Sasuke sat on his bed, his nose pressed to the window. The rain came down in flashing sheets, interrupted sporadically by explosions of lightning and growling thunder. He sighed deeply, running one hand through his midnight hair. The rain matched his mood. All he wanted to do was lie back on his bed and think, maybe fall back aslee—

"SASUKE!" yelled a very obnoxious voice that – god forbid – seemed to be drawing nearer. A semiconscious and very grumpy Sasuke unwillingly recognized the voice of his best friend. He didn't know when exactly they had transitioned from rivals into best friends, in fact they were really bit of both. All he knew was that he definitely wanted to be alone right now.

"Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke!" Naruto had burst in. He started bouncing on the bed, his cerulean eyes glowing with happy energy. "I've never been so happy in my life, Sasuke! Guess what just happened!"

"Well, I don't know what just happened, but I know what's about to happen," Sasuke replied dryly. Naruto was still bouncinllg, but a hint of confusion embedded itself in his excited expression.

"What's about to happen?" he asked, genuinely curious.

"If you don't stop bouncing on this bed in the next 3 seconds you are going to have a very sharp kunai shoved up your--"

"Okay! Okay, I get it!" Naruto laughed and shook Sasuke by his shirt collar, though he did stop bouncing. "Now c'mon, guess what just happened!" Sasuke rolled his eyes and decided to give in; it was easier than trying to defy Naruto's famous determination.

"All right. Uh…is that ramen place having a sale?" he guessed.

"Hah! If only! No, no, come on, come ON! This is big news!" Naruto looked like he was on the verge of bouncing again.

"If you want me to know so badly, you should just tell me, you idiot," said Sasuke, exasperated. He wanted to prevent the crazy blond from bouncing any more; even though Sasuke hadn't had breakfast yet, it was making his stomach churn uncomfortably. He swept an ivory hand across his hair again, Naruto's antics had caused the locks to fall into his eyes.

"Okay fine," It couldn't be clearer that Naruto was exploding with the news. "Sasuke." Damn, how much more could this guy smile?! The brightness of his teeth was blinding. "I have a girlfriend!"

Well, this came as a complete shock. Naruto has a girlfriend? Really? With his insane personality? And his neon hair, and shudder that orange outfit thing? Sasuke felt guilty thinking this, after all, he should want his friend to be happy! He just wasn't really in the mood; he was kind of too busy brooding. But he didn't want to hurt Naruto's feelings.

"Wow, man, that's great!" He managed a weak smile and a high five that Naruto reciprocated with unimaginable force. Clutching his stinging hand Sasuke asked: "So who's the lucky lady?"

Naruto's grin somehow widened.

"Hinata! Can you believe it? Apparently she's liked me for a really long time, and she just never had the courage to say so!" He kept babbling on, unaware that Sasuke's eyes were getting wider and wider. "I caught her staring at me, and I asked her what was wrong, and she just kinda stammered something, so I got this sort of feeling, you know! And then I just asked her and she said yes! So then we--"

Sasuke's wasn't listening. His mind had frozen at the first word. His heart seemed to have transformed into a painfully heavy stone that dropped right into his stomach.

"Wow, man, that's great!" he repeated, cutting off Naruto's tirade.

"Hah, I know…you already said that…Anyways, so then we decided--"

"Oh shoot, Naruto, I forgot – I'm late for training!" Sasuke flung back his bedcovers and began pulling on clothes.

"So what? I want you to hear this! Besides, since when has Kakashi-sensei ever beaten you to a training session?" Naruto looked crestfallen. "I've never had a girlfriend before. I kind of want to talk to you about it."

The corners of Sasuke's eyes started to burn as he opened the door.

"Look," he said. Though he was trying to appear calm, his eyes were shining with hurt. Thankfully, Naruto was too blinded by his happiness (and altogether cluelessness) to notice. "I really have to go. I'll talk to you later, okay? Oh, and," – he almost choked on the word – "congratulations!" He slammed the door and ran through the hallways into the pouring rain.

Naruto shrugged. Hehe…might as well find Hinata now…He walked out of Sasuke's room and strode towards the Hyuuga section of the building where all the Rookie Nine were staying.

Outside in the thunderstorm, Sasuke wasn't crying. Of course he wasn't crying. He never cried, and he wasn't about to start now. He had no reason to cry! Why on earth would he be crying?!

...Okay fine. I'm crying. He was leaning against the oak tree that he had run to in desperation. I'll admit to that. But I don't even know why! He attempted to wipe away some of the tears and rain from his face, but it just kept dripping on him from his hair. Just because I've never had anyone I could count on before, just because I finally thought Naruto was someone who would never hurt me, just because he's with Hinata now, who was the one person I've ever—

No. Dangerous territory. He ran his hands through his drenched hair and put all thoughts of the two of them out of his mind. Especially Hinata. He didn't want to think about her stupid satin hair, or he stupid little laugh, or her stupid talented techniques. He banged his head back against the tree and moaned.

This was not going to be fun.