Nayoko. She'd been taking him to her when this whole thing had happened.
"That's so pathetic," Sasuke continued, sounding humored, "I hope you don't actually believe what Kakashi-sensei said."
"No, of course not," Naruto said, his voice trailing off at the end as he was having a thought. What if, what if he wasn't supposed to be going to Sakura's at all?
He looked back over at Sasuke, who had rolled over on to his back and was staring up at the ceiling again, an unusually content look on his face.
"Sasuke,"
"Yeah?" he turned back to look at him.
"Never mind." he sighed, and rolled over on to his back as well.
They both laid there quietly, awake, and staring at the roof.
"What if I was supposed to run into Sasuke? What if that was the whole point?" Naruto began to question in his head. His heart was beginning to beat a little faster in his chest now. Sasuke rolled over again, closer to him, tucking his arm under his pillow and closed his eyes. Naruto looked over at him, his deep black hair hanging over his face, and he found himself wanting to push it out of the way.
"Sasuke." Naruto whispered.
"Uh huh." he replied, not opening his eyes.
"Do you like me?"
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Do you like me." he said again.
"Of course I like you you idiot." Sasuke sighed, "I wouldn't put up with your shit every day if I didn't."
"I guess not."
"Besides, would I let you sleep in my bed if I hated you?" he pointed out, opening one eye and smirking at him as if to tell him he was being ridiculous.
"I guess not." He nodded.
Naruto shuffled down under the covers more, wrapping himself up tightly in Sasuke's warm sweater and dismissing his uncertainties. Rolling over and closing his eyes, their bodies were so close they could feel each others breath against their skin as they breathed.
Adjusting his shorts Naruto felt his hand graze against Sasuke's ever so slightly, making his heart skip a beat.
"What are you so nervous for?" he asked himself. But his self had no rational explanation.
"Do you ever get lonely here?" Naruto whispered again, all these little questions picking at his mind.
"Hmm?" Sasuke opened his eyes again, blinking a few times when he noticed how close they were. "I guess so." he shrugged, looking back at Naruto.
"I never really thought about it before. That you live alone too I mean."
"It's ok." Sasuke assured him, "I try not to think about it myself."
"Me too." Naruto sighed.
"But it's not so bad as all that." Sasuke told him, "I mean, I'm not really alone."
"Huh?"
"I mean, I have Sakura, and Kakashi-sensei, and you. Don't I?" he pointed out.
"I guess you're right. I never really thought about it like that."
"But that's how you have to think about it." Sasuke whispered, his gaze falling away from Naruto's as his voice trailed off, "If you don't,"
"It just gets too bad." Naruto finished for him.
"Yeah."
They lay there in silence, eyes fixed on one another, as if they could see though one another. There was so much about Sasuke that he hadn't understood, but now, somehow Naruto felt as if he was really no different from him at all.
This time he didn't stop himself from reaching out and pushing the hair from in front of Sasuke's eyes. And Sasuke didn't stop him either.
"Naruto." Sasuke whispered, nearly inaudibly.
"Yeah." he whispered back.
"Do you like me?"
"What do you mean?"
"Do you like me."
"Of course I do you idiot." he mimicked, causing a smiled to wander across Sasuke's visibly sleepy face.
Sasuke reached out and did the same to Naruto, pushing his light spiky hair from around his face. He closed his eyes gently as he felt Sasuke's hand brush against his face, his finger tips tracing a path around his ear and down his jaw.
Naruto rolled over on to his front, and Sasuke on to his back, Naruto's head coming to rest against Sasuke's shoulder. Sasuke reached across himself and wrapped his fingers around the back of Naruto's neck, his fingers entwining themself in the short, soft, hair at the back of his neck. Naruto couldn't help but reach his arm across Sasuke's bare chest and pull himself closer to him, burying his face deeper into his neck. Breathing deeply Naruto smiled as he noticed the way Sasuke's skin smelled the same way as his sweater did.
Sasuke looked down at the innocent little blond boy curled up against him and smiled at the way the whisker-like marks on his face looked in the odd shadows. Leaning his head forward his kissed Naruto gently on the forehead.
His cheeks and ears were tingling, as the feeling of Sasuke's lips against his skin lingered for a moment. Propping himself up on his elbow Naruto looked down at Sasuke, his dark eyes fixed on his own, a questioning expression on his face. But Naruto just smiled.
"I guess we don't have to go to sleep alone for once." she smirked.
"I guess not." Sasuke smiled back at him.
And Naruto leaned down, his other hand beside Sasuke's head hold him up, and kissed him lightly on the mouth, his own warm skin touching lightly against Sasuke's narturally cool lips. When he let go he lingered a moment, staring down into his soft black eyes. But somehow they looked different then before, less like death, and more like heaven. And he couldn't help but kiss him again.
Somewhere, in the darkness over Konoha that night, there was an unassuming black crow looking down across the city. And if you were there to see her then, you probably wouldn't have even though twice.
The End
Message: Continuation of "A Little Bird Told Me"
Summery: After Naruto's seemingly perfect chance at getting the girl of his dreams goes horribly awry he finds himself in close quarters with the last person he would have ever expected, Sasuke Uchiha.
Warning: sasunaru *shounen-ai*
The story says that, "Nayoko, the Red Footed Crow will lead you to the person you are destined to be with, as she in the Guide of Hopeless Loves". And that was what he'd been expecting, so how was it that instead of being in the arms of the love of his life, Naruto had found himself sprawled out on the ground in the middle of the street with Sasuke Uchiha's elbow jabbing him in the ear?!
"ACK! FUCK! GOD DAMN IT NARUTO!" Sasuke was shouting at him at the top of his lungs, grabbing at his arm and flailing on the ground, trying to kick Naruto off of him.
"Sasuke! What the fuck?!" Naruto jumped up, tripping as he did so and landing back down on the ground, hit his tail bone hard against the road. "Oww!"
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Sasuke seethed over and over again through clenched teeth as he lay on his back grabbing at his arm.
"What the hell's wrong?" Naruto scowled at him getting back up and dusting himself off.
Standing over Sasuke as he could see a dark red puddle spreading out from around Saskue's shoulder as he lay on his back in the road way. He had his hand clutched tight over the back of his right arm, and his eyes and teeth shut tight together as he breathed hard and slow trying to hold back tears of excruciating pain.
"Aw damn it!" Naruto gasped wide eyed, knowing full well what he'd done. Bending down he helped Sasuke to sit up and pulled his hand away from his arm.
Sasuke examined his palm, as it was dripping with blood which began trickling its way down his wrist. Naruto cringed as he looked over his arm, the dressing which had been put on it to cover the fresh stitches bellow it hand been torn off and the strings binding Sasuke's flesh had been snapped open causing blood to gush from his reopened wound.
"Oh my god I'm so sorry!" Naruto said, bouncing around flusteredly, not sure of what to do.
"Oh yeah, cuz that helps!" Sasuke shouted at him, trying to get to his feet, and putting all his wait on his good arm. Naruto grabbed him by the shoulders and helped him up.
"Sasuke, I'm so so sorry!" Naruto continued to repeat as he watched, wide eyed, as the blood from Sasuke's arm snaked its way down his for arm and into his hand. Not only had he given him the wound in the first place with his idiocy, but he'd now proceeded to make it even worse.
"Why the hell don't you watch were you're going you fucking moron!" Sasuke yelled at him, his hands shaking as his body was wracked with an intense pain that he was trying so hard to suppress.
"I said I was sorry!" Naruto defended himself.
"Yeah well that's really fuckin' great isn't it!" Sasuke continued to rant, "You can't just be sorry for everything! God damn it, why don't you just get lost!"
"Well EXCUSE ME!" Naruto shouted back at him, his face flushing, "I'm only trying to help!"
"I think you've helped enough for one day." Sasuke shook his head and began to walk off.
"Hey wait! Where are you going!?"
"Home."
"What! You need a doctor idiot! You can't just leave your arm like that!"
"Oh yeah? Watch me." he scowled and continued off down the road. Naruto ran after him, forgetting all about Nayoko and his date with his assumed destiny.
"Look, you've gotta' get that fixed." Naruto insisted as he struggled to keep pace with Sasuke.
"It's fine I tell you!" Sasuke shouted, his voice cracking, as Naruto could see tears welling up in his eyes.
"Don't me an bastard Sasuke!" Naruto pleaded with him angrily, "This is my fault and I want to see that it gets fixed!"
"Why the hell should you care?" Sasuke stated flatly, never looking back at Naruto as he continued walking.
"I'm not just gonna let you bleed to death!"
"I'm NOT going to bleed to death."
"Well, maybe not, but still!" Naruto shouted. He stopped and let Sasuke walk off. He knew there was probably no way to get Sasuke to listen to him. He was too damn stubborn. Jogging to catch back up with him Naruto grabbed his shoulder to try to hold him back.
"Let go of my idiot!" Sasuke shouted at him, pulling away from him.
"Come on Sasuke! Really!"
"Fuck off!" Sasuke yelled at him, getting right up in his face before storming off again.
"Fine then! Be a stupid bastard! See if I care! But don't be complaining when Kakashi-sensei tells you you can't take part cuz you've got a fucked up arm!" Naruto shouted after him. Sasuke stopped again, his shoulders slouching forward, shaking his head and muttering something under his breath.
"Fine." he sighed, knowing that Naruto was right.
"Good, now come on, I know where the closest doctor is. Been there enough times." Naruto snickered a little. And with that he led a begrudging and bleeding Sasuke through the dark and silent streets of Konoha.
When they arrived at the doctors house Naruto knocked on the door sharply, and they waited. When there was no answer Naruto knocked again, only louder; and a third and a fourth time, until he was nearly banging down the door.
"HELLO!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Shhh! Shut up you moron!" Sasuke hushed him bitterly, looking up and down the streets.
"Well where the hell is he?!?" Naruto exclaimed, looking thoroughly irritated.
"Hey you!" Naruto and Sasuke both jumped at the sound of an agitate voice from behind them. An old man leaning out the window of the house across the street was scowling bitterly at them.
"Sorry old guy!" Naruto laughed light heartedly, "But my friend needs to see the doctor!"
"He's not home!" the old man told them harshly, "he's gone out to the field."
"Well what about his wife? She's a nurse isn't she?!"
"She went with him."
"Well bah!" Naruto huffed, folding his arms across his chest. "We'll just have to go find someone else. There's plenty of medics in this town."
"Look Naruto, can I just go home? I'm done with this. I'll be fine." Sasuke told him, sighing tiredly.
"No way! We've gotta do something about your arm!"
"I'll deal with it in the morning." Sasuke shrugged and turned to walk back home.
"Well then at least let me redress it." Naruto suggested, noting the way it was still oozing steadily down his arm and dripping slowly from his finger tips.
"Fine." Sasuke yawned, not wanting to fight anymore, and knowing Naruto would never just give up.
* * * * * *
When they arrived at Sasuke's small house on the outside of town he handed Naruto his key, as you had to pull the knob and turn the key at the same time to actually get the door to open.
Stepping into the small dark space Naruto felt himself becoming a little uneasy, as he'd never actually been in Sasuke's house before. He flicked on a near by table lamp, casting a light glow across the room which illuminated the sparse and clutterless room; just as neat and uncomplicated as Naruto had expected it to be. There was nothing at all around to make it feel welcoming. No knick-knacks or trinkets, no personal belongings, or even clothes laying around, nothing at all; just a kitchenette, a bed, a night stand, and other random pieces of furniture, nothing but a pair of running shoes by the door to suggest that anyone even lived there. His house was as cold and uninviting as he was, and it made Naruto shiver.
Sasuke kicked off his sandals and wondered into the bathroom at the far side of the room to grab a towel and some bandages. Naruto just stood their in the doorway feeling intimidated.
"Here," Sasuke said, startling Naruto as he hadn't even noticed him come back, "use this." he handed him a stark white towel and a bottle of antiseptic. Sasuke grabbed a cloth from beside the sink and wiped the majority of the blood from his arm.
"Here, can you help me for a sec."
"Uh, sure." Naruto agreed.
"Grab the edges of my shirt and pull it over my head."
"Um, ok." Naruto nodded uneasily, stepping towards him. He grabbed the corners of Sasuke's blood soaked shirt and pulled it over his head as he bend over. Naruto tossed Sasuke's bloody shirt haphazardly into the sink before turning back to his now topless counterpart wandering over and sitting down on the edge of his bed. Naruto did likewise, sitting cross legged behind him, the gash in his arm staring back at him ominously.
"I really am sorry about this." Naruto said again quietly, really meaning it sincerely.
"It's no big deal." Sasuke shrugged. Leaning over, Sasuke opened up the draw of his night stand and pulled out a small wooden box. Opening it up he pulled out a pair of tweezers and some small silver scissors.
"Here, use these to take the string out." Sasuke instructed him, handing them to Naruto.
"What?! You're kidding!" Naruto stammered, just as much grossed out by the idea as he was nervous at the thought of hurting Sasuke again by his own instruction.
"Just do it damn it. You can't leave em' in."
Swallowing hard Naruto took the towel and pressed it against Sasuke's wound to blot up the excess blood. Pressing ever so slightly he hoped a bit of pressure would help to stop the bleeding, if at least for only a moment. Sasuke's back straitened and his head tipped back ever so slightly as Naruto pressed down against his gash; knowing he was hurting him deliberately made Naruto even more uneasy than he already was.
"Are you sure?" Naruto whimpered, as he watched the way the blood from Sasuke's arm soaked deep into the fibers of the fresh white towel.
"Yeah, yeah." Sasuke nodded. Uncrossing his legs Naruto put one on either side of Sasuke so he didn't have to reach as far.
"Ok, this is going to hurt a lot." Naruto warned him as he poured some of the strong smelling antiseptic out on to a clean corner of the towel. Sasuke too a deep breath and nodded. Tentatively at first, and then all at once, Naruto pressed the soaked towel against the wound.
Sasuke seethed loudly as he drew an unsteady breath through his tightly clenched teeth. He had his other hand on Naruto's knee, his nails digging sharply into his shin as he tried to keep from screaming. But Naruto didn't mind.
Gently he blotted away at Sasuke cut, stopping to examen it closely and noticing that the bleeding had more or less stopped.
"I don't know how to do this without hurting you." Naruto sighed, picking up the tweezers uneasily.
"Then just hurt me." Sasuke told him calmly, relaxing his grip on Naruto knee. "Sorry about that." he apologized, putting his hand down in his lap.
"No, it's alright." Naruto assured him as he placed a hand on Sasuke's exposed back to steady himself as he held the tweezers up to the broken threads sticking out from the back of Sasuke's arm. His skin was soft and cold under his fingers, distracting him momentarily from his task. Glancing across his shoulders Naruto noticed a small scar on the back of Sasuke's neck and wondered for a moment what it was from.
"Are you going to take them out or not?" Sasuke's voice snapped him back and made him jump.
"Oh, yeah." he nodded, and began to pull slowly at on end of a broken length of string. Sasuke twitched again, and clenched his fists, muttering obscenities ever so lightly under his breath.
"It's ok, if you wanna scream you can." Naruto assured him with a laugh.
"I'm fine." Sasuke replied stubbornly. Naruto just shook his head, wondering what the point was in denying a pain that was so blatantly obvious.
* * * * * *
It was a long time before Naruto had managed to pull out about half the strings in Sasuke's arm, and his fingers were begging to cramp up from his unsteady shaking and the cold breeze coming in through the open window.
"Do you mind if I stop for a second?" Naruto asked, his voice seeming abnormally loud as his ears had become accustom to the silence.
"No." Sasuke murmured, taking the opportunity to rub his sore shoulder and relax his tense arm.
Naruto rubbed the blood from his fingers thoughtlessly on the front of his white cotton t-shirt, leaving long thick dark streaks of Sasuke's blood across his chest.
"Are you hungry or anything?" Sasuke inquired, as Naruto got up uneasily from his bed.
"No, I'm fine." Naruto shook his head, yawning and stretching his arms above his head and exposing his flat stomach.
"You know, you don't have to do this, you can just go home if you want."
"Nah," Naruto shrugged, "I figure it's the least I can do."
"True." Sasuke nodded coyly, half smirking.
"Hey it's not like it was on purpose!" Naruto pouted, crossing his arms defensively.
"Didn't say it was," Sasuke shrugged, "not the second time anyway."
"You prick! That was so NOT intentional! But I could make it be if you wanted!" Naruto shouted at him, his ears tingling at the mere suggestion that he would do such a thing.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Sasuke said, getting to his feet, "I'm just buggin' you. No need to get all worked up." He shook his head mockingly as he wondered past him towards the sink.
"Yeah well," Naruto huffed.
Sasuke took his bloody shirt from the sink and threw it into the trash, knowing full well that it wasn't salvageable. Naruto stood there quietly, thumbing at the edges of his dark colored shorts as he watched Sasuke uneasily. The low light from the lamp shawn gold against his deathly pale skin as he rubbed the blood from the sink with his left hand, leaving his right arm to hang at his side, his half sewn wound seeming black in the dim light.
Even how he cleaned his sink seemed calm. Watching the way he did things so smoothly and deliberately made Naruto feel rather drowsy, his rhythmical motions putting him to sleep.
"Um, do you think I could close the window?" Naruto asked, realizing again that he was feeling rather cold in his shorts and t-shirt.
"Go ahead." Sasuke nodded melancholily. "There's a sweater in second draw of my dresser you can wear too if you want." Sasuke offered, never turning to look at him.
"Oh, ok." Naruto nodded, wandering over to the lone dresser on the far wall. Sliding open the draw he found a black hooded sweater neatly folded on top of several dark colored shirts. Pulling it over his head he felt as if he were swimming in the evidently larger than necessary article, but it was warm and soft against his skin and he pulled his hands inside the long sleeves, gathering up the cuffs tightly in his fists and hugging himself. Sighing deeply he noticed how strongly the soft fabric smelled of something inviting and unknown - which was no doubt Sasuke.
Flopping back down on Sasuke's hard bed he rolled over on to his side, facing the wall, and closed his eyes. He let his muscles relax and his hand slip over the edge lifelessly. Tapping his fingers lightly he wondered to himself how Sasuke slept in this bed ever night. As he began to feel as though he were drifting off to sleep, it felt strange to have the presence of someone else in the room.
Then, Naruto began to sense a nagging tightness in his chest, all of a sudden realizing what he hadn't before; that Sasuke was alone too. That to Sasuke it would also feel strange to sleep with someone else in his room.
He'd never thought about it much; the fact that Sasuke was just as alone in life as he was, but in a completely different way. There was a time when he'd known what it was like to feel safe, with someone else watching over you from the next room, to know what it was like to be loved unconditionally. Naruto never had. But Sasuke had had that taken away from him, leaving an emptiness where Naruto had never had the chance to feel a loss.
Maybe, Sasuke wasn't so bad after all. Maybe his seclusion was just his was of dealing with his loneliness, like acting out was for Naruto. After all, unlike Naruto, Sasuke was alone in a crowd. Where Naruto was shunned Sasuke was embraced, but not to his liking. Perhaps that was why he was so bitter. He spends his days being endlessly doted on, yet, he still goes home alone. Just like Naruto.
Rolling over again, Naruto looked up at Sasuke, who was examining Naruto's handy work in a small mirror by the door. His dark hair half obscured his serious and emotionless eyes. Eyes which always seemed as if they'd never felt anything at all.
Sensing Naruto watching him Sasuke turned to look at him, Naruto's huge blue eyes staring at him momentarily before darting away again. He shook his head and walked over to the bedside, standing over top of him as Naruto looked up at him, a look on his face like a puppy expecting to be beaten.
"Would you relax." Sasuke sighed, raising an eyebrow at him morosely.
"I am."
"Fine," he shrugged, sitting down on the edge of his bed, "wanna finish now?"
"Oh. Sure."
Naruto resumed his tentative exercise in unsteady nerves as he removed the rest of the sutures from Sasuke's arm. Eventually he'd taken them all out and began to wrap his arm back up again in fresh bandages.
"Thank you." Sasuke said, half whispering, as Naruto fastened the bandages tightly around his arm
"You're welcome." Naruto yawned, his eyes blinking heavily. The clock on the wall was pointing to one twenty-five. Sighing deeply, relieved to be done, Naruto flopped back on the bed. Sasuke, who was still sitting between his legs, leaned back against him, his arms up on Naruto's thighs like the arms of a recliner and his head laying on Naruto's stomach.
"You gonna go home now?" Sasuke inquired, emotionlessly staring up at he gray ceiling, "Cuz you can just stay here tonight if you want."
"Sure." Naruto said, not even really realizing what he was agreeing to.
"Why is it so cold in your house?" Naruto asked, a slight shiver running through his bare legs.
"I don't know." he felt Sasuke shrug, "It just always is."
"Don't suppose it could do with the fact that it feels like a prison in here." Naruto snickered lightly, feeling the weight of Sasuke's head on his stomach as he did so.
"Maybe." he sighed, "But my whole life is like a prison."
"Hm? What do you mean?"
"Nothin'."
Naruto didn't bother asking him what he meant; he was pretty sure he knew what he was talking about anyway. So they both just laid there, in Sasuke's dimly lit and dungeon like room, staring at the ceiling, with nothing but the sounds of their own breathing.
Sasuke could feel every time Naruto breathed in and out, with his ear against his stomach. He yawned sleepily, feeling a cold shiver running up his spine. Sitting back up he looked down at Naruto, sprawled out on his back, eyes closed and yawning, his nose twitching as he did so.
Grabbing Naruto by the ankle, his cold touch startled him awake.
"Mar." he groaned, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.
"It's cold, pull back the blankets would you." Sasuke told him through another yawn, rubbing his own eyes too.
"K." he nodded slowly, crawling across the bed and pulling back the grayish looking bed spread. "Do you have an extra pillow?" Naruto asked, sliding down off of Sasuke's bed.
"Uh huh." he nodded, "But you don't have to sleep on the floor you know."Sasuke told him, as Naruto curled up on his side on the linoleum.
"Huh?" he questioned, looking up at him with one eye open.
"Really. I wouldn't make you do that."
"Um, ok." Naruto agreed uneasily, sitting up slowly, his hands in his lap, staring up into Sasuke's darkly shadowed eyes.
He jumped back up on the bed as Sasuke wondered over to the closet and pulled out another pillow. Naruto threw the covers up over his head and squirmed around in them like a cat stuck under a towel before finally settling down. Sasuke threw the pillow at him from across the room, hitting him in the head.
"Heyyyyyy." he groaned, half laughing, pulling the soft downy pillow under his head.
Sasuke climbed into bed next to him and flicked off the lamp. His unadjusted eyes saw only black for a few moments, before he was about to pick out Sasuke's figure laying next to him in the bed, his face towards him, laying on his only good arm. Even Sasuke's half closed ebony colored eyes seemed bright in the darkness of his single windowed room.
Naruto was sure he saw a hint of a smile on his face as he closed his eyes, and left Naruto wondering what he was even doing there. He studied Sasuke's pale, sharp featured face, in the darkness as he lay there awake; his ivory colored skin and long dark eye lashes making him look almost fragile. The same strong, angry, and at times volatile Sasuke who he knew in the day seemed to have disappeared all together, leaving just a lonely, self secluding, boy.
Sasuke's eyes blinked open again, looking back at Naruto, startling him and making his face flush.
"What are you think about?" he whispered.
"Nothing really." Naruto lied.
"Really," he questioned.
"I bet Sakura-chan would be real mad if she found out I stayed over here." Naruto smiled, imaging the looking on her face.
"No doubt," Sasuke sighed, "I should tell her. Maybe she'll get upset and leave me alone for a day."
"I doubt it." Naruto shook his head, knowing something so petty would never deter her.
"Well, I can wish can't I?"
"Yeah, I suppose." he laughed lightly. "But at least she likes you at all. She hates me."
"She doesn't hate you." Sasuke assured him.
"Yeah right. It'd take a miracle to get her to notice me." he groaned, feeling a little disheartened.
"Or a magic crow." Sasuke smiled, thinking of that mornings escapade.
"Ye," he began, and then he remembered. Nayoko. She'd been taking him to her when this whole thing had happened.
"That's so pathetic," Sasuke continued, sounding humored, "I hope you don't actually believe what Kakashi-sensei said."
"No, of course not," Naruto said, his voice trailing off at the end as he was having a thought. What if, what if he wasn't supposed to be going to Sakura's at all?
He looked back over at Sasuke, who had rolled over on to his back and was staring up at the ceiling again, an unusually content look on his face.
"Sasuke,"
"Yeah?" he turned back to look at him.
"Never mind." he sighed, and rolled over on to his back as well.
They both laid there quietly, awake, and staring at the roof.
"What if I was supposed to run into Sasuke? What if that was the whole point?" Naruto began to question in his head. His heart was beginning to beat a little faster in his chest now. Sasuke rolled over again, closer to him, tucking his arm under his pillow and closed his eyes. Naruto looked over at him, his deep black hair hanging over his face, and he found himself wanting to push it out of the way.
"Sasuke." Naruto whispered.
"Uh huh." he replied, not opening his eyes.
"Do you like me?"
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Do you like me." he said again.
"Of course I like you you idiot." Sasuke sighed, "I wouldn't put up with your shit every day if I didn't."
"I guess not."
"Besides, would I let you sleep in my bed if I hated you?" he pointed out, opening one eye and smirking at him as if to tell him he was being ridiculous.
"I guess not." He nodded.
Naruto shuffled down under the covers more, wrapping himself up tightly in Sasuke's warm sweater and dismissing his uncertainties. Rolling over and closing his eyes, their bodies were so close they could feel each others breath against their skin as they breathed.
Adjusting his shorts Naruto felt his hand graze against Sasuke's ever so slightly, making his heart skip a beat.
"What are you so nervous for?" he asked himself. But his self had no rational explanation.
"Do you ever get lonely here?" Naruto whispered again, all these little questions picking at his mind.
"Hmm?" Sasuke opened his eyes again, blinking a few times when he noticed how close they were. "I guess so." he shrugged, looking back at Naruto.
"I never really thought about it before. That you live alone too I mean."
"It's ok." Sasuke assured him, "I try not to think about it myself."
"Me too." Naruto sighed.
"But it's not so bad as all that." Sasuke told him, "I mean, I'm not really alone."
"Huh?"
"I mean, I have Sakura, and Kakashi-sensei, and you. Don't I?" he pointed out.
"I guess you're right. I never really thought about it like that."
"But that's how you have to think about it." Sasuke whispered, his gaze falling away from Naruto's as his voice trailed off, "If you don't,"
"It just gets too bad." Naruto finished for him.
"Yeah."
They lay there in silence, eyes fixed on one another, as if they could see though one another. There was so much about Sasuke that he hadn't understood, but now, somehow Naruto felt as if he was really no different from him at all.
This time he didn't stop himself from reaching out and pushing the hair from in front of Sasuke's eyes. And Sasuke didn't stop him either.
"Naruto." Sasuke whispered, nearly inaudibly.
"Yeah." he whispered back.
"Do you like me?"
"What do you mean?"
"Do you like me."
"Of course I do you idiot." he mimicked, causing a smiled to wander across Sasuke's visibly sleepy face.
Sasuke reached out and did the same to Naruto, pushing his light spiky hair from around his face. He closed his eyes gently as he felt Sasuke's hand brush against his face, his finger tips tracing a path around his ear and down his jaw.
Naruto rolled over on to his front, and Sasuke on to his back, Naruto's head coming to rest against Sasuke's shoulder. Sasuke reached across himself and wrapped his fingers around the back of Naruto's neck, his fingers entwining themself in the short, soft, hair at the back of his neck. Naruto couldn't help but reach his arm across Sasuke's bare chest and pull himself closer to him, burying his face deeper into his neck. Breathing deeply Naruto smiled as he noticed the way Sasuke's skin smelled the same way as his sweater did.
Sasuke looked down at the innocent little blond boy curled up against him and smiled at the way the whisker-like marks on his face looked in the odd shadows. Leaning his head forward his kissed Naruto gently on the forehead.
His cheeks and ears were tingling, as the feeling of Sasuke's lips against his skin lingered for a moment. Propping himself up on his elbow Naruto looked down at Sasuke, his dark eyes fixed on his own, a questioning expression on his face. But Naruto just smiled.
"I guess we don't have to go to sleep alone for once." she smirked.
"I guess not." Sasuke smiled back at him.
And Naruto leaned down, his other hand beside Sasuke's head hold him up, and kissed him lightly on the mouth, his own warm skin touching lightly against Sasuke's narturally cool lips. When he let go he lingered a moment, staring down into his soft black eyes. But somehow they looked different then before, less like death, and more like heaven. And he couldn't help but kiss him again.
Somewhere, in the darkness over Konoha that night, there was an unassuming black crow looking down across the city. And if you were there to see her then, you probably wouldn't have even though twice.
The End