Author's Notes: Hey there. I'm really sorry it took so long to update this fic. Real life has pretty much snuck up on me lately what with starting a new job, having to search for a new flat etc. Anyway, enough with my excuses, here's the next chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any or any of the characters related to it.

Chapter Six

Blue eyes opened onto an unfamiliar environment, as Naruto realised that the ceiling he was currently gazing up at was not his own. Fighting the urge to roll back over and sleep, he pushed himself up, albeit slowly. Letting out a huge yawn, he took his time in letting his brain register where he was. Finally realising, he quickly glanced upwards to find the bed above him empty. A wave of fear rushed over him and without a second thought he rushed through the corridors of the Uchiha mansion, crying out its owner's name.

"SASUKE! Where are you!?"

Poking his head in every single room he came across, he finally finds the dark haired boy in the kitchen.

"Sasuke." he panted in relief.

"What the hell are you yelling about so early in the morning?" Sasuke asked, his back turned.

"Eh? Oh, ah, nothing. Just doing a little exercise!" A bead of sweat ran down the back of his head. But it still worried him; the thought of Sasuke disappearing, of never being able to see him again.

Sasuke sighed. "You're an idiot, but at least you have good timing." he said placing some bowls on the table. "I just finished making breakfast."

"Breakfast? All right! I'm star-" He stopped and blinked. "This…this isn't ramen."

"Of course it's not ramen, it's a decent breakfast. I made rice, miso, natto and grilled fish. It's a lot healthier than eating ramen constantly." he replied, sitting down and picking up his own bowl of rice.

"I guess…" He always had ramen for breakfast, but if Sasuke had gone out of his way to make this for him…

"It looks great! Man, thanks a lot! Thanks for the food!"

Sasuke stared in surprise for a few moments as Naruto fired into his breakfast. He had been so sure of the other boy kicking up a big fuss about only eating ramen for breakfast and how delicious it was, and well, basically praising it to the high heavens.

"So, how long have you been awake?" Naruto asked through a mouth full of food.

"A few hours. I've slept so much lately that I don't think I could anymore even if I tried."

A small voice in the back of the blond's hair informed him of how Sasuke could have easily ran away in those few hours he was a sleep, but he instantly silenced it. Sasuke hadn't left, he was still here, and right now that was all that mattered.

"So, uh, did you sleep alright last night?" Sasuke felt like a complete idiot. His conversational skills were awful, not that he was particularly bothered about improving them.

"Yeah. I slept great! I can sleep anywhere."

"I see. That's good."

"So do you cook much then?" asked Naruto having finished his rice and starting on his miso.

"Not really. Just the basics. With training I don't have that much time. Not that I've been doing much training these past few days."

"Did you teach yourself to cook?"

He shook his head. "My Mother did. She was great cook." he replied, a little solemnly. Yet, Naruto couldn't help but smile slightly. This was the first time that Sasuke had ever said anything about his family. Or well, his family that wasn't his brother that was.

"I guess I'm the same, what with training all the time. Then again, I love ramen so much that I'm not bothered about cooking anything else." he laughed.

The other boy sighed. "It's amazing that you're still alive."

"Sasuke is right Naruto." sounded a familiar voice. "For the future Hokage to live solely on ramen, sets a bad example for others."

The two genin both looked up instantly to find their sensei kneeled down at the table next to them.

"Ka-Kakashi-sensei!? Wh-what the hell are you doing in Sasuke's house!?"

"I could ask you the same thing." the grey haired man replied. "Then again, unlike me, it seems like you were invited."

"What are you doing here, Kakashi?" Sasuke asked coldly.

"I wanted to check up on how two of my three favourite students were coping without their dear sensei, but here I find the two of you together. Now that I don't have to waste time searching for Naruto, I won't be too late this morning."

"Don't keep poor Sakura-chan, waiting!" the shorter boy yelled.

"Yes, yes. I just came over for a quick check. Though I must admit I'm disappointed that I didn't make it in time for breakfast."

"As if we would let you have any!"

"Still I'm surprised to find you here Naruto-kun, never mind Sasuke-kun making breakfast for you. And for you to accept it when it isn't ramen? My, something interesting must have happened these past few days." Kakashi said in such a gleeful manner that it was actually quite frightening.

"Shut up!"

"Hm." Sasuke turned away to ensure no one could see the sudden blush that had rose upon his cheeks.

"Well, I don't want to intrude any longer, so I'll be on my way." he said, standing up.

"Next time, use the door!"

"My, my, you say that like it's your house. If it's Sasuke-kun's, why get so upset?" his sensei asked, curiously in his usual apathetic tone.

"I…I don't care. It's just manners!" the blond defended.

"To be lectured on manners by my most unruly student, I will definitely have to rethink the way I act." he said, placing his hand on his chin thoughtfully. "Well, we'll resume training the day after tomorrow. Oh, and Sasuke-kun?"

"Wh-What?" he mumbled still turned the other way so they couldn't see his cheeks.

"Keep training with Naruto. It will help the both of you in the end." And with a puff of smoke, he was gone.

"What an idiot, barging into someone's house like that!" complained Naruto.

"Sounds like something you would do." the raven-haired boy retorted, taking a sip of his tea. "In fact, haven't you done it several times within the past couple of days?"

"Hey, that was different!"

"Excuses, excuses."

"Bastard!" Sasuke had to try his hardest not to smile, as the other boy went off on a rant. Naruto was so defensive, and although he would never admit it out loud, he did enjoy seeing his teammate getting riled up about something he said.

"Do you want a shower?" Sasuke asked suddenly, interrupting the shorter boy.

Naruto, blinked, confused. "Uh, sure.

"I'll go grab some towels." He said, getting up.

"Uh, Sasuke?"

"Hm?"

"Thanks a lot for breakfast. It was…good."

"It…" He paused for a moment. "It's the least I can do." Quickly he hurried off to find some towels, hoping to rid himself of the strange sensation forming in the pit of his stomach.

Naruto let out a sigh of contentment as he felt the warm water run against his skin. It felt like forever since he last had a shower, or one that he could enjoy anyway. Kakashi's sudden appearance had surprised him, and for some reason also annoyed him. Though, he supposed he should be happy that they would resume normal training in a couple of days and he could finally see Sakura again. Yet, strangely enough, the pink haired girl hadn't been on his mind much lately. Well, he had been busy with Sasuke after all...

Once dried and dressed he wandered around to find Sasuke in one of the sitting rooms, a mass of scrolls laid out before him.

"What're you doing?"

"Reading obviously." The other boy replied matter-of-factly.

"I know that! I mean what are you reading?"

"Just some old scrolls. I figured I'd better make up for the past few days. Maybe see if I can learn some new techniques."

Naruto blinked, surprised in how open his team-mate was being. Usually asking Sasuke what he was doing was the equivalent of getting blood out of a stone.

"Can I see one?"

Sasuke handed him one without glancing up from the scroll he was reading. Naruto frowned when he discovered how long the one he had just been handed was. Although it was because of reading he was able to learn and master the Kage bushin no jutsu, he really hated reading, much preferring to be shown a technique and practicing from the start without constantly looking back and forward to some scroll to make sure you did every step correctly. As Shikamaru would say, it was way too troublesome.

Ten minutes or so passed when out of the blue, Sasuke finally spoke. "You can leave if you want. You don't have to force yourself to stay here. I know this sort of thing is pretty boring for you."

"Huh?" Naruto looked up from skim reading through the long and monotonous words before him. "I'm fine. I don't mind reading once in awhile. And I'm not forcing myself. I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to."

"And here, I thought this would be the very last place you would ever want to be." Sasuke whispered quietly to himself.

Kakashi's words kept ringing in his ears.

My, something interesting must have happened these past few days.

Oh, and Sasuke-kun? Keep training with Naruto. It will help the both of you in the end.

He repressed a sigh. What the hell had Kakashi meant by that? And what was with that stupid grin that he couldn't really see but knew was there behind the material covering his mouth? He really pissed him off.

Could it be that when he wasn't training with Sakura, he was spying on them? No, it couldn't be. He was just being stupidly paranoid that was all. There was no way Kakashi would waste his free time on them when he could be reading those stupid books of his.

Still, there was no telling with-

Mentally he slapped himself. "Get a grip! Focus! You can't afford to waste anymore time!"

Before he even realised, an hour and a half had passed. Stretching he sat up and glanced over to Naruto to find the boy looking half ready to pass out from complete and utter boredom. He didn't get why Naruto didn't just go home already or go off and train on his own at least. Not that he wanted him to leave.

Did he still think that he was going to run off and leave Konoha? Firstly, what would be the point? With his current strength he didn't have a chance in hell hunting down and killing Itachi. Would he ever? Abruptly he shook his head. No. He couldn't go back to that way of thinking. He had to be… He sighed. As corny and pathetic as it sounded, he had to be positive.

"Naruto."

The blond boy jumped slightly. "Huh? What? I wasn't sleeping I swear!"

Sasuke let out an irritated sigh, although he wasn't actually annoyed at all. "I'm sure. I…I was going to do some shuriken practice out in the garden, and was wondering if you wanted to join me?"

"Hell yeah!" the shorted boy yelled excitedly, practically leaping up.

No wonder he didn't do well at the academy, Sasuke thought, smirking somewhat. Naruto couldn't even study for an hour never mind an entire class.

"Hey, are you coming or what?" Naruto cried, already outside the room.

"Yeah. Yeah."

Sasuke led Naruto to the usual spot in the Uchiha mansion's huge garden were he normally trained. Not that Naruto hadn't been there before, it was the same spot he had found Sasuke unconscious from exhaustion.

The raven-haired boy flinched when he arrived and found all the shuriken and kunai from the other day lying randomly on the grass. Just how out of it could he have been? Some of the weapons where so far away from their targets that one would think that a blind, drunk man with no shinobi training at all had thrown them. He had to resist the urge to whack his palm of his forehead. Thankfully, his team-mate didn't say anything and as it turned out Naruto had already started picking up the discarded shuriken without him even noticing.

"Here." said the other boy, handing him one.

Without saying anything, Sasuke took it, and positioning himself, threw it at the closest target board. It hit right in the middle, and he felt a mild satisfaction come over him. Tossing a few more, he was pleased to find that he still had some precision at least. Naruto on the other hand wasn't quite as gifted when it came to accuracy and missed several times before actually hitting the intended point.

"At least I'm still better than him at something." he thought, at the back of his mind, throwing a kunai this time.

After a few hours of weapon practice, they stopped for lunch, and upon Naruto's insistence, had some of the ramen he had brought over from the other day.

"Ah, ramen, I missed you so much!" said the blond boy, taking a huge slurp of noodles. Sasuke on the other hand was a lot more refrained when eating his.

"Nah, Sasuke! Act like you're enjoying the ramen at least!"

"But I'm not. It's just food."

"Ah, that's why you're so boring! You have to learn to enjoy the small things in life more."

"Is that so?" he replied, indifferently.

Naruto let out a huge groan of frustration. "Man, I really don't see why Sakura-chan is so hung up on you! I'm way more interesting!"

Sasuke turned away, trying to hide the brief flash of emotion that had appeared upon his face after hearing his other team-mate's name.

"Sakura… You must really miss her." It was more of a statement than an actual question.

"Of course I do. But I'll see her the day after tomorrow, so it's fine." he replied, in between slurps.

He really didn't get Naruto at times. Sometimes the boy was so obvious that you couldn't help but feel embarrassed for him, and then there were times when he just couldn't figure him out at all; like now for instance. If Sasuke gave up and quite Team 7, not only could he claim to have beaten his rival as he often referred to him as, but woo Sakura to his hearts content without any worry of her attention turning to him as it always did. But no, Naruto didn't want that. He wanted to be with Sakura that was clear. But for that to happen, things would have to change, and apparently that was something Naruto didn't want.

Inwardly he sighed. Naruto really was one of those people who wanted everything. Not because he was greedy, but because he had this naïve notion that everything would turn out alright; that everyone could be happy. But that was impossible. One person's happiness was another's sorrow; one person's wish was another's nightmare. Sasuke knew this all too well.

The only way for him to experience so-called happiness and finally be with Sakura was to forget about him; to cut him out of his life completely. And yet here the idiot was, trying to save him.

"Ne, Sasuke, you okay? You look pale. Ah, I mean paler than usual." Naruto pointed out worriedly.

"I'm fine." he replied, standing up. "Let's get back to training."

"Eh? But you haven't finished your ramen!"

"I'm fine."

Blue eyes watched him sadly as Sasuke picked up his kunai pack and resumed training, shutting out everything else around him.

Naruto sighed to himself. "Liar."

Author's Notes: Thank you for reading! And thank you lots to everyone who has reviewed! The next chapter definitely shouldn't take as long to get out. Or I hope at the very least.

As usual, constructive criticism and advice on how I could improve are greatly appreciated.