The Ramen Girl
Chapter 4

It rained the next morning, making the gloomy sky seem uninviting, but inside of Naruto's bedroom, it seemed like it was raining inside too. The taste of beer on Sasuke's tongue was bitter, and Naruto hated that flavor, but Sasuke's lips were rough, and his teeth left no question to what he wanted in that moment.

"Sasuke, you're drunk…" Naruto wasn't even putting up a real fight, and his words didn't seem to matter.

"Could be drunker." Sasuke told his blonde haired lover. He held Naruto's wrists with his hands.

"Asshole…" Naruto murmured, averting his gaze. He liked it when Sasuke was rough with him, but he really wanted to talk, not do whatever twisted fantasy Sasuke had lodged in his head. Sasuke leaned down, biting hard on Naruto's nipple. "Sasuke, damn it…stop."

Leaning back on his knees, Sasuke reached for the beer that was on the window sill. "Ugh, warm…"

"Sasuke…do you really want to be with me?" Naruto asked as he sat up, taking the bottle out of Sasuke's hand.

His eyes widened and he looked away. "What's with that question all of a sudden?"

"What's with you getting drunk almost every day?" Naruto returned.

"Hell if I know." Sasuke grinned, but Naruto wasn't laughing, and Sasuke's smirk died moments later. "What do you want from me?"

"Stop hiding." Naruto demanded. "I don't want to lie to Sakura about us. She's been asking where you are, and I can't even answer because you don't want her to know."

"Chill. I promised, didn't I?" Sasuke slung an arm over Naruto, and then did the same with the other one. He was too drunk to stay in that position without wobbling, and they both crashed backwards onto the mattress. "I'll talk to her…sober…not like this." Right now, he had other plans. "Now will you shut the hell up and kiss me?"

"Later." Naruto promised. "You can have whatever you want, after you talk to Sakura."

"Blocked by my own boyfriend." He muttered as Naruto disentangled himself from the dark haired man.

It took him a few hours to find a clear head again…but it took a few more to get up the courage to track down the pink haired medical ninja.

He might have made a promise to talk with her, but he honestly didn't know what to say. Worse than that, he didn't know how to say it. Sakura had always been a bit of a problem for him. She was headstrong, and willful…not that Naruto wasn't, but Sakura was more fragile too. Naruto's soft heart was tempered by his resolve and fighting spirit. Sakura's soft heart was tempered by kindness and hope…

...a hope he was about to crush into a billion tiny little pieces.

She would be fine on her own, eventually. He would still look out for her, make sure she stayed safe. It was the least he could do after almost killing her in the past. Then again, she had once thought to do the same to him. He could respect her for that, because even if he had been a jerk, he knew the truth. She really did love him, and she wanted her life to be at his side. Sakura had devoted herself to that future, recklessly at that.

So, in the end, all he could do was blurt out what he was meaning to say.

"I'm with Naruto."

"Yeah..."

"So then…you get it, right?"

"Yes." Sakura nodded quietly.

She had expected it when Sasuke's house was always empty and Naruto's door was always locked. She expected more than the words he'd given her. That one simple sentence that drifted and dissipated into the open air. It was everything she didn't want to hear, mixed with the consolation that it wasn't because of her. Still, her eyes stung. Sasuke made his choice, and that choice wasn't her…it wasn't any rival she thought she might have.

Sasuke spoke low. "It's nothing against you."

"I never said that it was."

"You're thinking it."

More silence, more thoughts she didn't have answers to. That wild eyed boy she was always so interested in had grown and changed in his time away. He wasn't so angry, but, he was more distant. Maybe he was further away from her than he had ever been, even as they stood side by side. Was she thinking that? Yes. She was. She was also thinking that she was a fool to have ever loved him, and it was a thought that crossed her mind over, and over, and over again. She knew that anger well, having had that thought in the past too.

Loving him in spite of that. "Maybe I am."

"Well, stop."

"It's not that easy."

Sasuke wasn't sure about that one way or the other. He hadn't really thought about it. He never needed too. Naruto and Sakura were always there for him, he came to expect it, even when he didn't want them in his life. That one promise of theirs ghosted over his very world. Sakura would always be part of that…part of the man he had become.

He owed her a lot. Respect, loyalty, and friendship, if nothing else. "I'm sorry."

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm not."

She seemed so small in his arms. This was the girl he remembered, the one he left behand at that tender age of thirteen to fend for herself…but that wasn't true either. He knew Naruto would look after her, and the blonde man had…but…that was Naruto. Sasuke had left everything to Naruto, entrusted every tiny little hope to him. The ashes of that past would forever linger in the wake of every step forward he took.

"I don't believe you."

"You don't have to." She might never believe him. "That's not my responsibility to make you." He would be okay with that, so long as he could keep her safe. "The only one who needs to believe me is Naruto."

"Sasuke, that's just cruel."

For everything he had done to her….for everything he had ever done to Naruto…for the reasons he couldn't even justify anymore. He was truly sorry. His words meant nothing, he could only live out that repentance to the end of his days. Putting a hand to his chest, she pushed him away, and he let her.

"So what if it is? I told you. That's all Naruto asked me to do."

"Do you even love him?"

"I don't think about it like that."

He met her wet green eyes with a gaze as cold as ice. She looked so angry with him, and she was hurt too. He wondered if she would strike him, waited for that fist of hers to raise, waited to end up bleeding from a hard right hook.

"Well maybe you should." Her hiss was one of fury.

"That a threat?"

"You know what…yeah…it is a threat. Naruto was here when you weren't. You've hurt me, Sasuke, and I'm okay with being hurt over and over by you." She punched the railing so hard it broke in half, the twisted metal fizzling from the heat of her strike. "Naruto is like family to me. Every single time you hurt him, I'll hurt you."

Sasuke was impressed by that, only he didn't show it. Merely smirking with the same old disinterest he always expressed outwardly. He patted Sakura on the shoulder as he walked away from her. That was all that needed to be said, and her time was up. So was his. All he could do was ignore that it started raining again. Curiously, he turned around, wondering if he'd see Sakura in a fit of tears.

Her shoulders were squared as she watched him go. She was fine…maybe more than fine. He shook the rain water out of his hair and kept on going.