Dinner actually wound up being a very fun event. The little fox that Naruto had created spent the whole time dashing around within their view and playing with anything that didn't look like it was either breakable or valuable. Sometimes it got itself stuck or into some amount of trouble, which always made Naruto laugh at it and Sasuke could barely hold back his own smile. He knew that whatever creature Naruto summoned would have to be playful to suit his personality, but this was so playful that it was to the point of being absolutely adorable. Just like Naruto, his mind supplied for him and he couldn't help but to agree profusely.
At some point, Naruto had even taken out his new fox plushy and Kyuusuke had started to play fight with it, though he did so gently so he wouldn't damage it.
Although Sasuke was enjoying watching the two of them interact, it was getting late and the Kyuubi festival was going to start soon. If there was one thing that Sasuke had learned about Naruto's birthday, it was that he did everything that he possibly could to avoid having to go to that festival. He debated, for a moment, whether he should invite Naruto to stay with him, but he decided against it. Besides, Naruto still had that cake in his fridge that they could share when they got to his house.
"Let's get you guys home," he said kindly as he stood from the table.
Naruto glanced at him and then at the time before nodding. He hadn't realized how late it was getting either and he did not want to be caught out on the street any later than this.
The walk back to Naruto's apartment was relatively quiet. Most of the villagers were still setting up for the festival and they made sure to avoid that area. The only thing that disturbed the calm were the little sounds that Naruto's new little fox made as it happily rode the entire journey on Naruto's shoulder.
Naruto bit his lip as he looked up at his window once they reached his apartment building. Every time he went away for a mission, he always came back to a trashed apartment. Sometimes he even returned to find the people still in his apartment. Those times were the worst because the reason that they stuck around was so that they could hurt him when he returned.
"I'll walk you to your door," Sasuke said. He hadn't planned otherwise, but the way Naruto looked made him think that he should at least let the other know of this.
"You don't have to," Naruto smiled.
"I walked with you all the way here," Sasuke said. "I might as well take you all the way."
Naruto wanted to protest some more, he didn't know how his apartment looked and he didn't know what kind of danger would be waiting for him up there, but he really didn't want to face that on his own, so he nodded his head and continued on his way.
Sasuke followed behind him quietly, but he slipped his hand in his weapons pouch just in case. The area was quiet and Sasuke didn't think that anyone was around, but that just made him even more suspicious.
The two of them made their way up to Naruto's apartment in silence. Not even the little fox dared to make a sound from this point. It was like the quiet before the storm and the two of them tensed accordingly, though both tried their hardest to keep it hidden from the other.
What they saw when they finally reached Naruto's apartment was something much worst then they expected. Naruto's door was open and the inside of the apartment was completely empty as though no one lived there at all. Naruto always carried everything precious to him with him on missions so nothing of that nature was gone, but everything else had disappeared. He couldn't even think about how much it would cost just to find new sets of furniture for the entirety of his apartment.
Sasuke could feel Naruto crumble against him when they saw the inside of the apartment and he wanted nothing more then to strangle someone immediately. This was what he was afraid of. This whole time they were only being nice to Naruto so that he could be left so broken when they finally put their plan into action and stole everything from them. He had known it was going to happen, but he had hoped that it wouldn't,
Sasuke clenched his fist as he tried very hard not to abandon Naruto while he went and killed someone, which was all he really wanted to do after seeing that look on Naruto's face, but he knew that Naruto needed him much more than any of that right now. "I'm sure we can get all of your stuff back," he tried to soothe Naruto as calmly as he could. "They couldn't have gotten far." He had to mentally stop himself from saying the villagers couldn't have gotten far, and the only thing that made it possible was that he knew that Naruto didn't like it when people did broad generalization that claimed that something was all of the villagers fault and he didn't want to upset the boy even more.
Naruto just continued to stand in the middle of the room staring into space. Sasuke could see tears pricking at the edges of his eyes, but he didn't let them fall. "It'll be okay," Naruto told himself with a forced smile. "I didn't need all that stuff anyway. I have enough money to buy myself another sleeping bag. I can just sleep on the ground until I can get that." The little fox on his shoulder let out a sad little yip and rubbed its face against Naruto's. That's when Naruto lost it. He grabbed the fox into his arms so that he could hug it to his chest and hide his tears in his fur, crouched on the ground, and wailed.
That was it. Sasuke was officially going to punch someone for this.