New Beginnings NOW COMPLETE

They hiked deep into the woods in the surrounding mountains. Sakura and Iruka set up the tents; Sasuke collected the firewood while Naruto cleared a space for the fire. Kakashi disappeared as soon as there was work to be done, conveniently ditching his pack in case they needed anything out of it (although considering what it contained that was highly unlikely. Although then again paper is good for staring fires...).

"Here's the firewood," Sasuke called as he piled it next to a tree.

"What do you want a medal or a chest to pin it on?" Naruto mumbled.

"Actually I quite like my chest how it is," as he got closer to the other boy he whispered, "And you seemed quite happy with it too."

"Why don't you boys go off and train together?" Iruka suggested mildly looking at Naruto's face, "You seem like you could use it."

"Why bother? It's not like he could ever beat me," the Uchiha smirked.

"Alright bastard! Come on. Right now," Naruto crouched into a fighting stance.

"Fine," the brunette shrugged launching himself at the blonde.

Kakashi reappeared holding both of them around the necks.
"Maybe you would prefer to move off into the woods where your ridiculous rivalry won't affect the rest of us," he suggested pleasantly, releasing them.

The boys both glared at him then, as one, they moved into the woods and stopped in the first clearing they found.

Sasuke laughed, "This is ridiculous. There's no way you can beat me dobe and you know it. Why don't you just give up?"

"I'm not going to lose to you bastard," Naruto growled.

"Yeah good luck with that," the brunette snorted, "Tell you what, to make it more even I'll let you get one blow in before I fight back. You'd better make it a good one because I am going to pound you."

He stood there smirking. Smug bastard, if only I could get him off balance Naruto thought.
He had a wicked idea.
Naruto walked slowly up to the Uchiha and stood directly in front of him. He reached forward and the brunette flinched.

"Nu-uh you promised," he reminded cheekily.

"Fine hurry up and attack so I can punch you," he glared.

"If you insist," Naruto shrugged innocently. His heart jumped in his chest. In one fluid motion he leaned forward and grabbed either side of his rival's face and pulled their lips together.
He felt rather than heard the growl emitting from the brunette. Naruto tensed expecting the blow. Instead however he felt the other boys tongue probing at his lips. His eyes widened as he let the questing organ explore his mouth. He became aware of the hands on his back and in his hair. The blonde let his own hands slide down to rest on Sasuke's chest.

There was a sound and the boys pulled apart panting, their eyes wide. A small rabbit jumped into the clearing and they both laughed, more to break the tension than anything else.

"Shit I thought it was Kakashi," Naruto panted.

"Me too," Sasuke laughed weakly.
They both sat down with their backs against a tree.

"Sasuke," Naruto began hesitantly.

"Hn," he said, reverting to his standard reply.

"What.... what was that?" the blonde asked softly staring down at his hands.

The Uchiha blinked. Had he actually just asked that? He grinned, should he?
Well ask a stupid question...
"Something quite similar to this," he replied roughly grabbing the blonde's chin and pulling their lips together once more. He probed once more but this time the other mouth remained closed to him.

He pulled away, "Sasuke please. What is it here that I don't get?"

The brunette sighed, "Please don't complicate things dobe."

"Complicate things?! You're a freakin' one man circus! You insult me, annoy me, mess with me, hit on me and now this! I don't understand you!" Naruto ranted clenching his fists, tears starting to well up in his eyes.

Sasuke leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, "Me neither," he whispered walking nonchalantly back to the others.

"And there's a whole line up and I don't know whether I should be going all Mary Poppins on them and, you know, 'the position has been filled' or see what the others are like. I mean should I stay with him just because he was the first to ask me out? I don't know the other guys, they might all be really nice," Sakura sighed.

"Sakura, do you like this guy?" Iruka asked.

She blushed, "Well, yeah..."

"Then you can't just leave him hanging on a waiting list. Go out with him again and if it doesn't work out then you can pick up where you left off," Iruka said patiently.

"Things are so complicated when you're as desirable as I am," she sighed again.

"Oh dahling I know!" Naruto exclaimed outrageously as he re-entered the clearing, "As if I didn't have enough to worry about fighting off other ninja! Now I have to fight off all the fan girls too. And fan boys."

Iruka's eyebrow shot up, "You have fan boys?"

"A few," he chuckled, his eyes locking with Sasuke's rolling eyes.

"But I didn't think you were interested in guys," Sakura commented.

"Dahling dahling! Can't I just enjoy the attention?"

"You might as well," Sasuke said casually yet very deliberately, "After all, we won't be here forever."

The silence was deafening. However it is interesting to note the different reactions of the people gathered around the fire.

Sakura was devastated when she remembered their temporariness. She immediately made up her mind to spend as much time with Ryo as she possibly could.

The realisation hit Iruka like a bus. This was only temporary. As soon as they returned he would barely ever see Kakashi again, it was a sad fact that was just the way the man was. He had to stop this while he still could, before he got in too deep to get out without destroying himself.

Naruto was the least concerned about the whole thing, he wondered whether Iruka had packed any ramen and couldn't wait to get back to Ichiraku's, although the ramen from the night before had been pretty good too. And there were a few other places in town to try before they left. And of course when they got back he wouldn't have to share a room anymore. And maybe Sasuke would go back to being a remote ice prince rather than... wait was that actually a good thing?

Naruto was brought back to reality by a pressure on his knees. He shook his head and realised there was a face right in front of his.

"I said, dobe are you coming to get water with me?" Sasuke repeated tilting his head right in front of Naruto's. He could smell him. It was a nice smell he thought.
"Dobe! Can you please stop checking me out and grab the other pot?" Sasuke chuckled when he realised his shirt was gaping open and the other boy was blushing furiously.
The Uchiha ran in the direction of the river before the other boy realised what he had said.

"Hey!" Naruto yelled leaping to his feet, "I was not checking you out!"
He chased after the laughing boy; they both weaved between the trees and barely noticed when they burst out of the trees finally.
Unfortunately, where the trees ended so did the bank.
Sasuke stopped right at the edge of the trees trying to regain his balance but Naruto tackled him sending them both into the water which was thankfully deep enough for neither of them to get hurt. The brunette pulled few strokes (swimming) to grab onto the pot before it was carried too far away. Naruto realised what he was doing and duck dived under to find his. When he resurfaced Sasuke laughed.

"What?!" the blonde asked huffily.

"Would you like to go for a swim?" he smiled almost gently, "We might as well while we're here."

Another few strokes and he was at the bank. He put the pot up on the bank and lifted himself out. Sasuke took his shirt off and hung it over a tree and took off his shoes, socks and jeans also placing them in the tree. He walked back to the water in his boxer shorts and dived in.

Naruto watched for a second and then copied him.
"You know the sun won't dry them right?" the blonde asked lying on his back in the water.

"I know dobe but they'll get drier than they would if I was still wearing them," he commented pulling himself over next to the boy and wrapped his arms around his waist, shivering slightly at the touch of his skin on his stomach. It never ceased to amaze him the little thrill he got at the slightest touch.

Naruto decided just to give up for the moment and relaxed backwards into the other boys arms he placed his hands on top of Sasuke's, moving his head to the side until it was resting on his shoulder.
"We should go back soon. The others will be wondering what's keeping us," Naruto said lazily closing his eyes.

"And you don't want them to find us like this?" the brunette surmised nuzzling the other boy's cheek.

"Not really," the blonde replied reluctantly, I don't want them to know anything until you make up your damn mind!

He slowly released the other boy and ducked under the water before swimming to the edge and climbing out. Sasuke got dressed again into his slightly drier clothes and put his shoes on. Naruto still lazily floated around.
The Uchiha grinned and grabbed his pot and grabbed all of the other boy's clothes.

"Well I'll see you back at camp," he said casually making his way back towards the clearing.

"Hang on I'll just be a sec," Naruto swam over to the side and climbed out.

"SASUKE!!!!!!!!!!!" He bellowed. The Uchiha grinned and ran.