My feet smell really bad o.o. Like. It's terrible ;A; DAMN YOU SOCCER PRACTICE. DAMN YOU. (I still wanna write oneshots DX. CURSE MY OVERACTIVE IMAGINATION!) So I'm really glad everyone liked Sasuke's view on things c; Pretty interesting, huh? NO? IT WASN'T? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-Joke. Anywho. While I suffer from my smelly feet, onto the warning.

Warning: Is this a filller... could it be a fiiillllerrrrr might it be a filllleeeerrr? LOL IDK. BUT IT'S BACK TO OUR LOVELY NARUTO'S POV.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my Whales. They're delicious.

I speak whale fluently (;

Chapter Eleven: I'd Feel Better If You Lied To Me

I hate those nights when you fall asleep but a couple of hours later you wake up for no reason at all and you can't get back to sleep. The darkness comes alive and you get antsy about every little thing; a noise, a flicker of movement, whatever. That's how I feel because of this damn nightmare about the past and it's freaking annoying! I twist and turn in my bed but dammit; it's not doing anything but making me more awake.

"Screw this," kicking the covers off, I throw my feet over the bed and stretch. Face it, Uzumaki; your blissful land of dreams involving you and one million bowls of ramen is over. I was getting to the good part of my bowls, too!

I can see Sasuke's sleeping form under his obnoxiously big blue comforter. He's drowning in it. I wonder what it'd be like to cuddle up with him… you know, just out of curiosity and not because I could actually have feelings for him. Surely anyone would wonder what it's like to cuddle up with a random person they just happen to room with.

Right?

Hell yes, I'm right.

Wanna hear a story? When I used to live in this rundown apartment in the not-so-nice area of Tokyo I'd get really bad night terrors. I don't even know why. Maybe because I had a terrible eating diet, who knows. I'd just get them. And they'd be terrible. I'd wake up screaming and panting and everything was scary. I had to turn on the TV and put it on a low volume—my walls were really thin and my neighbors were pricks—before I could even think about going back to sleep again.

I can't do that now. I tried to once but Sasuke woke up and barked at me. Like… literally growling at me with insane dog eyes—the works. It was mad scary. I'm really tempted to just go over there and wake him up now, or become a creeper and sneak my way in. That won't go over well, but it would be nice.

Really nice.

Extremely nice.

God, I sound like a creeper in my own mind.

"You can't sway me. I'm like a might skyscraper extending to the sky," I found that instead of turning on a TV or leaving on the lights, singing was an excellent escape from my fear. Hearing my voice, singing random lyrics filled with comfort and encouragement, I was able to lull myself to sleep or, at the very least, calm me down. "Fireworks explode and I'm brighter than ever, stronger than ever, living forever."

I lie back down, curl up in a ball facing the wall, and take a staggering breath. "And I could take on all the seven seas with one single ship because I'm absolutely invincible."

A few minutes later and I was out like a light.

+MAXED-OUT+

"Naruto… you're drooling."

"Whaaa?" I looked up from my plate of waffles and sausages to give my mom what had to be the most idiotic look even I could muster. And that's saying a damn lot. "Oh. Am I? Well it's because your cooking is so freaking delicious I have to drool!"

Iruka chuckled and playfully rolled his eyes, "Your flattery pleases me, but your drooling does not. Shut your mouth and eat your breakfast, boy."

"I am enjoying it!"

"Acting like a dog again, Dobe?" Sasuke finally graces us with his wonder—not needed presence decked out in his spiffy blue tan blazer, blue shirt, and black pants. I really like that blazer on him, and before you guys start to make assumptions let me just say it's perfectly normal to like something on a person! Like, I love it when Gaara wears green because it makes him look really cute.

See? Normal.

I throw him a smirk and lick my lips, "Only if you're bringing out the leash, Teme." Did I really just say that? Really? I must be fucked out of my mind because I'm supposed to snap at Sasuke, not do some flirty quip that could possibly develop some romantic sub-plot.

Damn you, Uzumaki, why can't you follow the damn text?

Sasuke doesn't even seem bothered. Instead he scowls at me and scuffs me in the back of my head. Ouch! That fucker! "Do you ever think before you speak?"

"I don't know. Is that a hypothetical question or…?"

"Can I have a new roommate?" Sasuke raises his hand like we're in school and sends Iruka a pleading look. Hey! I'm the perfect roommate!

"It's not my fault you're a soulless prick!" I shoot back. "If anyone wants a new roommate, it should be me!"

He snorted, "Sure. Because I'm definitely the problem."

I lean back and grin slyly, "Well if you're finally ready to admit it…"

"That's enough out of you two," Iruka cuts in, placing Sasuke's breakfast underneath his nose. He shoots us both a warning look that clearly states if we utter one more insulting banter it would be off with our heads! Off with them, I say! Off! "I don't get paid to watch you bicker. I get paid to stuff your bellies, clean up after your messes, and make sure you're not dying by the wayside."

Hey! Why is he pointing this all towards me? I'm perfectly capable of living by myself! Kind of… Okay, there was this one time with the lawnmower but I swear it was an accident! I didn't even know it was there!

Sasuke and I turn breakfast into a competition somehow, some way. It started with me taking a long bite of my waffle and him giving me this awkward look I can't even describe. Then he took a bite of his sausage so I had to take a bite of my sausage. And then we just started to mock each other with how we ate until it turned into a whole out war. I don't even know, it just happened. And by the end of it all Iruka was threatening to have our asses hung over the fireplace if we weren't out of his dining room in the next five minutes.

Needless to say Sasuke and I hauled some major ass out the door.

Now let's get on to the Hummer ride. It's not a car. It's a Hummer, a freaking beast. Rawr. As per usual I sat reigned on one side and Sasuke happened to conquer another side and our ride was mildly awkward save the occasional jab at someone's self esteem.

"Those pants make you look fat." Ha, one for me!

"Your jokes make you look stupid." Damn, ten for him.

Our driver gives us both funny looks and I know he's dying to say something. I see it in his eyes. He has the eyes of a wisecracker. Thank God he doesn't say anything because I don't know how I would have been able to handle that awkward development. Instead he casts his eyes over my way and winks.

Winks.

At me.

Oh my God he knows everything…

The drive is a freaking long one and I forgot to pack my Nintendo DS today. Fuck. I wanted to level up my Glaceon but nooo… nooo… I had to forget my DS. Life sucks. My phone was also hanging on the thin balance of life and death right now and was currently on life support (aka the charger) until further notice. So I thought: 'Hey, why not sing a song?' Who would have thought the same song I sang lost night would be coming out my lips again.

"Cracking knuckles and firing guns, the world's gonna crash but I'll survive. You're not gonna sway me. I'm like a mighty skyscraper extending high in the sky, Oh."

"Overcome."

That single word cuts me off from my next verse. I look at Sasuke incredulously. Did he seriously just speak to me like that? I don't mean to sound high and mighty but normally when I sing the car he's either telling me to shut up or scowling me away to oblivion. His whispered voice wasn't supposed to break my singing. He was supposed to ignore me, my existence, and let me do my own thing.

He wasn't allowed to make my heart feel like it was going to explode. No way, no how. He should not be allowed to do that at all!

"Yeah…" c'mon, Uzumaki, play it cool. "What about it?"

He looks at me; really looks at me. And for a single, stupid minute I feel like he's tearing into me with a single gaze—like he actually, truly cares for me. But let's get real here. This is Sasuke Uchiha. We hate each other. We have nothing in common other than bitter pasts that somehow lead to us living and breathing the music industry. Other than that we're too separate people on opposite ends of the spectrum. We can't have moments. We can't be close. I can't have him…

"Last night…" oh God, my heart just gave out. "You were singing the same song."

Oh. Holy. Shit. No, no, no. No. Sasuke was supposed to be oblivious! He's not supposed to realize my weaker moments. It's not allowed! There is a freaking rulebook written up in the heavens clearly stating that Sasuke Uchiha should not know the dealings of Naruto Uzumaki and his insecurities! I swear there's one! So Sasuke needs to be cold and calculating and brutally honest and puppy stomper and not look at me with onyx eyes I'm failing at staying a float in, neither should he make me want to run into his arms and never leave.

This is so not fair. Damn it all.

I refuse to look at him. I won't do it! He won't see me deal with my awkward emotions. Nope! Not happening! "Late nights are always a good time for a song."

"But that song?"

"What's wrong with Overcome? It was number one on the charts for like, months."

True story.

Sasuke shakes his head and scoots closer. That's one foot of space gone between us. Oh my God he's one foot away from grabbing my hand. I'm sweating already.

"True but… you wrote it a week after we came back from America."

Is he connecting dots?

I shrug carelessly, "Jealous one of my songs got in the top hits and yours didn't?" That's right, Naruto. Play dumb and cruel, it's your only way out from falling too hard and landing on your face.

Sasuke glares at me, literally like a guard dog going in for the kill, and scowls. "You're being stupid on purpose. Don't belittle me."

"I'm just asking a question, Uchiha."

"You're also being defensive."

"Am not!"

"If you're still not over America, why don't you go to someone about it? Kyuubi, Jiraiya, your friends at school…"

I don't know why I leaned forward then, probably because his voice started to lead off like he was going to list someone else… someone who could most likely be him. Sasuke Uchiha.

This can't be real.

"Don't get me wrong, if something monumental happened those would probably be the first people I go to," and I'd go to you, but I won't tell you that because I know I wouldn't get any comfort.

"Is what happened in America not monumental?"

I narrow my eyes. "I plan to make it as minimal of an issue as possible."

Sasuke sighed, rolled his eyes, and I think he scooted even closer. Our hands are even closer now. "Look me in the eyes, then, and tell me that you're over America."

"I don't have anything to prove to you, Uchiha!" I sniff and turn my nose towards the mirror. I'm sick and tired of this whole America business. I thought that since the issue hasn't been brought up in a long while, I could move on. But last night I woke up from that stupid dream and today Sasuke's questioning me and it's just… I just don't need this.

"Naruto," shit, the first name, "you're my partner. And whether you believe me or not I do… care."

No… no please… please don't say that. Please, please, please.

I give him a look out of the corner of my eye, "Is that so?"

Sasuke fixes his eyes on me and I think he wanted to say more but he just shakes his head, sighs again, and moves back to his spot near the window. "Take it as you like."

And just like that the gap comes back again and this really huge divide I don't know if I can ever cross separates us. My heart's hammering and I'm pretty sure I'm sweating through my sweater.

Seriously… why did he have to go and say that? Why couldn't he just lie and say he didn't give a damn?

It would make this falling for him business go cold.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH AMERICA OTHER THAN THE OBVIOUS?

TELL US NARUTO!

TELL US!

-NARUTO RUNS AWAY-

EVERYONE! AFTER HIM!