Summary: Naruto gets an unexpected visitor very early in the morning.
Rating: T
Warning: Shounen-ai, possible OOCness
Disclaimer: Not mine and never will be.
A/N: To all the reveiwers, you guys are the best! Thank you so much for all the encouragement. The reviews sure spurred me on to keep writing this fic.
Claimed
Part Three: Of Dreams and Visits
Naruto gaped down at the man in front of him in wonder. Blood rushed to his face and his heart beat quickened. Dark eyes stared up at him intensely as strong pale hands gripped both of his hands. The blonde cleared his throat a few times before attempting to speak.
"What did you just say?" Unfortunately for him, his voice still came out as a high-pitched squeak.
"Marry me, Uzumaki Naruto," repeated the dark-haired man earnestly.
He blanched at the proposition, still refusing to accept the outrageous situation. At least this confirmed that his hearing was intact, but Naruto had a feeling that his sanity had deserted him. After all, what else would explain the kneeling Uchiha Sasuke in front of him who was proposing marriage in a very serious manner? Unless the other ninja was pulling a very nasty prank on him, but Naruto knew that the other ninja would rather jump off a cliff than participate in any such act of fun. Eyebrows furrowed, the blonde was abusing his brain in desperate hopes of coming up with a good explanation when a leg whizzed through the air, kicking the Uchiha away from Naruto.
"How dare you propose to my wife?" thundered a voice from behind Naruto as a pair of arms encircled his waist.
Craning his neck, Naruto came face to face with none other than Sai. He nearly sighed in relief before Sai's words registered in his muddled brain. "Wife?"
"Darling, was Sasuke-kun harassing you again?" murmured Sai gazing lovingly at the blonde, who stared back with disbelief.
"Keep your filthy hands off of him! I'm marrying him," snarled Sasuke, pulling at Naruto's hands.
"I've already married him while you were off killing your psycho brother," retorted Sai, trying to pull the blonde away from the other man.
Naruto closed his eyes tightly and screamed, "I'm nobody's wife. I'm a freaking man!" Yet, none of the two men listened to him and continued to pull him in two different directions until his head started ringing loudly from the pain. I'm going to rip in two and die, he wondered in panic. The insistent ringing got louder and louder. "No! Stop it!"
Gasping in panic, Naruto opened his eyes wide and blinked. Sai and Sasuke were no where to be seen. He was lying in his bed, sheets twisted around his legs. Still feeling disoriented, he warily glanced around his small bedroom to confirm that he was alone and safe from his crazy friends. The room was still dark apart from a few rays of sunlight that streamed through the closed curtains.
Only a dream, the blonde sighed in relief as he reached for the alarm clock that was still ringing and switched it off, a very strange dream. With a sheepish grin, Naruto leapt off the bed and immediately fell back on it as his hangover kicked in. "Geez, why did I drink so much?" he groaned, clutching his head in pain. After moaning on his bed for almost another ten minutes, the young Jounin finally decided that only one thing could cure his hammering headache – ramen. In fact, even the mere thought of it lessened the pain. Whistling happily, he stumbled in to the bathroom take a much needed shower to get rid of the powerful stench of alcohol and smoke.
However, his relaxing shower was short-lived as a sudden banging noise alerted him of a visitor. Hastily wrapping a towel around his waist, he sprinted out of the bathroom, nearly slipping on the wet floor in his hurry. The frequency of the pounding on his door increased and his receding headache decided to reappear with a vengeance much to his chagrin. Wincing in pain at the loud noise, he yelled, "I'm nearly there! Stop freaking out on the poor door, will you?"
The banging persisted. Growling angrily, Naruto flung open the door forcefully. "Why the hell are – you?"
Leaning against the door frame casually was none other than Uchiha Sasuke, looking entirely too awake and smug. Unbidden, images of the embarrassing dream flashed through his mind. On top of that, his brain also managed to drag some fuzzy images of the previous night's incidents into his consciousness. This left him feeling extremely flustered and naked, clad in only a towel in front of the other man – who wasn't improving matters by slowly letting his gaze travel down over Naruto's soaking figure.
"W-what are you doing here?" the blonde stammered, hands tightening the towel around his waist self-consciously.
Nice abs, the dark-haired teen wondered in mild surprise. Dark eyes flicked up to Naruto's face and Sasuke smirked, noting the red tinge on the whiskered face. "Stalking you," he drawled and held back his glee when the tinge blossomed into a full-blown blush on the other man's face.
"W-what?" Naruto choked out, his heart momentarily halting in its rapid pace.
Straightening up, Sasuke reached across and cuffed the blonde across his head. "I'm just kidding, you idiot," he scoffed. "Are you going to invite me in or what?"
Naruto continued to gape at him. Rolling his eyes, Sasuke shoved past the blonde and sauntered in to the Jounin's small apartment. The place smelt strongly of ramen and the Chuunin noted the numerous empty ramen containers strewn across the place along with a few items of clothing. Gingerly picking up a black t-shirt from the ancient couch, he flung it at the frozen blonde and settled down. Naruto snapped out of his daze when the item of clothing flopped down on his wet golden locks. Shivering, he slammed the door shut and whirled around to face the relaxed Uchiha.
"What do you want?"he asked, eyes darting around the apartment. Sasuke kept silent and amused himself for a few more minutes, enjoying the various colours that crossed Naruto's face. Finally, when it looked like Naruto was about to crack, he said, "Do I need a reason to visit my best friend?"
The Jounin did a fabulous imitation of a fish before sighing. "I guess not. It's extremely early, so I just thought something important had happened," he said with a sheepish grin. "And anyway, you never do visit anyone,"
Sasuke cheered inwardly when the other man did not decide to throw him out. That morning, he had woken up extra early in order to apologize to the blonde for the previous night's incidents before that other rat could. He knew that if he didn't act fast, Sai would worm his way into Naruto's day as usual. But today, he's all mine, Sasuke thought smugly as he tried to make himself comfortable on the very uncooperative lump that Naruto called a couch. The agenda of the dark-haired teen for the day was to appeal to the blonde and then stick to Naruto like glue as soon as forgiveness was granted. However, judging from the carefree grin on his old friend's face, Sasuke wondered if Naruto had no memory of the past night's fights. Maybe he could still hold onto his pride and forget about the apology…
"Are you feeling OK, Sasuke?" The dark-haired Chuunin jerked out of his ponderings and regarded the anxious look on Naruto's face.
"I'm fine. Why?" Sasuke asked. A cheeky grin suddenly appeared on the blonde's face. "It's just so unusual to see you smiling so much, that's why," said Naruto throwing the t-shirt into Sasuke's startled face. "You look scary like that,"
Growling in irritation, the Uchiha lunged towards his laughing friend in hopes of throwing a few punches. In an impressive display of agility, Naruto managed to escape his grip and sprint to another room with his towel still intact. "I'll be out in five, so entertain yourself," he yelled as a door slammed shut and the shower was turned on once again.
Sasuke chuckled when the other's voice started wailing an off-key song soon after. After a few minutes of listening to the horrible singing, he decided to investigate the apartment out of concern for his sanity. Snooping through the cupboards in the small kitchen, he found stocks of instant food – mainly cup ramen. The fridge mainly contained of milk, some of it expired.
He certainly doesn't take care of himself very well, he wondered exasperatedly, that idiot. Dark eyes roamed around the place until they landed on the door that Naruto had disappeared into a few minutes ago – the door that undeniably led to the blonde's bedroom. Sasuke hesitated as his pride battled with his curiosity over the concept of respecting his friend's privacy. Finally his curiosity won over and he stepped into the bedroom cautiously and raised an eyebrow as he took in the rumpled sheets of the bed and the clothes strewn across the floor. Steam was streaming out from an open door to the side and he could hear Naruto's voice drifting out of it clearly along with the sound of water.
A group of photographs decorating one of the walls caught Sasuke's attention. Hoping that Naruto would remain in the shower for some time longer, he strode over to the wall to examine the pictures closely. Lips curved in a wistful smile when dark eyes fell on a photo of the original Team Seven – the same one that he had always kept with him. In the picture Sakura smiled in between the scowling figures of Naruto and himself, while Kakashi hovered over them good-naturedly. Memories refreshed in his mind and he found himself regretting his past decisions once again. It did not help that his presence was replaced by the smiling face of another dark-haired boy in the rest of the pictures that decorated the wall.
"Nice, aren't they?"
Startled out of his hateful thoughts towards the smiling image of Sai, the nineteen-year old turned towards the deep voice and inhaled sharply. Once again, with only a small towel around his waist, Naruto grinned at the dark-haired Chuunin. Strangely, Sasuke felt his breath quicken as his eyes appreciated the way water droplets dripped from the other boy's golden locks onto his torso and trailed down slowly over the tan skin. The sudden heat that sprang to his cheeks confused him and Sasuke quickly averted his gaze in hopes of stopping the blush.
"It kind of became a ritual for us," said Naruto, shifting through his wardrobe. "After every remarkable mission, a picture of all of us was taken to commemorate the victory,"
Staring steadfastly at the pictures, Sasuke muttered, "That's…nice,"
"Yeah, Sai can come up with good ideas once in a while," laughed Naruto.
"Sai?" hissed Sasuke as he whirled around to face his friend, momentarily forgetting about the half-naked state of the other. Fortunately, during their conversation Naruto had slipped on a pair of black pants and was currently drying his hair with the towel.
"Yes, Sai," Naruto frowned. "Why are you suddenly so upset?"
"I'm not. Don't be stupid," scoffed Sasuke, embarrassed that he had revealed so much on his face. "It's just that…that guy is always with you, isn't he?"
The blonde gave him a strange look. "So? We are good friends after all,"
Bristling at the casual statement, dark eyes narrowed dangerously at the pictures on the wall. "I just don't trust him," he muttered quietly.
Blue eyes widened and Naruto gaped at his friend for a while before doubling over in laughter. Sasuke blinked at his friend in confusion and crossed his arms across his chest in annoyance. "What? What's so funny, idiot?"
The blonde did not answer as he pounded on the floor, tears streaming down his face in his hilarity. Clenching his jaw angrily, Sasuke glared at the Jounin and thought up of the most painful ways to kill Naruto along with his irritating new best friend Sai. He certainly did not appreciate being laughed at by the number one idiot in Konoha.
Finally calming down from the fit of laughter, Naruto grinned up at his annoyed friend from his position on the floor. "Geez, Sasuke. Keep on acting like that and people would soon start assuming that you actually are not a cold-hearted jerk. You wouldn't want that, would you?" he chuckled.
"What did you just call me, idiot?"
"I believe I called you a cold-hearted jerk, Sasuke-chan," Naruto replied in a sing-song voice and stuck his tongue out at Sasuke.
The last string holding his frustration in place snapped and Sasuke launched himself at the grinning blonde with a growl "Take it back, you idiot." Naruto grunted at the impact as Sasuke's weight pinned his body to the ground and braced his hands against the other man's chest in hopes of throwing Sasuke off. However, before this could be done, one of Sasuke's hands caressed his bare side. To his horror, laughter bubbled out of his throat and Naruto squatted at the offending hand while squirming desperately. Sasuke glanced up at Naruto's flushed face with something akin to surprise on his face. For further confirmation, Sasuke brushed his fingers lightly against his friend's side again. Right on cue, the blonde let out a loud squawk of laughter and writhed even more.
Sasuke smirked evilly. "By any chance, are you ticklish, Naruto?" he whispered in the other's ear and smiled when Naruto slapped at his wandering hand.
"Stop that, Sasuke. You are not playing fair, jerk," Naruto whined, trying to head-butt him.
"So? Jerks don't play fair," the Chuunin sneered down at the pleading look on Naruto's face. "Now, take back what you said,"
"No way!" Unfortunately for the blonde, it was not the answer Sasuke wanted. He renewed his attack on the Jounin's side and chuckled when his friend started to giggle hysterically, looking very vulnerable and flushed.
"S-stop, Sasuke! You cold-hearted jerk!" Naruto gasped, flailing his arms around wildly.
Sasuke opened his mouth to repeat his demand once again and then sputtered in bewilderment when he was abruptly lifted off of the blonde. Naruto's laughter halted abruptly and his eyes widened as they focused on a spot behind Sasuke. Tensing, Sasuke twisted away from the firm grip on his shirt and drew back his fist, ready to throw a punch at the culprit. HisHis good mood took a nosedive at the sight of the face that greeted him and his hand dropped hesitantly.
Dark eyes glared back at him and a voice dripping with venom hissed, "Naruto asked you to stop. So I suggest that you respect his wishes, Sasuke-kun"
A/N: This chapter took off in a completely different direction from what I had planned. Oh well, I blame it on the stupid headache I always seem to have these days.