This is a future AU, kinda set as though Sasuke didn't go anywhere. Our heroes are in their early twenties...
Guys' Night Out
"Man, I hate you!" Naruto grumbled, downing his sake, probably without even tasting it, Sasuke thought, indulging in a triumphant smirk at his former teammate's sour expression.
"Naruto's jealous!" Kiba laughed. "Aw, come on! You disappoint poor little Hinata for what...umm..." he began to count on his fingers.
He's doing even worse than Naruto, Sasuke thought, looking at the inebriated chuunin.
"...for...like, eight! Eight years, Naruto!" Kiba shouted triumphantly.
Sasuke winced at the noise.
"Six years of tellin' me," Kiba continued indignantly. "That she thought that you were nice! Nice!" he laughed. "The one time you noticed she even existed was the Chuunin Exam when Neji was practically killing her!" he frowned now, remembering that, Sasuke thought. "And now you're mad that Sasuke beat you to her? Weren't you all over...Sa-thingummy- Sakura?"
"She left me for Fuzzy-Eyebrows..." Naruto moaned.
"She was never with you," Sasuke corrected, signaling the bartender that more drinks were needed all around. "But she left me alone, finally."
Kiba stared. "You mean you never liked her? Not even once?"
"Not like she liked me," Sasuke said, then took a strategically timed sake break while Kiba and Naruto discussed Sakura's positive qualities- a growing list the more they drank, Sasuke realized.
"Her...attributes," Kiba was saying.
For whatever reason, that got Sasuke's attention. "What?"
"Hey, no listening!" Kiba ordered. "You're a married man in a mere...um..." he glanced fuzzily at his watch. "Help...day and a bit...less than two days... So no listening!"
"Tell," was all he said. "I was her teammate."
"You already said you didn't like her that way!" Kiba protested, but gave in surprisingly quickly. "They say she's learned all kindsa things from the Hokage," he smirked. "Like the secret of eternal youth and how to look like the Hokage." At Sasuke's blank look, Kiba groaned. "You know, like that, he made a vague gesture and started giggling.
The bar wasn't a very large one, but it was large enough to have some partitions, so that customers who wanted some space from the main area of the bar could sit undisturbed. These partitions were not sound-proof. Something behind one of the partitions clattered to the ground and Sasuke sensed a killing intent- too late for the unfortunate Kiba.
Sakura's punch was something she had definitely learned from the Hokage. "You can talk about your own puny attributes!" she fumed and would probably have wreaked havoc on the stunned Kiba and the guilty-by-association Naruto and Sasuke, had it not been for Ino and Tenten. They somehow managed to restrain Sakura, though their apologies for her bad behavior didn't sound very convincing- Tenten surreptitiously kicked the already down Kiba- and they left.
Genma was drunk- which wasn't so unusual recently, Iruka was coming to find- but the odd look in his eyes was unusual as he watched Naruto and Sasuke help Kiba back up and continue their party, little worse for the wear."So I'm not the only one feeling old?" Iruka asked, smiling.
Genma gave a slight smile and a shrug that could have meant anything, but Iruka noticed that he refused to make eye-contact for a little while, staring intently at his sake.
"It's a very strange feeling, seeing your students growing up and getting married," Iruka sighed. "But I'm glad I've lived to see it." He knew he'd touched two nerves with that.
Genma stiffened. "Yeah," he said at last. "'s take the long way home- gotta tell him."
That was one nerve. "And what about her? Are you ever going to ask?" Iruka wondered aloud, deliberately prodding- only doing so in the certain knowledge that in the morning, Genma would not remember how he got home, much less what he had said.
A deliberate shake of the head and a firm "No" was the answer he expected, and got.
"Why?"
"Why didn't you ask her?" Genma asked seriously.
Iruka frowned. "I guess I deserved that. But you know why."
"So do you," Genma said, not bothering to clarify which situation he was referring to. He glanced back at the younger ninjas. "Damn," he whispered. "They don't really believe..." he stopped to think for a minute.
Iruka was used to this, and waited patiently, drinking as he waited.
"Believe that it will last?" Genma finished.
"Did you?" Iruka asked quietly.
Genma nodded and stood up, stumbling towards the door. "'s go. Feel a bit sick..."
He didn't, not yet, Iruka thought. At least, he wasn't sick from drinking. He paid their tab, made a mental note of what Genma owed and caught up with his friend outside. He was chewing on another senbon already, and staring thoughtfully at the moon in the night sky.
"Ready to go?" Iruka asked.
Genma nodded and started to stagger in the direction that would eventually take him to the memorial. "Man, I should have stayed in bed this morning," he muttered.
Iruka sighed and began walking after him.
Meanwhile, talk had gone far, far from dangerous areas, such as talking about other girls, to talking about the one in question, Sasuke's intended.
"So," Kiba said, holding an ice-pack to the injured part of his face. "Are you marrying into her clan or is she marrying into yours?"
"That's the most intelligent thing you've asked all evening," Sasuke said. "But if you'd been listening, you'd already know. Even Dobe here knows," he said, elbowing Naruto, who fairly growled at him.
"She's marrying into Sasuke's family," Naruto said grudgingly.
"Oh..." Kiba said thoughtfully. "That's right!" he shouted- loudly enough to make Naruto and Sasuke wince. "She told me! Her father wanted Hanabi-chan to succeed her anyway, but legally she couldn't..." Kiba hiccoughed. "But now s'okay..." he hiccoughed again and looked suddenly thoughtful. "Naruto- which of 'em do you think the kids will look like?"
"I hope they look more like Hinata-chan than Sasuke- one of Sasuke is more than enough!" Naruto laughed."Look- I'll show you! Henge-no-jutsu!"
Kiba and Sasuke stared. Though Naruto's intoxication was affecting his jutsu's clarity, the idea was clear enough and the girl that stood before them was obviously a Hinata/Sasuke hybrid, darkeyed and pale like Sasuke, but every bit as shy and cute as Hinata- clad only in strategically placed clouds.
"Dobe," Sasuke sighed and turned back to his sake.
Kiba was busy wiping the blood from his nose.
"Not bad, huh?" Naruto laughed.
"You got her ears wrong," Sasuke said.
"Huh?" Naruto looked puzzled. "Her ears? How do you...?"
"Ears are the hardest thing to disguise," Sasuke smirked. "Dobe. Come on, change back and let's get home before we have to crawl home."
And suddenly, something changed. Naruto frowned, changed back and punched Sasuke.
If you had one shot, one opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted in one moment would you capture it or just let it slip...
"What was that for?" Kiba laughed.
"Tell me something," Naruto asked, voice suddenly harsh with emotion as he picked up his teammate by the front of his shirt. "Do you love her, Sasuke? Do you really love her?"
Sasuke stared up at his former teammate and found that everything was suddenly more complicated. "I'll try to make her happy," he said quietly. "I'm not forcing her into this."
And it was though all of the emotion, whatever it had been, that was in Naruto, suddenly left him. The familiar big stupid grin came back and he scratched the back of his head. "Yeah- well, you better make her happy!" he laughed. "Hey, Kiba, walk this drunk home all right?" he grinned and left. "Ja ne!"
Kiba sighed, then a thought occurred to him. "Ne, Sasuke, you were standing us drinks, right? Because if you weren't, Naruto's just stiffed you."
Sasuke paid the bill without complaining and decided to see Kiba home. "Y'know, my rights- I mean, by rights- I shoulda asked you that..." Kiba muttered. "Neji probably did already though... Naruto did... Suppose I still can." He pulled away from Sasuke's support and tottered for a moment or two, before falling down. "You-" he waved a finger in Sasuke's general direction. "You don't make her cry- all right?" he said. "Listen to me!" he grabbed his own ear. "Ow. If I hear that you made her cry- if she goes back to being the way she was- I'm gonna...gonna slug you- 'n let Akamaru eat yer liver!"
"Speaking of which, where is he?" Sasuke asked.
"At home getting a fleabath," Kiba said.
Sasuke wondered if Kiba had fleas. Probably. And if now he and Naruto had fleas. Again, probably. Kiba could get home all right. Sasuke felt in need of a bath himself...
OWARI
Thank you, Pinky McCoversong for the challenge! The parameters were-
grown-up sasu/hina fic
there MUST be a bar scene. i like bar scenes!
sasuke will say something about hinata's ears.
involve some rap music. (If you had one shot, one opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted in one moment would you capture it or just let it slip... From an Eminem song- don't know what, not fan of his...)
Genma will say "Man, I should have stayed in bed this morning,"