In The Leaves | A 'Naruto' fan story | SasuNaru

Earning his trust and heart

Sasuke laid Naruto in a prone position behind a tree, and gently brushed his hair from his face with his fingers. The sight of Naruto being asleep was interesting, he looked so peaceful, and the way his chest rose and fell as he breathe made Sasuke's heart flutter a bit. He never thought the sight of Naruto sleeping could be so breath-taking. 

Sasuke sat beside him and enjoyed the comfort of Naruto's presence. He didn't want to walk away, he didn't have an excuse to, so he sat there with his fingers raking through Naruto's soft hair and refused to look away. 

~

"Sasuke?" Naruto woke up a few hours later and his hand immediately flew to his throat. He was parched. 

Sasuke tossed a bamboo flask at Naruto. "Here." 

Naruto caught the flask, opened it, and gulped down the cold water that Sasuke filled for him. 

Sasuke sighed and sat down next to Naruto, and played with a sharp rock that he found nearby. 

Naruto wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and panted. "T-Thanks." 

"Mhm." Sasuke said, his eyes on the rock. 

Naruto puts down the flask and leans his head back against the tree. "How long was I out?" 

"It's nearly morning so a few hours." Sasuke replied. 

It was true, the sun was getting ready to rise into the sky. His absence was about to be known to the village in a few more hours. 

"I need to bathe." Naruto mumbled. 

Sasuke looks at Naruto up and down. "The waterfall is behind us, just jump in and clean yourself." 

Naruto hummed and slowly stood up on his feet. He felt his forehead to take off his headband but felt nothing there. 

Sasuke picks up the headband. "Looking for this? I took it off earlier." 

Naruto sighs in relief. "Oh, thought I lost it." 

"You didn't." 

Naruto smiled and walked away to the water fall. He stopped a few feet away from it, and stripped out of his clothing. 

~

Sasuke peeked from behind the tree to stare Naruto, the nudity of Naruto's body was never on his mind-in fact he was never curious about Naruto's body. Although, Naruto hugging him back then did spike something inside of him-something he never thought he would feel in his life. 

Naruto jumped into the water and dived under the water, disappearing from Sasuke's view. 

Sasuke looked away and sighed. "What's so important about being with me anyway?"

His hand continued to play with the sharp rock to keep it distracted, and his mind wondered off forgetting about nude Naruto for the moment. 

By the time Sasuke blinked back to reality, rather when Naruto began to splash loudly in the water from behind Sasuke, he roused to peek back to see Naruto being an idiot on his own. He was splashing the water around him, and continuously diving into the water like a sea animal. 

"The loser is really acting like he didn't run away from Konoha, huh?" Sasuke's eyes, at first, stared at the damp strands on hair that glued to Naruto's forehead that made him look...hotter. If that was the right way to put it. But then his eyes trailed down to his neck, to his chest, to his Sealed Mark, then finally landing on the sight that sent a wave of novelty from the enlivening interest. 

Sasuke let the forbidden thoughts cloud his mind for a moment, before realizing what it was thinking and pinching himself on his forearm to snap out of it. "That's crazy, thinking like that." he combed his fingers through his hair and tried to think of something else. 

Something less-prurient. 

The only thing that came to mind was Naruto: his lips, his eyes, his hair, his arms, his voice, his aura, his legs, his nose, his...akuma.

Everything about Naruto brought light to Sasuke's darkness, and the effect Naruto brought onto him after being a few inches too close was asphyxiating Sasuke. 

"Sasuke! You should jump in too!" Naruto exclaimed, still splashing the water around. 

"No!" Sasuke shout back, keeping his tone from being snappy or too cold. 

"Suit yourself!" 

Sasuke couldn't possibly just casually swim next to Naruto, no, he couldn't even get near him-the warmth that Naruto radiated was a trap for a dangerous outcome. 

What would happen if he got too close and turned vulnerable? Wouldn't Naruto take advantage of that like Itachi did and backstab him? 

He wasn't ready to trust Naruto. Not yet. 

~

"That felt nice..." Naruto walked out of the water and shook his head to knock out some of the water. 

Sasuke was using his jacket to cover what has risen to attention. His face was flushed and his ears perked up at the sound of Naruto's voice that seemed to get closer. 

"Sasuke, you mind tossing a pair of briefs out of my bag?" 

Sasuke hesitantly reached into Naruto's bag to grab some briefs and clumsily tossed it to him. "There." 

"Thanks." Naruto caught the briefs and walked back to put them on. "Are we going somewhere later today?"

"Yeah, we're going into the village to get supplies, you might want to leave your headband. You're not going back to Konoha, right?"

"I'm not going back, but where will I put my stuff?" 

"In the cave I found, I'm just heading there after finishing my business by the water." 

"Okay." Naruto walked back over holding his dirty clothes. "Let's go, I want to air dry on the way there." 

Sasuke kept one hand over himself, and points towards in the direction of the cave with the other hand. "It's two minutes on foot that way." 

"You're not coming?" 

"It's a dark cave, I rather wait out here." Sasuke lied, he didn't care about the dark, he just wanted to get rid of his problem without Naruto noticing. 

"Alright then, shout if you need me." Naruto said, collecting his things and walking away towards the cave. 

Sasuke waited until Naruto was out of sight to activate his chidori. He sucked in a deep breath before aiming it on his inner thigh, the pain seemed to work and solved his issue. "Ugh." he wasn't in serious pain, just enough to feel it. 

He stood up onto his feet and placed his jacket back on. He walked to the water, which reflected the sun nicely, and stared at it to muse into his thoughts while waiting on Naruto. 

~

"Sasuke's right, this cave is dark." Naruto groaned, trying to find his way inside it. 

He placed down his stuff and slipped his clothes onto his body. He was glad he brought casual wear that wasn't orange themed, because people is aware of the Pain battle and knows Naruto defeated him. It would be an issue for both of them if someone were to spot him easily. 

He eyed Sasuke's things, walked to them, and lifted an old outfit to inhale it. It still smelled like him, and made Naruto's  heart skip a beat. 

It really was unbelievable how in love he was with Sasuke. 

~

 "Are you done, Naruto?" Sasuke asked, side-eyeing him pretending not to notice the exposed clavicle. 

"Yeah, we can go now." 

Sasuke nods and walks ahead, Naruto followed close behind. 

During this 'vacation' with Sasuke, Naruto knows he has to earn his trust and heart, and try not to bring any discomfort to the Uchiha. 

He doesn't want Sasuke to run away from him again.