Ch. 1 Tents
Naruto had just arrived in Konoha yesterday after a long mission away. He was suffering a little from sleep deprivation, but at last he'd been able to have a restful night of sleep in his own bed and planned to sleep in as late as he could. Not that he was very picky about his bed normally, but even he grew tired of having to sleep out in tents, especially when he had to share with the likes of Sai and Sasuke. He was glad to finally have the bastard back where he belonged, but did he really have to keep up that prissy attitude with him?
Sai's comments weren't helping one bit. He didn't understand just why the hell Sai had to bring up the size of Sasuke's penis, but he had, wondering if perhaps that was the reason Naruto had chased him all those years. That one earned him a beating from both Naruto and Sasuke (who for some reason had turned bright red). Fortunately for Sai Kakashi had been able to intervene before they had a dead teammate on their hands.
Naruto had even considered begging Sakura to let him share tents. Actually, he had begged her. After the third sleepless night with the other two he tried to convince her to let him stay with her. After all, she had acted so much nicer to him even before Sasuke's return. It was a slow, gradual type of change, but even he started noticing it. Since Sasuke left, Sakura had come to realize just how much Naruto had done for her, by believing in her and giving her the strength they needed to survive through the hell they went through, and over time she had even developed a little crush on her teammate. It wasn't as loud and demanding as her so-called love for Sasuke had been, but she liked to think that that warm feeling and the funny little flutter when she saw Naruto were more honest than what she'd felt before.
At any rate, Naruto had tried to get her to share tents. He'd even offered to do sexy jutsu and henge into a girl so that Sakura would feel at ease, but for some reason Sakura had been even more upset, blushing madly and sending him flying out of the tent with a chakra powered punch. Meanwhile Sakura tried to convince herself that Naruto meant no offense and that he really was just a hopeless idiot. She may have had a crush him, but honestly, couldn't he at least put some clothes on his henge?! Really, the boy just had no sense of decency.
Sakura had been a little nicer to Sasuke since his return, but even that relationship was a bit strained. Naruto thought it was because she was still offended that he never accepted her advances. Sakura told him that was childish, and of course she was over that. She was a mature woman now, who wouldn't dream of holding grudges against selfish bast-, ehem, old friends simply because he had rejected her, and abandoned her, AND TRIED TO KILL HER AND WHO THE HELL DID THAT CONCEITED BASTARD THINK HE WAS REJECTING THE HARUNO SAKURA, SMARTEST, PRETTIEST, MOST- ahem, well anyway, she had definitely moved on.
There were bigger fish in the sea, and here she looked sideways at Naruto with a small blush as she said this. Neither noticed the glare this earned her from Sasuke. Naruto would've pointed out that he'd be more likely to believe her if she wasn't giving the Uchiha a chilling death glare at every little offense, but the kunai still gripped in her hand from preparing dinner had told him perhaps that wasn't the best idea. The woman was scary, but what else could you expect from Tsunade's apprentice.
Kakashi was out of the question. He had at first thought about asking him to share tents, but was quickly dissuaded when Kakashi informed him that he was a man, and as a man, he had certain needs, physical needs, that he needed to relief at night, but so long as Naruto didn't mind, he wouldn't either. Yeah, like Naruto really needed that image in his head. While Kakashi wasn't outwardly hostile towards Sasuke, he, too, seemed to enjoy taking advantage of his fall from grace by making him do pretty much all the work he was too lazy to bother with. In reality, Kakashi, like Naruto, was truly happy to have his old student back with them. However, Kakashi was Kakashi, and if he saw the opportunity to avoid doing any more work than necessary, well, what else was he to do? It mainly consisted of making Sasuke do a bunch of annoying tasks like gathering wood, finding water, taking the tiring middle watch, and writing out the dreaded mission reports, all on the pretext that since Sasuke had shirked his team responsibilities for so many years, it was only fair he make it up to them now. Naruto thought it was pushing it a bit to make Sasuke read Icha Icha out loud because sensei "needed a bedtime story", but then the embarassed blush and ticking eye as he forced the words out were so funny that he figured it was worth it, at least until Sasuke got angry and nearly chidoried Kakashi's precious book. Needless to say, that was the last time Sasuke was allowed anywhere near Kakashi's treasure. Occassionally even Sasuke would grow tired of doing those tasks, but then Kakashi would remind him, ever so subtly of his little time away. A guilty look would flash briefly across his face, before it was quickly replaced by his stoic mask and he went on to fulfill whatever crazy task Kakashi had set out for him this time.
Naruto, for his part, was the one most at ease with Sasuke since his return to Konoha. When he had fought against the tailed beasts, Sasuke had on many time risked his own life to protect those of his former comarades. When weeks later Sasuke had walked through the gates, he was received by heated glares and angry shouts from the villagers. Luckily, Naruto had been nearby helping to rebuild when he heard about the sudden commotion and rushed to the scene. When he arrived he saw Sasuke, still wearing his famous mask of indifference, but even from a distance he noted the tense shoulders and certain look in his eye, almost as if he were a rabbit that were about to bolt. But like hell he would! Not after all the years he spend trying to get him to come home. In the blink of an eye, Naruto had his arms around Sasuke's neck and was holding him tight, not giving him a chance to even think of leaving. He could hear the gasps of the crowd and not even the Anbu surrounding them dared to try to pull them apart. After a teary and heartfelt "Welcome home, teme" and the answering "Dobe" he had proceeded to drag Sasuke to the Hokage tower to tell Baa-chan and demand that he be reinstated into the village immediately (in reality it was more like begging and the careful employment of the saddest puppy dog eyes ever). Eventually the villagers reluctantly began to accept the traitor was back and he was here to stay, and if their Naruto had accepted him, well then there really wasn't so much left for them to say, at least not when faced with those eyes. Honestly, Naruto couldn't ever remember having to use the puppy dog eyes as much as he did during that period, but it was for Sasuke, and hey, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.
After serving short sentence in Konoha's prison and going through his probation period, Sasuke had once again joined his old team, with the added addition of Sai. He still liked sparring with Naruto to test his abilities, they still had their little pointless fights, just like the old days. If anything, Naruto felt their bond had grown stronger and deeper than before, and therefore was probably the only person in the village who could still work perfectly in sync with Sasuke, and vice versa. He hadn't ever really found out the real reason Sasuke returned, but in the end what mattered was that he did. So what if the teme still acted as if he was all that and a bag of chips? So what if he had to deal with sleepless nights because Sasuke and Sai kept him up with their arguing? The Teme was back. Besides, he could always catch a good night's sleep when he had break from missions.
"Oi! Dobe! Get your lazy ass up now. We're out of food and need to go shopping. You'd better be ready in five minutes or I swear I'll chidori your ass out of there!"
Oh, that's right. One of the conditions for Sasuke's probation had been that he move in with someone to always watch over him in case he went vendetta crazy again and wanted to destroy the village. Just a precaution of course. Oh, well. At least he could probably guilt Sasuke into carrying the heavier groceries.