Inconvenient truth

Thanks again to all my reviewers! Not long to go now - only another two chapters after this one!

Chapter Five


Naruto had been sick for almost two weeks now and in Sasuke’s restless, unnerved state, the apartment had never been cleaner. After the aborted attempt at showering, Sasuke had come back a day or two later, a small bucket of cleaning supplies clutched in one nervous hand. After feeding the blonde boy some more soup he’d made and avoiding too much eye contact in the process, he briskly set about cleaning the entire apartment, leaving Naruto to grin stupidly on his bed during his bouts of wakefulness.

The dishes done and kitchen swept, he moved onto the lounge, piling up all the dirty washing he could find from both rooms and, with a scowl on his face, making a few trips to the local Laundromat, where he used his good looks and icy-cold attitude to make the girl attending do Naruto’s washing. It wasn’t like he was going to sit there and wait for three hours while it all washed and dried, now was it?

With a mumbled response to the enthusiastic promise that it would be ready soon, he returned to the apartment with lunch for them both and sat at the end of Naruto’s bed while the dobe regaled him with the story of how he’d gotten in this state.

“Well…You remember a few weeks ago when Granny called me and asked me to take those vials to the apothecary to the next town?” He mumbled around a spray of sticky rice from the onigiri he was eating. Sasuke shifted his head to the side slightly to avoid the airborne carbohydrate and grunted noncommittally. He did remember and, at the time, had been slightly irked that she’d asked Naruto to do it. Not that he needed the extra pay but more missions out of the village meant less hanging around at home and glaring at the door to Itachi’s room.

Naruto swallowed thickly, raising his drink to his lips while his now empty hand reached for another two rice balls. He stuffed them both in his mouth, much to Sasuke’s horror, and talked around them.

“Well, I wash heabing f’rough the foresh ‘nd there was thish emormush bear! I meam, Sashuke you’be neber eben seeeem a bear thish big, I meam it wash sho huge tha-“ Sasuke tuned him out, very well aware that there had been no bear at all and Naruto was just creating a story to cover some mistake he had made. It turned out that Naruto had fallen and had gotten the vials mixed up with his own water. Because he was running from the bear of course. Not at all because he was a complete dumbass.

Sasuke eyed him, a look of cold indifference on his face. Then eyed the rice sticking to his fingers as Naruto bought each one to his mouth and slowly sucked the rice off them while telling his story. Sasuke’s eyes darted away, down to his own hands where he realized he’s crushed his onigiri. He shook his hand to get the excess rice off and wiped it down with a napkin.

“So what you’re saying…” He interrupted, “…is that you drank one of the vials by mistake, it made you sick, and they say you have to wait it out cause there’s no cure?”

Naruto paused with his mouth open, and Sasuke could see chewed rice all over his tongue.

Urgh.

He looked away and ignored the boy when he burst into shouting ‘No! The bear chased me and I fell -”

“Fine. Whatever. If you’re well enough to shout at me then you’re well enough to take care of yourself. I’ll see you at training in a few days. Dobe.” He rose from the bed and brushed a grain of rice from his shorts. There was a muffled ‘d’n’t call me…*yawn* d’be, t’me” And when he looked back Naruto had snuggled down under the covers and gone to sleep.

He stood and watched him for a while, before collecting the onigiri containers and stacking them in the rubbish in the kitchen. He glanced at the clock on the wall and scowled.

“Should make him get his own damn washing.” He grumbled to himself before walking into town and collecting it.

He checked back on Naruto when he dropped it off, listening briefly to the snores emanating from the blonde boy, deciding that he needed good rest more than he needed to be woken up about his washing being returned. Sasuke shut the door quietly and returned home.


////


A few introspective, hiding-from-Naruto days later and Sasuke had discovered pacing as a new hobby. He briefly wondered about the hole he was wearing in the carpet as he walked back and forth across his bedroom floor, a scowl on his face.

Why had he helped Naruto? Sure, he was his teammate and, although it may not have been his number one concern, teamwork was important; looking out for each other, and all that other crap their insouciant sensei fed them.

But why had he gone to such an extent? The dobe could have easily, well maybe not so easily, healed himself, gotten food himself. Probably even cleaned his own damn apartment!

And then there was that…moment they’d had in the shower. Sasuke’s mind shied away from that hurriedly, his stomach jumping slightly in what he hoped was revulsion. Didn’t want to think about that at all.

The brunette huffed and slumped down on the couch heavily, his dark eyes brooding. His hands clenched in his lap, and he grimaced as his eyes swung over towards the kitchen, immediately causing him to wonder if Naruto was eating well yet. He hated the way his thoughts kept drifting back to him, for God’s sake he hadn’t thought of anything else in days!

He closed his eyes and ran a hand tiredly over his face, the scent of the cleaner he had used for Naruto’s kitchen still lingering faintly on his hands. It reminded him that the stove still needed to be done. Maybe he should go over and finis-

“Damnit!” He cursed softly, hand dropping from his face to fall on the couch beside him.

He didn’t want to think that maybe it was because he was lonely, needed the company. Sure, he had, for some unfathomable reason, enjoyed spending time at Naruto’s while he’d been sick and in a way that they never had when they were on the team together. The dobe hadn’t talked quite so much, had been quieter and easier to communicate with, allowing for the small, necessary silences to be just that. Silent.

Living by himself for all these years had taken its toll on Sasuke. As much as he tried to fuel his hated for his brother, there was still a little part of him that struggled against this twisting of his nature. It cried out, a tiny whimper in the back of his mind. Where was the happy, carefree Sasuke that used to run home just to see the adoring smile on his mother’s face? Where was the boy who excelled in school just for the sake of it, no contorted purpose of hatred driving him to heights seemingly impossible to reach?

And as always, when these thoughts drifted through his mind, he dumped the blame at Itachi’s feet.

Sasuke’s lips curled back from his teeth, his fists clenching.

Itachi.

His brother had robbed him of everything. Anything he was now, felt now, could all be ascribed to his, once-beloved, Aniki.

But, even with all this hatred and spite swirling and twisting him beyond recognition, at Naruto’s house, caring for the sick boy, he had felt…useful…happy almost.

He hadn’t felt that for such a very long time. To be needed by someone. Someone who didn’t want his help because of his looks, his money or the mysterious air about him. Someone who had needed him for himself, as a friend and teammate.

And he had wanted to help.

The thought scared him. Why had it affected him so much? Surely it was something different about Naruto because, in his calculating imagination, the idea of caring for anyone else who was sick filled him with such a feeling of distaste and revulsion that he was almost ill himself.

Why Naruto? Why did it matter so much when the damn dobe was sick?

The idea hit him so suddenly that he actually recoiled on the couch, twisting his head to the side, his eyes screwed shut. An indrawn gasp of breath as he shied away. Clamors of his mother’s voice rose in his mind, memories of her smiling face, the glances his father gave him from the corners of his eye when Sasuke had done well, the affectionate pats on the head from his Obaasan, his Ojiisan smiling indulgently in the background…

Itachi giving a slight smirk as Sasuke rubbed his forehead and smiled…

No.

NO.

Naruto couldn’t be…

He couldn’t replace all those people, all the love that Sasuke had had for them…

He immediately refused to think about it any longer but the stubborn thought stayed all through that night and into the next morning.

Sasuke sat up in bed, his fingertips sleepily touching his mouth, remembering the brush of a kiss over them in his dreams. His dark eyes blinked slowly and he wet his lips, wanting to say it aloud.

“Naruto… Naruto is…” He tried again, something in him needed to say it. “Naruto is my precious person…”

He blinked again and swallowed.

“…and I think I might love him.”

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And the dumbass finally realises it! Sorry I'm not answering questions - I don't want to give away things that may be happening later. But hopefully you'll all stick with it till the end regardless! *fingers crossed*