Bruises & Bitemarks (SasuNaru)

35.

Sasuke gets up and walks to the bathroom. He tosses me a towel. "Clean up. I'm going to shower."

"Can't it wait?" I ask, reaching an arm out in his direction. "Come back here, please?"

He just smiles at me. "Sorry, but it can't wait." And he closes the door.

I sigh and turn back. Evidence of my release is all over my stomach; I hastily clean myself off with the towel, then toss it into the basket to be washed later. A shower would be ideal, but since Sasuke's in there already, I let it go.

I don't want to think about anything right now. I close my eyes and replay the moment, over and over again. It's a little embarrassing, but that's more than made up for. If only Sasuke was still here, right next to me, everything would be perfect. I feel a little resentment towards him for thinking a shower could ever be more important than being here with me. He can shower later, can't he?

Well, I can't do anything about it now. I close my eyes and sigh again, feeling peaceful. I could drift like this forever, just lie back and dream of Sasuke. Sometimes he's selfish, and sometimes he cares about me more than he cares about himself. I feel so close to him in every way, and yet I don't know that much about him...

That's true, isn't it? Sasuke never does talk much about himself. I'm content to wait until he's ready to talk about his brother, though. It's not something you can press. He said he wanted to go into law, to get revenge on Itachi. Again, that detail's hazy to me until I know why. He mentioned his family collectively once as far as I can remember, and he never talked about his parents individually. I never thought to question it because I have no parents to recall to him. Family...

When I hear the bathroom door open, I tilt my head far enough back to look at Sasuke in his boxers, his hair still dripping and a towel thrown over his head.

"Ne, Sasuke?"

"Hn?"

"When's your birthday?"

He blinks at me in surprise.

"I... never did find out," I say, a little embarrassed. "I mean, you knew mine already, so I didn't have to tell you, but..."

"July 23rd."

"Oh." I repeat it in my mind, making sure to mark it as important so that I won't forget it. "That's after exams."

"Summer, yes." Roughly towelling his hair, he sits down on the edge of my bed. I sit up and situate myself behind him, then relieve him of the task, drying his hair more thoroughly. He relaxes and closes his eyes.

"What can I get you for your birthday?" I muse, mostly to myself. "No way could I afford something like the necklaces."

"You don't have to get me anything," he says.

"Don't be like that. I want to get you something."

"I already have everything I want."

I raise an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

Sasuke leans back, his head in my lap, and reaches up to take my face between his hands.

"Yes, right here."

I resist the urge to roll my eyes at how corny this is, but it makes me happy anyway. I lean down and kiss him.

"So," he mutters, his smile less than an inch away from mine, "any special plans for today?"

"Speci – oh." I straighten up, remembering the date. "Well... I figured Valentine's Day wasn't really made for us."

"Oh, really?"