Naruto leant against the tree trunk on the edge of a clearing. Sasuke sat against the opposite tree. A heated glare shot from the blond, the hostility was met with an awkward silence.

‘What a stupid idea!’ thought Naruto furiously. ‘I’ll never be friends with him! Kakashi sensei has gone too far this time! I can’t believe that this was his ‘Great Idea’; dumping us in the middle of the forest, who knows where, to ‘resolve our differences and realise that we can be really good friends’ jeez! Per-lease like that’s ever going to happen!’

Sasuke glanced at the sky streaked with sunset colours. He turned his attention towards the blonde shinobi opposite him. Naruto was glaring angrily at the orange tinged treetops, Sasuke thought that his angry face was one of his best because it showed his fiery and passionate personality. The sunset turned his hair a vivid orange and made his deep blue eyes sparkle violet. A second later those big blue eyes met his and Sasuke quickly looked away. But in that brief meeting he caught the anger radiating toward him. It hurt. Naruto hated him, and Sasuke didn’t blame him one bit. ‘Without these feelings I might have been able to be around him comfortably. It’s so much easier to have him hate me and think of me with anger, but I hate it! It's cowardly to hide my feelings like this and that eats at me but it's better than having to deal with rejection and replusion. I wish I could just think of him as a friend, but that's impossible so I'll have to settle for rival.’

Naruto’s anger simmered as the sunset slowly became night. He knew one of them needed to break the silence but he stubbornly refused to be that one! He was just about to open his mouth to tell Sasuke exactly what he thought of him when the Uchiha said quietly: “Sorry.” It was barely a whisper but it was as though Sasuke had shouted it in the silence of the forest. The word reverberated though Naruto’s mind. All angry thoughts of Sasuke’s usual ‘I’m-too-good-for-you’ treatment fled him as he looked up to meet the intense black eyes of his team-mate.

‘Sorry? This is strange. Since when does Sasuke apologise for anything let alone to me?’

“Come again?” asked Naruto.

“Don’t make me repeat it.”

‘Well that’s a little more like him’ thought Naruto.

“Okay don’t repeat it. But what exactly are you apologising for? I mean is it your attitude, the way you always treat me, how cold you are all the time, what a teme you are or the fact that it’s all your fault that Kakashi sensei dumped us in the middle of the forest?” Naruto said deciding he may as well voice his problem with Sasuke whilst the guy was in this unusual mood.

“Well now I’m sorry I said sorry!” shouted Sasuke his temper quickly flaring.

Sasuke jumped to his feet and stood in the middle of the clearing. He loved the stupid blond boy and that was why Naruto was the only person who could shatter his cold Uchiha attitude. No matter how hard Sasuke tried to control himself around the boy sometimes it was just impossible to rein his emotions.

“Look okay I said I’m SORRY! You want me to specify that for you?” Naruto sat speechless at this sudden change in mood. “Fine!” Sasuke continued without waiting for an answer. “I’m sorry I act how I do around you, I’m sorry I call you a loser, I’m sorry I find it hard to open up to people, I’m sorry I reject people, but most of all I’m sorry I love you!”

Sasuke realised a split second after he said it that he’d revealed much more than he meant to. He felt his face burn.

Naruto sat frozen against his tree as the Uchiha finished his loud speech with a resounding “I LOVE YOU!” Had he heard correctly? Well, yes, he was pretty sure of what had been said, but the meaning hadn’t yet sunk in. He gaped as the panting boy fell to his knees. Sasuke’s face was very red now. He was obviously very embarrassed of what he had revealed, yet he made no attempt to take it back. It was as though he had deflated now that his secret was out. Naruto didn’t know what to do. He was still in shock.

‘Sasuke has feelings for me, and not just friendly feelings! I always thought he hated me! This is too much of a contrast to handle!’

Sasuke hung his head. He couldn’t meet Naruto’s eyes. Not now! He was afraid of what he might see there; Hatred? Rejection? Repulsion? Different reactions to his accidental confession raced through his head each worse than the last. The heat of the day was still evident in the ground Sasuke sat on but it seemed as though his entire body was as cold as ice as he waited for Naruto's harsh words of discust.

That moment seemed to stretch on forever. Neither of them moved. Night had settled now but neither felt sleepy. Sitting in the silence of the night Naruto found it impossible to drag his eyes from the drooping head of his team mate. He couldn't deal with this right now, it was too much to take in, he needed time to sort through his thoughts.

Finally Naruto forced his limbs into motion and stood, removing his backpack he began to unroll his sleeping bag.

“We should get some sleep” He said faking a yawn. "We can talk more in the morning."

Sasuke followed suit, both relieved at the dismissal and anxious about the approaching 'talk'.

The two shinobi crawled into their bags on opposite sides of the clearing. Neither slept.

As dawn light crept into the clearing Sasuke lay as tense as he had been all night. He faced the line of trees, staring into the darkness of the forest. So many times during that night he had thought of sneaking away through the trees. But Kakashi had warned them that this area of the forest was dangerous and he was reluctant to leave Naruto vulnerable. He hated feeling this protective even though knew Naruto would probably be okay alone.

He had been so close to leaving that had had unzipped his sleeping bag and now lay on top of it like a blanket. The early morning dew was cold on his bare legs and his t-shirt clung to him but he couldn’t summon the will to move.

As he lay curled on his sleeping bag he heard Naruto crawl out of his bag. He wanted to look over at the other ninja but couldn’t bring himself to. He hated himself for being so cowardly, but even his self-hate could not make him face his love. Instead he lay still as a statue not daring to breathe and strained his ears.

He was surprised when he heard Naruto walking slowly across the clearing in his direction. He was even more shocked when Naruto lay down on the other half of his sleeping bag.

“Sasuke…” he said softly.

Sasuke gulped and slowly rolled over. They now lay side by side, inches away from each other. Sasuke tensed as Naruto rolled toward him so he was propped up on his elbow above Sasuke and slowly traced the pale skin of his face with a single finger. Sasuke’s skin tingled where Naruto had touched it and for the first time since he had confessed his love he met Naruto’s eyes.

Watching those guarded ebony eyes change to hopeful ones set a pleasurable warmth alight inside of Naruto's chest and convinced him of his decision. He had used the sleepless night to think of every moment he had spent with Sasuke over their years as team mates. He found he could remember every time the other had outshone him, saved him, argued with him and even acknowledged him. He replayed these moments with the added knowledge of Sasuke's confession and found that he suddenly understood his friend on another level.

Leaning over the boy who had become his best friend Naruto smiled and said what he now knew had been the truth all along, “I love you too” he whispered before sealing it with a kiss.