Haruno Ryoko

-9.broken noses

The next few days went impossibly  slow. It was a boring cycle of sleeping, eating and watching Sasuke play. Sasuke kept on pestering me to play with him, but I thought of Naruto who I'd once again left alone and my mood soured.

One thing that was good, was that Fugaku had toned down the glares. Seemingly coming to realize I wasn't some super skilled spy and just a four year old child, he liked to pretend I didn't exist.

Today, Sasuke had dragged me to his favorite lake to play 'ninja' and I finally made up my mind. I was going to sneak out today. It wasn't going to be an easy ordeal because I knew Fugaku didn't want to let me out of the compound lest I 'relay all the super secret info to my employers'.

I let go of my imaginary kunai and stopped punching the imaginary bad ninja I had been fighting.

 Sasuke whined- "Why did you stop? we were just getting to the good part!"

I walked up to him and stared him down, thankful to my few extra inches of height. "Listen here Sasuke, are you a little kid who only plays pretend ninja and can't actually do anything?"

He scrunched up his nose "I can be a real ninja. I'm stronger than you."

I raised an eyebrow at his declaration, "Is that so?"

He nodded his head looking proud of himself, for what exactly- I didn't know.

"Then would you like to go on a secret mission with me?"

His widened and he nodded his head vigorously "A mission? This is so cool! Are we gonna beat up ninjas? Are we-"

"We're going to sneak out of the compound without anyone seeing us." 

"Oh", his demeanor visibly dimmed "That's not so cool."

"Come on, It'll be fun."

"....alright", he finally said "But first! We'll need to prepare!"

***

And that was how we ended up in Sasuke's closet rummaging through his 'secret supply' of ninja stuff.

I examined the thick scroll about ninjutsu in my hands, "Where did you get all this?"

"I borrowed it from father and nii-san"

"You mean you stole it?"

He frowned, "no I borrowed it." and returned to rummaging.

I raised an eyebrow at him, "Sure, let's go with that."

He actually had an impressive arsenal of kunais, wires, scrolls etc etc.
Which was quite concerning because- who is letting lil bro have these?

After we loaded up on kunais - which was really stupid because if we got caught, we'd look hella sus, but we did anyway cuz ninja weapons? yes- we sneaked out through the window.

"Let's go", I pointed to the right alleyway "the main village's that way."

"Um, the exit's that way." Sasuke said pointing in the opposite direction.

"..."

"..."

"Alright then, lead the way."

Turns out having Sasuke along was a great help because my sense of direction was shit, also he knew the place like the back of his hand. Without him I couldn't possibly have evaded all the guards throughout the compound. Seriously, this place was more secure than the hokage tower.

Finally, we reached the familiar apartment which was, as always, in dire need of repair.

"Why're we in a junkyard?" asked Sasuke still smiling obnoxiously because we 'completed our first ninja mission.'

"This is not a junkyard and we're here to visit my friend.", I replied starting towards Naruto's floor.

"You have friends other than me?"
I paused knocking on Naruto's door

"..." 

 I didn't realize he considered me a friend, I'd only been around for barely a week or so.

I was spared from answering when the door suddenly opened hitting me straight in the face.

"Ow, what the fuck" I spat, clutching my nose which I was 99% sure was dislocated, tears started to form in my eyes.

"Ryoko-chan!"

"You said the f word! I'm going to tell mommy!"

I gritted my teeth and willed my tears back. Glaring at both of them I growled, "Inside. Now."

They both gulped simultaneously and hurriedly ran inside. After some scuffling and ice packs later, we were all seated on Naruto's couch.

"So...you're Ryoko-chan's friend?", Sasuke asked Naruto, skeptically looking him up and  down.

"Her BEST friend, dattebayo!"

Sasuke gasped and leapt of the couch, "No, I'm her best friend!"

Naruto followed suit and yelled, "Then, I'm her bestEST friend!"

I was touched by them considering me their best friend and all, but honestly? All this screaming combined with the pain of my nose literally getting crushed few minutes prior was becoming too much too handle.

"ENOUGH", I screamed and both of them turned to me, both looking as if the world had wronged them.

"You're both my best friends." I declared "and you're both each other's best friends."

"Huh?"

"Hah?"

"You're both each other's best friends." I repeated, slowly this time.

"Ryoko-chan, did you hit your head too hard on the door? There's no way I'd ever be best friends with him." 

You were literally the one who slammed the door on my face. 

"Yeah, I'd never be friends with a dumbo like him."

"You both are best friends. End of story. End of discussion. If you want to be friends with me, you gotta be friends with each other."

Sasuke and Naruto just glared at each other. I rolled my eyes and held both of their hands in mine, bringing them together I said, "Now shake on it"

They reluctantly shook their hands and once again we were seated on the couch. Then I suddenly remembered I hadn't even introduced them and forced them to be 'best friends'.

"Naruto, this is Sasuke and Sasuke, this is Naruto."

"Why did he get a introduction before me." grumbled Sasuke.

"I knew her before you did!" Naruto exclaimed triumphantly.

"Oh yeah? She lives with me!"

Aaaand they were back to squabbling.