NOTE FOR LATER CHAPTERS: unedited NC-17 version of later chapters will be posted on the SasuNaru fansite, baka(dot)yondaime(dot)net - All chapters that involve NC-17 material will have to be severely edited and cut up to be posted on FFnet.
Title: Memory Yields
Author: JaD
Email: jad(at)yondaime(dot)net
Website: baka(dot)yondaime(dot)net
Rating: R
Genre: Humor and angst with small helpings of romance.
Pairings: SasuNaru
POV: third person, all-knowing
Spoilers: Up to manga chapter 234.
Warnings: shounen-ai, explicit heterosexual and yaoi pairings, sexual themes, foul language, crude jokes… and a (:gasp:) plot.
Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi. Kudos, Kishimoto!
Feedback: Most appreciated. Comments usually result in quicker updates, too
Timeline: …begins on March 28, which is Sakura's birthday. Naruto is now fifteen, and all of his fellow teammates are around the same age. Those a year above him (Lee, Neji, etc) are currently 16.
Assumptions made for the sake of storyline: Itachi is still alive and Orochimaru is still at large. Naruto and all of the other "Konoha rookies" have now become Chuunin, and Tsunade is still the Fifth Hokage.
Fore notes:
The title is taken from a quote by Friedrich Nietzsche: "Memory says, 'I did that.' Pride replies, 'I could not have done that.' Eventually, memory yields."
Italicized phrases are a character's private thoughts; and, occasionally, is the nine-tails speaking inside of (and to) Naruto. Otooto means "little brother," or is a way of talking down to someone you consider below you (not always necessarily in a bad way). Yondaime literally means 'the Fourth' (Hokage), and he will be referred to as such until we learn a name xX
Thank you for everyone who gave me advice and characterization points, and special thanks to Gelfling for helping me choose a title, and to my muses and only slightly obsessive SasuNaru supporters, Saori- Hime and Saffy – I would have never have finished any of this with out you!
And for all you Sasuke supporters who've read 233… Naruto did not loose. XP
- - -
Chapter One:
Sweet Sixteen
You are so lame
You always disappoint me
It's kinda like our running joke
But it's really not funny.
- Ani DiFranco, Dilate
- - - - - -
"Sasuke is the robot dressed in green."
- Googlism
- - - -
"SASUKE!"
The enraged roar of the demon-toting blonde echoed throughout the house, piercing every nook and cranny with its annoying tone. Several birds that had been perched in the tree outside the building took flight, vocalizing their distress as they took refuge on a nearby roof. Naruto, oblivious to the noise he was making, stormed from room to room looking for his teammate.
Where the hell IS that bastard? I'm usually the one that sleeps in!
"Dammit, Sasuke! If you don't show your stupid face right now I swear I'll—"
"Do what, exactly?"
Naruto cut himself off in mid-yell and stared, looking much like a bewildered hedgehog in a bright orange jumpsuit. Sasuke stared back, his gaze steady and challenging, his eyes narrowed in annoyance. He might have been intimidating if his hair wasn't still suffering from severe bed-head.
Naruto had to submerge the urge to burst out laughing.
"Oi! Sasuke!" he said through his muffled snickering, "What the hell happened to your head?!"
Sasuke blinked, his narrowed gaze lightening a little. "I beg your pardon?"
"Your head, baka!" Naruto snorted, "It looks like something was gnawing on the back of it! Go look for yourself!"
Sasuke rolled his eyes and left the hallway, walking back into his room. Naruto followed, naturally, not caring that he hadn't been invited. He took one glance at the room and sighed. It hadn't changed much since he'd last seen it.
"Don't you ever redecorate? I could have sworn that SAME sock was there back when you were a Genin…" his eyes wandered over the walls and narrowed, "Don't you have a mirror in here? Or is it in the bathroo—"
Naruto was saved from investigating further by Sasuke turning his head so quickly he was surprised it didn't snap right off. The Uchiha's eyes were as dark as ever, but Naruto could tell even from across the room that they were burning with rage.
"No, I don't have a mirror, you idiot. Not one in the house. So do me a favor and quit sticking your obnoxious nose into other people's privacy, alright?"
It usually took a lot more than him just being his generally annoying self to make Sasuke loose his cool, and he'd learnt a long time ago that unless the situation called for it, it was best not to push Sasuke over the edge. Doing so usually resulted in a large fight, and regardless of who won, it ended in several months of silence between the two boys. It often took the long, hard work of their fellow young shinobi to get the two on speaking terms again.
Stupid Sasuke. He always had to go and ruin the mood.
It took Naruto another moment to realize that, despite his intrusion and loud wake-up call, Sasuke was not rushing to get ready. He was sitting on the edge of his bed, eyes closed, bare feet braced apart, elbows balanced on his knees, and hands hanging listlessly. He was dressed in what Naruto could only assume he used for nightclothes: a white t-shirt and pair of navy shorts so dark they could have passed for black. The white shirt made his skin look paler than it normally did, which in turn made his hair stark and sharp-edged against his skin. It made him look… dangerous.
"Uh… Sasuke?"
Sasuke's lids lifted slightly, exposing a slit for his eyes to peer through. But he wasn't looking at Naruto; he was looking at the wall beside him.
"What?"
Naruto actually took a moment to wonder briefly what had gotten into the Uchiha teen.
Then he got angry because the idiot had obviously forgotten what today was.
"It's Sakura-chan's birthday, idiot! Ino's been raving on an on about her surprise party all month! How could you possibly forget?! And you already said you'd go, so don't you say you're not coming, Ino sent me all the way over here to get your ass out of bed, and… and—" Naruto couldn't even make himself finish. How could Sasuke be so stupid? Sakura-chan's party wouldn't do anything for her if her stupid 'Sasuke-kun' didn't show up! As much as he liked her, and as much as he hated Sasuke for stealing her attention, he still did not approve of anyone making her cry, especially this stupid, rat-faced, wanna-be—
"Ch, I said I'd think about it. I never promised anything."
Sasuke, seemingly satisfied with his answer, flopped backwards onto the bed, feet still on the floor. His left arm was now thrown over his eyes, hiding Naruto from his vision.
Naruto felt like his head was going to explode.
"THINK about it?!" Naruto was beyond angry now, "You idiot! You know how horrible she'll feel if you don't show up! And don't you dare pull that 'I-don't-care-crap' on me, you bastard, because I know you do! You are going and that's the end of it and you better be an angel or I'll make every day as annoying as possible for you! And if you don't get your ass off that bed and get ready to go I'll dress you MYSELF and drag you kicking and screaming all the way to—"
"Naruto, I swear on all the past Hokages that if you don't lower your voice, I'm going to rip your vocal cords out with my bare hands and strangle you with them."
Ah, sarcasm. Well, Sasuke couldn't be too depressed if he retained that much of his usual attitude.
Naruto did stop yelling, but was not about to let Sasuke lie in bed all day feeling sorry for himself when Sakura would be worrying about him all bloody night. Walking over to the bed, he folded his arms over his chest and glared down at the dark-haired boy.
"What the hell has gotten into you these past few weeks?" he demanded, but a bit gentler than usual, "The girls have been going psycho because you've been avoiding everyone, and here I thought it was just you being you trying to avoid us for your training, or to harass Kakashi-sensei or something, and here I find you, damn near noon, still in your bloody pajamas, lying in bed!"
There was a short silence before Sasuke responded to this accusation.
"Would it be too much to ask you to go away?" Sasuke said, eyes still covered by his forearm.
"Yes," came the defiant answer.
"Alright, I tried being polite. How about this: fuck off, Naruto."
"You know what—" Naruto had had it up to his ears with Sasuke brushing him off. He was trying to be a friend, trying to understand, but no—fucking Sasuke was too good for that. Well, then he'd get what was coming to him!
Naruto had attempted to slam his fist down into Sasuke's jaw, but the hand covering the Uchiha's eyes shot up in a reflex motion. It seized Naruto's wrist, stopping it just an inch from his face. His eyes were calm, cool and without emotion, which just enraged Naruto more as he stared down at his teammate, his arm shaking from the force he'd driven it downward with.
"Once was enough, Naruto," Sasuke said quietly, and let his wrist go.
Naruto pulled it back without even thinking about it and stood up straight, rubbing his wrist. What the hell was Sasuke talking about? He hadn't hit him yet, not even once! But Sasuke gave Naruto no further reason to argue with him, for the boy had already stripped off his white t-shirt and appeared to be rooting for his usual navy top, the one with the his clan symbol embroidered on the back. Naruto glared at the boy's bare back indignantly, as if it insulted him for somehow looking more muscular than his. Naruto sighed and looked away, cursing his stupidity. He knew he was strong, even if he did not look it, and that was all that mattered. Fat lot of good it did for him when he was working to impress, though, and it wasn't that he was particularly bad-looking, either. The truth was, near sixteen he was the splitting image of the Yondaime (though he seemed to be one of the few in Konoha to not have realized it), save the whisker-marks adoring his cheeks and, of course, his height. In four years he'd not gained more than a few measly inches, while even Hinata had managed to grow enough to stay taller than he was. In fact, Konohamaru was nearly his height now, even though he about two generations younger than the blonde.
Sasuke, of course, was easily half a foot taller than he was.
Stupid Sasuke.
Sasuke had apparently found his shirt and managed to do something to his hair to make it fall into place while Naruto had been lost in his thoughts. The next time the blonde bothered to look Sasuke was standing about four feet in front of him, fully dressed and ready. Naruto bleakly noted that he had not bothered to change his shorts.
"Are you going to move, idiot? Or did you wake me up and force me to get dressed so we could stand here and stare at each other all day?"
It was only then that Naruto noticed he was blocking the door. He flushed slightly and jumped out of the way, mumbling about how it was the idiot's own fault for taking so long and that he'd nearly fallen asleep waiting for him. Leave it to Sasuke to make him uncomfortable over absolutely nothing.
Thankfully, Sasuke didn't seem to notice and, rolling his eyes again, stepped out of the room. Naruto followed behind him.
"Eh… Sasuke?" Naruto asked tentatively as Sasuke closed the front door, then fell in step with him down the deserted street.
"What?"
"Why don't you have any mirrors in your house?"
It was an innocent enough question, but Sasuke seemed quite reluctant to answer. Naruto nearly asked again when Sasuke finally replied, "Some of us don't worry ourselves with vanity, Naruto."
Naruto blinked, and then scowled. "Don't be an idiot, Sasuke! How can you treat your own wounds if you don't even have a mirror lying around!" he yelled at him, "How do you remember what your own face looks like, if you can't even see yourself when you brush your teeth in the morning?"
Sasuke grit his teeth but didn't say anything for a moment.
"It's none of your fucking business, what I do and what I don't do, so stop acting like it is."
Naruto was about to protest this presumption when he was distracted by someone else calling his name.
"Oi, Naruto! Did you fin—Sasuke-kun!" Ino's high-pitched voice pierced his ears as she screeched the Uchiha's name, "We were hoping you would make it!" she added, giving him that million-dollar smile Shikamaru secretly adored. But even Naruto, in all of his naivety, could tell the smiling and enthusiasm was fake.
They had passed through the gates separating the old Uchiha community from the rest of the village and ended up on the main street. Shikamaru was with Ino already, as was Hinata, Neji and Tenten. Neji nodded, acknowledging their presence, but seemed about as thrilled as Sasuke to be there. Naruto had the suspicion that Tenten had dragged Neji out his home similarly to the way he had done to Sasuke. Ino jogged down the street towards Naruto and Sasuke, leaving the other Chuunin behind her.
"Where's Lee?" Naruto asked curiously as she approached. Surely he would be at Sakura-chan's birthday…
"He's keeping Sakura busy, Kiba too," Ino answered quickly, dismissing the subject. "Come on, hurry up you two—" she scowled briefly at the two of them, plodding along, "—she'll know they're up to something sooner or later, we need to get there before she does!"
"Get where, exactly?" Sasuke asked suddenly.
"Shikamaru's house," the girl replied, getting behind both of the boys and beginning to push them up the street, one hand on each of their backs, "We were going to use my place, but my dad's gone and changed his vacation dates. But Shikamaru's parents will be gone all week on a mission, so we've setup there. Hurry UP, will you?"
"Oi! Don't push!" Naruto complained, speeding up. "And why didn't you ask to use my place? I don't have to worry about parents!"
Ino looked surprised, as if she didn't expect Naruto to be so obvious about his lack of parents.
"Naruto, your place is barely big enough for you, much less a dozen or more of us," Sasuke pointed out, snapping Ino out of her daze. She nodded in agreement, but didn't add anything.
Naruto rolled his eyes, "Yeah, whatever. Let's just get this on and over with."
- - - - - - -
"So… why are we going into the middle of the woods?" Sakura asked with just a little doubt. Her relationship with Lee had done nothing but improve over the years, and she both respected and trusted him as a friend and a fellow shinobi, but she still could not deny Lee was one of the oddest people she knew. The fact that he'd showed up at precisely noon to drag her into the forest on her birthday just confirmed her observation.
"Surprise!" Lee responded for the fourth time, turning to wink at her.
Sakura sighed and gave in to him tugging at her wrist, dragging her further into the trees.
Inwardly, the young Chuunin was slightly unsettled. She didn't expect anything super-special for her birthday, but it'd seemed like the majority of her friends had forgotten it. Ino had left a note card and a small bouquet of flowers on her doorstep that morning wishing her a happy sixteenth, and Lee had appeared half an hour ago to collect her and give her a surprise of some sort, but outside those two, no one had made any effort to recognize her big day. And it wasn't like it was just any old birthday… it was her sweet sixteenth.
Selfish bastards! How could they forget such an important day in a girl's life?!
"Almost there!" Lee shouted back to her, flashing a smile.
True to his word, Lee came to a halt just a few minutes later. They were in the center of a small field that Sakura had never seen before. And it was full of…
"Stumps?"
"Yup!" Lee said enthusiastically, prancing from one to the other. Each stump had some degree of injury, ranging from missing the bark to having been reduced to three times their original thickness.
"This is my private, personal training ground!" Lee went on, leaping on top of one of the tallest logs, "This is where I, Rock Lee, have practiced and practiced my taijutsu since I was enrolled in the Academy!"
"That's… nice, Lee," Sakura said, slightly taken aback. Was this the surprise he'd dragged her all the way out here for?
Better not be!
"You, Sakura-chan, are the only person besides Gai-sensei to ever step foot on these sacred grounds of dedicated hard work!" he declared proudly, somersaulting down and landing on one knee in front of her with one hand behind his back. Taking her hand with his, he smiled up at her, "Happy Birthday!"
Lee produced the hand behind his back, which was holding a small, bottle-sized piece of wood that looked like it'd been beaten to a pulp—literally. Sakura starred at it for a moment, a bit unsure of what to do. Lee continued to smile, but his gaze faltered slightly. Sakura quickly accepted the piece of wood and his gaze regained its confidence. Leaping to his feet, Lee did his best pose.
"That was my first stump!" he told her proudly. "After years and years of long, hard work and much practice—and sore limbs—I turned the five-foot thick log into this! It is very special to me, for it symbolizes how hard I've worked to become the ninja I am today and I, I… I want you to have it."
The last part of Lee's sentence sounded choked, and looking at him again, Sakura noticed he looked close to tears. Was he serious?
"You don't… like it?" Lee asked cautiously, his face falling.
Apparently, he was serious.
"No! I mean, yes, yes! Of course I like it!" Sakura said quickly, smiling and giving a nervous laugh. "It's… very sweet of you, Lee-san. Thank you."
Lee's face lit up again. "You really like it?"
"It's the best birthday present I've gotten all day," she answered truthfully.
This seemed to reinstall Lee's confidence as he did an enthusiastic jump. "Yatta! I'm glad you like it, Sakura-chan!"
Idiot! Girls want flowers and jewelry, not splintery pieces of wood!!
Sakura sighed as Lee did a small happy dance. Her birthday was not going so well. She was imagining this day ever since her last birthday, when she had turned fifteen. She had the clear image of how everything was going to go for her perfect sweet sixteen: She would wake up to find a large bouquet of flowers on her doorstep with a note card giving her the location to her surprise party; all of her friends would be there to wish her a happy birthday; even Naruto would be quieter and kind to her; and Sasuke would be there, smiling, waiting for her, ready to confess the feelings they had for one another after all this time…
Sakura sighed as Lee began to reminisce about "old times" as he led her by her free hand back out of the clearing, going at a much slower pace then before. It felt like hours as they trudged along, Sakura muttering phrases like "Really?" and "Then what happened?" just to make it appear she really was listening to everything Lee was telling her. Her Inner Self was beginning to get angry, but she subdued the urge to scream – it was not Lee's fault, after all, that everyone had forgotten her birthday. He had at least remembered and had spent some time planning on what to give her, even if it wasn't what she was exactly hoping for.
"Hey, Sakura!"
The new voice finally pulled Sakura from her thoughts, and she realized with a jolt that they had entered the village again already. The person calling her name was jogging towards the pair, his four-legged companion bounding along his side.
Kiba stopped a few feet in front of them and panted. How long had he been running?
"Oi, Kiba!" Lee greeted him happily, "Are you here to say 'Happy Birthday' to Sakura-chan, too?"
Kiba blinked at Lee, and Akamaru made a funny growling noise that sounded confused. He looked at Sakura, "It's your birthday?"
Sakura sighed. Well, she didn't really expect Kiba, of all people, to remember, but it was not improving her day much. "Yes."
"Huh. Uh, happy birthday, then," he said, "But why I was looking for you – Hinata-chan said you mentioned going to the theatres last week and she said she has the time today, so she sent me off to find and you tell you that she is with Ino, and Ino is at Shikamaru's house, and that you should belt their pronto before we leave."
Sakura blinked. "We?"
"Yeah," Kiba grinned at her, and on the ground Akamaru mimicked him. "We're all going; Hinata, Ino, Shika and me… you're welcome to come too, Lee," he added after a moment.
Sakura stared at him. This sounded awfully like a setup of some sort…
"You mean, like on a triple date?"
Sakura nearly dropped the piece of wood Lee had given her.
Kiba seemed nearly as mortified, and Lee went on to explain his assumption.
"Well, I just thought… since you and Hinata-chan are going, and Ino-chan and Shikamaru are also going, then… you mean I could go with—"
Sensing the impending doom, Sakura cut in, laughing a bit too hysterically, "Oh Kiba didn't mean that, he meant as a group of friends, didn't you, Kiba-kun?"
Kiba thought that if looks could kill, he'd have died the moment Sakura locked eyes with him.
"Uh, yeah, more or less…" looking a lot less confident now, Kiba rubbed the back of his head and stole a look at his watch. "So… yeah. I better get going back there. Hope to see you guys soon." and he was gone without so much as a backward glance.
After Kiba was gone, Lee chanced a glance at Sakura. "Are you sure you wouldn't want to…" and trailed off at the look of death she had given him in return. "Right, so, are you going to come?"
Sakura shrugged. "I guess so. I did tell Hinata-chan I would, and if Ino is coming…" she looked down at her current outfit; red overdress, green shorts, tank underneath… what was she thinking? Today was her Sweet Sixteenth!
"I need to go change, though, so…uh… meet you there?" she asked him hopefully.
To her complete surprise, Lee smiled and nodded. "Sure thing! I'll tell them to wait for you!"
Then, very suddenly, Sakura found herself standing alone in the street. Her shoulders slumped with another big sigh as she turned around and trudged towards her home.
- - - - - -
"Ow! Move over!"
"Why the hell is it so dark?"
"Whose foot is that?"
"Mine, get off!"
"I thought we were going to the movies?"
"Shhh!"
Pat pat pat.
"Is someone knocking?"
"Is that her?"
"Shut up and answer it! Shikamaru!"
"Why me?"
Pat pat pat.
"Shikamaru--!"
"Hai, hai, I'm coming!" Shikamaru shouted and scrambled out from behind the counter and away from the wooden utensil Ino was waving at him. Wandering down the stairs to the door, he opened it. Sakura beamed up at him from the other side.
"Hey, Shikamaru… Kiba told me that--"
"Yeah, yeah, they're upstairs. Come in."
So like Shikamaru. Too lazy to even listen politely while someone finished a sentence.
Sakura followed him into the entryway, which led up a thin staircase up to the second and third levels of the building (otherwise known as the flat his parents owned). It was a really nice house, actually, with huge windows panning the large den area and looking over a wooded block inside the village. It was something more she would have expected from Sasuke's home, which on the other hand was a rather old, traditional home inside the empty gated community that used to be the home of his Clan.
She had changed clothes before coming over, and was now clad in light blue dress that came to a clean stop just above her knees. Spaghetti straps held it up over her shoulders, and showed just enough skin to make her look pretty but not advertising. Her hair, which was still cut at shoulder length, fell freely around her shoulders without the hiate-ete around her head to hold it in place. White, small-heeled shoes adorned her feet and clicked softly as she made her way up the stairs.
Shikamaru had already reached the top and disappeared down the hall.
Picking up her pace, Sakura clicked up the stairs—she hadn't been inside of Shikamaru's house more then once or twice, and getting lost was a good possibility. Reaching the top, Sakura wandered into the first room down the hall and was met with an empty den. It was lit with an orange glow because of the setting sun shining through the windows, but otherwise deserted.
"Shikamaru?"
Several things happened next in very short succession; a large assortment of her friends leaped out from behind various obstacles and furniture, Naruto, Lee and Ino shouted "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" at the top of their lungs, and Lee nearly tackled her with a hug. Sakura's hair stood up at the jolt of surprise and she nearly fell over as Lee righted himself and told her how happy he was for her now that she was sixteen and hoped she had the best day ever and if there was ANYTHING he could do for her then to just let hi—
"Lee, LEE! Please! Let her breathe!"
Thank you, Sakura's eyes said to Ino, who shooed Lee away with her wooden spoon. Ino beamed at her. "Surprise!"
"I… wow," Sakura looked happily surprised, and just smiled because she wasn't sure how to properly react. Just an hour ago she had been moping about how no one loved her enough to remember her birthday, and now she was standing in a room full of them for an apparent surprise party. Ino, Lee and Naruto had made themselves obvious enough, and looking around she was able to spot Hinata, Kiba, Ten-ten, Neji, Chouji, Shikamaru, and… Sakura's eyes grew wide as she spotted a familiar dark figure hiding the back of the room.
"Sasuke-kun!"
Sasuke braced himself for what he knew was coming. Sure enough, not five seconds after the squeal, thin arms laced around his neck and Sakura attached herself to him with a secure squeeze.
Thou shall not kill, thou shall not kill—good god, she's heavy.
He wanted to tell her to get off. He wanted to push her away and tell her to grow up. Looks of certain death from Ino, Lee and Naruto met him over her shoulder as she continued to molest him. He decided just to glower at Naruto instead, who smiled back at him in return.
Finally, the pressure decreased and Sakura's arms slipped down and rested on his shoulders as she beamed up at him. "I'm so happy you came."
Sasuke tried to smile. He really did. All he managed to do, though, was remove his scowl. "I'll alert the media."
She apparently took his sarcasm as a good thing, because she smiled even wider than before and—what the HELL was that?
Sakura had stood up on her tiptoes so she could reach, and kissed him lightly on the cheek which involuntarily made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, then quickly turned away and wove her way over between Ino and Hinata, leaving Sasuke standing there, staring, and quite unsure of just how to react to that. Grimacing, he wiped his cheek with the back of his hand and noticed Naruto glaring at him from across the room. The grimace vanished and was replaced with an intended smirk, to which Naruto scowled. Sasuke withheld the extremely immature urge to stick his tongue out at Naruto.
"I'm surprised you came."
Sasuke turned around. Kiba was standing there, apparently abandoned by Hinata for the time being. "So am I."
Grinning at him with teeth that could rival Naruto's, Kiba tossed Sasuke something, which Sasuke caught on reflex. Eyes studied the bottle critically; Sasuke looked back at Kiba questioningly.
Kiba just continued to grin at him. "Loosen up a bit for once, okay?"
Sasuke was beginning to feel like this was less a surprise party for Sakura and more of a setup for him. The bottle of sake in his palm was cool, not refrigerator-cold but still below room temperature. He watched as the dog-tamer slowly but surely distributed the rest of the bottles around the room to whoever would take them. Sasuke was just setting his bottle down on a nondescript table to ignore when a familiar voice assaulted his senses.
"Oi, oi! If he doesn't want it, I'll take it!"
Naruto, it seemed, was making good use of Neji's generosity.
Gripping the bottle tightly in his hand, his wrist changed its mind and offhandedly decided not to abandon its hostage quite yet.
- - - - -
Sasuke hadn't tasted alcohol in a few months, and that was enough to convince his taste buds that it was nothing but acidy piss-water that was best to be avoided. It was hard to get his pride to agree when the other males in the room, especially a certain blonde, all seemed quite guiltless in their spoiling.
By the end of the first hour, the cake had been divided and digested, the cola was all but gone, and Neji, Sakura and Lee were the only souls in the room to have yet touched the sake (Kiba had actually gotten Hinata to try some, and she was still taking slow, shy sips out of her bottle in the corner of the room). In the events, Naruto had gotten himself in a slightly-stupider-then-usual state, Ino was giggling even more then usual, and Kiba had misplaced Hinata when he had gotten lost under the coffee table.
Naruto narrowed his eyes and focused on Sasuke, slowly raising an accusing finger in the Uchiha's direction. "Oi," he said slowly, his voice tinged with a slight slur, "When did you kage-bunshin?""Hey!" Ino yelped, her voice slightly higher than usual, "Leave Sasukehickun alone."
"You two are pathetic," Shikamaru mumbled, rolling his eyes. Shikamaru, it appeared, was unusually immune to the effects of alcohol. He'd drunk twice as much as Naruto without so much as a twitch, and his voice lacked both the smell of sake and the accompanied slur.
Ino raised and eyebrow at him before sauntering over and sitting on his lap; Shikamaru had the dignity to look completely horrified at this development.
"Come on, Shikamaru" she purred, waving the wooden spoon dangerously close to his face, then poked him in the nose with it. "Where's your party-face, hm?"
Now even the esteemed Uchiha had a slight grin on his face.
"What the hell are you smiling at?" Kiba demanded, upside-down on the floor looking up at Sasuke. "You still have half a bottle to go, you know."
Sasuke grimaced and looked at the offending bottle, which was sitting right where he left it on the table, starring back at him mockingly. He already felt dazed. Finishing off the bottle, even if it was only his first, did not seem like a good idea.
But then again, Naruto had already finished his third.
"Naruto, what are you doing? Put that back!"
Sakura had caught Naruto trying to steal another bottle of sake out of the cupboard and promptly shooed him away. "Its enough to have the normally loud, obnoxious Naruto at my party, I don't need a drunken, loud, obnoxious Naruto at my party! Shoo!"
"But that last bottle was lookin' at me funny!" Naruto protested. "I need to drink it before it tries something!"
Sasuke grabbed his bottle off the table and took the rest of the contents in one swing. Damned Naruto.
"That's the spirit," Kiba praised from under the table. "Hey, Hinata!"
"I am not Hinata," Neji said, trying to sound somewhat dignified.
"Na?" Kiba sounded confused and came out from under the table, sat up on the floor and stared at the offending teenager. Sure enough, it was Neji who was propped up against the wall, looking quite disgusted with Kiba's drunken state. "Shit, you're right. All you damn Hyuuga look that same. OI, HINATA!"
Sasuke tossed the empty bottle into the nearest bin, turning his attention back to the other side of the couch, where Shikamaru had managed to get rid of Ino somehow while he wasn't paying attention. "Aren't your parents going to wonder where their stash of sake went?"
Shikamaru shrugged. "Hopefully Naruto will be able to con Jiraiya into replacing it. That's the 'plan' anyway."
"And if he can't?"
Shikamaru gave him a look. "I'll improvise. I'm the genius, remember?"
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "So is that how you got rid of Ino, then? With your genius?"
Shikamaru gave him a grin that could be described as nothing less than predatory. "When did I say I wanted to get rid of her? She went to the bathroom."
Sasuke raised the other eyebrow and almost inquired further… then decided he didn't want to know and let the subject drop.
Leaning back, Sasuke let his eyelids droop slightly. Though he wasn't drunk—yet—he still had a warm, fuzzy feeling in the back of his throat and he was getting tired. He watched as Naruto ran past, chasing after Sakura, and wondered where the hell the blonde packed away all of his energy. It was like dealing with a large five-year old; he kept going and going and going…
"Ahhh! Sakura-chan! Give it BACK!"
"No! Naruto, get lost! You've had enough!"
"It's not for me, it's for Kiba!"
"He's had more than you!"
"Then it's for Lee!"
"Lee can't d—dammit, Naruto, I said NO!"
…and going and going. Just listening to Naruto was making him more tired.
Great, now I sound like Shikamaru.
Ino had reappeared from the bathroom and hit Naruto on the back of his head with her spoon, telling him that if he drank anything other than water for the rest of the night she'd shove it somewhere very uncomfortable. Grumbling, Naruto finally surrendered the last bottle of sake to Sakura and came plodding over to the couch, flopping down between Shikamaru and Sasuke.
"Women," he muttered.
"Thinking of changing lanes?" Shikamaru asked, grinning at him.
Naruto rolled his eyes, "Why can't they just mind their own business? I can drink sake if I want to drink sake!"
"Even if you're still under aged and therefore illegal," Sasuke added mockingly.
"Not to mention already drunk to the point that you're seeing multiple Sasukes," Shikamaru put in.
"Damn right," said Naruto.
Shikamaru laughed. "It's got to be getting cold in Hell when a man can be bullied by a woman."
"Well, remember he is still a fair few inches shorter then her…" Sasuke went on.
"…more like half a foot…" Shikamaru corrected him.
"And now the men are picking on me," Naruto said gloomily, "Story of my life."
"What do you expect? Even Konohamaru is going to be taller than you," Sasuke said, wearing a wicked grin. "Face it, Naruto: you're going to be looking up to people all your life."
"Except when I knock your sorry ass on the ground, you mean," Naruto shot back childishly.
"I'd like to see you try."
Naruto started to get up, but Shikamaru dragged him back down by the sleeve.
"I really don't care if you two turn this party into another one of your 'I hate you!' - 'But I hate you more!' explosions, but you are NOT doing it in my house."
Naruto and Sasuke both stared at him.
Shikamaru scowled. "You're both still acting like you're twelve, for pete's sake."
Naruto looked back at Sasuke, whose eyes met his and Naruto grinned at him. It was a natural smile, nothing sarcastic or nasty about it. Then something strange happened; Sasuke felt himself smile slightly back.
The moment ended, however, when Sakura decided she could fit in the small space between Naruto and Sasuke. She scooted closer to Sasuke muttering, "Not too close to Naruto," and turned her head away from him, completely blocking out herself and Sasuke from Naruto's view.
Sakura didn't notice Naruto get up and leave. Sasuke did, and he stopped smiling.
"Are you having a good time, Sasuke-kun?"
Sasuke shrugged. He had been having a good time a minute ago, but she had effectively ruined that. It might have been her birthday party, but he wasn't here for her.
Sakura translated his answer as an affirmative and smiled lovingly at him. "I've hardly seen you lately. I mean, the last few years were understandable, but the past couple of months you've seemed so distant. Is everything okay?"
Sasuke sighed and closed his eyes. Why, of all people, did Sakura try to pry these things out of him? If he didn't feel like socializing, she automatically assumed something was wrong, and even when you told her you were fine she still didn't believe you and would go poke and stab and pry until it made you bleed.
'You are going and that's the end of it and you better be an angel or I'll make every day as annoying as possible for you!'
Naruto's voice reverberated silently in his head as he remembered the blonde's threats from the morning. Cursing his teammate mentally, Sasuke opened his eyes and looked at Sakura, who was beaming worriedly at him.
"I'm fine, Sakura. I just needed a couple of weeks to myself. I'll be around more often now, okay?"
Sakura looked shocked and thrilled. Sasuke had never said that much to her in one sentence that wasn't chiding or reprimanding.
Sasuke instantly regretted his choice of words when Sakura, confidence renewed, repositioned herself directly next to him on the couch (Sasuke liked his personal space and being squished by anyone – girls, boys, whoever – was enough to make him want to explode) and tilted her head sideways so it dropped on his shoulder. His body twisted, going slightly rigid as it tried to maneuver itself away from her, but he was trapped between her and the arm of the couch. His eyes searched the room for something – anything to use as an excuse to leave, but everyone else was well occupied and Naruto was nowhere to be seen.
"I'm glad you're feeling better," Sakura was saying. "We all worry so much about you, Sasuke-kun. You have a lot of people who care about you, we don't want to annoy you, we just want to make sure that you're okay, and that you know we're here for you if you need us. Even Naruto cares about you, even if he'd never admit it and says he hates you all the time. He'd do anything for you… and… so would I."
Fuck, she's nuts. If I ever needed help, now is the time…
"You know that, right, Sasuke-kun? You know we're all here for you. That I'm here for you…"
I am going to kill you, Naruto…
"…Sasuke-kun?"
Sasuke forced a normal expression and looked over at her with disinterest. She was still smiling hopefully, awaiting some sort of reply.
"Yeah," was all he said.
It must have been enough, because Sakura cuddled even closer to him and—she better not dare put her hand near his, or he'd cut it off—he couldn't believe she was holding his hand!
"I really missed you, Sasuke-kun," she said and squeezed his hand and buried her face in his shoulder.
Sasuke couldn't take it anymore.
He stood up abruptly, pulling his hand away forcefully.
"Sasuke-ku—"
Sasuke glared at her. His words spat out like acid, and he didn't bother to tone himself down any. "Will you cut it out?"
Sakura was beginning to look panicky. "Sasuke-kun… what's—"
"Wrong?" Sasuke finished for her, his voice rising slightly as he stood over her. "Do you really want to know?"
"Well, yes, of cours—"
She asked for it.
"You are. You're what's wrong," he snapped immediately, cutting her off once more. "That's all this is about, you this, you that, Sasuke-kun this, Sasuke-kun that. I really wish you would fucking stop calling me that! Or have you purposely ignored that fact that I never give you cute little nicknames? I don't like you, Sakura-chan, I never have, I never will, and I wouldn't have spent so much as one minute in your company if I hadn't been forced into a fucking squad with you, and the only reason I'm at your stupid birthday party is because that fucking moron who you ignore and insult and hate so much cared enough about you to force me out of my house!"
Sakura looked like she was about to cry. "But Sasuke-kun…"
"I told you to STOP calling me that!" By now, Sasuke had drawn the attention of everyone in the house, even Kiba, who was watching from the safety of the looming coffee table. "You don't get it, do you? Take a clue from the Ino pig and leave me the fuck alone, alright? All you do is whine, panic, fawn and squeak, and it's fucking annoying! You have no talent, no ambition, no clue about anything and you think that just because I've had to put up with you all these years that you're going to get your way and you're fucking wrong! I can't even stand you anymore! I'd rather be forced to endure Naruto then you!"
Normally, Naruto would have been happy to hear those words.
Save for when they were directed at Sakura.
"Sasuke, what the hel—" he began, but Sasuke cut him off with a glare.
"Don't even try it," he snarled, looking at Naruto like he was ready to kill him. "I wouldn't even be here if it weren't for you. Don't kid yourself, Naruto, you're only a fraction more useful then she is, and that's not saying much."
Naruto was stunned speechless. He wasn't even aware his mouth was hanging open. Nobody else dared say a word.
"You're all fucking useless," Sasuke spat, glaring at the lot of them, "And you can all go to hell."
The door Sasuke slammed on his way out closed so hard the window broke.
"Asshole," Shikamaru muttered.
A/N: Ooooh, so mean. So mean. You know it was bound to happen eventually, don't look so surprised. :::cheers for Sasuke:::