Title: Memory Yields

Author: JaD

Rating: NC-17 (explicit sexual acts, harsh language)

Pairing: SasuNaru

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi. Kudos, Kishimoto!

Chapter Summary: In which Naruto angsts, four people get laid, and Kiba makes an unwelcome discovery.

Fore notes: For full introduction, see Chapter One.

! …before I'm eaten by the KakaIru fans, I don't deny the appeal Kakashi has a homosexual, but my gut feeling about his sexual preference is simply a casual bi. Gomen nasai. Also, it seems the pairing of this fic is somewhat unclear, because people keep asking me if it's SasuNaru. Honestly, if you're that blind (and/or lazy) you don't deserve an answer.

All of you worship the grammatical greatness that is the Koo-chan and Ness-sama, because without their wisdom and insanely fast editing skills, these chapters would take so much longer to publish 3

… "spazzed" is so a word, I don't care what Merriam and Webster say. This chappie ish dedicated to the uber!seme, Ochiba-sama, because she is the awesome… and threatened my life with sporks many times to get this chapter out as quickly as possible oO;;

One more thing: In the middle of the chapter somewhere there's four italicized lines marked with "-"s just so they stand out—if these make no sense, do not fear—they're part of something I plan on revealing later… just not yet. No, there is no hinting in the previous chapters to them, so don't feel all confused. Gomen about that, Ness-sama

- -

III: Time After Time

If you're lost you can look

And you will find me

Time after time

If you fall, I will catch you

I will be waiting

Time after time

Cyndi Lauper, Time After Time

"Apparently, I was misinformed."

Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes

It was official: this was the worst fucking night of his life.

Naruto didn't stop running even when he knew he was out of her range. He couldn't have stopped if he wanted to, and his feet moved on their own, following the shortest path back to his apartment. He didn't even blink as he dashed past the closed gates of the old Uchiha community, ignoring the painted red-and-white fan symbol peeling off the wooden doors.

Of all the things that could have gone wrong… of all of the things she could have said or done to him… Naruto narrowed his eyes as he ran and tried to convince himself that it was the force of the air against his eyes making them water. Naruto didn't cry anymore. He had stopped crying years ago. The last time he had cried had been during his battle with Sasuke, at which point he vowed never to do it again. He had to be strong to become Hokage;the strong didn't cry.

Opening his eyes, Naruto took the first few stairs up to his place at a jump and was halfway up the staircase before he looked up.

Just when he thought his night couldn't get any worse…

Sasuke blinked at him. He was standing a few steps ahead of him, bag full of what looked like clothes in one arm and looking somewhat surprised but calm. Naruto didn't comprehend why he was there, or that what had happened wasn't even his fault and acted without thinking. He kept running and by the time Sasuke noticed he wasn't stopping it was too late to get out of the way. Naruto took him back up the last two stairs, slamming him hard into the wall beside his door at the top. Sasuke gasped as the air was knocked out of his lungs and his head recovered from the shock.

"I fucking hate you!" The words, although shouted in his face, just barely registered in Sasuke's consciousness because it was still regaining its ability to think "It's always about you! No matter what you do to people, no matter how fucking horrible you are to them, no matter how many times you tell them you hate them and don't care and you want to kill them it's still always about Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke! Why can't they see what you really fucking are! Why do they love you so fucking much? Why do they hate me when I've never done anything to them, yet you turn your back on them and spit in their face and they LOVE you for it! Should I start treating the people I love like shit! Huh! Will they like me then! Is that it! What's your secret, you fucking asshole! WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO!"

Calling that a verbally expressed emotional overload would have been an understatement, or at least, that was what Sasuke's first thought was when Naruto finished. He was surprised to notice that even in the dark he could see the trace of moisture at the edge of Naruto's eyes and the faint reddening of the skin there. Had Naruto been crying?

He just stared, quite unsure of how to handle it at first, mostly because he had no idea whatsoever what prompted it. He had spent most of his day in bed, not sleeping but thinking and fidgeting, wandered around the neighborhood the last few hours or evening, and had only come now to return the clothes he borrowed to discover Naruto wasn't at home. He had no idea where the blonde had been, nor whom with, but his brain quickly went over a short list of people that could cause such an explosion. He, of course, was at the top of that list, but since he knew for a fact he had nothing to do with this…

His expression going placid, Sasuke waited for Naruto to loosen his grip on his collar and for his breathing to settle a little before speaking.

"So, what did she do to you this time?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed further, and he shoved Sasuke back into the wall once more just for good measure before dropping him. Leaving the question unanswered and Sasuke leaning against the wall, he kicked open his apartment and walked inside without a word, not bothering to close the front door. Sasuke could hear something being kicked, then a curse, and then a door closing somewhere inside the building.

He should have just thrown the bag of clothes inside the open door and left. It would have been the smart thing, the rational thing—the Sasuke thing to do. He couldn't think of a reason to bother and pursue the subject. He knew by Naruto's sudden act of violence he was the last person the blonde wanted to see right now, and he also knew by the reaction to his mention of Sakura that she indeed had something to do with this. Sasuke did not want to talk about Sakura and he could guess that Naruto didn't either.

Cursing his curiosity, Sasuke went inside and closed the battered door behind him.

Naruto was not in the den or the kitchen, which was a combination of two rooms connected. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the closed door that led to the bedroom and walked inside without bothering to knock.

Naruto was sitting on the other side of the bed facing the window, his back to Sasuke "Get out."

Sasuke tossed the bag of clothes in his direction and it hit him lightly on the shoulders, bouncing back off onto the bed "Make me."

Sasuke had little time to appreciate the speed Naruto had developed over the years. The last time they had been on a mission together, he had been able to outmaneuver Kakashi, and that was saying something; their Jounin leader usually bested even Sasuke himself when it came to speed. Naruto had a knack for becoming enhanced in many areas when he was emotionally disturbed, and this was no exception. This is why it was of little surprise when Naruto jumped off the bed and swung around faster then Sasuke could blink, and when he did reopen his eyes, Naruto had impaled his fist on—or rather, inside—the wall beside his head.

"I said," Naruto spat through clenched teeth, "Get. Out."

Sasuke stared him down without much effort. "No."

Naruto made a loud, angry, incoherent noise and pulled his hand out of the wall.

"Why can't you just leave me the fuck alone! Everyone else does!" Turning away, Naruto didn't see the change in Sasuke's eyes "I'm tired of trying!"

It was quiet for a few moments as Sasuke regarded his comrade silently, digesting the words. Naruto closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, then turned back around.

"Am I really that bad?"

Sasuke blinked at him.

"I know I'm an idiot and stupid more than my share of the time I know I've got no great lineage to back me up or no super-awesome bloodline powers to make me special, but what have I ever done to deserve this bullshit?"

Sasuke watched him carefully; his breathing had eased slightly and noticed how his face quickly began to shadow depression rather then fury.

Shrugging, Sasuke threw him a smirk.

"I don't know, Naruto Sometimes you can be one hell of a pain in the ass."

"Screw you" The words were hollow, just said for the sake of having been said, and Sasuke ignored them and watched as Naruto sunk to the floor, using his bed as a backrest.

After a moment, Sasuke joined him, sitting on the floor beside him. They remained like that for a long stretch of minutes before Naruto, being unnaturally quiet, slunk sideways and leaned his weight on the boy beside him. Naruto scowled to himself as Sasuke took his weight and continued to wait persistently.

"So are you going to tell me what happened, or are you going to sit there and feel sorry for yourself all night?"

"It depends," Naruto said, his voice unusually calm "If I do, are you going to tell me what the hell is going on between you and Kakashi-sensei?"

Sasuke stiffened slightly and narrowed his eyes "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play stupid, that's my job," Naruto said, turning his head to the side and giving him an exasperated look "Even Kiba's noticed it, and he never notices anything."

"Noticed what?"

"That Kakashi-sensei's been avoiding you," Naruto replied simply and then, as an afterthought, added, "and that you've been all but stalking him every night."

Sasuke didn't say anything, and then looked away. "This conversation isn't about me, it's about you."

"Why not? Everything else is about you," Naruto sighed and fell silent, shifting his weight but not removing himself from Sasuke's side.

Sasuke waited patiently and quietly, knowing it was only a matter of time before—

"Always about you," the blonde muttered, and then his voice suddenly rose into a normal volume "Even when it's not about you, it's always about you. Even when you destroyed her birthday and told all of us to go to hell, it's still about you. You had nothing to do with it. It was supposed to be about me for once, just me, just her, not you. It was my night with her. You didn't even know about it, she was angry with you, hell, I was angry with you—everyone was. Everyone is. So, explain to me how it still managed to be about you?"

Sasuke listened to that whole lot of nothing and said nothing.

"I was going to walk her home after the movie" (Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Movie?) "She said alright at first, and I wasn't happy the night was over, but I was thrilled it had happened at all. I was perfectly fine with taking her home. It was her idea not to go yet. She wanted to hang out for a while; she told me that, I didn't say a damn thing, and it's not like I was about to turn her down or anything. I mean, it wasn't that late, not even midnight…

"Even when we got to the park I kept my distance. I didn't touch her. She came over to me. At first I thought she was leading me on, or just being nice because of the present I'd given her earlier, and then I thought she was just trying to forget about you, but after I kissed her—"

If Naruto hadn't had his head leaning on Sasuke's shoulder, he might have noticed the slightly surprised expression that flashed across his features. Sasuke had been expecting something simple—that Naruto had gone to consol Sakura and tell her that he was an idiot and that she shouldn't worry about him, and then Sakura had shot Naruto down for bad-mouthing him. Something simple like that, something normal… kissing was not involved anywhere in that train of thought and both of Sasuke's brows rose slightly.

"—I really thought for once, she wasn't faking. I mean, how can you do something like that, kiss someone back and not mean it?"

Okay, now the sudden rage made a little more sense. Knowing now more than just words were exchanged, he could see why the blonde's reaction to being shot down was worse than normal.

Sasuke was satisfied, thinking the worst was over, and was about to say so, but Naruto kept talking.

"I mean, if she had just pushed me away after that and cried and ran off, I could understand that. I was ready for that. I could have dealt with that."

Sasuke blinked again.

"Even after things kinda got out of hand… I guess that was my fault, but she wasn't telling me to stop she was encouraging me more than anything—I mean, I wasn't about to try and do anything serious, but she…she said—of all the fucking things she could have said to me right then, or done to me, I just can't believe she would—after I, I mean, after we—"

This could take a while.

Sasuke said the first thing he'd said in ten minutes "Did you two…?"

Naruto jerked and his eyes bulged slightly and he somehow managed to glare up at Sasuke at the same time "No! God, what gave you that idea! Do I look like a pervert! Just because both my instructors have their minds in the gutter doesn't mean—"

"Naruto."

The voice was gentle but firm, for it shut Naruto up immediately, and he looked away. He didn't need to be told he was rambling; he had been doing it on purpose.

"She said your name," he said quietly, so that Sasuke had to strain to hear it. Even still, he wasn't sure he'd heard him correctly.

"She what?"

"She called your name!" This response was much louder, even with Naruto still looking at the floor. "Of all the things she could have said, or done, to ruin it! After all that—after everything you said to her on her birthday, despite every fucking time you've ever made her cry, and after everything she said to me that night, after everything we were doing—it always has to be about you! She wasn't even thinking about me, that whole time—how could she do that! I was right there, in front of her, holding her, and she was still thinking about you! She just fucking pretended I was you!"

Sasuke's expression remained blank, but something inside his chest pinched and made him want to grimace.

"Why does she love you so much?" Naruto had quieted down again, but he was still refusing to look at his teammate. "You've been nothing but cruel to her, and you know it you do it on purpose. You've never liked her, or any of the girls, and even when you make them cry just because you can, they still love you. Why? Why do they ignore the people that want to make them happy? It's not just me – she does it to Lee, too. Ino, Ten-Ten, they all do… it's like they enjoy being upset. I can't understand that."

Sasuke remained silent, and after a moment, Naruto added, "Women make no sense."

"And yet you wonder why I avoid them?"

Naruto blinked, then turned around to look at him. Sasuke was smiling at him sideways.

"You're such an asshole, Sasuke."

"So I've been told."

"I'm not the only one who thinks so! Shikamaru does too. He never liked you."

Sasuke made a face. Shikamaru was one of the few people he hadn't minded being around.

"And Neji. He thinks you're a prick too. But he's a prick to begin with, so I don't know if that really counts. Kiba thinks so too, but to Kiba, anything without breasts is a prick, which I guess isn't entirely inaccurate. The girls, though, oh no, they all think you're an angel. Shows what they know. Women, geez…"

While Naruto was rambling, Sasuke let his eyes wander. Noticing a discarded book halfway under the bed he pulled it out and studied it with some disinterest before showing it to Naruto.

"Not a pervert, huh? So what do you need this for?"

Naruto stared at the cover of Come Come Paradise (Collector's Gold Edition!) for a moment, then exploded.

"I don't need it! It's not even mine! That stupid Ero-Sennin sent it to me to celebrate his movie debut! As if I needed something like that! ARG!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow and flipped through the book idly, "Sending pornography to minors… not a very good role model, is he?"

"It's not pornography! And I am not a minor, god dammit!"

Sasuke smiled, just slightly so Naruto didn't see it. Well, that was easy.

Eyes drifting back to the book in his hands, Sasuke let his gaze trail down one page and let out a snort. Naruto, curious, looked at him. "What?"

Sasuke shook his head and handed the book to him. Naruto's eyes grew larger the further they went down the page.

"Is that even physically possible?" he asked after a moment, looking up at his teammate.

Sasuke was smiling at him oddly. "We could find out."

- -

Sakura was freezing by the time she got home. She'd left her jacket at the park, too shaken to have remembered it, and ran most of the way home.

"Sakura, sweetheart?" Her mother was in the kitchen. Sakura quickly dodged the entryway, kicking off her shoes and darted towards the stairs. "Sakura? Honey? Are you finally home? I—SAKURA!"

She froze at the sudden yell, wincing. Turning around, she found her mother staring at her from the foot of the stairs, looking aghast.

"What in heaven's name happened to you!"

Sakura looked down at herself and gasped. She had been too preoccupied with thoughts to even notice her current state; her legs and arms were filthy, probably from rubbing up against the bark of the tree, and where Naruto had… touched her, her dress had been ripped in the process and was showing almost all of her right leg. She tensed as she suddenly became aware of the mess between her legs, more evidence of she had been doing with him, and flushed.

Her mother finally seemed to find her voice, taking Sakura's silence as trauma.

"That boy…" her eyes widened in horrific realization, "That Uzumaki boy… he did this to you, didn't he? I told you…"

"No, 'kaa-san, it's not like that—" Sakura desperately tried to find the words "It's not—"

"I told you not to go out with him!" her mother shrieked, looking furious and terrified at once "Do you have any idea what he could have done to you, young lady! I was worried sick—and now I know, for good reason! Out until after midnight, I should have known something was wrong—don't you dare try to defend him! I don't care if they forced you on his team or not, that is no excuse for this! Oh, when I'm through with him—!"

"'Kaa-san!" Sakura was shocked by her mother's sudden flare—her mother was usually a quiet, kind woman; protective, perhaps, but never vindictive or nasty. "He's just a friend! He didn't do anything! Just a stupid boy--"

"He is not!" Her mother looked livid now, and Sakura saw the vague shadow of her father moving towards her from the living room "That's what they want you to think. That's what they've forced us to tell you—forced us to feed you lies, our own daughter!"

"Michiko, really, we shouldn't—"

Michiko waved her husband off harshly "Don't you give me that! She's sixteen now, she has a right to know! She has to work with him everyday, go on dangerous missions with him, trusting him with her life—"

"Naruto has saved my life dozens of times!" Sakura snapped.

"So that he could do this to you! No wonder!" Her mother had turned away from her father, who looked up at her with apologetic eyes. "I don't think you'd speak so lightly of him if you knew what he really was!"

"He's just an idiot!" Sakura yelled back. The tears were flowing freely again down her cheeks. Why was her mother doing this? Naruto may have been loud, obnoxious and stupid at times, but he did care about her… it was her fault what happened tonight, after all… it wasn't like he was a monster, or anything.

"Sixteen years ago," her mother's voice was no longer yelling, but there was something malicious about it, "you were only, what? Seven months old, at most? Did they teach you in school how the Yondaime was killed, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura blinked. What did that have to do with Naruto? "Yes… of course, we all know the story… he sacrificed his life… to save the village from a demon fox… the Nine-Tails… why—?"

"Did they tell you what happened to the demon?"

"Yondaime killed him?" Sakura said tentatively.

Michiko laughed.

Sakura was not slow, by any means. Not perhaps as sharp as Sasuke, but when you gave her 1 and 1, she knew how to make 2.

"You poor child… my poor daughter," her mother corrected herself, shaking her head "Having to train, live, and work with that foul creature, day after day… you wonder why I am always so terrified? It's not because I doubt you, Sakura-chan. I know you can take care of yourself out there. I worry because of him, because I don't trust that boy—that, that monster that they let become a shinobi."

Sakura sat down on the top stair, hard.

"You're lying," Sakura said weakly.

"Am I? Tell her, Yuta. Tell her I'm telling the truth."

Her father bowed his head, and Sakura immediately knew it was true.

Only she didn't want to believe it. Refused to.

"You realize what you've done?" she heard her father ask her mother "If anyone finds out you've told her, you'll—"

"Go to prison?" Michiko asked "For trying to protect my daughter? Hardly. I'd like to see the Council try to lock me up for telling her after she comes home looking like she was raped. The village wouldn't allow it—"

"Naruto didn't do anything to me!" Sakura screamed, throwing her purse down the stairs. Both parents looked at her, startled. "He's never done anything to me! All he's ever done is care about me and protect me! And all I've ever done is ignore him for it! You're wrong, both of you! Naruto couldn't be that—that—he loves this village!"

Sakura stood up and turned around before either of her parents could say a word to stop her. She ran to her room, slamming and locking the door behind her. She refused to come out for the rest of the night.

- -

Naruto rolled his eyes and tossed the book aside, "Yeah, right. By the time we were finished fighting over who got to screw who we'd be fast asleep."

Silence fell over the two once more, and Naruto was growing steadily more uncomfortable. Now that he wasn't talking, he was more aware of the situation; the side of his body was putting most of its weight on Sasuke, who had dropped one knee flat and moved his arm back so that Naruto was halfway into his lap. The brunette hardly seemed bothered by this, and it was slowly dawning on Naruto just how clearly he could make out Sasuke's heartbeat – it was slow and steady, like his breathing.

If it stayed this quiet much longer, Naruto swore he was going to go insane.

"Have you ever kissed anyone?"

Sasuke had the dignity to look scandalized. "What?"

"Have you ever kissed anyone?" Naruto repeated. "Well, besides me, but that really didn't count, so…"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, staring at the wall. "Why?"

"Dunno," Naruto shrugged against him "I'm curious. Have you?"

There was a small pause before Sasuke chose to answer "Yes."

"Really?" Naruto perked up, tilting his head so he could see Sasuke's face – or part of it, anyway. "Who?"

"Don't worry about it."

Naruto hesitated. He had to ask… he knew the answer already, but dammit, he had to ask.

"Sakura?" he said tentatively.

"Fuck no."

Naruto actually smiled.

"Okay, okay—but who? Oh, don't put on that face. I told you!" he whined, pouting at the complete fed-up face Sasuke was giving him. "Who? Tellmetellmetellme!"

"None of your damn business."

"Sasuke!" Naruto sat up beside him, glaring "Stop acting like such a prick! It's not like I'm going to tell anybody! Who the hell listens to me anyway?"

Sasuke remained silent, eyes fixed on the wall.

Naruto began to get furious.

"This isn't fucking fair! I tell you to get out and you come barging in here, demanding to know what's wrong, so I sit here and pour out my soul to you, confide all of my woes in you, tell you the deepest, darkest secrets of my life—"

Sasuke rolled, and then closed his eyes. So loud…

"—do you really think I wanted to tell you what happened tonight? Do you have any idea how embarrassing that was? For all I knew you were going to laugh in my face and make some smart-ass remark about the whole thing! But I told you anyway, I trusted you—"

- Kakashi sighed. "I'm not what you need."

- "I know."

- "Then why…"

- "Because it's enough."

"—you say you don't care but you still want to know. I know you care, but you're too proud to admit it! You'd kill yourself before you'd admit you had any other feeling then hate, you angsty bastard. Sometimes I think you like being depressed, or maybe you just like the attention? Is that it? It gets all the girls to notice you. 'Oh, Sasuke-the-Loner, he's so dark and Goth and sexy! I want to have his children!' I swear, you have to like it, it's the only reason you still act the way you do—"

It never was enough…

"—are you even listening to me, you bastard? You're not, are you? Figures. Fine, ignore me then. I'll sit here and talk to myself just to spite you, asshole—"

"Will you give it a rest?"

"NO!" Naruto snapped, grabbing him by the collar and forcing them to look at once another. "Why the hell should I have to shut up? First, you want me to talk; now, you want me to shut up! Screw you! This is my house, you asshole! You can't make me shut—umph!"

Naruto froze corrected. Sasuke had, apparently for no other reason then to do just that, lunged forward and kissed him on the lips, giving him a fleeting feeling of déja vu. The force had driven him backwards so hard that he'd fallen onto his back on the floor, Sasuke going with him. Their lips separated as Naruto's head thwacked against the wooden floor and he stared up at his teammate, transfixed and more than just a little surprised.

"Sasuke, wha—?"

"I thought I told you to shut up?"

Naruto was kissed again, and he tried to struggle only to find himself forcibly held down. Sasuke had too many advantages—he was on top, much larger, and in this case, certainly more aggressive. There was also the element of surprise, because Naruto was still trying to focus on exactly what was happening to him.

Sasuke. Kissing.

Me?

"Get off," he spat. Teeth bit down on his lower lip and suckled it gently, and Naruto closed his eyes in inner turmoil. "Off!"

A forearm crushed his collarbone, stretching across his shoulders and holding him down. He gasped as his shoulder blades dug into the hardwood, and the moment his mouth opened, Sasuke's tongue slipped inside, and he was surprised to find it hard to resist retaliating with his own.

Disgusted with his own lack of self-control, Naruto did the one thing that he could muster the mind power to focus on, and punched Sasuke in the jaw. Hard.

"Ow! Fuck, Naruto!"

Sasuke had pulled back, but he was still bent over Naruto while he rubbed is chin with the back of his hand. Naruto was satisfied to notice his lip was bleeding.

"I said get off" Naruto wriggled beneath him, but Sasuke's grip was firm "What the hell has gotten into you! Let go!"

Sasuke opened his mouth to speak, but Naruto swung again. Prepared this time, he dodged the punch easily, seized both of Naruto's wrists with his hands, and slammed them down, pinning the boy to the floor.

"Will you stop thrashing and yacking for one minute so I can say something!"

"Oh, what, NOW you wanna talk! Screw you! Pervert!"

Sasuke leaned in again, and Naruto stopped talking immediately to close his eyes and mouth, anticipating another kiss. Sasuke had been planning on this and kept his uncomfortably close pose as he spoke.

"You're shaking," the voice sounded amused "What are you scared of?"

Naruto opened his eyes, giving Sasuke a look of pure loathing "You." Sasuke moved down again, but Naruto turned his head to the side. "Why are you doing this?"

"Why not?"

The blonde shivered as a nose trailed up his neck, tracing the skin from his collarbone to his earlobe, and he strained against the hold on his wrists.

"Sasuke…"

Lips recovered his own in an instant "If you keep saying my name like that..."

It was a strange scene indeed: Sasuke, holding him down, forcing him to stay where he was; Naruto, resisting his captor but neglecting to fight back at the same time. He didn't understand why he was doing it, but while half of him wanted to throw Sasuke off him and beat the crap out of him, and the other half…

Sasuke's tongue wrapped around his own, dominating it, and Naruto groaned.

…the other half of him just wanted to lie there, held down, and let him do it.

The kiss was fiercely different from the one he had shared with Sakura earlier that evening. Sakura had let him lead the kiss, and he had been very gentle with her. Sasuke, on the other hand, was kissing him so hard he could feel his lips bruising, and was anything but letting him lead. Naruto would be lying if he said it didn't flood him with excitement—not that that stopped him from denying it. He blamed the blood rushing to his cheeks on his anger, blamed the prickling he felt on the back of his neck on the rough wooden floor, and blamed sudden flare of heat in his groin on the fact that Sasuke had settled between his legs, a place still very sensitive from earlier that evening.

It took a few minutes of relentless attack on his mouth before Naruto finally gave into temptation and began kissing Sasuke back.

It was very uncomfortable for both of them; Naruto, with his back and shoulder blades pressing into the floor, and Sasuke, his knees and elbows the only things bracing him above the blonde besides the boy's hips. Naruto made a noise in his mouth when Sasuke shifted, rubbing their pelvises together, and Sasuke smirked against the boy's mouth. Even though Naruto was responding now, he still shook every time Sasuke's tongue grew a little bold, and his breath still hitched every time their bodies rubbed together. Yes… this was exactly what Sasuke needed…

Naruto suddenly tried to move, pushing Sasuke upwards in the kiss, before Sasuke reacted and shoved him back down. The kiss broke as Naruto's head hit the floor once again, drawing out a curse, causing Naruto to rub the back of his head and glare at Sasuke.

"I was just trying to get comfortable," he muttered, trying to look irritated despite the flush on his cheeks "The bed is right there, you know."

Sasuke stared down at him for a very long moment, as if he were thinking deeply about something, then sideways towards the bed and stood up without a word. He offered Naruto a hand, who took it (looking slightly suspicious at the proffered appendage) and was helped to his feet with a solid tug. Naruto found himself face-to-face with his teammate and jumped slightly when he felt hands on his hips. Sasuke leaned in and kissed him slowly this time, and Naruto, taken aback, fumbled slightly against the tongue trying to enter his mouth. Sasuke persisted for a long minute, making sure Naruto was well occupied with what was going on in his mouth before he began to take advantage of the smaller boy's change of wardrobe. The zipper of his vest, already half-undone, was simply too tempting to ignore, and was soon on a steady trail down towards the waistband of his cargos.

Naruto vaguely felt the fabric expose him, but he was too engrossed with the kissing to really notice what it meant—that is, until, Sasuke's hands traveled up his bare sides, making him shiver and groan into the taller boy's mouth. Is this how Sakura had felt when he'd touched her? Did her skin react as if it was being electrocuted every time he ran his fingertips along her body? The tongue left his mouth, followed by a disappointed sigh, but was quickly silenced with a gasp as Sasuke's lips, teeth, and tongue began to explore his neck region. Naruto tilted his head up, and then felt fingers weave into his hair at the base of his neck. A few tugs and the headband Kiba had given him fluttered to the floor, releasing a mess of wavy blonde spikes.

Sasuke always wondered if Naruto had made the connection with his appearance that everyone else was beginning to make. The adults had noticed it first, of course, but then they had known the Fourth in person. Most of their generation were only vaguely aware of his existence, and besides the carving in the cliffs among the other three Hokages, many had no clear idea what he looked like. Sasuke, however, paid more attention to his surroundings then many of his peers. He had seen Fourth's image everywhere—there was a photo hung in the Hokage's office, a photo at the Academy, a huge memorial to his death, and even a team photo of him in Kakashi's apartment. It was the latter image that Sasuke got the chance to study, and at the time he began to recognize the resemblance, he'd been shocked.

Who knew that Naruto, the idiot, the loudest ninja in Konoha, the people shunned and looked upon like trash…. Who knew that he was the son of the legendary Yondaime of Konoha?

Naruto was either oblivious to the fact, or aware of it and doing a superb job of acting ignorant—Sasuke honestly did not know which. Although he was sure the blonde would love something to brag about, would he really admit to his lineage considering his record? Did Naruto see himself as a failure to his ancestors, much like Sasuke did?

Whatever the case, Sasuke was astonished that not that many people had seemed to notice. The same hair, the same eyes, even the same skin—always a shade darker then everyone else's, like he'd just spent time tanning at the beach, or too much time in the field. Messy spikes of hair were longest over his ears, framing his face and making his powdery-blue eyes glow bright, even at night. The only difference were the whisker marks on Naruto's cheeks—Sasuke never asked how he had gotten them, honestly didn't care, and might have actually admitted to finding them adorable if he were ever drunk enough.

The Uchiha teen ran his tongue along the said mark, moistening the longest of the three grazes. Naruto shuddered against him and Sasuke turned his head and bit down on the side of his neck, and Naruto leaned back, reaching for something to support him. He wobbled slightly and fell backwards with a soft thump, looking bewildered that he'd fallen onto the bed and Sasuke looking down at him with something resembling amusement.

Before Naruto could say a word, however, Sasuke had knelt down on the bed between his splayed legs and took his hips in his hands, holding them down. Naruto was about to ask what the hell he thought he was doing until Sasuke leaned forward and ran his tongue along the skin from the hem of Naruto's pants to his bellybutton. The gasp drawn out this time was much louder than those before it, and Naruto could feel the moist skin tingle as the cold air of the room swept across it. Sasuke ignored the muttered protests and continued his ministrations, licking, nibbling, sucking and occasionally biting the flesh covering Naruto's navel and hips, making the boy struggle vainly against his hold.

Naruto now only had a vague idea what was going on, as most of his attention was focused only on the way Sasuke's teeth were nibbling on his hip. If he had been paying more attention, he may have noticed how every time he lifted his hips in response, Sasuke would pull down the hem of his pants just a little bit further, exposing more skin to be explored, or the small noises escaping his throat every time Sasuke ran his hands over his stomach and sides.

Maybe Sasuke wasn't the only one who needed this.

- -

Missing the smex? Well, if you want to read all the lovely cough 'character development' you are missing, you'll need to read it on my website, since dun like teh naughty-ness. also don't like to let us authors type in URLs because they're stingy bastards. So use your brains and type in the following addy:

httpDOTDOTSLASHSLASHbakaDOTamakazeDOTnet -- look under R/NC17 stories for Memory Yields and click on Chapter 3 :D

- -

Too sleepy to dwell on it, Sasuke licked his lips and crawled back up the blonde's body and nibbled on his bottom lip. Naruto opened his eyes a sliver, gazing at Sasuke through foggy lenses and kissed him thoroughly, using slow fluid strokes of his tongue, luring Sasuke back into a laying position. Breaking the kiss suddenly, Naruto rolled over and pressed his back against Sasuke's chest. Sasuke hesitated for a moment before wrapping the blonde up in his arms and burying his nose in the wisps of hair at the base of Naruto's neck.

"I guess we got a bit carried away, huh?" Naruto's voice was so quiet, Sasuke had to strain to hear it.

He didn't know what to say, so didn't answer. Naruto was silent for such a long time, Sasuke had though he'd fallen asleep and was almost to that point himself before the blonde's voice broke the silence, nearly as quiet as before.

"Sasuke?"

"Mm?" It sounded more like a grunt, mumbled against the blonde's neck.

"D'you ever get… well, lonely?"

It almost took a full minute for Sasuke to answer.

"Yeah. All the time."

Another pause.

"Do you?"

Naruto smiled sideways, though Sasuke couldn't see it, "Yeah. All the time."

- - -

When Kurenai rolled over, she immediately knew something wasn't right.

First, her bed was not pale green. In fact, she had gotten new sheets as a present from her mother a week ago, and they were red. Second, and much more disturbing, is that she was naked. As a shinobi, Kurenai knew better then to sleep in the nude. Not only was she on call at all hours of the day, but the chances that some wayward shinobi seeking vengeance would visit her in the middle of the night were too high to risk it.

She suddenly realized that the shower had been running because someone had just turned the water off. With only enough time to glance up, a door opened in front of her and a wave of steam escaped from the bathroom. Quick reflexes were the only thing that prevented her from biting off her tongue.

It was bad enough that he was only clad in a towel, but the fact that she had just woken up and came face to face with a wet, naked, finely sculpted torso did not help settle her state of mind.

"Oh, you're up," he said casually, idly toweling his grey hair "Want some coffee?"

Kurenai watched speechless as he turned and swaggered towards the closet. She almost lacked the smarts to roll over and look the other way before he dropped his towel to dress. Her mind was a buzz for several moments while trying to figure out what in the hell was going on.

"Well, do you?"

Kurenai jumped slightly, rolled onto her back and looked at him; he was wearing black slacks, part of his Jounin uniform, but was still shirtless. A gleeful little voice in the back of her mind told her that she had probably seen more than just his naked chest last night.

"Kakashi," she said, pausing slightly before continuing in an oddly steady voice "last night, did we…"

Kakashi looked amused, and she could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks.

"I take it this is the first time you've left the bar with company."

"Bar?" Kurenai blinked, vaguely, thinking. It was hard… her head had a slow, dull throb pulsating by her right temple that seemed to be blocking the process.

"The coffee will help" Kakashi disappeared from view as he tossed something over her head. "Get dressed."

Pulling the shirt off her face, she waited until he'd left the bedroom before tossing off the covers and throwing the shirt over her head. Kakashi was so tall that the shirt easily reached halfway down her thighs. She scrounged around for her dress – unable to locate it, she settled for her underwear, which was under the bed, and slipped it on under the shirt before following him into the kitchen.

The smell of the coffee was enough to wake her up, and she winced almost immediately as her headache took full effect. Her next reaction was worse – Kakashi had come up behind her and put his hands on her sides as if to steady her, and she all but jumped out of his arms. She whirled around to see the same amused expression strewn across his face.

"A bit jumpy, aren't we?"

Kurenai scowled.

"You're in an awfully good mood."

The amusement turned into something much worse: a cocky smirk. "Can you blame me?"

If she had been holding something, Kurenai was sure she would have thrown it at him. She wanted to say something, yell at him even, but she couldn't spit anything out.

Kakashi seemed to realize her dilemma and the smirk softened slightly "Your coffee's getting cold."

The coffee did help. It took almost the entire mug, but the throb in her temple was beginning to fade and her nerves were relaxing. She still couldn't remember anything from last night between leaving the bar and waking up, and she was debating on whether or not to ask Kakashi about it. It was fairly obvious what had happened, but not being able to recall any of it unsettled her slightly.

"You didn't answer me," she said finally "Earlier…"

Kakashi yawned.

"You can blame Asuma, if you want it was he who suggested I walk you home. Do you want to see what you did to my uniform? If I hadn't been drunk I would have tied you up."

Gripping her mug uncomfortably, Kurenai stared down into her coffee. She didn't want to think about what she might have done last night… it sounded insane, but she trusted Kakashi, enough not to question his story. If nothing else, he wasn't the sort of person to take advantage of others – certainly not in this manner, anyway.

Though, the remark about his uniform still worried her.

"Was I that bad?"

Kakashi grinned at her.

"I never said it was bad."

- -

When Naruto came to the next morning, his initial thought was damn, I slept pretty well. I feel great.

Then he sat up—or rather, tried to.

"Uuunngh," he groaned, rolled over, and tried to push himself up that way, and the same pain shot through his lower back. Disoriented with sleep, Naruto racked his brain for an explanation. He hadn't been training yesterday… had he? Even still, unless he broke his tailbone recently, there was no reason his backside should hurt this much.

Rolling back over, Naruto suddenly noticed the other person in his bed, and his heart skipped a beat before his brain caught up on current events.

…oh.

Sasuke was watching him sleepily, probably just having woken up after all of his tossing and grumbling. An unmistakably smug look was plastered on his face.

"Sore?"

"Fuck you," Naruto hissed, flipping back over, facing away and lying down, trying not to wince at the sharp pain that caused. "Why are you still here?"

"Do you want me to leave?" he heard Sasuke ask tonelessly.

Naruto thought about that. "Actually, no. Go cook me breakfast."

Naruto had expected Sasuke to snort and tell him to go to hell.

Instead, he felt the bed shift, and the next thing he saw was Sasuke (dressed in only his shorts) exit the bedroom without a word.

Naruto blinked. Wait a minute…

"Hey—" Naruto was going to tell Sasuke he had been joking when he told him to leave, but his voice died as the brunette disappeared into the other room. Grumbling about the injustice of it all, Naruto carefully rolled himself out of bed and climbed to his feet. It took him a good ten minutes to even finish dressing, because every time he tried lift or bend a leg, the muscles in them would solidify and refuse to work.

Wandering into the kitchen took a while, and when he entered he was overwhelmed with the smell of rice cooking and something that smelled suspiciously like sweet miso.

Holy shit, he's really cooking me breakfast, was all Naruto's brain managed to think before the next, much more prominent thought was voiced aloud.

"Where's the ramen?"

Sasuke turned back to glance at him, eyebrow arched and looking slightly incredulous. "Ramen? For breakfast?"

"Yes!" Naruto told him.

Sasuke shrugged, "Well, it's not breakfast anymore. It's ten past one already."

"You can eat ramen for lunch!"

"You can eat this, too," Sasuke had turned back to the food "If you want ramen, you can make it yourself."

"But—" Naruto silently battled with his conscious, which was trying to convince him that he'd be an idiot for refusing something like this from Sasuke, and lost miserably. "Oh, fine. But next time, we're eating ramen, dammit."

"Next time?" Sasuke was still looking at the food, but he could tell by the sudden bang and fidgeting that Naruto had spazzed abruptly.

"You know what I meant!" he snapped, blushing profusely.

Naruto could have been mistaken, but it seemed like Sasuke was in an uncharacteristically good mood this afternoon.

Stupid Sasuke.

"Since when can you cook?" Naruto said huffily, peering over Sasuke's shoulder.

Sasuke looked back at him incredulous once again "Can't you?" How do you eat, living alone?

"I can cook ramen," Naruto defended weakly.

No wonder you're so damn skinny, Sasuke thought dismally "Idiot, you're going to make yourself sick."

"Ramen doesn't make me sick!"

"Eating it every day will."

"It will not!"

Turning away from the food, Sasuke turned around to face him, arms crossed. "Do you want to eat this, or not?"

"No! But I will anyway, because you're a bastard and will get shitty if I don't! And ramen will not make me sick! If anything, your stupid cooking will! So shut up, I'll eat nothing but ramen for the rest of my life if I want! So there!"

Naruto stumbled backwards as Sasuke suddenly advanced, knocking him into the table, rattling the scattered dishes on top of it. Both of Sasuke's hands slammed down on the table on either side of his hips, trapping him there. Naruto glared up at him, but Sasuke didn't look angry… in fact, the bastard was smirking.

"You're going to just eat it and like it," he said simply.

"The hell I am!" Naruto snapped, referring to Sasuke's presumption that he'd enjoy it.

Sasuke regarded him quietly, moving in almost too slowly to kiss him. His lips pressed lightly against the blonde's, letting his tongue just barely graze the gap between them, coaxing them open, most likely trying to calm him down. Naruto, however, learned this trick last night and was quick to use it as a distraction and grab Sasuke by his forearms and flip him around, reversing their positions. Sasuke's back hit the table with a crash, knocking over a couple of glasses.

"—the hell are you doing! Nar—"

This time, it was Sasuke who found himself cut off with a kiss and was pushed roughly back onto the kitchen table, scattering what dishes were left there onto the floor, several of them breaking with a crash. Naruto had climbed up on all fours over him, apparently oblivious to the way the table was creaking under their weight, and kissing him fiercely. Sasuke resisted for a moment, uncomfortable with the blonde's use of force and concerned with the well-being of the food on the stove. A few seconds of relentless tongue dueling, however, and he was more then willing to cooperate.

Naruto was using one of his hands to hold himself up, and the other began to explore the bare skin of Sasuke's chest, something he had had little time to spare appreciating the night before. He positioned his hips between the Uchiha's and felt the brunette groan into his mouth. Sasuke tangled a hand in his hair, tugging it slightly, making him groan back and lean deeper into the kiss. Maybe it was because he was fully awake this time, but it was only now that Naruto realized he actually enjoyed kissing Sasuke—it felt good, it felt right, and always left him hungry for more.

If the smell of burnt rice wasn't enough to draw them out of their distraction, a very surprised Kiba busting through the unlocked front door certainly was.

A few moments stunned silence in which Kiba stared wide-eyed, Naruto looked up, and Sasuke tilted his head down to look upside-down towards the den, was followed by a sharp exclamation.

"What the fuck!" Kiba yelped, and Naruto all but fell off the table.

Kiba did not stick around to find out what exactly the fuck was, however, because he departed as quickly as he'd come, slamming the door so hard it bounced back open.

"Shit!" Naruto picked himself of the floor, and then hopped on one foot because he'd stepped on broken glass with the other. "Shitshitshit!"

Sasuke may have had some input on the situation, but was too busy laughing it away on top of the table to bother.

- - -

"So, you ready for this?"

Kakashi watched Asuma ask from his seat on the windowsill, one hand in his vest pocket, the other holding open his book. Asuma's place was so tiny that he could have been on the other side of the apartment and still hear every word, so it was pointless to pretend like he wasn't listening to the two at the table.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Kurenai answered, shrugging. "I've done worse."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

Asuma ignored the latter half of her answer. "You do know that Kiba's signed up to do this too, don't you?"

"Yeah, and? So is Naruto. They have to grow up someday. They need to do an S-class gig to even be considered for ANBU."

Asuma looked unconvinced. "Isn't Sasuke up for this one, too?"

Kakashi nodded.

"And you're not worried about either of them reacting to—do they even know that she's part of the job?"

"Oh for crying out loud, Asuma It's just a minor role its not like she's going to be in any danger. Besides, have you seen that girl throw a punch?"

"Naruto and Sasuke have both grown immensely," Kakashi assured him. "I'm not even worried about Sasuke—Naruto's bound to be a bit shocked, but like Kurenai said, they have to realize that this job isn't just about throwing kunai."

"Still," Asuma sighed, "I wouldn't let Ino sign up with Shikamaru on the job he'd throw a fit."

Kurenai looked dubious. "Shikamaru throws fits?"

Asuma shrugged, "Not yet, but I think this'd be enough to warrant one."

"Anyway, Tsume was supposed to be with me, not Sakura—I think that would have killed Kiba as it were—but after that last mission, she won't be going anywhere for a while. Anko's too well known in the area, and the same goes for the other two that were available. So we needed someone younger… Hinata is way too important to risk on the job, Ino's already signed on another role, and Sakura volunteered for it anyway. I think she wants the chance to prove she has what it takes. She's been going with me for three weeks now, you should see how she handles the guys—she'll do fine."

Neither of the men looked convinced, although Kakashi was doing a very good job of hiding it. Even though he knew it was necessary, and trusted his kids' abilities, Kurenai could see the doubt in his gaze. Kurenai knew the feeling—she would have felt the same way if it had been Hinata going instead.

"I won't let anything happen to her," she promised them "I'll look after her."

"Yeah?" Asuma said, "And who's going to look after you?"

Kurenai looked slightly indignant, but knew better then to be insulted—it was hard to be when she knew he was only worried about her.

"I'll be fine, Asuma. We'll have two teams of ANBU outside for backup, not to mention two Sharingan users. I doubt they can cook anything up to rival that."

"Let's hope not," Kakashi said quietly.

- - -

A/N: Waaaaaaaaah, sorry this took so long x.x; The smut gave me an uncharacteristically hard time… I'm still not sure if I'm happy with how it progressed ' Let me know if there's any complaints, I'm not below editing chapters after they're published ;;

There, Ochiba-sama: they fucked, happy now:P

Poor Kiba-kun… XD;;