The summer night is warm, only slightly cooler than the day had been. The noise of the local festival fills naruto's ears as he walks along the brightly lit path. Smells waft through his nose as as he glances around; cooking meat, sauces, spices and of course the delicious smell of the meat skewer in his hand. He takes a bite and savours  the taste. It's good. Not as good as ramen but good. A few children run past him giggling and he watches for a moment before casting his eyes around to the nearby stalls.

On his left, another mask stall. He'd already passed 3 and had already brought one Hyottoko mask, which sat lopsided on the side of his face. Next to it, a water balloon game.

On the right another food store selling what looked like okonomiyaki and beside it, a shop selling shirts, fans and other knick knacks.

Naruto steps past, thinking there was probably more to look at, but he swivels back to the clothes store quickly. There!

  A white shirt with a frog on it hangs on a rack nearby. he runs to it, face brightening as he goes. A frog tshirt to match his frog wallet! he grins holding it up against him. it's cute. the frog character is smiling. and naruto's grin matches it.

 I'll buy it he thinks, he looks and sees another shirt. this one is not as cute. it's a black cat with sharp eyes. Somehow, perhaps due to it's expression it reminds him of Sasuke. With longing etched into the tips of his fingers, he brushes over the mysterious expression. He holds both shirts up.

 Hmm? Whats this? he wonders. Side by side they kind of look like matching shirts. Perhaps they had the same designer, or perhaps it was simply wishful thinking. Whatever he has to get them both! He looks at the price tag and then his shoulders sink in misery. There's no way he can afford both. 

if only I hadn't brought all that food, and the mask. He thinks annoyed.

He looks at the smiling frog, and then at the cat. He knows Sasuke would never even wear this shirt. he'd say it was ugly. he'd roll his eyes at Naruto's fashion sense. the thought hits him somewhere in his chest. When Sasuke comes home. because Naruto would bring him home. he doesn't realise he'd clench the shirts too hard until the wooden handle cracked in his fist.

Oops. He puts back one shirt, mind already made up, and makes his way to the counter.

he spends the rest of the night wandering between stalls, paper bag in his hand. he should have brought sakura, at least he'd have someone to talk to. but sakura had booked a room at an inn with a hot springs nearby saying she needed a nice hot soak. sai had wandered off to search for new ink, and yamato had been following up on information. leaving naruto at the festival alone.

Sasuke would have liked it. he thinks next, mood dropping.

He feels a tingle on the back of his neck, and senses someone watching him. He glances around and sees...nothing. Covertly, he ducks into the trees, going into ninja mode. Eyes scanning the crowd, nothing, nothing nothing, whoever it was they were good. he shifts into the darkness, and across the festival, in the corner between two buildingsd he spots it.

Someone standing, an oni mask covering their face. The stance was familiar. A thousand moons could pass, and Naruto would recognise him anywhere.

The figure vanishes and naruto moves before he really knows what he is doing. Running full speed, ducking into the trees to avoid the people, skittering through streets, into back alleys. The figure is ahead, too blurry to make a distinct outline and yet movements so familiar his heart aches. The figure jumps up onto something in the distance then up onto the roof of a nearby house, Naruto gets close enough to realise it's a large disposable bin, he hops onto it then on the roof, desperate to close the gap between them, but afraid of using his charkra to boost him, not only would it give away their location, but he is on a slippery slope with the demon fox.

What should I do? What should I do?

The figure  jumps down into a back alley and Naruto panics. He can't lose him. He can't.

He jumps down and is yanked brutally backward, hand smothering his yelp.

He pushes the attacker off him, only to come face to face with the boy in question. The mask was gone, intead there were obsidian eyes and a sneer so familiar his insides churn.

Sasuke.

"Hey "

"You..." his words trail off. It's Sasuke. Sasuke. He's close enough that Naruto could see his eyelashes. So close. Close enough to touch. Close enough to drag back to Konoha.

Sasukes clicks his tongue "I'm not going back to Konoha."

"Then why?" He doesn't understand, Sasuke had come to him. If he wasn't coming back. Then why? His anger builds inside him, he was gonna blow up, he just knew it.

"Naruto." Something about the tone and Sasukes expression makes him deflate like a balloon. Sasukes eyes shifts away from him but they were filled with something painful. It was an expression that he had never seen on Sasuke.

"Huh? What?" He asks dumbly because he's not really understanding what was going on.

"...not tonight." is what he says, pinning naruto with an, impassive expression that gives nothing away. "Who are you with?"

"Yamato-sensei, Sai and Sakura"

"I see," Sasuke says, though besides Sakura, Naruto is sure he doesn't know the other two. Naruto had only just met them prior to this mission himself.

"I'm alone," he cuts into Naruto's thoughts. "I've got a room at the inn at the edge of town."

Naruto looks at him, unsure. What did that mean? Sasuke was giving himself up? His location? They've been in the same town the whole day? So close to each other? something is boiling inside him ready to explode.

"You! you've been here this whole time?!"

He grabs Sasukes shirt surprised that the other guy just lets him. It's so unlike Sasuke that for a moment he thinks someone is pretending to be Sasuke. Then Sasuke grabs his hand, cleching it hard. Yeah, that was Sasuke alright.

"Naruto. Do you know what day it is?" His tone is bored and gives nothing away but his eyes are filled with something. Naruto thinks. It's a tuesday, but he's sure Sasuke isn't asking about that. Its not his birthday nor Sasukes, it's not Sakuras. Something. What would bring Sasuke here to Naruto, willingly, without a fight.

His hand is still clenched on Sasukes shirt but it loosens and drops as the realisation hits him and the fight drops out of his body, along with a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"It's the anniversary of the massacre,"

It builds up on him all at once then. Sasuke wasn't coming back to Konoha, no...he just didn't want to be alone. The thought made him devastated all over again. He hadn't even realised he'd been hoping.

He wants to get mad. He wants to yell at Sasuke. He means to. He thinks he will as soon as he can put his emotions into words.

"I have a room at the inn at the edge of the village," Sasuke repeats and then looks at him beseechingly. It catches Naruto's breath. "come with me."

And what was he going to say? "Sorry your brother killed your entire clan including your parents on this day but im taking you back to konoha" well he could. He has before but not when Sasukes looking and acting completely unlike himself. Besides, it would be pointless he knows. Sasuke has to want to go back to Konoha. Sasuke blinks, waiting patiently for him to make up his mind.

"Okay," he nods. Like he was going to say no. Not when his heart is screaming: it's sasuke.

So they walk out of the alley, along the back skirts of  the town, out of the way.

"What's with the bag," Sasuke asks as they walk.

"I'll show you later," Naruto had been holding onto tightly as to not drop it. It's precious.

"Heh. It's probably lame,"

"Shut up," Naruto blushes. Sasuke would definitely think it's lame.

He wonders if he should tell Yamato-sensei that he was staying away for the night. He decides against it. he doesn't want the teacher to know Sasukes here, furthermore, he knows Sakura will also not meet up until tomorrow, so he figures no one will be searching for him unless he goes into kyuubi mode. Highly unlikely unless he and Sasuke fight...which was highly likely. He decides not to think about it.

 
They walk steadily, and chat about mundane things. Naruto complains about Sai, about how annoying he is and about Sakura. He repeats what Sakura had said about Sai.

"Tch. She was always a er for a pretty face," he says

"Right. Anyway I told her: no way is Sai like Sasuke, Sasukes way cooler and I meant it."

He goes on, talking about Yamato-sensei and how scary he is.

"I'd like to fight a guy like that," Sasuke says boasting. This turns into a conversation out of who would win in a fight between Sasuke and the most of the anbu.

"I can't believe Kakashi got beat up. How lame."

The conversation goes on and they arrive before they know it.


Built into the side of a small hill and shrouded mostly by the forest, an inn stands looming in the distance. Only two lights were on at the front, giving the over all impression of a haunted feeling. Naruto shivers and tries not to think about things like ghosts and spirits. Things he can fight are fine, give him 100 bad guys and he'd beat them all down, but you couldn't beat ghosts. Thats what made them scary.

Its empty when they arrive, feels like it's abandoned, but as they walk along the halls, he can hear quiet murmurs or shuffling behind the doors. A lone orange light flickers haphazardly as they apprach sasukes room. Naruto doesn't like the way it makes the hallway look. His ninja mind thinks of random attacks, his 16 year old mind thinks of ghosts. He's on edge either way.

Sasuke stops abruptly in front of a door marked with the number 12. It looks drawn on with marker which does not surprise him in the least, the paint was peeling and there was a mysterious stain along the bottom of the door. Naruto decides to ignore it. Sasuke pulls ot a kunai before unlocking the door, carefully stepping in and scanning the room, Naruto followed suit, tensed ready for attack. A soft breeze blew through a half opened window, and nothing appeared. Sasuke strode to the nearest wall and flipped the light switch revealing a four tatami mat room

A neatly folded futon sits to the side and beside it, a small travel bag. There is a chair and table to the left, with a kettle and a cup. To the right of him, there's a door that he thinks might lead to the bathroom. The curtains are an off shade of brown and the wallpaint peels at places. Naruto had been in his fair share of run down inn's, such was the life of a shinobi. it was better than sleeping outside, anyway. if only slightly.

He stands awkwardly in the middle of the room and looks about. His eyes catch on Sasuke tearing of his top and roped belt, revealing only his bare muscles and Naruto swallows hard. He averts his eyes. Unfortunately, there's nothing in the room to look at so he takes a seat on the floor and watches as Sasuke drops down across from him, leaning against the back wall. He props one leg up and his bare arm rests over it.  He glares at Naruto, who looks around for something to say.

 He doesn't have anything to say but the silence in unbearable so he blabs.

"The meat in the market was good. Of course not as good as ramen, though I guess it's better than seafood ramen but definitely not better than miso ramen,"
he catches the lift of sasukes lips. Did he just smile? No. Naruto must have imagined it.

"Sakura has been learning charkra manipulation through granny tsunade. I wish she'd teach me that super punch but it's harder than it looks."

"you'd never be able to do it."

"Shut up! you can't do it either."

"tch"

The silence comes back then. Naruto twitches, rocks back and forth and looks about for something to focus on that isn't topless sasuke or why wont he come back to Konoha?

"Do you want to olay cards or something?" He asks mostly to take his mind off the mental spiral he was about to go into.

"Do you have cards?" Sasuke asks in a tone that implies he is stupid.

"No..." he should have expected that. He looks around. "there's only one futon"

Naruto glances at the futon folded up against the wall. It looks clean despite the surroundings. Sasuke looks at the futon too and his expression darkens.

"I guess you'll have to sleep on the floor"

"What?! Thats what you say after dragging me here?"

"You didn't have to come."

"Of course I did!" he yells, standing up instantly. "you-"

Sasuke stands too, and in a smooth motion steps into Naruto's bubble, completely throwing of what he was about to say next.

"You're too loud, idiot." He says over Naruto's shoulder. He doesn't look at him. Naruto is tense. He doesn't have any words to say back. His mind is blank, Sasuke is topless, his chest almost touching Naruto. The air is tense with something Naruto can't explain or define. Why was he standing so close? He was close enough to kiss, not that Naruto wants to kiss him, but then he thinks about the fact that his first kiss was Sasuke.

He swallows with a hard gulp. His mouth has suddenly gone dry.

"W-What is it?" he questions quietly. Unaware of what was going on right now. It wasn't the air for a fight, but Naruto was just as tense.

Sasukes head shifts toward him, and he speaks quietly, perhaps because the walls are thin.

"We can share the futon if you want." He stepped back, out of Naruto bubble.

"Wait," Naruto reaches out to grab Sasuke's arm, but Sasuke reflexes kick in. He swipes Naruto's hand out of the way and grabs Naruto's throat instantly. There's no real strength in his grip and Naruto doesn't bother to shake him off. He wraps his hand on top of Sasukes, in order to have hold of him. In order not to let him slip away.

"You...don't sneak up on me Usuratonkachi," He goes to retract his hand but Naruto's got it and he's not letting it go.

"What are you doing?" His faces is impassive as always but hi