Naruto woke up to birds chirping outside, the sun looming down through the lone window of his cramped bedroom. Feeling groggy, he rose from his bed and stood upright. The blonde stretched his body to erase the drowsiness that lingered. As he did so, Naruto looked at his clock. It was just early enough to catch Sasuke before the Uchiha ran out of his own apartment. Naruto rushed to put on the closest articles of clothing he could find and went off to confront his friend.
He paid no mind to the surroundings as he zoomed past buildings and early-risers in the streets. In what seemed to be no time at all, he arrived at Sasuke's and rapped on the door. It took a few tries, but eventually, the door opened, revealing a slightly disgruntled Uchiha.
"Naruto," said the raven as he squinted his eyes against the morning light blaring from the outside, "what are you doing here?"
"We need to talk," Naruto responded firmly.
"Now?" Sasuke asked in a tone that would have sounded irritated if he weren't so tired.
"Yeah, now. It can't wait," Naruto crossed his arms, the chill of the dawn finally hitting his body. He struggled not to shiver.
Sasuke rolled his eyes and opened the door further so the blonde could pass through. Once Naruto stepped inside, Sasuke closed the door immediately. His hand was still on the doorknob as he turned to face Naruto. He noticed the jinchuriki had bags under his eyes.
"Couldn't sleep?" inquired the raven.
"Not well," Naruto answered. There was an awkward pause between the two as both young men stood in the apartment quietly. Blue eyes shifted from looking at all the décor of the living room to the onyx orbs of his friend.
"Well?" Sasuke said, also crossing his arms. "What was it that you just had to talk to me about so urgently?"
"I figured it was time to talk about some things." Naruto began. He didn't know what to do with his hands, so they remained lamely at his sides.
"What things?" the raven spat. Sasuke was clearly not going to make this easy. The Uchiha never was a morning person.
"Hinata," Naruto replied. He witnessed Sasuke's mood sour even further based on the raven's expression. Sasuke smiled bitterly. "Great. I'm glad you came all this way at dawn to talk to me about your darling girlfriend." He snarled.
"See that right there, that has to stop," the blonde gestured. "It's not fair. You're not even giving her a chance -" Naruto said, but then Sasuke cut him off.
"Excuse me if I'm not jumping for joy like everyone else in this town-"
"I'm not asking you to do that, don't be an asshole for five fucking seconds-"
"Forget it," Sasuke bit, moving away from the door, facing Naruto fully. "I will not walk around pretending like everything's fine. I don't even know why you started dating her in the process. It's completely random."
"It is not!" Naruto denied profusely, shaking his head.
"You didn't even know her name, you probably just knew her as that weird girl from our class in the Academy!"
"Fuck you! I knew her name." the blonde insisted. "And she's not weird!" Naruto defended feebly, as he observed Sasuke wasn't even paying attention to the jinchuriki's words.
"Running around after Sakura all these years and you suddenly start dating the Hyūga girl." The raven growled.
"Her name is Hinata," Naruto insisted heatedly. "And she wants me for me. She's wanted me all this time. Nobody's ever wanted me before." I'm the one who's always done the chasing, the blonde thought quietly. At any rate, it caught the Uchiha's attention.
"What are you on about?" Sasuke asked. "Everyone loves you, you're the most adored idiot in the village. Isn't that what you always wanted?" Isn't that enough? Was the part he didn't dare say but was sure it was shown through his eyes. Then again, the knuckle-headed fool was as naïve as they came.
"Yes! No! I don't know!" Naruto threw his hands up into the air. "It just feels good to be wanted for a change." Don't I deserve that much? He thought desperately.
"Most of the girls in this village do want you, dumbass." Sasuke pointed out.
"No, they don't," said Naruto.
"Yeah, they do," Sasuke insisted. "Haven't you noticed them staring at you?"
"Yeah Sasuke," the blonde said sarcastically. "They want me so bad that they stare at you instead."
"You really haven't noticed it have you?" Sasuke commented more to himself than his friend. After returning from the war as a hero, Naruto had become quite an attractive young man that garnered almost as much attention as Sasuke used to before his defection. Girls would stare at him longingly, and the dobe was as clueless as ever.
"God, you're so dumb," Sasuke said, shaking his head in humor.
"Fuck you, asshole," Naruto repeated. "Sometimes I wonder why we're friends."
"So do I," Sasuke mentioned. "Why do you bother Naruto? Am I your special little project? Your charity case?"
"What? No!" Naruto was taken aback. "Where is this coming from?"
"You're as clueless as you have ever been, but let me fill you in. You managed to make everyone in the village like you, enough for most of them to want you to be Hokage," Sasuke smiled sardonically, arms stretched wide. "All the girls who used to not give you the time of day, lust after you like they used to worship me. Your life now is just so perfect, with all your accomplished friends and your beautiful girlfriend and your promised position."
"Sasuke," Naruto uttered weakly.
"It's not like it was," Sasuke stated. "And it never will be. So just let me go." He declared sadly. "Relax, I won't leave again. I know you'll just try to keep me here again. Besides, I don't have anywhere to go this time. You just go your way, and I will go mine. Don't fret Hokage-sama," the Uchiha referred to the blonde with a sullen tone. "I'll keep my head down and behave like a good little ninja. But don't think for a second I'll be chasing you around and treating you different."
The blonde was silent for a moment, but his face contorted to one of baring outrage. "You always do this," Naruto fumed. "You always push me away. Every time. Aren't you tired of doing it?"
"I'm not like you, Naruto," Sasuke said. "I'm not desperate for love and attention like you. I'm fine being alone."
"Alone, really? You didn't seem so lonely last night." Naruto bit out.
Sasuke nodded, smirking. "Ah, I was wondering when you were going to bring her up."
"Who is she?" Naruto demanded.
"My friend," responded Sasuke with the typical smug smirk on his face.
"You don't have friends," Naruto said curtly.
"That's not a nice thing to say." the raven said sarcastically.
"You're the one who hates people. Especially girls," pointed out the Hokage-in-training.
"Actually, I don't mind her so much. She's different from the others." The raven smiled at the remark, which incensed Naruto even further.
"Hard to tell when she was all over you. Thought you hated that too." Naruto recalled all the times Sakura and Ino tried to touch Sasuke over the years, along with the countless other girls who would attempt to initiate contact with the raven's body.
"Not when she was on me. It felt different, good even." Sasuke said, looking his friend straight in the eye, waiting for Naruto's reaction.
"Why are you doing this?" the blonde questioned desperately.
"What's the matter, dobe, jealous?" goaded Sasuke.
"Why the fuck would I be jealous? I have a girlfriend!" Naruto exclaimed.
"So shouldn't you be happy for me? That I met someone I can talk to, that I can connect with on a deep level?" Sasuke voiced mockingly. "Naruto, you're supposed to be my best friend."
"THAT'S WHAT I'M SUPPOSED TO SAY TO YOU!" Naruto yelled, red in the face as he did so.
"KEEP IT DOWN, WE'RE TRYING TO SLEEP HERE. IT'S SUNDAY MORNING DAMN IT!" came a voice from upstairs, an angry neighbor awakened from the arguing.
"FUCK OFF!" Naruto bellowed up at the ceiling. The two were quiet for some time after that, merely looking at the other man. Both were inhaling deeply, nostrils flaring and tensions running high. Then the raven calmed his breathing.
"Why do you need me to accept your relationship with her?" Sasuke asked in turn. "Why is it so important that we retain this friendship between us?"
Naruto looked at his friend exasperatedly. "Sasuke – after everything we've been through, why wouldn't I want you in my life?"
"Everything I put you through is reason enough to cut me out of your life." The raven replied solemnly.
"You had your reasons," Naruto said albeit defensively.
"Another excuse," the Uchiha dismissed.
"I don't care Sasuke," Naruto said. "I don't care about your crimes or your sins. You're more than rage and pain, greater than your trauma. I'm not letting you out of my life Sasuke, so just stop trying." The blonde paced around the room, hands on his hips, hands running through his mane of hair.
"Why can't you accept my relationship with her? Why can't you just be happy for me?" Naruto returned. Blue eyes searched onyx ones deeply for an honest answer, one without anger or resentment. It compelled the Uchiha to respond as such despite himself.
Sasuke sighed. "I just can't. You and her, I don't believe you're good together. You're both so different. I feel like you can do better. She's not your equal, she never will be."
"Since when did she have to be?" challenged Naruto. "She's sweet, she's a hard worker, dedicates herself to what she cares about, isn't that enough?"
"Seems like you're dating her out of some misplaced obligation," Sasuke commented frankly.
"Am not!" said Naruto, offended by his friend's words. Taking a walk around to sit on Sasuke's couch, suddenly feeling winded from the argument Naruto ran a hand over his face.
"What on earth drove you to date her in the first place?"
"Well Sakura pointed out that Hinata had liked me for years and that's when I remembered that she actually confessed she loved me a while back –" Naruto explained.
"Sakura," Sasuke cut him off, mentioning the pink-haired kunoichi's name in a dark tone.
"I mean, it was my choice," Naruto said defensively. He didn't like the way the raven said her name. The Uchiha looked at him darkly at those words.
"You wouldn't have even bothered if she hadn't suggested it," argued the Uchiha.
"She didn't suggest anything!" Naruto asserted. "She didn't make me do anything I didn't want to do. I chose to ask Hinata out, and I choose to be with her."
Sasuke nodded silently, not looking at his blonde friend. He stared intensely at the ground before them as he too sat on the couch, inches aside from Naruto. The Uchiha's hands were intertwined.
"We're talking in circles," the former missing-nin stated.
"Yeah," Naruto agreed shakily. He was unsure of where he stood with his friend. He hated the all too familiar sense of unknown status of his relationship with the last Uchiha.
"I have to leave soon," said Sasuke. He rose from the couch. He looked down at Naruto. "I'm going to go pickup Yumi."
"What?" asked the blonde, confused.
"I'm having her stay with me," Sasuke explained. The raven's expression was nonchalant, sure not to reveal any emotion. He observed a new sort of fury take place on Naruto's face. A menacing sort of fury, bubbling under the surface but waiting to strike until some unknown boiling point was hit.
"What," growled Naruto.
"Are we done here?" Sasuke said. "I want to go change."
The blonde got up seething, looking the Uchiha in the eye as he did so. "This isn't over."
"I know," Sasuke returned. "Knowing you, you'll drag this out forever."
Yumi was already packed and in the processing of checking out the hotel as Sasuke arrived to pick her up.
"Are you sure about this? You really don't have to..." Yumi spoke as she walked alongside the Uchiha, backpack strapped to her bag.
"I want to," insisted Sasuke as he led her toward his home. Once again, people around were looking at him. Most of them were probably wondering who Yumi was and what she was doing with a former missing-nin. If Yumi noticed the onlookers, she refused to mention it and paid them no mind. Sometimes Sasuke wished he could pretend to be oblivious to certain things.
The young woman beside him made a face, as if she wanted to ask him something but deigned not to.
"I suppose I'll have to find a job," Yumi said, changing the subject altogether.
"Hm?" Sasuke uttered, turning his attention to the brunette.
"Well I don't know how long I'll be around in this town and I'm pretty strapped for cash," Yumi explained. "It's not as if I have any place to go anyway."
"How long have you been at this? Wandering around?" Sasuke asked.
"Oh, about three years now," Yumi answered, swatting her hand away. "I've been mostly everywhere, from the Lands of Water, Lightning, Earth and Wind, doing what I can as I go. It's pretty exhausting though, running around the world, never getting to settle for too long."
It was something Sasuke could sympathize with. His years with Orochimaru and Taka were never stable in part of the fact they were constantly on the run, being wanted criminals.
"Yeah, tell me about it." the raven-haired ninja spoke. Yumi giggled at his tone.
"What are you talking about Sasuke? You seemed pretty settled yesterday, with all your friends." Yumi said.
"Those weren't my friends," Sasuke corrected her.
"Oh," Yumi uttered in turn. "At least you're back home," she offered, trying to remain optimistic.
"Yeah, home sweet home, right?" the Uchiha said bitterly.
"Better than no home," said Yumi sadly. Her downcast expression made Sasuke twinge just a little.
"Yeah, you're right," Sasuke said apologetically. "If there's anything I've learned out there in the world, it can always get worse."
"That's for sure," Yumi said.
The pair slowed down. Sasuke gestured to the apartment building before them. "Here we are". Sasuke walked ahead, leading Yumi up the stairs to the 3rd floor of the complex. Taking out his keys, he opened the door to his abode and kept it open for his friend to pass through. The young woman took in the space she stepped into. Conveniently enough there were two rooms that Yumi noticed in the further left corner of the residence. Sasuke shut the door behind them.
"You can take the room on the right," said Sasuke, setting down his keys on the accent table by the door.
"Thank you, Sasuke," Yumi said graciously. The Uchiha nodded, accepting her appreciation. While the woman went to settle in, Sasuke sat down on his couch.
"I wonder what they're thinking about us, about what you're doing with me," said Sasuke, pondering. He figured people would gossip. He wondered if whatever rumors were spoken would reach Naruto's ears.
"If its nothing good, then I've heard it all before," Yumi responded from the other room, no doubt referring to her past. It made Sasuke grimace. Sometimes he forgot what the girl had suffered.
His hands at his knees, Sasuke thought Now what? It was all he could keep thinking. Getting her to his home was the furthest he got in this haphazard plan. There was a small part of himself that had an itch, the idea that this was wrong. Yumi shouldn't be used as a pawn, it screamed. She deserved better than that. Sasuke chose to ignore that moral compass as he had in the past.
Old habits die hard.
Naruto huffed as he tried punching out the anger in his heart. He was in the training grounds, soaked in sweat from head to toe. He'd gone straight from Sasuke's place to the area where Team 7 used to train together. Now the sun was beginning to set, his shadow extending upon the grass below. His hands were bleeding from overexerting himself, knuckles stained red with his own blood.
The blonde had been at it for nearly ten hours and he still felt as upset as he did when leaving his friend's apartment in the morning. He was aware that it was ridiculous to feel so bothered by it, but he couldn't help him. Whenever Sasuke was concerned, Naruto had the tendency to lose control.
Old habits die hard.
Perhaps it wasn't fair, but the jinchuriki couldn't stand the idea of that woman shacking up with Sasuke. Apparently, they were old friends but that was years ago! What if she was taking advantage of Sasuke? Then again, no one could make the last Uchiha do anything he didn't want. Meanwhile, Sasuke still resented him dating Hinata and showed no chance of trying to like her.
It wasn't supposed to be like this, the blonde thought exasperatedly. He felt pressured to make a choice between his girlfriend and his best friend. He kept thinking that if anyone he knew was in this position, considering the past, others would just cut Sasuke lose. But to cut Sasuke out of his own life to Naruto was unthinkable. To live without Sasuke made him feel hollow.
It made him feel alone.
The blonde woke with a start, panting heavily from yet another instance of the same nightmare. It was always the same; Naruto had become Hokage, with a couple of kids of his own, beloved by countless people but one thing was off. There was no Sasuke. No mention of him, no memory. It left an ache that borrowed deep into the soul. And that ache transformed into a hole, and the hole expanded into an abyss and Naruto felt himself falling. At first the descent was slow, then the falling went quicker and harder. He couldn't breathe, as if he were drowning in a deep sea.
Naruto struggled to take deep breaths, chest heaving. He kept having to remind himself it was just a dream. His hands rested on the bed he was sitting on and blue eyes scanned around his surroundings, still recuperating in the hospital room. He turned to the right to see if he'd awaken Sasuke. He found the former missing-nin staring at him, making him flush. The blonde figured his days of losing his cool around the raven-haired ninja would be long gone.
"You okay?" Sasuke asked. The Uchiha lied on his left side, moonlight from the window cascading down upon in an almost ethereal fashion.
Swallowing, the blonde decides to put on a brave face, "Yeah, yeah I'm fine."
"Hn. You were talking in your sleep," Sasuke mentions.
Fuck, the blonde thought. "Fuck," Naruto muttered under his breath.
"Still swear I see," the Uchiha smirked.
"Yeah I still fucking swear," Naruto said, annoyed. He huffed loudly, the hair hanging on his forehead blown upwards as he did so. He heard a laugh to his right, and did a double take when he realized the chuckle came from none other than Sasuke Uchiha himself. He took it in, the normally stoic ninja being transformed by simple mirth. The raven's onyx eyes twinkled with joy; mouth bared a darling smile. Sasuke never looked so carefree, with the exception of when he'd sleep soundlessly. It was a sight which Naruto felt he couldn't turn away from. He was mesmerized. It caught Sasuke's attention, as the laughter died away from the Uchiha's body.
"What?" Sasuke asked.
"I didn't know you were capable of laughter," Naruto said, which wasn't untrue as far as he was concerned.
Those dark eyes of Sasuke's narrowed, but he didn't seem offended by the blonde's words. He simply shook his head; smirk present on his face. "Usurutonkachi," he said quietly. The nickname warmed Naruto to the depths of his soul.
"Teme," Naruto said in response, smiling gently.
"So you're really okay?" asked Sasuke once more.
"Now you want to talk about feelings. Who are you and what have you done to Sasuke Uchiha?" joked Naruto.
"You always did that before." stated the Uchiha knowingly.
"What?" Naruto inquired; his eyebrows burrowed in confusion.
"Deflect with jokes," Sasuke said.
Naruto fumbled with his sheets, not wanting to look at Sasuke. The Uchiha always had the unnerving ability to look right through him. "It was just a dream," the blonde insisted softly.
"Sounded like a nightmare," Sasuke pointed out. "You were crying and begging in your sleep. You used to have them it before too, when we'd go out on missions and camp out on the road. I never said anything before, and I always regretted that."
"'S fine," mumbled Naruto.
"No, it's not," said Sasuke. "You're always out supporting other people, but who's supporting you? I want to repay you, I want to support you, just like you've gone out of your way to support me."
Overcome with emotion, Naruto struggled to find words to express what he was feeling. "Heh, you know, this is a change from the usual way you act." The blonde said in a tone that was stuck between mirth and elation.
"Oh and how's that?" asked Sasuke.
"Oh you know, crazed, angry obsessed with revenge." said Naruto humorously.
"Fuck you," said Sasuke, chuckling once more. The raven chucked a pillow at his blonde friend, who in turn retaliated with a pillow as well. They were carefree free, perhaps for the first time in all the years they had known each other. This is was Naruto fought for. This was why Sasuke was worth saving.