Two Hands Are Better Than One

Title: Two Hands Are Better Than One
Author: Sparticus_Sun5705
Summary: Unwilling to back down from Naruto's challenge, can Sasuke take what Naruto has in store for him?
Rating: R
Pairing: NaruSasuNaru
Feedback: Greatly appreciated!
Beta: None
A/N: Long time, no see, huh? To those that continued to read this story, even when I was nowhere to be found, I thank you! You're awesome!
Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto.


Chapter Four: Stormy Weather


The sound of water hitting the roof of an abandoned shack beat in time to the strokes of a hand.

Down and up. Down and up.

Drip, drop. Drip, drop.

It was an incessant pattern...the pleasure-seeking hand never slowing, the rain never ceasing. Alternating the pace of the pale hand, the man sprawled on the broken bed sped up his actions, desperate in his need for release.

Down and up. Down and up.

Faster and faster and faster...

Over and over again, the hand never stilled.

It was a pattern that continued until the solitary figure on the busted bed reached climax, back arching as his seed shot out to add to the already pungent mix of sweat, rain, and mold that filled the air. Shakily sinking back down onto the old mattress, the man wiped the mess off his right hand and onto the ragged blanket he was laying on top of. With the other hand, he wiped the sweat that had gathered on his brow and closed his eyes. His long black bangs still clung to one side of his face, but at that point, he was too lethargic to care. Trying to steady his frantic breathing, he silently prayed the storm raging outside would let up soon. He needed to go home.

He should have returned hours ago. No doubt, Tsunade would know the cause of his unusual delay. As it was, the inclement weather had spread through all regions of the Fire country, throwing down torrents of water and uprooting things right and left with the force of the monstrous winds. And it didn't look to be letting up anytime soon.

"Dammit!"

Sparing a glance at his surroundings, the man silently raised himself to a sitting position and surveyed the mess he had left on the bed. Grimacing slightly, he looked down at his clothing--still as wet as when he first took shelter from the storm, albeit now a bit messier.

Screwing his face up in a look of pure disgust at what he had just done, he tucked his limp member back into his pants and swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. Arms straight up in the air and back tall, he stretched his weary body. Padding on noiseless feet, he walked over to the only window in the house and peered outside at the on-going storm.

He really should feel guilty for what he had done. After all, he was still technically on a mission, and he had just jacked off while fantasizing about his best friend.

Not very professional.

The silent man let out a soft chuckle at his thoughts. Who was around to see him? He knew he was being uncharacteristically reckless, but at that moment, while staring out at the raging storm wrecking havoc on anything and everything, he didn't care.

All he wanted to do was return to Konoha. He needed to see him. His mind had been preoccupied with thoughts of blond hair and blue eyes for the past two weeks. It was any wonder he managed to complete his mission with any success at all.

He knew it would be difficult, and quite embarrassing on his part, but he knew they needed to discuss what had happened between them. He had hated leaving things the way they were, but what other choice did he have? After it had happened, he had been so pissed off and confused and shocked to his very core, and to make matters worse, his mission had to be carried out that very next morning.

Now this didn't mean he had any answers. He was still as confused as on the day it happened. But one thing he did understand--he was undeniably, and irrefutably attracted to his best friend. There was no use in trying to fight it. The man that pissed him off on a regular basis was the same man he fantasized about at night. He could still remember the way his hand had felt touching him, stroking him...it was enough to drive him to distraction.

But now his mission was over. No more excuses...no running away or hiding. He had to confront his friend, to know why it happened. He had to have a reason.

Deciding he could either face the storm or stay the night in the shack (and risk it caving in on him), he chose the former. Determindedly walking back over to the bed, he gathered up what little items he had with him and stuffed them into his bag. Securely tightening it to his back, he strode over to the door, preparing to march out into the storm. Giving one last glance over his shoulder, he swung the door open, letting in a blast of water and debris, and ran head-long into the storm.

Was he being reckless? Nah...he was just Uchiha Sasuke.


* * * * *


A few hours later found Naruto stuck in his apartment, cranky and bored. He had initially thought the storm ripping through Konoha would blow through, and he could resume training with his genin team. But that assumption was quickly dismissed when the storm had not only persisted, but gained intensity with the approaching darkness.

He'd definitely hate to be stuck out in that.

Shivering at the thought, he clutched the blanket he had wrapped around his shoulders tighter. Storms had always freaked him out. Growing up without any parents, he'd never had anyone to look after him when the weather turned bad. No one to reassure him that everything would be alright in the morning. His only comfort had been to dive under his blankets and wait it out. Even now, a full-grown man of 21, he still found comfort in the soft blankets he kept around his apartment.

But it wasn't like he was actually scared of storms like this.

Really...he wasn't.

A sharp crack of lightening and a moment later, Naruto's apartment was pitched into complete darkness.

"Well, shit." Sighing softly, he continued cursing the unpredictable weather. "Of all the stupid, fucking, annoying..."

Still grumbling to himself, the blond grabbed at the ends of his blanket and rose from his sitting position on his couch. Treading lightly through the darkness so as not to trip over the numerous items strewn across the floor, from rolled up scrolls to discarded clothing, he made his way to his kitchen. There he kept a set of matches and candles for times like this. They didn't happen all too often, especially storms of this caliber, but Naruto was always prepared just in case.

Going by memory alone, he found what he was looking for and crept back into the living room, one lit candle guiding his way. Placing the lit candle in the center of his coffee table, Naruto placed the remaining candles on tables throughout the room, lighting each in turn. Deeming that sufficient work, the blond plopped back down on the sofa. Curling up on one end, he laid back and tried to relax, to block out the rumble of thunder and the crack of close-by lightening.

Oh, how he hated storms. He'd just have to wait it out...just like he always had. The storm would go away soon. He had to keep telling himself that.

With that thought, Naruto forcibly tried relaxing his tense body and cleared his mind from all impeding thoughts. Closing his eyes and bundling up tighter in his thick blanket, he could feel a little of his weariness leave him. Apparently he was more tired than he realized, for soon after closing his eyes he could feel himself drifting off. The hands clenched tightly across his chest relaxed. His eyelashes fluttered and became still. The storm became only background noise to lull him into the safe, soundless cocoon of sleep.

He didn't know how long he had been laying like that, unaware of everything around him, when he heard it--a dull thud registering on his subconscious to rouse him from his slumber. It hadn't been very loud, and he wasn't quite sure what it was that caused the noise. But he was pretty positive that he had, in fact, heard something.

His brain noted that he probably should, at the very least, go check it out. But seconds went by, and the blond couldn't will his body to move. He was so warm and comfortable wrapped in his blanket. But there was that damn noise again. Becoming more awake and irritated at the interruption, Naruto lazily wiped his drowsy eyes and tried to pull himself up. If his nap got interrupted by a tree branch that had broken off during the storm...

Muttering under his breath and shaking a fist at the annoyance at his door, Naruto slowly crept closer to investigate. He didn't need to use a candle to see, for the repeated lightning strikes kept his hallway lit up at frequent intervals. Coming to a stop a foot before his door, he stopped to listen. There was most definitely something out there. Taking a deep breath and dropping his body into a battle-ready stance in case of a would-be attacker (though who would want to willingly subject themselves to a storm he didn't know) the blond flung his door open, fully expecting a tree branch or some other random object to crash into him. What he didn't expect was for a cold, almost lifeless body to crash into him instead. Almost at once recognizing who had fallen at his feet, the blond uttered his surprise.

"Sasuke! What the hell...?"

Crouching down by his friend, Naruto quickly lifted up Sasuke's motionless body as much as he could and pulled him the rest of the way into the apartment, dripping water everywhere in the process. Swiftly closing the door behind them, and effectively blocking all the cold air he had been letting in, the blond dropped to his knees behind Sasuke. Gathering the pale man up in his arms, Naruto felt the tremors that wracked the Uchiha's body.

Naruto was almost out of his mind with worry when he saw a slight smirk come across his friend's features. Raising black eyes up to meet scared blue, Sasuke forced the muscles in his face to move. "W-What the fuck...Uzu...maki? Can't you let...a guy c-come in out...out of the rain?"

Naruto didn't know if he wanted to punch Sasuke's lights out for having the gall to smirk at him when he was practically laying in his lap (half frozen solid, mind you), or to jump for joy that he was OK enough to joke with him. Taking a slightly less intense version of the first option, he lightly punched the Uchiha's shoulder.

"Stupid bastard." Naruto tried to sound cold-hearted, but really, it came out sounding hollow and gruff. Too many emotions were flowing through the blond, and he feared that if he said anything more, the Uchiha would know how upset he really was. He was just glad his friend was alive.

Cradled in Naruto's arms, Sasuke could feel some of his lost warmth slowly return to him. Allowing the smirk on his face to remain, Sasuke turned to face the blond and queried, "What the hell was that for?"

Dropping his head to rest on top of the Uchiha's mess of black tangles, Naruto tightened his hold on the pale man. Laughing softly, while at the same time fighting back the sob that threatened to rip through him, Naruto tried to regain some semblance of normalcy. He couldn't let Sasuke know how much he had scared him. He really had thought his friend was dead when he came crashing through his door.

Blocking that thought from his mind, the blond swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat and jokingly replied, "Don't you have enough sense to come in out of the rain?"

"Don't you have enough sense to know when someone's knocking at your door?"

"Hey..." Thinking better of it, Naruto stopped one of the many nasty retorts he had in mind, and instead asked, "So, what were you doing out there? I know you were supposed to return today, but with the weather, I figured..."

"Yeah, I decided to take my chances."

That answer received another punch in the shoulder from Naruto, this one meant to inflict pain.

"Not good enough, asshole. Try again. Tell me why, in the middle of the worst storm Konoha has seen in ages, I find you, the person least likely to come to anyone for help, outside my door, frozen solid and soaking wet. Huh? Why didn't you just wait the storm out like any sane person? You..." Voice faltering slightly, he continued, "You could have..."

"What? Died? Naruto, it'll take more than a storm to kill me. It's not like you care, right?"

Feeling himself become irritated at Sasuke's flippant attitude, Naruto unconsciously tightened his hold on the pale man and countered with, "So what? What the hell does that have to do with anything? So what if I hate you? You hate me. But that doesn't mean..."

"So you say."

"Dammit, Sasuke. Just because I say that doesn't mean I want you to die!"

"Hn."

That one noise, a grunt of acknowledgement from the icy Uchiha...on any other day, it would have pissed the blond man off. But on this particular night, Naruto, his mind still reeling from the vision of a "dead" Sasuke, almost completely deflated when he heard that. Sagging against the Uchiha, the blond softly muttered, "Shut up. Just...shut up."

After a few moments of silence passed between the two men, each sharing a little warmth brought forth from their combined bodies, Naruto seemed to remember just how wet and cold Sasuke really was. Gently nudging the Uchiha, he quietly asked, "Can you stand? You need to get out of those wet clothes, or you really will freeze to death."

Giving it some thought, and wiggling his arms and legs to test out their strength, he replied, "Yeah, I think."

Firmly clutching Sasuke's shoulders, Naruto slowly raised himself to a crouching position, keeping himself behind his friend to help him stand as well. He knew that the Uchiha wouldn't want his help, but he figured he was too weak at that point to refuse. Standing tall, Naruto extracted himself from the Uchiha, still keeping a steady grip about him, and helped hoist him to his feet. Faltering almost instantly, Naruto quickly caught his friend before he could fall back to the floor. Leaning Sasuke against his door, the blond kept his hands around his slight waist, carefully guarding the unsteady man. Looking quizzically at the Uchiha, Sasuke answered before Naruto could voice his question.

"I'm fine. Just gotta' get the blood back to my feet."

The fear that he felt earlier slowly subsiding a little, Naruto could feel his joker self coming back into play. Smugly grinning at his friend he cheekily asked, "Can you stay there, or do you think you'll fall over if I let you go?"

Glaring darkly at the blond, Sasuke asked, "You think you're funny?"

Grinning even wider now, Naruto retorted, "Yeah, I do."

The Uchiha merely grunted.

Sighing to himself at how absurd the night had been, Naruto made sure Sasuke wouldn't fall over, while at the same time dodging the hands intended to swat him away, and then carefully went back to his living room to grab his blanket and a candle. He set the candle down close enough to shed light on themselves but not close enough they may accidentally knock it over. Walking back up to the pale man, Naruto tried wrapping his blanket about his friend's shoulders, but a low growl from Sasuke stopped his hands in mid-motion.

Exasperated, Naruto gave the Uchiha a stern look. "What's the problem now?"

"I'm not fucking helpless." Snatching the blanket from the blond's hands, he added, "I can do it myself." Bundling up in the cover and relishing the much-needed warmth it provided, he looked at Naruto to prove his point.

Stepping away from Sasuke, the blond held his hands up in surrender. "OK, OK. Whatever." After a pause, he smugly remarked, "Though you sure looked pretty helpless when you came crashing through my door."

"Fuck. You." Wrapping the blanket even tighter about him, the Uchiha continued glaring through his mess of black hair.

Laughing at how stubborn his friend was being, Naruto remarked, "You know, now that you can move around and seem to be back to your bastardly ways, let's get you out of those wet clothes."

Tilting his head down to hide how his face slightly flushed from hearing those words, Sasuke asked, "Us?"

Ignoring the Uchiha's discomfort, for the moment, Naruto continued on. "Yeah, you'll catch a cold if you don't remove your wet clothes. I'd offer to let you take a hot shower, but I'm afraid with all the lightening outside, it would be unwise. So, for now, you'll just have to borrow some of my clothes."

Tilting his head curiously to one side, Sasuke studied Naruto. Didn't he realize what he was saying?

"Hey, Sasuke? Are you gonna' stare at me all night, or are you gonna' strip?"

Jerking up to fully face the blond, Sasuke couldn't control the bright scarlet that raced across his cheeks. "What?"

Shaking his head and sighing dramatically, Naruto pointed at Sasuke and said, "You, strip, now."

Keeping his eyes locked onto the man in front of him, the Uchiha finally found his voice and rasped out, "I seem to remember the last time you said those words to me, there were some...ah...unexpected results."

Adopting the legendary Uchiha smirk, Naruto coyly replied, "Oh? Unexpected? How so?"

What the hell? Was Naruto seriously going to play dumb with him?

Gritting his teeth together, Sasuke spat out, "You know what I'm talking about. After all, you're the one who..."

"Who what?"

"God-dammit, you asshole! Why are you acting like you have no idea what I'm talking about? You started all this!"

Looking innocently at his friend, who grew angrier by the second, Naruto chose not to answer. Instead he marched up to the Uchiha and tugged on the blanket covering the pale man's shoulders. Pulling Sasuke so his face came down to meet the blond's, Naruto repeated his command.

"I want you to strip. And I want you to strip now."

Almost immediately letting go, Naruto turned around and marched down the hallway. "I've had a really long day, Sasuke. I'm tired, and I'm going to bed. You know where the towels are, and where I keep my clothes. Use whatever you need."

Coming to a stop outside his bedroom doorway, the blond looked back to see Sasuke still standing, dumbstruck, in front of his apartment door.

Before slipping inside his room, Naruto looked at Sasuke and let his face split into a shit-eating grin.

"Whether you sleep on the couch tonight or with me, is up to you."

Disappearing inside his bedroom, he poked his head back outside his doorway. Making one last comment before he retired for the night, he playfully remarked, "Oh, and if you think I'll be sucking your frigid dick tonight, you really are crazy."

And, with that, Naruto dashed back into his room, leaving Sasuke staring mutely down the hall, where the blond had just been.

Naruto really had been toying with him!


* * * * *

So, no smut, but I gotta' build up to it, ya know?