Spiked Punch & Ignorance

Author: guttervomit

Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own the characters in this or it would defeat the purpose of it being a fanfic wouldn't it?

---------------------------

Chapter Four: Perfect

---------------------------

Naruto cursed profusely in his head as he faced the street, back to the Uchiha. 'Bastard.'

The two remained in silence for a few moments until the slurred voice of Sasuke sounded again.

"Has Naru been thinking naughty thoughts?" he mocked and the blonde heard Sasuke begin to stumble towards him but embarrassment prevented him from turning around. "Tsk, tsk."

"Shut up, Uchiha." was all Naruto could summon up as a retort. 'Did he just call me 'Naru'?'

"Have those thoughts had anything to do with me?" the husky voice was now directly behind Naruto and the blonde felt his whole body become frigid.

'Bingo.'

"You wish." The blonde managed to snort, hoping he sounded convincing to the other boy's ears.

"Maybe I do." Sasuke responded, alcohol infused breath being exhaled over Naruto's shoulders.

"Gah!" the blonde jumped away, distancing himself from his team mate. "What are you doing, Uchiha?!" He looked back and ran the dark haired boy's last sentence through his head. 'Did he just ..? No. He couldn't have.' Shaking his head, the blonde dismissed the thought. 'I must've drunk more than I thought.'

Mind still reeling, the blonde noticed Sasuke beginning to take wobbly albeit determined and reasonably fast steps towards him.

As if caught by Nara's shadow imitation technique, Naruto found himself unable to move and with in a few moments, the Uchiha was right in front of him, wide eyes looking into his own.

A pale hand made its way to the blonde's cheek and began stroking around Naruto's eyes with a gentle thumb. As the dark haired teen leant closer, Naruto could feel his breath unintentionally hitch in his throat.

"Sa-Sasuke." He stuttered, finding his voice unwilling to co-operate with him. "W-what are you do-doing?"

The dark haired boy left the question hanging and instead leant a fraction closer and mumbled a barely audible and seemingly unrelated pair of words.

"Little oceans." The wavering boy's words confused the blonde but received no interrogation.

As the other boy continued to gaze at him, Naruto could feel his will beginning to crack, his fists balled at his sides in attempted restraint.

"Oi!" a shout came from the direction of the doorway, startling the blonde and making him involuntarily jump away from the dark haired boy like a teenager who's parents had just caught them playing tonsil hockey.

Before he could spend too much time pondering on how close that particular analogy was to the current situation, Naruto looked over to the originator of the interruption and the blonde's eyes met with those of a familiar teen.

"Sakura's looking for you, Uchiha." Kiba called, head jerking back towards the party that seemed to still be in full swing. "And if I were you, Uzumaki, I wouldn't let her catch you like that."

Before Naruto could think of something to yell at the boy or locate something to hurl at him, Kiba and his dog had turned around and walked back inside, almost instantly being swallowed up by the party and out of the blonde's sight.

'Way to kill the moment.'

When Naruto had looked back at the dark haired boy, he found him standing in the same place he had last seen him, hand still poised in the air though now he had a confused expression set on his face.

With a defeated sigh, the blonde stepped over and grabbed the paused hand and then continued over to the door, dragging the stunned boy behind him.

______________________________________________________

Sasuke was slowly beginning to feel the effects of the alcohol subside a fraction, having had to listen to a sobbing Sakura for the last half an hour. He'd attempted to get a hold of more drinks during that time but they had mysteriously seemed to keep getting swiped just before they reached his lips.

"W-will you ev-ever forgive m-me?" the question came choked and the dark haired boy had to hold back an eye roll.

"Okay." He answered with the same word he had used the past thirteen or so times. 'Just be quiet already.'

From the corner of his eye, Sasuke could see his other team mate leaning against the wall, sipping at the same can the blonde had been holding since he'd left Sasuke to suffer the wrath of the pink haired girl by himself.

"What I did was stupid." The girl continued and Sasuke allowed his mind to drift off from the girl sitting beside him on the couch having already heard the spiel a few times prior.

Stealing another glance at the blonde, Sasuke nearly laughed at Naruto's poor ability to appear interested in the conversation that was going on around him while he too snuck a look every now and then.

On the occasion that they made eye contact, Naruto would quickly look away and a faint blush would settle on his cheeks which he would then try to hide by taking a sip from his can.

It was only when he heard Sakura repeatedly call his name that the dark haired boy realised he had been staring in Naruto's direction much too long.

"Sasuke!"

"What?" the boy refocused his attention on the girl and tried to rid the sound of annoyance from his voice like he had done many times before.

"Keep staring at Naruto like that and people will think you're gay." Sakura's voice was joking but the boy couldn't help but stiffen at the comment. Sasuke immediately tried to relax himself but he could see the girl had already noticed.

'Idiot!' Forcing an amused ring through his vocal cords, Sasuke tried to brush it off. "As if." Unfortunately for him however, Sakura wasn't as dumb as he'd hoped.

"Oh. My. God." The girl sat there opened mouthed and wide eyed.

Sensing a loud outburst that would no doubt grab everybody's attention, Sasuke acted on the first solution that came to mind. Grabbing the girl's shoulders, the boy ensured that no words would escape her lips by sealing them with his, glad that she could not see the assuredly disgusted look on his face.

Once the girl's shoulders had loosened, Sasuke pulled back, making sure his face wasn't showing any emotions that he was currently feeling.

Unsurprisingly, Sakura had been sent into a state of dreamy eyed contentment and the boy sat back, ignoring the strong impulse to spit on the floor. He instead opted to grab the nearest drink and empty the contents into his mouth.

Disappointingly, the drink he had grabbed was merely a soft drink and consisted of sugar and bubbles rather than the sought after alcohol. Replacing the drink on the coffee table, Sasuke did a quick scan of the room and finding no other eyes in his direction.

No other eyes except for those piercing blue orbs that belonged to the one and only Naruto. The boy's face was a mix of confusion and anger and the one that seemed to pull at Sasuke: sadness.

Only allowing a few seconds for the dark haired boy to see his expression, Naruto excused himself from the group and then quickly but discreetly exiting the room. Curiosity and some other feeling that swelled up inside Sasuke urged him to follow and after a moment of hesitation the boy stood and let his feet lead him out the door.

A step out into the night and the dark haired teen suppressed a shiver. 'It's a lot colder than I remember..' His eyes darted around the empty street and honed in on a flash of golden hair that disappeared around the side of the building.

"Naruto." Sasuke called out in a low voice, aware of how it echoed through the still air. Receiving no response, the boy quickly ran around the corner and spotted his team mate a few metres ahead of him. "Naruto!"

In the space of a few seconds, the dark haired boy had caught up and managed to grip his fingers around the boy's wrist.

"Let me go!" the boy protested but Sasuke ignored him in favour of gripping tighter. "I said let go!" He repeated but this time enforced it with a leg that swung around, aimed at the Uchiha's jaw.

Caught off guard, Sasuke released his hold on the wrist in order to shield himself. Recovering quickly, he hit the foot down and then reached out to the boy, grabbing his arms and pinning them to his side before shoving him against the brick wall.

"Hey! What's wrong with you?!" Sasuke queried, unable to see the boy's face as he was looking at the ground. "Naruto?"

______________________________________________________

The blonde gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, eyes glaring daggers at the earth below him. The boy struggled for a moment but realised he was overpowered and had no chance of freeing himself.

'Stupid Uchiha bastard.'

"Naruto, look at me." The dark haired boy demanded, a slight shake being delivered to the boy's shoulders. When the blonde refused to do as told, Sasuke bent at the knees and leant down a fraction to try and make eye contact.

"Naruto." His voice was softer this time and the blonde felt his eyes search for his on their own accord. As soon as the Uchiha caught his eye, Naruto knew it'd be a battle for him to look away again. "What's wrong?"

Keeping his jaw tightly clenched, the blonde just looked on. 'You can get me to look at you but no way am I talking.'

Silence filled the air between them as Naruto refused to budge and the other boy searched his eyes for a hint. Giving a sigh full of resignation, Sasuke loosened his hold and stood up straight again.

"This is about me and Sakura, correct?" The boy received no response but continued none the less. "Fine. Have her."

'Is that what he thinks this is about?' Confusion crossed Naruto's face as he tried to understand. "What?"

"Sakura. You know, the girl you're obsessed with. Take her." He elaborated and then mumbled an after statement. "She isn't what I'm after anyway."

Sasuke let his arms fall as he took a step back, his eyes now falling to the ground.

Naruto felt an anger begin to rise inside of him, drowning any urge to wrap his arms around the defeated looking boy. 'Bastard. No one's ever good enough for him are they?' Before he was aware of it, the blonde found himself heading back to the entryway, ignoring the calls coming from behind him. 'Doubt I'd even stand a chance.'

A small part of the blonde tried to shout out at him, tell him to turn back around and tell Sasuke what it was really about, that it wasn't the girl at all but Naruto ignored that and instead turned his attention on locating a distraction.

A flicker of a smile ghosted over the boy's lips as his eyes crossed a certain punch filled bowl.

'Perfect.'