Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Innocent Illusions ❯ Slowly Progressing ( Chapter 4 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Co.





Innocent Illusions


Now that he thought about it, Naruto didn't actually have a clue how to convince Sasuke to come back to the village actually. He was a big picture kind of guy. He knew the main important things but for the details... he stayed away from them.

So he knew what he had to do to bring Sasuke back. The problem was he didn't know how to.

It was quite simple actually. All Naruto had to do was think of the reason Sasuke left and use that reason to bring him back. Well actually, it's not that simple.

Naruto knew that Sasuke left because he wanted revenge on his older brother, Itachi. So he had to take away Sasuke's reason for leaving which meant he would come back, hopefully. So there were two ways this problem would be solved.

He could either kill Itachi which would end the feud between the two brothers. But then, Sasuke might become angry at him for getting in the way. When Naruto actually thought about it, Sasuke was too much of a complicated person.

He wanted Itachi to be dead. But if Naruto killed him, Sasuke would get mad at him because he wanted to do it himself. Sasuke wanted to be the one who killed Itachi. But that's pointless, they would just arrive at the same destination. With a dead Itachi on their hands.

And then, the other problem with that is that Itachi's whereabouts were unknown. Even though Sasuke spent about five or six years of life trying to find that man.

It saddened Naruto a little bit whenever he thought about it. Sasuke's wasting his life away.

He ignored the part in his mind that he was wasting his life away, trying to get Sasuke back. It wasn't as if Naruto would ever leave Konoha like Sasuke did and pursue the man. It was too much to do. Too much to lose.

But now, he had the opportunity to bring Sasuke back without going to extreme measures. Which brings us back to his second plan.

Since he and/or Sasuke couldn't kill Itachi, then he'd have to convince Sasuke that revenge isn't worth his time.

Unfortunately, Naruto had to pick that plan. It was easier than the first but that still didn't mean that the task was easy at all.

So that was why Naruto was currently banging his head repeatedly on the wall in the locker room as he tried to think of something.

I'll just- wait no. That won't work. Then, Sasuke will- never mind. That's won't work either. Maybe I should- This is too damn hard! The banging continued on for a while but it got slower and slower until it eventually stopped. Naruto sat on the bench and leaned his head back before letting out a defeated sigh. Aww. Screw it.

This time, he thought of another route to go. Sasuke came back to the bar because Naruto or rather Sobame-chan acted like an old friend of Sasuke's. And Naruto had a pretty good idea who he was talking about. So I just act like myself?

Naruto clenched his hands. He felt like he should do at least some complicated planning. This after all was a high-class mission to bring Sasuke back. It felt weird Naruto was just going to wing it and hope it would work with Sasuke.

But then Naruto just had to be himself. So how should Naruto plan to be Naruto?

Why does this have to be so hard? Now the problem is causing Naruto to start arguing with himself.

Okay, so I'll just-

"Sobame-chan! Hurry up!" Akane called.

With a sigh, Naruto sent one more distressed look into the mirror and walked out of the room. What am I going to do?


~*~*~*~*~*~


Naruto rushed through the restaurant and placed down trays while giving the customers cheerful smiles when he actually wanted to make angry faces at them. Secretly blaming them for his bad day.

He came to the last table and placed down the small tray. "Here's your order."

Sasuke nodded and reached over for it. Naruto looked back over the crowd before sighing.

Sasuke looked up and Naruto thought he could see a small amount of surprise when he slipped into the booth across from Sasuke. But then again, it was gone too quickly to be digested as an emotion.

Miyu looked at him strangely before Naruto answered her unspoken question.

"I'm taking a break." She nodded before walking away.

The waitresses usually got a fifteen-minute break. Although, they couldn't have a break together so that ruined the idea of any social discussions.

"Mmmmm." Naruto moaned as he lied his aching head onto his folded arms.

Sasuke's face held no expression as he sipped his tea.

"Aren't you gonna ask me what's wrong?" Naruto questioned. Even though yesterday, he realized that Sasuke would start talking. He never really saw the lengths of his vocabulary.

"What?" Sasuke asked, although it didn't seem liked he cared at all.

"What as in 'what did you say' or what as in 'what's wrong'?"

"Second." Naruto lifted an eyebrow as he noticed a pattern.

"Are you going to answer all my questions with one word?"

"Hn." Naruto glared at Sasuke as he sipped his tea before he gave up and started explaining his day.

He wasn't even in a good mood when the day started.

Naruto had to skip breakfast when his alarm clock failed to wake him up which left him with almost no time at all to get ready.

And then for some reason, the club was packed with twice as much customers than usual. And the club's normal attendance was a lot by itself. So you can imagine the massive group of people that stood waiting for service.

And when people were waiting, Naruto had to move faster which ended up with him stubbing his pinky toe on a chair leg.

Then, it caused Naruto to react by shrieking and jumping on one foot as if that action would spare him from the pulsing pain.

Some girls laughed at him but most guys around him took advantage of the situation. Naruto shuddered as he remembered the big man that tried to 'comfort' him in his moment of pain.

He never noticed how many men acted like idiots around girls.

To make things worse, a waitress was fired the day before. So there were less people to help Naruto serve the hungry people.

Naruto also had to sprint all the way through thick crowds to serve food and then run back to just do it again. It was wearing away at his muscles. So he was tired.

Naruto allowed his eyes to close for a while to just enjoy the small bliss of the action.

"And half of the day isn't even over yet! Don't you feel sorry for me?" Naruto glanced up at Sasuke and hoped that he would speak. The conversation was starting to feel one-sided. "You know, it'd be nice if you'd actually spoke more than one word. I'm pretty sure your voice is in good condition."

"Why are you here?" Naruto looked up with a triumphant expression before shrugging his shoulders.

"I'm on break and I feel like sitting here."

"Why?"

"Because you're the only guy here who won't hit on me." Naruto stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Hn." It was then that Naruto remembered what he had been wondering about the day before.

"Tell me about your friend. The one I remind you of." Let's see what he says.

Unfortunately, the question caused Sasuke to harden his stare and tighten his hold around the cup. In other words, he clammed up. Am I such a bad topic to talk about?

Naruto was about to say something when one of the waitresses told him that his break was over.

He groaned at the prospect of going back to work and offered Sasuke a weak smile.

"Sorry if I offended you but it was still nice talking to you." It's nice talking to an old friend. Even if you don't want to talk about me.

Naruto stood up and left, unaware that Sasuke's eyes followed him as he left.


~*~*~*~*~*~


After that day, Naruto spent his breaks with Sasuke. Although, Naruto mostly supplied the conversation.

But he was satisfied with Sasuke's one-worded answers or occasional sentence.

It was a few days later after his first break with Sasuke that something changed.

Naruto had walked to Sasuke's table intending to take a nap. He wouldn't do it this often but today, he just felt extremely tired.

He scooted all the way to the wall and lied his in his arms. He did some more odd movements until he found a comfortable position.

"So you're not going to whine about your day?" Naruto's eyes jumped open.

Usually, Naruto was the one who initiated the conversations. Never had Sasuke spoken first.

"Umm..." Naruto said when he couldn't think. "Well, there's nothing really bad happening."

"Really?"

Naruto gave a careless shrug, feeling a little less tired than before.

"I guess so. Since I've sat here, it's like people stopped bothering me. Men stopped hitting on me." He paused for a moment. "Well, most men stopped hitting on me. My friends not bothering me about getting a guy but I don't really know why. Oh! And a replacement waitress is coming tomorrow. So it won't be so crazy around here anymore."

"Good for you."

"Yup." The club was one of the subjects Naruto would usually rant about but now there was nothing interesting happening.

There was a moment of silence before Naruto found a subject to talk about.

"Wanna here a funny story?" Sasuke stayed silent but Naruto made it out as a 'yes'. "It was a long time ago but it's really funny. My friends and I were bored so we decided to play a prank on someone but we didn't know who. Until the person came and gave us the answer. Then, we..."

The conversations he had with Sasuke suddenly didn't feel so one-sided anymore.


~*~*~*~*~*~


The bar was packed with customers so Naruto couldn't get to Sasuke on his usual time. He was going to spend his break with Sasuke but he had to do some things first.

It was about a couple of days before when Sasuke finally decided to start speaking to Naruto with more than one word. Naruto still supplied most of the conversation.

It was expected though. Sasuke's a person who'd rather listen. Naruto couldn't imagine him as a consistent chatter.

Their conversations were usually stories about what had happened to Naruto in the Leaf Village. He wanted to have Sasuke updated about the events in Konoha but he didn't want Sasuke to know it was about Konoha.

So Naruto had to watch his mouth so he wouldn't let a name slip.

Naruto hurried his movements so he could go have his daily conversations with Sasuke.

The plan was slowly progressing. He was getting Sasuke to open up a little bit more. Thoughts of having Sasuke back at the village gave him a triumphant smile as he handed out the last of the trays.

He went back to the counter and grabbed the final tray. The table was located around Sasuke's spot. At least that saves me a long walk.

He rushed a little to the table. Naruto wanted to start his break as soon as possible or they might call him back to do more work.

Along the way, Naruto saw Sasuke and flashed a small smile as he quickened his pace.

He placed the tray onto the table and rushed his next words. "Here's your order!"

The men smile flirtatiously which caused a Naruto to shudder. Before he could leave, one of them grabbed his hand.

"A pretty lady like you should have a pretty name." Oh! Great. Another flirt.

"Umm... It's Sobame-chan, sir." Naruto gave an uncomfortable smile and gently tugged his hand.

Nope! The guy was holding on pretty tight.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance." He said in a lowered pitch before lowering his head towards Naruto's hand.

He yanked his hand out of the man's grip before his skin was touched by another pair of lips. "I-I have to go, sir."

Naruto walked, almost ran, away. He definitely needed a break right now.

Not too far away, the new replacement waitress stood taking an order.

"Hey!" He yelled, trying to get her attention. Naruto wanted her to tell Kana that he was having a break.

His pace quickened as he saw that she was about to leave. "Hey!"

Naruto walked faster which helped him not notice the sign that stated that the floor was wet. Big mistake.

His foot slipped and his body bent backwards. His hands flapped around uselessly as he tried to regain his balance.

Naruto's eyes shut instinctively as his body surrendered to gravity and fell.

His heart pounded as his body and the floor were about to smash together.

"Open your eyes." Huh?

Naruto was confused as he opened his eyes.

"Umm..." That was all he could say at the moment. He looked up and saw Sasuke. Is he smiling?

Naruto jumped out of Sasuke's arms when he had pieced everything together.

Naruto was running and tripped on the wet floor. Sasuke, being the show off that he is, went and heroically saved him from falling flat on his back.

And it turns out that Sasuke was not smiling. It was just an amused smirk. But Naruto was just happy that he got Sasuke's mouth to have some kind of movement. Instead of his overused frown.

Now, everyone was staring at him.

"Uhh... I'm okay now. Go back to eating." He gave a nervous laugh as everyone turned away. The waitress he had tried to get earlier came over.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine." Naruto scratched his head as he tried to remember her name. He smacked himself when he remembered that she was wearing a name tag. "Can you tell Kana I'm going on a break now, Mina-chan?"

"Okay." She said as she turned around and left.

Naruto turned around and carefully walked to Sasuke's table.

"Thanks for saving my butt back there." He said when he sat down.

"Hn." Naruto took that as a 'No problem' in Sasuke version. "Watch where you're going next time."

Naruto nodded at Sasuke's command. He sounded serious but Naruto thought he could almost detect a tone of amusement. Almost.

"I will. You know, this kinda reminds me of something that happened to my friends. Wanna hear?"

Sasuke leaned on one hand. The position that Naruto now learned as the listening stance. So that meant a yes.

"Well, it was when we were..." Naruto swore that some part in his story got Sasuke to give another of his rare smirks.

The action caused Naruto to give a smile that practically radiated happiness.

Things were moving on slowly but it was still progressing.


~*~*~*~*~*~


A/N: Sorry if this chapter wasn't that good. I think I might have a mini case of writer's block. But it's nothing that bad.