The Way We Are

Prologue

Summmary: After witnessing a strange interaction between Sasuke and Sakura, Naruto gathers up the Konoha 12 to discover what's going between those two. Unfortunately, everybody has different theories.

Hi guys, this story is a mini-side project while I work on my other story "Rumy-Nin," which is more dramatic. This story is a romantic comedy and won't be dramatic compared to my other one. I decided to do this because working on the super dramatic "Rumy-Nin" made me wanna insert small jokes that were not appropriate for the story. Therefore, I decided to just save up all the jokes in this story. Please read and review! Thanks for stopping by to read my story!

"Mou Naruto, its like 2 in the morning? Why do you have us all together in the first place? So troublesome..." Shikamaru moaned tiredly, rubbing his eye.

Sitting beside her teammate, Ino agreed to her annoyance. "He's right, Naruto! I'm missing out on my beauty sleep!"

"Yeah, what's so important and life-threatening that needs us?" Choji asked.

"I bet Ichiraku's closed down and now he's campaigning to bring it back," Kiba joked, earning slow laughter from the rest of the Konoha 11, who sat around the fountain.

They had no idea why Naruto had brought them there. They all had identical stories for their reasons coming: Naruto bangs on their door, complaining about some urgent mission, and gathers them all around the village fountain. Nobody had the slightest idea or even a hint of why Naruto, out of all people, was up this late. Shikamaru glanced at everybody else, who shared similar sleepy faces. Kiba yawned loudly, stretching out wide on his dog. Shino, whom nobody could ever see behind his dark glasses, stood as he always did, except his shoulders looked more like lumps than body parts from the night. Hinata sat in between them, fidgetting as usual while she played with her fingers. Neji sat on the fountain side, meditating, but Naruto couldn't help but notice his position was more sluggish than usual. Tenten sat next to him, sleeping peacefully on Neji's shoulder. Lee was the only energetic one in the group, much to Naruto's content and annoyance. He kept throwing punches and kicks in the air, always successful with waking everybody up with his noises. Chouji sat in the front along with his teammates, forever eating the same bag of chips. Shikamaru sat directly in front of Naruto, attempting to be as awake as possible, but his laziness started to win. Ino pouted, leaning her body away from the boys.

"Seriously, Naruto, why can't this wait until the morning?" Ino complained.

"HELLO? THIS IS CONSIDERED MORNING, BLONDIE!" Naruto retorted, grinning.

"I MEAN REAL MORNING WITH A DAMN SUN AND LIGHT! AND YOU'RE BLONDE TOO, DUMBASS!"

"Ino-san, please calm yourself down! I'm sure Naruto has brought us here for a very important reason!" Lee spoke calmly.

"DAMN RIGHT! So it all started in this dream I had an hour ago..." Moans spreaded everywhere in the group.

"LISTEN TO ME, DAMNIT!"

Everybody was half-awake again.

"Excellent!" Naruto grinned cheesily. "Now, I've brought you all here for a special mission."

Everybody aside from Naruto rolled their eyes, but he ignored and continued on.

"It all started when I was Ichiraku's..."

"I swear, it's always at Ichiraku's," Shikamaru complained. Everybody nodded in agreement.

"SHUT UP! Back to what I said..."

FLASHBACK

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were sitting at Ichiraku's, eating the ramen cheerfully like good times. Well, at least Naruto. He gobbled down his third bowl of ramen, as if the world was going to end. Sasuke and Sakura sat next to him on each side, eating slowly and peacefully.

"NOM NOM NOM OH MY GOD SO YUMMY!" Naruto cried in joy. Tiny noodle strips hung to their life on Naruto's lips. The unlucky ones dropped on the ground.

Sakura sighed. "Mou Naruto, if you eat too fast, you're gonna get a stomachache. God, you look so disgusting right now."

And then Naruto saw the revelation.

Sakura reached forward to grab a napkin from the bin in front of Naruto. However, at that point, her fingers met with Sasuke. Naruto glanced to his left, where Sasuke sat. His arm had outstretched to the napkin bin as well. Their fingers touched. Sakura's eyes widened. Slowly, she turned to Sasuke, who also stared back at her. However, his eyes were calm and cold; Sakura's, surprised. Their fingers were frozen at the spot and Naruto tried his best to be as quiet as possible, trying to figure out whereas it was going to go. To his disappointment, Naruto's stomach growled.

Sakura and Sasuke quickly snatched back their hands, looking away from each other. Naruto observed their strange exchange at each other. He raised an eyebrow at both of them. He slurped the last noodle, wiped away his mouth.

"Um, guys, is something the matter-"

"Actually, um, I have to head back to the hospital for a late shift," Sakura grunted as she quickly left her seat.

"But I thought you're taking the night off, Sakura-chan-"

"I know, but I don't feel right leaving my patients tonight," Sakura explained, but Naruto could tell she was lying underneath. He saw her quick glance at Sasuke. Naruto shook his head, trying to shake off what he thought it was. Did she just give Sasuke...a look of disgust? Before Naruto could say goodbye, Sakura had always walked away quickly, into the darkness.

And as if on cue, Sasuke got off of his stool. He tucked his hands into his pockets and began pacing away.

"Ah, Sasuke-teme! Where are you going?" Naruto asked, quite shocked.

"Taking a walk," Sasuke explained. At least he sounded honest, but there was a hint of anger underneath. Naruto got a closer look at Sasuke's face and noticed how dark his face was. His eyes were glaring at the ground and Naruto could clearly see the outline of Sasuke's tight fist in his pockets. He had a serious look, but Naruto didn't know why.

"Hey, Sasuke, what's going on with you and Sakura-chan?"

Sasuke didn't respond. Instead, he walked away, leaving Naruto alone at Ichiraku's.

END FLASHBACK

"So there you have it," Naruto finished.

After listening to Naruto's short story, everybody exchanged odd looks.

"How the hell is that important? Their fingers just touched," Shikamaru asked lazily. "That's no big deal."

Ino punched him hard on the shoulder. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEIR FINGERS JUST TOUCHED? IT CERTAIN IS A BIG DEAL! I MEAN, ACCORDING TO NARUTO, IT SOUNDED LIKE THEIR SECOND WAS YEARS OF TOUCHING EACH OTHER'S FINGERS! THIS IS A SIGN OF LOVE! MEN DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!"

"That's what I thought, too, but those two sounded angry at each other," Tenten added.

"They probably have angry sex," Kiba joked darkly. All the girls glared at him.

"So Naruto, what are you trying to seek out of this?" Neji asked curiously.

Naruto sighed heavily. "I just want you guys to help me find out...

"What's going with them?"