Unbreakable

chapter two: coaxing with close contact

The move together, to say the least, was excruciatingly painful.

It probably would have been even worse if Iruka and Kakashi hadn't been there to separate the feuding pair, known as Naruto Uzumaki, and Sasuke Uchiha, only by means of yelling at the two. The arguments that exploded while moving things would evolve into scrambles on the floor, and a session of arguing with each other. The hard part was, their teachers (or Sakura, or anyone else for that matter) couldn't physically separate them.

In either situation, they could, (and probably would, mentioned Kakashi) end up back in the hospital. Their fighting spurred bruises and cuts, and unfortunately, the seal placed on the two didn't agree with this hostility, and would react with a jolt to the body. Or, if their sensei's attempted to pull the boy's apart, the foreign contact would create a state of immense pain, even so much that unconsciousness might result. Of course, both these options were sounding much better than the current situation.

"Hey! Be careful with my stuff, bastard."

Sasuke had dropped a box of Naruto's belongings into one of the abandoned rooms of the Uchiha home, letting it fall to the ground in a heap, the items inside slamming onto the floor until they nearly broke.

"Then carry it yourself, dobe," he said, growling deeply under his breath as he walked out the door, only to have Naruto follow behind moments later.

There hadn't been much to transfer to the estate, as Naruto owned very little; a few sets of clothes, some loved belongings, and his ninja gear all fit into a few boxes. The only reason the others had tagged along, was to prevent Sasuke and Naruto from tearing each other apart. Sakura was standing by the doorway with a box in her arms, watching as her love interest walked past, grumbling under his breath. Seeing Naruto tag after him was even worse - of course, she had seen the two in contact a lot, but only because of their rivalry and strange friendship. Now, it was for a completely different reason, and was almost unsettling.

"Where are you two going?" she called, only to watch as Naruto spun around and shrugged his shoulders, shouting back: "Who knows! But Sasuke here seems to be forgetting that we're both in trouble, if we get too far away."

A moment later, Sasuke sped his pace, and Naruto jumped at the sudden shock in his body as he called after his rival, running towards him. He hated having to follow Sasuke, like some young puppy, but the boy just kept running away. And unless Naruto wanted to feel like his head was splitting again, instinct told him to follow.

It was when Sasuke had finally stopped that Naruto was hunched over, gasping for breath several feet away from the edge of a cliff where his teammate stood overlooking a large field. "Bastard, what's the big idea?" Naruto huffed, nearly falling over from exhaustion the long run had spurred. Instead of a reply, Sasuke sighed as he turned to face the blonde, angrily glaring down at him.

"If we're going to be living together, then I'm setting some rules now."

"Rules? What kind of rules!"

Sasuke smirked, his arms now resting carelessly at his sides. "The ones you're going to follow."

This only provoked Naruto further as he grinded his teeth in irritation, giving a last grumble of resistance before settling down in the grass. Sasuke remained standing on the edge of the cliff, as he slowly ticked off his fingers.

"First, there will be no immense amounts of ramen at any time." There was an obvious protest to this, but Sasuke silenced the blonde with his continuation. "Second, you're not going to completely ruin my own family's home. Keep your stuff in your room, and-"

"Oi, Sasuke, we're going to have to share a room though."

"If we just put the beds against the walls so we're next to each other, we'll be fine. There's no way I'm sharing a room with you."

After a short argument over what they would eat - there was an agreement that Naruto would be able to have ramen at least twice a week - Sasuke continued with his regulations. Most including that Naruto: a) stay away from him b) stay the hell away from him c) not bother him, and so on. Of course, each request would be hard to fulfill seeing as their condition. Despite this, Naruto gave a short nod, glancing around and observing their surroundings.

Through his sudden daze, he hadn't noticed Sasuke was heading back, and jumped from his place to nearly stumble down the hill in pursuit. "H-Hey! Why did we come out here anyway?"

"I wanted to," Sasuke muttered, "Is that such a bad thing?"

Naruto scratched his head, obviously looking confused as he closed his eyes in thought. "Well, no, but I was wondering exactly what this place was." He adjusted his headband, and the two made their way back to the Uchiha complex in silence. The previous question was left unanswered, yet there was a soft expression on Sasuke's face the rest of the day, as they unpacked and readied the house for its new guest.

IIiiII

"You're going to burn down the kitchen, idiot!"

"It's not my fault that I'm hungry - I just couldn't wait that long! It would have been easier to just eat ramen, anyway." Naruto growled, trying to put out the small fire that his horrible cooking skills had started. It was only after Sasuke threw a bucket of water on the whole area (including the young ninja), that the flames distinguished.

A very angry and soaked Naruto with charcoaled fish, was the result of the two boys trying to make a decent meal. It was already evening, and since the rooms had been arranged accordingly, it was decided that they could succumb to their stomach's begging for food. Of course, with Naruto, nothing was easy.

"So, how long do I cook it for?" Naruto asked, staring down at the broiling fish in the pan as Sasuke rummaged through his cabinets, setting two plates on the counter.

"Until it's brown," he said, "That should take about twenty minutes for it to cook properly." The other ninja was quietly stirring a concoction in a large pot, dropping in vegetables he'd sliced up. Compared to Naruto, it seemed the Uchiha just has another thing to gloat about - he was an excellent cook.

"You've got to be kidding me! I can't wait that long. What if I just turned the heat up and-"

Spinning, Sasuke turned to watch Naruto falling back and coughing from the cloud of smoke that issued from the old stove after his attempt to speed up the cooking.

"Dobe!"

So, only an hour later when the fish had been scraped from the pan, did Naruto and Sasuke sit down in silence at a table to eat the soup - the only thing that was salvaged. And it was just like the blonde to pry into the other's business, as he brought the spoon to his mouth and loudly slurped the warm broth down.

"Hey, Sasuke?" There was a hint of curiosity in his voice, and the fact that he wasn't using the usual call of 'bastard' was strange in and of itself. "How did you learn to…cook?"

"Anyone can learn how to cook, idiot. It's really not that hard to put something in a pot and set it over a fire."

This obviously spouted a new argument involving Naruto shouting, and Sasuke replying with short words that only motivated the blonde to continue. When he finally stormed out of the room, seconds later there was a yell of pain, and several curses, followed by the two glaring at each other.

"Well, goodnight, you ass!" Naruto slammed his door, making his way over to the bed and collapsing down on it as Sasuke did the same. Through the night, their discomfort fueled their foul attitudes, leaving them oblivious to the presence on the roof that was silently lying above, listening to the occasional rustle of their lithe bodies when they moved. A smirk adorned the figure's face as one of the ninjas' below kicked a wall, which ended with another short yelling session.

The strange intruder glanced up at the sky, before pulling himself to his feet. "So…Enoki was able to accomplish placing the seal on them after all." Within seconds, the shadow was gone, leaving nothing behind to hint that his presence had ever resided near the two ninja's. Yet below, the two boys had no idea of the foe that had just escaped, the one that had planned their whole misery in the first place.

So, not only did I hate this chapter, it was also very short. I guess you could say it's a filler, sadly. Not to mention, I took a long time getting it up 'cuz FF was being a bitch. It was also very poorly written. Please, forgive me. D; Encouragement would be nice, but not needed. Blargh. Reviews means fast update. Because us writers just love the lovin'.