"I'm gonna beat you one day," Naruto said as he and Sasuke approached Naruto's apartment.
"It's been eight years since you first said that," Sasuke replied, cocking his head and giving Naruto a defiant look. "I think it's time you give up on your dumb dream of becoming Hokage, and especially your dream of beating me."
"Y-you remember all of that? After all this time?" Naruto asked, his hand pausing on the door knob.
"Of course I do," Sasuke answered, a small smile forming on his lips. "How could I ever forget that look of determination in your eyes when you first said it?" He turned his body to face Naruto, an uncharacteristic look of admiration in his eyes. Sasuke didn't know why, but as the years went on, he found himself letting his guard down more and more around the blonde.
"Wait—I'm still going to be Hokage!" Naruto exclaimed, interrupting Sasuke's thoughts.
"I know, I know. I was only kidding. You're fully capable of doing anything, even becoming the leader of this village." The Uchiha encouraged, reaching out his hand to tap lightly on the Konoha symbol on Naruto's Hitai-ate. Smiling, Naruto took hold of Sasuke's wrists. He pulled his best friend towards him, tilting his head up to be at Sasuke's eye level.
"So, you admit that I'm stronger?" Naruto inquired, his voice barely above a whisper.
"We'll see about that, " Sasuke murmured in reply, pulling himself towards Naruto, wrapping his arm around his back and up towards his neck. The smile on the Uchiha's face grew to a full-on sadistic grin. Blue eyes looked alarmingly into suddenly widened crimson ones as a sharp pain became present in Naruto's neck. Before he could react, his vision darkened into nothing.
A shaft of light made its way to Naruto's eyes as he came back from unconsciousness. As he fully opened his eyes and slowly got his bearings, he realized he was laying on his own couch. Naruto sat up, scratching the back of his head wondering how he got there. The last thing he remembered doing was walking to his house with Sasuke... Then he remembered. The feel of Sasuke's arms around his neck, the close proximity of Sasuke's face from his own. He had never been so close to him before.
He rubbed his neck where he had been pinched prior, a faint blush appearing at the thought of the smile his raven-haired companion had shown him.
"Is he okay?" he heard a familiar voice ask quietly from somewhere in the room.
"Sakura?" Naruto asked, looking around in attempt to locate the voice. "Why are you-"
"SURPRISE!" A cacophony of voices cheered from all around room. All his friends burst out from every crevice of his cramped living room.
"Happy birthday, Naruto!" Kiba shouted, roughly clapping the shocked blonde on the back.
"Uh, wow, thanks," Naruto said somewhat stupidly, looking around the room at all his friends from the couch. "...But aren't we a little too old for surprise parties?"
"Who cares? Live a little," Ino said from somewhere behind Naruto. "We're not to old for this, are we?"
"Old for what?" Naruto started to question, but upon turning around he understood what she meant. In her hands, she held a glass bottle of dark liquid that Naruto identified as wine. "Oh, I-I guess not," He stammered.
Ino poured wine into several glasses that were sprawled out amongst a table, and after there was no more wine to pour, another bottle was brought out and set on the table. Just in case.
Naruto stood up and observed who exactly was in his apartment. It seemed all his childhood friends had 'broken in;' even Kakashi was there, standing in a dark corner, STILL reading his perverted book. He absently wondered how many times he reread the series as he took a glass in his hand as Kiba made a toast.
"Happy Birthday, Naruto," He said, as everyone hushed to hear the toast. "You sure have come a long way from being the village idiot to becoming the h-"
Shino violently elbowed the dog-boy in the ribs before he could go any further with his speech, signaling for Shikamaru to say something before Naruto figured out what he was going to say. Unfortunately for them, Naruto caught that last bit of what Kiba said.
"Hold on, what was that last part about me becoming… something?" Naruto asked, tilting his head slightly, trying to figure out what Kiba was going to say.
"He meant that you've come a long way from being the… Village idiot… to becoming one of the strongest shinobi we've met." Shikamaru covered.
"Yes, now, everyone bottoms up!" cheered Sakura. As everyone downed their glasses, save for Hinata, who opted to quietly sipping hers, Naruto couldn't help but wonder where Sasuke was. When the party attendants eventually formed small groups to socialize in, Naruto asked his group if any of them had seen Sasuke. No one knew where he had gone to and Naruto would have spent the rest of the night feeling depressed if Tsunade and Shizune hadn't showed up at that moment, grinning ear to ear.
"Haaah? What's Granny Tsunade doing here?" Naruto wondered aloud.
"Just wait, Naruto," Chouji managed to answer through a mouth full of the lemon flavored cake Hinata had apparently made, throwing an excited look toward Kiba. The room quieted down when Kakashi closed his book and sassily strutted to the center of the floor, looking rather fierce.
"Ah, Naruto. It seems like your day has finally come," Naruto's former sensei said, smiling through his mask.
Still confused about what was happening around him, the blonde asked, "My... you mean my birthday?"
"... No," Kakashi sighed. "The day you've been waiting for practically since you were born." He ran his hand through his silver hair, frustrated that his speech wasn't going the way he wanted. Well, this is Naruto we're dealing with. He thought, smirking. An even deeper silence descended on the room as everyone stared at Naruto in disbelief. Turns out that over twelve years, he had grown in the brawn department, but hadnt made much progress in the brains. He simply wasn't getting it.
The smile faded from the former Hokage's face and she rubbed her temples, mumbling something about not having time for this. She abruptly pulled the red and white Hokage hat from behind her back and smiled once again at Naruto, gesturing for him to come take the hat. That action seemed to finally piece everything together in Naruto's blonde little head.
T-th-that's for me?" He asked, eyes wide with anticipation.
"No, I'm letting you wear it for your birthday," Tsunade droned. Noticing the way Naruto visibly deflated from that statement, she gave him an apologetic smile. "Kidding, kidding. Congratulations Naruto, you've finally become Hokage."
Naruto stood rooted to the ground for a few stunned moments while he processed the words Tsunade just said. Had she really just offered him the position of Konoha's Leader? Had years and years of training finally paid off? Had he finally proven wrong everyone who told him he would be nothing, that he would never live his dreams? As he looked around at all of his friends, the ones who stood by him the entire time, and saw their encouraging smiles, he realized the answer. Yes, his day had finally come. Yes, he was going to become Hokage.
"How troublesome… Are you gonna stand there all day or are you gonna accept it?" Shikamaru groaned from his spot against a wall.
"Of course I am, idiot!" Naruto shouted, jerking his head up and quickly crossing the distance between himself the former leader across from him. As the blonde placed an eager hand on the hat, Tsunade put hers on his shoulder, causing him to meet her gaze.
"Minato would be proud." As she saw Naruto's head droop and his shoulders begin to tremble, she lowered her own head a bit, no longer needing to bend down to get on the young man's level, and squeezed his shoulder a little. Tsunade expected him to be emotional, but crying? She didn't see that coming. "Naruto, I-"
"YATTAAAAAAAAAAAA!" He suddenly screamed, making Tsunade take a step back. He seized the hat from her hands, and in a flash of orange, he was outside, screaming to the heavens that he was the newest Hokage.
"That idiot," Tsunade said through a small grin.
"Another toast!" A slightly tipsy Ino slurred. She raised her glass, some of the dark liquid sloshing out onto the beige carpet. Everyone else followed suit, picking up the party from where it left off. Naruto would join them again later.
In his mad dash outside, Naruto didn't notice the shadowy figure standing against the railing of the porch, watching him rejoice. The spectator smirked and made his way to the young man who had just sprinted past him.
"Calm down, you'll wake up the entire neighborhood," Said the approaching stranger. Naruto turned around to face the direction of the all too familiar voice, not shutting up in the slightest.
"But Sasuke, how could I possibly be calm? I'm the Hokage!"
"I know. I helped Tsunade plan the surprise." Sasuke shrugged casually, putting his hands in his pockets.
"You did?" Naruto asked, placing the hat on his head. "Well why weren't you at the party?"
"It's annoying to be around all of those people," Sasuke answered, reaching out to straighten the crookedly placed hat. "That last time was to make sure you didn't see anyone when you came in," Sasuke reassured, with a hint of annoyance, as Nauto flinched at the gesture. Taking another step toward him, Sasuke adjusted the hat so it sat properly on Naruto's head.
Maybe it was the adrenaline flowing within his body, maybe it was the strange feeling that returned as Sasuke once was once again so close, maybe it was the way the moonlight stuck on his features, his black eyes looking into Naruto's blue ones, or maybe something more. But in the next moment, Naruto's felt his lips pressing against Sasuke's in a crushing kiss. And just as quickly as he had done it, he abruptly drew back. The new hokage pulled down the brim of his hat to cover the furious shade of red that appeared on his face.
Much to Naruto's surprise, Sasuke didn't say anything about the sudden kiss. Instead, he nudged the hat up, revealing Naruto's stunned face. Sasuke placed a hand on either whiskered cheek and pulled himself closer until Naruto could feel the breath come from the shorter boy's mouth.
"Happy birthday, Naruto," Sasuke breathed.
Naruto couldn't find the strength to resist as Sasuke tenderly kissed him. Throwing caution to the wind, the blonde grabbed the front of Sasuke's shirt, pulling him in so that their bodies pressed against one another. Sasuke snaked his hands around Naruto's waist as he felt arms around his neck. The kiss finally broke when they came up for air.
They rested their foreheads against each other, and Naruto decided that his twenty first birthday was his favorite.
Rock Lee could scarcely believe what he had just witnessed.
There was Sasuke, the only person he ever loved, not more than Gai Sensei, mind you, holding some other man in his arms.
"Uzumaki Naruto," He hissed. He thought just because he was Hokage now, he could do whatever he wanted, eh? Even though his feelings toward the Uchiha boy were obvious since their first encounter before the chuunin exams, there was that whisker-face, stealing his Sasuke right in front of his perfectly circular eyes. Well, if that's how he wanted to play it, then there would be no potato salad at his little party. Rock Lee gazed at the pot of carefully made side dish he was carrying. Since he spent such a long time making it, he decided he would just go back home and save it for later. Besides, there was no way he could face his former love and that backstabbing Naruto right now.
Then came a sound. Distant at first, but it rapidly grew. It was as if thousands of horses had come thundering down the road, their riders ringing awful bells. The three of them looked around, all searching for the source of the racket. Lee was the first to see it.
The train was coming toward the two lovers at lightning speed, and Lee's warning screams fell onto deaf ears as Naruto and Sasuke were mowed down by the unforgiving wheels. Lee turned and ran for the village gates, swearing his revenge on the mechanical beast. He would do whatever it took to bring it down.
The pot of potato salad lay broken into shards on the ground, the forgotten food growing cold.
Author's note:
J: Hello, and thank you for reading J and K's first fanfiction! We would like to thank the viewers, and creator of My Immortal for inspiring us to write-
K: *Stabs J repeatedly* The 3 AM wacko inside me came up with this...forgive me; I have sinned.
J: *Miraculously recovers* But you didnt even have to write the kissing scene...
K: Or any other part for that matter...
J: You wrote... some
K: Which is reason enough to want to go die in shame... I don't even like Naruto that much.
J: YES, YOU DO. Anyways, reviews would be appreciated!