Hey al! To everyone who reads my fics, big thank you! This is a collab I've been concocting with Akiru Chan, who is just the coolest ever. In this AU, Naruto and Sasuke have already struggled through college and parted ways, so if something seems OOC, it's because... they aren't ninjas. Probably.
Naruto sighed, mussing up his hair in confusion. Tech didn't like him, and he didn't like tech. What was the difference between the ink cartridge with the little '7' on it and the one with the little '19' on it? Shrugging, he decided to screw the whole thing and try again later, when his head wasn't throbbing quite so badly. The blonde made a break for the isle he knew had calligraphy ink, which was something he needed. He quickly scanned the shelves, finding nothing. Naruto looked again, slowly.
"Why, God? What have I done to you? I know this is where the calligraphy shit is. It was there three days ago, and it was there four months ago. Why is it gone now?" The blonde muttered, slumping. Brisk footsteps sounded behind him, and someone passed the isle Naruto was in. He heard the squeak of rubber as the unknown person skidded to a halt.
"..." There was an intake of breath that seemed ungodly familiar to him, so Naruto turned.
"Holy-" He began, eyes widening. There was a thump as the brunette before him dropped a package of printer paper. "Sasuke!?"
"Dobe." Said Uchiha responded, failing to suppress a grin. "Hello."
"Whoa. This is so weird. I haven't seen you since graduation, when you stabbed me in the leg with a pencil. Hey, those bloodstains never fully came out." Naruto chuckled slightly. "Not that it matters. Man, it's been, what, a year and a half?"
"Give or take. Sasuke looked him over carefully, "You look stupider than you did in college."
"And you're even more of a bastard. Some things just never change I guess." Naruto taunted, feeling a playfulness that always seemed to bubble up when around the Uchiha. It was a feeling he had long forgotten, yet missed terribly.
"Hn." Was Sasuke's only reply; he was never big on words.
"So... What brings you here? Last time I heard you had high tailed it to New York to begin your plan to dominate the world."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow, not wanting to answer right away. It had been forever since he had seen his old friend... were they even friends? Rivals would be a more appropriate word. And because of that he wanted this to last for as long as he could draw it out.
He walked past the blond and plucked a package of clear page protectors off the shelf. Once they were safely in his hands, he opened his mouth to speak.
"Well technically I am not dominating the world, just the publishing industry. As for me being here, it's none of your concern." he said with the trademark Uchiha smirk in place.
Publishing industry- "Uh. So... um. How's life?" Naruto stammered uncertainly, blinking. Publishing industry. D'oh fuck.
"Fine, I guess. It's not like I'm running the University Mafia anymore."
"That was the most ridiculous club ever." Naruto threw his arms in the air. "Really weird."
Sasuke smirked. "Only because we wouldn't let you in."
Naruto grumbled. "Hmmph. Stupid bastard."
"Meh."
The silence was immediately shortened as an obnoxious, loud song filled the air. Naruto scrambled for his phone, stopping the song in its tracks. Sasuke was doing well at keeping a straight face, seeing as the ringtone had been 'The Bad Touch'.
Naruto's cheeks heated as he answered the phone. "Yeah, Sakura-chan?" A pause as she berated him. "Uhm. Well, the shelves are stupid. Yeah."
Oh, Sakura, his editor and one true abuser. So beautiful, so friggin' mean.
Sasuke stiffened. "I'll just go now..."
"No! Uh, not you Sakura-chan. You'll never guess who I ran into..." Naruto took Sasuke's arm in an iron grip.
Sasuke made a desperate cut-throat gesture. Naruto grinned, and held the phone away from his ear to inform Sasuke, "Don't worry, she's over you. Remember Lee? Bushy eyebrows, creepy bowl-cut? They hit it off."
There was a flurry yells from his phone as Sakura loudly informed him that he needed to get back to work instead of hanging around an almost-deserted Office Max.
"Sakura-chan! Ngh, listen to me! I," He began dramatically," Have just run into Uchiha Sasuke in this almost-deserted Office Max."
"I don't care if you ran into the friggin' Presid- Wait, who?" Came Sakura's tinny voice from the cell.
"Sasuke. Y'know, black hair, total jerk..." Naruto rolled his eyes at Sasuke, who sighed dramatically.
"I heard you! Well. Uh... tell him 'Hi' for me. It's getting kind of late, Naruto."
"So?"
"So um.. oh, just be careful."
Sasuke was poking Naruto's hand, attempting to pry his fingers open.
"Bye, Sakura-chan. Sasuke's having a conniption fit." He closed his phone with a snap. "What's up with you?"
"Itachi's expecting me back. I'll get hell if I'm home late again." Sasuke grumbled.
Naruto blinked. Itachi? Who was... sounded familiar. Sasuke didn't have a girlfriend, did he? Naruto's heart sank slightly.
"Uh-huh. And Itachi is...?"
"About to call me. I just know it." On cue, a techno version of Beethoven's Fifth filled the isle.
"Lemme go so I can answer this." Sasuke jerked his phone out. "Mushi mushi, aniki."
Whoo-hoo! Brother, not girlfriend!
Sasuke frowned as he heard his brother on the other line.
"Yes, I am coming now... No, I was... What?" Sasuke made a discusted face.
"Hell NO, you pervert... I was getting page protectors... I would have been home sooner but I ran into an old college friend." He momentarily glared at Naruto; this was clearly all the blondes fault.
"Ok... whatever... bye." With a flick of his wrist, Sasuke closed his phone and placed in back within his black dockers.
Naruto watched in amusement, obviously Sasuke and his brother didn't get along to well.
Turing back to the blond, Sasuke ran slender fingers through his raven locks. "Well I'd better get going. I have wasted enough time here already."
Naruto nodded in understand, as he watched the Uchiha walk away, yet something inside of him told him not to let him leave again. He had let the raven haired man walk out of his life once and Naruto was unsure if he could stand to let that happen again.
Without even realizing it, Naruto walked forward and grasped the cuff of Sasuke's sleeve.
"What."
"I... uhm... er... You called me your friiiiend," Naruto covered, turning discreetly red.
"Hn. It'd take too long to fully explain our relationship." Sasuke said coolly, snatching another pack of page protectors from the rack. "I'm just about done here."
"Oh... Uh... it was nice seeing you again, I guess. I know you're tight on time, so... Oh, there's my calligraphy ink." Naruto bent at the waist to pluck the ink from the bottom shelf, "Heh. I though you were being flighty, m'dear," he said to the bottle, hearing Sasuke's derisive snort behind him.
"Oh, shit." Sasuke swore, "They're outta page dividers."
"Dun dun DUUUUUUN!" Naruto mocked, imitating Sasuke's 'I am pissed' face. "Da horra!"
"Stop that, it's moronic." Sasuke whacked him with the page protectors. Naruto dropped to the ground in theatrical shock and horror.
"Look!" He cried, holding up his hand, "You paper-cut me!"
"These are plastic!" Sasuke waved the package. Naruto grinned.
"You plastic-cut me!"
"I'm leaving." Sasuke turned away. Naruto grabbed him by the pants, managing to pull himself up, slip his number into Sasuke's pocket, and not yank Sasuke's dockers down at the same time.
"Stop doing that! You never asked me what I've been up to!"
Sasuke groaned. "Fine. What are you up to, oh brainless one?"
"You don't have to sound so enthusiastic, Sasuke. But, IF you must know, I am now... well, doodling for a living."
Sasuke scoffed. "You total moron. You're living off of sketches?"
"Sorta, but it's more complicated then that. I create manga!" Naruto beamed with pride.
"You mean those childish comic books, about magic, and girls with too short of skirts and too big of boobs, and crap like that?"
Naruto pouted as his shoulders fell, taking on a depressed shape. "You make it sound like it's a bad thing."
"Well dobe, you should have gone into real literature. Be a novelist not some mangaka. Besides you can express so much more feeling and emotions through words rather than doodles of characters with bug eyes." Sasuke had never been a fan of cartoons no matter what form they came with. When his parents were still alive they used to look down on the shows and books calling them trash and rubbish.
Even as a child, Sasuke would stick his nose up at them. He was an Uchiha and above such meaningless things.
"That's not true. Manga are so much more than silly little cartoons. You would not believe the sort of emotions you can portray through the art and characters. I usually write romance and angst... with a little humour." He said with a smile. "Maybe you should give one of them a read sometime. You just might be surprised, teme."
"I highly doubt that." The smirk was back in place as he looked down at the smiling blonde. Naruto was still short but not by much. Sasuke only stood a hair taller.
"Whatever you say. Well whether you like them or not, I am still going to become famous off of them."
Sasuke raised a slender eyebrow, "Uhuh... I will believe it when I see it."
"Oh Sasuke-" Naruto clenched his chest, "Your doubt wounds me."
"Neh." Sasuke shrugged. "Uh...you have ink on you."
"Fuck!" Naruto yelled, perhaps a little loudly, "One of the stupid bottles must've been open! I should sue."
"For what?" Sasuke cocked his hip, stacking his purchases neatly in his arms.
"Uh... What can you sue for?"
Sasuke shrugged. "Reckless endangerment, fraud... Lots of things. But I don't think,'Your stupid product leaked on my ass' is good enough."
"It's on my ass too?" Naruto manuevered around to look. "Why where you looking there..."
There was an awkward silence.
Beethoven's Fifth rang out again.
"Dammit. Aniki? Hai... No, I've got the stuff, I'm just lea- Kisama! Did you just giggle? Aniki, is Kisame over there?!?" Sasuke paused to listen. "Are you... what are you doing? Are you drunk!?! Aniki! I'm not going home to that. You're gonna have to wait for your goddamn office supplies. I'm not going home to something that creepy. Put Kisame on." Another pause. "So... you got Itachi drunk so you could... paint his nails. I'm guessing there's some inside joke here. I'm not even going to ask. Look, I don't want to be around him while he's drunk- Stop doing whatever you're doing to him, I can here him laughing and it's weird..."
Naruto made a 'Yap-yap-yap' gesture with his hands, groaning when he smudged the ink over more of his hand.
Sasuke made a face. "No. Yeah... no. I'll just... get a hotel room or something. I can't deal with him when he's like that, I just can't. You remember what happened last time. No. Yeah. Okay." Sasuke's voice took on a whiny tone, as the phone was clearly handed back to his brother. "Aniki. Don't. I don't want to! You can't make me, I'm not a minor. Itachi. Gaaah. I'm hanging up on you. If you call back, I'll ignore it. I'll stay out all night with some random person- I'll find a freaking hooker- if you don't stop being so creepy. I'll come back with an STD. I'm not gay. Stop saying I'm gay. I will not- GOOD FREAKING BYE." Sasuke snapped his phone shut.
Naruto rolled his eyes. Jeez, talk about trying to sober up your brother...
Sasuke groaned. "Dammit. He's not- Please say you weren't listening to that."
Naruto shrugged. "Sounds like your gay bro's smashed with his boyfriend and they're doing something nasty."
Sasuke smacked himself in the head with a pack of printer paper. "Goddammit. Maybe Sai'll take me in for the night... wait, he'll probably mess with me in my sleep. Uncle Obito... damn, he's got company tonight. I'm not going to a stupid hotel, weirdoes hang out there."
"Whatever happened to shacking up with a hooker?" Naruto taunted, moving his hips suggestively. Sasuke glared at him, turning pink.
"That was a desperate attempt to get back at him for being drunk. It's not actually going to happen."
"Dude, if you're out of a place to stay, you could always... you know... My door is always open. If you want. I have a spare futon. It'd be no biggie."
Sasuke blinked. "I... you don't have any pets, do you?"
"Nope. Okay, except Piru, my goldfish that I won at a county fair almost eight years ago. Have you noticed that those goldfish either die within a week or hang around for freaking ever just getting old?"
Sasuke smiled a little at that. "I know some people who're just like that."
"Oh, do tell."
Well, here we go, the first chapter of the love-drama that will be known as Smudging Ink until we come up with something catchier.
Assuming we can come up with something else.
Remember, read and REVIEW! Reviews are my happy crack, they inspire me.