Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters
So here is Aoiji House chapter one. Some parts of it will remain the same as the original but not much. The story has been completely revamped. It will be so much better than it was before. Any who, hope you enjoy!
The repetitive blaring of my alarm rang throughout the room. Rolling over I shoved my hand out of my blankets and onto the nightstand beside my bed. My hand felt its way across the wooden surface, trying vainly to find the source of that infuriating beeping. After a few seconds of frantic searching I felt my hand brush against a hard, plastic object that felt square. Not bothering to take my head of the pillow and look to see if it was really the blasted alarm clock, I threw it across the wall. My efforts were rewarded with a loud crunch followed by blessed silence. The now demolished clock had served its purpose though; I was awake. Groaning I ran a hand through my silver hair, making it spike up more than it normally did.
Grudgingly I shoved off my black comforter. I immediately regretted it. I didn't even have work today. Why was I getting up? There seemed to be something happening today. I just couldn't remember what. With a deep groan I forced myself up to a standing position. Hopefully the shower would help me remember. I started for the bathroom. It was no easy task, mind you. Books, clothes, cigarette packs, and things I didn't even know I had were strewn across the floor. If I had to spend the lonely nights without a lover I was sure going to enjoy the perks a bachelor enjoyed. I would clean when I found someone worth bringing to my room. Until then my books could keep my pants company in one large pile.
Amazingly enough I managed to arrive unscathed at my destination. Well if you counted stepping on a fork, spilling water on my last copy of Make-Out Paradise, and tripping over my dog Pakkun no damage, then mission accomplished.
Cursing I kicked the already slightly open door the rest of the way. Sliding the glass pane open I twisted the knob hard to the right. I realized my mistake just a wave of very cold water fell down on me, awakening me completely. You would think that after five years of dealing with the blasted plumbing I would remember it never worked right the first time. Letting out another line of curses I was particularly fond of, I fumbled with the knob, finally getting it right.
The shower felt heavenly. It had been a good long time since I had been able to relax like this. Usual I had to deal with Sai sitting on my toilet, telling me to hurry or endure the sounds of Tsunade and her husband fighting in the room above me. Today was bliss. Quite, Sai-free bliss. Something nagged at me that there was probably a reason for the silence. It continued to nag for a bit before I managed to shove it to back of my mind. It was probably just a lucky break.
I slid the door open and reached out in search of a something to dry myself off. It was only after finding nothing at all that I remembered that I had emptied my freshly cleaned towel basket in my room so I could use it as a stool. It seemed I had used up all my luck with the shower. I tried my best to shake off as much water off myself as possible. It succeeded to some extent, though I was still very wet.
Perhaps that was why, when I left the bathroom I didn't notice my front door was open. Nor did I care that, upon finding myself naked in the middle of my room with the most beautiful pair of black eyes staring at me, I simply said hello.
Really, it was the polite thing to say. The man, I noticed by his choice of attire, black button up and faded jeans, just kept staring. Well, if he liked what he saw then more power to him. The man was beautiful. He had this spikey hair style thing going on. It suited him rather well. And was that a hint of a six pack I saw clinging to his black t-shirt? Oh yes, he could keep staring.
I bent down, retrieving the towel I had been original seeking, and flung it around my shoulders. "You don't have to just stand there. I love company." I said simply.
This seemed to break the man out of his trance. He blinked a few times before finally speaking. "What? Yes, I um, I will come back later, when you are…dressed." He turned away but not before I noticed the barest hint of red settling on his cheeks. Cute kid, I thought to myself. I watched him shut the door followed by the sound of his feet walking down the hall.
Whoever he was, he looked like fun. We needed fun; all we had in Aoiji house was crazy. My thoughts kept my hands busy and in rare gesture of self-respect I picked up my room enough to clear a wide circle. Satisfied I decided if the kid wasn't going to come back so soon, I would have to go find him.
Throwing a scarf over the lower half of my face I turned to the door. Just as I reached the doorknob the whole bloody thing came swinging open, smacking my head against it. I barely had time to land on the floor before the intruder made themselves known.
"Yo Kakashi! Did you see that kid? Man!" The woman yelled as waltzed in. She looked around a bit before she saw me on the floor, hand to nose in an attempt to stop the bleeding. "What are you doing on the floor? Get up!" she reached down and jerked me to my feet.
Once standing I shot the woman a one-eyed glare. Anko, the tenant of room six and a chronic alcoholic with a penchant for dango. "Anko, really, I know I taught you to knock."
The woman laughed uncaring as she picked her way over to my bed. "So you've met him right? The new landlord?" Why she picked my bed when there a perfectly clean floor was beyond me.
Tenderly touching my nose I nodded. "If you are talking about the spiky haired kid then yeah, I met him. Briefly." I shrugged, trying in vain to get the ache out of my shoulders. Anko kicked hard. "So he is our new landlord? Man, I didn't realize the place was for sale." Not that I could have afforded it of course. "Did you catch his name?"
Anko laughed. "You didn't? I thought for sure he'd be a band wagon you'd be happy to jump on."
I smiled, though the only indication to those around me was the shifting of my eyes. Too big of a scare to reveal my mouth. "We had a…unusual meeting." I conceded.
"His name is Sasuke Uchiha," a voice at the door announced. I turned to see Tsunade leaning heavily against the door frame. She didn't look drunk but that wasn't unusual nor did it mean she wasn't inhibited. No with the two women of Aoiji House the only thing that could make the unusual list was them being sober.
"An Uchiha?" I asked in surprise. Now that one qualified to go on said unusual list. It explained the good looks but that was it. The Uchiha family were a bunch of rich lawyers and doctors with brains as superior as their features. They didn't show up in these parts of town. I was surprised one of them even knew this neighborhood existed.
"I know huh?" She moved across the room to plop herself down next to Anko. With a deep sigh of contentment she let herself fall backward atop it. What was up with my bed? Did they not see the clean floor?
"A kid that rich has got have a real good reason to be here." Both Anko and I looked to the door where the new voice had come from. Taking up most of the narrow doorway was a long haired old man. His most notable features were his white hair and red lines that ran from the middle of his eyes to this chin.
"Ah! Jiraiya! Join us, join us!" Anko let out a very drunk noise that I think was supposed to be a laugh.
I decided to voice my thoughts. "Uchiha? Why would someone like that be here?" I looked up at Jiraiya just in time to see him enter my room, kicking anything that was in his way. The room was clean. Well, cleaner.
I winced as I watched my already damaged Icha Icha book fly across the room. I was going to have to buy another copy of that. I think the new one will be my 10th. The bookshop was making a killing off of me. Anyway, he settled at the bed with Anko. I am serious here, what is up with the bed?
"How should I know? All he told me was his name and that he would be living here from now on."
He reached over to the plate in Anko's hand and picked up a dango. Said hand was immediately stabbed by an empty stick causing the piece of food it was holding to fall back onto the plate. Jiraiya let out a hiss of pain as he withdrew his hand. Anko grunted in satisfaction. I winced for the second time that day when I saw blood drip from the dango stick the old man had pulled from his hand. After shaking his hand Jiraiya finished speaking, "Oh and he wants downstairs for a meeting in an hour."
"An hour? As if. He will learn eventually that we don't do time. Might as well be sooner rather than later." The blond woman let out a grunt as she pulled out a sake bottle from between her boobs. You heard me right, her boobs. Tsunade has, what is it again? Ah yes, triple D's.
"Perfectly said Tsunade." I watched in disbelief as Sai, the last tenant, waltzed into my room and settled himself down atop the now very crowded bed. It is official; my bed is thee place to be. No one knew much about Sai. To be truthful, we're not even sure that is his real name. There is a running bet going on concerning his origins. Tsunade thinks he is a spy for the government, Anko figures he has amnesia, and Jiraiya is sure he is an alien.
"What is this? A party in my room?" I raised my one visible eyebrow at the four people.
Sai smiled and popped in a piece of dango he had stealthily stolen from Anko in his mouth. I was a bit amazed at this. Anko guards her dango very well as poor Jiraiya found out. "No but that sounds like a good idea. What do you think guys?" The black haired boy smiled at the rest of the group. Anko let out a loud 'Sure' as she slapped him on the back.
"Sounds good to me." Jiraiya agreed.
"Why not?" Tsunade predictably approved. As long as there was sake Tsunade would go along with anything.
I let out a loud sigh. They were always doing this to me; I should be used to it by now. "You guys never know when to quit." They just laughed at me and continued drinking and eating. It was short of amazing how they had not run out dango and sake yet. For some reason, they never seemed to. The nagging in the back of my head seemed to be telling me that we probably should go downstairs for the meeting. It didn't last very long after the second cup of sake.
-x-
No one was real sure what time it was but later, upon a hushed conference, we all agreed that what we did remember wasn't pretty. Somehow Anko had lost her top and was dancing around my poor dog. Jiraiya sat on the bed cheering her on while Tsunade tried to persuade Sai to strip.
It was about this time the door opened and we learned why the Uchiha made such good lawyers. I believe I was the least drunk and thus, have the terror of an angry Uchiha properly engraved in my bones.
He stood there in the door frame, his eyes so heated, in my drunken stupor I saw them glowing red. I couldn't remember exactly what he said but it was somewhere along the lines of 'no-respect' and 'useless trash'. I believe there were a number of cuss words in there too. He threw several wads of paper at us, effectively knocking out half of our merry little band. At that point the rest of us screamed and hid under whatever it was we could find. I had no idea Sai could fit under a laundry basket.
Needless to say when he was done yelling at us we all agreed it would be best to remain in the room until a proper amount of time had passed. My room sat all by its lonesome in the east wing of the building. The manager's room was just outside the community kitchen. Everyone else's room was on the west side; past the kitchen. No one wanted to see how accurate this guy was with knives.
In the long run it didn't matter very much. We all passed out relatively soon.
-x-
There were somethings I was used to waking up to. Anko yelling, Tsunade breaking something again and of course the usual alarm clock. An ice cold bucket of water was not one of them.
Swearing loudly I thrashed about, lifting myself to a seated position in the process. Once I managed to get my eyes open I was rewarded to the sight of the Uchiha frowning, offending-now empty-bucket in his hand.
"Get up," he said simply.
At this point we hadn't remembered what had happened earlier that day so it was with good reason I felt his treatment to be unjust.
"Drop the bucket then. It was mean to dump the water on me," I retorted, proud that despite my hangover I wasn't slurring.
He must not have felt the same as I did. With a dramatic release he dropped the bucket. Onto my head. My hands instantly went to the offended spot, rubbing furiously.
Much to my shock he then proceeded to give a similar wake-up call to the remainder of the party guests.
With one last accurate toss of the bucket onto Jiraiya's stomach he marched to the door. One kick and he had the poor door slammed shut. He turned to give the room a glare.
"One meeting barely an hour after I arrive. An arrival I might add, I gave all of you a two weeks' notice of."
Oh, so that was why he was angry. That would explain the alarm clock and nagging feeling. It's too bad hindsight was twenty-twenty. I always felt it would be more useful if it came sooner.
"Since you all care so much about your home it won't matter to you then that I'm having it taken down."
There was far too much satisfaction in his voice for my liking. Tear down Aoiji House? How could he? We lived here! Before I could say so Anko voiced my thoughts for me.
He sneered at us. Yes, sneered. Those perfect lips curled up on one side to show off equally perfect teeth. Why did he have to be so good looking? It was hard to get properly angry at him when he was so nice to look at.
"I bought this place, its mine. I can do what I see fit. Besides," he pulled a slip of pink paper out of his back pocket. "Anko Mitarashi: 300,000 yen in debt."
Anko had the decency to cringe. Sasuke didn't seem to notice. He kept talking. "Jiraiya and Tsunade, 270,000 yen. Sai, 168,000 yen." He turned his eyes to look at me. Dang he had nice eyes. "And Kakashi Hatake, 420,000 yen in debt." He tossed the paper at us. Being paper it floated in the air a bit before settling down onto the floor. "As far as I am concerned your contracts are null and void. If you can't pay rent then I don't need to uphold them."
With a flourish of those sexy legs he turned and left the room, slamming the door for a final, theatrical finish. Somewhere in the room I heard Anko begin to swear. Yes, I found myself thinking. We were all in a lot of trouble.
-x-
Sometime later after we had finished piecing together why the Uchiha was so pissed at us I managed to feel sufficiently ashamed. He really hadn't asked for much.
"What are we going to do? None of us have anywhere else to go," Tsunade said grimly.
We were all still seated in my room but thankfully only Jiraiya remained on my bed. Everyone else had found various objects to serve as seats.
"Someone needs to go talk to him," Jiraiya voiced.
"I'll go," Sai offered, raising from his upturned bucket.
In unison we all voiced our disapproval. Sai was many things but polite and diplomatic were not two of them. He would likely only anger our landlord more.
"How about Kakashi?" Anko suggested.
"Me? Why? I'm afraid the only thing he is going to remember me by is my naked butt."
This earned me several curious glances. Fear of being homeless outweigh their curiosity though; they didn't inquire why that would be my memorable feature. Many of us had been homeless at some point or another and did not want to return to that lifestyle.
"You are the only one of with a chance of changing his mind. For goodness sake Kakashi, you are psychology professor. Put your education to use."
Ah yes, the old, you studied psychology so you should be able to control other people talk. Rubbish. Still, it was better than having Anko attempt to seduce him or Jiraiya bribing the Uchiha with who knows what. Or whom for that matter.
With a regretful sigh I rose and resigned myself to my fate. "If I get knives thrown at me and thus, subsequently pass; Sai, you may have my Icha Icha collection."
I tried to ignore Jiraiya's protests as I left the room. The five meters to the kitchen seemed awfully long as I drug my feet across the wooden floor. What was I going to say? He was perfectly within his right. None of us had paid rent in months. Our old landlord, some creep with a fetish for snakes, didn't care if we paid our rent so long as we didn't report him. I wonder what ever happened to him?
I doubted this Uchiha had any dirt we could blackmail him with. Why was he here anyway?
"—No! Itachi I am fine. I can handle myself!"
Was that the Uchiha? He was yelling. Like, super-angry yelling. Who was Itachi? I had arrived at the kitchen but with the sounds coming from the room I did not want to enter. Kneel down and eavesdrop? That I did want to do.
"Sasuke you are too young. These people are useless. You can't do a thing to help them. Let alone fix this relic up. I found another house closer to home. I will buy it for you so—"
"Get out."
Oh two words hadn't sounded so cold before. Whoever this Itachi guy was our little landlord did not like him telling him what to do. Did I spell blackmail?
"What, but Sasuke—"
"I said get out. This is my home. You have no hold over me here big brother. I will restore this home and I will earn my place at Akatsuki on my own."
Oh man, I almost felt bad for this Itachi guy. I could have cooled vodka on his words. This was definitely blackmail material. Perhaps my luck was back.
I scooted a little closer to the door, my ear on top the floor boards. I think that was why, when the door slide open and a male of undeterminable age stood directly above me, his glare was sufficient to make me scurry back down the hall. People are intimidating when they are within face-kicking range.
I continued to stare him from my hiding space behind several tall wooden boxes. He was definitely our little Uchiha's brother. Older I would guess. This one had long hair and a very blank face but still attractive. Meaner though, at least, he looked really mean right then. I was very glad I had a good solid box and a hallway standing between me and him.
"I am not done Sasuke, I will be checking on you again," the man-Itachi, said, his head tilting to the side and back a bit. In a tone so much softer than any he had used before I almost didn't catch it he said, "Sasuke, I care about you. I don't want to see you get hurt."
I heard nothing from the kitchen so Sasuke must have decided not to respond. Oh yes, there was some serious history here. Juicy, juicy gossip. And where there was gossip there was bound to be blackmail. I waited patiently behind my box as Itachi walked down the hallway and to the left; headed for the door more than likely. Sure enough I heard a resounding thumping noise that confirmed his exit.
Well, this Itachi had made the landlord angrier than we had so perhaps he would be willing to talk to the lesser offender? I hoped so. My feet were beginning to hurt from sitting on them. Stretching tall I leisurely walked out from behind them and, after feigning to come from the direction of my room, walked into the kitchen.
There aren't many times in my life where something happens that strikes me so deeply, I never forget it. I am an absentminded person who learned harshly the consequences of taking life too seriously. I have since done my best to simply enjoy the moments I had to live.
That moment became one of the few. The sight of him, seated on that old crappy chair, his head on his knees, body shaking with the force of his silent cries. There was something fragile about him; as if he had broken apart once and never quite healed completely. Perhaps it was the position or his beauty but either way; I felt my heart twist. I didn't want to hurt him or blackmail him. Really, right then, I just wanted to give him a hug. Maybe a kiss. Or two.
He must have caught me staring. His eyes shot up. They were wide and dark, glistening from his tears and the moonlight stream coming from the window. Oh he was beautiful. Far, far too beautiful for someone like me to touch.
The desire to hold him quickly got squished back to the dark never-see-the-light-of-day area of my brain as his innocent eyes quickly turned into a glare.
"It would not be wise to speak to me right now," he stated. No need for colorful adjectives, Sasuke didn't speak in anything but this cold, I hate you voice.
"Look, Mr. Uchiha, it looks to me like you have a problem." He hadn't moved. I took it for my cue to keep speaking. I figured if he didn't want me to, he would probably just start throwing things at me again. "It sounds to me like you need this," I waved around to encompass the kitchen, "to work. And we need a place to live. So before you start kicking us out why don't we come to some agreements?"
Sasuke moved his legs off the chair. "Funny you suggest that. If I recall I had scheduled a meeting this morning for that very thing." This kid was gifted; he could make anything sound like an insult. "You are lucky I need to prove what I can do." He stood up, arching his back just enough to give me glimpse under his t-shirt. Yes, he did have an excellently developed abs. I am beginning to think he likes flaunting himself in front of me.
He walked a few feet to the dingy gray table pushed up against the back wall of the kitchen. Atop it were several piles of paper. He picked up one of them and held it out for me to take. I had to walk a few steps to take it. Written in perfectly indented and technically correct paragraphs were the guidelines of what I assumed to be our new contract. Some of the lines were as followed:
- You shall show up for renovation work at 6 am every Saturday until notified further.
- You shall attend breakfast and dinner every night at 6 pm. This may be negotiated upon a proper written explanation of other obligations keeping you from making an appearance.
- You shall pay full rent starting the month the contract is signed. If unable to pay you will be put to use however the rightful owner of Aoiji House sees fit.
This was unreal. What did he expect us to be? Slaves? I looked up from my reading to see Sasuke moving about the kitchen, putting various papers away. This wasn't some ordinary rich man. Well, man was a bit of a stretch. He had to be ten years younger than me. A university student or recent graduate I decided. He moved with grace from one end of the table to the counter where he had a big open duffal bag he deposited the papers into. An athlete then. Not professional but defiantly played in the university he had attended.
He was a controlling jerk; that much was for certain. He was certainly breathtaking though. He had the most delicate symmetrical features. He didn't appear to have an ounce of fat or blemish. I doubted the kid even knew what acne was. Leave to the Uchiha. They were beautiful. At least this one was. And the one I had seen earlier. They were all probably beautiful. Lucky egotistical jerks.
I set the paper down atop the table. Clearing my thought I got my landlords attention again. Once he was looking at me I stuck my hand out to him. "I am sure you aware of who I am but I didn't get to properly introduce myself yet. I'm Kakashi Hatake. I live in room five."
He stared at the hand as if unsure he really wanted to shake it. "I'm Sasuke Uchiha," he said finally, accepting the hand.
"Great to meet you." I had a hard time letting his hand go. His skin was as soft as it looked. I found myself staring at his neck, where the tops of his collarbone pocked through the top of his shirt. I bet they are just as soft, I thought.
Sasuke seemed to be getting irritated at our connection. He slowly started to pull away. Reluctantly I let his hand pull free. He was a temperamental asshole, of that there was no doubt. Still, I found myself looking forward to working with him. Eye candy was eye candy.
"Where is a pen?"
I am in need of a beta for this story. If interested please send me a message and I will give you the details.
Reviews inspire me to write faster! As for the update rate this story comes backseat to 'Imperfection' right now so I will update when I can. I tend to work on it when I frustrated with Imperfection. So please be patient and wait. Thank you again for reading!