Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Way of Things ❯ Chapter 1

It starts with an argument. It always starts with an argument. Sasuke invariably calls Naruto an idiot, and Naruto whines petulantly about such insults being undeserved.

 

Eventually, punches are thrown.

 

They grapple on the ground like unruly children, legs and arms akimbo, elbows flailing wildly with little regard for the various body parts that inevitably get in the way. There are sharp, breathless taunts bandied back and forth. And even the odd black eye or bruised rib doesn't quell their heated scuffling.

 

Sakura looks on in weary puzzlement, a long-suffering sigh escaping past her pursed lips. She doesn't really understand the antics of her remaining team members, but she's smart enough to realize that this was just the way of things between them. If they weren't fighting one another, they weren't themselves. Something went missing when the fight left them, and as much as Sakura despised seeing her teammates hurt and arguing, she hated seeing them lost and alone even more.

 

So it was with some resignation that she walked away. Less than content to leave Sasuke and Naruto locked against one another, bleeding and yelling; but otherwise quite capable of recognizing the inexorable when she saw it.

 

There was nothing she could do to change this situation. This was just the way of things.

 

***

 

They never draw weapons against one another. This was the only hard and fast rule they adhered to without fail. No weapons, no tricks. Nothing that would destroy the tentative equality they had fought, quite literally, to forge.

 

There was something honest in their feuding and something very, very real.

 

At present, Sasuke had Naruto pinned beneath him, one hand tangled in unruly blonde hair and another clinging fiercely to a wiry bicep. Beneath him, Naruto bucked somewhat wildly, hoping to unseat Sasuke by sheer tenacity alone, but quickly came to realize that there was little he could do to reverse their current positions short of actually killing his more than willing rival.

 

For a brief moment, the idea found purchase in his head.

 

After all, Sasuke was intractable at the best of times, and downright contemptible at the worst. From the beginning, he was surly and arrogant, and had taken great pains to keep everyone at a formidable distance, even as they all clamored for his considerably cold regard.

 

Naruto hated Sasuke for this. Hated him for the ease with which he rejected everything out of hand, hated him for the attention he garnered without really seeking it, and hated him for his brilliance. The last of the Uchiha had everything Naruto wanted, yet took none of it for his own.

 

It was infuriating.

 

A sudden flutter of movement drew Naruto away from his bout of introspection and back to the matter at hand. Sasuke had shifted his grip from Naruto's bicep to his shoulder, pressing down with an almost disturbing amount of force. The hand left tangled in his now dirt-streaked hair pulled back and away, curling itself into a tight fist, ready once again to strike a blow wherever possible.

 

Naruto decided it would be a good idea to hit Sasuke first.

 

He thought furiously for a moment, and then allowed his tense muscles to relax, his fisted hands falling slightly open and his mouth settling into a gentle moue. Sasuke sensed the change and hesitated only for a moment, but it was moment enough.

 

Naruto's fist crashed into the side of Sasuke's jaw, sending the only slightly taller boy into a sprawling arc. He was quick to recover though, as was expected. Coming to rest in a wary crouch, he regarded Naruto sullenly, a shock of dark hair carefully concealing the confused rage threatening to settle over the elegant lines of his face.

 

Naruto had recovered his feet beneath him, but he was still struggling to find enough equilibrium to launch another attack before Sasuke could kill him for that blow. After realizing, however, that balance had never really been a skill he had to begin with, Naruto decided to simply launch himself at Sasuke and hope like hell that he could drag the boy-genius down with him.

 

The impact itself was rather impressive, leaving both of them rolling inelegantly and scrabbling ineffectually against the other in a somewhat desperate attempt to halt their dizzying progress.

 

Eventually, they were left draped over one another in the grass, panting and bruised, and with Naruto thinking rather absurdly, that for highly trained ninjas, they spent an awful lot of time rolling about on the ground.

 

***

 

Uchiha Sasuke was angry. There was another emotion skulking somewhere in the back of his mind, but it wasn't one he was willing to give much thought to at present. He was more than content to silently seethe over the ridiculous turn the afternoon's events had taken.

 

That fist to his jaw had been an affront to his dignity and his skill. It never should have landed in the first place. He had been exceedingly short-sighted in assuming that Naruto had conceded the fight; and even more so in listening to that stubborn sense of pride that had him convinced that the idiot had finally recognized his own short-comings and admitted humble defeat.

 

It was a momentary mistake, and not one that would be repeated. Ever.

 

Slowly, Sasuke took stock of his surroundings, realizing with some dismay that Naruto was half pinned under the currently graceless slump of his upper body. The rise and fall of Naruto's chest beneath his own was unsteady and disconcerting, and there wasn't nearly enough space between them.

 

Sasuke uncharacteristically scrambled backwards, pushing against Naruto with a sort of strange desperation, the panicky thudding of his heart keeping odd metronymic time with his harsh breathing. Dimly, he noted that the air he was frantically trying to force into his lungs felt wrong somehow, heavy and thick. Almost humid.

 

But Sasuke shook his head imperceptibly, willing away what had to be the product of foolish imagination. He did not have the luxury of childish whimsy, and would not allow idle fictions to unseat his hard-won composure.

 

He fought to bring his breathing back under control; allowing his eyes to drift momentarily shut, effectively banishing the too-muddled landscape from his heightened perception. But Sasuke could not allow himself to linger in darkness. Even in this self-inflicted obscurity, there were memories lingering. They persisted like shadowy stains in the recesses of his mind, calling for him to remember, beckoning to him with bloody hands.

 

In the span of no more than a heart beat, Sasuke wrenched his eyes open, where they came to rest on Naruto struggling back to his feet and brushing stubborn dirt from garish orange fabric. Dully, he noticed where the cloth had ripped to reveal glimpses of lightly tanned skin, a stark contrast to the pale expanse of his own. But one particular tear over Naruto's abdomen revealed a strange flicker of stylized black, at once too dark to be clinging earth and too symmetrical to be a bruise.

 

Unbidden, Sasuke's hand slithered upwards to clutch at the murky seal adorning the back of his own neck; his fingertips passing over the deceptively smooth flesh that he knew to be marked and tainted. The shudder that passed through his frame as his thumb slid past the seal was involuntary, but it served to remind Sasuke of yet another failure.

 

Naruto was staring at him now, a strange half-expression skittering over his features too fast for easy interpretation. The scrutiny made Sasuke uncomfortable, and he scowled darkly in response to the unwanted attention.

 

This was the difficulty in fighting with Naruto. This in-between time before either was willing to surrender the battle and walk away. They knew when the fights began, and they understood the combat itself. But afterwards was a concept neither had quite come to grasp yet.

 

And so they stood in uneasy silence, their gazes sliding left and right, hoping that someone would intercede and tell them to give up and go home. Usually, the task fell to Sakura, but she had disappeared with amazing alacrity during this particular skirmish, leaving behind two slightly confused and slightly angry boys in her wake.

 

It was the rain that eventually accomplished what they themselves could not. Fat, heavy drops began to fall blithely between the two boys, heedless of everything except for the relentless pull of gravity. It came swiftly and unexpectedly, soaking through clothes and into dirt-smudged skin; insinuating a bone-deep chill with clever liquid fingers.

 

Sasuke suppressed a shudder, and blinked away the water balanced precariously on his eyelashes, then swung his attention back to Naruto who was in the process of shaking violently in a futile attempt to rid himself of this new, damp development.

 

They were both drenched within minutes.

 

Sasuke plucked idly at his own sodden clothes and watched covertly as Naruto's gaping orange jumper attempted to mat itself against his skin with all the precision of an over-enthusiastic lover. Perhaps oddly, the clinging fabric seemed only to throw into sharp relief the rents in Naruto's clothes, once again dragging Sasuke's unwilling gaze to that strange inky swirl drifting over Naruto's middle.

 

Are you more like me than I thought?

 

The step forward that Sasuke took was startling. It was a small thing, really, just a gentle slide over rain-soaked grass. But it felt like a betrayal nonetheless; like all of Sasuke's vaunted control had fled with the lengthening afternoon shadows and a cursory glimpse of marked skin. The second step was less of a surprise, as even Sasuke, with all of his stubborn pride, could recognize the inevitable when he was faced with it. The pull was irresistible.

 

Like gravity.

 

***

 

Naruto was still wrestling with his clothing when he saw Sasuke jerk forward. It was just a footstep and then another. But they were slow, dragging things that seemed both unwanted and inescapable. For a moment, Naruto thought that perhaps the fight wasn't over, that perhaps Sasuke wanted to finish what had stopped with the rain, and he tensed his body accordingly.

 

But the slightly haunted look that passed over Sasuke's features forced the accumulating tension from Naruto's body in a startling rush. He'd never seen Sasuke look like that before. Hell, he'd never seen Sasuke look like anything before, except for maybe annoyed. But even the reckless fall of his blue-black hair couldn't conceal the eerie tragedy that washed over Sasuke's face with the sheeting rain.

 

He knew that he should probably say something, but his attention was riveted to the halting progress of Sasuke's feet. As he drew closer, Naruto caught the slight twitching of the Uchiha's hands, as if perhaps he wanted to clutch a weapon, or reach for something sturdy to brace himself against.

 

What are you afraid of?

 

But almost as quickly as Sasuke's forward motion had started, it came to an abrupt halt, as if someone had captured his traitorous limbs and yanked backwards. Naruto watched curiously as that strange, terrorized expression fell away from Sasuke's face, only to be replaced by an irrepressible emptiness that compelled Naruto to bridge the gap between them.

 

When he finally brought himself to step forward, Naruto was unsurprised to see Sasuke flinch backwards, empty eyes taking on a suspicious cast, no doubt guarded against what he must perceive to be a predestined betrayal. But before Sasuke could draw a weapon or escape into the quickly descending night, Naruto reached a decision and stretched a careful hand forward to trap Sasuke's wrist in an unyielding grip.

 

“Don't run away.”

 

***

 

“Naruto…” The word came on an exhalation, no louder than breath.

 

Sasuke was unsure whether he meant the name as a warning or as an encouragement, but when Naruto's hand slid from his wrist to grasp cold fingers between his own, any protests he might have made died unvoiced in his throat.

 

The rain was still falling around them, ungentle drops splashing against bodies and ground alike, and Sasuke watched with thinly veiled interest as Naruto paid careful attention to the water rolling over the hand that he held clutched in his own. It took several, still moments before Naruto made any other movements, but when he sank to his knees dragging Sasuke with him only to settle in a sizeable puddle, the shock that ratcheted through his body was cruel and immediate.

 

Sasuke fought to free his fingers. In that moment, he wanted nothing more than to drag his hand away from the peculiar warmth of Naruto's wet skin and forget the curious turns the afternoon's events had taken. But Naruto's grip was insistent and firm. He drew Sasuke's hand forward, aware of his previous scrutiny, and pressed cool fingers under the fabric of his shirt, allowing Sasuke to feel the seal spiraling loosely around his navel.

 

Sasuke sucked in a breath, and splayed his fingers along Naruto's abdomen. Even here, his skin was warm, as if heated from the inside. When he dragged a thumb across swirling black lines, Naruto's breath hitched and Sasuke watched, fascinated and afraid, as the usually loud blonde regarded him silently through half-lidded blue eyes.

 

Sometime between that tentative first touch and the even more hesitant exploration that followed, Naruto released his grip on Sasuke's hand in order to press both of his own into rain-soaked earth. But when that fleeting pressure receded from Sasuke's hand, he quested forward with his free arm, slipping uncertain fingers around Naruto's wrist and tugging gently upwards.

 

Not until deft fingers pressed against the back of his neck, did Sasuke really understand what he was doing. But when Naruto's touch was resting, gentle and warm, alongside the circular seal staining his own skin, Sasuke allowed his eyes to close.

 

There was little movement between them. They knelt on the wet ground, content to feel the burdens they each shouldered under curious caresses.

 

Eventually, it was Sasuke who moved first. Shifting slightly closer, he pressed his forehead against Naruto's shoulder, and allowed a faint sigh to escape from between his lips. Naruto mirrored the movement, and let his head come to rest scant inches from where his hand still stroked idly at Sasuke's seal.

 

He suspected that neither of them quite knew what they were doing, but Sasuke understood without question that the feel of another body held so closely to his own was simply too good to abandon. For once, the rigid control he felt so forced to maintain slipped silently away, and the voices usually so clamorous in the back of his mind had all but faded to an indistinct whisper.

 

I'm lost against your fingers.

 

The unfurling of an unfamiliar heat through his stomach compelled Sasuke to relax further, and when he turned his face just slightly into the crook of Naruto's neck, he permitted his tongue to dart smoothly forwards in order to brush lightly across the skin just beneath Naruto's ear.

 

He tasted like the rain; cool against his tongue and slightly brackish. Like tears, only mingled with an underlying flavor too indefinite to name. He swiped his tongue curiously down the column of Naruto's neck, pausing just above a protruding collar bone and shifting slightly to dip briefly into the hollow of Naruto's throat.

 

Sasuke felt the body against his own tense, and quiver. He pulled back slightly and met a startled blue gaze, brows furrowed as if in concentration, and lips pressed together in a thin, unreadable line. For a moment, he thought that Naruto might simply pull away, might wrench his hand from the mark of Sasuke's failure and run as far as possible. But even as Sasuke braced for an angry desertion, Naruto bowed his body forward and swept soft, moist lips over the seal adorning Sasuke's neck.

 

The intimacy of the gesture shocked the breath from Sasuke's lungs in a staggering gust, and, instinctively, he grasped at Naruto's shoulders to keep himself from leaning too far into the brush of that questing mouth. Or perhaps it was to keep himself from running away, as the frantic pounding of his heart seemed to insist he should.

 

But he sat patiently under Naruto's calm investigation, willing the taut stretch of his limbs to slowly ease, and his breathing to settle into a more staid pace. When the cursed seal gave a twinge, begging to be released, begging Sasuke to feel its power throbbing through his body, he wondered idly if it was responding to Naruto, and if he did release it, if it would devour them both whole.

 

You know all of my weaknesses.

 

Finally, Naruto pulled back and away, drawing his hands and mouth from Sasuke's skin, and resting on his haunches in the newly muddy ground, he assumed an appraising look; his remarkably blue eyes carefully watching Sasuke as his brows knit back together in half-hearted confusion.

 

It had always been give and take with them. The trading of blows and insults carefully orchestrated so that no one ever really took the upper hand. Sasuke rather liked it this way, and figured with a rare touch of amusement, that he should do his part to maintain the status quo.

 

The kiss that followed was strange. He started with the line of worry that had settled between Naruto's blonde brows, sweeping his lips over taut skin in a gesture of almost chaste affection. He paused at lightly whiskered cheeks, trailing both mouth and inquisitive fingers along the stripes that defined the face beneath his searching touch. At length, he laid his lips against Naruto's only slightly open mouth, and wondered what he was supposed to do next.

 

Sasuke understood the process of kissing. And indeed, he still recalled the shape and texture of Naruto's mouth from their first, ill-fated embrace, but anything beyond this fleeting pressure remained a puzzle, and sent coils of uneasy heat skittering through his body.

 

Ultimately, it was Naruto who deepened the kiss. The increased pressure was odd at first, almost a caress, but possessive to the last. There was nibbling involved, and a firm tongue lapped lightly at his lips, until it finally squirmed its way into his mouth and wriggled. Sasuke thought it felt rather like swallowing live oysters. But still, he opened his mouth further under that searching tongue, and sighed softly against its stroking warmth, as all the thoughts were driven from his head and his world shrank to elusive scraps of sensation.

 

You're haunting me in pieces.

 

***

 

Naruto wasn't quite sure what he was doing. Sasuke had become pliable under his attention, almost unresisting. He let Naruto mold himself along the lean lines of his body and run quick hands over cloth and skin, heedless of consequences. Sasuke smelled like the rain, and like sweat, but it was the taste of his open mouth beneath his own that drove him to such distraction.

 

Distantly, he realized that Sasuke had slipped his own hands under the hem of his shirt, and had once again scraped fingertips over the spiral tattoo decorating his lower belly. They fluttered impatiently, wringing small whines from the back of Naruto's throat, as a queer power twined up his limbs and demanded appeasement.

 

His kiss took on a hungry cast, and the early leisure of their exploration turned into a frantic war for control. Naruto pulled Sasuke firmly against his frame, trapping his searching hands between the crush of their bodies and fisting black fabric between desperate fingers. He growled low and threateningly into the wet cavern of Sasuke's mouth and released his fisted hands to drag furiously through thick, black hair.

 

When he finally pulled away to suck long breaths back into his lungs, Naruto's eyes fell to the seal on Sasuke's neck. It writhed as if alive, spreading furiously over pale skin and slithering past kiss swollen lips. It raced over Sasuke's limbs like a lover's hands, and stretched like fire down the rigid lines of his chest, disappearing beneath the displaced collar of Sasuke's shirt.

 

It demanded attention. And it drew Naruto's gaze like an obsession. He reached again for Sasuke, forcing him backwards into the wet ground with a hard shove, and straddling his hips to keep him firmly in place. Something had shifted, and a reckless urgency infused all of Naruto's movements. He felt a driving need to exert control over the boy prostrate beneath him, and to drive back the seal marring all of that alabaster skin.

 

He pressed backwards with his hips, sliding smoothly down Sasuke's thighs until their bodies met at the most intimate of junctures. He gave an experimental thrust and watched with fascination as Sasuke arched upwards to meet his body, a small moan seeping past bitten lips. Eventually, they settled into a rhythm of heavy breaths and wordless pleas, hands grasping at clothes and giddy choked cries tearing from their throats.

 

Sasuke stiffened first, his limbs going rigid while a surprised shudder traveled the length of his body. Naruto followed quickly after, rocking twice more against Sasuke until a similar shudder passed through his own frame and he collapsed, boneless, on top of the boy sprawled clumsily beneath him.

 

They were both too tired to move, but Naruto noted with smug satisfaction that Sasuke's skin was once again its usual ghostly white. They lay against one another for a long while, allowing their breathing to come back under control and the lassitude that had crept into their limbs to recede.

 

When they were finally fully capable of climbing to their feet, the silence that seemed to reign between them was somehow less tense than usual. Somewhere between the fighting and what followed, a strange understanding had been forged. They weren't touching now, but Sasuke cast a small smile in Naruto's direction before turning to walk home.

 

And somehow that was enough.