Complicated

"Well, that was our only mission for today. See you again tomorrow morning at ten o'clock", Kakashi said to his three students, dug the Icha Icha Paradise from his pocket and started to stroll off.

"Right, like he'd show up in time anyway…" Naruto muttered and glared at his teacher, who was innocently walking away.

"…which reminds me, Sasuke, tell me why you were still sleeping soundly when you were supposed to show up at the bridge?" Naruto asked and grinned to Sasuke, who was walking next to him. Sasuke felt his cheeks burn a tiny little bit, for which he lifted his shoulders a bit so his collar would cover more of his face.

"… I had hard time falling asleep last night, so I guess I was sleeping more heavily this morning", Sasuke muttered. It was actually true; he just left unsaid the reason that caused his problem in the first place. The reason was walking right next to him… on the left side, because on his right side was Sakura, to whom Sasuke had paid no attention until he realized she was still there.

"Sasuke-kun, would you mind having lunch with me now that the mission is over?" Sakura asked with flirting voice, which she always seemed to use when talking to Sasuke. The black haired boy glared at Sakura.

"No", he answered, shortly and rudely. Sakura stopped and looked at Sasuke with disappointed eyes.

"… alright then..." she sniffed, trying to gain sympathy, which she didn't get. Sasuke and Naruto continued their walk, leaving Sakura behind. Sasuke grinned a little to Naruto.

"Hey, Naruto, what about if we go to Ichiraku Ramen? I appreciate your company a lot more than Sakura's", Sasuke asked. Luckily Naruto had already gotten used to Sasuke sometimes being this friendly to him. Sasuke felt butterflies fluttering in his stomach. That always happened when he succeeded in asking Naruto on a date, or something like it. Of course Naruto didn't know Sasuke's real intentions behind this, but that was beside the point. A large smile appeared to Naruto's face.

"Ramen! Ramen! Let's go!" he squealed and skipped happily towards the restaurant in question. Sasuke felt warm inside. Naruto had accepted once again. He smiled fondly to himself and then hurried after Naruto.

Once Sasuke reached Ichiraku Ramen, he even decided to treat Naruto to two bowls. And that was something that made the blond boy beam. He was an easy one to please. Naruto was inhaling his food eagerly while Sasuke concentrated on throwing furtive looks at him. The blackhaired boy stirred his ramen with his chopsticks and pondered if now was the time to make an actual move.

"Naruto..." he said quietly and the boy sitting next to him turned his face towards him.

"Hmmhnn?" he mumbled questionably with his mouth full of ramen. Sasuke was about to open his mouth to answer when Naruto's eyes seemed to focus on something behind him. The blond boy swallowed and grinned joyfully.

"Heeyyyyy! Fuzzybrows!" he shouted, jumped off the chair and ran to the street. Sasuke turned around in his chair and followed the situation.

Lee, Shikamaru, Chouji and Neji stopped as Naruto ran in front of them with a huge grin plastered on his face.

"I was kinda looking for you, Lee!" he chuckled and lifted his hands behind his neck.

"Me? Why so?" Lee asked bemused.

"I heard from Tsunade-baachan that Kazekage and his siblings are coming here tomorrow", Naruto said with sly voice. Lee blushed a bit and his lips quirked to joyful grin.

"Gaara?" he asked. Naruto chuckled and nodded. Lee's hands shook and his smile got wider and wider. Finally he couldn't stand it anymore and he started to jump around out of joy and sing Gaara's name.

"My darling Gaara is about to viiisiiiit!" the green clothed boy sang and did couple of pirouettes around Neji. The boys laughed knowingly.

"Lee and Gaara sitting by a tree…!" Naruto called and caused a lot of hilarity in Chouji and Neji. Shikamaru on the other hand looked a bit troubled, which caught Naruto's attention.

"That's right Shika, Gaara and his siblings... So Temari is coming too", the blond haired boy said and winked. The smallest blush crept on Shikamaru's cheeks and he smiled contently.

"By the way", Naruto started and glanced at Chouji and Neji.

"You two are still single and so on… Don't you even have anyone you're interested in? Neji, when are you gonna make the first move on Tenten?" Naruto asked, smirking even wider than before, if that was even possible. Neji glared at him.

"Like I have told you million times before, Tenten and I are just good friends and I have no other feelings towards her. Besides, she's interested in someone else", Neji answered as calm as always. Naruto's eyes grew huge.

"Who? Do you know?" he asked.

And at that moment Iruka decided to walk by.

"What kind of girl-gossip-club are we having here?" he asked with smirk. Everyone went silent and got embarrassed.

Sasuke snorted and turned his stare back to his already cold ramen. Lee was really out of closet gay, and Naruto still considered him his friend. Well, it's not like Sasuke hadn't known that already. But how would he take it if Sasuke declared his sexuality? Meaning that... Naruto was the object of his affection, and that probably would influence his attitude towards it a lot. Would there be any chances that the blond boy would feel the same? At least his behavior didn't give anything hinting for that away. Except the fact, that he didn't woo Sakura anymore as much as he had before. Now that Sasuke thought about it, he noticed that Naruto hardly did that anymore at all.

Naruto jumped back to his seat next to Sasuke.

"…Girl-gossip-club… Damn Iruka-sensei!" Naruto huffed and glared at his ramen bowl.

"And this is cold too! Hey, I wanna new one!" the blond boy made a ruckus. The owner of the place chuckled and gave a new bowl to already impatient Naruto. He also gave a new bowl to Sasuke, who had hardly touched his old one. Or at least he hadn't eaten from it, but he had mixed it quite well with his chopsticks. Sasuke was just about to lift the noodles to his mouth when he felt Naruto stare at him. He turned towards him.

"Were you saying something when Fuzzy brows and others came?" Naruto asked.

"…Nothing important" Sasuke answered with tiny smile and turned back to his food. Naruto shrugged and turned his undivided attention back to eating. Sasuke on the other hand started to think while he ate.

ooooo

Sasuke woke up at eight A.M , like usual. He didn't need an alarm clock, because his inner clock always woke him up in time. Actually he didn't even need to wake up this early, because their meeting wasn't before ten o'clock and Kakashi wasn't really about to show up until eleven. Still Sasuke always woke up at this time. It was a habit.

The boy rose up from his bed. He hummed by himself. Today he would talk to Naruto. And he would try to be friendly. But that depended a lot on the way Naruto would respond to him, and also on what Sakura and Kakashi would do, though the latter one wouldn't be an issue at first, because he wouldn't appear before he was at least an hour late anyway.

Sasuke put his clothes on and went to the kitchen. He stared in his fridge, which was emptier than Naruto's head. Or, there was a little chunk of cheese and some butter, but that was all. The boy took the available groceries to the table and then went to check the bread shelf. There was half packet of bread, which was enough for now. After that Sasuke fetched a teabag and some dishes. He boiled some water, poured it into his mug and put his teabag to steep.

"Naruto", he whispered and thought about the boy, who probably was still fast asleep. Or if he wasn't, then he'd be inhaling his cup ramen half asleep.

"Sakura", the boy continued and imagined the pink haired girl, who was fussing in front of a mirror, making sure her hair looked good. The thought wasn't half as interesting as the first one, though.

"Kakashi", Sasuke's mind painted an image of silver haired man, who was grinning behind his mask and reading his beloved Icha Icha Paradise. Today he'd meet all three. The thought sent butterflies to have a disco party in his stomach. For a long time he had been not talking to anyone, or meeting anyone either. But you needed to take one step for the new beginning before you could take another one.

ooooo

It was quarter to ten when Sasuke arrived at the bridge, where Team 7 always met. Nobody was there yet, which didn't surprise the boy at the least. He was always there ahead of schedule, Sakura would arrive just in time and Naruto a bit late. Kakashi would be a lot late.

Sasuke started to ponder if he should instead go away for a while and come back after Naruto. If he did that, then he wouldn't have to deal with being alone with Sakura before meeting Naruto. That would be awkward. The idea was actually good, so Sasuke turned around and took his way back. When he had good enough distance to the bridge, he jumped on the nearest tree and sat down. From there he was able to see the bridge, but the people on the bridge wouldn't see him.

At ten o'clock sharp Sakura arrived to stand on the bridge. Five minutes after that Naruto came and eagerly greeted the pink haired girl, who didn't answer to it. Sasuke jumped down from the tree and started to walk towards them. He didn't know if he hoped that they would see him before he was there or not. But that wasn't on his hands to decide.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura squealed with happy and a bit surprised voice when he saw the black haired boy walk near the bridge. Naruto turned around to stare at the boy with disbelief written on his face.

"Sasuke", he whispered with almost inaudible voice, but Sasuke was able to read the word from his lips. He walked to the bridge and stopped in front of Naruto.

All the three were silent.

"…hey, Sasuke", Naruto said and smiled cautiously. Sasuke's heart skipped a beat. He had longed to hear those words for a while. He also smiled a little.

"Hey, Naruto." Both Naruto's and Sakura's eyes widened from surprise. Sasuke had talked! Those two words were the first ones he had said after his arrival to Konoha! Or at least the first ones he had said to someone else than himself, because no one knew if he had talked to himself or not in his home. Sakura now watched Sasuke hopefully.

"Hey, Sasuke-kun", she said with the sweetest possible smile on her face. Sasuke totally ignored her and didn't answer.

"Sasuke... How are you?" Naruto asked, breaking the ice. Sasuke turned his attention on Naruto.

"…I'm fine", he answered with a quiet voice. Both were cautious with their talking.

"What about you?" Sasuke added after short silence. Now Naruto and Sakura were totally dumbfounded! Sasuke was being friendly with Naruto? Sakura felt a bit jealous towards the blond boy. Why did Sasuke speak to Naruto? Why didn't he speak to Sakura at all?

"I'm good. It's nice that you decided to show up for the training again, Sasuke", Naruto said and put a huge grin on his face. The atmosphere lifted up immediately when Naruto started to behave normally again. Sasuke turned his face so that Sakura wouldn't see it and smiled to Naruto. The blond boy lifted his hands behind his neck and chuckled happily. At that moment Kakashi showed up. Sakura looked at her clock.

"It's only quarter past ten!" she said astonished. Naruto and Sasuke looked at Sakura and then turned their stare at Kakashi.

"Who are you and what did you do to Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto shouted and pointed a reproachful finger towards the silver haired man. Kakashi looked very puzzled for a moment before chuckling happily.

"Well, looks like Sasuke decided to show up today, good", he said, brushing off Naruto's accusations. Sasuke nodded to his sensei and then they went to their training.

ooooo

A year later things were fully settled. Sasuke talked to people like he used to and everything was like before. Or almost. Sasuke and Naruto's friendship bloomed. It practically meant that sometimes they spent their free time together even without the excuse of training together or something. They also insulted each other less than before the Orochimaru-incident. They didn't always compete about everything either. Only mostly.

Things were very peaceful if you didn't count the things that were about the whole team or village, which included occasional appearances of Itachi and Orochimaru. But never again did the situations run out of hand because of Sasuke. He didn't have any interest in joining Orochimaru anymore. Yes, he did still want to kill Itachi, but he did have reasonable limits in it. He would never ever again do something stupid to gain power just so he could kill his brother. He would train with Naruto until he would be powerful enough. And maybe then he would take Naruto as his backer in his hunt for Itachi. Maybe.

But one day happened something that caused a great upheaval in Sasuke's life again.

Sasuke was sitting in his home at the dinner table, browsing his scrapbook which he had for some reason kept for a week. He had gotten a camera from Naruto as his birthday present and then had started to use it to take photos of all kind of interesting things. This meant that the scrapbook was mostly full of pictures of Naruto, which Sasuke found kind of strange, but didn't really care. Sasuke browsed the book, smiling to himself.

"Hmm… I should arrange a darkroom so that I could learn to develop the photos myself", Sasuke thought aloud and then he suddenly heard knocking at his door. He hastily closed the book and looked around. Where should he hide it? He didn't really want anybody to see it. His eyes wandered to the fridge. No, really, not there at least. Finally he opened the door of the bread shelf and put both camera and the scrapbook inside.

Sasuke walked to the door and opened it. Naruto was standing in front of him. Sasuke was about to happily greet him, but Naruto's expression made him think against it.

"Hello, Sasuke", Naruto said with voice, that wasn't the usual happy-go-lucky Naruto-voice. It was kind of… miserable.

"H-hi, Naruto", Sasuke answered, confused. He let Naruto in and closed the door. They went to living room and sat down and for a moment they were just quiet.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" Sasuke finally asked. The blond boy looked at him.

"We are...with Ero-sennin... gonna go on a... bit longer trip. I don't know how long we're gonna be gone", Naruto told him. That unbalanced Sasuke's mind quite a bit. His world turned totally upside down. Naruto was... going away? Leaving him all alone? He stared at his friend in disbelief.

"… I… you... how long are you going to be gone at the very least?" Sasuke asked and tried to collect himself.

Naruto turned his head and was silent for a moment, before looking back at Sasuke.

"At least couple of months. Probably longer." Couple of months. Those words were echoing in Sasuke's head again and again. At the same time that really made him think. Had he really become this dependent on Naruto? Why in the hell? Besides, Naruto was coming back after it. He would be damned if he couldn't survive a couple of months alone. But why did even the thought of days without Naruto's smile made him feel so hollow?

"Oh… alright..." Sasuke's voice sounded so very empty. Or at least it did in the boys own ears.

"Sasuke... You'll be waiting for me here?" Naruto asked with smile on his lips. Naruto's warm and a bit worried smile made Sasuke smile too.

"Yeah. Of course I will. I'm not going anywhere", the black haired boy answered and felt somehow relieved now that he knew that Naruto would miss him too. The boy would not forget him. Wait, that thought was stupid to begin with, of course he wouldn't! It was already proved once for good.

"When are you leaving?" Sasuke asked with normal voice. Naruto scratched the back of his neck and chuckled at relaxed manner.

"Tomorrow morning. The sooner we leave, the sooner we'll be back", Naruto said and winked. Sasuke snorted.

"Remember to train hard on the trip of yours because I'm going to do a lot of practice and kick your ass for good when you return. I want you to be able to at least fight back", Sasuke answered and smirked.

"You wish!" Naruto shouted and laughed.

"But now I'm off to pack my stuff. Come to the gates tomorrow morning at eight sharp to send me off, will ya?" Naruto asked with grin.

"I will", Sasuke answered with a cheerful, but a bit sad voice.

ooooo

"Aaaaah! I'm so full!" Naruto sighed contently after eating his tenth bowl of ramen. Sasuke too had managed to empty his bowl while spacing out. He watched amused as Naruto leaned back on his stool, which unfortunately didn't have back, which caused Naruto to fall on the floor. The blond haired boy swore and stood up red-faced. Sasuke chuckled and paid for his own and Naruto's two bowls of ramen. Naruto too searched his pockets and paid for his share of food.

"Sasukee, what are ya gonna do the rest of the day?" Naruto asked when they left Ichiraku Ramen. The black haired boy gave it a thought. He had actually thought of fetching his camera and going to photograph. Something else than Naruto, that is. He felt like taking pictures of the nature for a chance.

"I was thinking of photographing", Sasuke said. Naruto laughed.

"Hey, I could come with ya and be your model!" he joked. As Sasuke thought about it, it wasn't such a bad idea, but still he just laughed with Naruto and let the matter drop. Or…

"Naruto, I think that's an excellent idea!" he stated, which made Naruto halt.

"Say again?" the blond boy asked.

"Come pose for me and such. I actually should practice photographing people more…" Sasuke answered. He kind of lied a bit. He actually photographed people more than nature or anything else. A certain person to be exact. But on the other hand, he had hardly posed for him, so it wasn't like it was any kind of useful practice for his skills when thinking professionally. Mostly he had just snapped the pictures haphazardly when he had the chance. And he had started to take his photography more and more seriously. It was his only hobby that counted as one, so he should actually take photos where someone was posing for him to perfect it. And Naruto was the perfect victim. Sasuke smirked to himself and his cheeks gained faint red colour. Then he remembered that Naruto was still there and probably staring at him. He put on a poker face.

"Well, what do you think?" Sasuke asked. Naruto thought about it a while before summoning a large grin on his face.

"Okay!"

A/N: The next chapter is the last one where you have to put up with flashback.