Just another day with team 7. Sasuke-teme is brooding and scowling at some unknown thing as per usual, and Sakura is daydreaming while staring at Sasuke once again as well. Kakashi-sensei is still not here; he's probably out buying the newest Icha Icha Paradise books…pervert. And I, one Uzumaki Naruto, am bored to death, and yet strangely quiet as opposed to usual. No one's really taken a notice of it though since they normally tune me out anyway. But I don't want any suspicions, so I guess I should cheer myself up and be a bit louder now. Sasuke is always fun to bother at times like this.

"Hey teme, what'cha scowling about this early in the morning? Fan girls attack you again?" I asked. He was pulled out of his thoughts, and directed his scowl at me for a second before turning it into a smirk.

"Why? You concerned about me, dobe?" he said mockingly. "How cute."

"As if I'd ever worry about you. You're too perfect to get killed by rabid girls anyway," I said sarcastically. "And I'm not cute."

I frowned and turned away from him. Damn teme, forget about it being fun to bother him. It stings, that mocking tone he uses all the time. I've heard it too many times before. I went quiet again, but Sasuke seemed to notice. That doesn't matter though. Not like he'd do anything about it. Kakashi showed up not long after, which was surprisingly earlier than usual for him, but still at least two hours later than the scheduled time.

Sakura seemed so excited the whole mission, and even through the one after that, and Kakashi seemed pretty affected by cheeriness as well. Now I know why.

"Do we have another mission, or are we allowed to leave?" Sakura asked anxiously.

"No we don't Sakura, you may leave since you're so anxious to get somewhere," Kakashi replied.

"Yes! Thank you sensei," she said before turning around to run the other way. I shrugged instead of yelling my affections after her with my goodbyes. It was merely a tradition now anyway. We all knew it. I just didn't feel like keeping it anymore. I turned in the direction of Ichiraku, missing their looks pointed at me.

"Bye guys," I said with a wave as I walked off. I heard a murmur of speech pass between Sasuke and Kakashi before the familiar popping noise of his transportation jutsu sounded.

Today should have been a good day. We only had two missions and now I had time to go to my favorite place before it got too crowded. Still, nothing ever felt right on a day like this. I was just in that kind of mind set, you know? Not exactly something I choose to be in, but just am. Besides, I haven't had much time to myself since we were put into teams at the academy so maybe I could do something for myself today. It is my birthday after all.

The old man at Ichiraku and his daughter greeted me happily, and I returned it as best I could. They didn't notice anything really, but the old man gave me an extra helping as a present, remembering that I'd mentioned my birthday to him once before. It touched me that they remembered, just like they had remembered in years past, and I let out a real smile. The feeling didn't really last very long though once I was back out in the streets, reminding me it was my birthday. The usual presents in the forms of glares, angry whispers, and rude gestures continued, although there seemed to be less this year. If I weren't feeling like I was, I think I might have been a little optimistic at this fact. But I wasn't, so I didn't.

I walked into a crowd, oblivious as usual, and got shoved around a lot before finally stumbling out of it. I didn't bother to turn around to see who had done the pushing. It didn't matter anyway. What could I have done about it?

I looked around me, deciding to see where I actually was since I had just been wandering around after I left Ichiraku. I was in the shopping district. In hopes of cheering myself up, I decided that I should get something for myself.

It took a couple tries to find a shop that wouldn't kick me out, but I found one eventually. I needed a new frame for my team picture since the one I had now was pretty old. I'd knocked it down enough times that the glass had a few cracks in it. But even if I got a new one, I doubted I'd throw it away. I got it from Sandaime when I was younger, so it was special to me, as junky and broken as it was.

I found one, plain black but still nice looking, and bought it. The lady at the register was nice enough; she didn't glare at me or anything like that. We even talked a little while she was ringing me up. It was nice.

But as soon as I stepped outside, the pouring rain soaked me. I hadn't realized it was going to rain today and just sighed in response to the uncomfortable sensations of my clothes sticking to me. Trying to keep myself in a happy mood brought along with the conversation with that lady and my purchase of a new frame, I hummed a bit to myself. Most people had decided to get out of the rain, leaving only a few people including myself in the storm. My apartment was a little while away from the shopping district, but I didn't mind the walk. Especially since there wasn't as many people as before.

Unfortunately, there still were people walking outside. I was zoning out again like before and ending up running into a woman older than me. She had hit my shoulder, knocking me over since I was caught off guard, while she stumbled back a few steps. I landed on something and I was afraid to know what it was. The lady reached her hand out toward me after she regained her balance.

"Oh, I'm sor—"

She stopped mid-sentence right as I looked up. She retracted her hand with a bit of a sneer before muttering, "never mind," and walking away with a satisfied smile on her face. Again, I didn't do anything. Really, what could I have done?

I sighed again, looking down and seeing that I had landed on the plastic bag holding my newest purchase. "Great, just great," I muttered to myself. I picked up the bag and myself, feeling eyes on me the whole time. I looked up to see Sasuke-teme standing there with his lovely umbrella, giving me his usual expressionless stare. I frowned. Just seeing that face made me frustrated, don't ask me why. He always seems to get to me even when he's not trying.

"Hey teme," I said, breaking the silence. He came closer as I attempted to brush the mud from my clothes. It didn't work very well.

"Dobe," he said with an acknowledging nod. I rolled my eyes, not in the mood to deal with this at all.

"What are you doing out here when it's raining? I thought you went home," I asked. I wasn't curious, just…trying to start a conversation before the situation gets awkward.

"I did, but I felt like going for a walk. What are you doing our here?" he asked. I looked down at the bag in my hand and could hear the clinking of broken glass within. I sighed once again.

"Throwing this away and going home," I replied, moving toward the nearest trashcan. He moved along with me, and then walked along side of me after that. It was weird, not fighting or arguing with him for once. I didn't even notice when he moved closer so that we were both beneath his umbrella. I really didn't mind his presence at all right now, with the exception of that expressionless face of his. It was actually kind of…comforting to have him there, walking under the umbrella with him. It was just the two of us under there; walking so close together, we looked like a couple. As we walked on, I realized I was sighing mentally in bliss. This closeness, this warmth…that was what I'd always wanted, despite the fact that it seemed to be coming from the human ice block, but…

Another person shot me a secretive glare when he wasn't looking and I lowered my head in shame.

…But it's something I can never have.

What was wrong with me?

I stopped walking. I was a few feet behind him already when he noticed I wasn't with him. I expected him to not really care and just keep walking (he wasn't going anywhere with me after all), but he turned around with that familiar scowl on his face. My head was still lowered, and the rain soaked me all the way through my usual orange jumpsuit again.

He didn't say anything, as if he were waiting for me to explain myself. Finally he sighed tiredly, as I was still racking up the nerves to say anything. Why was it suddenly so hard to say anything? He said, "What's wrong dobe?"

I was silent a bit longer. "I can't…do this. I'm sorry Sasuke," I said, running past him. His reaction was too slow, and he missed my arm when he reached to grab it as I passed. I kept on running. Past the shops, past the houses, even past my favorite ramen shop Ichiraku where I had eaten earlier, and I just kept on running into the forest and up the hills until my feet had brought me to the one place I always went. I didn't know where I was going. But now I was there, at the top of the Hokage Mountain. I collapsed and just lay on the ground, catching my breath. It was still raining.

I looked out through half-lidded eyes over the cliff and down at the town. It always looked so much smaller from up here. The view was pretty by day and even more so on a clear night when it was lit up, but not when it was dreary and rainy like now. And so I closed my eyes to the gloomy looking city I called home, the city that refused to acknowledge that such an imperfect being as myself, that such a monster as myself actually lived there. I never understood why humans couldn't accept what they don't understand, why they get so scared when confronted by it. And maybe I never will. I had given up on asking why a long time ago. I accepted it, and took what they gave. It was better than being ignored.

I thought about Sasuke. Why wasn't he like them? Hadn't his parents told him before they were killed? Told him that I was a monster that he shouldn't be near? We knew each other when we were younger, so they must have. He insulted me, but he always stayed with me. He stayed near me, and even protected me. I gave a frustrated sigh. He was just too complicated, and I was never very good at puzzles.

It's wrong for me to be near him. People only ever get hurt if I get close to them as much as I try to protect them or they hurt because of me, and then they hurt me. I don't want to be hurt anymore. They keep saying I'm a monster, I'm not human…maybe I should just stay up here where they won't bother me, and then I'll go down and help sometimes when they need it. I'm sure the adults would be more than happy to see less of me, and there is probably more than a few people my age who would agree. Then no one would have to deal with the demon.

…

I smirked, shoulders shaking with silent laughter until I let out a low chuckle at my stupid idea and myself. So much for being the hyperactive knuckleheaded ninja, as sensei likes to calls me. I'm not really feeling very hyperactive at the moment though. I'm feeling depressed and it sucks.

"What are you doing, ursuratonkachi?"

I sat up quickly and turned to see Sasuke standing there in all his wet glory, breathing uneven from all the running he had to have been doing to have caught up to me this fast, and his umbrella hanging by his side. Lovely.

"Taking a nap," I replied, lying back down and shutting my eyes. So what if I was lying? Who would care? Certainly not teme over there. I could hear him getting closer. I don't know how he always manages to sneak up on me like this.

"In the rain?" he asked skeptically.

"Yes in the rain, now stop bothering me and go away. You're stupid teme voice is keeping me awake," I said, getting annoyed at the boy. I really didn't want to talk to him. It felt so awkward just knowing he was there. We weren't really insulting each other, well I was insulting him, and we weren't really arguing either. I didn't know how to talk to him if we weren't. It was the only way we'd ever really had conversations. Sighing, I decided maybe I could try something new today. We had a pretty decent conversation earlier before I ran away, I guess. I didn't hear him leave, but with him I never knew. So I cracked open an eye and looked in the direction I'd heard him last. Sure enough he was sitting beside me, looking off over the cliff like I had been doing earlier.

"What are you doing?" I asked. He glanced at me.

"Looking at the city. I always wondered why you liked to come up here and stare out at it for hours," he replied. There was no mockery in his voice, and I was glad. I closed my eyes again.

"Yeah well, it's better when it's not raining. Or at night. It's pretty at night too," I said, maybe more to myself than to him. I wanted to ask him something. "So why'd you come here?"

"Why did you run away?" he shot back. I winced mentally, but didn't let it show.

"Why did you follow me? I could have just been going home," I countered.

"But you didn't," he said.

"So? I just decided I wanted to think a bit. It's not like I need you with me, so why did you follow—?"

"I was worried," he said quickly, cutting me off. Three words I had never imagined coming from Sasuke's mouth to anyone, were just said to me, of all people in the world. Well fuck, the world must be coming to an end today. I snorted after I had gotten over my initial shock at hearing that phrase come from his lips.

"Of course," I said sarcastically. "The great Uchiha Sasuke was worried about stupid Uzumaki Naruto. Very believable teme." Suddenly I couldn't feel the rain falling on my chest anymore. I opened my eyes to see Sasuke on top of me, a contemplative frown curving his lips downward as his eyes searched mine. Normally I would push him off of me if he randomly decided he wanted to jump me, but right now I was still caught up in those three words he'd just said to me. I waited for him to say something, but he seemed to still be thinking.

"See something interesting?" I asked, snapping him out of his thoughts. I didn't push him away, but that doesn't mean I didn't feel awkward underneath him. "Take a picture teme, it'll last longer."

He shook his head, and water droplets fell from his hair to my face. "I don't say things I don't mean, dobe."

"So you're telling me that even after every name you've called me, every argument we've had, every time you said I was annoying or a burden, you meant it. And now you can say that you're worried about me and expect me to believe you?" I said. He nodded. I snorted. "Well, sorry, but I don't."

"I'm you're teammate, and I can't worry about you?" he said with a frown.

"What's there to worry about in the first place? I'm perfectly fine!" I asked. I was starting to get really uncomfortable with him right on top of me.

"The way you just ran off for no reason, you're expression then…you were even quieter this morning than usual. It's not you," he replied.

"Wrong Sasuke. It was me," I said. He was confused, I knew it. I could see it. "Everything I do is me, just like everything you do is you. It just happens to be that you saw something different than you usually do. But even so, it was still me. Anything I will ever do is me, and no one else."

"But still, seeing you like that…I don't know, it makes me worry about you, Naruto," he said. My breath caught in my throat when I heard my name roll off his tongue. He almost never called me by my name. It was always dobe or usuratonkachi. Maybe he was being sincere? Neither of us had broken eye contact yet. I couldn't stand it anymore and turned my head away from him. He shouldn't be here, he shouldn't be saying these things…they hurt, and they'll hurt even more when he's gone.

"What's wrong? You're not acting like the hyperactive knuckleheaded ninja I know, and it's bugging me, it's making me worry, it's making me…miss that stupid grin of yours," he said slowly. He brushed away a piece of damp hair from my face and I almost twitched. "Just tell me what's wrong, dobe."

I swear my heart stopped beating. My head's spinning so fast. Why was he here again? Because he was worried about me. Why is he so god damn different? Why is it so hard to figure out what's going on in that head of his?

I'm so overwhelmed right now; I don't even know what happened next. Sasuke is sitting back on the ground off to my left, holding his cheek. I'm sitting up now too, getting drenched by the rain once again. He started too say something, but I cut him off. I started shouting at him all the questions that had been running through my mind. I'm almost hysterical right now. I'm confused and overwhelmed. Why is he the only one that knows how to push me in all the wrong ways? Why is he the only one who can make me so passionate about something? How can he care so fucking much about a monster like me?!

I'm pretty sure I'm crying right now. He sat there the whole time, listening to my ranting questions until I finished. I refused to look at him. I didn't want to see him leave if he did, and if he didn't, I didn't want to face my shame.

"Naruto," he said. He sounded like he was right in front of me, but I refused to look at him. He said my name again, louder, "Naruto."

"…"

"Damn it, Naruto look at me," he said, grasping my shoulders. I still refused to meet his eyes, but I glanced at him.

"What are you still doing here Sasuke?" I asked. My voice was hoarse now after all that yelling. He really should have left by now. Any sane person would have. I'd be fine tomorrow, why couldn't he understand that?

"I'm not leaving until you look me in the eye," he said. I turned and glared at him, meeting his gaze.

"Happy? Now leave me alone, you fake bastard," I yelled angrily, voice cracking. He scowled at me.

"You still don't get it. I told you earlier, didn't I?" he said. "I don't say things I don't mean. I've told you I'm worried about you, so tell me just what the fuck has been getting at you?"

"Everything! This village, the people who live here, you! Not even the villagers so much really, but just you!" I shouted. "You get to me everyday, no matter what I do or say. Whether we had a day where we got along or not. Whether I even saw you that day or not, you always fucking get to me! I understand my friends, they like me. I understand the villagers, they hate me! I don't understand you!"

He stayed silent at that. I found myself staring at the ground.

"You confuse me so much, and my feelings are all in a jumble. Everyone else knows when to back off. You manage to squirm your way past any defense, sneak up behind me and catch me off guard when you're not even trying. And it's even worse when you do try. It so overwhelming with everything, and I don't know what to do. I shouldn't want anything from this but I do, and there's nothing to tell me if it's right or wrong. But…damn it, Sasuke, why can't you just leave me alone…?"

I know I'm crying again. It's true, every time he comes into my view, every time he comes into my mind, I can never sort out my feelings for him. Maybe the thing I don't understand isn't him, but my feelings for him…

I felt arms come around me as Sasuke pulled me into a hug. I knew he wasn't used to comforting people, so just the fact he was doing this was nice enough to make me want to smile. But it turned into a frown all too soon. I pushed him away again, not enough to knock him over, but enough to release myself from his grasp.

"Don't. You're hurting me more by doing that. I can't, I shouldn't be…I-I…" I mumbled, trying to explain why I was pushing him away. I didn't even know. It was something I'd always done in order to protect myself. He could get past it, but I refused to admit it so I kept pushing him away and hoping that it wouldn't hurt so much the next day if I did that. But it only ever hurt more. He grasped my shoulders again; I knew they were shaking.

"You can't what? Let someone comfort you? There's no reason someone shouldn't," he said.

"I just can't! Every time I do, they get hurt. Then I get hurt. And I've learned my lesson already," I told him. "I can trust you with my life…Sasuke. But I can't trust you with my heart. You're just going to leave in the end, and when you do…then I won't have anything."

"You've already lost it if you keep it locked away," he said, scowling at me again. And then he did something…very unexpected and…out of character for him. He kissed me. My heart skipped a beat as he clumsily crashed our lips together and pulled away just as quickly as he'd come. He kissed…me.

I stared in shock at him, and he looked uncomfortable. It was the first time I'd seen him so…vulnerable outside of missions, though it rarely ever happened in one. Now he was the one avoiding eye contact. It took me a few more minutes to process everything, but once I had, I started laughing again. Sasuke looked torn between giving me a glare, smiling, or…possibly pouting. That would have been a sight to see. Eventually he chose the glare, as I thought he would, and I was done with my laughing fit by then.

"If you didn't like it, then just say so. Don't laugh at me, dobe," he said. I giggled a little, hearing the obvious pout in his voice even though there was nothing on his face to suggest it. It's so strange how just that small act can make something so clear and make me feel so much better.

"I'm not laughing at you teme. I'm laughing at myself," I said. I leaned forward and pecked him on the lips just like he had done to me. He looked shocked and I held back another giggle. I wrapped my arms around his neck and brought his forehead down to touch mine. I closed my eyes as I felt his breath on my lips. I think…a few minutes ago I would have just punched him and run off by now, but…

"My heart…it's not locked away," I started. "I didn't lose it, and I didn't even give it to you."

I opened my eyes and stared straight into his. His face looked pretty impassive right now, and a little anxious even. Again I resisted the urge to giggle even more. He's just too fun to watch when he's emotional, as long as you know where to look.

"It was yours from the very beginning I think. And that's why I was so confused," I said at last. He smiled finally and oh, what a sight. "Sasuke…?"

"Huh?" he replied quietly.

"What would you do if I said I loved you?" I asked.

"Well…I'd say, 'I love you too' and then maybe I'd do this," he replied, swooping in for another kiss, this one longer than the last. I sighed when he pulled back, once again in that high I'd felt when we walked under his umbrella together. My arms were still around his neck, and I held him close, our lips barely a centimeter away.

"Thanks Sasuke," I said. "For being here, for worrying. I'm almost sure I have everything sorted out, and really…I think I'll be fine now."

"Hn. That's good then," he said, adding a soft, "dobe."

"Teme," I said with a light laugh and kissed him again.

A/N: Sooo…another one-shot from yours truly while slacking off on my actual story. laughs nervously and dodges thrown items Sorry, but I had this idea a while ago and never finished it. Then I found it again and had the urge to finish it. I think it's kind of cute, and I actually really like how this turned out. I feel that this idea may have been used before, but if it has, I swear I didn't steal it from anywhere. Seriously, I got inspired to write this because my sister was listening to the radio and the song Umbrella by Rihanna came on. Strange, no? Well that's how it happened. I'm also aware that Naruto and even Sasuke may be a little out of character, and I tried my best, but this is just how it turned out. I sincerely hope you all liked this. Reviews are very much appreciated, as is constructive criticism. Flames will be ignored and per usual. So thank you once again for reading this.

Disclaimer: don't own it, never will