Faha no Jutsu!

ollie

It was the sweltering kind of midday that had once fried plenty of brains and was proud of it, and boiling heat blew against the faces of the three young ninjas as they laid heavily on the dirt, waiting against one of the trees in the forest that stretched high into the bright blue summer sky. Even though the towering trees provided shade, it was still unbearably hot. Sakura sat with her back against a particularly smooth tree, idly fanning herself with a hand and flicking away small insects that crawled onto her arms and legs from time to time.

With a frustrated sigh, Sakura wondered when Kakashi would finally show up and get on with the lesson of the day, or hopefully just tell them that they can all go back home. But she could already feel her blood start to boil at the thought that she was sitting out here in the stifling heat for nothing. She could easily do nothing at home, and even wash her hair at the same time, or try something else to get Sasuke to notice her... She glanced at Sasuke and Naruto, wondering what they thought of Kakashi being late all the time.

Sasuke stared into the distance, keeping most of his thoughts to himself, as always, and not exactly doing anything interesting, really. However, she thought, he still managed to look extremely spiffy.

Naruto was lying on his back with his jacket bundled messily beneath his head, headprotector pushed out of place from his sweaty forehead, squinting grumpily at the sunshine that filtered through the leaves.

Obviously absolutely nothing was going on. Naruto wasn't even trying to catch up on his sleep like he usually did as they all waited for their teacher to arrive, because really, who could sleep when it felt like they'd been put into a simmering pot of soup full of LIVE ACTION FISHES!!!, without the pot and the soup and the LIVE ACTION FISHES!!!? Maybe Sakura could do something about it. Waiting all the time bored out of their minds was getting tiresome. And, at least for a while, she'd get Sasuke to pay some attention to her.

"Okay guys, since Kakashi isn't going to be here anytime soon, why don't we practice some jutsus?" said Sakura finally.

Sasuke looked at her. "Like what?" he said, as Naruto muffled a groan.

"I don't feel like doing anything, it's too hot," Naruto complained. "If I move, I'm gonna DIE."

"Your mouth is moving, isn't it?" Sakura snapped. "And do you think that when Kakashi-sensei gets here he's going to let you lie there doing nothing? Well, anyway," she continued, smiling hopefully at Sasuke, "we could try some of the jutsus that Kakashi-sensei told us about. Remember when he was telling us about jutsus that were used a long time ago? Like the Padon no Jutsu, Faha no Jutsu...we could try the Faha no Jutsu."

Naruto rolled onto his side, kicking around more rocks, bored, but still not wanting to actually do anything. "Who cares? He's not going to quiz us on them, is he? I don't even know what you're talking about." Sakura glowered at him. If looks could kill, Naruto would be dead like a dead thing.

"Naruto..." said Sakura in a voice that made little ninja kids pee their ninja pants, struggling to keep Inner Sakura inner, "remember...the lecture Kakashi-sensei gave us...about old jutsus...?"

"If they're old, why do you want to practice them?!"

"So I won't be out here in the forest feeling useless! Don't you get tired of waiting for Kakashi-sensei all the time, when you could actually be doing something productive?" Sakura glanced at Sasuke again.

"No," said Naruto. "It's when I get to have fun doing, uh..." He paused. "Nothing."

"Look, trying these jutsus won't cripple you okay? Now get up, we're going to do the Faha no Jutsu. With this jutsu you can physically stick two or more people together with your chakra, until you lift it. I'm going to perform the jutsu, and you two will be the ones stuck together."

"WHAAAAT?" Naruto yelled. "Why do I have to be the one stuck with him? Why can't I be stuck with you?"

Sasuke snorted.

"Well...we can switch later," Sakura said reluctantly, rolling her eyes. "Watch me so you know what to do, Naruto." Naruto watched Sakura happily. "But go stand closer to Sasuke!" Scowling, he shifted slowly towards Sasuke, digging his heels in and sending piles of dirt everywhere with each step. When he thought he was close enough, he stopped and turned around. "Okay. Ready?" They both faced her expectantly. Sakura performed the hand seals, concentrating on Sasuke and Naruto, and said firmly, "Faha no Jutsu!"

Nothing happened. Sasuke still stood with his hands in his pockets a few feet from Naruto, watching Sakura calmly. Naruto looked over himself in confusion. "Eh? Sakura-chan, we didn't stick."

"I can see that," she said hotly, cheeks pink. "But I didn’t say it wrong, and my hands weren't in the wrong positions..."

"It's okay Sakura-chan, I still like you!" Naruto said quickly.

"Do you think I even care about that?!" she snapped. Naruto's face fell.

She turned to Sasuke, who was watching her with a bored expression, and felt more blood rush to her face. "I, um, let's stop practicing now, I'm wasting chakra anyway." Sasuke shrugged and turned away. "GYAAAAA~AHHHH!" Inner Sakura screamed in frustration, beating herself on the head. However, some of the inner frustration leaked out. Sakura emitted a soft high pitched screeching noise that was heard by dogs in hidden villages everywhere and only realized that she was making any sound at all when Sasuke stared at her funny.

Naruto, who had been looking around for the source of the sound, noticed Sasuke looking at her, and yelled, "Sasuke, stop staring at Sakura-chan!"

Recovering quickly, Sakura yelled, "Naruto, stop yelling at Sasuke-kun!"

"Sakura-chan..." Naruto said weakly. He glared at his rival, who glared right back. They both stood around like this for a few more minutes, eyes fixed on each other, barely breathing, still as statues, bodies tense, hands clenched, the air crackling with energy, nothing between them but air and bugs and the good green grass and Sakura, who abruptly ended their staring match when she smacked Naruto on the head.

"Why, Sakura-chan, why?" he asked with tears in his eyes.

She huffed, "Leave Sasuke-kun alone already!"

Slumping down in defeat, he nursed his wounds sulkily, cursing Sasuke under his breath and wishing real hard to get back at him somehow. Sasuke this, Sasuke that, SASUKE SASUKE SASUKE. No matter what he did, Sasuke was the one that always got the attention. Even for stupid things, like sitting down or blinking or chewing gum or getting his head stuck under a rock. And when Sasuke did something wrong, when Sasuke was the one to start something with Naruto, when Sasuke insulted him, nobody cared. But if Naruto so much as breathed on Sasuke wrong he got bashed in the head by rabid drooling Sasuke fangirls. Sakura was one of those fangirls. Except, he thought, pinker. And prettier. And less rabid. And less drooling. And packed a mean punch. Naruto gently tried massaging his head, but only ended up hurting himself, so he stopped. He settled for staring at Sasuke so hard he hoped the force of his will would send the other ninja flying facefirst into the dirt. Now, that was a thought. Naruto imagined Sasuke falling clumsily over and over again, laughing. First in slow motion... "Whoooaahhh!" Sasuke would say, in a deep slowmo voice, arms wheeling manically, before falling on his face. He replayed the moment of impact for the next five minutes, snortlaughing all the way. Actually this fixation on Sasuke was getting kind of unhealthy, eh? Hey, the other two were kinda looking at him like he was all sorts of crazy now but that was because they couldn't see into his head and get the joke. In fact...

Naruto waited until they'd both turned their back to him, before hopping onto his feet lightly and running straight at Sasuke. It wasn't that hard for Sasuke to realize something was up when he could hear footsteps pounding his way. His training kicked in and he reacted quickly –

Now, Sasuke was fast, but in this one moment, in this one instant, Naruto was faster, fast enough to finally get one thing done his way today...and he shoved Sasuke.

Sasuke had already turned halfway to meet Naruto head on, but when he was pushed he stumbled backwards as he fought for his balance. He was slowing down and was about to be stable again, and he was ready to meet Naruto's immature, disappointed face and say something that would piss him off royally because Naruto was easy like that, when Sasuke brought his foot down on one of the rocks that Naruto had scattered and fell right on his ass. Naruto's loud laughter grated his ears, and he fisted the dirt at his sides tightly, feeling like right now he could crush rocks. "You idiot," he growled. He could see Sakura hurrying over to try to help him up or something. Oh, god, she was annoying, too. Something crawled over the back of his hand but it was just another insect, and he brushed it off. He made to push himself up when suddenly a hand was shoved into his face.

"Here, since I'm feeling so generous, let me help you up," Sasuke heard Naruto say pompously. It had to be a show for Sakura. At least she hadn't come closer to fuss over him like some kind of hyperactive mother hen. Sasuke eyed Naruto warily.

After a few moments of intense eyeballing he chose to say nothing and continued to get up himself, when Naruto's right hand waved insistently in his face.

"Nooo, come on Sasuke, let me help you up," Naruto said, as if they were friends. "I'm not going to get out of your face till you let me help you u~p."

"I don't need your help."

"Sasuke," Naruto said, a little desperately now. Starting to feel the rays of Sakura-fury from behind him, Sasuke's mouth quirked upwards. Naruto was stupid, and annoying, and pathetic because apparently he got off on pushing other people into the dirt. Sasuke could take this. Naruto didn't mean anything. He reached out with his right hand to grasp the hand in front of him. A firm tug had him on his feet again. Ready to pull his hand away any second now to shove back into his pocket and avoid as much other interaction as possible with the other ninja for the rest of the day, Sasuke found himself slightly perturbed when he and Naruto still held hands when it was obvious Sasuke had reached the point where he could stand by himself.

"Okay, I'm done helping you now, get the hell off me," Naruto said, rather grumpily.

"What, you're not still holding my hand because you like me?" he mocked.

"Don't be disgusting!" Naruto shot back, flushing. He tried to pull his hand away from Sasuke's. It stuck firmly. "What are you doing?! Let go of my hand already!"

"I'm not holding onto you because I want to, you know," Sasuke growled.

"What?" Panic creeping onto him, Naruto ran to Sakura, Sasuke stumbling and cursing behind him. "Sakura-chan! Ahahah...um...this is the jutsu right? See, it's working now, we're sticking! Make him get off now!"

Sakura stared at them. "That's not my jutsu. I'm not using any of my chakra. Quit your stupid joking, Naruto, it's not funny."

"You THINK I want to pretend to be stuck on him?!" Naruto shouted.

"Shut up, Naruto." She took their hands, turning them over and trying to pull them apart. Sasuke's and Naruto's fingers wiggled freely, but their palms were stuck fast. In the middle of trying to pull their palms apart amid Naruto's loud whining and anxious wriggling, and trying to be especially gentle with handling Sasuke's hand, Kakashi finally showed up.

"Good afternoon~" Kakashi called, waving to the trio who were currently looking like they were all holding hands together, Sakura's hands sandwiching Naruto's and Sasuke's in a strange cultish fashion. "Is this a new morale boosting technique you guys haven't told me about?"

"MY HAND IS STUCK TO SASUKE'S!" Naruto screamed.

"Eh? Really?..." Kakashi stroked his chin. "Why? Do you like him or something?"

Fire blazed in the shortest ninja's eyes and Naruto's teeth suddenly got a whole lot bigger.

"AAAAAAAA!"

"Ah, I see."

"Kakashi-sensei, Naruto pushed Sasuke-kun and when he pulled Sasuke-kun up again somehow their hands got stuck," Sakura explained, drawing crude diagrams in the air with her fingers. Kakashi nodded along. "They thought at first it was the Faha no Jutsu that I'd tried earlier because, well, you're always taking so long in meeting us but it couldn't have been my jutsu because I'd already stopped concentrating my chakra on them a while ago."

"You tried the Faha no Jutsu?" Their perpetually late teacher raised his one visible eyebrow. "Did it work?"

"Yes," said Sakura modestly. "Wait...er...no." She paused and knitted her brows in confusion, forgetting for the moment about Sasuke and Naruto. "I remembered the loose hand positions you showed us while you were talking a little about the Faha no Jutsu, and so I know I did those right, and you told us that it attached two people and so I concentrated on both Sasuke-kun and Naruto, but nothing happened."

"Ah," said Kakashi again. "Well...that was because I made it up."

"Eh?!"

"Just kidding," said Kakashi, smiling. Sakura twitched. "The Faha no Jutsu...well, for that to have worked, you wouldn't have had to concentrate on two or more people, you only concentrate on one. And then, the jutsu doesn't visibly go into action until the affected person comes into contact with someone else. More people can be stuck on that person as long as there is available space on that person, and as long as you keep the jutsu going. Since you can't guarantee, most of the time, that the person will be stuck to someone you want him to be stuck to, not very effective jutsu. And even when stuck, unless they've held hands, they should still be able to perform jutsu of their own. So, the Faha no Jutsu doesn't exactly do anything besides amuse the person who did it."

"Oh...okay..."

"Hellooooo! If you guys haven't noooooticed, I'm still not freeee!" Naruto thrust his Sasuked hand between Sakura and Kakashi. Sasuke, having almost tripped again for the umpteenth time since Naruto kept jerking it around as if Sasuke wouldn't mind, jerked the hand back. Naruto swiveled around angrily. "What is your problem?!"

"My problem is you acting like I'm not even here!" he shot back. "You're not the only one that doesn't want to be in this situation! Stop running around like I'm going to automatically know what you're doing and run right behind you without tripping!"

"Well – I – !" Naruto shoved his heels back with a glare.

Something caught Kakashi's eye, and he bent down and picked it up between his fingers, a small, dark, wiggling thing. After studying it for a few seconds, he asked them, "Do you know what this is?" Sakura peered closely, eyes slightly narrowed.

"It's a Sticky Bug, I think," she answered.

"Right. This one is pretty young."

"But they don't usually come to the surface." Sakura straightened with a start with sudden realization, and glanced around sharply with a disapproving look in her eye.

"Yup...Naruto, have you been kicking around?" Kakashi nudged a groove in the ground. "A lot?"

"Um...ah...yes," Naruto answered reluctantly. What, this was his fault?

"Sticky Bugs secrete a very sticky substance, obviously," Sakura continued. "Usually they're never seen above ground, because they work in stick-reinforced tunnels underground. They're also sticky if they're crushed, but that doesn't happen often because their shells are usually strong enough to avoid that. But since the ones that've been kicked up are still young, their shells aren't that strong yet..." She tilted her head towards Sasuke. "Sasuke-kun must've squashed some with his hands when he fell."

"Wow, Sakura-chan, how do you know all that?" said Naruto in awe.

She looked at him. "We learned it in the academy."

"Oh," said Naruto, feeling stupid. "Well," he tried again, as Sasuke looked disgusted behind him, "now that we know what's keeping our hands together, we know what to do to take our hands apart then right?" He wracked his brain for any memory on the lesson of Sticky Bugs at the academy, to see if he could answer his own question and redeem himself in Sakura's eyes. The day the lesson was taught, he must not have been paying attention though, because he couldn't remember anything at all. He knew he had tried his hardest to pay attention to graduate at his last year at the academy, actually studying (most of the time), copying down notes to memorize, listening to Iruka, but, everyone had their off days...right? He shuffled his feet, then stopped, and hoped no one had noticed.

"There isn't any other way to get you two apart until the skin on your palms shed enough to loosen the hold," said Kakashi. "It should take a few days," he added.

There was a silence as the message sunk in.

Oh, okay, yeay! thought Naruto.

Then the message really sunk in.

Naruto's first reaction was to hyperventilate. His next reaction was to begin mumbling to himself. His third reaction was to try to throttle Sasuke to death but he couldn't manage to do it with only one hand and Sasuke easily evaded him and looked at him with a promise that he would headbutt Naruto if he tried that again. At least, that was what Naruto interpreted from the look in his eyes. He went back to mumbling.

No! Why why why why why. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out. Don't stop to think about how long you're going to be stuck with that hardass, with him on you for how long? Come on, you can do it, maybe it won't be that bad anyway, even though you hate his guts and he's annoying as hell...yeah, how hard can it be? You're not going to let Sasuke bring you down...just because you're going to be together for a while won't change anything, he's not going to change you, you're going to do whatever the hell you want, whenever the hell you want! You're going to be the boss! Yeah, and you could maybe just pretend he's not there, if he keeps his mouth shut and doesn't say anything, ever, until finally you could just pull your hand off without even noticing, because you got so used to him holding your hand and being next to you all the time, because no one's done that for a while...

Sasuke sighed, scowling, squeezing Naruto's hand unconsciously. "We have a crushed insect between our hands," he muttered in disgust.

Suddenly that, the unintended hand squeeze or what Sasuke just said, brought Naruto back from his thoughts with a snap.

"NGH—AAAAUUUUGHHH! BASTARD! GET OFF!"

Sasuke glared. "You get off."

"GET OFF ME OR I'LL KILL YOU!"

"Sasuke-kun, Naruto, I'm really sorry," said Sakura.

"Why couldn't it have been ME?!" said Inner Sakura.

Sakura tilted her head.

"Wait, actually, having a bug between our palms would be kind of gross..."

"Poor Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said out loud. "You're not in pain, are you?"

"AAAAUUUGHHHH!"

"No."

"HELP ME! WHY IS HE STILL STUCK ON ME? GET OFF, SASUKE!" Suddenly he gasped. "HOW WILL I GO TO THE BATHROOM? HOW WILL I SLEEP? HOW WILL I EAT?"

"Having him there won't keep you from eating!" Sakura snapped.

"I'm gonna have his creepy little face next to me all the time! I CAN'T eat! Not with THAT FACE! YOU try eating with that!"

"Shut up," said Sakura.

"I WISH! DAAAAMMMN YOU NARUTO!" said Inner Sakura.

Kakashi knew it was time to divert Naruto's attention when he started gnawing frantically on Sasuke's arm, so he clapped loudly.

Sasuke wiped at the spit on his arm while Naruto stopped chewing on him to stare hysterically at Kakashi. "You're clapping?" the blond ninja yelped, "Why are you CLAPPING?"

"Ne...why don't you guys go on home," said Kakashi, sweating a little. "Staying together will be good for both of you. You'll get to know each other better. Maybe you'll fight less. Consider this part of your training."

"Kakashi-sensei, do I get training with Sasuke-kun?" asked Sakura hopefully.

"Yup!" said Kakashi.

She brightened.

"You train with him and Naruto a lot already, don't you?"

She withered.

"The hell! That's not what I meant, Kakashi-sensei!" Inner Sakura shouted.

Naruto made a face at Sasuke, sullen and reserved. "We're going to my place," he said with a lift of his chin. His fellow ninja shrugged.

"Fine. I don't care."

Naruto stomped off with Sasuke in tow.

"See you guys later," Kakashi called. He could see that as the pair trudged off, every once in a while, Naruto would whirl around and thrash, as if that would help him in accomplishing anything. "Careful, you might rip the skin off of your palms!"

"Bye, Kakashi-sensei," said Sakura, disgruntled. Oh well. At least she could go back to her air-conditioning...and it wasn't like she did nothing today.... She sighed.

***

After struggling with the way they both walked (Naruto didn't like the way Sasuke had to walk behind him like that, but also refused to let Sasuke lead back to his ninjapartment, and Sasuke wouldn't walk backwards, so they ended up going on as they were), how they got through the front door (Naruto almost shut the door on Sasuke; he claimed it was an accident, but while arguing his innocence he accidentally laughed because he couldn't hold it in anymore, the look on Sasuke's incredulous face was priceless), and where they put their shoes ("Not THERE!" he had shouted, "Do you want me to fall on my FACE?" Sasuke rolled his eyes and kicked his shoes into a corner, and left them there, even when Naruto proceeded to leave his shoes in the same exact spot he had been complaining about just before), they finally settled down to have late late lunch.

"Is ramen all you have?" asked Sasuke, glimpsing the five different flavors Naruto had stored in his cupboards when he opened one.

"Of course not! I have milk too. Stop being so nosy." Naruto closed the cupboard Sasuke had just opened with a glare, before opening it again to take out two cups of shrimp-flavored instant ramen. He slid one of them on the counter to Sasuke, barely giving him time to take it before moving to pump out hot water into his cup. Pulling out a drawer for some chopsticks, he waited until Sasuke had finished pumping hot water into his cup ramen, before sliding into his seat.

Sasuke maneuvered a chair across the table from Naruto with his foot, chair creaking when he sat.

They waited the two minutes for the ramen to cook together, Naruto staring at the wall, Sasuke staring at a spot past Naruto's right shoulder.

They ate their ramen in silence. Although Naruto slurped noisily. And guzzled the milk he'd made Sasuke get up for midswallow in loud gulps. And kicked the table when he had finished eating, nearly knocking over Sasuke's styrofoam cup of ramen.

Sasuke caught his noodles just in time, continuing to eat under Naruto's wrathful watch. Finally he drank the dregs of the warm soup left in the bottom of the cup with the last few noodles and pieces of corn, and set his chopsticks across the rim.

"I don't wanna do anything else," Naruto announced. "Just being around you makes me tired."

“Then we can talk about where I'm going to sleep,” said Sasuke. “Because I think we both don’t want to be in the same bed.” The blond ninja’s eyes widened.

“Like hell you are! As if there’s going to be room for you anyway. You can sleep on the floor.” Naruto felt weird all of a sudden, like this was some kind of messed up sleepover or something.

“Fine.”

Silence fell over the both of them again.

Naruto tapped the table with his fingers, wondering what the hell could he do now. ‘Get to know Sasuke better’? Consider this training? Yeah right, Kakashi-sensei. What he was considering to right now was to flip through his girlie magazines, but he didn’t want to do it with Sasuke around. Part of him wanted to do it to see if Sasuke would get flustered and turn red, but another part was suddenly embarrassed like he should feel ashamed, like he had to impress Sasuke somehow. He didn’t like this. He was going to get better than Sasuke, not try to impress him.

“I’m gonna go to sleep early,” Naruto grumbled. He made for the bathroom, Sasuke behind him, and they awkwardly took turns brushing their teeth and spitting into the sink (Sasuke using a toothbrush Naruto had found in a cabinet somewhere). They both had some trouble working the toothbrushes with their left hand, Naruto dropping his toothbrush twice and Sasuke, noticing Naruto’s example, held onto his toothbrush tight and didn’t drop it at all, although he accidentally shoved the back of his throat with it a few times.

They met their first problem when Naruto was trying to change into his bedclothes. Naruto was in the bathroom, Sasuke waiting outside, with the door closed as much as possible. He’d gotten his pj pants on, and he didn’t have to bother about the shirt because he slept with it anyway, but he realized that as long as he and Sasuke were holding hands, he wouldn’t be able to take his shirt off. Not that he’d want to take his shirt off all the time but...now he couldn’t bathe, either.

Naruto was in a mild state of panic before he remembered that (hopefully) this was only going to be for a few days, and plus, he could always triplewash his dirty clothes later. What was a little grime, anyway? He was sure that when he went on real missions, not weeding some old hag’s garden, he’d be sweatier and dirtier than the days he’d be trapped with Sasuke, practically an invalid. He wasn’t going to prance around and show everyone whose hand he was holding. And what about Sakura? If she even let him into her house, she’d only have eyes for Sasuke...if only he could be considering holding Sakura’s hand training.

Hey, was Sasuke a clean freak? They hadn’t gone to Sasuke’s ninjapartment to pick up any of his things or anything, so he couldn’t even change his pants. Silent laughter bubbled in Naruto. Sasuke was just going to have to wear the same clothes for the next few days.

“Naruto, I’m going to go pick up some of my things—”

“What? No!”

“—tomorrow.”

Naruto widened the bathroom door to see Sasuke frowning at him. “Why were you so ready to say no?” He sneered. “Are you scared of where I live?”

“Huh? No way! I just thought that you stuck in smelly clothes till we get off of each other would be funny.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes toward the ceiling, something that didn’t go unnoticed. “All the more reason to go get my stuff.”

“Yeah, tomorrow.” A yellow blur hurtled past Sasuke to bounce on the bed, an action which resulted in pulling Sasuke around jerkily, much to his annoyance. “Yeay, bed!” Naruto chirped, landing facing the window on one of his bounces. Sunshine poured in. “No, sunlight!” He stared sadly out over the village for a moment, at the people walking the dirt streets, at the curling posters advertising ninja girlie mags, outdoor vendors screaming that their “huge plump juicy watermelon” was the best, the women’s public bath…the things he could be doing now, the pranks he could be trying to pull. But he couldn’t, because for one thing, he wanted everyone to see him as the inevitable Hokage, for the great things he could do, not a troublemaker that everyone hated. He was past that now!

But…Sasuke probably thought he was some kind of loser right now, going to bed so early like this. He probably thought he had no life. That stupid Sasuke. He didn’t know anything about him. Naruto whirled around, jabbing a finger into Sasuke’s startled face. “I’m only sleeping this early because you make me sick! I’d usually do other things but it’s kind of hard with someone clutching me!”

The startled look on Sasuke’s face slowly melted into anger. “How many times do I have to tell you? I’m not stopping you from doing anything, you moron, and I never wanted to be here in the first place—and if you hadn’t pushed me, or kicked up the dirt all the time, then I wouldn’t even be here!”

“So what are you trying to say?!” Naruto shouted. “That this is my fault?”

“Yes,” Sasuke shouted. “So stop complaining every five minutes! You’re getting on my nerves!”

Naruto huffed angrily. Then he threw himself onto his bed. “Stupid Sasuke,” he mumbled into his pillow.

“What?” said Sasuke crankily, “I didn’t hear that. I need a pillow, and a blanket to lie on.” The bed shifted behind him and he noted with some satisfaction that Naruto responded so quickly. He nudged aside some of the old clothes and broken parts from various objects that littered Naruto’s room. Scrolls with hastily scribbled notes lay unrolled on the floor, a potted plant placed unnervingly near Naruto’s bed was dusty, and a faintly sour smell wafted from the bulging garbage bag next to the refrigerator. Pictures of girls with large smiles and large bosoms pasted onto the walls smiled flirtatiously to something off to the side—the dirty dishes everywhere, maybe. Sasuke turned to meet Naruto’s eyes.

“Like it?” said Naruto sarcastically.

He shrugged. “Sure.” The other ninja shot him a dark look.

“You wanted pillows right? You can have the lumpy one,” Naruto decided, after making a show of feeling up all the pillows he had. He tossed it to Sasuke, who grabbed it before it hit his face and managed to tuck it under his arm.

Naruto pushed himself off of his bed and strode over to his closet and dragged out a heavy blanket, dumping it on the floor next to his bed. “Hmph.” He crawled back into bed and onto his back, right arm dangling over the side.

Sasuke spread the blanket out with his feet as best he could, then plopped his pillow down and laid on his side. Going through the night like this wouldn’t be too bad. His arm wasn’t supporting anything so it wouldn’t get tired, and he wasn’t a restless sleeper. But he didn’t know about Naruto. Knowing him, he might as well be hyperactive during the night in his sleep, too. He only hoped Naruto wasn’t a sleepwalker or was the kind who woke up delusional in the middle of the night punching the hell out of everything.

Sasuke stared at the swirly pattern on Naruto’s blanket, then under the bed into the shadows where he saw the most dust he ever had in his life. A bit creeped out, and not wanting to infuse his nostrils with the dustbunnies from hell, he inched a little farther away from the edge of the bed.

The body on the bed was silent, but he was sure it was thinking bad thoughts on him. He had the stirrings of a headache, a small buzzing throb behind his right eyeball. It was still sunny outside for a very long time, until eventually the village night lights flickered to life, casting long shadows on the floors, twisting unfamiliar objects into even more unfamiliar shapes, and he could hear the crickets chirp, before he fell asleep.

Naruto had slept like a rock.

Come morning, yawning and stretching like cats, practically falling into the bathroom, they stood side by side, washing up and brushing their teeth blearily at the sink.

Over the years, dreading to confront the hateful stares and silence anew, Naruto took his time waking up and perfected a morning routine to immerse himself in before getting out to face everyone. He didn’t have to think about anything but what he had to do next.

Okay, he already washed his face and brushed his teeth...time to visit the porcelain throne. Naruto shuffled towards the toilet, feet slapping quietly against the floor, mumbling “toilet...toilet” when his eyes flew wide open, suddenly, startlingly awake.

“Get out!” he barked.

Sasuke moved towards the door, dragging Naruto along with him.

“Don’t take me with you!”

“How am I supposed to get out then?”

“I don’t know...somehow!” They scowled viciously at each other, both wishing the other would bash his head on the wall and pass out.

So started another beautiful day.

Naruto hmmmm’ed. “Maybe, if I aimed right, I could pee from here while you stand outside the door,” he mused.

Sasuke snorted in distaste. “I’ll just close my eyes, and you can go. It won’t be anything I haven’t seen before, anyway.”

Naruto looked at him in shock.

Reddening, he stammered, “I mean…I meant that I have one too, moron.”

“Yeah...okay.” Naruto walked to the toilet, eyeing Sasuke in his peripheral vision suspiciously. “Are you SURE you can’t see anything?”

Hand in his pocket, Sasuke said, “Yes, my eyes are closed. And,” he turned, “I’m even facing the other way.” He kept his eyes closed until he heard the toilet flush, and let Naruto take him over to the sink to wash his hands. “What are you doing?” he asked when he felt the cold spray of water on his right hand.

“Washing my hands, what do you think. Bakasuke!”

“You didn’t even use that hand.”

“So?” He watched as Naruto rubbed soap thoroughly on his right hand, trying to work it between their palms, the slightly calloused pads of his fingertips brushing against the soft side of his hand.

Naruto rinsed off all of the soap and wriggled his palm against Sasuke’s for a bit, trying to see if the hold had loosened yet, even a little bit. Their hands held fast. He stared at it sadly for a moment, before marching off to the kitchen with a commanding air, saying, “C’mon, breakfast.”

They had instant ramen again, chicken-flavored this time. Munching on his hot ramen, Sasuke seriously wondered if this was all the boy ate. He knew he lived by himself and all that, but was there nothing else that was edible in the house? He asked Naruto this when there was a pause from the loud slurping.

“I told you!” Naruto said indignantly, “I have milk too! Are you thirsty or something?”

Sasuke discovered that Naruto was right. He did have milk. He had lots of milk. Aside from that, and some limp old fruit, and the stacks of ramen in the cupboard (which Sasuke felt, unreasonably, were waiting to explode in the dark), that was all. Naruto surveyed his kingdom. “Huh,” he said. “Well, I’m a growing man, and I like milk, anyway,” he explained.

Choosing a carton of milk and opening it, Sasuke sipped his milk while waiting for Naruto to finish sucking up his ramen like he was some kind of ninja-vacuum with hair.

Why couldn’t they have a jutsu that unstuck people, Naruto thought as he reached into his insta-ramen for a noodle he’d missed. His eyes traveled to the cow-drawing on the carton of milk Sasuke had, and then moved on to Sasuke’s face. Hnnn...hmph. Rolling his eyes over to the calendar on his wall, he rested his face on his hand.

Seeing that he was done, Sasuke gathered all of the ramen cups and threw them away without a word.

“Aww...thanks, Sasuke,” Naruto said sarcastically, turning his face away. “I was going to do that myself later...” Sasuke gave him a “Yeah, right” look or a “Shut up or I’ll eat you” look. Naruto could never be sure, because Sasuke never changed his expressions much. He thought he looked a little angry all the time.

“Go change,” Sasuke told him, “I’m going to pick up my things.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Naruto growled from the bathroom, peeling his pj pants off and hopping into his orange ones, yanking his sleeping cap off his head.

Sasuke was slipping on his shoes when he heard a yell behind him, a jerk on his arm, and a hard, dull smack. He looked over his shoulder to find Naruto sprawled on the ground, rubbing his head with a grimace. “Right where Sakura-chan hit me yesterday, too, damn,” he heard him mutter. Then the blond ninja raised his head and inhaled loudly.

“WHO PUT THEIR SHOES THERE? I ALMOST FELL ON MY FACE! GOOD THING I ONLY HIT MY HEAD!...ow...pain...SASUKE!” Naruto yelled, face scrunched in exertion.

“What.” Sasuke looked pointedly down at his own shoes.

"I tripped over your—" Naruto followed his gaze and saw Sasuke’s shoes on Sasuke’s feet. The words fumbled and died in his throat, and he stared quietly at the sandals. Then, regaining steam, he pointed a finger and continued, “I tripped over your big fat head!” He pulled on his own sandals, and threw his hands in the air with a snort. “Okay! Let’s go!”

Sasuke had one foot out the door when he was tugged back sharply again. “What?” he barked in exasperation.

Naruto gestured maniacally to their stuck hands. “This! What are we going to do about this!? Everyone will think we’re freaks!”

He narrowed his eyes. “Naruto, it’s early morning, and not a lot of people will be up. If they are up, they probably won’t notice at all. Aren’t you a ninja?” he added. “Don’t you know proper ninja aren’t seen? Or are you just not skilled enough yet, loudmouth?”

“SASUKE!” Naruto screamed, his voice echoing through the village, bouncing off of windows and walls and shattering several small glasses.

In her room, Sakura mumbled and rolled over in her sleep.

Birds squawked and fluttered out of trees in wide sweeping circles.

Old women doing their early morning power exercises paused in the middle of a twist n’ turn to stare in a direction they thought the noise was coming from, but ended up looking the completely wrong way.

Sasuke looked at Naruto sourly. “After that outburst, definitely no one’s going to be on the lookout for something weird.”

“Shut up.”

They tumbled down to the roads in their ninja stealth, slinking along in the morning shadows, ducking under windows, and Sexy no Jutsuing along all at Naruto’s insistence. He said, while they threw themselves behind a bush to avoid a jogger, that he’d rather be seen holding Sasuke’s hand as a girl than a boy so no one would recognize him as easily, disregarding the fact that most of the population of the village (i.e., the women) already knew his Sexy no Jutsu form, and no one else wore the rolled up orange pants he did. I am SUPERSMOOTH! he told himself, and he believed it.

Used to living alone, Sasuke knew he didn’t have anyone to please or displease by keeping his rooms clean and his dishes washed, but he did it anyway. It wasn’t that he was obsessive about cleanliness; it was just that he’d rather deal with the mess right away than be bothered with it later. He also didn’t put a lot of effort in trying to show that an Uchiha Sasuke was living there. A small plain calendar hung on one wall, his scrolls rolled up neatly on shelves, everything clean and spotless and bare. A small bundle of pictures of his family were in his drawer, and he kept them there to remind himself of what he had to do, as if he’d ever forget.

Naruto stepped through the doorway cautiously, as if traps were going to be sprung on him. “So this is where you live, huh. Why’s it bigger than mine? You don’t even use most of it.” He followed behind the other ninja, who didn’t answer him, watching as Sasuke packed together a change of clothes neatly, and picking up his own toothbrush from his bathroom.

Naruto peered inside his bathroom curiously. “Hey, Sasuke, why do you have a tree in your bathroom?”

Bundling in the toothbrush and a washcloth in with his clothes, he answered, “When I moved in here, it was already there. I didn’t mind it, so I didn’t bother taking it down. It doesn’t take up that much space.”

“Doesn’t it bother you?” Naruto stared at the leafy goodness.

“Why would it?”

“It looks like it’s about to fall apart, especially when you least expect it. Like, when you’re busy there, sitting on the toilet, and you can’t do anything about it.”

Sasuke stared at him. “Naruto, it’s an old poster.”

Naruto stared back. “But still!”

“Then I’d just throw it away, what else? I’m finished, we can head back now.”

They walked out of the bathroom, down the hallway, past the kitchen where an unnoticeable sheen of dust laid on the table and counters, out of Sasuke’s ninjapartment, where he locked it with a small click.

They headed out back to Naruto’s ninjapartment with the same amount of paranoia and caution, all readily supplied by Naruto. Even though he was the one with the uberblinding orange pants.

By now most of the village was up already, setting up shop and calling out their wares in loud, fresh voices. Naruto and Sasuke didn’t have to be as noise-cautious as before now, but had to dodge more people, so they went through back alleys and traveling by jumping from roof to roof as often as they could. Naruto had stubbed his toe on the landing of the last roof jump, and he was cursing quietly to himself when Sasuke said, “Let me pick up something else,” and jumped down from off the roof of a house occupied by a woman named Shonen who was always in the middle of a panic attack because people kept making fun of her and threw rocks on her roof a lot. Naruto hadn’t been prepared for the jump down but managed to catch himself on time and land on his two feet, albeit painfully. Feet stinging and toe throbbing, Naruto’s brain wanted to demand just what the hell Sasuke was doing, and his mouth had started to open to do his brain’s bidding, when Sasuke pushed his bundle on top of their joined hands and told him to pretend he was holding it. So Naruto was pretending to hold the bundle when Sasuke’s left hand, also holding it, accidentally jostled it too far and it fell to the ground.

“I told you to hold it,” Sasuke hissed, bending to pick it up again.

“Yeah, I was doing what you told me to. Pretending to hold it,” said Naruto.

The bundle was shoved on top of their hands again. “This time, actually hold it.”

“What the hell are we doing, anyway?”

“Act normal.” Sasuke strode out from the shadows of the back alley into the open market, plain sight for anyone to see. Shocked, Naruto’s fingers almost slipped but he looked down to adjust and realized what the bundle was for: to cover their right hands.

They weaved around women purchasing food to cook for the day, old women haggling over the price of a slightly wilted vegetable, children trying to steal oranges to fling at each other before peeling it open to devour the sweet golden flesh inside, toward a man already sweating, face shining, frying fish on a stick. People they passed glanced at them, but they were only looks of admiration for Sasuke. As their eyes slid over to Naruto, however, their mouths twisted as if seeing him left a sour taste slick in the back of their throat. He pretended not to notice.

“Four orders,” Sasuke said to the fish man, digging out money and placing it on the counter.

The fish man served it up.

As Sasuke balanced the orders on top of the bundle (already covered with a napkin), the man commented, “Must be a really heavy package, eh? To be carried by two people.”

Sasuke looked at the man with his best deadpan expression, which was usually a great conversation stopper at parties. “Yes.”

The man bustled back to preparing more fish to sell. “Uh huh...good day.”

Naruto’s mouth watered all the way back home. “Ohh,” he moaned, “it smells so good...”

“You just ate,” said Sasuke as Naruto opened the front door.

“That doesn’t stop it from smelling good. Bakasuke!”

The fish on sticks was put on the kitchen table, followed by Sasuke’s things. Steam slowly curled from the fishes’ crisp skin, before Sasuke draped another napkin over the fish to keep them warm.

“Hey, what’re they for then?” Naruto demanded when he reached for a fish but was stopped by the other ninja.

“It’s our lunch,” he said simply.

“But we have ramen! If you didn’t like eating my ramen so much, why didn’t you tell me?!”

“Because you’d probably feed me more ramen.”

Naruto laughed.

“And you’re only laughing because it’s true, idiot.”

Naruto sprawled himself over a chair, stretching bonelessly. “Well, I don’t now what to do now.”

“What do you usually do?”

Naruto hesitated. “Wait for upcoming missions. But we can’t go on any missions like this.”

“Just because we’re holding hands won’t keep us from taking out the garbage, or doing anything else on our D-rank missions. There’s no reason for Kakashi to not make us go on the missions.”

“He better not! I don’t want people seeing me like this, and we can’t hold your stupid bundle forever!”

“Yeah?” Sasuke questioned. “What would you do if he did?”

“I’d steal his Icha Icha Paradise,” Naruto declared. “It’d serve him right for being so perverted, anyway.”

“Hey, really, you’d do that?” said a voice from behind him.

Naruto froze, then turned his head slowly. “Ah hah, I was kidding! I didn’t mean it...uh...it was a joke!”

"It wasn't very funny, Naruto," said Kakashi easily. "You should come up with better jokes next time." He smiled. "I came to check up on you two. Doing well?"

"Yes," said Sasuke.

"How did you get in here?" asked Naruto.

"Oh, through your window, you left it open," said Kakashi. All three of them looked at once at the window.

Naruto's window now sported a big, gaping hole. It looked like someone had thrown himself through the glass.

Naruto's mouth fell open. "KaKAAAAAAAAAAASHI-SENSEI!" Out in the village, he broke several more glasses.

"Don't worry, I'm cleaning it up...calm down, see?" Kakashi produced a sweep and a pan from where he usually pulled out his pervert book and cleaned up the glass. "I'll bring you a new window tomorrow! You were going to open your window tonight anyway, weren't you? It's hot outside."

"I have air-conditioning!"

"Ah...I see..." Kakashi produced tape and a thin blanket from the same pocket, because due to his ninja smarts, he could fit all of these things in there. He taped the blanket over the hole. "Anyway...Naruto, you're not crying in the corner so you must be okay too." Before he could open his mouth to protest some more, Kakashi added, "I heard you screaming Sasuke's name this morning, it really startled me. What happened?"

"Huh? Oh...Sasuke was being stupid," said Naruto, remembering the taunt and frowning. He did an experimental tug with his right hand, and it twisted to the side a little bit. "Hey! It's moving! It's moving!" Naruto shouted happily. "Our skin is shedding!"

"Great!" said their teacher, "then tomorrow's mission should work your hands enough to separate them."

"What?" Naruto said intelligently. "Huh?"

"Yup," agreed Kakashi. "We meet at the park at nine in the morning, all right? See you." Waving, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving them to stare him strangely when Kakashi was still in the same exact spot. "I was about to leave through the window, but I just taped that up...I'll leave by the door, okay?" He waved again and left. For real.

"Why is he our teacher?" the two genin thought.

"Are you going to try to take his Icha Icha Paradise?" said Sasuke, eyebrows slightly raised, as if it was another taunt.

He stared at the ground. It was like jinxing himself, the way he said out loud how he didn't want to go on missions. Why did these things always happen to him? Was it karma? Kakashi had even heard him say he'd try to take Icha Icha Paradise, so it'd be more than impossible to try to steal it now. He probably kept the book on him all the time. How many times had he read the book anyway? It looked like the same book every time Naruto saw it out.

Was he going to do the mission? Kakashi hadn't said what they were doing, so maybe this was the day they finally moved up from their D-rank missions. Hmmm...that was a tantalizing thought. Their stupid D-rank missions annoyed him because they didn't need any of his skills, it was things anyone could do, just that for some reason people would prefer to pay for a couple of ninjas to work the garden or find a cat than try to do it themselves. Maybe they had no friends, he thought. Or they had no kneecap. Hmpf. Geezers. He hoped he never got so weak and frail like some old people, because if he tried to do all the things he could do now, he'd probably break his hip. Maybe he'd break both hips. Naruto shivered. Scary...he hadn't shivered like this in a while. Then he realised that the air conditioner had kicked in and a well-placed vent above Naruto's head was unleashing air-conditioned fury upon him. It also blew his hair around his face dramatically. Since Sasuke was still looking like he was waiting for Naruto to answer his question, this was probably the time to say something inspiring, something strong, something totally wicked and cool!

He lifted his chin determinedly. Oh...damn! What was the question? Oh yeah, he remembered now. "NO!" he boomed regally.

"Because...?" Sasuke prompted.

What the hell? Another question? thought Naruto. The first one wasn't enough? Glutton.

"Because...I feel bad for the people who have no hips...so I will do their missions! And maybe tomorrow's finally the day we get something higher than a D-rank mission! Like B-rank!" Naruto said excitedly. He relished the thought. "I'd be kicking ass all over the place. Yes...and I'll rip my hand from yours in no time! No matter how painful that sounds!"

The full delicious smell of freshly fried fish wafted into his nostrils, and he opened his eyes to watch Sasuke biting into a stick of fish curiously. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Lunchtime," said Sasuke simply.

Naruto pumped his left fist in the air. "YES!"

"NO!" Naruto shouted after Kakashi finished explaining their D-rank mission the next morning. The heat had gradually receded to cooler temperatures, and a sweet breeze stroked the trees around them lazily. People picnicked in the shade, a gentle buzz of chatter that carried through the park, glad that they could finally be outside comfortably. Heads turned at the outburst, saw it was only Naruto again, and conversations resumed.

"Why do we have to go around lugging rocks for?" he complained. "It sounds pointless!"

"If we don't remove the rocks from her roof, it's possible that it will collapse," said Kakashi seriously.

"Why are there rocks on her roof in the first place?" asked Sakura.

"Her name is Shonen."

"Oh." She crinkled her brow. "Why would people be so motivated to keep on throwing rocks on her roof all the time? Wouldn't they get tired and stop after a while?"

"Her last name is Baka."

"...Oh."

Naruto gawked. "Who would hate their kid so much that they'd name her that?"

"Her parents had been hoping so much for a boy that they went to a fortune-teller who'd told them that to ensure that they'd get a boy, they had to name their baby Shonen." Kakashi glanced at the slip of paper in his hand. "No one knows why her last name is Baka. It might've been an insult that stuck."

"That's horrible..." said Naruto.

"Yeah..." Sakura agreed.

Team 7 trudged along the roads to Shonen's house, Naruto and Sasuke using a bundle to disguise their hands again. Every so often Sakura would glance at the bundle wistfully, as if she wanted to take its place. Or more like, replace Naruto's hand under it with hers.

They knew they reached Shonen's house when they found the house with the ladder propped against its side, the piles of rocks overflowing the roof, and a woman standing by the window looking as if she was hyperventilating and couldn't stop. Kakashi made for the door so he could go inside and greet her, but she gestured upwards quickly, stabbing the air with a finger, before disappearing from the window. Their teacher shrugged, handed a bag to Sakura and Sasuke, and told them to just dump the rocks in the back. Shonen had figured she could make a rock garden to pass the lonely hours and, as a bonus, have a ready arsenal of flying projectiles handy.

"Quite a woman," thought Kakashi as he supervised Team 7 clearing off the roof, rocks clacking loudly.

Naruto and Sasuke were at first unsure how they'd climb the ladder. "Your butt would be right in my FACE!" Naruto had exclaimed in an extremely horrified way, which bothered Sasuke somewhat. They had a one-sided squabble on how to proceed (Sasuke kept quiet while Naruto argued with himself) until Naruto convinced himself that a butt was a butt and nothing else, and so Sasuke climbed first, gripping the bag in his teeth, and Naruto second, averting his face as far as anatomically possible and letting out a huge sigh of relief when they reached the top.

Sasuke held the bag as Naruto threw in rocks, sometimes missing his mark and having to pick up a few of the same rocks again, until it was full and Sasuke overturned the bag over the back side of the house. Then Naruto held the bag and Sasuke flung in the rocks, and it all went on like that. Once in a while Naruto thought he heard faint screaming but he wasn't sure. He nudged Sakura and asked her if she heard anything, but she shook her head and brushed him off. He strained his ears hard whenever he thought he could hear any screeching, and he was madly curious about this but didn't exactly trust that a woman named Shonen Baka would be stable enough to confront.

"Ne...Kakashi-sensei, did you hear anything? Just now?" he asked when they all stopped for break to wipe their forehead and catch their breath.

"Yes," Kakashi answered, "but don't bother her. It's none of our business."

"Right, I won't," Naruto said unconvincingly. "You heard it, didn't you, Sasuke?" he whispered.

Sasuke shrugged. "Yeah."

"Don't you want to find out where it's coming from?"

"It's from that woman."

"Well, how about why she's screaming, then?"

Sasuke leveled a look at him. "No."

"C'mon, don't be such a killjoy."

"We're being paid to clean this up, not spy on her."

"Don't you wonder, even a little bit?"

"No."

"You LIE!"

"No."

"I'm taking that as a yes." Naruto jumped from the roof, putting all his weight into it so Sasuke had no choice but to follow. "Kakashi-sensei~ I'm gonna ask for some water."

Kakashi's face appeared over the edge. "Don't do anything stupid, Naruto," he warned.

"Yah huh. Heh heh heh." Naruto grinned once Kakashi's face disappeared. "This way." He pulled Sasuke to the front door, who had resigned himself to his fate; he did lie. A small part of his brain was a little curious, like a small worm had crawled underneath his skin. He knew he had other things he should do, that he had more important things to think about, like his brother and revenge and the reason he was forcing himself to be better than the best he could possibly be, but right now he let himself have a small distraction while he was here, close behind this one idiot in orange that could possibly understand what it was like to be alone all the time, haunted by memories he didn't always want, feeling a drive take over him sometimes on the days he didn't feel like doing anything that felt either like a blessing or a curse. Most nights he laid awake plotting the death of his brother. And which for now, would be the point of his existence. He knew it wasn't considered "normal," but he didn't grow up normal. He accepted it: growing up too quickly, priming himself for the murder of his brother, losing everything when he was so small and useless and insignificant.

Since he knew this, felt he knew everything, didn't need anything else, this one little thing he will let himself have, a distraction so small it would barely register. Yes.

Since he was here anyway. It didn't matter and it was okay.

They had inched carefully into the house, Naruto clenching tighter on Sasuke's hand unconsciously in response to the screaming, listening in a morbid fascination. He could tell Naruto was excited; he was grinning like a loon. Sasuke squeezed his hand, and Naruto turned, smiling at him.

The chairs and tables looked as if someone had come in the middle of the night to rearrange the furniture randomly. A chair had been rammed frontfirst into the wall, the coffee table had a dent off its center, two other chairs sat right in front of a cabinet, which was full of pencils, all of them sharpened to a lethal point. Eyes set in drawings that littered the walls watched them in crosshatched abandon, painstakingly shaded veins bulging.

"This is freaky," Sasuke heard Naruto mutter. "I think there's something seriously wrong with her."

The screaming was louder from here, and they could make out clacking noises. Stepping carefully around crumpled balls of paper, Naruto slowly poked his head around the corner.

"It's clear," he whispered.

They crept along the side of the wall down the hall, wary of drawn monsters lurking all around them. Limbs spread across the ceiling like a disease. Scales shone silvery in the faint light that struggled inside. Animalistic faces pulled back tight in vicious smiles. They crossed closed doors and the rooms that they could see into looked as if the rooms had vomited blackened papers and pencil stubs and broken chairs rather...explosively.

Finally they stood outside of the room where the woman was screaming her heart out, something hard clacking into the walls every few minutes.

Heartbeat quickened but not hammering wildly out of control, Naruto peered into the room.

More drawings of people on the walls, this time taking the shape of boys, some of whom Naruto recalled vaguely from the academy. Shonen snatched up rocks scattered on the floor and hurled it at the faces of the boys, screaming her screechy scream and muttering to herself, "Yes, that's how you brats will sound when you find the tables turned, when you come to my house again and try to throw your rocks...my aim is good...especially when you're not moving..."

"Gah, I knew she was a freak," thought Naruto.

Sasuke had looked around Naruto to see what was going on. He had a ludicrous expression on his face. As they turned to get back out into the daylight, he said, "That was stupid," with a shake of his head.

"If you hadn't gone to see it, it would've been an unsolved mystery and you'd be kept awake thinking about it, wouldn't you," said Naruto knowingly, sliding his shoulder against the wall. He thought she was being tortured or something, not throwing rocks at a wall like some kind of maniac. She probably deserved a last name like Baka. What a nut, he scoffed.

Naruto felt a small, sharp pain at the small of his back. Sasuke? he thought automatically, but Sasuke was in front of him and looking at him with an eyebrow cocked.

"Why did you—" Sasuke got out before they both heard the clattering of rocks falling behind them.

"What are you boys doing in here," Shonen said sharply, her left eye rolling crazily in its socket as her right eye fixed on them. (Maybe it was Naruto's imagination...)

"I—we wanted a glass of water, but we're not thirsty now!" Naruto tried to say in a calm, please-don't-hurt-me-we-come-in-peace kind of voice, but watched with growing anxiety as Shonen grabbed more rocks at her feet and flung her arm back, ready to piston forward and let loose.

"Oh shit oh shit oh shit—RUN!" he shouted to Sasuke and they tore down the silvery hallway, rocks smashing into things behind them, in front of them, above them, at their legs, at their backs, past all the faces and slinky limbs and gleaming graphite.

Sasuke and Naruto exploded past the front door, hands slipsliding, and scrambled up the ladder as fast as they could, to the amusement of Kakashi and the shocked tentative disapproval of Sakura, who wondered what Sasuke thought of Naruto now.

The boy in question collapsed, laughing helplessly. Sasuke scrubbed a hand over his face. "You're an idiot," he said to Naruto, but he didn't care, just laughed some more.

"What a loon," said Naruto.

"Why didn't you guys just leave her alone?" said Sakura, a little angrily. "She already has enough to deal with."

"We weren't doing anything wrong, just looked at her, we didn't even try to talk to her," said Naruto, getting back up on his feet, slight tremors running down his spine, now laughing more out of surprise at what just happened than anything else. Sasuke picked up their bag, and they finished clearing off the roof in relative silence, sun bearing down into their backs.

Kakashi made them apologise to Shonen, which they did. Grudgingly. She'd thrown rocks at them, after all.

Shonen, attempting to display some good humor after she accepted their apologies, was about to thank them for giving her moving target practise but she had another panic attack and had to retreat to her house abruptly.

After begging hard, Naruto managed to cajole their teacher into buying for them at the Ichiraku Ramen stand. Dangling his legs in the air, Naruto waited eagerly for his hot fresh miso ramen, before devouring it awkwardly with his left hand when it arrived. He sighed contentedly as he felt the hot soup and noodles settle at the bottom of his belly warmly, a breeze ruffling his hair. Wiping the sweat from his nose, Naruto grinned at Kakashi. "Thanks, Kakashi-sensei~"

Sasuke sipped his remaining soup slowly, feeling the warm liquid slide down his throat like a tiny hot delicious river. He closed his eyes, savoring the texture and the taste. No doubt fresh ramen was superior to instant ramen. Although all this ramen seemed kind of unhealthy. He swallowed the last of his soup, working his throat lazily. Naruto was alone, but he somehow kept his sense of childish freedom. People hated him and ignored him, even the kids at the academy who didn't know anything at all hated him too.... But instead of hiding in the shadows, or running away, or becoming a slip of a boy, Naruto grew louder and louder like he could swallow away all the bad things that happened to him, all the cold silences and open stares with his own voice. Instead of going along and accepting that he would be ignored, he fought to be acknowledged, even if it was only someone yelling at him. Because then, it was like proof he was actually alive...

Naruto's strong, thought Sasuke briefly.

Back at Naruto's ninjapartment, Naruto kicked off his shoes into a corner, and rubbed his face with a wet washcloth because feeling grimy all over and not being able to bathe even though the tub was right there was getting to him. Grabbing his soap, he wet it and lathered it onehanded as best he could, rubbed it on his face and neck and legs and the arm he could reach and then washing it all off, feeling mildly better. Sasuke followed his example while Naruto politely looked the other way and yawned, tired after all he did that morning. Getting scared by that Shonen woman didn't help his waning energy.

Stretched languidly on his stomach on Sasuke's bedspace, Naruto vegged out and read an old comic book while he left Sasuke alone to think about whatever, or nap, or something.

Leaning his face on his outstretched arm while scanning over familiar hilarity, Naruto thought to himself, Yeah, he could get used to this...with Sasuke mellowed out somewhat, having him around all the time like this was like...having a best friend. Maybe not best friend, but...ehh...he screwed up his eyes in thought. Some kind of person. Oh well, whatever. Not like he was going to make a speech to Sasuke, anyway.

Sasuke shifted his arm behind his head, wondering when the day he'd face his brother, whether it would go quick or slow.

Finishing their dinner and nightly routine and finally settling in for sleep, a light, drowsy silence slipped over Naruto's room. Sasuke was about to let go and drift off, but apparently Naruto had better ideas.

Propping himself on his elbow, Naruto asked Sasuke what he'd been wondering about for a while.

"Hey Sasuke, do you gel your hair to get it to the way it does? Cos I figure, you haven't washed it in three days at least, and it'd be kinda nasty now, wouldn't it?"

"I've been living with you the last couple of days, what do you think?"

"I dunno, you could've dragged my unconscious body to the bathroom to wash it during the night...maybe it's just me, but I thought my floors looked shinier lately and I thought you were mopping the floors with my body."

Silence.

"Well, I..."

Silence.

"I usually gel it...and I washed my hair today, after you, remember? Anyway, while I was here, I found that if I slept a certain way, I could get my hair to stick up like how it usually does when I gel it."

Silence.

"I think I don't comb my hair at all, because I just wake up like this," Naruto confided.

They shared a small smile until they realised they were acting like a couple of teen girls sharing beauty tips, and they looked guiltily away.

Silence.

"We were just acting like girls," Naruto whispered confidentially, as if he was telling Sasuke a secret that, if heard by the wrong people, could destroy the whole world.

"You're acting even more like a girl," Sasuke told him, mouth quirking upwards, "and why are you whispering?"

"Cos it's embarrassing, Bakasuke," said Naruto goodnaturedly.

Silence.

"Well...goodnight," said Naruto, rolling onto his back and proceeding to sleep like a log.

"Goodnight," said Sasuke.

Naruto studied his reflection while they splashed their faces fresh over his sink. "I look clean...but I feel dirty all over." He gazed longingly at his tub. "I wanna fill it up with water, and I'm gonna make it real hot, and I'm gonna jump in and soak for the long~est time..."

The spicy insta-ramen perched all high and mighty on one of the higher shelves, evading all of Naruto's grabby advances. Over the time he had refused to eat it because he didn't even like the spicy flavor all that much (it had been an impulse buy, he insisted, because it was brightly packaged and he was distracted easily that day), the ramen worked itself to the back of the shelf it was on. Now he was ready to finish it off, but there it was, wedged between the plain and chicken flavored, refusing to be eaten.

"Do you want me to get it?"

"No, you get your taller self away from me." A swipe, his fingers barely brushing plastic. Sasuke made himself comfortable leaning against the counter.

One last jump, Naruto told himself, before he resorted to using the chair. He crouched low, readying himself, preparing himself mentally and physically. Kept his heartbeat rate steady...flexing arm and leg muscles in preparation...target in sight...okay let's go!

"Hhhuuuunnnnnngggraaaahhhh!" he shouted in battle cry, him versus styrofoam cup, leaping from the floor like he had the powers of a frog, shoving his arm in as far as he could reach and grabbing wildly, stretching his fingers out so far it felt like it was going to split—gravity was pulling him down again even as he was kicking his legs to try to stay in the air longer, so he swept his hand hard in one last attempt to knock it down.

A crinkly plasticwrapped instant-ramen cup fell with him. Before it touched the ground, Naruto slapped both his palms onto it and grabbed it from midair. He stared intensely at the labeling.

"CHICKEN!" he yelled.

Then he saw his right hand.

"Eh? What happened?" He held Sasuke's hand again.

But he still stared at their hands, puzzled. Naruto's eyes widened roundly and Sasuke's mouth opened silently as if to say, "Ah."

"OHHH!" Naruto shouted loudly, dropping his ramen to clutch his right hand as if it'd try to fly away and save the world. "OH MY GOD! OHH MY GOD!!"

Sasuke turned his palm over. "I'm going to wash it."

"OHHHH ewww yeah."

While washing away all traces of the sticky bug the blond ninja whispered "wow wow wow wow" and waved his right hand around happily, almost poking out Sasuke's eye on several occasions. A new appreciation coursed through him as he held chopsticks with his right hand, smacked things around with his right hand, boogied the morning away (his right hand had no special part in this, it just felt right at the time), and then turning the hot water on till it almost overflowed the tub, and soaking in it until he came out looking like a human prune.

Sasuke flexed his fingers, kind of sore from being in the same position for almost four days. He watched it idly, moving it like it was someone else's hand—and then taking his turn to soak in the tub when enough steam cleared out of the bathroom so that he could see and not trip and smash his head on anything. His right arm felt light, after finally being free from the way Naruto's muscles twisted and pulled it around, a sudden new weight he had to look out for. Hot clear water lapped at the top of his shoulders. Like being cooked in a soup. Splashing the hot water on his face burned, but he felt sleepy and sated, his body relaxing as the water rocked him back and forth, like being in the womb again. Sasuke scrubbed himself clean.

Putting everything away again was easy. Sasuke wrapped his clothes and washcloth and toothbrush up, helped Naruto fold up the blanket he slept on, tossed his borrowed pillow back on Naruto's bed.

Except for the fact that Sasuke was standing right next to him, Naruto thought it looked like Sasuke had never been in his ninjapartment ever.

Well, maybe you could tell if all the empty ramen cups weren't cleaned up. Naruto wasn't that much of a pig.

His eyes swept his ninjapartment, hands on his hips. Yep, he thought. Everything going back to normal... He almost turned and said "I'm going to miss you," but stopped and remembered that they were on the same team anyway...they were going to see each other on missions, in battles, in the exams they'd fight to pass so they could make it to the next level of ninja. It was going to be hard not to see each other. But Naruto was kind of confused on where they stood now. Would they go back to the way they were before? He liked being with Sasuke the way they had been. Sasuke wasn't like Konohamaru, who admired him and looked up to him which made him feel good, but Konohamaru was only a little kid. Someone he liked spending them with sometimes to teach him some of his skills and have some influence on, but if he spent too much time with him, it'd feel more like babysitting.

He and Sasuke were almost like equals. Yeah, right now Sasuke was, just a little bit, more skilled than he was—but soon he was going to catch up, because he's serious about this too, he's going to be just as good and better. He was going to be the next Hokage, after all. Naruto could bounce off of Sasuke, check his progress against him because no doubt, Sasuke was good. A small spot of old jealousy flared in his chest. Sasuke had everything, and didn't even care.

Naruto walked with Sasuke to his ninjapartment, his hands clapped behind his neck, keeping them to himself. They walked in silence, maybe letting things regress to how things were four days ago, because this silence was awkward, like they shouldn't be walking quietly side by side together, they should be walking in opposite directions, get away as fast as possible because they hated each other right, they didn't like each other at all. They weren't friends.

Naruto followed Sasuke inside his slightly musty-smelling apartment now, without thinking, since he'd already been in there before. He glanced at Sasuke, to see if he wanted him to leave, but he had dropped his clothes onto his table, was sitting down and looking calmly out of his window.

So Naruto pulled a chair around to sit next to him, and look out of the window too. Feeling that, if they were going to go back to acting like before and resent each other's existence, now would be a good time to show some disrespect, Naruto propped his feet on the table. Sasuke didn't say anything.

The sounds of the village and the people living in it, going about their lives, floated in through the window, surrounded them.

"Hey, Sasuke..." said Naruto, feeling really odd and awkward, "thanks for...um...not being a sucky...houseguest...or something. Er...you weren't as annoying or hardassed that I thought you would be."

"I could say the same for you...loudmouth."

Naruto frowned. "Why do you have to say that for? I didn't even do anything."

Sasuke shrugged. "Sorry."

"Huh...yeah, okay." Naruto slid lower in his seat and shifted his feet on the table.

They could hear the raucous voices of a bunch of boys somewhere far below them, faint hooting and derisive laughter.

"I think I like you," said Sasuke.

Naruto flicked his eyes over to him, startled. "Yeah...I think I like you too, you're...pretty cool..." he said, sounding like he had to force the words out.

Sasuke looked at him strangely. "No. I think I like you."

Naruto struggled to keep from falling off his chair. "Are you messing with me? Because if you are, this is so stupid it's not even funny."

"I'm serious."

"Seriously?"

Sasuke had his arms crossed and stared silently at the floor, like nothing could touch him.

Something throbbed madly in Naruto's chest—this was definitely not what he had been expecting, no, he had been hoping maybe, they could be more like friends, because, well, this was the closest he'd ever been to having one, ever, and he didn't want to lose that chance if it was possible. But he also didn't want to be the first to say anything because this was Sasuke, and if he said no, it'd only be one more thing he could taunt him with.

But...this?

What was he supposed to do? He didn't know what he was supposed to do...

"What the hell do you want me to do?" Naruto shouted.

Sasuke faced him, calm as anything. "You don't have to do anything. It's up to you."

"It's not so simple like that..." said Naruto, desperately. "It can't be..."

Should he give up this chance? He'd never come close to anything like this before either, other than the fatherly love from Iruka. Weren't he and Sasuke supposed to hate each other? They were rivals. But Naruto had also wanted them to be more like friends...and this was like it...right? Except that it also meant that maybe Sasuke would try to kiss him, get close like how he wanted to get close to Sakura. Okay...it wouldn't hurt...to do this with Sasuke, right? Because...

"I think I'll try it out," said Naruto finally.

Next to him and very close, Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "This isn't something you 'think you'll try out.' It means, would you mind if I did this..." His words trailed off into nothing at the end, and suddenly Naruto truly believed Sasuke was going to hit him, for even being there, for saying something like "I'll try it out" like he wanted to try on new clothes and he flinched in anticipation, jerking at the first brush against his face.

But Sasuke only pressed a kiss softly against his cheek, over the whiskers permanently etched onto his face.

His heart nearly burst out of his chest.

And.

He found he didn't mind. His heart beat in his ears, slowly slipping back down his neck into his ribcage. He didn't mind at all.

"That...felt nice," Naruto said faintly, at a loss for words. Then, "I liked it." Said it like he discovered something wonderful. "You really like me, huh?" Confidence gradually coming back, an almost arrogant lift of his lips.

"Don't get too full of it, you idiot," said Sasuke, flushed with relief, the corner of his own mouth lifting. He could do this. He could take this.

"Naruto," he said, after an easy quiet, the sun flooding the room and warming their skin. "Are we still rivals?"

Flash of teeth. Blinding grin. "Oh hell yeah." Punctuated by the surprised cries and yells of the village boys, chased by the wavering voice of Shonen and her rocks.