But that was the way it had always been, even before Itachi had murdered their family. They either rarely had any time for him, or the options were not to his liking.
"I'm home!" He called to no one in particular.
He sighed, laying down on the bed that had been his for fifteen years, and for three of which, hadn't been used. Today had been crappy. His first day back, and the words he needed to get out were out, but they had no effect.
He couldn't even be sure if Naruto had gotten the hint. The last thing Sasuke thought about was that Naruto had used the honorific "-kun" on his name for the first time in his knowledge, and he fell asleep, wondering what the blonde could have meant by it.
--
Naruto woke on his bed late at night, his eyes sore from crying himself to sleep.
And a bad sleep it was. He had restlessly dreamt, though of what, he didn't know. It was one of those times he had woken, still groggily grasping what was left of it, but it quickly slipped from him, and it bothered him greatly.
But what would bother him more-- knowing his dream? Or being unable to remember it? It had to be something important, or he wouldn't have dreamt it that way. And what way, exactly, had he dreamt it?
Naruto sighed. He was arguing with himself over remembering a dream. It sounded crazy but he had this gut feeling he was supposed to remember it, or else he wouldn't have remembered it at all. He lay down again, hoping that if he could fall asleep, it would come back again.
He woke up an hour later, the dream once again slipping through his grasp. Now declaring himself unable to sleep, he showered, and left for the training grounds, hoping to get some stress out of his system.
--
Sakura lay in bed, her eyes pretty much swollen shut from her tears. She contemplated calling Ino and telling her what had happened so she could come down and reassure her, but her friend would probably kill her. Not so long ago, when Sakura had decided was now officially over Sasuke, and officially Naruto's girlfriend (much to Naruto's ecstacy), Ino had congratulated her, telling her it was about time she found someone else.
For she, herself had fallen in love with someone along time ago, but when prodded about who the lucky man was she only laughed and shook her head, saying that when the time came, she would confess to that person, and then everyone would know.
No. Ino would disown her now. Maybe. And then maybe she would help her feel better. Sighing, Sakura gave in, and went to see her best friend.
Sakura reached the Yamanaka's, and was ushered in by Ino's friendly mother, who had automatically seen something was wrong.
"Ino!" she called, through the house.
"Arigatou, Yamanaka-san."
"Oh, it's nothing, dear. This is what us mothers are for."
"Yes, Oka-san?"
"Ah! Ino!, Well, I'll leave you to it, then."
"Oh, Sakura! What happened this time?"
"Ino, I've done something bad..."
"Oh, Sakura! How could you?? That's no way to treat Naruto, even over Sasuke!"
"(Sigh) I know Ino, and he even tried to forgive me, but I refused to let him."
"Well, good then, because you both need time to think about this. No one deserves a girl who's still pining over a someone else."
"I know-- wait what?? You actually approve?!" Sakura said, incredulous. She had expected Ino to nag and barrate her for losing her only chance. She could almost cry again, in frustration, and not understanding.
"Come here."
Ino, who had previously been sitting in a chair, whilst Sakura had been seated on her bed, moved onto the bed behind her, so that her pink-haired friend was pretty much in her lap, and wrapped her arms around her. They sat like that, Ino letting Sakura dry sob on her, her tears spent, and comforted her the whole time.
--
It hit Naruto hard. Very hard. So hard, in fact, it sent him literally stumbling backwards. His dream had come back to him, with only the littlest thouht of Sasuke.
And he remembered it all.
He was at Hokage mountain, the stone images visable to him, and then, there was Sasuke, and Sakura beside him.
"You came back for me!"
It was earlier all over again. Sasuke daintily peeled Sakura from off of him, the look of disgust still plastered on his usually impassive face.
"No. I came back for you, Naruto-kun."
It was different, but it was the same. And then they were in his apartment, arguing, only now, it was violent.
"GO THE FUCK AWAY! NOW!" he said, shoving Sasuke towards the open window.
"I won't give up on you, Naruto."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" he said, taking a swing at him.
"Exactly what I said."
And then Sasuke was on him, had him up against his wall, breathing down his throat, as long, pale fingers wrapped around it.
"Fuck you. teme." He choked out, past the vice-like grip on his air.
"Gladly."
And without further invocation, he kissed him. The pale lips, on his oh-so-pale face, closed around his, and--Wait, what?!
Kissed?! He... kissed him?! It wasn't like Sasuke would actually do something like that.... would he? And those words. What Sakura had said-- that Sasuke had come back for her, meaning to go out with her, but he hadn't. And then, Sasuke had told Naruto he had come back for him, meaning... meaning what, exactly? He couldn't have meant it the same way she had?
Never. Uchiha Sasuke did not like Uzimaki Naruto. He just didn't. Because all this time they had been friends, and rivals, and that could never change. Why change it now, when things were good, and Sasuke was finally back?
Yes. Finally. Why deny it? Something in Naruto had jumped for joy to see his old friend home again, while something else had dropped like a rock in the viscinity of his stomach, as he laid eyes on the one thing in his way of Sakura. Hell he had known she still liked him, '-kun' or no '-kun'.
Speaking of which, Sasuke had used '-kun' on him. What could it mean? Or did it mean anything at all? In the dream, Sasuke had kissed him. It was all some sick joke his mind was playing on him. Dreams did that--they twisted things around, made them different. Features, thoughts, actions, all were distorted in the fantasy world, made based off the subconcious.
No. It couldn't have meant anything at all.