A/N: OMG the 9th chapter?! We're nearly in the double digits people!!! -cheers- This chapter has been rewritten like 3 times now. I like the final outcome much more than the original. Hell I like the whole story much more than that little POS I wrote on paper! -glares at original copy-. Okay so tell me what you think because this chapter has a lot of changes in 1) Team dynamics and 2) Sasuke.
Disclaimer: We all know that Kishimoto only writes his slash fics in japanese, silly readers!
The Story so Far: Even though Sasuke sees the house in a different light is it enough to pry words from him? And what's with Sakura's training, will it really help the former students of Team Seven aquire a handsome new set of Bells?
Chapter 9
Sakura sat cross legged across from Sasuke and Naruto, trying to mentally figure out what would be sturdy enough to not break but give the two of them the flexibility to train easily with her. Handcuffs seemed cliché and would undoubtedly hurt after a while of training, and wire would cut into their skin. She would really have to give this one some serious thought if they were going to get anywhere on the first day of her training plan.
"Sakura…" Naruto questioned waving his hand a little in front of her thoughtful eyes. "You haven't said anything since we sat down…" the boy was growing a little impatient with her. She had been the one to tear the blanket off of them before the sun was even awake and then laugh when she saw their ankles wrapped around each other's.
Needless to say Sasuke wasn't too keen on sitting close to Naruto right now.
Sakura held up a slender hand, "Not now Naruto," she glanced at him for a fraction of a second and then looked back down at the exercise beaten grass for inspiration. "I'm trying to think."
Naruto settled back onto the patch of grass/dirt/pebbles that he was occupying previous to his question. He grumbled a little, but said nothing against the girl who dragged them out to this particular training field. Naruto looked up at the sky and noticed that there were still a few stars out, but the rest were being out shined by the breaking dawn. He turned to Sasuke and smiled before he pulled at his short sleeved shirt.
"Look!" he pointed up at the sky like an over excited child. The area of the sky he pointed to was a deep blue dusted with numerous stars that faded into a breathtaking purple with less stars, then a pink section with only a few stars doting its area.
Sasuke looked at this in amazement; he'd never seen colors so beautiful in all his life. For a split second it was as if the two of them were small children, just staring at the wonder of space. There was no disappointment, no training to be done, nothing was there except for them and the fading stars.
"So forget that part of it," Sakura sighed out in defeat. It would probably hit her later anyway, but she knew that they really needed to get down to training if they were ever going to make Kakashi-sensei proud. "Maybe we need to work on our communication skills right now. Especially you Sasuke," she suggested as she turned a little more to the two boys she was addressing.
Naruto pointed at Sasuke and allowed himself an immature moment to laugh at him for being scolded. When Sasuke glared at him he still didn't let up but he did stop after he was satisfied with it.
"Hey Sakura, you and me communicate just fine," Naruto pointed out.
The pink haired girl let out a breath, "Yes, and so do you and Sasuke, at times. But as a team our communication is about as effective as trying to move a building on your own."
It looked as if Naruto was about to say something to contradict that but he just closed his mouth and put his index finger on his chin, "I guess you're right."
Sasuke watched the two of them, wanting to say something but at the same time not wanting to. He wanted to put his two cents into the conversation because he knew that the reason they weren't in such good shape was because he wouldn't talk to anyone besides Naruto. Of all the people he had to choose from he chose Naruto to be the only person to hear him speak. Sometimes he wondered why he didn't just slice his foot off, but those were the moments when he and Naruto were in heated arguments over stupid things.
The sound of a fist hitting a palm softly made Sasuke glance over at Naruto whose face was split by a devious grin, "Sakura! I can teach you how to read his face!!"
Dark eye rolled to the steadily brightening sky, "Hn."
Sakura had gotten on her knees to get a better look at him but her face read nothing but shock when Sasuke emitted that small sound. "Did he just…?" she asked glancing over at Naruto to make sure she wasn't going crazy.
The blond wore a look of astonishment as well. He didn't know what to make of this… "I think he did…"
Sasuke looked at the two of them like they were crazy, what were they so shocked about? The fact that their faces were closer to his face than what he was comfortable with was making him nervous and kinda agitated. But that could be blamed on being woken up at ungodly hours.
"Sasuke..." Naruto began. "You just grunted at us!" He made it sound like it was a monumental thing.
Then slowly, Sasuke's face changed from fatigued annoyance to shock. Had he really grunted at Sakura?
"You just now realized it?!" Naruto accused before he began to laugh at his teammate.
Sasuke looked at Naruto with murderous intent as he laughed at him for being oblivious to his own actions. The blond just continued to laugh despite the killer aura coming from Sasuke's general direction. Sakura watched the two of them noticing that even when one was mad at the other they could still manage to show their bond through and through. It was something that should be studied carefully and closely so as to get the secret. She noted that even though Sasuke was supposed to be mad at Naruto for poking fun at him there was the slightest ghost of a smile on his face, if you looked away for a second surely it would be gone the moment you looked back.
"And you think I'm the stupid one?!" Naruto asked through his fit of laughter.
Sasuke couldn't take the taunting anymore. He pounced onto Naruto to shake some sense into him. His target was laying on the ground rolling and laughing it up at his moment of idiocy, so he just situated himself between Naruto's legs and held him to the ground with his strong arms to try to get his point across. Sasuke leaned into Naruto to say something. But Naruto started to lean back into Sasuke as if he was going to say something too except he brushed his lips to Sasuke's for a moment and Sasuke's eyes slid to half mast as Naruto continued to brush his soft lips across Sasuke's. Sasuke could feel his hand shift to Naruto's inviting hand to lace their fingers together before he leaned in a little bit closer to Naruto to capture his lips--
"Come on, we have to get back to work!" Sakura interrupted their 'moment'. "We're not going to become the Legendary Cell 7 by just messing around!" This comment was of course just a tease. She didn't think that they could actually reach the status of 'legendary' by passing the bell exercise.
Sakura stood with one hand on her hip and the other was twirling a small kunai on her index finger; her breath came out labored and ragged. Apparently it was harder than she thought to hit a moving target, especially when the target was two of her teammates, still wondering around untied. The risk of them getting three feet apart was slim but she didn't want to lose the team they just reunited because of a training incident. The sound of leaves rustling caught her attention and she propelled her body into action.
She ran to the general area where she heard the sound and didn't stop. If she knew Naruto, he was the one moving the leaves, probably to psyche her out. She broke the flimsy barrier of leaves and landed on a thick tree branch. There was no sound from her left…none from the right. She scanned the area carefully but found nothing.
Sakura looked the vicinity over again, if anything Sasuke was behind the idea of where they were hiding. That boy could put ninja kids to shame when it came to hide and go seek. She began to walk across the huge branch, only to feel her leg trip up a line of ninja wire. In a split second Sakura had to defend herself from the multiple metal weapons that came for her. She noticed how precisely the weapons were coming at her, Sasuke was the mastermind behind that too, Naruto didn't know how to set traps so carefully so as not to hurt the opponent while they trained.
"I know you guys are here!" Sakura called into the air after the flurry of metal died down.
Above her she could hear the slightest shifting of weight from the ball of one foot to the other. Her lips curled into a devious grin as her mind whispered, Gotcha…a second before she moved with cat like grace to meet the small noise in the braches above her. The sun didn't catch her skin or impossibly bright hair while she crouched in a spot to conceal her whereabouts before she attacked. Sakura balanced painstakingly, as if this was life or death on a mission to protect Konoha, when she began to move from her hiding spot to where she was sure the boys where. The closer she got the more she could hear hands whipping through the air in frustrated motions.
Sakura poised her kunai under her breast bone to get the maximum amount of force when she decided to strike. There were very few words whispered or heard at all, but now that she was this close she knew how Sasuke could get away with whispering everything to Naruto. Even out here in the forests of Konoha he wasn't risking his voice to plan with Naruto, and if Team 7 saw combat that would be an issue considering his strategic brilliance would be needed in that kind of setting. Sakura strained her ears to catch the tail end of words or sentences, but seemed to be catching the exasperated breaths that followed rather than the real words themselves. She stalked a little bit closer in hopes of hearing something, anything, from what they were planning. This sort of observation could keep her from getting caught.
"-No…" she caught before the voice hushed again. Her heart jumped when she realized that it was Sasuke's voice. How long had it been since she heard that voice? Sakura shook her head to relieve it of distraction, she had a golden opportunity to win the exercise and she sure as hell wasn't going to let it slip by. Slowly and silently she managed to sneak up to their hiding spot.
Then when Sasuke was in the middle of a hushed sentence she placed the kunai to his throat, "I win!"
Naruto looked dumbfounded, his jaw was hanging down and those big blue eyes were even bigger with surprise. He seemed to want to speak but the stammering got in the way of that. Sakura was sure that if she could see Sasuke's face she would be just as satisfied with her victory on the first day of training.
Ahead of Sasuke and Naruto Sakura walked and stretched her worked limps. Though the exercise wasn't a full out exercise she still needed to keep her muscles from getting stiff because of the sudden exercise. Sasuke leaned over slightly to tell Naruto something and Naruto met him half way despite the distance being only a few inches.
"Do you think she's going to rub this in our faces?" Sasuke asked a little disappointed that he and Naruto couldn't cooperate long enough to talk strategy and therefore lost the exercise, though there was nothing to lose.
Naruto moved his lips to the side a little to signify that he was thinking a little on this topic, "Nah, she might tell Kakashi-sensei but other than that I don't think she'll say anything about it until we train again."
Sasuke had spent too much time away from his team. He had totally forgotten that Sakura was not nearly as prideful as him or as Naruto. She was skilled but not boastful. He should have known that even though she'd grown tremendously over the passed few years she wouldn't get an inflated ego like Naruto, who became big headed if he could zip his pants up on his own.
"Sakura, don't we have to turn down this road?" Naruto asked pointing down the road that took them to the vein encased building they were forced to call home.
Sakura turned around on her heel, a little surprised that she had started walking towards her family's house rather than Team Seven's dwelling, "Yeah, I just had a temporary lapse." She blushed slightly at her blunder but headed back over to her teammates.
"This is the right rope…" Sakura assured. "Rope? Where did that come from?" she gave her friends a brief moment of light laughter before she stopped and hit her fist to her open palm. "That's it!"
She grabbed at Sasuke's and Naruto's hands to get them to follow her as she became slightly incoherent, "Rope!"
"Huh?" Naruto questioned oh so eloquently.
"Just come on," Sakura huffed out as she led them in the direction of downtown.
After running passed several old ladies with groceries, little kids who needed disciplining, and building of every kind the trio landed in front of the ninja surplus shop. Naruto and Sasuke were just as clueless as ever considering the fact that Sakura had not filled them in on her idea to help them with their distance 'situation' nor had she explained the significance of 'rope'.
"Perfect," Sakura breathed out heavily from running so fast to keep the inspiration in her mind.
A small minute of rest was granted to the amazing sprinters and then they walked inside. Above their heads a bell gave all those inside a warning that they were entering. Sakura held the door open as the others filed in after her. Naruto looked to his right to see several other ninjas, mostly jounin and chunin, milling around in the quite atmosphere of the store. Some of them checked out new vests, to replace the ones they shredded on high class missions and others weighed kunais in their hands to accurately predict how far it could be thrown with their standard amount of force.
The pink haired ring leader walked up to the front counter with ease to ask for assistance, "Excuse me?" she called out to the ninja behind the register.
He turned to her with no evidence of surprise on his face even though he'd been engrossed in rereading the inventory sheet, "May I help you?"
Though that would normally be a little rude considering his casual tone and relaxed posture Sakura took no note of it, and continued to pursue her quest, "Yes you may. I need approximately three feet of the strongest hemp rope you've got."
The cashier looked a little curious but obviously decided against asking about it, "Does it need to be exact or can it be longer?"
Sakura thought for a moment, weighing the outcomes of various scenarios that involved Sasuke and Naruto, "It doesn't have to be exactly three feet but it can't be longer," she replied with a stern tone added to the end to emphasize her authority despite her being many years younger than the man in front of her.
He nodded to her and disappeared behind a half curtain of blue with leaf village embellishments on each pleat. Sakura rested her elbow on the counter and leaned in to make herself more comfortable. Naruto turned around to look at the racks and shelves that made up this shop. It wasn't the flashiest place in town but it suited ninjas, there was no piddling around it was all straight to the point and simple. It was this one ninja, Naruto, who found it dull and wished fleetingly that they had painted the shelves something more exciting than white.
"Saaaaakuraaaaa," he whined reeling his head back to look at her even though he was facing Sasuke.
"What is it?" Sakura asked a little annoyed with Naruto's immaturity.
"Can I walk around?" Naruto asked a little less annoyingly.
"Yeah," Sakura dismissed. She smiled mischievously for a second before adding, "Take Sasuke with you!" like an over protective mother with her children at the super market.
She knew that would piss off Sasuke and got the reaction she wanted when his body stiffened and he let out a snort of displeasure. He turned away from her as Naruto walked passed him to lead the way to amusement. He pair walked between countless racks of navy blue pants, olive green vests, and various novelty shirts for ninjas when they were dressed down, however rare that might be. Naruto let out sweet slips of laughter when he read the obnoxious shirts and then became more rowdy when Sasuke refused, outright refused, to even touch the hideously tacky things.
"Come on Sasuke," Naruto goaded. "They're funny." He looked at the bright yellow one in his hand that read, That's not a kunai in bold red letters across the chest.
Sasuke leaned in to tell Naruto that he was utterly wrong and had little, if no, sense of taste, "No it is tacky and should be burned in a big bonfire that would include your clothes."
Naruto narrowed his eyes, "Hey, what's wrong with my clothes?" He didn't bother to hide how offended he was by Sasuke's comment.
"Nothing, nothing at all if you're color blind," Sasuke told him making sure to check periodically for other people.
"Like you have any room to talk about what I wear," Naruto shrugged not really feeling like he needed to defend his choice of colors considering that's all anyone said about his clothes. He felt that if it was just about the orange then he was doing pretty good with dressing himself.
"What are you talking about?" Sasuke wondered with the hint of a dare in his voice. He was, of course, daring Naruto to continue.
"Do you remember that outfit you wore when you were with that pedophile?" the blond turned to face Sasuke while resting against the hangers that poked him at weird angles.
"Yeah," Sasuke replied not bothering to defend the Snake Sennin's taste in age. "What of it?" he crossed his arms over his chest.
"I could have taken that off of you in a single move," Naruto pointed out to make his point.
"Oh really?" Sasuke questioned raising a delicate brow a little to meet Naruto's attitude. "Then why didn't you?"
If Naruto had been drinking anything it would have been all over the front of Sasuke's normal tee shirt at that moment. He'd never expected Sasuke to say something like that, never in a million years. The guy he knew would have brushed the topic off as something trivial and below his mental capabilities and not worthy of his response. But, the Sasuke in front of him was throwing innuendos right back at him. Naruto looked at Sasuke again, then reached out and pinched his face to make sure he wasn't dreaming or anything.
Nope, his fingers met solid flesh, and then Sasuke's hand met his as he smacked it away.
"What the hell are you doing?" the boy asked furrowing his brow in frustration.
"I'm wondering where that frigid bastard I woke up next to went," Naruto replied in his usual smart alec way.
Sasuke considered what Naruto said before the thought of attacking him came to his mind. He would have had a retort come from his mouth but Sakura's footsteps stopped him.
"Come on, we've got to get this on you two," Sakura ordered holding up the rope to illustrate her sentence. In her pouch at roll of white bandages sat snugly waiting to come into play.
The team walked outside into the street to complete Sakura's self assigned mission. She handed the sturdy rope to Naruto and reached into her beige pouch and pulled out a miniature pair of scissors along with the pure white bandages. She grabbed at Sasuke's hand and began to wrap his right wrist in the fabric. Next she took Naruto's hand and did the same to his left wrist. She motioned for the rope, which was handed to her quickly so as not to frustrate her, and she tied one end to Naruto's bandaged wrist and the other to Sasuke's.
"This is so that you two can get used to the amount of space you have to work with," She explained smiling at her handiwork and genius. "It is part of my training plan so it's going to be left on until you two are sure you know your maximum amount of distance without having to measure or estimate."
Naruto held up his bound wrist, the rope was strong, but not thick. How odd. It was as if Sakura had planned to use this rope all along since it was so perfect for their situation.
"Now we should get home and see what Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei are up to," Sakura suggested smiling at her friends and turning on her heel to go home.
"We're Hooooome!" Naruto announced obnoxiously as the team came in and took off their shoes.
Sasuke rolled his eyes at Naruto and stepped up on to the small stair that led them into the house. He looked up at the hallway where all the bedrooms were held and saw Iruka nearly stumble from his and Kakashi's room tugging at the hem of his shirt before he faced his students.
Cough. "Welcome home," he greeted in that fatherly way. "Do you guys want lunch? I was about to make some," Iruka offered with a smile laced with guilt.
Sasuke knew that Kakashi and Iruka were up to something, something that didn't involve three former students but did involve a lot of private time. He smirked from behind his bangs.
"Stop smirking, it's creeping me out," Naruto ordered with a shiver up his spine. Naruto gave the rope a forceful tug to pull Sasuke closer to him. "Come on let's help Iruka with lunch!" he suggested as he continued to pull on the rope as if it were a leash.
Sasuke was far too proud for that so he decided to pull back. It wasn't so much that he didn't want to help but he didn't want to be pulled around like a dog. That was too degrading for him and he would not stand for it. Sasuke gave the rope a hard pull and it knocked Naruto off balance.
"What was that for?!" Naruto demanded to know in a shrill voice.
The one in question just shrugged and pulled the sitting boy more towards their bedroom. Naruto stared up at Sasuke and stood despite being all but dragged to his room. Once he stood the innocent pulls evolved into a tug-of-war for pride. Naruto didn't want to lose to Sasuke and Sasuke didn't want to lose to Naruto. It was serious business as you can see.
"Can you two stop fighting for half a second?" Sakura asked walking from the kitchen into the area between the hallway and the living room, right where Naruto and Sasuke were.
For a moment Naruto considered stopping but then Sasuke pulled at the rope harder and all Naruto thought was hell no!
"Lunch is ready now so you don't have to help Naruto, and you don't have to go back to your bedroom Sasuke," Sakura pointed out putting her arms across her chest.
After grumbled insults from both parties they both walked to the dining room to eat.
When Sasuke and Naruto woke up the next morning the sound of pots and pants clanging against each other filled their room with an impossibly loud echo. How was it echoing if there was so much furniture to keep the sound from getting to the walls?! Naruto rolled over to block out the sound but only ended up with Sasuke rolling onto him because of the rope.
"Mrumph," Naruto said unintelligently.
Sasuke lifted himself from Naruto's back and rubbed at his eyes, "You don't say?" he asked sarcastically with a yawn at the end.
"Shut up Uchiha," Naruto commanded as he sat up as well.
"Oooh nice comeback," Sasuke 'complimented' as he looked at Naruto through sleep heavy eyes.
Naruto was going crazy because of the noise. He covered his ears with his pillow, tried to plug his ears up and then just curled up in a ball as he sat on the bed.
"Who in the hell is making this much noise so early in the morning?!" Naruto screamed to the walls.
Sasuke reached out and smacked Naruto lightly on the head, "You are," he replied coolly over the din of metal clangs.
Naruto turned over and gave Sasuke a maybe-menacing glare but it only came across as tired and the boy who was being glared at just brushed it off. Sasuke sunk back down into the covers and slowly closed his eyes so he could figure out something else to focus his hearing on. His ears caught the steady and frustrated sounds that Naruto was making. Sasuke filtered out all the bustle of the house and focused on the low growls of frustration and little whines of discomfort because his sleep was disrupted. A small smile, barely visible to the naked eye, came across Sasuke's face as he realized that he would always focus on Naruto, despite whatever else was around him.
When the mysterious ruckus died down Sasuke and Naruto poked their curious heads out of their room and made their way to the front most part of the house. They could hear water sizzle as it hit a heated burner, the smell of fried mushrooms was getting stronger and stronger the closer they got, and when they finally reached the dining (only a few feet from the kitchen door) they saw Sakura and Iruka working feverently over stoves and various plastic tubs with batters and vegetables in them. In a way the duo did not notice that all of their curiosity had made their feet move closer and closer to the kitchen.
"Ahem," came a voice from behind them.
Sasuke and Naruto turned around to face the voice, which happened to belong to the one and only Kakashi (-sensei). He rocked on his feet slightly in that bored manner of his.
"I wouldn't recommend going in there," Kakashi advised as he pointed to the circus of a room AKA the kitchen. He coughed into his hand, "I tried to earlier today but they kicked me out before I could even ask what they were making."
Sasuke rolled his eyes and Naruto went over reasons why they would kick him out. Naruto nodded his head from one side to the other as his reasons piled up, then with one more nod of his head he came to the conclusion that he and Sasuke wouldn't be welcomed in the kitchen either.
Kakashi rolled his neck to work out kinks from the muscles, "But you guys can probably clean the table."
Sasuke flipped a midnight stand out of his face and looked at Kakashi with a skeptical glare. It was more than likely his job to clean the table.
"Nah I think you can do it sensei," Naruto said as he began to walk back into his and Sasuke's room.
For a split second Sasuke forgot that they were still tied together but a tug from Naruto snapped his memory back into place. He stumbled for a second and followed the idiot despite the need he had to be ahead of Naruto in all situations.
"Ah," Naruto sighed out after he closed the door and found out that he could no longer hear the commotion. "Let's try to get more sleep," he suggested pointing to the bed where they were just a few moments ago.
A well place yawn convinced Sasuke that this was a good idea and he nodded his head and crawled beneath the sheets that were so warm and inviting at any given time.
Knock Knock Knock! The sound thudded off of the simple wooden door at exactly five thirty in the evening. Sakura snapped her head up from the plate she was currently placing down on the table.
"THEY'RE HERE!!!" she screamed to whoever was listening. "SOMEBODY ANSWER THE DOOR!!" the girl demanded as she bustled into the kitchen to grab more plates.
"I got it, I got it," Naruto breathed out as he and Sasuke stood up from their warmed spots on the couch and arm of the couch. The blond pulled at the collar of his button up shirt, Sakura had picked out nice clothing for both him and Sasuke to wear, but as far as Naruto was concerned it was just uncomfortable and annoying.
He yanked the door open with Sasuke by his side, "Hello!!" Through the troublesome clothing Naruto was still shining and happy to see Team Ten again. It had been a while since all of them had gotten together, this was long over due. "Don't just stand out there! Come in!" he ushered them in with a warm attitude.
Shikamaru rolled his eyes and stepped in first, taking off his shoes in respect before stepping up to enter the house. Ino followed in the same manner, through the door, off with the shoes, into the house. Chouji was the only one who took his shoes off before he stepped through the door and Sasuke only uttered a "Hm," in curiosity, which in turn made Chouji look up to see who said that and nearly made him fall on his butt from lack of balance from all sides. Eventually the nin made it into the house and he settled down on a soft couch next to Ino who was chatting away with Kakashi as everyone waited for Sakura and Iruka to beckon the group over to dinner. Naruto made his way over to sit next to Chouji, the only seat left, and took in the fact that everyone was dressed up for this.
Sakura had obviously wanted to make this a special occasion. Ino had her hair adorned with various and glittery clips and wore a small purple dress to the event. Shikamaru, not wanting to put too much effort into his outfit, wore a simple button up black shirt with a red tie and pleated black slacks (pleats brought to you by Mrs. Nara). Though Chouji was the most dressed down it didn't mean he didn't look just as handsome (or beautiful) as everyone else. He had on a pair of khaki dress pants, a white tee shirt and a structured blazer to cover the casual nature of his plain shirt.
Shikamaru's gaze shifted over to Sasuke and Naruto. Sasuke sat on the arm of the couch with one of his arms rested on Naruto's shoulder and his legs dangling off the side of the rest as if he wanted to make it clear that he didn't want anything to do with the conversation but did want something to do with Naruto. It was kind of…strange but that's what he came to expect many many moons ago. Naruto tugged his left wrist and Sasuke's right hand came closer to Naruto's hand at an awkward angle and speed. He noticed the rope that bound them together and wondered if this was some sort of test or training exercise.
Naruto took a hold of Sasuke's roped hand and moved his thumb over Sasuke's in a slow way to relax him. Shikamaru moved his head to the side at this gesture. As far as he could remember Sasuke and Naruto had always fought and yelled, this interaction was gentle and caring.
"So," Shikamaru spoke up and the once comforting hands jumped apart suspiciously. "Is that," he pointed to the rope. "A training item?"
Naruto lifted his tied hand looking a little confused, "Oh! Yes, Sakura thought of it."
Ino turned her bright eyes towards the current living room conversation, "She finally thought of something?"
"Erm," Naruto began as he fell into more and more confusion. "…I guess…?"
"Everyone!" A cheerful and slightly relieved voice called from the dining room. "Dinner is ready!!"
The shinobis made their way to a beautiful and delectable looking meal. Many side dishes and garnishes dotted the deep red table cloth. Everyone took their seats, the houseguests got to choose where they sat first, it was polite to allow this, Sakura insisted.
Ino sat between Sakura and Shikamaru. The lazy boy sat next to Chouji and across from Kakashi. Kakashi was sandwiched between Naruto on one side and Iruka at the end of the table (in the 'captain's seat'). Naruto was next to Sasuke who was next Sakura, who rounded off the table at the other end.
Shikamaru was talking to Kakashi, after much goading from Ino and after he bit the stem off of a deliciously fried shitake mushroom, "Yeah, so they're not making me an official ANBU member because they say that I'm too young. But, they're letting me go out on missions with the ANBU."
Kakashi gave a nod, "That's odd. I was only a little bit older than you when I entered the ANBU. Maybe I was only allowed to enter because there was a war going on." The jounin at up one course of his plate and moved to the next.
"Congrats Shikamaru!" Naruto cheered as he leaned over Kakashi just a little bit to talk to Shikamaru.
"Thanks," he mumbled out after swallowing a mouth full of food.
Sasuke grabbed Naruto's collar and forced him to sit properly in his seat.
"Hey! I was talking to him!" Naruto retorted with a scowl etched into his tan visage.
Sasuke leaned in and growled out, "It's rude to lean over people while they're eating."
"Chill out Sasuke," Naruto said before he rubbed his face against Sasuke's. "I was just being friendly."
"Hn," Sasuke replied before pulling away from the weird kid. Why does the idiot always have to do things like this? Sasuke wondered as he shakily put a bean in his mouth.
"Are you okay Sasuke?" Sakura asked in a playful manner after seeing the exchange that went on.
She had to put a lid on the side of her that wanted to laugh at Sasuke for being so obvious and was succeeding until Sasuke let out half of the word "Fine" before realizing that he was talking. A squeak of laughter escaped her lips and Sasuke glared at her as if he could do something about her mirth. Her emerald eyes rolled to the ceiling with a jovial smile plastered across her face. Sakura was witnessing a change in Sasuke's and Naruto's relationship and all she could think was…
It's about time...
End of All About Timing
A/N: I would like to take this space to thank a special reviewer of this story: Tomiko90, dearest, this chapter is dedicated to you!!! -throws confetti around- -hands you a special plaque- I hope that you enjoyed this chapter, I really looooooovvveeee getting your lovely reviews!!! Thank you for all you've said and advised me on, and I hope the rest of the ride is as enjoyable as what you've read so far.
Preview of Next Chapter: Under construction...-shifty eyes- But I would like to say that the preview from last time was the EXACT part I typed up here!