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SMILE

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, and you should know that by now.

Warnings: NaruSasu, yaoi/shounen-ai, strong language, face painting, and tattoos, man.

Please review when you're finished reading. :)


CHAPTER EIGHT: MR. WHISKERS

With the ending of Professor Hatake's class, everyone rushed out of the halls of the campus, going outside and meeting with their companions in the main courtyard. The small groups of students always gathered in the same designated spots, never daring to enter another's territory. In each cluster of people, they were huddled together speaking in hushed voices, especially the females of the groups. Naruto was one of the last people to exit the building, as always, and headed towards the spot where he always met up with his friends. It lay beneath a few palm trees that created a lovely shaded spot to lie down in, and was right beside the large fountain in front of the college. He looked around and he saw that most people's eyes were on him. It seemed that everyone's mouths stopped moving and that they fell into silence all at once, before quickly exploding into renewed conversation. Naruto noticed how everyone around him seemed to be distrusting and socially intolerant. Somehow, it had never struck him before.

He knit his brows and he continued to walk, feeling a little more than uncomfortable. For once, he had no desire to be the center of attention. The loud noise of a car engine made his ears perk up. Naruto slowly turned his head towards the direction of the noise and he saw Sasuke's black car departing in the direction opposite of the campus. That somewhat confused Naruto. After their class had ended, Sasuke had left without a word, instead of waiting for Naruto as he always did. Sometimes, if Naruto did not have previous engagements with his friends, they would walk to their dorm rooms together. He wondered why Sasuke had left with such haste.

Not so far from where Naruto stood, Gaara, Ino, and Neji were speaking to each other. As soon as they saw him, their hands shot up and the three of them waved. He frowned when he noticed that his pink-haired ex-girlfriend was also there, but she had fallen silent as soon as he came into sight. Sakura had not bothered to wave, either. He had to admit that he was slightly disappointed that she was still angry about their split. Sakura did not even allow civil words to be exchanged between them. If they were constantly going to be around each other due to their mutual friends, it would only make sense to try and befriend each other. In reality, though, Naruto thought that would only make things more awkward, so it was best to leave it as it was. He would not mind if Sakura halted her glaring, though.

Naruto was about to increase his pace when a small group of girls with tight, tiny shirts and short miniskirts seemed to appear out of nowhere and crowd around him. He assumed that they must be Ino-wannabes. He cocked an eyebrow, questioning their reason for approaching him.

"Naruto...uh...I was just wondering…people have been saying that you and Sakura broke up. Is that true?" One of them asked him with wide, hopeful eyes. She bit her lip and laughed nervously when she noticed that sex-on-legs Naruto was not responding. She had not tried to sound happy about it; she really hoped that she did not.

Naruto stared at the girls in front of him and he reflected on their words. It was true that he and Sakura had separated, but they did not need to know that. He inwardly sighed, remembering that he was under the relentless, watchful eyes of the social scene of Konoha City. He was in no mood to talk to them, but he decided to play along and act nice instead of telling them to leave him alone.

"Yeah, why?" He asked, staring at them with blue eyes and a curious face. Naruto tilted his head to the side, appearing to look thoughtful.

The girl that spoke to him earlier stared at him with a gaping mouth and wide eyes, and then she turned to her friends for a group-squeal. Naruto sighed, letting his eyelids drop half-way down, and slumped over slightly. This was becoming exasperating. He wanted to do nothing more than eat some ramen before pestering Sasuke about his quick departure. He watched as the girl who seemed to be the leader of the pack of friends recollected herself and took a few deep breaths. She smoothed her hair and turned to face him. Naruto stared and waited for her to speak.

"So, you're single, right?" Not for long, she wanted to add, because soon Naruto-kun would be all hers. She tried to sound sexy when she said that.

"Um…well yeah, most people are after they break up with someone," Naruto said pointedly and looked at them with a blank expression. He quickly glanced to the side from the corners of his eyes to see that his friends were staring and waiting for him. Sakura had stood up, left, and was now talking to one of their other friends, Kiba. Naruto was looking at his friends quite conspicuously, but the girls seemed oblivious to that.

"Oh, of course," she said, quickly covering up for herself, and smiled sheepishly with a light blush tingeing her cheeks. "I'm sure that someone with your looks and charm will get another girlfriend soon. I wouldn't worry about it," she continued. "Soo…would you like to go out with me somewhere tonight?" She stuttered a bit, and then received glares from her friends. Naruto continued watching the unraveling scene before him as she met them with an equally forceful glower. The blond had just been nodding his head and going along with it, until she had asked that question. He seemed to snap awake at the last comment and he looked at them with renewed energy.

"Sorry, I can't," he said, smiling apologetically. "I'm hanging out with Sasuke tonight. It's real important. Maybe some other time?" Naruto flashed an attractive grin and waved quickly. He was about to leave when one of the girl's voices interrupted him. He turned to face her.

"Oh, my god. I didn't think that those rumors could be true. You are spending too much time with that weirdo Uchiha kid," she said condescendingly, stating the conformation of her discovery and looking at him with wide eyes. The other girls exchanged glances. Naruto blinked, taken aback. He had become confused enough for one day. So, there were even more rumors flying around about him. He shook his head in disbelief and he felt like banging it against a wall at the moment. It was too frustrating; he wondered why they could not leave him in peace. Yet again, he sighed, but aloud this time.

"Yeah, that is true. What's so great about that loser?" Another one of them said with a huff, tightly crossing her arms and looking away with annoyance. The others made angry grunts of agreement and they all turned their attention to him with their wet pig-eyes. Naruto just about had it with these girls. He gritted his teeth a bit and his lips pressed together to form a thin line. He really had to go and catch up with Sasuke. To get rid of them without having to be mean, he quickly wrote a false cell phone number on a piece of paper he ripped out of his binder and shoved it towards one of the girls.

"Bye!" Naruto shouted and ran off in the opposite direction before they could start squealing with glee.

By the time he was on his floor in the dorms, he realized that he had forgotten to approach Ino, Neji, and Gaara. Sometimes he wished that he was not such a fast runner, since it left him no time to think. Within himself, though, he knew it probably had not been that, but instead he had acted on impulse and he had wanted to find Sasuke. Naruto took the long way to his room so he could pass Sasuke's dorm and he pressed his ear against the door. He heard no one inside and quickly scurried to his room, trying to rid of the feeling of resembling a stalker. Naruto occupied himself with counting the dots on the ceiling and waxing his surfboard until he heard the roar of an engine and footsteps coming down the hall. He flopped onto his stomach and laid flat on his bed, waiting before paying a visit to Sasuke. He did not want to seem too anxious. Once he felt that he waited long enough (which was less than five minutes), he hopped off of his bed and swung open his door, making his way down the hall.

Naruto walked quietly, trying to make his steps as light as possible. Though the reason for his visit was rather important (when was it not?), that did not mean he could not have some fun with it. He stood silently in front of the door, raised his tan hand, and formed it into a fist, a mischievous grin slowly appearing on his face.

"Sasuke!" Naruto sing-songed as loudly as he could, slamming his fist against the wood of the door. His loud knocks were interrupted by the sound of papers swishing and a loud 'thump' noise of something falling onto the floor. Or maybe, someone, Naruto mused and his grin changed into a rather evil looking one. He promptly placed his hands behind his back, trying to make his face grow serious. He failed horribly, though. From inside the dorm, an agitated grunt was heard, along with angry stomps across the floor. They halted in front of the door, and after that, there was silence. Naruto's blue eyes flashed; he knew that Sasuke stood there, unwilling to let him in.

"What do you want?" Came his growling voice from the other side of the wall. At this, the blond smirked, but transformed it into a cheeky smile. He made sure that his voice sounded as cheery as possible.

"Oh, nothing really. Can I just come in and can you tell me why you ran off without saying anything?" He said in the same tone. Sasuke stood, puzzled, yet angry, at the other side of the door. He figured that Naruto would chase after him, but by the way he had said that, he could not tell whether or not Naruto was serious. Sasuke narrowed his coal black eyes, glaring at him through the door.

"No," he stated simply, refusing to say much else.

"Please?" Naruto asked, leaning his body against the door and pouting. "Or do you want to force me to do a B and E?" He grinned against the door, knowing that Sasuke had no idea what that meant. He did not take him as someone who watched comedy shows. Sasuke knit his eyebrows and stepped back in confusion.

"What?" Naruto heard Sasuke's voice ask from inside the room. He smiled triumphantly when his assumptions were proved correct.

"That means I'm going to kick your door down and enter your dorm, bastard. Remember how well all this went last time it happened?" He reminded him, his eyes turning into happy curves, much like Kakashi's would. Naruto smiled as he remembered the night that he met Sasuke. Sasuke had been such a bastard, yet it was very entertaining to be around him. It was still the same, but now the two of them were friends. Naruto chuckled, thinking about the slender, pale boy shuddering while he remembered that night. What was unbeknown to him, though, was when Sasuke did remember it, he tried to scowl but his face unwillingly formed into a barely visible smile.

Naruto heard him taking a few steps forward to twist the doorknob. He blinked his cerulean eyes for a moment and he observed how he was leaning all of his weight against the door. Sasuke never gave him a warning, and before Naruto had a chance utter a word, the door opened and he fell into the room. He had expected this to go much differently. When Sasuke opened the door, Naruto was supposed to wear a triumphant grin and tease the boy, then make him blush (since that was always so cute) before sauntering in. Naruto was not supposed to fall and crash into Sasuke, landing in a tangle of limbs on the floor with him on top. He was pretty sure that Sasuke had not expected to have all-muscle blond crash down on him either.

Naruto lifted his head from something dark blue and sneezed. His nose wrinkled at the overwhelming scent of peaches. He rubbed his nose and he noticed the dark blue object was his friend's shirt. He felt black eyes on him. Naruto stared at the stiff Sasuke beneath him who did not dare to move. He did a double take and looked at himself lying on him, with his arms to the sides of the Sasuke's head. Under me. Now there was something wrong with this picture.

He glanced at his friends face again and he noticed his irregular breathing and his red face. Sasuke remained completely rigid. Naruto figured that he was on top of Sasuke's chest, thus preventing him from breathing. He quickly realized this, rolled off the other boy, and stood up, smoothing the wrinkles on his shirt. Of course Naruto did not know this, but that was not the reason why Sasuke's breathing was irregular. He lowered his head so his bangs covered his reddening face and began to sit up.

"Sorry about that," Naruto grinned sheepishly, a faint shade of pink on his cheeks, but it was barely there. He offered Sasuke his hand and he blinked when the boy ignored it and stood up on his own. Sasuke seemed to be more focused on smoothing the wrinkles on his shirt rather than his friend. Naruto's gaze narrowed and he scoffed, retracting his hand that had been hanging awkwardly in the air.

"Bastard," he cursed under his breath and glanced at his friend from the corner of his eye. Sasuke was finally lifting his head.

"No need to say that, dobe," Sasuke said, looking up him. Naruto blinked, temporarily ignoring the insult in his sentence. His face was still a little pink and…oh my god…was that an odd glint in his eyes? He shook the thought out of his mind and his golden locks swayed as he did so.

"After all, that type of thing is typical for you, now isn't it?" Sasuke smirked. Naruto blinked dumbly and he knit his eyebrows for a split second before realizing what he had said.

"Hey!" He shouted, narrowing his eyes. Naruto Uzumaki would not stand to be insulted by anyone, especially this certain Uchiha. So, he did the first thing that came to mind. The blond grabbed the nearest pillow, whipped it at Sasuke, and stuck out his tongue. "Take that back or you'll get more of your peachy pillows to your face," he grinned mischievously as he said that.

Sasuke removed the pillow from his face and scowled, his hair somewhat disheveled. Even if it was just a pillow, that thing had stung like a bitch. Perhaps the dobe exercised at the gym in his spare time. Sasuke put the pillow to his side, not wishing to start a fluffy (and rather girly) pillow fight with Naruto. He considered hurling some other item from his room at him, but he did not feel like replacing objects.

"Shut up, dobe," he growled. He grabbed the newspaper from his night table and plopped down on his chair. His eyes scanned the words as he read it, but he was not processing the information. In the back of his mind, he knew he was looking for something on Itachi.

"Don't call me that," Naruto said and walked over, snatching the newspaper from Sasuke's grasp. He frowned and attempted to snatch it back from him, but the blond held it higher and out of reach from his arm. Naruto was inwardly laughing and he tried not to show it as he looked at the frown on his friend's face. Yes, teasing Sasuke never did fail to amuse him. He had to fight a smirk that threatened to appear on his face. As soon as he began to fail and the corners of his mouth started curling upwards, Sasuke glared.

"Give me that," Sasuke snapped, quickly reaching up and grabbing the newspaper. Once he had attained it, he stuffed his raven head back into it. Naruto raised an eyebrow at him, and a few seconds later, Sasuke spoke up. "Why are you here anyway? Why don't you just leave?" He said, biting his lip. He mentally slapped himself when he realized that he had reminded the blond about what he had come here for in the first place.

"Oh!" Naruto exclaimed. "Thank you for reminding me, Sasuke-kun," Naruto purred seductively into his ear, smirking when he shuddered. His fox-grin appeared on his face and he pulled away from his friend's ear. His grin suddenly faded and he crossed his arms, his gaze narrowing.

"Why'd you run away from me? You seemed in such a rush to get away from me," Naruto said, rolling his eyes. He then eyed his friend suspiciously, but he could not see his expression. Stupid little bastard Sasuke kept his head buried in that newspaper. "Is there something wrong? You seem okay to me." Naruto frowned and yanked down the newspaper. Sasuke immediately let go in fear of the newspaper ripping when he had not yet finished looking through it (He could not seem to find any news on his homicidal elder brother). Naruto squatted down so that he was eye level with Sasuke and he met his gaze. He tilted Sasuke's chin upwards and he inspected his face. Sasuke had no idea what Naruto was doing, but he did know that the spot where his hand was touching him would not stop tingling.

"Nope. You seem pretty well. Now, answer my question." Naruto's hand dropped and he aimed his glare directly into Sasuke's pitch black eyes. When he did not receive a response, he glowered more fiercely. Sasuke just stared unswervingly into the narrowed cerulean eyes with one question running through his mind. What did he mean by pretty well?

"Well?" Naruto pressed.

Sasuke decided that this was a good time for him the answer Naruto's question before he started shouting, flinging peachy-pillows, and 'B and E'-ing…whatever that meant. "Do you know that there are rumors about us?" He asked, sitting up somewhat straighter.

Naruto let go of his glare for a quick moment and glanced to the side, recalling the girls that he ran into not long ago. Yes, he did know this. He pouted and stared at Sasuke accusingly. So that was his brilliant reason for leaving so hurriedly. "Yes, of course, but we know they aren't true," he said pointedly.

Sasuke grabbed the newspaper again; left it folded on his lap, and shifted in his seat. Naruto had a point, but that still did not mean that all this was not hurting his damned Uchiha pride, and he could do without all of the unnecessary attention. "Damn Kakashi," Sasuke cursed under his breath. "Whatever, just don't hang around with me so much in public anymore," he murmured in a barely audible tone. He leaned back in his chair as Naruto stared at him. His curious expression took no time to form into a frown. With a mischievous glint in his eyes, he plopped down into the 'Sasuke only' chair beside his friend. Naruto did not mind at all how cramped it was with both of them in the small seat, nor how Sasuke was nearly on his lap from the lack of space. He draped his tanned arm around Sasuke's waist and patted the small of his back.

"That'll be a little hard, now won't it? After all, I do sit next to you in Professor Hatake's class." Naruto smiled and he moved Sasuke fully onto his lap. Sasuke blushed profusely and he was about to protest when the blonde's laugh interrupted him. "What? Your Uchiha pride hurting, bastard?" Naruto laughed again and ruffled Sasuke's hair fondly. Sasuke slapped his hand away and he quickly slid himself off of Naruto's lap. He moved to the other side of the room to sit on the bed. Naruto pouted and looked at him with pleading blue eyes, but his lips cracked into a grin soon enough. Sasuke just glared and crossed his arms.

Naruto placed his elbows on the arm rests and smirked at the glare that his friend gave him. The two of them sat in silence for a while. Naruto seemed to be lost in thought. Sasuke grabbed the newspaper again and began reading until his friend's loud voice interrupted his train of thought.

"You know," Naruto started, looking at Sasuke thoughtfully. "You treat me no different from when we didn't know each other and you wanted me to die." He remembered the looks that Sasuke gave him the night he 'kidnapped' him and took him to the bar. If looks could kill, Naruto would already have been slaughtered many times. Of course he had been able to tell that Sasuke had wanted him dead so he would leave him the fuck alone. Naruto flipped over on the chair, his feat where his head was supposed to be, his hair dangling towards the blue carpet.

"I suppose so, but my death threats have reduced quite a bit, haven't they?" Sasuke asked without looking up from what he was reading. He wondered what Naruto was trying to say.

"I guess…but you still call me a dobe." Naruto put on the best pout that he had and he knew that he looked cute. This time, Sasuke looked up at him and stared at his face for a minute before his lips slowly formed into a smirk.

"You take it that hard? It's more like a nickname than an insult."

Naruto immediately perked up and an innocent look took his face, but his eyes seemed taunting. He tilted his head to the side, flipped over again, and crawled back onto the chair, lying across it this time, his feet hanging off the armrests and his arms up behind his head. "Do I get a nickname for you?" He asked, smiling.

"No."

"How about Uchiha-Bastard?" Naruto raised his eyebrows and he maintained the innocent face. Insert evil glare from Sasuke. "You take it that hard?" Naruto teased, using his own words against him. He smirked and leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling, but he could feel his friends glare still on him. He turned his head to the side and he cocked one eyebrow, wearing a nonchalant expression. "You don't like that, hmm?" More evil glares from the raven-haired boy across the room. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Here come the death threats!" He exclaimed, throwing up his arms in fake exasperation, and then collapsing back onto the chair overdramatically. If he really wanted to, Sasuke was pretty sure that Naruto could make it as an actor. Sasuke scoffed and he glanced at the pillow on his bed from the corner of his eye. It was becoming very tempting.

"I will dispose of you later, but how about 'Sasuke'? You know, my name?" The said boy glowered. Naruto smiled and flipped over again, propping his elbows on the arm rest and placing his head in his hands. He figured that Sasuke's default setting just had to be 'glare'.

"Well, how about Naruto, for me, then?" He suggested.

"Shut up or I'll maim you, dobe," Sasuke said, deciding to throw a death threat in there and to use the word he had specifically told him not to call him. Sasuke mused contently, but he quickly stopped when he realized how much Naruto was influencing him. He glanced down again and continued to read the paper. Naruto got up from the chair and sat next to Sasuke, putting an arm around his shoulders. He smiled foxily and turned himself towards Sasuke.

"You wouldn't maim me. I'm your friend!" He exclaimed and leaned backwards onto the bed, taking Sasuke down with him. A small noise of surprise managed to escape Sasuke's lips as he felt his back hit the mattress. He rolled his head to look at his sunny friend beside him with annoyance .Yeah, I guess so, Naruto. Before he knew it, his face formed into an uncharacteristically warm smile.

Naruto looked in surprise at Sasuke's sudden change in attitude. There was an odd feeling inside of him; inexplicable happiness swirled in the pit of his stomach. He turned away from Sasuke. Naruto smiled to himself, rolled off the bed, walked over to the closet, and opened the sliding door. He began looking for something to distract him. If Sasuke smiled at him like that again…he ignored the thought and he continued to focus on the task that he had assigned himself. Naruto heard shuffling as Sasuke sat up and stared at him. He knew that he should be mad, but for some reason he only felt the need to be confused.

"What are you doing?" He asked, blinking.

"I dunno," came the barely audible reply from Naruto. He mumbled a few things to himself and continued to dig through the items in the closet. "Looking for something," he said simply.

Naruto tilted his head with curiosity when he found something in the back of the closet. Naruto grasped the ink and brushes that he had found and reappeared from the dark depths of Sasuke's closet. If he was in a cartoon, this would be the moment in which the light bulb above his head illuminated. Quickly he lunged for the newspaper which Sasuke had been reading, he spread it on the floor, and placed the ink and brushes on it, as Sasuke looked somewhere in between being dumbfounded and glaring.

Naruto swished the brush around in the ink and lifted it up, watching the black liquid slowly drip onto the newspaper below it. He grinned and patted the spot next to him, signaling for Sasuke to come down from his spot on the bed. Suspiciously, he crawled onto the floor and sat next to the blond, who was once again swishing the brush in the ink. Naruto quickly turned around, grabbed Sasuke's face before he had a chance to think, and raised the brush up to it carefully.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke repeated, growling, but he did not move his head from Naruto's light grasp on his chin. Naruto sighed, leaned over a bit more, and flicked the brush in his grasp. A few spots flew onto his and Sasuke's shirts, but he could not have cared less. His tongue peeked out of the side of his mouth and his eyebrows knitted in concentration. Sasuke felt something cool touch his skin. He was about to slap Naruto's hand away when he interrupted him.

"Shut up. I'm painting on your face," Naruto said dismissively as he concentrated. He continued to move the brush and Sasuke sat there, taken aback by his nonchalant tone, allowing him to continue drawing on his face. Naruto had said that like it was so very normal. He moved to Sasuke's other cheek and then his forehead before leaning back and admiring his work.

"Beautiful!" Naruto exclaimed, grinning, and flicked the paint brush again, sending ink flying. He closed on eye, formed a picture-frame shape with his hands, and looked at the 'beautiful' artwork on Sasuke's face through it. He gave him a thumbs up and Sasuke raised his hand to touch the ink on his face.

"No, not until it dries." Naruto yanked Sasuke's hand away from his face, and then suddenly jumped up. "I'll be right back! Don't you move!" He ordered before swinging the door open and disappearing down the hall, running. For some reason, Sasuke remained seated and listened to him. He wondered what the hell the dobe had drawn on his face. Tempted, he turned his head in the direction of the bathroom and considered going to look in the mirror.

He heard rapidly approaching footsteps and he whipped his head around, his raven hair flying all over his face. He glared in the direction of the door, where his friend was bound to be standing.

"Say cheese!" He exclaimed and pressed the button on his digital camera, a flash of light emitting from it. He laughed when he saw Sasuke stumbled back in confusion, blinded by the sudden, bright light. When the little purple dots in his vision cleared, he was not surprised to see Naruto standing there with a camera in his hands, laughing his ass off. Immediately, he glared at him.

"Sasuke! You have to see your face!" Naruto said in between laughs and ran over to his friend, plopping down on the floor next to him.

"Let me see that!" Sasuke demanded. Angered, he lunged for the camera and snatched it out of Naruto's now weak hand, since he was doubled over laughing. There Sasuke was on the screen, his eyes wide and a confused expression on his face, with a circle and a square on his cheeks, and a fairly large, lopsided triangle on his forehead. He was so going to get that damned Uzumaki for this. Sasuke was about to press the delete button on the digital camera when Naruto snatched it back.

"Okay," Naruto said, still recovering from his laughing attack. He took a few deep breaths before continuing on. "Your turn!" He handed Sasuke the ink and brush and sat down with his legs crossed. He closed his eyes, looking very serious, waiting patiently for his friend to start. Sasuke took it, stared, and the deliciously evil idea of drawing something utterly ridiculous on Naruto's face crossed his mind.

Naruto cracked one sky-blue eye open and looked at him. "Are you going to paint on my face or what, bastard?" Sasuke quickly snapped out of his thoughts and sent him the Uchiha Death Glare. The blond quickly snapped his eye shut and sat completely still, an impressive feat for him.

He had no idea what to draw. The thought of drawing something ridiculous on his face became increasingly appealing, but he could not come up with anything. Sasuke started to think about Naruto. His personality, his foxy grins, and how his voice could be so low that it was practically a purr…Without thinking about it, Sasuke's hands started to move, and he drew three neat, thin lines on each side of the blonde's face. He pulled away and inspected the work he had done. It was simple, but good. Really good…somehow, it suited him. Not to mention, it made his features seem more prominent and he looked more handsome than before, if that was possible. Now Sasuke was certain that he was losing his mind.

"Okay, you're done," Naruto heard his friend say in his usual monotonic voice. He snapped his eyes open and immediately rushed to the mirror, raising his eyebrows at what he saw. Three whisker-like marks on each side of his face.

"Hmm…" He made a thoughtful noise, inspecting his face. Naruto placed a hand on his chin and rubbed it thoughtfully, carefully touching the now dry ink lines on his face. "Wow," he said after a while and stared at himself in the mirror. "These make me look really good." He turned at different angles, inspecting himself, and his eyes never left the mirror. Hell, yes, Sasuke could not help but agree with him. He grabbed the camera, walked into the bathroom, and stood beside his friend, who was still checking himself out.

"How do you think I look, Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"Good, now stop staring at yourself like a self-infatuated male model," he smirked at his own comment. He cradled the small camera in his hands and then placed it on the counter. Naruto turned to him.

"Awww, thanks Sasuke. I'm so flattered you think I look like a male model." Naruto smirked and pinched Sasuke's pale cheek. He spluttered slightly and he felt face heat up, fighting a blush. He seriously had to stop doing that.

"I never said that, dobe," Sasuke said, narrowing his gaze. Naruto dismissed it with a smile on his face, then draped his toned arm over Sasuke's shoulders again and pulled him towards himself.

"C'mere," Naruto said and made a grab for the camera. Sasuke pulled his face away from the blonde's chest and shifted into a more comfortable position that did not involve so much contact between the two of them. Naruto lifted the camera and smiled brightly towards the lens, winking and sticking his tongue out. When the light flashed, Sasuke had his default-setting expression on; he was frowning.

Naruto went through the pictures and located the one he just took and laughed, the whisker-marks Sasuke had painted on his face crinkling up whenever he smiled. He lifted his head and watched Sasuke stroll over to look at the picture.

"This is so going in a picture frame," Naruto said and laughed, tucking the camera away in a pocket of his pants. Sasuke smiled and started to laugh lightly along with Naruto, since it just seemed so contagious. They stood in the bathroom laughing together and Sasuke started gasping for breath and Naruto clutched his stomach. They did not know why they were laughing, really, but they knew that they could not stop. Naruto cracked an eye open and looked at Sasuke, laughing harder when he saw him. He had never seen him like this before, sure, there was the occasional chuckle or scoff, but he had never really loosened up and laughed. He had to say, it was nice to see that.

Just when Naruto thought they were about to hit hysterics, Sasuke started to calm down from his laughing attack. As it got quieter, Naruto did the same until they stood there, catching their breath and smiling at each other. Suddenly, a great idea popped into Naruto's head. One last time, he glanced at himself in the mirror and inwardly smirked.

"You just gave me an idea, so now I have to get going. I bet you'll be surprised when I come in to class a couple of days from now. Bye, Sasuke! It was fun hanging with you, by the way," Naruto said and abruptly started to walk to the door before Sasuke even had a chance to process his thoughts. He quickly followed after him and he saw his blond friend paused in front of the door, unmoving for some odd reason unbeknown to him.

"Wait. What? Where are you going? What ideas?" Questions poured from Sasuke's lips, demanding answers.

"You'll see soon, and before I go, I gotta do a B and E!" Naruto said, grinning with a mischievous glint in his eyes. He saw an utterly confused look cross Sasuke's face, not remembering what the term meant. Now Naruto was sure that he had never watched Dane Cook before. Naruto slowly lifted his leg, stuck it out, and kicked the door forcefully, knocking it down. He speedily waved goodbye and sped down the hall, his laughs filling the hallway. Sasuke just gaped. He had not expected that. What the hell was that? He supposed it was a 'B and E', which apparently translated to 'kicking your poor friends freaking door down and running off with insane, maniacal laughter'. If he was not going to kill Naruto before, he was definitely going to do it now. After he washed these shapes off of his face, that is.


It was that day. The day Naruto had said that he would come into Professor Hatake's class with a surprise. Well, it was indeed Naruto who had said that, so Sasuke was not entirely sure if it was true, since he could just be trying to mess with him. And get him all anxious to find out what it was. And head to his class earlier than usual, start fidgeting around, and digging his fingernails into his seat. Or maybe even make him look at the door every time someone walked in, expecting to see his blond head and the surprise. Not that Sasuke was doing any of that, of course. Sometimes, though, it disturbed him how Naruto could get to him like this when no one else could.

In the midst of spacing out, Sasuke failed to notice how silent the class had grown and the footsteps approaching his seat. He heard the sound of someone sitting in the seat beside him. Sasuke lifted his head and he saw everyone staring in his direction, yet again. He hoped this would not be a repetition of the last time he was in this room. His obsidian eyes scanned the classroom and he noted that the only person that was not looking was that bitchy delinquent, Shinkei, or whatever her name was.

"Hey, Sasuke," Naruto's said, and by the tone of his voice he could definitely tell he was grinning that fox grin of his. Sasuke scowled and glanced around suspiciously. There was no reason to be staring at him today.

"Hey, Naruto, do you know why they're all staring in our direction?" He asked, then looked up to Naruto's face and gaped. Now it was quite obvious why everyone's eyes were on them. The whisker-marks that Sasuke had painted on Naruto the other day were on his face. Except it did not look like ink, it looked permanent, like a tattoo. A tattoo that made him look damn sexier. Sasuke could swear, all the girls in the class were swooning, and even through Sakura's angry and surprised look, he could see that her cheeks were the color of her dreadfully pink hair.

"Hmm…I don't know. Any ideas, Sasuke?" Naruto asked, a very fox-like grin planted on his face. Now he knew exactly why he had chosen to draw those whisker-marks on his face. Everything about him reminded Sasuke so much of a fox. Naruto leaned back with that same look on his face, planting his feet on the top of the desk. Sasuke nearly rolled his eyes; his ego was growing too large.

Everyone continued to stare until Professor Hatake made his way into the room, late as usual, and threatened the class with his brand-spankin'-new meter stick if they did not turn their attention to the board right that second. The class obliged, but occasionally someone would glance back. Sakura did so about every few minutes, looking like she could not believe her eyes. It seemed like the green monster of jealousy held her in its grasp more tightly than before. All throughout class, Sasuke sat up somewhat straighter, glad that he was the one to originally draw the marks on his face. An arrogant smirk settled nicely onto his features.

Once the class was over, Naruto stood and gathered his things, eagerly accepting all the stares he received from everyone. He smirked, walked out of the room after saying goodbye to his gray-haired professor, and wondered why Sasuke was taking so long to get out from his seat today. Usually he was out before him. Naruto dismissed the thought and he walked towards his friends' meeting spot. The sight he laid his eyes upon made his haughty smirk falter. Sakura was standing in a circle with Gaara, Neji and Ino. He did not have to be there to know what she was telling them. Naruto moved closer and closer, now able to clearly see his friends' reactions.

"What? Why didn't he consult us first?" He heard Ino say, sounding disappointed. Just by her tone of voice he could tell she felt left out.

"No. He couldn't have done that," Gaara said, narrowing his eyes. He crossed his arms and glared daggers at Neji's shoe.

"I know!" Sakura screeched angrily. Naruto had no trouble identifying that she was definitely the most irritated out of all of them.

"Hm. Quite a surprise, isn't it?" Naruto stopped walking towards them when he heard Neji's velvet voice. He sounded as if he had no problem with everything, which was odd, based on his other three friends' responses. Actually, he was uncertain if his ex-girlfriend counted, but regardless. Naruto smirked and increased his pace, imagining Neji looking at them with his indifferent white eyes.


(A/N): For those of you that see this chapter as a filler, its not. Well, kinda. I need more fluff before the 'main thing', as I call it, happens, and Naruto needed his whisker thingies too. Also, if you look closely, squint, and tilt your head to the side, you can see plot developing in there!