Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

A Thousand Words	By : kaiyousama Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male > Naruto/Sasuke Views: 1274 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own any Naruto Character or anything else about the Naruto series, and make no money off of this ... it's all about the love!

Chapter List
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Summary: When neither Sasuke nor Naruto can find the words to say what�s really important, they find a picture might say enough to get them started.

Disclaimer: I don�t own either Sasuke or Naruto :( But I might just take Itachi instead, given the choice... ah, choices choices!

Warnings: yaoi (M/M), angstyness, mild references to drug use and sexual assault, occasional Crack!Itachi

Oh yeah, and reviews make mouths happy! Review responses at the end ^_^

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Naruto glanced over at a sleeping Sasuke. The raven had dozed off about an hour into their trip, after the men in the front seats had tired of the whole twenty questions game. Not that Naruto blamed him � he was feeling pretty relaxed himself. The heat from the sun was competing with the air conditioner that didn�t quite reach far enough into the back seat and the quiet murmur of the two up front was enough to lull anyone into a trance-like state, which was why the blonde had broken out the iPod to keep from going to sleep.

He was currently listening to some random reggaeton, tapping his foot to the beat as he concentrated on the sketch in his lap. It had started out as a random sketch of the raven next to him, but he�d let it morph into something more abstract. He secretly loved these moments, moments where he could just draw whatever came to him without the pressure of making it something presentable. It was like letting his soul speak, even if it didn�t communicate anything at all. Art, he was convinced, had its own language, where at some level it didn�t really matter if anyone understood. It was what it was.

He lifted his pen from the paper just in time to protect the sketch from a stray bump in the road.

�Sorry about that,� muttered Kakashi. �Construction.�

Naruto sighed, and put away the sketch pad. �No problem.� He flipped his iPod to something a little softer, and turned his head to watch his sleeping friend for a bit. He was a bit worried about the way Sasuke had been acting earlier, and that the raven had taken so long to tell him his secret. He knew the raven wasn�t always as strong as he pretended to be, and that there were times when he would rather try to hide from a problem instead of deal with it. Sometimes it felt like a part of him was willing to give up on this whole business entirely, because dealing with it was too hard.

It frustrated Naruto. �Never Give In. Never Give In. Never, Never, Never, Never� � that was one of his mantras, by a guy named Winston Churchill. He had even stenciled it above his door (over the protests of his aunt, who wasn�t sure he needed more encouragement to be stubborn). Sasuke was his precious person, and no matter what, he�d be there for him. But he didn�t always understand him.

He sighed and flipped his music over to Shugo Tokumaru and caught Itachi watching him in the rearview mirror. He grinned at him widely and waved, heartened at the smirk that crossed the older raven's face before he turned back to his conversation with Kakashi. Naruto leaned his head against the window and watched the scenery as they climbed into the mountains. After a while, the strangely peaceful music worked its spell over him, and he too succumbed to sleep.

. . .

Sasuke woke with a start when the car stopped. Scowling, he tore off the blindfold and looked around. Naruto was already bounding out of the car clutching his sketchbook. He looked the other way and saw pine trees. They were on the driveway of a cabin, and he could see some very familiar mountains in the distance. A feeling of warmth suffused his heart. His crazy older brother and idiot best friend had somehow actually come up with a place he would love to be for this weird little �re-birthday� celebration thing. He could feel the peace coming over him � peace that was shattered by a blond who came and open his door, yelling �Sasuke! Sasuke! You have to come look, this is the coolest place!�

Slowly following the insistent blond, Sasuke had to agree. The cabin was two stories, and even from the outside he could see it seemed to twist on itself, the second story set at an angle. The bottom portion was covered in large grey and cream stones, and the top was a weathered reddish wood. It looked like the porch ran all the way around the house, and there was a deck on the second story. The owners had left the surrounding wildlife in its natural state, and the decorations they did have around the front only served to emphasize the rustic, naturalistic setting. He could barely see another house downhill through the trees, a good distance away.

Itachi had talked every so often about getting a cabin up here, or maybe a timeshare, but nothing ever came of it. Normally, whenever the older raven mentioned he was thinking of coming up, one or another of his clients would offer to let him use their place. As a result, he and Sasuke had seen several different cabins over the years, each with its own view of the surrounding area. This was one of the best, though.

Entering the cabin, he could see the decor was very open and light, with white walls and pale tile floors acented by rustic stained-wood ceilings. The door entered straight into a small living room with a good-sized TV on the left, and a dining area to the right. Further in, there was another sitting area set down a couple steps with a couch arranged in front of a big stone fireplace. The kitchen was on the right, with a big open window between it and the dining room. Sasuke saw the blond at the far end of the cabin, urging him to follow him upstairs so he could show him their rooms. The raven glanced suspiciously at the pile of boxes next to the door, and then followed the blonde.
There were four decent-sized bedrooms upstairs. Evidently, Itachi had designated one of the east-facing rooms as Sasuke�s room, because all his stuff was there, including his precious camera bag. There were sliding glass doors that led out to the deck. He slipped out there and took in a deep breath of the mountain air. His reverie was broken by the sound of the glass door behind him. He turned and saw, instead of the blond, the face of his brother.

Itachi nodded a greeting and came to stand by him on the deck. �Not what you were expecting?�

Sasuke shrugged, but his shoulders were relaxed, and he leaned on the railing as he looked out over the view spread before him.

Itachi let a small smile flit across his face before checking his watch. �We need to leave in about ten minutes, so I�d suggest you get cleaned up pretty quick.�

�Hn,� Sasuke said, not turning. As he heard Itachi open the door back into the cabin, he murmured a quiet, �Thank you.�

Itachi paused, allowing himself another small smile before slipping inside.

Soon afterwards, Sasuke followed, finding his way to the restroom to freshen up. He frowned as his hair still continued to disobey his best efforts to make it behave, insisting on standing up at the back in what Naruto dubbed a �duck-butt.� He�d even tried growing it out a bit their senior year, but it still stood up. He envied his older brothers hair, which was always perfect no matter what he did to it.

Naruto banged on the bathroom door. �Sasuke! Let�s go! We don�t want to be late!�

The raven scowled at his reflection.

�Sasuke!�

�Alright, alright, I�m coming.�

He gave his reflection one last look then went down to the car, ignoring the immature blond's stuck-out tongue. Surprisingly, he was rather eager to see what else they had planned for the evening.

. . .

Naruto was bouncing on the balls of his feet as he walked down the sidewalk, looking every which way. They�d parked in a lot behind the main street, and were making their way past the shops filled with every sort of item that people might buy in a resort town like this.

�Honestly dobe, I don�t know why you�re so excited. It�s mainly just tourist junk, and you�ve been here before anyways,� Sasuke said, stuffing his hands in his pockets and following behind the blond. Totally not sneaking a peak at his ass.

�Teme!� Naruto exclaimed, turning around and glaring at him � though Sasuke snapped his eyes up quick enough to not get caught. By the blond at least. The grey-haired man beside them had a slight smirk on his face. Itachi was walking alone at the front of the group, acting way too cool to be a part of the rest of them.

�Ne, ne, Kakashi!� the blond exclaimed, turning around and walking backwards as he talked. �Can we come back here tomorrow and go shopping? These places look so cool!�
�Well, I don�t know. It�s Sasuke�s weekend, after all, and he might have other things he would want to do.�

�Eh?� Naruto replied, looking downcast for a moment. Sasuke�s eyes widened as his friend almost tripped over his own feet, then met a pouty blue-eyed glare. After a minute, the blue eyes gained a look that made Sasuke almost gulp, and the blond had a slight smile on his face when he turned around. �Hmph.�

Sasuke sighed internally, and was calculating his chances of being able to not have to spend the next afternoon having to deal with �helping� the blond pick through tourist kitsch when they stopped in front of a restaurant. His eyes lit up as he recognized the name, meeting the eyes of his older brother. Itachi smirked, then broke into a huge grin and came over and bear-hugged the raven. �Happy re-birthday, little brother!� he said, ignoring the fact that said brother was threatening to turn blue and croaking out the words �Must� breathe�� against his neck.

It didn�t take them long to be seated. The maitre d� made a little bit of noise about how they would have to wait, but after Itachi made it very clear that they had long-standing reservations, he quickly clammed up and showed them to a lovely table in the corner next to a fountain. Kakashi and Itachi took the chairs next to the wall (much to Sasuke�s consternation, he hated having the entire room at his back), and Naruto sat across from Kakashi. They took a moment to look over the menus. Sasuke�s anticipation of the coming meal was marred by a certain blond idiot who didn�t seem to be able to read the menu without mouthing the words out loud.

�Soup de poison,� murmured the blond.

�Poisson,� Sasuke corrected.

�Eh? That�s what I said! Poison!�

Sasuke�s eye started to twitch. The next time he corrected the blond, he felt a foot kick his shin under the table.

�Dobe! Maybe I should just order for you,� he sneered.

�Teme! It�s your re-birthday, I should order for you!�

Sasuke failed to see the logic in that and glared at the idiot, who was giving as good as he got. A slight banging on the table across from him made him look over into the very cool eyes of one mildly pissed-off Uchiha.

�Boys,� Itachi said in a deceptively quiet voice. �If you can�t start behaving like you should in a nice restaurant, I�ll order for both of you. I hear they have excellent escargot.�

Both boys froze for a moment, and then Naruto leaned towards Sasuke, not taking his eyes from the older very scary man next to him. �Escar � what?� he whispered to the raven.
�Snails,� Sasuke whispered back, glancing over at his friend and being rewarded by the faint green tinge that graced the blond�s cheeks.

Kakashi interrupted this wonderful moment by calling the waiter over and ordering a bottle of wine for the table. After some discussion about the boys ages and the older men�s respective legal guardianship of the two (Kakashi and Tsunade had joint custody, legally), the waiter left. He returned in a moment with a bottle of Bordeaux, opening it and letting Kakashi test a sip. After being satisfied that the wine was to their liking, Kakashi poured a glass for each of them and led them in a toast to Sasuke�s re-birthday. Naruto and Sasuke watched the grey-haired man over their wine glasses hoping to catch a glimpse of his face when he took a drink, but he interrupted them by saying, �Oh look! I think they�re setting that duck on fire!�

When they glanced back, they were disappointed to see that the wine was gone. Sighing to themselves, they each took a sip of the wine. Sasuke held it on his tongue for a moment, letting the complex flavors wash over him. Itachi didn�t let him drink very often � after the stunt he pulled a couple summers ago, there hadn�t been anything stronger than milk in the house for months � but occasionally he let him try a sip of wine, to help �educate his palate.� This was a good wine. They talked for a bit before the waiter came over to take their order, and Sasuke was surprised to find that he didn�t flinch very much when Naruto (predictably) butchered �Magret de Canard Rotie, Risotto au Fromage et sa Sauce au Melon�, and he was particularly pleased with his �Gateau de Crabe Bleu aux Capres.� Naruto kept giving him an odd look when he took a bite of the crab cakes, though, and he didn�t quite know why.

Sasuke would have been pleased to finish the dinner off with the traditional cheese course, but Naruto insisted on ordering desert.

�You know I don�t like sweets,� he told Naruto.

�Aww, but Sasuke � it�s your re-birthday dinner! You have to have desert! Just share one with me, come on!�

Once again, Sasuke was underwhelmed by the logic of this statement. He glanced at the two older men, but quickly saw that no help would be forthcoming from their direction. He looked into the pouty blue eyes for a minute, and then narrowed his gaze. �Fine. But! I get to pick ��

�No problem!�

�- and! No shopping tomorrow, we figure out something different to do.�

�But!�

�Your choice, Naruto,� Sasuke said, smirking at the blond.

�Aww, fine,� he said, shoving the desert menu at the raven, unable to resist a parting, �bastard.�

Sasuke looked over the offending menu trying to find something he might possibly enjoy. He paused halfway down the list at an orange mousse with light white cake covered in a dark chocolate sauce. His tongue flicked out quickly to wet his lips, an action that did not go unnoticed by a certain blue-eyed blonde. Sasuke didn�t admit to anyone his attraction to dark chocolate, but he really didn�t mind it at all. And, he thought � looking up at the blond, who was concentrating hard on his water glass � it might be a little bit interesting to share the desert with Naruto. As friends, of course.

The desert, when it came, was absolutely delicious. Sasuke was surprised at how well the orange mousse � which, thankfully, was not too sweet � played off against the dark chocolate. He closed his eyes for a minute, savoring the taste, and missed the blue eyes that watched his lips as the spoon came out of his mouth. He was able to see that the blond enjoyed the desert as well, and was surprised when their forks clashed on the last bite, pulling back to allow Naruto to have it.

�No, you take it Sasuke, it�s your re-birthday,� the blonde said with a slight blush.

�No, it�s ok, I�m full,� the raven lied. The look on the other boys face as he took the bite was more than worth it, though. Catching himself, Sasuke glanced up at the other two men to see if they suspected anything, but the two were deep in discussion of the relative merits of Hong Kong versus Japanese Martial Arts films.

The walk back to the car after dinner was quiet, and they all in unspoken agreement rolled their windows down for the ride back to the cabin. They made Sasuke sit on the couch in front of the TV when they got back. He balked at wearing the blindfold again, but promised to close his eyes as the other three got their gifts ready and brought them around.

The first gift was from Kakashi, a year�s membership at a local Dojo in the town of their new university. Sasuke wasn�t extremely surprised � Itachi had gotten the same thing for Naruto on his birthday a couple months earlier � but it still made him happy. Other than Itachi, he would probably miss the Dojo and Kakashi-sensei�s training the most of his home-town, and he was glad to know that his new teacher would be someone that Kakashi trusted to continue training them.

The second gift was from Itachi. Sasuke blinked as he pulled out the box. It was a Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1 digital camera. He looked suspiciously at his brother � he�d been researching the camera online every so often, but hadn�t mentioned anything to Itachi.

The older man shrugged. �I figured since you wouldn�t have as easy an access to your own darkroom, you might like to try out digital photography.�

Sasuke pulled out the camera and hummed in pleasure, turning the camera on and starting to flip through its different modes. He was tempted to take out the owner�s manual and start reading, but looked up to see a slightly nervous-looking blond. He quickly put the camera away.

Naruto awkwardly pushed a large thin box at him, and his eyes widened as he realized what it probably was. He opened the top of the box and pulled out a picture, turning it around to look at it properly. He blinked in surprise.

It was a picture of him, done in watercolor and ink. He knew without having to look that it was Naruto�s, although the style was much more realistic than his normal painting style. Sasuke had seen the blond do similar work on his architecture designs, though. He turned the painting toward the light to get a better view.

In the picture, he was sitting on the ground, his legs drawn up, resting his chin on his knees. It was night-time, and hills rose in the background. The landscape was that of the desert-like brush land that surrounded their town. A pale moon had washed most of the color from the landscape, and was surrounded in the sky by a spattering of bright stars. This cool was balanced by the warmth of a fire in front of Sasuke�s feet. He was looking into the fire, the warm hues bouncing off his skin and throwing hints of red into his dark eyes. He didn�t look pensive, like Sasuke though he normally looked when they went out camping on nights like that. Instead, he looked calm, at peace.

�Naruto,� he said.

�Hmm?�

�It�s amazing. Thank you.� He glanced up in time to see the pleased look on the blond�s face before the blue eyes looked down abashedly. Naruto always got shy about taking complements about his work. Sasuke looked down at the painting again, tracing his fingers lightly over the glass as if he could feel the colors. It did amaze him what the dobe was able to pull off with just a few shades of paint. He couldn�t remember a picture that would have been used as reference for the picture, either, but then again Naruto had the craziest memory for images sometimes.

After a few minutes, Kakashi got up and started to clear away the wrapping paper. Sasuke broke out of his trance and glanced over at the blond again, who was glancing down at his jeans, a small smile playing over his mouth. Itachi was checking out the movie selections in the cabinet next to the TV.

�If you want to put your gifts away, we can watch a movie,� the older raven said.
Sasuke nodded. He turned to pick up the camera box, and his hand brushed against the tan hand of his best friend. They both pulled back at the same time. �Here, I�ll help you if you want,� the blond muttered, looking down.

�Thanks,� Sasuke said quietly, leaving the camera box to his best friend and picking up the painting and the envelope with the gift certificate in it. For a moment, he hesitated, pondering the possible outcomes of Naruto, stairs, and an expensive camera � then decided the painting he held was worth more to him anyways. He followed the blond up the stairs to his room, setting the painting down gently. He knelt down, looking at it, and then glanced up at the blond in the doorway. The dim light of the overhead deepened the blue of his eyes. The raven stood and shared a long glance with the blond. Neither of them said anything, and after a moment they both turned to go back downstairs. The spell was broken when Naruto smelled fresh popcorn, grabbing the bowl from Kakashi�s hands and plopping down in the middle of the couch as the previews came on. Sasuke sighed, then smirked and sat down next to the blond, leaning against the arm of the couch. Even if the movie left something to be desired � and he cringed a bit when he noticed the kung-fu flick seemed to star a talking hand � the day had been amazing, and he wouldn�t�ve traded it for the world.
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Review Responses

Prism0467 - seriously, blindfold's rock.

Kei-Chan - thanks!!! I adore a long review, and am so glad you like this story. I love art as well - not that you could tell ^_^ and I had to throw the tomato bit in there!! I dont even know where in hell that originated, but it just is so amusing to me. Hope you enjoyed the rebirthday surprise :) and I love Itachi as well! He is my absolute favorite char in the 'verse, so complex! So tragic! So amazingly hawt! Hope you continue to enjoy the story ^_^

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A Thousand Words