Many a Tangled Web We Weave
Chapter One
After He Left
I never saw it coming.
A dark man with a darker smile, holding out a single perfect rose.
Never.
He smiled, but the smile doesn't reach his eyes—still, it's so rare, how can someone not smile back?
I thought everything was perfect.
He was wonderful. Efforts to make him happy seemed successful at the time, but…
Why would he leave?
A strong, small Asian boy in a bright green jumpsuit, jogging past. The dark man's eyes follow.
Did I do something wrong?
His eyes were cold, ice cold, colder than the arctic when he broke it off.
What happened?
Was it all so meaningless?
I thought we were so happy.
"Naruto!" Neji pounded on the bedroom door. He had been demanding to be let in for hours, and Naruto was beginning to think that he would never stop. "Naruto, I am not leaving until you open this door!!"
Sniffling, Naruto made himself get up from the bed, wrapping his blanket around him like a cocoon. He slowly made his way over to the peeling-white-painted door, opening it just as slowly.
He stood there for a moment, watching Neji's furious and worried face morph into one of relief and caring. His normally neat hair was frazzled and wet with sweat from the effort he had put forth against the door. Neji stepped forward, likely moved to wanting to hug him because of his sad and woeful red-lined eyes.
And then Naruto slammed the door in his face.
Naruto almost smiled at the long, pregnant pause that developed as Neji digested what Naruto had just done.
And then the yelling began anew.
"NARUTO!!" The bedraggled blonde ignored him, stumbling back over to his bed and flopping over onto it. "NARUTO!! I WILL BREAK THIS DAMN DOOR DOWN!! I MEAN IT!!"
Naruto stirred, pulling up a corner of the blanket to peek out at the door.
He wouldn't…
"YOU HAVE THREE SECONDS!!"
No way…
"ONE!!"
Seriously?
"TWO!!"
Oh shit—Naruto fell off his bed, tangled in his sheets.
"THREE!!"
And then the door imploded into Naruto's apartment, showering door-debris all over his meager belongings.
Grumbling, Naruto stumbled over to where the splintered remains of his once-useful door lay, his warm comforter wrapped around his shoulders. He glared at Neji, who was breathing heavy, his cheeks flushed in anger.
"You're paying for that door."
Neji snorted. "You say that as if I couldn't afford it."
Naruto glanced towards his bed and Neji frowned deeply. "Look, Naruto, you need to talk about this!"
"If I had wanted to talk about it, don't you think I would have let you in instead of slamming the door in your face?" Naruto dropped the blanket angrily, stalking towards the bathroom. Neji blushed slightly when he saw that he was only in his sky-blue boxers, but kept his embarrassment out of his voice as he chased after the tanned blonde.
"Naruto, you are not going to feel better until you talk to someone about this!"
Naruto spun on his heel, stopping right in front of the bathroom door. "Why do you care, huh?"
"Uh…" Neji had just barely managed to avoid crashing into the blonde, and now he stepped back as Naruto began to stalk forward. The low tilt to his voice did not bode well. "Because I am…your friend?"
"I have lots of friends…" Neji took another step back as the light in Naruto's eyes changed, became more…darkly mischievous. "…but you're the only one here."
"W-well…" He took another step back. "…that's because—"
"Do you want me to feel better, Neji? Is that why you're here?" Neji took another step back—his legs bumped against the arm of the couch.
"Yes, by talking—!"
"I don't want to talk, Neji." Naruto slung his arms around the Hyuuga's neck, leaning up close. "I can think of another way to make me feel better, though…" He nuzzled the brunette's neck lightly, grinning triumphantly at the shiver that ran through the taller boy. He just needed to push it a little more… Naruto pitched his voice to a seductive level and made his best kicked-puppy face. "Don't you want to make me feel better…Neji-San?"
Neji's response was a gargled sound with no relation to words, and Naruto grinned triumphantly, shoving the Hyuuga over the arm to fall lying lengthwise onto the cushions.
Grinning wider at the almost comically stunned look on Neji's face, Naruto slowly stalked around to the front of the couch before deliberately straddling the unmoving (and brightly flushed) boy.
"Well?" He tapped his nose lightly against Neji's. "Do you?"
"Damnit, Naruto!" Neji shoved the blonde boy off him and onto the floor, angry more at himself than at the other for falling for such an obvious technique. "Stop trying to distract me! That's foul play, too—you know about my thing for blondes!"
Naruto made a slightly annoyed sound as he got up from the floor and then cocked a brow at the angrily flushed brunette. "I thought you were gonna let me get away with it for a second, Neji. When did you become such an uke?"
If possible, Neji flushed and even deeper red and forced himself to ignore the bait.
It's just another distraction technique.
"Look, Naruto, you need to talk to someone. If not me, then someone else that won't judge you."
"I'm not afraid of people judging me! You all did that when I first decided to go out with the guy! I just don't want your useless opinions!"
"So you just want to…vent?" Neji sounded contemplative.
"YES!" Naruto had had enough of this. His best friend was about five seconds from being propelled over the wreckage that was once his front door, across the street, and through his neighbor's still-intact door.
"Then why don't you talk to Shino!"
Naruto paused, his anger fading. "Shino?"
"Yes, Shino. He will listen while you talk, and there's a 90 percent chance he won't even respond when you are done venting!"
"Hm…I may just do that. Now please, Neji—get out of my apartment."
To be honest, I don't really remember what it was like when he was here. I don't remember what we did, or where we went, or if we even had pet names for each other. It's a little odd, but I do remember that I was happy with him, and that when he left it was similar to having my own heart torn from my body. I remember his long, pitch hair and his deep eyes that, when the light hit them just right, almost seemed to glow red. His voice was deep and gravely, as if he smoked often, but I never once saw him with a cigarette. He was almost brutally indifferent to the people around him, but not in a cold way—he was more like a dormant volcano, indifferent until it suddenly erupts, charring all surroundings in its wake with eager and sudden gusto.
Itachi.