Chapter 18

He didn't know why he went back. It must have been on an impulse, because he was not worried. Nope, not at all. That was totally not why he felt jittery the whole day, staring at his empty seat. No, that was also not why he blew up at Sakura before. And that's so NOT why he kept thinking about blond hair, blue eyes, and a horrible bloody death.

...Heh...

Okay, damn it, he was a bit worried. Who wouldn't be? After all, he was the one who had seen Naruto in that horrible condition. Sasuke shuddered as he remembered all the cuts and bruises that were on Naruto's body, completely out of place with his normally warm aura.

But why did he go back to the infirmary though? Surely he felt nothing but bitterness towards the boy... Seeing him in that weakened state was...a big slap in the face for Sasuke. From what he's experienced firsthand before, Naruto was a strong guy, or at least very skilled in basketball.

But then again, facing thirteen gangsters was quite a feat...especially for such a short scrawny teen like him.

So maybe he felt awe. Just a bit. Hey, even an Uchiha can be impressed! Yes, that's completely why he was standing next to the sleeping blond right now, staring at his peaceful slumbering face. Completely.

"Uchiha? Still here? School's out already, I have to wake him up now."

Sasuke turned around to see the black haired nurse standing in the doorway with a cup of ice water in her hands. She slowly moved beside Naruto and started shaking him gently.

"Naruto, wake up. You can't stay here over night. We can move you to a hospital, if you want..."

Slowly and lethargically, the blond before Sasuke stirred and stretched, eyes fluttering open to reveal true blue eyes that immediately zoned onto Sasuke.

"Y-YOU! What are you doing here, bastard?" Naruto yelled with a start, now completely awake; unfortunately for the annoyed Sasuke.

"Naruto! Language, please!" Shizune scolded, knocking Naruto on the head and handing him the cup of water, just to keep his hands busy instead of, say, beating at Sasuke.

"S-Shizune-san? What? Where am I?" Naruto exclaimed, looking from Shizune to Sasuke in a panic, his hands gripping tightly on the glass.

"Calm down, Naruto!" Shizune patted his shoulder comfortingly, shaking her head in exasperation. "You're in the infirmary, obviously."

Naruto's brow knitted together in confusion. "Then, what's he—" at that, he glared at Sasuke menacingly, "doing here?"

Shizune shrugged. "Well, he was the one who carried you and Sakura here, and all by himself too. I'd say he was worried about you."

Sasuke growled at the offending inference, making Shizune back away a few steps. He was not worried, damn it!

"Oh! Sakura! Is she alright now?" Naruto looked around wildly for a trace of pink, but couldn't find the girl. He faintly remembered talking to her before he nodded off to sleep, but he wasn't awake enough to actually see if she was hurt. But seeing as how she was probably walking around way before him, she must be better now.

"She's fine; already headed home. I heard what happened from her and I must say, your one tough little kid," Shizune teased, pinching his cheeks. Naruto glared at her for the kid remark, but decided not to comment on it. Besides, he has a major case of headaches right now. Speaking of headaches, why the hell is Sasuke still standing there? Oh yeah, he supposedly carried them here. Augh! Might as well get this over with!

"Hey Sasuke bastard!" Naruto yelled, pointing a finger rudely at the Uchiha, who raised an eyebrow. "I don't know why you're still here..." Naruto gulped down all the insults he wanted to throw, "but...thanks...for the help."

Wait for it...wait...

"Hn, idiot."

In a flash, Naruto had put down his drink, jumped off the bed, and tackled Sasuke head on, much to Shizune's shock.

"Naruto! Stop!" But Naruto and Sasuke were already tumbling around the floor, Naruto throwing punches while Sasuke skilfully guarded against them.

"STOP IT, DAMN IT!"

All motion ceased as three heads turned to the outburst's origin; the doorway. It was Tsunade, the principal.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? I COME FOR—" she hiccupped and everyone could smell a whiff of alcohol, "F-FOR SOME PEACE AND QUIET, AND I G-GET THIS?" She staggered in, steam rising off her head in anger.

"Tsunade-sama! Here, sit down!" Shizune hurriedly helped her onto one of the beds and glanced, worried, at the two boys. Oh heavens, they were going to get it now...

"You...blondie...It's you again..." Tsunade squinted at the panting blond, who was still straddled between Sasuke's legs and had a hand in his hair, ready to pull it all out.

"What's wrong with—" Hiccup. "—you?"

Naruto flared up at the comment, completely forgetting about his previous tumble with Sasuke. He got up indignantly and bit back, "I don't know, but it's a hell lot better than whatever's wrong with you!"

Sasuke cringed at the harsh words. He knew he was talking to the principal, right?

"I dare you to say that again," Tsunade threatened, standing up and cracking her knuckles with a vengeance.

And of course, Naruto took up the dare. "I'm a hell lot b—" But his courageous (stupid) act was cut off mid sentence by a flabbergasted, wide eyed, Shizune who slapped a hand over Naruto's mouth. She laughed nervously and glanced back at Tsunade. Yikes, still mad.

"He's traumatized, Tsunade-sama! He can't help it!" she lied, pushing Naruto behind her and accidentally into a shocked Sasuke. "He doesn't know what he's doing!"

But Naruto persisted in getting his ass suspended and didn't stop there.

"Whatever you're drowning yourself in self pitying sake for, GET OVER IT!" he yelled, not realizing he was pretty much in Sasuke's arms as he screamed this. He was too busy being stupidly bold. Sasuke, of course, was still too shocked at what was going on to respond to the blond he was holding. He didn't think things were this tense between Naruto and their principal!

"YOU TRY GETTING OVER THE DEATHS OF THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE TO YOU!" Tsunade yelled, earning a gasp from Shizune.

"T-T-Tsunade-sama! Y-you're not actually going to tell them, are you?"

"Damn it! No!" Tsunade yelled in anger and fell back onto the bed, burying her screams into the pillow. Shizune awkwardly patted her head soothingly, eyes darting from Naruto (who was, mind you, still in Sasuke's arms, Heh) to the door, signalling it was time to leave. With a huff, Naruto ripped from Sasuke and stormed out, Sasuke following closely.

"Stupid...old...drunk..." Naruto mumbled crossly, "...mid-life crisis...drunk...old hag! AUGH!" With a loud yell, he punched the wall next to him in fury, cracking the paint job a bit.

"Calm down, idiot."

Which reminded him. With an animalistic growl, Naruto twirled around and pointed a finger accusingly at the stoic teen.

"AND YOU! CAN YOU GO ONE SENTENCE WITHOUT INSULTING SOMEONE?"

Sasuke snorted at the question. "Yes, I can, you dolt."

"Good, then—wait a minute! You just insulted me again!"

Sasuke shrugged lightly. Why was he here again?

"I'm not even going to START with how much you piss me off, you Uchiha bastard! So, while you go about your life being a prickly meanie, I'm going to ignore you!" Naruto nodded, agreeing with himself and stalked off back home. He was still slightly sore, but he'll have to endure it on the walk back to his humble apartment.

Sasuke, on the other hand, stared at his retreating back, his lips twitching.

...Why couldn't he hold back a grin? Why was his cold, expressionless mask slipping? Nothing was even funny right now!

...Except Naruto's stupidity. Sasuke smiled. No wait! He smirked evilly, that's it. Oh yeah...yepp...definitely wasn't smiling...

...Damn it.

Naruto plopped down on his bed, breathing heavily. Damn work, he'll just have to skip it today. Grrr, guess he'll have to get up on his extremely sore legs and walk extremely painfully to the extremely far phone and use his extremely stiff fingers to dial the extremely long phone number to his extremely stupid work.

All in all, he was extremely pooped. And extremely not in the mood to deal with anything other than the sandman coming to whisk sweet sweet slumber on him.

But nevertheless, with a grumble and a kick, Naruto pushed himself up and stumbled over to his phone. After painfully dialling the number, he waited anxiously for his manager to pick up.

On the fourth ring, she did. "Hello there, this is Refined Sushi, how may I help you?" Her voice was sugary sweet and Naruto almost gagged. He hasn't called in before, so he wasn't expecting this from his cold-hearted manager!

"H-hello! This is Naruto!"

"Who's Naruto?"

Naruto gaped at the phone. What? He doesn't go to work for a few days and he's forgotten already?

"N-Naruto! You know! The super sexy blond haired blue eyed man that works there?" Naruto described to his manager, not exaggerating at all. Nope.

"What blond? The only blond I know is short and wimpy and definitely not sexy."

"W-w-what?" Naruto sputtered, not believing this. Not only was he forgotten, but now he's not sexy? What has the world come to?

Then he heard laughter on the other side and knew his leg was being pulled.

"Just kidding, kid. What the hell do you want?" That's more like it.

"Jeez, Ms. Manager-whose-name-I-still-don't-know-since-you-refuse-to-tell-me, you scared me there for a second. Anyways, I'm calling in sick today."

"Wait, what? Sick? Again? This is the second time in a row, kiddo!" His manager scolded, a tone of disapproval in her voice.

Naruto sighed. It's not like he wanted to skip it yesterday...it was a fluke! "Sorry, but I got in a...scuffle today, and I really don't think I'd be much help on the job today if I keep doubling over in pain."

"Scuffle? What happened?" Right, like she cared.

"Well, see there was these guys and—" Naruto started, but his manager immediately interrupted him.

"Yeah, never mind. I don't care. Just don't be sick next time!" And she hung up on him. The nerve! But Naruto shrugged it off and returned back to bed.

Ahhhh, sweet, warm, comfy pillows...a soft blanket...what more could a pained teenager want?

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

Naruto groaned into his inviting bed. Apparently, some SLEEPING TIME!

"Naruto, its Kiba! Open up!" came the muffled voice from outside.

Pushing himself up for the second time, Naruto glared daggers at the door as he walked towards it. Flinging it open upon contact, Naruto now directed his glare to his mangy friend and gave a ferocious growl.

"Back off, man! I'm just worried!" Kiba exclaimed, pushing Naruto inside and allowing himself in. He kicked the door close behind him and followed Naruto to his bed, which the blond immediately plopped himself into again.

"I heard what happened. Sakura was describing every single detail to everyone she met. So, apparently, you were her knight in shining armour, eh? Except she didn't say it like that; I forgot what she called you, but close enough. What's your part of the story?" Kiba pried, sitting down next to the resting boy.

Naruto sighed and tilted his head to look at Kiba. "I beat up some gangsters, that's all. One had a knife. It was pretty whacked up."

"A-a KNIFE?" Kiba yelped, his eyes traveling over Naruto's multiple bandages.

"No biggie, really. I'm alive, aren't I?" Naruto huffed and turned over onto his stomach, inhaling the homey smell of his comfortable bed. No wait, that's the smell of not being washed for half a year. Damn, he needed to do that soon. Maybe he should have washed everything before moving here...Keh, whatever.

"No biggie? Still alive? What kind of reassuring statement is that?" Kiba jumped onto the bed too, shaking Naruto's shoulders in worry. "You could have been stabbed and killed!"

"But I didn't die, okay? So it's fine!" Naruto yelled through the fabric. "Just let me sleep! I'm tired!"

Kiba was silent for a while, pondering if he should leave him alone. Deciding that he could always interrogate him tomorrow at school ("You are going to school tomorrow, right?" "Yeah yeah, I am."), he said goodbye and left.

Naruto gave a blissful puff of air and felt his brain fuzzing. Beautiful beautiful sleep, here he comes!

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

With a groan, Naruto got up once AGAIN. He stumbled to the door and opened it to see Kiba there with a huge grin.

"What?"

Kiba laughed and handed him some papers. Naruto took them in his hands and stared. He stared long and hard.

"What the fuck are these?"

"Homework."

"...Do I look like I want to do HOMEWORK right now?" Naruto flung the papers around his room and gave Kiba a glare worthy of an Uchiha. Kiba took the hint and skedaddled out of there, giving a hasty wave to the fuming blond.

Naruto slammed the door shut and stormed back to his bed, this time crawling luxuriously into the warm comforts of his blanket.

Mmmm, this feels so nice...

Soon, he could once again feel his consciousness drifting off to LaLa Land and he sighed happily.

Peaceful, peaceful slee—

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

"RAAAAWWWWRRRR!"

Yep, he just roared.

Naruto swiftly got up and ran to the door, his head practically exploding in anger. Flinging it open, he yelled, really not caring about anything right now.

"DAMN IT KIBA WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT NOW?"

But no wait...

Kiba doesn't have red hair...

...Shit.

Naruto's eyes widened.

How did he find my house?

...

Still the amusing and intriguing writings of xXCabbageXx.

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