Untitled 1-3
Since I finally deleted Untitled, guess it's time to put them up here. Yeah.
Ramen
When they first form, Team Seven hates each other.
Or, rather, Naruto loves Sakura, who loves Sasuke. Sasuke hates Sakura, who hates Naruto, who hates Sasuke, who hates him back.
They’re a team… but they’re not.
But they learn. And it begins with ramen.
-o-
Training’s over for the day, and Naruto rubs his belly.
“I’m starving!” he looks at his teammates eagerly. “Wanna go out for ramen?”
Sakura’s ready to refuse. It’s true, his earnestness is almost heartbreaking; she knows he has no one else to eat with, except Iruka, but he’s Naruto.
Sasuke sees the look in her eyes, knows what she’s thinking, and knows that Naruto will be hurt, but will still smile, the idiot.
He groans inwardly. Why does he bother?
“I’ll come,” he says reluctantly.
Naruto scowls at him, because he’s a jerk and his rival-but Sasuke knows better, and sees that the blond is overjoyed at having some company.
And no Sakura has a reason (or is it an excuse?) to accept. “I will too!” she says quickly.
And Naruto beams, chatting away, even as she snubs him, and Sasuke walks behind them as they head to Ichiraku.
He would be eating alone, anyways.
-o-
Naruto pauses in the middle of his fifth bowl of ramen.
Sasuke raises an eyebrow at him.
“How about a little bet?” Naruto asks, grinning.
“What kind of bet?” Sakura asks, forgetting her hatred for the boy in her curiosity.
“If I can eat 20 bowls, you pay for them!” Naruto says, painting at Sasuke.
“Idiot,” Sasuke scoffs.
Naruto’s face falls.
“Fine.”
Sasuke looks up at Sakura, who’s digging through her wallet.
“But you better not get sick,” she warns. Naruto assures her he won’t.
And he starts; the smile on his face so large Sasuke’s mildly surprised it doesn’t crack it in half.
-o-
Naruto doesn’t make it past his 12th bowl, and Sasuke watches him in boredom as he empties his stomach in some bushes outside the restaurant.
Naruto wipes his mouth as Sakura exits Ichiraku, a glass of water in her hand. She holds it out to him silently, and he accepts it, downing it greedily.
“It’s getting late. I should be getting home,” Sakura says suddenly. Naruto whines, but lets her go.
He starts to fish in his pockets, pulling out a small amount of change. He curses and enters the restaurant, going up to the girl who works behind the counter.
“Hey, Ayame, you see,” he begins sheepishly, tugging nervously at his collar, “I’m a little bit… uh, broke right now, so could I pay you back later…?”
Ayame blinks at him. “But your meal’s already been paid for, Naruto,” she says.
“Huh?”
“That girl with the pink hair paid for you,” Ayame explains patiently.
Naruto’s mouth is still hanging open, and even Sasuke is a bit surprised, but he decides that it was a decent thing for her to do.
He isn’t sure if he would do the same.
“I knew it! She loves me!”
Okay, he’s sure he wouldn’t.
Truth or Dare
Team Seven trains. Or rather, Sasuke trains. Naruto complains, and Sakura watches her crush.
Kakashi watches them. Maybe they’re learning to work as a team, but they don’t care for one another the way they should.
Kakashi sets down his book, closes his eyes, and thinks.
-o-
“Truth or Dare?” Sakura asks incredulously. She loves this game, but she can’t understand.
“What does this have to do with training?” Sasuke ask, annoyed.
Kakashi smiles to himself behind his mask. “Look underneath the underneath,” is all he says.
Naruto frowns. “What’s Truth or Dare?” he asks.
Sakura laughs. “Jeez, where have you been all these years? A cave? Haven’t you ever played it?”
Naruto smiles, a strained smile. Sasuke picks up on it, as does Kakashi.
Who would he have played with?
“No… I think I heard some kids playing once, though.” Naruto looks away, and the sadness in his eyes sends a wave of pain shooting through Sakura.
“Well,” her voice shakes, and she stops to clear her throat, “I’ll teach you.”
Naruto smiles at her.
-o-
For years, Naruto watched other kids play this game with each other; laughing at embarrassing stories, thinking up crazy dares… he always wanted to join them. They always refused, sneering, insulting him.
Now he sits with his friends - even that loser, Sasuke - and plays the game.
“Truth or Dare, Kakashi-sensei?” Sakura asks once she has explained the game to Naruto.
“Dare,” Kakashi replies, knowing that he wouldn’t be willing to answer any questions she might think up.
“Put your book away for the rest of the night,” Sakura says, not looking at him, but instead into the fire Sasuke conjured up.
“If you guys read it, you’d understand,” he grumbles, but he complies.
“Can I?” Naruto asks, brightening. Kakashi reaches over to ruffle his hair.
“Maybe when you’re legal,” he answers.
Sasuke looks disgusted, and glares at him. “We don’t need another pervert on the team.”
Kakashi smiles again, a small smile. This is the first time Sasuke has referred to them as ‘we’. It was always ‘I’.
“Truth or Dare, Sasuke-kun?” Sakura asks shyly.
“Dare,” he says flatly. Sakura’s face falls, but she thinks, and then smiles-
“No Daring for dates, Sakura,” Kakashi says lightly.
She flushes. “That wasn’t my dare!” she lies. Without thinking, she blurts it out, then goes pale and slaps her hands over her mouth.
(Oh, smooth move, Sakura! she scolds herself.)
Sasuke looks a bit unsettled, but rises to his feet.
Naruto is glaring at him and muttering about how he’s copying his move.
But he does it, and Sasuke’s soon standing in front of them in all his naked (making Sakura blush madly), feminine (making Kakashi snicker) glory.
A second later, he’s transformed back, and Sakura squeaks out a ‘Sorry.’
Kakashi shakes his head. “It was a good dare,” he reassures her.
“It was awesome, Sakura-chan!” Naruto agrees, nodding eagerly. Sakura smiles at him, before realizing what she’s doing and looks away. But although it hurts, it makes him feel good.
He loves it when people smile at him.
“Your turn, Sasuke,” Sakura says, still mortified.
He raises his deep onyx eyes to look at her. After a pause, where Kakashi looks at him with one eyebrow raised, he speaks, hesitantly.
“Naruto,” he says, “Truth or Dare?”
Naruto brightens. “Dare!” he replies excitedly.
Sasuke looks to Kakashi for help, and he shrugs in response.
“I dare you to…” he thinks for a moment, “ask that weird girl out.”
Well, that isn’t very nice, Sakura thinks. But she’ll never speak against Sasuke.
“The only weird one around here is you,” Naruto says with a laugh.
“Which girl is this?” Kakashi asks. Sakura notices his hand creeping to his pocket.
“Don’t even think about it,” she growls.
“That girl with the freaky eyes,” Sasuke says irritably, leaning back on his palms. “The one who’s always looking at you, moron.”
Naruto looks puzzled for a moment, then it dawns on him. “You mean Hinata? Yeah, she is weird.”
Well, he isn’t Sasuke. So Sakura screams, “Don’t be so rude!”
Naruto grins sheepishly. “Heh. Sorry. Now let’s go find Hinata!”
-o-
“There she is,” Sakura says doubtfully. This seems a bit mean, considering how much Hinata seems to like Naruto.
“Watch and learn, loser,” Naruto boasts to Sasuke.
“Heeeyyy Hinata!” Naruto calls out, walking away from his team. The shy girl turns at the sound of her name…
…And promptly falls to the ground, unconscious.
Sasuke smirks and Sakura slaps a hand to her forehead. They walk over to where Naruto stands over Hinata, face scrunched up in confusion.
“She’s so weird!”
-o-
“Sometimes I can’t believe what an idiot you are, Naruto,” Sakura sighs.
“It wasn’t my idea,” he says, sulking.
Sakura glances quickly at Sasuke. He stares back. Sakura turns away, blushing madly.
“Your turn, Naruto,” she says.
Naruto’s face splits into a wide grin.
“Sakura! Truth or Dare?” he asks.
“Truth,” she replies. She doesn’t even want to know what dare Naruto might think up for her. And in front of Sasuke, no less!
“Do you like me?”
Sakura blinks.
The question is honest, childish, earnest… it’s Naruto, all over. He doesn’t understand this is just a game - a game meant to embarrass your friends and find out their deepest darkest secrets. He doesn’t understand that this is not a question you ask in Truth or Dare.
“Naruto,” she chokes out, “You don’t ask things like that-”
“Why not?” He cocks his head to the side, curious.
She doesn’t know how to answer.
“So? Do you? Or not?” he prods. She can feel Kakashi and Sasuke watching her expectantly.
And even if he is Naruto, she can’t bring herself to say it.
“Let’s put it this way,” she says, “I don’t hate you.”
Naruto looks uncertain, so Sakura grins and playfully shoves him. “But don’t go getting any ideas!”
He laughs. “You can’t resist my charms forever, Sakura-chan!”
They continue their game into the night, and Sakura doesn’t miss Naruto’s brighter-than-usual smile.
And she smiles secretly to herself, because, to her surprise, she finds she wasn’t even lying.
-o-
At the end of the night, right after Kakashi leaves, Naruto smacks his forehead.
“We should’ve dared him to take off his mask!”
Sakura and Sasuke groan.
Binds
When someone saves your life, you develop a close bond. It’s inevitable.
When you save someone’s life, you develop a bond. It’s inescapable.
When you both protect each other, you develop a bond. It’s unbreakable.
“Hey, Sasukeeeeeeeeeee!”
Unfortunately for me.
-o-
I leant against a tree and rubbed my arm, remembering the stabbing pains that had shot through me merely hours ago.
Naruto was bounding towards me. Where the hell did he get all that energy?
He dropped to his knees beside me and held out a bowl of ramen.
“Thought you might be hungry!” He beamed.
I took it from him warily, and peered in.
“Idiot,” I scoffed, tossing him the empty bowl.
He blinked, then grinned sheepishly. “Uh… I guess I ate it all?”
I shook my head. He was pathetic.
But even pathetic guys deserve a chance…
Sakura suddenly appeared at our side.
“Kakashi told me to bring this,” she said, holding out two bowls of ramen, one for each of us. “Just in case,” she added, and I saw her smile briefly, which Naruto didn’t notice. Pity. I know how much it’d mean to him.
I took the bowl from her, and felt her watching me.
“Are… are you alright, Sasuke-kun?” she asked softly.
I looked at her, and nodded slowly. She smiled at me, relieved.
I know how girls feel about me. And I know that she’s the same. But for that one moment, where she was crying over me, it seemed… different.
Like I wasn’t just the guy that all girls our age ogled over. Like she cared about me. Because she saw me as a friend.
I’m not saying I return the sentiment. But it was still nice, to be looked at as a friend rather than a crush.
Sakura seemed to feel Naruto’s gaze on her, so she turned, looked at him, and asked, “Are you okay too, Naruto?”
He grinned cheesily at her, puffin out his chest. “Aw, it takes more than that to beat me, Sakura-chan! I’m gonna be Hokage, you know. That means I’m tough.”
“Right…” she drawled out, lying back on the grass.
“Hey, jerk,” Naruto said suddenly. I looked at him expectantly, and he smiled. “Thanks.”
“Whatever,” I muttered.
Naruto frowned. “I just thanked you for saving me! Why don’t you do the same?! Man, you’re always going around, all”-he adopted a high-pitched, snobby voice nothing like mine-“‘I’m Uchiha Sasuke, bow down before me, ‘cause I’m cooler than you,’ thing.” He crossed his arms with a huff. “Man, Sakura-chan, why do you like this guy?!”
Sakura didn’t reply. I looked over to see her…
Laughing.
At something Naruto said.
At my expense.
Could anyone blame us for staring?
When Sakura caught us looking incredulously at her, she blushed and looked down in embarrassment.
“It’s sweet,” she finally said, changing the subject.
“What? Me? I know?”
What a moron.
“No, idiot,” Sakura said, scowling. “I meant the both of you. Protecting each other when you barely know-or like-each other.” She sat up. “It was just… amazing. No one’s ever been ready to risk their life for me.”
“I’d risk my life for you,” Naruto proclaimed. “Every time.”
She smiled at him; a genuine smile. “Thanks… I would, too.”
They both looked at me, and I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, me too,” I added reluctantly.
A few minutes later, we were fighting again, but that promise stuck with us.
Bringing us closer.
Increasing our trust for each other.
Binding us.
Ramen
When they first form, Team Seven hates each other.
Or, rather, Naruto loves Sakura, who loves Sasuke. Sasuke hates Sakura, who hates Naruto, who hates Sasuke, who hates him back.
They’re a team… but they’re not.
But they learn. And it begins with ramen.
-o-
Training’s over for the day, and Naruto rubs his belly.
“I’m starving!” he looks at his teammates eagerly. “Wanna go out for ramen?”
Sakura’s ready to refuse. It’s true, his earnestness is almost heartbreaking; she knows he has no one else to eat with, except Iruka, but he’s Naruto.
Sasuke sees the look in her eyes, knows what she’s thinking, and knows that Naruto will be hurt, but will still smile, the idiot.
He groans inwardly. Why does he bother?
“I’ll come,” he says reluctantly.
Naruto scowls at him, because he’s a jerk and his rival-but Sasuke knows better, and sees that the blond is overjoyed at having some company.
And no Sakura has a reason (or is it an excuse?) to accept. “I will too!” she says quickly.
And Naruto beams, chatting away, even as she snubs him, and Sasuke walks behind them as they head to Ichiraku.
He would be eating alone, anyways.
-o-
Naruto pauses in the middle of his fifth bowl of ramen.
Sasuke raises an eyebrow at him.
“How about a little bet?” Naruto asks, grinning.
“What kind of bet?” Sakura asks, forgetting her hatred for the boy in her curiosity.
“If I can eat 20 bowls, you pay for them!” Naruto says, painting at Sasuke.
“Idiot,” Sasuke scoffs.
Naruto’s face falls.
“Fine.”
Sasuke looks up at Sakura, who’s digging through her wallet.
“But you better not get sick,” she warns. Naruto assures her he won’t.
And he starts; the smile on his face so large Sasuke’s mildly surprised it doesn’t crack it in half.
-o-
Naruto doesn’t make it past his 12th bowl, and Sasuke watches him in boredom as he empties his stomach in some bushes outside the restaurant.
Naruto wipes his mouth as Sakura exits Ichiraku, a glass of water in her hand. She holds it out to him silently, and he accepts it, downing it greedily.
“It’s getting late. I should be getting home,” Sakura says suddenly. Naruto whines, but lets her go.
He starts to fish in his pockets, pulling out a small amount of change. He curses and enters the restaurant, going up to the girl who works behind the counter.
“Hey, Ayame, you see,” he begins sheepishly, tugging nervously at his collar, “I’m a little bit… uh, broke right now, so could I pay you back later…?”
Ayame blinks at him. “But your meal’s already been paid for, Naruto,” she says.
“Huh?”
“That girl with the pink hair paid for you,” Ayame explains patiently.
Naruto’s mouth is still hanging open, and even Sasuke is a bit surprised, but he decides that it was a decent thing for her to do.
He isn’t sure if he would do the same.
“I knew it! She loves me!”
Okay, he’s sure he wouldn’t.
Truth or Dare
Team Seven trains. Or rather, Sasuke trains. Naruto complains, and Sakura watches her crush.
Kakashi watches them. Maybe they’re learning to work as a team, but they don’t care for one another the way they should.
Kakashi sets down his book, closes his eyes, and thinks.
-o-
“Truth or Dare?” Sakura asks incredulously. She loves this game, but she can’t understand.
“What does this have to do with training?” Sasuke ask, annoyed.
Kakashi smiles to himself behind his mask. “Look underneath the underneath,” is all he says.
Naruto frowns. “What’s Truth or Dare?” he asks.
Sakura laughs. “Jeez, where have you been all these years? A cave? Haven’t you ever played it?”
Naruto smiles, a strained smile. Sasuke picks up on it, as does Kakashi.
Who would he have played with?
“No… I think I heard some kids playing once, though.” Naruto looks away, and the sadness in his eyes sends a wave of pain shooting through Sakura.
“Well,” her voice shakes, and she stops to clear her throat, “I’ll teach you.”
Naruto smiles at her.
-o-
For years, Naruto watched other kids play this game with each other; laughing at embarrassing stories, thinking up crazy dares… he always wanted to join them. They always refused, sneering, insulting him.
Now he sits with his friends - even that loser, Sasuke - and plays the game.
“Truth or Dare, Kakashi-sensei?” Sakura asks once she has explained the game to Naruto.
“Dare,” Kakashi replies, knowing that he wouldn’t be willing to answer any questions she might think up.
“Put your book away for the rest of the night,” Sakura says, not looking at him, but instead into the fire Sasuke conjured up.
“If you guys read it, you’d understand,” he grumbles, but he complies.
“Can I?” Naruto asks, brightening. Kakashi reaches over to ruffle his hair.
“Maybe when you’re legal,” he answers.
Sasuke looks disgusted, and glares at him. “We don’t need another pervert on the team.”
Kakashi smiles again, a small smile. This is the first time Sasuke has referred to them as ‘we’. It was always ‘I’.
“Truth or Dare, Sasuke-kun?” Sakura asks shyly.
“Dare,” he says flatly. Sakura’s face falls, but she thinks, and then smiles-
“No Daring for dates, Sakura,” Kakashi says lightly.
She flushes. “That wasn’t my dare!” she lies. Without thinking, she blurts it out, then goes pale and slaps her hands over her mouth.
(Oh, smooth move, Sakura! she scolds herself.)
Sasuke looks a bit unsettled, but rises to his feet.
Naruto is glaring at him and muttering about how he’s copying his move.
But he does it, and Sasuke’s soon standing in front of them in all his naked (making Sakura blush madly), feminine (making Kakashi snicker) glory.
A second later, he’s transformed back, and Sakura squeaks out a ‘Sorry.’
Kakashi shakes his head. “It was a good dare,” he reassures her.
“It was awesome, Sakura-chan!” Naruto agrees, nodding eagerly. Sakura smiles at him, before realizing what she’s doing and looks away. But although it hurts, it makes him feel good.
He loves it when people smile at him.
“Your turn, Sasuke,” Sakura says, still mortified.
He raises his deep onyx eyes to look at her. After a pause, where Kakashi looks at him with one eyebrow raised, he speaks, hesitantly.
“Naruto,” he says, “Truth or Dare?”
Naruto brightens. “Dare!” he replies excitedly.
Sasuke looks to Kakashi for help, and he shrugs in response.
“I dare you to…” he thinks for a moment, “ask that weird girl out.”
Well, that isn’t very nice, Sakura thinks. But she’ll never speak against Sasuke.
“The only weird one around here is you,” Naruto says with a laugh.
“Which girl is this?” Kakashi asks. Sakura notices his hand creeping to his pocket.
“Don’t even think about it,” she growls.
“That girl with the freaky eyes,” Sasuke says irritably, leaning back on his palms. “The one who’s always looking at you, moron.”
Naruto looks puzzled for a moment, then it dawns on him. “You mean Hinata? Yeah, she is weird.”
Well, he isn’t Sasuke. So Sakura screams, “Don’t be so rude!”
Naruto grins sheepishly. “Heh. Sorry. Now let’s go find Hinata!”
-o-
“There she is,” Sakura says doubtfully. This seems a bit mean, considering how much Hinata seems to like Naruto.
“Watch and learn, loser,” Naruto boasts to Sasuke.
“Heeeyyy Hinata!” Naruto calls out, walking away from his team. The shy girl turns at the sound of her name…
…And promptly falls to the ground, unconscious.
Sasuke smirks and Sakura slaps a hand to her forehead. They walk over to where Naruto stands over Hinata, face scrunched up in confusion.
“She’s so weird!”
-o-
“Sometimes I can’t believe what an idiot you are, Naruto,” Sakura sighs.
“It wasn’t my idea,” he says, sulking.
Sakura glances quickly at Sasuke. He stares back. Sakura turns away, blushing madly.
“Your turn, Naruto,” she says.
Naruto’s face splits into a wide grin.
“Sakura! Truth or Dare?” he asks.
“Truth,” she replies. She doesn’t even want to know what dare Naruto might think up for her. And in front of Sasuke, no less!
“Do you like me?”
Sakura blinks.
The question is honest, childish, earnest… it’s Naruto, all over. He doesn’t understand this is just a game - a game meant to embarrass your friends and find out their deepest darkest secrets. He doesn’t understand that this is not a question you ask in Truth or Dare.
“Naruto,” she chokes out, “You don’t ask things like that-”
“Why not?” He cocks his head to the side, curious.
She doesn’t know how to answer.
“So? Do you? Or not?” he prods. She can feel Kakashi and Sasuke watching her expectantly.
And even if he is Naruto, she can’t bring herself to say it.
“Let’s put it this way,” she says, “I don’t hate you.”
Naruto looks uncertain, so Sakura grins and playfully shoves him. “But don’t go getting any ideas!”
He laughs. “You can’t resist my charms forever, Sakura-chan!”
They continue their game into the night, and Sakura doesn’t miss Naruto’s brighter-than-usual smile.
And she smiles secretly to herself, because, to her surprise, she finds she wasn’t even lying.
-o-
At the end of the night, right after Kakashi leaves, Naruto smacks his forehead.
“We should’ve dared him to take off his mask!”
Sakura and Sasuke groan.
Binds
When someone saves your life, you develop a close bond. It’s inevitable.
When you save someone’s life, you develop a bond. It’s inescapable.
When you both protect each other, you develop a bond. It’s unbreakable.
“Hey, Sasukeeeeeeeeeee!”
Unfortunately for me.
-o-
I leant against a tree and rubbed my arm, remembering the stabbing pains that had shot through me merely hours ago.
Naruto was bounding towards me. Where the hell did he get all that energy?
He dropped to his knees beside me and held out a bowl of ramen.
“Thought you might be hungry!” He beamed.
I took it from him warily, and peered in.
“Idiot,” I scoffed, tossing him the empty bowl.
He blinked, then grinned sheepishly. “Uh… I guess I ate it all?”
I shook my head. He was pathetic.
But even pathetic guys deserve a chance…
Sakura suddenly appeared at our side.
“Kakashi told me to bring this,” she said, holding out two bowls of ramen, one for each of us. “Just in case,” she added, and I saw her smile briefly, which Naruto didn’t notice. Pity. I know how much it’d mean to him.
I took the bowl from her, and felt her watching me.
“Are… are you alright, Sasuke-kun?” she asked softly.
I looked at her, and nodded slowly. She smiled at me, relieved.
I know how girls feel about me. And I know that she’s the same. But for that one moment, where she was crying over me, it seemed… different.
Like I wasn’t just the guy that all girls our age ogled over. Like she cared about me. Because she saw me as a friend.
I’m not saying I return the sentiment. But it was still nice, to be looked at as a friend rather than a crush.
Sakura seemed to feel Naruto’s gaze on her, so she turned, looked at him, and asked, “Are you okay too, Naruto?”
He grinned cheesily at her, puffin out his chest. “Aw, it takes more than that to beat me, Sakura-chan! I’m gonna be Hokage, you know. That means I’m tough.”
“Right…” she drawled out, lying back on the grass.
“Hey, jerk,” Naruto said suddenly. I looked at him expectantly, and he smiled. “Thanks.”
“Whatever,” I muttered.
Naruto frowned. “I just thanked you for saving me! Why don’t you do the same?! Man, you’re always going around, all”-he adopted a high-pitched, snobby voice nothing like mine-“‘I’m Uchiha Sasuke, bow down before me, ‘cause I’m cooler than you,’ thing.” He crossed his arms with a huff. “Man, Sakura-chan, why do you like this guy?!”
Sakura didn’t reply. I looked over to see her…
Laughing.
At something Naruto said.
At my expense.
Could anyone blame us for staring?
When Sakura caught us looking incredulously at her, she blushed and looked down in embarrassment.
“It’s sweet,” she finally said, changing the subject.
“What? Me? I know?”
What a moron.
“No, idiot,” Sakura said, scowling. “I meant the both of you. Protecting each other when you barely know-or like-each other.” She sat up. “It was just… amazing. No one’s ever been ready to risk their life for me.”
“I’d risk my life for you,” Naruto proclaimed. “Every time.”
She smiled at him; a genuine smile. “Thanks… I would, too.”
They both looked at me, and I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, me too,” I added reluctantly.
A few minutes later, we were fighting again, but that promise stuck with us.
Bringing us closer.
Increasing our trust for each other.
Binding us.