LOOK AT ALL THE PANDAS WE'RE SAVING! Ohmygoodness, I must celebrate by drawing pandas and cuddling with my plushies! YOU ALL MUST DRAW AND SPREAD THE LOVE OF PANDAS TOO C:! I guess I should make an "animal" for adding this to your favs and alerts too sooo... Favs=Chinchillas and Alerts=Narwhals 8D. Kay? kay. So we're saving so many animalsss! xDD

Warning: I'm nice.. so I'm updating... again. Mostly because I love you guys SO much and I know you all want to see what happens next ;). Trust me guys, we're nowhere NEAR being finished with this story yet. Also, you should all listen to Lucifer and Ring Ding Dong by SHINee, and when you're done listen to Cross Game and Velvet by Alice Nine. ;DDD. OH! And this is FLUFFAY. IT'S SO FLUFFAY!

Disclaimer: Ohh saaay can you seeee... Oops, wrong thingy. Nope, I don't own Naruto. Just my awkwardness-ness.

Enjoy you gorgeous people!

Chapter Eight: At Least We're Getting Somewhere

You know it's going to be a crappy day when you wake up with a pounding headache—courtesy of a lovely hangover. Bright light was Naruto's natural enemy at the moment as his mind slowly started to awaken. He squinted against the harshness, mentally cursing the morning and it's cheery disposition.

'I am never drinking again. Beer is evil and deserves to be burned…' it was a surprise in itself that his thoughts even made sense—let alone sentences—so early in the morning. He wasn't in the mood to wake up just yet, so he rolled onto his side and snuggled deeper into his warm, cinnamon-scented, bedcovers…

'Cinnamon…?' Naruto's eyes snapped wide open. Awareness flooded his senses as his eyes scanned the room that really wasn't his… "Oh my God…" he muttered, easing himself up on the foreign bed. "I've been kidnapped. That's it. Beer will never again hit my system! I'm going straight up virgin." He rubbed at his face; silently groaning as a head splitting pain rocked his skull. "And I need an aspirin… Actually, make that a whole bottle of aspirin."

Since he was a little more alert of his surroundings, Naruto took the time to actually study the room he was in. 'Okay, so obviously this person is rich because they have a flat screen TV in their room that takes up half a wall… I wonder if they have Satellite or Comcast?' should he really be thinking about that considering the situation he's in? Naruto's eyes landed on the dark colors of the room—dark blues and pitch blacks. 'This person has never met a pack of skittles before in their life.'

Right across from the bed was a desk with a personal computer resting on the top. Three dressers were scattered at designated points. One was placed underneath an arched window, the next one was placed beside the bed, and the last one was near the desk. There was also a huge, sliding closet that gave Naruto the curious urge to explore it… and most likely get lost.

So far Naruto could do one of two things: Go back to sleep and hope whatever crazy world he woke up in would disappear along with his hangover, or scream… really loud… and hope someone saves him. Right now it was really hard to choice which option to go with.

Thankfully, Life had the perfect answer—in the form of a raven.

Sasuke was casually leaning against the doorframe in a pair of Adidas sweatpants and a white v-neck. "Oh, so you're awake? I thought I heard someone talking upstairs."

Blue eyes simply stared back in confusion… 'Why is Teme here…?' and then the memories of last night came rushing back. The pulsating bass thrashing his system, the feel of Sakura's body grinding against his, and then the feel of his heart being snipped in half by Sakura's drunken confession, and then afterwards getting drunk and… and…

"No…" Naruto whispered, burying his face into his hands.

"I'm guessing you remember last night?" the raven was perched on the edge of the bed, onyx eyes silently studying the distressed blond. He had expected such a reaction, more or less. It was how he was going to treat it that held him a loss. If you hadn't noticed, such actions as romantics and comfort were an alien planet to Sasuke—and he was just the annoying tourist who gets lost on the simplest roads. Sasuke managed to smirk despite his heavy heart, "Oh come on, last night wasn't too bad. Though the music was obnoxious."

Do you hear that? That's the sound of Naruto's sanity snapping. Blue eyes were shaded darkly with the anger pumping through the blond's veins. He gripped on the bed sheets. "How the hell can you act so calm after last night? You… You… Is this all some joke to you?" Malice coated the blond's words as he pressed himself up against the headboard. He wanted to be far away from the raven as humanly possible. Naruto was trembling; the hated truth was sinking in and digging nails.

'Gaara warned me about this.' Really, what was worse? Finally coming to at least accept—though not fully get over—the fact that your crush likes another guy, or knowing that the guy you hate for stealing your crush has been sending you roses for the past month? Such things would only happen to Naruto… "This is all some sick joke," he muttered over and over again.

The raven bit back a sigh. 'Let the shock go out of his system, then bite into him for overreacting too much.' He added a little more weight on the bed, inching closer and closer to the blond until his hand was brushing against Naruto's covered foot. The blond twitched away. This time, Sasuke sighed, and leaned back. "Do you honestly think I would make a joke this elaborate?" when all he got was a heated glare and sharpened curse words thrown at him, he tried a different approach. "I thought it would be roman…tic." The word burned his tongue with unfamiliarity, making his inner pride flinch. But he wanted to see how much he could coax Naruto out of "the corner"—aka denial and refusal to cooperate—before he ran out of options.

Naruto's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before dulling down into a glare again. 'No… I won't fall for his words—his lies! He's just faking this so he can get a good laugh at me. No… I won't believe his words…' their eyes met; horrifyingly beautiful onyx clashed with devastatingly anguished blue, and Naruto almost fell—almost. The emotion, and sincerity (though Naruto chose to ignore that) swimming through Sasuke's eyes was enough to drown him.

"Well you were wrong…" Naruto said slowly. He pushed back the covers and made his way for the door. 'I'm not going to labeled as 'The Idiot' again.' "I'm getting out of here." And he would have too. His hand had already gripped the silver-colored doorknob. But something was keeping him back. A pair of arms, to be exact, that had trapped him around his waist. The contact burned. Naruto's breath hitched up to his throat. For the first time today his heart was threatening to explode from the intimate contact.

"Don't go…" the normally stoic raven whispered against Naruto's neck. "Don't go until you've heard me out. Then you can go. And I won't chase after you." That was a lie, but Naruto didn't have to know about that yet.

Somehow, the leaks of desperation that hit Naruto ears like gunshots rattled him to the core… it made him want to stay. Made him want to listen to what Sasuke had to say. He gulped back his hesitation. 'I can hear his heartbeat…' it was loud and thumped against his back. 'I'm probably going to regret this…' sighing, Naruto gently pried himself out of Sasuke's arms and looked him in the eyes.

"Alright, Uchiha, one chance. That's all you get. If I don't like what I hear, I'll walk right out."

Sasuke nodded. "Fine. Let's go downstairs, then. We'll talk over breakfast." Somehow, he managed to find a smile to slap on his face. "I make some mean toast and eggs."

+I Promise+

'Damnmit,' Naruto thought as he tore into another slice of toast. 'He really does make good toast! And the eggs,' he shoved another forkful of eggs, 'this is so not fair!'

From across the table Sasuke was holding his coffee mug with a content smirk on his face. 'Well, if I won anything today its Naruto's stomach.' He took the fact that Naruto had yet to walk right out of his house in the past ten minutes a good sign. Who knows? Maybe things would turn out in his favor after all?

Saturday morning sunshine flooded through the open windows of the Uchiha's kitchen, which, Naruto noticed, was filled with top of the line kitchen products and was about as colorful as an asylum room. Okay, so there were a few blacks here and there, like the stainless steel island counter and kitchen appliances, but other than that the room was pretty bland.

"You should really hire a painter," Naruto said after swallowing his sixth piece of toast. "This room needs more color!"

"Tried that, didn't work out."

"Uchihas can't stand a little color?"

"More like, the last time we hired a painter we entered into a kitchen that was neon green with blue and white polka-dots splattered on the walls." Sasuke shook his head and took another sip of his coffee. "It was so blinding I walked right into the refrigerator. Ever since then the kitchen's been black and white."

The blond barked out his first laugh all day. "No way! You, Sasuke Uchiha, ran into the refrigerator? Oh my God… can I put that on Facebook?"

"Yes and no," Sasuke answered with a glare, though there was amusement shining brightly on his face. "Hey… you smiled."

"Well… you fed me good food." Naruto folded his arms against his chest and pretended to look as disinterested as possible—he was failing. "I have enough morals to know to treat someone a little decently after a good meal. Besides, you've got a shitload of stuff to explain to me."

The raven stared into his coffee, as if the answers would somehow rise up in a puff of smoke. Sadly, no such thing happened. So he wracked his brain for the string of words and powerful sentences he had prepared months beforehand when such a daring idea popped into his head.

"Where should I start?"

"Now you're just stalling. I'd like an actual reason, Teme. Then you can get into the nitty gritty of it."

Sasuke sighed. "I'm not good with words… so I'll try to make this as painless as possible for you to listen. I've… liked you, for a long time, but you always like that pink-haired leech—"

"Sakura," Naruto hissed. It burned his tongue to say her name.

"Right, that's what I meant." The raven rolled his eyes. "So I thought to myself: 'How in the world could I get Naruto's attention?'"

"And leaving roses in my locker was your answer?"

"Actually, it was from a book I read last year. The main antagonist would leave a rose on the bedside table of ever house he visited—sort of like his trademark."

"Hmm, glad you didn't get inspiration from some psycho-killer book."

"Well…" Onyx eyes flitted away from blue ones for only a second to admire a beautiful wall to his left.

Naruto frowned. "You're losing me here, Uchiha."

"Fine," the raven tapped his fingers against the kitchen table. "I know someone who works in the local flower shop and told her about my… situation. She offered to give me free roses and also helped me come up with the promise idea." He shrugged his shoulders slightly, "It was a good idea, and so I ran with it. Though I didn't expect you to think it was that pink lee—I mean, Haruno, giving you those flowers."

"Nice save," Naruto stared at his half-empty glass of orange juice. Now that he thought about it, and not that the truth was very clear, he felt… stupid—extremely stupid. He wanted to bang his head into the kitchen table and hopefully bleed out glitter and fluids until he died from his stupidity. 'Really, Sakura always fawned over Sasuke. Always smiled at Sasuke. Was always…'

The last part, he could never say. He could never put that four-letter word in the same sentence with Sakura and Sasuke. It made him feel sick to his stomach.

"You probably hate me—no, I know you hate me but, I can change that."

"You're one cocky bastard, Uchiha."

Sasuke's smirk faltered. "Cockiness is a good way to hide your pain, or so I've heard."

'Pain…?' Naruto was afraid to look into those onyx eyes staring at him, only because he knew he couldn't handle what they'd so. He shook his head furiously, shaking off his childish anxiety. How come it was so hard to just walk away and go home? Why was he even staying here and listening to Sasuke speaking? 'Don't I hate him? Why do I even care what he has to say when he lied to me?'

Okay, so he didn't lie, Naruto was just being blinded but puppy love, but you get the point.

With a little hesitation, Sasuke placed his hand on Naruto's arm—a huge step, you know—and was inwardly happy to see that Naruto didn't flinch away. He didn't really make a move to acknowledge the gesture, either. "I'm not asking you to declare your love for me right now. All I want is a chance. But, just so you know, if you tell me 'No' I won't give up on you." He smirked, "If you thought I was annoying before, you'll want to shoot me and then burn my dead body after I'm done."

"Is that a threat, Uchiha?" because it sounded like it could very well happen.

"No, just a small truth."

Really, how could you say 'No' after that? Sighing, Naruto looked at the hand that was currently on his arm. The skin was warmer than the other parts of his body. 'This is way too much to process. So, Uchiha likes me. That's… somewhat… tolerable. Sakura doesn't like me… I'll cry about that later. Sasuke wants to date me? Am I following that right? And he's been sending me roses for the past month…' he thought back to his emotions and the scenes that occurred one month ago, and things added up rather well. Although Sakura completing the same promise was nice, and completely coincidental, Naruto realized that Sasuke had come true with every, single, promise but in a subtle well. The only reason why he hadn't picked up on it sooner was because he was too focused on Sakura, but now his thoughts were being trained elsewhere…

For example, he noticed that Sasuke's eyes could show a lot, or a little, emotion if he wished. His raven locks fell perfectly to frame his angular, mature face. And his smirk—Naruto couldn't believe he was thinking this—was… handsome. 'Handsome! God, someone shoot me now.'

"So…?" Sasuke wasn't trying to push Naruto to make his decision faster but his heart was threatening to die on him from the nervousness if Naruto didn't hurry up.

"So what?" why yes, Naruto did enjoy pushing Sasuke's buttons while he came to a decision.

"Uzumaki."

"Uchiha."

"Do you want me to pass out right now? My heart can't take much more of this." Sasuke muttered, gripping onto his coffee mug.

"Was that an almost whine I just heard?" if looks could kill, Naruto would be in a blubbering pool of blood and broken limbs. The blond smiled, genuine and bright. "Alright, I'll stop beating around the bush. I can accept that you sent me those roses—which, by the way, was so unlike you so give me a break for thinking it was someone else."

"Hn," the raven nodded.

"I can also, somewhat, kind of, probably not, understand that you… like me?" another nod, "And want to date me?" another nod, though it was slow and, oh my, is that a blush? Naruto's grin grew even cheekier. "I don't know why, but I'm not as disgusted as I thought I would be with this… so yeah, I'll give you a chance—but only one, got that?"

Hearing those words lifted off a humongous weight from his shoulders. A small smile slipped on his face. "That's good to hear—"

"But!" Naruto cut him off, raising his index finger in the air and poking Sasuke straight in the nose. "We're not dating." Naruto said sternly, trying to hold back his disappointment that was clawing at his throat. He still wanted Sakura, and he was still bummed out to the extreme that it wasn't his bubblegum crush sending him roses but the boy he oddly despised for no reason…

Sasuke sighed. "Well I wasn't expecting you to jump in my pants…"

"Don't even go there, Teme, or I'll rip off your fucking balls!"

"You want to get a hold of them that badly?"

A blush reeked havoc all over Naruto's face. "W-What? No! I don't want your…" he pulled at his blond locks, "Gosh darn it, don't twist my words around, Uchiha!"

Sasuke chuckled and rested his chin the palm of his hands. His smile grew a little brighter. "Have I told you that you're funny when you freak out? You could be your own comedy act."

"Drop dead, Uchiha!"

Their relationship's a little weird, but hey? At least we're getting somewhere.

Naruto's hatred was so petty. Sorry guys, before we fully dive into their relationship there's a few kinks we have to get out (: Other than that Save a baby panda, click that little button that begins with an "r" down thurr 8D.