A Thousand Words

Summary: When neither Sasuke nor Naruto can find the words to say what’s really important, they find a picture might say enough to get them started.

Disclaimer: I don’t own either Sasuke or Naruto :( so their current owner better take real good care of them, yeah!! *sniff sniff* no hurty sasuke-baby :(

Warnings: yaoi (M/M), language, angstyness, mild references to drug use and sexual assault, occasional Crack!Itachi

Oh yeah, and reviews make mouths happy! Review responses and final A/N at the end ^_^

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Sasuke really had to hold himself back from just jumping the blond right then and there. Naruto, stretched out on the rock, shirt riding up over his jeans exposing a strip of tan skin, his mouth open in shock – yeah, very jumpable. He thrust his hands deeper into his pockets, hoping that Naruto wouldn’t notice his reaction. Jumping the blond might be nice, but he had a feeling it wouldn’t go over too well. And he supposed they really did need to – ack – talk.

He crawled up on the rock next to the blond, sitting Indian-style facing him. Naruto sat up and did the same, clasping his hands together and resting them against his legs. He was slightly hunched over. He looked at Sasuke for a second and opened his mouth as if he had something to say, but then turned his head and looked back out over the town.

Sasuke watched him, arms resting loosely on his knees, inches from the blond. His blond. He wanted to reach out and touch him, but was uncertain of the reception. Naruto wasn’t acting like himself at all. His Naruto was always so open; even when he wasn’t speaking his emotions were written on his face. The face before him was somehow distant.

He’d told the blond that he wanted to talk, but now that he was here, he wasn’t sure at all what to say.

After a few minutes of silence, he raised a hand to that distant face – just wanting some physical contact, wanting to say something without the words he couldn’t find. When the raven’s fingers caressed the soft skin of a tan cheek the blond turned his head quickly, looking at his best friend in shock. Sasuke pulled back immediately, looking down. He wracked his brain, trying to think of what he could have done to cause that sort of reaction from Naruto. His brain, as always, was always so good at providing so many answers. A brush of knuckles against his hand broke his spiraling train of thought, and he glanced up at the blond.

“Sorry,” Naruto said, managing a small grin. “Just surprised me. I almost forgot you were there.”

Sasuke blinked at him in disbelief. “You – forgot?”

“Eh, well, I’ve had a lot on my mind,” the blond said, chuckling softly. “Maybe you guys are right, and my head will explode if I think too much.”

Smirking, Sasuke shook his head. “No doubt, idiot.”

“Hey!” Naruto said, lightly punching the raven on his knee. “Bastard.”

Sasuke chuckled. As always, the light from the blond helped chase away the shadows within his heart. He looked down, clasping his hands together loosely to mirror the blond. Their fingers were barely inches apart.

“So,” the blond said, after a few moments.

“So,” Sasuke replied, looking up into the blue eyes of his best friend.

“You wanted to talk?”

. . .

Naruto watched his best friend. It was weird, how sitting with the one person he’d been afraid to talk to was somehow exactly what he needed. It was like all these things that had built up in his head were helpless against the truth of what was sitting right in front of him.

The raven glanced away for a moment, and then nodded slowly. “Yeah,” he said, glancing back down at his hands. His shoulders relaxed a bit. Naruto took the opportunity to run his gaze over the pale skin, noting how the sun glinted in the dark black hair. A stray thought struck him that everything he’d wanted to touch these past few months was right there, within his grasp. He wasn’t quite ready for that, though.

“I never did answer you, the other night,” Sasuke said.

“Hm?”

“About who I liked.”

“Oh. That.” Suddenly, Naruto’s heart was beating faster. He felt that weird fear resurface, that it wasn’t him, that the kiss was just some physical thing that they’d fallen into, that the raven wanted someone else and he was just Naruto, best friend who happened to be handy for some playing around.

Suddenly, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer at all. “Well, that’s ok, you don’t have to –“

“Well, I kinda did,” Sasuke continued, as if the blond hadn’t spoken. “But I thought it would probably be good to make it clear. Especially to a dobe like you.”

Naruto’s mouth dropped open.

Before he could voice a protest, Sasuke looked him straight in the eye. The blond’s breath caught in his throat as he was captured by that gaze, so intense, but in a different way. Not lust, but determination. “It was you,” he said. “It is you.”

The raven’s confidence faltered and he looked down again. “And it’s ok if you don’t feel the same way. And I’m sorry if I pushed things the other night. I just…” He shrugged.

“Oh,” Naruto said, slowly digesting this. He barely registered that Sasuke had looked up at his face for a split second, because he was trying to figure everything out. He didn’t realize that the small surge of warmth he felt in his heart didn’t show on his face, a face that still looked shocked. He finally noticed, when he looked down, that the ravens fingers were tightened, rubbing against each other as if waiting for the end of a moment that had stretched on way too long.

“Oh,” he said again. This was heavy. He wanted to call the raven an idiot for thinking he might not like him. For thinking he would’ve done – let him done that – if he didn’t like him. He felt calmer now. He felt a small smile flit across his face when he realized that it was him the raven wanted. Had wanted. Still wanted.

And he knew Sasuke didn’t just do things half-assed. He wondered how much of the crap their sophomore year was because Sasuke liked him and hadn’t known how to tell him, and then he really wanted to call the raven an idiot. But that probably wouldn’t get the point across.

Then he had an idea.

“Um, Sasuke,” he murmured, voice neutral. “Remind me, I need to show you one of my journals when you come over sometime.”

Sasuke looked up at him. This wasn’t what he expected. Naruto almost never let anyone look through his journals; he called them his diaries, even if they were mainly pictures. Sometimes he’d show you a sketch, but even then, he always said he would rather show the finished works instead of the practice.

“Yeah, well, see, I was thinking about everything earlier today, and looked through one of the ones from our sophomore year. There’s a lot of sketches of different people, but one person just kept showing up over and over. I didn’t really realize how I felt until a few months ago, really, but after seeing that, I’m pretty sure I felt this way even then, about this person.”

He looked up at the raven, seeing the guarded but hopeful look in his eyes, and smiled. “It’s you. I like you too. You’re my best friend and most precious person, and I, well, yeah.” Sasuke looked stunned, mouth opened slightly. Naruto almost giggled, but didn’t want to spoil the mood. Instead, he gathered his courage, and decided to take what he wanted.

He lifted a hand and shyly caressed Sasuke’s cheek, then let his fingers trail to the back of the raven’s neck. Sasuke watched him, tilting his head towards the hand, never breaking eye contact as Naruto leaned forward and gently kissed him. It was soft, and warm. The raven matched the kiss, opening his lips slightly when Naruto’s tongue flicked out, tasting him. It was good.

The blond felt hands skim over his pants and around his back, one coming up to cup the back of his head. Sasuke deepened the kiss, slowly, and Naruto felt this deliciousness come up over him. It was languid, gentle, almost like their last kisses that night but different, purer somehow. Naruto fisted one hand in Sasuke’s shirt, pulling him closer, the thought flitting through his brain of crawling into the raven’s lap to get nearer to him – but not right now. Right now, this was good. He felt like sand, as the tide came in, brushing against him, weakening him, taking away all his control. It was scary. But this was Sasuke. He trusted Sasuke. Sasuke would never ever let him drown.

Finally, Sasuke broke the kiss, and they just looked at each other. He could see the care and tenderness etched all over the raven’s face. It was the strangest feeling, to be looked at like this, touched like this. It was terrifying how much he wanted it. Sasuke leaned forward and rested his forehead against Naruto’s.

Finally the raven spoke, quietly. “Good.”

It was enough. Somehow, their hands ended up back in their laps, fingers intertwined, knees touching each other. Naruto could feel Sasuke start to chuckle, and leaned back in question, grinning when he saw the true smile on the raven’s face. He had to giggle after that, just because. He tightened his fingers around the raven’s. He knew this emotion. It was happy.

The raven just shook his head. “I wish I had my camera right now,” he said, gazing at the blond. Naruto blushed, looking down. Sasuke lifted his chin with a finger, and turned serious for a moment. “Naruto, I—“

Naruto interrupted him with a swift sweet kiss. “Shh. No talk, just – happy.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes, then widened them with shock when Naruto pounced, tickling him. “Oi! Dobe!”

“I know where all your tickle-spots are!”

They wrestled around for a bit, almost falling off the rock. Naruto soon found himself pinned though, wrists in the raven’s hands, and exasperated-looking Sasuke leaning over him. He couldn’t stop giggling. He tried, he really did. When the raven’s eyes narrowed, he squinted up at him mischievously. When the raven smirked back with a dangerous glint in his eyes, the blond finally took stock of his precarious position.

“Ack! Sasuke! Mmph!”

This kiss was harder. It made his head bump against the rock but not too bad, and he soon forgot about that with the intensity of the kiss. He tried wriggling out from under the raven’s hands, but he held him down. The lack of control somehow made things that much stronger. He tensed up, biting Sasuke’s bottom lip, but not too hard. The raven pulled up a bit, still smirking.

“Very good,” he said… purring? Naruto would bet money on it. A friggin purr? When had Sasuke learned to purr?

He stuck his tongue out at the raven, yelping when Sasuke nipped at the tip. Rolling off him, Sasuke let him up, and they dusted themselves off. Naruto found his hand captured again, but he didn’t mind. He just wrapped his fingers around the other slim hand, still feeling the buzz from before.

Purring. Naruto laid back and looked up at the sky. Sasuke lay on his side next to him, their hands clasped between them. Naruto raised a hand up to touch the raven’s face again, reveling in his newfound ability to do just that – to feel how soft that raven hair felt against his fingers, to watch Sasuke’s face as he traced down that check he’d drawn so many times. He wanted to take the time to learn it all by touch. He let his finger slide down Sasuke’s nose, poking the end. Sasuke just rolled his eyes, and then moved suddenly, kissing the tip of Naruto’s finger.

The blond was startled, but found himself mesmerized. He traced those lips that had kissed him just a few moments before, eyes widening when Sasuke opened his lips and flicked his tongue against the questing fingertip. As he stilled his movement, those warm lips closed around his finger, sucking him in just a bit, teeth lightly scraping against the pad as Sasuke pulled back.

The raven kissed his fingertip before saying, “You taste … um, to be honest, a little dusty.”

Naruto blinked, and then pulled his hand back, giggling again. “Well what do you expect, bastard? We’re in the middle of the desert here.” He waved his arm around. “See, living desert, all around us!”

“Idiot,” Sasuke said fondly, giving him a quick kiss. The raven glanced at his watch. “You wanna come over to my place?” he said.

“Sure,” Naruto said. It was natural, normal. He looked down at their two cars, and tightened his fingers around the raven’s, suddenly not wanting to let go. Though Sasuke was right, it was getting kinda late. And, he noticed, he was kinda hot and sweaty and grimy after sitting on the rock for who knows how long.

He scrambled to the edge, putting both his hands down against it before sliding off. He dusted off his ass then looked back at Sasuke, catching where the raven had been looking. Snorting, he shook his hips a bit. “Like what you see, Sasuke?” he teased.

The raven replied by slapping a hand against the blond’s ass after he got down. “Definitely.” He gave a squeeze, and Naruto yelped, catching the offending hand in his own and grinning happily. They started walking down the trail.

“Ne, Sasuke, think Itachi would mind if I took a quick shower? I feel kinda dirty.”

When Sasuke didn’t reply, he looked over and caught a suspicious looking smirk on his face.

“Sasuke?”

“Hm?”

Naruto narrowed his eyes. “What are you thinking?”

Sasuke just shot him another one of those looks that made the blond seriously consider running for the hills. Then he got it.

“Ack! Pervert! I knew you hung out around Kakashi too much!”

He pulled his hand from the raven’s grasp and ran the last few feet to the end of the trail, checking quickly for cars before running over to his bug. Opening the door, he looked back and stuck his tongue out at the raven, grinning at the look on the other boy’s chuckling face.

“See ya at home, bastard!” he said, getting in and starting up his engine.

Yep. Things were going to change. But it was good.

. . .

Itachi peered over his sunglasses as he pulled into his driveway. Orange bug, hmm? That was a good sign. Naruto had been pretty distant on the ride back yesterday.

He pulled into the garage, parking beside Sasuke’s SUV. He was about to open the door into the house when a thought struck him. He decided to keep his sunglasses on, just in case.

Turning the knob quietly, he snuck inside and into the kitchen. He listened carefully for a few minutes, wanting to make sure that Sasuke had taken him seriously about the makeout sessions.

Not hearing anything, he walked into the living room, looking around. Nothing, though he could see Naruto’s shoes by the front door. Upstairs?

He walked upstairs. Sasuke’s door was closed. He glanced in at the open door of the bathroom and saw a towel on the floor. Hadn’t he told Sasuke to not leave towels on the floor? Although… Itachi narrowed his eyes and stalked towards Sasuke’s room. Making out was one thing, but he might have to set down some ground rules. For the next couple of weeks, at least. He frowned when he remembered that Sasuke and Naruto would be roommates fairly quickly. Well, suitemates, actually, but – oh well. They were good boys. Probably.

Wincing at what he might hear, he carefully put his ear up against Sasuke’s bedroom door. Things were quiet. Too quiet. Really too quiet. His makeout sessions were never this quiet. Straining, he finally heard the muffled noise of conversation, and what sounded like a page turning.

Shrugging, he backed away from the door. He had a pensive look on his face as he made his way to his own bedroom, going inside and shutting the door quietly. He’d ask the boys what they wanted for dinner later. He didn’t want to interrupt them.

It was strange to think about, but he guessed there were times when you just had to do your best, and trust that you’ve done a good enough job to let go a little. Then he was tempted to go online and go look up nanny-cams (Sasuke wouldn’t notice a new stuffed teddy bear in his room, would he?), but refrained, deciding to go and take a shower of his own instead.

He was surprised to find, as he stepped into the stall and turned on the water, that he felt more relaxed about his little brother now than he had in a long time.

. . .

“Ne, Sasuke,” Naruto said. He was lying on his back on Sasuke’s bed. The raven was sitting against the wall, legs stretched out, a pillow and Naruto’s head on his lap. The pillow had been Naruto’s insistence. Now that he had some idea how pervy the raven probably was, he figured it was a good idea.

Sasuke was reading, a book in one hand and the other tracing designs in Naruto’s hair. The blond almost felt like a cat. He wasn’t going to complain, though. It felt amazing. Even if Sasuke occasionally felt like he could use Naruto’s chest to rest his book on while he turned the page.

“Hmm?” the raven replied absently.

“Did you hear anything?”

“Mmm,” Sasuke said, turning a page, “probably just my brother. It’s about time for him to get home from work.”

“Oh.” He snuggled closer, pulling the edge of the comforter over his legs.

“Cold?”

The blond shrugged. “Not really. Just a little.”

“Hn.”

Naruto turned on his side, looking at the far wall in fascination. Sasuke already had the painting hung up. Next to it, there was a hasty printout of the photo taped up on the wall. It wasn’t big enough or crisp enough to really be able to do the picture justice, but it was enough to let him see how things would be. Sasuke said he had sent a better print out for framing. The frames and size would match the painting. He had both pictures memorized in his mind, but the idea that they would really be next to each other was really cool. Sasuke had suggested that they put them up in their dorm next month.

He loved the idea. Sasuke, staring into the fire, peaceful and happy. Himself, gazing at the sunset, calm and determined. It wasn’t everything about who they were. But in a way, it was pieces of them that were only seen best by each other. He smiled.

He hadn’t noticed when Sasuke set down the book. He just noticed when pale fingers came to trace his smile, then caress his face. He closed his eyes as the fingers urged him to lift his chin, tracing lazy designs on his neck, and then slowly teasing over his chest. Put that alongside the hand still in his hair, massaging his scalp, and he really did feel like a cat. He wondered if Sasuke would teach him how to purr.

Naruto opened his eyes and looked up at the raven, rolling onto his back. Sasuke was gazing down at him with that calm and peaceful expression that Naruto loved. The blond grinned, blinking up. He pursed his lips. “Ne, Sasuke,” he said, feeling serious for a moment. “I l—“

He was halted by a finger against his lips. “Shh. Later. You’re too sleepy.”

Smiling, he turned over on his side, feeling the hand move to trace patterns on his back. This was amazing. Sasuke was amazing. Happily, he snuggled back down into the covers, and closed his eyes.

He’d tell Sasuke that he loved him later.

~~~ End ~~~

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A/N - Ok, this is the end... for now :) I have plans to continue this in another story, but this one, I think, is complete. Thanks so much to everyone who's read for sticking with me thus far. Sorry there wasn't any major smut in here (it's not that I'm against it, it's just some things are worth taking your time for... hence one reason why I'm thinking sequal. That, and there are other unresolved things in the long run). Hope this chapter wasn't toooooooo sacharine for you :) I'm a sucker for a happy ending!!! Besides, all torture victims deserve a good happy ending ^_^

Thanks so much for all the reviews, I really really really really really appreciate it - being able to see that there are readers out there that A) like what i'm doing, B) see what it is I'm trying to do, and C) care enough to actually let me know is amazingly encouraging.

Review Responses

Prism0467 - thanks!! yeah, he definately has his run and hide moments, but he's also worked through some of them - and he's more centered about this than Naru :) I like this story, and am looking forward to getting back to the sequal (have a lil oneshot in mind, as well as starting the college episodes). Hope you like how this one was wrapped up!

CreeperGirl - thanks!! Hope you like how things ended up :)

disembodiedvoiceofthedying - yeah, sorry it was confusing for everyone - but ultimately, good.