Naruto walked back into the office of Unit Seven, immediately being greeted by his co-workers. It was his first day back since he had been attacked, and it felt great to be out of the hospital. Iruka had tried to talk him into staying at home for a few days before going to work again, but Naruto just wanted to get back out there, and forget the attack altogether. Iruka had to go back home yesterday, so Naruto would have been bored out of his mind if he had to be alone in the apartment. Too much energy for just laying around, and he wasn't allowed to do any of his usual outlets, like working out. Getting almost killed was such a bother.
His neck was sore, his stitches scheduled to be removed tomorrow, but he had painkillers that took the worst edge of the pain, and he didn't intend to go into the field just yet so he would be just fine. He was stuck with paper work until the wounds healed more, but that was alright, paper work was better than no work.
He could see Sasuke sitting at his desk, eyes glued to the computer screen. The raven was probably furious, having been confined to stay behind the desk until Naruto was fit for duty. Apparently he hadn't even been allowed to come into work for the last days, Kakashi insisting that he needed a few days off.
Naruto hadn't talked to Sasuke since the attack, but he had heard about what happened from Kiba, and he knew Sasuke had saved his life back there. Naruto was grateful, and normally he would have been all over his saviour expressing his gratitude, but he didn't really think Sasuke would appreciate that. Seeing how he hadn't even visited Naruto in the hospital it was obvious he still didn't like Naruto. Saving his life had probably more to do with it being a part of his job than anything else. But then again, there was the fact that he had sliced that vampire into bite sized cubes, which was going way out of the job description. Naruto wasn't sure where he had Sasuke right now, if they were warming up to one another, or if they still hated each other.
Naruto didn't know what it was about the two of them together, but they clashed horribly. He just couldn't keep calm around the other, and Sasuke likewise seemed to find every single thing about Naruto to be horribly infuriating. They did work as a team though, so as long as they had something to hunt they were good. Too bad the job entailed more than just hunting.
Sasuke never looked up from his computer screen, so Naruto just ignored him and walked past him heading towards Kakashi's office to greet their leader. Unlike Sasuke Kakashi had visited him in the hospital, as had the other members of the unit. Even Gaara, the quiet man that Naruto had barely seen at all since starting here had showed up together with Kankuro and Temari, who Naruto learned were his brother and sister. Gaara had been away on some big mission in another city, along with Temari's partner, Shikamaru, and another team consisting of Sakura and Lee. Every single one of them had visited at some point, and it made Naruto beam with joy. Apparently they saw him as important enough to visit even if they hadn't met him yet. If he had known this was the one place where people didn't treat him like shit he would have joined the department earlier. On the police force he had been tolerated, but here he was actually making friends, it was a great improvement.
Sasuke was the only one had hadn't seen, and the raven still didn't seem to want to acknowledge him, so Naruto was just going to ignore him right back. He could be just as stubborn. In fact, being stubborn was probably one of the things he was best at, so hah! He was totally going to show Sasuke that it took more than getting munched on to stop Naruto Uzumaki!
Kakashi was, for once, not reading a dirty novel when Naruto stepped into the room, he was on the phone. He waved at Naruto, motioning for him to sit down in one of the chairs in front of Kakashi's desk, so Naruto did, waiting for Kakashi to get off the phone. He couldn't help it and caught a few snippets of what Kakashi was talking about. Something about an early morning arrival, and an unknown number of days. Sounded like their leader were going on holiday or something.
Finally Kakashi got off the phone, smiling behind his mask as he turned towards Naruto. "I'm so glad to see you up and about," he said. Naruto just grinned back. He was just as happy to be out of that bed, he had grown insanely antsy by the end of his stay, longing to get out of the smell of medicine and bleach that seemed to fill the hospital.
"As you know you won't be able to go into the field just yet, doctor's orders."
Naruto nodded, knowing that if the doctor hadn't ordered it, Iruka would have, so there was not much to do about it. He just needed to heal as soon as he could manage, and then he would be back out there, saving the world, one nasty vampire at a time.
"I do, however, have a mission that would involve getting out of the office, but no immediate danger."
Naruto perked up. Anything would be better than being coped up here.
"I'm sending you and Sasuke off for an intel hunt. There's a guy you'll need to talk to. Getting to him won't pose any dangers, he's a pacifist by nature, but actually finding him will be, so it will mean going away for a week at least. We know which city he lives in, and which haunts he usually frequents, but you will have to scour the place to find him, and then find some way to actually get him to talk. No violence whatsoever."
Naruto nodded. He could do no violence, no problem. He wasn't so sure about Sasuke, the raven didn't strike him as the diplomatic type, but that wasn't Naruto's problem. Or well, it would be Naruto's problem if he would end up having to do all the work because Sasuke would rather swing a blade than talk. Fuckety-fuck.
"I've composed a file with all available information on your target and sent it to your computer. Download and read it all. You will be leaving tomorrow evening."
"Where are we going?"
Everyone heard the yell of anger from Kakashi's office ten minutes later as their leader broke the news to Sasuke. Naruto was well into reading through the files on their target, and barely looked up from his computers to see Sasuke stalk out of the office, fury apparent on his face. Didn't look like Sasuke much wanted to go to Las Vegas. Or maybe it was the fact that he would have to go there with Naruto that was the problem. Or the fact that they were prohibited in bringing any kind of weapons along with them.
Naruto wasn't too pleased about the sleeping arrangements either, but he was silently happy they wouldn't be bringing any weapons. Mostly because if Sasuke had a blade or gun nearby Naruto was pretty sure the raven would kill him before the week was over.
Why ever Kakashi thought it was a good idea to have them share a hotel room was a mystery to Naruto. They could barely share an office together, and that was with eight other team mates around to defuse any situations. Without them to interfere Naruto wasn't sure both of them would be coming home, at least not with all their body parts still intact.
Sure, Sasuke hadn't as much as said a single word to him since the attack, but that certainly didn't mean that he didn't still hate him. The fist fight from the other day was sign of how bad the two of them would fare together, and even if they worked surprisingly well together in the field, apart from the whole almost-dying incident, this wouldn't be anything like that. No adrenaline pumping as they chased down vampires, just walking and talking and digging for information. Not to mention that usually they would be able to go back home, alone, but now they would have to go back to a shared hotel room.
Naruto knew Sasuke wasn't the sole problem. He had dealt with assholes before, usually finding it best to just stay away and ignore them, but there was something about Sasuke. Something that made him want to prove himself, to show the raven that he was just as good as him, but in doing so Naruto maybe got on his nerves a little bit. Iruka had said as much when Naruto complained about his partner in the hospital, that maybe could come off a little too strong at times and maybe not everyone appreciated that.
It was obvious Sasuke had some issues. No one got that moody and ice-cold from a happy life. So maybe Naruto should try a little bit harder to get along with his partner, for both of their sake. If Sasuke couldn't stop being an asshole, well, then Naruto would just have to do the job for him, slowly making the raven come over to his side. They might be nemesis, but that didn't meant they couldn't be friends, did it? He'd just talk to Sasuke, and then they could calmly discus their mission, like grownups.
Sasuke threw the door to Kakashi's office shut after him and stalked down the stairs towards his desk. He could tell that the other agents were staring at him, but he really didn't care. Not only had he been forced to take time off, now he was sent on this stupid mission. He was a vampire hunter, not a fucking intel gatherer. It was a good reason he had chosen this unit instead of the others, he was better with a blade than he was with the talking.
Not only that, but he would have to do it all while in the company of Naruto. Days spent together with him, listening to him yap. Sure, he was happy the blond wasn't dead, but that didn't mean he wanted to be partnered with him. If only Naruto had taken the opportunity to be scared enough to get a new job, that would have been fine with Sasuke. But no, here the blond was back already, and because he wasn't ready for proper field duty just yet they were going on this excuse of a mission.
And of course it was in fucking Las Vegas. The thought of that alone made Sasuke angry. All gambling and alcohol and idiots all around. Fuck it all. He would just have to power through, get their intel sooner rather than later and get back home to start doing his real job again.
By now he was back at his desk, glaring angrily at the computer screen. He was vaguely aware of someone talking to him, and looked up, seeing blue eyes locking with his. He had no idea what Naruto had been saying, and Naruto seemed very aware of the fact. He looked rather pissed off actually. Nothing new then.
"Nice to see you too," the blond said, "oh, I'm feeling good, thanks for asking. Why yes, it's good to be out of the hospital, so nice of you to worry."
It took Sasuke a moment to realise the sarcasm dripping from Naruto's mouth.
"Fuck you," Sasuke answered, turning back to his computer.
"No thank you, I'd rather lick the bathroom floor."
Sasuke looked back up at the blond, scowling. As if he'd ever want to get his dick anywhere near the blond.
"You know, all the others came to visit me in the hospital," Naruto continued, his fingers lifting to scratch lightly at the heavy bandages covering the side of his neck.
"What, wasn't it enough that I saved your ass, you wanted me to give you sponge baths as well?" Sasuke shot back.
"Well, maybe it would have been nice to see that you cared about your partner, not just doing a job."
Sasuke shrugged. "Maybe I was just doing my job."
Naruto was practically vibrating with annoyance at this point, and Sasuke had to dodge a pencil that suddenly flew towards his head.
"They told me what you did, asshole. No way were you just doing your job. No vampire needs that much chopping up to stay dead."
"Maybe I was just pissed off at you ruining the mission by being attacked."
"It's not my fault!"
"Sure it was. Did you see me getting attacked maybe?"
Sasuke could see blue eyes sparking in barely contained anger and went for the kill.
"You are just not good enough, Uzumaki."
Sasuke wasn't sure why he was goading Naruto, why he so desperately wanted the other to be angry with him, but he was doing a fine job at it, that was for sure. Naruto was out of his chair the moment the words had left Sasuke's mouth, fist flying through the air. Sasuke dodged a little too late, the fist connecting with his temple. He hissed as pain blossomed, but couldn't help the grin spreading on his lips.
"Please do fight me again, Naruto, show everyone how little control you actually have."
He could see Naruto shaking with anger, and knew it would take very little to push him completely over the edge. Sasuke was about to give him that last shove when he was interrupted by Kiba. Apparently the other agent had had enough with the brewing fight, and stepped in before it burst out completely. He laid an arm around Naruto's shoulders, getting his attention while slowly turning him around from Sasuke. Sasuke couldn't make out what the mutt was saying to Naruto, but it had the desired effect, and soon enough the two of them walked over towards the kitchen nook.
Sasuke turned back to his computer, typing away a request to one of his contacts. He wasn't sure if both Naruto and him would be coming home from this Las Vegas trip, chances were one of them would strangle the other before the first day was over.
Naruto reloaded his Glock with regular bullets, lifted it, adjusting his grip a little and sent the first bullet flying. It tore through his paper target with perfect accuracy, leaving a neat little hole where the heart would have been. The next one pierced the forehead, before the next two took out the kneecaps. One through each shoulder, and then he emptied his clip into the crotch, blowing out a large, ragged hole.
Grinning satisfied he laid down his gun and took off his ear muffs as the paper target flew along its track back to him, allowing him to clip it down to see his handy work.
The black human sized outline was like it always was, but Naruto had used a black marker to add spiky hair, and the word Sasuke above the figure, crudely drawn arrow pointing towards the now mutilated silhouette.
Fastening a new paper target in the clip he looked at it as he moved back down the gun range. This too was customized with the Uchiha's signature hair do, and his name above it. Bullets clicked as Naruto pushed them into the clips. He was finding this activity to be very helpful, imagining Sasuke's smirking face on each of those paper targets made honing his skill with the gun a whole lot more fun.
So, he would have to try not to attack Sasuke while they were on their mission, their last confrontation a few hours earlier had made him pop a couple of stitches. Apparently throwing punches when you were all chewed up was a bad idea. Kiba had bandaged it all up again though, so it wasn't a big deal.
He needed to get some aggression out of his system before leaving though, or he would never pull through. He knew working together would be a problem, but it was the whole staying in the same room that would be the trigger of the potential blood bath. What Kakashi was thinking he had no idea, but the grey-haired man had refused to change their room to two separates, even if Sasuke apparently offered to pay. Kakashi meant it was crucial to the case that the two of them be together at all times.
Emptying his clip into the paper target Naruto braced himself for the week from hell.
A/N: Yup, this last part is where I got the inspiration for the cover picture for this fic. ;) Things between the guys are as bad as ever, but I'm sure they'll both behave exceptionally well in Las Vegas. Can't see how any conflicts would arise from that situation at all, actually. *evil laugh*
