The pipelines of Naruto's house had seen much better winters, and so, when he heard a tink tink, he immediately assumed they'd gotten too cold again. The weather wasn't even that bad; spring was effectively sneaking past winter, and the last couple of weeks had been pleasantly sunny. The nights weren't bitter anymore, either, which was a good thing. Naruto hated being stuffed inside and forced to study. It was impossible for him to think of anything except being on the mound.

Tink tink.

Naruto turned his attention towards his window, where he was sure he'd heard the sound. He quirked an eyebrow before getting up and venturing over to investigate. When he pulled back a generic blackout curtain he'd had for forever, he nearly burst out laughing.

"What are you doing?" he jimmied open his window and stepped to the side, allowing Sasuke to climb in. They'd done this all the time as kids; when Sasuke's parents had first passed away, Naruto had left his window unlocked so that Sasuke could come and go as he pleased, and not feel forced to go home, to a house and undoubtedly gave him mixed feelings. They'd had many a sleepover back then, both crammed in Naruto's twin size bed, either whispering about everything they could think of, of lingering in a quiet and understanding silence.

That had been years ago. Coloring books had been nixed for barely-touched textbooks, and toys had been replaced with spare mitts, baseballs, and bats. Posters of professional ball players lined Naruto's walls, one in particular standing out.

"Is your dad home?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto followed Sasuke's train of sight, and looked a bit embarrassed. He shook his head. "Nah. Away game this weekend."

Sasuke nodded and looked around, and Naruto suddenly realized how messy his room was. Scrambling, he swiped clothes from his bed and chucked them into his closet, and attempted to round his baseball equipment into a pile.

"Yeah, I wasn't really expecting company," he attempted to explain, and Sasuke just shrugged it off.

"It's fine. It's not like I've ever seen your room clean," he pointed out, which was the truth. But it had been so long since Sasuke had seen his room at all, that Naruto had the strange urge to make a better impression.

"You've also seen my closet," Naruto told him. "There's barely enough room for clothes –"

"Yeah, because you're a hoarder."

Naruto scrunched his nose. "Collector," he corrected. "My dad's memorabilia is sacred. And what, you're telling me you don't have a box of your brother's newspaper clippings and stuff?"

Sasuke gave him a look. "No. That would be weird."

Naruto rolled his eyes and patted a spot on his bed, welcoming Sasuke to sit. After a few seconds, he replied, "You know what's really weird?"

Sitting hesitantly, Sasuke raised an eyebrow, not sure what to expect. "What?"

Naruto gave him a firm look. "Your brother trying to scout me to Suna."

Sasuke seemed unsurprised. "Why? You're good. Our team sucks."

Tensing, Naruto frowned. "No we don't! We're doing really well this year. You'd know if you came to a game."

The comment was meant as a burn, but Sasuke, as always, looked unaffected. "I didn't have a ride home," he explained, but he had promised to attend Naruto's first game, and hadn't been to one since.

"Everyone and their mother would give you a ride, Sasuke," Naruto sounded amused, because he knew it was an excuse. "You're famous."

"Do you have any clippings of me?" Sasuke asked.

"No," Naruto tried to mimick Sasuke's tone, "because that would be weird."

Intent on ignoring Naruto's sarcasm, Sasuke simply said, "There aren't any. I try very hard to stay out of the limelight. So the last thing I want is for some cheerleader to give me a ride home."

"We don't have cheerleaders," Naruto stated glumly. "Unless you were talking about me. 'Cause you know I'm your biggest cheerleader."

Sasuke failed to keep a straight face, though his smile barely brought the corners of his lips up. "Still?"

"Still," Naruto confirmed. "You're like some…some weird prodigy. I heard Karin talking the other day, and she said you have some, like, one-in-a-million talent out there. Like you can read people's moves, and –"

"Ugh, stop," Sasuke put his fingers to his temples and began to massage them, and Naruto sighed.

"Sorry," he apologized. "I forgot. Your brother's shadow, and all of that. But seriously, you're nothing like him. You'll leave your own legacy, for sure."

Naruto caught Sasuke's eyes lingering on him, as if he'd said something oddly profound, and then he sifted backwards, and leaned onto his desk. He ran a hand through his hair, and perked when Sasuke asked, "Why wouldn't you want to go to Suna?"

It was an odd question, mostly because Naruto half expected Sasuke to know him better. "Why would I?" he rebutted. "Who wants to play for a team that always wins, no matter what?"

"Are you sure you're not afraid that you wouldn't get the ace position against Gaara?"

All humor drained from Naruto's face. "Okay, seriously, what's going on? What is it with you two and Suna?"

Sasuke had the decency to look caught red-handed, but only for an instant. "I just saw the specks, is all. It seemed like a good match."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Does this have to do with…?"

It took a moment for Sasuke to catch on, and when he did, he frowned. "If it had to do with that, I'd tell you."

Naruto took the comment at face value. "We never really talked about it, and –"

"And I don't want to talk about it," Sasuke interjected. "You kissed me. Big deal. I'm over it." Sasuke motioned to Naruto's desk. "What are you working on?"

It was obvious that Sasuke didn't want to think about it, so Naruto simply glanced behind him and shrugged. "Working…more like staring at. For an hour. Mom's asleep already. I was thinking about sneaking out to the park –"

"You still do that?"

"-to practice – yes, I still do that. Are you kidding? Mom already thinks I practice too much –"

"Well, it is possible to practice too much," Sasuke interjected, and finally beat Naruto into silence.

It was short lived, because Naruto pointed a finger at him. "I'll have you know that I am perfecting a move. Have as little faith in me as possible, but mark my words, I'm going to strike Kankuro out this weekend."

"Who's that?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow, and Naruto's energy seemed to build as competition flooded him.

"Gaara's brother – their catcher. He's psychic, like you. He can, you know, read pitches, and –"

"Please don't call me psychic," Sasuke shook his head morosely.

"- but he won't be able to read this one, and – well, you are. Kind of." Naruto finished.

Sasuke stared at him, and then stood up and grabbed his bag.

"You leaving?" Naruto asked, sounding a bit dejected. "I'll take back the psychic comment."

Sasuke was prying open his window when he glanced back and said, "Come on. Show me this move of yours."

A rush of insecurity dampened Naruto's competitive mood. "It's not good enough yet. I haven't figured all of it out."

Sasuke was halfway out of the window when he tipped his head back and gave Naruto a look. "So let's perfect it."

It was odd, but Naruto felt a chill run down his spine, excited. He raced to gather his mitt and ball, and looped back for a bat for Sasuke. He waited for Sasuke to descend to the grass of the front yard before tossing the things down as quietly as possible, Sasuke scowling as he was forced to catch it all.

"How are you going to get all of this stuff back up?" he hissed.

Naruto hadn't thought about that, so he shrugged, and shimmied down the carport, and scrambled down the house's siding to the ground. "I can't believe you're going to help me," he almost skipped into a run, still stoked.

Sasuke didn't really acknowledge it, just hugged his backpack tighter to his back, and tossed Naruto his mitt and ball. He kept the bat for himself.

"Let's make a bet," Sasuke offered, and Naruto whirled around to look at him, walking backwards as he did so.

"Oh yeah? Bring it on."

Sasuke smirked at him, looking like he'd won already. "I'll help you," he stated, "but if you don't stroke Kankuro out…go look at Suna."

Naruto glowered. "That's your bet?"

"Take it or leave it," Sasuke told him.

Naruto spun back around, looking even more intent. "Fine, I'll take it. We're gonna win this weekend, and I'm gonna strike Kankuro out, and you're gonna see. This is where I'm meant to be."