Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Blanket ❯ Blanket ( Chapter 1 )

[ A - All Readers ]
AN: As the summary said, I've been up for 40 hours straight and been listening to emo (Wondering which ones? Here; Something Corporate, Dashboard Confessionals, The Weakerthans, and The Early November). I had every intention of writing another chappie to 'Heat' but found myself completely not in the mood. I apologise for this bit of fluff if it offends. But I hoped that it would let me work off some energy so I can get some sleep. It has, needless to say. This is one-shot.

Disclaimer: Don't own it. Don't freakin' sue me, I'm ass-poor.

"Blanket"

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You don't do it on purpose
But you make me shake
Now I count the hours 'til you wake
With your babies breath
Breathe symphonies
Come on sweet catastrophe
"Hurricane"
By Something Corporate

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Cold. He was cold and he was tired. But more importantly, he was lonely. He was cold, tired and lonely. He was too tired to get up and turn the thermostat up, to cold to sleep and too lonely to really do anything about it. Actually, truthfully, he was feeling sorry for himself. He, the great Uchiha Sasuke was feeling sorry for himself.

Nuzzling his face into the pillow, hoping that the friction his skin caused against the deep blue linen would heat up his chilled nose, Sasuke gave up figuring that his nose would turn black and fall off before rubbing his face in his pillow would warm it enough. Ah well, it figures, Sasuke thought grimly, flopping over on his back with a big, gusty sigh.

Finally, when the chill was too much no matter how much grumbling he did, he got out of bed with every intention of slamming the window closed. Yes, the window was open in the middle of November but there was no adult around to tell the young man that this was not a prudent course of action. There was no adult around to chase the teen out of his bed and make him do chores that desperately needed to get done. Usually, Sasuke didn’t have an issue. He liked cleanliness. He did laundry, washed his dishes and even cleaned his windows once every other weak. But as I reiterate, Sasuke was wallowing in a pit of self-pity and had no real intentions of crawling his fine ass out of it.

Anyways, back to the window...

Sasuke stopped with his hand on the windowsill and stared out at his beloved town, watching the lights twinkle like stars fallen to earth. Down below, he could see people milling about on last minute shopping trips. Refusing to abandon his rightful place in the Uchiha district but secretly despising the solitude, he moved to the very edge of the town where he could look at the busy streets and feel at least some semblance of normalcy in an otherwise topsy-turvy world. He had been fully clothed when laying in bed with the exception of his sandals which were reverently laid out and waiting for him in the hallway before the door. Too lazy to go get his sandals but wanting to act completely out of compulsion, Sasuke hopped up on the windowsill and launched himself out into the chilly night.

Meanwhile, the hero of the self-titled series, Naruto– none other than Uzumaki Naruto himself, was getting ready for bed. It was early but the fox demon incubator was itching to get an early start on tomorrows training. His intentions were to show Sasuke up, the reason why was not important, but it had become one of his life goals— besides becoming Hokage, that is. Bugging the piss out of the otherwise stoic Uchiha had become one of his much indulged pleasures. Much like Ramen was his favourite food and he felt compelled to eat it all the time. In the morning he woke with two thoughts circling in his brain; bugging Ramen and eating Sasuke—er no, that wasn’t it. Bugging Sasuke and eating Ramen, yeah that’s it.

He drank his usual mug of warm milk and set it on a teetering stack of books before putting on his night cap and throwing back the blankets. His flannel pyjamas were warm and fuzzy with little yellow stars and moons against a dark blue backdrop. He kicked off his warm slippers off and burrowed in the bed, rolling and around with much fuss before snaking a hand out and killing the light.

A light tap at the window was instantly dismissed by the sleepy boy as the wind rattling at the windowpane. He didn’t bother to roll over and inspect until the tap grew persistent and loud. Instantly cursing whoever had deemed it appropriate to crawl in windows in Konoha, especially in the middle of the night, Naruto was caught off guard by the figure who balanced gracefully on the windowsill. “Sasuke?” He squeaked, opening the window and letting the dark-haired boy crawl in. “What the hell are you doing here? And where the hell are your shoes? Stupid! You want to kill yourself before I get to do it for you?” The blond nagged, pointing at the dirty bare feet that was just about ready to tramp on his clean sheets. “WAIT!”

Sasuke sat on the windowsill, shivering while Naruto grabbed a towel and threw it at him. “Wipe your feet off before stepping on my bed.”

Despite his reputation as someone who didn’t really care about another person’s feelings, Sasuke was embarrassed with his lack of consideration when dropping by to see his friend and rival— just not enough to say sorry. Hey, he is a Uchiha after all. Thanks, Please and Sorry weren’t in his vocabulary unless voiced facetiously or after a negative like not thankful, not pleased and certainly not sorry. See?

Throwing the towel back at the blond after wiping his feet off, he stalked over the mattress and hopped lithely to the floor. “Why are you here, bastard?” Naruto grumbled.

“Because I felt like it, Dumbass.” Sasuke grunted before sitting on the bed.

“Well I was about to go to bed. I’m getting up extra-early to do some more training.” Naruto proclaimed, that bright fire alight in his eye as he prepared himself to launch into a speech about whooping Sasuke’s pathetic ass.

Sasuke sighed, unaware that the weariness was showing on his face. “Right, well, I’m leaving then.”

“You just got here.” Naruto blurted completely surprised by his abrupt comings and goings. “And why did you come here without shoes on?”

Sasuke shrugged. “Because I felt like it.” Actually, it was more like he didn’t feel like walking all the way down the end of the hall and put on his sandals just to then, out of courtesy sakes, use the damn door which meant he’d have to find his key which was lost in the carnage that was his apartment. Which meant he’d have to clean his apartment in order to find the damn thing. Which meant he’d have to... well, you get the point. It defeated the purpose of a compulsive act to do all those ridiculous, mundane things.

“Is... um... everything alright?” Naruto asked, trying not to sound worried only making himself sound stupider than he looked in his sleeping cap, fuzzy jammies with their stars and moons and yellow duckie slippers.

“Everything is fine.” Not. But what did Naruto care? Sasuke asked himself darkly. I’m cold, I’m tired and I’m alone, he said to the blond is his head.

“I’m not lending you money, if that’s what you want.” Naruto said suddenly, crossing his arms over his chest defensively.

“Tch. I don’t need money. I have all the money I could possibly ever need.”

“Well, what the hell do you think you are doing, coming here in the dead of night and tapping at my damn window? If you make this a habit I’m going to stick tacks on the windowsill. It’d teach you right for not wearing any shoes.”

“Dead of night, dobe? It’s only eight in the evening.”

“Early to bed, early to rise!”

“You are going to need a lot more than just ten hours of sleep to beat me, Stupid. Maybe talent or at the very least, brains.”

Sliding himself into a defensive position, Naruto waved a fist at the gloomy boy and said, “I have more talent and brains in my pinkie finger than you do in your entire body!”

Why he felt like he needed to taunt his teammate, Sasuke would never know but like everything he did, he threw his heart into it. “Your just talking in your sleep.” He cajoled, enjoying himself immensely as Naruto’s face screwed up with anger and frustration. “Baka.”

“Teme!”

“Heh.” Sasuke grunted before putting one foot on the windowsill. “You are such an idiot, Naruto and those pyjamas just confirm it more so.” He said and launched himself out the window as insults were hurled at his back.

Fifteen minutes later, Sasuke was feeling a lot better about himself after slagging the blond boy. He perched on his own windowsill and moved to open the window but found it wouldn’t budge. In his haste to do something crazy and spontanious, he had closed the window and it had locked behind him. He felt like three kinds of an idiot, sitting on his windowsill without shoes on in the freezing cold. Just his luck, it’d start to rain, he thought grimly and just as the words had dissolved in his brain, the skies opened up and one of the first Konoha rainstorms made its appearance. “Damnit!” He snapped, giving the offending skies a dark, deadly glare.

Meanwhile, Naruto had opted for making himself another cup of warm milk. He padded into the kitchen, scratching at the back of his neck. “What’s wrong with my pyjamas?” He wondered innocently as he poured milk out in a sauce pan and set the stove on. After it was finished, he walked back into his bedroom and screeched at the deathly pale face staring at him from a dark background. He looked like a demon and the soggy hair plastered to his skull only made him look more deathly. “Sasuke!” He snapped, one hand on his hip and the other holding his cup of milk.

“Let me in, Stupid.”

“Nope! Go home!”

“I don’t want to.”

“Well go somewhere else! I don’t want you here.”

“It’s raining out.”

“Bravo, idiot. That’s what you get for being out without a coat AND shoes on.”

A fist slammed at the window, “Just let me in! I’m cold!”

“Nope. Not until you admit that I’m just as smart as you.”

There was a snowball’s chance of that happening. Mincing, Sasuke said, “You’re smart. Now let me in!”

Realizing that was about as close as he was going to get, he dragged his bed away from the wall and opened the window. Sasuke stepped in, placing a bare foot on the hardwood floor and looking up as a towel slapped him in the face. It was warm and damp, smelled faintly of Naruto and the soap that he used. He breathed in deeply, wondering what had brought that on before pulling the towel away and dabbing at the icy water that rolled from his scalp to his neck.

“Why aren’t you at home?”

He coughed into the towel as he spoke, “Ilockedmyselfout.”

Naruto tilted his head and regarded his rival, obviously deciphering what he had said. His eyes went wide as saucers as he realised and squealed, “YOU LOCKED YOURSELF OUT!”

Whipping the towel back at Naruto, Sasuke growled, “Yes and it’s too late for me to go to my landlady to ask her to let me in.”

This was the best thing he had ever heard! Sasuke! Uchiha Sasuke, the perfect boy and champion of Konoha, had locked himself out of his apartment! “Who is the idiot now?”

“Let me stay here until tomorrow. I’ll treat you to ramen.”

He stopped laughing and grinned, “Alright. All the ramen I can eat after training tomorrow.” Both satisfied with the agreement made, Naruto marched over to his dresser and pulled out pyjamas that were light blue with penguins and igloos on them. He tossed them at Sasuke. “Here you go.”

Glancing down at the flannel jammies, Sasuke was just able to keep his lip from curling up in disgust. The great and noble Uchiha Sasuke had locked himself OUT of his apartment and now had to wear pyjamas with Penguins on them. This double offense was almost too much for the young man to handle. He made a mental note to make an extra offering to his ancestors as an apology for the degradation of a Uchiha. God hates me, he thought glumly as he peeled the shirt off of his body, and dropped it on the floor amidst Naruto’s dirty laundry.

“Want some warm milk?” Naruto asked innocently, offering a mug filled with steaming milk.

Pulling on the pants, Sasuke nodded and took the mug. He sipped at it as Naruto left the room, obviously intending to make another cup. “Where am I sleeping?” Sasuke asked as he watched the blond putter.

“Uhm...” Tapping a finger to his lip, he then shrugged and continued puttering. “I guess you can sleep in my bed as long as you promise not to hog the blankets.”

“What? No. Sleep on the couch.”

“Nope. Can’t.”

“Why the hell not?” He’d be damned if he was going to share a bed with a boy, much less Uzumaki Naruto.

“Don’t have any other blankets.”

“So. Toughen up.”

“Why don’t you sleep on the couch without blankets, then? Since you seem to like the idea so much.”

“Because I’m company.”

“Screw that noise!” Naruto grunted, pouring his now bubbling milk into a mug. He walked back into his room, Sasuke following like his own personal thundercloud. He gulped down the hot milk and set the cup back on the stack of books closest at hand. “Turn off the light.” Naruto said, swallowing back a ferocious yawn.

Sasuke turned off the light but stood in the dark room, despairing. What was he going to do? Naruto’s apartment was just as cold as his and by the looks of his couch, it wouldn’t have been very comfortable night even if had blankets. Not at all like the comfy bed in front of him, despite the fact that Naruto was in it. He sighed, letting his need for sleep overcome his desire for the preservation of his ego. The sulky teen crawled under the heaping covers and found himself being sucked into the centre of the bed. The bed was obviously old, the supports had weakened leaving a slouch in the middle. He rolled over onto his back to keep from sliding further and stared up at the ceiling. The warm milk was making him sleepy. His eyes felt heavy and slowly, they shut and he drifted off to sleep.

Later that night Sasuke woke slowly, feeling something warm pressed against him. He buried his face in the warm and took a deep breath, smelling... warm milk? He opened his eyes and started up at the peacefully slumbering Naruto. He had his face pressed against Naruto’s chest. Slowly, ever so carefully, he extracted himself from the blond’s vicinity and laid his head back on the pillow. Naruto looked ridiculously cute while he slept. The look on his face as he slept, the careless way his limbs were flung about the bed, Sasuke couldn’t believe that this was a person capable of violence.

He pulled the blankets over Naruto’s chest and smiled softly at his sleeping friend. He didn’t sleep a wink that night but at least he wasn’t cold and lonely. He could deal with tired at least.

FIN