Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any of its associated characters!

Summary: COMPLETE (new chapter up everyday - total of 35 chapters!). Sasuke's a writer whose been writing the same words for years. He's tired, he's annoyed, and his money situation is...pretty messed up, even by student standards. Enter Naruto. Modern AU (College/University), Sasunaru/Narusasu. Posted for Sasuke's birthday!

A/N: I'm back home now! And awake (and actually clean)! This is later than I thought it would be but still earlier than the rest of the week :P


Enter Naruto

Chapter 27: The Bus Stop

When Sasuke awoke, it was to the feeling of his stomach turning over. He had slept fine—he thought—and he couldn't remember having any dreams, but his body had obviously still found a reason to panic—

He closed his eyes against another wave of nausea, one hand automatically seeking out the warmth beside him. He found something—Naruto's shirt, probably, and clutched at it.

"Mm—'s'ke? You okay?"

He twisted the cloth tighter.

"Sas—'ke?" He felt the bed shift underneath him—felt Naruto move closer, until he was almost leaning over him—

"I feel sick," he whispered, eyes clenched shut.

"Like—vomit-y, sick? Do you need me to get a bucket or something?"

"Ye—no—I don't know." Sasuke finally let his eyes open, looking up at the disheveled, tired blonde above him.

"Mm," Naruto made a noise, shifting away from him for a moment. "It's…almost seven. Mmkay."

He pressed a kiss to Sasuke's forehead, before he sat up with a small groan.

"Let's get you in the shower—and then we'll get coffee, and Kakashi will sit you down and give you a pep talk. Sound good?"

Sasuke swallowed.

"…Alright."


Sasuke was getting seriously sick of getting this intimidated by the sight of doors.

His hand paused, over the knob—he could see the way his fingers shook and he couldn't even use too much caffeine as an excuse because he had barely even managed the coffee this morning—

"Sasuke." Naruto's voice nearly made him jump. "Teme. Look at me."

Sasuke swallowed, turning to him without moving his hand.

"You've got this."

Sasuke didn't respond.

"You've got this. Look at me and tell me you've got this."

Sasuke let out a breath.

"Out loud, asshole."

"I've got this."

"Good."

Sasuke opened the door.


"I mean it, Jiraiya! Not this time or I'll—"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever!" A white-haired man nearly barreled into them as the door opened—Naruto squished right up against Sasuke so they wouldn't collide with him. "Oh, sorry, kid, I—"

The man stared at Naruto, eyes wide.

"Uh—no worries." Naruto took another step back.

"Is that Mr. Taka? Please come in." A woman's voice called out—and Sasuke turned to Naruto, eyes just a little wider than they should be, as he obediently walked towards the voice. Naruto grinned, shooting him a thumbs up.

He turned back to the man, who still looked as if he'd seen a ghost.

"Are—you okay? Uh, sir?" He should probably try to be polite to…pretty much everyone here, now that he thought about it. No sense in fucking up Sasuke's chances just because Naruto rubbed the right person the wrong way—

The man seemed to shake himself out of his thoughts.

"Yes—oh, sorry." He held out a hand. "What's your name, kid?"

Naruto gripped it.

"Naruto Uzumaki. You?"


"Hey—hey!" Naruto grinned as Sasuke left—mind still absolutely whirling. He couldn't believe this—he could not—he could not believe he had just happened to run into someone who had known his parents, like this—someone who recognized his name—someone who recognized him, because he looked just like his father—he looked just like his father

"We have to run," Sasuke muttered, staring down at his phone as he walked past him. "It went too long—we're nearly late—we're going to be late for—"

"Hey, slow down!" Naruto nearly ran to keep up with him. "We're not gonna be late. We still have almost fifteen minutes. When does the bus get here?"

And he had known that they had died—he had known that for as long as he could remember, that his parents had died on his birthday, but to have it confirmed, like this—to know that they had wanted him—the fact that they hadn't given him up—the fact that he really, truly knew, now, he would never even get the chance to meet them—

"In two minutes."

"That—okay, that'll get us there right on time, right?" He tried to give Sasuke a bright smile. He was still very obviously stressed—and as much as Naruto felt like he wanted to burst with everything Jiraiya had told him, he needed to focus on Sasuke, right now. Naruto could wait until after the next meeting, at the very least—

The bus pulled up just as they got to the stop. Naruto let out a breath of relief—he didn't need to see Sasuke to know he was doing the same.

He stared out the window for a moment, not really seeing the street as they pulled away. His father had been an artist, in his spare time—his mother, too—he'd have to email Jiraiya as soon as he got the chance, because he already felt like he was forgetting everything he had been told—his head just felt so scattered, right now, like he could barely hold onto a thought—Naruto stared at his phone, refreshing his emails again—Jiraiya hadn't sent the photos, yet, but he would—he said he would—and he had said he didn't know his mother as well, but maybe he knew someone who did—and—

"—ruto?"

Naruto blinked back at Sasuke, pasting a bright grin on his face.

"Ah—sorry." He violently pushed back the thoughts—just for now, just for now—as he stuffed his phone into his pocket. "Tell me how the meeting went!"


It wasn't in a shady neighbourhood—it looked just as nice as Konoha Publishers had, and everyone seemed awfully nice.

Still, Naruto felt almost kind of…freaked out. Unnerved. Something just felt…off about the place. Something had definitely felt off about the guy who was meeting with Sasuke right now…

Naruto scowled at the door.

Something about the way his hands had lingered, in the handshake—the man had used two hands, fingers tracing along Sasuke's hand as it pulled away—something about the way he had smiled—about the way he had looked Sasuke up and down, eyes glinting even as they narrowed—

Like he was a piece of meat.

Naruto's scowl deepened.

He would never wish for Sasuke's meeting to go badly—of course he didn't want that, but—

He really didn't like this guy.


Sasuke sucked in a breath as he left, fighting the urge to just fall back against the building. Fuck. He was exhausted.

Naruto was anything but.

"Well?! How'd it go?"

Sasuke nodded, smiling a little.

"It went well," he eyed Naruto, "except when you texted me. My phone went off in the middle of the meeting—why did you do that? It was—"

"I was worried! It was a sketchy place!"

Sasuke frowned at him, eyeing the beautiful building behind them. He wasn't sure that anyone would describe Oto Publishing as 'sketchy'.

"Are you serious?"

"Well—it like—it felt sketchy," Naruto shook his head, "and you were alone in the office with that guy—"

"I was alone in an office at Konoha Publishers, too—"

"Yeah, but I liked that place more." Naruto picked up his pace to keep up with Sasuke—they were nearly at the bus stop, now. "Did you see the way the guy looked at you? It was like—"

"Orochimaru is a very accomplished man, Naruto." Sasuke's scowl deepened. What the hell was this? Sasuke had been more than willing to sing this place's praises and he had assumed Naruto would be right there with him—

"Accomplished at being creepy," Naruto muttered—Sasuke wasn't sure if he meant him to hear or not, but he did—

"The advance is far better than the one Konoha offered me," Sasuke tilted his chin up, glaring at Naruto—he hadn't fully intended on making the decision yet, but, "and I was impressed by what I saw. I'm going to go with them."

They paused at the bus stop—Sasuke eyed the schedule. Still a while until the one that would bring them closest to Naruto's parents' house…

"With—with Oto?"

"Yes."

"But—but we haven't even asked Kakashi!" Naruto's eyes were wide. "Did you even find out how the guy got your email? Or your name? I thought that—"

"What is your problem, Naruto?" Sasuke rounded on him. "It's barely been two minutes since I've left the meeting and you're already trying to convince me not to do it? You barely paid attention to anything I said on the way here—"

"No, that's not—"

"I thought you would—that you would at least pretend you were happy—"

"I am happy for you! I know how hard you worked, but—"

"'But'! Of course there's a 'but'! Why am I not allowed to have this?"

He could hear the sound of a bus approaching—see it halfway down the street—

"You are allo—"

"It's a good contract with a good company and just because I got it out of my own merit as opposed to through Kakashi, you—"

The bus slowed to a halt—Sasuke's glance at the schedule told him it wasn't the one to Naruto's house, but it was—

"That's not it at all!"

—the one to his apartment.

"I'm going with Oto, and that's final." Sasuke took a step back, turning towards the bus.

"Wait, you—that's not our bus, Sasuke—"

"It's mine. I'm going back to my apartment." He didn't turn back towards Naruto, only slipping through the crowd to flash his student ID at the driver. It wasn't until he stood—all the seats were full—at the back of the bus that he looked out the window, and back at Naruto's frozen body, and wide, wounded eyes.

The bus pulled away.


What the fuck.

What the fuck.

Naruto jerked himself back into reality, staring down the street where the bus had already driven—

What the fuck had that been?! Sasuke had been—such an asshole! Why did he just leave like that? Why—

Why had Naruto just let him?

Fuck!

Naruto clenched his fist, resisting the urge to slam it into something—both the concrete on the ground and the glass of the bus stop were terrible fuckingoptions—

That had—damn it! Naruto was furious with Sasuke and furious with himself—he had barely even given Sasuke a chance to talk about Oto and of course the first thing he had done was bring up the bad stuff—there was so many more important things he could have said—but—

Sasuke had just left.

He hadn't even given Naruto a chance really—although Naruto hadn't really given him a chance, either—

Naruto ran a hand through his hair, ignoring the pain from the way he pulled it.

As if he was going to let the asshole just run away like that.

He turned back to the bus schedule, scanning through the times. The next one—to Sasuke's apartment, or to the university, really—was in half an hour.

Naruto let out a harsh, frustrated breath and threw himself down onto the sidewalk.

Half an hour, then.


It took about two stops for Sasuke's mind to come back to him. Two stops for Sasuke's anger to simmer down into all but nothing—two stops for him to realize what he had done—

Sasuke gripped the pole so tight his fist began to hurt.

He had just…left. He had fought with Naruto—barely let the blonde say a word—and just left him, in the middle of the street, in the middle of the winter, in the middle of a place that neither of them had ever even been before—

Naruto's frozen expression flashed in his mind and Sasuke nearly stumbled—and then he did stumble, because the bus was slowing to a stop and—fuck—he had to get off this bus right now—he had to—

He tore down the steps, beelining for the bus schedule.

He had to get back there.


Naruto stepped on to the bus, sighing quietly as he showed his driver his ID. Perks of being a student—he guessed—a free pass to hop on and off all the buses his heart desired.

Well, it wasn't really free. It was in the tuition, after all.

Naruto plopped himself in a seat, leaning up against the window.

He felt…really shitty, now. His anger had seeped out pretty fast in the face of the cold, biting air.

Maybe he should have just told Sasuke about Jiraiya right away. He hadn't thought he would be so distracted on the way to Oto…maybe he should have expected it. Maybe he should have realized that Sasuke would definitely know something was up with how easily he could read Naruto—

He grimaced.

And yeah, he hadn't exactly liked the place, but Sasuke didn't have to work with people Naruto liked. Sasuke could do whatever the hell he wanted. And just because Naruto wanted to spend more time at Konoha Publishers—especially after Jiraiya had implied that the woman Sasuke met with had known his parents too—it didn't mean Sasuke had to accept their contract.

And it had been really shitty of him to try to push Sasuke to do exactly that.

He sighed, eyeing the way he had bit one of his nail beds to blood. He really needed to stop doing that.


It took a little while to walk from the bus stop back to Naruto's house; it was a miracle he made it at all, really, because he didn't exactly have the address memorized and Naruto had led the way there…

He swallowed, knocking on the door before trying the knob.

"Oh! Back already?" Kakashi met him there, smiling. "Where's Naruto?"

Sasuke blinked. Naruto hadn't been at the bus stop—Sasuke had just assumed that—

"He's not…here?"

Kakashi's gaze sharpened.

"No," he said, and Sasuke's stomach fell even further. "What happened, Sasuke?"


A/N: Damn it, Orochimaru! Always making Sasuke leave...

More tomorrow!

See you then,

- Kinomi