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It’s night when Sakura kisses Naruto, Sai asleep a few feet away and Yamato scouting the area. She’s gentler than he would have expected, though he isn’t sure why he would have thought it would be any different. Sakura has always had an apprehension about her and he knows that she’s not sure, that she is only trying this on. Things are different than when they were children, Naruto’s crush on her mostly over. They do love each other but there is no romance.
She’s sitting back a bit, waiting for a response, and Naruto leans in to kiss her softly on the cheek. Her breath catches in the split second she’s unsure where his lips are going, and he decides he’d better ruin it. “Ah, Sakura-chan, I knew was irresistible to you! Of course you’re in love with me!!”
When she punches him her heart doesn’t even seem in it, she’s relieved. Neither of them bring it up again.
He kisses Sasuke for the second time in a dream. He’s rough, grazes teeth along Naruto’s lip, bites nearly hard enough to draw blood. With Sasuke comes the sharp tension of static in the air and the smell of singed hair after a chidori. Naruto feels like he’s going to sneeze. This is a challenge, though, he thinks, and refuses to back down. He presses close, fingers digging into Sasuke’s scalp and pulling his face down to meet his own. He wants to stop, to just talk, to take Sasuke home, but Sasuke isn’t letting up, and Naruto feels compelled. He feels himself bite down, teeth that are his own but not quite, and tastes blood in his mouth as the kyuubi’s chakra overcomes him.
He wakes up to tears streaming down his face and Kakashi gently shaking him awake. He doesn’t acknowledge that Naruto is crying, only tells him that he’ll catch cold sleeping outside like this, expression static as usual. As he walks Naruto home, there are no wild stories of Naruto’s day, no wild gestures with still-small flailing hands.
When they reach the door, Naruto turns to say goodbye but Kakashi pauses for a moment, silence unbroken. Naruto wonders for a second if Kakashi keeps himself so covered up for moments like these, to keep the solemnness in his face and the lump in his throat less obvious. When he finally speaks, it’s soft, “It’s all right, Naruto.” The only response Naruto can muster is a nod.
It’s late afternoon and they’re resting after taijutsu training together, laying in the tall grass and warm sun. Naruto is dozing, eyes closed, his jacket rolled up as a makeshift pillow. He hears Shino roll over and scoot closer, the only sounds breaking through the silence of the field aside from wind in the trees, but he’s still caught off-guard when he feels warm breath on his face followed by slightly-chapped lips pressing against his own. It’s chaste and quick, and when Naruto opens his eyes Shino has already covered his face again, though Naruto can still see the red of his cheeks peeking over the collar.
“You should stay on guard, Naruto,” he says, tone even as he pushes his sunglasses up on his nose. He’s shifted to sit on his knees, and looks down into Naruto’s face.
“Shino…” Naruto blinks slowly, still hazy from the sun and the near-sleep, and props himself up on his elbows. It takes him a second to process the advice, but by the time he has Shino’s already hopped up and started making his way home, mumbling something about Hinata as he goes.
Naruto feels as if he doesn’t fully understand, but for once doesn’t feel the need to pursue it if Shino doesn’t. He catches himself smiling fondly later when he finds an insect hiding in the folds of his jacket.
Sai takes Naruto by surprise as well when they come up silently behind him as he’s taking a shortcut home. That flat tone calls out to him and Naruto turns just in time to see that Sai is way too close and is, in fact, taking Naruto’s face between their hands and pressing their lips to his before he can react. Sai seems stiff, maybe a bit rehearsed, but Naruto still finds himself considering how soft their lips are, how they taste like something he can’t place (fruity?), and their fingers threading into his hair.
It takes Naruto realizing that his hands have come to rest on the bare skin of Sai’s hips and Sai gently pushing their tongue past his lips before Naruto finally comes to some semblance of sense and pushes them away.
“Wait, what the hell are you doing?”
He waits for them to make some remark about how he was clearly enjoying it, but instead Sai blinks slowly, for once seeming to consider their words before finally answering, “I’m sorry. I’ve never really kissed anyone before.” They seem disappointed. “I read that the best way to kiss someone is to just go for it and take them by surprise…it also said to ‘sweep them off their feet’ but I didn’t think you would want to be picked up…”
Naruto huffs and sticks his chin out just a bit. “Well…if you wanted to practice you could have just asked.”
They pause again, watching Naruto’s face, before putting on the fakest smile Naruto has seen from them yet. “It’s okay. Nevermind.”
They’re gone almost as soon as the last syllable leaves their mouth.
The two of them sit under the cover of a tree not too far from the center of camp, shoulders just barely touching. Naruto is tired but his head is still buzzing with the events of the day, nervous that he’ll wake up and Gaara will be gone again, despite his victory and Gaara’s quiet warmth next to him. The rest of the party seems asleep already.
“Gaara,” his voice comes out not much more than a breath, and he’s not sure if he’s nervous or simply keeping from waking anyone. He doesn’t continue until Gaara hums softly in response. “Where was your seal?”
“I never had one. Shukaku was sealed in me before I was born.” Their eyes are closed but they sound as awake as ever.
“Oh.” Naruto fidgets with the hem of his jacket but he relaxes considerably with Gaara’s voice so close. “I always thought it was the kanji on your forehead. It seemed really cruel, to seal a bijuu in you with that.”
At this Gaara’s eyes open and they turn just enough to look at Naruto, their gaze steady as Naruto watches them. He always feels exposed with Gaara, as if they see through him completely, and he isn’t sure whether it makes him more or less comfortable knowing that he’s the same inside as out.
The moment drags on a bit before they finally answer, eyes for once not entirely meeting Naruto’s, “No, I did that.”
It feels wrong to say nothing but Naruto has no response at the ready, no comfort or encouragement. Gaara rests their head against the tree again, eyes closed, and they look small and tired; just Gaara and not Kazekage, as much as the title was a part of them now. Naruto thinks of his pride at hearing that Gaara had become Kazekage, remembers his own ambition and his blessing from Tsunade. On impulse he turns, careful not to disturb them too much, and presses a kiss to the kanji on Gaara’s forehead.
Gaara’s eyes fly open again and a silence hangs between them that Naruto can’t take. Desperate for some way to break the tension, he pushes himself up to stand on his knees and pulls up his jacket and undershirt, belly close to level with Gaara’s face. He grins. “This is mine. It looks kinda rough now though, huh?”
They blink, their eyes moving from Naruto’s smiling face to the seal now just barely holding the kyuubi. After another pause they duck their head just enough to softly kiss the seal just above Naruto’s bellybutton, their face lingering for a second after. When they sit back up, Gaara’s cheeks are red but Naruto hasn’t stopped smiling.
They settle in again, shoulders pressed close this time, Naruto’s head leaning slightly against Gaara’s. Both sleep easily through the night.