Naruto Age Regression

Chapter 3

"Sa-kur-aa." Naruto tasted the name as though it were very bitter medication. His face scrunched up into one of displeasure and determination.

Flower-er, Sakura had told him she knew Sasuke didn't think he was stupid. But Naruto knew Sakura was just saying that to make him feel better. She didn't want him to feel stupid, so she said nice things. Sasuke couldn't care either way so he didn't pay attention to the faces he was making, or what he said. Naruto was going to make sure that Sasuke didn't look at him like that anymore. So while Sakura went and got Sasuke, Naruto was spending time working on his first step: Using Sakura's actual name instead of the nickname he'd given her. Naruto wasn't sure if it would be more embarrassing to start using her real name and have her call him on it, or to continue calling her Flower girl and have Sasuke make those mean smiles at him. Either way, he had to try.

"Sa-kur-aa." He stuck out his tongue, "Ugh."

"Sakura ugh? Since when has that been my name, huh, wise guy?"

Naruto whirled around and took a step back. Sakura stood at the door with Sasuke a few steps in front of her. She chuckled and strode into the room. Sasuke looked as impatient as ever. Naruto felt compelled to curl up in a ball under his covers and hide but chose to stay where he was. Sasuke wasn't a bad guy. He just was bad with people when he first met them. Naruto fell back onto his bed. He decisively ignored the easy escape route now close to him and allowed Sakura to sit down next to him. Wait, that wasn't Sakura. Naruto saw Sasuke's lean muscular form lying on the bed next to him in the exact same manner as Naruto was. For a moment, Naruto forgot why exactly Sakura had brought Sasuke back. But then as Sasuke turned his head to the side and gave Naruto an expectant look, Naruto remembered with a blush.

"'m sorry, Sasuke." Naruto muttered. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"Apology accepted." Sasuke replied smoothly. This was something else Naruto noticed, Sasuke hardly ever meant anything he said. If Sasuke said it, don't believe it until you see further action to prove his words trustworthy.

Naruto giggled, but decided to hold in his comment for fear of it yielding an angry Sakura or an angry Sasuke. However, Sasuke didn't seem intent on letting Naruto's laugh go away without scrutiny.

"What?" Sasuke grunted at him.

"I'm sorry, it's just..." Naruto laughed again, "Everything about you is so grown up-ish."

Sakura snorted from a few feet away and Sasuke scowled severely. So Naruto held in the rest of his opinion. He didn't quite feel safe enough around Sasuke yet to say anything he wanted. Sasuke turned his face away from him, electing instead to stare at the ceiling. Naruto rolled his eyes and lifted his head a bit to look at Sakura. She was staring at the two of them in an 'awwww' way, and Naruto scowled, making him feel too much like Sasuke. He made a face, trying to get across to her 'what should I do now?' Sakura subtly gestured to the papers that were peeking out from under the covers. Naruto's eyes widened at the silent suggestion, even though he knew 'Sasuke wanted to help'. It still made him nervous, the idea of showing Sasuke something so personal to him. They'd only met today. But, knowing he could trust Sakura, if not Sasuke, Naruto reached over to his drawings and pulled them out. Flopping back down on the bed, Naruto held the pictures up above his face to look at them. In a moment of hesitation Naruto nearly held them to his chest covering them from sight. But, a breath of a second later, Sasuke had subtly inched closer to him on the bed to look up at the drawings. Naruto's breathing hitched for a second, and he coughed, Sasuke lying that close to him was making his tummy have ticklish feelings he didn't like.

"Who's that?" Sasuke asked, pointing up to the stick figure lying on the ground in the first picture.

Naruto stared at the little stick figure he'd drawn probably months ago. He had short crayon scratches black hair, and blue lines coming off his face to show he was crying. Naruto had drawn red blotches along the stick figure's body to show he was bleeding from the kicks of the bigger stick figure. His face felt clammy and cold, and Naruto closed his eyes for a minute trying to relax himself before he looked at the picture again.