Fascination's End (2/8)
I'm halfway there, or maybe not really, although I finished cleaning up the first part. This thing is locked for good reason. It's as rough around the edges as Naruto looked in the first series. Clearly, I'm editing as I go along.
Nearly freaked out a bit when I kept getting logged off lj in IE, which I need to use paste from word because Opera doesn't give me the nice big spaces, Chrome consumes way too much ram/space/my computer's soul, and the new Firefox is just...something else. Anyway, this is my 400th post. Yippie skippie. I'd thought I take the time to acknowledge what has taken me nearly six years to do, but now I feel unduly accomplished. Paid account usage hasn't completely gone to waste.
***
Characters: Naruto/Sasuke, Kiba, Sakura
Rating: R
Words: 6718
Summary: Even when Sasuke comes home, it's not enough for things to go back to the way they were. Naruto struggles to grasp shifting emotions, the consequences of the choices he doesn't make, and a history with Sasuke that won't let either of them go.
***
It never fails to amaze Naruto how fast word travels through Konoha. The scene he and Sasuke caused yesterday isn’t exempt. He’s already gotten a mouthful from Sakura, although she seems to have forgotten about the incident with him accidentally looking at her breasts. Not that this is better, but at least Naruto doesn’t have to shoulder the blame by himself.
Despite the continuous ringing in his right ear that sounds like a faint echo of Sakura’s voice, Naruto’s content to be partially-hopefully temporarily-deaf with the knowledge that Sasuke probably has the same ringing in one of his ears, too.
Yet the embarrassment only starts to settle in when Kiba brings it up. Sasuke’s name is the first thing out of Kiba’s mouth as soon as Naruto walks through the open door of the dingy little bar. Except for two, the ten or so seats usually empty are taken, and the atmosphere tonight feels suspiciously crowded.
“The way people are talking about it,” Kiba says, “I’m surprised you two didn’t go at it right then and there.”
Naruto lowers his head and wraps his fingers around the cold bottle of beer waiting for him when he sat down. He’s ashamed to admit he came too close to fighting with Sasuke. Whether it would have ended up one-sided or not, Naruto knows at that moment, if he hadn’t walked away, he would have punched Sasuke not because he wanted to make a point, but because he actually wanted to hurt him.
Softly, Naruto says, “We almost did.”
“So why the sudden interest in Sasuke?” Kiba looks at the plate being brought to their section of the counter. Neither he nor Naruto make a move to touch it. “It’s not part of that plan, is it?”
“No. I gave up on that when you said to go with the flowers.”
Kiba sighs but looks relieved. “I guess that’s one less stupid thing for you to do.”
“Like you’re any better.”
Kiba grins. “Ino says I am.”
“Ino doesn’t have a choice. She has to say that because she likes you enough to put up with Akamaru.”
“Hey-”
“Seriously, though, it wasn’t that bad of an idea. At least it sort of made sense at the time.”
“That sounds like the kind of thing you have to tell yourself often.” Kiba reaches for a fried octopus ball from the plate. He pops it into his mouth.
“Anyway,” Naruto says, “Sakura said some things that day, and it made me think about how much time I don’t spend with Sasuke, the last time I’d seen Sasuke-you realise you see him more than I do, right?”
“And like I told you, I’m trying to fix that. So if you could help me with-”
“Kiba…”
“Lighten up, would you. I know you weren’t your best yesterday, but Sunday is our night. Don’t start getting defensive on me about Sasuke. ”
“I’m not getting defensive about Sasuke.”
“Yeah, sure, okay,” Kiba says dismissively. “Just do one thing for me, Naruto.”
“What?”
“Sit back, relax…” Kiba slouches in his chair. “And let the alcohol carry you through the night.”
“You know that doesn’t work for me.” Naruto sighs and stabs an octopus ball with one of his chopsticks. He holds the octopus ball up to the dim light. It spins and stops and spins again while Naruto continues to examine it, rubbing the chopstick in his hand between his thumb and forefinger. “You know how much I wish it did.”
“Just try to enjoy the ride, my friend.” Lifting his beer, Kiba tips it towards Naruto then takes a long swig. He sets the bottle on the counter and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. “Try to enjoy the ride.”
**
And try to enjoy it, Naruto does. The meagre supply of alcohol in his system doesn’t even last the next day, but he pretends that it does, lets the buzz he can’t really feel carry him all the way to Thursday.
He doesn’t believe it for a second. Until he changes his mind on Wednesday, because then it does seem to work. That or it’s a case of mind over matter, which is a reasonable conclusion to come to. Either way, Naruto needs something to explain whatever the hell it is that was able to convince him camping out in front of Sasuke’s old house is a good idea.
He can practically hear the slap of Kiba’s palm leaving a red mark on his forehead, feel the knots Sakura’s itching to give with her fist, or her elbow, or her knee-whichever is closest to the back of Naruto’s head when she decides to hit him. If Sasuke caught him snooping around, Naruto doesn’t even want to imagine what he’d do.
It’s a couple of hours until he loses daylight, which makes the decision to do something like this seem only a little less shameless. Likewise, it becomes just as impulsive, if not downright disturbing, although Naruto can argue he, Sakura, and Sasuke did the same thing to Kakashi.
Numerous times.
While he won’t argue he should know better because he’s older, it doesn’t change the fact that they used to and still do things like this on a regular basis. Consequently, neither Sakura nor Sasuke can call Naruto out for doing it now.
He is a ninja after all.
Unfortunately, Naruto can’t really see anything from here, so he waits out the silent battle between his curiosity and that thing called self-preservation, with that thing called self-preservation winning by a landslide. The bush he’s hiding behind doesn’t provide much cover, but it’s at a safe enough distance that will give him time to escape Sasuke’s possible wrath if the need arises.
What Naruto can see from his position isn’t very much. It looks like all the lights in the house are on, which doesn’t necessarily mean anything, but he knows Sasuke’s there. He can detect some kind of movement even if his binoculars aren’t capable of showing him exactly where Sasuke is.
The house itself isn’t that big, but neither is it something Naruto can do a full scope on with one glance. At best, it’s a lot of space to hold the kinds of memories that have the power to maybe one day keep Sasuke locked inside.
Although Sasuke’s living with Kakashi for the time being, he stops by the house he used to live in every once in a while. However, when Naruto asked Kakashi earlier today where Sasuke was, he learned the cause for Sakura’s concern about Sasuke, who, Kakashi said, had started going to the house more often.
“What are you doing?” comes an entirely too calm voice from Naruto’s left.
Instead of being startled, Naruto shushes the newcomer.
“I said,” the voice continues, “what you are doing?” The owner of the voice obviously doesn’t realise Naruto’s trying to be secretive, all but giving away Naruto’s location by making so much noise beside him.
“Spying on Sasuke,” Naruto says, annoyed. “Obviously. What does it look like I’m doing?”
But then he blinks and remembers that he’s supposed to be alone. It kind of defeats the purpose of spying if he’s been seen. Funny, the voice sounds suspiciously like-
“You’re spying on me?” Sasuke snarls.
Eyes wide, Naruto emits a squeak, a high-pitched sound he will never admit to making. The binoculars drop from his hands, and he jumps back. He trips over his feet, lands on the ground. Scrambling to stand, he’s immediately wary of the dark look in Sasuke’s eyes.
Yet he’s caught off guard when he recognises the bandana wrapped around Sasuke’s forehead. Keeping the hair out of his eyes, it’s the same one Sasuke was wearing when he was helping Sakura clean her apartment. The worn looking shirt and the sweatpants Sasuke has on aren’t helping Naruto take Sasuke seriously, either. The outfit makes Sasuke look everything else except intimidating.
Or maybe just a little less intimidating than usual.
“No, it’s not like that.” At Sasuke’s flat look, Naruto says, “Okay, so it’s exactly like that, but I swear-”
Hard, Sasuke’s punches Naruto in the stomach. Naruto’s eyes bulge at the impact. Saliva splutters out of his mouth, trails down his chin. His body starts to cave forward and he stumbles, bent over but doing all in his power not to fall. Rasping, he tries to hack up a cough and makes a choking noise when he swallows the saliva Sasuke just forced out.
Sasuke curls his lips in disgust. He raises his leg and quickly uses his foot to knock Naruto to the ground. He plants the bottom of his sandal on Naruto’s head, putting almost enough force behind it to crush Naruto’s skull.
A muffled noise that sounds like bastard escapes Naruto, made with an admirable amount of effort considering the projectiles of dirt flying from his mouth. Then, in a puff of smoke, Naruto disappears.
Sasuke snorts, readjusts the bandana on his forehead. “Come out, Naruto.”
The real Naruto gulps when Sasuke’s eyes land on him. “Did you know that wasn’t me?”
“Yes.”
“Then why’d you have to be so…”
“So what?”
“So cruel,” Naruto whimpers.
“I have every right to do what I did.” Sasuke’s eyes narrow. “Not only are you trespassing, but apparently your stupid ass was too chickenshit to knock.”
“Of course I was. Especially when I knew there was a chance of you pulling off that kind of crap. You do realise what you did, right? What if that was actually me?”
Bringing his fingers to his head, Sasuke makes circular motions into his temples. “I knew it wasn’t you.”
“And that’s supposed to make me feel better how?”
“Then you shouldn’t have been trying to spy on me. Unless you want to end up like that clone.”
Naruto winces. Sasuke knew damn well Naruto was watching him, but Naruto won’t let Sasuke’s sadistic side put a damper on the reason why he came here. “I just wanted to check on you and see what you were doing.”
“I don’t need you to check on me.” Sasuke grabs the collar of Naruto’s jacket and tugs him forward. “What I’m doing isn’t any of your business.”
“I heard how much you keep coming back here. I don’t know about Kakashi, but Sakura’s really worried about you. Like it or not, now you’ve got me in on it, too.” Naruto doesn’t back down from the scrutiny in Sasuke’s gaze. He stares right back. “And it’s only trespassing if I’m not allowed to come here anymore.”
After a moment of silence, Sasuke sighs. “Fine. Since I know you’re not going to leave it alone, you can help me.” He lets go of Naruto’s jacket and shoves Naruto backwards. “Next time use the door. Or what I’m doing will be the last thing on your mind.”
Naruto quirks his lips as Sasuke walks away. He reaches down to pick up his fallen binoculars and follows Sasuke to the house.
**
His back hurts in places where it shouldn’t. His thighs ache like he’s been squeezing something between his legs since the beginning of time. There’s a pain in his backside he’s never felt before, the kind of pain there’s no excuse for him to be feeling at all, and Naruto resolves to return the favour if Sasuke ever does this to him again.
He didn’t know Sasuke was capable of being so demanding, so gruelling-making Naruto bend over for no reason other than to see him on his hands and knees.
Who knew Sasuke could be such a slave driver?
Lying on his back, Naruto stretches out on the floor and wonders why Sasuke’s family couldn’t have had a smaller house like normal, decent cleaning-fearing people. Or why Sasuke couldn’t be a normal, decent cleaning-fearing person like the rest of society.
Forcing the air out his lungs, Naruto lets the muscles he’s not used to using rest for the first time in what seems like ages. He reaches for the red bandana tied around his forehead that Sasuke is letting him borrow, hand making the attempt to take off the piece of cloth that hindered more than helped, but his arm falls back to the floor as soon as he tries to raise it.
It may have been a brutal way to go, but now Naruto’s convinced his clone got the better deal. Being quickly put out of his misery is preferable to staying up all night cleaning, polishing and then waxing (which Naruto still doesn’t believe are two different things, despite Sasuke’s insistence) a seemingly endless stretch of hardwood floor-with Sasuke following his every move, not in the least bit reserved about pointing out whatever it was that Naruto wasn’t doing right.
If he never knew the extent of Sasuke’s vindictive nature before, Naruto can now appreciate his previous ignorance.
As soon as he walked through the door, Sasuke threw some old pants and a t-shirt at him. He told Naruto he had two minutes to get changed and then get to work. At first, Naruto objected. Sasuke hadn’t said anything about cleaning. Then there was the fact that Sasuke had gotten those clothes so quickly, which Naruto wanted to know about, but he was silenced by Sasuke’s glare. Any further need to complain was taken care of by Naruto’s own guilty conscience.
“So this is what you do here,” Naruto said, taking in the expanse of the house. If Sasuke spent all his time here cleaning, it didn’t even look like he’d begun to scratch the surface. He wondered how Sasuke even found the time.
“Yes.”
“By yourself?”
“Who else would help?”
“Sasuke, I…I didn’t know. If I knew, I would have-”
“Done nothing. It wouldn’t have changed anything.”
“But I-”
“Don’t make a big deal out of something like this. I’d rather do it by myself anyway.”
You’re letting me help, Naruto wanted to say, almost did say, but he didn’t try to bring the subject up again.
Accompanied by a chorus of grunts and incoherent grumbles, all on Naruto’s part, they worked well into the early hours. The moment Sasuke allowed him to stop, Naruto immediately conked out on the floor, vaguely aware of Sasuke lying down beside him.
Although he woke up sore, Naruto’s grateful Sasuke let him sleep through the rest of the night. He can’t complain about not having a blanket since it’s already so warm. There’s a pillow under his head, too, though. It’s a really nice one that makes Naruto not want to move, but the softness of the pillow is undermined by the fact Sasuke let him to sleep on the very hard floor.
He looks up without lifting his head, looks out the large window that seems strange without the curtains he saw Sasuke take down last night. It’s close to dawn, and Naruto can see the sun if he squints. He can make out a haze of light in the distance, just below the horizon.
It’s still dark, though, so he has to wait for his pupils to adjust to the lack of light. Sluggish, he turns on his side and rests his cheek against the pillow. He frowns when he notices Sasuke’s no longer lying beside him. Out of the corner of his eye, he can make out a shape sitting against the wall by the door.
Feet flat on the floor, Sasuke’s legs are open, spread apart the width of his shoulders. His arms are hanging over his knees. His chin is tilted up, and the back of his head is touching the wall.
Naruto lies still. He doesn’t want to wake Sasuke if he’s asleep, doesn’t want to disturb the almost comfortable quiet between them if he’s not.
Sasuke answers the unspoken question, but his voice doesn’t reach Naruto.
Almost.
“Go back to sleep, Naruto.”
“Sasuke…”
Naruto wants to ask why Sasuke sounds so far when he’s only on the other side of the room. He wants Sasuke to speak again, just to make sure he’s really there, but Naruto’s eyelids begin to droop. His head feels heavy, sinks further into the pillow. He tries to reach out to Sasuke with an arm that won’t leave the floor, but it’s easier not to fight his body’s demands.
When he opens his eyes again, Naruto sees Sasuke standing above him, wearing a white towel around his neck and holding a red towel in his arm.
“Here,” Sasuke says, dropping the red towel on Naruto.
The towel lands smack-dab on his face, and Naruto pushes it aside with one hand. He makes a face at the tiny pieces of lint stuck to his tongue and spits them out. Looking up, he peers at Sasuke with unfocused eyes. “What was that for?”
“Go take a shower.”
Naruto licks his lips and swallows, still feeling groggy from sleep. “A shower?”
Sasuke wrinkles his nose. “You smell.”
“Yeah, that’s really the first thing I want to hear in the morning.” Groaning, Naruto sits up. He crosses his legs and places the towel on his lap. Scratching his head, he tries again to get the dry feeling out his mouth. Hopefully, Sasuke has an extra toothbrush he can borrow.
“I already ate, but I’ll make something else if you’re…” Sasuke presses his lips together. He pulls the white towel from around his neck and turns away, facing the kitchen, but not before Naruto catches a glimpse of the uncertainty in Sasuke’s eyes. “When you’re finished with the shower.”
Slowly, Naruto nods his head, fully aware Sasuke isn’t able to see it. Sasuke doesn’t move. He doesn’t say anything else. He just stands there. Yet there’s something about the way he’s standing, the clear tension in his shoulders that makes it seem like he’s expecting Naruto to do something. Naruto, however, doesn’t know if it’s okay to do anything at all.
“Don’t hurt yourself trying to get up,” Sasuke sneers. The white towel falls on the floor, forgotten when Sasuke clenches his fists and turns back around to glare at Naruto. “If you don’t want to be here, just say it. Nobody’s forcing you to stay.”
The severity of Sasuke’s voice jolts Naruto into attention. He stumbles over his feet trying to stand, dragging the red towel in his hand over the floor.
“No, I’m hungry,” Naruto rushes out. On cue, there’s a rumble from his stomach. “See? You heard it, right? I promise you I’m hungry. Just let me-”
In his haste, Naruto trips over the towel and falls face down of the floor.
He releases a pitiful moan that produces no less than a sigh and a softly muttered dumbass from Sasuke.
“My nose hurts,” Naruto says, voice muffled by the panel of wood his mouth is smashed against. He doesn’t think he can move. Or rather, he doesn’t want to risk finding out what else hurts if he does. He listens to Sasuke’s footsteps instead. Being this close to the floor, the sound is magnified, feels like it's vibrating through his body, and Naruto counts how many steps it takes for Sasuke reach him.
The tapping of Sasuke’s feet gets louder, three more steps, and when Sasuke stop moving, Naruto lifts his head a centimetre or two from the floor.
Sasuke’s toes poke Naruto in the side, and Naruto snorts, almost chokes on the laughter he’s trying to hold in because the touch tickles. From Naruto’s stomach, the foot moves to hover just above Naruto’s head.
While Naruto can smell for himself that Sasuke’s clean, the placement of Sasuke’s foot and Naruto’s position on the floor is a little too reminiscent of yesterday’s scene between Sasuke and Naruto’s clone.
“Okay, don’t try to squish me.” Naruto rolls away from the foot looming over his head, miraculously cured from the slight pain in his nose and all his aches from earlier. “I’m up-I’m up. I’m getting up.”
Sasuke rolls his eyes but puts his foot back on the floor.
Grinning, Naruto grabs the red towel and nearly trips again on the way out of the room. He sprints down the hallway, skidding to a halt in front of the second door on the left.
**
The soreness from yesterday still hasn’t gone away despite the momentary relief induced by Sasuke’s foot over his head, and Sunday Naruto enters the bar with a slight limp that has Kiba snickering as soon as he starts to wave Naruto over. Up until now, no one’s said anything. Naruto’s tried hard to keep anyone from noticing. Of course Kiba has to be the one person who does.
“Yeah, yeah.” Gingerly, Naruto takes a seat, lets out a sigh. He makes a crude gesture with his finger. “Laugh it up while you can, dog-breath.”
“I don’t even want to ask.”
“Then don’t.”
“Unless it’s something I want to know.”
“I doubt it.” Naruto leans over on the counter. His head falls on top of his arms. “It’s not like I’m that messy, but who knew spending so much time on the floor could be so…tiring?”
“Oh.” Kiba exaggerates the smile already on his face, almost turns it into a leer. “So that’s what you were doing.”
“Don’t even.” Naruto reaches for the glass of sake the bartender places in front of him, but he doesn’t pick it up. “I stayed over at Sasuke’s old house. Bastard made me help him clean after I tried to check on him. And can you believe we still didn’t finish?”
“That’s right,” Kiba says, using a toothpick to clean in between his teeth. “All this time, since he came back, Sasuke’s been staying with Kakashi, hasn’t he?”
Naruto opens his mouth to speak but pauses and closes it. He nods.
“It must feel good to finally be able to move out, especially for someone like him. Even if hasn’t been that long. I know Sakura already left her parents’ place, but I don’t think I’m ready to take that step.”
Naruto slides his glass to the edge of the counter, uncomfortable at the fact Kiba reminded him of something he shouldn’t have forgotten. Suddenly, Sasuke’s increasingly frequent visits to his old house make sense. “…it doesn’t seem like something you should rush into.”
Scratching his head, Kiba chuckles. “You’re probably one of the few people who agree with me. But-hey-are you helping Sasuke move out? Since you said you’re trying to spend more time with him and all.”
“Something like that.”
“If it were up to me, I wouldn’t bother with that kind of place. It must be creepy spending so much time there all alone. I don’t know how Sasuke’s going to live there. But I guess that kind of thing can’t be helped, you know.”
“…yeah.” Naruto frowns, stares into his glass still full of sake. “I guess it can’t.”
**
At the sound of crunching grass, Naruto opens his eyes. He closes them again, folds his hands beneath his head. He already knows who it is.
“Why are you here?” Sasuke says.
“Because.”
“Because?”
“Mm-hmm,” Naruto says. “Plan on standing there all night?” When he doesn’t allow himself to see, it’s easier to listen, and Naruto bites back a smile when he hears Sasuke take hesitant steps towards him.
He peers at Sasuke with one eye opened, watches Sasuke sit down.
Left leg extended, Sasuke pulls the other one to his chest. He places his right arm around his ankle, brings his left hand around and grabs three fingers from his right hand.
Naruto turns his head away and hopes Sasuke didn’t catch him staring. “You should lie down.”
“I’m fine like this.”
“You used to lie down.”
Sasuke grunts but doesn’t move.
“Have you been coming here since you came back?”
“Sometimes,” Sasuke says, and Naruto doesn’t miss the reluctance in his voice.
“Alone?”
“I didn’t expect you to remember.”
“Sasuke…” Naruto sits up and crosses his legs, places his arms on top of them. His gaze turns to Sasuke, but Sasuke keeps staring ahead.
“It happens. People forget.”
Naruto frowns. “Except I’m not people.”
“Yet you’re still a person.”
“I couldn’t forget about this place, Sasuke. This is our hill.”
“We don’t own it.”
“Well, it seemed like we were the only ones who knew about it. We used to come here all the time, lie out here like this, doing nothing. Watching everything.”
“It wasn’t all the time.”
“I’m over here trying to be thoughtful, and you want to spoil one of my good memories. Let me remember it the way I want to, okay.”
Sasuke snorts. He puts his arm over his knee and closes his eyes. “Why’d you come here, Naruto?”
“You already asked me. And I told you.”
“It’s more than because. It can’t only be because with you.”
“If you think I was waiting for you, I wasn’t. Something just told me to come here, so I came here. You know how I am.”
Sasuke stays silent.
“It’s been a while for me, too, I guess, since I’ve been here,” Naruto says. “And to be honest, I didn’t think you remembered about this place, either.”
“Does Sakura remember?”
“Have you told her about it?”
“Do you mean before or after I left?”
“Smartass.” Naruto sucks his teeth. His fingers play around a few blades of grass, start to pull them from the ground. He lets them go. “But if you didn’t tell Sakura, then she doesn’t know. I never told her.”
Sasuke places his cheek against his arm, expression blank as his eyes meet Naruto’s. “Why not?”
“I tried to explain it to her,” Naruto says, “maybe a few months after you left, but Sakura didn’t understand. It didn’t make sense trying to bring her here after that.”
“What we were doing, there wasn’t a point to it.”
“Yeah, I know,” Naruto says, tilting his head towards the sky. “But that’s what she couldn’t get.”
**
Breathing with his mouth wide open, Naruto wipes the sweat off his face, pushes the hair away from his forehead, because really, something like this shouldn’t be so much work.
It’s the middle of June. There’s no reason to be directly under the sun when it’s four in the afternoon. It’s the hottest time of the day, what it feels like at any rate, and Naruto would be surprised if the temperature was anything less than thirty-five degrees.
He took off his shirt sometime after two. It was completely soaked through when he tossed it on the ground. A wet mess that made a sickening mushy sound when it fell, the shirt’s almost completely dry now.
A week after he spent the night at Sasuke’s house, Naruto’s back here again. Or at least in the general vicinity. He and Sasuke are working on the fence today. They began sanding down the east section early this morning, as soon as light broke out, finished a little after noon, and now they’re painting-staining, Sasuke corrected-the fence.
Initially, Naruto thought Sasuke only wanted to fix up his house to the point where he could live in it, which, even Naruto will admit, doesn’t make much sense. In the end, cleaning and polishing then waxing floors is only a small part of Sasuke’s restoration project. Sasuke doesn’t tell him, but by now, since the fence they’re painting surrounds way more than just Sasuke’s house, Naruto can safely conclude Sasuke plans on restoring the entire Uchiha district.
It’s daunting just thinking about it. It’s a wonder how Sasuke ever thought he could do this by himself. Never mind how Sasuke can afford it.
“Tired already?” Sasuke says, twisting off the cap to a bottle of water.
Thinking Sasuke’s trying to provoke him, Naruto almost says no, but he swallows, eyes trained on the bottle in Sasuke’s hand. He doesn’t care where it came from. He didn’t know Sasuke brought anything other than paint and paintbrushes and the bottles they already emptied. All Naruto knows is that the way Sasuke downs the water is making him thirsty. Watching the prominent lump on Sasuke’s throat bob up and down makes him realise he hasn’t had anything to drink in a couple of hours.
“No fair,” Naruto cries out. “You see me drying up over here, and you’re not going to even share with me? Am I not helping you?”
Sasuke reaches into the small bag he brought with him. He flings a water bottle at Naruto, aiming it at Naruto’s forehead.
Naruto catches the bottle before it makes contact. The plastic makes a crunching sound, compressed against his hand by the force of the impact, and Naruto sends a dry look Sasuke’s way. “Thanks.” He snorts. “Thanks a lot.”
Three hours and five more water bottles emptied between them later, the sun starts to set. Unfortunately, the heat isn’t setting with it, but he and Sasuke are almost halfway done. Maybe. If Naruto doesn’t look around him and pay too close attention to what they haven’t touched yet. It’s easier to concentrate on what they managed to finish.
Something compels Naruto to look anyway. The sight of what they still have left to do and the fact that he can’t even see all of it from where he stands, they’re both kind of demoralising.
“Why are we doing this again?” Naruto says.
Sasuke doesn’t look at Naruto. He continues to paint, strokes long and meticulous against the length of the panel. Slight flicks of Sasuke’s wrist hinge the controlled movement. It’s precise, a little too careful for Naruto’s tastes. Even more so when opposed to Naruto’s own preferred methods, it seems like Sasuke’s trying to make sure he erases all signs of the original state of the fence.
And maybe Sasuke is. Relatively speaking, the fence is actually in pretty good condition, surprisingly after all these years. It hasn’t rotted away. It’s weathered down, of course, but it doesn’t look as neglected as the district it contains.
The light yellowish wood of the fence disappears beneath the bristles of Sasuke’s brush, transforms into a deep mahogany.
“You wouldn’t leave me alone,” Sasuke says.
Naruto pulls on a sleeve of the jacket tied around his waist. “Right.”
He doesn’t know what possessed him to do something he’d rather not. Being with Sasuke on their hill that night probably has a lot to do with it, too preoccupied with the memories it wouldn’t be so bad to recreate. However, the resulting attempt feels more like a form of punishment he knowingly signed himself up for.
It’s not that he can’t do it. He’s good at painting-staining. Whatever Sasuke wants to call it, Naruto’s more than capable with a brush.
Experience lets him make quick strokes, gives him the ability to gauge the right amount of pressure for applying an even coat of stain on the wood. He’d invested too much time attempting to mark his place in the world with the graffiti he later had to scrub off not to know how to do this.
Naruto sighs, makes the sound loud, overstated, and leans down to dip his brush into the small can of paint by his foot. “Okay, sure, so I bothered you. But why’d you have to work on the fence on this kind of day?”
Sasuke gives Naruto a sideways glance. “Because it’s nice outside,” is the uninspired response.
“It’s hot, that’s what it is.”
“Didn’t you offer to help me?”
“I know, but-”
“Then don’t complain.”
“You’re not making this easy for me.”
“Things like this aren’t supposed to be.”
“Things like what, Sasuke?”
“Watch what you’re doing,” Sasuke hisses. “That’s too much.”
“Too much wh-damn it.” Large globs of paint are dripping from Naruto’s brush, forming a growing puddle on the ground. He wrenches the brush away from the fence and curses again when he sees the mess he left behind. Long and uneven streaks of paint have already started to dry, sticking out over the coat Naruto took his time to apply.
Hurried, he looks around for the can of paint to put the brush in but knocks it over in his search.
“You stupid-”
“It was an accident,” Naruto scowls. “Don’t yell at me for making a mistake.”
“If you were paying attention, you wouldn’t have made a mistake.”
“Well, at least I’m trying. You can’t put me down for that. You’re the one who thinks he can do this whole place by himself.”
Sasuke pauses and takes his brush away from the fence mid-stroke. “Hurry and get the paint thinner before too much of it dries.” He picks up from where he stopped, somehow able to make the interrupted stroke of paint look like one long continuous line.
Naruto takes a long inhale and picks up the can of stain he knocked over. He puts his brush inside it.
“It’s over here,” Sasuke says, motioning to the can on his right.
It only takes a few minutes for Naruto to clean up the excess paint. The dark spots on the ground he can’t get out, Naruto can see Sasuke trying to turn a blind eye to them, but he pretends to ignore the fact Sasuke won’t say anything about it and picks up his brush to redo the panel he messed up.
“I still say you should have let me use my clones,” Naruto mumbles. “At least it’d go a lot faster that way.”
“Are you really still talking?”
**
He and Sasuke finish the fence by Saturday, which, Naruto thinks, isn’t bad at all. Despite his initial griping, it only took them three days. Of course those three days consisted of nonstop sanding and painting from before dawn until after dusk, but it was still three days nonetheless.
Bottle of water in hand, they sit with their backs against the fence and watch the sun set. There’s a significance in the silence that follows. It’s not the most comfortable silence, but it’s an agreeable silence that doesn’t come solely from being tired, and Naruto can finally say he’s beginning to make some kind of progress with Sasuke.
In time, his visits to the Uchiha district become more frequent, intermittent between the nights they spend on their hill. They don’t do much in the way of cleaning or painting, though. During the day, while Sasuke gives him an inadvertent tour, Naruto helps him survey the overall damage done by time and neglect.
It’s a lot of ground to cover, really. Konoha isn’t the smallest village by any means, but Naruto didn’t realise how expansive the Uchiha district is. An idea of how many people died that night begins to fester in his mind, and the images Sasuke must see even outside of this place, Naruto starts to see them, too.
They inspect buildings and roads, leave marks on anything that needs to be fixed, jog down notes on what needs to be done to fix it and how it should be done-keep repeating until Sasuke’s satisfied every single imperfection is accounted for.
It takes a month, but eventually they come up with a somewhat cohesive plan to tackle the restoration. Although it’s not something they’ll be able to accomplish in three days, Naruto doesn’t mind the idea of this as much as he did the process of staining the fence.
He and Sasuke are getting along now, which has a considerable influence on Naruto’s attitude. It’s great, though. It’s not the same relationship as before, yet Naruto can’t gauge if it’s better or worse. It’s just him and Sasuke, and for now, that’s okay. That they can fall so easily back into some semblance of the relationship they did have, Naruto can’t say what that means, but he isn’t sure it matters at all.
Sakura doesn’t seem as worried about Sasuke anymore, Kakashi almost encourages Naruto’s interactions with Sasuke, and the routine starts to feel normal again, like the time before Sasuke’s leaving threw everything off-balance.
However, during the month they spent exploring the district, they haven’t been to Sasuke’s old house since the day they worked on the floors. As far as Naruto can tell, counting only the time they spend together, Sasuke purposely avoids the house. It makes him wonder how long Sasuke’s going to prolong moving out of Kakashi’s place, especially since he seems so eager not to stay with Kakashi.
In a way, Naruto’s glad-relieved, too, maybe. There’s something oppressive about that house, somehow in a way different from the rest of the Uchiha district. He can’t even imagine what it feels like for Sasuke, who actually has an attachment to it. Even when not near the house, the more Naruto thinks about it, the more suffocating it feels.
Like Kiba said, it’s creepy. The decision to move there is ultimately up to Sasuke, but Naruto would rather share his cramped little apartment with Sasuke than see him live alone like that.
It scares Naruto, too. Knowing the level of obsession Sasuke has with his family, it can’t be healthy how Sasuke hides it behind his usual indifference.
It starts to come to the surface, though, on the Tuesday Sasuke’s supposed to meet Naruto at his place. The plan is to start working on a house that belonged to one of Sasuke’s cousins. There’s not much to do. They only need to replace the decaying planks of wood covered by the ripped tatami mats they also need to remove. Then they can install new windows and paint over the walls.
After twenty minutes of waiting for Sasuke, Naruto goes to look for him. He doesn’t bother asking Sakura or Kakashi. He goes straight to the Uchiha district. He calls out Sasuke’s name, not sure if he should expect Sasuke to respond. It doesn’t take long for his casual pace to pick up, and Naruto’s running up and down deserted streets, weaving in and out of empty buildings.
By the time he reaches the last place he wants to look, Naruto’s throat is beginning to feel sore, and the soft whisper of Sasuke’s name sounds gruff.
None of the lights in Sasuke’s house are on. It’s still morning, though. Naruto can brush aside not turning on the lights. But there’s no excuse for the immediate chill he feels before he even steps through the door that’s already wide open.
It’s pretty humid outside, yet it’s not so hot to require air cool enough to make Naruto shiver. Air like this doesn’t feel natural. Sasuke had to have set it so high, but why would Sasuke-
Naruto stills when he steps into the sitting room. The first thing he notices is that all of the furniture is gone. Not against the wall, where he helped Sasuke move it, but gone as in there’s no trace that any of it was ever there.
The sound of a soft scratching snaps his head to the source, and it’s near the corner of the room that Naruto finds Sasuke.
Nothing looks wrong with the floor. The same floor he and Sasuke finished last month, it practically looks new, but there’s a certain area Sasuke’s bent over. He’s on his knees, hair falling over his face, and in his hand is a scrunched up piece of cloth that keeps scrubbing at something Naruto can’t see.
“Sasuke…” Naruto takes a few steps closer. He doesn’t know how long he watches. Hours, minutes, it all feels the same when Sasuke’s ignoring him.
Whatever Sasuke’s trying to get out, it can’t be anything more than dust. Except he’s been going at it long enough that his knuckles are paler than the rest of his skin, so engrossed that he doesn’t even the notice the shadow over him.
The sight of Sasuke trying to remove the dust that won’t go away, it’s an inappropriate time for Naruto to think about the camellias Sakura doesn’t accept from him, but the understanding of her reason why hits him hard.
“Sasuke,” Naruto says softly. He says it again, continues the mantra, gradually raising his voice until he's nearly shouting the fifth time he says Sasuke's name.
But it isn’t until he places a hand on Sasuke’s shoulder that Naruto gets his attention.
Part Three