"And... We're done!"
Tsunade wiped her hands together and stepped back to admire the decorations.
Naruto grinned and looked around. "This is amazing!"
"You'd better thank me, brat. Now I'm covered in paint!"
The group of teenagers laughed as Naruto thanked the woman, bowing not-so-gracefully. "Thanks, gran-gran."
Tsunade smiled and flicked him on the forehead. "No problem. Shikamaru, check if the lights are working properly."
Shikamaru groaned and mumbled things about his laziness but did so anyway, giving everyone a thumbs up when he was finished. Naruto clasped his hands together, the foxy smile not leaving his face.
He had made the request of hand-decorating the entire place, since it was a great experience and only added to the fun of having a party. He pulled a speck of paper from the drying paint and threw it out. The blond turned round and round as his eyes sparkled at the beauty that they had created.
"Awesome, right?" Sakura asked and wiped the old t-shirt that she was wearing.
"Maybe you were right about not having a Jurassic themed party," Kiba commented, crossing his arms as if he was still mad about it.
"It really is awesome. Thank you all, I really appreciate it," said Naruto genuinely.
"Yeah, yeah," Ino said, "we know you love us. Now let's have a group hug, we haven't done this in a while!"
The more outgoing people in the group jumped in while the others had a harder time joining, but eventually they all had their arms wrapped around each other. Naruto couldn't help but smile warmly. He really loved his friends.
"Now go change. We can't have you guys being covered in paint and paper when everyone gets here," Tsunade joked.
Everyone agreed and dispersed over to their own rooms and bathrooms, fumbling with their outfits and cleaning up. Naruto inspected himself in the mirror and brushed through his hair. It was unruly as usual, and he didn't make an effort to gel or part it. It took away from his natural charm.
He decided that the theme would be semi-formal, but with a bit of fun sprinkled in. He wasn't really interested in big parties, but they were also major when it came to promoting the company. And that was the least he could do in return for his father.
A chorus of cheers and playful catcalls were made by his friends as he made his way downstairs, eliciting an eye roll from the blond. His mouth was enough to betray him, though, since he was grinning from cheek to cheek.
He noticed an extra head and frowned before realizing who it was from. The red hair was a clear giveaway.
"Nagato!" Naruto dashed down the stairs and bolted towards Nagato, who had a small smile on his face. He jumped up to hug his cousin and laughed.
"Woah, woah. You've gotten even more built, sport."
Naruto jumped off and smoothened his orange dress shirt and bow tie as he beamed at his cousin. "Yeah, the team did a lot of training to win championships."
"That's good, that's good. Wow, 16 already, huh?"
"Yep," answered Minato, a proud smile displayed on his face. "Soon enough we'll be dressed like this for his wedding."
Nagato laughed and patted Naruto on the shoulder while Naruto blushed. Tsunade walked back in, makeup blended perfectly on her face. "Alright, the food's done, the decor is done, all we need now is the guests."
Everyone nodded while Kiba barked a laugh, though it sounded a little too much like a bark. "Imagine if Naruto gave everyone the wrong address."
The group laughed in response while Minato blanched. His son did seem like the type of person to do that.
A couple of minutes later, the bell rang, and guests arrived. Then, it rang again, then again, and after 20 minutes the party had officially begun. The disco ball along with LED lights were lit, changing colors occasionally to the beat of the blaring music coming from the speakers. Naruto noticed as kids he knew in elementary and middle school began to pour in.
A tap on his shoulder brought his eyes away from the commotion, and behind him. His eyes brightened when he noticed his elementary school teacher who had kept in touch with the family.
"Iruka sensei!"
"Naruto! Gosh, you're even taller than me!"
Naruto gave him an elated smile and wrapped his arms around the tanned man with a scar on his nose.
"It's great to see you!"
"I'm glad! I was scared you'd forgotten me for a second!"
Naruto laughed in disbelief. "Never!"
The two of them had kept in touch even after Naruto's last year in elementary. Naruto had been Iruka's favorite student, regardless of his sporadic and sometimes annoying tendencies. Minato had noticed this, and kept in contact with the male.
Iruka hugged Naruto once more and waved, mentioning something about putting a note in his gift.
Naruto waved back before looking around again. His friends were all over the place, dancing and laughing like it was the last day on earth. Soon enough, he felt himself being dragged to the center as people cheered and cheered his name out loud.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Nagato and Itachi and some other people conversing with each other as they watched him get passed around as they danced.
Wait.
Itachi?!
Naruto turned and gawked at Itachi as Nagato waved. Itachi smiled and raised a glass in his direction. The blond had no idea that Nagato and Itachi were friends. Hell, he had no idea they even knew each other!
Blue eyes continued to skim over the crowd, noticing things were definitely escalating between multiple couples. He had no idea why, his father and Tsunade made sure there would be no alcohol. Though he knew that the adults that they had invited were probably sipping at their wine in the other room.
Thinking about Itachi led Naruto to think about Sasuke. They hadn't really talked much since the day he'd shown Sasuke his grade. Sure, Sasuke still tutored him, but he seemed more detached than usual. Most of their interactions were just instructions or insults. Naruto briefly wondered if he had done anything wrong, but dismissed it immediately after. Maybe Sasuke knew that Naruto knew about him and Sakura.
"Earth to Naruto!"
"H- huh?"
"Did you hear anything of what I just said?" Ino asked.
"No, I didn't. Sorry."
"No biggie! I was just asking if you invited Sai!"
Naruto raised an eyebrow. He wasn't judging her for asking, but he wondered why she was in the first place. Sai was a year above them in school, and as far as Naruto knew, barely interacted with Ino.
"I did!"
"Okay!" She ran off before he could even ask why.
Everybody continued to dance around him, but Naruto was beginning to get tired. He walked down the steps and made his way to the snacks, where he noticed three familiar troublemakers.
"Yo, Uzumaki!" Suigetsu saluted while Karin turned her nose in the other direction. Juugo gave him a gentle smile in acknowledgement.
"Hey," Naruto greeted politely. So far, they seemed cool enough so he didn't mind their company.
"Nice place," the white haired kid commented.
"Thanks!" Sapphire eyes noticed a cup along with an assortment of different drinks to choose from. Naruto went with fruit punch, since he was beginning to get a little tired of citrus drinks like orange juice and lemonade.
Naruto began walking in the other direction with his drink in one hand, taking occasional sips as he watched people dance and have fun. He was loving the party so far.
Well, he figured he said that a little too soon, because a second later a body crashed into him and caused the punch to spill over both of them, and their suits.
Naruto grunted as he collided with the unknown person and looked down to find a head of black hair that was styled in a way that kind of resembled a duck's rear. There was punch all over him, and on Naruto's shirt and tie.
"Oh, shit. My bad, hold on-" he grabbed the person's arm and dragged him away from the crowd so that he could lead him to the bathroom. As soon as the amount of people began to decrease, a hand smacked his own away.
"Ow!"
"That's what you get for spilling whatever that was on me, dobe."
Naruto blinked and turned around to see Sasuke Uchiha standing there with his face and white ruffled tuxedo shirt, which definitely looked expensive, tinted and splotched with a rosy shade of pink.
"Sasuke?"
"Yes, idiot. It's me."
The blond groaned and face palmed. "Asshole! Why'd you crash into me like that?"
"Why did I crash into you like that? You practically ran into me."
Naruto sighed. "Just- get cleaned up. If you want, I can put your shirt in the laundry."
Sasuke's face was inscrutable for a moment before he shrugged. "Hn."
"Okay.. I'll get you a new set of clothes."
"What about you?"
Naruto looked down at his own shirt and made a 'meh' sound. "Don't worry your pretty little face about me, I've got plenty of these same types of shirts in my closet."
Sasuke's face remained pink, though he began to wonder if it was really the punch or not. Naruto ran off, presumably upstairs as Sasuke turned to look at the door that the tanned athlete had led him to. He opened it and walked inside. The raven shut the door and slid down to the floor against it while rubbing his face up and down.
"That usuratonkachi..."
He stood up a moment later and cleaned himself as much as he could. Naruto was taking his sweet time, probably washing himself as well. The gel that Sasuke used to part his bangs was long washed out, so his dark hair now also covered his forehead. He jumped as he heard a knock on the door accompanied with Naruto's voice.
"Sasuke? You there?"
"Yes."
"I'm coming in."
Naruto opened the door and walked inside, holding a white dress shirt and a pink tie. Sasuke glared at the blond for an obvious reason as the basketball player chuckled nervously.
"These were the closest to what you wore that I could find."
"So you're saying you don't have a single black tie."
"I would have given you orange, but it seemed like you didn't really like the color. Plus, pink would look good on you!"
Sasuke rolled his eyes and pushed Naruto out before slamming the door shut, earning a muffled laugh from the other side. Sasuke's face turned as pink as the tie, though he didn't know if it was from anger or embarrassment, as he stripped out of his shirt and began to pull on the clothes that Naruto had given him. They smelled just like Naruto, and he wasn't going to lie, they smelled kind of nice. Of course, he wasn't creepy, so he wasn't going to sniff it any more than he already had.
Naruto's grin remained on his face as Sasuke opened the door. Seeing Sasuke in his clothes was a new sight for his azure eyes, but it was not disappointing. As he had said, pink really did look good on the Uchiha.
His eyes trailed upwards to Sasuke's face, which was pale as always. Naruto made a mental note to take Sasuke outside in the sun one day so that he could look a little healthier than he did now. He noticed that Sasuke's under eyes were purpler than usual, which was also pretty dark. He wondered if it was from studying, since he always knew everything about what they were learning.
"What are you staring at?" Sasuke demanded as he crossed his arms. He didn't like the concerned look that Naruto was giving him.
"Nothing. I just noticed how dead you look, teme." Naruto winced at the connotation of his own words.
The pallid teen rolled his eyes. "Not all of us can get as tanned as handsomely as you."
"Handsomely? So you admit I'm handsome?"
"Shut up before I leave."
Naruto rolled his eyes before laughing. His sunny smile seemed to make its way to Sasuke, who couldn't stop his lips from tugging upwards.
"But seriously, have you been sleeping?"
"No," Sasuke said flatly. He wasn't going to lie, he had always been bad at lying according to Itachi. He didn't want to direct unnecessary attention towards himself even more than he had already.
For the past couple of days, nightmares of a certain day had plagued Sasuke at night due to his interaction with Orochimaru. Sasuke had avoided the man as much as he could, and in the times he couldn't, Orochimaru didn't make a move. He didn't know whether that relieved or terrified him.
Sasuke was scared. He didn't know if Orochimaru had been joking or if he was seriously hinting at the fact that he knew about his and Itachi's dark secret. Sasuke didn't want to know what Itachi would do if he found out that Orochimaru knew.
Onyx eyes drifted upwards to sapphire. This wasn't good. If more people found out, then the police would end up knowing in no time. His stomach churned at the thought of Itachi going to prison. For the past couple of nights he had taken time to think carefully to himself. Why was he defending Itachi? Itachi aided in the murders of so many people.
But then again... Being silent made Sasuke complicit.
He was just as guilty as Itachi. And if people found out...
"Sasuke?" Naruto's voice was gentle now as he reached to touch the black haired boy on the shoulder.
Sasuke flinched and grabbed the tan wrist as he was brought out of his thoughts and snapped his gaze to Naruto. He let go a second later, letting Naruto's arm flop back to his side.
"..."
"Are you okay? You zoned out for a couple of seconds."
"I'm fine," Sasuke shook his head. "No matter that, why are you still here? This is your party, go have fun." The raven made a shooing motion.
Naruto frowned before grasping Sasuke's angular wrist.
"And leaving your emo ass alone here? No way."
Before Sasuke could protest, he felt himself being dragged by Naruto again. Inwardly, he was about to complain but he suddenly felt a warmness go through him. Naruto had just brought his thoughts away from his inner turmoil, and he couldn't feel more thankful for that.
The rest of the night was perfect. Naruto got to show Sasuke some dance moves before being dragged away by his friends. Sasuke ran into Karin, Suigetsu and Juugo later and continued to bond with them.
Both boys thought of each other during the rest of the party. Everyone counted and cheered as Naruto blew the sixteen candles. It was truly an amazing night for everyone, and Sasuke left the mansion with a smile on his face as he held the pink tie in his hand.
When everyone except his close friends and family had left, Naruto's eyes skimmed through all of the gifts he'd received during the party. His eyes crinkled his joy at the familiar names, but stopped when he noticed a particular one.
It was orange and blue and covered in lots of paper, but it was so beautifully decorated that Naruto didn't want to open it. It was covered in paper birds and flowers, creating an intricately detailed scene. Naruto walked over to it and turned it around and gasped when he saw a little paper version of himself on it with a note attached to the front.
Happy birthday, dobe.
-S
Ahhh! I smiled a lot while writing this. Hopefully whoever read this enjoyed it! Thank you for reading. :)