you spin my head right round right round

[update] yaoi high: denial is too troublesome

2009-10-03T06:51:28Z

OMG IT'S BEEN A WHILE SINCE I'VE POSTED HERE I'M SORRY BUT HERE'S THE NEW YH CHAPTER <3333

Title: Welcome to Yaoi High
Pairing(s): SasuNaru, hints of Others Naru
Rating: NC-17 for future content
Genre: Romance/Humor
Warning: none as of yet
Summary: When Naruto entered the doors of Konoha's All Boy's High School, no one told him that his life would change. No one bothered to warn him that this was no normal school, but rather... Welcome to Yaoi High, Naruto.

To My Readers: So the past two-three years of working on this fic has been a rather bumpy road writing it. I know you’re all thinking this is starting to sound like one of those A/N’s that authors leave at the last chapter, but don’t worry! This story is still far from over. I’m just saying this because my intentions at the start of this fic… were none, really. I didn’t have a plan. I just thought: this will be a pointless, fun, sexy fic full of sexy things. I suppose I accomplished the ‘fun,’ just not the ‘sexy’!

Unfortunately my lack of planning is rather obvious after 17 chapters of pure… crack, I guess. What I’m trying to say is, I am very grateful to everyone who has honestly and genuinely enjoyed reading the chapters up until now, because while nothing particularly interesting has happened, I did write this hoping to make people laugh and smile and enjoy themselves. And for those of you who stuck with me since the beginning with hardly any SasuNaru, I thank you all very much.

So… I like to think, after several chapters of building Sasunaru interactions, that I am finally going somewhere with this fic, with the SasuNaru; that everything is finally coming into place. The patience of you readers astounds me. I feel very grateful.

PS: Since Naruto and Gaara had their shower scene, I thought Sasuke deserved one too.

Warning(s): A tad bit OOC-ness, but blame it on the a-a-a-a-alcohol

welcome to yaoi high – 17. denial is too troublesome - eftee

“…Are you even listening?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah…” Naruto mumbled distractedly. Once more he came to school early with Iruka and ran into Sasuke. Since he was early and had a few questions on his math homework, he decided to bother the young teacher. Unfortunately his mind kept drifting off at random intervals – particularly to the memory of the haunted hospital. He could still remember the sight of the figure that appeared at the window. It was far too creepy for him to forget so easily. And because he couldn’t forget such a creepy sight, he was plagued with nightmares of the figure suddenly leaping out the window to strangle him with bright, red eyes. Naruto shuddered.

Sasuke sighed. “Well, school is about to start anyway,” he said, turning to his wayward student.

“Ne, sensei –“ Naruto started to say, turning to face the older man as well, when blues met onyx and Naruto suddenly realized how close they were. The question he was going to ask instantly died on his lips as his mind chose that moment to malfunction.

It was also at that moment that Sasuke realized several things as well. Firstly, Naruto’s eyes were impossibly bright and blue. Secondly, Naruto was very close. Thirdly, he was bombarded with images of the boy changing in the locker room. Fourthly, he recalled what Iruka told him of the boy’s past, and it made him wonder how, even with such a dark past, the boy’s eyes were so open and bright. It made him want to grab Naruto, shake him, tear him open if only to find out where Naruto kept all that pain hidden; dissect him to better understand how he could be so happy, so smiley, so fucking, unbearably bright all the damn time. The fact that Naruto was so honest and yet so closed off at the same time made Sasuke want to know the real Naruto.

Was the Naruto who interacted with his friends real? Was the Naruto who constantly taunted and provoked Sasuke real? Was the boy sitting in front of him, with wide, blue, blue eyes real? Probably. But there were other sides to this boy, Sasuke knew. He knew deep down, there was anger and pain, and he wanted to see that; to understand it.

At the back of his mind, Sasuke knew he wanted to do more than just understand what was inside Naruto’s mind, if the constant image of a naked and wet Naruto popping into his mind was any indication. The fact that Iruka had trusted him to tell him about Naruto’s past made him wonder what the man would do if he learned of Sasuke’s indecent thoughts towards his young charge who was no doubt like a son to him.

He was always too aware of things. He saw the pink muscle in Naruto’s mouth dart out to lick dry, chapped lips, and suddenly Sasuke’s mouth went dry as well. They were close enough that if Sasuke just tilted his head a little further their lips would meet. It would be a quick kiss, just to satisfy his curiosity. He wondered what the boy would taste like. Ramen, maybe, since Naruto liked ramen so much. Would he feel the same jolt he felt when they made eye contact? Hopefully. Perhaps it would be more electrifying…

“Aa…” Naruto stammered out unintelligently, obviously trying to remember what he was going to ask in the first place. His lips opened and closed repeatedly, leaving Sasuke with the insatiable urge to shove his tongue down that idiot dobe’s mouth.

And then reality came slamming back on to Sasuke. This was his student – who Iruka obviously trusted him around – that he was thinking indecent thoughts about! It was wrong! Wrong in so many ways! Gritting his teeth, the man quickly turned his head away, effectively breaking whatever spell the two were in. He cursed himself for his stupidity as he stood up and pushed the desk back into its proper position, lined properly with the other desks. The bell rang, signaling the start of school. “Get to class, Uzumaki.”

“O-oh… yeah!” Naruto quickly gathered all of his papers, stuffed them into his bag and practically ran out of the classroom and to his homeroom; his cheeks flushed an embarrassingly bright red. What the hell had just happened back there?! One minute he was going to ask his teacher something, and the next he couldn’t even speak, let alone think properly! As he slowed down to a walk, Naruto found his heart was racing erratically in his chest. He wasn’t sure if it was from running, or from the close proximity he was in with Sasuke. Inner Naruto decided to point out it had absolutely nothing to do with running since he hadn’t been running that long. Stupid voice. It needed to go away.

It looked like…for a moment there… that he was going to kiss me, Naruto couldn’t help but think as he remembered how close they had been, how smoldering Sasuke’s eyes were, how nice it would have been to close the gap between them. “…Gah! What am I thinking?!” he burst out, grabbing blond locks and shaking his head vigorously. Sure he admitted to his crush on his teacher, but that didn’t mean he should encourage himself further by thinking such bad thoughts! Sasuke kissing him would never happen! Not even in his wildest dreams!

Naruto dropped his hands from his head, his shoulders sagging in defeat as he sighed. He lifted his head to continue on to class when he realized he had stopped in the middle of a crowded hallway and that people were currently staring at him strangely. He turned redder – if possible – and quickly hurried to homeroom before he could embarrass himself further.

Naruto ran into homeroom, but faltered momentarily as he made his way to his seat. Gaara was there, sitting at the back corner, staring at the window with his usual blank, indifferent expression on his face. Naruto hadn’t seen the other boy since Friday when he practically violated him in the shower. He wondered why he hadn’t seen Gaara at the party or for Halloween, but deep down, Naruto had been relieved. He didn’t want to reenact their last encounter at all, thanks.

It was convenient that Gaara didn’t go to the party, or with them when they went trick-or-treating. But now, almost three days later, there was the devil himself, sitting as if he had no care in the world (“As if he hadn’t violated me!” Inner Naruto roared with a shake of his fist, demanding righteous revenge). Naruto pursed his lips, wanting nothing more than to take said righteous revenge by slamming his fist into that emotionless face. Maybe then he’d get a reaction out of Gaara… With a sigh, the blond reluctantly trudged his way along the front of the class and down the row, pointedly keeping his gaze down as he finally made it to his seat and sat down.

He could feel Gaara’s eyes boring into the back of his head.

Naruto frowned when his sensitive ears picked up the sounds of shifting from behind, and then tensed when he could feel Gaara lean over his own desk, closer to Naruto. A warm breath ghosted over his earlobe and neck from behind and Naruto resisted the urge to shiver. “We need to talk.”

“Like hell –“ Naruto muttered angrily.

“At lunch. On the rooftop.”

“No—“

“Naruto.”

“…fine,” he acquiesced reluctantly. Naruto managed to relax when he heard Gaara give a satisfied grunt as he slid back in his seat. We need to talk, should have been Naruto’s line, the blond thought grumpily. And since when did Gaara ever want to talk to anyone? Perhaps he should bring Shikamaru with him… just in case… No. He didn’t want to appear weak in front of the redhead. If the need should arise, Naruto would fight Gaara. The blond sighed at the thought. He felt silly for thinking Gaara as dangerous, when the boy didn’t physically harm him in the shower. Deep down Naruto knew Gaara meant no harm, that Gaara just didn’t understand what was allowed and what wasn’t. He wasn’t one for words or heartfelt confessions, so by kissing Naruto, Naruto figured that was him explaining what words couldn’t.

Regardless, his actions weren’t acceptable. Gaara needed to learn that and by the Gods Naruto was going to drill that into his hormone-driven mind, dattebayo!

Ten minutes after the second bell rang, Kakashi came sauntering into class as cheerful as ever. Speaking of Kakashi and Iruka, Naruto had a bone to pick with those two as well! Why was Iruka at that pervert’s place before?! The last time he saw them together, Kakashi was violating Iruka! What if that pervert was violating Iruka in his house again?!

Without realizing it, Naruto was doodling away in his notebook, drawing violent pictures of Kakashi and Gaara being strangled (Gaara) or trampled to death by a horde of cows (Kakashi).

The first half of the day went by too fast for Naruto’s liking. The next thing he knew it was lunchtime and he was standing on the rooftop of the school building (were they even allowed up there?). He spotted Gaara standing where the metal fence was, his fingers looped through the links as his other hand was tucked in his pocket. He was slouched over the slightest bit, jade eyes trained on something, or nothing, it was hard to tell. The sound of the door closing pulled the redhead out of his musings and he turned ever so slightly to face the blond.

Naruto was wearing his jacket since it was chilly outside, but Gaara wasn’t. He didn’t seem fazed by the cold wind that played with his hair and rustled his clothes. Naruto looked a bit irritated by that revelation. How was it that Gaara could remain unfazed by anything and everything?

“Listen buddy,” Naruto started, taking a defensive position as he readied himself to Kung-fu Gaara to the moon if he tried anything funny. His eyes were narrowed suspiciously. “Can’t say I exactly trust you at the moment…”

The redhead student raised his hand in a pacifying gesture, saying solemnly: “I swear I am not here to engage in… invigorating actions with you.”

Naruto gaped. More like sexual harassment you jackass! “With? You make it sound as if it was consensual!”

“I am just here to talk. I give you my word.”

The blond continued to eye him suspiciously before grudgingly giving in. “Fine. Then talk.”

Gaara nodded and gestured Naruto over, sitting on a large, box-like structure. He reluctantly walked over and plopped himself down on the hard floor. He was sitting so his back was leaning against the box, Gaara facing one direction as he himself faced another. Naruto pulled out his bento box in order to eat his lunch that he had prepared for himself earlier that morning rather than buying lunch at school. The nightmare he had woke him up exceptionally early so he wasn’t rushing to school for the first time that year.

Mostly out of politeness than anything else, Naruto offered Gaara some of his lunch, but the redhead shook his head in negative (because really, Naruto may be nice and all, but he was rather greedy when it came to his food). As Naruto dived into his food, Gaara dived into some sort of explanation, obviously out of practice in speaking long paragraphs.

“That night you were with me… when those two guys dressed as students confronted me,” he said, “you were… unintentionally dragged into this mess.” His voice was low, hardly a murmur, as he talked. Naruto paused with food sticking out of his mouth so he could tilt his head questioningly at Gaara. “It could have happened to anyone. But you were with me that night, and because they saw you, they’ll associate you with me. Perhaps they’ll even try to come after you to get to me.”

Naruto gulped his food down loudly. “What…do you mean? What exactly are you involved in?”

“My father was the Kazekage of Suna,” Gaara explained. “When I was younger, he used to abuse me and my siblings—“ Naruto choked on his food as he gaped wide-eyed at Gaara but the boy plowed on, voice mechanical, “Him and my mother did. They hated us, and yet gave birth to us anyway. I killed my mother –“ Naruto pounded his fist against his chest to get oxygen flowing, “because I couldn’t take it anymore. After, my father would try to have me killed by putting me in fights…as I got older, he grew more desperate and hired assassins. I suppose he worried I would overtake him one day as Kage.

“But then I ran away here… to Konoha. A few years ago I received word that my father was assassinated. My uncle is the current Kage. Knowing my uncle, he had my father killed. He always wanted the position as Kage. But I did not care. I washed myself of Suna, broke ties with that place, with my siblings. I wanted nothing to do with that place anymore… and then those guys… my… ‘friends,’ I suppose you could say, showed up, demanding me to return. And next thing I know I am being confronted by those two, the blond one and the masked one.”

Naruto stopped eating in order to stare at Gaara. He paused in his explanation, still not used to saying more than a sentence, before he continued, “After the confrontation, I went to find those guys – Not the ones who tried to kill me but my, ahh… friends. I wanted answers. I found out my uncle wanted me dead. Apparently he shares the same sentiment as my father that I am dangerous to his position as Kage, seeing as how my siblings or myself are the rightful heir as the next Kage. But it also made me wonder about my siblings… Kankuro and Temari. If he’s after me, did that mean he got to them? No. They told me Temari and Kankuro are still alive, but that they ran from Suna as well when it became apparent our uncle was trying to take them out.

“They are here, in Konoha, as well. I met with them. I also spent this past weekend…with them.” He didn’t elaborate further on the topic of his siblings after that. Naruto understood now why Gaara had disappeared for a few days. There was silence as Naruto stared unseeingly at his food, before Gaara spoke again, “…I thought it would benefit you to know the truth, seeing as how guys like the blond and masked ones are dangerous. They are ruthless killers, Naruto. They will use whatever means necessary to take down their target. And since you were with me when they confronted me, they will no doubt associate you with me.”

“Killers?” Naruto repeated numbly. It sounded so surreal, farfetched and preposterous, but Naruto knew Gaara wouldn’t over exaggerate, nor would he lie. And when he met the blond man and the masked one, Naruto’s instincts told him those two were dangerous. He just never realized how dangerous. “…I see. Thanks, for warning me then, Gaara. But I’ll kick their asses if I ever run into them!”

Gaara closed his eyes, a barely perceptible smirk tugged faintly at his lips. Naruto was taking the situation more lightly than he thought he would, but then again, this was Naruto he was talking about. He shouldn’t be surprised. There was a more comfortable silence that hung between them as several black birds fluttered by. Naruto watched them take off into the gray sky.

“…What are you going to do now?”

“With my uncle after me, I can’t return to Suna…” Gaara said, “…at least not yet.”

Naruto smiled at that. So Gaara was considering returning to Suna after all.

“The upcoming fighting tournament… there are others like them. They will no doubt participate in the tournament after me and my siblings challenged them.” Naruto gaped at him.

“Can you really do that?”

“We already did. So the tournament has turned into something more now… if we win, my siblings and myself can return to Suna unharmed. From there I will probably exercise my right as the heir since Kankuro and Temari have no interest in the position as Kage.”

“And… if we lose?”

“…Losing is not an option.”

“…” Naruto stared at the jade eyes gazing back at him steadfastly. With a jerky nod, Naruto’s lips split into a wide grin. “No, it isn’t! We’ll definitely win!”

There was conviction in Naruto’s smile; determination in his eyes. It made Gaara want to believe for once in his life. To believe in someone, Gaara thought, was to trust. He had lost the ability to trust others besides his siblings a long time ago. To believe in something was to dream. He used to think dreams were fantasies brought on by one’s foolish imagination due to one’s own naivety that dreams could come true, when, in reality, fantasies were to remain as they were: fantasies. But Gaara thought at that moment maybe he could believe in someone; he could believe in the future, in the possibilities.

There was something else Gaara wanted to say – wanted to ask – but he decided he didn’t want to ruin the moment. The clouds shifted and the sun burst through, illuminating Naruto’s already bright smile whilst making his golden hair shine boldly. And even though it was nearing the end of fall and heading to winter, that smile warmed him to the core. It very well could have been summer, Gaara thought, staring into those cerulean blues.

It wasn’t until after lunch was over and the two went to class that Naruto realized they hadn’t talked about the shower incident.

That bastard!

It was amazing how quick Naruto was to accept his crush towards his very male teacher. Didn’t he used to be straight before he came back to Konoha and its blasted all-boys school? Naruto frowned thoughtfully. Who knows? Maybe I’ve always been gay and I just didn’t know…

He tilted in his head in wonder as he watched Uchiha Sasuke engage in a sparring match with Hyuuga Neji. While Neji was a very skilled fighter – Naruto gave credit where credit was due – the blond teenager was much too entranced with the older man’s movements to pay attention to anything else (or to realize he was practically staring at his teacher with a longing and very dreamy expression). Sasuke moved with such fluid grace and deadly precision it was hard to look away. Not to mention all he was wearing were a pair of sweat pants so watching the movements of Sasuke’s upper body as his torso twisted and his lithe muscles shifted and strained beneath pale, ivory flesh… was doing strange things to Naruto’s stomach.

Inner Naruto blasted through the atmosphere with a heavy amount of blood gushing from his nose.

Considering how acceptingNaruto was of his manly feelings towards his (male) teacher, it made it easier for Naruto ogle said (male) teacher without kicking himself for it. Really. Denial was such a pain in the ass… acceptance was much easier. But then again, acceptance led to ogling, which led to further – er, complications. Such as the feeling in his stomach that felt like something was twisting away uncomfortably at his gut. And noit wasn’t a fluttery-whatever feeling. It was most definitely not something so girly. For manly men did not feel such womanly emotions. The only thing men’s stomachs felt was hunger.

Like the hunger to devour Sasuke-sensei? Inner Naruto leered in a singsong voice (having crash landed back in Naruto’s brain after his blast off into the atmosphere).

EH? NO! Naruto was quick to mentally shriek (at himself), his face flushing at what his Inner self had implied. Where did such a perverted thought come from anyway?! There was no way he was a secret pervert!

Maybe Sasuke-sensei brings out your inner pervert? His Inner voice continued to taunt with evil glee. BAHAHA! YOU’RE A CLOSET PERVERT!

I AM NOT! Naruto mentally screamed, his face turning redder and twisting into a dark scowl. I WILL HURT YOU!

Too bad I AM YOU so technically you’d just be hurting yourself.

AUGH! GO AWAY!

“—Uzumaki!”

“YES?” Naruto snapped, not realizing he raised his voice so loud. He was just so furious with that stupid voice in his head! When he realized it was Sasuke who had addressed him, he paled dramatically. “Er, I mean… yes…sensei?”

“It’s your turn.”

“Aa—“ Naruto blinked, slowly processing the fact that Neji was no longer up their fighting Sasuke, but taking his place with the rest of the students in order to observe. “Right!” He jumped up and hurried on to the matt, skittering in order to take his position across from Sasuke. He felt jumpy and nervous for some reason that had absolutely nothing to do with the realization that he was going to be fighting his half-naked teacher who had pale, ivory skin… who he also had the biggest crush on…

There really must be something wrong with me to be accepting my feelings so easily.

“You’re letting your mind wander, Uzumaki,” Sasuke reprimanded as he took advantage of Naruto’s mental distractions and made the first move. He lunged his right palm in an uppercut, jutting the younger boy beneath his chin. Naruto cried out from surprise as he stumbled back none too gracefully. His feet clumsily tangled together as he stepped back and twisted to the side, barely missing the punch aimed at his head before falling to the ground as Sasuke didn’t waste a second to send another punch at him. Without missing a beat, the raven-haired male lifted a leg and slammed it down. Naruto reacted quickly – but clumsily – as he rolled on to his knees and caught the man’s ankle before the heel of his foot could slam down on the crown of his head.

Gritting his teeth, the blond shoved his opponent away and swiped a leg out in an attempt to sweep Sasuke off of his feet. Sasuke easily avoided the attempt with a smooth jump and a kick. Rather than rolling to the side, Naruto rolled underneath the few feet beneath the matt and Sasuke. In a matter of seconds, teacher and student were on their feet, exchanging determined and challenging stares before Naruto made the next move. Sasuke caught the fist barreling for his head, as well as the second fist.

The two males locked hands and braced themselves as they tried to overpower the other by sending each other back. It was obvious that all though Naruto was smaller, he could easily hold himself against Sasuke with physical strength alone. But then the close proximity made Naruto’s eyes wander to the muscular torso in front of him, made him notice the way the muscles beneath toned arms strained and shifted, made him much too aware of the older man in front of him…

“There you go again, spacing out, dobe,” Sasuke taunted as he suddenly dropped down – dragging a confused blond with him. He planted a foot on Naruto’s stomach as he rolled on his back and kicked his student over, sending a yelping Uzumaki Naruto sailing over him and through the air.

Naruto cursed as he landed in a heap at the edge of the matt. He had to scramble on to his feet before his teacher could take advantage of his disgruntled state yet again. It was true what Sasuke was saying about his mind wandering, but Naruto couldn’t help it! He wanted to yell at the bastard that it was his fault Naruto kept getting distracted, but then how was he going to explain that one? Especially in front of his fellow classmates.

“You’re too open, dobe,” Sasuke’s voice suddenly cut through his thoughts just as his fist connected with the boy’s stomach.

“Fuck,” Naruto cursed, being forced to his knees when Sasuke jabbed harshly at the back of his neck. He dived between the older man’s legs and came up from behind. Before he could even think of attacking Sasuke while his back was turned, Sasuke kicked back and Naruto was forced down yet again.

“You’re not paying attention.”

“Shut up,” Naruto snapped, pushing himself up and glaring as the man turned to face him with calculating obsidians. He already felt humiliated as it was. He didn’t need it further rubbed in his face when he knew exactly why he was so distracted. “I’m not done yet.”

“Hn. You must be a masochist, Uzumaki, to allow yourself to continue to get beat up.”

“I don’t know what that even means but knowing you it’s an insult so shut up and bring it on, bastard!”

Sasuke smirked. He didn’t need further prodding as he ran, the sound of bare feet pounding against the matt sounding in the dojo. Naruto intercepted the punch with a smooth brush of his arm before returning the gesture. Teacher and student fell into a familiar rhythm of exchanged punches and kicks, except this time Naruto was able to compose himself enough to push his distractions to the back corners of his mind. There was always a difference when Naruto set his mind to something. Sasuke would know. Even in school Naruto performed better when he faced things head on with conviction and determination. His mind became sharper. He was more attuned to what was around him. He actually used that neglected brain of his. His reflexes were sharper. He was more perceptive, quicker, stealthy, stronger.

And if there was one thing Sasuke learned about the blond was that he was a quick learner as well as not forgetful. Every time they sparred – or he sparred with the other students – Naruto would take the lesson from each spar session in order to learn more about his opponents, to better himself, to use what he learned to his advantage. While every fighter did that, Naruto was much more sharp and perceptive than the average fighter. He may not look it, or act like it, but he was smart. And if Sasuke was being honest with himself, he’d go as far as saying he always looked forward to the next time he would fight with Naruto, because Naruto always tried something new, and he always, always got better each time.

But, Sasuke thought, while Naruto is getting better, he’s still not as good as me.

After that thought passed through his mind, the Uchiha figured his mind might have spoken too soon as Naruto suddenly twisted around, holding one of Sasuke’s arm over his shoulder. He bumped back, forcing the man to double over the blond’s slouched back. The next thing Sasuke knew he was being flipped over Naruto’s shoulders and on to his back with a painful thud. Before Naruto could gloat over his momentary triumph, Sasuke grabbed Naruto’s ankle and pulled – sending said blond stumbling on top of him. Rather than being disgruntled and taken aback by the action, Naruto sprung into action, as did Sasuke, and the two started to wrestle in order to overpower and pin the other down.

The hustling only lasted for a couple of seconds before Sasuke managed to pin the other down and claim victory – yet again – in their sparring session. The two were panting from the adrenaline rush and the exertion, Naruto scowling as he realized he lost – yet again – and Sasuke smirking in smug satisfaction. Naruto had to turn his head a bit (for Sasuke had his face shoved flat in the matt) and he glared at Sasuke from the corner of his eye, his cheeks flushed and mouth open as he panted and struggled to regain his breathing. It took a while for their position to register in either of their heads, but when it finally did it seemed as if the whole world froze and the two forgot to breathe.

Naruto was beneath him on his knees, his head held firmly down by the pale hand gripping blond strands. The other hand that wasn’t holding his head down was clasping two tanned wrists behind Naruto’s back. Perhaps the position wouldn’t have been so bad if Naruto had been lying flat on his stomach, but the position they were in – Naruto’s ass raised high and Sasuke knelt and pressed firmly behind him as he held him down – was both incriminating and suggestive. And was it them or was it suddenly uncomfortably hot in the dojo?

It also didn’t help that an image of Naruto in the same position beneath him – albeit naked and wet and panting from pleasure – suddenly flashed in Sasuke’s mind as he remembered seeing the boy nude in the locker room. He had the inexplicable urge to grind against the cute ass raised against him and pound said ass into the matt. It was such a sudden thought that it left Sasuke confused and hot. And so, just as quickly as the thought passed through his mind, he released the younger male and stood. He needed to remove such indecent thoughts from his head before other problems developed further south, or worse, him actually putting his thoughts into action.

He extended a hand out to Naruto and pulled the blushing blond up. It seemed Sasuke wasn’t the only one all too aware of their suggestive position if the way Naruto avoided eye contact and the embarrassed blush he was sporting was anything to go by. Thankfully the other students didn’t seem to notice anything amiss by the way they applauded politely for Sasuke’s victory.

“You all did well today,” Sasuke said. “I’ll see you all tomorrow again.”

Naruto texted Iruka as soon as they were dismissed, and after he finished changing into his clothes, he went over to the front of the dojo to wait for Iruka. It was raining outside, unfortunately. It had started pouring shortly after school was let out and the rain didn't look like it was going to give out anytime soon. He was so caught up in watching the rain and the cars driving by that he was startled when Gaara questioned him from behind.

"Do you need a ride?"

"Nah, Iruka said he'd pick me up after class if it was still raining," Naruto waved him off. He raised an eyebrow at Gaara, looking very curious. "Speaking of which... wouldn't you need a ride home since you always walk home?"

"I have a car," the redhead shrugged as if that was the most obvious thing in the world.

Naruto's mouth fell open. "Seriously?! Then why the hell do you always walk home?"

"Gas pollutes the air."

Naruto stared.

“Seriously?”

“…well it does.”

“Yeah but I didn’t peg you as, er, environmentally-friendly.”

Gaara shrugged.

…Actually, when Gaara left Suna, he had an evil plan to get back at his father by withdrawing from his father's bank account a lot of money (insert large sum here). With that money he bought a car and his own place to stay at (and still had enough up until then to continue paying for rent and car insurance; he paid off the whole car when he bought it). His evil plan involved buying a car but not really using it.

He was just a natural at being an evil genius.

He was sure his father -- ever the unenvironmentalist and always into his money -- was rolling in his grave.

"Man! If I had a car I would be driving everywhere!" Naruto stated, looking enviously at Gaara. "You're totally wasting your car away by not using it every chance possible!"

"Oh well."

A blond brow twitched. "Tch. There is something seriously wrong with you, my friend. It's like every teenager's dream to own their own car."

"That is... not my problem."

"Ser-i-ous i-ssues. Ser-i-ous-ly."

Gaara shrugged, not really caring. He knew he had issues. But what evil genius didn't? It came with the package. "See you around."

"Yeah, yeah, see ya," Naruto muttered distractedly. As Gaara left he was still muttering about 'issues,' 'people who let their cars rot' and 'damn environmentalists.' He was removed from his ranting when he felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket with a text message. He pulled it out and flipped it open to see the text was from 'Irukaaaaaaaaaa.'

meeting running late. r u able 2 get a ride from someone?.

Naruto quickly looked outside to see if Gaara was still around (hopefully that offer for a ride was on the table), but he didn't see the redhead around any longer. Naruto bit his lip. Everyone else was already gone with exception to Sasuke... He replied to Iruka's message before sighing and slipping his phone back in his pocket.

yea. dun wry. c u l8r.

He really didn't want to ask his bastard teacher for a ride home, but he didn't want to catch the bus home in the rain either. Getting wet outweighed having to talk to said bastard teacher so Naruto marched back to the locker rooms in order to find Sasuke. He didn't see the man at his locker and frowned, wondering where the bastard had gone off to, that is, until he heard the sound of a running shower. Naruto's frown turned questioning. Was that prissy man really taking a shower? Couldn't he have done that at home instead of making Naruto wait for him so he could ask for a ride?! How inconsiderate!

For some reason the blond teenager thought it was a good idea to head over to the showers in order to give Sasuke a piece of his mind about being so prissy. Perhaps he was caught up in the moment. Perhaps he was just really that stupid. Or perhaps he just really wanted to catch a glimpse of his teacher naked (or so his Inner self leered suggestively)... whatever the reason, Naruto realized he probably should start thinking things through before putting said thoughts into action. It wasn't until he was already standing in front of the showering area that Naruto realized calling his teacher a 'priss' wasn't such a good idea, especially since he needed a ride from him. He also realized marching there thoughtlessly wasn't a good idea either, especially when he got an eyeful of a naked Sasuke, standing beneath the shower head, steam rising all around him as he showered on unaware of his audience.

Naruto's jaw unhinged itself as cerulean eyes gazed at a wet, toned back, wandered to the head of damp raven hair sticking to neck and shoulders, and further down... Naruto gulped, his gaze subconsciously heading further south before warning bells went off in his head that his eyes were heading into dangerous territory, so he quickly (painfully) tore his gaze back to Sasuke's back. His back was nice, Naruto decided. It was nice to look at. He knew it was nice to look at when he first walked in on Sasuke changing his shirt one time. It looked nicer when it was all wet and slick like that... He had the sudden urge to walk over to Sasuke so he could run his hands up and down his back and around his torso to his front where he knew he would feel just as toned abs (his fingers twitched at a certain memory of riding with Sasuke on his motorcycle...).

It was strange for Naruto seeing Sasuke naked. Half naked was one thing, but seeing Sasuke completely nude and dripping wet was doing strange things to Naruto. It felt like a circus was parading around in his stomach, and the room felt ten times hotter than it should. His cheeks were flushed and eyes a hazy, darker blue than usual. He drew his bottom lip between his teeth and worried it without realizing what he was doing. Anticipation started to build in his belly when he saw Sasuke turning around. As soon as he did, Naruto high tailed it out of there, the thought of rain suddenly becoming appealing to his flustered state.

He didn't stop running until he was outside of the dojo standing beneath the awning. The rain continued on several inches from his position. It was dark out, but the rain clouds over head blocked the moon and stars, making the sky appear pitch black. But he wasn't thinking about that. He was thinking about Sasuke, and the fact that he saw his teacher naked! It should have burned his retinas from his eyes completely. He should have been disgusted. He should feel sick! Traumatized! But he wasn't any of those things! He was hot and bothered and completely flustered from head to toe! The voice in the back of his mind taunted that he had wanted to join Sasuke in the shower... and Naruto knew that voice was right.

Naruto was panting as he leaned back against the front of the building in order to regain his breathing. He felt like his heart was beating so fast - almost as fast as the fluttering of a hummingbird's wings - that he feared it was going to burst from his chest any moment. What a gruesome thing that would be for his heart to burst from his chest. Painful too, probably. He winced at the thought. It wasn't until after his breathing and heartbeat returned to normal that the teenager was finally able to relax and realize that he was outside and it was rather chilly, even with his orange hoodie on. Naruto looked up and down the sidewalk as he thought over what his best approach home would be. He did not want to go back in the dojo and face his teacher otherwise the memory of the man naked would invade his mind like it was again...

"Gah! Don't think about it!" Naruto scolded himself, dashing out into the rain in order to reach the bus stop at the corner of the sidewalk. He took shelter beneath the arch and slumped down on the bench with a sigh. Naruto wondered if it was possible to be utterly infatuated with an older man, but then he thought of the fanboys (and fangirls who came all the way from Konoha's All Girl's High School just to see Uchiha Sasuke), and thought it wasn't impossible.

But I'm not a crazy fan stalker, Naruto thought to himself, scowling in frustration at the wet asphalt of the street. But I've never... really liked other people, like that. I've liked Sakura-chan but now I just see her like my sister. So there's nothing to compare this feeling to... I'm so confused.

Naruto smacked his hands to his cheeks and squeezed them. "Get yourself together, Uzumaki Naruto! You're acting like a lovesick woman! Dattebayo!"

He was a man, who felt manly feelings towards another man. It was just a phase... definitely.

Feeling more confident about his feelings (or lack thereof), Naruto was finally able to relax as he looked up and down the street for any signs of the bus. Not much time had passed since he ran out of the dojo, so the fact that it was cold and raining outside when the only warmth he was receiving was from his hoodie, was finally catching up to him. Luckily it didn't take long for the bus to come. Naruto hopped in, paid the bus fare, and turned to take his seat. He wavered when seeing how dingy and dirty the bus was in comparison to others he's been on. The bus wasn't crowded, but the few that were in it looked shady. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Naruto hurried down the row just as the bus gave a jerk and started up again.

After five minutes on the bus, Naruto was starting to think perhaps taking the bus wasn’t such a good idea if the unnerving stares the shady people that were on the bus was any indication to go by. He would have rather undergone certain embarrassment by going back to the Uchiha and asking for a ride home than stay on that bus another minute longer. It also didn’t help that the man sitting across from him looked creepy to the max. The man appeared middle aged, had a messy, unkempt appearance, along with a moustache and a goatee and a wicked gleam in his eyes. Everything about him screamed PEDOPHILE!

That sick bastard probably thinks I’m a kid… Naruto thought, sending the man a withering glare that temporarily threw said man off guard. Ha! Serves him righ—Ehhh? He’s coming over here!!

Cue inner panic.

The creepy-pedophile-looking-lecherous-old-man occupied the seat next to him.

“Hello little boy,” the man greeted, positively beaming as if he was merely doing a good deed by, perhaps, approaching this child who may be lost and possibly need escorting to his (the man’s – er, the young boy’s – home). “You look lost.”

Naruto scowled dangerously at him. “I don’t think it’s possible to be lost on a bus. Now scram you old geezer before I bestow you with my Fist of Justice.”

“Feisty, huh? I li—admire kids who are feisty.”

I’m sure you do! Naruto wanted to scream, but ended up screaming instead: “I’m not a kid!”

Naruto grinned victoriously at the pervert’s crestfallen expression. “You’re not?? But you’re so—so—“

“Don’t you dare call me –“ Naruto started to warn in a growl.

“—small!”

“I AM NOT SMALL!”

Not a minute later Naruto found himself kicked out of the bus (by the driver after he punched the man to the end of the bus) and into the rain. He watched angrily as the bus drove away and kicked at a puddle. “Stupid pedophile! He should have gotten tossed outta the bus, not me…”

Naruto furiously blinked the rain water from his eyes as he pulled his hood further over his head and turned to start walking, that is, until the sign blinking in his peripheral vision caught his attention. He looked up to see he was standing right in front of the Clownfish.

“I feel like I’ve been here before…” Naruto muttered, tapping his chin thoughtfully. Did Iruka ever take him there? Nah… Did he go with his friends? He didn’t think so…

“Oh yeah!” Sasuke-bastard took me here before…

It was funny how his thoughts always seemed to wander back to Sasuke. Not.

Naruto pushed his way into the restaurant. He realized he was hungry anyway.

And because LJ said post was too long... REST OF CHAPTER HERE

Chapter 16 | Chapter 18

yh chapter 17 pt2

2009-10-03T06:50:35Z

Uchiha Sasuke hated the rain. He hated cold and unbearably hot temperatures. He hated bad weather in general. He hated a lot of things, really. He particularly hated that it had to rain on the same day he got his car washed. Why did it always seem to rain when he got his car washed? The Gods must hate him… Either that or they were envious of his beautiful ride. But who could blame them? Sasuke would be jealous if he were anyone else. But Sasuke didn’t do jealousy. It was a petty emotion that Uchihas never stooped down to. Ever.

And for some reason people lost the ability to drive whenever it rained. It seemed as if a little bit of rain warranted people to drive thirty miles below speed limit. That or there was just an awful lot of elder people driving that night. Sasuke turned his car off in relief once he finally made it to his destination: Clownfish. Teaching all day really gave him an appetite.

He also failed to pay his electricity bill on time since it was underneath the pile of other junk mail he received and hadn’t seen it till the other morning when nothing in his apartment worked. Without electricity, he couldn’t cook, and his food was probably spoiling away in his refrigerator… (then again electricity or not, Sasuke wasn’t the cooking type, but the get-takeout-food-all-the-time type). Needless to say Sasuke had been too busy (lazy) since the previous morning to pay his bill.

Sasuke walked quickly through the rain and into the restaurant. The usual bored-looking hostess greeted him as he removed his wet jacket and she took it, hanging it on a hook to let it dry.

“Seat at the bar?” she asked, Sasuke being a usual customer that she easily remembered where he preferred seating.

He nodded.

“Well you know the way,” she gestured with a yawn.

Sasuke doubt her boss would let her get away with talking to customers like that. But he did know the way and she knew he did so there was no point in her guiding him there. As he stepped around the bamboo walls and into the restaurant, he noted it was practically vacant save for someone else occupying the bar, and another person sitting on the opposite end against the wall. The atmosphere itself was peaceful with a mellow song playing in the background. He made his way to the bar and sat a few stools down from the other bar occupant.

Sasuke took his time browsing the menu as he waited for the bartender to approach him. As if on cue, the bartender came out from the back, saw he had a new customer, and walked over to him. “Good evening. Can I get you anything to drink?”

“Mm…sake,” Sasuke said as he closed his menu. “I’m also ready to order. I’ll have tendon…”

The bartender nodded and took his menu. The other occupant at the bar lifted his head at the sound of Sasuke’s voice and turned to look, squinting.

“Eeeh? Sensei?”

Sasuke looked up only to see a certain Uzumaki Naruto sitting a few seats down from him. Damn. And here the man thought he was going to have a nice, peaceful dinner by himself. “Dobe.”

Naruto blinked and scowled. “Bastard!”

“What are you doing here?”

“Weeeell…” Naruto trailed off thoughtfully. He really didn’t want to talk about how he got kicked out of the bus. “This is a karaoke bar-restaurant… thing… and people come to restaurants to eat…”

Sasuke didn’t know why he asked a question with such an obvious answer. After all, it was a free world and Naruto could eat wherever he wanted. But did he have to eat where Sasuke ate at the same time?

“Here you go, kid.”

“Thanks!”

Sasuke watched in morbid fascination as the boy wolfed his noodles down and somehow managed to take a chug of his own sake in the process. “Aren’t you a bit young to be drinking, dobe?”

“Ife sefenfeen,” Naruto said with a mouthful of noodles. Sasuke’s lip curled in disgust.

“Don’t talk with your mouthful, dobe.”

Naruto swallowed his food. “I’m seventeen. I’m obviously legal otherwise the bartender would never have given me sake!”

The drinking age in Konoha was seventeen. No one really knew why, but Naruto heard it was due to the fact that long ago Konoha used to be a shinobi village. Back then children became shinobi at the age of twelve and it was decided that since children could go on dangerous missions that sometimes involved killing, why shouldn’t they be allowed to indulge in alcohol? Back then there was no age limit. Over time it changed to fifteen, then sixteen, then seventeen as society became more modern and advanced.

…Or at least, that’s what Kakashi told Naruto the other day. Considering what a lying pervert that man was, Naruto wasn’t sure if he could trust that story.

But it sounded cool. Ninjas. Naruto wished he was a ninja…

Sasuke noticed Naruto had already finished off a bottle of sake some time before he had gotten there. He also noticed that the blond’s cheeks were becoming flushed as he finished his second bottle. He figured the teenager was already getting drunk if the way said teenager suddenly froze mid-bite, eyes glazed over in thought, before suddenly snapping back to reality and finishing his bite was any indication of his inebriated state.

In the next ten minutes Sasuke relished in the silence, surprised Naruto hadn’t tried engaging him in conversation. Within that time the bartender had brought him his drink and his food. Teacher and student ate in companionable silence. Sasuke knew from the last time he ate ramen with Iruka and Naruto that Naruto was a heavy eater. But the amount of times he had the bartender going back and forth from the kitchen with a fresh, steaming bowl of ramen never ceased to bewilder him. That boy truly was the personification of ‘bottomless pit.’

“I wanted to be a ninja,” Naruto suddenly said after his fifth…sixth – Who knows? Sasuke lost count… – bowl of ramen.

“What?” Sasuke asked, eyeing Naruto oddly. Where did that come from?

“Just thought I’d let you know,” Naruto said matter-of-factly, “since we’re on the topic.”

“…What?”

“You know…” Naruto tapped his head before lowering his voice to a whisper. “Ninjas, bastard. There used to be ninjas in Konoha… They could still be around…” He eyed the man sitting alone on the other side of the restaurant suspiciously. “They could be anyone…” He eyed the bartender. “A-ny-ooonnee…” He eyed Sasuke.

“…”

Naruto suddenly perked back up. “I wanted to be one when I was a kid! What did you want to be? Huh? A lawyer? You look like the type who’d want to be a lawyer.”

“Are you judging me, dobe? I was not aware of you being the judgmental type.”

“Nah I’m just sayin’. You seem like the type who’d make people crack. Like you’d call someone to the stand and you’d be all eyeing him down coolly and you’d be all,” Naruto twisted his face to one of seriousness as he drawled out: “’So did you do it?’ And that’s all you’d have to do is ask that one thing and you’d continue starin’ the guy down and he’d be sweatin’ in his seat and all you’d need is that evil stare and you’d make the guy crack and he’d spill everythin’! …That’s all.”

Sasuke couldn’t help but look amused at Naruto’s (drunken) logic. “I see. If you must know… I did not want to be a lawyer.”

“Have you always wanted to be a teacher? Do teachers just know they’re gonna be teachers when they’re like, kids?”

“No, dobe,” Sasuke chuckled. He felt loose and in an unusually good mood. It was probably his sake. He had to be on his, what, third, fourth bottle? But Naruto was on his fifth…then again, who’s counting?

“You sound nice when you kinda laugh,” Naruto stated.

“Hn.”

“So answer my question, bastard. Quit distractin’ me with your kinda-laughs and stuff.”

“’And stuff’?” Sasuke repeated, his eyebrow quirked.

“Yeah!” Naruto was leaning towards him and Sasuke noticed how the dimness of the restaurant and the flush on tan cheeks made his blue eyes appear darker. It reminded him of the rain at night. “Your eyes…distract me sometimes. ‘Cause they’re all dark aaaand… some people say they’re soldering.”

“Soldering? Do you mean smoldering?”

“That’s what I said.”

“No, you said… never mind. You… think my eyes are smoldering.”

“I did not say that.”

“But you were thinking it,” Sasuke lowered his voice teasingly. Was he flirting with his student? It was hard to tell. He was just mocking him as usual. If his voice came off as sultry and husky it wasn’t intentional…

“And what are you? A mind reader?” Naruto demanded hotly. He clamped his hands over his ears. Sasuke looked incredulous.

“Why are you holding your ears?”

“So my thoughts won’t leak out so you can’t hear ‘em! Duh.”

“You were thinking it then.”

“No way!”

“Idiot.”

“Hey! Don’t call me names!” Naruto reprimanded as he jabbed a finger at the older male. “Bastard.”

“I’ll stop calling you names if you stop calling me bastard.”

“It’s kind of your name so I really can’t.”

“Then I can’t stop calling you idiot.”

“Bastard.”

“Idiot.”

“You distracted me again!”

“Hn.” Sasuke smirked. “I don’t remember what I wanted to be when I was younger.”

“You’re such a liar! How can you forget? I can’t forget. I still think ninjas are cool! And so did my dad! We used to play ninjas all the time…” Naruto suddenly trailed off and became lost in his thoughts. “I can’t forget…” he repeated the next second with conviction.

Sasuke’s drunken tongue wanted to ask what else the boy remembered about his father, but even in his intoxicated mind realized it would be much too cruel. He was also starting to think that referring to Naruto as ‘boy’ wasn’t exactly proper, for even though the teenager was short, he was far from a child. People have constantly told Sasuke that there was something about him that made him appear older; the look in his eyes, his mature personality, his cool demeanor, his intelligence… He could see what people meant when he looked at Naruto.

And the remembered feel of a smooth, tan stomach against his hand wasn’t something he cared to feel from a boy. He also didn’t think about little children in incriminating positions, or remember them bending over wet and naked after a shower… Gods. I sound like a pedophile.

Since when did he stop looking at Naruto like a child who needed constant reprimanding?

And since when did Naruto move over chairs that they were suddenly sitting next to each other?

“What, dobe?” Sasuke asked, disgruntled as Naruto stared at him.

“…Shh,” Naruto hushed as he pressed a finger to Sasuke’s lips. “I’m trying to read your thoughts.”

“…”

“That proves it,” Naruto said after a few seconds of concentration. His expression was solemn. “Your mind is as blank as your expression.”

“Dobe,” Sasuke growled, grabbing the hand in front of his face. “You’re smashed.”

“No kidding,” Naruto flashed him a cheeky grin. “So are you.”

“No I am not. I can hold my liquor, unlike you.”

“Shut up. I just became legal recently,” Naruto pointed out.

“Legal or illegal has never stopped teens from drinking.”

“Aren’t you being a hippopotamus to judge me and put me in that category?”

“…I believe the correct term is ‘hypocrite.’”

Naruto looked confused. “Isn’t that what I said?”

“No,” Sasuke chuckled.

Naruto wondered if it was Sasuke’s chuckle or the alcohol that made him feel warmer inside all of a sudden. It was then he realized Sasuke was still holding his hand and that warm feeling increased.

“You’re blushing, dobe,” Sasuke murmured, his breath warm against Naruto’s fingertips.

“No ‘m’not,” Naruto disagreed. He thought he should pull his hand away because Sasuke was holding it way too longer than was necessary, but who was he kidding? He wanted Sasuke to keep holding his hand. Sasuke may seem like a cold bastard most of the time, but for such a cold bastard, his hands were surprisingly warm. He couldn’t help but feel disappointed when the older male relinquished his grasp. “You know what? Gaara kissed me a few days ago in the boy’s locker room.”

Both of Sasuke’s eyebrows rose. Was that why he saw the redhead storming out of the locker room that one day? “…I see.”

“Yeah,” Naruto made a face. He didn’t know why he was telling Sasuke what happened, but he didn’t know why he was saying a lot of things. “And then earlier today we had a talk and he made it sound as if it was conventional or somethin’! Can you believe that prick?!”

“…Consensual,” Sasuke corrected.

“What?!”

“You said ‘conventional.’”

“No I didn’t.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes. Why was he even bothering trying to correct someone so drunk?

“I didn’t want him to kiss me.”

“Who do you want to kiss you?”

“I’m not that drunk to go telling you that,” Naruto reprimanded with a grin. “Silly bastard.”

“Hn.” Sasuke glanced at his wristwatch in order to distract himself from his curiosity. Apparently alcohol made him more curious than was natural for an Uchiha. “It’s late, dobe. Shouldn’t you be getting home before Iruka-san worries about you?”

“Naaah,” Naruto waved his hand. “He hasn’t even texted me… He’s probably with that Kakashi-pervert… I think they’re going out.”

“You think?”

Naruto nodded.

Sasuke resisted the urge to smack his forehead (a very un-Uchiha thing to do). “How are you getting home?”

Naruto shrugged.

“…How did you get here?”

“The bus. But then I got kicked out because this stupid pedophile thought I was a kid and hit on me so I hit him and for some reason I got kicked out…”

“…I see.” Sasuke got off his stool as he pulled his wallet out and set enough bills on the table to cover both his and Naruto’s food and drinks. He justified his actions by telling himself that Naruto was too drunk to figure out how to pay for his food and drinks.

Naruto blinked owlishly. “Are you leaving?”

“Hn.”

Sasuke remained completely oblivious to Naruto’s ‘I-really-need-a-ride-home-so-please-offer-me-a-ride!’ look as he slipped his wallet back into his coat pocket and turned around to leave. Drunk or not, Naruto figured his admittance to taking the bus would have somehow hinted to the Uchiha that he didn’t have a ride home and could really use one! Was that man dense or what?! And didn’t he ask Naruto how he was getting home? And didn’t Naruto shrug?! Was he really so cold-hearted he was going to turn away and let Naruto walk home in the rain?!!

Sasuke was already out the restaurant by the time reality caught up with the blond.

“HE REALLY DID JUST LEAVE!”Naruto burst out aghast. “W-WAIT! BASTARD!” Naruto jumped off his stool and darted after his teacher (nearly tripping in the process); hurrying to catch up to the man before he was gone and Naruto would really have to walk home in the downpour. Sasuke had only managed to walk a feet away from the door when Naruto came bursting out panting. “HEY! DON’T LEAVE!”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

“Wait…just wait!” Naruto held up a hand to stop him as he caught his breath. “And must you always do that eyebrow thing?! It’s annoying.”

“Tch.” Sasuke turned to leave.

“Wait!”

“What, dobe?” Sasuke asked, looking at him from over his shoulder.

“I need a ride home!”

“…Huh.”

“…”

“Can I get a ride home?”

“…You can…”

“…What the f—“ A vein in Naruto’s temple twitched. “May I get a ride home?--” Oh Evil One.

Sasuke glanced up at the sky, looking like what he was about to do was going to pain him to do so. “…Fine.”

Naruto wasn’t sure what possessed him. If anyone by chance found out, he would just tell them it was the alcohol’s fault. It made him more excited (if possible, since the teen always seemed excited) than usual. It also didn’t help that being around Sasuke made him feel high. He wasn’t sure why. But giddiness plus alcohol plus happy-that-he-didn’t-have-to-walk-home-in-the-rain really shouldn’t have meant he jump on his teacher and plant a big smackaroo right on his lips.

But, he did.

At the moment he regretted it once his actions caught up to his slow, intoxicated mind.

Whether he regretted it later on was a different story.

To be continued.

BAHAHAHAHA. Sorry. Cliffies are just second-nature to me, ya know?? It comes al-natural. I don’t mean to do it. I somehow write myself into a cliffhanger. Sorrysorry. But I am sooo extremely excited to write the next chapter you have no idea… maybe once I’m done studying for my two psych exams…and when my reflection paper is finished…and other hw oii. Taking five classes in college plus work is killer, let me tell you.

AND ALSO HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY TO BLUEBELLA/RAISEL (my dear illustrator for yh). This chapter is for you for all of your awesome drawings the past year. Time sure flies by! –throws confetti-)

.
LJ wanted to be tarded and make me split the chapter in half so here's the rest...

[oneshot] corner of first & amistad

2009-07-09T21:06:01Z

Title: Corner of First & Amistad
Type: Oneshot AU
Genre: Romance/Tragedy
Pairing: Sasunaru
Rating: G
Summary: Even death could not keep them apart.

( “I’ve found you, Sasuke.” )
^fakecut^

passing notes in class [messing w/fonts]

2009-06-22T07:38:49Z

[update] yaoi high #16

2009-06-20T06:57:36Z

Title: Welcome to Yaoi High
Pairing(s): SasuNaru, hints of Others Naru
Rating: NC-17 for future content
Genre: Romance/Humor
Warning: none as of yet
Summary: When Naruto entered the doors of Konoha's All Boy's High School, no one told him that his life would change. No one bothered to warn him that this was no normal school, but rather... Welcome to Yaoi High, Naruto.

Sorry this chapter took so long. It’s been hard to write it when I’ve been too busy fangirling over Older!syaoran from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. Ohmygoshhes –giggledieshappy- It makes me wish to write CCS/TRC fics again…

This chapter was also a pain in the ass to write for reasons unknown to myself. Things should become easier next chapter… -cackle-

And this chapter is a Halloween!chapter. bit early, technically, but that’s ok. XD me loves Halloween!

Beta: Mai~ thank you muchly!

Uchiha Sasuke sighed as he stood in front of the boy’s locker room. In his hand was a manila folder with some papers that Jiraiya, principal of Konoha All Boy’s High School, asked Sasuke to drop off at Gai’s desk in the Physical Education office for the male teachers that was located in the boy’s locker room. The raven-haired male could only hope the overly-eccentric man wasn’t there. Sasuke always dreaded encounters with the strange, strange man… In the folders were progress reports of students currently partaking in sports. Gai was the Head of the Athletic Department, so all grades went to him to determine whose grades were being kept up with, and whose weren’t (those with poor grades would be benched until they raised their grades).

Heaving another sigh, Sasuke pushed his way into the boy’s locker room. He paused when a certain redhead student walked by, his expression one of silent, cold fury. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, but the redhead completely ignored his presence as he stalked out of the locker rooms. The older man shrugged it off and passed down the rows of lockers, heading over to the office. He cautiously pushed the door open and peered inside. To his relief, it was empty and void of any spandex-wearing monstrosity. Sasuke dumped the manila folder on Gai’s desk before heading out and closing the door behind him.

It was passing by a row of lockers on his way out that Sasuke noticed Uzumaki Naruto standing in front of his locker, still a bit wet from a shower. He was wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist as he rummaged in his locker for his clothes. Sasuke found himself slowing to an abrupt halt, blinking slowly at his almost-naked student. Sasuke felt himself getting rather hot as he stared at the blond, noting all the smooth, golden tan flesh that was exposed for his viewing pleasure. Blond hair was damp from his shower, strands clinging to whiskered cheeks. Naruto seemed oblivious to Sasuke’s presence as he set his clothes down on the bench and reached for his towel.

It dropped to his ankles. Sasuke’s eyes widened as he resisted the urge to let his gaze wander any further south. The blond turned around to get his boxers on, and it was at that moment that Sasuke caught a drop of water fall from the tip of blond hair, trail down a well-toned back, falling lower and lower to a slim waist. The Uchiha’s mouth went dry as Naruto bent over to get his boxers around his ankles, giving Sasuke a lovely view of his rear end.

And Gods did the boy have a cute, round ass that the man wouldn’t mind pounding into –

A strangled groan rose to his lips, and Sasuke quickly hurried out of the locker room before he could let such indecent thoughts continue.

Naruto turned around, his boxers secured around his waist, thinking he heard something. When he didn’t see anyone or anything, the blond frowned in confusion but shrugged it off in favor of pulling the rest of his clothes on. He swore he heard something just a second ago…

welcome to yaoi high – 16. I’m here to suck your blood – eftee

The party Kiba had been blabbering about for the past week was a costume party seeing as how it was Halloween tomorrow. Originally Naruto hadn’t wanted to go, but dressing up in costume was the blond’s favorite time of the year. No matter how old he got, he never tired of it. The candy was also another factor that hyped Naruto up every time Halloween came around. Usually Iruka tried to keep candy away from Naruto since Lord knew the blond was hyper enough without the added sugar, but unfortunately for the older man, Halloween was the one time of the year he couldn’t keep candy away from his charge.

“I’ll see you Sunday, ‘ruka-senseeei!” Naruto called as he hurried to the front door. Kiba was outside waiting in his car to pick Naruto up.

“You have everything, right, Naruto?” Iruka called back, coming out of the kitchen and to the front door where Naruto was pulling his shoes on, a backpack slung over his shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Sakura-san will be meeting you tomorrow?”

“Yes, ‘Ruka,” Naruto confirmed.

“Kiba’s parents know you’re spending the night?”

“Yes!”

“You have your cell phone?”

“Yeah!”

Naruto got up, adjusting the tie of his black cloak. He flashed Iruka a cheeky grin, showing off the fake, elongated canines in his mouth. He was wearing black slacks and polished, black dress shoes, as well as a black vest over a collared, buttoned white shirt. The cloak was fasted around its neck, the collar of said cloak propped up. Its edges were curled and pointed. He was a vampire for Halloween – or more specifically ‘Count Dracula.’ While he used clothes he already had, the added accessories such as the cloak and fake fangs were things he bought last week when he went costume shopping with Kiba, Lee, Shikamaru and Chouji.

“Alright then…” Iruka sighed, smiling. “Have fun.”

“Okay!” With a practiced, exaggerated bow, Naruto turned around – cloak billowing and all – and stepped out of the house. “See ya, ‘Ruka!”

Naruto ran over to the car and hopped into the back. Shikamaru was already sitting in the front with Kiba, and as Naruto got in, he saw Chouji in the back as well.

“Hey, Naurto!” Chouji greeted, already munching on some candy. Naruto laughed as he took the sight of the boy in his costume. He was a pumpkin for Halloween, and a hat with the pumpkin stem was sitting on top of his head.

“Cute costume, Chouji!”

Chouji just grinned, plopping a tootsie roll into his mouth. Naruto already knew what Kiba and Shikamaru were without having to fully see them since they went costume shopping together. It took a lot of persuading to get Shikamaru to be a samurai, since originally Shikamaru wanted to be ‘Shikamaru’ because, according to the lazy boy, it was ‘too troublesome to be anything else.’ But they managed to get him to buy the costume, but him actually wearing it was another thing all together. But Naruto was pleasantly surprised that Shikamaru was wearing his costume. Kiba was ‘Frankenstein’s monster’ – his face and exposed neck and hands painted a sickly green with fake bolts attached to his neck and forehead.

It was already dark when they set out to the party. Naruto was texting Sakura the whole way there.

Wut r u 4 halloween?

Dracula~ wat bout u?

LOL alice in wonderland.

Awwe so cute sakurachaan :3! well we r heer now! ill c u tmrw!

kk. have fun naru!

Kiba pulled into the ‘Black Diamond’ housing community – a housing area where they never go into considering it was full of large houses that the ‘rich people’ lived in. It was Naruto’s first time in that part of Konoha, since the only places he ever bothered to go was school, home, or downtown. It didn’t take long to spot the house (if you could call the three-story building a house) the party was taking place at. There were a few people loitering outside, and it was the only house with the front door opened as music blared loudly from it. It was a wonder the party was still going on with the amount of noise that was emitting from said building.

The pathway leading up to the house was lit with jack-o-lanterns, and other decorations were scattered around the front lawn – fake tombstones, skeletons, other pumpkins with carved faces. The four teenagers walked up the path and entered the house. If Naruto thought the outside was big, the inside was jaw-dropping. It was like entering a ball room, albeit smaller, with the two upper floors circling overhead and an open, spacious ‘dance floor’ at the heart of it. People were gathered at the center, dancing along with the music, others standing to the side socializing as they drank. Party favors were along the long tables set to the sides. As Naruto observed them he spotted an assortment of candy, each one of some grotesque-appearance (eyeball candies, spider-shaped gummies, and the drink in the punch bowl looking like blood).

The other decorations inside were awesome, Naruto decided as he continued to admire everything. There was a coffin propped up on a nearby wall that, every time someone walked by, it would pop open and a Dracula dummy would pop out saying, “I am Dracula, here to suck your blood!” A projector plaid somewhere from the top to make it look like ghosts were dancing around the room, and somewhere a boom box played the recordings of booming thunder, a door creaking and a heart beating. Every now and then the lights would flash to mimic that of lightning. Along the walls were large paintings of people walking to their death. It was pretty dark inside the house with exception to the decorative lights and flashes of white that gave the place an eerie glow.

While Shikamaru continued to look bored, Chouji busied himself with the candy, and Kiba and Naruto looked at each other with equally excited and awed grins.

“This is so…” Kiba started to say.

“Awesome!” Naruto finished for him.

Sure Naruto’s been to parties before in the past with Sakura, but none of them ever compared to this!

Naruto loved Halloween!

Sasuke hated Halloween.

Technically speaking, Halloween wasn’t until tomorrow, but that didn’t stop those hoodlum teenagers from egging and throwing toilet paper all over his precious baby.

And by ‘precious baby’ he meant his car.

There were also kids who liked to play ‘ding dong ditch.’ It was strange that they would come to someone’s apartment to do it, so he figured it was the kids that lived in his complex. Stupid kids, Sasuke thought with a scowl as he tore his front door open, already knowing without having to see that there wouldn’t be anyone there. It didn’t matter though since he was heading out, his keys in hand, his black coat on, and a scarf wrapped around his neck. While it wasn’t winter yet, it was still fall, and it was usually chilly starting the end of October.

He was going to get his car washed and then visit that no good Hatake Kakashi who insisted Sasuke came by tonight… Not that Sasuke really wanted to. “Just for a quiet dinner, Saaaasuke-kun! I want you to meet my new boyfriend~” the man had said. It better be a quiet dinner, Sasuke thought with a scowl.

Sasuke had known Kakashi his whole life. It was because of Kakashi that Sasuke ended up at Konoha teaching (but with his credentials and past education, Sasuke could have gotten in with or without Kakashi, they both knew). The silver-haired man was a friend of the Uchiha family for years, even before Sasuke was born. Ever since his parents’ death, Kakashi was like the father Sasuke and Itachi didn’t have.

When Sasuke’s car was clean of any egg shells and yolk, Sasuke drove through Konoha, passing by the school as he headed further south. The further he went, the larger the houses became. It wasn’t long before he was driving through Black Diamond, passing by a house where a party was no doubt going on and heading two blocks further before he pulled up in front of a two story building. The house was ridiculously big for a single man to live in alone, but the house had sentimental value to Kakashi since that was the house he grew up in.

With a sigh, Sasuke reluctantly got out of his car, walked up to the front door, and knocked. Two seconds later the door opened to reveal a beaming Kakashi.

“Saasuke-kun!” Kakashi sang pleasantly, eyes curved. “So nice of you to join us~! Prompt as usual, I see.”

The young man rolled his eyes and stepped in, taking his shoes off at the front before heading to the living room with Kakashi.

“You’ll love my cute little dolphin,” Kakashi boasted unabashedly. “He’s smart, adorable, sexy, sweet…”

Sasuke wasn’t really listening. When Kakashi tended to drone on and on about something, Sasuke never listened. He especially never listened when it came to Kakashi talking about his latest conquests. He felt sorry for whoever fell for this idiot.

“Maybe you two already know each other since he’s also a teacher at school,” Kakashi said thoughtfully. “Well…” He made a grand gesture as they entered the living room, where several people were seated, talking (he recognized them as teachers from school). Sasuke’s brow twitched at the sight. “Look, everyone! It’s Sasuke!”

So much for a quiet dinner…

“Yo, Sasuke.”

Sasuke nodded in greeting to Sarutobi Asuma, another teacher and friend of Kakashi’s that Sasuke knew since he was younger. There were other teachers there that Sasuke knew from working – Maito Gai (“HELLO MY YOUNG FRIEND. LOOKING LIVELY AS ALWAYS, I SEE!”), Yuhi Kurenai, Mitarashi Anko, and several others whose names Sasuke forgot.

“Coming through!” Umino Iruka suddenly came out of the kitchen, carrying several trays of snacks that he set on the coffee table for everyone to have. He smiled pleasantly when seeing Sasuke. “Oh, hello Sasuke-san! I see you finally made it.”

“So you two do know each other!” Kakashi butted in happily. He pulled Iruka into his arms, causing the tanned man to blush and scowl. “Isn’t my little dolphin the cutest thing ever?”

It took a moment for the implications to register in Sasuke’s brain. For some reason his mind wasn’t functioning as speedily as it should be, probably because he was a bit taken aback. “You’re Kakashi’s boyfriend?”

“Eh… guilty as charged.”

The young male scratched his head. “What is someone as respectable as you doing going out with this undignified old pervert?”

Iruka laughed at that as Kakashi pouted.

“Always so mean, Sasuke…”

“I wonder the same thing myself.”

“Ouch. You too, ‘Ruka-chan?!”

“This is your party?” Naruto asked, gaping.

The girl blushed. “Y-yes…”

Hyuuga Hinata was her name. She was a pretty little thing dressed up as a cat for Halloween. Cat ears were perched on her dark blue locks, her nose painted pink, and whiskers marked across her pale, yet flushed cheeks. She was wearing a tight black leotard with a tail attached at the back. Her eyes were her most notable feature, considering how pale and milky they looked. But it reminded him of someone…

“Aah! Are you Neji’s sister?” Naruto asked, thinking back to one of his fellow classmates from the dojo.

“N-Neji-niisan is my cousin,” the shy girl stammered.

“Haha I see!” Naruto grinned, his beam making the girl’s eyes widen. “You two seem so different! I don’t really talk to Neji but…he seems so quiet and uptight!”

“Neji-niisan i-is n-nice once gi-given the chance…” Hinata said softly, feet shuffling. “He i-is here a-as w-well…”

“Na—you stammer a lot,” Naruto pointed out. “It’s cute!”

The girl turned redder, if possible.

“Hey, hey! Are you okay? You’re turning really red!” Naruto said worriedly.

“Eek…” She squeaked, looking like she was about to faint then and there. This boy – Uzumaki Naruto, as Kiba had introduced him – was so cute! And his smile was so bright, and his eyes so genuine she thought her heart would burst out any moment from her chest! She covered her face with her hands as she shyly peeked at the blond boy through her fingers. His cuteness would surely be the death of her…

Kiba laughed at Hinata’s antics. He always had the biggest crush on her… “Hinata goes to Konoha’s All Girl’s School.”

“Aah…” Naruto nodded in understanding. “You must be rich to have this big house!”

“Mm,” Hinata nodded, pulling her hands away from her face. “M-my father o-o-owns Hyuuga Industries.”

“Eeh…” the blond scratched his head thoughtfully. “Never heard of it!”

Hinata looked genuinely surprised as Kiba gaped at him like he grew another head. “Are you serious?! Hyuuga Industries is like, only the leading technology company! They’re as famous as Uchiha Corps!”

Naruto wrinkled his nose. “I guess Uchiha Corps is supposed to be famous too? Does that mean Uchiha-sensei is rich or whatever?”

Kiba smacked his palm to his forehead. “Dumbass. Sasuke’s brother, Uchiha Itachi, owns the company!”

“How was I supposed to know that?! No one tells me anything!”

Hinata giggled as Naruto pouted indignantly. Kyaah he’s too cute!

“Well, I think we should leave this dunce, and Hinata-chan should come dance with me before your evil cousin pops out of nowhere,” Kiba said, throwing an arm around the girl’s shoulders.

“D-d-dance?” she stammered, her expression one of horror.

“Don’t worry, Hinata-chan! I’m sure you’re a great dancer!” Naruto encouraged when seeing her expression.

Kiba nodded in agreement. “You promised me a dance, remember?”

“I-I-I did?”

“Yup!”

“O-okay…since I promised…”

With a wink to Naruto, Kiba led the girl to the crowd. Naruto shook his head, already knowing Kiba was just saying that to persuade Hinata to dance with him. So manipulative to someone who’s so sweet like Hinata-chan, Naruto thought. He didn’t have time to dwell over it though when he was suddenly bombarded by flashing white teeth.

“NARUTO-KUN!”

“GAH! LEE!” Naruto jumped; startled by Lee’s abrupt appearance (he was Bruce Lee for Halloween).

“ISN’T THIS PARTY LIVELY AND FUN?” Lee asked enthusiastically, posing his ‘Good Guy’ pose. “I think, to liven it up even more, we should have a contest!”

“I’m in!”

Round one was a game of ‘bobbing-for-apples.’ With their hands tied behind their backs, the two boys took their positions over their individual buckets filled with water and apples. With a bored, uninterested signal from Shikamaru, Naruto and Lee ducked their heads in their buckets and mouthed for the apples. A crowd started to gather around as they cheered them on. Once the minute was up, Shikamaru counted the apples the two had managed to get before raising Lee’s arm up.

“Round one goes to…Lee,” Shikamaru drawled in a monotone.

The next round was a game of who could eat the most pumpkin pie (with their hands tied behind their backs, of course). And so, with their faces smashed in pie, Lee and Naruto ate away at the pie with much gusto. Eventually all the pie started to get to Lee’s stomach and the boy had to force himself to stop. Shikamaru held Naruto’s hand victoriously in the air.

“Round two, Naruto.”

“It seems we are tied,” Lee said after their faces were cleaned of pie.

“So it seems,” Naruto said, the two boys having a stand down.

“How shall we decide who will be victorious?” Lee asked seriously.

“I am not sure…” Naruto said just as seriously.

“DRINKING CONTEST!” was the enthused suggestion (from Kiba).

Somewhere, Hyuuga Neji felt a foreboding shiver travel up his spine.

Just as enthused encouragement came from the crowd watching the contest, and the two boys stood over a long row of cups lined out from them that were filled with the ‘juice’ from the punch bowl. Shikamaru glanced at his watch, waited three seconds and then gave the motion. “Start.”

Cup after cup disappeared as Lee and Naruto went down the row from opposite ends of the table, emptying the contents of each cup down their throats. By the third drink Naruto realized he was starting to feel warm and giddy. He didn’t know what was in the juice, but he was starting to feel really warm and good! By Lee’s fifth drink, the contest was completely forgotten and hence a victor could not be decided, because he started to sing drunkenly as he knocked the cups down, spilling its contents along the table.

“LET US SETTLE THIS *HICC* THE OLD FASHIONED WAY!” Lee exclaimed.

“AND WHAT *HIC* WAY IS THAT? *HIC*” Naruto asked, his cheeks as equally flushed as Lee’s.

“DRUNKEN STYLE FIGHTING!” the bowl-haired boy leapt into a fighting position, his feet stumbling as he tried to remain still.

“Oh shit,” Kiba muttered.

“Troublesome,” Shikamaru sighed.

“Go, Dickless,” Sai suddenly appeared, cheering Naruto on.

“Where’d you come from?!” Kiba demanded, startled.

Sai smiled at him. “I’ve been here the whole time.”

And then Naruto and Lee started to fight – if you could call it that. They missed each other by a mile as Naruto was distracted by the dummy-Dracula that popped out at him (“SOMEONE SAVE ME HE’S GOING TO DRINK MY BLOOD!”) and Lee went about trying to fight anyone within sight. Fortunately for all the furniture that could be saved (as well as the party goers), Neji intercepted the drunken Lee and dragged him away (“NEJI, MY ETERNAL RIVAL, THERE ARE EVIL NINJAS ABOUT. WE MUST TAKE THEM DOWN!”)

“Get ‘im off get ‘im off get ‘im off!” Naruto flailed around as the dummy-Dracula hung all over him.

Hinata giggled as she extracted the dummy off of Naruto and pushed it back into the coffin. “Th-there you g-g-go—eep!” She was red from the neck up as Naruto wrapped his arms around her like a leech.

“Thank you Hinata-chan! You’re a…a…” He made a face. “Like the candy…”

“L-lifesaver?”

“Yes! Lifesaver!” He nodded in exaggeration. “Hinata-chan, you’re so cute! I hope you don’t mind that I call you Hinata-chan. That juice we drank made me feel funny and now I am warm all over and I feel really light. I think if I let go of you right now, I’ll go floating off to the ceiling!”

She giggled nervously. “I-I think s-s-someone spiked the j-juice, N-Naruto-kun… I hope you don’t mind me calling you that.”

“Heeehe, of course not!” Disturbia by Rihanna started to play over the speakers. “Oohh I love this song! Come dance with me, Hinata-chan!”

Before the girl could even protest, Naruto dragged her out to the dance floor.

Sasuke knew he would regret coming to Kakashi’s house. ‘A quiet dinner’ was the furthest thing from what this was. The older adults were ridiculously drunk over sake, and they were singing karaoke at broken tunes. But even though he was surrounded by a bunch of drunken buffoons, Sasuke thought it wasn’t so bad since he had Iruka – the only other sane one there after himself – to keep him company.

“So you and Kakashi have known each other for a while then?” Iruka surmised.

Sasuke nodded. “Knowing him so long… it makes me curious how he managed to persuade you to go out with him.”

“Aah…” Iruka blushed at that. He wasn’t about to admit it was Kakashi’s skills in bed that got to him first. That was too embarrassing! “Kakashi isn’t so bad.”

“No, I suppose not,” Sasuke agreed, twirling his cup of sake before taking a sip of it.

“Kakashi has told me a lot about you,” Iruka admitted.

The younger male snorted. “I am not surprised. That old pervert doesn’t know how to keep his mouth shut, apparently.”

Iruka smiled. “He is only interested in what benefits you, Sasuke-san.”

“Hn… Just like you are only interested in what benefits Uzumaki, no?”

“Aah.” The brunette nodded. “Naruto is to me, what you are to Kakashi. I can tell. Kakashi cares for you and your brother very much.” There was a companionable silence as they watched Kakashi and Anko sing My Heart Will Go On. “I never did thank you properly for bringing Naruto home on his birthday, did I?”

“You shouldn’t have to. It is partially my fault he ran off in the first place,” Sasuke admitted reluctantly. “I said something… that was unprofessional of me.”

Iruka, if anything, was an understanding person. “I suppose you said something Naruto did not want to hear. He reacts rashly when he hears things he does not wish to hear, but deep down he knows they are true.”

Thinking back to that day reminded Sasuke that Naruto didn’t like his birthday. Naruto was always happy, Sasuke believed, so why would someone so happy hate their own birthday so much? And the way Naruto had burst out at Sasuke that day… He was morbidly curious as to why Naruto hated his own birthday, but refused to ask the boy himself, since his reasons were no doubt private. It wasn’t like Sasuke to wonder about anyone and the skeletons in their closet, but even so, he couldn’t help but ask Iruka then and there, “Iruka-san, excuse me for asking. You don’t have to answer if it’s too personal, but why—“

“—does that boy hate his birthday so much?” Iruka finished patiently. Sasuke nodded.

There was another – heavier – moment of silence that Sasuke figured the question was too personal to inquire about in the first place. He took the silence as an indicator that Iruka wasn’t going to answer his question, but then the brunette started to speak, “You were probably too young to really remember that day, all those years ago, here in Konoha… You see, Naruto and I were originally from this place. Back then, seventeen years ago, a disease plagued Konoha. You’ve heard of it, haven’t you? The disease they called ‘Kyuubi.’ It drove the victims mad with delirium before they died… sometimes people killed themselves before they could die, so overcome with madness they were.

“Naruto had the misfortune of being born when ‘Kyuubi’ first hit Konoha. People thought he was nothing more than a demon child who brought the devil’s madness into their home. But there wasn’t much anyone could do about it. The disease lasted for a year before it eventually died out again.”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at Iruka’s explanation. He couldn’t recall that time of his life very well, since at the time he had been about five or six, but he did remember his parents taking him and Itachi away to live elsewhere before they returned to Konoha a year and a half later.

“Five years later… ‘Kyuubi’ came back, but on a much smaller scale. Do you remember the story of the Namikaze couple?”

Sasuke furrowed his brows in thought. He vaguely remembered hearing about them in the news, and from his parents, who had known the ‘Namikaze couple.’ “They… killed each other, didn’t they?”

Iruka nodded gravely. “Namikaze Minato and his wife, Namikaze Kushina, maiden name Uzumaki Kushina, had come down with the ‘Kyuubi.’ They were so overcome with madness, they didn’t know right from wrong, and they killed each other…”

Sasuke was starting to wish he had never been curious, that he had never asked. He felt bile rise in his throat as Iruka turned haunted eyes to him and whispered, “in front of their own child.”

With trembling fingers, the young Uchiha took his cup of sake, raised it to his lips, and downed the rest of its contents. Sake, Sasuke decided, always made things more bearable to deal with. Iruka blinked, suddenly snapping out of his stupor that he no doubt had fallen into as he recalled the past. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to babble like that. I really shouldn’t have told you.” Iruka sighed, looking guilty.

Sasuke shook his head, years of Uchiha manners grilled into his mind allowing him to remain collected. “I shouldn’t have asked,” he said, frowning deeply. To think Naruto had such a troubled past… Of all things Sasuke did, he went ahead and let his curiosity get the best of him – something no proper Uchiha ever would do. He didn’t even know the boy very well, and yet there he was, inquiring about his past that shouldn’t be a concern to Sasuke. But even he, who was usually unmoved by many things, was troubled by what Iruka revealed to him that night.

“Somehow, I think it’s okay that I told you,” Iruka amended with a smile. “Because even though Naruto complains about you a lot, I believe deep down, he actually respects you very much. You’re one of the few people who really get that boy. I think knowing his past will help you to understand him more.”

“Hn.” At the mechanical nod, Iruka’s smile turned sad.

“It makes you wonder though, how he can smile so much, ne?”

Sasuke pursed his lips in silent agreement.

“A few months after the incident I became Naruto’s legal guardian. I took him away from Konoha, away from the press, the media, the cruel people… so he could start a new life. For the most part, Naruto blocked out that part of his life from his mind completely. It’s natural. He was young, he was traumatized. It was a defense mechanism. But it helped him to move on. The place we lived before we moved here was a new start for him. He made friends. He was able to heal. It’s because he has friends that Naruto can smile today and say ‘I am happy.’

“Originally, when I had the job offer here, I was going to refuse it. But Naruto persuaded me to try it out, so we drove down here before we made our decision. It seemed Konoha had changed over the past couple of years. We didn’t look at it as the same place we used to live. It’s livelier, larger, more open. I thought moving back here would make him remember… but Naruto is still ‘Naruto.’ He still keeps up that wall that blocks what happened, but he is strong to have wanted to come back here. He doesn’t regret doing so. He is happy with the new friends he made here, and I am happy for him.”

The Uchiha relaxed at Iruka’s consoling words. Sasuke never made it a habit of getting along with people, but there was something about the older male that made it impossible for anyone not to feel relaxed when in his presence.

“What’s with this tense atmosphere?” Kakashi suddenly popped out of nowhere, slinging an arm around Iruka’s shoulders. “You should be singing with us on the karaoke machine!”

“I think not,” Sasuke scoffed.

Kakashi pouted. “Always such a spoil sport, Sasuke-kun. Well, I am going to whisk my cute little dolphin away. I worry you are trying to steal my boyfriend!”

Iruka rolled his eyes as Sasuke let out a snort.

“I am not wasted enough to make a fool out of myself as I attempt to sing,” Iruka reprimanded, swatting his silver-haired lover aside. “You may continue to do so, of course, Kakashi.”

“I think I shall then!” With a wet smack to Iruka’s cheek, Kakashi trotted back to the rest of the group.

The scarred man let out an exasperated groan. “That man…”

The rest of the night went by without any further hitch (much thanks to Neji’s ever foreboding presence looming around anyone who got, in anyway, out of control). The ‘juice’ Naruto drank managed to wear off as the night went on, but he indulged himself on candy so even with the ‘juice’ out of his system, he was still hyped up on sugar. The party itself went on until three in the morning when people started to pass out around the place. Neji, of course, roused them all up and kicked everyone out; making sure not a single soul was left in the Hyuuga mansion by the time he was through getting everyone out.

When Naruto and Kiba made it back to Kiba’s house that night, they promptly passed out in their costumes. They didn’t wake up till later in the afternoon, had a big ‘breakfast’ compliments of Kiba’s mother, and Naruto proceeded to watch and laugh as Kiba wrestled with his dog, Akamaru, and his older sister, before the two boys fixed themselves up – still in costume – and headed out again to pick Sakura up from the train station.

As soon as he spotted his pink haired friend – wearing a blue dress, white apron, and black bow tied around her head – Naruto snuck up on her from behind. While he could have just called her name to get her attention, he thought it would be more fun to scare her. And so, with half of his face covered by his cloak, Naruto lowered his voice to a husky level as he said with a fake accent: “Hello my pretty. I am Count Dracula, here to suck your bloo—OW!”

The next thing Naruto knew, he was lying flat on his back, staring in disorientation at the sky. Sakura’s face suddenly came into view, looking both apologetic and huffy. “Naruto you idiot! Don’t scare me like that!”

Kiba, who had witnessed the whole thing, was beside himself with laughter. Even when they were all gathered in his car and he was maneuvering through traffic the boy was still laughing. Naruto sulked in the front passenger seat. Sometimes the blond forgot his sweet Sakura-chan was a member of the same dojo he had been apart of back at his previous hometown. Sometimes it also escaped him that his sweet Sakura-chan packed moves that weren’t so sweet at all.

“You shouldn’t have snuck up on me like that,” Sakura chided from the back seat.

“Don’t worry. I don’t plan on doing it ever again,” Naruto grumbled.

Kiba laughed some more. “It was awesome, though!”

“Shut it, dog breath,” Naruto scowled menacingly – or at least, as ‘menacingly’ as was capable for him. “Anyway, Sakura, this is dog breath. Dog breath, Sakura-chan.”

“Inuzuka Kiba,” the brunette introduced himself with a roguish grin flashed at her through the rear-view mirror. “Naruto wasn’t kidding when he said you had pink hair! Is it natural?!”

Sakura flushed. “Of course it is!”

“No shit!”

“I wish you could have come last night!” Naruto interrupted. “Hinata-chan’s party was so fun!”

She made a face at the reminder. “I wish I could have come. My mom wouldn’t let me since it wasn’t a ‘weekend.’ Ugh.”

Naruto plowed into a detailed description of everything about the party – from the decorations and to the contest with Lee. They spent the rest of the afternoon at Kiba’s place playing video games and talking before they met up with the others for lunch at Ichiraku (Iruka took pity on Naruto and allowed the boy to eat ramen again). It was there Sakura had the (mis)fortune of meeting Lee once again, as well as their other friends – Shikamaru (who was lazy), Chouji (who ate a lot), Sai (who called her Ugly and earned a well deserved punch in the face), Shino (who was silent, and a bit upset he had been forgotten for a while), Neji (no comment), and Hinata (who was very sweet).

They spent the remainder of their afternoon eating and chitchatting at Ichiraku. Sakura found it was easy to be comfortable around Naruto’s friends. The way everyone talked made it sound as if everyone knew each other their whole lives. It pleased Naruto to see Sakura talking so familiarly with his friends. And even though he just met Hinata last night, he found it was easy to get along with her as well (much easier than it was to get along with her stoic cousin). Sakura and Hinata hit it off very well. The fact that they were the only two females in their group made them stick closer to each other.

The sun was setting as the group walked through Konoha like the group of rowdy teenagers they were. Children and their parents – as well as older kids – were out trick-or-treating then. Naruto and Kiba raced from house to house to see who could get the most candy with Chouji and Sai following shortly behind, and Shikamaru, Neji and Shino reluctantly tagging along. Sakura and Hinata were walking side by side, Sakura gossiping for the most part with the shy girl adding a comment in every now and then.

After a few blocks of knocking on doors and getting candy, Naruto and Kiba slowed down to compare the amount of candy they have.

“I totally have more than you!” Naruto insisted.

“No you don’t! I have like, way more!” Kiba rebutted.

“Pfft. You WISH you did!”

Sakura rolled her eyes. “I’m kind of tired of going door to door… we should… go to a haunted house or something!”

“A h-h-ha-haunted h-h-house?” Hinata stammered, going pale.

“That sounds like a good idea!” Naruto agreed, brightening up at the suggestion.

They stopped at a few ‘haunted houses’ that people had put together. Unfortunately none of them were scary – with exception to one particular house where someone chased poor Hinata in a clown costume. Neji proceeded to chase down the man in the clown costume and beat him to a bloody pulp. It was hilarious, Naruto decided.

After that they went trick-or-treating in the richer areas since, according to Kiba, the people gave out more candy, which proved true. It was knocking at a certain door that they come across someone – or, well, two familiar someone’s.

“Boo,” Kakashi greeted, looking pleased to see familiar faces of some of his students.

“Eeh? Kakashi-pervert? You live here?” Naruto asked, gaping at the silver-haired man who was dressed as a scarecrow for Halloween (how fitting).

“Haiii~” he chirped, scanning the group of teenagers amusedly. There was Naruto in his vampire costume. Shikamaru the samurai. Chouji the pumpkin. A pink haired girl who was probably Alice in Wonderland. The strange kid Sai as… something, Kakashi wasn’t sure (for Halloween Sai was dressed as Ichimaru Gin from Bleach). Kiba the monster. An upperclassman that Kakashi recognized as a Hyuuga (he wasn’t dressed as anything), and another girl who was probably a Hyuuga as well, dressed as a cat.

He started to dump candy in their bags. “Here you go everyone!”

“…you forgot me,” a silent voice said, and Kakashi noticed Shino for the first time (who was supposed to be a Jedi).

“Hehe my bad!” He gave Shino candy as well.

Shino sighed, displeased. Why was he always so unnoticed and forgotten?!

“Naa—Ruka-chan! It’s our cute students!” Kakashi suddenly called.

Said brunette suddenly appeared at Kakashi’s side. Naruto gaped. “Iruka! What are you doing at Kakashi-pervert’s house?!”

“Er…” the man had the grace to blush and stammer incomprehensively before whipping out a camera. “N-nothing! Let me take a picture of everyone! You all look so cute!”

And before anyone could really prepare themselves, there was a flash as Iruka took a picture of them gathered at the front porch of Kakashi’s house. “Well, carry along, children! Ruka-chan and I must get back to doing adult things!” Kakashi sang as he ushered them away and slammed the front door closed without further ado.

“Hinata-sama, we should return home now,” Neji said, turning to his cousin.

“Y-yes, Neji-niisan,” she agreed. They turned to the group, Hinata smiling. “I had fun tonight,” she said shyly. “I am sure Neji-niisan had fun as well, even if he won’t admit it.”

“Aaw isn’t it too early to go home?!” Kiba asked, looking disappointed.

“Hinata-sama’s father came home earlier this afternoon. He would be most displeased if she stayed out any later,” Neji stated.

“Well, okay…See you around, Hinata?” Kiba gave her a hopeful look.

She beamed at him. “Yes! Bye, Kiba-kun. Everyone. It was nice to meet you, Sakura-san.”

“You, too!” the rosette waved as she watched the Hyuuga cousins walk away.

“You know,” Kiba said as they started to walk again, “there’s this old rundown hospital here in Konoha that’s supposedly haunted… the places we went to were nothing…”

“An actual haunted place?” Sakura asked slowly, interest piqued. Even the other boys seemed interested.

“Yeah!” Kiba said confidently. “No one dares to go there, but those who do say they hear things in there, and other paranormal shit. Like one time some guy went in to get his ball ‘cause he was playin’ with some friends and it got kicked in there. He went through the front doors, got his ball, and when he turned around to leave, the doors just shut. Bam. He couldn’t open them, nor could his friends. His friends went to get help… and when help finally came, the kid wasn’t around anymore. He disappeared. Just like that. No one ever found his body after.”

There was silence.

“…So where’s this hospital at?” Naruto asked, grinning. He liked to think of himself as fearless – but then again, what teenager didn’t consider their self invincible?

“How come the hospital was never taken down?” Sakura asked as they followed Kiba. It was completely dark outside, and the part of Konoha they were at was vacant of other souls. The further they went, the quieter it seemed to be. Eventually they found themselves passing through a grove of trees, the ground becoming soft and moist with grass.

“Not really sure,” Kiba responded with a shrug. “Probably out of respect for the dead that haunt it.”

“Where are we?” Sakura asked, having to squint because it was so dark.

“We’re walking through the cemetery.”

“WHAT?!”

“Not scared, are you, pinkie?”

“NO…’course not…” she lowered her voice in a mutter, moving closer to Naruto who flashed a reassuring grin. “Just surprised is all. And don’t call me that, dog breath.”

“Ouch. I see you’ve taken up Naruto’s nickname.”

“It fits.”

“You’re both just mean.”

Walking through the cemetery was creepy, both Naruto and Sakura could agree on that. Even Kiba thought so as he hastily made his way through the empty cemetery – with exception to them, and the dead buried beneath the ground. When they stopped talking it became unbearably silent, not to mention the temperature had dropped the moment the sun lowered. The only people who didn’t seem effected were Shino and Sai. Shikamaru looked like he’d rather be somewhere else – preferably his bed.

A cold wind howled. An owl hooted somewhere in the distance. Dried leaves scattered along the cemetery grounds as the winds passed through. Somewhere up ahead, the sounds of creaking, rusted iron ominously cracked through the mostly silent air. Sakura jumped at the sound, her hands automatically searching for Naruto’s. She glanced at her blond friend to find his brows twisted uncertainly as he worried his bottom lip. Perhaps going to this ‘haunted hospital’ wasn’t a good idea after all?

“Maybe we should go back…” Sakura voiced her thoughts aloud.

“Backing out, huh?” Kiba asked. The tremble in his voice was a dead giveaway that he was sharing her same thoughts.

“Who said anything about backing out, eh, dog breath?” Naruto asked, laughing nervously. “I ain’t scared of no…g-g-gho…ghosts…”

“Y-you’re practically pissing in your p-pants!” Kiba pointed out smugly, stammering.

“And you’re stammering!”

“S-s-so?!”

“I knew this was troublesome,” Shikamaru muttered, rubbing his temples. “How about we just look at the hospital and then leave?”

“Why? Scared, Shika?” Naruto taunted.

“You shouldn’t be so hypocritical, Naruto, when your knees look ready to buckle,” Shino commented quietly.

And indeed, Naruto’s knees were trembling so hard he thought they were going to give way. He pulled his cloak tighter around himself to hide them.

“I think we should do what Shikamaru said,” Sakura said.

“Fine…” Kiba agreed, turning around with a silent sigh of relief.

Kiba and Naruto, Sakura thought, were two sides of the same coin. Even though they were too prideful to admit things aloud that may hurt their male ego, they were still able to admit it to themselves, at least. Not to mention they were both brash and were known for their ‘act-first-talk-later’ attitude. No wonder Naruto and Kiba got along so well. They were alike in so many ways. If Sakura hadn’t known any better she would think the two boys were brothers. But seeing them interact together for a day, the rosette girl had the distinct impression a certain brunette saw Naruto as more than just a brotherly figure – if his earlier gestures of putting an arm around Naruto’s shoulders, his flirtatious grins and less than proper comments were any indication.

She also couldn’t help but remember how, back at Ichiraku when Sai attempted to feed Naruto (much to Naruto’s displeasure), Kiba had taken the chopsticks from Sai’s grasp and snapped them in half. After that both brunettes were locked in a fierce stare (Kiba glaring and Sai smirking challengingly). Much to Sakura’s surprise, Naruto seemed used to their interaction and went on chattering with everyone else as if nothing was amiss. Sakura couldn’t help but grin giddily to herself at the competitive stare Sai and Kiba had engaged in. Was it her or were the two boys competing for her naïve friend’s affection?

“Na, Naruto, if you’re scared you can hold on to me, you know,” Kiba suddenly said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at Naruto as he glanced at his and Sakura’s linked hands.

“Pfft,” Naruto snorted. “And why would I go on and do that when I have to protect my Sakura-chan?!”

“But who’s gonna protect you, eh, Naruto?!”

“I don’t need protecting, dog breath!”

“The mutt would run off with his tail tucked between his legs should a dangerous situation arise,” Sai said with his fake smile plastered on his face. “Naruto-kun would be safer with me.”

“You wanna bet?!”

“I think I’ll just stick with Shikamaru and Shino, thank you very much!” Naruto decided for the both of them, wondering why they always had to act so competitive over him. It was ridiculous! They acted as if he were some… some woman who couldn’t fend for himself when he knew how to fight very well!

Sakura gripped Naruto’s arm tighter and held him in place as everyone went ahead of them. She started to walk, but at a much slower place, ignoring the blond’s confused look as she lowered her voice to a whisper, “You know, Naruto, I think they have a crush on you.”

“EH?!”

“Yeah… they’re totally fighting over you!”

“N-no way!” Naruto waved his hands dismissively, a blush plastered on his cheeks. “I mean…Kiba’s a total pervert, but Sai’s so antisocial and doesn’t understand human emotions so there’s no way!”

“Well, I am a woman, and my intuition says so, so you have to trust a woman’s intuition!” Sakura insisted confidently. “But, I know you don’t like either of them, and I don’t think that will affect your friendship with either of them. You’re easy to love whether you realize it or not. And besides! I know who your heart belongs to. That teacher of yours! He must be really sexy, ne?”

“I…I guess…” he agreed reluctantly. “Not that anything will ever come of it…so… so…yeah!”

“There are plenty of fish in the sea!”

Naruto laughed. “That’s so corny, Sakura-chan!”

She flushed. “But it’s true!”

They slowed to a stop when they realized the others had stopped as well. It was then they realized they came to the source of the creaking iron – two large gates that had long since rusted, were hanging off its hinges, swaying every now and then every time a wind brushed by. A large brick wall and the iron gates separated the cemetery from the rundown building on the other side. It looked like something out of a horror movie.

It was at least five stories tall. Weeds and vines had entangled around the building, but the front lawn was pretty kept, surprisingly. A few windows were broken, and several others had iron bars perched on the outside. The painting had long since deteriorated away, leaving the building a sickly gray color. The trees were taller around the old hospital as well, shading it to make it appear darker and more ominous.

“Well…it doesn’t look too harmful…” Sakura joked uncertainly.

“Heh… yeah…” Naruto nudged Kiba. “Dare you to knock on the front door. See if anyone’s home.”

“No way!” Kiba replied quickly. “You do it!”

“I dared you to first!” Naruto retorted, his eyes scanning the building out of morbid curiosity. Just looking at the building struck fear into his very being. “It makes you wonder though, doesn’t it? Why this hospital is haunted…”

“Yeah…”

Shikamaru sighed. “Nothing’s going to happen if we just stand here. Let’s just turn around and leave now.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Sakura mumbled, turning around to follow after Shikamaru, Shino and Sai.

“Mm…” Naruto hummed his agreement and was about to turn around when something caught his attention. His eyes widened and his heart started to race when he saw the shape of a figure appear at one of the windows. It felt like a bucket full of ice was dumped in his stomach, his body shutting down as he abruptly stopped moving, suddenly too scared. “G-guys…”

“Naruto?” Sakura stopped to look at him worriedly. “What’s wrong?”

He lifted a trembling finger to point, going pale. “Th…there’s… there’s someone at the window.”

“Naruto…” Sakura’s tone was warning. “Don’t joke about something like that, okay?”

“I’m serious!” For the life of him he couldn’t tear his gaze away. The building was supposed to be abandoned, wasn’t it? So why was there a figure standing at the window? Even though he couldn’t see the figure’s features, he knew it was staring right at him and that scared him the most. “It’s right there!”

“You’re creeping me out,” she whispered, but looked, gaze fearful and uncertain.

“It’s gone now…” Naruto said shakily. Everyone was silent, the atmosphere too tense for them to talk.

BAM!

They jumped when a harsh wind sent one of the gates bouncing off the brick wall.

“Shit. Let’s get the fuck out of here,” Kiba muttered.

But they froze when the sound of leaves cracking sounded heavily in the air – as sharp and clear as a gunshot. They turned slowly to see a dark figure heading towards them from the side of the hospital, their footsteps slow and heavy.

“What’re you kids doin’ here?” it asked in a gruff voice.

“…”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Not bothering to wait for the figure to make itself known, the teenagers turned around and high tailed it out of there (Sai and Shino being the only exception to screaming).

The figure stepped out into a patch of moonlight, illuminating him as an elderly man dressed in overalls with a rake in his hand. He scratched his head as he watched the kids run off. Kids these days, scared of a harmless gardener… It was laughable!

TBC.

Silly kids. XD

There is a lot I wanted to say, but now that I’ve come to the end of the chapter, I can’t remember for the life of me! And unfortunately there was no SasuNaru interaction But, hey, at least we found out about Naruto’s past, eh?… What’s with the haunted hospital? And what’s with Gaara not being around? Curious indeed! Maybe he just didn’t want to be caught dead dressing up for Halloween? Teeehe.

Chapter 15 | Chapter 17

there are stars in your hair.

2009-06-04T09:33:45Z

Title: there are stars in your hair
Fandom: naruto
Type: oneshot
Genre: romance
Rating: G
Pairing: sasunaru
Summary: In which Sasuke believes Naruto lived on Saturn’s rings before crash landing on Earth.

Notes: inspired by Train’s song Drops of Jupiter.

there are stars in your hair.

--★--

He’s convinced his boyfriend is from space.

Maybe it has to do with those sappy, sickly, god-awful metaphors of his eyes looking like the sky when the sun is up or his hair being as bright as said ball of fire – but Sasuke is positive Naruto is an alien of sorts.

“I love the rain,” Naruto says.

Sasuke gives a noncommittal grunt.

It’s summer and it’s raining. It’s warm and it’s wet. They’re sitting beneath an awning, at some random street in the middle of Konoha. Everyone else is smart enough to seek shelter, but Naruto insists on staying there. He likes the rain. Sasuke knows this because Naruto just said so – he’s said so many times before in the past. Sasuke finds the rain and summer tolerable because they remind him of Naruto and that he is starting to tolerate Naruto more and more.

Naruto has a far off look in his eyes, like he’s staring into space – literally – and perhaps he’s remembering the stars falling like rain along Saturn’s rings that he once lived and walked on.

Sasuke always had the impression that Naruto lives his life as if he were gliding along the Milky Way, or riding a comet, bursting through the stars and through the galaxies with no care in the universe.

“Come on, Sasuke,” Naruto insists, his voice sounding like summer and his laughter as sweet as spring. He grabs Sasuke’s hands and pulls him away from their shelter and out into the warm rain, water splashing at their feet as Sasuke protests and Naruto laughs and laughs.

“Dobe,” Sasuke says, disgruntled, but Naruto just looks at him, his eyes blue and bright and clear, and Sasuke thinks he sees the sky falling in them.

Naruto’s dancing and laughing and spinning and Sasuke’s just staring at this alien boy who crash landed on Earth – the same planet Sasuke is stuck at.

He’s so carefree. So open. He can probably fly off into the sky if he wants to.

They’re both so wet, but Naruto doesn’t care, and frankly neither does Sasuke.

“There are stars in your hair,” Sasuke says. He reaches out for Naruto’s hair and his fingers intertwine with threads made of sun and he knows he’s looking into his own piece of heaven. He knows, no matter how sickeningly sappy it may sound, that Naruto is his summer and winter, spring and fall all rolled into one; his ticket to the Milky Way and living on Saturn’s rings; his personal moon and sun and all the stars in-between.

Naruto smiles at him before taking his hand, their fingers entangling.

“Let’s go home, Sasuke,” Naruto says and leads him through the rain and to the stars.

for my pride and your promise #13

2009-05-20T02:07:04Z

Title: For My Pride and Your Promise
Fandom: Naruto
Pairings: SasuNaru, GaaSaku
Genre: Romance/Action/Adventure
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: boyboy sexytime
Summary: It's said if you separate the Vessel from the Keeper, all Hell will break loose. It's only natural that Hell not only breaks loose, but spills over when the Vessel and Keeper awake to find they were separated for over a hundred years.

Warning: boyboy sex. Enjoy~

Note: And sorry for taking long to update, really I am. D: This chapter was a pain in the ass to write because I take forever to write smut scenes... even if they are short... and there's also the fact that I've been working almost every day it's driving me crazy. xD And then me and my beta were having issues with gmail and attachments ahaha stupid gmail. Anyway, hope the smut makes up for the long wait.

Now it's time for me to do my history final oh boy xD

And as usual, thank you to the awesome El Gilliath for taking time to beta this!

for my pride and your promise | 13. i love you most of all | eftee

October 10, 1513 C.E.

It was a celebration.

A bonfire was lit in the traveling group’s camp sight. The flames licked high into the desert night, embers cackling and glowing with the stars. It was a clear night. A beautiful night. The vast expanse of desert provided the gypsies with a sense of freedom and discreetness. There wasn’t a town in sight, just a sea of sand and stars, and the heavens as their witness. The turmoil and struggles they’ve faced up to that point didn’t matter. Nothing mattered at the moment save for the lively fire and the freedom and happiness that was settled in their hearts. They knew such a feeling was only temporary, for as soon as the sun would rise the following morning, the desert heat would kick in, as would the harshness of reality.

And once more they would have to carry on with heavy shoulders and heavier hearts.

But for that night they were free nomads. They were happy, celebrating nomads. For tonight a baby was born. A beautiful child of blond hair and eyes as blue as the evening sky. A beautiful baby boy.

The musicians of the group banned together to commemorate the birth. Drums were beating in the desert. Guitars were strummed playfully. Voices combined to make a glorified rhythm of hymns. The children of the group laughed and cheered as they played and ran freely about. The older, young adults danced around the bonfire. The elders sat in observation, smiling with wrinkles of their time showing as clear as day on their faces.

Inside a tent, the mother of the newborn lay tiredly amongst blankets and cushions. Exhaustion from the labor wore on her face, but there was also an expression of pure contentedness and motherly adoration aimed towards the beautiful blond baby boy in her arms. He was sleeping peacefully, a complete 180 compared to his screaming when he was born. She turned a loving smile to the man hovering next to her.

“Minato…”

“Kushina, he’s lovely,” the man breathed in awe, reaching a hesitant hand towards the bundle in his wife’s arms.

“It’s okay,” Kushina gave him a reassuring smile.

He pressed his fingertips to the baby’s chubby cheeks before sliding his palm against the side of his baby’s head. The infant shifted before tiny lids fluttered open and blue met blue. Something welled inside Minato at that very moment as he gazed upon his baby boy. His and Kushina’s. Minato couldn’t help the large grin that suddenly spread across his face. “Hey there, Naruto.”

Naruto blinked sleepily at his father.

“I’m your father,” Minato continued. “And the pretty lady holding you is your mother. We’re your parents.”

“He looks so much like you,” Kushina said warmly. She leaned down and rubbed her nose against Naruto’s. “Don’t you, Naru?”

A gurgle erupted from the baby as he waved tiny arms.

“I bet you’re going to grow up to be like your father,” Kushina said pleasantly.

“Hopefully not as obnoxious as his mother,” Minato added in playfully.

Kushina stuck her tongue out at him. “Oh please. I am not obnoxious.” She made faces at Naruto. “And it wouldn’t be so bad to be like your mother. I am so kickass –“

“Language, Kushina,” Minato scolded.

“It’s okay. Naruto doesn’t know what I’m saying,” Kushina smiled sweetly at Minato, who shook his head in playful exasperation.

“What am I ever going to do with you?” Minato wondered out loud, leaning over to place a kiss on Kushina’s forehead.

The following afternoon, the group of travelers reached Suna, a village in Wind Country. As far as the gypsies were concerned Suna was a haven, even if it was in the middle of a desert. Suna was where people like them came to when they had nowhere else to go; a place where people like them who were shunned by their own people could come to. Minato was originally from a Fire Country city known as Konoha, but Kushina and the other members of their group were from various villages in Fire.

Soldiers of Fire Country were being sent to certain villages throughout the country – villages that protested against their Leadership – and burnt the villages down. Those who survived the pillaging were brought back to Konoha where they were either locked in prison or forced into labor. Minato and the others escaped.

Some of the elders unable to handle the trek passed away during the journey to Suna, but the group continued on wearily, yet determinedly to escape the repression of their country.

As soon as Suna came into view, the travelers felt their spirits lift.

Present

The drive back to Ino’s house had been quiet. Even though Sakura was ready and tempted to drill Naruto with questions, she kept them restrained for later. Naruto was exhausted – that much was obvious from the way he kept himself curled on Sasuke’s lap, his face buried at the crook of the raven-haired male’s neck as he slept during the ride home. The car ride had been so quiet and tense that Kiba shifted in his seat awkwardly and couldn’t stand the tense atmosphere that he opened his mouth to speak. A feral growl from a certain possessive Uchiha silenced Kiba before he could even get out his first word. That one warning alone was enough to keep everyone quiet (well, Kiba and Sakura in particular, because Shino and Gaara had no qualms remaining silent).

Truth be told, Sasuke wanted to question Naruto as well, but refrained from doing so. All that mattered to the Keeper was that his Vessel was safe, in his arms, and as far as Sasuke was concerned, Naruto wasn’t leaving his sight. The protective, almost possessive, hold he had around Naruto’s waist would ensure so.

Sasuke made the car ride back to Ino’s extremely awkward, but the one thing Kiba was at least glad of was that he wasn’t sharing the same seat with the Uchiha (who was sitting at the far back of the jeep while he and Shino occupied the middle). Sakura offered to drive back that time around with Gaara sitting up front with her. She glanced at the rear-view mirror to see Sasuke reflected in it. Not once had the Keeper moved. He would only shift whenever the blond in his arms would, but other than that, the Keeper kept a blank, unreadable expression, but Sakura had an inkling that his expression was schooled firmly as to put silent emphasis that no one was to touch or talk to Naruto. His squared shoulders and scowl screamed possessive. It was endearing. Sakura smiled to herself as she averted her gaze forward.

It was one thing to remember the times Naruto told her about Sasuke when she was younger. There was always such love in Naruto’s eyes – true, genuine adoration – and fondness in his voice whenever he spoke of Sasuke. It was another thing to actually witness it. Sure she’s seen plenty of couples who were in love. But nothing compared to what Sasuke and Naruto had: the bond of a Vessel and Keeper.

Eventually Sakura found herself steering the vehicle into Ino’s driveway. They made their way to the front door, Sakura leading and Sasuke right behind her, his arms full of a slumbering blond. The rest of the men made up the rear. Ino opened the door and was about to open her mouth, but instantly hushed herself when Sakura gestured at the sleeping Naruto. The blonde woman ushered them in and directed Sasuke to an empty guestroom upstairs. Naruto needed his rest, and Sasuke wasn’t about to wake him so he could socialize. Besides, Sasuke thought as he followed Ino into a spare room, he wanted Naruto to himself for now.

“There’s a private bathroom attached to this room,” Ino whispered, “you’ll find some towels in there if you wish to wash off. I’ll go see if I have any spare clothes for the two of you.” They were both a mess, so it was obvious they could use the spare clothes.

Sasuke nodded as he crossed the short distance to the bed and lightly placed Naruto down on the mattress. Luckily for them, Ino found old clothes of her father’s – though they’d probably be too big for the blond, but they were all she had. Her fiancé never left any clothes at her place, since generally it was her going to his and crashing there. Not to mention she was going to move to his place as soon as they married, so him having his possessions at her place was pointless. Ino quietly padded into the guest room and set the spare clothes down on a chair with a soft, “The clothes are here for you. If you two get hungry, don’t make yourselves a stranger now.”

Sasuke nodded gratefully to her. With a smile, the woman lightly shut the door behind her as soon as she stepped out. He sat down at the edge of the bed and reached a pale hand out in order to brush aside blond bangs. “Naruto,” he murmured, leaning down press his forehead against his lover’s. “Naruto, wake up.”

Said blond shifted before opening his eyes, normally bright blues darkened by the dim room as they stared tiredly into onyx. “Sasuke?”

“Stay awake for a little bit, Naruto,” Sasuke said as he kissed his lips and pulled him up into a sitting position. “You need to shower and change.”

“I just want to sleep,” Naruto protested, trying to lay back down but Sasuke would have none of that.

“You are covered in blood, dobe.”

That made him freeze. He didn’t protest when Sasuke picked him up and carried him to the restroom. He didn’t protest when Sasuke started the shower and stripped them of their clothes. He didn’t protest when Sasuke led him into the shower and the warm water beat down on their tired bodies. He didn’t protest when Sasuke started to wash him of the blood and death. He was too tired to protest. If anything, having Sasuke wash him, having Sasuke so close to him made him want to drift back to sleep. The Uchiha’s presence was soothing to him, and being in close quarters made their blood hum contentedly, almost like the humming of a tuneless yet calming lullaby.

It wasn’t long before Sasuke had them both clean and out of the shower, scrubbed and dry. Sasuke helped Naruto pull on a pajama top, dropping light kisses here and there on tanned flesh. On any other occasion Sasuke would have thrown Naruto’s pajamas at him, told him to dress himself, but the Keeper in him thrived to please his Vessel, knew his Vessel was still in pain and that his Vessel needed what comfort Sasuke could give him. A gentle rumbling noise was coming from Naruto’s chest, working its way to his throat. He was purring and Sasuke would be damned if he didn’t find that incredibly sexy every time the blond made that noise.

Naruto’s stomach muscles fluttered when Sasuke’s fingers brushed over his abdomen, rough, pale fingers gliding up along his chest and the nape of his neck before cupping a whiskered cheek. “Naruto,” Sasuke murmured against his lips, like his name was some kind of mantra. He placed a gentle kiss on slightly parted lips. “Naruto.”

“Mm…” Naruto hummed with a contented sigh. “Sasuke… Make love to me, please.”

“But you’re tired,” Sasuke pointed out, dipping his head down to run the wet muscle of his tongue along a sensitive earlobe. Naruto shivered.

“I just want…” the Vessel whispered, “I just want you to make love to me.”

“Hn,” Sasuke nipped his earlobe before pushing himself back on his arms so he was hovering over Naruto. He was glad he hadn’t fully dressed the blond yet. This way he was able to admire his lover wearing nothing but the unbuttoned pajama top, spread opened so Sasuke could see his bare chest; so Sasuke could see his naked body exposed to his eyes. Both of their hairs were still damp from the shower, and besides Naruto’s top, they were both still clearly naked. Sasuke knew Naruto was still tired from the earlier events, still exhausted both physically and mentally. But the way Naruto was looking up at him with darkened blue eyes… Sasuke knew he could never say no.

At that moment Naruto looked so utterly vulnerable. Sasuke thought such an expression didn’t belong on Naruto’s face because Naruto was invulnerable. He was invincible. At least, that’s what the blond wanted people to see; wanted to believe himself. There were a few moments in their lifetime that Sasuke saw such a look on his lover’s face, and every time was as painful as the last, knowing there was only so much he could protect Naruto from.

And unfortunately, the raven-haired Keeper had remained asleep while his Vessel suffered all those years.

Just thinking about it made Sasuke’s blood boil all over again. It made him want to gather Naruto into his arms and hold him tight. It made him want to mold their bodies together. It made him want to kill someone. It made him want to never leave Naruto’s side. It made him want to see blood. It made him want to console the blond in whatever way he could… So many emotions were raging in him, each one contradicting the next, his anger threatening to cancel all other emotions. But the look in Naruto’s eyes overrode all else. All that mattered at the moment was Naruto. All that mattered was that he was safe now, and they weren’t apart.

“I am still holding you up to earlier,” Sasuke murmured, voice husky as fingers ghosted over a perk nipple. A small sigh flew passed opened lips, the body beneath him arching at the feathered touch. “I will make you scream, Uzumaki Naruto… But not tonight.”

“I would hope not,” Naruto jested, reaching his hands up to cup Sasuke’s face in between them. He grinned. “I don’t think Sakura-chan and the others would enjoy listening to us all. Night. Long.”

“Hn.” Sasuke smirked, tilting his head so he could kiss the back of Naruto’s right wrist. The tanned hands on his face slid to the back of his head, entangling themselves in damp raven locks before pulling Sasuke down, their lips meeting. Sasuke wanted to say he wouldn’t mind hearing Naruto all night long, but he saved such thoughts for another time. Now was about making love to his dobe. Because they both needed it. They needed it so undeniably bad.

The kiss was everything they remembered it to be. Naruto couldn’t believe he had forgotten who Sasuke was – who he was – for all those years. How could he forget Sasuke, when every time they kissed, it was like every fiber, every cell, every part of Naruto’s body was on fire? Even his heart warmed and raced in his chest, his insides swelling with unbelievable joy and love at the intimate contact. The touching, the kisses, the intimacy and close contact was like a drug to them; a good drug.

“So good,” Naruto whispered, dark blues meeting hazed obsidians. Sasuke didn’t hesitate to capture those moist lips again, a hungry, needy groan ripping its way through his throat. The kiss was slow and hot, tender and needy, loving and desperate. They took their time as pale hands glided over smooth, tanned flesh and tanned hands ran and explored smooth and scarred pale skin. Time for them was trivial, for they took their time reacquainting each other with their lips and hands. But even after sleeping for hundreds of years and being apart for a few more, the time never made them forget. Everything was as they remembered – with exception to Naruto seeming thinner from malnutrition.

But Sasuke chose not to think about the cause of Naruto’s thinner state. He would interrogate the blond about everything that happened later. And the way Naruto was suckling at the bottom of his lip whilst running his fingers along his spine made Sasuke shudder and forget everything else but the man beneath him. Naruto’s tongue flicked out against Sasuke’s lip, tracing the bottom before the Keeper took that tongue in his mouth and between his teeth, drawing back gently with a suck. Naruto purred, fingers tracing the contours of Sasuke’s strong jaw and neck with loving caresses.

The raven-haired male kissed the corner of his blond’s lip, trailed down to kiss his chin, the nape of his neck, down the tantalizing jugular, passed his collar bone, until he came upon a dust-colored nipple. The wet tongue swirled around it, drawing a ragged gasp from Naruto that only urged Sasuke forward. His tongue moved around and flicked against the nipple in languid strokes that left Naruto panting breathlessly and writhing beneath Sasuke for more. His body arched off the bed when Sasuke took the nipple into his mouth and sucked on it, his tongue lavishing it with attention at certain intervals. Naruto gripped pale, broad shoulders with trembling fingers, his grip tight and nails almost breaking through flesh.

While Sasuke mouthed Naruto’s nipple, a hand ghosted down a tight stomach, leaving a flutter of muscles in its wake. His hand ghosted over Naruto’s erection – “Nngh…” – and slid lower until he cupped Naruto’s balls, fondling them with expert hands. The demon bearer’s breathing turned shallow as his mouth unhinged itself. His hips bucked involuntarily and his hands gripped raven locks, wanting more, wanting to feel more, wanting, wanting, wanting…

Naruto lowered a hand and pressed it over Sasuke’s heart. His Keeper switched attention to his other nipple just as Naruto trailed his fingers down over one of Sasuke’s, earning a hiss from the man above him. Naruto didn’t stop his hand as he reached lower and lower until he was gripping his lover’s erection. Sasuke sounded a throaty groan around Naruto’s nipple as his fingers wrapped around the engorged cock, stroking it and pumping it just as languidly and slow as the movements of Sasuke’s tongue.

Naruto spread his legs further and raised his hips, taking both of their erections in his hand as he rubbed them together. Electricity jolted through their bodies at the sudden contact, but neither made any effort to pull away as they rocked and grinded against each other. Sasuke had to pull his hand away from Naruto’s nipple and balls in order to brace himself on his hands. They stared at the other with the same intensity before their lips met each other mid way, their pants and groans sounding silently and breathlessly in the room.

The rain fell outside on rooftops, windows and streets like the falling of sand. The angry storm faded away, and gentleness rained down, washing away the dirt, the rage. The rumbling of thunder rolled away in the distance.

Well you know I hardly speak.
When I do it's just for you.
I haven't said a word in weeks
'Cause they've been keeping me from you.

There's a way where there's a will.
You know I got no need for stairs.
Step out on the window sill,
Fall with me into the air.

Sakura stood at a window, her shoulder leaning against the sill with her arms crossed over her chest. Everyone else was gathered in the living room watching a movie on the television screen, with exception to herself and Gaara, who was sitting at the kitchen table. The sounds from the movie drifted faintly into the kitchen, but the pouring rain overpowered it, drowning out any other sound that could possibly break into Sakura’s and Gaara’s silent atmosphere.

The rosette found she didn’t mind the silence so much. Standing there with Gaara and watching the rain was calming, if anything.

The rain made her remember her younger days, when lightning and thunder used to scare her, and how she would go running into Naruto’s room during a storm. He would always comfort her and tell her a story to get her to fall asleep. They were usually stories about one of Naruto’s and Sasuke’s adventures. Just thinking about it made her close her eyes, a smile dancing fondly across her face. It was odd though how Naruto hadn’t aged a bit since he was captured. But then again, Sakura wasn’t that surprised. Once Vessels and Keepers reached a certain age, they stopped aging and lived the rest of their lives as immortals. It made Sakura wonder how long exactly Naruto and Sasuke have been alive.

She started thinking about everything that had happened from the point she went to Suna. It made her remember the fight between Sasuke and Gaara and the surrealism of watching it. It made her thoughts drift over to Gaara. She seemed to think about him a lot ever since they met.

What left her the most curious were the strange abilities he displayed during his fight with Sasuke.

It was as if… he was like Naruto and Sasuke.

Sakura’s brows creased at the thought. Could it be…?

“Hey, Gaara?”

Sakura turned so she was facing him. Jade eyes lifted in order to meet hers inquisitively.

“Now that… we have Naruto, you can probably return home. But before you leave I will make sure you receive your payment for helping us.”

Gaara remained silent.

The sky rumbled.

“Home…” the redhead murmured, as if the word were foreign to him. Maybe it was. Sakura wasn’t sure. “…I cannot leave.”

A perfectly arched eyebrow raised. “Your assistance is no longer necessary. Naruto is with Sasuke now.”

“My intentions for staying have nothing to do with keeping the Uchiha in line,” was Gaara’s straightforward and monotone reply.

Sakura was confused now. “Then why stay? I am going to give you money, I give you my word…”

“No,” Gaara said quietly. There was a flash of lightning that lit up the dim kitchen before Gaara was suddenly standing right in front of her, towering over her, invading her personal space. She would have taken a reflexive step back if she wasn’t already leaning against the wall, her hands falling down her sides. Sakura stood her ground and met Gaara’s fierce stare warily. “You are curious about me, are you not? How I was able to fight the Uchiha. If I am like him. If I am like Naruto. I am… like them.”

Sakura’s eyes widened at the revelation. Sure she had her suspicions a moment ago, but she never considered the possibility that there could be others like Sasuke and Naruto out there. And she knew he was telling the truth, otherwise how else would he have fought Sasuke the way he had?

“But I am more like Naruto. Naruto and I… we are the same.”

Naruto felt so peaceful laying there, heart fluttering, the pit-pattering of rain sounding tranquil in his ears. He felt warm, safe, loved, needed, happy, content. It was overwhelming. It burned like a warm flame in his heart, fierce and tender all at once. It warmed him like a June, summer night. It rolled and washed over him like the light waves crashing along a beach shore. So warm. So calming.

He gazed up at Sasuke through the dimness of the room. They were both as equally flushed and breathy as the other. Something in Naruto’s gut twisted at the look Sasuke was giving him passed dark bangs. It was such an open and genuine look in obsidians that made Naruto’s breath catch in his throat. Because he knew, only for him, in the privacy of their quarters, of their love making, that Sasuke ever allowed Naruto to see him so open, that Naruto could really see how much Sasuke loved and needed him.

And so the blond allowed himself to be taken captive by his eyes; to fall further and further into Sasuke.

He laid a hand over Sasuke’s heart where he could feel the organ racing against his palm. A pale hand gripped a tanned wrist and the two made eye contact once again as Sasuke pushed himself all the way into Naruto’s tight heat. The Vessel grit his teeth at the intrusion. It was always uncomfortable at first, especially after sleeping for over a hundred years and his body gradually tightening over in time. His body trembled as he breathed shakily through gritted teeth, willing his body to relax.

Sasuke waited with what self-control he could muster. He lifted Naruto’s hand from his chest in order to kiss the back of his wrist, swiping his tongue at the pulse before mouthing it. He heard Naruto’s breath hitch. He saw Naruto’s mouth fall open. He saw Naruto’s eyes glaze over. He could feel Naruto start to relax at the sensual action. Sasuke didn’t stop sucking until he knew it would leave a mark. Once he was satisfied, he kissed up and down Naruto’s arm, moving back up until he was kissing his palm with gentle caresses of lips.

Naruto sighed his name in such a heartbreakingly needy way…

Sasuke moved.

Their bodies slid easily against each other with the added slickness of their sweat. They moved in sync, their bodies easily falling in the rhythm they had practiced for so many decades and centuries. Naruto’s hands grasped the sheets beneath him, feeling the silkiness of his pajama top and bed sheet move beneath him as he rocked with Sasuke. His toes curled as he spread his legs and raised his hips, further inviting Sasuke in as the Uchiha moved in and out, his movements slow so his lover could feel every inch of him moving, so he could relish in the warm muscles wrapped around him.

Their hands sought each other as their fingers intertwined, Sasuke pressing Naruto’s hands against the mattress on either side of his head. Naruto’s breathy whines of his name and Sasuke’s pants and groans silently filtered throughout the room, the pit-pattering of the rain against the window mingling with the noises of their love making. Tanned legs wrapped around Sasuke’s waist, drawing them closer as their chests pressed together with Sasuke’s face burrowed in Naruto’s neck and shoulder. Sasuke dug his feet into the mattress in order to push harder into Naruto, his ragged breathing fanning the tantalizing skin beneath his lips.

“More, more, more,” Naruto practically cried as he met Sasuke thrust for thrust. When they were like this, when they were physically connected, the fire in their hearts turned into a raging firestorm that raced heatedly through their veins. Everything they felt was ten times more sensitized, but only they could make each other feel the way they did.

And then Sasuke hit that sweet spot inside of him and Naruto whined and arched completely off the bed. Each time that spot was hit his body trembled. Naruto knew if he wasn’t clinging to Sasuke, then surely he would have fallen over the edge. He chanted Sasuke’s name like his name alone was everything to him – which it very well might as be because Sasuke was his life. Only Sasuke could take him the way he did, could push him so far the way he did, could love him the way he did, could reduce him to such a vulnerable state.

“I love you,” Naruto whispered, and Sasuke whispered his love for him too as they moved. The sounds of the rain drowned out their whispered sweet nothings, drowned out the sounds of their love making, the sounds of them finally reaching their climax, the sound of Naruto murmuring Sasuke’s name over and over as the Uchiha marked his neck.

Pit-pat, pit-pat.

“You…” Sakura started after a startled pause. “You’re…a Vessel?”

The silent response was answer enough.

“Your Keeper…?” She started to ask, but stopped, because she saw the pain in Gaara’s eyes, the physical and mental hurt. She didn’t know why he was allowing her to see, but it broke her heart. “You two are separated as well?”

How come Gaara wasn’t trying to find his Keeper?

“In a sense,” Gaara said.

“I don’t understand… why don’t you try to find him?”

“Her,” he corrected. “Currently there is something in-between us, blocking me from her.”

Sakura furrowed her brows and didn’t answer right away. Instead, she thought over what he said, and thought of how Sasuke’s and Naruto’s connection had been blocked for some time for Sasuke not to have woken up for a couple of years after Naruto. “Is it like how Sasuke and Naruto were blocked from each other?”

“Yes,” was Gaara’s monotone reply. “It is exactly like that.”

“Then we must find her –“

“I already have.”

“Then—“

“…My situation… is more difficult,” Gaara explained slowly. “She… does not wish to remember.”

Sakura’s eyes widened at that. “Why?”

“Because she hurts.”

“That’s no reason --!”

“I would like to grant her wish,” Gaara continued as if the woman before him didn’t look so outraged and scandalized. “But I cannot. I need her too much. I do not want to grant her wish, even if it will make her even more angry with me.”

“She should understand how you feel…” Sakura murmured heatedly. “How selfish of her.”

Gaara was smiling. It was a wry, grim smile. “She is not selfish. I am. By not granting her wish, she will only continue to hurt more if she remembers.”

“I suppose…” Sakura deflated. It still angered her. What Keeper would on purposely sever their connection with their Vessel? She saw what a blocked connection did to Sasuke, how desperate he was to find Naruto. It amazed her that Gaara was so calm and composed outwardly. She sighed. “That still does not explain why you are bothering to stay here.”

“I have been acquainted with the Uchiha and Naruto long before now,” Gaara answered bluntly.

“I see.” Sakura nodded in understanding. It would only be natural Gaara would stay with familiar people. There weren’t any words after that, just the sound of the pouring rain. They stood there in their respective silence, each gazing calculatingly at the other until Sakura suddenly raised a hand. Gaara stiffened when her fingertips hesitantly pressed against his cheek. Sakura refused to stand back or pull away as she fully pressed her palm against the side of his face. She had the insane feeling that touching Gaara was like poking a lion with a stick, and Inner Sakura was giggling quite madly and nervously in her head. “You’re hurting… and I am sorry for that.”

Gaara didn’t say anything in response, nor did he move away, even if it hurt him to stand there. The demon inside of him clawed to get closer to her, and his body craved the same thing, craved to pull her in his arms and request forgiveness. But this woman wouldn’t understand. She did not remember. And even if she did remember, she would probably push him away.

And it hurt, because though they were standing so close to each other, they were still so far apart.

And it felt like a knife stabbing him in his heart when Sakura smiled so gently at him. He could recall a time in the past where she smiled the same way, whilst saying, I love you the most, Gaara.

My heart is yours. Always.

But now her heart was closed off to him.

“Sasuke?”

“Hn.”

“…missed you.”

“…Hn.”

“…Bastard would it kill you to say you missed me too?!”

“Hn.”

“Damn it!”

Silence.

When Sasuke thought Naruto was asleep: “…missed you too, idiot.”

“I knew it!” Naruto practically jumped on Sasuke, nearly giving the raven-haired male a heart attack in the process. “I love you, too, S’uke-chaaan~”

Sasuke stared disgruntled at the blond invading his arms. “I didn’t say that, dobe!”

“But you were thinking it!” Naruto sang gleefully.

“Was not!”

“It’s okay, S’uke-chan. I understand you’re an emotionally stunted bastard. You don’t have to say anything. I understand completely. I know you love me most of all. You even said so earlier during our hot love making.”

Sasuke’s brow twitched.

Naruto suddenly frowned. “Now that I think about it, you only ever say it when we’re having sex. Gaaah! Sasuke-bastard! You just use me for sex!”

Next thing Sasuke knew, his face was implanted in the hard, cold ground.

And that was how Sasuke ended up sleeping on the floor after their one-sided argument.

So, here we go.
Hold on tight and don't let go.
I won't ever let you fall.
I love the night.
Flying o'er these city lights.
But I love you most of all.
A Song for Milly Michaelson - Thrice

Chapter 12 | Chapter 14

yakuza 101: the ten commandments

2009-04-09T20:38:35Z

Title: Yakuza 101
Fandom: Naruto
Pairing: SasuNaru GaaSaku
Genre: Romance/Action/Humor
Rating: M
Warnings: None (for now)
Summary: Naruto avoided the new pink-haired and raven-haired students like the plague. It was only inevitable before said plague finally caught up to him. "We're taking you home, Naruto." Ah, well, shit. And Naruto thought it was going to be a nice day.

HALLO EVERYONE -wave- xD Sorry for taking an awful long time to update. Really I am. I am trying to do better promise ;o;

And thank you everyone for the wonderful reviews. Just to answer a few of your questions: Sasunaru development will...be there. It's pretty obvious already that Sasuke has a thing for Naruto, but when Naruto will start showing obvious interest in return is... a mystery to me myself. xD I like development, if you can't tell for those of you who read yaoi high. Aha. KakaIru maaybe! We'll see... and as for Val, he'll be back. Believe it!

Anywho, thank you to El Gilliath for the wonderful beta-ing, as usual!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Co, just original characters like Val... and the movie mentioned in this chapter is Analyze This, which I also make no profit from.

Konoha’s Ten Commandments
1. Your Family and Hokage come first above all else
2. You shall have no other boss but the Hokage
3. You shall honor your Family and Hokage
4. You shall not betray the secrets of your Family to the police or any enemy Families
5. You shall already condemn yourself to death if you ever betray the Family in any way or form
6. You shall murder and conduct missions in the name of your Hokage
7. Never be seen with cops
8. Do not touch the wife/partner of another Family member
9. Keep strict loyalty to your Family and Hokage
10. Respect your Hokage, women, the Family’s allies

y a k u z a . 1 0 1 - 06 - The Ten Commandments

“When you’re in the yakuza, your Family and Boss comes first above all,” Naruto said during the second day of tutoring Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon. “That is the first of Konoha’s Ten Commandments.” He held up two fingers. “Second: You shall have no other boss but the Hokage. Do you know what the third is?”

“You shall murder in the name of your Hokage?” Konohamaru offered.

Naruto shook his head. “That’s the Sixth. Here, how about this,” he held his hand out to Sakura, who gave him a few pieces of blank paper and several pencils. He distributed them to the three preteens. “Write down what you know about the Commandments, and in the order you guys think they go.”

They started to do as they were instructed, that is, until Konohamaru tried to peek at Moegi’s paper, only to have a pencil bounce off his forehead sent at him from one particular Uchiha. “Ow!” Konohamaru muttered, sending a sulking glare at Sasuke.

“No cheating,” Sasuke said stoically, or else hanging unsaid in the air.

When they were done Naruto collected their papers and looked through all of them. He made a face at Udon’s blank paper. “Udon you fail,” the blond deadpanned.

Konohamaru snickered but pouted when Moegi smacked him upside the head. Udon merely shrugged. Naruto shifted to the next paper, which so happened to be Konohamaru’s. The only ones Konohamaru wrote down were the First, Second, and Sixth Commandments. Naruto laughed. “Konohamaru you fail too.” He looked at Moegi’s and nodded in approval. “Moegi’s the only one who got them all.”

Sakura was peeking at it over his shoulder and rolled her eyes. “Naruto, some of those are still wrong.”

“Huh? Oh.” Naruto grinned sheepishly. “I just thought I’d give her credit for trying?”

“What’s the Third Commandment?” Sakura asked Naruto suddenly, who blinked at the question.

“Er… You shall…um… honor your Family and Hokage?”

“Yes. Fourth?”

“Uh –“

“You shall not betray the secrets of your Family to the police or any enemy Families,” Sakura said firmly, taking the floor as she ticked off her fingers. “Fifth.”

“Huh?”

“Fifth, Naruto.”

“You shall already condemn yourself to death if you ever betray the Family,” Sasuke said, his voice dark and foreboding. The three preteens exchanged glances with a shudder. “Sixth: you shall murder and conduct missions in the name of your Hokage.” He paused and fixed Naruto with a lazy stare. “You should know these, dobe.”

“Shut up, bastard.” Naruto sniffed indignantly. “Eighth is not to touch the wife or partner of any Family member… for she will probably break your hands and fingers without hesitation.”

“Ninth is to keep strict loyalty to your Family and Hokage, and tenth is to respect the Hokage, women and the Family’s allies.”

“Women like Sakura-chan are to be respected,” Naruto piped. “Because they’re scary when they’re mad –“ Naruto made sure Konohamaru was between him and Sakura before the rosette could even think about hitting him. Sakura growled. “But women like Sakura-chan, although scary, are very smart and strong. Some of our enemy yakuza families are afraid of Sakura-chan because they know she can break their bones with just a flick of her finger.”

Sakura’s anger had waned to bashfulness as she shuffled her feet and blushed prettily. “Naruto…”

“It’s true!”

“Anyway –“ Sakura picked up three thick worn-looking books from a table and handed a book to Udon, Moegi and Konohamaru. “These are just light readings about our Family for you guys to look over.”

“Light…”

“…Reading?”

Udon and Konohamaru exchanged horrified glances as the books dropped painfully onto their laps. Moegi just nodded intently to what Sakura said. They were different books. Moegi’s book was titled The Founding of Konoha, while Konohamaru had The Families of Konoha and Udon had The History of Konoha.

“They’re pretty quick reads so you guys should get through them in about a week if you keep up with it,” Sakura said, her tone business-like. “Read it like your lives depend on it, understood?”

“Uh…”

She was smiling, but there was an underlying threat in her gaze and words as she stared down the three pre-teens. They gulped in unison.

“Whoever did that thing to you-know-who, that good friend of mine, well they're trying to do that to me now. And I'm having a lot of feelings about that. And I'm trying to get some closure on that.”

“What kind of feelings?”

A movie was playing on the 52” flat screen TV mounted on the wall. Two rival mobsters were conversing over the phone.

“I’m very angry. I’m feeling very angry about that…”

A snicker erupted from the blond hair sticking up from the other side of the couch.

“So why are you telling me?”

“Why am I telling you? Like you don’t know nothing about it? You know nothing? What?”

“Aah, I love Robert De Niro,” the head of blond mused, his voice muffled and popcorn-filled as he munched loudly and obnoxiously. The pink-haired smacked him upside the head while the raven-haired hissed, shut up, dobe.

“…fucking bury you. I’ll put ice pricks in your eyes. I’ll chop your fucking eyeballs. I’ll send them to your fucking family so they can eat them for dessert. You understand me?”

“Hey, Paul?”

“What?”

“Fuck you.”

The phone call thus ended with the ‘antagonist’ rival mafia turning to his companion with a: “You get a dictionary and find out what this ‘closure’ is. If that’s what he’s going to hit us with, I want to know what it is.”

Naruto burst out laughing at that point. Even Sakura couldn’t help but giggle. Eventually the movie ended, and just as the credits were rolling on the screen, Minato came walking into Naruto’s ‘Game Room’ where he, Sasuke and Sakura could usually be found playing video games or watching television. It was almost three in the morning when Minato walked in, having just managed to tear himself away from some unnecessary paper work and another meeting with the Council. He was headed to his bedroom when he saw the blue lights from the television screen emitting from the cracks of the door and stopped to check in.

He smiled to himself when seeing the three teens had fallen asleep on the couch. Sasuke was leaning at an angle with his head lolled back against the back of the couch and an elbow propped against the arm of the couch. Naruto’s head had fallen on to Sasuke’s shoulder and drool was leaking from the corner of his mouth and to the sleeve of Sasuke’s shirt. Sakura was lying curled on the couch, her head resting in Naruto’s lap. They looked peaceful in their sleeps. They didn’t look like the children of mobsters, nor did they look like rising mobsters themselves. They didn’t look like murderers or criminals… but then again, they weren’t yet. But it was only a matter of time.

There was no such thing as innocence in the yakuza. One could only protect their child for so long…

Minato let out a tired sigh as he rubbed closed lids, his shoulders heavy with exhaustion and years of violence and blood. He had a choice of keeping Naruto from the world of the yakuza. He had a choice of picking another successor that wasn’t his son, his flesh and blood, his deceased wife’s child. But the thing was, no matter how much Minato wanted to protect his only child and only reminder of his wife, he knew that Konoha needed him as much as he did. He knew that Naruto would be good for Konoha as Hokage. He knew all that, but it was hard to accept as a father.

He knew one day Naruto would be great, if not greater than him.

He also knew he was being selfish for keeping Naruto not known to the public, keeping him for most of his life locked up in the Plaza. But he had valid reasons, but those reasons weren’t enough to keep him protected forever.

“Naruto-kun missed the initiation ceremony, no?” Minato recalled the elders addressing him about Naruto’s disappearance among other things. “I think, even though he ran away, we should make an exception and let him go through with the initiation ceremony.”

“Sarutobi –“

Sarutobi Hiruzen cleared his throat. “Hear me out, Koharu. While a proper punishment for running away would be to make him wait another year, I think as Hokage-to-be, it will benefit him in the long run to be initiated now. He needs to be properly trained by the time Yondaime steps down.”

“We also can never be sure of the future,” Danzo added in calmly. “It is always best to be prepared.”

Minato took everything in. He knew full well what Danzo was implying that even Minato had to agree with. Anything could happen to the current Hokage. Though Sarutobi lived and still lived long enough to see his successor, attempted assassinations weren’t uncommon towards current Kages. Naruto had to be prepared in case anything happened to Minato.

When there were no further protests voiced, Sarutobi looked at Minato and smiled. “It is agreed then. Naruto-kun’s initiation ceremony will be in a month’s time. I’m sure you will make sure he is properly prepared?”

“Of course,” Minato said, bowing respectfully to the elders before taking his leave.

Minato knew his son was angry at himself for missing the initiation ceremony in the first place, but he was sure Naruto’s spirits would instantly brighten once he told him the elders approved him to be initiated anyway. But Minato wasn’t about to wake his son for that. He did raid a nearby closet for a blanket to drape over the teens before turning off the television and closing the door to the Game Room after himself.

The next day found Sasuke and Naruto sparring outside in the Plaza’s spacious backyard (if you could call it that. It was huge). Sakura was lying sprawled on the grass, wearing shorts, a green tank top and flip flops. It was such a nice day outside to spend it inside the Plaza. Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon were sitting on Sakura’s right side, reading the books she had assigned to them. Correction: Moegi was reading, Konohamaru and Udon attempted to read but ended up watching Naruto and Sasuke spar instead. Everything was peaceful and dandy up until –

“YOU BASTARD!”

Sakura let out an explosive sigh. “What now?”

She sat up to look. Even Moegi put her book down to see what was going on. Naruto was pointing an accusatory finger at Sasuke while his other hand was clutching his aching jaw. “I thought you said no punching!”

“It was an accident,” Sasuke said with a roll of his eyes, exasperated. “I did it on reflex. Get over it.”

“Get over it?!” Naruto repeated in outrage. “IT’S ON NOW!” With a war cry he closed the distance between them in a yellow and orange blur before tackling Sasuke down and trying to punch him in the face. Sasuke caught both of his fists as the two teenage boys found themselves locked in a wrestling match to gain the upper hand over the other.

Sakura had half the mind to march over there and rip the two idiots away from each other, but said idiots were shirtless as they wrestled, and watching pale and tan bodies fight against each other was just… just… She covered her nose. It was such a damnthingthat they were both gay. At least, Sasuke was gay and he knew it. Naruto still didn’t know about his gay feelings for Sasuke but that was just a minor detail that could easily be overlooked. Moegi was looking at the fight with just as much awe as Sakura, while Konohamaru cheered Naruto on and Udon remained passive about the fight.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was getting frustrated. It was warm outside. Naruto didn’t have a shirt on. He didn’t have a shirt on. And the fact that they kept bumping chests and subconsciously rubbing against each other during the little wrestling match was…not doing good things to Sasuke’s body. He managed to punch Naruto off of him before things could, uh, escalate, and he quickly got up himself, both boys panting from the exertion as they glared at each other.

“Okay, that’s enough you two!” Sakura called from where she sat.

“I need to pound him into the dirt first, Sakura-chan!” Naruto stated loudly and confidently.

“The only one who will get pounded into the dirt, will be you, dobe,” Sasuke practically leered.

For some reason that made Naruto blush. Sakura giggled and quickly muffled it. “Sh-shut up, bastard! I’ll kick your ass!”

Sasuke smirked. “I’d like to see you try.”

Naruto growled and would have lunged at Sasuke, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him from doing so. He looked up in confusion to find his father smiling down at him. “Eh? What’s up, pops?”

Minato always found it amusing when his son called him ‘pops.’ He chuckled. “I need to talk to you for a bit. I hope that is fine.”

Naruto glanced at Sasuke, who shrugged, and nodded at Minato. “That’s fine. You just saved Sasuke from getting his ass pounded. He should be grateful.”

Sasuke bit his lip to refrain from retorting. He doubted the Hokage of Konoha would be all too happy to hear of his less than innocent intentions towards his son. Minato blinked in surprise at Naruto’s comment and tried not to think about the innuendos underlying that simple statement. Besides, his boy was far too innocent to even think about that… right? Deciding that mulling over such questions would give him an aneurysm, he pushed such thoughts out of his mind and guided Naruto down the backyard, walking along a grove of sakuratrees.

“Naruto,” Minato started, his gaze admiring the cherry blossoms as they fluttered with a warm breeze. “When you were gone, you missed the initiation ceremony. I’m sure you realize that?”

Naruto hung his head down, but nodded. “Yeah…”

“It would be punishment enough to make you wait another year for it,” Minato continued casually. He ignored Naruto’s wince. “You would deserve it for running away for so long and making your father worry.”

The teenager bit his lip. Why did his dad always have to make him feel so guilty? Sure he deserved it, but there was only so much guilt one boy could take before he exploded form guilt overload! Didn’t parents understand that? He sighed and was going to open his mouth to apologize, but Minato rested a hand on his shoulder for the second time that day. “I’m not here to make you feel guilty, Naruto. Fortunately for you, the Elders and I decided it’s of the utmost importane that you undergo the initiation ceremony as soon as possible.”

“What?” Naruto breathed, staring at Minato in surprise. Was he saying what he thought he was saying?

Minato smiled. “You’ll have to be trained, of course. I’m sure you’re out of shape after six months. But no worries. I have requested Jiraiya train you.”

“Eeeh? Ero-sennin?” Naruto blanched at the thought of having to train with the old pervert. The older man chuckled amusedly.

“He’s the only one who will get you in the shape you need to be a month from now,” Minato explained. “Your initiation ceremony is in a month, Naruto. The training will be rigorous. Jiraiya may be an old pervert, but he’s tough. Do you think you can handle it?”

Naruto didn’t even have to think about it. “Hell yeah! I’m Uzumaki Naruto! I can handle anything, dattebayo!”

Minato grinned. “That’s what I wanted to hear. You will start your training tomorrow. And do not forget about your responsibilities for Konohamaru and the others. I’ve discussed this with Iruka-san, and he believes you’re capable of handling both things.”

“But, but…” Naruto started to protest. He was just a teenager! Training and tutoring? He wasn’t Sakura or Sasuke!

“Sakura-san and Sasuke-san will be there to help you.” Minato squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. “You will figure something out, Naruto. See it as a learning experience for you as well. You’ll brush up on your Family history, as well as your knowledge of the Family in general. As the future of this Family it is important you know everything. This month will be taxing on you, Naruto. It’ll test your mental and physical capabilities. But this will prepare you for the initiation ceremony, both mentally and physically. Do your best, okay?”

Naruto sighed, before grinning. “Okay. I won’t let you down, and that’s a promise!”

“I know you won’t,” Minato said, fondly ruffling his son’s blond hair. He nudged Naruto towards his friends. “Go back to them. And try not to be too hard on Sasuke-san.”

Naruto stuck his tongue out before running back to his friends. Minato watched him leave, blue eyes content to watch his son, who was always as bright as the sun wherever he went, no matter what situation may present itself to him. Always energetic. Always confident and optimistic. Minato could only hope Naruto never changed.

“You don’t have to worry about Naruto-kun so much.”

Minato wasn’t surprised to find Kakashi leaning against the trunk of a sakuratree, his face buried in an orange book. He looked at his ex-student before turning admiring ceruleans to the blossoms. “I don’t think anything can change that kid,” Kakashi added.

“Hm… I believe you are right, Kakashi,” Minato hummed in agreement, his heart feeling lighter. “He is too much like his mother to let anything change him…” he murmured wistfully. “Do you remember? Spring was always Kushina’s favorite time of the year.”

The silver-haired man closed his book. “I remember.” He glanced at Minato, who was staring wistfully at the trees. Whenever the blond man thought or reminisced about his wife, he always looked older, sadder. It was hard to see such a vibrant man looking so weighed down, his heart still yearning for his lost love, still remembering every day the moment he lost the better part of himself. Those who knew Minato always found it hard to see him so devastated. Those who knew Minato, knew why he pained so much, because they knew Kushina. And she was everything to Minato. But as he raised Naruto, they saw the blond boy was Minato’s new world. And over time, the man healed. But it was still hard sometimes.

They stood in silence for a while before Kakashi said, “The others will be arriving tonight.”

Minato nodded, no longer looking wistful as he returned to being the Yondaime. The Hokage. Their leader. “Good.”

“And I believe Itachi-kun will be returning from his mission.”

Minato smiled. “Wonderful.”

Sasuke felt a shiver of impending doom travel up his spine. He frowned in confusion, but shrugged it off as he turned his attention to his blond companion, who came jogging back from having a talk with his father. Naruto was grinning from ear to ear – nothing new there – but Naruto looked more excited than usual. He wondered what the Yondaime said to have possibly made the Dobe so happy.

“Guess what guess what guess what guess what!” Naruto exclaimed all in one breath as he caught up to Sasuke, who was sitting with Sakura and the other kids. The blond looked ready to burst at any given moment so Sasuke humored him with a drawl:

“What?”

“They’re letting me have an initiation ceremony! It’s next month!” Naruto burst out breathlessly.

“That’s great, Naruto!” Sakura said sincerely, looking just as happy as Naruto. “What changed their minds?”

“I don’t know! But I don’t care!” He grinned. “I guess Ero-sennin’s gonna be training me. Which is okay I guess.”

“Does that mean we won’t be getting tutored anymore?!” Konohamaru asked hopefully.

Naruto snorted. “As if. You’re still getting tutored.”

The brunette groaned.

“It’ll be good for Naruto, too, anyway,” Sakura said matter-of-factly. “The initiation ceremony not only tests your strength, but it also tests your knowledge about the Family. This will be good training for you, Naruto.”

“Aah, that’s what my dad meant,” Naruto nodded in a moment of clarity.

One of the maids from the Plaza brought them lunch, and the teens sat outside eating, enjoying their break for what it was worth. It didn’t last long before Sakura started hounding them to refresh their knowledge about the Family. She made Moegi, Udon and Konohamaru iterate what they’ve learned from the books thus far, while Naruto was forced to take notes. In this sense it wasn’t just the students learning from their tutor, but the tutor learning from the students as well. As soon as the preteens were done with their part, Sakura took Naruto’s notes away from him and started to drill him with questions.

“What year was the Konoha Family founded?”

“Er…” Naruto counted with his fingers. “Well there’s been four Hokage’s so far…so…four generations ago would be like….er…”

“Sasuke?” Sakura turned to Sasuke, who answered without missing a beat:

“1940.”

“Who are the two founders of Konoha?” She turned to Naruto.

“Hashi…Hashi something…”

“Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara,” Sasuke answered for him.

Naruto scowled. Sakura hated to do this to Naruto, but he always remembered things better if Sasuke answered questions first. They were always so competitive, so Sakura used their competitive nature to her advantage. Naruto was sulking with his arms crossed over his chest as Sakura asked a couple more questions. Naruto got some, but Sasuke answered the majority of the questions for Naruto. Sakura repeated some of the questions again to Naruto, who, just as she predicted, got the questions he previously got wrong correct.

After Sakura was satisfied that Naruto and the others learned something, she let Naruto and Sasuke go back to sparring after Konohamaru and his friends left. They decided to go all out this time. Personally Sakura hated when they went all out. They never let her take part in it, saying she’d get hurt or something. She pouted to herself. They just didn’t want to fight with her because she was a girl. Stupid boys. Never let her have any fun…

Sasuke started to form seals with his hands as Naruto charged at him, his eyes red and the black pinnacles spinning as he activated his family bloodline, the Sharingan. Snake, Dragon, Rabbit, Tiger… “Katon: Ryuka no Jutsu!”

The heat of the fire revealed a thin string attached from Sasuke to Naruto. Naruto’s eyes widened as he saw this, the fire creeping along the thread at a rapid pace. His hand glowed blue with chakra before slicing clean through the thread and the blond leaped aside just in time to avoid Sasuke’s fire. Naruto kicked off from a tree, crossing his fingers in a seal. “Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!”

Two clones popped up on either side of Naruto as he landed back on the ground. Sasuke was sizing him up with his Sharingan. The three Narutos charged at Sasuke and engaged him in combat. The Uchiha intercepted all of the hits and kicks with ease, his bloodline limit allowing him to predict Naruto’s moves before they happen. But they started to speed up, one Naruto leaping up to kick him in the head, and the other two coming from either of his sides. Sasuke jumped upwards, angling himself in a back flip as he kicked the Naruto in the air in the chest, sending him flying back before it popped and vanished. He landed in a crouch and kicked his leg out, knocking the legs from beneath another Naruto and sending him sprawled on his back. Before the third Naruto could even punch him, he grabbed his wrist and flipped the blond over his shoulder, landing him on top of his clone. They both popped away.

Sasuke swiveled around just in time to block an air borne kick from Naruto who jumped from one of the trees. He pushed against Naruto, forcing him to leap back and land a few feet away. Without missing a beat, the blond pulled a scroll from his pocket. It unraveled when he pulled it out, and he bit down on his thumb, drawing blood before slamming his palm on the scroll. “Kuchiyose: Tobidogu!”

A large shuriken replaced the scroll and Naruto wasted no time in throwing it at Sasuke. It spun a few inches above the grass, grazing the tips before curving into the air and heading for the Uchiha’s head. Sasuke did a hand spring backwards to avoid the weapon. He wasn’t surprised when the weapon popped and changed into Naruto, who quickly engaged him in physical combat once again. The Naruto who flung the shuriken appeared behind Sasuke. Rather than wasting his time fighting them, Sasuke jumped into the air – Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger – inhaling air before exhaling a large blast of fire that enveloped the two Narutos.

“It’s as if you’re actually trying to kill me, bastard!” Naruto exclaimed, coming out of nowhere and kicking Sasuke in the back. The Uchiha flew to the earth, but threw his hands out in time to flip on to his feet.

“Hn,” Sasuke grunted with a smirk. “Now why would I try to do that, dobe?”

“Oh I don’t know!” Naruto threw a punch at his face, but Sasuke easily side stepped it and returned the gesture. Naruto knocked his arm aside and aimed an upper cut at his chin, but Sasuke caught his fist, and then Naruto’s other one. The two linked hands as they tried to push the other one back. “Last I checked we were just sparring!”

“I’m not the one who went all out at first,” Sasuke pointed out, teeth gritted as he dug his heels into the grass and dirt.

“Yes you were!” Naruto protested, pushing all of his weight against Sasuke.

“It was your idea.”

“Was not!”

“Was to.”

“You’re such a bastard, Sasuke!”

“So I’ve been told,” Sasuke smirked, putting all of his weight in pushing Naruto back as well. He gained the upper hand since he was bigger than Naruto and the blond found himself taking steps back as Sasuke pushed him. Next thing he knew his back was shoved harshly against a tree, the bark rubbing uncomfortably on his bare back. “Ow! What the hell?!”

His wrists were pressed against the tree on either side of his head. The two boys were panting from the exertion. Naruto lifted his gaze up to find Sasuke’s Sharingan had faded away, and the brunette was staring down at him intently with obsidian eyes. There was something in his gaze that made Naruto’s heart race. He wasn’t sure why. It confused him. Why was Sasuke staring at him like that? Like… he wasn’t sure. But it was unnerving. Naruto quickly averted his gaze and shifted uncomfortably. “You can move. And don’t think you’ve won this round. I’ll get back at you, dattebayo!”

“Hn.” Sasuke released Naruto. He lingered longer than was necessary before stepping back, giving the blond his space. They felt colder.

They didn’t talk after that as they walked back to where Sakura was painting her toenails, clearly bored out of her mind. Naruto picked up his shirt to put it back on while Sasuke just slumped down to relax. It was the evening and the sun was starting to set. The air was getting cooler as well. Sakura stretched her legs out and wiggled her toes, admiring the hot green color she had painted them. Her finger nails were painted hot pink.

“Your toes don’t match your fingers, Sakura-chan,” Naruto observed in confusion.

“I know,” Sakura said with a shrug.

“Er…shouldn’t they match?” The blond scratched his head.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“If you say so…” Girls. Naruto didn’t understand them.

“Let’s go inside now,” Sakura said, picking up her nail polish and flip flops. Sasuke picked up his shirt and slung it over his shoulder and the three teens walked up the hill and on to the terrace of the Plaza. They entered through the sliding doors into the kitchen and the boys helped themselves to some water. Naruto wandered out towards the living room, but before he could fully step out of the kitchen, he collided into something hard.

“Hey, watch it!” he huffed, scowling as he lifted his gaze, only to brighten when seeing who it was he had bumped into.

“Hello, Naruto-kun.”

Sakura and Sasuke quickly turned to see who it was. At the sight of that man, Sasuke’s eyes narrowed with a growl: “Itachi.”

Dun dun duuunn...

Chapter 5 | Chapter 7

[update] welcome to yaoi high #15

2009-03-17T07:29:33Z

Notes: It’s become a recurring thing for me to be apologizing to you readers, hasn’t it? It seems I have been unable to break my bad habit of taking months on end to update, and for that I am truly sorry. For some reason my most popular fic is the one I have least inspiration for, but I am trying to get the inspiration back that I had for it at the beginning when it started.

And much thanks goes to thetwistedtruth for motivating me. If it wasn’t for her…I probably would be taking longer to update. xD

Also, thanks to the lovely Mai for the beta as usual!

Warnings: CAPSLOCK abuse. Kinda. And kissing – oh my!

“Thanks…again,” Naruto said as he handed Sasuke the helmet. The man took it and stuffed it into his backpack. After riding on the back of Sasuke’s motorcycle at night, he felt chilled to the bone. He rubbed his arms to stay warm. “And I don’t know how you knew it was my birthday but…thanks…again.”

“Hn.”

“I actually had fun tonight,” Naruto continued. “Didn’t think I could have fun with a bastard like you. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be.”

“Hn.”

“And you might want to consider driving your car now, you know, what-with it being fall and all.” Naruto sniffled to emphasize his point. “Hope you catch a cold or somethin’…driving me out in the chilly weather like this… But really even though you lack proper transportation and you’re a crazy-as-hell driver, I still had an a-okay time so thanks again. I’ll start being a good student…or something.”

“Dobe?”

“Hmm?”

“You talk too much.”

Naruto grinned. “Right. Goodnight, bastard.”

“…Night.” And with that said, Sasuke sped away, the sound of his motorcycle loud against the silence of the neighborhood.

welcome to yaoi high
15. loose lips have sunk this ship

SOUNDTRACK: Can’t be saved – senses fail

“Uzumaki Naruto!”

Naruto cringed as the front door closed behind him. Iruka came storming into the living room, his expression one of fury.

“Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been?!”

Naruto braced himself for the impending lecture he was going to receive, but blinked in surprise when, instead, he was suddenly embraced in a bone-crushing hug. “I know you probably don’t want to hear it, but… Happy birthday, Naruto.”

“It’s okay, Iruka-sensei,” Naruto reassured as he embraced Iruka in return. “Thank you.”

Iruka smiled at that. Apparently whatever time Naruto had taken for himself made him more relaxed and less likely to be upset about his birthday.

“I’m seventeen now and legal!” Naruto whooped when they unattached themselves from the hug.

Iruka rolled his eyes. “Legal or not, you still have a curfew, so you get your rear end to your room and into your bed.”

“Aww but Iruka-sensei…”

“I’m kidding.” Iruka reached out and ruffled Naruto’s hair, a fond expression on his face. “But I’m going to hit the sack. Goodnight, Naruto.”

Naruto bade Iruka goodnight before rushing into his own room. He remembered he left his book bag at school, but his phone he had left at home and hurried to see if Sakura had called him. He jumped on to his bed and grabbed his phone off of the shelf and, just as he predicted, Sakura had called him three times that day – once in the morning and twice earlier that afternoon. Several of his other friends from his previous school had left text messages, wishing him a happy birthday, but that was only a select few since Naruto was never one to make his birthday public knowledge (as was obvious since not even his friends at his recent school knew).

Naruto checked his voicemail first.

First voice message:

“Naruto! It’s Sakura! You’re probably still sleeping – i-di-ot! Get up! Rise and shine! It’s your birthday! I wish I could be there but I’m stuck here. Maybe I can come see you this weekend? Well, happy birthday and call me back!”

Next message:

“Oi, brat. It’s me, Tsunade. What makes you think you can ignore my phone call and not pick up when I call? I am going to tell Iruka that you are ignoring me. Happy birthday, brat.”

“NARUTO-NII! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY NA-RU-TO-NII-CHAAAAAAN… HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOOUUU--!”

Naruto pulled the phone at arms length from his ear and he could still hear the singing loud and clear from the phone. The rest of his messages were from friends wishing him a happy birthday and he closed his phone, debating on calling Sakura. She had the knack of going sleep early on certain occasions, he could never tell when it came to her. But he really wanted to tell her about his day because if he was being honest with himself – which he was—he really enjoyed his birthday more than he normally did.

And he knew it was all because of Sasuke.

Naruto grinned to himself as he stared at his phone. He knew that Sasuke had taken him out to eat and indulged him on his birthday not simply just to indulge him, but also to apologize in his own way on what he said to Naruto. Otherwise, why else would Sasuke have bothered to take him out to eat? Why else would he have told him ‘happy birthday’? And Sasuke didn’t seem to mind having Naruto around him, so it made being around him even more okay. And while Sasuke was a royal asshole, it was the fact that he took Naruto somewhere that Sasuke liked that made Naruto grin like an idiot to himself.

He wasn’t sure why but… the whole night was just great. Naruto felt relaxed around Sasuke, giddy around Sasuke; felt like he could be himself. And Sasuke didn’t act like Naruto was a teenage-ticking-bomb ready to fall into hysterics at any given moment. He was sure Iruka had told Sasuke that it was his birthday, since Sasuke had mentioned Iruka had been looking for him after school, and knowing Iruka, he would have said something along the lines of Naruto’s birthday not being a happy day for him. And rather than shying away from that fact and not bringing it up, Sasuke did bring it up. Granted, he probably didn’t know the reason for Naruto’s dislike for his own birthday, but Sasuke treated it just like it was meant to be treated: as Naruto’s birthday, as a special day. And he made it Naruto’s day in his own little Uchiha way.

…Maybe he was looking way into it, but Sasuke seemed like the type to do things for a reason. He didn’t seem like the type to indulge teenage boys because they’re hungry, or hunt down missing teenage boys when they run off from school. Naruto flopped down on his bed, way too wide awake to fall asleep, and still happy from his night out with his incredibly hot teacher—

Um. Wait. Back up.

Naruto sat up, his legs crossed Indian-style. He closed his eyes and frowned in a meditated manner.

Okay, so he subconsciously agreed to the fact that Sasuke is hot. What did that mean? Naruto didn’t just subconsciously think someone was hot unless…he really meant it. And if he really meant it then… Naruto’s eyes opened in horror. He quickly opened his phone and speed dialed Sakura’s number. He drummed the fingers of his free hand against his knee as he waited for Sakura to pick up her phone.

When she did answer, he had to pull the phone back.

“UZUMAKI NARUTO! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL DAY? YOU WAIT UNTIL NOW TO CALL ME BACK? NOW WHEN I AM ABOUT TO GO TO SLEEP?”

“S-Sakura-chan…” Naruto laughed nervously.

“I WAS ALL WORRIED ABOUT YOU AND NOT ONCE DID YOU RETURN MY CALL EARLIER TODAY!”

“I can explain!”

“YOU BETTER HAVE A GOOD EXPLANATION SO HELP ME --!”

“I think I have a crush on my teacher!” Naruto blurted out in one breath.

“…”

“…Well. I have to say, I wasn’t expecting that.”

Naruto sighed and laid back down on his pillow. “Yeah, I know. I mean, I think I do. I don’t know. I’ve never been gay before so I can’t determine signs of attraction when it comes to another guy –“

“Wait, wait, wait. So you think you have a crush on your… male teacher?” Sakura asked slowly, as if to make sure she was hearing correctly.

“Yeah.” Naruto made a face. “I blame my school. It’s all guys. And there’s always guys making out and stuff and I got used to it. Like one time I walked in on these two teachers doing something like, one of their pants was down and the other was on his knees Sakura-chan… and I tried to see what was going on but Kiba pulled me away… said something about ‘giving head.’ No one’s ever told me what that means.”

“…” Silence. Naruto heard a banging noise and he frowned in worry.

“Sakura-chan? Are you okay?”

There was some shuffling. “Yeah, I’m okay. I was just banging my head on my phone.”

“Er…why?”

“No reason,” came Sakura’s sweet reply. “So. Okay. Let me get this straight: you’re gay now.”

“I think so?”

“And you have a crush on your teacher.”

“I guess.”

“…Is he hot?”

“Yea – I mean, I guess.”

He heard her giggle at the other end.

“And I don’t think it’s…me suddenly turning gay…” Naruto admitted slowly with a thoughtful frown. It was painful to admit it considering he denied it the first moment he stepped into Konoha’s All Boy’s school. “But… I don’t think I’ve ever really had any particular preference? I was never put off by the idea of a guy and a guy together… and sometimes I don’t care so much for girls… I don’t know…” Naruto let out an explosive sigh. “I guess I swing both ways.”

“Or you just so happen to swing in the way of your really hot teacher,” Sakura teased.

“Maybe.” Naruto smirked. “I don’t know what I see in him besides the fact that he’s hot. He’s the bastard-teacher I always whine to you about.”

“Only you would fall for a bastard-teacher.”

“Hey what’s that supposed to mean?!”

“Nothing,” she sang pleasantly. “So what made you realize you like him?”

“Well…” Naruto trailed off before blurting out everything about his day. How he had pulled a prank on Sasuke. How Sasuke got mad at him and said something that ticked Naruto off. How he ran into those thugs. How Sasuke found him. How Sasuke took him out to eat. How Sasuke had said happy birthday. How Sasuke had taken him home. How Naruto actually enjoyed his birthday. How Naruto wanted nothing more than to give his sensei a goodnight kiss. “—Er, I didn’t mean to add that part.”

Sakura laughed. “Oh Naruto. You really got it bad for him, don’t you?”

“Yeah…” Naruto pouted. “But he’s my teacher, Sakura-chan. I shouldn’t have any feelings for him. It’s…wrong.”

“Sometimes, Naruto… sometimes you just can’t help the people you fall for, you know? And I know you well enough to know you don’t go falling for just anyone, especially not a bastard-teacher like you say he is.”

“It’s just…weird… I’m scared it won’t go away.”

“I can’t say I see it escalating to anything more than just a crush since he is your teacher and all.”

That was his Sakura-chan: as brutally honest as ever. Naruto nodded in agreement, but remembered she couldn’t see him. “That is true. So… I don’t have to worry! My crush on him will go away! And besides, the true love of my life is Sakura-chan!”

Sakura laughed.

- - -

Two weeks later.

“Did you hear?”

“Huh?” Naruto snapped out of his musings in order to look up at Kiba, who had an arm slung around his shoulders.

“’Bout the party this Friday.”

“Oh. Yeah.”

“…And?”

“And what?”

Naruto paid for his lunch and headed to the usual table. After paying for his food, Kiba quickly followed after. “Are you going?!”

“Eh,” was the blond’s dismissive reply as he slumped down next to Gaara. He took a bite of his pizza, completely ignorant to the gaping fish faces Kiba was making at him.

“Is that a ‘eh yes’ or an ‘eh no’? I couldn’t really tell.”

“Eh.” Naruto shrugged.

“…Dude what the hell is wrong with you?” Kiba asked skeptically. “You’ve been totally out of it for over a week!”

“I have not,” Naruto retorted defensively. He took a vigorous bite from his lunch to emphasize his point. He looked up to see Kiba giving him a ‘like-Hell-you-haven’t’ look. Naruto swallowed his bite. “Maybe I just have a lot on my mind!”

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

“Like…like… none of your business!”

Admittedly he has been out of it for over a week. Two weeks to be exact. Two weeks since his birthday to be even more technical. He knew the exact reason for his constant dazedness, but it was something he’d rather not admit out loud, let alone confess to any of his friends. They were sitting near enough to one of the cafeteria doors that he could hear it open and close whenever people came in and out. His mind was already wandering when the door opened and someone stepped in, and as if compelled by some invisible force, Naruto decided to look up to see Sasuke enter. Of all damn people – why’d it have to be the reason for his absentmindedness?

“…This totally hot senior babe from Konoha Girl’s is throwin’ the party…” Kiba was saying, oblivious to the fact that Naruto’s attention was else where. “You know that one housing area, what’s-it-called, Black Diamond? Have you seen the houses there? They’re huge! And she’s having her party in her mansion, man. We have to go –“

Naruto nodded absentmindedly as he took a slurp of his chocolate milk, never once taking his eyes off of his (incredibly hot) teacher. Sasuke was with Iruka and the two were getting lunch together, talking conversationally as they waited in line with other students. Naruto frowned thoughtfully. When did Bastard get so friendly with Iruka-sensei? How friendly were they exactly?

Hmm.

“Naruto.”

And why was Sasuke standing so close to Iruka-sensei?

“…Naruto…”

And surely when two people speak, they didn’t need to be leaning so closely towards each other, right?

“Naruto…”

Was Sasuke paying for Iruka-sensei’s food?!

‘

“Naruto!”

“What?!” The blond snapped, whipping his head towards Kiba.

The brunette waved his hands defensively. “Whoa there, blondie. Just wonderin’ if you realize your drink’s all gone…You’ve been slurping it for the past two minutes straight…”

Naruto blinked at his empty carton of chocolate milk and set it down with a sigh. “…Sorry.” He looked up to see Sasuke and Iruka sitting down at an empty table. Shouldn’t they be eating in the teacher’s lounge or something? He remembered seeing it and that place was way better then eating on an uncomfortable bench. Not to mention it was away from noisy teenagers.

And – hey, didn’t Iruka-sensei like Kakashi-pervert? He did walk in on them making out one time…

Naruto suddenly smacked a palm over his face. What was wrong with him? Sure he came to terms with his crush for Sasuke but that didn’t mean he had to act jealous just because he was having lunch with Iruka of all people. Innocent lunch.

“AUGH.”

His table went silent after that. Shikamaru lifted his head up from his nap in order to peer up at Naruto, who was currently gripping strands of blond hair and trying to rip it from his head in a blatant display of frustration. He remained frozen in that position for a good fifteen seconds before he dropped his head on the table. The trays rattled from the impact.

No one asked.

“Fucking bast—ARD!” Naruto’s voice reached a pitch higher when he was sent sailing through the air and into the padded matt.

Sasuke loomed over him with a smirk as the blond – muttering swear words beneath his breath – sat up while rubbing his tail bone. He shot a glare up at his instructor from his position on the matt.

“Are you honestly surprised you ended up down there?” Sasuke asked with a quirk of an eyebrow. “Maybe if you didn’t rush into things head on you wouldn’t always end up flying in the air, dobe.”

“Tch, says you, bastard!” Naruto growled as he faked standing up before quickly crouching back down and kicking out his leg at Sasuke’s feet. The raven-haired male was knocked down after Naruto swept his legs out from underneath him, a move he hadn’t anticipated. Before Sasuke could possibly get up, Naruto pounced on his teacher, straddled him and pinned him down with a face-splitting grin. “Ha! Got’cha! Bet’cha didn’t see that comin, did’ja, did’ja?”

“No,” Sasuke drawled irritably. “Now get off. You’re heavy.”

“Eh?! Callin’ me fat, sensei?” Naruto squawked indignantly. “’Cause I’ll have you know I have no excess fat, thank you very much!” It seemed the boy was possessed to prove his point so he reached down and pulled up the jacket of his karate gi. He patted the flat expanse of his stomach and Sasuke couldn’t help but look at the exposed tan skin with both eyebrows raised. Indeed the boy wasn’t fat. His stomach was flat and lacked obvious muscles, but it was evident the boy worked out. Sasuke realized he was staring. He wasn’t staring because he wanted to, of course not. He was just – um – noticing Naruto’s flat stomach that lacked any fat. He was also noticing the tan flesh was nice as well. He was just noting it, was all.

Really.

Sasuke licked his lips.

-- Because they were dry all of a sudden. Seriously. And he felt… hungry. Like he could devour something. Maybe that stomach if the idiot boy didn’t pull his uniform back down –

“See? See?” Naruto pointed at his belly and patted it. “No fat!”

“Idiot, I can see,” Sasuke said, his voice sounding huskier even to his own ears. His frown deepened and he cleared his throat. “Now get off me. You’re still heavy.”

“Tch. Bastard,” Naruto pouted and got off of Sasuke. He stuck out a hand for his teacher to take, to which the older man did and Naruto helped him up to his feet. “Admit it! I’ve improved!”

“Hm…” Sasuke looked to be contemplating what Naruto said, making the blond more flustered as he flailed his arms.

“C’mon! Even you have to admit it!”

The Uchiha rolled his eyes. “Right, right. You’ve improved.” When it was apparent the blond was ready to leap in the air in victory, he continued on quickly, “But, you can be much better.” He fixed him with hard, onyx eyes that silenced Naruto on the spot from saying anything. “You have the potential to be better than a lot of people, Uzumaki.”

There was wonder on Naruto’s face as his eyes widened, knowing a compliment when Sasuke gave one, because it was rare he ever said anything nice or encouraging. He beamed and flushed pleasantly up at Sasuke and grinned. “Even better than you, sensei?”

“Hn.” Sasuke smirked. “Doubt that.” Naruto stuck his tongue out at him.

After Sasuke finished changing into his earlier wardrobe – dark blue jeans, a navy shirt and a leather jacket – he loaded what equipment they used into the storage closet. Naruto was waiting outside of the changing room for Gaara, his duffle bag by his feet. He pulled his orange sweater over his head just as Sasuke went to a corner to get his own duffle bag. As soon as Naruto’s head peeked out of the sweater, Sasuke bent over to grab his bag, and it was that scene (Sasuke bending over) that made the blond freeze as his eyes landed on Sasuke’s a—uh, back pockets.

Right, back pockets. Because his back pockets were really interesting considering how they tightened around his a-- when he bent over like that.

Sasuke straightened himself up with his bag slung over his shoulder. Naruto quickly busied himself with pulling his sweater down, trying to fight the blush that was no doubt staining his cheeks. Ever since Naruto came to terms with his crush for his sensei, he started to notice little things about the older man that made him flustered. He tried checking out other guys the way he checked out his sensei during classes, but no other guy ever caught his eye. He even thought about the time Gaara kissed him two weeks ago, but that never did anything to him. He never felt anything in particular like he thought he was supposed to. But thinking about kissing made him wonder what it would be like to kiss Sasuke and that’s when Naruto would put a halt to his thoughts to keep himself from turning any redder than he already was.

When he admitted to Sakura about his crush he thought he would get over it by now.

But who was he kidding? His crush had only grown (too bad he couldn’t say that about his height…).

“Naruto,” Gaara’s monotone voice interrupted his musings.

Without needing any further prodding, Naruto grabbed his duffel bag and hurried after Gaara (who had slipped out of the changing room without his notice). They exchanged bows with Sasuke before taking off, Naruto casting a lingering glance over his shoulder at his teacher. So maybe he was acting like a love struck school girl. So what? Sasuke lifted his gaze and the two made eye contact for a moment. It was shattered when Naruto stuck his tongue out and quickly turned his back.

Sasuke shook his head and waited for his other students to leave so he could lock up the dojo.

Naruto glanced at Gaara from the corner of his eye as they walked through the city. He was still thinking about the kiss (and that he would like to kiss Sasuke…), and how things hadn’t been awkward for the two. Gaara never brought it up, and Naruto shrugged it off as the redhead messing with Naruto. Which was fine with the blond.

“Gaara?”

The redhead looked at him questioningly, but Naruto didn’t have to look to see Gaara’s quizzical stare.

“You’ve…been with guys before, yeah?” Naruto asked just for the sake of asking. He knew the answer already so he ploughed on, not expecting a response: “Have you ever… really liked any of those people you’ve slept with? Like, really, really like?”

Gaara looked forward, looking as if he was actually thinking about the question. Could he say he felt any sort of emotional attachment towards those people he slept with? Any at all? He knew the answer instantly: no. He stated so.

“I see,” Naruto said thoughtfully and didn’t elaborate.

Gaara didn’t say anything either, but something urged him to pry – to find out why Naruto was asking that of him. “…Why?”

“Huh?” Blue eyes blinked in surprise, before he smiled sheepishly. “I like someone, Gaara. At least, I think I do. I just don’t know where to go from here. I’ve never liked a guy before, you know?”

Gaara’s mouth went dry. And even though it pained him to do so – “Just…tell him?”

“I can’t,” Naruto whispered dejectedly. “It’s more complicated than that. And, anyway, I am positive when I say he could never return my feelings.”

Gaara let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. “Why do you say that?”

“I just know,” was the vague response he received.

Gaara didn’t pry any further. Eventually they passed through the busier district of the city and headed into the housing area, passing through the park along the way. Gaara tried not to wonder over who Naruto could possibly have a crush on when he never gave any indication away to liking anyone. As far as Gaara knew, Kiba was just an overprotective mutt, Shikamaru wasn’t gay, Sai was too eccentric for even Naruto, and the rest of the school population Naruto wasn’t interested in. So who --? Gaara blinked as he realized what he was thinking about. It wasn’t any of his business. Gaara was not emotionally attached to Naruto in any way whatsoever and therefore had no reason to wonder about Naruto’s love life.

This was Gaara we’re talking about – the one as unmovable as a mountain, remember?

“Gaara –“

Naruto was whispering. Jade eyes glanced down at him to see the blond looking paranoid.

“I think someone is following us.”

Now that Gaara wasn’t so distracted, he realized they were being followed. How come he hadn’t sensed it before? Oh right. He was too busy wondering about Naruto’s love life. Damn it. He stopped. There was no point carrying on when they were being followed. They might as well confront whoever was stalking them. But Gaara had the suspicion it wasn’t ‘them’ whoever it was, was stalking, but that it was him they were stalking. It wasn’t the first time Gaara felt as if he was being followed and watched. He recalled walking home alone sometimes and someone following him then, too. But usually the person disappeared when they realized Gaara knew they were there.

This time, though, he could tell his follower was close by and that they were going to confront him this time. Gaara and Naruto waited, turning around as they did so towards the direction they could hear the footsteps coming from. Slowly but surely two people came into view. The closer they got, the more detailed they became. One was a blond-haired… something. It was really hard to tell if it was a man or a woman what-with their long hair and high pony-tail, yet unfeminine and rigged body. The other was a man – they think – since he wore an orange mask with only one eye hole visible. Their hair was dark and cut short in ragged spikes. They weren’t so tall or powerful looking. They looked as if they could pass for high school students.

“Ne—isn’t it a bit early for Halloween?” Naruto wondered aloud at the masked boy.

“Tobi likes to keep his face hidden,” the masked boy – Tobi – chirped pleasantly once they were near enough. Now that they were close, Naruto could see that they were wearing the Konoha’s All Boy’s uniform. “Tobi does like Halloween though.”

“Me too!” Naruto agreed brightly.

The other blond snorted harshly. “So childish,” Deidara mocked.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you two at school before,” Naruto said.

“Tobi and Deidara-sempai aren’t really students,” Tobi said.

“Eh? Then why are you wearing the uniform?”

“Tobi and sempai are following Gaara-san!”

“Tobi, shut the fuck up, yeah?!” Deidara hollered, punching Tobi in the shoulder as he did so.

“Ow! Tobi sorry! Tobi good boy! Tobi did not intend to make sempai angry!”

“Didn’t I tell you to keep your mouth shut? Didn’t I? But do you listen? No. You never listen. You’re such a fucking loud mouth, Tobi –“

Naruto and Gaara exchanged odd looks.

“—never ever listen, do you? Don’t know why I got stuck with you anyway –“

Gaara cleared his throat and interrupted coldly: “Why are you following me.” Naruto was amazed how Gaara could always make a question sound like a statement.

At that, Deidara stopped yelling at Tobi in order to turn a single blue eye – the other obscured by his blond bangs – at Gaara and grin viciously. A tongue darted out to lick his lips as he eyed Gaara up and down unabashedly. “To get rid of you, yeah. Surely you remember me?”

Gaara blinked. “…No.”

Deidara turned red with outrage. “You took an eye from me. You damn well better remember me!”

The redhead looked thoughtful – or as thoughtful as Gaara could possibly ever look. “…I think you’ve got the wrong person.”

“Don’t fucking bullshit me!” Deidara growled, pointing an accusatory finger at Gaara. “Remember? Five years ago, back in Suna, there was a fighting competition and you stabbed me in the fucking eye –“

Suna? Five years ago? Fighting competition? Wha – Oh. Oh. Now Gaara remembered. Naruto looked positively traumatized that Deidara was missing an eye beneath those bangs, but Gaara was unfazed. “Whatever happened in that fight was not my fault. You should have been aware of the consequences.”

“Tch.” Deidara was grinning like a madman. It unnerved Naruto. “That’s not the reason I’m here to get rid of you.”

“Say what you really want to say,” Gaara intoned, looking bored. “You are here to kill me. Who wants me dead this time? Is it my father again?”

Naruto felt shock like no other. His blood ran cold at Gaara’s words, and he looked up at the redhead with startled blue eyes, but Gaara wasn’t looking at him. He was staring dispassionately at Deidara, jade eyes narrowed and not giving his emotions away one bit. But Naruto felt sick to his stomach. Gaara’s father – his own flesh and blood – tried to kill his own son before? His own father wanted him dead? Was that why Gaara would not go back to Suna? Was that why he left? How come no one did anything about it? Or maybe they did and Gaara’s father was just after him again…but why?

The older blond sneered. “Maybe. It won’t really matter once you are dead, yeah?”

“Are you crazy?” Naruto suddenly asked, rounding on Deidara. “You’re still in high school and you’re talking about murder --!”

Deidara looked irritated. “We’re not really students, idiot. You really are a blond, yeah.”

Naruto’s cheeks turned red. “Shut up! At least I’m not the one sprouting nonsense about killing someone! What is wrong with you? You shouldn’t take killing so lightly –“

“And you shouldn’t underestimate me,” Deidara said lowly, dangerously. “Do you want to know what world I come from, brat? I come from a world far beyond your pretty little head to grasp. Not everything is sunshine and daisies, yeah. You’d probably piss in your pants if I told you what I do for a living.”

“You shouldn’t underestimate me!” Naruto retorted indignantly. “I know more than you think! And I’m not scared! I’m Uzumaki Naruto and I’ll kick your ass any day!”

“I’ll fucking destroy you with your friend,” Deidara threatened. “I’ll fucking blow you both up—“

“Do not threaten him,” Gaara snarled. His eyes were like ice as they penetrated Deidara, cold and hard and sharp. This Gaara, Naruto realized, was a different Gaara; a Gaara whose blood hummed with the thought of fighting, whose blood thundered violently in his veins, angry that someone would dare to threaten Naruto.

“Tobi, stay back,” Deidara said, and the masked boy did as he was told as he fell back.

Gaara took a step forward. Naruto’s eyes widened as he reached for Gaara’s wrist. “Gaara!”

But the redhead merely pulled his hand away. “Do not interfere.”

Naruto was shocked beyond belief. Was he really going to fight this man who was threatening to kill him? He didn’t know the blond. He didn’t know what he was capable of. But what he could tell was that Deidara’s threats were genuine. Who knew what was going to happen as soon as Gaara and Deidara started to fight? What if Gaara really got hurt? There was no way in Hell Naruto was going to let him fight! He reached out for Gaara’s wrist again and tightly clung to it. “What do you think you’re doing?! Don’t fight him! He’s not worth it!”

“He’ll try to kill me anyway,” Gaara growled, rounding angry jades on his friend.

Naruto stood his ground. “We’ll report him to the police. Don’t fight him, Gaara.”

“He threatened you.”

“I’m still alive, aren’t I?”

“I’ll destroy him.”

“You’ll get in trouble.”

“Let go, Uzu—“

“Is there a problem here?”

Naruto had never been so relieved in his life to hear the Bastard’s voice. All eyes turned to Uchiha Sasuke – who looked both bored and calculating as always with his hands stuffed in his pockets and his body posture one of relaxed confidence. It was a wonder to Naruto how his teacher always seemed to show up when he was in a jam. He wasn’t about to complain though.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was mildly irritated. Why was it that whenever he walked into a troublesome situation, Naruto was always there, apart of the trouble? Couldn’t the Idiot stay out of trouble for once in his life? Said Idiot should be lucky that Sasuke decided to go for a run after dropping his stuff off at his apartment otherwise who knows what would have happened?

“Well,” Naruto started to say.

“There’s no problem,” Deidara interrupted smoothly. “We were just passing by. Come on, Tobi.”

The orange-masked boy quickly trailed after the blond.

Naruto released his hold on Gaara’s wrist with a relieved sigh.

“Was there a problem?” Sasuke asked, obsidian eyes trained on the redhead. Gaara didn’t respond at first. Eventually he shook his head. “Uzumaki?”

“Eh? Ah, no…” Naruto mumbled.

“Hn,” Sasuke grunted, obviously not believing them, but choosing not to pry.

“I’ll be going my own way now, Uzumaki,” Gaara said in a monotone voice.

“You aren’t going to –“ go after them? was left unsaid. Naruto looked at him worriedly. Gaara sighed.

“No. Goodnight.” He bowed to Sasuke before departing in the direction of his home. Naruto watched him leave while scratching the back of his head, completely disgruntled by tonight’s event. He wanted to question Gaara so bad, but he figured he would leave it until tomorrow when Gaara was calmer.

Sasuke cleared his throat and Naruto suddenly realized he was alone with the man. For some reason, that unnerved him more than usual. It probably had something to do with the fact that he had the hugest crush on his teacher.

“Are you – er – alright?” Sasuke asked awkwardly. “What was that about anyway?”

Naruto blinked. “Yeah…” he said slowly. “And I’m really not sure. I think they might be gangsters. They threatened Gaara, but I would have kicked their asses if I had the chance to, dattebayo.”

“I’m sure,” Sasuke mused. “Well, come on.”

“To where?” Naruto asked in confusion.

“I’m taking you home, obviously,” Sasuke said nonchalantly. “Obviously with those gangsters out, it would be in your best interest to be walked home so you don’t get jumped on the way. Besides, Iruka-san would not be happy to learn of your involvement with a gang, and that you walked home by yourself.”

“You’re not…going to tell him about this, are you?!” Naruto asked as he caught up to Sasuke.

“Maybe… Maybe not.”

“Sasuke-bastard!”

The next day at school, Naruto didn’t get the chance to question Gaara because he hadn’t shown up at school. To say Naruto was worried was an understatement. When Gaara didn’t show up for homeroom, Naruto was plagued with one bad scenario after another. What if Gaara had hunted down those gangsters and fought them?! What if they won?! What if Gaara was bleeding in a ditch somewhere, unable to get himself to a hospital?! What if they had him strung up by his feet and were torturing him with barbaric methods?! Oh my God they were torturing Gaara he was sure of it --!

Okay, Uzumaki, calm down. Gaara was not being tortured. He said he wouldn’t go after them, and he knew Gaara was a man of his word.

But what if they found him? They never promised to Naruto they wouldn’t go after Gaara! So what was stopping them for beating him to a bloody pulp and busting a cap in his head?!

Oh no they shot Gaara!

Naruto groaned as he buried his face in his hands, his mind going haywire with worry. He watched too many gangster movies, he concluded, otherwise he wouldn’t be worrying so much. Gaara could take care of himself, his mind whispered. And when he saw Gaara leave, he saw Gaara head in the direction of his home. He was probably at home. Safe. A bullet not embedded in his head or strung up by his feet being tortured. He wasn’t in a ditch bleeding. He was okay. He was alive.

Naruto inhaled and exhaled as he slumped back in his seat, staring blankly at the board in his second class of the day. Sasuke was lecturing about one thing or another. Normally Naruto tried his best to listen, but today he just wasn’t up to it. Sasuke would have chosen such a chance to pick on Naruto but he was perceptive enough to notice Gaara hadn’t shown up to school today and Naruto was probably beside himself with worry. So he left the boy alone and continued his lecture. When class ended everyone filed out, with exception to one blond student who hadn’t even noticed the bell rung for lunch and was still sitting down, lost in thought.

Sasuke walked over and stopped in front of Naruto’s desk, setting his palms on the surface and leaning forward. “Uzumaki,” he said. No reaction. Naruto didn’t even blink. “Uzumaki,” he repeated, more irritable this time. When he still received no reaction, he reached a hand out and flicked the boy on the forehead. “Uzumaki!”

“Wha--?!” Naruto blinked, saw Sasuke’s face right in front of his face, and would have fallen back and off his seat had he not caught a hold of his desk on time. “Sasuke-bastard! What the hell?! Don’t scare me like that!”

“Hn. I did not know how else to get your attention. You were too lost in your empty head to hear me.”

Naruto turned red at the insult. “Don’t mock me! That’s not very professional!”

“You are a special case, dobe,” Sasuke drawled.

Sasuke had one palm pressed on his desk, his other hand on his hip as he was still leaning towards Naruto in a way that made the boy turn even redder from their close proximity. Naruto licked his suddenly dry lips, missing the heated stare onyx eyes sent at the action, staring almost fixatedly at that pink tongue and pout-worthy lips. For some reason he thought back to the other day when Naruto was on top of him, determined to prove he wasn’t fat. Flash of tan skin flashed in his mind. Sasuke felt hot.

He straightened himself. “The bell rang. Perhaps if you hadn’t been so lost in thought you would have noticed it is lunch time and everyone has left you behind.”

Naruto looked around and saw to his bemusement that the class was, indeed, empty save for him and Sasuke. Naruto gathered his things at a slow, languid pace. He picked up his book bag and headed for the door, Sasuke trailing after. Neither of them were paying attention, which ended with them both trying to get through the door at the same time. Identical blushes stained their cheeks as they both jumped back from the door, Naruto stammering for Sasuke to go first, who only shook his head. Composing himself, the blond boy stepped through the door, his posture rigid as he brushed passed Sasuke.

He headed down the hall just as he heard Sasuke close his classroom door and lock it up. Naruto resisted the urge to glance back at the man as he made his way to the cafeteria where Kiba and the others were probably at.

Another day went by and still no Gaara.

On the third day it was Thursday, and Gaara hadn’t shown up to school. Naruto was at the dojo for class and Kiba was talking animatedly with Tenten about a party that Naruto vaguely recalled Kiba mentioning to him before.

“So are you coming?” Kiba asked, slinging an arm around Naruto’s shoulders.

“Where?” The blond blinked, snapping out of his thoughts.

“To the party!” Kiba said with exasperation. “Seriously, Naruto. What’s wrong with you? You’ve been really spacey…”

“Nothing, nothing,” Naruto said dismissively. “Where’s it at again?”

“Down at Black Diamond.”

“Hm… I don’t know…Iruka-sensei would kill me…” Naruto crossed his arms thoughtfully.

“You don’t have to tell him! Just tell him you’re stayin’ at my place! It’s gonna be a Friday night. He can’t stop you from having a sleepover with a friend, eh?”

“Maybe…” The bell jingled as someone entered the dojo. Everyone looked and Naruto visibly brightened at seeing Gaara. “Gaara!” He gave the redhead a once over, noting with satisfaction that Gaara didn’t look as if he was beat up or tortured recently. He ran over to said redhead, leaving a disgruntled and scowling Inuzuka Kiba behind. “Where have you been?!”

“Taking care of some business,” was Gaara’s vague response.

Naruto frowned but didn’t pry. Gaara wasn’t one for conversation, and if he didn’t have to explain himself, the blond knew not to ask. He figured if Gaara wanted to tell him, he would tell him. “Okay…”

Sasuke walked out from the locker room and class began.

Friday found Naruto at the last class of the day: Physical Education with Gai. Gai was as exuberant as ever, having initiated a race for his students. By the time class ended, the race hadn’t been finished, but the majority of students altered their course back to the locker rooms to shower and get away from Gai as fast as humanly possible. Gaara, Naruto and Lee were the last ones still on the track, racing the last stretch of the field to see who would win. It was no surprise when Lee passed the finish line as the victor.

“LEE! I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!” Gai crowed, shining with such pride. Quite literally.

Naruto lay sprawled on his back, staring up at the sky as he fought to regain his breath. Gaara was clutching his knees. Lee didn’t look the least bit phased as he and Gai threw an arm around each other’s shoulders.

“GAI-SENSEI!”

“LEE!”

“GAI-SENSEI!”

“LEE!”

“GAI-SENSEI!”

“LEE~”

Once Naruto managed to compose himself, he grabbed Gaara’s hand and high-tailed it back to the locker room, ditching the two crazed clones. As soon as they were in the locker room, they collapsed against the lockers, completely out of breath and physically exhausted from the run. Lee really was a force to be reckoned with. It was a wonder how he could run so much and still have energy after. The two teenagers stripped themselves of their clothes and made their way into the showers. The last two people left just as Gaara and Naruto entered. The stalls were only as tall as their shoulders, so Naruto could see Gaara as they started to shower.

“Hey, Gaara?”

No response.

“What did those guys want from you?”

Still no response. Naruto sighed as he washed his body, but momentarily paused when Gaara started to speak: “The blond one. I fought him before a couple of years ago. I was still a kid then. But I defeated him, and in the process he lost an eye.”

Naruto returned to washing his body. “Your dad --?”

“Doesn’t like me,” Gaara said without missing a beat. He didn’t elaborate. Naruto didn’t pry. He gouged all of that just from listening to their conversation. “My father…used to make me enter these fighting tournaments,” Gaara continued slowly. “I was a kid. I was…bloodthirsty. I did not mind. One day, I started to mind. I decided I did not want to listen to my father anymore, so I ran away.”

“To here,” Naruto added. Gaara nodded. “I see.”

“I think my father hoped putting me in those tournaments would kill me,” Gaara admitted in a low voice. If Naruto hadn’t been listening he was sure he would have missed the comment. He felt a pang in his chest. How could his father treat his son in such a way? Especially when he was a child? It made Naruto angry, angry enough to want to beat that man himself. “Where are your parents, Naruto?”

The question took him by surprise. “…Dead.”

Gaara didn’t ask or say anything further, and Naruto didn’t dare to break the silence, the only sounds coming from the shower heads and the boys washing their bodies. To his right he could hear Gaara turning off his water and grabbing his towel, wrapping it around his waste as he stepped out from the stall, his bare feet padding through water puddles. Naruto glanced over his shoulder to find Gaara was standing right in front of his stall, staring at him oddly. There weren’t any curtains or doors to prevent anyone from seeing inside a person’s stall. Naruto turned red as he met Gaara’s gaze, noting the almost primal way the redhead was staring at him that sent shivers down his spine.

“G-Gaara? Er…why are you standing there?”

“When I kissed you before…” Gaara started to say, his tone almost thoughtful, “I did it because I wanted to…”

Naruto nodded. “Uh-huh…okay…?”

“Naruto.” Gaara clenched and unclenched his fist, unable to stop as his gaze hungrily took in Naruto’s wet, wet, tanned body. The blond could feel his own ears turn red. He wished he didn’t feel so exposed to Gaara’s gaze. And why was he looking at him like he wanted to eat him?! “I want to kiss you again, Naruto.”

“Er – well, okay, but I’m showering right now, Gaara, and – Gaara…Gaara!”

The redhead took three confident steps forward, and Naruto didn’t have time to protest as he was suddenly shoved against the cold tiles of the shower room, Gaara’s hands coming up to cradle his head before it could collide against the wall. Naruto was shivering, and he realized, so was Gaara. But something told him it wasn’t from the cold. Wide blue eyes stared into the hungered, jaded eyes of Gaara. It was intimidating being pinned against the bathroom wall, naked and exposed with nothing between them except Gaara’s towel that was getting wet from the shower pounding down on him.

“Gaara—“ Naruto gasped, clearly startled by Gaara’s bold movements. But his breath was instantly stolen from him as the redhead dipped his head down and captured Naruto’s lips in a fierce kiss. The last time Gaara had kissed him, it was gentle and slow. Sweet almost. This was different. This was fierce and devouring. It was demanding and… hot. Naruto’s brain chose to malfunction at that moment, and Inner Naruto proved incapacitated, leaving Naruto in a state of utter confusion and loss. Never in his life had he been kissed like this. This was passion. This was lust. Want. Need. Craving.

And then Gaara started kissing him down his chin and along his neck, suckling exposed neck and collarbone here and there, making the blond utterly weak at the knees as he melted and panted and mewled against the much broader redhead. His toes curled when a wet tongue darted out to lap at his neck, kissing him and sucking him deliciously so. Naruto clenched and unclenched his fists, breathless and unbearably hot, unsure of what to do, his mind spinning in a haze…

It felt so good. He never felt like this before. Ever. His heart was racing in his chest as heat pooled in his stomach. Naruto vaguely wondered what it would feel like to kiss Sasuke and the world came crashing back down as his eyes snapped open. This was wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. So very wrong. “Gaara, wait –“ he breathed, pressing his hands to Gaara’s shoulders as he tried to push the bigger teen away. Frustration welled when the redhead did not relent and instead latched his lips at the junction between his neck and shoulder, suckling and licking and nipping – “Gaara!” With a mighty shove, Naruto pushed him off, finally putting distance between the two as he struggled to remain standing.

Gaara was just as flushed and breathless, the fire in his eyes sparking to one of silent outrage at being pushed away.

“Gaara…” Naruto sighed, suddenly feeling very exhausted, and angry. “I just… I can’t…”

“Of course. My apologies,” Gaara said stiffly, turning around to the lockers to change.

Naruto slumped back against the wall, dejected. But anger welled in his chest at Gaara’s indifference. Who was he just to start kissing Naruto again? And then be a bastard about it when Naruto had spent the past couple of days worrying about him?! It just wasn’t fair. Weren’t they friends? Last he checked, friends didn’t kiss other friends for the sake of kissing. He and Sakura never kissed like that, and they were best friends!

The world, Naruto decided as he finished washing himself up, didn’t make sense anymore.

WHO’S READ NARUTO CHAPTER 439? OMGGGGGGG –DIES HAPPY-

Chapter 14 | Chapter 16

[update] For My Pride & Your Promise

2008-12-04T10:22:00Z

Title: For My Pride and Your Promise
Fandom: Naruto
Pairings: SasuNaru, GaaSaku
Genre: Romance/Action/Adventure
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Limey stuff (as of ch 12)
Summary: It's said if you separate the Vessel from the Keeper, all Hell will break loose. It's only natural that Hell not only breaks loose, but spills over when the Vessel and Keeper awake to find they were separated for over a hundred years.

Warning: Uh. Lime. Kissing. Make-outs. Mentions of s-e-x. Got a bit carried away but I, uh, ahem, got control of the situation before it got out of hand. Heh-heh.

Beta: El Gilliath. Thank you for driving away my doubts about this chapter. –hearts-

and yay a quicker-than-usual update. xD I feel proud! and i know i don't reply to reviews...but i'm totally gonna start trying... ilyguys. <3

for my pride and your promise.
12. the calm after the storm

The dark storm clouds overhead cast Konoha in its shadows. It was pouring incessantly as rain pounded on rooftops and roads. The skies were clear of vehicles and streets were empty as people had already taken shelter in their individual homes. One person, however, ran through the storm. Flashes of lightning illuminated the raven hair and onyx orbs of Naruto’s Keeper as he jumped over rooftops before landing smoothly in the middle of a street. Even with all of the water and puddles on the ground, his footsteps were light and hardly splashed the water. He was graceful even in his most destructive and angered state.

He eventually stopped in front of a tall skyscraper. Another flash of lightning and booming of thunder illuminated Sasuke’s form, his katana, Futsunushi, brandished at his side. The pinnacles in his eyes spun over the red irises as he surveyed the building. The building from ground level up was empty as far as he could tell, which meant Naruto was below ground level. Whoever had taken Naruto was bold to keep a Vessel in the middle of a largely populated city.

His katana Futsunushi was named after Futsu-Nushi-no-Kami, the deity of fire and lightning who was said to later become a deity of war and general of Amaterasu. Rain water dripped from the sharp tip of Futsunushi and the blade momentarily gleamed white as a flash of lightning reflected from the flat of the blade. Before Sasuke reached the skyscraper, he had prepared himself to slice down every person in that building if only to get to Naruto. But he had his sword drawn because he knew he would be forced to fight Naruto. He could feel his Vessel’s conscious had faded away, only to awaken his beast. It was Sasuke’s duty to drive Naruto’s demon back, and that was what he was going to do.

Sasuke removed his haori. The dripping piece of cloth would only get in his way and add unnecessary weight, so he tossed it to the ground, leaving his upper torso bare. His muscles shifted as he gripped the handle of his katana and shifted so he was grasping the hilt with both hands. There was a moment of stillness from the Uchiha as water dripped down his torso, tracing old battle scars and sinewy muscles, before a jolt of lightning cackled along the length of his weapon and he pressed the tip against the concrete ground before dragging it forward and then up in a horizontal slant. Lightning surged through the ground and crashed into the front entrance of the building, knocking the glass panels down as said glass shattered and exploded.

A black scorch mark was left in the wake of the katana. Sasuke stepped over it and over the debris and glass. The alarm in the building was going off but he resisted the temptation to blow the whole place up like he did at the military base. He was already having a hard time controlling himself with the bloodlust of his Vessel dancing at the back of his mind. He scanned the inside of the lobby with red eyes in order to locate the most effective route to get downstairs. He approached the elevator.

Sasuke sheathed his sword and clasped his hands together in a series of hand signs. “Katon, Goukakyuu no Jutsu.”

His back arched as his chest puffed before he doubled over and fire flew from his mouth. It collided into the door of the elevator, the force and heat knocking it inwards. The explosion rocked the lobby as the ceiling shook and debris fell from the top. A crash could be heard as sounds of the elevator falling down the shoot before crashing echoed from the inside. Once the debris and heat cleared, Sasuke jumped down the elevator shoot.

The laboratory was a mixture of chaos and dead, mangled bodies. Naruto raised a clawed, bloodied hand to his face and lapped his tongue along his palm, lapping at the blood from his hand and fingers as he relished in the metallic taste. Movement from the corner of his eye caught his gaze and the Vessel reacted in an instant. He was on the man before the man could fully comprehend who was on him. He was dead before he could form a proper scream.

A ding of an elevator behind the metal door caught the demon’s attention. Red eyes lingered on the door Orochimaru and Kabuto had previously escaped through. Naruto stalked up to it on all fours, two tails having long-since formed with the first tail. He stopped in front of the door and opened his mouth as bubbles of red chakra gathered in a tight ball. It darkened to black before the chakra blasted out and destroyed the door and fifteen feet in diameter of the walls surrounding said door. He walked out into the corridor where the lights were flickering and an elevator stood at the opposite end of the hall. The doors had been forced open from a previous explosion with the elevator lying in pieces.

A growl rumbled in the demon-barer’s throat as the hairs on the back of his neck and tails stood on end. He crouched lower in a readied pounce and hissed, waiting, waiting…

His senses were telling him a powerful enemy was approaching, and he needed to destroy this enemy.

His ears perked as what sounded like the humming of a thousand birds reached his sensitive hearing. It only grew louder and louder until a metallic blue light illuminated from the elevator shoot. And then Sasuke was there, his hand cackling with Chidori as he rushed towards Naruto. Naruto’s mouth opened and another dark ball of chakra formed in his mouth. He roared and the blast was sent flying at the Keeper that his instincts were telling to keep away from.

“Fuck,” Sasuke cursed as he threw his Chidori into the blow, managing to avoid the bulk of the attack. He was still hit and sent flying back into the elevator shoot. Even though he managed to avoid most of the blast, the rest of Naruto’s attack still hurt like a bitch, was Sasuke’s thought as he pried himself from the debris and shook his head. “Fucking dobe,” he growled while pushing himself up. Was this how Naruto greeted him after a hundred years? It was on now.

Naruto ran at him and Sasuke was up with his katana in hand in a blink of an eye. He slashed at the Kyuubi-vessel, but Naruto merely jumped over the Uchiha to avoid the attack. His tails lengthened out and wrapped around Sasuke, tightly crushing and choking him before he was once again sent flying across the corridor, but this time into a wall. A dent formed behind him. Rather than falling down the wall, Sasuke kept himself perched sideways with chakra-infused feet. He glared at Naruto who once again lunged at him. The Keeper ran along the length of the corridor as the Vessel chased after him. Once Sasuke reached the opposite length of the wall, he faced Naruto and pushed himself to run towards the Vessel just as he ran towards him. Lightning surged along the length of his katana as he dragged it along the wall, shattering it and leaving a black scorch mark in its wake.

“Naruto,” Sasuke growled.

Naruto snarled.

They clashed mid-way. Sasuke had slashed his sword at Naruto, but the Vessel merely intercepted the blade and held it in-between his hands. Sasuke applied more weight and pressure on to his katana as Naruto dug his heels into the ground to keep himself steady. The katana was being forced back, the lightning from the blade coursing from Naruto’s hands and to his body. His knees were trembling as he remained obstinate to grip the blade. During the struggle it seemed as if Naruto had the upper hand, but eventually the lightning of the Chidori became too much that he finally released the weapon and jumped to the ground with an animalistic whine.

Sasuke landed on the ground so he was standing twelve feet away from his dobe. Naruto was snarling at him, looking both wary and ready to pounce Sasuke and engage in a fight once again. The black wheels in Sasuke’s eyes spun as he stalked towards the demon-vessel. “Naruto,” he said, the echoes of his steps bouncing off the wall, “wake up.”

The demon stood his ground and hissed violently, daring Sasuke to come any closer. The raven-haired male was getting closer and closer until the demon couldn’t take it anymore and pounced at Sasuke. The Uchiha didn’t struggle and allowed Naruto to tackle and pin him down, their faces mere centimeters apart as Naruto growled ferociously in his face.

“Tch, idiot.”

Their eyes locked. At that instant, Sasuke was drawn into Naruto’s mind.

The eerie, green-yellow glow of the corridor inside Naruto’s mind wasn’t an unfamiliar sight to Sasuke, neither was the dark, tall cage not too far ahead. He recognized Naruto lying prone and unmoving at the foot of the cage. Sasuke stalked calmly towards Naruto and only paused when red eyes peered at him from the darkness behind the cage. A sinister chuckle could be heard.

“Uchiha brat,” a deep, booming voice drawled in greeting.

“Kyuubi,” Sasuke greeted back.

“You came later than I thought you would,” Kyuubi mocked as he drew closer to the cage, his fangs bared in a Cheshire grin. “Getting slow.”

“Hn.” Sasuke grunted, unfazed by the mockery.

The red chakra of the nine-tailed demon leaked out from the gaps of the bars, maneuvering around Naruto’s unconscious form as the Kyuubi seeped out from the cage so his muzzle was inches from Sasuke. “I was free a couple years ago. You missed it. The ravaging of a city. It was amazing… I was surprised you weren’t around then. And now you show your face years later?”

The Keeper stared at him unblinking.

“It was nice to come out and play again,” Kyuubi chuckled, his grin twisting wider and wider. “Aah, always the silent type, you Uchihas…”

“Tch.” Sasuke reached a hand out. “Go back to your cage, demon.”

He grabbed the nose of the chakra-shaped demon and pulled. The chakra dispersed into bubbles that sizzled and drifted back into the cage. He was forced back from Naruto’s mind as he found himself once again staring into Naruto’s red eyes. The growling had stopped as the scars on his cheek became less pronounced. All of his animalistic features faded away just as his eyes flickered to the familiar blues Sasuke preferred. And just like that Sasuke found himself staring into the confused face of his dobe.

“Eh? Sasuke?” Naruto blinked. Once. Twice. Three times. “What’re ya doin’ here?”

“Saving your ass,” Sasuke drawled.

“What? I don’t need my ass saved you bastard!” Naruto reprimanded as he sat up, straddling Sasuke’s torso. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared down at Sasuke.

“Could’ve fooled me.”

“Hmph. Whatever. Where are we anyway?” Naruto looked around the destroyed hall.

“You don’t remember?” Sasuke asked slowly, cautiously.

“Ah, no, not really –“ Naruto scratched his head. Something came to mind that made him freeze. “Well, I kinda remember… Orochimaru and Kabuto… and other guys in these white coats… and…” He stared at the wall to his right blankly. “Their experiments. I remember pain. I remember I was hurting… and then it suddenly stopped…”

Rather than prodding him to remember, Sasuke sat up so Naruto slid down into his lap. Their noses bumped as a growl rumbled in Sasuke’s chest, “You weren’t there when I woke up, dobe.”

“Hey it’s not like you were there when I woke up!” Naruto pouted as he tugged on Sasuke’s bangs. “I woke up suddenly in some strange city and I didn’t know how I got there… but then I was with Sakura-chan… and these guys took me away! And brought me here! I hope Sakura-chan wasn’t too scared…”

Sasuke wasn’t listening to Naruto anymore. The fact that Naruto was there with him, on top of him, reminded Sasuke that he had woken up alone and waking up without Naruto and being away from him had ached, physically ached. But now that aching had waned away, leaving the Keeper feeling nothing but calmness. He felt he could finally relax. He stared at Naruto’s naked chest. His arms. His neck. All void of any scars, his body an expanse of golden, smooth flesh. Sasuke rested his hand on Naruto’s bare hip, warmth seeping into his cool hands.

This contact was what he craved for every day. This contact was what he needed every day. This contact was what made the blood beneath his flesh hum with contentedness that only Naruto’s presence could make him feel. Naruto calmed his soul, and he knew he calmed Naruto’s.

Sasuke was feeling particularly daring enough to say he missed the contact of Naruto’s body and spirit. Vessel and Keeper were bound in a way that only they could calm the other down, only they could make each other’s aching go away.

Naruto was still rambling about one thing or another before Sasuke finally interrupted, “Shut up, idiot.”

“Eh? Why you—“ But rather than arguing, Naruto paused and made eye contact with obsidians. And just like that Naruto knew that Sasuke had missed him, that Sasuke had been frightened by Naruto’s absence. The blond’s gaze softened as he cupped Sasuke’s face in-between his hands with a smile. “S’uke. If I ever wake up again and you’re not there, I’m going to hunt you down and kill you, do you understand?” His smile widened to reflect the sickeningly sweet tone he used.

“Hn. Dobe.” Translated: Not if I kill you first… dobe.

Naruto chuckled and pressed his forehead to Sasuke’s. They didn’t need to say they missed each other. Their eyes said enough. Naruto drew his arms around Sasuke’s neck and pressed their bare chests together. It was at that moment, when their chests touched, that it seemed their whole body sighed as they settled closer to each other.

Besides, there wasn’t any need to say how much they missed each other when Naruto could just show him, right? “Hmm... S’uke…” he breathed huskily against his partner’s lips, his breath hot. “It’s been too long.”

“Too long,” Sasuke echoed. He twined pale fingers into blond, bloodied locks before forcing Naruto forward. Their lips collided and teeth clanked. Sasuke could taste the blood in Naruto’s mouth as they kissed, but neither cared. They made love in worse conditions. Naruto knew that the blood must have come from somewhere. It didn’t smell like his blood. And he wasn’t slow enough that he didn’t realize there was more blood on his body from wounds he didn’t have. So the blood had to come from someone else, or a few someone else’s due to the different scents he could differentiate in his hazed mind. But he didn’t want to think about it. He could think about it later. For now…

“Make me forget,” Naruto whispered, his voice small to Sasuke’s ears as the Uchiha trailed heated kisses up the length of Naruto’s bare neck. “Make me forget what I’ve done,” he was practically panting as Sasuke swiped languidly at a pert, dusky pink nipple. Naruto shuddered all over. He didn’t want to think about all of those people he probably murdered, so he thought about other things, like all the other times Sasuke made love to him.

“Mmn, S’uke…” Naruto arched his back and rested his elbows on Sasuke’s knees as his Keeper took his nipple into his mouth with a harsh suck. He gasped. “Remember that time… aah… after hibernation… nngh… it was a summer night, and I was waiting for you to wake…”

Sasuke knew which summer night he was talking about. Gods did he remember. Just thinking about it made the heat in his belly increase. It was the best wake-up call he had ever experienced.

“Remind me, Naruto,” Sasuke’s voice rumbled against his chest as he moved his mouth to give the same attention to the other nipple.

“I was mad that you weren’t up,” Naruto reiterated, his eyes lowered in a half-mast. One hand entwined in raven locks to tug his lover closer to his chest. “It was hot… and before I awoke I had a dream of us making love… so I was needy… ooh… when I woke up… hah… haaah… nngh…”

Sasuke ran kisses up Naruto’s chest, his shoulders, his neck, to the corner of his lips.

“So I touched you all over while you slept. I took advantage of your body while you slept –“ Sasuke forced him into another kiss. Naruto willingly kissed him back, their breathy pants and Naruto’s mewls the only sounds in the corridor. The blond had his tongue down Sasuke’s mouth as the muscles moved against each other, circling and dancing until Sasuke pulled away, sucking Naruto’s tongue before letting go.

“I made you so hard,” Naruto continued, Sasuke now sucking at his neck as the blond rubbed their groins together. It was electrifying. “Like you are right now.” The Keeper made a move to rub Naruto’s groin with his hand, but Naruto would have none of that as he rocked his hips harder against Sasuke’s.

“What did you do then, dobe?” Sasuke asked, his breathing hollow.

“I rode you,” Naruto moaned, rocking his hips harder and harder to demonstrate. “I rode you so hard, S’uke. And then you woke up and came inside me…” He threw his hands out so they were gripping Sasuke’s shoulders tightly. The thin material of their pants did little to lessen the pressure of their groins rocking together as Sasuke thrust back, wanting nothing more than to be inside his dobe right then and there.

“We made love all night after that,” Naruto continued, his eyes closed in a far-away memory of summer nights. “You made me scream so much that night, S’uke…”

“I make you scream all the time,” Sasuke grunted with a smirk.

“Cocky bastard…” Naruto chuckled breathily.

“Hn.” Sasuke grunted. “Fuck, Naruto. Ride me. Ride me like you did that night.”

“Mmnn…” Naruto threw his head back. “Maybe we should stop.”

“No,” Sasuke glared.

Naruto shook his head. “I smell people coming.”

“Shit.” Sasuke cursed. Now that he thought about it he could feel people coming their way. And he knew exactly who they were. Just his luck. He thought it would take them longer. Goddamnit. He stopped his hips, as did Naruto, and the blond climbed off of him reluctantly so their bodies could cool down and hopefully rid of their erections before their guests showed up. “We are continuing this,” Sasuke ground out as he stood, fixing Naruto with a hard stare.

Naruto laughed. “Yeah, yeah, whatever, horny bastard.”

“You started it, if I recall,” Sasuke pointed out.

“So?” Naruto pouted, cheeks flushed. “You usually initiate it.”

“We will finish this,” Sasuke said even more firmly as he gave Naruto another fierce kiss that almost made Naruto’s knees buckle. Almost. The blond was tempted to finish what they were doing, them being caught be damned. “And I will make you scream all night,” the Uchiha promised.

Naruto shuddered in anticipation. How was he supposed to get rid of his hard-on when his sexy bastard was whispering sexy things?! “Alright, bastard.” He pushed Sasuke an acceptable distance away so he wouldn’t feel tempted to jump on Sasuke with him being so near his own body. Naruto tried to think about other things to calm his humming body down. So he thought about the people he probably killed. Naruto sighed. That did it. “The blood’s not mine, is it?”

Sasuke glanced at him. “…No.”

“I killed people.”

“They deserved it,” Sasuke muttered. He didn’t have to look in the laboratory to know there were corpses in there. He could smell the blood, the death.

“But still –“

“Listen, Naruto,” Sasuke fixed him with a look, “they kept you here against your will, experimented on you Gods know how many years… they hurt you… and kept you away from me… You were merely acting on your instincts. What happened to them couldn’t be helped. Do not beat yourself up over it, do you understand?” It was amazing how quickly Naruto could kill a mood.

“…Okay.” Naruto bowed his head, looking for all the world like a kicked puppy.

Sasuke sighed and cupped his dobe’s chin, forcing him to look up. “If it makes you feel any better, when I woke up, I attacked a military base and killed people. I do not feel guilt.”

Naruto creased his brows and looked on the verge of laughing and crying at the same time. “…That’s supposed to make me feel better? You really suck at comforting, you know that?”

Sasuke shrugged. Was Naruto really that surprised? Naruto removed his hand from his chin and opted instead to hold it between his own hands. He kissed the tips of Sasuke’s finger before wrapping his tongue around the index and drawing it into his mouth. Sasuke’s own mouth went dry as Naruto suckled gently on the digit.

“I’m sure you’ll make me forget about it later, ne?” Naruto asked innocently after releasing Sasuke’s hand.

Sasuke snorted. Naruto jumped moods faster than anyone he’s ever known. Unbelievable.

It was at that moment that the door to the staircase suddenly burst open and a certain red-headed soldier stopped and stared at the Vessel and Keeper.

“Gaara! Why are we coming down here?” Sakura’s voice could be heard from the other side of the door, along with several footsteps. It wasn’t long before Sakura was seen standing next to Gaara, panting and looking at the redhead demandingly. “Well?!”

Naruto’s expression instantly brightened considerably. “Sakura-chan!”

The rosette froze. She slowly turned towards the familiar face, emerald eyes widening as soon as she spotted the blond-haired, blue-eyed Uzumaki Naruto who was kidnapped all those years ago. She wasn’t aware water had welled in her eyes as she ran to him, her heels clicking. “Naruto!”

Naruto met her half way. Sakura threw her arms around his neck just as Naruto wrapped them around her waist and lifted her up to spin her around. The woman laughed with relief.

“You’ve gotten so big, Sakura-chan!” Naruto exclaimed when he finally set her down on her feet.

“And you’re still the same!” Sakura pointed out teasingly. “I’m practically as tall as you are!”

Naruto pouted. “That’s just ‘cause you’re wearing heels!”

“That’s no excuse, idiot,” Sakura said with a flick to his forehead. They were both wearing identical grins as they stared at each other. “I missed you, Naruto,” she admitted finally.

“I missed you too, Sakura-chan,” Naruto said with a smile. “You’ve gotten so pretty!”

“So that’s the dude we’re here for?”

Naruto cocked his head towards Kiba and Shino who had finally joined them. The blond blinked in confusion but was suddenly jolted forward as Sakura grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the three other men. “Let me introduce you! This is Sabaku Gaara, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino.”

“Aah…” Naruto blinked in confusion at Gaara before looking to Kiba and then Shino with a grin. “Nice ta’meetcha! I’m Uzumaki Naruto! Do you guys already know my brooding bastard?”

Kiba snorted back a laugh. “Unfortunately.”

Naruto laughed. “Aah he’s not that bad, is he?”

Silence.

“Well, okay, maybe he is,” the blond amended. Sasuke rolled his eyes. He wasn’t amused that they were talking about him as if he wasn’t even there.

Sasuke stalked over. “We should head out.”

“Oh Sasuke don’t be a spoil sport –“

“No, he’s right,” Sakura agreed. “The alarm’s been going off. Not to mention the front entrance is all destroyed… I’m surprised the cops aren’t already here.”

Sasuke ignored the accusing, knowing look Naruto sent him.

“Let’s go then,” Sakura concluded, already leading the way back up the stairs seeing as how the elevator was damaged (Naruto sent another accusatory glare at Sasuke). Kiba and Shino were behind her, but Sasuke, Naruto and Gaara lingered back. Naruto turned to the redhead with a grin.

“Long time no see, Gaara!”

Jaded eyes acknowledged Naruto calmly, and what appeared to be a small smirk was on the soldier’s face. Naruto’s grin widened as Gaara brought a hand up and rested it on top of Naruto’s head.

“Sakura-chan hasn’t remembered you yet?” Naruto asked with a tilt of his head. Gaara removed his hand, shaking his head no. “Don’t worry! I’m sure she’ll remember you soon. After all, she is your Keeper. And she loves you. It’ll just take some time.”

“Hn.”

“Tch.” Sasuke stood behind Naruto as him and Gaara locked gazes. Though they had been pretty civil towards each other at Ino’s house, there had always been underlying hostility between the redhead and the raven. Naruto sighed as Sasuke dragged him away from Gaara.

Really… those two were always so stubborn. Wouldn’t it be easier to forgive and forget and not hold grudges?

Personally Naruto felt if everyone was like that, the world would be a better place.

Chapter 11 | Chapter 13

[update] yakuza 101

2008-11-28T05:35:17Z

I know I don't reply to reviews so I just want you guys to know you're all awesome for reviewing and I hope you won't be too mad for taking a while for me to update. SORRY DUDES. Think of this as a...thanksgiving gift? Still 3 hours left of thanksgiving here in cali anyways. xD And a note to Celestialfae - yes i've seen your suggestion. I'll consider it but I already have my plans for this fic, haha, so thank you!

And thank you to El Gilliath for the beta!

y a k u z a . 1 0 1
5. → The Family

“I don’t really understand how Iruka-sensei expects me to teach Konohamaru and the others,” Naruto said, him, Sakura and Sasuke lounging in his bedroom. “I mean… I’ve been educated about the Family and all that jazz, but like… I don’t have any real experience in the family biz.”

“I don’t think Iruka-sensei is worried about that,” Sakura pacified as she filed her nails, bored out of her mind. The boys always seemed content to sit around and do absolutely nothing, but sometimes Sakura found her best friends to be so utterly boring. “He just wants you to teach them about the Family. That is all.”

“I guess…” Naruto pouted before brightening up. “Hey, hey, there’s supposed to be an initiation ceremony next month, no? I’ll be seventeen by then, so they’ll have to initiate me too, and dad can’t keep me locked here anymore ‘cause I’ll have to go out –“

Sakura and Sasuke exchanged glances.

“—What?” Naruto asked suspiciously when noticing their look.

“Naruto…” Sakura looked hesitant, but sighed. “It was two weeks ago.”

“EH?!” Naruto jumped up from his seat on his bed. Sakura found the swirled patterns on Naruto’s orange blanket suddenly interesting. “What do you mean?!”

“It was two weeks ago,” Sakura repeated calmly.

“But that can’t be!” the blond teen flailed his arms, looking lost and panicked. “It can’t have been two weeks ago! I thought it was supposed to be next month!”

“It was early this year,” Sasuke spoke this time, looking like his usual calm and composed self as he gazed at Naruto with half-lidded, bored, onyx eyes. “You missed it because you ran away.”

Naruto grit his teeth. “Then… how come you two aren’t out on some mission?”

“Because…” This time Sakura looked extremely hesitant, and almost… guilty?

“Sakura-chan?” Naruto wasn’t sure if he wanted to know.

“Boss… the Yondaime… your father… He…”

“He assigned us to watch you,” Sasuke finished for her, as blunt and honest as ever. He didn’t see the point in beating around the bush. Naruto was going to find out one way or another. Sakura obviously didn’t appreciate his tactless ways and sent him a look that he ignored.

“Naruto –“ Sakura started to say when realizing he hadn’t said anything or reacted. Naruto’s head was bowed so his bangs hid his reaction from sight.

“The initiation ceremony is something that any seventeen-year-old looks forward to…” Naruto suddenly spoke up, his tone hollow. “Well okay maybe not any seventeen-year-old because not all seventeen-year-olds are sent on missions for the yakuza… But it means getting out more… going on missions… doing things for your Family…” He clenched and unclenched his fists. “The initiation ceremony is like coming into your adulthood. You’re no longer seen as a child in the eyes of your Family… your father…” His shoulders suddenly slumped as his hands loosened. “And I missed it because I decided to run away, because I couldn’t wait a few more months.”

Sakura realized his shoulders were sagged in defeat and resignation.

“It’s all my fault,” Naruto groaned, dropping on his bed face-first.

The rosette female looked at her friend sympathetically. At least he was taking the news better than she thought and wasn’t rampaging about angrily. Personally she thought he’d be angry that his father had assigned them to watch him…

“But I can’t believe my so called dad decided I need bodyguards!” Naruto suddenly shot up, his indignation reignited.

…Okay so maybe she spoke too soon.

“I don’t really blame him,” Sasuke said, spinning around in the computer chair so he was facing Naruto. “If I had an idiot son who ran away into enemy territory, I would do the same thing.”

“Shut up, bastard!” Naruto growled.

“And we’re not really your bodyguards,” Sasuke continued as if Naruto hadn’t said anything. “We’re your babysitters.”

“Oh fuck you--! Babysitters my ass!”

“You know it is true,” Sasuke smirked coolly. “The Boss doesn’t trust you after you ran away.”

“Go to Hell, Sasuke!” Naruto narrowed his eyes, hissing.

“You’re so childish, dobe.”

“And you’re just asking for a beat down, aren’t you, bastard?”

“As if you could even land a scratch on my forehead.” Sasuke tapped his forehead with his thumb.

“Argh!” In mid-leap at Sasuke, Sakura intercepted her blond friend and threw him effortlessly across his bedroom. Naruto let out a strangled cry as he landed in a heap on his bedroom floor. Sakura, to make up for abusing Naruto, shoved Sasuke off the bed not-so-gently and the raven collided face-first into the carpet.

“Sakura-chan,” Naruto whined as he sat up and rubbed the small of his (aching) back. “What was that for?”

“Fuck,” Sasuke muttered as he rubbed his face, wondering if it was possible to get rug burn on his face. It sure felt like he had rug burn.

“Sasuke-kun is right. You are being childish,” Sakura clipped at the sulking blond. It was apparent Sasuke was starting to look smug that he won their argument, but Sakura quickly put a damper to his thoughts: “And you too, Sasuke-kun. Not only were you being childish, but you were also provoking Naruto unnecessarily. You both need to grow up.” The blond sniffed before turning to ‘his Sakura-chan’ with shiny, awe-struck eyes.

“You sound so hot when you’re being bossy.”

“Can it, Naruto.”

“Sorry Sakura-chan,” Naruto chimed before deflating. “I still can’t believe dad made you guys my bodyguards. Sakura-chan shouldn’t have to be my bodyguard. I feel so unmanly.”

The rosette teen sighed. “Don’t think too much of it, Naruto. He just wants us to stick with you, not guard you like guard dogs.”

“Is he paying you?”

‘Well…yeah…”

“I can’t believe he’s paying you two to be my friends!”

Sakura slapped her hand against her forehead. “Not like that, idiot! We’ve always been your friends, right, Sasuke-kun?”

“…” By the blank stare Sasuke sent their way, it was obvious he either: A) didn’t agree with Sakura, or B) had completely tuned them both out and wasn’t paying attention to their conversation at all. Knowing Sasuke it was both.

“Just say yes,” Sakura said.

“Hn.” It was closest to a ‘yes’ they would ever get from him.

“You’re so whipped, Sasuke!” Naruto pointed out with a loud guffaw.

The Uchiha narrowed his eyes into dangerous slits and growled at the blond. “I could say the same thing about you, dobe.”

“Sakura-chan can do with me whatever she pleases! I am hers to command!” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively at his female friend who – used to his flirtatious ways – merely rolled her eyes. She knew he was just messing around with her and making a joke of the crush he used to have on her. Not that she minded. Sometimes it amused her, but other times… she just smacked him. So she smacked him. He pouted. “Ow.”

There was a knock at Naruto’s bedroom door and the three teens turned to see one of the Plaza security guards there. “Naruto-sama, your guests are here.”

Naruto made a face at the honorary but didn’t say anything. He used to protest in the past, but gave up when it became apparent a lot of them wouldn’t drop the –sama suffix. They followed the security guard out of Naruto’s room, down several corridors before they eventually made it to the steps that led to the front door. From the top of the staircase they could see three pre-teens standing at the entrance, looking around and admiring the interior of the Plaza. Well, two of them were. The boy in the middle who looked about twelve with spiky brunette hair, a long scarf and goggles that kept his hair spiked back instantly spotted them at the top of the staircase and grinned.

“Naruto-nii!”

Even though Naruto complained about Sarutobi Konohamaru a lot, the two were practically like brothers. Naruto returned an identical grin as he bounded down the stairs. “Yo, Konohamaru! Long time no see!”

It seemed as if the two were going to embrace at first, but instead of embracing, they engaged in a rather – er – complicated hand shake that involved something resembling the patty-cake hand game, several ‘bootie bumps,’ before the two clasped hands and gave a firm shake. They were grinning from ear-to-ear at each other as they finished their handshake, completely ignorant to the blank, skeptical stares they were receiving from their companions and the security guards. “You still got it, Konohamaru!”

“So do you, Naruto-nii! You kind of lost some oomf in your bootie bump though!” Konohamaru said as he displayed just how much ‘oomf’ Naruto should put in his bootie bump.

"Seriously?” Sasuke muttered to himself as he walked down the stairs with Sakura only to see Konohamaru demonstrating the perfect amount of oomf. “Can we get this over with?”

“You’re no fun.” Naruto stuck his tongue at Sasuke.

Fifteen minutes later.

Only when Konohamaru deemed Naruto’s oomf good enough did he finally allow them to head into the main living room to start the tutoring that Iruka wanted them to do. The three pre-teens sat on the couch with Konohamaru in the middle and his friends on either side of him. Sasuke occupied an arm chair and Sakura a loveseat. Naruto was standing in front of the pre-teens with his hands in his pockets and a contemplative look in his face. The girl with Konohamaru had pig-tails and rosy cheeks. She was wearing a purple shirt and dark blue jeans. The other boy with them wore glasses and a gray sweater. He seemed to have a case of the sniffles. All in all, Konohamaru looked the most normal.

“Alright, we’ll start with introductions. Tell us your name, age and ambition. Keep it short, sweet and to the point, capiche?” Naruto nodded to the girl. “You’re first.”

“I’m Moegi, eleven, and my ambition is to…um…” She pressed her finger to her chin thoughtfully before beaming, “marry him!” She pointed a finger at Sasuke, who started to cough. Sakura choked back a laugh.

Naruto smacked a hand against his forehead. What was with these women and wanting to marry Sasuke? He shook his head and pointed at Konohamaru. “Your turn.”

“I’m Konohamaru, twelve, and my ambition is to become Hokage!”

Naruto scoffed. “Not before me, kid. Alright, sniffling kid, your turn.”

“I am Udon,” the boy with the glasses had a nasal tone. “I’m eleven and a half and my ambition is to become a professional medic.”

Naruto nodded. “Not bad, not bad. I’m Uzumaki Naruto, sixteen, and my ambition is to be Hokage and own Ichiraku ramen.” He winked before looking at Sakura and smiling sweetly. “Your turn, Sakura-chan!”

“I am Haruno Sakura.” The pink-haired teen smiled and waved. “I turned seventeen in March and my ambition is to become a great medic like the Sannin, Tsunade.”

All eyes turned to Sasuke, who wasn’t even paying attention (as usual).

Naruto cleared his throat. “Ahem, Sasuke-bastard.”

“What?”

“Your turn.”

“My turn what?”

Naruto’s brow twitched in irritation. “It’s your turn to introduce yourselves.”

“Why?”

“Because all of us already did so now it’s your turn!”

“But you know who I am.”

“Just do it!”

The raven-haired male signed impatiently and drawled, “Uchiha Sasuke. Seventeen. My ambition… is to surpass the one I hate most.”

“Who do you hate most?” Moegi asked curiously.

Sasuke’s eyes darkened as he spat, “My brother.” He looked away and went back to brooding alone in his seat.

Naruto rolled his eyes. “So dramatic all the time. Alright so, anyway, whose first time is it being in the Plaza?”

Udon and Moegi raised their hands. Konohamaru just grinned. He used to come by the Plaza a lot to hang out with Naruto. The blond teenager started to pace in front of the three pre-teens, looking like a General addressing his soldiers as he kept one arm behind his back and the other making gestures to emphasize his points. “Well then, welcome to the Plaza. For those of you who don’t know the Plaza is the headquarters to the Konoha Yakuza Family. It also houses the Hokage and the Konoha’s Main Family. Does anyone know what Konoha’s Main Family consist of?”

Konohamaru scratched his nose. “Uh, his blood relatives?”

Moegi raised her hand. Naruto pointed to her. “Konoha’s Main Family consists of the Hokage’s Council, and their husband or wife, and or children if the Hokage has any.”

Naruto beamed. “Good, Moegi!” Moegi beamed back proudly. “So the next question would be who makes up the Hokage’s Council.”

There was silence.

“You can look at the Hokage’s Council like… the Round Table, kind of…” He ignored the confused stares they sent him. “The Round Table is made up of King Arthur and his Knights, right? So the Hokage’s Council is the Hokage and his… er…”

“Knights?” Konohamaru offered with a chuckle.

“Well, yeah, basically. But we don’t have Knights in this era so they’re usually just referred to as Guardians.” Naruto had one hand on his hip and the other was scratching his head as he thought of how else to explain it. “Or Konoha’s Guardians.” Still more silence. He looked at the kids expectantly. “So can any of you guess who might be on the Council…?”

Udon shrugged.

“No clue,” Konohamaru piped.

“I’m all out of ideas,” Moegi added.

Naruto sighed. “Alright, then I expect you guys to memorize this: The Council is made up of what we call the Seven Guardians of Konoha.” He started to tick off his fingers. “There’s my dad who’s the Boss… and then there’s Ero-sennin who’s like the second boss and then there’s… there’s…” He paused in his pacing and stared at his fingers with a frown, as if they failed at telling him who else was on the Council.

Konohamaru snickered. “Naruto-nii doesn’t even remember!”

“I do too! I just… kind of forgot.” Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

“Sasuke’s father, Uchiha-san, is also on the Council,” Sakura added helpfully.

“Right! And, um…”

“Kakashi,” Sasuke added.

“Yeah! And –“

“Asuma-san,” Sakura said.

Naruto pouted. “Hey, hey, I’m the one teaching here!”

“And Sasuke-kun and I are here to help you,” the rosette pacified.

“So like, when someone becomes Hokage, they pick their own Council or what?” Konohamaru asked curiously.

“Yeah. Like your grandpa had his own Council, but it changed when my dad became Boss,” Naruto said with a nod. “So when I become Boss I get my own Council –“

“If you become Boss,” Sasuke muttered.

Naruto glared at him. “Shut up, bastard! When I become Hokage, you’re definitely not on my Council!”

“Hmph. As if I would want to be,” Sasuke snorted. He ignored the tongue the dobe stuck out at him. “Idiot.”

“Asshole.”

“Dobe.”

“Bastard.”

“Dumbass.”

“Jerk-off.”

“Douchebag –“

“Oh it’s on now, dickwad!”

Naruto let out a war cry and pounced on Sasuke, knocking his chair back as the two engaged in a fist fight. Sakura sighed and rubbed her temples, already feeling an impending headache looming around the corner. Moegi gasped while Udon and Konohamaru cheered from the sidelines, both making bets on who would come out of the fight triumphant. Unfortunately for them, they both lost the best as Sakura ripped them apart and sent them both flying across opposite sides of the main living room with a punch to the back of their heads. Moegi, meanwhile, looked at Sakura in a new, admiring light.

“I smell a rat.”

He froze.

“Maybe not so much a rat but a little mouse trying to sneak around a large, big cat that’ll eat it up.”

What the hell – “AH!”

“Hehe. Got’cha, little mouse.”

He stared in horror at the silver-haired man with mismatched eyes. One red eye, the other a regular, dark eye. There were pinnacles in the red eye that spun wildly and the intruder found himself unable to ear his gaze away.

“So tell me, little mouse, what brings you here?” Kakashi asked pleasantly, but the way his eyes narrowed and his tone lowered darkly made the intruder realize it was all false pleasantries. This man with the mismatched eyes was as deadly as they come. He knew because he’s heard rumors about Hatake Kakashi of the Konoha Family. “Why were you sneaking around the Plaza?”

“N-n-nothing,” the man stuttered. “I was p-p-picking up the dry…the dry… the dry cleaning!”

Kakashi chuckled. “That’s a first. Which family do you come from?”

“The…Hanzo family?” the man looked ready to piss in his pants as his knees wobbled. The only thing keeping him up was the fact that Kakashi was holding on to the collar of his shirt with a vice-like grip.

“The Hanzo family?” Kakashi looked confused. “Is it a new family?”

“Er…no?” this time the intruder was confused.

“Are you in alliance with Ame?” Kakashi asked darkly.

“No!” He cried.

“Do not lie to me you little mouse, or I will introduce you to a friend more scary than myself –“

“Kakashi, what the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

The silver-haired man looked over his shoulder at his boss, who was standing there with his hands on his hips, looking both irate and exasperated.

“I was interrogating the little mouse.” There was nothing but pure (false) innocence radiating from Kakashi’s face.

Minato pinched the bridge of his nose with a suffering sigh. “Release Hanzo-san at once.”

“You know this man?”

“Yes.” Minato took a deep breath to keep himself calm. “He picks up my dry cleaning, you fool.”

“Oh.” Kakashi paused. “So he was telling the truth?”

“Yes,” the blond practically growled.

“Aah. My bad.” Kakashi released the man who dropped to his knees with a sob. Kakashi awkwardly patted him on the head. “There, there, little mouse.”

“I am so sorry, Hanzo-san,” Minato apologized profusely as he rushed to the man’s side to help him up. “Kakashi he… he can be a bit foolish sometimes.” He shot the younger man a withering glare. Kakashi merely smiled and held up his hands in a pacifying gesture. Minato led the man away as he tried to calm him down, but much to he blond’s dismay, the man simply refused to relax after his encounter with Kakashi. So after Minato gave his dry cleaning to the man, Hanzo had all-but high tailed it out of the Plaza.

Namikaze Minato slumped into his desk’s leather chair with a sigh. Kakashi was sitting on the couch to the side, still looking like he did nothing wrong.

“And of course you’re not going to apologize,” Minato stated. He gave his previous student a look.

Kakashi’s eyes curved pleasantly. “Nope. Ame has been acting more and more aggressively. It can’t be helped if we are wary of every stranger that steps foot in the Plaza.”

“Indeed. But is it Ame we should really be worried about?” The Leader of the Konoha Family linked his hands together, his features settled in grim lines. “Ame can always be put in its place. Fugaku has informed me that Otogakure has been gathering alliances.”

“Oto, huh?” Kakashi mused over that bit of information. “Is it really that surprising considering who its leader is?”

“No. But it would be troublesome if Otogakure decided to form an alliance with Amegakure.”

Kakashi nodded in agreement. Their conversation was interrupted by a knock on the door. Uchiha Fugaku stepped into the office and exchanged nods with Kakashi. There was a paper in the Chief’s hand that he waved in the air as he closed the door behind him and approached the Yondaime’s desk. He set the paper down in front of Minato. The blond raised an eyebrow but picked up said paper and scanned it over. His eyebrows raised further the more he read.

“This is –“

“Yeah.” Fugaku grunted. “It appears Oto proposes an alliance with us.”

Minato snorted out loud. “What are they thinking?”

“Maybe we should consider it. Right now our main concerns are Oto and Ame. It would be more beneficial to form an alliance with Oto. The Ame Family is too rouge,” Fugaku said. Kakashi hummed in agreement.

“Fugaku-san has a point.” Kakashi’s eyes twinkled as he added, “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.”

Minato didn’t answer right away. After a moment’s contemplation he set the proposal back on his desk and leaned back in his seat. “Kakashi, when will the others return?”

Kakashi knew who Minato meant. “I believe they will be returning in two days.”

Minato nodded. “Two days then, and we will discuss our decision.”

“Yakuza families originated from shinobi clans,” Sakura iterated in front of the three pre-teens. Naruto and Sasuke were sitting on opposite sides of the main living room, both fuming and glaring at each other. Sakura ignored the sparks flying between her two idiot friends. “The Uchiha Clan, for example, can be traced back to shinobi times. But not everyone in the yakuza families are from shinobi clans. Some people are recruited because they have shinobi ancestry running in their veins, but it may not be obvious since they’ll be living as ordinary citizens. Sometimes these people themselves don’t know. Like me. I was born in a civil family but was recruited here when they realized I had chakra that could be controlled and used for jutsus.”

“Udon and Moegi come from civil families,” Konohamaru said as he pointed at his two best friends. “But their families are in cahoots with our Family anyway so it wasn’t that big of a deal for them. Well it kind of was since they were happy Udon and Moegi have chakra control.”

Sakura nodded and smiled. “Yeah. My family doesn’t know I’m part of a yakuza family.” She winked. “They would have a heart attack if they found out. They think I’m running around with a gang though.”

“Well yeah because you introduced them to Sasuke and Sasuke looks like a gang-banger,” Naruto grumbled.

Sasuke’s glare hardened. “If I recall correctly you were there too, dobe.”

“Hmph. At least I don’t look like a brooding bastard.”

“At least I’m not a blond airhead who didn’t realize they were in enemy territory.”

“Take that back!”

“Make me!”

“I would if I could!”

“A helpful jutsu is a simple binding jutsu,” Sakura said cheerily. Naruto and Sasuke were struggling as if bound by ropes, but there was nothing visible that could be seen. “And a silencing jutsu.” She made a few hand signs before muttering something and the two teenagers’ mouths were forced shut. All that could be heard were muffled words that were probably insults, but no one could really tell. Sakura clapped her hands together and beamed at the three younger kids. “So! Are you guys hungry?”

Scary, were their agreed thoughts.

“Yeah!”

She ushered them into the kitchen and away from Sasuke and Naruto, leaving the two alone in the main living room. Sasuke was giving Naruto a ‘It’s-all-your-fault’ look while Naruto sulked with tears streaming from his eyes.

I’m hungry too, Sakura-chaaan!

Chapter 4 | Chapter 6

ft_sama @ 2008-11-23T18:27:00

2008-11-24T02:28:02Z

“Let him go!” Naruto repeated, this time in a yell that mingled with the clash of lightning and thunder.

“Let me tell you something,” Mizuki continued on as if he hadn’t heard Naruto. “I’m sure for people like this boy, there is redemption. He’ll realize before death that he was wrong to have been with you, that you are a monster. So long as he accepts that he made a mistake, there’s room for him yet amongst God and His Heaven. But you… you… there is no room for you, Na-ru-to. I’m sure the Devil has waited long enough for you. You will suffer and rot in Hell with the other demons like yourself. You will get what you deserve… but this boy… this boy will be saved. His soul will be saved. I will make sure of it. I will save him.”

“What are you talking about? I don’t need any ‘saving’!” Konohamaru retorted sarcastically. “The only ‘saving’ I need is from you since you’re holding a damn kunai to my jugular --!”

“Shh,” Mizuki hushed as he took his hand from Konohamaru’s hair and clasped it tightly over his mouth, effectively muting his ramblings. “God will forgive you. God will see that you have been misled by this demon child, and he will take you with open arms and he’ll accept you still. Don’t you see? God is forgiving. God is loving. God is everyone’s savior… Maybe in Hell the demon will repent for his sins, and one day join God… like you.”

“That is enough!” Naruto roared and lunged at them, but was held back by two pairs of arms. He struggled against the vice-like grips of the two Chuunins holding him back. “Let me go you fuckers! Don’t you dare do anything to Konohamaru or I swear to whatever God there fucking is that I’ll fucking kill you!”

“Konohamaru?” Mizuki mused. “Don’t worry, Konohamaru. Everything will be okay.” He brought the tip of the kunai from Konohamaru’s throat to his chest, pointing the tip at his heart. The boy started to struggle violently at that point, yelling words that were only muffled by the shinobi’s larger hand. “Shh, it’ll be over quickly.”

Naruto knew the fear in Konohamaru’s eyes reflected in his own. He never felt more desperate in all of his sixteen years of existence than as he did at that moment as he watched Mizuki press the kunai against Konohamaru’s jacket. Naruto could see the tears in Konohamaru’s eyes, the tears and the fear and the desperate, silent plea to be helped. Eventually Konohamaru managed to rip his mouth free of Mizuki’s grasp, but the man merely wrapped his arm around his neck instead to keep him in place.

“STOP IT!” Naruto begged. “PLEASE!”

“I don’t want to die!” Konohamaru cried, trying in vein to get free. His eyes widened in horror as Mizuki raised the kunai in preparation to lunge it at his heart. “I DON’T WANT TO DIE! NARUTO-NII, HELP ME. I DON’T WANT TO DIE!”

“See this as an honor,” Mizuki growled. “You’ll be joining God.”

“STOP IT!” Naruto cried helplessly. His eyes felt hot as the tears stung and fell. His heart seemed to stop when Mizuki brought the kunai plunging down and Naruto’s voice sounded hoarse even to his own years as he screamed. “NO!”

“NARUTO-NII -- !”

Whatever else Konohamaru wanted to say, was going to scream, was cut off as the sharp blade ripped through his jacket, through his shirt, through his flesh and right into his heart. Everything stilled at that moment. The sound of the pounding rain muted. There weren’t flashes of lightning or booming of thunder. For Naruto, at that moment, there was just the frightened, pained expression twisted on Konohamaru’s face as the life from him waned. He looked so scared… so scared of death and Naruto felt his own heart break from the aching, frightened look on his friend, his brother’s face.

Konohamaru coughed painfully as blood leaked from the corners of his lips. He slackened in Mizuki’s arms as his body sagged and his eyelids started to drift closed. Naruto could see every detail clearly – could see the way the light in Konohamaru’s eyes started to dim, could see the way his body shuddered with the effort to breathe, could see the tears falling down Konohamaru’s dirtied cheeks. Konohamaru met his gaze and he gave Naruto a small, sad smile before the life in his eyes died away and Mizuki let him fall to the ground.

“You’re not what they say you are. You’re not a monster.”

“I’d gladly go to Hell to get away from loonies like you! Naruto-nii didn’t even do anything!”

It was as if someone put Naruto’s life on pause before pressing the play button once more. The roaring sound of the rain came rushing back into his ears, as did the realization of what just happened. He blinked once. Twice. He wasn’t sure if he was crying. It was hard to tell with all of the rain. But his eyes stung. He felt strangely… empty.

“All-powerful and merciful God, we commend to you,” Mizuki recited as he wiped the bloodied kunai across his knee, “your servant. In your mercy and love, blot out all the sins he has committed through human weakness. In this world he has died: let him live with you forever.”

“Kono…ha…maru…” The Chuunin holding him back released him, but Naruto hardly noticed.

“We ask this through Christ our Lord.” Mizuki sheathed his kunai. “Amen.”

For four years Konohamaru and Naruto had each other. Before that they were alone, but when they met they became the best of friends. Konohamaru always looked up to Naruto, and Naruto always cherished Konohamaru like he figured he would a little brother if he ever had one. That boy was the closest to a family Naruto ever had… and now he was gone. He was killed. And Naruto couldn’t help him, didn’t help him, was unable to help him. He failed Konohamaru, and because of that Konohamaru’s death was an even bigger blow. Naruto clutched a hand over his heart and gripped his jacket, feeling nothing but an empty hollowness there that ached terribly. He knew it would continue to ache and there’d be no filling the void that Konohamaru filled.

He was alone again.

So… terribly… alone. (loneliness. . . . )

“You should be glad your friend is joining God,” Mizuki said.

Naruto lifted his gaze to the man and stared.

“At least now his soul can be saved before your influence fully corrupts him.”

“You…” Naruto choked out, his fists clenching and unclenching. Even though he felt numb, he started to feel angry. His anger only increased the more he remembered Konohamaru’s frightened expression and the injustice of his death. “He didn’t want to die,” Naruto ground out shakily. “He didn’t want to die.”

“He’ll realize that what I did was for his benefit,” Mizuki said staidly.

“What gives you the right…” Naruto seethed. He was trembling all over. He was so angry! “What gives you the right to determine what was right for Konohamaru? Konohamaru wanted to live! But you took his life away from him! It wasn’t fair! He was still young!”

“And I saved him!” Mizuki exclaimed, that mad glint back in his eyes.

“HOW IS KILLING HIM SUPPOSED TO SAVE HIM?” The boy exploded.

“He is with God now! His soul is saved!”

“FUCK YOUR GOD!”

“Don’t you dare talk about Him in that way –“ Mizuki glowered with a threatening step forward. “I’ll do this world a favor and rid of your existence.”

Naruto’s normally bright, vivid eyes darkened considerably, reflecting the dark, raging storm overhead as he lowered his voice to an almost animalistic growl. “If I’m going down, I’m bringing you to Hell with me.”

“God would never allow my soul to suffer –“

“SHUT THE HELL UP ABOUT YOUR GOD,” Naruto screamed and lunged.

Something in Naruto snapped that night. All the pent up anger and frustration – all the injustice he ever felt – finally released and blew up in a way he never thought possible. He wouldn’t remember right away what happened after he lunged at Mizuki, but he would eventually. But for a while all he would remember was everything turning red and the raging anger that pumped like poison through his veins.

It took a while for Naruto to realize where he was, for him to be conscious of his surroundings. He didn’t think about the fact that he couldn’t remember how he got there for the life of him, but rather he thought about the building in front of him, and that it was still raining. He blinked and stared some more. Church, he thought. He was standing in front of one of those Christian churches that the Western world brought into Konoha.

“We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Naruto lifted his head to the crying heavens as thunder rumbled darkly in the rain clouds. Why was he there…? He looked down at his hand and watched in morbid fascination as the dirt – and something red – washed from his flesh. His clothes, he realized, were stained with a darker, dirtier red and he belatedly realized he smelled like blood. Fresh blood. Blood that was clinging through his clothes and against his flesh, tainting and dirtying him further, making him feel filthy…

Screams. Blood. Flesh tearing. More blood-curling screams that the roaring thunder drowned away…

An image of Naruto thrusting the same hand he was looking at into someone’s chest invaded his mind. He doubled over and fell to his knees as he vomited. A sob wretched from his throat, making him gag on his vomit as he threw up even more. He wasn’t sure what was destroying him inside – Konohamaru’s death, or what he did to those men…

The blood that washed from his clothes mingled with the concrete sidewalk in front of Konoha’s First Baptist Church. It was a large church, and Naruto thought it looked rather haunting in the middle of a storm with its closed, large, oaken doors and colorful, stained glasses. During the day time the church was bright and colorful – approachable, even. But now it looked foreboding, and the people and angels depicted on the stain glasses looked… sad.

He wasn’t sure what compelled him. Maybe it was because he was out in the rain for so long, wet and cold and so very tired, but Naruto pulled himself up, wiped his mouth on his drenched sleeve, and walked up the concrete steps one after another until he was standing in front of the large, oaken doors. He seized both of the golden handles of the doors and, with some effort, pulled the doors out so they spread open for him. He hesitated at the entrance. The church was empty as far as he could tell. A pipe organ played somewhere hidden, but the music itself was clear enough for Naruto to hear. He took a step forward and heard his shoe squelch against the red carpet, making him falter once more. With a deep breath he took another step before fully entering the church and walking down the aisle.

The crucifix drew Naruto’s attention almost the first second he stepped into the church. His gaze lingered on the figure of Jesus’ face for a few minutes, thinking how Jesus’ face – even in death – looked sad. He didn’t understand much about the Christian religion and their God and Jesus, but he heard Jesus’ death brought about the redemption of humankind. Is that why you look so sad? Naruto wondered as he stopped in front of the altar. Because humankind has failed you and your death was for naught?

Naruto was what the villagers would call an atheist (among his other names like monster and demon-child). He didn’t believe in God, in Jesus Christ, in Allah, Shangdi, Ek Onkar, the Buddha, Shiva, Jashin… It was ironic for him to be in a church. He never took to any religion seeing as how before the Western culture influenced Konoha, Konoha never had a religion. Because Konoha used to be a shinobi village and shinobi never took up religion as a practice. But that all changed sixteen years ago and according to Mizuki, it was all Naruto’s fault.

He took a seat in the third row, his body going slack as soon as he sat down. He didn’t realize how tired he was until his legs were finally able to rest. “I don’t know what I’m doing…” Naruto whispered to himself, since there was no one there with him. He was as alone as he was before Konohamaru came into his life. But this time the loneliness hurt more. “If there is a God… a Jesus…any God… I just want to make sure Konohamaru will be fine.” He let out a weary sigh as he pressed his palms to his eyes, his elbows propped on his thighs. “He didn’t deserve to die.”

Naruto was at a loss of what else to say. He never talked to himself or prayed since he didn’t have a God he believed in to pray to. So… he just hoped. He hoped the best for Konohamaru’s afterlife. He hoped for a better future. He hoped for things not always to be so dismal and lonely. He hoped and wanted for a lot of things, but it wasn’t as if he had much before, so it was okay to want a little, right?

“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you, Konohamaru.” Naruto clasped his hands together and held his clasped hands in front of his face, as if in a prayer. “I’m sorry. I’ll become stronger so if there’s anyone precious I want to protect next time I will have the strength to do so. I don’t think I can take another failure like this again.”

He was so tired…

And he felt so empty, and the church felt so warm… and he was so tired from crying…

Naruto laid down on the bench, drifting to unconsciousness with the thought that he would just rest his eyes for a minute. He was out before he could finish forming that thought.

I know that there's a point I've missed
A shrine or stone I haven't kissed
A scar that never graced my wrist
A mirror that hasn't met my fist
But I can't help feeling like I'm

Due for a miracle
I'm waiting for a sign (waiting for a sign)
I'll stare straight into the sun
And I won't close my eyes (and I won't close my eyes)

“Naruto…” the raven-haired stranger who had previously invaded Naruto’s ‘home’ leaned against the side of the bench, his back to the sleeping blond as he kept his arms crossed over his chest. He sighed and detached himself from his leaned position to remove his jacket and cover the shivering boy with it. “You always become too attached.” There was a deep, husky timbre to his voice that made his throat sound dry and hoarse. Irritation was laced with his tone, but his eyes… there was an intensity there, a look only one whose suffered and truly empathized, only one who agonized for countless years and loved and lost could ever give someone. It was a look lost lovers would give. A look a sinner who found salvation would have.

Due for a miracle
I'm waiting for a sign
I'll stare straight into the sun
And I won't close my eyes

NaNoWriMo Entry Ch 1 Part 2

2008-11-24T02:27:26Z

Naruto looked smug while Konohamaru lagged behind, evidently mulling over his inevitable fate. The blond was marching him into the hospital by his scarf that, if Konohamaru stopped at any moment, would strangle him. The boy was thinking of doing just that just to spite his brother-like figure, but then again, Konohamaru didn’t feel like dying by strangulation. He’d rather much die a painless death, thank you very much, particularly one of old age. But he wouldn’t live to an old age if he kept being so stubborn, as Naruto liked to point out every so often on their trip to the hospital.

The hospital wasn’t in the best shape, like the rest of the village. There was something dark and dingy about the building that made it look more like an asylum than a hospital. Even the doctors and nurses who worked in there weren’t the most caring and upbeat of people. The people in the waiting room looked sickly and like they would rather be somewhere else as a doctor would come every now and then to call a patient’s name in a monotone drawl. Naruto and Konohamaru exchanged looks, not liking the chilly atmosphere of the hospital one bit. But Konohamaru started to cough and Naruto steeled his determination and marched them both up to the front desk.

“He needs to be seen by a doctor,” Naruto said as he gestured to Konohamaru. “He was coughing blood earlier! And he’s really sick!”

“Huh.” The nurse barely cast a bored glance at the pale boy. She maneuvered in her chair in order to pick up a clipboard and pen, prepared to write something down. “Does he have health insurance?”

“Health wha --?” Naruto scrunched his face in confusion. “I don’t know but –“

“No health insurance, no check up.” The woman set the clipboard down and Naruto’s eyes widened at that.

It sounded mockingly familiar.

“No money, no food. Ain’t nothin’ free in this world, don’cha know?”

“What do you mean no check up?” Naruto bit out through clenched teeth, slamming his hand harshly down on the counter as he glared at the woman. “Konohamaru is sick. Last I checked this was a hospital, and hospitals are supposed to take care of the ill.”

“Hmm… and in order to pay for the hospital bill, one needs health insurance, which he evidently does not have, so his illness is of no concern to ours.”

“What kind of hospital is this?!” Naruto bellowed, enraged beyond belief. Everyone was staring at him but he couldn’t care less. He was shaking with outrage at the injustice. How could a hospital just turn away a sick boy like that? It wasn’t right. None of this was right! “You’re going to turn a sick boy away just because he doesn’t have health insurance or money?”

“Exactly. Now please remove yourself from the premise before I call security.”

“No! I refuse! I refuse to go anywhere until Konohamaru is seen by a doctor and treated properly!”

“Do you have money to pay for him, then?” the nurse snapped impatiently.

“Er, no, but –“

“Then please remove yourself or I will call security.”

“Naruto-nii—“ Konohamaru grabbed the sleeve of Naruto’s jacket and tugged. “Let’s just go.”

“No!” Naruto glared fiercely. What was wrong with this hospital – with this world? Never had he ever heard about needing health insurance to be treated at the hospital. The government funded hospitals, gave money to hospitals to allow them to treat people but… now… Now this? “Treat him!” Naruto insisted vehemently.

“It used to be different, you know,” someone said, and the blond and the brunette turned around to face an elder man, looking around his mid-sixties. There was a blank, hollowness in his eyes that made Naruto feel cold. “Before sixteen years ago, coming to the hospital cost nothing. The money shinobi received on missions went towards the shinobi, and to government-funded things like hospitals. But then… everything fell apart after the war, and Western Civilization started affecting our world, bringing their Holy books and their health insurance…” His frail frame shook with a haggard cough. “That demon brought a curse upon our world.” His empty eyes locked on Naruto as his lips curled in a sneer. “That demon brought a filthy child of cursed luck. Our village has done nothing to deserve whatever you have done to anger the Gods.”

Naruto’s eyes widened at the man’s angered statements and accusatory tone. He had gotten used to the hateful jibes of the villagers, but there was something particular about what this man said that struck a chord in Naruto.

“…whatever you have done to anger the Gods…”

The blond’s gaze hardened as he stated with such ferocity, “There are no Gods.”

“You have brought the Gods’ wrath upon us. You,” the old man continued, pointing a bony finger at Naruto as he prodded the teen none-too-gently on the shoulder, “have damned us all.”

“Leave him alone!” Konohamaru suddenly yelled, having had enough of the man’s insults. He stood in front of Naruto with his chin raised determinedly. “You don’t know what you are talking about, you crazy old coot!”

“You are going to the underworld with the demon child,” the old man snapped.

“Then so be it!” Konohamaru snapped back, his cheeks flushed in anger. “I’d gladly go to Hell to get away from loonies like you! Naruto-nii didn’t even do anything! He just so happened to be born on October 10^th, so freaking what?! It could have happened to anyone and yet you all hate him for no reason! You’re all mad!”

“Get out of here now!” the nurse at the counter suddenly demanded, her tone sharp and eyes livid as she stood up in her seat, a complete 180 compared to her earlier disinterested attitude.

“Gladly,” Konohamaru growled, this time being the one to grab Naruto’s hand and march him out of the hospital. The two ignored the hateful stares of the people in the hospital as they left. Outside it had started to rain. The two boys stopped beneath the overhanging ceiling, both lost in their own thoughts about what just happened. The twelve-year-old boy turned sad eyes to the older boy. “Naruto-nii –“

“Let’s just go home, Konohamaru,” Naruto said, his expression carefully unreadable. “It was wrong of me to bring you there.” He took a step towards the rain when the boy’s voice stopped him.

“You don’t… believe what they say about you, do you?”

Naruto didn’t answer right away. He turned his face heavenwards, as if contemplating something, before he looked at Konohamaru over his shoulder with a smile, his eyes squinted in their trademark, foxy manner. There was something broken about the way he smiled. It made Konohamaru sad. “Come on, Konohamaru. The quicker we get home, the quicker we can get you in front of the fire and a blanket so you don’t get sick even more.”

Konohamaru nodded and the two pulled on their respective hoods and trekked out into the pouring rain, Naruto lost in his thoughts about what Konohamaru had asked him. If he was being honest with himself, he didn’t care what the villagers said about him. He had long since accepted their hateful insults and angry comments. He was more worried about Konohamaru thinking one day – what if the villagers are right? He was scared of losing Konohamaru, scared for Konohamaru. His doubts of the boy changing his mind one day weren’t as strong as the villagers hurting Konohamaru. He was worried for him, worried that the villagers would start attacking him too.

Because the thing is, Konohamaru didn’t deserve the same fate as Naruto did. Sure Naruto never really did anything to make the villagers unhappy (besides being born), but that didn’t mean he wished the same fate for someone else. Maybe I did something in another life to anger the Gods? Naruto mused humorlessly as he bowed his head against the rain.

It wasn’t pouring hard, but the light drizzle was enough to dampen the earth and muddy the grounds. A few stragglers were hurrying to find shelter as Naruto and Konohamaru hurried back to their ‘home’ – if they could call it that. It was the closest thing they could call home, that they’ve ever had to a home. What the two boys had in common was that their parents died when they were born, so neither knew what it was like to have a parental figure and a proper home. But another ting that had drawn them together at first was their loud obnoxiousness and their habit of getting into trouble. They were both pranksters by nature and always caused as much havoc in the dull village of Konoha as they possibly could.

The two had first met when Konohamaru tried stealing food from a vendor. It didn’t go that well considering the vendor saw and took off after him. If Naruto hadn’t intervened and distracted the vendor than who knows what would have happened to Konohamaru? (Well, they both knew, but neither wanted to think about it. Konohamaru didn’t like to imagine having his hands sliced off, thank you very much.) Since then they were always together, helping each other to survive, growing up together like brothers.

That was why Naruto always swore to protect Konohamaru as much as he could. He wanted to make sure Konohamaru lived to see a better day. He wanted to make sure Konohamaru grew up old and healthy. He didn’t want Konohamaru to remain sick and suffer. Konohamaru was like a little brother to him, and as far as sixteen-year-old Naruto was concerned, the boy was the only thing Naruto had that kept him anchored to the world, to Konoha.

That was why October 6^th, as far as Naruto was concerned, was the day he no longer remained attached to Konoha.

He was never a very cautious person, but perhaps if he had been a little more cautious he could have saved Konohamaru…

I see the parts but not the whole
I study saints and scholars both
No perfect plan unfurls
Do I trust my heart or just my mind
Why is truth so hard to find in this world
Yeah in this world

“Ne, Naruto-nii, I’ll race you back home!”

“Tch, prepare to eat my dust!” Naruto declared as he puffed out his chest.

“You mean my dust?” Konohamaru hollered, having already ran ahead.

The blond blinked and spluttered indignantly before taking off after the younger boy. “Oi-i! You cheated!”

They were racing through the rain and through the village, laughing like two young boys – being what they were, what they are. Water kicked up and drenched the hem of their pants and shoes as they jumped in puddles. It wasn’t long before Naruto caught up to Konohamaru and was darting ahead, leaving the brunette to verbally protest as Naruto stuck his tongue out at the younger boy from over his shoulder. Eventually it turned into Konohamaru-trying-to-catch-Naruto as the blond dodged the brunette’s attempts to snatch at him.

They had to stop their little chase when Konohamaru had to stop due to another coughing fit. Naruto wouldn’t let him run after that and insisted the boy clamber on to his back to Naruto could just carry him home. After much protest the younger boy eventually gave in and climbed on to Naruto’s pick. Naruto made sure Konohamaru was secure on his back before he carried on, on purposely bouncing in his steps so Konohamaru bounced on his back.

“Naruto-nii! Quit that!” the boy complained, to which Naruto grinned toothily.

“You need to lose some weight. You’re so heavy!” He made a show of acting like carrying Konohamaru was a huge burden. It earned him a smack upside the head by the pouting child. “Ow, hey!”

“You deserved that! Calling me a fatty! You’re the one with the belly!”

“I do not have a belly!”

“You do to!”

“Do not!”

“Do to!”

“Do not!”

“Do to!”

And so it went.

Their laughter died down when they spotted a group of men walking in their direction so the two boys quieted down. They kept their heads down as they walked, being mindful to keep their eyes down as to avoid the loud men who were conversing none-too-quietly amongst themselves. They were wearing the typical shinobi uniform and the hitai-ate’s identified them as Leaf shinobi. Their flustered cheeks and bottle of sake one of the men was waving around indicated their drunken states. Naruto hurried in his steps, still trying to remain discreet as he crossed paths with them. He was about to let out a relieved breath when, after taking three steps passed the men, one of them spoke up –

“Oi, oi, what’re ya two kids doin’ out past curfew?”

“Just headed back home,” Naruto said, still keeping his gaze down, “from the hospital. My little brother is sick.” He plowed onward but was forced to stop when he was addressed once more.

“Oi we ain’t done with ya yet.”

Naruto grit his teeth but stood his ground. He could feel Konohamaru tense as his grip around Naruto’s neck tightened, not to the point of suffocation, but noticeable enough. He could also feel the younger boy shaking, no doubt cold from the rain and chilly atmosphere. Konohamaru sneezed.

“You know what punishment is for being out past curfew?”

“It’s only been five minutes past,” Naruto couldn’t help but mutter after throwing a glance at the large town clock.

“What was that?”

“Isn’t the first time getting caught a warning?” Naruto spoke up clearer.

“Hm, yes. There won’t be a warning next time, you realize that?” the same man slurred as he stalked around Naruto and Konohamaru, eyeing them both. He took a swig out of his bottle and stopped right in front of the boys. He frowned when he realized Naruto was purposefully looking away and averting eye contact. “Look at me boy when I am speaking to you!”

When Naruto still didn’t look, the man roughly shook the boy by the shoulders. “I said look at me!”

Naruto lifted his head and glared.

“Aah,” the shinobi male looked pleasantly surprised. “Well if it isn’t the little demon brat. This certainly changes things…”

“You gave us our warning, we should head home now. Like I said, Konohamaru is sick,” Naruto said stiffly, trying to keep his cool.

“No, no, no, a warning simply won’t do.” The man stood up straighter, a smirk curling at his lips. “No… it really won’t. I’ve been told you are prone to running around past curfew and we cannot allow that to carry on, can we?” He exchanged glances with the other shinobi men.

“But I’ve never --!” Naruto flared up indignantly.

“Mizuki – “ one of the other Chuunin-ranked shinobi stepped forward just as the silver-haired male grabbed the collar of Naruto’s jacket and jerked him forward sharply, forcing him to drop Konohamaru.

Out of all the shinobi, Naruto hated this man – Mizuki – the most. If there was one person in all the village who hated Naruto the most, it was Mizuki. He was always trying to get Naruto in trouble over every little thing and the blond could never understand what he did to this man to warrant his hatred.

“Listen here, demon,” Mizuki spat, anger like no other glinting madly in his eyes, “you deserve a punishment worse than prison for all that you’ve done to this village.”

“I didn’t even do anything!” Naruto cried out, enraged. First the nurse, then the old man, and now this? Could his day get any worse?

“Don’t lie,” Mizuki hissed. “You destroyed our village! And then you waltz around like you belong here! And you steal food with your filthy hands, pull your ridiculous pranks, cause havoc in our village… and you dare to show your face and say you didn’t do anything?”

“How did I destroy this village?!” Naruto yelled. He could feel the blood rushing to his face, turning it red, and his whole body was trembling in anger as Mizuki continued to grip his jacket in a vise grip. People always called him a demon-child, or a monster. But he always figured it was because he was born on October 10^th, or because he pulled pranks, or because the villagers thought he was bad luck. But Mizuki always looked and talked to him as if he was the demon that rampaged the village and brought an army with it to attack. How could that even be possible? “You’re fucking insane!”

“Oh didn’t you know?” Mizuki asked, feigning innocence, but there was madness in his eyes that mocked Naruto. He pulled the boy off of his feet and it was there that Naruto started to struggle, finding it harder to breathe with the collar of his jacket squeezing his throat. Konohamaru shot up and started to pound his fists against Mizuki’s side.

‘Let go of Naruto-nii!”

The silver-haired Chuunin ignored him as he grinned wolfishly at Naruto. “How can you not be aware of the monster living inside of you?” Mizuki murmured. Naruto’s eyes widened in confusion. “You… you are the Kyuubi no Kitsune.”

Confusion turned to horror.

“Mizuki!” one of the other shinobi hissed, horrified. “We were sworn into silence about that!”

“Why? Why should we remain silent while the very demon that destroyed us is allowed to walk freely like it is human or something?” He watched as Naruto’s face mirrored different emotions ranging from disbelief, shock, confusion to horror and disbelief once more. “Haven’t you always wondered why the village hates you? Why you just so happened to be born on the day of the demon’s downfall? Now you know.”

“How is that… even possible…?” Naruto whispered. There was a faraway look in his eyes as his mind gradually registered what Mizuki said. “It can’t be…”

“Naruto-nii! Don’t believe him!” Konohamaru yelled as he picked up a palm-sized rock and flung it at Mizuki’s head. It bounced off his scull and earned a cry from the silver-haired Chuunin. He dropped Naruto in the mud in favor of clutching his head.

“You fucking brats –“ Mizuki hissed in pain.

Konohamaru ran to Naruto and helped him up, the blond wiping his hands on his wet pants, smearing mud. The two boys exchanged a look before they took off running without having to say anything. For the second time that day they ran, but this time all fun and games were gone. They’d be lying if they said they weren’t scared. Mizuki was known to come after Naruto until he could no longer find the boy, and the fact that Konohamaru threw a rock at his head would no doubt provoke the man further.

True to what they thought, the group of four Chuunin took off after Naruto and Konohamaru after Mizuki barked at them to hurry up. It wouldn’t be long before the shinobi caught up to them considering they were more skilled and stealthy than two boys. Naruto cursed beneath his breath as he looked around frantically while running in search of a short cut. He grabbed Konohamaru’s arm and dragged him down a particular alley with a lot of turns and several more alleys attached. If you didn’t know where you were going, you were bound to get lost due to its maze-like structure. Their hearts thudded loudly in their ears as they ran and ran, their feet pounding down stairs and water spraying around them.

The rainfall had increased since its earlier drizzle. Thunder rumbled in the rain clouds and once in a while lightning would clash in the sky.

Naruto continued to hold Konohamaru’s arm as he guided and maneuvered them through the alleys, making sharp turns here and there in an effort to ditch the shinobi. When Naruto was sure they ditched the Chuunin, he slowed down to a stop and the two boys leaned against the wall to catch their breath – flustered from the run. Another boom of thunder rattled overhead, reminding them it was cold and they were wet and therefore chilled.

“Do you think… we…lost them?” Konohamaru asked breathlessly, a cough shaking his shoulders.

“I don’t know…” Naruto murmured. “I don’t hear them. Let’s try heading back home.”

Konohamaru nodded. They made their way down another vacant alley that would take them back to their ‘home’ with Naruto leading the way. The brunette glanced at the back of Naruto’s head thoughtfully wondering what the older boy was thinking. “Naruto-nii?”

“Huh?” Naruto blinked and looked at Konohamaru from over his shoulder. It was obvious he had been lost in his own thoughts.

“You’re not what they say you are,” he said firmly that Naruto momentarily paused to stare at Konohamaru before continuing to walk. “You’re not a monster. They don’t know what they’re talking about!”

Naruto scratched a scarred cheek and grinned at his friend. “Yeah… I mean, I think I’d know if there was a demon in me, right? It’d be kinda hard to miss.”

“Exactly!” The awnings protected them from the pounding rain. They jumped from one awning and to another as they maneuvered through the maze-like structure. “And wasn’t the Kyuubi like a huge nine-tailed demon fox? Ya think you’d know if there was a big fuzzy fur ball in you, right?”

“How would they fit it in me anyway?” Naruto joked along with Konohamaru, making a playful swipe at the brunette’s head. Konohamaru ducked.

“Maybe they shrunk it?”

“Maybe!” Naruto chuckled as he rounded a corner. “Or maybe – oomf.” He stumbled back at a sudden collision.

“I’m not letting you get away this time,” Mizuki’s familiar voice could be heard from somewhere behind Naruto. The blond realized he had collided with one of Mizuki’s cellmates and he whipped around to see Mizuki himself holding a kunai to Konohamaru’s throat. Naruto grit his teeth.

“Let him go!”

“Hm…” Mizuki grinned madly. “He deserves Hell just as much as you do, don’t you think? Always hanging around you, letting himself be tainted by you, be seen with you. Tell me, Naruto, this little boy… isn’t really your brother. But you referred to him as your little brother, no? You both… must be close… to consider him your brother.” His grip of Konohamaru’s hair tightened as he forced the boy’s head back, baring his neck even more. He stroked the flat of the kunai across Konohamaru’s throat. “He must be important to you.”

Part I | Part III

NaNoWriMo Entry Ch 1 Part 1

2008-11-24T02:25:54Z

Title (is subject to change): by that sin fell the angels
Fandom: Naruto
Pairings: SasuNaru
Genre: Romance/Adventure
Rating: M
Summary: When even the Gods are corrupt, what hope remains? AU.

Note: This is the first chapter of my nanowrimo entry. xD I’ve written a little since I finished this chapter, but aah haven’t had time to write more, aha. Just thought I’d share this to see what everyone thought of it so far. It hasn’t been beta-ed since I’m still working on it.

Soundtrack: stare at the sun (ACOUSTIC version) – thrice

I sit here clutching useless lists,
keys for doors that don't exist
I crack my teeth on pearls
I tear into the history
Show me what it means to me in this world
Yeah, in this world

He was always the black sheep amongst a herd of white, always singled out to be the unnoticed one, or the hated one.

The monster.

(Little demon, what big eyes you have.)

Their eyes were always full of hate and murder. He was cursed and hated and an outcast. No one to love him. No one to need him. No one to want him.

Alone, alone. Always – always – alone.

Forgotten.

(Little demon, what big teeth you have.)

No one to miss him, to remember him – if he died, would anyone notice? No. He’d be another lost soul, just another body buried under six feet of dirt, dung and worms. Another nameless gravestone, bare of flowers, of grieving, of reminiscing.

There’d be no one to say a prayer for him.

No one at his funeral.

(Little demon, what big ears you have.)

It was foolishly optimistic of him, but he hoped someday he would be loved and not seen as a monster, as the demon child. He wanted to belong. He wanted something he never felt before. He wanted… what everyone else had.

(Little demon, little demon… your eyes are much too blue…)

He wanted to know someone would be sad if he died, would attend his funeral if he died, would leave a flower at his grave if he died.

(Little demon… such a sweet little monster you are.)

He was condemned.

Alone.

Heavenless.

Damned.

Forever.

- - -

he was kicked out of heaven,

but he went to church and

prayed.

- - -

He was born in Heaven where he lived amongst the angels and the gods and souls.

But he was different and therefore shunned.

He remembered the day he was kicked from Heaven. He could never forget the sensation of falling and falling and falling… It seemed to go on forever…

“We shall pass judgment on you.”

Judgment day.

“You, child, are full of sin and corruption. We cannot have you here in our Sanctuary. From today hence, you are banned from Heaven.”

And like the anvil in court, judgment was passed, and he was falling from Heaven and the wind was ripping his wings apart – burning white feathers black and blood.

He didn’t remember the landing.

He just remembered the fall; the neverending

He was reborn again.

And people hated him, still.

He was the cursed child, the one who brought bad luck wherever he went.

No one wanted him. He was cursed, cursed, cursed…

(begone,demon.)

But he went to church, and he prayed.

Please,le

tmef

lyagain;

givem

ewin

soar.

by that sin fell the angels

I. lasciate ogne speranza

- - - - - -

l(a

le

af

fa

ll

s)

one

iness

(e.e. cummings)

October 10, xx12

There was silence. There wasn’t much to be said – to be heard – as Konoha lay in ruins. Konoha, the Heart of Fire Country, was brought down, reduced to nothing but ashes, debris and blood.

And darkness.

The silence was heavy and thick, such as the silence before an impending storm. Dark clouds had long since blocked out the stars from the Heavens, reflecting the ashes and bloodshed. It was almost hard to believe that, less than twenty-four hours ago, there used to be a lively, thriving village standing and people laughing and living. To think the very backbone of Fire Country could be brought down in just one night…

It wasn’t that they lost. Oh no, they were victorious. But at a cost of many lives – and knowing that, as the Leader of Konoha lay dying, weighed heavily on his heart. Blue eyes – eyes as blue as the sky on a stormy day – surveyed his precious village with regret. He knew, overtime, that his village would mend. It would rebuild itself, gradually, and perhaps resume its former glory. But he wouldn’t be alive to witness its rebirth.

A drop of water hit his forehead. His shoulder. His head. And then it poured incessantly and what other flames were ablaze went out and smoke singed the dampened, dreary air. For a while he just stood upon a pile of debris, unmoving, that is until a wail startled him from his subconscious.

The blond man turned his sad, sad eyes to the baby boy in his arms. Even as the infant cried, cheeks scarred, the man thought the baby was the most beautiful baby he ever saw.

“My son…” he murmured brokenly, gruffly. Like his village, he would never see his son grow up, and he would have to leave him with his burden.

And he was sorry, from the depths of his soul he was sorry.

“You must carry my burden. I can only wish I could be there to help you carry it… I wish I could get to know you and be there to help you grow, but I cannot. I love you already, Naruto, and even as you get older, I hope you will think I have always loved you. I loved you as you grew in your mother’s womb. I have loved you since I learned word of your existence. And I will continue to love you even in death. You are my son…”

He couldn’t stop his tears as he crumbled to his knees, hugging his child to his chest to protect the crying baby from the rain, from the cold, from reality. He was leaving his baby even though he was just born, but it couldn’t be helped. Death didn’t hold back for anyone. “I am sorry, Naruto.”

(a leaf falls. . . . )

October 6, xx28

Konoha sixteen years later was merely a shadow of its former glory. Ever since the war Konoha had suffered financially and were only capable of repairing buildings to the point that they were sturdy, but other than that, the government and the people suffered horribly. A lot of people were left homeless after the war sixteen years ago, and Konoha was left in dumps and slums.

But Konoha was the average village in Fire Country. About 95 percent of the population was living in poverty. Half of the 95 percent had low paying jobs that barely supported families, and the rest were living on the streets, in orphanages, in shelters -- in wherever they could live. The government didn’t have any money to give to Konoha, or a majority of Fire Country cities, to fix their streets and buildings. And even if they did, the political figures were so corrupt they put the money towards other – useless – things. Only a handful of people in their world had the luxury of being rich, of living in a nice, large home, of enjoying what extravagance the world could offer to them and them only since they could afford it. It wasn’t an understatement either.

Konoha, like the rest of Fire Country, had a corrupt system, a corrupt law enforcement, a corrupt government that didn’t care about its people. Police patrolled the streets like they owned the place and abused the citizens. The citizens didn’t offer any respect to the police in return so it was almost often that fights broke out between law enforcers and the people. It was also often that someone died per day, the bulk of them from starvation, suicide, or from being beaten to death. It was survival of the fittest. You had to be strong to survive. And sometimes you had to fight, and do things you otherwise normally wouldn’t do maybe if times weren’t so hard. But desperate times called for desperate measures and everyone was desperate.

There wasn’t anyone you could trust. The people who called you their ‘friends’ ended up turning their backs to you and running off as soon as they stole whatever money or food you might have saved up. They’d leave you to rot in your own dung if they had the chance to and not look back, not even once. Even families had issues with trust among their own blood relatives. It was amazing what hunger and desperation could do to people who were probably once humane and rational before the war destroyed them. When given the chance to, humans turned barbaric, ravenous, animalistic, anarchistic, destructive…

No one wanted to talk about the war sixteen years ago. It was a topic that remained disclosed and not discussed. For those who survived October 10^th, xx12, it left a permanent scar in their hearts – in Konoha. Not only did they lose their beloved leader, but their village was left in shambles and was still suffering from the aftermath. Sometimes the people wondered if things would have been different if their leader survived? Perhaps if he were still alive, the village council would still care about its people? Perhaps he would have been strong enough to fight off the Fire government from taking over Konoha completely?

“Daddy my tummy hurts…why can’t we eat?” a little girl asked her father, and the boy leaning against the wall was startled from his musings as he glanced at them curiously.

“A demon king came with his army of monsters and attacked our home. All of our money went into fixing our home, so now it is hard to get food,” her father explained wearily. He picked her up, the daughter looking wearied and fatigued from starvation and he carried her on. The little child stifled small sniffles in her father’s neck. The father seemed to realize someone was staring at them and looked at the boy – young man? – leaning on the wall. His eyes narrowed and something dark flashed in them.

The observer quickly looked away, blue eyes darkening to an almost midnight hue. The father hurried off with his daughter and the young man was left alone again to his thoughts. He recognized the look that the man gave him. He received that look from the older generation: hate. Monster, their eyes jeered silently, mockingly, hatefully. It was pure, unadulterated loathing in their eyes whenever the villagers saw him. Why? All because he was born on the day the war ended, the day their precious leader died, the day it all went downhill for Konoha. Uzumaki Naruto was a cursed child as far as the villagers were concerned. Not to mention he brought bad luck with him wherever he went – at least, that’s what he was told, and what he believed.

Uzumaki Naruto was a sixteen-year-old, blond, blue-eyed boy, scarred cheeks, orphaned since birth, and… not necessarily alone. He had one friend, unlike the other orphans – the other villagers – who didn’t trust anyone. He trusted this friend who was too sick to take care of himself. They met when Naruto was twelve and the boy was eight. The boy had been healthier then and the two were inseparable – always causing mischief in Konoha. The villagers hated the boy too because of his association with Naruto, but he never said anything, nor did he care. He always stood up for Naruto, if anything, and Naruto always returned the favor.

He surveyed the vendor across the street as a woman paid with what scraps of change she had to buy three loaves of bread. He watched as the woman tucked the loaves in her basket and carried on home, holding her basket protectively against her chest to make sure no thieves or wandering hands snatched her food. Naruto averted his gaze back to the merchant as the fat man busied counting the gold coins and pocketed them. Naruto stuffed his hands in his pockets and waited, this time watching the thinning crowd. Eventually his head perked up when seeing a twelve-year-old boy walk up to the vendor, coughing.

“Sir, please, may I have a piece of bread?” the boy asked, his voice raspy. He was wearing a scarf around his neck and goggles on his head, pushing back his dark locks so they spiked. The jacket he wore was a little too big and a little too torn, hiding the boy’s small, skinny frame.

“Do you have money?” the vendor asked snidely. When he got no response, the man snorted. “No money, no food. Ain’t nothin’ free in this world, don’cha know?”

“Please… I’m starving…” the boy pleaded, looking desperate.

Naruto detached himself from the wall and walked with a small crowd of people. While the vendor was distracted with the boy, he discreetly slipped a loaf of bread into the inner pocket of his coat and continued on with the crowd. He parted from the crowd a few alleys down and slipped into a familiar one. Once he was deep inside the alley that the street disappeared from view completely, Naruto pulled himself up on to the ladders of a fire escape and climbed up until he was on a walkway. He walked up several flights of stairs and stopped at the fifth floor with an orange ribbon sticking out from the window. He pried the window open and climbed into the apartment room.

The building itself had been shut down after the war – said to be inappropriate for people to live in due to poor conditions. But Naruto came upon the room a couple years ago that seemed decent enough to at least sleep in and hide. The apartment already had furniture, and when he had found it, the place just needed dusting down. The floorboards were old and black, and the place itself pretty gloomy and gray, but it was livable, and that was all that mattered.

Two minutes later found Naruto crouching in front of the fire place, adjusting the blocks of wood beneath the pot. He tried lighting the fire using flint, but soon gave up on that and tossed the stones aside. Naruto stared at the unlit fireplace for some moments (three seconds) before clasping his hands together and forming several hand signs and muttering something. Fire blew from his mouth in a small gust before it wrapped and entwined with the wooden blocks, igniting them. It wasn’t long before a hearty fire was cackling in the hearth, licking away at the bottom of the pot to warm it up.

He started to push himself up when a voice made him jump up, startled.

“A simple fire jutsu, huh?”

At first he thought it was Konohamaru returning, but as he got his heart to calm down from the surprise and turned to look at the owner of the voice, he realized said owner’s voice was much too deep to be that of a twelve-year-old boy’s. Not to mention said owner was much too tall and too much of an adult to be considered a twelve-year-old boy. The intruder’s appearance looked in his older teens, or perhaps early twenties – Naruto wasn’t sure. He was pale and the dim lighting of the apartment did little to improve his complexion. His eyes were inky black, like onyx and just as cold and hard as onyx stones. Raven locks were spiked at the back of his head, with longer strands hanging over his eyes and framing his face. There was something regal about his appearance, but then again it probably had to do with his much too extravagant clothing that made him look out of place in Naruto’s shabby apartment.

“How did you get in here?” Naruto asked cautiously, eyes narrowed.

“Hn,” the stranger merely hummed, his voice a deep drawl. “Jutsus were banned amongst ordinary citizens, no?”

That was true. After the war that destroyed Konoha’s very foundations, Konoha, like other villages, were “limited” in their use of jutsus and who was allowed to use them. Before sixteen years ago, Konoha citizens had the option of attending an academy to become a shinobi, but after the attack sixteen years ago destroyed the majority of Konoha’s shinobi, Konoha became another ordinary village where the only shinobi around were apart of the law enforcement, or the elite ANBU that protected the rich. As such, there were no longer any schools to harbor budding shinobi, and the use of jutsus were forbidden to ordinary citizens to perform.

“It’s just a simple technique – anyone could have learned it,” Naruto retorted, thinking this guy was either a shinobi, or an ANBU. One could never be sure sometimes, especially when they weren’t in uniform. But Naruto was right when he said anyone could have learned to do a simple technique like the one he used to light the fireplace. It was just a matter of finding the right books to read. Honestly Naruto would not have learned it if he hadn’t stumbled upon an old library during one of his wanderings, along with several books about shinobi history and techniques.

“I really don’t care about how you know a simple fire jutsu,” the stranger said, still leaning against the frame of the door that led to the bedroom with the opened window and orange ribbon. Granted his voice was deep and smooth, but there was something monotone about his voice – a bored drawl that made Naruto get the impression that this guy didn’t like putting effort towards speaking. He detached himself from the wall and stared Naruto dead-on, weary blues staring into blank obsidians. “I want you to come with me.”

“I knew it! You’re a shinobi!” Naruto suddenly blurted out accusatorily. “I just did a small thing! I ain’t goin’ to prison for that!”

“I’m not going to take you to prison, idiot,” he interrupted, face twisted in irritation.

“God you’re all the sa—You’re not?” Naruto blinked at him in confusion.

“No.” Sigh. “Your birthday is coming up, no?”

“Uh, yeah…” The blond stared dumbly at him. “But how did you know that?”

“That is trivial right now and can be answered later. You have to come with me.”

“But why –“

“Trivial.”

“Trivial my ass –“

“Listen, dobe, people are going to be coming after you, so it would be in your best interest to come with me.”

The blond blinked at this before guffawing. “You’re just trying to scare me, right? Well it’s working because you’re creeping me out. I don’t know if this is some lame tactic you cooked up to get me in jail peacefully for doing a small jutsu but like hell I’m falling for it! Honestly ya think you’d think of somethin’ a little wittier than ‘people are going to be coming after you.’” Naruto made a face at that and stuck his tongue out. “So you either fight me and force me to go prison, or you can just take your pansy-ass out of my home right now –“

The stranger sighed, looking for all the world like he was the one suffering. “Hn. I knew it would come to this,” he muttered to himself. He locked his gaze firmly with that of Naruto’s and the teen faltered in his rambling. There was something about his eyes… “Do not say I didn’t warn you, Naruto.”

“Eh? How did you know my –“ but before Naruto could possibly demand anything further from the intruder, he heard a raucous as someone loudly climbed from the fire escape and to the bedroom, hollering.

“OOIII. NARUTO-NIIII! –“ Several hacks and coughs followed the exclamation. “—WAY TO LEAVE ME – cough, cough – BACK THERE!”

“Konohamaru!” Naruto exclaimed, quickly hurrying into the room and shoving passed the stranger. He saw the dark-haired, twelve year old boy leap on to the bed and almost trip over his scarf in the process. “Enough about that, but there’s a strange freak in here saying –“ He turned to point an accusing finger at the ‘strange freak’ when he realized said ‘strange freak’ was gone. “Eh?!”

He stuck his head out of the room to see the living room and attached kitchenette was vacant of any other persons. “What the hell? Where did he go?”

“I swear Konohamaru, there was someone here earlier!” Naruto insisted thirty minutes later after their broth had finished cooking and the two boys were sitting in front of the fireplace, eating their broth and bread (Konohamaru had managed to snag another loaf after distracting the vendor earlier).

“You were probably dreaming,” the twelve-year-old boy insisted instead, clearly not believing the older boy based on the incredulous stare he was sending the blond. “If he was here, then how come I didn’t see him? The only way he could have left was through the window…”

“I don’t know…” Naruto pouted, staring into his empty bowl. “But he was there okay?! And he was probably a shinobi to have vanished like that!”

“Probably,” Konohamaru agreed, before coughing.

Naruto instantly looked worried. “You should probably go rest. It’s been a long day.”

“But I’m not even tired!” the boy said, puffing out his chest. He deflated when he broke into another coughing fit, his hand coming up to cover his mouth. When he pulled his hand away there were flecks of blood splattered on his palm. Konohamaru paled considerably (which was a lot considering he was already pale).

“Oh Gods,” Naruto breathed, snatching Konohamaru’s wrist before he could hide his hand. “We need to get you to a doctor. You’re just going to keep getting worse –“

“I’m fine,” Konohamaru insisted, trying to pull his hand free. “I don’t need a damn doctor –“

“Why do you have to be so damn stubborn?!”

“And you’re not?!”

“I’m taking you to the hospital!”

“I don’t wanna go there!”

“We’re going whether you like it or not!”

“You can’t make me!”

( Part II )

(Part III )