Sasukec: Chap 9 be here! Enjoy.

"Hello, this is your captain speaking. We are now coming into the landing zone of Rome, so please fasten your seatbelts. The current time in Rome is 2:50 AM and the temperature this early morning is a brisk 55 degrees with a partly cloudy forecast. Thank you for flying with American Airlines and we hope you've enjoyed your flight."

The captain's voice droned on with a sense of happiness that anyone could tell he loved his job – with a passion. As Naruto buckled his seatbelt, another voice came on the intercom, female this time. It spoke in another language. From what little experience the blonde had, it was Italian.

Naruto looked back over to see Sasuke was still looking out the window. As much as he hated to, Naruto spoke to Sasuke.

"Sasuke… Put your seatbelt on."

The Uchiha finally looked away from the window in order to be able to see where his hands were. His grabbed both ends of the seatbelt and buckled them together. To Naruto's amazement, the brunette didn't look back out the window.

Do I get a thanks?

"Thanks…"

Naruto gave Sasuke another puzzled look. That was definitely not what he'd expected. Sasuke slightly looked over to the blonde.

"…What?"

"What'd you say?"

"Uh… Thanks?"

"Wow!" The blonde chuckled. "There is a human being lodged deep in there! Maybe you should take that pole shoved up your ass out sometimes. You're suffocating the poor guy in there."

Instead of an insult back, the Uchiha just smirked and looked back out the window.

What crawled out of his ass and finally died?

"Alright! Everyone follow me!" Mr. Umino yelled out after everyone had finally found their luggage. Of course, Sasuke and Naruto had both separated and were as far apart as their little group would allow. The Uchiha had gone silent while Naruto, of course, found his way to one of his friends amidst the group. Rock Lee – Naruto's "British buddy" as he called him – was very eager to be paired with his best friend Neji.

"I am so excited! This trip will be quite pleasant."

Naruto's nickname wasn't misplaced seeing as Lee had come from Britain. His thick accent gave that one away. Not to mention his slightly outrageous look. Lee's slick, black hair was almost a complete bowl cut and his eyebrows weren't the smallest. However, Lee got the idea that big eyebrows weren't in, nor were bowl cuts, and he changed his look a bit. His eyebrows were no longer massive and his hair was slightly spiked at the front. A look for the better.

"I wish I was as excited as you were, man. Sasuke gets under my skin too much… In fact, I'm scared he might kill me in my sleep or something."

"Oh, don't be ridiculous Naruto. It can't be that bad."

The blonde laughed humorlessly. "You have NO idea."

Naruto looked over to Sasuke who walked with the group and kept his eyes ahead. The blonde sighed then looked back to Lee.

"Hey… Lee."

"Yeh?"

"Feel like switching roommates?"

"Sorry, mate. No can do. Neji and I are actually happy being roommates."

The blonde felt a damper in his mood now. He wouldn't mind being with Neji. Neji keeps to himself so it'd be like he'd have his own room. Practically, anyway.

Just as the captain had said, the weather was fair and nice today in Italy. The blonde looked around and expected to see old buildings of stone – the kind that you usually see on TV. Instead, the town, as far as the blonde could see, was quite new and full of zeal, even at 3 AM in the morning. As much zeal as you'd find in any big city. However, the remnants of the old architecture could still be seen, even in the newer buildings and at night.

"Listen up!"

Ms. Anko's voice rang out, stopping all conversation among the group and Naruto's observation of the city.

"We should all be able to fit into this limo, seeing as there aren't many of us here. We'll head to the hotel and get our rooms. Since we got here so late, we won't be able to do anything today! So, as soon as we get to the hotel and find our rooms, we go straight to bed. Tomorrow we'll allow you to sleep in a little before we go to a museum exhibit! We are all to meet back up tomorrow in the reception area at noon, sharp!"

Ms. Anko smiled cheerfully and everyone slightly groaned.

"A limo? Awesome!"

The blonde smiled a wide grin as a chrome Hummer-like limo pulled up in front of the group. Mr. Umino signaled the group of teens over to him then lifted the back of the limo up.

"Hand me your bags everyone!"

The drive through the city kept everyone's faces glued to the windows of the chrome limo. Giant fountains, old buildings, and even a run down castle or two kept Naruto's mind off of everything. Naruto joked with Lee about how it brought back memories of when he'd play Dungeons and Dragons. Lee replied with a puzzled look that he'd never even heard of the game. Astonished, the blonde explained the whole game of Dungeons and Dragons with such enthusiasm, it was more fun watching the blonde explain it than listen to what he was really saying.

Even by the time they arrived at the hotel, Naruto still wasn't done explaining the mechanics of Dungeons and Dragons. Sadly for the blonde, he was soon separated from Lee and settled for a, "We'll play it sometime! It's really awesome!"

Mr. Umino handed the blonde his card key to his room and the journal he was to fill out to receive the extra credit. The blonde's shoulders slightly slumped over. He'd completely forgotten this trip was for school and Mr. Umino was the bearer of bad news for Naruto. Not to mention his teacher's comment before walking off.

"Don't forget to pair up with Sasuke before you go up to your room!"

The blonde grabbed his backpack and another bag before muttering under his breath, "Asshole…"

The blonde found Sasuke just as Mr. Umino handed him his card and walked off. Naruto stopped right next to Sasuke and waited for him to pick up his luggage.

"Well… Ready?"

The Uchiha just shrugged then sighed and began to walk toward the elevators. As they were walking, the blonde finally took notice of the hotel's interior. With the money that was needed to pay for this trip, it looked like they used every cent of it. The hotel they were staying at was top notch and nothing below five stars. The carpet that was laid throughout the entire hotel was a dark purple with golden embroidery all over the entire layout. The designs were an intricate ribbon style mixture of dark purple and gold, a sign that this place was no joke.

As the borders of the carpet met with the walls, more golden lining ensued. It seemed that it was no faux gold; the boarder was serious gold that shined in the light the old Victorian-styled chandeliers gave off. These chandeliers were also, obviously, plated with gold. The walls were not made of gold, much to Naruto's surprise. They were painted of a metallic green and they were littered with various paintings that looked to be legit.

The centerpiece of the giant reception room was a beautifully carved fountain – it beheld many chariot racers with several rearing horses in marble – which looked to be filled with golden Italian currency. All throughout the room, there were red and gold seats and a few benches of the same design. Naruto didn't know much about architecture, but the person who did this was an absolute genius.

The blonde followed the Uchiha to the elevators and yawned before looking down at his card key.

Room 2500? Holy shit, this place is massive!

The blonde looked over to his roommate – how he did not miss that… Well, maybe a little… – who pushed the button to call the elevator. Luckily, they were the only ones using that elevator. Luckily? More like sadly to the two teens.

"This place is legit, huh?"

The blonde let a smile find its way onto his face. Why not be happy? This trip was going to be amazing. Naruto received a grunt and a small nod from the Uchiha. Elevator still wasn't there.

"This is the furthest I've ever been from home… Same for you?"

The blonde received the same and they were still waiting.

"Er… The museum trip sounds boring."

Still the same answer, still the waiting.

"Okay… Can I get an intelligent answer out of you?"

"Sure."

Getting somewhere…Even though that was totally sarcastic. The Uchiha put his bag down and sighed, obviously impatient.

"…Um… Should we just take the stairs…?"

After Naruto finished his question, a ding could be heard as the elevator doors finally opened. Sasuke grabbed his bag and waited for a few Italian people to exit before he entered the eloquent elevator. The blonde followed his roommate into the big elevator and watched Sasuke push the number '24'. Naruto raised an eyebrow and said, "Our room is on the 25th floor, Sasuke."

The Uchiha looked down at his own card key and showed it to Naruto.

"No, we're in room 2450."

The blonde was really puzzled now. Just as Sasuke had, he showed his card key, which clearly stated '2500'.

"Well…" Naruto started, stumped. "What do we do?"

The Uchiha shrugged then said, "We'll check them both then." Sasuke finished as he pushed the 25th floor button.

The wait as the elevator trudged its way up past the floors of the massive building seemed to drag between the two teens.

However, they eventually arrived at the 24th floor. They grabbed their belongings, which had, inevitably, been put down during the elevator ride.

After they had made their way down the hall to room 2450, Sasuke tried his card key on the door once… Twice…

"Yeah, your card is definitely not working out Sasuke. Looks like our room is 2500."

The Uchiha shrugged, grabbed his stuff, and headed back toward the elevator. Naruto followed and they waited for the elevator to get to room 2500.

The blonde inserted his card key into door 2500 and the light above the handle turned green after a small bleep.

"Yup, this is our room." Naruto said as he pushed the door open. The blonde was the first to enter and he was completely astonished. His jaw literally dropped as he beheld a suite. Not just a suite, in fact, a presidential suite. Naruto wondered if this was a total accident.

Naruto set his things down slowly and gazed at the enormous suite. In this suite there was a medium-sized flat screen mounted on the gold and red striped wall with an elongated, complimentary glass cabinet below the TV. On each end of the glass cabinet, were metallic-golden Pumas, looking as though they were guarding its very existence. Inside the cabinet were many lines of glasses made for champagne and expensive-looking china.

On the direct opposite wall, was a king-sized bed with purple satin sheets and blue, feather-filled pillows. On either side of the bed, there lay a mostly glass nightstand. It looked to be the same make of the elongated cabinet just below the TV. On each of the glass nightstands stood a golden lamp, with the carved design of chariots and horses leading up to the lamp cover which was also golden but with a silver bordering. Also accompanying the lamps was a clock mocking the image of a sundial, but pointed to roman numerals as an analog clock would.

The biggest attraction of the room was a giant, convex, sitting window, which was covered by gold trimmed curtains. These curtains looked to be satin, just as the purple sheets of the bed were. Just to the right of the large window was a black, leather three-seat couch that held two black pillows. And lastly, the carpet it all stood on was simple beige with a black rug lined with gold edges to pull the whole room together.

The blonde couldn't stop staring and didn't even get a good look at the bathroom, but he could care less. He didn't even feel like he could sit down without breaking something. This was one hell of a mistake that Naruto loved. For once, a mistake was a good thing.

"Ho… Ly… Mary… Mother… Of… Jesus…"

A snort could be heard as Sasuke walked past the blonde. "Pick up your tongue off the floor, Uzumaki. We've got to get to bed. And by the way, I get the bed."

Naruto came back to reality and grabbed his bag, setting it on the purple sheets. "What? No way! Come on, it's a big enough bed-"

"You can sleep on the damn couch."

Selfish much?

"Isn't that a little unreasonable?"

"I thought I said I don't care?"

All the while they were having their little bout, Sasuke was already unpacking his things. He grabbed his nightclothes and went into the restroom, which was over by the entrance door. Before Naruto could reply, the Uchiha had already slammed the restroom door shut.

"Assface…" Naruto mumbled under his breath.

The Uchiha had, as he said, gotten the whole bed to himself and Naruto had gotten the couch. It was a repeat of 2 years ago, except in Italy and with satin sheets. Much more expensive. Sasuke had fallen asleep within minutes of lying down, but Naruto just couldn't get to sleep.

The blonde sat up from the couch and shivered a bit as he took the covers off of himself, exposing his bare chest to the air-conditioned suite. He swung his legs over and off the couch, touching his feet to the ground. He sat for a moment, thinking of how he could get himself to fall asleep.

That bed is probably heaven… Damn you Sasuke, I was really excited for that bed.

Naruto looked at his phone and saw that he'd only been in Rome for an hour.

Really? Ugh… This is awesome… But Sasuke makes this so tough.

The blonde sighed and searched in his nearby backpack for the journal Mr. Umino had given him. He thought that it could pass some time by and it would tire him a bit. After he'd found the notebook and a pencil, he got up and curiosity got the best of him. He walked over to the gold curtains and pulled one back to see a beautiful view of the city.

Not just an amazing view of the city, but an excellent view of a giant, Roman coliseum. The coliseum was almost half gone and destroyed, but it was still an old-world marvel. The coliseum was completely dark and eroded, but the lights from the city could be seen giving a glow behind it. It lit the coliseum up just enough to be seen and was dim enough to see all the stars in the sky, including the crescent moon.

"Wow…" The blonde let the words escape his lips as he sat down in the window. He stared at the marvel for a few more minutes before opening his journal to the first page and writing things down.

'We got to Rome okay. Not that the plane ride was exciting. Rome is pretty cool actually. Sasuke doesn't help that he's always in a sour mood. Some roommate he is… I should probably get some sleep for the museum tomorrow.'

Sasukec: Hope you've enjoyed chapter 9! Welcome to Italy everyone :)