Uchiha and Uzumaki:

Naruto

It really is amazing how fast the heartbeat of the one you love can lull you to sleep. By the time the full moon was high in the sky, I was drifting off into sweet dreams right on Sasuke's tummy. It was the best sleep I had ever had.

And all too soon, Sasuke was shaking me awake.

"Come on, Naruto! It's morning!"

I groaned. "Just five more minutes."

I could just imagine Sasuke rolling his eyes as he hit me roughly over the head. I yelped, all the tiredness going away instantly. I glared at him.

"Wh-what was that for, you bastard!"

Sasuke smirked. "I had to get you up some way."

I returned his nasty little smile. "Why you little-"

I stood up off the ground and tackled him, hard. Sasuke laughed and pushed me off onto the dew-ridden grass.

"It's going to take more than that to beat me, Dobe."

And that's how I received my nickname. I didn't know it at the time, but that nickname was going to stick to me like glue. My name was no longer just Uzumaki Naruto. It was Uzumaki "Dobe" Naruto. I rubbed my rear-end and grumbled.

"I can't win a fight on an empty stomach, Sasuke-teme."

"That is the lamerest excuse I have ever heard!" Sasuke stood up and held his hand out to me. "Come on, we can go home and have some ramen."

My stomach grumbled at the thought of ramen and I immediately agreed, dragging the other boy back to my apartment faster than it takes the hot water needed for my favorite food ever to boil.

I quickly opened the front door and ran into the kitchen, Sasuke still lagging behind me. I dumped him on one of the cheap plastic chairs at the small kitchen table and started digging through the pantry for some beef ramen when a thought occurred to me.

"Hey Sasuke."

"Huh?"

I looked down at the tacky linoleum floor under my feet and gripped the Styrofoam cup of noodles. "You didn't answer my question last night."

"What question?"

I turned around and faced him. Wow, he really didn't know what I was talking about, what with that blank look on his face. Ah, people these days…

I cleared my throat. "Why did you leave last night?"

Silence hung over the two of us like the long, white veil that brides wore on their wedding days. I crossed my arms, hoping that the look on my face was at least a little menacing, like in one of the action movies starring some foreign guy with a weird accent, a fake tan, and bulging muscles. Hasta la Vista, baby.

It seemed that Sasuke finally untied his tongue and started to talk in a shaky voice. "N-N-Naruto…do-do you th-th-think it's weird f-for to boys to-to you know…live together like this?"

Now it was my turn to have the cat catch my tongue. Oh man…he hated me now, didn't he? He liked having all those fan girls and he didn't want to be seen with me. Well, the village did have a ton of stupid people in it, so of course people were going to get the wrong idea sometime.

'But he kissed you,' said my mind. 'If he kissed you, that means he doesn't hate you. It means the exact opposite.'

The cat finally let go. "Well…I mean, I thought you didn't want to be alone."

Sasuke looked down at the table. "I don't want to be alone. It's just…what will everyone else think if they see us together?"

I was seriously starting to get annoyed. "So you really do care about what all these idiots here think about you?"

Sasuke flushed. "I didn't say that."

"Tch, whatever."

I slammed down the beef ramen in front of Sasuke and glared at him. What was this kid's problem? I took him in and was so nice to him, and now he said it was strange for us to be together, even though he kissed me? Jeeze, Sakura-chan was right: boys are confusing.

"Sasuke," I said quietly. "Why did you kiss me?"

The boy seemed hesitant. "I…I don't know," he said lamely.

I shook my head and turned my back on him, my appetite and want for ramen suddenly diminishing. I didn't get it…why did everyone hate me so much? Oh yeah…how stupid of me. It was all thanks to that mark on my stomach. I wasn't quite sure what it was, but Iruka-sensei always told me not to show it to anyone. Heh, sorry, Sensei, but I'm gonna go against your orders.

I took a deep breath, faced Sasuke once more, and lifted the front of my shirt slightly. "You see this, Sasuke?"

Sasuke looked up from the floor and turned pink. "Um…that weird mark thing?"

I tugged my shirt down. "I think that's why everyone hates me. I won't be surprised if you start not liking me either."

Before he could respond, I turned on my heel and ran into my bedroom. I crashed down on my unmade bed and buried my face into my blue pillow. I thought having Sasuke for a friend would be good but now…

I wished that Sasuke's family hadn't died, that my mother was still with me, and that I had never ran into that Uchiha boy. He was the one who made my emotions all tangled up, which were going to be hard to untie.

I lifted my head and glared out of my bedroom door. Fine, don't see how I'm doing. I don't care. Just go and eat all my ramen and get fat and ugly. See how your fan girls will like that.

I turned my head and looked out at the already risen sun glaring down from the blue sky. How could he do this to me? How could he make me loving him one moment and then hating him the next? This kid was a messed-up jerk.

"Sasuke…why?"

And that was the day that our friendship began to crumble, the day Uchiha Sasuke and I started to loathe one another.

A/N: Sorry for using the word "lamerest". I couldn't help it! I thought it was kinda cute. (sweatdrop)