Falling Leaves

Disclaimer: How many times am I going have to say this? I don’t own Naruto… But we can pretend I do… just for a little while. ;D

Authors Note: I like this chapter. xD

I’m not sure how long it’s going to take for the next chapter, I want to update Soul Mission before I do the next FL one… and my muse has gone a leave again, so… yeah. Prepare yourself for a long wait! And considering how long the wait for this one was… sorry. Dx

But all my stories will be finished eventually. Promise!

Once again, enjoy! And review damnit! I’m aiming for fifty. ;D And the more I get the more likely I am to get to work on chapter six.


~~~

A Change of Scenery

Sasuke opened his eyes to find that his ceiling had been painted green. Blinking away the last vestiges of sleep, his mind tried to sort through the confusion this change created. For so long he had awoken to the same scene that now he now felt completely lost. His mind was in a confusing haze of fog.

It was warm, but a cool breeze blew across his face. Above, the green mass shifted back and forth, letting through little sparkles of light. Birds twittered their cheerful songs from all around. For a time Sasuke considered the options of being either dreaming or dead. But his dreams usually didn’t feel this real, and as for dead, well, Sasuke had expected hell to be a lot less nice. More fire and brimstone was needed perhaps?

As he contemplated this strange hell, a familiar smiling face appeared above him. Sasuke stared up in a daze, that was partly created by the instant sense of comfort just seeing that face gave him, his lips moving to forms questions that he couldn’t find the energy to actually speak. Naruto seemed to understand anyway, his smile becoming unbearably tender.

“You’re outside.”

At first Naruto’s voice seemed to mingle with the birdsong and the rustle of wind through the leaves. It was also the unheard sound of the sun darting and playing amongst the branches. Then reality moved back into place. Sense returned to Sasuke’s world. Of course; he was lying beneath his oak tree.

“… why?” The question seemed important somehow.

“You needed some fresh air and… a change. It’s peaceful out here.” Naruto licked his lips and looked to the side with a dreamy, thoughtful expression. “When you’re ready I’ll take you back in.”

But there was something else. Sasuke could sense it. There was something that Naruto wasn’t saying.

There was something that had been said last night, through a haze of pain. Bitter words. Sasuke had said that he could no longer see the tree from his window. The tree that counted the seasons for him. So Naruto had made it that he could see the oak. Even if just for short time, he could now rest beneath its branches. Sasuke felt something tighten within his chest. A strange feeling that was almost pain, but also something he wanted to grasp. A foreign thing that he wanted to coax to full life, not smother.

“I… I thought you said you didn’t want me to watch the tree anymore.”

As soon as he had begun speaking, Naruto’s gaze had returned. Now he watched clear blue eyes widen with surprise, before a smile rose in them, and they became so deep in colour that Sasuke felt he could drown in them. An expression he couldn’t place danced within their depths.

“You can look at the tree as much as you like as long as I am there with you… so you can look at me too.” Naruto offered him a dazzling, and slightly cheeky smile.

“O-okay, thankyou.” That voice couldn’t be his own, could it? It was so weak and uncertain. He had been mesmerized.

The dazzling smile became something more tender, allowing Sasuke to retrieve his mind from the grasp of suns light. “Not a problem.” It was then, as Naruto spoke softly, that he realized the blondes face was inches away from his own. Pink lips tilted up in a gentle smile, eyes still deep, dark pools. The edge of his face was strong, but still soft. There were no sharp angles, unlike Sasuke’s face.

Sasuke studied that face; the tight feeling in his chest returning to constrict him. Then Naruto moved away suddenly, leaving Sasuke bereft. He blinked as once more came out of a daze. Hands slid behind his back, lifting and positioning him so that his head was resting on Naruto’s thigh.

A face came floating down. “Comfortable?”

“Mm.”

Here he was, wrapped in blankets under an old oak, his head on Naruto’s lap. It was quite easily the strangest situation he had ever found himself in, but it was also the happiest. The world had never been more tranquil. For a moment the clouds had been banished and the sun sone down on him with all it’s beautiful light. This felt like… coming home.

Naruto began to hum lightly under his breath. Closing his eyes, Sasuke listened and allowed himself to just rest.

~~~

As the sun reached it zenith, heating even the shade of the oak, Sasuke felt himself being picked up. Coming out of a light doze he looked up into Naruto’s face and, as he was carried back to the house, chose to simply admire the view. Naruto smiled down at him upon seeing him awake; a casual quirky smile that Sasuke instantly adored.

“Tch, Sasuke you’re like a pile of twigs.” He hefted Sasuke up a little higher, as if to prove his point. Feeling the sudden loss of balance and panicking, Sasuke reached out and wrapped an arm around the blonde’s neck to keep steady.

Naruto grinned. “That’s better.”

As Sasuke clung to him Naruto freed an arm and opened the door to the house. He was being carried bridal style down to his room. His stomach did an odd flip-flop. Heh. Rather than being dismayed by this demeaning position, all he got were these odd alien emotions.

“Naruto?”

“Hm?”

Naruto had a little secretive smile on his face as he looked steadily forward. For once it seemed that Sasuke couldn’t read what was on the others mind.

“Ah, nothing.” He wasn’t even sure what he’d been about to say. He felt confused and adrift. This was strange day filled with change.

As Naruto placed him down on his bed he played with the notion that maybe waking up beneath his tree heralded better times. But the darkness within his mind soon spoke up with its insidious voice, laughing at him for having such an idea of hope. So Sasuke turned to the one thing that was capable of keeping that voice at bay. “Stay with me Naruto?”

At Sasuke’s words, which he was disgusted at for sounding so needy, the nurse actually chuckled. “You don’t even need to ask. I won’t leave you. I promise.”

“Good. I’m… going to sleep for a bit.”

Once Sasuke had been settled in, on his back as usual, and the pillows fluffed until Naruto was satisfied, the sun crawled onto the bed. He flopped down on his side next to Sasuke and dropped one arm casually across the other mans chest. Sasuke suddenly found it extremely difficult to breathe. What should have been the light weight of his nurses arm was like what he expected the oak would feel like if it had toppled over on top of him.

“You sleeping?”

The voice made his whole body do a little jump. He as vaguely annoyed that such a stupid question could be asked when he was obviously awake and staring at the ceiling, until he detected a hint of amusement.

“Hn.” He closed his eyes and relaxed within Naruto’s now comforting embrace.

~~~

Naruto had been, in all honesty, utterly terrified of Sasuke’s reaction to waking up somewhere other than his room. But he wouldn’t let fear stop him from something he believed would be beneficial in the long run. In the end it had turned out better than he could ever have imagined and now he was exactly where he wanted to be.

Almost too afraid to move lest he jostled the other man, Naruto waited until he was sure Sasuke was asleep before pushing himself up on his elbow. He watched the pale form below him, for once peaceful and untroubled. After watching Sasuke’s chest rising and falling with his soft breaths, he turned inwards, and studied the growing warmth within his chest.

“Hey Sasuke…” The warmth filled him; made him want to laugh and cry at the same time.

From the depths of his sleep Sasuke muttered an incoherent reply, eyelids flickering briefly before he settled again.

“I know it’s silly but, I think I love you.”

He truly had made that final leap. All that had come before didn’t matter. All that remained for him was this all-encompassing love; such a foolish yet beautiful emotion that had crept up and then entangled him with no hope, and no desire, of getting free. He could endure anything and sacrifice everything in order to remain by Sasukes side.

“Don’t worry. I will never forsake you. I will never let you go. I promise. I promise.”

Leaning forward he placed his cheek against Sasuke’s and gave a deep sigh.