Fifteen
How does it feel
Got no one on your side
It isn't how it is really meant to be
How does it feel
Got no one on your side
It isn't how it is really meant to be
As light and shadow
The Sun and the Moon
Torn between love and hate
I've gotta get it somehow
Gaining by losing always haunts us
To our dying day stuck in the haze
How did it ever come to this
I thought I'll never see you again
Once the stars were scattered in pieces all over the galaxy
Eyes on eyes what d'you wanna regain
After all I wonder how you feel 'bout this madness
Ahh, ahh, yea
( League of Legends 'Light and Shadow' by Sawano Hiroyuki feat. Gemie)
Chapter One: Saturday
Uchiha Sasuke didn't drink. The instant he poured his second cup of sake, Naruto set down his wine glass and pushed it strictly out of his own reach. He was instantly sober.
Hinata's tipsy, and loud, public promise to give him a very happy birthday once they got home had hit its mark. It had not been meant to be flirtatious, although their friends around the table had guffawed and hooted and teased them. No, she wasn't watching him, she was watching her rival. And when Naruto felt the man sitting beside him flinch and slouch, Hinata's chin came up and she smiled in a way that Naruto could only describe as relish.
Something horrible crawled through Naruto's gut. He realized he was holding his breath. Releasing it, he glanced at the person whose feelings meant more to him than anything else. He cursed himself. Sasuke shouldn't be at the party. They avoided spending the smallest amount of informal time together. But Sasuke had brought in his report, and Shikamaru had urged him to come, saying that everyone left from Team Shindo—including Shunsoku Shindo Sensei himself—would be there and that they wanted to catch up with Sasuke, their first team captain. Naruto's breath had caught. It had been years since he'd even seen Sasuke on his birthday. Or on any special occasion, really. They never discussed it.
Naruto had felt the cool, electric edge of Sasuke's chakra reach out to him questioningly. Naruto had suppressed a response. He didn't want to influence his friend. Sasuke's chakra drew back.
"I'll go," he had said simply.
"Really?" Naruto's heart had soared. Sasuke's gaze had met his. His expression had warmed. Naruto's heart had done several childlike cartwheels.
Sasuke had turned away and sauntered to the door. "Usuratonkachi." Useless. He was that, for sure.
Once Shindo Sensei had been called away to a mission, the party rapidly deteriorated into barracks-worthy conversation that was increasingly improper. Sasuke knocked back his third sake and swiftly poured another. He didn't even like sake. Naruto nudged his shoulder gently. "Hey, bro, take it easy. I don't wanna have to carry you home."
Sasuke gulped down the fourth and gave Naruto the side eye. "Fuck off, Dobe." He looked away. His eye was suspiciously shiny. Naruto stared. Sasuke never used uncouth language. Not ever. The world was about to go to shit. Exactly how, he wasn't sure.
"He'd probably love that, yō." Sakura giggled around her glass. "Carry him bridal style, ne?"
"Sakura!" Naruto gasped as the group got even more raucous. Kiba, Sai and Tenten banged on the table, crowing loudly, and Sakura and Ino clinked glasses. What … what was happening? Why would she say something like that? And why couldn't he spit out a comeback?
"We would never," Naruto said weakly. Too late, he realized a denial, a joke, would have been smarter.
"All that angst hasn't gone away, even though they haven't been teenagers in forever, yō," Ino smirked.
"Ino, that's awful!" Chōji said, much too loudly.
"Bros my ass!" Ino yelled. "You know damn well we all expected them to get married after they ended the War, not chew each other's arms off." Sakura tipped over against her shoulder, laughing. Almost everyone in the restaurant was listening in. Some were whispering. And a few, even among Konoha no Nūsan, were laughing. Naruto's head started to spin. He concentrated on breathing. He had to do something. He was the Hokage, damn it. But he was speechless. Frozen. No talk, no jutsu.
"Sage of Six Paths, wedding officiant," Sai jeered.
"Ah, ha," Ino said. "Especially after Naruto broadcast his love into every person's mind in the Shinobi Alliance."
Rock Lee's eyes bulged even wider than usual. "Ino! Shut up! This behaviour is unseemly, 'tteba!"
"Ino, stop it!" Chōji smacked his hand on the table and only those who were dangerously drunk didn't go quiet. "Sakura, do something."
The Konoha no Nūsan waited for the bomb to drop. Many looked distinctly uncomfortable. At the next table, former Hokage Hatake Kakashi turned in his seat, his shoulder touching Sasuke's back. Sakura set down her wineglass and took a deep breath. Naruto braced himself. Sasuke silently poured his ninth drink. Naruto placed his hand firmly on Sasuke's wrist and prevented him from raising the delicate green cup to his mouth. He felt Sasuke's chakra crawl lazily up his arm, flavoured with irritation. It didn't feel normal. Sasuke was drunk.
"Look! They're holding hands!" Kiba yelled. Sai pounded on the table again. "Kisu!" Several nin in the group—including Sakura and Hinata—took up the chant, pounding their fists and stomping their feet. Naruto didn't know what to do. If he released his hold on Sasuke, the man would either kill a few nin or end up with alcohol poisoning. Sake was one thing to which he wasn't immune.
Shikamaru leaned over the table. "Hai hai, kodomo, enough hazing! Everybody has to go to work together in the morning."
"Kisu! Kisu! Kisu! Kisu!" Kiba and Sai started yelling louder, waving their arms to encourage other nin in the crowded restaurant to join in. Nobody did, thank Hashirama-sama. Everyone at Kakashi's table fell silent. Konohamaru scowled from further back in the restaurant. Naruto trembled as he saw Sarada and Boruto poke their heads around the corner from the other room, followed by some of their friends. Lady Fifth Senju Tsunade began to rise from her seat. Naruto started praying for divine intervention.
Sakura stood up, and flailed her arms, splashing red wine on Ino and Sai. "They won't do it. They never have, 'tteba." She raised her glass toward Sasuke and bowed. "They're pure as the driven snow. I'd know if they cheated. My husband never lies."
"Mine does," Hinata pitched in.
"Hinata!" Naruto sucked in a breath. If he had a panic attack, Sasuke would reduce the village to ash.
"I gotta admit," Sakura shared loudly, "Sometimes the way they look at each other is really hot. Maybe we should give them a pass for tonight, give Naruto something he actually wants for his thirty-eighth birthday, ne, Hinata?"
"Sō desu ne."
Naruto couldn't look up. He began to hyperventilate. He felt Sasuke's wrist flip over. Then his hand started to hurt, bringing the world back into focus. Sarada crept up to stand close to Sakura, her Mangekyō eyes wide.
Sasuke was squeezing the hell out of his hand.
"Breathe, Dobe."
Naruto looked at Hinata. She wasn't laughing anymore. Her fingers were clenched on the edge of the table. She was white as a ghost, fixated on where their hands joined.
"I wouldn't mind watching," Sakura said. "What do you say, Hi-san?"
Sarada gasped. Boruto tried to draw her away but she resisted. Lee stood up again. "This has gone too far."
"Way too far!" Tsunade snapped, appearing between Sakura and Ino.
Sai smirked and leaned across the table. "So how old were you when you knew you were in love with him, Uchiha?" His black eyes glittered savagely.
"Don't!" Naruto yelled as Sasuke's intricate Sharingan eye turned upon Sai. The whole place went silent.
"I dare you!" Sai said. Tsunade-basan drew back her fist. Sai was about to die.
Sasuke slowly sagged, his head tipping back against Kakashi's shoulder. His eye began to shut.
Please pass out, Naruto silently begged.
"Fifteen," the Uchiha said clearly into the void.