It was just a quiet day in Konoha. Or so everyone thought. Because in place of the silence and birds chirping, a certain blonde ran out of his apartment screaming at the top of his lungs about something that had happened. But no one could understand him for his words were nothing but mumbles. He panted as he ran to a tree, leaning against it, his throat hurting now after screaming.
Who is this blonde that screamed 'bloody murder' through the streets of Konoha? His name was Uzumaki Naruto and he did something he hadn't done in a long time. Clean his home. But while he cleaned, something decided to make his closet it's home. Something that was large, brown, and had 8 legs. Slightly shaken up still from the attack, or so he thought, Naruto slid against the trunk of the tree and he fought crying. He hated spiders.
"Oi, Naruto, where are you?" Sasuke had seen the blonde run past running and screaming and was wondering what had gotten the blonde so scared. Fisting his hands into his pockets he had followed after him at a walk figuring it was probably something no where near as scary as Naruto made it out to be, he was such a scaredy cat after all. He looked up and around the trees looking for his teammate. "Come out come out, wherever you are." he called his tone not as playful as it seemed but his normal bored tone
Naruto picked his head up when he heard Sasuke's voice. "Over here!" He called out, standing up against the tree now, more visible to anyone that was looking for him. His breath was still a bit harsh for he did a lot of running. The blonde hugged himself for a moment then stood as he did before, leaning against the trunk of the tree. His heart pounded as he tried to control his body from the scare. Spiders were the creepiest things in the world. How the hell Shino loved them, he had no clue.
Sasuke saw the blonde just a short ways from where he was. He walked over looking up at the blonde, hands still in his pockets "What are you doing up there, and what was all the noise for?" He asked looking up the tree at Naruto not sure if he should be bothered to go up after the blonde or not. The blonde seemed shaken by something that much was clear though Sasuke had yet to determine if it was something relevant or ridiculous as was often with the blonde though he still felt a small twinge of concern for the blonde, just in case it was something to be scared over.
Swallowing the build up the scare gave him, Naruto turned his head. "You'd just laugh at me." He muttered as he hid his hands in his pockets to avoid Sasuke from seeing them shake still from the terrible fright of the spider.
Sasuke smirked "I probably will." he said as he walked up the side of the tree stopping next to Naruto turning his head to look at him still smirking as he stood sideways compared to Naruto turning slightly simply to look at him better. "So what was it this time? Store run out of ramen again?" he asked a slight hint of mocking slipping subtly into his tone.
"NO!" He shouted as he turned his head to look away from the other teen. He crossed his arms over his chest, but his nerves were still shaken up a bit and so his arms shook slightly. Noticing this a bit too late, Naruto put his arms behind his back trying to hide the obvious.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow noticing how his friend was shaken. He walked up the tree a bit more moving to the branch above Naruto's head walking upside-down on it. He walked till he was in front of Naruto facing him as he stood upside down his face now one of slight concern. "So you're not out of ramen, what is it then?"
"If I told you, you'll only laugh at me!" Naruto said, looking Sasuke now in the eye. "Knowing you, you'll call me stupid and that it's a stupid thing to be scared of." Naruto pouted.
Sasuke quirked an eyebrow again "so you're not going to tell me then? Fine, you deal with whatever's causing you to freak out like a scaredy cat on your own." he said releasing the chakra from his feet causing him to drop. He flipped over at the last minute landing on his feet before looking back up at Naruto as if checking to see if he was still not going to share
"WAIT!" Naruto shouted as he went to grab Sasuke. But instead, the blonde fell out of the tree and landed on top of his friend with a big 'thud'. The blonde sat up and rubbed his head. "Ow."
Sasuke ran his hand through his hair as Naruto landed in front of him with a lot less grace than his own decent. "What?" he asked looking down at the blond slightly irritated as he narrowed his eyes slightly at his teammate. Is he going to tell me or not? He wondered to himself
Standing up and dusting himself clean, Naruto cleared his throat. "You promise you won't laugh?"
Sasuke rolled his eyes crossing his arms over his chest. "I promise to try." he said wondering if it was worth it to get whatever it was out of Naruto, he could be training right now... but he just had to go after his blonde teammate to see if he was ok
"I was cleaning my place...when...I saw it..." Naruto muttered.
"It?" Sasuke repeated wondering what in the world the blonde had run into in his own apartment... wait, did he just say he was cleaning his apartment? Sasuke wasn't sure what to be surprised by more, what he had found or the fact that he had been cleaning when he found it. "What, you found you had a floor in all that mess?"
Naruto glared at Sasuke. "No! I knew I had a floor! I..." the blonde got quiet again, shivering at the thought of the beast that he found laying in his clothes, in his home as if it belonged there.
Sasuke gave an almost inaudible sigh as he rested his hand onto of the blond's head almost as an attempt to comfort him. "What... what was it?"
"It was...a spider." Naruto breathed out, his eyes casted down at his feet, ashamed that something so small could scare him so badly. But it had black beady eyes that looked up at him. And 8 hairy legs that seemed to stretch out and cover all the space in the room. Just thinking of the thing sent chills up and down Naruto's back, giving him goose bumps. And out of reaction of thinking about the spider, the blonde shook and did a little dance as though he was trying to take the bug off of him. He could feel the critters legs crawling up his arm again and it freaked him out even more.
Sasuke blinked looking at the blonde taking a moment to make sure he had heard right. His hand on top of the blonde's head went stiff slightly as his other hand pressed his fingers against the bridge of his nose. "A... spider." he said his tone no different than before though it had a slight tint of disbelief to it
Naruto nodded his head. "Go ahead and laugh. I'm sure you want to." The blonde brushed Sasuke's hand off of his head and crossed his arms over his chest, pouting as he did so. 'Nothing screams crybaby and scaredy cat then running and freaking out over a spider! Way to go Naruto!'
"Why didn't you just kill it?" he asked his tone still not changing and he still didn't laugh as his hand fell back to his side, his other hand still rubbing between his eyes.
"I'm scared of it! It's like evil or something!!" Naruto shouted, waving his arms in the air. "I couldn't just kill it! It would have eaten me alive!"
Sasuke gave a slight sigh, gritting his teeth slightly. He wasn't sure what annoyed him more; the fact that Naruto was so scared of a spider or the fact that he'd promised not to laugh at him. Then again he felt like it might have been too idiotic for him to laugh at even if he hadn't promised him. "Well that's usually what happens when you go for so long before cleaning your place up, you're lucky you only found one."
"Only one? So there might be more? NO WAY!" Naruto started freaking out even more at the thought of more spiders.
Sasuke set his jaw gritting his teeth tighter as he pressed the bridge of his nose tighter as if hoping to relieve his headache that way. "Naruto, stop freaking out, it's not going to help"
Naruto listened, though it took him a while to relax. "Could you kill it for me?" The blonde asked timidly.
Sasuke paused for a moment not really sure what to think or do about all of this but finally he lowered his other hand to his side. "Fine... where is the damn thing?" he asked looking away from Naruto, more towards where his apartment was.
"YAY! THANKS SASUKE!" Naruto jumped up and grinned, feeling much better now that the pest was going to die. And without a moment's hesitation, the pair was on their way to the apartments. The blonde took Sasuke to his place, but as they were about to go in, the blonde shook, fear beginning to take him again. That spider was evil looking. It had to be a demon or something. It just wasn't natural.
Slowly, Naruto opened his door, and it was clear the blonde had been cleaning. The whole kitchen area was spotless. Not a dish in the sink, all cups plates and the like in where they belonged. The table was neat with a vase of cherry blossoms within it. Books were where they needed to go. It was nice. Then came the closest. Clothes were everywhere and it was also clear that Naruto tried to hit the spider with a broom, but it broke in many pieces. The blonde laughed nervously. The spider could be anywhere.
Sasuke looked around feeling somewhat impressed that Naruto had managed to do such a good job of cleaning up his apartment considering how infrequently he did it. Though once he saw the mess of clothes and something that looked like it used to be a broom Sasuke couldn't help but give a small exasperated sigh hanging his head fighting the urge to smack the blond upside the head. Well... at least he tried to kill it I suppose, he thought to himself as he walked towards the mess. "I guess it was originally over here."
Without realizing it, Naruto hung closely to Sasuke. Should the spider come back, the blonde was planning on giving the Uchiha up as bait while he ran out. Nodding to Sasuke's comment, he clung to the dark haired boy's shirt, his blue eyes scanning the room, as he feared the 8-legged thing would return, with back up. Didn't spider's travel in packs?
"Don't get too close, Naruto." Sasuke said slightly irritated as he tried not to stumble as the blonde suddenly clung to his shirt. He tried to reach down to move some of the clothes to the side to see if he could uncover the spider
Naruto jumped back scared that the spider would pop up from his clothes. Most of them were clean; he just didn't hang them up. Taking Sasuke's advice, the blonde tried his best to stay away from Sasuke, but close enough to shove the teen in the spider's way as he bolted for the door. "I hope it left. Please tell me it left."
"Tsk, I don't know yet Naruto... let me check first." he carefully picked up a shirt, shook it to see if the spider was inside then tossed it to the bed once he was sure it wasn't in there. He continued this with one article of clothing at a time making sure to check carefully knowing this would not end unless he did. As he checked without realizing it, the spider that Naruto had told him about made its way off the clothing and onto the underside of Sasuke's arm or more his arm guard where he could neither see nor feel it, though to Naruto it was obvious.
Naruto's blue eyes got wide as he saw the brown thing that called itself a spider crawled on Sasuke's arm guards. "IT'S RIGHT THERE!" He shouted, pointing to Sasuke's arm while he jumped back. Out of instinct, the blonde grabbed one of the books from his shelf and readied himself to whack Sasuke's arm in an attempt to rid himself and his room of the spider for good.
Sasuke snapped his head around trying to see where Naruto was pointing but too slowly did he realize he meant his arm. The book connected with Sasuke's arm but not the spider. "Ah! Naruto, what the hell!" Sasuke shouted as the spider fell from his arm to the floor landing between the two. Sasuke glared at Naruto not sure why the blonde was suddenly attacking him, not looking to where the spider was.
Soon squealing like a child would, the blonde threw the book down, hoping to aim for the spider as it began to crawl towards him. "KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT!!" He chanted as he began the 'freak out' dance after he threw the book down.
The throw was a bad one and Sasuke had to move so it didn't strike his foot. Seeing the spider he quickly moved his still raised foot down hard on top of the spider killing it and stopping its move towards Naruto.
Naruto flinched as he felt the spider crawl up his skin, only to realize that it was just his mind playing tricks on him. Hearing a crunch sound, the blonde looked and saw a bent leg underneath Sasuke's foot. "YAY! THANK YOU SO MUCH SASUKE!" Naruto shouted, tackling the teen, causing them both to land on the bed, the blonde on top of the other.
"Gah! Naruto!" Sasuke felt the wind knocked out of him as the over joyous blonde knocked him into the bed which was now partially hidden by the clothes Sasuke had already done a spider check on.
"You're so great! Thank you so much!" Naruto hugged the Uchiha tightly, excited that his pest problem was done with now, hopefully. Nuzzling his face into the boy's chest, he was just too overwhelmed to care what anyone thought or said at this moment.
Sasuke sighed as he rubbed his hand on the blonde's head. "You're welcome, just next time come and find me first before tearing through the village screaming at the top of your lungs alright?" he asked as he looked up at the ceiling not really minding the extra weight on top of him
He nodded then continued to hug the one underneath him. "You're the best, Sasuke!"
"Yeah whatever, though I wasn't sure what was more unbelievable... your reaction to the spider or the fact that you were cleaning up in here, and doing a half decent job by the look of it." he said with a small teasing 'humph' as he now ran his hand gently through the blonde's spiky hair.
Naruto wanted to pout but in a way Sasuke's comment was meant to be more of a compliment than an insult. But of course it only took months before he could tell the difference. The feel of Sasuke's fingers through his hair felt good and the blonde couldn't help but lean more into the touch. "What's so wrong with me being scared of a spider? Or me cleaning for that matter?" He asked as he sat up now sitting on his bed instead of sitting on Sasuke.
Sasuke felt his hand leave the softness of Naruto's hair and he let it fall back beside him. "Well everyone's afraid of something I guess... though it's better to face it than running away from it. As for the cleaning... well, lets face it, Naruto," he said turning his head slightly to smirk at the blonde. "Clean isn't exactly a word you're familiar with."
This time the blonde did pout. "And being nice goes with you like orange juice and toothpaste." He retorted after gaining his composure. The blonde tapped Sasuke playfully on the shoulder. "Thanks again though."
Sasuke gave a small grin at Naruto's comment as he looked back up at the ceiling. "Any time I guess," he said in reply to Naruto's thanks. "Anything to make you less of a scaredy cat I guess; you need all the help you can get." he said as he reached over and gave Naruto a playful shove
Growling playfully, the blonde jumped on Sasuke. "Human pile!" He called out, knowing he was the only one around. Laughing he looked up at Sasuke. "I'm glad you're my friend, Sasuke."
"Gah!" the air from Sasuke's lungs was squished out rapidly as Naruto threw himself on top of him again. He coughed lightly breathing the air back into his lungs chuckling slightly. He gave a light snort not really one to really go around talking about friends as readily and easily as Naruto did. "Yeah... me too." was all he said as he ruffled Naruto's hair running his hands through it again afterwards
Naruto smiled and hugged Sasuke again. Then rolling onto his back, he looked at his ceiling. "Hey, are you planning on dating Sakura or Ino?" He randomly asked as he often did. "Or is there some other girl you want to be with?"
"Huh? What kind of random, and stupid if I might add, question is that?" Sasuke asked sounding slightly irritated. He thought he made it clear to everyone he didn't care about girls, especially going out with them. Though he guessed since the girls never got the hint, why would Naruto?
"No, I'm not planning on dating any of them."
"Why?" Naruto rolled to his side to look Sasuke better. "You don't think they still have cooties or something, do you?"
"Cooties? What?" Sasuke was slightly confused at the thought that Naruto believed he had such a childish idea that girls had cooties. "Girls are too much of a bother, they're just an annoying distraction. Why would I want to have one around more often then they already are? They cling to me like gum to the bottom of your shoe... I wish they'd all just leave me alone sometimes."
"You kinda sound like Shikamaru." Naruto said, chuckling. "They are a bother sometimes, huh? Then just do something that'll make them back off for good or something." He said, as if it was the best plan ever.
"You don't think I haven't tried?" Sasuke asked sounding slightly more irritated. He had tried to avoid them and cast dark brooding glances at people but that just seemed to have the reverse effect. "Every thing I try only seems to make it worse if anything." he said as he placed his hands behind his head as he looked up at the ceiling. "I'm just not interested, I don't see why they can't get that"
"Well maybe because you're trying too hard. Just be you, but not you. Instead of glaring at people, smile at them. Girls go crazy for the sad brooding look. If you change that, then they won't go after you anymore." Naruto smiled, proud of the plan he came up with all his own.
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I don't smile any more than you brood. It would just seem far too out of character for me to act like that. Besides how I act is me," he said not sure how to explain himself to his teammate, not really sure if he actually could at any rate. He turned onto his side propping himself up on his arm as his black eyes looked into the blue ones of his blonde teammate
For some reason, Naruto felt hot staring at Sasuke and he didn't know that what he was feeling at the moment was called a blush. "I like it when you smile. You look nice." The blonde said being honest as he usually was.
Sasuke smirked and sat up. "Good luck getting that to happen."
"Oh come on, Sasuke. Smile once in a while. It takes like 75 muscles or something to frown and less than that to smile."
"I like giving my muscles a workout." He smirked again.
"Gah, Sasuke." Naruto smiled then tackled Sasuke, straddling on top of him, almost pinning the boy down. "Smile or I will MAKE you smile."
The Uchiha teen felt his cheeks get warm, but thought nothing much of it. "Plan on tickling me to death?"
"Not just me. Kage bushin no jutsu!" And suddenly there was 4 more Narutos in the room, all of them sitting on the bed around Sasuke.
"Naruto, don't. If you want to live to become Hokage, I suggest that you don't." Sasuke looked around, feeling slightly nervous. He could easily be over powered by 5 Naruto's tickling him all at once.
"Then smile. Just once. Please? For me?" Said a Naruto was the directly behind him. The one straddling him held the gentle look as well as the others. "Come on Sasuke. It won't kill you."
"No, but you might." Sasuke sighed, looking up, and upside down, at the Naruto behind him. "If I do, will you get off?"
"Yup!" Naruto smiled, the clones poofing away as the real one continued to sit just on top of Sasuke, just above the groin, but just barely.
Signing, Sasuke looked at Naruto and motioned for him to get closer with a crooked finger. He noticed that Naruto obeyed, looking down at the Uchiha, eye staring almost intently on his lips. 'Well if he wants to look at my lips,' thought Sasuke, smirking on the inside as he was supposed to be smiling. "I have to do something first before I smile." He said softly.
"What is it?" Naruto asked, tilting his head to the side slightly, just like a curious fox would.
'I shouldn't be so mean. But it'll teach him a lesson, I think,' thought Sasuke. "Lean in closer. It's going to be a small smile, alright?" This only caused a giggle out of Naruto, as he bounced around a little on top of Sasuke's lap. Lifting both hands up, the Uchiha cupped the slightly tan face in his hands, feeling the light whiskers on his face brush on his fingertips. "You can't move, no matter what. Doing this will make me smile, got it?"
Naruto shook his head in the light gentle grip, almost leaning in closer.
'He's making this way too easy,' the Uchiha thought. Leaning up to meet with Naruto, Sasuke closed his eyes for a brief moment, his lips brushing against Naruto's gently. In response he felt the blonde stiffen in the touch, obviously not sure on how to react. Pulling back after he had his fun, he figured that the look on Naruto's face would be enough to make him smile; the confused look that often made him laugh. But instead he got an almost sad look, one that tugged at his heart. "Naruto?" Sasuke said, trying to break the blonde out a trace of sorts.
"Why did you do that?" Naruto said, eyes down casted, as if afraid to look at Sasuke now. "Why did you have to go and do something like that?"
"Naruto, I was just…" his words were cut as blue eyes looked up, staring into black eyes. Sasuke got his confused look, but it was mixed with hurt and a trace of something else. Was it longing? Since when did Naruto feel this way?
"I think you should go." The blonde said, slipping off of Sasuke, sitting beside him now. "Thanks for killing the spider." You could hear the force in his throat, trying not to cry.
"Naruto, what's going on?" Sasuke asked, his voice gentle and not demanding.
"You kissed me! I should be asking you that question!" Naruto shouted, his voice breaking.
The Uchiha always knew that his friend was a bit emotional sometimes, but this was taking things to a different level. "I was just joking around. You said you wanted me to smile, I figured in my head that if I kissed you, you'd get confused, and I'd laugh at that face of yours, then smile."
"Plan sure backfired, didn't it?" Was the blonde's response. "Per usual, you just like messing with people's heads. You don't care about anyone but yourself."
"Naruto." His voice was in warning now, as though telling the blonde to watch what he said.
"It's true! You have all the girls in town drooling over you. Sakura-chan won't even look at me! All she's interested in is how to impress Sasuke!"
"Ever stop to think that because I show no interest in the girls is because I'm gay!" Sasuke shouted, then suddenly he gasped, getting up off of the bed, his eyes just staring at Naruto in slight fear. He hadn't told anyone that he was gay, but Kakashi figured it out soon enough after being around the boy long enough. No one even questioned his sexuality because he always had a hoard of girls after him, and was just playing the 'hard to get' card.
"You're…gay…." Naruto repeated, unsure on what to do now.
"Yes…I'm gay. You know what that means, don't you?" Sasuke asked.
"Of course I know what that means. I'm not that stupid." Naruto replied. Moments of silence filled the room before Sasuke decided it was time he left the room. Just as he placed his hand on the doorknob, Naruto spoke again.
"What's it like?" He asked.
"What's, what like?" Sasuke turned around, his voice slightly annoyed, but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary.
"Being gay. What's it like?" Naruto asked honestly, looking up at his friend. Inside he was confused, not sure on what to do. He knew he was mentally younger than a lot of his friends. Though he knew he liked Sakura, he wasn't sure what to do with the rest of his emotions. Anger came and went, but there was something he felt each time when he looked into Sasuke's eyes, something that burned at his insides. He had gotten so use to the feeling, that now, he just smiled on the inside, and enjoying the tingle it gave him.
"Dobe, you can't explain what being gay is like. You just are."
"So how do you know if you're gay or not?" Naruto asked, scooting to the edge of the bed, pulling his legs up to his chest in a nervous position, one that only Sasuke and Iruka-sensei saw.
Sighing, Sasuke went over to the blonde, sitting beside him. How as he suppose to explain this to his best friend. Since no one really asked questions, let alone knew he was gay, the Uchiha boy didn't know how to respond. Should he be overly blunt in hopes to get Naruto off this train of thought? After all he didn't need the blonde blurting this info out. It wasn't like Sasuke was ashamed of being gay; it just wasn't common in the village.
"Well you usually can tell when you're gay when you get an erection when you stare at a naked man too long."
"So if that doesn't happen, then you're not gay?" Naruto asked, genuinely curious, his blue eyes not so scared like before, but looking at Sasuke with intent, obviously trying to learn something new about his friend.
"Well that isn't true. That just might mean you're not attracted to that guy. If you get a funny feeling in your stomach when you look at someone for too long, like a crush, but it happens when you look at a guy. That means you're interested in them." 'God I feel like I'm talking to a 9 year old.'
"Do you have to be gay to feel that way? Can't you just like the person?" Naruto asked, looking at Sasuke again.
"I suppose." He was getting nervous now. Why was Naruto getting so curious about this all of a sudden? Then the Uchiha decided to ask a few questions of his own.
"Why are you so curious anyway?"
"Well you're my friend. Friends learn new things about each other all the time. I'm just trying to learn something new, is all." Naruto smiled, leaning in closer to Sasuke, resting his head on the raven-haired teen's shoulder.
"Naruto…why didn't you yell at me when I first kissed you? It was only till I asked what was wrong with you till you yelled."
"Maybe I didn't hate the idea." Naruto replied, closing his eyes.
Sasuke turned his head slowly and lifted a hand up, running it through his thick soft blonde spikes. "So you don't hate the idea of kissing me?"
"Not…at…all…" Naruto's voice got softer, almost like he was falling asleep.
"Naruto?"
"Hmm?"
"Thanks." Sasuke kissed the blonde's head, smiling gently. Soon Naruto fell asleep on Sasuke's arms and he placed the blonde to bed, after picking up the clothes and hanging them up. Naruto was a deep sleeper and apparently could sleep through anything. While the blonde slept, Sasuke finished cleaning up the apartment and smiled at the blonde who was curled up on his bed, snuggling with the pillow.
"Oyasuminasai, dobe."