A/N: I'm sorry for the lack of my existence and for not updating my other stories. However, *offers this story until I can get my ass into gear* It seems my laptop decided to play up and it has only just been fixed. Woe is me. Two months without it has been hard times indeed. BTW, I have not yet watched Shippuden *sigh* so this will probably be AU. And there may be a few points where they are OOC, but that is intentional.
Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Naruto… But I do own Sasuke *Darts eyes about*
Warnings: Eventual yaoi, slight crack in the form of rabid fangirls, perhaps some grammatical errors due to my lack of sleep and lack of beta.
Love, The Hardest Way.
Chapter 1:
"What is so special about Sasuke, anyway?"
Naruto stares dejectedly at his favourite bowl of ramen, as if expecting it to reply with an answer that would quench his need to understand. To be honest, he had no idea why this bothered him so much. It's not like he hated the jerk, because if that were true he wouldn't give a damn who Sasuke's latest stalker was, (which was a very hard task to keep track of). Actually, he didn't care. Really. It just annoys him. Well, not that much. Perhaps a tiny bit.
A lot.
The silence of the small, desolate apartment creeps in and smothers an aggravated sigh from frowning lips. He has pondered upon this unfathomable question more than he wishes to admit and speaking his thoughts verbally to his half eaten bowl of ramen did nothing but infuriate him more. Sasuke. Saskue. Sasuke. Damn him.
Naruto stabs a large chunk of beef zealously before capturing the piece of meat and popping it in his mouth. Lean fingers twirl around the chopsticks, twisting it this way and that.
"Oh Sasuke, you are so handsome. Sasuke is sooo perfect," he whines impersonating Sakura or one of the many annoying fangirls that hover around said person like an unpleasant smell. Which they were. He could not be alone in the presence of Sasuke for less than five minutes, without one girl or another shoving their way in between himself and their obsession, whilst in the process of doing so, trying (but failing quite spectacularly, much to Naruto's sadistic amusement) to take Sasuke away from him.
"Saskuuee, I looove you. You're so cool…" Maniacal laughter spills from his lips.
A biting cold draft washes over Naruto's back and he pulls the collars up of his dark blue sweatshirt. Placing the chopsticks into his bowl of ramen, he spins around on the wooden stool. "I wonder if I left the window open – wahh!"
Thud.
"Nngh," grumbles Naruto, his face a remarkable shade of beetroot red.
The window was open. But from his expert skills of observation from where he now lay sprawled across the floor, he realised he was not the one who had opened it. No. He had not, but Sasuke had. Sasuke, who was now stood in his flat and wore a stupid fat grin on his stupid face. The same Sasuke that had probably heard the entirety of his rant. Damn.
"What the hell, idiot! Don't you know how to use the front door?" Naruto yells, jumps to his feet and flails his arms about dangerously, almost knocking the bowl of ramen off the table.
"What are you doing here? How did you get in? Why are you here?" Naruto takes a deep breath after his barrage of questions, but his only answer is an upturned eyebrow from the cold ice prince.
This makes Naruto growl. "Well, jerk? You better have a good reason for breaking into my place or I'll have to wipe that smirk off your face!" He raises his fist about to swing at the irritating, arrogant, bastard.
"You're just as bad as those annoying girls. Although I never thought you would have a crush on me, Naruto."
"WHAT?" Instead of punching Sasuke, which he really, really, wants to do right now, instead he opts for the more dramatic form of swinging his arms up and down madly to further prove how mortified he was. "What did you say? A crush? Hah! You wish, Sasuke! In your dreams you… you freak!" Normally, he would have stuck his tongue out to accompany his lame comeback, if it was not for the small fact that he was now nineteen and he did not want to appear any more pathetic in front of Sasuke.
Really now. How much embarrassment could a guy take in one day – and it was not even lunchtime yet!
"Whatever." Sasuke manages to dismiss the weird, one sided argument with a single word and is silent once more.
Naruto grumbles something underneath his breath. "So why are you here? Come to stalk me, have you?" He grins triumphantly at this, although he is not so sure why the thought of Sasuke being his stalker, or at the very least, Sasuke liking him in that sort of way, made him feel victorious.
There is an awkward silence which is only broken by a strange, soft gurgling noise. Naruto realises that the sound is coming from Sasuke. Sasuke who still has that broad smile on his face, rather than his usual, arrogant smirk. And then Naruto realises that Sasuke is laughing. Laughing! If you could call it laughing that is, it was more of a quiet, contained chuckle, the sound of which Naruto would not mind getting used to.
Although, this, he would never admit to out loud. He did not need to give Sasuke any more reason to poke fun at him.
Before Naruto has the chance to demand why Sasuke Uchiha had decided to trouble him with his presence, he soon realises why. And it came in the form of several (although from the noise it sounded like several hundred) stampeding girls who squealed and shouted ridiculous lovey-dovey sweet nothings at Sasuke.
If they were not all outside of his apartment window, he may have found this scenario amusing. But the fact remained that they were indeed outside and it seemed they were not going to leave any time soon.
Sasuke peered out of the window, which even Naruto realised was a terrible idea - and he was supposed to be the idiot of their group!
"We need to leave."
"We? Why am I getting dragged into this you jerk?"
Sasuke growled Naruto's name, with his velvety, raspy voice and grabbed the yellow haired Shinobi's hand.
With one quick twist of the hand, he yanked Naruto along beside him as they darted out of the flat and sped along many rooftops. Naruto, not as graceful as his raven haired rival, snagged his foot on a loose tiled roof and they tumbled in between two buildings.
"Wow this floor is surprisingly soft," chuckles Naruto, until he remembers he is supposed to be pissed off for being rudely hauled around and he growls instead. "Thanks a lot, Sasuke, for ruining my day. All I wanted was to eat my Ramen in peace!"
"Naruto…"
" But no. You jerk. What were you thinking dragging me along with you?"
"OI, Naruto!"
"… and as if I give a damn about you or your stalkers! I would have preferred to tell them where you were hiding and watch from a distance!" Naruto laughs maniacally.
"YOU IDIOT. GET OFF ME!" Roars Sasuke.
"Huh?" He blinks, once, twice, and raises bright blue eyes up to meet those belonging to a pissed off, blushing, Sasuke and once he looks back down he jumps up in shock, backing up against one of the walls behind him. Naruto laughs nervously and rubs the back of his head. "Oops, my bad."
"Hmph." Sasuke pats the dirt off himself whilst scowling at Naruto.
"Well," Naruto said as he finally managed to compose himself and began to walk to where the buildings parted and opened up onto a path. "I'm heading home. Good luck with the stalkers!"
Sasuke caught up, although walking a few paces behind his rival. "Hold on you idiot. Don't you want to know why I came to yours?"
"Nope, not really."
Annoyed, the pissed off Uchiha grabbed Naruto's arm and spun him around. He took a deep breathe, glared at the ground and quickly said, "I-need-you-to-pretend-to-be-my-boyfriend!"
It took a few silent minutes for Naruto's brain to comprehend what had just spilled out of Sasuke's lips and when he finally realised, he fell over laughing.
Sasuke growled beneath his breath and shot out one foot, connecting with the side of Naruto's ribs.
"Ow, you bastard! You shouldn't treat your boyfriend like that!" Naruto sniggered. He leant back on his hands and stared up at Sasuke with a foolish grin. Sasuke's eyes were huge and confused, which only caused Naruto to laugh even more.
"So… you will do it then? Don't you even want to know why?"
Naruto hummed and pondered a moment. "Nope. All I know is that it will annoy all those girls who love you. Which sounds like fun! And also, as my boyfriend –"
"Your fake-boyfriend," Sasuke interjected, hating the word the more times he said it.
"As my pretend-boyfriend, you must buy me lots of Ramen!"
Lifting a single eyebrow, Sasuke nodded solemnly.
"You are such an idiot, Naruto."
Okay, I realise at the moment this story sounds a bit cliché, but originally I planned for it to be a one-shot with an entirely different plot. But lots of crazy ideas flooded in and I was tempted to write this instead!
Reviews would be extremely nice, and any suggestions are very much welcome as I am not only writing this for fun, I would also like to become a better writer :)