[complete!]

[oirokenojutsu]

Who: Sasuke (hawtcuzimfly) and Naruto (oirokenojutsu)
What: Sasuke asks Naruto to train with him and it becomes... tense and awkward. And weird.
When: A week after the carnival.
Where: The forest and some random cave.
Warnings: Violence and... bwahaha we'll see. SURPRAIZE! ... No, really, there's some boy love in this XD

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[oirokenojutsu]

To be brutally honest, Naruto was not looking forward to this at all. Of course he was excited to be holding some form of attention in Sasuke's presence, but he had not dreamed of the moment to be because of some tense training session. Naruto knew it was not just any normal offer. Sasuke's real reasoning behind asking him was a complete mystery to the blond, but he could not deny the intense curiosity that surrounded his thoughts as they walked in pure silence. It was a nerve-wracking sensation. He had only agreed to this because it meant spending time with him, the one person who seemed to matter the most right now, and if some awkward training was involved, then so be it. Sasuke was important enough to Naruto to make him do absolutely anything if it meant pleasing Sasuke. As strange or uncharacteristically submissive as it sounded, it was true. If Sasuke asked him to do something he would do it as long as it meant Sasuke was happy. Of course, Naruto had his limits to how far he would go, but nothing seemed like much of a burden when it came to satisfying his best friend. All he wanted was for Sasuke to be happy and feel safe. The only thing he wouldn't do was let him go. That was out of the question.

For two and a half long years Naruto had trained day in and day out with the thought of bringing Sasuke home as his sole motivation. Sasuke was his motivation to everything he did. He was on the top of his list of priorities, only being matched by the ultimate goal of becoming Hokage; and if he could not bring Sasuke back to Konoha, Naruto knew he could never be good enough to hold the respected and honorable title that was his dream. If he could not even save his closest friend, protect him, then he didn't deserve the recognition.

As he joined Sasuke in the forest clearing, a blank expression remained on his usually bright and beaming features. Though he was with Sasuke, it did not feel right. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. This wasn't what Naruto wanted. He wanted to have what he had worked for for four months or so since the day Sasuke stepped into Paradisa. He wanted to be talking to him warmly, to be laughing (even if it was always one sided), and doing the stupid boyish and friendly things that came naturally to them. Already, he missed simple, childish things that reminded him so dearly of their days as genin on the same team, qualities that had happened to leak through these past few months where nearly everything seemed right again.

This wasn't fair, he kept reminding himself. Why did this always happen?

Taking a deep breath, face unchanging, Naruto reached behind his head and tightened the bands of his hitai-ate as he always did before a match or training session with another person. He knew by choosing to focus on taijutsu it was like an attempt on Sasuke's end to keep the moment equal and fair for the two of them. Sasuke was nearly a master of genjutsu, Naruto's weakness, which would have beaten him before Naruto could probably even blink twice. The unfair advantage of the Sharingan was an annoyance for serious fights, but Naruto had never let that get in his way so far... despite never truly winning against it either...

"That's fine," he replied rather curtly, monotone, noticing the clever shift of eyes away from his face and frowning even deeper, the lines of the corners of his lips curling in disappointment. He hoped it wouldn't be like that the entire time.

Keeping his gaze locked on Sasuke, Naruto took a stance and waited for the other to prepare himself, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible in hopes that there would be room to talk in the end.