C H A P T E R F I V E
They were in a dusty and abandoned alleyway occupied by empty crates stacked up against the wall, strewn-about odd pieces of faded cardboard, a dumpster worked over in graffiti, and brown weeds present against all odds along the edges of the building. The calcite brightness of the hallway dimmed in comparison to the strip of cloudless blue above their heads, and although it was relatively shaded here in the narrow space between two buildings the air was dry and hot, the dirt tan and granular.
Naruto was frowning at Sakura who was leaning nonchalantly against the exterior of the bar to the right of the door they had come through, gazing at them stoically from the corner of her eye and smoking a cigarette. Underneath her apron she had been wearing nondescript biker shorts and flat ankle boots. Her hair had been freed from the ponytail, now cutting angularly across her cheekbones.
"Gah! When'd you get here?" Naruto exclaimed. "And what have I told you—you're ending up like Shikamaru! He smokes like, what, three packs a day?"
Sakura rolled her eyes.
"Since when do you smoke?" Sasuke couldn't help asking, turning to face her.
Naruto snapped his head towards Sasuke, mouth slightly open, and Sakura raised her brows delicately. "Um," Naruto replied. "Since like, two months ago?" He tittered and shook his head. Sasuke shifted his weight and put his hands in his pockets. (Well then). "Where the hell have you been, Sasuke?" Naruto was snickering. "Welcome back to Earth, Great Hangover Man." Naruto shoved Sasuke's shoulder playfully, ignoring the sharp scowl that was gracing the other's features.
"I take it you wouldn't mind parting with a certain specific organ, then?"
"Oh shut up, Hangover Man, you're such a dweeb. You just want some of this don't you?" Naruto grinned cockily, lifting his brows and biting the tip of his tongue between his teeth.
Sasuke snorted and pushed back, trying to hide an imminent burst of laughter behind twitching lips. "God, moron!"
"Oh please, only call me by my given name in public, Hangover Man."
"I already do that. Moron." Sasuke deadpanned.
"The other one you bastard!" Naruto objected. Sasuke smirked.
Naruto broke out into chortles, eyeing Sasuke amusedly, but on a glance at Sakura he froze. She had been looking between the two boys with a complacent smirk of her own, tapping ashes lazily off the end of her cigarette.
"What? What's that look?" Naruto demanded severely, all set for a grand inquisition. He was practically pointing in accusation.
Sakura lifted the cigarette to her thin lips and took a long drag, turning her head away from him to observe the end of the alley and the bright gap of street beyond it. A car rolled by. "I have no idea what you're talking about," she declared with a lilting tease to her voice.
Naruto scoffed disbelievingly. "Well whatever you thought you were looking at doesn't exist, okay? That's right, you were looking at nothing!" Naruto focused a determined glare on Sakura until she turned back to face him, still smirking.
"Yeah I was looking at nothing," she agreed easily. Suddenly her face hardened and she frowned, standing stiffly with one arm across her abdomen supporting the elbow of the other from which she dangled her cigarette at shoulder level. "And it's going to stay at nothing, Naruto, if you don't—"
"Sakura!" Naruto interrupted, angry now.
This was about the time when Sasuke decided that his two friends had been abducted and replaced by aliens. "Uh, Naruto?" he queried politely. "What the hell is going on?" He never thought the day would come when he'd be asking Naruto why he was being a jackass instead of the other way around. Actually, he could get used to this. Always typecast as the bad guy—it gets tiring.
Naruto seemed to withdraw into himself at Sasuke's question. "Nothing, that's what's going on," he muttered, scanning Sakura's scowling face resentfully. "Just, you can't trust girls with anything or they go and blab about it."
Sakura flicked her cigarette sharply and glared. "I'm not blabbing, jerk, I'm trying to help. And taking it out on the entire female sex isn't going to do anything." She paused and snorted. "Though, you know…" she tapered off, motioning at Naruto vaguely.
Naruto rocked back on his heels, eyebrows raised in disbelief. He nodded and looked away, a little too silent and calm for safety.
Sakura sighed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that." Shaking her head she took one last drag of the cigarette and dropped it on the floor, grinding it down noisily with the heel of her boot. "Alright Naruto," she announced loudly, making him glance up at her. "Whatever. I'm sorry. Do what you want." Her eyes flickered briefly at Sasuke, who stared back in confusion. She pushed off from the wall. "I gotta go. Um…" she rubbed thoughtfully at the legs of her shorts, looking down. "You guys left the building this way last night, right? Maybe you should take a look around. Sasuke might have dropped his ring around here…So…see ya." She shrugged and smiled a timid smile, peeking up at the two from under her bangs before turning briskly and heading towards the street.
Beside Sasuke, Naruto groaned and rubbed fitfully at the back of his neck. He looked to the side, biting his lip, and then snapped his head up again. "Wait! Sakura," he called after her, reaching out an arm as if he could stop her when she was already halfway to the road. She paused and twisted around. He winced. "Thanks, okay?" he blurted awkwardly, cupping his mouth with his hands so she could hear and craning a little on his toes. She didn't react for a moment but then lifted an arm and waved, smiling and continuing on her way. Naruto laughed lightly and turned to Sasuke with a grin. And then his face fell.
"So, Naruto…what the fuck was that about?" Sasuke inquired silkily after a second or two, mouth set in a menacing little twist of feigned nicety and thoroughly enjoying the way Naruto's expression was starting to bring to mind a cornered animal.
Naruto swallowed, throat dry. "Like I said Sasuke," he carefully replied, eyeing the other boy warily, "nothing."
"Ah," Sasuke breathed, exaggerating the lift of his brows. He nodded and stuffed his hands in his jeans with a smirk. "Nothing."
"Yep." Naruto cleared his throat and kicked at a dusty shard of glass by his foot, avoiding Sasuke's gaze.
Sasuke chewed the inside of his cheek for a while, staring thoughtfully at a very uncomfortable Naruto. "Alright," he interjected suddenly into the silence, turning away a little and sighing. "You don't have to tell me. I just…I mean, why the hell does Sakura know and not me?" he asked in a bitter tone, almost immediately biting his lip on reflex and turning back to Naruto with guarded eyes as if he hadn't meant to be say that.
Naruto looked pained; head down and grimacing, one hand on his hip and the other bothering nervously at his neck again. "Look, uh…" He really was suffering in this situation.
Sasuke exhaled and looked to the side, staring blindly at the weathered and stained wall. "Nevermind."
"No, I…"
"Just drop it Naruto. It's okay. Let's just…let's look around for my ring."
"Um…yeah, okay." Naruto dropped his arm and stood tensely, staring at Sasuke like he was expecting him to turn around and announce that it really wasn't okay at all and to say farewell to his gonads.
Sasuke, instead, was kicking aside an old warped piece of cardboard propped up against a wall in order to check under it, glancing about him at any hint of something reflective and smooth in the littered floor of the alley. He paused suddenly and turned to glare at Naruto. "Well? Are you just going to stand there all day?"
"Oh! Sorry!" Naruto jumped and scurried to action, crouching to check behind a stack of boxes.
…[The previous night]…
Sasuke was gasping for air splayed on the dance floor. Naruto had him by the collar and everything was happening around him.
He was yanked up roughly and Naruto was pushing through everyone, ignoring the angry stares as he interrupted their frenzied dancing.
Sasuke stumbled forward past chairs, he hit one with his knee and Naruto's hand was gripping his wrist, when did that get there?
Hmm. He lolled in time to the beating music. And stumbled. Good, it was much cooler here almost cold. Naruto that dumbass yanked him forward was he pissed off or something, and he fell through a door and suddenly it was much quieter here and he had to hold himself up on his knees and arms to study the tiles. Why was everything white? It was all silent now.
Naruto dragged him up harshly and he was against the wall and still gasping for air. He felt like he was going to throw up.
"What the FUCK is your problem?" Naruto was yelling. He was so angry.
Sasuke didn't get it. He didn't get it? "What?" he said. What.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Naruto yelled.
Sasuke knocked his head back against the wall and laughed. Hey that hurt! He laughed.
"Naruto!" he slurred. "What are you talking about?"
Naruto growled exasperatedly and let him go and Sasuke toppled to his knees and stared at the ground and something about the vinyl tiles and the fake little flecks made him want to puke. He gasped for air.
He was pulled to his feet again and Naruto was dragging him along down the hallway and Sasuke didn't know if it would ever end but Naruto was pushing open a door and outside was the outside.
Sasuke twitched his neck sideways and gasped; god it was cold! Like, so cold!
Naruto pulled him outside and he could breathe in the space and the air and there was no one out here at all. The night fell heavy around them, Sasuke almost laughed with it all.
He stumbled forward and the dirt crunched. Ha ha! Naruto he called. He hoped Naruto heard him. Naruto.
He was still gasping for air and the world spun around him as he leaned his arms on his knees, hunched over.
"What?' Naruto muttered. They were alone outside in the alley.
"What?"
Naruto had let go of him Sasuke realized. He was all the way five feet away. Like five whole feet, Naruto.
Sasuke tripped on something and he landed hard on his palms and they burned, it was dirt and rough, and he leaned back on the wall then because it was there. Why wasn't there enough fucking air? The world spun.
Naruto was suddenly in front of him. He looks worried about something. "Sasuke?" Sasuke gasped for air and twisted his neck to the side, away from the face so he could breathe right.
And there was a door that slammed open and a man staggered outside, doubled over. His eyes glinted and his hair fell around his face and he looked at Sasuke, bent over.
Sasuke looked and looked. He had an earring and Sasuke scowled. That was the man, wasn't he? That was him!
Naruto was grabbing his arms tightly. Naruto, that's him? What's his problem? The man was bleeding from his cheek and nose and he sneered at Sasuke and stumbled forward. He spit on the floor. Nasty and thick! And he turned and staggered away to the other street. Into the darkness. Maybe there weren't any lights that way, like there were to the street. Sasuke laughed. Hey fuck you! He felt like yelling. Was he yelling, maybe?
His head banged the wall roughly. He was shaking—Naruto was shaking him. "Hey are you okay?"
No! Ha ha ha what a joke! What a great question, a classic!
"Are you okay, Sasuke." Sasuke looked at Naruto. He looked at his eyes and they were so wide and so blue. Ha ha ha!
"Yeah," he said. Yeah he was fine! Couldn't Naruto fucking tell?
Naruto was staring and staring. "Yeah?" Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was fucking cold out here and the gravel was rough under him. He realized his knees were bent towards him.
Naruto had a grip on him but them he dropped him like in disgust. "Good," Naruto said. I'm okay Sasuke thought. And Sasuke was dropped and alone against the wall. Ha ha Naruto...
And Naruto was walking away, was he angry or something. There was a little orange light above them. He looked up. What a light, an alley light jutting out from the wall! He was in a yellow circle of it, and his knees were bent up towards him.
Where the fuck did Naruto go? Sasuke twisted his neck to the side and he was gasping for air. Too much! He drank too fucking much! He was about to puke!
The tight feeling in his stomach went away but he didn't trust it. He banged his head against the wall and it hurt a lot but it was a detached kind of pain.
After a while he felt something on his cheek soft and warm and he looked and it was Sakura. Hello Sakura and she was worried. "Sasuke." Well yes. Hello, Sakura.
Naruto had left him alone! Where the fuck was Naruto?
"Come on let's get you out of here," Sakura was announcing. Let's go. And Sasuke was pulled up and it smelled like dry dirt and even though he was cold he could feel the heat of the day radiate off the walls and floor and Sakura was leading him forward to somewhere lighter. Look! The street light. That was the street. Sasuke tripped on his feet.
Sakura yanked him forward by the arm and he tripped but they were in the street light and there was entrance they had gone through into the bar. Who were all those people Sasuke wondered.
Sasuke looked around and everyone was staring. Hello I'm here. That was Gaara and also the tattoo guy was there from when he was fighting the other guy. Hello. Kiba.
And Naruto! What the fuck was Naruto doing here? Hey, fuck you. He had left him back there alone. Where it was cold and where the other guy had been. Hello Naruto.
Ino. "Hey let's go eat somewhere!" Did she say that? Was it spelled right? Everyone was decided. Let's go eat everyone. And everyone agreed but where was the place?
Where was the place, Naruto? Sasuke stumbled up to him in the yellow light of the street lamp and it was cold out here and people were just standing around in their clothes and he could hear the music coming from inside the bar and he could hear everyone. Everyone they were all there.
Naruto under the street light and he looked still angry maybe. Hello Naruto, your skin gleams yellow under the street lamp and I am moonstruck. What the fuck, they were going somewhere, weren't they? He wasn't so drunk until he tried talking and it didn't really come out right. Naruto? Naruto. Some people were laughing weren't they?
Naruto, where are we going? But Naruto was grinning now laughing along with everyone and he had his hands in his pockets and his breaths were making white vapor in the street lamp night. Ha ha! Hey Naruto.
I did say I'm sorry. So sorry.
They were going somewhere to eat. How would Naruto get there, Sasuke was staring at Naruto and maybe the other one didn't notice but he was like really close. Really close! Naruto I can breathe you, didn't you notice. Hello!
And Naruto was chuckling uneasy maybe and his hands were in his pocket. Hey, Naruto. They were going to go eat. But Sasuke wasn't hungry, only really [low chuckle] really drunk. I'm drunk Naruto.
Naruto was backing away, when did he get that close to him? Sasuke felt very cold under the street lamp and the dance music from inside the bar was still slamming into his head. He bit his lip harshly and wondered why people were afraid of hurting. It doesn't hurt at all! You just push it far enough.
He started laughing like low wheezing and someone had their hand behind him so he turned and found it was Sakura. Oh, hello. He was pushed and suddenly there was a car before him. Shiny silver in the lamp light and no one else was on the empty street, he couldn't see anything else at all. He was pushed into the empty seat. Where was he? In a car but whose car?
He rubbed his head against the cold window and it was fogging up so he couldn't see a thing. Not a thing! Where was Naruto! They were moving along and the bar was far behind them. Far, far behind. Where the fuck was Naruto? He didn't know. Naruto wasn't sitting in his row in the car so he didn't know. He rubbed his head against the cold window and frowned so everyone would know he was fucking pissed off. Fuck them! He needed it so Naruto would be there but they took him away. And they were in the car and driving away and Sasuke was looking out the window, frowning and the street lights whizzed by. People were laughing in his car. Hands on their knees and laughing and alive and wide eyed but he was staring at the yellow street lamps and the shady buildings whiz by in the cold dark. Oh hello.
What the fuck am I doing?
Someone maybe heard his thoughts because they said, "Oh we're going to get some food." Calm and quiet but then they we're laughing. No seriously! Where the fuck is Naruto? And they kept rolling down the street and there was more laughing. Maybe he was wrong? What.
Naruto wasn't fucking here in this car, was he?
But probably he was in another car, wasn't he? Why would he do that. And they were there soon and Naruto was in another car. To get food.
-------------
"Yeah…Sasuke, kiddo. I can't find it."
Sasuke stopped rummaging under a pile of discarded, deconstructed boxes and rocked back on his heels into an exhausted squat and squinted up at Naruto. He could feel a single drop of sweat trailing its way down his brow. Naruto was standing over him, all his weight on his left leg, and stretching an arm up to scratch his nape, the other on his hip. He had discarded his hoodie in the hot sun; under it he was wearing a simple white v-neck, the collar slightly darkened with sweat. "Don't call me that," Sasuke grumbled, glancing away.
Naruto groaned a little and licked his lips, dropping his arm. "It's fucking hot, man," he said.
Sasuke pulled his hand through his bangs and got to his feet. He too had discarded his blazer, setting it carefully atop a teetering column of wooden crates. The tight black tee he had under wasn't helping much with the heat, however.
"Really?" he couldn't help asking. It wasn't his fault 'sarcasm' and 'Sasuke' have such lovely alliterative potential. Naruto simply groaned again and looked up at some wiring crossing the alley above their heads, vivid black and slack against the neon sky.
He turned back to Sasuke with a thoughtful shrug of his lips, observing him carefully. "No luck?"
Sasuke sighed and looked away, hand running through his hair again. "No."
Naruto eyed him for a moment. "Let's go for food, yeah? I really don't think it's here."
It was Sasuke's turn to groan and he creased his eyes in irritation. "Didn't we just eat, loser?" he muttered, sullenly kicking at a dented can of Miller by their feet.
"Yeah, like two whole hours ago!"
Sasuke snorted. "God forbid you die of starvation, you poor thing."
Naruto rolled his eyes and looked around for his hoodie, spotting it hanging precariously off a splintery beam sticking out of the dumpster. He headed for it. "Let's go," he whined over his shoulder. "There's this great new thing Sasuke—you'll love it—it happens everyday at noon and it's called lunch." He grabbed the hoodie and slung it over his shoulder, turning to face Sasuke with a grin. "Chill out, dude. The next place we need to check is that old diner on 5th street anyway—we'll just eat there, and you then can inspect the grounds to your heart's content."
Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Naruto from where he stood across the alley. The dumpster was beginning to let off a sickly reek in the heat of the day. "Just how many places did we go to last night?"
"Uhm…" Naruto crossed his arms and grimaced. "Ok well we went to the movies with Sakura—you remember that—but you had your ring here at the bar so you couldn't have lost it there, so that leaves here—which we already checked—and then the diner after you got us all kicked out, and then…that convenience store that's like three blocks down from it—we stopped by so that Gaara could pick up some more booze, he knows the night shift guy—and after that we all kicked it at Gaara's until like, what…five in the morning?"
Sasuke had his eyebrows raised, mildly staggered by the work that was possibly cut out for them, and exhaled loudly. "Well yeah, Gaara, I remember that one," he admitted after a silence, glancing up the alley towards the street.
Naruto grinned cockily. "Well of course you do," he allowed, "That's where I, Naruto Uzumaki, saved your pitiful life." He sent a smirk Sasuke's way.
Sasuke eyed him doubtfully. "Whatever, loser. More like it's because I remember dog boy pushing me into the fucking pool—that water was motherfucking cold."
Naruto let out a peal of laughter and grinned at the littered, uneven pavement under their feet, sunlight glinting off his shaggy locks of hair. He hooked his thumbs in his pocket and started scuffing his way slowly towards the street. "I know dude. I was the one who had to jump in to pull you out."
Sasuke rolled his eyes but he couldn't hold back the small smile that had erupted onto his features. "Yeah, alright. Let's go," he surrendered with a sigh in the general direction of Naruto's back, whipping his blazer off the stack of crates and beating out the dust and splinters while trailing in the other's steps.
The gravel crunched under their feet. At the opening of the alley onto the sidewalk Naruto squinted as the sunlight hit him in the eyes. "I fucking hate this weather," he said. The air was burning up dry around them and some distance down the street there was a black quivering mirage on the asphalt, the distorted waves of heat rising above it; there was not a breeze to be felt for miles around.
Sasuke's eyes flickered towards Naruto and he shrugged. "It's not so bad." He walked around his car, still there despite the faulty meter, and dug in his pocket for his keys. Naruto was peering at him over the roof of the car from the passenger side, his face still scrunched in the brightness and a hand impatiently grabbing the door handle.
Sasuke glanced up at him and smirked. He found his keys and dangled them up in the air for Naruto to see, brows raised.
Naruto stared at him and gave him a strange look. Sasuke didn't move. "This is the part where you unlock the doors, Sasuke," he kindly informed him.
Sasuke grinned. "What's the rush, Naruto?" he inquired innocently.
"Uh, it's fucking hot?"
Sasuke jingled the keys and tried not to laugh at Naruto's growing annoyance.
"Bastard."
Sasuke snorted and finally clicked the remote lock, not waiting for Naruto's reaction as he opened his door and slipped onto the hot leather seat. (God, it's a fucking oven in here). He yanked the door shut with a thud.
Naruto landed onto his own seat roughly, irked, and slammed his door. "Ugh, quick the air conditioner," he pleaded, buckling his seatbelt.
Sasuke turned the keys in the ignition and his sleek black RX8 rumbled to life. Pulling out and making a swerving U-turn on the spot, he reached for the A/C and set it on high. Naruto immediately stuck his face up close to the vent and sighed happily. "I love your car so much, Sasuke," he mumbled, probably not completely aware of the words that were coming out of his mouth.
Sasuke glanced at him and wrinkled up his nose in disgust. "Sit back, moron, you're going to get sweat on my dashboard."
Naruto chuckled and, straightening up, grabbed Sasuke's blazer off said boy's lap and chucked it onto the back seat along with his hoodie. "Hey is that a new blazer?" he asked suddenly, turning back to look at Sasuke.
"No," Sasuke replied vacuously, keeping his eyes on the road, "It's Itachi's." Naruto fell quiet at the name, scanning Sasuke's face somewhat worriedly. Sasuke's gaze flickered towards him briefly and he scowled. "5th and what?" he bit out, taking a preemptive strike on the subject of his brother.
"Huh?"
"The diner, loser. I presume that's where we're going?"
"Oh um, South Olive. We've been there before, you know."
"Yeah once, not counting last night."
Naruto sighed exaggeratedly in pretend exasperation. "Whatever."
Sasuke rolled through an empty intersection with minimal consideration for the stop sign and made a right turn. "You know, I'm not really hungry," he said thoughtfully.
Naruto leaned his elbow on the door armrest, and smiled a half-hearted smile of condolence. "Hangover's a bitch, huh?"
Sasuke turned his pensive gaze on Naruto. "Hn. So I'll just take a look around. You can eat if you want."
Naruto played distractedly with the lobe of his ear, eyeing the moody driver. "It won't take long…Come on dude; I'm hungry but I don't want to eat if you're not going to."
"Ugh," Sasuke snorted. "Lay off the estrogen."
"Hey screw you, alright?"
"Is that an offer?"
"Just get a juice or something."
"Whatever."
"Alright then."
"Moron."
"Bastard."
"Hn."
"Hey! Unless mine eyes deceive me, I spy a Nine Inch Nails CD." Naruto made an unannounced dive for it, messily pushing aside the leafy assortment of maps and nondescript papers in the outer storage units of the glove compartment in order to pull out the scratched, worn CD case while Sasuke alternated his glares between the road and the overexcited Naruto, trying to restrain the idiot from wrecking the inside of his car.
"Calm down, dumbass." The car skidded to a stop just in time at a red light. A lot more papers were now on the floor of the car than in the slot.
"Hey, this is the one I gave you for your birthday last year," Naruto announced after a quiet second, followed by a chuckle of disbelief. "I thought you said you threw it out the window, or something?" He looked up questioningly.
"Well, I didn't actually throw it out the window loser," Sasuke grumbled, checking his rear view mirror as the line of cars started moving again and only half paying attention to the conversation. He looked back and noticed with mild irritation the grin in full bloom on Naruto's face. "Why the hell would I throw something out a window, Naruto? You weren't shutting up about it, but I didn't think you'd actually believe me."
"I don't know…It is you after all." Naruto looked down at the case like it was Christmas come early. "Hey remember that concert we went to last summer?" He glanced up, still grinning like an idiot.
"Uh…yes?" Sasuke ventured. (Is he checking for Alzheimer's now?).
"That was fun wasn't it?"
"Um, yeah…" Sasuke distinctly recalled how little fun it actually had been.
"Remember those chicks we met? They were pretty cool. Sucks we never heard from them—and they said they were from around here too…"
"Yes." Sasuke rolled his eyes. "A real pity."
Naruto stared for a moment and then snorted. "Whatever, let's listen to it, yeah?" He waved the case around vaguely.
"No, don't, we're almost there," Sasuke snapped as Naruto proceeded to open the case and made for the controls on the dashboard. They were turning onto a monotonous downtown street of concrete business fronts relatively busy with traffic and pedestrians, all the more with the ongoing construction near the middle—the wooden scaffolding rising stories above the sidewalk slumped, paint-stained, precarious, and in an eternal state of abandonment. Even the peeling posters chaotically plastered to the temporary wooden boarding lining the sidewalk were for months-old theater productions.
Naruto ignored Sasuke and pushed the eject button for the disc already in the player, replacing it with the one in his hand. "You know, it looked pretty beat up, Sasuke," he prompted as he skipped gleefully forward to the second track. "Don't tell me you harbor a secret love for the genius that is NIN, a band you once labeled—and I quote—'the biggest steaming pile of self-indulgent crap I've ever encountered?'"
Sasuke sneered uncomfortably and realized that it was suddenly very important that he check his sideview mirror, "No…"
Naruto simply flashed an impish grin, having pressed play and already singing along with gusto. "Hey pig, yeah you, hey pig piggy pig pig pig, all of my fears came true…" He nodded his head idiotically to the slinking, slow beat and the crooning male voice.
"God, shut up Naruto." Sasuke grimaced and swatted blindly in the other boy's direction. It was a well known fact that singing was not included in Naruto's repertoire of talents.
Naruto dodged the hand and laughed, turning up the volume. "Hey pig, nothing's turning out the way I planned…uh, naa na na [mumbles]…you could help me understand!" he resumed loudly, eyes twinkling in amusement as he watched Sasuke cringe away irritably.
"You don't even know the words!" Sasuke complained, seriously considering gagging Naruto and stowing him in the trunk. It was a very spacious trunk.
"And you do?" Naruto retorted, obscenely delighted at Sasuke's expense.
They had reached the diner in question, whereupon Sasuke had pulled into an obscure little drive immediately past it, walled in by the gray multistory buildings, chain link fencing and a beaten sign reading 'PARKING FOR ROSALIE'S DINER ONLY.' It led around back into a tiny and mostly empty parking enclosure. Sasuke turned into a spot and smirked at Naruto pointedly as he turned the key in the ignition, abruptly cutting off the flow of music. Naruto's horrid singing trailed off and he narrowed his eyes petulantly at Sasuke, who merely rolled his own and pushed open his door, stepping out. It wasn't nearly so hot here in the shaded concrete backlot as it had been in the sun parched barren streets around Hokage's, but still the air was dry and searing and the strewn garbage trapped where the fencing met the weeds seemed all the more pitiful and ugly in its dusty, fading desiccation. It was quiet and deserted, the noisy street muted by the drab buildings. Ridged concrete steps with a white-painted pole railing led to the back iron screen door of the diner. Next to the steps stood an open, green dumpster brimming with glossy trash bags.
Naruto jogged up behind Sasuke who had already started making his fast-paced way back through the side driveway towards the front entrance. "Hey wait up, bastard!"
Sasuke lifted his brows at him in bored acknowledgement and continued stalking briskly down the cracked and sun-bleached asphalt. Naruto who, as per usual, was employing far too much momentum and energy for the most elementary of tasks stumbled into step next to his detached companion, almost tripping forward—arms flailing and heels digging—but catching himself and straightening up with face-saving ease into a casual stroll, adding a nonchalant glance towards Sasuke to boot. After a moment he grinned mischievously and began swinging his arms and legs stiffly in a militaristic march. "Oh look at me," he mocked in a gruff voice. "I'm a man on a mission. What lands await my looming presence? Why, the all-night diner! Nothing will deter me from my goal!"
Sasuke eyed him dubiously from the corner of his eye as he walked, a smirk twitching at his lips. His arm suddenly lurched out to shove Naruto's shoulder playfully. Naruto laughed and staggered a few feet to the side, for the moment abandoning his ambitions at developing the perfect Sasuke impression, but he recuperated quickly with a snort and fell back into easy step with the other boy, hands clasped lazily behind his head.
How cute.
- I was obsessed with NIN for most of highschool.
- True story: The other day I was walking down 5th Street from the Central Library to grab lunch at the Subway across from Pershing Square, and I stop at the corner of 5th and South Olive and I see this restaurant: Sai Sai - Modern Asian Cuisine. It made me laugh outloud. Sadly, there was no one around that would get the joke with me. T.T
- Review please
--nostratic