Chapter Text
“Usuratonkachi? Wake up..”
She was curled around her pillow– no, Sasuke again.. But this time, he was embracing her as well, gently shaking her awake with a smile on his face.
“Mphh, I’m up..” Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she noticed they were still in their clothes, on top of the covers of his bed. She must’ve fallen asleep in the chair, been carried over by him, and he willingly spent the whole night curled up with her.. She giggled at the thought, and her memories of the previous night filled her with elation. His slick lips against her own, his insistent hands that touched over her body, the taste of strawberry.. Evidently.. This was something they could do now. It was just euphoric, waking up to that smiling face, and the safety of her best friend’s capable arms.. Is that still what they were? Best friends? She sat up with him but still held on tight, noticing the main character of the movie still frozen on the screen, standing in the rain with an umbrella. “Hmm.. What happened in the movie?”
“You missed most of it. At the end, they finally talked, and her crush gave her that umbrella.”
“That’s it?” She puzzled over what she remembered of the movie. The main character moved cities to attend university, and it was eventually revealed she did so due to a crush she had on a boy from her school, who had chosen the same one. It was pretty uneventful from what she remembered. “Did.. They even kiss?”
Sasuke stuttered a bit as he responded, “Oh, uh.. No..”
“Well what’s the point of that!?”
“It definitely ended.. Hopefully.”
“Eh, doesn’t seem worth an entire movie just for that.”
“I liked it, it was more about.. The anticipation, I guess.” They looked down to where they remained connected. There were only a few strands left of the substance, but they still wrapped tightly around their intertwined hands. For some reason, Naruko felt relief. “Should we try to pull apart? There’s not much left.”
“I don’t mind.. It should fall apart any minute now anyway, right?”
“Yeah,” Sasuke seemed happy with that. “Let’s make breakfast.”
“Ok!” She pulled him out of bed and into the kitchen with her boundless energy and watched attentively as he began preparing the breakfast. He steamed rice again, set a small pot of water to boil, and readied the pan similar to how he did the night before, cracking several eggs into it this time.
“You said you like spinach now, right?” That’s right, she mentioned it while they were at Itchiraku, she’d thought he wasn’t even listening.
“Yeah! Well, only when it’s in ramen.”
“It’s good like this, too.” He dropped some in the now boiling water, and let it simmer for about a minute, before taking it out and mixing it in a bowl with soy sauce and sprinkling something flakey on top. Naruko was eyeing the mixture suspiciously before she happened to glance down, and see the last bits of the glue on their hands break off, and flutter swiftly to the floor.
Their hands remained intertwined through muscle memory alone, and her heart immediately sunk to the floor as well.
She should let go.. She would still be allowed to stay, right? He had already started cooking breakfast for two. But the thought crept into her mind, was there really any guarantee she would get to do this again? She thought still of their lengthy kisses from the previous night, they were still getting along perfectly fine, but how long would that really last? She.. Could break the jutsu now. Of course there was still the option of using it whenever she wanted, but suddenly she put two and two together. There’s no way Sasuke would kiss her like that again, in her original form. She tried to keep her face neutral and attentive, but inside everything started falling apart. She turned away from him to hide how her face was surely screwing up with worry, and leaned against the kitchen counter. She closed her eyes, and tried her best to memorize the feeling of that warm hand, firmly holding her own. Sasuke turned his back to her to pour out the water used for the spinach, and as he did so.. Their hands were cruelly torn apart.
Screw those damn vegetables.
Sasuke stumbled forward, moving too fast as he still expected to be connected to her weight, and Naruko fell backward, losing the counter balance Sasuke provided, and catching herself with her newly freed hand. She slammed her full palm down on the searing-hot stove.
“Agh!!” She yanked it away immediately as she cried out in pain but the damage was done. Sasuke straightened up and his eyes filled with urgent concern, their hands returned together as fast as they split apart, as Sasuke carefully looked over the injury.
“Naruto! Let me see your hand.” It was a significant burn but he wasn’t too worried, even his more severe injuries heal pretty fast. But it did sting pretty bad right now.. “It’s a second degree burn. You don’t need serious treatment since you’ll heal but, here, run it under the water.” He held Naruto’s hand under the sink and let cool water run over it, gripping his wrist a little tighter as Naruto winced at the feeling, but the cool stream soon began soothing his pain. “I’ll wrap it up with dressing so it doesn't hurt so much.”
“Thanks, but remember, I’m Naruko?”
“Oh.. You didn’t notice? The henge stopped since you got burned. You’re back to normal now.”
“Oh.. You’re right.” He didn’t realize it, but sure enough the slight stream of chakra he had been using to maintain it was now stagnant. Sasuke looked over him, taking in the sight like it was something new, and not just the same body and face he was already used to.. Naruto shivered a little under his watchful gaze. “I probably look like a mess. I actually.. Only cast the jutsu because I was running late before the mission, and I didn’t want to comb my hair..” Sasuke chuckled softly at the admission and smiled at him.
“Typical..” He looked up at his hair. “Well, you still look good.” Huh? As in.. He looked good before? And still does? Even with Sakura trying to provoke it out of him, all Sasuke could manage was that he looked ‘fine’. Did he really think he looked good like this, and as a girl too?
“Really?”
“Sure.. You still have the makeup on. Erm, at least on your eyes.. So you still look.. pretty..”
This time Naruto’s mind really did go blank. He felt an inescapable blush rising to his cheeks. He just hummed in response and looked back to his injured hand, which didn’t help, because Sasuke was still holding it firmly under the stream of water. He didn’t let go, as he turned off the tap and reached under the sink to retrieve a first aid pack, and began carefully wrapping bandages over the reddened skin. He placed a strip of tape to the last edge to secure it, and lightly squeezed over where the tape joined together the wrapped layers.
“I guess.. We can be apart now.” Naruto said, stating the obvious, unable to help himself from sounding a little dejected. But Sasuke kept their hands clasped together.
“You don’t have to go yet.” He responded, a little too fast, clearing his throat and now looking awkward as well. “I’m still making breakfast.”
“Oh, yeah! I’ll stay.” Sasuke grinned happily at him again, he’d never seen so many earnest smiles in a row from him, slowly but surely, the last few days had ended up being some of the best Naruto had ever had. He still couldn’t stop thinking about their kisses.. Sasuke plated their food and Naruto followed him to sit at the table, but not before catching a glimpse of himself in the reflection of the window. His face did still look.. Pretty. But his hair was sticking up in every direction, now so tangled that it couldn’t even fall into his eyes like before. “Hey! Liar, I do look crazy..” He smoothed it down to the best of his ability as he sat.
“Well, your hair’s always a little wild, but, since when do you care about stuff like that?” It was a good question. Naruto was far from insecure, but having his makeup done, styling his hair, hearing compliments from those he admired most.. And realizing that they all cared for him no matter what form he took, it was really nice. “I don’t honestly, but all girls care about their appearance, don’t they?”
“I don’t know, I’m not one..” Sasuke responded simply. He took a deep breath in and again, scanned over Naruto's face, his body, and back up again. “Are you?” Another good question.. Not currently, but..
“I guess.. Sometimes?” He answered as honestly as he could. He fidgeted a little and fretted over Sasuke’s reaction for a moment before he nodded thoughtfully and accepted the answer. “Is that weird?”
“Of course not. I like y– Umm.. You’re my teammate either way so.. We’ll always be stuck together, right?”
We’ll always be stuck together.
They sat side by side, but apart now, with their hands free to eat and go about their day, but against all odds here they were, choosing to remain in each other’s presence after days of claiming to want the opposite
“Yeah.. You like me, huh?”
“Shut up..” Sasuke mumbled nervously. The kiss was still replaying over and over in his mind, he couldn’t help it.. Those feelings came rushing back, and with the way Sasuke was starting to flush again he knew he was thinking about the exact same thing. They were both boys now.. But he heard what Sasuke said before cutting himself off, did he really.. Like him.. Either way? There was only one way to find out.
He boldly looked down at Sasuke’s lips, just as Sasuke did to him the night before. As he noticed, something shifted over his features and Sasuke seemed to find some confidence, beating him to it, grabbing Naruto’s chin to press their lips together again. That same tingling warmth flooded instantly through him.. It was so good.. Thrilling, addicting, dipping back into that delightful connection, he needed more.. He buried his hands in Sasuke’s hair and tugged through the strands, urgently wanting to touch him everywhere he could reach. Sasuke’s hand slid up to his hair as well, and attempted to rake through it.
“Ow!” Sasuke’s attempt failed, as it was still impossibly tangled. He just laughed and released the hair, looking at him fondly, inches away from his face.
“If you don’t own a comb, just tell me.. I’ll give you one.”
“I definitely have one!” Sasuke raised an eyebrow in suspicion. “Somewhere..”
“Hn..”
“Sasuke?” He tilted his head in question.
“Are you sure you.. Don’t want me to put the jutsu back? While we’re doing this?” Sasuke’s fond expression didn’t waver in the slightest. He simply leaned in and kissed him once more. Naruto was pulled into that dizzying feeling again, just for a moment, before Sasuke pulled away and leaned their foreheads together.
“I said I like you either way, Usuratonkachi..” He said in a serious but soft voice, pausing to think for a second, then asking, “Do you? Wanna put it back?”
Naruto considered it, it was fun and new, but it also wasn’t that different. He liked his usual self just as much. However, he glanced back at his reflection and grinned. “Maybe.. While I still have my makeover!”
Sasuke laughed and leaned back as he continued eating, his eyes never leaving Naruto for a second. Those piercing eyes could hold so much power, contempt, and anger, but right now, there was nothing but passion shining in his direction. Naruto had considered them best friends for a long time now, they were surely still rivals as well, but something was unmistakably different. After all, things had ended up even better than he was hoping, when he first realized they would be stuck together this long. The past few days were a whirlwind of emotions, from screaming to crying to laughing, all together.. And now, acknowledgement and willing coexistence. He reflected in silent contentment on exactly where he ended up. With the best breakfast he’d ever seen in front of him, cooked for him by his best friend, who chose to stay by his side even once it wasn’t necessary.. Within a village full of others, whose intolerant stares cut deeper than any kunai, the gaze of his best friend felt like the safest place in the world.
She formed the tiger seal with a proud grin.
“Naruko-jutsu!”