Hey everyone! This is the first fic I've written since I wrote Butterflies, I think. Which was about 6 years ago. Needless to say I'm a little rusty. But I hope everyone can enjoy it anyway!

It takes place after the end of a manga, assuming Sasuke came back to Konoha.

This was inspired by Naruto chapter 627, because after this chapter I really believe there could be a happy ending after all.

Please check out my new tumblr, my username is misshunbun, and please leave me a prompt in my ask box, and I will write a fic for you!

Comments are very appreciated!

...

Sasuke knocked on Naruto's door. He had just finished a mission and upon returning to his house saw a note taped on his own door. It was from Naruto, simply asking Sasuke to come to his house when his mission was done.

The door creaked open and a spiky blonde head peeped out. When Sasuke saw Naruto's face he was slightly taken aback by his appearance. He looked dishevelled, flustered and a little anxious. Naruto always wore his heart on his sleeve, but the emotions displayed were usually exuberance, laughter, and excitement.

"Naruto, is everything okay? I just got back and got your note." He looked Naruto up and down again.

"Uh… Sasuke." Naruto looked up at him through his eyelashes and down again at his feet. Sasuke didn't see anything remotely interesting down there, and even a ninja as thick as Naruto would've been able to tell that he was avoiding looking Sasuke in the eyes.

"Everything is okay, there's no emergency. I'm sorry to make you come here right after your mission. You didn't even stop to change out of your mission clothes?" Naruto stepped out through the door and stood in the doorway, wincing a bit in the sun.

Sasuke ran a hand through his spiky black hair and let out a sigh. "Well, at least everything is okay. So then, what's up?" When he had gone home and found the note he had tensed up, expecting the worst. Sasuke had been through things in life that always made him expect the worst.

"Well, to be honest I wasn't expecting you back so soon…"

Sasuke tsked at him. "You should always assume I'll get a mission done at least as twice as fast you could do it, Usuratonkatchi." The name was more of a term of endearment now, but Sasuke was a little miffed by the vague note that'd got his heart beating a little too quick, and his muscles clenched a little too tight, and he said it with a little more bite behind it than he'd intended.

Normally Naruto would retort with a ridiculous boast of his ninja-prowess, and Sasuke was a little surprised when instead he smiled weakly, kicked at the ground with his foot and said, "Yep, you're right! So maybe you should just go home and relax for a little while, and come back a little later?"

"I'm already here." Sasuke raised his eyebrow. Whatever this note was about, it obviously had Naruto out of sorts. And in the light outside, the bags under Naruto's eyes were more prominent. He looked as though he hadn't slept properly for days. Sasuke decided to comment on his rumpled appearance, "and anyway, you look like you could use some rest a hell of a lot more than me."

"Ah, yeah I guess so." He ran a hand through his hair irritably. He moved aside and reluctantly gestured for Sasuke to enter, "so, want to come in?"

Sasuke nodded and felt his nerves tighten a little again. An emergency it may not be, but something was clearly troubling him. And seeing as Naruto didn't sweat the small stuff, it must be something pretty big.

He slipped off his sandals and felt the cool air of Naruto's apartment wash over him. It was a little dark, the only light entering as dappled pieces of sunlight filtering through the ferns hung above Naruto's window.

Sasuke kept his eyes steadily on Naruto as he walked over to sit at the dining table under the window.

Naruto was slightly twitching and his eyes darted nervously back and forth. Sasuke sighed. "You're obviously agitated Naruto." He rested his ankle on his knee and shrugged, "are you going to tell me why, or shall we play the guessing game?"

Naruto looked at Sasuke for a moment, his expression changing from anxiety to a quiet thoughtfulness. The look was gone in a moment and Sasuke wondered if he had imagined it as Naruto asked in a voice that was almost painfully cheerful in it's falseness, "Ah well, we'll get to that! Are you thirtsy? I'm thirsty. Parched, in fact."

"I'm fine, tha-" he dropped off realizing Naruto was already in the kitchen with his head stuck in the fridge. That Naruto was stalling for time was obvious, but Sasuke decided it really wasn't worth the trouble of arguing.

He crossed his arms and bowed his head, eyes closed in thought. What was this all about? Naruto was pretty transparent emotionally, and he obviously needed to ask Sasuke a favour or something. That's why he was acting so nervous. But surely, after everything they'd been through together… Surely Naruto didn't think he needed to be nervous to ask something of him? Sasuke had only been back in Konoha for three weeks, but their relationship felt to Sasuke as though he'd never even left.

He felt Naruto's presence approach - it always felt warm. If Sasuke could assign it a colour it would be a sunny yellow-orange. He cracked an eye open. "Care to sit?" he asked as he nodded his head in the direction of the chair in front of him.

Naruto obliged, but said nothing. He simply sat and ran his glass along the table, leaving a cool trail of condensation. It looked as though talking was the last thing he wanted to do.

Sasuke cared deeply for the blonde idiot next to him, but even he had limits to his patience. "At this rate I'm going to think you called me over just to look at me. Rather, anywhere but at me. So, out with it."

Naruto sighed. "Alright Sasuke. This is the thing…" He sighed again and ruffled his hands through his hair. Then he grunted in frustration.

At this point Sasuke was completely lost. He'd never seen Naruto like this. Ever. He liked to think he knew Naruto better than, well, anyone. And this was weird as hell. He sat and waited.

Naruto picked up the glass he'd been dragging along the table and thumped it back down in determination; as if he'd come to terms with whatever was about to happen. Sasuke imagined the look on his own face must be ridiculous.

"Sasuke, the thing is…" Naruto took a deep breath and clenched his fists on his knees, the muscles on his forearms twitching. "The thing is, since you've been back in Konoha I've been thinking about you a lot."

Sasuke had a wild thought that the colour that had suddenly bloomed up in Naruto's cheeks was very pretty. Sasuke was almost certain he himself looked startled by his own train of thought and fought the urge to get embarrassed too.

Instead he chose to say nothing and stared straight ahead, bewildered.

"I've been… losing a little bit of sleep too-" Naruto stopped and held his hands up defensively, the colour in his face darkening. "N-No, not like- I mean…"

The heat in Sasuke's face grew. He wasn't sure exactly where this was going, but he was starting to feel a little awkward, a little apprehensive, and maybe… a little happy. And that strange combination of emotions was highly disturbing and slightly frustrating.

"Naruto. Please. Say what you have to say, I'm not following you anymore." He tried to keep his voice level. Sasuke wasn't sure exactly what kind of emotions he would be expressing otherwise.

"Okay. Here goes. Don't hate me for this Sasuke." Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose and scrunched up his eyes. "If this… bothers you, just punch me in the face or… or- I don't know; just punch me in the face. As long as you don't hate me."

Sasuke's eyes widened. This sounded like the beginning of a confessi- No. No way. But he couldn't ignore the way his heart was beating a little bit faster, and… was his breathing getting a little shallow?

Sasuke also couldn't help but notice how the little rays of sunlight highlighted Naruto's blue eyes. Was that a reflection of the clear blue sky? He bit the inside of his cheek to bring his thoughts back to reality. Where the hell was this coming from? Sasuke understood confessions. He'd had to endure dozens of them. Since returning to Konoha he'd learned to listen politely and respond respectfully, but it was still the same boring drivel.

This felt different.

This was different.

"Sasuke, when I was chasing after you all those years, people called me crazy. Everyone told me to give up on you." He dropped his forearms onto his knees and bowed his head. His spiky blonde hair covered his features.

"I couldn't do it. I couldn't stop. And no one understood why." He looked up at Sasuke, "Do you understand why Sasuke?"

Sasuke couldn't speak. He was overcome with something. He didn't know what it was exactly, but whatever it was, it made his palms feel sweaty and his chest feel light. That blue gaze on him… He only shook his head no.

"I did it Sasuke, because you are my…"

He lifted his head and placed his hand over Sasuke's. He looked right into Sasuke's eyes, the emotion in them startling. "You are my destiny, Sasuke."

Sasuke leaned back, his eyes never leaving Naruto's, his hand feeling extraordinarily hot under the pressure of Naruto's tanned skin.

"I don't know if you understand Sasuke, but I hope you do. Even if you get married one day and have children and a family, it won't matter because our destinies will still be intertwined. We'll still be two halves of a whole."

When Sasuke got back to his house to find that note on his door just an hour ago he had been expecting a million different scenarios, each more horrible than the last. The scenario playing out in front of him right now wasn't even a footnote on that list.

Naruto sighed and took his hand from Sasuke's. "I've been losing sleep, because I've been terrified of what you'd say. Of what I'd say to you. That's why… if you have to, go ahead and hit me, get it out of your system and we'll stay best friends for the rest of our lives. But… I want more than that."

The look in Naruto's eyes was both beautiful and heartbreaking, and Sasuke felt something stir inside him. "I love you, Sasuke. I want to be near you, I want to be with you, I want to be beside you for the rest of my life." He winced slightly, as if expecting the blow to come immediately.

Sasuke moved his mouth wordlessly. He knew he needed to say something. His brain was screaming at him to say something, anything. Just open your damn mouth and say something! Every second felt like an eternity as he stared at Naruto's blue eyes and flushed skin. The way the sunlight shone in his golden hair, the soft contour of his lips…

He never managed to get a word out. His body acted on its own and instead he reached forward, grabbed the front of Naruto's shirt roughly, and pulled Naruto's mouth onto his.

Naruto grunted in surprise against Sasuke's lips. But after the shock died and the realization hit him, Sasuke felt Naruto relax against him, felt a hand touch down lightly on his shoulder, and another cup his cheek as Naruto kissed him back. The soft pressure on Sasuke's mouth warmed him from the inside out as Naruto moved his lips gently against his own.

And although his body was telling him not to, he pulled out of the kiss and looked at Naruto. Naruto averted his eyes and looked slightly embarrassed. "I guess that means you're not going to punch me?" He smiled in a timid way that was very unlike Naruto's usual toothy grin, but very endearing.

"I guess I won't." Sasuke couldn't help but let out a breathy little laugh. "This isn't exactly what I expected when I read that note, you know."

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck and laughed. It sounded natural and easy to Sasuke now. And it looked as though even the dark circles under his eyes lightened a little bit. "Sorry about that. I really needed to tell you this since you came back to Konoha, but I've been worried about how you would react. I guess it's been three weeks now, right?"

"Yeah, three weeks." Sasuke leaned forward and placed his hand on the back of Naruto's neck. He smiled and pulled Naruto toward him until his forehead was resting against Sasuke's own, Naruto's thick blonde spikes tickling his forehead. "Thanks for chasing me; thanks for bringing me home."

Naruto kissed him lightly, and Sasuke could feel the smile against his lip. "Sasuke, I'd chase you for the rest of my life, if that was what it took to be by your side."

"I guess it was destiny."

Sasuke smiled softly at the hand the took it's place over his own. He'd been back in Konoha for three weeks, but now for the first time, it felt like he was really home.