Excoriate

The same warnings from Chapter 1 still apply, and we're not getting into the heavy stuff, quite yet.

~*~*~

Chapter 2


Sasuke took to the rooftops, letting the night air cool his cheeks. How mortifying...that he had given in to the urge, and that he had been caught. He couldn't understand this need to touch Kakashi; this was something he hadn't felt before, and it horrified him. It embarrassed him. It made him feel sick to his stomach and dizzy, and feverish. He twitched his hand, trying not to remember the way Kakashi's skin had felt, burning hot and smooth, and the rougher scar tissue his fingertips had encountered just before Kakashi pulled his hand away.

Sasuke ran faster, bypassing his home. His legs pumped, propelling him over homes populated with sleeping families, lovers curled together, and those who slept alone. Sasuke bit his lip and remembered tracing the scar over Kakashi's eye, that brutal slash usually hidden by the man's headband. He took a shaky breath, and remembered the first time he touched it, in the dark, in a stranger's home in Wave Country, how he had prayed for Kakashi not to stop him, and prayed that Kakashi wouldn't notice how hard Sasuke was. He was surprised he hadn't moaned.

He didn't know why. It didn't make sense, why he was so aroused at the proof of old injuries, at the imperfection of damaged skin. On Kakashi, only on Kakashi.

Sasuke perched on a high, peaked roof at the edge of the village and turned, panting.

He shouldn't have asked. Kakashi shouldn't have let him stay. He shouldn't keep climbing in through Kakashi's window.

Sasuke sighed, then slid down to the street, and walked home. He wondered if he'd be able to sleep tonight.

~*~*~

Practice was surprisingly normal. Sasuke had been expecting something to change; he had been expecting Kakashi to ignore him, or to treat him differently. But everything was the same, it seemed, and this made Sasuke feel as if he had won something, though he wasn't sure what it was. When his eyes met Kakashi's over the edge of the man's book, Sasuke felt a rash of something that took him a while to interpret.

Possessiveness. When he realized that that was what it was, a hot prickle snapped down the length of his spine, and he excused himself from the group, on the pretense that he had to use the bathroom. In reality, he crouched behind a tree and made fists out of his shaking hands.

Kakashi was his sensei, Sasuke was the only one of the group that had climbed in through his window, the only one that had touched his face, his eye, his scar. The only one Kakashi would share his bed with. This was a secret that only the two of them knew, and that thrilled Sasuke, and sent another secret prickle of heat down between his legs.

He changed his mind from the night before...he would go back tonight. And he wouldn't leave, this time.

~*~*~

There was no wind to mask the boy's furtive sounds as he approached Kakashi's window that night. But Sasuke couldn't even hear the noise his feet made when he dropped softly onto the ledge; his heart was pounding so hard he would be surprised if Kakashi wasn't woken up by hearing it. He took a few seconds to breathe slowly, to calm himself. It wouldn't do to put Kakashi on guard immediately.

Sasuke frowned. Put Kakashi on guard against what? he wondered.

But even as he thought this, a small, quiet part of him knew. His palms were damp as he swung Kakashi's window open, but he didn't risk wiping them off. Skin moving on fabric made a louder noise than he wanted to risk, right now.

He crept forward, bereft of the usual small creaks and night noises that usually helped to mask his approach. He didn't even dare to breathe as he came within reach of the bed. Kakashi hadn't moved yet, and Sasuke took that to mean that either the man really was asleep, or that he simply approved of Sasuke's approach. He still could never tell the exact moment that Kakashi awoke, and he still wondered why Kakashi indulged him by sometimes feigning sleep.

Slowly, carefully, Sasuke put a knee on the bed, and he reached for Kakashi's mask.

Kakashi caught his hand just before it touched his face. "So close," he said quietly, the words just taunting enough to agitate Sasuke.

Frowning lightly, Sasuke brought his other knee up to the bed. "When did you wake up?"

Kakashi drummed his fingers against his chest before he answered. "Mh, as soon as you touched the mattress. If you really want to see my face, why don't you just lean over?"

Sasuke didn't answer, because he didn't know how. He thought it might be to give Kakashi a chance, a choice in the matter of whether he wanted his face revealed. Or maybe he just wanted to get closer before he had to stop. He tightened his mouth and stared at his wrist, encircled and engulfed by Kakashi's big, long-fingered hand.

"You should work on that," Kakashi said, slowly uncurling his fingers.

Sasuke swallowed. "Since I made it to the bed-- " he blurted, and then paused when Kakashi's eyebrow rose. Sasuke let his eyes widen a fraction of an inch. "Let me stay."

He ignored Kakashi's body language, the tightening of wide shoulders and the slight tension in his forehead that said Kakashi was uncomfortable with the request. He ignored, also, the feeling of rejection that threatened at the watchful, appraising stare Kakashi leveled at him.

After a moment, Kakashi sighed and edged closer to the wall.

"I suppose there's no harm in it," he muttered in a tone that said he wasn't entirely convinced.

Sasuke would convince him.

Sasuke would be good.

He finally remembered to breathe when Kakashi folded down the corner of the blanket. He silently toed off his shoes, and then slipped in beside the man, and he pulled the covers up to his chin, not looking at his sensei.

"Good night, Sasuke," Kakashi said, once he stilled.

"Good night," Sasuke whispered back.

~*~*~

Sasuke couldn't sleep. He had harbored some illusion of innocently sleeping tonight, of just laying down and closing his eyes, and waking up in the morning. Because he was comfortable here, though it surprised him how much. Yet he found himself listening to Kakashi breathe, and found his attention drawn to the smallest sensory inputs. His right side was warm, from being so close to Kakashi's heat-producing body. The fine hair on the back of Kakashi's left arm tickled the skin of Sasuke's right arm, each time Kakashi drew a deep breath. Kakashi had a distinctive scent, and it pervaded his room, his sheets, and curled up inside Sasuke's nose; it was earthy and warm, and tonight it was slightly sweaty. There was also another smell here in the bed, one that reminded Sasuke vaguely of saliva, but he couldn't place it.

He was awake as the wind picked up outside, and he watched the shadows shift over the wall. He looked over at Kakashi, at the way his silver hair lay in a mess over his pillow. His sleepy gaze was drawn inexoribly to the man's closed eye, and the long scar that disappeared under the edge of the mask.

Kakashi sighed quietly, and Sasuke watched, fascinated, as the man's eye moved under his eyelid, the motion delicate and quick. Kakashi was dreaming, Sasuke realized with a slowly dawning feeling of awe. It was such a human thing to do, to dream, and his sharingan eye, his gift, it tracked whatever fractured pictures were playing across the canvas of his mind just like a normal eye would.

Sasuke felt a curious dizziness overcome him.

Heart hammering in his ears, mouth dry, Sasuke steadied his breathing. He rolled onto his side, and let his momentum propel his arm naturally over Kakashi's waist. He had a few seconds of paranoia - could Kakashi hear his heartbeat? Could he somehow sense his intent? Did he know what Sasuke was planning? - but he concentrated on breathing, and keeping his muscles relaxed as in sleep. He knew Kakashi would notice if that changed.

After a count of ten minutes, Kakashi was still breathing normally, in long, easy breaths, his chest rising and falling gently. Sasuke realized he actually did feel relaxed now, with his arm draped over Kakashi's stomach, the whole front of his body warm, and Kakashi's bony hip digging into his wrist. He felt loose and warm and comfortable.

And aroused just by listening to Kakashi breathe, vulnerable and seemingly defenseless in his sleep.

Sasuke knew that Kakashi was in reality anything but vulnerable, and in no way defenseless, so he steeled himself to hear Kakashi's disapproving voice when he rocked a little, away from Kakashi, so that his hand would slide inward. Onto Kakashi's hard stomach, directly over the waistband of his low-slung pants.

Fifteen minutes later, another furtive, measured movement rolled Sasuke back against Kakashi's body, his hand sliding under the man's shirt. He wouldn't rub...wouldn't do anything so obvious. But he felt the rough ridge of a scar against the heel of his palm, and he imagined tracing it, following it lower, and dear god, he was hard, and it was pressed right up against Kakashi's hip, and it was a struggle to keep from nudging forward a little more.

He lay still and silent, just imagining what would happen if he did keep going. He'd slide his hand down under the waistband of Kakashi's pants...and he wondered how far down this scar went. Did it taper off shortly, or did it go down, down, into the thatch of hair that would lead Sasuke to the man's privates? Sasuke felt a heavy warmth in his lower belly, a swirling, almost frightening heat as he tried to picture this, his hand slipping down into Kakashi's pubic hair, no doubt silvery-gray like the rest of his hair, and then his fingers wrapping around Kakashi's penis. Kakashi's penis, Kakashi's cock, hardening in his hand, lengthening. It felt so wrong, forbidden, taboo to even just imagine it, and it made Sasuke's erection twitch inside his underwear.

Suddenly Sasuke remembered being very small, and sneaking into the kitchen once the lights were out. His mother had made onigiri, and it was meant to be for lunch the next day. But Sasuke loved the rice balls, specifically the ones filled with sour, pickled ume, and he wanted some, with all the immediacy of the child he was. He remembered a shaky, excited, shameful feeling when he slid the container out of the cupboard, and how good it tasted when he lifted a piece to his lips. Then a sound from behind him, and his mother's disappointed face.

She had silently taken the container from his hands and closed it, and placed it back in the cabinet. Then led him back to his room by the hand, still silent, and by this point Sasuke had wanted to cry. The ume was sour in his stomach, and he had been a bad boy, and his mother was disappointed in him.

Sasuke bit down on his lower lip and tried to keep his hand from trembling. It was a struggle. But no, no, he was going to be good. Tonight, he'd be good, and Kakashi wouldn't have to be disappointed in him.

So he relaxed as well as he could, still feeling mingled shame and excitement as he felt Kakashi breathe. Long, steady breaths, easy ones, and Sasuke closed his eyes and let them lull him into a state of near-sleep.

~*~*~

He was roused once, when Kakashi tensed slightly beside him, his stomach muscles going rock-hard under Sasuke's palm. Sasuke kept his eyes closed and his body relaxed, he used that opportunity to shift, as if in sleep, and he let his dick rub against Kakashi, and he wanted to groan at the sensation of cloth dragging over his half-hard penis and the feel of Kakashi's hard, hot hip through the fabric, but he didn't. Teenage boys got erections in their sleep, and Kakashi couldn't fault him for it. And Sasuke knew Kakashi wouldn't suspect him of doing something so bold if he was awake.

He felt Kakashi move again, felt Kakashi's big, calloused hand come to rest against his wrist. Kakashi was staring at him, he knew, he could sense the intensity of the man's regard on his face, but he kept his expression soft, using all the skill he possessed to keep his heart from hammering out of control. He flicked his eyes back and forth subtly under his eyelids. And he just kept right on pretending he was asleep. He had learned it from his sensei, after all.

He felt another hot surge of victory when Kakashi didn't move his hand away from the skin of Kakashi's belly. Then Kakashi relaxed again with a quiet sigh, the hardness of his tense stomach softening again.

And five minutes later, against all his own expectations, the mental and emotional exhaustion of the night's events finally overcame him, and Sasuke was deeply asleep.

~*~*~

He woke up when Kakashi sat up beside him, and he opened bleary eyes to see Kakashi looking down at him with an unreadable expression in his dark eye.

"Sleep well, Sasuke-kun?" Kakashi asked, his voice rough with sleep.

Sasuke nodded, and then he stretched his arms up over his head. It was a deliberate gesture, one that he hoped would make him appear as young and innocent as he thought Kakashi wanted him to be. He wondered if he had perhaps overdone it when Kakashi chuckled at him, the sound dry.

"You move a lot in your sleep," Kakashi said as he climbed off the foot of the bed. Sasuke watched, focusing on the fascination of seeing his sensei do such an awkward, everyday thing, so as not to betray the anxiety that statement made him feel. At what Kakashi might say next. Kakashi stood there, scratching his stomach absently, and continued. "You need to work on that, too. On a mission it would put your team in danger."

"Okay," Sasuke said, and then he cleared his throat. He swung his legs off the bed.

After a pause during which Sasuke leaned over and scooped up his shoes, Kakashi said, "I don't think we should make a habit of this."

"I don't either," Sasuke lied, toeing into his sandals and not meeting Kakashi's eyes. "I won't."

...tbc

*~*~*

Thanks for the reviews, and I'd love to hear what you think, so far. Anonymous reviews are enabled, in case you want to review anonymously. :)