When Sasuke Met Naruto (SasuNaru)

- Chapter 19 -

Naruto scratched his cheek sheepishly, clearly feeling embarrassed by this most recent confession. Sasuke sighed – he'd never thought Naruto was lying, but he was hoping he could mess with the blond a little bit. Seeing how much this grade meant to Naruto took all the fun out of it, though – Sasuke knew he couldn't tease him any longer. "So this was your first 'A' paper, huh?"

"Yeah! And I owe it all to you, Sasuke. If it weren't for you, I never would've had the, um... inspiration to write it," Naruto responded with a slight blush.

"Well, how should we celebrate it? I can take you out for ramen again if you want..."

"Ooh! Ramen!" Naruto began, rising excitedly to his feet before stopping himself and sitting back down. "I mean... I'd love to, but I had something else in mind."

The blond's lips spread, revealing a sneaky smile – Sasuke didn't like the look of it. "And what is that, exactly?"

"To tell you the truth... it's something me and the guys have been cooking up all week. I wanted to keep it a secret until today," Naruto began, covering the side of his mouth with his hand to keep out any eavesdroppers. "You see, we're gonna throw a party."

"What kind of party?" Sasuke asked, speaking in a similar whisper with his arms crossed over his chest. "If you think I'm going to some beerfest, you can forget it."

"No, nothing like that," the blond replied, leaning in even closer to the Uchiha. "It's just gonna be us – you know, me, you, Shikamaru, Kiba. Our lunch table, pretty much."

"What about Gaara?" Sasuke continued in a dark tone. He still did not particularly trust the redhead, nor did many of his new companions.

"Shoot! I forgot about him!" Naruto cursed, putting a hand to his chin. "I'll have to ask Shikamaru to invite him, or something. Anyway, we're just going to get together, play some games, watch a movie, eat some pizza – you know, the usual stuff."

"And why do we need to do this?"

"What are you talking about? We're all friends now, don't we need to hang out after school?"

"No," Sasuke mumbled, turning his head towards the blackboard. "Look, we're together now – that doesn't mean that I have to be with your friends all the time, does it?"

"But they're not just my friends! Everyone there cares about us, not just me," Naruto argued, his voice no longer a whisper. "Come on, just try it, all right? It's nothing big – we'll eat, talk, and watch a movie. That's all."

Sasuke eyed the blond momentarily. Apparently, this party was really important to Naruto – that much was obvious. He'd been planning it all week, but Sasuke wasn't sure about getting to know these new friends. It felt like all of these relationships were being piled on at once, and the Uchiha found it a bit overwhelming. Still, he knew he couldn't say no to Naruto's sad puppy face.

"Fine. When's the party?" Sasuke sighed, much to the blond's delight.

"Tonight. Now let's go!"

"Wait, wha –"

Before Sasuke could protest this sudden revelation, he was jerked to his feet and dragged out of the now-empty classroom. Somehow the raven-haired teen had been so focused on his conversation with Naruto that he hadn't even heard the bell ring – or noticed the subsequent exodus of restless students. It was hard to believe that the blond could really have that strong of an effect on him, one that was almost hypnotic, but Sasuke knew it to be the truth. He smiled.

The thing with feathers, huh? I could get used to that...

xxxxx

Shikamaru Nara walked down the streets of Konoha staring vacantly up at the sky, watching the clouds as they passed between the buildings. About a half hour after school had let out he'd received a call from Naruto, who begged the Nara to go and invite Gaara to the party later that night. It was troublesome, as most things were, but Shikamaru couldn't exactly refuse – as much as he distrusted Gaara, the lazy genius could see that he was somehow important to Naruto. So, there he was, walking along while repeating the redhead's address over and over in his mind – it would've taken too much effort to write it down.