Author's Note :
This is short, I know. But I wanted to get this out before my to-do-list got overwhelming. Feedback is adored. Enjoy. 3
x Kitty
The morning began a long time before sunrise. Sasuke's eyes flickered in the dark, instinctively roaming over to Naruto's still sleeping form. It seemed that everyone else was asleep too judging from the gentle sighs that drifted through the otherwise undisturbed air.
"Dobe, hey," The Uchiha moved fluidly and shook the blonde's shoulder. When those half aware cornflower eyes blinked up at him, apparently confused, Sasuke fought the urge to laugh.
" … Teme? Is that really you?" Naruto slurred and caught Sasuke off guard when he wrapped his toned arms around the Uchiha's waist and pulled him down onto the makeshift bed. "I missed you, why'd you go?" His voice was muffled against his pillow.
Somewhat panicked, the dark haired shinobi looked desperately around the room. Heat was warming his cheeks as he thought of what the others would think if they saw the all mighty Uchiha Sasuke reduced to nothing more than a teddy bear for a dobe.
Determined, he rolled out of Naruto's grasp. A small whining noise rose from the mess of orange but died off quickly as he rolled over. "Naruto!" Sasuke yelled in a hushed voice. He hadn't met anyone else that could throw his composure out the window like Naruto.
By now Sai staring amused from the other side of the small room. Sasuke cursed under his breath. How long that annoying shinobi been watching? The Uchiha quickly cloaked his discomfort with a sneer and walked briskly from the room.
Naruto yawned loudly and rolled onto his side facing Sai.
"Good morning Naruto," the boy said with a smile. He didn't mention anything about what he had seen. "Do you want me to make breakfast?" From experience on missions Sai had been found to be quite the excellent cook.
"That would be great!" Naruto exclaimed and sleepily got to his feet, stretching like a cat. "Hurry up though. That old hag will have my head if I'm not there on time." His blue eyes quickly scanned the room before adding "and Sasuke gets all pissed off when I move too slow."
Sai laughed lightly with the blonde and then moved into the kitchen. Naruto padded off to his room to discover that Sakura was already awake and packed for the journey. Her green eyes lit up when he entered the room.
"Naruto, you sleep forever."
"Eh, can't help it! I'm a hard sleeper," he said while rubbing the back of his neck. Already he could smell breakfast wafting in from the other room. "Anyway, Sais cooking breakfast and then we're off I guess." Naruto looked down at his empty bag sitting by the bed and frowned - he hadn't packed anything yet.
"Okay. Hey, where's .. Sasuke?" She said the missing nin's name as if it were physically painful to form the letters on her tongue. Naruto blinked, confused. Now that he thought about it he hadn't seen the dark haired shinobi in the house at all.
"Uh .. I guess I should go find him," the blonde mumbled. He was hungry and the tempting scent of ramen from the kitchen wasn't helping his plight much. Naruto slipped out the back door and wasn't all that surprised to see Sasuke leaning against the side of the building, staring up at the stone Hokage faces carved into the mountainside. For a moment he debated turning around and eating first but instead walked up to stand next to his friend.
"My face will be up there someday, too," Naruto said quietly, not looking at Sasuke. Something about the moment was inexplicably intimate. The two greatest ninjas of team seven standing together in the grey dawn light, not speaking.
"Do .. Do you think that it might have been different? If I hadn't gone after Itachi all those years ago?" Sasuke's voice seemed to startle himself and abruptly he stopped talking and looked down at his clenched hands.
Naruto surveyed his pale face carefully before answering hesitantly. "Yeah … I guess it would have. But this is okay right now, for me anyway." He made a move to grab the Uchiha's hand and for some reason Sasuke didn't dodge it. The two of them stood silent, hands clasped tightly until a scream rose from the house that made Sasuke jump and retract his hand with incredible speed.
"SAI! Is this supposed to be some kind of joke?!"
Naruto winced just from Sakura's tone and retreated inside with an apologetic smile. The scene he walked into would have been funny if the blonde wasn't aware of the potential harm Sakura could inflict to his precious apartment.
Four bowls were sitting on the counter that Sai was currently standing behind . Sakura was trying to corner him, shaking something inky black in front of his face. Naruto had to stifle a snicker.
"A rat?! Are you serious?!" Sakura slammed the rodent down onto the table with such force that it splattered into a puddle of ink. Apparently Sai didn't fear for his life like he should have been doing, because he was smiling broadly. The shinobi was just learning how to "joke" and sometimes they didn't turn out to be the smartest ideas.
"Naruto! Tell him to stop doing things like that," Sakura seethed, but Naruto's mind had gone temporarily blank as he spotted his deluxe ramen waiting for him on the other end of the counter.
"Sai, you're the best!" he exclaimed, breaking his chopsticks and diving right in. Sasuke, who had been lingering in the doorway, scowled at the smug grin that Sai was sending his way.
"Sasuke, aren't you going to eat? We have a while to go!" The blonde pushed a bowl of ramen in his direction encouragingly. The Uchiha paced over to it and sat down. He was not going to let Sai win this war, even if it meant eating more ramen [ which he wasn't so fond of just to prove a point.
"I thought you didn't like ramen?" Sai stated with a smile that Sasuke took as a challenge.
"And I don't think that it's any of your business what I eat."
"Guys! Geez. It's just breakfast, knock it off! We have a whole mission to go on and you seriously can't be fighting all the time," Naruto ranted, totally missing the point that it was over him that they were arguing. Sasuke snorted at the blonde's ignorance but didn't say anything else to Sai.
In the mean time, Sakura had calmed down a little. She looked at the three boys and spoke with authority. "After we leave Leaf Village, we have to be very careful. We don't know where these ninja are coming from or how they plan on attacking. So you are going to have to get along," she said, eyeing Sasuke and Sai.
"Hn," came the Uchiha's reply. Really, he wasn't in the mood to listen to his former teammate speak. He sent a side glance at Naruto, eyes dark. Coming into this, Sasuke hadn't planned on all these people to tag along …
"I think we should go now," Sai said softly and tugged on Naruto's arm, smiling. Sasuke glared daggers at the other boy, but said nothing as he rose.
----
"As I'm sure you already know, your team is going to consist of Sakura and Sai. The only reason I'm placing you all together again is because I know you work well with each other," Tsunade told the ninja gathered around her desk. They all listened intently except for Naruto who was staring out the window into the trees.
"When should we leave?" Sakura asked, kicking Naruto in the shin to draw his attention back to the meeting. He scowled and grudgingly directed his blue eyes at Tsunade.
"Immediately," the Sannin replied, looking serious. And with that she sighed, head in her hands. "How did you know about this ambush, Naruto?"
The blonde stood there stupidly, mouth half open before he decided on a decent response. "I told you, when I was looking for … Sasuke, I overheard." Somehow, the lie sounded obvious to his own ears.
Tsunade studied him suspiciously but didn't call him out on his story. "Good luck in finding him. Sasuke, I mean," she said and flicked her wrist toward the door. "Now go. And keep safe, all over you." Her eyes roamed over the three. Maybe it was her age catching up to her, but Naruto noticed her weary face and tired posture and felt a pang of concern for her.
"We will," it was Sai who spoke this time and bowed his head. Naruto and Sakura shared a knowing look and braced themselves for the reuniting of Team Seven after so many long years.