AN: The long awaited…duly noted -.-
If he had only known what this slight shopping was supposed to be he would have never agreed to it.
Naruto seemed determined to enter every store they passed and buy something from it. His first stop however, was Rogers. Half an hour later he walked out with a cell. He had never owned one in his life, and Naruto promised to show him everything there was to know. He insisted that they have contact at all times.
When Sasuke asked why, Naruto mumbled something about dangerous jobs and became eerily quiet. But not for long, befoe ten minutes were up he was once again poking into stores and dragging Sasuke in with him. He even managed to bully the raven into getting a custom tailore suit, swearing up and down that occasions would occur when he'd least expect them to. "Just trust me on this" he said, and Sasuke could do little to argue with him on that.
It was the hairdressers next, where he was fawned over a busty blonde girl whom Naruto seemed to know by name. She clipped and cut away, Sasuke feeling a bit uncomfortable having so much of himself fluttering to the floor. She chatted away and Naruto chuckled and went right along with her, indulgent. Sasuke remained silent, opting to have the freedom of staring that the blondes reflection as much as he pleased. The hair shone in the sunlight flittering through the windows, it was fine as spun gold, moving with every slight gesture Naruto made. It wasn't too short, long enough to be spiky and shabby at the same time. And Naruto seemed to have a ton of it on his head. His hands twitched to touch it underneath the flimsy plastic covering.
He kept his eyes closed after that, only to be assailed by the rich deep voice instead. He cursed his luck. Unbelieving that one person should have such complete hold over him. And promised himself to work on it not being such an issue.
She did indeed do a good job, shortening Sasukes hair in the back and keeping it long in his bangs, his natural style bounced back at once.
Ino stared at what happened to her masterpiece and blinked at Naruto who looked first surprised and then started laughing. "Dude it's not funny!" She barked at him as she glared at the duck-butt hair Sasuke now sported.
"I didn't even manage to put gel through it and…this?" Sje waved her hand for point while Naruto sat down laughing.
Sauske looked at them both as if they lost their marbles. "What's wrong with this?" he asked pointing to his head, he thought it was an improvement over hwat had been there earlier.
"Well not that it looks bad… but I've never seen hair do that before…" Ino trailed off, not wanting to say something to upset him.
"It actually suits him well though." Naruto managed finally, c oming up beside her , leaning an arm on her shoulder and cocking his head to the side. Ino followed.
It was Sasuke's turn to glare art them. "When you've finished ogling." He mumbled and got up, allowing for the remaints of his hair to fall away. "Ill be done here" he looked at Ino pointedly.
She nodded, "not much left for me to do anyways, that looks good."
XXxxXX
They made their way further downtown, and ended up at Naruto's family doctor. He checked Sauske out. Took blood tests, weighed and measured him.
"Plenty of exercise and healthy food." He nodded to himself; "after he heals" he added for good measure. "And a trip to the dentist I'd say."
That had earned Sasuke a walk across the street and up into another disgustedly bland building. They walked in together, the receptionist greeting Naruto cheerily and inquiring about Sasuke. Naruto filled in the necessary information, adding him to his plan, and continued to chat away as if nothing had happened.
Something did though, Sasuke was quite aware of this from the very beginning. Wherever they went, Naruto took note to add Sasuke onto his files, cards, plans and to introduce him to the people he knew. He ghad managed to implant Sauske into a society he had been far from welcomed in within a couple of hours.
Just thinking about the enormous amount of money Naruto had spent on him had him bristling in distaste. He hated… no, absolutely LOATHED being in anyones debt. And here he was immersed in so much of it that he now considered their contract a lifetime offer. No matter what Naruto asked him to do would never ive up to the amount of money wasted in that one day.
They walked out into the bright sunlight, the distaste of the dental tools still in his mouth. Sasuke blinked back the sudden onslaught and was immediately pulled into a store that conveniently sold sunglasses. He rolled his eyes at Narutos happy grin, wondering what on earth contributed to the happiness. Surely, surely it had nothing to do with him… he was a burden.
They stopped for lunch in a small but homely cafeteria. Naruto chose the high seats that all faced the window looking out onto the street outside. They looked at people rushing past or jjust enjoying the day, and Sauske chanced a sideways glance in the blonde's direction.
Naruto had on a happy smile of contentment. He wasn't looking at Sasuke, busy it seemed, in filing away something in his head. Sasuke interrupted.
"Thank you for all this." He managed lamely, after considering a multitude of things to say, he couldn't find anything more suitable than that.
Naruto regarded him then, blue sparkling with happy mirth. "It's no problem at all kit… I haven't enjoyed myself like this in a long time…never, actually."
Black eyebows shot up in surprise. "What part of this." Sasuke pointed out the over twenty bags of clothing, shoes and accessories stuffed inside. "did you precisely enjoy? Apart from the immense medical bills you paid, to the excessive amount of stuff you bought me?" He asked incredulous.
Naruto's smile wavered. "Do you not ilke them?" He aasked slowly, hurt not evident but under the surface.
Sauske hurried to correct himself. "I..I did… I like everything here… it's all wonderful but…"
"But what?"
"Isn't this all a bit too much for someone like me?" Sasuke finally bit out.
"explain."
"I could never pay you back for all this, and then… Naruto… I'm a nobody." Sauske finally pushed out what was bubbling under the surface the entire day.
"What use could I possibly have with all this when my life is nonexistent?" He hurried on, afraid that if he stopped he would never finish.
"I am trash you picked up and decided to wash up and dress, but underneath it all, I'm still a nobody!"
Their food arrived then, dainty sandwiches on porcelain platters, filled with exotic cheeses and spinach, figs, thin pieces of beef sewed in honey lemon sauce and toadd to that, on small separate plates, round brown balls covered in coconut shavings.
Naruto pointed at them known, "I took the liberty of ordering our dessert." He smiled warmly at Sasuke, who was still flustered and by now, also quite a bit pissed off. "They're rum balls, my favorite here, I've never encountered better."
"Did you not hear me? Sasuke hissed at him, ignoring the pleasantries.
"I did" Naruto shrugged, turning to his food and beginning to enjoy his meal. He licked the fork clean and brought it up to the sunlight to stare at. "but I'm not going to argue an invalid point."
"How's this (here he pointed to the bags and himself) an invalid point?"
"because we agreed to the terms already."
"we did no such thing!"
"You agreed to be mine…in a way; (Naruto raised his hand to silence Sasuke's rising counter argument) and you agreed."
"I did, but not to all this excessive pomp!" Sauske was exhasperated by the thickheadedness of the blonde. "I don't need all this!" he managaed. "I don't deserve this…" he finished quietly.
"So now this becomes you problem doesn't it?" Naruto asked. "It's up to you to realize your worth and acknowledge it, there's little I can do in that department."
Sasuke had nothing to say to that. He just shook his head and poked at his cooling food.
"I don't understand you, you know that?
"you made that quite clear, yes."
Sasuke chuckled. "Is there anything more that you plan to throw at me that I might want to now before it happens?
"Oh yes actually now that you mention it…" Naruto scratched his chin. "You're enrolled at the University."
Sasuke's eyes went wide in shock. "WHAT?"
AN: OK…. As promised, a nice chappie to make up for the looong lapse in updates… with a sweet cliffie to match! ;) Actually, I've been dead busy, teste, exams and term papers have been horrible to me this past month… but expect updates to pick up once again come January ok? Love that you guys follow me and support! That's something I really value and appreciate! Cheers!