A certain Uchiha heir was glaring intensely at the two men who were outside of a certain blond house. Oh, boy, and the Uchiha was angry. Said blond boy shouldn't be talking to other men or women or whoever else, because he should talk only to the raven currently trying to kill Neji Hyuuga with is glare. And without the Sharingan.
It wasn't like he was jealous. Ok, he was, he couldn't lie, not even to himself, but it was because the blond boy, who stood by the name of Uzumaki Naruto, was his best friend, and even if Uchiha Sasuke didn't admit it, it was the truth. Naruto was the sunshine that broke trough the darkness of his life. After the murder of his brother, after the discovery of Itachi's motives, after the revenge on the Council of the Elders (1), Naruto was the only invariable.
When Sasuke thought that he didn't belong anywhere, the blond tried again and again, at the expenses of his own health sometimes, to show him that he had a home and friends to come back to, although said friends were still very cold towards him. Except Naruto. Naruto was always accepting and welcoming. And that was what made the Uchiha cherish him so much.
Even if he had been dragged back and screaming bloody murder for it all the way, he was still happy that Naruto had brought him back, and had made him avenge his clan's death and Itachi's destiny in the courts of Konoha, instead of doing it by the strength of his sword.
However at the moment he was very unhappy with the blond's big heart, because the warmth and friendship given to him were given to others as well and he hadn't thought of that before. Sasuke would never say it out loud, but he was afraid of losing Naruto. What would he have afterwards?
And why the hell had Kakashi given flowers to Naruto?! Wasn't he in love with Iruka-sensei? They were living together and all. And now the Hyuuga was giving flowers to Naruto, too! For God's sake, why had everyone decided to compete with him for the blond's heart all of a sudden? Angry by this, he stomped off to rip the aforementioned Neji apart, without realising what his mind had just told him. Later he would convince himself that it was just friendship talking there. Ah, the denial…
Let's now go back to Naruto.
Day two ended with a rather large and weighty-looking collection of fresh and bright sunflowers.
It had been a long day for the Kyuubi vessel when he finally pulled himself out of the Hokage's tower – for some reason still unclear to him Tsunade-baa-chan had wanted to speak to him directly about his mission today rather than simply rely on Kakashi-sensei's report - and headed toward his apartment building just before sunset. Tired, sore and bleeding from the poorly classed C-ranked mission he trundled haphazardly along the semi-deserted road.
It was a nice wish, he considered, to simply want to collapse on the nearest soft surface the moment he crossed the threshold to his small home. A simple wish as far as he was concerned. Unfortunately for him one Neji Hyuuga appeared to be standing between him and said wish.
For several moments Naruto entertained the idea that exhaustion had caused him to conjure up the man. He couldn't for the life of him imagine why the powerful nin was standing in the middle of the street, looking as he did. However one look at the uncomfortable expression on the man's face stopped him from actually poking him with his finger just to see if he was real.
At last Neji noticed his arrival and Naruto's gritty eyes widened in astonishment as the older male stomped toward him. Moments later – and very much to the surprise of not only Naruto but the few villagers still out and about - a bouquet of sunflowers was thrust at him.
Satisfied that his mission was apparently complete, Naruto watched in – yep – wide eyed silence as Neji muttered something under his breath about "I only did this because it is the respectful thing to do" and "owes me for this"', before he stomped away.
Suffice it to say that once again when Naruto read the card that came with this bouquet and again blushed and laughed out aloud, even the usually stoic towns' people watching him were somewhat amazed by the beauty and delight they saw reflected on his face. Naruto himself was even so distracted by the particularly happy feeling now coursing through him for a second time in a matter of days that he failed to notice the smirk on the face of the hidden nin with long white hair, watching him from a short distance away.
But Jiraya wasn't the only one watching him, as we already know. The raven just decided to pay a visit to his dear friend and get him to explain what the hell was happening.
And so, he walked trough the building, earning himself some glares of people that hadn't forgiven him yet. While the ones that knew Naruto were concerned for him, but also glad to see him so happy with Sasuke back, other ones were warily furious with the Hokage for letting the Avenger get back and for letting him hang out with the demon. If they gang up against the village there would be no stopping them. Of course, they were blissfully ignorant of the fact that Naruto would do anything to protect the village as he has proven dozens of times.
Sasuke knocked on the door. He waited a few minutes, changing his weight from foot to foot, until a tan, broad and muscular chest appeared in front of him. Well, Naruto was shorter than him, but since he was looking down, his first sighted was a very good one. On another thought, bottomless blue eyes brighter than the sky were probably better. Or not. What a difficult decision!
The Uchiha looked at the blond man. He was wearing only sweatpants, his hair hung loosely around his face, since he wasn't wearing his hitaiate. His blue eyes shone at the sight of Sasuke, and his smile, prepared for his unknown guest, became wider once he thought who it was.
"Hey, teme!"
Naruto was already seventeen, but didn't give up on the childish nicknames; neither did Sasuke, although he was eighteen.
"Hn, dobe." – which was the code for 'I was bored and so here I am', or at least that was what Naruto thought. Apparently he wasn't so well versed on Sasuke-nese, if said raven didn't want him to be.
"Come in. The usual tea?!"
Several minutes later found them sitting in Naruto's kitchen table; Sasuke was facing the living room, which was connected with the kitchen. Naruto stood by the oven to boil the water. He then went to get a few cookies that he had brought the previous day.
On the left side of Sasuke were two pots, one with the amazing bouquet of sunflowers and the other with the beautiful pansies. Naruto had transplanted them. One of the cards was on the table and Sasuke assumed very accurately that it was the card that came with the sunflowers. He reached out trying to look casually to read it.
But Naruto caught him and snatched it.
"What?" – asked Sasuke like it was nothing, trying to ignore the blush that crept onto Naruto's face.
"What you mean 'What?', teme?! You don't go around touch other people's stuff." – the blond reprimanded loudly ( A/N: Duh! This is Naruto!).
"Oh, don't tell me, dobe, that you got yourself a girlfriend." – the raven was trying to keep a taunting tone in his voice, even if he was hell curious about it. He was hoping Naruto would take the bait. Which of course he did.
"It is not that! And it's not of your business whom I date." – he said, and got back to get the boiled water and the tea. Then, he handed out a cup to Sasuke, and brought another to himself.
"So you are dating someone?!" – in all honesty, Sasuke forgot his act and sounded quite desperate. But since he is an emotionally retarded Uchiha it came out as a scowl.
"Is it that hard to believe that there are people who actually like me?"
Now, Naruto was angry. All his life, he had to deal with hurtful words, hate and anger for something he didn't do. It was only after he became a shinobi that he found himself some friends. He knew that his care for the Uchiha was one-sided, but said raven didn't have to trough that to his face. The only reason the blond was kept around was because no one else wanted to be friendly with the Avenger, and so he was using Naruto. But Naruto liked Sasuke very much, or else he hadn't chased all around the world, so he accepted what he could get.
"No, it is not. What it's hard to believe is that you would keep something important like that from your best friend!" – as soon as the words left his mouth, Sasuke wanted to take them back. He shouldn't have said that, now Naruto was going to think he was some kind of needy guy, desperate for a social life. Which he wasn't. He was going to make fun of him, and…
"I'm sorry." – Naruto said quietly. Of course he wouldn't make fun of Sasuke. He was quite shocked, though. It was not very often that Sasuke admitted his feelings and all the self-doubt Naruto was experiencing earlier and mostly everyday since Sasuke's comeback just vanished. He was important to the raven, but sometimes it was hard to remember. And now he felt guilty for keeping it from him. – "But it really isn't like that." – and he handed the card to Sasuke.
The raven just stared.
"You don't have if you don't want to."
"Shut up, teme! You wanted to know, so here it is. I will even show you Kakashi's , so read!" – glaring slightly at the ordering tone Naruto used, but the curiosity beating the pride, he read.
Hey, brat! Here it is…
Keep your face to the sunshine
And you cannot see the shadow,
It's what sunflowers do.
Even though you are a pain in the ass, and you're positivism annoys the hell out of me, it is one of the things that makes me love you.
P.S. But don't go say that out loud, or the girls will misunderstand, and then no more…
And this was where Sasuke interrupted his reading.
1. This was a spoiler, but I won't explain further because the original history has no place in here.
A/N: The meaing of sunflowers is loyalty or best wishes.
