The Labyrinth I: Illustrations
Naruto and Sasuke were not happy. They'd been transported to a dark six by six room and left there. The Kakashi look-alike had taken a moment to tell them
to 'follow the instructions to get out' and to 'try not to kill each other' because the purpose of the lesson was to 'have fun' with their 'male bonding.' Naturally
the volatile pair had whipped around in unison, intent to attack and maim. The man was already gone by the time they struck the floor, tangled by the chain
binding them together.
The first logical step would be to investigate their prison, find out where they were and how they could make an escape as quickly as possible. In this case,
logic took a back seat to the fact that there was only three inches of chain separating Naruto's right wrist from Sasuke's left wrist. Naruto immediately started
attacking the chain with a kunai while Sasuke tried to restrain himself from using a chidori that would probably have taken off Naruto's arm along with the chain.
"What's this thing made of?" Naruto groaned.
He sent a panicky look from his chipped weapon to the flawless chain links. Already he could hear the faint chirping of birds, tiny flickers of silver reflecting off
the dark metal chain. He sent a harried look at Sasuke, whose face was a pale shadow in the dark cell.
"Just wait," Naruto scowled. "Is chidori the only thing you can think of?"
"You have a better idea?" demanded Sasuke. They were crouched with their arms out and the chain taut to put as much space between them as possible.
They were still close enough for him to see that Naruto's efforts were doing nothing besides ruining his kunai.
"Yeah I got a better idea," Naruto glowered. "Why don't you try helping me. It's not like I'm left-handed, you know!"
Sasuke glared more and stuck his right hand out. Naruto jerked back in surprise, nearly pulling Sasuke over on top of him.
"What the hell's wrong with you!" Sasuke snapped, with a rough jerk on their locked arms to remind the dobe why they'd been sitting so still to begin with.
"Me?" Naruto blurted. "You're the one trying to grab me!"
Sasuke glared and put his hand out again, slower this time. "If you want me to help, give me a weapon," he said scathingly. "Dobe."
Naruto bristled, as much at the tone as the order. "Use your own. What, you don't have a kunai?"
"I don't have shoes."
Sasuke twitched when Naruto blinked and stared down at his bare feet. He twitched again when Naruto snorted and made a comment about how his feet
looked awfully cold. They were. He'd rather not be reminded of it. If he'd known he were going to be abducted from the hospital, he would have equipped
himself for the trip.
"Stop staring at my feet," Sasuke bit out.
"I can't help it!" Naruto blurted, staring at the pale objects in question with a disgusted sort of fascination. "You've got finger-toes. I don't think I've ever seen
those up close before..."
"That's it," Sasuke snapped.
He shot up and grabbed his left arm with his right hand. Naruto scrambled to his feet and leaned as far away as possible. The sudden rush of electrical chirps
drowned out the blonde's protests. Naruto healed fast, anyway. A little dismemberment wouldn't kill him. Probably. The tight link circling his wrist was just
starting to sizzle when a sudden tug had him overbalancing. He hopped twice to keep from falling over.
"Cut that out," Naruto scowled. "That's a last resort. Last. As in only after we've tried everything else. Got it? Besides, if you're gonna use that, at least have a
clone do it. Like this."
He started to do a kage bunshin and glowered when Sasuke's rigid arm kept his right hand from rising higher than an inch. There was no way he could do the
hand movements like that. "It won't kill you to cooperate."
"Says you," Sasuke grimaced. He grudgingly stepped close enough for Naruto to finish his hand seals.
"Okay!" Naruto grinned. He waved Sasuke back so the chain was exposed and tight between them. His clones formed a nice rasengen and he and Sasuke
turned their faces away when the pair rushed the chain. Instead of the rough impact they'd braced themselves for, they heard duplicate poofing sounds.
Naruto gaped at the bit of white smoke rising up over the chain. His clones had been dispelled the moment they touched it.
"What is this thing!" Naruto cried in frustration. He waved his arm up and down so the chain rattled. A very sharp pull from Sasuke's end had him stumbling to
attention.
"Don't do that again," Sasuke snapped, referring to the juvenile arm-waving that he'd just unwittingly taken part in. "Do you have any other ideas?"
Naruto scowled back at him and went to fold his arms over his chest. His right arm rose four inches, pulling Sasuke's along with it, before he realized how
awkward that would be. He let his arms drop and pointedly ignored the 'I'm chained to a dobe' stare Sasuke was giving him.
"Fine," Naruto scoffed, "whatever. Electrocute us both, if that's the best you can do. Just do it quick."
Sasuke ignored the mocking tone and focused on his left arm again. The chidori sparked silvery glints over the wall closest to him, highlighting what looked
like murals of some sort. He ignored that, too. The more chakra he channeled into his arm, the tighter that silver link closed over his wrist. Naruto made a
hissing noise beside him, grimacing at whatever currents were flowing through the chain. Then there was a bluish flash and Sasuke dropped as if his legs had
been cut off at the knee. It wasn't until he saw Naruto's face right in front of his that he realized the last few minutes were a blank from the sudden backlash.
And Naruto was rambling worriedly at him. Sasuke gave a weak glare in response.
"At least that mark's crawling down again," Naruto was saying, frowning at the left side of Sasuke's face. "I knew that was a bad idea. I mean, you were in the
hospital a really long time, so you probably aren't supposed to do any jutsu, anyway. And if my clones can't even touch the thing, you know it's gotta be
shielded by some kind of seal or something. Not that it really hurt, you know? It was more like running into a wall. Hard to breathe for a second there, right? It's
not like you actually passed out or anything, you just stopped blinking. Or moving and breathing and-"
"Shut up," Sasuke muttered crossly.
Naruto blinked and snorted in amusement. "I knew it. That just knocked you for a loop, eh? Asshole."
Sasuke pushed himself up, resisting the urge to rub a hand on his shoulder where the cursed seal was throbbing nastily. His head felt thick, as if he'd just
used up most of his chakra instead of just a small burst. Whatever was shielding that chain, it seemed as immune to 'inside' attacks as it was to outside ones.
And it was 'whatever' because he'd gotten a good look at the restraints with his sharingan and there wasn't the slightest hint of chakra in the metal.
"We should focus on getting out of here," said Sasuke. "We can worry about the chain later."
Naruto rolled his eyes. As if Sasuke hadn't been just as eager to get the thing off as he'd been. He turned his attention on the empty cell. It was as doorless as
it had been a few minutes ago. The only thing in the place was a small unlit torch set into the corner at eye level. Naruto took two steps toward it and growled
in annoyance. Stupid taut chain. Stupid stubborn Sasuke.
"How about you walk over there with me so we can get some light to see by," Naruto said, shooting a frustrated grin over his shoulder.
Sasuke passed him without so much as a glance. He lit the torch and started walking around the confines of the room. Naruto glowered and followed a step
behind and to the left of him. They circled the square room three times before Sasuke finally came to a stop in the front left corner of the room. The odd
sparkly gray-blue rock wall here was cracked in what might have been a doorway. Might have been, if not for the complete lack of hinges. Aside from that one
piece of wall, the room was seamless. And decorated with painted murals.
Naruto stared more at the illustrations than the possible doorway. "I swear I've seen that one before," he muttered suspiciously, pointing at the large painting
to their right. "In one of Jiraiya's books."
Sasuke gave him a sidelong look and reluctantly glanced over the painting. It was poorly done. The scantily clad woman's legs were almost three times as long
as her torso, and the man's hands were bigger than her head. The theme of the illustration was the same as all the others in the room. The man was kissing
the woman and petting her hair. What little clothing they had on could have been from Konoha, but Sasuke doubted Jiraiya had taken up prison painting in his
spare time.
"What's your point?" asked Sasuke. He was more interested in figuring out how the door worked than appreciating the would-be pornographic decor of the
place.
"Think about it," Naruto muttered, still squinting at that one illustration. "That guy looked like Kakashi and he brought us to a place covered in stuff right out of
Kakashi's books. It's gotta mean something."
"All it means is our captor did his research when he picked Kakashi as his cover," Sasuke said absently. He motioned for Naruto to step back. "See if your
clones fair better against this door than they did the chain."
Naruto glanced over and smirked. Sasuke wasn't so much as looking at him. Of course he had to ask him to do it. Sasuke probably couldn't even do one of his
heavy fire jutsu right now without that creepy seal crawling over half his face. Which wasn't really something Naruto wanted to see again so soon after the last
time. He stopped smirking and formed the hand seals for another kage bunshin. He didn't bother with a rasengen this time. The moment one of his clones
touched the surface of that door it poofed into smoke. He went ahead and further tested that little theory by having another of the clones try touching the
chain with the same results.
"Definitely a seal," Sasuke sighed, glaring at the door. He'd activated the sharingan just long enough to see what happened when Naruto's clones made
contact with the surface. Nothing. No conflicting chakra, no signs of whatever was repelling the clones. Not even one of those pale blue flashes.
"I'll try rasengen on it," Naruto scowled. "Can't hurt to try, even if it probably won't work."
Sasuke nodded and moved with him back toward the center of the room. This time there was a definite spark and resistance, the spinning ball of chakra hitting
the door long before the clones made contact. And the clones didn't just poof out peacefully. Naruto reeled the second they were destroyed. Sasuke's stance
on the other side of the chain was the only thing keeping him from being thrown halfway across the room.
"It's like being rebounded," Naruto blurted. He winced and straightened up again, his head all fuzzy and numb. "Like getting hit by a really hard wind out of
nowhere."
"It's not chakra," Sasuke said slowly. His sharingan was activated again. The cursed seal didn't seem to mind this time. "There's some kind of energy
protecting it, shielding it, but it's not chakra. As long as it's energy, we should be able to overpower or cut through it."
Naruto grimaced, shooting him a sharp look. "You're not thinking of trying the chidori again, are you? I swear, if you pass out this time - even if it gets the door
open - I'm not gonna carry you. I'll just drag you behind me by this chain."
"Idiot," Sasuke muttered. If he did pass out, he'd much rather be dragged than carried. Especially by Naruto. "Instead of using clones, do the rasengen
yourself. I'll do chidori at the same time. We use our right and left hands and aim at the door simultaneously. If it's not enough, nothing we try will be. If nothing
else, maybe the combined chakra will cut through the chain."
Naruto complied, doing his best not to pay attention to the fact that he could still feel the chidori through that chain. It was like sticking his arm into a cold pool
full of sharp little needles. Really difficult to concentrate. It got worse when he spotted those telltale black and red squiggly marks out of the corner of his eye.
They were crawling right up the side of Sasuke's face. He maintained the rasengen in his hand, dispelled the clones he'd used to help him form it, and
grimaced a little.
"Um, Sasuke..."
"Ignore it," Sasuke said tightly. The cuff was already starting to tighten around his wrist, ready to break his jutsu as sharply as it had before. They'd have to
attack before that happened. "Ready?"
"Yeah," said Naruto, "okay. Ready."
They attacked together, one of those rare displays that proved they were capable of teamwork, however much they disliked having to resort to it. Their attacks
were met with instant resistance. And a strange thing happened to the 'door'. The surface wavered as if it were made of water, pale blue and gray and smaller
silvery bits sparkling beneath the surface. Then it exploded.
Naruto woke up first. He assumed he'd been asleep because he didn't remember landing on the other side of the room. His right shoulder had a loose,
grating, and painfully liquid feel to it. He'd hit the wall with it and his body couldn't exactly heal itself when one of the joints wasn't in the socket like it was
supposed to be. There was blood in his mouth, and the right side of his face felt numb and sticky.
He rocked toward his knees, trying to get up without moving his arm too much. Sasuke was crumpled beside him. The marks were gone from his face, replaced
by a heavy trail of blood that was already starting to thicken and darken. They'd definitely been out for a while. Sasuke grimaced and shifted when Naruto's
movements pulled their linked arms.
"Still alive?" Naruto muttered. He grimaced at the blood in his mouth. He must have bitten his tongue or something. The cut had already healed. It was his arm
that he had to worry about. "I dislocated my shoulder," he told Sasuke, in a conversational tone. "How about you?"
Sasuke grunted and rolled so his legs were bent under him. He remained that way, curled forward with his forehead resting on his right arm. Clearly he wasn't
interested in talking at the moment. Naruto sighed and winced at his arm again.
"I'm going to have to get up to fix it," Naruto continued. "Push it back into the socket or something. So if you got any broken bones, you might as well tell me
before I start jarring you and making them worse."
Sasuke muttered something that was too long to be a simple 'dobe.' Naruto figured it was an 'usuratonkachi.' Those were typically reserved for occasions
where Sasuke thought he was being more idiotic than usual. Naruto rolled his eyes. Then he winced because the eye roll had hurt.
"I must have hit my head pretty hard, too," Naruto grimaced. He ran his left hand over his numb cheek. It came away with sticky drying blood all over it. "Yep,
definitely hit it. I wonder how hard that fucking thing threw us..."
Sasuke groaned and muttered louder this time. "Shut up, usuratonkachi. Just shut up for a minute."
Naruto glowered down at him. He did stop talking, though. He wiped his sticky hand on his pants and started tentatively prodding his shoulder. It was creepy.
He could feel the hollow where it should have been connected. Wasn't that supposed to hurt more? He could still feel his arm. He could move his fingers too,
but it was weird, numb and slow. The fact that it didn't hurt more was starting to make his stomach churn. He turned a nasty glare on the door. So much for
busting their way out. The thing didn't have so much as a scratch on it.
That was when he noticed the torch was still as bright as it had been earlier. He turned to mention that to Sasuke - particularly the fact that the thing wasn't
giving off any smoke, since they would have noticed that in this seemingly air tight little room. He blinked when he found Sasuke glowering at him. There really
was a lot of blood on the left side of his face, more matting in the hair near his temple. And his left arm was almost black with bruises from his wrist to his elbow.
"You look like shit," Naruto winced.
"You're one to talk," Sasuke muttered. "Is your shoulder really dislocated?"
"Yeah."
"Okay," Sasuke sighed. He pushed himself up slowly, careful not to shift their linked arms. "You hit the wall first," he admitted, in a grudging, almost resentful
tone. "You're lucky your shoulder took most of the impact. It sounded like a bone being snapped in half."
"I don't even remember getting thrown," Naruto admitted sheepishly. "Last thing I remember is thinking the door looked like it was an illusion, watery, not solid
anymore."
"Mm," Sasuke nodded, slowly, since his head was pounding fit to explode. "This will hurt," he said by way of warning. He immediately took hold of Naruto's wrist
and shoulder and jerked one second before shoving him back hard enough to make his head snap against the wall.
"Shit!" Naruto cried out, rubbing his abused head. "You're supposed to knock me out before you do it, not during!"
"Sorry," said Sasuke. His bland tone didn't sound the least bit sorry. He released his hold and frowned at Naruto's shoulder. "Better?"
"Eh?" Naruto scowled. He was too distracted by the ringing in his ears to realize what Sasuke was talking about at first. A jab on his aching shoulder reminded
him. He swatted Sasuke's hand away with a glower. "Yeah, better, thanks a lot. Stop touching it."
Sasuke sunk back on his knees. He prodded lightly at the matted hair on the left side of his head. The cut was crusting over with too much swelling to tell if the
bone was cracked beneath it. He'd assume it wasn't. He didn't feel like he'd suffered brain damage. Naruto was still as annoying as ever. A brain damaged
person would probably enjoy that. He grimaced at his hand and sent a slow look at Naruto.
"Do you have any bandages?" he asked. "Rags?"
"No," Naruto frowned. He looked at the dark stain he'd made wiping blood on his pants. No way would he have done that if he'd had rags handy.
"Your jacket, then," said Sasuke.
Naruto's head snapped up so fast he groaned at the throbbing pain, mentally smacking himself even as he glared at Sasuke. "No way are you cutting up my
jacket for bandages. They don't even make these anymore! Do you know how long I've had this jacket?"
"Way too long," Sasuke grimaced. "And of course they don't make them anymore. You're the only one stupid enough to wear one."
"Whatever," Naruto glared. "It's mine and I like it. You want to cut something up, use your-" He looked at Sasuke, who had nothing but the shirt and shorts he'd
been wearing at the hospital, and his forehead protector, which was hanging loose around his neck, the cloth frayed and stained with blood. He promptly
closed his mouth, a dash of guilt mixing with his annoyance.
"Well," sighed Naruto, "I do have a t-shirt you could use. It'd be easier to cut up, anyway." And no amount of guilt and sympathy was going to make him
mutilate his jacket. Finding orange clothing was next to impossible. Finding orange clothing that actually fit him was impossible. He was wearing the only set he
hadn't outgrown in the last two years.
"Forget it," Sasuke said, rolling his eyes tiredly. "We don't have any water, anyway. I take it that's already healed?" He waved at Naruto's head.
Naruto blinked in surprise. He'd only really started noticing how quickly he healed recently. He hadn't realized Sasuke knew about it, too. He ran a hand over
his face. Still sticky and gross with blood, and his cheek felt tender and more numb than anything, as if the skin were newly grown. Oh, there was a thought.
Maybe that was how he'd gotten so much blood in his mouth. He grimaced and squirmed as his stomach flipped over.
"Mostly," Naruto admitted, not looking at Sasuke. "Feels like I got half my face rubbed off or something. I had blood in my mouth when I came to..."
"That was me."
Naruto whipped around in surprise. Now Sasuke was the one not looking at him. "What do you mean it was you?" Naruto asked suspiciously.
"It was either the chakra or chidori," Sasuke admitted darkly. He didn't mention that the chakra in question had come more from the curse mark than him by
then. "I got knocked into you when we were thrown back, before we hit the wall. Think of a cheese grater. You're lucky you didn't lose an eye."
"Shit!" Naruto gaped. So much for him feeling guilty. Then again, in a half hour he wouldn't have a mark on him, while Sasuke would still be bruised and
bloody. It evened out. And it wasn't like he'd done it on purpose. Right? Yeah, even Sasuke wouldn't go mutilating him just for the hell of it. At least not when
they were actually trying to work together for once. Naruto shrugged and tried not to imagine what his face must have looked like. Cheese grater. Yeah. He
didn't want to think about that.
"Whatever," Naruto sighed, waving a hand. "At least we know better than to try busting our way out of here now. Force is no good. But that door definitely
looked like it wasn't solid for a second there. So there's gotta be a way to get it open. A trick, maybe. Like the way that torch is still burning as much as ever
without letting out any smoke. And there's no ventilation in here but we aren't running out of air."
Sasuke blinked at those astute observations. Sometimes Naruto surprised him. He was glad it didn't happen too often. Just the thought that Naruto had
noticed things he'd missed made his head hurt. He must have cracked it harder than he'd thought.
"A trick," Sasuke murmured, looking around the room. "That guy did say to 'follow the instructions' to get out. So instead of a prison, maybe this is just...a
distraction. A way to slow us down and keep us occupied."
"But there aren't any instructions here," Naruto scowled. He wanted to start circling the room again, just so he wouldn't feel so restless. There was no point
walking around. They'd already done that and there wasn't anything to see but the torch and the door.
"And the perverted paintings," Naruto muttered quietly.
Sasuke stiffened and leaned forward suddenly. He prodded impatiently when Naruto was slow to follow. "Get up. Move to the center of the room, dobe."
"Stop calling me that, teme," Naruto scowled. He got up and moved, anyway. "What did you find out?"
Sasuke turned a dark sneer on Naruto, directing his attention to that one illustration the boy had pointed out earlier. "What's the theme here? He picked
Kakashi to mimic. What 'instructions' would these paintings have if Kakashi were the one who'd arranged them like this?"
"Um," Naruto frowned. The one with the half naked guy and girl was easy. He could swear it was taken right off the cover of an Icha Icha novel. The one to the
right featured the same thing, all the way down to the way they were petting each other's hair. The only difference from the first was that this one featured two
women, and they had a lot more clothes on. The one to the left featured two guys, same pose, also more modestly dressed. And behind them was a group
shot of all three couples, copied right from their individual murals and put onto a fire-lit background. What was the theme? Naruto gave a slow look around the
room and then raised an eyebrow at Sasuke. "Masturbation?"
Sasuke twitched, looking exasperated and a little disturbed. "Kissing, usuratonkachi."
"Oh," Naruto blinked. He looked around the room again. "Yeah, that's what they're all doing. So what does that have to do with the door?"
"Look at the torch," Sasuke told him. "The floor right in front of it."
Naruto turned, squinting at the shadowy floor. The torch cast golden brown shadows on the surface - the same gray-blue rock the entire cell was made out of.
But there was something smoother about the spot right in front of the corner. A circular patch that looked more worn than the rest of the floor. Naturally
Sasuke would spot that. Even though Naruto was the one who'd noticed how weird the torch was in the first place.
He looked from that curious spot to Sasuke. He wanted to put it together before the jerk explained it to him in that condescending way he had. It was a way to
get the door open. It had to do with that spot on the floor and the illustrations on the walls. They were instructions to follow in order to get out of the room. The
theme was kissing. And that spot on the floor. To get out. Naruto blinked. One more clue. Sasuke was looking as if he'd just bitten into something sour that
he'd been force fed by someone he had nothing but contempt for.
"No way," Naruto said slowly, his face twitching oddly as if he wanted to grin and grimace at the same time. "And you actually want to try that? You're that
convinced it'll work?"
"I don't want to," Sasuke snapped, bristling and leaning as far away as the chain allowed. "And, yes, I'm convinced it will work. Do you honestly think I'd even
consider trying it if I wasn't?"
"I don't know," Naruto drawled, enjoying the hell out of Sasuke's expression. "Maybe you got a liking for the taste last time. It has been a while, eh?"
Sasuke made a sputtering sound. Then he lunged. Naruto jumped back and caught his fist before he could get clobbered or knocked over.
"Hey!" Naruto blurted, still grinning. "No hitting! That's not in the instructions. And we're already banged up enough as it is." Besides that, Sasuke's head must
have still hurt because he wasn't nearly as deadly as usual, despite the absolute rage and disgust on his face.
"Ramen," Sasuke growled through his teeth. "First thing in the morning and you tasted like ramen. It took me an hour to wash that out of my mouth."
"Yeah?" Naruto glared back. "Well at least I tasted like something. What, do you just skip breakfast? All you tasted like was...Sasuke-mouth. Almost made my
poor delicious ramen come right back up."
They glared at each other, alternately growling a little. Naruto was the first to notice how close together they were standing. Close enough that they could have
followed the 'instructions' and been out of the room already. Last time had been pretty quick, albeit extremely disturbing. He'd had a lot more to complain
about than Sasuke, too, since he'd had to deal with the girls attacking him on top of the weird Sasuke-taste in his mouth. It was bound to be quicker and less
painful in an empty cell.
"Let's just do it," Naruto glowered. "Come on, teme. You can be happy, too, because I haven't had any ramen all day. I've been broke as hell without any
missions lately. If I taste like anything, it'll be blood. And that's your fault, anyway."
Sasuke glared back, walking over to stand in the smooth circular patch. He growled when Naruto made to mimic the people in the murals. "Wait till I fix my
forehead protector."
"Why?" Naruto blinked. Not that he had a problem with Sasuke wanting to fix it. That comment just made him sound like a girl worrying about her appearance.
They weren't exactly doing this because they wanted to, right?
"Because," Sasuke said, slowly, condescendingly, with a tone of usuratonkachi that remained unspoken. "If we're going to mimic the illustrations we have to
touch each other's hair." He tightened the forehead protector, grimacing a little when it pulled snug over the swelling on his left side. "You touch this wound
and I'll probably bite your tongue off. Blood is one thing. If I swallow a part of you I'll kill myself."
"B-bastard," Naruto gaped. He suddenly wanted to burst out laughing at Sasuke's expression. But the threat Sasuke had just made against his poor innocent
tongue was too disturbing. It made him think of something else. Yeah, maybe he had been spending too much time with Ero-sennin. "Just - just shut up so we
can get this over with."
Sasuke stepped forward and lifted his arms, his right hand going into Naruto's hair, his left to his shoulder. Naruto did the mirror opposite, surprised to notice
how the chain was just long enough to allow that. Now came the kissing. Sasuke twitched. Naruto grimaced. They were glaring at each other as they inched
their faces closer together. None of the people in the murals had been glaring. What if they had to look like they were enjoying themselves? All of the people
in the illustrations had their eyes closed, too.
Naruto froze, his face so close that Sasuke felt his breath and twitched again. "Hey," Naruto muttered. "Close your eyes."
"Why?" Sasuke snapped.
"Because all the people in the pictures have theirs closed," Naruto scowled. "I'm closing mine, too."
Sasuke continued to stare at him, unwilling to close his first. Naruto growled and closed his own eyes. A few seconds later he peeked. Sasuke's eyes were
closed. His brows were still drawn, but he didn't look nearly as bad with his eyes closed. At least they wouldn't be staring in shock at each other like last time.
Naruto closed his eyes and leaned forward. Lips. Okay. He remembered this a lot more clearly than he liked to admit. The only difference was their mouths
were closed this time. He'd seen enough kissing in real life, and illustrations, to know when tongues were involved. He squirmed and opened his mouth.
Sasuke did not do the same. Asshole. This was his idea in the first place. What, did Sasuke expect him to do all the work again? It wasn't like he had a clumsy
classmate to shove him from behind this time. He pressed forward a little harder and Sasuke twitched. Then he opened his mouth.
Blood. Sasuke was glad to note that Naruto hadn't been lying about that. He didn't like the taste of blood any more than ramen, but at least blood was neutral.
He hadn't been able to eat ramen since their last kiss without remembering that ramen was the flavor of Naruto. A very disturbing thought. He'd sworn off
ramen every since. Still, even with the neutral taste, there was still the wet tongue touching his. And this time he didn't have the shock factor to keep his mouth
from snapping shut. He twitched again. How long did they have to do this? And was it just his imagination or was Naruto standing closer to him now? The
couples in the illustrations hadn't been touching each other this much. He could feel Naruto's pants against his bare legs. That had to be closer than
necessary. He swore, if that dobe was-
A whooshing sound came from behind them. Naruto and Sasuke sprang apart immediately. The chain caught them in the middle of their opposing lunges and
tugged them back so they almost fell right back into a kiss as accidental as their first one. They caught themselves just in time to prevent that. Then they were
gagging and spitting and sending hateful glares at the now open door. Whoever that Kakashi-impersonator was, he had a lot of pain coming his way. Soon.
.-.
PART 7
.-.
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