What Happened Five Minutes Later…

This was a drabble challenge request from A White Rain.

Naruto was nursing a sullen expression and two swollen cheeks — Sakura had arrived with the recently filled water skins just as Naruto was repaying Sasuke for the first swollen cheek and took exception to his assault on her "poor Sasuke-kun" — when Kakashi returned with dinner. Their teacher paused for a moment to take in the scene and sighed.

"Sasuke," he said dully, "Help me with the fish. Sakura, would you tend the fire? Naruto, did you — "

"YES," Naruto growled back, not taking his angry glare off of Sasuke. The other boy was studiously ignoring him while he coaxed the fire into a healthy blaze. Not just Naruto, he was also ignoring poor Sakura's attempts at cheerful conversation, that self-centered bastard, who cared if he was powerful, and "cool", and could sew good, and smelled like soap and warm spice when –

"Right," Kakashi said, "Then you'll have the time to clean our weapons for us. Go on," he added, when Naruto's head snapped toward him in surprise, and made a little shooing motion, "We're cooking, you get to clean."

So Naruto, regardless of his whining, got to exchange his spool and thread for oil and cloth.

This was all Sasuke's fault. He had no reason to get upset over that wife comment when he was the one going around helping people with their sewing and their cooking.

And it was true, Sasuke would make someone a good wife. He'd probably even look like a girl if he put on an apron. Naruto snickered at the thought, but quelled it when Sakura looked over her shoulder to scowl warningly at him.

Sasuke probably even liked all the annoying house keeping and mending and that sort of stuff, Naruto continued to himself. Maybe he would be one of those wives that greeted their husband at the door when he came home and rubbed his feet – Naruto tried that on his mental image of Sasuke and couldn't make it fit. Sasuke seemed more like the kind of wife to yell at his husband from the back room and make him rub her feet. His feet, whatever.

In fact, Sasuke-wife would probably be a real bitch. Yeah, that made much more sense.

Naruto looked over to watch Sasuke efficiently gut, salt, and skewer the fish around the fire.

He was still watching and thinking about wives and Sasuke (and a little about the smell of soap and spice and the warmth of a strong chest at his back and tiny perfect stitches holding together every tear) when Kakashi looped a stick at his head to remind him to get back work.

END