Chapter 2

A pile of soft, yet odd materials were thrust into his hands as Sasuke led him to a room much smaller than all the others. The floor in this room was also cold beneath his bare feet and caused him to shiver. He didn't like it much, but it must be a safe room if Sasuke brought him there. He liked Sasuke, though he was still frightened a tad by all the forceful movements Sasuke made. But his faces were funny, Naruto decided and let his gaze travel around, interested. There were many odd things in the room; things unfamiliar to him. Next to him was some sort of tall, bowl shaped thing that had three silver ornaments positioned at the back of it. The light of the room reflected brightly off the silver and entranced him. He leaned forward and tilted his head, checking out the shine from different angles. Shifting the materials into one arm, he reached out slowly and rested his hand on it tentatively, finding it to unfortunately be cold. It unnerved him so he quickly pulled back and blinked rapidly at it, wondering why it was like the floor. What was it with all of the cold stuff in this room? Did it just not like him or something? His shoulders sagged and he became slightly depressed by this thought. Why wouldn't it like him? He didn't do anything to it.

He didn't have any more time to think on this as the sound of rushing water caught his eager attention and drew it to the back of the room where an even odder item rested. It looked to him like the previous object…only bigger, and more square-like in shape. Sasuke was leaned over it, his hand under the running water. Naruto found this weird, but merely watched to see what would happen next.

"…, Naruto?"

Naruto blinked in confusion. Sasuke was obviously saying something to him, but he could not understand. It frustrated him, a lot. He wanted to understand, he really did, but the possibility seemed impossible. The realization that he might never understand saddened him. The weight of the unknown crushed him so much that he had to seat himself upon the icy floor so as to not lose the little balance he had. Everything was so very overwhelming… so terrifying. He didn't get it. Why were things so weird? And why did he not understand…? There must be some reason for all of this…but he couldn't grasp it. It was just so aggravating! He closed his eyes to block out all the unfamiliar objects from his sight. It wasn't worth keeping his eyes open. Everything he saw scared him, and he didn't want to be scared.

"Naruto,"

He kept his eyes shut tightly, frightened.

"Naruto…," the voice came this time more gently.

He let out a low whine and cracked his eyes open, holding the materials in his arms close to his body as some sort of shield. Sasuke stood over him, an emotion that Naruto didn't recognize flashing across his pale features. This scared him and he buried his face into the soft materials to block his vision. He heard Sasuke let out a breath and say something else in that same soft tone of voice as earlier, trying to lure Naruto out of his shell. He wasn't going to fall for it though. There was no way in hell he would expose his eyes to the person in front of him. The fear rising in his chest wouldn't allow such an act to be carried out. It was screaming in his ears that he should not open his eyes again, that he should merely wander in the comforting darkness he always found when his eyes were shut. Everything would certainly be simpler that way.

Sasuke meanwhile furrowed his thin eyebrows and ground his teeth in frustration. Naruto was a lot more hardheaded than Sasuke could've imagined. At this rate, it could take the rest of the afternoon to get Naruto moving, and clean. Naruto surely needed to be cleaned from what Sasuke could obviously tell. There were many traces of dirt and filth on Naruto's innocent face and after being out in the Seattle rain, his scent was not something to be desired. So Sasuke needed to get Naruto into the tub, no matter what.

"Naruto, you really need a bath…come on already," Sasuke groaned, reaching out and tugging lightly on Naruto's arm. The reaction he got was a frantic flail of the arms from his blonde guest.

He stepped back to give Naruto some space and frowned. An idea struck him then. Sasuke turned and exited the room, making sure to close the door behind him. If he couldn't convince Naruto to get into the bath, then maybe the blonde would do it himself. It was doubtful, but definitely worth a shot.

Sasuke sighed and decided to give it a few minutes before sneaking a glance at Naruto. He loosened his tie and pulled it off, then tossing it onto his bed and peeling off his jacket soon after, which he placed neatly beside his tie. Sasuke sat on the edge of his bed and leaned over to remove his shoes, freeing his feet from their confines. He then removed his socks and rubbed his feet, making a slightly pained expression. Those damned shoes were going to be the death of him. If only he could burn them; that'd make him happy. Shaking his head, he pushed away pleasing thoughts of burning shoes out of his mind and un-tucked his shirt, proceeding then to unbutton it.

"Ah!" he suddenly heard come from his bathroom and a small splash soon followed it. Sasuke quirked an eyebrow and stood, quietly making his way back to the bathroom to check on his guest.

He cracked open the door just enough for him to peek through it and saw that Naruto was knelt over the tub, playfully dipping a hand into the water. Sasuke sighed and couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. It was amusing to a certain extent. The sight before him stopped being funny when Sasuke realized one thing. Naruto didn't know how to bathe himself, which faced Sasuke with a huge predicament.

"Ah hell no…" Sasuke muttered under his breath and quickly closed the door. "There is no way…"

Come on, Sasuke, he can't be that stupid…, Sasuke thought and once more opened the bathroom door, only this time all the way. Naruto immediately turned his head at the noise and for a moment seemed frightened, but he soon became adjusted to seeing Sasuke and grinned childishly at him. Yep, he's that stupid.

Sasuke groaned and ran a hand through his hair in frustration. He really didn't want to do this. If it could be avoided, then he would definitely avoid it, but of course that wasn't the case here. It never was, unfortunately. Sasuke reluctantly shut the door behind him and couldn't keep down the heat rising to his cheeks much to his disdain. He huffed and approached Naruto, motioning for the blonde to turn around. Naruto blinked innocently at Sasuke and then did as he was told. Awkwardly, Sasuke faked a cough and started to untie the strings keeping Naruto's gown together. The moment the material hit the floor Sasuke turned his eyes to the ceiling. God, this was much too awkward. He took a deep breath and pointed to the bathtub, hoping Naruto would get the picture.

But as expected, it went right over Naruto's blonde head, causing Sasuke to thread his fingers in his hair and grind his teeth in frustration. Ok, ok, breathe Sasuke. Just take a minute and breathe, he thought and moved his gaze to Naruto's clueless face, keeping it there, not allowing his eyes to travel anywhere down south. He cleared his throat and took a very, very long and deep breath. This wasn't going to be something pleasant. Sasuke already knew that, but he was prepared…to some extent.

"Naruto, I need you to trust me for a moment…so don't freak out," Sasuke begged quietly and prayed that Naruto wouldn't throw a fit.

Sasuke immediately hoisted Naruto into his arms, bridal style, and braced himself for the worst. Naruto gasped in surprise at being suddenly lifted off the ground and his arms instantly locked around Sasuke's neck fearfully. The blonde whimpered, causing Sasuke to sigh in slight frustration. It was apparent already that Naruto was going to give him trouble. It was not known at this point how much trouble, but Sasuke could only hope it wouldn't be much. Sasuke leaned over the tub cautiously, regarding Naruto warily in hopes to read his emotions. Naruto's eyes met his with terror, which was exactly was Sasuke dreaded to see embedded in that sea of deep blue. Another whimper sounded from the scared young man and he kicked his legs wildly, accidentally striking Sasuke in the jaw with his knee.

"Shit! Naruto, what the hell?!" Sasuke growled and one of his hands slipped, dropping the blonde a bit and striking more fear into Naruto. The blonde squealed and clawed at Sasuke's shoulders frantically to stay away from the water below. Sasuke felt the color drain from his face when he found his balance was wavering. This was the worst possible thing that could happen. Much worse, of course, than being kneed in the jaw. The duo gasped as Sasuke stumbled and Naruto, without meaning to, pulled them both into the water.

"Ah!" Naruto screamed, pulling his dirty knees up to his chest, and looked at the water he was sitting in fearfully. He trembled in terror for a moment before he finally realized that the water wasn't so scary after all, and that was when he laughed. Naruto tentatively splashed in the bathwater while Sasuke broke through the surface, coughing and dripping wet. Sasuke clenched his jaw and fixed Naruto with an irritated stare. This was not how Sasuke wanted to spend his afternoon. In fact, he wished then that his visitor hadn't arrived on his doorstep to begin with. If only Naruto hadn't looked so pitiful, then Sasuke could've avoided this catastrophe altogether. Sasuke had always had a soft spot for pitiful things, sadly. He couldn't have turned Naruto away if he tried.

Sasuke took a moment to gather himself up and calm down so he wouldn't strangle the blonde across from him. He found none of this to be amusing as his guest did. While Naruto sat there, splashing around and laughing hysterically, Sasuke was irritably shrugging off the now soaked shirt he was wearing. He mumbled small curses he probably didn't mean as he tossed the shirt onto his bathroom floor and stood, quickly fumbling with the buckle on his belt. Sasuke really didn't want to strip down in front of this stupid, clueless idiot, but he figured that it did not really matter. Naruto was so entranced by the water that Sasuke was sure that he wouldn't really notice. So with a heavy sigh, Sasuke pulled off his belt and tossed it to the side as well, the rest of his clothes soon following. He quickly sat back in the water and let out a small breath of relief. He'd forgotten how nice it was just to sit in warm bath water. If the opportunity was in front of him, he would just relax for the next hour and enjoy the warmth he was feeling. Unfortunately though, he had to complete to task in front of him.

Sasuke turned his attention to the boy in front of him and studied the blonde as he playfully splashed in the water. A smile tried to reveal itself, but Sasuke managed to keep it away. The sight was something that any person might find cute, but Sasuke didn't want to admit to thinking that it was indeed cute. So he kept his expression neutral as he reached beside him and grasped a bottle of shampoo, then proceeding to pour a bit into the water. Naruto glanced up at him and cocked his head to the side, confusion clouding his eyes at Sasuke's actions. Sasuke raised his eyebrows at the blonde and splashed in the water with his free hand. Naruto then looked down and grinned at the sight of bubbles being formed in the water. This encouraged him to splash about even more, thus creating more bubbles.

With a roll of his eyes, Sasuke poured a little of the shampoo into his hands and leaned forward, using this moment of distraction to start washing Naruto's hair. Naruto flinched at the contact and stopped creating bubbles. He snapped his head up to look at Sasuke fearfully. For a the longest while, both men remained frozen in place; one out of fear and the other out of caution.

"I'm not trying to hurt you," Sasuke said quietly to try and reassure Naruto. "Ok?"

Naruto relaxed visibly and Sasuke was pleased to notice this. It meant that Naruto was starting to understand. This was good. This was very good.

"Good, you seem to understand me so far…," he mumbled and resumed washing Naruto's filthy hair. "If you didn't catch it earlier, then I'm Sasuke. Sasuke Uchiha."

Naruto made a sound of acknowledgement and allowed Sasuke to continue washing his hair. The blonde turned his sight back to the bubbles and dipped a finger into them, giggling softly.

"S-Sa..," Naruto began and made a point to look back at Sasuke quickly. The raven-haired man waited for the blonde to go on. "S-Sa-Sasu…"

"You're close," Sasuke nodded in approval at Naruto's attempt to say his name and figured he should go ahead and try to teach the blonde something. "You're just missing the next syllable. Just sound it out like this: Sas-u-ke."

Naruto seemed to ponder what he was told as he splashed in the bubbly water. "S-Sasuk-ke," he tried again, this time succeeding in saying Sasuke's name.

"Correct. Good job," Sasuke praised Naruto and dipped his own hands into the water to rinse the suds off of them. "You've got quite a stutter there though. We'll have to work on that." He paused as the words left his mouth and frowned. Why did he say that? It's not like he was going to actually let the blonde stay and he most definitely wasn't going to waste any time teaching him…or was he? Sasuke bit his lip in thought and watched Naruto, unsure of what to do. It would be the right thing to take care of him, considering the blonde's state of being, but Sasuke wasn't sure that he was up to the task.

"S-S-Sasuke!" the blonde chirped and pointed right at Sasuke, grinning from ear to ear. "Sas-suke!"

"Yeah…that's right," Sasuke responded absentmindedly as he tried to take in what exactly he'd be getting into if he did indeed allow Naruto to stay with him. He would have higher bills to pay, more food to buy, an idiot to tutor. It wouldn't be very easy. He'd be like a sort of babysitter to Naruto, and he wasn't sure how he felt about that.

Naruto on the other hand, had nothing to really worry about. At least there was nothing to worry about that his simple mind could think of. He felt proud of the new word he'd learned and was having fun playing in the water. It was only when his vision was blurred and his eyes burned that he worried. He whimpered and reached up, wiping at his eyes furiously in hopes to get rid of the awful burn.

Sasuke was pulled out of his thoughts at the pained sound Naruto made and instantly realized the problem. Sasuke had forgotten to rinse the shampoo out of Naruto's hair, and naturally a bit of it had gotten into the blonde's eyes. He felt that he could kick himself then. Sasuke wasn't doing such a wonderful job of taking care of Naruto so far.

"Calm down, Naruto," Sasuke murmured and pulled the blonde's hands away from his face. "That's going to make it worse, Dobe."

Naruto whimpered once more and gladly allowed Sasuke to rinse out his eyes. It took a moment, but the burning sensation finally passed and the blonde sighed in obvious relief that the pain was gone. He looked at Sasuke and tried his best to convey how thankful he was. Sasuke let out a breath and gave Naruto a tiny hint of a smile.

"Close your eyes, ok?"

Naruto blinked as he recognized this command and then did as he was told. He made a small sound of discomfort as water passed over his face and he got a small taste of the shampoo that was being rinsed from his head. He wrinkled up his nose in disgust and covered his face as more and more water continued to rain down on him. He sure didn't want to get another taste of that shampoo. Sasuke watched in amusement and continued to thoroughly wash all the soap from Naruto's hair. Naruto's actions reminded him of fond memories of his mother bathing him when he was younger. It managed to bring a smile to his expression, watching the blonde, and in that instant, a decision was made. Sasuke decided that he would take care of Naruto for the time being, and in the time he'd be caring for the blonde, he'd also make an attempt to educate the blonde. It wouldn't be easy, but Sasuke didn't care. He was going to do the right thing here. Nothing would sway his choice now.

"S-Sas-suke?" he heard Naruto say in a questioning tone.

"Hm?" Sasuke waited for a bit for the blonde to respond, but then remembered Naruto's lack of speech and sighed. He was curious about what Naruto could've wanted to say, but Sasuke knew he wouldn't find out, so he just shrugged it off. "You can uncover your face now, Naruto."

The blonde dropped his hands and blinked rapidly as he adjusted his eyesight. He stared at Sasuke and smiled, almost a bit sadly, as he reached forward to place his hand on Sasuke's chest, right where his heart was. Sasuke twitched slightly and tried not to just instinctively move away from the contact. The blonde continued to rest his hand upon Sasuke's bare chest and seemed to be focused on something. Sasuke wondered what could possibly be making Naruto look so serious. The expression almost looked odd on the childish blonde. Sasuke waited though, and tried to remain patient with Naruto, but his patience was wearing thin. He was also becoming uncomfortable with being touched by his guest. Naruto then pulled his hand back and placed it on his own chest, right on his own heart. It was then that Sasuke figured out what Naruto was focused on.

"That's just your heart. It's supposed to do that. Don't worry about it," Sasuke informed him and chuckled when Naruto looked relieved. "Come on now; let's condition your hair, Dobe. The water will be getting cold soon."