It's strange that I started this in PE, when I had decided not to play. I never thought I would actually keep adding to it until it was done with. When I started writing, I had only the beginning part and ending part in mind, but the rest just flooded in and went right through my fingers into the computer.
I'm immensely satisfied with this, though one of the scenes I doubt really should be there... Either way, though, enjoy.
Aisles
In finding a new store to peruse, Naruto Uzumaki has found a new employee to annoy. Every visit he takes, every move he makes, brings them just a little bit closer, all in just the aisles of a store. SasuNaru/NaruSasu
A crackle of static boomed through the speakers dotted throughout the small store, followed by a shriek. Many customers winced, and the overdramatic children slapped hands to their sensitive ears. Soon enough a feminine voice floated through the white speakers, but almost none of the wandering people paid attention to it.
At first the girl's voice shook, as if with a snicker, before she began. "Price check on Wonton ramen, register three..." A pause, with low murmurings in the background. A whispered 'che' was heard before the girl's voice returned, a snicker tremoring her voice again. "Price check on Wonton ramen, register three." She repeated, and a loud click resonated through the speakers as the connection was cut.
Dark eyes belonging to a young man narrowed at the speaker above him, before he set down a package of salad back inside a large box with others of its kind and walked off. A dark scowl was present on his face.
"You're just pissing him off further, Naruto." The pink-haired girl at the register said laughingly. A bright haired teenager, about her age, stood on the other side of the cash register, grinning.
"Do you think?" He asked eagerly. The ever-present sparkle in his blue eyes took on a mischievous sheen as he leaned forward in anticipation.
The pink-haired girl rolled her eyes. "You know you are, blondie. Why do you insist on annoying the hell outta him anyway?" She asked, tossing the small plastic cylinder labeled 'Wonton Ramen' from hand to hand distractedly.
The blonde shrugged, a wistful smile replacing the cheerful one. "I dunno... It's just so much fun to piss him off." The wistful expression fled to be replaced by that mischievous spark once more. A wink accompanied it, and the girl giggled.
"This is the--" The girl was cut off as a young man interrupted their conversation, dark scowl present on his face.
"Fourth time you have bothered me today. You know the prices, Naruto, stop pestering me." The scowling teenager growled, hands in pockets.
Naruto's infectious grin didn't even begin to rub off on the dark haired one. "Aww, Sasuke, you know how forgetful I am!" He reminded him.
Sasuke rolled his eyes with a huff. "Not about your ramen, dimwit."
Naruto's eyes narrowed on him. "Don't call me that." He frowned.
"I will when you stop being one." Sasuke retorted, while the pink-haired girl behind the register groaned. They fought way too much for their own good. Several customers around her gave a sigh, familiar with how things were done around here.
Naruto's narrowed eyes suddenly widened and went back to narrowed slits, except this time the emotion present was not anger. "I'll stop pestering you when you take that pole outta your ass."
Sakura frowned tightly to cover up a laugh. Sasuke glared at Naruto before turning to Sakura. "They're two dollars each." He spoke neutrally, but if you knew Sasuke you knew he was annoyed. Sakura nodded and turned to continue ringing up the blonde's items as Sasuke turned to leave.
Naruto refrained from commenting on Sasuke's obvious cold shoulder method and looked at Sakura. He pulled a pout and whined. "Aww, he doesn't like meee!"
Sakura laughed and mirrored his expression.
"Weee!" Could be heard several aisles away, though many pretended they did not hear it and went on with their business. The others only had to listen to the voice to know who it was and immediately ignored it.
The only person who heeded the sound was a darkly scowling male only two aisles away who was once again putting away items on a shelf. However, instead of going to investigate it, he simply rolled his eyes and continued his work.
Two aisles away wheels squeaked as a cart raced across the floor. A blonde attached to it squealed and put a foot down from where he was situated clutching at the back of the cart and pushed. The cart accelerated and came dangerously close to hitting a fruit stand as he laughed.
He was having so much fun he didn't notice the presence of a pink-haired girl before she grabbed onto the handle of the cart and his joy ride was brought to an abrupt halt. The cart swung in a different direction and the blonde was thrown in the opposite and both went down.
"Naruto, what are you doing?" Sakura asked, slim hands on her hips. Naruto looked up at her from his position on the floor with a grimace-turned-scowl and lifted a finger in her direction. Sakura gasped, though you could see a hint of humor in her eyes and by the tilt of her lips. She lifted a foot and slammed it into the shopping cart currently lying on top of her blonde friend. Naruto gave an indignant cry of, 'hey!' but she couldn't be bothered to move her foot.
"Now, what are you doing Naruto?" She asked firmly. Naruto gasped and let his hand fall and Sakura's foot eased its push a little.
"How 'bout you get this cart off me then I'll tell you?" Naruto bargained. Sakura rolled her eyes, but nevertheless replaced her foot on the ground and lifted the cart back to its natural standing position. Naruto stood up and brushed his pants off. "Just havin' fun!"
Sakura rolled her eyes again. "You're being annoying." She sighed.
Naruto pouted. "I am not!" When he received no reply, he jumped forward and wrapped an arm around Sakura's small shoulders. He turned and gestured a hand before them, palm out and swiping across in an arch. "C'mon, Sakura, can't you see just how much fun it is? It's like driving a car, except you can't control it!"
Sakura gave him a dry look. "Sounds like fun." She said, sarcasm dripping from her tones. She twisted away from his arm and turned to leave. "Just don't run into anything, blondie." She warned as she left the area.
Naruto watched her go, blinking, then turned back to his cart with a shrug. "Hm.. Maybe we should just get some food, huh Mr. Cart?" He asked it, and when he received no reply (not that he was expecting one), he took hold of the cart's handle and went on his way.
Not thirty minutes later he could be seen once again racing through aisles on the back of his cart, yet this time the cart was full of several packages of ramen and two cartons of milk. It seemed he didn't need anything else.
He turned down an aisle, still on the cart, laughing loudly all the while, one boot clad foot on the ground and pushing at the ground to accelerate. Everything around him seemed to disappear as he sped through the aisles, and turned into another one. His joy was short-lived as he was, yet again, stopped by a hand on the cart's front. Pale fingers wrapped over the top of the cart front, and instead of being flung off, Naruto's breath was simply stolen as his chest ran into the bar.
Sasuke Uchiha stood holding the cart still, giving him a look of high disdain. "What are you doing, idiot?"
Naruto only reply was an infectious grin as he gulped in long breaths of air. When he could breathe again, he answered in a cheerful tone that he knew would annoy Sasuke. "Why, I'm having fun, Sasuke! What else would I be doing?"
"You're acting like a three-year-old, dumb ass." Sasuke retorted.
Naruto's eyebrow ticked. "And you're acting like a sixty-year-old woman with PMS."
"At least a sixty-year-old is mature, Naruto." Sasuke threaded his fingers through the little empty boxes made by the hatched metal of the cart and lifted it up about a foot so that Naruto was forced to put his feet onto the ground lest he fall on his ass. "Shop like a normal person." And with that he knelt on the cold tile floor again to continue his job of re-stocking the shelves.
Naruto muttered something unintelligible but continued on his way anyway, feet firmly on the ground this time.
"What to get a hungry animal... What to get a hungry animal..." Naruto muttered as he trailed through the pet aisle slowly, eyes darting from one bag of food to the other.
"What are you looking for?"
Naruto instantly recognized the monotonous voice and he turned to face the speaker with a bright smile. "Something." He replied, with an almost mocking swish of his short arms.
"Specific, aren't you? I'll just go get you 'something.'" Sasuke scoffed.
Naruto rolled his eyes good naturedly. "You do that, Mr. Moody." He walked slowly down the aisle, eyes trailing over the food in the iceboxes slowly. He took in information, his mind sorting and rejecting each food item as he trudged along, completely ignoring the dark presence watching appraising him.
"What kind of animal are you buying for?" Sasuke asked, mocking attitude subdued.
"It's a... Giant cat."
Sasuke was silent for a moment, before he repeated him. "A 'giant cat'?"
"Yup."
Sasuke sighed and brushed a hand through his ink black hair. "Aren't cats supposed to eat cat food?"
Naruto sucked at his bottom lip a moment before replying. "I guess so."
"Then what are you doing in the frozen meats section?"
Naruto finally looked at him as he stood up fully from his bent over position. He rubbed a hand at the back of his neck in a sheepish gesture. With a flourish, he brought both hands out in front of him and spread them apart as far as he could with a cupping hand motion. "'Cause he's a big cat!" He repeated.
"So you're getting your big cat meat?" Sasuke faltered incredulously.
Naruto's only reply was another, "Yup!" He bent over again to look through some more meat. With a satisfied hum he opened the glass door and grabbed a bag of chicken breasts and, clutching the icy cold bag to his chest, marched out of the aisle.
Sasuke walked out of the aisle the opposite way, shaking his head.
Muffled cackles were heard, many days later, in a random aisle. Many nearby didn't bother to pause; many decided they didn't want to know.
In the same aisle he had been found in days before, one Naruto Uzumaki skipped across the aisle to another ice box. He thrust open the glass door for a few moments, and closed it again. He waited for a fine frost to appear on the clear material before grabbing it open again and leaning against the frame.
With another cackle he pressed a finger to the glass and began making a masterpiece.
Scant seconds later he was prancing across the aisle to do the same to another innocent ice box door.
"A-Ah! Naruto!"
Naruto turned to look at the intruder, but with a snigger returned to his work. He was done soon enough and once again roamed to the other side of the aisle to start anew.
"What are you doing, Naruto!?" Sakura demanded, face hot and green eyes fiery.
Naruto rolled her eyes at her through the frosted door, which wasn't very noticeable. "What do you think I'm doing, Sakura?" His breath re-frosted his masterpiece, and with an annoyed pout he closed the door and re-opened it again.
"Being an idiot!" Sakura replied hotly, hands on her hips.
Naruto looked up at her with a pronounced pout. "I resent that!" He shouted. With a protruding lower lip and a bent head, he went back to work.
Sakura sighed and lifted a pale hand to massage her temples. "Just don't let anyone catch you, blondie."
Naruto nodded distractedly, his finger unfaltering.
When Naruto had progressed half way down the aisle, a strangled noise- like a gutted cat- caught his attention and he looked up.
Sasuke stood, barely a few steps into the aisle, staring at one of his magnificent drawings. With another half-choked sound, his head jerked up and his eyes locked on Naruto's for a split second before he stumbled out and away from the aisle with a horrified expression.
With a curious frown, albeit one deterred by a barking laugh, he went to examine the drawing Sasuke had found his attention captured by.
And his barking laugh turned into full blown, breath-taking, tear-making laughter.
The drawing was a simple stick figure one, but one that clearly displayed a very undignified image to the world. It was of a stick figure bent over completely at the waist, with another stick figure directly behind it, finger thin hands on the first stick person's 'hips'.
It was obvious what the picture portrayed.
Below it was a blunt comment.
Kiss me slowly, fuck me hard.
"This can't be good, can it?" Naruto muttered as his left hand poked a lemon. His finger was met with soft flesh, much softer than it should've been, and his finger sunk in. Naruto shook his head and removed his curious finger. "Nope, definitely bad."
He picked up the lemon and put it in his basket, which housed several other bruised fruit. The only thing observers could figure was that he was insane.
If he were told that, he would've laughed without a denial in mind.
It seemed as if he had a stalker, though, because seconds later he was faced with the darkest presence known to the store, and almost the most fun to annoy.
"Hey Sasuke!" Naruto chirped. He bypassed the dark-haired man to stand before a fruit stand where his eyes had caught onto another damaged fruit.
Sasuke rolled his equally dark eyes and turned on his heel to face him. "What are you doing, idiot?"
Naruto looked at him over his shoulder, before rolling his eyes back at him. "Figure out for yourself, pretty boy."
Sasuke paused at that, and with a barely noticeable coloring of his cheeks, he grabbed Naruto's baskets from his yielding hands. He was silent a moment, before he favored the blond man with an incredulous look. "They're all bad!"
Naruto looked into the basket, and adopted a highly surprised look. "My, my! Would'ja look'it that? I never noticed!"
Sasuke's eyebrow twitched before he forcefully shoved the basket back into Naruto's open hand. Naruto barely grimaced. "Why?" He asked shortly.
Naruto blinked. "Well... I guess I'm just trying to be a good Samaritan and takin' 'em off your hands. You guys aren't particularly good at picking out the bad fruit, huh?"
"That's not in my department." Sasuke protested, as if Naruto had accused him of being a bad employee.
Naruto laughed. "I know that, pretty boy."
Sasuke was sputtering when he turned to leave.
In a few weeks, Naruto knew he had gotten under the Uchiha's skin. He also knew that the Uchiha wouldn't be able to forget about him any time soon. The thought almost made him purr.
While walking in the same store, the only store he had visited in the past few weeks, that the Uchiha himself worked at, he passed by a few mirrors. The lights above were reflected back in the shining surfaces, and Naruto bent down to look himself in the eye. He waved cheerily. "Hey, how you doin', hot stuff?" He brought a hand up to run it through his hair, picking at it until he felt it was right. He tucked a few of the longer strands behind an ear before straightening.
"How many hours do you do that a day?"
Naruto looked up, startled, but relaxed back into a lazy stance soon enough. "As long as it takes to get me to look this good."
"Do I sense an ego?" Sasuke murmured, perfectly accentuating the last word so it sounded almost like a purr.
Naruto walked up to Sasuke, so gracefully that it was as if he were floating above the dirty tiles. When he reached the Uchiha's side, he muttered but a few words almost vindictively into the pale ear. "But of course." And then he was gone, striding out of the aisle to leave the Uchiha to stare after him, his cheeks in the mirrors beside him reflecting a pale pink.
Naruto, meanwhile, was on a mission.
"Naruto!" Sakura was momentarily interrupted when a man hurriedly passed by her, smacking into her shoulder with his. Sakura stumbled back into the register counter, cursing at the man who steadfastly ignored her as he went along his business. She turned back to the blonde beside her, who was grinning in his pause. "Naruto! What do you think you're doing?" She hissed, raising an absent hand to rub her shoulder.
"I'm just having a little fun, Sakura!" He replied playfully, running a steady finger down the length of the pale phone in his hand.
"You know you're not supposed to do that, Naruto! You don't work here, I'll get in trouble!" She returned, not in the least amused.
"Then go and pretend you never saw me." Naruto replied easily, leaning back against the counter casually. When Sakura moved to protest again, he sighed. "Sakura, please. This may be fun for me, but it's also important. I won't let you get in trouble, promise."
It wasn't the words that stopped Sakura from protesting any further, it was the look in her friend's eyes. Somehow she found herself nodding and walking away as quickly as possible, glancing around inconspicuously, looking for something to do to occupy herself.
Naruto smiled in an adoring fashion and turned to the key pad on the phone. He pressed a button with practiced ease and put the phone against his ear and mouth. With a voice that he thought was professional sounding, he spoke. "Attention all customers, attention all customers: I love Sasuke Uchiha. I repeat: I love Sasuke Uchiha, over." As he put the phone down on the receiver, he nodded in satisfaction to himself before promptly leaving the site to escape anyone that might've wanted to throw him out of the store.
"What?" Naruto wondered how fast the Uchiha had had to run to make it all the way to him in less than a minute. Or had he been nearby the whole time?
"What what?" Naruto grinned, staring Sasuke right back in the eye, noting everything about him. The perfectly styled hair, the pale skin now flushed pink from running or perhaps something else, the thin hands shaking, the thin, sinewy body, and the wide, surprised black eyes.
Sasuke's open mouth closed, wet lips tightly pursed, his black eyes accusing. "What kind of a joke was that, Uzumaki?" He hissed.
Naruto's blue eyes widened impossibly. "That wasn't a joke, Sasuke." He said slowly, reassuringly.
Sasuke frowned. "I don't believe you."
Naruto started to shrug, but stopped halfway and let his shoulders drop. He didn't want Sasuke to think he didn't care. "Well, maybe I don't love you, yet, you know. We've only known each other a few weeks, but I do like ya a lot." He gave the dark haired male a wink. "How could I not?"
Sasuke ran analyzing eyes over Naruto, and Naruto had to suppress an indulgent smile. "Why?"
Naruto rolled his eyes. "Do you really wanna open that can o' worms? I don't know why. By all rights, you're an ass hole. But still, opposites attract, right? I could tell you everything I like about you, but that'd probably take all day."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him, still disbelieving. "Uh-huh."
Naruto rolled his eyes once more. "Alright, fine." He stepped forward, so that he was nearly toe to toe with Sasuke, and was satisfied to note he was just a bit taller. "I like your pale skin, 'cause it looks so soft. I like your black hair, because it looks like the night. I like your long legs, because I know you could probably outrun me. I like your long hands, because they make up for my stubby ones. I like your ass, because it's rounder than any I've ever seen on a girl. I like your eyes, because they're the deepest and yet most guarded I've ever seen. And... I like your lips," Here he took hold of the Uchiha's hips and swooped down, capturing the wet lips beneath his own. They weren't the sweetest thing he had ever tasted, but nevertheless the best thing he had ever felt. He pulled a breath away, letting the stunned Uchiha take a shocked gasp. "Because they contrast wonderfully with your pale skin."
He moved away just a little more, hands still resting unheeded on Sasuke's bony hips. "And I like you, because... You're my exact opposite, and that will always keep me right next to you."
Sasuke's eyes flitted away from Naruto's lips to take in his eyes, his dark blue eyes that told no lies. Those eyes that he found only himself reflected in. With an almost undetected quirk of his lips, he curled an arm around Naruto's shoulders. "C'mere." He whispered, and brought Naruto in for another kiss.
One of so many wonderfully open-hearted, long ones to come.
End.