Disclaimer: Don't own. Don't sue. I'll only say it once.
Authors notes aka stuff you should probably read: So I had to pawn my laptop and it has my other story "I love" on there...as in chapters of it, and after I typed it out I threw away the paper it was written on (I know, only time I've ever done it and I actually needed it). But this story should make up for it, til I get my laptop back. And if I don't update weekly, you can throw a virtual kunai at me ^_^
P.S. - I'm using my friend's Eee PC...with a small ass keyboard and no beta. I apologize in advance for errors.
Italics mean flashbacks; which will be abundant in the first few chapters. It's kind of like playing catch up.
The More Things Change
Chapter 1: A change will NOT do you good
Naruto felt like he couldn't breath. Of course that made sense, considering he was currently choking himself with a pink silk tie.
"Ugh! These should be torture devices!" He yanked hard on the knot he'd managed to make, trying to loosen it a bit.
From behind him, pale hands reached over his shoulders and fixed the tie in less than ten seconds.
"Dead last, you really are hopeless. Why do I put up with you?" Sasuke chuckled and straightened out Naruto's tie with practiced ease.
"Because you love me?" Naruto whirled around and pecked Sasuke lightly on the lips. Not wanting the kiss to end, Sasuke pressed harder against Naruto. When they finally broke apart, Sasuke licked his lips and nodded.
"Mm...I guess you're right."
Naruto stepped back and frowned. "Sasuke, I was trying to give you a friendly kiss, not a make-out moment."
Sasuke just smirked at his best friend. "Guys don't give friendly kisses on the lips, dumbass."
Blue eyes twinkled brightly as Naruto laughed. "That's true, but you acted like you wanted to go at it one last time, so you're in the wrong here."
Sasuke actually managed a grin at that. "Well, what if I did, Na-ru-to?" Sasuke lowered his voice and slowly breathed his former lover's name. "It's been a whole year after all." He slowly trailed a hand down Naruto's cloth-covered chest.
Naruto grabbed him by the wrist before his best friend could reach his belt. "Having pre-wedding jitters?" He questioned.
For a moment, Sasuke didn't reply and then he admitted, "Yeah. I'm afraid as soon as Sakura and I get married, the council will push for heirs right away. I just want to have a normal marriage and relax a bit before trying to have little Uchiha heirs running everywhere. You know, get to know her better."
Naruto smiled warmly. "Don't worry about it. Tsunade will make sure they don't put too much pressure on you and", his best friend placed his hands on Sasuke's shoulders reassuringly. "so will I."
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Sasuke slowly opened his eyes to see the sun peeking through pale blue curtains. He smiled softly to himself at the particular dream he had experienced tonight. Leave it to Naruto to be the one to calm him down. The wedding had been almost two years ago and while it had gone through ups and downs, like every marriage, it was going better than Sasuke expected. He loved Sakura, he really did. But that didn't mean he understood her. Heck, it seemed as if Naruto understood her better. Then again, Sasuke knew first-hand how 'feminine' his former lover could be.
Yanking off the sheet covering him, the Uchiha male headed downstairs, lured by the smell of breakfast. Sakura greeted him as he sat down at the dining room table. This was one of the many pluses of being married to Sakura...breakfast when he woke up.
"Sleep well, hun?" His brunette wife questioned, setting toast down in front of her husband.
"I was dreaming about Naruto calming me down right before the wedding."
Sakura snickered as she put down a plate of scrambled eggs, rice, and miso soup. "It's better than the way you calmed him down before his wedding."
Sasuke hid his laughter and tried to look offended. "That was not my fault! Jiraiya said he'd handle it."
Sakura tilted her head in thought and conceded. "Well, his drunken nuptials were sweet."
"Uh huh. I win." Sasuke quickly finished his breakfast. "Thank you for the meal."
"No problem, Sasuke." Sakura smiled and leaned down to give her husband a quick kiss on the lips. "I'm off to work."
Her former teammate nodded. "All right. Have a good day."
Sakura smiled brightly at him. "I will."
Sasuke walked his wife to the door and kissed her cheek before she headed out the door. Her hair tickled his nose and he snickered as he remembered the day he found out she was actually a brunette. Apparently, she had dyed her hair after her name in the hopes that she would stand out from all the rest of Sasuke's fangirls. As it turned out, her actual hair color was a light brown. Thank god, because Sasuke couldn't imagine pink-haired Uchiha.
The Konoha nin walked back over to the kitchen to wash dishes and then headed upstairs for a shower. When he came out of the shower, with nothing but a towel on his waist he was shocked to be pounced on by his ex-boyfriend.
"He's after me!" Naruto screamed.
"You're heavy, dumbass! Get off!" Sasuke shoved Naruto off him and stood up.
The blond hit the ground for only a second, before he jumped back up and began to cram himself under the bed.
"But he'll kill me!" He yelled.
"Well, he'll certainly have an easy time finding you, with all the noise you're making." Sasuke smirked and headed to the closet to pull out his ANBU uniform. "What did you do and to whom?"
Naruto stuck his blond head out from under the bed. "Neji's mad at me 'cause I knocked up Hinata!"
Sasuke finished dressing and went over to his bed. He squatted down to look Naruto in the eye.
"And why is getting your wife pregnant a bad thing?" He smiled softly at Naruto, even though it looked forced. "Shouldn't that be cause for celebration?"
"Well, um...", Naruto chuckled nervously. "you know when we got married?"
Sasuke sighed and played along. "Three months ago."
"Yeah well..." Naruto slowly crawled out from under the bed, carefully looking around for any sign of the male Hyuuga. "Neji accompanied Hinata to the doctor this morning and they found out the sex of the baby."
Sasuke paused for a moment and thought. Last week, he and Sakura had decided to try for a baby of their own, and his wife had been informing him of certain milestones in pregnancy. So he raised an eyebrow at Naruto. "I thought you usually couldn't tell the sex of a baby until around four months."
An awkward pause filled the room until Naruto broke it. "Yeah, so Neji's mad that I deflowered Hinata before the wedding and--"
"Naruto!"
Neji landed inside Sasuke's bedroom from the window that Naruto left open.
Sasuke knit his eyebrows together and glared at his new intruder. "Am I not allotted any privacy at all?"
Neji returned the glare with even more venom and replied. "Not for a traitor."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he advanced towards Neji. "Well, allow me to show you what this traitor learned while he was away that'll have you begging for --"
"Whoa, whoa guys!" Naruto stepped between the two. "Why do you two always have to do this? I mean... you guys even fought at my wedding reception!"
This seemed to bring Neji back to his senses. He turned to Naruto. "Speaking of which..." He smacked Naruto hard upside the head. "That's for impregnating my cousin before you even walked her down the aisle."
Neji hopped out the window without saying another word.
Naruto blinked. "That's it?"
Sasuke shrugged. "Lets head to the Hokage tower now to receive our latest mission scroll."
Naruto nodded and the two headed out.
Less than a minute from the tower Naruto cleared his throat, catching Sasuke's attention.
The brunette turned towards his friend in response, waiting for Naruto to speak.
"Sasuke... do you ever regret it?" Naruto questioned.
Sasuke didn't have to ask what he was talking about.
"Of course I do." Although he himself had questioned Naruto's decision many times, this was the first time Naruto had said anything about it since the day they had decided to part ways.
He descended into an alleyway and Naruto followed, placing his back against the wall and looking at Sasuke concerned.
"But, we both did what we had to do. I have to repopulate the Uchiha clan. Both for my benefit and the benefit of the village. And for you; the village and its council are slowly warming up to you. You'd take twenty steps back if the council ever found out you had a male lover...especially if that lover was me."
"I know." Naruto nodded and looked down at the ground. "But, I really miss you, Sasuke and..." He glanced up at his former love before clutching at his chest. "It hurts so bad. When is the pain supposed to stop? It's been three years!"
Sasuke sighed and placed a hand on Naruto's arm reassuringly. "The same could be said for me, but there's nothing that should stand in the way of you becoming Hokage. I have no doubt that once you attain the position of your dreams, you'll be able to make Konaha a better place." He moved his hand to the back of Naruto's neck and pulled the blond forward for a mind-numbing kiss.
When he stepped back again, his features were set in his usual emotion-free mask.
"Never forget that I loved you then and I love you now." He reached inside Naruto's shirt to pull out Tsunade's necklace. The jewels on it still shown brightly, but it also had a platinum ring dangling from the chain, set with a sapphire and a topaz gem. Sasuke smiled warmly at the sight. "My love for you will last forever."
Naruto wiped away the tears that threatened to fall and jumped back on top of the building to resume their trek to the Hokage tower. Sasuke followed wordlessly.
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Their relationship had started because of Sakura's curiosity. Sasuke had been dragged back to Konaha by Naruto when he was fifteen and now, at sixteen, Sasuke still had yet to show interest in any girl in the village.
Sakura wasn't a medic nin for nothing. And she was damn good at what she did. She had recently developed her own version of a truth serum. The only difference in this was that it also had an arousing affect. But it wasn't enough to make a person uninhibited enough that they would come on to anyone, just the person that they already felt affection for.
So during the get-togethers that team seven had occasionally, Sakura poured the liquid into the sake, knowing that Sasuke favored it over beer. Only Naruto and Sakura ever touched the beer.
And like every party, Naruto suggested a drinking game and like every time, Sasuke said, "Naruto, you're going to drink beer and I'm going to drink sake. It's not quite the same.
"Bastard! You're just mad because the last time you got drunk you ended up streaking through Konaha!"
Sakura covered her mouth so her brooding teammate wouldn't see her cracking up.
"Dead Last! You were right there next to me!"
"Yeah." Naruto's grin grew as wide as a Cheshire cat. "And all the girls said my package was bigger than yours."
"It was cold!", Sasuke howled.
"Whatever, bastard! You just can't hold your sake! Maybe you should drink beer with the rest of us."
Sasuke growled at Naruto. "If you're so great, stupid, why don't you drink some sake with me?"
Sakura's eyes grew wide. "Naruto, I don't think that's a good idea!"
Her panic increased when he grabbed the sake cup and readied himself to take it all in one gulp. He paused to give her puppy dog eyes. "Sakura, you don't think I can do what that bastard can either?"
The pink-haired woman held up her hands in defense. "No, Naruto. That's not it. I just..." She couldn't think of a valid reason to stop Naruto from drinking the sake and Sasuke wasn't helping any. He was just goading him on!
"If you think you can handle it, dead last."
And that was all it took to have Naruto swig not only the cup of sake he had in his hand, but the one Sasuke held out as well.
'Shit.' Sakura thought. 'This can't be good.'
An hour later they were playing "I never"¹ and so far neither Sasuke or Naruto seemed to be affected by the truth serum. That certainly didn't mean they weren't bordering on being drunk though.
"I've never..." Naruto thought for a moment. "had sex."
Sakura took a drink and her teammate looked at her in shock; bug eyes and all.
Sasuke spoke first. "Who did you..."
"Lee." Sakura stated sharply. "At a part, where we were both more than a little inebriated.
Her two favorite males nodded dumbly.
Inner-Sakura decided she could take a detour on her path to find out who Sasuke liked, just to pay Naruto back. She hadn't wanted anyone to know she'd slept with Lee, damnit! And Naruto hadn't shown any interest in Hinata when she had grown brave enough to flirt with him and he had already told Sakura that his haggling her was just because he was trying to trump Sasuke. So, Sakura had an idea that he might be gay and she just wanted to see if her truth serum was working and he'd admit it. She cleared her throat and said softly. "I've never had a crush on a member of the same sex."
Imagine her immense surprise when it was Sasuke who took the drink and not Naruto.
Naruto blinked.
Sakura coughed.
Their dark-haired teammate leveled his patented Uchiha glare at both of them.
"No. It's not any of your business."
Inner-Sakura smiled gleefully. Here is where the serum would work. As long as she asked him point-blank, Sasuke would answer most of her questions without realizing he'd been drugged.
Glancing towards Naruto, she placed her index finger over her lips as a sign for him to stay quiet and let her take the lead. He looked at her like she'd grown two heads, but nodded nonetheless.
"Well what color is this guy's hair?" Sakura questioned. Maybe she could narrow it down a bit by hair color and then use her own logic to figure out the mystery man.
"Blond." Sasuke blurted out. His mouth dropped in shock at his outburst and he quickly slapped his hands over his mouth. When he looked up at the two, he realized it was pointless and dropped his hands down into his lap.
His teammates were sitting stock-still. There were a few blonde females in the village, but only one blond male and he was currently directing a wide-eyed look at the Uchiha.
Sakura sucked in a breath sharply. Naruto didn't seem like the type to discriminate against a person based on their sexual preference, but that didn't mean he wouldn't tease Sasuke mercilessly.
She watched as her blond friend crawled over to Sasuke and sat facing him. He shoved his red face in Sasuke's equally blushing one and said.
"Me? You like me?"
Sasuke quickly regained his bearings and scowled at his best friend. "Must you ask questions you already know the answers to, stupid? I think it's pretty obvious. Now drop it." He growled.
"No way!" Naruto exclaimed.
Sasuke braced himself for the ridicule that was sure to follow.
"I mean...you're the first person that's every had a crush one me!" Naruto proudly proclaimed. He smiled brightly at his friend.
For his part, Sasuke just stared in shock.
Sakura tilted her head in confusion She could tell neither of them had expected this sort of response.
"You're not disturbed by the fact that I'm a male." Sasuke ventured, unintentionally voicing his fears aloud.
Naruto wrinkled his nose and looked at Sasuke as if he were retarded.
"Iruka always told me, 'love is love'."
Sakura snickered when she saw Sasuke's right eye twitch.
"I never said I loved you, idiot!" Sasuke snapped.
Naruto grinned cheekily. "But you liiiiiiike me." He said in a sing-song tone. "You wanna do naughty thiiiiings with me."
Sasuke riled up like a pissed off cat.
"I've never said such things!"
"Hey." Naruto paused in thought. He leaned in even closer to Sasuke. So close that there couldn't be more than two inched between their faces. "Have you ever jacked off to me?"
"What?!" Sasuke jumped up, taking Naruto with him by the blond's shirt collar . "You're walking on thin ice, dumbass." He hissed.
When it came to Sasuke's threats, Naruto feared nothing. So he just asked curiously. "Does that mean you wanna go out on a date?"
Sakura could no longer contain her laughter. She ended up rolling on the floor from uncontrollable laughter. She had never seen Sasuke's face so red with embarrassment...or was that rage? She knew it was going to get even worse between the two of them, when suddenly Sasuke's face broke into an evil grin.
"Dead last, if I asked you on a date that would make you the bottom." He let go of Naruto's collar so that the hyperactive male hit the floor.
"Uh uh!" Naruto shook his head quickly. "No way!" He jumped up and thrust his finger in Sasuke's chest. "You're going to meet me at Ichiraku's tomorrow at noon!"
Sakura watched him sway from left to right and knew he'd gotten up too quickly. Then again, how much sake had Naruto drank?
"So there!" Naruto yelled proudly. "That makes you the bottom now!" He promptly passed out.
Sasuke ground his teeth together and turned to go home.
Sakura had no idea what would happen after this, so she put a pillow under Naruto's head and covered him with a blanket before heading to her own place.
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When Naruto and Sasuke had arrived at the Hokage tower, Tsunade glowered at the pair.
"You're late!" She bellowed.
"Ah ha, well yeah." Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Neji found out about the baby."
Tsunade folded her hands in front of her mouth and propped her elbows on her desk. She smirked behind her hands. "Yes, well, congratulations." She tossed a scroll at Naruto's head.
Of course, he was used to this and he caught it with ease. He opened it and moved it a bit to his left so Sasuke could lean over and read it with him.
The Uchiha frowned.
"A civilian retrieval mission? This isn't ANBU material."
Tsunade sighed and rubbed her forehead. "It is when the child is Itachi's son."
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1 – Every time I mention this game, people say they've never heard of it...it's odd, because when I was young everyone used to play it (without the drinking, obviously). The first person says something like "I've never been in jail." (It HAS to be something this person has truthfully never done) and any of the people in the group that actually HAVE been to jail take a drink. See? Very easy drinking game. It's good to try with new friends and it's a great ice breaker, since you'll learn new things about people in an amusing (embarrassing), fun way. ;p
Again, I don't have a proofreader anymore, so unless someone volunteers (*nudge*nudge*wink*wink), this is it. I hope any grammatical errors I made didn't kill your eyes too much and as always...
Review and save a kitten! ^_^
