Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

The Bonds That Never Break	By : Keth Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male > Naruto/Sasuke Views: 4801 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters and I make no money from writing this fanfiction.

Chapter List
- 3
- 4
Author's Note: This is a side chapter taking place in between Chapters 1 and 2, but it's still worth reading so leave so quickly! Sorry for the very long wait since my last update, but I've been dealing with real life and writer's block for a while. Hopefully I'll be able to update faster from here on. Hopefully. Potential Spoilers for this fic: This chapter contains Naruto having a bit of 'fun' while looking at a pornagraphic magazine when he notices that one of the women in it reminds him of a certain black haired jerk he knows and he just can't stop what he's doing or look away. This is still yaoi and focused on Naruto and Sasuke, Naruto just has issues about his sexuality that will come up later in the story that he needs to deal with.

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Chapter 1.5: That Jerk on My Team/That Loser on My Team

It had become sort of a ritual for him, a set routine that Naruto now performed every time he came home from a mission. Upon arriving back at the Hidden Leaf Village he would first of all head to Ichiraku Ramen for a good meal. There was nothing better than a hot, filling bowl of ramen–of maybe five–as a reward for completing a tough mission. Taking a shower to relax and clean up, sneaking in a much needed nap, catching up on his favorite tv shows, all that could wait. Satisfying his ravenous hunger always came first and foremost for Naruto. Iruka-sensei would often show up at the shop as well if he wasn’t too busy with his own work and the two of them would chat about the mission Naruto had just come back from or about his opinions on his teammates or whatever news was going around the village while they happily slurped their noodles together. Naruto sincerely appreciated his former sensei taking the time out of his schedule to hang out with him; now that he was on Team 7, Naruto didn’t get the chance to see that pesky but caring guy all that often anymore, so the boy did find himself getting a little lonely, missing the almost fatherly presence of his former teacher a bit. It was nice to spend some quality one-on-one time with the nagging chunin once again. Besides, ramen definitely tasted better when you had someone to enjoy it with.

And the second thing in this series of events that Naruto always did without fail upon returning home? Well, that was a lot more private than just eating a bowl of tasty ramen; after he was content and plump with food, Naruto then always headed directly back to his apartment to enjoy a little ‘personal time’ all to himself. Living the life of a ninja was tough enough as it was, but adding on top of that the rigors of being a hormone flooded almost-teenager made things even more difficult to handle. For some reason missions tended to cause a build up of a lot of unwanted emotional and physical stress in Naruto; the endless training, bickering with his comrades, fighting tough battles, all of it was bound to wear down and aggravate even someone as full of energy as he was after a while. And the onset of puberty just wouldn’t leave Naruto alone either, plaguing him with embarrassing erections that happened for seemingly no reason and that sprung up out of the blue anywhere, anytime, accompanied by messy and humiliating wet dreams, and a newfound fiery lust, an insatiable desire to learn more and experience more and see more of this new world beyond the door of his innocence.

Thus the genin was under a constant two-pronged attack; two different–but equally frustrating–kinds of stress flooded Naruto’s maturing body, hidden behind a precarious dam of self-control. But even he had his limits with what pressures he could tolerate. The tension and irritation brought on by rigorous battle and training built up in Naruto’s pubescent muscles and mind, mixing together with his burning unrequited sexual desires, those growing waters of frustration held back temporarily by the dam of his own sheer willpower, desperately needing some kind of release, some way he could get rid of it all and reset the water levels to normal before he exploded. It had taken Naruto a while to figure out what to do with all this pent up frustration, how to effectively get rid of it all, but after a bit of curious experimentation one night, some harmless fun exploring his newly pubescent body, he immediately knew he had found the perfect remedy for this ailment.

That was why after each and every successful mission, after first eating at Ichiraku with Iruka, Naruto would come home and take care of a different kind of hunger. There was no better way to relieve his stress, no better finale to a job well done than coming home and stripping off all his clothes, pulling out a nudie magazine from its hiding place under his mattress, and taking a nice long session to rub one out, a much needed experience of self-pleasure and a vital method of relaxation. It was the perfect solution to both of his problems, both of those types of unwanted and burdensome frustration welling up inside his body ready to spill over. By now jerking off after every mission had pretty much become habit, not so much something he wanted to do anymore, but something Naruto found he needed to do; he needed to feel all the stress and tension–among other things–leave his body and be replaced with an overwhelming calm ecstasy, to have that weight lifted off his mind and body. By now that self-pleasuring had become a secret component of Naruto’s routine everyday life–eat a ton of food, make sure to find the time to jerk off, and then sleep it all off; it was a routine very typical to the average teenaged boy. And now that he was back in the Leaf Village, tonight was no different than any other night.

It had been a number of agonizingly long weeks since Naruto had been able to take care of his little problem; there was no alone time around his team at all, and even if there had been times out on missions when he really wanted to pay his distracting erection some attention, felt the urge to indulge in his pleasures so damn badly, there was just never any decent amount of privacy to do it, no opportunity to run off and hide to show himself some love. Those weeks of needy but ignored sexual feelings quickly added up inside, agitating an already stressful situation and wearing on his nerves, making Naruto more irritable and impatient than normal. He badly needed relief from the pressure and after going so long without getting any Naruto swore he could practically feel all that unreleased sperm building up in his nuts, brimming for a release. Now that he was back from that long mission to the Land of Waves he finally had an opportunity to do the deed that teenage boys loved to do so much, and the blond genin was definitely looking forward to it.

There were many important things that Naruto needed to think about soon, many odd occurrences between himself and Sasuke that should have been plaguing his mind right now, a multitude of worries and fears and other things that all needed urgent addressing, but Naruto was just too worn out from the mission–not only physically, but also emotionally–to deal with all that right now. All that crazy stuff Naruto had done during the mission, getting so unexpectedly upset when he thought Sasuke had died protecting him, randomly getting a boner while watching Sasuke’s naked body in the bath, kissing the black haired boy so gently while he recovered from his wounds, Naruto decided he could put it off and freak out about all that tomorrow. At the moment he was simply too tired and preoccupied to worry about that stuff, a belly full of his favorite ramen and his dick more than ready for a pleasurable workout after being ignored and neglected for so long. At the moment Naruto’s brain was swimming in an odd mixture of exhaustion and testosterone, the powerful concoction blocking out any worries for the time being. Now that he was finally back home Naruto fully intended to indulge in his pleasures for a while, to temporarily put all his cares aside and enjoy the moment while it lasted, before he inevitably woke up from his lust drunken stupor and realized just how insane he had really acted on the last mission.

Even before he had arrived at his front door Naruto could feel himself getting erect in anticipation for what was to come, his pants tenting out very obviously as his body expectantly awaited the pleasure it was about to experience. The genin’s dick was noticeably jutting out in his trousers, eagerly scraping against the zipper as it stretched out its fabric prison, begging to be let free. Hang on a sec, buddy, Naruto reassured his member to be patient, softly patting his bulge with a little chuckle; sometimes ‘Little Naruto’ seemed to have a mind of his own. Clearly Naruto’s mind and body were both very eager to begin. It was certainly a good thing no one else was outside around his apartment complex at this time of night or else they would have seen him walking awkwardly about with a big tent in his trousers, his erection proudly announcing its presence for all to see.

Once he unlocked the door and walked inside his apartment Naruto got down to business almost immediately, the pre-teen knowing he couldn’t wait even a second longer for this, rapidly stripping off his shirt and tossing it aside carelessly in the hall as he made his way to his bedroom. “Ahhh! I’ve been waiting for this all day,” the blond let out a pleased sigh as he unzipped his fly, finally allowing his boyhood to poke out of its suffocating confinement, then firmly took ahold of his rigid member in his hand and gave it a few slow tugs. Naruto was already at full mast just from the thought of finally being able to touch himself, his foreskin retracted all the way back with no assistance needed, exposing his slit which was weeping small beads of pre-cum in expectant delight, showing just how badly he needed this.

Naruto touched a finger to the tip of his cock and rubbed it around gently, coating his fingertip with his own sticky pre and giggling a little at the pleasurable, almost tickling sensation as he softly massaged his sensitive tip, trying to coax more of the clear juice out. After a few minutes of toying with his rock hard erection, Naruto pulled the finger away from his oozing hole, forming a long, thin string of viscous pre-cum connecting between his cock head and his finger, and he smiled a bit at the arousing sight; Naruto had only recently begun producing the clear liquid, so he was still getting used to the presence of the crystalline substance dripping out whenever he got turned on, but after a while he had actually started to find the liquid sort of fun to play with, enjoying seeing how much he could make himself leak out to use as a lube. After a little more work gently teasing himself, Naruto was finally content with the amount of slick, improvised lubricant that had gradually dribbled out and been smeared all over his hand. He then took a seat down on his bed and excitedly pulled off his pants and underwear and kicked the now unneeded clothing off onto the floor, leaving him stark naked in the cool night air circulating throughout his room. That air would be heating up very soon here, though.

Naruto reached his hand–the one not covered in his sticky excitement of course–in-between his mattress and boxspring with a kind of horney glee, an excited grin growing on his face as he went searching for one of his most prized possessions and pulled it out from its hiding place. Clutched triumphantly in his hand was a pornagraphic magazine, page after page full of beautiful naked women. Naruto was obviously far too young to have something like this in his possession since he was still years too early to buy the forbidden material legitimately. He didn’t have a helpful older brother or a connected friend who could sneak him pornography either, leaving him mostly in the dark on adult matters. That was at least until a couple of weeks before Team 7 had left for the Land of Waves.

Back then Naruto had gone to a local bookshop in town one day to check out the new manga releases, one of the hobbies he busied himself with since he didn’t have any friends to play and hang out with. The owner of that shop apparently was not a fan of Naruto, though, the grumpy old man rudely forcing the reviled boy out of his store almost as soon as he had walked in the door, bombarding Naruto with a barrage of angry threats and shouts for no reason. So after getting yelled at, Naruto impulsively decided to get some revenge on the shopkeep, a little justice in exchange for his needlessly poor treatment. When the old man wasn’t paying attention Naruto quietly snuck back into the shop, intent on ‘borrowing’ the reading material that he had wished to purchase for himself fair and square before the mean old bag of bones had forcibly run him out like some kind of roaming wild animal. Of course, Naruto would have paid for the book had he only been given the chance, and he did feel bad for deciding to resort to stealing it, but it was ultimately the owner’s fault for treating him like trash when Naruto hadn’t even done anything wrong.

While the old man was busy in back doing stock, Naruto carefully went skulking around the shop searching for a copy of the manga he liked, and that was when Naruto had spotted it; the nudie mags rack, those forbidden adult treasures, the final line separating boyhood and manhood, where all sorts of exciting wonders lay unexplored. The filthy magazines seemed to call out to Naruto, enticing him to come closer. His curiosity had just gotten the better of him and no matter what he tried Naruto found he couldn't resist their call. Naruto stood there in the shop staring blankly at the adult material for a long time before he finally worked up the courage to take a tentative footstep closer to the dirty mags, looking around cautiously to ensure that no one saw him inching closer to the porno, but besides himself no one else had been in the shop. At that moment Naruto was so uncertain, so unusually indecisive if he really wanted to do it after all, to cross that last line into the unknown.

...But those covers, plastered with images of pretty women in such risque poses, barely clothed in skimpy outfits, so much of their sensuous skin showing plain as day… Naruto had never experienced that kind of curiosity boiling in his chest, he had never cared much for that kind of thing before, even as he heard other boys in his class whisper excitedly about naughty things like these magazines he still hadn’t paid them much mind, but at that moment the craving suddenly descended on him as he stared timidly at those captivating, intimidating front covers. The mystery of the female body was something Naruto had a growing interest in now, his hormones beginning to kick into overdrive as he began to leave childhood behind, some sort of switch flipped on inside his brain. So instead of taking the newest issue of the manga he liked, Naruto had gulped down his fear, nervously taken those last few steps towards that invisible off limits area surrounding the adult magazine rack, and swiped a random dirty mag from off the shelf. The deed now done and irrevocable, Naruto quickly fled the scene of his crime, bolting from the shop with his new ‘study guide’ grasped tightly in his hand as he ran home to discover what awaited him inside. Not once since then had he regretted that bold decision.

Naruto eagerly set the magazine down on his bed and flipped it open to a random page, promptly beginning to stroke himself to the lewd image, the growing heat in his loins begging to be released as he gripped his pre lubed hand around his cock and happily went to town jerking himself off. The sensations Naruto felt as he slid into his own wet, sticky hand, man were they ever amazing! The boy’s eyes soaked up the nude images before him greedily, these all too new glimpses of the female form further sparking the fire raging in his young loins.

“Wow!” he gasped in pleasure, eyeing the gorgeous woman on the page. She was probably in her mid-20’s, pretty and youthful and sexy, her smooth unblemished skin almost glowing as bright as her short-cut golden blonde hair. The woman’s firm, round breasts were large and plump–just the way Naruto discovered he liked them after much research comparing the bust sizes of the ladies in the magazine–her DD-sized set of knockers drooping down somewhat under all their beautiful weight. Yet despite their considerable size, her pair weren’t overly big for her frame, the model’s body still maintaining a nice proportion even considering her large bust. Naruto imagined himself playing with those big lovely tits, speeding up the movements of his hand as it went rapidly gliding back and forth on his hard as steel cock while he formed a mental picture of himself fondling and squeezing the older woman's beautiful mounds of flesh in both his hands as further masturbation fodder. How soft those heavy breasts must have been, how amazing it would be to feel their weight in his palms.

But even more intensely exciting about the blonde woman than her delectable tits was the fact that she was sitting on the side of a bed with her legs spread wide open, blatantly exposing her luscious pink cunt for Naruto to see, which the horny young man more than willingly gawked at. Nothing was hidden from sight, everything was clearly on display, the blonde woman’s beautiful pink lips flared open and glistening with aroused wetness in a magnificently sexy display. The hot blonde babe was using her fingers to stretch her pussy even farther, opening her lips wider and exposing the delicate pinkness of her tight-looking entrance for her audience.

As he took in the magnificent sight, Naruto knew he had definitely made a good choice in swiping this magazine, even if it had only been picked at random; the other couple he had pilfered since that first occasion only showed nude breasts and always hid the lower parts under skimpy underwear or annoying black censor lines. In this magazine, the dirtiest of all the trio he had been driven to steal by his insatiable teenage sex drive, everything was freely shown, even those absolutely forbidden parts of the female anatomy Naruto had never laid eyes on before he had gotten his hands on this wonderful gift from the gods. Even if it was just in a magazine, there was something so excitingly naughty about seeing that prohibited zone, the last frontier for a pubescent boy. It was a remarkable thing to Naruto to get his first good look at those tight, wet caverns, those amazingly pink folds of a woman’s most intimate parts; the mystery and wonder of the nether regions was never lost on horny teenage boys.

Not wanting to come too fast and have his fun be over all too quickly, Naruto forcibly slowed his strokes down to a more easy to manage pace; he suddenly realized he had gotten far too caught up staring at the model’s exposed vagina, too excited at his glimpse of the female anatomy, so in order to not bust a nut just yet Naruto decided to turn to page with his free hand to keep himself going for as long as possible tonight, to sustain his pleasure until he could keep it in no longer. It was on to the next arousing image to wank to for him.

The woman on this page was strikingly beautiful, a petite black haired siren laying lazily on her side like she was calling out to onlookers, her lusty expression daring them to come closer as if insinuating they were unworthy to be in her presence. She was altogether different from the blonde on the last page, something off entirely in her temperament and appearance; the previous lady could have fairly been called gorgeous or sexy, but this woman had some odd unspoken quality about her, a more subdued kind of beauty. She wasn’t in such a wildly compromising or overtly sexual position as the last woman, laying naked on a red velvet-lined couch propping her head up with one hand as she gazed beguilingly into the camera and her other hand residing down in-between her legs caressing her sex, yet the dark haired woman still maintained a delicate eroticism about her. She was teasing her own sexual needs, her middle finger inserted deep into her warm cavern while her thumb leisurely toyed with and massaged her clit, but somehow she actually seemed to be teasing the viewer more, like she was smugly saying ‘Yeah, I’m touching myself and you’re loving it!’ to all the men looking at her, taunting them with her salacious actions.

Her dark narrow eyes, small pursed lips, and long flowing locks gave the woman a strange refined air about her, like an elegant princess or something like that, someone of remarkable upbringing and poise. This woman’s pear-sized breasts were smaller than Naruto typically liked–decent he supposed, but not mouth-wateringly large like the blonde babe’s practically cantaloupe-sized rack had been–but there was something so oddly compelling about her that Naruto was utterly charmed by her feminine wiles and just couldn’t bear to turn to the next page and forgo pleasuring himself to her slender, succulent visage. She held some sort of mysterious power over him, her beauty a weapon drawing the boy further in. The black haired woman’s expression was so gentle, so subtle and missable, yet it was simultaneously amazingly alluring, her barely noticeable smile and narrowed eyes staring deep into Naruto as if she knew the young man was touching himself to her image, like she was smugly holding the upper hand in their interactions and knew it, she plainly understood the power she held over him.

“Damn!” Naruto groaned as he appreciated the woman’s features with lust filled eyes; her suggestive, coy smile so subtly directed his way, her inky black hair draping down over her small, delicate shoulders like a cascading black waterfall, her cute dark pink nipples pointing out from her supple fist-sized breasts. She wasn’t exactly what Naruto would have considered his type before this, not really his idealized image of a sexy woman, but the more he looked at the short, dark haired little beauty, the more Naruto realized there was some captivating quality about her that was intensely arousing, even more so than the previous model, and now that he was so readily enjoying himself Naruto couldn’t imagine not having a go to her seductive charm. How could he have ever been so dumb to pass her up? She might not have been his type before, but she just might well become his favorite type after this. She was like a crafty spider and Naruto had been caught up in her web, prey drawn in willingly to the seductress to be devoured. Naruto tightened his grip, working himself faster as he stared at this raven haired beauty in all her mysterious magnificence. The boy’s desperate, breathy gasps reverberated through the warm air, overlaid by the rhythmic wet, slapping noise of skin on skin as Naruto hastily fisted his cock for the woman to see, letting her picture see just how worked up she was getting him and allowing himself be entirely controlled by her spell.

As he was furiously stroking himself, incredibly turned on by the black haired hottie before him, Naruto suddenly realized something unusual about the nude woman. This young, striking lady so elegantly pictured on the page reminded Naruto of someone. It was certainly an odd time for that thought to pop into his head, but the resemblance was almost uncanny, her features a curious match for… Who exactly? He couldn’t really think straight at the moment, his head drowning in a haze of testosterone and his hand too busy rapidly pumping his energetic young cock to care about the matter all that much, but she definitely seemed familiar in an odd sense and Naruto couldn’t shake the sensation of deja vu. Small, almond shaped dark eyes, creamy smooth skin, and a head of thick, luxurious black hair. Those cunning eyes that seemed to challenge all who approached, that slight, pompous smile that hid many secrets, a body that was fine and flawless like a porcelain doll. Now that he thought about it, yeah, she looked just like…

No! No fucking way!! Naruto silently screamed in terror, the person she reminded him of finally coming to mind all at once. He would have screamed out for real, but Naruto was so stunned at the revelation that his voice caught in his throat and couldn’t escape. Deeply alarmed at his vile thoughts, the horrid nauseous feeling that arose in his belly as that person invaded his brain at the worst possible time, Naruto immediately ceased his stroking all together and released his dick from his vice grip, too disgusted with that bastard popping into his thoughts in his private moment to continue. Naruto roughly snatched the magazine up and hastily tossed it to the other end of the bed in pure anger and frustration, as if it would further contaminate him if it were anywhere near him, taint his young mind with thoughts he certainly didn’t want to have. The book soared into the air away from Naruto like an abused bird, its pages flapping like wings momentarily before it slammed back down onto the bed with a crash. Why? Why had the black haired vixen betrayed him so badly when all he had shown her was love? How could she have possibly reminded Naruto of that guy?! Naruto couldn’t even think his name right now or else he might be sick!

No, no, no! This couldn’t be happening, not right now of all possible times! It was just his overactive imagination, surely! Okay, so maybe there were some similarities between the two which had made Naruto temporarily confused, causing him to mistake a resemblance and forcing his… ‘preoccupied’ brain to recall someone he would never have normally thought about while jerking off. But even considering the physical resemblance between the striking raven haired woman and him, there was definitely no competition at all, her characteristics far exceeding his! ...No, not like that! Naruto quickly corrected himself, shaking his head wildly in defiance. If he put it in those terms, if he actually dared to compare them, then it almost sounded like Naruto actually thought he was attractive. Naruto wasn’t going to allow himself to think that way again, not after that bizarre moment in Tazuna's bathroom in the Land of Waves! It was just so messed up! He had sworn to put all that off just for tonight and deal with it tomorrow, yet here all that muck was being dug up again. The young blond had already shifted into panic mode, his lust gone and replaced by fear and self-doubt as he started freaking out about recent events, feeling like he had utterly lost control of his body and his emotions recently.

But even if his brain was currently having a complete breakdown, Naruto’s dick seemed not to mind the horrifying thoughts in the least, still standing up from his crotch hard as ever and begging to be touched once again, pleading with Naruto to finish the deed to its hot, sticky, satisfying conclusion. He would have liked to pretend that he wasn’t attracted to the woman anymore so much right now, that his momentary lapse in sanity, that mental image of her similarities to that guy, had made her disgusting and vile in his eyes… But dammit, that would have been a big fat lie. Even after those shocking thoughts forcing their way in, even after her treason against him, Naruto still thought she was irresistibly attractive, couldn’t at all deny her continued appeal. The seductive woman’s image refused to be budged from his head, the woman still laying there on that couch tormenting him so relentlessly with those piercing eyes of hers.

Naruto took a halfhearted look down at his still throbbing penis. His raging hard-on wouldn’t go down, not even a little bit. He desperately begged his erection to go away, not mentally in the mood for this anymore, but it continued to plague Naruto no matter what words he used to try to appease it, no matter how the boy tried to convince it that there was just no way he could possibly continue after such a nasty shock to the senses. Yes, he was actually trying to reason with his own dick, that's how rattled and desperate he was to just forget this all had happened and suppress it as deep down as he could right now. All that blood flowing through his rock hard member remained stubbornly in place, though, refusing to leave his groin and hand control of his body back to his brain as it steadily coursed through his dick and drained away blood from the rest of his body. Naruto’s youthful sex drive continued to remain at the ready and excited to the max. His aching, reddened member was so hard that it was actually starting to hurt now, the stagnated standoff between the penis and the boy it was attached to becoming somewhat painful to him. Even after an interruption to his pleasuring by the mental flash of a guy, and worst of all that guy, his erection didn’t seem to care at all. Naruto’s bodily urges didn’t give a damn about his mental freak out or his aversion to continue this now ruined session. Yup, ‘Little Naruto’ definitely had a mind and desires of his own and he was even more stubborn than Naruto was, not caring at all what his owner wanted, only about his own satisfaction.

“Grrrrr! ...Fine!!” Naruto growled in agony after a long period of silent reflection, knowing his boner wouldn’t soften unless it was sated and happy, and also very wary of giving himself a case of blue balls. Even if Naruto wasn’t exactly happy with ‘Little Naruto’ at the moment, he had no choice but to relent and give in to his desires once again, lest the pressure building up in his balls get even worse than it already was. Reluctantly swallowing his shame and disappointment in himself, Naruto crawled over to the other end of his bed where he had thrown the magazine away from himself in disgust after it had offended his sensibilities so badly and checked to make sure it hadn’t been damaged by his outburst of anger before reopening the book to the same exact page that he had been looking at before, the dark haired woman still waiting there for him.

As if confirming how desirous Naruto still found her, once he had flipped the magazine open and took hold of this erection again, a big droplet of pre-cum formed at the tip of his penis and slowly dripped down the length of his dick into his once again swiftly moving hand. More and more pre came steadily leaking out in a little river of excitement, wetting his hand with the slimy lube he enjoyed using so much as Naruto resumed his passionate thrusting and tugging, once again trying to push everything bothersome aside and get back into the simplistic rhythm of beating off. There was so much of that clear liquid pouring of of his slit now that it was like Naruto’s member was weeping with joy, thanking him for deciding to continue. He wasn’t very happy with his dramatic physical reaction to seeing the stunning woman again, but even considering what had happened, something about her was just so alluring Naruto couldn’t look away or reject her, even after his very rude awakening. But he wasn’t staring at her cute breasts or the finger so wonderfully swallowed up all the way to the knuckle into her moist tightness anymore; he was drawn almost unwillingly into looking directly at her face as he stroked himself and was seriously getting worked up because of it. Her expression and her features were still so captivating, even if they unfortunately reminded Naruto of him. Naruto’s eyes were locked on the women's own glimmering dark orbs as he jacked himself off with increasing wild vigor. Those mystifying midnight black eyes staring back at him… Eyes just like he had…

If Naruto used his imagination, he had to admit the model did look a lot like what he probably would look like if he were older and of course female. The boy didn’t enjoy admitting that fact at the moment, but there was a strong resemblance of sorts in both their demeanor and appearance. ...Yes, he also shared that mysterious quality that the insidious spider-like model had, that strange look deep in the eyes that made you so uncomfortable and unguarded whenever they looked at you, that sublime attractiveness that drew people’s gazes, that annoying but somehow equally enticing air of fierce superiority all recklessly drawing Naruto in… Drawing him to both of them.

Naruto hated him so much and tried his best to stay away and ignore that jerk’s pretentious excellence, yet it always came back to him in the end, no matter what Naruto did he found he just couldn’t ignore that guy, no matter how much he annoyed and infuriated Naruto with his flippant, stuck-up attitude. Thus after a while they became stalwart rivals, always fighting with each other, competing at every possible chance, and because of that relationship Naruto secretly began seeking his approval so desperately. Naruto strived to be on equal ground with him, to gain his recognition as someone strong, because deep down in the depths of his heart where emotions that he tried to reject lay buried, Naruto truly admired that guy; his strength, his intelligence, his popularity, his determination. He was so strong, so cool, a perfect example of what a good shinobi should be, someone Naruto had decided he wanted to be more like. Naruto had felt that way for a long time, since back before they had ever been teamed up when they were young classmates, just little boys still learning the ropes and not the strong ninja they were now. He still felt that way now, even if he tried so hard to hide his own feelings from himself, even as Naruto’s emotions broke into opposing camps squabbling between accepting or denying those feelings, his thoughts divided between his desire to explore this strange new connection that they had recently formed or rejecting it entirely and denying that anything but hatred existed between them. That guy troubled Naruto so damn much; even now in his most intimate personal moment he couldn’t escape that bastard.

So why couldn’t he ever accept Naruto? Why did he never pay any attention even when Naruto tried so hard? The energetic boy restlessly tried and tried to gain that guy’s attention, to have him compliment Naruto even just once, to have that stubborn jackass look his way and approve of his skills, but to little avail; he never seemed to care, always off in his own world. ...At least, that was until recently. He had finally seemed to notice that Naruto actually existed, after so much hard work and effort put in by the blond. His actions in the Land of Waves, their unprecedented teamwork together, his commitment to protecting Naruto in the face of danger, it seemed he was finally starting to pay attention, even if only a little. But it still wasn’t enough for Naruto. Not nearly enough. No, not until that bastard truly approved of and respected Naruto would it be enough for him, not until he had truly gained that guy’s attention would Naruto be satisfied.

Naruto wasn’t dumb, he realized how it could seem like he was obsessed to others. It was just… he wanted to be strong. Truly strong. And if the best shinobi in their class came to regard him as such, then Naruto would know his dream of becoming Hokage was possible, that he could become more than the hated little pest everyone thought of him as. No matter how much he thought about it, though, Naruto just couldn’t understand why he was so fixated on that guy either, could never plainly figure out his own feelings on the subject. Anyone strong would have been a good choice for a rival, so why had Naruto picked him out specifically to be his competition from back in their days at the Academy, selected him out to be his equal match and his opposite number? From then on, he was the only rival Naruto decided he ever wanted, and oddly enough one of the few people whose opinion mattered to him and whose acceptance he so desired. What was it about that jackass that was so enticing, so mesmerizing? Why the hell was Naruto so drawn to that bastard?

Sasuke Uchiha was just so… So… No words immediately came to mind. Naruto had no idea how to describe him anymore, no idea what was going on deep in his own soul as it became cloudy and troubled with doubt and confusion towards someone he was supposed to hate, but whom he had secretly never entirely disliked. Naruto had been trying to push that away tonight, trying to just enjoy himself and worry about those troubling feelings later, but it all came flooding in, all those things he was trying to suppress, hidden memories and emotions and bitter confliction all rushing back after being reawakened by the black haired woman in his dirty magazine. After everything that had happened between them in the Land of Waves, all those new emotions that had been stirred up, Naruto’s feelings were becoming so muddled, like a hundred colors of paint all mixed together so you could no longer tell which was which, blended into a disgusting, unknowable new creation. What the hell was going on?

Dark eyes. That was all Naruto saw anymore as he continued to jerk off while he looked down at the magazine, his hand working double time to get himself off, to finally arrive at the climax of this utterly weird session. Black, compelling, mysterious eyes he knew nothing about… But that he wished he did know. Naruto wanted to know what was hidden behind those eyes. But not of her eyes. ...No, what was behind his eyes? Thoughts of the beautiful woman were gone now, Naruto no longer imagined her lithe naked body, her flowing black locks, her firm breasts. Her body melted away until only those eyes remained, his attention focused solely on the glassy orbs. Thoughts of the beautiful seductress were replaced entirely by thoughts of… Just what the hell was going on?

Something very strange was happening to him. Naruto looked away from the magazine for a moment, tearing himself away from those black eyes staring back at him, and turning his attention down to his own crotch, absentmindedly watching his hand so expertly continue its work to bring himself to ecstasy. Naruto noticed his penis seemed to have gotten a little bit longer since the last time he had accurately measured it; it definitely looked bigger in his hand than it had before, but maybe that was just an illusion due to how overpoweringly aroused he was right now. And as Naruto was watching himself rapidly stroke, thinking over the size of his own boyhood all the while, a random thought slipped into his mind: how big was Sasuke? From his shameful little voyeuristic adventure in the old bridge builder’s bathroom in the Land of Waves Naruto knew that Sasuke’s penis was longer than his own, but that had been when they were both soft. It was annoying to be smaller in that department when compared to his rival, somewhat of an insult to Naruto’s feelings of manliness as he continued to mature, but Naruto wondered how big Sasuke really was, how big his cock looked when it was swollen and hard and ready to burst just like Naruto’s was now. How did these two rivals compare in that most masculine and personal of ways?

That unwanted curiosity that had attacked Naruto and forced him to unwillingly spy on Sasuke back then came rushing back all at once, overwhelming his senses with force. As he thrust over and over into his hand, edging closer to release every second, Naruto wondered if Sasuke had the same issues with puberty that he did; those annoying, yucky wet dreams that made such a mess of everything, popping embarrassing spontaneous boners at the drop of a hat, even out in public, the burning heat that built up in your junk unless you took care of it every so often. Did Sasuke also have to put up with all those things? Did he also jack off like Naruto was doing right now? It was such an odd thought; it was tough to imagine Sasuke doing this kind of thing, getting all sweaty and horny, pleasuring himself with such animalistic passion. Sasuke seemed like he was above all that somehow, but… Yes, he must have done it too. He was a guy too after all, he must have known those feelings as well. For some reason that thought made Naruto… happy. The belief that even Sasuke too was a slave to his passions sometimes, that he might do this degrading but amazing act as well, it made them equal in that regard, allowing Naruto to not feel lesser than his comrade.

...Naruto’s mind wandered as he continued his amorous work, utterly hating himself for it, but committed to walking down this equally exciting and disgusting road. His curious inner workings focused entirely on thoughts of his comrade and rival. What sorts of noises did Sasuke make when he touched himself? Did he pant and moan and gasp like Naruto did, or was he silent, quietly enjoying his self-pleasure with his usual calm dignity? It was difficult to imagine the sour, stubborn boy ever being loud like that, but maybe the only time Sasuke was loud was when he was all alone. What did Sasuke think about when he was doing it, what sorts of dirty things did he imagine? What did he look like while doing it? These thoughts were simultaneous revolting and thrilling to Naruto, his lust addled mind pushing him to think more about his rival’s private needs, about the most intimate and personal things about the guy who drove Naruto to do so many things, whether it was to study and train to become a stronger ninja or… this.

Try as he might to stop them, images flowed into Naruto’s head unceasingly as he returned his gaze to the magazine to lock eyes with the image of the woman, now focusing only on her eyes and not her beautiful body. The eyes that reminded him of Sasuke… Those images Naruto had been trying so hard to hold back were breaking out of their containment: memories of firm, pert buttocks, tight ab muscles, of broad shoulders, impressive biceps, and a flat, smooth stomach dripping with beads of water. Mental images of Sasuke’s handsome, naked young body… That open look he had gotten of Sasuke in Tazuna’s bathroom had broken Naruto’s brain or something. He should have never done that, but it was far too late now. Naruto helplessly tried driving the offending images out, but instead they were only driving him wild. He was entirely captivated by what he had seen then, recalling those glimpses in his head. Naruto’s two trains of thought combined, the undoubtedly arousing and sickening thoughts of Sasuke’s ‘personal habits’ mixing with the memoires of his naked body, forming a new thought for Naruto to masturbate to.

Sasuke’s entirely nude form stood there in his mind’s eye, his small black bush of pubes, his pale skin, and his defined muscles all a match for what Naruto had seen that day. This was so twisted. But Naruto couldn’t stop. Now now. Not any longer. He was too far gone, too into it to stop now. The Sasuke in Naruto’s fantasy was wearing a cocky grin on his face as the imagined boy reached down and started to slowly touching himself, getting himself as erect and uncontrolled as Naruto currently was. Sasuke’s piercing black eyes were looking straight at Naruto the whole time he was stroking himself off, boring into Naruto’s soul. His face became flushed as sweat dripped down his handsome features, splotchy red patches growing on his cheeks as the mental image of Sasuke’s rubbed himself faster and faster, the black haired boy writhing and panting in pleasure as he stroked himself, looking so different from how he usually did. Naruto couldn’t escape it: back then at his first glance and now as well, Naruto acknowledged that Sasuke was attractive, just as the black haired woman in his magazine had been. They were both positively alluring in some odd undefined way.

Naruto tried to switch back to thoughts of the black haired woman, tried to get away from this train of thought before it was too late, but he just couldn’t anymore. He was too absorbed with the mental picture of his rival, getting a nasty, weird voyeuristic pleasure from imagining Sasuke receiving his own pleasure. ...No, Naruto would let those images stay there a while. The boy was surprised to find himself allowing them in, actually consenting to jerking off while thinking about Sasuke, but after fruitless fighting he relented; he was too turned on to care what caused his orgasm, only that it happened soon. He was so repulsed by these thoughts just moments ago, but now Naruto was openly welcoming them, at least for the moment. It was wrong. So wrong. But it felt so good. He was too enticed, too enthralled with the images of Sasuke’s exposed form to stop now. It was just masturbation after all. Disgusting, base human instinct. It didn’t mean anything. It didn’t mean anything. It didn’t mean anything. Over and over he told himself this as Naruto edged closer and closer to his breaking point, quickly barreling down on his long sought after moment of sheer ecstasy. None of this meant anything.

Naruto’s hand was almost a blur as he approached his climax, pumping his raging erection faster and harder, faster and harder, needing more friction, more tightness, more speed for his pending release. It was freaking weird beyond belief what he was thinking, the images flowing in his mind as Naruto did this absurdly dirty and crazy act, but oh god, he didn’t give a damn anymore! Just for the moment he didn’t care. Just for this short instant all he could think about was all that cum boiling in his balls, how badly he needed to blow his load, all that amazingly warm stuff that would soon come spurting out. He was so close, walking right on the edge, unintentionally driven there by his jerk rival. Just a little more, a few more strokes, a few more dirty mental images, and Naruto would finally get feel that heavenly climax after so much impatient waiting. He couldn’t stop now even if he wanted to. It wasn’t even like he was jerking off anymore, now Naruto was practically pounding into his fist, bucking and slapping with wild abandon, desperately seeking to nut. Those degrading, disgusting, humiliating thoughts, they were making him utterly crazy in so many ways!

“Ngh! Tissue!” Naruto gasped, quickly grabbing a tissue from the box next to his bed, knowing that his release was impending and he could only hold out for just a few more seconds. One last thrust was all it would take, one final movement to bring him to release, weeks of pent up teenaged need on the verge of spilling out. He carefully positioned the tissue with his free hand, ready to catch the river of his seed that would very soon come flowing out.

When he finally came Naruto experienced the most intense, mind blowing orgasm of his young life; he had died and gone to heaven, coming with such powerful force that he swore he had blacked out for a split second. “Gahh! Ah!” the boy wailed in utter delight, unable to hold back his loud raspy cries of pleasure as he was instantly flooded with bliss, an ocean of beautiful relief coursing through his veins. Naruto’s young body trembled and shivered at the sensation of his most amazing climax ever, his spine tingling and eyelids fluttering as he reached his peak. Naruto’s balls tightened and retracted as his penis pulsated, his genitals forcing out their overly full contents. Naruto unleashed five thick shots of cum into the tissue held in his awaiting hand–an impressively big load of love juice for someone his age–collected over weeks and weeks of inattentive frustration. Rope after rope of his seed came forcefully spurting out into the tissue, leaving it soggy and moist in his hand as he tried cautiously to not come all over his bed with the remarkably powerful shots. Some of his sticky jizz started overflowing from the overly full tissue onto his palm, heating his skin with the wet warmth of his loins, that same warmth that had needed to let out so badly.

Riding his high downwards back to earth, Naruto let out a loud half-gasp, half-sigh of immense pleasure as he lazily stroked his overly sensitive dick a few more times after his spectacular orgasm had finished, intending on milking out every single last drop of cum that had been residing in his nuts. One last droplet of the milky fluid came dripping out into the tissue, coaxed out by the magical work of Naruto’s hand. Now only a wet trail came drooling out of his dick hole, the last remnants of what his balls had not blasted out. Naruto panted wearily, washed over by a great sense of tiredness and exhaustion from his–in more ways than one–draining orgasm. He unenthusiastically set out about cleaning up, tossing the tissue into the trash bin and washing the spilled semen off his hands. But there was a problem, something that needed addressing before he could peacefully drift off to sleep.

Almost immediately after coming down from his high the guilt set in, pushing and probing at Naruto’s mind. Just what in the hell had he done?! What kind of screwed up, disgusting things had he been thinking only a few moments ago?! Yet again he had acted so absurdly when it came to Sasuke. All because of that damned magazine… Deep down Naruto knew that it wasn’t entirely that seductive raven haired ladies’ fault and that his weird problem with Sasuke had started long before this night, he was just desperately trying to rationalize his actions at the moment, trying to pass the blame. Naruto grit his teeth as he stared down accusingly at the magazine, pondering just what to do with it after what had just happened. He wanted to rip that page out of the book so badly, so caught up in guilt and shame and fear at the thoughts spinning in his head as he pleasured himself, he wanted to crumple that offending image up and throw it in the garbage where it could never do that to him again. ...But how could he do such a thing knowing how much pleasure the black haired beauty had given him? Naruto had never before in his short life been that aroused and never come that hard. Could he really trash something that had brought him such delightful good feelings?

Instead of getting furious at the picture for the confusing feelings it aroused in him like he should have, Naruto very carefully checked the page to make sure he hadn’t accidentally dripped any of his wayward cumshots on the paper and despoiled the image as a result of his powerful orgasm. Content that the view of the raven model was unharmed by any of his spunk, the page still pristine and still bringing out all sorts of conflicting feelings, Naruto smoothed out the page with his hands to ensure it wouldn’t wrinkle, gently closed the magazine shut, and carefully placed it back in its hiding place underneath his mattress, treating the book… No, treating that particular image as if were something very valuable and precious, worth its weight in warm, sticky, pearlescent gold.

Naruto picked up the underwear he had cast aside in his eagerness to sate his boiling lust off the floor and slipped them back on, deciding he should get to sleep now that he was thoroughly pleased. He knew he would be feeling untold amounts of shame and confusion and revulsion very soon, far exceeding anything he had felt before, but right now Naruto was just too damn drained and content to care, floating like a feather on a breeze in his post-orgasmic bliss. There would be time to freak out later, he convinced himself, once again pushing aside those dastardly worries. Right now Naruto was just too happy and too exhausted to concern himself with all that, his head resting on a pillow that felt like a wonderful fluffy cloud right about now, his stomach stuffed with his favorite food, and his little testicles gloriously drained of all that liquid tension formerly brewing in them. Naruto was too content to worry at the moment, quickly drifting off into a much needed vacation to dreamland.

***

Right as Naruto awoke from his slumber and groggily opened his eyes to the overbearing light of a new day, he was immediately struck with feelings of regret like a ton of bricks crashing down on him all at once. And how could he not be regretting his actions right now? Naruto couldn’t believe the kinds of things he had been doing recently. And all of them, every last awkward moment, every absurd action he had made, every strange emotion leaking into his brain, every single thing he was now freaking out about involved Sasuke Uchiha, his fiercest rival and fellow teammate, in some way or another.

It was the morning after Team 7 had arrived back home from the Land of Waves. Once the group had finally come back safe and sound to the Leaf Village, Naruto had gone off to have a big delicious bowl of ramen with his former teacher Iruka just as he always did after finishing a mission, whether it was big or small, then he returned to his apartment to had a little ‘private time’ all to himself, quickly falling into a wonderful, contented sleep after he had finished up with his self-pleasuring, as teen boys often did. With as drained as he was from the mission, Naruto was out like a light almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. After all the hard won fights during that long, tiring mission, all the unexpected troubles and trials Team 7 had come across, Naruto had been both physically and emotionally exhausted, more than ready for the opportunity to crash. His sleep was so peaceful and untroubled it was like he had fallen under a spell, like a princess in one of those story books. Unfortunately, all good things came to an end. Naruto’s delightful rest was interrupted not by the kiss of a handsome prince–thankfully enough, though; Naruto was not interested in getting kissed by any more guys, even one had been far too many for him–but by the sudden flood of terror shooting into his mind, the memory of what he and Sasuke had done surging into his brain all at once.

Naruto may have still been sleepy and unfocused just after waking up from his deep slumber, but that confused state only lasted for a brief moment, a temporary pause as his brain readjusted to the waking world and he was jolted completely awake and aware at the realization of the magnitude of his recent foolish actions. The early morning fog in his head was all blown away in an instant by a gust of disbelief, leaving behind an empty void of shock. Naruto had been too tired, too worn down last night after finishing his meal and pleasing himself before bedtime to occupy himself with those feelings laying in wait in the back of his mind, but now that his mind was refreshed after the good night’s rest, the self-doubt and despair had begun to flood into Naruto, forcing him to confront it head on. Those worrying thoughts that had only temporarily been held at bay by his exhaustion and weariness were now free of their shackles to run wild through his head. And boy were they running.

He had done it. Naruto couldn’t believe he had actually done it, that he had taken that final doozy of a step towards the unknown, but he definitely had. Twice in fact! Not just one, but two times he had done that insane thing with Sasuke. It had been a huge mistake, however, he realized that very clearly now. The weirdest, dumbest thing he had ever done in his life, bar none. Why had he done it? How could he have been so dumb? These self-criticizing thoughts repeated over and over on a loop in the boy’s brain as he continuously questioned his own actions and motives.

“AAAAH! What the hell did I do that for?!” Naruto screamed out so loud it echoed through his room, the question reverberating off the bedroom walls and back into his own ears as he flailed around dramatically in his bed, rolling back and forth with his hands covering his face to hide his shame and humiliation. He was not at all happy with himself for doing what he had done, completely soaking in self-loathing and regret like a pickle in brine at the moment.

At the time Naruto hadn’t really thought much about the act; it had just felt like the right thing to do, as caught up in the emotions of the moment as he was. Naruto’s mind had sent out no warning signals about how idiotic the thing he had been contemplating was, no alert to stop his reckless course of action before it was too late. No, it was more like his brain had temporarily shut down and let his emotions freely take over, causing him to do that most absurd thing.

As Sasuke lay there recovering in Tazuna’s house in the Land of Waves, looking so unusually frail and defenceless as he slept, Naruto found he just couldn’t help himself. His swelling feelings of worry and fear and gratitude overcame his senses, drowning out all sane thoughts and causing him to act completely irrationally. At that moment, as he gazed down on his wounded teammate, Naruto found himself wanting to kiss Sasuke again, to make sure that moment was real, to confirm that his comrade hadn’t sacrificed his life for him and that it hadn't all been a dream. With just the two of them together in that room the mood had been so oddly gentle and warm, everything about that moment pushing Naruto to do that inconceivable thing, and the first nice, positive feelings he had ever felt towards Sasuke began welling up inside Naruto’s chest as he leaned down to softly plant his own lips against Sasuke’s.

But now that Naruto had come back to the Hidden Leaf Village and had some time to recoup and sort through his swirling thoughts, he realized just how insane what he had done really was. He had actually kissed his bastard rival. Twice! Naruto honestly had no idea why he did it, could figure out no good explanation for his actions back then. Something about Sasuke’s fragile appearance had brought him to desire the feeling of the warmness of those lips against his own once again, to feel close to him. But that had been a mistake, a huge blunder! From the moment he woke up Naruto began agonizing over it, running over those events in his head again and again. How could he have done something so stupid? Why had he been compelled to do something so reckless and strange? And most importantly, why had Sasuke let him do it?

Yes, Sasuke had undeniably allowed Naruto to kiss him. You could even say he had encouraged it. He hadn’t fought back or pushed Naruto away or even insulted him. Naruto had been expecting to have to defend himself against Sasuke’s irate fury after being caught during the first ill-thought-out kiss he placed on Sasuke’s resting form, but Sasuke had been shockingly mellow and uncaring about Naruto kissing him, even letting him do it again. There was no punishment for his actions, no judgment directed at him from Sasuke’s strangely soft gaze, not even the sense of fear and disgust in the pit of his stomach anymore. There had only been that weird, previously unknown feeling creeping its way through Naruto’s body, that odd sensation building up in his chest that he had no idea how to accurately describe. It was an annoying and consuming feeling that the boy had never felt before, worming its way through him like greasy oil, quietly compelling Naruto to do the unthinkable.

So Naruto willingly took him up on the offer and kissed Sasuke yet again because… Well, Naruto didn’t know exactly why he did it now that he actually thought about the act rationally. It just felt pleasant and it made him feel strangely connected to Sasuke, like there was more between them than just their surface rivalry and competition, something deeper and less clear-cut. Naruto had been distraught over Sasuke’s supposed death in battle, so much so that he had even cried all those unexpected tears. He had actually cried for Sasuke, that jackass who had never once said something even relatively nice to Naruto, who never missed a chance to mock him and always called him a loser. Those tears had just come streaming out unopposed once Sasuke had fallen silent and still, though, Naruto barely even realizing that he was crying until he felt the hot tears dripping down his cheeks. Naruto never would have predicted that something like that would have happened between them, that he would ever have felt so sad at Sasuke’s absence; Sasuke hated him and he hated Sasuke. That was just the way it was; they were two young rivals stuck in an endless series of competitions and never seemed to agree or get along, even though they were supposed to be comrades. Yet despite all that ill-will between them, Sasuke and Naruto had tried so hard to effectively work together in order to fight against Haku, defending each other, supporting each other, protecting each other–even if only in their own weird ways–just like true comrades did. Naruto had been so distressed and broken by the loss of his teammate, so filled up with an array of new and confusing feelings as Sasuke ‘perished’ that even he was surprised to feel those never before experienced emotions coursing through his veins.

So Naruto supposed that was why he had done it. That was why he had wanted to kiss Sasuke that time. Because of his fear, guilt, relief, happiness, all those emotions mixing together into a nasty, confusing storm in his chest. But that still didn’t excuse the fact that it was a stupid mistake that he now regretted, something that he knew he should have never attempted in the first place.

Try as he might to escape it, however, Naruto’s subconscious feelings confirmed the fact that he had actually sort of liked it. It surprisingly had made him feel somewhat happy, comforted inside to know that the guy who had saved his life wasn’t an entirely unbearable jackass, that even Sasuke had an admirable and, perhaps not friendly, but an at least more gentle and caring side to him, one that didn’t want to see his comrades harmed. Naruto's continuing uneasy feelings, that unmistakable oily feeling building up inside him, silently confirmed that he even might want to try it again if given the chance. His feelings dueled against each other, his disgust and terror squared off against his newfound sense of respect for Sasuke and that strange nameless, sticky, viscous emotion that still hadn’t gone away completely.

But he couldn’t do it again. That would just be nuts. Naruto knew that. If you included the Shadow Clone he had kissed as a test way back, then Naruto had kissed Sasuke four times. Four whole times! That was a staggeringly high number of occasions to kiss someone you hated. If it happened once that could be said to be just an accident, if it happened twice then that was coincidence, but after three times it was becoming a pattern, and something was definitely not right once the number got that high. You couldn’t just do that three or four times and pretend like everything was still the same. You couldn’t lock lips on four occasions and continue to say that it all meant nothing, that there wasn’t something unusual going on. So no, definitely not! It couldn’t happen ever again, even if he wanted it to, which he certainly didn’t! No matter what, Naruto had to keep his distance from that asshole! Once things calmed down and his weird feelings settled then everything would return to normal between him and Sasuke, nothing to worry about or agonize over, just their normal relationship of mutual dislike. ...At least, that was what Naruto hoped would happen; he didn’t know how much longer he could deal with all this confusing crap.

Naruto ceased his long bout of wild rolling back and forth while panicking over his own actions, knowing he couldn’t put off the inevitable any longer despite how much he complained and whined about it. After being given yesterday off to rest and relax after their brutal mission, this afternoon was Team 7’s first time assembling together since they arrived back from the Land of Waves. Even after all that they had experienced, there were still missions to do; the life of a ninja certainly wasn’t an easy one. Luckily, today’s mission was sure to be something simple, something that hopefully didn’t result in a team member almost dying. If it was something easy then Naruto's teammates surely wouldn’t need him there, the rest of Team 7 would be fine without him. Naruto kept convincing himself of this over and over since he had woken up, hoping to get out of his duty today. He could definitely sit this one out. Naruto hoped and wondered if maybe he could skip the mission today and say he was sick or something as an excuse. But no, after a while he realized that sadly wouldn’t work; Sakura would probably come beat down his door and drag him off if he stalled too much and didn’t show up, and the slave driver Kakashi-sensei wasn’t likely to buy it anyways.

Naruto let out a long, unhappy sigh, realizing he would have to get out of bed and go out into the world no matter what, that no matter what kind of excuse he tried to pull, he just wouldn’t be able to get out of his obligation to his team today. For once in Naruto’s life he wasn’t at all excited to receive a mission the way he always was, ready and eager to face the challenges of a new day. He approached even the easiest missions with that endless energy of his, believing that every successful mission inched him closer to becoming Hokage, intent on learning new things to push him bit by bit towards his goal.

But today was different than all those other days; Naruto just couldn’t work up the excitement for this mission today. It wasn’t the mission itself that was the problem, though. Naruto had no big problems with the missions Team 7 was assigned, other than that he believed some of them were extremely dull and boring and definitely below a talented ninja of his caliber. No, it was who would be there with him on that mission that was bothering Naruto. He wasn’t at all looking forward to seeing Sasuke again after what had happened between them. Naruto really didn’t want to have to deal with him right now, whatever hateful words or angry glares he was sure to throw Naruto’s way. Naruto wasn’t in the mood to be around that guy at the moment, oh how he wished he wouldn’t have to see Sasuke today. That wasn’t to say that he was usually happy to see that grumpy, combative jerk under any normal circumstances. So today you could actually say Naruto was dreading their meeting something extra. Naruto let out another depressed sigh as he prepared his clothes and gear for the task ahead of him; he just knew it wasn’t going to be a good day for him.

***

“I can’t believe I let him do that,” Sasuke moped, pacing back and forth anxiously in his bedroom contemplating the events of a few days ago. “I actually let him… Ugh, what the hell’s wrong with me these days?” he sighed, massaging his throbbing temples. This whole mess was giving him one big, annoying headache.

He could have stopped Naruto then. He could have prevented all this fretting and regretting he was now doing. But Sasuke hadn’t, instead he had pretty much invited Naruto to kiss him again. The reasons for him saying those words were utterly beyond Sasuke’s understanding. He just blurted them out unthinkingly. There had just been something so unusual and compelling about the way Naruto had looked down at him, those big azure eyes of his so full of compassion and worry and…

Sasuke shook his head vigorously, trying to shake away this odd sensation that had been eating at him all morning. Naruto had been making Sasuke do a lot of odd things lately. Why had he been so intent on saving him? He didn’t even like Naruto and yet Sasuke always seemed to be thinking about him recently, looking out for the idiot blond more and more since they had been teamed up, keeping a watchful eye over him. Sasuke had jumped in front of Naruto to protect him, he had been so desperate to keep that loser from harm. His body moved before his brain had its own say in the matter, acting entirely on reactionary impulse and drive. Sasuke recalled that in that moment as he leapt in front of Naruto he had found himself oddly calm and resolute despite the chaotic situation, entirely content with his actions, like in that moment there was nothing more in the world he wanted to do than save that dumb loudmouth.

But there was and that was exactly the problem. Sasuke’s goal was to exact revenge on Itachi, that traitor brother of his, something he needed to stay alive no matter what to accomplish, and yet he had so recklessly jeopardized that all-important mission. So why was it that in that moment when Sasuke defended Naruto he felt so bizarrely at peace? In the depths of his soul he had felt like that saving Naruto had been enough, that if he was going to die then so be it, he had at least accomplished that much. But that was so radically different from what Sasuke always thought. All he could ever think or dream or hope for was acquiring the strength needed to destroy Itachi. Yet in that single instance all he had thought about was the teammate beside him, ensuring that he lived on, even if Sasuke himself did not survive that battle.

Because of his unusual actions Sasuke was now beginning to realize that Naruto had some sort of weird pull over him. He ignored pretty much everyone else or at the least gave them as little thought and attention as required, content to quietly live out his life for his single goal without the need for troubling connections, but for some reason he just couldn’t ignore Naruto, try as he might. Somehow Naruto always seemed to capture his attention and draw Sasuke in with his boisterous proclamations of competition, his ravenous appetite, his general dumbassery; there was just something oddly magnetic about the blond boy.

As he paced back and forth like a caged animal, Sasuke tried in vain to hold back a big yawn; he hadn’t been able to sleep much at all last night. His mind kept racing all through the night, thinking over that kiss Naruto had given him. No, rather it was the kiss that he had with Naruto. He couldn’t avoid it or lie to himself anymore, even if he really wanted to and wished so much that he could; it wasn’t exactly right to say he wasn’t also partly to blame for what had happened. Sasuke had undeniably kissed back the second time Naruto had bent down to touch their lips together. He didn’t know why he had allowed it, but his actions were unmistakeable and Sasuke was busy driving himself insane trying to find a rational excuse for his actions, something he could pin his motives on and shift all the blame onto.

But despite all the nervous worrying he was doing at the moment the worst thing of all, the most difficult thing to rationalize, was that Sasuke knew he could have easily pushed Naruto away when the loser had tried to kiss him, punched that idiotic face of his and screamed at him or something, but he hadn’t, he didn’t fight or struggle then. Sasuke had instead actually went along with that insane action, not shoving Naruto away, but in fact drawing him closer with his own lips, his own look of casual acceptance. Why had he let Naruto do that? Sasuke had just laid back and let that idiot put his lips on him, letting Naruto do as he pleased. Sasuke had been agonizing over it all morning, but still had no answer. He was disgusted with himself for letting his emotions get the better of him. That was exactly the kind of thing he had sworn to himself to avoid. He had briefly lost his reason and been caught up in Naruto’s haphazard pace, doing something utterly insane in the process, and now Sasuke was paying the price for it.

It was that look, Sasuke reluctantly convinced himself, shifting all the blame onto Naruto. That damned look that Naruto gave him. Why had Naruto seemed so grateful he was still alive? Why had his eyes gleaned with relief and subtle, hidden fear and sadness? It wasn’t like they were friends, why would Naruto even care if he died? Time and time again Naruto openly spouted that he hated Sasuke and Sasuke always replied in kind. Hatred and rivalry was what their entire relationship was built on, all it contained. So why the hell had he been so worried about Sasuke? That look Naruto had given Sasuke, as their eyes connected and unspoken thoughts were shared between them… It was obvious Naruto had been worried for him, how much an effect Sasuke’s rescue attempt had had on him. Sasuke didn’t know what exactly had happened after he ‘died’, but it had been something huge and emotionally impactful, that much was obvious from reading Naruto’s expression. Sasuke wondered what had gone through Naruto’s mind during the time he was out cold, floating in that state of limbo. What sort of feelings, what sort of thoughts had Naruto experienced during that time to make him look at Sasuke that way? Because as much as he hated to admit it, just as Naruto had been worried for him, deep down Sasuke had been just as concerned over his teammate’s fate during that battle.

But now Sasuke wished it had all just been some weird fever dream, a hallucination brought on by his recovering body. That certainly wouldn’t have been ideal, dreaming about Naruto kissing him, but it was a much preferable alternative to the reality of the matter. The reality was a massive mistake, a troubling loss of judgment that Sasuke was still struggling to deal with.

How the hell was he supposed to act around the idiot now? How should you deal with someone after that kind of thing happened between you? This was far worse than their accidental kiss back at the Academy classroom. That had definitely made Sasuke uncomfortable and distressed as well, but this was ten thousand times worse. What should he do, what should he say? ...No, no, he shouldn't do or say anything, Sasuke finally settled the matter effectively after much thought. He should just ignore it entirely. Pretend nothing had happened, that was the best course of action. Yes, he would ignore Naruto, just like usual. Nothing had happened, nothing at all worth worrying about, so he should just keep things normal and on the level. Naruto was just an annoying loser teammate and Sasuke had only been doing his duty as a member of Team 7 protecting him. Whatever reasons Naruto had for kissing him were unimportant now; there were more pressing things to attend to, like their mission today. No need to overreact about it. Sasuke knew he could keep his cool and pretend none of this ever happened, forget all this weirdness and go back to their usual spiteful relationship. The only question was if Naruto could do the same. Would Naruto even be smart enough to brush all this off and move forward? Sasuke couldn’t help but worry that Naruto would bring it up when Team 7 got together later today. How the hell would he deal with it if Naruto was that dense?

“Get it together,” Sasuke told himself, smacking his cheeks with the palms of his hands to force himself to wake up from this bizarre, Naruto induced freak out. He was unused to being this out of it, this overwhelmed by his own feelings. This was definitely going to be a stressful mission.

***

The genin of Team 7 stood grouped together impatiently watching their sensei stroll down the road at an agonizingly slow pace. Right now the man was too preoccupied reading from the book in his hand with big ‘Not for Children!’ and ‘18+ Only!’ warnings blatantly visible on the cover to pay his students any mind. This guy was so shameless, reading his smut out in broad daylight on a public street where everyone walking by could see what he was up to. And in front of children no less!

“Hurry up, Kakashi-sensei!” Naruto shouted down the road at his teacher. That lazy jounin was too busy enjoying his so-called ‘romance novel’ to even try to get interested in their newly assigned mission, walking so slowly with his nose buried deep in that stupid book that Naruto was sure a turtle would have been moving faster.

“Calm down, I’m just getting to the good part,” Kakashi called back carelessly, completely unbothered by his student’s complaints. “Oh my!” he mumbled in delight, coming to a passage in his book that he seemed to find very interesting, and then the white haired jounin started to chuckle heartily in a distinctly perverted manner as he marveled enthusiastically at the words written on the page.

“Ugh! Would you put down that trash already and pay attention to us, sensei?!” Naruto cried out in frustrated anguish. Wasn’t a teacher supposed to actually, you know, teach? These poor young people had the bad luck to be stuck with a sensei that prefered to read trashy novels and sleep in late over doing his real job. No matter how strong and brave a shinobi Kakashi really was at heart, it was still a pain dealing with his slacker attitude.

“Trash?!” Kakashi yelled out in shock, quickly slapping the book shut and giving his student the evil eye for the awful insult to his beloved novel. “I’ll have you know that this is a masterpiece of literature about the trials of intimacy and romance, not trash!” he stated matter of factly.

Sasuke sighed as he watched Kakashi try to defend his taste in literature to Naruto, shaking his head in disbelief at the sorry sight. Just how did this guy ever become a jounin in the first place? He’s so careless and brainless sometimes; he kinda reminds of Naruto in a way. “For once I agree with Naruto,” Sasuke called out wearily at his arguing teammate and sensei, who were glaring at each other as if Kakashi was trying to get Naruto to understand his love of those books through sheer willpower alone and Naruto was trying to rush Kakashi along all the same. “We really should get a move on before we’re late,” Sasuke informed his sensei, trying to present a united front against Kakashi’s time wasting dilly dallying. Patience was not Sasuke’s strong suit, especially when he had to put up with these two idiots. His outward expression might have appeared calm at the moment, but on the inside he was just as frustrated as Naruto was.

“Hmph!” Kakashi scoffed, still obviously offended by his student’s lack of understanding. The only times the masked man seemed to take anything in life seriously were when it came to his comrades or his smutty books. The first was what made him such a cool and inspirational leader to his students. The second made him a dirty minded slacker that caused the genin no end of annoyances, however. “Brats like you just couldn’t understand why a book like this is so great,” the masked man insisted, continuing to resist any efforts to speed him along. “You two are just inexperienced little twerps who have probably never even had your first kiss, let alone ever been in an intimate, passion filled kind of love. Come back to me when you’ve actually grown up and you’ve got some chest hair on you or something as proof of your maturity and you’ll see just how right I was about this book. I would know much better than you kids what is trash, and this definitely isn't trash,” the man replied dramatically, pointing his finger accusingly at his two young male students.

“Who cares if we’ve never gotten kissed before! What matters is that you’re taking up so much time that we won’t even be able to start the mission before sundown, let alone finish! I don’t care about intimacy or passion or chest hair or any weird stuff like that, I just want to get on with the mission, sensei!” Naruto ranted impatiently. Sasuke stood next to him, quietly nodding in agreement with his arms folded in a look of disapproval aimed at Kakashi. He wouldn’t have yelled it out so obnoxiously loud, but he did agree in general with Naruto’s statement, a rare occurrence for the two rivals who seemed to conflict on nearly everything.

“Huh?” Sakura questioned from the sidelines all of a sudden, roused from her own quietly boiling irritation with Kakashi’s slowness by something Naruto had said and finally jumping into the conversation. “But haven’t you both already had your first kiss? Remember, back in the Academy when you guys-”

Both Naruto and Sasuke’s eyes suddenly and simultaneously flew wide open in horror, the startled boys quickly realizing exactly where Sakura was going with this. No, no, no, no! Sakura couldn't have seriously been bringing that up. That was ancient history, something they both had promised to themselves to forget. There was no way she was going to spill the beans about that kiss back at the Academy, that was just a horrible accident after all! But she was, both boys realized in terror that Sakura really, seriously was going to say it out loud to their sensei! With as awkward as they were feeling around each other considering what had happened between them in the Land of Waves, those crazy actions that they both had made out of worry and fear and other strange emotions, the memory of that awkward accidental kiss back at the Academy was exactly the last thing either of them wanted to be reminded of right now! Sasuke and Naruto were too self-conscious to even look each other in the eye today lest they be reminded of their uncharacteristically gentle interactions on the previous mission, they seriously didn’t need to also be reminded of their ridiculous unwanted first kiss to add to this air of weirdness hovering between them!

Naruto and Sasuke both moved together in mirrored unison, both boys knowing exactly what they needed to do at this moment, bringing their hands up to Sakura’s mouth lightning quick to forcibly halt her absurd but truthful confession. Naruto rapidly cupped his hand over Sakura's mouth before she had a chance to finish her statement and Sasuke’s hand landed on top of Naruto’s just instants later to further seal her silence, ensuring that their humiliating secret would be safe from Kakashi.

“What the heck is with you guys today?” Kakashi asked, raising an eyebrow at his students who were acting so rashly and unusually. What was Sakura talking about and why did the boys want to hush her up so badly? Sasuke and Naruto were both acting very different today; they hadn't challenged or yelled at each other even once since the four of them had all met up. In fact, if anything the normally contentious duo had seemed to be avoiding each other entirely today until Naruto had started shouting at Kakashi to hurry. The jounin noted to himself that the boys had indeed been acting very oddly, not even greeting each other with their customary insults. Heck they hadn’t even looked at each other so far today. Kakashi knew something was definitely up.

“We, uh… We both just think that it’s important to save your first kiss for someone you really care about,” Sasuke quickly thought up an at least half-plausible lie, his hand still resting firmly on top of Naruto’s to ensure that Sakura shut up about the truth of the matter.

“Yeah, yeah!” Naruto agreed perhaps a bit too enthusiastically, trying to add credence to Sasuke’s quick thinking. “Me and Sasuke both talked it over once before back at the Academy, and we found out that we thought the same thing. See, it’s important to have your first kiss be with someone you actually like, right Kakashi-sensei? That way it’s more special! That’s what Sakura was talking about, how we both want to wait to find someone special before we have our first time!” Please buy this, please buy this, Naruto chanted over and over to himself as he thought up the best fib he could.

“Exactly!” Sasuke exclaimed, taking the reigns of their growing mutual lie back from Naruto. “So because of those feelings we just can’t understand why you like those books so much, since they seem so impersonal and fleeting to us. It’s not that we’re criticizing what you like, it’s just that that stuff isn’t for us, that’s all we’re saying.” We are so sunk, Sasuke convinced himself despairingly. Even Kakashi isn’t airheaded enough to fall for this dumb excuse. I really don’t want anyone else to know what happened back then, especially not an adult. If an adult finds out they'll misunderstand and start saying all kinds of creepy things, and I REALLY don’t want to deal with all that. Adults always jumped to weird conclusions and never understood things properly. They often got strange ideas in their heads that weren't the whole truth. If an adult found out that Naruto and Sasuke had kissed they would probably think the boys were in love or something crazy like that, call it ‘cute’ or something equally nauseating. Adults just never understood the truth. And that was a whole boatload of awkwardness that Sasuke could do without.

“Hmmm,” Kakashi contemplated, staring down suspiciously at the two boys who were both sweating profusely in their moment of nervous tension, desperate to keep the truth from getting free. They seriously didn’t want Kakashi to learn of their secret shame. It was awful enough that the whole class–minus Iruka who happened to be out of the room at the time–had seen them kiss, no one else needed to know what had happened back then.

“You guys…” Kakashi started to say, closely inspecting his students and their bizarre attitudes this morning as they still diligently held Sakura's mouth shut. They were obviously lying, that much was sure. Kakashi wasn’t as big an idiot as these kids seemed to think he was, and something was obviously very different about Sasuke and Naruto today. Kakashi just wasn’t sure exactly what they were lying about or why. Well, even kids need their secrets, I suppose, the sensei thought with a confused huff. He had a few pieces of a mysterious new puzzle before him, curious to see how they all came together in the end, but he couldn't yet see how they fit. Something was definitely off with Naruto and Sasuke, something about their attitudes and the way they interacted seemed different all of a sudden to his keen eyes, but instead of needlessly prying, Kakashi decided instead to let the matter drop for the moment and see if any more pieces came into the picture. He would find out what was going on eventually, though; this was far too interesting to pass up not knowing about. Plus it was a good chance to annoy his students, which was always fun. “...That’s actually pretty noble of you two!” he continued on with an approving grin just barely visible underneath his mask. It was fake, but he was good at manipulating these kids, so they probably couldn’t tell.

“...Huh?” both boys questioned after a moment of silence, completely stupefied that their lie had actually worked so well.

“Kids your age are usually so excited to start trying those kinds of things as soon as possible,” the sensei explained nonchalantly. “It’s refreshing to see young people with such high standards and morals. I guess I judged you two wrong after all. You’re both right, finding someone you care about and are compatible with is more important than some silly fling. I never thought you two would ever agree on something, count me as surprised!” Kakashi replied merrily, for some reason put in a good mood by their blatant lie. “Alright then you guys, let's go complete our mission!” he proclaimed, his attitude completely reversed from just a few minutes ago. The white haired jounin started picking up his pace and walked off towards their destination much quicker than before, leaving his students standing behind wallowing in their confusion.

Sasuke and Naruto both let out huge sighs of relief as their nosy sensei walked away. Their secret embarrassment was thankfully still contained, for now at least… However, Sakura was so irritated at being forcefully silenced that she brought her fist high into the air and smacked it down hard as she could onto Naruto’s head with a loud thud, sending the boy crashing to the ground and freeing the hands formerly glued to her mouth.

“Ouch! Why just me, Sakura?! Sasuke did it too!” Naruto whined in pain.

“Don’t ever do that again or I’ll make you wish you’d never been born!” she raged back at the confused boy, taking deep breaths in and out now that she was finally able to breathe through her mouth again, before she turned to question Sasuke. “I don’t get it though, why did you want to keep that a secret from Kakashi?”

“The fewer people who know, the better,” Sasuke mumbled back in miserable agony. Idealy no one would have ever found out about that accident, but unfortunately it had been in public, so all they could do was to just try to keep that insane fluke occurrence from leaking out into wider public knowledge.

“And I don’t get why you would even want to tell Kakashi-sensei, Sakura!” Naruto shouted at her, completely tired of this whole situation already. Everything going on already today with Kakashi, Sakura… and Sasuke too, it was just too much for him to handle right now. Boy did he ever just want to go home, eat some ramen, and take a nap!

“It wasn’t that big of a deal, it was just an accident after all. It’s not like you have to hide it or anything,” Sakura shrugged, showing a completely different opinion on the matter than she had back when it had happened. “On the other hand, though, sometimes I still feel like killing you for doing that to Sasuke, Naruto!” Sakura rapidly shifted moods and yelled out, shaking an angry fist at Naruto, who flinched and moved to protect his head from any more of her violent outbursts.

“It’s not like I wanted to kiss that jerk, I just slipped is all! I wouldn’t kiss this bastard even if someone paid me with all the ramen in the world!” Naruto exclaimed, trying to defend himself on this matter once more as he clambered up from the dirt as began dusting himself off.

“Same here. It was so gross I almost puked,” Sasuke spat with a glare cast towards Naruto, causing Sakura to giggle at their overly sensitive rebukes for some reason.

“You took the words right outta my mouth! That was by far the worst thing that’s ever happened to me in my whole life!” Naruto cried out, returning an equally hateful glare back at Sasuke.

“Oh, you guys are both being ridiculous. It was an accident, you should just get over it already,” Sakura insisted. “Anyways, it was just that once, it’s not like you did it again. You should just pretend it never happened and ignore it, like the way I do whenever Naruto talks to me.” The feisty girl then let out a laugh and ran to catch up with Kakashi, leaving the two boys behind in their misery.

“Hey! That’s mean, Sakura!” Naruto shouted after her in offence and dismay at her comment. Get over it? That’s a funny joke coming from her, Naruto thought, rubbing the sore spot on his head all the while; he was certain that a big bump would soon sprout from where the violent girl had pummeled him yet again. Sakura and the rest of Sasuke’s stupid fan club had trashed him once before, after he had fallen and inadvertently kissed that bastard, even though Naruto had never meant to and had tried to explain to them that it wasn't on purpose, and now he had gotten beaten up for it again. Sakura telling them it wasn’t a big deal certainly was hypocritical of her. She seemed more angry about what had happened back then than either of them were anymore. More than angry, the two boys were… troubled, disturbed by the whole incident, both longing to put it all behind them. They were trying their hardest to forget that it had ever occurred in the first place… To mixed success at best. Yes, it was hard to forget something like that, something that had started such a wild chain of events…

As he stood rubbing the painful lump rising fast on his head, Naruto froze all of a sudden, realizing something very scary. Sakura was wrong, though luckily for Naruto’s brain she didn’t know it; he and Sasuke actually had kissed again after all. And not just once, but twice! And those were no accidents, Naruto definitely didn’t slip on those occasions. For whatever misguided reasons, he had meant to do it, both of those times as he looked down on Sasuke’s wounded body. Those were no mere accidents or mishaps. Worry and fear began to surge in Naruto’s belly like a rising pool of lava. What if Kakashi had actually seen them do that after all? Had Sakura seen and now she was just playing it off? No, that wasn’t likely, but still! They had been so careless, so insanely reckless! No one could find out about those emotionally misguided kisses Naruto had given Sasuke while he was recovering, ever, ever, ever!

Naruto slowly turned his head and took a fearful look over at Sasuke, who himself took an equally unsteady glance back at Naruto. He was obviously thinking about the same thing. Their eyes locked for a brief moment. They both seemed to be silently saying ‘Don’t tell or I’ll fucking kill you!’ to each other at that moment, making sure that they were both sworn to absolute secrecy. That was something they had to keep under wraps no matter what. The two nervous boys continued staring each other down awkwardly, the first time they had actually looked at each other so far today, unsure what to do or say at the moment with all the strange tension recently added to their relationship.

“Hurry up, you guys!” Sakura called out to them from afar, causing them to finally break their quiet, abnormal gaze, Sasuke letting out an annoyed scoff and Naruto grumbling unhappily under his breath as they tore away from the needlessly long gesture. Both Naruto and Sasuke wore expressions of dissatisfaction and annoyance as they ran to meet up with the rest of their team. But both their faces were also stained with a warm rosy color that was spreading rapidly across their cheeks, subtly confirming the confliction and discord going on in their young hearts.

***

Naruto had been unusually quiet during most of today’s mission, noticeably less amped up and rambunctious than he always seemed to be. Sasuke wasn’t pleased with himself for noticing this, but it was something that was hard to miss considering the absence of excited shouts and proclamations and challenges being flung at him by that usually noisy idiot. Following their awkward conversation with Kakashi and Sakura while they made their way to the designated location for the mission, Sasuke had tried his best to ignore Naruto like he had promised himself he would earlier that morning, keeping as physically far away from Naruto as possible and focusing his mind entirely on the mission. Luckily, Naruto seemed to have no problems with this arrangement, the oddly quiet blond also avoiding Sasuke all that he could. The only time at all today they had engaged each other was during Kakashi’s obnoxious dawdling and interrupting Sakura’s insane outburst about their embarrassing secret. After that, not a single word directed at the other came from either of them; they both talked to the other two members of Team 7, but avoided each other like they were invisible, neither boy giving even so much as a muttered insult or quick, angry glare to the other.

But for some reason, even as he tried to pay Naruto no mind and do his work in peace without being pestered by him for once, Sasuke’s attention kept getting drawn back to the loser as they went about their assigned tasks. Time and time again during the mission he caught himself covertly looking at Naruto from afar. Somehow Kakashi and Sakura couldn’t notice it, but weirdly enough Sasuke did: Naruto was acting different today. It wasn't just his abnormal quietness, there seemed to be something off about him, something Sasuke couldn’t precisely explain. He just looked so… unhappy or something, like there was something bugging him or something was wrong. Noticing that odd fact caused Sasuke to look more and more often throughout the day, moving carefully so that Naruto or the rest of the team wouldn’t see him and accuse him of worrying, taking a sideways glance or quick peek out the corner of his eye as Naruto quietly and unenthusiastically completed his own assigned tasks. It was annoying as hell, but Sasuke couldn’t help himself from doing it, couldn’t deny his interest. Something was definitely up with Naruto, but whether it was due to all the unspoken weirdness hovering between them recently or something else entirely, Sasuke didn’t know for sure.

“...Hey, jerk?” Naruto suddenly called out to Sasuke after the team had broken up and went their separate ways after finishing up their mission. Sakura and Kakashi had already left, and Sasuke and Naruto were just about to part ways as well, the two boys walking along together in tense, uneasy silence as they each headed back to their empty homes until Naruto unexpectedly halted Sasuke as he turned to leave.

“What do you want, loser?” Sasuke questioned with irritation, not at all in a good mood and full of shame brought on by his Naruto-induced panic attack earlier that morning and his repeated concerned peeking throughout the day. He had been trying to avoid Naruto today, trying to stay as far away from him as possible and not get drawn into any pointless confrontations, but if Naruto started something now he wasn’t to be held responsible if he retaliated. It seemed Naruto’s unusual quietness had finally run out its lifespan. It was back to the usual annoying Naruto then.

Sasuke whirled around and took a good hard look at Naruto. The black haired boy was surprised to find he was wrong after all; the usual Naruto still was off on vacation, replaced by this strangely timid, quiet duplicate. Naruto seemed to be very uncomfortable at the moment, shifting awkwardly in place and trying hard not to look Sasuke in the eye, shyly staring down at his shoes. His hands were thrust in his pockets as he tediously kicked the dirt around. “...You wanna, I dunno… come over to my place for dinner or somethin’?” he mumbled without much of his normal confidence or energy.

As he studied Naruto’s atypical behavior, his almost reserved and mellow attitude, a light bulb suddenly clicked on in Sasuke’s brain. He had been right all along, something actually was wrong with Naruto today. Sasuke knew almost immediately what was the matter from personal experience; Naruto must have been having one of those days. That explained everything perfectly, his abnormal shyness, his quietness, his aversion to interaction. Sasuke himself knew those kind of days well, knew precisely how they felt and how they presented themselves. Sometimes there were certain days that rolled around which just made you feel more isolated, more empty, more sad than other normal days did. They didn’t happen for any real reason and didn’t seem to have any kind of trigger. You couldn’t predict when they would occur and you couldn't do anything to prevent them; they just showed up unannounced, weighing you down with feelings of sadness and emptiness. Sometimes you just woke up and inherently knew that today wasn’t going to be a good day for you, one of those days that seemed like a struggle to even get out of bed.

From the look of him, Naruto seemed to be having one of those days today. He probably felt even more lonely now than he usually did, so much so that he would even ask Sasuke, his sworn enemy, for company. But being with anyone was better than being all alone on those kind of days. You just wanted someone to notice you, someone to talk to and be with for a while, so you didn’t feel all alone in the world. Sasuke himself understood this feeling first hand and also knew how much it probably wounded Naruto’s pride to ask him for the favor. But when you needed company and were desperate to shut out your crushing negative feelings, anyone would do, anyone to block out the loneliness. Even if it was someone you didn’t even like all that much, it was still better than being on your own. Sasuke understood this as well.

“...I guess,” Sasuke replied to Naruto’s invitation with an indifferent shrug. Normally he would have said no a thousand times over, but… If Naruto really was feeling that depressed, well, how could Sasuke leave him hanging like that? Sure, he was annoying and Sasuke had been trying to avoid him, but even Naruto didn’t deserve to be treated with that much disdain if he really was in distress. Because if Sasuke had ever asked Naruto to return the same favor–he wouldn’t do that, since he had long ago accepted his situation in life, but just speaking hypothetically–and keep him company when he felt lonely, well… Sasuke hoped that Naruto would have moved passed their frictional relationship and done so as well. They might not have been friends, but… Sasuke believed that they did understand each other’s situations in life at least that much.

***

While the pair leisurely walked to Naruto’s house, little of real importance was spoken between the two boys besides what they should have to eat. Of course, Naruto unilaterally decided on ramen, despite the feeble protests put up by Sasuke, and he adamantly stuck by that decision. In the end it made no real difference and Sasuke easily gave in, since he just knew in his heart that–even though he had never been to Naruto’s place to confirm it–Naruto definitely had little else than a stockpile of ramen in his kitchen. Naruto didn’t seem like a person who could make more than a few basic meals in any case, so Sasuke realized hoping for anything else had probably been the wrong idea in the first place. So ramen it was then.

“Man, what a pigsty,” Sasuke declared upon entering Naruto’s bedroom, wrinkling his nose in disgust. He hadn’t exactly been expecting a sparkling-clean palace, but somehow it was even worse than what he had foreseen. A small mountain of dirty clothes sat begging to be washed off in the corner and all kinds of colorful snack packages and drink bottles littered the floor, making it hard for Sasuke to find a safe path to walk through the veritable garbage dump. A tower of old empty ramen cups was piled up precariously in the garbage can, stacked up so high that Sasuke was surprised they hadn’t tumbled over yet. On the wall hung a sheet of paper proudly displaying the words ‘Defeat Sasuke!’ which were written in Naruto’s messy handwriting, and beneath that proclamation was an insultingly bad, dumb-looking caricature of Sasuke, through whether it was intentionally drawn poorly as a small swipe at Sasuke or if Naruto just really had no talent when it came to art, Sasuke wasn’t entirely sure.

“Well, sorry it’s not up to your standards, Your Majesty. If you don’t like it then go home,” Naruto spat back sarcastically.

“No way. You said we were going to have something to eat, I expect you to be a proper host,” Sasuke carelessly waved off his rebuttal. Naruto had asked him here for a reason–even if the loser had tried to not make a big deal about it–so Sasuke decided he could at least stay and have one cup of ramen, even if this place was pretty gross.

“You are such a stuck up bastard sometimes,” Naruto replied with a grim, annoyed frown at Sasuke’s prim and proper attitude. You could tell he was from a wealthy, respectable family just by his needlessly obnoxious, overly pretentious actions and words. “But fine, whatever,” he quickly shrugged off his irritation with Sasuke’s formality. “I’m going to go make the ramen, you stay here.”

“Wait, shouldn’t we eat in the kitchen?” Sasuke questioned. Eating in this messy room was a bit too much to ask of him. There weren’t even a table or chairs to use in here, the few pieces of furniture currently swarming with various junk.

“Eh heh heh heh,” Naruto laughed sheepishly at Sasuke’s question. “Well you seeeee, the kitchen is actually worse than in here, since I forgot to take out this week’s garbage and I haven't really had the chance to do dishes lately, either, so…” he trailed off open-endedly with an embarrassed smile on his face. Well, at least he wasn’t proud of his mess.

“Here’s fine then,” Sasuke quickly replied, definitively settling the matter. He already felt like he needed a shower, if he went someplace even worse than this Sasuke just might have to burn his clothes afterwards.

After Naruto left the room to prepare their meals, Sasuke maneuvered his way through the maze of snack wrappers, well-read manga, and dirty clothes over to Naruto’s bed, trying hard not to step on anything along the way. Sasuke cautiously picked up a pair of Naruto’s boxers that were blocking him from sitting down in-between the tips of his thumb and forefinger–god he hoped these were clean–and tossed the underwear aside, carefully trying not to touch too much of the fabric as Sasuke reminded himself to wash his hands once he got home; who knew if they were dirty or what Naruto had done with them; he seemed like the type to be lazy and wear the same underwear for a week straight. The removal of the offending underpants allowed Sasuke to sit down on the surprisingly soft mattress strewn with other various articles of Naruto’s discarded clothing.

Sasuke took a curious look around Naruto’s room while he waited for its occupant to come back, strangely interested in Naruto’s home life on his first visit here; a room said a lot about its owner, the furniture, the decorations, the manner in which it was kept all spoke loudly about who lived there. But there were no pictures of family or friends and very few personal effects or mementos to be seen around the bedroom. This was somewhat surprising to Sasuke; Naruto didn’t seem to own anything that he found particularly valuable or special to him, nothing prominently displayed for visitors to see. It was an oddly stark and dull room for such a stupidly bright and excitable fellow; it contrasted with his personality, so little of ‘Naruto’ peeking through the mostly plain decorations, so few things identifying this place as his. But then again, Naruto’s whole life could be described that way, couldn’t it? A life of persecution and exclusion seemed ill-fitting to someone who seemed so happy all the time… Sasuke wasn’t blind, though, he saw how some of the other kids in their class treated Naruto, heard the things adults whispered about him. Naruto seemed to bear all the abuse he suffered with a firm determination and a mischievous grin, but even that loser must have had his limits to how much he could happily bear before he too couldn’t help but get depressed. The fact that Sasuke was even here was proof enough of that. So maybe this room mirrored not his personality, but rather Naruto’s heart: cold, lonely, empty.

No, there was one thing of importance here, Sasuke realized as he looked around. Of all the scant few things in the room, the ramen poster on the wall next to the bed, the potted plant happily soaking up sunshine in the window, the Leaf Village symbol emblazoned on a tapestry hanging above his bed, Sasuke thought this one particular thing said the most about Naruto: the one and only picture in the room, the photograph that Team 7 had taken together after they had first been assigned together. That photo was nicely framed and placed on the bedside table very close to the bed, seemingly set there so that if Naruto were laying down he could look over and easily see it, see that image of his teammates before he went to sleep. It seemed like it was important to him. To Sasuke it was the thing here that spoke the loudest about Naruto’s personality, about how proud he was to be a shinobi, how happy he was to no longer be alone. No, this room wasn’t as cold or empty as Sasuke had first thought. It was just that Naruto didn’t have many memories to fill it up with yet.

In the center of the room there was a small round table cluttered with an array of open books. Sasuke noticed they were all ninja handbooks and scrolls, detailing various techniques and methods of the shinobi. He inadvertently gave a small, approving smile at the sight; Naruto seemed to finally be taking his training seriously. Now that he thought about it, Naruto had seemed a bit stronger in the Land of Waves than Sasuke remembered him being. He had done a very good job fighting against Zabuza and Haku, far beyond what Sasuke thought he was capable of. Those two weren’t easy enemies, even for Sasuke himself to deal with. ...But even so, he was still about a hundred years too early to challenge Sasuke. If you want to be my rival, you have to get a lot stronger than this, loser, Sasuke silently encouraged. He almost felt a sense of pride in Naruto’s growth, that the goofball had actually started to shape up. Almost.

“That’s a really weird look, Sasuke,” Naruto remarked upon returning to his room with a steaming ramen cup in each hand, seeing the unusual expression on his rival’s face as he stared at the furniture absentmindedly.

“Shut up, dumbass. I can look however I want,” Sasuke snapped back at him, his little smile rapidly melting away along with any thoughts of congratulations towards Naruto as he came back to reality. What am I thinking? Once a loser, always a loser, Sasuke thought, rolling his eyes as he wondered how he ever thought this idiot could become a good ninja.

“Yeah, yeah. Here,” Naruto sighed, completely avoiding starting a fight as he held out the ramen cup in his left hand towards Sasuke. His hunger seemed to be overpowering his feelings of annoyance towards Sasuke at the moment.

Sasuke stared down at the steaming cup in Naruto’s grasp cautiously, analyzing its contents. Maybe he was just being overly paranoid since he was in such unfamiliar settings, but… He wouldn't… Would he? There was never such a thing as being too cautious when it came to food and Naruto did claim to hate him. It wasn’t that much of a leap of faith to imagine what terrible things he could have done to that ramen.

Naruto grew ever more frustrated as the seconds ticked by and Sasuke still didn’t take the cup from him, the raven haired bastard staring down at the hot food like it were poison or something. “...What? Do you think you’re too good for cup ramen?! Huh, Uchiha prince?!” Naruto exploded impatiently at him after almost a whole minute had passed by and Sasuke had still made no move to take his food from Naruto. This stuck-up jackass, daring to look down on him and his wonderful food in his own home!

“...You didn’t spit in this or anything, did you?” Sasuke fearfully asked, catching Naruto off guard.

“...What?! I would never ruin ramen that way! Ugh, either shut up and eat your ramen or stop bugging me and go home, jerk!” Naruto shouted back in offence, angrily shoving the cup into Sasuke’s hands before taking a seat next to him on the bed, not even caring that he was sitting on top of one of his shirts.

So you’re saying if it was something other than ramen, you would actually do that? That’s definitely reassuring, Sasuke thought grimly. ...Well, at least they were having ramen, so he was probably safe from any harm; it was practically a holy food to Naruto after all. Still not entirely convinced, Sasuke began tentatively eating his ramen as Naruto happily chowed down next to him, noisily eating his favorite meal in a haste, as if they were in a race to see who finished first. For a long time neither of them said anything more, the only noise in the room the sound of noodles being slurped and chewed. The calm of that oddly peaceful moment between them was soon shattered by Naruto, however.

“Ugh, damn,” the blond genin grunted in irritation all of a sudden as he shifted back and forth in place uncomfortably, rubbing his inner thighs together in an odd display. Sasuke was seriously getting annoyed by all Naruto’s weird random movements, since all the loser’s wiggling about was making Sasuke’s ramen slosh around in the cup, threatening to spill over onto his lap.

“...Crap, I can’t take it anymore!” Naruto horsely whispered after a while more of his obnoxious squirming, obviously very frustrated with something. Sasuke curiously watched with an eyebrow raised as Naruto set his almost empty ramen cup down on the floor, wondering what was going on with the idiot. This would certainly turn out to be a case of ‘curiosity killed the cat’ though. Sasuke sat by and bore witness to the horrible unexpected scene as Naruto unceremoniously undid his pants button and without so much as a warning to Sasuke abruptly slipped his hand passed his waistline. Naruto actually stuck his hand down into his underwear in plain view, the blond’s hand then moving rapidly back and forth in his pants as he groaned in irritation.

“...DON’T SCRATCH YOUR BALLS RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME, YOU TOTAL DUMBASS!” Sasuke cried out in shock and disgust at the sight. He was totally disturbed and flabbergasted to see this boundaries-smashing action, he had no idea just what to do in a moment like this. This moron didn’t even seem to care that Sasuke was sitting literally right next to him! He was itching his nuts right in front of someone like a dumb animal! What kind of complete freak did that, who had that little common sense?

“I can’t help it, it really itches!” Naruto pathetically defended himself, his hand still furiously working away trying to sate that annoying itch on his little scrotum. “It’s not my fault, I’m a guy, it just happens sometimes. If I didn’t scratch it soon I was gona die!” he wildly proclaimed with absolute certainty of his fate.

“Jeez, I can’t believe how stupid you are sometimes!” Sasuke exclaimed despondently, quickly turning his head away from the sorry sight so he wouldn’t have to watch Naruto soothe his itchy privates anymore. But it was far too late, he had already seen enough of that to make himself queasy. Not only was Naruto an idiot, but he was gross to boot! He had no tact, no self-awareness, and no respect for personal boundaries!

“Ahhh, that's much better!” Naruto happily sighed after a few more moments, withdrawing his hand from his crotch and re-buttoning his pants once he had finished solving his problem.

“Ugh, thanks for the info, you dumbass,” Sasuke moaned in agonized disgust. Why did stuff like this always happen to him? Why was he alone cursed to suffer Naruto’s ridiculous whims?

“...Hey Sasuke, are you getting hair down there, too?” Naruto courageously asked after another long period of tense weirdness between them, both of them quickly finishing up their ramen, then sitting silently next to each other for a while, Sasuke still refusing to look back towards Naruto all the while just in case he got another itch. But even though Naruto asked this random question seemingly out of the blue, he actually already knew the answer from when he had peeked on Sasuke in the bathtub back at Tazuna’s house in the Land of Waves; Naruto remembered Sasuke had about the same amount of pubes that he did, a fuzzy little patch of curly black hairs steadily growing above his penis and a few lonely strays on his testicles. Naruto was just asking now because he was having too much fun throwing Sasuke off his guard and making him embarrassed, thoroughly enjoying seeing Sasuke squirm in uncomfortable awkwardness. Sasuke was such a stuck-up prude, how could Naruto resist having a little fun at his expense? Anyway he could have the upper hand in their rivalry was fine by Naruto, even if it was just making Sasuke tense and ashamed with some talk about private matters.

“Jeez, what an inappropriate conversation for dinner,” Sasuke scoffed and shook his head in disbelief, but his face was noticeably heating up, something Naruto found evil delight in causing. Sasuke shifted awkwardly, obviously put-off by Naruto’s invasive words and actions, before he nervously cleared his throat. “...B-But, uh, yeah I am. I just think you shouldn’t be scratching your balls in front of people. It’s gross.”

“Why not? It’s just you, it’s not like I care about your opinion about what I do. You have balls too, don’t act like you never do it.” Naruto smiled mischievously to himself after saying this. Sasuke was being unusually forthright about his private matters. He must be feeling very flustered and bewildered at the moment, completely dazed that Naruto was asking him about his matters of puberty. Man was this fun!

“Yeah, but I don’t go around unbuttoning my pants and scratching my nuts in public, because unlike you, I’m not a total moron!” Sasuke loudly complained. He was obviously getting worked up by all this personal guy talk Naruto was pushing on him, getting very weirded out about this unusual conversation about their pubes and itchy testicles. But then again boys would be boys, crude and curious in equal measure.

“Jeez, you sound just like Sakura,” Naruto bemoaned Sasuke's attitude. “The other day I had an itch, so I went to scratch it and she flipped out and about killed me, saying it was gross or whatever. But it’s not like I can help it! When they itch, you gotta itch ‘em or you’ll die, just like I said!” Naruto replied with a chuckle.

“You’re such a little kid sometimes,” Sasuke sighed despairingly. Naruto was so childish at times and he had no self-awareness, no sense of privacy or consideration whatsoever. Between his shrimpiness and his over the top manner it wasn’t all that hard to mistake Naruto for being younger than he really was. “I bet you don’t even know how to masturbate yet,” Sasuke blurted out as a stabbing insult to Naruto's maturity before he could even realize just what he had said, how ridiculous and invasive the remark actually was. Now Sasuke was being the one with no sense of privacy, not even meaning to do it, just saying the first thing that came to mind.

“Yes I do!” Naruto angrily shouted back, deeply insulted by this affront to his masculinity. “I do it all the ti-” Naruto suddenly caught himself before he could finish his thought, realizing just what he had admitted to. Now it was Naruto’s turn to get embarrassed by their conversation matter, his face rapidly becoming red with pure shame. He had humiliated himself in front of his rival, the last person he would want to make an ass of himself in front of, owning up to such a private and personal thing.

Naruto and Sasuke tensely took a very brief glance at each other, each boy realizing that the other’s face was just as red hot and flushed as his own was. The pair quickly snapped their attention away from each other again upon seeing their embarrassment so plainly displayed, trying to avoid looking at each other's bright red faces, turning to stare at opposite ends of the room. Both of the boys knew exactly what this all meant in that moment. They knew definitively that they had both become young men, that they had stepped out the door of innocence into a world of wet dreams, awkward boners, pubic hair, and of course the favorite sport of the teen male, masturbation. Sasuke and Naruto knew immediately on looking at the other’s shocked face that they both had participated in a little ‘self enjoyment,’ that it was no mystery to them. They could each just tell from the remarkable overt reaction the other gave off. Actually admitting you did that shameful act to another guy for the first time, well, it was pretty unnerving. And awkward and relieving and a whole host of other emotions too. It was sort of a feeling of ‘Oh, he does it too? I guess I’m not the only one,’ a kind of silent, unusual camaraderie between males that lifted the shame and stigma off the act. But even considering that, it was still embarrassing as all hell to admit, especially since Naruto and Sasuke weren’t even friends, learning way more about each other than they had ever expected today.

I can’t believe I said that! Sasuke lamented, woefully shy at the moment, totally unused to this kind of deeply personal talk. Damn it Naruto, this is all your fault! Talking about all kinds of weird stuff… Naruto always had that effect on him, always threw him off so much. That loser never knew when to shut his mouth.

Aw crap, what did I say?! I’m so stupid! Naruto howled in shame in his head. I answered without even thinking. He’s probably going to make fun of me now! That definitely seemed like something Sasuke would do, mock him over admitting to something like this so easily, maybe say that only kids did that or something.

Naruto and Sasuke, two thoroughly ashamed boys, sat side by side in a heavy atmosphere filled with unbelievable amounts of awkward tension. Both their faces were glowing bright red, both their hearts pounding wildly in their chests, their fear and excitement uncontainable. How should they deal with all this? Both young men had sought to avoid anything like this since their return from the Land of Waves, promised to avoid it at all costs, but their relationship always seemed to turn unusual and strange when it was just the two of them together. They just couldn’t escape this weird bond pulling them together into… whatever the hell this was, because it certainly wasn’t friendship. No way would they become friends, both young men swore this! They were rivals, enemies, they couldn’t ever be friends! ...But maybe they could be… less antagonistic? Get along just a little bit better, even if only in private? At the moment Naruto thought that might be okay, that it didn’t sound too bad at all. Sasuke too was currently considering if fighting a little less would be good for them, allow them to focus more energy on missions and getting stronger than on petty arguments. If they worked hard they could move passed all this strange nonsense and cooperate. Or at the least they could try to get along better, bit by bit… Maybe.

“...S-Sasuke…” Naruto called out after a very long time had gone by, both boys sitting in tense utter silence, rapidly analyzing the strange situation they found themselves in as a million thoughts all went running through their overwhelmed pubescent brains at once. “I think it could be good practice for when we get girlfriends, so… do you want to do it again?” he chuckled awkwardly as he suggested the remarkable, the impossible, the revolting. Naruto couldn’t believe he had actually said it. He was so disgusted with himself right now.

Sasuke instinctively knew exactly what Naruto was asking, felt a strange twinge deep in his gut just as soon as Naruto had said it. No. He should say no. He had to say it. He should have punched Naruto right in the face for even bringing it up, Sasuke should have clobbered him for daring to suggest they do that most heinous act again. Sasuke didn’t want to think about that anymore, he had done enough panicking and rationalizing and worrying already. But...

“...Whatever,” Sasuke shrugged in response, his face still on fire as he stared at Naruto’s empty wall. What the hell was he doing?! He should be hitting this idiot for even suggesting that, not going along with it!

He knew this was a huge mistake. But for some reason Sasuke just could stop himself, couldn’t pull himself back from this ledge before he tumbled over into the abyss that awaited him below. Once he fell off there would be no going back anymore, he knew that. ...But he wanted this. He had no idea why, but right now, just for this one moment, Sasuke wanted to be here… beside Naruto. Because Naruto was lonely. Because they both were lonely. Even if Sasuke refused to admit it… he truly hated being alone.

Sasuke knew he was losing his common sense to this idiot, that Naruto was destroying his carefully crafted image, his deeply held beliefs, his well-hammered will. What was Sasuke to do then? What could he do? Just like when he had so mysteriously sought to save Naruto from Haku’s deadly attack, just like when he allowed Naruto to plant his dumb lips on his own, just like when Sasuke felt sorry for Naruto’s situation and came here in the first place, Sasuke again felt mysteriously, annoyingly, confusingly enthralled by that loser. They were connected in some strange way. Through hate and rivalry… through secret admiration and respect. Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki were two people who seemed to never be able to escape each other, no matter how much they deeply wanted to.

It was a very dumb idea. Both of them would agonize and panic over it. Both of these boys would be tormented by doing this act yet again when they each swore it was awful and disgusting and that they would never do it again. But in this odd moment both Sasuke and Naruto wished to kiss again. It made them feel good and warm and happy. Like they were briefly connected to another person, like someone else in this harsh world cared for these two lonely young men. Their lives were tough and all too often unhappy. So was it really so terrible for them to want to reach out for a little human contact, even if the one who was on the other side was an annoying rival? Was it really so strange to desire to feel wanted and conforted by the warm lips and gentle embrace of another human being, to momentarily seek to feel less alone in the world, even if you lips were met by those of another guy, even if it was an act made together with a person you argued and fought with, even if it was weird and strange and deeply confusing and completely messed up? Was wanting a little bit of happiness and warmth for themselves, even if only for a few fleeting moments, was that really such a bad thing?

Boyish curiosity and youthful passion began overtaking their senses, clouding their better judgement and pushing Naruto and Sasuke towards this fateful action. Sasuke couldn’t help but recall how Naruto had looked earlier that day, so sad, so alone. He felt sorry for Naruto, empathized with his lot in life. He tried fighting it off, but Sasuke couldn’t deny that he didn’t hate Naruto so much anymore, once he had gotten to know him. And at the same time Naruto was struggling with his own newfound respect for Sasuke. No, not new. He had admired Sasuke from long ago. He tried hard because Sasuke was a rolemodel to him, someone to impress, someone to earn respect from. Sasuke who secretly sought connection. Naruto who secretly sought acceptance. What were the odds that these two would one day form this odd partnership? They both sought something in the other, something they lacked, something they respected, admired, desired. For better or worse, all the things that had happened to them and between them, since even long before they had been put together on Team 7, when they were little kids in Iruka’s classroom, everything had placed them here together in this room in this odd situation. It was a connection, one of secrets, of rivalry, of hate, of respect, of admiration, of confusion. If only they could ever admit their feelings to the other, to make their unspoken bond into a real, lasting, close friendship, what both of them truly sought deep down. ...So just once more wouldn’t be so bad, would it? Just once more…

Naruto and Sasuke slowly turned to face one another, a brief look of bewilderment and excitement exchanged between them. Each boy cautiously leaned in closer and closer towards the other, moving slowly towards the inevitable, until once again their lips brushed against each other. It was a slow, gentle impact, sensitive pink lips touching so warily, so fearfully. Warm, tingling sparks erupted as Naruto and Sasuke pressed their lips together deeper, lengthening their kiss, turning it more passionate, their eyes shut tight as they did this forbidden act, not imagining who they were kissing but simply enjoying the moment, basking in contact and companionship. They would certainly regret it later, but right now they were two lonely, stressed out, hormone addled teen boys needing comfort. One would expect them to be pretty reckless when it came to things like this. Instantly as their lips connected together Sasuke and Naruto both knew this would become a regular occurrence for them from here on, a quiet moment of content and good feelings separated from rivalry and mutual dislike to soothe their wounded hearts, if only for a moment.

This was a path they knew they shouldn’t be walking down. Neither of them knew just what lay down this twisting, confusing road created by their actions. Once they started down this road they would never be able to turn back, never be able to forget, never be able to truthfully say they had no connection to each other. It was a long, scary, unknowable road into the dark. ...But even so, it was better to walk that kind of path with someone at your side. Even if you weren’t lovers or friends or anything like that, it was still worthwhile. Even if the other person was a loser… Even if the person by your side was a jerk… The path of loneliness was just too hard to deal with all alone.
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The Bonds That Never Break