Warning: Quite a bit of reference to maleXmale relations - nothing explicit, but such couplings are mentioned. Oh, and Kakashi's a shameless bisexual pervert.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, any of its characters, or the cover to Shippuden Chapter... 411, I think it was. Those are all owned by Kishimoto. I think. Oh, and I do not own "Stairway to Heaven" either. I do, however, own the idea of the café and the jewelers a few blocks down.
Enjoy!
Accessories
It was a small café, on the corner of some out-of-the-way street, with a neon sign and red overhanging roofs and a black-and-white checkerboard tile on the inside floor, the kind you'd see in a 'quaint' diner. There were shiny metal-top tables and a long counter, and lots of booths lining the outer wall, each in a 'U' shape with 'U' shaped benches with red cushioned seats. Up on the long counter were glass display cases with cakes and pies with slices cut out, and menus advertising their food, and there were numerous stools, round ones, metal with a round red cushion on top.
And it was quiet, and empty save the four seated in a booth smack dab in the middle of the establishment. All of the cooks were in the kitchen, behind a closed door, while all of the waitresses were back in an 'Employees Only' lounge where a television was playing re-runs of some cheesy soap opera. Sound spilled through becoming more background noise along with the faint sound of "Stairway to Heaven" coming from the jukebox in the corner.
The door opened to emit one of the waitresses, with long brown hair done up in a high ponytail. She was dressed in black jeans and a red polo, company uniform, with a nametag clipped on reading, 'Megumi'. She walked over to the booth where the four people were studying menus. One, dressed all in understated gray (boring), looked to be in his late twenties, but he had a shock of gray hair (ew), and made up for his muted clothing through the black scarf covering up half of his face (ugly?) and an eye patch over one eye (freak). The other three at the table looked to be in their late teens. The girl had short pink hair (obviously dyed), pale skin (could so use a tan), a green sweater, fitted light blue jeans, and delicate hands, but by the way she gripped the arm of one of her companions across the table, there was a lot of wiry, hidden strength in her body (must be steroids).
The two remaining occupants of the table both had a large number of bracelets adorning their wrists. The boy closer to the window had bright yellow hair (has to be dyed to be that bright), tanned skin (beach guy), a light blue shirt (bleached badly), baggy dark blue jeans (ick), and a bright orange track jacket (atrocious) with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows. It was the boy closest to the aisle, however, who was the reason for why the waitress was swaying her hips as she approached. Dark hair (trendy), fair skin (hot), dressed in black skinny jeans and a dark blue shirt (yum), and that unlawfully pretty face (I want to bear your children!). The waitress, Megumi, stopped at the booth after judging the appearance of all four of her customers, jutted out a hip in the girl's direction, and turned to the man at the end of the table, sneaking glances towards the 'dark' teen at her right.
"So," Megumi said, popping her gum, "what are y'all having?"
"I'll have a caramel mocha shake with a side of that appetizing rack you've got there," the gray-haired man said, leering at her. She grimaced.
"Kakashi, stop," Pinky said authoritatively to her companion. "I apologize for his behavior. May I please have a mint-chocolate shake?"
Megumi just wrote down her order, ignoring her for the most part, then turned to the boys while Kakashi whined at 'Sakura'. "NARUTO! HIDE ME!" Kakashi dove towards the blond boy, copping a feel at the same time. "Ooh, nice ass…"
Administering a jarring pound to the top of Kakashi's head then subsequently ignoring him, the boy, Naruto, turned to Megumi. "I'll have a strawberry-banana shake, and Mr. Pissy-Pants Sasuke here," he motioned towards the dark-haired heartthrob next to him, "will have one of those oh-so-emo dark chocolate shakes so he can hurry up and go cry in a corner."
Sasuke swiftly jabbed a bony elbow into Naruto's side, earning an "OW!" and a "What the hell was that for!"
Megumi nodded, snuck one more glance at Sasuke, looked down at his bracelets (obviously conversation starters), then left to get their orders, swaying her hips obnoxiously.
As soon as she disappeared behind the door, Sasuke stood up to leave, pushing against the tabletop to push himself up. Naruto wrapped a hand around his bracelet-covered wrist, yanked on his arm, and pulled him back down into a seated position.
"Now where do you think you're going?" Naruto asked threateningly.
"Hn," Sasuke grunted noncommittally but with an underlying hint of urgency and discomfort.
"You know, Sasuke-kun, not everyone knows what your accessories represent," Kakashi said coolly, sneaking another hand towards Naruto and downwards.
"I still don't know why the two of you insist on wearing those, anyway," Sakura commented, crossing her arms and leaning back, ignoring Naruto's pleas for help.
Sasuke tried to get up again, struggled against Naruto's grip for a second, then gave up and sat down, burying his face in his arms. He ignored Naruto's wild slapping at Kakashi's hand, then, after a moment, he looked up again, face expressionless, mask in place. Then he pointed at the necklace hanging around his neck, a teardrop shaped amethyst wrapped and tied with dark blue cording. He said one word in explanation.
"Suigetsu."
"Yeah, yeah, blah, blah, he was your first time, but a day later he dumped you. Big deal." Naruto rolled his eyes dramatically.
"I wouldn't put it like that, but we have heard it many times, and it never gets any worse or any more dramatic," Sakura commented.
Sasuke then pointed to the string of round, faceted glass beads around his wrist. As his hand lightly shook, light bounced off of the facets in rays of blues, greens, and whites. "Haku."
"I always thought Haku was a girl," Kakashi remarked, reaching for Naruto's ass yet again. Sakura sighed.
"Yeah, just my luck. I'm friends with the two hottest guys in our high school who are also the hottest I've ever seen, and our constant chaperone is the heartthrob among the teachers, but all three of them prefer men."
"I like girls too!" Kakashi piped up.
"Shut it. You'll do anything that moves," Naruto muttered, fending off Kakashi's wandering hand. Kakashi just grinned, not even beginning to deny it.
Sasuke sighed exasperatedly ("GIRL!") and touched a braid of dark leather with his slender pointer finger. "Neji."
Mocking Sasuke, Naruto pasted on an expression that was supposed to be 'broody' but looked more like 'constipated'. Then, grunting, he indicated a cream-colored leather braid on his own wrist. "Itachi." Then he dropped the act. "I think I win this round. But anyway, what's the big deal?"
"Yes, Naruto-kun," Kakashi said, "What's the big deal that requires you as well to wear all of that jewelry?"
"Reminders," Sasuke muttered.
"Of what?"
"Bad choices. What's wrong with me. Like Orochimaru," he pointed at a metal band in a sickly shade of metallic green, "and Kabuto," he gestured towards a string of square, flat silver beads.
"I just like the colors." Naruto shrugged. "I'm not an emo bastard like Sasuke."
"My parents were married before they had me, thank you very much," Sasuke growled.
"I didn't even know my parents, 'thank you very much'. Oh, boo hoo hoo. I'll die an early death from it," Naruto replied sarcastically.
"One strawberry-banana, a mint chocolate, a caramel mocha, and one rich, dark chocolate shake." Megumi served them, disrupting the tension in the air, and batted her eyelashes furiously at Sasuke. Naruto fake gagged behind a hand while Sasuke studiously ignored her, not even looking at his shake until Megumi disappeared back behind the door. Even then, he only pushed it toward Naruto. Then he stood up, brushed the wrinkles out of his shirt, then strode purposefully towards the door. A jingle of bells and he was out on the street, walking away.
Naruto sighed, then got up, picking up both shakes. "Sorry to leave you guys with the tab, but I'm his babysitter today." Kakashi and Sakura waved goodbye and Naruto left through the same door.
He found Sasuke settled on a bench a few blocks down. Man, Sasuke could really speed away when he had something on his mind. Naruto plopped down on the bench, handing the shake to Sasuke and started to slurp noisily from his own cup. Sasuke wordlessly took it, but just held it, unaware of the cold or condensation as he continued to stare off into space.
"Pouting, I'm sorry, 'brooding' again, Sasuke?"
"Shut up."
"Well screw you too."
"Time and place, time and place," Sasuke answered mindlessly.
Naruto, however, froze up before slowly relaxing. "…That's what Gaara said before our first time," he murmured, fingering a red chain around his wrist. "…I guess I lied. I think I do keep these on as reminders. Heaven knows I have different fashion sense than this!" He carefully touched the points of the silver spikes jutting out of a black leather band. "Kiba. He and I, we were best buds for five years. We were sure it was a good idea. But he and I had different expectations for the future, just as different as our fashion styles."
"Na—"
Naruto cut Sasuke off, skipping over a few bracelets and landing on a black elastic hair tie. "A while later, it was Shikamaru. Knew him for longer than Kiba. He always put up with me. I was positive that he was 'the one'. Man, was I wrong," Naruto admitted, shaking his head.
"Naruto, why are you retelling me your love life?" Sasuke asked exasperatedly.
Naruto sat, thinking, before slowly answering, "Maybe it's because I've known you for the absolute longest out of all of my friends, and I want to get the facts straight in my head before I make some other stupid mistake that tears apart our friendship," he answered philosophically. He sat, slouched, for a few moments, deliberating. Then he stood up abruptly, grabbed Sasuke's wrist, and pulled him up and along.
"Where are we going? Let me go, loser! Naruto!"
Naruto eventually stopped in front of a jeweler's. Sasuke tensed up. This was the shop they always went to after failed relationships. Naruto, sensing Sasuke's impending protests, pulled him right through the doors before Sasuke had a chance to object. Then he quickly and proficiently stripped Sasuke's wrists and neck of adornments and handed them to a waiting attendant. Then he removed his own multitude of bracelets, leaving the necklace from his phantom grandmother, the only memento from a life he remembered and knew nothing of, and added them to the pile.
"I want to sell these. How much can I get?" Naruto asked bluntly.
Then Sasuke began to protest. "What? Why are you—I paid for those—hey, hey! What are you doing?"
"Black on silver or white on black?" Naruto asked.
"Black on silver. Wait, what? Hey, Naruto!"
"I like this guitar pick shape, what about you, Sasuke?"
"Sure. Wait, what are you—wait—ARGH!" Sasuke roared in frustration.
"Can I get these engraved? Use these photos(1)! Just use the money you'd have given me for all those bracelets and that necklace. Yes, one hole in the middle of the top edge, threaded through with black cord. Thank you!"
Ignoring Sasuke's spluttering, Naruto pulled him over to a bench outside the store and pushed him down to sit. Sasuke just sat defeatedly.
"I'm getting us necklaces!" Naruto crowed, finally answering Sasuke's question. At Sasuke's incredulous stare, Naruto blazed on. "Well, we'll be separating for college soon, and knowing us, we'll probably fight right before or after graduation and leave before we get over ourselves and make up, so I want us to have some kind of reminder so we always remember we'll be there for each other forever, like we swore back in kindergarten. Remember?" Sasuke nodded wordlessly. "So, what do you think of my plan?"
Sasuke smirked. "You're an idiot."
"You're a bastard."
"Moron."
"Ass."
"Loser."
"Asshole."
"Dumbass."
"Let's get back to the café. I want another shake."
"Hn."
"Grunter."
"Unsophisticated Neanderthal."
"Dick."
"You love it."
"What happened to platonic?"
"What happened to friends?"
At that tense stalemate, the two boys had a staredown, then they broke down into laughter. Naruto slung an arm around Sasuke's shoulders and Sasuke wrapped a reluctant arm around Naruto's waist and they walked on back towards the café. Best friends.
And so they fought. And so they laughed. Friends. Before they knew it, they were inseparable.
...
(1): Let's say they were Photoshopped to make them look like NINJA!
A/N: So, how did you guys like it? My inspiration was the cover of Naruto Shippuden Chapter... 411, I think. It's the one where Sasuke battles the 8-Tailed Demon Container. Look it up, I think it's an awesome pic.
~DN15