Warning: Extremely short.
Drastic Measures
Of Brooding and Ramen
Sometimes Naruto really didn't understand what the hell Sasuke was thinking. Usually he figured it was something like: 'I am the best. I must kill my brother. I'm so hot I can be as big an ass as I want and everyone will love me anyway. Ha Ha Ha.' Stuff like that. But every now and then the raven haired teen would act completely out of character and Naruto wouldn't know what to make of it.
Like now, for example.
The blond flicked his eyes to the ninja sitting next to him slyly and slurped up another mouthful of noodles, noting the red tint to his teammate's naturally black eyes with mild confusion. Sasuke had been alternately sulking and fuming for the past 2 hours, which in and of itself wasn't really unusual. The fact that he seemed to be brooding about something other than his brother, his ninjitsu, or his most recent stalker, however was positively bizarre.
The blond chewed his noodles thoughtfully. Yes, being assigned a shit job like babysitting Gaara of the Sand was… well, it was a shit job. But it was Naruto's shit job. So why Sasuke was all in a tizzy about it was beyond him. But whatever it was, it had prompted the Uchiha-bastard into treating him to ramen and Naruto just couldn't find it in himself to brood about Sasuke's brooding for too long while there was a bowl full of hot, mouth watering noodles sitting in front of him. It just seemed like a waste.
Did he mention it was free?
Naruto frowned slightly as his chopsticks hit the bottom of the bowl and glanced over at his rival. "You gonna eat that?" he asked, eying the untouched ramen sitting in front of the other ninja greedily. A smile lit his face as Sasuke wordlessly pushed the bowl towards him.
"I don't like it," the raven haired teen announced after a moment. Naruto frowned at the abrupt declaration, unsure if Sasuke was referring to the situation with Gaara or to the noodles. He sincerely hoped he meant the Gaara thing or otherwise the blond'd be forced to kick his friend's ass.
No one talked shit about ramen.
No one.
"Sand's never been in hurry to help us out before," Sasuke continued darkly, glaring at the wall over his steepled fingers. "They're too eager."
Naruto shrugged, stuffing another bite of noodles into his mouth. "You were gone a while," he reminded his friend flatly, "Things change."
The raven haired teen glared. If anyone else had said that, Sasuke would've punched him. But it was Naruto, and the dobe hadn't brought up Sasuke's two year long absence to rub it in his face, he'd brought it up because it was true.
Still that didn't make the situation any better and the dark haired teen frowned at the prospect of his best friend sharing an apartment with a documented psychopath. "You really want him living with you?"
Naruto scratched at the back of his head. "Eh, not really but it won't be so bad. Gaara's alright. He actually came back a few years ago and apologized to Lee." He grinned mischievously, blue eyes twinkling with humor, "Stopped talking to himself too, I think."
If anything that easy dismissal of the notorious Sand-nin made Sasuke's scowl deepen. The raven haired teen clenched his jaw, determined to protect his dumbass best friend from his own stupidity. If all it took was an apology and a silent inner monologue to get into the blond's good graces then Naruto was going to get screwed over a lot in his life. Most of the time Sasuke was thankful for the dobe's easy going nature, hell it was the reason they were still friends, but it pissed the Uchiha off to know that other people might use it to hurt him. He refused to analyze the reason behind the protective streak that the moron brought out in him too deeply, but he suspected it was similar to the reason that adults wanted to protect little blind children from stumbling into on coming traffic.
"When are they coming anyway?" he asked, focusing back on the topic at hand.
Beside him Naruto glanced at the clock and suddenly began chocking on his ramen, sputtering as he hit himself in the back of the head in an attempt to dislodge the food. Sasuke rolled his eyes, a hint of a smile tugging at his lips as he shoved a glass of water into his gasping friend's hand. "Moron," he grumbled affectionately as the blonde sucked in a deep breath.
Naruto fisted both hands in his hair, completely ignoring the other boy's comment. "Shit!" he shrieked, standing up so quickly that his stool crashed to the floor. "Baa-san is gonna kill me!"
The stoic teen scowled at the blond tuft of hair as it disappeared out the door. The looks on the other patron's faces at the stream of curses spilling out the dobe's mouth might've been funny under other circumstances, but as it was it made Sasuke's stomach twist. Gaara was coming that soon?
Frowning, Sasuke dropped some bills on the counter and raced toward the Hokage's tower.
After all, the moron hadn't even thanked him properly.
A/N:
Really short chapter but it's been sitting on my desktop literally since April so I thought I might as well post it even though it's so… pointless. A little Sasu/Naru fluff but I was planning on introducing Gaara before I posted. Still, I figure if I post it now it might motivate me into getting up off my butt with this story. Sorry guys.
