The street was filled with people. A sea of what’s-her-name and who-is-he and she’s-ugly and he’s-strange. All anonymous strangers whose life would never mix with all the other anonymous strangers. One in a million. The same face, same look. That blank, uncaring face.

Pushing past each other, rushing to get to meetings, giving each other get-out-of-my-way looks and I-don’t-care-about-you glances. Just hurry, hurry. Here, there, building, late, appointment, lunch, early.

Sometimes you would hear a few how-are-you’s or how’re-you-doing’s or even stop-bothering-me’s. All a melting pot of anonymous people.

She doesn’t know him and he doesn’t know her. I don’t know you, you don’t know me. Same path everyday, running to catch buses but never knowing who was next to her. No names, just faces. Sometimes not even a face.

But what are names good for? Just a label to a face, personality, life. Just another label to remember.

That’s what Uchiha Sasuke thought.

He walked down the crowded streets of the city. Pushed, shoved, what’s-your-problem glares. He didn’t care at all. Just keep walking aimlessly.

His suit was being wrinkled, his briefcase nearly knocked out of his hand. He didn’t care. Just keep going.

“I’msosorry.”

A blur of words before the person ran off again.

He didn’t bother to look at whoever just crashed into him.

He didn’t know where he was going or what his purpose was. He just wanted to stop somewhere, anywhere.

Up ahead, he saw a restaurant. He read the name. Another label: Ichiraku’s. He walked in.

Clingclingcling.

The bell hanging from the door rang thrice.

The atmosphere was nice enough. Confused, but nice.

There was a woman with long, dark hair behind the counter. Next to her was another woman with cherry blossom pink hair. A man was leaning on the spotless counter, apparently flirting with both of them. He was wearing the restaurant’s uniform though.

Sasuke took a seat in one of the small tables near the corner of the restaurant.

The pink-haired woman looked up. Sasuke noted that she had green eyes. She turned to her colleague.

“Naruto, there’s a customer,” he heard her say.

“Why can’t you get him?” the man replied lazily.

The woman behind the counter giggled slightly.

“Go, Naruto. I had the last customers,” she replied.

He whined but straightened out and grabbed a menu.

The man walked to Sasuke’s table. He read the nametag: Naruto.

Snap.

Naruto had popped a bubble he made with his gum.

Another name to go with a face. They were not anonymous strangers anymore.

This was Naruto with bright yellow hair, with too-clear blue eyes, with an overly wide smile. This was Naruto with scars on his face, with a jaunty stance, with gum in his mouth.

He had the menu propped up on his hip horizontally.

Snap. Again.

“Hey,” he said. “I’m Naruto so I’ll be your waiter for now, okay?”

Sasuke didn’t reply to the brash introduction. The menu was placed down in front of him.

He ran his eyes over the waiter with an once-over.

This was Naruto with a pen behind his ear, with a pad of paper in his hand, with carefully arched eyebrows.

Snap.

“So what would you like? Miso ramen? Pork ramen?”

Ramen with eggs ramen with seafood ramen with extra vegetables.

The list went on forever with accompanying ‘snaps’ as Naruto chewed his gum noisily.

Just to make him shut up Sasuke said icily, “Miso ramen.”

“Alrighty,” the man replied, chomping down on his gum again as he scribbled something down before picking up the menu again. “I’ll come back with water for you.”

Sasuke watched the man walk away. How annoying.

Around him, miscellaneous conversations were carried. He heard my-life-is-going-downhill stories and I-heard-he-was-fired stories and who-cares-about-that stories. Just a strange churning pot of unimportant matters. He kept watching the other waitress walk around the restaurant with a smile.

Naruto had walked back to the table with a glass of water for Sasuke.

“Here you go,” he said, putting down the glass.

Snap.

“Is there anything else you want?”

“Stop chewing that gum,” Sasuke demanded.

Naruto looked taken aback. He even stopped chewing for a while. Then, as if he was making up for the small hesitation, he snapped the gum especially loud. He leaned down close to Sasuke’s face.

“What’s wrong? You don’t like it… bastard?” he hissed out softly as he bit into his gum more vigorously.

Sasuke could smell the long-chewed gum. It was winterfresh. He pressed his lips together at their close proximity.

“Naruto! Hurry up and pick up their checks!” the pink-haired girl yelled, rushing into the kitchen.

The blond backed away, grinning as he sauntered away.

Sasuke’s face remained impassive.

In a world of such diversity, interesting things were bound to happen.

Sasuke’s attention turned to the quiet woman at cash register. She seemed quiet.

Occasionally, he saw her glance at Naruto and blush. He stopped every now and again to slack on the job just in order to chat with the long-haired woman. The pink-haired woman would always shoo him away though and the dark-haired one would look slightly disappointed.

Naruto returned to Sasuke’s table with his miso ramen in his hand. It was burn your skin off hot. He put it down on the sticky table carefully.

“Here you are,” he smiled cockily, making his gum bubble crack with more intensity.

Sasuke glared at him.

He ate in silence. The blond amused him. He wasn’t like other people, who were usually intimidated by his glare. Naruto had laughed at his face and walked away again to help other tables.

The check was placed onto the table shortly after Sasuke finished eating.

When Naruto returned to the table to retrieve the money, he let out a short cry of surprise. Some customers and the two other workers in the restaurant looked at him.

He started to laugh, clutching the table as he howled with amusement.

Sasuke had left him a twenty dollar tip with the words ‘Thanks for the meal, idiot’ neatly written on the bill.

---

The next day, Sasuke battled the rush of nameless people in the streets again. He returned to the restaurant again.

Clingclingcling.

Naruto looked up in surprise as Sasuke walked through the door again. He was chewing gum again. The waitress was standing up when Naruto stopped her.

“I’ll take care of this one, Sakura.”

The woman raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

“Back again?” Naruto asked as he tossed the menu down again. “Did you miss me?” he smiled and leaned down on the table again, bringing their faces close again. He liked annoying this man.

Sasuke gave him a look which clearly said ‘As if’ before he opened the menu. Naruto could tell he wasn’t looking at it. He rifled through the pages with feigned interest.

The blond decided to have some fun. He pulled the ball-point pen from behind his ear and pointed at a random item on the page Sasuke was looking at. He brushed his hand onto Sasuke’s knuckles.

“That one’s pretty good. D’you want to try it?” his tongue came out to swipe at his upper lip as he smiled at the customer again.

Sasuke’s grip on the plastic menu tightened. “Yes,” he answered, somewhat strainedly, “I think I’ll try it, thank you.”

“No problem,” a flash of white teeth and a blue blob of gum was shown as Naruto grabbed the menu from Sasuke’s hands.

Very amusing indeed, Sasuke decided.

---

The day after that, Sasuke came back again. Naruto was his waiter again.

“So stranger,” Naruto said wetly as he gnawed at his gum, “what’s your name? You know mine,” he pointed at his nametag.

“Sasuke,” he answered without much thought.

“Sasuke, huh?” Naruto chuckled and placed his palms onto the table. He pressed his lips lightly on Sasuke’s ear. “I like that name.”

The Uchiha scowled darkly.

He stood up straight again. “The usual then?” he asked. Without waiting for an answer, he walked away.

Sasuke heard the pink-haired woman scold Naruto.

“Stop flirting with the customers!”

Along with his usual twenty dollar tip, Naruto also got a small flower that evening.

---

Strangers are, well, strange. You never know who they are until you’ve met them. They could be insane, weird, smart, stupid, handsome, beautiful, flirtatious, murderous.

Strangers are peculiar. You don’t know who they are so you act like someone else when you meet them.

This was the first stranger that Sasuke had met who had treated him so rudely. It amused him.

So for the fourth day that week, he returned to Ichiraku’s to see that stranger again.

Clingclingcling.

The regular seat again.

“Hi, bastard,” the lazy voice drifted to him as he sat down.

Naruto walked to him. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Hinata staring at him with a look of horror but didn’t pay any more attention to it.

He had been sleeping on the job inside of the kitchen when he heard the same ringing coming from the bells on the door. Always three times, as if they were afraid of ringing any more or less than three times.

When Sasuke saw his usual waiter walk toward him, he raised an eyebrow.

Snap.

“What is this, Naruto? Some part of the new uniform?” Sasuke asked flatly.

“What?” he followed Sasuke’s gaze and his hand flew up to his hair. He pulled out a flowery clip from his blond locks.

Four more were stuck onto his wispy, out of control hair.

Snapsnap. Like an angry snapping turtle the sounds came.

Sasuke heard him say something about killing Sakura before he turned red in the face and stomped into the kitchen.

Fifteen minutes passed before Naruto came out of the kitchen again. He had miso ramen in his hand.

“Sorry about that, bastard. Sakura caught me sleeping in the kitchen and thought it’d be cute to do that to me.”

“Oh really? I thought you put them there. It fitted an idiot like you rather well,” Sasuke replied.

Snap.

He didn’t have to look up to see Naruto’s grin of strange satisfaction.

This time, Naruto got a small bouquet of flowers.

---

For a stranger, he was rather peculiar.

Usually when he teased the customers, they would file in a complaint, simply because they were strangers. Simply because they didn’t know each other. Simply because it wasn’t mandatory to see each other after that one meal. But this stranger, Sasuke, his name was?, actually played along with his game.

It made Naruto feel very pleased. No one was willing to play his game of cat-and-mouse, but this one did. How nice.

So when he was messing around with Hinata and suddenly heard that familiar clingclingcling he knew who it was. No one else could open the door and make it ring exactly thrice like that. It was always four or two times. And always jumbled up like the sound waves were being tumbled into a washing machine.

But no, Sasuke made the bells ring clearly.

He wasn’t surprised when he detached himself from the shy girl and saw Sasuke sitting in his own dark little corner.

Snapsnap.

Their regular greeting.

The waiter didn’t bother picking up a menu. He sauntered over to the table and leaned it again, making sure his customer would smell his gum. He knew it ticked him off.

“Hi, bastard,” he breathed heavily, grinning when he saw Sasuke’s eyebrows twitch.

“Hn,” came the ever wordy response.

Pop.

Naruto had blown a bubbled and popped it between his teeth. Some of it stuck to his dry lips when it bursted. Sasuke’s face spasmed a bit in disgust as Naruto licked off the gum.

“The usual then?” the blond asked after he got all the gum back into his mouth.

Sasuke pressed his lips into a thin line.

“The usual it is,” he confirmed with himself, walking to the kitchen leisurely.

Sasuke’s hand snaked over the sticky surface of the table. His fingertips brushed up against the black leather of his briefcase. He pulled it closer to himself. He rummaged inside of it for a few moments before taking out a fountain pen and a pad of sticky notes. He tucked them into his pocket for later use before he pushed the briefcase away from himself.

When Naruto returned, he had the usual bowl of ramen with him.

Snap.

“Enjoy, bastard,” he said cheerily before being called away by another table.

Sasuke never liked ramen. No sir he did not. He preferred rice balls. Something simple like that. Nothing complicated. He didn’t like ramen. But he had walked into the ramen shop some days ago anyway.

A stranger into a store that sold food that he didn’t like. What irony he showed.

He didn’t like loud people.

Naruto is loud.

He didn’t like overly cheerful people.

Naruto is overly cheerful.

He didn’t like bothersome and annoying people.

Naruto is bothersome and annoying.

He didn’t like slow and stupid people.

Naruto is slow. And stupid.

He didn’t like strangers.

Strangers were always fake.

Always hi-how-are-you-doing or have-a-nice-day-sir or no-problem-I’m-glad-I-could-help.

They were always fake.

Naruto wasn’t fake.

He liked Naruto.

He liked a stranger.

What irony.

He mused over that as he let his bowl of undesired ramen sit. Waste of food, he thought idly but didn’t care.

He took out his sticky note and fountain pen. He neatly wrote something onto the note, slightly intrigued by the ink bleeding through the fibers of the yellow paper.

He took out his wallet and paid for the meal, mindful to leave his waiter a twenty-dollar tip. He peeled off the sticky note and stuck it onto the twenty dollar bill. And he left.

Waste of food.

---

Sasuke didn’t eat his meal. He didn’t touch it. But he paid for it, that good-for-nothing bastard.

Oh… What is this? Sasuke left him another twenty dollar bill. How nice.

A sticky note?

Naruto peeled it off the bill.

Will you be busy after work?

Busy after work? Duh, no. I’m gonna be off work, of course I wouldn’t be busy, Naruto thought to himself, already crumpling the note. What kind of question was that?

And what did it mean anyway?

That bastard.

---

Closing hours. Naruto was last to leave again. So he had to lock up.

Click went the lock.

He pulled the door. Thunk it wouldn’t open.

Swishswishswish his pants went as he walked somewhat rapidly to the back of the store.

Jinglejingle keys in his hand being tossed around as he rummaged for the right one.

Srrrth came the sound of the swishing door. Heavy.

KerTHUNK banged the heavy door.

Krch slid in the key.

Click again another door locked.

He turned around to face the vast emptiness behind the store. It was lighted with a few lonely streetlights. The employee parking was empty.

No, wait, what was that? Underneath one of the lights. A dark figure?

Huh, that looked familiar.

No, simply a stranger, Naruto decided, even though he knew exactly who it was. Just a stranger.

Suddenly he wished he didn’t spit out his gum already.

Crnchcrnch polished shoes on the gravel. He came closer. Naruto didn’t move.

Dark shadows cut into his face as he walked into the beams of the obnoxiously bright streetlight. Just a stranger.

Naruto grinned anyways.

The stranger didn’t have any expression as he came closer still.

He was still grinning when he felt a warm body press up against his. The brick wall hurt his back.

The stranger was taller than he was. Just two inches or so, but still taller.

He felt dry lips press against his cheek.

Again, a stranger.

He wrapped his arms around the man’s neck and let out a whoosh of a breath.

Again, a nameless figure.

Naruto arched his eyebrows as he felt the stranger lick his neck and suck at it. He felt the stranger’s hands roam over his sides, listening to his blunt fingernails scratch up against the brick wall. It still hurt his back.

Again, a faceless person.

Rough vibrations shook both their bodies as the man growled. More reaction from Naruto was what he demanded. The blond chuckled. Wrong reaction. Ouch, he thought as he felt the man bite into his skin hard.

Again, an unknown past.

Haaahn he breathed as the man’s rough hands suddenly pushed up his shirt. There, that’s the right reaction, Naruto mused somewhat hazily as he noticed that he was kissing his neck again.

Again, an unknown future.

He growled as well as he was pushed harder into the unforgiving wall. If he got cuts from the thing, he would not be happy. The touching and kissing stopped. Naruto’s breathing attempted to even out as he saw the shadowed face lift up to stare at him.

Again, an unknown personality.

He saw the face tilt to his right and lean forward. Their lips touched and Naruto immediately opened his mouth. He breathed out heavily into the waiting mouth. A rush of cool air was sucked out of his mouth.

Again, who-are-you?

His teeth tingled with slight pain. He drew back only to have his head pushed against the wall as the man tried to force his tongue into his mouth. Naruto knew that his mouth tasted like the winterfresh gum he had been chewing on all day.

Sliding here, there, out and in again, wet, too messy. The man leaned away so that their lips still touched, but only barely.

They kissed again, but it was lighter and more chaste this time. Almost like a good-bye kiss.

Good-bye, see you later, maybe never, okay, okay, good-bye, good-bye.

Naruto closed his eyes and felt the man kiss his cheek with wet lips before pulling away.

His warmth disappeared.

The stranger disappeared.

---

Uh-huh, uh-huh, he kept repeating, even after Hinata had stopped talking. He looked around the restaurant filled to the brim as usual. Sakura was going to be mad at him for not helping.

He kept glancing at the door. He ran his fingers over the rather obvious hickey on his neck. No one had asked him about it.

What was that last night, he could not stop asking himself. A quick molest-you-in-the-back-alleyway? A hey-how-good-of-a-kisser-are-you test?

Huh. He couldn’t get over it. He couldn’t get over a stranger.

Someone who he had no true connection with. Someone he truly didn’t know.

It kind of felt empty though.

Maybe it was the day-to-day banter he held with that stranger. The teasing? The laughing? Grinning? Scowling? Maybe.

“Naruto… Naruto?” Hinata called out to him over and over again. She waved her hand over the counter to catch his attention.

“Oh—sorry about that,” he said distractedly. He muttered, “Gotta go work,” before sliding off the long-legged swivel chair.

He discovered something.

It kind of hurt.

---

Oh, cruel world. World of coincidence and strange twists in life. Cruel, cruel world. Such a trick to play. What a trick to play.

Hello, my name is—

Hello, nice to meet you.

Two sentences in— you forget their name.

Strangers.

Oh, cruel world, what a thing to do. To torture the children of your life so badly. Has he sinned? Cruel, cruel world, does it amuse you to do so?

Yes, how may I help you?

I’m not sure, really.

Three words in and you don’t want to help them.

I don’t know you.

My, my… World of ours, why must you do something like this? Sew their lives together and rip the threads apart again? Does it give you satisfaction? It hurts them, does it give you satisfaction?

Okay then, it was nice to meet you.

Yes, same here. Nice to meet you.

Have a nice day.

And you too.

Make them lie, make them lie. It wasn’t true, this format of politeness. All fake.

Still strangers on any level of intimacy.

I don’t know you.

Do you know me?

Is it fun to play with them this way, world? I wonder, I wonder. It must be fun to break their pathetic hearts. I think so, I think so. It’s true, it’s fun. Do it again. World, do it again.

No. I don’t know you. I’m sorry.

---

Blank eyes, shuffling feet. Toward the kitchen, go. Naruto went. He was almost there.

Work didn’t seem so fun anymore. No more flirting or playing. No more bad-mouthing people. It wasn’t very amusing anymore.

Even the gum in his mouth was not as enthusiastically chewed.

Snap…

Not so enthusiastic.

He placed his hand on the doorway of the hot kitchen.

It hurt him in the chest, like someone had drilled a hole there and let him bleed.

He won’t come back, will he?

No.

He won’t.

Naruto doesn’t think he’ll come back.

All fun and game until someone gets hurt.

Then it’s just tragic.

Snap.

Tragic.

Snap.

Clinclingcling.

He turned around and looked at the door.

Well, hello, hello.

He raised a brow.

Yeah, bastard, I love you too.