Sorry it took so long to get this chapter done. I've been away from home for a while, and am leaving again soon, so I'm trying to get whatever I can finished in between. Hope you enjoy it :)

Sasuke woke up with a start and sat up straight in the bed. Something had woken him, but he couldn't determine what it was. Then he heard a loud scared yell coming from the inside of his apartment. All confusing and drowsiness left him as he recognized Naruto's voice and he fumbled for the light switch. He heard a loud thump from the guestroom as the room was bathed in light and ran towards the sound. He turned on the light as soon as he entered and saw Naruto tossing around in bed mumbling and crying.

"Naruto, wake up." He shook the boy lightly. "It's a nightmare, it's not real. Come on wake up!"

"Mmmm, no! Let go!" Naruto struggled against Sasuke as he shook him again. His blue eyes opened suddenly and he took in a deep breath. For a moment he looked around in confusion and then he focused on Sasuke's face.

"Where am I? Sasuke?" he was almost hyper ventilating and there were traces of tears on his cheeks.

"You're at my place and it was just a dream. Calm down." Sasuke had let go of him, knowing that holding onto Naruto forcefully would only serve to freak him out as long as he still had the nightmare fresh in his mind. Waking up to the sounds of the homeless boy's nightmare had happened every other time the boy had stayed at his place. In the month that had passed since his first visit, he had stayed over quite a few times.

After the first time the blond had been reluctant to come back, more than a week had gone by before he set foot in the building again. Sasuke hadn't exactly forced him to come but when they had met over lunch he mentioned the news reporting about another bout of bad weather coming their way. Following his comment he had simply stated the time he would be home that evening, looked at his watch and gone back to work, without giving Naruto a chance to respond.

When the boy pressed the doorbell almost two hours late, Sasuke had practically run to the door. Not much was said between them that evening, because Sasuke had been angry as a result of his worry. He had heated up a plate with food in the microwave, and at the obvious proof that Naruto had been expected for dinner, the boy said;

"Sorry, I was late."

"Hn."

Nothing more was said about the matter, and the next time a weather forecast and time had been offhandedly mentioned during one of their lunch meetings, Naruto made sure to be there on time. The first time Naruto had had a nightmare was on the third visit and he had woken up by himself.

Sasuke, who still wasn't used to having someone else in his home, had been woken up by the noises of Naruto walking around the kitchen. He had then proceeded to scare the crap out of both of them when he stormed into the kitchen holding a floor lamp as weapon against what he thought to be a burglar. Naruto hadn't turned on any light and it wasn't until Sasuke was sitting on top of him, that he realized he had assaulted his own guest.

Unfortunately it wasn't every time that Naruto could wake himself up from the nightmares that haunted him and Sasuke had eventually gotten used to comforting the younger one in his own odd way. It involved none of the common touchy feely stuff such as hugs and a comforting pat on the back. Actually it seemed like anything physical spooked Naruto just after he woke up from his nightmares. He tried not to show it on the outside by keeping a smile on his face and drying off any tears, but Sasuke knew better. He had had his share of nightmares when his parents had died two decades ago and knew it was just a front.

"I'll go make some tea."

"Okay" Naruto sniffled one last time and gathered the duvet around him. "I'll be out in a minute."

"Hn."

Sasuke left the room to go make tea for them both. When Naruto came out wearing his duvet around himself they sat down next to each other at the dining table. They sat like that sipping at their tea for a while, not saying anything. If Naruto wanted to tell him anything he was free to do so but Sasuke wouldn't pry. He clearly remembered his sessions with his psychologist when he was younger, and didn't want to fill that role in Naruto's life. What Sasuke provided him with was a safe place, where the blond could come and go as he saw fit, no questions asked.

"Sasuke?"

"Hn?"

"How come you let me stay here?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Really? There's like a gazillion reasons you wouldn't want me to stay here. I'm a homeless bum who could try to steal your fancy tv-"

"Are you going to steal anything from me?"

"Well, no but that's not the point. You barely know me, I'm just a strang-"

"I've lost count of how many times we've had lunch together. I'd say we know each other pretty well."

Naruto hesitated a moment at that. "Don't you have uh.. friends? And other people who wants to spend time with you?"

Sasuke mulled over that for a moment. Friends? A few, but not the kind he would spend a lot of time with and sure there were people who wanted his time, but it was rarely a mutual feeling.

"Girlfriends?"

"No I don't have a girlfriend. Why are you even assuming I'd have several?"

"Dunno, maybe because you're cool, rich and handsome?"

"Thanks for the compliments, the answer is still no and I'm not planning on changing that."

"Why not?" Naruto asked, puzzled.

"I like being alone."

"Aha! See, right there is a reason for you to not want me here!"

"Naruto, it's…" Sasuke looked up at the clock on the wall. "Three in the fucking morning. Is there a point to this conversation or are you just trying to annoy me?"

"Sorry." He said and looked a little embarrassed.

"Good. Let's go to bed then."

"Can't we talk for a little while longer?"

Sasuke looked down into his empty tea cup. He was exhausted and not in the mood for pointless chitter chatter. He had to get up at 7 o'clock in the morning to go to work and knew he had an important meeting. He also knew that Naruto just wanted to stay up talking because he still hadn't shaken off the feeling of the nightmare and didn't want to be alone. He sighed and glanced at the boy watching him with an expectant look.

"You can sleep in my room if you want to."

"Huh? What it's not like I'm a baby…" the answer came with a nervous laughter and a deer caught in the headlight expression.

"Fine, then go sleep in your own room." He said and stood to leave. He was not a patient person to begin with, and waking him up in the early morning hours didn't make his personality any more pleasant. As he entered his bedroom he heard the quiet sound of footsteps following.

"Where am I supposed to sleep?"

"It's a king size bed, isn't that good enough for you?"

"You want me to sleep in your bed?!" Naruto looked shocked.

Sasuke was sure that there were about a dozen of social rules being broken by letting a homeless boy, more than ten years his junior sleep in the same bed as him, but couldn't bring himself to care. He was just too tired and didn't really see any practical problem with it.

"Do whatever you want." He mumbled and crawled underneath the duvet. He turned off the light, and made himself comfortable. A few seconds passed and he heard a little shuffling around. Then he felt the mattress dip a little at the other side.

"Goodnight Sasuke." Naruto whispered in the darkness.

"'Night." He mumbled back.

How Naruto spent his days when Sasuke was at work he didn't know. They still had lunch together whenever possible, but some days Sasuke would be out of town. Most often they would leave together in the morning and the boy would be waiting for him in front of his apartment building in the evening. Sometimes there would be no one waiting for him, but those days had become few and far between.

Naruto had tried to bring his belongings with him whenever he left but Sasuke didn't let him leave with most of it. It was stupid to bring all of it along when they both knew he would most likely be back by evening. It was also a way for the older of them to make sure the younger wouldn't just run of at some point without warning. He felt a little childish at taking some crappy worn clothes and small things as hostage, but did it none the less. What weren't clothes appeared to be just small junk things that could be found in most souvenir shops, none of it seemed important, but it probably had some sort of sentimental value. Sasuke confirmed his suspicions one early Monday morning.

Naruto was sitting half asleep chewing on soggy cornflakes, as Sasuke went into the guestroom. He had been thinking about getting some more furniture for the room, maybe a shelf or some pictures or posters for the wall. Even with all of Naruto's things in there it didn't look lived in at all. His attachment to the boy was surely the reason for this sudden urge; he wanted Naruto to like the place. He wanted him to stay, just a bit longer, and not have to lie awake in the dark thinking about where the boy would be spending the night.

But as his eyes scanned the room, he saw something, just a little thing that confirmed the room was actually being used. On the night stand was a birthday card in all the colors of the rainbow. He picked it up gently and somewhat nervously, knowing that he was crossing a line by snooping around in Naruto's things. The corners were bent and worn and the motif a little faded. It showed a birthday cake with a candle shaped as the number one. Then he opened it, too curious not to.

Dear Naruto

Happy first birthday! You are our little sweetheart and sunshine. We will always be there for you and let you have the best birthdays ever! This day is just for you so show us your cute smile. Many things will happen from now on and we hope that you always will be happy and grow up with many good friends and have lots of fun.

Love Mom and Dad

Inside the card was also a picture of the one year old Naruto sitting in a garden with some kind of berries in his hands and pretty much all over his face. His happy grin showed that he only had two bottom teeth and his blond hair was more white than the golden wheat color it had now. It was just as cute as it was heartbreaking. Sasuke put the card down quickly as if burned and hurried out of the room with a lump in his throat. Always. What a horrible choice of word they had. So it was the kid's birthday, huh? The wheels in his mind started turning.

"I'll be home early today," Sasuke said. "Around four o'clock, do you think you can be here at the same time? And we can have lunch at that cafe near the fountain today."

"Uh, sure. You know it's not like I do anything important anyway, so there's no reason I shouldn't be able to get home earlier than usual. It's not like I have work like you."

Or school for that matter. Wait did he call it home?

"Good I'll see you then" He replied and tried turned away to hide a smile. Naruto probably had no idea about how much it pleased Sasuke to know that his efforts hadn't been in vain. "Now hurry up and go brush your teeth, there's not enough room in there for me to shave at the same time."

Naruto rubbed his chin as if deep in thought, and then said with the manliest voice he could muster; "Maybe I should shave too."

Sasuke's only respond was to raise both eyebrows and give him a you-can't-be-serious look. There was no visible stubble on the tanned face.

"What? I know how to do it!"

"Of course you do." Sasuke answered sarcastically.

"It's just because I'm blond so you can't see it much." Naruto argued a red spot appearing on each cheek. Then he suddenly took one of Sasuke's hands and brought it to his face. "See, you can feel it though. Right?"

Sasuke let the hand glide along his jaw, and could indeed feel that the skin was not as smooth as it appeared to be on first glance. Not much of a stubble, but he was only sixteen so that was understandable. Wait seventeen now, right? Then he realized his hand was still at the others face and hurriedly pulled it away.

"How old are you Naruto? Was it fifteen?" He asked pretending to have forgotten.

"Sixteen."

"How long have you been sixteen?"

A sudden flash of something crossed Naruto's face. Bingo.

"Not very long…"

A raised eyebrow at this. What is he getting at?

"Really? I thought it was your birthday today?" He knew he revealed himself at this point, but Naruto's answer had been odd. Wouldn't he want Sasuke to think he was older than his real age instead of younger? It didn't make sense.

"Wha?! How did you?"

"Birthday card on your nightstand."

"Oh, well yeah. I guess that's kind of today. No biggie, I haven't really celebrated it for some time anyway." He said and scratched the back of his head.

"So how old are you again?"

"Sixteen. That's what I said."

"Yes, but you also told me you were sixteen two months ago."

"Well… I was. Almost." Naruto looked down at his feet nervously.

Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose. Fifteen. Living on the streets at fifteen. What kind of life have you lived? What kind of people have you been around, and what happened to make you choose the streets?

He gave the boy a once over and sighed. For a moment he wondered how he, a person whom generally avoided any kind of personal relations, had ended up in this situation. Naruto hadn't exactly snuck into his life, quite the opposite in fact. Sasuke was the one who was unwilling to let him go, and now it was too late anyway. Naruto had in few months become the person he spent most time with outside of work and no matter how little he wanted to admit it, Sasuke liked having him around.

He felt like he should reprimand Naruto for lying to him, but it was a lie told the very first day they met, so he had a hard time staying angry. They had been total strangers after all. Also to take into consideration was the now pleading look directed at him, big blue puppy eyes dissolving the last trace of anger in him with its cuteness. Flustered by his own reaction he pushed Naruto out of the way and ordered;

"Hurry up I don't have all day. Your age doesn't matter anyway. Fifteen, sixteen or seventeen, you're still a kid no matter what."

"Am not! I already have a beard and- and sixteen is not being a kid." Naruto yelled back at him stomping his foot and pouting. His puppy eyes always helped him out in these situations, what had gone wrong? The bastard was really too rigid for his own good if he couldn't even be affected by Naruto's ultimate weapon against grownups. Or maybe he was becoming too manly for it to work effectively anymore?

Very pleased with that thought, Naruto spend quite a while studying his features in the mirror while brushing his teeth. That of course resulted in Sasuke banging on the door yelling about some important thing that he absolutely could not be late for, but neither could attend with a stubble. Naruto decided to take his revenge and prove just how much of a grownup he was. Sasuke was let in almost 15 minutes later to see that Naruto had borrowed his shaving stuff, and had small pieces of toilet paper stuck to all the places he had cut himself. More yelling ensued.

20 minutes later a disheveled and unshaven Sasuke ran through his office building and made it just in time for the meeting. Neji, who worked with him on this project and was aware of his usual impeccability, rose quickly and exclaimed;

"What in the world happened to you Uchiha?"

After a moment of panicked thought, trying to find a decent excuse he sighed and said;

"A puppy. I got a puppy. " It wasn't really a lie. Those blue eyes were certainly not meant to be attached to a human.

"I didn't know you were a dog person." Neji answered hesitantly.

"Neither did I."

"Oh I love dogs!" Their long time client and forever oddball Kakashi suddenly announced. "What kind?"

"A stray." Really not a lie either.

"Oh I see, that's probably why you seem to have some… issues… disciplining it." He said with a smirk.

Sasuke scowled inside but tried to keep a pleasant business smile on the outside. Neji looked at him wearily. Wasn't it enough having to deal with Kakashi? Now he had to deal with an angry Uchiha as well?

Fate was not kind to him today.

I don't know when the next chapter will be done, but I am getting quite fond of this story and will keep on writing until I have to start school again in three weeks time. It might take awhile, but it doesn't mean it has been abandoned.