Disclaimer: same as previous.

GIANT author's note: Okay major apologies from my part on how long this took. Hope you enjoy. This is the last of the lot.

Not beta-ed, so if there are any glaring mistakes please point them out!

3

One, two, three, four, five. Turn. Repeat. One, two, three...

No, he was not pacing. Uchiha Sasuke did not pace. He was just walking backwards and forwards in a confined area.

Does that not define what pacing is? the little voice asked.

He growled and stopped. Why did the moron do that?

He already warned you about the lack of towel, you should've been prepared –

Yes, but why didn't he wait?

Because you were busy going through his stuff!

Clenching his jaw until his teeth hurt, he took in a deep breath and pushed the voice back into its designated little box. Right, he didn't need a little traitor to tell him that. What was he going to say? What could he say?

'I'm sorry for going through your stuff, but I really wanted to know what you did with the pictures you took. And why are there so many pictures of me? Are you a stalker of some kind? You're not working for the fangirls are you, moron?'

No. That was... No.

He could leave! The front door was right there, all he needed to do was open it and step through. Yes! It was brilliant. He took a step towards the exit and stopped. This was a coward's way out, and he was no coward. He couldn't just walk out!

Back to square one...

Apologise and Naruto just didn't go together. Apologise and him didn't go together. He had never really needed to apologise before, so why should he start now?

There was that little thing where you went through his –

There were photos in there of him. A lot of photos. He had the right to know why!

Mind made up, he whipped around intending to march right back into the moron's room and demand to have his questions answered when he came face to face with said moron. He quickly back-pedalled, trying to make the motion as casual as possible and glared.

Naruto glared back and crossed his arms over his chest. "So, are we going or what?"

Biting the inside of his cheek against the desperate 'yes' that was eager to spill out – damn it, why was it so hard to ask? – he shook his head, and hoped his voice didn't come out as a squeak.

"Not before you answer some questions." His unwavering voice did little to calm his jittery nerves and racing heart. Why his heart was beating like it wanted to pound his ribs into dust was something he couldn't quite understand.

A blonde brow arched up.

Silence reigned and when Naruto made no attempt at asking just what Sasuke wanted answered, the Uchiha bit the inside of his cheek again in uncertainty.

What the hell was wrong with him? He hadn't been this nervous since... He couldn't even remember when! It was only Naruto, he shouldn't be on edge at all! And what the fuck was wrong with the idiot. Shouldn't he be shouting his head off and accusing him for looking at his stuff? Why wasn't he saying anything?

Sasuke realised he had been silent for too long when Naruto's other eyebrow rose to join its counterpart. Working some spit into his mouth, he cleared his throat and tried not to squirm when he looked the blonde in the eyes.

"The photos."

A fleeting look that he couldn't decipher flitted across Naruto's face. "What about them?"

"Why do you take them?" Annoyance laced his voice, and it only grew worse when the blonde shrugged nonchalantly and moved to the front door.

"Because I feel like it." With his shoes on, Naruto reached for the door knob and growled low in his throat when Sasuke's hand covered his. "What the fuck do you want?"

Naruto twisted and howled with rage when Sasuke shoved him violently back against the door.

"An answer."

"You go through my stuff and expect an answer? Well fuck you, Uchiha!"

Moving into the blonde's vision, Sasuke narrowed his eyes and glared. "Why?"

"I don't have to tell you anything!" Whirling around, Naruto pushed Sasuke's hands off the knob and found himself pinned. He snarled and struggled to get away.

"We're not leaving until you answer my question."

The blonde bucked against his grip making Sasuke grit his teeth and slam Naruto back into the door. He would've done it again if not for the fact that the body he was restraining was now completely slack. All the anger evaporated until only steely blue eyes were left. His throat worked and he berated himself for not leaving when he had the chance, because Naruto wasn't supposed to be like this. Wasn't supposed sag into his grip, wasn't supposed to bow his head in defeat, and definitely wasn't supposed to be giving into his demands so easily.

"Because I don't want to forget, all right."

The eerily emotionless voice sent shudders skittering down Sasuke's spine. Something in the pit of his stomach twisted.

"Naruto..."

By this time, Sasuke's grip on Naruto had sufficiently loosened, and the teen took advantage of the distracted look on his friend's face to grab at the door. He would've gotten away too if not for the Uchiha's damn speed. Once again he found the back of his head slamming against the door and he lashed out and managed to kick Sasuke in the shin. Despite that one small victory, he was still pinned and immobile. Fucking –

"Bastard! Let. Go!"

"Explain."

There was the characteristic spark returning to blue eyes and Sasuke let out a relieved breath. At least he was used to dealing with this Naruto.

"Explain. Now. Or we won't be getting out of here."

Sasuke watched as Naruto's mouth opened and closed several times in an attempt to form words. The blonde's teeth clacked shut with such force that the Uchiha shuddered involuntarily at the imagined pain.

Minutes ticked by and Sasuke was sure there was going to be no answer forthcoming, which was disappointing but also relieving. Somewhere deep down, Sasuke knew he didn't want to know the answer. If Naruto, loud mouth extraordinare, was finding it this hard to put it into words, than chances were that whatever it was was going to be bad and possibly life changing. And Uchiha Sasuke liked the way his life was at the moment, thank you very much.

Thinking that yes, it was going to have to wait until next time, Sasuke was about to make up some excuse so they could go without him sounding like he was running away when Naruto's mouth opened once more. Inwardly wincing, Sasuke hoped it was going to be the fish act again.

"Because..." A pause. "I've finally got what I wanted." Hardened blue eyes glared at Sasuke, daring the Uchiha to say something against that statement.

Not knowing what to say to that, Sasuke decidedly kept his mouth shut and looked off to the side. It didn't take a genius to figure out what Naruto was trying to say, and it took someone other than Sasuke to offer comfort of any sort. He wasn't the comforting sort, the 'kick you in the ass so you would get back up sort' maybe but definitely not the 'hug and everything is better' sort. And it seemed Naruto had had enough and that was all the information he was willing to part with because the boy shoved at Sasuke and tried for the door again. He scowled. Did the moron really want him to do this?

"And the photos of me...?" He inquired roughly, hating how conceited and egotistical it sounded, and yet not at all sorry when the blonde visibly flinched. The moron had asked for it.

"You realise you're not meant to find any of those."

"Well obviously." Sasuke rolled his eyes. "That still doesn't answer the question."

This time it was Naruto's turn to roll his eyes. "Since you're so eager to know," the blonde muttered and regarded Sasuke with a blank look. "You left."

Sasuke blinked. "What?"

"You left. That's the answer."

"I – What?" Sasuke was lost. Most of the time he could understand why Naruto thought the way he did, even though he had to shake his head at some of the stuff that went on in that spiky blonde head, but this was way way out there. "Naruto, I don't understand."

Said boy threw up his arms in defeat, shoved his friend aside and stomped over to the couch. Flopping ungracefully onto his back, Naruto glared at Sasuke, blaming the Uchiha for all his troubles and pointed to the overstuffed beanbag opposite the couch. "Sit."

Sasuke hesitated by the door, not wanting to sit on the Beanbag of Doom. Last time he had sat on that thing...

Naruto's eyes flashed and Sasuke was happy there was an amused smirk on the other's face. "Oh for fuck sake, Sasuke! I put more stuffing in that thing, it's not going to swallow your ass!"

...or maybe not. Indignant at being laughed at, Sasuke walked over stiffly and resisted the urge to give the offending piece of furniture a good kick and a chidori or three as he walked by. He shoved at Naruto's legs and sat down despite the moron's loud protests and kicks. Even though the couch was lumpy and the springs were digging into his back, Sasuke squirmed around until he was as comfortable as he was going to be on this thing and allowed Naruto to settle his legs on his lap.

"So?"

"So?" Naruto mimicked and grinned humourlessly at the Uchiha.

Sasuke scowled and narrowed his eyes in warning. "You're still telling me what the hell you meant by that."

An equally annoyed scowl appeared on Naruto's face and the blonde waved dismissively at that remark. Silence reigned for the next five minutes as Naruto gathered his thoughts and wondered if maybe this was such a good idea. But either way, it was too late to back out now, he had said he would explain. He heaved a sigh and settled back into the couch, adjusting his position so that he fit snugly into the sleeping groove he had created.

"Sometimes," Naruto began, voice soft and eyes half closed. "I wonder if you leaving was a lesson in itself."

A lesson huh... A lesson for whom? Because frankly speaking the whole experience had been a giant learning curve for him, but he wasn't sure what Naruto meant if the blonde was talking about the lesson being for him. What had Naruto learnt from all this aside from the fact that not all his team mates were trustworthy?

Sasuke flicked his gaze over to his Naruto and found him looking like he was ready to drift off. Not wanting to let this drift off into nothing – he had come too far and humiliated himself enough to not get his answers – he jabbed sharply at the other's ribs and earned himself a string of colourful curses.

"I said I would tell you, so stop being so fucking pushy!" Naruto growled and 'accidentally' kicked Sasuke's leg, narrowly missing his other bits.

"I wouldn't be so damn pushy if you'd actually hurry up and tell me!"

There was a muttered 'bastard' and the blonde took his time shifting around until he was comfortable. When Naruto deemed that enough time had passed to make the Uchiha angry, but not enough to snap yet, he settled and dragged a hand through his hair.

"Have you ever been content, Sasuke." It was a wistful question, something Sasuke hadn't expected. "Like everything is perfect and you wouldn't change anything for the world."

"I'm the one asking the questions, moron." He received a glare and he almost smiled at the unimpressed expression, but stopped the tell-tale twitch at the last moment and pasted his ever present frown.

"Just answer the question!"

Releasing a long suffering sigh, he looked away from hard blue eyes to mull over his answer. Had he ever been content? Yes.

"Once," he heard himself say aloud, gaze going distant as memories from back Then flashed behind his eyes. Yes, he had been happy, but he had been too young and too naïve to appreciate what he had until it was dowsed in blood. He could never go back to those memories without imagining the metallic tang of blood choking his lungs, and the dead empty eyes of his parents watching his every move.

He sighed inaudibly and shook his head to dislodge the unwelcoming thoughts. He hadn't wanted to see that in his head in broad daylight, they were echoes best left in the dark. Swallowing and deciding that he wasn't the one under scrutiny here and therefore didn't need to divulge any information, he glanced up and found Naruto's intense eyes looking at him. No, he didn't need to say anything at all, Naruto already knew.

"Yeah." It was said in a sad resigned tone, and Sasuke was forced to wonder where Naruto hid this side of himself. "I was too. Before you left."

Oh yes, if anyone knew how to up a person's guilt levels, it was Naruto. Something deep inside his stomach twisted and he glared darkly at the blonde for that admission. He knew Naruto didn't mean like that, but it didn't mean he couldn't be angry about it.

"So that's why you started taking all those pictures," he surmised, wanting this to end so he could get out of here and brood.

"Yeah, but it wasn't the same. You weren't around and Sakura-chan would always have that sad look behind her eyes. She tries to hide it, but it's there. So I stuffed the camera back into the closet – it was a gift from Iruka, you know? He gave it to me when I made Chuunin which confused me because it wasn't a weapon, not like I could blind someone with the flashlight, but―"

"Naruto."

"―Anyway, so I stuffed it back into its case and I only really got it out when there was a special occasion, like someone's birthday and stuff, but then you came back. And well..."

There was a pause and Sasuke risked a peek at Naruto to find the normally wrinkled-free brow furrowed in something that he wasn't sure about before smoothing over once more.

"Sakura was happy again, and hell everyone else seemed to relax a bit more and things went back to how it was before you skipped out on us. So the camera came back out, and I swear the photos weren't centred on you to begin with―" Naruto's tanned face crumpled. "Okay that came out wrong – I am not a stalker! I swear I'm not!"

Sasuke smirked. "Sure you're not, moron," he teased, and couldn't help but feel slightly better because this was the Naruto he was familiar with, not the deep-thinking, contemplative figure who had been lying on the couch before.

"Oh fuck you, Uchiha!"

"You wish."

And before Sasuke knew it, Naruto was up and straddling his lap aiming a tightly balled fist at his face. He caught the punch easily and grabbed the other wrist before a follow up could be executed. They eyeballed each other for a while until the blonde visibly deflated and Sasuke let go of the other's captured limbs. He was expecting Naruto to get off him and go back to his story, but instead of that happening, his blonde companion slumped bonelessly into him, forehead resting on Sasuke's shoulder. What was with Naruto and being unpredictable today?

He blinked and wondered what he should do with his arms. He was not hugging the moron.

"Uh Naruto what―"

"I am not a stalker!"

"Okay," Sasuke answered uncomfortably, and ended up resting his arms stiffly at his side. "Will you get off?"

"No."

"Get off."

Silence reigned, and Sasuke was tempted to just shove Naruto off him and run for the door.

"...I thought that if I took enough photos of you, it'd make up for the time you were gone."

It was a quiet whisper, and the arms that had been inching its way to the other's shoulder to push the youth off flopped back down to the couch with a quiet thump. Oh...

Sasuke stared at the few spikes of hair in his field of vision. "You really are a moron," he murmured.

"Am not." And he could just imagine the pout that was hidden by Naruto burrowing deeper into his shoulder. He winced slightly at a particular hard nudge and poked at the other's side.

"Stop that."

A pause and warm breath fanned at his neck. Sasuke shuddered. "Don't go away again, Sasuke."

"I'm not going any where with you sitting on me."

"Good, because I'll really have to become a stalker and sell naked pictures of you to your fangirls."

Sasuke snorted and discovered that his traitorous arms had somehow found their way around the lump draped across his front.

"You wish, moron. You wish."