Of Companions and Kunai
Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, nope, never did.
Summary: One Shot. Slight AU. There are rumors being spread like wildfire around Konoha about the sexual orientation of a certain Uchiha heir.
Sasuke, as many shinobi and villagers of Konoha believe, is a boy who will never appreciate companionship from any source with the exception of his right hand.
The reason for this speculation amongst Konoha's residents is uncertain, but there have been rumors. Sasuke may be saving himself for the perfect woman, or maybe he is asexual (the most believable of the theories that drift around Konoha). The one story that seems to have the least popularity with the most interest, however, would be that Sasuke is actually gay but refuses to acknowledge his sexual preference, thus dooming himself to a life of lonely Saturdays with only his kunai and faithful hand for company. Every shinobi who has ever heard this branch of gossip acts scandalously surprised when they first think of the possibility. Uchiha Sasuke, the living prodigy whose soul goal in life is to kill a certain man and begin the revival of his clan, attracted to his own sex? Impossible.
Yet, after the seed is planted, we soon grow a forest of curiosity.
The villagers have all noticed Sasuke's icy behavior towards women from an early age, yet they all assumed that he was simply not interested in finding romance so young and never gave the situation another thought. After years of training, sweat, and determination, Sasuke had grown into a very healthy and attractive young man. Surely now, with teenage hormones obviously making changes to the prized Uchiha heir, Sasuke would begin to show interest in the female population after years of harsh glares and easy dismissals.
Yet, if anything, he showed even less interest in them than ever before. He barely spared more than two words to any living, breathing, desperate kunoichi. His life suddenly became more rigid, if that was even possible. He only studied, went out on missions, and trained. And the one shinobi that our dear Sasuke felt he could train with was the only person Sasuke had ever recognized as a rival and friend.
Uzumaki Naruto was not only a rival of the most sought after bachelor in all of the Fire Country, he was also the only shinobi who had the stupidity (or bravery, depending on your point of view) to ask Sasuke about his sexual orientation.
They had been working on a genjitsu from a scroll Kakashi had found in his basement. The copy ninja liked to keep records of old techniques which were already burned into his mind and ready for use in battle, and sometimes he would keep the original scrolls for nostalgic purposes (Kakashi being a man who had a thing for nostalgia). These particular scrolls contained decent techniques that may have been slightly outdated, but still useful in battle and necessary for all good shinobi to know.
"Neh, Sasuke? Were are the symbols for the signs we use? I can't find 'em on this scroll!"
Naruto laid sprawled out on the floor of Sasuke's bedroom, squinting his eyes as he tried to reread the text and find the answer to his question. Sasuke could barely suppress the urge to raise an eyebrow in surprise. Naruto, in all the years that Sasuke had known him, was never one to admit defeat. If he couldn't figure out something on his own, one would have to shove the information under his stupid nose. He certainly would never ask Sasuke of all people for help, or else be ridiculed by the prodigy's biting retort a moment later.
"Tsk. Right at the bottom of the scroll, dobe."
And instead of the usual banter that ensued back and forth between the boys after Sasuke would make an insult, Naruto simply glared at the bottom of the text. His eyes seemed focused, the blue almost taking the quality of paper that had been dipped repeatedly in a thick indigo ink. The color was the same as always, but the shade had deepened into an almost familiar intensity Sasuke noticed during their brief exchange. The fifteen year old prodigy turned back to memorize the seals when realization dawned cleanly across his previous train of thought. He had seen that same shade of blue only when the pair were on a mission.
"Oi, you ready to see if we can do this thing yet? We've been studying this same scroll for hours already!" whined Naruto in a deep voice that starkly contrasted his childish tone. Sasuke could see an ugly frown plastered on Naruto's bored countenance from the corner of his eye. Not that he needed eyes to know that Naruto was being impatient as always.
"Patience is key, Naruto."
The blonde huffed. "Screw patience! What is it with you and waiting? You gotta wait and study your techniques without using sharingan because you think 'patience is key'. You have to wait until you feel ready to go out there and take care of your goals instead of testing to see if you're ready! What about that whole revival of your clan thing, huh? Half the people in this town think that you are going to be a virgin for life, you know! Either that or your gay."
Sasuke snapped his head up just in time to watch the indigo fade back into the familiar shade of cerulean. Naruto was so caught up in being angry that it took him approximately 5 seconds before he realized what he had just shouted loud enough for all of Konoha to hear. Even at fifteen, Naruto had no sense of tact.
"Oh! Uhm, hee hee. Well, you know Sasuke…there are rumors n'stuff."
"And stuff?" Sasuke allowed the delicate arch of an eyebrow.
Naruto looked clearly uncomfortable and began babbling, each pause accentuated with a tight burst of nervous chuckling.
"Well, the whole town is wondering, you know! They all can't seem to understand why Mr. I-have-a-stick-shoved-up-my-ass refuses to land a girl already! I mean, you have thousands of these completely blind women throwing themselves at your feet while you stand there and ignore them like their compliments and offers don't mean anything to you!"
Sasuke, bored with the topic, glanced back down to his notes. "I have never given anyone a reason to believe that I would be interested; therefore, it is not my problem."
Naruto glared, pissed at having been dismissed so easily, and reached over to grab a fistful of the bastard's hair. Caught off guard by his weariness with Naruto's annoying interrogation, he barely registered the move in time. Even so, he successfully grabbed Naruto's wrist with his hand and twisted the arm so that Naruto was given, in Sasuke's belief, a fair warning about stepping over his boundaries. "Why do you want to talk about this so badly?" Sasuke asked clearly, making sure there was no room for confusion as he glared into the heated blue of his best friend's eyes.
Naruto gave a light growl towards the offending hand that trapped his arm, then brought his attention to the owner of said hand. The blonde held their gaze between them, but the Uchiha quickly noticed that Naruto appeared to be sizing up Sasuke instead of trying to glare him down. Then the blonde's face suddenly cleared, his expression bordering one of amazed realization. After that brief moment, he grinned back down at Sasuke with a dangerous glint from his canines.
"Maybe you really are gay!"
Sasuke shoved the blonde moron away, mentally daring Naruto to continue his theory and see just how far he could take it before the Uchiha decided to hurl the dumbass out on the cold pavement. Naruto's grin was gaining confidence. "Well it all makes sense now! Why you never give girls a second look, why you always lock yourself up and never socialize, why you only train with guys."
The dobe picked himself off the floor, keeping that unbearable grin intact. He laughed so loud it almost seemed obscene as he leaned himself against the nearest wall, his eyes giving off a satisfied glow. He was a fox who had finally caught his bird, and not just any bird! A very icy and dangerous cockatoo. "Imagine that, the one guy that every girl wants but can't have because he isn't even interested in their gender!" His laughter rang clear throughout the Uchiha compound.
While Sasuke is one to constantly challenge his best friend and rival, he had never anticipated how dangerous his habit would become.
"Why are you still here if you think that I like men. You happen to be a man as well, correct?"
Naruto stopped laughing. "Hey man, I was just joking! I didn't actually think that you were gay or anything, honest!" Sasuke suddenly found Naruto's curiosity annoying to a degree that had never been breached before as the blonde locked eyes with his best friend. "Unless…you know…Are you?"
Sasuke made a sound of dismissal in the back of his throat. "Honestly, that's none of your concern."
Naruto jumped off the wall, following the trend of the brave shinobi before him as he looked properly scandalized. "You? Uchiha Sasuke? Into guys? Impossible!" But then again, was it really as impossible as it seemed?
Sasuke returned to his studying, leaving Naruto to gawk in awe at the thought that maybe Sasuke did in fact style his hair instead of letting it fall naturally like Naruto had previously assumed. Straight ninjas definitely don't worry about their hair, he thought naively. Just what else was Sasuke keeping a secret? Could this honestly mean that Sakura had no chance at all and that she had wasted years of her life pining over a boy who might actually enjoy Kakashi's ancient and indecent jutsu?
"You have to tell everybody!"
Sasuke's face made an imperceptible twitch. "What are you babbling about?"
Naruto bounced around him in an annoying urgency. "Well, duh! You have to tell people that you are gay so that all these girls can stop wasting their lives trying to date you! Plus, Sakura might actually go on a date with me if she finds out!"
Obsidian eyes glared into a bright blue. "I never said I was gay. You just assumed so."
"B-but you didn't deny it! What kinda guy goes around and ignores women when they basically try to jump you everywhere you go!"
"The kind of guy who has better things to do than fill his life with meaningless relationships!"
"So what kind of relationship do you consider meaningful then!"
"Ours!"
The sound of panting swallowed any other sound in the room. Their heated argument left them breathless, and confused in Naruto's case. "Ours?"
Sasuke's glare came back full force. "Yes, ours. You are Naruto, my rival. I won't accept anyone else's companionship but yours."
Naruto blinked, gracefully fell back on his rear, and blinked again. "Really?"
"Hn. I am not going to repeat myself."
The blonde sat quietly next to his friend, his faced expressionless. Just when Sasuke thought he would finally be able to return to his studying, he felt an unfamiliar warmth across his chest as a pair of arms reached from behind. He could feel the heat from Naruto's torso warm his back as the blonde's breath tickled his right ear. "Thanks, for, you know…Saying that stuff when you didn't have to." He smelled faint traces of miso and tea as Naruto spoke against his shoulder.
Sasuke allowed a brief smile to himself before he turned to the blonde. "Your welcome, dobe."
Sasuke allowed the alien touch, and the next day the pair headed off towards the training grounds with Naruto shouted mindlessly about the newest jutsu he had learned. At the sight of the two friends, the fresh but relatively unspoken rumor started taking root once again in the minds of villagers and shinobi. Their faces no longer looked quite so scandalized at the thought. After all, Sasuke was still young, and if his only other companion was an annoying blonde-headed moron, obviously Sasuke had a little more than just a kunai and his right hand.