Okay, so I didn't write this one, my younger sister actually did. I personally love it, ao I hope you all do too.
Plus the Disclamer: we, unfortunetly, don't own the Uchiha Cutey or the Uchiha Hotty. Nor the Uzamaki twirp. And especially not the pinky prep. Kakashi's someone else's and i don't think I left anyone out...have fun :-)
It was about 1:30 in the afternoon. Team 7 had been training non-stop since Kakashi got there at 9:00a.m.(original meeting time 8:00 a.m.).Everyone was exhausted, but not too tired to argue. Naruto had messed-up on the last training tactic, and Sasuke had to comment on his stupidity and a big fight was the effect, still vocal, for now. Kakashi stepped between his students to separate them.
"Come on you two. Your TEAMMATES not ENEMIES!" That failed miserable, so he tried something else.
"Naruto, how are you suppose to be Hokage if you can't get along with people? And Sasuke, how do you expect to get strong enough to defeat you brother, if you waste training time arguing with Naruto?" That seemed to work a lot better. The two separated, shut up, and now tried to calm down. Sasuke completed the task with efficient time.
"Yeah, I guess your right"
"You guess? Of course I'm right. I'm you teacher. Training is over for the day, but I have a mission for you. Please gather 'round"
All three chunin stood in front of Kakashi. Sakura stood in the middle, Sasuke at left, Naruto right, for two reasons:1) to be next to Sasuke and 2) if they tried to fight, they'd have to reach around her and that would slow them down, hopefully long enough for Kakashi to stop them.
"Sakura, you may go and do whatever you want. This mission is a special one, just for the boys."
"What!!" Sakura stepped forward from astonishment, leaving the two boys standing next to each other.
"But Kakashi-sensei, that's unfair!! We're a three-man squad and I have every right to be part of this mission!!" Sakura was NOT okay with being left out.
"Calm down, Sakura. This mission is sort of like a training exercise and you already completed it quite some time ago." Everyone was confused.
"Huh? I did? When? What was it about?" Kakashi looked at the boys and smiled under his mask. Both felt uncomfortable and inferior under the smirk.
"Cooperation." He answered.
"Cooperation"
"Yes. The mission: you two have to spend the rest of the afternoon together"
"WHAT!!! But Kakashi"
"Mission rules:1)No ditching each other, 2)You must stay within six feet of each other,
3)No one can interfere with the mission (quick look at Sakura),4)You must stay together until the sun is completely down, and 5)No fighting, vocally or physically. In fact, try not to argue at all. Any questions?"
"Kakashi-sensei, you can't-"
"No? Good. See you all tomorrow, here at 8:00 a.m. Until then!" And with that, Kakashi was gone. Sakura looked back at her two unhappy teammates and smiled.
"See you two tomorrow. Have fun,"
"S-Sakura, w-wa-wait!" Naruto stammered, but it was useless. She was gone. The two looked at each other. Both boys groaned at the same time. Mission: "Cooperation" had begun.
It had been several hours and neither boy had talked much. In fact, they barley even looked at each other. Now they sat in an abandoned part of the park. Sasuke was leaned against a tree, half cloaked in shadows, left knee up, left arm resting on it, eyes closed, chewing on a long blade of grass. Naruto laid several feet in front of him, completely bathed in sun. His left knee was also up, right leg resting on it, bouncing slightly. His eyes were closed as well and his arms were behind his head. Sasuke was almost asleep when he heard a familiar voice.
"Hey, Sasuke"
Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut. "Hn?" If he talked any real words, he would never fall asleep.
"Hey, Sasuke, what are you afraid of?"
Sasuke opened one of his eyes to stare at his teammate. The blonde's leg had stopped its annoying bouncing and his eyes were now open, studying the clouds above them. He reclosed it. 'Great,' he thought, 'Now I'll never get my nap'
"Why do you ask?"
"Just wondering. Besides, Kakashi-Sensei did say to get to know each other or somethin'
right? And I was just thinkin' 'why not our fears?'" The blonde kinked his head back to look at his comrade. Sasuke thought about it for a few moments. Finally, he answered,
"I don't feel like tell you that information."
"What! But Sasuke-" Naruto rolled on to his stomach so he could continue to look at Sasuke without braking his neck.
"Ooh, come on. We'll do a trade. I'll tell you mine, and you tell me yours." Sasuke reopened his eyes and looked upward, reconsidering his answer.
"Ahhh...no." he repeated, looking back down at Naruto.
"Come on. Please"
"No"
"Please"
"No"
"Sasuke'
"Naruto"
"Grr! Why not"
"Because, knowing you, you'll try to use my fears against me"
"I will not"
"Either that, or you'll blab to everyone, and that's just as bad"
"How about a little faith here or somethin"
Sasuke closed his eyes and gave an annoyed sigh, "Fine"
The younger boy's scowl quickly turned into a broad smile. 'Yes!!! I be-et Saasuke!' he sung merrily to himself.
"Okay," he started, "I'm most afraid of..." He hesitated, his smile dropping as fast as it had appeared. 'Shoot!! I never thought I'd have to share MY fears! He'll laugh at me'
"Of...?" Sasuke coaxed.
'To late to turn back now.' he thought with a sigh.
"I'm most afraid of...cats." The blonde's face turned bright red. He was too embarrassed to even look at Sasuke, so his gaze darted to the side. Sasuke stared at the boy.
"Cats?" His eyebrow raised questionably as he said it.
"Yeah, cats." the red-faced boy muttered.
"We had a mission dealing with a cat"
"Yeah, I know. I didn't like that one to much"
"Cats huh. Who would've guess." Sasuke got back into his sleeping position.
"Well"
"Well what"
"SASUKE"
Sasuke smiled. It was so easy to annoy his teammate. It was fun, too.
"All right, all right!" He chuckled. His smile quickly faded. His eyes opened slightly as he stared at nothing in particular on the ground in front of him.
"I'm claustrophobic and agoraphobic." He replied. His position changed. He raised his other knee and brought them closer to his chest. His arms crossed loosely and rested on top. His gaze drifted off to the side. Naruto didn't pay his movements any attention.
"Okay. Let's pretend I know what those mean"
Sasuke gave a quick, sad, smile,
"Claustrophobic means I don't like small, inclosed spaces and agoraphobic means I don't like people getting to close"
"Oh. Okay. That makes more sense now." Naruto desperately wanted to ask Sasuke why he was afraid of these things, but decided not to. 'He didn't ask bout "cats", so I won't ask about clamerobic and goreyfobic'
There was an akward silence between the two. Naruto couldn't take it any more and snapped.
"I'm hungry." It was something. Besides, it was true. Sasuke looked up at him, eyebrow tweaked.
"Your just full of randomness, aren't you?"
"Well I am. And I can't go and get somethin' to eat without you, or I'd be breakin' rules.
Besides, I think we'd both get in trouble"
Sasuke sighed. Then stood up without using his hands, and put them in his pockets.
"Fine. Let's go." He answered, walking in the general direction of food.
Naruto's face resembled that of an excited, young child. Eyes and grin wide with glee. He tried getting up in the manor as Sasuke, but fell flat on his butt. 'Oh, forget it.' He thought as he quickly scampered after the Uchiha. The two reached the ramen shop in less than five minutes. Naruto excitedly took a seat at the end of the row.
"One order of beef ramen, please!" He yelped at the waiter.
"Yes, sir"
"To forewarn you, Blondie, I'm not paying." Sasuke said, leaning against the pillar that held the over hang up.
"No need, I have my own money." A median sized bowl of raman with chopsticks was placed in front of the boy, making the child face return, bigger and brighter.
"Hee hee, yum." In a matter of seconds, the bowl was empty and pushed forwards.
"Another order, please!" The waiter nodded,
"Okay, coming right up." A second, equally sized bowl was placed in front of him. Five bowls later, Naruto finally leaned back in the chair, patting his full stomach.
"Mmmmm, that was good, yum yum yum. Okay, how much do I owe?" He asked,
reaching into his pocket for his wallet.
"Let's see... 5 bowls, 640yen each... That's 3200yen even, sir." Naruto looked into his wallet, and his face paled slightly.
"Ugh... um, ah oh," The last part came out more like a whisper, but Sasuke still heard it.
" 'Ah oh'? 'Ah oh' what, Blondie?" He turned to face the boy on the stool.
"Nothing, I just... I just thought I had more with me." The Uchiha glared evilly at the blonde.
"If you can't pay, sir," the cashier spoke, "Then you're gonna have to stay here an hour or two and wash dishes,"
"What?" Sasuke reacted more than the culprit,
"If he has to stay, then I have to stay. I don't think so." Sasuke reached into his pocket and produced the 3200yen. (why he carries that much money, i dont know) The cashier shrugged,
"That works, Thank you and come again soon!" She smiled putting the money in the cash register. Then she went off to deal with another customer. Naruto's back was to the shop's counter and Sasuke was standing in front of him. He took a step closer, trapping Naruto to the counter, getting up in his face to the point that their noses almost touched. Naruto cringed downward slightly.
"3200yen. I want it tomorrow. Got it Blondie?" The words were both a hot, warning flame and an iced, 'do it or else'. Naruto just cringed farther down and nodded.
"Good," Sasuke straightened, turn, then started walking away. Naruto instantly relaxed,
'What's his problem? Guess he was more tensed then I thought, oh well. Note to self though: Don't peeve off an already peeved off guy, especially if that guy's Sasuke.' He shrugged before chasing after the Uchiha.
Sasuke stopped suddenly and looked to the west, Naruto ran into him. Sasuke gave a quick side glare before returning his gaze.
"Ooof. What heck. Why'd ya stop"
"The sun's officially down. Get lost." He answered, looking at the questioner. He was about to walk away, when he remembered something.
"Oh, and don't forget my 3200yen tomorrow. Okay?" Sasuke put on a fake smile. Naruto rolled his eyes.
"Ya, ya. Whatever"
"Good. See you tomorrow, bright and early." And with that, Sasuke turned and started walking home. Naruto was left there, watching his teammate get smaller and smaller until he finally disappeared from his vision.
'Geez. Is he bipolar or something? 'I'm gonna kill you,' to 'tee hee, see you tomorrow,' in a matter of seconds. What a weird guy. Still, the smile was creepy, and he didn't have to remind me about the money. I'm not that forgetful.' Naruto pouted. Suddenly, an idea came to him. He thought about it for a few moments, then smiled evilly in the direction Sasuke left in. 'Maybe a little pay back wouldn't hurt.' He gave a quick look around before sneaking off to the Uchiha Compound.
Sasuke tried to turn on a light, only to find out that the bulb was burned out. 'Great. Just great.' he thought wearily as he walked over to the closet door. He pulled the door open so wide that the handle was touching the wall. Then he leaned in and pulled the little string hanging down to flick the light on. He stood just outside the door frame searching for the extra light bulbs. Once found, he gave a confident sigh and stepped into the closet to reach for the box.
Little did he know that he had been followed home, and that another figure was in the room near the closet door. As soon as Sasuke had stepped in, the figure reached out and closed the door, locking it behind him in one swift movement. Sasuke twirled around when he herd the lock click.
'What the heck?' He tried opening it anyway, but when that failed he gave a pound on the door and jiggled the handle. That's when he herd the muffled voice on the other side,
"Hee, hee. Sorry Sasuke, but I just had to. It was too perfect." Sasuke banged on the door again.
"This isn't funny, Naruto. Open the door"
"No? Well, I'm having fun"
"Naruto, please just open the door"
"Are you begging? I thought Uchihas didn't beg"
"Naruto, I'm serious. Open the door"
"Mmmm... no. I don't think I will. See you tomorrow, Sasuke." And with that, Naruto turned and started walking to the main door.
"Naruto? Naruto"
A door slammed shut.
"NARUTO!!! NARUTO COME BACK!! DON'T LEAVE ME IN HERE!
NARUTO!!!" Sasuke started banging on the door frantically.
Naruto stood just inside the door, hand over his mouth to help silence the uncontrollable laughter. He quietly snuck back over to the closet, where he continued to laugh. 'He really thinks I left him.' The banging and yelling continued,
"NARUTO! DON'T LEAVE ME, NARUTO!!" The shouting reduced to normal talking,
but became slightly non understandable through the sobs.
"Naruto..(sob)..Itachi...(sob)...Please, come back (sob) come back. Itachi...(sob, sob.)
Slowly, the pounding and talking all together was replaced with uncontrollable sobs.
The feeling of joy and laughter disintegrated immediately from the blonde. It was quickly replaced with guilt.
'Ow, shoot. I didn't expect him to cry. Now I have to let him out. But he'll kill me'
(sobs) 'I'll take my chances'
Naruto put his hand on the door knob and unlocked it. He paused for a moment before opening it. He jumped slightly from what he saw.
Sasuke sat in one of the corners of the room, hugging his knees to his chest. His face was completely hidden in the corner of his elbow. His entire body shook violently. Naruto squatted down and balanced on the balls of his feet, his hand still on the doorknob to better his balance.
"Hey, who's Itachi?" He asked softly.
Sasuke's head snapped up. He had thought Naruto had left. He didn't expect the boy to suddenly be speaking to him. Sasuke lunged at the orange-cloaked figure. 'Oh snap! He's gonna kill me! I'm dead meat'
Naruto froze with panic, allowing Sasuke to tackle him. Naruto lost the little balance he had at impact and fell backwards. He prepared for a lot of pain.
But the pain never came. Instead of hitting him, Sasuke wrapped his arms around his comrade's middle and buried his face deep within the orange fabric. There, he continued to sob. Naruto didn't know how to react. Confusion mixed with guilt.
'He's hugging me. What do I do?' The dominate emotion showed on his face, though nobody saw it.
Eventually, Naruto decided what to do. Hesitantly, he put his right hand on Sasuke's head.
The other draped across Sasuke's shoulders to rest on the left. Naruto tightened his akward embrace. Naruto thought of what he could possibly say to Sasuke that wouldn't make maters worse.
"I'm so sorry, Sasuke. I didn't know how upset you'd be." Sasuke gave no reply.
Time seemed to stretch out for Naruto. He had no idea how long their position held.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Sasuke stopped crying and retreated from Naruto's grasp. Naruto easily released his grip. Sasuke scooted back and leaned against the wall right beside the door frame. He crossed his arms in front of him and brought his knees closer to him, similar to the position in the closet. Sasuke looked right out the window to his right, so Naruto couldn't see his face at all. His body's shaking had calmed dramatically and the sobs reduced to sniffles now and then. He also developed crying hiccups.
The two sat in silence for another eternity before Sasuke spoke,
"You should go home and get some sleep. We have to get up early for training tomorrow.
If your tired, you won't do as well." The words were hushed and showed no emotion.
Naruto jumped at the sudden words and looked at Sasuke. After more silence, Naruto nodded.
" 'Kay." He stood up slowly. The new angle allowed Naruto to see Sasuke's water -drenched checks, which made him feel even worse. He turned and walked to the main door. He put his hand on the knob and stopped. He half-turned to face Sasuke.
"Hey, you okay?(pause) Sasuk-"
"I'm fine." He answered, cutting his teammate short. "Really, I am. Go and get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow, Blondie"
Naruto was uncomfortable abandoning his teammate like that, but Sasuke was ordering him to leave.
"Mmmm...if your sure...'kay. See you tomorrow, too"
Naruto opened the door and stepped through. He stared at Sasuke's shadowed figure a moment longer before closing the door and starting his long walk home.
Neither boy slept well that night. Naruto was too concerned about Sasuke and if he was really all right or just lying to him. Feeling like a jerk also kept him up. As for Sasuke, he didn't trust the darkness. He tried to trust it, but it wouldn't work. Every time he turned off the lights and got into bed, he would imagine that he was in the room, leaning over the bed, trapping him, that twisted grin on his face. Every time he closed his eyes, images of that night would flash in his head. He couldn't bare it any longer and went to flick on the lights. He sat on his bed, kunai at hand. He drifted off now and then, but never truly fell asleep.
Naruto was the second to arrive at the bridge Team 7 always met at. He walked up slowly with no smiles for his crush.
"Oh, hey Naruto! How was you and Sasuke's "mission" yesterday?"
'She's oddly cheerful with me today,' he thought, yawning.
"Boring and dumb"
Not even twenty seconds later, Sasuke jumped down from a near by tree. He straightened and walked over to the others, hands in his pockets, no expression on his face. Naruto slinked back slightly, remembering last night.
"Hi, Sasuke! So, what are your thoughts about you and Naruto's "mission" yesterday?"
Sasuke looked Sakura straight in the face and answered plainly,
"It was a waste of time"
"Mmm, same basic answers. You two didn't learn anything about each other"
"No"
Sasuke slide down the railing of the bridge and got into the same position he was in at the park yesterday, except for the blade of grass. Sakura studied Sasuke.
"Wow, you look tired, today." She looked back at Naruto. "You, too. Didn't sleep much,
huh?"
"No, not really." They answered in unison.
Sakura tried flirting with Sasuke several times, but gave up after awhile when he only answered with a quiet, "Hmm," or "No, thanks." They waited in silence for Kakashi-Sensei to arrive. Half an hour to forty-five minutes later, the silver-haired man appeared on the railing, smiling.
"Hello. Sorry I'm late. I got distracted on the trail of life"
"Oh, hi Kakashi-Sensei! That's all right! Hey, what are we doing today?" Sakura chirped. She was excited that someone was willing to talk.
"My, my, aren't we extremely happy today. We're practicing our aim." He answered,
studying his other two students. Naruto was falling asleep were he stood and Sasuke was a centimeter away from an unwakable slumber.
"What's wrong with them?" He asked.
"Huh? Oh, them. They're just tired. Both said they didn't sleep well." Sakura answered cheerfully.
"Hmm"
Kakashi-Sensei went and tapped Sasuke on the head.
"Wakey, wakey. It's time to get up, Sasuke." Kakashi cooed.
Sasuke stirred and looked up at his disturber, "Uhh? Oh, hey. I suppose I have to get up now, don't I?"
"Yeah, kind of,"
Sasuke slowly stood up, stumbled, and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Kakashi walked over and waved a hand in front of Naruto's face.
"Naaruutoo, are you awake?" Kakashi sung.
"Huh? What? Of course I am. When did you get here, Kakashi-Sensei?"
"About half a minute ago. Come on, we have training to do" Kakashi started walking away, Sakura hot on his trail. Sasuke followed a short distance behind, and Naruto took up the rear. Naruto jogged a bit so he was right beside Sasuke.
"Sorry." He whispered, just loud enough for Sasuke to hear. There was a small pause before Sasuke replied.
"You owe me 3200yen. I want it by the end of the day."
We love reviews,though I don't normally ask for them, but please send your thougths, if not for me, for my sis sniff sorry, fake tears.