This is sort of (kinda. A little bit) a side story to my Yu-Gi-Oh! fic called 'The Reality of Being in Love.' You don't have to read that but it would be nice if you did.

And if you're reading "Seducing Hot Guys and Dealing with Nervous Habits," I am working on it. I promise. I'm not even sure if anyone is interested in it anymore. My own friend keeps finding excuses not to read it. You know who you are! Feel guilty!

…but I guess her 'life is in shambles' so nevermind.

Warnings: Sakura bashing, I guess.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto is one lucky (and talented) man…

Still Into You - Part 1

Naruto banged on the door as hard as he could without actually breaking it. This was actually really difficult for him, being the ninja that he was. He was, if you couldn't already tell, pissed. Now, one wouldn't normally associate Naruto with anger. He was usually a happy-go-lucky teen, despite his tragic childhood. But he, like most other people, had his moments.

He had just heard from a too-broken-up-to-actually-be-realistic Sakura that she and Sasuke had broken up. Naruto had no idea what he was going to say to Sasuke but he had to try to reason with him. Because they were…well…the most normal couple Konoha, considering they had, Sai and Ino and Shikamaru and Temari. Oh, and they were his friends. Let's not forget that. That was a very important point. That's why Naruto is outside Sasuke's…house.

After his wait outside the ridiculous double doors of the Uchiha Mansion, Sasuke pulled the door opened and looked at Naruto with emotionless eyes.

"Did you want something?" He said when Naruto just stared at him.

"Heh heh. Yeah, about that. Can I come in?" His anger gave way to his nervousness. Had Naruto ever felt this nervous before? It was ridiculous. This was only Sasuke, his best friend for like…forever. He could do this! He really could…

Naruto entered his friends' house as quickly as he could to hide the stiffness in his back. If Sasuke could tell that something was wrong, he didn't let on. They walked towards his living room and sat side by side on a comfortable but expensive looking sofa. And Sasuke wondered why Naruto never let him go to his house…

"Was there a reason you tried to break my door in?" Sasuke asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Ah, straight to business. You know I've always admired that about you. Although you'll never get me to admit it in public. I'd rather let the Kyuubi take my soul than tell people I like you…because I don't. You're a mean bastard and you don't need more people liking you," okay, he was rambling. Apparently, it's a symptom of nervousness… Back to the point, "You know what else I admired about you? The fact that you could put up with Sakura for any amount of time. Kami knows I can't stand her for long. I don't understand why I ever liked her… But you, you were in love with her!"

Throughout Naruto's monologue, Sasuke just sat there and listened with that bored Uchiha expression.

"Is there a point to this?" He asked in a bored voice, emphasising his…boredom.

"Yes, yes there is," Naruto nodded, sagely. Sasuke just waited for him to carry on, "Why did you break up with her? I may not like her anymore but you sure did. And you two made such a good couple!" Naruto and Sasuke both inwardly cringed at that, "I mean, just the other day, I saw you two together. You even looked less queasy than you normally do around her!"

"I still looked queasy though," Sasuke replied and Naruto glared, "Dobe, I don't know what you want to hear. Sakura's annoying. I can't stand her. She's clingy and I hate the way she calls me 'Sasuke-kun.' I never want to hear that again!"

Naruto sighed, "I just… I dunno. I've never seen you open up to anyone except me and Sakura. And when you started dating her, you stopped telling me things, so I assumed she was the one you confided in. I don't want you to go back to your angsty 'don't-talk-to-me' routine. That was really annoying, you know. It took me months to make you talk to me and I'm not going through that again!"

It was Sasuke's turn to sigh, "Usuratonkachi, I don't know why you're upset about this. If anything, I expected Sakura to be the one acting like this."

Naruto visibly flinched at being compared to her, "Don't insult me! Anyway, Sakura's too busy drowning in her impossibly huge tears to come talk to you. She wants to though."

"I'm not going to feel guilty, if that's what you're trying to do. I broke up with her and I'm sticking to it. I didn't want to go out with her in the first-" Heh heh. Yeah he wasn't supposed to say that last part. The dobe made him lose control sometimes…

A narrowing of eyes, "You didn't want to go out with her? Why the hell would you do it then?"

Sasuke started pushing Naruto towards the door, whilst looking at his non-existent watch, "Oh, would you look at the time. I have a meeting with the Hokage now, dobe. You know how I hate being late for anything. We should go out for ramen to celebrate or something." Preferably when he'd forgotten about what Sasuke had said.

"But Sasuke-" Naruto tried to interrupt.

"Nope, now is not the time. I have to go." Sasuke took of towards the Hokage tower as Naruto watched him go.

"Teme." He walked off. Not watching where he was going, he contemplated his and Sasuke's talk.

So, whilst Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief at not having to explain anything to Naruto, he knew that the dobe would bring it up again. He couldn't remember the important things, but when it came to helping Sasuke or his other team mates, he couldn't be stopped.

Naruto took the long way home. Contrary to popular belief, he could think (quite logically, in fact) - and he found it easiest to do on long walks. He didn't get it. Soon after Sasuke got back (okay, let's not say "got back," let's say "got dragged back by the ear") from his 'little trip' to Orochimaru's slimey-creepy-disgusting-snake infested home, he asked Sakura out. Many people were surprised, including Sakura herself but she said yes because well, it was Sasuke. You don't say no to Sasuke. You just don't.

And she still loved him. But whatever.

So she said yes and they started dating. Things were relatively normal. Naruto was dying inside but everything else was normal.

Hey it wasn't his fault he fell in love with Sasuke somewhere along the line. Things like this couldn't be helped.

But of course, Naruto was one of the 'as long as the one I love is happy, I'm happy' people. So he didn't do anything about it. Genuinely believing that Sasuke was still in love with Sakura after the break up, he actually went to try and get them back together. Again, he was one of those people.

Failing to get a reaction other that anger out of Sasuke and finding out that he didn't even love her in the first place, Naruto found himself at a complete loss. What now? Would Sasuke go back to being a hermit and only talking to Naruto during training? Maybe he could find another girl - because he was obviously straight - for Sasuke to fall in love with. Sasuke would be as close as he could get to happy and Naruto…

…Naruto would be fine. Eventually.

Deciding that this was his only course of action, Naruto went to the only person he could think of to know which girl suited Sasuke best (because thinking that your best friend would know they type of girl you like was a lie. Naruto had no idea what Sasuke looked for in a girl).

He went to Shikamaru.

Now don't get him wrong, he was sceptical about Shikamaru's matchmaking skills at first. But when he successfully hooked up Sai and Ino after Sai kept insulting Ino's chest, Naruto knew, he just knew that Shikamaru was a regular cupid.

Naruto found Shikamaru (surprisingly) lying on a hill and staring at the clouds. Stealthily climbing up the tree next to him, Naruto waited for the opportune moment, then jumped -

- Shikamaru just rolled over, narrowly avoiding falling Naruto's.

"We're ninjas, Naruto. An attack like that won't work," Shikamaru yawned.

"Well I though you would feel too lazy to move!" Naruto shouted, rubbing his now sore behind.

"I was thinking about it, but then it'd be too troublesome to explain how I got a concussion."

"I'm not that heavy!"

"Sure…"

"Don't say it like that! I'm really not!"

"Okay, okay. What do you want anyway?" Shikamaru slowly sat up, staring at Naruto.

Naruto stared back.

Shikamaru stared even more.

"…well, now that you mention it, I need some matchmaking advice."

"I thought you were in love with Sa-mpfftpm." Shikamaru couldn't finish his incredibly revealing sentence with Naruto's hand on his mouth.

"Don't say it so loud! He could be listening!" Naruto looked around nervously. He slowly released his hand, "It's not for me! You heard about Sasuke's break up, right?" Without waiting for a response, he continued, "Well, I went to go see him just now and he said he didn't even like Sakura in the first place. And now I'm trying to find him another girl to be happy with and stuff…"

"And stuff?" Shikamaru smirked.

"You know… make babies and stuff." Naruto bit his lip, "So will you help me find him someone else?"

"You should be asking me to help get him to fall in love with you, you know."

Naruto waves his hand around flamboyantly, "He's straight, it's whatever. Who should he date? Tell me!"

Shikamaru sighed, "Well, it's not hard to believe he didn't like Sakura. He had his eye on someone else, even before he left."

"Really? That's perfect!" Naruto said, eager but slightly depressed at the same time, "But then why didn't he just go out with her instead of dating Sakura first?"

"Who knows? Maybe he thought they wouldn't like him or something…" Shikamaru reasoned.

"Psh, yeah. Someone saying no to Sasuke. Funny, Shika. Anyway! Who is she? Tell me! Tell me! Tellmetellmetellme!"

"…it's too early for this."

"But it's 4 in the afternoon!"

"…way too early for this," Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "I can't tell you the name but I can describe them to you."

"Okay, okay. It'll be fun to guess!"

"They have blonde hair."

"Blonde, got it," Naruto nodded.

"Blue eyes."

Another nod, "Blue eyes!"

"Slightly tanned skin," Shika yawns again.

"Tanned! Oooh, she sounds pretty!"

"And about that, she's male."

"What?! No way! Sasuke's not gay!"

Shika sighs in frustration, "Naruto, you asked me for my help. And in my opinion, I think that's who Sasuke's in love with. If, for some unfathomable reason you don't like, go complain to him, not me."

"You're right! I should just go ask Sasuke. He's my best friend. He'll…he'll understand. I mean he can't help who he loves!" Naruto walks off in a hurry.

"Somehow, I don't think Naruto got that I was talking about him. Oh well…" Shikamaru just rolls over and goes back to his nap after just a little bit more cloud watching.

TBC

So, review if you like it. Please. I'm begging. I'm on my knees and everything!

Seriously, if you review, I'll know whether to up the other half up too. Even if your review is just one word (yes or no), I'll be grateful!