Better Than Before (A NARUSASU FANFIC)

CHAPTER 31: An Imperfect Reunion

A/N: Hello!
I know I'm late, and I'm sorry, but I'm back with a hopefully good chapter!
Enjoy!

It had almost been an hour since Naruto had come to his legendary conclusion of getting Sasuke back. The blond was happily celebrating his feat of having the courage to accept what his heart was longing for: Uchiha Sasuke.

"I can't believe it *hicc*... I was supposed to be his sensei... and here I am, thinking of ways to *hicc* propose to him. Life really is weird, dattebayo."

Naruto's face was flushed with red as he rambled to Shikamaru in his drunk state since he was now on the verge of finishing the third mug of beer.

"You're weirder, man."

Shikamaru shook his head at Naruto's current state. He could've easily stopped his blond friend from having another portion of beer, but he knew that Naruto deserved it today. It could very well be considered a congratulatory drink that Shikamaru let him have.

"Naruto, I'll take you home after this. Ok?"

Shikamaru said as he shook the blond, who was very continuous with his gibberish talks, Sasuke being the main topic around which they revolved.

"Okayyy~ *hicc*"

Naruto's speech was slurry as he took another sip from his mug and went back to speaking things about Sasuke.

"You know~ *hicc* Sasukeeee~ is sooooo pretty! But *hicc* don't tell him I called him prettyyyy~ or he'll chew me alive, dattebayo *hicc*"

This was how his talks were at the moment, and Shikamaru was already bored of them. By now, Naruto had already described Sasuke's beauty to Shikamaru in so many ways that he could have composed poetry on Sasuke if he wasn't so lazy.

"Yeah, yeah, I know... Tsk, what a drag."

Shikamaru lit the last cigarette of his packet and let out a puff of smoke. Yes, it was a drag for him to listen to Naruto's babbling, but Shikamaru couldn't help but smile at this.

Naruto was a man with a difficult past. His psychological health was so unfit that Shikamaru had never heard him talk about anything happy even when he was drunk.

However, today was different. It was the first time Naruto had a huge grin plastered on his whiskered face, even in his highly intoxicated state. He wasn't crying or having depressing thoughts. Instead, the blond was laughing and talking about loving again.

Naruto was readily speaking about love, the very thing he had denied accepting from the world after Sai's death.

'It's about time you listened to your heart...'

Shikamaru thought as he glanced at his tipsy friend. Only he knew how priceless this moment was.

The brunette was happy for his dumb blond friend. However, the happiness soon faded as his eyes landed upon a tuft of black hair across the lively crowd on the dance floor, in the opposite corner of the place. The hair was spiked upwards in a duckbutt style, and he knew that this hairstyle was oddly familiar.

'Is that... Is that Sasuke?'

As soon as Shikamaru questioned in his mind, the owner of those black hair turned around, only to reveal that it was Sasuke indeed, beside whom was sitting his silver-haired friend, Suigetsu.

'This can't be good...'

However, Shikamaru's actual mood shift was not because Sasuke was present here at the bar, but because of a red-haired girl sitting right next to him on the other side.