WARNING: PROFANITIES

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DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. Any trademarked names also do not belong to me and I do not take any credit for them.

AFTERSUMMER

prtone/chptone

sea breeze

Summer break is finally here and that's great and all, but I don't think there'd be much of a difference. Sure, I'd be rid of all the school drama and the accidentally-catching-teachers-mooching, but Tsunade would probably coerce me to clock in more hours. That's why she's such a great mentor.

The holiday didn't even start well. I'm sitting right next to my idiot of my best friend and I'm starting to regret so. He has been screaming in my ear (though it is quite obvious that I can hear him quite clearly because he is sitting so close I can smell his lunch of boiled peas and corn soup) for the past half an hour on how stupid fish are and bitch, I think I can relieve an entire African village with all that spit you're spraying on my hair. Shut up, shut up, shut up.

Naruto looks at me, a bit offended, but he never really is. Papou and Nan do not really understand this friendship of ours because one minute he'd be screaming and kicking and then the next minute he'd be suffocating me in a deathly bear hug. Naruto and I have put together a very practical rule stating that neither should be offended when one insults the other, say; I call him a mindless, hairy buffoon. Should I ever call him that (which, might I add, is quite often) he is to stick by our guidelines and keep his cool. No going apeshit.

He and I have been friends for as long as I can remember and I intend to keep it that way. A few months ago, a boy who was rumoured to enjoy smelling canine derrieres told me that Naruto had a tad bit of mild affection that is in no way platonic (or a crush, as simpletons would call it) for me. The two of us also have this unspoken rule which absolutely forbids us to think of each other beyond the best friend status. I confronted him and laughed at his uncontrolled urge to drain his lizard every time he was nervous. We leaned against the trunk of the tree he had marked and everything was okay again. I even told him that Hinata wanted to be romantically involved with him; which is only half a lie since Ino and I have yet to investigate further on the matter.

For a moment the two of us sit in silence, Naruto having gotten over his little fit and I feeling a bit sympathetic. As the horizon fades into a flamed, dark purple, he stands up and walks down the narrow dirt path that leads back to the village, his unused, expensive fishing rod supported on his shoulder as he raises his hand in a goodbye gesture without looking back; knowing that I'll be staying just a little bit longer.

I've always had this odd fascination with fireflies. Naruto says there's this other melancholic, soulful side to the usual aggressive, hard-faced me; I tell him that I'm just into bugs that can light up their bottoms. He starts comparing me to Shino, the insect obsessed guy who lives five minutes away from my home. I debate, saying that I do not scream like a wimpy chick in some horror movie when someone steps on an anthill. Actually, I'm quite the professional bug squash-er. The occasional death of a fruit fly or mosquito gives me temporary satisfaction.

The evening stretches over the expanse of the forest and that is my cue to leave. The elders warn us not to stay out late here (rabid animals or something of the like) but they're just old crumbles with floppy hair and an all-day morning breath.

My foot gets caught in a root and for a moment only curse words seem to run through my head. The elders believe in tree spirits (this is not Pocahontas, no tree will start singing advice to you, old gits) so they have insisted on keeping this huge, ugly tree that just gets in the way of everything. I almost trip, but my left knee seemed to have taken some damage. Stupid tree, stupid tree, stupid tree.

I arrive home, limping, relieved that Nan isn't downstairs to be the worrywart she is and baby me over a scraped, bloody knee. Sometimes she can just be overprotective. I run to the bathroom and lock myself in, sitting on the counter and cleaning the wound before applying antiseptic and binding it. Hopefully Papou and Nan won't notice my left knee wrapped in about four layers of gauze when I come down for breakfast tomorrow morning.

Naruto ran down the hill as fast as he could manage without running into a tree, Sakura was laughing (a rare occasion) and running down the steep slope. Her skirt was flying up and he resisted the need to look. This is your best friend, don't look; this is your best friend, don't look. A small part of Naruto though, hoped she was wearing lace instead of granny in case he got an eyeful.

They had been sitting on one of the many hills when they had spotted a posh, black car (no doubt from the city) driving into the village. It had been awhile since they've gotten any tourists, and everyone knew how badly the finances of the village were doing at this point and time since tourists reverted to big cities like Tokyo for holidays instead of the countryside. The last person from the city that had visited the village had been a strange, little man with an impressive moustache. Naruto had always wondered if the man went to the hairdresser's every week to give it a trim― it seemed to grow at a striking rate.

"Your father's here," Sakura pointed out as they finally reached the foot of the hill, Naruto panting heavily while she looked like she'd just had a nice picnic. "Whoever this guy is, he must be important. Look― a blue license plate. And your father wouldn't even wait out; looking ridiculous with that bouquet of wilted yamayuri, by the way; for common city folk. And I think his trousers are a size too small. He looks suffocated."

Naruto shrugged and narrowed his vision. "You're right. Those are too small. But he's got good legs, let him flaunt them."

Sakura joined the small crowd that had gathered, Naruto following closely behind her.

"No doubt. That old man of yours has got some remarkable calves; they'll look good in elastane. Maybe he could pull off that Greco-Roman wrestler look I've been trying and failing. Are the calves genetic?"

"Nah. My calves were always weedy. Father says he got them from years of Dinosaur training. He doesn't look like the bodybuilder type, though. But he's got six-pack blubber so that's got to count as something, right?" Naruto shrugged his shoulders and impishly smiled.

Sakura nodded. "Right, and Choji's pot belly is just puppy fat."

Spoiled, attractive, and not as endowed as his older brother, he was happy with his life. Father never bothered him to read any of that dull Politics by Aristotle, his Saturday nights were never spent alone; a female accompaniment always hanging off his arm, designer brand name tags peeking out of his shirts, plates of perfectly cooked, Prime Sous-Vide steak offered to him at the snap of his fingers― his life was as any male his age could ever want.

And of course, as charming as he was; he left hearts in the gutters and never really cared about what anyone thought of him. His primary school counsellor had related this to parental alienation syndrome, but he never hated his parents; never. In fact, he loved his father so much he was willing to stay away so he could bring no more shame to the family name. He wasn't a child prodigy like his older brother was, and every time he looked into his father's hard eyes; he could see the disappointment he was. Mum had always been supportive of him but he knew better than that.

"Are we there yet?" he asked, bored. His guardian had arranged this vacation (although vacation to him would be a one-way ticket to the Netherlands― he heard they had good gin there) to sober him up. But what is being sober, anyway? Being in a state where you're not in an alcoholic trance? Is there a chart somewhere where you can measure soberness? A policeman can always tell you to walk in a straight line but does that have a say in your soberness? Besides, they're just one-dimensional geometric figures with no curvatures. You might as well be suffering from disequilibrium if you keep falling. "Kakashi said this was only going to take two hours."

The man behind the glass partition laughed heartily. "The old goon is a liar. A ride from the city and there takes about four hours. Lucky here, I'm driving. We can get there in three hours. Look, we're almost there."

He sighed and scratched the back of his neck tiredly. The car felt cramped and narrow, and he felt like the windows were closing in on him. Head up, head up, head up. He's been clean for a little less than a week but the damage so far has been terrible. Without the liquor to dull the aching knots in his head, he felt like there were little construction workers drilling holes into his cranium. He'd been complaining of migraines and insomnia without the strong wine to lull him into a restful sleep. Kakashi reprimanded him for being dependant on alcohol for such things but sod all could make him feel more mundane than his vulnerability to liquor.

"What's it called, again? It seemed to have slipped my mind when Kakashi was busy boring me to death," he murmured sarcastically. "It had a lot of vowels in it, I know. Ka… Ki… Ha…"

"It's Konoha! My home, Kakashi's home, your home! It's been six years― six years, since I left! God knows why it's been that long… I wonder how Tsunade is doing…"

They pulled up into a gentle uphill path and he cursed as his head hit the ceiling of the car. If by any chance (no chance) he had a position as high up as his father, he'd find a way to eliminate every single rock and stone in Japan. Blasted solid aggregates. "Ah. Shit."

"We're here!"

He was attractive; extremely attractive. If there were something called the attractive-o-meter he'd be at the top of the top. Sakura felt her eyes bleed from looking at him for too long. He was just too attractive, that was the problem. Maybe she was stereotyping, but men with dashing looks always seemed to have a dark past. Or a pocketful of condoms.

"Sakura, you're going to drown me with all that drool. Pretty soon you're going to start chasing after your tail and smelling cat shit," Naruto commented casually from the sidelines as he simultaneously slapped her jaw shut. "Shut your flytrap, you don't want to wake up with an upset stomach, do you? I heard flies pass on nasty diseases. Better safe than sorry."

Sakura smacked his hand. "Don't tell me who I can and cannot ogle at! I've had to put up with your hideous face for the last three days so do me a favour and don't look at me."

Naruto touched his face self-consciously. Was he really that ugly? His mum had once told him that he could wow a lot of girls if he stopped crying and smiled. Then again, that was what she told him when he bawled his eyes out before an immunization shot. That was five years ago.

"Is it the nose?" He pinched the bridge slightly, frowning at the prominent, little curve. "Ino said that I have a Roman nose. Isn't that a good thing? I thought it was supposed to make me look handsome and charming, sort of like Adrien Brody. He's French, right?"

"You're not that hideous, actually. I'm just really, really bored of your face. Maybe a castaway would find you attractive. And no, Adrien Brody's American. The name Adrien is French."

Naruto nodded. "I never was good in ethology."

"It's etymology, you berk. Ethology is the study of animal behaviour. Get it right," Sakura said irritably. She was ready to duck tape his mouth at this point and time. "And stop shoving me!"

She shoved him back. The two then engaged themselves in a spontaneous shoving tussle, where the objective was to shove the other hard enough to make them stumble. The winner was whoever could shove the other onto the arranged path for the guest.

Ding-dong, Naruto won.

Sakura stood frozen; knees bent at an odd angle from bracing herself from Naruto's none too gentle shove. She stared at the young man standing just a foot away from her, an eyebrow arched into a graceful curve above one dark eye.

She immediately tidied herself; straightening her posture, smoothing her skirt, and fixing her hair. She giggled in mock amusement before giving him a clumsy curtsy and putting on her best attempt at flirting. Or whatever she thought it was, anyways.

At first she thought he was impressed by how her long, fine lashes sophisticatedly touched the high-rise of her cheeks; assuming that he was asking that chauffeur of his to hand him a pen and paper for her to jot down her number. She smiled prettily and blushed for effect.

Mister Attractive palmed something passed on by his chauffeur. Sakura felt anxious as his hand inched closer.

He handed her a bottle of eye drops.

"What are you doing here? Nan says pets are not allowed inside the house."

"Ha, very funny, Sakura. Now scoot over, will you? I need to catch up on my sleep before the big day," Naruto mumbled as he forced himself onto the little space left on the waterbed Sakura had won out of luck from a literary composing challenge on the local radio. "Ichiraku's new flavour launch is tomorrow and I can't sleep in on official business…"

Sakura scoffed. "That's barely official. And besides, what's wrong with actually… y'know, sleeping in your own bed?"

Naruto said something in a low voice.

"What? I didn't catch anything."

"The dickhead from the city is staying at my place. He has completely taken over my room. Apparently, the new trend among city folk is to sleep shirtless even when you have a hairy, untrimmed chest… Hardly flattering…"

Sakura kicked the mumbling boy and he rolled off the bed, falling down with a dull thud. Naruto picked at the edge of her quilt and hastily pulled it over his form. "Please, Sakura. Be nice, just for today."

She looked at him with a small sense of pity and finally sighed in agreement. Probing the wall beside her bed for the light switch, she fondly remembered the times when she'd run away to his place when things went awry at home. He'd always shared his too-small-to-be bed with her and for that she was grateful, even if the sheets sort of smelled like instant noodles.

"Goodnight, Sakura…"

"Honest to God, I really do not understand why you keep up this paper. Face it; people already know what they need to know! We're a small community; nobody needs the paper when everybody knows each others' business. Just drop the whole operation," Tsunade muttered. "Besides, half of you can't even write decently… All of you'd just be better off working as my slaves in the feet department. You get to take my socks off and give me pedicures. Fun."

"That's sick. And actually, I like writing; it's the only thing that keeps me sane in this small village," Sakura said, fanning her mentor with a copy of the village's local paper. "It's also a good excuse to get away from you."

Tsunade laughed and waggled her fingers in front of her face. "You already knew the dictator I was when you accepted the internship, deal with it, sissy."

Sakura groaned but smiled nonetheless. Most people found her mentor to be terrifying and brutal― and most of the time that had been proven correct― but there too, were times when the blonde woman could be especially friendly― and surprisingly― fun to be around.

"Give me that, you incompetent fool," she said, snatching the neatly folded paper out of Sakura's hand. "Can't even fan properly, huh…"

Of course, there were always times when she was being herself.

Sakura shook the bowl gently, watching in slight amusement as the thick, viscous rice pudding wiggled.

This was so stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. So what if they had a new neighbour? So what if said new neighbour was the Prime Minister's second son? So what if he also happened to be the hot guy she made a fool of herself in front of? So what if he didn't get his rice pudding? So what.

"Can we just go home?"

Papou shook his head from where he was walking ahead of her. He looked ever so out of place, what with that sombrero he was wearing. They had visited Mexico a few years prior and when he first set his eyes on the thing, he called it love. It was a bit odd and embarrassing to have a grandfather so attached to a Mexican hat, but Sakura was grateful that at least it wasn't a chullo.

"No can do, sweetie. You know how your Nan likes to fly her own kite," he said. "I thought you were pleased? Chiyo tells me that this young man is quite the knockout. It seems like Lee might have some competition for your heart, she tells me."

Sakura scoffed in aggravation, kicked a pebble, and slightly stumbled as she tried to regain her balance and stop any spilling. "Barely. Even Naruto seems much more eligible."

"Naruto? How is the boy? I caught him climbing out of your window this morning when I was tending the garden."

"Today's a big day for him, apparently. Something to do with Ichiraku… I don't know. It completely slipped my mind. This new neighbour of ours is staying at his place, so Naruto decided to stay in my room."

Papou shrugged, his wrinkled but somehow ageless face showing telltale signs of relief. "Wonderful. So long as the two of you don't do anything blue."

Sakura gingerly handed him the bowl. His arms attempted to balance the weight. He didn't expect it to be this heavy.

"It's a bit… heavy, isn't it?"

Papou laughed and slapped his arm. He wobbled a bit before swaying back into place. The old man was unusually strong for his age.

"Well, you know what they say; the thicker the better!"

Sakura stared, horrified. How could he just quote something related to chest hair like that? She remembered Naruto's words from last night and felt itchy all over. She did not like hairy men; they made her think of the Java man.

"Right… So, this isn't exactly my home, but would you like to come in? Maybe I could fetch you a glass of cold water or something…?" he asked hesitatingly, not really sure if he wanted to tend to these people or not. They seemed very plebeian.

"It's alright―"

"… Sasuke, Uchiha Sasuke." The boy spoke as if he were ashamed of his last name. Sakura wondered what was hidden behind the pretty face.

"Oh? So the rumours were accurate! We're very honoured to have you here," Papou said as he bowed curtly before straightening up in pain. He was nearing his eighties and his back was doing him no good at all. Useless spinal cord of his.

Sasuke looked unsure but smiled (Sakura almost passed out) anyways. "Oh, please don't. I really don't want to be treated differently from other visitors. And I'm honoured to here. My guardian tells me I was born here. It's a great place."

"Yes, I remember your parents…" Papou said with an edge of what seemed like contempt. "A fine woman, that mother of yours."

But he never continued to say anything else about his father. Sasuke almost seemed relieved.

"Would you lend her to me for tomorrow?" he suddenly asked out of nowhere, motioning towards Sakura. "I don't know my way around the village and I think it'd be best if I do. After all, I am staying here for a whole month."

Her grandfather grinned so widely that she thought the lower part of his face was going to drop off. He gave her a nudge in the ribs that made his intentions absolutely obvious to Sasuke. She resisted the need to bite her own tongue off. "Of course! Why ever not? Sakura would be delighted to escort you!"

Sakura didn't understand why she had to dress up. She didn't understand why she wanted to dress up. The stupid skirt looked limp on her legs, and the pretty blouse too inapt for her too-flat bosoms. It was at times like this was she not entirely against plastic surgery. Those people who got transplants may be phony, but at least they've got enough in their chest to fill a bra.

"Sasuke is here!"

God. It felt like she was going down to meet her date for prom or something.

"I'm coming! Just give me a moment."

She took a deep breath and stuck out her chest. There, much better. Now, the only challenge was to keep her breath long enough for it to seem natural. Sakura hastily grabbed a beaded scarf from her dresser and wrapped it around her neck. It looked strained and tense when she was holding her breath in.

"Sakura! Don't keep royalty waiting!"

The Uchihas weren't exactly royalty, but they might've well have been. The royal family had no power in the government, the Cabinet and Prime Minister the only ones who controlled the government.

She could hear Sasuke chuckle downstairs and hurried down.

He was looking, if anything, much more handsome today. Dressed casually compared to the day of his coming, Sakura would've thought he were part of those welcome posters that greeted tourists when they walked into the visitor centre had it not been for his sharp features and slightly stained teeth that identified him as a man of the city.

"Typical of you, always tardy," Nan said as she shook her head. "It's no wonder, really. She doesn't really go on dates or anything so she takes her time as if nobody's waiting for her downstairs!"

There were bits of rope in the attic from when Naruto and herself had attempted to tie butterfly knots in case they needed to if they ever were to get shipwrecked. Maybe if she hurried she could hang herself instead of going through all this embarrassment.

"Enough of that, she's looking as red as bottle of fine claret. We'll be going now," Sasuke said as he grinned broadly and caught her elbow. "It was nice meeting the two of you."

Sakura swore she saw her Nan swoon as she was pulled out the door.

"No fast food joints? Really? That is just about the most absurd thing I've heard in years! Christ, Kakashi wasn't kidding when he said I'd be sobering up…"

Sakura laughed. She was a little confused with that last bit about sobering up but decided to wave it off. Sasuke was a nice man, much nicer than she'd thought of him to be. "Naruto's father says it kills our brain cells. He is a man of many wise truths. Once, he told me that I'd grow foot-long nose hairs if I ate too much liquorice."

"Smart man. He must be a man of higher education," Sasuke remarked. He had his hands tucked in his pockets, the sun hanging in the cloudy, late afternoon sky behind him outlining the well-defined contours of his face in gold. He squinted and looked left to right. "Where are we going?"

Sakura shook her head. That was the most beautiful four seconds of her life, no joke. His face must've been sculpted by the gods. "It's already past lunchtime so I figured we could go to Ichiraku's for a bowl of ramen. I don't think you've eaten anything like that before."

Sasuke nodded. "You're right. All this time, living in Japan, and I've never eaten a bowl of instant noodles. Very odd."

She had first intended for it to be a joke but found that he was actually serious. This man was unbelievable! How can you never have had a bowl of ramen when you're living in Japan? It was most astonishing. Sasuke was such a mind-boggler.

The air smelt more and more of salt and wet things as they walked on. The pier overlooked the distance and from afar they could see small fishing boats preparing to set sail. Shadows of flying curlews dotted the horizon and the baritone voices of men shouting and laughing completed the scene.

This was home.

Naruto was happy to serve his first bowl of the new flavoured ramen.

Sakura was happy to be sitting next to Sasuke.

Sasuke was happy to have gotten a bowl of ramen with extra tomato slices.

It was a very nice, late lunch.

"Konoha is famous for fish. We export fish like no other. Honestly, I think it's stupid how our village counts on fish when the marine life is slowly diminishing by our own actions. Look at that child," Naruto said, pointing to a little boy who was busy picking up plastic bottles scattered by the shoreline. "He cares, but does the rest of us?"

Sakura shrugged and downed the last few drips from her bottle of apple cider. "I don't know, Naruto. What else is there?"

Her best friend had always had an unusual aversion to aquatic life. Fish, crab, clams, shrimp, oysters, seaweed, jellyfish― you name it, he'd hate it. Contrasted to his father, who had the unhealthiest obsession with the little things, Naruto would look at a piece nicely grilled fish like he would a pile of cow biggie.

"At least you don't eat seafood all the time. All they serve in restaurants in Tokyo nowadays are sushi, sashimi, crab salad, cut fish, shrimp roll, boiled oysters― that kind of crap. I actually prefer chicken," Sasuke said as he wiped his mouth clean with the back of his hand, a can of cola empty at his side.

"I figured as much," Sakura snorted as she discreetly glanced at the back of his head. Sasuke was perplexed but said nothing at all.

An easy silence settled until Naruto spoke.

"What is it like― the city?" Naruto didn't fancy the wild shindig that was city life, but he often wondered what lay beyond the rolling grass hills and the endless sea.

Sasuke tapped his chin and closed his eyes. The city was… vibrant, bright, fun, loud, scenic, lively, colourful… there were too many words to describe it. Tokyo was dull and all work in the day but when the sky fades to a dark blue and the moon peeks from behind the clouds, crowds gather and there are lights, people, music, drinking, and people are just having the time of their lives and it was all just brilliant, so brilliant. He will never feel out of place with the accompaniment of the beating music and sweaty, dancing bodies like he is with the soft rolling of the waves and the cawing of birds.

He suddenly feels dizzy and needs to lie down. It has only been two days but he already misses his life.

"It's like home."

This is rather rough and choppy but I promise it'll get better. This first chapter is an introduction to the characters, though there is much more depth to them. At the moment, the scenes are a bit short seem quite meaningless, but trust me when I say they are extremely meaningful. Also (if it wasn't obvious already), the chapter started out with a scene in Sakura's point of view. The rest of the chapter is third-party. Er, a bit boring for now, but I hope you liked it? This is meant to be the witty kind of funny, though I don't think I've hit the bullseye. All the school crap has apparently drowned by all my humour in a pool of sad jokes. Not that I was funny before or anything but WHATEVER, TO HELL WITH SCHOOL. I envy any of you who are still enjoying your summer days :-(