1. We Drink Sake Like It's Water
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Tsunade sighed over the proposal on her desk. Resting her chin on her hand, she reread the paper. Simply put, this was unacceptable. He had not proven himself trustworthy enough to leave Konoha walls, never mind his completion of the terms of his punishment. Tsunade grinned wryly to herself. Perhaps five years was not enough. She should have made it a lifetime.
She dropped the proposal back on the desk and leaned back on her chair.
"Thinking hurts," Tsunade mumbled to herself, rubbing her forehead with two fingers. Thinking about these things would just send her into early retirement.
Everything seemed much more complicated when a person was sober. Sake was the true savior of the shinobi. She rummaged through the huge mounds of paper on her desk, searching for her flask of top-quality, especially strong sake.
"Damn that Shizuka," she grumbled, knowing that Shizuka disproved of her drinking sake. She had taken to hiding the flasks in obscure locations. Good thing she had secret stashes of her own. Pulling open a secret drawer at the side of the desk, she smiled at the sight of a large brown flask.
Taking a large swig out of it, Tsunade perused the papers again. There were a lot of things that could go wrong with what she was going to allow. In fact, the safety of Konoha was possibly tottering on some obscenely high cliff. Yet, if she did not allow this to go through, he'll leave anyway. He did it once; he certainly could do it again. Her hands were tied in this matter.
Tsunade glared at the air in front of her. He probably knew that he had nothing to lose when he handed in this proposal. That conniving little bugger. He only sent in the paper for show, as a "sign" of respect. Kami knows how much he actually respects her.
He was a good shinobi, she'll give him that. Probably one of the strongest Konoha had ever seen. He had proven himself worthy of his family name despite his past's regressions. She knew that he was probably getting agitated over the state of his punishment. When he had returned from his six-year absence, she had harnessed his true power by deactivating his seal and forbidding him to use his eyes' ultimate technique. She, with the agreement of the town's elders, had limited him to only B-class missions. His restlessness was understandable.
And yet, to want to go far beyond Konoha walls, to travel to the esteemed Rice country in order to find a bride! What kind of fool did he take her for? That was just unacceptable. There were plenty of good, strong girls in Konoha. Many of whom would give away their first born to marry the Uchiha.
Muttering to herself, she listed the number of shinobi girls that were eligible, "There's Sakura, my protégée who is one of the best medics in the world. She's strong. She's pretty. Everyone would love to date her."
That everyone included Naruto, who would kill her if she allowed Sakura to marry the guy, no matter how much Sakura might have liked him in the past. Besides, Tsunade was sure that there was something going on between her protégée and the demon-carrying ninja.
"Ino is very a highly recommended girl", she said, switching gears. "She owns her own business, she's single, and she's also very pretty."
But Sasuke seemed to hate the girl! He was just too fastidious. If this keeps up, Sasuke would never marry and would probably end up an old geezer, stuck up in that titanic gloomy house, only having his depressing memories to hold on to. The thought was disheartening and it caused Tsunade to take another large swig of her flask.
She did not hate him despite popular opinion. In fact, mostly, she pitied him. Nobody argued with the fact that Sasuke Uchiha had a horrible life. To be seven and wake up to the mass destruction of his family by one of his own blood was unspeakable. Then, to have a sole goal in life to train in order to beat, no, to kill, the one who had destroyed his childhood. Now that he killed him, he no longer had a direction in life. His power was staggering; yet, there was no need for him to use his power anymore. He was restricted from protecting Konoha. He was not allowed to participate in any duels for the elders were afraid that he would kill someone. No one would actually challenge him anyway.
Before the massacre, the Uchihas were a very respected family. They brought a lot of prestige and power to Konoha. She knew that he wanted to restore his clan to its rightful high place. He probably wanted an heir as well as a wife to clean up and take care of that huge house.
"He probably wouldn't find anyone in the rice country anyways, given that disposition of his. I don't there is anyone who could take his mood swings," Tsunade said, smiling wryly.
Tsunade cackled over the thought of Sasuke unable to find a girl and having to return to Konoha bride-less. Many she'll be nice and saddle him to one of his fangirls.
The only way that the elders would agree to his proposal is if something was done to make sure that he would not betray Konoha again.
"But what?" she mused, taking another drink.
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"Dobe!"
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a blur of orange barreling toward him. Sasuke sighed as he downed the cup of sake in front of him. He had hoped for a quiet evening but that proved to be impossible as long as he was in the same vicinity as Uzamani. He shoved the empty cup in front of the bar waitress and gestured for her to refill it.
Giving him a slightly disgruntled look, Naruto slid into the seat next to him.
"How many have you already had?" Naruto demanded, calling the waitress over as he spoke. "I'm going to beat you."
Nonchalantly, Sasuke took a sip from his cup and said, "Twenty."
He didn't have to turn to look at Naruto to see the expression of disbelief on his face.
"You're going to kill your liver," Naruto yelled, causing heads to turn around and look at the pair. "It's going to turn all molted and brown and yellow. And then, your body would start turning murky and ugly. And it wouldn't be able to take out the bad stuff from your body. And! YOU'LL DIE!"
Sasuke casually took another sip from his cup, ignoring the disgruntled look on Naruto's face.
"Been reading Sakura's textbooks again?"
Naruto burned red but he smiled largely, dropping the issue on his alcohol consumption and focusing on the love of his life. One that was beginning to warm up to his advances. In fact, just yesterday, she had agreed to come with him to eat ramen!
"No!" Naruto said. "She's been taking to me these days you know. Telling me things. Letting me do things for her. She hasn't ignored me for weeks!"
"Hn."
Naruto smiled at the cherry blossoms painted on his cup and asked, "should I ask her to be my girlfriend?"
Annoyed, Sasuke downed the cup in front of him and gestured for another one.
"How should I know?"
His sarcastic tone was mistakenly interpreted. Eyes wide and accusing, Naruto stood up and pointed his finger at Sasuke's face and threatened, "you don't like her do you? I wouldn't stand for this you know. You broke her heart already so you basically lost your chance!"
"Sit down and shut up dobe. You're giving me a headache."
Quieted but still indignant, Naruto asked again, "do you?"
"No."
"Oh, good."
Much happier now, Naruto downed his sake with great vigor and slammed his cup in front of him, causing the bar waitress to glare from her position. He sheepishly laughed and rubbed the back of his neck and mouthed 'sorry'. She turned around in a huff and ignored his gesture for more sake.
"Hmm, bad service," Naruto said, earning him another glare.
Sasuke pushed his cup of sake towards Naruto and stood up. He took out his wallet and pulled out a few bills, paying for both his cups and Naruto's. He headed for the door, deciding to bypass a day of bringing a drunken Naruto home by going to bed early. However, his plans for peace were stopped when Naruto spoke again.
"I asked her already. She told me that she had to think about it."
"Sakura still loves you, you know," Naruto continued, playing with the flowered cup in front of him. "She doesn't have to voice it, I just know."
"I know," Sasuke said, looking away.
"She told me that she didn't want to anymore," Naruto said, looking up and smiling a embittered smile at his best friend. "I believe her and I want her to."
"Hn."
"It's funny though. When I was younger, I loved her and she loved you. When you left, she began to warm up to me. Then, now that you've been back… she's confused. It's been six years and she still has feelings for you!"
"Hn."
Naruto glared up at his careless tone, "I should hate you but I don't. I couldn't."
Sasuke sighed, rubbing his right hand over his face. He did not sign up to be the caring best friend when he stepped back into Konoha lands. He did not want to be portrayed as the heartless murderer who betrayed his village. He did not want to have to prove himself when everyone was looking for him to fail. Heaving another sigh, Sasuke dropped back into the seat beside Naruto and took up his cup of sake again.
The two sat there together, in silence, both musing over their pasts and their futures. They sat there for a long time, perhaps hours, each drinking glass after glass of sake before wordlessly getting up and going home to fall into troubled dreams.
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Play list: It is You-Dana Clover, Fallen-?, What I've Done-Marie Digby, Surrender-Celine Dion,