[Scenes from a story]

Title: [Scenes from a story]
Rated: PG-13
Pairing: SasuNaruSasu
Comment: Literally what the title says. This is a semi-condensed, stripped and incomplete version of a future multi-chap <3 Written in a way so that it could also be a one shot.

This is also my submission for the summer round of oh_shit_santa, originally posted here.

–

There was an air of gravity to sustain while sitting bent over a hospital bench with the disorienting flicker of the overhead light a sardonic companion. So when Naruto felt laughter bubble up in his throat, he disguised it with a loud cough (and if the dry, reedy sound was edged in madness then Naruto pretended otherwise).

As did his companion, who sat opposite him in much the same position, glaring down with hollow eyes that reflected the dull gleam of the linoleum. Every few minutes, a sound would issue from the door down the hall and the young man’s eyebrows would twitch, drawn together like shifting plates along a convergent boundary. Naruto watched the resultant grief ripple through his features before the emotion retreated again.

Udon looked little like the snot-nosed brat he’d once been. He’d grown his hair to his shoulders and a hitai-ate rested now where old goggles once had. A pair of glasses sat on the far end of the bench, both frame and lens cracked, faintly disquieting like a broken corpse laid out for oblique observation. His head lifted. Naruto felt disinclined to look away and pretend he hadn’t been staring.

“Naruto-niisan,” Udon said.

Naruto flinched. “Konohamaru is in good hands,” he said. Udon likely wanted reassurance and saying the words aloud helped ease his own spiraling insecurity. “Sakura-chan is better now than even the old hag.” He glanced down the hall at the closed doors, beyond which Sakura and her team of medics had taken Konohamaru.

Udon nodded and rubbed lightly at his cheek where a streak of dried blood had begun to flake. “W-we almost left her behind.”

The strap of his left sandal had snapped and Naruto fixed his gaze on it as Udon ducked his head, shoulders trembling.

“Konohamaru was having trouble defending himself with her on his back. I told him we’d have to leave her behind or we’d be dead too. But then he almost dropped her dodging an enemy and when he reached for her, he left himself open.” He cupped his head, fingers curling around brown hair and tugging viciously. “We were going to leave her behind.”

Naruto bit the inside of his mouth to keep from telling Udon to stop. He didn’t want to hear about how Konohamaru was nearly killed trying to return Moegi’s corpse, didn’t want to think about her broken body slumped over Udon’s shoulder, his other arm barely supporting Konohamaru as they’d tumbled through the North Gates during the morning patrol. He didn’t want to remember every time he saw her name on the memorial, carved reverently into the stone just two names down from Umino Iruka.

But he held his tongue and let the man speak, knowing it was just as much his duty as Udon’s to remember the dead.

“Konohamaru said… Konohamaru said that if we couldn’t even do this one thing for Moegi, then we didn’t deserve to live anyway.”

“Udon… it’s okay,” Naruto said, because he didn’t know what else to say and it was a stock phrase, one people expected to hear even when no one believed it.

“We weren’t going to make it,” Udon said. There was finality in his voice, and Naruto believed he had truly expected to die. His lips tightened before his face seemed to crumple, eyes pressed shut. .“But then… he showed up.”

“Who?”

“He told me to get everyone away. He… He held them off so we could escape.” His voice conveyed confusion and, possibly, regret.

Naruto slowly straightened, a vise closing around his chest. “Who?” he demanded.

Udon whispered, “Uchiha Sasuke.”

* * *

Sweat traced a teasing line down his cheekbone and Naruto swiped at it with impatient fingers. He moved from tree to tree, following the signs of combat through the canopy. He paused at the stump of a snapped branch and trailed his hand over the dark red flecks that painted the damaged wood. He could sense Konohamaru’s chakra still clinging to the trees like cobwebs; lucent threads teasing at his skin and making him want to rub his arms.

He dipped forward and sniffed lightly at a patch of charred bark. It was faint and the smell of blood had all but permeated the crumbling grooves; but Naruto had never forgotten the bitter aftertaste of Sasuke’s chakra. Grinning triumphantly, he bounded from his perch, the trace of Sasuke like a string around his wrist, pulling him through the maze of branches—hope, fragile like a whispered promise, a small sapling amidst a scorched grove.

Sasuke’s trail ended at a shallow creek. The rocks at the bank were likewise spotted in red and, briefly, Naruto considered the alternative that Sasuke had lost to the enemy ninjas. But the impossibility quickly passed and he frowned down at the splashes of burgundy on weathered stone. Deciding quickly, he raised his thumb to his lips and bit down.

A moment later, he was presented with a troupe of toads in varying sizes. The toad at the forefront edged forward and nodded in greeting.

“I need your help to find a comrade. He was here, probably to clean his injuries, about a day ago so he couldn’t have gotten too far.” He gave them a brief description of Sasuke before each hopped off in separate directions. Toads had a poor sense of smell but they could travel much faster than a human and they’d cover more ground this way.

Naruto continued east towards one of Fire Country’s lesser-traveled roads. He hadn’t gone ten minutes before a small tree frog bounded out from the foliage and landed on his shoulder.

“I’ve found him.”

The frog led him back towards the creek, several miles further downstream. The trees grew thicker here. It was nearly impossible to take a step without ducking beneath the far-reaching branches. Moss grew in dense patches and muffled his footsteps as he passed. The frog pointed ahead with tiny webbed fingers.

Naruto spotted Sasuke’s head first, a black smudge against the clear water and the muddled greens and browns of the shoreline. He stood knee-deep in the creek, pant legs folded and black vest draped over a nearby branch. A damp cloth was clutched in his right hand and he dragged it over his bare chest and shoulder, skirting the white bandages wrapped around his left arm.

Naruto’s first reaction was a relieved sigh. Aside from his bandaged arm, Sasuke appeared unharmed. The tree frog had discreetly disappeared and Naruto moved hesitantly forward, uncertain of how Sasuke would receive him. Rocks shifted loosely beneath his sandals with the soft crackle of stone on stone. He winced.

Sasuke dipped his cloth into the water again and, without further acknowledgment, said, “What are you doing here?”

Sighing, Naruto broke away from the trees and approached him, stopping just short of the water. Sasuke continued to bathe, seemingly unconcerned that his back was exposed. Naruto didn’t know whether to be flattered or insulted. Seeing as this was Sasuke, it was likely the latter.

He had little doubt Sasuke would leave without fanfare once he finished so Naruto found his words quickly. “I—er, I… you…” Or not.

Sasuke waded back to shore, gaze briefly connecting with his, just long enough to convey his irritation with Naruto’s continued presence.

Naruto fisted his hands and began again. “I wanted to know if you were…” He realized belatedly how pathetic he sounded but there was nothing for it. “…if you were okay.”

The look Sasuke angled him was nothing less than scathing. Naruto shifted on his feet and Sasuke returned to tightening his bandages. The silence was disquieting, as if Sasuke’s lack of reaction or volubility was itself a screamed message ringing in his ears, pulsing outward to lace the trees in scorn and imagined invectives.

Coughing lightly, Naruto stepped forward. “Sasuke, look… I… I have to check back with the old hag soon and… and I think you should come with me.”

Aside from a slight sneer, Sasuke didn’t reply. He unrolled his pants and slipped his feet back into his sandals before standing. Naruto wanted to grab him by the shoulders and force him to look at him.

“Whatever it is you’re doing now, whatever it is you feel you have to do… you can stop. You don’t have to keep running, Sasuke. It’s okay to come home now.”

Sasuke finally looked at him, his eyes narrowed with something that looked very much like pity. “Running? If that’s what you think I’m doing, you’re even stupider than I thought.”

“Then why haven’t you come back? The old hag knows you weren’t really helping Akatsuki. And you fought them with us in the end. You… you even saved Konohamaru and Udon.”

“That’s irrelevant.”

“Of course it’s not!” Naruto paused to breathe, to steady his temper. “Aren’t you ready to come home yet?”

“I have no intention of returning to Konoha. You can report that to your Hokage when you return.” He turned away and Naruto reached blindly forward, his fingers falling just short of Sasuke’s shoulder blades.

He watched, his entire body held taut, as Sasuke walked away. He removed his shirt from where he’d hung it and pulled it on. Then he shuffled through the underbrush and began… collecting firewood.

Naruto cocked his head. “…What are you doing?”

“Making camp,” Sasuke said in such a way that implied both Naruto and his question were monumentally stupid.

Naruto pursed his lips. Reluctantly, he brushed away his questions and bent to help Sasuke in his task.

***

The heat of Fire Country gave way to the cool breath of the coast. The fishing town was small but lively, its streets teeming with laden wagons. Children darted between shops, their knees dirty and clothes stiff from swimming in the saltwater. Shop keeps greeted customers by name and Naruto grinned at the animated way they bartered over goods.

“You know, if things had been different, I don’t think I would have minded living in a town like this. It’s simpler here… I think I would have liked it.”

At his side, Sasuke scoffed in that quiet way he had of conveying great derision with little effort. “We were never meant to have simple lives.”

“Guess we’ll never know.”

Sasuke shrugged and Naruto smiled because it seemed to be his reaction to everything lately, regardless of his companion’s perpetually brusque attitude. Sasuke’s presence overrode any other pressing concerns—like informing the Hokage of his whereabouts. He knew she would be furious with him, but he needed more time. Sasuke would eventually come around—Naruto clung to this small hope with slipping fingers—and then they’d both return home. He shouldered the bag he’d bought in a previous town and nudged Sasuke.

Sasuke was frowning, eyes scanning through the busy streets as if searching for something.

“What is it?”

He gave a curt shake of his head. “Let’s find lunch.”

Naruto watched him head off through the bustle. He gave the surrounding area a cursory glance, although he had little idea what Sasuke had thought to find, before trailing after him.

They stopped at a small shop with outside seating and Sasuke ordered for them—as he’d been doing since Naruto went into a town for supplies and came back with a stack of instant ramen and a box of donuts—while Naruto found an empty table and groused about the heat. He rested his chest against the table’s edge and peered out from beneath the shade of his hand. Sasuke stood at the counter, arms loose at his sides. He was dressed in black and gray with no mark of village affiliation, nothing to distinguish him as a ninja save for the look in his eyes and the way he held himself apart from the civilians.

Sasuke glanced over his shoulder, brows furrowed. Naruto’s gaze caught on the white bandages just visible beneath Sasuke’s sleeve. He thought of Konohamaru, face gray and eyes glossy as Sakura shouted at him to move; of Udon slumped in that bench with blood still drying in the folds of his shirt and the hollows of his fingers. He had complete faith in Sakura and knew that Konohamaru would be fine… but the distance aided uncertainty and Naruto shook his head at the futility of his worries.

Sasuke returned balancing two bowls of soup and a bowl of rice. He set each down before tossing Naruto a pair of disposable chopsticks.

“Thanks,” he said. He made to snap them apart just as Sasuke stiffened and someone dropped down onto the bench seat beside him.

“Well, look who it is.” The newcomer threw an arm around Sasuke’s shoulders and Naruto’s chopsticks fell, unheeded, from his limp fingers.

“Suigetsu.” The sudden stillness with which he held himself was a sure indication of his mounting irritation. “So it was your chakra. Remove your arm or I’ll remove it for you,” Sasuke said, voice infused with calm malevolence.

Naruto felt the sudden and compelling urge to fulfill Sasuke’s threat for him and rip the offending limb off of Sasuke’s person… which was highly peculiar. So instead he stayed where he was, mouth agape, and watched with growing irritation the languid way Suigetsu slid his arm from Sasuke’s shoulders, fingers dusting the dark hair above the nape of his neck.

“You look familiar,” Naruto said, refocusing his attention.

The man gave Naruto an indifferent glance. Pale hair fell into his eyes and he brushed it away with a smirk. The odd, sharp-toothed smile was familiar.

“You were there,” Naruto said. “During that last battle. You’re the one who broke Zabuza’s sword.”

“My sword,” Suigetsu said. He regarded Naruto for a moment, eyes assessing. Then he shrugged and leaned over to sniff at Sasuke’s soup before jerking away. Sasuke’s elbow missed his nose by millimeters. “Asshole. Anyway, I didn’t break it. Kubikiri Houcho was broken by Kisame’s Samehada.”

Naruto nodded, recalling now the image of a man with pale hair swinging a broken sword into oncoming rain ninjas. He’d assumed, then, that he was an ally. He supposed he hadn’t been too far off the mark.

“I’m Naruto,” he finally said. “Nice to meet you.”

Suigetsu gave the hand Naruto extended to him a calculating look before apparently deciding to ignore it in favor of stretching his arms. “Naruto. That name sounds familiar.”

Naruto’s hand fisted as he contemplated physical assault for the slight. Sasuke interrupted his impending explosion with a sharp look. “Eat your food. If you don’t have the energy to travel, I’ll leave you behind.”

Naruto huffed and retrieved his chopsticks. He wanted to ask why—why didn’t Sasuke object to his company; why was Sasuke letting him get so close, even if it was only physical proximity; why didn’t Sasuke care? Had he really been so lonely?

“Oi, mind if I tag along? It’ll be like old times,” Suigetsu said, before sneering at Naruto.

Naruto blinked between the two of them. Something tightened in his chest, a dissonant chord plucking at his ribs. The heat of the sun burned the back of his head and shoulders and he stood. His feet were suddenly clumsy as he extracted himself from the bench table.

Gritting his teeth against the arrogant tilt of Suigetsu’s chin, he hurried away with a muttered, “I need a drink.”

***

Despite the age of the building, the well-swept floorboards were quiet beneath his bare feet. The innkeeper had escorted them to the rooms they’d be occupying before returning to her section of the building. The inn was one story with small traditional rooms lined in tatami mats and furnished with a single futon folded against the far wall. Each room had an adjoining bathroom but the only tub and shower was located at the end of the hall.

Naruto rubbed a towel against his damp hair as he padded down the hall back to his room. Suigetsu, despite numerous rebuffs, had chosen the same inn and Naruto was having a difficult time suppressing his desire to throttle the man in his sleep. Naruto’s head was still ringing from all the shouting he’d done outside the inn, where Suigetsu had insulted both Sasuke then Naruto, the clothes on his back, his village affiliation, the food they’d just eaten, and the entire populace of Fire Country.

His foot stepped in something wet and he paused. There was a puddle in the middle of the hallway and a damp trail leading into the room to the left—Sasuke’s room. Naruto frowned when muffled voices issued from behind the sliding doors. He stepped closer, ears perked.

“…out of my room.”

“You’re still such an arrogant priss.”

Naruto’s brows rose as he recognized Suigetsu’s voice. His words were immediately followed by what sounded like a physical struggle. Naruto covered his mouth and snickered into his hand at the mental image of Sasuke with Suigetsu in a headlock.

“The hell’s your problem? It’s just a little fun.”

“If you think I’ve any interest in you, then you’re mistaken.”

Naruto’s eyes widened at the distinct sound of a fist meeting flesh and bone followed by more shuffling noises. He wrinkled his nose in indecision. He had really liked the innkeeper and it would be unfortunate if the two men decided to fight and blow out a few walls, especially since he had very little money on him to pay for reparations. He sighed and reached for the door.

It slid open and Naruto stepped in only to freeze at the threshold. His mental image had been markedly off.

Sasuke was lying on his back, his robe mussed and hanging off a pale shoulder. He was glaring coolly at Suigetsu—a look he then transferred to Naruto. Suigetsu, however, had Sasuke pinned to the futon—although Sasuke’s calm expression meant he was only pinned because he had yet to truly fight back—and was bent over him… completely nude. He turned at Naruto’s interruption and flipped his hair back with a sour look. His cheek was red and quickly darkening from where Sasuke had hit him.

“What the fuck do you want?”

Naruto swallowed back an angry outburst. His eyes traced the naked line of Suigetsu’s back and the curve of his buttock, his skin smooth and colorless in the low light of the corner lamp. He looked down at Sasuke and the dismissive glint in his eyes.

He managed to choke out, “N-nothing. Sorry,” before he stumbled back out the door.

***

Suigetsu left the following morning, heading inland, and Naruto was glad to see the back of him. He and Sasuke continued south along the coast, passing through other fishing towns and scaling the rough terrain and wild forests that stood sentinel at Fire Country’s southeastern border.

When they crossed into Tea Country, Naruto took a moment to look behind. His gaze swept across the tree line and the rise of the mountain range beyond that stretched westward toward Konoha. The uppermost boughs of the trees swayed in unison with the shifting wind. Otherwise, the forest was still, like a scene from one of Sai’s paintings.

Dirt and dust rose up beneath his feet as he ran to catch up with Sasuke, who had continued ahead. It slipped in through his sandals and settled into a gritty film between his toes. He swept a hand down his shirt and frowned at the fine sprinkling of dirt that the motion dislodged. They’d have to bathe at the next body of water they came across.

Sasuke moved, as he’d done since the beginning of their impromptu journey, with a purpose to his steps, as if he knew just where he was going. If that were true, he had yet to impart that bit of knowledge onto Naruto. He trusted Sasuke—and while history might have demanded he reassess that sentiment, it was true nonetheless.

“So… Sasuke. Where we headed?”

Sasuke shrugged and glanced up at the sky to gauge the time. “I don’t have a destination in mind, if that’s what you mean.”

“Er… so we’re just… Wait.” Naruto stopped. Sasuke gave him a curious arch of his brow but walked on. Reluctantly, Naruto continued moving to keep pace. “So you don’t know where we’re going?”

“Was that what you assumed?”

“Well… yeah. If you’re just running around the countryside, then… why not just go home?”

The look Sasuke angled him was impatient. “Konoha is not my home.” His jaw tightened. “Not for a long time.”

“Because you won’t let it be,” Naruto said quietly.

The silences between them were always burdened by thoughts so loud they might as well have voiced them if not for the fear that the time for such candor between them had long since passed. Thoughts and questions and why–so many whys lined up in cultivated rows at the back of his head. Naruto watched him. The corners of Sasuke’s mouth softened and his gaze grew distant. Naruto always seemed to be watching him. He forced himself to look away.

Do you know where home is now, Sasuke? Naruto bit the inside of his mouth, eyes lowered to the slant of his shoulders.

“So we’re not actually going somewhere.” It was a statement; one Sasuke didn’t need to answer.

“A destination isn’t necessary.”

Naruto scratched the back of his head. Sasuke ran a hand through his hair, slender fingers sifting through black bangs. Naruto found the simple motion oddly mesmerizing.

Sasuke released his breath with a troubled sigh. “I spent a long time working to fulfill a goal,” he finally said.

Naruto nodded. “Yes.” A lifetime was a long time.

“It’s… nice to just… wander for a time.”

Why? What are you searching for now? he thought but didn’t ask. Did Sasuke know how to exist without a purpose? Was that why he wandered? To find a purpose?

Silence again. Naruto counted the seconds by the pace of their footsteps against the dirt road. A muscle ticked in Sasuke’s cheek as he clenched and unclenched his teeth. He opened his mouth, gaze glancing sidelong at Naruto.

“Why are you still here?” he said, voice wary. He sounded vaguely confused, as if it was a question he’d wanted to ask for a while but hadn’t for whatever reasons Sasuke chose to do, or not do, anything.

“Because—” …maybe I’m not ready to leave yet. Because, even though you’re here, maybe I’m still searching for something too. Naruto rubbed the back of his head and smiled sheepishly. “Because I want to be.” He shook his head at his lame reasoning.

Sasuke frowned but said nothing.

“I’ve been meaning to ask… Why did you save them? Udon and Konohamaru?”

Sasuke let the question linger unanswered for so long that Naruto felt ready to throw up his hands and ask something else.

“It was mere coincidence,” Sasuke said. Naruto quickly snapped his mouth shut. “I was camped nearby and I smelled the blood.”

Naruto closed his eyes against the memory of Konohamaru bleeding a dark puddle into the road where Udon’s strength had given out and collapsed, the bodies of his teammates sprawled across him.

“They were weak. Their comrade was already dead and still, they hindered themselves with her. I should have left them to their folly.”

Naruto unfurled his fists, hands shaking at Sasuke’s casual dismissal. He reminded himself it was Sasuke who had saved them and, despite what Sasuke wanted everyone to believe, Naruto knew the man wasn’t entirely heartless. “But you didn’t.”

Sasuke seemed to have no reply beyond the slight tightening of his lips.

“Well… for what it’s worth, thank you.” He received a noncommittal grunt in response and he smiled.

“The Hokage sent you after me?”

Naruto hunched his shoulders and tugged awkwardly at his hair. “Er. Actually, I kind of left in a hurry when… when Udon told me it was you who’d saved them.”

Sasuke’s brows narrowed. There was a shrewd gleam in his eyes. “You didn’t tell anyone.”

Naruto winced at the thought of the repercussions he’d face when he returned.

“You’re an idiot.”

“Hey, I was worried about you.”

“Which is why you’re an idiot. Coming after me won’t be a good enough excuse for the council.”

“So what? They’ll have to accept it. What the hell do you care anyway?”

“I don’t.” But you do.

Naruto thought he heard the unspoken words resonate in the ensuing silence.

They found a river half a mile down the road and followed it downstream a ways. They hadn’t traveled far from Fire Country just yet and the trees still stood in condensed groves, close enough to provide some privacy. The moment they stopped, Naruto tossed his bag onto the shore, kicked his sandals off and dove, fully clothed, into the river.

The water was cold and he gasped when he came up for air. He stood, pushing wet hair back from his face and grinning at the promise of being clean. The river was shallow and the water level only reached his waist. He peeled his wet shirt off over his shoulders and tossed it on the bank where Sasuke stood undressing with less haste.

“Ne, Sasuke. Since we’re not actually going anywhere, we’ve got time to waste, right? Want to spar?”

Sasuke snorted. He waded into the water in his boxers and Naruto made a point of not thinking about him in a rumpled robe beneath Suigetsu.

“Just bathe. You’re starting to smell.”

“Pfft. And you smell like the wrong end of a cow. Besides, it’s okay if you don’t think you can win. You’re probably rusty. I won’t—” His words were cut off as Sasuke blurred across the distance, the water rising up around them as he blocked Sasuke’s punch. “That’s more like it.”

Sasuke smirked. The spray of water glittered the air.

In all the passing years, something that had never changed was the uphill struggle, the needed violence and the unexpected elation, the thrill that was fighting Sasuke. He grinned through the blood in his mouth and matched Sasuke in unyielding brutality. His fists remembered the shape of Sasuke’s jaw, his ribs stung with the memory of Sasuke’s kicks. Both reveled in the exhilaration of fighting, not for country nor power nor the upper hand that would turn the tide of a war, but for nothing more than the satisfying ache of a good fight.

“Our last fight, that day before you killed Pein… we were interrupted then,” Sasuke said. He turned his face to spit blood into the water. Then he combed wet bangs back and tilted his head to look down his nose at Naruto. “Let’s finish it.”

Naruto grinned and cracked his knuckles. “I’m going to win, Sasuke.”

“Hn.”

Sasuke charged and Naruto blocked. Beneath their feet, the water swelled in quivering waves. The air rippled, the energy of their chakra ripping the leaves from the overhead branches. There was intensity in Sasuke’s eyes, a burning focus he’d lacked until then. Naruto would have laughed if his jaw wasn’t throbbing from a particularly vicious hit.

He turned into a punch, missed, and opened himself to a blow. Sasuke’s chest brushed his side, arm drawn back. Naruto closed his eyes and braced himself, his own limbs wound for retaliation.

The contact came a second slower than he anticipated. There was no blunt pain from a curled fist, just uneven breaths from cold lips sliding across his; just the gentle pressure of a questioning kiss that derailed all coherent thought and left him short of breath.

Naruto jerked away. He stared with wide unblinking eyes at Sasuke, who was staring at his mouth with grim contemplation.

Then he spun away and strolled for the shore. “I’m going to find dinner,” he said.

The muscles of Sasuke’s back were bunched, spine rigid. The seat of his boxers clung wetly to his buttocks and Naruto sucked in his breath. His heart was suddenly pounding in his ears, a fresh wave of adrenaline pumping through him. Nothing, he thought, felt more right than fighting Sasuke.

He tackled Sasuke just before he reached the bank. Sasuke struck out but Naruto cupped his face and pressed their mouths together. Sasuke stilled, stiff with shock, and Naruto pressed harder, his lips clumsy in his haste.

Nothing except this. Sasuke was staring wide-eyed up at him, mouth parted and looking far more surprised than he had a right to considering he had started it.

This. Naruto swallowed hard before lowering his face and kissing him again. Sasuke sighed, a soft exhalation of warm breath against his damp lips. His throat felt tight and he swallowed thickly.

Sasuke’s hands slid into his hair, fisting in the wet locks to hold him in place. Chakra control became suddenly insignificant and he noted distantly that they were sinking but it didn’t matter, nothing mattered.

This. Sasuke arching up into him, as if full body contact wasn’t enough. Sasuke. His mouth parted, tongue dipping forward, nails scoring skin, as he sank into him.

***

A month passed in a whirl of windswept hair and waist-high grass, dizzying heights and endless blue, and Sasuke… Sasuke, with that twist of his (soft, soft) lips and that quirk of his brow and the heat of his mouth that burned into him. The days grew longer and the air of Tea Country grew heavy with heat and humidity. Naruto spent his nights wrapped in pale skin and dark hair. His days were spent glancing behind him, at the peaks of distant mountains and a sweeping vista visible now only in his mind’s eye.

Konohamaru would have been fully recovered by now. Physically, in any case. Sakura… she’d forgive him. Eventually. But first she’d probably punch him through two walls and then reluctantly patch him back together so he’d be in one piece to face the old hag.

“Naruto.” Sasuke sat beside him, their backs against the wide girth of a tree. Where their shoulders touched, heat pooled and sweat condensed, but neither man shied away from the minor discomfort.

The last town they’d passed through had been small—no more than a few hundred people—and Naruto had used the last of his money to buy enough dango to snack on for the rest of the day. He chewed on his last piece and tossed the stick into the hedges. He acknowledged Sasuke with a soft grunt.

Sasuke remained silent. Naruto stretched out his legs, the grass cool against his ankles, and turned his head to look expectantly at Sasuke. Sasuke was staring off at some distant point, his fingers running idly through the patch of dandelions beside his hip. His brows were furrowed just enough to convey that his thoughts were not of the lighter variety.

“What is it?”

“It’s been two months.”

Naruto’s smile fell. It was a topic they’d managed to avoid thus far, even when he was staring wistfully northward and Sasuke was watching him with shielded eyes. “Yeah… I probably should have at least left a note. Or written the old hag to let her know what I’m doing or something.”

“And what are you doing?”

There was no sarcasm in his tone so Naruto refrained from being offended. He answered truthfully. “I don’t know.”

Sasuke snorted, but it lacked its usual bite of disdain. “They’ll call you a missing nin.”

“The old hag might be angry enough to refuse to make me the next Hokage.”

“You’re such an idiot…”

The waning sunlight traced Sasuke’s profile in shades of gold. Naruto watched the way his lashes fluttered when he blinked; he studied the tilt of his nose and the swell of his lips, the curve of his chin and the strong line of his jaw. Sasuke’s head tilted towards him and his lips quirked in a small, amused smile.

Naruto leaned over and pressed a light kiss to the corner of Sasuke’s mouth, letting the contact linger, memorizing the contours of Sasuke’s melancholy. “You want me to go,” he said, voice soft.

Sasuke began to shake his head before he caught himself and froze, looking uncomfortable. “You want to go. You need to go.”

“Go with me.” The words were out before he could stop them. He held his breath at the way Sasuke’s lips tightened.

“No.”

He hadn’t expected any other response. Still, the disappointment was crushing. He braced his palm against the bark and covered Sasuke’s mouth. He forced his lips to part, forced him to taste the lingering sweetness of the dango, to taste and take and want because Naruto wanted. Sasuke would never change; he would never bend for Naruto, regardless of what he felt for him. Still, knowing this, Naruto wanted.

Sasuke accompanied him back into Fire Country and even allowed Naruto to coax him within twenty miles of Konoha. He refused to go further. Scouts patrolled at the fifteen mile mark and a frantic chase would hardly be an ideal parting.

In the end, Naruto propped his shoulder against a tree—the slender trunk of a Cypress, familiar and solid, evocative like the scent of pine, staples of Fire Country. He crossed his arms, waiting.

Sasuke frowned. Naruto felt glad for it.

“You should go.”

Naruto sighed and the sound felt hollow. He dropped his head back, smiling up at nothing. “Yeah.”

He straightened to leave and suddenly, hands were in his hair, callused thumbs tracing the lines on his cheeks; and Sasuke, pressing him back against the tree, the bark digging into his shoulder blades. He was still frowning but he was so close, Naruto could count his eyelashes. And then Sasuke was kissing him, lips bruising, teeth sharp and breaking skin. Fingernails dug crescent-shaped grooves into his shoulder. Naruto clutched back and kissed him as if nothing, not duty nor village allegiance nor the promise of a long-coveted title, mattered more in that moment than alleviating the line between his lover’s brows.

Then Sasuke abruptly pushed away, stepping back to put space between them.

“They’ll probably arrest you when they see you,” he said, sounding winded.

Naruto had to take a moment to catch his breath. “Probably.”

“Don’t be so stupid next time you decide to run off.”

Naruto smiled then, so broad and blinding that Sasuke’s frown smoothed away. He nodded in agreement. “Right. Later, Sasuke.”

Sasuke acknowledged his farewell with a negligent wave. Then he turned and disappeared into the trees.

Naruto remained where he was for a short while. He listened to the motions of the forest and watched a leaf fall from up high, where a sharp wind had shaken it loose.

Then he nodded. Next time, he thought, and headed for home.

—

Peace is a journey of a thousand miles and it must be taken one step at a time. — Lyndon Johnson