Dream Lover
Sasuke traveled all night, and by daybreak he had made it to the Village of Stone. After talking the guards at the main gate of the village into letting him in, he traveled around the streets, asking anyone if they knew a Nara that lived in the village.
"Oh yes," an elderly woman he had ran into said. "Nara Haru lives smack dab in the center of the village. Just go down the main street to some shabby apartments. His is number 666. You'll manage to find him."
Sasuke nodded, trying to hold back laughter at Nara Haru's apartment number. "Thank you."
The woman's face broke into a grin. "Why, if I were forty years younger, I would ask you on a date! I'm sure you have a wonderful wife, though."
Sasuke's face burned and he began walking away. "Yeah, a wonderful wife. Whatever, lady."
He took the main street of the village and within fifteen minutes found an apartment complex with a wooden sign hanging by the doors: Paradise Hills Apartments. Sasuke grimaced.
'Sure doesn't seem like paradise to me. Let's hope number 666 isn't hellish either.'
He pushed open the glass double doors leading inside, the smell of cat urine mixed with the stench of vomit filling his nose. He shuddered and slowly walked to the front desk where a middle-aged man was sitting. The man fit the environment well, considering that the front of his shirt had a nasty-looking brown stain on it, his eyes were bloodshot, and he smelled strongly of alcohol. Yeah, some "paradise". Sasuke cleared his throat and the man looked up from the adult magazine he was reading.
"Whaddya want?" The man asked gruffly. He seemed to want to get back to looking at his nude pictures of women, a practice that Sasuke never really did get into.
Sasuke did his best to maintain his composure. "I need to know where apartment number 666 is."
The man stared at him blankly. "Why?"
Sasuke tried his best not to yell. "Because…I just need to."
The man sighed and stared back down at his magazine. "Top floor, down the hall. Now get outta here."
Sasuke muttered a thanks, quickly marched to the brown-carpeted stairs to the right of the desk, and made his ascent up to room 666. All the hallways and staircases had the cheap brown carpet and the disgusting scent, which almost made Sasuke faint. A few minutes later, he had managed to find 666, feeling a bit nauseous and wondering how in the world he was going to spend two or three weeks in "paradise". He raised his hand and knocked on the door three times, and was surprised when it was immediately answered.
"You must be the Uchiha, huh?"
The door swung open to reveal a tired looking young man with flaming red hair pulled back into a spikey ponytail; he was almost the mirror image of Shikamaru. Sasuke slowly nodded, cleared his throat, and offered his hand.
"Y-yes, I'm Uchiha Sasuke. You must be Haru?"
Haru simply stared at Sasuke's outstretched hand. "Do you always come to peoples' houses this early?"
Sasuke slowly lowered his hand. "It's…eleven-thirty in the morning."
Haru yawned loudly. "Yeah, and that's early." He moved aside. "Come in. Don't expect anything fancy, though."
Sasuke shifted his bag on his shoulder and walked past Haru. Before he even had time to get a good look, he could immediately tell why the room he lived in was the devil's number. The fading Hawaiian flower-print wallpaper was peeling off the dark green walls, the only source of light (a lone light bulb) was flickering above a minuscule TV, and the smell was even worse than the rest of the apartment complex. Sasuke pasted a hugely fake smile on his face.
"It's…gorgeous."
Haru shut the door. "I know it's a shit hole. Get over it." He stretched his arms and let out an over-exaggerated yawn. "Since you're going to be living here for a while, Pretty-Boy, you're going to earn your keep." He pointed to the kitchen. "You see that sink full of dirty dishes? How about you get going on that while I head back to bed?"
Sasuke set down his bag. "Uh…you're not going to show me around or anything?"
Haru shrugged and turned away from him. "You're a big boy. You can find everything on your own." He glanced back at Sasuke. "Oh, and you're sleeping on the couch."
As Haru walked away into his bedroom down the small hallway from the kitchen, Sasuke sighed and looked back at the sink of dirty dishes.
"I wouldn't have it any other way, man. I'm not into guys."
The week passed by slowly and uneventfully. Though he was doing chores and running errands for Haru all day, Sasuke was happy to be away from the annoying blonde-haired boy back in Konoha. Hopefully when he came back, things will have settled down, just as Shikamaru had predicted.
Sasuke set down a large black garbage bag on the curb and looked up at the blazing sun above him. "This is a waste of time. I should be training on a day like this."
He made his way back to 666, where Haru was sitting on the lumpy couch watching one of those daytime TV shows that featured "wild paternity test results" and lots of crying women. Haru grunted and looked at Sasuke.
"Done with the garbage?"
Sasuke craned his neck to get a better look at the TV. "How can you watch this stuff?"
Haru shrugged. "I like my smut."
Sasuke scoffed. "If there's nothing left for me to do, I'm going to go train for a few hours."
His roommate turned back to 'his smut.' "Suit yourself."
Sasuke grabbed his bag off the floor and turned to the door. "Have fun watching whores screaming about how they're 5000 percent sure that some sleazebag is their baby's father."
"I will, thank-you-very-much."
Sasuke left the apartment complex and made his way to the eastern side of the village, where there was a small clearing surrounded by tall trees. He set down his bag on the grass, slid off his shirt, and began stretching his arms.
"Things can't be easy, can they?" He muttered, now stretching out his legs. "First it's having to deal with the village idiot, then it's being forced out of the village, and now it's living with one of the laziest people I've ever had the displeasure of meeting."
Sasuke reached into his bag and pulled out three kunai. He positioned himself in front of a nearby tree and in the blink of an eye, threw all the kunai one by one into the middle of the tree, imagining that the bark was Naruto's face.
'There, Dobe! Take that!'
He quickly retrieved his kunai and practiced this drill over and over until his body was covered in sweat and the sun was setting behind the horizon. He pulled his shirt back on, pulled the strap of his bag over one shoulder, and ran out of the clearing towards Haru's apartment.
The wind on Sasuke's face was cool and refreshing as he ran through the empty streets of the Village of Stone. He disdainfully entered the apartment complex, the smell of the crisp night air suddenly replaced by the stench of rotten eggs. He sighed and trudged back up the many flights of stairs to the devil's room. He stopped in front of the room, his hand frozen on the doorknob. There was someone else there…someone else whose voice sounded all too familiar.
Sasuke slammed the door open, his heart plunging and his teeth gritting together. So his suspicions had been right…who would you know, Naruto, was sitting on the dilapidated couch next to Haru, putting down a glass of water on the floor, and wearing a triumphant expression on his face.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Sasuke yelled, pointing his index finger at the boy.
Naruto smiled. "I was just telling Haru here about our engagement."
Haru chuckled. "So Pretty Boy isn't straight, eh?"
Sasuke slammed his bag on the puke-green carpet, ran to the two other men, and grabbed Naruto by the collar of his shirt.
"Come on. We're talking," he hissed.
Sasuke dragged Naruto of the apartment and dumped him on the floor in the hallway. He tried his best to calm himself down, but it just wasn't working. All he wanted was some time away from the village, yet here comes the person he hated the most to ruin everything for him.
"Na…ru…to…" Sasuke said between clenched teeth. "What…are…you…doing…here?"
Naruto smiled sheepishly. "Come on, I had to follow my fiancé!"
All the anger Sasuke had bottled up inside him exploded. This guy…he was still at it! He grabbed Naruto's shoulders and shook the boy violently.
"Naruto!" He yelled, shaking the shocked Naruto some more. "Just leave me the hell alone! I hate you! You're a whiny, obnoxious little bastard! I would never, EVER even THINK of marrying you, even if you were the last goddamn person on earth!"
Naruto looked as though he had been slapped across the face. Tears slid down his cheeks as he grabbed Sasuke by the shoulders and pushed him away.
"Sasuke, what is your problem?" He choked, more fresh tears spilling onto the floor. "Why do you hate me so much? Why do you hate me when I love you? How come you won't accept me?" Naruto shook Sasuke. "Why? WHY? Look at me, Sasuke!"
Sasuke's jaw hung loose as he gazed into the deep, blue eyes of the boy who just declared his love for him. Oh god, it felt as though those eyes were looking into him, seeing every corner of his dark soul. It felt as though those eyes that belonged to another lonely human being could look into his heart and feel every emotion that ran through his body.
'He loves me…he loves me…'
Sasuke took a shuddering intake of breath and ripped his gaze away from Naruto. "Naruto," he whispered. "Please…just go. Though you say you love me…I still hate you."
Without a second glance, he went back into the apartment and slammed the door in Naruto's face.
