Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. But I wish I owned Sasuke … Yum-o.

It was a beautifully moonlit night in Konoha. Naruto could feel the breeze blowing through the crack in his window. He blinked a few times as the cool air hit his cyan blue eyes. It was then that he realised that he could not sleep. Whether it was a condition he was developing or a phase he was going through, he did not know. But he knew one thing for sure, while he was awake, there was only one person he ever thought of…

Naruto pictured that black hair, with it's slight tint of dark blue, draping either side of that delicate face, those midnight black eyes, big, steely, cold … he pictured the day that those eyes were inviting, welcoming, warm … that day seemed so distant now, so out of Naruto's grasp that he had to catch his breath when he thought of it. He pictured those eyes transforming into that maroon-red, that smirk, that persona he took on when that body was about to strike … he pictured those hands on his flesh, the imprints those finger tips had left on his shoulder…

Naruto got out of his bed and made his way to the window. He peeked out. The moon was crescent, a beautiful sight to see with it's complimenting stars. He bit his lip, looking down at his bare shoulder. He eyed the imprints of those fingers, and brought a hand up to touch the red marks. His fingertips overlapped the marks perfectly. Without removing his hand from his shoulder, he looked out the window again. Nobody was in sight. He guessed that it must have been 2am. This was the usual time he awoke at night, and the usual time he went back to sleep was never a time before a.m. His stomach growled with hunger as he pictured five days back. Naruto blinked back stinging tears as he thought of the words that soft mouth had said to him before the imprints were formed.

"There is no way I will love you the way you love me."

Naruto had gotten insanely upset at these words at the time, so much so that Sasuke had to grab him roughly by the shoulder and shake some sense into him. Naruto had collapsed, crying, slamming the ground with his bare fists. Sasuke's face was expressionless, which added fuel to Naruto's fire.

No remorse! No forgiveness! How could he!

Naruto slid to his knees under the window and sniffed, a single tear rolling down his supple cheek. He had been so sure that Sasuke liked him. He was so sure that Sasuke had broken his barriers for him and only him. Those eyes … those once inviting, welcoming, warm eyes…

Gone. Forever.

He was wondering what Sasuke might be doing now, then he gave himself a mental slap when he thought of what hour of the morning it was. He would be in bed, of course, having careless dreams. Sasuke has no love problems, thought Naruto as he wiped the tears from his face, he can get anyone he wants. He doesn't want me. He would never want me.

Why did Sasuke have to be so enclosed toward him? Naruto was his friend, his best friend. Had he ruined the friendship by his confession of sheer obsession for the boy? They had not talked since those four days, awkward silences deafening the two unless they HAD to communicate. Every grunt and groan of Sasuke in Naruto's direction each time he tried to talk to him tore his heart even more in two. Sasuke wouldn't even walk along side the boy, swiftly walking in front whenever he could. Kakashi sensei had even started to sense how down and depressed Naruto was, and called off his training for the next week to let him have some time to himself. It didn't stop him bumping into Sasuke within his every day life in Konoha, having Sakura dragging him wherever she went. And let's face it, where there is a Sasuke, there is a Sakura. So almost every minute within Konoha village was spent with Sasuke's presence.

Naruto made himself promise that he was going to stay within his home for the next 24 hours; it was the best way of not having to feel Sasuke's stony stare penetrating him. He wished things could go back to the way they were, before his confession. But, of course, they couldn't.

Sasuke yawned, sitting up in his soft double bed. It was the crack of dawn, Sasuke's waking time every day. He gritted his teeth, feeling a shooting pain within his head. It was most definitely his dream catching up with him. This had been going on for four days now. He got up swiftly, pulling his sheets and blankets with him. They landed on the navy carpeting. The cold air hit his body so harshly that it sent a chill down his spine. He ran his hands through his bed-hair, pissed off that his reoccurring headache didn't show any sort of sign of going away. He walked to his heavily draped window, the material blowing toward him furiously. He peaked outside at his newly blossoming tree. It had been so shrivelled a few days back, and it was growing its fine green again. It, of course, was that delicate time of winter transforming into spring.

Spring. The beginning of better things to come.

As this phrase ran through Sasuke's mind like a ravenous train, he lowered his head, doubting it entirely. He had already given his best friend the cold-shoulder over something he just couldn't get his head around. And who could blame him? It had been so out of the blue, and so sudden … maybe Sasuke was giving out signals unintentionally … maybe Naruto just took Sasuke's kindness the wrong way. No matter what way he thought of it, he couldn't escape the fact that what they had was now tarnished. He wandered what the fragile Naruto might be doing now. As he pulled his window to a close, the answer hit him. He would be trying to get to sleep again … and he would be failing at it.

And it's all my fault. All my stupid fucking fault.

That sharp, blinding pain hit Sasuke in the dead centre of his head. He gasped, holding his temples, gritting his teeth. The nightmares; they had caused this. They were haunting him again. He dreamed of Naruto breaking down into tears in front of him all over again, hitting the ground with brute force. He grabbed Naruto differently than he did in real life within the dream; he grabbed Naruto's shoulder, squeezed so hard that the flesh bled … Sasuke laughed in his face, knowing that he had ripped Naruto's heart in two, destroying his dream of love at last…

He raised his head again to the window, seeing the sun slowly creep up over the horizon. It would have been beautiful if everything in his head wasn't so ugly. Sasuke was never the one to appreciate true beauty. He'd been brought up to bring out the worst in people, to defeat the worst in people, to shun the best in people because he did not have time for them; they were of little importance to what he lived for. That's why he found it so hard to make friends, so hard to like just about anything. But he had finally appreciated beauty, an intense beauty in Naruto. And he'd squashed it.

The beginning of better things to come ran through his head once more before he dropped sharply on his knees.

"Sasuke! Sasuke! Wait up!" called Sakura, sprinting to catch up with the tall boy. He sighed and turned, his hands firmly in his pockets. "Sasuke, have you seen Naruto around today?"

Sasuke eyed Sakura suspiciously.

"Humph, it's not like you to care about Naruto now, is it?" he commented, turning around to continue walking.

"I don't care, I'm just curious," frowned Sakura. "Don't you walk away from me! You haven't answered my question!"

"No, I haven't seen Naruto anywhere. And the fact that you're asking that question is strange to me. Now, if you'd excuse me…" Sasuke continued walking swiftly, leaving Sakura with the decision on whether to follow him or not. She, of course, did, running again to catch up with him.

"Sasuke, I'm worried about him. He hasn't been talking to me all week and-"

"Again, why do you care? You hate the dobe," sniffed Sasuke, although he did not shun her away. He was also curious; Naruto was acting strange and he knew why. Seeing how Sakura might perceive it amused him.

"I do hate the dobe! Oh, you don't get it!" cried an annoyed Sakura.

"Calm down," blinked Sasuke, stopping in his tracks and facing the girl. She lowered her head.

"I'm so worried. He's been so, so depressed lately. I know he gets his off-days, Sasuke, but not off-weeks! Oh, can't you do something?" whined Sakura.

"What do you expect me to do? I'm not the person to make him feel better," stated Sasuke, which either could have been completely true or completely false, depending on what situation you put with it.

"Will you come to his house with me?" asked Sakura in an almost begging tone. Sasuke smirked, folding his arms over his chest and breathing in the cold air around him.

"I will make the situation worse," he said, very bemused. "Now, please, I must go home."

"Why don't you care?" screamed Sakura after him as he made his leave. "You're supposed to be his friend!" He stopped dead, lowering his head, and said in a flat tone, 'so are you, but you stated that you didn't care about him, so why should I?'

"Because, because … he'll listen to you," weakened Sakura. "He thinks you're amazing. And I do, too."

Sasuke turned once more, at a fair distance from the girl.

"Let's go, then."

Naruto heated up some instant ramen for dinner, feeling enclosed in his little kitchen; he had stuck to his word and hadn't moved from his home all day. He felt a slight twang of pride for sticking to his self-promise. It had been quite hard as he was more of an outdoor than indoor person. He munched on the vegetable ramen.

Ew, vegetable … no more chicken ramen, and I can't go out to get more … damnit.

The desire for Naruto to get out of the house soared, and his twang of pride vanished immediately. As he wolfed down his vegetable ramen, two quick knocks came at the front door. Almost choking on the food in his mouth, he shot up from his seat. He didn't know whether to be happy at finally having some company or annoyed that he knew he wasn't supposed to see anyone for that whole day. Either way, he had to answer that door. Still chewing frantically at the rubbery ramen in his mouth he'd been so hungry he didn't even bother to heat it for the full amount of time, he swung the door open to see Sakura standing there, with Sasuke behind her. Sasuke. His Ice Prince.

He swallowed everything he had in his mouth and just stood staring for quite a while before Sasuke broke the silence.

"Aren't you gonna invite us in?" asked Sasuke. Naruto blinked a few times, lowered his head, and stepped aside for the two to enter.

"What are you guys doing here?" asked Naruto, following Sakura and Sasuke into his kitchen. Sasuke eyed the Instant-ramen-in-a-cup and smirked, picking it up.

"I wouldn't feed this to a dog…" he commented, examining the stale noodles and vegetables within the container.

"For what you treat me, its as if I am a dog," replied Naruto under his breath, snatching the cup from Sasuke's hand and placing it quickly in the bin, slightly embarrassed. "What do you guys want?"

"We were worried about you," started Sakura, her hands flailing. "You haven't been out of your house all day! You've been depressed all week! What's wrong, Naruto? You can tell us. We're your friends."

Naruto laughed lowly, drawing an odd look from Sakura. Sasuke bit down on his lip and closed his eyes tightly, curse words splitting his mind in two.

"Friends…" repeated Naruto, still laughing. "Maybe you, Sakura. Don't know about the guy behind you, though…" Sakura rubbed the back of her neck, a half smile creeping up on her face.

"Well, you guys have your moments, I admit," she replied.

"This'll be our last moment. Get out of my house, Sasuke," grunted Naruto, pointing out the door for him to exit. The smile disappeared from Sakura's face, her startling green eyes full of confusion. Sasuke stood firmly in his place, looking upon Naruto with don't-do-this eyes; a look that he hardly ever used. "Hard of hearing? OUT!"

"You don't want me to leave, Naruto," answered Sasuke. If he wouldn't leave, then Naruto had to. Without saying a word, he ran from the kitchen up his staircase and Sakura jumped as his bedroom door slam. She buried her face in her hands.

"Sasuke, what have you done for him to be like this?" came her muffled voice.

"I'll explain later … I want you to leave," breathed Sasuke. Sakura's head sprung up and she was face to face with the Ice Prince, his black eyes penetrating hers. She knew better than to argue with Sasuke when he had that look on his face; telling him to tell her what happens later, she turned on her heal and left.

Sasuke gently knocked on the white door, hearing sobs from the other side. His heart tightened; he felt sick to his stomach for reducing Naruto to a weeping mess. A part of him was afraid to enter into the room. He'd only ever seen Naruto in a strangely emotional state once … and that was four days ago. With time to brew his anger and hurt, he could be 10x worse. Sasuke knocked the door once again, asking the blonde headed boy if he could come in.

"Get out of my house, Sa-Sasuke!" stuttered Naruto, his strangled crying making his voice jumpy. Sasuke sighed deeply, his fist still on the white door above his head.

"If you don't let me in, we'll never be able to sort this out."

"There's noth-nothing to so-sort out!" cried Naruto. Sasuke felt a sudden force from the opposite side of the door. Naruto had thrown something at it from the other side. Sasuke felt his heart leap into his throat.

"Put it this way, you baka, I'm not leaving until we sort this out! You got it!" shouted Sasuke, taking a completely different negotiating style; if Naruto was going to be unreasonable, so was he.

No reply came from the room, just the same sobbing as it once was. Sasuke took the opportunity to step into the room without invitation. He looked straight ahead to see Naruto crunched up into a ball on his bed, hugging his knees and facing away from the door, his head bobbing from violent sobs. Sasuke walked forward, not knowing how to take in the sight before him. He loosened one strap around his wrist and pulled down one of his white and blue arm warmers, throwing it beside the crying mess. Naruto looked upon it.

"Use it as a tissue…" came Sasuke's soft voice, sitting ontop of the bed also, though his back was to Naruto. Naruto picked the arm warmer up and wiped his eyes with it.

"This, this is a nice bedroom," Sasuke struggled to break the awkwardness by making petty conversation. The room was nothing special. It was cream and white, but very spacious. "Seems like a nice place to relax." Naruto tried to talk through his breath catching in his throat.

"It's - it's - not like - like that at - at - at all," he stuttered, his throat jutting with sobs. Sasuke stared at his hands sitting upon his lap.

"Oh," he breathed. "It's nicer than my bedroom anyway…"

Sasuke's attempt to make conversation had crashed and burned. The awkwardness fell between the two again, Naruto's sobs and cries the only noise being made within the four walls. Sasuke pivoted around so that the left side of his body was facing Naruto's back, but he looked straight ahead, crossing his legs. He cleared his throat and desperately tried to think of something to say. He didn't have to, though, as the person that broke this bout of awkwardness was Naruto.

"Sort - sort this out, Sasuke," he breathed. "You came here to - to sort this out, so do it." Sasuke lowered his head and didn't raise it for about half a minute, thinking of a good way to go about the whole situation without sending Naruto into deeper depression. It seemed almost impossible. "Don't lead - lead me on anymore."

Sasuke's head shot in Naruto's direction immediately, Naruto's head facing him also. His face was red and blotchy from crying, his eyes shimmering with newly forming tears, the hair closest to his face wet and hanging lanky beside either eye.

"I never lead you on…" Sasuke started, putting his hand out and trying to touch Naruto's. Naruto pulled away quickly, tears running down his face.

"You're trying to do it again, aren't - aren't you?" Naruto started. "Treat - treating me like I'm someone special and - and then cutting me down - down to size…"

"No. Oh, Naruto, no!" Sasuke said desperately. "Don't think that!"

"You've done it before…" commented Naruto, now having a silent cry right before the dark haired boys eyes.

"Well, Naruto, tell me what I've done, then! Tell me everything! Tell me how I lead you on!" shouted Sasuke, getting upset, too. Naruto gritted his teeth, his fists clenched.

He should KNOW what he's done!

Naruto slowly but surely weakened, thought he was still considerably distressed. He took huge deep breaths in, getting ready to explain to the ignorant Sasuke why he was in this state.

"You … you baka!" he snarled in Sasuke's face. "It's been four days! And you STILL don't know, do you! What happened the day before I broke down, Uchiha Sasuke! On your birthday!"

Sasuke remembered back. Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi had thrown a small surprise party for the boy. Although it was a kind deed, Sasuke wasn't terribly taken by the whole thing and spent most of his time in his bedroom. Naruto had came up to wish Sasuke a happy birthday, which was what he would have preferred to a silly party. Both boys sat in the room, reminiscing, smiling about little things, the music from downstairs drowned out by Naruto's ridiculous laughter and Sasuke's own satisfaction. Toward the end of the night, Sasuke got up from his bedroom chair and walked over to Naruto, ruffling his hair with the palm of his hand. Naruto grinned broadly at this.

"You're alright sometimes," Sasuke had told him as Naruto got up from his sitting place. Sasuke had looked down upon to boy, his eyes so warm and inviting; eyes that Naruto had never seen before. Naruto blushed, realising his strong affection … obsession with him. Sasuke put his hand on Naruto's elbow and his stare deepened. Naruto was sure that his heart had skipped a beat as soon as his tepid hand touched Naruto's cool flesh. At that point, Kakashi-sensei had called Naruto and Sasuke down, interrupting the break-through moment of the two friends…

"Naruto…" muttered Sasuke, remembering fully and snapping back to reality. "I … wasn't coming onto you. Not at all. I was expressing how much your friendship meant to me."

Naruto sniffed, yet more tears streaming down his face. Sasuke continued. "I … find it hard to express how I feel and you know that. The truth is, I've never had a friend like you. You're a fucking idiot most of the time. But you're my best friend; and the first one I've ever had. I didn't know that…" Naruto fell forward onto the bed and buried his face in his blanket, sobbing and sniffing. "Do you understand now?" Sasuke reached out and put his hand upon Naruto's shoulder, the same shoulder that he had imprinted four days back. Naruto winced, but didn't shrug his hand away.

"So you completely meant it, didn't you," came Naruto's muffled voice. "You'll never love me the way I love you."

"I don't think I'm capable of that emotion," Sasuke lips spoke softly.

"You don't think?" whispered Naruto, his head raised from his bed. He was now sitting up, looking at Sasuke. "Don't say thing like that, Sasuke."

"Well, it's the truth. I've never felt it, I've never experienced it, so I'm not sure I'm capable of it."

"Then why won't you let me give you the experience, the feeling…"

Sasuke sighed deeply, his hand caressing Naruto's shoulder gently and reassuringly.

"Come here," ordered Sasuke.

"What?"

"Come here," repeated Sasuke, his arms open to embrace the troubled boy. Naruto weakly fell into Sasuke's arms, placing his hands on his shoulders, nuzzling his head against his chest. Sasuke leaned his chin on the boy's head, tightening his arms around Naruto's waist. He looked down at the weeping boy, and noticed the marks he made on his shoulder. He pulled his shirt down gently, examining the imprints.

"Does it hurt?" he whispered, running a finger along them.

"They sting sometimes…" Naruto replied with a sniff.

"I'm sorry…"

Instinctively, and before he could stop himself, he leant down and placed a tiny kiss on the biggest imprint. Both boys froze, realising what just happened. Slowly, Sasuke brought his head back up only to be met with Naruto's confused stare. He was sure that he had the same expression on his face.

"I…" started Sasuke, desperate to explain his actions, but he knew there wasn't an explanation at all. He gulped, feeling sweat prickling his forehead. Naruto's hands loosened weakly on Sasuke's shoulders, his palms running down Sasuke's chest with hardly any pressure. Naruto still looked confused, and all Sasuke could do was look upon him and wait for another reaction. In a split second Naruto and Sasuke's eyes met, cyan staring into black … Naruto's eyes huge, puffy, swelling with tears … Sasuke's warm, inviting … the eyes Naruto thought he would never see again. Forever glancing, gazing … not noticing their faces drawing closer and closer.

Gently their lips pressed together as their hearts skipped simultaneously. Notably tense, Sasuke's grip on Naruto's waist loosened in what could have been shock, but it didn't stop the beautiful kiss deepening. Naruto teased Sasuke's lips to an open with minimal effort, running his tongue along the mouth of the boy he adored so much. Sasuke welcomed the tongue, letting it explore freely. As soon as the tongues met in a blind fervour, Naruto shuffled to sit on Sasuke's lap, his knees either side of Sasuke's body. Throwing all sense of logic out the proverbial window, Sasuke pulled off Naruto's already loose orange jacket, hungry to touch his bare torso. A black tank top was revealed from under the flamboyant jacket, a boyish body visible underneath. Not breaking lip contact, Naruto returned the favour to his Ice Prince, practically ripping the navy-black fleece from Sasuke's back. He gasped, and Naruto took the opportunity to thrust his tongue further into Sasuke's mouth, wanting to discover and memorise all of the inside.

With the kiss completely distracting Sasuke for quite a lot of time, Naruto undid the zip of Sasuke's white shorts, and the buttons of the underwear underneath.

"Naruto…"

Realising what the boy was up to, Sasuke fell back onto the bed, letting Naruto have space for whatever he wanted to do. He closed his eyes, concentrating on every stroke and touch of his koi. He knew that his shorts had been removed, his underwear had now disappeared, and so had the presence of Naruto. His eyes sprung open and he sat up slightly, seeking Naruto's face. He found him, smiling down on him … he was also naked from the waist down. Sasuke smiled back and lay down once more, only to be disturbed by a foreign force and a scream of pain.

"NARUTO!"

Sasuke sat bolt upright, looking at Naruto's face distorted in agony. He had impaled himself ontop of Sasuke's erection without preparing himself. Naruto grabbed tightly onto Sasuke.

"Let me do this!" shouted Naruto, still in a considerable amount of pain.

"You're too tight!"

"I - don't - care!"

Naruto rocked back and forth ontop of Sasuke, his screams a mixture of ache and pleasure. The screams carried off into each room of Naruto's home. Sasuke gasped deeply; Naruto was so tight that it felt like his erection was in a vice grip, loosening ever so slightly and tightening right up again. As scared for Naruto as he was, he couldn't deny that this felt amazing. Sasuke fell back again, letting Naruto bounce ontop of him, still surprised at how fast things had progressed. It was obvious that Naruto had been wanting this for a long time, so much so that he couldn't wait. He now had Sasuke inside of him, and the realisation was unbearable.

Naruto's movements got so wild that Sasuke feared the boy might have a heart attack - driving into the boys hips with brute force, moving as fast as his muscles permitted … his screams telling Sasuke clearly that the head of his erection was hitting off his prostate gland perfectly. Sasuke sat up and pleasured the manic boy, now moaning as freely as Naruto was. He noticed that Naruto's opening had gotten considerably wetter; how - he didn't know, and he didn't really care. It was heaven on Earth.

"Fuck me, Sasuke!" screamed Naruto, wanting to feel him moving under him. Sasuke was more than happy to oblige, plunging into Naruto, meeting his downward movement with his upward perfectly. Both boys were dripping with sweat, sweet screams of desire spilling from their open mouths; bed ready to collapse any second from their insatiable act of love.

Sasuke was so close to the edge that he was flailing to grab onto Naruto, to let him feel what he was feeling. Desperately, he clung onto Naruto's left shoulder, squeezing, screaming, ready to release into Naruto. Naruto yelled out once more, coming onto Sasuke's other hand and his sweating midsection. As soon as Sasuke felt this, he did the same, freeing his come inside of his koi, his whole body tensing and shaking with ecstatic bliss. The two buckled and collapsed in a beautiful sweating mess, Sasuke still very much inside Naruto.

Both found it hard to catch their breaths as they lay there. Sasuke snaked his hands around the boy laying atop of him and kissed him delicately on the head.

"You're alright sometimes," he whispered in the blonde boys ear. He raised his head, looking at Sasuke with eyes as big as golf balls, smiling widely.

They shared another lingering kiss before Naruto dismounted him.

"Naruto … you're bleeding…" Sasuke whispered, looking down at his lap and the duvet beneath him. Both were saturated with blood.

"Ah, crap," moaned Naruto, getting up and heading for his bathroom.

"Are you ok?"

"I'll survive," smiled Naruto, and he disappeared into the ensuite. Soon he re-entered the bedroom, cleaned up. He made his way over to Sasuke with a wet, soapy sponge in his hand.

"You're a mess," he smiled, wiping the blood from around Sasuke's pubic region. He gasped and tossed his head back, letting droplets of the soapy, cold water run into every crevice.

"Feel good?" asked Naruto, lightly swabbing and dabbing the blood from Sasuke.

"Yeah…" sighed Sasuke, surprised that there wasn't steam rising from his body because of the actions. When all the blood was off Sasuke's person, Naruto ran his sponge upon his midriff, then stopped. He bent down and licked some of the come from Sasuke's abs.

"Kinky," muttered Sasuke.

"Taste," Naruto replied, leaning forward to kiss Sasuke. He thrust his come-ridden tongue into his mouth, letting Sasuke taste it as well. Their tongues danced for a while before Naruto broke lip contact, wiping the rest of the come clean from Sasuke's midriff.

"There. Good as new," smiled Naruto. Sasuke sat up, rubbing the back of his neck and smiling.

"What about your bed?"

"I'll change it when I can be bothered," he answered. When Naruto went to turn around, Sasuke noticed his left shoulder.

"Naruto! Shit - I'm sorry…" said Sasuke, covering his mouth. Naruto was confused until he pointed to his shoulder, indicating what he had done. He had imprinted it just like the right shoulder.

"Oh … wow," murmured Naruto, touching the fresh imprints in his skin. "They're tingly."

"I'm really sorry."

"Don't be."

"No, but…"

"I said don't be. Now I have them on both my shoulders. One to remind me of the bad times, and the other to remind me of the better times. Ying and yang," smiled Naruto. "It's so cool!"

"Ying and yang? Don't go all Chinese on me," sighed Sasuke as Naruto let out a laugh.

Naruto took a seat on Sasuke's lap, nuzzling his face against the boys chest.

"You know, there's an old saying about this season…" Sasuke whispered in Naruto's ear as he glanced out Naruto's window. Naruto looked up at his face and stroked his blue-black hair.

"What's that?" asked Naruto. Sasuke cuddled Naruto close to him, close to his heart; all the pain had melted away. He knew he would have those nightmares anymore, knew that Naruto could finally lay down to rest without a care. Sasuke had finally realised love, and brought the beauty back into Naruto. He kissed Naruto's forehead and let his index finger trail along the fresh imprints; the ones that told him that everything was going to be alright.

"Spring is the beginning of better things to come."

There we go. My first ever Naruto x Sasuke fanfiction