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Temptation

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Standard disclaimer applies

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Even from the most resilient person, the will is weak. It does not help if the ache echoing throughout your body has been omnipresent since as far back as you can remember. Or if the chance presents itself before you; completely yours for the taking.

It is then one's will breaks; shattering into a million fragments that can never be put together again.

Change your destiny.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Punch. Aim for the chest. Aim to knock the breath out of him. A swift swipe of your right leg under his. Dodge. As you come up, you see a fist coming straight at you. He is so fast. There is barely time to get out of the way, and you stumble.

Before you know it, you are flat on your back.

He is on top of you – arms pinning yours, knees on your thighs – straddling. There is a broad grin that stretches across his lips and lights his entire countenance up. He is grinning at you. Your heart misses a beat; there is a warm, inexplicable feeling nestled deep in your stomach. You know what it means, but you choose to ignore its indication.

He is speaking.

"Ne, ne Sasuke no baka! I'm better than you! Admit it. "

You want to smile at his child-like enthusiasm, even though he is 18, and a Jounin, as are you.

Breathless, you lean up, making as if you want to surrender. Strain you body as far as it can make it to his ear.

"Never."

Whisper it.

The grin falters to a frown, before he pushes your body to the ground once more. He is glaring and you can almost hear the thought process he is going through. Then, suddenly, he flushes his body against yours, no longer himself, but a vivacious young lady with long blonde pigtails his colour, eyes the clearest blue that you have become enamoured with., and the unmistakable whisker like markings on both cheeks.

You frown. This is not what you want.

She breathes against your neck, strands of hair tickling the side of your face.

The frown remains, but you make no effort to push her off.

Naruto transforms once more, and his eyes are squinting into yours, confused.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Even the third Hokage was helpless against my wonderful jutsu. Do you not like girls or something?"

His body is still flushed against yours, and you can barely hear, much less comprehend what he is blabbering about though the thick haze in your mind that circulates undecidedly around a single thought.

He has absolutely no idea.

You smile to yourself. It hurts.

"Get off me Naruto. You're heavy."

You shrug him off, twisting your body so that he does not notice your arousal.

He glares at your detached tone, sniffing with theatrical hurt, turning his back to you in fake hurt. You nearly laugh.

"Let's go swimming."

You sit up and wipe the dirt from your pants, knowing automatically that he would follow you. No more than ten metres later, you hear hurried scrambling and then feel the weight of him as the blonde attaches himself to your back, whining at your impatience, it wasn't as if he said he wasn't coming, right?

You reach up and take his arms gently, wrapping them around your neck, letting your hands hang from there. Bare skin against bare skin has your nerves tingling in anticipation, even though it was nowhere private. Something tugs at your heart.

With Naruto rambling on about nothing and everything and you listening amusedly to him, both of you reach the lake.

He wrenches his arm out of your grasp, and tears his clothes off, save his boxers, taking next to no time in jumping into the crystal clear lake. The offhanded manner in which he detaches himself from you has you hurting a little, before you chide yourself. Such an insignificant thing has you pondering too deeply into it. What has the blonde idiot turned you into?

Speaking of the blonde idiot – he should be coming up around now and yelling –

"Teme Sasuke! You didn't tell me about the water. It's freaking freezing you bastard! You did it on purpose, don't ask me how, I just know it."

Blaming everything on you again. But that's alright, before it was times like this when you knew he thought about you, and considered you important enough to look after his well being. Because you want to.

"Get the hell in here! It's not as if the subzero temperature affects a human ice cube, ne?" Anyone calling you that would result in bloodshed. But it is him, and he is different. You let it slide. And besides, you know that is the way he expresses his affection. Like previously mentioned, he's just different.

You take off your shirt and fold it carefully, placing it on a rock that looks the least dirty, before doing the same to your pants. Looking at his clothes strewn all over the grass, you grimace, the insistently nagging voice in your head telling you to pick up after him. You consent. It wasn't as if you were being nice, after all. It was just that you couldn't stand the mess. And besides, he is your best friend. And in your life, that counted double. You want to look out for him. You need to.

"Sasuukeee….."

Taking your time to torment him, you walk up to the edge of the lake and dive gracefully into it, swimming up behind him in one breath.

"Naru-chan." You purr into his left ear, resisting the urge to lick the outer shell.

"ARGHHH!" His arms fail around wildly, and you duck out of the way before the reckless movements can whack you on the head.

His pout that comes instantaneously after he gets over the shock tugs at your heartstrings, and you feel yourself crumble. A little; a mere portion, but you do.

One hour later, you haul his lazy ass out of the water, grumbling half heartedly at his dependence on you. He shoots you a lazy grin, saying that Sasuke is the best, the very best. You stop and arrange him in your arms to a more comfortable position, averting your eyes from his prone form.

You like this. Admit it. You like the fact that you're carrying him. The fact that he trusts you. The fact that you're taking care of him.

When both of you have finished dressing, it is already six plus, and the dusting of violet against the cerise backdrop paints a pretty picture.

You lie on the grass, arms folded beneath your head. Taking you completely by surprise, Naurto shifts his position till his head is rested on your stomach. You feel your entire body clenching.

He must have felt it to, because he glances up at you and frowns, blatantly hurt.

"Ne, now even you don't like me?"

It was meant to come out playful, that much was obvious. But he could not stop the hurt that coloured his words. He turns away from you, and you regret your actions immediately.

To cause pain to him. Pain that used to come from the villagers. You know how much it hurt him. Or wasn't it you who got up at two in the morning to console him? At the drop of a hat – and you'd be there. You know how many hours of training it took to quell the bloodthirsty need to get back at the villagers for Naruto. You knew how much you wanted to protect him from exactly this kind of hurt. From any kind of this excruciating sting.

But this was for a completely different reason. It wasn't what he thought, you want to say. But you keep your mouth shut, shifting your body around to force it to relax, running your hand through his golden locks hesitantly as a form of apology.

He nuzzles you back in return – his special way of letting you know that you are forgiven.

The inimitable bond that has developed between the both of you does not go unnoticed, and you resist the desire to smile smugly. To have woven your way into his life like that.

"Ne, Sasuke?"

You feel his head turn on your chest, and know that he is looking at you.

"Hm?" The stars twinkle brightly.

There is a long interminable silence, and you glance down to him, wondering what he matter was. It was not like him to falter.

His cerulean orbs shine, and then eyelids slide over them, and the fluttering of his lashes is the last thing you see before his lips meet yours.

The shock catches up to you first, before any other thought can process. How long have you waited for this? But you are conscious enough to note the chapped feel of his lips upon yours.

And then the sensation is gone, and you are staring into shocked irises. He is pulling away, standing up, apologising.

Your heart clenches. You don't want him to be sorry. You don't want it to be a mistake.

You try to make a grab for him, but he sees it coming and– so swiftly– he is gone, and you are grasping wind.

The chase starts.

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More than ten minutes of dodging under branches and leaves, struggling to keep track of the back of his jumper – almost invisible in the pitch black. The illumination from the moon is your only source of light.

You are getting desperate.

The fact that Naruto looks back at you fearfully from time to time spurs you on though, and fuels your need to get to him.

He misses a branch, and steps onto the next one. But that lapse in time is enough for you to catch up.

Even as he puts on a fresh burst of speed, you swipe his legs off the branch from behind and catches him before he falls to the ground, placing him gently back on the tree again, his legs and arms pinned to the tree firmly, but not with enough force to hurt him.

He turns his face from your flushed one, and bites his lip painfully.

"Get the hell away from me Sauske." he whispers hoarsely, the usual cheerful buoyancy in his voice absent.

"No."

There was another pause, broken only by his struggles to get out of your tenacious grasp.

"What the hell do you want, damn it!"

His voice increases a notch in volume, this time laced with exasperation.

"You." Breathe.

He turns away, cheeks turning an interesting pink.

Releasing one hand, you tilt his head towards yours, ignoring the frightened look in his gaze, pressing your lips to his once more, coaxing a response out of him. Sliding your tongue against his lips, you smirk when he opens his mouth willingly.

But then he pulls away, glaring.

"You better not be fucking me Sasuke. You better mean it. I swear-"

You put his mouth to better use, as you deem fit.

Ramen never tasted so good.

- finito -