Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Waltz #2 ❯ Chapter 8

8.

 

I'm so glad that my memory's remote
Cause I'm doing just fine hour to hour, note to note
I'm never gonna know you now
But I'm gonna love you anyhow

-Elliott Smith

The clean sheet arched up in the air, catching the draft and ballooning upward until the two men pulled it flat against the bed and tucked in the sides and the end, the younger carefully smoothing down the creases.

 

Sasuke slowly slid the picture of his old team into its new frame and then slid the clips into place to keep the back on. He placed it on Kakashi's headboard and then straightened it. Then he changed the angle a bit, so that the picture was visible from the door. He switched it back so that it was only visible from the bed. That was better.

 

From across the room, Kakashi tossed him a new pillow. He caught it and then laid it carefully on top of the folded bedspread. He caught the second one and placed it meticulously next to the first, careful not to mess up the freshly made bed.

 

He arranged the rest of the furniture with similar care. It was all old, mostly from the Uchiha compound. Once dusted and cleaned up, he actually liked the idea that his distant relatives had sat in those chairs and eaten at that table and used that lamp to light a dark corner in some long-empty living room. It was just a little comforting to know that his family was all around him.

 

Nothing from his own home. He'd burnt that place to the ground long ago.

 

But an end table from his great-aunt. A drying rack from his second cousin. A woven rug from someone he'd never known but had seen every day in the garden.

 

Everything was old and worn, but Kakashi needed new furniture. Since Sasuke had destroyed it all in the first place, and he didn't have the money to buy new stuff, and Kakashi had said himself that he didn't like "new," this was the best he could do. And he actually liked it quite a bit.

 

The bed was new of course. Sasuke could afford a new mattress now that he was working again.

 

He smoothed away the creases in the pillowcases and then turned sharply when he felt Kakashi watching him.

 

"Domesticated within a week?" his old sensei asked, eyebrow raised. "Or a newfound respect for property."

 

Sasuke sneered and flicked a kunai just to the right of Kakashi's ear. It thunked into the wall and stayed there, pinning a few gray hairs. Kakashi didn't flinch but turned to regard the blade that had sheered off a bit of his unruly mop.

 

"Clearly neither."

The sneer softened to a slight smirk. He turned back to the bed and adjusted the angle of the picture again. "I just like things to be neat. That's all." Kakashi removed the blade form the wall with a sharp jerk and then gave it back to Sasuke, handle first. He returned it to his pouch and then glanced sidelong at Kakashi. "Was there anything else you wanted for furniture or dishes?"

 

"No, I think I have quite enough dead people's stuff in my house. But thanks," he added cheerfully.

 

Sasuke stiffened, readied a cruel retort. But then he forced himself to relax. This was Kakashi. This was how Kakashi talked to him. This was most likely how it would always be. Always pushing and picking and provoking and testing and seeing just how annoyed he could get. And with as few words as possible. Sasuke knew -- he could see that it was an automatic defense for him. Sasuke had plenty of his own, though they usually manifested in more obvious, physical ways. They usually involved physically shoving Kakashi away or breaking his stuff. Kakashi cut with words; Sasuke shoved hard.

 

Next to him, Kakashi was about to sit down on the newly made bed, but with his trademark speed -- it annoyed Kakashi to no end that Sasuke was faster than him these days -- Sasuke grabbed him up and shoved him away from the perfectly smooth bedspread. His momentum carried them both into the wall where Sasuke quickly boxed him in. They regarded each other in silence for a moment. Sasuke stared at Kakashi's mouth, still sometimes surprised that he could see it now any time he wanted. He looked at his mouth and knew he'd never be as tall as his old sensei. His nose came to Kakashi's chin.

 

"Could you not sit on the bed for just a little longer?" He raised his eyes, locking them with Kakashi's and slowly drawing closer until his nose rubbed against the stubble on the man's jaw. Then he finally blinked. "I worked so hard," he purred. Kakashi's eyes had been uninterested and blank, but his body was taught and his skin was flushed. Sasuke maintained that it was impossible to tell what Kakashi wanted by his words alone - it always would be. But he would become an expert at reading his body. Sasuke made this promise to himself with the same sober resolve that he made every promise. He closed his eyes and breathed in, catching sweat from earlier training, citrus from lunch, clean linen, and his lover's distinct, slightly dusty scent. He listened for Kakashi's elevated heartbeat and quickened breathing. Kakashi wanted...

 

Not romance and probably not love. Not a boyfriend. Certainly not. Sasuke squirmed at the very thought. Perhaps a partner. Perhaps companionship. Almost certainly sex. Another warm body in his home. A presence. Trust. Silence. A few jokes. A constant checking of wit and physical strength. A routine. A person to mourn him when he was gone. A person to bear witness to his life and perhaps to share it.

 

Sasuke slid one rough palm under Kakashi's shirt, felt a wall of solid lean muscle under his fingers. He looked up again to see his old sensei regarding him with one slate colored eye. In that seemingly blank stare, Sasuke saw acceptance and a hint of resignation. He also saw a hesitant invitation.

 

Sasuke could work with that.