Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Naruto opened one eye, then sighed. It had just been a dream after all.

He had dreamt that Sasuke was lying next to him, holding him in his arms. But when Naruto opened his eyes, all he found his arms wrapped around was one of his pillows.

Dropping the pillow to the floor with another sigh, he sat up, yawned, stretched, and scratched his head lazily. Well, better get ready for another oh-so-glorious day, he thought sarcastically.

Once again with no clean clothes, Naruto cursed and picked up a dirty shirt and a pair of dirty shorts from the floor that he had worn a few days before. He scrunched his nose at the musty smell the wrinkled clothes gave off and cursed again. He had hoped to look nice for Sasuke today, but now he was forced to wear nasty stinking clothes, and if that wasn't bad enough, he had no time to take a shower so he would be going looking like a wreck.

Brushing his hands through his hair in front of a mirror, Naruto frowned at his own reflection and headed out the door without breakfast since he was already running late. Jogging, Naruto thought, This isn't working out so well. Maybe it's time for a change.

Once he arrived at the bridge where Team 7 met, Naruto abandoned his frown for his usual bright smile. "Hey Sakura!" he called to his little pink haired friend with a wave.

"Hey Naruto!" she called back, with a smile and a wave of her own. "Hey, have you seen Sasuke?" she asked once he was close enough.

"No," he answered. If I had, I would have remembered, trust me.

"Oh," she said, somewhat disappointed.

"It'll be alright, Sakura. I'm sure he'll be here any minute." Even though Naruto was not as fond of the pink haired girl as he once had been, he still didn't like to see her unhappy. There would probably always be a special place for Sakura in his heart, he thought, but for now she was just his friend. One of his only friends.

At Naruto's words, Sakura immediately brightened up. "You're right Naruto." She smiled warmly at him, then scrunched her nose. "Are you wearing dirty clothes again?" she asked.

Damn. He had hoped it wasn't that obvious. Naruto gave a little embarrassed shrug. "Naruto!" she exclaimed. "You've got to stop being so lazy. Clean yourself up once and a while."

"Jeez Sakura," he muttered. "What's it to ya anyway?"

"Because it's unhealthy to be so dirty all the time Naruto… I think it's time for a change."

"Funny. I was just thinking the same thing earlier this morning."

She smiled again. "Then it's decided. After training we'll all go shopping. Then we'll stop by your place and help clean up."

"Wha-?" he asked, baffled. "What do you mean 'all of us'? And how come we gotta go shopping?"

Sakura smiled sweetly from where she sat on the edge of the bride, and swung her legs. "After training I'll gather up Ino and Hinata and we'll get you some new, clean, clothes. And you better try and keep them clean too."

Naruto sighed. "Fine."

"Oh look, there's Sasuke!" Sakura exclaimed happily. Naruto's heart did flip. Sakura giggled as she waved to the raven-haired boy who was walking up to them. As usual, Sasuke had his head down, his hands in his pockets, and seemed to be in no great hurry even though he was much later than usual.

"Oi, what kept you?" Naruto demanded.

"None of your business, dobe," Sasuke said coolly, leaning against the edge of the bridge on the opposite side of Naruto and Sakura. Eyes closed, Sasuke tilted his head back as if he were looking at the sky, seeming trying to drown out everything else.

Naruto crossed his arms. "Hmph. You're late."

"Yeah. And?"

"Hmph."

"Naruto," Sakura scolded him in a hushed voice.

"What?" he asked innocently with a shrug.

Sakura grinned. "Alright, let's have some fun." Ino grinned as well and Hinata gave a shy little smile, playing with her fingers. Ino, Sakura, and Hinata were dragging Naruto along through town, looking for a good store to stop and shop at.

The clothes the girls picked out for Naruto were… interesting. Just as it was starting to get dark, as far as clothes went, they had already bought him several pairs of black baggy shorts that came past his knees, three equally baggy red shirts, two black t-shirts, a few grey muscle shirts for training, and a pair of black sneakers. Other than clothes the girls had also bought him two different bottles of hair styling gel (something he had no idea how to use) a couple of red and black wristbands, some kind of strange smelling cologne, and other things like soap, toothpaste, shampoo, etc.

Also, the girls had taken the liberty of deciding that Naruto should eat something other than ramen. At this, Naruto frowned, argued, pouted when that didn't work, and finally begged. He remembered then that he was out of ramen at his house, and the girls absolutely refused to buy him some. Plus, he couldn't buy any himself since he was flat broke.

So, with Naruto carrying five big bags of clothes, each of the girls carrying at least three bags of groceries, they were finally walking back to Naruto's apartment. Ino sighed as they stepped up to the door to his apartment. "Boy Naruto, I can't wait to get in there and sit down."

"We still have to help clean, Ino," Sakura reminded her. Ino pouted and whined a bit. "You agreed to do this," Sakura said ruthlessly.

Then Naruto swung open the door to his apartment. All three girls gasped. The place was a mess, and that was an understatement. Even if Ino had still wanted to sit down, there was nowhere to sit. The couch was completely hidden under piles of junk. "Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed. "You didn't tell me it was this bad!"

Naruto shrugged. "You were the one who wanted to clean the place."

"Yeah well don't think you're getting off the hook so easily, we had to pay for everything we bought today, so you are going to help us with the cleaning."

"Hey this was your idea. I never agreed to anything."

Sakura and Ino both gave him the evil eye (Hinata looked away nervously) and Naruto finally sighed and gave in.

Three and a half hours later, Naruto's apartment was the cleanest it had been since the day he had moved in. Naruto discovered many long lost forgotten items of his (such as pictures, letters, books… etc) and he also discovered that he actually had a floor. Naruto had forgotten that he had even had a floor.

Sakura, drinking her third cup of coffee, was cooking spaghetti, Ino had sat down and fallen asleep at the table in the kitchen, and Hinata was passed out on the couch. Naruto looked at the young girl with a smile. She had fainted when accidentally picking up a pair of his boxers off the floor.

"Maybe we should invite people over," Sakura suggested from where she was standing over the stove. "They could come over and eat with us. I'm making a rather large meal after all. And we could show everybody how much you've changed in just one day."

Naruto grinned, plopping himself down in the chair across from the sleeping Ino. "Yeah. Might as well have people over while the place is still clean."

"Naruto Uzumaki! After almost four whole hours of cleaning this damn house from top to bottom – and finding out more about you than I'd really ever like to know – you better not mess this place up again!"

Naruto's grin got wider. "Hey, chill out, I was only joking Sakura." Then he frowned. "It is going to be difficult breaking the habit, though." He sighed.

Sakura came over to him and smiled, patting him on the shoulder. "I'm sure you'll be alright. I'm really proud of you for this, Naruto."

Naruto smiled up at her gratefully.

Even though it was late, most of their friends were still awake, and were also quite hungry. Though, not all of them very happily agreed to coming over to Naruto's for dinner. If they all knew Naruto, they knew the place would be a mess and that all they'd get would be a bowl of ramen. Ino and Sakura though, did a lot of fast-talking about how Naruto had changed. Most of their friends hadn't really believed them, but were hungry enough to take a chance.

Rock Lee showed up of course, because Sakura had asked him oh-so-sweetly and batted her big eyelashes at him. TenTen dragged Neji along, who looked to Naruto for an explanation when he saw Hinata passed out on the couch. Ino and Sakura both had a hold of Sasuke just to get him to come, though he claimed very loudly that he was tiered and not in the least bit hungry. Also, Shikimaru and a very eager Choji had come along as well.

Before bringing in the guests, Ino had personally shown Naruto how to use the hair gel they had bought for him, and Naruto's hair was spiked up strangely. He was soon wearing a pair of the black baggy shorts (which fell half way down his ass - but that didn't seem to matter), one of the red shirts, a black wristband on one arm and a red one on the other, and also Ino had found a single earring for him to wear. It was in the shape of a crescent moon, and dangled down to his chin. To say the least, Naruto had not been overjoyed at the fact that the girls had also taken him to get one of his ears pierced earlier.

"My god, you're hot," Ino gaped, looking him over. Sakura nodded her agreement, eyes all over the blond boy. Naruto just grinned.

And so, Ino and Sakura spent a little part of the night gloating at the changes they had made on Naruto, and showed him off to his guests, who all seemed fairly surprised.

As Naruto looked in the mirror again, he couldn't help agree with Sakura and Ino that this change was definitely for the better. He suddenly wondered what Sasuke would think of him now.

Spaghetti, Naruto learned, was actually quite good, and he asked Sakura over and over again how to make it. With a laugh, she promised to come over one day after training and teach him how.

Everything was perfect. Everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves. Everybody, that is, except for Sasuke. The Uchiha boy sat off by himself in a chair that Naruto had found amongst the clutter of his apartment earlier, and he was doing the famous Sasuke Uchiha don't-bug-me-or-I'll-kick-your-ass pose. Naruto sighed as he watched the boy. It totally ruined everything. He hadn't managed to pull one single emotion out of Sasuke yet, and Naruto knew that even though he had changed so much, it changed nothing between he and Sasuke. Naruto suddenly felt sick.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" Sakura asked.

Naruto remembered her telling him how proud she was of him, he remembered the way she had smiled and the look in her eyes when she had said it, and he knew that he could never tell her that all she, Ino, and Hinata had worked so hard to achieve was all for nothing. With a sigh, he made an obscure excuse and went to the solitude of his dark, empty room. The freshly made bed with clean, brand-new sheets was inviting, and Naruto collapsed on it.

The blond boy was exhausted after everything he had been put through today. He suddenly wanted to sleep and never wake up, so he would never have to see the same blank-dead look in Sasuke's eyes when the other boy looked at him. Naruto sighed. A tear fell to the pillow beneath his head.

Then there was a knock on the door. "What?" Naruto demanded.

"Naruto, what's wrong?" Sakura asked, popping her head through the door. In their day together the two of them had become even closer. "Naruto?" Naruto felt like Sakura could almost be his little pink haired sister. Or his older sister, whichever seemed more appropriate. He smiled at the sudden thought.

Naruto sat up, still smiling and his tears wiped away. "It's nothing, Sakura. I'm just really tiered, that's all." Just then Naruto had decided that he didn't need Sasuke to be happy. Yes, Naruto loved him, and yes he was lonely at night when he was all by himself in the dark, but it didn't matter. Naruto had learned that he had the best friends any one could ever ask for. And he still had his dreams of becoming Hokage.

"Oh," Sakura said. She smiled then and shut the door behind her. "You know," she said sitting next to him on the bed. "You don't have to lie to me Naruto. Really, what's wrong?"

"Why are you so concerned about me all the sudden?" he asked, avoiding the question she had asked.

She smiled again. "Because we're friends Naruto. And we're a team. It's my job to be concerned."

Naruto smiled as well. That's right, we're a team. The three of us. "I don't know if I'm ready to say," he told her quietly.

"Oh… Okay. I understand." She smiled again, stood, and walked back over to the door. "Well, I hope you're alright. And whenever you want to talk to somebody you always got me." She hesitated as she reached for the doorknob. "Why don't you come back to the party Naruto? This is your little get-together after all."

He grinned. "It is, isn't it?" He looked down at the floor. "Alright, I'll be there in a minute. Right now I just want to sit in here for a while."

"Oh. Alright." She left. Naruto sighed.

Later on that night, all the guests had left except for an exhausted Sakura. She waved good-bye to Naruto as she walked out the door. Naruto sighed as the door shut behind her. He was also exhausted. Right now he just wanted to take a hot shower and go to bed.

He looked over at the clock. It was nearly 1:00 in the morning. Naruto sighed again.

"Well, it seems you've had an interesting day," a voice said from behind. Naruto jumped almost two feet in the air and spun around, reaching for the bag of kunai at his side that he forgot he wasn't wearing. Sasuke Uchiha then appeared out of a dark corner of the living room.

Naruto blanched. What in the world was Sasuke still doing here? "Why are you still here?" he demanded of the Uchiha boy.

Sasuke shrugged, then gave a lopsided grin. Naruto had never seen him smile before. "I'm playing," Sasuke answered.

"Playing?"

"Yep."

Sasuke crossed the room and walked right up to Naruto, not standing even a full foot away. Sasuke looked at him for a moment, then touched the blond spiked hair. He smiled again. "I like this change in you, Naruto," Sasuke said, leaning over to smell Naruto's hair. Doing so put the boy's faces very close together.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Naruto asked shakily.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Why so nervous Naruto?" he asked innocently. Then he backed up a bit and laughed. "I see the way you look at me everyday. You're always watching me like one of those crazed fangirls. Except you don't squeal with delight and tug at my arm whenever I'm around, so you've already gained one advantage over those mindless giggling girls." At Naruto's look, Sasuke laughed again. Naruto had never heard him laugh before either.

Without another word, Sasuke opened the door to the apartment and left.

Naruto was in a state of shock. He claimed to be sick the next day – and he very nearly was – and he stayed home from training. Naruto didn't think he could stomach seeing Sasuke today. Sasuke must be getting a kick out of this about now, Naruto thought around noon. He fixed himself a turkey sandwich for lunch, something he definitely was not used to. He liked it though, and soon found himself making another.

Around the time Naruto figured training was finally over, Sasuke appeared once again out of nowhere. Naruto came out of his bedroom, drinking a glass of milk (which tasted much better than the expired milk he was used to drinking), and nearly chocked, spitting out a mouthful of milk everywhere when he found the raven haired boy standing in the middle of the living room. "What the- What do you want now?" he demanded.

Sasuke smirked. "Nice to see you too."

Naruto was speechless. He quickly grabbed a towel from the kitchen and began cleaning up the mess he had made. "How did you get in?" he asked.

Sasuke shrugged. "The window was open."

"Oh and you think it's alright to just come into people's houses without asking, sneaking in through the window no less?"

Sasuke shrugged again. "I didn't say it was polite… and I like sneaking."

With a sigh, Naruto threw the dirty towel in a clothes hamper and plopped himself down on the couch in front of Sasuke. "Well?" he demanded when Sasuke didn't say anything. "What do you want?" Naruto crossed his arms.

Sasuke frowned. "I don't know. I just felt like paying you a little visit, seeing is how you're sick and all." He suddenly frowned. "You don't seem sick," he pointed out.

"I'm better now," Naruto spat bitterly.

"Whatever."

"What do you mean 'whatever?'" he demanded.

"Nothing. This is stupid. I'm leaving."

"Fine."

And just like that, he was gone again.

That night Naruto was hugging one of his pillows again. He couldn't sleep, though he wanted to so badly. He just could not get Sasuke out of his mind. Why had he decided that he could just come barging in earlier like he owned the place? And after mocking Naruto the night before for something he had absolutely no control over?!

Naruto scoffed. I hate that guy. He's such an ass hole. And though Naruto knew this was true, though Naruto knew that he did hate Sasuke, he also loved him at the same time. He knew he loved him. Sasuke meant so much to Naruto. Sasuke had even risked his own life for Naruto once.

Naruto sighed. He wished he could sleep.

He hugged the pillow tighter, pulling it close, imagining that it was Sasuke instead of the pillow. With a growl, Naruto's eyes snapped open and he threw the damn pillow at the opposite wall. "Fucking Sasuke that ass! I'm gonna kill him for making me lose sleep like this."

"Dare you to try," said a soft voice from behind.

And there he was, smiling, with one hand on the now open bedroom door. Naruto growled. "What do you want this time you ass? You want to make fin of me some more? You want to make me feel worse than I already do? Tell me Sasuke, are you enjoying yourself? Is it fun torturing me like this?" Sasuke's smile had slipped but he didn't answer. When he still didn't say anything Naruto threw his other pillow at him. "Fucking shit head," he growled.

Sasuke picked up the pillow from the floor and crossed the room. "You can't very well kill me with a pillow," he said quietly. Sasuke sat on the edge of Naruto's bed, placing the pillow back into its original place. Naruto was still frowning at him.

"I'm sorry, Naruto," Sasuke said, still talking quietly.

Naruto almost couldn't believe what he was hearing? Was Sasuke Uchiha really apologizing? To him? "What are you apologizing for?" Naruto demanded, still a bit angry. "You hate me remember?"

Sasuke shook his head. "I don't hate you." That was all he said.

"Okay, so then… what?" Naruto pressed on.

"So then…" Sasuke sighed. Then he touched Naruto's face. Naruto blushed as Sasuke leaned in close. "This," Sasuke whispered.

And Sasuke's lips pressed to Naruto's.

END!