Chapter 3: Familiar Words

Sasuke said his goodbyes to Sakura as they went their separate ways,

"Thanks for eating with me, I'll see you later." He waved.

Sakura beamed,

"My pleasure Sasuke-kun." She smiled, "See ya!" she gave him a quick wink walked away.

Sasuke smiled as she walked away. He noticed a nice change in her. No longer was she an annoying love-struck 12 year old. Now at 19 years, she had become a mature adult. And as odd as things were, Sasuke really did enjoy talking with her; she had become intelligent, funny and an all around fun person to be with. He wondered if things would have been different if he and Naruto weren't gay. He might've even come to like her a lot now that she had grown up.

But things weren'tdifferent so all he could do was smile at the back of his female friend, shrug and walk towards his house.

Even though his house arrest was over, Sasuke still had a 24 hour watch team hounding him and a curfew to abide by so he took no time while walking. After ten minutes he checked the time and saw that he still had a little while to 'breathe oxygen' as Kakashi had put it earlier that day, so he made himself comfortable on a bench and watched the last of the social commotion move along the emptying streets. Soon almost everyone had cleared out and gone home and Sasuke was considering heading back to his house too. After all, if he was even one minute late his surveillance team would jump him in a second. But he sat back and stared at the orange sky and thought about all that had happened that day.

"I'd wait forever…"

Those three words rang through his ears again and again.

'That means that Naruto would put this all behind him…' he thought, 'But this is his home…this is where he's slept, eaten, cried, laughed and lived all his life. Leaving with me means that he'd throw away his dream of becoming Hokage forever…Damn…I could never let him do something like that. He can't throw away his future because of me and my fucking mistakes. I can't make him suffer.'

"Excuse me!"

Sasuke was abruptly pulled back to earth. For a moment he was clueless as to where the words had come from but finally he looked down to see a little boy with black hair staring at him.

"Uh…" Sasuke began. He was shocked to see such a little kid speaking to him. Children never approached him; in fact, this was the very first one to talk to him ever since he returned to the village.

"Are you ok mister?" the child asked innocently and kindly.

Sasuke straightened himself up,

"Y-Yes I'm fine…um…why are you asking me?"

The little boy shrugged and climbed onto the bench space beside Sasuke. Sasuke watched in awe, this kid couldn't have been older than 6 years and yet here he was, asking a complete stranger if he was 'ok'.

The little boy's feet dangled off the bench so he began to playfully swing them back and forth; he did so for a little while and then began to speak again, but this time he acted in a shy manner,

"I just asked-ed cause you looked all dead and stuff just sitting there…"

Sasuke refrained from laughing at this.

"No no I'm fine, I'm just feeling a little sad is all."

The child whipped his head around in alarm,

"You're sad?...How come?"

"It's uh…kinda complicated…"

"Can I hear bout it!'

This was insane, never once had anyone ever been so interested in the Sasuke's life. But the more important question than why this child wanted to know so much was why this child didn't know so much already. He wondered how this little kid was the only child in Konoha who didn't know all about his mistakes. Everyone else knew; that's why no children ever approached him. Their parents had warned them to stay away from 'that Uchiha'. But this boy was interested.

"Well," he began, "a long time ago when I was a bit older than you…I…did some really bad things."

"How bad?" he asked. "Like the kinda stuff you'd get grounded forever for?"

Sasuke smiled at the child,

"The kinda stuff that'd get you grounded forever and ever for."

"Wow…is that why you're so sad?"

"I guess so…"

"Well, whenever I get into that kind of trouble I always say 'I'm sorry.' Why don't you do that?"

"…But this isn't the type of thing you can just apologize for and expect-"

"Well, how do you know it won't work unless you've tried it?" the child interrupted.

This left him speechless.

Without warning, the boy jumped off the bench,

"I gotta go, I hear my mommy calling me."

"Oh…" it was odd that Sasuke hadn't heard anything; but he disregarded it, "so…you really do live around here?"

"Sure do." The little boy pointed to an apartment flat just a few blocks down from where they were sitting. Sasuke immediately recognized it as the very same flat he lived in when he was 12. He stood up next to the child and stared at his former home for moment; suddenly he felt something grab him. Sasuke looked down to see this little boy clinging to him…he was crying.

Sasuke patted his head gently,

"Are you ok?" he asked.

The boy held on for awhile longer. Then, he let go and rubbed his eyes,

"Yeah, I'm ok…" he said slowly. "I really do hope things turn out ok for you…Sasuke-kun."

Then without another word, the boy took off running towards his flat. Sasuke blinked.

'So…he really did know who I was.' He thought as he walked towards his home.

It was a rather odd experience but it made him feel better all the same.

-A few days later-

Naruto put his tea down and leaned back in his chair,

"So…some random kid just waltzed up to you and gave you advice for life?"

Sasuke was draining the last of the orange juice from its carton,

"Yup." He answered and he tossed it in the garbage. "More tea?"

Naruto handed him his glass,

"Yes please…It's…It's just so weird though. That a little kid would walk right up to you…I thought children hated you…"

Sasuke glared at the blonde,

"They don't hate me…they're just scared shitless of me."

"Ain't that the truth…but you know…you are the insane evil Uchiha…"

Sasuke took a bag of potato chips out of one of his cabinets, opened the bag and began eating.

"Oh yeah," he said sarcastically, "I'm real dangerous now…"

They both laughed.

"Still…" the brunette began as he handed the bag to Naruto, "there was something weird about that kid…the way he talked to me…I dunno…maybe I'm just losing my mind." He licked the salt off his fingers.

Naruto stared at him and shook his head,

"Impossible…I know when you've lost your mind, I've seen it happen…in your case, you tend to smash a lot of things when you go insane."

Sasuke snatched the chips away from him,

"Thanks. I'll make a note of that, asshole."

Naruto giggled,

"But onto more important things…I heard you went to a restaurant with Sakura-chan." He said in a girly flirtatious voice.

"If you call a ramen stand a restaurant…then I guess so."

Naruto began singing,

"Sasuke and Sakura sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G…"

Sasuke stared at him,

"Do you have any idea how fucking moronic you sound right now?"

"Erm…"

Sasuke put the chips away and poured himself some tea at the counter. He felt Naruto's arms curl around his waist,

"You know what I was thinking about today?" he asked as his rested head on the brunette's shoulder.

"What?"

"Our very first kiss."

There was an awkward pause. Then, they both began cracking up.

"I've always wondered something…" Sasuke managed to choke out.

"What?" Naruto asked clutching his sides.

They finally managed to stop laughing,

"What were you thinking when it happened?" he asked chuckling.

Naruto thought for a moment,

"I thought it was the most disgusting thing that had ever happened in the history of all history." He answered.

"Same here."

The two of them looked at each other for a moment. Then, Naruto leaned in towards his lover and their lips met.

As they parted Sasuke could hear the blonde whisper,

"What an interesting change…that's not even close to what runs through my mind now."

"What do you think of now?"

"Honestly?...That I seriously want to get you in bed."

"What an interesting suggestion…" Sasuke whispered as they leaned in for another.

END Chapter 3

This one turned out way different than what I thought, but I still like it. I like the part when Naruto teases Sasuke about having dinner with Sakura…I dunno, it just makes me laugh.

Chapter 4 will be up in a bit, so check back soon! Review please!