A/N: I was eating hot pot when I thought of this story! I must be using chapstick too much, yeah… I hope everyone will enjoy this story! For those who don't know, any italicized parts are either flashbacks or thoughts, okay? Don't tell me to 'continue' this because I like oneshots and my stories are usually cut off in the middle of nowhere anyway. It's my style, so this is it! Please read and review, thanks!
Sunlight from wide windows crept into a huge, dark colored room. A large lump in the middle of a bed was covered in a dark blue blanket. Wild, gravity defying, dark blue hair stuck out at the top of the blanket.
The figure's breathing quickened and the lump moved. Blankets bleached with the sunlight were shoved off his face as he sat up abruptly. His eyes were still closed and he stayed in that position for a few seconds before opening them.
---
"Haaah… Haah… Finally… After two and a half years of training… I'm finally going to bring you back to Konoha… Sasuke…Hehe… I don't go back on my words!" Naruto was standing over Sasuke's still form. Blood dripped down the side of his face as he grinned widely.
Sasuke looked up with empty eyes. He was in great pain but his face did not betray the slightest sign of the discomfort he was in. His head turned a bit as he watched Naruto's eyes roll back. The boy fell down in a heap of orange and black.
---
Sleepy, caliginous stared at the wall across his room. He glanced out the window. A frostbitten world was waiting for him outisde. His hand went up to rub his eyes as he shifted around a bit. Cold wood made his bare feet tingle as they touched it.
Sasuke shuffled into the bathroom to commence his daily morning tasks.
---
"… You'll have to rest in the Konoha Hospital for about three weeks before you can get up and walk... Sasuke-kun…" Sakura uttered his name apprehensively. It was as if she was afraid of him now. Her hands glowed green as she looked at his face but avoided his indifferent eyes. "I'm glad that Naruto was able to bring you back… Though I still can't believe he seriously broke your legs and a few ribs to do so…"
She stopped and looked down at the floor. "Everyone was worried for you…"
---
A dark, long sleeved shirt went over his head. Then followed a vest and a semi-thick jacket. Replacing his summer shorts were warm white pants. A blue scarf with the Uchiha fan at one of its ends went around his neck. He looked down at it and folded that end so that the crest was facing outwards.
Straightening his jacket one last time, he opened the door and let the bitter winds seep into his house. Snow swirled in slightly as he stepped out into the snow. He took a few careful steps outside and turned around to lock the door.
---
Silence stretched over the room, acting as an invisible blanket that was pulled taut between the two of them. Sasuke was looking outside the window with his hands folded in his lap. Naruto stared at the back of his head, standing there with his arm in a sling and his head barely visible with all the bandages around it.
For two weeks he had been coming into his room, trying to urge him to talk. Over the span of two and a half years, Sasuke had severed all bonds with everyone, thus causing him to even forget human emotions. Each day Naruto came in, he would display a new emotion to him. Unconsciously, Naruto was re-teaching Sasuke human emotions.
'Hopelessness…' Sasuke thought as he looked outside at the clear sky outside. Every day Sasuke looked outside, spurning Naruto, who was always standing in that same spot in his room. Everyday he would mentally list out the emotion that Naruto was expressing.
Happiness, anger, sadness, panic, frustration, anxiety, listlessness, ecstatic, solemn. Though he had forgotten them all, he was able to name out each one with ease.
---
The sun was no help at all. Its rays were cancelled out by the coldness of the snow and ice that covered everything. Standing in shade or sun made no difference.
Sasuke walked out into the somewhat busy streets of Konoha. He wandered around until he found a nice quiet corner. He stopped there, waiting under a roof. His breath came out in white swirls.
He could feel the hostility of winter, sucking out all the humidity out of the air. His lips were dry as he leaned on the wall and stared at the snow at his feet.
---
There was something that made him feel like an empty shell though. There was something that he just could not name… What was it? What was that feeling?
Naruto had greeted him with his usual happiness on the first day. On the second day, he became angry at him and punched him across the face, leaving a large bruise on his jaw. His anger was replaced with depression on the third.
But each time he came and went, there was always this lingering feeling that wouldn't leave the room. No matter how much Sasuke thought, he could not remember it.
Hours after Naruto had left, his words would still echo through his mind, busying him for the rest of the day. He watched as the sky turned from dark to pale, from pale to bright, from bright to clear, and from clear to dark once more. Yet still, he could not remember what it was.
---
Soft snowflakes fell down from the suddenly dark sky. The sun was completely obscured now, not that it really made a difference. A gust passed by and made the snowflakes stick to his hair and clothes.
He ran his fingers through his snow dampened hair and shifted a bit to get off the melting snowflakes off him. Stamping the ground a few times, he looked up again but didn't see anyone. His face was turned down in his usual brooding stance.
---
On the thirteenth day, Naruto finally gave up. It has been a week since he had last visited his mute friend. If one could still call the two of them 'friends'.
It was dark in the room now. He was asleep. He was asleep until he unconsciously heard the door slide open. He woke up but didn't move. Keeping his breathing slow and acting as if he was still sleeping, Sasuke laid there.
The door slid back again and the soft, almost inaudible sound of feet shuffled close to the side of his bed. Just by the sound of his breathing, Sasuke knew who it was.
"… You're still here…" the voice said delicately, as to not 'wake' Sasuke up. "Today is the day before the hospital lets you out… I was afraid… Sasuke, will you leave us again? I'm so scared that you'll leave us again. I don't know if I can bring you back again…" The sound of his voice stopped.
The short speech processed through Sasuke's mind but it did not make any sense to him. 'Why had he stopped?' he asked himself. A small sniffle told him the answer. When the voice continued, it was wavered and broke several times.
"If you're going to leave again, there's no way that I can stop you… Even though I don't know if you can hear me right now… I have to tell you before you go…" Barely above a whisper. That was how loud his voice was. Sasuke had to strain quite a bit to hear him, even in the silent room. He felt the left side of the bed go down as something weighed it down.
He compressed a shudder as he felt arms go around his shoulders and a head lie on his chest. Although he could not see it, he could feel blonde hair pricking his chin. After a while he could feel his shirt get wet from tears. The body that held him shook as he took shuddering breathes and tried to steady his voice again.
"… I love you…" he mumbled into Sasuke's chest. The words barely fell from his lips.
'That's what it was…' Sasuke's eyes opened slowly. His arms stiffly jerked around Naruto's shoulders. Naruto's head jolted up when he felt Sasuke hold him. "Na… Naruto…" his voice was weak and cracked from weeks without using it. "I love you, too…"
---
Sasuke looked up when he heard faint crushing sounds come from around the corner of the house where hew as waiting at. The sound came nearer and nearer until a burst of orange and black skidded to a stop in front of him.
"Hey, Sasuke!" Naruto greeted just a tad bit too loudly, his scarf was half-unraveled from its boisterous owner's neck. His cheeks were red from the cold and his clothes looked like they were thrown on at the last minute.
Sasuke gave him a faint smile. He looks… different… Sasuke thought and looked at him again, more carefully. No, not his clothes… They were always a mess… His hair's the same…
"Hey, what are you looking at me like that for?"
---
The two of them sat on a branch of a tree. They were supposed to be training but had hidden atop of the tree instead. Sakura was probably running around the forest trying to find them.
Naruto grinned widely as he swung his legs back and forth from the bough. Sasuke sat there sullenly. He turned his head slowly to face the blonde and his hand grazed over the rough bark of the tree until it hit the slightly less rough skin of his teammate.
"Hm?" Naruto stopped swinging his legs and looked back into black eyes. They came nearer and nearer to his face. He froze.
They were unofficially together now, but they've never actually kissed. Sasuke had always been so shy and awkward around him that 'making a move' was rare for him. It took him four weeks before he got the nerve to even hold Naruto's hand when they were alone.
Sasuke tilted his head as his breathing became noticeably faster. Naruto's face turned red as he leaned in even closer.
"Sasuke-kun! Naruto! Is that you? I can see your stupid orange jacket from down here! Get down here! Kakashi-sensei is going to yell at you two for slacking off!" Sakura called from the ground. The two of them jumped up and leaped away from each other hurriedly.
---
Ah… That's what it was. "What's that on your lips?" Sasuke asked in a monotone voice.
"Oh? This?" Naruto pointed at his glossy looking lips. "Sakura-chan gave me some beeswax for my dry lips. They were all cracked and dry yesterday." He grinned widely.
A few seconds of silence spanned across them before the dark haired shinobi said, "You look like a girl."
The blonde's grin immediately turned into a scowl as complains and whines came out of his mouth. Sasuke went into deaf mode the second he saw the frown. His eyes wandered around as he ignored Naruto.
"Heey! Listen to me, teme!" his lower lip jutted out as he began to pout.
Suddenly an idea formed in Sasuke's head. He grinned ominously at Naruto, effectively silencing him.
"What?"
"You know what, Naruto?" he asked quietly. "My lips are pretty dry too…"
Naruto frowned and closed his eyes, his hands on his hips now. "But I left the container at my house…" he started explaining.
"I don't think that's a problem…" Sasuke's hands darted out quickly, pulling on the blonde's shoulder and bringing him face to face with him. Naruto instinctively bent his knees a bit, his arms in front of him, trying to get away from Sasuke.
"Let go…" he squeaked, panicking. His face turned red when he finally realized what Sasuke was going to do. "Someone might see…"
"Who cares? Don't you think it's time that we let everyone know?"
---
"Neji and Hinata are here, so try not to get so close to me, okay?" Sasuke glanced around quickly.
"Okay, okay..." Naruto answered absentmindedly. They were at a Christmas party. The former Rookie Nine and Team Gai were all inside the house.
For months the two of them had been secretly dating, never actually getting caught by anyone they knew. It was a successful 'mission'. No one even suspected it. They were so careful when they were together that there was no possible way for anyone to catch them.
Even the overly suspicious and observant Kakashi didn't notice much change, except that they got along better.
---
"Besides, it'll probably get rid of some of my stalkers… and fangirls…" he rolled his eyes in disgust but his face quickly reverted back to its predatory look.
"But Sasuke!" Naruto whined and squirmed in his grip. "I don't—"
He was rudely cut off when Sasuke kissed him. Alert blue eyes darted from side to side as he couldn't get out of the iron grip hug he was held in. Sasuke's eyes were open as well, but they were narrowed in a sly look, contrasting with the scared ones just inches away from his own.
Naruto's eyes widened when he saw a girl walked by them, apparently looking for someone, probably Sasuke. She saw them, froze for a few seconds before running off screaming of some incoherent things.
Sasuke broke the kiss and smiled smugly. "And there goes one…"
"Oh no, oh no… Ohhh, Kami-sama! We're dead…" Naruto's hands clasped together tightly as he began to go on a full out panic attack.
The dark haired boy ignored him as he complained, "I don't think I got enough of that wax…" Naruto turned to run away. Too bad his scarf was already wrapped around Sasuke's hand.
---
"Ooh… So this is where you live?" Naruto ran around the house crazily.
"Yea—DON'T BREAK THAT!" Sasuke darted over to the vase that was precariously being tipped over by a curious finger. He snatched it off the table and placed it down gingerly. "No touching anything…"
"Sorry…" Blue eyes disappeared behind eyelids as he smiled apologetically. "Hey, are you sure none of your rabid fangirls followed us?"
"Security system is very effective around here…" Sasuke pulled back the curtains a bit and checked the traps he had set around the circumference around his house. Maybe he went just a bit overboard… Kunais, explosive tags, shurikens, trap doors, giant holes, and wires were set up in any random spot around the place.
"Okay then…" he looked around curiously. "This place is huge!"
"Yeah? It's too big sometimes… So empty," the curtain fell back in place as he leaned back.
Naruto grinned widely. Ever since he told him that he loved Sasuke, the dark haired boy had been talking a lot more. At least to him, he does.
---
"Where are you taking me?" Naruto yelled at Sasuke as he was being dragged around. "Eep!" he yelled when he was pulled up onto a rooftop. Sasuke had his hand in another vice grip as he jumped higher and higher until he was standing on top of a telephone pole and Naruto was balancing off one of the wires.
"Konohagakure!" Sasuke yelled at the top of his lungs, still holding onto Naruto's hand.
"What are you doing, teme?" he squealed nervously, looking down at everyone who had stopped to see what the commotion was.
"Listen up, everyone!" the usually silent boy boldly called out, shunning Naruto's complaints and panic. "I, Uchiha Sasuke, officially declare today that Uzumaki Naruto is my boyfriend! That's right! Stay away from him or you'll have me to deal with!" he announced to the world.
Naruto's face turned bright red as he tried to hide his face in his orange scarf. "Sasuke," he whimpered, trying to run away from the embarrassing scene.
A lopsided grin was on his face, making him look really scary, since he never actually smiled much. "What's wrong, dobe?" Sasuke pulled down the scarf and kissed him in front of everyone.
Once again, Naruto's eyes widened in panic. What the heck was the idiot doing? He was never his bold before!
From the streets of Konoha, hoards of girls passed out, but not before deafening nearly everyone with incredulous screams of horror. Some people stopped to stare at them while others shrugged and continued on their way. A few of Rookie Nine were scattered within hearing distance of the announcement and looked at each other, shocked.
"Don't be so shy, Naruto!" Sasuke laughed and hugged him loosely now, letting him bury his head into his jacket.
---
"Well then… I suppose I'll have to congratulate you two… Even though I really wasn't expecting this…" Kakashi scratched his head lazily and looked at the two of them with his one visible eye.
Sasuke's boldness had worn off and now he was standing in his usual stance, hands stuff in his pants' pockets. Naruto was standing some distance off, his back turned to the three of them. Sakura stood there with a look that was torn between jealously, happiness, and disbelief.
"How quickly everyone changes in only three years…" he mumbled and smiled, although it hidden away with his mask.
A cold gust made snow swirl from the nearby branches of bare trees and some flakes and ice crystals were taken into the sky. They sparkled momentarily in the sunlight before melting away with the wisps of white breath.