Afraid of the Dark

Thanks to Master of the Rebels for betaing this for me! Hope you all enjoy the chapter.


Afraid of the Dark

Chapter 10: The Black Light


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"...A belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness."

-Under Western Eyes (Joseph Conrad)

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It had been hours since they had started driving. They’d stopped twice for food and a bathroom break but otherwise had been on the road almost the entire day. Therefore Sasuke wasn't overly surprised when he could see the ocean off in the distance. As they passed through a fairly decent sized city, Sasuke noticed the ever increasing seediness of the buildings as they neared the bayside.

Sasuke's eyes darted past boarded up houses as they approached the waterfront of the city, large ships looming up over the buildings in the distance.

It was just before nightfall when they had finally arrived at their final destination, and Sasuke looked around the area slightly nervous, imagining the hordes of trolls that could have followed them. He hoped that those things had lost their trail and that these fairies had ample protection against such attacks. It didn’t help that the area looked like it lacked electricity.

Ibiki parked the car in a run-down, dodgy parking lot located right across from a deserted looking warehouse almost right on the waterfront. Sasuke raised his eyebrows at their cliché setting.

"This isn't obvious for a hiding spot at all," Naruto murmured, sharing the same mindset as Sasuke.

"It's the stereotypical aspect that makes the obvious so concealable," Ibiki said mystically.

"I have to take a long piss," Jiraiya stated, looking around. Sasuke gave Jiraiya a distasteful look while silently agreeing with him.

"I have to pee all of a sudden too," Naruto shared. "Is that, like, a spell that you guys use to make it so that people don't want to come here?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Not that I am aware of," Ibiki said, looking at Naruto strangely. "It's most likely the fact that you have been sitting in a car for some time and the adjustment of standing has added weight to your bladder, increasing the urgency of the necessity to use the restroom."

"Oh," Naruto said, blushing slightly.

Sasuke turned his face to the side so that Naruto wouldn't see the blush on his face as well; he'd actually wondered the same thing.

"We have, however, put up numerous wards which are types of spells that will protect this place. The trolls will not be able to find their way here."

"That's good to know," Sasuke murmured. "You said my brother and mother are here?" Sasuke pressed. Ibiki nodded his head but didn't delve into further details.

Sasuke watched the dimming sunlight fade off somewhere behind him, grateful when the rundown looking street lights illuminated the dingy parking lots, showing off the plant life that was coming up through the cracks in the lots' pavement.

As they neared the warehouse entrance, Sasuke and Naruto both began to cough as a disgusting scent filled the air – a cross between fecal matter, ash, vomit, extremely bad body odor, and something rotting that smelt like it had died weeks ago.

Sasuke began to gag, thinking he himself would throw-up from the smell alone.

Naruto coughed through the hand he'd placed over his mouth, his eyes watering.

"That smell is a defensive spell," Ibiki said as he lightly made a series of strange looking hand motions before touching both Naruto and Sasuke's shoulders. The smell vanished instantly.

Jiraiya appeared to either be able to fend off the smell himself, or was one of those guys whose oratory senses didn't mind such horrible smells.

As he had lived for thousands of years, Sasuke was sure the man had lived through a time when such horrible smells were the norm.

"Haven't smelled anything so disgusting since the middle of the fourteenth century," Jiraiya stated conversationally, though his light tone hid something darker. "Smells like the bubonic plague."

"Good nose. If you don't have the right spell to ward it off, you get symptoms that recreate the effects of the plague as well."

"Nothing like a bit of germ warfare to keep the enemy out," Jiraiya said cheerfully.

Sasuke and Naruto shared a look.

What had they gotten themselves into?

"It's just for people who are persistent of course," Ibiki clarified, noticing the dubious look between the two younger men. "We don't harm any humans."

Any humans. Sasuke and Naruto shared another look. They had just recently found out that they were fairies, or in Naruto's case, part fairy.

It was strange to not be in the same category as humans anymore.

Then again, Naruto was part human. His paternal grandfather had been a Chinese Prince according to Sasuke’s mom's story.

Naruto was human even if just partially. Sasuke wasn’t.

Another part of his mother’s story came to mind, making Sasuke think. Sasuke's mom had said that part of the reason that Naruto's mother had been drawn to Naruto's father was because Minato was part human. If his memory served him correctly, muse fairies were apparently, "quite partial to attractive human males."

Sasuke looked ahead of him trying to will the questions from his mind. Was that why he and Naruto had gotten...intimate? Was it because muse fairies were attracted to human males? Did it matter that he was a male himself?

The thought left him as soon as it came. It was stupid. He was just being paranoid. It had to do with the black light. It just had some weird affect on fairies; that was all. And Itachi would explain to them more about what happened.

Sasuke willed his face not to blush just thinking about how his brother would be the one who explained to them what had transpired between them on Sasuke's birthday. Talk about awkward as hell. Yet Itachi would have answers as to why it happened – and answers on how to prevent something like that from ever happening again.

"Is there a secret knock or something too?" Naruto asked as they reached the door. Ibiki grinned.

"Just a security code," Ibiki said as he lifted a side panel box that Sasuke hadn't noticed on first inspection. When the panel covering the keypad dropped down, he noticed the keys had pictures of hands in different positions instead of numbers. Ibiki pushed in several of them, too fast for Sasuke to follow and with an ease that suggested he did this quite frequently.

There was a slight beep that Sasuke hoped indicated that Ibiki had entered the code correctly before the doctor turned the handle and gestured for Sasuke, Naruto, and Jiraiya to go in. Sasuke raised an eyebrow as he looked through the doorway only to see virtual darkness; not even the dim light from the parking lot lamps seemed to be able to penetrate inside.

Jiraiya took the lead, followed by Naruto, reluctantly then by Sasuke, with Ibiki coming in last, the door shutting ominously behind them.

"Whoa," Naruto noted. As soon as the door had closed, lights flared up, stunning Sasuke slightly as the darkness had initially consumed his eyesight. There was a hustle and bustle of activity as though they had been thrust into a market street in the middle of day.

On closer inspection, they were in the middle of a marketplace. When Sasuke looked behind him, there was no sign of a building, let alone a door anywhere behind them.

"Where the hell are we?" Sasuke demanded at the same time Naruto asked, "Are we outside?"

Ibiki smirked.

"Welcome to one of the hidden villages of fairy."

"Hidden village?" Sasuke asked.

"Of course," Jiraiya boomed, "you honestly think that we fairies just clump into the same area as normal humans?"

"Yeah. We did," Naruto said, crossing his arms. "And...I think my mom and I did before our house was housenapped. Or, whatever it was," Naruto said thoughtfully.

"Housenapped," Ibiki repeated, slightly amused as he turned to look at Sasuke. "I remember when you told me that the first day we met-"

"Where are we exactly, and where is my family?" Sasuke demanded. Ibiki lost all traces of amusement, and at first Sasuke thought that Ibiki was going to refuse him answers due to his rudeness.

"This, as I mentioned, is a hidden village. This is the Hidden Village of Minato. It was created in honor of – or memory of – your father, Naruto. We started this village after the great fight between your father and Kyuubi destroyed a good deal of forest near our last hidden village. Fairies live off of the land around them, and we no longer had the resources we needed."

Sasuke's mind reeled. It was hard to wrap his mind around how Naruto's father and the man that had tried to come after them, the man that Ibiki had seemed to have so easily stabbed, could possibly have caused enough chaos for so many people to uproot and start anew.

"It's also a pun of sorts, isn't it? The entrance is so close to that port in the human realm. Get it, Minato means port?" Jiraiya asked, looking at Sasuke. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him. "You, kid, have a stiff sense of humor," Jiraiya noted of Sasuke.

"Yeah he does," Naruto grinned at Sasuke.

"How can there be a village in the middle of the day located inside a warehouse?" Sasuke wondered, meanwhile glaring at Naruto. Naruto oh-so-maturely stuck his tongue back at him in response.

"Magic, duh," Naruto said and rolled his eyes.

"You don't seem like the type to be into fairy lore," Ibiki noted, amused by the interaction between the two young fairies.

"Do I look like I'd be a fucking fairy type of person?" Sasuke asked, crossing his arms. Naruto coughed.

"Sasuke, you are a fairy-type person, if you think about it," Naruto pointed out.

"I meant, do I look like I'd be into all that frilly-fairy crap," Sasuke snapped.

"Traditional fairy-lore that humans know about is based off of some truth and myth. This is a bit of both. In traditional fairy-lore, there is a separate realm for the fair folk of fairy. Haven’t you ever heard of the word fairyland?"

"Fairyland! I've heard that before. Wait, so, this is fairyland? Like, it's real? I get it now!" Naruto said happily.

"Fairies live where humans can't wander. This-" Ibiki began.

"You know what, I'm sorry I asked. It sounds complex, and while I'm sure it's fascinating, I think I will stick with Naruto's version of: it's magic. Where's my family?"

"You have a one track mind, but understandably so. I'm sure you're anxious to see them," Ibiki noted.

"Yeah. We left Auntie Mikoto with the trolls," Naruto said ashamed. "We really should see them. I feel like an ass, half forgetting about them," Naruto said. "Lead on!" Naruto enthused, pumping his fist.

Even though they seemed to have appeared in the middle of a crowded street, no one seemed to have noticed that they had appeared out of nowhere. Either that or it was normal for people to appear from thin air.

However, many people did seem to recognize Jiraiya. Many came up to him, asking him how he was and where he had been, only to have him wave them off. Sasuke and Naruto walked behind him and Ibiki, and it seemed that no one noticed them. Still, more and more people kept crowding around Jiraiya until he finally made a promise to meet back up with them shortly. The crowd of people that seemed to have suddenly appeared around him no longer hindered their progress.

Sasuke had the distinct impression that Jiraiya was using his presence to draw the attention away from Naruto. Now that they were in this hidden village, it felt as though Sasuke was hypersensitive to Naruto’s presence.

It felt like Naruto glowed beside Sasuke, and it was almost overwhelming to stand next to his best friend. He didn’t understand how so many trained fairies didn’t notice Naruto.

Ibiki led them along a road to a tall building marked as a hospital. The fairy doctors here looked perfectly normal to Sasuke – until he saw the doctors’ hands glowing while they healed their patients.

It reminded him about what he and Naruto could do to each other. Maybe they were healer-type fairies? Was there such a thing?

Ibiki nodded to a few of the people as they walked down the hospital’s hallways. Jiraiya seemed to reappear out of nowhere, and it was only the thought that perhaps magic helped him get there so quickly that explained his sudden appearance. Ibiki nodded to him as they walked further down the hallway before stopping in front of a room.

"I'll let you two speak to them alone. Jiraiya, I'd like to speak to you privately," Ibiki said.

"I figured as much," Jiraiya said. Sasuke didn't wait to see if the two older men would wait there or head off before all but bursting into the room, Naruto right on his heels.

Itachi sat in a chair, his arm in a sling as he sat next to his mother's bed.

Mikoto was propped up, but she looked sickly and had bandages covering her torso and arms. Gauze covered her forehead and cheeks, and Sasuke could see a gash across her nose.

"Mom, Itachi?" Sasuke asked tentatively.

"It looks a lot worse than it is, sweetie," Mikoto said soothingly, but even her voice sounded weak, and it did nothing to reassure Sasuke.

"What-what happened?" Naruto asked.

"The trolls got to her before we got there, father and I that is," Itachi explained.

Unfortunately, Sasuke could now vividly remember seeing the claw marks and damage the trolls inflicted upon Naruto the first night they met, knowing those bandages hid many scars beneath them. The trolls had gotten her, and gotten her badly.

"You knew something was going on?" Sasuke asked of Itachi, having trouble looking at his mother so damaged.

"Your father had made sure to cast a spell on the house that if something attacked it, he would be able to feel what it was. He and Itachi returned as fast as they could. Don’t you remember I told you that your father was on his way?"

Sasuke wanted to say that it was too little too late as they hadn’t gotten there in time to help. Not to mention his mom had made it seem like only his dad was going to appear after admitting Itachi to a mental hospital.

"Where were you then, and where is he now?" Sasuke asked Itachi. "Is he ok-"

"He's fine," Itachi clipped. "We will speak about it later."

"Your arm – are you – " Naruto began.

"Later. Mother needs to rest now. I need to talk to you both first."

Sasuke looked at his mother, his heart aching just looking at the state she was in.

"I..." There was so much he wanted to say. Thank you. I'm sorry. And demand more answers. Demand to know why they hadn't told them enough so they could have prevented something like this. He felt like Naruto had to run for his life, and where Naruto went, Sasuke would go too. His whole family was in danger now, and his mother looked so hurt. She shouldn’t be laying there so helpless looking. Why had their lives gotten so messed up so quickly? And how would they go back to normal?

But Sasuke knew that was childish to demand such answers from his mother. He also knew that there would be no way to go back to "normal" after all of this.

Instead he took his mother's hand and gently kissed her on a non-bandaged part of it. Naruto came to her bedside, and for half a moment, Naruto looked like he wanted to throw his arms around her in affection like he was known to do. Instead he just squeezed her hand, and she smiled at him. Itachi nodded at his mother before ushering his younger brothers, blood and otherwise, out of the room.

"Before either of you bombard me with a million questions," Itachi started as soon as they exited the room, "let's find a more private place to talk, and I will start with what I feel you will need to know the most about, and then go from there."

Itachi’s words reminded Sasuke of how his mother had made them wait to ask questions, giving them what she thought they needed to know first. A surge of anger swelled up within Sasuke. If his family had just been honest with them from the beginning, he and Naruto wouldn’t have so many unanswered questions that needed to be explained.

They walked past Ibiki and Jiraiya who had only moved a few steps down the hall before Itachi ushered them into an empty room.

"First of all, father is fine. He is not here because as I am sure you have managed to gather, he did not agree with the ideology of the people in this village. He also seemed to be acting in a manner that I believed wasn’t in the best interest for either of you."

"Which was why you were trying to take us away on my birthday," Naruto said. Itachi nodded.

"What happened to you after the car crash?"

"I will explain things in the order I think you need to hear them," Itachi said calmly. "I understand you have many questions, but as there is so much that you don't know I need to explain the bigger picture before getting into specifics."

Sasuke leaned against the wall, noting for the first time how the fairy hospital smelled like flowers, not like the normal sickly-covered-by-antiseptic-odor of most other hospitals he'd ever been to.

"Obviously I've known I was a fairy for some time. I've been modifying your memories since right after the visit from the hospital when you overheard our parents speaking about Naruto."

A jolt went through Sasuke. He had forgotten about that memory, and at Itachi's words it rushed back to him in full force.

"I found out I was a fairy not long after the first troll got into the house when you were four," Itachi said, looking at Sasuke.

"Mom mentioned something along those lines – something about the picture," Sasuke said, vaguely remembering his mother's words. Her explanation about how they were fairies seemed like it had happened a lifetime ago.

"Mother didn't notice what eventually happened to the picture. The picture had been knocked over, and she thought you had done it. She put the picture back on the wall. It took a week, but by the end of the week, the plastic covering had slowly eaten away. It was disturbing, to say the least. Of course now I know it was the slow working of the troll's poison that had gotten onto the plastic. At the time, I didn't know what to think. Our mother had said that you had knocked it down. It wasn't until much later that she finally told me that you said a monster had done it.

"When I went to take it down to see what happened to the plastic, touching the picture burned my hand. It shocked me so much that naturally I dropped the picture. I watched as my hand burned, but then, something strange happened. I willed it to stop burning; I willed the pain to go away. It did. I watched as the burnt flesh fizzled back to normal. I picked up the picture and willed the plastic to go back to the way it was. It did."

"Whoa, you figured it out quick!" Naruto said impressed. Itachi gave a little shake of the head.

"Tapping into my abilities wasn’t always that easy. It was just the initial surge of power due to my shock at being hurt. Our power surges when we need it most: when we're injured and need to heal, or when we're scared or angered and need to fight. I had to train in order to learn how to properly use all of my abilities. Even so, after I started noticing that I could do things when I got hurt or easily angered I went to Mother and asked her if we were special. I asked her if perhaps I wasn't quite human."

"Yes, but to find out we’re fairies?" Sasuke spat out rather disdainfully.

"It really isn't a fear-inspiring name," Naruto agreed. Itachi gave an amused smirk.

"No, but it is what it is," Itachi said maturely.

"What about Dad? Why did you take us away from him on Naruto's birthday?" Sasuke asked.

"Mother and Father were fire-fairies that left their hidden village. They claimed to do so because they disagreed with how their fairy tribe dealt with their problems. But there was more to it than that. Not to mention that Father wasn't one to go completely against his family. I feared that if his family contacted him, he would have given Naruto over to them. Or, I think he would have given Naruto over to Kyuubi no Kashikoi.

"It would have given him higher prestige with Kyuubi, and he would have then been able to track down where Kyuubi hides using Sasuke's connection with Naruto. He would then have used that information to win favor with the fire fairies so they could finally destroy Kyuubi. If things went well," Itachi all but sneered at his own unpleasant words, "he would have been able to convince the fire fairies to let us 'keep' Naruto. If things didn't go well, Naruto would most likely have been killed by the fire-fairies as well."

Itachi's words shocked both Sasuke and Naruto.

"That's absurd. Uncle Fugaku would never -" Naruto started.

"Yes he would. He was one of the few who helped personally kill Kyuubi no Youko. He left not because he was disgusted with how the tribe worked as he claimed. He left because he was scared of Kyuubi no Kashikoi's retaliation," Itachi explained.

"Dad – Dad’s not like that! He wouldn't just hand Naruto over-"

"No, he wouldn't ‘just hand Naruto over.’ But he wouldn't have tried to stop Kyuubi from taking him either. He would have done what would have been most advantageous for him. I don't think he wants you dead, Naruto, don't misunderstand me. He cares for you like a son as much as he is capable of caring for someone, but Father misses being amongst fairies. He's not satisfied living among humans. Of all the times you started to notice something, it was Mother and I who tried to stop it from happening. Father wanted us all to be full-fledged fairies and return to their fairy realm. If you didn’t know, you could have been normal – or so I thought at first," Itachi explained.

"That should have been our choice!" Naruto said.

"You're right. I made a mistake. It would have been better," Itachi agreed. Sasuke was pretty sure that was the closest to an apology they would get from Itachi.

Itachi took a deep breath and began explaining again.

"Recently there were rumors going around that Naruto might reappear on his eighteenth birthday. People were on the lookout, as the date of his birth is publicly known since it was the date when Kyuubi and Naruto’s father fought. This past year, there were signs that Kyuubi had survived the battle. He was ‘sighted,’ if you will. Father heard about it and realized that if Kyuubi still lived, he would want Naruto.

"Father also realized that he had an ace in the hole. You both have always been so close, and while Kyuubi would detest it, Kyuubi would soon realize that Naruto would be devastated not being around Sasuke. Family and friends have always been key in helping a hulijing train. Living together, basically growing up together, made it so that even though Sasuke was untrained, if separated for a long period of time, Sasuke would be able to seek out Naruto if they ever parted. Not that it's hard to find you, Naruto. Not now. Kyuubi, Jiraiya, and Ibiki found your aura so easily, it's almost scary."

"They did all show up almost within a half hour of each other, didn't they?" Naruto said bemused. Sasuke nodded once.

"It was like they came out of nowhere," Sasuke agreed.

"Still, you're making Uncle Fugaku sound like a horrible guy! He was, in a way, looking out for all of us. That's not so horrible, is it?" Naruto said, crossing his arms.

"When a hulijing finds a mate, they tend to stick with their partner for life. Father wanted to make sure that he had a hold of you, Naruto. Father has no daughters, so he tried to use Sasuke to make sure that you would become a part of the family."

Naruto's face flushed full red. Sasuke could feel his own face heat up.

"That's just-"

"No way-"

"It didn't work the way father expected it to. Hulijing's choose to stay with one mate for life. It's just in their personality to be loyal. He thought that if the two of you were intimate, there would be something magically connecting you. He was wrong. As you're both males, there definitely cannot be any children between the two of you, but-"

"Itachi, what you're implying is absurd. How could he have tried to force us to be…intimate-" Naruto began, but Sasuke could tell that Naruto had thought of the same thing that Sasuke had.

The damned black light.

"Black lights have an affect on muse fairies. You are both partially muse fairies. When two fairies are extremely close with each other, they become in tune with the other's aura. You both grew up together. Spent almost every waking and non-waking moment together. You are extremely in tune with each other! You can heal each other because when you are damaged, the other's aura has a flash memory of how the other's aura should feel when it's normal. Sasuke, you should have died in the car crash. You should have died. Your aura went out, and Naruto's aura covered your body, and returned it to a semblance of normal. I've never seen anything like that happen before.

"As you know, different types of wavelengths affect different fairies. Sound fairies are more in tune with radio waves, and light wavelengths hurt them. Likewise, certain sound waves can make their bodies feel good, feel euphoric. With muse-fire fairy hybrids, there are certain wavelengths that can make them hurt, though it does not occur naturally in the human world. However, violet wavelengths, especially black lighting, make muse-fire fairies feel very good. When two muse-fire fairies who are so in tuned with each other's auras are under such lighting, it arouses sexual instincts and desire-"

"I don't want to hear this," Naruto said, turning away from Itachi, looking at the door.

Sasuke wasn't quite sure he wanted to either.

"This isn’t something as unnatural as you make it out to be. Even human’s bodies react to those they are close to. My least favorite is how all the women in my human work place have gotten so in tune with each other that they all have the same menstrual cycle. I deal with seven PMSing women all at the same time of the month. Men who are in tune with their wives can have sympathy pains with them during pregnancy. Being in tune with someone else’s body is normal: just heightened with fairies," Itachi pressed.

Sasuke knew he and Naruto were ‘in tune’ with each other. But what Itachi implied was too much.

"Mother and I were always diligent to keep you away from each other in black lights. The lighting from the black light heightens how in tune you are. Father knew this, and he was the one who suggested you get Sasuke the black light for his birthday, wasn't he, Naruto?"

Sasuke looked at Naruto, mortified that his dad would try and press something like that upon them.

"Did he suggest it?" Sasuke asked Naruto. Naruto nodded. Sasuke looked away.

"I told you; Father thought it would make sure that you two were even closer," Itachi said sorrowfully. "It was a mistake on his part. I actually thought it would drive you both further apart, not together. But it did happen. The memory is there. You don't need to be intimate to be close to someone you love."

Sasuke felt his body shaking in anger. Had his father really tried to use him and Naruto like that?

"That memory is still fuzzy. What really happened between us?" Naruto asked, looking off to the side.

Sasuke looked at Itachi. He didn't want to know.

Yet he did. Itachi didn't say anything as he used his good arm to gently press a finger to Naruto and then Sasuke's foreheads.


---


It was Sasuke's eighteenth birthday. He and Naruto had gone to bed as usual. Naruto was hyper from all the birthday cake he'd eaten, especially since Sasuke didn't like sweets and Naruto always had Sasuke's piece.

"Why do you get a cake for your birthday if you're not going to eat it?" Naruto asked as he turned to look at Sasuke. Sasuke turned to look at Naruto, finding Naruto’s appearance strange due to the new lighting in their room.

It was the first time since Sasuke could remember that they had a different light other than their "nightlight." Naruto had gotten him a black light for his birthday, insisting it would be "cooler" for people their age to have a black light rather than a "nightlight." The purplish light made the atmosphere in the room seem very different than normal.

Sasuke was just about to answer Naruto’s question by explaining that he didn't have the heart to deny his mother baking for him on his birthday when he found himself caught up just staring at Naruto. The small black light that they had fixed above their bed made the white sheets contrast brightly against Naruto's skin. The sheets were pulled up close to Naruto's neck, but his bare arm was propped on top of the sheets.

Naruto's skin looked darker than normal due to the contrast, and Sasuke had the strangest urge to brush his fingers along Naruto's skin to see if it felt as different as it looked.

"What are you doing?" Naruto murmured, the earlier hyperness in his voice sounding strangely raspy.

"Hmm?" Sasuke asked, finding it almost hard to speak.

"Why are you running your fingers along my skin?" Naruto asked, looking at Sasuke strangely.

Strange. Sasuke hadn't even realized he was doing that until Naruto had said something. Why was he doing this? He wasn't quite sure, but he did realize that Naruto felt strangely warm.

"You're warm," Sasuke murmured. His fingers continued to brush Naruto's arm. Sasuke locked eyes with Naruto noticing the way that Naruto's eyes looked at him in confusion.

His hand continued to stroke Naruto's arm, this time up from his forearm, past his elbow, moving across his bicep. Sasuke trailed his fingers lightly along Naruto's collarbone to where the sheet was pressed against his neck He pulled his eyes away from Naruto's gaze to watch his hand stroke gently against Naruto's pulse beating softly at the bottom of his neck.

Before he realized what he was doing, Sasuke moved the sheet slowly away from Naruto's neck, watching as the white sheet gradually revealed more of Naruto's skin. He stopped pulling the sheet down when it reached the top of Naruto's sleep shorts. They were dark black, and Sasuke just stared at them, staring at the drawstring that was tied in a loose knot at the front.

Slowly he pulled the sleep shorts down to see what the rest of Naruto's skin looked like beneath the black light. His hand traveled lower, and he heard Naruto make a strange sort of pleasured gasp.

Naruto seemed just as mesmerized watching what Sasuke was doing as Sasuke felt doing it. Sasuke pulled the sheet slowly down Naruto's body, his shorts following not far behind the sheet. Both sheet and sleep shorts came completely off of Naruto, and Sasuke found himself in awe as he stared at Naruto's naked body, contrasting beautifully against the glowing sheets.

It was as though Sasuke had never seen Naruto before. Why had he never realized how simply breathtaking he was? His body was smooth yet hard, and Sasuke once again found his fingers trailing over the warmth of Naruto's body. He trailed nonsensical patterns up and down Naruto's legs before tracing circles along Naruto's inner thighs. Naruto gasped and spread his legs as Sasuke sat up so he could continue touching and caressing Naruto's body.

Sasuke watched in fascination as Naruto's cock began to slowly harden as Sasuke's hands brushed the back of his hand against it as he touched Naruto.

An overwhelming sense of power came over Sasuke as he watched the way he made Naruto's body respond to him. It was a strange, strange feeling.

Suddenly, Sasuke realized that he had stood up next to the bed and his clothes lay scattered on the floor. Naruto's eyes were on him, raking his eyes over Sasuke's body, and Sasuke gasped as Naruto tentatively put out a hand to touch his body, stroking his sides, making Sasuke shudder.

The touch was soft yet seemed to burn him.

"You look different," Naruto murmured.

Sasuke looked down at himself, and it seemed that his pale skin was glowing underneath the black light.

"You feel different," Sasuke murmured as he clasped Naruto's wrist, running his fingers along the back of Naruto's hands, trailing up his arms to his shoulders.

Again, feeling only half aware of what he was doing, Sasuke straddled Naruto's legs, his knees bent, his back rigidly straight as he hovered over his friend.

Sasuke's fingers worked at massaging the tight muscles beneath him, taking pleasure in the grunts and moans that came from Naruto's lips.

Once again, Sasuke found his body moving on its own as he began to trace his fingers along Naruto's lips. Blue eyes looked into his friend’s curious gaze, watching as Sasuke’s head moved closer and closer to his, their chests almost touching.

"Sasuke," Naruto murmured, as Sasuke leaned forward slightly, his lips brushing Naruto's. They were petal soft, and warm, so warm. They pressed their lips together lightly before Sasuke opened his mouth, his tongue trailing gently along Naruto's lips.

Naruto's one hand came to grasp Sasuke's hips, while the other, shy in its intent, barely touched Sasuke's cock.

The light touch made Sasuke spring his lips away from Naruto, the shock of pleasure making him thrust into Naruto's curious, inexperienced touch. Sasuke's hand snaked around in between his legs to find Naruto's own arousal, holding it firmly in his hand.

Naruto throbbed underneath his touch. He squeezed his friend, feeling powerful again as Naruto’s eyes lidded closed. Sasuke’s hand stilled as Naruto stroked him softly, sensually, breaking his concentration.

Sasuke shuddered as he found his body once again moving both with and without his will. His eyes locked onto his friend's face as Naruto's eyes widened as Sasuke spread his legs, sinking himself down on top of Naruto's awaiting dick.

Naruto's head shot back, his mouth opening in surprise at the feeling.

Having Naruto inside of him literally made his insides burn, like a poker was splitting him open. Tears formed at the corners of his eyes, though he gritted his teeth, refusing to give into the pain, when Naruto's hand came up and touched his hips.

The pain left immediately. It was as though Naruto's touch had healed his insides, leaving a strange feeling of pressure relieved, making him hiss in shocked pleasure as Naruto moved his hips tentatively up.

Naruto's hands began to roam over Sasuke's body, leaving him gasping at the warmth of Naruto's touch, kneading, caressing, and just holding him.

Meanwhile, Sasuke found himself fascinated with staring at the way the black light made Naruto look like some dark hero, bathed in a strange glow, not quite an angel, but like a man who would go to slay demons.

Watching the way Naruto's body reacted to his made Sasuke's cock twitch, and he couldn't help the way his hand stroked himself in time with the slow, sensual thrusts of Naruto's body.

He wouldn’t say there was an exact spot that Naruto touched inside him that made him alive with fire, but a certain angle, a certain type of stroke gently brushing him so intimately seemed to leave him wanting Naruto to thrust into him repeatedly.

Sasuke gripped Naruto's shoulders, forcing Naruto deeper into him, and Naruto grasped at Sasuke's hips.

"Sasuke-" Naruto grunted huskily, trying to still Sasuke. "It feels...it's so..." Naruto mumbled, turning his face to the side, gripping his hands against Sasuke's hips, sounding uncertain.

It didn't matter to Sasuke. He merely stroked his fingers over Naruto's face. Naruto closed his eyes and let Sasuke take them away in pleasure.

The next few moments blurred to Sasuke; his head was so fuzzy with feeling filled.

Pounding. There was pounding. Was it at the door? Where was it coming from?

Yes, there was pounding at the door, but there was pounding from the headboard too. Sasuke looked down to see Naruto's mouth half open, almost unaware of the pounding from the door as their bodies moved hard against each other with each thrust. Sweat began to pour from them, exertion in their bodies at the amount of energy needed to work up such pleasure.

The door burst open, and Itachi came in, looking at the two of them in shock. He yelled something at them before coming closer and smashing the black light to pieces.

The pieces of glass from the broken black light left cuts along Sasuke’s naked skin, but as soon as Naruto touched him again, they vanished. However, Naruto had slipped out of him, and Sasuke groaned at the loss as he tried to get closer to Naruto again.

Sasuke didn’t have time to move very far as Itachi grabbed him and Naruto, flinging them apart. Naruto made a noise of protest, and he reached for Sasuke. Sasuke reached for Naruto as well, but felt his body freeze mid-motion. He felt a coolness hit him as the air chilled his naked, sweaty body, and suddenly he felt like a great deal was pulled from his mind, and like something heavy was placed over his heart.

For a few moments, Sasuke lay there, not quite sure what was going on, but Itachi was muttering something to himself, and he held a piece of the broken glass in his hands, clenching it tightly as he barked orders at Naruto to put clothes on, looking at neither of them.

Itachi stripped the bed, put new blankets on, and made them both lie down on either side as far from each other as possible.

Sasuke vaguely remembered watching Itachi clutch almost desperately at the broken shard, wondering if it was cutting his hand. Itachi left their room, banging the door behind him. It left Sasuke feeling annoyed at his brother.

That night, Sasuke wrapped his arms around himself, feeling drained, cold, and lonely.

The next morning, he remembered nothing.


---


Sasuke backed away from Itachi’s touch, looking over at Naruto. Naruto looked down at himself, seemingly astonished.

He looked like Sasuke felt. Shocked. Scared. Was he supposed to be appalled? Naruto was his best friend, but they weren’t like that. Yet how could he look at Naruto the same way knowing what had happened between them?

Sasuke looked over at Naruto, noticing that glowing presence around Naruto was even more pronounced now. Naruto’s aura. Sasuke had to look away from his friend. He felt…he didn’t know what he felt.

The door clicking behind him made Sasuke whirl back around. For half a moment, he feared Naruto had run out without talking to him first.

Instead he saw that Itachi had left them alone.

"Uh…" Naruto started.

"Yeah," Sasuke agreed.

"We’re friends," Naruto stated.

"Best friends," Sasuke agreed. "Just best friends."

"Right. That was, just, something strange. We’re good?"

"We don’t need to talk about it again. It never happened," Sasuke said, nodding.

"Awesome. That’s that," Naruto said.

"That’s that," Sasuke agreed. He nodded, feeling relieved.

It meant nothing. It just happened. That was it. He and Naruto shared relieved looks.

"Now let’s go find a bathroom," Naruto said. Sasuke half chuckled.

Nothing had happened. It was just a spur of the moment thing from that stupid black light. The only reason Sasuke’s heart was pounding so quickly now was only due to the fact that he had just relived that strangely erotic moment. That was it. There was nothing between them.

He and Naruto would be perfectly fine.

Naruto grinned at him before giving him an awkward punch in the shoulder before heading out to find a bathroom.

Sasuke blanched, and stifled a gasp, placing his hand at the spot where Naruto had lightly punched him. It burned, but not in pain. It was more of a pleasant tingling sensation, as though some of Naruto’s warmth that Sasuke was sure he could see here in “fairyland” had rubbed off on him.

He was just glad that Naruto hadn’t seen his reaction. As Sasuke rubbed the spot that Naruto had briefly touched, Sasuke murmured to himself.

"This can’t be good."

- - - - - - - - - - - -

In seconds, friendships can be torn apart over the gravest of misunderstandings even with the best of intentions. ~ Jelp

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Next Chapter: Where To Begin?

I hope that you enjoyed the chapter! Let me know what you thought. ~ Jelp