Conquest

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Chapter 11
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Day 1


Sasuke turned and tossed that night. His pillow had been repeatedly punched and then thrown against the door in a fit of irrational anger before he had collected himself and literally willed himself into slumber. He honestly hadn’t known what he’d been thinking when that incident had happened. Nothing had happened really, it’s not like they had had wild monkey sex on the kitchen floor. But that warm breath against his lips had felt more intimate than anything he had ever experienced. Naruto had watched him with such innocence reflected in his eyes that he couldn’t help leaning closer, wanting more contact with the idiot because it had simply seemed right. Things hadn’t felt right in a long time.


What disturbed him more than his own actions of leaning forward was that Naruto had moved away. Pushed away. After all that time of Naruto crushing so heavily on him, the moron now decided to change his mind. It was just as well then that Sasuke hadn’t given in to his own hormones. Things would almost certainly have ended up even more disastrous. Not that his situation currently was particularly good either. He still hadn’t contacted Itachi to let him know that he was alright, though that worked vice versa, for Itachi hadn’t bothered to check up on him. It irked Sasuke, though really not as much as it normally would have. He had never had a normal kind of relationship with the other Uchiha brother and more often than not had felt like a pawn in Itachi’s sick game of life and chess.


Sasuke turned in between the sheets; the duvet had been kicked off earlier in the night. His eyes remained closed. Despite being wide awake he was not quite ready to greet the sunshine he could see as an orange glow against his eyelids. Getting up meant seeing Naruto, but what seeing Naruto would mean he didn’t know.


Eventually his need for caffeine made itself known. Swinging his legs out of the bed he grabbed the pair of loose pants that had met the same fate as the duvet in the night. Paying no heed to the cool air against his bare chest he set off for his mission.


However, pretty soon Sasuke came across a stumbling block. His ritual of making love to his early morning cup of coffee remained incomplete. He had searched the entire kitchen from top to bottom and yet there wasn’t a granule of coffee to be found anywhere. Nothing remotely resembling caffeine. The shelves had been stacked full of instant noodle cups. Having repeatedly moved at an indescribable speed through the contents of the kitchen Sasuke was able to discern a pattern. The ramen noodles had been organised according to flavour, size, colour and brand. The half naked Uchiha stood in the centre of the kitchen blinking in a sort of shock at the open shelves.


“The cupboards are mine for ramen.” No shit.


He turned as Naruto came shuffling in, dressed only in his boxer shorts, while rubbing at his eyes. Sasuke was of two minds at that moment. One thought was that he was now sharing an apartment with what appeared to be the god of sex. The other thought was that he was now sharing an apartment with someone who by now must be entirely composed of instant noodles. His sex god was made up of noodles. Sasuke fought the urge to laugh at the weirdness he felt. It all felt suddenly so strange, living with Naruto would be an interesting experience at the very least.


“Its six am, asshole, what’s with all the racket?!” Naruto growled in a voice rough with sleep and his eyes still squinty trying to take in the minimum amount of light.


Sasuke drank in the sight before him. Naruto had beautifully defined abs and Sasuke’s eyes zeroed in on them, committing the picture to memory. The little definition above his hips acted like arrows along with the golden trail of hair that lead from his belly button to the abrupt stop of the waistband of his grey boxers.


“You don’t have coffee,” Sasuke collected himself before Naruto caught him staring.


“What’s your point?” Naruto grumbled while scratching at his cheek, blue eyes peeking out between his squint. They suddenly enlarged though as if his brain had suddenly processed a large amount of information.


Sasuke watched in amusement as Naruto’s eyes raked his torso. So perhaps the idiot hadn’t gotten over his attraction quite yet. His eyebrow rose when Naruto’s eyes finally moved up to meet his. The other jumped slightly, his eyes enormous, as both hands went to cover his crotch. Nothing had really been showing and it really was for the betterment of both parties that Sasuke-whore only woke up after caffeine.


“WowI’mrunninglatebettergogetreadyforuni!” Naruto managed to speak in a shrill tone before retreating, his hand coming round to cover his ass as he turned and walking rapidly out of the kitchen.


The corner of Sasuke’s mouth twitched upwards as he appreciated the view of fluid back muscles beneath smooth skin. His smirk remained in place but a certain fondness had entered into the black depths of his eyes.


...


Day 3


Naruto’s throat made a deep rumbling sound as he expressed his displeasure. His staring contest continued and he poked his enemy with a finger. That would show them that Uzumaki Naruto would not quit. No response again. He poked harder, his index finger stiff as he jabbed in triumph. Nothing. Letting out a frustrated yell he picked up his adversary and shook it before placing it down again and dusting off the sides; ala The Godfather.


The piece of technology that was currently the bane of Naruto’s existence beeped at him. Naruto felt his blood boil. Macs. Were. Stupid. He didn’t care in the slightest that their renowned technology made data analysis ten times faster. He wanted his Dell back. Naruto pouted at the screen.


“I will defeat you,” he whispered ominously at it. It beeped again which caused Naruto to jump and shake his fist at it, “Believe it!”


He was currently in the lab attempting to input data on to Kakashi’s Mac. The professor had decided that it was best to get Naruto all trained up and had asked that he come in when he was free to be shown around and how to use the equipment. Naruto had been more than happy to do this as Kakashi rarely turned up on time and mostly he could spend the hours catching up on his coursework.


There was also the Sasuke factor.


Sasuke was usually around the lab working at something or another. And it was the only time that Naruto could just take in his fill of the other without being caught staring. It was hard for him to be in the Sasuke’s presence all the time when at home. There was still that awkwardness that hung around them. The other morning’s mishap hadn’t helped. Naruto knew now that his behaviour and thoughts were unhealthy but that didn’t stop him in the slightest from feeling. He had experienced all types of emotions but what he felt for Sasuke was new and un-charted. The butterflies in his stomach quickly became signs that The Dagger was waking up. Naruto now tended to wear loose cargo pants.


Naruto could control this though. Sasuke had made it clear that he wasn’t interested. Damn Uchiha was always so calm and collected around him. The incident in the kitchen was etched in his memory but he knew it to be a random fluke, some twist that jumbled his feelings so that he felt unsteady.


They weren’t comfortable yet but they were getting there. Whenever Sasuke smiled, which was albeit quite rare, Naruto could never suppress the surge of happiness that flooded him, that he could do that to the stoic man. It was at times like those that Naruto realised how bad he had it.


At the lab, Naruto could glare at the duck-butt hair all he liked. It made him grin every time Sasuke turned around, probably feeling the holes boring into the back of his skull, only to find Naruto studiously looking away.


His current problem though wasn’t Sasuke. It was the damn laptop that wouldn’t listen to him. Naruto scrunched up his face. He was tempted to just jab all the keys at random and click away with the mouse, which more often than not refused to work. Kakashi had finally given him work to do and Naruto couldn’t even get started, his frustrations were hitting a peak.


He glanced around in search of help and suddenly became aware that during his intense heated battle with the laptop, that he was alone in the lab. The post-docs had packed up and left, he had probably missed their waved goodbyes. Naruto got up and walked by Kakashi’s office. He peered in through the little window pane to see the man sitting in the dark at his computer with his feet propped up. His beloved Icha Icha series lay against his chest and he appeared to be sleeping. Naruto shook his head. Turning back to the war, it seemed he wouldn’t have back up on this one.


Sasuke was standing by Naruto’s assigned desk when the he returned. The Mac had brought reinforcements.


“Need help turning it on?” The amused voice fuelled Naruto’s unnecessary anger. Stupid Uchiha asshole was always so damn smug. And pretty. Smug and pretty, Naruto decided, were an incredibly bad combination. The Dagger disagreed though as it stirred slightly at the sound of the low voice.


“Nope, I’m an expert,” Naruto lied through his teeth as he entered into Sasuke’s personal space to get back to his seat. Sasuke stepped back at the last moment, that infuriating smirk firmly remaining.


Naruto settled back into his swivelling chair and glared hard at the blank screen. He threaded his fingers and pushed his hands outwards to stretch the joints and then brought them back towards him to crack his knuckles. He glanced to the side to see Sasuke remaining standing there, his face impassive except for the slight upward twitch of his lips.


Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him and Naruto raised two in retaliation.


A full five minutes later Naruto, out of utter desperation and will, had managed to open up the data sheets. Except now the copy and paste shortcuts weren’t working and double clicking did nothing.


“Let me know when you’re ready to accept my help, Uzumaki,” Sasuke had moved once again to sit with his back to Naruto at his own desk. Naruto glanced up to glare at the dark head of hair, gave him the finger and went back to his problem.


“I saw that.”


Naruto started and then frowned, Sasuke wasn’t usually this talkative.


“Quit yapping and start helping then,” Naruto shot back, grinning at the back stiffening. He watched in surprise as Sasuke swiftly got out of his seat and made his way over. He looked properly at Uchiha and saw that his lab coat was undone revealing his jeans and dark shirt. Naruto was amused to see that Sasuke was holding back the long locks of hair at the front with his glasses pushed up on his head like an Alice band. He didn’t look so put together and Naruto preferred him this way. He seemed more at ease.


Sasuke moved to stand behind him and took the mouse from his grip.


Naruto really wasn’t paying attention to the instructions Sasuke was murmuring. His lips were so close to his ear that he was having trouble concentrating. Naruto took a deep breath and tried to pay attention to the words but breathing deep only helped him inhale the masculine scent of Sasuke. The TA wasn’t being intentionally close, he was concentrating on the screen, and his voice was usually this low. However, combined with the body heat radiating from the pale man it felt like all the lights had been dimmed and sexy sultry music was playing in the background.


“And if you use this shortcut,” Sasuke tapped a few keys, “then it’s immediately converted.”


Naruto was honest to god trying to pay attention but Sasuke was leaning over his shoulder and the weight of him was all that he could focus on. His eyes stared at the shape of Sasuke’s ear and the even jaw line leaning away from him. He could see an expanse of smooth, pale, skin and the side view of dark eyelashes framing an equally dark iris.


Naruto swallowed. It didn’t feel like there was enough air.


“That’s odd,” Sasuke tapped away at the keyboard again, “Hn. Kakashi would rename everything with an Icha Icha character,” Sasuke scoffed, his mouth curving up. “Click on Rahoul for the first data set and... Naruto, are you listening?”


“Huh?” Naruto gulped in more air again as Sasuke’s head turned so he was presented with more of Sasuke’s profile. The straight angles of his nose were lines of perfection. Naruto was mesmerised as the mouth parted and if he leaned forward he could smell the coffee on his breath, and if he moved in further he’d probably be able to taste it. Coffee would taste good in Sasuke’s mouth. His lips looked soft, a light pink colour that Naruto felt he should write poetry about.


The mouth stopped moving, the thin eyebrow was lowered and pupils dilated. They seemed to be on the same page now.


“Dynamic entry!” And with that short phrase Naruto’s world was crushed. He slumped down, quite tempted to hit his head on the keyboard.


Sasuke seemed to be a little shaken too, his glasses were back down shielding the view of his eyes slightly and he was buttoning up his lab coat as if reminding himself who and where he was.


“Gai, Kakashi is in his office.” Sasuke spoke shortly.


“Ah, pupil of my rival! Thank you! Working hard I see; it is late but the springtime of youth waits for no man! Continue and perhaps afterwards you would like to join Lee and me on a run around the city?” Professor Maito spoke loudly while jogging on the spot and pumping his fists.

Gai clapped Sasuke on the shoulder who managed to contain his wince before jogging off to his opponent’s office, every ten steps stopping to do a star jump.


“I’ll see you at home,” Sasuke muttered before quickly collecting his things and heading for the door. Naruto wanted to stop him. Demand that the Uchiha explain himself when really it was he that had lost control. He glared in the direction of the now empty desk. His resolve would need to be strengthened.


...


Day 5


Sasuke’s eye was twitching. He couldn’t believe he was actually here in a bowling alley having a staring contest with Gaara, the weirdo that lived opposite them. Sat on top of Gaara’s red hair was the party hat that Naruto had stuck on him signifying why they were there.


It was an impromptu celebration of Gaara’s birthday. Sasuke scowled at the memory of it. He had been happily watching Naruto sleep on the sofa. After the snoring and drooling had stopped and Naruto had settled into deep slumber, he was actually quite sweet to watch. Of course there was the occasional leg spasm and the moaning of ‘Dagger, no!’ which Sasuke didn’t know quite what to make of and thought it best not to ask. His afternoon of whiling away his weekend with creepy watching and Sasuke-whores commentary and subtle suggestions of rape had abruptly been ruined. Kankuro had entered the apartment announcing the birth of his little brother which immediately had Naruto up and running around. Sasuke was positive that the elder brother had other motives for doing this but didn’t have proof. And so Gaara was deposited at their apartment and that was Sasuke’s first meeting with the anti-Gai.


The meeting had not gone well. There had been a lot of staring, time spent by both men with their arms crossed, eyebrow and non-existent eyebrow raised. As Naruto had broken out into singing Happy Birthday for Gaara, Sasuke could have sworn the red-head had softly spoken the words, ‘I will kill you,’ before turning his attention back to the singing Naruto who was racking the apartment for alcohol.


Now they sat in their bowling booth. Naruto was currently up and Sasuke was torn between appreciating the fine ass presented to him and continuing his ongoing staring contest with the small man opposite. What’s the matter with you? If he bends over one more time and we’re not fucking him into the floor, this is the end of us. Sasuke-whore was making death threats; little thing couldn’t understand what was so appealing about imagining plucking out Gaara’s light green eyes and stamping on them.


Naruto’s other friends, Sakura and Lee had also joined them when Naruto had decided that bowling was the way to go. He had forgotten that Gaara’s medication didn’t mix well with alcohol which meant going to a bar wasn’t a good idea. Sasuke was certain they hadn’t gone to the cinema because the horror films which Gaara was most likely to have chosen would probably give the little freak ideas.


Bowling had seemed like good wholesome fun. Except Sasuke was hard. There were only so many times that he could watch Naruto’s ritual of kissing the bowling ball and bending over at a certain position for two minutes and then rolling, before his dick started getting ideas about the ass presented.


It was a weird sensation flicking back between a muscled ass and dead green eyes which conveyed malicious intent. It felt like his cock was a yo yo, retreating and then returning at the sight of what it felt was its soul mate.


“Yes! Beat that, asshole!” Between his cock’s dilemmas, Sasuke had also been competing with Naruto for the high score. Both were to blame for the flying insults, though Sasuke had yet to stoop to sabotage. Sasuke was off his game though, every time he was up he was distracted because he wanted to turn and make sure that Gaara and Naruto kept everything family safe. He didn’t trust the red-head, the green eyes softened around Naruto and Sasuke hadn’t failed to notice that. He wasn’t buying the platonic friendship crap. Naruto really needed to stop hugging the other pale man before Sasuke aimed his ball at the red head instead. That would feel satisfying.


Sasuke stood for his turn, ignoring the thumbs up from Lee and picked out a ball to fit his slim fingers. He scowled at the “S” indicating the small fit; everything seemed to be a blow to his ego today.


He refrained from growling and ran his hands through his hair while casually checking the score. He needed a strike and he needed one soon. He eyed the pins and mentally calculated the angle he needed. Exhaling, he released. Six pins were knocked down, two wobbled dangerously before standing firm. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, the sheer force of his glare should have levelled them and the pins of all the other games as well.


He waited for his ball to return, not bothering to turn around despite Lee’s encouraging remarks. The next roll was a gutter ball.


Sasuke took his seat back, next to Naruto and raised an eyebrow at him, daring him to say anything. Naruto mimed zipping his mouth shut and throwing away the key. Despite himself, Sasuke smiled. This caused Naruto to grin in return before he clapped Gaara on the back and pushed him off for his turn. Sasuke’s smile turned upside down.


Gaara dropped the bowling ball and then returned to his seat. This seemed to be an acquired style as the ball rolled incredibly slowly towards its destination, remaining dead centre, and knocked out all the pins. Naruto and Lee whooped and amidst their cheering Sasuke growled.


In the end it was Sakura who won. The girl with such freaky strength had the ball powering along, bouncing along the wooden planks to smash into the white pins. He did not think much of the girl until he noticed the scores and then how Naruto flinched every time she punched him in the arm with what appeared to be cute girl punches but were most likely quite deadly.


Sasuke, Naruto and Gaara walked back to their apartment building. It would have been a nice evening walk; the sun had just disappeared leaving one last glow over the buildings and trees. However the uncomfortable silence which seemed to be something that clung to Gaara hadn’t left no matter what Naruto was chattering about.


Finally depositing Gaara back at his own apartment, Sasuke went to lie on the sofa.


“Well, that was fun,” Naruto grinned in his direction before shifting down to sit on the floor with his back leaning against the cushions and his head near Sasuke’s propped up legs.


Sasuke felt the statement merited no answer.


“I think Gaara had fun,” it appeared Naruto was determined to have a conversation.


“Indeed,” Sasuke muttered, turning on his side so that he could look at Naruto’s face.


“I had fun, did you have fun?” Naruto’s spiky hair was brushing against his jeans, he couldn’t feel it but the sight of it felt nice.


“Naruto?” Sleep was settling on the Uchiha.


“Yeah?”


He caught sight of Naruto’s azure eyes before his own closed


“Shut up.” Sasuke murmured as the image of blue swam before his eyes, entering into his dreams.


...


Day 7


Sasuke was doing laundry. Sasuke had never done laundry in his life. He wasn’t so foolish as to think clothes were self-cleaning but at the present moment he was fervently hoping they would be.


He and Naruto were down in the basement of the apartment building where the laundry room was located. He watched out of the corner of his eye as Naruto started separating out his clothes in some unknown pattern. He could do this. Uchiha Sasuke was gifted with photographic memory. He could do this.


When he had lived with Itachi, they had simply employed someone to do that, along with the cooking and cleaning. Sasuke had quickly learnt that if he wanted the apartment clean he was going to have to do it himself. His first impression of Naruto’s apartment had been woefully misguiding. When he had stayed at Kakashi’s place, there had been Gai. Kakashi merely had to bet who could do their laundry the fastest then place his with Gai’s when the green beast wasn’t looking. Sasuke knew that Gai wasn’t that stupid, as to miss something like that, but it seemed to be some sort of rival ritual between them. He wondered briefly if that would work with Uzumaki but felt he’d more likely get a punch in the face than anything else.


“You wanna chuck your load in with mine?” Naruto asked causing Sasuke to choke.


Naruto turned to see Sasuke was still standing there looking bemusedly at his laundry bag which rested on the washing machine.


Naruto looked amused. “Well, well, well, the great Uchiha can’t do laundry,” Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and grinned widely.


“Yes I can, idiot,” Sasuke glared, and then turned the glare back at the laundry bag. Self cleaning clothes, that’s what his PhD should be based on.


Naruto shrugged, “Suit yourself,” and he pulled at the orange T-shirt he was wearing and sniffed at it. Once Sasuke had returned said T-shirt to him, he’d rarely seen him without it, saying he had missed it because, ‘stupid Uchiha assholes,’ weren’t courteous enough to return things that don’t belong to them.


Sasuke watched with a slight smirk on his face as Naruto proceeded to sniff at his armpit to check the T-shirts sell by date; it was way over due. His smirk fell away though when Naruto’s arms reached over his head and began pulling the T-shirt off. It came off quickly to reveal his torso. He stuffed the item into the washing machine, then closed it and pressed a few buttons.


They had managed to avoid another half naked incident much to Sasuke-whore’s dismay, both had become hyper aware that half nakedness, or complete nakedness was a no-no and had taken great pains to make sure they were fully clothed; Naruto now slept in pyjamas with orange spiral prints on them. Sasuke hated those pyjamas.


Dark eyes were soaking up all the creamy gold skin and the definition of Naruto’s biceps. Naruto’s jeans hung low on his hips so that orange boxers peeked out. Naruto didn’t seem so self aware this time, his tongue was peeking out as he poured in a measured amount of washing powder into a cup.


It was in that instant that several things happened, Sasuke’s resolve completely melted away, a surge of hormones flooded his blood stream and Sasuke-whore momentarily sat in the driver’s seat.


Sasuke moved without thinking. He took the few steps that it took for him to reach Naruto and before Naruto could do so much as squeak; Sasuke had turned him so that he was backed up against the driers.


Sasuke saw blue eyes go wide before he crashed his mouth on to the lips opposite.