What Happened Ten Years Later

What Happened Ten Years Later…

This was drabble meme challenge/request from biztheinsane. She wanted to know what happened ten years later and this is what I farted out. I also suggest reading "Living With Strangers" if you haven't yet, which is what happened five years later.

There was a piece of chair tied to his arm when Sasuke woke up that morning.

He stared at it for a moment, baffled and appalled, until his brain connected the aches of his body with the sounds coming from the kitchen. Oh, right. Naruto came home last night.

Something inside of him relaxed even as his face fell into an annoyed scowl. They were going to have to replace that entire chair set now. Assuming it could be replaced; like the rest of the furniture it had come with the house and was probably a priceless piece of Konoha history carved by the First himself and polished with the blood of his enemies, or something.

Sasuke sat up – gingerly – and snapped the cords binding the bit of wood to him. There were signs of Naruto's return scattered all around the previously clean room; pants and leg wrappings kicked against the wall; a pile of luggage spilling their contents out on the floor; a once-ordered stack of scrolls knocked askew; the twisted remains of the chair a sad wreck by the door.

He extracted himself from the tangle of blankets, donned the yukata draped across the foot of the bed, and padded into the kitchen.

Naruto was at the counter, pouring coffee with one hand and scribbling down notes with the other. The morning sun glowed warm gold on his untamed hair and bare shoulders. Looking at him, Sasuke felt a sudden easing of the jangling sense of unrest that had been plaguing him since Naruto left two weeks ago.

Naruto started to turn as Sasuke walked up behind him. "Hey, good morn-OW!" He reeled back from the punch to his nose and Sasuke to moved fast to rescue the mug he'd been holding before the contents sloshed all over the floor. "You asshole…"

"Speaking of which," Sasuke said, taking a cautious sip of the hot coffee. It tasted wretched, just like it always did when Naruto made it. Sasuke had stopped making coffee entirely three years ago. "Stay away from mine for the next month. I can't believe you did that to me." Notes were strewn across the kitchen table, competing for space with several kunai, a mug, and a half-eaten bowl of ramen. He went over and began gathering up a pile of them one-handedly.

"Hypocrite, I wasn't the one sticking my tongue down my throat as soon as we got through the door," Naruto said grouchily, rubbing at his nose, "Good morning to you too, jerkface."

Sasuke ignored him and sat down to go through the notes and half-finished mission reports, looking for spelling and grammar errors. It was an embarrassment to the entire village that their Hokage couldn't remember the right way to spell words like "imperative" or "negotiations".

"When are they expecting us?" Sasuke asked, distractedly.

Naruto was silent for a moment. "In thirty," he said finally, "But the debriefing isn't until, um… eight, I think. There are four or five other things I gotta do before that, but I don't remember what they are. Sakura will probably start beating me over my head with my schedule for today when we get in."

Sasuke nodded. "I'll be ready."