Knuckle Down

Strawberry Chunks

©2008 Messy Cubical

I never meant to sound rude. I never meant to sound so blasé when he said that he liked me more then that "Naruto kid…" more than a friend that he liked to spar with and hit occasionally.

Maybe that's why I had blurted in the middle of a crowded road that I loved the heartless bastard.

People turned and stared at me, some with their eyebrows raised and most shaking their heads, muttering to themselves that "it was finally time". I sweat-dropped and clenched my hands into tight fists. Sasuke turned, his hands in his pockets and smirked.

I stood up straight and contorted my features into a goofy, embarrassed grin. Sasuke stared at me, like he was expecting me to drop to my knees and beg for him to screw me…like that was ever going to happen.

"Well…" I said awkwardly, twiddling my fingers behind my back, feeling like an utter fool.

He raised a dark eyebrow, his hands still in his pockets. "Well…what?" I laughed and smiled widely.

"Well, aren't you going to offer to buy me ramen? Ya know, since I just professed my 'undying love' for you and all."

Sasuke sighed and placed a hand on top of my head. Holding my hand/tugging me toward Ichikaru ramen, Sasuke glanced back at me. "I don't know what I see in you…dope."

--

When ever we were kids, living in the same apartment complex, Sasuke and I had always come to Ichikaru ramen. Usually he would pay, but sometimes I had splurged for the large bowl of ramen and maki rolls (when they had them). Cook-san grinned when he saw us, and from behind his grinning face, I could see that he knew.

Placing a large red bowl of miso in front of me and two large onigiri in front of Sasuke, Cook-san winked at me. "On the house boys," He replied slyly. I saw a slight flush crawl up Sasuke's cheeks, and I felt mine heat. I grinned brightly, breaking my two chopsticks.

"Well, can't turn down free ramen, huh Sasuke-teme?" Sasuke quietly ate his onigiri. I slurped up the noodles loudly, and then swallowed. "Hmm…ya know, Sasuke? When I said that I liked you, I swore I heard women crying." A small smile lifted his lips.

--

A few weeks later, Sasuke and I sat at a bench in the park. We held hands, and I felt like we were finally getting this 'acting like a couple thing' down. Sasuke was reading something for his 'advanced medical history' class that we both knew he would pass. I mean, the kid has something like a sponge for a brain. I watched little kids laughing with other little kids, some with nannies and others with their older siblings. I saw a little girl with black pig tales chase after a boy with spiked brown hair. She was giggling and calling him naïve names like 'meanie' and 'butt-head'. I smiled to myself as I watched the girl tackle the boy.

I turned around to Sasuke, whom was still immersed in his text-book, his glittering onyx eyes zooming across the small print. He looked up, an eyebrow raised in question. "What?" He asked lowly, marking his place with a slim finger. I shrugged and looked ahead of the Uchiha.

"Nothing much, 'cept there are two guys walking toward us. Looks like they want to tell us something, Sasuke-teme…" Sasuke turned around in his seat, a deep-set frown dipped the corners of his lips. He muttered something under his breath, but I didn't catch his curse.

One of the guys, a tall dark haired one whom I knew only from my advanced chemistry class smirked and looked down at Sasuke, hands on his narrow hips. "Hmm, didn't know you were a queer, Uchiha." The other, a bulky fair-haired boy named Daiosake, chuckled lowly.

Sasuke remained quiet, and I felt his hand tighten around my own. Daiosake leaned down beside me, and I could smell rancid meat on his breath. "So Uchiha, this your little boyfriend? Uzimaki?" The tall dark haired one leaned down beside my face to get a better look it seemed. He smirked as he saw Sasuke move slightly. Putting a fat finger heavily on my cheek he said:

"Don't worry Sasuke-chan, I won't hurt your little fuck buddy." Sasuke stood quickly, punching the dark haired one across the jaw, making the boy drop to his knees in shock.

Sasuke glared hotly down at the wheezing kid who clenched his jaw with his hands. "Ever go near him or anyone who I make eye-contact with, you won't be able to move ever again." Daiosake stared down at the dark haired boy who nodded quickly, sputtering out an apology.

--

A few months after the incident in the park, Daiosake had never talked to Sasuke or me ever again. I would see him in the hallways talking to a girl or chuckling loudly with a pack of square headed boys. One day I had been getting my books out of my locker when a large stubby hand slammed the dark colored door shut. I blinked in spite of myself, and looked up to where the hand had come from.

The dark haired boy whom had been with Daiosake that day in the park glared down at me. I raised an eyebrow and started to put in my locker combination once again into the small black dial. "Hey." The boy said lowly, almost like a growl in his throat. I lifted my eyes to his to acknowledge I knew he was there. I saw his mouth twist into a scowl and then he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "You know what your little homo buddy did to Daiosake? Well I'm not takin' that kind of shit. You and your little freak boyfriend don't need to be hanging around here." I took out my second language book and shut the metal door with a bang.

"Why do you have a problem with my sexuality?" I drummed my fingers lightly against the book's hard front cover.

His face contorted in to a snarl. "Because…it's just…gross!"

I scoffed and turned on my heel. "If that's the only argument you have against people like me, no one was asking for your permission, dip-shit."

--

It was a few weeks after school had ended that I knew Sasuke and I would be together for a while.

We had been sitting on the roof of the housing complex we had lived when we were kids. The apartment complex had gone almost completely empty due to a man who had murdered his three kids and wife in one of the apartments. After that, basically everyone had moved out, save for a few old people who had gone senile on the bottom floor.

It was early summer, and the sun had just gone down. Stars twinkled almost merrily in the navy blue sky. A mosquito landed on my arm, and I tried to bat it away. I growled lowly in my throat when it came back. "Damn bugs." I muttered. Sasuke chuckled beside me, the smoke from his coffee cup swirling in the warm air.

The bullet train that seemed to run endlessly through Konoha to Tokyo rumbled underneath us, shaking the old building. I slurped the cup of ramen that I had brought along for the 'trip'. "Hey," I said swallowing the nice and salty noodles, "you remember Mr. Honda?" Sasuke sipped his coffee, and contemplated an answer.

He nodded, "The guy who killed his family, right?" I slurped more noodles down, and scooted closer him.

"Yep. Did you hear he might be getting out?" Mr. Honda had gone insane and stabbed his three kids then his wife in the room below where we were sitting. Kinda macabre, huh?

Sasuke scowled and said lowly, "I didn't know they let psychos like that out…" I knew that he was thinking of his elder brother, whom had done the same thing to their parents. I was stepping on egg shells, so I decided to drop the subject.

Laying my head on his shoulder, I slurped more noodles into my mouth. "Do you think you're gonna go to college, Sasuke-teme?" We both knew that he had been accepted to a lot of prestigious schools in Japan, some in Europe. I knew that I would only be able to get into a school near home because of my grades, and because of the cost. Sasuke was the brains of the relationship we had going, and it made me kinda sad that he would make it big time and I would be back in Konoha working two jobs and probably end up being a drunk. "Well," I continued, "We both know you are. Maybe London University? I mean, you passed English with flying colors…" I smiled up at him, and he returned the smile with a tiny one of his own. "Just, whatever you do Sasuke, just don't do anything stupid."

Sasuke placed his hand on my head, cutting my babbling off short. He laughed silently, "You didn't even let me answer, dope." I blushed faintly. Sasuke took my hand and ran his thumb over my knuckles. Kissing my temple lightly, he whispered, "I would never do anything with out you Naruto; even going to school, I want your say in it."

I hugged him tightly, a somewhat sad smile on my face. "I want you to go to whatever school you want to go to Sasuke. It's your life, not mine…" I thought a second and laughed, "Just come back and remember the little people every now and again." Sasuke laughed and kissed my forehead.

"God you're and idiot sometimes, Naruto…"

--END--

What will happen after this?! I propose a contest of who ever can come up with an epilogue to this story! I'd really like to read them, and want to see all the great writers out there who love SasuNaru as much as I like it! Please just PM me your stories if you want to, and I'll put up a link to my Deviantart page so you can read all the entries if you guys want to. The entries can be as long as you want, but they at least have to be a one-shot. The winner will get a one-shot written by yours truly (that is if you guys like my writing…). So just start writing away. Please?

--Messy Cubical