Master of the Arts
Arc 1: Settling In Part 4
Chapter 5: We're Good At Being Troubled
Summary: After Naruto and Sakura lose their best friend, they go to extreme measures to get him back. Shikamaru tries too hard to reach into Neji's past and ends up uncovering secrets about himself along the way. Remember kids, everything is connected and it all leads back to the man who started it all. This is a journey for everyone to bring back the people they love.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Wish I did though :/
I didn't proof read this so there's probably a bunch of mistakes everywhere which! I will definitely get to fixing later. Anyway here's a cute filler-y chapter with your faves interacting before we get into the really heavy exam stuff!
Sasuke had a hard time falling asleep the night before due to his roommate's terrible sleeping habits that kept him up until 2 in the goddamn morning. Sasuke was a pretty deep sleeper and usually went to bed before Naruto so he usually didn't have to deal with this shit but he was working on a project for Strategics class and had to stay at the library until it closed. By the time he came back Naruto was already sleeping- which was pretty rare since it wasn't that late at night.
First it was the god awful snoring that Sasuke had not gotten used to since they moved in together. Last night, though, had been much worse and not at all like any other previous night.
Next was the talking in his sleep. The loudmouth apparently didn't get enough off his chest during the day and had to continue talking at night, too. This drove Sasuke up the wall.
But it didn't stop there- noo. Naruto sang in his sleep. He fucking sang. They were different melodies and tunes but each had the same exact lyrics. 'I love ramen.'
What the fuck.
Sasuke had walked over to Naruto's bed with a pillow, ready to strangle him, more than once. But before Sasuke did anything that could potentially put him in jail (although he was sure he'd be doing everyone a favor by getting rid of the headache inducing blonde) he grabbed his blanket and pillow and slept on the couch instead.
Now Sasuke is one for high quality furniture and the sort and the couch he had slept on was in fact high quality leather. But comfort always won over quality.
And boy had that couch been uncomfortable to sleep on.
Sasuke sighed and blinked a couple of times. Once he deemed himself awake enough he slowly reached over to the coffee table and took his phone in his hand. He pressed the home button and read the time.
October 31st - 9:00 a.m.
It was Saturday, the last day of October, and since Sasuke did not fall asleep until early morning he allowed himself a few extra hours of sleep. He slowly sat up and stretched the rest of his sleepiness away.
Sasuke could faintly hear snoring through the wall and it amazed him how Naruto could sleep through his own snoring. Sasuke opened the door to the bedroom and went into the bathroom to brush his teeth. As he was brushing his teeth he noticed a scar on his neck and recalled a few years ago when he and Naruto had gotten angry at each other. They got so out of control that they had to go to detention that day. It was Sasuke's first detention and he could still vaguely remember how furious he had been with Naruto- not just for getting a detention but for the scar, too. He refused to speak with Naruto for over a week.
Sasuke smirked at the memory. Things haven't really changed between the two over the years.
After brushing his teeth, Sasuke decided to be lazy- he deserved it- and kept his pajamas on. He walked back into the living room, closing the bedroom door behind him. Up until now the kitchen was still unused so Sasuke decided to make use of it.
He turned the stove on and decided to make some eggs and bacon, enough for two people. There were a few grocery stores on campus and Sasuke remembered to buy some food for a day like this.
He made sure to make more for Naruto since Naruto was a heavy eater. He didn't understand why he was being generous after what Naruto, albeit unintentionally, did to him last night.
Sasuke didn't dwell on it for too long. He deserved to take a break from thinking, too.
He began to sing a tune while he prepared the dining table and cleaned the pans in the sink.
"Mmn, you're a good singer, Sasuke."
Sasuke froze for a moment and turned around to be faced with Naruto leaning on the wall. Naruto was rubbing his eyes and yawning and Sasuke briefly wondered if sleepwalking was another one of his nightly skills.
"Imn gunna go n brush mm teef." Sasuke could barely make out what the blonde had said and nodded. Minutes later Naruto came out looking much more awake, energetic and more like his usual self. "You never striked me as the cooking type," Naruto said as he sat himself down at the dining table. He took a bit of his bacon and grinned after swallowing. "Didn't expect you to be good at it, either."
"Hn. It's one more thing I can do much better than you." Sasuke sat across from Naruto and started eating his well cooked meal.
Naruto pouted but didn't say a word while he enjoyed the breakfast made by his roommate. "Hey, I think I have more than you."
"I did that on purpose, dobe."
"What? Why?" Naruto gulped down his orange juice and looked at Sasuke through the glass.
Sasuke shrugged. "You eat a lot more than I do. I thought you'd appreciate it. A thanks would be nice."
Naruto put down his glass and widened his eyes. "Oh, um, thank you." Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.
Was that a blush? Naruto's cheeks had tinted a bit pink and it made Sasuke a bit uncomfortable to say the least.
"Whatever. You have to clean the plates though." Sasuke stood up and put his dirty dishes in the sink. "Hey that's not fair," Naruto argued.
"I made the food, dobe. That's the least you could do." Naruto stared up at him for a second and sighed in resignation. "Fine."
"I'm going to take a shower," Sasuke said without waiting for a reply and walked into the bedroom, swiftly shutting the door.
He grabbed some nicer looking clothes than he usually wore on a regular day and walked into the bathroom. For some reason Sasuke had the strange urge to wear something better when Naruto walked into the kitchen.
Today was officially declared No Thinking Saturday in Sasuke's head so he didn't think too much of it.
He closed the bathroom door and turned on the shower. He took his clothes off and waited for the water to get warm before stepping inside. It felt nice. Sasuke had forgotten to turn the heater up last night so it was a bit cold. The coldness soon went away and all Sasuke felt was warmth and the overwhelming urge to sleep again but fought against it.
He had some errands to run- yes, Sasuke had errands- and couldn't afford to waste time just a week before they were off to the competition. He needed to make the most of his last week here. It may be the last week Sasuke ever had a warm bed, or couch if needed, to sleep on for a long time.
Sasuke smirked.
Nah, he was going to win the competition with his team, kill Itachi and be right back here with Naruto enjoying the rest of his college years together.
Well, at least, that's what Sasuke had thought.
Seeing Sasuke look so domestic and in place while he was cooking somewhat disturbed Naruto. Sasuke almost looked too natural. It made Naruto feel a strange emotion he never felt before. Or maybe he was just blinded by his hunger. He did have a few weird dreams about singing bowls of ramen.
At some time during the night Naruto had woken up and noticed Sasuke's strange disappearance. When he found Sasuke sleeping on the couch he felt kinda bad knowing that it was probably his fault that Sasuke was there. Naruto had to admit- he was a loud snorer and a blabber in his sleep. But it had never been a problem to Sasuke until then so it must have been much worse last night.
But seeing Sasuke stand there and hum- Sasuke had a very smooth singing voice by the way- as if it was his natural element made his stomach tingle and Naruto just stood there frozen for awhile before actually saying anything.
Breakfast tasted good and it kinda made Naruto jealous that Sasuke was even better than him at cooking. Naruto could barely make cup ramen correctly without setting the kitchen on fire.
Naruto sighed and curled up on the couch while he waited for his turn to take a shower.
Naruto had been more than a little skeptical when they had first moved in together but now sharing a room with Sasuke was becoming really comfortable and Naruto had no idea why.
Naruto decided against thinking about it too much and stood up to turn the heater on because damn it was cold in there. Naruto plopped himself on the ottoman and rubbed his arms in attempt for more warmth.
Maybe it was because he and Sasuke were basically friends? They've known each other for a long time and could help each other with homework, even though it was more Sasuke helping Naruto, and it brought them closer than ever before. Maybe this dorm was what they needed to repair their slightly broken friendship after what happened on the last day of high school.
Ugh.
Well there goes not thinking about it too much.
Naruto slouched back and groaned. Why did he punish himself like this? The answer was probably very simple but his stupid brain decided not to work today.
He shut his eyes and concentrated on figuring out what made him feel this way. After all those years of tormenting from Sasuke, although Sasuke still tormented him but in a more playful kind of way, it was really fascinating to see this new side of Sasuke. Or maybe it wasn't so new as it was hidden, since Sasuke wasn't one to show emotions since it made him vulnerable.
That really irked Naruto for some reason. Sasuke constantly berated him for being too emotionally vulnerable but then what was the point of life if you were just gloomy all the time?
"You look stupid like that, dobe."
"Ack!" Naruto screeched and tipped over the ottoman enough for it to fall over forcing his head to hit the floor with an audible thump.
In the process of… whatever that was, the leg of the ottoman caught onto Sasuke's jeans bringing him down with it and on top of Naruto.
Sasuke silently cursed his reflexes for disappearing on him during the most crucial of times.
"You fucking dobe! What the hell was that?!"
"What was tha…." Naruto groaned and rubbed the back of his throbbing head before continuing. "What do you mean what was that?! Why would you sneak up on me like that teme?!"
"I didn't think you'd freak out that much."
"Well, just get off of me."
Sasuke froze suddenly realizing what position they were in. He was straddling Naruto and hovering over him with his hands on either side of the dobe's head.
"Tch." Sasuke ungracefully rolled off of Naruto and onto his back to look at the ceiling while he rubbed a hand over his face.
Naruto quickly got up to grab some ice from fridge. "That's gonna bruise, Sasuke," he whined when he came back with a bag of ice resting held to his head.
Sasuke looked away suddenly feeling embarrassed. "...Sorry."
Naruto's shock must have shown on his face because the next thing Sasuke said was, "Oh don't look so surprised, dobe. I can apologize like normal people, too." Sasuke stood up and brushed the imaginary dust off his pants.
"Um… Thanks, Sasuke. It's okay. I know you didn't mean to do that. .. And wait, did you just basically state that you're… not normal?" Naruto smirked.
"You know what I meant."
Naruto ignored what Sasuke said and continued with his shenanigans. "I mean it's not that surprising. Sasuke not being a normal person actually seems more probable than him really being a normal human being… with actual emotions and feelings."
For a few minutes Naruto kept going on about how possible it was that Sasuke was just an alien from a different planet while simultaneously pretending that Sasuke wasn't currently in the same room with him.
"That's the last time I ever try apologize to someone," Sasuke told Naruto before slamming the door and disappearing into the hallway.
Sasuke could hear Naruto's obnoxious laughter until he reached the elevator.
"Ne, Sasuke?" Naruto sat down on the couch and looked over Sasuke's shoulder down at the book he was currently reading.
It was noon and Naruto had just come back from eating at a new ramen shop on campus called Ichiraku's Ramen.
Naruto pouted when he realized Sasuke was ignoring him. "You know I was just kidding about earlier, right?"
When Sasuke didn't answer him he poked his shoulder and whined, "C'mon, Sasukeee."
Sasuke flipped a page.
The angered Naruto and so he rested his back on the arm of the couch. Before Sasuke could react he kicked the book out of his hands and replaced it with his legs, resting his feet on the opposite couch arm.
"Dobe! What the hell is wrong with you today?!"
"Did I capture your undivided attention?"
"If I find that my book is broken you're going to pay for it."
"Yeah yeah, okay, but I have your attention now. Right?"
Sasuke sighed and figured that whatever crap Naruto had to say wasn't worth losing his temper over so he let the blonde speak.
"So there's a halloween par-"
"No."
"You didn't even let me finish!"
Sasuke reached over to grab his cup of coffee on the coffee table. "If you're trying to get me to go to that dumb halloween party then the answer is no." He took a sip of his coffee.
"But, Sasuke! There's going to be food, drink, and tons of hot girls." Naruto nudged Sasuke with his knee and repeatedly raised his eyebrows.
Sasuke took his lips off of his cup to answer. "No." He took another sip.
"Sasuke, are you gay?"
Sasuke choked on his coffee which caused him to spill some on his wrist. It burned him but that wasn't important to Sasuke as he looked at the blonde like he had two heads.
"I'm just asking. No need to get offended. There's nothing wrong with being gay." Naruto shrugged.
"No, I'm not gay. I never said there was anything bad about being gay and I'm not offen-" Sasuke shook his head and took a deep breath. "Why would you think I'm gay?"
"Well you don't really care about girls and never go out on dates."
"Naruto, this may come as a surprise to someone as dense as you, but if you haven't noticed; I don't care about anyone. Not just girls."
Naruto pouted, crossing his arms and looking at the tv that was currently turned off. "Whatever."
"Are you gay?"
"What?! No!" Naruto looked appalled.
"Now who's the one getting offended?"
"I'm not offended I'm just- you know I like Sakura!"
"You mean you're infatuated with her?"
"Shut up Sasuke!"
Sasuke smirked and felt as if he won their nonexistent contest. "Are you done importuning me now, dobe?"
"Psh, whatever. Forget I ever asked you anything!"
"Gladly."
Sasuke shoved Naruto's legs away and went to inspect the fallen book. After confirming that the book was still okay, he tucked it under his arm and walked out of the room for the second time that day.
It was late at night and Ino had somehow managed to drag Shikamaru to the troublesome halloween party. Upon arriving there, Shikamaru immediately found a way to run away from Ino and escape the party. After leaving the party he found himself wandering until he snuck off campus and into the large forest nearby.
He quietly walked careful not to disturb any animals and eventually reached a beautiful pond. Shikamaru froze. There was a huge evergreen tree smack dab in the middle of the pond.
But the sight of the tree wasn't what made Shikamaru stop in his tracks.
It was the sight of a certain Hyūga who looked to be meditating right by the pond. The moonlight seemed to shine right down on him and made him look all the more… handsome.
Shikamaru couldn't lie, he knew Neji was handsome. The Nara just couldn't believe he'd be the one thinking it.
After a few minutes of staring Shikamaru faintly heard someone speak.
"Enjoying the view, Nara?"
"Very much so, Hyūga."
This seemed to catch Neji off guard as he immediately opened his eyes to look at Shikamaru.
Shikamaru just shrugged and pointed behind him. Neji narrowed his eyes but turned around anyway and looked at the huge tree before turning back to face Shikamaru.
Shikamaru internally sighed and hoped that Neji thought that he had been talking about the tree.
Shikamaru was ashamed to admit that he was actually talking about the man in front of him.
After a few moments of staring at each other, Neji said, "Hn," and closed his eyes to continue his meditating. Shikamaru took that as an invitation- even though he was sure it wasn't- to sit next to the Hyūga.
He mentally noted that Neji slightly stiffened as soon as he heard the crunching of leaves indication that Shikamaru was walking toward him. Shikamaru sat down and closed his eyes, too.
It had been a peaceful few minutes before anyone said anything.
"What brings you here, Shikamaru?"
Said man's lips turned down for a brief moment at the use of his first name but otherwise said nothing about it. "Ino dragged me and Chouji down to the Halloween party so I ran away."
"You ran away?"
"That's what I said."
They sat there in a slightly uncomfortable silence until Shikamaru spoke up. "Why aren't you at the Halloween party? I mean, you don't exactly look like Mr. Party Guy but I just thought Lee and Gai would have forced you down there."
"I'm preparing myself."
"For the MOAs?"
"Hn."
Shikamaru sighed. "You don't think it's a little cold to be doing that right now? Haven't you practiced enough?"
"There's no such thing as too much practice and we'll be dealing with much worse weather conditions on the Road of Survival."
Crap!
"Judging from the look on your face you seem to have forgotten what time of the year it is. The administrators can manipulate weather, too."
Shikamaru had completely forgotten about that!It was almost November which meant snow, freezing rain, and other horrifying winter weather. They had to deal with that and any other horrible weather conditions that the administrators decided on.
Shikamaru opened eyes to be met with two more moons… no, a pair of Hyūga eyes staring at him intently.
"Here I thought you were a genius." The Hyūga smirked which caused the Nara to roll his eyes, but Shikamaru made another mental note that the simple emotion failed to reach Neji's eyes.
Shikamaru laid down and leaned on his arms to stare up at the stars. There were no clouds and it was quite a beautiful night. He looked at Neji from the corner of his eyes and saw that he was also looked up at the sky.
They stayed there like that for a while until something in Shikamaru's pants started ringing. Realizing it was his phone, he sat up and looked at the screen that read 1 new text message.
He unlocked his phone and read a very angry text… with a lot of colorful language from his charming teammate.
"Troublesome..," he muttered under his breath which Neji must've heard because he gaves a questioning "Hn?".
"Ino found out I left the party and is threatening to tell everyone at the party a little secret of mine." He really hated her sometimes.
"Then you'd best be on your way, Nara."
Shikamaru lowered his eyes. Did Neji want him gone? He turned back to Neji and saw that he was already back in his meditative trance. Shikamaru inwardly sighed and got up to leave.
"Don't overdo it," was the last thing Shikamaru said before disappearing off into the woods.
Sasuke heard a knock on the door. "It's open," he called out.
"I can't open it! The door knob's smooving on s'own," the voice on the other side replied. Sasuke slowly walked over to the door and hesitantly opened it. He was rewarded with his drunken idiot of a roommate stumbling in and falling face first onto the floor.
"Tough crowd," he said, voice muffled.
"What now, dobe?"
"I'm drunk," Naruto giggled as he sat himself upright. "No shit," Sasuke replied, irritated. "Why?"
"Kiba snuck some sake into the party."
Sasuke was at his wits end.
"Carry me, Sasuke!" Naruto reached his arms out expecting his roommate to carry him to their bedroom.
"No."
"Buuuuut Sasukeeeeeeee!"
In a fit of anger Sasuke grabbed Naruto by his collar and pulled him up. As Naruto was pulled up he tripped over his own shoe and started to fall. To avoid a repeat of what happened earlier that morning Sasuke brought his knee up which caused Naruto's… groin area to harshly rub against it.
And Naruto mewled.
"You don't have to be so rough, Sasuke," he whined, not feeling so intoxicated anymore, with a faint blush on his cheeks.
Sasuke was so shocked that he hadn't heard what Naruto said and let go of his collar… Which instead accelerated his fall. Sasuke leaned back against the door and caught his more than slightly intoxicated roommate in his arms.
Inhale.
Exhale.
After a few moments in this uncomfortable position, Sasuke picked Naruto up and pulled him over his shoulder.
Entering the bedroom, Sasuke threw Naruto onto his bed.
"What did I say about being rough, Sasuke!" Naruto tightly gripped his arm causing Sasuke to hiss in pain.
Naruto must have thought something different because his entire face turned beet red. "Sasuke, what wa-"
"Nothing."
Sasuke walked out of the room and slammed the door. He made himself comfortable on the couch before finally dropping his face in his hands and groaning.
He was going to kill Kiba.
And maybe Naruto, too.