Chapter Title: 30. Allies
When they had finished getting ready, and were set to leave, Naruto and Sasuke set off towards Sand, quite aware of the slightly amused looks they were getting from the owner and his wife. Naruto was unnerved by the congratulations the couple sent him, and continuously glanced over his shoulder until they were out of sight of the two.
"Why do you keep doing that, dobe?"
"Did you see the way they kept looking at us?" He replied, shaking his head. "I wonder why." Sasuke turned his head, long hair flowing to follow the movement and gave the blonde a bewildered look.
"You mean you don't know?" He asked, smirking slightly. Snapping his head to stare at Sasuke, Naruto's eyes widened for an instant.
"You mean you know?"
"Of course. They think you and me had sex last night."
"WHAT!??" Suddenly he was feeling quite faint and stopped for a moment, feeling the blood rush to his cheeks.
"Don't tell me you forgot about the owner walking in on our little make-out session."
"It was NOT a make-out session."
"Well it looked like that to him, obviously. And I suppose he just made assumptions after that. You did make a lot of noise last night, and this stupid shirt doesn't hide the mark you gave me from biting my shoulder-" Naruto held up his hand to silence the girl.
"I get the point." He sighed and continued walking. "But we didn't." He whined under his breath. They jumped into the trees and continued towards Sand in silence.
***
When they finally got to the front gates of the Sand village, Sasuke stopped them both. He turned with his back to the large doors and placed a hand on Naruto's chest. The blonde stopped and looked down at the girl.
"What is it, Sasuke?" He asked. Sasuke looked up at him for a second before frowning.
"This is a very dangerous place. Don't get me in trouble, dobe."
"Me?" Naruto replied, slightly offended by his rival's concern. "I'll show you how much of a dobe I am." He glared, pushing the dark-haired girl out of his way angrily and ran into the village, disappearing almost instantly.
"Naruto!!" Sasuke called after him, but he was already gone. He shook his head, and walked into the foreign village slowly. "Dobe." He muttered to himself, wondering for the hundredth time why Naruto was constantly attacking him. He sighed, not entirely sure if he'd ever know. Maybe it had something to do with nearly losing his battle with the Kyuubi.
He wandered the streets, listening closely to snippets from everyone's conversation, while asking people if they'd seen her boyfriend. He decided to stick as close to the truth as possible, and asked if they'd seen the blonde man who'd disappeared on her earlier, leaving her by herself.
He'd wandered for nearly half the day, without hearing any rumours, and not even a sign of his rival, though many people had seen him. One person ended up directing him to the Kazekage's office explaining that the man knew everything that went on in his village and if he needed to, could find anyone. Sasuke had thanked the person and ultimately found himself waiting outside the main office for a chance to speak with the man.
"Why are you so intent on allying our village with them, when it was obvious before that we wanted to be rid of them a few years ago?" A voice drifted out into the hallway from the room.
"Because I'm not the same person as my bastard father." Sasuke stared at the door, sure that he knew that voice from somewhere, though it was certainly deeper than he remembered.
"No, he had more brains than you, demon."
"Stop it, both of you. You're fighting like little kids." A female's voice broke through the petty argument.
"Look, I want us to ally with the Leaf because my father's was not in his right mind when we teamed up with Sound the last time. Or did you forget the results of that raid, Kankuro?" The first speaker, Kankuro, growled under his breath but remained silent. "Sound is no longer a strong ally, everyone else knows this, and if we don't change our friends, other villages will see US as weak and decide to attack us."
"I thought you liked bloodshed." Kankuro spat.
"Of course I do, brother, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let my village fail because of that."
"Why are you so keen on helping the village that shunned you?"
"Because they didn't know any better. They were taught to believe I was a beast."
"And now they know it's true."
"Kankuro!" The female exclaimed.
"Temari, it's true, I don't know why he's in this power position. Everyone keeps saying that Gaara's got some ulterior motive and is just itching to the ultimate torture." Sasuke stifled a gasp, finally recognising the voice of the demon he'd battled in the forest. He'd always wondered what happened to him. The beginning of the war was also the beginning of Sasuke's great resentment over Naruto's successes. He shook his head, letting his long hair cover his eyes for a moment, waiting for a bit longer before he left.
"I may be thirsty for the spilling of blood, but we are weak against Leaf's other demon spirit, and while I am loathed to admit it, it would be a lot better if we teamed up against our enemies, rather than went against them. I'm sure Naruto-kun is even more powerful than before, and if that Uchiha boy survived... they have more than enough fire-power in their genins alone." Gaara seemed to rise from his seat. "Are we done now?"
Sasuke took this as an ending to their meeting and decided he would be safer if he left now and found his partner and left. He had more than enough to fill up the report, and they needed to get out of there.
Gaara peeked out the door a couple of seconds later to find the hallway completely empty. Smirking to himself, he returned to his office.
"Are you sure that was Uchiha?" Kankuro asked, not entirely convinced of his brother's word.
"Of course it was, I saw the loneliness in her eyes when she first came in. It was so much like it was all those years ago, except I believe it's lessened a little over time."
"Why did you want to stage that conversation?" Temari asked, shifting from her spot on the desk. "We're not actually going to ally with that stupid village are we?"
"Of course not." Gaara replied smoothly. Over the years his voice lost its gritty sound and adopted a more seductive purr. "I know exactly who we are going to ally with though, someone who is more than willing to take out the Kitsune for us, leaving the boy for me to take my revenge on of course, and will definitely be a shocker for the entire Leaf village." He laughed softly, ignoring the odd looks his siblings were giving him. He didn't care. He knew exactly how to win, and Leaf would be blind to his advances.
***
Sasuke growled angrily. He should have known the idiot would go to the first ramen bar he saw. He stalked right up to the boy, happily eating away at his fifth bowl and tapped him roughly on the shoulder. Customers and staff took note of the glare and moved away slowly in case of an explosion.
"Uzumaki!" Sasuke shouted, the only name he could think of that wouldn't get them in trouble. The blonde turned around and his eyes went wide.
"I was just-" Sasuke tossed the server a bit of money before dragging Naruto outside, too angry for words. When they were a safe distance from the village, Sasuke stopped and trained his outraged glare on the poor boy. He dropped his jutsu to make to darkened look even more effective.
"WHAT WERE YOU DOING EATING ON OUR MISION?!" He yelled.
"I was getting valuable information from one of the girls who eats there regularly. She was pretty cute too."
"Did you forget you had a girlfriend, dobe?" He spat, ignoring the slightly guilty look that flashed across the younger boy's face for a moment.
"I didn't think you cared." Naruto retorted, slightly offended. "It's not like I was going to cheat on her or anything."
"No of course not, because she's our team mate and friend. Even you can't be that dishonourable." Naruto's eyes went momentarily red as he lunged at Sasuke, yelling and screaming. He couldn't stand having the dark-haired genin berate and belittle him for another second longer.
"You think you're so great! You're nothing, Uchiha!" He screamed between punches. "You're just some scared little boy hiding behind your family name!!"
Ordinarily, Sasuke never took anything Naruto said in his little rants seriously, but that comment struck a chord in him and his eyes glowed red with the Sharingan before it began spinning wildly. He, too, began hitting and yelling. It was a couple of minutes of flying limbs and insults before Sasuke managed to pin down the raging blonde. He was on top of Naruto, breathing hard and glaring with all his being and Naruto looked up defiantly to see the spinning Sharingan wheel. He took in a shuddering breath and snapped his eyes from the gaze, terrified.
"Sasuke, no." He whispered, remembering his nightmares from a long time ago. The Sharingan being turned on him didn't come up to often in his dreams anymore, but the sight of it was still enough to make him terrified. "Please stop looking at me like that."
For a moment, the eyes looked down on him with a hint of confusion, before they closed and reopened black as ever. Sasuke looked a lot calmer.
"Stop being an idiot, you should know by now I'd never try and kill you. Hurt you, maybe, but I'm not going to betray you like your subconscious tells you. And stop trying to start fights with me." Naruto grumbled and shoved the older teen off of him.
"Can we just spar for a little bit before we go back?" He asked. "I need to get this desire to fight with you out of my system." Sasuke sighed and stood up, pulling out a couple of kunai.
"Fine, but only for a couple of minutes." Sasuke said, giving in. "I want to get back to the village before it gets too dark, I found out that Sand is planning on allying themselves with us. Plus, I don't want to waste my chakra, I'm running a little low from keeping up my disguise all day." He smirked before lunging at his rival, signalling the beginning of their quick match.
***
Rock Lee was having a tough time with one last decoration that wasn't obeying his wishes and absolutely refused to unravel itself. He cursed under his breath and tossed the ornament chain back into the box. They didn't have much in the way of decorations, but they made do, and they'd managed to gather a lot of support from their fellow genins. Even Shikamaru helped out (with a lot of lecturing from Ino), and now they were having fun just waiting for the last two to show up.
"Shikamaru-kun, when do you expect them to be back by?" Sakura asked, tapping the boy on his shoulder. He smiled up at her, tipping his glass of punch sluggishly at her.
"Around eight or nine." He slurred. "And that's factoring in the time it will take for them to fight, you know how they enjoy keeping up their rivalry." She nodded, trying to keep her frown too visible. Only another hour or so to go then.
"I hope Naruto doesn't slow Sasuke down too much." She muttered under her breath. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at her words, and would have commented but Ino decided to give him another glass of that wonderfully delicious punch and drag him off to dance. And he was surprised to find he didn't care either.
Sakura walked over to the punch bowl, taking a glass for herself and downing it. She'd been thirsty for a while, and although it was slightly bitter on the way down, she insisted on pouring another couple of glasses of the stuff down her throat before she had had her fill. Suddenly the world looked brighter and dating Naruto didn't seem like such a bad idea. She smiled and walked over to Lee, giving him a quick peck on the cheek.
"Thanks for this wonderful idea, Sasuke-kun!" She cheered loudly, latching onto his arm for a moment, before letting go and flitting towards another end of the room. Shikamaru, who was watching the occurrence, sweatdropped at that, laughing nervously with Lee.
"I wonder who spiked the punch already." He slurred, looking around and spotted Kiba walking towards them, stuffing an empty bottle in his jacket and looking decidedly guilty.
"Hey, guys!" He exclaimed, trying to avoid suspicion. Shikamaru sighed and shook his head, reaching up to smack Kiba's.
"Even though I'm drunk you still manage to be troublesome."
"Well someone's got to fill in Naruto's role while he's not here." Kiba said in his defence. Lee watched them talk quietly before shrugging and reaching for a glass of his own.
"Why not?" He asked, pouring the foul stuff down his throat.
~~~~~~~
Heh heh... you all know that something's going to happen when alcohol is introduced as an excuse for future behaviour.
I guess I should apologize for the crappy shounen ai attempt last chapter. It didn't seem to be up to par with the rest of my chapters, but I promise there will be more in the next few chapters, mostly as a result of the alcohol... no Sasuke does not get drunk. Neither does Naruto. You'll just have to wait for a couple of days to find that out.
And yes, Gaara has some sort of reason for being introduced this chapter... maybe it will intice my friend to start reading this... lol... I doubt it tho.
When they had finished getting ready, and were set to leave, Naruto and Sasuke set off towards Sand, quite aware of the slightly amused looks they were getting from the owner and his wife. Naruto was unnerved by the congratulations the couple sent him, and continuously glanced over his shoulder until they were out of sight of the two.
"Why do you keep doing that, dobe?"
"Did you see the way they kept looking at us?" He replied, shaking his head. "I wonder why." Sasuke turned his head, long hair flowing to follow the movement and gave the blonde a bewildered look.
"You mean you don't know?" He asked, smirking slightly. Snapping his head to stare at Sasuke, Naruto's eyes widened for an instant.
"You mean you know?"
"Of course. They think you and me had sex last night."
"WHAT!??" Suddenly he was feeling quite faint and stopped for a moment, feeling the blood rush to his cheeks.
"Don't tell me you forgot about the owner walking in on our little make-out session."
"It was NOT a make-out session."
"Well it looked like that to him, obviously. And I suppose he just made assumptions after that. You did make a lot of noise last night, and this stupid shirt doesn't hide the mark you gave me from biting my shoulder-" Naruto held up his hand to silence the girl.
"I get the point." He sighed and continued walking. "But we didn't." He whined under his breath. They jumped into the trees and continued towards Sand in silence.
***
When they finally got to the front gates of the Sand village, Sasuke stopped them both. He turned with his back to the large doors and placed a hand on Naruto's chest. The blonde stopped and looked down at the girl.
"What is it, Sasuke?" He asked. Sasuke looked up at him for a second before frowning.
"This is a very dangerous place. Don't get me in trouble, dobe."
"Me?" Naruto replied, slightly offended by his rival's concern. "I'll show you how much of a dobe I am." He glared, pushing the dark-haired girl out of his way angrily and ran into the village, disappearing almost instantly.
"Naruto!!" Sasuke called after him, but he was already gone. He shook his head, and walked into the foreign village slowly. "Dobe." He muttered to himself, wondering for the hundredth time why Naruto was constantly attacking him. He sighed, not entirely sure if he'd ever know. Maybe it had something to do with nearly losing his battle with the Kyuubi.
He wandered the streets, listening closely to snippets from everyone's conversation, while asking people if they'd seen her boyfriend. He decided to stick as close to the truth as possible, and asked if they'd seen the blonde man who'd disappeared on her earlier, leaving her by herself.
He'd wandered for nearly half the day, without hearing any rumours, and not even a sign of his rival, though many people had seen him. One person ended up directing him to the Kazekage's office explaining that the man knew everything that went on in his village and if he needed to, could find anyone. Sasuke had thanked the person and ultimately found himself waiting outside the main office for a chance to speak with the man.
"Why are you so intent on allying our village with them, when it was obvious before that we wanted to be rid of them a few years ago?" A voice drifted out into the hallway from the room.
"Because I'm not the same person as my bastard father." Sasuke stared at the door, sure that he knew that voice from somewhere, though it was certainly deeper than he remembered.
"No, he had more brains than you, demon."
"Stop it, both of you. You're fighting like little kids." A female's voice broke through the petty argument.
"Look, I want us to ally with the Leaf because my father's was not in his right mind when we teamed up with Sound the last time. Or did you forget the results of that raid, Kankuro?" The first speaker, Kankuro, growled under his breath but remained silent. "Sound is no longer a strong ally, everyone else knows this, and if we don't change our friends, other villages will see US as weak and decide to attack us."
"I thought you liked bloodshed." Kankuro spat.
"Of course I do, brother, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let my village fail because of that."
"Why are you so keen on helping the village that shunned you?"
"Because they didn't know any better. They were taught to believe I was a beast."
"And now they know it's true."
"Kankuro!" The female exclaimed.
"Temari, it's true, I don't know why he's in this power position. Everyone keeps saying that Gaara's got some ulterior motive and is just itching to the ultimate torture." Sasuke stifled a gasp, finally recognising the voice of the demon he'd battled in the forest. He'd always wondered what happened to him. The beginning of the war was also the beginning of Sasuke's great resentment over Naruto's successes. He shook his head, letting his long hair cover his eyes for a moment, waiting for a bit longer before he left.
"I may be thirsty for the spilling of blood, but we are weak against Leaf's other demon spirit, and while I am loathed to admit it, it would be a lot better if we teamed up against our enemies, rather than went against them. I'm sure Naruto-kun is even more powerful than before, and if that Uchiha boy survived... they have more than enough fire-power in their genins alone." Gaara seemed to rise from his seat. "Are we done now?"
Sasuke took this as an ending to their meeting and decided he would be safer if he left now and found his partner and left. He had more than enough to fill up the report, and they needed to get out of there.
Gaara peeked out the door a couple of seconds later to find the hallway completely empty. Smirking to himself, he returned to his office.
"Are you sure that was Uchiha?" Kankuro asked, not entirely convinced of his brother's word.
"Of course it was, I saw the loneliness in her eyes when she first came in. It was so much like it was all those years ago, except I believe it's lessened a little over time."
"Why did you want to stage that conversation?" Temari asked, shifting from her spot on the desk. "We're not actually going to ally with that stupid village are we?"
"Of course not." Gaara replied smoothly. Over the years his voice lost its gritty sound and adopted a more seductive purr. "I know exactly who we are going to ally with though, someone who is more than willing to take out the Kitsune for us, leaving the boy for me to take my revenge on of course, and will definitely be a shocker for the entire Leaf village." He laughed softly, ignoring the odd looks his siblings were giving him. He didn't care. He knew exactly how to win, and Leaf would be blind to his advances.
***
Sasuke growled angrily. He should have known the idiot would go to the first ramen bar he saw. He stalked right up to the boy, happily eating away at his fifth bowl and tapped him roughly on the shoulder. Customers and staff took note of the glare and moved away slowly in case of an explosion.
"Uzumaki!" Sasuke shouted, the only name he could think of that wouldn't get them in trouble. The blonde turned around and his eyes went wide.
"I was just-" Sasuke tossed the server a bit of money before dragging Naruto outside, too angry for words. When they were a safe distance from the village, Sasuke stopped and trained his outraged glare on the poor boy. He dropped his jutsu to make to darkened look even more effective.
"WHAT WERE YOU DOING EATING ON OUR MISION?!" He yelled.
"I was getting valuable information from one of the girls who eats there regularly. She was pretty cute too."
"Did you forget you had a girlfriend, dobe?" He spat, ignoring the slightly guilty look that flashed across the younger boy's face for a moment.
"I didn't think you cared." Naruto retorted, slightly offended. "It's not like I was going to cheat on her or anything."
"No of course not, because she's our team mate and friend. Even you can't be that dishonourable." Naruto's eyes went momentarily red as he lunged at Sasuke, yelling and screaming. He couldn't stand having the dark-haired genin berate and belittle him for another second longer.
"You think you're so great! You're nothing, Uchiha!" He screamed between punches. "You're just some scared little boy hiding behind your family name!!"
Ordinarily, Sasuke never took anything Naruto said in his little rants seriously, but that comment struck a chord in him and his eyes glowed red with the Sharingan before it began spinning wildly. He, too, began hitting and yelling. It was a couple of minutes of flying limbs and insults before Sasuke managed to pin down the raging blonde. He was on top of Naruto, breathing hard and glaring with all his being and Naruto looked up defiantly to see the spinning Sharingan wheel. He took in a shuddering breath and snapped his eyes from the gaze, terrified.
"Sasuke, no." He whispered, remembering his nightmares from a long time ago. The Sharingan being turned on him didn't come up to often in his dreams anymore, but the sight of it was still enough to make him terrified. "Please stop looking at me like that."
For a moment, the eyes looked down on him with a hint of confusion, before they closed and reopened black as ever. Sasuke looked a lot calmer.
"Stop being an idiot, you should know by now I'd never try and kill you. Hurt you, maybe, but I'm not going to betray you like your subconscious tells you. And stop trying to start fights with me." Naruto grumbled and shoved the older teen off of him.
"Can we just spar for a little bit before we go back?" He asked. "I need to get this desire to fight with you out of my system." Sasuke sighed and stood up, pulling out a couple of kunai.
"Fine, but only for a couple of minutes." Sasuke said, giving in. "I want to get back to the village before it gets too dark, I found out that Sand is planning on allying themselves with us. Plus, I don't want to waste my chakra, I'm running a little low from keeping up my disguise all day." He smirked before lunging at his rival, signalling the beginning of their quick match.
***
Rock Lee was having a tough time with one last decoration that wasn't obeying his wishes and absolutely refused to unravel itself. He cursed under his breath and tossed the ornament chain back into the box. They didn't have much in the way of decorations, but they made do, and they'd managed to gather a lot of support from their fellow genins. Even Shikamaru helped out (with a lot of lecturing from Ino), and now they were having fun just waiting for the last two to show up.
"Shikamaru-kun, when do you expect them to be back by?" Sakura asked, tapping the boy on his shoulder. He smiled up at her, tipping his glass of punch sluggishly at her.
"Around eight or nine." He slurred. "And that's factoring in the time it will take for them to fight, you know how they enjoy keeping up their rivalry." She nodded, trying to keep her frown too visible. Only another hour or so to go then.
"I hope Naruto doesn't slow Sasuke down too much." She muttered under her breath. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at her words, and would have commented but Ino decided to give him another glass of that wonderfully delicious punch and drag him off to dance. And he was surprised to find he didn't care either.
Sakura walked over to the punch bowl, taking a glass for herself and downing it. She'd been thirsty for a while, and although it was slightly bitter on the way down, she insisted on pouring another couple of glasses of the stuff down her throat before she had had her fill. Suddenly the world looked brighter and dating Naruto didn't seem like such a bad idea. She smiled and walked over to Lee, giving him a quick peck on the cheek.
"Thanks for this wonderful idea, Sasuke-kun!" She cheered loudly, latching onto his arm for a moment, before letting go and flitting towards another end of the room. Shikamaru, who was watching the occurrence, sweatdropped at that, laughing nervously with Lee.
"I wonder who spiked the punch already." He slurred, looking around and spotted Kiba walking towards them, stuffing an empty bottle in his jacket and looking decidedly guilty.
"Hey, guys!" He exclaimed, trying to avoid suspicion. Shikamaru sighed and shook his head, reaching up to smack Kiba's.
"Even though I'm drunk you still manage to be troublesome."
"Well someone's got to fill in Naruto's role while he's not here." Kiba said in his defence. Lee watched them talk quietly before shrugging and reaching for a glass of his own.
"Why not?" He asked, pouring the foul stuff down his throat.
~~~~~~~
Heh heh... you all know that something's going to happen when alcohol is introduced as an excuse for future behaviour.
I guess I should apologize for the crappy shounen ai attempt last chapter. It didn't seem to be up to par with the rest of my chapters, but I promise there will be more in the next few chapters, mostly as a result of the alcohol... no Sasuke does not get drunk. Neither does Naruto. You'll just have to wait for a couple of days to find that out.
And yes, Gaara has some sort of reason for being introduced this chapter... maybe it will intice my friend to start reading this... lol... I doubt it tho.