. canonverse one shots .
8:33 PM by appuru
Naruto arrives at the bridge at twelve forty-eight, since he predicts Kakashi won't be there anyway, and runs up to greet his teammates with "Good mooorning, Sakura-chaaaan!" and a somewhat less enthusiastic "'Morning, Sasuke", where Sasuke quirks an eye at the lack of an added 'bastard' to his name, and Naruto does not say anything and instead grins indolently. Sakura smiles, says hello, and returns to ogling Sasuke, who finally grunts something that could barely pass for human speech.
Two eighteen and Kakashi makes his grand appearance, explaining that his lateness was all due to the fact he was nearly run over by a eighteen-wheeler this morning, despite the lack of motorized vehicles in Konoha. Naruto and Sakura dutifully shout "LIAR!", and Sasuke once again fails at communication. Kakashi presents them with his bemused, all-knowing look, and deems that today is a fine day for training and not-missions. Naruto complains loudly.
Aftermathematics by ronsard ♠
"Sasuke," Naruto said slowly. "Your wife left you yesterday."
Sasuke scowled at him, mentally counted to ten, and then scowled some more. "I know that."
If it were at all possible, Naruto's bottom jaw fell a little lower. The action gave him a cross-eyed appearance. "You know—oh fuck, of course you know! I meant, hell, you asshole, isn't there something else you're supposed to be doing instead of going to your goddamn headquarters?"
"Like what?"
"Like—I don't know—crying, or getting drunk? Or, better yet, admitting that you were wrong and begging her to come back on your hands and knees?"
For some absurd reason, Sasuke found that couldn't meet Naruto's eyes. Instead, he forced a derisive snort and, gaze carefully averted, said, "My marriage is none of your concern and that includes what I should or should not be doing with my time."
"In any case," he continued breezily, "it's unreasonable to expect me to spontaneously put my work on hold merely for the sake of sorting out domestic issues. If Sakura had announced her intention to depart a few days ahead, then I might have been able to accommodate you."
"Sasuke," Naruto said evenly. "I'm going to punch you now."
A Ghost without Regret by unfortunately freckled
Konoha had always been haunted, or so the legends relayed. Being a ninja village, people often died and with their passing their dreams and lives faded into that indefinite realm of memory. Villagers would gaze wistfully at pictures of stricken comrades with the silent question stinging their tongue: "Did they have any regrets?" And those whom seemed to shoulder those eternal burdens were said to become ghosts—ethereal presences desperate for the warm flesh and blood that had slipped between their fingers.
For the most part however, the accounts of these ghostly encounters were scarce and highly unreliable. Various villagers reported a disembodied scream to the Hokage once and a while and of course the dreaded and deadly shadow-in-the-corner-of-the-eye, but there had never been an actual sighting or occurrence that had been factual enough to investigate. (Omitting the one time, of course, Iruka had reported flying silverware in his house only to find the culprit not an irate ghoul but Naruto and some fishing wire. The boy's ears still rang sometimes from the deafening chewing out he had received from Tsunade and Iruka both.)
The screams began appearing in the summer at various times in the day. Loud, choked howls resonated from alley-ways and the forest and other such places that made many people pale with the idea of traveling into to discover the spine-chilling origin. What appeared to be the most unusual thing, however, was the fact that these pained shrieks could sometimes be heard echoing from the dark Uchiha clan complex. Clouded with a bloody past, the vacant houses, neighbors decided, were a perfect breeding ground for ghosts.
A Matter of Head by askerian
"Okay, he's. Well. I mean, I'm pretty sure I'm the first he ever let... You know. And yeah, I kinda... notice that he's not -- we're not... doing it often. But anything else -- bleh."
Inner Sakura supplied the missing words. And an image of Sasuke's narrow hips and tight, muscled buttocks. And another image of Naruto, that time he had fallen over the wall separating the men's pool from the women's at the onsen.
...Maybe that was why Sasuke didn't want to bottom too often. Because, well, um.
Inner Sakura also wondered if she could tell apart the soreness and stiffness of a good sparring session, and the soreness and stiffness of another kind of sport that was more often played in bedrooms.
But then this was Sasuke; maybe he enjoyed both -- OH, DUH. Why hadn't she thought about it before? Scratch that, why hadn't NARUTO thought about it before?
Anchored In Dust by fahye ♠
He looked up again when he became aware of the silence around him, the silence that began with Uzumaki Naruto and then rolled away, gathering a terse momentum as it spread over the crowd of people that were trickling into their vicinity now that the fight was, to all intents and purposes, over.
There was a terrible gash on Naruto's forehead, snaking into his hairline and bleeding all over his face. Sasuke's own face tingled in an itchy sympathy: he wished the idiot would wipe the damn blood away.
"So that's that," Naruto said.
Sasuke straightened his back, stood with his feet flat on the ground of the only place he had ever called home, and held out his hand.
And oh! it's raining today by fish-for-ashes
It's wet and it's cold and it's tenth of October. It's a terrible day to be on the roof, with the skies stretched out all gray and stormy above them, but Naruto insisted and Sasuke let himself be pulled up stairs and through doors.
Naruto carefully chooses a dry spot of roof, and promptly sits himself down. And Naruto doesn't reach up to tug Sasuke's hand, but the way Naruto looks up at the other boy is enough, just enough, to make Sasuke wordlessly sit down as well. And the brilliance of the resulting grin causes that funny feeling in Sasuke's heart-- again.
"Why are you so fucking happy today?" Sasuke tries to make the question callous.
But fails miserably.
Arrangement by kodak_85
One year, two months, and eleven days ago, one dragging the other, shattered bones laying heavily in their bruised and battered bodies, they left a trail of blood behind them at the heaved their way back to Konoha. One with a ridiculous grin on a face you could hardly recognize through the bruising. One with a deep scratch across his forehead that bled into his eyes, turning them red--"You do need it, I knew you did, I fucking knew I could, fight me, fight me"--both were thoughts and intentions so different, yet so tightly interlocked, that after the month and two days it took for both of them to be allowed out of the hospital, neither could stand very much to talk to each other, or to even look one another in the eye.
A year and a week ago, Sasuke was placed under arrest, and sentenced to a public hanging. A year and six days ago, the sentence was quickly overturned by a sharp-witted woman with a soft heart for a boy she considered as close as a son. On that day, Sasuke Uchiha, betrayer of Konoha, self-acclaimed avenger, was placed under house arrest, ridden of all ninja duties pending a trial a year from that day.
Nine months ago, Naruto woke up with a deep emptiness in his stomach that he took for hunger. He ate five complete meals that day and went to bed feeling like he'd been fasting for a month.
A month and a day of this finally opened his eyes to the fact that it was loneliness chewing down on him like a three-course meal, starting with his stomach and working its way to his heart.
Ashes, Ashes by ronsard ♠
He finds the scroll by complete accident while rifling through the burnt rubbles that were once the village of Otogakure. When first he sees the charred goatskin among the broken tiles and ashes, he doesn't quite recognize it for what it is, only noticing that the item has somehow managed to escape the flame relatively unharmed.
Later, he will wonder what strange impulse has seized him then, guiding his hand inexorably towards the blackened roll of bamboo and skin.
A sudden movement from behind startles him, and he tightens his grip around the scroll as if by some inborn instinct.
"Any more bodies under there?" Just a random ANBU, faceless behind the painted mask. "That area used to be Orochimaru's personal chamber."
Avoiding the Issue by sadieko
The shirt sat untouched on his floor for nearly three weeks.
More specifically, it sat in the center of his room; a wadded up double handful of black mesh and lightweight cotton that he had to step over every time he went to the bathroom. He didn't understand how the hell both of them missed it. No matter how madly they'd rushed to get dressed before Kakashi came home and found them naked and tangled up together, they should have spotted it. The shirt was perfectly visible, lying right where even a half-blind idiot could see it.
Especially that half-blind idiot. The one who owned the stupid thing. Of course Naruto hadn't come back to get it. Sasuke wouldn't have let him in or talked to him even if he had shown up, but that wasn't the point. Naruto wasn't going to come over because he just wasn't that considerate. He probably expected Sasuke to return it to him.
Ha. Like that was going to happen.
Be Mine by biztheinsane
Sasuke doesn't like chocolate. It's too rich, too hard, and, most importantly, too sweet. Sasuke just doesn't do sweet. It gives him a headache and makes him feel nauseous, so he prefers to just coolly avoid it like he does most everything else.
This is why Sasuke hates Valentine's Day: You can't just coolly avoid a scheduled day of the year. It cannot be done. It's there, silently lurking, lying in wait ahead of you on the calendar. And Sasuke knows, really knows, that no matter how far he runs, or how cleverly he hides, or how staunchly he ignores, there is still going to be a wealth of disgusting chocolate outside his door this coming holiday. Regardless of how he feels about it, Valentine's Day is determined to nip at his heels, mewling for attention, for the rest of his life.
Luckily, he has Naruto.
Best Laid Plans by askerian
Naruto found him on the bridge where Team Seven used to meet every morning, back when they'd been Genins. Except that it wasn't morning at all, and Sasuke wasn't standing, his back to one of the pillars and his arms crossed in a "I'm cooler than you" pose. He was sitting at the edge, his forehead pressed to the wooden guardrail, his legs swinging slowly over the water. There were a few bottles around him.
Sake bottles. Naruto wondered if Sasuke had hit his head and had become amnesiac and then totally changed his personality, or maybe if someone of Ino's family had stolen his body for some nefarious purpose -- or maybe if it was an illusion.
Yeah, the illusion thing was more probable, what with being a ninja and all that.
So he kicked it. It seemed like a good idea at the time, really.
Catch by joosetta ♠
The first time she saw them they were in the deserted classroom, pressed against the wall beside the window. Later on she realised that this was the first for them as well- something unheralded, frantic and new.
She could only see Sasuke at first, and the burn of jealousy was sick and bitter in her throat. He looked so absorbed, shoulders hunched, head tilted. She didn't even notice /who/ he was absorbed in at first- only the way his clenched fist was twitching against the wall, and the way his jaw was moving lazily.
And then she saw Naruto, fingers holding a white knuckled grip on Sasuke's shirt, feet spread in an almost fighting stance. His head was pushed back against the wall, eyes squeezed shut in tense concentration.
She ran as silently as she could.
Choices by ninjacat ♠
It wasn't something they talked about.
It just wasn't. It was a fucking lot easier to pretend it had never happened, to pretend that the way things were...that it had always been. That the only things that had changed were the years and the days, the length of their hair and size of their shoes. And maybe, in Sasuke's case, the color of one's fingernails.
Which Naruto never failed to prod at. Especially at times like this. When the unspoken rule of silence got bent but never quite broken.
Getting drunk usually helped that along. A lot.
Choosing Who by gelfling8604
It was raining. Gray sunlight turned the poisoned trees and canyons dark charcoal, so smudgy it may've been night. Naruto ran.
He'd sent Sakura ahead of him with Kakashi-sensei while he protected the rear; the older man needed medical attention badly, and Sakura would be able to help him better than Naruto would if they weren't able to reach help in time. He wasn't sure how far ahead Sakura was—the rain made it hard to tell, but if he had this much trouble following Sakura with her low chakra and high speed that meant that their pursuers were having a worse time.
The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end while he ran—he could feel he was being followed, watched, tried branching off the path and double-backing to throw them off Sakura's trail, because in his condition he wasn't really up for fighting. Sections of his body—his left shoulder, lower right abdomen—had been badly wounded and burned painfully as the sinew knitted itself back together.
Counting by oceansex ♠
Three weeks after Sasuke had finally been nagged, bribed and bullied into moving in with Naruto, the apartment had been destroyed five times -- kindly rebuilt by an easily-swayed Yamato soon after -- Sasuke had threatened to move out two hundred and seventeen times, they had argued a hundred and thirteen times, and they had refused to speak to each other ninety six times. However, out of all these alarmingly high numbers, they had kissed only four times, and slept together exactly zero times. Sasuke was even adamant about having his own futon, even though they shared a room.
Naruto was not entirely sure what this meant, as before Sasuke moved in, they used to kiss and have sex all the time. Being slightly dense, he was unable to solve this particular riddle himself. And being as slightly dense as he was, he also tried asking others for their opinions on the matter.
Domestic by dedkake
No one had ever actually criticized Naruto on the way that he ate before, but after his first night eating an actual meal together with Sasuke, he learned that he did many things incorrectly.
He apparently didn't hold his chopsticks correctly, an argument which had led to Naruto breaking two pairs of utensils, one of them on Sasuke's arm.
He also didn't hold his teacup correctly, something that, when mentioned, had earned both boys scalding tea all over their laps.
And then he ate with his mouth open—a criticism which actually embarrassed him, but, at the moment when Sasuke brought it up, merely caused him to do it as obnoxiously as he could. There had been a lot of food on the table after dinner.
Empires for Whores by sintari ♠
"Well, that could have gone better."
Naruto tried to keep his tone light, but his flexing fingers and stiff gait as they left the Hokage Tower behind told Sasuke all he needed to know about Naruto's latest meeting with the Council.
Technically, Sasuke hadn't waited for Naruto to emerge. The Council had summoned him to take new identification photos. The official notice had left off the phrase, "...in case we need to list you in the Bingo Book again," but Sasuke read between the fine brush strokes. Ever since he'd won probation and free rein of Konoha, the powers-that-be had annoyed him with petty harassments. It was psychological warfare, designed so that he wouldn't become too complacent and confuse nominal toleration with whole-hearted acceptance back into the fold.
Epilogue by fireun ♣
It started where it had ended, two predators circling each other warily looking for an opportunity if not an opening. They took in each other's differences with narrowed eyes, more than half distracted by what they remembered. They looked for patterns to fall into and onto, settling on an aggression that was as much self defense as offense. Naruto didn't notice his upper lip had curled up just so. Sasuke didn't realize he hadn't dared blink. But each noticed the others reflexive defense and interpreted it as offense. Old habits died hard, and reared again in the face of familiar stimuli.
Too long apart, neither of them wanted to make the first move, to be the one to try and test the other. There was enough difference in Naruto's bearing, in Sasuke's movements, that neither was sure of the other.
Impulsive, compulsive, Naruto made the first move. He straightened, and if he didn't exactly smile some of the snarl left his face. "I'm hungry. Let's get lunch."
Exchange by desolate_butterfly
This isn't the way things were supposed to turn out; Sasuke's sure of it.
He doesn't know what Naruto gave up to get him back; only that there was some kind of exchange that he was left out of, some decision made out of his control again and Sasuke sometimes thinks that being Orochimaru's tool would be better than being Naruto's.
At least there were no conflicting emotions in Sound. There was power and there was hatred and there was convenience and Sasuke knew exactly where he stood. Now he lies in Naruto's bed, curled in the sheets that reek of too many sweaty nights and unwashed bodies—the slightly darker scent of the forest—and tries not to think too hard about the removal of Orochimaru's seal from his body.
Naruto appears in the doorway, soaking wet. Sasuke raises his head slightly from the pillow but can't hear the rain. The bedsprings creak as Naruto sits down, a cautious distance from Sasuke's legs, and peels off his jacket
Feels like Walking on Water by hina88
"I guess then that the rumours are true."
Sakura's calm and quieter voice drew both Naruto and Sasuke's attention. Naruto looking confused and Sasuke's just losing all expression.
"Already?" Sasuke asked.
Sakura shrugged. "The Suzume family are a very old and well respected family," her tone became wry, "Not to mention they have a lot of money Sasuke. Although I don't think that Michiko-san would spread the rumours, I'm pretty sure that it got out mainly through their servants."
Naruto blinked, looking from Sasuke to Sakura. "I don't get it. What rumours?"
Sakura smiled at Sasuke, just a small easing of her mouth and a lightening of her expression before she went back to eat.
For a moment as Naruto remained confused about what the hell the two of them were talking about, the room was silent.
Then—
"I'm getting married."
Fifteen Ways to Dissolve a Memory by 1957 ♠
There are a number of things Naruto thinks about when Sasuke gets like this--throwing dishes and scrolls and ramen everywhere in celebration of a destruction that only will only lead to a five hour clean-up of shattered china.
Sasuke will bulldoze everything. Then he will kneel next to the overturned coffee table and breathe a deep sigh--a relieved sigh. A quiet will settle over the broken furniture and Naruto will walk to Sasuke who will run his hands over Naruto's hips and force him to sit. They will kiss. Fabric will tear; seams will fray. Then they will know the war is over.
But Sasuke is only on the first cupboard right now, and there is only a moderate pile of rubble on the kitchen floor. He has not typhooned through the rest of the house yet. It will take a long time for Sasuke to do that.
Full Circle by na_no_nai
Naruto blinks and takes in his new surroundings. He's no longer standing in a foot of snow in Iron Country. The stone-like floor beneath him is solid, block-like. Several others jut up around him in this oddly illuminated place with no actual lights. That's when he realizes he's crouched on the floor with Sasuke of all people. He gives him a quick shove and stands up.
"What's going on, Sasuke? Where the hell are we?"
Sasuke takes his sweet ass time answering. He sheathes his sword and wipes his face off on his sleeve. It doesn't get all the blood off his cheek, but Naruto says nothing. Then with a shrug, he answers, "I don't know."
Gloss by fahye ♠
It begins with the way Sasuke reaches out and picks up Naruto's hand, with the way his lips are dry and smooth and he never even blinks as he pulls Naruto's fingers into his mouth.
Actually it begins a long time before that, but this is where it begins to make sense. They've already discovered that sex is weird and sticky and refuses to fit into the time that you allocate it; they've gotten it out of the way in ten minutes and had to learn to laugh about it afterwards, and they've shown up to meetings even later than Kakashi, breathless with wet hair and bruises under their clothes. They've discovered that having sex after spending the afternoon fighting in the dust is brutal and exhilerating, but you're going to end up with a lot of that dust in your mouth.
Especially if you're Sasuke.
Healing Scars by zuzeca
The first time Naruto and Sasuke had sex, it was in the rain. Not a warm, romantic summer rain that makes clothing cling provocatively to one's skin, but a freezing deluge that plastered Naruto's blond spikes to his skull and turned Sasuke's lips an unhealthy blue. Naruto had never imagined that during his first time he'd be on his hands and knees in a sea of mud, Sasuke's long legs wrapped around his waist, Itachi's cooling body not even ten feet away. As Naruto stared down at the boy who'd been his best friend, he watched the rivulets of water run down Sasuke's cheeks and couldn't tell if they were rain or tears.
The second time Naruto and Sasuke had sex, it was two weeks later. Sasuke was ensconced in one of the smaller houses of the Uchiha district, an ANBU guard all around it. They hadn't spoken of the incident; in fact Sasuke hadn't spoken at all during the return to Konoha, despite Sakura's encouragement. The only time he'd opened his mouth was to give the dull admission of guilt at his trial before the council. Naruto had been on eggshells awaiting the verdict and was overjoyed at the relatively lenient sentence. He expressed his joy by showing up on Sasuke's doorstep, a take-out bag from an impromptu trip to the Ichiraku clutched in his fist like a peace offering.
Hot Sex And Pest Control by sintari ♠
Falling in love is the easiest thing in the world. Staying in love is another thing altogether.
"There's no food in this house at all," Sasuke closed the refrigerator door, his forehead furrowing in disbelief. He saw a towel go flying across the bedroom to the dirty clothes pile before Naruto appeared in the doorway.
"I've been eating out."
Sasuke pursed his lips. "Yes, I see." Empty food cartons littered the kitchen's flat surfaces. A line of ants followed an obstacle course between them.
Juxtaposition by datenshiblue
Sakura couldn't sleep. She was tired, the day had been long, and Tsunade as always had been as good as her word to go hard on her apprentice. She shouldn't have any trouble sleeping. The one thing that could have kept her up was no longer an issue. It was almost a week since Sasuke-kun had been back. It was time for her fears and anguish to quiet, for her heart to be peaceful. After the first few days, her excitement should be subsiding. This was what she had wanted - her lifetime heart wish: to have him back. She'd spent it on that, and not on hoping for him to finally see her as a woman. She'd never expected to be discontent with it. She thought she was grown up enough to know the difference between what was really important, and a child's foolish and selfish fantasies.
She should be able to rest. But she wasn't, she couldn't, and after tossing and turning and checking the clock for the tenth time in five minutes, she dragged herself up, put on clothes and went for a walk.
Keys to Leadership by Letta
Everyone knew that the Hokage was strong. Most knew he was unconventionally brilliant. There wasn't anyone, however, that didn't know that he had one very evil and prominent sadistic streak. Especially when it came to one Uchiha Sasuke, ANBU captain and sharingan-wielding prodigy.
When confronted, the Hokage would just smile deviously like a kid with a water balloon and say that it was just payback. Most would agree that whatever the Uchiha heir had done, he didn't deserve all that he got, but then, most hadn't grown up with him, either.
Though even those that had grown up with them would agree that sometimes the leader of Konoha did tend to go overboard.
Luckily for the Hokage, he had a very dedicated ANBU guard by the name of Neji, who was very good at knowing just when to step in. After all, it was tough to defend oneself when laughing too hard to breathe.
Last Rites by octavius-x ♠
The thing is...Sound is shaping him. He can already feel it. For the first month his eyes had been continually bloodshot from overuse of the Sharingan. And below ground he takes on the same sort of pale sun-starved look as everyone else. Sometimes at night he catches a slice of self in the flat of his sword reflected as something enormous and heavy-winged, some gargoyle of the underworld crawling up to take advantage of the night.
What had his words to Naruto been? Even if I have to sell my soul to the devil... While growing up he had always sympathized with the heroes of storybooks. How easy it had been then to differentiate between the protagonist and the villain. Believing that evil came from places like this, festering in holes below ground and only rising to satisfy their own secret malice and private grievances. And now here he was among them. Silhouettes passed him halls and attended meetings with. Nightmare figures that fit the shape of his childish characterizations, but now he has to wonder what drove the rest of them here a figure in the dark doorway that you saw everyday before you left for school and the round fat moon staring down at it all at his insignificance. His anger is constantly simmering just under the surface, and his skin a paper envelop for his incipient hate. So fragile. A month in someone had made a quip about his mother naming her first born Itachi: "What do you think she was expecting with a name like that?" and Sasuke had torn into him with chidori. But even here there was nothing to match the betrayal of his brother. Afterall, here the snake wore its real face.
Life by dual
01 - Motion
It's the first thing he sees when he drops from the tree canopy to the training arena below: arms uncoiling, snapping through the still morning air; a dozen kunai finding their mark in a quivering practice dummy; and a grin so bright it hurts his heart to look at splitting a round, scarred face.
02 - Cool
"But he's not!" Naruto wailed.
Love Songs and Ladies by maldoror_gw ♠
Her ninja guards came to fetch her at her uncle's house. There were only four of them; not as many as Minako expected to protect the daughter of a very rich and powerful family from the Evil Men who might want her beauty and her fortune. And one of her guards was a girl, who appeared to be her own age at that. Minako wasn't sure what to make of that, though at the back of her mind she hoped this meant there would be somebody to talk hairdo and boys with on the two-week journey back to her hometown and her father's house.
Her eyes had fixed themselves on the young dark-haired ninja first, because, well, who wouldn't? He was her age, yet coolly world-weary; dark, broody and oh definitely handsome. But-
At this point, it might be worth explaining something about Minako. Her mother was a sheltered aristocrat from a minor noble family who read a lot of romances and was the sort of person to call her daughter Beautiful Child. Her father, on the other hand, was a powerful merchant who'd built up his fortune from scratch through many a shrewd deal. Though Minako mostly took after her mother, she had also inherited from her father an edge of practicality which she wasn't quite aware of, but which acted a bit as a guardrail.
Lucky Bachelorette Number Two by ronsard ♣
"But," he tried again, desperately coordinating his thoughts, "I was—I was locked up."
The muscle at the corner of Sakura's mouth twitched—guiltily. "Yeah," she said in her dispute management voice. "I'm sorry about the quarantine, but we had to be sure. The norovirus had been developed to be... extra persistent, and we didn't want to take any chances."
They hadn't wanted to take any chances. He had been locked up for something like an eternity, slavering at the sight of sunshine, feeling as though time and his very sense of self had been slipping away from him, all because they hadn't wanted to take any chances.
"You were only quarantined for, like, three days," Naruto piped up from the background. In a significantly lower tone, he muttered, "Geez, drama queen much?"
(Make things so) Complicated by megyal
"Naru-senseeiiii," Mika giggled as she dog-paddled around Naruto, who was standing in the middle of the river, trying to pass on to his genin team all that he had ever learned. The day was blazing-hot, even his hair felt limp; he longed to release the chakra he had built up under his feet and just collapse into the cool water.
"Naru-sensei," Mika sang out again and Naruto narrowed his eyes at her, hunkering down to be close when she paddled around him again. She blinked when she found herself face to face with him; Naruto had heard that he had an intense gaze, but no matter how he stared in the mirror, he always looked a little stupid to himself.
"Mika." He tried to channel Iruka in his voice. "What are you doing?"
Mika's eyes were very wide and very innocent. "...trying to walk on top of the water, sensei?"
"Yeah? Then why aren't you on top of the water?"
"She's kind of lazy," Koichi drawled, his mouth twisting with Naruto turned his head to give him a narrow-eyed glare. "Sensei, it's true."
Mirror, Mirror by sowell ♣ ♠
"I'm fine," he said impatiently. "What happened to - " He froze when the side of a kunai pressed into his neck.
"It might be best if you kept your hands to yourself, for now," Kakashi said mildly.
Naruto stared. "What the hell?" he breathed.
Sakura reacted first. "It's okay," she said, but she sounded shaken.
"Sakura-chan," he said, and her eyes went wide.
"What did you just call me?" she whispered.
Beyond the bright globe of her hair, he could see Shizune helping someone else into a sitting position. Naruto watched as a blonde head came into view, Konoha hitai-ate askew. The face turned slightly, and he saw tanned skin, light eyes and...whisker marks.
The other ninja turned to look fully at him, and Naruto's world lurched. He was looking at a mirror image of himself.
Mission Troublesome by Penelope-z
It had been a complex and catastrophic sequence of events that placed Shikamaru in charge of the diplomatic mission to Suna. First, a butterfly flapped its wings, somewhere west of Wave country, thus creating the expected storm over Konoha. It rained for seven days straight, and Kakashi, the initial leader of the mission, got caught in the downpour and ended up bedridden with the flu and Iruka feeding him chicken soup. The aforementioned storm also rained over Neji, the second choice for leader, causing his hair to frizz and thus increasing his brooding to levels that were practically radioactive. Every attempt to drag him out of the rain was met with mumblings of 'oh, father' 'oh, fates' 'oh, my hair' 'it's my destiny to be wet' 'soggy caged birds don't sing' etcetera...
Desperate situations called for desperate measures, and so Shikamaru found himself summoned to the Hokage's office at some ungodly hour in the morning. A rather bedraggled Sakura was standing guard by the door, with a long-suffering gaze, her forehead protector askew, and looking more or less like she had been caught under the wheels of a particularly determined steamroller.
Monster by octavius_x
"Start with something familiar," Madara whispers in his ear.
Familiar, Sasuke thinks, familiar like...standing out on the dock of the Uchiha compound and looking up at the face of his father. Twin sensations overlap at the memory of that great frowning face: revulsion in his gut knowing that the man is dead, and underneath it the fear and apprehension he'd always had as a child.
"Try and remember," the still breath from under Madara's mask comes up fetid and hits his face, "remember it the way you remember your parent's death. Every moment of in black and white." He puts his hand on the back of Sasuke's neck, ignoring the way he flinches away at the touch.
"Remember."
Natural Talent by toffee
It wasn't that they had never considered it up until then. Naruto, at least, had been plagued by the idea for quite a while. But Sasuke's return from Sound had been both untimely and complicated; there was no time to linger on something as banal as...that.
To Naruto, however, there was nothing banal concerning this matter; he merely pushed it to the back of his mind to avoid the problems it would bring. After all, how was one supposed to approach something like this?
Sasuke-bastard... I... want to fuck you.
Or something that came close to it... very, very close.
near the border by insteadofdeath
Sasuke stares at the mission brief in his hand. It's simple, and unimportant enough to trust to a traitor.
It's not the mission he minds. It's who he's going with.
"I refuse," he says.
"Long-term missions establish trust," Kakashi says.
Sasuke doesn't flinch. His fingers tighten, and the paper in his hands wrinkles. He meets Kakashi's single, unassuming eye. "Bullshit."
Kakashi smiles. "Even so, you can't refuse."
It has been half a year. Everything is different. Sakura stands taller than he remembers, and spends her free time researching comas and chakra deprivation. Kakashi's new robes look heavy with unwanted duty.
Naruto watches him with unreadable eyes, as if waiting for him to leave again.
"Fine," Sasuke says. He crumples the paper. The edges are sharp against his palm.
Open Are The Doors To The Deathless by fearlessfirefly
In the middle of being disgusted and shocked that his lips would ever touch that idiot Sasuke's lips, Naruto felt a tug of something that made no sense: deja vu. He forgot about it a second later, dismissing in the process thousands of years of unseen history.
This is not a story they will remember, even though it has happened before and will happen again.
Placebo by desolate_butterfly
Sasuke doesn't ask for things, and so Naruto has to watch, and wait, and sometimes guess.
The guessing part is scary, because Naruto is never certain if he's guessing right. He's never been the smartest of the group, after all, that's Sakura's job. And he's not the one with the Sharingan, stolen or inherited, to help him see underneath the underneath.
But then, Sakura isn't able to push like Naruto can, isn't willing to take the chance of earning Sasuke's hatred in order to break his walls down just enough to shout through. And Kakashi isn't able to fully give what Sasuke needs—not with his own mask still securely fastened around his face. There is too much guilt between the two of them to make that kind of relationship possible.
Put a little fixing on it by megyal
Kakashi shrugs. "Oh, right. This is why you're my assistant. Anyway, on to the so-called important things. Same sequence, so we don't get lost: Ino, reports on any problems in the community and border patrols. Shikamaru, general security report."
Shikamaru's sigh is loud, but he still has a list ready in his hands.
"Sakura, hospital. Sasuke-sensei," Kakashi breezes through, "school report. You first, as usual?"
"As usual," Sasuke agrees and got to his feet. Some of the older jounin give him cool, mistrustful looks, still wary of him. Sasuke ignores them completely, stepping around the jounin and chuunin of his own age-level and going up near to the Hokage's desk with confident moves. Iruka notes how easily he manoeuvred himself, and barely holds back a smile of pride.
It's all very amazing to witness... since both of Sasuke's eyes are blind.
Second Course by sintari
"What the hell is that?" Naruto stage-whispered across the heavily-laden table to Sakura. "Looks like dog shit."
Sakura rubbed the bridge of her nose while a couple of the surrounding guests suppressed giggles and shot them dirty looks.
"Naruto. It's pate. You will eat it and you will like it." She punctuated the admonition with a kick under the table.
"Ouch!" Sakura covered her face, mortified, as Naruto lifted the pristine white tablecloth and peered below. "High heels aren't fair!"
Seven Days by ronsard
[day 0]
"It must be done," is his final answer. The words coalesce in his mouth even as his mind is rushing through the process of formulating the thoughts that would give them meaning, and he feels them rise to his lips cold and heavy as chunks of water crystal.
Strangely enough, they are already ash when they leave his mouth.
Tsunade's face is pale, two identical furious red blotches on her cheeks, but her voice sounds as if it were encased in a soapy bubble.
"--if you are sure, dammit, I don't have to tell you again how risky it is to attempt an experimental procedure. There is no need--"
"There is a need," he counters. His mouth feels numb but his heart is, for once, quiet. Calm, he thinks, and smiles tiredly. "Information confidentiality, calculated liability, unacceptable risk... Conflicting interests. And those are just the terminologies I can pronounce. I'll leave the down and dirty up to your imagination."
Shoot Your Mouth Off by Hades' Phoenix
Sex wasn't really a foreign concept to Sasuke. It couldn't be, especially after having lived with Orochimaru and his less-than-subtle innuendo for almost three years, and especially for living in a world essentially ruled by blood and death. When betrayal and distrust become the order of the day, shinobi tend to grab at the remainders of their humanity without much more than a passing thought for taboo.
"Do you even have a dick?" Naruto demanded one day, when the newly reunited Team Seven had decided to have their 'we-finished-a-mission-and-no-one-died-that-wasn't-supposed-to' celebration at Ichiraku. Or rather, the blond had decided, and dragged his two teammates to the ramen stall with Kakashi trailing along as a porn-bearing shadow of amusement.
Sasuke gave Naruto a long look that questioned his intelligence, his ancestry, and the blond's own manhood, all without words. A lesser man—or one with more common sense—might have shit himself, but Naruto just waved his chopsticks around haphazardly and nearly smacked the other boy in the face.
Sleight of Hand by fahye
There is no magic: there is only the fact that if you move fast enough then the other person might be fooled into thinking that they are standing absolutely still, the fact that your job is to unravel your opponent's tricks before they can cut the strings that allow you to perform yours. No one buys into the façade, not for an instant. Everyone is dancing on their toes and searching for the mirrors; for a way to escape and survive when the illusion is shattered; for the resultant shards of infinity which glue the universe together.
On the other side of the coin is the fact that sometimes the only way to keep someone intact is to slice them in half. Fold them up small to be carried in your pocket and then stick them with blades in perfect faith that they will unpack themselves again at the end of it all, forgiving and free of harm.
Smoke In Spring by Saro ♠
"You can come out," Naruto said, closing his eyes and breathing in deeply; the air smelled like spring and wood smoke. "I know you're there."
In the years since Orochimaru's death, Naruto had gotten used to that presence at the edge of his awareness. He hadn't been able to get Sasuke to come back, but he'd been followed anyway. He wondered sometimes if it was because of Itachi, or if his one-time friend had some other reason to haunt him. He wondered, too, if maybe it would be easier to have Sasuke gone completely.
The air was cool in that damp, fresh way that promised daffodils in the morning. It clung to his skin and his hair, cold but comfortable. Naruto licked his lips and pushed the thought of tomorrow out of his head.
Smooth by steveness2310
He wakes up, now, to the sound of Naruto fumbling for the snooze on the alarm clock.
Every day it's the same thing. At seven in the morning, the shrill beeping jolts through him and abruptly yanks him from sleep; his useless eyes snap open and search futilely for the source as his fingers slip underneath the futon where he has always kept a spare kunai. For a fraction of a terrifying second he doesn't know where he is or why he cannot see—then he feels Naruto shift next to him and hears him grumble, "Five more minutes."
The paranoid tension fades from Sasuke's shoulders as he forces himself to settle back into the sheets, willing his heart to slow and his breathing to even out. His irrational fear falls away as he passes a hand over his sightless eyes. Naruto rolls over and throws a warm leg over Sasuke's middle, pulling him into the tender cradle of his body that tells him, it's okay. There is peace and he lies next to the man who had brought it about almost single-handedly, next to the man who is the strongest person alive, next to the man who once desperately swore to him that everything would be okay.
And, he is okay, because Naruto never went back on his word.
Solitude by octavius_x ♠
2. When they'd been younger, stupider, they'd played at being adults. Ninja teenagers always wanted to try new unexpected things: using chakra infused feet to play tag on temples roofs or making footprints that started halfway up the second story, and always always they revolved around sex. They tested: just how far the sexy-no-jutsu transformation went, making-out standing on the hotsprings, or jerking-off upsidedown and backwards in trees to test their chakra control.
Don't fall, Sasuke'd whispered. They weren't girls; they didn't look. It was easier not to, just to fumble about heart --oh godohgodohgod-- in your throat, and hand down in someone else's pants. Wrist cramped and totally awkward, but it's wetandgood and hot and the trees smelled clean like pine, which he liked, and the dark enclosed them, took them in completely.
Stealth by sowell ♠
Sasuke turns into a different person when he sleeps. Naruto knows he shouldn't be so infatuated after all these years, but he can't help it. His eyes trace the pale, scarred skin of Sasuke's chest as it rises and falls with each breath. The sun creeping in past the window shade turns every ridge into hills of light and shadow. There are years of battle marked into his body, making it all the more beautiful. Sasuke is never not beautiful – a bitter fact which Naruto accepted years ago – but there is something special about him when he's sleeping. Maybe, Naruto muses, it's because he so seldom allows himself to sleep in the presence of others. There are precious few people alive who've seen Sasuke Uchiha so vulnerable, and it makes warmth spread in Naruto's chest when he thinks that he's one of them.
Summer by pellaz ♠
Naruto's mornings, he had come to find out, were not exactly normal. First of all, a few of his classmates had expressed horror that he made breakfast himself (Chouji informed him that his mother and sister and sometimes his older brother all started cooking the night before), and his cooking skills were also subject to scorn: Shikamaru made a disparaging comment about how of course all he could make was ramen, which prompted Naruto to try and make something else even though all he wanted was ramen. Who knew it was that hard to fry an egg? Damn chicken didn't want to be eaten, he guessed.
After that brouhaha died down, Sakura-chan came over one day and went through his bathroom and explained to him why, exactly, shampoo was much better for your hair than soap and merciful HEAVEN, didn't he ever clean around the drain?
Suspicious Behavior by kaeda
It's a bit like ownership, if ownership is a warm, dull feeling in the pit of the stomach that won't go away no matter how many times they fight, no matter how many times he finds himself with his nose bloody and his hands raw. But he's felt like this for years, since before Sasuke returned from Sound, when they fought for their lives and yet the other boy still couldn't kill him, couldn't kill him. Orochimaru's eyes still laugh distantly in Naruto's mind, but Sasuke is back, Sasuke is back and that's all that matters anymore.
He still doesn't understand his bizarre friendship with Sasuke, the way he alternately wants to spend every waking moment with him and yet pound his face into the dirt, and the way Sasuke provokes him constantly and yet smiles while doing so, as if he'd missed all of this. But he smiles and nods and goes along with it, and so when he trips over Sasuke's sleeping body on his way to the bathroom one morning, he doesn't even blink.
The Golden Rule by Moonsheen
Uzumaki Naruto, you've never been a guy big on rules, but you know there's stuff you can't ignore. Mostly the stuff that no one tells you, the stuff you just know--those are the important rules.
Take, for example, the rules of teamwork. You're part of a team, you work with that team. You sacrifice for that team, and you are that team. You stick together, you help each other--You weren't told that one so much as showed it. And even if you privately admit it scared the hell out of you at the time, it was still pretty damn cool. Kakashi-sensei's good at making sure you remember lessons like that.
And take, for another example, the rules of rivalry. You have a rival. You want to show him up, and you really, really wouldn't mind kicking his ass in the process. Often times there's a girl involved. Often times you hate this guy. That's the way things work. No one taught you that, but you understand it just fine. Bring it on, bastard.
The Inevitable by rayemars
Some things can't be ignored.
Long after Naruto falls asleep--sprawled out over more than half the bed and kicking him in the leg, the idiot--Sasuke keeps a hand over the place on Naruto's stomach where the seal is.
He knows that the seal is still firmly in place. Everyone knows the seal is still firmly in place; Tsunade made sure of that when the whole mess began. And it's not like it's even visible unless Naruto is using the fox demon's chakra. It's a stupid gesture, and Sasuke doesn't like doing stupid things.
He does it anyway.
The Listening Sky by fahye ♠
When Naruto closes his eyes he can just about imagine two moves into any hypothetical situation -- perhaps this and then perhaps that and then his attention unravels like a loose thread, because in a fight he thinks with his muscles and with the hot bright rush of chakra but never with anything so difficult as words.
"And then?" Kakashi says, testing him.
"And then I'd think of something else."
Kakashi sighs; Naruto grins, unconcerned, because perhaps he doesn't treat his battles as though he's playing a game of shogi, but it's very seldom that he meets a present moment he can't fight his way out of.
The Space by hina88
"Hmm, they're considering their choices for Hokage." The old man blew out a weary breath and shifted on his stool. "It's not looking good for Fire Country."
His companion grunted shovelled another spoon of soup in his mouth. "Let the shinobi deal with it. It's not our opinion that will make a difference. Their choice won't affect our small corner."
"It will if the Hokage is a liability. We don't want anymore attacks on our country and they say the one the woman is favouring is definitely someone who would attract trouble."
"Hmm, never did agree that a woman should take that position."
The Tower by insteadofdeath
For a prison--and Sasuke, thinking of the guards, had no doubt it was a prison--it was awfully accommodating. It must have been built quickly in comparison to the rest of the village.
The water came from the bathroom; Sasuke stepped inside. The grout of the tiles was likely ruined. He turned off the tap. Water sloshed over the sides of the bath, soaking his footwear and sneaking into the spaces between his toes.
At the very end of the hall was a door, cracked open enough to reveal a slit of darkness. Gently, Sasuke pushed. The door swung silently on its hinges.
Naruto was on a bed in the center of the room, sleeping. He didn't wake up.
It was completely dark. The only light came from the hall. Sasuke waited for his eyes to adjust, studying the bedroom dispassionately. Burn marks scorched the walls. Some were half-painted over, but carelessly.
Ramen containers littered the floor. Sasuke snorted.
In the farthest corner was a houseplant. It was alone, but thriving. Even in the dim light, the leaves were a lush green.
The Walking Wounded by tsubaki-hana
The sky is raw with thunder and lightning, and his nose is filled with the metallic tang of it, even if it does taste like blood in the back of his throat. But the storm is beautiful, despite its drab coloring and monotonous hushing rain sounds. He is alive enough to feel the chill of the water, but numb enough to think and not hurt.
He didn't always think that he would wander the roads the way that he did, crossing the mountains and forests like some poor wraith, some lonely child that can't seem to find his mother's hand (And you never will, because you have no mother and you don't know why).
This by fireun
Confrontation had always been, and staunchly remained, Naruto's strong point. He caught a well-groomed Sasuke the next morning, throwing a punch in place of the more typical hello. Sasuke blocked with a small grunt.
"Good morning would have worked just as well."
"Who is it?"
Sasuke was caught off guard, and caught a kick to the side of his knee that had him taking a fall to save the joint. He rolled out of the way of another hit and frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"I know its not Sakura. She would have said something."
This, He Learned by toffee ♣ ♠
"....Yes," Sasuke agreed. "And what I can do with the Kyuubi, even now." Sasuke snorted once, derisively. "You all are as mushy as ever. Killing me would be a much simpler option."
"That's not an option," Naruto growled darkly, clenching his fists. "That has never been an option. You are my..." Naruto stopped and shuddered, turning his back on Sasuke.
Sasuke looked at the line of Naruto's shoulders, watching the muscles bunch up under his scrutiny. His hair was getting longer and shaggier, sticking out in the craziest way, making the resemblance to the Fourth ridiculously obvious. They had both lost so much and gained so little out this war, out of life as a whole. It was bordering on ironic that Naruto could try to claim that Sasuke was something of his, after all that had trespassed between them.
"I am your what, Uzumaki?"
This Life by toffee ♣ ♠
Naruto stiffened and blinked, once. Then he groaned and rolled his eyes, downing the last of his sake in a quick gulp. "Sakura is pissed at me."
"From what I gather, this has been her default setting ever since you took on the robes as Seventh." The cold reply held only a hint of humor which might have been imagined, though Naruto knew better than to doubt his instincts on this matter by now. Pale fingers curled around a sake cup and lifted it. Sasuke toasted Naruto mirthlessly and took a sip. "This is your lifelong dream, enjoy it."
"Har har," Naruto remarked acidly. "I appreciate the support, bastard. Trouble is, she knows I'm meeting you."
Three Weeks, She Sleeps by jc-eastling
"Chakra burnout," Shizune said.
"The hell is that and what does it have to do with Sakura-chan?" Naruto demanded. He was healing as swiftly as always, but there was something broken in his eyes when he looked at Sakura's still form on the hospital bed in front of him.
Sasuke gave him a rough shove in irritation, and there was the usual sulky anger in his stance, but there was need on his face, too. Need for what, it was hard to tell. Sakura, Naruto, simple human contact, or maybe all three.
To Lead a Horse to Water by juuchan ♠
In the East-Wind district of Konoha village, two ordinary men live in the top floor of a sand-yellow building near the ramen shop. She always passes one of them on her way to and from the ninja academy. Her classmates say he's one of the best genin team trainers, but she notices him because when he smiles she feels at ease, and he always asks her how class was.
The other young man she hasn't seen much at all. Once, when she returned early from school, she saw him standing on the balcony railing. She remembers his moon-pale skin and eerie stillness, but mostly, she remembers what she thought were tears—twin spiraling seals over his closed eyes, trailing down his cheeks. She asked her parents what they were, and they looked at each other before saying, "Nothing important."
One mid-summer day during Godaime's last year, she sees the two of them leaping over the rooftops in the direction of the hokage's tower, hands linked in the way her parents expressly forbid her from doing with a boy. She doesn't really understand, though, because she sees her parents do the same when they're happy. After all, she thinks, happiness is an ordinary thing.
Touch the Parade by ceresi ♣
I don't know what I'm doing, his mind screamed, but his body remembered.
Once, he thought, there were heights higher than this and perils far more perilous; once, he thought, there might have been enemies before and behind him while he walked this thin tightrope. Once, he thought, but he couldn't have said where those thoughts came from, except perhaps before.
Before, the nebulous blankness that he'd stepped out of, finding himself crumpled and bleeding in a dark world that never seemed to end. Someone had taken him in, hidden him from the roving bands of gangs and soldiers, and had healed him. He remembered a low voice, female, and another, loud and brash.
Twas the Night by erisabesu
Winter in Konoha was usually a wet and soggy affair, but this year's dry wind blew shards of ice over the surface of every living thing. Sasuke hunched his shoulders against the cold, feeling its bite even through several layers of clothing. The white sun burning in its ascent did nothing to help.
Sasuke followed the streaming crowds into the largest department store, glad to pass into a heated building at last. It wasn't the only part of town that was crowded; every year was like this, once most of the village's shinobi made it home for the only two days Tsunade didn't assign missions. The vacation would be brief—so most people would try to make it the best they could, considering.
Twenty Four Confrontations by jasmine-signet
He watches as Naruto gulps, watches as he shifts nervously from foot to foot with none of his typically brash impatience and finally, he can't be bothered watching anymore, and so he turns back around and slams the door in Naruto's face.
But the door doesn't quite close and suddenly Naruto is standing there again, red-faced, and irritated and homicidal Sasuke watches as Naruto blurts out all in one breath, so fast that Sasuke can barely understand it –
"I think we should try to rid our relationship of negativity."
Twenty-thirds by erisabesu ♣ ♠
Finding the house hadn't been the hard part. No one would ever want to live in the old Uchiha district again, so there were no gatekeepers to object to Naruto's presence or impede his sweeping search of the streets. He remembered just enough to find the right place, breaking in and moving in silence to the back of the house. He slid Sasuke's bedroom door closed behind him.
The room might have belonged to anyone; Naruto found very little anywhere in the house to show what sort of people had lived there, aside from the premiere location and subtle grandeur that set the home of the clan head apart. Naruto pushed his hair off his forehead, wiped away a trickle of sweat with his wrist and then crossed the room. The dresser was covered in a layer of thick, mottled dust. Naruto opened a drawer, and looked down into empty space; he wondered what Sasuke might have kept there, once upon a time.
Two If By Sea by sowell ♠
When Sasuke was 18 months old, he nearly drowned in the river running through the Uchiha compound. He was too young to really remember, but he's heard the story enough times that his brain has fabricated its own half-tangible recollections of the event. He can almost feel the current rushing over his chubby little baby chest, can almost sense the weight of it pressing down on him when he closes his eyes. He thinks he remembers seeing his hands claw sluggishly through the thick translucence in front of him, tasting the cool, brackish water filling his cheeks and searing his nose before everything went black.
Itachi pulled him out and resuscitated him, after hearing the screams of the aunt who was supposed to be watching him. They tell him it took nearly a minute for him to begin breathing again, but eventually Itachi managed to force some life back into his baby brother. Sasuke would have been unconscious for this part, but he can almost see his six-year-old aniki calmly pressing water out of his chest and breathing air back into his lungs in the practiced motions he would have recently learned from the academy. Sasuke does not imagine Itachi would have been frantic, or even particularly bothered. What he does imagine is the disappointed look in his father's eyes when his mother reported the incident that evening. It's ridiculous, to think his father would have expected an 18-month-old child to swim to safety all on its own, but Sasuke sees the disappointment all the same.
untitled by na-no-nai
Naruto, despite having spent a substantial amount of time with Jiraiya, never really developed a taste for sake. So naturally, it's with Sasuke that he gets stupidly drunk for the first time. Because if Sasuke can do it, then so can he.
He drains his cup and slams it down on the table. On the floor next to him, Sasuke sips his slowly. "S'not a race." His face is flushed, bangs hiding his eyes.
Naruto snorts but says nothing. It's warm in his apartment tonight, warmer than is comfortable, so he peels off his jacket and tosses it across the room. It lands in the middle of the floor not far from their shoes. He can breathe in the mesh undershirt. With a satisfied sigh, he stretches his legs out under the table.
War of Affections by biztheinsane
Love is just another battlefield for those who don't know when to put their weapons down. Domestically speaking, war had never started so easily.
On the first night, Naruto had the audacity to want to cuddle afterward. What he got was a fist in the eye for his trouble and the quick, angry departure of his bedmate. Sasuke had seemed to have taken great personal offense at Naruto's sickening affection and opted to stalk off to the stiff couch just down the hall, lest his dignity be again assaulted by something so obviously beneath him.
Naruto wiggled under the covers, slightly distressed - but mostly annoyed and indignant - and strained his mind to come up with a solution for Sasuke's snuggling phobia. Around midnight he had it, so he grinned like a fox - quite as mad as one, too, Sasuke says in a bitterly affectionate tone sometimes - and rolled over to go to sleep, content in his brilliance.
Why We're Not Allowed in Sakura's House Anymore by chiyu
When Sasuke and I finally came out and admitted to all of our comrades that we were together, I don't think anyone took it well at first. Sakura and Ino just downright fainted, and the guys that weren't trying to revive them looked at us like we were disgusting bugs that needed to be killed. It took a lot of convincing to get most of them to accept the fact that I love Sasuke and that Sasuke loves me. Sakura's even started talking to me again. I'm letting myself hope that she's finally come to accept us also. I know it's been a long, difficult struggle for her, but I want to believe that she's not plotting to kill me anymore.
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