Chapter Ten

It was a little funny how these things happened. Naruto wasn't quite sure when he had come to depend on Sasuke so much. They'd known each other for two weeks. Certainly he made friends fast. But this one. Weirded Naruto out. First they were mortal enemies. Then Sasuke was gay. And Naruto was not. But Sasuke was nice. And Naruto liked talking to him sometimes. Also Sasuke knew how to tie his tie.

What was a boy to do?

Swinging his legs, Naruto sat on the edge of Sasuke's bed. "So," He said into the silence. Sasuke was staring into the mirror. Definitely posing.

"Who are you going with?" Naruto asked after Sasuke didn't respond.

"A girl," Sasuke replied, touching up his hair.

It was the little things you learned about your forced-upon-you-friends that made you like them all the more. Like how Sasuke was entirely and completely vain. At least sometimes. Like right now. Naruto grinned widely and hopped off the bed. He walked up beside Sasuke and struck a pose himself. "You know, you look fine. You're fussing like a girl."

"You don't fuss nearly enough," Sasuke wrapped an arm around Naruto's waist, tugging the slightly smaller boy against his chest. Putting Naruto in front of him, Sasuke ran his hands up the boy's arms and to his hair. "This is a mess," He chided, running his fingers through the soft locks, trying to form them into something other than an unruly mass of spikes.

Naruto's breath sort of hitched in his throat and he shifted uncomfortably. "S-Sasuke," He breathed out. "We've talked about this, you know."

Leaning over his shoulder, Sasuke peered into Naruto's eyes through the mirror. "Have we?" He quirked a brow, bending his head down to lick Naruto's neck. Right over his mark.

Naruto sighed and stood there defeatedly. It occurred to him earlier that it was easier to be Sasuke's friend if he didn't argue as much about Sasuke's neck fetish. One day they'd have a serious conversation about personal boundaries though. One day. Not right now, though. Naruto didn't want to get his friend down before his big date!

The next thing Naruto knew, Sasuke was pulling away and wiping something red from his lips. Naruto took a shaky step back towards the bed. Why was he always getting lightheaded around Sasuke? It was starting to worry him. Maybe he'd have to go see a doctor. "We have," Naruto mumbled, having lost coherent track of the conversation. Flopping onto Sasuke's bed, he sprawled onto his back.

"How come you need my help, in any case? I haven't done anything for you," Naruto asked after a long bout of silence. Sasuke had asked him to come over as he prepared for his date. Naruto was fairly sure boys did not do this sort of thing. That was girls. And he was not a girl. And why did he care how Sasuke's date went or if his friend looked nice? He didn't even know who the girl was!

Sasuke leaned against the bedpost. "You have nothing better to do," He pointed out.

Naruto picked his head up and frowned at the other boy. "I have homework!"

"On a Friday?" Sasuke scoffed and looked away. He was gathering his things up now, almost ready to go.

Naruto sat up. "I could have, you never know," Naruto shrugged. "I thought I'd go see Kiba, Shikamaru and Gaara. Or maybe Hinata. I could have my own date," Naruto grinned at Sasuke. Because this was what boys did. Talked about girls with each other. And Naruto did like the girl. Very much. She was sweet and cute and -

Sasuke had Naruto pinned to the bed.

"No," He breathed in Naruto's face.

Scrunching up his nose, Naruto pushed Sasuke off of him. "You have a date to get to. You're going to be late," Naruto made to get off the bed.

"I will not be late," Sasuke said, grabbing Naruto's wrist. Tugging the boy back to him, Sasuke pushed him back down on the bed. "You stay here."

Naruto was about to protest, but the last he thing he knew was Sasuke's hand approaching his neck, the searing pain, and then the black.

Elsewhere, a similar scene was happening. Only, it was slightly more hectic.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me I was going to have a date with Uchiha Sasuke!" Sakura screamed at her roommate. Ino was sitting in the middle of her bed, legs crossed beneath her and grinning like a chesire cat. She watched Sakura scramble around to find the perfect outfit to wear, arrange her hair, do her makeup, everything. Of course, Ino had been ready for ages.

"You would have panicked," Ino shrugged.

In the middle of shrugging into a nice shirt, Sakura glared at her friend. "Tell me how you accomplished this."

"Blind date," Ino shrugged again. She was mostly hoping Sakura would hurry up so they could get going. Itachi would be severely angry if they were late. It had only ever happened once for Ino. That had been enough. Not that it hadn't been pleasurable too. Ino paused to weigh her options while Sakura tugged on a skirt and began brushing her hair.

"He'll hate me," Sakura moaned as she stared at her reflection. She was practically ready, she just needed a few last minute touches.

"Who will?" Ino asked. "Sasuke?" She said lightly. "Or someone else?"

Sakura paused and whirled around to face her roommate. "Sasuke!" She said, despite the flush of her cheek and flash of green eyes in her head. "What will he think to have to be forced to go out with me?" Sakura turned back to the mirror.

"He should feel lucky," Ino stood up. "Are you ready?"

"Yes," Sakura said, turning this way and that before declaring herself perfect. It had only taken an hour. She was getting faster at this sort of thing.

Dating was not particularly high on either Uchihas' lists of things to do. Really. As soon as Sasuke had arrived at Itachi's, there was nothing to say. He hadn't even asked for the name of his date. All that happened was: Sasuke stared at Itachi; Itachi stared at Sasuke.

The doorbell rang ten minutes later and Itachi excused himself from the unblinking staring match to answer the door. Pulling it open, he gracefully took Ino's hand and had her nestled against his chest quite quickly.

As for Sakura. She stood there slightly awkwardly. Sasuke's eyes had drifted upwards after a minute, supposing he should find out who his brother had condemned him to spend an evening with. It could have been a very productive evening with his own blond. However, Itachi had other plans for him. Sasuke often wondered why he hadn't killed his brother yet.

Particularly now. When his eyes alighted on the pink haired girl, he dismissed her easily, returning his intense gaze to Itachi.

"Be nice, little brother," Itachi chided, raising his head from where he had been sucking on Ino's neck. It was disgusting.

Promptly turning on his heel, Sasuke walked towards Sakura. He paused at her side and held out his arm. "Shall we?" He asked, voice devoid of emotion.

"Yes," Sakura said in a small voice, glancing helplessly at Ino before Sasuke was whisking her away. Itachi and Ino trailed at a more leisurely pace.

It would be an interesting night, to say the least.

When Naruto came to, he was still in Shikamaru and Sasuke's room. This time, though. There were lots of people around him. Blinking, Naruto sat up awkwardly, feeling his head spin. He pressed a hand to the side of his head, and squinted at everyone: Shikamaru, Gaara, Kiba, Temari, Hinata, and another boy he didn't know. But he was separate from the rest of them.

"What are you guys doing here?" Naruto asked, disrupting their conversation. No one had noticed he was awake yet.

Eyes turned up to him. Naruto smiled shakily. "Hi?" He said. They all looked serious. At least, until Kiba grinned back at him.

"Good morning, sunshine," Kiba snickered. "Plan to sleep all evening, or have you decided to grace us with your presence?"

Naruto threw a pillow at him.

"Don't be an ass," Temari punched him in the shoulder.

Feeling a weight settle on the bed next to him, Naruto looked up into Hinata's eyes. "Are y-you feeling ok-kay, Naruto?" Hinata asked in a small voice. Timidly, she reached forward to feel his forehead.

"I feel fine!" Naruto assured her. Though, he didn't do much to make her shift her hand. This was the sort of attention he was supposed to get. From a girl. That wasn't a close friend. Or a boy. You know, as was normal. Naruto was fairly sure he preferred this. Scratch that. He was definitely sure.

Hinata smiled at him and retracted her hand.

"Hinata," The strange boy called.

All eyes focused on him. Kiba's were narrowed in ire. Shikamaru merely interested. Temari looked like she was considering an option. And Gaara glanced for a moment before returning to intensely staring at Naruto.

"You don't want to catch his illness if he has one," He simply finished and returned to ignoring everyone else.

In the middle of obediently rising to her feet, Kiba leapt to his and pointed a finger at Neji. "Just what do you think you are doing, you bl-"

"Kiba," Gaara growled.

"Blooming idiot," Kiba finished lamely, glaring at Gaara. Temari snickered.

"I was looking for Sasuke," The boy shrugged.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked, butting into the conversation.

"This is N-Neji," Hinata answered for him. "We're related," Hinata lowered her head.

That, at least, Naruto could understand. Even if he was too disoriented to understand the rest of the goings on. "Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto said, having stood up to approach Neji, holding out his hand.

"I know," Neji replied, glancing briefly at the offered hand before raising his eyes back up to Naruto's face.

Letting his hand drop, Naruto adopted a petulant look. "No wonder you're here for Sasuke. You're as bad as he is," Naruto scoffed and turned around to sit back on the bed. He missed Neji's amused smirk.

"Sit next to me, Hinata," Naruto called, making the girl blush. "If I get sick, you can cure me no problem, I'm sure."

Everyone else had gone back to their own conversation. Naruto wasn't going to question why they were here, so long as it benefited him. He was more than happy to have company. Company that didn't involve an annoying, molesting friend. That was always nice. And having Hinata sitting next to him, Naruto could feel her warmth all along his side. It sort of made him tingle. Smiling goofily, Naruto threw himself into the conversation they were all having. About school and homework and generic stuff like that. Naruto got the idea it wasn't what they'd been talking about before, but he wasn't one to press the matter.

When the hour grew later, people drifted away naturally as they got tired to sleep in their own beds.

Shikamaru excused himself as he had to lead Temari away who was leaning dangerously on him, half asleep. Which left only Naruto. And Neji. The boy had not moved all night, had not conversed, only observed.

Naruto hadn't moved much from Sasuke's bed. Now he was lying on his back working up the energy to get up and move. "I should go," Naruto mumbled, feeling sleep pull at him.

"It would be best for you if you stayed," Neji murmured, fluidly rising to his feet.

Naruto frowned at this, and attempted to stand. A hand on his chest prevented him. "Sasuke will want to tell you about his date," Neji's smile was anything but friendly.

If he wasn't so tired, Naruto was absolutely certain he'd be more freaked out about this occurrence. As it was, he was bloody exhausted and closing his eyes sounded amazing. He didn't even hear the door close as he drifted off to sleep.

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