Sasuke was between being asleep and being awake. It was somewhere early in the morning and still quite dark outside. Enough to keep most of the world still hidden in deep shadows. The only thing he could think about was how utterly comfortable he felt. "So comfy..." He whispered into the darkness. He wasn't flat on his back like he usually was when he woke up and he didn't feel stiff and sore like he usually did when he woke up.

Instead, he was on his side and he had his arms wrapped around something soft and warm. Even his legs were intertwined with it, making it feel like he was hugging a body pillow.

He snuggled closed, burying his face against the warmth and letting the slightly familiar scent fill his nose. A small sniff turned into a deep lung full in what felt like half a yawn and half a content sigh. This was nice. He didn't dislike this.

Realisation that not all was as it should be dawned on him when the body pillow hugged him back. There were arms wrapped around his neck, one of which Sasuke was currently using as a pillow. The rhythmic breathing of whoever was in his arms was steady and deep, indicating the person was asleep.

Sasuke sighed in aggravation. There was only one person he could think of to push the limits and get in bed with him and he really did not have the patience to deal with her shit this early in the morning. She knew it was never going to go anywhere between them, yet she still clung to her childhood crush like it was the last thing she had to keep her sane. Having her on his team and having to have her in his house because of the mission was a small nightmare in and of itself. He'd manage, of course, he could handle it, but he did wonder about how she was holding out with this all.

It didn't matter, though, she was crossing boundaries and he held no qualms in reinstating them. He let out a low, but quite growl and pushed her away to wake her up a bit roughly. From the reaction he could tell he did indeed wake her up, the slight increase in breath speed and sudden tenseness in the muscles were clear indicators of it. "Leave. I don't want you here." He said in a cold voice edged with anger, a little gruff from sleep. He expected a whiny voice to tell him she didn't want to go and that she needed him, or something along that line, but instead it was just a whimper and she cuddled against him again.

He moved away from her, not wanting her to touch him like that. "Sakura, you need to leave." He said in the same cold voice, be it a little less gruff. The figure in his bed stilled and sat up, leaning on one arm and with a very sleepy posture. She rose one hand and rubbed her eyes, letting out a small yawn.

"I'm not Sakura." The figure said sleepily and the realisation hit Sasuke like a brick. That was in no way a woman's voice and definitely not Sakura's. It was Naruto's.

"Dobe, what the hell? Why are you here?!" Sasuke hissed as he tried to suppress yelling, not wanting to alarm the entire house to the fact that Naruto had snuck into bed with him. "Doesn't matter, get out."

"But I was cold! I can't sleep when I'm cold." Naruto's voice still held the same sleepiness, but Sasuke could practically hear the pout in it.

"Then you should have asked for an extra blanket." Sasuke dead panned. It was too early for this! They had a few days off! He wanted to sleep in for at least one of them, damn it, and today was the only day without a planned morning training!

"You were asleep, so I couldn't ask. And your room is darker then mine. Mine is too bright." Naruto added.

"That's just bullshit. All the rooms are equally bright. Especially ours, since they are build the same way and on the same side of the house!" Sasuke hissed back.

"Yeah, but if I sleep next to you, I can hide my face against your chest and then you block out the light for me. Plus, you're like, the perfect temperature, so it's like sleeping against a body-sized hot water bottle. You're perfect for sleeping with!" Sasuke felt a little blown away. Naruto sounded so... genuine and happy, just for sleeping next to him... and Sasuke found himself not having the heart to be angry with him. Not really anyway. Didn't take away the fact that Sasuke did not appreciate the late night addition to his bed. If Naruto had asked it might have been different. Wait, no, scrap that, he didn't want anyone to sleep next to him when they had a whole room for themselves. Naruto was no different than anyone. Still, there was a second in which his brain had the fart of an idea to accept it, but that gas was gone before you could even smell it.

Sasuke didn't have the energy to continue the discussion, since his own brain didn't even seem fully set on co-operating. He needed coffee before that. "Don't do this again! Get out and stay out of my room!" Sasuke snapped, before getting up and leaving his room.

Naruto sat in the dark, grinning after Sasuke. He had been awake longer than Sasuke had realised, so he had heard the whispered words and also noticed the time Sasuke took after realising someone was sleeping next to him. Even if he had been Sakura, Sasuke would have been controlled and collected about out. He didn't flip out and he didn't yell like an idiot either. Yeah, Naruto was definitely making a habit out of this one. He wondered how long it would take before Sasuke would stop trying to keep him out and just embrace Naruto. Literally.

With his heat source gone, Naruto didn't feel like going back to sleep again, so he followed Sasuke out of the room. A clock he passed in the hallway told him it was half past four in the morning. That wasn't really something that said a lot to Naruto, having lived without being able to tell time for so long. He needed to ask someone what were acceptable times to eat, train and sleep. He could guess, but wanted to be sure. It would be a shame if breakfast was cold every day for the rest of his stay.

Naruto found Sasuke in the kitchen, still in his night clothing which consisted of just boxer shorts and a t-shirt, which was a full t-shirt more than Naruto was wearing. Sasuke stood with his back to the door, focussed on making his coffee. "How late do most people get up?" Naruto asked, watching Sasuke move around the kitchen.

"I don't know." Sasuke answered stiffly. What did he know about that? He had mostly lived alone.

"Then, how late should I have breakfast ready?" Naruto sat down on one of the chairs, leaning his elbow on the table and his head on his hand.

Sasuke finished his coffee, took the mug and turned around. "Why do you want to cook? The food you've made so far was boring, so why bother?"

Ouch, talk about direct. Naruto winched. "Hey, I worked hard on that and the only thing I had to go on were memories of Dog cooking, so I think I did pretty great. I didn't hear any complains while you were eating!" Naruto said indignantly.

Sasuke took a long sip, staring at Naruto who was looking pouty and angry. Sasuke wanted to glare back, give Naruto a cold shoulder, but he couldn't. It didn't feel fair towards Naruto, which was weird because Sasuke only felt that way with Naruto. He couldn't have cared less if it had been Sakura, or anyone else for that matter. He sighed. "That didn't answer my question. Why bother cooking?" He was genuinely curious to see some of the motivations behind Naruto's actions. He needed to find the sanity in the insanity if that was at all possible.

"To mess with Sakura." Naruto said with utmost certainty. Sasuke just stared at him for a moment.

"How does cooking mess with Sakura? You're not poisoning her, are you?!"

"What? No! No, she'd have to eat to get poisoned, but she's not eating because it's food I made. Not that the food's poisoned. It is a good idea, though..." Naruto smiled up at Sasuke and Sasuke felt like he just uncovered more insanity instead of a little sanity. He really didn't understand what went on in that blond head, but he was intrigued and he was going to find out how to handle it. Maybe Sasuke needed to speak with Morino about it. That man seemed to have a perfect handle on Naruto.

"So why mess with Sakura?" Sasuke pressed the issue again. He wanted to know the reason, even if it didn't make sense to him.

Naruto smiled, a distant look in his eyes like he was reminiscing something fondly. "You know, I killed her mother. I did." He said, motioning to himself. "But it wasn't a sudden killing spree without reason. I couldn't handle what they put me through every day anymore. When I entered school I learned I orphaned her, which was interesting because I am too, but we're so different. You are too, but you are also different from both of us. Back then I wanted to learn why, but I know now. It's not because of us, but because of people around us." Naruto took a deep breath and looked at Sasuke. The way both eyes were a little dull was unsettling to Sasuke. He had figured out by now that Naruto's eyes could tell how he was feeling, but both dulled was new to Sasuke. "Right now I'm testing limits. Pushing buttons and I hope I win, because that will mean that Sakura will be my ally. Simple as that. She doesn't want to eat because I cooked it? Fine, than I will make damned sure each meal is made by me, leaving her no choice but to rely on me for that." With a blink Naruto's red eye flared up a little. "I love breaking things. Including people. It's fun!" He grinned cheekily. "So, what's a good time to have breakfast ready?"

Sasuke sighed. That made as much sense as it didn't. It answered a few questions and just prompted more. "Six." He said, walking out of the kitchen with his coffee in hand. He walked to the back porch and sat down on the edge. The backyard needed tending to, but the upkeep of the house alone in between missions and training was already too much to do properly. He sighed. He hated that his parents' home was slowly but surely decaying and his feeble struggles weren't helping much. He knew the only thing that would help is to have more people to take care of things. Maybe one day. It was still his dream to rebuild his clan to a certain extent.

When his coffee was almost gone, Naruto joined him and sat leaning against a post. For a while, he just sat there, staring across the yard and Sasuke couldn't help but look at Naruto. Not glancing, just straight up staring at him. There was something about Naruto that Sasuke liked and he didn't like that. Sasuke also couldn't pinpoint what it was exactly that made him want to just keep studying Naruto.

He sighed and looked away, in the same general direction Naruto was staring at. "I like you." Naruto said out of the blue. Sasuke tensed a little and kept looking out into the yard. He felt Naruto's eyes on him, but didn't dare look back. He didn't not know Naruto liked him, but to hear it without death threats was different. Naruto liked him, enough to make a point of telling him without any provocation to do so. And Sasuke couldn't deny he liked hearing that from someone that might become his friend one day.

He thought about the many love confessions from Sakura and other girls. Those left him cold. He didn't care that they proclaimed love or like for him and he didn't feel anything when he shot them down without regards for their feelings, but when Naruto said it, it almost made him a little happy.

How do you respond to this type of thing? Positively, that is. How to reject someone was like second nature to Sasuke, but how do you build up an actual friendship? Or a better question would be whether he wanted to build a friendship or not. He had his team to socialise with and he liked his time alone. Did he really need to add to that? He wanted to, though, because it was Naruto. And for once the social obligation of interacting didn't feel so, well, obligated.

He looked back at Naruto, who was still looking at him with mirthful, happy eyes. Sasuke felt his eyes being drawn to Naruto's. The blue one was beautiful with the way it portrayed Naruto's emotions. The red one was fierce, even now when it was a little dull. There was a lot of life in those eyes and Sasuke found himself fascinated with them. He wondered if his own eyes showed his emotions like Naruto's did, or that his dark eyes only showed the coldness he had made his own over the course of his life.

Instead of answering in kind, Sasuke needed to know something first. "Why?" He asked, breaking the eye contact by looking away. He wasn't social, he didn't really open up to anyone and he made a point not to let others too close. So why would Naruto like him when he himself knew he didn't make himself very likable.

"Because..." Naruto paused to think about his answer and could only come up with one solid word to summarize everything. "Reasons." Sasuke looked back at Naruto wanting to voice that that was a terrible answer, but as soon as he faced Naruto again, Naruto's lips were on his. Naruto pressed a little closer to his and then he was gone. He got up, picked up Sasuke's coffee mug and downed the little that was left and went back inside. Sasuke didn't even have the time to register what just happened. That was twice now. Twice that Naruto willingly and knowingly kissed him. And twice Sasuke had no idea how to respond to it.

Naruto had left his stomach in a knot and his mind racing. Sasuke wasn't able to organise any of his thought and feelings right now and just sat there staring at the door Naruto had closed behind him. His cheeks were burning. He was blushing, damn it, and his lips felt tingly. He licked his lips to get the feeling out of them, but it didn't help his heightened heart beat. He liked this feeling.

The door opened again to reveal Sakura in a very disheveled state. It was clear she just woke up and that she wasn't having a good time. When she saw Sasuke, she immediately straightened her posture and tried to fix her hair. Sasuke didn't really think it made much of a difference. She smiled. "Good morning, Sasuke-kun. I didn't expect you here." She went to sit down next to him and heaved a heavy sigh. Sasuke half had in mind to get up and leave, but he could see something was bothering her. Letting it linger would just make the issue come back at a less convenient time, like during an actual mission.

"What's wrong?" It almost came out as an accusation instead of a question, but Sakura was more then used to his coldness, and so his question produced little more than annoying behavior. She leaned in and grabbed his arm, leaning her head on his shoulder. Before she was even settled, Sasuke shook her off, but she didn't let go of his arm. "I wanted to make breakfast for you, Sasuke-kun, but that idiot is already cooking." She pouted, expecting sympathy or something, Sasuke wasn't sure.

"Then I should go help him, since it's my house." Sasuke said and he went to the kitchen. He learned something very important just now. A room with Naruto in it was probably going to be a Sakura-free room. He needed to remember that.

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