Black as Blood

VII

Sasuke dove beneath the swipe of the knife that would have sliced his throat and kicked out at his attacker’s legs, scissoring his own to upset the other’s balance. His attacker came crashing down on top of him, nearly driving the breath from his body. Sasuke recovered and shoved the other off of him, lashing out with his fist as the attacker lunged for him again. They collided, and Sasuke felt pain blossom in his shoulder. He stifled the cry and shoved Naruto away, kicking at his face and clutching his bitten shoulder.

“You bit me!” Sasuke said indignantly, looking helplessly over at Kakashi. The silver haired jounin was conveniently staring down at the latest volume of Icha Icha, and Sasuke sighed. Naruto was holding his nose, his mask pushed up over his face, bright blue glaring at Sasuke.

“And?”

“Next time you bite me, I’ll rip your jaw out.” Sasuke threatened. Kakashi looked up and his visible eye crinkled in a smile.

“You’re done already?”

“We decided to call it a draw due to the fact it’s the purple gorillas’ mating season,” Sasuke deadpanned before Naruto could open his mouth. Sasuke returned Kakashi’s startled gaze with a mild look, rubbing his throbbing shoulder to lessen the pain, looking away after a moment as he moved to pick up his discarded mask, fussing with the cut string if only to give himself something to do to avoid looking at those around him.

“Training is over?” Sasuke asked in the silence, hearing a muffled, shocked reply from Kakashi. He looked over at Naruto, then away, and began to leave the clearing. That urge to run coursed through him again and a shiver ran through his spine. He glanced behind him to see if he was being followed, though he knew it was stupid to actually try to run away. Naruto tackled him from behind before he could get too far away.

“Trying to run away already, Sasuke-teme?” Naruto hissed into Sasuke’s ear, holding the elder down to the loamy earth. Sasuke didn’t have the energy to struggle; he just wanted to run.

“I want to run, Usuratonkatchi.” Sasuke replied, surging up off the ground and flipping Naruto over his head, looking down at him with a small smile, eye glittering in challenge. “Feel up to it?”

Naruto grinned toothily. “First one to score blood is the winner. Winner gets the prize of his choice. Agreeable?”

Sasuke nodded, and let Naruto get to his feet. The two jounin stood staring at each other for a few more minutes before bolting off, rushing through the canopy of trees, each trying to get one up on the other. They clashed, lithe bodies compensating with speed and force to keep from actually harming the other, though Naruto’s actions held a bit more of a murderous intent than Sasuke’s, and Sasuke just did his best to avoid letting his more violent side reign free when he scented that killing edge from the blonde jounin. Clashed, broke apart again, leaping through branches, darting from shadow to shadow, always trying to be ahead or behind, above or below, to spot a weakness to take advantage of. Sasuke paused on the branch of a tree, panting softly as he caught his breath, smiling for the first time in a while. He felt Naruto lunge up from beneath him and jumped from the branch, diving for the ground, passing the blonde as he went. Naruto caught the branch, flipped around and dove after Sasuke, grabbing onto his waist as he passed. They hit the ground in a tangle of limbs, rolling, squirming, trying to get free from the other’s grip. Metal glinted, and Sasuke felt wet warmth sliding down his skin. Black went wide in shock, and Naruto sat back with a triumphant grin, licking Sasuke’s blood from the kunai’s blade.

“I win Sasuke-teme.”

“Of course. And what do you want for your prize?” Sasuke asked, head tilting as he directed his chakra flow to heal the wound, rubbing the shallow wound and smearing blood over his pale skin. Naruto blinked, confused for a moment, racking his brain until he remembered what they had been struggling for. Hatred surged again when he remembered, and he directed that hate toward Sasuke, glaring at that scarred face. He watched Sasuke draw back a little, that black orb darken in wary confusion, wondering where that friendly-Naruto went no doubt. Naruto only glared harder, hating himself as much as he hated Sasuke for the moment of weakness he’d just had. Consorting with the enemy, with the unworthy, the untrusting.

And now for a prize…?

Naruto grinned a little bit. “I want you.”

Sasuke tensed for a moment, and then deflated. “Of course,” he replied softly, looking away from the blonde. Naruto blinked, confused. Sasuke should’ve fought him, should’ve argued, should’ve gotten angry. He shouldn’t be looking so defeated.

“Sasuke?”

“…It’s nothing.” Sasuke rose, and brushed himself free of dirt and debris. “It’s what you want, right?”

“But not… no! What’s with you?” Naruto moved to follow, grabbing onto Sasuke’s arm, pulling him to a halt. “I say I want you and you go all emo on me.”

“Naruto, do you understand the mating habits of wolves?”

“They mate for life, right?”

“…Yeah. You could say I’m a wolf.”

Naruto blinked, thought about it, and stiffened. “You’re saying we’d be mates if I took what I wanted?”

“In a sense. You take what you want from me, and I may not be able to let the next person you choose keep you.”

Naruto let Sasuke go, and watched the darker boy move away, pausing after a few steps to look back at the blonde. That dark eye watched Naruto, watched him with something Naruto couldn’t name, refused to name, as he refused to let the sick feeling in his stomach consume him. He would not feel pity for this horrible creature, a creature that would defect for power to kill a man who couldn’t be beaten, to give up everything for an impossible chance. Naruto looked away, to the sky, anywhere but Sasuke. He listened to Sasuke’s movements, listened to the darker start to pace. He finally looked back at the other, reached out to grab his wrist, and pulled him back toward the village.

“I changed my mind. About the prize,” Naruto clarified when Sasuke gave him a searching look.

“What do you want now?” Sasuke asked as Naruto pulled him along back to the apartment, Naruto moving to get out of his ANBU uniform. Naruto shoved Sasuke’s clothes into their owner’s arms and gestured for him to get changed as well. Sasuke shook his head and did as the blonde ordered, smoothing wrinkles out of his shirt just to annoy the blonde. Impatient as ever it seemed, Naruto didn’t bother to wait before barging in on Sasuke, grabbing his wrist again and pulling him out of the apartment. Naruto let go of Sasuke once they hit the street, the two walking side by side as they headed for one of the better restaurants that Naruto rarely frequented unless Tsunade was taking a group out to dinner or something like that. Last time he was in a restaurant like this, they’d been escorting Princess Koyuki back to the Land of Snow and he hadn’t eaten anything.

“Naruto?” Sasuke asked quietly.

“Dinner first.” Naruto replied. “Then we’ll talk.”

Sasuke nodded, shoving his hands into his pockets as he walked, feeling almost naked without Kusunagi resting on his back. He had nothing to fear, not with Naruto walking beside him, waving at a few people they passed along, though Naruto’s waves became less enthusiastic the more he noticed the glares being sent toward Sasuke. He looked over at the older boy, and blinked with confusion. It took him three more glares and a flying stone narrowly missing Sasuke’s head to realize what was going on. Those glares and those stones were no longer directed at him, rather at Sasuke now. Sasuke had become the Naruto from younger days, the one to receive the distrusting glares and the curses, the one to be the target of stones and spit. Sasuke’s head was angled downward, his eye on his feet, on the street before them. Naruto shoved him into an alley, pinning Sasuke to a wall, glaring down at him.

“What is wrong with you, Sasuke?” Naruto whispered, almost pouring enough anger into his voice to make Sasuke flinch. “You would retaliate before.”

“That was before, Naruto,” Sasuke replied softly.

“It doesn’t matter!” Naruto hissed, releasing Sasuke in a huff, whirling away and turning back, lips curled in a snarl. “It isn’t like you!”

“I’ve changed Naruto. You’ve changed.”

“I want the old Sasuke back.”

Sasuke looked up at the blonde, head tilting. “You can’t have the old Sasuke back. That Sasuke is dead. This is what I am now, and the only thing that can happen now is change.”

“You would never let them do that shit to you!” Naruto said vehemently. “Why would you let them now?”

“You mean, why am I not reacting like you would?”

“Dammit, Sasuke!” Naruto breathed, running his fingers through his hair. “It’s not like you to let them walk all over you.”

Sasuke sighed, looking away as he pressed against the wall, rubbing his shoulder. “And if I retaliated, Naruto, what then? The Council would have all the evidence they need to get rid of me. Maybe they’ll breed me first. Maybe if I’m lucky they’ll keep me alive long enough to see my first child, to see if he or she has the Sharingan. I want to stay here, Naruto. I don’t care how the people treat me, soon enough they’ll realize that I’m not the man who killed their loved ones, that I’m not the one to blame for the troubles. They’ll realize that I can be trusted again. That’s all I can hope for.”

Naruto looked at Sasuke, and for the first time since his return, Naruto truly saw Sasuke. Naruto watched him without hate, without pity, void of any emotion. Sasuke was returning because Konoha was his home. This was where everything was familiar, where he knew people who wouldn’t judge him for his weaknesses but praise him for his strength. The pity caught in his throat, almost choking Naruto with it. He swallowed the lump in his throat and reached for Sasuke, embracing the darker. Sasuke was stiff in his hold, as if he was trying to figure out what Naruto was doing. He finally relaxed and returned the blonde’s embrace, pressing his face to the taller’s shoulder, sighing heavily against that annoying orange tracksuit.

“Dinner?” Naruto asked against Sasuke’s ear. Sasuke hid the shiver that went down his spine and nodded against Naruto’s neck, finally drawing away from that comfort.

“So long as you’re buying.”

“Hey, I offered, didn’t I?”

Naruto grinned, pleased, because he finally got to hear Sasuke’s laugh after all this time.