Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.
Author's note: This is my first Naruto fanfiction published on this site. The story takes place 7-10 years or so after the Fourth Great Ninja War. Umm, parts of it are very OOC. I tried to make it humorous which led to the OOC-ness. I used some derogatory terms for homosexuals, but I do not condone those terms, they were used as a part of the storyline. So please forgive me if I offend you guys with that.
Finally, this is un-betad. Enjoy!
"Chouji! That was my piece!"
"You should be faster then. Mmmm…the last piece is the best!"
"Damn you, asshole. How the fuck did I end up at the same table as you again?" Ino shrieked loud enough for the entire restaurant to hear.
Luckily, today the restaurant was closed to patrons so the Hokage could celebrate the one-year anniversary of his inauguration with his close friends. Said friends included the rookie 9, Team Gai, and Sai. Since it's been over a year since they all got together, Naruto made sure none of them had missions so they could finally catch up. And that's how they all ended up at the Yakiniku Q.
Sakura, Shino, Neji, and Tenten sat at leftmost table enjoying a quiet conversation. Naruto, Sasuke, Sai, Kiba, and Shikamaru sat at the table directly adjacent to them. Kiba and Naruto cracking jokes about the academy days and laughing amongst themselves as the others ate silently. Akamaru lounged below their table; happily chewing on the meat Kiba threw his way. To their right, Ino, and Chouji fought on as Hinata tried to console them. Meanwhile, Lee, who also sat at that table, saw this as a perfect way of competing with Chouji to declare his youthful vigor in eating the most meat.
As Ino continued to shriek at Chouji, Shikamaru looked away from that table towards the two members of team 7 sitting across from him.
"So, have you two made it official yet?"
In hindsight, he probably should've considered asking this when Naruto wasn't trying to stuff a full cow into his mouth. As such, the blond hokage proceeded to choke on said mangled piece of meat, as his neighbor—not so gently—slapped his back to stop the choking.
"I have no idea what you are talking about" Sasuke replied easily, his face not betraying any emotions, as he gave the idiot next to him a glass of water while continuing to slap his back.
Naruto drank the water in three loud gulps and slammed the glass back on the table. "Sasuke is right. What are you talking about, Shikamaru? We are friends. In fact, Sasuke is like a brother to me. Right Sasuke?"
Naruto turned to his Anbu guard, who gave him a look of utmost disgust. "You are not my brother," he stated with finality.
"That's true. I'm pretty sure Sasuke-kun never thought about his brother's penis. Or lack thereof, in this case," Sai helpfully supplied, "at least, I don't think brothers thinks about each others penises. Unless, Sasuke-kun's into sort of thing."
Naruto nervously watched as Sasuke's hands twitched with what he suspected was the start of a chidori. He furiously turned to Sai, as he stood up pointing a finger at his socially retarded friend.
"Sai! I thought you had enough common sense now to not talk about that shit anymore," Naruto exclaimed trying to keep as far away from the crackling hand as possible.
"I was just trying to make conversation. It's my fault your boyfriend is a block of ice not capable of any sentience," Sai replied smiling. This only caused Sasuke to twitch some more, as he finished the last piece of meat on his plate, and proceeded to leave the yakiniku restaurant.
"I don't know what that means, but you'll pay for it, Sai. Just as soon as I get that bastard back in here," Naruto said as he threw a dirty look Sai's way and quickly exited the restaurant.
All three tables watched this spectacle as their hokage chase after his personal guard.
"Pitiful," Neji scorned from the adjacent table, "the hokage begging his Anbu to come back. What will the rest of the world say if they see this?"
"Hmm. I think the entire world knows our hokage is a masochist whose needs can only be satisfied by the woes of the last Uchiha." Tenten replied absent-mindedly as she flipped the meat on the grill.
"That is very true," Ino said from across the room as she chewed on the meat she salvaged from Chouji, "I mean, they did go all out, shouting their feelings and everything, in front of the entire ninja army during the war. It was like watching the climax of a chick-flick, except instead of kissing they beat the shit out of each other."
"Please," Sakura remarked, "I've seen chick flicks which were less sappy than their fight. As their teammate and close friend for the past 15 years, believe me not even Nicholas Sparks can come close to writing a relationship like theirs."
"Good thing we all got over our crushes, huh" Ino giggled.
Sakura shrugged as she muttered to no one in particular, "what choice did we have?"
Hinata looked down at her plate solemnly, before a genuine smile blossomed on her face, "but I am happy that Naruto-kun is happy. That they are both happy."
Sakura couldn't help but agree wholeheartedly.
Shikamaru sighed, "This whole situation is so troublesome."
"You are the one that brought it up," Kiba remarked, "What I don't understand is why is everyone so hell bent upon assuming those two are gay. Ok, Sasuke may be a bit fruity, but Naruto invented the oiroke jutsu! The man loves all things female. Just because they tripped on each other and kissed again during the inauguration last year doesn't make them queer."
"Your lack of observation skills is pitiful, Inuzuka," Neji observed as he continued to gracefully eat from his plate.
"What? Say that to my face asshole!" Kiba launched off his seat towards the long-haired man within seconds.
"Your lack of observation skills is pitiful," Neji repeated calmly.
Before Kiba could retort he heard chuckling across the table from Sai. "Haha, your reactions are almost as funny as Naruto's. You two are like rabid hyenas taking off at the smallest insults."
"Shut up, asshole. And don't compare me to him!" Kiba retorted pointing a finger at Sai.
"Neji is right, Kiba," Shino spoke up for the first time, "That is because, Naruto and Sasuke always had a special sort of relationship. But if you notice them within this past year, you can see a certain sort of aura between them that only they seem to understand. And I'm pretty sure, Sasuke was sporting a hickey the size of Hokage Mountain when I ran into him and Naruto at the onsen the other day."
Kiba considered what his ex-teammate had to say before he put his hands behind his head and grumbled, "Shino you are supposed to be defending me against others, not agreeing with them"
Shikamaru threw a painful look Kiba's way.
"Either way," Lee said in between his competition with Chouji to eat the most plates of meat, "I think Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun are truly enjoying their youth. Naruto-kun was so happy when Sasuke-kun came back. And now Sasuke-kun swore on his life to protect Naruto-kun. I think it is a wonderful attestation to the springtime of youth."
"Maa, it's none of my business," Shikamaru said as he turned away from Lee's grand speech, "the only reason I asked is because Naruto is the Hokage. A leader having such a relationship, especially with someone like Sasuke, who is not only well-known in his own right, but is the last of the Uchiha clan… I doubt it will sit well with council and other countries. Plus there is the added complication of sharingan and Naruto's tailed beast."
"Shikamaru," Sakura interrupted narrowing her eyes, "I think Sasuke-kun has proven time and time again since his return of his loyalty towards Konoha and especially Naruto. And in terms of the council and the other countries, who the hell cares what they think? It's none of their business. Besides, Naruto is more than capable of making them believe in him regardless of his personal life. I think," she said getting lost in her thoughts, "I think they are finally happy to have found a sense of family in each other, and they both deserve that much."
The room became silent as everyone considered her words.
"So the size of hokage mountain huh? I wonder who gives and receives in their relationship?" Ino leered thinking of all the different dirty possibilities.
"Ino!" Sakura exclaimed, trying to suppress a blush since she also had thoughts along those lines, "how could you even think that?"
"Why do you sound surprised? I'm sure you think about it all the time," Sai responded, before being pummeled into the table by an angry Sakura.
"Not as much as you, you sick perv!" she screamed banging his head against the table two more times for good measure.
"Either way, I could do without those mental images," Kiba blanched as his face turned blue.
"Um guys…whatever it maybe, do you think those two are coming back? Naruto is supposed to pay." Tenten remarked noticing the escalating pile up of plates at Lee's table.
As if on cue, Naruto marched back into the restaurant with a reluctant Sasuke in tow. Everyone pretended not to notice their swollen lips, Naruto's crumpled hokage robes, and Sasuke's disheveled hair or his pink tinted cheeks. Well, almost everyone.
"We're back!" Naruto announced with a huge grin, "what did we miss?"
"We were just discussing if Sasuke fucks you or vice versa. But from the looks of it, it seems like Sasuke is the one that bends over and takes it," Sai stated lifting his swollen head from the table, "which is surprising considering the siz—"
"Sai! You sick bastard! I just got him to come back. Don't start this again." Naruto screamed even as he tried his best to suppress the heat from reaching his face.
Sasuke's face turned red almost as fast his eyes as the three tomoes slowly began their way to forming the mangekyou.
"Ugh, Naruto's right, Sai," Kiba said trying to get that horrid image out of his head, "no one wants to hear that."
"Oy Naruto. Before you or your lover boy decide to run out again, make sure to pay the bill." Neji said folding his arms, "and thanks for the meal."
"Oh, sure," he said as his eyes turned to slits and he slyly looked at Shikamaru.
"No, Naruto." Shikamaru said beating him to the punch, "you already promised me that you won't ask me to pay."
Naruto pouted as he made his way towards the counter to ask for the bill, "I didn't even say anything yet."
It seemed that Lee could no longer eat anymore as he ran to the bathroom to throw up. Chouji smirked proudly, rubbing his stomach. It's take a lot more than that to beat him in a yakiniku eating contest.
"WHAT THE FUCK? 5,000,000 ryo? How the hell does that even make sense," Naruto's screamed as he looked at the bill. "CHOUJI! You fat ass I told you, you have a 10 plate limit!"
"No one back away from a yakiniku contenst," Chouji defended his position glaring at Naruto, "and I'm definitely not fat anymore!"
"Then you pay for it! I'm the hokage not your bank" Naruto yelled pointing at Chouji.
"Calm down, Naruto," Shikamaru said trying to keep the oncoming headache at bay as he handed an envelope to Naruto, "I already expected as much and kept the money aside when you started planning this get together."
Naruto calmed down almost immediately, "oh, you should've told me earlier. I don't know what I'd do without you Shikamaru," he said grinning at his chief advisor, "Mann, I can't believe I missed most of my own party!"
"You wouldn't have if you weren't busy making out with your boyfriend," Ino said grinning at Sasuke, who continued to glare at Sai, contemplating the various ways to kill him. He slowly turned to Ino, scoffing at her, before moving towards Naruto, and grabbing his around the waist.
"Oy! What the hell are you doing?"
"Shut up, Naruto.," Sasuke said as he turned towards the three tables, "we are in a relationship," he said finally looking straight ahead instead of anyone in particular. He closed his eyes as Naruto gaped at him, trying to understand what was happening, "we have been for the past year. And we really don't care what people have to say about it, because frankly it is no one's business but ours."
Naruto continued to open and close his mouth a few times before he could get out a word. "Sasuke," he finally whispered, "I thought we decided to tell them some other time."
"Most of them already seem to know," Sasuke said not bothering to whisper, "besides you were right—it's stupid to hide this, and I'm sick of all the idle gossip."
Naruto broke out into a genuine smile as he leaned into Sasuke. "Does this mean I can grope you in public now?"
Sasuke turned slightly to smirk at his lover, "don't get any ideas, usuratonkachi, or I'll forget you're the hokage and destroy you."
"Heh, I'd like to see you try bastard"
"Oy! Don't forget you're in public," Kiba interrupted, "god, not even a minute since they declare they're gay that they are all over each other."
"Kiba-kun, I didn't expect you to be such a homophobe," Hinata remarked looking slightily disappointed with Kiba.
"N-no. I'm not! I'm just not a fan of PDA," Kiba replied trying to retract his previous statements as he glanced at Hinata, "especially since this relationship is so new and strange to me."
"Hah, I think it's only new to you, Kiba," Ino said rolling her eyes.
"Well, we are all happy for the both of you," Sakura said as she moved to hug the couple. "Congratulations, you guys are the first official couple of our group. Well, unless Shikamaru and Temari count." Shikamaru didn't even bother to respond to that.
"Sakura-chan " Naruto said nervously reaching to rub the back of his neck as he glanced at his teammate, "we wanted to—"
"It's ok, Naruto," Sakura said as she looked at both of her teammates, eyes brimming with tears, "I…I understand." She reached up to hug both her boys again.
Slowly everyone made their way to congratulate the embarrassed couple. They decided to head to a nearby bar to celebrate the occasion and continue the night's festivities. After all, who knows when they can all get together like this again.
On their way to the bar, Lee stepped up besides Neji.
"Neji"
"Hm?"
"I know Sakura-san has yet to accept my love for her, and I'm sure with Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun out of the picture, I stand a better chance. But," he paused, face contorting to get ready for his explosion, "seeing Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun take their rivalry to the next level got me thinking of all the wonderful possibilities. So Neji, would you—"
"Lee," Neji paused in his step, " I will say this once and once only. We are NOT Naruto and Sasuke. If you ever take a step towards me with any illicit intention, I swear on the grave of my dead father, you will never be able to conceive any children."
Lee contemplated of asking Neji to change his mind, but once he saw the veins activating around Neji's eyes, he decided to leave it at that. Well, he will just have to double his efforts to woo Sakura then.
Fin.