Lovely Sorrow

Two

I woke up with tears in my eyes.

I shot up out of bed screaming at the top of my lungs. It wasn't until I realized I was at home in bed and that it was light outside that I knew it was just a nightmare.

I wiped the sweat from my brow and flopped back onto the futon, letting the soft breeze of the ceiling fan cool my shaking body. I gripped tightly onto the blankets and rolled myself into a burrito. This was the only way I felt safe whenever I woke up from a bad dream all alone.

But naturally I'd always been alone, so I was quite accustomed to dealing with things on my own.

I did always have my team to cheer me up. Kakashi-sensei, Sakura, Sasuke-

...Sasuke.

Ah, yes, he and Sakura has confessed their love for each other last night during the festival - and, unfortunately, I was there to witness the whole thing.

I rubbed my head and sighed. There was no way to avoid them completely, not forever, but I also couldn't lock myself up in my room all day. Ramen was calling my name, and I just so happened not to have any breakfast food at my place. Plus, the warmness of the ramen always made me happy, even on my worst day.

Which was, coincidentally, today.

I arrived at the more than familiar ramen stand  fifteen minutes after my initial departure and ordered a large ramen bowl with chicken and lots of spices. Eating also had a way of easing my sadness, so I figured I'd treat myself, if only for one day.

I easily scarfed down three bowls in a row, and by the time the third was empty I had only been there for twenty minutes, and the chef gave me a horrified look. Even the other customers were afraid of me.

"U-um...are you okay, Naruto?" The chef asked me hesitantly as I began working on my fourth bowl.

"Of course I'm fine, what makes you think otherwise?" I said as I shoved the noodles into my mouth.

"Oh, I-I don't know..." he mumbled. "It's just so early in the morning and you aren't usually down here until at least noon every day. Plus you ate three bowls of ramen like a champ..." I swallowed down the last bit of the broth and burped obnoxiously loud.

"Make that four. Mind getting me another bowl, Mister?"

"If you keep stuffing yourself like that you'll explode. And then what would Kakashi say about losing a precious team member?" My body stilled.

Not him, not now...

"Sasuke," I said without looking at him. I felt him smirk at my back.

"Naruto," he greeted sexily. I furrowed my brows and stiffened. I couldn't stay here any longer, not with Sasuke so close to me.

I stormed out of the ramen shop and ran away from Sasuke as fast as I could. I went to hide out in a clothes store, but when I got there, Sasuke was already waiting for me outside.

"Hello again," he said. I shook my head and sprinted off again in the opposite direction. This time I thought out a route via the trees placed all over the village, and hid out atop a random rooftop.

"Is there a reason why you're running away from me?" Sasuke asked with an innocently curious tone of voice. I didn't even take the time to catch my breath because before I could I was off again.

I had run all over town and hid in various places in hopes that Sasuke would stop following me, but it seemed like all my efforts to hide from him were wasted as he, once again, immediately found me head-over-sink in the boys' bathroom throwing up about half of the ramen I forced myself to eat.