Sasuke comes home on a Sunday afternoon and Naruto is a storm. His cheeks are tear streaked and his eyes are fiery red, he yells and his voice cracks, the sorrow in his tone barely human, and Sasuke has to hold him as he rages.
Naruto yells of trivial things. "Gone," he screams, and then, softer, "love," until soon he buries himself into Sasuke's side, falls into a heap on the floor, and sobs. "Don't," and he clutches at Sasuke's arms as if to emphasize, "leave. Don't leave me."

Naruto sobs, and as he does his figure begins to shrink. His fangs disappear and his eyes turn blue again, that beautiful sky color Sasuke treasures so close to his heart, and the only part of him that breathes demon is the scars on his cheek — though, Sasuke loves those too - Sasuke loves all of Naruto, unconditionally, without rules or regulations, and loves him endlessly without limit. And yet, Naruto sobs, quivering weak and fragile, and sniffs quietly into Sasuke's shoulders, "please don't stop loving me."

Sasuke wonders sometimes what it is that makes Naruto weak - but he knows it is him. He knows he had harmed Naruto the way Itachi had harmed him, pushing in far enough to turn wound into scar. Sasuke holds Naruto back and waits - for his heartbeat to return to normal, for the shivering to stop, for Naruto to realize that Sasuke will always, always, love him.

Naruto looks up at Sasuke with bleary eyes, wiping his tears with the backs of his hands, and says, "I love you."
Sasuke understands.

It was a strange way to admit love - raging, angry, hot fluid tears, scratching and biting, and big blue eyes filled with sorrow and loss. Sasuke tries to shush him, whispering "I won't leave," and "you're the only one," and finally, "I love you." The last one makes Naruto falter, if not stop, but soon he's on all fours again, hovering above Sasuke, and his lips catch Sasuke's in one single motion. Naruto loves fiercely and kisses harder, but Sasuke no longer wants to fight.

In the aftermath, Sasuke's fingers comb through Naruto's hair, lulling him into a peaceful form of love, and Naruto's fingers find Sasuke's and intertwine.
"Forgive me," Sasuke whispers, and it is that one time he will admit, he swear to himself - a Uchiha will never apologize again, he will never apologize again. When Naruto looks at him, pupils blown with surprise and some deep form of complicated admiration, Sasuke watches as he softens, as his cheeks gain their rosy red and his skin is tan again - and oh, so beautiful - and Sasuke thinks, this is worth it.

Naruto's kisses no longer hurt, but press against Sasuke's skin softly, chaste butterfly kisses, precious and golden pink and wonderful all over Sasuke's body, healing him with a patience that makes Sasuke want to scream and screw Naruto hard against the floor - but instead, Naruto holds him back, lingering, drawing out the pleasure until it seems to last forever.

●•●

At the end of night and peak of morning, Sasuke's grasp tightens against Naruto's hands, and he whispers, "I won't leave again."
Naruto looks at him, and Sasuke sees that they are no longer young - no longer the boys that challenged each other for a thrill, nor the men that chased after each other for a lifetime. No, they have aged far too much for silly games, old enough that Naruto's golden locks broke silver strands, and Sasuke's hands were heavy with overworked bones and stretched skin. Naruto sighs, and this time Sasuke hears the question behind it. It was as if Naruto was bringing up old age and taking them back to their childhood, sneering, challenging Sasuke to stay true to his words, as if he already knows that Sasuke would fail.
Naruto had asked Sasuke to settle endless times, year and year again, and Sasuke had never given in. This time it's Sasuke offering, and Naruto kisses him leisurely, passionately, as a lover would. Once they break apart, Naruto's hand slips into his pocket and out again, and then opens up slowly, remorsefully. "You never wondered why I'd stopped asking," he says, and his heart breaks a little at the look on Sasuke's face. "Who?" Sasuke asks, but Naruto just shakes his head and puts the ring back into its hiding space.

There are so many things Sasuke wants to ask Naruto, so many conversations he wants to have, but knows that it is pointless. Naruto would only say that "I love you more," and Sasuke would nod and agree. Still, Sasuke feels a little scared, a little needy, and it's like that time when Itachi had left him breathless, without love and without answers, and Sasuke had tried everything he could to get him to care again, and failed.
Eventually, Sasuke turns to Naruto and makes to speak, but Naruto kisses him and wipes away every doubt. "You can't imagine how much I love you," Naruto says, and Sasuke looks away quickly, but Naruto catches the way his eyes flash a certain shade of pain when he does. Naruto's hands are warm against Sasuke's cold skin when he lifts his head up, gingerly, so that they would face each other, and Naruto looks Sasuke straight in the eye when he says, "there is no one in the world I could love more than you." He kisses the tip of Sasuke's nose as if to prove it, "no one." Sasuke smiles a little, a small, sad smile, and answers, "I love you to the point of insanity."

Naruto spends the week with Sasuke. He calls home a few times to make excuses and falls into a couple of arguments, and Sasuke hears his name being yelled out on the other line, but Naruto just slams the phone down hard and makes his way to his true lover. There, for a while, everything is fine. Naruto and Sasuke kiss and lay together and do little more than bathe in each other's company. It makes Sasuke happy, the little time they have together, and Naruto too, that they could forget the world for a little while and escape reality together.

Soon, Naruto leaves, and Sasuke settles in quiet unease, wonders what it is he must do now that his life has come to measured moments of love making and occasional soft moans, hot tears and a love that never lasts. He watches Naruto until he's too far to see anymore, and then heads back into what used to be their haven.

It doesn't take Sasuke long to figure it out. Instead, he gets hit gobsmacked in the face by memories - by pictures of him and Naruto, of decades they've spent together, of decades they were apart but still together in heart, and it only takes him a second to realize that in all his life, Naruto had been there. Naruto had been everything to him, since the very moment they'd met - and maybe even before that.

It takes even less time to run - to grab what few possessions Sasuke has and race across Konoha, and then fall hard against Naruto's back, stumble on the ground and roll around a little, with Naruto in toll, and a little in pain.
It takes more time, however, for the shock to register. A long time - an endlessly long time - until Sasuke starts to think, it's too long.

Naruto doesn't say anything for the first few months. He holds Sasuke's hand almost carefully, and sometimes squeezes a little too hard, but eventually Sasuke pushes him against a wall and kisses him angrily, yelling, "I did this for you, for us-" and "I'm not sorry that I love you" and "I can't live without you."
Naruto sneers at that, and Sasuke blushes, guilty but defiant. "This isn't one of my mistakes," he says, and then falls into a whisper - "I'm chasing after you because you're worth it."

Naruto melts into Sasuke's touch that night, and for moments all he can feel is Sasuke's lips, Sasuke's hands, Sasuke. It's beautiful and not nearly enough, and for that Naruto is glad that they have the rest of their lives to do this - to love, to live together, really together, and finally, finally, do it right.