Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!
Summary: Uchiha Sasuke left his friends behind to follow in his father's footsteps. 7 years later, he finds himself in an elevator with the last person he wanted to see. Will he walk away again? Will Naruto let him? Rating may change!
A/N: Well here we are! The last chapter. Like I said, it's not really an end - as you'll probably see, there are still things to resolve and questions left unanswered - but it felt like a conclusion to me, so this is where I'll officially end the story.
This chapter is dedicated to crzyanimemom, who has reviewed practically every chapter! You made me excited to check my email every day, so thank you :)
Strictly Professional
Chapter 10: Finale
By the time they were ready to brave the downstairs again, it was quiet. It turned out they had nothing to fear; Fugaku quietly informed them Itachi had gone to bed, and he was going to do the same. Naruto didn't know what to make of it, but Sasuke took it as a good sign that Itachi had chosen to stay, as opposed to simply driving off.
"I'll make us some dinner," Naruto offered. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him.
Naruto rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to cook some gourmet meal, but come on, you think Sakura would have let me live this long without ever learning to cook anything?"
Sasuke smiled a little.
"Yeah, jerk," Naruto looked victorious, "where do you keep your bread?"
"It should be in that basket," Sasuke pointed.
"Okay," Naruto said, "you go sit down. Or make yourself a drink or something."
Sasuke let out a puff of air. A drink sounded good—he had work tomorrow, but, hell, it had been a crazy weekend.
"Do you want anything?" Sasuke offered.
"If you do!" Naruto called from the kitchen.
Sasuke sighed, and eyed the liquor cabinet.
"It's nothing fancy," Naruto said, finishing up. "It's kind of like garlic bread. What kind of cheese do you want?"
"Whatever you normally put on it," Sasuke answered, not really caring either way, but mainly curious to try Naruto's cooking.
"Well," Naruto gave a sheepish laugh, "I'm lazy, and pretty cheap, so I usually just put whatever sliced cheese I have."
"Then do that," Sasuke smiled fondly. Naruto spared him a warm smile, and went to the fridge.
"This is surprisingly good," Sasuke said, after a moment.
"I am surprisingly capable at frying bread," Naruto laughed, "and you are surprisingly capable at mixing drinks."
Sasuke smirked.
"There is alcohol in this, isn't there?" Naruto asked suspiciously.
"Of course there is," Sasuke said, in between bites.
Naruto paused, eyeing his drink. "You're not trying to get me drunk, are you?"
"Naruto," Sasuke said, mockingly scandalized, "you think so little of me? I know full well you have work tomorrow."
"And so do you," Naruto eyed him, "and yet, here we are."
"Finish your food, idiot," Sasuke said, after a moment, "you're going to need the energy."
Naruto grinned.
The next day, Naruto wasn't quite hungover, but he definitely was sleep-deprived. And from the looks Kiba was giving him, he had guessed purely lewd reasons as to why—and that meant the rest of the office had too.
Naruto hadn't gotten any last night, contrary to popular belief. He didn't much mind; they had done more than enough to satisfy his drunken self's libido. He got the sense that Sasuke felt a little weird about having sex in his family's home, which made sense, considering Sasuke didn't seem to see at as the safe place that your room is supposed to feel like.
Itachi's voice echoed in his head, repeating "psychological torture" over and over. Naruto shook his head and took a gulp of his coffee. Now was the time to focus on work—everything else could wait until later.
Despite Sasuke's apprehension, his father attended work that Monday, and acted as if nothing had happened. Still, Sasuke found himself distracted, and often looking at his phone, as if he expected a message.
Around lunch, and after hours of distraction, Naruto finally bit the bullet and sent Sasuke a text asking how his day was going. He had honestly figured that once Sasuke was back in his life, he would stop obsessing over him so much—but it seemed like the opposite had occurred.
Damn bastard.
Sasuke pretended like hearing from Naruto wasn't the highlight of his day, but it was a little scary how his entire attitude changed as soon as he saw the message. The idiot really did have a huge influence on him.
No wonder his father had been disturbed.
After some back and forth, and some talk with Itachi, Naruto and Sasuke decided to spend the night at Sasuke's place. Itachi was home to keep his father company, but if all else failed, he had a key to Sasuke's apartment.
And besides, they had not really had a chance to enjoy it there; Sasuke being afraid of his father barging in on the two of them and Naruto being perfectly okay to stick to his own place.
Still, Naruto found himself getting very excited at the prospect of a night alone with Sasuke—at his place, no less.
As silly as he felt, Naruto brought flowers. Sasuke gave him his most affectionate "you're-an-idiot" look.
"Blue and orange?" Sasuke asked, amused.
"It's still your favourite colour, right?" Naruto asked, suddenly nervous.
"What, orange?" Sasuke smirked, using his free hand to pull Naruto in, "you betcha."
Their lips touched, and Naruto made a mental note to buy flowers more often.
"I was planning on making dinner," Sasuke noted, a little sadly.
Naruto turned over and pulled the bed covers over the two of them. "You still could. You know I can always eat."
Sasuke chucked and Naruto smiled, giving Sasuke's shoulder a brief kiss.
"Do you want help? I'm pretty useless myself but I'm not a bad assistant," he offered.
Sasuke eyed him with a smirk, "oh, I have something you can assist me with."
Naruto snorted. "Even you aren't that quick."
Sasuke smirked, and reluctantly got out of bed.
By the time Sasuke was finished, which really wasn't that long, Naruto had fallen asleep. Sasuke didn't mind; he just casually strode over and waved the bowl under Naruto's nose.
Naruto shuffled in the bed, moaning slightly. Sasuke moved the food closer. Naruto's eyebrows furrowed, as if recognizing something but not figuring out quite what…
With a start, his eyes sprang open and he nearly leapt out of bed. Only Sasuke's quick reflexes kept the ramen from spilling all over the two of them, although he did not avoid burning his arm completely.
He hissed as he set the bowl down, rubbing his forearm a little.
Naruto looked at him with wide eyes, as if seeing him for the first time.
"You made ramen?"
Sasuke fought a blush, "it's not that instant crap you used to eat all the time, I made—"
"You made me ramen?!" Naruto was practically bouncing off the walls.
Ah, well—some things never change.
Fin.
A/N: There it is! And with that, the daily updates will stop and this story will be marked as complete. Thank you to everyone who followed along!
Obviously, I don't plan on never updating again - I have plenty of oneshot and sidefic ideas! The main story - of Sasuke and Naruto establishing and finally being comfortable in a relationship together - is concluded, though! I hope you felt that they reached a good place, too.
And I have a question for you guys! Would you like me to update this story with new chapters that are oneshots and things, or would you like me to make a new story altogether that holds the sidefics and oneshots? I thought it might be a bit simpler to keep them all here, but you let me know what you would prefer. Also let me know what you would like to see, if there is anything you're curious about and would like to see explored.
And with that, this story is complete! Until next time!
- Kinomi
