this is a...i duno...story that i suddenly wanted to post.

sorry to the other readers of my fics. i've got a horrible - and i mean HORRIBLE - writer's block that i can't seem to get over... either way, it'll be for you guys and any other ppl out dere and--

i want to thank my mom and dad and granmama and bro and sis and cuz and aunts and uncles and--

I think dats all.

disclaimers apply.

dozo.

Be My Friend?

CHAP ONE

It had been a peaceful enough day. There were no missions, no errands and no jobs for him to do. Orochimaru was dead, Sound was gone, and the Akatsuki had been disbanded. Itachi was dead, though killed not by Sasuke, and peace seemed to finally catch up on Konoha. Much of the old wounds were gone, itchy scars of memories now, still visible but carefully cared for and steadily healing. And to top all these off, it was October 10th, his birthday and the day of Sasuke's discharge from hospital.

Uzumaki Naruto, newly made other 2nd captain of the ANBU, aspiring Hokage and mellowed out prankster and loudmouth, grinned widely at the raven before him. He was really happy that day. Nothing was able to tear the grin that had apparently attached itself to his face. He was finally turning nineteen, and it was really the best birthday present that he could get with his best friend's discharge from the bleary white building known as the hospital. It felt to him like a dream come true.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked the nervous Uchiha. The teen gave a small nod and threw in a shy smile for his rival turned best friend. The blonde returned the smile and held out a hand.

Without the slightest bit of hesitance, Sasuke took it.

In a house quite a distance from the hospital, a few dozen nins bustled around, packing things or putting up decorations for the owner of a certain house. It was meant to be a surprise for the person's special day and a 'Welcome Back' party for another. Now, all that was left was a cake…

The young woman stood quietly before the tombstones of her teammate and cousin. She offered a silent prayer and placed the bouquet of flowers on the cold slab of concrete. She smiled softly at the thought of them. Although both had said nothing much, both had been her strong and silent guardians of life; always there when she needed them. Her other teammate, her last, and most boisterous guardian, was now in the institute for the mentally unstable.

A silent tear fell from her pale eyes as she thought of him. She wasn't truly alone. Not yet.

She abruptly brushed the tear away. She wasn't weak anymore. She was a young woman who was able to protect her self anytime – a reliable kunoichi and medic nin when needed. A light breeze lifted her dark tresses from her face as she let out a dazzling smile to the world. She wasn't ready to give in to the despair just yet!

Besides, she wanted to attend a very important party.

Naruto tugged Sasuke closer to himself at the quiet glares he was getting. He didn't really care about the villagers' silent hatred and suspicion towards him – all he cared about then was his friend's increasing whimpers of fright. Couldn't they see that Sasuke was terrified of their dark looks? Were they that blind to their hate not to notice it? Didn't they bloody care?

The blonde clutched the cold hand tighter. He turned slightly to look at the pale face peeking out from under the dark hood of the sweatshirt. Pale, pink lips were pressed into a tight, tense line and large, dark eyes glittered fiercely with determinedly kept tears. Naruto gave the raven behind him a warm and assuring smile, hoping that it would be enough to melt the cold fear in his heart for a while. Naruto could clearly see that Sasuke was on the verge of hyperventilating and was afraid of a relapse. It had taken him a whole month to coax his best friend into talking to him again – without screaming bloody murder every time he looked at someone – since that incident and it wasn't something Naruto chose to remember.

"It's alright Sasuke. We're almost there," he tried to calm both Sasuke's nerves as well as his own, "A few more blocks and we're there."

The last hundred metres to his house felt longer than the last Konoha's Sports Day; he could still remember the day well enough – he had had to go to the bathroom for an urgent business involving his stomach during the whole event (1) – and he wasn't particularly eager to relive it. He felt a large weight leave him as he turned the lock to his house and swung open the door. Sweet, calm silence waited inside. Knowing that Sasuke hated the dark, Naruto switched the lights on before he closed the door.

"Surprise!!" a few dozen voices chorused suddenly to the two teens. Naruto could only gawp at the smiling faces that looked his way. A banner above the small crowd read quite simply, 'Happy 19th Birthday, Naruto!' and 'Welcome Back, Sasuke!' Before Naruto could start feeling the warmth growing deep inside him, however, he heard a small 'eep!' coming from the shorter raven behind him. He spun around just in time to catch the teen's limp form.

At the crowd's awkward silence, he grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "Eh-heh…he fainted…"

The party lasted throughout the night, though with quiet merry-making – they didn't want Naruto to have a full complaint by the neighbours the day right after his birthday, after all. They also didn't want to disturb Sasuke, who was curled up and sleeping soundly with his head on Naruto's lap despite all the talking around him. He didn't even wake when Kakashi tousled his dark locks almost fondly.

"Hm…just like a little kid, ne, Naruto-kun?" the silver-haired jounin remarked lightly about Sasuke's current condition. Naruto only gave his ex-sensei a smile. He played absently with the tousled locks on his lap and glanced at the teen's face. Any sign of nervousness was gone and all that shone from the face was peace and innocence. The smile on the blonde's face tugged wider. He could still remember back when they were genins, when Sasuke still slept with a frown on his face. He couldn't make up his mind which one he preferred.

"Yeah, he's just like a kid…" Naruto agreed quietly. He looked up at the nins sitting around him, either on his few chairs or – mostly – on the floor. He was sitting on the floor beside a drunk Ino who was trying to kiss Shikamaru – yes, they were in a relationship now – and leaning against his only sofa in the house. On the sofa, Hinata and Tenten sat cross-legged and giggling like little girls – they had become the best of friends ever since that incident, while Sakura and Lee sat across Naruto, looking shy and holding hands like the new couple they were. Kakashi sat beside them, either disturbing the two teens or harassing his boyfriend Iruka. Apparently, Kakashi had found out his preference to males rather than females and had confessed to his feelings to Iruka soon after that incident. He had realized again how fragile a human's life was and treasured everyone around him more so now – though reading and watching his favourite Icha Icha series still came as one of his top priorities.

"So you have to stay with him from now on, Naruto?" Kurenai was asking. She sat just off to Sasuke's side. Shizune sat beside her and Tsunade – who was already drunk and still in a drinking contest with her old teammate, Jiraiya – sat on one of the two hard-back chairs at his small dining table. The other chair was taken by the said frog sannin. Just afore them, a group of familiar jounins sat in the kitchen, deep in conversation about what Naruto could distinctly hear was about how a certain child's game should be played. The group consisted mostly of the team leader's jounins – mainly, Gai, Kurenai, Asuma and Tsunade's two personal jounin helpers Genma and Raidou. It was obvious all were drunk. To add to the litter of people, Chouji was out-cold and dead-drunk on the floor of his living room near his front door. It was really a wonder how the small apartment wasn't bursting with sound right then.

"Hai…" Naruto answered the question after a moment of quiet contemplating and feeling very lucky he had such good friends. He licked slightly dry lips as he continued, "The doctor, uh, Tsunade, said he's still unstable…may have a relapse if pushed to hard, you know? And it may be possible that he would still have repercussions of that day…like a mental scar that may never heal." – a grin split from his face even as his eyes betrayed the bitterness in him – "I'll have to take care of him now. He wouldn't be able to really do so in the condition he is now. He seems so fragile… Ironic, eh, how the high and mighty Uchiha Sasuke could easily be brought crashing down in a mere night?"

The crowd around him – or those who had been listening and were sober enough to do so – grew thoughtful awhile. Naruto had easily pulled on a tiny string that slowly unraveled its ugly truth to them. It made them think how a supposedly innocent mission to scout an abandoned mansion could tumble out of control into a frightening night of unexplainable murders so garish that it left the two trained ANBUs left alive that had witnessed it, insane or on the verge of it. Naruto felt selfish each time he thought of his befallen friends and felt relief that he had not suffered their same fate. Perhaps it was just his good fortune to have fallen unconscious early in the mission. The blonde ANBU started when Sasuke suddenly clutched his pale fingers tight against the other teen's pants.

"Ne, Sasuke, you alright?" Naruto asked in worry when he saw his friend's terrified and sweat-slicked face. His face seemed to pale for Naruto's liking and he seemed locked in a nightmare. Naruto frowned further in worry at the teen's whimper. "Sasuke?"

"What's wrong with him?" Kakashi asked with the same anxiety as his former student. Almost everyone in the house had their attention on the two mains of the party. Naruto was bent over the raven, trying to soothe the teen of this nightmare he might have. The blonde was getting genuinely worried. Sasuke hadn't had such a strong nightmare since the first time he came back from the fateful mission. And to say that Naruto was scared out of his wits would be to lie.

"Sasuke!" Naruto tried to shake the teen awake as he let out a small scream and curled up further on himself. He absently pushed the damp locks of ebony of the paler teen's brow. As his fingers brushed the cold skin, he suddenly found himself in the dark mansion again.

Where that incident took place; where Kiba went insane and Sasuke almost following as well; and where Neji and Shino lost their lives.

…to be continued…

(1) Naruto wanted to ahem, excrete urgently – or shit, in simple layman terms that we like to use – during the Konoha sports festival but his team wouldn't let him go do it, and he had loads of things stopping him. Imagine not being able to shit despite being badly in need of the release! I would personally hate that…

yahr. end areadi.

BLEARGH.

i using singlish ahr...u noe wad singlish? its xinjiapo english. dun play play, hor...

dis wan is random ting i wan to rite. im bored rite now and tink im content being mean. coz--

itulah aper yang aku ini kebetulan nyer...

and its okay if you did not understand dat. it was as sed, random. i still wan use singlish. haiz. dis short story lahr. lazy wan continue hor. but i try update fast fast hor. cause now i got writer's block, ahr... so sorie ah.

:watcheva: