Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Warning/s: Unbeta'ed. Awkward grammar.
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"When you start to really know someone, all his physical characteristics start to disappear. You begin to dwell in his energy, recognize the scent of his skin. You see only the essence of the person, not the shell. That's why you can't fall in love with beauty. You can lust after it, be infatuated by it, want to own it. You can love it with your eyes and body but not your heart. And that's why, when you really connect with a person's inner self, any physical imperfections disappear, become irrelevant."
— Lisa Unger, Beautiful Lies
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"Uzumaki is really a nerd. I saw him walking to the library this morning again. He was carrying a lot of books in his arms."
"But he's kind of cute, no?"
"Well, yeah... he is. But he is lacking something important... I just can't figure out what is it."
"You mean, he is not like Neji or Sasuke?"
"Those two are waaay out of Uzumaki's league, Hinata."
"But they are friends, right?"
"So?"
"I-I mean, maybe the saw something great in him and..."
"He is just their lackey, stupid. That is all."
"But he is smart, you k-know..."
"Sasuke and Neji are smarter than him. And they're cool."
"N-Naruto is also c-cool..."
There was a series of ugly laughing and Sasuke, who was lying above them (he was sleeping on the rooftop when he heard these girls' nonstop chatting about his blonde friend), clicked his tongue in irritation. Somehow, their conversation pissed him.
They talked about Naruto as if they knew him personally.
These girls knew nothing.
These people didn't know Naruto at all.
And that, in its own way, oddly comforted him.
He was far greater than what that soft-spoken girl was saying.
He was their friend after all.
He closed his eyes again and in the darkness he saw a clumsy dolt whose smile could always brighten his day any time.
Naruto was his friend, after all.
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"This is stupid, Naruto."
"Yeah, I know."
"You're really starting to annoy me, dude."
"Gee, thanks. So, are you irritated enough to leave me alone?"
There was a click of a tongue.
"You're so not cute, Naruto," pouted Sai who was waiting alongside Naruto inside a train station. Apparently, they were waiting for Kiba – the famous dog-lover and best friend of his blonde friend. Really, sometimes, he couldn't help but feel a little jealous over Naruto's fondness of Kiba.
He was the one that was always looking out for the blonde and yet it was not enough.
He sighed inwardly, trying to contain his disappointments.
He didn't need this right now.
"Why are we waiting for him again? Please enlighten me, Your Highness," he said, flipping his phone in his hand.
"Because I made him travel this far just to see my sorry ass."
Sai looked at Naruto's half smiling face and sighed. "You have no originality, Uzumaki."
"And you are a jerkass, Sai."
He laughed. "But you like me."
Naruto scrunched his nose. "Hah. Dream on."
Sai just smiled at that. "Yeah, keep on lying to yourself."
They waited for another half hour. He knew that Naruto didn't sleep well last night. He wanted to ask him if something was bothering him. And though he knew Naruto wouldn't take his concern seriously, he wanted to do it anyway.
"He is here!" Naruto exclaimed, wildly waving. "Kiba! We're here!"
Sai scratched his head. "Can you not shout?"
"Shut up, Sai," he muttered, looking murderous.
"Naruto!" a voice shouted with an equally loud tone and Sai was barely clinging to his dignity as other people from the train station looked at them, hardly suppressing their curious smiles.
"Kiba!"
"Sai..." Sai exclaimed unenthusiastically. He could barely hide his sarcasm.
However, it seemed that no one really heard him.
Great.
"How are you Naruto?" Kiba asked, his arms coiled onto Naruto.
"I'm fine," said the blonde, smiling.
"So, is my ramen ready?" Kiba grinned, hardly hiding his excitement.
Naruto laughed at this. "Glutton as ever, huh?"
"Only to your ramen, dude."
"Shut up, man," Naruto exclaimed.
This was when Kiba noticed Sai.
"Oh. I didn't know Sai was here," Kiba said, eyes were widening.
"Yeah... I didn't know you were here, too, Kiba." Sai deadpanned, his usual creepy smile was etched on his face.
Kiba didn't bite it, much to Sai's utter dismay. "It's been so long since the last time I saw you, man!" The dog-lover exclaimed. He was about to hug him in the middle of the train station where thousands of eyes were roaming, when Sai pushed his hand on Kiba's face, stopping the young man altogether.
"I prefer hugging Naruto than you, Kiba and no offense meant."
Kiba scratched his nose and smiled. "You're the same as ever, Sai."
"Yeaah... Thanks, man." Sai said rolling his eyes.
Kiba looked at Naruto, his puppy dog eyes were at full blast. "Sai isn't delighted to see me, Naruto..."
Sai almost choked in his own saliva when Naruto petted the man on his hair while staring murderously at him.
"Whaat?" it was now his turn to whine. "I didn't do anything to him!"
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It was Neji's birthday when it was first happened.
Sasuke was quite a drinker but that night, he drank more than his usual amount.
Neji was nowhere to found and Sakura was talking to Neji's parents at a corner of the huge mansion.
Cool.
He so wanted to throw up.
At the corner of his muddled eyesight, he saw Naruto talking to someone he didn't know. It was a tall man, quite pale, and with black wavy hair. He looked like he was enjoying talking to Uzumaki and that annoyed the raven for some reason.
"Naruto!"
A few guests turned their heads towards Sasuke but immediately looked away when they recognized who he was.
Sasuke smirked.
Pathetic.
"Sasuke!" Naruto called. He saw him excusing himself to the tall man and ran to his direction. "What the hell happened to you, teme?"
"I want to throw up."
Naruto widened his eyes. "W-what?!"
"I'll gonna throw up."
"N-Not here!"
"It's coming..."
"Teme! Stop it! You'll embarrass yourself!"
"I don't care."
"Well, I do!" Naruto shrieked. "Can you walk?"
"Yeah...?"
"Good. We'll go to the bathroom at the second floor so stay with me, alright?"
Sasuke just nodded loving the concern he was seeing radiating in Naruto's eyes.
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"Sasuke! S-stop!"
Sasuke halted and stared at a terrified Naruto under his weight. His round baby blue eyes were wide and he was panting heavily. His favorite orange sweater was wide open revealing his creamy tanned skinny chest.
They were inside deserted bathroom in the second room.
The raven was also naked on top. He didn't know how it happened, but somewhere along the way, while the blonde young man was wiping his face with a warm face towel, he decided to tease his friend by glomping him in front.
He felt so warm.
Naruto just laughed and this gave Sasuke the impression that it was alright to go on.
Then something inside him snapped.
He opened Naruto's black suit hungrily, his eyes were starting to lose their lucidity. All he knew was that he was hungry for something and what he was doing to Naruto was wrong... but he just couldn't stop himself. The liquor was starting to plague his mind and he didn't have enough strength to fight it off.
He was feeling so hot for some reason he couldn't understand.
Then, Naruto shouted.
He looked scared stiff.
The blonde never looked so frightened of him before.
Sasuke felt like someone poured a bucket of cold water to his searing body.
He tried to calm himself. He got off the blonde and sat beside him. Naruto immediately sat up and concealed his bare chest.
"Sorry," was all he could mutter before he passed out.
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TBC