A/N Supposed to be a oneshot. I suppose I could leave it as is, but I do have a few chapters planned. Don't know if I'll add them or when. I have two WIP's as it is that demand my time. This was something I started months ago and forgot about, then came across recently while going through my files.

Anyways, it will be almost completely in Sasuke's POV. Definite OOC-ness on his part.

Beta: Blood Zephyr

Stalker

His customary spot is actually taken. When, in the history of his obsession, had someone ever had the unmitigated gall to sit their asses in his spot? It didn't even compute. Not that he broadcasted the fact, but him in that spot was a sight all villagers were accustomed to seeing. Like the Hokage monument. Nobody in their right mind would have the balls to sit in his spot, and for what?! To litter his space with sunflower seeds???

The teen boys giggled as they pointed out interesting parts of anatomy in the skin mag they were sharing. They ate sunflower seeds and spat the empty husks on the roof between their feet. The thud of someone landing behind them had them turning around guiltily… then they drew closer together in fright.

"I suppose you're going to tell me you didn't know this place is off limits?" Sasuke murmured.

The shorter boy licked his lips nervously, the sight of the Sharingan putting a knot of cold dread in his belly. "N-no. We didn't… I mean-"

He waited but between the two of them, they didn't seem to possess enough brain cells to string a coherent sentence together. When the taller one stooped, picked up the magazine and offered it to Sasuke with a sycophantic smile, Sasuke felt he'd had enough. "Get out of my sight." He sped them along with a minor katon.

Wrinkling his nose in disgust, Sasuke swept the still-moist sunflower seed shells off his spot on the roof with the side of his foot. Then he sat. Creature of habit that he was, the object of his obsession entered the apartment building across the street not long afterward. There was a wait of precisely fifty-seven seconds and then the light in the window, two down and four left, came on. Sasuke settled down to observe.

His spot was perfect, almost directly across from Naruto's apartment and partially hidden from immediate sight by a large tree. He saw the blond take off his jacket and throw it to the right, the same as every night. He watched his team mate. The way he always watched him.

Naruto won. At The Valley of the End, he'd won and Sasuke had regained consciousness to find himself being carried on Kakashi's back, a medic-nin to his right carrying Naruto. The Fifth had been pissed beyond words and he'd had to do a lot of community service to make up for leaving the village the way he had. He'd been forced to apologize formally, in her presence, to the people who'd risked, and nearly lost, their lives trying to bring him back.

But all that was after the hospital. Naruto had been in the hospital for a couple of days and Sasuke had been in the bed next to him, sharing the room. He'd recovered consciousness first and spent long hours staring at the comatose form of his teammate.

He squirmed inwardly at the things that had been said between them during that fight. They were acceptably dramatic things to say if you were going to kill someone or walk out on them later… but he was still here. And facing Naruto with those words between them…

He'd shuddered. Well… maybe Naruto wouldn't remember.

Right. Like he wouldn't remember that Naruto had said Sasuke was important to him? Not likely. It was as if all the things that had gone unsaid between them up to that point just came gushing out of their mouths.

The power Naruto had used. The strength. Sasuke couldn't stop thinking about it. It still made him jealous as hell… but it was also intriguing. All those times the blonde had saved the day by pulling some amazing jutsu out of his ass… it hadn't been a fluke. Dude was seriously strong and it seemed to only really show when the kid was serious about something.

There were guards outside his hospital room, seeded throughout the hospital and around it. They were to prevent him trying to leave again, but more importantly they were there to prevent anyone trying to make contact with Sasuke that wasn't strictly authorized by the Hokage.

Sakura came to visit, crying all over him, hugging him, telling him she forgave him for not taking her, and nearly braining her with that blow. She said she understood and now that he was back, she could get down to showing him how much she really loved him.

He'd looked down at her candy-pink hair where it rested on his arm. The silly bitch would drive him to commit seppuku, she would.

Then Naruto had woken up and she'd flown to him and repeated the process, minus the declaration of love. So Naruto had promised to bring him back? His eyes had gone wide at the kiss she'd placed on Naruto's bandaged cheek. Naruto's face turned beet red as he stammered out an invitation for Sakura to date him. Sasuke had to hand it to the dobe, he was making good use of Sakura's softer feelings just then.

Then Kakashi had come by, stayed, talked, lectured, stared with his creepy eye, and left. Sakura was gone too. The Fifth came by and checked on them, Shizune with her, then she was gone to check on the other Genin who'd been on the mission to save him.

He supposed he should have felt guilty about their injuries, but all he could think about was the way Naruto kept his head turned away from him. He didn't look at Sasuke or acknowledge him in any way. He acted as if he had the room to himself. Why was the blonde ignoring him?

Oh right. He'd tried to kill him.

Well… that didn't mean he had to go all silent. Sasuke felt like they'd shared something profound in that valley. You know… the kind of thing that sort of made it possible to overlook murder attempts. I mean, they'd bared their souls out there. It was bigger than Sakura's ridiculous confession of love, didn't the blonde see that? Naruto had said he'd bring Sasuke back even if he had to break every bone in his body. If that wasn't love, what was? Sasuke was ready to accept.

Whoa. Time to back up. What? Accept his love? Where was this coming from?

But as he lay there on his side, staring at Naruto, who was staring out the window, he couldn't deny it. Maybe it wasn't love but it was something gooey and warm. It made him feel tingly. It made him want Naruto to look at him and say those things again.

Nurses came and went. Lee came to visit Naruto, eyeing Sasuke warily. He and the blonde talked animatedly about some guy who shot bones out of his body. Then Lee talked about how Gaara had come and saved the day. Kiba came and similarly ignored Sasuke. He talked to Naruto and Lee, saying how Kankurou had saved his hide. By the time Shikamaru stopped by, also ignoring Sasuke, and completed the picture about the Sand trio helping out, Sasuke was jealous. Naruto spoke to everyone but him.

They left. Sasuke was alone with him. The blonde stared at the wall. Sasuke fell asleep staring at his profile, replaying everything that had been said at the valley.

In the morning, he woke up to find some white-haired man in the window talking to Naruto. He told the blonde how he should come with him for awhile to train. Akatsuki was after him and he needed to learn to watch his back. To Sasuke's disbelief, Naruto agreed. Like, he hadn't even hesitated.

The man left.

Sasuke, able to sit up now, propped himself on his pillows. He opened his mouth to say something. Nothing came out. Then he said, "You shouldn't have come after me." He winced. He hadn't meant to say that at all.

Naruto looked at him at last. "You shouldn't have tried to leave."

"My clan… Itachi-"

"You can find people to train you here without going to Orochimaru." Naruto's brows were drawn together, his hand fisted on the covers.

"Like who? You?"

"You know I'd have helped you do anything, Sasuke. How could you betray the village?"

Sasuke was happy to have words and eye contact, but he was still… hurt… that Naruto was leaving. "Guess you can't help me with anything now since you're leaving yourself."

Naruto hadn't responded to that, looking at Sasuke with an intense expression. Sasuke had started to ask Naruto if he'd consider staying, but hesitated. What reason could he give for the request? Then The Fifth had come in, irritable and barking orders. Naruto was pronounced well enough to be discharged. Sasuke had needed to remain in the hospital under observation for his curse seal. When he got out of the hospital a week later, Naruto was gone. Off with the person Sasuke learned was one of the three Sannin. He was jealous all over again. Naruto got to leave to gain strength, but he had to stay in the village.

Naruto had gotten back three months ago. He'd strolled into the village with Jiraiya. Sasuke happened to be avoiding Sakura when a voice had stopped him in the street. He'd turned around, looked up…

"I see you're still here, Sasuke. I was afraid I'd get back and find you gone," the blonde had said. He jumped down and landed with a thud a few feet from Sasuke. Sakura jogged up then and stopped short. She gasped.

"Naruto? Is that you?"

That was what Sasuke wanted to know. He'd really grown. He was still wearing orange, still lean, but he'd really grown.

"Heh heh, yup! Neh, Sakura-chan-"

Sasuke had tuned out whatever was being said. He'd thought about him during his absence, sure. Hard not to, seeing as Naruto was the reason he was stuck in the village, his vengeance languishing by the wayside. The feelings he'd discovered in the hospital had been neatly sealed away with every other feeling that wasn't hateful and antagonistic. He was emo and proud of it; it kept people from bugging him. Except Sakura, but she could scarcely be termed human anyway, so she didn't count.

Somehow that feeling suddenly came back at the sight of Naruto. He didn't bother to analyze it, really. It was there, he liked it, done. He felt his heart pick up a few extra beats as Naruto, apparently done talking to Sakura, turned to him.

"Hey," Naruto said.

"Hey."

"So."

"What."

"You… look good?"

Sasuke dropped his eyes and glanced down himself. His usual attire of black shirt and white pants hadn't changed. Still, the comment pleased. He looked back up. Said nothing.

Naruto seemed disappointed that the conversation didn't continue, but before Sasuke could make a save, some other people jogged up and Naruto was swallowed in the enthusiastic greetings. Sasuke was ignored as usual. He didn't have/need/want friends.

Sometime during the next weeks he found himself staring at Naruto a lot. So much so that Sakura noticed. He'd begun finding places to stare at him without Sakura being around, which had led to the stalking. Or so he believed. He didn't really know how he ended up stalking the guy, but once he realized what he was doing, he didn't want to stop.

It was part obsession, part downright nosiness. He wanted to know all Naruto's business. Plus, Naruto was hot.

Hotness. That subject, when Sasuke deigned to notice himself checking out Naruto's body, needed investigating. Until Naruto Sasuke had not, to his knowledge, ever found anyone hot. He couldn't have defined the term had he been asked, nor was he interested in hotness or people considered to have this quality.

But then Naruto had come back and he'd happened to overhear Sakura telling their fellow team mate, Sai, how hot Naruto had gotten… and he'd suddenly agreed. Naruto was just fine, plain and simple. He didn't look like anyone else, didn't move like anyone else. Sasuke found himself panting whenever he stared at the blonde for extended periods of time. Definite hotness.

Speaking of Sai. Whatever could have possessed the gods to befoul the earth with such a piece of shit, Sasuke didn't know, but he couldn't stand the fucker. Kakashi had announced that Sai was replacing Naruto shortly after the blonde left. Sasuke felt his relationship with the asshole could best be summed up as a murder waiting to happen. If it wasn't for the fact that everyone knew Sasuke wanted Sai dead, he'd have scratched that particular itch a long time ago.

First there had been the comments about Sasuke's lack of certain key appendages. He'd had to actually ask the bastard to repeat himself, stunned out of his skull that someone would have the balls to speak to an Uchiha like that. Sai had cheerfully obliged and Sakura had punched Sasuke senseless to keep him from ripping Sai's tongue out. As it was, Sai spent time in the hospital and had been unable to speak for a few days, stitches in his tongue.

Then there was that whole fake bullshit about him being emotionally cut off and in need of 'rescuing from the black depths of his retarded upbringing in Root'. Sasuke called him on that blatant attempt to get girls. Sai then had the nerve to suggest Sasuke wanted Sakura himself, within the bitch's hearing no less, and then it had been Kakashi pulling him off Sai, a handful of the shit's black hair in his fist. Still, he'd managed to launch a fireball at Sai, while Kakashi had him in a full nelson. Sai had spent three weeks in the hospital with second degree burns, which had done wonders for Sasuke's mood. He'd almost been polite to Sakura, he'd been so happy to have the jackass out of his face.

Sai hadn't seemed to have any hard feelings about being roasted or snatched bald-headed when he was discharged. He didn't mind anything, plastering on those fake smiles that positively begged for the jerk to be put out of his misery. Sasuke hated him almost as much as he hated Itachi.

Sasuke blew out a breath now, not wanting to taint his precious observation time with thoughts of that douche. He made himself comfortable, watching as Naruto sat on his battered sofa with a cup of instant ramen. He switched on his ancient television set and proceeded to lose himself in the lineup of prime time comedy he watched every evening.

The chopsticks would dip into the cup between seven and twelve times before the noodles were done, unless he happened to be eating from a family-sized cup. He wasn't. Each slurp lasted four point five seconds. Thirteen chews, swallow, repeat. Belch into a ruddy fist, reach for the next cup, which had been cooking while he ate. Naruto always fell asleep before the fifth program started, woke when there was nothing but snow on the TV, then trudged sleepily to his room, where he undressed, put on his pajamas, and flopped onto his bed. Only then would Sasuke get up and go to his own apartment.