Blue Cave

But then, one free afternoon, something happened. Naruto was on his way, angrily muttering some curses about the dumb rules, when he noticed the stealthy presence of someone else at the lake. Quickly he erased his presence and hid behind a tree. The presence of the other person felt strangely familiar and so Naruto decided to step and to take a look at who it was. Surprise struck him like lightning as he recognized the person below him in the water.



Like a water god, Sasuke was floating face up in the water. His ebony hair swam freely around his head and he held his obsidian eyes closed. The white skin showed no flaw while his limbs had just the right proportions of muscles. Naruto forgot for a moment how to breath and his thoughts went into one big loud mess inside his head.



Why was Sasuke here?… I never knew that he… Has he noticed me?... omg … his hair… and his torso… Of course he must have noticed him… he was an Uchiha, after all… did all Uchihas look this… Why was he still here… Sasuke… his skin seems so smooth … Sasuke… beautiful… Why does he not open his eyes?... those eyes… with piercing stare… like a piece of night fallen into the day…



Naruto shuddered almost violently when he caught himself wanting to touch his best friend. He shook his head and with it tried to shake out that silly idea. Then he jumped down to “his” island. With a slightly anxious look he made sure that Sasuke wasn’t gone and changed as fast as he could. Slowly he walked into the water, not letting go of Sasuke for a single instant and then dove under in a split second. From the depths of cold lake he observed his best friend from beneath. With all of his willpower he tried to burn every line and every inch of that beautiful body with the single flaw of the curse mark into his memory. Just as his lungs started to hurt, Sasuke suddenly moved and dove down. Naruto couldn’t withstand the need for air anymore and dove up. Just as his head pierced the surface and he greedily sucked in some fresh air, he could feel Sasuke’s gaze trail over his body. As soon as he had enough air, he dove down to his friend.



Over the field of strange black rocks Sasuke floated between two waters and watched his friends come down. He admired these eyes like sapphires that looked at him so intensively and the well-toned body of the other boy. The unruly hair that had gotten a slight green tone danced around his head as he came nearer and nearer. When they were just about one body length apart Naruto stopped. They just floated there and gazed into each other eyes as if they had years of eye contact to make up. Both felt too scared to close the distance, to break the careful balance between right and wrong.



Then the air volume of Sasuke solved the problem. He went up to get some air while Naruto stayed down there. He was attracted by some glittering on the ground and dove even further. Sasuke went back into the blue depths as soon as he could, because he wanted to be near the other, and he saw his friend wink shyly at him. With fast and strong strokes Sasuke joined him and watched in the direction Naruto pointed at with an awkward smile on his face. Just as Sasuke tried to see what Naruto had seen, the other went up for some air supply. Slightly distracted by the graceful movements of the other Sasuke had some troubles identifying the glittering object. Suddenly it struck him what he was and he pulled it out of the rock where it had been.



It was a kunai.



Like the ones they used in Konoha. Like those he had used against the blonde back then. Bitterness filled his soul as he saw that the other had come back down and was floating almost defenseless before him, the one who had tried to kill him before and who even now held a weapon in his hands. He met the trusting gaze of his friend who carried a small, soothing smile on his lips. Sasuke looked at him, then at the kunai, then again at the blonde boy. He shook his head and let go of the kunai. The thought, that Naruto might have shown him that on purpose, in order to show his guilt, was almost unbearable but he understood that Naruto had every right to hold a grudge against him. After all, he had tried to kill him even twice, without having a real reason to do so.

Sasuke just wanted to go up and disappear and finally give his friend the peace he deserved when he noticed Naruto winking again at him. He pointed to another thing on the ground and grinned at him. Sasuke felt as if they suddenly had returned to their childhood, when the two of them had been teammates, rivals and best friends. With a playful smile he followed his best friend into the depths of the lake.



They spent the following two hours exploring the lake, playing like children while still keeping their safe distance, their balance. Whenever one would be at the surface, the other one would stay down there and wait for his turn. They never touched and only signaled very few things to each other. But two hours of diving take their toll on anybody, no matter how trained one is. Soon they couldn’t even dive down 2m before their lungs started to burn, forcing them to seek the surface again. It was Sasuke who broke their rhythm. He signaled Naruto to come up with him. Naruto was very surprised by this as he hadn’t anticipated that.



Sasuke swam back to the island and slowly got out of the water, a hesitant Naruto following him. He pulled out a bag from beneath a big rock and took a bathing towel. With his bare back to the other, he sat down and started to dry his hair. Slightly perplexed Naruto did the same, facing the other way as well. No word was spoken between the two of them as the gentle sun dried their bodies. Naruto started to relay and could also feel his nagging hunger. He took his little lunch he used to take with him and started eating when he heard the stomach of his friend growl. He chuckled at the undignified noise and turned his head just a tiny little bit. He saw that Sasuke had no lunch and decided to give him half of his. He took out half of the content of his bento-box and put it inside the cover. Then he picked a small pebble from the ground and after carefully setting the half-full box between the two of them he threw the pebble next to Sasuke. Immediately he turned his head, somehow not wanting to look into the eyes of his friend. Then he heard the soft noise of the box being lifted and chuckled again. Hopefully it was to Sasuke’s taste.





After an hour of rest in complete silence they simultaneously stood up and went down again to the water. They picked up their wordless, breathless dance without any touch. Yet they still got closer and closer. To the point of being as close as a hand’s width but never crossed the line. But somehow, even though they tried to keep it an innocent game, they came to a standstill. Sasuke’s face was floating over Naruto’s, even less than a hand’s width away. Both didn’t move.



Sasuke looked at the sapphire orbs of his friend that were illuminated by a sunbeam, revealing all of their beauty. It was as if something heavy was lifted off Sasuke’s chest. As if all the sorrow, all the poisoning hate and grim had suddenly been washed away by this clear and gentle blue. For the first in years since he had left Konoha for the dark and creepy hidings of Orochimaru a true, soft smile appeared on his lips. Naruto saw it and smiled as if he was saying ‘welcome back’. Time was on put on hold while they floated there.



It was Naruto who broke the ephemeral calm. Swiftly he swam away to look at some rocks on the ground. He wondered why his heart was beating this furiously. Was it the strain on his lungs? His heartbeat went up even more when he noticed Sasuke going up. Tensed up like a bowstring he eagerly awaited his friend. As Sasuke came down, Naruto relaxed and noticed that he was running out of air. He wanted to go up but when he put his feet on a rock to push himself up, the rock broke and trapped on of his feet in a crack. Surprised he accidentally breathed out all of his hair. The cold liquid filled his mouth and only by a hair’s width he managed to control the impulse to breath in. desperately trying to free himself he struggled and tried to break the rock but the lack of oxygen painted black dots on his consciousness and tied down his body with heavy chains. The last thing he could feel were strong arms gripping him at his waist. Then the world became black.