o-o
Okay, so.. I have no idea why I wrote this. Just my love for ItaNaru and my need to dwell on them I suppose. xD This will be a short 2-3 chapter story with an insane twist at the end. So bear with me! If anyone even bears.. xD haha~ This will just be odd. Very odd. Odd but pretty. :3 I think.
I disclaim, Sasuke has not yet been bitch-slapped. D: ..By everyone.
oOo
There was a hellish storm that evening.
Sasuke had been sick with a persistent fever since the beginning of the week. Though he was bed-ridden, and not exactly in the position to demand, he had assertively mumbled the command for more medicine that night.
Hating the sight of his once-thought illness-proof brother wriggling under his covers in visible agony, Itachi had decided to please Sasuke's expectant request. Before he could leave the room to make the long trip downstairs, however, a soft grumbling resonated from the direction of his little brother's bed. Itachi ceased himself in his next step, trying his best to make out what Sasuke was trying to say.
"Bringffahtomato..."
"If you took those covers off of your mouth, perhaps I could hear you a bit better."
A long sigh, and Sasuke tried his best to clear his aching throat, revealing his mouth from beneath his quilted covers. If he had the energy then, he would've made sure to follow suit with a smart remark of his own.
"A tomato.. I want one."
Cream lips curved themselves into the form of a vague smile. No matter what Sasuke did, or tried to do, he always managed to be deathly adorable.
"Of course."
Ascending the long flight of stairs, and stepping outside the house, scarlet eyes watched quietly at how the heavy rain of the storm met noisily with the concrete floor. The night above was black and starless, void of any moon. A veil of cold air encased Itachi's coat clad figure the moment he stepped from out of the safety of the gated porch, his long hair being immediately framed flat against his face.
There was lightning, and then there was another roar of a cloud threatening to pour yet another ocean.
Hurrying to the car, though still getting drenched in the process, Itachi quickly made his way inside the sheltered safety of the vehicle. He took a moment to stare out into the dashboard, completely enamored at the sight that beckoned from outside the glass.
Itachi hadn't ever recalled seeing the city's sky so calcined like that. The heaving drops of rain suddenly resembled blackened cinders, and the absence of the stars suddenly seemed worthy of grieving. Dahlia eyes slowly narrowed, the feeling of loneliness showcasing almost shamelessly on his now furrowed brows.
Though Itachi tried his best to keep up with his felicitated facade in front of Sasuke, (for the sake of them both), Itachi was lonely. Dejected.
Depressed.
He couldn't quite remember the last time he went out with a friend. He hardly recalled a memory of going out somewhere for his own amusement. Itachi would read. He would stay at home reading the hours away, trudging back and forth throughout the two-story house in attempts to forget the incurable stance of his painful reality. Ever since his parents passing, Itachi's only focus had been Sasuke. Keeping Sasuke from falling into the same depressing cycle he, himself, had fallen victim to.
Itachi couldn't bare the idea, or even the mere thought, of seeing Sasuke miserable. He would do anything to keep his little brother's mind off of the recent tragedy, even if it would cost him all of his emotional draining.
The incurable solitude, the pressing need for companionship, the smoldering desire to feel something warm against him, (just for him), was beginning to be a distant joke. A joke that he should just laugh at and discard immediately at that moment before it could threaten any further dejection.
Shoving the key into the ignition, Itachi shook off the smothering thoughts, remembering that his goal at that time was to drive to the pharmacy, buy some medicine, fetch a tomato, and perhaps purchase a promising book, if any. The rain was still pouring outside, flashes of lightening leaving their lingering marks on the colorless sky. Itachi made his way out of the driveway, and unto the road.
The drive to the pharmacy must have been a dream, because he did not remember any of it the moment he stepped out, greeted by the large logo of the building. The parking lot was nearly empty, courtesy of a Sunday's midnight.
Hugging his arms tightly around himself for warmth, Itachi quickly locked the doors to his (very) expensive convertible. The storm would not let up, and on the moment that Itachi wondered on exactly why it was storming in the middle of what was expected to be a very stale winter, a flash of yellow had caught hold of his eyes.
There was what seemed to be a boy at the bus stop.
A figure that resembled the size of Sasuke huddled itself on the bench, completely drenched through its clothes. Itachi narrowed his eyes just to make sure he was seeing right, (he didn't have his contacts in at the time, after all), but the sight remained the same. There was no way the bus was passing through anymore for the rest of the night. It was well over midnight, and even the lightrail hadn't made it's daily round that day. The roads were also nearly emptied. The storm had been just that frightening, it seemed.
Contemplating deeply whether he should approach the young boy or not, Itachi fumbled between taking a step back or a step forward. He ultimately decided to make his trip inside the pharmacy first, and if the lone boy was still there by the time he was finished, he would make the approach. Reluctantly looking away from the unmoving figure, Itachi stuck to his plan, making his way inside the building.
As expected, the place was void of humanity. A lone cashier texted away at her phone, hardly noticing the moment Itachi had stepped in. The lighting of the place was mercilessly bright, a bothersome setting altogether. Itachi preferred the lights dimmed, a necessary requisite for his failing eyes. Trudging cheerlessly through the abandoned corridors, Itachi caught sight of the requested tomatoes. He bagged a few, and then resumed to the book area.
None caught his eye. The hellish light marking at his retinas did not make a second skim worth it, so he then proceeded to finally buy Sasuke's much needed medicine, and get the hell out of there. The cashier didn't make his haste any easier.
"Excuse me?" Itachi asked the young girl with flaring pink hair, placing his purchases on the counter before her.
Cherry eyes compressed themselves in annoyance at the absence of a response. Perhaps it was the blaring music the girl had blasting away in her ears that disallowed her to go about her job correctly. Itachi waited, crossing his arms blatantly. The girl started singing along to her music, fingers frantically tapping away at her phone as if her life depended on it.
If only Sasuke were there with him..
"Oh..! Hi! Um.. Good evening, sir. Sorry about that," the clearing of his throat had miraculously caught her attention, "No customers today! I guess I.. Well, y'know.."
Either she truly was apologetic, or Itachi's unreasonable amount of unearthly beauty stunned her coherency inside and out. A dark brow raised, trying to make out her speedy mumbling. A thick cape of red encased the girl's features, increasing further in color the moment she handed Itachi his bags.
"Have a good evening, sir!" her nervous smile was repaid with a nod that seemed to have melted the bones from within her.
Itachi sighed, relieved of the annoying lights the moment he stepped back outside, and into the clamoring storm. The rain remained the same, and the lightening had progressed into threats of thunder. Rubbing wearily at his hindered eyes, Itachi made his way towards his car. The sporadic blurring of his vision didn't make the short trip any easier.
Before he could step inside the dry roofing of his car, however, Itachi allowed his gaze to turn towards the concerning sight he had come across earlier that night. The boy at the bus stop.
It was strange. Something from deep within Itachi almost hoped to see the boy still dousing himself on the bench. Perhaps it was his underlying need to speak to someone, to have some sort of social contact with someone, anyone. Or perhaps Itachi had truly gone mad. Mad with loneliness.
Sanguine eyes adjusted themselves towards the direction of the previously perceived boy, the falling capes of rain making it difficult for him to really focus in one direction. Without much fail, a splotch of yellow made itself visible once more by the abandoned bus stop. Itachi pocketed his keys, deciding that he was going to approach the lone boy.
It was truly something to be concerned about, after all. It was raining like crazy, thundering, completely dark, and possibly dangerous. Itachi couldn't just walk away from a possible tragedy.
The rain soused at his face, and down his coat, making him deeply wonder on how the boy could have possibly sustained sitting there for so long under the freezing downfall. Wine-colored eyes narrowed, wary of the driblets that threatened to go inside. Itachi was now a mere two feet away from the boy, completely unbelieving to the fact that the kid was not wearing a much needed jacket of some kind. Dark brows furrowed in heightened concern. Perhaps this child was.. challenged?
"Excuse me.." Itachi let out almost softly, a cream-colored hand reaching out for a sodden, smaller shoulder, "Are you alright?"
The conjunction of his hand on the young boy was surprisingly daunting. A small shock, Itachi could have sworn, sparked right down his spine that very moment. What came next, though, was even the more haunting.
A pair of unbelievably blue eyes met almost immediately with his own. The color was unlike anything Itachi had ever seen before. A pool of mesmerizing cobalt teal ate right through his soul and down into his deepest, most hidden core. Itachi was so stunned, he almost had to take a step back in recoil at the spellbinding sight. A heavy array of amber lashes decorated those large orbs of glistening sea, along with a pair of trio-patterned scars, (which resembled whiskers), pressing faintly at an expanse of tan-shaded skin.
Itachi stared dumbly, unable to look away no matter how much the younger boy sustained in his unwavering gaze. Only the heavy pounding of rain made any sort of noise during the mutual interval.
"I'm fine," the younger boy finally replied, his voice almost a nonexistent ululation in the bitter wind that night.
For some strange reason, Itachi's skin tensed at the sound of the serene-sounding voice. For some faculty that Itachi couldn't possibly conjure up on his own, the boy seemed calm, unfazed, and completely unaffected by the persistent clamoring of the rain against his face. The fact that he lied drenched and doused by the storm seemed almost as if it were unreal if based solely on the boy's expression. Almost as if the kid were not even there on that bench, but instead, elsewhere. Itachi couldn't help but to stare, his legs growing a bit weak at both the unbearable coldness of the storm, and at the strange adolescent huddled up on that bench, unmoved.
The underlying fact that the boy was incredibly beautiful didn't help the situation, either.
"You're in the rain," a resonating voice came from the older of the two, a vermillion gaze staring into the oblivion of what were those glistening, blue skies, "You'll get yourself sick."
To Itachi's hidden dismay, the boy looked away, huddling his face into the curvature of his knees. A silent mumble was heard through the noise of the pouring storm.
"I don't care."
"The bus isn't coming by for the rest of the night. You should go home."
"I don't want to go home."
Slightly annoyed, and knowing that he was completely doused in water by that time, Itachi sighed quietly to himself. An effeminate hand tucked away a long strand of wet, mahogany hair, crimson eyes momentarily closing in conjured patience. Itachi was well trained in these kinds situations thanks to having to deal with a very defiant Sasuke on a daily basis.
"I'll drive you to your house," Itachi offered, watching blankly at the way the boy shivered for obvious reasons on the wooden bench, "You can come with me."
There was a long silence, and right before Itachi was on the verge of giving up and walking away, the young, mysterious boy spoke up through the loud pounding of the rain.
"My foster dad kicked me out," the blond mumbled through his knees, blue eyes lidded while those long, honey lashes feathered almost angelically unto that flawless, whiskered complexion, "He's angry with me. I have nowhere to go."
Unsure of what to do, and slightly distressed by then, Itachi rubbed warily at his brow. He could either leave the lone boy on that bench for the rest of the night, susceptible to the dangers of a less-than-innocent society, or he could allow the boy to stay the night at his home. Sasuke wouldn't exactly have to know, and it would be completely harmless. Itachi also didn't feel very comfortable asking any further, (possibly prying), questions.
This young boy seemed very sincerely.. troubled.
"You could come with me," Itachi finally broke, a pair of cherry eyes searching, hoping for some sort of eye contact. The reasons behind this need were a bit sinful, but that was only because this kid was so...
"R-really?"
"I'm not going to leave you here. Follow me."
The soft ruffling of the boy standing from the bench, sneakers meeting with the puddles that once lied beneath him, was enough for Itachi to finally lead the way to his car. His peacoat lied permanently drenched, and so had the long sleeved polo he wore underneath; but at least he felt a little better knowing he had done a good deed that day. And not only that.. He had also attained unpremeditated company for the night.
Company from a very alluring, inscrutable boy.
oOo
The aura emitting from the kid had grown different the moment Itachi started making the long drive back home.
The previous, cryptical sadness that radiated from the young boy earlier began to disappear with every swipe of the dashboard's wiper. Blue eyes looked out the window in mild curiosity, a faint smile tracing along a sun-kissed complexion every now and then for reasons that the Uchiha was very much curious about.
Itachi tried his best to refrain from any questioning for as long as he could, but it came to a peaking point in which he just couldn't anymore.
There were so many inquiries plaguing at his head. Out of both concern and undeniable interest. Itachi inwardly cursed himself, fearful that he'd attained some sort of sick interest for an evident minor he'd only just met.
But those eyes.. Those flawlessly blue, glistening eyes..
They seemed to sparkle the same way Itachi had always pictured the ocean he'd never seen would. How the expanse of something so bottomless and fluid would stretch out so unfathomably far to meet with the endless horizon.. Just like in the movies. That boy's eyes were magical, and sinfully perfect. Mesmerized and spiraled into some sort of preordained trance that had snared Itachi almost instantly the very first moment he laid eyes on them. Glittered and scintillated in unison to a tidal wave, Itachi's incurable solitude seemed to slowly disappear the moment the wave blended back into the planar cape of that sea.
The moment the boy had looked away from him.
Itachi's gaze froze unknowingly towards the dashboard, unbeknown to the fact that those very eyes that he was thinking so deeply about were currently gazing him down.
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki," the blond boy suddenly announced, a cheer that Itachi didn't see or feel coming making itself blatantly clear in the deathly silence of the car, "What's your name?"
Stopping at a red light, and relaxing his tense grip on the steering wheel, Itachi turned to meet eyes with.. those eyes. Eyes that reflected nothing but blinding color, yet secretly told stories. Stories that Itachi could only but take wild guesses on.
"Itachi Uchiha," the older of the two managed, clearing his throat at the sound of his scratchy voice. Itachi hoped dearly that Sasuke hadn't gotten him sick, "Might I ask how old you are..?"
The question had slipped out before he could stop it, and before attempting to take it back, Naruto had already answered surprisingly quickly. Cherry eyes didn't separate from their stare, regardless of the light turning green. The road was completely deserted, anyway.
"I just turned thirteen again," the young boy smiled, those formidably adorable cheeks forming into a humorous grin, "And you?"
Again..?
It took a great deal of courage for Itachi to look away. That bewitching patch of yellow hair that lied unruly even though the boy had been sitting out in the storm for God knows how long seemed almost unchanged by the flattening rain. A pair of pink lips that beckoned sin, an expanse of soft skin that seduced effortlessly, a figure that curved shamelessly..
Itachi swallowed hard, forcing his eyes on the road, "I'm twenty-four," he paused, trying his best to shake the strange, dangerous thoughts away, "The years go by so quickly, I'm not even that sure anymore."
He could literally feel Naruto smiling that hazardously inducing smile from the other seat. It took all of his being not to look. Itachi began to feel the dreaded hardening threatening the area from between his legs. His breath hitched. The reason behind all of this sinful blasphemy was completely out of his explainable reach.
For someone to drive him this crazy this quickly? Someone so young?
Surely there must have been something terribly wrong with him that night.
Finally reaching home, Itachi reluctantly turned towards the opposite seat. The same entrancing creature met his eyes, a seemingly excited expression on that whiskered face. Ruby eyes watched quietly as the young boy pressed his hands against the glass of the window, completely amazed.
"Your house is huge!"
"Not so much.."
"You're kidding, right? My dump's nothing compared to this!"
Itachi tried to find a response, something, anything, but his throat constricted into the confinement of what was now his jeans. That face was just..
Before anything ridiculous could ensue, Itachi unlocked the doors of the car, motioning with a gesture of his hand for a very excited Naruto to follow behind. A thin, orange shirt lied drenched against that tantalizing figure like a second skin, forbidding Itachi from looking away as the young boy nervously set foot inside the expansive house.
Itachi watched almost godlessly at the way Naruto scoured about the lower floor, thinking of things that he probably should have not been thinking about. This had never happened before. To have been seduced so profoundly and unequivocally..
Itachi looked away nervously in upshot, wondering deeply if he had made the right decision in bringing that boy there with him. He was beginning to feel as though the boy had been much safer on that bench by himself.
"Who's this, Itachi?" Naruto suddenly asked, forcing a very distressed Uchiha to look his way.
A tan finger pointed at a framed portrait. The portrait of Sasuke's grade school graduation. He wore a miniature robe with a grad cap, a trademarked frown on his plump, blushing face. Itachi would usually smile at the mere sight of it, but the fact that Naruto's shirt stuck so blatantly close to his body was much too nerve-wracking for such an innocent notion to take place.
"My younger brother, Sasuke," he replied, avoiding eye contact at all costs.
"He's real cute," Naruto continued his curious on-look of the arrayed portraits, seemingly distracted.
Itachi took the opportunity to deliver the medicine and tomatoes to a more-than-likely sleeping Sasuke upstairs, "Wait here. I'll be right back. You can sit down, if you'd like."
As Itachi made his way halfway up the stairs towards Sasuke's room, he caught a daunting glimpse of a tanned finger tracing itself on one of the pictures in the guestroom. A framed photograph of none other than himself when he had graduated Law School.
Those blue eyes might have felt him silently watching, because right when Itachi was to turn away, Naruto turned to smile at him.
At that very moment, Itachi could have sworn on anything, that the boy seemed almost.. transparent.
Like he wasn't really there.
Unbelieving, and almost laughing loudly at himself, Itachi rubbed roughly at his eyes.
Damned, failing eyes.
oOo
O: Eerie~ haha. Either Itachi's going mortally blind or... There'll be a lemon scene before this story ends, just warnin' ya. :D Any concerns? Sweet words? Until next time, perhaps. xx