Existing Ambience by Lil Riter sama

I know, it's been forever, right? I'm not making any excuses for myself except for this: I was trying to wrap up the story. I had most of this finished a while ago, but I just... needed an ending. But, the ending hasn't come yet, sadly.

You forty something who watch this story should show your appreaction, just so you know.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto.

Sasuke dreamed.

Naruto, hair lit golden in the sunset, leaned back on the grass. His bright orange jacket cast away a few feet off, hitae-ate tilting to cover his eyes. He giggled, cute nose scrunching and pressed lips stretching upwards. He shrieked in laughter, Sasuke's hands slipping under his dark t-shirt to run across the smooth skin, tracing the ticklish ribs and the beginnings of abdominal muscles.

"Come on," Sasuke growled playfully, "Can't you put up more of a fight?"

"Bastard! You're not playing fair!" Naruto whined between laughter. "You're supposed to punch me, not tickle! And I can't even see!"

Sasuke hovered above Naruto, weight on his knees on either side of the other. They'd been rolling around in the dirt for hours, bruises and scrapes crisscrossing both of their bodies. Sasuke was breathless, though there was no way he would admit it, so once he had Naruto pinned beneath him (not to mention sweaty and panting), he tickled the boy instead of inciting another round of punches. Sasuke hadn't planned on reaching his fingers under Naruto's shirt, hadn't planned on his breath hitching at Naruto's beautiful laughter, hadn't planned on anything. He should have just stood up and walked away, but he couldn't now, not until he was able to catch his breath.

Naruto's loose hitae-ate slipped lower over his eyes. "Come on, Sasuke! I want to at least see!" So Sasuke stopped his fingers, left hand resting on Naruto's heaving chest as he used his right one to gently push Naruto's hitae-ate from his eyes.

It occurred to Sasuke that he'd never noticed how beautiful those eyes were, glassy blue in a million shades, dancing with life. Suddenly, he felt everything. Sasuke felt his chest constrict, his knees shake, the wind in his hair. He was acutely aware of the boy he straddled, the blond's breathless smile. And those eyes were pools of priceless lapis.

Then, like how he hadn't even meant to stroke Naruto's body, he leaned forward so their lips—

"Sasuke! It's time to get up! Get up!"

Sasuke groaned and rolled over, burying his face in his pillow. "What an obnoxious voice to wake up to," Sasuke muttered.

A weight landed at the foot of his bed. "Sasuke! We have a mission! Let's go! Let'sgolet'sgolet'sgo!"

"Alright, fine," Sasuke conceded, sitting up. "I'm up. Now get off my bed, idiot. And out of my house."

Naruto pouted. "That's not a good way to treat your teammate," he scolded playfully. He jumped up and looked around in awe at the house. "I can't believe you live in an actual house. A proper one! With traditional doors and tatami and a freaking garden in your backyard! How do you take care of this place?"

"I just don't touch anything, and nothing gets dirty," Sasuke informed him. Naruto peered at Sasuke intently, wondering if he had just made a joke, because if it was, it was a bad one. "Now, I'm going to count to three, and if you're not gone by then, I'm going to beat you to a pulp, and you won't be able to do a mission.

"One," he counted, putting up a finger. Naruto stuck his tongue out at him, before fleeing the room. Sasuke sighed in relief, until he heard Naruto in the kitchen.

Sasuke had to admit, it was nice walking to the meeting place with Naruto. The blond bounced along ahead of him, as energetic as ever, and chattered incessantly, but he didn't pick any fights like he usually did or bother Sasuke with date proposals like Sakura would. Plus, Sasuke thought with a slight blush, Naruto made a good breakfast. It had been cute seeing Naruto dashing around his kitchen, making omelets for them both. Sasuke hadn't eaten a hot breakfast in a long time.

Sakura was there when the reached the meeting spot. She stood staring into the water, a frown tugging at her lips. "Sakura-chan!" Naruto called, and Sasuke almost wanted to pull him back. Sakura turned to look, her eyes widening slightly at the sight of the boys before they softened into an understanding type of look.

"Naruto," she said. "I need to talk to you. Come here…"

And when Sakura pulled the blond to the opposite side of the bridge to talk softly with the blond, Sasuke scowled.

The longer they talked, the more annoyed Sasuke got. He watched them carefully, though he didn't dare to move closer to try to overhear what they were saying. Sakura's expression changed from hurt to understanding to glee and determination. Meanwhile, Naruto began to blush, ducking his head and poking his fingers together nervously. Sakura put a firm hand on his shoulder, and he smiled at her. He flung his arms around her neck in something like joy, and Sasuke could feel his stomach lurch. He tore his eyes away.

Think about something else. Anything else.

Last night's dream had been disturbing on different levels. For one, did Sasuke just have a dream about Naruto? A slightly romantic dream? Naruto was a boy. Naruto was his rival. Naruto was Naruto, and he hated him, didn't he? Used to hate him, anyway.

And another point: Naruto was his best friend. In Sasuke's book, that meant way more than anything else. There was absolutely no way he could jeopardize something like that for something as trivial as jealousy. So Sasuke ground his teeth and tried to ignore his teammates the way he did yesterday, the day before, and every day before that.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura and Naruto chorused when Kakashi got there.

Kakashi gave an oblivious laugh. "Well you see, there was this dog…"

"LIAR!"

Kakashi laughed again. "Today, we're working on our fighting again. So Sasuke, you and Naruto…"

"What about the mission?" Naruto interrupted.

"What mission?" Kakashi asked innocently.

"The one you were talking about!" Naruto exclaimed. "The one I woke up extra early to get ready for! The one that-!"

Sasuke cut him off with a cuff to his head. "He said there isn't one, so there isn't one, dead last. Stop being so obnoxious."

"You bastard!" Naruto yelled. "Don't hit a man when he isn't looking!"

Sasuke huffed and turned his face away.

"Listen to me when I'm talking!"

Naruto barreled into Sasuke's side, head first.

"Sakura-chan, since they've got their fight going, let's go over their and work on your taijutsu," Kakashi suggested with a lazy grin.

Naruto had Sasuke pinned to the ground, one knee digging into his back, hand pushing Sasuke's face into the dirt. "Say uncle," Naruto said triumphantly.

"No," Sasuke refused, even as dirt came into his mouth.

"Say it!" Naruto pressed on Sasuke's head further. Sasuke was overly aware of the thick fingers tangling in his hair, Naruto half straddling him, and the dirt against his cheek. The situation looked bad, but Sasuke could take control if…

He slowly moved his right arm around out of Naruto's line of vision, and grabbed Naruto's hand tight enough to catch him by surprise. Then he jerked Naruto's hand out from under him, bringing the blond's weight down on him. He summoned up enough strength for one last round of kicks and punches, coming out on top. "Heh," Sasuke breathed out. "Pinned you."

They were dirty and panting and sweating, out of chakra and out of stamina. Naruto was breathless, and his hitae-ate slipped down to loosely cover an eye. Unwittingly, Sasuke picked up a hand and drummed his finger tips on Naruto's abdomen. Sasuke stared down at the giggling blond and wondered where he'd seen this seen before…

Sasuke snatched his hand back immediately and rolled off from his rival. He checked the sun; it was no where near sunset like in the dream, but would it matter? "Sasuke?" Naruto queried, sitting up and pushing his hitae-ate out of his eyes.

"I won, dead last," Sasuke told him, before flopping back on to the grass. Naruto looked down at him with a quirked eyebrow until he reached out and pulled Naruto back onto the grass by the shoulder. "Let's have a rest before we go to lunch," Sasuke told him. When he didn't receive an affirmative reply, Sasuke turned his head right.

Naruto was soundly asleep, snoring softly.

"What's he doing?"

"He's watching Naruto sleep, of course! It's so cute."

"Yeah, but, this is Sasuke we're talking about! He doesn't do tender."

"For Naruto, he does. Did you hear about the flower he bought Naruto?"

"Shikamaru told me. The foreign, not very cheap one? Even though Shikamaru discounted it because it was kind of wilted, it cost more than another flower in the same condition."

"I would have picked a sunflower, but the daffodil fits him better. Sasuke has such good taste."

"Of course he does."

"Don't pout, Ino. Just because he'll never like you doesn't mean you should be put out by it."

"What about you, Sakura? Don't tell me you're not disappointed."

"Of course I am! But, you know, there are other fish in the see. And I'm cute. No guy in his right mind would resist me!"

"Unless they've got feelings for other boys, you mean."

"Yeah!"

"So what are we going to do about this?"