The Fox's Brush.

Yamato arrived at the training field just under ten minutes before he was supposed to be meeting the others. This was why he was more than a little surprised when he saw that in addition to Naruto, Sakura and Sai that Kakashi had actually gotten here before him as well.

Naruto being here with time to spare was strange enough but in all the years they had worked together Yamato was hard pressed to think of a single time that Kakashi had actually been on time for their little training sessions… let alone early for one.

“Ah, Yamato” Kakashi said, looking up from his copy of Icha Icha Tactics just long enough to nod in greeting “We were just discussing the match-ups for taijutsu training today. I was thinking that I would fight against Sakura and then Naruto and Sai can go up against each other.”

Yamato frowned; he couldn’t help but notice that he wasn’t included in that scenario.

Even with his nose buried in his book Kakashi must have sensed Yamato’s confusion and displeasure because he began to explain “I can’t stay for long today, the Hokage wants to see me in an hour and besides… we both know that the kids are the only ones that need training.”

Kakashi had said it almost as an afterthought and it was probably intended to rile Naruto up more than anything else but Yamato couldn’t help but blush at the indirect compliment; he felt all of the irritation leave him just like that. And, in truth, even if he wasn’t going to be doing any fighting it wasn’t a completely wasted trip, at least he would be here if Naruto had any issues with the Kyuubi’s chakra.

“Those are bold words, Kakashi-sensei!” Naruto said with a cocky grin, rising predictably to the obvious bait “Especially if you’re fighting Sakura-chan.” He shared a look with Sakura that showed just how confident they both were.

Kakashi sighed and closed his book, slipping it into his weapons pouch for safekeeping; he straightened his forehead protector so that his sharingan eye was exposed. “I’m going to have to ask you to hold back a little, Sakura. I don’t want to have to explain to the Hokage that I missed my appointment with her because I was in the hospital.”

Sakura nodded in agreement as she pulled on her gloves “Okay, Kakashi-sensei, but I won’t go too easy on you” her smile was confident and Yamato could see that her eyes were hard with determination.

Yamato retreated a safe distance, along with Naruto and Sai, to where they wouldn’t have to worry about getting caught up in the crossfire but they would still be able to watch comfortably.

There was almost complete silence as Sakura and Kakashi stared each other down, both reluctant to make the first move and put themselves at a disadvantage. Minutes dragged on until Yamato saw Kakashi tense up in the unmistakeable (but easy to miss) way that indicated he was about to use the body flicker technique and get the fight started; not sure if it was out of kindness or the simple fact that he was short on time. Yamato blinked and the spot where Kakashi had been standing was empty; he reappeared directly behind Sakura, aiming a kick at the back of her knees to try and knock her off balance.

Sakura threw herself forward at the last second, tucking her limbs in and rolling neatly into a crouched position a few feet away. She had completely avoided the hit and even managed to throw Kakashi off enough that when she lunged back at him with one tightly clenched fist it came very close to clipping his ear.

Yamato was impressed. In terms of raw power Sakura was the strongest in their team when it came to taijutsu but she had always had a big problem covering for herself and was particularly vulnerable to any ninja that was skilled with the body flicker technique. Which was why she was almost always pitted against Sai or Kakashi for this type of training; exposing her to her biggest weakness was the best way to help her deal with it… and it was obviously working.

They watched as the fight continued in much the same fashion, Kakashi narrowly avoiding Sakura’s attacks and countering with his own. Kakashi had managed to land a few hits but he was too busy playing defensive to do any meaningful damage. They had been fighting for almost half an hour and Yamato was beginning to wonder if they would just have to call it a draw when the unthinkable happened. Sakura had aimed a punch for Kakashi’s face and while he managed to avoid the brunt of the blow he wasn’t quite fast enough; her fist barely glanced off his shoulder but that was all it took.

Kakashi was pushed back violently by the force of the hit, lifting up off the ground and flipping once in the air; he came down hard and only barely managed to land on his feet. Kakashi was nowhere near incapacitated but they all knew that if Sakura hadn’t been holding back her chakra-enhanced strength that Kakashi’s shoulder (and probably a good portion of his ribcage) would have been shattered. He sat down on the ground and sighed heavily “Sakura wins”.

“Maybe you need more training than you thought, Sensei” Sakura said cheekily, sticking her tongue out at him as Naruto ran over cheering loudly.

Yamato went to Kakashi’s side “are you alright, Senpai?” he asked and offered Kakashi his hand.

Kakashi accepted it gratefully and pulled himself up with some effort. “I’m getting too old for this, Yamato” he said ruefully as he pulled his forehead protector back down to cover his sharingan eye.

“You’re not old, Senpai. They’ve just gotten too strong and t-that’s only because they have such a good teacher…” Yamato trailed off in embarrassment; that had sounded much better in his head. Kakashi looked at him strangely for a second before smiling and turning his attention back to the others; Yamato briefly wondered if he could melt into the ground without anyone noticing.

“Kakashi-sensei… do you want me to take a look at your shoulder?” Sakura asked, looking concerned.

“I’m fine, Sakura. The only thing that got injured was my pride” Kakashi answered, waving her off with a chuckle “Okay. Naruto, Sai it’s your turn.”

“Yosh!” Naruto did a few quick arm stretches before pointing at Sai and exclaiming “Get ready to lose!”

Sai didn’t respond verbally and just dropped into a fighting stance instead; apparently deciding to forgo the trash talk.

Yamato, Kakashi and Sakura moved back to the tree line to watch. This fight started very differently from the last, there was no hesitation in the beginning as Naruto predictably and loudly ran straight in, fists flying. Sai stepped out of the way nimbly, turning as Naruto charged past him and delivering a well timed palm strike between his teammate’s shoulder blades. It was a blow that was designed to knock the wind out of an opponent (if he had been fighting anyone else that is exactly what it would have done) but it barely fazed Naruto. He staggered only a little before spinning on his heels and lunging at Sai, trying to grab him around the waist and tackle him to the ground. Sai stepped backward so that Naruto’s arms closed on nothing but air and then moved forward again, planting his hands firmly onto Naruto’s shoulders. Yamato saw the way that Naruto’s eyes widened comically as Sai vaulted over him with enough force to make him stumble and go down on one knee.

Naruto scrambled to his feet and faced Sai again, making another ineffectual lunge before crying out in frustration “Goddamn it, Sai! Fight me!”

“I am fighting you, Naruto.” Sai said blandly as he sidestepped Naruto’s attempt to punch him in the face.

With Sai you could never be sure, but from where Yamato was standing it looked suspiciously like he was teasing his teammate… and if Naruto’s stormy expression was any indicator he obviously thought so too.

“No, you’re just dancing around!” Naruto growled “You’re not even trying to hit me!”

“You… want me to hit you?” Sai asked quizzically.

“Yes!”

Sai didn’t dodge Naruto’s next punch and instead stood his ground, catching the fist and lashing out at his teammate. Sai kneed him, hard, in the stomach at the same time that Naruto brought his free hand around to punch Sai in the side. Yamato could see how much effort it took for them not to double over from the pain.

The fight continued like that for a while, each receiving a hit for almost every one that they dealt; at first glance it looked like they were evenly matched but Yamato knew differently. Naruto, with his almost endless stamina, was much more suited to outright brawling than Sai who was usually more inclined to play evasive; Yamato was a little confused as to why Sai had given Naruto such a large advantage in the first place.

“Come on, boys.” Kakashi called out from beside him “It’s time to wrap this up; if I don’t see a winner soon then I’m going to have to call it a tie.”

Naruto had just landed a particularly painful looking jab to Sai’s kidneys and was obviously feeling confident “Just give me one more minute, Kakas-” Naruto stopped mid-gloat when Sai suddenly disappeared from in front of him.

Sai grabbed Naruto from behind with one arm, holding him still long enough to bring the sharp edge of his tanto to Naruto’s neck with the other. Yamato was glad to see Sai play to his strengths instead of letting Naruto call the shots.

“Naruto, I think I win thi-”

Sai was cut off when Naruto arched his back violently, the back of his head cracking Sai in the face with enough force that Yamato heard it from where he was standing; he couldn’t help but wince in sympathy. That had to hurt.

Sai cried out and went sprawling, dropping his sword as he brought both hands up to cradle his mouth. Naruto wasn’t far behind him and straddled Sai’s chest, using his shins to pin Sai’s arms to the ground before pressing the discarded tanto to his teammate’s throat.

“Ha! I win!” Naruto crowed, throwing the sword aside and pumping his fist in victory.

Yamato rolled his eyes; Naruto was not exactly the most graceful winner in the world.

oOo

Sakura waited until Kakashi declared Naruto the winner before she jogged over to them. Naruto was still sitting on Sai’s chest and revelling in his victory when she got there; she had to resist the urge to grab him by the scruff of the neck and pull him off.

“Naruto, get up so I can have a look at him.”

Naruto did as he was told, shit-eating grin still in place as he moved to the side to let Sai sit up. She crouched down in front of Sai and caught his chin in her hand, tilting his head so that she could get a good look at the damage. His lip was split and bloody but it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as she had feared. She had almost expected to be helping Sai pick his teeth up off the ground from how loudly the impact from Naruto’s head had sounded earlier.

“Don’t you think that that was a little extreme, Naruto?” she asked as she checked Sai’s pupils. “What if you had broken his nose?”

“I’m fine, Sakura” Sai said “It was my own fault anyway; I should have seen that coming.”

“I wasn’t asking you” she said sternly “and you’re supposed to be following my finger not answering back.”

“Ah, Sakura-chaaan” Naruto whined “I got hurt too you know”

“We both know you’ll be fine in the morning, Naruto. Stop complaining or I’ll give you something to complain about” she threatened, but there wasn’t any real malice behind it. She knew that she was being silly but she had kind of expected Naruto and Sai to go easy on each other now that their relationship had changed.

“I’m sure that he can think of some way to make it up to me.” Sai said nonchalantly as he re-secured his tanto to his back.

Naruto made a spluttering sound and Sakura laughed nervously as she felt her face redden, she shot a furtive glance at Kakashi and Yamato to try and gauge their reactions. What Sai had said should seem completely innocent to their teachers… in all fairness, it could have been completely innocent and she and Naruto just needed to get their minds out of the gutter. Yamato was looking a little confused, although that probably had more to do with her and Naruto’s shifty behaviour than with what Sai had said. Kakashi just looked bored.

“Well, I have to get going. I’ll leave the evaluation of today’s training to you, Yamato.” Kakashi said, disappearing in a puff of smoke before anyone could respond.

Yamato let out a long suffering sigh before he launched into their performance review.

oOo

Naruto had lain back on the grass when Yamato started talking and had begun to drift off; it wasn’t until he heard the magic word that he perked back up.

“Huh… wha? Ramen?” he slurred, wiping the drool at the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.

“I thought that might get your attention.” Yamato was looking down at him disapprovingly “I just asked if you all wanted to go to Ichiraku for lunch now that training is finished.”

Naruto jumped from his prone position to his feet in one smooth movement “You don’t have to ask me twice! Sakura-chan, Sai are you coming too?”

“Since training was way shorter than I expected, I don’t have any other plans…” Sakura said and Sai just nodded.

Naruto turned back to Yamato, grinning widely “Your treat, Yamato-taichou?”

Naruto’s smile transformed into something more like a grimace when Yamato gave him his patented Scary Face “Don’t push your luck, Naruto” he warned.

“Okay, okay! I’m sorry.” Naruto said hurriedly as he jogged to the exit of the training grounds, the others not far behind him.

oOo

Once they got to Ichiraku Ramen and had taken their seats Yamato ordered a tonkatsu ramen for himself. It was funny, when he had first become co-captain of Team Kakashi he hadn’t been especially fond of ramen but years of being dragged here had made him tolerate and eventually even enjoy a few varieties of the dish.

He turned to look at the rest of his team, Naruto and Sakura were chattering to each other while Sai just sat there quietly and listened, his hands folded neatly in his lap.

“What have you got planned for today, Sai?” Yamato asked casually, wanting Sai to feel involved as well.

He was more than a little surprised when Naruto stopped mid sentence and spun on his stool so fast that he nearly fell off, his eyes were wide with panic and he was sporting a smile that was far too stiff to be real. He clapped one hand onto Sai’s shoulder hard enough to make his teammate wince “He’s not doing anything today.” Yamato couldn’t help but notice the way Naruto’s grip tightened as he spoke “Right, Sai?”

“Um…” Sai began but then he closed his mouth again, obviously confused.

What were they up to? Yamato thought to himself with a frown. He was about to press the issue when Sakura spoke up.

“Oh, give it up, Naruto. You’ll have to tell Yamato-taichou eventually… it might as well be now.”

Naruto released Sai and slumped onto the counter, hiding his face in his folded arms. “But it’s so embarrassing!”

“You’re embarrassed of me?” Sai asked, seeming more baffled than offended.

Naruto shot back up into a sitting position in a way that would have given any normal person whiplash “No!” he cried “…that’s not it. It’s just embarrassing talking about it, okay?”

“Okay…” Sai looked even more confused now.

Sakura punched Naruto in the arm “Idiot, you are so insensitive!”

Yamato still didn’t know what was going on but he couldn’t help but laugh at how ridiculous they sounded “The way the three of you are talking you make it sound like a love confession!”

The rest of the laugh died in his throat when the three of them suddenly went very quiet; Naruto and Sakura were both blushing and avoiding his eyes. “What?” he asked, feeling entirely lost.

“That’s not too far from the truth, Taichou” Sakura said before elbowing Naruto in the side “Right?”

Naruto grimaced and rubbed at the place that Sakura had jabbed him, when he spoke his voice was so low that Yamato had to strain to hear him “I have a date with Sai later, okay?”

Yamato felt like he understood even less now, he knew all about Naruto going on ‘dates’ with Sai as practice for the real thing. Why was Naruto being so evasive about something he already knew? It didn’t make any sense. “I thought you guys had been doing this for weeks now? How is this any different?”

Naruto opened his mouth to say something but Sakura cut him off.

“This is getting ridiculous!”She cried, throwing her arms up in the air in exasperation “Yamato-taichou, they’re actually dating… as in, they are a couple now” she dusted her hands off as if she had just dealt with a particularly trying piece of business “There! I said it!”

“Sakura-chan!” Naruto exclaimed. Yamato noticed that he’d gone an even deeper shade of red, more importantly; he also noticed that Naruto didn’t deny anything Sakura had said.

“Oh!” Yamato managed, not really sure of how to react in this situation. He knew that Naruto and Sai had been getting along better recently, but he never would have thought that they were getting along that well. “… Congratulations?”

“Thank you.” Sai said with a happy little smile. Sakura was giggling now and Naruto just groaned and covered his face with his hands.

Yamato had to resist the urge to start laughing again; something had just occurred to him that he needed to get out of the way first “Have you told the Hokage about this?”

“No, not yet.” Naruto answered cautiously, his eyes were suspicious. “…Why?”

“It’s standard procedure.” Yamato explained “When people within the same team become romantically or sexually involved they have to be evaluated to make sure that it won’t affect any missions they take together… Naruto, you have to understand that I can’t, in good conscience, leave this little development out of my next progress report.”

“You can’t say anything about it, Yamato-taichou! She’d kill me for not telling her first!” Naruto looked genuinely upset by the idea and Yamato felt himself relenting.

“I shouldn’t even be telling you this” Yamato said, keeping his voice low “But I report to the Hokage every Monday when we’re between missions… you have until then to go see her and tell her yourself.”

“Thank you, Yamato-taichou!” Naruto said with a grateful smile.

“And what about Kakashi-senpai?” Yamato asked “Have you spoken to him about this yet?”

“No…” Naruto admitted “I’ll tell him next time I see him, okay? I promise.”

Yamato nodded, satisfied for the moment; even if Naruto didn’t keep his word Tsunade would make sure that Kakashi knew all about it after his report on Monday. Their food arrived and they tucked in eagerly, for a few minutes the only noise was the sound of them eating.

“So…” Yamato spoke up, his curiosity getting the better of him despite how awkward he felt “How long has this been going on?”

“Less than a week.” Sai provided helpfully.

“And how did it happen? If you don’t mind my asking that is.”

Sai started to reply but Naruto was quick on the draw, clapping a hand over Sai’s mouth before he could get out any more than a syllable.

“That bad, huh?” Yamato asked, eyebrows raised. He could feel heat creeping into his cheeks and he shook his head to clear it, this situation was surreal enough without him thinking about Naruto and Sai in compromising positions.

“Like you wouldn’t believe” Sakura said solemnly without taking her eyes off her food.

oOo

Sakura stood up from the ramen stand, placing money beside her mostly empty bowl and stretching, exhaling deeply when her back popped satisfyingly. Yamato had finished as well and started getting ready to leave.

Naruto, on the other hand, was halfway through his fifth bowl and hungrily eyeing what was left in Sai’s. He turned to look at her and said something indecipherable through a mouth full of noodles.

“What?” she asked, unimpressed with his lack of etiquette.

He hurriedly chewed and swallowed what was in his mouth before trying again “You guys are leaving already?”

“It’s getting late, Naruto.” She explained as if she was speaking to a small child. “Not all of us can just sit around eating ramen all day.”

Naruto sulked and picked up another large helping of noodles with his chopsticks, he was just about to shovel them into his mouth when Sai stood up as well. “Sai, you’re leaving too?”

“I have to go shopping” Sai said simply “I can’t cook for you if I don’t have any food”

“I guess” Naruto said forlornly, sulking even more and turning his attention back to his food.

“I’ll see you at six.” Sai leaned down and planted a kiss on the corner of Naruto’s mouth.

Sakura felt like she flushed from the tips of her toes all the way to the top of her head and she had to snap her mouth shut when she realised she’d been gaping. Yamato just blushed and averted his gaze, pretending to look through his wallet.

“Don’t do stuff like that in public!” Naruto cried and shoved Sai away, his face had gone beet red but Sakura noticed that he didn’t really look anywhere near as annoyed as he let on.

Sai had obviously noticed as well since he looked surprisingly happy for someone who had nearly been pushed off his feet. He waved to her and Yamato (who was still rifling through his wallet aimlessly) before setting off down the street.

Yamato was the next to leave, mumbling something about Naruto making sure that he went to go see the Hokage as he went.

Sakura leaned over so she could get a look at Naruto’s face and saw that he was wearing a very small smile “What are you so happy about?” she teased.

He blinked up at her in surprise before remembering that he was supposed to be angry “N-nothing!” he said, squinting and scrunching his face up into a frown.

“You don’t need to pretend, Naruto.” She said, giggling behind her hand “I’m happy for you.”

Naruto smiled a little self-consciously and rubbed at the back of his head “Thank you, Sakura-chan.”

“Okay, well, enjoy your date tonight.” She said, waving cheerfully as she swung her bag onto her back and turned away from the ramen stand.

“Bye, Sakura-chan!” he called after her.

oOo

“Are you going to have another bowl, Naruto?” Teuchi asked as he wiped the counter down.

Naruto sat back on his stool and patted his stomach proudly “Nah, I think that ten’s enough for today, old man.” He figured that he should probably try and keep some room for his dinner with Sai later.

He took Gama-chan out of his pocket and hefted it in his hand; it was still surprisingly fat and full of money this long after being paid. Making Sai pay for their food over the last few weeks probably had something to do with that… now that they were actually dating for real he supposed that he should stop taking advantage of Sai’s generosity. He counted out the money for the bill and even left a tip since he had so much extra cash.

The walk home was pleasant enough, there was a light breeze and the sun was warm on his back. He knew that he had a grin plastered on his face the whole way home and he received a few curious looks for it, but he didn’t care; the prospect of a home cooked meal and what they would probably get up to afterwards buzzing through his mind.

He hummed tunelessly under his breath as he unlocked his front door and stepped into his apartment and there was a spring in his step as he made his way to his small bathroom. He turned on the shower, undressing quickly and leaving his clothes in a crumpled heap on the floor before he stepped under the spray to scrub away all of the sweat and dirt that he had accumulated during training earlier. As he washed he noticed a few bruises here and there from his fight with Sai (one particularly nasty one stood out just below his sternum) but they were already turning yellow and he knew that most of them would be gone by tonight.

Once he was clean he went back into the main living area, towel drying his hair roughly and dripping all over the floor as he hunted for something to wear amongst the pile of (mostly) clean clothes beside his bed. He was fast coming to the realisation that outside of the clothes that he normally wore for missions that his entire wardrobe consisted of hoodies, baggy t-shirts (of various colours but all with the same spiral design) and orange pants… it was kind of depressing and said a lot about how active his dating life had been before this week.

In the end he just picked the ones that smelled the cleanest and were the least creased, spraying himself liberally with deodorant before throwing them on. He gave himself a quick onceover in the mirror before leaving.

It was nearly time for him to head to Sai’s place but he had to make one stop first. He headed in the direction of the nearest liquor store; he was going to need some Dutch courage for what he wanted to do tonight.

oOo

Sai checked the pot of broth on top of the stove, stirring the contents carefully before re-covering it. He was making miso ramen for Naruto, with extra pork; he assumed that this particular variety was Naruto’s favourite since it was what he typically ordered when they were at Ichiraku and he only had enough money with him to buy one bowl.

He had watched Teuchi and Ayame prepare the dish closely today during lunch and he thought he had a pretty good grasp of the recipe. They had used large amounts of miso and fish broth as the base, coupled with fatty pieces of pork, boiled eggs, fish cakes and finally the noodles. The only vegetable that he’d seen them add was a finely chopped onion and Sai had to wonder at the nutritional value of such a concoction. That was why he had decided to make a few small additions to the recipe, namely adding a chopped bell pepper, leaks, bean sprouts and another onion to go with the first.

Even if Naruto refused to eat the vegetables themselves (and he had seen Naruto pick around them when they were in other dishes) the fact that they were being boiled meant that a good portion of the nutrients would be in the broth anyway, Sai reasoned as he chopped the pepper.

Once he was finished preparing the vegetables he added them to the broth and set about making his own food. He had decided on something simple for himself since he was still rather full from such a large lunch, throwing together some fried rice with vegetables and tofu.

He was just serving the food when there was a knock at the door, his heart sped up and he experienced the strange almost queasy (but not entirely unpleasant) feeling in the pit of his stomach that he’d come to expect whenever contact with Naruto was imminent. The books that he’d read on the subject said that this was normal at the start of a relationship so he wasn’t too worried.

When he opened the door he was a little surprised when Naruto handed him a paper bag before pushing into the apartment; Sai heard the sound of glass clinking against glass as he accepted it.

“I just brought some sake and plum wine.” Naruto explained, bending down slightly to pull his sandals off “Since I drank so much of yours last time…”

“Thank you.” Sai said, knowing that it was the polite thing to say even though he had already replaced the two bottles of sake that they had drunk on Wednesday night and he wasn’t especially fond of plum wine.

He was just about to turn around and bring the bottles into the kitchen (and finish serving the food) when Naruto herded him up against the wall, resting his forearms on either side of Sai’s head and boxing him in.

He opened his mouth in question but Naruto kissed him roughly before he could get a word out. Sai could taste that Naruto had already been drinking; it was a little surprising but it certainly explained why he was being so uncharacteristically forward. Naruto wedged his knee between Sai’s legs and forced them apart, pressing their hips flush against each other.

Arousal twisted low in the pit of Sai’s stomach, he felt something hard brush against his own half erection and it was with great reluctance that he broke the kiss. “The dinner is going to go cold”

“Ah, yeah” Naruto said, pulling back and reaching into his pants to readjust himself. “I guess we should eat first.”

They ate dinner in the living room and chatted about their training, or rather Naruto gloated and Sai just listened politely; content to let Naruto exaggerate the scale of his victory and his fighting prowess. When Naruto decided that he wanted something to drink Sai retrieved a bottle of his own sake and the wine that Naruto had brought with him. He was a little relieved when Naruto kept the bottle of plum wine beside his bowl for the entire meal (obviously intending to drink the whole thing himself) and that he wouldn’t have to force himself to drink any of it out of courtesy.

He couldn’t help but marvel at how much food that Naruto managed to put away in one sitting; eating three servings of ramen in the same amount of time that it took for Sai to eat his considerably smaller meal. He also noticed that Naruto ate most of the vegetables that he had added to the ramen and he felt a dull warm feeling is his chest that he found hard to identify. He catalogued the sensation in the back of his mind for reference next time he was in the library.

He rose, planning on collecting their dishes and bringing them into the kitchen but Naruto had other ideas. He jumped up from the couch; Sai’s sharp eyes caught how Naruto wobbled on his feet for a fraction of a second before advancing on him.

oOo

They stumbled into the bedroom, still kissing the whole time as they pulled off each other’s clothes; leaving a trail as they made their way to the bed. Naruto tripped and fell when his foot got caught in the leg of his underwear, landing on the bed and pulling Sai down on top of him. They went down in a tangle of limbs and Naruto felt a giggle bubble up in the back of his throat; fortunately the urge passed when Sai started kissing him again and pressed their erections together.

Naruto kicked his underwear off his ankle with one foot and pushed them off the edge of the bed. They were both completely naked now and he ran his hands down the smooth skin of Sai’s back to cup his ass; delivering an open palmed slap to one muscled buttock in appreciation. Naruto grinned when his teammate yelped in surprise and he bit down on Sai’s lower lip, relishing the metallic taste of blood and hiss of pain that he got in return, knowing that he had reopened the wound there.

“You said that you wanted me to make this up to you, right?” Naruto asked, sweeping his tongue across the cut again for emphasis and making Sai shudder.

Naruto didn’t give Sai a chance to answer as he rolled them over in one fluid motion so that he was on top. The blood on Sai’s lips stood out garishly against his pale skin like smeared lipstick and Naruto resisted the urge to lean back down and lap it up. He knew that he had to do this before he lost his nerve.

He pressed his lips to Sai’s collar bone and started kissing his way down Sai’s chest and stomach (pausing only to catch a nipple between his teeth and bite down) as he worked his way down the bed. When he was finally face to face with Sai’s cock he gulped audibly, feeling trepidation flutter in the pit of his stomach. They hadn’t actually measured or anything (not yet anyway) but he could see that Sai was pretty much the same size as him; despite this fact he still couldn’t help feeling intimidated as he grasped the base of Sai’s erection in his hand and eyed it nervously.

The bed creaked as Sai propped himself up on his elbows and looked down at him, one dark eyebrow arched in a question. Naruto felt himself flush and he resisted the urge to tell Sai not to watch; even if he was embarrassed, saying something like that just seemed so… girly.

It was now or never. Still painfully aware of the eyes on him, he swallowed what was left of his pride and leaned forward to tentatively run his tongue up the underside of Sai’s cock. Emboldened when Sai inhaled sharply in response Naruto repeated the action with a little more confidence, teasing the tip of Sai’s cock with his tongue and licking up the little bead of pre-come that had formed there. He considered the taste for a second (a little on the salty side, but not bad) before sliding his mouth as far down the length of Sai’s erection as he could manage.

Each time he pulled back up he tried to mimic the way that Sai massaged the underside of his cock with his tongue when he was giving him head; he must have been doing a reasonably good job if the way that Sai was gasping and moaning beneath him was any indicator. It took Naruto a while to find a comfortable rhythm but once he got into one he was finding it hard to remember why he had been so worried about doing this in the first place.

Naruto was just really beginning to lose himself in the whole experience when Sai shifted under him and sat up. “What?” Naruto asked, confused and a little worried that he’d done something wrong. Although it became clear what Sai was getting at when he moved so that they were laying side by side, facing each other but with their feet at opposite ends of the bed.

Sai wasted no time, engulfing Naruto’s cock in his mouth and sucking eagerly. “Gah! …Fuck!” Naruto gasped and rested his forehead against Sai’s bare hip, the sudden and intense stimulation to his so far neglected arousal nearly pushing him over the edge.

Sai drew back again, holding Naruto’s gaze as he licked his lips seductively and then dragged his tongue up the entire length of Naruto’s cock. Naruto made a pleading sound in the back of his throat but Sai made no move to continue and instead thrust his own erection into Naruto’s face in a blatant order. Naruto’s eyebrows shot up in surprise but he complied without argument (he had a feeling that he’d do much worse things right now if it just meant that Sai would put him out of his misery), taking Sai’s cock back into his mouth and groaning loudly around it when he felt Sai start to suck him off again.

Naruto found that giving head while someone was sucking your cock at the same time was much more difficult than he expected… fortunately, it was also about a hundred times hotter than he ever would have thought it could be. Naruto could feel the start of his orgasm curling in his stomach but held back, determined to hold out until Sai came; he slid his hand up the inside of Sai’s thigh and cupped his balls, massaging them roughly as he picked up the pace with his mouth. His relentless assault had the desired effect; it wasn’t long before every muscle in Sai’s body was trembling with approaching orgasm.

Naruto felt Sai’s cock pulse in his mouth as the first shot of come hit the back of his throat and he swallowed without even thinking as his own orgasm ripped through him and left him shaking.

He flopped onto his back, feeling completely boneless and gasping desperately for air. Sai lay down next to him, resting his head on Naruto’s chest and draping an arm across his midsection.

“That was amazing.” Naruto said when he finally found his voice.

“Mmm” Sai responded, he sounded sleepy and satisfied.

It really wasn’t an exaggeration, Naruto thought to himself as he combed his fingers through Sai’s hair absentmindedly. There was something about being inside of each other at the same time that had been more intense and way more intimate than anything they had done before. Naruto could only imagine what it would be like if they went all the way and he felt his cock perk up a little again at the thought of actually fucking Sai.

Sai’s breathing had evened out in a way that told Naruto that he’d gone to sleep and he used his free arm to grab the rumpled sheet to cover them. He pulled Sai a little closer and yawned, his eyes felt very heavy all of a sudden and he closed them gratefully.

oOo

The first thing that Naruto became aware of as he woke up was the sound of two different voices speaking in hushed tones; this would usually be cause for alarm but both of the voices were almost as familiar as his own. He rubbed at his eyes sleepily before opening them, half expecting to see a burnt out campfire when he did. What he saw instead sent his heart into his throat.

He took in the fact that he was in Sai’s room and that the owner of said room was standing (fully dressed) by the window. This in and of itself wasn’t an issue.

No, the thing that had made Naruto feel like he was going to have a heart attack was that Kakashi was crouched in the open window, that and the realisation that he was naked except for the sliver of sheet covering his nether regions. He grabbed the material and pulled it up to his chin in a quick panicky motion, alerting the room’s other occupants to the fact that he was awake.

“Good morning, Naruto.” Sai said, smiling happily and obviously not embarrassed by the situation in the least.

“Yo.” Kakashi said simply, pitching him a little salute in greeting.

“Kakashi-sensei” Naruto said, trying to regain some of his composure “What are you doing here?”

“The Hokage has a mission for the five of us.” He explained “I’ve been to see Yamato and Sakura and they’re already on their way to see Tsunade-sama. This was my next stop because I knew I’d probably find both of you here.”

“What?” Naruto managed to croak “Why would you think I’d be here?”

Kakashi gave him a look that clearly showed how little he thought of the question “You haven’t exactly been discrete, Naruto… If you’re so concerned with privacy then you should probably stick to using the training grounds for training.”

“Oh…” Naruto said in a very small voice and pulled the sheet up even higher so it was covering most of his face. “You saw that, huh?”

“Indeed, I did.” Kakashi answered, smiling again “Now, I think it’s time you got dressed. We don’t want to keep the others waiting.”

oOo

A/N Okay this chapter took forever to finish. There's a big chunk in the middle (from after Sakura leaves the ramen stand to where the smut starts) that just refused to be written. I'm still not entirely happy with that part but it wasn't going to get any better with me just staring at it >.<

So, I managed to get some action scenes in there and hopefully they weren't too crappy. They're going on a mission next chapter so expect some actual plot that doesn't solely revolve around embarassing Naruto and pr0n (which is what I'm beginning to feel my story has turned into...)

(Spoilers if you've been living under a rock and haven't read the latest manga arc) I've been holding off having Yamato appear because of his current predicament in the manga but I decided to throw caution to the wind and assume that Kishimoto wont kill him off. Some vague KakaYama hints managed to creep into this chapter but I haven't really decided if I want to pursue that angle just yet... so feedback would be appreciated.