Chapter 4
The moment he saw the blonde walking in, his heart stopped. He didn't notice Kakashi, Sai, or the Elders who'd just been putting him through the Spanish Inquisition. He had eyes for only one person. If he had any doubts before regarding the possibility of having feelings for his former best friend, they were banished the moment the fox ninja opened his mouth.
The Uchiha didn't even hear the conversation between Naruto and the Elders. As soon as the guy had started talking, Sasuke's heart had switched tactics, deciding to beat a thousand miles a second. His own body was trying to kill him now.
After a few minutes of arguing, silence ensued. The raven noticed the sudden lack of noise, and realized he must've been the most recent topic of discussion. Everyone was staring either at him or the fox. The idiot still hadn't noticed him standing there, even though he'd been staring at him the entire time. He scowled slightly. Some things never changed.
But then he turned. He saw the raven. His jaw dropped slightly, as if in disbelief. They stood there spellbound for a moment, seeing each other for the first time since Sakura's first attempt at killing the Uchiha. Finally, the other spoke.
"…Sasuke?"
His heart was going to explode out of his chest, it was beating so fast. Maybe it would even destroy Konoha. What a brilliant plan; why had he never thought of it before?
"Miss me, Dobe?" He sincerely hoped the smirk he planted on his face would disguise his hands shaking. He crossed his arms in front of his chest. Just in case.
"I can see you're already acquainted," the damn hag was smirking. Haha. Real fuckin funny. "You are dismissed."
Kakashi approached him, blocking his view of the Jinchuriki. He glared at his former teacher; he would be damned if he forgave him for the last time they met, even if he had agreed to support him in his 'parole'.
"What do you want?" He spat, more venom in his voice than he expected.
"If you'd prefer, you could stay in chains forever." The white-haired ninja held the keys before Sasuke's face.
The Uchiha had no response. He silently allowed Kakashi to remove the offending handcuffs. When the chains were removed, Sasuke found himself unconsciously stretching his wrists.
"You remember the deal?" His former teacher smiled his trademark eye smile, but it didn't disguise the icy quality of his voice.
"Of course."
"Good."
"…"
Kakashi looked him up and down. "You might want to change into different clothes. You reek of dirt and bad intentions."
If looks could kill, you'd be dead. Sasuke internally grinned at his joke. Looks could kill. He just wasn't allowed to use his eye abilities; that was part of the deal. Instead, he settled on feigned indifference.
"I'll keep that in mind." And with that, he stalked away from Kakashi.
Of course the idiot was already gone. Sasuke mentally slapped himself. Here he was, after finally witnessing the one person he actually wanted to see for the first time since getting back – if you called being shoved unceremoniously into a dark cell and blindfolded 'getting back' – and he was already back to calling him an idiot.
There was something seriously wrong with him.
He shook himself and started walking back towards the former Uchiha compound. Maybe there are still some clothes there that'll fit me. He ignored the figures silently stalking him.
Naruto allowed himself to be pulled out of the meeting and down the street. His mind was a whirlwind of thoughts. He wasn't really sure what was happening.
"Hey want to grab some dango?"
He didn't answer. There was something weird going on here; he just couldn't put his finger on it. So he still allowed himself to be drug around by his strange teammate.
"Eat it, Naruto."
Sai was poking him, but Naruto didn't care. It was right there, the wrong thing. It was on the tip of his tongue.
"I guess I'll feed it to you then, honey."
It wasn't till Sai had the dango pushed against his lips that the blonde figured it out. He slapped the offending snack away and grabbed the front of Sai's shirt.
"You just ruined some perfectly good food," Sai smiled. That damn smile made Naruto's desire to kill rise exponentially.
"Shut up, Sai," he growled. "You knew didn't you?"
Silence.
"Answer me dammit!"
"You just told me to shut up," the other ninja pointed out.
In a sudden rush of anger, Naruto threw his teammate away from him. Sai hadn't been expecting this, and he flew backwards into the fence behind. He fell to the ground, still staring at his suddenly furious friend.
Naruto simply glared down at him. His breathing had grown irregular in the past few seconds, and he found himself unable to control himself. His hands were fisted tightly by his sides, shaking with the desire to bury themselves in his friend's face.
Calm down, the fox's voice rang out in his mind. But he couldn't. Naruto, Kurama begged this time. He clenched his teeth together in response and glared at the street to his left, not looking at the ninja sprawled on the ground before him.
They remained this way for a few silent moments, Naruto trying to gain control over his emotions. Finally, he broke the silence.
"Did you know?" His voice was strained.
"It was my idea," the other stated.
Naruto whipped his head around and stared at Sai. "What?"
"It was my idea," he repeated.
"Why?" Naruto continued to try and calm his breathing.
"We needed a third teammate. There was no one left."
"And your solution was to ask a criminal to join our team?" His voice was incredulous.
"I thought it was the best way to get into the exam."
"…"
"I just wanted you to be happy," Sai's voice lowered to a whisper.
Suddenly, all of Naruto's anger disappeared. His teammate wasn't trying to piss him off. And it's not like the guy even knew his feelings on the subject; after all, he hadn't confided in anyone. He moved towards Sai, the other ninja flinching at his approach, but all the blonde did was sit next to his strange friend.
"I'm sorry," he supplied after a few moments of silence.
Sai gave Naruto a shocked look. "Shouldn't I be the one apologizing?"
"I didn't expect to see him." The fox ninja ignored the other's question.
"I'm sorry."
Naruto simply buried his head in his hands and said nothing.
"Why?"
"What?" The blonde's voice came out sharper than he'd planned.
"Why didn't you expect to see him? Didn't you know he was here?"
"Of course I knew."
"Oh…" Sai's voice trailed off.
"You thought I didn't?" Naruto was curious.
"At first. At first I thought the reason you never went to see him was because you didn't know he was here."
"No. I knew." The blonde's words were mostly for himself.
"So what was the real reason then?"
"None of your business." Despite the harsh words, Naruto's voice had no venom in it. He was tired. Between the Elders poor intentions and Sai's well-meaning ones, Naruto was going to wind up dead from stress.
"What about the test?"
Yes, Naruto, what about the test?
He was silent.
"Naruto?"
"Nothing changes," he whispered.
"What?"
"I said nothing changes. We'll take the test. I'm going to become Hokage." His mind was made up. This was his dream and nothing, not even Sasuke himself, could ruin this for him. He stood up.
"Where are you going?"
"Home."
Sai stood, as if to follow him.
"See you tomorrow," Naruto waved in dismissal. He walked back to his apartment alone.
Sasuke was awoken the next morning by the sound of tapping on his window. He opened his eyes blearily. It was still gray outside; who the fuck was knocking on his window? He stumbled to the door, not bothering to put a shirt on.
"What?" He asked as he opened it.
"Training begins today." It was Sai.
Of course it's this guy. "Good morning to you too, asshole"
"Be at the place Team 7 used to meet in an hour. That should give you enough time to pretty yourself up, dick-face."
Sasuke slammed the door in the other guy's face. Fuck you. Fuck your family. Fuck everyone you've ever met. He was not a morning person. He walked back to where he'd been sleeping and gazed longingly at the bed, before making it. The last thing he did was pick up the shirt he'd been using as a pillow case and fold it carefully on top of the pillow itself.
Even after all this time, Itachi's smell still clung to his old clothes. Of course none of them had fit Sasuke, so he'd settled for taking one to sleep with. He'd ended up stealing clothes from some random house down the street from his. It was in this house he was living now too; he couldn't bear to stay in the place where his entire family once resided.
He changed into the new clothes: a solid black ensemble similar to the one he'd worn when he battled Itachi – minus the ridiculous bow and cape, of course. He felt black fit his mood, and now he wouldn't have to hear about 'smelling like a dungeon' or other such nonsense.
Sasuke settled about making breakfast, his stomach rumbling slightly. He'd been so stressed after last night's encounter, he'd forgotten to eat. At least I didn't forget to shower. I really did smell. He ate silently, musing about the day before him.
Since Sai had arrived and told him where the training was occurring, it meant there was a high chance Naruto would be there. Despite his outward appearance, Sasuke did not relish this meeting. Last night might have been the first time they'd seen each other since the war, but it had been chaperoned.
The look the Naruto had given him last night led Sasuke to believe the blonde hadn't been avoiding him on accident. Sakura's voice swam through his head; he's ashamed of what you've become. He slammed his fist into the table.
"Shut up!"
It was not a good morning.
An hour after Sai's wake up call, Sasuke found himself waiting for the remainder of his new team. He was tired, irritated, and impatient. Leave it to that idiot to be late to our first training.
As soon as the thought crossed his mind 'that idiot's' voice rang through the trees.
"…I'm telling you! It was the biggest snake I'd ever seen dattebayo!"
"Any snake other than your own is the biggest you've ever seen, Naruto-kun."
"I do NOT like what you're implying. And will you stop with the kun?"
"Should I call you dickless?"
"DO NOT CALL ME DICKLESS!"
Sasuke scowled as the two remaining members of his team appeared before him. He wasn't sure if he was angrier that they were late, or angrier they were together.
"How about honey, then?"
Both, he decided.
"That is no better, perv, and you know it."
"Che." Sasuke tsked, cutting off Sai's comeback.
"Ah. Sasuke-kun. So nice of you to join us." The other dark-haired ninja spoke with a condescending tone similar to one the Uchiha himself used occasionally. Naruto, on the other hand, slammed his mouth shut and stared pointedly away from them both.
"I came to train. If either of you plan on passing the exam, I suggest you join me." And with that he stalked away. If Naruto wanted to ignore his existence, fine; two could play that game.
To his surprise they both followed him to the old training grounds. Once they got there, he was at a loss; he had no idea how to work in a team anymore. To his great relief, Naruto took over.
"I think we should start by training individually."
"The test is taken in teams, and they need to make sure you can be a good leader," Sai pointed out.
"I know. That's why I got Sakura, Kiba, and Ino to agree and come down to be our opponents. I just meant we could start individually to warm up, you know?"
Smart, Sasuke thought. He's grown.
"That's a good idea, Naruto," Sai said, surprised.
Asshole.
"Of course it's a good idea! I thought of it, dattebayo!"
Idiot.
So they began training. Sai sat in one spot, creating progressively more and more complex ink animals, who ran around gathering information for him. Naruto began taijutsu training by dropping immediately on the spot into a set of push-ups. Sasuke, on the other hand, had no idea what to do. After training to kill his brother – followed by the entirety of Konoha – he had no idea how to train for something as menial as an exam. He finally settled on Chakara control. He walked up a tree and set it on fire, the goal being to burn slowly, with minimal Chakara, while also not dropping him into the forest.
This continued for a time, the three of them going about separate exercises, Naruto eventually running laps around the large area, until the sound of voices near the bridge indicated new arrivals. The Jinchurikki stopped running and waved his hand. Instantly, Sai and Sasuke jumped to join him.
"I told them to meet us at the bridge," the blonde spoke to the former Root member, rather than both of them. Sasuke felt his hands clench to fists. "Are you guys ready?"
"I am if pretty boy is," Sai grinned.
Sasuke nodded curtly, noticing how Naruto barely glanced in his direction.
"Let's go." The three of them jumped to meet their opponents of the day.
"…Kiba, I'm telling you, using Akimaru counts as ninjutsu, not taijutsu."
"But it's not like it requires Chakara all the time."
"I agree, Sakura, it's not the same as normal ninjutsu."
"Well then if the great Ino-sama agrees, it must be true."
"You have a big forehead!"
"Ladies, ladies! As much as I enjoy being fought over – and believe me, I do – I'm afraid I'm already taken."
"Yo, Kiba! Sakura-chan! Ino!" Naruto jumped in the middle, stopping the murderous looks which appeared in both girls' eyes. Sasuke rolled his eyes and leaned back against the edge of the bridge.
"Naruto!" Kiba slammed his hand into the blonde's back. "I am so ready to kick your ass!"
"In your dreams, dog-breath. I am about to sweep the forest with your face."
"Sai," Ino cooed. "Are you going to tell us who the mysterious third member of your team is?"
"Yeah, Naruto. Sai was being vague about it yesterday. Is it true? You have a third?" Sakura pressed.
Naruto's smile slipped. "See for yourself." He jerked his finger in the direction of Sasuke.
The raven, not relishing the looks that were bound to appear on his former classmates' faces looked away with another "che."
"Sasuke?! No way, man!" Kiba shouted first.
"Sasuke-kun?!"
SLAM! Sasuke found himself facedown in the dirt. He turned to see a very pissed off pink-haired ninja getting ready to punch. Not today, he thought to himself. He flipped around, surprising the girl and throwing her off him. After the scene down in the dungeon, though, the raven-haired ninja did not find himself in such a forgiving mood. As she began to fly back, he grabbed her by the neck and jumped, slamming her back into the nearest tree.
She responded quickly, swinging one leg up and around, kicking him in an angle. Once she had leverage, she planted her foot into his stomach and pushed him off her. He back-flipped and landed easily on his feet. He looked up at her and smirked. Absolute rage painted itself on Sakura's features and she flew at him. He sidestepped and made to grab her foot, but she was too fast; all he was able to grab was a tree trunk. A replacement!
He barely had time to spin around before she slammed him to the ground yet again, one arm twisted painfully under his body. She straddled him, pinning the other, and raised her fist to slam it into his face. He twitched just in time to avoid the hit, but felt something painful hit the back of his head as the ground where she'd punched split beneath her fist. He had to act quickly or she might actually smash his brain.
He wrapped his legs around her waist and used his hips to flip them, switching positions. He held her arms firmly in place with his hands, using his legs to pin hers to the ground. He gathered both of her wrists into one of his hands and used his other to grab a kunai. Rage clouded his judgment.
"I will make you pay for what you did to me." He swung the blade down in a silver arc.
"Stop!" Something held his wrist in place, not letting him finish what he'd started. He looked over and saw a familiar pair of blue eyes staring back at him.
The rage seemed to disappear from his body, and he dropped the kunai, jumping away from Sakura in the process. She was helped to her feet by Ino and Sai. The blonde had already returned to his spot next to Kiba.
"Naruto…" Ino started.
"Take them home, Sai," Naruto said.
"But what about training?"
"I said take them home." There was an edge to his voice. Sai didn't argue again.
"Come one, ladies." He smiled at them and began to walk away. Ino followed immediately, but Sakura stood there for a moment. She was glaring at Sasuke, pure hatred in her eyes.
"Sakura, come one," Ino called back in a worried tone.
She gave him one last glare, as if to say 'this isn't finished,' before finally complying with her friend. When she reached Naruto, she stopped.
"Keep him away from me, do you understand?"
Naruto looked away from her, but she nodded anyway.
"Kiba, let's go," she called back to him.
"But, I, uh…"
"Go," Naruto's voice betrayed no emotion.
The dog-boy nodded and followed the other three. Sasuke turned to glare at the two ANBU who still had their heads poked out of their trees.
"I can handle this," the fox called to them.
They nodded and disappeared, leaving the two former best friends alone. Sasuke racked his brain hard, trying to think of some way to break the awkward silence between them, but to no avail. It was Naruto who first spoke.
"So, Uchiha. Why the fuck are you here?"
All Sasuke could do was stare.
AN: Some of the syntax has been bothering the shit out of me, but I read it about 4 times in a row and decided "what the hell, I'll just post it." I wrote it immediately after chapter 3, so I've been slowly revising it for the past few days. (I am so evil for making you all wait)
Anyways, this chapter was jam packed with 3100+ words about Sasuke brooding, Naruto pissed off, and Sakura being awesome (not to mention Sai's wonderful dick jokes). I would LOVE to know what you think! Drop a review :)
