A?N Thank you for the reviews! Hope you enjoy this... I did! heh

My Place or Yous?

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Several rounds later, Naruto was finally finished with his free meal and the two chunnin were headed away from the ramen stand. As promised, Naruto left a sizeable dent in Sasuke's wallet. The dark haired ninja watched his teammate as the blonde stretched his arms up over his head. Was is even possible to eat that much ramen? Or that much anything for that matter. Naruto wasn't even that big, but he packed away a huge amount. He'd probably be able to give Chouji a run for his money. Naruto noticed Sasuke's gaze and stared right back.

"Even though you're staring at me rudely, and you only bought me lunch for something in return, I wanted to…thank you…" Naruto looked at his feet. "I…really needed that, so…thanks.." He cleared his throat and shoved his hands in his pockets. Sasuke wasn't expecting that either. A sincere moment from Naruto was rare indeed. Sasuke almost felt bad about basically blackmailing is teammate into telling him what he wanted to know. Almost.

"Naruto, I'd like to collect what I am after here," Sasuke stated. "So, my place or yours."

"WHAT! What kind of perverted things do you have in mind!" Naruto pointed at him and yelled. Sasuke blushed and the implications.

"That's not what I meant! And you the perverted one for thinking that!" he came back.

"EH? You're the one blushing!" Naruto accused. Sasuke, having enough of this, grabbed his arm and began dragging him off. "HEY! Lemme go! Rape! Rape!" Naruto shouted to anyone who would listen.

"Would you shut UP! You moron!" Sasuke was seriously pissed right now. "You're so embarrassing to be around! You're always making a huge scene, just quite it." He was still pulling Naruto behind him, but at least the blonde had stopped struggling.

"So…where are we going then?" Naruto asked quietly. He felt kinda bad for ticking Sasuke off right after he paid for lunch. Sasuke stopped. He let go of Naruto's arm and turned to look at the shorter ninja. He realized he had no idea where Naruto lived. He never really thought about it, but it was strange to not know he supposed.

"Where is you house?" he asked. It must be closer than mine. I'm all the way on the other side of town. Naruto got a panicked look and waved his hands in front of him.

"You'd rather go to your place really," he offered. "My place is…small! Yeah, and its such a mess! Let's just go to your house. Heh" Sasuke looked at the blonde reproachfully. So that's why he didn't know where Naruto lived. He wondered why he had never noticed, but now that he thought about it, Naruto was always avoided having people come to his house. He was never missing from training and thus no one ever had to come to find him. In fact, Naruto was usually quite easy to find with little effort. And with all the times the others had tried to have parties when their parents were away from the village, Naruto hadn't once offered his place, sadly, yet conveniently, parent-free. Neither had Sasuke of course, but he was not as…social as Naruto. His rambunctious teammate should have been begging to have people over with the way he seemed to crave attention. Something doesn't fit here. Naruto was looking at him now with almost pleading eyes. That mystery can wait Sasuke thought. Complete mission one first. Then move on.

"Fine. My place then," Sasuke said with a sigh. "Let's go." He turned and started walking off, but not before he saw a look of utter relief in Naruto's eyes. There's defiantly more to this…whatever this is. Why have I never noticed, contemplated Sasuke. The more he thought about it as they walked towards his house, the more he was sure. He never noticed because Naruto had never been so blatant. Something was throwing the blonde ninja off today. Before, whatever Naruto was hiding was hidden behind an impenetrable wall. That wall had cracked somehow, but what had happened? And what caused the wall in the first place? And why the hell do I care at all?

"Uh…Sasuke?" Naruto spoke up. "I'm pretty sure that barrel didn't do anything to deserve being glared at like that." That guy sure can be weird and scary at the same time, thought the blonde as he watched his teammate stare a hole in the wine barrel on the cart they were walking behind. Sasuke turned his glare full force on Naruto. "Eep! I mean…never mind! Stupid barrel! That's right!" Naruto mock glared at the barrel.

"Don't be an idiot. I wasn't even looking at it ," Sasuke waved his hand dismissively.

"Then, would you mind if we took the 'high road' to your house?" Naruto asked as he indicated the rooftops. "I'm not well received in the market place since that last incident. Ya know, the toads two weeks ago?" He grinned as he remembered his latest incredible prank. It had been entertaining to watch the old ladies that usually give him a hard time squeal like they were 12 again. And the toads had fun too! Sasuke shrugged and took off onto the top of the building they were next to. It was one of the more predictable things Naruto did. Every month or so he would do some stupid stunt to piss off the villagers. For someone who wanted to be hokage, it made little sense. Sakura asked Naruto why he did it one day and he just replied that they were jealous they couldn't think of such awesome pranks. Another deflective response. Once Sasuke could see one crack in the wall, all sorts of little cracks became obvious.

They soon arrived at the Uchiha's house and Sasuke let them in the front door. Naruto had been chatting incessantly the whole way there, but he was suddenly calm as they took their sandals by the entrance. It was time to pay up. Naruto could only wonder what Sasuke wanted when he bent over to slip off his shoe. Without warning, a spasm clenched his back and sunk to his knees. "Damnit!" he cried as his arms and back cramped up. It looked like it was also time to pay for overexerting himself earlier at training. That combined with too much Ramen. Though he loved it, there was no question it was extremely salty. While that is part of what makes it great, salty after training causes cramps. Naruto expected to be sore but really, this is ridiculous. I can't let Sasuke think I'm weak! He'll never let me live it down… With that thought in mind, the blonde stood back up painfully and stumbled over to Sasuke's couch. Naruto laid down on it and gave a look that dared Sasuke to comment. Sasuke just calmly sat down on the arm chair next to the sofa.

"I heard you tell Kakashi earlier you ripped your arm muscles. How is it they seemed healed in only 20 minutes?"

"Is that what you wanted to ask me?" Naruto asked irritated.

"No."

"Than I'm not saying"

"Fine." Sasuke got up and went to the closet by the door and pulled out a box. He took a jar of something out of the box which was then replaced back in the closet. He offered the jar to Naruto. "Here. This will make your cramps subside some." Naruto just looked at Sasuke like he'd grown a second head. A nice second head.

"Thanks Sasuke," Naruto replied and cautiously took the jar. He unscrewed the lid and gave it a whiff. "Ugh!" Naruto scrunched his face up. "It smells awful!"

"Just put it on, loser," Sasuke ordered as he sat back down on the chair. The blonde shrugged out of his chuunin vest and stiffly pulled his long sleeved black shirt off. Sure enough, underneath was the orange tank Sasuke saw on occasion. Naruto grinned as he pulled that off too. He began by rubbing the cream on his arms and shoulders lightly. "You have to actually rub it in for it work Naruto." Sasuke commented. "Otherwise all it'll do is make you smell rank."

"Ok, genius," Naruto shot back sarcastically. "How am I supposed to rub it in on my back then? It hurts to even take off my shirt!" Sasuke regarded the blonde for a moment before he stood up.

"Move over," he demanded as he grabbed the jar from his teammate. Sasuke sat next to the shorter ninja and dabbed his hand in the cream.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Naruto asked, uncomfortable with the proximity of his rival.

"Just shut up and turn so can get this over with." Sasuke roughly turned the blonde to face away from him and began working the cream into Naruto's knotted muscles. Naruto grimaced as it was rather painful at first, but as Sasuke massaged it deeper and deeper it began to feel good.

"Sasuke, I never knew anything could feel so nice," Naruto said honestly. Sasuke didn't reply and just continued massaging the blonde. Eventually, Naruto's eyes grew heavy and he slipped into a peaceful slumber. Sasuke paused as he felt the blonde go slack in his hands. I don't believe he's fallen asleep on me twice in one day! He moved to allow his teammate to lay fully on the couch and went to grab a blanket. I guess he'll have to pay up later.

A/N

ok...so this chappie is pretty short, but i promise good things in the next one. I started it, but even if its short too, something will happen in it. Anyway, i always fall asleep when i get back rubs, it seemed like a fun way to continue the theme of the title... heh!