Chapter Text
_o-O-o_
The first night only happened because he was delirious. His good arm was bleeding profusely, as was his left ear from the impact his head made against the earth. Of course he would be fine, Sasuke had known that at the time, but he had sustained a brain injury. Really, the fight hadn’t been anything to write home about (not that Sasuke had a home, anyway); there were just a few rogue shinobi who thought they could get the better of him and a kunoichi who did. Not for long, though, but she had managed to give him the concussion. Nothing more than a bother, really.
It was a mere coincidence that he was so close to Konoha; there was no avoiding it if you wanted to take the fastest route from Lightning to Wind territory, much to his chagrin. Sasuke cursed under his breath as he used what remaining chakra he could spare to teleport to the other side of the wall, having no intentions of making it known that he was stopping in on his childhood village. It was hard to focus in on making rational decisions. The only thing he could do was try to follow his inner mantra of not Sakura’s, not Sakura’s.
Of all the grandeurs the citizens of Konoha might have of what their Great Shinobi Hero would be doing in the middle of the night on a weekend, in actuality he was eating cup ramen on his bed in the same old ratted pajamas he always wore. Typical. Sasuke should have expected it from Naruto, though the fact that it was at two in the morning was a bit concerning.
A random body smashes through his bedroom window and all that idiot could do was point his chopsticks and gape. What kind of ninja even was he? “Oi!? Sasuke?!” he yelled way too loudly for the hour, and for Sasuke’s current condition.
“Don’t wake up the town, dumbass,” Sasuke bit at him, fighting the urge to collapse. His head was whirling.
“What are you doing here?!” Naruto replied, his voice still earsplitting. Scoffing, Sasuke ignored the question and made to walk past him toward the bathroom. It wasn’t until he stumbled around the bed that Naruto proclaimed, “Sasuke! You’re hurt!” Astute as ever. He had an urge to backtrack his steps just so that he could give the idiot a deserving smack over the head. Instead, he continued his trek to the bathroom. There were footsteps coming from behind, signaling that Naruto’s presence was following him. Sasuke flipped the light switch before yanking the medicine cabinet behind the mirror open.
Which was empty.
“That opens?!”
Maybe he should have gone to Sakura’s.
A vein in Sasuke’s forehead felt like it was about to burst. “Where’s your first aid?”
“Under there,” Naruto all but mumbled, chopsticks dangling from his mouth, because of course he was still eating. He had gestured to the cabinets under the sink. Sasuke retrieved a roll of bandage. It was only then that it dawned on him that he had bandage on a scroll in his pack, of course he did, he carried first aid on him everywhere he went. Damn concussion. “You’re bleeding from your ear, Sasuke,” Naruto remarked, only just now noticing.
“Shut up.” As if he was unaware of the fact that he was bleeding from his ear. He’d get to that. First, he had to wrap up the gash on his arm. Letting his cloak fall to the tiled floor, Sasuke dampened a small ball of cotton with antiseptic. He understood the problem at hand a little too late. He couldn’t reach the spot on his arm where that woman had managed to slice him. The damn concussion made him forget that he was missing a limb. Head injuries were ridiculous. Contemplating if he’d be able to reach it with the cotton ball between his teeth, Sasuke made an attempt to get what he could of the blood a few times before Naruto could catch on to the dilemma.
Frowning, Naruto stole the cotton from him. “You really should have let Baa-chan make you a new arm,” he commented plainly, beginning to dab away the blood, only to have more gush over. “Oi, this is a lot of blood.”
“You’ve gotta put pressure on it, dumbass,” Sasuke scolded as his head continued to sway. Naruto’s incompetence was doing nothing to help his pounding migraine.
“I know that,” he defended, his proclamation falling apart under him as he only then started to apply pressure. After the bulk of the blood was wiped away, Sasuke was able to assess that the cut was nothing. Not for his line of work. “Hold on, wait,” Naruto said almost absently before concentrating his red chakra onto his hand. He placed it over the cut, and the Kyuubi’s chakra burned at the gash, mending it slightly. There was still a cut that needed to be wrapped, so Naruto did it for him, Sasuke unable to make the derogatory comments about it that it deserved due to the fact that he was starting to feel nauseous.
Just as a cold dampness touched his neck, Sasuke snatched the new cotton ball from where Naruto had begun to clean the blood from his ear. “I can do this myself.” He didn’t think the Kyuubi’s chakra would do much to help the brain injury he had sustained.
A familiar childish pout appeared on Naruto’s lips, crossing his arms over his chest. “You’re gunna open the cut back up again if you keep using that arm.”
“It hasn’t even been properly closed, with how loosely you wrapped it.” Sasuke bit coldly, utilizing the mirror to help him wipe the lines of blood. Naruto stayed quiet. Thankfully. In the mirror, Sasuke could recognize what his overly dilated pupils meant. Exhaustion. Nausea. Amnesia. Textbook concussion.
Too focused on trying to figure out what he was going to do, Sasuke didn’t feel Naruto getting so close. “Hey, Sasuke, maybe you should bunker down here for the night, you think?”
It appeared that it was the only option he had. It wasn’t ideal; being in this village made him tetchy. “I’m leaving in the morning,” he turned around, attempting to exit the bathroom. As he spun, so did the rest of the room. He had only just managed to steady himself on the sink in time to keep upright.
“Do you have a concussion?” Naruto asked.
Sasuke scoffed. “Dumbass.”
Grumbling, Naruto narrowed his eyes. “Why didn’t you go to Sakura’s? She’d be able to heal that for you in an instant.”
Sasuke’s eyes flashed to him, trying to find the source of Naruto’s stupidity to glare at, making him startle at the intense look. Normally he wouldn’t have answered that question, but as things stood, Sasuke figured he should make it clear, “It’s better that she doesn’t know I’m in town. So don’t tell her I was here.”
Flapping his free hand as if nonchalant, Naruto assured in the most flippant tone, “Alright, alright. I won’t.” Unconvinced, Sasuke increased his glare as Naruto scratched the back of his head. “No one’s seen you in three months, Sasuke; what have you been doing? It’s been boring as hell here.”
Clenching his jaw, he turned back to the mirror to see if there were any more spots of blood to wipe up. “I’m on a mission.”
Just like that, Naruto became excited, “Oh, ooohhh, Kakashi didn’t tell us that! Tell me what it’s about!”
“Kakashi didn’t give it to me,” Sasuke dismissed.
Sasuke wasn’t sure what he expected out of Naruto from that, but it certainly wasn’t his subdued, “You’re still trying to atone, right?”
It made him stop, just for a moment. Damn concussion. That kind of intuition from Naruto was out-of-character from the Naruto that Sasuke was used to. Logically Naruto had grown, but it was still hard for him to face. Why was he even humoring him with this conversation? ‘Atone’. It felt gross to use that word, because that wasn’t what he was doing. At least not anymore. He gave a disgruntled hum to brush the emotion away. To Sasuke’s exasperation, Naruto smacked a hand down on his left shoulder, surprisingly mindful that his right would be sore. He turned to see that big, dopey grin, accompanied by a campy thumbs-up. It felt like a splintered blade had pierced his chest, with Naruto so close, so he turned away quickly. “I need to rest.”
“Oh yeah! You should do that,” Naruto’s face fell into one of deep concentration, animatedly tapping his chin. “I don’t really have another bed for you to sleep on. But my bed’s big enough now that two people can sleep on it! Even though I don’t have anyone to share it with, usually.” Sasuke’s best course of action probably should have been to stumble into Kakashi’s place, Hokage or not, he now realized. But then the thought of suffering under his old teacher’s guilt trips for an entire night made him glad he didn’t. He would probably tell the whole village just to try to get him to stay longer. And what should it matter, sleeping on the same bed as Naruto, anyway? “Er, I mean- that sounded dirty, I meant-”
“Naruto,” Sasuke said as quick as he could. “I don’t care.” He left the bathroom, scooping up his cloak and hanging it on the coat hanger by Naruto’s door, finally kicking off his shoes. It was rude of him to have not taken them off before coming in, but his damn concussion made him forget. Naruto wasn’t the type to care that it took him so long, anyway. He made his way over to the bed, doing his best to ignore how the room around him was tilting drunkenly.
Following him, Naruto had a light blush dusted over his nose, making the lines on his cheeks seem slightly more pronounced in contrast. “Er, right. Haha!” Sasuke stopped in his tracks a few feet from the ruffled bed, staring at the out of place blankets on top and the two discolored pillows. He didn’t think he truly wanted to know the answer, but Sasuke had to ask, “When’s the last time you washed your sheets?”
Affronted, Naruto replied, “I just washed them last month!”
He shouldn’t have asked.
“Whatever,” Sasuke shook the thought from his mind. He’d be fine. Trying to not think about it, Sasuke slipped into Naruto’s bed.
He hadn’t known at the time to anticipate anything special about it. It was a bed, and he had been foolishly more concerned with the unhygienic look of it.
He was naïve.
The mattress was so soft that he fell a couple of inches into it. It was the most peculiar feeling. He spared a moment of curiosity from it. His body felt like it was being cradled, which was a new sensation. Assessing it for a second, Sasuke could feel the tenseness of his battle ebbing away to the point of dizziness. But perhaps the dizziness was the concussion... “Make sure to wake me up in two hours,” he called, though he knew it wouldn’t be necessary. It didn’t matter how comfortable this bed was; he hadn’t slept more than four hours at a time in years now.
“Yeah, yeah,” Naruto waved.
As he pulled the blanket over him, the only thought in his mind was about how it was even possible for a bed to be this comfortable, an internal sentence that trailed off midway through the thought.
_o-O-o_
The room was stifling in the afternoon heat. The sun streaming through the windows felt as if… The realization had Sasuke’s eyes popping open within seconds, bolting upright in a flash of anger. He took a moment to make sense of his surroundings; he had fallen asleep the instant he shut his eyes. With the way he suddenly woke up, it felt like no time had passed at all, as if the sun had instantaneously popped up in the center of the sky in a mere blink.
Naruto was perched on the side edge of the bed, sitting cross-legged as he watched something on the tiny television screen on the opposite side of the room. He had a pair of chopsticks in his mouth and another empty cup ramen on his knee, adding to the illusion that no time had passed. He cheerily called, “Hey, good afternoon, Sasuke!”
“After- what time is it?!” Sasuke screeched.
“Just after one,” Naruto proclaimed.
One o’clock? In the afternoon? Sasuke was struck dumb. He had been asleep for… ten hours? Eleven? Without even a dream? That was impossible. But the sun was so high in the sky; it had to be true. Somehow, he had managed to evade his insomnia last night. But ho-? He remembered his concussion. Seething, Sasuke reached forward to fist the front of Naruto’s jacket tightly. “You were supposed to wake me up after two hours, dumbass!”
Jostled, Naruto raised both hands in sheepish defeat. “You were sleeping so peacefully; I didn’t want to disturb you. Besides, I fell asleep, too.”
“You-” Sasuke could barely look at him, with the amount of anger he had. He breathed through it, managing to say through clenched teeth, “You can’t let someone with a concussion go into a REM cycle. I could have fallen into a coma.” Was that what happened? Had Sasuke been in a coma? Was that how he managed to get the best sleep since… childhood? Surely that must have been what had happened. He had fallen asleep so inhumanly quickly, as if that soft bed had devoured him the minute he laid down. But the idea that it had been the bed that made him so comfortable that he slept for eleven hours was outrageous. He must have fallen into a coma.
Sasuke watched as the information donned on Naruto, stirring up an old memory he had to have had where he learned the basic fact of first aid to not let a person with a concussion sleep for too long. “Ah, right, sorry, sorry. I just figured that you could probably use a bit of rest, is all.” Scoffing, Sasuke let his grip at Naruto’s throat fall. What did he expect? Next time, he’d have to remember to be clearer with the urgency of his instructions, no matter how much it might seem like common sense, or how unnecessary he thought it would be to have to. He tossed the blanket off of him and swung his legs over the side of the bed, stomping his way across the room. “Oh? Are you leaving?”
Resisting the urge to growl, Sasuke bit, “I was supposed to leave first thing this morning.” He snatched his cloak and shoes. As he made his way back to the window behind the bed, intending to leave the way he came, he stopped. Naruto must have trained this morning. “Did you tell anyone I was here?”
Naruto seemed to grow small at the way he asked the question, a blush coming to his cheeks. Good. As he picked his chin, he admitted, “Just Hinata. She… ran into me.”
Just as hot air filled his senses, Sasuke paused for a moment. “Who’s Hinata?”
Naruto blinked at him. “Hinata Hyuuga? Uh, the shy girl on Team 10. She was in our academy class, but she’s like, really quiet.”
It didn’t ring a bell. A Hyuuga? And Sasuke didn’t know of her? Sasuke brushed it aside. “Whatever. I told you not to tell anyone!”
“You told me not to tell Sakura-chan!”
“If you tell random people, Sakura’s bound to find out!”
Frowning in indignation, Naruto floundered his arms around grandly. “Well, you have to be more specific! How am I supposed to know to not tell Hinata when you just said not to tell Sakura-chan?” He pouted again, crossing his arms. “It’s like you don’t want anyone to know you’re here.”
“I don’t,” Sasuke snapped. He pinched his eyes closed, forcing himself to take a breath.
Naruto’s confused frown pulled deeper. “Not even Kakashi-sensei?”
“Especially not Kakashi.”
Grumbling, Naruto rubbed the back of his head, “Man, Sasuke, we all want to see you, you know?”
Frustrated, Sasuke conceded that he needed to spell it out for him. “I don’t want anyone to know I’m here when I’m not staying.”
Curiously, Naruto didn’t ask it out loud, but Sasuke still felt that knife in his chest again at the question that was in the air floating around that blond head. It was made worse when a light blush came to Naruto’s cheeks as he looked away, “We haven’t been able to hang out at all. I want to go on missions with you again. And train. I want to learn that Fire Style. Do you think you could teach me?”
Clenching his fist, Sasuke glared at the opposite wall, striding past Naruto toward the window. For some reason, the window seemed like a much more viable exit for him than the porch door. Or the front door- he definitely would not use the front door. He had entered through the window in secret, so in secret through the window he would exit. He answered the unsaid question, the one he knew Naruto actually wanted to ask, but for some reason hadn’t. “I don’t know when I’ll be back.”
He had every intent of leaving there, having thrown the window open, but Naruto grabbed his cloak. “Wait- Sasuke,” Sasuke paused, waiting to hear whatever else it was that Naruto was planning on trying to pierce him with. “I’m sorry. I won’t tell anyone you came. And I’ll tell Hinata to keep it a secret, too.” He thought about his words for a moment before adding, “Though I doubt she would say anything. She’s really quiet.”
Sasuke had expected that gravelling would come, but it didn’t. The hand pulling his cloak taut dropped, the fabric floating down.
“Good luck on your mission,” was all he offered.
They were parting words that he didn’t want to tempt, so Sasuke managed to mumble a “Thanks,” before disappearing out of the window.
_o-O-o_
Despite himself, over the next few weeks Sasuke couldn’t stop thinking about that sleep he had while concussed in Naruto’s bed. Had he fallen into a coma? He really didn’t think so, but what else could it have been? After a few days of internal struggle, he finally knew why he must have been able to sleep so well: it was the first proper bed he had slept on in months. With how much he had been traveling, he’d been camping out in caves or finding the driest hollowed tree. He didn’t want to admit how refreshed he had felt on that next day, but at three in the morning two weeks later with his back pressed against a damp cave wall, he began to long for it- which was strange, because he hardly had a memory of it, with how quickly he fell asleep.
His curiosity plagued him. There was no way for him to figure it out. After a week hiding out in a small town in Wind territory, he found his way back into Fire, lying to himself the entire way about why he was doing it. He made it all of the way to Konoha’s gates before he had to confront himself about his intentions.
He couldn’t spoil himself with something like that. It had been a coma; that was why he had slept so well. So he found a neighboring little town to fish around in for a few days so as not to make the trip useless. He didn’t like staying at inns for fear of someone noticing him, even though he did not have a warrant for his arrest anymore in Fire, but he did attempt to use one just to see if lying on a bed would help on one of the nights. No such luck. He lay with his eyes open for half of the night. It must have been the concussion, knocking him into the first full sleep in months, he thought to himself as he rolled onto his other side on the firm mattress. It couldn’t possibly have been anything else. Naruto’s bed couldn’t have been comfortable enough to cure his insomnia. There was no reason to be going back toward Konoha just for one night of sleep.
…But he wondered if it was time to check back in with Kakashi in case he missed any messages from him.
So he found himself bypassing Konoha’s walls again late one evening as the sun set into twilight. Kakashi appeared glad to see him in that airy, Kakashi-way that held a deeper sentiment that he was being chastised for having been away for so long. There weren’t any missions Sasuke missed in transit, so Kakashi leaned in, propped back against his desk. “How about we get something to eat? My treat.”
There must have been some desperation to it if Kakashi had actually offered to pay. “No,” Sasuke declined. “I’m not hungry.”
“Hey, come on, Sasuke,” Kakashi urged, coming forward to lay his arm across Sasuke’s shoulders. This was a strange thing for him to do, and Sasuke clocked its true intentions immediately; they had a silent agreement that their relationship could be one without physical contact, as neither of them typically enjoyed being touched. They each had a very small number of people that it was okay to be physically affectionate with, and thankfully did not have to pretend that they actually liked it with one another. They only enjoyed physical contact with people they loved, and their complicated relationship combined with their shared general distaste of touch was not enough to overshadow whatever emotions they did have for one another. So Sasuke knew he was just using it as an excuse to push him out the door. “It’s only polite to take your boss up on his offer to take you out for a dinner.”
‘Boss’. What a joke. Sasuke squinted at him, “Don’t say it like that.” But Kakashi was dragging him out.
Thankful for the long hood he had over his head, Sasuke ducked his face under its guise of darkness as he was pulled through the streets of his old home village. Well, reconstructed home village. It looked both eerily exactly the same and disturbingly very different from what had been destroyed a few years ago. It was dark, now, but the shops and restaurants had their lights on, still open for another few hours. Kakashi led him to some restaurant, one that must be new because Sasuke had never heard of it. Come to think of it, he thought with a pang, that didn’t mean it was new.
Just as they came to the door, Sasuke caught view of two familiar faces out of his peripherals. Two of his old classmates, Ino and Shikamaru, were coming down the road, chatting animatedly about something. He saw the way Kakashi was momentarily distracted by their presence and used that second to make his getaway.
With the help of his Rinnegan, Sasuke was on the other side of town, switching places with any object he could. He hoped his chakra usage had not been for waste- but it was, of course, so long as Kakashi had that damn nose of his. A soft whoosh signaled that Kakashi was beside him, because of course he was. Sasuke pulled his hood further over his face, doing his best to hide how winded he was from using that jutsu. Kakashi sighed heavily, “My, my, Sasuke, are you bailing on me so soon?”
Grinding his teeth, Sasuke schooled his expression. “Don’t tell Sakura I was here.”
“Because you want to tell her the news yourself, right?” He goaded back in the most presumptuously cheery voice he had, smiling dangerously behind his mask. A hand came precariously close to Sasuke’s shoulder. “Come on, Sasuke, we-”
Sasuke batted the hand before it touched him, furious that Kakashi had attempted more physical contact to disguise his true motives. “Send my hawk if any more missions come up.”
And he disappeared again.
He waited a few minutes at his new destination, surveying the area for any sign of having been followed again. When he was sure he was safe, he made his way on foot over to Naruto’s apartment, staking out for a moment. The lights were on, and he could see a bright figure combing through the dresser. Sasuke eyed the porch door, then headed for the window again. Sliding it open, Sasuke rolled his eyes at the way Naruto proclaimed, “Sasuke!” as he climbed in. “Are you bleeding again?” he asked, eyes raking over Sasuke’s perfectly uninjured form.
Sasuke ignored him in favor of removing his shoes and cloak by the front door. “Do you have any food?” he asked, and then quickly turned around to emphasize, “That isn’t ramen?”
“I- uhhh,” he drawled the sound out, contemplating. “Ah, yeah! I have rice!” he ran into the kitchen, pulling out a small bag of rice with enough to make maybe two portions. He held the bag out proudly.
Deadpanning, Sasuke inquired, “Anything else?”
Naruto hummed for a moment before opening up the desolate fridge, staring at the milk carton and three condiment bottles. “Nope.”
Of course not. Sasuke reached into his hip pack and pulled out some money, shoving it into Naruto’s hand. “Go out and buy a vegetable, any vegetable. And meat.” He turned away before he could see the dumb expression that must have come over Naruto’s face in favor of finding something to wash the rice in.
“Ehh?” Naruto proclaimed. “You want me to do your shopping?!”
“Just shut up and go,” he instructed with irritation, keeping his back turned. Eventually, he heard Naruto shuffle around and leave, albeit his muttering.
_o-O-o_
He had just gotten out of a quick bath when Naruto returned, bag in hand. Sasuke wordlessly checked its contents: peppers, a few tomatoes, and a package of beef that could be cut up. He breathed out a sigh of relief that Naruto was competent enough to have not returned with something stupid. It would have been Sasuke’s own fault for being vague. As he set to work cooking, Naruto sat at the table and watched. Of course, he started talking.
He was slumped down on the table, resting his chin on his folded arms. “Do you not want anyone to know you’re here again this time?”
Sending him a glare, Sasuke continued his quick work of slicing the peppers. “What do you think.”
Naruto’s voice was almost inaudible with the way he pursed his lips. “I think you need to get over yourself and see your friends.”
He had only barely stopped himself from stabbing the knife through the cutting board. Friends. Like Sasuke was friends with anyone else in this village besides Naruto. As a response he flashed his eyes back to the only person he considered a friend, who tensed up, apparently having thought that he had said that low enough for Sasuke to not hear. Something about Naruto’s panicked look softened him. He sighed, “I’m here with you, aren’t I?”
He shouldn’t have said that, judging by the way Naruto perked his head up, a dumb grin on his lips. “Hey, yeah!” Feeling a weight settle into his stomach, Sasuke turned back to his cooking. “So what have you been up to? Anything exciting?”
Shrugging, Sasuke tossed the vegetables in the pan over the meat. “I went to Suna.”
“Oh really? I was almost sent on a mission there! They cancelled it though. Turns out it wasn’t needed,” Naruto commented.
“It’s pretty quiet over there right now. A lot of construction.” That set Naruto off on a story, explaining what the mission would have entailed, and how he was instructed instead to focus on studying to retake his Chunin exam. Sasuke winced as he lamented about wanting to visit Gaara again.
Naruto kept up the chatter as Sasuke finished cooking, and he found himself thankful for it. If there was one thing Naruto was good at, it was filling in the silence. Not that Sasuke minded silence; in fact, he usually preferred it. But it was nice to listen to him prattle, despite how much he would never admit it. Choosing to eat as he leaned against the counter instead of joining Naruto at the table, Sasuke felt safe adding next to nothing to the conversation. Naruto didn’t mention it, nor did he seem to mind. The food was pretty bland, as Naruto had very little spices to work with, but it was warm and comforting to eat something that was cooked on a stovetop instead of over a fire in the middle of the woods. As Sasuke was finishing the last bite, Naruto got quiet, asking, “Are you sleeping over again?”
Sasuke set his bowl down on the counter, taking a moment before answering back with an equally quiet, “I guess.” Best to let Naruto think he hadn’t specifically planned his whole visit on staying over.
“Alright!” Naruto cheered, the pep back in his voice. “I can wake you up early if you want me to, this time.”
…That would completely ruin the entire point of Sasuke having come to the village. Well, no, he had come to see if Kakashi had any missions for him. But now that he was here, and he didn’t have anything else to do, or anywhere else to go, it would be worthwhile for Sasuke to quell his minor curiosities of that bed, wouldn’t it? He would not let himself blush as he responded, turning around to start cleaning up his dishes. “I don’t have anywhere to be.” At the inquisitive noise Naruto made in response, Sasuke was quick to correct himself. “In the morning, that is. I’m leaving town in the afternoon.”
“No way!” Naruto proclaimed animatedly. “So we can train together in the morning, right, Sasuke?!”
Shit. He tried not to groan at the corner he just put himself in. “I guess…”
“Alright!” he stood up and was now punching the air. “I won’t let you go easy on me! I’ll learn that Fireball Jutsu by noon, mark my words!”
Sasuke squinted at him. “Do you even have a Fire Nature? It’ll oppose your Wind Nature and make it almost impossible to learn without.”
Naruto widened his grin, “Kakashi-sensei said that it’ll be easier if I use Kurama’s chakra! I think that’ll be the best way to learn it, because Kurama has a Fire Nature. But I haven’t been able to do it yet. And if I’m gunna learn it, I should learn it from the best, shouldn’t I?” Suddenly, an arm wrapped itself over Sasuke’s shoulder, which was so, so different from the façade he had gotten from Kakashi earlier. He could feel Naruto pressed up along his back, smiling over at him, hopeful.
He did his best to not be so hyperaware of the contact, but try as he might he could feel every cell in his body reacting to the touch. It was strange to be touched and not hate it. Naruto was the only person alive that Sasuke didn’t mind it coming from. He angled his face away from him. “…Fine.” Elated, Naruto broke off of him to cheer loudly, smacking the back of Sasuke’s shoulder blade as he went.
Then to Sasuke’s horror, Naruto gloated, “Alright! We’ll wake up first thing in the morning!” All Sasuke could do was stare in dismay at the place Naruto had just vacated as he left toward the bedroom.
As Sasuke finished washing the dishes, he scrambled for any way he could convince Naruto to let him sleep in. Not that it would matter, anyway, because Sasuke probably wouldn’t be able to actually sleep, because he wasn’t concussed. But if there was a possibility of getting even a few more hours than usual, Sasuke should try for it, shouldn’t he? If he had known prior to coming this would be an issue… maybe he should have showed up faking another injury. Or sickness. He paused subconsciously as he thought this, recognizing its absurdity for what it was. Not that he wouldn’t have come, but that he would really fake weakness for a potential better night’s sleep than usual. Was he that desperate?
“Do you want something comfortable to wear?” Naruto interrupted his train of thought, catching him off-guard. He was holding out a pair of soft pajama bottoms and a loose-fitting black t-shirt.
Sasuke eyed them warily. “When was the last time they were washed?”
“Oi, they’re clean!” Sighing heavily, Sasuke snatched them from Naruto’s outstretched hand as he made his way to the bathroom.
When he put them on, he noticed that they smelled like Naruto, which was… something. Not a bad smell. Naruto wasn’t always the cleanest person- or ever- but he wasn’t foul. The clothes were warm and soft, and the smell was… well, it would be nice to sleep in something other than his day clothes for once. That combined with the prospect of that bed… maybe he would be able to sleep.
With his clothes changed, teeth brushed, and freshly washed hair mostly dry, Sasuke wasted no time heading toward the bed. He paused only for a moment at the front of the room. Naruto was already lying in it on the side away from the wall. He would glare, but it was Naruto’s bed, after all. He knew that Naruto had slept next to him the other week, and it’s not like it bothered him, really, but he didn’t have any memory of it with how he had fallen asleep so quickly.
So he walked the narrow strip on the other side of the bed and slipped under the blankets, making sure to face the wall. He was prepared this time, but he was still surprised by the softness that immediately enveloped him. The bed was big enough for the two of them on a technicality, but Sasuke could still feel the warmth of a body radiating next to him.
Just as Sasuke shut his eyes, Naruto’s grating voice disturbed his peace. “Bright and early, right Sasuke?”
Eyes flying open, Sasuke glared at the wall. “No,” he said before logic was able to kick in, brain too muddled by how comfortable he felt.
“No?” he could hear the pout in Naruto’s voice.
Shit. Well. Anyway, who cares? “If you wake me up at sunrise, I’ll demonstrate the Fireball Jutsu,” he turned over to make sure his point was met by glowering at him, “immediately.” Judging by the way Naruto blanched, he caught his drift.
Sasuke rolled back over and fell victim to the most comfortable bed he had ever been in.
_o-O-o_
“Sasuke!”
He was being poked on his side. With his superior reflexes, Sasuke snatched the offending hand by the wrist, rolling over to send waves of murder at its owner. His sleep had been dreamless again, and he knew had just been the most comfortable he ever was moments prior to its intrusion, despite having been unconscious.
Naruto had the sense to be meek, at least, hunching his shoulders in fear as he whispered, “The sun’s been up for hours. We’re not gunna get any training done!” What happened to the Naruto who used to show up to their early training sessions like the undead? Who was this? Whatever expression was on Sasuke’s face had Naruto cowering, saying in a low whisper “Ah, okay. I’ll give you another ten minutes…”
Sasuke dropped the hand and rolled back over, eyelids drooping shut. Having now been awoken, he didn’t think he would be able to fall asleep again, but he marveled in the comfort regardless. The mattress was perfectly plush- something Sasuke had never considered before as a bedding option, for some reason. He had only ever known firm mattresses, or the thin futons he would sleep on in his youth on special nights with his brother when they would sleep on their porch. So used to forest floors and cave walls, this luxuriousness felt almost sinful. He could hardly believe it, but this bed had indeed given him a full night’s sleep. There was no brain injury this time to excuse it on. If Naruto hadn’t woken him, how much longer would he have slept?
It wouldn’t be good of him to waste his day in this bed, though. He allotted himself five minutes, and too soon after he made that vow he was emerging from it, spewing expletives at himself.
Naruto was sulking in the kitchen, though he perked up at the sight of Sasuke. He grabbed a tray of rice balls, all different varieties, and held them up for him to see. “I got onigiri! You like them, don’t you?”
“Yeah,” Sasuke managed to say, reaching out to grab one, but Naruto pulled them back.
“We can eat them on the way!”
A near hour later, Sasuke watched Naruto on the pier on the lake where he had spent all those hours mastering this exact jutsu over a decade ago. He leaned back against the grassy hill and ate a few rice balls, overviewing Naruto as he figured out the technique, blowing his fire over the water.
He managed a puff of fire no larger than a softball after fifty minutes. Chastising him, Sasuke leaned back against the grass. “Hold the chakra in your throat longer. Let it condense.” Frowning at him, Naruto turned around, forming the hand signs quickly. Sasuke watched as he puffed his chest greatly on the intake of breath, holding it for up damn near twenty seconds before letting it loose. It was about the size of a kickball. “I guess you can just ask your opponent to hold still,” he taunted.
“You said this jutsu was easy!” Naruto whined.
“It is,” Sasuke dismissed. “For an Uchiha. I mastered it when I was seven.” Though, to be fair, Naruto technically did not have a Fire Nature, the Kyuubi did. Even without the technicality, if Naruto’s natural Chakra Nature was Wind, then Fire jutsus would logically be the toughest for him to master.
Squinting at him in indignation, Naruto glared, “I think I just need to use more of Kurama’s chakra.”
“You don’t need to use more chakra.”
But Naruto turned around, still glowering, and preformed the hand signs again. This time, he expelled a massive ball of fire the size of a large boulder. And then promptly collapsed.
Frustrated, Sasuke sat up slightly. “You planning on awakening the Kyuubi every time you wanna use this? Using that much chakra is a sure way to make your own throat explode.” Still, Sasuke couldn’t help but admire the endless supply of energy this kid had. In one move, he expelled the same amount of chakra the average jonin possessed in their entirety. And it was almost an hour into training. Sure, the majority of the chakra escaped without manifesting into fire, but the fact that he could use that much without killing himself, while impractical, was still impressive no matter how many times Sasuke witnessed it.
The Great Shinobi Hero seemed oblivious to his own absurdity, however. “I think I burned my throat.”
“What did you expect, dumb-?”
Sasuke was gone the instant he heard the footsteps. Disappeared up into a tree some hundred yards away, having switched places with a loose branch. That was too close. He could make out Sakura from up on the road at the top of the hill. “Naruto? Was that you?”
He sent glares down to Naruto, desperately trying to communicate that now was not the time to be an idiot. Sure enough, though, Naruto floundered around, making it completely obvious to anyone with half of a brain that he was looking around for someone who had just left. “I- uh, Sakura-chan! Good morning!”
“Good morning,” Sakura greeted back, and Sasuke sighed with faint annoyance that she seemed suspicious, as anyone would be. “Were you practicing Fire Style?”
“Oh, I was! I’m still getting the hang of it, though!” He laughed nervously.
Unsure, Sakura began looking around. Sasuke hid further behind his tree. “I could have sworn I heard you talking to someone.”
Naruto laughed loudly. “O-Oh, that? I was just talking to myself! You know, pumping myself up and stuff!” Dumbass. She spotted the tray of half-eaten rice balls. “I-I brought a snack!”
“You ate all of those?”
“W- I- uh. Was giving them out to people. Would you like one?”
Sakura grew quiet, though she gave a soft, “Sure.” Sasuke only ducked completely behind the tree in time for her to fixate on it. Shit. He concealed himself into the trunk, but he knew he would have to be gone the instant she was distracted. He groaned inwardly, knowing he could do nothing but hope Naruto would distract her well enough.
“Uh- Hey, hey! Do you want to see me try it again? I honestly have no clue what I’m doing, but I think I might be using a bit too much chakra! I wish Kakashi-sensei had enough time to teach me how to do it correctly. Having your sensei be the Hokage is actually kind of inconvenient!” He laughed too loudly.
That would have to do. Sasuke fled town at the crescendo of Naruto’s jutsu.
_o-O-o_