"Sasuke!" Black eyes turned up to meet blue ones, and Sasuke smirked to himself. He swore, Naruto's tendencies hadn't changed at all since all those many years ago in kindergarten. With a sigh, Sasuke got up from the bench he was lounging on, shoving his hands into his pockets as he walked towards his best friend.

"Hey, dobe," Sasuke greeted when they met.

"Teme," Naruto replied, tipping his invisible hat.

"I swear, you're just the same as you were in kindergarten."

"That's a lie," Naruto chuckled, walking alongside Sasuke down the path of the park. He watched the thick green leaves of the trees shuffle in the breeze. Naruto couldn't say he knew much about nature since he lived in an extremely urbanized area, but he could say that it was beautiful. He did, however, know all about the city scene, and he loved it.

"You wouldn't know," Sasuke said. "You've been inside your head the entire time."

"What does that mean, teme?" Naruto narrowed his eyes at Sasuke, a playful smile snaking onto his lips.

"It means you have limited vision while I see it all, dobe." Naruto then laughed and threw an arm around Sasuke's shoulder, ruffling his hair as he distributed all his weight onto the Uchiha, nearly knocking him over.

"Aww, you're so adorable when you call me pet names like that." Sasuke shoved Naruto back, fighting to keep his balance.

"Shut it, usuratonkachi."

For a while, Naruto and Sasuke wandered around the park, enjoying the cool weather and the fresh air. Neither of them had much free time those days, as Sasuke's father was intent on grooming him to become a businessman much like his older brother so that both his sons could continue the family business, and Naruto was busy at school. Even so, they found a handful of time every now and then so that they could hang out, and they made the most of it. After finishing their walk around the park, they headed to Naruto's car.

"Hey," Naruto said as he got buckled into the driver's seat, "why don't you call Sakura and see if she wants to come along with us?"

"Why do I have to?" Sasuke complained.

"Because," Naruto replied, starting the engine. "I'm driving, smart one." With a sigh, Sasuke pulled out his phone and dialed the pink haired girl's phone number.

"Sasuke-kun? Hey," Sakura said when she picked up.

"Hey," Sasuke greeted. "Naruto wants to know if you want to come with us to hang out." There was a short pause before Sakura answered.

"Oh, sorry," she replied. "Tell Naruto-kun I'm kind of busy right now. Hinata just brought Temari over with some of the other girls."

"Okay, bye." Sasuke hung up, not really waiting for a response from Sakura. He wasn't exactly the best person to talk over the phone with. "She said that she's busy," Sasuke said, turning to face Naruto.

"Oh? Doing what?"

"I don't know. Something with Hinata and Temari and some other girls."

"Okay then," Naruto said. "Well, you don't mind if we pick up Gaara, do you?"

"Doesn't matter to me," Sasuke said. "You're cool with him, aren't you?"

"Yeah. He goes to the same college as me. We have the same engineering class." Before long, Naruto pulled up along the sidewalk just off the campus site, and waiting there was a man with vibrant red hair. Sasuke squinted a bit as he looked out the widow at him.

"Is he wearing... eyeliner?" Sasuke inquired, and Naruto chuckled.

"Don't ask," Naruto said as Gaara opened the door. "Yo, Gaara. Were you able to get in contact with the guys?"

"Mhmm," Gaara grunted as he buckled his seatbelt, afterwards positioning his bag in the seat better. "All but Neji. He has work today, but he sends his... Salutations." Sasuke looked at the two in confusion.

"What are you talking about?" He inquired as Naruto drove off.

"Nothing," Naruto said, "just something for school." Sasuke couldn't help feeling a little bit like there was something happening that he was on the outside of. It irked him because he felt like Naruto was hiding something, and they'd been best friends for years; they were well past the point of hiding things from each other.

Still, since Gaara was there, Sasuke said nothing, watching the road ahead silently as they cruised to Naruto's apartment. The sun was still bright when they finally pulled into the parking lot outside the apartment complex, the shadows beginning to grow darker and longer; dusk was at hand. Once Naruto locked his car, the trio headed up the stairs to the third and top floor of the complex, soon standing before the door to Naruto's flat. Naruto unlocked the door and the three headed in, it being kind of dark. Sasuke walked towards where he knew the living room was, and nearly fell back when he flipped on the light.

"Surprise!" Suddenly, a bunch of familiar faces sprung up from the darkness, all of them shouting "surprise" loudly and simultaneously. Sasuke flinched and stumbled back a bit when he ran into Naruto.

"Happy birthday, teme," Naruto said with a chuckle as he strapped a brightly colored party hat on Sasuke's head. Sasuke could see past Naruto's shoulder that Gaara was pulling alcohol out of his backpack, and Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Naruto couldn't help but laugh. "What, you didn't think I would forget my best friend's birthday, did you? You probably forgot it was our own birthday."

"Dobe," Sasuke grumbled as everyone began to crowd around him. He quickly pulled off the hat Naruto forced upon him. "You're probably just using this as an excuse to get drunk."

"Happy birthday, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said as she stepped forward, Hinata, Temari, Tenten, Karin, and Ino following close behind her. Sasuke stressed his eyebrows slightly before sighing. He should've known Sakura would've been in on it as well. Besides those girls, Suigetsu, Jugo, Kiba, Shino, Shikamaru, Choji, and Lee had shown up. So that's what Naruto must've been talking to Gaara about. Sasuke acted a bit irritated, and he was because he was never one for crowds and people wasting their time to do unnecessary things for him, but he couldn't deny the fact that he was, in all honesty, a bit flattered. It made him happy to know that Naruto was thinking of him, and he'd probably been planning it for weeks.

After everyone greeted Sasuke and they chatted for a bit, they made Sasuke sit down and listen while they hit all the wrong notes of the happy birthday song, which Sasuke hated because it made him blush like an idiot, and afterwards they even made him open up the presents they had gotten for him. They were mostly decent, but Sasuke couldn't help but question the pair of socks he was given as one of the gifts.

Socks? Really?

Everybody was thrilled to get free cake, but the real fun came when the alcohol and the Twister mat were brought out. In less than an hour, Sasuke had a nice buzz going that loosened him up, and he actually was having fun playing Twister and watching the others utterly fail at it. He found his cheeks growing sore because of the constant smiling he was doing, and it was a rare thing that his cheeks grew sore from smiling. That must've been why his dad didn't like Naruto that much, Sasuke thought. Naruto brought out the best in Sasuke, the goofy, careless side of Sasuke, and needless to say, that wasn't exactly the image of the cutthroat Uchiha.

Naruto was beaming as he watched Sasuke slowly yet surely loosen up, that gorgeous smile that hardly showed coming to its full potential. Naruto always knew how to do that to Sasuke. A little bit of alcohol and lots of encouragement, and before you knew it, you had a bold, reckless Uchiha on your hands. It was, in all honesty, a sight to behold. Sasuke's skin was beginning to shimmer with the moisture of his perspiration, his eyes alight in amusement.

The alcohol was beginning to get to Naruto as well. His senses were dulling, and his mind was beginning to slowly reel in the thoughts he usually kept locked away in the dark parts of his head. Naruto caught himself more than once gazing upon Sasuke's figure, his eyes landing on the slip in his shirt revealing the pale skin underneath. At first he tried shaking the thoughts, but as it got later into the nighttime, he allowed them to come to the front of his mind and even steer his imagination for a while. It wasn't that Naruto was afraid of or unfamiliar with attraction to those of the same sex; he'd been intimate with men before, as well as women, but it was different with Sasuke. Sasuke was his best friend, and besides that, he wasn't as open with his sexuality. As far as Naruto knew, Sasuke had only ever been with those of the opposite sex and preferred to leave it that way.

Finally, Naruto shoved the thoughts away as Sasuke looked up and met eyes with him. That round of Twister had just ended, Sasuke reigning victorious, and a huge smile was on his face. He got up from the mat and made his way to Naruto, sitting next to him.

"You know, I was wondering," Sasuke said as he sat, "how did you get in contact with Karin, Suigetsu and Jugo? You don't know them, right?" Naruto's eyes fell upon the three Sasuke brought up, watching as Suigetsu and Karin helped to put away the Twister mat and brought out Just Dance, Jugo sitting and watching from the couch he was seated comfortably on.

"I don't," Naruto replied. He chuckled as a few of his friends began to bicker over the Wii remotes and who should go first. "But I asked Gaara and Sakura-chan to get in contact with friends of yours I didn't know. They work with you, don't they?"

"Mm." Sasuke gave a quick nod of the head, and there was a short silence. "Oi, thanks for doing this for me." Naruto turned to face the Uchiha, a bit surprised. Sasuke didn't look back at Naruto, causing the latter to smile. It seemed the alcohol wasn't enough to fully dull out the signature Uchiha arrogance.

"Hey, what're best friends for?" Naruto considered getting physical with Sasuke, but decided against it, lest he wounded the Uchiha's pride.

The rest of the night was spent playing Just Dance, and after they got tired of it, Truth or Dare. Now, some of them considered that alcohol and Truth or Dare wasn't such a good mix, but it sounded like so much fun at the same time. Besides, everyone else was all for it. Why ruin the fun? And so they all sat in a circle and proceeded. After the first few shy truths and innocent dares, Sakura ended up making out with Hinata and Lee had to strip in the middle of the circle. He had to make it sexy, too.

Luckily- or perhaps not so luckily, the game stopped before it got too crazy when Ino passed out from her drunken state. Sakura and Hinata ended up helping to carry her out of Naruto's apartment, and that's when everybody else decided to call it a night. Naruto made them get taxis, and he stood outside until everybody except Sasuke had left.

Sasuke didn't want the party to end, and it was fine by him if it was only he and Naruto carrying on the party. Once Naruto came back up to his apartment, Sasuke slung an arm around his neck and pulled him in, much the the blonde's surprise. Within a second, Naruto realized it was Sasuke and pulled himself from his grasp.

"What're you doing?" Naruto inquired with a yawn. He saw Sasuke holding a can of beer and knew he had no intention to stop the party. "Oi, let's call it a night, ne?"

"What? You're tired already?" Sasuke crossed his arms with a childlike pout. "Do you have to go to sleep so soon?"

"It's 2a.m.! By no means early." Sasuke held his pout, and Naruto was swiftly moved to his side. Who could deny a pout like that? With a sigh, Naruto slid down and sat at the foot of his bed. "Eh, whatever you want. I guess I could stay up another hour." Sasuke happily slid down next to him, tossing a beer in his lap. Naruto chuckled and popped it open, taking a swig. "You know," Naruto said after swallowing, "you're such a man child sometimes."

"Tch," Sasuke immediately expressed his disapproval. "You're more of a man child than I am. If I'm a man child, then you're a... a man baby." Sasuke took a drink of his beer, and Naruto nearly choked on his. It took everything in him not to spit it out, and he ended up with some up his nose. A man baby? That had to be the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard Sasuke say.

"Sasuke, are you sure we shouldn't call it a night?" Naruto asked once he'd regained control of himself.

"Of course I'm sure."

"You're absolutely drunk."

"I'm absolutely fine. Gonna stop being an old man or what?"

"I thought I was a man baby." There was a short pause before the both of them burst out laughing.

"Don't use my words against me," Sasuke said, pointing a finger at Naruto with a wide grin on his face.

"You said it, not me." Naruto sighed with a satisfied smile, leaning back against his mattress. It was times like those that made Naruto truly cherish his friendship with Sasuke. It wasn't like the Uchiha got that comfortable with just anybody, even if he was drunk.

Naruto began to vaguely reminisce on moments like those that made him glow in happiness, and suddenly he was brought back to kindergarten. After ten seconds of thinking about all the childhood myths he adored, he sat up and faced Sasuke.

"Oi, do you remember 'the field'?" Naruto asked. It might've been a vague reference to people outside of Naruto's childhood friends, but to anybody inside that circle it was anything besides vague.

"You mean the magical field everyone feared as a child? Yeah," Sasuke replied with a nod. "I remember it. Why?" Naruto was silent for a moment as he held the now lukewarm can to his lips, slowly sipping his beer while contemplating.

"I think we should go back to it," Naruto said after a while, and Sasuke turned his head to look at the blonde. Naruto also turned his head, looking his best friend in the eye.

"What do you mean?"

"We should go back to the field. Just for a little bit, ya know? Maybe sneak onto it. I mean, it's weird that even to this day they still have it quarantined. You have to admit that."

"Okay, it's weird, but why does that mean we should go back to it?" Again, Naruto paused before leaning in closer to Sasuke with a serious face, making Sasuke also lean closer in anticipation.

"Maybe all those childhood rumors were true; not so much the part about getting abducted or anything, but that something impossible in the real world will happen there."

"... Okay, maybe we should call it a night." Immediately, Naruto squinted his eyes in a pout. Sasuke smirked, turning away from Naruto and once again leaning back on the mattress. He took a drink of his nearly empty can of beer. "Or, on second thought... Maybe not. I'm almost out of beer." He lifted the can to his lips again, and Naruto quickly swiped it from his hand.

"You drunk teme! We're calling it a night!"

"Hey!" The angry eyes of an Uchiha were cast unto Naruto, and the blonde flinched from the sheer force of their power. Sasuke immediately lunged forward, reaching for the can as Naruto stretched his arm as far back as possible. "Give it back, dobe! I'm not done yet!"

"Yes you are! You're going home!"

"Naruto give it back!"

"No!"

"Stop it! Give it back to me!"

"No!" In the midst of their struggle, Naruto lost his grip on his bed frame that he was holding onto for balance, and as most of Sasuke's weight was resting on Naruto, he immediately fell back, dropping the can as the contents spilled onto the carpet. Naruto groaned as the weight from the man on top of him made it near my impossible to breathe, sighing in relief when the Uchiha slowly supported his own weight with his hands on either side of Naruto.

Sasuke shook his head a bit to clear the haze and move his hair which was slightly blocking his line of sight, leaning up on his hands. When he looked down, he noticed that Naruto was underneath him, his eyelids heavy from fatigue and drunkenness, his skin slightly glistening with moisture from his perspiration. Naruto's blonde hair stuck to his forehead, the rest in soft messy spikes all over his head, and Sasuke could feel his warm breath blowing up onto his face.

"Remember when we were in high school," Naruto said after what seemed like forever, "and we got drunk for the first time?" The corners of Naruto's lips tugged up in a tired smile. "You got so crazy, and I couldn't stop laughing." Sasuke stared down at Naruto remembering the event. Well, recalling what he could of it. Naruto paused, and Sasuke knew they were both thinking of the same thing. "We ended up making out," the blonde continued. "I was scared because I never kissed a guy before... But you kissed good... And you put your tongue in my mouth-"

Just then, Sasuke leaned down and connected his lips to Naruto's, somewhat because of desire, but mostly because he wanted him to stop talking about that. It was embarrassing. However, Naruto expressed his approval immediately by wrapping his arms around Sasuke's neck, hungrily deepening the kiss. Sasuke couldn't say he didn't like it as well. Perhaps it was just the alcohol, but Naruto had a way with how he moved his lips against Sasuke's that made the Uchiha want more, and he tasted... sweet.

It was nice, and Sasuke willingly parted his lips further when he felt Naruto's tongue glide along his lower lip, asking permission. Their tongues playfully wrestled until Naruto claimed dominance, his hot appendage sensually mapping out the Uchiha's mouth. Then, Naruto softly moaned, and Sasuke couldn't help the heated feeling that pooled into his lower regions. The blonde paused as proof of Sasuke's arousal became apparent between his legs, Sasuke stopping as well as his face burned crimson red.

"Sasuke," Naruto teasingly chuckled, amused by the way the Uchiha blushed, "I had no idea you were so excited." Immediately, Sasuke pulled away and sat up, desperately searching for a way to hide his erection. Naruto leaned up on his elbows, smiling at how flustered Sasuke was. When Sasuke realized he couldn't hide it, he hastily got up and walked away.

"I'm going to the bathroom," he said as he turned the corner, leaving behind a laughing Naruto.

"Have fun," the blonde called out with a mischievous grin, being left with silence after hearing the bathroom door slam shut. As he laid there, he heard the muffled buzz of the bathroom fan, and he smirked to himself. As the silence prevailed, Naruto looked around his room. There laid the now empty can of beer he'd just fought over with his best friend, the liquid already soaked up into the beige carpet and emitting a smell.

Naruto got up and picked up the empty cans lying around along with other trash, throwing it all into a plastic bag that previously held unopened cans of beer, tossing the bag against the wall. He didn't feel like really cleaning up the beer, so he just took a dirty t-shirt he found nearby and threw it on top of the spill, placing a book on top of it all for added weight to soak it up. When Naruto finished his cleanup, he went to his closet to get out extra blankets, making two pallets on the floor; one for himself, the other for Sasuke. He was finishing his own pallet as Sasuke reentered the room.

"How'd it go?" Naruto asked, just to tease, and he saw Sasuke's face slightly flush in embarrassment.

"Which one is mine?" Sasuke asked, ignoring Naruto's question.

"I guess this one," Naruto said as he patted one of the makeshift beds, afterwards laying down on his own and getting underneath the blankets. He could feel how awkward Sasuke felt, listening as his friend slowly got into his pallet. Naruto rolled over so that his back was to Sasuke, closing his eyes and knowing that it would be so painfully awkward in the morning. "Goodnight, teme."

"Night, dobe."

((Finally, I'm done... I've had a hard time writing lately, not just this story but my other two fics as well... I mean, I did recently start school. And oh my, I watched Road to Ninja at long last recently, and goodness gracious it was sad... It nearly made me cry. And I was so mad Sakura got the happy ending. I swear, Kishi is trying to kill every single one of us in the fandom.

((Haha yeah, don't hate me for adding that make out part in there. SNS is my OTP after all. But this isn't about that. Don't worry, it's not. I promise. It was just fun to put that in there haha. Now, things should begin to really pick up about the third chapter, and they may get very confusing, but I hope I convey everything in an easy to understand way... I've been planning this for a while and thinking about how I should write it, and the main reason why I wanted to do this story was because of the way I chose to write it... I hope it turns out right._.

((Also, I'm debating a... *wait for it, and don't shoot me* CHARACTER DEATH. Yes you heard it- well, I guess read it- right! Heh, I know that those of you who were about to skip right by this saw that in bold and had to go back to read it. I understand, I'm walking on thin ice doing that, but I think that even though it'll probably be an emotional mess, I have it planned in a way that'll make it okayish... Love me^^ Tell me what you think about character deaths haha. I want to know what's going through your mind as you read this.

((As a writer, it's my job to break your heart. Just kidding. Kind of. Okay thanks for reading! Excuse any grammatical errors I may have made... Bye!))