If there was one thing Sasuke remembered about his mother, it was that she always had a favorite thing to say to him when she put him to bed.
"Goodnight, darling." She would say, pushing the hair back from his forehead. "Have sweet dreams, Sasuke," she would continue, "And remember, dear, you always need a match to light a fire." Then she would kiss his cheek, and tuck him in.
That used to confuse him. He would always wonder what she meant. You need a match to light a fire? He wondered, late one night. What about fathers Katon Jutsu? Or Brother's flame trick? (His brother used to play with a tiny flame, lit on the end of his thumb, passing it from one fingertip to the other.) They never use a match, and they can burn down whole forests! He would grin proudly at the memory of his father and Itatchi defending the village from thieves, using his impressive fireball to set them aflame. When he asked her about it one night, she smiled knowingly and kissed him on the nose. "You'll understand it one day, Sasuke," She told him.
Well, he was beginning to get it now. He had been back in Konoha for exactly two years, seven months, and a week. He had realized that his feelings for his pink-haired teammate were a little (a lot) more than platonic six months, three weeks, and four days ago. And he had no idea how to break the news to anyone. So, in other words, He had no match to start their fire. He had only admitted it to himself – out loud – thirteen days ago. (And that was only murmured into his pillow at first, then screamed from a tree top sixteen miles away from the village by the end of the day.)
So, today (March 3rd) he was going to let Naruto (And maybe Kakashi) in on the news. He only hoped that neither of them congratulated him, or begin to try to beat him for it. Because everybody knows, Sasuke Uchiha is emotionally constipated, and Naruto and Kakashi are very, very protective of their dear Saku-Chan. (Which they totally are, by the way.)
He was giving himself a very well put-together pep talk while eating his breakfast (a tomato, a bowl of rice and some milk), when his kitchen window flew out of the wall, and a green flash of spandex burst into the already cramped room. In the flurry of unexpected action, his table had been knocked over, spilling both the rice and milk onto his shirt.
Recovering from shock, Sasuke rose among milk, rice, and broken glass, very wet, and very angry.
"What the hell!" he screeched, sharingan swirling. "What the hell! My kitchen is a mess!" he looked around, his hand diving for his hair, and he seemed to be valiantly trying to tear it from his scalp. He remembered that there was a green-spandex clad monster standing proudly in his mess of a kitchen, seemingly unaffected by his error.
Sasuke spun on the perpetrator (Good day to you, Sasuke-kun!), glaring violently, and stabbing an accusatory finger at him. "And YOU. YOU! What the fuck do you think you were doing? You can't just destroy my fucking kitchen and act like it was nothing! You crazy, spandex wearing Fuck!" by the end of his small tangent, he was breathing heavily, nostrils flaring, and teeth gnashing.
Sasuke glared at Guy for a few more seconds before the man burst into tears, streams of salt water pouring from his eyes.
"OH, SASUKE-KUN! I AM SO VERY SORRY ABOUT YOUR HOME, AND MY DESTROYING OF IT! I ONLY WISHED TO EXPRESS THE OVERWHELMING JOY I FELT AT THE PROSPECT OF JOINING YOU FOR BREAKFAST, THAT I WANTED TO MAKE A SPECTACULAR, SHOW-WINNING ENTRANCE INTO YOUR HOME!" Guy would have continued his tear filled apology for another twenty-three mind numbing minutes if it had been Sakura or Naruto. But since it was Sasuke, the emotionally unstable one, this particular rant only had him becoming angrier and angrier.
"A 'SPECTACULAR, SHOW-WINNING ENTRANCE INTO MY HOME?' You call that a spectacular, show-winning entrance? That was destructive and irresponsible!" Sasuke yelled. By now, his hands had flown in the air, and he was animatedly waving and gesturing to random things. "You know what would have been spectacular? If you had used the FUCKING DOOR, YOU STUPID FUCKER!" He was choking on his anger, because now he would have to fix his wall, buy a new window, install it, and take a shower.
He chased the still tearful Guy out of his home, and eventually all the way to the gates, where he was restrained enough for Guy to escape, threatening to stab him in various parts of his body all the way.
It was then that our favorite blonde shinobi strolled over, intent on visiting his friend Sasuke, only to discover the kitchen wall to be mysteriously missing, and the house to be eerily empty.
"Sasuke?" He called. It echoed. He cautiously entered, kunai at the ready.
He threw it with a fury at the upper left corner of the den, singing Sasuke's cat, Tomata, who was sitting on top of the bookshelf. The grey feline had been batting at a fly, making a little too much, too-little-to-be-obvious noise. The cat yowled in angry pain, and flew at him.
Naruto had stayed up a little too late the night before, and as a result, his reflexes were a little too slow.
So, instead of dodging the angry, grey fur ball, like he should have been able too, the cat latched onto his face, furiously ripping at the (unfortunately) sensitive skin there. Naruto screeched in pain.
"OI! TEME! OWWW… GET YOUR-OW! STUPID CAT OFF MY FAAACE… OUCH! TEME! HOLY MOTHER OF ALL THINGS RAMEN! SOMEONE GET THIS CRAZY FREAKING THING AWAY FROM MY FACE! TEEEMEEE!" He screamed. He began to cry when no one seemed to hear him.
Somewhere, far, far away, Sakura heard the vague-but-familiar sound of Naruto being attacked by a cat. She immediately flew out the window and followed the faint 'OW's and the, 'Fuck, why can no one hear me, I'm like on the street!'s, screaming, "I'm coming to your rescue, Naruto!"
She arrived on the scene at the same time Kakashi and Sasuke did, although she had ran all the way there, and they had just walked.
"Oh my God! What the hell's happening!" she gawked at the scene. Sasuke had to strain to hold back blush when she turned on him, eyes wide and pleading, her dainty hand reaching out a placing itself on his shoulder pleadingly. "Sasuke, you have to help him!" she pleaded.
He scowled. "Why? He got himself into this, he can get him self out." He said, sure that absolutely no one could arguer with his logic.
"Sasuke, please! It's your cat! You have to help him!"
He looked around. A crowd was gathering, some laughing, others wincing in sympathy. I bet they get attacked by cats on a regular basis, too, he thought.
Grudgingly, he stalked through his open kitchen (Guy…) and reached around in the rubble of his cabinets, searching for Tomata's favorite kitten treats.
When he found them, all he had to do was shakeshakeshake the can.
Almost immediately, the angry, shrill sounds of Tomata's yowling cut off. He soon saw the cat, sprinting to get a reward. For what, he didn't know. Because in the end, attacking his best friend did not deserve anything.
His cat was soon followed by Sakura, who hugged him, then ran out of the kitchen again, sending him a questioning glance on her way. He just shrugged. She smiled, and then disappeared. He stumbled out of the crushed remains, to find her hefting up Naruto's half limp body.
"Hey, Sasuke," she called, sounding somewhat strained. (Even though they both knew she could lift both of them with one finger) He raised is brows to show he'd heard.
"Could you - mhph – help me with this?"
He sighed, but slid his arm around Naruto's shoulders, and slung his lax arm around his.
"C'mon," he said, realizing that Naruto was heavier than he looked, but not really caring.
They half dragged, half carried their friend to the hospital. (Even though they both knew that she could heal him, even though they both knew she wanted to. Even though she knew that she would rather have an excuse to spend time with Sasuke. (She knew Naruto would be happy to serve as her excuse, if it made everybody happy, and caused no one harm.)) When they arrived, they both watched him go around the corner, after being taken by Sakura's favorite nurses, an elderly woman named Chi, and a slightly younger one named Hana.
Sakura turned to him, smiling expectantly. "So…" she drawled.
Sasuke blinked. "Come with me," he said, not waiting for her answer, knowing she would have said yes.
He dragged her halfway across the village, and down a familiar street, where the team's favorite ramen stand was.
When he sat her down, and shoved a menu into her hand, she smiled deviously.
"Sasuke…?"
"Hn."
"Are we having lunch? Together?"
He blushed lightly, scowled, but said nothing.
Sakura put a quizzical finger to her lips. "I might even venture so far as to call it a date." She said, punctuating the words carefully.
"Don't push it…" he warned. His ears were a glowing red.
She giggled delightfully. "Okay, then. It's a pre-test. Or a pre-date." Wiggling her slight fingers at him, she received a scowl. But she saw that when he turned his head away, there was a hint of a smirk lingering on his lips.
He had a strange, unfamiliar glowing in his heart. He knew then that he had found his match. The match to light the fire.
So, there you have it. The first of many, many chapters. MANY. Enjoy, and feel free to review, feedback is the only thing keeping me ALIVE. (jk. There's food and water and music as well.) Have you noticed that I have fallen in love with parentheses? They are great. Like, they buy me flowers, and take me to dinner, and they, just, like, totally rock! Teehee!