AN:

Small trickles of the truth in this chapter.

I'd like to thank the anonymous reviewer guest, whose claims I can neither confirm nor deny at this point.

As much as I would love to make a new love to add drama, it won't happen anytime soon. As Guest said, what Naruto needs at this point is help. And I'll be diving more into that in the next few chapters.

Please leave your comments in a review, I do take them into consideration.

Naruto was put to sleep not long after his encounter with Sasuke. He woke up in an empty apartment the next morning. He blinked, taking a minute to gather his bearings before noticing a bottle of water and a note next to his bed.

Naruto,

We left in the morning and did not want to wake you. Thank you for having us over. If you ever want to talk, you can call me.

-Utakata.

Naruto stared at the note. He'd be damned, he managed to come out of that with a friend. He honestly didn't think any of them would want to see him again. Naruto chuckled, then winced, and decided a few more hours of sleep would do his head good. After he drank the water of course.

The second time around he felt amazingly better. Enough to regret the encounter with Sasuke, yes, but he no longer felt as bad. He rolled onto his side and was tempted to just sleep a little more. But he had pottery class at one to teach and then he had an interview at 5.

Groaning he managed to get himself out of bed just as the phone rang. "Kakashi!" Naruto chirped into the earpiece.

"Naruto, hey. Just calling to remind you of that interview."

"Wow Kakashi-sensei, you put down the porn long enough to actually check my schedule?" Naruto teased. Yes, Kakashi was an amazing manager, but he was also kind of shitty in the time department.

A hum was his answer. "I'm offended. Just because sometimes I-"

"Excuses for later. I'll meet you there at 4:50?"

"Done."

He hung up the call and retreated to his shower. Hed just got thoroughly cleaned and dressed when the door rang. Without checking the camera he opened it, still towel drying his hair.

He really wished he hadn't. A hand was placed on his chest and he was shoved backward. Caught off guard he tripped backward. He no longer had the same coordination as before and his muscle had been replaced with bone. The resulting hit on his tailbone was quite painful. "W-what the hell teme," he snarled back, using a nickname that had once been laced with adoration.

"That's my line." A fuming Sasuke stepped inside, slamming the door behind him. "I should have you sued for slander."

Now Naruto was beyond confused. "What the fuck? You can't just barge in and start yelling nonsense."

"Nonsense? Am I the one spewing nonsense? What are you telling your friends Uzumaki?"

Naruto looked unsure. "I told them we dated? Look I was drunk, I'm not trying-"

"Not that. Ugh, I don't even want to think about that. I'm talking about the other part. Are you telling them I abused you? That's low, even for you."

Now it was Naruto's turn to blink like an idiot. "Huh?"

"That guy last night, he accused me of being abusive. I put up with a lot of shit from you Naruto, but the only time I hit you, you were punching back just as hard. Don't you dare play the victim card Naruto, It's pathetic." Sasuke was livid. Naruto had never seen him looking so hurt and upset. Not even the night they broke up. Or, the night Naruto was dumped like a steaming sack of-

"I didn't!" Naruto demanded. He swallowed, putting his forehead in his hand and trying to think. He was still on the floor. Then it snapped. "Oh no."

"Remember now, asshole," Sasuke glared. "I trust you'll tell them you were lying."

Why did he have to deal with this now? Couldn't he wait for nausea in his stomach to calm down first? Of course not. Fate just loved fucking him. "I- fuck. I told them about the- that time- the last time we… you know."

"The last time we had sex?" Sasuke frowned. "What are you talking about. That was normal."

Gaping again, Naruto slowly picked himself up, rubbing his backside and adjusting his shirt so it wasn't slipping off his shoulder as much. "Normal? You call that normal?"

"What are you going on about?"

"What the hell was normal about that?" Naruto accused at the same time, voice growing louder. "Do you know how much pain I was in the next day? God, I hope you switched to women because you can't do that shit with a man," he stressed.

Sasuke leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms. "I didn't-"

"Oh don't lie. I may have been too faded to remember it but you don't get torn like that without- ugh, I don't want to talk about this. I didn't mean to blab, I was drunk, I'll tell them that we were both just too drunk to know better and-"

Sasuke had stepped off the wall, a hand reaching out to grab Naruto's shoulder and to stop his talking since he wasn't paying attention to Sasuke's attempts to interrupt. Naruto tensed under the touch, looking into Sasuke's eyes and losing the train of thought he had. God, he missed those eyes.

Sasuke cleared his throat. "What night are you talking about?" His eyes kept flickering across Naruto's face as if searching for something.

"Heh, I guess it's been 5 years, I should forget too," Naruto sighed, defeated. So he was the only one still hung up on this. He gently prodded Sasuke's hand off his shoulder. "I guess it was just a new side of you…"

The tension in the air was too thick. Naruto tried to lessen it a little, a weak smile on his face as he obviously tried to joke. "But heads up, please don't drink with your partners like that. It felt like I'd been plowed by three men, not just one."

Sasuke stepped back all too quickly. A reaction that had even Naruto hesitant. Sighing again, he tried again. "Sorry, look, what I'm saying is… what I'm asking is… can we make it water under the bridge Sasuke? I have a two-year lease so if we're going to be next to each other for long I'd just like it if we weren't trying to kill each other every moment."

Sasuke opened his mouth, then let out a small grunt, before leaving almost a quickly as he'd barged in.

"Crazy bastard," Naruto shook his head at the spot Sasuke was in just seconds prior. He'd tried to put them in good standing again but apparently, Sasuke didn't even want that. Naruto glanced towards the kitchen, the reflective stainless steel showing a blurry shadow of himself. Was he not even good enough to be a friend?

Suddenly every insecurity from five years ago was back full force, as fresh as the day Sasuke first spat them.