After returning from yet another mission, Naruto approached Sakura for his customary post-mission activity: asking her on a date. Although, after these many years, it seems the exchange is more if by rote. Naruto half-heartedly asked her out, Sakura barely managed the annoyance to stomp on his foot, and he cursed as he hopped off the injury and made his way to Ichiraku for some ramen. Just…very normal.
What was different this time, though, was what came next. Shortly after he sat down at the counter and ordered his first few bowls, someone sat down next to Naruto and started picking through the menu. Out of the corner of his eye, all Naruto saw past the menu was a slim, lithe body in a beautifully painted kimono. When his strange companion dropped the menu, the blond ninja almost choked on his noodles before he could recover and set down the bowl with a bewildered look.
“Sai?” he asked with a bit of incredulity in his voice. “Wh-what…what…”
“I have read that it is sometimes customary to celebrate with your team when you complete a successful mission,” the former Root member said softly, interrupting Naruto’s attempt at words.
“Yes, but…what are you wearing?” Naruto asked as his eyes moved over his teammate’s body. The taller man was oddly bothered by the feelings Sai was stirred inside of him or how the slip of pale skin at the other ninja’s throat made his heart beat faster.
“I just changed into something more relaxed before coming. Is it not customary to change out of your gear after a mission to unwind? I had read…” Sai began before Naruto cut him off.
“Yes, I mean…it’s just…you look really good, Sai,” he finally finished, more of a mumble to himself at the end. Naruto turned back to start on his ramen and missed the fake smile on Sai’s lips twitch a bit, those eyes brighter at the compliment. Oblivious, Naruto missed the typical façade his teammate held fade for a brief moment. “So, are you going to order something?” Naruto asked, another empty bowl joining the pile in front of him as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
Sai nodded and turned to the girl behind the counter to order a bowl before he turned his attention back to Naruto. “So what do you do after you eat ramen when we get home,” he asked the blond ninja, fake smile firmly back in place. Nothing to indicate Naruto’s words had that significant an impact on his composure.
As Sai turned back to talk to Naruto, the bigger ninja swallowed slowly. He was a bit overwhelmed by Sai’s pale chest, where the silk parted to show soft skin over hard muscle. “Ah…ah, I usually go to the baths and…take a long soak,” he mumbled in response, his throat involuntarily forced a swallow when blue eyes locked onto a single drop of sweat that rolled down the cleft in his teammate’s chest.
“Sounds like fun,” Sai chirped as his ramen was served. The woman behind the counter also set two bottles of sake between them. “Of course, you’ll have to cover up. Don’t want everyone to see how small you are,” the dark-haired ninja added as he took a sip of his drink.
Naruto’s eyebrow twitched, but before he could cuff the smaller ninja, he noticed the bottle next to him. “What’s this for?” he asked Sai, nodding to the bottle between slurps of ramen.
“I had read that celebrations call for imbibing in alcoholic beverages. It’s simply a way for us to celebrate together,” he responded, lifting his cup to Naruto. The blond ninja stared at his own cup for a moment before he gave in and raised his own to clink against Sai’s. “Kanpai,” he murmured, before taking a sip of the liquid to relish in the burn as it went down his throat.
“Kanpai,” Sai added in turn, his smile once again quavering while Naruto finished his glass. The smaller ninja poured them both another serving before he started his own ramen.
Naruto drained the second cup and let his eyes wander over his teammate as Sai ate, his own bowl only half-heartedly picked at while he sat lost in thought. His eyes were drawn to the line of hard muscle from Sai’s neck as it disappeared under the silk of his kimono. Even the way Sai’s body, one he knew to be hard and compact from the same decade of training, was hinted at under the softness of that silk. Naruto couldn’t help but swallow again before he could tear his gaze away to finish his own bowl.
“So, I was wondering…instead of the baths, would you like to come over to watch a movie? I have read that teammates should bond outside of the training grounds, and I do have a large tub you can use if you still wanted to relax,” the dark-haired ninja suggested as he set his chopsticks down. Sai sipped at his own sake again, dark eyes regarding the other intently despite the friendly smile.
“I ah…sure, I’ve never seen your place,” Naruto responded nervously, forced to slam back his third drink before he filled it again. Those eyes made him nervous, like a worm caught in the gaze of a bird. Only, Naruto couldn’t tell if the bird wanted to play or to kill.
“Good, then we can keep getting to know each other. And dinner is on me, I’m glad you let me stay,” Sai said cheerfully, ready with the money on the table for the food. He leaned over to the girl behind the counter and whispered something to her again before she smirked and wandered off. A few moments later, she returned with a bag that clinked with glass as Sai put it over his wrist.
“Are you ready?” he asked Naruto, fake smile in place as his eyes closed with mirth.
“Sure… what’s in the bag, Sai?” Naruto asked, on his feet with a nod to say goodbye to the staff.
“Just something to keep the party going, nothing to worry about. So, what kind of movie do you want to watch? I have quite a few since they contain so much excellent information on how people interact with each other and have quite a bit more impact than reading a description in a book,” Sai replied with a smirk as he led Naruto out of the shop. “This way!” he called back to Naruto, headed off toward his apartment.
Naruto swallowed again, eyes on the smaller ninja’s ass as it swayed back and forth under the silk of that kimono. The larger ninja almost tripped over himself following his teammate before he could gather his wits and catch up. “I, ah, don’t really know, I don’t get to see too many movies. Why…why don’t you pick?” he asked, walking with his hands behind his head.
Sai tripped a little, his eyes fixed on the strip of tanned skin revealed by Naruto’s stretch. The larger ninja wrapped an arm around his teammate to stop him from falling completely, but the action drew both men off-balance. Naruto managed to turn them around, so he bore the brunt of the impact. They both landed hard against the alley wall, with Sai pulled tight against Naruto’s larger body.
“You okay?” the blond ninja asked the smaller one, eyes down on his teammate’s with a soft smile on his lips. Sai looked up, his eyes full of wonder, his mouth slightly open as he stared up into Naruto’s eyes. After a moment, Sai dropped the bag of sake and took both of Naruto’s cheeks in his hands to pull him down into a deep, searing kiss.
In shock, it took Naruto a moment to respond to the action beyond gaping like an idiot. Though only a moment, then his lips began to kiss back, and his eyes slipped shut from the pleasure of the moment shared with his teammate. Strong arms wrapped more tightly around Sai, held the shorter ninja against his body just as tightly as those pale hands fisted in Naruto’s jacket to keep him close. Their lips moved furiously over one another’s, some unspoken passion that came pouring out in the scant privacy of a Kohona alleyway.
Sai was the first to move back, not from lack of desire but from a need for air. Naruto probably would have continued until he passed out from lack of oxygen, but he allowed the other to pull back just enough so they could both catch their breath. To the larger man, it felt like he’d run for miles without a break, some sadistic training session run by Kakashi to force them to the limit.
“I…where did that come from,” Naruto asked softly, one of his hands now moving up to run along Sai’s back.
“I’ve been waiting so long to do that,” came from the smaller ninja, his fingers traced patterns over Naruto’s stomach. Looking up, he smiled softly, a real and genuine smile for the blond man. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have forced myself on you like that,” he murmured.
“No, no…I could have stopped you. But…I didn’t,” Naruto said back, a look of confusion on his face at that thought. Sai reached up to kiss him softly again, just a quick peck before he stepped back to gather the bottles he dropped.
“Doesn’t look like any broke,” he said, a smile spared for the disheveled blond ninja. “Come on, let’s go back to my place,” Sai murmured almost demurely, reaching his hand out for Naruto’s.
“Wait, we’re really not going to talk about what just happened there?” the blond asked incredulously.
“I just thought that, since it is common for people who are sexually attracted to one another to flirt and then copulate, perhaps repeatedly, that we would do the same. Or are you worried it will affect our relationship, because I have also read that it can cause…” he trailed off, dropping his hand to stand in front of Naruto again before the inevitable explosion.
“WHAT?” Naruto yelled, sputtering and his face going red. “What made you think we…we…would copulate? Why were you flirting?” he asked, his eyes wide and his words sputtering.
The guise cracked again, revealing a little more of Sai’s emotion as the smaller ninja bit tentatively at his lip. “You…you do things to me, Naruto. With how the books describe it, I would say I find you…hot,” he said, moving back to look up into the blond ninja’s eyes. “But come on, you need a bath,” Sai almost sang to his teammate, his usual mask back in place. Practically dragging the now catatonic ninja along with him, he moved off towards his apartment.