Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Authors note: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and alerted this story! And a big thanks to my Beta, Kaizen Kitty!
Re-uploading... Got two PMs from people saying they couldn't access this chapter because of an error message. Though, I know some people can because I've received reviews. Hope this fixes it because I'm not sure what else to do about it?

Minato paced back and forth, red with anger. If his life were a cartoon, Naruto was sure he'd see steam escaping his father's nose and ears. But his life wasn't a cartoon and the argument they were now having wasn't going to turn into some silly joke that they could both laugh about in the near future.

For the past hour they'd been arguing endlessly. Well, Minato was arguing. He hadn't given Naruto a chance to speak yet. Not that he wanted to open his mouth at the moment. Seeing his dad this angry unnerved him to no end.

And of course, it all started because of a phone call.

Naruto should have known as soon as the phone rang to grab it before his dad did and save them both from all this misery. No one ever called the house phone except his dad's boss and him. Alas, he didn't think anything of the phone call and let Minato answer it. Boy did he regret it now.

"-again. Why Naruto? I've never known you to act this way. What would compel you to destroy the man's package? If I knew it bothered you so much I would have taken it to him myself! I thought we came to an agreement about all of this last time."

Well, here it was; his inevitable death sentence. His father's rant had finally boiled down, meaning he was ready to take action. Naruto knew that no matter what he said, there was no way he was going to get out of this fight unscathed. Not this time.

"I didn't do it." His voice came out barely a whisper as he looked into his father's eyes; pleading for mercy. He'd never seen his dad this mad before; especially not at him. Not even the last time they received a phone call. He figured the added stress from his job was doing a number on his nerves, causing him to be so flustered.

The past few days, Minato kept coming home with bigger workloads than usual. He couldn't help but voice his opinions to his boss about how the man was handling things around the workplace. Usually, he would keep his mouth shut about such things, but his boss was planning on changing the company completely, causing a handful of people to lose their jobs. So every day, as punishment for speaking out, his boss gave him more and more paperwork to take home and fill out.

"I don't care anymore Naruto. Who did it no longer matters to me." Minato struggled to keep his voice at a decent volume.

"But it should matter! No, I didn't do exactly what you told me to. But I didn't do what he said either! I left the package on his doorstep and left. I didn't stomp on his stupid box. It was fine when I left it there!"

"Well I'm sorry, but it doesn't matter. And it's not going to. Because either way, it's childish. Whether you did it or he's making it all up. One of you needs to man up and take some responsibility. As my son, I expect you to be the one to do so." Minato closed his eyes and rubbed his temples; waiting for his son to give him some smart remark. His eyes shot open in surprise when none came.

The younger blond stared at the floor. "You want me to go talk to him, don't you?"

"Yes. Before the day is over, I want you to go over there and talk to him. I'm not asking you to apologize to him. But if he's telling the truth, then you should. This needs to end."

Naruto wanted nothing more than to ignore his dad and lock himself in his room. But he knew his dad was going through a lot. And he really didn't want to disappoint him. "Ok. I will." He looked up, catching his father's attention. "I'm sorry about all this. I should have taken the box directly to him like you asked me to." Minato raised an eyebrow. "And no, that wasn't a confession. I still didn't do it."

The blond stood up and walked to his room, dragging his feet. He felt like shit. Even though he didn't do anything wrong, he could have avoided all this by just going to talk to the man the first time his dad asked him to. So then again, maybe he was to blame. Just a little.

He flopped down onto his bed and groaned into the pillow. He needed someone to talk to in order to get his mind off things.

Kiba wasn't an option. The guy would just freak out and make things worse. Other than him, all he had left was Sasuke. He hadn't talked to him since their first time chatting via web cam, which was a couple of days ago.

Now that he was thinking about it, he felt kind of bad that he left Sasuke like that. Especially since the guy seemed to really want a distraction. Oh well, he was a bastard half the time anyway.

The blond rolled off his bed with a thud and literally crawled over to his computer. After bringing up a new email and asking Sasuke to get on web cam, he rolled onto his back, staring at the textured ceiling. He remembered how when he was a kid, he would stare at the ceiling in his old home with his dad, trying to find weird shapes and faces hidden within the textured bumps. Kind of like cloud watching, but a bit more creative. To him anyway.

He was brought back from his thoughts when a loud 'bing' echoed through the room. I'm on the phone.

Naruto scrunched up his nose. Of course Sasuke was on the phone. The guy probably had an active social life, unlike him. So hang up and talk to me.

'I really need to go out and make some more friends.'

He sat up, using the wall as support, and turned on the TV. He might as well make it look as if he was doing something other than trying to find someone to vent to, so that he wouldn't look desperate if Sasuke did decide to hang up and talk to him. Flipping through the channels he finally settled on a crime show. The theme song of Criminal Minds soon filled the room. You really think you're that important?

Now was not the time for Sasuke's smart remarks. But he decided it was best to play along with it anyway. Well, yeah. But only because I am.

Hn. There it was, that magic word that meant he was getting what he wanted. Well, if you could even call it a word.

Soon enough, an invitation popped up on the screen, causing him to grin in achievement. As soon as he clicked 'accept' he began blabbering, not giving Sasuke a chance to interrupt. "Oh Sasu I'm sorry about last time. I didn't mean to leave you like that especially since you really wanted to talk to me, but you see I-"He stopped abruptly at the sound of someone banging against a wall or door along with some distant yelling. Squinting his eyes and leaning in towards the screen, he furrowed his brows, realizing the person on the screen wasn't Sasuke.

The stranger leaned in, following suit.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked, scrunching up his face.

Before the stranger had a chance to answer, the door came flying open revealing a very angry Sasuke. The stranger didn't look amused in the least.

Sasuke clenched his teeth and practically snarled before running like a madman toward the stranger. "Itachi!" He yelled and leaped through the air, tackling the stranger towards the ground and jerking the computer down with them.

Naruto stared wide eyed at the chaos before him until the screen went completely black. Who was Itachi and why was Sasuke acting like that? It was kind of weird seeing Sasuke show that much emotion all at once. All the times Naruto had spoken to him, he barely showed any hint of feeling. Granted, he'd only spoken to him about three or four times. And only one of those was face to face. Well, as face to face as they were gonna get, anyway.

The blond stood up, taking his laptop with him, and walked back over to his bed. Eh… Sasuke?

Yeah, he really did need to make some more friends. Talking to someone about his problems shouldn't be this difficult.

Another invitation popped onto the screen. Naruto stared at it for awhile, wondering whether or not it was safe to answer this time. Reluctantly, he clicked 'accept' and continued staring at the screen. He didn't want what happened last time to happen again, so he kept his mouth shut.

"Sorry about that."

The blond stared at Sasuke, still not saying a word.

The raven was picking up all the things that had fallen from his desk during the fight, and putting them back in their respective places. Noticing the blond hadn't said anything yet, he stopped and looked at the screen. "That was my brother, Itachi. He saw me talking to you and wanted to know who you were… I didn't tell him so he locked me out and sent you an invite. He doesn't know how to mind his own business. "

Still no response.

"And don't call me Sasu."

Noticing the grin creeping onto the blonds face, he inwardly sighed in relief. He wasn't sure why he was putting forth so much effort to get Naruto to talk. It was so unlike him. But there was something about the blond that he liked. No, 'liked' was too strong of a word. More like, tolerated.

There weren't many people outside of his family that he put up with. And he wasn't one to socialize often. But ever since he left that one comment on Naruto's page, the guy hadn't left him alone, giving him no choice other than to talk to him.

At first, he really didn't want to talk to the guy. He just wanted one simple answer. Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine that the guy was the type to force you into being his friend. And no, they weren't friends. Naruto was more like his acquaintance that he barely tolerated.

"Hey Sasuke?"

"Yeah?" He looked away and continued picking up the mess he'd made.

"Are we friends?"

Damn. Just as Sasuke had come to terms with their 'acquaintance' status, the blond had to go and ask a question like that. Why'd he have to ruin such a great thing they had going on? Well, it was time to break all ties.

"I mean, I really need someone to talk to… So…"

The brunet stared into his eyes, trying to figure out what to say. It was hard to think, seeing those blue eyes stare back at him. They were filled with what looked like sadness. He'd never seen the boy so upset before. It was odd.

It was also strange how fast his demeanor changed from earlier.

"Uh… Sure, I guess so."

Naruto smiled and continued. "So you'll listen?"

"Hn."

"Alright, so. I really messed up Sasuke. You remember what I told you I did with my neighbor's stuff, last time? Well, he called my dad and told him I smashed it! Like… Broke the thing and left it on his doorstep! Why the hell would I do that?"

"Well, you're not the brightest."

"Shut up!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, glad that Naruto was back to his old self. It was probably all an act to get him to listen anyway. The blond might not be the smartest, but he knew how to work people; charm them.

"I wouldn't and I didn't! But that's not the thing. My dad's really stressed out about it. He says he doesn't care anymore. And on top of that, I've been trying to ask him about my mom and the accident lately, ever since you brought it up, but he always finds a way to ignore me! Like he's hiding something..."

"You're probably just annoying him."

"No way, that couldn't be it!"

Sasuke snorted and shook his head. "Of course not."

"You're really no help at all."

The raven barely refrained from rolling his eyes. His 'friend' overthought everything. One day he's going on about how his neighbor's a serial killer then the next he's saying his dad hates him. Talk about taking things out of proportion.

He wasn't the type of person people came to for help. So this just wouldn't do. He was willing to listen, but give advice? Not a chance.

He took the silence as a chance to continue with his cleaning.

Naruto watched Sasuke as he leaned over, picking up random items. He seemed to have fixed the resolution on his camera since last time they chatted. His pale skin didn't cause such a bright glow on the screen anymore. It looked as if the boy really was right in front of him. As he leaned over the desk to put away some papers, his bangs fell over one of his eyes.

The blond was entranced by how amazing he looked. Anyone else would look like crap with such pale skin, but not Sasuke. Without knowing it, his right hand slowly etched towards the screen, wanting nothing more than to move the boys bangs from his face. It was like his hand now had a mind of its own.

Clink.

Nope, still can't magically go through computer screens, no matter how much you want to.

Sasuke looked up when hearing the sound, just to see Naruto with his hand on the screen, staring at it in confusion. "What are you doing, moron?"

The blond was instantly brought out of his trance by the sound of his voice. What was he doing? He really didn't know. "You're pretty. You know that?"

Sasuke didn't look up or react in any way. Though they hadn't talked all that much, he was very much used to the fact that the boy before him was unpredictable and, for lack of a better word, weird. "Hn."

"Anyway." Naruto shook his head, trying to get a hold of his thoughts. He wasn't gay, but Sasuke really was a nice looking guy. He didn't mean to say it out loud though, it just sort of slipped. That sort of thing happened to him when he was under a lot of stress. He'd say things that he normally wouldn't say out loud. Which was sort of a big deal, since he rarely ever censored himself in the first place.

Coming up with a change of subject, he added "I got you good last time, huh?" A smirk slowly crept its way onto his face.

"Hardly." The raven relaxed, noticing the other was a lot less tense than before.

"Oh come on, I could see it in your eyes!"

"You're an idiot."

"Don't be mad, Sasu. I won't tell anyone." Naruto grinned, placing his hands behind his head. "So… Itachi? You never told me you had a brother!"

"I was unaware telling you my life story was a requirement."

"Stop being such a bastard, Sasuke."

No answer.

Naruto huffed. 'Here we go again. Gotta force him into talking.' "Why are you always online? I mean, you are every time I log on, anyway. Shouldn't you be out with friends? Doing teenage stuff?"

The brunet showed no emotion whatsoever. "I don't like people. And those teenage things you speak of, I'd rather not get involved with."

"You talk to me though. So you must like me a lot! Aw, Sasuke. How sweet."

"Don't get ahead of yourself, idiot. You don't really give me a choice."

"Oh? You could just ignore me."

"Then you'd spam my inbox."

Well, that was true, but still. "You could always block me, you know."

Valid point.

Sasuke scrunched his face up in disgust. Yeah, he knew he could block the guy. He contemplated on it once before. He wasn't sure why, but he didn't want to. "Whatever." And with that, the screen went black.

"What a killjoy." Naruto murmured as Sasuke ended the session. Any other time, he would do as the raven said and spam his inbox until he got back on. But this time he knew he had other things he needed to attend to.

He glanced at the clock, somewhat shocked at how much time had passed. If he didn't get moving soon, he wouldn't make it to his neighbor's at a decent hour, giving the man another reason to complain. He had planned on visiting Gramps before the day was over, but it was too late for that now. He'd visited him every day this week so far anyway. So one day's absence wouldn't hurt.

After taking a quick shower and throwing on a pair of orange sweatpants and a t-shirt, he ran downstairs. He didn't care how casual he looked; he surely wasn't trying to impress the guy. The man should be glad he at least had the courtesy to take a shower instead of stinking up his house, anyway.

He quickly scarfed down a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before waving goodbye to his father, who reminded him to behave and mind his manners while gone.

As he walked along the path to his neighbor's, he didn't dare to step on the man's grass, and contemplated on what he should say. A casual "Hi" didn't seem very appropriate and he sure as hell wasn't going to start off by saying "I'm sorry about your belongings."

Once at the door, he decided he would just wing it. Besides, he didn't have the time or energy to think about it anymore than he already had. The guy wasn't worth his time. The only reason he was doing this anyway was to make his dad happy. Ringing the doorbell, he waited, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

He heard shuffling inside the house and a few hushed murmurs before the door slowly crept open, giving Naruto his first good look at his ever so mysterious neighbor.

Authors Note: I know… I'm a horrible person for stopping here. Forgive me? ;-;
I tried to show a little bit of Sasuke's thoughts in this chapter, since a few people requested it. I hope that's what you meant, anyway!
Oh, and Gramps is the shoe shine man… If you hadn't realized.

Hope you all have a nice Valentine's Day(: