Title: Parallels
Authors: Questofdreams and Lazuli
Rated: R
Comments: Huge thanks to our beta, proud snapist.
Disclaimer: Yep, they apply.

Chapter 8

Sasuke squeezed back before relaxing against the log, his head resting against the bristly bark. "What else did you want to talk about?"

Naruto slid down the log until he was flat on his back, staring up at the sky. Watching the clouds reminded him of Shikamaru. They had spent many an afternoon cloud-gazing, particularly when Naruto had been especially irked at Sasuke and had sought the lazy ninja out for company. Kiba had often been training with Hinata or Shino nearby while Akamaru had run circles around them, he thought fondly. He decided that he would have to call on them for an evening out if—no, when— things returned to normal.

He looked over at Sasuke. "You haven't asked enough questions of your own," he pointed out.

Sasuke regarded Naruto for a moment, slightly frowning before sighing, as if coming to a decision. "If you care so much about Sasuke, why haven't you done anything about it? He left you once, but he came back, right? He had to have returned for a reason."

Naruto slumped against the rough bark at his back and stared longingly at the birds circling overhead. "Sasuke is complicated."

Sasuke raised a mocking eyebrow at that. "The great Uzumaki Naruto is backing down from something?" he taunted. "Admitting something is too difficult for him?" He shook his head, lightly smirking. He knew how to push Naruto's buttons, and by the growing scowl on Naruto's face, he was saying just what he needed to antagonize him. "I knew thinking was hard for you, Naruto--but even this is a simple thing."

Naruto swatted at him, hard. "It's not easy for me, damn it. It's... complicated! Everything's complicated," he muttered, visibly deflating. "Things were actually starting to be okay between us before the chuunin exams. We still fought each other at every turn but we had an unspoken understanding. We fought each other, but when it counted, we fought together. And then Orochimaru came in and he closed off even more. Then Kakashi took him away for private training and it wasn't 'us' anymore. It went back to being 'me against you'.

"Anyway," Naruto continued. "Sasuke has had enough to deal with since returning. I don't want him questioning my friendship as well."

"Why would he question it?" Sasuke asked bluntly. "If I know him..." He paused and smirked. "And since it is me, I would wager that he came back because of you, idiot. I mean, according to what you've said, he and I grew up pretty much the same until Orochimaru showed up. What else was here for him?" His expression was a little sour as he looked away.

"If that's true then all the more reason for me not to try and scare him away."

Sasuke looked incredulous and clearly affronted that Naruto would use the word 'scare' in reference to him. "Nothing you could do would scare me, Naruto."

Naruto snorted softly. "The other me apparently pinned the other you to a wall," he said dryly. "You didn't take it too well."

Sasuke felt his lips curve despite himself. "Well, if he remarked on it, then it must have affected him."

Naruto gave him a dubious look.

"I ignore and dismiss anything that doesn't matter to me."

"Oh come on, Sasuke, I pushed him up against a wall! His best friend! He wouldn't just ignore it."

"Did he kick your...er, the other your...whatever. Did he hit him?"

Naruto cocked his head, mouth hanging open. "I...I don't know." He tried to process that thought. "He certainly wasn't happy," he said slowly, remembering the look on Sasuke's face when he 'went home' for those precious few minutes. "He asked me what came loose in my brain and told me to go see the old hag because I was acting weird." Sasuke had looked rather pissed--but Sasuke always looked pissed, so that wasn't anything new. "He certainly wasn't returning the embrace, if that's what you mean." Uchiha Sasuke, hug?

He glanced at this Sasuke. Okay, his Uchiha Sasuke, hug? Not likely.

"Of course he wouldn't return it," Sasuke said, tossing his head in a superior fashion. "His best friend jumps him and he isn't supposed to be a little thrown off? Hugging back would hardly be the first option."

"Yeah, but looking like I was taken over by kyuubi wasn't the next best thing," Naruto muttered. He wrapped his arms around his legs, chin resting on his knees. "I don't care if Sasuke never returns my feelings as long as he doesn't leave again. He's the one constant in my life--the only one that gives a damn about me."

"I think he feels the same," Sasuke said quietly, seeing the shadow fall over Naruto's eyes.

Naruto gave a small sort of shrug. "Maybe if things sort out in the end and I return to where I belong and your Naruto comes back here... I don't know, maybe I'll see where we stand with each other."

Sasuke considered him. "If he's been through all that you said he has, he probably doesn't trust himself to get close to you again without the chance of hurting you."

Skeptical, Naruto rubbed at his stomach. "I want to know what he thinks about us. I'm just afraid to find out." When Sasuke opened his mouth again, Naruto cut him off. "But I will find out. It's important. After this--you and me and seeing how things could be--I have to find out. Eventually."

Sasuke let it go, knowing it was useless to argue further when Naruto couldn't currently do anything about his situation with the other Sasuke anyway.

"Did you want to keep talking or go back?"

Sasuke looked up at the sky, gauging the time. "I think we better go back and at least get some stuff settled in the house." He smirked slightly. "Unless you wanted to spar to see who is stronger." His smirk let Naruto know just who he thought would win. Something Naruto said earlier made him pause. "Your father has never let me see the rasengan against chidori."

Naruto swallowed back the queasiness at remembering the last time rasengan had met chidori, the sheer power that had burst between them, the strain of having to pull back in time to keep from killing each other. But to Sasuke, he replied, "I wouldn't want to humiliate you by thoroughly kicking your ass with my father's, and now my, technique."

"Tch. As if you could humiliate me." Sasuke scowled at him.

Naruto spared him an exasperated tilt of an eyebrow. "Right. Keep telling yourself that, Uchiha." He smirked at the haughty tilt of Sasuke's chin. Pushing lightly off the log at his back, he stood, dusting off his bottom. "Do you think we should cook for my father? He has enough to do, doesn't he, without having to make dinner for us?"

Sasuke glared at him for changing the subject. "When's the last time you trained?"

"What does that have to do with dinner?" Naruto pasted a confused look on his face. "I don't know if talking here has gotten you all sentimental or something, Uchiha, but I think it'd be nice to have dinner waiting for my father for once."

And a few days ago he wouldn't have been able to say that sentence without wondering what was wrong with himself. Sasuke didn't seem to be buying the evasion though as his glare just intensified.

"Training, Uzumaki."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Not since before the mission that started all this insanity. So what? So it's been a while. Training isn't exactly foremost in my mind at the moment."

Sasuke wondered if he was deliberately trying to avoid fighting him. Naruto almost never turned down a potential opportunity to beat Sasuke.

"Training isn't number one for you?" Sasuke's brows rose. "Now I know something is up." He stared at Naruto as if he could figure it out just by examining him. "Just what is your problem? I assure you, even if you do have rasengan, I'd still kick your ass."

Naruto let out an impatient hiss. "Look, I don't feel like fighting you right now, ok? Ask me tomorrow, maybe I'll have changed my mind."

"Are you afraid to fight me? Think my chidori will defeat your father's technique after all?" Sasuke asked, smirking, undaunted by Naruto's increasingly dark expression.

"I will never turn rasengan against you again, Sasuke," Naruto almost whispered, his throat constricted by memories of what could have been another lifetime.

Sasuke's gaze turned sharper as he caught the word 'again' and he looked more carefully at Naruto. "Aah... I see," he asked. At Naruto's slight nod, he couldn't help asking, "So, who won?"

Naruto turned and shoved his fists into his pockets, walking away back towards the road. "You disappeared for years and I left Konoha to train myself harder for when we'd meet again. I don't think either of us really won."

Sasuke's long strides easily matched Naruto's quick pace. "You're the one who wanted to talk, Naruto."

"Well," Naruto said, staring straight ahead towards the Hokage mountain, "we've talked enough for one day, I think."

Sasuke stepped directly into his path, glaring down at the shorter boy. "Don't you dare shut me out like this, Naruto," he said. "You wanted to talk, you wanted me to know what the hell the both of us went through. While it was me—I particularly had nothing to do with it in this life. Don't get pissy at me." When Naruto's look didn't change, he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Would it help if I said I was sorry? That it turned out the way it did?"

"No," Naruto said flatly. "Apologies don't change a thing." He inhaled deeply through his nostrils. "But you're right. It was something that happened between me and the other you. But while I'm here..." He stepped past Sasuke and they fell into step beside each other again. "...I kind of like looking at you and seeing what the other you might have been like. So for now, just let it go, okay?"

Sasuke turned his face to watch Naruto's profile as they walked. He wasn't so certain he wanted to just let it go, but as Naruto was closing himself off the more he pursued it, perhaps another time would be wiser. He nodded wordlessly. He supposed it was unfair of him to want to test their strength against one another right then, even if, at any other time, Naruto would have wanted to do the same.

The moment he gave in, Naruto turned to him with a broad smile. "You know how to cook, right?" he demanded. "While I'm positive my dad likes ramen just as much as I do..." Here his voice trailed off. "I kind of liked the other meals."

That bright smile was enough to tell Sasuke that waiting for another time was the right choice. "I can cook well enough. Can't you cook? You said you've lived alone all your life."

Naruto grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. "I kind of lived off ramen most of the time."

Sasuke gave him a look that said he wasn't quite certain whether to believe him or not. "Can you cook?"

Naruto scowled at him. "Of course I can cook!" he protested. "It... it just takes too long to cook sometimes and I don't like the wait." He scuffed his foot on the ground, looking a little sheepish at that. "It's... it's just quiet, you know?" He looked up at Sasuke, knowing that his friend would understand.

Sasuke did understand. The kind of silence that echoed in an empty house always seemed magnified when doing something a family would typically do together, like sharing a meal.

He grunted, trusting Naruto to translate it as 'yes, I understand.'

"I've never cooked with anyone before. A real dinner, I mean, not those small meals during a mission. What do you think we should make?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke gave him a considering look at that. "Well, I don't want you to burn down the kitchen on your first try." He smirked at Naruto. "So we can just try something simple like ... rice ... miso soup..." He pondered a moment. "Yakisoba." He nodded decisively. "Or is that too hard for you?"

Naruto hit him for that, grateful that Sasuke did understand, and that he was acting like his old self. "I've cooked it before, bastard." He tilted his head. "I was trying to... ah... make a meal for Sakura-chan, but she didn't really like it and..." He shook his head as his voice trailed off.

Sasuke wasn't too keen to hear about Naruto trying to woo Sakura so he didn't ask Naruto to continue explaining.

"Sasuke ate it instead," he said cheerfully. "I was really pissed off at first, because he kept making faces, but ..." He shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest. "He didn't throw up or give it back."

"I'll cook; you can help me," Sasuke said, his tone leaving no room for argument. He had had enough of his Naruto's home-cooked meals to know that it was probably a good guess that this Naruto wasn't too great a chef either, even if he was claiming otherwise.

"He's my father, isn't he? I'll cook and you can help me," Naruto said, lifting his chin to look down at Sasuke, which was difficult because they were almost the same height, Sasuke being only an inch or so taller.

"Fine," Sasuke lied.

Naruto angled him a look through narrowed eyes, clearly suspicious at his quick agreement. "G-good," he said hesitantly.

Sasuke smirked down at Naruto. He knew how this was going to turn out--half the kitchen filled with smoke and Naruto panicking over the mess that was made.

Naruto's look grew even more suspicious. "You're thinking that I'm going to screw up or something, aren't you?" he demanded, poking a finger in Sasuke's chest. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto! I can do anything."

Sasuke nodded indulgently. "Right, Naruto." Maybe if he just let Naruto cook, but adjust and watch carefully over Naruto's ingredients, it wouldn't come out a disaster.

Naruto was giving him that look again. "Stop patronizing me."

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow. "Wow. Big word, Naruto."

"You're doing it again!" His lip curled in disgust and he stomped ahead.

Sasuke snorted and let a small smile curve his lips. "Naruto."

"What?" he shouted curtly over his shoulder.

"You're going the wrong way. Home is this way."

Naruto blinked in surprise and then rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I forgot about that," he said softly. "I think it'll take me a while to get used to the fact that I don't live in my apartment here." It should have been more obvious with Sasuke walking near him, or the fact that they were just discussing making a meal together. But old habits were hard to break and he never even thought about the direction he was headed; he just automatically went to his home.

Sasuke reached Naruto's side again and nudged him gently, teasing Naruto into indignation having lost its appeal. "Come on. We'll both cook and see what happens, ok?" Sasuke rolled his eyes when, once again, Naruto angled him a narrowed look. "I'm serious, idiot."

Naruto wasn't so certain. Sasuke usually wasn't the compromising type. "Both of us cook?"

"Yeah, Naruto, that's why it's called cooking together."

Naruto gave him a genuine smile at that.

"Come on, that ramen wasn't filling at all and I'm hungry again. No wonder you always eat at least four bowls of the stuff." Sasuke took Naruto's hand in his, unmindful of the cursory glances the villagers gave them as they passed, and pulled Naruto alongside him as he picked up his pace.

Naruto's smile didn't waver and for the first time in a long time, he let himself relax, Sasuke insistently tugging on him and dragging him along. This is what it could have been like, this is what I'm getting a chance to see, Naruto reminded himself. This is what it can be like when I go back. Not everything could be the same, but rebuilding his friendship with Sasuke, trying to direct it towards the next level--that was his goal and more importantly, a goal that he could reach.

"See, I wasn't just being a pig." Naruto stuck his tongue out at Sasuke. "Ramen is cheap but not very filling."

"If you eat five bowls a meal, then doesn't the cost add up? Why not just get a decent filling meal for the price of four or five ramen bowls?" Sasuke asked reasonably.

Naruto looked insulted. "Because ramen tastes good!" he said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Sasuke didn't dignify it with a response.

A few more moments of comfortable silence, Naruto smiling goofily at the feel of Sasuke's hand around his, and they had reached the house. There was no one home, which didn't really surprise either of them. With his father being the Yondaime, Naruto was surprised that he could even make it home for meals. Of course, the only examples he had of Hokage were Tsunade and the old man. He had never thought about their private lives.

Naruto kicked off his sandals and went immediately to the kitchen, rummaging through the fridge to find the ingredients he needed. He was determined to cook this on his own--with a little help from Sasuke.

Sasuke came in behind him and immediately began to pull what they would need from the cupboards and reaching past Naruto, who was blocking the refrigerator, to retrieve items from there as well. Naruto turned to look at him with narrowed eyes. "Who is cooking here?"

"I'm just getting out the ingredients since you don't seem to know where anything is," Sasuke said calmly.

"I do have an idea of what we need," he muttered.

"Only an idea?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "It seems this meal will go worse than I thought it would."

Naruto flashed him an irritated look and shut the refrigerator door a little harder than was necessary.

"Why don't you make the rice?" Sasuke said.

Naruto stared at him, glaring as he stalled for time, his mind racing to decide where the rice might be kept so he wouldn't have to ask Sasuke for help.

Rice is usually in a bag, right? He bit his lip and went toward a smaller cupboard, praying that it was there, but he was only met with dishes. He growled under his breath, determined to find the rice himself if he had to search everywhere in the kitchen for it.

Sasuke just watched him with a knowing smirk on his face.

Lip still firmly caught between his teeth, he opened a lower cabinet next to the refrigerator. "Ah ha!" he shouted. A large sack of rice sat at the bottom of the cabinet. Apparently, his father bought in bulk.

Sasuke watched with an amused twist of his lips as Naruto suddenly glared at the bag of rice, as if confused why it wasn't making itself. He assumed Naruto didn't know how to proceed.

It wasn't as if Naruto made a great deal of rice, and how much rice did you make for three people, two of which would probably eat a great deal? And the stupid bag didn't come with instructions. He pulled out a pot and hoped for the best, when Sasuke cleared his throat behind him.

"What?" he asked, annoyed.

"Rice cooker," was all that Sasuke said, pointing to the appliance on the counter. Naruto flushed at that, but recovered quickly.

"Oh sure, if you want to do it the lazy way."

Naruto kept Sasuke entertained for the majority of the next half hour, constantly elbowing Sasuke aside to take over what Sasuke had just done--and usually tampering with it and swearing loudly about burning vegetables. Sasuke would turn down the heat that extra notch that Naruto had turned it up, and elbow Naruto out of the way to fix the damage.

Finally, with mixed results, the meal was done--the soup and the rice looking edible, but the yakisoba was something... different. Naruto looked mournfully at the slightly charred and misshapen vegetables, and the almost blackened meat.

He looked up at Sasuke who had a smudge of some type of seasoning on his nose. "Well... it's the thought that counts, right?" he asked hesitantly.

Sasuke might have laughed if he wasn't so good at controlling his emotions. So instead, he smiled and slung an arm around Naruto, his lips brushing whiskered cheeks. "Your father loves all your meals, even the burnt ones."

Naruto laughed, wiping the smudge off Sasuke's nose affectionately. Then, unable to resist, he leaned forward, his tongue just lightly touching Sasuke's skin.

Naruto couldn't help but ask as his hands tightened in Sasuke's clothing. "What about you?" he whispered, lips brushing over Sasuke's skin with every word.

Sasuke cupped the back of his head and leaned forward to plant a firm kiss on Naruto's lips. "Nope."

Naruto looked surprised.

Sasuke raised his brows. "What, did you want me to lie?"

"Well, no," Naruto said, recovering quickly. Of course, he hadn't expected Sasuke to actually say yes. He was still Sasuke, after all. Brutally honest, even to his closest friends.

Sasuke snorted. "Get serious, Uzumaki. I hardly let you cook for me because I know this will be the result." He eyed the yakisoba distastefully. "I usually cook for the both of us."

Naruto shrugged, curiously immune to his honesty. They had known each other for years, after all. A small comment about his cooking was hardly worth angsting over. "But you always eat it anyway, right?" Naruto asked, already knowing the answer.

Sasuke gave him a funny little smile. "Yeah, I do."

Naruto grinned at that and poked the yakisoba again. "Well, I hope my father isn't that hungry," he muttered. "Unless we have ramen as back up." He was oddly touched by the fact that Sasuke ate his food anyways, and found another similarity between his Sasuke and this other one. He spun on his heel, nearly losing his balance at the sudden wave of dizziness.

"How many times do I have to tell you that ramen is not a suitable back up food?" Sasuke quipped dryly.

Naruto looked back at the table laid out with their dinner. The only problem with the setting was that the table was now a small square table set in the middle of Sasuke's kitchen. Sasuke's kitchen in Sasuke's apartment. And by the looks of their dinner--their fully edible dinner--Sasuke had cooked.

"Uh..." Naruto began, looking around the kitchen. "I think it happened again."

Sasuke took the switch in stride, not even giving a reaction to it, but gestured to the seat next to him. "You still need to eat." he said. "We can talk once we're both sitting." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Apparently, no matter where you're from, you still don't know what is good for you." Sasuke lifted an eyebrow at Naruto's crestfallen expression. "What? You aren't glad to be back here?"

Naruto shook his head. "No, it's not that. I just..." I wanted to see my father's face when he came home for dinner. Naruto smiled apologetically, and sat in the seat Sasuke had indicated. "It's nothing."

Naruto made the conscious decision to stop trying to act like the other Naruto. This room, this Sasuke, this small dinner for two. This was his life.