Summary: Naruto's fashion sense is under question and his two best friends decide to spoil him with ramen. The competition is on.
Rating: T
Warning: possible OOCness and a lot of glaring. Tee hee...
Disclaimer: Again, not mine and never will be.
A/N: Ok, first of all, thanks to my wonderful reveiwers. You guys rock my world. And on a second note, I'm really sorry for taking so long with the update. I've just been travelling here and there, didn't really get a chance to settle down and work on this baby. Hopefully, my writing hasn't got too rusty after such a long time. Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to all my reveiwers who are ever so sweet and supportive. Hope you like it. Thanks guys.
Claimed
Part Four: Of Fashion and Ramen
A sudden draft of cool air breezed through the bedroom of a teenager who was known through out Konoha as the 'Loudest and most unpredictable ninja'. Ominous-looking storm clouds gathered outside the apartment complex, blocking the sunlight that had been streaming through one of the bedroom windows cheerily only a few seconds ago. Lightening sliced through the charged air, frying some random unfortunate soul who had just stepped out of the complex and the deafening clap of thunder filled the small room as two figures continued a memorable showdown of glaring.
Well, the storm was a bit of an exaggeration, but it certainly fit the mood present in Naruto's bedroom at that moment. Seated on the floor, the blonde Jounin eyed the malicious looks etched across the faces of his friends. This was certainly not the way he wanted to begin a new day. The animosity between his two closest friends puzzled him to no end. To be fair, Sai did have a reason to dislike Sasuke. After all, he had been with Naruto and Sakura through all their hardships as they struggled to bring Sasuke back to Konoha, mission after mission. However, he couldn't understand why the Uchiha disliked Sai so much.
"I just don't trust him,"
Frowning, Naruto looked at the Anbu. Why didn't Sasuke trust him? Outside the small incident where Sai had betrayed Team Seven during their first mission, he had never given them a chance to doubt him. On top of that, he had made a conscious effort to fit in and even tried to befriend Sasuke when the renegade ninja had returned to the village.
Well, I guess after Itachi, I can't really blame Sasuke for having trust issues. Sighing, Naruto glanced at the alarm clock sitting on his bedside table, blue eyes widening as he realised that the competition of glares had gone on for a good five minutes.
What the heck? OK, enough is enough. It's way too early for this and I'm getting hungry, he decided when a growl sounded from his achingly empty stomach. On top of that, his head was still throbbing dully from the hangover. Standing up in one fluid movement, Naruto glided over to his open wardrobe silently – until his feet caught on the towel that had dropped to the floor during the little tussle he had had with Sasuke earlier. With a loud squawk, he pitched forward with his arms flailing around in the perfect imitation of Kiba dancing after a few drinks. Of course, being an extremely talented and capable Jounin, Naruto could have easily broken his fall by employing some fancy footwork. Unfortunately, on an empty stomach, this capable ninja was pretty much reduced to a useless bundle of flapping limbs. Squeezing his eyes shut, Naruto braced himself for the impact as the cold floor rushed towards his face at breakneck speed.
"Oomph!"
Surprisingly enough, the impact came a lot sooner than he expected…and the floor was a lot softer than he had imagined. And since when did his floor smell so nice and clean?
"Are you all right, Naruto?" Sai's voice sounded concerned and very close. Regaining his wits quickly, the blonde realised that he was not lying on the floor, but draped unceremoniously against the lean body of the dark-haired Anbu instead. Naruto raised his head from Sai's chest and glanced sheepishly at the amused look in the dark eyes of the man who was acting as his cushion.
Way to go, Naruto. It is really no wonder that people still don't take you seriously, he wondered in embarrassment while scrambling off the grinning ninja. "Yeah, I'm fine. Fine and dandy. Brilliant, in fact," he rambled with his blond head bowed to avoid the incredulous look Sasuke was shooting at him. "Thanks, Sai."
"You didn't have to get up so quickly," Sai drawled as he took Naruto's outstretched hand and rose to his feet languidly. The blonde stuck out his tongue at Sai and laughed in response.
The smug look that Sai cast at the young Uchiha was completely missed by Naruto as he shuffled through the numerous orange garments in his closet. Shooting another icy glare that could have frozen an entire country at the smirking Anbu, Sasuke strode over to his best friend who had an utmost look of concentration as he seriously contemplated between two similar orange t-shirts.
Rolling his eyes, Sasuke reached across the blonde into the far corner of the closet and plucked the only shirt that was thankfully orange-free.
"Here, wear this," he muttered quietly, turning to hand the piece of clothing to a bemused Naruto. Involuntarily, Sasuke's eyes raked over the expose of tan skin again as soon as Naruto came into view. Flinching inwardly, he averted his eyes while mentally berating himself for ogling his best friend like some love-struck fan girl. Really, what in the world was wrong with him these days? "Hurry up and wear it, idiot,"
Naruto snapped out of his stupor and frowned at Sasuke. "Stop ordering me around in my house, you jerk. What's the rush, anyway? It's not like we are late for anything," he grumbled as he shrugged into the tight-fitting white t-shirt that was decorated only by a yellow swirl across the chest. "And why can't I wear the orange shirt? I look a lot manlier in it,"
For a moment, silence reigned over the room – only to be broken by the hooting of a lone owl that flew past. With a great effort on his part, Sai managed to keep a straight face as he observed the composed Uchiha struggle to maintain a scowl on his face and fail. Flashes of disbelief, wonder and disgust mingled on the other man's face, which resulted in Sasuke gaining a constipated look on his pale face. Sai's anger towards him dampened minutely as he felt a tinge of sympathy towards his newest rival as the distraught Chuunin fought a losing battle with his sanity as he tried to understand the enigma that was Uzumaki Naruto.
"Manlier?" Sasuke squeaked, looking a bit green around the gills.
Taking pity on the weakening ninja in an act of generosity, Sai decided to step in before Naruto could offer one of his mind-breaking explanations. "Naruto, you look manly in everything. The white will compliment your hair,"
Naruto beamed at him. Sasuke scowled. Ungrateful prat, Sai thought as he smiled genially at the Uchiha, masking his annoyance successfully as usual. I just saved you from some mental-scarring at the expense of sounding like a girl, Mr I-have-a-stick-of-ice-up-my-ass. Just you wait, Uchiha.
"But you are right, Naruto. You do look a lot better in orange," he finished with a bright smile, ignoring Sasuke's murderous expression.
With a thoughtful frown on his face, Naruto nodded. "Of course I do. Hmm…I bet Sasuke here doesn't want me to hog all the girls' attention. Right, Sasuke? Jealous of my dashing good looks, aren't you?"
If possible, the glare on the pale man's face intensified at the sight of the blonde's cheeky grin. "Haven't come across a mirror lately, have you?" Sasuke growled back.
"Aw, come on, admit it. You know that I'm hot stuff," the blonde crooned while he put a hand on his hip and struck a pose that was an accurate imitation of Yamanako Ino. Sai would have cracked up at the image if he hadn't noticed the light blush that dusted across Sasuke's face at the sight of a pouting Naruto. "I'm a sizzler, a heart throb. Check out these toned muscles,"
Sai agreed wholeheartedly with him. He found his friend to be one of the most attractive males alive and never wasted a second in admiring the sight. However, much to his irritation it seemed as if the Uchiha had come to the same decision as well. Unconsciously, Sasuke's eyes were roaming over the image of the blonde slowly and Sai didn't like the look on the other man's face one bit.
"Right, right. We know that you are a sizzler and that Sasuke-kun can't hold a candle to your good looks," Sai announced, winking at the flustered Uchiha. "So, are you ready to go?" he enquired his best friend as said boy changed out of the white shirt and slipped on a bright orange vest.
Two pair of eyes focused on him; one held a look of utter contempt. "Go where?" echoed two voices in unison. Sai frowned as the other two exchanged startled looks and chuckled. It was clear that Sasuke had made the first move in their little informal competition. Certainly, the scene that had greeted him earlier that morning had been proof and Sai felt like kicking himself over the head for underestimating a deadly foe such as the great Uchiha Sasuke. After all, Naruto seemed to have a special place in his life reserved for the Chuunin and if things kept proceeding at this rate, pretty soon Sasuke would invade the place that Sai had managed to secure in the blonde's life and succeed with the claiming. Even so, it was never too late to do some damage control.
"Where else? To Ichiraku's, of course. So that I can buy you some ramen for breakfast," Sai announced, eyes gleaming with triumph as Naruto practically started to drool all over the floor at the thought of his weakness, "as usual."
And I'm back in the game. He gloated internally at witnessing the briefest look of helplessness that had flashed across Sasuke's face before the ninja arranged his face into one of his infamous frigid glares. Sai allowed the warm smile on his face to twist into a smirk as he raised an eyebrow in challenge at the seething man.
"Oi, you two! Are you going to stare at each other all day or what?" Naruto's loud voice jolted the two dark-haired men out of their unfriendly thoughts. "I'm starving to death over here. Sai, buy me some ramen first and then you two can go back to admiring each other." The blonde snickered at the identical looks of revulsion that appeared on his friends' faces.
"OK, let's head out, shall we?" the Anbu jumped in quickly before Naruto could come up with any more ridiculous suggestions. With a blinding grin, the blonde threw an arm around the taller ninja's shoulder and started dragging him out of the bedroom. Much to Sai's glee, Naruto seemed to have forgotten about the brooding Uchiha at the thought of food.
"Che. Who, in their right mind, would admire him?" Sasuke muttered quietly under his breath, dark eyes burning a hole in the back of Sai's head as he followed the two out of Naruto's apartment. He couldn't help but sulk like a little boy whose precious candy had been snatched away by one of the big bullies of the school. Why did that pest have to show up right in the middle of all the fun? Did that man have no respect for other people's privacy whatsoever? Why didn't Naruto tell the Anbu off for letting himself in to the blonde's house without any permission? It couldn't be a usual occurrence, could it?
Most importantly, why the heck did Naruto just disregard him as soon as that stupid pest brought up ramen? What about the little bonding session they had had earlier that morning?
Let's face it, ramen's more important to that idiot than you, scoffed a voice at the back of his head. Sasuke's dark mood worsened, if possible, when his best friend suddenly laughed loudly – the dark-haired Anbu had apparently cracked a joke. So what? I can be funny as well, thought Sasuke while trying to come up with a discreet way he could intervene between the two ninjas who were deep in conversation in front of him. However, the thought of being discreet vanished when Sai leaned in far too close to Naruto to whisper something in his ear.
"Naruto!" he snarled. The pair halted in their tracks and turned their attention on Sasuke in surprise. Unfortunately for the young Chuunin, many of the villagers passing by stopped to stare at him as well. Scowling at the people, who hurried away from the scene in fear, he motioned for Naruto to come closer.
Tilting his head in question, the blonde wandered over and asked, "What is it?"
"You've got a leaf caught in your hair," he muttered, hand reaching out to pluck out a nonexistent leaf from the spiky blond locks. Great, I've been reduced to petty tricks.
Running a hand through his hair, giving it an even messier look, Naruto smiled wryly at him. "Oh, heh! Thanks, I always seem to get things tangled in my stupid hair,"
Sasuke tugged on a blond lock before retracting his hand and inwardly congratulated himself – the attention of the Jounin was back on him. "Hn, I like your hair,"
Silence.
Naruto stared at him as if he had just spurted out an extra head. Sai's eyebrows were in grave danger of disappearing into his hairline. Sasuke blinked. Did he just say what he thought he said? Judging by the startled look on his friend's face, he most certainly did.
Clearing his throat, Sasuke decided that too much attention was never a good idea. Even from Naruto, who was still gazing at him with a strange look on his face. "So, should we hurry? I thought you were hungry," he reminded Naruto.
Thankfully, the strange look in Naruto's eyes was immediately replaced by a hungry glint and his stomach rumbled rather loudly on cue. Rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, he exclaimed, "Sai, I hope you are buying me a lot of ramen," and then turning back to Sasuke, he grinned wickedly. "So, what was that about my hair, Sasu-chan?"
Stifling a groan, Sasuke braced himself for the oncoming attack of taunts. As expected, the blonde did not disappoint as he teased, poked and even flirted with Sasuke constantly during their walk to the ramen place. Through the layers of frustration the dark-haired Chuunin was feeling, a part of him was still overjoyed with the whole situation. Especially after catching the disheartened look in Sai's eyes as he walked beside them. From the looks of it, Naruto was warming to Sasuke more and more as time passed and Sai was feeling threatened by his presence. Sasuke smirked inwardly. Things were looking better already.
"…sink your hands into my amazingly soft and pretty hair, right?" Naruto was saying when Sasuke turned his attention back to the present.
"Yeah," the Uchiha agreed absently as all three ninjas piled into the seats at Ichiraku's Ramen.
"You do?" sputtered Naruto, looking dumbstruck.
"I do?" Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows. What was going on?
To his surprise, Naruto gulped nervously and shrank away from him towards an amused looking Sai. "H-hey, I was just kidding, Sasuke. No need to get so serious about it,"
"About what, idiot?" he snapped, feeling irritated with the blonde. Why was Sai smiling so much?
Before the other could respond, an elderly man with a warm smile appeared before them. "Welcome, young lads," Ichiraku nodded at each of them and his smile grew at the sight of the blonde ninja. "Well, well, if it isn't my favourite customer. How are you today, Naruto-kun?"
"Just great, old man," Naruto grinned, momentarily forgetting his discomfort after Sasuke's surprising answer. "And starving as well. I could eat tons and tons. Sai's treating me,"
Ichiraku laughed and ruffled the blonde's hair while Sai smiled pleasantly and Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Of course. Let's just hope that I have enough supplies to satisfy that hunger of yours, Naruto-kun," Sasuke doubted it.
The dark-haired Chuunin watched in morbid fascination as the blonde gulped down the ramen, bowl after bowl, without any hesitation for the next fifteen minutes. This was something he was certain that he would never understand about Naruto. How could one person consume so much ramen in one go without getting sick? Sasuke's hunger had been satisfied just by two bowls as was Sai's. But around Naruto, the empty bowls kept piling until he had built a fort with them around him. Feeling a bit sick to his stomach, Sasuke watched the blonde slurp down the last bit of the soup in his last bowl. Swiping a hand across his mouth, Naruto smacked his lips loudly and turned to Sai once again. Unfortunately for the blonde and to Sasuke's relief, it appeared that the Anbu had spent all the money that he had been carrying on him.
"I'm sorry, Naruto, but that's all I have at the moment," Sai said with a shrug of his shoulders. The blonde wilted visibly.
"Oh, that's too bad, Naruto-kun. Well, why don't you come back tomorrow?" Ichiraku smiled at the upset ninja, looking a bit relieved as well.
With one last look at the numerous empty bowls littering the counter, Naruto hopped off the stool. "Yeah, I'll do that, I guess. Thanks for the ramen, old man. And thanks, Sai. You are the greatest,"
"Anything for you, Naruto," Sai smiled at the Jounin who had draped an arm across his shoulder and then smirked at the other dark-haired man, revelling in his success. Sasuke smirked back and made up his mind on impulse.
"Old man, keep the ramen coming. I've still got money," drawled the young Chuunin, taking out his rather full wallet. Ha! Take that, you pest.
"A-are you sure?" Ichiraku asked hesitantly. Sasuke nodded and nearly tumbled off his seat as his vision was suddenly filled with a lot of golden hair. Overjoyed, Naruto had launched himself at Sasuke, hugging the startled man before he could put up any resistance.
"Sasuke! You are the best," he cried out, still squeezing the breath out of the struggling Uchiha while Sai frowned at the pair. As abruptly as he had clutched onto Sasuke, the Jounin let go of him as well. Blue eyes narrowed suspiciously at him as Naruto edged away from him. "But why are you buying me ramen?"
"Should I not?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow in question and laughed silently when the blonde shook his head vigorously.
"N-no, no! Of course, you should!" exclaimed Naruto, "but you never buy me ramen. So why now?"
The Uchiha held back an impatient sigh and forced a pleasant look on his face. "I just feel like it. Now, just shut up and eat,"
Still eyeing him warily, Naruto mumbled, "It's not because you want to touch my hair, right? Because there is no way that I'm letting you anywhere near it,"
Sai's shoulder shook with restrained laughter when Sasuke started choking on his drink. The shocked Chuunin sputtered and coughed as he tried to understand the nonsensical rubbish that had just streamed out of Naruto's mouth – he desperately hoped Ichiraku had gone temporarily deaf. Concerned, Naruto started thumping on his friend's back while Ichiraku watched on in alarm.
"Oi, Oi! Sasuke! Are you all right? Can you breathe? Talk to me, you jerk,"
"S-stop hitting me, idiot," Sasuke choked out, tears gathering at the corner of his eyes. "And what the hell are you talking about, you moron? Why would I want to touch your hair?"
Naruto frowned, "But you said so, earlier. Remember?"
"No I didn't. Think twice before you spout out such nonsense," he snapped, avoiding the gleeful smile that was etched across his rival's face. "Now, shut up or else I won't buy you any more ramen,"
That promptly silenced the confused blonde. And the silence continued much to Sasuke's relief as Ichiraku supplied Naruto with more ramen. Though, Sai's quiet sniggers did not stop until, fed up with the infuriating noise, Sasuke had asked outright whether anyone could hear a rat squeaking.
Amidst the whirlwind of nasty looks being shot back and forth between the two dark-haired ninjas, none of them noticed the slightly pale and sick appearance of their blonde companion as they left Ichiraku's Ramen.
A/N: Geez, I felt like I was writing a ping-pong match between Sasuke and Sai. Heh! What do you guys think?