Chapter 2:

Arguement

The sun had slowly begun to rise as its light dripped across everything in its path, illuminating the sky with various, beautiful colors. Naruto barely had time to notice as he pushed himself up from the ground, still breathing hard, slightly wincing from the pain that shot through his stomach and lower chest. "Sasuke, you bastard," he whispered through clenched teeth, on his feet now. "I'm only going to chase you because Kakashi-sensei wants me to train with you. After this, I hope I'll never speak to you again!" He bit his bottom lip and ran to catch up with him, suppressing his anger with the hard stomps of his feet on the dirt path.

"So the dunce finally caught up, eh?" Sasuke laughed as he heard the hard slap of feet on the ground, not even bothering to turn around to look at Naruto's furious expression.

"You shut up!" he demanded. "I don't want to talk to you right now."

"Whatever." His reply was flat and blunt and he continued to walk ahead, his fists jammed into his pockets.

"After this training that we're doing together, I'm never going to speak to you again!" Naruto yelled at him as he chased behind him.

There was a pause and Naruto's heavy breathing could be heard.

"Oh, am I supposed to be upset about this or something?" Sasuke questioned. "It's not like I care if you ever talk to me again or not. I hate you."

"I hope you didn't mean that."

"And if I did?"

"I'll kick your ass you loser!"

"You could try to hurt me, but you wouldn't succeed. Didn't getting your ass smashed into the ground back there teach you anything? Jesus, you're a slow learner! You really are stupid!"

"Just shut up," Naruto commanded, his voice soft and slightly uneasy. Sasuke turned to look at him, his charcoal eyes examining his troubled expression that was visible on his face. He almost felt sorry for yelling at Naruto the way that he had, but realized his thoughts and shuddered violently.

"What was I thinking?" he asked himself silently, becoming worried. "I don't care about Naruto and he doesn't care about me. What he thinks doesn't matter to me." He nodded with his conclusion and continued to walk.

"Sasuke," Naruto asked softly, his head held somewhat low as if he were examining the dirt path that they were traveling.

"What now? I thought that you didn't want to talk to me," he shot back.

"I wanna ask you something."

"What is it, then?" he questioned, irritated.

"Why are you so mean to everyone? Some people really care about you, but you don't give them the chance. Sakura-chan really liked you, but you didn't even give her a chance. You didn't even realize that she liked you because you were so caught up in yourself, and that hurt her feelings."

Sasuke and Naruto kept quiet for a moment and a silence hung heavy in the air as they reached the base of the mountain.

"It doesn't matter to you. You're just being nosy," Sasuke snapped, shaking his head.

"But it does matter to me. As long as you're my partner, even if I don't want you to be, your feelings matter to me. It's hard to work with someone that you hate… you know?"

He looked up at Sasuke and their gaze held for a split second until Sasuke turned away, clenching his teeth. "You wouldn't understand if I told you, anyway, so it doesn't matter."

"Try me," Naruto challenged.

"You're stupid, so you'd never be able to understand what I think and what I feel! You didn't have your parents slaughtered by your own brother!" he yelled, stomping his foot on the ground.

"You're right, my parents weren't slaughtered, but at least you got to know your parents. I've grown up all of my life without family or anyone caring about me. That all changed after I met Kakashi-sensei, Iruka-sensei, Sakura-chan, and you, Sasuke," Naruto told him with a tad bit of reluctance.

Sasuke's face brightened into a light red with surprise and embarrassment and he looked away. "Don't try to understand my situation. You're not me so don't even bother. It doesn't matter to you."

"Why do you keep saying that it doesn't matter to me when it does? Your feelings matter to me since you're my partner," Naruto said.

"That's precisely it! If I wasn't your partner, you wouldn't care the slightest bit about me! You're only being nosy and acting like you care for the time being!" he roared, clenching his fists.

"That isn't it! How many times do I have to tell you!" Naruto cried with dismay.

"Just drop it… it doesn't matter. Come on, we're wasting time." He whirled back around, his back facing Naruto, and began his climb up the mountain.

After a couple of hours of climbing the mountain, Sasuke and Naruto stopped to rest. They both sat down, panting gently. "Do you want some ramen noodles?" Naruto asked as he fished through his bag again.

"Is that the only food that you brought?" he asked without interest.

"Yah!" he replied happily, pulling out some cup ramen noodles and clutching them in his hands.

"Well, it doesn't look like there is much else to eat, so I might as well." He snatched one of the containers from his and held it in his hands. "Kakashi-sensei is right; if all you eat is ramen noodles, you're going to die."

"It's about the only food that I like, though," Naruto told him, standing up. "I need some boiling water to put in this. Is there a river nearby?"

"How would I know?" he spat back.

"Well, lets go look for one, then," Naruto offered, slinging his pack over his shoulder.

"Whatever," Sasuke mumbled, standing up as well.

They both looked up at each other, charcoal eyes locking with vivid blue ones, and the gaze held for a slight moment once again. Sasuke turned his face away again, blush creeping into his complexion.

"Come on, lets go," Sasuke whispered, shaking his head. "What's wrong with me?" he asked himself. "Why do I feel weird when I look at Naruto? Why…. Why do I feel so awkward when I stare into his eyes…? What's… wrong with me?"

He couldn't find an answer.