On Mondays, Sasuke helped at Konoha's town hall, just beside the Hokage mansion, to work in the communications department as decreed in his community service outline. He was required to show up, stamp mission reports, and file them away. At no point had he been told he needed to be happy about this, or interact with anyone, so he usually sat silent behind his desk in a Chunin flak jacket – even though he wasn't technically in the shinobi register – and contemplated the monstrous pile of crap his life had become. On a regular day, he could tend to his business without interruption, or even opening his mouth.

Other days, Naruto came around.

Sasuke didn't look up, he didn't need to, when a paint-flecked hand slapped Naruto's mission report hard on his desk. The paperweight that held nothing in place rattled. Face leaning on his hand, Sasuke tried to slide the piece of paper out from Naruto's palm, but he held it down flat until Sasuke sighed and looked balefully up at him from under his lashes.

"What."

Naruto flashed him a smile, leaning close. "Wow, place is really lively today, huh?"

Sasuke scanned the ghost town with hooded eyes.

"Sure is," he replied blandly. Naruto didn't stop staring at him, and it was starting to piss Sasuke off.

"How's your day been?" Sasuke could tell Naruto was just grasping at nothing to keep this conversation going.

"Mediocre."

"Anything cool happen?"

"Not particularly."

"…"

"…"

"So… what are you doing after work?"

Ignoring him, Sasuke pried the report out from Naruto's vice-like grip and quickly skimmed its summary. He quirked a brow. "D-rank mission?"

Naruto shrugged, examining the white paint that crusted under his fingernails. "Fence painting. What can I say, I had nothing else to do, and it's basically no work for decent money—"

"I don't care," he cut in sharply, reaching for the approval stamp and pressing it into the inkpad.

"…You look good in green," Naruto commented.

The stamp fell onto the report hard enough to dent his desk, and Sasuke waved him off with the finger, pushing off in his wheelie chair to file the paper away in one of the lined up storage cabinets. The furniture was predominantly of the expensive persuasion, the only exception being Sasuke's swivel chair made of plastic with a curve in the back that was messing up his posture. It seemed the Hokage had spared no expense providing for everyone else's comfort.

Naruto lingered momentarily, before saying a cheery goodbye and walking out the door. Sasuke didn't turn back around until the footsteps had receded and the door clicked shut, slumping in his chair and inching his way back towards the desk by way of the heels of his feet. He looked up just in time to see Naruto leaning backwards to wave through the window before pouncing up onto Konoha's rooftops.

Around half an hour later, nobody else had come through, as Mondays weren't especially busy in communications. Most ninja only received their missions on Monday and returned later in the week, apart from newbie genin squads. Sasuke didn't mind; he enjoyed his solitude, coming up with stupid games to pass the time, like counting leaves as they fell outside the window and making notches in the table for every time he heard Tsunade shout herself hoarse from the building next door. In fact, Sasuke reached out to steady the small lamp on the edge of his desk just then from the impact of the Hokage splitting a table in half, adding another notch as her voice rang through the otherwise peaceful afternoon.

There was only an hour left of his shift when Naruto came back with another report.

"Did you miss me?" he asked, leaning his chin on the edge of the desk and blinking up at Sasuke with wide, imploring eyes. His backside swayed at passers-by.

"Another D-Rank," Sasuke said, looking sorely unimpressed. "Do you really have so much time on your hands that you can go out and do something as stupid as finding a lost cat?"

"Hey," said Naruto defensively, "that kitty was vicious, and ridiculously horny, runnin' around humping all the lady cats."

"Charming."

"Seriously! Do you see these scars?"

Naruto gestured to the numerous scratches on his arms that were barely deep enough to draw blood. Sasuke didn't even bother looking up, stamping the mission report just as another shinobi walked in through the door.

Naruto still hadn't left by the time the report was filed away, and Sasuke was forced to actually look at him. "What do you want."

"Sasuke, let me take you out after you finish your shift." Sasuke was unsurprised by this proposal. Ever since he had returned to Konoha, Naruto had made his feelings very clear, and Sasuke had done the same.

"Get the hell out of my face," he deadpanned. Naruto sighed, briefly deterred. He was soon back to his jovial self, however, and walked out the door whistling. The next in line came forward and Sasuke gave him an incredulous look.

"Naruto, what the hell."

Another Naruto stood just after the first, waggling a mission report in his hand like it was something to be proud of. Sasuke heard the door open and shut several times, cursing. He didn't have time for Naruto right now, not when all the genin were just returning from their missions at the end of the day.

"Hey, Sasuke," Naruto greeted obliviously, that same grin plastered all over his dumb face. Sasuke glared at him. "Got another one for ya."

Sasuke snatched the document from his hands, speed reading essentially the same report as the last two, only this one detailed Naruto delivering some stock to a small boutique on the outer sector of the village.

"Why are you doing this," Sasuke asked, dabbing his stamp in some ink and looking up at Naruto in that way that always made his stomach flip.

"Come out with me tonight," he said.

"No."

"Why not? What else do you have planned?"

"Avoiding you at all costs," he said, turning away to file the report once again.

Three D-Ranks in one day. This was a low point in Naruto's jounin career. When he turned back around, Naruto was still there, looking at him in that ridiculously sappy way that had never made any sense to Sasuke, because the smallest and stupidest things always triggered it. Sasuke couldn't help but stare back, calculating.

"Seriously, what are you doing, Naruto?"

"Do you know how pretty your eyes are?" he asked vacantly.

"Naruto. Stop wasting my time. What's with all the low rank missions?"

Naruto smiled softly, giving him a light shrug. "I did twenty-seven of them today."

Sasuke gave Naruto a dubious look, his legs stretched stiff under the wheelie chair, arms folded. "Why in the hell would you do that?"

"They only had twenty seven," Naruto replied.

"You know what I mean, dumbass."

Naruto leaned over the desk so that their faces were only inches apart. Sasuke scowled but didn't move away. "So that I could come here and see you, of course!"

Sasuke made a disgusted sound, pushing the too-close face away with perhaps a little more force than necessary. Sasuke was surprised to see it poof into nothing, and even more surprised to see another Naruto standing behind it. Blinking, the new Naruto gave Sasuke a sheepish grin, scratching his cheek. Sasuke leant to the side, only to see an entire queue of Naruto's stretched out behind the first, all holding mission reports, all grinning like total idiots.

Sasuke resignedly accepted each report, just as he resignedly turned down each and every clone. This was one of the longer days on the job.