Naruto and Sasuke are sleeping in the early morning, in their respective houses and beds. A messenger ninja wakes the two up by banging on their doors. Once they open their doors he tells them that they need to report to Tsunade for a meeting.
"Augghhh~" Naruto yawns. "Sorry I'm late, Granny."
"Great, let's talk."
"Sasuke? What're you doin' here?"
"That's what I want to talk to you both about."
"It probably concerns me, doesn't it? After all, the war just ended."
"Right..." Naruto looks crestfallen.
"No need to look like that, Naruto... if I was bent on punishing Sasuke, I wouldn't have called the two of you in here."
"…" Sasuke looks at Naruto.
"So... what did Sasuke do, exactly?"
"According to official reports... he's disbanded from Konoha, affiliated with Akatsuki, attacked the Eight Tails of Kumogakure, and infiltrated the summit..."
Naruto turns to Sasuke with a frown. "Sasuke, is-"
"Yeah." He turns to Tsunade. "I mean, yes. That's correct."
Naruto thinking to himself: If Sasuke's calm about this, I should be, too.
"On the other hand, Sasuke killed a few wanted missing-nin: Orochimaru, Deidara, and Itachi, and also Danzou, who nearly became a disastrous Sixth Hokage. Not to mention Sasuke helped end the war."
"Th-then, what does this mean?"
Tsunade sighs deeply. "The Kages and I are going to meet and discuss Sasuke's execution this morning... trust me, I'm trying to save him. But given that Sasuke tried to kill us all just a while ago, there's little chance they trust him."
"Granny Tsunade, there's no way I'm going to let them execute Sasuke! He's-he's-look, only I can understand him. Only I can see myself in him. And if it says anything, I believe he's trustworthy now. If he isn't, then I'm going down with him!"
Pause; Naruto looks at Tsunade tensely as Tsunade looks at the two of them in contemplation.
Tsunade turns to Sasuke with a look of annoyance. "You should really be grateful to Naruto. Without him vouching for you, there's no way anyone would agree with me. Hopefully Gaara's friendship with Naruto will start bringing support in. You're both dismissed."
"Thank you very much, Godaime." Sasuke pushes in his chair.
"Wait... that's it? Sasuke, hold up!"
Outside the building.
"Hey, whaddaya in a rush for? It's five in the morning; it's not like there's anything going on."
"Exactly. I'd like to get some sleep until I do have things going on."
"Oh. … I didn't figure you to be such a heavy sleeper."
"Eh? What do you mean?"
"It's just that, after something serious like this, I can't go back to sleep."
"Don't worry about it, Naruto. I'm the one under scrutiny, not you."
"That doesn't mean I shouldn't be worried about it."
"I don't see why not."
"Sometimes I don't get you, Sasuke. You're smart, right?"
"Yeah?"
"Then you'd remember how I said you're my friend. Why is that so hard for you to understand?"
Sasuke stops walking, and doesn't say anything. Naruto stops with him at his side.
"Did you really expect me to laugh and smile after a meeting like that? Geez."
"I guess you've changed a lot since we parted." Sasuke has a small smile, and Naruto notices it.
"Haha, yeah, I did, didn't I?"
"… Still, I don't know why you do so much for me. Specifically me."
Naruto's eyes widen and he gets flustered. "Wha-what? I help any friend, I mean, what makes you think you're so special? Huuuh?"
"Never mind. It's not a big deal." Sasuke silently chuckles.
"No, what are you talking about! Damn, why do you have to try be cool and mysterious!"
"I could ask, 'Why do you have to try be moronic and loud' but I already know the answer to that."
"Oh yeah? What's that!"
At this point, the two have walked back to Sasuke's house and are standing in front of his door.
"See you in the morning, usuratonkachi."
Sasuke enters and closes the door shut.
"Dammit, dammit! You distracted me from where I should've been going! Sasuke!"
Naruto realizes he's too noisy for the neighbors, and turns around to walk back to his house, muttering.
"I can't believe I just walked him back to his house."
The morning rises at 8:00 as people begin their morning groceries. Sasuke walks out of his house to pick up vegetables, and passes by Naruto's house on the way. He decides to stop by. He knocks on his door.
"Oi, Naruto. … thinking to himself: He can't be asleep now, can he?"
Naruto creaks his door open in his blue pajamas and sleeping cap. "What is it..."
Sasuke pauses for a second to be silently amused at Naruto's clothes. "Aren't you going to get food at the market? It's going fast."
"Uhhh... food?"
Sasuke facepalms. "I'm getting mostly vegetables, but there's also fresh meat, too."
"Well, I've got all the food I need at home. No thanks."
"Like what?"
"Miso, curry, shio, tonkotsu, konegi*...
"What?"
"I've got about ten flavors of ramen, what more could I ask for?"
"Dobe... you're coming with me. Go get changed."
"Why would I want to go with you this early to go get some vegetables? Teme, waking me up at-"
"I'll make you some fresh ramen if that'll shut you up."
"… forget what I just said! Be right back!"
* miso, curry, salt, pork belly, green onion
At the market there are crowds of housewives bustling about. Merchants are shouting the prices of their goods, while little children run up and down the streets. Naruto's eyes are open with amazement. Sasuke, next to him, has his arms folded with a large bag in his hand. Naruto is gazing at the commotion.
"It seems that you don't go here often, dobe."
"I don't cook, so I wouldn't even run across this place."
"And how long have you lived here?"
"Ahh, shuddup. Even if I've been here, I wouldn't know what to do with vegetables. They just look like plants. And taste lame."
"Well, they are plants. For someone who's mastered the Sage Arts, I'd think you would know how natural energy flows through you."
"You know what's natural to me? Ramen!"
"Ha, ha, maybe some things about you really don't change. I'd like a few kilograms of these."
"What are those?"
"Those plants you despise so much."
Sasuke finishes his visit to the market with purchases of fresh noodles, pork, and bonito shavings. They both walk back to Naruto's house, and Sasuke cooks ramen for Naruto, and boiled vegetables with rice for himself.
"Thi' i' d'licious! (slurp) Almo' a' goof a' Ichiraku!"
"Ca-can you just eat? You've probably splattered broth on the table."
"GULP... It's my table, so don't worry 'bout it."
"I highly doubt you clean it."
"I do, I do! I told you, don't worry 'bout it."
"Hmph." Sasuke eats a spoonful of vegetables.
"Say, where'd you learn to cook so good?"
"Heh, it was more for survival than for fun... Orochimaru and Kabuto were obsessed about mastering all jutsu, but one they should have improved on was cooking."
"If you thought their cooking was bad, then it really must be!"
"Yeah, I was eating burnt snake meat all the time. Eventually I cooked for myself and Orochimaru started requesting me food."
"And you just followed his orders?"
"He also gave me some cookbooks he never bothered to read, so I figured it wasn't going to kill me making food for him."
"Well, I should probably be happy that happened, or else I wouldn't be having the best breakfast I've had in a while!"
Naruto dives back into his food, while Sasuke returns to his food as well, not smiling but in a contented mood he hasn't felt before.
"… This is a bit hard to say, but. Thanks."
"Huh? Aren't you the one who made me ramen?"
"No, no, dobe. I meant earlier this morning."
"Ah... that... no, it's nothing. Really."
"…"
"If it meant you living with me to cook great ramen like this for the rest of my life, I wouldn't let anyone lay a finger on you, Sasuke! Seriously, you should open a ramen shop."
At the realization of what he just said, Naruto hides his blush by wiping his mouth. Sasuke notices Naruto's ears turning red and smirks.
"Your ears are becoming red, dobe."
"Y-yeah, this ramen's piping hot! I always eat it too fast so this always happens. Besides, why'd you go out of your way to make breakfast for me in my house anyway?"
"I just wanted to thank you, alright? And anybody would pity you, eating cup ramen all the time."
Naruto slurps a mouthful, thinking back... he remembers being tied to the tree trunk, arms bound, as Sasuke and Sakura ate their bento. Suddenly a tray of rice and meat was presented to him, and a voice: "Here."
"Here."
"Wha?" Naruto's head snaps back up to see Sasuke at his stove.
"I made enough so that you can eat for a day or two."
"Sasuke, you didn't have to.. nobody asked, geez."
Suddenly someone is knocking hard on Naruto's door. Both of them turn their heads around...
Hey y'all! I'm dreaming of making a doujinshi and I'm writing a script first. Unfortunately doesn't allow scripts so I made it more novel-like. XD
It's going to be a loooong ass story, I think, because I intend on fully delineating Naruto & Sasuke's relationship… by that I mean, I eventually want to write them having hot passionate sex ;) However the challenge is writing them in-character, so that's going to take a while, lol. Check out my tumblr (durianseed) if you want to see some of the stuff I've drawn!
