Naruto sighed… he was exhausted. Not just physically, but mentally as well. He had had the worst day… again. These bad days had built up over the months, over the years, and he was so tired. He dropped his bag on the cold floor of his dark, empty apartment. It hadn’t been empty until late this afternoon. Up until then it had been warm, and light… and not lonely. Sighing again, he flopped down on the couch, not bothering to turn the lights on. He didn’t really want to see how dank and empty his apartment looked without Sakura’s things there…

Flashback

It had been a long month at work for Naruto, not coming home until at least 9pm. But today his boss had let him home early for the day, to give him a break. So instead of walking in the door at 9pm, he walked in at 3pm, expecting his girlfriend of six months to still be at work. What he didn’t expect was for her to be at home, on the kitchen bench… having sex with someone that was most definitely not him. His mouth fell open at the sight of his girlfriend, the person he was expecting to settle down with, being fucked by some guy… in his apartment, on his kitchen bench. He let the door slam shut behind him. Sakura gasped and opened her eyes and looked at him. The guy that had been previously… monopolising her attentions stopped his wild thrusting.

“N Naruto! What… ah... what are you doing here?” Sakura asked, as if he didn’t just walk in on her having sex.

“You know… I could ask the same thing… but I think it’s pretty fucking clear what you were doing!” Naruto said, his anger escaping him. The man Sakura had been with was looking awkward.

“Well… I’ll just leave shall I?” He asked unobtrusively as he gathered his things, putting his clothes back on as quickly as he could.

“Get the fuck out of my house!!!”

The man squeaked and ran out away from the towering rage of the blonde. Sakura tried to cover her naked form.

“Oh why are you bothering love? I’ve seen you naked plenty of times… but apparently I’m not the only one! How the fuck could you do this?!” Naruto yelled.

“Naruto… Naruto you’re never here… what was I supposed to do?” Sakura asked, trying to give her betrayal a reasonable excuse.

“What were you supposed to do?! Talking to me about it didn’t spring to mind did it? No, the first thing you thought of was find some guy to fuck while your boyfriend worked his ass off so we could live!”

“Naruto, I tried to talk to you about it… many times! Everyday I would say ‘can’t you ask for some time off?’ or ‘you work so hard! I get so lonely…’ and every day you would say there was nothing you could do! I didn’t even feel like I had a boyfriend! Just some guy who I live with and have sex with every now and again, when you weren’t tired from work. Naruto, this has been going on for months! I was all alone, and it didn’t seem like you cared at all!”

“Didn’t care?! Sakura I love you! Loved you…” Naruto said, his voice breaking slightly as the heat went from his words. Sakura sighed

“I… I’m so-“

“You should leave…” Naruto said, cutting her off. What he had seen had already broken his heart up, he didn’t need to make it worse by letting those words hurt him more. Sakura looked like she was going to say something, but chose to nod instead.

“I’ll come around tomorrow for my things…”

Naruto walked out into his bedroom, shutting the door. He heard the front door close soon after. He slid down the door, head in his hands and let the tears fall down his face.

Sakura messaged Naruto to let him know what time she was coming around, something which he was grateful for… he didn’t want to be there when she came over. She arrived to a note taped on the door.

Sakura, I didn’t really want to be here when you came around. Message me when you’re leaving, and then please don’t contact me again. Leave your key on the bench. Goodbye, Sakura.

Naruto.
Naruto dragged himself up off the couch, and walked into the bedroom, ready to sleep. He looked at the bed he and Sakura had shared for a month and couldn’t help but wonder who else had shared this bed with her.

‘I’m getting a new bed… tomorrow.’

Sakura had only moved in a month ago, and Naruto had thought things had been going great. Sure, they had troubles with Naruto’s work; Sakura was right, he was always there, but Naruto wanted to make sure he could give Sakura everything he thought she deserved. It hurt to see all that thrown back in his face. And it wasn’t the first time a relationship had ended so painfully either. Naruto got a flashback of the last serious relationship he had. It was about two years and a half years ago, lasting for about two years. Funny… last time he walked in on his girlfriend having sex too… but it was with another woman that time. That one and the relationship with Sakura had been the only serious relationships he’d had. All the others had been one night stands, or momentary flings to pass the time.

“That’s it,” he said out loud. “I’ve had it with love.”

“Oh, don’t say that…,” Said a voice from behind him. Naruto spun around.

“Who the fuck are you? And how did you get in here?!”

The man who had appeared behind him smirked.

“My name is Uchiha Sasuke, and I’m a cupid. I’m here to get you believing in love again.”

Naruto’s mouth fell open.
“You’re what?”
“A cupid.”
“And you’re here to make me believe in love again?”
“That’s what I just said, isn’t it dobe?”
“You know, I don’t believe you. You’re kind of an asshole, teme.”
“And I was being so nice…”
“Whatever, Mr Crazy Man, I don’t have time for this… I’m very busy you know!”
“Isn’t that what cost you your last relationship?” Sasuke asked. Naruto’s face hardened.
“I don’t need that. I’m… hurt enough as it is… now if you don’t mind… just leave the way you came…”
Naruto turned away, hoping that when he turned back, the weird guy would be gone. Sasuke shrugged.
“I just can’t believe you thought a relationship with a woman would work…” Sasuke said. Naruto turned back around.
“What do you mean?”
“Well relationships between straight women and gay men don’t usually work out… there seems to be something fundamentally missing between them…”
“Gay?! Who’s gay?”
Sasuke laughed, mockingly.
“Well, you are my dear.”
“Gay?! Me? What makes you think that?!”
“Well… I’m here… which means you must be.”
“The fact that you’re here doesn’t prove I’m gay, just that I’ve finally gone crazy!”
“Well, why would they send me, a male cupid, to a straight guy? If you were after women, they would have sent someone else… a female cupid. That’s how it works. The one’s who sent me know what’s really going on in your heart Naruto. So there’s a reason I’m here.”
Naruto couldn’t speak…. Well at least not real words. He kept making some strange choking noises, and would splutter out ‘I’m not gay!’ every now and again. Sasuke just rolled his eyes.
“Well apparently you are… but we can deal with that in the morning. Let’s just sleep for now”
Naruto’s eyes nearly burst out of his head.
“What do you mean ‘let’s just sleep’?! Who is sleeping where?!”
“Well, both of us sleep here.” Sasuke said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“As if!!!! I don’t even know you! And I think you’re crazy! You claim to be a cupid, you tell me I’m gay, and now you want to sleep here!?! No way! In fact… GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!!!” Naruto screamed. Sasuke just sighed again.
“Dobe, you’re stuck with me. I can’t go until I finish my mission. So you’re stuck with me… may as well get used to it.”
Naruto grabbed Sasuke by the arm and dragged him out of the bed room, pulled him down the hall, opened the front door, and pushed him out.
“Dobe, what do you think you’re-“ Sasuke started. Naruto shut the door, cutting him off.
“Stuck with him my ass… who does that jerk think he is?” Naruto mumbled to himself as he walked back to his bed room.
“Dobe, I told you’re stuck with me. Shoving me out the door isn’t going to get rid of me.” Naruto gasped as he saw Sasuke reclining on his bed.
“How that fuck did you get in here?!” Sasuke rolled his eyes.
“Dobe, I’m a cupid… and I’m stuck with you. Where you are, I am. That’s just how it works.”
Naruto was speechless. Apparently this guy really was a cupid… and really was stuck with him.
“I can’t deal with this… my brain is mush… I need sleep.” Naruto mumbled as he climbed in the bed that Sasuke still occupied. Naruto pulled a pillow off the bed and hit Sasuke with it.
“You, however, can get off my bed. I just met you and you already freak me out. You can sleep on the couch.”
Sasuke rolled his eyes, but decided not to push his charge any more that night. He took the pillow and walked to the door, looking back at Naruto, who was already asleep in the bed.
“Sleep well… you’ll need it.”


Naruto rubbed his eyes as he dragged himself out of bed the following morning. He stumped from his bedroom to the bathroom, went to the toilet, and then dragged himself into the kitchen for his morning coffee. Sasuke watched the whole thing from the couch with an amused expression on his face. Naruto grabbed the coffee and plonked down on the couch next to Sasuke, not even acknowledging his existence. Sasuke cocked his head and continued watching the other man, who appeared to still be asleep. Naruto finished the coffee and slumped away. Sasuke heard the shower turn on a moment later. Rolling his eyes, he grabbed the paper that was sitting on the bench.

‘What a weird dream…’
Naruto hated mornings. Well, it wasn’t so much that he hated them… he just found it extremely difficult to get out of bed. And to wake up. He wasn’t really able to function until later in the day, but unfortunately his job didn’t allow for that, so he would have a freezing cold shower in the morning to wake himself up. Which is why he disliked mornings; he hated cold showers. After getting out of the shower he brushed his teeth and did his hair. Wearing nothing but his towel he walked into the kitchen/lounge room area where his clean clothes were hanging on the clothes horse. What he was not expecting was for there to be the weird guy from his dream to be on his couch.
“Oh my god, what the fuck are you doing here Dream Man?!?!”
“Dream Man?” Sasuke said, raising his eyebrow. “I don’t advise you have those thoughts about me Naruto… anyway, I knew you were gay.”
“I’M NOT GAY!!!” Bellowed Naruto. Sasuke just smirked. Naruto took a few deep breaths to calm himself down.
“Look, Mr I don’t have time to deal with you! I have to work today! So I can’t be dealing with you!”
Sasuke smirked.
“Well you don’t have a choice, because you’re stuck with me. Remember what happened yesterday?” Naruto glowered. He remembered exactly what happened, and he was not impressed. Sasuke sighed.
“Look, because you’ve had such a hard time lately I’ll do you a favour. Being a cupid, I have all sorts of things I can do. One of them is I can hide my presence from other people. So I’ll just be invisible when you’re at work. Don’t worry… I’ll be as quiet as a mouse.” Sasuke said, smirking. Naruto sighed. He really was running late and didn’t have time to argue with the other man.
“Fine. Let’s go.”


“Will you shut up?!” Hissed Naruto to Sasuke for about the tenth time that morning. Naruto had only been at work for a couple of hours, and Sasuke hadn’t stopped pointing out different guys from the office as potential boyfriends.
“Ooh, what about him? He’s pretty good looking…” Sasuke said pointing as Neji walked passed.
“SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!!” Naruto yelled, standing up. Neji stopped as he was walking passed and peered into Naruto’s cubicle.
“Ahhhhhh, Naruto?” Neji asked the heavily breathing blonde. “Are you ok?”
Sasuke smirked.
“He likes you,”
“Shut up!” Naruto yelled. Neji frowned at the blonde, who appeared to be yelling at an empty patch of air beside him. Naruto turned to Neji,
“I’m… I’m fine…. I might go home now though…. Bye!” Naruto grabbed his stuff and ran out. Neji, frowning slightly, watched the back of his blonde friend as he ran out the door.

“What are you doing?!” Sasuke said as Naruto dragged him out the door.
“What am I doing?! What are you doing?!”
“What? I’m pointing out possible partners for you… you know… my reason for being here.”
“I told you! I don’t have time for this!!!”
“Well make time!”
“Grrrrargh! I’m not talking to you!” Naruto said as he stalked away. Sasuke rolled his eyes, but dutifully followed his charge home.

Naruto was true to his word. He didn’t talk to Sasuke for the rest of the day. Sasuke didn’t seem to mind. He spent the day following Naruto around the house, watching him watching TV, watching him read, watching him eat, watching him clean. Naruto was getting very annoyed that Sasuke did nothing but watch him all day, so as soon as it was a reasonable hour, Naruto went to bed.

Naruto got up and completed his morning routine, however this time it was not done under the amused eye of an Uchiha. Sasuke slept right through Naruto’s zombie like state, and didn’t wake until he was hit in the face with a pillow.
“Ow! What was that for?!”
“For having the nerve to be asleep while I’m awake. Get up!”
Before Naruto decided to wake Sasuke up, for the first time he took a good look at him. Alabaster skin was framed by midnight hair, dark, sooty lashes framed equally dark eyes and the soft pink lips gave the man a pretty sort of look. He was, Naruto admitted, dreadfully attractive. This didn’t add to Naruto’s mood as he hit the man awake.
“You will keep quiet while I am at work today, you hear?”
“I doubt it.”
“I mean it! Not a word while I’m working!”
“Fine, but you aren’t going to work.”
“What? Of course I am! I need to live you know!”
Sasuke wiggled his fingers at Naruto.
“Magic cupid powers. You’ve been given long service leave… with pay.”
“What?!”
“So no work for you”
“Why did you do that?! I mean… not that I’m not glad… I am, but why?”
“Well your work was interfering with mine. But I know how important money is to you people, so I made sure you got paid.”
“But…how?!”
“I told you… magic cupid powers. Now get yourself smarted up. We have a man to find!”