There's a Reason He Doesn't Sleep

The Masquerade

"Are we there yet?" Sakura, once again, looked up from her phone to ask the same question. If Naruto hadn't lost count yet, this would be the sixteenth time she's asked. Kisame's usual response was to turn up the music on the radio.

The concert was at the Masquerade, a place where mostly rock and indie bands gather. It was more of a stage for new bands, but every once in awhile, a famous band or two would come and play.

It wasn't as big as other places were. The Masquerade was only one floor consisting of a stage, a backstage room, and of course, the entire rest of the floor for the crowd. The crowds usually ranged from adult fans to the new scene of rebellious teenagers dressed up in their most revealing attire. Often times, it was just a place where they would gather to hook up. Naruto was glad at least none of his friends were like that, except maybe Sakura with her loud pink hair or Sasuke with his fringe. Thinking about it, Naruto decided he was the only normal one as even Kisame and Itachi shared a part of the look.

"Just a few more minutes, guys. Are you excited?" Itachi lowered the music and turned in his seat to face them. "I hear they got sold out this time."

Itachi, as most of you know already, is Sasuke's older brother. He's two years older than Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, making him and Kisame about twenty one. He takes after his father, managing one of the two growing companies that dealt in trade with some other countries. However, unlike his father, Itachi was a bit wild and preferred not to spend much time working.

He sat in the front seat, as always claiming that in Kisame's car, he would always ride shotgun. His eyes were a brown red, his waterline adorned with smudged black eyeliner for the event, as if his lashes weren't dark and thick enough to give him a natural lined look. He wore a loose grey shirt that he purposely vandalized by cutting off the sleeves, leaving two giant holes for his skinny arms to poke through. His entire side was visible, but Naruto guessed that was the point. As some type of rebellion against his father, Itachi had acquired a few ear piercings since those were easier to hide with his long hair.

"I'm excited." Sakura said. "But I'm losing all the hype with this traffic." She turned her phone off and looked up, noticing Itachi's face looking back at her. He threw her a wink and laughed when Sakura made a repulsed face. "You know, you make me want to just reach out and rip that damn piercing off your face every time I see you." She said, referring to the recently acquired septum piercing Itachi got.

"Oh yeah? Anytime, baby girl." Itachi laughed, messing around with Sakura was his way of having fun. "Then again, never mind. I only let the pretty girls touch my face."

Kisame snickered, averting his eyes from Sakura's as he looked into the rearview mirror. Itachi and Sasuke laughed, unable to keep their laughter in as Sakura spat something back to the older Uchiha. Naruto smiled a bit, staying out of it and instead keeping his eyes on Kisame as he drove.

"Hey, man, we're in a hurry! Keep moving, you asshole!" Kisame yelled as he lowered his window, honking an annoying amount of times towards the car in front.

Kisame was Itachi's best friend since probably their freshmen year. He was a tall guy, towering over Itachi with just a few inches. Due to his job at the aquarium, Kisame didn't have any piercings of the like. Even Itachi, his septum was sure to disappear after he got tired of it. "Fucking old people, man." He complained, leaning his head on his palm as his elbow rested on the open window. He had black hair, styled into a diagonal, sharp cut and waxed to stand on its own. Due to the shark-like tattoos on his face and his intense eyes, Kisame looked very intimidating. Today, Kisame wore a tight fitting black V-neck and a pair of ripped black skinnies, nothing special, since he always wore black for his job.

Finally out of traffic, Kisame drove only a few more minutes until finally arriving at their destination. Finding a parking space took forever, but thankfully, they found a convenient spot not to far from the entrance.

"Stay together, guys. This place is packed." Sakura advised, getting out of the car and stretching high in the air. Itachi decided to play around and make her mad by slapping her butt, effectively, he succeeded in making her mad and now ran as she went after him with a colorful string of profanities.

Kisame chuckled, locking the car as he walked over towards Naruto and Sasuke. "Itachi should really stop that if he doesn't want his girlfriend getting mad at him again."

"You know, I never once understood why Konan still dates him. She's honestly better off being with Pein." Sasuke commented, watching how his brother teased Sakura this time by taking her phone and dangling it high in the air. Throwing an arm around Naruto, Sasuke frowned as the boy flinched but ignored it as they began walking towards the entrance.

Entering, they walked the few steps down into the floor, Kisame immediately joining Itachi to hang out with the band in the back. Sasuke led Naruto to sit down at the bar, ordering just a soda while Naruto looked around for Sakura. She had vanished just like that, and looking around, all Naruto had to look for was her pink hair to spot her amongst a group of friends.

"Here you go, hun. Drink's on me." The woman behind the counter slid a tall glass over towards Naruto and smiled.

"Uh...I'm not drinking toda- I mean, thanks." Naruto stuttered, unable to refuse to a smile like that.

"No problem." She smiled once again, this time wider before going back to attending other people.

Sasuke, surprised, looked over towards the blue eyed male. "Well then, aren't you popular." He joked with a smile, earning a small chuckle from the blond.

"Jealous I can get free drinks?" Naruto then asked, raising an eyebrow with a teasing smile set in place.

"Woah there, calm down, babe. I'm not jealous." He said before taking a sip from his soda. "I would be jealous, though, if you had accepted it from another guy." Sasuke's hand brushed Naruto's cheek. The blond leaned in to the touch and pecked Sasuke on the lips. For a moment, the thoughts that had been bothering him had disappeared as he felt comfortable with Sasuke, then, he was dragged back into worrisome thoughts as he pulled away slowly.

"Something wrong?" The dark haired male questioned, watching Naruto take his free drink and take a considerable drink from it.

"Nothing in particular." Naruto responded. Sasuke shrugged it off, changing the subject as they waited for the concert to start. The two laughed and chatted before finally leaving the bar. Sasuke held Naruto's hand as he led him towards the head of pink hair in the crowd, At first nervous, Naruto pushed away the anxiety of the closed space and made sure to be on Sasuke's heels.

There were intimidating looking men and women all over, some throwing an uninterested glance at them as they passed by and some simply letting them through without a single glance. Naruto was uncomfortable nonetheless and Sasuke couldn't see it.

"Stay close to me, you know how Konan's concerts are. There's always a fucking mosh pit." That was the last thing Naruto heard him say before someone cut them off as they fell back. Their hands no longer holding on to each other.