It is an accident. Another boy bumps Naruto and the blond dobe topples forward into Sasuke. The logical part of Sasuke's brain tells him this.

That it is a kiss, regardless of its nature, reduces the Uchiha to blushing, growling usuratonkachi. The girls think he's angry at Naruto. Let them think so.

~*~*~*~

The fact that there had been a second kiss is highly irregular and Sasuke refuses to believe it happened at all, despite the fact that his traitorous fingertips are running over his lips at the thought. He glances over at his sleeping teammate and tries not to recall that night, just after Haku had nearly killed him, that Naruto crawled into his bedroll, pressed a chaste kiss to his mouth, and grinned. He distinctly does not remember slipping a hand behind Naruto's head and kissing him again--Is that three kisses?--his tongue sliding into his teammates mouth the way Kakashi's book said it should.

Shaking fingers reach out to Naruto's hand that's lying still, thrust toward him across their side-by-side blankets, but he pulls back at the last second when the blond whispers, "Sasuke..." He can't be sure if Naruto's awake and...it isn't worth the embarrassment if he is.

It was only a nightmare, after all. He thinks he should be used to it by now, and certainly doesn't need to hold the stupid dobe's hand through the night.

~*~*~*~

"Stop fighting like a girl! Can't even kill your...your best friend right; thought you were s'posed to be so perfect, teme."

Sasuke ignores the comment. He can't deny what Naruto says, only continues to hold back, pull his punches, defend more than attack.

And then, because the stupid, stupid blond starts speaking of bonds and love and friendship and, of course, he's right again, they meet head on. Rasengan vs. Chidori. The sight would make Kakashi-sensei cry, but neither boy knows that or why.

When Sasuke's hand bursts through Naruto's chest, he's too drunk on power and fear...and a second, heavier fear that he's killed his friend, just like he planned. He's too blind already--blind as any Uchiha whose eyes have seen too much--to realize Naruto was pulling his own punches, the last, most of all.

He leaves him there, and Sasuke doesn't know if Naruto is going to live or die and can't be bothered to care. Care takes more effort than hate. Hurts more, too. He admits it begrudgingly, disappearing into the forest without a backward glance. He's too afraid to look.

~*~*~*~

"Hey, teme, wake up. Hey..."

Twelve-year-old Sasuke sits up on Naruto's bed in his dingy little apartment, scowling at the annoying boy and the annoying fact that he's had to sleep at Naruto's for the third night in a row. Never mind that he secretly enjoys it, that he's glad the water pipes burst in his own apartment and that Sandaime declared the Uchiha district too far afield for one bearing his student-traitor's curse seal.

"What's your problem?"

"I-I need to know...why did you kill me?"

Two black eyes go wide, the barest amount of light from a sliver of cold moon shining off them in the near-darkness. "You're not dead. I didn't...Naruto didn't die."

Bright laughter he once enjoyed fills the room; it's only harsh to him now, accusatory and thin. "Of course, I did. You left me, Sasuke. How am I supposed to go on without you?" The blond that isn't Naruto, but some sadistic half-mad version of the boy stands and wanders around the room, breaking things: trinkets that Sasuke somehow remembers were invaluable to his friend. It turns on him, and its next words are whispered, as if Naruto truly were standing there in front of him. "Aren't you lonely, too, Sasuke?"

"Yes, gods, yes, Naruto...so lonely...I--" Sasuke doesn't jerk up out of bed in a cold sweat as he had when the dreams started two years ago. He rises noiselessly and retreats into the bathroom to wash his face, catching a glimpse of the pale man he's become, wondering if Naruto would even recognize him.

A tired sigh escapes as he drops back onto the bed and he forces it into an angry sneer, in case he's being watched. He only hopes he hasn't said anything out loud in his sleep. Again. Orochimaru--or worse, Kabuto, he thinks, unable to suppress a shiver--doesn't need any more power over him.

In his head, he begins to plan his departure. The snake will never see it coming.

~*~*~*~

He is twenty-four years old when he tires of running and fighting without a cause. The huge gates are a welcome sight, and his first steps within Konoha release the last tension from his chest. He greets the two unknown chuunin manning the guard station and asks them to take him into custody. Asks them to take him to the Hokage.

They demand his name in return and pale when he answers, but do their duty as true Konoha nin. "We'll take you to Rokudaime." Along the way they are flanked by an ANBU with wild silver hair, and some distant part of Sasuke wonders if the chuunin even detect him, or if he is there for Sasuke's benefit alone. Silently, he inquires if he's there to kill him, and his former sensei's posture clearly states, "Maybe."

He tries desperately not to look as they pass Ichiraku, but his eyes wander to the empty stools and he lets out a disappointed breath.

It is only upon entering the administrative building that he realizes what the chuunin have said. He doesn't ask what has happened to Godaime or who was chosen as her replacement. It doesn't really matter.

Sasuke surveyed the piece of parchment spread before him and smiled. Not his usual condescending smirk, but the smile Naruto had taught him to make the first time he'd uttered the three words that had broken his heart and mended it in one stroke. When they were twenty-four and no longer fumbling kids, and the young Hokage had welcomed the last Uchiha back to the village as a hero, not a traitor.

He had spent four days watching Naruto silently preside in the council chambers. The court judges examined, cross-examined, post-examined, and finally concluded exactly what Sasuke had told them, himself. That he had returned of his own free will. That he had dispatched multiple missing nin, S-class criminals, his own team, and Orochimaru, himself. That his only crime against Konoha was leaving, a crime they grudgingly informed him was pardonable at the Hokage's discretion.

And all eyes had fallen on the young man sitting in the chair reserved for the Hokage. Some of the older members of the council found they never could quite meet those eyes--so blue, like his, like seeing a ghost--but this day, they hadn't needed to. Naruto had stared at the small, scuffed desk in front of him for one long, pregnant moment, and then his eyes found Sasuke's and he smiled softly, sadly. "Welcome home, teme."

Scandalized gasps from scattered councilors went unheeded; the words were meant only for the man sitting in the middle of the chamber. Rokudaime left his chair to stand behind the prisoner and lifted the jutsu and wards that bound him. In a voice Sasuke didn't recognize, the blond addressed the assembled elders. "I trust him."

Sasuke was too dumbfounded to smirk or scowl or pretend indifference; his mouth hung, gaping, eyes straight forward. If his fingers trembled on his lap, he didn't try to hide it. No one dared say so then, but Sasuke was wondering how many thought the man was simply blinded by the past. The last Uchiha knew differently. He had tried to kill Naruto, kill the tiny part of his heart that longed for the blond's understanding and friendship, on more than one occasion. Their past had been of no help here, he was sure, but he wondered, How can he trust me?

The answer was still no clearer when Naruto came to him three days later, stealing into the little cottage that had been set aside for Sasuke's use, dismissing his ANBU escort and setting his own wards of privacy and protection.

"I love you."

Three more words. The cold Uchiha's heart stored away with the others.

"I always have."

"I missed you."

"Waited for you."

"Believed in you."

Naruto had instantly appeared behind him, a new trick amongst many. The legacy of his father, the Yellow Flash. His arms were around Sasuke's waist, the last words whispered against the fragile shell of a perfect ear:

"I trust you."

"I love you."

"Welcome home, teme."

Sasuke stood above the parchment, still smiling, remembering their lovemaking, the way their bodies entwined and fit against one another, as he'd always known they would. The dream that had kept him human in his darkest days, come true and laid bare before him.

He read the parchment over one last time, eyes roaming across the perfectly formed characters and frowning, wishing, somehow, that they were less precise.

To love him like that:

Like a stifling wind, hot and humid and bitter on a summer's night. Forcing open the windows and pushing back the blankets. Drawing out a sheen of sweat to coat his brow and dampen his hair.

I love him.

It was almost too much--too honest, too exposed--but he knew he had to. Naruto needed to know; he deserved to know. For all of the times he had said, "I love you, teme," and Sasuke had replied with, "Tch. I know, dobe."

There was a knock at the door and the last of the Uchiha clan smiled, hanging the parchment on the wall above his bed. He counted three beats before the door opened on its own and he heard a familiar voice call, "Sasuke? Hey! I brought food and sake. Where the hell are you?"

Sasuke smiled again, the genuine smile that he reserved for the boisterous young man, and wandered back to the front of the house. "You're late."

"I know; I'm sorry." Naruto was putting boxes of food and a few smaller packages on the table, his eyes traveling around the room, to Sasuke, to the table again. "Presents," he said, by way of explanation, "You haven't forgotten what today is, have you?"

The only warning the blond could have had was the minute arch of a elegant black brow and the tell-tale smirk, then Sasuke's arms were around him, hot breath on the back of Naruto's neck. "It's the day you let me stay."

Naruto closed his eyes, leaning back into the embrace. "I love you, Sasuke."

"I know." He tugged at the Hokage's hips, dragging him back toward his bedroom. Their bedroom. "The food will wait. There's something...something I want you to see."