A/N: Well. This was a lot sooner than I had thought it would be, since I was struggeling with bringing Jiraiya into the picture. Yes, I'm including the old pervert, but there's really only one other character that I'm thinking about bringing into the story. If your favorite character isn't here, you can request them, and I'll see what I can do.
However, I'm mostly happy with the second part, wherein Sasuke goes to Naruto's apartment. Fun times, that...
Speaking of Naruto's apartment, I have decided that I like Naru-kun's bathroom too much. I'm going to model my bathing room after the one in this story, complete with bright orange towels (which I'm waiting to go on sale, but have already found and gotten many odd looks when I nearly screamed and began to pet them. - -')
Anyways, I hope I don't get anyone too out of character here. I'm not trying to make them OOC, but if they are, please remember that this is a reincarnation fic. They aren't going to be carbon-copies of their past, so I deserve some character-leeway.
Final note, I gave all of my stories themes, if you haven't seen. I'm thinking that Iris (by Goo Goo Dolls) fits pretty well for this story, but it is subject to change if I find one that fits better.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything related to Nickelback, nor any songs from their CD The Long Road. I'm just using them, please and thank you.
I lied- one last thing. Can anyone guess who the buxom blonde is? -n . n- I'm sure you can...
Now, enjoy this chapter. Next one is a time skip! (Finally!)
--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--
Sasuke still hadn't been shaken off by the time Naruto got to the market. Situated at the corner of Naruto's block and the main street, it was a small, probably family owned (Naruto had never found out if it was or not) and had the quaint feel of a business which had been alive for decades. The blonde had no idea why the pompous Uchiumi was still following him, but he probably wouldn't be able to break away from Naruto's friend.
The blonde walked into the store and made a bee-line for the packaged pasta section. There was a small area of ramen reserved for Naruto only, and it was never touched, lest the boss, Naruto's pal, decided to attack anyone who made the stash disappear.
That is, unless it was someone like the girl who was examining the pile. She had a very buxom figure, her shirt pulling in all of the right places, her skirt just a bit shorter than what was considered decent, and her lips jutted out in a small pout. And, the pervert was standing there, trying to help her buy it!
Jiraiya Nagano, old yet looking in his mid-thirties, complete with smiling eyes and white hair that reached to the middle of his back, stood trying to peer down the woman's precariously cut shirt. He wore a red shirt with khaki pants, rubbing his hands together and agreeing with everything the woman was saying.
"Yes, there's only one person who buys it, and he's not here. Come now, it's a good deal. Five for a dollar! Tell me that isn't the cheapest you've ever seen?" he asked the blonde, pig-tailed costumer.
"Oh, so I'm invisible, am I?" Naruto said. "You think you can just sell my ramen without my knowledge?" Naruto brought a fist up to his face.
The girl stood and blushed. "I'm sorry, I was just considering tasting some," she said in her high, definately feminine voice. "I've never had it before, but if you like it that much, I wouldn't dream of taking it." She was slightly taller than Naruto, and patted his head affectionately, then turned and left.
Jiraiya sputtered. "Wait, don't leave...!" The girl walked to the register, completely ignoring the old pervert she had left behind. Jiraiya, a hand reached out as if to stop her and make her return to him, couldn't believe what he was seeing. He had thought he'd had a chance... With deadly purpose, he turned to face a ranting Naruto.
"...believe you almost sold it all! I thought we had a deal, you old pervert, but you broke it! How many other times have you done... Ow!" Jiraiya's fist bounced off of Naruto's head, causing said appendage to get knocked down. Naruto looked up with a heated stare to face the white haired grocer. "What the hell was that for, you perverted hermit?"
"You interrupted my sale!" Jiraiya's anger matched Naruto's. "The costumer is always right, and I was right to offer her a chance to buy what she wanted. But you had to go and ruin it."
The arguement that proceeded was vicious and highly entertaining for the slowly gathering crowd of middle-aged mothers, young children accompanying them, and various bachelors that had to shop for themselves to survive. It nearly escalated to a fist fight, if the cheering hadn't gotten so loud as to break the two fighters from their rage.
Jiraiya scattered the crowd as Naruto began to shovel ramen packages into his basket. "Idiot pervert, always thinking about women, doesn't possess a single brain cell..." Naruto muttered as he got the necessary food he was out of.
The white-haired shop owner folded his arms. He waited until Naruto had stood up, then glared at the sun-kissed boy. "I hope that isn't all you're buying," he said. "I was hoping to be able to sell some of that to other people, not just yourself."
Naruto waved a hand. "Whatever. Just put it on my tab, and I'll be going." He walked to the register, unloading his basket. Jiraiya watched in silence, contemplating the complex youth that he had taken under his wing. The boy was growing into himself, and in more ways than one. The hermit was glad for that, and hoped that nothing bad would happen to the teen.
He watched with dark eyes, holding more wisdom than could be gained in a lifetime, as Naruto left the store.
--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--
Sasuke watched Naruto leave the crowded little shop. He caught his classmate shooting him a glare and shrugged it off. He had followed the adolescent thus far, and he wasn't about to turn back now.
The neighborhood that they walked through was a shabby place, one that just screamed gang activity and random acts of violence. Nothing was in any semblance of order; the streets, sidewalks and buildings hadn't been cleaned in ages; there were more homeless people than Sasuke had ever seen in his entire life; and they were approaching a building that looked like it had been built by an unmatched set of Lincoln Logs. The brunette wanted to turn his nose up at the filth, only barely stopping himself from sneering at the passersby.
Naruto walked into the building without any regard for how rundown it was, and Sasuke barely caught the door. As soon as he walked in, he hurried to catch up to the blonde, rubbing his hand vigerously against his pant leg. He shifted his bag in his hand, wishing he could wash hands that felt like they had been through the sewer.
The youngest Uchiumi didn't break a sweat climbing the ten flights of stairs that lead to Naruto's apartment. He had had worse excersize in his own home, dodging girls and women alike who had tried to corner him and foist themselves onto his person. He watched Naruto pull out a key, force into the lock while juggling two giant bags of instant ramen packs, and finally get the place open.
He addressed Sasuke without turning. "If you're coming in, hurry up," he said in a gruff voice. Naruto hadn't thought that his peer would make it even halfway to his home, and he wasn't a cruel bastard (like a certain someone), to turn away someone who obviously wished he was elsewhere.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow before walking forward, catching the door and entering the small domain. He shut it behind himself as he got his first look at his adversary's den, and if he hadn't had as much control over himself as he did, he would have fled in terror.
If Sasuke had thought it was bad outside, among the lower-classed masses, he wasn't prepared for the mess that was Naruto's collection. It appeared as if everything had been bought, used, and left where it lay. The apartment had a feel of a battle ground, with random piles of clothing dotting the floor in between dirty dishes, old papers, crusty leftovers, and things that Sasuke didn't even want to know about.
He delicately picked his way through, following Naruto and wincing as the youth not only took off his shoes to walk, stocking-clad feet not caring where they stepped, into the kitchen.
It was a nightmare. Nothing appeared to have been cleaned since the boy moved in a decade or more ago. Sasuke, having always been fastidiously clean, tightened his lips and closed his eyes. If he could just pretend he wasn't there, if he could just pretend he was in his own room, if he could just ignore the smell that wouldn't leave him alone...
"Forgive me if I forgot to clean, seeing as I didn't know I was going to have visitors," Naruto said with sadistic humor. He was enjoying Sasuke's discomfort entirely too much, relishing the way the teen had paled and refused to open his eyes. "I'm not used to people coming over."
Sasuke's eyes snapped open. "Just how can you live in a...pigsty like this?"
Naruto smiled darkly. "Just as easily as you can live in a place that doesn't have a noce, homely touch to it. You're place is like a museum," he commented off-handedly, snagging the last ramen package from the bag (miso, his favorite) and getting ready to make some.
He saw Sasuke wince out of the corner of his eye as he stepped over a package of old, moldy bread, and smirked inwardly. He purposedly pulled a dirty pan from the sink, washing it out without using any soap or disinfectant, and put it on the stove. "Would you like anything?" he asked a little too innocently.
Sasuke shook his head mutely, his eyes shut once more. Naruto noticed that his eye had started to twitch ever so slightly, and filed it in the back of his mind for future reference.
The horrified adolescent wished that he could take a deep, cleansing breath, but didn't dare. The air smelled like rotting chicken sprinkled with growing mold and old spices. Not a pleasent combination.
Naruto shook his head. "Jeez, you act like you've never been in a disorganized place before."
"Disorganized?" That was the biggest understatement ever. "Idiot, that's like saying my room is only slightly messy. I can't believe you live here."
Naruto narrowed his eyes. "How I live is none of your business. It's my house, and I'm so sorry that I haven't been home enough to keep it all nice and shiny for you."
Sasuke cracked his eyes open slightly. "And just what could be so important, more so than having a clean living space?"
"Oh, I don't know," Naruto said sarcastically, "a job? Homework? A life?"
"You have a job?"
A snort. "Of course I do. Not all of us are rich bastards like yourself, you know."
A glare. "I don't make a point of living off of my brother's charity."
"That doesn't change the fact that you're the world's biggest prick."
"You can't even keep up decent grades."
"At least I'm not a mindless jerk."
"Asshole."
"Demented ferret."
"Dimwit."
"Persnickity."
"That's not even a word, dumbass."
"Of course it is; it means that you're obsessively compulsive, moronic imbicile."
"Brainless oaf."
Before they could continue clashing words, the timer went off. Naruto spun and began to furiously put together his meal, his stomach growling in anticipation. He slowly tried to calm himself, as he was spilling more than he was making. It didn't work very well, though, and by the time he was brushing past his glaring counterpart, he had less than half of the water he had started with.
He saw Sasuke turn, keeping his person in sight at all times. Naruto sat on his chair, the only clean surface, and dug into the tantalizing noodles. He covertly watched Sasuke as he sneered, winced (though he wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't been watching the teenager closely) and generally disapproved of Naruto's apartment.
"If you hate it so much, you're welcome to clean," Naruto offered with a mouth full of food and an evil smile on his face. "I wouldn't complain, and it'll give you something to stop your annoying fidgiting."
Sasuke wanted no more than to attack the blonde, but he was afraid of touching the pile of...something, that sat right at Naruto's feet. It looked like something that would leap up and attach itself to an unwary person's face, leeching the life from their mouth and turn them into evil, unwashed, gurgling, unclean minions.
Sasuke didn't move, and Naruto finished his meal off trying not to give into the murderous annoyance at the brunette's constant twitching. Finally, having reached his limit and the end of his ramen, Naruto stood and walked up to his rival.
Sasuke tensed, waiting to see what dark intentions the blonde had in mind. Naruto crossed his arms, leaning back ever so slightly so that he didn't have to appear to look up to the Uchiumi. The young Hamasaki tapped his fingers on his arm for a moment, making the paranoid other twitch a few more times, then offered a proposal.
"Since I'm about ready to kill you if you don't stop fidgiting, and I my apartment is overdue for a decent cleaning," Sasuke nearly snorted with disbelief, "you're going to help me. It's obvious that you're going to keel over dead if you don't do something, and this way, we won't kill each other. Hopefully."
Sasuke really couldn't believe the offer, and couldn't imagine lowering himself to clean the pigsty that was the blonde's living quarters. Still, he couldn't help but gag when he looked at all of the dirty possessions, and reluctantly consented.
Naruto rolled up his sleeves. "Right then. I have no idea where to start, so pick your victim and do whatever needs doing, I guess," he said a little uncomfortably. He didn't know why he had offered to clean his apartment- he couldn't stand the business, and put it off as long as humanly possible. Still, he couldn't take back the offer once it was out of his traitorous mouth, and so he turned with the Uchiumi and began to pick up things that he would keep.
Sasuke found a bag immediately, and started stuffing it with garbage. Within minutes it was filled, and Sasuke knew that he would be taking a long, scalding shower when he got back to his house. He had taken off his jacket, revealing a white tee-shirt underneath, and walked to the door, placing the garbage bag next to it. He located another bag, and repeated his task.
Naruto picked up a compact disk that had been laying upside down and smiled. "I had forgotten I had this," he said to nothing.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Naruto looked up, saw, and held up the CD. "Nickelback, The Long Road." It was one of his favorite bands, and he had thought he had lost it many, many years ago.
Sasuke smirked. "What do you know, that's one of my favorite bands as well." That was, when he could listen to them. Itachi Uchiumi severly disapproved of Sasuke's taste in music, insisting that he was going to become influenced by the lyrics of the artists. Of course, Itachi's idea of good music included Bach, Beethoven, and the like. It had caused Sasuke no end of torture, hearing the 1812 Overture over and over again in his youth. Really, he had his older brother to thank for his music tendancies.
Naruto, glad that there was a safe topic he could talk about and just pretend he was talking with one of his friends, continued to talk as he sorted through various disks that had escaped the confines of their cases. "I like the song Because of You for this soundtrack, but it's not my overall favorite."
Sasuke crouched, wincing as he began to shovel an unknown substance into the plastic bag he held, wielding a plastic spoon as his weapon of choice. His own thoughts echoed a similarity to Naruto's, except he had never talked music with his friends before. "Personally, I prefer Believe it or Not."
That started a heated debate between the two teens over which song was better, which lead to the merits of hard rock versus metal, and then to a debate between artists and music styles. Before either of them knew it, the living room was twenty-five percent cleaner than it had been, and it was nearing eight in the evening.
By silent agreement, as Sasuke left, they would uphold a truce as they plowed through the wartorn apartment that belonged to the blonde student. Outside of that, however, it was anything goes. But it was progress, and a truce that would hold for some time.
--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--
End Chapter
--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--:o:--
Any questions? Comments? Suggestions? Please review.
