Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, the anime or the manga, or any of its associated characters!

A/N: Happy saturday! I woke up at 6am today... :(

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Chapter 6: Out in The Rain

When Naruto hung up the phone, it was to the sound of retching. He grimaced and tried the doorknobs, but they were both locked—apparently Sasuke had wanted to be alone. What a bastard.

Naruto frowned and hovered outside of the door, not really knowing what do to, but not really wanting to leave Sasuke alone.

Eventually, he heard the toilet flush, and then silence. He softly tapped his knuckles against the door.

"Sasuke? Can I come in?"

"Sasuke? Can I come in?"

Sasuke closed his eyes with a pained expression. The back of his throat still burned, but he didn't feel the nausea he once did—and he wanted to keep it that way.

"Leave me alone, Naruto," he answered, but there was no hostility in his voice.

"Please," he heard Naruto say, and he was undone.

He forced himself to stand, swaying a little on his feet, and unlocked the door. It swung open immediately, and Sasuke met Naruto's bright, wide, worried eyes, and had to look away.

"Excuse me," he said quietly, attempting to move past Naruto. Naruto let him, but grabbed onto his arm as he passed, leading him to his bed.

"You need to stop pushing yourself," Naruto pushed him onto the bed. "Are you feeling any better?"

"I'm fine."

Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Jesus, Sasuke," he sighed, "how much did you drink last night? You're never like this."

Sasuke gave him a vicious scowl and refused to answer.

"Have you had water since you threw up? Have some," Naruto stuck the glass in his face again.

But Sasuke could feel his patience being chipped away at each time Naruto tried to do something nice. He took the glass from Naruto, and placed it on the table without drinking it.

"I asked to be alone, Naruto."

"I know you did, but—"

"I didn't think it was that difficult of a request."

"Oh yeah, 'cause you're doing just fine on your own—"

"I am doing fine. It's when I'm not alone that there is a problem."

Naruto looked taken aback.

"Jeez, teme, you—"

"You're not understanding me, Naruto. I don't want you to be here. Leave me alone." Sasuke's blood felt like lava in the way it burned him—it was too much. It was all too much. He needed Naruto away—he needed Naruto to get away from him. Now.

Naruto backed up a couple steps.

"You're the one who asked me to live here, bastard."

"That's true," he had to lash out—it was the only way to be alone, he had to—"and right now, I regret it. Leave."

And Naruto did.

His breathing rushed and uneven, Naruto barely remembered to grab a jacket before he went out in the rain. He needed to walk for a while—weather be damned. He slammed the door behind him, silently cursing himself for falling for such a fucking asshole.

Sasuke blinked back to reality a moment after he heard the door slam, looking out at the rain outside. Well, it wasn't particularly bad, and Naruto obviously didn't mind—the blonde would be fine.

He repeated the thought to himself several times, willing it to push back the guilt that was building up inside of him.

Oh, fuck it—he was an asshole. There was a reason Sasuke could barely call anyone his friend, and the fact that Naruto had fought against it for as long as he had was incredible. But…

He couldn't keep acting like this and expect Naruto to come back. But maybe it would be for the best if he never did—Naruto could live his happy life with Sakura, away from Sasuke's passive-aggressive, petty comments. Maybe that would be for the best. This whole idea—the whole house—what had Sasuke honestly expected? That Naruto would stay single forever? That he would have a wife and kids but still live with Sasuke because Sasuke so desperately needed him?

He was pathetic. Completely and utterly pathetic.

Naruto thought about going back and getting his car as the rain started falling harder, but he didn't want to drive—he just needed to…walk. He just needed to keep moving. He didn't even really know where he was going, but he was pretty sure he could find his way home fine.

He really ought to have punched Sasuke in his stupid, stoic, asshole face—and he probably would have, if the Uchiha hasn't been so obviously unwell. A part of Naruto hoped he was speaking out of his bad mood—he probably was; it's not like that was atypical of Sasuke to do—but it didn't help Naruto feel any less pissed off.

But maybe Naruto was a little annoying. He could definitely get right up in people's faces, and it had been something that had annoyed Sasuke before…

Really, why was he getting so worked up about this? Sasuke had said worse to him…

…years ago, before he had considered them…before he had thought of Sasuke like…

Naruto sighed, and stopped walking, feeling the water soak through his coat.

This was so stupid. All of this. He never should have accepted Sasuke's offer in the first place—if he had just realized his feelings a little sooner, if he…

Well, that was useless now. He obviously hadn't realized, and now he was paying for it. Not that he felt particularly affectionate towards Sasuke right now—the guy could be such a dick when he was lashing out…

Naruto let out another breath, and kept walking.

It took Sasuke a full four minutes to break and call Naruto.

He hit the dial button, waited a moment, and then cursed—the stupid idiot had left his phone in the house! He grabbed the phone from the pocket of the shorts that Naruto hadn't bothered moving from the floor, chugged as much water as he could from the bathroom, took some more painkillers, and then went out to look for the dobe.

Naruto was going to be the death of him.

A few blocks later, Naruto was starting to regret his decision. His anger was starting to wear off and the rain was only getting worse…he fought down a shiver, and looked around, trying to orient himself.

He had taken a left here—right?

Sasuke hadn't expected Naruto to go much further than their backyard, so when he didn't find the blonde right away, he started to panic.

His car was still here, but, there was a chance…

Kakashi and Iruka were too far to walk, but Sakura's house was—well, not convenient, but doable. With a grimace, he ran back inside, pulled out Naruto's phone and dialed her number.

"Naruto! Is everything good?"

"It's Sasuke."

"O-oh! Is everything okay?"

"Is Naruto with you?"

"Is—no, why would he be with me?" Before Sasuke could answer, she continued talking in a muffled voice—"one second, Lee, honey, it's Sasuke. Yes, I'll tell him. Okay—yes."

She giggled a little. "Lee wants me to tell you that he did a hundred push-ups as punishment for not being able to come to your youthful party last night. He had a shift—Naruto told you, right? He never takes work off because he wants to inherit the place—I can't imagine him not, but, well, you know."

She paused.

"Is everything okay with you and Naruto? Why are you calling from his phone?"

"I—he's not here."

"He's not…at his house?"

"No," Sasuke looked out the window again in hopes for a glimpse of blonde hair. Nothing.

"He left."

"He…left," Sakura sounded skeptical.

"Yes."

"Mhm. Alright, Uchiha, what did you do?"

"I didn't—"

"You did. What happened?"

"Nothing."

"Okay—whatever. How are you going to find him?"

"He—he hasn't gone to you?"

"No, Sasuke, I already said that. Why are you so sure he'd come here? He knew Lee and I had to…talk through some things."

"I thought you—but you and…Naruto…" Sasuke felt a sense of dread.

"Oh my god, Sasuke," Sakura sounded like she was reigning in her temper, "You don't remember, do you? I've been dating Lee for almost a year—I know you don't care about other people's social lives, but try to remember this one: I am not interested in Naruto and he is not interested in me."

"But—yesterday—" Sasuke closed his eyes, realizing the mistake he had made.

"Yesterday what? I talked to him? You know Naruto is an affectionate drunk. For god's sake Sasuke, if we wanted to date each other even the tiniest bit, we would have done it by now. Get it out of your head—and for that matter, get out and go find Naruto. And call me the moment you find him. Or call me if you don't, I can help—"

Sasuke hung up and ran to his car.

The rain was well and truly pouring now, and Naruto was cursing himself. He could barely see two feet in front of him, and everywhere he went seemed to have closed already. Even if he was somewhere he knew well, it would be near impossible to recognize it in this weather.

He sneezed—once, and then immediately again. He had already tried going back the way he thought he had come, but now he was doubting himself. Nothing seemed all that familiar—but surely he hadn't been gone for that long, right?

Why hadn't he thought to bring his phone? He didn't even think he had his wallet on him—

He gave up on trying to orient himself as soon as he saw a section of dry concrete ahead of him, and he ran to huddle under the overhanging roof. He hadn't seen another car in ages, but that wasn't surprising; it was such a rich neighbourhood that everyone had these huge bits of land—everything was super spread apart, so there weren't that many people until you got to the city. He peered into the window of the building behind him, squinting against the glass.

It looked totally dark, but he tried the door just to be sure—just his luck. It looked like a restaurant—surely it should still be open? He had no idea what time it was without his phone, but the sun was still up—what kind of restaurant would be closed already?

'Butter Crunch Brunch! The best brunch in town~'

He groaned.

It had been at least half an hour of Sasuke—driving at a snail's pace with his windshield wipers in overdrive—fruitlessly searching the streets.

The biggest problem is that he had no idea which way Naruto had gone—so for all he knew, he was going completely the wrong way. He smashed his fist against the steering wheel with a snarl.

Where was he?!

The rain wasn't going away.

And Naruto definitely wasn't getting any warmer under here—he already far too soaked through to appreciate being in a dry area.

Naruto let out a puff of air, shook himself, and stepped back out into the rain. At least this way, he could keep moving.

Sasuke had finally bit the bullet and done a U-turn. On his way back, he pulled up beside their driveway—just in case—and unlocked the door to call for Naruto.

One—two—three times—

No answer.

Sasuke ran back to his car.

There! Wasn't that a bus stop? That was something!

He ran into the small glass hut for shelter, breathing heavily. At least he could wait here for some sort of bus to take him somewhere—or better yet, he could use someone's phone on the bus.

He heaved a sigh of relief as he fell onto the bench, taking off his useless jacket and rolling up his pant legs as much as he could. He squeezed out what water he could from himself, but it didn't do much.

Naruto shuddered. He could almost see his breath in front of his face…he hoped a bus got here soon.

Sasuke had to continually and forcefully remind himself to slow down so that he wouldn't just drive past Naruto if he came across him. He kept getting distracted imagining where Naruto was and what he would do when he found him—

This would happen to him, honestly, the damn dobe. He only hoped Naruto had found some sort of shelter and was waiting for the weather to let up, but knowing Naruto, it was more likely the dobe was still trudging through the puddles, lost somewhere.

He let out a frustrated sigh and stepped on the brake—there he went again, lost in his own head and not paying attention to the side of the road for any flash of blonde he could—

Wait a second.

Sasuke screeched the car to a stop, doing a double take to where he had sworn he saw—he couldn't quite tell now, but—

He got out of the car, holding his jacket over his head and jogged to the bus stop. There, in the midst of soaked clothes, was a huddled Naruto, clad in nothing but his pants. He stared at Sasuke in wonder.

"You fucking idiot," Sasuke breathed, reaching out for him.

"T-teme," Naruto chattered.

"C'mon," he said, pulling off his jacket and putting it on Naruto. Naruto hugged it to himself and slipped his shoes on, not bothering with his socks. Sasuke quickly grabbed everything he had scattered around, and pulled Naruto close to him. Naruto didn't protest.

A/N: Let me know what you thought of this chapter! I hope you all enjoyed :)

- Kinomi