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chapter nineteen

"Good morning," Sasuke said, voice blank.

Naruto winced. Shit. He's playing nice. I am so screwed. "'Morning, Sasuke," he replied cheerily, plopping onto his bed and looking at his friend. "Sleep well?"

"Not really," Sasuke didn't open his eyes once, and his voice didn't change. "Kakashi woke me up at midnight to look for you," he began, but didn't finish.

"Shit," Naruto said out loud. If Kakashi wanted to look for him, that meant he had already found him. "Are you mad?" Naruto asked, leaning forward towards Sasuke. "Please don't be mad."

"Why would I be mad?" Sasuke asked tonelessly.

"Shit. You're mad." Naruto sighed, rubbing the back of his neck and wondering how to explain this. One of Sasuke's eyebrows raised. He was clearly not liking the idea that be had tells. "Look, Sasuke, before you freak out, let me explain."

"Why would I freak out?" Sasuke didn't react in any way.

Naruto ignored that. "Now, you know how Sakura-chan has a lot of trouble sleeping? Like as bad as you?" That caused Sasuke to open his eyes. "Yeah. So one time I was passing Sakura's house to go see if Dad was in the office again, because he wasn't home yet, (he was, he was just working late) and on my way back, I looked through the window to see if she was home, and I accidentally saw her crying." Sasuke didn't say anything, and didn't react visibly aside from a small tensing of his shoulders. "I didn't really know what else to do, but I didn't want her to be sad anymore, so I went inside and tried to talk with her. It wasn't working out all too well, because she couldn't necessarily respond to my questions very well, so I just hugged her. I guess it helped a little because she just fell asleep on me. When I tried to leave to let her get some sleep, she didn't let me. Said my being there was helping." Naruto shrugged. "So I stayed there, and when she needed help, I came back."

Sasuke moved himself out of the criss cross position, instead choosing to stretch his feet out in front of him and support his back with his arms.

"So Sakura-chan and I aren't a thing, never have been, never will be," Naruto finished, a sheepish smile on his face. "Sorry for scaring you. You can come with me, next time, if you want."

"I wasn't scared," Sasuke scoffed, but Naruto could tell that Sasuke was easily more relaxed in his presence. Naruto threw back his head and laughed. Sasuke glared at him, eyes narrowing. "Hey, stop laughing at me, ursuratonkachi."

"Don't call me ursuratonkachi, teme!" Naruto replied, his laughter ceasing. He still had a playful tone.

"Don't call me teme, dobe!"

"Are you boys fighting again already?" Minato asked. Sasuke and Naruto jumped, looking at the door. Minato had opened it completely silently, not drawing Naruto or Sasuke's attention. He was poking his blonde head inside, giving them his signature sheepish smile. "Naruto, you know what your mother says about watching your language."

"But Dad!" Naruto whined. Sasuke resisted the urge to smile at that. Father and son were looking more alike than ever. Naruto was even letting his bangs grow out a bit subconsciously. "You never watch your language with Fugaku-jii!"

Minato smiled wider, looking thoroughly amused. Naruto knew that he wasn't in trouble. Minato was more lenient with his son. Kushina was always the one who punished him. Sasuke, personally, especially liked Minato, because he was wise, strong, and smarter than his son. He was one of the best Hokage, in Sasuke's opinion, and was happy with Kakashi's decision to save him instead of that old Jiji Sandaime, even though the Third was always nice to him. Minato reminded Sasuke a lot of the Shodai Hokage.

"Okay, just make sure you stay quiet around your mom." Minato walked further in, sitting next to Sasuke on the bed. Sasuke didn't know if it was subconscious, but Minato and Naruto together were a spiritually healing duo, and he immediately relaxed and began feeling more comfortable. Naruto might not have gotten a lot of mannerisms from his dad besides the looks, but his comforting aura and ease with making friends was definitely a nod to Minato Namikaze, as well as Kushina. "How did you sleep, Sasuke?" He asked, looking at his best friend's son with smiling eyes. He was obviously getting ready to leave, yet he always stopped in to say goodbye to Naruto.