Rising and Shining
by Shameless Monkey
Chapter 2
I'll tell you this: No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn…
When Jim Morrison's voice fills his bedroom, Naruto sighs, rolling over onto his back in bed, eyes still closed as he fumbles blindly for his alarm clock, meaning to press the snooze button to gain another few, precious minutes of sleep.
But then he hears a some nutter banging on his front door and lurches upright.
The hell? He thinks, rubbing his eyes as he pads across his messy bedroom floor, heedlessly stepping onto various dishes and clothes and books that litter the small space between his bed and the door, moving out into the main room as the din subsides momentarily before starting up again full throttle. It's too early for this; for, well, anyone to be awake, much less causing such a stir. Mulishly he goes over to the kitchen bar and puts on the kettle, and the knocking stops for a listening second.
"Naruto hurry up and open the door!" comes a clear tenor voice, and startled, Naruto drops the cup of instant ramen down onto the bench as he strides over to the door.
"Sasuke?" he says through the wood. "Is that you out there?" Barely daring to breathe Naruto feels his heart ache in his chest. Even though he knows Sasuke better than anyone, even he has trouble understanding the dark haired teen sometimes, and the way that the Uchiha had been freezing him out the last while had hurt more than anything. But he'd know that voice anywhere.
He opens the door to meet a familiar pair of angry gray eyes, and the reproach in them helps him to find his voice again.
"What're you doing here?" he demands, even as he stands aside to let Sasuke in. "The hell are you in this part of town so early for at all?" he continues as Sasuke ignores him, throwing his bag down next to the couch and pulling off his school blazer. He doesn't reply, instead going to where Naruto's ramen sits on the bench and putting it back into a cupboard. "What do you think you're playing at!"
"Start the day with a balanced breakfast dobe, not by inhaling styrofoam." Sasuke replies, opening the fridge and pulling out a carton of milk which he smells carefully before placing up on the bench, before delving into the cupboards again. "I bet you haven't been eating properly…"
The words Since I left hang unspoken in the air for a moment before dissolving again, and Naruto, about to start an argument about the nutritional benefits of instant Ramen for breakfast, realises that Sasuke is deliberately smoke screening to avoid answering his questions.
So he closes the front door, letting the ramen slight drop, and goes over to the little kitchen as well, which is too small for the two of them, and obstructs Sasuke's little breakfast binge by standing in front of the fridge with his arms folded, staring at his best friend (ex-best friend?) until, eventually, the raven haired teen looks up at him.
Outside the air is freezing, and so in the sudden warmth of his flat, Sasuke's cheeks have tinged rosy with the temperature change. There is something like guilt in his eyes.
He watches Sasuke, and notices two things. Thing one is that in the months (since he left), Sasuke has grown taller than him, yet again. Only just, but it's enough that when Sasuke stands up, diving his hands down into his pockets, Naruto has to look up at him a fraction. Thing two is that the perpetual bags under his eyes have brewed and darkened, and - somehow - seem deeper. He looks like a tired soldier, and Naruto wonders what it is that drove him away in the first place. What exactly he's been fighting these past months.
And why he hadn't let Naruto fight it with him...
"I don't like these," he says instead, running his finger under his own eye in a crescent, and Sasuke grimaces, mumbles something under his breath that Naruto has to decipher for a second in his head, just to see if he heard properly.
"I've been a jerk," Sasuke had said. "I'm sorry."
Something's wrong. Terribly wrong. Naruto knows Sasuke better than Sasuke does himself, and Sasuke (or the Sasuke he knew) is far too pig-headed to apologise, least of all when he's been putting so much energy in the last 10 minutes into pretending that the last quarter of a year hasn't happened… and although he still wants to call his friend out about what the hell he was thinking, disappearing like that, he decides, for now, to let things be.
"Whatever. Just make sure you cook something yum, okay?" he says, and, for good measure, punches the other boy's shoulder gently. The relief in Sasuke's face makes Naruto want to say something more, but he quells his curiosity, yawning as he slides back into his room and pulls on a teeshirt and some jeans.
Sasuke has come back, and that's the most important thing.
End Chapter
Wow. Thank you for reviewing/alerting/favouriting! That was the most exciting thing to get in my inbox :) More story to come! Hang tight :)
Sorry about the Doors lyric. I just… love the Doors. Love them love them love them :D
Disclaimer: If I owned it, I would be a Japanese guy with mad drawing skills and a lot of money. Last I checked, I'm not.
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