Title:  Cold Hands

Series:  Naruto

Author:  Coyen

Pairing:  Sasuke x Naruto

Rating:  PG-13

Disclaimer:  I don't own Naruto, this writing is merely for entertainment purposes.  If I did own it, Sasuke would be Naruto's bitch, and Sakura would be dead already, and I would be happy.

Author's Notes:  This might be slightly AU, or OOC, I think.  Please forgive me, I have limited knowledge of the actual plotline and characters.  I just wanted to write this pairing for pleasure.  Please enjoy and PLEASE PLEASE review!  (---desperate)

Chapter One:  No Fucking Way, Sensei

Naruto swore under his breath and dug already bruised fingers deeply into the bark of the tree.   The flesh of the branch was soft and pliable, and his nails tore gashes into it that were long and sticky with freshly running sap.  It was night, and the moon that hovered over him and his bleeding tree was full and a pasty yellow, and covered with minuscule craters that were visible even far away on Earth.  Naruto wondered, as he nursed his sore fingers, sucking on them gingerly, if those craters would fill up with water if it ever rained on the moon.  Like big, steaming bowls of ramen… that was it.  He could never look at the moon again without his stomach rumbling.

The vulpine boy frowned and drew his legs up, wrapping his arms around bony knees, forgetting for a bit how sore his fingers were from training.  The only thoughts in his mind were centered around his next mission, and how much it was going to SUCK.

What had been Kakashi's deal, anyway, pairing him up with that jerk Sasuke?  What was up that ninja's ass?!  He knew how much the two hated each other- or at least, how much Naruto loathed his 'rival.'  Naruto growled low in his throat, gritty and deep.  He'd kick Kakashi's ass!

//flashback//

The blond-haired boy sat perched on a low-hanging tree branch, a little bit away from the rest of his classmates, who were clumped about in various clique-like groups, chatting eagerly away in the clearing.  Frowning and crossing his arms over his chest, he stuck his tongue out at the few who occasionally turned his way to glare.  Nyah.  Fuck them, who cared if he had no friends?  He'd sit by himself.

One thing that brought a tiny twinge of joy was the fact that Sasuke always sat alone.  Not that he didn't have anyone to sit with, like Naruto-  just about every girl in the class would make room for him.  He simply enjoyed being alone.  If he ever changed his mind, of course, Sakura would instantly have a seat open for him next to her.

That brought another grimace to his vulpine face.  Sakura, the girl that he'd had a crush on ever since he first saw her, was completely committed to winning over the stoic asshole.  Why?!!  He did nothing but ignore her advances!  He acted just about as uninterested as one could possibly act!!

Naruto snorted.  He hated Sasuke.

"Attention, young shinobi,"  Iruka interrupted his train of thought, addressing the gathered class.  "Today, your cell instructors and senior Jonin will be informing you of a new mission.  A retreat of sorts."

The class erupted with sounds of awe and excitement.  A retreat?  Like a vacation??

"Please go to them now."  Iruka concluded, snapping his roll book shut.  "They will give you further details."

Naruto hopped down off his tree, and shoved his hands into his pockets, looking around for Kakashi.  When he didn't immediately spot the Jonin, his gaze fell to Sasuke, who was walking away from the crowd.  Sakura ran after him, and caught up till they were walking together, and started talking animatedly, most likely about some new technique she'd mastered with her chakra. 

"Damn Sasuke…"  Naruto couldn't help but grumble as he followed them.  "Why's Sakura always walking beside him, anyways?  Couldn't she walk with me…"  As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he knew how stupid and desperate he sounded.  Haruno would rather lick the ground than hold a decent conversation with him.  Slapping his usual grin and obnoxious attitude back on and into place, he bounded up beside the two.

"Sakura-chan!  I bet you're excited about our mission, you can go on a romantic retreat with ME!"  He pulled a face and jumped in front of her, posing.

"Dry up and die, Naruto!"  She growled, shouldering past him, her ugly expression instantly sweet again as she turned back to Sasuke.  "I hope our retreat is somewhere exotic,"  She murmured to Sasuke, who was all-out ignoring her.  "I'm tired of snow and these tiny, boring old villages!"

Naruto's face fell and he scowled, shoving his hands into his pockets again, walking along silently behind the two.  Fine, so Sakura would snub him no matter how he addressed her.  On to his second most favorite past-time, then!  Irritating Sasuke!  (Of course that's a tie with eating Ramen)

"Ne Sasuke!"  He bounded up beside the dark-haired boy.  "I heard you slipped while training yesterday!  Fell half way down the ledge before using your chakra to save your own ass!  Didja have a nice ride?"

Sasuke ignored him, too, not showing any sign of recognition but for the tiniest tensing of his shoulders.  This at least was some sort of reaction!  And that was his only goal, to get a rise out of the level-headed, playing-it-cool Uchiha boy-  something that hardly ever happened!

"Didja fall on your butt?  Heh heh… slid down with a sore ass?"  He teased, spanking his own bottom for emphasis.  He stuck his tongue out, too, and grinned at the other boy. 

Sakura's face peered around Sasuke's profile as they all three kept walking.  "You leave him the hell alone, Naruto!  And who ever said you could walk with us, huh?  Why don't you-"  She was suddenly cut off and Sasuke stopped walking and spun on his heel to glare at her.

"Shut the fuck up, Haruno."  He whispered between clenched teeth.  "I don't need you to defend me."  Her eyes widened to a point of perfect circularity.  "And I don't recall inviting you to join me in walking, either."

Naruto could only stare at this out-of-place display of emotion.  What had gotten into Sasuke?  He never acted like this! 

But it was Naruto's turn next.  Sasuke spun back around to glare at Naruto.  "And don't ever mock me, Uzumaki."  The boy threatened.  "I'll just end up hurting you."

Naruto stared, and felt the rage building within him.  Hurt him?!  He would start a fight with Naruto?  NO WAY!  Naruto was the one that started the fights here!  And won them, too!  And since when did Sasuke react to his provoking?  Or even tell Sakura to piss off??  Something was definitely wrong here!!

"Fuck you, Sasuke!"  Naruto lurched forward, dashing towards the retreating back of the other boy.  Hell, he'd show everyone who kicked the asses around here!

But Sasuke had long predicted what the blond boy would do.  Using his sharingan, he moved out of the way of Naruto's charging form, then quickly whipped back around to grab the back of the boy's jacket.

"Ah-!"  Naruto yelped, falling forward from the weight of his classmate pushing on him behind.  He fell face forward, and landed on his stomach, Sasuke on top.  All the air rushed out of his lungs and his eyes were squeezed shut with pain.

Sasuke was still lying on top of him.  The dark-haired moved to roll off, but before he stood, whispered in Naruto's ear, his breath tickling down the back of an orange shirt; "See?  I'll just end up hurting you."

Sakura, who stood gaping like a fish, watched as Sasuke dusted himself off, then headed away from the two.  Naruto was still gasping for air where he lay sprawled out on the ground.  She looked back and forth between the two, then seemed to snap back into focus.  After sending a scathing, disgusted glare at Naruto, she turned and plastered the sweetest smile she could possibly have managed onto her face, and ran after the Uchiha boy, shouting at him how cool he was.

Naruto listened to her leave, then struggled upright, his fists clenched so hard that his nails drew blood.  How dare he… how dare Sasuke mess with the great Naruto like that!  And humiliate him in front of Sakura, too?!!

Naruto froze when something dawned upon him.  Wait… he thought silently, wait one God damn minute!  What the hell did he do back there?  Why'd he have to fall down on me like that, he was right behind me, he could've just struck me in the back, between the shoulder blades or something!  He didn't have to fucking FALL on me!  Naruto knitted his brow, nursing his wounded fingers where they had smashed into the earthen floor beneath his body, and concentrated.  Why would he do that…

----------

Idiot!  Sasuke swore, staring ahead down the path he walked, ignoring the incessant chatter of the girl walking beside him.  Why did I have to go and… ah.  I could've just walked away… or smacked him on the head…  He sighed in deep frustration.  I lost control.  I can't let it happen again.  There was pause in his thoughts and Sakura's voice faded completely out as an image of Naruto rose unbidden to his mind, grinning that feline smile, two fingers seductively pressing against petal soft lips in a vulgar, insulting gesture.   I just couldn't help it.. it was unconscious… I had to, I felt his body beneath mine, and I wasn't sure what I felt…  And I took to long to get up off him…

Sasuke's intense glare faltered, and was replaced by a softened one that was mixed with fear.  What if… what if he suspects something?!  I've never lost control like that before… Something just made me choke, even though it only lasted a few seconds.  I felt his chest rise beneath me, felt him breathe.  I remember his back was warm from the sun beating down on it… and his hair was so bright, the way to light hit it, made it golden…

Suddenly Sakura was touching his arm, and Sasuke was snapped instantly out of his reverie, a half-hidden guilty expression lingering on his stoic features, ghosting across his face.  "What do you think?  Sasuke."  Her smile was big and fake and happy and it made him sick.  Her hair was curling around her shoulders in the slight breeze, a bubble-gum pink.  The color made him sick.  Her cold, bony hands were on his arm.  He felt their chill through his sleeve, and it turned his stomach over, unlike when Naruto happened to accidentally touch him occasionally-  he always felt the heat from the other boys' slender hands warming his skin.  Why did he notice such little things?  Was that in the nature of a ninja?  To notice those tiny things, like how Naruto trembled slightly when he was content, or how Naruto's sandals had little hearts drawn on the sides from boredom in class?  Maybe he was just crazy.  Maybe years of thinking only of black revenge had relieved him of all possible remaining sanity.  Maybe he was in love.

No.  Ninjas like him, bent on revenge, didn't fall in love.

"Sasuke?  Sasuke?  Are you ignoring me?  Sasuke?!  SASUKE?!!" 

"Fucking hell!"  The dark-haired boy spun on his heel, glare boring into the girl's hysterical eyes, her knobby white hands gripping his sleeve.  He brushed the touch violently off and backed away.  "What do you WANT?"

Sakura looked near tears at his outburst, but merely bit her bottom lip, hesitated, then blurted, "I was just worried about you, you were so quiet."

Sasuke wondered if it had occurred to her that he was always quiet.  Actually, no, he didn't care.  Ninjas like him didn't fall in love.  They didn't care.  And he hated them both.  Sakura and Naruto.  Mostly Sakura.

"Um, I wanted to ask you, Sasuke…" The pink-haired girl tried to reestablish conversation, running to catch up with Sasuke, who had hastily begun to walk away, back down the path.  "…Where do you think Kakashi-sensei is taking us?" 

Sasuke didn't even bother to shrug.  He just remained silent and slowly, neglected, and discouraged, Sakura fell behind, farther and farther.  Her face was shadowed, and for once her aggression towards pursuing her teammate was doused.  Sasuke walked on, thinking only of one person.  And that person did not have cold hands.

----------

Naruto was the last one to reach Kakashi's designated meeting spot in the wood.  He had grumbled the entire way from the fight sight out loud, mumbling and moaning about 'goddamned Sasuke stupid prick with the big ego I'll kick his ass' until his voice grew hoarse.  The dusty, sweaty little ninja made a beeline for the basket that held their lunches, throwing open the top and extracting the first thermos that he came to, tipping it over his open mouth, the cold, clear liquid gushing forth.

Sasuke, the first to have arrived, watched stealthily form his perch high in a tree nearby, fingers entwined in front of his face.  Dark eyes roamed over his teammate with excellently disguised relish, lingering upon the wet, glistening pink lips that were licked clean of remaining drops of water, and parted in a sigh of relief.  As soon as Naruto had replaced the thermos, those dark eyes looked away and closed, as if they had never been open.

Sakura, who had arrived shortly after Sasuke, sat on a log, scuffing at the hard-packed dirt ground with the toe of her sandal, looking dejected and put out.  Occasionally she would steal glances at Sasuke, partially hidden up in the tree, then blush and return her gaze to the dirt.

Naruto looked around the clearing, made a loud, obnoxious yawning noise, stretched a bit, then promptly plopped down onto the forest floor and crossed his legs.  "Neeee…… where's Kakashi-sensei?"  He asked aloud to no one in particular, pouting, knowing that no one would answer him.  Late, of course, his senior Jonin- and for some odd reason, that jerk that had beat him, Sasuke, was missing too.  When Naruto finally realized that Sakura was stealing glances up into a tree, he peered skyward into the foliage and spotted a blur of movement.  The vulpine boy growled low and deep in his throat, remembering the little tussle from earlier, and adding another hash mark to the list of "Times Sasuke Has Done Things That I Will Get Revenge For."  The list was growing extraordinarily long.

His thoughts were interrupted quite effectively as Kakashi strolled leisurely into the clearing.  He was blushing and humming to himself, nose in a book (trashy romance novel) as he walked.  When he spotted Naruto and Sakura, he stopped and snapped the book shut.  "Well."  He cleared his throat.  "I see you're all here.  Nice, nice."  Naruto, whose eyes had been on the book, blinked in confusion as the text was suddenly gone, vanishing into almost thin air.  Then his instructor was placing broad, long-fingered hands onto his hips, and turning towards them to speak.  Naruto noticed how Kakashi shifted his angle slightly to be able to project his voice towards all three of them, even though he knew that Kakashi had not once looked up into the tree than Sasuke was in.

"You all made it.  I'm surprised Naruto wasn't late."  The Jonin was quite possibly smiling.  Damned mask wouldn't tell.  Naruto stuck his tongue out, and reached for the food basket again, but a blur of movement had a second Kakashi instantly next to him, holding the basket up and out of reach.  "Nuh-uh."  Smiled the replica, then it disappeared, and the original ninja was now holding the basket.  "Lunch is for later.  Except for Naruto, who already drank a thermos without my permission.  He won't get any."

Naruto paled.  What??  How did Kakashi-sensei know that he'd taken it??  ……Oh.  Well, considering who the silver-haired man was, it shouldn't have been such a surprise.

"But I'm hungry!"  He wailed angrily, crossing his arms.

Kakashi turned a (?) grin onto his pouting vulpine face, and said rather happily, "Then eat some dirt."

Sakura laughed, and Naruto just grumbled.  "Ninja should be prepared to find food in the most unlikely of places, in case of a dire situation should ever arise."  Kakashi then added, and a few leaves fluttered down from the tree behind him.  Sasuke dropped onto the ground gracefully, and silently joined Naruto, completing the semicircle of students surrounding their teacher.  Naruto shot him a suspicious glance, then went right back to pouting.

Sakura seemed to have been waiting for Kakashi to take the initiative in explaining their mission, but since the Jonin seemed more inclined to joke around, she spoke up, looking as if images of sandy beaches were rooted firmly in her mind.  "Kakashi-sensei… what is our retreat, then?"

"Oh?"  The ninja turned towards her, holding the basket up out of a jumping/grasping Naruto's reach.  "You don't know yet?"

Sakura looked confused.  "No…?"

Naruto stopped grabbing and looked at Sakura, then Sasuke, then back to Kakashi.  "What?  What is it?"

Kakashi must have grinned, because the expression as reflected in his eyes.

"This 'retreat' is also a training exercise.  I'm holing you all up together in pairs for two weeks at a time.  You need to learn how to cooperate, tolerate, and get along with one another."

Naruto's face was instantly red.  A- a whole two weeks with Sakura, alone?  Just the two of us??

"The location will be different each time, and I will only give you a vague description."  Kakashi seemed to thoroughly enjoy the idea of torturing his pupils.  "And I hope to see positive results reflected in your future teamwork."

Naruto was hyperventilating by now.  He glanced at Sasuke, who was staring at nothing.  Boring jerk.  He then risked a glance at Sakura, who was looking blatantly at Sasuke with big girly googly eyes.  Irritating jerk.  Now that he saw those eyes of hers directed at Sasuke with such a look, she suddenly seemed a lot less attractive.

"The first two week period… will be Sasuke and Sakura."  Kakashi read from the back of his hand, where he had randomly seemed to scribble out names, dates, and locations with smudged ink.  Naruto's face fell.  "It will be in an underground cave.  Very cold, wet, and bad-smelling.  Please do not fall prey to the diseases carried by the sick people quarantined there."  The Jonin said with glee.  "Next will be Naruto and Sakura.  A cabin up north by a lake.  I timed it so that it is in the middle of a snow-storm.  I hope you two are able to burrow out alive before frostbite hits."  He said with equal cheeriness as before.  "The third will be, of course, Naruto and Sasuke.  It will be south of here, in an abandoned temple surrounded by nothing but sand, rocks, and more sand.  The temperature is a constant 112 degrees Fahrenheit.  Remember to bring sunscreen."  None of the three students seemed to have noticed that Kakashi had apparently run out of room to write all this down on his hand, and was currently reading from a napkin;  they were too busy being frozen in shock, imaging the nightmares to come.

A cool breeze came by.  Nobody moved.  Kakashi looked around.  He poked Naruto. 

The breeze died down.  A bird chirped.

Kakashi took out a trashy romance novel book.

Sasuke broke the stillness first by turning and walking away.

Sakura was next, staggering over to the stump Naruto had been sitting on, and sinking down, her knees trembling.  Finally Naruto moved- two feet, by collapsing directly vertical onto his rear end, beads of cold sweat rolling down his face.

"Hmmmmm, what's this?"  Kakashi pulled a piece of paper out from between the pages of his book.  "Ooh, how lucky.  I didn't know it came with a free set of stationary.  I must save this."  He slipped it into his pocket, humming, then stood up.  Sasuke had nearly made it all the way back over the crest of the hill, towards the village.  Kakashi said in a voice loud enough for all three of them to hear, "First pair, be ready to go first thing in the morning.  I will meet you here."  He turned to Naruto.  "Since you're not paired up with either until the second set of 2-weeks, you will remain in the village to train.  Understood, Naruto?"  He said cheerily. 

Naruto nodded, imaging the horrible prospect of being trapped in the middle of the desert with Sasuke for two weeks.  He didn't want to resort to cannibalism if he didn't have to, but…

Sasuke had paused up on the very lip of the hill to listen.  He continued on his way once Kakashi had finished, and Sakura stood suddenly, knees still trembling a bit, and dashed after him, seeming to have recovered.

Kakashi watched them go, then started and snapped his fingers as if to jog his own memory.  "I forgot about lunch!  They left so suddenly…"

Naruto pushed the horrid images out of his mind as soon as 'lunch' filtered in one ear and out the other.  "Ne… K-Kakashi-sensei… does that mean I can have theirs?"

Kakashi turned to him with a smile and said rather happily, "NO."

"B-but-"

"Dirt is good to eat, Naruto.  Very good practice for future training…"

//end flashback//

----------

fin

Chapter two coming soon!

Please review!  I will love you forever, AND it will make the next chapter come out faster ne!!!  ;_;