Normally, Naruto didn't try to think to hard about things, or read too deeply into them. Over thinking things only complicated matters, and diluted the obvious truth. In Naruto's simplified world, you either did or did not, and that was that.
That is, until freshmen year and he met the biggest puzzle of a person he would ever stumble upon. All of his self imposed rules about simplicity seemed to dissolve when he met Sasuke.
He was an enigma Naruto should have given up on at the start. Should have, but didn't. He was everything Naruto strived for—excluding the stick-up-his-ass bastard attitude that is--. He had the looks, had the money, had the grades and the girls and practically anything else the Uchiha could ever possibly desire. And yet, the stoic boy showed no interest in any of those things.
Naruto couldn't deny that he was jealous of the teme, he was, and it was the truth. But he also wanted to understand. Why would Sasuke turn his nose up at all of those things? At the popularity, at the power, and the borderline love? This is what drove Naruto in his mostly fruitless attempt to figure Sasuke out. He wanted to know why. Or at least he thought he did.
It began more as a hobby, a side thing that his imaginative mind could dwell on when bored or tired of thinking about whatever the teachers were droning on about now. He would think of why Sasuke might be so emotionless, or why he might pretend to be. Maybe he was hurt as a kid, and didn't want to be again? Maybe he didn't want to have his feelings get in the way of his education? Naruto knew that Sasuke was a calculating and planning type of person, so that made sense. It made sense that Sasuke was practical.
But if he the Uchiha was so practical, why didn't he use all of his resources? Haruno Sakura was the daughter of a wealthy C.E.O. and head over heels in love with him. If Sasuke wanted to, he could use her like a tool to get where he wanted to. But he didn't.
So maybe it wasn't power he was after. Maybe it was a goal that he wanted to achieve? That made sense too. Sasuke seemed like the goal setting and achieving type of guy too.
See? Endless hours of mind boggling fun.
And though it began innocently enough, it was only a matter of months before the blond couldn't get Sasuke out of his head. Why he was so interested by the other guy Naruto had no clue, he just knew he was. He still treated Sasuke like he always had though. The same way he treated everyone else. Well, excluding the girls, because if your name was Uzumaki Naruto, you were walking on eggshell with most of the female population. So if Naruto tried to strike up a conversation with Sasuke, and got a rude response or none at all, he would react the same way. He'd stand up and yell and make a scene about it until either placated or commanded by a teacher or other form or authority to calm down.
And, ever so slowly, his interest and curiosity bore fruit.
He learned that Sasuke had a child-prodigy-turned-psychopath older brother who had attempted to murder their father, and that it hurt Sasuke most of all. Of course, Sasuke never told the blond this. Sasuke wasn't a person who would ever open up to anyone. Naruto learned this by talking to people—namely the school's psychologist, Hatake Kakashi. Kakashi-sensei was an old friend of Naruto's own late father and mother, so Naruto talking to Kakashi about anything wasn't anything someone could raise a questionable eyebrow at.
Kakashi knew because he was close friends with one of Sasuke's older cousins, not because Kakashi also counseled Sasuke. The silver haired pervert was anything if not professional with confidential business, and Naruto knew that very well.
Gradually, Naruto began to figure out why Sasuke was the way he was.
Itachi—Sasuke's older brother—had been a child genius, and their father had high hopes for Sasuke as well, so that explained why he worked so hard on school. One could also assume that Sasuke's father was very serious and detached from his family, by the way Sasuke dealt with people. Cold and business like. Unless he was insulting Naruto. His eyes—not that Naruto was looking or anything—would spark to life with the small hint of a challenge, and his lips would tilt into that obnoxiously superior smirk of his. His voice would change too, as if it held a new undertone that Naruto couldn't quite place. It wasn't a negative one. Naruto knew negative emotions pretty damn well, and that wasn't one. But if it wasn't negative, what the hell was it?
Naruto was quick to learn—for once in his school carrier—that answers about Uchiha Sasuke only lead him to more confusing questions. Like, why did he only react 'positively' --assuming Naruto was right about it not being negative—to Naruto, who he called a moron and a loser on a daily basis? There was another question. Why did he talk to Naruto so much? If a fangirl of Sasuke's showed up and tried to talk to him, Sasuke would ignore their very existence. As if they were so ultimately below him that they below even the barest flicker of his almighty attention.
It fascinated and angered Naruto to not end. But that was really beside the point. The blond had too many question pinging about in his head about the mysterious Uchiha than he cared to list or count. And somehow, through Naruto's persevering curiosity and interest, he and Sasuke became friends. They sat together, ate together, argued, talked and fought together. It was almost as if Naruto had met his perfect match, someone who he could never beat nor loose against. Whoever said that opposites attract was a smart sonofabitch, because Naruto and Sasuke were about as opposite as you could possibly get.
Naruto was loud and open where Sasuke was quiet and closed off; Naruto was bright and cheery where Sasuke was cold and most often gloomy. Naruto dwelled in the now and future, and he was very certain that Sasuke was stuck in the past. The blond grinned to hide his pain, and the brunette glared and scowled. Where Naruto might say thirty words or more in a sentence to express how he was feeling, Sasuke barely used one syllable. Open to shut, warm to cold, sun to moon, and day to night…
And yet, somehow, quiet bafflingly if you asked the blond, he was steadily being engulfed in the absolutely ambiguous life of Uchiha Sasuke.
But Naruto couldn't really find it in himself to frankly give a damn. As Rhett Butler would say. Not that Naruto had read "gone with the wind", but he had heard Sakura and Yamanaka Ino babbled about how positively dreamy Rhett was after they read it. He also caught the seemingly secretive looks Sakura would cast over his shoulder and through her pink bangs to Sasuke while talking, and the creamy rose blush she would sport afterwards. Naruto was slow, not ignorant. But what he couldn't quite grasp was that bubbling sick feeling he got every time he saw her do it. Sure, he may have had a crush on her in seventh grade, but he knew he no longer held those kinds of affections for the bubble gum haired girl. So that left only one conclusion that Naruto didn't really want to admit to himself.
He was jealous of Sakura, not Sasuke.
The thought turned his stomach, but not in the unpleasant way he would have expected. Admitting even that small truth sent his nerves haywire, hyper aware and no doubt blushing like Hinata did whenever Kiba took off his shirt during a sport. He was no school girl with a…a… 'dreamy' crush, he was Uzumaki Naruto, a proud young man. Despite what that little shit Sai might say about his penis, Naruto certainly had one. He was well aware, because how could you forget when you constantly kept waking up in the morning to find jizz in your pants after having an erotic dream starring your male best friend?
If it were any other guy, Naruto would be concerned about his sexuality. But it was Sasuke, who was almost effeminate with his slender body and sharply beautiful—he did not just think that, did he?—features. So, maybe with the combination of their closeness and Sasuke's androgynous-ness, his body had gotten confused? No. Naruto caught himself. He was over thinking things when he shouldn't be. It was time for the truth, no matter how hard it was for the blond to recognize.
One, he was having very sexual, very nice dreams about his very male best friend. Two, he enjoyed them and… Three, he no longer looked at Sasuke like something to be understood and figured out, like a puzzle or a game. Sasuke was a person like everyone else. A precious person who behind their iron defense was just as fragile, if not even more so. Someone to be protected, to be smiled at and… and… and….
Loved.
And suddenly, all of the previous questions Naruto once had about the Uchiha were gone. Everything was answered and uncomplicated once more, and balance was restored. It was even more confirmed the day in junior year that Naruto asked Sasuke over to his house to 'help him study' and they had oh so accidently ended up making out on Naruto's bed.
The blond grinned when on the last day of school in their senior year Sasuke took his hand and held it down the halls, and promptly kissed him goodbye at his homeroom. His heart soared when instead of telling Naruto take the bus when he asked if he could ride home with Sasuke in his awesome—the guy was loaded, alright? He had a nice car—car with him, and Sasuke said something along the lines of:
"Fine, but if you break anything, you'll be paying for it dobe." Which in Sasuke language translated to: "Okay, I guess. But I'm nervous, so don't do anything too drastic."
It wasn't much of a shock when Sasuke didn't take him home, but brought Naruto to his own house instead. His father had divorced Sasuke's mother in sophomore year, and Sasuke's mother had won the house. Sasuke's mother was a gentle woman with a calm demeanor and kind smile who welcomed her son home with a brief embrace. What did shock Naruto was the fact that Sasuke hugged her back, for however little time it lasted.
Mikoto kept her happy motherly smile when Sasuke had oh so eloquently announced over dinner that Naruto was his boyfriend, and would be living with him in their new apartment. Well, that was news to Naruto. Not the boyfriend bit, he had figured that one out by himself thank you very much. The apartment part though… That was good news. No, that was wonderful news. And Sasuke's mother agreed by teary up and saying how happy she was for them, as if they were getting married or something.
So, eventually both the teme and the dobe moved into their new apartment together—Naruto had lived by himself under his pseudo grandfather Jiraiya who was much too busy gawking at every woman that walked by him and writing bad porn to take care of him, so the experience of living with someone else was new and exciting.
It wasn't until they bought their first house together at age twenty four that Naruto broke down and told Sasuke why he had been so interested at first. To which Sasuke only smirked and pressed a kiss onto the blonde's worried lips.
"Usuratonkachi… You think too much…"