Growing together, growing apart

I want to again thank those who review, you guys are the best!

Warning: Yaoi, pathetic attempts at drama and humor. There is a bit of smut at the beginning (my first fanfic lemon) so if this bothers you, just scroll down to the end of the section. Yay Sasu/Naru lovin'.

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---Lemony section----

Naruto woke to hear the water running in the tub in the bathroom. He looked to the window, with its curtains keeping most of the early morning light out of the dark room. Getting up naked from the large bed, he stretched, arching his back and groaning as he heard the distinctive popping of his joints. He then made his way to the bathroom where he heard the water shutting off and the sound of a body entering the bathtub.

Quietly opening the door to peer in, he observed his pale skinned lover sitting in the deep tub, the water around his waist as he leaned forward to grab the washcloth and a bar of soap. Naruto could see the faint scratch marks on the Uchiha's back and remembered causing those marks the night before.

Irrestibly aroused by the sight, he made his way, none too quietly, into the room. Sasuke leaned back eyeing his friend as he entered the tub and stradled the creamy thighs. Naruto leaned forward to kiss him while taking the washcloth and using it to caress his lover's chest. His lips made their way down a strong jaw to the exposed neck, he lightly nipped before continuing his way down the pale chest to kiss and lick where the washcloth had recently caressed. Forgetting the cloth and leaving it to float in the tub, his tanned hands continued lower to fondle the hardening flesh beneath him.

Sasuke watched the blond through half lidded eyes as a moan left his throat. Blue eyes looked up at him and a smirk appeared as the lips came up to devour his again. Naruto used one hand to support himself against the wall of the tub, while the other reached down to his own ass and began to prepare himself, unseen by Sasuke.

He broke the kiss and lifted himself over the Uchiha as blue met lustful black. "I can't wait anymore" and with that he pressed Sasuke inside him and lowered himself until he was filled by his wide-eyed best friend. It was not often that one of them would take the lead and be uke. Their eyes never breaking contact, Naruto began to move on his lover as Sasuke's hands came to strong, bronzed hips to help him move.

Their pants and moans became louder and water started to spill over the side of the bathtub. As the blond felt his prostate being stimulated by his movements he threw his head back and gasped. "Damn! I do love fucking you."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and between grunts kindly informed, "I'm not the one being fucked, dobe."

Naruto's smile got predatory and he twined his fingers with the other's and harshly pinned them above a dark head while slamming himself down on the cock inside him. "Yes you are" and continued to pound himself on the rigid flesh as Sasuke's back arched and he moaned incomprehensibly.

As he felt his release approaching, he slowed his pace, loosened his grip on the pinned hands and bent down to lick his lover's ear before asking huskily, "Do you love fucking me?"

With all the grace and speed he was known for, Sasuke flipped them over within the tub. He smirked at his friend who grinned back and then proceeded to ram Naruto into the side of the bathtub as the water continued to migrate to the tiled floor. Naruto wrapped his legs around the thrusting hips and felt the friction of the other's torso against his cock as he cried out the other's name. They came together clutching each other tightly and staying like that as they waited for their breathing to return to normal.

Removing himself from the blond, Sasuke reached for the washcloth and continued washing himelf and then handed the cloth over so Naruto could clean himself as he made his way out of the tub and grimaced at the water soaking the tiles. He lifted an eyebrow at his lover who looked sheepish. "Like I said, I couldn't wait."

Shaking his head and mumbling about impatient idiots, though there was no malice in his voice, he used a towel to mop up the water and then shared his remaining towel with his friend who had finished his washing. He reached out for Naruto and...

---End of lemonyness---

Naruto was brought out of his very happy thoughts by a small stone bouncing off the metal of his hitai-ate. He caught the next one heading his way and glared at the uchiwa covered back walking ahead of him. They were still on the road escorting Takamura and his group home. Takamura and Kiri were in the wagon while the others walked around it. The little girl was giving into exhaustion and napping away. They had been traveling for 3 days and had just recently crossed the border into Earth country and still had another 2 days until they reached their destination.

Sasuke's head dodged the stone flung back at him from the irate blond behind him. Kakashi and Sakura were guarding the other side of the wagon. He smirked over his shoulder, "Wouldn't want you to get killed because you were too busy daydreaming, usuratonkachi."

Naruto merely growled under his breath, "Just remembering my last tub bath, teme."

Pale cheeks sported a touch of pink, but his only reply was a gruff, "Keep your thoughts on the mission."

The blond didn't miss that blush, and he grinned to himself.

They continued on in silence. Naruto had tried to talk to their traveling companions about their previous journey, but Takamura managed to deflect any probing questions and managed to keep the conversations as inane as the weather. His friends (everyone knew they were guards) were annoyingly tight lipped and for the most part just ignored the orange-clad shinobi. The lack of entertainment was boring and a bored Naruto is never a good thing.

Unfortunately, now that they were no longer within Fire country, they had to be even more cautious. This didn't stop Naruto from being bored. He had given up trying to get Kakashi-sensei to teach him something while they were on this mission because he was told he required too much attention when learning a jutsu and they didn't have the time. Sakura was still keeping her distance from him and Sasuke, but it didn't have the same anger behind it. She just seemed like she needed time, which Naruto was willing to give her.

He had tried to get Sasuke's attention, but the Uchiha was being an anti-social bastard. None of Naruto's attempts to annoy him worked either, maybe he had spent too much time with his best friend, he seemed to have built up an immunity to the blond's hyperactivity.

Little did he know that he was getting Sasuke's attention; it was debatable if this was in a good way. This was the first time they had been on an extended mission together since they were 13 and since that time, Sasuke was used to traveling with vastly different companions. He was used to being completely on his guard and not allowing any emotions or thoughts to show. Naruto's attempts to draw him out were close to working, but he wasn't comfortable enough to leave himself exposed. Even if it was just to talk about the mission or jutsus, it was still a reaction from him and he was used to being stone in this type of situation. He had to finally tell Naruto quietly that if he didn't back off he would be sleeping alone when they got back to Konoha. He was incredibly pleased by how effective that was, though a little guilty due to the quickly masked expression of hurt on the dobe's face. However, since then, Naruto had kept his distance.

This didn't help Sasuke much as he was now distracted by that look of hurt. He felt guilty for causing it and he hated that he felt that way. As much as they argue, he liked being around Naruto. It had taken him awhile to come to terms with that realization, but he had accepted that the blond was his best friend, and that he didn't want to live without him. As much as he loved fighting with him, hurting him was a different matter. 'Damn sensitive blond dobe.'

During their stop for lunch and to relieve their bladders, Sasuke noticed a pained expression on his lover's face. "What is it?"

Naruto looked up from his bag, startled, then he forced a laugh and scratched the back of his head, "oh, nothing." Sasuke got up to look in the bag, but it was quickly hidden behind an orange back. A brief scuffle ensued with Sasuke the victor. "Sasuke, give me back my bag." As Naruto reached for it again Sasuke took the opportunity to hop away and inspect the contents. He didn't notice anything out of the ordinary until...

He looked back into desperate blue eyes as Naruto snatched back his bag and started to walk away. "You're out of food?"

"Nah, I got it under control." Naruto called over his shoulder. Much to his annoyance, their exchange had attracted the attention of their companions. Kakashi looked about to question him when he held up his hand and repeated "I got it, don't worry about it."

"How could you not pack enough food you baka!" Eyes turned to Sakura, but behind the derision, she did seem a little concerned.

"It's because you were sharing your ramen with Kiri, isn't it?" Now it was Sasuke who the focus was on, before eyes went between Naruto and the young girl who started to look guilty.

Naruto hurried over to her and knelt in front of the teary eyed girl, "No, don't worry about it. I'm just stupid and wasn't paying any attention, it's not because of you. I've got some food pills with me and I can hunt up some food tonite. See? Everything is alright" The girl reached out to hug him and he allowed it as he glared over her shoulder at the raven.

Sniffling the girl pulled away from the blond. She met his concerned blue orbs with her teary brown ones. "You shared with me and I'll share with you. Come on." With that, she took his big hand in her little one and led him to the wagon with him protesting about how that wasn't necessary.

"Nonsense" exclaimed Takamura. "You've been so generous with Kiri, and we need to keep you shinobi in top shape, so please, let us share our food with you." Naruto looked incredibly uncomfortable with this, but a glare from Sasuke shut him up and he ate the lunch offered him.

"He makes a good point, we'll hunt up some extra food tonight after we make camp." Kakashi stated as they were finishing their meals and getting ready to proceed for some more hours before they were ready to stop again for the night.

They were several hours within the border of Earth country, on a road in the center of a thick forest, and it was approaching twilight. The shinobi were starting to look around for a proper place to make camp for the night.

Naruto, again walking several feet behind Sasuke, at the back of the wagon noticed the suddenly tense shoulders ahead of him. Wondering what was causing that, he became more aware of his surroundings and sensed the people converging on them from the surrounding trees. They stopped approaching but continued to follow the travelers as they made their way along the road. None of the shinobi made any indication that all was not as it should be. It did not appear that their client or his guards noted the change.

After nearly half an hour of this, Naruto had had enough. He wanted this possible threat resolved before nightfall. At this point, they wouldn't be able to forage for extra food that night anyways.

He bounced up to Sasuke and threw his arms over the other's shoulders. "Hey teme! What do you think about a spar later? This trip is sooo boring and I've got all this energy I need to get rid of!" he said loudly right in Sasuke's ear. "Though I can think of better ways to get rid of energy" he grumbled under his breath.

The group continued moving, but slower now as they started to focus on the idiocy happening in front of them. "What are you doing?" hissed Sasuke. "Get back to where you were."

"Nah" Naruto whispered this time. "I'm giving them an opening." As understanding dawned in obsidian eyes, a shout came from behind. Grinning, Naruto turned to meet their attackers.

Takamura and Kiri were instantly placed in the wagon with their personal guards taking positions next to them. Kakashi grabbed Sakura's arm to keep her from going forward and called out "Sasuke, Naruto you handle them."

Sasuke nodded and Naruto yelled out "Got it!" as they faced the 8 fighters in front of them. As the blond brought up his hands in the familiar cross pattern, Kakashi added "taijutsu only."

"Damnit!" cursed the blond as instead of forming kage bushins, he drew a kunai and jumped toward the 3 men going after him. Sasuke held back to observe his attackers movements.

"What are you doing?" Takamura cried out to Kakashi. "Eight attackers and you're only allowing the genin to fight?"

Without taking his eye off the fight slowly building up, he answered his client, "They haven't fought side by side in years, I want to see how their teamwork is." Turning at the last moment, he dodged an attack from the rear by some hopeful who had lingered from the fight figuring he would attack a weak spot. Quickly dispatching the man he continued "Besides, these shouldn't be a problem for either of my students."

By this time, Sasuke had taken down 4 men without bothering to unsheath his sword. Naruto had knocked out two and was dealing with an annoying opponent who was more skilled in taijutsu, and wasn't bothering with ninjutsu either. Sasuke was busy dodging a water attack before coming in behind the woman and hitting her behind her head knocking her to the ground unconcious. He stood to the side and watched the blond handle his last opponent.

Naruto was quickly losing what little patience he has and getting angry that he couldn't use his kage bushin to take down this taijutsu user who would quickly approach to strike and then just as quickly back away before Naruto could retaliate. Becoming frustrated and needing a way to keep this guy close so he could get a hit in, he remembered back to a fight he had had with Kabuto years ago. Grinning at the man who was holding a kunai, he deliberately left an opening.

Taking the bait, the man came in to stab and did draw blood, with his kunai through Naruto's left hand. The kyubi vessel quickly closed his digits around the enemy's hand to keep him close and then landed a strong blow to the man's face and releasing his hand kicked him in the gut sending him flying towards Sasuke.

Sasuke waited until the man started to fly by him before bringing his heel down on the man's torso, which plowed him right into the ground. The look on Sasuke's face was almost frightening he looked so angry. The emotion was so swiftly removed from his face, it was unclear if it had ever been there.

He approached the blond and grabbed his wounded hand. He glared at his friend, "Idiot" and started to wash off the wound with the water from his bottle. "Sakura. Get over here and heal this will you?" Now he glared at the pinkette who hadn't moved a muscle the whole time. Shaking herself out of her stupor, she ran over and started to channel chakra to heal the already closing wound. She understood; just because Naruto would heal fine on his own, they didn't need questions from the civilians as to why he healed so quickly with no scarring.

Within a minute his hand was healed and the remaining blood was washed away.

Kiri wanted to check on her friend, but was told to stay in the wagon by her guardian.

"Well, that was certainly an interesting way to handle that" Kakashi said as Takamura's men started rounding up the unconcious enemy and tying them up. "You need to train harder on your taijutsu."

"It wouldn't have been a problem if you had allowed me to use ninjutsu. My kage bushin would have taken down all of them and the bastard over there could have just sat on his ass." Naruto was frustrated. Sasuke had taken out 5 without a scratch on him and hadn't even bothered taking out a weapon.

Sasuke smirked back at him, "Jealous, dobe?"

"Whatever." With that, Naruto walked over to inspect the men and woman who had attacked them. There was no village identifiers on them and they all appeared a little raggedy. They all had a similar appearance, shades of brown, like Takamura. He was about to comment on that but Sasuke walked up beside him near the trussed up, wannabe enemy. He had been talking quietly to Kakashi who had an idea for what to do with them.

Biting his thumb to draw a bit of blood and going through the seals for a summoning, he slammed his hands to the ground and in a puff of smoke a small snake appeared and looked at it's invocator for instructions. "Bite each of them, but just enough to keep them out for 48 hours" he said, indicating their attackers. The snake hurried to obey before being released.

Naruto, along with several of the others, looked nauseous by the show, but recovered and he helped move the bandits to the side of the road under the canopy of trees. "We should have questioned them before you had your snake drug them." he grumbled to Sasuke.

He shrugged, "Takamura said he didn't want them questioned and insisted that we move out as quickly as possible."

"Don't you think that's a little weird?"

"Not really. He recognized them, and he knows what they're after, and he doesn't believe that there will be any further attacks. We should verify that, but he's the client and so we listen to him." They walked back to the others near the wagon and prepared to continue on.

Naruto wasn't satisfied with this. It was a mystery and he didn't like them as long as they were in front of him. He wanted to know exactly what was going on and no matter how many times he got the lecture of how shinobi are just tools and it wasn't their job to question a mission, he didn't think he could ever stop questioning.

They traveled well past nightfall to put some distance between them and the place where they left their foes. When they finally did stop for the night, the sleeping arrangements and watch schedule was the same as the previous nights. Just the guard shifts were shorter now as they wouldn't be there for as long. Naruto reassured Kiri that he was alright and a tough shinobi and she didn't have to worry.

Everyone went to their sleeping rolls quickly as they all claimed to be tired. Sasuke made his way around the camp, inspecting the shadows with his sharingan and then finding a convenient perch again in a nearby tree. However, unlike the other nights, Naruto got up after everyone else was asleep and then went to sit next to Sasuke on his tree branch. Neither spoke for several moments, just looked down at the sleepers.

"He looks like them." At Sasuke's inquiring glance, Naruto clarified, keeping his voice low so as not to wake anyone. "Takamura, he looks like those guys that attacked us. They could all be siblings. They attacked but he wasn't surprised. He didn't want to know anything about them, cause he already knew. He knows what's going on but we don't and we're just doing what he says and I don't like it."

Sasuke sighed. "It would be good to know what was behind their grudge against our client, so that we can anticipate their future actions. However, Takamura doesn't wish to share and the threat level isn't enough for us force anything from him. So far, everything that has happened has been below what this mission was ranked at. So we keep our eyes open and get him to where he has paid us to go. What good does worrying about it do?"

"Don't you want to know what's going on?"

"Not enough to go through the annoyance and potential fallout of forcefully finding out." At Naruto's incredulous look, Sasuke reached a hand out and grabbed him by the bicep. His voice got even lower, "All I want to do is finish this mission, return to Konoha, fuck you into the nearest surface" the blond's breathing sped up, Sasuke smirked "and teach you a few things about taijutsu that you obviously don't understand...you're not supposed to let them stab you, baka."

Naruto growled and tried to pull his arm away, but the grip tightened, "You rely too much on your clones, you need to focus on your other skills and work them too. You have a lot of power, but you still don't use it efficiently." He turned his head away, not happy listening to his faults, especially from Sasuke. The grip on his arm released, but the hand then moved up to cup his cheek. "It's your turn to let me help you."

At that, Naruto turned to fully face his best friend and rival. Wide sapphire eyes met earnest onyx. He didn't know how to respond. Nobody offered to help train him. Either it was Kakashi's job, or he would bribe Ero-sennin. Even in the academy, nobody, not even Iruka, took time to try and help him with his training. The best way he had learned was when he had a goal right in front of him, or Sasuke as his rival like in the tree climbing exercise. To be offered assistance and acknowledgement meant a lot to him, especially from his important person.

After a minute of just looking at each other, they leaned in together to share a short, chaste kiss, before pulling apart. Sasuke's hand was still cupping his cheek and Naruto turned his head enough to kiss the palm before jumping from the branch and returning to his bedding to sleep.

Neither had noticed slitted brown eyes observing them from the wagon. 'Interesting', Takamura thought to himself. He wasn't able to hear what they had been saying, but he did see everything.

He had been impressed by the young men during the fight and the speed in which they ended it. All told, it hadn't lasted more than a few minutes. He was especially impressed by the raven haired one. Apparently, he was as dangerous as he seemed, and the blond was not a complete buffoon as he appeared to be. Seeing that they were more than just teammates was not really noteworthy, but did serve to give him an insight as to why the pink haired one was so cold. She didn't seem the type to be so harsh, but he had noticed her discomfort around the two young men. Maybe she had had feelings for one of them, or both?

What really surprised him was that he would never have guessed that those two were anything more than fellow shinobi. He wouldn't have even figured them for friends. It seemed that the blond really was more than he appeared. He'll have to be more aware of these Konoha nin and not underestimate them. He liked them, but he wouldn't let them intefere with his business and the loud mouth was entirely too nosy.

'Another day and a half, and this will all be over.' With that thought in his head, he fell asleep.

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A/N: Well, there we go. Feedback is always welcome...ah, come on, you know you wanna press that little review button.