Demon Hunters

“So, I guess that means that you no longer have anyone to eat dinner with?”



“Seems like it.”



“Hn…” Sasuke trailed off, seeming to think about something, “Well, then how about you have dinner with me?”



Naruto was speechless; Sasuke was asking him to go to dinner with him? This was unbelievable. Was this seriously the same bastard that he’d met only a few days ago? Naruto couldn’t help but wonder what brought on the sudden change of heart.



“Sure,” Naruto answered.



Sasuke smiled at the blonde, and nodded his head for Naruto to follow. Naruto found that he couldn’t help but think that Sasuke should smile more often; it looked good on him. It made the raven’s eyes seem less…



“Where would you like to go to eat?”



Naruto was brought out of his musings by Sasuke’s voice.



“What?” the blond asked, not hearing a word of what Sasuke had said.



“I asked you where you would like to go eat,” replied Sasuke, walking in step with Naruto.



“I don’t know what’s around here actually.”



Naruto had only been to the café, where he’d first met Sasuke, and the school. He had also been to the park, but somehow that didn’t seem like a place so much as a destination.



“Oh. Well, what do you like to eat?” Sasuke asked Naruto as they passed through the school’s front gates.



“I like ramen,” Naruto stated thoughtfully.



A little surprised at Naruto’s food choice; Sasuke smiled. He knew just the place to take him.



“I know just the place then. I think you’ll like it, Naruto.”



Sasuke turned to look at the blond, who had been looking intently at him. Catching himself, Naruto discreetly turned his head away. He had been studying the raven’s eyes; there was something familiar in those dark eyes.



“So, where’s this place you’re taking me?” Naruto asked.



“You’ll see when we get there,” was all Sasuke said as he smiled at Naruto.



This, in turn, made Naruto smile.



As Sasuke led Naruto to the restaurant, both boys found themselves having a good time, and enjoying each other’s company. After about fifteen minutes of walking, Sasuke stopped in front of a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant.



“What is this place?” Naruto asked, admiring the home-like atmosphere the place had.



“It’s the best place to eat ramen in all of Kohnoha,” Sasuke said pulling back one of the curtains that served as the place’s door so Naruto could enter. Naruto walked in and immediately sat down at the bar on the middle stool and rested his elbows on the counter.



Sasuke chuckled to himself at seeing the blond sitting on the stool, acting like a kid in a candy-store. Gracefully, Sasuke took the stool next to Naruto and looked up at the wall to where the menu was posted.



Naruto decided on a bowl of regular ramen, and Sasuke ordered the same. Naruto and Sasuke engaged in a little pointless banter while waiting for their food.



“So what’s this place called, Sasuke?” Naruto asked breaking apart his wooden chopsticks.



“Ichiraku,” Sasuke answered copying Naruto and breaking his own chopsticks.



“So how’d you come across this place?” Naruto asked playing with his water glass and chopsticks.



“I don’t really remember,” Sasuke stated, amused by Naruto’s antics.



The blonde was trying to pick up one of his ice cubes with his chopsticks.



“I like checking out new restaurants, and places to eat, and I just happened to stumble upon this place.”



“That’s cool.” Naruto beamed but then scowled as the ice cube he’d managed to lift an inch out of his cup plopped back into the glass with a small splash.



“Here’s your ramen, boys,” The man behind the counter said as he slid the bowls in front of them.



“This looks delicious!” Naruto smiled, as he inhaled the heavenly aroma of the ramen.



“So, Sasuke,” Naruto started, his mouth full of noodles, “Now that I think about it you have really great timing.”



‘What do you mean?” Sasuke asked questioningly, carefully picking up a fish cake with his chopsticks and eating it.



“Well,” Naruto swallowed, “Haku had left with Zabuza, and I would have had to eat alone. That is, until you showed up,” Naruto beamed then shoved more noodles into his mouth.



Sasuke choked a little on his noodles.



“Yeah. Good timing…” Sasuke agreed.



Excellent timing, when one took into account that after Sasuke had received his orders he had called up Zabuza, telling him where he could find Haku. He had also cleverly suggested that he take the smaller male out to dinner once he’d found him.



Naruto noticed when Sasuke grew silent, and looked over to him. He took in the raven-haired teen sitting next to him. Sasuke had an astoundingly handsome face; his hair looked soft as it carefully framed his face. Even though Sasuke had been a real bastard to him at first, Naruto couldn’t find it in him to hate the Uchiha. The thought kind of scared Naruto; he could no longer hate this person sitting next to him. But that statement didn’t seem entirely accurate; if Naruto was willing to be totally honest with himself he would admit that he never really hated the Uchiha. And reflecting on Sasuke’s abrupt change in attitude the blond found himself wondering if Sasuke felt the same.



There was just something in the raven-haired teen’s eyes that made it impossible for Naruto to hate him. There was something teasingly familiar in Sasuke’s eyes; they were the same, Naruto realized. Sasuke and he were the same.



“Naruto?” Sasuke’s voice pierced through his thoughts; interrupting him from his musings.



Realizing that he’d been staring at the raven, Naruto felt a little embarrassed and turned his face towards his empty ramen bowl.



“Thanks for inviting me to dinner with you, bastard,” Naruto said, and before Sasuke could respond he added; “This is nice.”



“No problem, dobe,” Sasuke found himself saying before he even realized it.



Sasuke was a little taken aback by the blonde’s sincere attitude. He had expected getting the blond to warm up to him to be much more difficult. Especially considering how angry Naruto had been with him before, but the look in the blonde’s soft blue eyes told the raven that he no longer needed to worry about that anger. It was gone; replaced by an emotion that Sasuke had long ago given up on: hope.



…



“Thank you for dinner Zabuza, it was wonderful.” Haku beamed up at the older teen.



“No problem. I’m glad you enjoyed it,” Zabuza said, smiling at Haku, “I’m just sorry that the waiter kept hitting on you throughout the night because he thought you were a girl.”



Haku chuckled a little, not catching Zabuza’s scowl at that last part.



“It’s all right. You know, now that I think about it, our original waiter seemed to have disappeared after you went to use the restroom.”



Zabuza chuckled a little to himself at Haku’s perplexed look.



It was around eight o` clock now and the wind had begun to pick up. Haku shivered slightly as the cool breeze hit his exposed skin.



“Are you cold?” Zabuza asked, looking worriedly down at Haku.



“Oh, no I’m fine. Thank you for your concern though, Zabuza,” Haku stated politely.



Zabuza let out an exasperated sigh.



“What’s wrong, Zabuza?”



“You are a perplexing creature. Do you know that?” Zabuza asked closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose.



“I’m not sure I follow,” Haku said slowly, confused.



Zabuza opened his eyes slowly and stared at Haku for a minute. The younger boy was beautiful in the dim lighting of the streets. His long brown hair pulled into a ponytail at the base of his neck, with two strands falling free in the front to gently frame his delicate face.



Haku shivered slightly; whether it was from the intense scrutiny of the other boy’s gaze, or the cold wind that was wrapping around his lithe body he didn’t know.



Then, unexpectedly, Zabuza pulled the younger boy into his arms, and embraced him tightly.



“Zabuza?” the younger boy asked, caught off-guard by the other’s actions.



“Haku,” Zabuza started, nuzzling his face into the younger boy’s hair. “You’re always so polite to everyone. You treat me the same as everyone else around you – except Naruto. You treat Naruto differently because he’s very special to you… I don’t like it.”



“What?”



“I don’t want you to treat me the same as everyone else. I want to be special to you. I want to mean even more to you than Naruto does.” Zabuza finished relaxing his hold on Haku a little.



Haku’s eyes widened at Zabuza’s confession. Haku was stunned, and it felt like his brain had temporarily checked out.



To Zabuza’s dismay the teen in his arms didn’t say anything; he just stood there in his embrace. Taking Haku’s silence as an answer, Zabuza let go of Haku, and flinched as he felt a sharp pain in his chest.



“I’m sorry; I said all that and put you on the spot; forget what I just said.”



It was then that something in Haku snapped back to life. “Forget what you said?” Haku whispered registering the finality of those words.



“No!” Haku choked out frantically.



Zabuza opened his eyes – he hadn’t realized he’d closed them – and looked down at Haku questioningly.



“No! Don’t leave me, Zabuza! Please.”



Before he could stop himself, Haku felt hot tears brim his eyes and they soon started flowing down his cheeks. For a moment, Haku was overcome with the feeling of déjà vu. Then came a dull throbbing in the back of his head; it felt as if a small bomb had blown a crater in his mind, letting loose a flood of faces and sounds all jumbled together. Haku was unable to quell the tears that continued to fall, as memories he didn’t remember having flashed before his eyes.









-----TBC-----

Props to anyone who gets why Sasuke is eating a fish cake.

:]



Anyway, I think I'm gonna leave it here for right now - I've done enough uploading for one day. I'll post chapter 8 once I've gotten some reviews.



As always, thank you for reading. Please rate and review.