Disclaimer: Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto

Warnings: Shounen-ai, language, smoking, sexual implications

Summary: Sasuke thinks about how cigarettes and Naruto are alike.

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Addiction

By Orange Coconuts

Delicate swirls of smoke drifted through the air, poisoning the environment and the atmosphere around him. Seventeen-year-old Uchiha Sasuke leaned on the balcony railing casually, his fingers cradling his half burnt-out cigarette almost carefully, lovingly placing them in between his lips as he inhaled in an agonizingly slow pace, eyes closing in content while the hazardous chemicals set to work in his body.

The day was a warm one, with the sun shining almost relentlessly upon Konoha with just the right amount of clouds to block out the unwanted sunrays. Birds sang merrily from the windy tree tops while the laughter of small children playing rang through the air, the cautionary whispers of their parents not too far behind. Sasuke opened his eyes and looked up towards the light blue sky, eyeing the fluffy substances with a knowing look. Shikamaru was probably out there, somewhere, cloud-gazing again during a day like this.

Sasuke exhaled, slightly amused at the various "o" shapes that he had formed.

Quiet patters of feet closed in behind him, but Sasuke ignored them, remaining unmoved from his original position. The figure behind him grunted in annoyance, before sliding open the screen door and walking through the entrance, joining the raven-haired ANBU captain on his regular afternoon musings.

"You know that I don't like it when you do that, Sasuke-teme."

He stayed silent, onyx eyes never leaving the scenery of the village before him. Naruto growled from beside him, leaning too on the railing with a sigh.

"Sasuke? Did you hear me?"

Silence. A gradual upturn on a corner of his lips suggested to the shorter blonde that he was smirking.

"Bastard Answer me!"

"…"

"I wish you'd put it out. It fucking reeks."

"How did the meeting with Lord Hokage go, Naruto?" Cool and collected jet orbs turned to brilliant blue ones, smiling slightly. Naruto watched as Sasuke flicked his cigarette against the railing, shaking some of the excess ash off the tip. "What did she have to say this time?"

Naruto scowled, the skin across the bridge of his nose scrunching up slightly from the facial expression. "Stop trying to change the damn subject. Put it out already!"

"Tch. Dobe." Just to provoke the other ANBU member, Sasuke took another long and slow drag from his cigarette.

"Stubborn bastard… You do know that that shit is bad for you, right?"

Sasuke snorted, rolling his eyes. How could he not know? Ads against smoking were everywhere nowadays – on television commercials, health articles, during Health and Awareness class at the academy, and hell, even on the cigarette packages themselves! And with Naruto reminding him every time he took a little break, well, it was starting to piss him off just the tiniest bit.

"It's not like I smoke that often, dobe." Which was true. Sasuke hardly smoked, if rarely. It was just on one of those odd days where Sasuke was feeling lazy and bored that he smoked. It was just something to do, something to take up time. It was also somewhat amusing at the same time, seeing how long he could resist the urge to grab another cancer stick for a quick ride. Usually he won. Usually he stood it out. Why? Because that's just the way an Uchiha is. They were taught at an early age how to use self-control, how to always be in control.

No matter how tempting the situation was. No matter how addicting. No matter how it cried out to him.

"Still…it's bad for your lungs, and smoking makes you short of breath, Sasuke," declared Naruto with a concerned tone of voice. Sasuke resisted the urge to scoff. He won, naturally. "Think of your life as a shinobi, Sasuke! You can't go on missions if you can't fucking breathe!"

"Once a month isn't going to give me lung cancer, Naruto."

"…I still don't like it." This was said in a defeated, child-like voice. Sasuke chuckled darkly.

"I know." He paused, then added an as an afterthought, "dobe." There went another puff of smoke. He turned his head back around to watch the wavering of the tree tops, the flawlessness of the endless sky.

Naruto growled, pouting slightly. Sasuke peered at his lips slyly from the corner of his eye, aching to catch one in between his teeth and pull, just to see what the Kyuubi vessel's reaction would be. Probably annoyance, or a moan…or both.

"Then why do you do it?"

"Hn." If you only knew… came the unanswered reply. Naruto contemplated whether or not to smack his lover over the head with a shoe, or just ban him from sex for a month… He decided that he wanted to live, and so agreed with the first option. Naruto punched Sasuke (quite hard, Sasuke noticed as he winced) on his pale and bare shoulder. The Uchiha prodigy had the short sleeves of his red T-shirt rolled up from the morning heat, just the way Naruto liked it.

"Hn isn't an answer, you asshole."

I smoke because of you was what Sasuke had wanted to say, and almost did, just to see the expression on his boyish face. Naruto was irresistibly provocative like that – in an amusing and harmless sort of way, of course.

When Naruto finally realized that Sasuke wouldn't answer even if he was tied up like a turkey and tortured, he grumbled something unintelligent and walked back into the Uchiha manor, throwing a quick comment over his shoulder about studying some scrolls and how he had better put the damn thing out! to the stoic Sharigan-holder. Sasuke merely grunted in response.

The remaining Uchiha clan member took another drag of his cigarette, almost entranced at the grey airy substance that left his lips, only to be carried away by the passing summer breeze. The scent of this foul habit was intoxicating; it made Sasuke's head dizzy and his heart pound from the addictive behaviour that it roused in him.

Cigarettes in itself never appealed to Sasuke. It was what cigarettes represented that got him going.

He inhaled the poison again, feeling the slight burning in his lungs and the delicate tickling in his throat before exhaling almost reluctantly. Many little children and newly appointed genin looked up from the streets below, seemingly horrified to find that the legendary Uchiha Sasuke would engage in such a dirty act. Sasuke allowed a tiny bubble of soft laughter to ease through his lips, gaping at the irony of it all.

It was funny how many hopeful children and adults alike were determined to be just like him, wanting to achieve the same status of power and goals that he has. And now, after they've witnessed this, they almost seemed to be disgusted.

That was one of the perks that came along with smoking. Instant idolization elimination.

Of course, it never seemed to work with the rabies-infested fangirls that haunted their dearest Sasuke-kun day and night. Cigarettes seemed to add to the somehow attractive "bad boy" image. Sasuke scowled at this.

However, Sasuke hadn't began smoking just for the kicks of it. He had started for Naruto.

He had started for himself.

Asuma smoked constantly, and his health never wavered. Sasuke knew this, because he had often witnessed the sparring sessions between him and Shikamaru, which always somehow surprised the dark-haired boy when he saw how fast the lazyass could be when stimulated in battle. Asuma never appeared to be wheezing, coughing, or having trouble breathing. He always stood there smiling, a limp cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth.

Then again, he could be hiding it as well. After all, Sasuke decided, a shinobi should never show their enemy his weaknesses.

It was when Sasuke had bumped into Asuma at the local library did he really question the man about his cancer-increasing habit. He had asked why Asuma kept on smoking, even though he knew that it was bad for him. And since the older man smoked about a pack a day, it was still a wonder that he was alive and kicking.

Asuma-sensei had answered simply enough. "I tried to quit. I failed. I lose control of myself." And then the librarian walked in, scolding the man with the brown chinstrap for smoking around her precious scrolls and books, and for having the gall to talk louder than a whisper within the very building.

Sasuke refrained himself from reminding the elderly lady how ironic it was that she was yelling when she had reminded the two men of that rule. Sasuke realizes that life itself is ironic. Heck, almost everything has a tinge of irony to it. End of story.

And when he had walked home that day, Asuma-san's words echoed continuously through his mind. Lose control of myself…

Before he knew what was happening, Sasuke found his own two feet leading him towards a small general store, the kind that stocked about every single thing available (and some unavailable) under the sun (it was his favourite store to buy shampoo and lube – cheap and good quality). He had bluntly told the owner that he was looking for a pack of cigarettes (which was immediately frowned upon), and he quickly paid for his item and left the wretched the place, ignoring the imploring and perhaps slightly curious stares that seemed to burn a hole through his head.

That night, while Naruto was asleep in their bed, exhausted from a wonderful night of lovemaking, Sasuke had crept out onto the balcony and took out his pack of seemingly-harmless white sticks with caution, almost certain that they would come to life and bite his fingers off. He remembered staring at them for a long time, mind still uncertain about whether or not to indulge in this activity. It's never too late to just throw these away, his conscience had reprimanded him. Are you sure that this is what you want?

The air was chilly that night, raising unwanted goosebumps on Sasuke's chiselled arms and muscular, bare chest. The wind played with the gravity-defying dark strands of his hair, and the enchanting moonbeams of light played upon the creamy texture of skin like it was as delicate as porcelain, as precious as silk.

Sasuke knew that he looked like a god - inhuman even.

And this was not his ego talking. This was his prestigious Uchiha heritage talking, the powerful blood of his deceased clan making him act this way. Because all Uchihas were flawless, perfected by nature. Because all Uchihas were intelligent and strong and always in control.

Sasuke didn't just look like a god, but he felt like one too.

This was the reason, the drive, which pushed Sasuke towards his decision. Determined fingers loosely placed the cigarette butt in between his lips, its weight and presence feeling foreign to him. He quickly lit his mini version of a cigar and inhaled slowly.

It burned.

Sasuke smirked slightly at the sensation before his entire body convulsed in several sessions of violent coughs, courtesy of the invading smoke within his once-untainted lungs.

After the coughing subsided, Sasuke was nearly ecstatic. He was feeling a certain of accomplishment, a certain feeling of pride in what he's done. But most of all, his hunger has been sated.

So that's what losing control is like.

Sasuke had always hated the "image of perfection" that his person seemed to give off, making the people around him to worship his every move and treat him like some unofficial god – and Sasuke knew that he might as well be God in their eyes. He was an inhuman beauty, unreachable by mortal men. No other rivalled the strength and prestige that he possessed, and although many envied him, none dared to oppose him.

And Sasuke loathed it with his entire being.

In his entire life so far, all Sasuke had ever wanted was to be human. Laugh when he was amused. Scream when he was enraged. Cry when he was weak. All which were prohibited because of the blue blood running through his veins.

Cigarettes were a form of release for him, a form of challenge, a form of addiction. He loved it when a powerful craving for the vile thing arose, taunting him and literally screaming in his mind to just take a tiny little break. He loved it when he succumbed to his treacherous temptations, hands curling tightly around the slender cardboard pack as he quickly snuck outside – perhaps underneath a large tree or on the roof – to indulge in this pleasure.

He loved this, because this was the rare moments when he was not in control.

These were the moments when he actually felt human.

As the body of his cigarette shrunk to quite a remarkable size, Uchiha Sasuke dropped it onto the balcony floor and crushed it with the heel of his sandals, vanquishing the small embers within it. He undoubtedly smelled like smoke, but that would only serve as more proof. This would only serve as more evidence on his questionable nights. He was human. At least every once in a while.

He slid open the screen door and walked into the spacious sitting room before him, elegantly slipping off his shoes and placing them neatly in a corner so that they wouldn't trip Naruto sometime later in the day. Closing it behind him, the young Uchiha stretched nonchalantly and bound up the stairs, taking two steps at a time, towards their bedroom, where Naruto was most definitely deciphering scrolls…

Or sleeping.

Sasuke was grateful that it was the first one.

"Oi, Sasuke-teme!" Blue eyes rose to meet guarded black ones.

"Hn?"

"You finally put that shit out?" Naruto rested his well-formed face within the rough and calloused palm of his left hand, right hand scratching at a random itch on the top of his blonde mop.

"Obviously, dobe."

Naruto ignored the last comment. "Good. Now go take a fucking shower before you stink up the entire place!"

Sasuke stared at the smaller boy with a look of indifference, before flinging his footwear almost carelessly to the side and jumping onto the bed. Naruto whined in protest as the bedsprings beneath his body shook violently.

"What? Sasuke! Go take a shower! YOU STINK!"

Naruto's eyes grew wide when Sasuke suddenly swooped down and pressed his lips against his. The blonde pushed his lover away as gently as he could and opened his mouth in a readied yell, eyes blazing in an unnameable emotion. Sasuke took advantage of his open mouth and quickly kissed him again, this time thrusting his tongue inside and holding the cerulean-eyed boy in place. Naruto groaned, especially when Sasuke pressed more insistently for a reaction, lapping at the inside of his cheeks, caressing his tongue and tracing his teeth. The Uchiha heir smirked slightly when he felt Naruto shiver and respond back.

"You know that I don't wanna kiss you when you smoke," retorted Naruto hypocritically as they both parted for air after a while of passionate lip-lock. And then, as if forgetting the statement that he had just made, Naruto pulled Sasuke's face towards his again, resuming where they had left off. The scrolls lay forgotten on the bed, and the sudden commotion on the piece of furniture caused a few to tumble down and roll out across the floor, stopping at the wall as it revealed its contents.

Sasuke had long ago come to the decision that Naruto Uzumaki was just like a cigarette.

His blazing mop of blonde hair lured Sasuke in like honey does to bees. Beautiful cerulean blue eyes are his undoing, especially when they well up with tears of desperation and overwhelming desire whenever they make love. Full, pouty lips are like nicotine, lingering in Sasuke's mind long after he had kissed them, whispering in his conscience to taste them again. His lithe body fits almost perfectly into his larger and taller frame; head perfectly underneath Sasuke's chin, hips pressed equally against his, arms wrapped around his lower torso.

Naruto is the only aspect of Sasuke's life where he can lose control. That's why Naruto allows Sasuke to bite just a little harder to draw blood when he comes in him. That's why Naruto lets Sasuke to tear down his walls – if only just for a moment – and become a burden, instead of the supporter. That's why Naruto lets Sasuke to have his way with him each and every single night, even though he might be sore in the morning and can barely walk. Naruto understands this – this need to just let it all go.

Truth be told, Sasuke probably wouldn't even put up with Naruto as much if he never did understand, if he never did just say, "It's all gonna be okay. You do what you have to."

Cigarettes may be his distraction for the moment, but Naruto is his distraction for life.

This is why Sasuke Uchiha will not be quitting on either of them any time soon.

Finish

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Author's Note: This is my first time writing SasuNaru one-shots. Please review and leave a comment on what you liked, what you didn't like, and any errors that I may have missed. Constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated – and reviews that contain more than one word will be worshipped. I know that this may seem like asking for a lot, but after receiving countless reviews with only cute or kawaii in them, it doesn't really help my writing skills. I began writing fanfiction to bring my love for the fandom to life, but also to improve my writing abilities. Flames will be ignored, as per usual.

Orange Coconuts