Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ My, How Convenient ❯ ... Or Does It? ( Chapter 4 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

By: spare

Don't read this chapter if you're after more smut. There aren't any more... Yet. Might revise this in the future to feature a longer, lemony epilogue.

Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Comedy | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 08.22.2005 | Pages: 4 | Words: 4.6K | Visits: 5.6K | Status: Work In Progress

Disclaimer: Naruto is copyright to Masashi Kishimoto-sensei.

Author's Introductions: This is SUPPOSED to be the last chapter for this fic. However, after reading this, I realized that 1) it's too damned short and 2) it doesn't really FEEL like a real ending. But I still decided to go ahead and publish this because I really have to finish at least one fic now. RL has totally gone into overdrive mode, and it would take months to come up with a better ending chapter. So, I apologize in advance for the readers who would feel shortchanged for this pathetic chapter.

That said, I've started scribbling up an epilogue or sequel to this fic. It's longer than this installment you may or may not want to read, and it's looking to be another Sasunaru lemon. But it'll take me more than a month to finish, unfortunately.

So there. Please don't flame me, I already feel bad for having to post this miserable follow-up, I promise I'll try to upload a better version before the year ends. I am really thankful for the favorable reviews this fanfic has received. I wish I could write fanfics as often as I want, but I'm yet another starving author-wannabe who has to feed herself. Enjoy whatever there is to enjoy in this little slip of a chapter. I can say that it has been a pleasure to write Sasunaru smut for more than a month. ^_^

My, How Convenient

by spare

Chapter 4: …Or Does It?

Despite his blond former team-mate's thoughts to the contrary, Sasuke was not asleep. The dark-haired jounin felt even more tired than when he first came in; his arm and leg muscles starting to feel like lead weights, and the fresh cuts on his back mildly stinging, but his eye lids stubbornly refused to stay closed. And so here he was, forty-three minutes and eight seconds later (he knew the exact time since he'd kept his eyes riveted to the timer over the bedside table), warm, bare-chested and very much awake while Naruto slept on peacefully on the other side of the bed, snoring away.

Sighing, he held up his hand to what little light there was in the room. It was his right hand; the same one he'd used to touch Naruto, the same set of fingers he'd almost casually slipped inside the smaller man, feeling amused and exhilarated and even more turned on by the second with the moans and pants every movement elicited from the blond. He examined it wordlessly, not quite frowning, not quite sure what he was looking for, exactly. He breathed in deeply and caught a whiff of coconut oil, soap, and something else.

Naruto's lust. Naruto's cum.

Sasuke had wiped himself off of the sticky fluid but the scent still lingered, moist, pungent, faintly metallic. It warmed him, sent keen little messages to his cock still fresh with the memory of being buried somewhere hot and wet and willing, made him reflexively wet his lips with a tongue that still recalled the taste of water and heated, salty skin.

The Uchiha decided it was a good smell, overall. It was something to remind himself of this night, at the very least, something to commit the image of Naruto's impassioned face and the sound of his lusty cries to mind.

A keepsake. Yes. He needed that.

He needed that, because after tonight… After tonight, it would be over. There would be no repeat performance. He could go back to being the stoic, but straight Uchiha Sasuke, object of every fan girl's unreciprocated adoration, and Naruto could go back to being the oftentimes idiotic but admittedly powerful shinobi who just happened to be his best and closest friend.

For it had slowly sunk in that Sasuke may have taken advantage of the blond, doing far worse than simply rubbing against him in midsleep. He had virtually forced Naruto's already sensitized body to respond to his caresses, manhandling the smaller man into consent through a heady dose of lust and confusion. He should hate himself, not feel inordinately proud that it was his touch Naruto had responded to. That it was his body that brought smaller man ecstasy.

Sasuke closed his eyes. Best to forget everything and move on. That was only right. Come as close to an apology as he could about the… incident, and vow that it would never happen again.

But Naruto talked about a next time…

And, if he was to be honest with himself and quit with the introspection crap already, Sasuke wanted there to be a next time. Or two. Or three. Or a dozen. A dozen more other night like this, feeling tired but sated and warm and not alone. A dozen more nights shared with someone whose presence drew out a wellspring of thoughts and emotions he had once believed himself incapable of having.

A dozen more nights with Naruto.

Sasuke groaned, thre his forearms across his eyes, and wondered if he was losing his mind. It wouldn't be the only thing he would have lost before this night was over.

The dark-haired jounin spent a few more minutes laying there awake and doing nothing before he finally decided that sleep wouldn't come, no matter how hard he tried to will it. Oh, well. He did manage to catch almost three hours of sleep before the dobe woke him up and made his already complicated life just a bit more… complicated.

He looked over to where Naruto lay flat on his back, the quilt the blond had originally pulled over his chest now a tangled mess around his legs. The smaller jounin's shirt had ridden up, conveniently exposing the smooth, currently unmarked stomach Sasuke had stroked moments ago.

Amazing how the simple rise and fall of it made his fingers ache to skate over it again.

Yes. Complicated.

Whether it was a bad complicated or a good complicated remained to be seen, but for now… For now, Sasuke needed to occupy himself before he found the warmth Naruto's side of the bed radiated too much to resist.

Even the blond's light snores were starting to turn him on. And more.

He rolled over onto his stomach to quell down a strong but fleeting impulse to scoot over to where Naruto lay and press a gentle kiss on the blond shinobi's parted lips. Snuggle into the blond's embrace so that his ear pressed against Naruto's chest, and finally fall asleep listening to the sound of Naruto's heartbeat.

Maybe he was going insane.

Maybe he was going insane because he wanted to go insane.

Maybe he wanted to go insane because he didn't care if he was.

And maybe he didn't care because it didn't matter.

What does matter?

Naruto. And how right it all felt.

But then, Sasuke amended, feeling something besides mild arousal that was very close to shock, maybe he wasn't going insane. Maybe it was something both worse, and better.

Maybe he was in love.

x x x

“I would like to congratulate the both of you for a job well done,” Tsunade declared from where she sat behind the desk of the Hokage's office. “Although I can't say I'm at all surprised.” She nodded meaningfully to Naruto, who stood facing her alongside the Uchiha heir. Both shinobi had stony, carefully neutral looks on their faces; something one would expect from Uchiha Sasuke, for sure, but was definitely off with Naruto's usual disposition.

She had fully anticipated receiving an ecstatic, self-satisfied, very loud blond jounin in her office this morning. Instead, she got - she continued to stare unblinkingly at the young ninja - this. The sannin arched one pale eyebrow, perplexed and feeling just a tad suspicious - of what, she wasn't sure. The formal, reserved, and eerily courteous shinobi who had walked in along with his former team-mate looked for all other respects identical to the brash Uzumaki, but who could tell? He maybe a henge. Or a kagebunshin. Or both.

“Yeah, right,” Naruto replied, muttering something about surprises and his foot and of a certain old lady betting two weeks worth of free ramen on their failure.

The Fifth Hokage smiled. It was still Naruto, alright. “If I didn't trust your capabilities, would I assign you to such an important mission?” she returned amiably. What the heck, but she was in a good mood today. (And why shouldn't she? The silver watch was back in the noble house's possession, the perverted man who had stolen it was still asleep where the two had left him, and a war between Thunder and Fire has been successfully avoided.) Even if, she noted, the two shinobi before her were obviously not. It made her curious.

“Whatever,” Naruto mumbled absently. For a second, the blond jounin seemed about to take a step back and leave, but suddenly stopped, as if recalling something. He lifted his gaze to meet the Hokage's. “So—about that ramen?” Naruto asked hopefully.

Yes, very curious. Tsunade held up her hand. “I've already notified Ichiraku that I'll be shouldering your bill for two consecutive weeks,” Tsunade affirmed.

“That's great,” Naruto commented, managing a small smile.

“You'll be sharing it with Sasuke, of course,” she added. “After all, you both worked equally hard for this mission,” the Hokage went on benignly, “correct?”

”Whaaaat?! I worked harder than Sasuke-bastard did, if you must know! So why should I share my ramen with—“

Tsunade blinked. The blond, blue-eyed, be-whiskered jounin who stood in front of her desk was looking at her as if she'd just ordered them to make a graduate thesis based on one of Jiraiya's books. It was still a far cry from the irritated - and typical - tirade the Fifth Hokage had imagined, however.

She shifted her gaze to the Uchiha. A slight frown marred the dark-haired shinobi's features, and—was it a trick of the light, or was there a blush coloring the pale jounin's cheeks?

“But—“

“I don't—“

Both shinobi began to protest at the same time, then stopped, turning to glare at each other. Tsunade leaned back against her seat, bracing herself for the verbal crossfire that usually resulted from such looks. When none came, she blinked, and stared, again. Naruto was studying the floor intently, head bowed, while Sasuke seemed to have found the shelf of ninjutsu scrolls to her right of particular interest. Neither attempted to say anything more.

What in the world is up with those two? “Well, I'm glad that you're both fine with the arrangement,” the Fifth Hokage said breezily after a few awkward seconds had passed with no sign of either one wanting to speak. “Just as well. We'll be notifying you if there are other jobs requiring your skills in the future, of course, but right now I think I can safely say you've earned yourselves three days off for the meantime.”

Weak nods.

“…OK.”

“Hn.”

“Well,” she cleared her throat, clapping her hands together and regarding them both with a tight smile. “That's all, I guess. Dismissed.”

Tsunade found herself staring at the doorway they had gone through long after Sasuke and Naruto had left.

“Shizune,” she whispered, after a moment.

The young kunoichi appeared, the pig Ton-ton in tow, from out of the shadows of the room. “You called, Tsunade-sama?”

“Is it just me, or were those two acting a bit… odd, just now?”

Shizune held a finger to her cheek thoughtfully. “Naruto was definitely zoned out,” the sannin's assistant agreed. “And Sasuke… Well, he seemed even more standoffish than usual.” She scratched her head, smiling sheepishly. “I think they had a fight, again. Still, they didn't look like they were particularly angry at each other, so…”

Tsunade nodded. She herself had pretty much gotten the same idea.

“Even if they did quarrel, I'm thankful they managed to pull the mission off without a hitch,” Shizune continued. “I never would have expected it of Naruto, even though he's as strong as he is, now.”

“That boy has proven time and again that he could accomplish whatever he sets his mind to do,” the Fifth admitted with just a hint of pride in her voice. “Still, his - and Sasuke's - demeanor today is unnerving. Something's happened between those two…” She trailed off. I just don't know what, exactly.

“Do you want them followed?” Shizune offered.

The Hokage shook her head. “No.” By the way both ninja acted oddly around each other, she guessed that whatever had transpired was a purely personal thing. As long as it didn't affect their performance during missions, Tsunade saw no reason to butt in. Either way, she was pretty sure they'll sort it out by themselves, eventually. With that thought in mind, she took a deep breath, rubbing at the back of her neck. “Anyway, now that that covert little mission is behind us,” she announced, “I think I'll be heading off downtown to celebrate.”

“But Tsunade-sama!” Shizune chided predictably. The young woman waved a hand at the pile of scrolls and other documents arranged neatly over the Hokage's desk. “You still have a lot of paperwork to go over! There's a letter from Tea country—”

“Those could wait,” Tsunade interceded with an unaffected shrug. “I'll take only a half hour or so, in any case.” She smiled to herself. At least one person she'd talked to wasn't out of character on this lovely morning. She rose and made her way to leave the office, Ton-ton and Shizune following close behind.

x x x

“Well,” Naruto began to say, then, coming up with nothing, ended it ineptly with, “Well, then…”

Never had the halls and stairways leading out of the Hokage's office seemed so endless, although in truth they barely took five minutes to make it back out into the streets of Konoha. To Naruto, however, the short trek could have lasted for hours, what with him being aware of Sasuke beside him, falling into step a careful distance away, twice more silent than the blond could ever remember his stoic former team-mate being. The dark-haired jounin virtually ignored him throughout their trip from the teahouse back to Hidden Leaf Village, answering his queries with monosyllabic grunts or curt nods - and only when a reply was absolutely called for.

Normally, Naruto would have been irritated with the silent treatment, but not today. Not after what happened last night. Not after this morning.

It had been awkward; waking up practically draped all over each other, his arms cradling Sasuke's waist and his head nestled against Sasuke's chest, while the Uchiha's legs trapped his own. The fact that Sasuke was bare-chested did not help one bit.

It had been even more awkward double-checking things inside the bedroom suite to make sure they did not leave anything that can be traced back to Konoha or Fire country shinobi. Going back to the bathroom, he had discovered that Sasuke had already cleaned up most of the mess their previous activities had resulted in, leaving every black tile as sparkly clean as when they had first set foot inside it.

Naruto didn't speak a word about it. Neither did Sasuke, for that matter. Instead, after having ascertained that Nasu (the now-near-forgotten-old-pervert) was still down for the count and safely tied up snug in the closet, and that the locking system finally deactivated, they wordlessly went about the fall-back plan Sasuke had proposed. With Sasuke posing as Nasu and Naruto as the blonde courtesan, they were able to send off the dignitary's guards away to Nasu's mansion on some minor errand.

They made a run for it the moment the goons had their backs turned.

They delivered the heirloom watch to the emissary sent by the noble house in the outskirts of the city soon after, and from there it had been a long, uneventful journey back to Hidden Leaf - uneventful, save for the unnerving feeling that Sasuke had been watching him. Constantly.

Naruto hadn't been too sure, however, because he hadn't wanted to look and check. That would have meant seeing Sasuke's face, meeting his dark eyes. And remembering,

Oh, hell.

Then again, Naruto didn't need any sort of aid in that department. The soreness in his ass was still there; faint and barely noticeable if not reinforced by the memory of being fucked against the wall so hard it left bruises right over the skin of his backside.

“… Ramen.”

Broken from his internal reverie, Naruto looked up. “Huh?”

And instantly regretted it. He couldn't be sure with before, but Sasuke was staring at him now, the expression on the taller jounin's face unreadable, deep onyx eyes giving away nothing. “I was asking whether you're heading off to Ichiraku's for ramen,” Sasuke repeated.

They had reached the street leading up to the old Uchiha compound Sasuke had resettled himself in years ago. It was time to part ways.

Naruto sighed, uncertain whether it was from relief or disappointment or some other indefinable thing. He shrugged, and ruffled one hand through his hair, smiling sheepishly. “Nah. I don't really feel like eating out today,” he replied.

No response, save for the slightest inclination of Sasuke's head at the words.

“I-I'll be heading home now, I guess,” Naruto continued, unable to keep himself from stuttering just the tiniest bit. “See ya.” The blond managed a few steps into the general direction of his own apartment building before Sasuke's voice called out again.

“Naruto.”

He turned. “Yeah?” he ventured, trying to sound cool and casual, coming up with something closer to a squeak instead.

“Your jacket,” Sasuke stated, indicating the orange garment that Naruto had loaned to the jounin so he wouldn't have to go out bare-chested, what with his own shirt a ruined mess, and the cold weather bound to bite into his bones despite the henge no jutsu to conceal a lack of clothing. “I'll send it back to you in a couple of days.”

“Hey, no prob!” Naruto inwardly sighed with relief. “I got lots of extras, anyway.”

“Hn.”

“Well, then,” the blond shinobi said, after a while. He cleared his throat. “Well, then, I'll be going.”

He left.

And missed the look of disappointment and silent contemplation that crossed Sasuke's face.

x x x

the end?