My Obejective, My Love

AN: XD This chapter, as with the others, is without the help of a beta, so if there are mistakes I didn't catch, I'm terribly sorry. ^^;


The dinner, if one could call it that seeing as how late his food came, was thrown in a nearby restaurant. Every team he vaguely remembered from their earlier days had come; it amazed him that some were louder than Naruto. Sasuke didn’t remember anyone being louder than Naruto. Thankfully there were no clingy fangirls to test his patience.

After one attempt to make him the centerpiece of a questions and answers game, they quickly moved on while Sasuke ignored them and ate. Whatever he did while away was none of their business. He spotted Tsunade and a few of their old teachers watching them and quietly murmuring amongst themselves. Sighing, Sasuke put on something resembling a smile and looked up at Sakura, “thank you for organizing this. Its... nice to see everyone.” Sakura’s face lit up, smiling kindly down at him. It was then he noticed that Naruto, with a few outbursts excluded, was quieter than usual. The blonde looked lost in thought, eyes darting to various friends.

“Come take a picture with us!” Ino grabbed his arm and yanked him out of the booth. She dragged a reluctant Shikamaru along as well, putting an arm over both of them. “Say cheese!”

Sasuke toned down the glare he wanted to give and tried to look a little happy. He was sure the end result looked scary. When the picture was shot, Ino dropped her arms and walked away, leaving both men blinking in her wake. “I guess she’s done.”

“Heh,” the brunette dropped to a chair, lounging back.

Seeing as how he was the quieter of the group, Sasuke sat next to him and watched the rest converse among themselves. The group had a smell that strangely worked well together; flowers, strong perfumes and cologne, and a bit of dog. Sasuke wrinkled his nose and shifted in his seat; he wanted the night to be over so he could continue. The din of their combined voices had began to settle behind his temples, his head throbbing mildly.

“You look annoyed, Sasuke.” Kakashi dropped to a seat next to him, smiling from behind his mask.

“Some things never change.”

“Ah, true... Its nice to see you back.”

Sasuke put on a small smile for his old teacher’s benefit, “its nice to be back.”

“Oh?” Kakashi blinked and raised an eyebrow, looking at a spot above Sasuke’s shoulder. Curious, Sasuke turned, spotting Naruto lingering close enough to hear their conversation, but pretending not to pay attention.

Sasuke smirked and turned back to Kakashi; he had an audience now, it was time to start the show. “Mm. Its nice to see the people worth caring about are still the same.”

“Old habits are hard to break.”

“Indeed they are.”

“Hopefully not the habit of running away,” Shikamaru mumbled under his breath, crossing his ankle over his thigh.

Sasuke twitched, “there’s nothing to run to, other than here. It’s the first place I thought of when I left.”

Kakashi watched him for a moment longer, then stood. “The Hokage wants to see you tomorrow. Should I tell her you’ll at her office in the morning?”

Reluctantly, Sasuke stood as well, offering his hand. “Yes.” His teacher took his hand and shook it, hand lingering over his. Trying to read him, or distracted by trying to decide if he was back for his own good, or the good of Konoha. Sasuke didn’t flinch away, “I’m glad you came.”

“Mm.” Kakashi smiled and pulled his hand back, turning to walk away.

Sasuke couldn’t tell if he had passed that test, or flunked it; Kakashi was always a little too clever for his own good. Killing him wouldn’t help. They would just suspect him more. He sighed, rubbing his temples. The headache was threatening to ruin his plan later... It’s hard to be seductive and have your head threaten to explode.

“Are you okay, Sasuke?” Sakura slid next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “You look ill.”

“I have a headache... I’m not used to having so many people in the same room, being loud.”

“Here.” Sakura touched her cool fingers to his brow, headache melting away from her fingers. “Is that better?”

“Much, thank you.”

“My pleasure,” she smiled, fingers brushing his cheek as they drifted back to his shoulder.

“You’ve become a medical nin?” Sakura nodded, smiling proudly. “I’m sure you’ll be good at it.” A spark of cruelty lit in him, no doubt another quality inherited from his master. He touched her chin and leaned slowly down, turning his head away at the last moment to whisper in her ear. “Do you mind if I left early? I’m still worn out from cleaning, and dealing with Naruto.” Pulling away, he admired his handy work.

Sakura’s eyes had widened, a blush staining her cheeks. “Oh, uhm... I wouldn’t mind. I’ll tell the others you were tired.” If her heart beat any harder, it would have jumped from her chest.

“Thank you.” He dropped his hand and turned, heading for the door. Hopefully Naruto wouldn’t wait too long to follow him home, he was tired. Something he knew would clear up as soon as he saw the blonde.

“Wait up!”

Sasuke was halfway down the street when Naruto caught up with him, eyes more guarded than he’d ever seen. “What’s up?” He shivered as a light cool breeze curled around them, sneaking up the wide sleeves of his shirt and caressing his chest that the low cut shirt showed.

“Nothing... I just wanted to walk you back. I’m supposed to be watching you, ne?”

“You’ve done a good job. You watched me all night,” Sasuke turned, walking down the paved street again.

“Don’t say it all perverted like that... Sasuke?”

“Mm?”

Naruto bit his lip, unable to think of a graceful way of asking. Then again, graceful wasn’t exactly his way of doing things. “Was that person you cared about Kakashi?”

“No, dobe,” Sasuke chuckled, mood lifting. Naruto hadn’t been ‘doing his job’, he had been trying to figure out who he was talking about. The fact that he had taken the bait left the previous night boded well for him.

“Fine, I give up. Who was it?”

“I’ll tell you... for a price.”

Naruto eyed him dubiously, “what sort of price?”

“We’ll talk about it when we get home.”

What a crappy Sasuke thing to do. Naruto scowled at the ground, kicking a rock out of his way. He knew he was curious, so he was going to draw it out, probably tease him about it. Stupid Sasuke, always having to be so damn superior. Well he would show him, when they got home he would tell Sasuke he didn’t want to know.

Yet... he did want to know. Naruto didn’t understand why he wanted to know, he just knew it was important to. Besides, how often did Sasuke actually like a person? He wondered if the person were as close as he thought he was to Sasuke. Maybe they weren’t close at all, two and a half years, with Orochimaru no less, would change a person. Sasuke was less of a boy, and more of a man now. He glanced down at himself, wondering if he appeared that way too.

Finally at home, Naruto decided that he would get Sasuke to talk his own way. After both had removed their shoes, Naruto waited for Sasuke to pass him before grabbing the back of his shirt and pulling. Sasuke stumbled back; Naruto used that to his advantage, and spun the Uchiha into a wall, gripping the front of his shirt. “Look, I don’t like games. Just tell me, bastard.”

Sasuke blinked a few times, then inwardly shook his head. There was something wrong with him, if that turned him on. “I said there was a price.”

“Yeah yeah, what price? I’m not going to be your dancing monkey, just so you know. I don’t want to know that badly.”

“A kiss.”

Naruto’s grip on Sasuke shirt lessened as he stared dumbly at his friend. “A kiss?”

“Simple as that.”

“On the cheek?”

“I’d kick you if you tried to wuss out by kissing my cheek, dobe.”

“Alright,” Naruto wasn’t sure if he could do it right. The previous night’s kiss was his first. He tilted his head and leaned against him, pressing his lips to the warm pair of his friend. Sadistic bastard, he must have gotten that from Orochimaru. Who would ask for something like that?

Sasuke closed his eyes, moving his lips. Naruto attempted to do the same, though clumsier. He was amused that Naruto was such a clean slate; with a little practice, he could turn the boy into a kisser that would make anyone weak in the knees. Sasuke slid his hand up Naruto’s chest, making the blonde jump.

“That’s enough,” Naruto mumbled, looking away.

“Naruto...” He put his hand on Naruto’s cheek, turning him to watch the cloudy blue eyes. “You’re so dense sometimes.”

“I did what you wanted. You don’t have to make fun of me.”

“Its you.”

Naruto blinked, “what’s me?”

Sasuke couldn’t help but laugh a little at that. “Did I make you forget what you were asking me already? I know I’m good...”

“Woah.” Naruto moved away, letting go of his shirt. “What do you mean its me?”

“Who else would I...”

“No.” Naruto interrupted. “You’re jerking me around, aren’t you? I mean, if you did then...”

“Why did I leave?” Sasuke pushed away from the wall, moving closer to Naruto. “I needed to train with him. I needed to be stronger. I wanted to be enough to kill Itachi.”

“You could have done that here! I would have fought him with you! Or... I dunno, I would have trained with you. We used to push each other past the breaking point, we became stronger because of it...”

“I didn’t see it that way,” Sasuke said quietly. “What I did in the past, it was means to an end that I had been living toward before I knew you.”

“Killing me was a means to an end.”

The look of hurt Naruto turned on him almost made Sasuke feel guilty. “I didn’t in the end...”

“Because of the Kyuubi.”

Sasuke pulled at his shirt, point to the curse seal. “I couldn’t control this! It was killing me, even Kakashi could see it. Was I supposed to wait here and die before I could even hurt Itachi?! Was I supposed to be the good little boy and train slowly with the others? Don’t penalize me because I decided to live, because I wanted to avenge my family!”

“That’s all you’ve ever wanted, isn’t it?”

“No.”

Naurto blinked, frowning, “no?”

“Before the exams, I started to care about you. As a friend. I didn’t have friends. I wasn’t used to it. That’s why I couldn’t kill you, even for him.”

“Because of the Kyuubi! You would have killed me if it wasn’t for that! I’m not stupid, Sasuke!”

“I know... I’m sorry.”

“You only think about yourself and your stupid avenging! They’re dead, Sasuke, its over! You’re alive, you made it! You shouldn’t throw your life away to avenge their deaths, you should live your life in their honor! There had to be another way, there’s always another way!”

“Its all water under the bridge, Naruto. I can’t take it back now. No one could break Orochimaru’s seal. Would you rather I died?”

Naruto lowered his eyes, running a hand through his hair. It was all so messed up... There was just no positive way things could have turned out. “No. Of course not.”

Seeing his chance, Sasuke slid closer, body almost touching Naruto. “I hate how it turned out, I hate that Orochimaru gave me this... Don’t make my last days miserable. I know you can’t understand why I did what I did, but I had to...”

“Your last days?”

“Orochimaru already knows I’m gone. There’s only so much time I have left before the seal kills me. That, or they come for me, since I am supposed to be his container.”

“I wouldn’t let that happen to you.” Naruto shivered, Sasuke’s arms wrapping around his neck. He didn’t know if he should push him away or not... he liked having him close.

“That doesn’t matter. It’ll happen. I knew I wouldn’t have long to live... So don’t deny me. Naruto,” Sasuke brushed his lips over the blonde’s, fingers curling in his shirt, “I love you.”

Unaware that he had almost backed himself against the wall, Naruto jerked his head back, banging it hard against the wood. He didn’t know if it was the blow or Sasuke’s words, but his mind swam. “You don’t mean that...”

“Why else would I let you get close to me... or touch me like the other night...”

“No. That was just a fluke. I’m not like that.”

Sasuke dropped his arms, taking a step back as his face went emotionless. “I see. Then I’m sorry.” He turned and headed upstairs, unsure for the first time if his plan would hold up or not. Leave it to Naruto to be that stubborn.