The Cure

Chapter 3

Sasuke left bed early that day.

He had a practice with his sensei and at the noon, he'd spar with his father, to show him that he had grown up and become a man.

As much as Sasuke found it unnecessary, he knew it was a tradition he couldn't avoid. And if he was honest, Sasuke knew he was more of a man than his father.

Sasuke wore his traditional clothes carefully and placed his katana into his belt. He wasn't very comfortable with his flippers, but he could manage.

He left his room silently and walked down the halls quickly, and acknowledged the servants who bowed to him with a nod of his head.

When he got outside he realized that it was still early for his sensei to come but he walked to the dojo nevertheless. The wooden place was silent and Sasuke decided to spend his morning there, after all, so he left the place softly as if afraid of waking it up.

He stood on the porch for a while, exactly on the spot where he had tried to kill himself a couple of days ago. Where he had been saved by a little angel.

Their first encounter and the meeting at the farm show Sasuke how innocent and pure Naruto was. And Sasuke couldn't stop himself from watching Naruto secretly.

He was always smiling at others, a smile that could melt an iceberg, and was working so hard. Sasuke assumed that his main role had to be in the kitchen but he had seen times at the little farms of the mansion too. He liked to sing as he worked and Sasuke enjoyed every second of those stolen moments.

Deep inside his heart Sasuke knew that he was becoming addicted to it and if it were only Naruto's voice Sasuke would call himself lucky. Sasuke knew very well a change was on the way. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something different in the air for him.

Sasuke briefly wondered where his wakizashi was, but he didn't pay too much attention to it. Probably one of the servants had found and placed it into a stand in the dojo.

He kept walking forward as he thought of different things, but he stopped suddenly as he reached the ancient oak tree that was behind the mansion.

The tree was big, with new green leaves, which were shivering with the soft morning breeze. The scene was beautiful and pretty relaxing actually, till he noticed something.

The tree's trunk was moving.

What the...

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and took a step closer to the tree.

Yup, it was moving. And as far as Sasuke knew, tree trunks were brown, not pink.

Sasuke got closer to the tree silently, but quickly, and as soon as he was sure what he was seeing, he covered his mouth with both hands, trying to hold back the laughter escape.

There Naruto was... With a little, pale pink blanket around him, his face was between dream and reality, while he was cuddling the tree tightly as if it were a teddy bear.

Sasuke bit down his bottom lip hard, trying to suppress another wave of laughter and he knelt beside Naruto.

The soft morning sun was illuminating his beautiful face and leaving a rosy flush on his cheeks. His lips were slightly parted and he was breathing softly. His eyelids were s a while, signaling that he was near to waking up.

Without realizing it, Sasuke's hand came up and gently touched Naruto's soft hair. It was shining brightly and the sun was giving it almost white highlights.

Sasuke traced Naruto's face with his fingertips, touching his forehead, nose, cheek, and finally his lips. They were like petals under his touch.

Naruto stirred slightly, gulped, and then licked his dry lips, touching Sasuke's fingers as he did so.