Keeping Her Secret

Keeping Her Secret

Author: ladygizarme
Written For: anon’s request here: http://community.livejournal.com/sasunaru_kink/796.html?thread=2076#t2076 on sasunaru_kink on lj.
Anon’s Request: Pre-timeskip. Naruto realises Sasuke has been a girl all the time when he accidentally cops a feel during a spar. Since they are about 13, I'll like some sexing but nothing too hardcore
Spoilers: Part 1
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: fluff, angst, pre-timeskip, het (with toppy!fem!Sasuke)

Beware: This monster is 21 pages, over 1100 words, and a bit plotty. >_< And, in the end, I’m kind of bemoaning my longwindedness and twisting my stomach in knots about whether this is at all enjoyable. TT__TT


Keeping Her Secret


It was weird, how suddenly things could change. One minute you’re fighting your rival/best friend, forcing him into a submissive position as you trap his arms around his body with your own and knock his legs to the ground, the next minute your hand slips and as you grapple for a better hold before he gets the better of you, you suddenly realize you have a handful of very soft, kinda squishy something that shouldn’t be where your hand is. And then, abruptly, everything is different.

That’s how it was for Naruto, at least. And then he was frozen, his hand still right there on Sasuke’s chest, resisting the urge to squeeze again out of pure instinct, unsure what to do now or what was going on. This wasn’t what he thought it was… was it? This wasn’t a boob in his hand—no way!

“S-Sasuke?”

Sasuke was frozen, too, but beginning to tremble the longer they stayed in this position. Then, in a flash, Naruto was on his back on the ground, staring wide-eyed up at Sasuke as he (she?!) pinned him to the ground bodily, bent legs pinning Naruto’s upper thighs, one arm braced on the ground beside his head as the other leaned across Naruto’s throat threateningly. The partial-Sharingan spun wildly in Sasuke’s eyes as the threat issued from pale lips.

“Don’t you dare tell anyone, Uzumaki.”

Naruto could only stare up at the girl he’d thought for so long was a boy. His world had just turned completely upside-down, and he couldn’t quite seem to comprehend it.

At Naruto’s lack of response, Sasuke pressed her arm a little harder against his throat. “Swear it! Give me your word!”

Finally the meaning of her words and the threat sunk in, and Naruto’s hands struggled to push her arm away as he nodded his agreement frantically.

“Say it,” she hissed, finally letting up on the pressure so that he could speak.

Naruto rubbed at his abused throat a moment, and glared up at Sasuke as best he could through his bewilderment. “I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”

And they both knew he would keep it.

xXx

The promise was harder to keep than Naruto had expected. Keeping a secret was big—he’d never really kept one before, at least not one that would have such an impact if he did tell—and being unable to avoid the subject of the secret made it even more difficult. Sasuke was on his team, after all. They saw each other almost every day!

The strangest thing about it, though, was that nothing appeared to have changed. Sasuke still dressed like a boy and acted like a boy and affected that deeper tone that didn’t sound at all fake, no matter how much Naruto concentrated on it, listening for that voice he’d heard days before—slightly higher, a touch softer, and breathily husky as she’d tried to mask it.

Most of all, Sasuke still acted the same towards him. After days and days of this, Naruto almost started to believe he’d somehow dreamt the whole thing (but why would he do that?!). Without really planning it, he started searching for more concrete evidence, just to prove to himself that he hadn’t imagined it.

He tried to get a good look at Sasuke’s (clothed) chest while they worked together, looking for tell-tale bumps under her shirt, but he couldn’t see them. He tried ‘accidentally’ groping Sasuke while they sparred, but somehow Sasuke always managed to escape his searching grasp. He even tried following Sasuke when she went to relieve herself in the woods during a mission, but Sakura had stopped him with a punch to the jaw followed by an intense lecture about not pestering Sasuke-kun as she shook him wildly by the collar.

For a moment, Naruto considered telling her the secret, just to see her shocked reaction, but he stopped himself. He had made a promise, and he would not go back on his word. Even if it, possibly, had only been imaginary.

…besides, Sakura would probably only beat him up more and call him a liar.

xXx

Naruto stared at Sasuke all the time now. It was like an obsession. The more Sasuke refused to acknowledge that Naruto knew anything different about him (as time went on, it was increasingly harder to continue thinking of Sasuke as a girl), the more determined Naruto became. Finally, he came to a realization.

The only way to find the truth was to get Sasuke alone.

So, one night, after training had ended and everyone had gone home, Naruto traced the path that led to Sasuke’s house.

It was dark and quiet and, well, kinda spooky, really. Goosebumps raised on Naruto’s arms as he walked through the deserted Uchiha District. Every rustle of a leaf or squeaking sign hinge had him reaching instinctively for a kunai, only to silently berate himself when he realized it was just the wind. At last, he saw a light glowing in the upper window of one of the houses up ahead, and realized he’d reached his destination.

He’d never actually been to Sasuke’s house—sometimes he and Sakura would meet Sasuke in the street here, sure, but Sasuke had never invited them inside. Considering Sasuke’s lack of hospitality, Naruto was surprised at the lack of traps as he crept up to the house and started chakra-climbing the wall below the lit window.

Naruto thought he could just see Sasuke’s shadow moving inside (it couldn’t be anyone else’s, after all, Sasuke lived alone just like him), and hoped he’d come at just the right time to watch Sasuke change for bed. Just as he crouched to grip the window ledge, he was yanked backwards by a handful of his hair, and a kunai was at his throat.

“What do you think you’re doing, usuratonkachi?” a voice that wasn’t quite boy-Sasuke’s asked angrily in his ear.

Naruto grit his teeth at the sudden pain in his scalp and swallowed carefully against the lump in his throat, unsure whether to be relieved or more worried now that he knew his attacker was Sasuke.

Then he was roughly pushed through the open window, Sasuke leaping in after him in almost catlike fashion before turning to look outside and firmly shutting and blinding the window. Sasuke turned and scowled at Naruto, arms crossing over her chest—and Naruto could clearly see the proof now as Sasuke’s arms pressed against the two small bumps beneath her loose sleep shirt, unable to hide them completely.

“It was real,” Naruto said in a sort of daze.

Because his eyes were still transfixed on Sasuke’s chest, he missed the warning signs of an impending attack. Suddenly, Naruto’s face was acquainted with the hard wood floor, his arms crossed behind his back with Sasuke’s knee digging in, holding them in place.

“What was real, exactly?”

“You’re—you’re a girl.”

Sasuke’s knee pressed in harder, until Naruto let out a sound of discomfort that seemed to satisfy her enough to let up slightly.

“I told you not to tell anyone. You promised—”

“I didn’t tell! But Sasuke! You don’t know how hard it is to keep a secret like this! Knowing and not being able to tell anyone, not even able to talk to you about it—”

Sasuke again grabbed a handful of Naruto’s hair and pressed his face harder into the floor as she leaned over and seethed into his ear, “I don’t know what it’s like? Are you really that much of an idiot?”

Then Sasuke’s weight was gone, and Naruto cautiously sat up, her words still ringing in his ears. Well, of course it was stupid to say that. It was Sasuke’s secret in the first place—but she was the one making it a secret! It was up to her whether or not she told, but Naruto didn’t have a choice! She’d made him promise.

But Naruto didn’t say any of this. Instead, he stared up at Sasuke and suddenly wondered what would make a girl want to hide the fact she was a girl for… well, basically her whole life. As long as he’d known her, at least.

“Sasuke… why can’t you tell?”

Something flashed in Sasuke’s eyes, but Naruto wasn’t sure what it meant, so he just continued looking imploringly up at the girl he’d considered his best friend when he thought she was a boy. Was she still? Did this change any of that?

“I just can’t. You wouldn’t understand.”

With no further explanation, Sasuke returned to the window, opened it, and pointedly waited for Naruto to take the hint and leave.

Naruto stood and walked over, but stopped before climbing out the window. Instead, he turned to Sasuke, determination written all over him as he pressed her to the wall by her shoulders and looked into her eyes. That unreadable emotion surfaced into her expression again, and Naruto almost thought he could grasp what it meant. He could feel it, he thought—Sasuke’s vulnerability.

“I’m going to try,” he told her.

And then, surprising himself just as much as Sasuke, Naruto pressed a kiss to the corner of her mouth, and jumped out the window before Sasuke could try to kill him.

xXx

Naruto was a lot more thoughtful since confirming Sasuke’s secret for himself. Those wonderings were constantly in his head, about what Sasuke’s reasons could be. He also couldn’t stop thinking about how he should act towards Sasuke now. It was hard, thinking of Sasuke as a boy when they were around people and had to keep up the pretense, but it was also hard thinking of Sasuke as a girl. Sasuke was just Sasuke. But the more he thought about it, the more he thought he should be doing something different. Even if nothing seemed to have changed, Naruto felt like it had—or it should.

He started being more considerate of Sasuke. It wasn’t like he was going around opening doors or laying his jacket over puddles for her—that would just be weird. But there were ways he thought he could be subtly nicer—avoiding her face and chest when they sparred and trying not to draw blood or leave marks, for instance. This only earned him an even more painful beating, though, as Sasuke apparently took such consideration as an insult and proceeded to pummel him into the ground twice as hard as normal. As he lay in a battered heap after those times (for, indeed, it took more than once for Naruto to get it), Naruto wondered to himself why so many people thought of girls as helpless, delicate creatures, when both of the girls on his team kicked his ass on a regular basis. Not that he’d actually ever tried to beat up Sakura, but Sasuke… that was obviously a different story.

That thought, in turn, made him wonder if he had some weird thing for violent girls. Because, the more Naruto drilled it into his own head that Sasuke was really a girl, the more he began to realize that certain feelings he’d categorized as that of friendship and intense rivalry, might actually be something else. And now that Sasuke was a girl, he didn’t feel so strange about admitting it, even if it was just to himself.

But now that he’d come to terms with it more, he couldn’t seem to stop thinking about it. Sasuke was a girl. Sasuke had boobs. Sasuke fought with a grace he’d never seen before, and was the strongest rival he knew… and he became mesmerized watching Sasuke move—both in training and in everyday activities. The way Sasuke held her body and the gestures she used and the fastidious way she ate and drank… and her strange but perfect hair… sometimes he wondered how no one else had noticed before. But then Sasuke would sit on a step with her legs bent up, slumping over her arms resting on her widely-parted knees and insult Naruto as he stared at her dumbly, or smirk superiorly as she smashed Naruto’s body into the ground during a spar so that he left an imprint in the earth, and Naruto would think that Sasuke made a pretty good boy, after all.

In the end, the only thing that really changed now that he knew the truth was the way Naruto’s feelings were getting all jumbled up. He still wanted Sasuke’s recognition as a strong rival, yet he didn’t want to hurt her, despite her brutality when he pulled his punches.

And, even more confusing and frustrating, he began longing to catch Sasuke alone again.

xXx

They were on a mission away from Konoha the first time it happened. Staying in tents—Sakura getting her own tent while Sasuke and Naruto were made to share and Kakashi-sensei kept first watch. Naruto was lying in his sleeping bag, unable to fall asleep, and looked over to see Sasuke fast asleep, her sleeping bag cover slipped down to her waist, her chest rising and falling in regular, peaceful intervals. The calm repetition had just started lulling him to sleep when his brain picked out a certain inconsistency to suddenly focus on.

How was it that Sasuke hid her boobs so well, when Naruto was sure he’d clearly been able to notice them when he’d been in her room that time?

Unable to ignore his curiosity, Naruto moved without conscious thought, quietly slipping from his sleeping bag and crawling over to Sasuke’s. He sat there, incredibly still, for an endless moment, just watching her chest move up and down with her breath. Then, ever so slowly, one hand crept up Sasuke’s chest, fingers barely grazing so as not to disturb her. What he found was not the soft, squishiness he’d felt that first, accidental time, but something firmer, straight across, and not-quite-right. Curiosity continuing to get the better of him, Naruto carefully pulled back the top of Sasuke’s sleeping bag so that he could let his hand creep again, this time under Sasuke’s shirt.

He could feel the comforting heat of Sasuke’s body, just below his fingers as they floated upwards past Sasuke’s midriff, and his fingers itched to touch, but he didn’t dare. Not until he’d reached his destination. When he got to Sasuke’s chest, he finally gave in to the urge, but what he felt was not flesh. It was the same athletic tape Sasuke wrapped her ankles and shins with—bound tightly, strong and firm and smooth and… suppressing—hiding—the breasts he should have found there.

Naruto suddenly found himself disappointed, and let his fingers skate down on Sasuke’s warm, soft yet firm, stomach in hopes of assuaging his longing. He hadn’t touched Sasuke’s skin for more than a couple seconds, though, when his wrist was caught in a deathgrip and his eyes darted up to see Sasuke glaring accusatorily at him.

“Take off the bandage. Let me see,” Naruto said, not thinking at all that this was an outrageous demand to make of one’s female teammate. It was only after the words came out, so pleadingly, that Naruto began to notice how short his breathing had become.

And it was only when Sasuke actually moved to do so, after staring at him with narrowed eyes for a long, breath-holding moment, that Naruto became shocked at his own demand—and even moreso at Sasuke’s acquiescence. But as Sasuke lifted her shirt over her head and her blunt nails picked at the edge of the tape, lifting it and pulling slowly, almost mechanically, Naruto was too distracted—too eager—to worry about decorum he’d never really been taught or shame at his own bluntness.

Soon, Sasuke’s breasts were bare, small and pert, just beginning to earn their fuller roundness, skin an angry pink from the pull of the adhesive. Sasuke’s eyes averted momentarily, hands coming up in an instinctive move to cover herself, but then black met blue defiantly, and Sasuke put her hands down, gripping handfuls of her sleeping bag, arms tucked tightly into her sides.

“Satisfied… usuratonkachi?” she asked haughtily, her voice only a touch lighter than her “boy” voice, her lips attempting to twitch into a smirk, but too thin—too tight—to do it properly. “Now you can say you’ve really seen a naked woman, huh dobe?”

Even though Naruto could hear hesitation in her voice, her words irritated him. “Shut up! You’re not a woman!” He barely managed to keep his voice down as he growled the words.

“Oh no?” Sasuke hissed challengingly, stalking towards him on fingertips and knees like a wild cat stalking its prey.

Naruto leaned back to his elbows, wary, as Sasuke crept over him. When her arms were braced on either side of his head and her body between his legs, Naruto’s breath became shorter still, and he couldn’t help but stare at Sasuke’s developing breasts as they hovered above him. It was like she was daring him.

“Tch. You’re staring at the proof I’m a woman,” Sasuke remarked snidely, even as her face pinkened slightly. She covered Naruto’s face with her hand and pushed his head roughly against the ground. “Pervert.”

“It’s not that,” Naruto said, voice muffled under the pressure of Sasuke’s hand.

“Not what?” Sasuke asked.

Naruto pulled her hand from his face and looked up at her, blue eyes uncannily bright in the darkness and filled with an intense sincerity. “It’s not to see a naked woman. It’s just to see you, Sasuke.”

Surprise morphed Sasuke’s expression and she sat back, away from Naruto, suddenly guarded. “Why?”

This time it was Naruto crawling towards Sasuke, and he stopped just short of their noses touching to answer, “I… don’t really know.”

Sasuke was obviously frustrated with his answer, and to be honest, Naruto was, too. But neither of them seemed able to look away from the other, and Naruto was again extremely aware of how short his breath was becoming. And now he could feel Sasuke’s breath meeting his in quick, quiet puffs, and felt the heat between them building, almost like a static charge. And without really expecting to, Naruto closed the distance between them and pushed his lips towards Sasuke’s.

Naruto felt Sasuke’s quick intake of breath just before their lips met, and the press of his lips stuttered slightly in hesitation. Before he could pull back completely, though, he moved forward again. And Sasuke didn’t stop him.

Naruto pressed and pressed, wanting something to happen but not quite sure what or how to make it, and in answer Sasuke braced her hands on the ground behind her—and pressed back. Feeling encouraged and not quite satisfied with their dry touch of lips, Naruto pulled away to lick his lips, and immediately sought Sasuke’s again. His lips slid across hers, so that Sasuke’s lower lip was against the seam of his, and when Sasuke’s mouth parted for another intake of breath, Naruto had the sudden urge to take her lower lip between his. Sasuke made a soft sound in the back of her throat and closed her lips around his top one in reply. The action was almost familiar, like a classroom accident so long ago, yet so very not. It was purposeful, and it made Naruto’s heart race.

Naruto felt suddenly unsteady. To brace himself, his hand moved to Sasuke’s chest, momentarily surprised again when his palm met soft, yielding flesh instead of firm muscle, but quickly getting over it when he felt that Sasuke’s heart was racing, too. When Naruto’s fingers moved across her exposed, somewhat tender breast, Sasuke froze. And when Naruto’s index finger stroked across her delicately pointed nipple, Sasuke suddenly pushed him away.

Her eyes were wild—angry but confused—her breath was ragged, and her arms were stiff, still held straight in front of her from pushing Naruto away. After a moment where Naruto just stared up at her from between his parted knees, Sasuke blinked and came back to herself. Her arms fell to her sides and she quickly reached for her discarded shirt.

Not until Sasuke was again fully clothed and curled inside her sleeping bag was Naruto able to move, but when he did, he immediately noticed the discomfort inside his pants. He was hard—and it wasn’t like the other times when it had just happened randomly, for no apparent reason whatsoever. This time he knew it was because of kissing Sasuke, and the ache was worse than it had ever been before. He knew from past experience that a cold shower could make it go away, but they were camped in the woods without even a stream nearby. There was also the option of rubbing it, but there was no way he’d risk doing that in the same tent with Sasuke after what had just happened. So, with a barely stifled groan, Naruto laid on his side in his sleeping bag, willing his erection to simply go away.

The next morning, Naruto woke with a start, panting and sweaty with a wet stickiness inside his boxers.

xXx

The second time, Naruto had a better idea of what he was doing. He’d snuck a few peeks at some magazines in the bookstore in Konoha and even read some of the articles—purely as research.

He’d tracked Sasuke down on one of their days off, not too surprised when he finally found her in a rather secluded training ground inside the Uchiha District. He watched from behind a tree in a mixture of awe and jealousy as Sasuke performed an intricate target practice, complete with flips and exploding tags set off by targeted kunai that in turn set off other traps. The familiar need to prove himself burned in Naruto’s gut as Sasuke landed without even a scratch on her, and he geared up to shout a challenge at his rival, only for it to die at the back of his throat in the next instant as he watched disappointment bloom across Sasuke’s slightly-smudged face.

With mouth slightly turned down and eyes set in a glare, Sasuke stalked to a tree near the one Naruto was hidden behind, and pulled a shuriken from it. Sasuke contemplated the small weapon grimly before turning back to where she’d been. She’d only gone a couple steps, though, when she stopped again.

“Come out, Naruto. I know you’re there,” she called, her back still to him as she stood in the clearing several feet away.

Naruto stepped out slowly, abruptly aware that he was again trespassing on Sasuke’s property while Sasuke held a weapon at the ready. He chuckled nervously as his hand went to the back of his head, trying to be casual.

Sasuke turned her head slightly, one eye appearing to Naruto as she asked, “What are you doing here?” Her tone was even, almost monotone, yet somehow still managed to sound scolding.

Suddenly, all Naruto could concentrate on was that small smudge on Sasuke’s cheek, and the tight weariness around her eye as she peered at him, and he grasped desperately around his brain for some excuse.

“I… I wanted to challenge you!” Naruto finally answered, heaving in a big breath and pointing dramatically. “I won’t lose to you, Uchiha! Fight me!!”

Sasuke’s eye closed and she heaved in a slow, deep breath. Then, in one, fluid movement, she turned fully to him, opened her eyes, raised her arm, and threw the shuriken. Naruto’s eyes widened so far they hurt as he watched Sasuke’s shuriken fly towards him—and whiz centimeters past his head, landing with a ‘thunk!’ on the tree a short distance behind him. The thunk was immediately followed by an explosion, blowing large splinters of wood along with smoke around Naruto’s back.

Sasuke smirked at the shocked fright frozen on Naruto’s face, and put a hand on her hip haughtily. “For someone who spent most of his time growing up pulling pranks, you sure are a terrible liar, dobe.”

Naruto growled. “Sasuke!!” He yelled, charging for her and not stopping until both of them had toppled over, Sasuke on her back against the hard dirt and Naruto on top of her. He adjusted himself to hands and knees and glared angrily down at her, receiving only an unimpressed look in return. Irritated with Sasuke acting unaffected, Naruto fisted her collar and pulled her up, glaring into her face. Instead of growling the angry retort he didn’t quite have prepared, though, Naruto smashed their mouths together.

It only took a moment for Sasuke to respond, grabbing his head, digging her fingers into his hair and pulling in a way that only served to encourage Naruto. His lips parted to claim Sasuke’s between them, and opened them a little wider, the kiss becoming moist.

Naruto wanted to try putting his tongue in Sasuke’s mouth like he’d read about a few times, but despite his reading he still wasn’t quite sure how to go about it in a way that wasn’t awkward. Each time he parted his lips a little more in hopes he could send his tongue out, Sasuke’s lips moved, adjusted, and closed around his again, leaving no room for Naruto’s plans. He groaned in disappointment, which caused Sasuke to pull away and look at him in confusion.

For a moment they just looked at each other—Naruto still fisting Sasuke’s collar while one hand braced on the ground, Sasuke’s fingers still tangled in Naruto’s messy hair—both breathing harshly. Sasuke’s eyes moved back and forth, as if searching Naruto for something. The idea of telling Sasuke what he wanted to do seemed silly and childish somehow, despite what it involved not exactly being meant for children, and Naruto felt his face heat up a little as Sasuke stared at him, as if she could plainly read what was on his mind. Naruto didn’t want it to end here, though, so his solution to both of these problems was to lean forward again and flick his tongue out, licking a line over Sasuke’s slightly-parted lips.

Sasuke’s eyes widened and she took in a quick breath that made Naruto’s moistened lips feel cold. The coldness only lasted a split-second, though, before Sasuke pulled Naruto back down to her, rolling to flip their positions as she took Naruto’s lips with hers and pushed her tongue between his lips while they opened in surprise. Not to be outdone, Naruto immediately met her tongue with his, and suddenly their kiss was a whole lot wetter as they explored the intricacies of tongue-kissing.

Their tongues rubbed together in almost battle-like fashion, both trying to gain control of the kiss. As a result, their battle slid back and forth, tongues entangled between their open lips. Nearly gasping, Sasuke pulled away again, leaving Naruto with his tongue hanging out of his mouth before he realized how ridiculous he must look and pulled it back in. Sasuke’s eyes narrowed and she brought her arm up, rubbing her mouth and chin on her arm-covering. A little belatedly, Naruto realized she was wiping away slobber and mimicked the action, his face again heating up a little bit. Sasuke made no other show of complaint, though, before her mouth dove for Naruto’s once more.

Naruto took a deep breath just before Sasuke’s tongue pressed through his lips again. He could taste her breath—warm, but cool at the same time, like she’d eaten something minty. It wasn’t sweet, but it tasted good and, craving more as he wondered what it was, Naruto met Sasuke’s tongue with even more gusto. Sasuke groaned her approval, the sound vibrating into Naruto’s mouth, which caused him to groan in reply. Suddenly, Naruto needed air, but the kiss felt so good he didn’t want to stop. He wondered at Sasuke’s ability to hold her breath for so long while being so active with her mouth, and then realized he could feel her breath puffing out against his face—fast and strong—through her nostrils.

Sasuke may be a genius, but Naruto wasn’t her rival for nothing. He concentrated on copying Sasuke’s breathing, and sighed in relief as the slightly suffocating feeling disappeared, his breath replenished. In his distraction, however, their kiss had gotten sloppy again. Sasuke didn’t seem to want to stop this time, though, as in the instant Naruto realized it, Sasuke pulled his tongue between her lips and teeth and sucked.

Naruto hadn’t known a kiss could be like this, and suddenly he didn’t mind Sasuke’s genius at all. Then he felt the tingling ache of the growing hardness between his legs, and his elation turned to apprehension, instantly all-too-aware of how Sasuke’s legs kept her hovering just above his crotch, and how any moment now she would feel the evidence of her effect on him.

Unsure what her reaction would be if that happened, and remembering all too well what had happened last time Sasuke made it clear Naruto had gone too far, Naruto grasped Sasuke’s shoulders—gently but firmly—and pushed her away first. Naruto barely caught the flash of hurt in Sasuke’s eyes before it was replaced by a disgruntled scowl.

“What is it?” she asked, voice raspy as she sat back on Naruto’s knees and wiped her mouth on her arm again.

“N-nothing,” Naruto answered, stiffly scooting his legs out from under her and into a sitting position, grateful not for the first time that he wore such baggy pants.

Naruto unconsciously licked his lips as he pulled his knees up, relishing the taste of Sasuke that lingered there, eyes flitting back to Sasuke when he noticed her gaze on his mouth as he did so. Realizing what this meant, he couldn’t help but smirk in a bit of triumph. Sasuke, in turn, obviously understood Naruto’s smirk, because she rolled her eyes slightly and gave his face a shove as she moved to stand.

“So,” Sasuke said as she turned away, putting her hands in her pockets. She glanced down over her shoulder, a slight smirk on her lips. “Wanna spar?”

xXx

The third or fourth time Naruto kissed Sasuke (he still hadn’t decided whether he should count that first accidental time, now that he actually could admit he liked kissing Sasuke), it was a random attack. He was walking through the market street, heading towards Ichiraku, when he saw Sasuke leaving the grocery store, a paper bag in her arms.

Suddenly Naruto was running to catch up with her, pushing her into an alley, pressing her up against the wall and claiming her mouth with his. He barely registered as Sasuke dropped her bag of groceries, but he couldn’t miss it when Sasuke fisted his jacket and slammed him against the other wall, her tongue finding his eagerly. Naruto decided this was the perfect time to give Sasuke a taste of her own medicine from before, and let her dominate his mouth for a moment before sucking her tongue.

Sasuke’s reaction was a guttural moan and a forward surge of her body. That was when Naruto had to push her to arm’s length again.

“These random attacks are becoming a habit, usuratonkachi,” Sasuke remarked, a tinge of irritation in her voice despite her smirk.

Naruto hurried to catch his breath and appear unaffected. “Yeah, I guess,” he replied with a casual shrug.

Sasuke glanced back at her bag of groceries, and Naruto followed her gaze with a slight wince. Three tomatoes had rolled out of the bag, one of which looked like it had been stepped on, and there was slimy egg slowly making a puddle underneath the tomatoes. Sasuke turned back to Naruto, an eyebrow raised and twitching slightly.

“You owe me a new bag of groceries, dobe.”

Naruto didn’t really mind. In fact, it had given him an idea.

xXx

“Come to dinner with me,” he said the next day after training.

“What,” Sasuke replied, more like a statement than the disbelieving exclamation Sakura had made at the same time.

Naruto shrugged, a sheepish grin on his face as he scratched his cheek. “I’ll buy… if you want.”

“Yeah, okay,” Sasuke answered nonchalantly.

As simple as it seemed, Naruto couldn’t help but notice how his heart sped up a moment.

xXx

“Why are we at the store, Sasuke? Didn’t I just buy you groceries?”

“That was awhile ago, dobe. Besides, these aren’t groceries, they’re ingredients. I’m not eating ramen again,” Sasuke answered easily as she examined a stalk of broccoli in the produce section.

It had been two weeks since that first time Naruto had invited her to dinner, and they’d eaten at Ichiraku’s two more times since then. The number of times Naruto had accosted Sasuke was two more than that, and tonight Sasuke had returned the favor. After Naruto reluctantly pushed her away and slid roughly to the roots of the tree, Sasuke had held out her hand and casually remarked, “Dinner?”

So now, here they were, Naruto following Sasuke through the store, hands clasped behind his head as Sasuke carefully selected items to put in her handbasket.

“You’re cooking for me?” he asked in surprise, a pleased grin lighting up his face.

“Hn,” Sasuke hummed distractedly as she moved to the tomato section.

Naruto snickered as he watched Sasuke’s eyes light up. It looked like the section had recently been replenished from the last time Sasuke had raided it.

“You don’t have to cook for me, you know,” Naruto suggested, though reluctantly, as they finally headed to the checkout together. “If you’re worried about me eating a lot, I’ll pay for myself.”

Sasuke’s eyes slid to the side to look at him. “I don’t really like eating out a lot.”

After Sasuke paid for her things, she picked the topic back up as if she’d never paused. “Besides, people might start talking if they see us eating out together so much.”

Naruto looked at her confusedly, and Sasuke gave a huff and elaborated, “You know, two boys, going out all the time?”

“I don’t care if they talk,” Naruto answered brashly but truthfully.

Sasuke paused her stride to look curiously at Naruto over the bag of groceries she held. From above his matching bag, Naruto blinked a little confusedly in return. Her head cocked to the side and Naruto saw the hint of a smile crooking the corner of her mouth before she started walking again.

xXx

“Is this your family?” Naruto asked curiously as Sasuke took her groceries from their bags in the kitchen.

Sasuke stopped what she was doing to come back to where Naruto was in the living room. She stood right beside him and stared at the picture with sad eyes full of longing and regret.

“Yeah,” she breathed softly.

Naruto suddenly felt like he was stranded in the middle of a lake, thin ice creaking beneath his feet.

“What…” he began hesitantly.

“They were stolen from me.” Suddenly Sasuke’s voice was full of such intense rage it made goosebumps raise all over Naruto’s body.

Sasuke’s jaw was tight, her hands were fists, her breathing was short, her whole body was tense… and Naruto felt afraid. Like Sasuke was somewhere far away, and he wanted to bring her back.

Tentatively, he raised his arm and put it behind Sasuke, around her shoulder, pulling her against his side. Slowly, excruciatingly slowly, the tension in Sasuke eased. She didn’t relax into Naruto’s side, but she didn’t pull away, and they stayed that way for several more minutes until Sasuke finally tore her eyes from the framed photo.

Just as slowly as she had relaxed, Sasuke eased from Naruto’s loose embrace and stepped away.

“Come on,” she called softly over her shoulder. “I’ll show you how to cook something that’s actually good for you.”

Sasuke’s smirk was a mere ghost of itself, but just seeing the attempt made Naruto feel a little better.

xXx

Long after their dinner—which, after some carelessness on Naruto’s part, more than a few squabbles, and ingredients wasted in a small-scale food fight, Sasuke had insisted on preparing by herself while Naruto simply watched—Naruto stayed. Stars glittered down at them from the night sky as they lay outside in comfortable silence. Naruto didn’t often just lay still in silence, unless he was actually alone, but for the moment it just seemed right.

In the next moment, though, that changed.

Sasuke rolled her body across the space separating them, coming to straddle Naruto’s legs, her arms braced on either side of his head, her face close to his. Blocking the starlight as she was, Sasuke’s eyes seemed unfathomably dark; serious.

“Naruto, do you ever…” Sasuke’s whisper trailed off. Her eyes swiveled away and closed, her head giving a small shake. “No, nevermind.”

Before Naruto could urge her to continue, Sasuke pressed her lips to his—and it was different than it had ever been before. Soft, gentle, tender. Her mouth parted ever so slightly, nipped at Naruto’s lips with hers, followed by her tongue barely tracing the seam of his lips. Naruto opened his lips to welcome her, but Sasuke only pressed her parted lips to his again, continuing the soft kiss. Despite this, Naruto’s breathing sped up and his heart beat wildly just as if they were kissing as voraciously as usual.

Again Sasuke teased Naruto’s lips with just the tip of her tongue, and Naruto followed her mouth as she pulled away, capturing her tongue between his lips.

“Sasuke,” Naruto breathed pleadingly when she retreated again.

He reached up, digging his fingers into her spiked hair, and tugging as he leaned up. Sasuke met him halfway there, and finally their mouths connected fully, lips parted, tongues met in a familiar yet exhilarating dance. Naruto almost forgot to breathe through his nose, but remembered at the last second, just as he let one hand slip down to fondle her breast through her shirt. Naruto inhaled sharply then, surprised to find that Sasuke must have removed her binding tape when she’d changed after their food fight. Experimentally, he squeezed, liking how she felt in his hand, wanting to feel more. For the second time in his life, Naruto let his hand drift underneath Sasuke’s shirt.

Skin on skin was even better, especially now that he could find and play with her nipple. Sasuke seemed to agree, moaning in an almost needy way and pressing herself down against Naruto’s crotch. Naruto made a sound somewhere between a gasp and a groan, choking a little as he retreated from Sasuke’s kiss and tried to push her away, his body reacting immediately as he fought the urge to search for more contact. Sasuke wouldn’t let him move her away, though, tightening her thighs around his and clenching her fingers in his hair as her other hand fisted his black t-shirt.

“Don’t you dare push me away again, Uzumaki Naruto,” she said, her voice as threatening as it was pleading, her eyes glaring into his.

Naruto’s eyes widened at the realization that this might have been Sasuke’s intention all along. If she wasn’t fighting it, why should he? He relaxed into her hold on him, watching her—just a tad warily still—as his lips sought hers again. Seemingly in slow motion, her eyes closed, and only then did Naruto give in completely. His eyes closed, and his hand moved up to grope her other breast, and he groaned softly as Sasuke moved against him again.

It was warm and inviting between her legs—even through his pants and her shorts he could feel that. His hips rocked up against her as she ground down, their breathing coming harsh into each other’s faces as they quickly forgot how to breathe right and just moved and felt.

All too quickly, Naruto felt the end drawing near. He tried to fight it, not ready for it to end when it seemed like they’d only just started, but Sasuke was rocking faster against him and sucking his tongue again and all it took was unintentionally focusing on that to push him over. Naruto came—harder and faster than he ever remembered doing on his own—and even as the euphoria washed over him he felt slightly embarrassed. Sasuke could probably feel the wetness of his release all the way through his pants.

Sasuke was still rocking slightly, but had slowed down considerably since Naruto had stilled and groaned in a mixture of satisfaction and disappointment. Suddenly she stopped moving and bit down on Naruto’s lower lip, tugging and suckling a moment as she pulled away.

Naruto breathed raggedly as he watched her look down at him and raise her eyebrow.

“You’re not done already,” she panted questioningly. She leaned closer to his face, until their noses almost touched, and Naruto could swear there was a smirk on her lips as she added, “Are you?”

Naruto recognized a challenge when it was issued, especially a challenge from Sasuke. Immediately, he flipped their positions, and took her mouth into a demanding kiss. It was urgent and sloppy and wet, but when Naruto boldly put his hand down Sasuke’s shorts, he figured she didn’t mind much at all, because she was even wetter there—her underwear was soaked through.

Naruto rubbed his fingers over the wet material, not entirely sure what he was doing but determined to make Sasuke feel the same way he’d felt just moments before. Sasuke moaned into his mouth, letting him dominate the kiss as she gripped his arms fiercely, so Naruto figured he must be doing something right. After just a little while, though, she gave a soft growl of frustration, and began tugging her shorts down. While Naruto was distracted staring at Sasuke’s baby-blue boyshorts, Sasuke took the opportunity to pull her shirt off as well, letting it fall behind her and laying back on it.

“Naruto.”

He looked back up at her face, and then down to her small, bare breasts. Obviously they were bare for a reason, and he didn’t waste a moment now that he was being given permission to explore. He used both hands on her, watching her breasts move with the caress of his fingers, and the way her nipples started puckering in response to his touch. He had the oddest craving to taste them—and Naruto tended to follow his instincts.

Sasuke’s skin tasted good. Almost sweet, which seemed to clash almost entirely with what Naruto would have expected, but with a light tinge of saltiness to balance it to something more Sasuke-like. Really, it was difficult to describe, but Naruto liked it. Sasuke’s breath hitched as Naruto’s tongue stroked across her nipple, and when he swirled it around the faint line of her areola, her fingers dug into his hair again. Encouraged, Naruto squeezed her other breast, pinching that nipple between the sides of his fingers as he closed his lips around the first.

“Oh,” Sasuke breathed, actually sounding surprised, her nails catching at his scalp in that instant.

Naruto felt a thrill go through him at that sound, and was sort of amazed to realize he was getting hard again. He was actually rather pleased with himself because of it, except that it made him incredibly aware again of just how sticky and uncomfortable his pants were. The obvious solution was to get rid of them, so Naruto quickly moved a hand to tug at his pants. Unfortunately, he wasn’t so good at the one-handed pants-removal, and reluctantly stopped his teasing of Sasuke’s nipples to sit up and two-hand the pants-off technique.

Sasuke looked up at him a little bewildered, arm outstretched still as it fell from Naruto’s hair and tried to follow his movements. Then Sasuke’s eyes widened, just a fraction.

“You’re hard again?!” she rasped, and Naruto wasn’t quite sure if that was incredulity or awe in her voice.

Unsure of her reaction now, Naruto’s hands froze, his eyes fixed on Sasuke’s, waiting.

She rolled her eyes at his deer-caught-in-headlights expression and sat partway up to find out for herself. As her hand ghosted over his crotch and then cupped and pressed, Naruto couldn’t help the sudden jerk of his hips, or the sound he made when he did it.

Sasuke smirked up at him, “You are.”

With no further warning, Naruto was pantsed, the orange material pooled around his knees along with his boxers. Sasuke looked at him with a critical eye for a matter of seconds before closing her hand loosely around him and giving him an experimental stroke. Naruto struggled to remember how to breathe. No one other than himself had ever touched him there, skin on skin, and holy crap it felt so much better this way.

Naruto fought between closing his eyes to let the sensation wash over him, and wanting to keep them open so he could watch as Sasuke watched her hand moving over him. She looked fascinated—almost mesmerized—and that made Naruto feel even more turned on. He watched Sasuke’s small breasts heave with her quickening breaths; watched as she bit her lower lip and took a sudden deep breath through her nose, letting it out shudderingly. Her lowered eyelids fluttered like hummingbird wings and then opened wide, and suddenly Naruto’s blue eyes were locked with the blood red of Sharingan, two black tomoe in place in both of Sasuke’s eyes.

Somewhere in the back of Naruto’s mind, something was telling him he should be scared of those eyes, no matter the situation in which he met them. However, Naruto couldn’t hear that tiny voice above the sudden rush of hormones and endorphins, blood pumping faster, cock getting harder under Sasuke’s touch. Naruto felt a tiny bit of precum bead at his tip, and no sooner had he noticed it than Sasuke’s thumb swiped across it even as her hand left him completely.

Naruto’s immediate protest was swallowed by Sasuke’s mouth covering his as she pulled him eagerly back down to her, her legs wrapping around the back of his thighs and pulling his exposed and achingly hard cock against her wet underwear. The contact set Naruto’s instincts off immediately, and soon they were rutting against each other. Sasuke’s hips snapped up to meet Naruto’s, Naruto moaned as he thrust himself against that burning hot place between Sasuke’s legs—into the tunnel Sasuke made between her underwear and her hand. Sasuke’s answering moan reverberated against his neck as her mouth sought his skin as if she was craving to taste him. When Naruto’s fingers sought out Sasuke’s nipples again, Sasuke bit down and sucked, growling against him while her legs clenched Naruto harder to her, and Naruto’s thrusts sped up in answer.

It wasn’t long before Naruto felt the signs of his orgasm rushing for him again, and he hoped that the erratic way Sasuke was breathing and moaning—lowly but mindlessly—and moving against him meant that she was, too. Naruto gasped shortly, and Sasuke suddenly pressed her hand down more firmly on his cock as it spurted beneath her touch, her legs tight around his and her other hand clenching in the back of Naruto’s shirt, barely allowing him to move.

“D-don’t move. Don’t stop. K-keep…” she demanded breathlessly, a gasp of pleasured surprise replacing the rest of her words.

Naruto was only too happy to obey, snapping his hips against her shallowly but frantically, staining her hand and underwear and lower belly with his cum as Sasuke tossed her head from side to side and let her mouth drop open as her body finally arched dramatically. Then they were both still but for their breathing, gasping as they collapsed together. Naruto let himself drift in the strange buzz that overcame him afterwards, reality slipping away to the farthest reaches of his consciousness, leaving just the pleasant warmth of Sasuke beneath him.

Then Sasuke groaned uncomfortably, slowly but deliberately moving her limbs to maneuver him off of her. Naruto fell to his back beside her, and they continued their attempt to regain normal breathing.

Sasuke let out a sigh, and Naruto was delighted at how satisfied she sounded. Then Sasuke spoke.

“Give me your shirt.”

Naruto glanced over to see Sasuke leaning up on her elbows, giving him a demanding look. Feeling a little disgruntled, Naruto nevertheless obliged, and watched as Sasuke used his black, inside-out shirt to clean what she could of Naruto’s cum off of her. His body calming down, Naruto felt a little chilled as a breeze blew across his sweat-dampened skin. He clumsily pulled up his pants and reached for his jacket, which he’d been using to pillow his head before Sasuke had started all this. At the same time, Sasuke reached for her discarded shirt.

Somehow, now that the barrier of partial clothing was back in place, it seemed a little awkward between them. Sasuke pulled her legs up against herself—her knees hiding the small bumps on her chest that Naruto could almost glimpse beneath her shirt, her feet and ankles blocking the crotch of her wet and stained underwear from view, as well. Naruto nervously rubbed at the nape of his neck, and Sasuke’s eyes—now black again—darted to him and then away.

Naruto wanted to ask what was going on between them—if it meant anything—but it seemed like there was a wall between them now. Like he shouldn’t—couldn’t—discuss it. With a quiet sigh, he got to his feet. After a pause of indecision, he walked slowly past Sasuke.

“Naruto…” he heard her call softly from behind him.

He stopped and turned partway to look back at her.

Sasuke wasn’t looking at him at first, but when she did it wasn’t her. It was boy-Sasuke, smirking at him superiorly and raising a brow slightly in some kind of challenge. “See you tomorrow, dobe.”

Even as he felt a twinge of disappointment for Sasuke hiding behind her boy persona again, something that had clenched uncomfortably inside Naruto relaxed. He felt like it was okay.

He grinned at Sasuke and nodded. “You bet, bastard!”

Naruto left Sasuke’s feeling like some weight he hadn’t realized he’d been carrying had been lifted. When he reached the gates of the Uchiha district, leading out to the village proper and streets that would eventually lead back to his own little apartment, he was struck by the sudden urge to break into a carefree run. And, with a laugh that echoed through the empty streets, he did.

xXx

The next day, Kakashi-sensei told them they could enter the Chuunin exam. The excitement completely distracted Naruto from any deeper thoughts he may have had in the aftermath of what had happened between him and Sasuke the night before. Even his moments of jealousy concerning Sasuke had more to do with the attention again being all on his dark haired teammate rather than him, although there were a couple fleeting moments of something he may have categorized as possessiveness if he’d had a better grasp of the concept.

Then too much was happening to think about anything other than surviving, and Naruto’s blood rushed in a completely new way when he watched Sasuke become absolutely crazy with chakra when she woke and fought those weird guys from Sound. But, again, that passed in favor of getting their asses in gear and to the tower on time.

It was long after a special kind of dread had wrapped itself around Naruto’s heart and dragged it down to the pit of his stomach, watching that guy from their own village make her go limp for a moment during their fight—long after Sasuke had used her cheating eyes to turn the fight completely around, and been carried off by Kakashi to who knew where or why—that Naruto again started thinking about things between them.

By then, though, he’d already gotten angry at Kakashi for choosing Sasuke over him, and Sasuke had disappeared.

xXx

By the time the sky began to cry, soaking Naruto’s black clothes through to his skin, he’d practically forgotten the secret. Sasuke was mostly a boy again—the times when ‘she’ or ‘her’ were used to label Sasuke in his thoughts being so few and far between that he would flinch and frown in bewilderment when it happened—and so much had happened that he couldn’t be bothered to even try figuring out if it had all been a dream this time.

But then, well into the evening and long after the memorial had ended, there was a knock on Naruto’s door. He was sprawled half-over his kitchen table, staring listlessly at the line of potted plants near his window, and wasn’t sure how long the constant pounding had continued before he finally found the will to get up and answer it. When he did, he was surprised to see Sasuke there—hands in pockets, face downturned and eyes refusing to meet his, black clothes still damp from the rain that had already stopped.

“Sasuke,” Naruto greeted in a whisper that came out surprisingly choked.

Sasuke apparently took this as an invitation, and stepped inside. Naruto closed the door automatically, leaning against it to watch Sasuke with quiet curiosity. His nerves were still too frayed and raw from saying goodbye to Sandaime to make more effort than that.

Sasuke stood with his—her—back to him, though, giving him no clue why she was there. Finally, Naruto’s natural impatience reared its familiar head and he gave a growl and grabbed Sasuke’s shoulder to turn her around. Sasuke turned with little effort, and Naruto caught a glimpse of some kind of desperation in her eyes before Sasuke was too close to focus on her expression and his back met the door again harshly as her mouth claimed his in a frantic, demanding clash of teeth and tongue that could barely be called a kiss except for the fact that it could hardly be anything else, either.

Suddenly Naruto remembered the secret—remembered everything with such exquisite detail it almost felt like his heart was breaking even as it filled to the brim with something he’d only just realized he’d thought he’d lost.

“Sasuke,” he moaned raggedly when she gave him a second to breathe, and then her mouth was back on his, her hands ripping at his clothes with a sort of desperation.

Fueled by Sasuke’s actions and the sudden flood of emotions breaking through the surreal apathy that had nearly settled over him, Naruto assisted with Sasuke’s frenzied efforts. Then they were both in their underwear, and Sasuke ripped off the bandage around her chest while simultaneously kicking off her sandals before lurching her body against Naruto’s. Sasuke attacked him—her mouth and hands and hips and breathless whimpers she probably wasn’t entirely conscious of—attacked every piece of Naruto she could get at.

Naruto didn’t even know how they’d gone from writhing against his front door to frotting in his unmade bed, but there they were. He was on his back, and from the corner of his eye he could see his sleeping cap barely hanging onto the edge of the bed as Sasuke straddled him and rubbed against him. And Naruto suddenly realized how achingly hard he was, how his hands were almost-full as they massaged Sasuke’s breasts, and how torturously inviting that hot place between Sasuke’s legs was. He groaned and put more conscious effort into thrusting up against Sasuke, and the movement caused the slit in his boxers to open a little bit—and Naruto gasped when the sensitive skin of his cock was met with slick, tender folds of skin rather than the soft material of Sasuke’s missing boyshorts.

Sasuke took in a fast breath, her eyes rolling and closing, and Naruto’s mind was again sent whirling when Sasuke’s face set in determination and she wiggled down to pull his boxers off, tossing them aside quickly before returning to her perch above him. She bit her lip as she hovered above him, and Naruto heard her breath shudder as she put a square, foil wrapper in her mouth and bit down to tear it. Naruto was too busy gawking, his body freezing incongruently in comparison to his libido’s sudden roaring impatience, to wonder where Sasuke had hidden the condom that she was now rolling down his length.

As she held him, positioned herself above him, and finally began to slide down, Naruto could hardly care less where the thin bit of rubber now separating them had come from. A brief look of pain flashed over Sasuke’s face, but Naruto was too busy experiencing the entry into the tightest, wettest, hottest place his inexperienced manhood had ever been to think properly about how to soothe her, and before the thought finally surfaced in his brain, Sasuke’s face had relaxed. Nevertheless, Naruto gave a belated attempt, his hands settling tentatively on her hips, his fingers brushing circles over her skin—hesitantly at first, but quickly gaining confidence when Sasuke didn’t push his hands away.

Slowly, Sasuke rose back up—just a little—and let herself slide back down. It was so excruciatingly slow that Naruto almost thought he would explode from the anticipation, but each time, Sasuke moved just a little more, and truthfully it wasn’t that much longer before Sasuke abandoned caution, slamming herself down fully onto Naruto and ripping a groan from his throat that echoed from her own.

Then they were again a frenzy of hormones and instinct, thrusting and clawing and biting at each other, yanking hair and sucking skin and leaving marks that would linger for days afterwards—and finding such amazing comfort in it. Naruto almost dreaded it ever ending even as his body surged forward, pinning Sasuke and taking control to bring them both to the precipice. Sasuke didn’t fight, but growled her approval and pulled him closer, biting and sucking at his mouth, catching his tongue a moment before she moved her animalistic attentions to his jaw and down his neck.

Naruto felt the pressure building inside, and tried to hold it off as long as he could, but there’s only so much control he was capable of, and Sasuke’s mouth on his neck and her nails on his back and her sex hot and tight around him—growing tighter in spasms—and Sasuke’s moans of encouragement right next to his ear was more than enough to make him completely lose that control. He’d thought his release the last time had been the most amazing ever, but this time Naruto almost thought he would go blind from the impact of it.

“Nngh-Na—!” Sasuke exclaimed as Naruto’s vision went white for a split-second and she spasmed and clamped tightly around him, her voice so close it was like a shout.

They stilled and Naruto fell against her, his forehead settling against her breastbone, their skin hot and sweat-slicked but not yet uncomfortable. Sasuke slowly extracted her blunt nails from Naruto’s back and moved them to scratch softly into Naruto’s hair. Naruto thought it almost felt like a hug, and wiggled his arms to reach under her arms, fingers hooking over her shoulders from beneath her back.

“Naruto.” It was more like an exhalation than a word, but Naruto just caught it as Sasuke’s breath gently moved a strand of hair near his ear.

It was somehow less awkward this time, though no less surreal. Naruto slowly pulled from Sasuke’s embrace and then her body, making a bit of a face when he took the condom off of himself and tossed it in the general vicinity of his dirty clothes pile—he didn’t have a trash in his room. He lay back down next to Sasuke, feeling the need to be close to her but not wanting to destroy the calm that had settled over them by invading her personal space if she didn’t want him to. It was calm and still between them for a long time—so long that Naruto started drifting off to sleep. Then Sasuke’s voice cut through the drowsy haze—quiet but clear.

“They’re all dead now.”

Naruto felt a chill run through him that had nothing to do with his state of nakedness. He swallowed against a lump in his suddenly-dry throat. With almost painstaking care, he moved, turning to look at Sasuke. She lay staring blankly at his ceiling, but at his movement her eyes drifted warily to him.

Naruto knew Sasuke knew what his question would be before he asked it, but he asked anyway, “Who?”

Naruto didn’t really expect Sasuke to answer, but she did. Her eyes drifted to the ceiling again, then to the far wall, and her body hunched away from him, arm curling in front of her chest as she let out a soft, shuddery breath.

“Everyone. Everyone who knew… I was born a girl.” Her face turned into the pillow at her last words, as if in shame.

Naruto didn’t hold himself back this time. He had the urge to hold Sasuke—wanting to comfort her—and he immediately moved to do so. He lay at her back, pushing an arm underneath her, and finally curling around her, his other arm laying over hers. Holding his breath a moment, Naruto stroked a finger against the side of Sasuke’s breast. She tensed, and he stopped, but before he could pull his hand away she caught his wrist and held him there. Taking this as permission, he moved his hand to fully lay against her—though that was all. Then he tucked his knees against the back of hers, and lay his chin on her shoulder.

“I’m not dead,” he barely whispered.

Sasuke tensed again, and answered nearly-inaudibly, “No. You’re not.”

Naruto waited a short span of heartbeats before asking softly, “Sasuke?”

Sasuke didn’t answer, but he could tell she was listening.

“Why do you pretend to be a boy? Your family—” Naruto cut himself off when Sasuke tensed again, but then she forced herself to relax again as if urging him to continue despite her wariness of the topic. “I mean… I know there’s something you’re trying to prove… to their memory or something… and you want to restore your clan’s honor?” Naruto felt like he was stumbling over his words, unsure of himself. He didn’t like it one bit, and clutched for some way to make the earth feel solid again—if only he knew why it didn’t in the first place.

Sasuke gave a short, reluctant nod, and Naruto frowned in concentration as he continued.

“But… why do you think you need to be a boy to do that? Wouldn’t it honor your family more if you were still yourself—the real you, the girl you?”

Naruto really had no idea about such things, but he was giving it his best guess. His best, however, only earned him a scornful scoff in return.

“That isn’t the real me, usuratonkachi,” she said, and her voice was so near to boy-Sasuke’s that it almost frightened Naruto how quickly she was able to revert. “Uchiha Sasuke may have been born a girl, but he never was one.”

Sasuke’s words sent another unpleasant chill through Naruto. And suddenly he was angry, and his body reacted before his brain fully caught up, and when it did he was hunched over Sasuke, glaring down at her and receiving a dull, disinterested stare in return. His fist punched into the pillow next to Sasuke’s head.

“If she isn’t real, then maybe this isn’t real, either, huh? Is this not real, Sasuke?”

His fingers tangled into Sasuke’s messy, black locks and tugged to angle her head while his lips descended on hers. It was harsh but quick and Naruto felt a flash of some tremendous feeling he couldn’t name just before pulling away. “Is this just a dream, Sasuke?” he whispered seethingly.

Then Sasuke’s eyes were shimmering strangely up at him, and Naruto couldn’t figure out what her expression meant. And Naruto was almost sure Sasuke was going to smile, but then her mouth turned down and she looked sad instead. But she shook her head, and looked in his eyes when she answered, “This is real.”

Naruto nodded harshly, begrudgingly pleased with her answer, and slumped against her, quickly drifting off when Sasuke’s fingers started sifting through his hair again.

xXx

Naruto had foolishly thought everything would be okay after that. He’d suddenly felt immensely closer to Sasuke, like they shared something no one else could and somehow that meant the world. He’d thought Sasuke felt the same. That’s why she’d sort of opened up to him, wasn’t it?

So why—why—was Naruto now running through the forest like a madman, his heart in his throat as he breached the line of trees and fought this strange boy he’d never seen for a Sasuke-sized barrel? Why was he chasing Sasuke’s back, watching her get further and further away? Why was Sasuke calling him her best friend, and trying to kill him because of it?!

He couldn’t let her leave. He wouldn’t. So he fought. Despite something not-too-buried inside him telling him he didn’t want to hurt her, Naruto fought with all his might. It didn’t help, though. Sasuke still won. Sasuke seethed at him, spitting venomous words and telling him his feelings were meaningless compared to hers. Naruto wouldn’t believe her—this wasn’t Sasuke. Something was wrong.

No matter how much he thought that, though—believed it—it didn’t matter.

As Naruto lay on the bank of the river, darkness quickly closing in, he struggled to hold on to his last shred of consciousness as he heard—felt—Sasuke move above him. Something metallic hit the ground near Naruto’s head, but he couldn’t quite place it as he tried to concentrate on Sasuke.

“Soon you really will be the last one that knows,” came her words, muted as if Naruto was hearing them from underwater. Her bodyheat hovered above him, so close he practically tingled from it, and he fought uselessly to open his eyes—to answer her.

“Don’t tell. And don’t you dare forget,” she finished, unmindful of Naruto’s struggles.

As Sasuke’s lips pressed to his—her bottom lip nestled sweetly between his parted ones, her top lip beneath his lower one—Naruto finally lost his hold on the waking world, leaving him only in darkness.

xXx

A/N: The end? TT__TT *goes to emo in a corner about her stupid writing and ignore half of what happens after this in manga*

If you are feeling a bit confused-as-Naruto, you may want to step over here, where I have explained Sasuke’s gender identity in a bit more detail than the fic allowed: http://ladygizarme.livejournal.com/39283.html?thread=152435#t152435

Also, oh gods, please review. I don’t usually plead for them (although I always would like them ^_^), but I seriously would like feedback on this. *bites lip*

&hearts

~ lg