Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Author's Notes: At least it didn't take me as long as last time to update! Updates should be coming a little faster now, as I'm now actually working on this story instead of schoolwork...

oOo

"If I had a choice between talking to you and talking to my homicidal ex-wife at this moment, I think I would just choose the easy option and see how well I get on with Satan."

oOo

Sasuke picked irritably at the nail polish on his fingers, daring Naruto to laugh. Naruto was close, very close, but he wasn't quite willing to push Sasuke too far after tonight.

"What did you say to her?" Naruto asked, nodding toward Sasuke's hands. "Sakura, for her to do that."

"Nothing," Sasuke grumped.

"Mm-hmm. But on an entirely unrelated note…?"

"On an entirely unrelated note, my opinion of doctors is very low. I consider them to be infantile know-it-alls that—lack—impulse—control." The last was said as Sasuke picked off a particularly vicious bit of red that clung to his nail stubbornly. Stupid girl.

"Guess you kind of deserved it then," Naruto said mildly. He leaned his head on his arms and grinned. "Hinata kissed me."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Joy. Going over the details of your personal life is exactly how I planned to spend the night."

"I'm just letting you know," Naruto sniffed, glancing occasionally at the door. "We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"I don't want to."

"Fine." Naruto was quiet for a minute. "The girls should be back with the food soon. Hey, why do you think Sakura wanted to go with her, and I couldn't come?"

Sasuke sighed, mentally debating whether he could plead exhaustion, or maybe just death-by-boredom. "Because they wanted to talk about you behind your back."

"Is that a good thing?"

"Oh, of course."

Naruto stared at him suspiciously. Oh, how Sasuke missed the days when he was young and gullible. "Really?"

Sasuke just stared at him, one eyebrow raised, until Naruto stuck his tongue out and looked away. Half the nail polish was gone by the time Naruto spoke again, and Sasuke found himself ridiculously proud the man had managed to keep his tongue in check that long. He was learning.

"PHONE!" Naruto screamed suddenly, and launched himself across the room, looking like he was trying to choke the blue bit of plastic with the force of his enthusiasm. Used to Naruto's insanity by this point, Sasuke only flinched slightly as Naruto bounced back to the bed and jumped on top, shoving it in his face. "It's for you."

"I didn't hear it ringing," Sasuke said slowly, staring at the caller ID. Itachi Uchiha. He realized he had an expression like the phone was going to bite him and smoothed his face. "It's your phone, you answer it."

"It lit up," Naruto said, keeping his eyes trained on Sasuke's face. "It's just a phone call."

"Said Bill Clinton's lawyer."

"Fine, I'll answer it," Naruto said smugly. He pushed the button, and shoved it against Sauske's ear, grinning like a lunatic.

"Hello?"

The too-familiar voice came in crystal clear, no hint of static despite the fact that his reception in Washington was usually spotty at best. No chance of a dropped call.

Sasuke shifted slightly to the side in hope, but there was no change.

"Hi," he said after a long moment's pause. "Uchiha speaking."

"Yes," Itachi's voice was gently amused. "I know."

Sasuke didn't know what to say to that, fiddling with a loose thread in the blanket and ignoring Naruto's encouraging smile and thumbs up. "Right."

"I just called to see that you're doing alright. I just wanted to check. I didn't mean to bother you."

"Yes. Well, it's fine. I'm fine."

"Good. I'm glad to hear that."

"Yes." Sasuke cast his mind about for something to say, anything to say. It was hard talking to Itachi after—after everything. "How are you?"

Naruto looked like he might burst into tears of joy by this point, and Sasuke made a pointed shooing motion to the door.

"I'm well," Itachi said quickly, latching on to the tidbit with an enthusiasm that made Sasuke feel guilty. "Things are going well. Kurenai should be up around there sometime soon. On vacation."

"We'll be sure to make her feel welcome," Sasuke said. "We're still trying to shovel out the crap that makes the city reek."

"I've heard there's a vermin problem. Snakes, wasn't it?"

"Please. He hardly qualifies as a problem."

"Naruto said you had a run in with him and that's why…"

"That was nothing," Sasuke snapped, and bit his tongue. "I apologize. That was… rude."

"No. That was my fault. I shouldn't have brought it up."

"Maybe."

Silence on both ends of the phone.

"…Anko is suggesting conversation topics to me."

"Naruto is threatening his manhood by contorting into letters of the alphabet. Encouraging letters."

Naruto eeped, and untangled himself, dashing for the door. Probably to check everything was intact.

"Well, aren't we a pair?"

The thread in Sasuke's finger was beginning to fray, and he focused solely on not snapping it off altogether. "Sure."

"I just wanted to check on you. I'm sure you need your rest. Maybe we'll talk another time."

"Sure. Sometime."

"Good. Good bye."

"Bye."

Sasuke hung up the phone, and closed his eyes, leaning his head back on the pillows. Awkward, he thought. Always awkward.

"Food!" Came a shout from down the hall, and then the pattering of feet as all three charged down the hall and crowded on the oversized bed, handing out plates, and chattering like magpies. Hinata was quiet enough, but Naruto more than made up for her.

"We have salmon for Hinata, a cheeseburger for Naruto, Swiss and mushroom burger for Sasuke, and cake for me," Sakura announced proudly, handing everything out.

"You're having cake for dinner?" Sasuke couldn't help asking, and let his eyes skim her figure. He wondered how she kept herself looking so… (he blinked, and snapped his eyes back to her face) fit if she ate cake all the time.

"Watch it, Bub, or you're not getting that nail-polish remover I bought for you."

Naruto guffawed, spraying crumbs, and Hinata hid her face-splitting grin behind her hand. Sasuke snorted. "But it matches my eyes," he said as dryly as he could manage.

Naruto looked like he had been hit by a truck, sputtering under his breath: "You—you just made a joke at your expense!" Hinata and Sakura's laughter hid his remark well though, and Sakura did look nice when she smiled…

Sasuke stopped that train of thought immediately. No. I am not doing this. I am not. I am not forming some kind of freaky attachment to a doctor.

Naruto had that look on his face like he knew something was up, but he didn't say a word, only tried to coax Hinata into taking a bit of his burger. Hinata offered a bite of salad, and he refused vehemently on the grounds that it was green and, therefore, healthy and a vegetable.

"So what do you like to do for fun?" Sakura asked, taking a sip of Coke and watching him over the rim of her glass. She had pretty eyes- green, bright and sharp, with a few bands of dark green close to the iris; very pretty.

"I work," Sasuke said, rolling his eyes. "Naruto does nothing-"

"I do too do stuff!"

"—that involves paper."

"Oh, well, yeah. That's true."

"And when I'm not doing that I'm either reading, practicing, or running The Den."

"The Den?" Sakura asked. "What's that?"

"Our start," Sasuke said, and Naruto grinned. "It was the first business Naruto and I began, and we've been keeping track of it ever since. We don't want it swallowed by The Company."

"It's awesome," Naruto added, setting his plate on the floor and curling up around Hinata. He nudged her shoulder. "You should come sometime. With me, though. Sometimes it can get rough."

Sasuke snorted, and Naruto amended his statement. "Okay, so it gets rough often."

"I'll think about it," Hinata assured him, her blue eyes sparkling as she snuggled into Naruto's arm. Their saccharine affection was stomach-churning. "Maybe it would be nice."

"I think it would be more of an experience than nice," Sakura said. "Although… that would mean we would have to go shopping for an appropriate outfit. Probably with Ino."

They both shuddered.

"Ino," Sasuke said, trying to remember all of her personal information. Single, blond, had a child of twelve, blond, owned a chain of flower shops… "She's the blond one?"

"Yep," Sakura sighed dramatically, stretching out distractingly on the bed. She had long legs. "With Ino, all things must be done in moderation."

"She's wonderful," Hinata corrected quickly. Sasuke added loyal to friends on his mental list of Hinata's qualities. "High-strung sometimes, but if you ever need anything, she's there."

"Like a leech," Sakura agreed. She had a bit of chocolate at the corner of her mouth, right at the junction of her lips, and Sasuke found himself itching to remove it. If her just leaned forward and down…

No. No, no, no!

"You have something on your face," Sasuke said abruptly, gesturing. Sakura blinked.

"Oh, thanks."

Naruto sucked on a tooth, looking positively smug. "What did Itachi have to say?" He asked, distracting himself from Sasuke's Death Glare ™ by drawing patterns on Hinata's waist. From the glaze over blue eyes, Hinata was distracted as well.

"Kurenai might be dropping by for a visit soon," Sasuke said. "I said we'd take care of her."

"Of course!"

"Also, Anko and you are scarily similar."

Naruto gagged at the thought.

"Well," Sakura said, checking her watch. "We'd better get going. It's late."

"Thank you for coming," Sasuke said quickly, and had to bite off a yawn. He hadn't realized he was tired.

Sakura hesitated only a moment before setting a Target bag on his bedside table. "Nail polish remover," she explained. "As an apology for my lack of impulse control."

Sasuke nodded. "Thank you."

Sakura seemed to be waiting for something else, raising an eyebrow, and Sasuke raised one right back. She huffed. "Fine! Be that way!"

Be what way? What did I do wrong? Sasuke thought. He couldn't think of anything.

Hinata seemed to find it all very amusing, and patted his head like he was a child before leaving. "Get well soon."

"After all of you? I'll be lucky if I'm not a vegetable by the end of next week."

oOo

Author's Notes: Please take a moment and review!