Of all the horrible, terrible people in the world… Naruto had to be stuck tied to Sasuke. Naruto shrieked as he came crashing to the ground. "SasuKE!" He yelled to his fellow teammate.
"Usuratonkachi!," Sasuke cried back as he fell beside Naruto.
It was hard not to fall at the same time when they were literally stuck together.
"What was that for?! Don't you know how to walk, baka?!" Sasuke demanded in his stupid, cool voice.
Wait… COOL?! Stupid Sasuke, making me think he's cool.
"Well it's kinda hard to walk when YOU go too fast!" Naruto shot back.
"Walking too fast?! We are going at the pace of a slug! Maybe you would be able to balance better if you did not insist on having your hands behind your head at all times! ESPECIALLY when our hands are glued together!"
"OH YAAA!?"
Kakashi sighed in exasperation as the two dissolved into another hissy fight. The journey back had been like this the entire time. The mission had been D ranked, relatively simple. All team 7 had to do was retrieve a stolen treasure of a feudal lord's daughter from a group of low life bandits.
But as usual, with team 7, things spiraled into nonsense in no time.
From the start Naruto and Sasuke had been at eachothers throats, Kakashi had hoped that dividing into teams of 3 and 1 instead of 2 and 2 with Sakura in between them would even out their constant fighting, but that clearly had not worked.
According to the mission recap from the 3 genin Naruto and Sasuke had decided to stray from the plan, and instead of notifying Kakashi when they found the bandits they had engaged. They had both run in at the same time, determined not to be outdone by the other… long story short, the head bandit and his sticky glue had Naruto and Sasuke glued together at the hand in no time at all.
After Naruto and Sasuke ran off, leaving Sakura all alone with the bulky signal to shoot off, Sakura had been pinned down firing the huge thing , and had been captured. Naruto and Sasuke, already incapable of working as a team as it was, then stumbled around the forest for the next hour trying to get unstuck. Meanwhile Sakura was being held hostage and Kakashi was wondering why it was taking them so long to give the signal.
Kakashi hadn't been able to gather any details on what exactly had happened in the hour of Naruto and Sasuke arguing in the forest, but eventually they managed to put up with each other long enough to rescue Sakura, defeat the bandits, and return with the treasure… of course… it would have been too easy to complete the mission without any hitches. So the treasure was crushed and bent out of recognition.
Now they were returning to the Hidden Leaf to have the treasure remolded before FINALLY completing their mission by returning the treasure.
The journey back should have taken less than an hour, had they been running through the trees. But Sasuke and Naruto had their hands glued together and were incapable of running and jumping in sync-that had been the biggest disaster Kakashi had ever witnessed-… and apparently also incapable of even WALKING in sync.
They were SO CLOSE, so close to the village…
Kakashi sighed, and walked over to stop the hundredth fight of the day.
Kakashi walked past Sakura on his way over to Naruto and Sasuke… who were wrestling around on the ground, yelling and cursing like heathens.
Sakura-still jealous of Naruto for being stuck at Sasuke's side for the next couple of days (the glue would take 2 to 3 days to dissolve… but with all the stretching they were giving it Kakashi worried that that number would just keep climbing)-was standing with her back to the two boys and hands over her ears. She looked about ready to burst. Kakashi thought that she might hit Naruto and Sasuke if they kept their fighting up.
Kakashi arrived at Naruto and Sasuke's mini wrestling ring.
He reached down and dragged a still-swinging Sasuke off of Naruto.
"Would you two stop it already?" Kakashi demanded in annoyance.
Naruto glared at Kakashi from where he was still on the ground, one arm was extended up, still attached to Sasuke's.
Because it would be too easy for the glue to just fall right off after enough stretching…
Kakashi could feel Sasuke's glare as he said: "We are less than five minutes out from the village. Could you two please try to get along until then? You managed to work in synchronicity during the fight with the bandits, how can WALKING be this hard after all that?"
"Well if SASUKE wouldn't walk so fast-"
"Well if NARUTO wouldn't walk so slow-"
They yelled at the same time.
"HEY", they yelled at the same time again, "STOP SAYING WHAT I SAY!"
"Usurakontacki!"
"Stupid Sasuke!"
Kakashi picked up a distinct growling coming in from the left.
"CHA!" Sakura cried out as she hit Naruto AND Sasuke over the head! "SHUT UP! You're BOTH idiots! It's bad enough that I didn't get to be glued to Sasuke, now I have to listen to you two bicker! You can't walk?! I'LL HELP YOU WALK!"
Sakura then grabbed the glue ball joining their hands and marched forward, dragging them in tow. Distinct "overwhelmed-Naruto-noises" could be heard as Sakura dragged the two of them forward.
Kakashi sighed and followed Sakura in the direction of the village.
At least this way we'll get there in a reasonable amount of time.
Sasuke was in the worst mood. Glued to Naruto, having to deal with a pouting Sakura, and now having to walk through the village hand in hand with a certain dobe.
Sasuke could just feel the amused gazes of the villagers.
Not to mention the giggles he could hear.
Sasuke was almost positive that Kakashi COULD, in fact, separate him and Naruto, but was choosing to leave them together as punishment for ruining the treasure. That was Naruto's fault! HE had been the one to beat the treasure out of shape! Why did Sasuke have to be punished as well?
The 4 of them had been to see the Hokage and report in on the status of the mission, then had been to the metalworks to ask for the treasure to be fixed-luckily it could, but Naruto and Sasuke had to pay for the metal work out of their own pockets as punishment-, and now they were headed home. Sakura had already said goodbye, as well as Kakashi Sensei, so now it was just him and Naruto.
Sasuke turned right at the corner by the maple tree, ready to go home- only to have his arm just about pulled out of its socket and be slammed against Naruto.
"Stupid Sasuke! My house is this way!"
Of course, he went left, to his house, and I went right, to my house. And we forgot that we were glued together… again, and almost dislocated our shoulders for the second time today.
The first time they both dislocated their shoulders had been when they had been trying to run through the trees in sync… that had been an utter disaster. All Naruto's fault, of course.
"Well my house is this way."
Sasuke and Naruto had a staring contest.
Sasuke glared into Naruto's sky blue eyes-
Sky blue?! More like… uh… stupid blue! Stupid Naruto, making me think his eyes look like the sky. That would be insulting to the sky.
There was no way Sasuke was staying at Naruto's house.
No way.
But clearly Naruto felt the same way.
Sasuke would win this fight, they would be staying at the Uchiha complex yet.
Naruto glared into the raven's onyx black eyes, determined not to lose. He was NOT sleeping at Sasuke's house! And that was that!
Although… I am a little curious to see the Uchiha complex… NO ONE has been in there… and I could see where Sasuke lives- NO! NO NO NO! I am NOT curious about stupid Sasuke! And besides, agreeing to go to Sasuke's house for the night would mean losing! And more importantly, Sasuke doesn't have any ramen at his house!
"We're staying at my place! And that's final!" Naruto declared.
"What, no 'dattebayo"? Sasuke asked, saying 'dattebayo' in a mocking voice.
"Why, you!" Naruto lunged at Sasuke, but Sasuke merely stepped out of his way. Naruto stumbled a bit to regain his balance, and then ran at Sasuke again… only for him to step aside again.
This pattern continued for about a minute, before Naruto overstepped and couldn't right himself after missing. Naruto crashed to the ground, bringing Sasuke with him.
Sasuke yelled in surprise as he fell over Naruto.
Naruto coughed, Sasuke's fat but having knocked the wind out of him.
"How much have you been eating?!" Naruto choked out, he could barely breathe with Sasuke sitting on his back. "Get off, fat-ass!" Naruto lunged upward, springing to his feet and toppling Sasuke over onto the ground.
He didn't get very far with Sasuke's dead weight dragging him down; the glue on their hands stretched out like a rubber band as Naruto darted away, then snapped the two back together.
Sasuke growled at him, Naruto opened his eyes to find himself sitting in Sasuke's lap on the ground. He yelled and scrambled away like Sasuke had the plague… not thinking about the elasticity of the spider silk like glue-and once again was snapped back to Sasuke.
The two had been tangled into a double-human-pretzel on the ground, and Naruto's face was stuck against Sasuke's hip.
"Hey, OW!" Naruto yelled as Sasuke pushed on his head, trying to get the two of them apart. "Stop it!" Naruto thrashed about, and the two of them rolled around on the dirt path, throwing up dust clouds and running into the maple tree multiple times. The elasticky glue had been stretched out, and when it had snapped back together their shirts had been tangled up in a knot of cloth and glue.
This couldn't get any worse!
Shikamaru turned left onto the path with the maple tree, only to be faced with an absolute mess.
"What in the actual fuck?!" He exclaimed as he arrived at the scene. Naruto and Sasuke were tied up in a knot-with two of their hands clearly glued together-and wrestling around on the ground trying to get free. Every Konohan citizen knew that Sasuke and Naruto got along like shit, so of course they were incapable of communicating enough to help each other out of the predicament.
What a drag, I have to do everything around here.
"Guys-"
Shikamaru was interrupted by a string of creative curses from none other than Sasuke Uchiha.
"Hey, come on-"
Naruto gave a battle cry, and twisted around in a way of which there was NO WAY it didn't hurt.
Shikamaru held his fingers up to his mouth and wolf whistled like Asuma Sensei did whenever Choji and Ino got into it.
The Uchiha and his blond companion froze immediately and looked to Shikamaru.
"You wanna explain to me what exactly this is?" Shikamaru asked in his lazy toned voice.
The two of them then looked at each other, at their tangled positions, back to Shikamaru, and blushed red as tomatoes. All in perfect synchronization. Shikamaru would have laughed had it not been so sad.
Uzumaki and the raven then started talking frantically at the same time, both talking over the other in a completely incomprehensible manner. After about 10 seconds of gibberish they looked at each other, started yelling, then started fighting again.
For fuck's sake-
"Shadow Possession Jutsu!" Shikamaru froze the two of them with his shadow. "Okay, that's better. Now, Sasuke, what is going on?"
"Er," Sasuke was obviously distracted by Naruto's arm, which was wrapped around his waist. And even more distracted by the nature of things Shikamaru could be assuming. Honestly, Shikamaru had already figured out exactly what had happened to lead to this, he just wanted to see the two of them scramble to explain the situation.
"We had our hands glued together on our mission today," Sasuke started. "We were on our way home and started arguing about who's house we were going to and this dobe got us all tangled up."
"MY fault?!" Naruto said, immediately jumping to his own defense. "You're the one who wouldn't let us just go to my place!"
"You're the one who tried to tackle me to the ground, even though it didn't work."
Oh great. More arguing.
"Hey!" Shimamaru yelled. Once he had their attention once more, he said: "I couldn't care less how you got into this mess. Now stop yelling so I can help you guys out."
Sasuke and Naruto sighed and looked at the ground like scolded puppies. It was a real head scratcher how they could so easily appear to share a single brain cell, be in such similar life situations, and yet fight like cats and dogs at all hours of the day.
Shikamaru released his Shadow Possession Jutsu and walked up to where they were splayed on the ground. Shikamaru started by grabbing Naruto's arm and freeing it from Sasuke's waist. Then he untangled Sasuke's shoe from Naruto's pant leg-how did that even happen?-and righted it. From there he untangled them, and lastly untwisted the knot of glue and shirt cloth.
Once they two were free, they stood up and stood as far apart as ethically possible.
Shikamaru sighed, they two were covered in dirt with hair and clothes in all sorts of disarray. They were also refusing to look at eachother. Hmmm…
Shikamaru held in an evil smirk, "You two act like you'll die if you touch. What happened, did you accidentally kiss again?"
The wild blushes that lit their faces were answer enough. Shikamaru laughed, how he loved to bother people! It was so easy, what with him being so intelligent. He always knew how to push someone's buttons. However, it was generally too much work to learn someone well enough to bother them, but Naruto and Sasuke wore their hearts on their sleeves when it came to each other, and Shikamaru knew exactly how to embarrass them.
Shikamaru interrupted the stuttering and likely the start of another argument, "Alright, just messing with you. What were you arguing about again? Maybe I can help you. It's a drag, but it's better than having to listen to you two argue every time I pass this tree for the next few days."
"We can't agree on who's house to stay at." Naruto said simply.
"Well… how about you just play rock-paper-scissors and then alternate houses every night from there?" Shikamaru suggested.
The obvious decision, how did they not come up with this?
Shikamaru saw the exact same thought pass across the two boys' faces.
Naruto giggled in victory, he had won! They were staying at his house tonight! Thank goodness Shikamaru had shown up, they really would have been stuck at that tree until the glue dissolved. "You two act like you'll die if you touch. What happened, did you accidentally kiss again?"
Well… maybe not "thank goodness"… Naruto could have done without the mortification.
Naruto resisted the urge to slap his face with his free hand. A blush was eating away at his cheeks. However, he didn't want to bring attention to it from Sasuke, who was too busy glaring holes in the ground to notice.
The waterfall incident flashed behind Naruto's eyes again.
AHHHHHH, stupid Shikamaru! I had purged that from my brain! Why did you have to bring it back?!
The WATERFALL incident… it had to be under a waterfall?! Of all places!
Naruto scrunched up his nose and squeezed his eyes shut tight, no no no! He would NOT think about that… that… that! No! Memory be gone!
Sasuke sighed in exasperation, still wallowing in his defeat of rock-paper-scissors.
Sasuke… NO! Not again! Stop thinking about it!
Oh thank goodness! We're here! We already ran into Shikamaru, I don't wanna run into ANYONE else. It's far too embarrassing having to hold hands with Sasuke all the time…
Sasuke followed Naruto to the door of his small apartment.
I can't believe I have to spend the night at Naruto's house. Ridiculous!
Naruto unlocked the door, and stepped inside. Sasuke followed him and closed the door behind them. The blond flicked on the light, and he and Sasuke stopped at the little step in the foyer to take off their shoes… oh no.
The shinobi regulation sandals were pretty tight, and virtually impossible to get off with one hand. Naruto was realizing this same thing as he struggled to slip his off with one hand.
"Uh… Sasuke-"
"I know!" Sasuke snapped, not wanting to think about it. "Just… sit down so we don't have to balance."
Naruto listened and sat down on the step, Sasuke kneeled in front of him. Naruto then held his foot out, and grabbed the heel of his shoe with his free hand. Sasuke gritted his teeth, and also grabbed the heel of the shoe. "On three, one, two, three," Sasuke said. On "three" the two of them pulled at the shoe.
It took several moments to synchronize their pulling, but the shoe finally popped off. Sasuke fell backwards once the shoe came loose, and Naruto landed on top of him. To top things off, the shoe fell on Sasuke's head.
Without hesitation, the two of them scrambled to right themselves, and moved onto Naruto's next shoe. The second one took less time to get off, and Sasuke was prepared when it came off and did not fall.
They then switched positions and took off Sasuke's shoes.
Five minutes to take off our shoes… I hate my life.
"This way," Naruto said, and led Sasuke into his house. They walked down the hallway, and turned into the single room of Naruto's apartment. His house sure is small…
Sasuke's mental train of feeling bad for Naruto ended the moment they stepped into the room. "It's an absolute mess in here!" Sasuke exclaimed. Clothes and trash were strewn everywhere, the bed was unmade, and it stunk like Naruto.
I know what Naruto smells like?!
"Stop being rude Sasuke! I don't have to feed you, you know!" the blond yelled.
"What would you even feed me?! I don't see any food here in all this trash!"
"For your INFORMATION, I have plenty of milk and instant raman in my cabinet!"
Sasuke snorted, that sentence was absolutely ridiculous.
"What are you laughing at, stupid Sasuke?!" Naruto demanded.
Sasuke's draw dropped in horror, he had laughed at Naruto as if he had been a cute, clumsy animal!
Wait… cute?! Clumsy?! AHHHHHH, i have to fix this
"I'm laughing at how stupid you are, usuratonkachi, if you think I'll eat ANYTHING in this mess!"
"I could care less if you eat!" Naruto snapped, and started toward the cabinet.
Sasuke then decided something.
He plopped down to the ground, stopping Naruto in his tracks.
"Wha, SasuKE! What are you doing?!"
"I won't eat, and neither will you, until we clean up this hellhole!" Sasuke exclaimed.
Sasuke had decided that he would not put up with this mess. HIS house was spotless and clean. How did Naruto live like this?! There wasn't even a walkway! Sure, he lived all alone, but that was no excuse to live in filth! Sasuke was all alone and HE didn't live in filth!
"Who do you think you are, my wife?!" Naruto demanded… and then realized what he said. He and Sasuke both blushed and Naruto agreed to clean up the mess.
Stupid Sasuke.
Naruto glared at Sasuke across the table. He purposely did NOT look at their hands, which were joined at the center of the table. "Who do you think you are, my wife?!" They LOOKED like husband and wife, sitting like this at least.
Or husband and husband for that matter…
Naruto shook the annoying thoughts from his head and picked up his chopsticks, he slurped down his ramen.
Speaking of ramen… Sasuke was clearly having trouble. They were both right handed, and Sasuke's right hand was bound in glue. He was trying to eat with his left hand, and failing. Naruto watched Sasuke try-and fail-to pick up his chopsticks. A furrow met Sasuke's brow, he blushed slightly, clearly frustrated.
Naruto remembered the foyer incident. He remembered looking down at Sasuke, Sasuke with his onyx eyes wide in surprise, then closing one as the shoe landed on his head. And now here he was glaring furiously at his chopsticks and blushing.
Both instances are kinda cu-NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO STOP IT!
"What are you staring at me for, usuratonkachi?!" Sasuke demanded.
Naruto sat-mortified-and his face heated up. It wasn't like he was caught doing anything wrong! Why was he blushing?!
I was just staring at Sasuke as he glared blushing at his chopsticks-NOOOO
"Well, it's not every day that I get to witness the all-powerful-Sasuke struggle to eat his food," Naruto said tauntingly, saving himself with a jab at Sasuke's pride.
Sasuke growled, grabbed his chopsticks in his fist, and made a lunge at Naruto from across the table.
"WOAH! Watch the ramen!" Naruto cried out. He managed to skillfully catch both plastic cups before any spilled, all while dodging Sasuke's attack. "Relax, Sasuke, I was just messing with you!"
Sasuke glared daggers at him.
"Ramen is a serious time, Sasuke! Respect the ramen!" Naruto slowly placed Sasuke's ramen back before him. Almost like a peace offering. Sasuke didn't say anything, and they resumed their meal. Or… Naruto did, at least. Sasuke did manage to pick up his chopsticks, most likely by sheer willpower after Naruto's jab to his pride. However, he couldn't quite pick up any noodles.
Naruto slurped down the rest of his noodles, and then drained the broth. Sasuke was glaring, blushing, and failing to get the noodles on the chopsticks.
"Uh… Sasuke?" Naruto asked.
"What," the raven said in a deadly tone.
"Do you want me to, er, help? You?"
Sasuke's jaw dropped slightly, his eyes widened, his blush spread to his ears, and he cried out "NO!"
Unfortunately for Naruto, he now had another mental image of Sasuke alongside the one with the shoe and the one with the chopsticks.
Naruto watched Sasuke shakily get his noodles onto his chopsticks, and then miss his mouth. He choked down a laugh, knowing that his laughter would only make the Uchiha's mood worse.
"You know what?!" Sasuke explained angrily, "I'm not hungry!" Before he could stand up and storm away from the table, a growl ripped from his stomach. He looked to his stomach like he had been betrayed in the most gruesome of ways.
Aaaand, Naruto had another mental Sasuke image to avoid recalling.
The blond swiftly grabbed his angry teammate's chopsticks, and deftly picked up a bite- full of noodles.
"No!" Sasuke said in horror. "I can do it myself!"
"Past experience points to otherwise," Naruto pointed out with a grin.
"I can do it! It's not that hard to switch hands! You were just distracting me!"
Huh?!
"How was I distracting you?"
Sasuke looked horrified at what he had just admitted, but in the end decided to just follow through with his thought. "You were staring at me! And eating! Do you know how distracting that is?!"
Naruto couldn't hold it in anymore, and dissolved into giggles. He had never seen Sasuke like this! He was so… off guard. He seemed more real, and less like a moving piece of rock.
"Do not laugh at me, Naruto-boke!"
"Don't be funny then!"
Naruto regretted saying that when Sasuke slapped him across the face.
"Did you just… bitch-slap me?" Naruto then started laughing again.
Naruto didn't think Sasuke's blush could go any deeper, and yet it did. "You-you!" Sasuke lunged at him again, and Naruto dodged easily.
He's less coordinated, it's almost as if he's…. Oh my god. He's hangry.
Naruto cracked up as he dodged Sasuke's furious punches and swings. Once he saw his opening, he took it.
Naruto shoved the bit of ramen into Sasuke's mouth, and ripped the chopsticks back.
Sasuke just sat looking at him, leaned halfway across the table, with noodles hanging out of his mouth.
Naruto's brain short circuited, yet another Sasuke mental image.
The Uchiha then slurped the noodles into his mouth, swallowed without chewing, grabbed his ramen cup, snatched his chopsticks from Naruto, and turned his back from the table.
Naruto then lost it, he died laughing as Sasuke finished his ramen facing away from him.
Sasuke was furious.
No, he was livid.
Naruto had FED him! First he had the audacity to stare at Sasuke as he struggled to use his left hand to eat, and then he fEd him! Sasuke had known how stupid he looked, shakily trying to use the chopsticks with his non-dominate hand. And the stupid dobe had just sat there watching him, and eating normally!
Naruto had already had Sasuke caught off guard, what with feeling sorry for the stupid blonde's sad living situation; and then he had felt bad for him again as they cleaned up his disaster of a home once Sasuke realized just how run down the place was. And then again when Sasuke saw that literally all Naruto had to eat were cheap cups of instant ramen and milk!
He hadn't been able to focus on using his left hand with Naruto judgingly looking at him like that. Also... he had been super hungry… and Sasuke got a little grumpy and uncoordinated when he was really hungry.
Now Sasuke was walking over to the trash can, with Naruto following him because of their joined hands. He tossed the plastic cup, and did his best to get over the absolute mortification of that meal.
After that two of them cleaned off the table and fixed the disarray of the table and chairs from Sasuke's attack on Naruto during dinner.
Sasuke mentally facepalmed.
That sentence sounded so utterly stupid…
"Well, I'm gonna go get ready for bed," Naruto said, and headed in the direction of the bathroom. Sasuke was pulled along and Naruto froze. "Uh… Sasuke?"
"What is it now, dobe?"
"I have to… take a bath."
Sasuke's brain then stopped functioning completely.
He had already had to use the bathroom with Naruto-BOTH KINDS-today, and now he had to…
TEHIOJKGNJBKHEIOJKNBJEHIOJKEIHRGUIKFLJM
"Uh, Sasuke? Are you okay?"
Sasuke ended his mental keyboard smash and inhaled deeply. He then slowly exhaled. "Do you… have to?" Oh god, his voice had cracked saying that.
"Uh… ya. We were just on a mission, we are covered in dirt, and we just cleaned my house. Plus… Sasuke, you smell."
"I smell-" Sasuke stopped when he realized the meaning of "we."
We have to take a bath at the same time… in the same bathtub. Because Naruto does not have a shower. Yare yare, how I hate my life right now.
Sasuke's stomach was in knots.
The walk to the bathroom had been like a funeral march. Then he had watched as Naruto turned on the bath water. Now they had to… get in the bath. But not in clothes, of course.
I can't even think it! We have to take our… off…AHHHHHHH… OH NO. How do I do this with one arm?!
"Hey Sasuke?"
Just Naruto's helpless voice was enough to make Sasuke start blushing.
Why can't Itachi just show up and kill me right now?
Sasuke turned to face Naruto, who also looked quite put off by the situation. The blond unzipped his orange jacked and managed to slip it off his free shoulder, but Sasuke had to grit his teeth and pull it all the way off his right arm. From there they found it literally impossible to get the sleeves off of their connected arms, so Sasuke had to take a kunai and cut Naruto's jacket off, and then his undershirt. Then Naruto cut Sasuke's shirt off, then the two turned away from each other. They could do… the rest themselves.
I still can't even think it.
"Just… stay back to back," Sasuke said before he entered the most mortifying situation of his entire life.
Sasuke was doing his absolute best not to recall the bath, but it proved quite the challenge. He remembered the feeling of Naruto's back against his, and the sloshing of the water; the small size of the bathtub, and how hard it had been to steel himself and put his hair underwater.
Now he stood side by side with Naruto… staring at the single bed.
Ya.
Somehow it hadn't occurred to Sasuke that since they were connected at the hand they would have to sleep in the same bed. Not to mention he was wearing a pair of Naruto's boxers and one of his T-shirts. Sasuke had been so upset about this whole ordeal that he hadn't thought to bring his own clothes. And Naruto did not have a washing machine and was conveniently out of ramen so Sasuke would have to wear Naruto's clothes tomorrow as well.
At least they had figured out how to get shirts on and off.
It had all had to do with Sasuke's surprising (as Naruto had not ceased to tell him) ability to sew. As well as Naruto's skill with Shadow Clones. After a few tries, they had figured out how to make a single Shadow Clone. Their combo clone was rather disturbing, it looked like a mix of Naruto and Sasuke; with blond hair, onyx eyes, pale skin, and whisker marks. They would cut the shirt in specific places, put it on, and then use the combo clone to sew the open part closed. Not the most perfect method of dressing, but better than being shirtless and attached to Naruto for the next couple of days.
Sasuke was still reeling from the shoe thing, the ramen thing, the bath thing, and now the sewing thing as well. Not to mention he had been roped into sewing Naruto's prized orange jacket back into commission; ya, and THAT hadn't been embarrassing at all.
Naruto switched the lamp off and said suggestively "you ready to share a bed with me, Sasuke?"
Sasuke proceeded to punch him.
"Hey! HEY!" the blonde shrieked. "No need to mimic Sakura!"
Sasuke swung again, but Naruto managed to dodge. "Heh, looks like I'm getting the hang of dodging your wimpy punches!" he taunted.
Sasuke jerked at him, and Naruto flinched away with a high pitched squeal.
"Hah, usuratonkachi," the raven said.
Naruto grumbled something about "stupid Sasuke" and climbed into the bed. Sasuke had no choice but to follow him, unprepared as he was.
After a good amount of squirming, punching, and cursing, Naruto and his raven haired teammate were finally situated in the bed. The blonde reached to the lamp at his bedside table, and switched it off, leaving himself and Sasuke in the darkness.
Naruto looked out of the corner of his eye at Sasuke.
The moonlight shone through the window onto Sasuke's pale skin, making it seem to glow. The raven's onyx eyes were still open, and Naruto could see through the pitch irises-silhouetted by moonlight as they were. The light reflected off of Sasuke's freshly cleaned hair, making it appear to be glowing silver in the darkness.
Naruto mentally shook himself and jerked his eyes away from Sasuke, not wanting another mental Sasuke image… however he knew it was too late.
As the two lay side by side on their backs-each with a single pillow and under the same blanket-with their glued hands laying in the middle, Naruto recalled the past events. After the thing with the shoe in the foyer, Sasuke's guard had seemed to be completely down. He had seemed less closed off, and more open. Although Naruto could tell he had not been comfortable with that.
Then they had entered Naruto's home, and Sasuke's guard had stayed down. Naruto knew how to identify pity. He saw it every day. However, Sasuke's pity did not come with contempt… but with… understanding. It was strange to think about, and Naruto didn't necessarily want to think about it, but it was there. He and Sasuke… were the same. They were connected.
Then Sasuke had ordered Naruto to clean up his home, he had even plopped himself down on the floor and refused to move until the place was clean. That was not a typical Sasuke thing to do. Normally Sasuke would have insulted and fought with Naruto till he got his way… but this time he did so peacefully.
And after that the dinner… Sasuke's guard was still down. He still seemed softer, less closed off and hard. He had struggled to eat his ramen, and blushed with shaking hands. Naruto now knew it was because he had been putting Sasuke off by watching him fail so closely… but still that was an unguarded Sasuke thing to have done… to show his embarrassment like that.
When he had swung and slapped at Naruto from across the table, his blows had only been of half effort. He hadn't really been trying. If anyone knew the full brunt of Sasuke's power it was Naruto… they trained together and fought all the time, so he knew all right.
Then thing with the ramen… Naruto recalled Sasuke. Staring at him in utter disbelief, with ramen noodles hanging out of his mouth. Fist still held up ready to swing. And the blush dusting his pale cheeks, the clear shame and mortification at having to have been fed.
All Sasuke without his walls up.
He had been so taken aback that he had eaten facing away from Naruto.
Then the bath, still vulnerable Sasuke.
And Sasuke could sew? Since when?! Naruto remembered the feeling as he watched Sasuke repair his jacket… sitting there in Naruto's own clothes. He didn't know how to describe it…
But after his jacket had been fixed Sasuke had been back to normal. He returned to the dry jabs and apathetic aura. Naruto… almost… missed the unguarded Sasuke. Was it possible… that he actually liked Sasuke? As a friend of course! As a human being! Nothing more!
However…
I guess I do like Sasuke's real self… only a tiny little bit of "like" though, ya…
Those were Naruto's last thoughts as he drifted off to sleep.