Walking a Mile

I'm going to apologize in advance for the fight scene: shinobi fights are not my thing; give me an old fashion sword fight and I'll write you an epic. We're only going lime today. I'm afraid I'll start repeating myself.

—

Sasuke woke up with Naruto spooning him again. They were both still nude and Naruto had his hand on his bare hip. Sasuke didn't want to move and didn't for several minutes, savoring the presence behind him and the tickle of Naruto's breath on his upper back.

They had fallen asleep right after having sex and hadn't woken up all that evening. Sasuke sensed it was nearly dawn. There was no reason to get up quite yet. He remembered that they had a mission, but they still had a few more minutes.

Finally, Sasuke got up and showered. He dried, dressed, and started breakfast. Naruto woke up and showered too. He walked up behind Sasuke with only a towel around his waist and put his arms around him.

"Good morning."

"Good morning. You should stop pressing that damp towel against me like that; you'll make my clothes damp."

"Hmm." Naruto kissed Sasuke's neck, then went to dress.

They ate breakfast, making eyes at each other every once in a while, then went to meet Kakashi and Sakura.

Sakura was surprised to see them approach together and at how easy they seemed together.

"What's with you two?"

"Sorry about yesterday, Sakura," Sasuke said.

"Yesterday you looked like you were trying to kill each other."

"I guess we got it out of our systems," Naruto said with a smile and a hand behind his head. Sakura's eyes quirked.

Sasuke recovered for him. "Don't mock me!" and he slapped Naruto's arm away.

Naruto caught himself and resisted hitting Sasuke back.

Kakashi arrived, late as usual. They set out on their mission.

—

They walked. It was the most boring part of missions, the walking. Lacking a sense of urgency, they conserved energy and walked. It drove Naruto mad since he couldn't even talk. Sasuke felt a pressure to talk in Naruto's place, but he had nothing to say. Nothing he wanted Kakashi of Sakura to hear at least.

They both kept stretching, becoming more uncomfortable by the second. But once their nervous energy was spent, they walked quietly and sedately.

Kakashi was about to comment on how quiet Naruto was, though he did notice a few bruises on both of their throats, when he sensed something.

"Move!" The four of them split apart, leaving a dozen shuriken wear they had been standing. Kakashi pulled his headband up and searched for the source of the shuriken. Seeing chakra in the trees, he threw three kunai at it. The figure burst apart into ravens. Kakashi cursed. Itachi!

Kakashi whirled and barely deflected two more kunai. Sasuke had Naruto's body crouched close to the ground and he reached for his sword, but it was on Naruto's back. Naruto was creating shadow clones without thinking, while Sakura prepared her gloves. Then the three of them noticed who they were facing. Naruto and Sakura dropped their eyes, but Sasuke felt anger and longing that wouldn't let him look away from his older brother. Next to Itachi was Kisame.

"Damn it, not now," Sasuke whispered. Kakashi heard him.

"Itachi relies on genjutsu," Kakashi told them. "It's Kisame we have to worry about, just don't look into Itachi's eyes."

"Don't look at him at all; remember he can trap you with a finger," Naruto reminded them.

"Take out Kisame first," Kakashi said. "Sasuke."

Naruto spoke up for him. "I won't attack Itachi."

Naruto and Sasuke exchanged looks: this was not good.

Naruto felt the Sharingan activate and let himself slip into the same flow state as when he fought Sai. Sasuke was at a greater disadvantage.

"Kakashi," Sasuke whispered. Kakashi understood: Should Naruto retreat back to the village? He didn't have time to decided. Kisame attacked alone. They all knew the details of Gai's report about when he fought Kisame on their way to assist Team Kakashi in recovering Gaara from the Akatsuki.

Desperate, Sasuke pulled his sword from Naruto's back and parried Samahade. At least he could still wield his sword; it wasn't the same, but it worked. Sasuke kept Kisame's sword occupied while Naruto attacked. Kakashi attacked with Chidori and Sakura with her massive strength when Naruto and Sasuke created openings.

Itachi just stood there, staring, waiting for an opportunity to trap one of them. That frightened Sasuke. He used his sword to pry Samehade from Kisame's grip, careful not to touch it, then looked over at Itachi. That was a mistake. Without his own Sharingan, he fell to Itachi's genjutsu. He had the metal strength and will to resist Itachi. He felt a wave of intense frustration hit him then Sasuke blacked out, being overwhelmed by his brother's chakra.

Kakashi noticed, but could do nothing with Kisame still fighting them. Naruto looked when he noticed Sasuke no longer helping. They pressed in, desperate to defeat Kisame. It ended up their greatest disadvantage was their greatest advantage: Kisame thought he knew what to expect from Sasuke, but there was no attempt to use genjutsu and there was no sword or Chidori, he also didn't expect Naruto to be able to use a sword so well; Kisame was caught off balance. Finally, Kakashi succeeded in piercing Kisame's chest, killing him.

But they could not rest or celebrate. Itachi stood over Naruto's prone body. Having the three of them look at him, he sent a similar force to knock all three of them out rather than wasting time or energy on them. He merely needed to tie Naruto up and haul him away. Which is what he did. He picked up Naruto's body by the collar and threw the body over his shoulder. He couldn't resist a flair of the dramatic and stuck the sword into the ground, making their loss when they woke up more immediate.

—

Sasuke woke up slowly feeling his body bouncing uncomfortably. It took a moment to realize his situation and the fact his hands and legs were bound. He opened his eyes to see the road retreating from him.

"Itachi?" he whispered.

Itachi did not respond.

"Itachi." Nothing. "I'll just keep repeating your name until you answer me or gag me."

"Silence."

At least Sasuke now knew for sure it was Itachi hauling him away. "Itachi, I think you should know, I'm not Naruto."

That made Itachi stop. He turned his head. "There was no transformation jutsu."

"I'm Sasuke. We accidently switch bodies."

Itachi made a small sound in his throat, which Sasuke thought was probably as close as he would ever get to a laugh. "You must have hit your head when you fell." He started walking again.

"I am Sasuke. I used to go to your room during thunderstorms."

"Every child does that."

"You cheated at hide and seek, using clones. You used to poke me in the head and say, 'forgive me, another time, Sasuke.' You used to come to my room in the middle of the night and wake me up to talk when you came back from ANBU missions."

Itachi stopped again.

"And that night when you left, I've remembered. I chased you. I threw shuriken at you, but you deflected them. You looked back before you left. You were lying to me, weren't you, Itachi? You didn't leave me alive so that you'd have a worthy opponent."

"You were dreaming; that didn't happen."

"I repressed it all these years because I needed to hate you. But I've remembered. I'm not going to fight you."

Itachi put him down, but he didn't turn to face him.

"If I were in my own body I'd say I'm going with you."

Itachi turned around, taking out a kunai. Sasuke tensed, but made no move to defend himself or get out of the way. The kunai sliced the ropes around Sasuke's wrists.

"Go home."

"Itachi, tell me the truth."

"Just go home, Sasuke."

"I don't have a home to go back to. Most of the village doesn't trust me. Someone tried to kill Naruto yesterday thinking he was me. I can't stay in Konoha. I have three friends and they're all on my team. I should be a Jounin by now, but I don't think the Hokage trusts me. I have no future in Konoha. As it is, I don't have any future at all. I'll die a low level shinobi. I'd rather be a missing-nin. I'd rather leave the village and give up being a shinobi." Itachi looked back at him. Sasuke transformed into himself. "Tell me the truth, Itachi."

"Not now, Sasuke. You have to go back now."

Sasuke used the kunai to cut the ropes around his legs. "As soon as I get back in my own body," he could suppress a slight blush, "I'm coming after you; not to kill you, but to go with you."

Itachi walked away without saying anything more and Sasuke went in the opposite direction, releasing the jutsu.

—

Kakashi and Naruto were not as affected by Itachi's genjutsu as Sakura was. They woke up after twenty minutes, but Sakura was still unconscious, but she was alive. Naruto looked around. "Sasuke!"

Kakashi narrowed his eyes. Just how injured is he? Or is it me? But seeing 'Naruto' missing, he got up, leaving Sakura for now and running after Itachi and 'Naruto.' But they only got a few yards, part way over a small hill before they saw Naruto's yellow hair.

Sasuke was walking slowly back to them with his head down. He looked up at the two of them.

"Is Sakura all right?"

"She's unconscious. Wh—"

"Let's go home."

Kakashi stopped him. "Tell me what happened."

Sasuke realized that he'd have to lie to the Hokage about what happened, but he'd also have to make the others lie as well. Sakura was still conscious and Naruto would say whatever he told him to, but Kakashi would be harder to convince.

"Itachi . . . he let me go."

"What?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Something is wrong with the two of you." They both looked at him. To him, Sasuke looked panicked and guilty while Naruto looked at him sad and measured.

"We accidently switched bodies," Sasuke said. "We're waiting for Ino's father to return to the village so he can put us right. We and Ino were afraid of the repercussions if we told anyone. She and Shikamaru are the only ones who know."

"Itachi let you go and you didn't kill him?"

"I . . . I don't want to kill him anymore. I don't know why he killed our clan, but . . . my brother didn't die that night. He was . . . I don't know. He wouldn't tell me. I would have left with him if I were in my body and force him to tell me the truth. I can't say any of this to the Hokage. I can't tell her the truth of what happened today."

Naruto didn't hesitate. "He saw us kill Kisame and fled."

"Itachi doesn't lightly flee an enemy," Kakashi said.

"With two Sharingan users, one who desperately wants to kill him, and no backup, even I would run. And Sakura doesn't have to know any of this, nothing. She was knocked out by Itachi's genjutsu after you defeated Kisame. I was out by then, but you can say you were able to wake me and he ran. Then we woke Sakura." Sasuke walked toward her.

"You told Itachi who you were?"

Sasuke kneeled next to Sakura. "Yeah." He didn't wake her, waiting for Kakashi's assent to the deception. "You were friends with Itachi, weren't you?"

Kakashi hesitated. "Yeah."

"More than friends, right?"

Naruto lowered his eyes. He could sympathize with Kakashi; he didn't want to admit his new relationship with Sasuke and Sasuke wanted Kakashi to admit a similar relationship.

"Yes."

"Itachi fled."

"Yeah, he did."

Sasuke made a hand sign and woke Sakura.

—

Sasuke repeated the story to Sakura. Kakashi did not interrupt; he and Naruto memorized the story so that their stories would match when they were debriefed. Sakura didn't know any different.

Kakashi and Naruto struggled with Kisame's body and sword. Sasuke supported Sakura while she was still dizzy so that she might think better of Naruto, wanting to help Naruto with his relationship with Sakura despite the recent shift in their relationship. If he did leave with Itachi . . .

Kakashi repeated Sasuke's version of the story to Tsunade. All three were genuinely dejected despite being able to kill Kisame. Shizune checked the four of them over for any affects of the genjutsu, found none, and sent them home. Sakura went straight home, wanting to sleep. Kakashi hovered near Naruto and Sasuke until Sasuke glared at him. Kakashi knew better than to intrude on an Uchiha's space.

Naruto silently followed Sasuke back to Naruto's apartment. Sasuke decided to do laundry since it was another chore he could do without thinking, allowing him to concentrate on other things. Naruto looked in his cupboards and refrigerator; nothing but spoiled milk and instant ramen.

When Sasuke came back, "Hey, all I have is ramen. You want to go shopping and get something else?"

"No. I can eat ramen."

Naruto knew Sasuke was unhappy if he was going to dain to eat ramen. He put the steaming cup in front of Sasuke with the chopsticks keeping the lid down. At the three minute mark, Naruto had the cup open and was chowing down. Sasuke took his chopsticks off the top and pulled back the lid, but didn't eat. He watched the steam curl. After a minute, Naruto, finished with his own dinner, asked, "You alright, Sasuke?"

Sasuke shook himself out of his retrieve. "Yeah. I'm fine." And he ate. Naruto frowned at him, but didn't say anything else. Sasuke went down to the building's laundry room and sat across from the machine and watched it distractedly. He transferred the clothes to the dryer without really being aware of it. He really wasn't thinking of anything, just staring.

Naruto, meanwhile, tidied up to make the neat-freak Uchiha feel better, though there was little to do since Sasuke had forced him to help clean his own apartment. But at least he cleaned the chopsticks and threw the ramen cups in the trash.

Sasuke didn't notice any change. He brought the clothes up separated and folded.

"Thanks, Sasuke."

"Huh? Oh, yeah. It's nothing."

"What did Itachi say?"

"He didn't really say anything. The fact he let me go and didn't try to kill me was enough."

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know," Sasuke lied.

Sasuke went off to Naruto's bedroom and striped down to his underwear. He was too tired to shower. Naruto joined him. It was still early, but being hit with genjutsu was rough.

Naruto wanted to have sex with him again, but didn't think he'd be in the mood and didn't want to seem to be selfish and hedonistic. Sasuke took care of that though. He kissed Naruto's shoulder, put his hand on his hip, and started tracing shapes with his thumb. Naruto got the message.

Sasuke let Naruto take the lead. He might be an idiot, but he remembered to go get some kind of lubricant. Sasuke felt self-destructive; he needed to feel something, anything, to remind him he was alive. He was still a virgin, but it wasn't the pain he was seeking, but sex in general felt like it would fulfill that self-destructive urge. Perhaps it had something to do with the vulnerability or that he was accepting something he had denied himself. Or it may have been the control he was turning over to Naruto.

Naruto mimicked what Sasuke had done for him, taking Sasuke into his mouth and loosening him up. Sasuke was relaxed and took less time than Naruto did. Naruto noticed. "I always knew you were the tight-ass," he said with a smile that looked vaguely psychotic on Sasuke's face. Sasuke gave him a soft smile in return. Naruto's nervousness bleed off and he prepared to take his own virginity. Sasuke wondered if Naruto had thought of that yet.

Sasuke closed his eyes and relaxed as Naruto pushed into him. When he was all the way in, Naruto looked at Sasuke's face; he had his eyes closed and seemed like he wasn't enjoying it.

He leaned over him. "Sasuke?"

Sasuke opened his eyes. "I'm alright."

"Are you sure?"

Sasuke smiled as much as was possible with his depression. "I'm the one who wanted to do this." Naruto wanted Sasuke to react in some way so he kissed him. The feeling of Sasuke responding to his kiss was enough reassurance. Sasuke did react when Naruto found his prostate and hit it head on. Sasuke pulled Naruto down with an arm around his neck and arched his back. He bucked his hips up to meet Naruto's as Naruto increased his pace. Having done this once before, though in opposite positions, let them hold on to their orgasms for several more minutes than last time before Sasuke came with Naruto joining him soon after. Naruto rested a minute before teasing another kiss from Sasuke.

"You did enjoy it, didn't you?"

"You are so insecure. Yes, I did." And it did make him feel better. Naruto noticed that Sasuke's mood had improved.

"I guess I'm missing you calling me an idiot. At least when you do I know nothing's wrong."

"You think nothing's wrong."

"Then I have no way of really knowing." He sounded like he thought Sasuke said that just to make his life more difficult, that it was unfair.

"Maybe I'll start telling you. But no promises."

"I guess we can start with that."

Sasuke smiled, but his heart was breaking; Naruto saw this as a beginning while Sasuke knew they were nearing the end. Sasuke turned with Naruto still in his arms and spooned him for a change. When Naruto finally fell asleep, Sasuke cried as quietly as possible into Naruto's back.

—

Anyone else think of Luke telling Darth Vader "I won't fight you?" I thought of that after I wrote it. This story got darker than I originally intended it to be. Go figure.