Title: A Lesson in Teamwork, Chapter 2: Easier Said than Done, Claimed the Wise Man
Author: Kitana
Warnings: PG, will eventually reach NC-17. Eventually. Sasuke x Naruto.
Summary: Kakashi senses that unless Sasuke and Naruto learn what it really means to work together, Team 7 will eventually fall apart at the seams. He gives them an assignment that will teach the two more than they realize.
Author's Note: I used to think I was very good at physical fight scenes, but now … I realize I'm not. XD; Sorry. This chapter is also wonky and very transitional, so, uh, don't spork the hell out of me? ;
There was barely light in the bedroom when Sasuke woke up, aching and cramped from a night of trying to stay as far away from Naruto and his irritatingly loud snores as humanly possible without falling to the floor. The blonde was a wild sleeper, and Naruto had unintentionally draped himself across Sasuke more times than Sasuke cared to count.
Thankfully, Naruto's snores had tapered off into a mild, purring-like sound. With that, perhaps Sasuke could have something akin to a peaceful morning.
Then again, as Sasuke stood up and stretched, feeling various muscles protest to the movement, a morning with Naruto in the vicinity could never turn out to be anything near peaceful. He grabbed his knapsack and teetered on sleepy legs across the hallway to the bathroom. Opening the only window to let some of the stale house air out, Sasuke turned towards the shower. Aggravatingly enough, there wasn't a curtain on the shower rack.
Though the chances of Naruto waking up and walking in on him were slim, Sasuke still found himself trying to latch the lock on the door. It was a bit rusty and only slid halfway across, but it was good enough for Sasuke. He turned the tap on high, wriggling out of his shirt as the water transitioned from a tarnished reddish-brown to a healthy clear. His pants came next as he checked the water for the proper temperature, and he dug around his knapsack for soap.
Sasuke stepped into the shower tentatively. The warm water, albeit slightly harder than he was used to, had a soothing effect on him. The irritation pent up in his body slowly faded, along with the dull pain of sleeping in an awkward position. He closed his eyes and sighed, letting the water trickle through his hair and down his shoulders.
If he thought about it long enough, Sasuke was sure he could find a loophole in Kakashi's 'assignment' that would allow him to, if not get out of it entirely, spend less time cooped up with Naruto. He rubbed the soap between his hands idly, trying to unravel what exactly had been on Kakashi's mind. Teamwork was obviously work done with a team; that was something Sasuke had already reluctantly learned how to do.
However, Sasuke didn't see how spending a week alone with Naruto would do anything to change their attitudes towards each other. Sasuke couldn't stand Naruto, and for what it was worth and as far as he knew, Naruto couldn't stand him back. He brought the soap to his hair, scrubbing in dissatisfaction. It just didn't make sense! Not that Kakashi made a whole lot of sense to begin with, Sasuke mused.
Minutes ticked by, and Sasuke let his guard down some, ducking his head back under the spray of the shower to wash away soap suds. With one last rinse, he shut off the tap, stepping carefully out of the shower. Sasuke listened for any hint of Naruto's footsteps as he toweled himself off, and heard nothing. Excellent. Sasuke smirked wryly to himself; he had felt like Shikamaru just then, determining whether his shower was either a success or a failure.
Sasuke couldn't explain why, but he had always put his clothes in the same order that he had taken them off in. If his pants were first to come off, they were the first to go one. In this case, his shirt went on first. And he had just fished out a clean shirt, shaking it for wrinkles, when the bathroom door rattled.
"Hey! Stupid door!"
Sasuke struggled to get his shirt over his head. Naruto's footfalls were obviously quieter than Sasuke had anticipated. Goddamn his bad luck! "Naruto, wait!"
The door swung open wide, just as Sasuke managed to get one arm through his shirt. Naruto stopped short, stunned into a wide-eyed silence. A blush slowly etched its way across his face, and before Sasuke could say anything, Naruto turned on his heel and bolted out of the door, shoving it closed and leaning against it.
He pressed his palms to his eyes, attempting to dispel the image of Sasuke's nakedness from his mind to no avail. All Naruto had wanted to do was empty his bladder, not get an eyeful of the pale Uchiha. He groaned. He had five more days, minus this one, to spend with Sasuke, and just saw the last thing he had ever planned to see.
Not that it was a bad view, but it was Sasuke, and well, Sasuke was … Naruto rubbed his cheeks next, trying to dismiss the embarrassed flush. The more he thought about it, the worse his body's reactions became, and Naruto shifted uncomfortably against the door.
Wait.
Why was he still even thinking about it?! Sasuke was a bastard of the most maddening sort, that's what he was! Nothing more, nothing less. And he was probably more embarrassed by the turn of events than Naruto himself. Naruto snickered. It served him right.
There was a sharp rap on the door and it rattled against his back. "Dobe, let me out," Naruto heard Sasuke say with some impatience.
Naruto pushed away from the door, deliberately turning the other way so that Sasuke wouldn't see the now-faint blush on his cheeks. "You should lock the door next time," Naruto said as Sasuke brushed past him.
"I did," Sasuke snorted. "You were just too stupid to realize it."
Sasuke's reply was met with the slam of the bathroom door and a few familiar insults.
Breakfast went by awkwardly with Naruto avoiding looking at Sasuke for any extended period of time, and after finishing their respective dishes, it was Naruto who pulled out the list of duties Kakashi had given them only a day earlier. He scanned the list again, looking for something simple and that wouldn't exhaust him as much as cleaning did the day before. He still wanted to have enough energy for a few rounds of training and work off whatever this feeling was.
His finger stopped on one of the tasks. "Sasuke, I get the feeling that you were supposed to break the stairs."
Sasuke shook water off of his dish, glancing over his shoulder. "What makes you say that?"
"Because," Naruto said, tapping the paper, "One of our duties is to fix the stairs."
Seconds later, Sasuke snatched up the scroll, staring hard at it. He could feel his eyebrow twitching minutely. What did Kakashi think they were? Carpenters? The dark-haired boy was beginning to feel something suspiciously like contempt for his sensei. He sighed for what seemed to be the millionth time.
"Alright, come on."
As time wore on, it seemed that Kakashi went through great lengths to make things difficult for Sasuke and Naruto. They had to search out each item they needed to repair the staircase. Sasuke had found the box of nails under the kitchen sink, and Naruto had retrieved the hammer from the ledge atop the front door. They had inadvertently bumped heads with each other upon the discovery of the pieces of wood they'd needed.
Naruto placed the wooden board on top of the hole Sasuke left in the step. Not looking back, he held his hand out for hammer, and began whacking away once Sasuke gave it to him.
"Idiot, don't put the nail there," Sasuke said as Naruto prepared to nail what had to be practically the sixth nail on the left side of the step alone. "Put it on the other side."
Naruto rolled his eyes and hammered it in anyway, with extra force for emphasis. "What would a bastard like you know about—"
Naruto's words dissolved into a yelp as the hammer landed on his pinky finger. Instantly, Naruto sucked the wounded digit between his lips, swearing all while the pain gradually ebbed away.
"Shut up," Naruto said sulkily. Even if he couldn't hear it, he knew Sasuke was laughing.
"That's what you get for not paying attention," Sasuke said, frustratingly nonchalant.
"It was your fault for distracting me," Naruto muttered, resisting the urge to turn around and punch the smug boy in the face. "If you're so damn smart, you can finish it yourself."
"If you insist."
Smirking, Sasuke squeezed in next to Naruto and reached for the hammer. Naruto stiffened, and looked over at Sasuke for a brief second, before averting his eyes, battling down an unexpected blush. He couldn't even look at the dark-haired boy without flashes of his previous unclothed state coming back at him.
It was ridiculous; he'd seen gory splashes of blood, paling faces of dead ninja, the works. Indeed, the stuff of nightmares. But he wasn't ever fazed by it. Yet, he gets one glimpse of Sasuke at the wrong time, and it turns out to be the one image he can't replace with something else.
With a grumble and pursed lips, Naruto slipped out and backed away from the stairs, purposely turning his back to Sasuke. "Stupid," he mumbled.
But at least the stairs were sturdy this time.
Contrary to popular belief, Naruto started off his training sessions with a brief period of meditation. The area around the house seemed endless, so Naruto closed his eyes and let his body feel out the best place to start. He ended up not far from the house, at the bank of a small creek sprinkled with a few trees. He took a deep breath, letting the slight breeze ruffle through his clothes and hair.
Clasping his hands together, he exhaled, and focused. He slowly dug deep inside of himself, dragging up his chakra from low in his belly. Naruto stood completely still for a few moments, letting the chakra build.
Down he pushed his chakra as he stepped off of the bank into the creek. Naruto's feet barely skimmed the top of the water, and he grinned. He was getting better everyday. He pushed up a bit of his chakra into his hands, and with a forward somersault, he hovered over the water on his hands. Technically, he wasn't showing off, because there was no one around to see. Naruto spent a few more minutes balancing chakra back and forth between his feet and hands, before he stepped back onto the bank of the creek.
Now, time for a change of pace, Naruto thought. He turned towards a nearby tree, ready to try something else, and was narrowly missed by a shuriken whizzing by. Naruto spun around, his eyes settling on the pale boy standing only a few feet away, propped up against another tree.
It was a silent challenge, he knew. Naruto had known that when he came out to train that if Sasuke was anywhere nearby it wouldn't be long before the Uchiha would offer him another chance to prove himself. And as it was, it was in Naruto's nature to comply. Naruto yanked the shuriken out of the tree, and Sasuke pushed away from his post. Sasuke was obviously satisfied that he had accepted.
Naruto initiated contact first, throwing that same shuriken back at Sasuke, who countered with another shuriken of his own. Naruto barely dodged Sasuke's punch, catching it and twisting Sasuke's wrist. Sasuke pulled Naruto forward and broke the hold the blonde had on his wrist, alternately elbowing him in the chest.
Naruto grunted — damn sharp elbows — and dropped down to kick at Sasuke's ankles. Knocked off balance, Sasuke caught himself on his hands just in time to spring back up. Naruto tried punching again, and Sasuke dodged that hit too, grabbing the boy's arm to flip and throw him over his shoulder. Naruto landed with a painful thud, and winced.
Sasuke grinned at Naruto as he stood up. The bastard Uchiha was blocking all of his hits, and a little part of Naruto nagged that for some reason, he wasn't putting his all into it. All of Sasuke's touches were electric, that's why, said another part of Naruto's brain, but he firmly silenced them both as he launched himself at Sasuke again.
Sasuke couldn't resist the urge to yawn mockingly. "You're too slow, dobe. Not even worth my time."
He saw Naruto's eyes narrow at the comment, and then Naruto's hands were flying up into a hand seal. Sasuke harrumphed; Naruto didn't give him enough credit if he thought that he couldn't take out a few clones. Sasuke dropped into a crouch, activating his sharingan, hitting each clone as it approached. The Naruto clones were backing Sasuke into a tree. Suddenly, Naruto burst forth, pinning Sasuke to the tree with his full weight, pushing Sasuke's arms up.
Sasuke's hair fell into his eyes as he looked up, his face contorted in the pain of impact. He stared at Naruto as the clones dissipated; the blonde was looking at him strangely, his expression unreadable. Naruto leaned in close, breaking into a grin.
"Who's too slow now, Uchiha?"
Sasuke snorted. "It's not over."
"Yes, it is."
Naruto's heart was beating faster now than it had any time before, even during missions, and he didn't want to listen to his mind's explanations as to why. But his body was one step ahead of him, and before Naruto could stop himself, he was pressing his lips to Sasuke's full, pouty ones. Sasuke's lips were surprisingly soft, only slightly chapped, and …
Sasuke made a noise that Naruto couldn't place and it jolted his split mind and body back together.
Uzumaki, what the hell are you doing?! Naruto screamed at himself suddenly, tearing away from Sasuke, and creating a lengthy gap between himself and the dark-haired boy. Sasuke only stared at him, stunned into silence, completely astonished. Naruto had just… just… kissed him. Kissed him, for the love of everything! And he wasn't trying to force half of his left leg down the idiot's throat.
No, Sasuke reflected, he couldn't have if he'd tried.
Because Naruto was no longer anywhere in sight.