Eight days later, Naruto and Sasuke were back at the village. The former with a little red book in his hand, and a smug grin on his features, the latter switching between sneering at the other, and shaking his head in amusement. His best friend had been turned into another Kakashi. Jiraiya would be proud. But when Naruto had told him what he and his partner had done that very day... Sasuke couldn't help but feel a bit jealous, even if he hadn't been told any juicy details, no matter how persistent the raven had been. He had convinced the blond, however, to let him read the books as soon as he was done.
He blinked. He was turning into another pervert. Damn.
They went directly to the Hokage tower to report their uneventful mission, and ended up enduring Tsunade throwing yet another tantrum, and proclaiming she would kill Kakashi when she recognized the book in her little brother's hand. They had a hard time calming her down again. It was only when Naruto pointed out that he was an adult, and would be very, very sad if the woman killed his boyfriend, (she gawked for a moment at that; they hadn't particularly kept their relationship a secret, but Kakashi wasn't one for PDA) that she finally relaxed a bit.
When they left the tower again and began walking through the village, Sasuke turned to his friend.
"Where do we go tonight?"
They had a sort-of-ritual that after every mission which was at least B-rank (like this one), they would go for a drink the night they returned. But to the raven's surprise, Naruto shook his head, his eyes not leaving the book.
"Sorry, I promised Kakashi to visit him when I got back."
Sasuke stared at his friend for a moment. Naruto had gained the awful habit to kind of ignore him over the past few weeks, and now his patience had run out.
"Oh, so now that you've successfully wooed Kakashi I'm unimportant, or what?" They'd not once in the last 14 months skipped this particular ritual. Naruto looked at him, frowning, before he stopped. Sasuke stood as well.
"Don't be stupid, teme. But I haven't seen him in more than a week, and I've seen you every day."
"So? That was a mission, and we've always gone out after missions like this! Even after you-know-what!" The raven's voice rose in volume.
"It's just today, why are you so mad? It's not like I said I won't ever go out with you again." Naruto closed the book in his hand and put it away. They ignored their audience.
"Just today?", the Uchiha hissed, "Just today?! You've ditched me six times ever since you started your thing with Kakashi, and half of those times you didn't even fucking notice!"
"What?", Naruto blinked, "No way."
"Yes way. The first time-" Sasuke held out a finger "-was after your first date, when Aoba and I returned from our mission. You're usually at my place before I'm even back to pester me about the outcome-"
"You always say it annoys you, so-", the blond started, but was ignored.
"The second time was a week after that. I asked you for a spar and you just waved me off because you had another date. The third time was the day after that, same event. The fourth time is really funny", Sasuke laughed dryly, four fingers in the air now, "The day after that, you promised to spar with me that afternoon, but -surprise, surprise- you never showed up! Number five-"
"It's okay now, I got it!", Naruto interrupted, glaring hard at his so-called friend, "Well, I'm sorry, but I do have a life outside of you now!"
"That's not the point-" This time, it was Sasuke who was interrupted.
"That's exactly the point! Do you think I'm stupid? Yeah, I know you do, but guess what? I do have some brain cells as well. You're just mad that I don't jump every time you call me anymore, that you've lost your favourite toy to kill some time. But you know what? I don't fucking care! I have a life as well, and it consists of spending time with people that aren't you, too, and if you're too much of a bitch to accept that-"
"FINE! Fine, do whatever you want, I don't fucking care! Go to your lover, go! I won't ask you for something again, I don't even know why I do at all! But don't come to me when you're bored, or when he ditches you, got it?! Bye!" And with that, Sasuke stormed off.
"I won't, don't worry!", Naruto yelled after him, angrily stomping in the other direction.
In the audience, two young women looked at each other.
"I haven't heard them fighting like that for years...", one of them stated, worried. The other nodded.
"Yeah, this one's serious, not the usual banter."
They were silent for a moment, until one of them spoke up again.
"I guess I better talk to Sasuke-kun. Naruto will go to Kakashi, but Sasuke-kun..."
The other nodded, a crooked smile on her features, and she took off.
It wasn't hard for her to find him, especially not with the noise coming from the training grounds, where he let out his anger. When she arrived, her eyes grew big. He had only been here for like three minutes, and already half of the area surrounding him was completely destroyed. She carefully approached him while he stood there, Chidori Shinsō-ing [9] multiple trees around him at once, turning every one of them into dust.
"Sasuke-kun?"
He whipped around, Sharingan swirling frantically and panting harshly, the anger practically emitting from him in thick waves. She took a step back.
"Sakura. Leave."
She hesitantly shook her head and tried to approach him, but the sword pointing at her throat stopped her.
"Now", he seethed.
Sakura watched him a moment, before something akin to pitying love settled in her eyes. She sighed and gave a small, sad smile.
"I'll go. But... when you feel like talking, you know where I am." She turned around and walked away. She met up with Ino again, who was still at the café where they had sat when her two friends had shouted at each other. She shook her head while she sat down again.
"No use. He threatened me..."
The blonde nodded and sighed, looking in the direction of where Naruto had stomped off.
"I think Naruto doesn't realize just how deeply Sasuke-kun cares about him..."
Sakura shook her head, "But then again, he never has, right?"
Sasuke let out his anger and frustration on his environment for another few hours, far into the dark night. He was panting harshly, his uniform completely ruined. He fell to his knees, leaning heavily on his sword. He stayed like that for a while until he finally regained his breath. He was completely exhausted, both physically and mentally. He wasn't one to mope around, and preferred action over words, after all, like his destroyed surroundings proved. Staring numbly at the ground in front of him, he whispered a few words into the night, words he had once long ago spoken to his brother.
"I don't mind you being with someone else and spending time with them, you idiot... It's okay, as long as we can be together sometimes..."
He slowly pulled himself up into a standing position and headed home.
Naruto, on the other hand, had stormed into Kakashi's apartment, nearly broken down the door with his knocking, and simply grabbed his partner, dragging him into the bedroom as soon as it had been opened. Kakashi had been rather surprised, but he had decided to ask his questions later. He was a man, after all. And some time later, when they both lay sprawled on his bed trying to gather their thoughts again, he finally asked.
"Not that I'm complaining... but what was that about?"
Naruto stayed silent for a while before he finally huffed and answered.
"The teme was being an asshole again. He accused me of only spending time with you and not him, the sissy", he hissed angrily and turned to face his lover. The older male raised his eyebrows, a tiny little bit of worry settling in his gut. That didn't sound good... And Naruto had been spending an awful lot of time at his place in the past weeks. He didn't voice that out loud however, they were adults now and it wasn't his job to look out for them anymore. Even if he didn't like the sound of everything.
The next sixteen days were not pretty. Whenever Sasuke and Naruto were in the same room, the air around them practically vibrated with anger, and even if they ignored each other as much as possible, broken furniture and other things had become rather common. Several people tried to talk to the both of them about it, but, stubborn like they were, they refused to listen. And where Sasuke took any mission he got, Naruto refused to go on any of them unless Kakashi would come, too.
And Kakashi... Well, Kakashi was getting both tired and irritated by the blond's affectionate behavior. Among other things, like the fact that Naruto was at his apartment nearly 24/7, and even got there before Kakashi himself got out of bed. The whole thing made him think about certain other things, and on this very same day, when he again awakened due to the sound of someone preparing breakfast in his kitchen, he finally decided to do something about it. And so he stood up, got dressed and made his way he into the kitchen where the blond greeted him with a kiss, like every morning, before he continued preparing something to eat. Kakashi soundlessly sighed and sat at the table.
"Naruto, we have to talk."
"Mhm? What is it?" The blond fumbled with the knot in a plastic bag for a bit, until he simply ripped it open.
Preparing himself inwardly for the reaction, and praying that he'd survive this, the older male spoke.
"I think it would be better if we break up."
Naruto froze mid-step. It was silent for a while, until he turned and looked at the taller male with a strange expression on his face. Taking that as the hint to continue, Kakashi opened his mouth again.
"I don't think we're really fitted for this. I'm not really the affectionate type while you certainly are, and to be honest... It has been strange the whole time for me. I know you're you, but sometimes I can't help but... see you father standing in front of me. That's plain awkward, and kind of wrong. And sometimes I still see the 12 year old boy you once were, and that makes it even stranger..."
Kakashi was sorry, he really was. Even more so when the young man in front of him stayed strangely emotionless. He wondered what would happen now... But a selfish little part inside of him reminded him of the promise Naruto had given him that one day in the restaurant; that no matter what happened, they would still stay comrades, friends.
Some more time passed in which Naruto studied the other's uncovered face, until he said something. His throat felt dry.
"I... see", he forced a smile on his face, "Well... then I'm sorry to have wasted your time-"
"No! You did not waste my time. It was nice while it lasted, you're a great partner, we're just not-"
"Yeah yeah, I get it, 'we're not meant to be' and all this junk. I think I better leave now. I'll... return your stuff later." The blond suddenly felt a tingling in his eyes. He wanted, needed to leave, now, or else he'd embarrass himself even more.
"Don't. I gave those things to you and I want you to keep them", Kakashi retorted softly, carefully observing the other. He flinched when he saw the tears threatening to fall.
"Okay. Bye then."
Naruto rushed out of the apartment, not once looking back to see the pained expression on the other's face.
"Bye..."
As soon as the door behind him closed softly with a 'click', Naruto shunshin-ed back to his apartment, and threw himself onto the bed he had left only half an hour ago. He simply laid there, face pressed into the pillow, trying to ignore the constantly increasing wetness in his eyes and on his cheeks. He was not some teenage girl, he was a grown man and nearly 19 years old! And he would handle it as one, dammit! He tightly shut his eyes and dug his fingers into the sheets. This had been his first real relationship. He had developed some serious feelings for Kakashi, and now he had been ditched... I have every damn right to feel like this, dang it! He grabbed the stuffed toad Sasuke had once given to him after Naruto had pestered him enough about it.
Sasuke.
He felt another sharp pain in his heart before a bitter smile tugged at his lips. He'd finally messed up enough to be completely alone again, after years of finally being acknowledged. But right now, he found himself enjoying his solitude, because this way, no one would ask embarrassing questions.
Tightly pressing the toad to his chest, he threw the covers over himself and turned around, now facing the wall.
Life simply sucked right now.
Over the next few days, no one saw the blond Jinchūriki outside of his apartment at all. His friends were worried, but they didn't know what they should do. He refused to talk to anyone, not even acknowledging their presence in his home. Sakura went up to Kakashi to get some answers from him, but she got nothing more than a short shaking of his head and sad look, accompanied by a deep sigh. Something akin to pity came into her eyes then, and after some tries to get Naruto to talk to her. she concluded one thing: They'd need Sasuke for this. Problem was though, the raven was out on yet another mission, and no one was really sure when he'd return. And so she summoned Katsuyu, explained the situation and instantly had two small slugs in her hands. She stationed one at the gate and carried the other around with her, that way she'd know immediately when her former crush returned.
A few more days later, Katsuyu poked her head out of Sakura's pouch while she was eating lunch with Ino and Shizune at the hospital.
"Sakura-sama, Sasuke-kun has returned. He is currently speaking with the guards."
Sakura jumped from her chair and rushed out of the hospital. The sooner she dragged Sasuke-kun's ass to Naruto, the sooner everything would be back to normal again. And Kakashi could finally stop feeling sorry all the time.
"How is he? Is he hurt anywhere?"
"I did not see any injuries. He seems very tired however."
"Alright. Thank you, Katsuyu-sama. You may go now."
"Very well. I hope Naruto-kun will come to his senses soon." And with that, the small slug disappeared in a puff of smoke.
A short moment later, Sakura arrived at the gate and the first thing she did when she saw her childhood crush walking into the village was throwing a punch at him.
Completely caught off guard, he stared at her for a moment while she crossed her arms and frowned at him.
"What do you think you're-"
"Kakashi dumped Naruto and he hasn't come out of his apartment in days", Sakura interrupted him, her eyes narrowing when she saw his gaze becoming cold. "I don't care what you two are fighting over now, but fix it."
"No", Sasuke simply said and turned to leave again. The girl grabbed his arm and spun him forcefully around, not flinching when she saw red eyes glaring back at her.
"Why do I always have to take care of him?!"
"Because you are his best friend, and probably the only one who knows what's going on in that thick head he has." Her features suddenly softened. "Please... No one managed to get him out of there. He didn't even acknowledge Lee-san's presence when he challenged him. And the only thing he did when Kiba tried was throwing the stuffed frog he's been clutching the whole time at him."
Sasuke's eyes widened the tiniest bit. Naruto still had it...? He looked into Sakura's pleading eyes and finally rolled his own, Sharingan disappearing.
"Fine... Fine, I'll go to him." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, muttering to himself, "I swear, this is worse than taking care of a little kid..."
The young woman smiled at him gratefully and gave him a little shove into the right direction, a little more forcefully than necessary. Grimacing shortly at the pain in his back, he made his way to the blond's apartment.
When he arrived, he sighed once more while fishing in his pockets for his keys. He opened the door and entered the flat, heading straight for the bedroom. He frowned at the darkness in the rooms, and when he pushed the door the bedroom open, he froze.
Empty Instant Ramen-cups, clothes, books and scrolls were littered everywhere, Naruto himself lying motionlessly in his bed under the covers. Sasuke scrunched his nose at the mess. He had finally forced the blond to keep his apartment clean over a year ago when had shoved a Ramen cup with spoiled leftovers and some bugs into his face. He sighed again, and walked over to the unmoving figure on the bed.
"Oi, dobe."
He was mildly surprised, and a bit disturbed, when the younger male didn't even flinch at hearing his voice.
"I can't believe you. Hiding in here and moping around like a little girl... Pathetic, really", the raven continued casually, leaning against the wall, arms crossed in front of his chest. At hearing this, Naruto stirred and slowly turned around enough to look at the other. Sasuke inwardly flinched. He couldn't remember if he had seen those blues eyes like... that once before. He didn't like it. Not one bit.
"I know why you're here. Sakura sent you, didn't she? Well, we both know you don't want to be here, so just leave, will ya?" And with that, Naruto turned away again.
Sasuke looked at him incredulously.
"Don't you think I'd have been able to get rid of her if I wanted to? Actually, right now, I think you like this. You like staying here, being pitied by everyone else and wallowing in your self-loathing. But guess what? I don't like it, and since I'm your friend, I'll sure as hell kick your ass out of here if I have to."
Naruto whipped around again and glared at him, but that soon faded again and he slumped down, covering his eyes with his arm.
"Why are you even here?", he asked softly, "You told me not to come to you, and yet here you are."
Sasuke sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed, showing a side of himself only Naruto would ever see.
"Like I said, I'm your friend... And I'm sorry about what I said back then, I was mad and because of that unreasonable-"
"No. No you weren't unreasonable", the blonde interrupted him, "I thought about it these past days -it's not like I had anything else to do- and you were right. I was an asshole. I completely forgot about my friends, even you. I should've realized, but I didn't. I'm sorry."
Sasuke shook his head, leaning back against the headboard.
"But still, I shouldn't have made such a scene. I knew you were a lovesick puppy and needed some sense knocked into you again, but instead I let my anger get the better of me. I guess love really does make people blind, huh?"
They both smiled, Naruto's bitter and Sasuke's crooked.
"Yeah, seems that way."
Silence settled between them in which Sasuke discreetly observed the blond who started playing around with the stuffed toad on his stomach.
"I can't believe you still have it", the raven stated and nodded at the toad. Naruto chuckled a bit, and made the stuffed animal salute at him.
"Sure I do. You gave it to me, that's reason enough to keep it."
"Now you're being sappy", Sasuke replied, a small smile tugging at his lips. His friend only shrugged and punched him in the ribs with the toad's stuffed hand. After a while, he spoke up again.
"I'm not even that sure why it's taking me so long to come clear with the whole shit. I mean, it's not like Kakashi was being mean or something, quite the opposite actually, but somehow..."
"... What did he say?"
With a sigh Naruto told him the exact word's his ex-lover had said to him that day. Not only because he wanted to talk about it to someone badly, but to prevent some accidents happening to Kakashi otherwise.
"You're right, it was really sensible of him to put it that way. Too bad, now I don't have a reason to hurt him."
The blond threw the toad at Sasuke's face, who only caught it and placed it in his own lap.
"Don't do that. I can take care of myself."
The raven raised an eyebrow and threw a meaningful gaze at the mess in the room.
"... Okay, I can usually take care of myself. Better?"
Sasuke nodded, along with the toad in his hands.
"But I'll come around again, I promise. I just need some more time without seeing him... I really, really liked him, you know?" Naruto closed his eyes and sighed deeply. The other simply looked at him. If that was what being heartbroken was like... he'd rather go without it. After a few more moments the Jinchūriki peeked at him and raised his arm, finger's curled into a fist.
"Everything's good again?"
Sasuke smiled slightly, before he lightly bumped his own fist against the other's.
"Everything's good again."
Soon after that, the raven decided he had been soft long enough, and shoved his friend ungracefully out of the bed, pointed at the mess in the room and simply said, "Clean it. Now." He ignored the other's growling when he got to work, and the Uchiha sat down on the bed again, watching his friend get rid of the trash lying around and put books and scrolls back into the shelves. When Naruto was nearly done, Sasuke got up and moved into the kitchen to prepare a real meal for the both of them, even if he was dead tired and actually wanted nothing more than to sleep for at least twelve hours straight. With a quick glance out of the window he noticed it was already dark outside. He should head home soon. With a wince he remembered that he still needed to report to Tsunade as well... but that'd have to wait until tomorrow. And if the blond woman would yell at him, he could always blame Sakura for everything. It was her fault, after all.
They ate in silence, and as soon as they were done, Sasuke made an attempt to leave the apartment.
"I'll go home now. Don't do anything more stupid than you usually do, got it?"
But before he could even go past the kitchen table, a hand grabbed his wrist and stopped him.
"Stay here tonight... please."
Sasuke watched his friend for a while, both staying silent. Naruto didn't look at him, but the grip around his wrist was strong. After a while, he sighed and nodded. Somehow, he wasn't all that surprised by that request. And so they simply put away their dishes and went to bed.
A few hours later, Sakura climbed up the wall to get to the window of Naruto's apartment. She hadn't heard anything from neither him nor Sasuke the whole day, and she just wanted to check on them... Not that they finally killed each other or something. She peeked through the window, eyes trying to focus on the place where she knew the bed was, and when she made out two humanly shaped schemes in the dark, a bright smile appeared on her features. One of them was curled up on the bed, head underneath a pillow, and the other lying on his stomach, arm and leg sprawled across the first person.
That's kind of childish... But well, it's not like they really had time to be childish when they were children, ne?, she thought to herself, disappearing into the night. Naruto, Sasuke-kun... Your friendship reaches far deeper than anything this village has seen before. And I'll continue making sure that this fact won't change…
The next morning, Sasuke was roughly awakened by a hand shoving him off the edge off the bed, making him fall hard on the ground. He sat there for a moment, until he heard someone snickering above him and glared at that someone.
"Naruto-"
"Oh, suck it up. You should know better than letting me sleep on the side facing the wall."
Sasuke growled. As sad as it was, Naruto was right. That had been stupid of him. Cursing under his breath the raven got to his feet and punched the smaller one's head before getting some of his clothes out of the closet and getting dressed. When his eyes fell on the bag with the empty ramen cups, a thought came to his mind.
"By the way... As I've been told you haven't left your apartment since... then. How did you stock up on those?" He pointed at the bag.
Naruto pulled his shirt over his head and shrugged.
"Kage Bunshin plus Henge[10]." He may be depressed, but not as much as to try and starve himself to death.
Sasuke blinked. That was... smart. But sadly, he didn't have the time to stay here any longer and got ready to leave, not without promising however to drag Naruto's sorry ass out of the apartment as soon as he was done with Tsunade and Sakura, and whoever else was going to annoy him today. The blond simply waved him off at that.
"Hai, hai, tō-chan."
Sasuke's eyebrow twitched.
"What did you just call me...?"
"Tō-chan. Or do you prefer kā-chan?" Naruto dodged the book that was thrown at him, snickering madly.
"Nah, you're too ugly to be my kā-chan." Another book flew at him and an idea struck his head along with it.
"I know! You'll be teme-nii-chan from now on!"
The next thing Naruto knew was that he was on the floor with a killer headache. And judging from the sunlight outside of his apartment, it was around noon. Carefully brushing his fingers across the throbbing bruise on his head, he couldn't help but chuckle.
Seems like teme-nii-chan likes his new nickname...
True to his promise, Sasuke returned in the early afternoon. He wasn't very gentle about it though and simply grabbed the blond's collar and dragged him out of the apartment. Naruto tried to free himself, shouting curses and insults at his friend who didn't even twitch at them. A few of his friends tried to come closer to talk to him, but a warning glare from the Uchiha taught them better. The Jinchūriki didn't really care to notice about that in his rampage, but his little tantrum however ended as soon as he realized they were heading to Ichiraku. The fury in his eyes was replaced with bliss and all his wriggling ended.
They sat down and Teuchi beamed at his favorite customer. He wasn't all that up to date, but he had been worried when Naruto hadn't shown up at their place for such a long time. The blond smiled back and ordered his favorite ramen. While they were eating, Naruto interrogated his friend about his latest missions and noticed with an inward smile that no difficult non-solo missions were among them. So even then Sasuke refused to go without him, even if he didn't say it out loud.
When they were done, Naruto reached for Gama-chan to pay for his meal, but before he could do so Sasuke shook his head.
"My treat. You haven't done any missions lately and therefore didn't get any salary. The last thing I need is you showing up on my doorstep 'cause you couldn't pay your rent, idiot."
The blond ignored the insult and threw his arms around Sasuke's neck, who instantly tried to shove him off again.
"Awww, nii-chan worries about me!"
Another pair watching the whole interaction chuckled when Naruto was thrown into the fence on the other side of the street after he said something while hugging a struggling Sasuke. The young woman with pink hair nudged the man next to her in the ribs.
"It's unbelievable how fast Sasuke-kun made him go back to his senses, ne? Sensei?"
Kakashi eye-smiled at her and nodded.
"They may not really realize it, but... I think all they really need is each other."
Sakura looked at him astounded.
"Do you mean-" She stopped talking when he shook his head.
"No, not that way. Don't tell anyone, but Naruto told me they had been an item for a few weeks, and that it had been a disaster." He thought for a moment, "No, not like that at all. They need each other on a whole other level, something far deeper than that. And while each of them might need, and mostly want, others as well, just like Naruto with me, they won't be able to be truly happy without each other. Or why do you think did Naruto succeed in erasing the hatred within Sasuke? And why Sasuke let him erase it?"
Sakura thought about it for a moment before she agreed. Indeed. They were all great friends, and she knew she held a special place in both of their hearts, just like they did in hers, but between her two boys existed something special. Something she again resolved to protect, no matter what. She owed it to them.
