A/N: Sake and Sugar is actually the third to my trilogy - thoughts of a kitsune. However, it could be read on it's own, and I kind of prefer it alone than with the Kyuubi's thoughts. Anyway, you can find the first two chapters at if you really want to read them. Just follow the links til you find the fanfic page.

I also actually wrote it about a month ago and had decided that it was just gonna be a Livejournal thing. Changed my mind, though.

..Shit. Uploaded it under the wrong name. o.o;

Insomnia Productions presents..

Sake and Sugar
By Clara, one of the insomniacs

"Well! Naruto! Fancy seeing you here!"

Naruto sat down heavily on the stool at the bar, flipping his collar up. "Hey, Daisuke."

The young bartender flashed the blonde a grin, leaning on the counter. "Why, I haven't seen you in a couple of months, at least. Back on Sasuke's birthday when you and a big group kidnapped him and brought him here to celebrate being legal. Bought the best sake, if I remember correctly.."

"Funny how you can have such a good memory when you're already a drunk," Naruto grumbled, sinking further into his chair. Daisuke, quite amiably, ignored his favorite customer (despite the fact that Naruto had only actually bought alcohol once). "Gimme a bottle of your best sake."

That, however, did attract Daisuke's attention. "Hmm.. that sounds familiar." He grinned. "Only, there were a lot more people with you the last time you ordered something like that.."

"Awfully talkative, aren't you?" Naruto growled. "I thought it was the customer who blabbed on for hours."

"Nonsense!" Daisuke said, beaming and placing the bottle and a glass in front of the blonde. He popped off the top and poured in a sufficient amount. "I just feel like reminiscing. Remember?"

"I don't think I can ever forget," Naruto mumbled, sinking even further into the seat and resting his chin on his arms.

*

It was July 23rd and hot as hell. The cicadas were buzzing loudly and that was perfectly okay with Naruto--they helped keep him covered. Well, him and his group of friends that were already half drunk.

"Shh!" he hissed as Ino and Sakura giggled loudly when Shikamaru tripped and nearly ate dirt. Chouji merely shook his head. He was the only other one in the group besides Naruto that was sober.

"Annoo, Naruuuuto.." Shikamaru drawled, slinging an arm over the shorter boy's shoulders. "Why dincha think to do this earlier? It's reeeally dark outside and hard to see. An' now Sasuke thinks we f'rgot about his birthday.."

"That's the whole point, nimrod," Naruto said, grinning. "And here I thought you were supposed to be a genius."

They stopped at Sasuke's apartment complex, all of them looking up to his window. Sakura looked a little too far up and toppled backwards onto Shikamaru, but luckily clapped her hands over her lips before the giggles could escape.

Thankfully, Sasuke seemed to be home. His light was on, at least.

"Hsst, you dummies stay here," Naruto hissed. "And make sure his present doesn't get loose."

Chouji squinted his eyes and held up the box. "I got it, Naruto."

Naruto grinned, hoisted the rope onto his shoulder, then (concentrating his chakra to his feet) walked up the wall and to Sasuke's window. He creeped along the edge just to the side of the window, before quietly sliding the glass open and slipping in. There was a startled murmur, then what sounded like the sound effects to a Loony Toons cartoon, then a smug looking Naruto slipping right back out Sasuke's window with a blindfolded and (quite efficiently) tied up Sasuke draped over his shoulder.

Naruto gave a thumbs up sign, ignored the gleeful giggles and led the group to Daisuke's bar.

It didn't take them long to get to the bar (though they did get more than a couple odd looks), sit Sasuke down at the best table, untie him, unblindfold him, and sing Happy Birthday at the top of their lungs to the extremely surprised black haired Uchiha.

"I.. I thought you guys forgot," Sasuke murmured, a small and pleased blush spreading across his cheeks. He even graced them with a smile. That, of course, earned him two squeals from two plastered girls and two humongous hugs. Actually, three. Shikamaru did a great impersonation of Ino, even though that got him a bump on the back of his head.

"Don't be stupid!" Naruto said cheerfully. "How could we forget your birthday? We have two of your once biggest fangirls here. They wouldn't let us forget if we tried!"

Sasuke's smile widened and his normally hard eyes softened.

"We even got you a gift!" Naruto paused, glancing at Sakura and Ino. "Okay, so make that a couple gifts. This one's mine for you!" He grabbed the box from Chouji and set it in front of his black haired friend, still smiling broadly. "Hurry! Open it!"

For a long moment Sasuke just stared at Naruto, before he shook his head and reached over to tear off the wrapping paper. Surprised at the miniature holes littering the entire box, he reached over and pulled off the lid.

A small, pure black kitten looked up at him with silver eyes.

"Like her?" Naruto asked, poking his fingers together and looking down. "She reminded me of you."

"She's beautiful."

Naruto looked up and the two locked eyes, and for a moment Naruto could have sworn that everything around them stopped. The moment was broken, however, when Sakura loudly called for a round of sake and, ignoring the fact that there were more than a couple minors in the group, Daisuke served them.

The night went (quite loudly and obnoxiously) on and the group got more and more drunk. Sasuke, despite the fact that it was at least eighty degrees outside, had swung on the scarves Sakura and Ino had made for him. It seemed as if both girls decided that a scarf would be the best gift for him, so they both knitted him one in the exact same shade of blue. He was also drinking out of the (Superman) mug Shikamaru had given him, and munching on the pocky from Chouji.

At half passed three most of them were completely knocked out. Ino had draped herself across Shikamaru's lap who was resting his head on the table and had Sakura snoring quietly on his shoulder. Chouji was still awake but having a quiet conversation with Daisuke.

This left Naruto and Sasuke to stare at each other. Well, of course they could have done something else, but they were both drunk so stare they did.

"Thanks," Sasuke finally said quietly, looking over his group of friends. The kitten had curled up on the center of the table and was sleeping quite soundly. "For all of this."

"No problem!" Naruto replied, beaming. "I'd like to think you'd do something like this for my birthday, but you're way too sophis.. sopis.." he frowned. "Um, quiet for this."

"Quiet?"

"I don't know. I'm drunk."

Sasuke grinned and slid his chair closer to Naruto's. "Good excuse. I'm also drunk. I can use that excuse, too."

"You don't have anything to excuse, though," Naruto said, grinning lopsidedly. He had opted not to wear his headgear as it was so hot, so his untamed bangs fell into his eyes.

"I will after another drink." Sasuke leaned back and poured some sake into his mug, before throwing it back. His friend blinked dumbly when the black haired boy spun around, then spun Naruto around so they were both facing each other.

"We're drunk," Sasuke explained.

"Uh huh."

"So that means our actions can be blamed on being drunk."

"Yup."

"So.."

Naruto leaned forward and kissed Sasuke, wrapping his arms around his neck. Immediately, almost as if on instinct, Sasuke was kissing back and wrapping his arms around Naruto's waist.

It was an amazing kiss that tasted like sake and sugar.

And the night went on.

*

Naruto glared at Daisuke, then swung back another glass of sake. "Thanks for bringing that up. I wasn't feeling shitty enough already."

Finally Daisuke seemed to realize his friend was quite distressed (though the entire bottle of sake for one should have been a major hint). "Okay, blondie, what's troubling you?"

"Haven't you heard of Sasuke's engagement?"

Realization immediately lit up the bartender's face. He, like Naruto, rested his chin on his arms. "Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh'." Naruto sighed and closed his eyes. "He asked me to be his best man."

"..oh.."

"..I declined."

"..oh." Daisuke grimaced, then poured himself a glass of sake. "Shit."

"Well said." Naruto squeezed his eyes shut and sighed heavily. "Men suck."

Daisuke laughed hard at that, then clamped his hands over his mouth when he saw the harsh look Naruto was giving him. "Sorry, sorry. That wasn't to you, trust me. It was just what you said." He sighed and propped his head up with his hand. "So, what are you going to do?"

"What do you MEAN what am I going to do?! And.." he glared at Daisuke, "I don't want to do anything! It's not like I have feelings for the idiot."

"Yeah, you do."

"I do NOT!"

"Oh, quit being an idiot. You've had a crush on him since we were kids."

Naruto glared at his friend, then looked down into his glass of sake as if it had all the answers in the world in it. It didn't.

"Well, what am I supposed to do?"

"Crash his wedding!"

Naruto looked up in disbelief, then looked even more surprised when he saw that Daisuke was serious. He was beaming like the fool Naruto was supposed to be, too.

"You're kidding, right?"

"Of course not. Are you going to let Sasuke make the biggest mistake in his life just because you're too stupid to admit to him that you like him?"

"But.."

"Oh, stop with the buts. You're being a big enough one anyway. Butt, that is. Come on, haven't you ever seen any of those cheesy romance movies? You know, where some guy bursts into the wedding right when the priest says, 'if anyone has any objections speak now or forever hold your peace'?"

"I don't have enough time for chick flicks."

"Well, you know what I mean! Come on, you TOTALLY have to burst into the wedding and everything. When is it?"

Naruto frowned and looked at his watch. "Right now."

"...."

Naruto barely had any time to blink before he was being grabbed by the wrist and dragged (with surprising speed), out of the bar.

"IDIOT!"

*

Sasuke watched as the blonde woman casually walked down the aisle and smiled broadly at him, father at her side. He could feel something awful clench in the middle of his chest, but he stomped on it determinedly.

Remember, you need an heir. That's what it's all about. An heir.

There was a lot of tears in the crowd, but no one was screaming out their protests. It seemed as if they had all decided that it was useless and the world would never be the same (or, as he heard some drastic girl say, that it was going to end). He found himself sneaking a glance at Kakashi who, for once, had his face cover off and was wearing a white tuxedo. The white haired man didn't change his expression.

That didn't make Sasuke feel better.

His fianceƩ stopped and gave him a wide smile and that just made him feel worse.

The words the priest was saying made no sense in his ears no matter how hard he concentrated. His mind kept wandering. It had turned out to be a bigger event than he thought--the majority of Konoha were all crammed together in the cool church. It wasn't exactly the way he wanted to get married, in some secluded area with just him, his fianceƩ and a couple of other friends, but she insisted that this was to be made a public event. He sighed and went along with it.

What was worse was the colors she chose.

Orange.

And a lot of it.

It didn't make him feel very nice, since whenever he saw the orange he thought of Naruto.

"...for as long as you both shall live?"

Sasuke blinked. Then he blinked again when he realized the priest was talking to him and everyone was watching expectantly. He opened his mouth, took a deep breath, and sealed his fate.

"..No."

Everyone in the church blinked at once.

"Wh..what?" the priest asked, reaching up to adjust his glasses. "Um, perhaps you didn't hear me clearly."

"Nah. I heard you perfectly. The answer is still no."

He heard, with faint amusement, Kiri (or was it Kiki? He was having trouble remembering) shrill with shock. Smiling, he turned around and prepared to make a dramatic exit but was interrupted by someone slamming the doors of the church open.

"STOP! HE OBJECTS!"

"..DAISUKE!"

Once again, everyone blinked at the same time. This time it was because the town's bartender (still in his apron and whatnot) was dragging a shocked looking Naruto into the church (who was holding a half empty bottle of sake). They were both panting slightly.

"Well?" Daisuke hissed (ineffectively, since the acoustics of the church caused every sound to be three times louder than it really was). "Go on!" He shoved Naruto forward.

Hesitantly, and with trembling legs and huge vulnerable eyes, Naruto walked up to Sasuke. He looked down at the sake bottle, then smiled hesitantly at his friend.

"Hi." He looked at the priest. "Um, is it too late to object?"

The priest, who seemed to be in shock, shook his head slightly.

"Oh, good." He turned back to Sasuke. "Here." He thrust the sake bottle into Kimi's hands, then walked up to the taller boy and put his hands on Sasuke's shoulders.

"I'm drunk."

A small smile touched Sasuke's lips. "Good excuse."

"So that means my actions can be blamed on being drunk."

The smile grew. "Uh huh."

"So I'm stopping this wedding. Because I love you."

"..Naruto." Now this came as bit of a surprise. Everyone in the audience gasped appropriately.

"And so that means you can't marry this idiotic bimbo." Naruto jerked his thumb waveringly towards her. "You gotta marry THIS one." He pointed to himself.

"..I already stopped the wedding, dobe."

"I don't give a damn about heirs or any shit like tha.. what?" Drunk as he was, it took a couple of seconds for Sasuke's words to sink into his brain. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, then blushed a lovely shade of maroon. "Oh.. uhm.. then.. I.. uh.. I guess I'll go home and.. uhm.. bury myself in my backyard or something.."

He started to pull his hands off Sasuke's shoulders, but Sasuke caught them.

"Naruto."

"Y-yeah?"

"I love you too." And before the blonde could finish his escape, Sasuke swooped down and kissed him deeply. The audience cheered, as appropriate, even though Shikamaru, Ino, and Sakura were just shaking their heads while clapping.

"Well," Iruka said, watching Sasuke and Naruto with a slight grin on his face. "That was eventful."

Kakashi grinned and reached over, taking the sake from the forgotten and extremely distraught looking bride. "Hey, it's Sasuke and Naruto. Did you expect anything less?"

end