Nameless Desires

Chapter 8: Explaining Over Again

"Your wife?" Naruto asked icily, his blood running cold. Sasuke glared at Haruka. The woman seemed to realize she really shouldn't have interrupted and scampered away. "Your wife?" Naruto repeated, turning and rounding on Sasuke in horrible shock and disbelief.

"Naruto, let me explain-" Sasuke began.

"What is there to explain, Sasuke?" Naruto asked quietly. He cocked his head to the side, and suddenly plastered a very forced smile on his face. "You were lonely, so you decided to-"

"Naruto it's not like that at all-"

"Really, it doesn't matter," Naruto said, once again cutting Sasuke off. "I need to go," Naruto said, turning away from Sasuke. Naruto really did feel the need to go. He felt as though he were going to be sick to his stomach. He felt suffocated. He felt too much, and he felt if he didn't get away from Sasuke now, he would explode. After all that time, after all those years, Sasuke had cared about him, but now, Sasuke was taken.

"Naruto-" Sasuke said, his hand darting out and grabbing Naruto, whirling him around so that he was forced to face him. "I'm not-"

"Let go," Naruto demanded quietly.

"No, you have to listen to me-"

"Let go!" Naruto yelled, his other arm coming up to try and grab Sasuke's wrist, but Sasuke blocked him.

"Listen!"

"I'm tired of listening!" Naruto yelled, and he swung his fist at Sasuke. Sasuke dodged it, but it was the distraction that Naruto needed. He used a jujutsu move taught to him years ago to release Sasuke's hand. He knew it had hurt Sasuke more than he had intended to, but at that moment, he didn't care. He stomped over to the door and practically ripped it open in order to get out of Sasuke's office. Naruto all but ran down the hallway in his haste to get away from Sasuke. He felt sick. He felt utterly feverish at the thought of what he had just discovered. Sasuke had a wife.

All of this time it had just been a horrible misunderstanding. He had been so angry with Sasuke when Sasuke had seemed to regret having sex with him. In the end, Sasuke had truly cared about him, probably loved him. Naruto clenched his fist tightly, almost drawing blood from the way his fingernails bit into his flesh. He took a deep shuddering breath as he reached the end of the long hallway, feeling almost dizzy as he put his foot down onto the first step.

He felt the air leave his lungs as Sasuke jumped at him from behind. Both of them went flying down the stairs in a tumble of arms and legs. Naruto gasped, rolled away from Sasuke, and then sprang to his feet as he and Sasuke landed on the fourth floor landing. Sasuke too leapt to his feet, both of them unhurt from the fall, having learned how to properly fall in judo and jujutsu.

Neither of them spoke verbally. Instead they allowed their eyes to speak of the unsaid challenge. The need to fight each other was too strong to ignore. Sasuke wanted to pound sense into Naruto. Naruto wanted to rid himself of the pain and return it to Sasuke via force. Without saying a word, they both quickly took off their shoes, their feet sinking slightly into the carpet. They took up fighting stances, both feeling as though they had just practiced together yesterday.

Naruto wasn't sure whether or not Sasuke had managed to keep up with his judo and jujutsu, but Naruto knew that he himself was extremely rusty. He hadn't practiced it once since he had walked out of Sasuke's house. Now, he wished he had. He knew his body was not as fit as it used to be, and he idly wondered whether or not Sasuke had kept up. Sasuke stared at Naruto with a hurt expression on his face. He seemed to know that Naruto wouldn't listen to him if he tried to speak again.

Sasuke approached Naruto slowly, and Naruto knew immediately that Sasuke had not kept up either; he was clearly using the more fluid and slower motions of jujutsu, something that he used to do when he was sore. Sasuke reached his hand out, and grabbed the collar of Naruto's shirt, his right hand grasping the front of the collar, his left hand grasping the back. Naruto gripped his left hand onto Sasuke's wrist, his other coming up on the underside of Sasuke's bent elbow, touching it for just the briefest of moments, before feigning an attack to his leg. His hand quickly moved to the front of Sasuke's arm, grasping it tightly Naruto bent his knees and easily flipped Sasuke onto his back.

Still, Naruto had to duck as the force of the land made Sasuke's left leg come back up towards his head. In a normal match, Sasuke's foot would have stopped just inches before his face, but this was not a sports match. If the kick had landed, it would have broken his nose.

"Damnit," Naruto cursed at being unable to flip Sasuke onto his stomach due to Sasuke trying to ram his heel into Naruto's face.

As Naruto jerked away from Sasuke's foot, it gave Sasuke the time he needed to bounce back to his feet. It was Sasuke again who initiated the next attack, both of his hands going for Naruto's right forearm, but Naruto grasped Sasuke's right arm in his left. He outstretched both of their arms for a brief moment before Sasuke ducked underneath Naruto's right side. He swung both Naruto's arm and body around in a half circle before gaining enough momentum to flip him over, forcing Naruto to land on his back. Naruto rolled on the floor, Sasuke still grasping his arm. In normal circumstances Sasuke would have been able to pin him, but in normal circumstances, they would be in a fighting circle, and not so close to a wall.

Sasuke seemed to realize the exact direction Naruto's momentum was taking them right before he brought up his hand to prevent his face from slamming directly into the wall. The side of his face and his hand thudded against the wall heavily, making him loosen his grasp on Naruto. Sasuke regained his composure and lost no time at all in directing a kick at Naruto's back as he rolled away from Sasuke. Sasuke's foot connected, and Naruto let out a gasp, but still rolled over again and knocked Sasuke's foot out of the way with his forearm as he spun. Sasuke lost his balance slightly as his foot swung out. He stumbled backwards.

Naruto once again sprang to his feet, his foot sliding slightly as his sweaty sock slipped on the thick carpet. Naruto shifted his body ever so slightly, switching to one of his favorite judo positions as Sasuke ran at him, attempting to kick his foot out from under him to make him lose his balance. Naruto pivoted on the spot, his body turning 180 degrees, as Sasuke practically ran into his back. The move that Sasuke had attempted was redirected as one hand grasped around the front of Naruto's torso, and the other grabbed around his neck. Naruto bent his knees in a flash as his arms shot out to pin Sasuke's one arm against the front of his own torso, while meanwhile grasping Sasuke's hand around his neck. He could feel Sasuke's weight press against him as he lifted Sasuke from behind him.

Naruto bent over as all of Sasuke's weight was lifted onto his back as he flipped over him. Naruto kicked back his right foot, further propelling him and Sasuke into the air. Naruto was forced to do a standing split, a loud rip sounding as the motion tore the seat of his pants. Naruto continued to move his foot even higher, pushing off the ground to propel himself completely into the air. Even though it was just a few milliseconds, it felt like an eternity as Sasuke's body was pressed firmly against Naruto's back, their bodies flipping in the air.

Sasuke landed heavily on his back, and Naruto fell on top of him with his back pressing down heavily into Sasuke's chest. Sasuke gasped for air only briefly before Naruto's momentum caused him to spring once again to his feet. Sasuke used his hands to push himself up. Both he and Naruto were gasping for air, neither of them able to perform the movements that used to come so easily and effortlessly years ago.

They stood staring at each other, Naruto still looking furious at being attacked from behind and Sasuke looking slightly desperate.

"I'm not married," Sasuke said finally, his chest heaving. Naruto showed the slightest hint of surprise before his eyes narrowed.

"Engaged then?" Naruto spat out.

"No. I don't have a girlfriend, or a boyfriend either," Sasuke said quietly. Naruto felt the horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach die down somewhat, and he lowered his raised hands.

"But your aid said-"

"I have ears. I know what my aid said. You see, I-"

"SASUKE!" A loud voice from somewhere below them made Naruto and Sasuke turn. Naruto heard the thumping of the footsteps before he actually saw the pink-haired female stomp up the steps. Sakura didn't seem to notice Naruto and seemed momentarily surprised to see Sasuke standing on the fourth floor landing rather than in his office, but she did not hesitate before she began to yell at him. If she had not been so loud, Naruto knew that he would not have heard her due to the shock her appearance had given him.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY LEAVING ME ALL ALONE IN A RESTAURANT WAITING FOR YOU FOR ALMOST TWO HOURS?!" Sakura bellowed angrily. Even though Naruto had heard her, her words were only barely registered as he stared at her, or rather, her very swollen belly.

"I thought Haruka said that you were just on the phone. I was under the impression that you were still at the restaurant, not on your way here," Sasuke said nonchalantly.

"DOES IT MATTER WHERE I WAS WHEN I CALLED?! WHY WEREN'T YOU AT THE RESTAURANT WHEN YOU PROMISED ME THAT YOU WOULD BE THERE?!"

"You're pregnant," Naruto said, horrible comprehension dawning as he looked back and forth between Sasuke and Sakura. Sakura whirled around with amazing grace and speed for someone who looked like they were about ready to give birth at any moment. She looked quite as surprised to see him as he did to see her. Sasuke watched the two of them eyeing up each other, looking as though he wanted to die.

"Naruto?" Sakura said questioningly. Naruto couldn't do more than nod as he stared at her, the feeling as though he wanted to be sick to his stomach even worse than before. She blinked once, and the look of rage that had been replaced by surprise at seeing him was quickly replaced with a large smile. Sakura practically threw herself at Naruto, squeezing him in a tight hug. "Naruto!" She squealed delightedly.

With Sakura's large belly pressing directly into his stomach, Naruto really did have to throw-up. He quickly pushed her to the side, and emptied his stomach onto the carpet. He half wanted to throw-up on her for taking Sasuke, but that would have been a low blow.

"Oh no! I'm so sorry Naruto. I wasn't even paying attention. You're complexion was clearly waxy, and you look sweaty. I didn't realize you were ill. Come, and we'll fix you up right away!" Sakura said, her doctor's instincts kicking in with such an alarming speed that Naruto didn't have time to register that she had gripped his hand and was dragging him down the hallway to the bathroom on the fourth floor. Sasuke followed behind reluctantly.

As Sakura told him to sit on the edge of the bathtub (which was across from the toilet, in case he needed to hurl again), Sakura began to rummage around in the medicine closet off to the side. Sasuke stood in the doorway, watching the scene with a bemused expression on his face.

"Of course if Sasuke had just answered his cell phone and let me know you were here, well of course then I would have understood what was more important," Sakura said as she hastily went through the supplies in the cabinet, whose contents Naruto could not see. "You know he's been sick about you leaving for ages. He told me he royally messed something up between the two of you. Heartbroken and as grumpy as ever," Sakura went on, completely ignorant to Sasuke's glare or to Naruto's confused stare.

And Naruto was quite confused. Here he was, in Sasuke's bathroom, with Sakura thinking that he had some sort of upset stomach, when it was her presence and the fact that she was carrying Sasuke's baby in her belly that had made him sick. It had been she who had said that she wanted Naruto and Sasuke to be together, hadn't she? Yet Naruto knew that Sakura had liked Sasuke for ages. Maybe she had finally gotten her wish after all? On the other hand, why did she seem so happy to see him if he could be back to steal Sasuke away from her?

"Drink this. It will make you feel better," Sakura said, handing him some sort of concoction in a small paper cup. He was half tempted not to drink it, wondering if she had poisoned it, but that was an unfair thought for him to think. He drank it in one gulp. "Y-you don't know how good it is to see you," Sakura began, her voice catching. "I mean, to think, of you and Sasuke back together - I mean -" she began to sob. "And - it's like - you know - the ultimate - and - I mean - oh Sai!" Sakura said, sobbing hysterically out of nowhere before practically fleeing from the bathroom as she put her hands over her face as she ran out the door, past Sasuke who had moved just in time to not get run over from Sakura. Naruto looked up at Sasuke, utterly bewildered.

"Sai?" Naruto repeated confused. "I'm not sure that I know what the hell just happened," Naruto said. Sasuke sighed.

"Then listen. First of all, I'm not married, engaged, involved, or have I ever been romantically or sexually involved with Sakura. She's not my wife, though the servants around here jokingly call her that because she has been living here for some time now, and she nags me as though she were my wife. Secondly, about two years after you left, someone named Sai contacted me. Long story short, it turns out that he's my second cousin on my Mom's side. Bit of an asshole, but he was family, and all I had, and I was all he had. He and I didn't really get along that well, but for whatever reason, he and Sakura hit it off spectacularly. They were married just under a year ago. However, four months ago, he was killed in a car crash. Sakura was newly wed and already pregnant. I invited Sakura to come and live here since she's technically family now and since she's carrying my second cousin once removed."

"Oh," was all that Naruto could get out for a moment, as he registered this information.

"Sakura and I still aren't together."

"I see." Naruto paused. "Well why the hell didn't you tell me all of this before?!" Naruto demanded. Sasuke's eye twitched.

"I was trying to, dobe!" Sasuke yelled back.

"Well you didn't try hard enough, and now you've made a pregnant woman upset!" Naruto chided him.

"You almost threw up on her," Sasuke said, a small smirk suddenly splitting across his face. Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"You noticed that?" Naruto asked guiltily.

"You were obviously jealous," Sasuke smirked, "but very mistaken. Me, and Sakura, I wouldn't..." Sasuke trailed off, unable to finish his thought as the smirk fell from his face as he shivered at the thought of what he would have to do to get Sakura pregnant.

The two of them looked at each other for a few moments in silence. Sasuke gripped the frame of the bathroom door, staring down at Naruto. Naruto meanwhile gripped the edge of the bathtub, looking at Sasuke.

"Why did you come here today Naruto?" Sasuke asked quietly. Naruto didn't respond, and instead decided to look at the way his knuckles turned white when he gripped the bathtub harder. "You said you wanted answers from me. At one point you said you missed talking to me. Another time you said you wanted to come here for closure so you could forget about me. There's another deeper reason, isn't there Naruto?" Naruto continued to stare down at his hands, but Sasuke waited for Naruto to speak this time. Sasuke waited silently for a full two, agonizingly slow minutes before Naruto spoke.

"I'm going to let them do experiments on me. I wanted to make sure I had no unfinished business left before I started. Just in case," Naruto said, but the unspoken ending to his sentence hung in the air. 'Just in case I die.' Sasuke closed his eyes, as though trying to rid himself of some pain. He shook his head slightly, and reopened his eyes.

"You've made up your mind to do this?" Sasuke asked. Naruto merely nodded.

"I came back here specifically because I want to have someone I feel comfortable heading the research. I don't know if you remember Tsunade or not, but I contacted her some time ago about it. She promised me ages ago that she wouldn't let what happen to her brother and her fiancé happen to me," Naruto murmured. Sasuke nodded.

"I remember you telling me that when you were recounting what happened after Kyuubi," Sasuke paused. "Does Sakura know about this?" Naruto shook his head.

"I asked Tsunade not to tell her. I heard that they were still working together, and, you know, I wasn't sure if the two of you still talked or what not, but I still asked her not to say anything anyway. I also figured I had to come here and see you first, find out for myself what you were thinking that night. Sooner or later I knew that Sakura would see me at the hospital, and if you two were, well, whatever, then I thought she might tell you."

"So you wanted to tell me first?" Sasuke asked. Naruto nodded again. Sasuke clenched the doorframe even tighter. Naruto saw this, and he bleakly remembered the time that Sasuke had broken part of the table off at the police station when he had found out about Kyuubi going after him.

"Careful, or you're going to need to replace your door frame," Naruto said, grinning as he nodded towards Sasuke's death grip on the frame. Sasuke did not return his smile.

"So basically you came back, and now you're leaving again," Sasuke stated more than asked, his face stony and his voice cold. Naruto turned away from him again.

"I didn't know what I expected coming here. Not this, that's for sure," Naruto said as he twiddled the paper cup in his one hand. He crushed it and shot it towards the trashcan on the other side of the toilet. "It's not like I'm going to be gone forever, and I'll just be at the hospital. I don't even know what the tests and stuff will be like. I might not need to stay over night all the time. You know, I could always crash here if you wanted me to. I even have money now so I don't have to mooch off you," Naruto said, grinning again, but Sasuke refused to grin back.

"This is serious Naruto, what you're planning on doing. You were in your hospital room right after Kyuubi attacked you, and you didn't see everyone outside of it waiting for you to wake up. It was horrible. It was like they were waiting for you to do something miraculous. Obviously you had done something miraculous, but they wanted to see it for themselves. There you were, tortured, drugged-up, a stab wound to your shoulder, and you healed in record time. They were blood thirsty to try and get their hands on you," Sasuke said, trying to convey to Naruto just exactly how terrible the people that wanted to do experiments on him had been.

"Listen, Tsunade's not like that. She promised me. You met her; she's nice. She wouldn't-"

"It doesn't matter if she wouldn't! What matters is that there are others who would!" Sasuke said. Naruto frowned at him.

"Sasuke, what is your problem? Don't you understand the good this will do? We're back to being friends for less than five minutes before you start trying to tell me what to do," Naruto huffed angrily. Sasuke paused, realizing that Naruto had referred to him as his friend, but Sasuke still had to make sure he said everything he needed to.

" I can't just sit around and watch you get hurt, especially if I can stop it," Sasuke said.

"This isn't about me at all, though, is it? It's about you. You're afraid to lose me again, aren't you?" Naruto asked knowingly.

"You know my whole life has been about losing those that are close to me," Sasuke said, swallowing.

"Your family, me, and then, just recently, another family member you didn't know you had. That's why Sakura's here now, isn't it? It's not because you think she has no place else to go, it's because you're afraid to lose the last connection to your family that you have left. You need her and the baby close by for your own sanity," Naruto murmured. Sasuke didn't confirm this, but it was obvious by the look on his face how close to home Naruto had hit. "Five years may have passed, but I still know you better than I think you know yourself," Naruto said.

"Why is it that you make me feel so vulnerable?" Sasuke asked. Naruto smirked.

"Probably the same reason you make me feel so safe," Naruto said as he got up and placed a comforting hand on Sasuke's shoulder.

"You tell any of this to Sakura and I swear I'll hurt you," Sasuke threatened. Naruto grinned widely, and scratched the back of his head.

"So...how about some more ramen?"

"Maybe, but if I were you, I'd want to take care of that rip in your pants," Sasuke said. Naruto's eyes widening, having completely forgotten about ripping them while his fight.

"Heheh. Got an extra pair I can borrow?"

Over Naruto's three bowlfuls of ramen, Sasuke convinced Naruto to stay the night, and possibly longer at his house. Everything between them had seemed to go back in time. They were best friends again, and Naruto might have just arrived at Sasuke's after he got home from school. Five years of pain and hurt were pushed to the back as the feeling of being reunited returned. Even their earlier fight on the fourth floor landing seemed far away, as though it had merely been one of their practice sessions.

Sasuke's staff was informed of Naruto's tentative stay, and Sakura was delighted to have another person at the house there. She was also happy to hear that Naruto wanted Tsunade in charge of the research. If Tsuande was in charge, in meant that Sakura would probably be working with Tsunade in order to help make Naruto as comfortable as possible with the tests they would perform.

"Of course, I'll have to wait until later to start helping. Next week is my last week at the hospital until I'll be on bed rest here. Sasuke works almost exclusively from home now, which is why I was trying to get him to come out to dinner with me before I will be house bound. Maybe the three of us can go out tomorrow night instead?" Sakura suggested happily.

"Sounds good to me," Naruto chirped. Sasuke merely nodded.

"What have you been doing these past five years?" Sakura asked Naruto curiously.

"My Mom's cousin," Naruto shot Sasuke a look, remembering that it had been Sasuke's Mom's cousin's son (what a mouthful!) that had recently passed away. He paused as he noticed both Sakura's and Sasuke's faces fall as they remembered Sai, "Iruka, is going on a world tour. He's been very supportive of everything I've decided as well. I figured since he'll be gone for a few years, now's the time for me to do this," Naruto explained.

"I'm glad you have someone who supports your decision," Sakura yawned. "Well, I'm going to get to bed," Sakura said as she yawned again and stretched her arms over her head. "She's getting antsy," Sakura added as she placed her hand on her rounded belly. "Have fun you two," Sakura said, waggling her eyebrows at them both.

Sasuke and Naruto both blushed at her obvious implications.

"Not happening. We haven't seen each other for five years," Naruto muttered, not noticing Sasuke's slightly crestfallen face. Neither of them had yet brought up where they stood; were they friends or something more? How soon was too soon after five years of separation? Was it still even possible?

"I'm going to head to bed too. You can sleep in the guest bedroom on the fifth floor. Everyone else is on the second," Sasuke explained, clearly still preferring his privacy away from everyone else, everyone else except Naruto. Naruto nodded as he got up and rinsed out his ramen bowl in the sink. The action was so normal and automatic that Naruto might never have left.

"Nothing around here really changed," Naruto murmured thoughtfully as he glanced around at the familiar setting. "I need to head out to my car and get my things, and then I'll turn in for the night as well," Naruto said.

"You can just borrow some of more my clothes," Sasuke offered as he nodded to the non-ripped pants Naruto wore.

"Thanks, but I'll be alright."

Sasuke didn't wait for Naruto when he went to get his things. He murmured a good night before hand, but didn't bother to wait for him by the front door. That was not to say that he didn't peer out one of his windows from the fifth floor, watching Naruto's every movement, making sure that he came back inside, listening for the sounds that indicated that he had come back in and had chosen a room to sleep in.

It was a losing battle even before Sasuke's head hit the pillow. He knew that he would not be able to sleep that night unless it was beside Naruto, to make sure that he hadn't left. Not that he hadn't tried to sleep, but after an hour, he gave up. Sasuke got out of bed, just needing to see Naruto. He felt like a ghost in his own home as he glided through the hallway, the moonlight illuminating certain sections of the hallway where the doors were open, and he could see the light coming in from the windows. He stopped in front of the first closed door on the floor.

His hands shook as he placed them on the doorknob to Naruto's bedroom, his heart beating fast and hard against his chest. He knew he shouldn't be doing this; he knew that he should wait for Naruto to initiate something more, but he couldn't help it. Sasuke had to reassure himself that Naruto had indeed come back, and that there was a chance, perhaps a very good chance, that he could finally be with Naruto.

He turned the knob, and the door creaked ever so slightly, making Sasuke pause. The door was open wide enough that he could slip through. He wondered if the door creaked any more if Naruto would wake up. He sighed. A part of him knew that his fears were irrational. As far as he knew, Naruto was probably still a very heavy sleeper, but the fear that gripped him made it impossible for him to even dare take the slightest chance of waking Naruto. Sasuke slipped inside the bedroom through the door, leaving it open so that he could slip out of the room just as quietly later on. He wanted to see Naruto badly, but he didn't want to get caught doing it.

His bare feet sunk into the carpet as he walked over to the bed. Naruto lay in a tangle of blankets. His arms were outstretched, and one of his feet dangled off of the bed, the blankets half on the floor, and half tangled around Naruto's stomach. He only wore long pajama bottoms, and Sasuke had to tear his gaze away from the fact that the material, whether on purpose or not, seemed to have bunched around his crotch, giving off the illusion that Naruto might be sporting a rather large hard-on.

Sasuke willed himself not to think of such thoughts as he focused on Naruto's face. His friend looked peaceful and serene as he slept, and Sasuke couldn't help but notice how much he had grown in five years. Those five years had made him look even more handsome and more desirable than even Sasuke could have imagined.

Sasuke wasn't sure how long he stood there, gazing at Naruto, watching his friend's slow and steady breathing. A small ray of moonlight streamed in from the window falling across Naruto's stomach, leaving his beautiful face in the shadows as though to taunt Sasuke, making him want to get closer to see him better. Yet Sasuke didn't dare. He was still afraid, afraid of what he was capable of doing. There was a certain relief in knowing that Naruto had wanted him, had wanted Sasuke to have sex with him, but Naruto's words of "stop" still vibrated hauntingly in his ears. It hadn't been rape, but it would have been because Sasuke knew that he probably wouldn't have stopped. Even now, as Naruto lay there, even after five heart wrenching years of living with guilt, a large part of him still wanted to rip off Naruto's clothes and ravish him again.

The feeling scared him more than anything else. He feared that he couldn't control it. Never before had this particular desire felt so strong. Never before had Sasuke felt that by just looking at Naruto that he would lose all sense of his being. He idly wondered if perhaps it wasn't the alcohol five years ago that had made Sasuke want Naruto so badly. Maybe something inside him had snapped, unable to ever be sated with Naruto?

Naruto's mere presence drew him in as though he were what kept Sasuke alive. Since the very first day that they met, since their very first conversation, something had drawn him to Naruto. Something had connected them in a way that excited and terrified Sasuke.

There was not doubt in Sasuke's mind that he loved Naruto, but he also knew that it was an obsessive kind of love, fueled and enflamed only all the more so by not being able to be near Naruto for five long years. Just standing there, looking at Naruto sparked desires within him that he couldn't name, nameless desires that were too powerful and dangerous for mere words.

Sasuke turned abruptly away from Naruto. He put a fist in his mouth as he stood, staring at the door, afraid to look back at Naruto because he wanted to touch him so badly. He bit his hand to calm himself, to try and quiet his arousal at seeing Naruto sleeping so peacefully. What was wrong with him? Why did he want Naruto so much? Sasuke removed his fist from his mouth, took a deep breath and walked toward the door. His body was trembling with a desire that was surely too strong to be healthy.

Just as he reached the door, a hand shot out from over his shoulder, pushing the door closed. Naruto had come up behind him so quietly, that Sasuke almost jumped at his sudden appearance. Sasuke's entire body heated up with Naruto standing so close to him.

Naruto didn't speak immediately, but instead gazed at Sasuke questioningly.

"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked, no hints of sleepiness in his voice. Sasuke shrugged. He honestly wasn't sure why himself, but he didn't turn to face Naruto. Naruto was too close, much too close. Sasuke could feel his body responding to Naruto's warmth.

"How long have you been awake?" Sasuke asked. Naruto frowned.

"I wasn't able to fall asleep. I heard the door creak open and saw you slip in. I thought you might try and wake me up or something," Naruto confessed. Sasuke nodded, and put his hand on the doorknob and attempted to open it, but Naruto's hand was still pressed firmly on the door, preventing Sasuke from leaving.

"I think, I think maybe you should leave tomorrow, until we've figured things out for sure," Sasuke said, his voice catching. Why didn't Naruto realize what he was doing to him? Why didn't he realize what Sasuke could do to him? Sasuke wanted to talk to Naruto, to explain his desires, but he couldn't right now. His mind was in no state to explain anything properly to his friend. Right now, Naruto was in danger once again from Sasuke. Naruto had to leave before Sasuke hurt them both again.

"What?!" Naruto asked incredulously. He grabbed Sasuke's bare shoulders, spun him around, and slammed him into the back of the door. "What the fuck Sasuke? What are you talking about? I thought we could still be friends? I thought you wanted me to stay!" Naruto's eyes narrowed, confusion, anger, and hurt coursing through him at Sasuke's strange request. Sasuke looked back at Naruto with a determined glare.

"I can't do this Naruto. I won't be tormented like this again. It's not like last time. I crossed the line last time, and I hurt you. I don't want to hurt you again because when I do it kills me," Sasuke said.

"Teme! You were fine just earlier. Besides, I'm not a kid any more. You don't have to worry about-"

"You and I tonight, it was just like we went back in time. I don't want to go back in time! There's so much more that I want. I forced you once, and damnit I want to do it again! It's not like last time. Last time, I wouldn't have dreamed of crossing that line, never dreamed of forcing myself upon you. Five years has taught me nothing. This time I can't pretend that I don't want you. I can't be around you unless you're willing for more, or else, I don't know what I'm capable of," Sasuke said, his hands coming to grip at Naruto's hips, pressing firmly against both skin and pajama bottoms. "How easy would it be to pull these off you and push you to the bed and enter you?" Sasuke murmured as he fingered the fabric, grasping at the elastic.

A pleasurable chill went through Naruto.

"How easy indeed?" Naruto groaned huskily, his eyes closing in bliss as Sasuke's fingers began to sneak inside the waistband, touching his skin. Naruto leaned his head close to whisper huskily in Sasuke's ear. "I'm old enough to make my own choices. Who says my choice would be to stop you?" Naruto's words acted like a breaking point for Sasuke.

Sasuke lost all sense of reason. He launched himself at Naruto, his lips pressing firmly against Naruto's, his entire body pressing against him, pushing him backwards away from the door, back towards the bed. It was Naruto who reached his hands to Sasuke's waistband and pulled down his pants first, roughly gliding the fabric over Sasuke's very hard erection. Sasuke pushed Naruto onto the bed as he hastily stepped out of his pants. He grabbed the foot holes of Naruto's pajama bottoms and pulled them off. Sasuke practically fell atop of Naruto as he grabbed the back of Naruto's head to help him force their lips together. Sasuke knew he was being rough, but he didn't know what other way to be with Naruto. Something had taken over him. Years of frustration, longing and pain desperately needed to be released and dealt with.

Naruto wasn't exactly being gentle back either. He was relishing in the feeling of Sasuke's utter loss of control. He knew Sasuke's actions had nothing to do with alcohol this time, and everything to do with the fact that only Naruto could arouse such a passion in Sasuke. He bucked underneath Sasuke, dragging his length harshly along Sasuke's length. Sasuke groaned into his mouth and bucked back. Naruto sank his teeth into Sasuke's lower lip, and then released the lip and began to suck on it. Sasuke forced his head away from Naruto's for a fraction of a second to readjust himself, and smashed his lips back onto the man's beneath his, his mouth moving and sucking, his body moving erratically, bucking and thrashing against Naruto's.

Naruto grabbed Sasuke's hair to force his mouth away from him so that his nose and mouth were free to breathe. He pushed Sasuke's head to the side as he panted. His body felt so good, so on fire as it moved against Sasuke's.

Both of them were sweating now, and sweating heavily at that. They began to stick and un-stick as they moved, and Sasuke moved his hands down so that he could grip onto Naruto's lower body so that he could gain more leverage to force himself against Naruto. Rubbing against each other so fast and furiously was beginning to cause an almost burning sensation with their frenzied friction. Naruto let out a hiss of pain while Sasuke hissed in pleasure at the feeling.

Sasuke's entire body tightened, and he gasped, his body shaking, as he came all over Naruto and himself. His entire body shook so much from his deep pleasure that his arms no longer held him, and he collapsed against Naruto.

"Fucking bastard, getting off without me. Well, you're still somewhat hard and so am I," Naruto groaned, annoyed that Sasuke had come so much and so furiously and yet was still hard. Naruto pushed at Sasuke, rolling him over onto his back. Sasuke's cum dripped down Naruto's front, trickling into his happy trail and along his cock. He moved so that his knees were along side Sasuke's body, propping himself up so that his ass was lifted over top of Sasuke's cock.

"Shit," Sasuke breathed excitedly, realizing what Naruto planned to do. He quickly spat into his hand used it to stroke himself, coating his cock with saliva and his own cum that had spilled onto him, trying to slicken himself. Naruto sidled up Sasuke's body to get a better position. Sasuke's shaft, which had only partially deflated from his release, came fully hardened again, bouncing excitedly in Sasuke's hand. Naruto grabbed his own butt cheeks and pulled at them somewhat to make his opening wider. Sasuke gripped his cock, and led the head to Naruto's entrance. Naruto began to push himself down onto the head of Sasuke's manhood.

Sasuke groaned at the pleasure. Naruto's entrance didn't want to take him in all the way. The small bit of tightened flesh that had engulfed his cock head felt exceedingly hot, teasing him with the way it squeezed at him, pumping out some pre-cum from his slit. Naruto grunted, biting his lip at the painful feeling of Sasuke's cock just barely inside of him. There was no Vaseline this time. Naruto pressed down slowly, his legs shaking in his effort to try and push Sasuke further inside of him. He huffed at the exertion, sweat pouring down his chest, mingling with the cum on his happy trail and cock.

"Don't - don't force yourself to - ngh!" Sasuke's words were cut off as he gasped. Naruto had stopped trying to take things slow and slammed his weight down onto Sasuke's cock. Naruto gripped both of Sasuke's upper arms. Sasuke then bent his arms so that he could grab Naruto's wrists with his hands, helping each other force their bodies together by pushing with their hips, and pulling at each other with their arms. Sasuke jerked his hips hard against Naruto's body, driving himself deeper, relishing the way Naruto's body seemed to tear open for him.

"Bastard. You, nnnn, wanted, nnnn, force," Naruto grunted as he slammed himself down onto Sasuke's cock. The first thrusts had hurt like hell, but now, now that he was getting used to the feel of Sasuke inside of him, it was giving way to that pained pleasure that had made him feel so good last time. Sasuke pounded into Naruto from below him, and Naruto stared down at Sasuke. Sasuke's eyes were dangerous, and Naruto couldn't help but grin just as dangerously back as he controlled their speed and thrusts as he rode atop of Sasuke.

Sasuke was lost in his lust. Being forced inside of Naruto had hurt a lot more than he would have expected, but the painful friction felt so good at the same time. Naruto was abusing his body in the most pleasurable and erotic way possible. Naruto's insides clenched and unclenched at times, yet in general they began to loosen around him as Naruto's body adjusted to Sasuke's intrusion.

"My cock," Naruto moaned at the lack of attention where he wanted it the most. Sasuke unwrapped his hands from Naruto's arms (with slight difficulty) and rearranged it so that his hands wrapped themselves around Naruto's arousal. He began pumping at him. "Damnit Sasuke! Not so hard!" Naruto hissed as Sasuke had begun to show his enthusiasm by pulling at Naruto a little too hard. He loosened his grip and instead picked up the speed with which he jerked Naruto off.

Their bodies smacked and slammed into each other, Sasuke enthusiastically pumping away at Naruto's cock. Neither of them lasted very long, but after waiting so long to be with each other, it felt like a pleasurable eternity before Naruto came, followed by Sasuke. Naruto squirted his semen all over Sasuke's front, his hand coming up and smacking Sasuke's hand away to pump at his own cock as he came. Sasuke released himself inside of Naruto, his body jerking upwards inside his lover as he came, crying out Naruto's name. Sasuke's body jerked several times as he released himself. His cock began to deflate as he felt his own cum dripping down Naruto's opening onto his stomach and now shrinking cock. Naruto pulled off of Sasuke, as Sasuke's softened cock came out with a slickened popping sound.

Sasuke winced slightly as it did so. He knew he would probably be sore in the morning, but not as sore as Naruto. Then again, with how fast Naruto healed, maybe he wouldn't feel the pain.

Naruto stood up from the bed, frowning as semen dripped from his ass, stomach, and cock while sweat dripped down every part of his body. The moonlight caught the wetness of his body, illuminating his gorgeous features, and the way that his hair was plastered to his face.

"I wonder if this is what a melting snowman feels like," Naruto asked curiously as he looked down at all the fluids dripping from him. Sasuke groaned at the comment. He grabbed a pillow and threw it at Naruto.

"What kind of moronic thing is that to say?" Sasuke demanded, slightly putout.

"What do you want me to say, the sex was great?" Naruto deadpanned. "I thought that was kind of obvious," Naruto said grinning. He picked up the sheet from his bed and began to wipe his body down. He was still moist, and Sasuke just watched in exhausted, pleasured bemusement as Naruto began to wipe him off as well.

"You know," Sasuke drawled lazily, "there's always the shower to clean up." Naruto looked at him thoughtfully before he got a mischievous grin on his face.

"I'll race you to your bathroom, nude," Naruto said. The darkness prevented from Sasuke seeing Naruto fully, but he could imagine him wiggling his eyebrows at him. Sasuke sprang to his feet, suddenly feeling very energetic again at the prospect of getting a shower with Naruto.

"You're on."

Sasuke woke up the next morning feel sore yet sated. His bed had never felt so warm and comforting despite the aches in some very sensitive areas. He looked over at the empty space where Naruto had laid the previous night. Sasuke yawned and stretched, unconcerned with the fact that Naruto wasn't there. He had heard him get up about forty or so minutes ago. Actually, Naruto's loud stomach growl had been what had woken him the first time - and he presumed Naruto had woken up to it too. He figured that Naruto was probably downstairs still eating.

Sasuke winced as he swung his feet over the side of his bed. Naruto had been kind enough in the shower to make sure that he was well prepared before entering him, but his insides still stung slightly if he moved in a certain way. Not to mention his cock felt slightly raw at the way it had been forced into Naruto's tightness. He grumbled at how good something could feel at the time, yet be so uncomfortable the next day.

Nevertheless, his pain couldn't cloud his happiness. Call him corny, but he couldn't help but fondly remember what had happened between them in the shower. He wasn't even talking about the sex either; well, not just about the sex.

As Naruto had pressed into him from behind, Sasuke had murmured that he loved Naruto, and Naruto had murmured the same words back.

Getting dressed quickly, Sasuke walked down the steps to his kitchen, his face splitting into the smallest of grins. Naruto, Sakura, Haruka, and two of the other members of his staff, Taki and Isanai, were sitting down to breakfast, Naruto talking animatedly about something. Sakura was laughing, and Haruka looked like she had been trying to take a sip of her orange juice for some time, but feared doing so in case Naruto made her burst out laughing; Isanai was pounding the back of his friend Taki who was half choking on his cereal from laughing so hard.

"...after I asked Sasuke if he could get his money back, well then a random student appeared. His name was Lee. Out of nowhere Gai-sensei and Lee start embracing each other and sobbing--"

"You forgot the part about Gai saying good morning and about the spring time of youth," Sasuke said amused, recognizing that Naruto was retelling their first judo lesson.

"Oh yeah, well, I'll come back to that. Sasuke and I were ready to leave when one of the other kids told us it was worthwhile to stay. So, we did, but Gai was such a whacked out teacher," Naruto said. Sasuke nodded.

"Good morning Sasuke," Sakura said, turning around slowly to face Sasuke, a bright smile on her face. "You should take these," Sakura said, handing Sasuke two pills and a glass of water out for Sasuke to take.

"What are these for?" Sasuke asked shortly.

"Well, last night I woke up, and I heard you taking a shower. I heard you, er, pounding something, and then yell out, so I figured this would help with any, er, lingering pain," Sakura said, smiling so knowingly that Sasuke knew that she had heard him and Naruto in the shower the night before. Sasuke blushed, grabbed the two pills, and swallowed them without taking a sip of water. As Sasuke sat down next to him, he noticed Naruto blushing slightly too. He glanced around and saw that Sakura, Haruka, Taki, and Isanai were all staring at him with the same knowing expression. Sasuke growled, wondering if he should fire his three staff memebers and send Sakura back to her parent's house.

"If you don't all stop smiling like knowing perverts I'll kick you all out," Sasuke threatened, and the four turned away from him.

"Four floors up and they could still hear you. I told you that you were loud," Naruto whispered, grinning.

"Shut-up. I bet they were all outside the door," Sasuke said a little more loudly. He was unsurprised to see Haruka and Sakura turn slightly red. However, it appeared the two males had also been told about it this morning before breakfast as they hastily turned away from him too.

Still, Sasuke couldn't resist the urge to smile. He had forgotten the banter that he and his family had had over the breakfast table. Normally he didn't join in for the conversations that Sakura and the staff had. With Naruto there, he felt like he could open up again. It was a nice feeling.

"Maybe I can just move my room down here permanently," Sasuke grumbled the following evening, wondering how he could have enjoyed having so many people in his house only the morning before. Naruto snickered.

"If you weren't so loud they wouldn't tease you about it," Naruto said as he and Sasuke headed down into the secret room to Sasuke's art gallery. They had decided to go down there for the night since the previous night they had apparently kept a few people up. More specifically, Sasuke's yells of pleasure had kept them awake.

Yesterday morning after breakfast Naruto had gone over to visit the Yamanaka's who had been more than pleased to see him. Kenji had even given him a grudging apology for everything that had happened between them in their youth. When Naruto told Sasuke about it, Sasuke had grumbled that an apology wasn't enough, but the incredulous look along with the reminder of Sasuke's own history with Naruto had shut him up.

That night they had gone out with Sakura as promised, and had both retired to bed early. Naruto had been expecting to sleep after their dinner out. Sasuke hadn't.

Naruto quickly realized that Sasuke really seemed quite unable to keep his hands off of him when they were alone, which surprised him slightly. Sasuke and he had never been touchy-feely before, and Sasuke always kept his distance when others were around, but it was as though Sasuke became a different person when the two of them were alone together. Naruto had a feeling that Sasuke's need to be near him had a lot to do with the fact that Sasuke feared Naruto leaving him again. Not that he minded. Sasuke wasn't the only one that had a healthy and excitable sex drive. The problem had to do with the fact that the two of them were a little too loud for the rest of the people that Sasuke now housed under his roof.

"My own house. Sneaking around in my own house," Sasuke grumped. Naruto grinned again. He knew that Sasuke would be lonely if everyone left. Well, that wasn't quite true. Naruto would still be there.

"You know it's fun sneaking around here. I think we should do it in some of the other rooms. We should go into Sakura's room at some point-"

"No. She probably has a video camcorder already setup it hopes of catching us at it. I swear that I heard her outside the door last night."

"Well I couldn't hear much of anything over your screams-"

"I was not screaming that much. I screamed twice, you moron-"

"-each time was so long that it felt like longer. Besides, who cares if she hears us?"

"Exhibitionist."

"Prick."

"Dobe."

"Bastard."

"Idiot."

"G-g-ghost!" Naruto gasped. Sasuke frowned and sighed.

"Honestly Naruto, when will you stop referring to me as being some sort of haunting creature? My house is not haunted," Sasuke stated firmly.

"G-g-ghost! T-th-there!" Naruto squeaked as he pointed his finger over Sasuke's shoulders, his whole body trembling. Sasuke rolled his eyes as he turned around.

"Naruto there's no gho-" but Sasuke's sentence died on his lips. "Ghost!" Sasuke gasped himself.

Behind Sasuke floated the hazy outline of a woman in her late thirties. Her transparent and ghostly black hair was swept back in a ponytail. She smiled down at them. Sasuke stared at her for a few seconds, and then blinked hard.

"Mom?" Sasuke breathed out, as the ghostly apparition in front of him smiled even more widely.

"I've been waiting here for years. I couldn't go on, knowing how lonely you were. Now I know that I know that you'll be with someone, I can pass on. You won't leave again, right Naruto?" Sasuke's ghostly mothered asked. Naruto's mouth was wide open as he shook his head slowly back and forth, stating that no, he wouldn't leave again. He tried to say this verbally, but his voice had been frozen in his throat. "I love you Sasuke. Take care of him Naruto." She smiled at them both before disappearing into nothingness as quickly as she had appeared.

Sasuke and Naruto turned to each other, their faces as white as if they had (ironically enough) just seen a ghost.

"GHOST!" They both yelled to each other before turning back around and sprinting back up the steps, only to find that someone had pushed the boxes back in front of the sliding door, trapping them inside. Naruto and Sasuke began to frantically pound on the door, yelling for someone to let them out...

Years Later…

"You're tweaking the story. There was no ghost, and I certainly did not run screaming back up the steps like you did," Sasuke replied grumpily. He crossed his arms and turned slightly on the couch in the middle of the living room to glare at Naruto who was sitting next to him.

"Okay, okay, so Sasuke didn't really run back up the steps banging to come out of the haunted room-"

"There was no ghost. It is not haunted-"

"There was too a ghost, and if you had seen her, then you would have run back up with me. You're Mom was there and told me to take care of you. I'm changing the story only slightly so that she has a feel for what you would have been like if you had seen it too. If you had just turned around when I pointed you would have seen it and ran up the steps."

"I could tell you were playing a practical joke on me, so I therefore didn't look."

"I was NOT joking with you, she was there."

"You were clearly imagining things. Probably a catch of the light-"

"Will you two finish the story already! What else happened?" the black-haired girl that was sitting at the feet of the couch interrupted them. She was angry that her two fathers-like figures were bickering. They did it quite often, but they had been so good about not doing so while retelling how they became friends and then gotten back together. For years she had been told that she was too young to hear the story. Now that they were finally at the ending, she couldn't help but pout at the pause.

"It's getting late. You should probably go to bed," Naruto said as he checked his watch.

"It's only 11:30. I'm fifteen for crying out loud," she said exasperated. To help further plead her case, she added, "Please Daddy?" Naruto's eye twitched, and Sasuke couldn't help but smirk. They had both acted like father figures to her. She and Naruto had become particularly close, and whenever she needed to get him on her side, she used that term with him. It didn't work on Sasuke, and they both knew it. He was just Dad.

"But Sakura-chan told us that we had to make sure you were in bed early enough because you have a test tomorrow," Naruto mumbled.

"Yeah well, I don't think Mom would have liked hearing that when you were supposed to be helping me study, you ended up telling me about your pornographic relationship-"

"That's not true! We didn't give you any details, Mumei!"

"You didn't have to. I've caught the two of you so many times that I could make it seem like you had," Mumei said mischievously. Naruto glared.

"That's blackmail," Naruto said angrily, crossing his arms.

"And if she says that, I'll tell her mother about those stories I found her reading online," Sasuke said easily. Mumei's mouth opened slightly at having her blackmail attempt thrown back in her face. "But we won't do that because we'll finish the story anyway," Sasuke added. Mumei beamed.

Naruto muttered something about Uchiha's and their evil ways and the evilness that spreads across families and down through the generations. Sasuke and Mumei ignored him as Sasuke finished off the story.

"Well, aside from the ghost that wasn't there, there wasn't much more drama between us from then to the time you were born, except that Naruto started being tested on. And that's about it. Time for bed."

Mumei's mouth hung open.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. That's it? That's how it ends? What happened to all of the other angst between the two of you? I mean, you made it seem like something bad was going to happen when Daddy went to get the tests done. There's more to it. I know there is. Like, why don't we have the house staff any more? When did Iruka start staying here on the weekend?" Mumei said, pouting, her blue eyes looking back and forth between her two Dads.

"That's another story. Time for bed," Naruto said beaming.

"I'll figure it out," Mumei sighed as she picked herself up off from the floor and headed up to bed, grumbling.

Naruto and Sasuke both turned around to make sure that she had indeed ascended the stairs before speaking again.

"Do you think we should have told her?" Naruto asked worriedly.

"We will sometime, but Sakura should really be here when we tell her," Sasuke said wisely.

"I think she suspects something," Naruto noted. Sasuke almost rolled his eyes.

"It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that Iruka always talks about how you nearly died doing the experiments, and now you have that strange spiral tattoo that hides the scar on your stomach? That scar should have healed with the aid or the parasite."

"I wasn't talking about that. I think the tattoo hides the scar pretty well. I was implying why she always asks why she looks more like you and me. She looks nothing at all like Sakura. And I think she also suspects something about the time frame we gave her," Naruto said.

"That's because you almost slipped and said four years instead of five. That would have been a dead give away that something was off. She would have figured out that the baby that Sakura carried would be at least sixteen now, not just fifteen like she is." Sasuke and Naruto both sighed, thinking back.

"Sakura nearly lost it when her baby was a still birth," Naruto said, frowning. "You did too. You had this look on your face as though you were doomed to never have any relatives again."

"Yeah, and then you went behind my back and did that experiment that nearly killed you," Sasuke said angrily.

"Well, we wouldn't have Meumi with us now if I hadn't, now would we?" Naruto beamed.

"You and she almost died during the C section. Those prosthetic female organs and hormones messed up your insides. Meumi's egg was the only one of over one thousand of eggs that your body produced; and hers was the only usable one. Those hormones were supposed to make you produce them perfectly."

"Well excuse me. Last time I checked, it was called experimentation. It was a miracle I even produced them at all," Naruto grumbled.

"At least now the doctors know that if you don't have a weird disease that helps you heal extremely fast, that any male trying to carry a child will die in the first three months. You're lucky you survived for seven months."

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto grumbled again, and sighed as he deliberately changed the subject. "I'm glad we're raising her as though Sakura's her Mom though. Can you imagine all the questions she'd be asked at school if people knew I was the one who carried her?"

"Yes, and I can also imagine all the questions they'd ask you. Stop worrying about it. We don't need to tell her that we're her biological parents. We raised her, and that's all that matters."

"Of course, we'll need to talk to Sakura about it first," Naruto repeated. "Tsunade told me that Sakura has completely blocked out the death of hers and Sai's baby. She really thinks that Meumi her biological daughter. It'd kill her to make her relive that," Naruto murmured.

"It's strange how one's mind can make up stories to prevent pain. She saw that therapist for ages. First losing her husband, and then her baby? You're right. We can't tell Meumi without making sure Sakura could handle that mentally. I couldn't do that to Sakura after she pushed the two of us together."

Naruto yawned, and stretched his arms, his shirt riding up to reveal a spiral tattoo to hide the scar where the C-Section had almost gone deadly wrong.

"I think I'm ready for bed," Naruto said. Sasuke grinned mischievously.

"I think I'm ready to recreate our first night together," Sasuke said, as he pulled off his tie suggestively. Naruto raised his eyebrow.

"I'll race you to our bedroom."

"You're on."

The End.

Owari. It's over. ::sigh:: I'm up in the air about this ending. I have everything in it that I wanted, but it didn't come out the way I thought it would. I may edit it at some point, but that's how it stands. Hope you all enjoyed it, and thank all of you who have stuck with this story from the beginning! I loved reading all of your reviews.

FYI, I have also recently finished my other story, "Restless" if you want to give that a read as well. Thanks again for all of your support while writing this story, and I hope that at least some of you liked this ending. - Jelp