Disclaimer: I don't own anything here except the things that are mine. Naruto and Sasuke are not among these things. Unfortunately.

Incidentally, the rating is for language, nothing else. You know Naruto…

And now we're grown up orphans
And never knew their names
We don't belong to no one
That's a shame
But you could hide beside me
Maybe for a while
And I won't tell no one your name

--Goo Goo Dolls, "Name"

Grown-Up Orphans

Naruto was not at all sure what exactly woke him. It was not-quite-3 am, and by all rights he should have been dead to the world for a good several hours to come. Yet for some reason, here he was—quite suddenly, very much not asleep.

He shifted a bit on his futon. Team 7 was currently engaged in a brief mission that involved delivering some random scroll (Naruto had not been told what the scroll actually contained, and frankly couldn't care less) to a hermit residing in a village a few days' travel away. They had been told the mission was B-class, but so far they had yet to encounter any enemy shinobi. It had been a very eventless couple of days, and they were scheduled to reach their destination early tomorrow afternoon. All in all, things were currently rather boring, and normally Naruto would have complained about the lack of action they had seen, except that in this case he wasn't sure if he was actually disappointed.

Truth was, he almost felt like they sort of needed the quiet time just traveling together as a group. It was one of their first real missions in quite a while… actually, it was the first time they had all traveled somewhere together since before…

Naruto's stomach tightened suddenly, the way it always did when he thought about this, and he grimaced, trying to push the memory away. It was over and done with, and Sasuke was back with them now, and he didn't want to dwell on it any more. He was frigging sick of dwelling on it.

Call it their first traveling mission since Tsunade no baachan had become Hokage. Yes, there… that sounded a lot better.

With a frown, he rolled over on his futon to stare at the other corner of the room, squinting his eyes and waiting for them to adjust to the darkness. It had suddenly hit him just why he had awakened in the middle of the night for no apparent reason.

His roommate was missing.

Sitting up slightly, he leaned his head forward in the darkness for a better look, just to make sure it was true. Yep… the second futon that had been carefully unrolled and set up in the room for them was definitely now missing its occupant. They were spending the night as guests in the home of a small, friendly family whose acquaintance Kakashi had apparently made on some other mission years ago. Naruto hadn't paid much attention to the details, but the family, a couple in their mid-thirties or so with a young daughter, had been very nice, and Naruto liked them a great deal. They had all eaten dinner together, and then the family had helped set them up for the night, putting Kakashi in their guest bedroom, and setting up bedding for Sakura in the girl's room. Naruto had a futon set up for him in the small study the next room over, along with Sasuke.

Or at least, Sasuke was supposed to be sleeping there with him. He had been there when Naruto had gone to sleep, that much he was pretty sure of. He remembered it because, just like the previous night, it had been a very awkward bedtime ritual between them, the sleepy banter and arguing of days gone by replaced by an uncomfortable near-silence. Then again, most things between the two of them these days tended to be uncomfortable at best.

It didn't mean he didn't care when Sasuke randomly went up and missing on him, though. On the contrary, that was what had woken him up, he was sure of it. Ever since… that incident, Naruto had been wary of any disappearances on Sasuke's part almost to the point where it had become an unconscious thing. He had an irrational fear that Sasuke might decide to run away again at any given time, and that he might not be able to stop him this time around. Logically, he knew that it wouldn't really happen… probably. Sasuke had come back of his own volition. He had promised that he wouldn't try it again. And Kakashi was there, and he'd be able to stop him even if he did. And really, what were the odds that Orochimaru actually was waiting just around the corner to snatch Sasuke up when he came by? Not to mention that he, Naruto, was in no less danger from the Akatsuki than Sasuke was from Orochimaru, so he should worry more about his own problems, shouldn't he?

But that's the thing about an irrational fear. You can't just tell it to shut up and go away, and expect it to listen.

So with a sigh, Naruto gripped the corner of his blanket a little tighter and waited. A moment went by. It felt like a very long one, but he wasn't certain; it could have just been his impatient mind playing tricks on him. He started counting seconds, forcing himself not to rush. Sasuke was probably just in the bathroom, that was all. A minute passed. Yeah, that was it… he'd be back any time now. Two minutes. Probably just had to do a number two… even Uchihas had to deal with good old nature, right? Three minutes…

Damn, but the guy sure did like to take his frigging sweet time, though.

Four minutes.

Five.

That did it.

Naruto slowly got to his feet and shivered, pulling the blanket off from the top of his futon and draping it over his shoulders. Winter was just about setting in now, and it was cold. There was no denying it. Naruto wasn't sure if the people in this house had their heat turned on, but it sure didn't feel like it. Not that they'd care, or he would for that matter, except that he was currently being forced to get up out of his nice, warm bed to hunt down his wayward teammate. Damned Sasuke.

At least the upstairs hall was carpeted, he thought gladly as he drifted out into the dim corridor like a small blond ghost. That was one very nice thing about Western-style houses like this. He hoped Sasuke was upstairs. He'd better be upstairs, damn it. Taking care not to make any noise, he inched his way up the hall, pausing at each door. The doors that were slightly open, he peeked carefully around behind; when he came to ones that were closed, he closed his eyes and tried to stretch out his senses to feel for Sasuke's chakra. Neither method brought him much success, mainly because Sasuke wasn't in any of the other rooms. As he reached the end of the hall, where the bathroom was, he stifled an exasperated sigh. The door was open wide enough for him to immediately see that the room was vacant.

Damn it.

He should have figured it. The day Sasuke ever made things easy for him was the day Ero-sennin announced he was going to give up women forever and become a eunuch.

As slowly and quietly as he could, he tiptoed back down the hall and began to edge his way down the stairs, wincing as he reached the bottom and his bare feet made contact with the uncarpeted hardwood floor that was so. Friggin. Cold. Shit, it was cold. Naruto wasn't sure which he hated more, winter or 3 am. He decided he hated Sasuke the most. Definitely.

A quick peek in the living room turned up nothing and no one, naturally. Because of course, Sasuke would only be in the very last place he could possibly look, and absolutely nowhere else. Suppressing the urge to grumble and growl until the whole house woke up, he walked back past the stairs into the entryway, and at last peeked into the kitchen.

And there, of course, he was. And Naruto suddenly felt his irritation ebbing away a little despite himself. Because the room was dark except for the faint glow coming from the light above the stove, and there was no sound to be heard other than the refrigerator's hum, and everything was clean and quiet and empty. And Sasuke, sitting there hunched with his arms folded on the table and his chin rested in them, staring at nothing in particular with a gaze as quiet and empty as the kitchen itself, seemed not at all like Sasuke for once. He looked… alone. If Naruto had been holding a camera at the time and had been feeling sadistic enough to capture this depressing moment on film for all eternity, that's what he would have titled the photograph. "Alone."

He really didn't look like the Uchiha Sasuke he was so accustomed to, sitting there. In fact, Naruto could almost mentally replace Sasuke with a younger version of the blonde himself, and there would have been very little difference made overall. The thought was disturbing. It was a startling reminder that he and Sasuke were, when you got right down to it, much more alike than he sometimes cared to think.

It was one of the main things that made him shrug the blanket off his shoulders and trudge forward into the kitchen, dragging the quilt behind him. Sasuke heard him immediately, of course; knew immediately that he was there. But aside from a slight tilt of his head, the dark-haired youth seemingly chose to ignore his presence until Naruto, quilt still in hand, pulled out the chair next to Sasuke's with a slight scraping noise, and sat down beside him.

"…Yo," he said finally, leaning over to rest his own chin on his arms, inclining his head to face Sasuke's.

Sasuke himself didn't move; his eyes were still fixed off into some distant, unfocused place off in gods-knew-where. Naruto, strangely enough, for once felt no urge to press him, and waited for the response that he figured would come in good time. Finally, Sasuke did answer, although he still didn't bother to look away. "What're you doing up?" he mumbled softly.

"Looking for you," Naruto said, feeling that irritation return just slightly as he stated the obvious.

"You found me," Sasuke pointed out, matching Naruto in obviousness word-for-word.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I can see that, bastard…"

"So go back to bed."

"What about you?"

"What about me? I'm fine. I don't feel like going back upstairs."

"Why not?" Naruto pressed.

Sasuke shrugged, his brow furrowing slightly. "Just don't."

"It's cold down here."

"I'm fine. Leave me alone."

With an exasperated sigh, Naruto turned his face away from Sasuke and rested the side of his head on his arms, already regretting his decision to sit his butt down here in this chilly kitchen next to his teammate, who obviously wanted to be alone despite the fact that he seemed absolutely miserable. And who wouldn't be, really? It was way too late—correction; way too early—and it was dark and uncomfortable and freezing. They definitely didn't have the heat on. If Sasuke really wanted to stay down here, then he was completely out of his mind.

But then again, what else was new?

Grimacing, Naruto tilted his head to look at Sasuke again out of the corner of his eye. The other boy's eyes were closed, although he was obviously not asleep, and his expression was blank as usual. He was wearing only pajama pants and a t-shirt, and Naruto could see that although the other seemed to take no notice of it whatsoever, his bare arms were covered in gooseflesh. Naruto suppressed a sigh; the bastard must be cold, no matter what he said.

Damn it.

After a moment's hesitation, he gripped the corner of his blanket, and reached over to drape one end around Sasuke's shoulders so that they were both now sharing it. Sasuke's eyes blinked open in surprise as he turned to look opposite from Naruto at this new, warm fluffy thing invading his space.

"What are you doing?"

Naruto rolled his eyes; wasn't it obvious? "If we're going to be down here, we might as well not be cold."

"I already told you, I'm fine," Sasuke grunted, irritation now evident in his voice. "You can go back upstairs already."

"I'm not gonna go until you do," Naruto answered, feeling a rush of stubbornness. It was a free country; if Sasuke insisted on staying in the kitchen then he was going to stay there too.

There was a pause.

"You seriously want to stay down here alone?" Naruto finally pressed, both exasperated and bewildered at Sasuke's random moody behavior.

"That was the idea," came the muttered reply.

Naruto frowned. "How can you possibly stand that, though?" he asked in complete and honest bafflement. "I mean, I just…" He trailed off, not quite sure how to express just how bizarre the thought was to him. "I hate being alone," he finally said.

Sasuke just answered with a slow, rather morose shrug. Naruto stared, feeling a wave of empathy hit him suddenly out of nowhere. Sasuke was irritating, yes. Infuriating sometimes, even. He was a cold, selfish bastard who seemed to care about hardly anything and angsted all the freaking time since coming back to Konoha, driving Naruto up the wall. He was depressing to have around, usually acted like no one else was around, and pushed everyone away even when all they tried to do was help him. He was moody, self-centered, and above all else, just really plain annoying.

But he was still his friend.

Naruto found that he hated the thought of Sasuke being alone almost as much as he hated being lonely himself.

"If I just sit here and be quiet, then is that all right?" he finally asked hesitantly.

To his surprise, Sasuke answered with a small noise of amusement. "Usuratonkachi…" he said, turning to face Naruto at long last, "…you couldn't just 'sit around and be quiet' to save your life."

Their eyes met, clear cerulean staring into dark thundercloud gray. They stayed like that for a moment, and then Naruto, clean out of the blue, stuck his tongue out and made a face.

It was a totally random act, driven by pure silly impulse, and maybe a desire to somehow ease the tension between them in the best way he knew how. He was, after all, still a prankster at heart. And amazingly enough, perhaps because the act was so random, so unexpected—it worked. Sasuke was caught off-guard, and Naruto was unable to suppress a short laugh at the surprised expression on his face. And for the briefest of seconds, before he realized it, this actually prompted Sasuke himself to smile.

It was one of the first smiles Naruto had managed to coax out of him in ages, and for a moment he just sat there in awe as Sasuke quickly recovered and composed himself again. He turned away, but not before Naruto was strongly reminded of another time when he had gotten Sasuke to smile much in the same fashion, years ago when they were both still kids in their first year at the academy. For a moment, just now, he had caught a glimpse of that other, much younger Sasuke once more. It brought a smile to his own face as he thought about it.

"Hmph," Sasuke muttered, perhaps reading his thoughts and wanting to cut him off before he got too reminiscent. "…Idiot."

Naruto grinned.

"Bastard."

And just like that, things settled into silence once more… only for the first time in what seemed like ages, it was a comfortable silence that sat between the two of them. The awkwardness that had been there was gone, for now anyway, and for a moment Naruto just closed his eyes to drink it in. Relief flooded through him—this was it; this was what had been missing ever since their fight on the rooftop months ago. It was this comfortableness, this feeling of familiarity and ease; being able to sit beside Sasuke and not even have to talk or say anything, but just know and be content with the fact that things were okay between them. Not perfect—were they ever?—but okay… and that had always been more than enough for them.

He hadn't realized how much he'd missed it until now.

They sat like that for a little bit, and eventually Naruto's mind, as it was always prone to do despite himself, wandered. He let his thoughts drift absentmindedly through his head, and found them settling on the past few days, and their thus-far eventless mission. It was when he started to wonder the same thing he had been pondering since almost the start of their trip that it occurred to him that he finally had a prime opportunity to ask someone else about it. That was when he at last decided to break the companionable silence. "Ano sa, Sasuke…"

"Mmm?" Sasuke replied amiably enough.

"Don't you think this mission is kind of strange?"

Sasuke gave him a curious look. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you know…" Naruto made at least a moment's effort to consider how best to phrase this, which was more than he usually did. In the end, though, he found his sense of not-quite-right-ness hard to describe, so he settled on stating it bluntly. "It's just been so quiet—"

"What is it with you tonight and being quiet?"

"—and you know, it—hey, shut up—it just… seems weird, you know?" Naruto shrugged. "Since this was supposed to be a B-rank mission and all."

Sasuke frowned at him, and Naruto suddenly had the awkward, slightly put-down feeling that he had missed something completely obvious.

"You idiot… you mean you haven't figured it out yet?"

Yeah, he'd definitely missed something, and trust Sasuke to be his usual, understanding self. Maybe asking him wasn't such a great idea after all. "I am not an idiot, asshole… figured out what?"

Sasuke gave a small snort. "This mission isn't ranked B-class because anyone is actually after that stupid scroll."

"Huh?" Curiosity momentarily overtook annoyance, and now it was Naruto's turn to frown. "It's not? Then why is it?"

For a moment Sasuke didn't answer. When he finally spoke up again, it was in a very quiet voice.

"It's because of us."

There was a heavy pause while that sunk in. Then Sasuke continued.

"It's because Orochimaru is after me, and…" Sasuke paused again, and when he spoke the next words Naruto could clearly see how much he hated to say them. "…Akatsuki… my brother… is after you."

Naruto swallowed, more at the display of emotion on Sasuke's part than from the impact of the revelation, although the latter came as a jolt as well. Finally, in a far meeker tone than he was pleased with, he simply replied, "…Oh."

Sasuke turned away, and again there was silence.

…So much for comfort.

Naruto could have smacked himself. Just when things had finally been cooling off, he had to go and inadvertently bring up the one subject that was guaranteed to piss Sasuke off all over again, beginning the whole stupid vicious cycle anew. Great. Just effing great.

He almost got up to go back to bed; was in fact only a couple seconds away from giving up and doing so when Sasuke unexpectedly spoke up again.

"…Although, it's kind of funny, don't you think?"

Huh? For a moment Naruto could only blink, wondering. The bitterness in Sasuke's voice was abruptly gone, and his tone was neutral again. Naruto could even almost—almost—make out the slightest tone of apology, as if he were trying to break the ice once more. This was probably miles from the truth, of course, and so he quickly dismissed the thought… but if Sasuke was actually trying to ease back into the rapport they'd had a minute ago, he certainly wasn't going to argue. "What's funny?"

"That it's only a B-rank mission," Sasuke went on, frowning slightly. "You'd think, what with those guys being the most wanted criminals in Konoha and all… you know? Actually, I'm surprised that they even let us go on this mission at all. Unless they know something we don't…"

He trailed off, pondering this as Naruto, whose emotions had been experiencing quite the up-and-down rollercoaster ride tonight, felt something in his insides shift from a hesitant hum of relief to an unpleasant twinge of guilt. This question, he did know the answer to. And he knew full well why Sasuke didn't. It was because he hadn't told him.

He still hadn't told Sasuke what he had learned from Jiraiya barely a day after their fight, while he'd been recovering in the hospital. He hadn't told him about Orochimaru's soul transfer jutsu, about him not being able to take a new body yet. That had been almost three months ago, but still… he'd been reluctant. Afraid, really, if you had to go and get right down to it. The guilt came from knowing that he should have; from knowing logically that there was no reason why he shouldn't trust Sasuke… except of course that Sasuke had already tried to leave once before without knowing this, and if he did know, there was really no telling what he would do.

Except there was, because he'd promised he wouldn't leave again and Naruto believed him. Or wanted to believe him, at any rate. He wanted to trust him… but it was just… how could he be sure? The only way to know would be to tell him and see if he did anything, and if he didn't then he would know he could trust him… but if he did, then…

It was a frigging catch-22. He was damned if he did and damned if he didn't, and it had effectively kept his mouth shut for the past three months every time before when he had been on the verge of telling Sasuke this.

Tonight, though… hadn't he felt a glimmer of that former trust between them? Hadn't things almost gone back to the way they used to be, for a little while? If they were going to keep that up, it couldn't be only Sasuke that stepped forward. Naruto had to play his part too; he couldn't continue keeping this kind of knowledge from Sasuke forever. Eventually he'd just have to spit it out, and trust that Sasuke would keep his promise.

Because if Naruto couldn't ever bring himself to trust him again, then there wasn't even any point.

His mind made up, he slid his gaze slightly guiltily away from Sasuke, paused for a moment, and then spoke without hesitation. "Akatsuki won't be going after me for another three years."

There was a half-second as Sasuke's brain apparently registered this statement; then he turned to look at Naruto with one eyebrow raised slightly, a sort of say what?' expression on his face. "Huh?"

"Ero-sen—Jiraiya told me…" Naruto glanced at the other boy from the corner of his eye; Sasuke was listening intently. "He said Akatsuki wouldn't be coming after me for another three or four years. And Orochimaru…"

"That soul transfer jutsu he's got," Sasuke broke in suddenly. Naruto glanced again despite himself, and saw dawning comprehension written on Sasuke's face.

"…He won't be able to use it for another three years either," Naruto confirmed. He waited for Sasuke's outburst at realizing he'd been left in the dark, but to his surprise, the other merely exhaled in a slightly bitter, resigned-sounding way.

"And of course they didn't tell me because as soon as I hear that I've got three years' immunity, I'm gonna run straight back to Orochimaru again."

Naruto tensed slightly, knowing Sasuke had hit right at the heart of the matter. He looked over at him, still half-convinced that a indignant display of temper couldn't be far off. Naruto knew he might be a little pissed if it was him who everyone had been keeping secrets from. And Sasuke's expression did indeed cloud with a twinge of resentment for a moment. But then it passed and his expression cleared. He glanced down at the table, looking thoughtful, and then shrugged.

"I guess I can't blame them, can I?"

Naruto made a sort of noncommittal noise, watching him uncertainly.

"…You know I'm not gonna do that," Sasuke said finally.

It was both a statement and a question. He glanced up and met Naruto's eye at this, and at that moment a sort of unspoken understanding rang between them, and Naruto suddenly let out a quiet breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. They were on the same page when it came to trust, he realized. Well, maybe not on everything, but on this, at least, he could trust Sasuke, and the sudden relief made him grin.

"'Course," he replied.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Then why are you down here?"

"I dunno." Naruto stuck his tongue out again, still grinning. "It makes me feel better anyway."

Sasuke snorted once more, but let it go. "Whatever."

"Ne, Sasuke," Naruto said suddenly.

Sasuke said nothing, so Naruto continued.

"Why are you down here? Seriously, I mean."

Part of Naruto wondered if Sasuke would bother answering even now, but the other boy looked away thoughtfully.

"I told you, it was nothing. Just thinking…"

He trailed off, looking rather distant for a moment, and Naruto resisted the urge to press, 'about what?'; Sasuke would go on in due time. There was about a minute of silence. Then…

"It just feels weird… being in a house again."

Naruto's brow creased in puzzlement, and for a moment he wondered if the reason Sasuke rarely answered such personal questions was because his answers were so abstract and weird that they never made sense. Being in a house? Didn't he live in a house? What the hell was weird enough about being in a house that it kept him up brooding in the middle of the night?

Perhaps sensing his thoughts, Sasuke looked up at him just long enough to roll his eyes. Then, shaking his head and turning his eyes downcast, he muttered, "I mean… being in a house with people in it. You know… that's full." He paused, then added very quietly, as if for a final clarification, "A family."

Naruto blinked at him.

Oh.

That, he got.

"It just felt kind of weird," Sasuke concluded rather awkwardly, his voice now quieter than ever. "It was hard to sleep."

His eyes took on that distant, somewhat melancholy look again, and Naruto just watched, not really having a clue what to say now. Part of him ached with empathy all of a sudden, but another part was struggling to fully understand. Ever since Sasuke had rather curtly pointed out the differences between their two pasts during their battle, Naruto had been all too keenly aware of the fact that there were some things about his rival that he would never completely be able to relate to. He didn't know himself what it felt like to go to bed in the same house as his family. He did know, though, that he had very much enjoyed spending tonight with Kakashi's friends. Come to think of it, despite the tumultuous events of Team 7's memorable stay in the Wave Country, he had enjoyed the time spent with Inari's family as well. He wondered why Sasuke had never acted like this back then, but then a moment later realized that he really didn't know if he had, did he? It wasn't like he had paid all that much attention to his rival's sleeping habits back during that mission. They had come a very long way since, and a lot of things had changed.

At any rate, he wondered if his experiences here and at Inari's were perhaps sort of similar to having a real family. If so, it must be the sort of thing that was really painful to lose.

He glanced back at Sasuke, who was still quietly ruminating, and then thought: even if he didn't know what it was like to lose a family, he did know what it was like to be alone.

"It's new to me," he said honestly at length.

Sasuke stirred, and looked over at him tiredly.

"The whole… family thing," Naruto continued, by way of explanation. He shrugged slightly, shaking his head. "I don't really know much about it. But…" He thought again back to dinner the previous evening, and how their host had chatted reminiscently with Kakashi about when they had met during Kakashi's mission years before, and the man's wife had occasionally broken in with teasing comments about her husband, and the little girl had talked shyly to Sakura about wanting to be a ninja too someday. "…It seems like they have fun."

Sasuke shrugged.

"But we have fun sometimes too, don't we?" Naruto said quietly.

Sasuke frowned at him.

"I mean… it's different," Naruto pressed on. "But… you know? Team Seven… it's kinda like a family. In some ways."

He thought about how Kakashi kind of acted the part of a careless, perverted, but nonetheless caring-in-his-own-strange-way uncle. And how Sakura was… well, he still liked to dream that maybe one day they could have more than just a brother-sister relationship, but for now it would do. And as for Sasuke… well, he'd already said it once, hadn't he? He was like a brother; the only brother he'd ever known.

It was sentimental crap, but all the same he didn't feel that it was just words—Sasuke was family to him. Family, perhaps to make up for the family that neither of them any longer had.

Sasuke turned away quietly, and Naruto somehow immediately knew his thoughts had turned to the same place as Naruto's. He guessed Sasuke was still in a tricky place as far as Team 7 was concerned. After all, not so long ago he had betrayed that "family"… ironically, in an attempt to seek vengeance for the other family he'd lost so long ago. And yet… they'd come after him. Naruto wondered what Sasuke really made of that; the fact that they'd brought him back and accepted him back unconditionally. He had to be able to see that this family was perfectly willing to take him in again. Didn't he want that? How could he not?

But Sasuke always acted like he couldn't ever fully be a part of that. It was like there was some invisible weight on his shoulders, some invisible cord tying him back to something, always making him hesitate. Well, duh… that would be the avenger thing, wouldn't it? And it wasn't like Naruto didn't know how serious that was… hell, he'd met Itachi, hadn't he? Yeah, he understood why Sasuke's goal was so important to him, and why he needed to accomplish it. But even so… why couldn't he just put all of that aside for once and see that they didn't care about it, and they didn't blame him for it? That it didn't matter to them? Why couldn't the bastard see that?

But then Sasuke finally turned his head back, and Naruto saw, amazingly, a hint of acknowledgement—perhaps even contentment—there in his face. Maybe not quite a smile, but close enough.

"Yeah… I guess."

A long, shared moment passed between the two, and suddenly the kitchen felt anything but lonely, because being alone was the absolute furthest thing from Naruto's mind.

"…You know?" said Sasuke at length.

"Hmm?"

Sasuke smirked slightly. "It is kind of cold down here."

Naruto grinned.

"Been fuckin' waiting for you to say that!"

He stood up eagerly. "Come on."

Was that a smirk or a smile on Sasuke's face? Naruto couldn't decide, but in the end, he supposed it didn't really matter. Sasuke stood up, shrugging the blanket off of his shoulders as he did so, and Naruto clutched it back around himself as the two trudged back upstairs. Just as they reached the top, a faint clanging noise echoed from below. It only took him a second to realize what it was; the furnace had finally decided to kick in.

Naruto snorted, and Sasuke just shook his head.

-owari-

Author's Notes:

This fic was almost a year in the writing, I just have to get that off my chest. Yes, I take that long to deliberate about details like a fussy perfectionist. Admittedly, though, most of it was just laziness on my muses' part; I got to a certain point, and they just didn't want to go any further. In the end, I practically had to strangle them to do so; as it is, I only finally finished this the night before I promised it'd be up. XD

Still, better late than never, and maybe it's better for all the time spent on it. I can only hope that at least Sasuke and Naruto wound up a little more in-character. (I do actually have an AU worked out in my head where Sasuke comes back willingly to Konoha. Maybe someday I'll write that down as well; maybe not.) Anyway, as always, review or drop a line if you have a sec. ;)