Chapter 11

Of Noodles and Girl

This is your way of apologizing? Sasuke thought to himself as he stared at the tacky ramen shop Naruto had taken him to. The shop's structure was interesting; it was built with only three walls and a roof, giving its customers little protection from the elements while presenting them with a nice view of the surrounding area as well. The front of the shop looked like a bar and off to the bar's side were the tables.

Sasuke's inner businessman frowned at the little shop. How could the owner of the shop still have money? While the view of the scenery wasn't horrible, the lack of a fourth wall lowered the shop's defenses against robbers in the middle of the night and it also made the chances of having customers during days with harsh weather conditions slim. The shop's existence made no sense, just like Naruto.

"Come on Sasuke!" the boy Sasuke had just been thinking about whined, tugging on Sasuke's arm.

"I don't like ramen," Sasuke stated flatly.

"Everyone likes ramen!" Naruto disagreed adamantly, pathetically denying reality, and pulled a little harder on Sasuke's arm, causing the older boy to shift his weight so he wouldn't move forward. "Stop being a pain, Teme! You said I owed you for ditching you at school. I said I'd pay you back with dinner and this is the dinner I have chosen to give you! You should accept it graciously! Didn't your mother teach you any manners?" Naruto kept pulling on Sasuke's arm and the Uchiha found that it took most of his strength to keep himself in place.

"She did, but why should I use them on someone who is rude, like you?" Sasuke shot back, grunting as he tried to keep his balance. Since when did Naruto get so strong? Had Naruto always been strong? Then why hadn't he been able to fight off Sasuke whenever the Uchiha had him pinned?

"Asshole," Naruto hissed, adjusting his grip so he was clasping Sasuke's elbow with both hands and his armpit held Sasuke's wrist in place; things weren't looking too good for Sasuke. A few more tugs and he would lose his balance and topple forward like a top-heavy building. "I am going to buy you ramen, you are going to eat it, and you are going to like it!"

"Dobe," Sasuke grunted and snarled at the same time. He could feel the muscles in Naruto's arms crushing his own arm. The sensation was weird, foreign, and strangely pleasant. Oh yes, it felt like his arm was going to have the life squeezed out of it but the feel of those muscles against his made something spark to life in Sasuke and send his blood in a certain direction. He wouldn't let Naruto know that though. "I may let you buy me ramen and eat it, but you cannot force me to like it."

"You'll like it, Teme." Naruto whispered like a threat, and if it weren't for their discussion topic, Sasuke might have really thought it was such a thing when Naruto gave him nastiest look he had ever seen on the blonde's face. It must have been a trick of light but Naruto looked like he had grown fangs and had red eyes. He was a demon child. "You'll like it and you will thank me, Teme."

"Hn. Whatever you say, Dobe," Sasuke smirked and let his arm go limp and his body be tugged forward by Naruto. Secretly, he hoped that Naruto hadn't noticed that he had surrendered to the blonde's desire. The last thing he wanted was for Naruto to think that he suddenly had the power in their relationship. The deal had been that Sasuke would be the seme and Naruto would be uke, and that was something Sasuke wasn't willing to negotiate on.

"Finally!" Naruto exclaimed in exasperation, demon child persona no longer present. With his change in persona also came change in his hold of Sasuke. Where he had been practically squeezing the life out of Sasuke's arm and hand, he was now holding the Uchiha's hand just enough to pull Sasuke towards the restaurant. It irked Sasuke a bit since he was the dominant one, thus he should be doing the leading, but he kept silent.

"I'm hungry and your stubbornness was getting annoying!"

"Oh? So my stubbornness wasn't annoying at first?" Sasuke mocked, taking out some of his frustration at being led around on his fake boyfriend. "Did you happen to think it was cute?"

"What!" Naruto's jaw dropped. Unconsciously, he moved away from Sasuke, but not enough to break his hold. "Are you joking?" He asked incredulously, and Sasuke was sure he could see some pink forming on Naruto's cheeks. "You wish, Teme! As if I would ever think you are cute."

"I never said that you thought I was cute. I merely suggested that you thought my stubbornness was cute." Internal evil laughter rolled inside Sasuke's chest cavity. His sadistic and vengeful side danced with glee. He didn't want Naruto to get any ideas by pointing out Naruto's current stance in the relationship, mocking and embarrassing him however, made up for it. It was like yelling "fetch" in front of a dog and watching it take off in a random direction to find something: hilarious, but unusually cruel.

"You know what, Teme? If you keep picking on me I'll buy you two bowls of ramen and force you to eat both! Not a noodle or drop of ramen will remain or else I'll buy you another bowl and force it down your throat! How about that?"

What an interesting punishment. Naruto must have picked up a bit of Sasuke's sadistic and devious side, because the Naruto Sasuke knew wasn't clever enough to think up such a unique way to torture someone. Sasuke was torn between being proud, and being annoyed. It was like what Sasuke imagined his high school gradation ceremony would be like one day. Coming to that conclusion, he settled with being quiet and looking smug.

Naruto stared at his face and frowned. "I hate your face."

"Don't be jealous."

"Shut up," Naruto yelled between gritted teeth, and tried to force a smile on his face as they reached the counter. Considering that there didn't look to be any waiters or waitresses, Sasuke assumed that they would have to give their orders at the counter.

"Hello Naruto!" The middle-aged man working at the counter/bar greeted the blond and Sasuke was not sure if that was a good sign. On one hand, the person in charge of their food was friendly, which is always nice to know. On the other hand, to be friendly with someone working at a restaurant one usually has to frequent said restaurant, which would mean Naruto eats a lot of ramen; not exactly healthy, correct?

An image of Naruto gorging himself on salty, unhealthy, disgusting ramen entered Sasuke's mind, and he felt a tiny bit of vomit in the back of his throat.

It was so tempting to grimace at the thought but Sasuke kept it together and let no trace of his disgust leak into his expression. He also made a mental note to introduce Naruto to healthier food while they were "dating". He wasn't going to kiss someone who ate nothing but ramen; it'd be only a little better than kissing someone who smokes.

"So what would you two boys like?" the man asked, a pleasant smile on his face. To anyone else but Sasuke it would seem like the man was being especially nice but Sasuke knew better. People like other people who are happy and treat them nicely. In the restaurant industry where a good attitude gets oneself tips, Sasuke expected the workers to act pleasant.

"The usual, one bowl for me and one for my friend," Naruto answered, letting go of Sasuke's hand and taking a seat at the counter. Groaning internally at having to eat at such a place, Sasuke took a seat next to Naruto.

"Coming right up!" The man announced, turned his back on them, and started preparing their meal.

What? No drinks? Sasuke questioned silently. What kind of restaurant didn't ask its customers if they wanted any beverages? Maybe it was because Naruto's usual didn't include a drink? Still, someone should have asked Sasuke if he wanted a drink, at the very least. How the restaurant was still in business, Sasuke did not know. It truly had to be thanks to loyal (and dumb) customers like Naruto.

Speaking of which, the blond was chattering away as the two of them waited for their death-by-salt-ramen. Sasuke watched as Naruto talked animatedly, waving his arms about and making gestures, but all he heard was an imaginary buzzing sound in his head. There were more important things for Sasuke to pay attention to. If only he could pay attention to those things.

His gaze and thoughts were locked on Naruto. He watched as Naruto's mouth moved rapidly as he spoke excitedly, and noticed the light in the blonde's blue eyes as he thought about whatever it was he was talking about. Then there was the way Naruto would move his head to the side to make a simple gesture. Something about it was very hypnotic, which was irritating. Sasuke didn't want to study Naruto the way he was; he didn't want to study Naruto at all, but he couldn't stop. It was like he was witnessing a train crash, but less deadly.

At least, he didn't think Naruto was deadly. Although,... that demon child persona made it a little questionable.

"Hey look! It's Sakura and Ino! Hey Sakura! Over here!" Naruto cried and waved his arm in the air to get the two girls' attention.

As if it had been Naruto's attention being directed at him that had entranced Sasuke, with Naruto's attention suddenly focused on someone else, Sasuke was no longer spellbound by his faux boyfriend. It was like waking up from a peaceful dream only to find himself in an alley when he had been expecting to wake up in his bed; odd and at a loss as to what was happening.

"Hello Naruto," Sakura's voice greeted the blond from behind Sasuke. For some unknown reason, Sasuke felt his muscles tense. He didn't like that the girl was standing behind him but normally he had better muscle control and could hide his discomfort. Perhaps the trance Naruto had held him in had made him too lax?

"Hey, Sakura," Naruto spoke with a smile filled to the brink with adoration.

Sasuke tried not to roll his eyes at Naruto's obvious crush on the girl. How anyone thought Naruto was gay and had feelings for him when he was constantly gushing over the pink haired girl was a mystery to Sasuke. It had to be because the general populace was becoming less intelligent due to poor reality TV shows. That was the only explanation.

Oh wait! There was another explanation: Sasuke was just that good of an actor.

Sasuke smirked at the arrogant thought.

"Can we talk outside?" Naruto asked the girl. "I have question I want to ask you in private."

Having not bothered to turn so he could look at the girl, Sasuke could not see Sakura's facial expression but he didn't care. He was more curious about this question of Naruto's. Was it an academic question? Was it personal? Did it involve him at all?

Stop that, Sasuke commanded himself. Remember what happened the last time you decided to find out what Naruto was thinking? You had to kiss him and you ended up getting useless information.

"Uh…? Sure?" Sakura hesitated.

"Great!" Naruto's smile widened. Standing up, he didn't even pause to consider saying something to Sasuke. Not that Sasuke wanted a farewell or an explanation for his fake boyfriend's departure; it was just a common courtesy. It wasn't worth complaining about, but Sasuke would have to remember to point it out to Naruto that abandoning his "boyfriend" for a girl may not seem like something a homosexual male would do.

Grunting, Sasuke shifted himself in his seat and was preparing himself to ignore the rest of the world when someone sat in the seat that had been occupied by Naruto seconds ago. Snapping his head in the direction of the intruder, he was about to tell the person to pick a different seat when he realized the intruder was none other than Ino. A quick glance over his shoulder and Sasuke caught a glimpse of Sakura and Naruto stepping outside and out of sight before looking back at the blonde girl.

"Hello Sasuke," Ino smiled flirtatiously, earning Sasuke's ire with ease. Perhaps Ino was naturally flirty but Sasuke doubted it. Call him arrogant, but he knew many members of the female populace were attracted to him and not even a tiny rumor about him dating Naruto would stop them from pursuing him.

Didn't they have any shame?

Ignoring the girl, Sasuke let his gaze follow the movements of the chef as he continued to cook ramen. He would hope that the girl would be able to tell that he wasn't interested in speaking to her but it was highly unlikely.

"I didn't know you liked ramen," Ino said, trying to get Sasuke to speak but the Uchiha would not fall for such an obvious trap.

The flirtatious smile on the girl's face slowly peeled away as seconds ticked by and Sasuke remained silent. Then, finally realizing that he wasn't interested, Ino huffed and stuck her nose up in the air. "You know Sasuke, while there is a rumor about you and Naruto, that's what most people think it is: a rumor. No one believes you're gay, and everyone agrees that if you were you would definitely not date someone like Naruto."

Was this girl trying to anger him? Why could she not understand that he didn't want to talk to her and thus did not want her to talk to him? Idiot.

"So Sasuke, why are you really hanging out with Naruto all of a sudden?" Ino asked, and it was a good thing Sasuke didn't have anything sharp and pointy or he would have gouged her eyes out right then.

"Sorry it took so long," Sakura's voice cut in and just like that the two were no longer alone.

"May I have my seat back?" Naruto asked as he took his place behind Ino, waiting for the return of his seat beside Sasuke.

"I don't know," Ino smirked, trying to act coy as she spoke. "I think Sasuke likes my presence. Maybe you two should go back outside so we can continue talking."

"What?" Naruto and Sakura gasped.

"Joking," Ino laughed and slid out of Naruto's seat to stand next to Sakura. "You can have your seat back Naruto. Sakura and I need to grab a table and wait for our friends to arrive, anyway."

"Oh, okay," Naruto said, though it sounded as if Naruto's mouth were moving on its own while his mind was still trying to process the information. It was only to be expected by someone like Naruto; he had never been a fast learner. Even so, Sasuke would rather have a slow learner than a flirty girl who couldn't mind her own business sitting next to him.

"See you later, guys," Ino waved farewell with one hand, and made the bold move to let her other hand accidently brush against Sasuke's.

Sasuke wanted nothing more than to burn the girl's hand off. How dare she! He could sue her for sexual harassment if he wanted to. He swore if he ever caught the girl alone he would punch her.

He was so enraged he completely ignored the exchange of farewells between Sakura and Naruto. He didn't even notice when their ramen arrived. He just glared at the counter and envisioned burning Ino alive. It wasn't until Naruto was halfway through with his ramen that he noticed Sasuke's foul mood.

Slurping up a noodle and gulping it down, Naruto put his chopsticks down and looked Sasuke over for any signs of what may have upset the older boy. Finding none, he asked, "What's wrong. I know you don't want to eat ramen, but you said you would." Naruto growled a bit and scowled. "You better not be trying to get out of our deal."

Sasuke scoffed. Stupid Naruto. Of course Naruto would connect everything back to ramen. Simple fool.

"You wouldn't happen to have been asking Sakura out?" Sasuke changed the topic, though it probably would have been better if he hadn't, because when he saw Naruto's cheeks brighten with embarrassment, or shame –Sasuke preferred the latter—he felt his anger grow tremendously. Naruto had asked Sakura out when they were trying to convince people they were a couple? What was he thinking? Had Sasuke been wasting his time with Naruto?

Sensing that he was in danger of getting a good beating, Naruto quickly clarified the situation. "It's not a date or anything. We are just going out as friends."

"Do you think I am that stupid?" Sasuke spat venomously. "You like her, and you are wasting my time. You are the one who said he needed my help to convince everyone that he is gay and you asked a girl out."

"It means nothing." Naruto tried to reason. Little idiot should have known better; everyone knows there is no reasoning with a furious Sasuke Uchiha!

"To who?" Sasuke hissed. "To her? Certainly not to you."

"What's your problem?" Naruto finally snapped. "This is the closest I have ever been to Sakura and when this is all over I would like to be able to date her. Sorry if it feels like I am wasting your time, but it is more my problem if people don't think we are a couple than it is for you."

"You are still wasting my time," Sasuke rebuked and then snickered. "Besides, it's not like you have anything to offer her. You don't have enough experience."

"Experience?" Naruto repeated, raising an inquiring eyebrow. "What makes you say that? I have plenty of experience."

"I've made out with you; I know you have very little experience." Sasuke goaded, knowing very well that Naruto would soon explode. Call it immature or childish, Sasuke didn't care. He was angry and all he wanted was to share his anger with Naruto. That's what couples do after all: share.

"Oh yeah? I'll show you!"

Before Sasuke could react, he found Naruto launching himself at him and straddling his waist. The new weight in his lap caught Sasuke off guard and to balance himself he spun his stool around so his back was pressed against the edge of the counter. The impact between his back and the counter stung a bit, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. In fact, it was the furthest thing from his mind. His mind was busy enjoying the feel of Naruto sitting in his lap and, unknowingly, putting pressure on a certain part of Sasuke's body that enjoyed the contact.

He was barely aware that he was smirking when Naruto's lips pressed against his in a vicious, aggressive kiss. Naruto wasn't one for using tongue, instead he used pressure to make his kiss pleasurable; pressing against the edges of Sasuke's mouth and then moving to the center where he would let his canines run across Sasuke's bottom. At first Sasuke thought this was Naruto's way of asking for permission to French kiss him, but when the Uchiha opened his mouth a bit Naruto quickly bit his bottom lip. He had planned to take control of the kiss once Naruto's tongue was in his mouth but Naruto had other plans. No matter, Sasuke had other methods of pleasuring his partner.

Placing a hand on the back of Naruto's head, he let his fingers run through the blonde's spiky hair, enjoying the way Naruto pressed himself closer. He slid his other hand under Naruto's shirt and got as far as touching Naruto's belly before a wooden spoon was slammed down a little too close to Sasuke on the counter.

Breaking apart, Sasuke smirked as he looked into the glazed over eyes of his fake boyfriend.

Distantly, Sasuke heard the chef complaining about their public display of affection but he was more attracted to the sight of Sakura and Ino sitting not too far away, gawking at them. Well… Ino gawked, Sakura was busy covering her nose with a napkin to hide her bleeding nose.

Sasuke felt his smirk grow. Now those two girls would learn to mind their own business.

X.X.X.X.X.X.X.X.X.X.X.

It was still dark outside when Itachi went outside to fetch the morning paper. A cold breeze grazed his skin, one that would make most shiver but did nothing to affect him. He ignored the ice-cold beads of morning dew that touched his feet as he walked across his front lawn. The world held no effect over him, at least not until he picked up the coveted newspaper.

The newspaper was folded in such a way that only the front headline, a few sentences from the tops of articles, and the top of a picture could be seen. That was all he needed to see though.

"Interesting," he murmured.

Finally! A New Chapter!: Yes guys! I updated this fanfic later than I thought I would. You may be wondering why it has taken me so long and that is because of two things: 1.) Technical difficulties and 2.) Laziness. If you looked at my profile you already know about the technically difficulties, however laziness is a new development. I finally got a few days off by the time the technically difficulties were fixed and instead of updating I rested and met some old friends.

Fun Fact: About a few chapters back I had the five next chapters written out, but after looking them over and getting some advice I realized that things were becoming too "dramatic" and causing the characters to act OOC. So you know what, I ignored the chapters and made new ones. I still have the old ones but they are more there for inspiration than anything else. So far I like the new chapters versus the old ones.

Super Special Awesome "Preview": What is happening? Is this plot I smell? No, it's just the chicken I burned in the oven, however I do detect a smudge of plot on my bedroom window. Speaking of windows, who broke the bathroom mirror? Also, who broke the desk in the classroom? Who is going to pay for these things because it certainly isn't going to be me!