Nine - Spending Time Together and A New Mission!
The boys ate their ramen quickly, and then Naruto had a second bowl. Sasuke just watched as he ate, his eyes soft.
When the blond finished up, the two left Ichiraku. The sky was a dark twilight, and stars were already out, shining brightly.
The boys looked at each other. "So, uh… you in the mood to do anything else?" Naruto asked, yawning slightly. "It's not that late. If not, I'll probably just head home."
'I really don't want to be alone right now though…' He was thinking.
Sasuke shrugged. "I don't really know," he answered, thrusting his hands into his pockets. "I'm not quite sure when we have to get up tomorrow to meet up at the bridge, but it's probably early. But, I mean, I already know Kakashi will be late, so I don't think it really matters if we do something else tonight before we unwind."
Naruto grinned. "Well do you want to come over to my house?"
Sasuke made a face. "Is it clean?"
Naruto stuck his tongue out. "Yeah, I straightened it up yesterday, believe it!"
"Dobe, I asked if it was clean."
"I just said I straightened–"
"There's a difference between straightened up and clean."
"Only a small one, teme," Naruto huffed, scrunching up his face.
"Yes, but there's still a difference," Sasuke sighed, rolling his eyes.
Naruto just sighed and shook his head. "Would you rather I come over to your house?"
"Not particularly."
"Then what the hell do you want to do?"
"Hn."
"You know, I don't get you sometimes, Sasuke."
Sasuke smirked and turned, walking away.
"Hey, Sasuke, where are you going?"
Sasuke didn't answer, still walking off in the direction of his home.
"Teme!" Naruto shouted, running after him. "Where are you going?"
"Home."
"Guess I'm coming with you," Naruto said with a shrug. Sasuke came to a halt, sighing, before turning around.
"You said you straightened up your house yesterday?"
Naruto smirked. "Yep."
"Come on then, dobe." Sasuke started walking to Naruto's house.
"Aw, but Sasuke, didn't you want to go back to your house?" Naruto teased, smirk still in place. Sasuke glared ahead.
"Just shut up and let's go, usuratonkachi."
Naruto followed, still smirking but not saying a word.
When they arrived, it was completely dark, but the moon and stars lit up the world. Naruto unlocked the door, letting the dark-haired boy inside first.
'Eh, it's not as bad as I thought it would be…' Sasuke thought, but he wouldn't tell the blond that.
Naruto smiled. "Make yourself at home," he said, unzipping his favorite orange jacket and slipping it off, hanging it by the door. "Do you want some tea?" He then asked as he removed his shoes.
"Sure," Sasuke murmured, taking off his shoes and setting them beside Naruto's. As Naruto went off into the kitchen, Sasuke sat down by the coffee table on his hind legs.
Naruto came into the room a couple of minutes later with two hot cups of tea, setting one in front of Sasuke.
"I hope it's okay," the blond uttered, taking a small sip of his tea before setting it down on the table, taking a seat on the small sofa.
"It's fine, thank you," Sasuke said softly, taking a sip.
They sat in comfortable silence, and after a little while, Naruto let out a yawn. Sasuke stood.
"Should I leave?" He asked, stretching.
"No, no, I'm good, I'm just a bit–" Naruto cut himself off with another yawn. "–a bit sleepy…"
"You should sleep then, dobe."
"But I don't want you to go," Naruto whined, stretching as well.
'I don't want to be lonely tonight.'
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Why is that?"
"… 'Cause… we're getting along so well…" The blond said with another yawn. He really wanted to say that Sasuke kept him from feeling lonely.
"Hn," Sasuke sighed. "Well then, you want me to stay?"
Naruto shrugged. "I mean, if you want to stay the tonight, you can…"
"Dobe… I mean, why don't I just stay until you fall asleep?"
Naruto looked a bit disappointed. "Alright…"
"Go lie down… I'll come and check on you in a bit to see if you're sleeping."
Naruto nodded and went off into his room. He had lain there for awhile, feeling lonely despite the fact that Sasuke was in the next room.
After about twenty minutes, Sasuke came in. Naruto sat up slightly, and the Uchiha sighed.
"Hey… Sasuke…?" The blonde whispered.
"What?"
"I can't sleep… Would you come lie with me…?"
"Usuratonkachi…" Sasuke let out another sigh, and made his way over to the blond's bed. He was too tired to argue.
He slipped beneath the blankets, pushing the blond over towards the wall more.
"Your bed is pretty small…" He remarked, noticing how he was on the edge and Naruto was as close as possible to the wall but there was little room between them.
"Well, I mean, it's just me always," Naruto said, shrugging. "It's not like I'd need a bigger one, really. I don't usually have people in the same bed as me. Well, I don't ever…" Sasuke found himself blushing and glared at the ramen poster behind the blond.
"Hn, just hush and try to sleep."
Naruto sighed lightly and moved a little closer to Sasuke, trying to get off the wall. He got comfortable and quickly fell asleep.
Sasuke originally planned to lie there until the blond went to sleep, but then when Naruto actually did fall asleep, Sasuke didn't want to move. He was tired and comfortable and he didn't want to wake Naruto.
He found himself drifting off into sleep.
- He saw his parents lying dead on the floor, and his older brother standing above them, looking down on the young Uchiha with his Sharingan spinning.
"I- Itachi… why…?" Seven year old Sasuke questioned weakly, tears pouring from his eyes.
"Why?" Itachi asked coldly. "To test my abilities."
"To- To test your abilities…?" The younger Uchiha muttered. "That's why you did this…?"
Things went by so quickly, and Sasuke remembered running – running so far, screaming that he didn't want to die. Itachi came after him.
"To get this power… you must kill your best friend. Just like I did."
And then Sasuke was in the hospital, wishing it was all just a bad dream.
"Sasuke… wake up…" -
Sasuke sat up, panting and drenched in sweat. Putting a hand to his forehead, he closed his eyes and sighed.
Why couldn't he ever forget the massacre? It was always haunting his dreams.
"Sasuke, are you okay?" Naruto asked, lightly touching Sasuke's shoulder. Sasuke then remembered where he was at.
'Dammit… I must've actually fallen asleep next to the dobe…'
"Hn…"
"Was it a nightmare?"
Sasuke didn't answer, but Naruto already knew the answer anyway.
"I get them too, don't worry," the blond said, yawning and he wrapped his arms around the slightly older boy, who blushed lightly. "Try to get some more sleep, okay? I'll be here to keep the bad dreams away…"
Naruto pulled the Uchiha down, holding him in his arms.
"Naruto…"
"Shh… sleep now, Sasuke."
Sasuke found Naruto's gentle hands and squeezed them lightly, closing his eyes.
'Thank you, Naruto…'
Sasuke awoke early in the morning and sat up, getting out of the blond's bed. He turned and shook Naruto lightly.
"Hey, dobe, wake up," he murmured. When the blond didn't wake up, Sasuke sighed. "Usuratonkachi, wake up… We have to meet at the bridge…"
Naruto groaned, grabbing a pillow and putting over his head. "… don't… wanna…"
Sasuke glared at the boy. "Dobe, if you don't wake up, you might miss out on a mission…"
Naruto stayed silent.
"…And if you miss out on this mission, it may mean you can't become Hokage in the future…"
Naruto shot up. "I'm up, I'm up!"
Sasuke rolled his eyes before smirking. "It's about time, usuratonkachi."
Naruto glared lightly but then hopped up, taking off his nightcap and tossing it onto the bed. He began to quickly unbutton his pajama top, throwing that onto the bed as well. As he was taking off his bottoms, Sasuke noticed the large mark on the blond's stomach.
'What the hell is that…? A seal of some kind…? Hn… It's kind of like my curse mark…'
After realizing he was staring, Sasuke looked away, glaring at the wall as he felt a blush rising. 'I don't think I'll ask him what that's for… Perhaps I'll ask Kakashi-sensei… He should know…'
Sasuke sighed. "Hurry and get dressed, and meet me at the bridge. I have to walk home and shower."
"You can use my shower if you wanna!" Naruto grinned, pulling on a black t-shirt. He grabbed his forehead protecter and put it on. "I'm just gonna get something to eat for breakfast really quick."
And then Naruto dashed out, going into the kitchen to make some ramen.
Sasuke's eyebrows raised, then he went back to his usual stoic expression. "Hn."
Walking to the bathroom, he saw Naruto at the table. "Hey, dobe, you got a spare towel I can use?"
Naruto slurped up his noodles. "Yeah yeah, it's on the shelf in there."
"Hn." Sasuke went into the bathroom.
He took off his armbands and placed them on the counter. After, he kneeled and unwrapped the bandages on his legs, placing them on the counter as well.
He then took off his shirt, and looked into the mirror. Locking eyes with his reflection, he sighed out.
His eyes wandered to the curse mark. The seal that Kakashi-sensei had put on it was there still.
'Why did… why did Orochimaru give this curse mark to me…? Why did he insist I'll come after him… in search of power?'
His eyes narrowed.
'And why do I kind of want to…?'
He tore his gaze away, and finished undressing himself so he could shower.
Team seven met up at the bridge they always met at, Sakura having gotten there before the boys did. She lit up when she saw Sasuke, running to him and gripping his arm.
"Hi, Sasuke!" She said with a blush. Sasuke glared at her and yanked his arm away.
"Hn."
"Hi, Sakura!" Naruto said cheerfully, beaming.
Sakura sighed out. "Hi, Naruto…"
"When is Kakashi-sensei supposed to be here?" The blond asked, although he knew that it wouldn't be for a while.
Sakura shrugged. "Doesn't matter. He'll still be late, as always."
Sure enough, two hours later, Kakashi finally arrived.
"Yo," the jounin said, appearing on the side of the bridge.
"You're late!" Sakura and Naruto exclaimed simultaneously, glaring at their sensei. Sasuke only sighed.
"I'm sorry, I got lost on the path of life," Kakashi uttered, chuckling lightly.
"Yeah, like we haven't heard that excuse before…" Naruto grumbled.
"You lie too much, sensei," Sakura commented, shaking her head.
"Well… anyway… I've got a few missions available for you guys… so you can choose which one you want to do."
"Ooh, what are they?" Naruto asked excitedly, grinning.
"Well, let's see… I've got… well, this first one is a B-ranked mission, which is retrieving an important stolen treasure. The next is C-ranked – helping an old man build a shed. The next few are D-ranked – Collecting herbs for the hospital, finding a lost cat, helping out a farmer, babysitting a four year old, and walking some dogs."
"We can do the treasure one," Naruto suggested, seeing Sakura nod beside him. "I mean, it's obviously the best one out of all of those."
"Well… the dobe is right for once," Sasuke said, looking bored. Naruto glared at Sasuke for the comment.
"Alright then, it's settled," Kakashi said, smiling. "Let's go."
And they were off.
A/N
Took me forever but I finally got it done \(^.^)/ there's three chapters im posting that equal up to 6,000+ words! I hope you enjoyed!