*Disclaimer: All characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto. The story idea belongs to me, though. I don't make any money from this.*
This takes place sometime in the future when Naruto and gang are 18, and Lee's team is 19. For simplicity's sake, Sasuke never left the village.
'Italics within single quotation marks' are thoughts.
N + S 4EVER
All was normal in Konoha. It was just an ordinary day, with villagers going about their daily routines, and occasional blurs darting across the rooftops, indicative of ninja on their missions. Little did everyone know that the peaceful atmosphere was about to be broken by…
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Out in training field #3, Sasuke's left eyebrow twitched. That, along with the shrill scream that pierced his eardrums, only meant one thing…
Fangirls.
To make things worse, a dust cloud was forming in the distance, and was rapidly heading his way. Sasuke paled as far as his complexion would allow. Fangirls were already a huge pain, but the dust cloud heralded the arrival of the ultimate evil to have befallen the world. Worse than Kabuto, Obito, Orochimaru, Madara, and even all of those combined. It was…
A stampede of fangirls.
True to expectation, he was swarmed by a sea of fangirls stretching 10 metres in every direction 2 seconds after the scream. Clearly, he had been slacking off in his training, as he could not even attempt to escape or disguise himself. Resolving to spend the next month or seven working on his speed and stealth, he decided to play along for the time being while formulating an escape plan. Turning to the most harmless-looking fangirl in the crowd, he asked, "May I help you?"
Half of the fangirls swooned when they heard Sasuke's voice, and a quarter of them fainted on the spot. Before he could run through the newly-created gap, it was closed up as quickly as it was formed. The fangirl who Sasuke had earlier addressed thrust a few photographs under his nose, before suffering from a massive nosebleed as Sasuke's fingers brushed hers while taking the photos. Sasuke uninterestedly flipped through the stack, before pausing at the last picture. What he saw made his eyebrows arch in surprise.
The first few photos were of a tree set atop a hill. He recognized the place immediately; it was his and his boyfriend's special spot. Not that the fangirls knew, or needed to know. The last photo was a close-up shot of the tree trunk. Upon closer inspection, Sasuke noticed several fresh marks in the bark. There it was, carved into the tree:
N + S
4EVER
The incriminating letters were further enclosed in a heart, leaving no doubt that the writer's message was one of romance. Sasuke's eyebrows turned down into a frown as he studied the words. They hadn't been there during his last date. Having been carved by a knife, or as Sasuke suspected, a kunai, the handwriting was distorted. Nevertheless, it looked extremely familiar...but he couldn't put his finger on where he'd seen it before. Since it was in their special place, it probably meant that his boyfriend was trying to be sweet or something. After all, the initials matched. But that didn't make sense, since his boyfriend was also the one who wanted to keep their relationship a secret.
"Excuse me! Coming through! MOVE, I SAID!" Sasuke was snapped out of his thoughts by something – or rather, someone – plowing a path through the fangirls. As the last couple of fangirls were shoved aside, Sasuke came face-to-face with Sakura, who was looking a little flushed from the physical exertion. Nevertheless, she caught her breath quickly and smiled brightly at him.
"Figured that they'd got to you after you didn't show up for lunch," Sakura said as she grabbed hold of his hand, earning several death glares which she simply shrugged off. "If you got surrounded so easily, you need to step up your training. Come on! Naruto's waiting for us!"
The nearest fangirl gasped as she made the association. Sasuke cursed inwardly. He could practically see the cogs gaining speed in their heads.
N + S.
N + Sasuke.
Naruto + Sasuke.
By this time, the message has spread, and the fangirls' chatter was already building up into a dull roar. Whispers of "Narusuke" and "Sasuto" permeated the air as the fangirls tried to find a suitable term for the pairing. They were too distracted by this new information to even glare at Sakura when Sasuke grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the circle. Not intending to give them a chance to pry further, Sasuke started to walk more quickly, leaving the fangirls far behind.
Over their weekly Team 7 lunch, Sakura told Naruto all about the fangirl incident. Naruto listened with disbelief, before laughing until he choked on his ramen. Pounding the blonde on the back (perhaps a little harder than necessary), Sasuke showed him the photographs.
To Sakura's surprise, Naruto's face took on an extremely brief expression of horror as he saw the last picture. It quickly turned neutral again, though a faint blush suddenly tinged the tips of his ears slightly red.
"So, Sasuke, I guess you're the S? Who's N? Do I know her? How could you not tell your own teammates that you're dating someone? Can we meet her soon?" Naruto rattled off the questions a little too quickly while inhaling his fourth bowl of ramen, arousing Sakura's suspicions somewhat. Rolling his eyes, Sasuke decided that it was time to shift the focus away from his relationship status, doing so by stating, "You know, it's been bugging me for a while. I've seen that handwriting somewhere before, on a document of some sort…maybe a mission report or something…"
Then it clicked. 'No he didn't…he couldn't have…don't tell me…' Sasuke's brows furrowed as he glanced pointedly in Naruto's direction, causing another round of coughing and spluttering as said blonde choked again, the blush now spreading over his entire face.
Sakura immediately picked up on the huge reaction. Coupled with what the fangirls had said in the training field, and with her earlier observations, she asked the first question that came to her mind.
"Are you telling me that both of you…"
"NO!" Both males yelled simultaneously, drowning out anything else Sakura might have said. Slurping up the last of his ramen, Naruto got off his seat, muttering something about cleaning his apartment before taking off at full speed in the wrong direction. Sasuke, too, began to eat more quickly and departed wordlessly after finishing his food. This left Sakura sitting alone with her thoughts, the foremost of which was, 'Are my my two teammates, and best male friends, dating behind my back?' She resolved to observe them closely for any behaviour that might shed light on the situation.
In Naruto's and Sasuke's haste to leave, they did not notice that the photos were left on the counter-top. By the time Sakura had snapped out of her reverie, the photos had disappeared.
A week later…
Following Naruto and Sasuke around had proven to be fruitless. Sakura never caught them going on dates, nor doing anything that a normal couple would do. They never kissed, never spent the night at each other's houses, nothing. They didn't even hold hands! In fact, other than their weekly team lunch appointments and occasional training sessions, she never saw them together. Of course, both of them were excellent ninja, and could probably hide from her with ease. Although she had improved tremendously in her own right, both males had distinct advantages which pushed them way above the rest of their peers.
However, she had begun to notice some subtle signs of affection between the two, like Naruto throwing his arm over Sasuke's shoulders more often, or Sasuke actually not calling Naruto an idiot every alternate sentence. Though it may have seemed perfectly normal to passers-by, Sakura knew that not everything was as it seemed. Not being able to find out anything for sure by herself, she decided to turn to her best source of information.
"Thank you for shopping with us, do come again! Have a great day!" Ino's cheery voice rang out as a customer exited her shop carrying a huge armful of flowers. Seeing a figure silhouetted against the entrance, her customer service reflex kicked in.
"Welcome to Yamanaka's Flo-…oh, it's you. What brings you here?"
"Heard anything about Naruto and Sasuke?"
"You mean this?" Ino held up a piece of paper. Even in the dim light of the shop, Sakura knew that it was the "N + S" picture...
...which she had stupidly left at the ramen shop while trying to come to terms with the thought of Naruto and Sasuke dating each other.
"All I know is that it appeared on the tree last week, and a Sasuke fangirl saw it. The fangirls are putting word out on the street that Naruto and Sasuke are dating, but I'm not too sure if that info's accurate. Oh! Here's someone who may be able to help," Ino said as she forcefully poked the base of a spiky, exotic-looking plant that was placed behind the counter. To Sakura's surprise, the "plant" began to move on its own, revealing itself to be made of hair which was done up in a pineapple-shaped ponytail.
"Wake up and look at this!" Ino all but yelled as she shook her teammate awake. Shikamaru yawned, cracking an eye open.
Taking the briefest of glances at the photo, he replied, "Nope, not a clue," before his head promptly dropped back to its previous position.
"But you're not even trying! You didn't even get a good look!"
"Look. Going by the number of people in Konoha whose names start with N or S, accounting for homosexual and heterosexual couples, subtracting the number of kids who haven't hit puberty, permuting the number of singles and adding the married couples, factoring in the possibility of some couples having extra partners due to extramarital affairs, we'd have over 1.1 million possibilities for "N + S". Even if we narrow down to just ninja, there are already fifty thousand possible combinations. You're crazy if you expect me to analyze every single one of those. Even picking the most likely few would be difficult, not to mention way too much trouble" Brown eyes closed as their owner finished speaking.
"What about Naruto and Sasuke?"
"Unlikely...not impossible, though. Based on their past history, their personalities are likely to clash if they were to spend extended time together. If it were a mission, Naruto and Sasuke would focus on getting the job done, and accommodate each other more. But in daily life, Sasuke would probably end up getting irritated with Naruto, who hates being a bother, and would thus begin to have negative feelings about himself, leading to Sasuke thinking that he's needy, meaning that their relationship would be short-lived at best. Of course, Naruto might be able to control his mouth or somehow win Sasuke over. Even if they really are a couple, with Sasuke's skills of concealment and blending in with the surroundings, not to mention Naruto's sensing ability, you'd never catch them behaving out of the ordinary in public. Now let me sleep in peace!"
Sakura had no idea how Shikamaru had worked all of that out in the short time that he had been awake. 'Then again, he IS our resident genius…' Since even her final source had failed to yield any conclusive information, she decided to let the matter rest. 'After all, it could be anyone, not necessarily those two. And if whoever it is wants to be so secretive about their relationship, they probably deserve the privacy that they've worked so hard to get. It's probably best to leave them in peace.' Besides, she thought that it would be a better use of her efforts to find someone for herself, instead of worrying about her teammates' love lives.
Meanwhile...
A fast-moving blur touched down on a hill, beside the (by now) infamous "N + S" tree.
"Welcome home." A smile flashed across Sasuke's face as he greeted his boyfriend, who had just returned from a mission. "Any injuries?"
Quickly shaking his head and smiling in return, the boyfriend asked, "Were you followed? You wrote that Sakura's been annoying recently, not to mention the usual fangirl problem..."
Sasuke scoffed. "As if anyone could tail an Uchiha without their knowledge."
The boyfriend conceded the point with a nod. "This is new…do you know who did this?" He tilted his head towards the heart
"Yes, I recognized the handwriting, and asked Naruto about it privately. Seems like it's for whoever he's dating. It's been there for a week already, actually. Although it wasn't written for us, it is kind of lucky that it works for our initials too, right?"
"Can't believe Sakura thought that you were dating Naruto, of all people."
"That idiot's a brother to me, nothing more. Besides, I'd go crazy if I had to listen to his blabbering all day, every day. Wonder who he's dating, though. He must really like the person to have written that in a public place."
A small smile. "Whoever it is, I pray for their sanity. Let's go home. I'm dead tired, aching all over, and desperately need a bath."
Sasuke nodded as he started walking, occasionally bumping his boyfriend's shoulder gently with his own as they made their way down the hill. This dating thing was still new to him, and he was not used to expressing his feelings. So, it was with a slight blush that he looked over to the taller male walking beside him. After some slight hesitation, he said four words which earned him a smile and a shoulder bump in return.
"I've missed you, Neji."
Later that night...
A figure slipped into Naruto's bed, hugging him from behind and planting a soft kiss on his shoulder.
"You idiot." The words themselves were harsh, but the tone was gentle, almost affectionate.
Naruto felt his boyfriend's breath ticking his ear. He smiled, knowing that the remark was just good-natured teasing. He decided to annoy his boyfriend anyway, just for the hell of it. Turning in bed to face the other figure, he took a breath before he practically yelled, "I had to do it! We had our first date there, so it's special to me...to us! And what with it being our anniversary soon…I thought it would be nice to have something physical there, you know?"
The boyfriend winced a little from the volume, but otherwise appeared calm as ever. "Sakura seemed to think that you and Sasuke were dating."
"Really!? No! Ew. I know Sasuke too well to see him that way. But least that explains why she's been "secretly" following us all week..." Naruto's voice was back down to normal levels as he thought out loud. "But he knows I did it, though. There was this death stare he gave me over lunch last week...Think that's when he figured it out. He's edited enough of my mission reports to recognize my handwriting, even when it's carved by kunai onto a tree, it seems. "
"Told you to get your reports done right the first time." This was followed by a light poke to the blonde's stomach.
"But where would the fun be in that? Watching Sasuke agonize over the task can be kind of entertaining. I write worse than normal to tick him off sometimes," Naruto stuck his tongue out as he finished the sentence, shifting to avoid being poked again.
The boyfriend sighed, hugging Naruto closer as one hand moved upwards. Naruto squirmed slightly as his hair was ruffled. "Since he knows, I hope he doesn't kill you for being an idiot."
"Nah, he loves me too much to kill me."
"Should I be jealous?"
"That would be kind of hot, seeing you all worked up and ready to fight for my honour, or whatever the term is…" One blue eye closed in a wink.
Another sigh. "Like I said before, you're an idiot…but you're my idiot." The boyfriend smiled as he waited for a reaction.
"I kno...HEY!" Naruto pouted, but that was soon chased away by a kiss to his lips. Smiling again, he continued, "Thanks for covering for us, by the way."
"It was nothing. But since you brought it up, can I ask for repayment later?" A suggestively-raised eyebrow left no doubt in Naruto's mind that repayment would be rather enjoyable for both of them.
"Only if you're good. Let's sleep; we've both got long days tomorrow."
"Goodnight, Naruto. Love you."
"Goodnight, Shika. Love you more."
-End-
Notes: Hello people! it's been a while, hasn't it? 4 years to be exact. I don't really have a good excuse, except that real life got in the way. I did check in here and there, and I was quite heartened to see that reviews do still come in! Thank you; it means a lot to me.
I actually started the first few paragraphs of this story back in 2010, and it hung in limbo until I finished it recently. For some reason, I was quite taken by the idea of people assuming who N and S might be from the start. Did anyone guess that it wasn't Naruto and Sasuke early on? The initial plan was to make this a multi-chapter story, with the identities being hidden for a while more. Somehow, I forgot how I wanted that idea to work, so this ended up as a one-shot instead. Come to think of it, this can serve as a sort-of sequel to Things That Go 'Clank".
I have one more story draft from 2010. That one's based on events that happened in my life at that time, and is quite depressing. Not sure how that will go. Also, I've got to complete Looking Through Your Eyes. That needs another 2 chapters, and a possible revamp.
Guess that's it. Review if you liked this, and review anyway even if you didn't! Constructive criticism is always welcome and appreciated.