Hey guys. Thanks for reviewing! One of my friends alerted me to the amount of reviews – twenty reviews, and I only posted it a few days ago! Anyway, I read through it, and I realised that there were no 'dividers'...hopefully it'll show up now.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! You rock!

(Btw, this story is not Yaoi, Sasuke's just slightly OOC. And sorry about Gaara! I arranged it so that he sleeps just this one time!)

It was cold outside.

It should've been warm inside, but it wasn't.

"Shit."

Uzumaki Naruto swore to himself as he sat down, about three blankets thrown over his shoulders, huddling over a steaming bowl of ramen. Konoha village had, for the past few days, been submerged in a cold that didn't look like it was going to lift anytime soon. Probably everyone else was warm – hell, everyone else would be warm. That was definitely for sure. Shikamaru was probably playing chess or go next to a fire, Chouji was definitely eating, maybe also in front of a fire, and Neji and Hinata might even be sitting in front of the same fire. All of them, of course, had fathers, who had learned from their fathers to gather in dry wood and keep it inside.

Naruto pulled the blankets closer around him, and dipped his chopsticks into the ramen.

Pity it was so cold. He would've been training otherwise, but Iruka had forbidden him from going outside. You know, just in case he collapsed of exhaustion and then died of a fever. Not like he actually wanted to go outside. Maybe foxes, demon or not, had a natural dislike of cold, intense rain...

Everyone else seemed to have a dislike for rain, too. No one had come to see him, except for Iruka, and he didn't count because he just popped in and then left. No, everyone seemed too busy to visit Naruto. They were all having fun at their own houses...except for Sasuke. He was probably sitting and reading something...in front of a fire, of course. Everyone probably had fires...and Naruto didn't have anything. It fit, of course – no one had ever taken care of him, no one had ever given a damn. Not like they should...

Hey! Naruto! Snap out of your melodramatic bullshit! a little voice in his head said. It was the same sort of voice that started mentally berating him when he failed and felt like giving up. Halleluiah for small weird voices inside your head...

Quickly bringing his chopsticks up to his mouth, Naruto began to eat. Damn it, the ramen was getting cold. In front of him on the table was a pile of mail. Most of it was from the lady who owned the complex – Naruto hadn't been able to pay his rent on time last month, and she'd been badgering him non-stop ever since. Other letters were from the company that supplied the water, telling him he hadn't paid, and there was even one from the electricity place. Lately he'd been living without both to save himself money - he could see well enough in the dark and the river water wasn't too cold. For the last few days, however, he hadn't been able to go out to the river – the water had swelled up way too much, and it didn't help that he wasn't the best swimmer. The last thing he wanted was to be swept away into some freaky country with dumb shinobis. So he'd had to break his little oath of not using his own water (he'd almost died when he'd found out that they'd stopped suppling warm water to his house), and now had broken it again with him filling up the kettle to boil water for his ramen. There was no way in hell that he was going to fill it up again and get charged another five bucks – five bucks that he didn't have.

A sad sort of whistling started up, and Naruto glared at the broken window. His life had already been a pile of shit without someone having to go out in the middle of the night last night and chuck a shit-heavy stone at his friggin' window. If that wasn't bad enough, there had also been a note attached to it, but Naruto wasn't going to dwell on that. Now, back to his ramen...

Sasuke sighed as he stared at the window. Sakura and her family had invited him over to stay while the rain continued to hit Konoha village, but he had declined. Now he was seriously regretting that decision. His place was warm, sure, but it was also very empty. There was a fire burning away happily in the grate, but that was about as far as the word 'happy' got in the remaining Uchiha's household, before it was gunned down brutally in place for the words 'depressing' and 'bare'. With a small huff, Sasuke wondered how Naruto was doing. Neither he or Sakura had seen him over the past few days – in fact, neither had Kakashi. Actually, no one had seen him. Sasuke sat up straighter. He hoped the dumb-ass was ok, and hadn't gone out to train or do something equally as stupid.

The phone on the kitchen bench began to ring, and Sasuke picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Baka, you're supposed to wait three rings before you pick up the phone!" Sakura's voice said from the other side. Sasuke sighed.

"Yeah, what do you want?" he said.

"I just wanted to know if you've seen Naruto around," she said, trying not to sound too interested, but he could tell she was just about as worried as he was.

"..." he said.

"I take that as a no," Sakura said sadly.

"Why?"

"I just...heard some things that some kids were talking about yesterday," she said. "I was just wondering if he rang you or anything..."

Sasuke paused. Did Naruto even have a phone? Sakura seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"...should I go check on him?" she said quietly, after a moment of silence. Sasuke blinked.

"You live on the other side of Konoha, don't you?" he muttered. "No, it's ok, I'll go check up on him myself."

"I'll come too," Sakura said. "I want to see him."

"I thought you hated him?" Sasuke asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I thought you did too?" Sakura said. He could hear a giggle in her voice, and he chuckled.

"Yeah, I guess I don't..." he said. "Just try to be on time. I probably won't hang around that long."

"Ok. See you there."

In his house, Shikamaru was staring at the go board. Temari was grinning triumphantly in front of him, and Kankuro was sniggering. His father and mother were smiling – his father obviously liked Temari, and she had just enough in common with his mother for the two to be an instant hit – and Gaara, surprising him by actually coming along, was smiling. He actually looked nice when he smiled.

"...I give up," he said, sighing and bowing at Temari.

She grinned at him, and winked, and then leaned in close to him.

"I cheated," she whispered, laughing. Shikamaru looked at her, and nodded.

"I know," he whispered back, nodding. "I'm not smart for nothing."

She just stared at him, and then the phone rang. Shikamaru dived for the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Shikamaru!"

Shikamaru held the phone away from his ear as Chouji's voice exploded from it.

"Hee, baka, you don't have to shout, you know," he muttered.

"I know," Chouji said. "Are you busy?"

"Hmm? Er, yeah, I am. Temari and the others are over."

"...oh, ok..." Chouji said softly.

"You can come over if you want to, though," Shikamaru said quickly, glancing at Gaara. Gaara nodded, and Shikamaru looked relieved.

"Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to go see Naruto," Chouji said.

"...Naruto?"

Temari, Kankuro and Gaara immediately perked up at the sound of the blonde boy's name.

"Yeah, sure, we can go visit him," he said, looking at the three Sand shinobis again. They all exchanged glances, and then nodded.

"Cool! I'll be over soon!"

"Yeah, yeah. Hurry up. I don't want to be waiting around for you forever," he said, trying to sound like Chouji was troublesome. He didn't get very far. Hanging up, he threw down the phone, and turned around to grab his coat. Kankuro was already holding it out for him.

"Er...thanks," he said, picking it up.

"Have fun, kids," his father said, waving them away. His mother hit his father over the head.

"Baka, they're not going yet!" she said harshly. His father cowered back.

"Ok, ok! I'm sorry!" he said. Temari was staring at them, and then looked at Shikamaru. Kankuro rubbed the back of his head, as if feeling the blow.

"She's like Temari," he muttered. Gaara nodded, and then raised his own hand to the back of his head.

"She's a lot like Temari," he whispered. All three of them looked at him, and then burst out laughing. Gaara blushed, and then smiled too. And that was when Chouji arrived.

Sasuke shifted his umbrella as he stared up at what he hoped was Naruto's apartment block. All of the apartment windows had light flooding out of them except for one. Sasuke wrinkled his nose at it. It had a broken window, and it looked deserted. He'd hate to live in an apartment like that. Sighing, he stepped inside, stared at the stairs that could lead him up to Naruto's apartment, and shook out his umbrella. Making his way up to the sixth floor, he paused, and then took a look around. Naruto was number 15 on this floor. Sasuke stared at the door. There was no light coming out from under the crack, and he suddenly had a bad feeling about this. What if Naruto wasn't there? He had a fleeting image of Naruto lying face-down in the rain, and considered going out to look for him. In fact, he practically had to fight the urge to run out of that apartment. Hell, Naruto was his best friend. Shaking his head, he turned back to the apartment, and then laid his hand on the doorknob. He pushed down. The door swung open. Inside, it was extremely dark, and it was also freezing. Sasuke had to hold his hands out in front of him in order to stop himself from falling over. There was a lump in a chair, slumped over the table with an empty bowl beside it. Sasuke make his way over towards the sleeping Naruto, and was about to prod him when he saw the pile of mail. He paused before he began to sift through it. Naruto would probably tell him about it later, anyway, he reasoned.

The first letter was from the landlady, presumably. She was saying something about...rent? Sasuke shifted through more mail. The next few letters were also from the landlady...

Sasuke breathed in sharply. $600 in rent overdue? Why hadn't the dumb-ass told anyone?!

The next letters were from the companies that supplied water and electricity to Naruto's house...and the last wasn't a letter. It was a note written on shabby paper, and it wasn't even written. It had been scribbled on. Sasuke's eyes travelled quickly over the one word, and then he threw down the letters on the table, carefully placing the note in his pocket.

"Hey, dobe, wake up," he said loudly, grabbing Naruto's shoulder and shaking. Naruto groaned, and then blinked blearily.

"S...Sasuke?" he murmured, rubbing his eyes. Sasuke patted his head.

"Yeah, I'm here," he said.

"Why?"

"I wanted to check up on you," he said. Naruto raised his eyebrows.

"What, now I'm not allowed to check up on my best friend?" he said. "You ok?"

Naruto stared at him, and then looked around almost in shame.

"Er, uh, yeah, I'm fine," he said quietly. Sasuke nodded, and then sat down on the edge of the table.

"So...you live here, huh?" he said. Naruto nodded.

"Yeah...it's not as big or as nice as your place, but it's ok," he muttered. He'd only recently gone to Sasuke's house, and had almost died from the sheer size and warmth of it.

"...yeah," Sasuke said softly. Now he could understand why Naruto never invited anyone to his house...he'd always thought that Naruto was just a social recluse, but now he understood...Naruto probably lived on about $50 a week. How many times did he have to go without food to save up for the monthly rent? Sasuke suddenly felt guilty. He had been able to buy his house and live a comfortable lifestyle on his own because, as the only Uchiha clan member left alive, he had inherited almost everyone's wealth. That probably made him one of the richest people in Konoha village. He'd always thought that Naruto, as an orphan, would live with someone else, but...

"Who looks after you?" he said. Naruto looked at him, confused.

"Should someone be looking after me?" he asked. Sasuke frowned.

"No one...looks after you then," he finished. That was strange, he thought. There were always an abundance of people willing to look after him. He'd never had a shortage of people willing to give him food, blankets...a place to stay. And then here was Naruto, who had no one, who had never had anyone. He felt another pang of guilt. Just then, there was a knock at the door, and Naruto froze.

"Who's there?" he shouted.

"Hey, Naruto! Open up!"

"Yeah, baka, open up!"

Sasuke swam through the rubbish on the floor back to the door, and opened it. A rectangle of light burst into the room, making Naruto and Sasuke shield their eyes. Sakura was standing there, with Neji and Rock Lee behind her. She blinked, and then reached around for the light switch on the wall. Upon finding it, she flicked it. It didn't work.

"Naruto, you need to get you light bulb fixed," she said. Sasuke saw the ashamed look on Naruto's face, and then turned to Sakura.

"Come outside with me, you guys," he said. "Naruto, we'll be back in a second."

Shutting the door behind him, Sasuke grabbed his umbrella and started to make his way downstairs.

"Wh-what? Where are you going, Sasuke?" Sakura asked. Neji was looking at Sasuke. He pulled out the note from his pocket, and handed it silently to Sakura. She was about to say something when she read it. Clamping her hands over her mouth, she dropped it, and stepped back. Neji's eyes followed the word as it floated down to the ground, and he had a disgusted look on his face. Rock Lee eyed it, and then bent down to read it. Before anyone could move, he had ripped it into a thousand pieces, furious.

"Bastards," he hissed, his hands shaking.

"I'd say the people who wrote it attached it to a rock and threw it through his window," Sasuke said quietly, still walking down the stairs. Neji looked back at Naruto's door, then at the back of Sasuke's head. Silently he began to follow him.

"Where are you guys going?!" Rock Lee said furiously. "Naruto needs us!"

Sasuke stopped, and then turned around, a very Naruto-like grin plastered over his face.

"Where are we going?" he asked, glancing at Neji. "We're going shopping! You two stay here and wait outside until we get back."

Neji chuckled, and then followed Sasuke down the stairs and outside. After all, the pair of them owed Naruto a lot.

Naruto shivered, piling another blanket around him. It had been about an hour since Sasuke, Sakura, Neji and Rock Lee had come and gone, and he was lonely. Of course, he'd thought that this would happen. That's why he'd never let anyone come to his house – the fear of rejection had kept him from doing that...

Knock knock.

Naruto looked at the door. There was a shadow outside, and Naruto fleetingly considered hiding somewhere to see who it was and if they came inside. Instead, he turned around in his chair, pushed his empty ramen bowl aside, and then looked at the door.

"Who is it?" he shouted. There was silence, and the door handle lowered. Naruto froze up. The door swung open.

Sakura, Temari and Shikamaru were standing there, all three of them holding a lantern in either hand. They grinned, and then trooped inside, placing the lanterns all over the apartment and standing next to Naruto. He was staring at them with his mouth open.

"You...you guys..." he said. His voice was strangely choked up. Sakura pointed at the door, and Temari smiled at him. Naruto looked back at the door. Rock Lee, Kankuro and Chouji were now standing at the door. They each had a basket of fruit, and they carefully made their way towards the table. Next came Kiba, along with Akamaru, Ino and Shino. Akamaru barked upon seeing Naruto, and the four of them came in, holding more lanterns. They set them down at the entrance, and then grinned at him.

Sakura gripped Naruto's hand tightly. He seemed to be on the verge of crying. His eyes were misty, and, from what she could tell, his lip was trembling. Suddenly the lights flickered on, making them all start. That was when Sasuke arrived. Alongside him stood Neji and Gaara. They had bags of take-away ramen with them. Gaara was grinning, his eyes closed Naruto-style, and Neji was laughing. Sasuke walked forward, dumped the take-away on the table next to the fruit, and then he held out his fist to Naruto. And then he frowned.

Naruto wasn't looking at any of them. He was staring at the ground, clutching the blankets closer around him. It took them all a second before they realised that he was crying.

"Baka...why are you crying?" Sakura asked gently. Naruto shook his head.

"Were you reading my mail?" he whispered. Everyone but Gaara and Neji looked at Sasuke, confused.

"Yeah, I was," he said.

"You shouldn't have..." he said. Sakura looked at Sasuke.

"What?" she said. Sasuke paused.

"What anyone says doesn't leave this room, you got it?" Neji said, frowning.

"What do you mean?" Kiba asked.

"He means that if any of you blab, you've got me to deal with," Gaara said, cracking his knuckles. Kiba swallowed visibly.

"...Naruto...has been living a little cheaply for the past few months," Sasuke said slowly.

"By how much?" Ino asked, sitting up.

"..." Neji, Gaara and Sasuke exchanged looks.

"...To the extent that Naruto hasn't been able to have a shower or use the lights for about the past month," Neji said.

"What?! How've you been able to stay clean?" Chouji said, looking at Naruto. He was wiping his eyes on the corner of a blanket. Shikamaru was staring at him.

"...The so-called exercise swims that he's been taking," he said slowly. "I'd say you were a little too embarrassed to tell us, so you faked it by telling anyone who came across you that you were training...isn't that right?"

Naruto paused, and then nodded. Sakura and Ino were looking guilty. They were always teasing him about how much he smelled, even though he didn't, and that he probably couldn't afford to pay for water. They must have made him feel so small, even though it was just playful teasing.

"Anyway, you don't have to worry about it," Neji muttered. Naruto's face shot up, staring at him.

"What?" he said.

"I said you don't have to worry about it," he said. "Me, Gaara and Sasuke have taken care of it."

Naruto's eyes clouded up again, and before he could stop himself his face was scrunched up, tears leaking from his eyes.

"You guys..." he said, his voice breaking, taking his hands away from his face. "You guys brought food...you repaid the electricity bill and the water bill...is there anything you haven't done?"

Sasuke grinned.

"Yeah. I paid your rent."

"You...paid my rent?" he whispered.

"Yeah. For the entire year," he said. He, along with Gaara and Neji, was looking pleased with himself. Naruto was looking flabbergasted.

"...Why?"

"...let's just say that it's a...repayment...for everything you did for me..."

"And me," Neji said, bowing his head.

"And me," Gaara added. Naruto looked at them, and then at Sakura, whose hand was now on his shoulder, and then at Shikamaru, Kankuro, Temari, Rock Lee, Ino, Chouji, Kiba and Shino. They were all smiling at him, even Shino, and he smiled back at them, and then he looked at the food. With the biggest smile, he turned to everyone, and then jumped up to get extra chopsticks.

"Food, anyone?" he asked, grinning. They all burst out laughing.

It was about midnight, and, for the first time ever, Naruto's apartment was filled with people. Everyone had stayed overnight. The two girls had taken the sofa, and half the boys were piled up on the bed, the rest assembled across the floor, covered in extra blankets.

Naruto sat by the window, just watching them. The take-away had been excellent, and most of the fruit was pretty good, too. He sighed.

"Hey, baka, don't you ever sleep?"

Sasuke sat up from his sleeping spot at the foot of the bed, and picked his way across the room over to Naruto.

"Thanks."

Sasuke raised his eyebrows, looking at Naruto as he sat down.

"What d'you mean?" he asked.

"I mean thanks for, you know, paying for all of my stuff," he said. Sasuke chuckled.

"It's no big deal. I have a large inheritance, you know," he said. "And besides, half of it was paid by Gaara and Neji."

"Gaara doesn't have any money," Naruto said. "He doesn't have anything since he left the land of the Sands."

"...Ok, so me and Neji paid for it," Sasuke said. He looked at Naruto out of the corner of his eye. "And what's up with you? Shouldn't you be grateful that I actually came to visit?"

Naruto looked at him.

"What?! Grateful?!" he burst out, laughing. Sasuke clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Shut up, you dumb-ass!" he hissed, watching as Sakura turned in her sleep.

"Guys...what are you doing?" she whispered, sitting up. The two boys laughed.

"We were just talking," Sasuke said. "Go back to sleep."

"Oh, ok," she muttered, turning over and then falling asleep again. Naruto and Sasuke sat there for a while, before the black-haired boy sat forward.

"Naruto, when I said I read your mail, I also...read the note," he said.

"What?"

"Don't play dumb with me. Who threw it? Why?" he said. Naruto frowned, and then shook his head.

"I...can't tell you," he muttered. Why would he want to know, anyway? It'd just make them hate him...

"Look, Naruto, I want to know why people are throwing rocks at your windows with the word 'die' written on them," he hissed. There was a mutter as Gaara spoke in his sleep. The two of them froze.

"...Looks like he didn't wake up," Sasuke murmured.

"Listen, Sasuke, I just can't tell you. It's...not up to me," Naruto said quickly. "Ask Kakashi or Tsunade-sama or someone like that," he said. He knew that Sasuke wanted to continue talking about it, but instead Sasuke just let it go, bringing his thumb to his lips.

"Is it really that bad?" he asked. Naruto just looked at him, and then shook his head. Sasuke just shrugged.

"It can't be that bad," he said. "Anyway, it doesn't matter – bite your thumb."

"...What?"

"Just do it, will you?" he said, biting down hard. A drop of blood fell from his thumb. Naruto followed suit.

"Ouch," he said, but this time he made sure his voice was quiet. Sasuke held out his thumb.

"Hold out your thumb," he said. Naruto held it out, keeping a finger underneath it to stop it from bleeding onto the floor.

"Now, press them together," he commanded. Naruto almost felt a tingling feeling going through him. Sasuke was the first one to pull away.

"What was that about?" Naruto asked.

"So now, whatever the news, I'm not going to disown you," Sasuke said.

"What?"

"We're blood brothers now," Sasuke said, sitting back triumphantly. Naruto blinked.

"Blood brothers? Are you sure you want to have another brother...?" he asked hesitantly.

"Yeah. Because you're a great brother," he said. "And not only to me, but to Neji and Gaara, too."

Naruto screwed up his face. Sasuke almost thought he was about to cry, and was on the verge of panicking, when Naruto's face broke into the biggest grin. Getting up, he looked at the bed, and then prepared himself.

"You ready?" he whispered, grabbing Sasuke's arm.

"...What?!" Sasuke said, but it was too late. Naruto was already running across the room, dragging him along behind him, headed for the bed. And then he jumped.

"BANZAI!!!!!"

That's it! Thanks for reading, you guys! This was my first fic, so be nice! Oh, and btw, Gaara sleeps in this fic. Deal with it and get over it. Shukaku can be nice this one fic, right?

Anyway, read (you've already read it, though...) and review!

xx Scythe