So, like I said in my first story, "One," every story not already dedicated will be dedicated to the first reviewer. So "A Meeting of Minds" is dedicated to Tinker16. Thanks for the reviews and favorites!
Some sasunaru thoughts (finally) in this chapter.
"Sorry." Sasuke stated stoically before disappearing into the crowd. Sakura stood in shock a moment before-
"HE LEFT ME FOR NARUTO!"
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Naruto tried not to enjoy being in the black-haired ninja's arms. Really, he did. In fact, he tried as hard as is humanly possible to be annoyed. Nothing, though, could stop the rising sense of contentment and elation in him now. Even when out of sight of Sakura, he found himself reluctant to leave the arms he was currently laying in. When he squirmed half-heartedly to get down, the grip on him tightened, and Naruto gave in, happy as a clam to remain close to his best friend. Even if he had doubted the boy's existence. Naruto frowned at the thought. Why would we bang into each other now? Why did we even have the dreams in the first place? When I hadn't met him in real life, I could write him off as a very real figure of my imagination because I wanted- needed- a friend so much. He shook his head violently- this is why he avoided deep thought- too many disturbing aspects of the situations he was in rose to the surface. Another thought occurred to make him frown. We may know everything about the other, but two things were always off-limits, name… and address. "Where are you taking me?" He asked hesitantly, not normally this unwilling to break the silence.
Te- Sasuke seemed to decide on the spot. "Mnn… My house…"
Naruto remained silent (I know!) a second more before exclaiming, "I can help with the blood stains!"
Sasuke nearly dropped him and Naruto wrapped his arms around Sasuke's neck quickly. "That didn't actually come to mind, but I suppose it will do."
Naruto noticed the strain in the young Uchiha's voice and looked up at the tense teen, "I can't cook."
Sasuke very nearly dropped him again, his mind still on the blood. "What?"
"I can't cook, and it's time for lunch, so you cook, and I'll clean!" Naruto beamed at this "subtle" way to keep Sasuke from confronting the stains, and Sasuke mentally sighed, How could someone so dumb see right through me? They continued on in silence until they were within sight of the Uchiha Manor.
Naruto's eyes bugged out of his head, "I know you said 'manor' but that is HUGE!" Naruto looked up at Sasuke with awe and Sasuke braced himself for the "loan me…" questions. "How did you keep it all clean?" Naruto asked, astounded by the very thought. Sasuke felt laughter bubble up and for once, let it out. Soon he was back under control and he just shook his head in answer to Naruto's questioning look, knowing the blonde would take affront if he explained. The small smile playing on his lips died off again when he looked up at the Manor, and the Uchiha couldn't help but flinch, remembering the other time he had walked into the Manor, full of morbid hope that his parents were only injured, not dead like the other Uchihas that normally lived in this area. Sasuke set Naruto on his feet and reached for the doorknob. His hand froze. Funny that it hit him now and not the first time back in the Manor. Suddenly he registered the hand on his. He followed the tan appendage with his eyes to its blue-eyed owner. He saw a semi-quiet (nothing about Naruto could stay quiet for long) understanding in the sky blue orbs. Naruto nodded as if affirming something, and they opened the door together. Naruto scowled fiercely at the bloodstain clearly visible from the door and took his hand off the brunette's. Sasuke felt a slight twinge of regret and the urge to snatch back the shorter boy's hand but attributed it to losing the comfort his best friend provided.
Naruto continued to scowl at the stain, arms crossed and oblivious. "Where're your cleaning supplies?" Sasuke thanked whatever god had reminded him to stock up on those and gestured at a red door. Naruto attacked the blood with a fervor- Naruto, defeater of stains and all things unclean, Household Avenger! –and Sasuke almost smiled before heading into the kitchen, which, luckily, had remained unbloodied.
Sasuke paused in his gathering of cooking materials he had brought from his last apartment, "Hey, Naruto?"
Naruto didn't look up from his scrubbing in the next room, "Yeah?"
"What's your last name?"
Naruto stopped cleaning, and Sasuke froze in the tension-filled silence. "Uzumaki."
Sasuke nodded, before realizing Naruto could not see him. He's rubbing off on me. "Mine is Uchiha."
"Yeah, I figured, since this is the Uchiha Manor." The voice drifted from the front room, laden with sarcasm.
Sasuke laughed, "I wondered if you'd catch that." He smiled at the distinct screech of dismay from the next room and continued his work.
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"Sasuke-kuuuun!" A knock on the door and a familiar voice jolted Naruto and Sasuke out of their single-minded working. Sasuke, though, was in the middle of a delicate process in the kitchen.
"Can you get it, Do- Naruto?" He called.
"Whatever, Teme." Naruto threw down his weapons of choice against the stains and grime. "What?" Opening the door, a pink and red blob threw itself at him, and then suddenly backed up.
"You're not Sasuke." Sakura stated, and Naruto became acutely aware that he had taken his shirt off in his war against dried and encrusted blood as Sakura's confused eyes flicked to his chest before returning to his face.
"Give the girl a prize!" Sasuke called from the kitchen, more than a bit irritated since this meant the girl would probably be all over him, ruining his cooking.
"May I please come in?" Sakura asked in the tone one would use with a misbehaving child as Naruto realized he hadn't moved from the doorway.
Sasuke called out, "DOBE!" in a surprised and irritated tone of voice. Naruto frowned and entered the kitchen, finally allowing Sakura into the Manor. She spotted the cleaning supplies and the blood, and thought, Did they fight?
"Did you do this, Dobe?" Sasuke asked, on the brink of exploding at the blonde ninja. Naruto scratched his head and looked at the fish flopping in the sink. Plural.
"No…" Suddenly, in the way lightening strikes, Naruto used his odd logic and turned on the faucet. Water with silt, bits of seaweed, and pebbles came out. "I think your plumbing needs to be fixed."
Sasuke rolled his eyes at the pointing out of what was already blatantly obvious. "Is this a prank you set up? I haven't forgotten the last time…" Naruto smothered a laugh and neither noticed Sakura join them in the kitchen.
"You deserved it, besides," Naruto batted his eyelashes at the stony faced Uchiha and blew him a kiss, "You can't say you didn't enjoy it!" Sasuke whacked Naruto on the head. Naruto had once decided to ambush Sasuke when he entered the dream- he had discovered that his Jutsus still worked in the dream-state. He had used the Sexy No Jutsu to no effect -except that Sasuke had growled in anger and glared impressively- until he changed back, still draped all over Sasuke with his legs around his waist. They had found out you could also get a nosebleed in the dream place, and Naruto had teased Sasuke unendingly about his "late response" to the Sexy No Jutsu, which Sasuke had endured lest Naruto grasp the real reason.
"Yes, I can!" Sasuke felt himself letting his emotions take hold and attempted to clamp down on them. "God, Dobe, not all pranks make the subject happy, too!" Whoops.
"Then what was the nosebleed about, hmmm?" Naruto wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and Sasuke fought the urge to laugh- and lost.
Naruto grinned, "See? Pranks make everyone happy! Except, you know, when they really don't…" He winced, but the grin stayed prominent on his face.
"Um… Hi, Sasuke-kun…" Sakura shifted awkwardly, her hands clasped behind her back.
Sasuke's laughter abruptly stopped, like a guillotine in its suddenness. His face regained its resemblance to a brick wall. "Hello, Sakura-san." Sakura mentally flinched from his use of the honorific. Naruto waved awkwardly at the pink haired ninja and laughed nervously. Some ninja I am, didn't even notice my team mate coming up behind me…
"So um… Whatcha doin' Sasuke-kun?" Sakura zeroed in on Sasuke and Naruto felt a twinge of irritation. Because it'd be so hard to say, "Hi, Naruto" or to let Sasuke and me keep talking. He left the room scowling and attacked the stains a bit more aggressively than before.
Sasuke resumed his precise measurements when Naruto left. "Cooking."
Sakura waited for an elaboration that would never come and took matters into her own hands, "Whatcha cookin'?"
"A soufflé."
"Oh! So what kind of soufflé?"
Sasuke mixed something a bit before replying. "Cheese." Sakura shifted her weight uncomfortably. Suddenly her mind came to rest on the bloodstains. They seem to be pretty competitive, and Naruto never cleans unless someone has something on him… The green-eyed girl almost gasped, how could she not have seen it before? They must be rivals! And if Naruto is after me, then Sasuke should be jealous and go after me, too! Especially if I treat Naruto nicely! Sasuke yelped simultaneously with a crash and Sakura looked at him in surprise before Naruto burst in through the doorway from the other room. Sasuke put his hand under the sandy water flowing from the faucet, and Sakura glanced at the pot on the stove. Yep- there was a pair of abandoned oven mitts lying there.
"What happened?" Naruto asked, already at Sasuke's side, "I heard your yelp."
Sasuke glared at him, "Uchihas do not yelp, Dobe."
Naruto shrugged, "I heard your manly cry of pain then, Teme."
Sasuke scowled and took his hand out from under the faucet, "I burned myself because the oven mitt slipped."
Sakura ran over to examine the burn while Naruto turned off the flame under the pot and muttered, "Cooking one, Sasuke zero."
Sasuke rolled his eyes at the comment and yanked his hand out of Sakura's grip, "Your lack of skills is contagious."
Naruto gestured for Sasuke's hand and Sakura bristled when Sasuke gave it and Naruto looked it over. "Cooking is a skill?" Sasuke glared at the blonde who was currently turning Sasuke's hand over carefully. "It's not even first degree so you won't have any blisters marring your girly skin. It'll just hurt." Sasuke winced when he remembered exactly how Naruto knew so much about burns. He hadn't been able to contain his rage when he had found out about the villagers' treatment of Naruto and his inability to help seemed like it slapped him across the face. Now I can stop them. He shook himself out of his thoughts and focused on reality. Naruto was still absent-mindedly holding Sasuke's hand as he argued with Sakura that it wasn't that he didn't trust her judgment; she just hadn't shared what she thought about the burn. Something seemed to occur to Sakura, because she suddenly paused and smiled sweetly.
"I'm sorry, Naruto-kuuun, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that…" She twirled a strand of hair around one finger and Naruto mentally rolled his eyes, There was a time that would've made me feel like melting on the spot.
"It's alright, Sakura-chan!" He forced excitement into his voice, Sakura was apologizing! Yay… "You don't have to apologize since you're almost always right!" Naruto became aware that he still held Sasuke's hand when Sasuke returned his grip tightly. He glanced at Sasuke and nearly gasped at the dark look on his face.
How dare she suddenly decide to be nice to my dobe just to mess with him! Sasuke blinked after the thought registered. …My dobe?
Naruto, however, was completely unaware of his best friend's epiphany and continued, expecting the usual "no," "So, Sakura-chan, wanna go grab lunch sometime?" He almost winced as the grip on his hand tightened, but that would probably raise Sakura's suspicions- as it was raising his own questions he wanted to ask the somber Uchiha.
"Sure!" Sakura smiled and Naruto gaped. "Why don't you bring Sasuke along? It'd be a good way for us all to start getting to know each other! It can be tomorrow at noon- we can go to Ichiraku's Ramen!"
Naruto smiled weakly, as his hand was now in incredible pain, "Of course! Why don't you go call Ino and invite her too…?"
When Sakura smiled slyly and left the room, Naruto whirled on Sasuke, "What is wrong with you? If I didn't know better, I'd say you're jealous! But what would you be jealous of? That Sakura's paying attention to me? Take her if you want her- I doubt she'd say no! You know I don't care about her at all-" The grip on his hand suddenly lessened, but still remained firm.
"I don't care if she likes you." Sasuke simultaneously hoped for Naruto to miss and catch the slip he had made.
"Then what do you-" Comprehension was far from dawning on his face, but Sakura walked into the room, and all conversation stopped. She stared at them before they realized what was strange. Sasuke and Naruto's hands were intertwined, and Sasuke's other hand was on his forehead to ward off the coming headache. Naruto's was on his hip. Sasuke's eyes lingered on his hip before going up and down the rest of his body, freezing when he hit the eyes. Naruto was looking at him confusedly, Sakura forgotten for a moment. Sasuke sighed (out loud, which made Sakura jump uncomfortably) and gave a Naruto a look that he hoped said, I'll tell you later. Naruto seemed to get the message, because he nodded as he disentangled their hands and stepped back to look at Sakura.
"Stupid Uchiha thinks he's tanner than me. ME!" Naruto exclaimed, as if that had been what they were talking about.
Sasuke rose an eyebrow, "I said nothing of the sort. I said I was more of a man than you were, fussing over a burn."
"I tried to show him, even my hand is more tanned than his. You know that the tanner you are, the more of a man you are. Don't you think I'm tanner, Sakura-chan?" He turned to her and she seemed to believe the whole thing was just Naruto being stupid.
"Yes Naruto, you are tanner." Naruto pretended to preen and Sasuke rolled his eyes. Sakura smiled, "Ino said she'll come. It can be that double date! I'll go with Naruto, and Sasuke can go with Ino!" She grinned and Naruto attempted to smile, but the dark, evil "I-will-kill-you-and-your-family" aura Sasuke was giving off made it hard.
"I'm uh, gonna go clean now."