He was staring again. Just fucking staring! Naruto quickly looked away from the raven-haired man further down the table. His eyes raked over the others in attendance to distract himself.

All of the 'rookie nine,' as they had been called during the chunin exams all those years ago, were seated at the table plus a few extras. The members of team Guy and the Sand siblings were also included in the festivities. It was Choji's birthday, and everyone decided to celebrate it at his favorite restaurant; the owner of which just happens to serve generous amounts of alcohol to the friends of his best customer.

Most of the members of their party were already heavily intoxicated. Choji was at the front of the table switching from stuffing his face to gulping down his sake. To his left, Kiba and Kankuro were attempting to sing a song but butchering it too much for Naruto to make out any of the words and he was sitting right next to them. Across from them Neji, Shino, and Shikamaru were in the middle of a drinking contest with the unwilling Hinata as the judge. Naruto had heard the rules earlier, whoever could drink the most without showing signs of being drunk was the winner. Their stubbornness would have them passing out soon by the looks of stacks of glasses in front of them. Next to Hinata, sat Sakura and Sai. Sakura was yelling at Sai about something or other while he just grinned at Tenten over Sakura's shoulder. Across from them sat Temari and Ino. Naruto wished he couldn't hear their argument, but they were fighting quite loudly…about who's breasts were better. Naruto shuttered. He would never be able to understand women.

The only sober people besides Naruto where the three men sitting at the very end of the table. Gaara had taken up the end seat. His arms were crossed and his face was impassive. His eyes were subtlety fixed on the man sitting to his right, Rock Lee. Lee had been banned from drinking because of his loopy fist. Despite this, he had a pink tinge to his cheeks, and look highly uncomfortable. Naruto squinted through the dim lighting of the restaurant to see what was troubling his friend. One glimpse of the trail of sand trailing up Lee's neck from UNDERNITH his spandex was enough for Naruto to jerk his head away. He did NOT want to know.

That left him with only one person left, Sasuke. The raven was seated to Gaara's left, and was…still FUCKING staring at him!

Naruto whipped his eyes to the glass on the table in front of him. He would have been drunk like the rest of his friends if he could. Fucking Kyubi. The damn fox metabolizes the alcohol too fast for Naruto to feel more than a buzz. Maintaining that buzz takes almost constant consumption of sake. Naruto didn't feel like putting in the effort for that.

He let out an exasperated sigh, and put his head in his hands. Why is he always staring? What does he want? These questions had been repeating themselves in his head for more than a month now. He was starting to loose sleep for the lack of answers. It was all Sasuke's fault! Him and his damn staring!

It had started almost immediately after Sasuke returned to the village tired, bleeding, and dragging the corpse of Orochimaru by his hair. ANBU had surrounded him the moment he was sighted outside the village. Injured as he was, they believed he didn't pose a threat worthy of being taken out immediately. They formed a circle around him with their weapons drawn, moving when he did. For Sasuke's part, he ignored them.

He trekked all the way up to Hokage tower. Tsunade, already being informed of his arrival, had her door open and more ANBU inside waiting for him.

Naruto, having been on the other side of the village training when he heard the news, got there just in time to catch a glimpse of Sasuke's bloodied back before the doors were closed.

Kakashi had been there too. It was he who forcibly restrained Naruto from obliterating that door, the only barrier between him and the one who worked him up like no other. Kakashi explained to Naruto while retraining him that Sasuke needed to be questioned by Tsunade, interrogation would follow wither he answered their questions or not, until he was finally sentenced for what he had done. Only after this process was complete, would Naruto, or anyone else, be allowed to interact with Sasuke. The reminder of the crimes Sasuke committed against their village cause Naruto to give in.

Sakura showed up not long after. She was still dressed in her medical overcoat showing where she just came from. No words were shared, none were needed. They all hunkered down in the hallway outside the Hokage's office for a lone wait. A few hours into the wait, Ibiki, Konoha's torture specialist entered the office. Sakura started crying.

Nearly two days later the doors opened. Naruto rushed into the office frantically looking for Sasuke. The smoke from multiple teleportation jutsues of the ANBU made it hard to see. Finally Naruto spotted him. He was lying still on the couch off to the side of the room. Naruto saw red.

"You killed him!" he yelled at an obviously tired Tsunade behind her desk.

"Naruto," she started.

"How could you?" He slammed his fists down on her desk in anger. Tsunade only raised an eyebrow, clearly not impressed.

"Naruto," she started again.

"After all we went through…" Naruto's shoulders started to shake.

"NARUTO! HE'S NOT DEAD YOU BRAT!" Tsunade's infamous temper lashed out. Naruto was left stunned and confused. Seeing this, Tsunade sighed, and got herself back under control. "He was badly injured in his fight with Orochimaru. Instead of treating any of his wounds the idiot traveled who knows how many damn miles to get here dragging a dead body! I only patched him up enough during the initial questioning to make sure he would survive Ibiki. I healed him again, he is just resting now." The reminder of Sasuke's torturer caused Naruto to glare.

"None of that," Tsunade said seeing his facial expression. "It was necessary to know he was not lying in anyway."

"Was he Hokage-sama?" Sakura's meek voice came from behind Naruto. She and Kakashi must have followed him in.

"If he was he would have been killed on the spot. As it were, he told us everything we wanted to know, and information we hadn't even thought to ask. He even consented to the torture. Ibiki was not able to dig up anything but what Sasuke had already told us." Tsunade plumped down in her chair, and started rubbing her temples.

While she was speaking, Naruto had moved till he was standing next to the couch that held Sasuke. Naruto just gazed down at him, still listening to the conversation.

"And his sentence Hokage-sama?" Kakashi asked.

Tsunade glanced back up at the two before her desk before traveling to the two men on the side. "In light of new information," she said while watching them, "Sasuke Uchiha has been sentenced to a twenty-four seven ANBU watch for four months, restriction to village parameters for two years unless permitted to leave by the Hokage, and a binding placed on his more…sinister jutsues. He gave his consent shortly before he passed out." A small grin formed on Tsunade's face as she took in the shocked expressions of the younger two and the slight widening of an eye on the older.

"So light a sentence?" Kakashi questioned. He was no stranger to how rouge ninja were normally handled. Torture then death was the set pattern. Incarceration was an abnormality in itself, but this?

"The new information was quite…compelling."

That was about it, Naruto though to his glass on the counter. Sasuke recovered from his wounds in two days, and moved back into the Uchiha reservation. A story was created to ease the public about his return. They were told he had been on a long standing infiltration mission into Sound Country with the ultimate goal of killing Orochimaru. The villagers who saw his dragging a body on the day of his return aided in making the story believable.

Everything had settled down in the seven months Sasuke had been back. Some things had gone back to the way they were before Sasuke left, some didn't.

Naruto's relationship with Sasuke was one of those things that didn't. Naruto had tried to get that old relationship back, but nothing he did had any effect.

Insults were ignored, challenges were met with a blank look, and attempted conversations were met with single word answers. Naruto had grown frustrated.

Sasuke's emotions seem to have been muted. Now he wasn't an emotional person before he left, but this was taking it to a whole new level. His eyes rarely portrayed emotions now. In fact, one of the few times Sasuke's eyes look alive were when he was staring at Naruto.

Naruto glanced up at the man in question. Those dark irises were still locked on his person. This time, Naruto stared back.

It wasn't even a nameable emotion held in those eyes. The only thing Naruto could use to describe it is fire. When Sasuke turned his eyes to Naruto they seemed to sear into him, causing heat to form in his stomach…and lower organs if he was being honest with himself.

Naruto's stare turned into a glare.

Why was he always fucking staring at him!

Fed up and frustrated, Naruto abruptly stood from his seat at the table. He stomped around the table to stand next to Sasuke. This went unnoticed by everyone accept the raven. The heat in his eyes intensified with every set Naruto took.

They looked at each other for a long moment. Naruto's impatience got the best of him.

"What the hell do you want?" Naruto shouted in frustration.

A small grin formed on Sasuke's face as he gave his answer. "You, dope."

Naruto did not even have time to feel shock before his lips were covered by those of the raven. The kiss quickly grew in intensity. They only parted when lack of oxygen became a problem.

"About time!" someone from the table shouted. Neither Sasuke, nor Naruto looked for who said it. They were already engaged in something that demanded more attention. The pop of a teleportation jutsu was all that greeted the statement.