(SasuNaru) Not Friends Anymore

The Sand Village

The new assigned team made it to their destination. Standing before the, of course, guarded gates, being greeted by none other than the Kazekage himself. "Gaara!" Naruto hyped up and said before approaching his long time friend. The two guards that followed the red head around stood in front of him as if protecting him. "Relax, he's a friend." He said before pushing his way past the shield they made. Naruto continued to move forward throwing his arms up over his friends shoulders pulling him in for a hug. Gaara didn't hesitate to hug back. It had been a while since the two saw each other and it wasn't out of character for them to miss each other. "Naruto...it's great to see you." He said as his eyes were looking at the ground behind the blonde. It didn't take long before his gaze lifted and met with the black orbs from the Uchiha who seemed to be glaring at him.

"Sasuke..." He said before releasing the blonde and standing upright with his usual straight face. Before any communication could even begin between the two, Shikamaru approached him. "Kazekage, we've come to deliver this sealed scroll from the Hokage." He said with a monotone voice as he handed out the scroll that had a small yellow ribbon wrapped around it. There was a seal mark placed, covering the whole surrounding of it. Gaara accepted the scroll and nodded his head.

The red haired man thanked everyone for coming and suggested that they stay for the night, knowing that Temari is dying to see Shikamaru. It was best to stay anyways considering how late in the day it already was. They had all agreed it would be best to leave that next morning and be back to the leaf in a solid two days tops.

Escorting them to their all in one sleep house was the least Gaara could do, but he definitely wanted to catch up with Naruto. So instead of making his leave when they arrived he suggested to go out and have a few drinks. It was expected for him to return to the office but since it was a rather rare situation he decided to make use of it. He had invited his sister to tag along that way Shikamaru could spend some quality time with her and the others. Since saying no to the offer would probably get him killed the brown haired man agreed.

It was already late, but still early enough to go to a local restaurant to have dinner and drinks. When they got their, the staff was slightly overwhelmed with having the Kazekage in the building without a heads up. But it made no difference to Gaara, he didn't mind it, in fact it gave him a sense or normalcy. Of course he still got his fair share of greetings, but the restaurant wasn't busy thankfully.

"What can I get started for you guys tonight?" The young waitress asked with nervousness clear in her voice. There was a hand full of good looking Shinobi around the table that were from another village and not only that but the Kazekage was there. Her voice was shaky at first but when everyone started giving off their orders and what they wanted to drink, it sounded like she had become more brave.

Gaara sparked up a conversation first, trying to clear the air as to why Sasuke was there. "Care to explain why Sasuke is here?" He had decided to remain silent of the fact previously until they were in a more comfortable atmosphere. "I can explain-." Naruto started before he was interrupted by his friend, "If you don't mind Naruto, I'd like to hear it from him." The red haired man asked, not wanting to sound rude but also wanting a more clear answer from the man himself. Naruto could only nod not wanting to push it any further.

"I made some not so rational decisions that I regret. After taking down my brother and finding out the truth to his actions, I wanted nothing but the worst of things. But a little birdie opened my eyes just enough to see the light. I decided to leave Madara and come back willingly," he paused, before continuing any further, his eyes met with blue before they moved and met with Shikamaru, who gave him a look as if to tell the whole truth. And that's when his eyes met with Sai's and he continued to speak. "As long as Naruto would accept me..." he started to trail off with a rather lower voice when he said, "As more than a friend."

Naruto's eyes widened, he hadn't expected him to come out flat with it, especially with the selected few around the table. His cheeks began changing shade, and his heart started to race. It's not that he was embarrassed, it was more of a feeling like shame, but without the negative side to it. "More than friends?" Gaara questioned before looking over at the blonde who was practically going mentally haywire. The dots started to connect when he realized how close the two were sitting, and the expression on Naruto's face, gave it away. "Oh." He said above a whisper.

Sai sat there quietly, as if all the questions he had were just answered. He had his guesses in order but anything that was unexplained had just been explained. "Makes sense really." Shikamaru said speaking up, catching everyone's attention. "Well the question on whether or not Naruto accepted that I suppose is pretty clear." Gaara said while taking a sip of the water the waitress had just dropped off. Naruto couldn't really speak, he was in shock at how accepting everyone really was but also nervous that he looks extremely vulnerable.

For such an outgoing person, he couldn't seem to get it together. "Sasuke is under 24/7 surveillance, meaning he now lives with Naruto and is to not go anywhere without him. He was pardoned which I'm assuming was written in that scroll we delivered." Sai said, only getting a nod of confirmation from Gaara.

When the food arrived, they all went silent to eat their food and drink for about an hour. Though it was just beer, five of which Naruto shouldn't have consumed, was enough to loosen everyone up. Naruto's words were starting to bunch up, and Gaara was also starting to slur. It was very rare to ever see the red head get anywhere near tipsy, and if his words were slurred then it was a given he had to much and was beyond just tipsy. Naruto started to lean over to his side, wrapping his arm around the red heads shoulders, as he did the same to Naruto. They rocked back and forth in their seats singing a stupid song that played at the exams when they were younger.

Sasuke could feel a bit of irritation and even possibly jealousy from seeing the two so tangled together. He tried his best to hide the fact it irritated him, but it wasn't hard for Shikamaru to notice the look he was giving the two. Since he was sitting across from the raven, he picked up his foot and kicked the front of Sasuke's leg. Making the man meet his gaze.

"Relax.." Shikamaru said just above a whisper trying not to draw to much attention over to their little conversation. "He's his friend." Sasuke just couldn't help but feel the need to bash their heads together just to get the two to shut up. It wasn't just because he was jealous but the two drunk together was rather annoying. Instead of expressing his level of anger, he decided to play a different card.

When Gaara and Naruto disconnected their link and continued to converse around the table, mainly talking to Temari about her feelings for Shikamaru and if the two were going to make things more official like live together, Sasuke decided to place his hand on the blondes upper thigh, while leaning forward and placing his other arms elbow on the table, wresting his chin in his hand. This only made the blonde jump a little but when he realized it was just Sasuke, he copied his same position but with opposite arms, looking directly in the ravens eyes.

Sasuke was tipsy, but Naruto was drunk. Their eyes gazed solely at each other, while simultaneously rubbing one another's thighs. "Teme I think I dra-...drank too much." He stuttered, his body moving closer to the ravens. A smirk appeared on the pale man's lips as if he succeeded drawing him away from Gaara. It's not that he didn't want them to continue being friends, he just didn't want them so touchy. Naruto's claim of drinking to much was his ticket to get back to the sleep house. Only until Shikamaru stood up with Temari's hand in his, "We're gonna go for a walk, thanks for coming out with us Kazekage." Shikamaru said placing her and his portion for the food on the table and making their leave.

Gaara quickly directed his attention back to the blonde who was warped into the ravens plan. "Naruto I think I'm gonna get going." He said making the blonde turn to him with his big blue eyes that said don't go. "But Gaara!~ The fun just started!" He said while grabbing the wrist of the red haired man that was attempting to stand. He gently tugged pulling him back down to his seat. "One more beer!" Naruto called out to the waitress. Sasuke could only roll his eyes and throw a hand up to the waitress gesturing for another one for him too. Damn it...I might as well get another one...Looks like I'm gonna need it. He thought to himself before pulling his other hand away from the blonde's thigh, letting out a deep sigh.