Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, the anime or the manga, or any of its associated characters! If I did, there would have been A LOT more talk about Naruto's reverse sexy no jutsu... ;)

A/N: Here is the newest chapter! I hope you enjoy! 3

Welcome Home

Chapter 4: The Party

'What if he returns your feelings?'

Even after Kakashi and Iruka had left, and the party guests had started to arrive, the words swirled around Sasuke's head like a sandstorm.

"Sakura! And Ino!" Naruto exclaimed, hugging both girls at once. The yell broke Sasuke out of his reverie just enough to briefly shake hands with both of them.

"How have you been?" Naruto's eyes were excited and bright, and that smile alone was almost worth throwing this party.

"Sakura's been a hermit, as usual," Ino teased, rolling her eyes at the pink-haired girl.

Sakura protested, and Sasuke's mind wandered, only half-listening to Sakura's talk about medical school and Ino's lamentations about her love life (she excused herself rather quickly once she found a new conquest for the evening). He sighed softly, and attempted to shake himself. Kakashi's comments had shaken him badly—he hadn't realized he was so transparent—and the brief second of hope that Kakashi had seen something in Naruto that might indicate…

No, he wouldn't let himself think that way. Nothing had changed. He would enjoy whatever he got from Naruto, and ask no more.

"Sasuke?"

Sasuke opened his eyes, not even having realized he had closed them. Naruto, now alone, was peering at him.

"Ah, sorry," he said.

"You okay?" Naruto looked at him seriously, and Sasuke felt a wave of weariness at how easily the blonde made his heart beat faster.

"Just a headache," he said, not lying entirely. The place had really started to fill out, and they had barely spoken to any of them. Someone had turned on the music and the yelling had started and, well, Sasuke had never been a social person to begin with.

Naruto smiled sheepishly, knowing all this.

"I know, I know," he said, "but I appreciate you doing this. You know I do. Just a couple of hours and you can sneak off to your room later."

Sasuke only smiled in answer, but Naruto took it as the acceptance that it was.

"How about we go find your friends?" Naruto offered, feeling a bit bad for Sasuke.

Sasuke nodded, and off they went.

But it wasn't as easy as it sounded, as pretty much every single person on their way stopped to greet them, give them drinks, tell them their life story—Sasuke only knew about a third of these people, but he followed Naruto around like the lovesick puppy that he was.

They found Neji by the time he was feeling pleasantly numb, and from the looks of his flushed face, so was Neji.

He maintained his composure, however, until Naruto excused himself to go to the bathroom.

"So, this is what you've been hiding all this time, hm?" Neji's face held a predatory smirk. "I suddenly understand my cousin a lot better. Do you know if he…"

"No."

"No to what?" Neji asked innocently.

"Neji." Sasuke was not in the mood for jokes—not about this, and especially not tonight. While Neji was not exactly promiscuous, he was never one to keep a lover longer than a night.

Neji waved a hand. "Alright, alright."

"Besides, he's as straight as they come," Sasuke said.

"Hmm, checked, have you?" Neji raised an eyebrow. He hated Neji.

"Neji."

"I'm only teasing," Neji chuckled. Sasuke glared at him. It was, perhaps, the first time he had seen Neji under the influence of alcohol, and if Sasuke had it his way, it would be the last. Where was Naruto?

"Ooh," Neji made a noise, looking somewhere past Sasuke. "Now who is that?"

And with that, he was gone. Well. As long as he wasn't off to attempt to bed Naruto, Sasuke supposed it wasn't any of his business. But speaking of his business—Naruto couldn't still be in the bathroom, could he?

And thus, the search for the blonde began.

And it proved fruitless. Instead, he found himself whisked away by various guests, all far too enthusiastic about giving him drinks. He had gotten at least five bottles of wine from three people alone, and each insisted that he try it—as it was the best. Of course it was. He bet the clerk at the store really thought so when he made them pay $20 over what it was worth.

Many times, he refused, but they were either too drunk or too loud to hear him, and he was dragged off to the kitchen to try yet another 'vintage'. He supposed Naruto had given them advice on what to bring as a housewarming gift, maybe as a thank you to Sasuke, and that thought meant he couldn't bring himself to be annoyed. However, he was getting quite dizzy.

His rescue, surprisingly, came in the colour pink.

"Hey guys, I'm going to steal Sasuke for a bit, 'kay?" And she reached out, hooking his arm and bringing him into the dining room, where it was surprisingly much quieter.

"How are you holding up?" She asked quietly, looking him over.

"Hm?" He replied, feeling another wave of dizziness hit him.

Sakura let out a breath. "Okay, let's get you some water."

"I'm fine," he insisted, but then she seemed to disappear for a moment, and then there was water in her hand. He blinked rapidly, staring at the glass she was passing to him.

"Drink the whole thing," she said, crossing her arms.

He did, mainly because she was scary when she was angry, and he presumed he was still on her bad side from when he had, rather rudely, rebuked her affections.

(February, 3 years ago)

Sakura had come to visit their room again, and Sasuke was going to rip his hair out. Every time she came over, it was the same. Naruto would chat her ear off in a desperate attempt to make her interested, and Sakura would sit there and steal glances at Sasuke, trying to draw him into the conversation whenever she could.

But today, Sasuke had just gotten off the phone with his father, and then his brother, and then his mother, and he was in a positively foul mood. Instead of the one-word answers he usually gave, he snapped.

"I don't care, Sakura. Leave me out of your conversation."

"Oi, teme, she's just trying to be—"

"No, she's not 'just trying to be nice', she's not taking a fucking hint," he swiveled around to look at her, "Naruto's the one who's your friend, so why do you spend the entire time you're here trying to talk to me?"

"I—I just thought—" she stuttered.

"I'm not interested," he nearly snarled, and Naruto punched him straight in the chin.

Sakura broke them apart minutes later, and then fled. Naruto scowled and hadn't talked to him for a good three hours—until Sasuke had broken, and quietly gone to apologize to Sakura, who lived in the same residence building as them. She had apologized as well, but Sasuke had felt a frostiness from her ever since then.

"Good," she said, taking the cup from him. "You boys are so stubborn," she whispered, grabbing his face and turning it back and forth to check how he reacted.

Sasuke grabbed her hands and pushed them away, but she only smiled at him.

"I want to intervene," she said. "I really do. But it's something you idiots need to figure out on your own, apparently."

She sighed. Sasuke had no idea what she was on about.

"Don't drink too much, Sasuke. I don't want to need to take care of you when you get sick."

"Why would you—"

Sakura only rolled her eyes. "I'm the only sober person at this party, that's why."

"Why are you sober?"

"Designated driver," she said. "Anyways, go hangout with Naruto. He's been looking for you the whole night, you know."

Sasuke looked at her in surprise, but she merely turned away. He sighed. He needed another drink—something he could nurse properly.

All of a sudden, finding Naruto was easy. You could hear his voice from anywhere in the house. Sasuke was noticed within minutes.

It was refusing him that was the hard part. It seemed every other sentence was a "Do you want another drink, Sasuke?", "Can I get you anything, Sasuke?", "I'll get us both something, Sasuke!"

And Sasuke, far past pleasantly dizzy onto entirely disoriented, could only shake his head and look away. Drunken Naruto was even more expressive than regular Naruto, and he couldn't bear to see the disappointed look on his face.

The song changed, and Naruto suddenly perked up.

"I love this song!" He spun around with brilliant blue eyes. "Let's go dance!"

And before Sasuke could do anything about it, Naruto was pulling him towards the other room (which he already regret putting a stereo in). Thankfully, there was already a considerable number of people dancing in the very dimly lit room, so it wasn't incredibly awkward, but it definitely wasn't comfortable when Naruto pulled them into the most tightly packed section and began to dance. Sasuke wasn't much of a dancer, but he couldn't help but move along with Naruto in the pleasant haze of alcohol and vague anonymity of the dim room.

He didn't know how long they danced for, but he did feel Naruto moving closer and closer, and he was nearly driven wild when he could feel Naruto's body pressed up against his, feel his breath on his skin, he was so close—he could—

Abruptly, Sasuke felt a wave of anger rush through him, and he froze. He realized where he was and what was happening, and even with the haze of the party, he could not stop the frustration. This wasn't fair. Naruto had no idea. He was dancing and having fun and he probably didn't even notice how close they were—he didn't even care, he would never—

Sasuke turned tail and fled, pushing his way through the crowd, positive he was only imagining Naruto calling after him. He practically ran up to the upstairs guest bathroom, feeling no remorse as he broke up the heated tongue-lock that Ino and Shikamaru were engaged in. He locked the door behind him and splashed water on his face. That had been too close.

A distraught Naruto and worried Sakura made their way upstairs, looking around for Sasuke. They knocked on his door and peeked in.

"It doesn't look like he's here, Naruto," she said, checking the bathroom just in case. "He must be downstairs. Let's go find him."

"No," Naruto said, "I think I'm going to just go to bed."

"Are you sure?" Sakura said, following him into his bedroom. "Don't go to bed on a bad note! Sasuke was probably just feeling sick or something."

"Sakura, he…he ran the moment I got close to him. I saw his face; it was pure panic. I'm such a fucking idiot." He collapsed onto the bed, head in his hands. Sakura quietly closed the door behind them.

"Naruto, you're not…"

"He doesn't like me, Sakura. I don't know why I ever thought he might," Naruto laughed and his voice cracked through his fingers, "I'm so fucking stupid."

"That's not—you're not—"

"Could you get me a glass of water?" Naruto interrupted, his voice barely a whisper.

Sakura looked at him with sad eyes. "Only if you admit you're not an idiot."

Naruto gave a small laugh. "Tap water's fine."

She poured out what little Naruto had left in his cup and filled it with water from the bathroom. Naruto hadn't moved when she came back. She knelt beside him with a quiet sigh, and put her hand on his knee.

"What's the worst that could happen?" She smiled at him when he looked up, but spoke before he could reply. "He yells at you? Says that you can't take a hint and he's not fucking interested?"

He gave a watery laugh. "I don't think he swore."

"He may as well have," she gave him a kind smile, and they took a moment just to look at each other.

Naruto heaved a sigh and rubbed at his eyes. "I'm hopeless," he said.

She laughed and nodded. "You both are. Now c'mon," she stood back up and held out a hand, "there's nothing stopping you from still having fun tonight except yourself. Let's go back downstairs."

"…Okay."

Sasuke closed the door as soon as he opened it, heart beating so fast it felt like it would burst. He—he hadn't imagined that, right?

He opened the door of the guest bedroom just a crack—no, he hadn't imagined it. That was definitely Sakura and Naruto, hand in hand, coming out of Naruto's bedroom.

He stumbled backwards, tripping onto the bed behind him.

Well.

He let out a desperate laugh.

Well.

It's not like he hadn't expected it—bit sleazy of her, though, to go for it when Naruto was drunk and she was sober. Bit rude, in Sasuke's opinion, and he really didn't appreciate them fooling around in what was essentially him and Naruto's rooms—

Except it wasn't. That wasn't it at all, and deluding himself like this really wasn't working. And if Naruto wanted to fool around with—if he wanted to—wanted to—

Sasuke fled back into the bathroom; he was going to be sick.

A/N: Ah, Sasuke, you antisocial jerk, you :) What did you think of this chapter? Let me know!

Thank you everyone who has reviewed, alerted and favourited the story! It makes me really happy to see people enjoying this one!

- Kinomi