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Chapter Text

This could not be happening, Sasuke thought desperately. He felt panic starting to build in his chest as he looked down.

This could not be happening.

Sasuke was stuck to Naruto.

Their mission had been simple: retrieve the treasure belonging to the Feudal Lord’s sister that had been stolen by a band of thieves. They had technically accomplished that— Sasuke had the stupid golden statue in his hand. But, the leader of the thieves had gotten them with whatever gross, terrible, inconvenient ability he possessed and now Sasuke’s other hand was stuck in a grey lump that connected him to Naruto’s hand.

Naruto of all people. It had only been a few weeks since their horrible Wave mission and Sasuke was still… trying to work through some things. Being stuck to Naruto right now was the last thing he needed!

To top it off, Sakura was captured by the enemy and they had lost their means of contacting Kakashi.

“We need to get this thing off now!” Sasuke snapped.

“Well, duh!” Naruto agreed. “I don’t wanna be stuck to you, teme.”

“Ready…” they said simultaneously, “Pull!” But even with their combined strength, they only managed to get a foot apart before the grey substance snapped them back and they crashed into each other hard.

Hitting it against a boulder did nothing but rattle their entire bodies with the force of their punch.

Naruto’s phantom seal only served to numb both her and Sasuke’s connecting arms, much to the boy’s irritation.

“Damn,” Naruto fumed as she performed the counter, “it was supposed to dispel this gross chakra lump… Okay, maybe a storage seal,” she pondered, securing one from her pouch.

“No!” Sasuke grabbed her wrist. “You’ll take our hands with it, usuratonkachi.”

Naruto huffed but put the seal away.

“What other seals do you have?” Sasuke demanded.

“Nothing useful,” she admitted grumpily. “If I reverse my Keep-Out seal, that’d probably work…” Afterall the seal was designed to hold things together, but if she tweaked it in a few spots it could dismantle material instead. The only problem was…

“Okay, then do that,” Sasuke told her impatiently.

“Uh…” Naruto rubbed the back of her neck uncomfortably. “I can’t, ‘ttebayo.” She showed off her free hand as if it meant anything to Sasuke. “I’m right-handed,” she explained. “My right hand’s, kind of— you know— stuck.” She tugged her right hand, pulling Sasuke with her.

Sasuke’s eyes narrowed. “You can’t write with your left hand?” he asked in disbelief. “What kind of ninja isn’t ambidextrous!?”

“‘Annidestous’? What’s that?”

Sasuke stared at her with a mix of horror and incredulity. “How are you this useless?”

“Hey!” Naruto barked, cheeks turning an angry and embarrassed red. “Then what’s your brilliant idea to get this thing off, if you’re so smart!? Huh, teme!” Naruto challenged.

Sasuke’s eyes drifted to the waterfall. It had the perfect rock at the bottom. Surely if they jumped from the top and aimed it just right, the rock and the force of collision would tear the grey gunk apart.

Wrong.

Instead, it flung them back up and towards each other, resulting in Naruto and Sasuke not only stealing each other’s first kiss but also each other’s second.

“Aaahhh!” Naruto screeched as they emerged from the river once more. “Why’s it always with you!?”

“That’s my line,” Sasuke grumbled back at her, beyond embarrassed. His idea hadn’t even worked.

They slumped down on the bank of the river, giving themselves a moment to find their bearings again, and agonized over any other ways to free themselves from each other.

“We don’t have time for this, ‘ttebayo!” Naruto said suddenly, jumping to her feet. “We need to save Sakura-chan, right now! Who knows what…”

Her face screwed up in determination, and without waiting for Sasuke to acknowledge what she had said or even get to his feet, Naruto started running, consequently dragging Sasuke along on the ground.

“Naruto!” Sasuke shouted at her. “Usuratonkachi, stop!”

But Naruto ignored him, adamant about saving Sakura.

“Idiot!” Sasuke yelled, swinging his body around to kick Naruto’s legs out from under her. “I said wait!”

Naruto cried out as she fell and grunted as she landed right on top of Sasuke. She didn’t let it faze her long though. She grabbed a fistful of his shirt and shouted in his face, “What the hell are you doing, teme!? Don’t you care what happens to Sakura-chan!?”

“Of course I care!” he shouted back, and there was something in his tone and expression that took Naruto aback. He still looked angry as usual, glaring at her, but there was something breaking through the surface of his self-control— something like fear. “We’ll save her,” he promised. “But not like this.”

It was because Naruto rushed into things recklessly like this that she got stuck in Haku’s ice with him! They had both almost died! He couldn’t go through something like that again so soon. As they were, their rescue attempt was more likely to get all three of them killed.

“We’ll save her,” he said again, now that he was sure he had Naruto’s full attention, “but you need to think! We can’t do anything with our hands like this, Naruto. We need to find Kakashi. That’s Sakura’s best chance at survival.”

Naruto pinched her lips together. She was calmer but she still didn’t agree. “I know where Kaka-sensei is, and he’s too far away,” she stated stubbornly. “By the time we get back to Sakura-chan, she could be dead, ‘ttebayo. I’m not risking it.” She let go of Sasuke’s shirt and sat up.

This was probably the best time for Sasuke to push her off of him… but he didn’t. He was captivated by her fierce look of determination— the strength of which made her electric blue eyes appear even more striking. It made it seem like she could accomplish anything. It made him want to trust her, to follow her. It made him—

She looked down at him with a confident smile and Sasuke felt his face grow warm— worried he’d been caught staring.

“We just need to work together,” she told him. “I’m pretty amazing on my own, and I guess you’re not completely useless; so as long as you don’t screw up, we can save Sakura-chan no problem, dattebayo.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes and shoved Naruto off of him.

“Hey!” she protested.

“Fine.”

Naruto gasped excitedly and leaned over to see Sasuke’s face more clearly to make sure he was serious.

Sasuke turned his face away— she was way too close.

He couldn’t believe he was actually agreeing to this.

“But we have to be completely synced. You can’t just do whatever you want. Got it? Don’t get in my way,” Sasuke said.

“Hey, that’s my line, teme,” she told him, although she was smiling.

“Let’s go save Sakura-chan!” She pumped her right fist in the air, earning a loud protest from Sasuke who was pulled with it. “Oops, sorry,” she chuckled.

….

Sakura watched in awe of Naruto and Sasuke’s teamwork from where she was tied up.

Their interactions had been a bit awkward and tense since Wave, but from the way they moved together, it was clear that they trusted each other unquestioningly when it really came down to it.

They took down the thieves with a synchronicity and coordination Sakura could barely fathom. They moved completely as one without any sign of communicating with each other.

They were amazing.

Sakura squealed as she threw herself at Sasuke once it was all over and they had reunited with Kakashi. “Thank you for saving me, Sasuke-kun!”

Sasuke tried to push her off but Sakura clung tightly.

“I’m so glad you’re okay, Sakura-chan!” Naruto exclaimed, throwing her arms around Sakura— putting Sasuke in an awkward chokehold with his own arm.

“Hey! Watch it, usuratonkachi!” He shoved her away (which really wasn’t far thanks to their predicament) and finally managed to shake off Sakura. He whirled to face their teacher who was looking at the slightly misshapen statue they had recovered.

“Kakashi, when can you get this off of us?” Sasuke demanded.

“Hm,” Kakashi turned his gaze to their joined hands and rubbed his masked chin thoughtfully. He then shrugged with an irritating eye-smile. “Sorry, you two. I’m afraid I can’t help.”

“What!?” they shrieked.

Kakashi paid their horror no mind. “From what I’ve gathered about the leader and his technique, it should fall apart on its own in a few days.”

“‘Days’?” Naruto yelped, to which she received no immediate answer. “Kaka-sensei, ‘days’!?”

“No more than three,” Kakashi told them nonchalantly.

“I can’t be stuck to this idiot for three days!” Sasuke protested loudly.

“Kakashi-sensei, you have to do something,” Sakura pleaded.

Kakashi only shrugged, unsympathetic. “It’ll be a good opportunity to work on your teamwork,” he told them. And ignored any and all arguments they made on their way back to the village.

After a long while of complaining and being ignored, Naruto came up with a brilliant idea. “Hey, we should have a slumber party, ‘ttebayo!” she claimed. “With all of us!”

Kakashi’s step faltered just the slightest. “What?”

“What?” Sasuke echoed more intensely. “Absolutely not. It’s bad enough having to sleep next to you.”

Sakura just squealed loudly in excitement at the thought of getting to spend the entire night beside her precious crush.

“Who said anything about sleeping? Like Kaka-sensei said, we should work on teamwork and bonding and stuff. It’ll be fun, dattebayo!” Naruto was getting more and more excited just thinking about it. She’d heard people talking about slumber parties before but had never been a part of one. It wasn’t just about sleeping together in the same area, she knew. “We’ll eat snacks, and play games, and do each other's makeup. We’ll stay up all night telling stories and jokes. It’s going to be so great! Dattebayo!”

Sakura was looking just as excited as Naruto while Sasuke looked like he had just eaten something rotten and was trying not to vomit.

“There’s no way I’m doing this,” Sasuke insisted.

Naruto just smirked at him and lifted their bound hands. “Sorry, Sas’, you’re stuck with me, ‘ttebayo, and I say we’re having a slumber party!”

Chapter Text

“Kaka-sensei! You came!” Naruto exclaimed in delight as she swung her front door open.

He smiled pleasantly down at her, and then a bit more amusedly when he took in Sasuke’s sulking figure behind her. He lifted the bag of snacks he had brought and she excitedly took it with stars in her eyes.

“Come in! Come in!” she urged, already awkwardly rummaging through the bag one-handedly as she absently moved herself and Sasuke aside so Kakashi had room to enter.

“I’m afraid I’m not here to stay,” Kakashi said, and Sasuke and Naruto’s eyes simultaneously snapped to him.

“What? But you have to, ‘ttebayo! You’re part of the team, sensei!”

Sasuke was also giving him a very intense look that clearly stated that there would be hell to pay if he made him suffer through this alone.

Kakashi just chuckled. “Oh, you don’t want an old man like me cramping your guys’ style,” he said. “Plus, I’m super busy tonight,” he continued unconvincingly. “Lots of… old person things to do that I have to go do now, that I’ll be busy with all night.”

Naruto’s face was turning stormy— alluding to a long and loud argument, and Sasuke’s face was getting darker and darker which meant they might actually work together if just to make him pay.

“Terribly sad about it, but gotta go now.”

“Wait just a minute!” Naruto began angrily.

“Enjoy the snacks, you kids have fun, don’t kill each other… or me,” he added hastily.

“Kakashi,” Sasuke warned.

“See ya!” And with a puff of smoke, Kakashi disappeared, revealing himself as a shadow clone.

Naruto and Sasuke both took a step forward, intent on hunting their illusive teacher down when Sakura showed up with her night bag.

“Hey!” she chirped, looking especially cute and pretty.

“Sakura-chan!” Naruto beamed at the pink-haired girl, her mood immediately brightening at the sight of her. Sasuke’s, on the other hand, only became more sullen.

“Hi, Sasuke-kun,” Sakura tried again, only to squeal into her hands when he glanced her way.

Sasuke rolled his eyes with a sigh and walked back into Naruto’s apartment, consequently dragging the blonde with him.

….

Sasuke wished he was home. He wished he was anywhere but here, listening to Naruto lather Sakura with compliments and Sakura clearly hoping he’d do the same.

“Your pajamas are so cute, Sakura-chan,” Naruto commented. Sakura had just emerged from the restroom and was now wearing a frilly pink tank top and matching shorts.

Sasuke wished that he could change out of his dirty clothes. But it wasn’t going to be possible until Naruto and he disconnected in three days.

“Usually, I just wear an old tank top and some boxers,” Naruto continued, giving information nobody asked for or wanted, as per usual. “I wish I had something cute like that to wear. It looks super soft too, ‘ttebayo.”

Sakura giggled a bit awkwardly and looked to Sasuke (who was purposefully not looking at either of them). She opened her mouth like she wanted to say something, or perhaps hoping for him to say something.

“Hey, hey, Sakura-chan, how’d you do that with your hair?” Naruto asked. She’d seen other girls wear it like that before, especially Padma Patil, but had never asked about it since it looked like it required more hair than Naruto had possessed.

“A braid?” Sakura asked. “Oh, uh…” She glanced at Sasuke again, who was staring very intently at Naruto’s painted wall instead of her.

She tried not to visibly droop. This wasn’t exactly what Sakura had in mind for the night. She had wanted Sasuke to notice her and compliment her and for them to perhaps play spin-the-bottle where it’d miraculously keep landing on the two of them.

She sighed a bit but pulled her face into a smile.

Sakura should be thankful. She at least got to spend this extra time in Sasuke’s presence, and it was all thanks to Naruto. Naruto was excited about tonight and Sakura knew she didn’t have many friends that she could do this with. Sakura could indulge her.

“I can braid your hair if you’d like, Naruto. It’s really not hard.”

“Really? Thanks, Sakura-chan!” Naruto chirped, earning a fond smile from Sakura.

“Where’s your hairbrush?” Sakura inquired, standing up to get it.

“Oh, I don’t have one,” Naruto answered.

Sakura nearly tripped at the casual revelation. Though, she thought, it did explain a lot about the state of Naruto’s hair.

While Sakura worked on untangling and braiding Naruto’s hair, the blonde had no problem filling the silence.

“Urg! Don’t you ever shut up?” Sasuke eventually grouched. Naruto looked over to find Sasuke lying down with his eyes closed.

“What, are you trying to sleep, Sasuke? You can’t do that,” Naruto laughed. “Didn’t I tell you? First person to fall asleep gets their face drawn on, dattebayo!” She cackled at the squinty glare he sent her.

“Oh, I know! Let’s play a game, dattebayo!” Naruto exclaimed. “It’ll wake you right up!”

“That sounds like fun!” Sakura pitched in, tying up Naruto’s braid (which the blonde immediately began to admire and thank her for). Sakura liked the idea of interacting with Sasuke further than just being in the same room as him. “What games do you have?”

Naruto sweatdropped. “Uh… none,” she admitted, a bit embarrassed. She didn’t have a chess board or a deck of exploding snap cards… and those were the only games she even knew how to play.

She hummed in thought, then suddenly perked up. “Oh, I know one! It’s called *Questions and Commands! McGonagall-sensei cut us off before we got to play but my friends told me about it. When it’s your turn, you ask someone whether they’d rather answer your question or follow one of your commands. If they try to back out, there’s a penalty.”

“Oh! That sounds like fun!” Sakura bounced a bit in place. That would be perfect. She giggled to herself, already planning all the wonderful things she could ask of Sasuke.

“That sounds stupid,” claimed Sasuke.

“Well, too bad, teme! You’re playing!” Naruto declared, pulling him up via their linked hands. “I’ll start!” she cheered. “Sakura-chan!”— the girl jolted at suddenly being called on— “Do you want a question or a command?” Naruto wiggled her eyebrows at her, urging her to choose wisely.

“Um, uh, question. No wait! Command!”

Naruto grinned mischievously. “I command you to…” Sakura gulped nervously and then hastily caught the taiyaki Naruto tossed at her. “Unwrap and eat that. But! Only using your feet, ‘ttebayo!”

Sakura grimaced. What kind of command was that! Naruto was so clueless. This was the perfect time to make her look good in front of Sasuke or even command her to do something risqué like kiss him or something!

Sakura huffed but got to work unwrapping the snack with her feet and ignoring Naruto’s laugh and Sasuke’s unimpressed gaze. Her cheeks went red as she struggled. This was so embarrassing.

But, she did get to go next! She wiped the crumbs from her face as discreetly as she could, then, “Uh, Sasuke-kun, question or command?”

He sent her a fierce glare for daring to ask him but Naruto nudged him hard. He looked away with a grunt. “Question,” he relented.

Sakura squealed and Sasuke’s face twisted more in distaste.

“What do you look for in a woman?” Sakura asked cutely, hands clasped at her chest and hearts in her eyes.

Sasuke squinted in confusion. What did that even mean? What was the first thing he noticed when he met a woman? He had expected Sakura to ask something related to dating or something of the like.

“Their strength,” he answered honestly. That was the first thing he always noticed in anyone.

But why did Sakura look disappointed? He seriously didn’t get her. He grimaced. And why was Naruto looking at him expectantly? He edged a little further from her. “What?”

“Come on, Sasuke! It’s your turn!” Naruto urged him.

He sighed grumpily. “Naruto, question or command,” he asked without interest.

“Command!” she declared fearlessly.

“Don’t talk for the rest of the night,” he ordered without hesitation.

“What!” she squawked. “You can’t do that! It’s my turn next! Plus commands can only last until the end of the game, dattebayo!”

“Fine,” he hissed. “Then tell me where you were during the ten months you were missing.”

“Hogwarts!” she answered promptly, but then proceeded to not give any other information for the first time ever and hastily moved on. “Sakura-chan! Question or command?”

“Question,” she said, not wanting to risk another embarrassing command like last time.

“Have you ever farted and blamed it on someone else?”

“Naruto!” Sakura shrieked. “What kind of question is that!?” It was so much worse than her command! “O-of course not!”

Naruto giggled. “You wouldn’t lie, would you, Sakura-chan? ‘Cause that would mean a penalty, ‘ttebayo.”

Sakura’s face felt like it had caught on fire. “NO! It’s the truth. Urg! Sasuke-kun!” Her blush deepened even further at having shouted at Sasuke in that tone. She cleared her throat and tried again in a much sweeter pitch, “Sasuke-kun, question or command?”

Sasuke still didn’t trust Sakura with any command she could make of him. “Question.”

“Say, Sasuke-kun,” she squirmed in her seat, “do you—” she broke off with a squeal and then in a rush asked, “do you have a crush on someone?”

“No,” he answered flatly.

Sakura slumped.

“Naruto, what’s Hogwarts?”

“Hey! That’s not how it works!” Naruto rebuked. “You gotta ask me ‘question or command’ first! Play the game right, stupid Sasuke.”

He pursed his lips in annoyance. What did it matter? He either made that his question or he commanded her to answer it. “Question or command?”

“Command!”

“Tell me what Hogwarts is.”

“A school, ‘ttebayo.” And once again she gave no further details to Sasuke’s further irritation. “Man, you’re boring, Sasuke,” she complained. “You gotta find more interesting challenges. Totally lame.”

His eye twitched.

“I’ll show you how it’s done, dattebayo! Sakura-chan—!”

“Oh no,” Sakura interrupted, frantically shaking her head as well as her hands as if trying to ward off Naruto. “I’ve had enough of your challenges, Naruto. Ask Sasuke-kun instead this time.” She immediately cringed at having sicced Naruto on Sasuke in her panic.

Naruto just laughed. “Alright! Sasuke, question or command?”

Sasuke knew there was no safe answer when it came to Naruto. As observed by Sakura’s challenges, it would be humiliating either way. “Question,” he decided. Answering an embarrassing question still beat making a fool of himself.

“Booo! That’s the third time in a row you’ve chosen Question. See, Sakura-chan? Sasuke’s totally lame.”

A vein pulsed in his temple. “Fine, command then.”

“No, no.” Naruto waved him off. “You picked Question.” Her face pulled into a face-splitting grin. “What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done?”

“Kissing you.”

Sakura squeaked and Naruto immediately lost her smile as her face went red.

“Hey!” Naruto barked. “Those were not kisses! You hear me!? Our lips accidentally touched! It’s completely different!... And-and you should feel lucky to share an accidental kiss with me, teme!” She inhaled sharply in agitation as she backtracked. “And why are you even mentioning it!? It never happened, got it!? Banned subject!”

Sasuke felt his lips try to pull into an amused smile and had to force them to stay in their customary frown.

“Hey!” Naruto pointed a finger in his face. “Was that a smile!? You making fun of me, teme!?”

Sasuke was slightly taken aback but deflected with a glare. “Just shut up, already. You asked a question, I answered honestly. Isn’t that the game?”

Naruto just glowered at him, unable to disagree.

“Um, Sasuke-kun,” Sakura interrupted uncomfortably, “it’s your turn.” *She hated the reminder that Naruto had stolen her precious Sasuke’s first kiss and wanted them to move on.

Sasuke’s glare didn’t shift from Naruto. “So, from what I’ve gathered, the point of this game is to humiliate each other, right?”

Naruto’s scowl narrowed further but she didn’t dispute his observation.

“Naruto,” he challenged, “question or command?”

“Command.”

“Wear underwear on your head until the end of the game, dobe.” Sasuke smirked, convinced he’d won this game of humiliation.

“HA! Now we’re getting somewhere!” Naruto claimed cheerfully, climbing to her feet.

“What? Naruto!” Sakura exclaimed in horror.

Sasuke’s smirk fell.

“Come on, teme.” Naruto tugged on their joined hands. “I surprisingly don’t have underwear just lying around. Gotta go to my room.”

Sasuke numbly climbed to his feet, baffled that Naruto had so easily accepted the most embarrassing challenge he could think of.

He took in her small bedroom with one swift sweep of his eyes, but his gaze halted on something in the corner.

“Is that supposed to be me?” he asked, unimpressed.

Naruto followed his gaze to the strung-up punching bag that was clearly made to look like Sasuke.

“Don’t be so full of yourself,” Naruto dismissed as she continued to drag him to her dresser. Sasuke looked away as she quickly rummaged through a drawer and grabbed something.

“Hey, Sakura-chan,” Naruto called as she dragged Sasuke back out, “can you please make sure my braid isn’t messed up by Sasuke’s slightly-less-than-lame command?”

Sasuke was a bit offended. Anyone else would be mortified to have to wear their underwear on their head— especially in front of others. It was a good command! Naruto was just an anomaly that knew no shame.

“Oh, um, sure, Naruto.” Sakura, too, could not believe Naruto was actually going to follow through on the command.

But, without even a hint of embarrassment, Naruto took the fabric bundled in her hand and shook it out so that both her teammates could get a good look at her grey, worn-out boxers with little pink hearts on them, and then proceeded to carefully put them on her head.

“Is my hair still okay?” Naruto asked Sakura earnestly and the young girl had to stifle a laugh behind her hand.

The game got far more interesting after that.

Sasuke and Sakura silently agreed to team up to see just how far Naruto was willing to go. They commanded her to do gross, uncomfortable, and the most embarrassing things they could think of whenever it was their turn. But Naruto was unfazeable. She’d just laugh at the commands or make a show of how disgusting some of them were, but always followed through. Then, she’d give just as good as she got.

She knew what got to her teammates too. She’d make Sakura do or admit to unladylike behavior and forced Sasuke to interact with them in ways he’d never be willing to otherwise.

Sakura had to take a shot of vinegar as a penalty for backing out of her challenges a few times, but Sasuke wasn’t willing to let Naruto win. And after Naruto’s earlier comment, he only picked Commands.

Thus, he found himself in uncomfortable situations like having to find an honest compliment for each of his teammates. Or letting them do his makeup.

Sakura was the one to originally start his makeover since it was her cosmetics and she had the most experience, but after squealing and squirming and nearly fainting every time she started to get close to Sasuke’s face, it was mutually agreed upon that Naruto should do it.

“You have to make it look good, Naruto,” Sakura insisted, hovering over her shoulder.

“Impossible,” replied Naruto, fiddling with the eyeshadow with her one hand. “It’s going on that face.”

Sakura whacked her on the head.

“Ow,” Naruto whined to Sasuke’s amusement. “Alright, alright,” she agreed. “I’ll do my best.”

“Have you ever even done makeup before, Naruto?” Sakura worried.

“Um, sort of. I’ve done lots of Kabuki masks… But I’ve seen Lilah-chan do plenty of people’s makeup before,” she hastened to add at Sakura’s disgruntled noise.

“Are you capable of doing it with your left hand?” Sasuke jabbed. “Afterall, you’re not ‘annidestous’.”

She scowled at him before casually shrugging. “Well,” she said, “I can’t make seals with my left hand because they’re delicate and a piece of art. Your face, however, is neither,” she jabbed back.

Naruto suddenly leaned in close.

Sasuke jerked back with wide eyes. “What are you doing, idiot?” he snapped.

“Your makeup, stupid. Now close your eyes.”

She was so close to his face, he could feel her breath against his cheek. He grimaced.

No one had been this close to him in a very long time— not since he’d lost his family.

But, that wasn’t true, he thought. Naruto sometimes got in his face like this when they were fighting or arguing— But, no… Not like this. Naruto was usually yelling at him or glaring when she was this close. Right now, she was doing neither.

The unfamiliarity of it made him uncomfortable.

But he wasn’t willing to back down from this challenge. He wasn’t willing to let her win. So he closed his eyes and tried to ignore how close she was to him, and the soft brushes of her breath and the makeup tools against his face.

He grimaced again. All he could smell was Naruto. And while her scent wasn’t as strong or sickeningly sweet as Sakura’s perfume, it was still overwhelming in its own way. For the duration of his makeover, Sasuke made sure to keep his breathing as shallow as he could.

….

“Wow, teme,” Naruto eventually said. “Even you can look somewhat decent with the power of makeup! That or I’m a miracle worker!” She cackled.

“Sasuke-kun always looks perfect!” Sakura argued.

“He will after my final touch, ‘ttebayo!”

“Naruto, what are you doing?”

Sasuke instinctively opened his eyes to see exactly what it was Naruto was doing this time, but flinched back when he was once more met with her face a mere few inches away from his own.

“Don’t move, teme,” he saw more than heard her lips say as she guided their linked hands to the back of his head to keep him in place.

Sasuke’s breath hitched in his throat. She was too close— way too close without yelling or glaring at him to mitigate it.

He felt something cold and wet press against his forehead, and after a few strokes, Naruto thankfully pulled away.

“Naruto!” Between Sakura's scandalized tone and Naruto’s pleased smile, he knew that whatever she had done to his forehead couldn’t be good.

Indeed.

Sasuke glared at his reflection— specifically the words boldly written on his forehead:

Naruto’s better
than me!

“If I’d known you were going to write on my face anyway, I would’ve just gone to sleep,” he growled.

He angrily splashed his face with water from the sink and worked on scrubbing it off with a towel.

“Why is it…” he grunted out through gritted teeth, “not coming… off!”

While his pale forehead was now an irritated red from his furious scrubbing, the black ink was as clear as ever.

Naruto laughed loudly and with a growl, Sasuke lunged at her.

Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to prank him while they were stuck together and Naruto had no way to escape.

Chapter Text

The day following the slumber party, Sasuke was tired. Naruto had managed to complete everything on her list of things to do— including not sleeping.

Which was all fine and good if one was Naruto— who apparently didn’t need sleep, or Sakura— who got to go home and rest. But Sasuke was neither. He was the one physically attached to Naruto— the person with the inability to stay still— and he had responsibilities on top of that.

“Come on, dobe.” Sasuke tugged on her via their joined hands.

She perked up. “Where are we going?”

“Grocery shopping.”

Her face lost its spark. “Why do we need to do that?” she asked, not moving from her spot. “There’s plenty to eat here… We still have some snacks from Kaka-sensei and I’ve got some ramen cups we can have. Oh! If you’re wanting something fresh, we can go to Ichiraku’s!”

Sasuke frowned at her. “Just because I’m stuck to you, doesn’t mean I want to live like you. I’m not eating that junk.”

“We can go to the forest then, ‘ttebayo,” she insisted. “I know a great place that has a bunch of kudzu. There’s also mushrooms, and nuts, and fish. You don’t have to waste your money at the market.”

“I’m not about to spend hours scavenging for a meal. I’m tired because someone didn’t let me sleep last night,” he snapped at her.

Naruto was looking up at him with wide blue eyes and Sasuke sighed. “Look, I’ll make something for both of us,” he offered tiredly.

“Sasuke, I really don’t want to go to the market.”

Sasuke didn’t have the patience for this. Especially after all the things Naruto had forced him to do in the past day. What was it that she had said?

He lifted their bound hands. “Sorry, Naruto,” he mocked, “you’re stuck with me, and I say we’re going to the market.”

….

Sasuke may have miscalculated.

It had been a couple of months since Team 7 had had to deal with horrible clients and Sasuke may have forgotten in his fatigued mind that many people in the village didn’t like Naruto.

Naruto was trying to distract him, he realized after a while, by being particularly annoying, but Sasuke still managed to notice the looks and the hissed words as they passed. They weren’t being particularly subtle.

“What is it doing here? I thought it knew better than to show its face around here. So shameless.” Sasuke could hear someone whisper.

He sent a sharp glare their way and watched the color drain from their face. That is, until Naruto tugged on him and got in his face with another pointless remark.

Sasuke ignored her and simply picked up his pace, dragging her along a bit faster. He glared at everyone who dared glance their way with anything less than a neutral face until he made it to the store he usually purchased his groceries from.

He shoved Naruto inside first to get her away from the villagers’ hostile looks, and sent a final glare behind him.

But then, Naruto suddenly bumped back into him, forcing them both out of the store once more.

“You!”

Sasuke’s head snapped forward to see the shopkeeper coming at them with a broom.

“Out! Out! You better—!” The shopkeeper halted and her eyes widened as she noticed Sasuke. “Sasuke-kun!” Her shocked expression darted between Naruto and him, before finally noticing the grey lump connecting their hands.

“Oh, dear.” She pressed a hand to her mouth, her demeanor completely changing. “You poor thing! What happened!?”

Sasuke glanced at Naruto from the corner of his eye. Her face looked pale and her lips were pinched tightly together. She looked like she was trying not to puke and she was keeping her head slightly down.

A sharp anger pulsed in Sasuke’s chest. He glared at the shopkeeper in the doorway.

“Are you going to step aside?” he asked coldly instead of answering her question.

“Oh, Sasuke-kun, you need to get that fixed immediately,” she insisted, ignoring his remark and icy glare. “You can’t be seen attached to— to her.” She waved her hand aggressively in Naruto’s direction, causing the small girl to flinch back.

Sasuke shifted to be in front of Naruto, his jaw now clenched and his hand tightened into a fist. “We just need groceries,” he told the woman sharply.

“Oh, of course, dear. Let me get it for you. What is it that you need?”

“I’m perfectly capable of getting it on my own,” he told her coldly and made to walk around her, but she deliberately stepped in his way.

“Oh no, Sasuke-kun,” she said. “You look dead on your feet. I’ll get it for you.”

He noticed her eyes dart to Naruto again and he felt a growl rise in his throat.

“Sasuke, just tell her what you want so we can leave,” Naruto told him, strangely subdued and even resigned.

It only made him angrier.

“Are we not allowed inside?” he demanded.

“Of course, you’re always welcome here, Sasuke-kun. But,” her voice grew harsher, “I can’t have her tainting the place.”

“What do you mean by that?” He did growl this time. Naruto hadn’t done anything wrong. Certainly nothing to warrant this treatment. They were only trying to buy groceries. It wasn’t like Naruto was going to graffiti all over the walls or contaminate the produce, like this woman was acting.

“Sasuke, stop.” He could feel Naruto tug on his arm but ignored it.

“Naruto is my teammate and a ninja of this village,” he told the shopkeeper sternly. “She deserves your respect.”

Naruto looked at him with wide, surprised eyes while the shopkeeper’s face curdled into something ugly, losing any semblance of the sweet persona she had been trying to cling to. “That freak deserves no such thing,” she spat.

In a flash, a tomato from the store’s front display was smashed into the shopkeeper’s hair.

The woman shrieked, her hand hovering over the red goopy mess that was dripping into her face.

Sasuke shook the excess juice off his hand, splashing the shopkeeper’s sandals and, without a word, turned around and walked away.

Naruto was unable to believe what Sasuke had just done. She stared at him in awe as he led her away from the market.

“She deserves your respect.”

Naruto’s chest swelled and joy blossomed on her face.

Sasuke thought Naruto deserved respect. Her smile grew. He had defended her.

She felt like she was going to burst from happiness.

“So, Sasuke…”

Sasuke took one look at her and scowled. “Shut up,” he grumbled, turning away.

Naruto’s grin widened, noticing the sudden redness to his ears.

She leaned into his line of sight and got a good look at his blushing cheeks. “So you respect me, huh?”

“I never said that,” he disagreed. “I said you deserve her— a civilian’s respect. Not that you had mine, dobe.”

“You think I’m respectable,” she sing-songed.

“I think you’re annoying,” he countered.

She just laughed, knowing the truth, and took the lead to Ichiraku’s with a slight skip in her step.

….

Sasuke was not happy about the turn of events but he said nothing as he took a seat at Ichiraku’s to eat ramen of all things. At least Naruto was back to her usual annoying self, he thought, watching her bounce in her seat as she excitedly greeted the owner and waitress.

Sasuke could immediately tell why Naruto liked this place so much, watching them interact. The two workers were kind to Naruto (which was evidently incredibly rare to find in the village) and they listened with the perfect amount of interest as Naruto regaled them with an embellished version of their last mission to explain her and Sasuke’s predicament.

“That sounds tough,” the owner and chef, Teuchi, acknowledged with a chuckle once she was finished with her story. “I hope you two can get along while you’re together. In the meantime, you wanting your usual, Naruto?”

“You know it!” Naruto cheered.

“And what about you, young man? What’ll you have?”

“Nothing.”

“What! But you’re hungry, ‘ttebayo.”

“I don’t want anything,” Sasuke reiterated.

“He’ll have the tomato ramen, Teuchi-san,” Naruto claimed.

Sasuke looked at her, affronted.

“Trust me, teme.” She smiled at him brightly. “You’ll like it, dattebayo!”

….

When their ramen came out, Naruto cheered, grabbed her chopsticks, then slumped in defeat. “I can’t use chopsticks with my left hand,” she moaned in despair.

Sasuke scoffed. “Usuratonkachi,” he muttered, taking his own chopsticks skillfully in hand and taking a bite from his surprisingly good ramen (not that he would admit that to Naruto).

Naruto watched him eat with envy.

She swallowed. “Um, so, Sasuke…” she began hesitantly after a bit.

He glanced at her and saw she was still staring at him— specifically his chopsticks and the noodles they held.

“Not a chance,” he rejected immediately.

“Please, Sasuke!” She looked up at him with the biggest eyes she could.

“No.” He took another bite of his own ramen, like the cold-hearted teme he was.

“Naruto, do you need help eating?” the sweet goddess, Ayame, offered.

Naruto’s eyes sparkled. “Would you, Ayame-san!?”

The waitress giggled. “Of course, Naruto.”

Sasuke looked away, but his eye twitched as he was forced to listen to the waitress feed Naruto. He tried to ignore it, but the waitress kept cooing at Naruto and expressing how adorable she was. She wasn’t cute, Sasuke thought. She was acting like an excitable idiot. They were both annoying, was Sasuke’s conclusion. He was trying to eat in peace.

Chapter Text

Sasuke was standing at the gate to his clan’s compound, finding himself unable to step past the threshold.

His legs felt like lead. He felt sick to his stomach. He was all too aware of Naruto beside him— stuck to him.

And he knew, the longer he stood there, hesitating to enter his own home, the weaker he looked.

But, no one had stepped foot inside the Uchiha compound since the massacre. No one but Sasuke and the Hokage, and the Hokage hadn’t visited since those first few months of Sasuke’s isolation (only to make sure Sasuke didn’t want an apartment away from the ghosts. After Sasuke made it clear he wasn’t leaving, the Hokage had stopped coming by.)

It had been a bad idea to demand they go to his home. He hadn’t been thinking. He just didn’t want to have another slumber party at Naruto’s. She had wanted to invite the members of Team 8 as well, but Sasuke just wanted to go home and sleep. He’d forgotten… He hadn’t thought…

He grit his teeth. He was being pathetic.

“We can go to my place instead,” Naruto started to offer too gently. “I don’t have to invite—”

Anger flared in Sasuke’s chest and in a burst of stubbornness, he pulled them both through the gate.

Naruto stumbled a bit, but Sasuke, with a determined scowl, marched forward without a word.

He would not be a coward. He would not be seen as weak. He would not allow something as inconsequential as letting someone else see the remains of his family’s home affect him. It was only a place, and Naruto was only a person. It meant nothing, he harshly told himself.

Though… he was thankful that Naruto at least had the sense not to comment on the lifeless street he quickly led them down, or the numerous empty houses they passed, or the overall desolation of the compound.

However, she held onto no such reservations when they finally arrived at Sasuke’s house.

“Wow!” she gawked. “Your place is huge, Sasuke, dattebayo!”

The clan head’s home was, of course, the largest house in the compound. It had to be for all the clan meetings and celebrations it used to host. But now… its grand size only served to make it seem more empty.

“Don’t touch anything,” he ordered as he led her further inside, turning on lights as he went.

She pouted petulantly.

Sasuke was such a buzzkill, she thought. He wouldn’t even give her a tour.

“I gave a tour,” she grumbled under her breath.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. Naruto’s tour had been unnecessary. He had been able to see her entire home upon walking through her front door, and certainly hadn’t needed to be introduced to her strange glowing plant.

His gaze momentarily landed on a door that hadn’t been opened since that night. He tugged her along to the kitchen a bit more incessantly. A tour was unnecessary.

////

It was… weird hanging out at Sasuke’s house, Naruto thought.

Objectively it should have been boring and horrible.

Sasuke didn’t want to give a tour, he didn’t want to talk, he didn’t even want to train!

While the first two were rather typical, she thought, the last one surprised Naruto. She had teasingly accused him of being too tired to keep up with her and was therefore avoiding it. When Sasuke began to come up with ridiculous alternative reasons, like Naruto’s need to instead practice writing with her left hand, she knew she had been right.

Sasuke did not appreciate how smug she looked at this and had childishly told her she wasn’t allowed to sit on the couch while she was in the act of sitting down, causing her to flail in her descent. She managed to throw herself forward just in time and instead tumbled to the floor.

She scowled up at Sasuke and his self-satisfied smirk.

“If I’m too dirty to sit on the couch, then so are you, ‘ttebayo!” she shouted at him.

Sasuke merely rolled his eyes and gave a small, “Hn, obviously,” before joining her on the floor with an absurd amount of grace.

Naruto pouted in displeasure at his smooth descent. “Stupid Sasuke,” she grumbled incoherently under her breath. Acting all cool and perfect after making her look all clumsy.

….

Hours later, Naruto had her cheek pressed into the low table as she boredly swirled her brush in ink.

She had been practicing writing with her left hand for the better part of two hours now (not because Sasuke was right about her need to practice— only because there was nothing else to do here, she told herself) and she was beyond bored.

She opened her mouth to complain to Sasuke about his lack of skill in entertaining his guests, but when she turned to him, the complaint died on her tongue, and a mischievous grin pulled at her face.

Sasuke was sound asleep, leaning against the couch with the boring book about tactics he’d been reading laying under his limp hand.

She tightly bit her lips together to hold in her cackles as she scooted closer to him with her inky brush posed for mischief.

She eagerly scanned his face, trying to decide the best thing to write and where… but her enthusiasm faded the longer she looked.

Naruto had never seen Sasuke look so…

She closed her eyes and physically shook the thought away. But when she brought her gaze back to him, it lingered on his long lashes resting gently on his cheek, his brows which were settled in a relaxed arch, his lips which were just barely parted with softness.

She sat back on her haunches, her inky brush forgotten at her side.

Naruto had never seen Sasuke look so… soft.

Ever since they were kids, Sasuke had always had a hardness about him. He never let his guard down and he never let people get close— certainly never close enough to see him this vulnerable.

Suddenly pranking Sasuke while he slept didn’t sound very fun anymore.

With a quiet sigh, she set her brush back against the ink stone.

She rested her chin on her fist and sat in silence for another moment, wondering what to do with herself.

She found her gaze straying to Sasuke again. Her chest panged this time at how Sasuke’s eyebrows were now pulled together in pain.

Before she realized it, she was reaching out with the sudden urge to smooth it away.

She stopped right before touching him, however, suddenly feeling weird about it. Which was silly, she thought. She’d never had a problem touching Sasuke before. She wasn’t even trying to prank him. There was no reason to feel.. to feel nervous.

Unwilling to ponder on it, Naruto instead redirected her attention to the blanket neatly folded on the arm of the couch. (Of course Sasuke would perfectly fold his throw blankets, she thought.)

She grabbed it, and before she could overthink it or let herself feel nervous again, Naruto reached across Sasuke to wrap it around him.

She was just tucking it over his opposite shoulder when Sasuke’s eyes fluttered open.

Naruto froze.

They were way too close, she realized. Sasuke’s face was right there, mere inches from hers. And Naruto couldn’t move. She watched as the fog of sleep cleared from Sasuke’s obsidian eyes and the way they widened with surprise and pink dusted his cheeks.

His lips were still in their softly parted position, she noticed.

Her stomach gave an unexpected swoop which sent tingles rushing up to her chest and heat to her face.

They stared at each other for only a moment longer— a moment that felt like eternity. Then Sasuke— as if only now truly realizing their position— flinched back and Naruto, likewise, hastily threw herself away from him, hitting her side hard against the low table.

She gave a low whine while Sasuke, still flustered, wondered what exactly she’d been doing so close to his face.

His eye caught the brush still soaked in ink. There was a trail of black where it had rolled across the table.

‘Of course,’ he thought, replacing his… his— whatever that feeling had been— with familiar annoyance.

“Naruto…” he growled, beginning to lift his hand to his no-doubt inked face, but Sasuke’s arm was hampered by something.

He looked down and saw the blanket carefully draped around him.

“I wasn’t doing anything weird, dattebayo!” Naruto shouted at him, her face still colored with embarrassment.

Sasuke’s blush returned even hotter than before at the realization that no, Naruto hadn’t been doing anything weird or trying to prank him. She had been covering him with a blanket while he slept.

Something no one had done for him since he was seven years old… and still had a family.

Sasuke swallowed, hoping his voice wouldn’t crack as he opened his mouth to speak, “Dobe—” His voice was slightly rougher than normal, but he hoped Naruto would think it was because he’d just woken up. He forced his gaze away from her and it landed once more on the brush— “you better clean up that ink,” he told her in a thankfully steady tone. “If it stains…” He let the threat hang.

The lingering tension evaporated as Naruto’s quick temper rose at his words.

“Teme!” Naruto shouted back at him. “It’s your fault for startling me, ‘ttebayo!”

He tsked. “You shouldn’t be so easily startled,” he retorted.

And with that, they fell into the familiar comfort of bickering with one another, the strange things they’d felt forgotten, for now.

Chapter Text

Ever since they were young, Naruto’s feelings towards Sasuke had been conflicted and confusing to her.

She had made the decision years ago that she hated Sasuke. It wasn’t because he treated her worse than anyone else did— in fact, in comparison, he really hadn’t been bad at all. Sasuke had never blamed her for things or used her as a scapegoat; he had never sought her out to hurt her or cowered away from her in fear.

No, what had set him apart from all the other kids was that Naruto had wanted so badly to be his friend. Of course Naruto had been desperate for any friends, but Sasuke had been… special. 

It was so embarrassing to think about it now, and Naruto would never ever tell Sasuke, but she had admired him so much (she still did).

Sasuke had always been so strong and cool and effortlessly good at everything he did. And… he had been all alone, just like her.

It had been selfish but, as a child, Naruto had found comfort in knowing that Sasuke was just as alone as she was. It had made her feel a little less so.

She had wanted so badly not to be alone anymore. And knowing how painful that loneliness was, she had wanted to help Sasuke too. 

Often Naruto had fantasized about approaching Sasuke and becoming friends with him, of saving them both from their loneliness. 

But she had never had the courage.

Sasuke was different from everyone else in a way that Naruto still didn’t understand. It went beyond his skills and his matching loneliness. It was something Naruto couldn’t explain.

Growing up, people were always horrible to Naruto. They feared and abhorred her; they hurt her and dismissed her. And it was painful… but not as painful as when Sasuke did it.

A single dismissal from Sasuke had been more devastating than all the other children’s torment combined. 

And Naruto didn’t understand why. It was confusing and frustrating— the effect Sasuke had on her, the way he was able to make her feel so strongly. She had hated it, so she had decided that she hated him.

Then everything Sasuke did started to bother her. The skills she admired, she began to envy. (If only she were as good as Sasuke, she would think, then people would like her.) His hardness, coldness, and arrogance— she had hated it all. 

But regardless, she had still looked up to him, still wanted to be his friend. It was confusing and frustrating and so she clung to her anger even harder.

But… lying in the dark, in Sasuke’s bed, unwilling to sleep in his company (anyone’s company really), Naruto thought of the last couple months she’d spent with Sasuke. 

She thought about their time in Wave— the way they had trained together and pushed each other to be better… the way Sasuke had saved her life even though he’d been convinced it would be at the price of his own. She thought about the way he had fed her because she’d been hungry, that first day as a team, even though he’d just been told that doing so would have him sent back to the Academy. She thought about all of the fun she had with their competitions and bickering. She thought about the way they had trusted each other and moved together so seamlessly to save Sakura yesterday, the slumber party they had last night, the way Sasuke defended her this morning.

She thought and thought and thought… 

Even the little things played insistently in her head. 

Like the way Sasuke had rolled up her sleeve earlier when he had noticed Naruto trying unsuccessfully to scrunch it up with her chin. He had of course insulted her while doing it, calling her an usuratonkachi, but he had still helped her with noticeable gentleness and care.

Naruto snickered quietly to herself as she remembered dinner too.

They had made do with what Sasuke still had in his cupboards, and cooking together had gone surprisingly well. Naruto only complained a tad about having to take orders from Sasuke and they only fought a little bit. (Though they did nearly burn the rice due to their arguing and then argued about the nearly burnt rice.) But, what really stood out was when Sasuke finally gave in to feeding Naruto.

He had been such a jerk about it, she remembered fondly.

He would hold the bite just slightly too far away from her and when Naruto would move to reach it, he would move it even further back. He would purposefully miss her mouth sometimes, getting food on her cheeks and chin. At one point, he gave her a bite consisting of only the grossest ingredients. He had done all of this with a straight face, acting all nonchalant and like it wasn’t completely intentional, but Naruto could tell by the amusement dancing in his eyes that he had been messing with her.

She had yelled at him for the teasing but privately thought that it was pretty funny.

Even when it was at her expense, seeing Sasuke happy made Naruto inexplicably happy too. The same way that seeing him in pain hurt her terribly in turn.

Naruto didn’t know what it was about Sasuke that made her feel this way.

He was just… special.

Chapter Text

Sasuke collapsed in the middle of the street, surrounded by the mutilated bodies of his clan.

He was so scared.

He didn’t want to die.

His body was full of needles.

The cut from his brother hurt more than any of them.

He cried helplessly among the bodies.

He was so scared.

His gasping breath puffed out in a cold mist.

“Sasuke! Get out of there!”

He looked up at the ice mirrors surrounding him.

Naruto was at his side, pulling at him to get up and move.

“Sasuke, get up!” she yelled at him.

But he couldn’t.

He was too weak, too scared.

“Foolish brother,” that dreaded voice echoed.

From every mirror, a dark figure with horrible, glowing red eyes emerged.

Sasuke began to curl further in on himself but Naruto stopped him, forcing him to look at her.

She looked scared too.

But she smiled at him.

“It’s okay, Sasuke,” she said. “I’ll cover you.”

His brother’s blade flashed behind Naruto and Sasuke knew what was coming.

He could do nothing but watch as Naruto screamed.

Sasuke jolted awake, gasping for breath.

He sat up in his bed and his free hand clasped over his heart. It felt like it was trying to pound its way out of his chest. His throat ached as he desperately tried to get air past it. A bead of sweat, which may have been a tear, dripped from his chin and he hastily wiped it away.

“Nightmare?” asked a soft voice.

Sasuke’s head whipped towards Naruto who was also awake and sitting up in his bed.

Her blue eyes seemed to glow in the darkness and they were looking at Sasuke with such calmness and warmth.

Sasuke quickly turned his face away. He didn’t want her to see his tears. He forced his lungs to freeze their gasping attempts at air. He didn’t want her to hear how pathetic he was.

“No,” he answered in as steady a voice as he could.

Despite what he often said, he didn’t actually think Naruto was stupid enough to believe him. He just hoped she was smart enough to get his silent message to leave it.

“It’s okay,” she said gently— nearly a whisper, as if she were telling him a secret. “I get them too.”

His eyes closed with a soft grimace.

It didn’t matter if she understood. He didn’t want her to see the way he was still trembling.

“Just go back to sleep,” he told her.

He sank back down into the bed and pulled the blanket high enough that Naruto wouldn’t be able to see any part of him (though he knew he wasn’t likely to get any more sleep that night.) But, there was no answering sound. No response or ruffling of bedding that would signify her settling back under the covers too.

He forced himself to breathe steady and slow. He tried to ignore her and hoped she’d do the same.

“I want tea,” Naruto suddenly declared, tossing the blankets off of herself (and Sasuke).

He scowled at her, not appreciating having his face exposed. “It’s the middle of the night, stupid.”

Naruto whacked him with the pillow they had been keeping between them while they slept.

He slid it down from his face with a glare.

“Yeah, well, you’re already awake so it doesn’t matter, ‘ttebayo.” she claimed, pulling him up via their joined hands. “Come on, I’m thirsty.”

Sasuke trudged after her in the dark and Naruto was happy to note that he was still holding onto the pillow. Sasuke didn’t even realize he was hugging it until they made it to the kitchen.

He glanced at Naruto, wondering if she had done that on purpose. He considered discarding it. He didn’t like showing any sort of weakness and hugging a pillow for comfort felt pathetic.

But… he watched her sort through the tea in his cabinet, slowly muttering their names to herself. Naruto was… (Sasuke gently rested his chin on the pillow.) It was okay.

He huffed into the pillow, remembering all of the embarrassing challenges Naruto had done the night before. Naruto wasn’t someone that would judge him for something like hugging a pillow. She, herself, did far more embarrassing things.

Unbidden, her scared eyes and pained scream flashed through his mind instead, making Sasuke’s stomach twist with nausea.

“Here.” Naruto nudged a warm cup of tea against his hand.

He looked down at it with furrowed brows. Naruto had been the one wanting tea. Why had she given it to him?

‘It’s Hojicha,’ he realized. It was the best tea he had for calming down.

His throat tightened.

He allowed Naruto to place it in his hand and Sasuke was certain he could feel the warmth of the drink pass through the pillow he was hugging and spread in his chest.

Naruto took her own cup and blew on it loudly as she led them back through the dark house to Sasuke’s bedroom.

She did not wait nearly enough time, however, before taking a sip. Expectedly, at least on Sasuke’s part, she jerked the hot drink away with a yelp.

“Hhhaa,” Naruto whined pitifully, her sore tongue comically hanging from her mouth. She crossed her eyes to look at it and… then there was a sound.

Naruto’s bright blue eyes darted up to Sasuke but he was already turning away with a muttered, “Idiot.”

Happiness and relief swelled in Naruto’s chest.

It hadn’t quite been a laugh, but it was something close to it, she thought. And she could see that there was more color to Sasuke’s face now and his hand had stopped shaking.

Even if that last part had been accidental, Naruto was glad she’d been able to help.

Naruto knew how horrible nightmares could be. She knew what it was like to wake up alone and have the images replay over and over in your mind relentlessly, to be unable to shake off the despair and fear that clung to you like tar.

She wondered how often Sasuke had nightmares, how often he suffered silently and alone.

She shook the thought away. He wasn’t alone this time, she thought determinedly.

Neither of them were.

////

Normally Sasuke would never drink tea in his bed— he would never trust Naruto to drink tea in his bed— but he didn’t stop her when she crawled back under the covers with her cup.

They hadn’t bothered to turn any of the lights on, but the light from the moon filtering softly through his window was enough as they sat together in silence and sipped at their drinks.

In truth, the tea Naruto had made for him wasn’t very good, Sasuke thought. The water had been boiled too hot, making the flavor overly bitter and a bit acrid, and she hadn’t strained the leaves properly. Sasuke occasionally had to pick tea leaves off of his tongue.

But it was… nice.

The pillow that was meant to divide them was still in Sasuke’s lap and he could feel Naruto’s warmth radiating off of her without the barrier. She kept moving her foot too, rocking it side-to-side, and it often bumped into his lower leg.

It should have been annoying, but it wasn’t.

It was comforting. It was a reassurance that she was alive, that Sasuke had saved her. When the time came, when Haku had targeted her, Sasuke hadn’t just watched. He had saved her.

And his brother— that man— would never have a chance to hurt Naruto, he promised. Sasuke would make sure of it.

Sasuke wasn’t a pathetic, cowardly, weak little boy anymore. He would kill his brother and he would never lose someone he cared about again. He would protect them this time.

He would protect her.

Chapter Text

“While being able to go several days without sleep is a valuable skill for a ninja,” Kakashi said casually, not even looking up from his book, “it is meant to be reserved for missions, Naruto.”

Naruto pouted. Sometimes she really hated how perceptive Kakashi was.

Sasuke dipped his head further into his high collar to hide his embarrassment. While the first night of no sleep had been Naruto’s fault, last night had been his. (And Naruto hadn’t taken a nap yesterday like he had.) He had noticed immediately just how tired she was this morning despite her efforts to hide it, and so had Kakashi apparently. 

“You should take advantage of times of peace to properly sleep,” Kakashi told her. 

Naruto smiled in faux-admiration. “Like you do, Kaka-sensei?”

Kakashi lowered his book enough to smile pleasantly at her and Naruto could tell he was unimpressed. Indeed, Kakashi did not appreciate just how much Naruto knew about him ever since she decided to take a violent dive into his mind a couple of months ago.

“Exactly,” he lied shamelessly.

His fake smile dropped quickly, however, and he looked at Naruto with an unreadable expression.

She shifted a bit, uncomfortable with the feeling that he was looking right through her.

“You need to sleep, Naruto,” he finally said.

Naruto averted her gaze. “I will tomorrow.”

Sasuke frowned in confusion, suddenly feeling like he was missing something. 

“Tonight,” Kakashi corrected. 

“Can’t,” Naruto insisted petulantly. She pointed a finger at Sasuke. “Sasuke snores.”

Sasuke glared at her and her audacity. 

“Sasuke doesn’t snore,” Kakashi replied, cutting through her excuse effortlessly. 

Naruto pouted toward the ground. Of course Sasuke didn’t snore, she knew. Even sleeping, Sasuke was Mr. Perfect— he didn’t snore, he didn’t drool, he didn’t even toss and turn. Instead he stayed on his back all night, looking like Sleeping Beauty. (Well, except for when he’d been in the throes of a nightmare— while he’d still looked aggravatingly pretty, he’d also looked pained and sweaty.) 

“Naruto…” Kakashi said more firmly and it was clear he was asking what was really going on. 

Naruto bit her lip and considered telling him the truth. Maybe he’d let it go if she did.

“I… It’s not safe, ‘ttebayo,” she confessed in a mutter.

The last time she’d had a nightmare with people around… It had been terrible. She’d hurt McGonagall, she’d scared her friends, and it could have easily gone worse.

It would be worse with Sasuke, she knew. He wouldn’t have any way of escaping if she lost control of her magic— he didn’t even know about magic, much less how to defend against it! 

Naruto couldn’t bear the thought of accidentally hurting him.

“Do you not trust Sasuke?” Kakashi asked bluntly.

“I— What? No! Of course I do!” Naruto blurted and then immediately blushed, surprised at herself for not needing to give it a moment’s thought. 

Sasuke’s eyes widened just the slightest at the confession and Naruto resolutely did not look at him. Instead she leaned in closer to Kakashi to give herself an illusion of privacy. 

Kakashi indulgently bent down closer to her so she could explain to him in a whisper, “I’m not worried about him hurting me… I–I’m worried I might… you know? I don’t always have the best control when I’m asleep.”

Kakashi shifted away only enough to look Naruto in the eye, his own soft with understanding. It was not uncommon for some ninja to lash out at their teammates or significant others with the kunai they kept under their pillow… And Naruto had a weapon that was a bit harder to dodge than a kunai, he knew.

Kakashi gently rested a hand on Naruto’s shoulder and did not miss the way she subtly tensed under it. The familiar sensation of remorse settled heavily in his chest as he made to move away.

It was his fault.

It was his fault that Naruto didn’t feel safe. It was his fault that she had such terrible nightmares. He hadn’t been there to protect her growing up. He had made the decision to continue the mission in Wave when things had gone wrong. 

It was all his fault.

Naruto placed her free hand over Kakashi’s to keep him there, her gaze so terribly perceptive and knowing, and Kakashi instinctively pulled away more sharply, and then immediately felt guilty for that too.

Sasuke looked between them with his sharp gaze but Naruto didn’t say anything about Kakashi’s retreat and Kakashi didn’t address it either. Instead he cleared his throat with a small cough and straightened, his demeanor returning to that of a strict jōnin instructor.

“My question remains the same,” Kakashi said. “On long-term missions and certain training exercises, you’ll be expected to spend nights with your teammates, Naruto. You won’t always have the option to sneak off somewhere else to sleep or to stay up indefinitely. So, I ask you… Can you trust Sasuke to keep not only you but himself safe?” 

Naruto contemplated this sincerely, sensing the weight behind Kakashi’s words.

She had never thought of it that way. In the past, it had always been up to her to stay in control and keep others safe from her. Especially at Hogwarts. The children there were so soft and fragile, and she’d been afraid of doing anything that might hurt them. 

But… Sasuke wasn’t like the kids at Hogwarts, she reminded herself.

Sasuke was a ninja. He was exceptionally strong and capable (even by Konoha standards), and he wasn’t easily scared away. 

She had seen it so many times growing up, and in these last few months as a team.

Naruto looked at him now and Sasuke met her scrutinizing gaze unflinchingly— almost challengingly— and something swelled in her chest. 

‘Yes,’ she thought sincerely, ‘I trust him.’

Chapter Text

Just because Naruto hadn’t slept in over 48 hours, didn’t mean the day was going to slow down for her. They still had missions to complete and training to do, but Naruto was determined to show that she could do it just fine— sleep-deprived or not.

And she did... for the first two missions. But, by the third, she was really starting to feel the consequences of her choices.

They were tasked with picking up trash from one of the streams that went through the village, and Naruto was starting to lag. The sun was warm, the water soothing, and the work monotonous. She looked at Kakashi, lying in the shade of a tree, with envy.

She blinked tiredly at the sky. She was so sleepy.

She rubbed her eye as she continued to blindly follow Sasuke through the shallow stream. But then— “WAAH!”

Sasuke immediately turned around to see what the matter was, but before he could do anything else, he was already being pulled into the water with Naruto.

SPLASH

Naruto came up flailing and spluttering and Sasuke had to quickly dodge a collision between her head and his chin.

“Usuratonkachi,” he hissed, stilling her thrashing with a firm hand. But even as he insulted her, his eyes automatically searched for injuries.

Naruto, feeling much more awake now and slightly more oriented with Sasuke’s hand on her arm, blinked the last of the water from her eyes… only to see Sasuke kneeling over her, soaking wet and decidedly unhappy about it.

Yikes, she thought. She laughed a bit awkwardly. “Sorry, Sasuke… But hey!” She grinned. “Think of it this way: at least we don’t stink as much now,” she joked. “So, really, you should be thanking me ‘cause you were really starting to smell, ‘ttebayo.”

Sasuke came to the swift conclusion that Naruto was just fine. “Hn.” And without any warning, he knocked her supporting arm out from under her.

SPLASH

Naruto surfaced even quicker than before, this time spluttering from both the water as well as anger. “What was that for!?” she half-shouted, half-coughed, trying to wipe water from her eyes once more.

Sasuke smirked. “You needed another wash,” he answered. “So, really, you should be thanking me, dobe.”

Naruto blinked in surprise at the returned quip before laughing. “You are such a teme!” she said, splashing at him (which he annoyingly blocked easily and returned effectively.)

For the remainder of the mission, Sasuke and Naruto were significantly less focused on collecting trash— both more interested in tripping each other up whenever they had the chance.

To Sakura and Kakashi’s disapproval, Naruto was so determined to trip Sasuke, she completely neglected the fact that if he were to fall into the water, she would too (along with all of the trash they had collected). Sasuke only seemed slightly more aware of this concern, seeing how, whenever he managed to trip Naruto, he would always pull her back up just before she hit the water.

By his smug smirk and Naruto’s rising temper, however, Kakashi had to wonder if his motivation was anything more than to show off and annoy Naruto with his superior skill.

Kakashi sighed and returned to his book, listening to Sakura yell at Naruto to cut it out when she once more tried to get back at Sasuke.

At least they were having fun, he thought.

Chapter Text

Naruto couldn’t get it out of her head.

She watched Sasuke— his stoic face and steady steps— and wondered how he was still alive with all of that inside of him.

Sasuke glanced sharply at her from the corner of his eye. “What?” he asked.

Naruto scrunched her nose up at him but didn’t say anything. Where could she even begin?

Well… it had started with Kakashi’s idea to have Naruto and Sasuke try to mold chakra together, using the other’s hand to create the necessary sign. He had reasoned that as “such skilled ninja,” Sasuke’s sharingan, and Naruto’s sensory abilities, they’d be able to do it.

But Naruto hadn’t been able to.

No, she corrected mentally, she hadn’t wanted to.

She had been willing to try at first but… as soon as she had connected to Sasuke’s chakra…

It had felt awful.

It had felt like a burning shock of electricity and Naruto had immediately jerked away.

But in that briefest of moments, connected to Sasuke, Naruto had been able to feel it— what could only have been Sasuke’s innermost emotions.

It turned her stomach remembering it.

There had been so much hatred and anger. It had been overwhelming, sticky and rotting— a torrent of darkness.

But underneath it…

Underneath it had been a sorrow and grief so vast Naruto had almost lost herself in it.

She couldn’t stop thinking about it.

She didn’t know how Sasuke was still alive— how he hadn’t drowned in it— how he hadn’t gone insane from it.

And… there had been something else.

In the center of all of that pain, anger, and sorrow, Naruto had seen a flash of a dark figure with glowing red eyes. It had terrified her.

Was that figure the man that had killed Sasuke’s family?

Had Sasuke seen him that night? Had Sasuke actually been there?

Had he watched his entire family be killed?

Naruto felt sick from the thought.

Naruto had always known that Sasuke was alone, but she had never given much of a thought about why Sasuke was alone. She had never stopped to truly process what it meant for Sasuke to be the last of his clan— the only survivor of the Uchiha Massacre.

Naruto thought of all the empty houses they had passed on the way to and from Sasuke’s home.

What must it be like, she now wondered darkly, to not only be alone, but to constantly walk past reminders of what you’d lost? All of those houses, Sasuke’s house, had once been full of people Sasuke loved. Now there was no one.

No one but Sasuke with his anger and grief for company.

What an awful feeling.

////

Sasuke couldn’t get it out of his head.

He refrained from activating his sharingan and tried hard not to stare at her, but he couldn’t stop thinking about what he had seen.

It was unlike anything he had ever seen before.

When Kakashi had told Naruto and Sasuke to work together to make hand-signs and mold chakra between them, Sasuke had activated his sharingan to watch and try and match Naruto’s flow.

But Sasuke hadn’t been able to.

No, he corrected mentally, he had forgotten to even try.

As soon as he had focused his sharingan on Naruto… he had been completely mesmerized by the beauty he saw.

She had looked otherworldly and celestial with a harmony of colors and a galaxy of lights dancing within and around her. The lights had moved like a playful breeze, caressing and protective… and completely breathtaking to watch.

Sasuke couldn’t stop thinking about it.

It couldn’t have been chakra, he knew, but he didn't know what else it might have been. Maybe a kekkei genkai, he thought. But it didn’t seem likely.

He scowled, frustrated by how Naruto was able to do this to him.

Sasuke had never been curious about other people before. But with Naruto…

Her smile when she danced.

Her excitement when she ate ramen.

Her focus when she drew seals.

Her fierceness when she insisted they save Sakura.

Sasuke was constantly being captivated by her.

He couldn't help it. She was just…

Naruto.

////

Neither Naruto nor Sasuke knew how to bring up what they had experienced with the other. How was one even supposed to ask about something like that— something so private and intimate— especially when it was discovered without the other’s knowledge or consent?

Both of them found that they couldn’t. So instead, they kept their silence and continued with their day as if that moment of connection hadn’t happened.

‘If he ever wants to talk about it…’
‘If she wants to tell me…’

‘…we’ll talk about it then.’

Chapter Text

“No.”

“Please, Sasuke,” Naruto begged. “I’ll be super fast, ‘ttebayo. I promise we won’t stick around. I just gotta explain to her why I can’t hang, you know?”

Sasuke’s frown deepened. “You can explain it to her tomorrow— after we separate.”

“But that’ll be too late,” Naruto insisted in a whiny tone. “I know you don’t have any friends—” Sasuke glared at her, which Naruto thought was totally uncalled for since he didn’t— “but it’d be super rude to leave her hanging! I can’t do that to Hinata!”

As little as Sasuke knew Hinata, he was almost certain that she would not be upset with Naruto for skipping out on one of their meet-ups. But— Sasuke scowled at the ground— he also knew that Naruto wasn’t well-liked within the village and Hinata was one of the only friends she had outside of Team 7.

Could he really risk the chance of making one of the only people kind to Naruto angry with her?

Sasuke may not think much about what people thought of him or about having friends, but Naruto did.

Sasuke glanced up at her hopeful face and then scowled harder at the ground.

“Fine,” he grumbled reluctantly.

“Yes!” Naruto pumped the air in victory.

////

Sasuke glared at Kiba who continued to laugh while Naruto kneeled beside Hinata and tried to revive her. She had fainted when she realized the implications of Naruto and Sasuke being stuck together and briefly imagined herself in the situation— feeding Naruto, sleeping beside her, spending every waking moment with her. Her poor heart hadn’t been able to handle the excitement of the thought, nor the heartbreak of knowing someone else was getting to experience it.

“This is priceless!” Kiba guffawed, bent over from how hard he was laughing. Akamaru yipped in agreement from where he was balancing atop his head. “You— You guys are— HAHAHAHA!”

Kiba was crying from how hard he was laughing. He couldn’t get over how hilarious this was. Naruto and Sasuke hated each other and yet they were now stuck together, literally. Oh, how awful it must be for them, he thought.

“Kiba,” Shino admonished cooly as he kneeled beside Hinata too.

“Right, right,” Kiba agreed, trying to wipe away his tears but still breathless from laughter as he made his way over to help with Hinata.

‘Man, she cannot keep it together when it comes to Naruto, huh?’ he thought as he hoisted a still unconscious Hinata up and set her on her feet. “Come on, Hinata, up you go.”

“Hey! Be careful with her, Kiba!” Naruto demanded.

“Relax, Naruto. She’s fine.”

Sometimes Kiba couldn’t believe that he had once been even remotely afraid of Naruto Uzumaki. She was almost sickeningly nice, and always fussed over Hinata (sometimes excessively so, he had noticed).

“Yes,” Shino agreed, “Hinata is much stronger than you would think, Naruto.”

Sasuke scoffed in disbelief, earning an elbow from Naruto.

“I know that,” Naruto mumbled, slightly embarrassed. But, in truth, she did think of Hinata as delicate. How could she not? Hinata was always fainting.

“Come on, Hinata,” Kiba insisted, shaking her back and forth.

Akamaru jumped down to his shoulder and did his part in waking Hinata too, giving a little bark and beginning to lick her face.

That seemed to do it. Hinata’s face scrunched up with a light groan. “Akamaru?” she murmured before her pale eyes fluttered open.

“Welcome back to the land of the living.” Kiba grinned. “You know, you really gotta work on that, Hinata,” he said, unable to help himself. “I mean you’re always fainting around Na—”

Hinata’s face flushed red. “K-Kiba-kun!” she hastily squeaked out before he could say anything too revealing.

He gave another barking laugh and dropped his voice with a conspiratorial wink. “Don’t worry, she didn’t leave your side for a second.”

Hinata’s eyes went wide as her face went even redder.

“I-I’m so sorry, Naruto-kun, Sa-Sasuke-kun,” Hinata stuttered out, eyes squeezed shut in embarrassment as she turned to bow to them.

“It’s okay, Hinata!” encouraged Naruto, clapping her on the shoulder. “It just shows how hard you’re working! I pass out from training all the time, ‘ttebayo,” she boasted.

“That’s not something to boast about, dobe,” said Sasuke.

“Yeah it is!” argued Naruto. “It means I’m working as hard as I can, teme!”

“It means you don’t know how to pace yourself.”

Naruto’s face scrunched up in frustration. “What would you know? You didn’t even want to train yesterday!”

Sasuke glared at her. “That’s because you—” he started.

“—I had to work on writing seals with my left hand,” Naruto finished for him, rolling her eyes. “Yeah, right. You were just—” Naruto’s accusation of laziness was cut off by Kiba’s bark of laughter.

“You actually finish each other's sentences!” he crowed in delight. “That’s amazing!”

Both Naruto and Sasuke blushed. “No, we don’t!” they shouted at him.

Kiba laughed harder. “That’s even worse!” he exclaimed, pointing at them. “You’re totally in unison!”

“Kiba-kun…” Hinata tried to discourage her teammate’s provocation. It wasn’t a good idea to get Naruto and Sasuke angry when they were stuck together.

“I hope you disconnect soon— before you completely become one with each other!” Kiba joked.

Shino sighed at Kiba’s antics while Hinata murmured a small apology to Naruto and Sasuke.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. “Let’s go, Naruto,” he said, turning to leave. They had already stayed well past what he considered a “super fast” visit and Kiba’s laughter was grating.

“Wait— ah!” Naruto stumbled as she was dragged away. “Sorry, Hinata!” she called back. “I’ll make it up to you next week, ‘ttebayo— Just you and me! No tag-alongs!”

Hinata ducked her head bashfully at the promise and Kiba watched with suppressed excitement as the pair left— trying to trip each other as they went. As soon as they were far enough away that he could no longer hear their bickering, he turned to Hinata with a huge grin. “Way to go, Hinata!” he cheered, enthusiastically throwing an arm around her shoulders. “Looks like you got a date!”

Hinata’s face went scarlet. “I-it’s not like that, Kiba-kun. Naruto-kun just—”

“—wants to spend time with you, one-on-one,” he finished slyly.

“No!” Hinata squeaked out— as close as she ever got to shouting. “I mean… y-yes, but— We’re— we’re not…” she was so flustered she couldn’t get the words out to explain.

“That is enough, Kiba,” Shino interrupted. “Why? Because we should not pressure Hinata on her relationship with Naruto-san. She should proceed at her own pace.”

Kiba huffed in annoyance. What did Shino know?— Kiba looked off to where Naruto and Sasuke had left.— Hinata might not have the luxury of waiting until she was ready.

Naruto and Sasuke… They were different from how they were before.

Chapter Text

Considering how tired Naruto obviously was, Sasuke did not think it would be this hard to get her to sleep.

“But I sleep on my stomach, ‘ttebayo,” she complained.

“Too bad,” said Sasuke, closing his eyes. “I sleep on my back.”

With their hands connected, they couldn’t have it both ways.

“Why does it always have to be your way?”

“It’s my bed.”

“Exactly! I didn’t agree to that either!”

Sasuke glared tiredly up at his ceiling. How did she even have the energy to be so difficult? 

He sighed heavily and shifted his exasperated gaze onto her.

She was scowling petulantly down at her lap, refusing to lie down.

His eyes narrowed as he considered her. 

“Come on.” 

Naruto was so tired it took her a moment to realize what was going on. She had to scramble across the bed to catch up to Sasuke who was already on his feet and walking away, half-dragging her behind him.

“Ah! Wait— teme! Quit pulling me around!”

He had been doing it all day.

“Stop being so slow,” he said dismissively (although he did pause long enough for her to gather herself).

“What are you even doing?” she asked as Sasuke led them down a moonlit hallway.

“…Tea,” he said softly after a moment.

Naruto's eyes widened as she recalled the previous night and her ears suddenly felt very warm. “Oh.”

By the time they made it to the kitchen, Naruto (her face red), finally had the courage to quietly admit, “I-I don’t actually like tea, ‘ttebayo.”

Sasuke’s cheeks warmed as his suspicion from last night— that Naruto had made the tea just for him— was confirmed.

He tucked his face into his high collar. “I wouldn’t either if it always tasted like that.”

It took Naruto a moment to catch on but when she did, her head snapped up with an indignant, “Hey!”

Sasuke’s lip pulled lightly in amusement. 

“I’ll make it this time,” he told her.

“Like that’ll make a difference,” she grumbled. “The problem’s that you don’t have any sweeteners.” She stuck her tongue out in distaste.

But Naruto was soon proven wrong.

After a patronizing reminder from Sasuke that the tea was hot, Naruto was able to taste for herself what a difference proper brewing made.

“Woah!” she exclaimed in amazement, looking down into her cup of leaf-free tea. “Is this what it’s supposed to taste like? How’d you do that?”

Sasuke blinked in surprise. Naruto had never gotten so close to complimenting him before.

He closed his eyes, feeling somehow embarrassed from the praise. “Hn. I actually followed the directions, usuratonkachi.”

Even with his eyes closed, Sasuke knew Naruto was rudely mimicking him in silence. 

He glowered at her and she hastily brought the cup to her lips and looked away innocently.

He (very maturely) decided that tripping her wasn’t worth the mess of spilled tea, and instead led the way back to his room. 

////

Naruto— unable to fight her exhaustion any longer— fell asleep before she had even finished her cup of tea.

Sasuke smirked in victory as he carefully took her cup and placed it on the bedside table.

Relieved to finally go to sleep himself, he started to shift further down into the bed… but hesitated. 

Naruto was leaning against the headboard and her neck was bent at an awkward angle.

With a sigh he sat back up and moved Naruto so that she was lying properly. After a moment of consideration, he also adjusted the blanket to better cover her. 

But… Sasuke didn’t move away immediately. 

He looked at his teammate. 

Awake, she was always so loud and puffing herself up. At times, she almost seemed larger than life. But lying there, after three days of no sleep, she looked so small.

She had been so reluctant to go to sleep— scared even… But everything would be fine, he silently promised her.

Whatever she had been afraid of, if it happened, he would take care of it. 

He would keep her safe, no matter what. 

////

Naruto growled and snarled like an animal.

Her claws gouged the concrete beneath her.

Her chest burned with anger.

Her teeth gnashed with the desire to tear into something.

It felt wrong.

It terrified her.

But she had no control.

As soon as she saw the kiri mask through the red mist, Naruto lunged for it, set for the kill.

But before she could, the mask cracked and fell away.

It was Sasuke underneath it.

She screamed at herself to stop.

But she couldn’t.

Sasuke’s blood splattered the ground and the iron stench of it filled Naruto’s nose.

“No,” she croaked.

They both collapsed to the blood-soaked ground, and Naruto cradled Sasuke's body close.

“No, no, no— please!” she begged.

“Naruto,” Sasuke breathed, “it’s okay.”

Naruto jerked back, startled, as Sasuke sat up.

“It’s okay, Naruto,” he told her.

“Wha—?”

He gently embraced her and guided her head to his chest.

“I’m right here.”

Naruto could hear his heartbeat beneath her ear. It resonated throughout her body, soothing her with its rhythm.  

Naruto nearly sobbed in relief.

He was alive— Sasuke was alive.

She held him tighter as he continued to reassure her.

She couldn’t hear his words over the sound of his heartbeat, but she didn’t need to

His heartbeat was all that she needed to know that everything would be okay.

The red mist cleared and, safe in Sasuke’s arms, Naruto sank into a blissful rest.