When the traffic light turns green, a naruto fanfic

I began writing this fic over a year ago, in the summer of 2008. I don't know why it took me so long, but here it is now, as I finally decide to upload it. This story was inspired by Haruki Murakami's Norweigian Wood and Banana Yoshimoto's Goodbye Tsugami--both novels deal with young people as they adjust in the adult world, as they move from the countryside to the city, and as they deal with life and its challenges. Both great reads--look out for them!

As for this story itself, well, you'll see. I hope you like it!

Just a little over two years ago, I left the town of my childhood to attend the University of Tokyo.

It came as a surprise to my family, friends and neighbourhood when the news arrived that I had been accepted. The university was extremely prestigious for being the best in Japan and everyone was proud that someone from their home-town would now attend it.

I didn't really know anyone else from my town that had gone to that university. My neighbour told my mother that, once upon a time, one of the sons of a teacher at my high school had also been accepted, and their entire family had since moved to Tokyo. It was common for people from the small towns of the countryside to move to the large cities for better prospects, but not everyone who moved survived the new stressful and fast-paced environment.

I moved to Tokyo alone. My parents said it was too expensive to live in Tokyo and moving there would be too troublesome. They had a large and spacious traditional Japanese house in the countryside, so what was better but to stay there and retire, while their sons moved away to generate their income?

My brother, Itachi, now lived in Osaka after he graduated in Kyoto. He sent money to our parents every month. It was an extreme convenience for them, to get rid of their two sons and enjoy their retirement. My father used to own a small hotel in our town that hosted plenty of tourists from the cities every year. He had accumulated enough savings to send both his sons to university and live in paradise after he retired. Now, one of my uncles looked after his business.

Why would a small town like my home-town attract tourists from the cities anyway? But the town was a surprisingly popular getaway. It seemed that fishing boats and the idea of people actually fishing was a very foreign idea to those from the city. Every tourist would demand for photos of them to be taken in front of the small fishing pier, and back when I was in high school, I would help out as a tour guide and carry with me a camera. Sometimes, my friend Naruto would tag along, and the tourists would grow to like the cheerful blonde boy so much that they would request to take a photo with him. (Not to mention that Naruto was in fact of Caucasian descent and that made him even more special.)

Now as I lived in the city, I often felt like I was watching the world pass by in slow motion; yes, that's right, because while everyone moved in slow motion, I stood still. People were in a rush to get somewhere all the time, running around like headless chickens. You should seriously see what it's like to be on a train during rush hour. It's not a good experience, but it would force you to truly appreciate the meaning of slowing down. But then again, the city people never understand.

The few friends I made here in university often told me that I was a very laid-back person. I always thought that my upbringing in the countryside made me that way, as least relatively so. But soon, I realised that perhaps that wasn't the case. I wasn't a laid-back person by nature at all. In fact, I was a rather uptight child growing up. I had always felt like I was living in the shadow of my brother, who was an excellent student, and so felt the need to perform perfectly all the time. That was just the way I grew up.

So it occurred to me that, since I wasn't a laid-back person by nature, something, someone along the way, must have changed me.

One Saturday night, I was surprisingly free from the college workload, and as I stared at the flashing television screen in my small apartment, it suddenly dawned on me. As I watched a regular drama about a boy wanting commit suicide, but was saved by the reckless, but sincere and passionate words of an annoying classmate, it suddenly became rather obvious.

It was all Naruto's fault.

The reason why I never get annoyed when I forget to bring an umbrella on a rainy day; when a dog pisses at the wrong place; when a shop closes by the time I get there... all these little things that the city people get annoyed at-- they never affect me. Every time, as I threaten to become annoyed at something, I remember, and I know, that I have seen far worse.

Nothing, no one, could ever be any more annoying than that blonde-haired friend I grew up with.

It would be difficult for others to believe when they hear this, but when I first met Naruto, I didn't care for him at all.

Out of all the Japanese faces in my kindergarten class, Naruto was the only child with blonde hair and blue eyes. Without even trying, he stood out from the rest. At the time, the thoughts that often ran through my mind were: what was that foreigner doing in our town? Was he a tourist?

Naruto didn't have any friends in kindergarten. Occasionally, he would be allowed to join the other kids in the sandbox, or maybe in a few games, but usually, he would be left out. And you couldn't even blame the other kids for excluding Naruto, because there were no other children living in the town with features remotely similar to his.

To them, Naruto was different, and they couldn't help but be scared of him.

That's why, it never bothered me when I saw the blonde boy sitting alone on the swings while everyone else played catch. It never bothered me when all the kids happily showed off their packed lunches while Naruto ate alone in a corner. It never really bothered me. It was just never my responsibility to be nice or be mean to the boy. I never even talked to him. If he wanted to join in, he should join in with the others, but not with me.

For a while, I was five, at kindergarten, and I never acknowledged the blonde's existence.

But then, I turned six.

On my sixth birthday, my family invited lots of people from the town to celebrate my birthday.

Our house was large. It had a wide garden that was elegantly decorated in traditional Japanese style, courtesy of my mother, and had lots of different rooms lined with bamboo mats and sliding doors. There was no way we couldn't fit all our guests in.

Yes, everyone could fit into our house, so all the kids from my kindergarten were invited. But despite the size of the house, there was one person that the kids thought would surely never fit.

They had no doubt in their minds--Naruto would never fit.

Naruto was invited along with his family because he lived just two houses away from me. I didn't actually know he lived so close to me until that day. My mother told me that Naruto's father, Namikaze Minato, worked for the mayor, and their family was very respectable in our town.

Then, I asked my mother why they were living in our town in the first place; after all, they weren't Japanese. But at that, my mother just smiled at me. She told me to ask Naruto myself.

Disappointed by her answer, I suddenly felt compelled to retreat to my room. One of the girls from my kindergarten, Sakura, ran over to me to ask if I wanted to play hide and seek around the house with her and the other kids. I just shook my head and ascended the stairs.

There was a sound of footsteps shuffling as I neared my room. Frowning, I walked closer and stood outside my door, thinking up all the possible reasons why there would be sounds in my room when everyone was downstairs. In my mind, there was only one answer: there's a thief!

I paused and thought through my ideas about the thief. Would he or she have a knife? Should I call for help instead? However, my thoughts were cut short as I made the decision to enter my room. I would make a run for it if the thief had a weapon. I flung open the door quickly and shifted my eyes nervously.

There was no thief.

Instead, there was a small figure curled in a bunch beneath my blankets.

There is someone on my bed!

Making my way over to the side of my bed cautiously, I gripped my blanket and felt the figure beneath it tense up with alarm. In a swift motion, I pulled the covers off.

Surprisingly, on my bed sat none other than the outcast of the kindergarten: Naruto.

My eyes widened as I tried to comprehend what was happening. The blonde grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

"I was trying to look for the toilet, but I thought I would get in trouble if I got caught and..." the blonde trailed off as he wondered if he needed to elaborate.

It had shocked me slightly to hear the blonde boy speak in perfectly accented Japanese. I never thought that he would be able to do that.

It didn't occur to me back then that I could have just kicked him out of my room. What had hit me first was that I still had some unanswered questions for the blonde, ever since my mother refused to give me my answers.

I sat down on my bed beside the blonde and studied his face cautiously. He tilted his head in confusion at my silence.

Then, I spoke. The question seemed completely random at the time, but beginnings always come at random, don't they? "Why does your family live here?" I asked, my voice tinged with curiosity and my tone softer than I had meant it to be.

At that moment, Naruto smiled; the smile turned into a shy grin, and a small chuckling sound was released. There was a faint flush on his cheeks from happiness, and our eyes met.

I would never forget the way his face glowed as though he was the happiest person on earth. It was the most beautiful smile I had ever seen, and in my twenty one years of life, no other smile ever rivalled the one Naruto gave me that day. It had surprised me, but at the same time, it drew me in like nothing else could. I loved Naruto's smile.

That day, I never told Naruto to get out of my room (although he did at one point because he really needed the toilet.) Instead, he sat next to me on my bed and told me why, as a person with Caucasian features, he lived here in the countryside of Japan. Apparently, Namikaze Minato was an American orphan adopted by a kind Japanese couple. Naruto's father identified himself as a full Japanese, being fluent in the language as well as familiar with the land and the people. Naruto himself never truly saw himself as anything other than Japanese, thanks to his father.

Naruto told me that he was extremely happy that I had been interested in his affairs, his existence, and that I was the first person to ever ask him a question like that. Ever since that day, we became good friends, and as time passed, we grew up together.

When I left for Tokyo, Naruto had stayed. He applied and was accepted by a nearby university in a small neighbouring city. On the mornings when he had classes, he would make a trip by bus to the train station of the neighbouring city and walk the rest of his way to the campus.

The university he went to was the only one he applied for during our last year of high school. That year, the mayor of the town, Sarutobi, fell very sick, and Naruto decided to stay to help look after him. He was very good friends with the old man, and couldn't stand the thought of leaving while a friend was sick in bed.

During the cold months of December that year, Sarutobi died.

I worked part-time in Tower Records in Shibuya on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays from three to eight as one of the staff members in charge of the books and magazines section. The job was more hectic during the busy hours of the day, where everybody seemed to have the need to buy a couple of English books to look well-read to impress. That said, however, during the slow hours at around two in the afternoon on the weekdays, when the office workers were back at work, and the students were still at school, I would sit around with not much to do.

Sometimes, Shikamaru would come over during the slow working hours to sit around with me in the store. Shikamaru was a friend and classmate of mine, and at times, we would share our knowledge on a class that we both applied to and help each other out on the work. We usually had different perspectives on the same subject, which made the act of sharing our knowledge very useful for both of us.

Occasionally, another member of staff working in the CDs and DVDs section, Kiba, would join us in our little meeting in front of the English books area of the store. Sometimes, Kiba would have some food with him, and he would share with us his spoils. We would stand quietly in a circle, our backs hunched up, secretly eating it all up while nobody was watching.

There were times when Kiba would try and drag both Shikamaru and myself to a club. Kiba was single, and he liked it like that. When he got lucky, he would find a girl at one of the clubs and get laid.

However, Shikamaru had a girlfriend named Ino, and he abided strictly by the rule that he was in no circumstances allowed to enter a club without his girlfriend. Ino was a woman of a lot of pride, and sometimes, I sort of pitied Shikamaru.

Over the two years that I had been in Tokyo, I had remained single, not that there weren't enough pretty girls in the district -- hell, there was an excess supply -- but because I found myself unable to find the time and energy for things like relationships. I found that between concentrating on my studies, my job, and my time spent talking to Naruto via text messaging, I really had no more time to divert attention to a girl.

So whenever Kiba tried to drag both of us to a club, Shikamaru would find a quick escape route by leaving the store (which worked every time as both Kiba and I were employees), and I would follow Kiba, but only order one drink and chat mindlessly with some others, and then leave early. The chatting part was tolerable, and the drink was all right, so I would go with Kiba. Sometimes, some girls would come over and try and get to know me. I was never too rude to them, but I always told them I wasn't interested.

Every time I went to a club, I left earlier than Kiba. Sometimes, I would phone Shikamaru just to see how he was doing and if Ino had accused him of smelling like alcohol and girls again.

There was one time when Shikamaru had come over for a visit at the store while I was replying to a message from the blonde idiot on my cellphone. Shikamaru had asked me who it was that I was talking to, and I had told him about my childhood friend.

"Where is he now?" he asked me, and I told him about Naruto's decision to stay at home.

"Why do you ask?" I asked him.

The next thing that Shikamaru told me created quite an impact on me, and to this day, I remember it clearly. It was something that never truly occurred to me until then.

All this time that I had been in Tokyo, watching as the days passed by and trying not to be left behind by the sheer speed in which everything moved, I seemed to have become confused. The things that I did seemed less and less significant, and I felt smaller and smaller, intimidated by the sudden expansion of the world that I lived in. Suddenly, I wasn't in the small fishing village anymore, and lived in one of the biggest cities in the world. Suddenly, I had no friends and knew no one, and had to rebuild my life from scratch.

Had I also become one of those lifeless beings who were squashed under the heavy weight of the stressful society? I had always thought that I was an outsider when I watched all these people dressed in complete black push pass each other on the streets.

That day, Shikamaru told me: "That smile was the happiest smile I'd seen on your face ever since the first day I met you."

After that, there seemed to be a short pause, where the world suddenly stopped moving. I looked at Shikamaru, digesting what he had just said, and then looked back down at my cellphone and gingerly clicked the 'send' button. There was a quiet 'beep' sound from my cellphone, indicating that the message had been sent, and suddenly, the world came alive again.

You know, bastard? You should seriously come back here and visit us sometime. Pockey misses you. He's been barking every single morning in front of your house, thinking that you're still in there, you know? He thinks you're still asleep during the time that you're supposed to be going to school, back when you were here. He waits for you ever so quietly at night, wagging his tail in front of your door, waiting for you to come out and take him for a walk. You're lucky I'm still here. It pains me to watch him waiting for you like that every night. I've officially replaced you. Jealous?

Anyway, come back during the summer or something! I don't believe you when you say you don't have time over the summer.

Pockey really misses you!

No love, Naruto

Sunday, 20:53

Unlike someone I know, I actually have to work over the summer to save up. I can't live on rations from my parents, you know. Sometimes, my socks do break, and I do need to replace them. Where is the money going to come from? Certainly not out of my stomach. Also, I have to study over the summer, or else I'll fall behind.

As for Pockey, well, I wouldn't trust anyone to look after him but you, after all. And no, I'm not jealous. I'm certain that I'll always remain the one and only true master of Pockey. He can be your friend, but Pockey's still mine.

Now don't spam my inbox, because I actually have to tolerate seeing my phone vibrate every 5 minutes, snap it open, read your message, roll my eyes, and snap it close. I actually have to try to return to my studies until 5 minutes later, there the phone goes again.

No love either, Sasuke

Sunday, 20:56

Soon, summer came, and I began working on Fridays as well. It was my third summer in Tokyo, as I just started my third year in university during April. I was to graduate after my fourth year.

Things had been looking up. I did very well in my studies over the second year at university, and I approached summer and my summer work with a very optimistic attitude. Naturally, I also believed that this summer would be a very normal summer, just like the previous two summers that I had been through here at Tokyo.

However, what I didn't know was that the normal life that I led, just like any other university student, was about the be shaken up completely.

On a very blistering hot and sunny day in July, I received a message from Naruto.

I'm coming to visit you in Tokyo!

After that, I had rapidly replied, asking him when he was going to arrive and why he was suddenly coming. He told me that he felt bored and was free, so he thought that maybe he should come and visit me since I was such a prick and refused to go home. He was going to arrive--

Tonight.

After reading that message, I phoned up my boss and told him that I would be absent from work today. Then, I picked up my wallet, put it in my pocket, and left the apartment with my cellphone clutched tightly in my hand.

When I arrived at the Shinjuku train station, I immediately ran to check the arrival times of trains that day, finding that there was one train coming from my hometown tonight, that was to arrive at nine.

By then, it was only five, and the sun hadn't even set yet. I had four hours to spare. Snapping open my cellphone, I dialled Shikamaru's number.

"Shikamaru, it's Sasuke."

"Oh, Sasuke? Hi. What brings you to call?"

There was a sound of someone talking in the background on Shikamaru's side.

"Do you remember my friend that I told you about? Naruto?"

"Yeah, what about him?"

"He's coming here tonight. Arriving at nine."

"Oh, that's great."

"I have four hours to kill now. Are you busy?"

"I'd love to meet him, Sasuke, but right now, I'm with Ino, and I need to hang up."

From the lazy genius' tone of plea, I understood exactly what he meant: I'm with Ino, and I need to hang up before I'm no longer allowed on the phone while she's here.

"Oh, all right, thanks anyway, bye."

"Bye."

And just like Shikamaru said, the line went dead.

I sighed and looked around. There was no way that I could hang around on the streets for another four hours. There was nothing to do at home either. And besides, I was feeling too restless right now to sit quietly at home anyway. I needed someone to talk to.

Never thinking that I would ever have to resort to this, I called Kiba.

"Kiba?"

"Oh hey, Sasuke, what's up?"

"Do you have a shift today?"

"Nah, I worked the morning today. Why?"

"I have a friend from my hometown, Naruto, coming over to visit me. His train's arriving at nine. I need to kill some time. Are you free to come out?"

"Ohh, I see. Yeah, I'm already out. Where are you now?"

"Shinjuku."

"All right! I'll be at the station."

After Kiba arrived, we went to a small noodle restarant and sat on the high stools in front of the counter. Kiba ordered us both miso ramen and decided to add various extra dishes so we could eat for a longer time.

"So, how's this Naruto guy like? You seem kind of excited to see him."

"It's been over two years since I've last seen him."

"Haven't really answered my question, though," Kiba commented and gave a little chuckle. "I heard a bit about him from Shikamaru."

"What did he tell you?" I asked.

"Oh, you know, just this and that. I know that you and your friend are very close." Kiba nodded. "Soooo, what's he like?"

I sighed. "Naruto is my childhood friend. He's my best friend. He's not ethnically Japanese. He's loud, annoying, and wears really brightly-coloured clothes. I really have no idea why I'm even acquainted with him."

The image of Naruto's blue eyes gazing at me, his signature grin plastered on his face, emerged in my mind. Subconsciously, the beginning of a smile tugged at the corner of my lips. My eyes gradually lost focus as I stared upwards at nowhere in particular. Naruto was coming for a visit! I would be able to see him!

A large amount of memories that had been trapped behind a large dam in my head were suddenly let loose, breaking through the thick walls and bursting out at full speed. Memories of when Naruto and myself played explorers on the hills; when we fished at the piers; when we played hide and seek at my house; when we played video games together; when we lead the tourists around the town; when I comforted Naruto because he failed his test; when we both passed in the final exams at high school... It was as though time suddenly flew right past me like a whirlwind.

Before I knew it, my bowl of ramen had arrived and Kiba had already broken in chopsticks into two, ready to start his meal. Just as I was about to dip my chopsticks into my bowl, Kiba spoke up.

Kiba had said this while he was mixing the ingredients in his bowl that day, as though it had just slipped out of his mouth without his consent.

"I think it's okay to fall in love with your best friend."

After that, he began slurping his noodles, and my chopsticks fell to the floor.

A little embarrassed, I asked the waitress for another pair of chopsticks.

It was just around nine when I returned to the Shinjuku station. Kiba had decided to tag along with me there to wait for Naruto.

And we waited. We really waited. It was past nine already by the time I looked at my watch properly, then glanced at the station's clock to make sure my watch was correct. People were filing out of the station at a steady pace. Sometimes, there would be more people as a more crowded train arrived, but other times, there would be around a dozen of people getting out at the same time.

At once, I was pretty sure that the group of people that just walked past me were from the train Naruto was in. I stood up and asked a woman in her fifties if she took the train I was thinking of, and she nodded.

Scanning the people at the station at this time quickly, I tried to spot a person with blonde hair. There weren't many people with natural blonde hair here, and it was usually easy to tell if a person's hair was naturally blonde. Especially Naruto's hair, because it was such a sharp colour and he liked to style it in such a spiky way.

I asked Kiba if he saw anyone fitting of the description of Naruto that I had given him. Kiba shook his head apologetically.

We sat and waited for another while, and by the time I checked the time again, it was already ten, and I was beginning to panic.

Where was Naruto?

I whipped out my cellphone and began texting Naruto at a hurried pace. I waited nervously for a reply.

"Don't worry." Kiba's voice suddenly intruded and popped the bubble that my mind was been submerged in. I looked up from my cellphone screen and stared at Kiba.

"He probably missed his train," Kiba said thoughtfully. I nodded at what he said, thanking his attempt to calm me down, but there were far worse situations flashing in my head that I couldn't let go of.

"Something bad might have happened," I said gravely.

"On the other hand, something good might have happened. Relax, my friend. Naruto will reply." Kiba grinned and patted me lightly on the shoulder.

Many minutes later, my cellphone vibrated and it leapt out of my hand as I was surprised by its sudden movement. Throwing it upwards in the air as though it were a hot potato, I attempted to catch it. After securing it in my hand once again, I realised that I had received a reply from Naruto.

My heart started pounding faster, wondering what it was that had happened that could have held Naruto back. Gingerly opening my cellphone with both hands, I stared at the message that Naruto had sent.

I couldn't remember exactly what happened next. I had a collection of images of myself shooting up from my seat, staring wide-eyed at the screen of the phone, and charging over to an opened ticket booth, demanding for a ticket of a train to my hometown immediately. I suddenly felt a surge of emotion, and I just knew, there was no question of it, I just had to go back and see Naruto now. The knowledge of it hit me on the head like an electric iron. And I hadn't been hit that hard for a long, long time.

It wasn't until I settled down on the last train of the night that went in the direction of my hometown that I remembered Kiba.

Pockey died.

Saturday 22:44

It was well past midnight when I arrived at the train station of the nearby city of my hometown. There were no means of transport to my town during this time of the night, meaning that I had to take a taxi.

However, when I pushed the door of the exit of the train station open, there was a lone figure sitting on the bench outside.

Naruto's figure was slouched and his eyes were on the floor. When he heard the door creak open, he looked up with his blue eyes wide, and our gazes met.

There was a drying trail of moisture on Naruto's cheek. For a while, there was a silence between us as we thought about what we should say.

Naruto was the first to break the silence.

"I thought he was asleep," he began to say. "I left him alone in the morning, although I found it strange that he wasn't barking like normal, being your personal alarm clock, you know? And I checked again this afternoon, realising that he hadn't moved."

Naruto paused. I held my breath.

"His body was so cold."

I nodded, feeling something crack in my body as I began to truly comprehend the fact that the dog Naruto and I grew up with was dead.

Narrowing the distance between myself and Naruto, Naruto stretched out his arms and pulled me into an embrace, his arms wounded around my neck. I felt as though this gesture was something that both of us had been needing for a long, long time-- something that we lacked in our lives for over two years.

I winded my arms around Naruto's waist, and we stood there for goodness knew how long, becoming familiar with the presence of each other. It wasn't until this moment that I realised how much I had missed having my blonde friend around. It seemed as though in this warm summer night, the ice in my heart that collected over the time of my stay in Tokyo melted all in one go.

I felt Naruto's warm breath as he breathed on one side of my neck, and suddenly, I realised what it was that I had always felt in the city. The kind of emotion that I felt as I was shopping for groceries, as I was helping a customer to find his desired book, as I was eating by myself in a small restaurant.

I had always thought that I was confused, having changed from living in a small town to living in a big city. I always thought that I had problems adjusting, that was all. But tonight, as Naruto's arms were around my neck and as the two of us were so close together for the first time in two years, it suddenly all dawned on me, like someone tipped a cold bucket of water over my head.

Here, in my hometown, I had friends, and I had family. Here, I had my memories of my childhood etched on every corner of the town that I had been with Naruto. Here was where everything that I had built over my first eighteen years of life was.

And then I moved to Tokyo, where I had nothing. Where I had no friends, no family, and knew no one. There, I rebuilt my life from scratch. There, I had to start over.

I was lonely.

And yet, there was some part of me that refused to start over completely. I had a life. I had people that were important to me. There was no way that I could try and live like the way I did before. Something had prevented me from doing this.

Now as Naruto slowly pulled away, removing his arms, his blue eyes still fixed on me, it suddenly became so clear.

Naruto took a step back, tearing his eyes away from me and lowering his gaze. He fidgeted a little as though he was nervous about something.

"Pockey really missed you, bastard," he murmured quietly, his voice soft and his eyes still on the floor. "You weren't there when he died. We already buried him in your garden."

I didn't respond, knowing that Naruto hadn't finished speaking yet as he was still fidgeting.

"We're all going to be there to honour his death in the morning," Naruto continued. "Damn it, bastard, didn't you realise how many times I told you Pockey missed you a lot?" Naruto's voice suddenly rose a little. "I told you so many times, in every single message I sent you. And you didn't even think about coming back at all! I told you that Pockey fucking missed you so many times. Why do you have to be such a dense prick? How the hell did you get into that posh university?"

As a matter of fact, I didn't realise that Naruto kept on reminding me every week that Pockey missed me. I actually got the point that, yes, Pockey missed me, after a while, and I didn't really understand why Naruto had to tell me so many times.

"I knew he missed me," I said quietly, unable to form any other response.

Naruto only stared at me, wide-eyed. The trail of moisture that had dried by now on his cheek formed a little mark on his face.

"No, you don't know."

Naruto's voice was suddenly very quiet.

"Because I was the one who missed you the most."

There was a tense silence as we stared at each other, both startled at what Naruto had said. A moment after Naruto's declaration, he started stammering about how his parents missed me too and how, actually, Pockey missed me the most.

A small smile crept onto my lips, a smile that I was pretty sure I hadn't shown for a long time. The smile for Naruto. There was a small blush on his cheeks.

"And I missed you too."

Then, Naruto smiled back. His smile widened into a grin as his eyes crinkled up, and the pink tinge on his cheeks remained. His face reminded me of the face that I was drawn to in the first place-- the one I saw on my sixth birthday. At that moment, I thought to myself: I could look at this smiling face forever.

Naruto had drove to the train station that night, so he drove me back to our town. When he parked the car back in front of his house, we got out, and he turned to me.

"Hey, how about we go to the pier?"

I nodded dumbly and followed the blonde who had a light bounce in his footsteps. Soon, he was skipping.

"Naruto..." I said, questioning his choice of movement.

"What? I'm happy to see you." He raced forward another distance before stopping in front of the sea. The sounds of the waves crashing against the rocks filled my ears. It seemed like an eternity had passed since I had heard this soothing, comforting sound that I grew up with.

Naruto took a step onto the pier, gazing outwards at the darkened horizon. I followed behind him. Once I took my first step onto the pier, Naruto took a deep breath and suddenly sprung forward, running to the very end of the pier, where there was a small pavilion, initially built as an attraction for tourists. (It was a fishing pier, after all.)

I jogged after him. There was a smile on my face as I reached the end of the pier where Naruto was. He was already sat down on the bench, swinging his legs back and forth, waiting for me.

"I hadn't be on the pier for a long time," Naruto said with a grin.

That took me by surprise because Naruto had been living here for the past two years. "Why?" I asked him.

"I thought, 'When I next set foot on the pier, I had to have Sasuke with me.'" He grinned victoriously.

I sighed at my friend's words, but my smile remained.

"And I hadn't heard your voice in ages, Sasuke," Naruto said, his blue eyes glistening in the dark like the subtle shimmers of the waves in the vast ocean.

"You never called me," I answered.

"That's because you always texted me back!"

"That's because you texted me first!"

"Yeah, so I texted you back... oh man, I should have called you!"

"Talking to you was so expensive."

"But you know you love it," Naruto said with a mischievous glint.

The sky was filled with stars as our surroundings were very dark. I couldn't help but gasp, because I hadn't seen a sky like that for a very long time.

"Jealous?" Naruto suddenly said. "I see this every night." He grinned cheekily.

"I'm back for now, though."

"When are you going to leave, then?" He stood up from the bench and stood beside me, staring out into the sea and listening to the crashing of the waves.

"Probably sometimes during the afternoon tomorrow. I have work on Monday."

"Hmm, that's very soon," said Naruto.

There was a thoughtful silence between us as we both comprehended on what to do next.

"Say, Sasuke," Naruto began, his voice firm as he pinned his gaze at an unknown spot on the surface of the sea.

I turned to him, my expression curious. Naruto's resolve seemed to falter slightly as he half-turned towards me, only to turn back and stare at whatever he was staring at before, straight ahead. He looked down at his hands on his lap before they clenched into fists. It took me by surprise when Naruto's eyes were suddenly staring straight through my soul.

"Can I... sleepover at your house tonight?"

The question was pure. What my best friend had expected was pure. We had never been separated ever since I turned six, and yet, we hadn't seen each other for two years. I truly first met Naruto on my bed, and now we were going to spend the night there. There were no other intentions, because now, we no longer took each other's presence for granted.

It was almost 2 o' clock in the morning when we got back to my house. I had told my parents earlier that I was going to return late at night so that they wouldn't think that there was a thief, and they had already gone to sleep beforehand. The house was quiet when we entered.

Naruto flopped onto my bed almost immediately after entering my room, lying down on it like a big starfish, taking up all the space.

"Did you bring anything to change into?" I asked him, opening a couple of drawers to see if my parents had sold all my clothing away. Naruto shook his head. There were a couple of shirts and a few shorts left in one of the drawers (so they really did sell most of my clothes), and I picked up a set of clothes to throw at Naruto. It landed on his head. Naruto and I wore similar sizes.

Grabbing the garments off his head, Naruto examined the clothes. "They're newly washed," he commented.

"Probably the courtesy of my mother."

"She could have just let it rot in your drawer, really. Let all the termites eat it up," Naruto said in an amused tone, and stuck out his tongue.

"Termites eat wood, idiot."

"They might occasionally bite your clothes, you'll never know."

"There are no termites in my drawer, thank you very much."

I proceeded to remove my worn shirt to change into a 'newly washed' one. I felt my friend's eyes on my back, but I shrugged it off and picked up the new shirt.

"You're changing here?" Naruto said with a hint of surprise.

"What? Neither of us ever had a problem with that."

Still shirtless, I turned to face Naruto and smirked knowingly. I didn't say a word, but he understood what I was thinking.

There was a small touch of pink expanding on Naruto's cheeks. "Wipe that smug smirk off your face, bastard." And then my friend proceeded to look anywhere but at me. I chuckled and put on the fresh shirt. Teasing Naruto was more fun than I remembered it to be.

"And we used to take baths together too," I said, amused, and began to change into the shorts. Naruto flashed me an 'are you kidding me' look before turning away in a huff and removing his own shirt as well.

That night, lying in bed with Naruto by my side, was a night that I would remember in my days to come. It was a night that made feel as though I had lots of sleep, but also at the same time made me feel like I didn't sleep at all.

It was an hour after the two of us had lied down on the bed, and my eyes were still wide open as I stared blankly at the ceiling. It seemed that Naruto had drifted into sleep as soon as his head had hit the pillow, if his regular breathing sounds weren't of any indication.

Ever since Naruto was young, he always had the habit of cuddling things in his sleep. He just needed something to hug while he was sleeping, and it was just as simple as that. It slipped my mind this time, as my visit to my hometown and Naruto's sleepover at my house were completely improvised. None of it was planned. I hadn't put an extra cushion beside Naruto for him to cuddle over the night.

Which meant that he had to find an alternative to the usual cushion that he would have. Which explained my current predicament, as the blonde snuggled up on my shoulder with his arms wound around my neck for the second time over the night.

It wasn't that it was uncomfortable. There were many times in the past when Naruto lacked a cushion when he slept over and decided to use me as his temporary cushion. I fared very well with that in the past, and it wasn't that different tonight. What kept me awake was the way Naruto shifted and rubbed his forehead on the junction of my shoulder and my neck every now and then, and then murmured something that I couldn't hear, the sound muffled up by the fabric of my shirt.

It continued on for an hour, and every once in a while, a tingling sensation would run down my spine. Just as I thought that I was finally used to the close proximity, Naruto decided to swing his leg across the bed and place his thigh on my leg. I froze, staring hard at the ceiling. Having held my breath, I exhaled at once like I was sighing loudly.

I really didn't think I'd be getting any sleep.

"Sasuke?"

There was a silence that felt like an eternity as I tried to absorb the shock that had suddenly filled my mind.

Was that Naruto?

"Sasuke, are you awake?"

Oh my god, it's Naruto.

I grunted in response.

"Were you even asleep?" I asked him in an irritated tone. I tried to pry Naruto's limbs off my body but found that he was stuck on me like a leech.

"You could have kicked me off the bed," he replied.

All right, so that didn't really answer my question.

We were both quiet for a moment, thinking about what we could do next. I'd been failing to sleep for the past hour-- I didn't find sleep a particularly possible option at the time being.

The side of my neck that Naruto's head was on suddenly felt warmer. It took me a few seconds to realise that Naruto might have been speaking.

"Did you say something?" I asked softly.

"Sasuke, while you were gone, suppose I..." Naruto began, and paused, as if thinking of how he should phrase what he was about to say. "Suppose I... fell in love with you.. just what if, okay? I'm not saying that I'm really in love with you-- but... suppose, suppose I did... and if I told you, would you be mad?"

There was a moment of complete silence where nothing moved. I could feel Naruto's arms tense, frozen around my neck, as if nervous about the answer that I was supposed to give him. I shifted and turned towards Naruto to face him instead of the ceiling. Propping my head up on my elbow, I looked at Naruto who watched me and waited.

Under the moonlight shining through the window, there was an ethereal glow to Naruto's face. His blonde hair shone as it reflected the soft light, and his cerulean blue eyes were bluer and more alive than I'd ever seen them, especially since I was so close to him.

His expression was one of utmost seriousness. There was not even a hint behind his face or the tone in which he used that told me that he was joking. Naruto asked me whether or not it was okay if he loved me. In my mind, it was as if he was asking for permission, meaning that he really was in love with me.

Suddenly, realisation dawned on me.

"I think it's okay to fall in love with your best friend."

My silence seemed to disappoint Naruto as he lowered his eyes and subtly shifted away from me and towards the wall. This action snapped me out of my reverie as I began to evaluate the current situation. I returned to my previous lying down position as I stared up at the ceiling.

"That's a stupid question," I said, before I could control what came out of my mouth. It sounded more spiteful than I had meant it to be, but I couldn't do anything about it, because I always insulted Naruto in such a way, in such a tone, and vice versa. However, the body curled up beside me flinched slightly to what I said, and I found myself feeling guilty. What my friend had asked was a question that took him a lot of time to muster enough courage to even say out loud, and all I said in return was that it was stupid. Real suave, Sasuke, real suave.

As if to compensate for my own faults, I shifted closer to the wall that Naruto was curled up next to, now with his back to me. Apart from Naruto's gasp of surprise, the room was silent as I snaked an arm around Naruto's waist and the other rested on Naruto's head. Naruto's blonde locks felt soft between my fingers. I pulled Naruto closer to me and rested my forehead against the back of his neck.

Neither of us knew what to say or do in such a situation, and Naruto sure as hell didn't know how to interpret what I was doing. After all, I still hadn't answered his question.

Five minutes ticked by and neither of us made any move to change the close proximity between us. The tense atmosphere that seemed to have built up without either of us knowing slowly chipped away like paint off an old painting, and soon, Naruto relaxed in my arms. At the end of it all, we were both more comfortable with acknowledging a sense of unknown hanging in the air and leaving it to just... hang, instead of addressing it directly.

"Teme..." Naruto said quietly without moving. I made a low grunting sound to show that I heard him. There was a pause before Naruto continued. "I'm really glad you hadn't shown any interest in any girls, even in Tokyo."

"Why do you say that?" There was no hint of surprise in my tone of voice, but I knew Naruto was right. I was always too preoccupied with my phone, and Naruto's presence in my phone, to have any girlfriend.

Naruto rolled around to face me, his face glowing under the moonlight shining in from the window. He stared at me for a moment before redirecting his gaze at some random spot in the room, eyes conflicted as if deep in contemplation. I was taken by surprised, however, when Naruto touched his forehead to mine and closed his eyes.

"Because," he began slowly, as if savouring the moment. "Then, you might fall in love with me."

I couldn't tell if he was joking or not, but the warm summer night suddenly seemed to be getting warmer and warmer as I felt Naruto move even closer than he already was. I felt my face heat up. I almost thought he was going to kiss me, but just as I prepared myself for it, my eyes tightly shut and my body tense, Naruto suddenly pulled away.

It was as though my reaction was all the confirmation that he needed.

I turned to look at him, briefly wondering what that was all about. He grinned back at me, one hand up in the air, seeming to wave the matter off as though telling me not to take it too seriously.

"Well, I'm done screwing with your mind for today. That was for being such a prick and not coming back for a visit," he said with a mock-bitter tone.

Great, now I'm confused.

"Idiot."

The blonde snuggled close to me again, but this time, instead of breaking all the common laws of respect for personal space, he just laid his head gently on my shoulder, a much more comfortable position. I glanced down at him, not really able to figure him out. My brain was in a complete jumble and there was no way I was going to start thinking about how I felt for my best friend on a night like this.

I sighed. I'd just have to sleep in this position. It was already three o' clock in the morning. I knew that my mother would be up at six to do morning exercises and then make breakfast. I wouldn't be getting that much sleep. My mother had a habit of waking everyone up if they weren't already awake by seven.

And with that, my eyes slowly drifted to a close. Far in the distance, I seem to have heard a quiet murmur in the dark. I feel asleep with a smile on my lips as the words barely registered in my mind. Just ever so barely.

But teme, you were spooning me.

When I woke up, the sunlight was shining brightly through the window, so brightly that I had to lift an arm to shield my eyes. I began to sit up, but realised that there was a weight on my body that stopped me from doing so.

Oh, right.

I rubbed my eyes and cleared my mind a little, trying to remember what happened the night before. As I adjusted to the brightness, I realised that I had returned to my home for the first time in two years.

It felt kind of nostalgic to wake up in the place that I woke up in every single day since I could remember.

It also felt kind of strange to wake up with a man who was my best friend, who was probably in love with me, beside me and intertwined with me in the morning.

Shrugging the thoughts aside for the moment, I wondered about the time. It must have been earlier than seven in the morning because my mother couldn't bear leaving people asleep after seven. She just had to take the honour to shake everyone in the house awake if they were still asleep at the time. Had I managed to go with just a little over three hours of sleep, or so? I usually went with a bit more.

It must have been because of the blonde.

I glanced at the clock hanging on one side of the wall, and my jaw hung open in shock.

It was already ten!

Slowly, trying not to wake Naruto, who was still fast asleep, I lifted his arms off from my chest and retracted my right leg so it was not entwined with his legs. Sitting up, I took a deep breath.

All right, today is Pockey day.

There was a light knock on the door, and I straightened up, staring at it.

"Come in," I croaked out, unable to use my voice yet as I just woke up.

The door opened and my mother's head poked in.

"Oh, Sasuke! Good morning!" She said cheerfully. "I haven't seen you in a while now. Your face has gotten thinner, hmm, more angular. Maybe you lost your baby fat," she said, commenting on her observations.

"Good morning... and mother, how come you didn't wake us up at seven?" I asked curiously.

She giggled a little, and I wished I hadn't asked.

"You two looked so cute sleeping all huddled up on the same bed! I just couldn't wake you up," she said with a smile on her face. "Well, get dressed now! I made breakfast. We'll have a little service honouring dear Pockey at around eleven, all right?" With that, she closed the door quietly and I listened to her footsteps as she descended down the stairs.

Naruto stirred a little in his sleep and he latched onto my arm.

"Sasuke..."

Was this idiot ever really asleep?

I looked at Naruto, noticing that his eyes were still closed, and there was a satisfied look on his face.

"Ramen..."

I rolled my eyes.

Deciding to go wash up and then wake Naruto up, I finally shuffled off the bed and left Naruto's sleep-talking form groping around for something to hold onto. Finding the pillow, he grabbed it from under his head forcefully and latched onto it, his head falling onto the mattress with a quiet 'thunk'.

It seemed that the shock caused to his head from the small fall was finally enough to wake the idiot up, who removed one arm from the pillow and began to nurse his head from the impact, groaning quietly.

My mattress wasn't that hard, really.

Amused, I left for the bathroom, leaving the idiot in the room to recover from his morning drama.

"Sasuke!" a voice spoke from the hallway. I looked up from my bowl of miso soup.

"Sasuke!" The door to the kitchen opened, revealing a panting blonde who looked like he ran a marathon down the stairs.

I looked at Naruto, giving him a questioning look. His face was slightly flushed and his body was heaving as though he had just undergone hyperventilation.

"Did you--" he began. "Did I... say something to you, last night?"

"Which part of last night?"

"Bastard! When we were sleeping!" He raised his voice a little.

"... Yes?"

"WHAT!" Within the next second, Naruto's face heated up and turned into the colour of a tomato. He placed both his hands on his head, fisting his own hair and fell onto the floor in a kneeling position, his forehead on the wooden boards, muttering something about something not being a dream.

After he calmed down, he slowly stood up again and looked at me, his face still slightly flushed (as it had been from the beginning), but his breathing now more regular.

Our eyes locked, and it seemed like an eternity before either of us said anything.

As I stared into cerulean blue eyes, the scenes from the night before briefly flew across my mind. The memories of last night that I was revisiting were combined with the sounds my my mother washing the dishes at the sink. I felt myself freeze for a brief moment.

"I think it's okay to fall in love with your best friend."

Because then, you might fall in love with me.

'Bewildered' could be one of the words to explain what I was feeling at the moment.

Could I be... attracted to Naruto?

I was never particular slow on the uptake as a child, or an adolescent growing up. In fact, I could usually tell within a ten mile radius if some girl had a random crush on me. Naruto always told me that if I ever wanted a pretty and decent girlfriend, I could easily get one. However, I never bothered to entertain the idea of having a girlfriend, possibly because growing up with the opportunity wide open, it was never a particular attractive notion.

The idea that I could possibly, ever, be attracted to Naruto, never, ever, occurred to me. At least not in that way. I always knew I really liked his smile, ever since the day I first saw it. I knew I was drawn to it. I knew I wanted to see it again and again. But I never thought it was any more than that.

Now as I took in the Naruto standing a few feet away from me, wearing a shirt that was a few sizes too large for me and therefore too large for him, with a pair of shorts that ended just before his knees, there was a generous amount of smooth, tan skin on his shoulder revealed, and I realised that the way the clothes looked on him wasn't exactly unwelcome.

I didn't realise that I had been staring until Naruto began to stammer, "W-what?" he said self-consciously. I looked away and stared at my bowl of untouched miso soup instead.

There was a short pause. Just because I was maybe perhaps probably slightly attracted to Naruto physically, didn't mean that I also loved Naruto like the way he loved me, did it?

... and if I told you, would you be mad?

I looked back at Naruto. He was fiddling with his fingers-- another nervous gesture.

"I wouldn't be mad," I suddenly said. I dropped my spoon on the table after I heard what came out of my mouth. Gingerly, I picked it up and placed it within the bowl with the miso soup.

Tilting his head to the side with a note of confusion to his face, Naruto blinked. "What?"

I mentally sighed. No turning back now.

"Your question last night," I explained. "I wouldn't be mad."

Naruto's mouth morphed into an 'O' shape of understanding as he nodded twice. A few seconds later, what I had said finally registered within his brain and his blue eyes widened impossibly.

"Really? You wouldn't?"

I felt a vein popping on my forehead. I didn't want to repeat myself.

"Dobe," I said simply. Standing up from my table, I cleared things away.

That seemed to do the trick, because just as I returned from the kitchen after dropping all the dishes into the sink, Naruto was exclaiming so loud that the whole neighbourhood could hear him.

"I am NOT a dobe!"

The short service honouring Pockey's death was held at half past eleven, lasting for around fifteen minutes. A few friends and neighbours, as well as my family and Naruto attended, and we stood for five minutes in silence with our heads down and our eyes closed. Then, I made a small speech about Pockey and about how he'd been a wonderful dog.

Halfway through, it actually got more depressing because when I glanced at Naruto, I was suddenly reminded of the times that the three of us had spent together, and how it would never be like that again. However, Naruto gave me a small smile of reassurance.

"Sasuke-kun, when will you be leaving again?" a friend of mine named Sakura asked me after the service. Sakura used to be part of our group of friends that hung out together when we were young. She went to kindergarten along with Naruto and myself. She and another girl named Hinata were good friends and often joined us near the pier or at the park.

Now that I thought about it, it really was weird. Sakura had long out-grown her crush on me when we were younger, and she was now attending a private medical school in the Kansai area. Hinata, on the other hand, who used to really admire Naruto, was on the way to take over her dad's business after she graduates university. Her cousin, Neji, who had cruised out of university and was taking graduate courses, was already helping out in the company and managing one of the chains in the town nearby.

And then, Naruto had fallen in love with me.

A strange feeling, at this moment, as I met my old friends from my childhood again, overflowed inside me. The feeling of being left behind, somehow, because despite my status as a student in the best university of Japan, I still wasn't very sure about what I really wanted to do. It was especially striking as I met Sakura and Hinata, who were both already on a certain path.

"I'll be leaving this afternoon," I replied.

I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Sasuke," a deep voice said. I turned as I realised who it was, and gave the owner of the voice a nod. It was my father. The two of us rarely speak to each other, but we often nod to acknowledge the presence of the other. I was slightly surprised that my father had come over intentionally to talk to me.

He reached down to his pocket and pulled out something that looked like a piece of card.

"I have bought your train ticket ahead of time. Naruto-kun told me that you were planning to leave in the afternoon." His face was void of much expression, but that was normal.

"Thanks," I replied, still rather surprised, and also confused as to when Naruto had found the time to tell my father about my schedule (and when did my father had the time to race to buy a ticket for me?)

Just then, Naruto bounced over to my side. "Surprised?" he asked, obviously referring to my ticket. "I do know your schedule by heart, you know." And he grinned cheekily. I couldn't suppress a small smile. That was right, our non-stop messaging sessions on our cellphones must have had been useful in some ways.

I thanked my brother again and followed Naruto away from the gathering of people still lingering after the service. Naruto turned to me with a smile.

"Hey, you wanna go get lunch?" he asked me.

"What, are you asking me on a date?" I teased.

There was a pause as Naruto seemed to process what I said, and he stopped on his tracks. I walked past him and turned to look back at him with a curious expression.

"Sasuke, are you really okay with this?" he asked me in a surprisingly hushed tone.

Okay with what? I wanted to ask. But I already knew. I was just putting the matter on hold, on standby, and I wasn't thinking about it.

Seeing my lack of response, Naruto continued.

"Because I'm serious. And if you're not, it might be like you're making fun of me."

I wholly understood what Naruto meant, and that made making a decision all the more difficult.

"It's all right if you're disgusted, I can understand, since you've just been confessed to from a boy," he said.

Naruto thought I was that kind of person.

"Naruto, you know I'm not like that..."

The blonde sighed, and there was a brief silence between us.

"I'm sorry," he apologised. Naruto paused for a moment before a faint blush surfaced on his cheeks, and he scratched the back of his head. "It's just that I can't believe I randomly told you I was in love with you in the middle of the night."

"I can't either."

We were on the road outside of my house. Naruto turned towards the direction of his home.

"And... I've been meaning to tell you this..." he began slowly. "I've tried to tell you before, but I always ended up erasing it before I could send the message."

"What is it?" Suddenly, it felt like Naruto hadn't been telling me a lot of things.

"Um, well, You see, Sasuke, I came out last year."

I felt my eyes widen as I realised what that meant.

"Wait, so they all--"

"Yeah, they all know."

"Do they know about your feelings for me?"

"I think your mother's figured it out."

"So that means everyone is okay with it?"

"Nah, it's not so perfect. Some people kind of think that I'm just saying it and it's not really true. Or maybe they think I'm just like this because I'm blonde." Naruto's expression was unnerving.

"Naruto, are you sure school's been fine?" I asked him, now slightly concerned. Naruto had always been subjected to silent discrimination. Now that he was not only blonde but also gay, things had bound to have gotten worse at some point.

"Sasuke," he said pleadingly and squeezed my arm to reassure me. "It's not like that. And I have friends in school. Remember Chouji, Shino and Lee that I mentioned before? It's all right, but thanks for worrying about me."

This time, Naruto smiled genuinely, his eyes crinkling as he made his way to his car that he had parked outside of his house.

"Lunch?" he asked.

Even today, I was amazed at how Naruto could jump around many topics of conversation one after the other.

I checked my train ticket. My train was at three.

"Sure," I answered.

In the car, Naruto had asked me what I thought of him moving to Tokyo.

"What about college?" I asked him, confused by his question.

"No, I mean, like..." he looked like he wanted to take his hand from the steering wheel to scratch the back of his head, but he stopped last minute and kept his hand on the wheel. "Say, if I did move to Tokyo, could I share an apartment with you?" he asked me.

I glanced at him, then stared into the distance before me. "Of course," I replied.

Naruto smiled gratefully.

"You're planning to move over?" I asked out of curiosity.

"I'm not sure yet," he replied. "I'm thinking of transferring..."

"To where?"

Naruto mumbled a reply that I had failed to catch.

"Where?" I asked again.

"Toyourschool."

"Huh?"

"The University of Tokyo," Naruto said and sighed.

"What? Really?" I gazed at my friend, slightly shocked. "How? You're not a freshman anymore."

Naruto took a deep breath.

"The dean of the Faculty of Science in my school knew the dean of yours," he began. "A few strings were pulled and I was able take the screening test for sophomore transfers."

"And you passed?"

"Yeah."

"But you'll be dropping two years at this rate. I'm a senior next year."

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"You'll know."

It was my turn to sigh. When Naruto wanted to keep something a secret, he could be really stubborn. And I was far too taken by the fact that Naruto had actually been able to transfer into my university as a sophomore student despite having completed 3 years of higher education in the university near our home-town. Usually, the university would allow freshman transfers if the student had passed the screening test and the interview beforehand, but many had troubles with that process. Naruto had a different kind of barrier. He was smart. But still, a transfer that doesn't follow the usual rules of transferring? He's more than a year ahead in his education. Classes are going to be so easy for him in the next two years, and above all, he's not transferring into any university; he's transferring into the most prestigious university in Japan! Naruto once again defies all rules.

"By the way, Sasuke." Naruto's voice broke me out of my bubble.

"Yeah?"

"Can you promise to get back to me, on the, you know, thing, soon?"

"You mean my answer to your confession?"

I glanced at him and couldn't resist the smirk that tugged at the corners of my lips. A tinge of pink appeared on Naruto's cheeks again for god knew how many times today. I swear I wasn't making fun of him. It was just... a little fun... to tease him...

"You're doing it on purpose," he said flatly.

"No, I'm not."

"Yes you are," he said, glaring at me briefly before returning his attention to the road.

Naruto and I shared a smile and a nod before I turned around to head off into the train compartment. However, my blonde friend placed a hand on my elbow the next second, causing me to spin around to face him again. He pulled me into a very short, brief hug before letting go with a smile, waving and bidding me goodbye. Turning around swiftly, he left.

It was as though Naruto didn't want me to be the first to turn my back. It was as though Naruto didn't want to watch me leave. It was as though Naruto wanted to be the one to walk away.

Days went back to their normal pace after I returned to Tokyo. I would go to work, text Naruto, come home, text Naruto, study a little, text Naruto, eat out with Kiba and Shikamaru, then get dragged to some club for some reason, text Naruto, and then leave... and then the same sort of thing would repeat again. Soon, I found myself yearning for life back at home, yearning to see my blonde friend and to walk along the pier beside him, watching the sunset...

I stopped myself just before my thoughts got too corny.

"Hey, Sasuke," a voice called from behind me. I placed the book I was holding onto the bookshelf and spun around to identify the voice.

"Shikamaru," I greeted him simply with a nod.

"How's work been?" he asked, running a finger along the bookshelf looking at the English titles.

"Same as usual. And how's your summer job?"

"Not as exciting as your impromptu summer trip back home."

"Great, now I know exactly how your summer job was," I replied, rolling my eyes.

"No, seriously, my summer job's fine. How's the thinking going?"

"Well, I was thinking that..." I paused to look around to make sure that nobody's around to listen. "That the reason why I haven't been interested in girls at all during my stay in Tokyo, or kind of my entire life, in fact, is because I'm gay."

There was a short pause as Shikamaru stared at me and I stared back, waiting for a dramatic response.

"... No shit," Shikamaru replied, deadpanned.

"Oh." There was a pause as I grappled with what Shikamasu just said. "So you knew. Now what?"

"The question was whether or not you'd go out with your best friend, not whether or not you're gay. Why don't you think about the answer to the right question before coming back to ask?"

"No, you asked."

"Whatever."

A silence hung in the air as the two of us both stood in the English section of Tower Records, staring at random titles on the shelves.

Suddenly, I nodded in understanding.

"Thanks, Shikamaru."

"No problem," he said with a smile.

After my shift ended, I walked down the crowded paths of Shibuya to get to the train station, heading home. Just like any other day, I took the exact same way back home from work, and crowds of strangers moved at different speeds past each other as time ticked by. Everyone, everything seemed like a blur to me even as I tried to focus on my surroundings. It was that kind of day. Yes-- welcome to the normal, boring life of a college student in Tokyo.

I had lived two years like this in Tokyo. The interest I had in the big city in itself as some kind of tourist spot dwindled after the first week, basically, and it started to become boring. Two years. Like this. Until summer this year when I suddenly got a surprise from Naruto. And then the surprise was followed by more surprises until the only thing I could think of were those certain surprises that Naruto had up his sleeve for goodness knew how long.

I accidentally bumped into a middle-aged man smoking by the train station's entrance as I walked. The designated smoking area there was packed with people who'd just gotten off work, in need of a quick smoke. I'd never been particularly interested in cigarettes, even though it was very popular here-- people from young girls to old men all seemed to smoke here. Back in my old town, the habit of smoking was reserved for a small portion of older men. Everyone else barely paid attention to the practice.

Making my quick apologies by muttering a quiet 'excuse me' under by breath and bowing my head, I continued on my way as I wanted to get home as quickly as possible. It was nearing the end of September and the weather, although still warm, occasionally had a few gusts of wind blowing. I could feel the edges of Autumn just around the corner. I vaguely remembered the conversation I had with Naruto about him transferring into my university. I wondered if he was going to arrive any time soon.

"You'll know," Naruto had said, ending my string of questions at the time. I scratched the back of my head gently as I passed the gates and walked up the stairs to the platform. Passing by the vending machine, I paused shortly to buy myself a drink. It would be five stops before I get to the station closest to my home. After that, there would be another ten minute walk to my apartment.

I smiled slightly as I waited for the train, thinking about what I would do after I get home. I would text Naruto, eat the leftovers from last night for dinner, read that book I'd bought two days ago, and then go to bed. I loved a simple day. Tomorrow, I would go to my lectures and then work on my assignments. Hopefully, I would get news from Naruto soon. He had to be coming soon, after all, right?

It didn't take much contemplating for me to admit to myself that I did actually miss the blonde a lot. Whereas if this had been a couple of months ago, I would have simply pushed the matter away, and... well, stare at my phone for the next five minutes waiting for Naruto's reply on text. Yeah, well, things had changed, after all, and I'd come into terms with myself.

The walk towards my home seemed longer than usual as I was in my usual dark t-shirt while the cool autumn winds increased the intensity its presence as the sun setted. The night became chillier than either me or my dark t-shirt had expected and as a result, I placed my hands over my arms and braced myself, trying to keep as warm as possible.

I felt as though I was running towards the finish line in a marathon race as I approached the entrance of my apartment. Fishing hurriedly for my keys in my pocket, I shoved it into the keyhole and kicked open the door. It was nice to retreat into the warmth of my apartment after having your skin blown off by the chilly winds of the evening.

Everything was fine and dandy until I stopped mid-step in the entryway, just a metre away from the entrance to my living room. Something was definitely wrong, except I couldn't pinpoint exactly what. I slowly spun around to stare at the door-- it was closed, locked. Everything still looked fine at this point. I ran my eyes over my shoe rack briefly, not finding any missing shoes. Nope, still nothing wrong yet. It wasn't until I looked at the floor of the entryway where the shoes I'd just taken off were that I froze.

There were... another pair of shoes not too far from mine. That was... not normal.

As if in slow motion, I lifted my head up to gaze at the entrance of the living room. For some reason, it seemed that my feet gained a life of its own and began to move. Before I knew it, I was standing at the entrance of the living room, and surely, the sight I absorbed from that perspective was quite the one to behold. Sticking out from was edge of the sofa was a mop of blonde hair that went in all directions. Naruto laid there, his body sprawled out in a relaxed position, his eyes closed. I slowly made my way towards him, careful not to wake him up.

I knelt down beside the sofa and stared at the sleeping man's peaceful face. He must be tired from the journey from the home town to Tokyo. Why didn't he inform me before he came? I could have gone and picked him up from the station. Also, I couldn't believe he let himself into the apartment just like that. He must have known where I stored the spare key. He must have guessed that the spare key was in the same place as where my parents liked to put theirs-- right beneath the pot plant they have outside of the house. For my apartment, there was a pot plant I put there myself, mainly out of habit and because the apartment complex was kind enough to allow individual space for each household just outside of their door.

My hand caressed the side of Naruto's face softly, careful not to wake him. However, despite my efforts, Naruto stirred in his sleep and muttered something unintelligible. He was still the same as the last time I saw him, I thought to myself as I observed the blonde, and that was almost two months ago. His blonde hair went in every single direction, but was still surprisingly soft to touch. And his skin, still tan as ever, seemed to shine in the dim lighting of my apartment.

There was less than a foot of space between us, and yet, I felt as though the void was a wide as the ocean. This day had finally arrived, and it seemed that I had waited forever for it to happen. Shikamaru was right. The question was whether or not I would become Naruto's boyfriend--whether or not I liked Naruto in that way--not whether or not I was gay. And right now, my answer be definitely be...

My thoughts were cut short as the sleeping blonde before me stirred again. This time, however, his eyes twitched slightly before slowly opening to reveal cerulean blue. Yes, and his eyes--they're really the same as ever, more so than any other part of him. That spark in his blue, blue eyes--it was something that I hoped would never, ever go away.

Naruto looked around briefly as he adjusted to the new environment, and suddenly, his eyes landed on me. There was a flash of recognition as he slowly sat up. He never once removed his gaze from mine as he did so, steadying himself with his hand on the sofa. As we searched each other's eyes, I felt as though a force buried deep into the very bottom of the world had shifted, and something significant in our lives had changed.

Suddenly, without warning, I leaned forward and pressed my lips onto Naruto's. It wasn't passionate or rough, just chaste and sweet, a simple touching of lips--neither party deepened the kiss. We parted quickly, our gazes once again searching. I don't think I'd ever looked into Naruto's eyes from such a short distance before, nor have I seen them so intense. He seemed to be trying to find his answers, piercing through my eyes and looking straight into my mind with his intense stare. I was completely frozen as I waited, not willing to disturb Naruto's search.

I didn't even notice that I held my breath, but I apparently did, because when Naruto's face and posture suddenly relaxed, I breathed out a sigh of relief. A smile found its way to Naruto's lips just as it always did. I could do nothing but smile back.

All of a sudden, there was a lot to do. Naruto needed to unpack and we needed to figure out our living and sleeping arrangements together, on top of that, I had millions of questions to ask. But before all that, Naruto's stomach growled.

"Ugh, sorry, I haven't eaten since noon."

I chuckled lightly. Indeed, it was already past seven, and I was a little hungry too. Although I originally planned to eat the leftover food from last night, that would not do for the two of us currently.

"Lets go out for dinner," I suggested. Standing up, I headed to my room to drop my bag down. Making sure my wallet and phone were in my pockets, I headed back out into the small living room again, where Naruto was standing. "Ready?" I asked.

Naruto grinned in response. "Been ready since forever," he said. A small smile crept onto my lips; I missed the blonde idiot.

As we heading outside, Naruto walked by my side. Suddenly, he turned to me. "So, is this a date?" he asked. Although his face looked innocent, there was a hint of mischief his in voice. However, despite the playful tone, I knew that the question was serious.

I continued walking and remained silent for a few moments before turning to Naruto. "Do you want it to be?"

I literally felt Naruto pout even though I wasn't looking at him, but at the road in front of me, waiting to cross it. "You know the answer to that, bastard..."

At that, I couldn't help but smirk. He was right. Maybe he deserved a direct answer or two from me every once in a while. "All right," I began, "It's a date."

I turned to Naruto to observe his response, but before I could even catch a glimpse of his face, he had already raced ahead and crossed the road. "Haha, Sasuke, you're so slow!" he said as he made a face. I almost sighed at his childish antics, but nevertheless, my feet felt light as I followed Naruto and crossed the road as well. As I made it to the other side of the road, the traffic light had turned green again and cars of many different colours whizzed past me. I stared as cars driven by strangers went by in a continuous flow, like water flowing through a river; the way the cars passed by felt very similar to the way people pushed past you in the busy streets of Tokyo, and this time, I felt like I'd truly overcome this feeling.

I felt like I'd finally crossed the road.

Turning around, I smiled at the sight of Naruto, who was getting impatient waiting for me. "Yeah, sorry, I'm a bit slow," I said.

Although he had been made to wait, Naruto simply shook his head, a carefree smile on his face. He took my hand and began to walk forward. "Doesn't matter," he said, "Cos' you're here now."

Everything seemed to click into place at that moment; the world, which had been breaking apart for a long time, was suddenly put back together again. All the confusion I had felt ever since I moved to Tokyo almost three years ago was suddenly gone, and now, I knew why.

As I walked beside Naruto, who was aimlessly chattering about his journey on the train to Tokyo, I found myself thinking that everything I thought I had understood about my life here--and I realised that it didn't matter anymore, because my life had changed. This was the way it was meant to be from the start. Me, Naruto, and the world.

End

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