Chapter 8

Their breathing seemed to take forever to slow down, blue eyes stared at him as though they were staring into his very soul.

Naruto kissed Sasuke's lips softly before getting up from the floor and offering the dark haired man his hand which he took.

The blonde pulled him up and smiled at him leading him into his bedroom.

"Shouldn't I…"

The blonde silenced him with another one of those feather soft kisses and pulled him into his bedroom closing the door behind them.

Soft covers, Naruto's arms…

Sleep overcame him quickly and for the first time in a long time…

He slept soundly right through until the next morning.

Dark eyes blinked open to the yellow red and orange room.

*Naruto…*

He rolled over lazily to find that Naruto wasn't there.

Slowly he stretched and pushed his legs out over the edge of the bed, his bare feet met the cold floor.

He realised with slight amusement that he was still naked.

Usually this situation would be due to some bastard forgetting to give him his clothes back, or them being torn off him…

He grabbed a pair of Naruto's lounge pants and stood up, he was a little shaky on his feet but he made his way to the bedroom door and opened it.

The smell of coffee and toast wafted through the air, he looked down towards the kitchen.

There at the counter with two coffee mugs waiting for the kettle to boil was Naruto, the dark haired man crept up behind him and hugged him.

Naruto jumped at the contact then laughed.

"Shit… You scared me… Did I wake you? I was gonna bring you some coffee."

The kettle boiled and clicked off but Sasuke wouldn't let go.

"Uhm… Sasuke…?"

The dark haired mans eyes closed as he inhaled the scent of the blonde.

"Thank you."

Naruto was confused.

"For what?"

Sasuke turned him around and looked him in the eye.

"Everything."

Before closing in on him and kissing him gently.

The blonde smiled into the kiss, his fears of last night being a one time thing gone up in smoke.

Sasuke pulled back and looked into Naruto's blue eyes for a moment before releasing him.

Naruto made them both coffee and they sat down on the couch, Sasuke's arm resting across the blondes shoulders as if they were made to slot together like this and finally since he'd found Sasuke again, Naruto allowed himself to relax and leaned his head into Sasuke's shoulder.

Half an hour passed and Naruto noted that Sasuke was trembling slightly.

The dark haired man sighed.

"Guess I should go get dressed and get my…"

Naruto smiled at him then jumped up and retrieved the pharmacy bag.

"Already taken care of. I figured you might want to sleep in late."

Sasuke took the bag from him.

"They needed to see I.D from me and call the hospital but eventually they let me take it out of the pharmacy."

*Even down to this, he's thinking of me.*

The dark haired man leaned across the couch and kissed Naruto, a feeling of guilt pooling in his stomach for what he'd put him through.

He stood up and went to the kitchen counter.

He opened the paper bag and pulled out a brown glass bottle with a white sticker across it.

He stared at the brown coloured bottle, sloshing the liquid around inside.

"So how much?"

Naruto looked over obviously trying to keep his cool despite barely having ever touched drugs.

"That's your dose for today you take it altogether. Oh they also said to keep some water handy apparently it tastes pretty bad."

The blonde tried to plaster a carefree grin on his face but it was obvious he was concerned.

It was obvious he was being watched out of the corner of those blue eyes, so he very obviously took his meds like he would a shot at a bar.

He shook his head and shuddered.

"They weren't kidding that does taste awful."

Naruto smiled a genuine smile at the Uchiha, relieved that he seemed to be taking his recovery seriously.

"So… What do you want to do today?"

Sasuke shrugged.

"No idea… It's been a long time since my life hasn't revolved getting my next hit…"

The blonde looked a little upset, Sasuke went to speak but Naruto beat him to it.

"When you left it was tough… But at the beginning there was hope, hope we'd find you or… What was left of you… We searched high and low for months… Then as time dragged on, everyone just seemed to accept that you were gone… Someone less would turn up every time we'd go out and search… Until one night it was only me Sakura and Itachi… We'd been doing at least one search a week for 18 months and we were just finishing up one night when Itachi suggested that we stop."

He stared into space eyes unfocused as though lost in this memory.

"'It's been 18 months' he'd said.

'Maybe everyone's right… Maybe it's time we give up.'

I remember his eyes as he decided he couldn't do anymore.

I remember how useless he looked and probably felt because I remember more than anything that night…

I felt like I'd failed.

I remember Sakura came back here with me that night, she cried her eyes out…

We talked all night about you, about all of our good memories…

We talked about when we were kids and about her crush on you…

And more than anything we talked about how we missed you.

So do me one favour and don't talk about your life like something that's yours and yours to throw away, because like it or not… It isn't…

It wasn't only you who suffered from your decision."

Sasuke was taken aback by Naruto's sudden burst of seriousness and honesty.

"I didn't mean that to sound as harsh as it did."

The blonde was ready to forgive and forget when two words that rarely left the Uchiha's lips rang through the room.

"I'm sorry."

The blonde nodded and bit his lip.

"Me too, you've been through a lot. You didn't need me ranting at you like that."

Sasuke stared at the counter top that feeling of guilt pooling inside him again.

He was brought to attention by Naruto suddenly being right in his face staring at him intently, Sasuke crossed his arms defensively.

"What?"

"Your hair, it's longer than you used to have it."

The dark haired man reached back to his hair it had gotten a little longer.

"Yeah, I was pretty preoccupied… You think its bad now you should've seen it a few months back… It was half way down my back before Orochi…"

He stopped mid sentence and Naruto's blue eyes looked at him expectantly.

"Before what?"

Sasuke was silent before quietly saying.

"…Before Orochimaru took me in…"