Chapter Three:
Naruto glared sleepily at the empty cupboard before him, idly wondering why he had bothered to get up at all. After the fitful nights sleep he had had last night, running out of cup ramen first thing in the morning was the last thing he needed and he sure as hell didn't want to go out-not after last night.
Naruto shivered.
What had Sasuke been thinking, away? Acting like that…oh god…and Sakura. How long had she been standing there? Well, long enough obviously, judging by her reaction. But how was he going to face her now? She was bound to confront him about it…
Naruto continued staring into the empty cupboard, his mind going over last night and before he could stop himself his thoughts turned to Sasuke.
"…wonder what he said…"
He sure as hell didn't regret leaving last night. He didn't even want to think about what he would have done had Sasuke left him there, it wasn't situation easily explained. Even the truth would be a tough one to sell…
"…asshole probably didn't say anything," Naruto said out loud, chuckling as he shut the cupboard door. Yeah, that would be Sasuke…
Yawning, Naruto turned around and leaned back against the counter.
Now, getting back to the matter at hand-he was out of cup ramen. And anything else remotely edible, come to think of it.
"What to do…"
He didn't want to have another day like yesterday, constantly running and looking over his shoulder…but what other choices did he have?
None.
Naruto sighed and pushed himself away from the counter, heading towards his room to get dressed. Besides, what were the chances of running into Sasuke at the market?
Naruto walked swiftly down the street, avoiding eye contact with anyone. In and out, that was his plan. No dilly-dallying, just straight to the ramen…
The blonde increased his pace as the market came into view, his heart almost leaping into his throat as he saw Kakashi and Iruka standing in front of a shop across the street. Thinking quickly, Naruto dived into the closest shop and speedily made his way to the back.
"Whew…" he breathed out, wiping imaginary sweat off his forehead. Crisis averted.
Now, where was he exactly?
Looking around him, it looked as though he was in…
"Ha-ha!" Naruto said happily-it seemed luck was with him today, he had run straight into a small food store. Perfect! Ramen-ramen-rameennn… Naruto sang in his head as he wandered through the aisle's looking for exactly that and finding it in a matter of seconds, sitting in neatly stacked piles on the tables that lined the shops walls. He began to load his arms up with his much loved meal when he heard his name stuttered quietly behind him and, forgetting himself, he spun around to greet whoever it was.
"Hinata-chan!" he said cheerfully, truly glad to see her-well, more glad for the fact that it wasn't Sasuke or Sakura but nonetheless he was happy to see her.
"N-Naruto-kun," the black-haired girl shuttered, her cheeks reddening, "how have you b-been?"
"Eh? Oh, goo-" Naruto cut himself off suddenly and dropped to the ground, his gathered up cup ramen rolling in different directions as he slid easily under the display table.
Laying stock still on the floor under the table, Naruto listened to the heavy sound of his heart thudding wildly inside his chest and all but stopped breathing. Wasn't luck supposed to be on his side today? He'd gotten from his house to the ramen without a problem-why did Sasuke have to show up now? And why here? Here!
"N-Naruto-ku-"
"Shhhhhhh!" Naruto waved hurriedly at Hinata from under the table, "I'm not here! Sorry, Hinata-chan, I have to go!" he could see Sasuke's feet from here and the black-haired boy was moving closer. He had to get away.
Quickly, Naruto got on his hands and knees and began to shuffle under the tables; following them as a kind of improvised tunnel in roughly the opposite direction of the one Sasuke was walking in. Hopefully; if the luck that had been helping him this morning would work again, he could slip right passed the other boy, and out of the shop; all without Sasuke noticing him.
Staying still a moment, the blond-haired boy watched carefully as Sasuke walked towards the back of the shop before quickly shuffling out and under the next table and sat still once again. Right, he could see the exit…
Casting another look in Sasuke's direction, Naruto sucked in a breath as the black-haired boy made his way over to the table Naruto had just been hiding under. Hoping against hope he could make it out, Naruto quickly began to move forwards again. Coming to the end of the table, Naruto stopped a moment and looked back, trying to see where Sasuke was.
Oh, shit. He was right behind him!
He was doomed yet again, why was this happening to him? He was a nice boy; he'd never done anything wrong…well, nothing truly wrong. Sure, he just happened to be the vessel that contained to Nine Tailed Demon fox but who was going to blame him for that? The whole village, Naruto thought to himself sarcastically.
"S-Sasuke-kun..?" he heard Hinata's quiet voice, bringing him out of his thoughts.
Eh? Why was she talking to him? She never spoke to Sasuke.
"What," Naruto heard Sasuke growl, his voice clearly laced with irritation. Naruto could just picture the other boy's expression. He was such an asshole.
"I-I…I…" the shy girl stuttered out and Naruto felt a growing annoyance towards his asshole of a teammate.
"Umm…h-how a-are you?"
What was she doing? Trying to get herself yelled at? Because if she was she was going the right way about it, that was for sure. Naruto sat there, his scowl deepening as the silence between Sasuke and Hinata lengthened and the girl's nervous fidgeting became more apparent. Knowing Sasuke he was probably just staring at her, knowing that any kind of eye contact made Hinata nervous. Why on earth had she bothered too…Oh.
…Oh! She was…to help Naruto… Naruto grinned. Thank you, Hinata-chan!
Naruto carefully shuffled towards the end of the table, crouching there a moment as he waited for the foot-traffic to abate before making a mad dash for the door.
…And crashed straight into a display of kitty litter.
Naruto cursed loudly as he his feet went out from under him and, flinging one hand out to cushion his fall, watched the display crumble before him, the bags falling to the ground and splitting open; spraying him, and the shop in lemon scented cat litter.
"Hey! You!" Naruto heard a male voice shout as the last of the kitty litter tipped and fell to the ground and he immediately paled.
"Oh, crap…" he didn't dare turn around, there was noway Sasuke hadn't seen that.
"Just look at what you've done!" cried the shopkeeper as he came to a skidding stop next to Naruto, his eyes wide as he took in the mess.
Damn, he didn't have time for this. Sasuke was bound to know he was here now; he had to get out. "Well it's not my fault!" Naruto yelled back at the stunned man, "you shouldn't have had it where people could trip over it to begin with! And how dare you blame such a dangerous accident on a customer, from now on I'm shopping somewhere else!" and he fled, jumping over the kitty litter strewn across the floor and racing for the door.
"Hey! Damn, nuisance! Don't come back here again!" Naruto heard the words shouted after him and groaned to himself, great, he was banned from the store. Stupid Sasuke, this was all his fault!
Naruto swore loudly as he entered his apartment, slamming the door behind him so hard the walls around it vibrated with the impact.
Damn Sasuke! Just…just damn him! After all that, he still didn't have any cup ramen! He didn't have any food, not even a crumb!
Naruto sat down heavily at the kitchen table and sighed, glaring at his empty cupboards. He was hungry damn it! He wanted food; he wanted ramen! But did he have any? No!
Damn Sasuke! He just had to be there didn't he? Just had to show up, ruin Naruto's plans and stop him from getting even a single packet of ramen! As if not having ramen was bad enough. Now not only did he not have any ramen but he was banned from the store as well (not that he could remember where it was). And he was covered in dust and dirt to boot! And to make matters worse, he, Uzumaki Naruto, had ran away. Again.
Damn, damn, damn Sasuke!
Naruto jumped suddenly, his heart thumping with fright as his apartment door slammed open-
-and Sasuke stomped his way into the kitchen laden down with bags.
The blonde started up out of his chair, his mouth hanging half open as Sasuke, ignoring him completely, started depositing food onto the countertop.
"W-what the hell do you think you're doing!" Naruto yelled belatedly, coming back to himself as Sasuke started placing food into his fridge. The blond stood up properly, readying himself for a fight. "You can't just…just…umm…you can't…err…" Naruto trailed off, his eyes fixed on the stack of ramen Sasuke was now placing on the counter; his brain slowly blocking out all thoughts until only one remained.
Ramen~Sasuke paused in his task to stare in Naruto's direction, his mouth curving upwards into a smirk at the blond's expression. "See something you like, dobe?" Sasuke said and deliberately put the ramen into the cupboard, closing it with a snap.
Naruto whimpered and took a small step forward, his hand unconsciously stretching out in front of him toward the cupboard now holding the cups of ramen…and then stopped. He…he couldn't go over there, not while Sasuke was standing in front of the cupboard. But…but…ramen.
Naruto did a rapid rethink. Maybe it was worth it? T-to kiss Sasuke so that he could finally get something to eat… It would be so easy just too… NO! Naruto shook his head to get rid of the traitorous thoughts that were trying so hard to take him over. Not even ramen was worth that. Never! He would never give in; there would be no 'just getting it over with'. And what kind of wimp was he anyway? He should just march over there to his cupboard and get the damned ramen.
Naruto's eyes narrowed suddenly and he glared over at Sasuke suspiciously…at least, he tried to glare over at Sasuke but the other boy seemed to have turned into a flesh and blue coloured blur. Blinking a few times, Naruto refocused his eyes and jumped a little as he found himself staring into dark eyes.
Sasuke's face was bare inches from his own and the blond-haired boy suppressed a shudder. As much as he would love to run right now, he had done enough running in the past two days; now, it was time to stand his ground.
Bracing himself, Naruto stared straight back at Sasuke, his expression defiant.
Sasuke smirked.
The two stood there staring each other down, neither of them moving an inch until Sasuke slowly begun to move forward causing Naruto to slowly move back.
Ahhh, he's going to kiss me, he going to kiss me! Naruto mentally yelled to himself, deeply regretting his decision to stay.
The blond continued his slow lean backwards, his eyes wide with fear. If he got out of this without severe mental trauma, he was moving as far away as possible; maybe he'd go visit Gaara…
Tilting back even further in the hopes of creating more distance without seemingly backing down, Naruto let out a yelp as he lost his balance; his arms coming up to automatically reach out for something to steady himself. Of course, the 'something' happened to be Sasuke.
Sasuke let out a grunt as Naruto grabbed a hold of his shirt and they both fell to the ground, the dark-haired boy lying on top of a squealing and squirming Naruto.
"Ahh! Teme, Get off! Get off!" Naruto yelled, pushing against Sasuke's chest.
Sasuke finally pushed himself up to lean on his hands, his legs still pinning Naruto's to the ground and he stared down at the blond boy, his expression unreadable.
Naruto stilled in his flailing, his panicked mind slowing as he stared at the boy above him.
"W-wha-"
Whatever Naruto was going to say was cut off by a sharp intake of breath from the direction of his front door.
Holy shit!
Naruto lifted his head slightly and looked towards the door where he could clearly see a pair of feet. Please don't be Sakura, Kakashi, Iruka or the old hag…or-or
"S-Sasuke-kun…?"
Damnit! Of course it would be Sakura! The blond looked up at Sasuke again, wondering why the hell the other boy was still on top of him and watched as Sasuke's expression went from unreadable to highly irritated in mere seconds…though he still didn't move an inch from his position sprawled on top of him.
What the hell is Sasuke thinking? Sakura is right there! Rightthere!
For the millionth time in the past few days, Naruto found himself wondering why it was always him, why the gods seemed to think he deserved this.
Then he came to a decision.
In a sudden movement, Naruto shoved Sasuke off of him and without glancing back bolted for his cupboards and flung them open in search of the newly brought ramen. Finding the right cupboard on the first try, Naruto grabbed the closest packet before darting out of the kitchen and straight out the front door, not even sparing Sakura half a glance on his way passed.
This is the stupidest idea I've had all week, Naruto thought to himself as he came to a stop and looked around for a moment, searching for a way out of…wherever the hell he currently was.
Yup-the stupidest.
After fleeing (that's right, fleeing) his apartment Naruto had run clear across the village and right into the surrounding forest though now it was becoming apparent that in his haste to get as far away from his apartment as possible…he had gotten himself lost.
But what was really getting to him was the fact that while he had some ramen, he had nothing to cook them with. All he'd wanted this morning was a steaming hot cup of ramen noodles, that was all.
Naruto sighed (again) before sitting down on the forest floor.
He was in the forest…a forest, with nothing but a packet of cup ramen, he didn't even know which part of the forest surrounding the hidden leaf he was in and worst of all-he had absolutely no idea how to get out again.
Naruto frowned as he thought, fingering the ramen in his hands.
He could stay here and wait for someone to find him but it was highly unlikely that anyone would even think about coming into this part of the forest, you could barely-
"Wait…" Naruto breathed out, his eyes crinkling up as he smiled suddenly.
No one would come in here, which meant that Sasuke wouldn't come in here.
Which means…
"I'm saved!" He said the words aloud and proceeded to congratulate himself, for what you may ask? Plain old dumb luck. Yup, he was definitely a master of that particular art and he'd never been more grateful for the fact.
Now all he needed was shelter.
After a few minutes of thought a grinning Naruto stood up from his place on the ground and with some quick hand movements the air around him was filled with small popping sounds as ten exact replicas of himself appeared. The blond smirked at the clones before crossing his arms over his chest authoritatively.
"Alright," Naruto commanded, "hand over your jackets…"
And just like that, Uzumaki Naruto had shelter.
Naruto looked at his 'tent' in admiration, mentally patting himself on the back again. Sure it was bright orange, not to mention the fact that one side of his 'jacket roof' was messily tried to the trunk of a tree while the other side was being propped up by a large, unreadable sign, but all in all, it was…
"Perfect," Naruto said out loud, still grinning as he ducked to enter the newly made 'tent'. Now all he needed was…food. The blond glanced up at the darkening sky, his hopes for finding a nearby stream fading as his hunger grew. He stared at the cup ramen in front of him, eyeing it thoughtfully for a minute before picking it up. Turning it over in his hand, the blond-haired ninja slowly began to peel the plastic wrapping off and then the seal, tossing them to the side. He looked at the dried noodles at the bottom of the cup and, taking the flavour sachet out first, broke the noodles down into biteable pieces.
"Hmmm…" Naruto picked up the flavour sachet from beside him and ripped a small hole in it before empting it into the cup.
"What the hell…" he muttered with a shrug of his shoulders and he shook the cup a bit, taking one of the pieces out and sniffing it experimentally before popping it in his mouth. He rolled the piece around his mouth a few times before nodding to himself.
It was…acceptable.
After his less then filling meal Naruto lay back on the forest floor, staring up at the orange 'roof'. Only two more days left and this tradition would be over with for good; he had gotten through the first three days, two more should be no problem-especially now he had found the perfect hiding place.
Naruto yawned as he stretched, putting his hands behind his head, "just two more days…" he mumbled, closing his eyes. And it would all be over…
Naruto's eyes flew open as he had a sudden, horrifying thought.
What if it went for longer!
After all, how would he know? It's not like anyone specified the time frame or anything-he was just going on past history. What if…what if…
"No," Naruto said firmly, shaking his head, it wasn't going to go for longer; it would end in two days. It had to. Banishing the thought from his mind, the blond closed his eyes once again, sleep claiming him within minutes.
Naruto stared at the locked doors in dread, hoping the shopkeeper would be back soon. He wasn't even supposed to be in here when the shop was open and now, somehow, he had gotten himself locked in while the place was shut. He glanced around the empty store, taking hesitant steps forward, each soft footfall echoing loudly and the blonde was just about to turn back to try the locked doors again when caught sight of it. A stack, higher than was probable climbed the wall ahead, brightly coloured labels beckoned him and he didn't bother resisting. Naruto made a beeline for it, smiling as he came to a stop before it, gazing at the hoard in complete blissfulness; he reached out to capture his most loved meal when a hand out of nowhere slapped his away.
"You can't have any," said a familiar voice from his right and Naruto turned to see Sasuke standing beside him.
"Why not!" he demanded, glaring at the other boy.
"Because," Sasuke started, moving closer to Naruto, "you haven't given me a kiss yet…"
"Why do I have to kiss you?" the blond replied, still glaring at Sasuke, "it's my ramen!"
"No… it's mine," Sasuke growled, getting closer and closer to Naruto by the second.
"Yeah? Then why do I have to kiss you?" the blond said, annoyed.
"Why…?" the other boy echoed as he brushed his lips over Naruto's, "it's…tradition."
Naruto sat bolt upright and smacked his head against something solid, falling back down almost immediately and thudding against the ground.
"Owww…" the blond whined, holding his head as he waited for the world to stop spinning. He was about to sit back up again when mumbled curses reached his ears.
What the…
Opening his eyes, Naruto slowly lifted his head off the ground until a shadowed figure came into view; crouching down by his feet.
Why the hell was someone in his apartment?
Naruto thought for a second, trying to recall if he had any guests…no, he didn't-he was avoiding he apartment because of-
"Kami's Sake Naruto, could your skull be any harder!"
Sasuke.
Wait…Sasuke was…was…
"What's your problem, anyway?"
Here.
No…he couldn't be, Naruto had found the perfect hiding place and no one would find him. This was just a figment of his imagination, yup, that's all—This. Wasn't. Real. Naruto sat up slowly and stared at the dark-haired boy, "you're not here," he stated matter of factly, as if saying it would make it real and he was at least 90-percent sure it wasn't.
Sasuke stared back at him, "yes I am."
"No, you're not," Naruto said again and to prove his point, reached over and tugged sharply on the other boy's hair.
"What the fuck!"
Uh-oh.
Sasuke lunged at him and Naruto, his brain still muggy from sleep, didn't move in time and before he knew it he was pinned to the ground.
"S-Sasuke…" the blond stammered, looking like a deer caught in headlights, " I-I, I didn't see you there?" he tired.
"Didn't see me?" Sasuke hissed, irritably, "you pulled my fucking hair," he stated.
"Did I?" Naruto said, trying to laugh it off, "I didn't mean to?" he tried again.
"Really?" Sasuke murmured dangerously, leaning down towards the blond.
"AHHHH!" Naruto flung his arms up to stop the other boy, pushing him away before scrambling backwards. His back hit the old sign that had been holding up his 'tent' and before he could catch it, the sign fell into him; pushing him forward and straight onto Sasuke.
"Dobe," Sasuke said blandly as the jackets fell onto them, popping away into puffs of vapour before they even had time to settle.
Naruto froze.
I'm on top of Sasuke, was all Naruto could think, his mind processing the fact slowly and before it could finish there was a loud cough from behind them.
"Ahhh! Sasuke pervert! Get away from me!" Naruto yelled belatedly and scrambled to his feet, his eyes wildly looking around as he tensed, ready to run at a moments notice.
He didn't get the chance.
"Sorry to…err…interrupt you two," Kakashi started, obviously enjoying the moment, "but you seemed to have chosen a rather bad place for your…meeting," he paused, watching as Sasuke climbed to his feet. "This is an ANBU training area," he smiled his one-eyed smile, "you're both trespassing," he went on happily, walking over to the sign that had been one of Naruto's 'walls'. He wiped it a few times until they could both clearly see 'NO TRESPASSING' written in red letters and then he was gone in a puff of smoke.
Naruto stared at the spot Kakashi had been occupying a moment ago; the older man's words echoing in his mind.
Great, now where am I supposed to go?
End Chapter